Discourses and essays on theological and speculative topics

IF 3

DISCOURSE S

AND

ESSAYS

ON

THEOLOGICAL AND SPECULATIVE TOPICS,

BY REV. STEPHEN FARLEY.

"the tkuth shall make you frke.'

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BOSTON;
PUBLISHED BY H. FARLEY,

AND SOLD AT THE OFFICE OF THE '* CHRISTIAN REGISTER

AKD BT THE BOOKSBLLtRS.

1851.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by

HARRIET FARLEY,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

boston:

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,
22, School Steeet.

PEE FACE.

It is with feelings of solemnity, though not of sadness,
that we suspend again, for a few moments, our watches
by the sick-bed, to trace the lines that terminate a task
which has for the last season had so prominent a place
amid our thoughts and cares. "When the Discourses of
which this volume is composed were placed in our hands,
the regular publishers had already pronounced sentence
against them, on account of the unremunerating reputa-
tion of such works. But our readers will, many of them,
conceive of a daughter's sympathy with the author's
desire that they might appear in a permanent form, and
that this purpose might be accomplished while he yet
lived. The preparation for the compositor and other
preliminaries were soon completed ; and the work of
printing has gone on with a rapidity almost unprece-
dented in such publications. It is to be regretted that
circumstances, not needful to specify here, made it
impracticable to form of these Essays chapters in one
continuous discourse. Thus a revising hand could have
struck away repetitions which cannot now be eliminated

IV PREFACE.

without marring the passage or connection in which they
appear.

The following prefatory remarks were dictated by the
author a few davs since : —

" For many years past, I have received communications
from divers and very respectable sources, encouraging
me to make a publication, the basis of which should be
my contributions to the ' Christian Register.' One of
these communications was from Mr. Olney, of Connec-
ticut, of geographic fame ; another from the late Rev.
James Kay, of Northumberland, Penn., written about a
month before his death. I have always had the intention
of publishing a book of this description : but the prepa-
ration of it has been neglected ; and now, at this very
late hour, I make an effort to accomplish the work. It
will not be just what was at first contemplated. It may
probably contain some things unacceptable to all my
readers ; but I ask their indulgence."

With printers so eminently qualified for their portion
of the work, our task, demanding care and attention, has
presented no difiiculties. The hardest part is now before
us ; and assistance in this we ask of the thinking, liberal
public, by a response to the appeal, " Will you buy our
book ? "

Amesbl-ry, Sept. 24, 1851.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

God and Creation " . . 1

Developments of Religion and of Christianity . . 16

The Doctrine of the Fall Examined and Repudiated . 57
The Incorruptible Word : Tradition : the Infallible

Church ......... 69

The Real and the Apparent in Biblical Theology . 82

The Wheat and the Chaff 105

The Trinity 131

The Messiah : the Messianic Idea : his Advent, Reign,

AND Kingdom 149

Christ a Sacrifice 171

Christ the Mediator 184

Character of Faith . . . . . . . 196

Sin a Thing of Degrees 206

Grace and Merit 214

An Ideal of God ........ 224

Truth, Knowledge, Reason, Sensation, Faith . . 233

The Bible a Book to be Examined 254

The Hidden Sense of the Word 267

The Hebrew Records 279

The Scripture Records 297

The Return- ADVENT OF Christ 316

Nature the Universal Mediator between God and his

Creatures 341

Great Power and Use of Truth 359

The New and the Old 368

Fasting and Prayer 385

DISCOUESES AND ESSAYS.

DISCOURSES AND ESSAYS.

GOD AND CREATION.

"Thou art Lord alone: thou liast made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
with all their hosts; the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all
therein, and thou preserves! them all ; and the host of heaven worshippeth
thee." — Nehemiah, ix. 6.

The views which the ancient Jews entertained of

God and of heaven are indicated in this passage.

They conceived of God as a kind of omnipotent

man, residing on the upper surface of that immense

solid structure, which, as they believed, overarches

the whole face of the earth, and is a platform to

sustain the sun, moon, and stars ; and where he

had a temple or palace indescribably magnificent

and beautiful, filled and surrounded by imraense

multitudes of glorious spirits, who worshipped him,

and executed the orders of his will. They regarded

him as the great Builder of the world, the Con-

structer of the heavens, the Maker of all things

contained in the heaven, the earth, and the seas ;

also as their Upholder, Guardian, Director, and

Sovereign. From his palace on high, he could
1

4 GOD AND CREATION.

survey the whole surface of the earth at a glance ;
could see every man and every creatm-e, even those
which lay on the bottom of the seas, and in the
bottomless deep which underlies the dry land. All
living creatures were the subjects of his care, and
he provided for their wants; all men were the sub-
jects of his moral government, and he rendered
unto them severally according to their works.

The two questions, Is there is a God ? and what
and who is he ? cannot be kept entirely distinct
from each other. In discussing the one, we easily,
and even necessarily, run into the other. We
therefore, in the present discourse, propose to treat
of them conjointly and together. We shall en-
deavor to express our views of what God is ; the
proof of his existence ; and of the mode, order,
or way, in which he constructed and governs the
world.

The common argument in proof of a Divine
Existence may be thus stated : " Something now
exists ; of course, something always has existed ; for
existence cannot produce itself ; nothing can be self-
produced. It may, however, be self-existent, and
that which is self-existent is unchangeable ; it nei-
ther begins to exist, nor ceases to exist, nor changes
its essential essence. Hence, the visible world cannot
be self-existent ; for its phenomena are in a constant
course of change. Its parts, moreover, were obvi-
ously made for uses : it bears the unmistakable marks
of design ; and where there is design, there must have
been a Designer. There must, therefore, have been a
time when the world did not exist, and when God

GOD AND CREATION. 6

existed alone ; and when he purposed and planned
the type, the model, the pattern, of the world."

In this argument there is much of just and irre-
fragable force and truth. But perhaps it does not
tell the whole truth. It makes no distinction be-
tween simples and compounds. The things which
we see are compounds. The sun is a complex or
compound object. And such also is the moon and
the earth. And such, likewise, are all the things con-
tained in the earth and in the seas. All fishes and
animals are complex creatures ; all vegetables and
minerals are also complex or compound existences.
Here is a piece of rock : I carry it to a mineralo-
gist, and inquire for its character. He tells me it is
a fragment of granite. I ask him if it be a simple,
primitive substance. He answers, No ; it is a
compound of quartz, mica, and feldspar. I then
ask him if the four integral, component parts of
granite are primitive and simple substances. He
returns a negative answer, saying that each of
those parts are reduceable to elements more simple ;
such as silesium, magnesium, carbon, iron, lime, or
the like of them. Now, a compound substance
cannot be a primitive. Mortar, for instance, is a
compound of lime, sand, and water. The sand,
lime, and water must have existed before the mor-
tar. Therefore, mortar cannot be a primitive sub-
stance. Water is a compound of hydrogen and
oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen, therefore, must
have existed before water could exist. The earth
is a compound of all the known elements. These
elements, therefore, must have existed previously to

GOD AND CREATION.

the earth's existence ; and of them was the earth
constructed. All the primitive elements must be
perfect simples : for if an element be a compound, it
cannot be simple ; and if not simple, it cannot be a
primitive. That which is eternal, self-existent, and
unchangeable, must, in its parts, be simple and
pure. All things which are visible upon the earth,
being compounds, and having the marks of uses
labelled upon them, are not self-existent. But there
must be a seif-existent cause. For, without such a
cause, there could not be a phenomenal world.

It is now pertinent to inquire what things are
simple, primitive, self-existent, uncreatable, inde-
structible, and underivable ? To this inquiry we
answer, 1. That Life is such a thing. We mean
life in its essence and abstract : we mean life
distinct from all the particular forms in which
it appears in the world. There is life in every
vegetable and in every animal. But the vegetable
and the animal are not life itself. They are only
the repositories of life. Take away life from them,
and they die ; they are dissolved into their compo-
nent elements. The life which rendered them living
creatm-es was communicated to them. And, if com-
municated by a creature, that creature must have
had it communicated to him ; and thus on, until we
come to the uncreated and uncreatable Fountain of
life itself. There must be such a fountain, or there
could never have been communicated life. Primitive
life must be self-existent, underived and underivable.
For, if derived, it ceases to be primitive ; if depen-
dent, it ceases to be immutable and self-sufficient.

GOD AND CREATION. O

The very existence, therefore of such a thing as
life, is proof that life has always existed. A form
of life cannot begin to exist without a previous life
to begin it. And thus, tracing backward, we come,
of necessity, to an unoriginated and self-dependent
fountain, — the cause and communicator of life to
all creatures. Life, therefore, is an uncreated es-
sence.

2. Intelligence. Mankind possess intelligence.
But men are not self-created beings. They did not
originate their own intelligence. They began to
think, to know. They are but the forms and recep-
tacles of intelligence. They must, therefore, have
received it from some pre-existing intelligence.
And this must have communicated it, mediately or
immediately, from an uncreated and independent
source. Intelligence, therefore, is an eternal and
self-existing entity.

3. Love, the susceptibility of enjoyment and de-
sire. Human nature possesses this attribute. Men
are capable of various forms of love. Without it
they could not be capable of motive, or of any volun-
tary action. But men did not originate their own
love. It must, therefore, have been communicated
to them. And the being who communicated it,
must have possessed it himself. And this being
must either have possessed it independently, or
have received it, directly or indirectly, from some
independent source. Love, therefore, is an un-
created essence.

4. Free Agency, including moral responsibility.
Men possess this power. They can, under due

1*

6 GOD AND CREATION.

circumstances, either do a thing or not do it. It is
this power which gives them rank above the brutes.
It is this, in connection with their moral sense,
which renders them the proper subjects of respon-
sibility. And this power is an endowment from
their Creator. He, therefore, must be a free agent ;
for the Creator cannot confer a power which he
himself does not possess. And all the powers of
the original Creator are underived and eternal.

5. Light, including heat and electricity, is, we
may believe, uncreatable and eternal. It is, how-
ever, generally believed that the Bible teaches a
different doctrine. God said, " Let there be light,
and there was light." But this language does not
necessarily signify that the light was then created
from nothing. Light and heat, in immense quan-
tities, are always existing in a latent state ; and
almost any man^ with the requisite means, can
instantly produce a bright light in a totally dark dun-
geon. But this light is not then and there created :
it is only elicited from its preyious condition. And
such may have been the fact when " God called the
light to shine out of darkness."

6. The MATERIAL SUBSTRATUM, Oil which all the
Divine attributes rest and are sustained, must obvi-
ously be self-existent and from everlasting. Every
thing which acts must have a substratum. It must
be pivoted upon some substantive basis. Wher-
ever there is motion, there must be something
which moves. Where there is sound, there must
be something which makes a noise. Wherever there
is sensation, there must be something which feels.

GOD AND CREATION. /

Wherever there is intelligence, there must be some-
thing which thinks, understands, knows. Where-
ever there is life, there must be something which
lives. And where there is love, there must be
something which is the subject of love. And this
something, of which motion, sound, sensation, intel-
ligence, life, and love are predicated, must be a
substantive thing ; a thing consisting of some sub-
stance. Motion, sensation, sound, thought, life,
love, &c., are not substantive things. They are but
acts, modifications, phases, relations, &c. There
must, therefore, be a substantial substratum on which
the Divine attributes rest. And there obviously
can be but one kind of substance. It must be
material. We can have no conception of an im-
material substance. The distinctive property of
matter is its solidity ; its capacity to occupy space.
And a substance, which does not occupy space, is
inconceivable.

We have now specified some five or six entities
which we believe to be uncreated, self-dependent,
eternal, unchangeable. They are things pure and
simple. And of them, and by them, and from them,
do all compound and complex things originate, ex-
ist, " live, move, and have their being." The things
which we have just named may constitute God,
They are essential and competent to his being,
efficiency, and perfection. One of them alone, or
a part of them without the others, would not be
God, all-sufficient and perfect. Intelligence alone
is not God. Neither is love, nor life, nor material
substance. There must be an assemblage of attri-

GOD AND CREATION.

butes to constitute an intelligent, living, personal be-
ing. A number of attributes, properties, principles,
does not mar nor prevent the perfect unity of such
a being. Man possesses body and soul ; flesh and
bones ; intellect, memory, consciousness, free-will,
and the faculty of locomotion. And yet man is a
unit. And such also is God. He is one ; one con-
sciousness, one will, one intelligence, and, of course,
one person. Each attribute has and executes its
own peculiar office. It is the office of the intellect
to think, to know, to design or purpose. It is the
office of love to desire, to move the will, to be de-
lighted. It is the office of matter to occupy space,
to be a substratum, to furnish the requisite of or-
ganization.

Our position stands thus. There must be mate-
rial substance as indispensable to organization ; an
organization as indispensable to life ; and life as
indispensable to sensation, thought, love, and volun-
tary action. In other words, organization is in-
dispensable to mind. This does not imply that
matter is capable of thought. It is a requisite
organization that can think. Original matter is
probably dead, inert, insensible. It must be ele-
mented in order to be organized ; and organized in
order to life, thought, and agency.

If these positions be correct, there must have,
always and eternally, been a material substance •
also an eternal, self-existent organization, life, and
intelligence. These constitute God, uncreated, un-
derived, self-existing, independent, almighty, good,
perfect. All the visible forms of life derived their

X

GOD AND CREATION. 9

being from him. He constructed them, upholds
them, and governs them. Their substance is from
his substance ; their life is from his life ; their intel-
ligence from his intelligence. They are creatures^
and he is their Creator.

Though God consist of different attributes, such
as life, love, intelligence, freedom, consciousness,
and a material substratum, yet he is not a com-
pound of different elements. Life, love, and intel-
ligence are not elements. An element is a primi-
tive, simple substance, which can exist alone, by
itself. Such is carbon, oxygen, hydi'ogen, &c.
They can exist without being in company with
other things. But life, love, intelligence, and con-
sciousness cannot thus exist, alone, isolated, ab-
stracted. Where there is life, there must be organic
action ; where there is intelligence, there must be
consciousness and sensation. God, therefore, is
not a compound, and consequently a secondary and
a derivative being. Though not a proper simple^
yet he is a unit and a primitive. A unit may have
parts, but a pure simple is incapable of them.

It may, perhaps, be objected that the God we
have made out is a material one, and that our
doctrine is materialism. But we do not admit the
justice of this objection. We maintain the exist-
ence of as much intelligence, love, and life, as those
who may oppose our views. We hold to the exist-
ence of as much mind as they do. Why, then, are
not we as much and as good spiritualists as they
are? But, say they, you hold that God has a
material substratum ; and is not that a material

10 GOD AND CREATION.

God, and the doctrine materialism ? By no means.
Man has a material body, and yet man is an intel-
lectual, spiritual being. His body neither embar-
rasses nor degi'ades him. Why did God give man
a material part ? It must have been necessary, or
it would not have been ; for God does nothing in
vain. Man, being a likeness or miniature of God,
he possesses, of com'se, similar parts, properties,
attributes. The difference between man and God
is chiefly a matter of degrees. The human facul-
ties and the Divine faculties are alike in kind, but
most unlike in measm*e. The human are small ;
the Divine are immense. Let, if it were possible,
the human faculties be enlarged so as to equal the
Divine, and a man would be as God. He would
be equally intelligent, wise, and good. Otherwise,
man would not be a true image of God ; God in
miniature. Man has a material substratum. But
this does not render him a mere material being.
He possesses a's true an intellect as he would pos-
sess without it. Why not? Man dies. And in
what does death consist? What change does it
induce? The exchange of a natural for a spiritual
body. So teaches the apostle Paul. And he de-
clares the natural body to be corruptible, and the
spiritual to be incoiTuptible ; the former to be mor-
tal, the latter immortal. The spiritual body must
be material; for otherwise it is not a body. Its
elements are ethereal and imponderable. Every
element must be of matter; and matter, being un-
creatable, must, of course, be indestructible. Hence
the ground for the hope of immortality.

GOD AND CREATION. 11

We have thus, as above, treated the first part of the
subject we proposed, — the being and attributes
OF God. We now proceed to the second, — the
creation of the world. In what way, by what
process, was the world created, or rather construct-
ed ? We claim not to know. We must assume
an hypothesis, and proceed on with it, guided by
what we know of the order in which God works.
Of this Divine order we know something from ob-
servation and experience. We know something of
the order in which God makes such things as rocks,
plants, trees, and animals. His order is different
from man's, who makes part after part, until the
whole is finished. In God's works all the parts
progress together. The Divine order is that of
growth and development. All plants and trees
grow and are developed from seeds. The acorn
contains the oak. All the parts are co-ordinate,
and gi'ow simultaneously. All animals grow from
germs. The germ contains the whole animal ; but
the animal is not developed while in the germ.
God makes plants and animals only in one way.
He always adheres to his own order. And God,
doubtless, made the world in the way of order; in
the way of formation, growth, and development.
In the beginning of all things, there was nothing
existing but God and dead matter, scattered in
atoms throughout boundless space. " And the spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters." Not
real waters, for they were not yet produced ; any
more than what is called the earth, in Gen. i. 2,
was a real earth, for this was not then made. It

12 GOD AND CREATION.

was a chaotic mass, and is called " the earth " be-
cause of it the real earth was constructed. The
atomic chaos had some resemblance to waters : it
was somewhat like a fluid. " And the spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters." The word
spirit signifies ivind. Spirit and wind, with the
ancients, were the same thing. The wind of God
— Divine power, breath, fire, electricity — moved,
acted, upon the vast ocean of the atomic chaos. It
elemented the inert, dead atoms ; converted them
into elements, such as carbon, silesium, sodium?
hydrogen, &c. Thus they were fitted to be the
component parts of the world ; the solar system.
The agency by which the inert atoms were invested
with the properties of elements, doubtless, was that
of electricity. This is one of the forms or modifi-
cations of fire, light, heat, which is one of the
entities we have placed in the category of things
uncreated, eternal, and self-existent. Naturalists
inform us that electricity is the great and cardinal
agent in the deep operations of nature ; that the
magnetism of the earth depends on electricity, and
that the law of gravitation is probably identical with
its magnetism ; that the gravity of the earth, and
every fragment of it, depends on the action of elec-
tricity ; that all seeds and germs start into life by
this same electrical agency ; that this power is at
the bottom of all natural phenomena.

The elements being produced, then* chemical and
mechanical powers would forthwith begin to act.
The dead ocean of atoms becomes an active atmo-
sphere. The centre of this immense atmosphere

GOD AND CREATION. 13

becomes the nucleus of the sun. To this centre,
by their mechanical tendencies, all parts of the
atmosphere are tending. On their way the chemi-
cal tendencies affect many combinations. Thus the
sun is produced, containing, perhaps, nine-tenths of
all the material in the solar system. Within the
limits of the great solar atmosphere, other atmo-
spheres are formed. The centres of these become
the nuclei of the planets, both the primary and the
secondary. The work of centi^al consolidation be-
gins and continues until the central spaces of all
the atmospheres become solid bodies, as the sun,
the planets, and the moons now are. This work
of consolidation is accomplished by the agency of
mechanical and chemical forces. Through the
agency of electricity, a rotary motion is given to
the great solar atmosphere ; also both a rotary and
a circular motion to the sub-atmospheres, which are
to become planets and moons, rolling on their own
axes, and circulating round the sun. In process of
time, — the length of which it is not perhaps with-
in the power of figures to measure, — " the heavens
and the earth are finished, and all the host of them."
They are a development from the immense ocean
of chaotic atoms, under the supervision, agency,
and purpose of eternal, self-existent intelligence,
love, and power. The stupendous work proceeded
by stages, from one stage to another ; the previous
preparing the way for the subsequent. The chaotic
was a preparation for the mineral; the mineral, a
preparation for the vegetable ; the vegetable, a pre-
2

14 GOD AND CREATION.

paration for the animal ; the animal, a preparation
for the hmnan.

We said that "in the beginning God was alone;"
a time when nothing had been created and made.
In the order of nature, the order of cause and effect,
it must liave been so. But, as to actual time, " we
know not how to speak by reason of darkness."
There was no actual time until something was
done : then was the beginning. But, how far back
from the present time was the beginning, it is im-
possible for man to know : probably many millions
of years ; yea, many millions of centuries. And
more probably, there never was a definite, actual be-
ginning of time, and the work of creation ; that the
past is as really illimitable as the future ; an equal
eternity behind us, as that before us. We now
speak of the universal creation. In respect to our
own world, the solar system, we may, without stam-
mering, say that it had an actual beginning ; that
there was a time when it did not exist. It is a
construction. It bears the marks of age. Its dif-
ferents parts accomplish uses for which they were
obviously designed.

God made the world in the way of order, — his
own order. In doing it, he has taken the requisite
time. God has no occasion to hasten his work.
He could spare a million of years for the construc-
tion of our earth, if that period of time, in the Divine
order, was requisite. God does the same kind of
work always in the same way. He makes rock,
sand, gravel, soil, plants, trees, beasts, birds, fishes,
and men, in the way of one and the same order.

GOD AND CREATION. 15

He gives life, knowledge, health, strength, and the
requisite supplies of fruit and harvest, in one way
only. We must seek them in this way, or w^e shall
not find them. If we would preserve our lives, we
must live in the way of God's order; be temperate,
active, sober, and careful. If we would enjoy a com-
petency of needful supplies, we must be industrious
and discreet in our business-pursuits. If we would
have a good reputation for uprightness, fidelity, and
Idndness, we must possess and practise these vir-
tues. If we would have a good and consolatory
hope of a happy immortality beyond the grave, we
must hold and cherish that " faith which is the sub-
stance of things hoped for." There is no doctrine
so frequently uttered in the Holy Scriptures as this,
that God will reward every man according to his
works. Every man is what his life makes him.
He has his reward. If he is a good man, he will
enjoy the blessings which goodness creates and se-
cm*es. If we live contrary to God's order, we must
be miserable. The fear of the wicked — the evUs
which he forebodes — shall come upon him. The
way of transgressors is hard. There is no peace,
saith the Lord, to the wicked. They are like the
troubled sea, whose waves cast up mire and dirt.
But the ways of wisdom are pleasant and peaceful.
Whoso would live long and see good days, let him
refrain his feet from evil, and his lips from uttering
lies.

16

DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION AND
OF CHRISTIANITY.

" For the earth bringeth forth fruit of itself; first the blade, then the ear,
afterward the full corn in the ear." — Mark, iv. 28.

This passage declares the great law of progressive
production in the whole realm of nature, — in the
universal creation of God. A plant grows con-
stantly, regularly, progressively, until it attains its
maturity. This law is universal. Things begin in
their rudiments. Such is the fact in regard to
nations and kingdoms ; also in regard to all civil
and social institutions ; likewise in regard to litera-
ture, science, philosophy, and religion. The germs
are in nature ; but the developments are in provi-
dence, in time. Our Saviour illustrates the progres-
sive character of this kingdom by a similitude taken
from the natural world. " It is," said he, " like a
grain of mustard-seed, which, when sown, is less
than all seeds that be in the earth ; but it groweth
up, and shooteth out great branches, and becometh
greater than all herbs, — a tree ; so that the fowls of
the air lodge in the branches of it." He left, at his
death, but a small company of true, steadfast dis-

DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION, ETC. 17

ciples. But he said to them, " Fear not, little flock :
it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom." " In the regeneration, when the Son of
man shall have come, ye also shall sit upon thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." " The stone,
cut from the mountain without hands, became a
great mountain, and filled the whole earth." It is
the law of earthly things : " First the blade, then the
ear, afterward the full corn in the ear."

There is a religious principle in man. It is con-
stitutional : it is a part of his nature ; as much so
as the social principle, as the sexual principle, as
the moral and the loyal principles. And as aU
these principles are gradually developed, so like-
wise the religious element. It has made its mani-
festations in various forms and phases, as external
circumstances and influences have determined. The
varieties are almost beyond enumeration. We
may, however, distinguish four which have been,
and which are, the most broad and general : I. The
Patriarchal ; II. Judaism ; III. Gentilism ; IV.
Christianity.

It will not, we trust, be uninteresting nor unin-
structive to take some historical and descriptive
notices of these, compare them ^vith each other,
and inquire for their different merits.

I. We begin with what is denominated the

Patriarchal. This was the primitive form. It

was, as we might expect, very simple and anthropo-

morphitic. Men, in the early ages of the world,

conceived God to be a Great Omnipotent Man,

residing in the firmamental heavens, having a hu-
2*

18 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

man shape, sitting upon a superb throne, in a mag-
nificent palace, surrounded by myriads of glorious
beings, called gods, sons of God, morning stars,
angels, cherubim, seraphim, &c. These were em-
ployed in rendering him worship and services.
God, they conceived, had created the world. It was,
therefore, his property, with all its contents. The
earth and the heavens ; angels and men ; beasts,
bu'ds, fishes, — all living things, being God's crea-
tures, were, of course, his property, and subject to
his disposal. It was his family ; his kingdom.
He ruled over them.. His agency supervised all
things. " It greened in the grass, and blossomed
in the trees." The sun revolved round the earth :
it was God who moved it. The rain dropped from
the clouds : it was God who shed it down. When
the winds blew, it was God who breathed them
forth. When the lightnings flew and glittered, it
was God who shot them from his nostrils. When
the thunder roared, it was God uttering his mighty
voice. God's providence was universal. Most of
the dispensations of it were particular and retribu-
tive. God, being righteous, was pleased with the
righteous man, and rewarded him with blessings.
He was displeased with unrighteousness, and pun-
ished it with pains and penalties. Being subject
to like passions as men, God was sometimes angry
and wrathful. Wicked men exhausted his patience.
He was disappointed, and even repented that he
had ever made such a creature as man : he even
took the resolution to destroy him utterly from the
face of the earth.

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 19

As God took a deep interest in the condition and
affairs of men, he sent down his angels to take
notices, to render services, and to bring him infor-
mation. He even, on important occasions, came
down himself. The Lord God sometimes ad-
dressed the sab-gods as being his fellows and asso-
ciates. He said, " Let vs do this and that thing ; "
" Let us make man ; " " Let us go down, and con-
found their language." Men were so perverse that
it required the exertion of all God's power and
wisdom to manage and control them. He, at
length, sent a flood, with the intent that every
living thing should die. Noah, however, being a
righteous man, received divine directions for the
preservation of himself and family.

As the angels were God's agents and representa-
tives, the sight of one of them was regarded as
equivalent to a sight of God himself. Jacob, hav-
ing conversed and wrestled with an angel at Penuel,
said, " I have seen God face to face, and my life is
preserved." " And Manoah said to his wife. We
shall sm-ely die, for we have seen God." A sight
of God seems to have been regarded as a warning
of speedy death.

The patriarchs not only recognized the being of
God, but they also rendered him worship. They
did it chiefly by sacrifices. These were presents,
gifts, oblations, made to God in return for his
benefits. They were meant as expressions of gi'ati-
tude and loyalty. But, as God did not need them,
nor would he use them, they were destroyed, burned
in the fire, poured out upon earth or into the sea.

20

DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

Being thus abstracted from the use of men, they
were considered as really given to God. And thus
were manifested the thankfulness and the venera-
tion of the worshippers.

There was probably at first no regular time for
the performance of religious worship. It took place
as occasions and circumstances occurred and deter-
mined. Nor was there a proper priesthood. The
patriarch acted as his own priest. He built his own
altar. Noah, Abraham, and Jacob reared altars for
their own use : they killed the victims, kindled the
fire, and laid the flesh upon the wood.

But ^\^hence, and how, did the patriarchs obtain
their conception of God ? It is generally believed by
Jews and Christians, that it was divinely communi-
cated to them. In that case, we might expect that
their conception of God would have been more
correct and complete. More probably, they obtained
it by reflection and intuitive reasoning. A& every
house is builded by some one, some man ; so the
world must have been built by some one, who is
God. The connection between cause and effect;
the necessity of a cause to an effect, — this is the
starting-point in all human reasoning on this sub-
ject. The premises are obtained from observation
and experience. If a thing is moved, there must
be something that moves it. If a thing is stopped
from moving, there must be some power which
stops it. If a thing grows, there must be some
agency that causes its growth. They could see
that the grass and the trees did grow ; but they
could not see the hand which made them grow.

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 21

They saw the sun rise ; they felt the wind blow ;
they saw the lightning's flash, and heard the thun-
der's voice ; but the doer of all these great things
was invisible to them. It was manifest, however,
that his power must be exceedingly great. He
must, of course, be a very great something. And
as a man was an agent superior to any other with
which they were acquainted, they conceived of him
as a gi'eat, omnipotent man. And they attached to
him all the attributes of a man : passions, hands,
eyes, ears, thoughts, motives, self-love, anger, placa-
bility, mercy, and goodness.

The patriarchs had little — indeed at fii-st none
at all — of ceremonial religion. It was all impul-
sive, natural, instinctive. No ceremonial mourn-
ing, fasting, praying, or sacrificing. It Avas all done
from the inward promptings of the doer. No devo-
tional prayers ; no set times, and terms of time, for
mourning, fasting, praying, or sacrificing. All their
prayers were brief and occasional requests. Some-
times they made vows. These were sometimes con-
ditional, lilvC Jacob's vow at Bethel ; and sometimes
absolute, like that of the Nazarite, who pledged him-
self to abstain from drinking wine, and from eating
any unclean thing. Some of the patriarchs appear
to have been very contemplative and religious ;
full of faith and the spirit of piety. This probably
was the case of Enoch. Hence the high veneration
with which his cotemporaries and posterity regarded
him ; saying of him that he " walked with God,"
and believing that he was translated to heaven
without undergoing the change of death.

22 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

The most prominent virtues among the patriarchs
were sincerity, kindness, and hospitality to strangers.
We see all this in Abraham. But that which gave
to Abraham his incomparable character was his
religious faith, — its correctness and its strength.
Abraham was a monotheist, living among people
who were polytheists. He believed in one God ;
they in many ; and he so impressed his own belief
upon his children and household, that the great cen-
tral doctrine of monotheism, in distinction from
polytheism, was perpetuated in the line of his de-
scendants. It is therefore testified of him, " I know
Abraham that he will teach his children and his
household, that they Avalk in the way of the Lord to
do justice and judgment." It is hence apparent that
the service of God consisted essentially in doing
justice and judgment. The vices most prominent
in the patriarchal age were licentiousness, fierce-
ness, and vindictiveness. They had not learned
the A\4sdom of controlling the desires and passions
of human nature. These, when excited, would, if
possible, have their gratification. Examples of these
things appear in the cases of Cain 'and Abel, of
Lamech the Cainite, of Reuben and Judah, Simeon
and Levi. Every man revenged his own WTongs ;
and, deeming this to be right, he did it ivith a
vengeance. To be an avenger of blood was not
accounted an inconsistency in the character of a
good man.

Among the antediluvians there were two separate
lines, families, races. These were the Cainites, the
posterity of Cain ; and the Sethites, the posterity of

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 23

Seth. These two races were the Jews and Gentiles
of the antediluvian times. The Sethites appear
to have been the more quiet and religious ; the
latter, the more active, enterprising, and ingenious.
They invented useful and ornamental arts. Hence
it is said of one of them that he was the father of
such as dwell in tents and have cattle ; — of another
that he invented a method of making those domiciles,
called tents ; also one for domesticating the ox, the
horse, and the ass ; — of another, that he was the
father of all such as handle the harp and the organ ;
and of another, that he was the instructor of all
artificers in brass and iron.

Though the presiding patriarch of a family or a
tribe was greatly respected, yet there was no proper
civil government, — none but avengers of private
wrongs to punish wrong-doers. Of course, the
strong man held the mastery over the feebler one.
The consequence was, that oppression and injustice
soon began to prevail, and at length so abounded
that the land was laden with crime and blood. The
earth was coiTupt and full of violence.

In this state of things occurred a most extraordi-
nary inundation. It swept the whole valley of the
Euphrates, of the Nile, and of all Western Asia.
Tradition said that it extended to the ends of the
earth. It was, however, then believed that the face
of the whole earth reached not much beyond the
regions above mentioned. And it was believed that
God sent this flood as a retribution for the oppres-
sion and licentiousness which men committed, and
that Noah and his family were the only survivors.

24 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

And there must have been some ground for this
tradition. But, in the light of Christian civilization,
the whole account cannot be credited. A wise and
holy God would not surely thus promiscuously de-
stroy the innocent and the guilty together. God
never does any thing in anger. He was never dis-
appointed ; never grieved ; never repented that he
made man upon the earth. God is never so defi-
cient in wisdom as to adopt that mode of reforma-
tion which consists in killing off all the wicked, and
sparing a few of the righteous. " As I live, saith
the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the
sinner, but that he turn and live."

II. We now pass from the patriarchal dispensa-
tion to that of Judaism. We have already taken
some notice of Abraham, the most illustrious of all
the patriarchs. We have said that he was a mono-
theist, a believer in one only and true God. This
doctrine was retained by his posterity, the Jews.
They lived in Palestine, on the river Jordan, be-
tween the mountains of Lebanon and the deserts
of Arabia. They were surrounded by such nations
as the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Syrians, the
Chaldeans, and the Arabians. All these nations
were polytheistical, and practised idolatiy. They
had images in their temples, and worshipped them
as the representatives of their gods. But the first
and greatest law of the Jews was : " The Lord
our God is one Lord. And thou shalt not make
unto thyself any graven image, or the likeness of
any thing in heaven above, or in the earth beneath
or in the waters under the earth ; thou shalt not

4

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 25

bow down thyself to such images nor serve them,
nor the gods they are said to represent ; for I am
the Lord thy God, and none besides me." The
Jews, during the lapse of many centuries from the
time of Abraham, did partially and for a season
become entangled in the toils of their idolatrous
neighbors. But there always remained those among
them who were steadfast and faithful ; and these,
on all such occasions, raised the voice of warning
and rebuke. They had a long struggle with the
aborigines of the country, before they could subdue
them. And the balance of power was repeatedly in
the hands of their adversaries, and the Israelites
were oppressed. And the reformers appealed to this
affliction as a mark of God's anger, and as the pun-
ishment of their sin in acknowledging and worship-
ping any god but Jehovah. Very gradually the Jews
became purified from all the idolatries of the Gen-
tile nations ; and, as they became pure, they adopted
laws and customs which made the distance wide
between them and the heathen. They became an
isolated people : they would have no fellowship with
idolaters. No intermarriages were allowed. They
might not eat and drink at the same table. The
Jew considered himself a consecrated man, — a
priest ; and, being circumcised, he carried the mark
and seal of his consecration in his own body. For
circumcision is said to have been the badge of the
priestly order among the Egyptians. Gradually
the Jewish law became ramified and multifarious,
extending its prescriptions to the whole routine of
life. The Jew was fenced round about with rules

3

26 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

of conduct. He must worship in but one place ;
one altar and one sanctuary for the whole nation ;
three annual festivals, instead of but one as in the
times of Elkanah and Hannah, the parents of Sam-
uel ; at every sacrifice a regular priest must officiate,
not the offerer himself as in the days of Abraham
and Manoah ; very numerous sprinklings and ablu-
tions must be observed as purifications from cere-
monial uncleanness, which was contracted by such
slight causes as touching the garment of a man
who had touched a grave or the bone of a dead
man; his dress, his diet, the manner of his inter-
course with men, were matters of prescription. Yet
all this heavy yoke was made to sit easy on the
neck of a Jew. It made him think more highly of
his religion, and of himself as a subject of it. The
Jew was proud of his religion. It made him, as he
judged, a favorite of Heaven ; a much better man
than a Gentile could be in the sight of God. And,
indeed, the Jews were the most religious people
that ever existed on the face of the earth. No other
people ever made such high account of their religion.
The Gentile did not esteem it a thing very essential
whether he worshipped Bel or Jupiter. To him one
of these gods did not differ essentially from the other.
But, to the Jew, Jehovah alone was the real and
true God ; and every other divine name, that of an
idol and a demon.

But what conception had the Jew of the charac-
ter of God ? Very much like that entertained by
the patriarchs before him. He conceived God to
be a great, omnipotent man, residing on the upper

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 27

side of the firmament, in a most magnificent palace,
of which the tabernacle and temple on earth were
imitations. He was there attended and surrounded
by a vast " train " of angels and seraphim, who con-
stantly worshipped him, and were ready to execute
his orders. The prophet Isaiah gives a description,
in the four first verses of the sixth chapter of his
book ; also the prophet Ezekiel, another descrip-
tion of the Divine theophany in the first chapter,
which he substantially repeats in the tenth chapter.
Though a man, yet not like other men. He could
not be distinctly seen, being so enveloped in the sub-
lime scenery of the four living creatures and the
wheels. Yet he was there, and the prophet describes
what was " the appearance from his loins upward,
and the appearance from his loins downward : I
saw, as it were, the appearance of fire, and it had
brightness round about. Upon the likeness of the
throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man
above upon it." " No man can see me, and live."

Yet they conceived of him as a man. He had
hands, feet, eyes, ears, and loins. He sat upon a
throne. He spoke, and was heard. He weighed the
movmtains in scales, the hills in a balance, and took
up the isles as a very little thing. He was suscepti-
ble of feelings and passions. He took great offence
at the disobedience of his people, especially at their
idolatries. " For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon their
children, even to the third and the fourth generation."
The Jew believed that all the calamities which be-
fell the nation were special dispensations of punish-

28 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

ment for some particular sins ; that the thraldoms,
in the times of the Judges, from the Moabites, the
Midianites, the Canaan ites, and the Philistines,
were inflicted by God in chastisement for their sins ;
that the revolt of the ten tribes, and the consequent
schism and ruin of the glorious kingdom of David,
was a retribution for the iniquities of Solomon ;
that the three years' famine, in the days of David,
was for the injustice committed by Saul in slaying
many of the Gibeonites ; that the drought of three
years and a half duration, in the time of Ahab and
Elijah, was caused by the idolatry of the people who
worshipped Baal. Their philosophy of natm-e was
theological. God, by immediate and special agency,
controlled all providential events and phenomena.
He did his pleasure in the armies of heaven above,
and among the inhabitants of the earth below. He
was righteous and merciful, yet also judicial and
punitive. He would not permit the transgressor to
go unpunished. His wrath was terrible. He was
sometimes implacable. " When the land sinneth
against me by trespassing grievously, then I will
stretch out my hand upon it : though Noah, Daniel,
and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God,
they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, but their
own souls only by their righteousness. Though ye
make many prayers, I will not hear."

Yet the mercy of God is celebrated and extolled
even more than his justice, especially in the book
of the Psalms. In the proclamation which preceded
the enunciation of the ten commandments, he was
proclaimed " the Lord God, gracious and merciful.

AND OF CHRISTIANITY.

29

slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth.''
And the expression is repeated perhaps an hundred
times, " His mercy endureth for ever."

The God of the Jews had one most prominent
attribute which makes but a faint manifestation in
the gods of the Gentiles. It is the moral element
of his character. He was righteous, holy, just,
good ; and, if he is ever differently represented, it
is the mistake of those who describe him. Their
design was to describe him as unimpeachably right-
eous. If, by a special providence, he destroyed a
whole world of human beings, containing millions
who could not distinguish between their right hand
and their left, it was all right. They who thus re-
present him did not intend to impugn his character
or his works.

The Jew did not merely boast of his God, but he
devoutly loved him. God was not more his pride
than his joy. He saw in God all that was excellent,
beautiful, desirable. To him God was safety, hap-
piness, full satisfaction. His God could, and there-
fore he would, do for him to the extent of his need.
No dangers so great that God could not protect
him ; no wants so deep and broad that God could
not supply them ; no enemy so strong that God
could not annihilate him. His faith, his trust, his
hope, his assurance, his steadfast confidence in
God, lived with him, and went with him wherever
he went. He could always sin^^ though he some-
times wept. When he spake of God, his language
was significant and rich. " The Lord is my Shep-
herd, I shall not want; he maketh me to lie down
3*

30 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

in good pasture, beside the still waters." " My
cup is made to run over." " The Lord is my
strength, my shield, my rock, my high tower, the
horn of my salvation. He maketh my feet like
hinds' feet. He teacheth my hands to war and
my fingers to fight, so that a bow of steel is bro-
ken by my hands. I will not be afraid of ten
thousand who set themselves in array against me.
Should all nations encamp against me, in the name
of the Lord I would destroy them." " Give unto
the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory
and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due
unto his name ; worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the
waters : the God of glory thundereth : the Lord is
upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is
powerful : the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars ; yea, the
Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh
them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion
like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divi-
deth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord
shaketh the wilderness ; he shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh ; and in his temple doth every one speak
of his glory. The Lord sitteth King for ever ; he
will give strength and peace to his people."

The religion of the Jew made him a poet, a hymn-
ist, a devout describer and extoller of the works and
character of God. The psalms, the odes, the hymns,
contained in the old Hebrew Bible, are incompara-
ble, are inimitable. They are a unique specimen
of literatiu-e; — in their kind, unrivalled and unsur-

AND OF CHRISTIANITY.

31

passable. They can be duly appreciated only by
the eye or the ear which reads or hears them, and
by the heart which understands and feels them.
They are the models and the very mines of devo-
tion ; the Ophir golden region of the spiritual earth.
All Christian nations have learned their lessons of
devotion from the Psalms in the Old Testament.
Christian churches and congi'egations depend upon
them. There is not a church-service book in all
Christendom which does not take its gems from
this source. They constitute the wealth of the de-
votional world. Without them, our religious meet-
ings would lose half their interest. Our churches
would be poor in point of spiritual furniture. They
cannot be rich without them.

And here we note, that this spirit of devotion, —
these sentiments of trustfulness, thankfulness, love,
and praise, in the Jewish mind, were obviously the
resultants of their monotheism. It was because
their Divinity was one personal being that they so
loved and confided in him. The unity of God
served to concentrate their affections and thoughts.
The fact was different among the Gentiles. Their
gods were many. Their affections, consequently,
were divided ; and, being divided, they were weak.
Hence there was no spirit of devotion in them.
Of devotional composition they had none, or next
to none ; no devotional odes, no spiritual songs.
They sometimes sang the adventures, the for-
tunes, the exploits, and the praises of their gods ;
but they furnish no examples of devotional medita-
tion and feeling. Faith in the unity of God, strict

32 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

personal unity, was the fountain whence flowed
those sweet streams of devotion. They can flow
from no other source. The doctrine of the Divine
unity has been impaired among Christians of the
middle and modern ages, and it has injured the de-
votional spirit. It has divided the affections. The
holy love of Christians has chiefly been drawn forth
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father has been
revered, but it is the Son who has been loved. They
may have prayed to the Father, but their hope has
been in the Son. The former has been the object
of their fear and submission ; the latter, of their joy
and thankfulness.

But what effect did the monotheism of the Jews,
and the holiness of God's character, have upon
them ? Were the Jews a better people than others ?
In order to answer this inquiry, it is requisite to
compare the character and manners of these two
descriptions of men, — the Jews and the Gentiles.
We therefore pass to the third phase or mani-
festation of the religious element in human na-
ture, — .

III. Gentilism. This did not succeed Judaism,
and grow out of it, but existed cotemporaneously
with it. Both Judaism and Gentilism succeeded
the patriarchal ages, and were simultaneous in their
prevalence.

The religion of the Gentiles may perhaps justly
be denominated the worship of nature. Their
gods were natural agents, tendencies, laws, and
phenomena. Because these produced effects, divi-
nity was accorded to them. As the sun is the most

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 33

glorious agent in the visible world, it became the
chief god of many nations. The Horus of the
Egyptians, the Baal of the Phoenicians, the Bel of
the Chaldeans, it is believed, was no other than the
name of the sun regarded as a deity. The sun
directly made the day, and indirectly the night. It
gave life, comfort, and beauty to the earth, and to
the creatures which move or grow upon it : and its
beneficence was equal to its power. How, then,
could there be a higher god than the sun ?

There was a tendency in the earth to yield bread-
stuffs, and an art among men by which the ground
was caused to produce them. This tendency and
art were converted into divinities, and called Ceres
and Saturn ; a tendency and an art which produced
the grape and wine ; and of these Bacchus became
the embodiment and representative, — the god of
wine. There was something in nature that com-
municated strength to the human body ; and this
something was embodied in Hercules, who had
been a very strong and useful man. That power in
nature which shot forth the lightning, and roared out
the thunder, must be great and uncontrollable; hence
the thunderer and the chief of the gods, under the
appellation of Jupiter, who had been a superb king
and conqueror. Thus, manifestly, were the thou-
sand gods and goddesses of the Gentile nations
produced. They represented the various powers of
nature ; and the worship of them may not impro-
perly be denominated the worship of nature. They
seem to have had no god whom they calle,d Creator,
or to whom they attributed the origin of all things.

34

DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

The originating power lay back of the gods, who
were as dependent upon it as all other creatures.
Hence the doctrine of fate, — a blind, ineffable, and
unintelligent power, to which the gods, as well as
men and things, were subjected.

Religion, among the Gentiles, was appreciated
very differently from what it was among the Jews.
With the latter it was a most serious concern ; but
with the former it ^vas a kind of amusement. Their
mythology was filled with accounts and stories
which amused them : it gave scope and play to
their fanc};^ and imagination. Their religious festi-
vals were occasions and seasons of hilarity, amuse-
ment, dissipation, and debauchery. Those of the
Jews were times of solemnity. They not only
congregated to feast and rejoice, but sometimes
also to fast and to weep. As a general thing, the
religious anniversaries of the one people were moral
and useful ; those of the other, carnal and corrup-
tive. The Jew attended a public ordinance to dis-
charge a duty, to honor God ; the Gentile went as
to a play, to enjoy himself.

Yet neither in the one case nor in the other were
the concomitants and the results either wholly
good or entu'ely evil. Some benefits accrued to the
Gentile from his religion ; and some disadvantages
to the Jew from his. The former obtained some
elevation of mind and thoughts. He was led to
contemplate another and a higher sphere of exist-
ence than this life and world. The gods had a resi-
dence and a condition far above ours. Even the
ghosts in the lower world were more intelligent and

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 35

refined there than when here on earth. Their
religion, doubtless, had some effect to give their
thoughts and aspirations an upward direction. The
Gentile, therefore, on the whole, was not cursed,
but blessed, by his religion.

Nor did the Jew, from his religion, reap nothing
but benefits. There was a tendency in it to forma-
lity and exclusiveness. And this tendency w^rought
out its effects. The Jews did become a nation of
formalists and bigots. Their righteousness was
little other than ceremonial. They thought them-
selves holy, and despised others. It was " a grie-
vous fault, and grievously have they answered it."

Compared with the patriarchal worship, the Jew-
ish was superbly magnificent. The patriarch had
no temple or tabernacle in which to worship ; no
altar more than a heap of earth o^' a naked rock ;
no attendants more than his household and friends.
But the Jew had, first, a tabernacle, which was
composed, in part, of precious metals to the amount
of more than a million of dollars ; and, second, a
temple, which cost perhaps a hundred-fold as much
as the tabernacle. In the Jewish sanctuary was a
brazen altar for the burnt-offerings, and a golden
one for incense. At his sacrifice, the patriarch
officiated in his coarse, ordinary mantle ; at the
tabernacle and temple, the priests were clothed in
vestments of fine twined linen, ornamented with
gold and precious stones. The assembly of w^or-
shippers consisted of thousands gathered from all
the twelve tribes of Israel. The whole of the appa-
ratus and scene was august, grand, imposing. The

36 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

worship of the patriarchs was simple : that of the
Jews was magnificent.

But were the morals of the Jews better than
those of the Gentiles? At this distance of time,
it is not easy to decide from known facts of the
case. One fact, however, is tolerably clear. There
was less of slavery among the Israelites than
among the Greeks and Romans. Among these,
the slaves are said to have amounted to more than
one half of the whole population. Among those,
the proportion was vastly less. Solomon, when
about to commence the building of the temple,
caused all the strangers, who were probably en-
slaved, to be then counted, and found the num-
ber of them to be an hundred and fifty thou-
sand. These were the operatives in that great work.
About twenty years after the death of Solomon, we
find two armies of Israelites v^^aging war against
each other : on one side eight hundred thousand
men ; on the other, four hundred thousand. Twelve
hLUidred thousand men, all of them Israelites, en-
gaged in one and the same battle, 2 Chron. xiii. 3.
Contrast these with the one hundred and fifty thou-
sand bondmen, and the balance is eight freemen to
one man in bonds. One eighth of the nation of
Israel are slaves ; one half of the Gentile nations.
Now, if we possessed the requisite data for com-
parison on other points, they might be found as
much to the advantage of the Jews, in respect to
morality, as we find it on the point of slavery. It
is not presumption to infer something in their favor
from the fact, that the Jewish religion contained a

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 37

strong moral element; while this element in the
religion of the Gentiles was weak, and scarcely
perceptible.

The apostle, in the latter part of the first chapter
of his Epistle to the Romans, describes the moral
character of the Gentiles as being excessively vicious.
Nor does he say in the next chapter, as some perhaps
may understand him, that the Jews were as bad as
they ; but only that, so far as they did commit the
same sins, they were equally guilty as the Gentiles.
The point of the apostle's argument was to prove,
that corruption of morals kept pace with corruption
of religion ; that a vicious theosophy tended to
vitiate the character and manners of a people. We
have akeady stated, that the Jews had become a
nation of formalists and bigots. There were, how-
ever, then, as there always is in similar cases, excep-
tions to the general rule. Formality and bigotry
were things which they had learned by education.
The Jews were born as pure from these faults as
other men. And, during the process of any vicious
education, the natural reason and conscience will,
more or less, reluct and rebel. President Edwards
said that he remembered the time when the severe
doctrines of Calvinism appeared to him to be very
unreasonable. It was, therefore, by educational in-
fluences that to him they were made to take the
appearance of justice and truth. No false system
of doctrine and manners will sit uniformly and
universally easy upon human nature. There is an
unfitness in the one to the other. And there will
be some minds possessed of sufficient strength to

4

38 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

protest ; and these protests will multipl)^ until the
A\Tong is exposed, and the right manifested. No
untruth, no injustice, can endure for ever.

IV. We now come to the consideration of Chris-
tianity,— the last manifestation of man's religious
nature. The previous forms were defective. In
the patriarchal phase there was ignorance, inconsis-
tency, disorder. Men's appetites and passions were
unsubdued, ungoverned ; prone to outbreaks of tur-
bulence and mischief. In the legal or Jewish phase,
there was bondage, servility, formalism, exclusive-
ness. Yet it served to teach the great lesson of
government. Man must be governed ; and, if he
does not govern himself, there is need that some-
thing else should govern him. The apostle Paul
spoke significantly when he said, that " the law was
a schoolmaster " to prepare men for a better dispen-
sation. The Gentile phase was defective. It was
almost destitute of good moral influences. It did
not bring men near to God ; it did not lead them
to purity, righteousness, and peace. They needed
a religion adapted to the wants of human nature ; a
religion that would not conflict with their reason ;
that would satisfy conscience ; that would gua-
rantee their freedom ; that would direct them to
things which are intrinsically good; that would
enable them to govern themselves by principles,
instead of rules and laws ; for good principles are
always good, but laws and rules are not invariably
adapted to all the different circumstances and cases
of life. Men wanted a religion that would bring
them into acquaintance and communion with the

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 39

true God of nature, — him who created the world,
and men, and all things ; for then human nature
and universal nature would be in harmony. And
Christianity, in its purity, is a religion of this
description. The more it is studied and known,
the more perfectly will it be found to fulfil the
above-stated conditions.

It is^with the race, with generic man, as it is
with the individual. At first he is in a state of na-
ture ; actuated by impulses of appetite and passion ;
destitute of experience, knowledge, and good hab-
its. And these he must learn by going through a
process of discipline, under the influence of laws,
authority, and restrictions. " The heir, while he is
a child, is under tutors and governors until the time
appointed by the father." It was as requisite that
the generic man should go through a legal process
of discipline as it is for the individual man ; for,
without it, he cannot understand the principles, and
acquire the habits, requisite to safe freedom and
self-government.

" And, when the fulness of time was come, God
sent forth his Son." Jesus of Nazareth was born,
and at the age of thirty years commenced his min-
istry of instruction and reconciliation. He taught
men how they might become reconciled to God
and to nature ; that they must live in harmony
with God, and with the world as God made it ; be
submissive, confiding, ti'ustful, diligent in prov-
ing all things and holding fast to that which is
good. In his discourses he urged chiefly those du-
ties which are things intrinsically good, in distinc-

40 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

tion from those which are but relatively good ;
moral duties in preference to ceremonial ; justice,
mercy, faith, and the love of God, before tithes, sacri-
fices, and forms. He insisted strongly on purity of
heart, meekness, forgiveness of injuries, intenseness
of desire and pursuit for the righteousness and felici-
ty of the kingdom of God. He taught that sin was
bondage, and that holiness was freedom. He insist-
ed less upon such duties as fasting, and keeping the
sabbath, because these are but ceremonial, and do
not of themselves constitute real righteousness.
" These," said he, the moral, " ye ought to have
done, and not to leave the other — the ceremonial —
undone." Of the latter the Scribes and Pharisees
possessed an abundance. But the Lord Jesus de-
clared to his hearers, " Except your righteousness
exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven."

The difference between the religion of Moses and
that of Christ may be noted in the following par-
ticulars : —

1. The requisitions of the Mosaical law were
chiefly for ritual observances. But the demands
of Christianity are chiefly of a moral character. The
former was of the letter ; the latter is of the spirit.

2. The blessings and the penalties annexed to
the law of Moses were present and earthly ; those
of the gospel are chiefly future and heavenly.

3. The Jewish religion was exclusive, and almost
anti-philanthropic ; the religion of Christ is liberal
and fraternal. It opens its arms to the embrace of
all mankind. It contemplates a brotherhood of all

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 41

nations, languages, and people. The God of the
Jews was a national Deity ; the God of Christianity
is the Father of all mankind.

4. The law of Moses made its subjects bondmen ;
the gospel of Christ makes them freemen. The
former were governed by an authority over them,
and out of themselves ; the latter govern them-
selves by the application of Christian principles
to their conduct. And they apply these prin-
ciples according to their own conviction of right,
propriety, and duty. The difference between a law,
a rule, and a principle has already been intimated.
In every good law there is aKvays something which
makes it good. This something is an element or
principle. It is something more primordial than
the rule or law itself. There are but few Christian
rules, laws, or precepts, that are of so simple and
elementary a composition as to be always right
and useful. But good principles are unchangeable,
and uniformly right. As there are elements, un-
changeable elements, in the material world, so like-
wise in the moral or spiritual. And it is by the
presence of these that aU acts, and courses of ac-
tions, are determined as to their moral character.
The true, the enlightened, the advanced Christian
understands these principles, and is, or ought to be.
at liberty to apply them. He has no master upon
the earth. He makes his own laws, and is bound to
answer to none but to his Master and Father in
heaven.

5. The Jew had but a small chance to make
mental and moral progi*ess ; the Christian is encou-

4*

42 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

raged to grow in grace and in knowledge, to make
attainments, to strive for the stature of perfect men
in Christ Jesus. It was expected of a Jew, that
he would be an obstinate, stationary conservative ;
it becomes a Christian to forget the things which
are behind, and to press forward to those which are
before.

6. and last. The penalties annexed to the Mosai-
cal code were severe and sanguinary. The death-
penalty was frequent. It was the punishment
for murder, for adultery, for sabbath-breaking, for
some descriptions of theft, for stubbornness in a
son, for constructive idolatry. Christianity leaves
the offender in the hands of God. It seeks his
reform, not his destruction. Jesus said to the
woman, " Go, and sin no more." " Vengeance is
mine, I will make recompense, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if
thirsty, give him drink ; for, in so doing, thou shalt
heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of
evil, but overcome evil with good."

But what has been the real character of Chris-
tianity in the world ? Has it been always pure,
complete, uncorrupt ? Far otherwise : in different
times and ages, it has had different phases and fea-
tures. There have been the Apostolic, the Catholic,
the Papal, and the Protestant.

1. Apostolical Christianity. It differed little from
the original, evangelical type, except in one point,
— the contrast between faith and works. In our
Saviour's time, no such contrast was made. Faith
and works were homogeneous. The one was the

AND OF CHRISTIANITY.

43

tree ; the other, the fruit. But, in the times of the
apostles, new relations had come up. The Gentiles
wished for admission into the church. And the
question was. Shall they be admitted with or with-
out the Mosaical ordinances ? And the observance
of these was denominated the deeds of the law.
The apostle Paul contended for the liberty of the
gospel; — the liberty of either using those ordi-
nances or omitting them. He maintained that
faith, working by love, was the ground of justifica-
tion, the foundation of righteousness ; and not the
observance of the Jewish ordinances. Hence came
the contrast between faith and works. But the
apostle did not impugn the doctrine of good works.
He enjoined them. He declared that "the doers of
the law shall be justified." He earnestly exhorted
his brethren to abound always in the work of the
Lord, assuring them " that their work in the Lord
was not in vain."

2. The next phase of Christianity, after the Paul-
ine or Apostolic, we have called the Catholic. In
the third and fourth centuries of the Christian era,
the church was divided into sects and denomina-
tions ; and the most conservative party, which was
also the largest, assumed to itself the title of catho-
lic ; i. e. general, universal. They claimed to be the
whole Christian church. The other parties, called
by different names, Gnostics, Montanists, Sabel-
lians, Arians, Novatians, Donatists, &c., whose col-
lective number, it is said, was at some periods
larger than that of the Catholics, were denied the
Christian character, anathematized as heretics, and

44 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

in a state of condemnation. The Catholic party
being larger than any one of the other, and being
spread over all countries, had great advantage over
the dissenters ; and they improved it to do them
great injustice. The Catholics erected a new stand-
ard of Christianity. The old and the true standard
was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it was
faith in the doctrine of what they called the Econo-
my ; adhesion to the Catholic party. It was admit-
ted that their faith in Christ might be as sincere as
that of the Catholics, and their morals also as good.
But they were out of the pale of the church ; and
the church was the Christian ark ; and all out of it,
remaining so, were as sure subjects of perdition as
those out of Noah's ark were of destruction from the
flood. Such had now become the phase of Chris-
tianity. Christians of these times had become as
exclusive and as bigoted as the Jews were before
them. The last and special injunction of the Lord
Jesus himself was overlooked, — was forgotten : " A
new commandment I give you, that ye love one
another as I have loved you." And his prayer : " I
pray, not only for these, but for all who shall believe
on me ; that they all may be one, even as we are
one." The majority — if they were such — said.
No : we will not be one and brethren, except with
those " who follow with us."

3. The phase which succeeded the Catholic was
the Papal. It is very frequently called the Roman
Catholic, and sometimes the Romish or Roman. It
acknowledges the Bishop of Rome to be the absolute
sovereign of the whole Christian church, and even of

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 45

the world. He is God's vicar upon earth. His
throne overshadows that of princes. They bow
down to him, and kiss his very foot. When the
continent of America was discovered, the Pope — as
this ecclesiastic is called — assumed that it belonged
to his dominion, and divided it between the kings
of Spain and Portugal. No monarch on earth is
approached and treated with so much ceremonial
reverence and humility. The bishop of Rome at-
tained this distinction very gradually. The Catho-
lic phase may be computed as reaching from the
fourth to the seventh century. In this century, the
claim of the Roman bishop was recognized and
allowed by the emperor of Constantinople. It was
also acknowledged by all the nations in Western
Europe and Northern Africa. And although the
bishops and churches of the East, or what is called
the Greek Church, have refused to succumb before
the Roman pontiff, yet his dominion has been gen-
eral. " The whole world has wandered after the
beast."

The hierarchv of this church has doubtless been
the most systematic and complete of any which
ever existed upon earth. It corresponded to a great
and perfect monarchy. All the individual churches
were subject to their ministers ; and these to the
diocesan bishops ; and these to the archbishop, or
to the metropolitans ; and these dkectly to the
Pope. The whole population of Christendom was
claimed as being rightfully subjects of his Holiness
at Rome. He also claimed inspiration and infalli-
bility. His decisions of controverted points of

46 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

doctrine were considered to be unen-able and final.
All his ordained ministers were regarded as pos-
sessed of a divine unction, which rendered all their
ministrations, especially the sacramental ones, mys-
teriously efficacious. They could pardon sins, and
inffict maledictions. Whatsoever they bound on
earth was also bound in heaven. The church,
through the organization of its sacred ministry,
having the Pope for its head, was believed to be
possessed of an immense fund of merit, arising
from the obedience and sufferings of Christ, mar-
tyrs, and saints, which, at discretion, could be
dispensed and transfeiTed to sinners on earth and in
purgatory, and exonerate them from the pains and
penalties due for then' sins. And these they sold
for money ; and thus money became a substitute for
penances and duty.

Laws, rules, rites, and all the paraphernalia of
ceremonial offices, became as superabundant here
as they had been in the Jewish Church. Christi-
anity almost lost its distinctive character. It was
not spu'it, but letter. It consisted not in moral
righteousness, but in ceremonial. It was external,
not internal ; the power being considered as working
from without to within, instead of from within to
without. The most extravagant estimate was put
upon the importance and efficacy of ordinances.
Baptism washed away sins. The bread and the
wine in the Lord's supper w^ere transformed into
the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ, so that,
in each celebration of that holy rite, there was a
real death and sacrifice of him ; that on such occa-

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 47

sioiis there was a literal fulfilment of the Saviour's
words, " He that cateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, dwelleth in God, and God in him ; and ex-
cept ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son
of man, ye have no life in you."

We do not intend to signify that there was no
true religion in the Papal Church. There was such
religion in the Jewish Church when in its worst
condition. So likewise in the papal communion.
But it was not proper Christianity. It was Chris-
tian in name, but scarcely such in reality. It was
rather Judaism, formalism, ceremonialism. Our
Saviours description applied as wxll to ecclesias-
tical Romans as it did to the Scribes and Phari-
sees, " Ye are like whited sepulchres, vxdiich indeed
appear beautiful without, but within are full of dead
men's bones and all uncleanness." The descrip-
tion, however, is general, not strict. In the time of
the gi'eatest declension in Israel, there were seven
thousand men who remained true and faithful ;
and, doubtless, there have been hundreds of thou-
sands in the Avorst times of Romanism.

4. We now come to the last-mentioned phase of
Christianity, Protestantism. It took form and name
in the sixteenth century. It professes to repudiate
reliance upon ceremonial religion, and commenced
by alleging and maintaining that righteousness and
justification come by faith, not by penances and
indulgences purchased with money. And the word
faith was then employed to signify the religious
action of man's inward nature. It meant some-
thing within him, belief of truth, a feeling of con-

48 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

cern, a desire to lead a godly life, the inward mov-
ing principle of holiness. It was due to this import
of the word that the tracts written in rapid succes-
sion by Martin Luther on the topic of justification
— rather on the subject of religion — spread with
such lightning-velocity over Germany, and moved
the hearts of the people as the trees of the forest
are moved when blown upon by a mighty wind.
And so long as Luther continued to write in this
style of sentiment, setting forth " the law of the
spirit of life " in contrast v^dth " the law of dead
works," his pen was powerful. " They were not
able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he
spake." The flame of the reformation spread like
fire over the ground in the time of drought. One
half of Germany and nearly one half of Em*ope
became illuminated and converted. But, when the
illustrious reformer came to settle his theology, he
affixed another signification to the term faith. It
now signified reliance ; reliance on the righteousness
of Christ for justification. He probably felt in a
manner compelled to this course in order to carry
out his doctrine of justification by grace, and to
keep as wide as possible from the Romish views on
the same subject. The Protestants thought that
they must have a theology and an organization ;
that they must all think alike, and think as diffe-
rently from the Papists as could well be. The
latter were tinctured with Pelagianism. Works had
some part to perform in the justification of believers.
Protestantism, therefore, would utterly exclude them.
It was unfortunately done ; and the doctrine put

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 49

forth by the Council of Trent, in the article of justi-
fication, is, in our view, far more reasonable and
scriptiu'al than that of Martin Luther and John
Calvin. And the Protestant Reformation has gained
no ground in Europe, but has lost considerable,
since the character of their theology became defi-
nite and fixed.

The Reformation was an effort to gain spiritual
life and religious liberty. The reformers asserted
their right to interpret the Bible for themselves ;
their liberty to believe, profess, and practise reli-
gion according to their own convictions. And they
carried their point against the Romish Catholics ;
and here they tried to stop. The liberty which they
had claimed as a Christian right for themselves,
they were very loth to accord to their Protestant
brethren. In many, and even in most cases, they
have denied it. The Lutheran Church denied it to
the Reformed Church ; the Calvinists have denied it
to the Arminians ; the Episcopalians have denied
it to the Puritans ; and Puritans have denied it to
Baptists, Antinomians, and Quakers. Spiritual do-
mination has strenuously endeavored to erect its
throne on Protestant soil ; and it has wrought much
of the diabolical work of persecution. But it cannot
prevail. The very first principle of Protestant-
ism forbids it. Every persecuted Protestant may
turn upon his persecutors, and say, — I do no more
than what you and your fathers have done. They
renounced Romanism because they judged it to be
a corrupted Christianity. At a later period, they

repudiated Episcopacy for the same reason ; and
5

50

DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

on this very account do I repudiate your views.
And have I not the same right to renounce them
that you had to renounce the Church of Rome and
the Church of England?

Protestantism has been constantly working out
its mission. New views and new sects are con-
tinually springing up. These things must needs be ;
,and, where thought is free, the fact cannot be other-
wise. If all primitive Protestants had remained
fixed in the same position, and their descendants
imitated their example, we should now possess no
more religious liberty than was enjoyed in Europe at
the beginning of the sixteenth century. The longer
any sect or denomination remains quiet, undis-
tui'bed by doubters or seceders, the more intolerant it
becomes. The very fact of Protestants being split
up into hundreds of divisions is the seed of religious
liberty. And hence the fact that such liberty has
gained more in Great Britain than on the continent
of Europe, and more in America than in Great
Britain. The more our divisions, the wdder the
sphere of our liberty. Every new sect puts forth an
additional claim to the charter of liberty ; every new
view challenges its right to toleration and charity.
It increases resistance against the arm of bigotry,
and debilitates it. Our religious liberty is greater
than that enjoyed by our fathers ; yet it is not per-
fect. No man should incur any stigma or depre-
ciation of esteem, in consequence of an opinion
deliberately formed, honestly entertained, and frankly
professed.

Protestantism will have accomplished its mission.

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 51

when every Christian shall be at liberty to express
his views of religion with the same freedom, unmo-
lested, that Martin Luther took to express his, at so
much inconvenience and peril. And Christianity
also will have accomplished its mission, when every
believer shall make the same distinction between
ceremonial and moral righteousness that was made
and taught by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christianity and Protestantism both arose in the
world under similar circumstances of condition ; in
times of declension, error, and corruption. And
they have hitherto been as a light shining in a dark
place. Neither of them has been generally well
understood, nor duly appreciated, nor fully devel-
oped. " And the light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehendeth it not."

Progress, however, is the great law of God's
work. This truth is indicated in the passage first
quoted : " First the blade, then the ear, afterw^ard the
full corn in the ear. " The blade, the ear, and the full
corn, are metaphors of the three general states of
human society. There is, first, the natural state ;
second, the legal state ; third, the enlightened state.
In their natural state, men Hve without laws, rules,
or authority. In the legal state, they are guided
and bound by laws, rules, and authority. In the
enlightened state, they are freed from prescriptive
laws, and are governed and guided by the principles
of equity and truth in their own minds. They
make their own rules for every occasion, and make
the right ones. No man does a wrong to his neigh-
bor. These three states are in advance, one above

52

DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

the other. The legal state is above the natural
state ; and the enlightened state is above the legal.
Men must pass through the legal, before they can
arrive at the enlightened. It is impracticable for
them to leap, at a single bound, from the state of
nature into that of enlightenment. " So God or-
dains." The law is in man's constitution and the
world's.

The three generic states, above described, are not
meted and bounded by narrow lines of demarca-
tion, but are separated by broad belts from each
other ; separated as day and night are by the dawn
and the twilight. They are rather things of de-
grees than of strict definition.

There are yet some of mankind in the natural
state ; but the gi-eat majority of them are in the
legal. They are under the bondage of law. And
some portions of men are now entering the condi-
tion of enlightenment. But the goal is far ahead.
It will probably be finally reached. The race of men
have been constantly making either direct or indirect
advances. The retrogradations are but partial, lo-
cal, temporary. We are not duly aware of the real
amount of advance which has been made by the
mind and powers of man. Compare the condition
of the people in Lord North's Island wdth that of
the best societies in Europe. What an immense
disparity ! A mere description of it would fill vol-
umes. And yet these poor people are a little above
the bare natural state. They have learned some-
thing by living in the world. The diiference be-
tween the pure natm'al state and that to which the

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 53

most enlightened have arrived, is greater than that
which now separates any two examples of human
society. And all this difference has been learned.
It is ground which has been gained, acquired, made,
by the active and rational powers of the human
mind.

Christianity may be viewed and distinguished
according to the threefold distinction noted in this
discourse. In the times of Christ and the apostles,
the new religion was simple, unlearned, unphilo-
sophical. It had no definitions, no dogmas, no plat-
form-creed, except the formula of baptism. This
was the blade; the comparatively natural state.
Then followed the legal state, which included the
Catholic and the Papal. It came as a matter of
necessity. When men's minds have become pos-
sessed of great truths, they will soon commence the
work of examining and analyzing them ; of defining
the words employed to express them. New occa-
sions for this will arise from the new relations which
come up. Christianity soon came in contact with
the ceremonial Jewish law. This occasioned the
controversy in which the apostle Paul took so great
a part and felt so great an interest. It next came
in contact with the Oriental philosophy, and the
Gnostic form of Christianity was developed. This
occasioned much disputation for two or three cen-
turies; and then Gnosticism seems to have died
out. Simultaneously with the Eastern, it came in
contact with the Western, philosophy, out of which
came the doctrine of the Logos, and the scheme

called the Economy, and afterward called the Tri-
5*

54 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION

nity. New ideas were constantly coming up, which
could not be settled without controversy and schism.
The fault did not lie in the tendency to definition,
dogma, and system. All this was right. But it
was not right, but very wrong, to set up the dogmas
of a few men as a standard of orthodoxy for all
others. This was bigotry and tyranny. It has been
the constant bane in the church, and will probably
be the last of the tares to be weeded out of it.

All the numerous varieties of religion which have
appeared in the world, have doubtless originated
from the same principle of human nature. Man
possesses a religious element in his constitution.
It must be the same in all ages, in all climates,
in all conditions of society. In its root it is good.
It must be so ; for it is a part of man, whom God
made in his own likeness. It is an egregious error
to say, as it has been said, that all true religion is
from God, and all other from the devil. Men's
errors in religion have not proceeded from blank per-
versity. Much more is due to their ignorance, their
blind zeal, their overweening self-confidence. They
might have outgrown their errors much faster than
they have, provided they had possessed a willingness
to be corrected. Multitudes of men, and even of
Christians, seem to set their faces against correction.
They seem resolved not to be convinced. They
pride themselves on their conservatism, as though
it were a virtue to be stationary, to come to a dead
stop in religious faith and knowledge.

Idolatry has been a prominent feature in the face
of the religious world ; though it be an en'or, yet

AND OF CHRISTIANITY. 50

not of SO heinous a character as many seem to be-
lieve. It consists in the use of statues or images
in public worship. They are not considered gods,
but the representations of them. This is the cha-
racter given to them in the second commandment
of the decalogue : " Thou shalt not make unto thy-
self any graven image, or the likeness of any thing
in heaven above, or in the earth below." The image
is here described, not as being a pretended god, but
the likeness of one. Jehovah is represented as hav-
ing forbidden the use of images. No image could
represent him. If, therefore, an image were made
use of, it would represent some god other than
him. On this account chiefly was it that idolatry
is represented as being so intensely odious in the
sight of God. It was putting another in his place.
The following statement may not be wide of the
truth, that the Jews and the Gentiles acknowledged
and worshipped the same absolute Divinity — so
far as they had an apprehension of one — under
different names, aspects, and relations.

The prophet Isaiah evidently misrepresents the
Gentile carpenter, when he says of him that he takes
a tree of the forest, and uses one part of it for fuel,
and of another part carves an image, and accounts
it of itself to be a real Deity. Idolatry, in its
primordial element, was a holy thing ; the very same
thing both in the Gentile and the Jew.

A question arises. In what directions does religion
improve and become better? It improves in pro-
portion as the true moral element is incorporated
into it. It also improves in proportion as polytheism

56 DEVELOPMENTS OF RELIGION, ETC.

is eliminated out of it. It, moreover, improves in
proportion as it exhibits one God in his entire good-
ness and impartiality, without the smallest mixture
of injustice, unkindness, partiality, and arbitrary
despotism. The Jewish God was partial, jealous,
vindictive ; the Gentile gods were but frail immor-
tals ; the Calvinistic God is a despot ; the Arminian
God has been pronounced weak, wanting in power.
Possibly, however, this judgment may be a mis-
take. The God of the Romish Church is arbitrary,
making distinctions where there is no difference ;
bestowing his grace and salvation according to the
accidents of birth, baptism, sacraments, and ecclesi-
astical organization. The God of the formalist is a
respecter of persons ; a stickler for precise ceremo-
ny ; making more account of rites and forms, than
of uprightness, benevolence, and love of truth.

When all religions shall set forth and adore the
true God in his true character of paternity, impar-
tiality, benignity, omnipotence, and wisdom ; of
whom and from whom are all good things, but no
evil things ; then will there be one true, holy, catho-
lic church. The apostolic testimony of God is, that
he is light, and in him no darkness at all ; that evil
is not from him ; that God cannot be tempted to do
evil, neither tempteth he any man ; that a man is
tempted, when led away and enticed by his own
lust.

57

THE DOCTRINE OF THE FALL EXAMINED
AND REPUDIATED.

"By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners." — Rom. v, 19.
" In Adam all die."— 1 Cor. xv. 22.

The doctrine of " the Fall of man " has long been
one of the prevalent and popular points of belief
among Christians; embraced by the Romish Church,
by the Greek Church, by the Nestorian and the
Armenian Churches ; by nearly all Protestants, in-
cluding Lutherans, Calvinists, Arminians, Quakers,
and Methodists. It has been accounted orthodox
and catholic for these fifteen hundred years.

Upon this dogma of the chm'ch have been erected
many other doctrines, now, and for a long time past,
regarded as essential elements of Christian theology.
Of these are the doctrines of the Trinity, of the
vicarious atonement, of vicarious justification, of
supernatural regeneration, of individual election and
reprobation, of the saints' perseverance, and of in-
dulgences in the Romish Church. These doctrines,
in their theological sense, could not stand for a
day, nor would they be advocated, without the
doctrine of the " Fall " underlying them as a foun-

58

THE DOCTRINE OF THE FALL

dation. Let this single article of theology be sub-
verted, and the others, above mentioned, will be
prostrated forthwith and for ever.

We propose to examine the foundations of this
doctrine. But, previously to doing it, we must ex-
plain and define the import of what is denominated
the Fall, the Lapse, the Apostacy, of man.

It presupposes man to have been created and
constituted pm-e, holy, good, happy. What brilliant
descriptions have been written of the perfection and
felicity of paradisiacal man I His reason, appetites,
and passions were all perfectly harmonized. He
was in full communion with God. He loved ti'uth
and moral excellence. All nature sympathized with
him, and he with nature. There were no storms
in the sky, no tempests on the sea, no thunderbolt
in the clouds, no quakes in the earth, no infection in
the air. But the moment when the first man — or
rather the first human pair — " plucked and ate "
the interdicted fruit in the garden of Eden, the
whole scene was reversed. Man's nature was
marred in its very core. He became a sinner in
character; and this sinfulness of character was in-
herent, immanent, constitutional, hereditary. It
descends to every individual of his posterity.

" She pluck' d, she ate !
Earth felt the -wound ; and nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of "vvoe.
That all was lost."

Such, briefly, is the doctrine of the Fall of man.
We think that none will accuse us of misstating

EXAMINED AND REPUDIATED. 59

and misrepresenting it. Our design has been to
make a fair and a just statement. And we admit
that this doctrine has been the general belief of
Christendom, from the days of St. Jerome and St.
Augustine to the present time. It has been be-
lieved by such eminent men as John Wickliff,
Roger and Francis Bacon, and Sir Thomas More ;
also by John Milton, John Locke, and Sir Isaac
Newton. " The world has gone after it." We
venture, however, to pronounce the doctrine untena-
ble, — an entire mistake. We repudiate it as a
gross and mischievous en'or.

For this our protest against the popular doctrine
of the Fall of man, we assign the following con-
siderations. Will you candidly ponder and weigh
them ?

1. Tlie entire silence of our Lord Jesus C/irist on
this subject. He never taught this doctrine ; he
never recognized it ; he never even alluded to it.
Manifestly he knew nothing of it. The doctrine
had not then been conceived. It was not born until
several centuries afterwards. And as our Lord did
not teach this doctrine, it of course makes no part
of Christianity. What Mahomet did not teach is
no part of Mahometanism ; what George Fox did
not teach does not belong to Quakerism ; and what
John Wesley omitted belongs not to Methodism.
Admit that Abubeker or Omar taught certain things
upon which the Prophet of Mecca was silent, those
things are not Mahometanism ; or that Barclay
and Penn advanced sentiments which the founder
of the Quakers did not teach, those sentiments do

60 THE DOCTRINE OF THE FALL

not belong to Quakerism. And if Paul the apostle,
or if any or all the apostles, inculcated doctrines
which Jesus Christ did not teach, those doctrines do
not belong to Christianity. If Paul taught the doc-
trine of 1he Fall, it does not even then become a
part of pure and proper Christianity. That alone
is Christianity which was uttered from the mouth
of the Lord Jesus himself. Whatever arrogance
and temerity be thought manifested in our dis-
claimer of a tenet which has been espoused, in a
manner, by the whole Christian world, it will be ad-
mitted as some extenuation of om* offence, that this
tenet was never recognized in any of the instruc-
tions of the Lord Jesus, whom we all acknowledge
and adore as the author and finisher of om* faith.
If the doctrine had been true, would he have
omitted the declaration of it? Did he omit any
other great and important truth ? Was he not the
Way, the Truth, and the Life ? What of truth he
did not state in detail, he did in principle ; and thus
his instructions constitute a " complete " code of
law and doctrine. "And ye are complete in him :"
so testified the apostle Paul to the Christians at
Colosse.

2. The fact of the Fall, technically understood, is
not necessary in order to account for the wickedness
which has occurred and prevailed among men.
Theologians have endeavored to prove the doctrine
now before us, from the fact of the actual sinfulness
of human nature ; and they endeavor to prove the
sinful nature of mankind, from the fact of man's
outward wickedness. But the argument is lame

EXAMINED AND REPUDIATED. 61

and inconclusive. The fact that all men sin is no
proof that human nature is radically vicious. All
men do not always live in the commission of sin.
Their transgressions are only occasional. Habits of
wickedness are not natiu*al to them. It is through
ignorance and temptation that men do wickedly ;
and it is by repeating a A^Tong deed that a sinful
habit is contracted. Susceptibility to temptation is
not a sinful infirmity; peccability is not a crime.
Adam and Eve were peccable ; they were suscep-
tible of effective temptation ; they actually yielded
to the tempter. He conquered them. And yet it
is acknowledged on both sides of this question, that
they were constitutionally uncorrupt; no taint in
their nature, — no perversity in their hearts. And on
the same principle that the first sin is accounted for,
may all others also. A propensity to sin for the
sake of sin is not here requisite. Men may sin
without any such propensity. Adam sinned because
he loved fruit and desired knowledge. Yet these
were not evil propensities. It is the improper grati-
fication of feelings and desires, right in themselves,
that constitutes moral fault and guilty crime. There
is no primitive thing which is sinful. Every such
thing is from God, who, when " he beheld all things
he had made, behold, they were very good."

The innate corruption of mankind has been in-
ferred from the very atrocious crimes that have been
committed by men. But these heinous iniquities
are not stranger things than was the transgression
of Adam. When we take into consideration the
very great advantages enjoyed by the progenitors of

62 THE DOCTRLXE OF THE FALL

the human race ; that they, in a manner, were born
adults ; were endowed with a special enlightenment,
— an instinctive civilization, — which supplied the
want of experience and of parental care ; when we
consider the supernatural aids and instructions
afforded unto them, we may be gi'eatly surprised at
their conduct ; we may as properly stand amazed
in contemplation of it, as at any atrocity ever
committed by the most ignorant, barbarized, and
conscience-hardened portion of human existence.
It is no stranger thing, nor a thing more inconsis-
tent with the innate innocence of human nature,
that some men should be murderers, pamcides, and
sodomites, than that the sober, enlightened, and de-
vout Adam, with his no less enlightened help-meet,
should have fallen into the limbo of disobedience
and condemnation.

3. The doctrine of the Fall, theologically under-
stood, is anti-analogical ; it is, moreover, contradic-
tory and absurd. It is a maxim, " Order is Heaven's
first law ; Nature's first law." The tendencies of the
world have been constant and uniform. The first
lion, the first oak, the first dolphin, and the first pearl-
oyster, were types of all the lions, oaks, dolphins, and
pearl-fishes that have ever since been propagated from
them. A genus may run into species and varieties,
but it never changes its essential character. The
oak is an oak always and everywhere. The same
is fact in regard to the lion, the lamb, the olive, the
fig, (fee. ; and the same also in regard to man.
What the first man was, ail his posterity are.
What they are in natru:e and constitution, he also

EXAMINED AND REPUDIATED. 63

must have been. God ordained in the beginning,
that every thing, every creature, animal and vegeta-
ble, should bring forth its own likeness, " every
creature after its kind." The processes of nature
are all analogical : they proceed on the principle of
analogy. But the doctrine of the Fall is in total
violation of this universal law. Analogy says, that,
as Adam was made or born upright, his descend-
ants must likewise inherit the same description of
rectitude. But the doctrine under consideration
says that Adam was made or born holy, but that
all the long lineage of his body are begotten, con-
ceived, and born in sin ; that Adam was a seed, a
root, right, pure, and healthy ; but that all the scions
and stems and shoots which have grown up from
it are unsound, impure, and poisonous. The doc-
trine, therefore, violates the great law of analogy,
by which the wiiole world is manifestly governed.
And is not this sufficient ground for its entire and
devout rejection?

Nor is this the whole. The doctrine is obviously
contradictory and absurd. It represents Adam as
acting in contradiction to his very nature. He was
holy, but his conduct was sinful. He possessed
the good treasure of a right heart, but out of this
treasure brought forth evil things. He loved holi-
ness and hated sin, yet freely preferred the latter to
the former. He devoutly loved the character and
service of God, yet voluntarily yielded himself up
to the will and service of Satan. Having a clear
knowledge of the distinction between right and
wrong, he put the one in the place of the other.

64 THE DOCTRINE OF THE FALL

With a strong preference of holiness to sin, he
chose the latter, and turned his back upon the
former. The fountain was pure and sweet; but all
the water issuing from it is noxious and bitter!
And is not this contradiction and absurdity ?

We may further remark, that particular acts of
an individual of a genus, and the habits acquired by
those acts, do not change the generical constitution,
nor are those habits hereditary. A wild beast may
be tamed, but the tameness is not hereditary. The
offspring of a tamed animal, unless domesticated,
will be wild and savage. A habit is not contracted
by a single act ; nor is the habit, when contracted,
constitutional. The constitution remains what it
was before. A man does not acquire a habit of
intemperance by a single instance of intoxication.
And, after he has become a confirmed drunkard, his
constitution remains untainted; and his children,
if not corrupted by example and use, will never
hanker for the alcoholic draught. Adam's partici-
pation of the forbidden fruit could not have effected
any more change in his constitution than a single
act of a child's disobedience to parental authority.
A dutiful child may disobey in a single instance,
but never have a desire to repeat the transgression.

4. The apostle Paul does not teach nor endorse
the theological doctrine of the Fall. He does not
recognize such a character as that of paradisiacal
man. The Adam of Paul, and the Adam of theo-
logians, are very difterent characters. The Adam
of Paul was a frail, errable, mortal man ; the
Adam of theologians was possessed of an incom-

EXAMINED AND REPUDIATED. 65

parable degi-ee of enlightenment, purity, holiness,
and strength of character. The apostle's Adam
was just as weak as other men ; the theological
Adam was as superior to his descendants as an arch-
angel is to a common man. The Adam of Paul is
the type of man in his infirmity, frailness, and
mortality. He set a bad example, which all men
imitate. He led the way in turning aside from
the right path, and they all follow him. He first
incurred the wages of disobedience, and in this
sense brought sin and death into the world; but
in no other sense. His constitution was mortal at
the beginning : " Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return."

According to the view of Paul, all that was
lost by Adam is regained by Jesus Christ. In the
same sense that men die in the former, they are
made alive by the latter. In the same manner
that men were made sinners by the disobedience
of the one, they are made righteous by the obedi-
ence of the other. But such is not the doctrine of
theologians. According to this, Adam killed the
whole race of man, but Christ quickens only a
part. Adam incurred and communicates death to
men through the law of traduction. Christ redeems
them by paying the debt demanded of them by tiie
law of divine justice. But why is it that men di^e,
if Christ has redeemed them from this death? It
is manifest that theologians have misunderstood
and misinterpreted the aix)stle. He did not under-
stand their doctrine of paradisiacal man and his
fall.

6*

66 THE DOCTRINE OF THE FALL

The real facts of the case, as stated by the apostle,
are not of very difficult comprehension. Adam was
the true type of all natural men. He represents
them in then- weakness, sinfulness, and misery ; and
Jesus Christ is the true type of all upright, regene-
rated, spiritual men. What they have lost by being
frail, errable, sinful, and mortal, they may regain
by becoming penitent, converted, strong in faith,
and persevering unto the end. Adam, by his con-
duct and experience, has showed what men are in
their infirmity. The Lord Jesus Christ, by his
instructions, death, and example, has showed what
they might be in their strength ; that, by denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts and living righteously,
they may become children of God, and made meet
for the inheritance among the saints in the light of
heavenly glory.

5. It would manifestly be inconsistent with the
justice and goodness of God to treat men as he
is exhibited in doing by the doctrine of the Fall.
Christianity exhibits God, not only as a just and
righteous Governor, but also as a kind and merciful
Father; as treating mankind as his children. But
what human father would treat his childi'en as the
doctrine of the Fall represents God as treating man-
kind? Discard, pollute, hate, and ruin the whole
for a single offence of the first-born ; and then
institute a mode of recovery that should be par-
tial, unequal, and of course inadequate ? Provide
a plaster which would not cover the whole sore ?
Designedly recover a few, but banish all the rest
beyond the limits of redemption? And are we

EXAMINED AND REPUDIATED. 67

excusable in attributing to God what would be
dishonorable and wicked in a man ?

6. This doctrine of the Fall has exerted a bad
influence on mankind and in the church. In accor-
dance with it, young children, receiving their first
lessons of religious instruction, and while yet their
hearts are tender and guileless, have been taught
that they are apostates ; that they are enemies to
their Father in heaven ; that they hate God, and
that God hates them ; and that then- hearts must
be changed by a power which is above all human
ability, before they can do any thing right and ac-
ceptable in his sight; that they are constantly
liable to death ; and, dying as they are unconverted,
they will be cast into hell, where the worm dieth
not and the fire is unquenchable. The impressions
made by such instructions cannot be good and hap-
py. They fill the mind w^ith perplexity, torture, and
amazement. The child, like Job in his distressful be-
wilderment, will curse the day of his birth ; will earn-
estly wish that he had never been born. He cannot
be thankful for his existence. He must regard it as
a misery, not as a blessing. The chances are a
fearful odds against hhn. And, as this doctrine
dishonors God, it also misrepresents and disgraces
religion. It makes faith the substance of things
to be feared, instead of " things hoped for." Out
of this doctrine has grown up that of vicarious
atonement and vicarious justification. Uesponsi-
bility has thus been separated from personal charac-
ter and conduct. A man, in the sight of God, may
be adjudged to be what he is not, and to have done

68 THE DOCTRINE OF THE FALL, ETC.

what he never did, and to deserve what he does not
deserve. Out of this principle came the doctrine
of indulgences, as practised in the Church of Rome ;
the commutation of punishment; the pardon of
sins, for money. It is manifestly impossible that
there should be a sound and consistent system of
Christian theology, until the doctrine of the Fall
of man, in its technical sense, be repudiated. It is
a leprous stone, and must mar and corrupt every
edifice into which it is wrought. It confounds
moral principles ; it darkens religious truth ; it
places reason and religion in the attitude of anta-
gonists against each other. This is a deplorable
evil. For both reason and religion are friends to
man ; and friends cannot be hostile. " Come now,
and let us reason together, saith the Lord." " Are
not my ways equal ? are not your ways unequal ? "

69

THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD : TRADITION :
THE INFALLIBLE CHURCH.

"The seed is the word of God." — LuKE,viii. 11.

" He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man." — Matt. xiii. 37.

Our Christian brethren of the Romish communion
hold that the true church of Christ — and they
claim to be this church — is virtually the living
body of Christ himself; that it supplies his place
on earth, possessing and communicating his holi-
ness and truth ; and that this saving holiness and
truth is perpetuated chiefly by tradition ; and, more-
ever, that the church is inerrable in doctrine.

We Protestants devoutly reject this broad claim
of ecclesiastical Rome. But there is an element of
truth contained in it. In a secondary sense, the
church of Christ is his body ; it is called such by
the apostle Paul. And it is also the depository of
Christian doctrine. " The seed is the word of God."
This seed was sown by the Son of man, by our
Lord Jesus Christ. He sowed it when he preached
the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. The me-
dium of communication was preaching. It was
promulgated orally in the numerous towns and

70

THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD :

cities of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee ; sometimes
in the synagogue, in the plain, on the mountain, in
the private house, and in the highway. His man-
ner was the popular. He sowed the seed broadcast.
He wrote nothing ; composed no book ; uttered no
creed ; gave no formula of worship and discipline.
The seed which he sowed was good. It was truth,
and was suited to the wants of the human heart :
it fell, more or less, on gi'ound fitted for its recep-
tion. The seed caught ; it rooted ; it grew ; it
ripened into harvest ; and this seed has never run
out. The Lord Jesus Christ has had disciples on
earth ever since the day when he attended the mar-
riage in Galilee. " The word of the Lord endureth
for ever." " And this is the word which by the gos-
pel is preached unto you." The tares, in the para-
ble, did not destroy the wheat. The wheat lived,
notwithstanding the intermixture of the tares ; both
grew together. And thus also has it been in the
church of Christ. As in the parable the enemy
came and sowed tares, so in the Christian commu-
nion the adversary has introduced errors. These
have greatly multiplied. " Many false prophets have
gone out into the world." But the false Christs
and the false prophets have not subverted the church
of the Saviour. It is founded on a rock, and the
gates of hell cannot demolish it. There has been
Christian truth and a Christian spirit in every age
of the world. The corruptions of Christianity have
not been caused so much by the repudiation of true
doctrine as by the adoption of false. No important
truth of it has ever been lost. Not a kernel of wheat

TRADITION : THE INFALLIBLE CHURCH. 71

was taken away when the tares were sown in the
same field. True, primitive Christianity is very
simple ; so simple that it seemed to most men to be
but foolishness. It was all comprehended in the brief
summary given of it by the apostle Paul, " Repen-
tance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ." And this doctrine of the world's life and
salvation has been propagated and perpetuated
mainly by tradition. It was many years after the
crucifixion of Jesus that any document recorded his
biography and discourses. The Gospels did not
appear until almost the middle of the latter half
of the first century. And it is by tradition that
we are taught to read and to interpret these Gospels.
Without tradition they would now be a dead,
meaningless letter to our eyes. We read them
and we interpret them by rules furnished from the
treasury of tradition. It is tradition which gives us
the Bible. It also gives us the interpretation of the
Bible. And as tradition has brouo:ht us the true
doctrines of Christianity, it has also brought us
many that are untrue. Christians, in every age,
have been called upon to do the work of discrimi-
nation ; to separate the tares from the wheat ; to
prove or test all things alleged to be true, and to
hold fast that which is good. The truth will abide.
Even the power of fire cannot destroy pure gold.
But error is not permanent : it may hold a long
reign, but not for ever. Its time will come, and then
it must die out. God has so constituted human
nature that truth is congenial to it. But error is
heterogeneal. It offends, it disagrees, somewhere.

72 THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD I

And for a long season it may not be perceived and
found out where and w^hat the error is. " But
there is nothing covered. which shall not be revealed ;
nothina: hidden which shall not be made known."

The Lord Jesus committed his truth to the church,
and this church has also retained that truth. " The
church is the pillar and ground of the truth." "What
the whole church has always believed may safely
be put down for truth, and what has been matter of
doubt and debate among Christians may be set down
as doubtful. There are Christian doctrines w^hich
all believers in Christ have embraced ; and it is of
these that the kernel and substance of the gospel of ^
Christ consists. The doctrines which have been
disputed among Christians are, all of them, either
false or comparatively unimportant. There never
has been any controversy among them respecting
the truth of the doctrine of repentance. And this
doctrine covers the whole ground of moral holiness,
of human duty. Just so far as a man repents, he
denies all iniquity, and fulfils all righteousness. We
have but little fault to find with the position so dis-
tinctly laid down and sti*enuously defended by St.
Vincentius, of Levins, that what has been believed
in the church at all times, and in all places, and by
all Christian professors, belongs to Christianity, and
constitutes the essence of it. This also is our
position. But we dissent from our brethren, the
Romanists, in the article of the church. Of whom
does the catholic church of Christ consist ? Is it
an organization ? An hierarchy ? Romanists affirm
this question, and so do the English Episcopalians ;

tradition: the infallible church. 73

perhaps also the Greek Church. But we deny it.
Our Saviour did not institute an organism. The
Scriptures are totally silent on this subject. And
so likewise is reliable tradition. It is professed
faith in Christ which constitutes a visible Chris-
tian; and of all visible Christians does the visible
church consist; — the invisible, of all those whose
hearts and lives accord to their profession. This
distinction of the church into visible and invisible
is recognized both by Romanists and their oppo-
nents. The great central point of difference be-
tween them and ourselves may perhaps be thus
stated : — They hold that the invisible, spiritual
church grows out of the visible and organic. We,
on the other hand, hold that the visible church grows
up from the invisible. According to their view, the
outward church is first, and then the inward. Ac-
cording to our view, the inward is first, and then the
outward. Much depends on the right solution of
this problem. Which of these chm'ches is the pa-
rent, and which the child?

Think for a moment : what is the order of nature ?
Do men first profess and then believe, or do they
first believe and then profess ? Do they first seek
and then desire, or do they not first desire and then
seek ? Which is the natm-al order ? Did Chris-
tianity begin outwardly and work inwardly, or
begin inwardly and work outwardly ? How did
Christianity actually commence ? What is the his-
torical fact on this subject?

It commenced with the preaching of Jesus. He
sowed the good seed. Those who embraced his

74 THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD I

doctrine became his disciples. These disciples,
having multiplied, were called Christians. These
Christians constituted the Christian community, —
the chm'ch. They associated together ; they loved
one another ; they became a brotherhood ; they held
assemblies for religious and devotional exercises.
In process of time they grew into organized com-
munities, formal chm'ches. And the question is.
Did these formal churches make the Christians of
"which they were composed, or did the Christians
make the chm*ches ? If the latter were the fact,
then the church was not first, nor is she properly
the mother of all Christians. The first disciples
became Christians by inward conviction, not by
outward conformity. Christianity made converts ;
and out of these came forth, and grew up, the out-
ward, the visible, the organic chm*ch.

Do Romanists assert that the first Christian
Church consisted of the apostles, and was consti-
tuted such by the Lord Jesus Christ himself? This,
however, is an assumption. He commissioned
them to preach the gospel ; but we have no intima-
tion that he instituted them a formal church. They,
together with those who joined them, soon acted as
a church, as an organized body. But this outward
church consisted of materials which previously ex-
isted. Materials are always first, and then the com-
position. The inward church preceded the outward.
The living stones of which the Christian temple
consists had a being before the temple itself.

Do they allege that Jesus Christ alone, when
he commenced the ministry, was himself the

TRADITION : THE INFALLIBLE CHURCH. 75

church, and that those converted by his word be-
came members with him? — that as Christ alone
first constituted the church, so, in the sequel, the
chm-ch is the Christ upon earth ; — that the church,
having received the promised gift of the Holy
Ghost, the Comforter, the Paraclete, to be with it
and in it to the end of the world, acts the part, and
supplies the place, of the Saviour himself? Now, if
we admit all this, it does not evince nor prove
that the outward and visible church precedes the
inward and invisible. Jesus existed as a man be-
fore he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with
power to be the Messiah. His mind was first illu-
minated on the great subject of his heavenly mis-
sion. His thoughts grasped the purpose, the plan,
and the end, before he commenced the outward
work. The thing was in him before its manifesta-
tion came forth from him.

Indeed, this is the order of nature. There must
be thought before its expression ; there must be will
before there can be voluntary action ; there must
be learning before there can be literature ; there
must be a teacher before there can be pupils or
schools. Schools did not originate learning, but
learning originated schools. The latter promote and
propagate learning, but they could not commence
it. So, likewise, the outward church extends and
perpetuates Christianity ; but it is not the real and
primitive parent of it.

The question returns upon us. What is the
church ? We mean the church absolute and catho-
lic. And our answer is, that the visible church con-

76 THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD I

sists of all those among men who profess faith in
Jesus Christ ; and the invisible church consists of
all those professors whose hearts and lives accord to
their profession. A church which does not embrace
in its pale all Christians of every name, sect, and
nation, cannot be catholic. It is a misnomer when
it is so called. And as there is now no ecclesiastical
organization which includes all Christians, there
can, of course, be no organic Catholic Church in the
world ; and, as we have just said, it is a misnomer
so to describe it.

If the definition and distinction, above made, be
just, they cast light on the central question of prio-
rity relative to the visible and the invisible church.
There must be an inward before there can be an
outward ; a manifestation. The essential elements
of the true church are faith, reverence, uprightness,
benevolence, the love of truth and of goodness.
These are spiritual, and belong to the inward man.
Christianity must have first existed in the mind of
Christ. It was next developed in him ; then in those
who became his disciples. It was a collective, but
not an organic, body. Eventually it assumed an
organization ; but this was not essential to its be-
ing; still less was any particular form of organism.
There might be one organism in this place, and
another organism in that place. It is not the form
of godliness, but the power or spirit of it, which
constitutes its reality.

The visible church is the medium of tradition.
She educates her children ; communicates to them
her own sentiments, belief, customs, and character.

TRADITION : THE INFALLIBLE CHURCH. 77

Thus the true doctrine of Christianity has been
preserved. But tradition has brought down errors
equally as truths. These are the tares of the field.
But they do not root out the wheat : the latter, all
of it, remains. It is overshadowed, choked, and
stinted in its growth ; but it is not killed out. There
is the essence of true Christian doctrine in the
Roman and the Greek Churches; but it is mingled
with the doctrine of men.

Romanists claim for their church the attribute of
inerrability. The church, say they, cannot err.
They are compelled, however, to admit that indi-
viduals may err; that any individual — even the
holy pontiff who succeeds St. Peter — may err.
No individual is infallible. And Dr. Moelher com-
plains that Protestants have misrepresented Catho-
lics by imputing to them the doctrine of what he
terms "individualization." This doctrine he de-
voutly discards. But, in doing this. Dr. Moelher
vu'tually yields up the whole doctrine of the inerra-
bility of the chm'ch. For the church consists of
individuals. Aside from individuals, the church is
nothing but an abstraction. It has no knowledge,
no judgment, no soul ; nothing but a name. If there
be not infallible members in the church, the attribute
of infallibility belongs not to it. For the collective
amount of all that the church knows and believes
is the result of individual knowledge and belief.

It has been the doctrine of many Romanists, that
though the Pope might err, yet general councils
could not err in judgment in regard to any Chris-
tian doctrine. If so, then there must be a majority
7*

78

THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD :

of individuals, of which the council is composed,
who are inerrable. And this must be made known
by the fact of their being the majority. But this
doctrine of the availability of the major number of
voices is the distinctive and efficient principle of
democratic governments. It is antimonarchical.
And monachists and autocrats have held it in devout
contempt. They allege that majorities have been
in the wrong as often as the opposing minorities.
And this allegation is, unquestionably, not far from
the truth.

It may now not be improper nor useless, in con-
clusion, to make up a brief summary of what has
been offered, or might be offered, in this discourse,
on the subject of the church, tradition, and the
incorruptible doctrine of Christianity.

1. The Catholic Church of Christ consists visibly
of all the professors of Christianity ; and spiritually
of all those professors who seek and strive to fulfil
the duties of their holy vocation.

2. The outward and visible chm'ch gi'ows out of
the spiritual and invisible. It is its manifestation.
The spiritual is primary ; the external is secondary.
There could not be the latter without the former.
This underlies that^ and is its basis and support.
There must be the spirit of mercy and alms-giving
in a people, before there will arise among them
humane and charitable societies. There must be
the spirit of philosophy in a nation, before there will
arise in it a " Royal Society," or a scientific " Na-
tional Academy." The body, in the order of nature,
always precedes the shadow and the portrait.

TRADITION : THE INFALLIBLE CHURCH. 79

3. There is but one sense in which the attribute
of infallibility can be predicated of the Christian
church. It is this : The essence of the doctrine
which Christ taught can never be lost. It is the
"incorruptible seed of the word, which liveth and
abideth for ever." It is the leaven in the meal,
which ceases not until it leavens the whole of it.
The ti'uth of this fact stands on the adaptation of
the doctrine of Christ to the moral and religious
nature and wants of man. The seed of the word,
when once caught, fosters its roots so deep that it
never can be eradicated. It is too important, too
interesting, ever to be given up or lost. K some
individuals lose it, others wiW not. And those who
possess, will communicate and transmit it to others ;
and thus they secure its perpetuity.

4. Though the good seed of the word is perpetu-
ated, yet it is not in its original purity. The enemy
sows tares in the field ; and these tares propagate
themselves side by side with the wheat. Tradition
hands down as many errors as — and probably
more, too, than — truths. Long and general tradi-
tion is no adaquate evidence of a doctrine that it
is true. " To the law and to the testimony : if it
accord not with these, there is no light in it."

Most of the great errors that have obtained a place
in the vehicle of tradition can be historically traced.
Such is the fact in regard to the doctrines of the
Trinity ; the piacular atonement ; the federal char-
acter of the fall and the recovery ; the millennium,
and the supremacy of St. Peter. Romanists allege
that these doctrines have been transmitted by unin-

80 THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD I

terrupted tradition from Christ himself. But their
position is assumed and gratuitous. It is an un-
waiTanted assumption ; and not only assumptive,
but false. For it can be evinced from authentic
history, that there has been a time, since the ascen-
sion of Christ, when these doctrines were not recog-
nized by Christians.

5. The claim of inerrability for any individual,
or for any denomination of Christians, is presump-
tuous and incredible. Will Romanists themselves
name the individual or the individuals who were
ineiTable in then* faith and opinions ? Will they
affirm that St. Athanasius, or St. Augustine, or St.
Bernard, or Thomas Aquinas, or Duns Scotus, were
infallible men ? And, if they were not such, who
were ? And if no individuals were perfectly sound
in the faith, then surely the community to which
they belonged could not have been inerrable.

6. Among all the numerous Christian denomina-
tions which now exist, or which have existed, no
one of them can justly claim pre-eminence above all
others in point of true doctrine. They may make
the claim, but can they duly support it ? For how
can such a claim be duly sustained ? Only by one
test ; the one given by our Lord Jesus Christ : " By
their fruits ye shall know them." This is the
rule.

The question, therefore, is this : What denomina-
tion is there, or has there been, in Christendom,
which clearly and decisively excels all others in
the graces and virtues, the duties and the righte-
ousness, of the religion of Christ? Our Saviour

TRADITION : THE INFALLIBLE CHURCH. 81

said, " Let your light so shine before others, that
they may see your good works and glorify your
heavenly Father." Now, whose light shines con-
fessedly the strongest ? Do the Romanists exhibit
a stronger light than the Protestants? — the Epis-
copists than the Presbyterians? — the Calvinists
than the Arminians? — the Orthodox than the Uni-
tarians ? All these denominations have their light ;
and doubtless their light is severally in proportion
to the measm-e of truth in their several doctrines.
And undoubtedly their lights are not all equal in
their lustre. But the difference is not so palpable as
to be generally acknowledged. And the plain infer-
ence is, that the true church of Christ is not confined
to any order or sect of Christians. Christianity
existed pure only in the mind of Christ. In all
Christian denominations, a measure of it is appre-
hended, but not perfectly. But which of them
possesses the most ? They who have the best light ?
But whose is the best light ? That which manifests
the most of that charity which is not puffed up, and
seeketh not her own ; rejoicing not in iniquity, but in
the truth. Where is there most of the benignity and
gentleness of Christ ? Brethren, be not puffed up
one against another. Judge nothing before the
time, until the Lord come, and make manifest the
counsels of all hearts ; and then shall every man
and every sect have their deserved judgment and
due praise from God.

82

THE REAL AND THE APPARENT IN
BIBLICAL THEOLOGY.

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.''
John, vii. 24.

A CAUTION against hasty and precipitate judgment ;
a judgment predicated on partial premises, on nar-
row views, on appearance, on first impressions.

Such judgments are often formed and long re-
tained. They become popular opinions, obstinate
prejudices. Such was the fact among the Jews.
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. But the Jews
rejected this claim. And why ? Because he w^as
not a monarch. The prophets had predicted the
Messiah as a royal personage ; as a majestic king ;
as a strenuous conqueror, who should wield an iron
sceptre, and crush all refractory and rebellious na-
tions. This judgment, however, was predicated on
partial views, on appearance ; for the prophets
had also made other representations. They had de-
scribed the Messiah as an instructor ; as a reformer;
as a preacher of good news ; of deliverance to the
captives, the prisoners, the oppressed, the meek of
the earth. Now, which of these representations

THE REAL AND THE APPARENT, ETC. 83

was the most reliable ? Which was the real and the
true, and which only the apparent and the seeming ?
To determine this question, reason and considera-
tion were requisite. Comparison and reasoning
should be instituted; time for observation should
be taken. It was hazardous to come to a hasty
conclusion. A judgment formed on first impres-
sions, on appearance, might be altogether en'oneous.
And, indeed, such was the judgment which the
Jews passed upon the claim of Jesus to be the Mes-
siah. They did not take into consideration the vast
superiority of a moral Messiah over a political one.
The former acts by moral force ; by dispensing
knowledge, persuasion, enlightenment, and hope;
by giving an example, a model. The latter depends
upon the sword, upon law, upon the infliction of
penalties, upon the stocks, the prison, and the gibbet.
And which of these Messiahs does reason decide
will be the most efficient and successful ? Appear-
ance is in favor of the military and political one;
yet reason and consideration will determine in
favor of the moral. And this, doubtless, is the righte-
ous judgment.

The Bible is pervaded by what, in loose language,
we may call two theologies, two doctrines. The one
may be described as the seeming and the apparent ;
the other, as the real and the true. The difference
between them, and the relation which one sustains
to the other, may be illustrated by certain facts in
nature, especially in astronomy. The sun and
the moon, for instance, to appearance are of equal
size, and at about the same distance from the

84 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

earth. This is the apparent fact ; but the real fact
is far different. The sun is more than a million
times larger than the moon, and many thousand
times farther from the earth. To appearance the
earth is vastly larger than the sun ; but in truth the
sun is incomparably larger than the earth. And it
was natural, and even inevitable, that mankind
should, for many ages, have entertained erroneous
impressions on this subject. They had not made
the observations requisite to correct appearances. A
long lapse of time was requisite, and the true result
could not be forcibly hastened. As nature contains
and presents all the phenomena necessary to the
consti'uction of a true system of astronomy, so like-
wise we assume that the Bible contains all the
elements of a true theology. But in neither case
is the system made out to our hands. It must, in
both cases, be made out by patient study and care-
ful observation. We will now proceed to take
notice of certain instances of the general fact now
brought before us.

I. The Bible seems to represent God as liable to
similar passions and infirmities as men. It is de-
clared of him that he repented that he had made
man on the earth ; also that he repented that he
had made Saul king over Israel. And his repent-
ance is described as being very deep, and inducing a
total change of conduct. " It repented God that he
had made man ; it grieved him to his very heart."
" And God said, I will destroy man whom I have
created." And he is represented as actually do-
ing it ; as sending a flood of waters, by which all

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 85

in whom was the breath of life perished, one single
family excepted. Such appeared to be the fact to
the men who survived the flood. The writer of the
book of Genesis stated what he believed, and what
his cotemporaries believed. They formed their
judgment on appearances. Tradition related that
the generation immediately before the flood had
become excessively vicious and corrupt, so that the
earth was filled with disorder and violence. And,
as God reversed his conduct toward man, it seemed
as if he was disappointed and angry ; for he seemed
to act as one filled with vexation and ^vrath.

There are many other passages which represent
God as subject to anger, and as saying that he
would not do as he had done, and as he intended to
do. But there are other scriptui-al passages which
correct these representations. It is declared of God
that he is not a man that he should repent ; that he
is of one mind ; that none can change him ; that the
thoughts of his heart are the same throughout all
generations ; that he changes not. And the ques-
tion now comes up, Which of these classes of pas-
sages is the true and reliable ? And it must be
determined by the candid, enlightened, and unbi-
ased judgment of human reason. No other umpire
in the case is possible.

II. The Bible seems to teach the doctrine of Di-
vine predestination and particular providence ; and
this doctrine is and has been extensively entertained.
It is a tenet of what is called orthodox Christianity,
that " God hath foreordained whatsoever comes to
pass." It is believed that God's decrees are particu-

86 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

lar ; that every single event is individually predeter-
mined ; that God has plans as men have, combin-
ing a process of means to accomplish a particular
end. And there are many accounts given in the
Scriptures which seem to confirm this doctrine.
Such is the story of Joseph, of Ruth, of David, of
Esther, and many others.

But there are also passages of Scripture which
give a different view of Divine Providence. It is
declared that all things come alike unto all ; to the
good and the bad ; to the clean and the unclean ;
to the sober and to the profane. Here a general
providence is recognized. The sun shines for the
benefit of every man indiscriminately. The showers
fall on the grounds of the righteous and the unright-
eous without distinction. The thunderbolt is as
likely to strike the saint as the sinner. The pesti-
lential malaria poisons the breath and the blood of
the innocent and the guilty. The following is a re-
markable passage : " I know that whatsoever God
doeth, it shall be for ever ; nothing can be taken from
it, nor any thing added to it." What is the sense of
it ? Does it not plainly signify, that God instituted
his whole providence at once and in the beginning ;
that it is general and unchangeable ; that it never
needs or receives any new modification, revision, or
interference ; that God has no particular purposes,
no particular plans ; that it is one perfect whole,
and contains no combination of means to particu-
lar ends ; that it works right on, regardless of single
and separate events as such ; that God has one

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 87

great purpose, and does one great work ; and that
no alteration would render it better.

God's general providence brings to pass many
coincidences which seem to have been premedi-
tated. Such they were in the case of Joseph and
his brethren. He himself believed them to have
been special appointments of God ; that God even
instigated his brethren to hate him, to intend his
murder, and finally to sell him for a slave. David,
also, believed that his escapes and triumphs w^ere
ordered and accomplished by the Lord. The Is-
raelites believed that their national fortunes, both
the disastrous and prosperous, were the Avork of
God. Yet, when we examine their history in
detail, every particular event — miracles alone ex-
cepted— will be found to be within the compass
of a divine general providence. The Israelites
were about four hundred years in conquering the
land and the nations of Canaan ; sometimes gain-
ing, and sometimes losing, ground. Thus the colo-
nies from Egypt and Phoenicia established them-
selves in Greece; and the colonies from Greece
established themselves in Italy. All within the
compass of God's general providence.

There is an order and sequence in all providen-
tial phenomena. Every event has its history, which
might be written, had we the requisite knowledge.
The fortunate and the unfortunate occuiTcnces are
alike in this respect. We once heard a Doctor of
Divinity commence an ordination-sermon with the
following sentence : " For several thousand years
God has been preparing the way for the solemnities

88 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

of this day." He intended the ordination then to
be solemnized. But his remark was as true in re-
pect to every other event of that day, and of all days,
as it was in respect to the ordination. One occur-
rence is preparatory to another ; and this is equally
the fact in regard both to the disasters and to the
blessings of life.

The general providence of God may, and doubt-
, less does, accomplish all the good there is in the
world. No one can prove the contrary. What,
then, could be gained by having a particular provi-
dence ? Could it have prevented the dreadful ship-
wrecks, explosions, and other accidents, which have
recently occurred? Not at all. What has been
done cannot be undone.

III. The Bible seems to teach the doctrine of the
divine institution of devotional, piacular, and vica-
rious sacrifices. The custom of offering sacrifices is
of immemorial antiquity. At first, and for a long
time, they appear to have been purely devotional ;
mere services of homage rendered to God ; acts of
divine worship. The first conception of them was
probably suggested by the custom of bringing dona-
tions of good things to their prince. In early times,
before the practice of taxation came into use, the
prince was, in part, supported by voluntary gifts.
There is an intimation of this in the history of Saul,
the son of Kish. It is related that there were some
men of Belial who said, " How shall this man serve
us ? " And then it is added, " They brought him no
presents." These voluntary gifts were acknowledg-
ments of the prince's sovereignty and justice; they

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 89

were expressive of loyalty and respect. And if they
thus honored their prince, why not do a similar
service to their Divine Sovereign and Benefactor?
Why not honor him with gifts ? And though he
had no need, no use, for them, yet they should thus
manifest their gratitude and piety. They would first
consecrate them to him, and then destroy them
that they might not be put to any secular use. It
was considered an enormous sacrilege to make a
secular use of any devoted thing. When the Cris-
seans ploughed up and sowed the consecrated field
about the temple of Delphos, a thrill of horror is
said to have seized all the states of Greece, which
forthwith united in waging an exterminating war
upon that offending people.

From being purely devotional, one kind of sacri-
fice came to be considered as piacular ; as expiatory
of the sin of the offerer. These were called burnt-
offerings for sin ; and it was believed that without
the shedding of blood there could be no remission.
And, after the inti'oduction of Christianity, it came
to be a matter of belief that the death of Christ
was a real sacrifice ; that all the sin-offerings under
the Mosaical law were types of this sacrifice, and
prophetical of it. And this doctrine has been
accepted and accounted orthodox in the Christian
Church, in almost every century of its existence.
It has even been regarded as the pivot on which
hinges the very door of salvation. It has been
believed that the sacrificial death of Christ removed
an obstacle on the part of God, which prevented
him from making the overture of pardon to men
8*

90

qilE REAL AND THE APPARENT

on condition of their repentance. Christ is said
by his death to have made an atonement for
the sins of men, and that this was the chief pur-
pose for which he appeared in the world. The
doctrine of the atonement, in this given sense of
the word, has been made the basis of what has
been called the new covenant, — the scheme of sal-
vation. It paid the debt which separated God from
men; it cancelled the sinner's liability to the de-
mands of divine justice, and made him a prisoner
of hope.

Our view, however, of the subject is different.
We regard the whole institution of sacrifice as
being a mistake from beginning to end ; as being
one of those human inventions which men have
sought out and vainly relied upon as instrumentali-
ties of good. To pronounce this whole system of
rehgious sacrifice a mistake, a mere human inven-
tion, groundless, and destitute of authority from
God, will be thought to be a bold and even a blas-
phemous position. We therefore proceed to assign
the reasons which have brought us to this conclu-
sion. And —

Fu'st, The co7isideration of the thing itself. What
is a religious sacrifice ? It is something first devo-
ted to God, and then destroyed. The devoted thing
must be something choice, good, the best of its kind :
a lamb or a bullock ; fine flour, mingled with oil ;
turtle-doves and young pigeons ; wine and incense.
These were good things and useful to men. Men
have need of them ; but God has not. They might
be useful to the former, but cannot be so to the lat-

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 91

ter. And is there any fitness or propriety in this
thing ? Can God desire it, or take any pleasure in
it? Can it please him that good things should
be wasted ? — that they should be diverted from the
use for which he designed them?

The fact that sacrifices are improper and worth-
less was perceived and declared by many of the He-
brew prophets ; by Isaiah, IMicah, Jeremiah, and the
author of the 40th, the 50th, and the 51st Psalms.
They made the following avowals : " Sacrifice and
burnt-offerings thou dost not desire ; in burnt-ofier-
ings and offerings for sin thou hast no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God !
Yea, thy law is within my heart." " I will not re-
prove thee for the neglect of sacrifices : they have
been continually before me. I would have no lamb
from the flock, nor he-goat out of thy stall ; for all the
beasts and the cattle are mine. Will I eat the flesh
of bulls or drink the blood of goats ? Offer unto
God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most
High ; and call upon me in the day of trouble, and
I will answer thee, and thou shalt glorify me."

David, while smarting under compunction for
his great sin, and when he needed sacrifices as
much as man ever did, — provided there were any
particular efficacy in them, — said, " Thou desirest
not sacrifice, else would I give it. The sacrifices
of the Lord are a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Create in me, O God I a clean heart, and renew
within me a right spirit." This was the thing he
needed. It would profit him, and be accepted of
God.

92 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

The prophet Micah ^^Tites in the same style of
sentiment. " Wherewith shall I come before the
Lord? Shall I come with bm-nt-offerings and
calves of one year old ? Will the Lord be pleased
with thousands of lambs, and ten thousand rivers
of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgres-
sion ; my own son for the sin of my soul ? " No :
such is not the right thing. " What doth the
Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God ? " This is the
right thing.

The prophet Jeremiah, in the seventh chapter of
his book, goes so far as to deny the divine institu-
tion of sacrifices. " Thus saith the Lord, I spake
not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the
day when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices ; but this
thing commanded I them, saying. Obey my voice,
and walk in all the ways that I have instructed
you, and it shall be well with you ; I will be your
God, and ye shall be my people."

We might adduce passages of similar import
from the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel ; but for brevi-
ty's sake we omit them, and proceed to assign a
second reason. It is, that sacrifice makes no part
of Cliristianity. Our Lord Jesus Christ adopted
from the Old Testament all that was intrinsically
good. The Mosaic religion contained much that
was not intrinsically, but only relatively, good. Such
were all the ceremonies and outward forms. Our
Lord insisted only on those things which are good
of themselves ; things which implied real righteous-

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 93

ness. There was no real righteousness in the
various ablutions and sprinklings of the Mosaic
law ; therefore our Lord did not enjoin them.
There was no real righteousness in fasting, there-
fore he did not command it ; no real righteousness
in keeping the sabbath, therefore he did not incul-
cate it as a duty ; no real righteousness in offering
sacrifices, therefore he did not adopt that service
into his gospel.

Now, the very fact that sacrifices make no part
of Christianity is evidence that there never was
any intrinsic excellence in them. Had they been
good and efficacious in themselves, they would not
have been omitted and laid aside. You say, how-
ever, that they were laid aside because they ceased
to be prophetical; that they ceased to be of use
because their typical import had been fulfilled.
Our answer is, that they never were prophetical.
The Jews never regarded them as types. There is
no intimation in the Old Testament that they were
viewed in that light. The Jews did not expect
that their Messiah would be put to death. They
believed that he would live and reign in peace and
glory for ever, even for ever and ever. " We have
heard out of the law," said the disciples to Jesus,
" that Christ abideth for ever : how sayest thou,
then, that the Son of man must be lifted up ? Who
is this Son of man ? "

That the Jewish sacrifices were not typical and
prophetical, appears plainly from the fact that the
death of Christ was not a sacrifice, in the true,
common, and proper sense of the word. Every

94 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

sacrifice was brought to the sanctuary, slain by
the priests, and its flesh burned on the altar. All
this was done solemnly; as an act of religious wor-
ship; as a service rendered to God. But our Lord
was not put to death in this manner. He was not
brought into the sanctuary, slain by the priests, his
blood sprinkled and his flesh burned on the altar ;
and all this done as a solemn religious service. The
circumstances of our Lord's death were totally
the reverse of all this. He was executed by soldiers
as a malefactor. His death was no more a proper
sacrifice than were the deaths of the two thieves
crucified with him. The apostle Paul, however,
calls it a sacrifice. And so are many things called
sacrifices which are not such in the true and proper
sense. A broken heart and a contrite spirit are
called sacrifices. So, likewise, doing good and com-
municating. But they are not such in a literal
sense.

Our Saviour, in all his discourses, never taught,
nor even recognized, what is now called the doctrine
of the atonement. He never spoke of his death as
being a sacrifice. He called himself a ransom for
many ; but a ransom is not a sacrifice. He said
also : " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted
up." But the brazen serpent was not a sacrifice.
The doctrine of the atonement, in what is called
its orthodox sense, is not sustained by such expres-
sions. He said, " I am the good shepherd. The
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am
the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 95

known of mine ; and I lay down my life for the
sheep." In the death of a shepherd for the sake of
the sheep, there is nothing of the character of a
vicarious and expiatory sacrifice. While eating the
paschal supper, he said, " This bread is my body
which is given for you ; and this cup is my blood
which is shed for you, shed for many." But this does
not necessarily signify, that his body and blood were
given and shed in the way of expiation. There
are other ways in which one man gives his life and
his blood for the benefit of others. And, indeed,
there cannot probably, in the history of the world, be
found a single instance in which a man did die to
expiate the crimes of others. It is not the way by
which the guilt of misdeeds is removed, and penal
justice maintained. No government ever adopted
this principle. It is a perversion of the doctrine of
punishment.

If the doctrine of the atonement — so called —
be true ; if it be the basis and the nucleus of the
covenant of gi*ace, as it is of the orthodox theology,
the silence of our Saviour on the subject is most
surprising and unaccountable. Why did he not
announce it, and do it frequently and in strong
terms, as orthodox theologians have done ? There
can be but one satisfactory reason assigned : he did
not understand the doctrine ; it is not a truth.

The apostle Paul calls om- Saviour a great high
priest ; a propitiation or mercy-seat ; a passover or
paschal lamb : but he did not intend that he was
such fiterally and properly. His death was a sacri-
fice in the same sense in which a broken heart, a

96 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

contrite spirit, is a sacrifice. A penitent and a clean
lieart is called a sacrifice, because it answers the
same purpose that a real sacrifice was believed to
accomplish : it procures reconciliation and accep-
tance with God. The Jews accounted their advan-
tages from the Mosaic law to be very great and
precious. The apostle Paul endeavored to persuade
them, that the very same advantages were found in
the gospel of Christ; they could obtain the same
assurance of divine mercy, the remission of sin,
justification unto eternal life ; that in the gospel
there is a propitiation, a sacrifice, a passover, an high
priest, a holy of holies ; not local and sensible as
in Judaism, but spiritual and real. He attaches
Jewish names to Christian realities. It is done on
the principle that what produces the same effect
may be called by the same name.

It is surprising that learned and sensible men
should affix such an unreasonable meaning to cer-
tain scriptural expressions ; that they should believe,
when the apostles speak of the blood of Christ as
cleansing the believer's heart, and justifying him
before God, that the material blood of Christ is
intended. The thing is impossible. Material blood
has no efficacy to make the heart clean, or the per-
son righteous. It is the truth which produces purity,
and prepares the soul for righteousness and justifi-
cation. " Now ye are clean through the word which
I have preached unto you." " Sanctify them through
the truth : thy word is truth." " Sanctified by faith
which is in me."

We now proceed to give another reason why we

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 97

repudiate the doctrine that sacrifice is a divine in-
stitution. It is liable to the most atrocious abuse.
It leads not only to formality and superstition, but
to the most abominable cruelties and wickedness.
Its direct tendency is to human sacrifices ; to sancti-
fied murder and cannibalism. The practice will
not stop in common cases, until it has reached this
point. Nearly all nations, not excepting even the
Jews, have immolated human victims. Abraham
lifted his son Isaac upon the altar. Jephthah offered
his daughter, his only child, a burnt-offering unto
the Lord. The Philistines, the Phoenicians, the
Moabites, the Ammonites, the Carthaginians, the
Druids, whose worship prevailed over all the North
of Ancient Europe, practised this horrid rite. But
the country in which it made its most horrifying
manifestation was Mexico in America. At the
time of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards
in the sixteenth century, they found the whole
Aztec empire, as it were, reeking in the blood of
victimized men. In all the gi-eat cities, — and there
were hundreds of them, — there were some four, six,
eight, ten, or twelve temples. They were high, coni-
cal-shaped edifices, having, on the outside, winding
staircases leading to the upper floor, which was
an area of considerable space, protected by a balus-
trade on the parapet ; a great image of the war-god
standing on one side, and a large stone in the
centre, its upper surface smooth and a little convex.
Upon this stone the victim was stretched, naked,
and lying on his back. The high-priest then, with

a great sharp instrument, opened the side of the
9

98 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

body, thrust in his hand, and tore out the heart and
lungs of the victim, and threw them at the foot of
the idol. The head was then cut off, and thrown
into a certain corner of the temple, whither also were
thrown the bones. The body was then served up
for the feast; men and women eating without
disgust the flesh of their own kind. Hundreds of
victims were sometimes thus disposed of at the
same festival. The Spaniards were struck with
horror at what they saw and found in these slaugh-
ter-temples: the quantity of heads and bones was
appalling. Mr. Prescott estimates the annual num-
ber of victims to have been as high as fifty thousand.
The whole land seemed to the Spaniards to be the
devil's territory, and a hell upon earth. Their reso-
lution was forthwith taken to put a stop to what
they called the worship of devils. As soldiers of
the Cross, they felt it to be their duty. They were
therefore decided and peremptory. They threw
down the idols, and cleansed the temples. The
Mexicans at fii'st refused and resisted. But, when
they saw that their gods could not protect them-
selves, they gave up the contest, and quietly sub-
mitted, and soon cordially acquiesced, in having
the crucifix and the madonna take the place of their
idols, and the mass and holy water become sub-
stitutes for human blood and victims. And thus, in
the space of one year, the whole system of sacred
carnage was abolished throughout the wide extent
of the Mexican empire.

The fact of the broad prevalence of the cvistom
of immolating human victims has been urged as

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 99

an argument in favor of the doctrine of vicarious
sacrifice. It is maintained, that a sense of sin and
guilt must have sunk deep into the universal human
mind. It is assumed, that a feeling of guiltiness
before God must have moved men to offer sacri-
fices, and that this feeling must have been very
strong before it would compel them to make victims
of their own kind. But this argument is a gross
misrepresentation. It was not a deep sense of sin
and unworthiness that first moved men to offer gifts
to their Sovereign in heaven. It was gratitude for
past favors, and a desire to secure them for the
future. The Gentiles thought of no other way to
propitiate the gods but that of material sacrifices.
Hence they multiplied them, where they had some
doubts of the good-will of a particular deity. It
was to the god of war that human victims were
chiefly immolated. It was to Thor and Woden
that the Druids rendered this bloody homage. It
was to obtain relief in the extremity of a hard battle
turning against him, that " the king of Moab took
his own son, who should have reigned in his stead,
and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall."
2 Kings, iii. 27. All the human sacrifices in Mexico
were offered to the odious and terrible god of war.
It was believed that he gusted, and took great
pleasure in them. A sense of personal unworthi-
ness before the good God whose being they ac-
knowledged, though they rendered him no worship,
never touched their hearts. The Aztecs were not
worshippers, so much as sycophants, of the war-god.
They had poured out blood and eaten human flesh

100 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT

to such a degree, that their moral susceptibilities
were, in a manner, petrified. All their zeal and
ambition was for war. All their religion consisted
in the worship of the grim deity of war. Nearly
all their prisoners taken in war were victimized and
devoured in their temples. It was not a sense of
sin and unworthiness, but, on the contrary, a desti-
tution of it, that loaded their altars with such
immense multitudes of human sacrifices. They
had become cruel by worshipping a cruel god.

We have now taken notice of three instances in
which the difi'erence between the real and the appa-
rent in the Bible may be observed : the liability
of God to human infirmities and passions ; the
apparent testimony of the Bible to a particular
providence and predestination ; and the seeming
support which it gives to the divine authority of
material and piacular sacrifices. We intended to
illustrate several other instances. But our allotted
space is nearly exhausted. We must very briefly
and imperfectly give only one or two more.

Many passages of the Bible seem, and even pur-
port, to be prospective history. They are called
prophecies ; and some of them seem to have been
wonderfully fulfilled. A close attention, however,
will place the subject in a somewhat different light.
If a person were to undertake to write a real history
of, for instance, the Israelites, the Jews, the Egyp-
tians, the Tyrians, the Chaldeans, the Moabites, the
Idumeans ; and to write wholly from the biblical
prophecies ; the writer, having no other light to
guide him, would manifestly realize but very little

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. 101

success. In regard to the Israelites and the Jews,
he would, doubtless, state that they endured a long
dispersion under the Chaldean monarchy, but from
it, in due tim6, were gathered and restored to the
land and cities of their fathers; that they should
rapidly augment in numbers, increase in wealth,
grow in power, until they should overshadow all
surrounding nations, and even every land and peo-
ple ; that Jerusalem would become the metropolis
of the world ; and the temple on Mount Zion would
receive rich offerings, bullocks, lambs^ gold, incense,
and myrrh, from the very ends of the earth. He
would state these things with gi*eat confidence,
because they are so often and explicitly declared by
the prophets. This history would contain but very
little truth. And his attempt to write a history of
Tyre, of Egypt, of Idumea, and of Moab, could be
attended with little better success. And suppose
further, that he should undertake to write a history
of the fortunes of the Christian Church, taking the
book of Revelation for the basis of his story, but
having no historical lights for his guidance, what
would he relate ? He would, doubtless, affirm that
Pagan Rome, the Babylon of the Apocalypse, con-
tinued to persecute the church of Christ as long as
she existed ; that Rome fell, as it were, by inches,
under the severe and special judgments of God,
until she sunk like a millstone in the midst of the
sea. He would write all this very confidently, be-
cause it is so expUcitly and strongly declared in the
Revelation of St. John the divine. He would have
no idea that Rome ever became a Christian state,

9*

102 TPE REAL AND THE APPARENT

and that a Christian bishop succeeded to the throne
of the Csesars.

In regard to biblical prophecies, the apparent and
real are different and distinct. We give but one
more instance, — the two doctrines, of eternal dam-
nation on the one hand, and of universal salvation
on the other. Among the proof-texts in support of
the latter doctrine, are the following : " The Son of
man shall send forth his angels, and shall gather
out of the kingdom all things that offend and do
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace. There
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." " The
Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God
and obey not the gospel of his Son ; who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the pres-
ence of the Lord and the glory of his power."
'f And whosoever's name was not found written in
the book of life, was cast into a lake of fire ; this is
the second death." " And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment." These passages do ap-
parently declare and sustain the position of the
interminable torments of the reprobate portion of
mankind.

On the other side are adduced such passages as
the following : " And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me." " Thou art the
Christ, the Saviour of the world." " As in Adam
all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." " Our
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named." " That at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue con-

IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY.

103

fes3, of things in heaven and in the earth, and things
under the earth." " Gather together all things in
him." " The Head of all principalities and powers."
Dr. Tholuck, of Germany, a celebrated professor
in one of the Universities, in a conversation, a
very few years ago, with Rev. Dr. Sears, of INIassa-
chusetts, stated that the Bible-argument on each
side of the question seemed to be equal, the lan-
guage on both sides being strong and explicit ; and
that, if he must rely only on the language of Scrip-
ture, without considering the character of the doc-
trines asserted, he should be perplexed, not knowing
which doctrine to accept. " But," continued he,
" when I make use of my reason, my moral nature,
I do not hesitate a moment. I know that words
and expressions in the Bible may be justly under-
stood differently from their literal significance. My
reason is to judge which is the best doctrine ; which
is most accordant with the true character of God ;
which does him the most honor. And, in doing
this, I have no hesitancy or misgivings. My judg-
ment is fixed, that Christ is the actual Saviour of
all men." The one is the real Bible-doctrine ; the
other, only the apparent. The rule which we have
laid down for the determination of conflicting doc-
trines contained in the Scriptures is the only one
that can be safe and reliable. Enlightened and un-
biased reason must decide all such questions. If
some texts of Scripture represent God as instigat-
ing men to the commission of sin, there are others
which declare the direct contrary ; and reason can
easily decide which doctrine is the real and true,

104 THE REAL AND THE APPARENT, ETC.

and which the apparent but unreal. Nor is it
strange that such discrepancies should be found in
the Bible. The wi'iters of the different books of
the Holy Scriptures were but children in scientific
knowledge. They were unacquainted with the
principles of close analysis and criticism. And
such writers will fall inevitably into more or less
of mistake and self-inconsistency. We must read
and interpret them from the stand-point of their
own times. Thus we read other writers of olden
time. It is doing justice both to them and to
ourselves.

105

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

" The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my
word, let him declare my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith
the Lord." — Jer. xxiii. 28.

" Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from
the mouth of God." — Matt. iv. 4.

If we should contemplate all the opinions, beliefs,
and cognitions of mankind, as if they were mate-
rial things, the aggregate of them might resemble a
great heap of un^^dnnowed grain, wheat and chaff
commingled together. But the wheat and the chaff
may be separated by winnowing and fanning ; and
so may the other heap of truths and errors. And
it is the office of the human understanding and
conscience to do this WT'ork, — to separate the true
from the false ; the chaff from the wheat. We
may next contemplate the heap as separated into
three parcels : one containing pure wheat, the sym-
bol of known truths; another consisting of chaff,
the symbol of acknowledged errors ; and a third
consisting of the remains of the original heap,
wheat and chaff yet unseparated. This may be
the symbol of the dreams. A dream may be true
to nature and fact, or it may be untrue. Its charac-
ter, as true or false, will, or may be, determined by

106

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

observation, trial, and experience ; and the various
opinions, beliefs, and theories entertained by men,
may and will, in due time and by fair and assidu-
ous investigation, be resolved into their proper cha-
racters as either true or false.

All truths are, originally, in God ; all known
truths have been revealed of God to men. Now,
all truth came from God. The mode of revelation
is not essential. If known, they have been revealed.
They are God's word ; they constitute the food for
man's higher and true life. " He doth not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
from the mouth of God doth man live." Deut. viii. 3.

We have now before us the three parcels or cate-
gories : one consisting of known truths, — words of
God: another consisting of known falsehoods,
though once believed to be truths ; and a third
consisting of opinions now believed by some, yet
disbelieved by others, and whose real character is
not yet determined. We shall attempt to take
some imperfect survey of this field of human be-
liefs, opinions, and cognitions ; and, though we
can do but little, it may not be altogether unpro-
fitable. .

The first category is that of known truths, — the
revealed words of God. Though many things are
uncertain and unknown, though doubt and incerti-
tude pervade a large portion of the hemisphere of
human thought, yet some things may be regarded
as certain. Otherwise, man's intellect would be of
no use to him. For it is man's cognitive faculty ;
it is the organ of knowledge. As the eye is the

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 107

organ of sight, and the ear the organ of sound ; as
the feet are the faculty for walking, and the hands
the faculty for working; so is the human under-
standing the organ of knowledge. These several
organs accomplish their purpose. Man can really
see, and hear, and walk, and work. Though his
eyes and his ears sometimes make mistakes, yet
these mistakes are the exception, not the rule.

But what are some of those truths which may
be regarded as known, fixed, certain ?

1. The reality of the material ivorld. We mean
the world of phenomena, the sensible world, the
world of sense ; including all things that can be
seen, heard, or felt : the sun, the moon, the clouds,
showers, storms, sea and land, mountains and
plains, plants and trees, reptiles and fishes, birds
and beasts, little chilch'en and growm men. It was
once held by certain learned men, that the ma-
terial world had no objective existence ; that it
existed only in idea; that its being was wholly
subjective; entirely in the man who thinks that he
sees the sun, hears the wind, feels the softness of
velvet and the hardness of rock. But this skepti-
cism is now extinct ; repudiated by those who once
professed it. The evidence of the reality of the
objective world is irrefragable ; for what one man
sees, another man also sees. The same figure, the
same color, the same size, the same position ; and
all this invariably, with the exception of a very few
cases of illusion from diseased organs of sense. If
the doctrine of a merely ideal world had been true,
then, of course, there never was such an event as

108 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

creation. For, according to this doctrine, no world
existed at all until there were men to have an idea
of it. But we now have the history of the creation
of the w^orld, written in the sti-ata, the minerals, the
petrifactions, the fossils of the earth ; and it is as-
certained that the earth must have existed many
thousand years before the birth of the human race.
It may, therefore, be laid down as a fixed fact, an
indubitable and certain truth, that the material and
phenomenal world is a reality. This is one certain
truth.

2. The 7'eality of cm imvard, invisible, and spiri-
tual world. We see, for example, such things as a
bud expanding into a flower; the flow^er giving
birth to unripe fruit, and this gi'owing into full size
and ripeness. Now, there must be something in
that flower which we cannot see ; something be-
sides color, shape, and tangibility ; something w^hich
we cannot see nor feel nor smell ; something which
caused its being, which made it generate the umipe
fruit, and this to grow and to ripen. We see that
the grass and the trees grow : there must be some
power in them which makes them to grow. We
see the water running in the rivers : there must
be some invisible power which makes it run. We
see that day and night succeed each other : there
must be something which causes this succession.
We perceive a circle of constant changes in the phe-
nomenal world ; cycles of revolutions in the hosts
of the heavens ; rotations of changes on the face of
the earth ; winter and summer ; seed-time and har-
vest ; growth and decay ; the circulation of the

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 109

waters ; one generation passing out of the world,
and another generation coming into it ; and this in
its turn giving place to a subsequent one. Now,
there must be some great, mighty power on which
all this multiform and varied movement depends.
No change can take place without an adequate
power to produce it. And this power must be in-
telligent. It has a purpose in what it does. It is
constantly aiming at ends, and accomplishing them.
And these ends are desirable and good. The
power, therefore, which produces them must be
benevolent and good. And as all the innumerable
movements in the world are manifestly unitary,
parts of one great whole, it results that the great
Almighty Power which causes them must also be
unitary, — be one. We hold it, therefore, as a fixed
fact, as a truth of absolute science and certainty
that there is a God, and that God is one; one
Divine Intelligence, one Di\dne Will ; and that this
one God is holy, benevolent, good ; that he is also
omnipresent, being neither confined to any one
place, nor excluded from any other. This is an-
other certain truth.

3. That all the ivork of God is done in the way
of order. It is manifest that the whole world is a
connected and compact system ; that a great law
of universal analogy runs through the whole ; that
the forces which actuate it, act in a continued line
or chain, every link of which is connected by the
law of sequence and dependence ; so that, when
some parts are known, others may be safely pre-
sumed. One phenomenon follows another as its

10

110 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

result; or it precedes another as its cause. God
makes day and night ; but he does it in the way of
order, and constructively. The presence of the sun
makes the day ; the absence of the sun occasions
the night. God produces the various generations
of vegetables, animals, and men. But he does it in
the way of order. Each plant, animal, and man is
an outbirth from others which preceded it. Every
individual has a parent or parents; and not only
individuals, but whole kingdoms of nature, sustain
a similar relation. The vegetable kingdom is an
outbirth from the mineral; the animal kingdom,
from the vegetable ; and the human kingdom, from
the animal. The human could not exist alone ; it
stands upon the animal and vegetable kingdoms
which underlie it ; and these upon the mineral
which underlies them ; and this upon the chaotic
earth which preceded it.

When we see the rain falling in copious showers,
we know that the ground will be saturated; that
the streams will swell, and that the fountains will
be filled. When we see the sun running low
toward the South, we know that winter is at hand,
and that there will be frost, ice, and snow. When
we see the sun rising high in its meridian, we know
that sumimer is near, and that there will be growth
in the pastures, in the fields, and in the forests.
When we perceive that the fields are well cultivated,
we foresee that there will be a good harvest. When
we witness that a people are industrious, temperate,
and discreet, we feel assured that they are growing
in prosperity and riches. And we arrive at these

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. Ill

conclusions, because the law of order lies at the
foundation of all nature and of all providence. All
nature consists ultimately in certain materials and
forces ; and these are uniform, unchangeable in
their substance, tendency, and direction. Fire al-
ways produces the same effects when brought into
the same relations. And so does water; and so
does wind ; and so likewise gravitation, electricity,
and magnetism. It is within the power of man to
produce and to apply these natm-al forces to the
accomplishment of his desires and purposes. He
can devise and construct machines, mills, engines,
and instruments, to facilitate his labors and attain
his ends. Thus, to a certain extent, are the forces
of nature subjected to the control of man. And
it is so because order is the great law of God's
whole work. He is often called an Arbiter, a
Sovereign. The fact, however, is that God is less
arbitrary than man. He conducts his whole work
on the principle of unchanging law. Of every phe-
nomenon and thing it may be affii'med, that there
was something which underlay and preceded it,
and which caused it to be what it is. God's whole
work is through the medium of his laws. " His
ways are everlasting."

4. The reality of moral distinctions in human
conduct. This is one of the veritable words of
God. It is, to the mind of every reasonable man,
an undeniable truth. Its denial would violate one's
own conscious conviction ; for every person, young
and old, above the state of infancy, does make the
distinction. He distinguishes human voluntary ac-

112 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

tions into right and ^^Tong. He decides that to
utter the truth is right ; to utter falsehood is wrong :
that kindness and mercy are right; that unkindness
and cruelty are wrong : that to deal justly is right,
but to deal unjustly is wrong ; that religious faith,
profession, and worship, are right ; but that infidelity
and irreligion are wrong. These distinctions do not
stand chiefly upon instruction, but they are sponta-
neous and natural. The child makes them before
he is taught them. The law of his mind which
makes them is a part of his constitution. It is, it
was, written on his heart by the finger of his Creator.
It is the word of God, and heaven and earth may
sooner pass away than this. " Thy law, O Lord I
is for evermore." The doctrine of moral distinc-
tions, therefore, is a truth. It is one of the words
of God.

5. The moral freedom of man. This is a fixed
fact, a known truth, a veritable word of God. We
all know, that when we have uttered falsehood,
instead of truth ; done acts of cruelty, instead of
acting kindly ; been fraudulent and unjust, instead
of honest and upright ; practised infidelity and
irreligion, instead of piety and worship, — we feel
the compunctions of blame and guilt. Our hearts
smite us ; our consciences shame and distress us.
But they would not do this, unless we were con-
scious of having acted freely. We never feel the
pang of guilt for what we do by necessity. It is
only for doing that which we might have avoided
that we feel guilty. Every man is conscious that
he is not under the necessity of committing sin.

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 113

There are things to which a man is necessarily sub-
jected. He is under the necessity of gi'owing old ; he
cannot possibly help it ; but he does not have any
feeling of blame for growing old. He is also un-
der the necessity of becoming weary and weakened
by long-continued labor; but he does not feel guilty
on this account. He is, moreover, under the neces-
sity of taking rest, sleep, and occasional relaxation ;
but his conscience charges him with no blame for
these things. What a man does of necessity is
not imputed him as a sin. But, when he has com-
mitted acts of cruelty, falsehood, injustice, or im-
piety, he has the sentiments of guilt ; and it is
because he has done them freely that he feels him-
self to be blameworthy. He is conscious that he
was able to avoid them ; and so far as a man may,
or may not, do a thing, he is free. Every man is
free to avoid unkindness, untruthfulness, unfaithful-
ness, injustice, profanity, and irreligion. He is not
under the necessity of doing such things. If we
were not free in doing wrong acts, we should not
feel guilty for having committed them. Our sus-
ceptibility of blame is proof of our moral freedom.
When a man confesses blame, he virtually acknow-
ledges and asserts his moral freedom.

6. It is a revealed truth, a veritable and known
word of God, that a meal's welfare and happiness
are promoted and secured by right-doings hut en-
dangered and defeated by doing wrong. The man
whose rule it is alwavs to act ri^ht, to discharsfc
duty, to deal kindly, to do justly, to walk humbly
and devoutly before God, secures the peace and

10*

114 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

approbation of his own mind, the good will of his
neighbors, the warm affections of his friends, the
good opinion of all his acquaintance and fellow-
men. The apostle puts a significant question
when he says, " And who will harm you, if ye be
followers of that which is good ? " It is true there
may be exceptions ; but these do not disannul the
general rule. And this rule is often asserted in the
Bible : " The ways of wisdom are ways of plea-
santness, and all her paths are those of peace."
" Exalt her, and she shall promote thee : she shall
bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her."
" For he that will love life and see good days, let
him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that
they speak no guile. Eschew evU, and do good ;
seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the
Lord are over the righteous." " So shalt thou dwell
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." " But the
face of the Lord is against them that do evil."
" He saith, There is no peace to the wicked." " They
are like the ti'oubled sea, whose waters cast up mire
and dirt." " God rendereth to every man accord-
ing to his works." " Eternal life to them who
patiently continue in well-doing."

7. It is a veritable fact, that good men hope for a
better life beyond the termination of the present.
This hope is not confined to Christians, but exists,
in more or less strength, among the different nations
of mankind. When the patriarchs died, they were
said to be gathered to their fathers ; gone and joined
to the great congregation of those who had died
before them. The dead, even in the Old Testament,

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 115

are represented as speaking to, and conversing wdth,
each other. The Lord Jesus Christ declared that
the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are rep-
resented by Moses as being now alive : though their
gross tangible bodies had fallen into coiTuption, yet
their imponderable, intangible, spiritual bodies re-
mained alive. These bodies have sometimes been
seen by the living, and thoughts exchanged between
them. The living have thus obtained important
information from them who had died. Living men
have sometimes gone out into the spiritual world,
and, having witnessed occurrences at a distance,
came back and reported them circumstantially and
coiTectly. The evidence of such facts has been
irrefragable within the cu'cle of those who could,
and who did, examine, sift, and canvas them.
They indicate that men live in another and in a
higher sphere, after they have departed from the
present. Though the fact cannot be scientifically
proved, yet it can be hoped for ; though not proved
as our past bu'th, childhood, and growth can be
proved, yet it can be strongly believed. We have
therefore many and sti'ong reasons for entertaining
such a hope. Why is it that all men have believed
more or less distinctly in the reality of a spirit- world ?
that even barbarous and savage nations have be-
lieved that men's dead bodies left living spirits
behind them ? Why do all men, both the enlight-
ened and the unenlightened, entertain a confident
hope of heaven ? What all other creatures hope
for, they are also capable of enjoying. Would God
have given human nature these strong desires, these

116 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

high aspirations, this confident and joyful hope, if
it have no other than a subjective foundation ?
Must there not be a corresponding objective to all
that is subjective in man ? It is so in all other
cases : why not, then, in this also ?

When we consider the immensely long process
and progi-ession of life, vegetable and animal, which
preceded the birth of man, we feel impelled to in-
quh'e. Is the process here to stop ? Natm'alists
inform us, that, from the lowest vegetable up to the
highest, there are some thousand links, and each
link an improvement upon its predecessor ; and
that millions of centuries must have rolled away,
while this progression was going on ; and that, from
the lowest order of animal life up to the highest,
there are also several thousand distinct kinds, one
rising higher than the other in the order of the time
of its birth ; and that a duration of incomputable
ages must have been spent while all this process
and progression was taking place ; — that man is the
ultimate of this vast process. Every other creature
and thing has something above it, and to which it
is subservient. But man finds no being in this
world above himself, no higher order of creature,
unless we admit the idea of a spirit-world ; the idea
that men become spirits, — conscious, intelligent,
active, and free spiiits, angels, when they die. Ad-
mit this fact, and we obtain a satisfactory view of
man's destiny. It is happy and important. We
can feel reconciled to our condition. We can bless
and thank God for our being. As it is a fact of
nature that all nations of men do hope for some

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 117

description of heaven beyond the present life, and
as the very existence of this hope is a ground and
reason that the hope itself stands on a firm founda-
tion, we may justly attach great importance to
this hope as an evidence of immortality. It is a
most precious hope. It is the best blessing which
man enjoys. The apostle Paul so appreciated it:
he said, " We are saved by hope." It was then* hope
which saved them. And he thus describes it : " We
have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set be-
fore us ; which hope we have as an anchor of the
soul, sure and steadfast, and which entereth that
[apartment of heaven which is within the veil, —
the Holy of Holies] whither the Forerunner is
for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest
for ever after the order of Melchisedek ; not a priest
of forms, rites, and carnal ordinances ; but of those
moral sacrifices with which God is well-pleased.
For he is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,
nor is that circumcision which is only outward in
the flesh ; but he is the true Jew who is such in-
wardly, and the true circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter ; whose praise
is not of men only, but of God also."

We have now mentioned seven distinct truths,
generally, if not universally, acknowledged as such
by men, both the enlightened and the unenhghtened.
They are God's words ; the food on which men's
souls may feed, thrive, and live. This is the wheat;
not the whole of it, but a few of its parts and speci-
mens.

We shall now pass to the chaff. And here, as

118 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

in the first category, our time and space limit our
notices to a few particulars.

1. Different and numerous superstitions. It was
once long and extensively believed, that such phe-
nomena as eclipses of the sun and moon, and the
redness of these luminaries as seen through a smoky
atmosphere, were omens, symbolical predictions, of
great national disasters ; that the descent of great
meteors, called falling stars, were indications and
forerunners of the fall of princes and monarchs ;
that all unusual appearances in the sky, i.e. the
atmosphere, were ominous and fearful ; that all un-
usual and unpleasant dreams possessed the same
portentous character ; that a certain and large class
of diseased persons were actually inhabited, seized
upon, and possessed, by evil demons, whose business
and privilege it was to vex and torment mankind.
It was believed that our whole vast atmosphere,
together with the deep places of the sea, and all the
caverns and dens of the wilderness, were full of
wicked devils, watching and improving opportuni-
ties to annoy and to curse the children of men.
The doctrine of witchcraft, the art by which ugly
old women could possess themselves of the power
of hellish demons, was long accounted a doctrine
of the Bible and of truth. Many other supersti-
tions have prevailed among civilized men and Chris-
tians ; but the whole body and amount of them are
now fast going to their own place, the depot of the
chaff, where they ought ever to have remained.
The day of superstition has begun to wear away.
Its sun already declines, and will set for ever.

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 119

2. Popular maxims and customs of false morality.
One of them was substantially this : " We may do
evil that good may come. We may exercise the
utmost severity toward every description of offend-
ers." And they did it, — mangled their backs with
stripes, cropt off their ears and noses, branded their
foreheads and their hands with red-hot iron ; pun-
ished, sometimes, petty thefts with the death-penalty.
A curse was once pronounced upon the man who
withheld his sword from blood. When a case of
manslaughter happened (it might be by the merest
accident, — no malice prepense), the nearest rela-
tive of the slain man became, by the custom of
olden time, the avenger of his kinsman. He did
not ordinarily, if ever, institute any inquiry about
the manner and the motive. But girding on his
sword, and arming himself perhaps with arrows,
battle-axe, and javelins, he rushes forth in hot pur-
suit. He feels as if it were his highest duty to kill
the manslayer. He works himself up into an in-
tense frenzy. Nothing can appease his wrath but
the shed blood of the man, who might be entirely
innocent of having perpetrated the crime of inten-
tional murder. Revenge was accounted to be very
sweet and very meritorious. And persecution for
opinion's sake has in time past been esteemed
right, and even obligatory. Once a man's life was
put in jeopardy by his happening to fall a little on
the wrong side of the line which separates the
heretical from the orthodox. The forgiveness of
injuries was accounted a weakness ; not a virtue,
not a duty. And the true mode of reformation was

120 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

considered to be the use of the most harsh and
severe means. The rod was the sovereign correc-
tive for all childish and juvenile delinquencies. And
the only way in which a whole people could be
coiTCcted, and the land cleansed, was to kill, slay,
and cause to perish, all the wicked, and spare the
righteous to live. The very life of a man was ap-
preciated at a very low rate. It was to most
persons a matter of small importance that thou-
sands of men should be killed in battle, and millions
of them reduced to a condition of brutal bondage
and chattel-slavery.

The Israelites thought themselves very unjustly
used by the Egyptians, who compelled them to
make brick, to construct pyramids, and to build
store-cities for Pharaoh. And so they were. But
these Israelites, having taken forcible possession of
Palestine, inflicted the same injustice upon the
aborigines of the country. " As to all the people
left of the Canaanites whom the children of Israel
consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay
tribute unto this day. But of the Israelites did
Solomon make no servants for his work ; but they
were men of war and chief captains, captains of
chariots and horsemen. And Solomon numbered
all the strangers in the land of Israel, and they were
found to be an hundred and fifty and three thou-
sand and six hundred. And he set threescore and
ten thousand to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore
thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three
thousand and six hundred overseers to set the peo-
ple at work." Of course, the Israelites subjected

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 121

the Canaanites to the same kind of bondage which
the former had endured in Egypt. They justified
themselves probably on the ground that-they were
God's people. The Egyptians, said they, had no
right to compel us to be bondmen, because we are
God's people. And it is right for us to make bond-
men of the Canaanites ; for they are not God's
people, and we are. — All this is chaff; and vastly
more of the same description of thing. But we
have not space for fm'ther particular notices. And
we will now pass from the parcel of chaff to the
remaining heap of unwinnowed grain, in which the
wheat and the chaff are yet commingled together.

What, then, are some of the questions that re-
main unresolved, undetermined ?

1. Is the Bible a production of plenary inspira-
tion ? Is it throughout inerrable and authoritative ?
Many take the affirmative side of this question :
many also take the negative. The former allege
that men who wrought miracles, and claimed to
speak in the name of the Lord, must speak with
authority, and speak infallibly. The latter allege
that a book containing so many apparent discre-
pancies, extravagances, exaggerations, improbabili-
ties, and things unnatural, together with somewhat
of unsound morality, superstition, and defective
theology, cannot be accounted a work of uniform
divine inspiration throughout and in all its parts.
Such accounts as those given of Samson, of Jo-
nah, of Balaam, of Lot and his daughters, cannot
have been dictated by the spirit of God. On the

other hand, it is urged that a book so superior to
11

122 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

all other books ; a book which first taught the
sublime doctrine of monotheism, of one almighty
and perfect God, in opposition to the polytheism of
the learned Egyptians, Chaldeans, and the Greeks ;
a book containing such inimitable devotional com-
positions as the Psalms of David, and such noble
efTusions as those of Isaiah and other prophets ;
such discourses as those of Jesus Christ ; and such
epistles as those of Paul, Peter, James, and John, —
must have been a product of God's special provi-
dence, and must be most perfect. The doctrine of
the plenary inspkation of the Bible may therefore be
referred to the category of dreams, which are things
that may prove to be either true or false.

2. There is the doctrine of the Divine Trinity, in
contradistinction from the Divine Unity. Trinita-
rians hold that the one only living and true God
exists in three distinct persons, each possessing all
the attributes of personality, intelligence, will, and
consciousness. Unitarians hold that the only liv-
ing and true God exists in but one person, and that
there is but one divine will, intelligence, and con-
sciousness. The former — Trinitarians — urge the
consideration that the Divine Father, and the Di-
vine Son, and the Holy Ghost, are each called God
in the Bible ; and, being each God, they must be
equals. The latter — Unitarians — deny the infer-
ence of equality, and contend that the Son is, in the
Scriptures, represented uniformly and always as
subordinate to the Father and dependent upon him.
That the Father is identified with the Godhead, in
such instances as the following : " That they may

THE AVHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 123

know thee, the only true God." " To us there is
one God, the Father." But that the Son is never
identified with the Godhead. That though he is
called God, as angels, magistrates, and prophets are
also called gods, it cannot mean God in the high-
est sense of the word, but in a secondary. That
when the Son is called God, there is in the connec-
tion another God who is above him, as in the fol-
lo^ving : " Thy throne, O God ! is for ever and ever.
The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right scepti-e. . . .
Therefore God, even thy God, hath exalted thee
above thy fellows." Unitarians, moreover, allege
that all the definitions and descriptions of the Tri-
nity imply that the Father only is supreme. The
names. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, indicate a
difference, not an equality. The Father is unde-
rived, unbegotten, independent ; the Son, as his
name implies, is begotten of the Father and derived
from him ; that being dependent, therefore, can-
not be equal to him. The divine persons are
sometimes distinguished as first, second, and third.
But, if all the divine persons are equal, then no
one of them can be first ; neither can any of them
be second or third. Trinitarians have answered,
that the distinctions are merely official ; one person
holding the first office, and the others subordinate
ones, while personally they are equal. Unitari-
ans respond to this by saying, that, if one divine
person hold an office higher than the others, there
must be a reason for it. And the reason is ma-
nifest. The first divine person is the Father of
the second, gave him his existence, endued him

124 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

with all his powers, and assigned to him his proper
work.

3. And there is also what is called the doctrine
of the hypostatical union ; the combination of two
natures — the divine and the human — in the one
single person of Christ, constituting him the God-
man. This is still a contested doctrine, and must
be put in the category of dreams. Trinitarians
allege that this is a reasonable and scriptural doc-
trine. Unitarians, on the other hand, pronounce it
unscriptural and palpably absurd ; urging that the
Scriptures declare the Son to be the man Christ
Jesus ; never the God or angel, Christ Jesus ; — that
the thought and theory of two hypostases, sub-
sistences, persons, maldng but one person of two
understandings, — a divine and a human; of two
wills and two consciousnesses, amalgamated to
one understanding; one will and one conscious-
ness, and this both divine and human ; — such a
thought, such a theory, is inconceivable and most
absurd. The idea of person is necessarily that
of a unit. No person can be either more or less
than one person. He must possess the power of
intelligence, of volition, and of self-reflection. But
that he should possess twofold powers of this de-
scription is a most unnatural and preposterous idea.
Two intelligences and two wdlls may be in coinci-
dence wdth each other, but not in personal combina-
tion ; for two wills must belong to two persons, not
to one.

There is a contradiction, says the Unitarian, in the
language of Trinitarians, in definitions of the Tri-

*
THE AVHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 125

union, and of the hypostatic union. In the former,
one nature contains three distinct persons ; in the
latter, one person contains two natures. In the doc-
trine of the threefold Godhead, the term nature is
generic, comprehending three different specific per-
sons. In the doctrine of the hypostatic union,
the word person is generic ; the term nature is
specific. In the one case, the word nature is more
comprehensive than person, and takes in three of
them ; in the other case, the w^ord person is more
comprehensive than nature, and takes in two na-
tures. The generic and the specific mutually and
diametrically change their character and relations.
Now, all this is palpably a conti'adiction in terms.
Yet so long as a large class of Christians continue
to profess belief in the doctrine of the hypostatic
union, it may not be consigned to the heap of chaff,
but referred to the category of di'eams.

We have not space and time for further details,
and wUl conclude the discourse with a few inferen-
tial and miscellaneous remarks.

Men, in our age and country, enjoy great privi-
lege for acquaintance with truth. If we lay out of
account all the unsettled questions, and confine our
view to those which are decided and certain, the
amount is great and invaluable. It comprises all
essentially important truth. Though it be desirable
to know more, yet it is not material to our welfare.
We know enough already to live dutifully and
happily. If we know that the material and phe-
nomenal world is a reality ; that there is an invisible
11*

126 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

world, containing all the intelligence, power, and
benignity requisite to the production of the harmo-
nious and beautiful universe ; that all the works of
God and of nature are done in the way of order ;
that there is the distinction of moral right and
wrong in human conduct ; that this distinction is
made by every one's own conscience ; that a man
secures his true welfare by living conscientiously
and virtuously ; that all men are free, and able to
do the right and avoid the wrong ; that the hope
of a personal identity and happiness in a future
and higher sphere of being is a known fact of
human nature; and that this hope may be in-
creased to a joyful assurance ; — if we may know all
this, know it for a certainty ; if the truths just men-
tioned are the words of God, and constitute the
food on which men's souls are to live, then are
men under no necessity of " perishing for lack of
vision." In their Father's house is bread enough
and to spare ; both milk for babes, and strong meat
for men. If they famish, the fault lies at their own
door. If they despise the food provided for them,
it is their folly, not their wisdom. God may be
justly said to have revealed to men all those truths
which, by right use of their mental powers, they are
capable of knowing. The apostle Paul speaks on
this principle when he says, " For what may be
known of God is manifest among them [the Gen-
tiles] ; for God hath showed unto them." Men,
therefore, even the Gentiles, have no just cause to
complain of the want of revelation from God. No
people are left destitute of it. The voice of it hath

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 127

gone out into all the earth ; its words unto the end
of the world. There is no speech nor language in
which it is not heard.

The following complaint has often been made :
" There are so many beliefs and opinions among
us, that we do not know what to believe." But
this complaint is impertinent. No one who is a
mature man should ever make it. Every mature
person should form his own opinions. His under-
standing is his own, and he should make use of it.
It is unmanly to rely on the authority of others for
all our views and beliefs. It behooves us all to
inquire, to investigate, to examine, to think, for our-
selves. We should be willing to take the trouble
of it, and the responsibility of it, upon ourselves.
A man should be ashamed of having no opinion
of his own, because there are so many different
opinions on particular points. Let him study and
examine with impartiality, and he wiU soon have
an opinion ; certainly if the point be of any great
importance.

It is a great mistake to conclude that every thing
is uncertain, because men's opinions are so various.
Notwithstanding the great variety and differences
of men's beliefs and opinions, yet they think alike
upon more points than differently. And the points
on which they agree are those of the greater impor-
tance. In proportion as a truth is important and
practical, it is plainly revealed. A belief in the
doctrine of moral distinctions in human conduct is
a first truth in the scale of importance. And this
truth is universally believed. Some may pretend to

128 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

deny it, but they never carry out such a principle
of disbelief. If a man injure them, they are sure to
blame him for doing it. But it is said that men do
not make the same moral distinctions. Within
a limited extent, this allegation is true ; but it is
not true generally, or even extensively. All men
justify kindness, truthfulness, fidelity, prudence,
generosity ; and they all condemn cruelty, false-
hood, unfaithfulness, carelessness, and narrow self-
love. They all do this spontaneously and instantly.
Yet it is in this as in all other departments of human
knowledge and agency, advances and improvement
can be made. Those who are enlightened and
experienced make moral discriminations more cor-
rectly than others. It is a distinctive of man that
he can improve in every work. He can do it better,
the longer he studies and pursues it. It is on this
principle that the world makes progress ; that every
generation is wiser than its immediate predecessor.
It will be so, if every generation perform its duty
equally well. On a general scale, this has been the
fact in the past ages of the world. In the age of
the apostle Paul, moral discrimination was made
more accurately than in the age of Moses. It had
outgrown polygamy, arbitrary divorce, and capital
punishment for a slight violation of the sabbath.
Christians of the present age make moral distinc-
tions more justly than the early Christians of the
first three or fom* centuries. In those days, impos-
ture, if done for the promotion of Christianity, was
accounted venial and justifiable. In those centuries,
a multitude of what are called pious frauds were

THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. 129

committed. Many false miracles were got up, and
were believed. Many false titles ^vere affixed to
books, and palmed oft^ for genuine : such as the
Book of Enoch ; the Ascension of Isaiah ; the
Epistle of Barnabas ; the Shepherd of Hermas ;
the Second Book of the Maccabees ; and a hundred
others. Such impostures were deemed justifiable,
on the principle that the end sanctified the means.
The science of moral distinction is in a more heal-
thy condition with us now than it was two hundred
years ago with our Puritan forefathers, — men of
blessed memory. They were persecutors, and even
constructive idolaters. They vexed and banished
the Antinomians ; and suspended innocent and
good men and women on the gallows, until they
were dead, for the imaginary crime of witchcraft.
They also superstitiously worshipped the Bible
and the sabbath-day, transferring to each of these
an attribute which belongeth only to God. — We
are, moreover, taught by this discourse to take cour-
age for the future, and to live in charity with our
fellow-men. We regard many of them to be the
dreamers of dreams, and calling their dreams the
wheat of truth, the w^ord of God. And as we think
of them, so perhaps they think of us. Ought we not,
then, to walk charitably ? Charity covereth a mul-
titude of sins. We have need of its kindly and
softening influences, lest, being tempted, we should
bite and devour one another. Our Saviour has
taught us not to look too much at the mote which
is in our brother's eye. And the apostle Paul has
admonished, " Judge nothing before the time, until

130 THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF.

the Lord come and bring to light the things now
concealed, and make manifest the motives of all
hearts ; and then every man shall have the praise
to which he is entitled from God."

131

THE TRINITY.

" Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." — Matt, xxviii. 19.

This is the prescribed formula of baptism ; the
primitive platform of the Christian faith ; the ori-
ginal confession and creed of the church. By bap-
tism the early disciples professed thek belief in the
Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.
This is the Scriptural Trinity ; • — not a Trinity
of divine persons, subsistences, hypostases, but of
three points of faith, having for their objects two
persons and one personified influence. The first
member of this Trinity is God, the Father; the
only true God. He is styled such, John xvii. 3,
and 1 Cor. viii. 6. The Father is identified with
the Godhead. The second member of this Trinity
is the Son ; the man Christ Jesus, born of Mary,
and crucified under Pontius Pilate ; who died arid
was buried, but raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, and exalted to heaven and
seated at the right hand of God. The third mem-
ber of this Trinity is the Holy Ghost ; the Para-
clete, the Enlightener, the Comforter, which pro-

132 THE TRINITY.

ceedeth from the Father, and which the Son prom-
ised to send to his followers to aid them in their
work, and to convince the world of sin, of righte-
ousness, and of judgment. It is nowhere said in
the Bible that these three are one God. The Holy-
Ghost is manifestly God in his influences, grace,
power, but not a person distinct from God. The
Son, the man Christ Jesus, was " anointed with the
Holy Ghost." " God was with him." He cast out
devils and performed other miraculous works "by
the finger and power of God." " Of myself," said
he, " I can do nothing ; the Father in me doeth the
work."

A Trinity of divine persons is, however, and has
long been, an article of Christian theology. We
shall endeavor in this discourse to take some his-
torical view of this doctrine. It has two historical
lines: — 1. That of the Trinity proper; 2. That of
the deification of the Son, " the man Christ Jesus."
Some germs of this doctrine appear in the second
century of the Christian era. Athenagoras, a Chris-
tian father of this century, makes use of the word
Trius. In the third century, the word Economy
was much employed in much the same sense as the
more modern word Trimtij. It was designed to
express the plan, the arrangement, of the three
agencies concerned in the work of redemption. It
was not, however, believed that these agents were
equal, nor was it universally believed that each
of them was a person. Many Christians, as late
as the fifth and sixth century, declined to profess a
belief in the personaUty of the Holy Ghost. The

THE TRINITY. 133

doctrine was not sanctioned by the vote of a gene-
ral council until it was done at Toledo, in Spain,
not far perhaps fronn the year of our Lord 500.
Nor even then was the equality of these divine
persons recognized. The Son was declared to be
subordinate to the Father, and the Holy Spirit sub-
ordinate to both the Father and the Son. That
very extraordinary man, Origen of Alexandria in
Egypt, the most learned and talented of all the Chris-
tian fathers, declares the Son to be at a vast dis-
tance below the Father, and the Holy Spirit to be
vastly inferior to the Son, though immensely supe-
rior to the highest archangel. He teaches the im-
propriety of offering prayers to the Son, and that
the Father alone should be thus worshipped. Such
was the Trinity of the third century. In the fourth
century sat the famous council of Nice. It decreed
that the Son was God from God ; Light from
Light ; begotten, not made ; consubstantial with
the Father. But against the doctrine of consub-
stantiality there was a strong opposition in the
council itself. Not more than half the churches
approved and accepted the doctrine of consubstan-
tiality ; and even those who accepted did not
recognize the Son's equality with the Father. They
believed and represented the Son to be derived
from the Father, as light is derived from the sun,
and as the stream is derived from the fountain,
and as the body of a tree is derived from the root.
But the stream is not equal to the fountain, nor is
the ray of light equal to the sun whence it came.

The fountain does not depend upon the stream, but
12

134 THE TRINITY.

the stream does depend upon the fountain. There
is not equality between them. The fact is the
same in relation to the sun and its radiance ; also
in relation to the root and the tree.

In the process of the times, however, the consub-
stantiality of the Father, Son, and Spirit, was gene-
rally admitted ; for it could not be avoided without
denying the proper Divinity of the Son. The Son
and Spirit were allowed to be of the same substance
as the Father, yet not of the same identical sub-
stance. They were consubstantial in the same sense
as all men are consubstantial ; of the same kind of
substance. Of course, there were three Gods; three
divine hypostases, each possessing its own intel-
ligence, will, and consciousness. This is Tritheism.
The fact was so obvious that it could not remain
concealed, could not be honestly denied. The
resort for refuge, then, was to a Modal Trinity.
This has existed in two forms, — one of them open
and avowed; the other, mystified and concealed.
The former of these commenced as early as the
third century, and was expounded and maintained
by men whose names ^vere Praxeas, Noetus,
Beryllus, Sabellius, and probably by Paul of
Samosata. God, said they, is one ; the Monas.
He has revealed himself gradually ; first, as Creator
and Upholder of the world; second, as Redeemer
of mankind ; third, as Enlightener and Sanctifier of
men. God, acting as Creator and Upholder of the
world, is the Father; as Teacher and Redeemer, he
is the Son ; as Enlightener and Sanctifier, he is the
Holy Spirit. Though this doctrine has not been

THE TRINITY. 135

o

openly and extensively avowed, yet it has been
much, though indistinctly and mystically, resorted
to and confided in. All those theologians who
affirm, as the authors of the Assembly's Catechism
affirm, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
are one God, the same in substance and equal in
power and glory, are and must be either Tritheists
or Modalists. If by the term, " the same in sub-
stance," they mean identical substance, they are
Modalists. To them there is but one personal God ;
one divine intelligence, will, and consciousness.
But if the term, " same in substance," signify to
them only the same genus or kind of substance,
then are they Tritheists. Their three hypostases
are necessarily three Gods. The divines of the
Westminster Assembly were, if they had any defi-
nite views on the point, either Tritheists or Sabel-
lians ; yet, doubtless, they would all deny that they
were either. Ask them, one by one, to define their
position, and they could not do it so as to fall into
neither one category nor the other. And there is not
a Trinitarian theologian in all Christendom who
will not, in defining his view of the Trinity, virtually
declare himself either a Tritheist or a Sabellian.
The fact, however, is that very few entertain any
definite view at all : they either oscillate between
Tritheism and Modalism, or they take refuge in
mystery. This is the more usual resort. And some
of them have explicitly declared that no definition
of the Trinity ought ever to be attempted ; because,
say they, every such attempt must be a failure. And
they have comforted themselves with the reflection.

136 THE TRINITY.

that the doctrine itself of the Trinity has never been
refuted, although every definition were shown to be
an absurdity ; of course, that a profession of belief
in that dark and unintelligible doctrine was a mere
verbal confession, consisting of words whose sig-
nificance was beyond the ken of human intellect.
[See an article in the " Christian Spectator," 1834 ;
the review of Winslow on the Trinity.]

We shall now attempt to trace the other histori-
cal line, that of the Deification of the Son. "While
the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth, no one thought
of ascribing to him the attribute of Godhead. He
called God, the Father ; and himself the Son. He
as plainly distinguished himself from God as from
other men. He declared that of himself he could do
nothing ; that the Father in him did the work ; that
there was a close intimacy between the Son and the
Father; that the Son and the Father were one, — one
in the same sense as the Son and his true disciples
are one. He thus prayed : " And now, O Father !
glorify thou me with thine ownself, with the glory
which I had vnth thee before the foundation of the
world." But this glory did not amount to deifica-
tion. The Father was ever the only true God :
" That they may know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." After the
resurrection, the views of the apostles respecting
their divine Master were gi'eatly extended and
raised ; but they did not deify him. " Let the
house of Israel know that God hath made that
same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and

THE TRINITY.

137

Christ," — not God, but Lord, Christ : hath mani-
fested him to be the Messiah.

The apostle Paul is generally understood to have
called him God; but it is obviously and always
in a subordinate sense. " Who, being in the form
of God, did not aspire to be ^5 God^ but took on
himself the form of a servant, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross ; where-
fore God hath highly exalted him," &c. The apos-
tle could not mean to say that God exalted God ;
neither here nor in the passage of the epistle to
the Hebrews : " Thy throne, O God I is for ever and
ever ; thy sceptre is a right sceptre ; thou lovest
righteousness and hatest iniquity ; therefore God,
even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of glad-
ness above thy fellows." The God who anoints and
exalts must be far above the God who is anointed
and exalted. The God who is "received up into
glory " could not be equal to the God who thus
received him. The word God in the Bible is often
used as a common and generic term, as much so as
the word Lord. It is not peculiar to the Supreme
Being. Angels, magistrates, and prophets are called
gods. " There are lords many and gods many."
The Supreme Being is as often in the Bible called
Lord as he is called God. The fact, therefore, of
the Son's being called God no more proves him to
have been Jehovah than the fact that he is called
Lord. The Epistles of Peter and James furnish
none of the proof-texts in support of the doctrine,
that the man Christ Jesus was the God of Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12*

138 THE TRINITY.

In the second century of the Christian era, many
learned men embraced the faith of Christianity.
They had previously learned the philosophy of
Plato, through the medium of Philo and the Alex-
andrian school. Philo was a Jew, and a great ad-
mirer of the Athenian philosopher, Plato. Though
cotemporary with Jesus and the apostles, he does
not appear to have had any knowledge of them.
He wrote a celebrated book which had an immense
influence on the early ages of Christianity, and
laid the foundation for the Trinitarian theosophy.
Philo described and detailed the points of the Pla-
tonic theosophy, particularly the Logos. This
word, signifying reason and speech^ Plato employed
in a technical and a new sense, to signify the intel-
ligence, the ideas, the word, of God. He personi-
fied the Logos in bold metaphor, as Solomon per-
sonified wisdom in the eighth chapter of the book
of Proverbs. He spoke of it as being the compa-
nion, coadjutor, of God in the work of creation.
Yet it is doubtful whether Plato intended really to
hypostatize it, — to make it a real person. Philo,
however, did hypostatize the Logos. So likewise
did the early Christian fathers, Justin, Athenagoras,
Aristides, and Tatian, each of whom, in the second
century, wrote apologies for Christianity, contain-
ing an account of its doctrine ; and they identify
the Logos with Jesus Christ. They even thought
they found the Logos recognized in many passages
of the Old Testament: — In the light which God
spake into existence in the beginning. Gen. i. 3.
God said, " Let there be light, and there was light."

THE TRINITY. 139

Then, said they, was the Logos born. What had
previously been an attribute of God, now became
an hypostasis, a person. Hence they made a dis-
tinction between the Logos endiatlietos [in God],
and the Logos prophoricus [manifested]. As endia-
tlietos^ the Logos was eternal, without beginning ;
but as prophoricus^ he had a beginning, and was only
sempiternal. Also in the various theophanies of the
Old Testament, in the angels that appeared to Abra-
ham, to Moses, to Joshua, to Manoah, and to others ;
in the Shekinah, in the tabernacle and the temple ;
in the visions which were had by Isaiah, Ezekiel,
and Daniel. They also recognized it in such pas-
sages as the following : " By the word of the Lord
were the heavens made." " The Lord revealed him-
self to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord."
" The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his
way, before his works of old. I was set up from
everlasting, or ever the earth was. When he pre-
pared the heavens, I was there ; when he set a
compass upon the face of the depths ; when he
established the clouds above ; when he strength-
ened the fountains of the deep, then I was by him,
as one brought up with him ; I was daily his de-
light, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the
habitable parts of the earth ; and my delights were
with the sons of men."

All this, however, amounted to but a partial
deification. As a person, the Son was born ; had
a beginning ; was " the first-born of every creature."
Justin declares him to be far inferior to the Father ;
and Origen, as we have already noted, in the third

140 THE TRINITY.

century, taught the impropriety of addressing
prayers to the Son ; that the Father only was the
God to whom Christians should pray. The prac-
tice of praying to the Son, however, had now begun
to prevail ; and this fact Avas probably the occasion
of Origen's remarks on the subject. Artemon, an-
other writer of the third century, complains that
many Christians were beginning " to theologize
Christ." By this term he meant that they wor-
shipped him as if he were God. He represents
this worship as being a new thing, and wrote a
ti'eatise giving his view of Christ as a man divinely
endowed far above all other men. Artemon and
Theodotus, who in opinion sympathized with him,
were Humanarians : their theory, by re-action, seems
to have produced the modalistic doctrine, which
in this century was put forth and advocated by
Praxeas, Noetus, Beryllus, and Sabellius. They
made a distinction between God revealed and God
unrevealed. God unrevealed is one, the Monas.
He first revealed hiiuself as Creator in the work of
creation and providence ; he subsequently revealed
himself as man's Redeemer, Enlightener and Sanc-
tifier. He, therefore, sustains three relations to the
world : that of its Creator and Upholder ; that of
its Redeemer and Saviour ; and that of its En-
lightener and Sanctifier. And this threefold rela-
tion of God to the world did, according to them,
constitute the Trinity. The one God, acting in
three modes or characters, becomes triune. The
divine in Jesus Christ was the same as the God-
head ; was identical with the Father and the Holy

THE TRINITY. 141

Spirit. The Monas, the Autotheos, the Godhead,
is one ; and the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanetifier,
are derivatives from it. This doctrine had the me-
rit of preserving entire the Divine Unity. But it
diminished the importance of the Son ; concealing
him, as it were, in the shade, or rather in the light,
of the Godhead. It ^vas therefore vehemently
opposed by the Catholics, the reputed orthodox of
that time. TertuUian, of Carthage, wrote against
Praxeas ; Hippolytus wrote against Noetus ; and
Origen made a journey to Bostra in Arabia, and is
said by Eusebius to have converted Beryllus from
his error. (But this conversion is doubted by
Schleiermacher.) Dionysius, Bishop of Alexan-
dria, wrote against Sabellius. The perplexing
point, both with TertuUian and Dionysius, was to
give the Son a divine personality distinct from
God. In order to do this, they asserted that there
was a time when the Son was not. This was
Arianism before Arius. Dionysius, finding himself
in danger, seems to have retracted his assertion ;
but Arius, one of his presbyters, adopted the point
which his bishop had recanted. He boldly advo-
cated the doctrine that the Son is a created being;
" the beginning of the creation of God ; " "the first-
born of every creature." This new theory seems
to have spread with great rapidity, and to have soon
become the faith of nearly half of all Christendom.
The council of Nice, the fu'st and the greatest of
all the CECumenical synods, was convoked by the
Emperor Constantine to determine the question
raised by Arius, whether the Son was created or

142 THE TRINITY.

born. The council consisted of more than six
hundred bishops, from every section of the Roman
empire. The question was strenuously debated, the
antagonistic parties being apparently of nearly equal
sti'ength and numbers. At length the vote was put ;
and it was determined, probably by a small majori-
ty, that the Son was " begotten^ not made ;" that he
was of the same substance, not like substance, with
the Father ; that he was " Light from Light ; very
God from very God." This decision did not give
unanimity and peace to the church. Arianism con-
tinued to abound. It held the ascendancy in Con-
stantinople and in nearly all the East. Arianism
and Athanasianism so equally divided the church
for an hundi-ed years, that it was difficult to know
which of them was really uppermost.

The Nicene doctrine, however, did not raise the
Son to equality with the Father. It made him
dependent and subordinate. As the fountain pro-
duces and supports the stream, and as the sun
originates and emits the light ; as the fountain is
superior to the sti'eam, and the sun to the light ;
so the Divine Father is above the Son in power
and in glory. The Athanasian Creed, composed
probably by Hilary, the Bishop of Aries, in the fifth
century, is the first Christian document in which
is recognized the co-equality of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost.

We have, as yet, omitted to make mention of the
Apollinarian theory. This \vas put forth by Apol-
linaris, Bishop of Antioch, in the fourth century.
It was no other than high Arianism, assuming that

THE TRINITY. 143

the Logos supplied the place of the human soul in
the man Christ Jesus. The first council called to
adjudicate on this doctrine acquitted Apollinaris.
Still, however, there was dissatisfaction. Another
council was convened, by which he was condemned
and banished. His doctrine, however, continued to
be held by many.

In the fifth and sixth centuries, the doctrine which
nominally deifies the Son seems generally to have
been assented to and professed. But that of the
hypostatic union was still unsettled. Ai'e there
two natures in Jesus Christ, or only one ? If there
be two natures, are there not, of course, two wills,
two persons ? Those who held to one nature only
were called IVIonophysites, and by decree of council
were pronounced to be heretics. Those who held
the doctrine of one will were called Monothelites ;
and these, likewise, were decreed to be heretics.
At length the Catholics settled down upon the
manifest contradiction, that in Jesus Christ there
are t^vo whole natures, and but one single person ;
that he is the real Crod-man, perfectly God and
perfectly man ; that as God he possesses a divine
intelligence, a divine will, a divine sensibility, a
divine person ; and as man, a human and a finite
intelligence, will, sensibility, consciousness, and per-
son : that he has a human person and a divine
person, and yet but one person ; that he knows all
things, and yet does not know all things ; that he
is almighty, and yet not almighty; that he is at
once a dependent and independent being.

Here is found the very Gordian knot of Trinita-

144 THE TRINITY.

rianism. That two perfect persons, as distinct from
each other as a divine and a human, should be but
one person ; that two understandings should be but
one ; two wills, two sensibilities, two conscious-
nesses, should be but one ; and all this " without
mixture or confusion," — is surely the hardest thing
to be believed by an intelligent and reflective mind ;
the hardest which such a mind ever did believe. And
yet such minds have believed it, and verified in
themselves what the apostle of the Gentiles alleged
before the Athenians : " I perceive, men of Athens,
that in many things ye are too superstitious." The
cloud of bias and prejudice has exceedingly ob-
scured vour mental vision.

It has often been justly said, that every thing
has a reason and a cause. What, then, has been
the reason and the cause of the conception and
the prevalence of the doctrine of the Trinity in the
Christian Church ? It \vas natural that the early
Christians should have a strong desii'e to exalt the
character of the founder of their religion. They
deeply felt the reproach of worshipping a crucified
man, — a malefactor! They did not deny that he
had been an obscure man, nor that he was cru-
cified. But against this reproach they alleged that
he had not only been raised from the dead, but
also exalted to the highest place in the universe ;
that all things had been subjected under him. He
only excepted who had put all things under him.
The apostle Paul afiirmed that he had ascended far
above all heavens, that he might fill all things. Yet
this apostle never placed him on the throne of the

THE TRINITY. 145

Eternal. This throne was always above him, and
himself a subject under it. The deification of
the Son was not the leading point. The thought
of such a thing would startle a Jew; for monothe-
ism was the first article in his religious creed. It
was, however, very different with the Gentile, who
had lords many and gods many. The primitive
Gentile Christians had been familiar with polythe-
ism. The idea of plurality in the Godhead did not
appal them. At length the sentiment was avowed,
that the Christian theosophy was an eclecticism
from the Pagan and the Jewish. John of Damascus,
in the eighth centiu'y, taught in explicit terms that
" the theosophy of Christianity occupied a midway
point between the monotheism of the Jews and
the polytheisiTi of the Gentiles ; that the latter con-
tained one element of truth, of which the former
was lacking ; " that, of course, Jewish monotheism
was not true theosophy : it needed to be impreg-
nated with an element from Gentile polytheism ;
to be reduced to tritheism in order to approach
nearer to the truth. And this doctrine of the Da-
mascene bishop was endorsed by the Basils and the
Gregories of those times, and became current ortho-
doxy through the mediaeval ages of the church.

The fact is fairly undeniable, that the doctrine of
the Trinity is of Pagan origin. It came from the
Gentiles. There is not a particle of it in Judaism.
The author of the Gospel according to John intro-
duced the Logos into Christianity. He received it
from Plato and Philo. Though not a new word,
yet he employs it in a new sense. He hypostatizes

13

146 THE TRINITY.

the word, or rather what the word signified ; a thing
which no other sacred writer had ever done. And
he did this in imitation of the Platonic philosophers.
The whole doctrine of the Logos is Greek philoso-
phy. But it does not deify the Logos in the
highest sense. It does not identify him with the
Supreme God. The first verse of the Gospel might
be thus translated : " In the beginning was the
Logos, and the Logos was with the God [the Su-
preme God], and the Logos was god." No article
before this word, nor is it written with any capital
letter, but with small ones throughout. The word
Tlieos^ God, is first used in its primary sense,
having the definite article before it, and is begun
with a capital letter. But, in the end of the verse,
it is manifestly used in its secondary sense, having
no article before it, and is begun with a small
letter.

The doctrine of the Trinity has never been fixed
and stationary in its theory. At some times it has
been the subordination-theory ; at other times it
has been the consubstantial theory ; at other times
it has been the identical-substance theory. The
one last mentioned is real, though not acknow-
ledged, Modalism, — Sabellianism. And the con-
substantial doctrine is real, though not avowed,
tritheism. If each three of the divine persons be
only consubstantial, possessed of the same generic
substance, but not identical, then there are three
Gods as truly as three divine persons ; for each
person must possess an intellect, a sensibility, a
self-refiection, and a will, of its own. Otherwise it

THE TRIxXITY. 147

cannot be a personal being. But if the substance
of each be identical, and have but one intellect,
consciousness, and will, then the one God must be
one person only. Where there is but one assem-
blage of personal attributes, there can, of course, be
but one person.

Very few Trinitarians are fixed in their adhesion
to either of the above-mentioned schemes. They
take one of them for to-day, and another for to-
morrow. But neither the one nor the other will
bear scrutiny. Hence the constant oscillation, the
shifting of one for the other ; and this being done
often backward and forward. Then they plunge
into the dark dungeon of mystery, and confess that
the doctrine can neither be explained nor under-
stood.

The Trinitarian hypothesis is labelled all over
with contradictions. The names and \vords by
which it is described and defined are self-conflict-
ing. The names Father and Son contradict the
sentiment that they are equal in power and glory.
A son cannot, in all respects, be equal to his father.
The son depended upon his father for his existence ;
but the father was not thus dependent upon the
son. The names imply inequality and subordi-
nation. Sometimes the terms, fust, second, and
third persons, are employed to designate the three
members of the Trinity. But if these members be
equal in power and glory, then no one of them can
be first person : each one of them is as miuch first
person as the other. No one of them can be second
to the first, nor third to the other two.

148 THE TRINITY.

But it may be alleged, that these are only names
of office. If so, then there must be some reason
for it. If one of the divine tlu'ee have an office
above the other tuo, there must be some reason for
this distinction. Offices are assigned on account
of merit and fitness. The different offices held bv
the several members of the Divine Trinity indicate
their inequality. The servant is not greater than
his lord, nor he that is sent greater than he who
sent him ; but the contrary.

The doctrine under consideration started with an
absurditv', — the absurd sentiment that the attribute
of intelligence in God became changed into a per-
son, possessing all the perfections requisite to
personality', yet leaving God in possession of aU
the intellect which he had before ; and, having pro-
duced a second divine person from the attribute of
reason, it became easy to produce a third from the
divine spirit or po^s^er. In the course of a few
centuries, the activity of God grew into a personal
being, under the appellation of the Holy Ghost. It
was consummated by the council of Toledo, Spain,
in the fifth or sixth century from the birth of
Christ.

149

THE MESSIAH: THE MESSIAXIC IDEA: HIS
ADVENT. REIGX. AND KINGDOM.

Then cometh the end." — Cob. xt. 21.

The end of what ? Not of the kingdom of God.
but of the administration of the Messiah. This is
obvious from the connection. •• Then cometh the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father ; having put down aU
opposition. For he must reign until he hath put
all things under his feet.*- Having accomplished
the purpose of his commission, the Son ^^^ll resign
it ; a3 Washington did his, at the close of the war
of the American Revolution. '• And when all things
shall have been subdued, the Son also himself shaU
be subject to Him who put all things under him :
and God will continue aU in all."

The Messianic Idea and Advent have been the
most wonderful phenomena which have ever ap-
peared in all the history of mankind. Its influence
has WTTOught out the most important effects. It
has produced Christianity, and vastly extended and
elevated the pale and the standard of Gentile civili-
zation. AU this, we think, will become apparent
13*

150 THE MESSIAH I THE MESSIANIC IDEA I

from an historical survey of the Messianic idea, in
its inception, growth, and successive manifestations.

The word Messiah^ Christ, signifies anointed; an
anointed one; the Lord's anointed. There have
been successive Messiahs, and successive Messianic
ideas. The first Messiah — bating the sacerdotal
anointment of Aaron — was Saul, the son of
Kish, anointed by Samuel the prophet, pursuant
to divine direction, to be king over Israel. Saul,
therefore, is called the Lord's anointed. " Who can
stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anoint-
ed, and be guiltless ? " Saul, though possessed of
some manly, heroic qualities, did not give entire
satisfaction. Another, therefore, was appointed.
And the second Messiah was David, son of Jesse,
of Bethlehem-Judah. This man more than equalled
all the anticipations of his friends and patrons. He
consolidated the twelve tribes of Israel into a sti'ong
nation, and exalted it above all adjacent neighbors
and peoples. Eminent for his discretion, superior
in military tact, incomparable in piety, and inimi-
table in devotional composition, his equal has never
since sat on the throne of Israel.

In the latter part of his life, David entertained
the design of building a magnificent temple, to be
a substitute for the tabernacle which had hitherto
been the house of God. He communicated this
thought to Nathan the prophet, who at first ap-
proved the king's purpose ; but on the next day he
came to the king, and delivered the follo\ving mes-
sage : " Thus saith the Lord, Thou who hast been
a man of war, and shed blood, shalt not build me

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 151

a house to dwell in. But after that thy days have
expired, and thou hast been gathered to thy fathers,
I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of
thy sons ; and I will establish his kingdom. He
shall build me an house, and I will establish his
throne for evermore. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son. And I will not take away my
mercy from him, as I took it from Saul that was
before thee. I will settle him in my house and in
my kingdom for ever : his throne shall be estab-
lished for evermore."

On the reception of this message, David's soul
was deeply moved. He forthwith "came and sat
before the Lord," poiuing out his full heart in de-
vout expressions of love and thankfulness. " Who
am I," said he, " O Lord God ! and what my fa-
ther's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ?
And yet this was but a small thing in thine eyes
[my own personal prosperity and distinction], O
God! but thou hast spoken of thy servant's house
for a great while yet to come, and hast regarded me
as a man of high degree, O Lord God ! And what
can David say more ? Thou knowest thy servant.
O Lord ! according to thine own heart hast thou
done all this greatness, in making known all these
things. Therefore, now, O Lord I let the thing
which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and
concerning his house, be established for ever, and
do as thou hast said. Now, therefore, let it please
thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may
be before thee for ever; for thou, Lord, blessest,
and it shall be blessed for ever."

152 THE MESSIAH I THE MESSIANIC IDEA '.

In this account we may find the inception of
the Messianic idea. David was promised a son, a
Messiah, whose throne should be established for
evermore. The seventy-second Psalm purports to
have been composed on this or a like occasion. It
is entitled, " A Psalm for Solomon." " Give the
king thy judgments, O God I and thy righteous-
ness unto the king's son. He shall judge thy
people with righteousness, and the poor with
judgment. He shall break in pieces the oppressor.
He shall come down like rain upon the mown
grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days
shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace
so long as the moon endureth. He shall have do-
minion from sea to sea, and from the river to the
ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilder-
ness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall
lick the dust. Yea, all kings shall fall down before
him, and all nations shall serve him. He shall live,
and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba.
Prayer also shall be made for him continually, and
daily shall he be praised. His name shall be con-
tinued as long as the sun ; and men shall be blessed
in him. All nations shall call him blessed."

Such was the Messianic idea in the mind of
David. And there is an additional development
of it in the second Psalm. It has special reference
to adversaries and opposition. " The kings of the
earth take counsel together, and conspire against
the Lord, in the person of his Messiah. They say,
Let us break the bands asunder, and cast the chains
from us. The Lord shaU speak to them in his

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 153

wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. I
have set my Son upon my holy hill of Zion. I
have said to him. Thou art my Son ; this day have
I begotten thee. I will give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shall break them
with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Be wise, therefore, now, O
ye kings! be persuaded, ye rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear. Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath
is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who
put their trust in him."

With such prospects in his own mind, and in
the minds of other pious Israelites, did David, the
son of Jesse, close his earthly course, and go down
to the grave. His son Solomon — or rather the
dynasty of the line of David — was to sit on the
throne for ever, and stand at the head of all other
kingdoms. Solomon did succeed his distinguished
father ; and, standing as it were on his father's
shoulders, he did seem to be, and he was, a great
prince. He possessed abundance of riches and
honors. He caused to be builded a superb temple,
and formed a royal establishment, on a scale of
splendid magnificence. His biographer says that
Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in
riches and in wisdom ; that all the kings of Ara-
bia, and governors of the country, brought gold and
silver to Solomon ; and that all the kings of the
earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his
wisdom which God had put in his heart. And that

154 THE MESSIAH : THE MESSIANIC IDEA I

they brought every man his present : vessels of sil-
ver and vessels of gold, and raiment, and harness,
and spices, and horses, and mules, a rate year by
year; that he made silver to be as plenty in Jerusa-
lem as stones, so that nothing but gold was made
account of in the days of Solomon.

But, after all this flourish on the part of the his-
torian, and all this promise on the part of the pro-
phet Nathan, Solomon appears to have been rather
a weak than a strong man. While the riches left
to him by his illustrious father, and while the com-
manding reputation of David, sustained him, his
position was high and magnificent ; but, as these
became exhausted, the position of Solomon waned.
In the latter part of his reign, his affairs tended to
deterioration and disorder ; and, immediately after
his death, this great kingdom was sundered in twain.
Ten tribes revolted from the house of David, and
became a distinct kingdom under Jeroboam, the son
of Nebat. The glory was now departed. The
neighboring nations gradually ceased to do homage
and to pay tribute to the Israelitish throne. And
this schism was not healed. The affairs of Israel
continued to decline until the people of both king-
doms became tributaries and captives under the
kings of Assyi'ia and Chaldea.

Yet the Hebrew saints and prophets did not
despair.

<' Hope springs eternal in the human breast."
They believed that the promises of God given
to David were not made in vain, and that they
would yet be fulfilled ; that though Solomon had

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 155

proved himself incompetent to be the glorious
monarch of nations, yet that the true Messiah in
due time would be raised up ; that the divine cove-
nant made with David was well ordered in all things
and sure ; that it was " the sure mercies of David."
They prospected the time when the law should go
forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem ; when this holy city should become the
beauty of perfection, the joy of the whole earth.
" Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou city of
our God." " The Lord of hosts shall reign in
•Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his an-
cients, gloriously." " The Gentiles shall come to
thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."
" And thou, O tower of the flock, strong-hold of the
daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the
first dominion ; and the sceptre shall not depart
from the daughter of Jerusalem." " The sons of
strangers shall build thy walls, and the sons of the
alien shall be thy vine-dressers, thy ploughmen,
and thy husbandmen. The nation and kingdom
that will not serve thee shall perish ; yea, shall be
utterly wasted." " For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given : and the government shall
be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be the
Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty Potentate,
the Father of the age, the Prince of Peace. Of
the increase and peace of his kingdom there shall
be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his
kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judg-
ment and with justice from henceforth, even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

156 THE MESSIAH : THE MESSIANIC IDEA I

The dark night of Jewish depression has been
long and tedious. Century after century has rolled
over them, and over their desolations. From the
sway of the Chaldeans they were transferred to
that of the Medo-Persians ; from these to that of
the Syrian Greeks ; and from the latter to that
of the Romans. But the Messianic idea did not
die out. On the contrary, it was constantly aug-
menting in magnitude and perfection. Though
the morning star did not rise, yet they saw it with
the eye of faith ; and it was constantly acquiring
fresh splendor. Around its nvicleus clustered all
the elements of greatness and excellence : " Beau-
tiful as Tu'zah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an
army with banners ; yea, altogether lovely " and
glorious.

This anticipation was not only deep and univer-
sal in the Jewish mind, but it had also taken pos-
session of many of the Gentiles among whom the
Jews lived. This fact is attested by three cele-
brated historians of that period. These are Jose-
phus, Suetonius, and Tacitus. They each employ
nearly the same words, and say that " all over the
East there prevailed the belief that some one from
Judea would soon rise, and take possession of the
empire of the world." And they add, that an ora-
cle to this effect was said to be contained in the
sacred books of the Jews. This wide-spread doc-
trine and expectancy was the real " voice crying in
the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord,
making smooth an highway for our God, filling up
the valleys, levelling down the hills, smoothing the

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 157

rough places, and straightening the crooked roads ;
so that all flesh might see the salvation of God.

It was near one thousand years from the time of
David, the archetypal Messiah, that Jesus of Naza-
reth was born. At about thirty years of age, he
commenced his public ministry. He did not at
first, and openly, declare himself to be the Messiah,
but did it cautiously and gradually. The nation
generally rejected his claim to that high distinction,
because he was not a monarch ; not such a Mes-
siah as their prophets had described him. His own
few select and devout disciples believed, that though
he was then obscure and lowly, yet he would soon
become illustrious and imperial. His crucifixion
perplexed them ; but his revival on the third day
redintegrated their confidence that he would soon
restore the kingdom to Israel. As he ascended, and
a cloud received him out of their sight, two men
appeared in white apparel, who said, " This same
Jesus, who is taken up, shall so come again in like
manner as ye have seen him go up into heaven."
From that time the doctrine of the return-advent
of Jesus our Lord has been devoutly believed by
all Christians. The apostles, and others with them,
not only believed that Jesus their Master would
return in person, but that he would come speedily.
It was the great exciting doctrine among the primi-
tive disciples of the cross ; their first thought in the
morning, their last thought at night. Hence the
frequent mention of it in the apostolical Epistles :
" The Lord is at hand." " The coming of the Lord
draweth nigh." " Behold, the Judge standeth at the

14

158

THE MESSIAH : THE MESSIANIC IDEA I

door." This was a new feature in the Messianic
faith. The Jews had long believed that the Mes-
siah would come ; but they had not thought of his
coming twice: they had never distinguished his
coming into first and second advents. As Jesus
did not fulfil, in his life and ministry, all that the
prophets had foretold of the Messiah, his followers
believed that he would come again personally and
bodily, so that whatever had been wanting in the
first advent would find its complement in the se-
cond.

But what did they regard as being the proper
purpose and business of the second advent of
Christ? Was it to be a king or a judge ? Was
it to reign or to adjudicate? The Hebrew pro-
phets ascribed both these offices to the Messiah.
He was to rule and govern the people in great pros-
perity, righteousness, and peace. He was also to
dispense awful retribution. His rod was an iron,
that would dash wicked nations and peoples into
" shivers." " But who may abide the day of
his coming ? Who stand when he appeareth ?
For he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
" Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven ;
and all the proud, all that do wickedly, shall be
as stubble : the day shall burn them up, leaving
them neither root nor branch." But although the
pre-Christian prophets attributed to the Messiah
the office both of a king and a judge, yet they
usually spake of him in his royal character. They
dwelt, in their descriptions of him, upon his peace-
fal and happy government, under which the poor

Ills ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOxM. 159

and oppressed, the prisoner and the captive, the
bruised and the broken-hearted, the low and the
injured, would all be saved ; would be righted of
their injuries, relieved from their burdens, and
raised to a condition of freedom, enjoyment, and
honor.

On the other hand, the Christian prophet dwelt
chiefly upon his official work of retribution. When
the Lord should return, it would be to act as a
Judge ; he would judge both the quick and the dead.
The scene and the work are described in the para-
bles ; that of the vii-gins ; also in that of the sheep
and the goats ; and in those of the pounds and tal-
ents, of the wheat and the tares, and of the net
cast into the sea. It would take place at the end
of the world, when the whole business of human
affairs would be wound up and finished. The
apostle Paul believed that the bodily resurrection
of all the dead in Christ would then take place ;
and that the revived saints, together with the
changed saints, then living, would be taken up " to
meet the Lord in the air, and so would be for ever
with him."

The apostle Peter believed, that the earth and all
things in it would then be burned up : " All these
things shall be dissolved." And both these apostles
declare, that this great catastrophe in relation to the
wicked, and consummation in relation to the righ-
teous, was near, — was daily impending. It might
come at any moment. It would come soon. Some
who were cotemporaries with the Lord Jesus would
live to see it. Time moved on; but the second

160 THE MESSIAH I THE MESSIANIC IDEA *.

advent and the dissolution of the world did not
arrive. And then, moreover, appeared scoffers, say-
ing, " Where is the promise of his coming ? The
fathers have fallen asleep, and all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the world."
And another difficulty w^as soon perceived, to which
we have already alluded. If the end of all things
was so near at hand, and if the chief and almost
the only work of the coming Messiah was to act as
an adjudicator and a re warder, what then becomes
of all the beautiful and splendid descriptions, in
the prophetic Scriptures, of the Messiah's kingdom
and reign on earth, — when the bear and the lamb,
the lion and the kid, should lie down together, and
a little child should be their keeper; when the
people should be all righteous, and the fruit of
righteousness should be peace and quietness for
ever?

It seems to have been for the purpose of sur-
mounting this difficulty, that the doctrine of Chi-
liaism was conceived and propagated to some
extent in the period of the apostolic age. This
doctrine is put forth in the Revelation of St. John
the divine, probably not St. John the apostle. It
announces a personal reign of Christ and the saints
on earth of a thousand years in duration. It has
been called the Millennial Day, — the seventh of the
seven thousand years, which many have assumed
to be the full age to which the world will have ar-
rived immediately before its disintegration. At the
commencement of this millennium, the second, the
fearful, and the glorious advent of the Messiah, in

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 161

connection with the resurrection of the saints, will
take place. Then will follow the thousand years of
the Messianic reign of Christ. At the close of this
millennium, it was declared that the wicked dead
would be raised, or rather that they would be
judged, and cast into a lake of fire ; that, after this
judgment, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, would
come down from God out of heaven, and the taber-
nacle of God would be wdth men.

This doctrine of a Messianic millennium on earth,
though it removed some difficulties attending the
usual belief, yet it created others; and it seems
never to have been generally received among the
early Christians. The Chiliasts, so called, were
but a fraction of the church. And after a few
centuries they ceased to be even that : they disap-
peared from the page of ecclesiastical history. This
new doctrine of the millennium, limiting the reign
of Christ to a thousand years, — a reign which had
hitherto been regarded and described as endless and
everlasting, — was probably the principal reason
which long prevented the reception of the Apoca-
lypse as an inspired book. The canonization of it
was delayed for the space of some hundred years,
and was not consummated until the convention of
the council of Toledo, Spain, in the fifth or sixth
century.

This council, however, did not endorse, in its
original sense, the doctrine of the thousand years'
reign of the Messiah. The literal interpretation of
that part of the Apocalypse had now faded out,
and was repudiated. Christians had now ceased

14*

162 THE MESSIAH '. THE MESSIANIC IDEA :

to live ill constant expectation of the visible and
glorious appearance of the gi'eat God and our Sa-
viour. They had begun to put a new construction
upon many prophetic portions of the Sacred Scrip-
tures. The terms Zion, Jerusalem, Israel, and the
house of Jacob, were not now accepted in their
primitive and literal sense, but in one that is secon-
dary and figurative. So likewise the terms, kingdom
of God and kingdom of heaven. They had begun
to account the Christian Church to be the kingdom
of God. It was the correspondent of the Jewish
Church. Through the medium of the Mosaical in-
stitutions, the Israelites were constituted a kingdom
of God ; theii' government, a theocracy. God was
their king, and governed them by means of his laws,
prophets, oracles, and invisible supervision. And
it was conceived and taught, that, as the Christian
Church corresponded to the Jewish ; the latter being
the archetype of the former, which, of com'se, must
be equally, and more than equally, the kingdom of
heaven, — in this, and over this, was the reign of
Christ. The evangelical kingdom of God was
upon earth. Its peculiar character is recognized in
the Lord's Prayer: "Thy [God's] kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The
locality of what in the Gospels is called the king-
dom of God is on earth. The kingdom of heaven is
here, below ; but heaven itself is there, above. And
as the Jewish church had an hierarchy, consisting of
high priest, chief priests, and ordinary priests, so
must the Christian Church, on the principle of cor-
respondence, have one universal bishop, a number

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 163

of metropolitan bishops, and a multitude of local
and laboring priests, elders, ministers. As the
Messiah is God's vicegerent now in heaven, so the
universal bishop, now on earth, is Christ's vicege-
rent for the government of the church. The Holy
Catholic Church is the kingdom of God. Jesus,
the Messiah, has come into possession of this king-
dom. He was invested with authority to govern
it when he ascended from earth to heaven, and sat
on the right hand of God. That was the proper
beginning of his reign ; and his reign will continue
until all nations are evangelized, until all men be-
come Christians. Thus they taught and argued.

Although the Christian fathers changed the mean-
ing of those scriptural passages which describe the
reign of Christ, from a primary and literal to a
secondary and correspondential sense, yet they did
not do the same thing in respect to those passages
which describe the judgment. These they con-
tinued to accept in their literal import. The work
of the day of judgment was to be strictly that of
an assize, a court of trial; of adjudication.

It is, no other than a fair question to inquire, if
the kingdom and reign of Messiah, when announced
and described in the New Testament, are to be un-
derstood spiritually and metaphorically, why should
not the judgment be regarded in the same light?
Why should not the judgment-scenes be as meta-
phorical and spiritual as those of the reign and
kingdom of the Messiah ?

There is one marked difference between ancient
and modern interpretation of the Holy Scriptures in

164 THE MESSIAH : THE MESSIANIC IDEA :

respect to the judgment. The ancients placed the
judgment first; the reign after it. With those of
old time, the judgment was introductory ; but with
the moderns, it is terminatory and closing. Those
believed that the " last days " commenced with the
judgment: these believe the judgment closes and
concludes them.-

There have been Adventists in perhaps all the
ages and centuries of Christendom. The Chris-
tians of the apostolic age were Adventists. The
Chiliasts of the second and third centuries were
Adventists. Half the Christians of Europe, in the
tenth and eleventh centuries, seem to have been
Adventists. This doctrine, it has been thought,
started and impelled those great movements of the
mediaeval ages, — the crusades. There were Adven-
tists in the time of Martin Luther. That remarka-
ble denomination of Christians called Shakers are
Adventists. They believe that the Messiah made
his promised advent in the person of Ann Lee.
The Swedenborgians are a description of Adven-
tists ; for they believe that Christ, in the character
of the Paraclete, fulfilled his promised mission by
illuminating the mind of Immanuel Swedenborg.

It is obvious, from statements already made, that
the Messianic idea has taken different phases and
modifications. The Messiah of one age and gene-
ration has not been the same as the Christ of
another. What was the Messiah of the Hebrew
prophets ? He was a human monarch, wielding
an iron sceptre, crushing down refractory nations,
and consolidating them in one great imperium,

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 165

g^

before he dispensed to them the precious blessin
of peace. This was the Messiah of the Old Tes-
tament. And what was the Messiah of the Gospels ?
It was the man Jesus of Nazareth, anointed with
Holy Ghost and with power ; who went about
doing good, healing the diseased, dispossessing
demoniacs, and preaching the doctrine of repent-
ance and forgiveness of sins to all, even to publicans
and sinners; a man who, though approved of God,
was arrested and crucified by the Jews ; was dead
and buried, Jet was revived on the third day, and
afterward received up into heaven. Such is the
Messiah of the gospel. And what was the Messiah
of the apostolic age ? It was this same Jesus of
Nazareth exalted to a kingly throne in the heavens;
Monarch, not only of this world, but of all worlds ;
ascended up far above all heavens, that he may fill
all things. And what was the Messiah of the early
Christian fathers ? He was a great celestial war-
rior; Michael marshalling and leading forth the
sacramental host; conducting the war in heaven,
as well as on earth ; fighting the dragon and his
legions of angels ; ^^Testling against principalities
and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world,
spiritual wickedness in high places. He was the
Captain of salvation. He saved his people by fight-
ing and overcoming their enemies. And what the
Messiah of the members of the Holy Catholic
Church ? He was a great High Priest, offering up to
God, on the altar of the cross, his body and life as
a literal, piacular, atoning, and vicarious sacrifice ;
and thus purchasing the pardon and justification of

166 THE MESSIAH ". THE MESSIANIC IDEA I

all orthodox believers. And such the Messiah of all
so-called orthodox Christendom, — including with
Romanists, Greeks, Nestorians, Armenians, and
Protestants. And what the Messiah of those de-
nominated liberal Christians ? It is the man Christ
Jesus ; teaching the way of God truly ; living the
spiritual life of God in his own soul ; beseeching
sinners to renounce their wicked way, and become
reconciled to God ; relieving the diseased, and com-
forting the bereaved; bearing injustice and abuse
with perfect meekness and patience ; Snd dying as
a martyr to the cause of redemption and truth ; —
the First-begotten from the dead, and our Fore-
runner; having entered that Holy of Holies which
is above, and thus opened the doors of the heaven
of heavens to all true believers.

There has been, in the abstract and virtually,
though not in the concrete and objectively, a suc-
cession of Messiahs. The Messianic ideas have
necessarily been subjective. They were at first a
thought in some mind; and no person or people
can conceive and entertain a thought or an idea
which is above that state of enlightenment to which
they have arrived. The Hebrew prophets could
not have entertained such a Messianic idea as was
entertained by the apostles; nor could the early
Christians have conceived such an idea of Christ
as was entertained of him in the later and middle
ages. Each of the successive Messianic ideas have,
on the whole, been an improvement upon its pre-
decessor. The disciples of Jesus could not receive
from him his true and full ideal of goodness, because

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 167

their minds were not sufficiently enlightened to
hold perfect sympathy with his. All the Messianic
ideas, we repeat it, have been radically subjective ;
and each succeeding one has corrected some of the
imperfections of that which went before it. Such
a Messiah as the Hebrew seers and poets foresaw
and described did not come ; but a better one did
come. Such a Messianic advent and kingdom as
the primitive Christians looked for has not been
realized ; yet one of far superior glory has become
a reality. Such a millennium as the Chiliasts and
Adventists have with so much assurance expected,
has not come, nor probably ever will come ; yet
one of far transcendent worth is doubtless yet to
bless the habitation of men.

As the several Messianic ideas have each been
the best which the existing condition of the human
mind admitted, they have all been highly useful.
The old Jewish ideal was useful. It preserved the
nation, kept them from despair, inspirited them
with deep and noble aspirations. It opened and
paved the road for the chariot of Christianity.
The apostolic ideal of a militant and conquering
Saviour — a Michael at the head of the armies of
heaven — was useful. It inspired Christians with
indomitable courage, gave intensity to resolution,
and urged them on to the most persevering effort.
The idea of the speedy advent of the Son of man
was also useful. It enabled the early Christians to
renounce earthly possessions, and to imitate the ex-
ample of Moses in accounting the sufferings of Christ
to be better riches than the treasures of Egypt.

168 THE MESSIAH: THE MESSIANIC IDEA:

Every Messianic idea has contained much truth ;
and this the best truth to which the mind of man
had then attained. And it is the truth, in all cases,
which Avorks benefits. It is not the property of
falsehood to do good, but exclusively the office of
truth. It is on this fact, as a principle, that civili-
zation and Christianity mutually aid, advance each
other. Modern civilization could not have come
without the aid of Christianity ; and it is equally
true, that modern Christianity could not have come
without the aid of civilization. Civilization, at
bottom, is enlightenment ; Christianity, at bottom,
is faith. And it is only by the united influences of
enlightenment and faith that a right religion and
a right civilization can be attained.

It is apparent, from what has been stated in
this discourse, that aU the divine predictions and
promises are conditional. And only so far as
the conditions are fulfilled will the predicted and
promised blessings be confeiTcd. God made great
and precious promises to Abraham. And he also
said, " I know Abraham that he will command his
children and household after him, that they keep
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment,
that the Lord God may bring upon Abraham the
things spoken of him." This passage is very sig-
nificant. It signifies that the promises made to the
patriarch Avere conditional, and that the faithful-
ness of Abraham would insure their fulfilment.
Very numerous and splendid were the promises
made by Moses to the Israelites : " Happy art thou,
O Israel ! what nation is fike unto thee ; a people

HIS ADVENT, REIGN, AND KINGDOM. 169

saved of the Lord, who is the shield of thy help,
and the sword of thine excellency I Thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread
on their high places." Yet all this was conditional ;
and only so far as the terms were complied with,
were the benefits accorded.

And what could have been more express, specific,
and magnificent, than the promises made to David
and Solomon? Yet they were, manifestly, con-
ditional ; and the neglect to fulfil the conditions
caused the failure of the promises. Yet even those
blessings themselves were but the shadows of the
better things which a due and attainable amount
of enlightenment and faith can confer upon man-
kind. These, we believe, will come ; and those will
surely follow in the train.

It was, manifestly, a mistake in the Jewish pro-
phets to apprehend, as they evidently did, that a
potent military monarch like David could be the
Saviour of the world ; that a rod of iron could be
the instrumentality of a true moral reformation.
It might compel men to live orderly. It might
coerce them from acts of violence. But, until duly
enlightened and renovated, the tendency to resist-
ance would remain in them ; and, w^hen the oppor-
tunity came, they \vould resist and rebel. There
would be actual rebellion. The necessity of the
sword, the bailiff*, and the prison, always presuppose
a tendency to do injustice. And moral force, that
of truth, is the only antidote to evil.

It was also an equal mistake to believe, as they

likewise did, that the true mode of reformation was
15

170 THE MESSIAH I THE MESSIANIC IDEA.

to destroy and kill all the wicked, but save the
righteous alive. Thus they might bring up a new
and perhaps a better gent^ration. The reform,
hoAvever, ^vould be only temporary. Corruption
again would soon return. Men must be morally
regenerated before they \vill all live righteously.
The prophet had a right conception on this subject:
" Behold, the day cometh, saith the Lord, when I
will make a ne^\^ covenant with my people : I will
write my laws upon their heart ; and then will they
be my people, and I will be their God."

171

CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

" For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us." — 1 Cor. v. 7.

In many passages of the New Testament, the death
of Christ is spoken of as being a sacrifice. On this
point there is no controversy ; but it is an open and
controverted question whether it be so called in a
literal or a constructive sense. There are, there-
fore, two issues on this subject. First, What is a
literal sacrifice ? Second, Was the death of Christ
a sacrifice in the primitive, or only in the secondary
and figurative, sense of the word ?

What, then, is a sacrifice in the most proper and
original import of the term ? A majority of Chris-
tian theologians and commentators attach to it
the idea of a vicarious equivalent; an expiatory
compensation ; a substitute for punishment or pe-
nalty. A sacrifice — as to the material of it —
being something offered to God, a part or the whole
of which was destroyed, usually by fire, it has been
interpreted as a symbol of that death which is the
legal penalty and wages of sin. The death of
Christ has been viewed as being the only proper
and efficient sacrifice for sin, and all others as

172 CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

being but types and prefigurations of it. This, if
we mistake not, is the current, the long-prevalent,
and the so-called orthodox view of sacrifice. We
regard it, however, as a misconception and an error.
The purpose of sacrifice, under the patriarchal and
legal dispensations, was homage, worship ; not a
penal equivalent, not a substitute, not a compensa-
tion. To our mind, the truth of the proposition,
above stated, appears manifest and clear from the
following considerations : —

1. A large proportion of the things sacrificed
were bloodless and inanimate. Though the lamb,
the bullock, and the goat were prominent articles
for the altar, yet they were far from being the ex-
clusive ones. Flour, sheaves of wheat, incense,
wine, oil, and parched corn, were often the substance-
matter of sacrifice. These, having no life to lose,
could not have been the symbol and representative
of a death-penalty. They were not, therefore, fit
and admissible materials. They had no signifi-
cance on the vicarious principle ; while, on the
principle of worship, they were equally significant
as the slain victims.

2. The sacrifices were called offerings, oblations,
gifts, donations. The things consecrated and
brought to the altar are as often called offerings as
sacrifices. These two terms are employed inter-
changeably and synonymously. There was no dif-
ference between an offering and a sacrifice. The
slain bullock was an offering ; and the bloodless oil,
wine, incense, and flour were sacrifices. And the
reason of it is obvious. They were all and equally,

CHRIST A SACRIFICE. 173

when duly made, acts of worship ; of homage ren-
dered to God. But, if the purpose of sacrifices had
been the expiation of sin, compensation for trans-
gression, they could not have been properly denomi-
nated offerings, oblations, gifts, donations. They
rather possessed the character of debts ; and the
liability incurred by sin is, in Scriptm-e, sometimes
denominated a debt : " Forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors." But the payment of a debt
is not a gift. If the object of sacrifices had been
to make amends for past delinquencies, they could
not have possessed the character of oblations, gifts,
free-will offerings ; and they surely would never
have been so denominated.

3. There are passages of Scripture which express
clearly the latrial character of sacrifices. " Honor
the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits
of thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with
plenty, and thy presses shall burst forth with new
wine." And the prophet Isaiah thus reproves the
people of his nation : " But thou hast not called
upon me, O Jacob I thou hast been weary of me,
O Israel ! Thou hast not brought me the small cattle
of thy burnt-offerings ; neither hast thou honored
me with thy sacrifices. Thou hast bought me no
sweet cane with money ; neither hast thou filled me
with the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast made
me to serve with thy sins, and wearied me with
thine iniquities."

The conceptions which men entertained of God
in the early ages of the world were anthropomor-
phitic. They conceived God to be Like an elevated,

15*

174 CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

all-knowing, and almighty man. And as it was the
duty of children to honor their parents, and espe-
cially their presiding patriarch and king, by minis-
tering to their wants ; by contributions of the
necessaries and comforts of life ; by donations of
the choicest portions from their flocks, herds, fields,
and vineyards, they felt the desire of rendering a
similar service to Him above who was the dispenser
of all the good things of life. But how could they
do it? He did not need their contributions, —
their corn, their wine, theii' oil, their bullocks, or
the lambs of their flocks. He had no use for the
flesh of beasts, nor for wine, nor for incense. Yet
it would express the sentiment of their hearts to
give them to him ; to consecrate them to his use ;
to devote them as his, and withdraw them from
every other use. Hence a consecrated thing could
not be otherwise appropriated : it was sacrilege to
use it for any secular purpose. It ^vas, therefore,
bui'iied or poured upon the ground or into the sea.
It was destroyed, that it might not be applied to
any profane use. It being God's, no man might ap-
propriate it to any earthly use whatever. And it is
easily perceived, that the idea of honoring God lies
at the foundation of this thing. Once the devoted
article was a man's own ; but, after he had given it
freely to God, it was no longer human property. It
was therefore destroyed, that it might never be any
other's than God's. When the field at Delphos,
devoted to Apollo, was ploughed and sown by the
Crisseans, a sacrilege was committed which, it is
said, " sent a thrill of horror through the whole of

CHRIST A SACRIFICE. 175

Greece." The Mosaica] law ordained the devotion
of all the firstlings of the flocks and herds. If
suitable for the altar, they might be either sacri-
ficed or redeemed. If misuitable, they must be
redeemed. A certain sum of money would ransom
them. But, if the owner did not redeem the first-
ling of the horse or the ass, the injunction is ex-
press, " Thou shalt break his neck."

We may obtain the central idea of a sacrifice
from the account given of Jephthah and his vow :
" And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and
said, If thou shalt deliver the children of Amnion into
my hand, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh
forth of the doors of my house to meet me in peace
shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for
a burnt-offering." The peculiar attribute of a sac-
rifice was, that it should be " the Lord's ; " — not the
Lord's in the universal sense of divine possession ;
as " the earth is the I^ord's, and fulness of it ; " but
in an appropriate sense, as having been given to
him by the human owner,

David, on a certain occasion, being very weary
and athirst, exclaimed, " Oh that one would give
me to drink water from the well of Bethlehem ! "
On hearing this ardent language from their beloved
chief, three men, at the imminent peril of their lives,
broke through the ranks of an hostile army, and
took water from the well of Bethlehem, and brought
it to the king ; but he refused to drink it. It was
too precious to be drunk : it had cost too much to
be used for a secular purpose. He, therefore, gave
it to the Lord ; making of it a sacrifice. David

176 CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

"would not drink of it, but poured it out unto
the Lord." In this account, as in the other, we
perceive what was the true distinctive of a sacrifice.
It was being freely and deliberately consecrated and
given to God. This was the first act of the offerer :
the second was to destroy it. This was usually
done by fire ; but, if the thing was a liquid, it was
poured out upon the ground or into the sea.

We have given, we think, the radical idea of a
sacrifice. It has two elements ; that of dedication,
and that of destruction. A thing merely dedicated
was not a sacrifice. Samuel was dedicated to the
Lord by his mother before his birth. But this
did not amount to a sacrifice. David and the tri-
bal princes dedicated an immense sum of silver
and gold for the erection of the temple : but it was
not a proper sacrifice ; for it was not destroyed,
but appropriated to a sacred use. There were
usually in the temples, both of the Gentiles and
the Jews, many dedicated things : these were called
anathemas, not sacrifices. The Crissean field was
not a sacrifice, but an anathema.

Under the Mosaical law, there was a ritual by
which sacrifices were regulated. Things dedicated
to the Lord for sacrifices must be disposed of in a
regular way. They were to be offered by the priests,
— a consecrated order of men, — and burned on
the altar. Among the early patriarchs, the man
built his own altar, and acted as his own priest.

There was a difference between a sacrifice and
martyrdom. Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, was a
martyr. His death in the sanctuary, by the hands

CHRIST A SACRIFICE. 177

of an infuriated mob, was a martyrdom ; but it was
not a sacrifice. His death was never thus denomi-
nated.

The distinction between the priesthood of Christ
and that under the Mosaical law is distinctly and
largely noted in the Epistle to the Hebrews. So
great was the difference that the apostle asserts,
that, "if Christ were now on earth, he should not be
a priest," Heb. viii. 4. Of course, he could not
have been a Mosaical priest, while he was on earth.
His priesthood was of a different character. It was
more like that of the priests under the patriarchal
dispensation ; " after the order of Melchisedec,"
who was one of the patriarchs. In those times,
there was no priest, in the legal and proper sense
of the word. The priesthood had not then been
instituted. The patriarch ministered at his own
altar: he performed the part which was afterward
devolved upon the priesthood. Melchisedec, there-
fore, was called a priest ; yet he was not such in
the technical sense of the term. And Christ is a
priest after the order of Melchisedec ; i.e. a differ-
ent kind of priest from that of the Levitical order ;
but in reality as different from that of Melchisedec
as he was from that of Aaron.

That the priesthood of Christ was wholly of a
moral description, entirely separate from ceremo-
nials, may be fairly inferred from the manner of his
appointment. " No man taketh this honor upon
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron,
So Christ glorified not himself to be made an high
priest ; but he who said to him, Thou art my SoOi

178 CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

to-day have I begotten thee." Christ, therefore,
seems to have had no special appointment to be a
priest. He was appointed — declared to be, recog-
nized as — "the Son of God." His whole office,
then, was of a moral description. And the correct-
ness of this view of the subject further appears
from the account given by the apostle of the cha-
racter of the covenant under which he ministered.
It was not such a covenant as that instituted for
the Israelites, immediately after their exodus from
Egypt. It did not, like that, consist in meats, drinks,
ablutions, the flesh and blood of lambs, goats, and
bullocks ; in cardinal ordinances, imposed until the
time of reformation. The covenant is thus described
in language taken from the prophet Jeremiah : —
" This is the covenant which I will make with the
house of Israel, saith the Lord : I will put my law
into their hearts, and write it upon their inward
part ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people." It is a manifest fact, that the new cove-
nant, of which Christ is the mediator, possesses a
purely moral character. It is wholly spiritual. Its
object is " reformation." It aims at the conversion
of individuals, and the rectification of human so-
ciety. The heart of man is the seat of its action.
And as the covenant is spiritual, so likewise are
the means and agencies by which it acts. Truth
is the medium of its operation. It is by the agency
of truth that men are reclaimed and sanctified.
The " end " for which Christ was born and came
into the world was to bear witness unto the truth."
" He that is of the truth heareth his voice." The

CHRIST A SACRIFICE. 179

temple in which he officiates is spiritual. It " is
not of this building," the Mosaical. Here, not ri-
tual but " spiritual gifts and sacrifices are offered
up." The blood which cleanses the conscience
from sin and dead works to serve the living God is
not the material blood of Christ, but the moral in-
fluences which flow from his being obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. The purpose
of his death was, not to persuade God to make
overtures of reconciliation to men, but to persuade
men to become reconciled to God ; to enlighten
their darkness, to correct their misconceptions, to
subdue their obduracy, to regenerate them into the
divine image, to make them the " sons and daugh-
ters of the Lord Almighty."

We now return to the two questions at issue :
First, What was a literal sacrifice ? and, second. Was
the death of Christ a sacrifice of this description ?

A literal sacrifice, if our preceding statements
have been correct, consisted in consecrating a thing
to God, and destroying it It was destroyed for the
reason that God had no use for it, and it would be
sacrilege to put it to any human use. Sacrifice
stood on the principle of divine worship. It was
latrial, not expiatory. That the death of Christ
was not a real sacrifice is a point most palpably
manifest. Did the Jews who slew him first dedi-
cate him to God, and slay him as an oblation for
the holy altar ? Did they intend his death as a
service of homage rendered to God ? Was he their
sacrificial victim ? It was requisite that every sac-
rifice should be pure and unblemished. Did the

180 CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

Jews SO regard Jesus of Nazareth ? Was he not,
in their view, a notorious, guilty malefactor ? And
farther, let it be remembered that human sacrifices
were forbidden in the Jewish la^v, and held in de-
vout abomination.

Will it now be alleged, that the sacrifice was not
made on the part of the Jews, but by Christ him-
self? But when did, or how could, such a fact ever
take place ? A man make a literal, religious sacri-
fice of himself! How is such a thing possible?
Can the priest and the victim, the offerer and the
thing offered, be one and the same ? Did such an
instance ever occur ? Besides, what were the facts
of the case ? Did Jesus dedicate himself to God
for the express purpose of being slain as an immo-
lated victim ? Did he desire to be put to death ?
Did he give orders to this effect to those who cruci-
fied him ? None of these things obtained. How,
then, could his death have been a literal sacrifice ?

It was not the purpose of his mission to propi-
tiate the heart of God, but to bear witness unto the
truth. In the prosecution of this purpose, he in-
curred the displeasure of the Jewish rulers. On
account of the testimony which he bore to the
truth, they devised his death. For a season, Jesus
avoided exposure to their malice ; but he would not
desist from his work. He again appeared in public
as an instructor. He knew the danger ; but he did
not order it, nor justify it, nor wish it. He did not,
in any proper sense, cause his own death. Of
course, he could not have literally made his life a
bloody sacrifice.

CHRIST A SACRIFICE. 181

If the question be, Why is the death of Christ
called a sacrifice ? the answer must be the same as
that given to other similar inquiries ? Why is
Christianity called a circumcision ? Why is the
Christian Church called Zion and New Jerusalem ?
The obvious fact is, that Jewish terms — words
belonging to the religious vocabulary of the Jews
— are transferred into the language of Christians.
It was perfectly natural that such should be the
fact. Hence it is, that in the New Testament we
have a circumcision, a priesthood, a laver, a sprink-
ling of blood, a sacrifice, an atonement, a propitia-
tion, a mercy-seat, a covenant, a law, &c. But the
Christian circumcision, atonement, propitiatory,
sprinkling of blood, washing with water, and sacri-
fices, are entirely different things from the Jewish.
The latter were literal ; but the former, metaphorica] .
Those were outward and carnal : these are inward
and spiritual. It is because that the gospel secures
to believers the same advantages that the law did to
its observers, that the same language is employed.
The law prescribed the w'ay of obtaining justifica-
tion, and so does the gospel. The Jew obtained the
righteousness by which he was justified, by keeping
the letter of the law, and by ritual observances : the
Christian obtained it by believing in Jesus Christ.
He is, therefore, said to be justified by faith. The
law prescribed a way of obtaining pardon for trans-
gressions : so, likewise, does the gospel. Under the
law, the blood of victims and pure water were
employed, and supposed to be indispensable and
efficacious ; but, under the gospel, the Christian law

16

182 CHRIST A SACRIFICE.

of repentance was competent to secure forgiveness.
To sanction this law, Christ had suffered and died.
His blood, therefore, might be referred to as though
it were the medium of expiation. Under the law,
there was a mercy-seat, a place of reconciliation :
so, likewise, under the gospel. The Christian can
obtain as firm an assurance of the favor of God,
without a local mercy-seat, as the Jew could with
it. Christ, therefore, is called a propitiation, a pro-
j)itiatory, a mercy-seat. As the believer in Christ
obtains from God all the advantages which the law
of Moses secured to the Jew, he is therefore said to
have in Christ a high priest, a sacrifice, a pass-
over, a propitiation, an atonement, a sprinkling,
a laver, &c. The use of such names was an
accommodation to the Jewish mind. They could
not easily conceive of religious realities, without
connecting them with these familiar and sacred
terms. It seemed to them impossible that they
could be God's accepted people, without circumci-
sion, without burnt-offerings, without the shedding
and the sprinkling of blood, without ablutions and
baptisms with water. On this account, Jewish
terms are transferred into the language of Chris-
tians. But they are divested of their Jewish signi-
fication. It is wholly on account of the end, the
advantages secured, that these terms are thus
employed. The apostle declares, " We are the
circumcision that worship God in sincerity, and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in
the flesh ; " — a very different circumcision from
that of the Hebrews ; yet it secured the same great

CHRIST A SACRIFICE. 183

end, the same invaluable advantages. And the
Chi'istian passover, blood, laver, priesthood, and
propitiatory, are equally distinct and different.
They agi'ee with the Jewish only on one point, —
the blessings enjoyed.

The law secured to the diligent Jew, as he thought,
every needful blessing. The gospel did the same
for the Christian believer. " Now to him that
worketh not, but belie veth on Him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for right-
eousness." Such is the Christian cu'cumcision.
" For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, bat he
is a Jew who is one inwardlv ; and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter ;
whose praise is not of men, but of God."

184

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

" For there is one God, and one Mediator between Go3 and men, the man
Christ Jesus." — 1 Tim. ii. 5.

In this passage, our Lord Jesus Clirist is exhibited
in two aspects of his character ; his nature and his
office. His nature is human : he is a man. His
office is mediatorial : he is the one great Mediator
between God and men. The consideration of these
points of fact and doctrine wiR occupy the sequel
of this discourse.

I. His nature. — All the creatures of God have
been made in the way of order. Every creature is
made after some type. It belongs to some genus,
kind, class. Every tree belongs to some kind of
tree. Every animal belongs to some genus. We
always presume it ; and when we see a creature or
a plant which is wholly unknown to us, our first
inquuy is for its generic type, — of what kind is it?
We presume with certainty that it belongs to some
genus. And we are correct in entertaining this
impression ; for there is not a beast, nor a bird,
nor a fish, nor an insect, nor a tree, nor a plant, nor
a stone, that does not belong to some generic class.

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 185

Nor can any creature or thing belong to more
than one genus. It may be very extraordinary and
superior. A lion, for instance, may be far more
strong and beautiful than any other lion. Yet it
cannot be any thing more than a lion. That is its
type. A real lion cannot be any thing more or
any thing less than a lion. Every genus has some-
thing by which it differs from all other genera. It
has a distinctive. But it is impossible for it to
have two distinctives. It would imply a contradic-
tion. The supposition of it would be an absurdity.
A creature cannot be a real, perfect lion, and at the
same time a real and perfect unicorn. For, if it be
the former, it cannot be the latter. Nor can it
be both.

There has been much controversy among Chris-
tians about the nature of oiu* Lord Jesus Christ.
All this difference and altercation, however, has
been needless and most iiTational. Common sense
and reason have been laid aside. For, so long as
a man exercises his reason and common sense, he
can have no doubt as to the kind of being to which
Jesus of Nazareth belonged. The apostle Paul
had no doubts. He pronounces him to be " the
man Christ Jesus." He ^vas known to be a man,
by the same points of proof as other men. He was
born as other men are born. He grew from being
an infant to be a child, and from childhood to man-
hood, as other persons do. He had the features
and limbs of a man. He made the same use of
food and drink and clothes as other men do. He
had the same liabilities as others. He was hable

16*

186 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

to hunger, thirst, cold, heat, sickness, and death.
As it is the lot of all men to die, so it was his lot.
He did die, and was buried. He was liable to
injuiy, abuse, persecution, and the death of the
cross. He was, moreover, subject to like passions
and infirmities as all men are. He sometimes took
offence, and spake unadvisedly with his lips. So
he did to his mother, at the marriage-banquet in
Cana of Galilee, because she had made, perhaps,
an improper suggestion to him : " Woman, what
have I to do with thee, or vou to do with me ? I
kno^v better than you Avhat, and when to do a thing."
Jesus said this because he was a man^ and subject
to the infirmities of human nature. Another in^
stance of this kind of thing occurred in our Lord's
retort upon Simon Peter, who, from a feeling of
friendship and love to his dear Master, had said :
" No, no I far be it from thee. Lord, to be killed in
Jerusalem ! " Jesus had just said he should be put
to death in that city. Peter did not intend to con-
tradict Jesus. He meant only to express his hope
of something better. Jesus, however, resented it
as a contradiction : " Get thee behind, Satan I
thou art an offence unto me ; for thou savorest not
the things that be of God, but those which be of
men." Such resentment seems to have been im-
moderate and unjust.

The apostle Paul teaches that such an high priest
became us, — one that could be touched with the
feelings of our infirmities ; being tempted in all
points as we are, yet without sin. There are moral
infirmities which are not sins. And it is by means

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 187

of these infirmities that his transcendent virtues
shine with the greater splendor. A soul that is
incapable of feeling any displeasure and resentment
at personal and malicious injuries and abuse can
very easily overlook and forgive them ; but, if it be
alive with a sense of the injustice done to it, forgive-
ness and charity must cost it something. There
must be an effort. Grace must conquer nature. Our
Lord could be made angry. He could be grieved at
perverseness. These were the workings of his na-
ture. Yet over these he could triumph. He could,
and he did, bless his persecutors ; pray for his mur-
derers ; supplicate for their pardon and salvation ;
and weep over the impending desolation of Jerusa-
lem, the city in which he was soon to be crucified.
A man's virtues never appear so luminous as when
he is constantly doing good to those who are as
constantly rendering evil to him.

Our Lord was a man in all the sinless aspects of
humanity. And it is on this account that he is so
perfectly fitted to be our Mediator and Saviour. It
is on this account that his example and life are so
apt and impressive. If he had been an angel, and
possessed a higher nature than the human, his ex-
ample and life could be of little use to men. He
could not, with propriety, be placed before them as
a model for their imitation. He could not have
sympathized with them in their trials of temptation
and enticement. The fact is plain and indubitable
that he was a man, and nothing more than a man.
The theory is absurd which declares him to have
been a perfect man, and yet something more than

188 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

a man. If more than a man, he could not have
been perfectly a man. A creature that is more
than a lion is not perfectly a lion. It would not
be an absurdity to say that a certain lion was in-
comparably stronger, fleeter, more intelligent and
generous, than any other lion in the world ; but to
say this lion was something more than a lion, and
yet was a lion, would be a palpable absurdity. And
it is equally absm'd to say, that om' Saviour Jesus
Christ was a real man, and yet something more
than a man. As every plant and tree must be of
some genus, so likewise every rational being must
belong to some order of being. A naturalist will
never speak of a lamb-lion or of a lion-lamb, signi-
fying two natures in but one creature, until he has
become insane. And Christian theologians never
seriously spoke of a God-man, or of a man-God, or
of a Loganthropos, or of an Eon-man, or an angel-
man, until they had lost thek reason on that par-
ticular point. Men never declare an absurdity to
be only a wonderful mystery, until they have repu-
diated their reason.

II. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator be-
tween God and men. — This is his high office.
Moses was the mediator between God and the
Israelites. He received the law from him, and com-
municated it to them. Moses mediated betw^een
God and one inconsiderable people. The Lord
Jesus Christ mediates in behalf of the whole hu-
man race. Moses communicated a law which
contained some " statutes which were not good,
and judgments by which the people could not live."

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 189

It was tinctured with the prejudices and customs
of barbarism. It prescribed rules and ritual institu-
tions. It '' made nothing perfect." The gospel of
Christ inculcates principles, rather than rules. Its
aim is to educate the mind, rather than to train
and to drill the outward man ; to culture the intellect
and the heart. The human race were sunk in a
sea of ignorance, prejudice, error, oppression, vice,
and wretchedness. The mission of the Lord Jesus
was to raise them out of this abyss ; to deliver them
from this condition of " sin and misery." And, in
order to accomplish this great purpose, the proper
means must be employed ; the right instrumen-
talities must be put into use. There is a divine
order, or way, by which all the works of God are
brought about. If men are saved from their sins,
and the consequences of them, they must be enlight-
ened. They must be enabled to understand the
immediate causes of their unhappiness and suffer-
ings. Our Lord made the luminous and compre-
hensive declaration before Pilate the governor:
" For this cause was I born, and for this end came
I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth." And on another occasion he said to
the people about him, " And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free." The doc-
trine implied in these declarations is, that when
men know the truth, the whole truth in relation to
themselves, they will embrace and obey it, and by
this means obtain deliverance from the slavery and
damages of sin. When a man clearly understands
the whole truth, he will perceive that it is for his

190 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

own advantage to obey it ; that his personal welfare
demands that duty should be discharged in all cases,
and iniquity avoided. And every man always does
what it seems to him that his welfare requires. The
fact is, that wicked men commit their sins under
the false impression that their own advantage will be
promoted by them. It is under this impression that
the thief steals, the robber plunders, the swindler
cheats, and the man of power oppresses. Convince
all these men that they are in a mistake ; and theft,
robbery, cheating, and oppression will cease. Every
man will become honest, kind, charitable, merciful,
and will do to others as he would have others do
unto him.

The Lord Jesus understood his work, and how it
was to be done. He commenced it with instruc-
tion. He aimed to enlighten and persuade men.
He assured them that God was ready and willing
to be reconciled to them, on condition that they
ceased to be sinful, and became holy ; that he
requu'ed no great expiatory sacrifices, no painful
penances, no previous payment of a great penal
debt, as the preparatory step to reconciliation ;
that his will was, that they should forthwith repent,
seeking above all other things the righteousness of
the kingdom of heaven. He said, " Ask, and ye
shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you." He assured them, that
their Father in heaven was more kind and merciful
than earthly parents are toward their own children.
And, in the parable of the prodigal, he illustrated
this doctrine. The father of the prodigal waited

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 191

for no propitiatory advances to be made on the part
of the son, for the purpose of repairing the dishonor
done him by the young man's misconduct. The
father readily and joyfully forgave and embraced
his son, on the simple condition of his return to his
senses and to duty.

Our Lord taught his hearers how they might be
saved and happy, both in this and the future world ;
that they must be humble and meek, pure in heart,
merciful, peaceful, and steadfast under persecution ;
that they must not expect much in this world, but
place their hope on the incorruptible inheritance
of heaven ; that they must not be troubled and
vexed with fears of falling into a state of want and
poverty ; that they should labor and seek for good-
ness, rather than for wealth and worldly distinc-
tions ; that they should trustfully confide in the
providence of God, and never be disheartened and
in despair ; that they should not feel envious toward
those above them, nor revengeful toward those who
had done them injustice and injury. " Love youi*
enemies," said he, " and forgive them. Forgive,
and ye shall be forgiven." He taught them in prayer
to say, " Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those
who have sinned against us."

The character of the gospel of Christ is repeat-
edly described in a few comprehensive words.
Some of them are found in the following passages :
" That repentance and remission of sins should be
preached unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
" Through this man is preached unto you the for-
giveness of sins." " To him give ail the prophets

192 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

witness, that, through faith in this name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins."
The forgiveness of sins is the great blessing which
men need. And this may be obtained by repent-
ance,— by ceasing to live wickedly, and learning
to live soberly, righteously, and godlily.

Let men be brought into this state of mind, and
they are saved. And to bring them into it is the
great purpose and object of the gospel. It is the
high and glorious mission of the Mediator and of
Christianity. The gospel of Christ has been always
acting and tending to this end. And in due time
this great end will be accomplished. But the world
of mankind is, and has long been, so replenished
with errors, prejudices, false maxims, wrong habits,
and vicious customs, that it requires a long course
of ages to accomplish its enlightenment and refor-
mation. Something was done in Judea by the
Lord Jesus himself. In a sense, the whole was
then done; for the principle was laid down, the
movement was started, and it went into successful
operation. Much was done by the apostles, who
planted churches from Arabia to Spain. The work
became wonderful in the fourth century, when the
colossal empire of Rome bowed to the standard of
the cross. Much was done during the middle ages,
when all the semi-barbarous nations of Europe be-
came nominally Christian. Much has been done
in modern times in Germany, England, and Ame-
rica, to purify the creed, and to extend the borders
of Christianity. It probably never progressed more
rapidly than it has in this nineteenth century. It

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 193

never possessed so much real strength as it now
possesses. The time is approaching when the king-
doms of this world will become the kingdom of our
Lord and of his Christ.

Professional Christianity, however, is oftentimes
nothing more than an outline of the pm'e, the entire,
the true. And such has been the real fact in all

•

the past centuries of the church. The people, pro-
fessing and calling themselves Christian, have been
but very imperfectly the disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ. A great work is yet to be accomplished in
making up the full complement of the true Chris-
tian doctrine, practice, and life. There are yet in
the church much false doctrine, unholy customs,
and worldly life. These are to be removed, before
the face of Christianity can look forth, fair as the
moon and clear as the sun. There is, for instance,
what is called the doctrine of the atonement. It
assumes that the death of the Lord Jesus was a
real piacular sacrifice ; that it was the payment of
an infinite debt exacted by God from sinful men,
on account of their transgressions of his law. They
sometimes represent the atonement, the death of
Christ, not as removing the penalty, the curse, of
the law, but rendering it removable ; not as saving
any of mankind, but as placing them in a salvable
state. And sometimes they represent that Christ
performed the whole work of the sinners salvation ;
as suffering the death which they deserved to suffer,
and suffering it in their stead ; also as obeying the
divine law vicariously, obeying it in their stead, so
that his obedience is accounted to them. The
17

194 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

Rev. Matthew Mead explicitly declared, that the
righteousness of the law and that of the gospel dif-
fered in this great point : The law required a person-
al righteousness, but the gospel accepts a vicarious
righteousness; that it accounts Christ's personal
riarhteousness to the believer. And this is, in sub-
stance, the orthodoxy of more than nine-tenths of
all Christendom. Yet it is a false doctrine. It
was not taught by Jesus Christ, nor by his apostles.
They require of believers a personal righteousness,
and assure them that without it they will be denied
admission into the kingdom of salvation. It is
a groundless assumption, that the death of Christ
was a real, proper sacrifice. Every such sacrifice
is offered at the sanctuary, laid on the altar, burned
with fire ; and all this done solemnly, as a religious
service, — as an act of homage before God. But
Jesus was executed as a malefactor on Mount Cal-
vary, not sacrificed as a holy victim in the Jewish
sanctuary. His death, therefore, could have been
a sacrifice only in a figui'ative sense. It is only
figuratively that prayer, praise, alms-giving, a bro-
ken heart, and a conti'ite spirit, are called sacrifices
in the Bible. And the apostle Paul speaks of his
own death as a sacrifice : " I am ready to be of-
fered, and the time of my departure is at hand."
It was to accommodate Jewish prejudices that the
apostles spake of Christ as a High Priest, and as
offering himself a sacrifice to God. It is a mani-
fest mistake to believe, that the legal, ritual sac-
rifices were types and prophecies of the death of
Jesus Christ. The reality of the case is, that the

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 195

whole system of ritual sacrifice was a mistake.
God never instituted it ; he never approved it. It
was not a fit and acceptable mode of worshipping
him. Several of the Jewish prophets perceived
this fact : Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the au-
thors of the fortieth, the fiftieth, and the seventy-
second Psalm. " Thou desiredst not sacrifice, else
would I give it." " In sacrifices and burnt-offerings
for sin, thou hast no pleasure." " I spake not
unto your fathers, in the day that I brought them
out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offer-
ings and sacrifices ; but this one thing commanded
I them, saying, Obey my voiced Keep my moral
precepts. Be just, merciful, and devout. " For in
these things I delight, saith the I^ord."

196

CHARACTER OF FAITH.

" Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen." — Heb. xi. 1.

In this passage the apostle gives two definitions
of faith. They have been pronounced rhetorical,
rather than philosophical. Perhaps, however, the
philosophy is equal to the rhetoric. Our definition
of faith would be this : Faith is that power of the
soul by which it apprehends realities in the invisi-
ble world ; that world which lies beyond the sphere
of sense and science ; — realities which cannot be
demonstrated by scientific proof : we believe them
on the evidence of faith.

This power or principle of faith is a constitu-
ent element of man ; it is a prominent feature of
human nature ; it is common to all the different
races and descriptions of mankind ; it is possessed
by the savage and the barbarian, by the civilized
and the enlightened. AH belief respecting God
and eternity, respecting heaven and hell, respect-
ing angels and demons, comes of it. Faith itself
is distinct from all particular beliefs. The faith is
the same in all men ; but the beliefs which grow

CHARACTER OF FAITH. 197

out of it are different, — different as tlie vegetables
which grow from the earth's soil. The ignorant
savage of Central Africa believes in his Fetich : he
identifies divinity with a particular rock, moun-
tain, cavern, or bog ; sometimes with a living crea-
ture, a serpent, an owl, or a raven. The faith of
this ignorant savage is of the same principle of
human natm-e as is the faith of a Leibnitz, a New-
ton, a Channing, and a Chalmers : he is no more
an infidel than they.

There is moral worth, merit, in faith. Every
one possessing faith is a better man with it than
he would be without it. But there is no merit in
any particular belief. The merit is not in the belief,
but in the faith which lies below it. The particu-
lar religious belief of almost every man is a con-
tingency : he believes what those believed among
whom he was brought up, and by whom he was
educated. He has not searched, inquired, and
labored after his particular religious belief, and
thus gained it as a man acqukes an estate. It
came to him, and he only received it, as it were,
passively. With the majority of men, such is the
precise fact. They believe just what they have
been instructed to believe ; and they can j ustly as-
sign no better reason for the faith which they enter-
tain than the instructions and examples of their
teachers. Some, however, are inquisitive and en-
lightened: they search for gi'ounds and reasons.
But, in doing this, they examine the subject only
on one side. They come to the examination with
their conclusions already formed. It is not to find
17*

198 CHARACTER OF FAITH.

the ground of a right belief, but to fortify an opi-
nion already embraced. They do not proceed on
the assumption that their old belief may be wrong,
and, if found to be such, to reverse and renounce it.
They entertain no doubts from the beginning to
the end of their investigation. The fruits of it are,
that they have become expert in the adduction of
arguments and the refutation of objections. It still
remains as true as it was before, that this man's
religious belief stands on the authority of his early
religious instructions ; and there can surely be no
personal merit, no moral worth, in a belief thus
received and entertained. One man is no better
than another man, merely and simply for believing
a particular dogma ; for being a Jew, not a Mahome-
tan; for being a Christian, not a heathen; for be-
ing a Protestant, not a Catholic ; for being what is
called orthodox, not a heretic. The man is, as to
religious belief, just what his tuition and training
has made him. It was by a contingency that he
was educated a Jew or a Mahometan, a Catholic
or a Protestant, an orthodox or a heretic. He did
not choose his religious belief. It is not, therefore,
a moral virtue : it is an accident of his life, and
may be either a happy or an unhappy one. For
certain religious beliefs are adapted to much better
uses than others.

There are, however, some comparatively few
men who do manifest much impartiality and inde-
pendence in searching out grounds and reasons for
religious belief. And these men, though they have
done right and nobly in withdrawing their adhesion

CHARACTER OF FAITH. 199

from the faith of their fathers because it seemed
to be groundless and untrue, do nevertheless stand
on the same level with others in regard to the
meritless character of the belief which they have
adopted. Why have they adopted it? Because
it seemed to them to be true. They, therefore, be-
lieved, not as a matter of choice, but of necessity.
And surely there is no merit in such belief. And
yet all belief is of this character. Of course, there
is no moral virtue in any man's religious belief. He
may be a Fetich, an Idolater, a Brahmin, a Ma-
gian, a Druid, and yet be a righteous man ; or he
may in belief be an Israelite, a Christian, a Calvin-
ist, a Unitarian, a Universalist, and yet be an
unrighteous man. What, then, is it that constitutes
the difference between the righteous and the un-
righteous ? It is that precious thing which the
apostle Paul calls charity : " And now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of the
three is charity." This is the essential thing. It is
that which imparts to the other two all their moral
beauty and worth ; also to zeal, courage, diligence,
steadfastness, perseverance, friendship, &c. These
are moral goods, so far as they are seasoned with
charity ; but, without it, are but as sounding brass
and tinkling cymbals.

We have already said, that one is no better than
his neighbor on account of his particular religious
belief. We have also said, that some religious
beliefs are adapted to better uses than others.
The inference is, that a person's religious belief is
not a matter of indifference. Some dogmas of

200

CHARACTER OF FAITH.

religious belief are more ti*ue than others ; and
generally they are useful in proportion as they are
true. Truth is useful : error is hurtful. It therefore
behooves every man to make due use of his reason,
to cultivate knowledge, to study the works of God,
and thus learn truth. It is a great mistake into
which many have fallen, that it is a virtue and a
duty to be stationary in then* religious belief. We
were taught, say they, in our childhood, the doctrine
of the Westminster Catechism. We then imbibed
that doctrine as being " the pure milk of the word."
We have held it ever since ; and we will, God
helping us, hold it so long as we live. It is our reli-
gious patrimony, the inheritance from our fathers ;
and God forbid that we should ever part with it !
There are many who pride themselves on this stiff,
stationary conservatism. But it is not rational.
Every Jew, Mahometan, Hindoo, Idolater, and
Fetich might make the same boast. He is now
what he always has been, and intends henceforth
to be. But it ought not so to be. A man should
be growing wiser while he lives. It is in his power
to increase his stock of knowledge as the days of
his life multiply. And as knowledge increases,
opinions will change. A man speaks to his own
dishonor, when he declares the unchangeable stead-
fastness of his religious views. The apostles
enjoin religious growth. But this cannot be made
without the instrumentality of the understanding
and knowledge. There can be no growth where
the intellect is dormant and idle.

According to the definition which we have given,

CHARACTER Of FAITH. 201

faith, while existing in its root, is independent of
the understanding. But, as soon as a branch grows
out of this root, faith comes in contact with the
intellect. The latter examines and judges of all
the beliefs which spring up from the radical princi-
ple of faith. It judges of their consistency and
propriety, of their use and tendency. When faith
affirms that there is an unsensible \vorld, contain-
ing infinite intelligence, love, and power, the under-
standing puts no questions. But, when faith affirms
that a part of God's creatiues were made to be
the victims and the vessels of divine and eternal
wrath, the understanding will question its consis-
tency. Is it consistent with perfect goodness to
give existence to creatures whose very being is
a curse, and was designed to be such ? As all
truths are harmonious, so must all true beliefs be
in agreement with each other. Under the super-
vision of the understanding, the soul will refuse and
repudiate those opinions which disagree from estab-
lished principles of truth. It will seek to put down
discord and discrepancy.

When faith affirms that God made the first
generations of men and of angels, the understand-
ing acquiesces ; but, when it proceeds to declare
that they were made perfectly holy and highly
enlightened, but forthwith they changed character,
and became rebels against the throne of God, the
understanding questions the propriety of this belief.
Is it consistent to believe that any creature will act
contrary to its real character ; that an enlightened
friend of God will suddenly turn, and become an
enemy ?

02

CHARACTER OF FAITH.

Faith is capable of starting a thousand forms of
particular belief. It has actually done it. But it
is the office of the understanding to pass judgment
upon them ; to pronounce them either consistent
and true, or inconsistent and false. And though it
cannot do this infallibly, yet it can do it reasonably
and intelligibly. It can do it deliberately, and while
knowing w^hat it is about. Men are capable of
approximating to a standard-creed, which shall be
to them as an oracle of God. They can advance
from faith to faith, from sti*ength to strength, until
the will of God, so far as human duty is concerned,
may be known " on earth as it is in heaven."

The uses of belief is a point of great importance.
He who believes the truth has stronger motives to
uprightness, and is more firmly mailed and guarded
against iniquity, than his neighbor who believes
error. The more ignorant a man is, the less does
he know what he should do. He may be acting
against his own interest, while he thinks and aims
to act for it. And erroneous belief is a form of
ignorance. It is, therefore, very desirable that our
religious belief should be correct and true. It is
only by enlightenment that ^ve can escape the delu-
sions and degradation of superstition. Supersti-
tion makes men formalists and idolaters. Why
does a man pray to a dead saint or martyr ? It is
superstition. Why do men place great merit in
making a pilgiimage, in repeating short forms of
prayer, in undergoing penances, and in a punctual
performance of the rites and ceremonies of the
church? It is superstition. The Jewish Church

CHARACTER OF FAITH. 203

had accumulated a gi'eat amount of superstition.
On this account, the apostle declared it to be " a
yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to
bear." There are two errors on the subject of faith
to which we are liable. The one consists in mak-
ing too much, the other in making too little, of it.
They commit the former who regard themselves as
better men, and in a state of acceptance with God,
on account of their distinctive religious belief. The
Jew commits it when he believes himself to be one
of the peculiar and accepted people of God, because
he believes in the institutions of Moses, and en-
deavors to keep them. The Mussulman commits
it when he believes himself to be one of the elect
of God, because he believes in the divinity of the
Koran, and aims to observe its precepts. The Ro-
manist commits it when he trusts his salvation to
the care and keeping of the Holy Catholic Church.
The Protestant commits it when he believes him-
self to have almost or quite made his calling and
election sure, because he is not a member of the
papal communion. The self-styled orthodox man
commits it when he congratulates himself because
he is not a heretic, not an Arminian, not a Uni-
tarian, not a Universalist. The man immersed in
this error trusts to a cobweb-righteousness ; and
this prevents him from employing that earnest
diligence which is requisite to subdue sin, and to
overcome the world.

The other error is committed by those who think
and say that it is a matter of small importance
what a man's religious belief is ; whether he be a

204 CHARACTER OF FAITH.

Jew or a Mahometan, a Romanist or a Protestant,
a Unitarian or a Trinitarian, a Partialist or a Uni-
versalist. There is much difference in the creed of
these different denominations ; and there must be
more truth in some of their creeds than in others
of them. Of course, there is more error in some of
them than in others. And the use of a religious
creed depends upon the measure of truth which it
embraces. And it is the truth which does a man
good ; which enlightens him, reforms him, sanctifies
him, and encourages him to fulfil all lighteousness.
It is, therefore, a man's duty, and it is for his
interest, to believe truth. He suffers, in some way,
either less or more, by the belief of error. He
should be aware of this, and be anxious to know
the truth ; should divest himself of prejudice and
undue prepossession, and open his heart to the
reception of all the evidence with which any belief
may be urged upon his attention. When a man is
willing to look all the objections against his par-
ticular belief in the face, and to examine both sides
of the question impartially, he is in the more likely
way to avoid en*or and attain the truth. Bigotiy
and prejudice are pernicious things. They have
done immense injury to souls. The Christian
Church cannot be exonerated from its errors, until
the force of bigotry be reduced, and that of candor
takes its place. Faith is a principle of human
nature which needs attention and culture. Some
neglect it. The consequence is, that they become
skeptical and undevout. They have little faith in
immortality, in accountability to God, in the use

CHARACTER OF FAITH. 205

of prayer and religious exercises. It is by use that
the faculties of a man are strengthened. He be-
comes a cripple, if he does not walk ; an incapable
drone, if he does not work. It is an insufficient
excuse in a man to say, that he cannot believe all
that is accounted orthodoxy ; therefore he is in-
different whether he believe any part of it. A
man's faith is his treasure, his inheritance, in re-
gard to God and immortality. Without it, he must
be poor indeed. The thought of losing it should
alarm him. " Hold fast what thou hast received,
that no man take thy crown." The apostle Paul
congi'atulated himself in the near prospect of death,
that he had " kept the faith."

18

206

SIN A THING OF DEGREES.

" Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence, then, hath it
tares? " — Matt. xiii. 27.

To account for the origin of sin and its introduction
into the world, has long been to men a subject of
great wonder and extreme perplexity. No other
problem has been of such difficult solution. And,
generally, it has been left unsolved, and refeiTed to
as wholly mystery ; a mystery past being found
out. The fact, however, is that men have made
the difficulty and the mystery chiefly for them-
selves. They have assumed previous and false
positions, which have created the difficulty. They
have assumed that sin is a substantive thing ; a
thing which exists by itself and alone ; which can
to-day be in one place, and to-morrow in another.
So they think and speak of it as a thing which
comes and goes.

Another assumption has been, that the first hu-
man generation was very highly enlightened and
sanctified ; that paradisaical man, as he has been
called, w^as elevated in know^ledge, purity, and holi-
ness, far above what has since been realized, and
cannot now be adequately conceived.

SIN A THING OF DEGREES. 207

Both these positions are manifestly erroneous.
Sin is not a substantive thing: it does not and it
cannot exist by itself and alone. It is an attribute
of human agency. It cannot come and go where
this agency is not. It is a thing of degi-ees. The
very thing which is right in one degree may be
wrong in another. Light, air, wind, and water, in
a certain measure and degree, are a good : beyond
or aside from this degree, they are an evil. The
sensation of warmth in a certain degree is pleas-
ant, but in another degree it is painful ; and in
both cases it is the same sensation. The sensation
of sweet in one degree is agreeable, but in a higher
degree it is disagreeable and disgustful ; and yet it
is the same sensation. The passion of anger and
resentment in a certain degTee is right ; in another
degree it is w^rong. The feeling of self-compla-
cency, when moderate, is pure from vice ; but, when
immoderate, it becomes pride, and is a vice. A
certain sense of uneasiness, in view of one w^hose
condition is better than our own, may be useful in
stimulating to effort and enterprise ; but in another
degree it becomes envy, and is vicious. A certain
amount of self-regard is proper and useful, but in a
higher degree it becomes odious selfishness. A
certain amount of reserve and concealment may be
discreet and justifiable, but in a ditTerent amount it
becomes base hypocrisy. There is nothing im-
practicable in resolving all sin into a thing of de-
grees. It is not a substantial thing. It makes no
part or portion of man, either of his body or his
mind. If it were a constituent part of his body,

208 SIN A THING OF DEGREES.

anatomists would have discovered it. But they
have never found it. If it were a constituent of
the human mind, metaphysicians would have de-
tected it. But neither naturalists nor psychologists
have found that thing in natural man called sin.
And the reason is, that sin constitutes no part of
human nature. It is not a substance, but a quality ;
not a constituent element, but a thing of degrees.

The other assumption, that the first man was
highly enlightened and incomparably holy, is ma-
nifestly a gross error. It is reversing the order
of God. This order proceeds from the less to the
greater ; from the lower to the higher ; from the
less perfect to the more perfect. The theory which
sets up the first human generation far above all
those which have succeeded it is most unnatural.
It is the conti'ary of every thing else in the animal
world. It is also self-inconsistent; for this most
perfect man speedily became a transgressor. The
account given of Adam, in the book of Genesis,
represents him to be but a child in moral sti'ength.
He was dealt with as a child. The law under
which he was placed was but a rule of external
conduct, — a rule fitting the state of childhood. In
the discipline of a child, one of the first lessons he
is put to learn is to regulate his appetite ; to keep
his fingers away from the platter and the fruit-dish ;
not to help himself, but wait to be helped. When
he has become a man, it is expected that he will
govern himself by principles, rather than rules. The
latter are for children, for novitiates and appren-
tices. The great Adamic law — as it has been

SIN A THING OF DEGREES. 209

considered — was an external precept; a rule which
a child might understand and keep. And yet he did
not keep it. And the fact of his defection, under
such a light yoke, proved his moral imbecility.

Some bold theologians, such as the high Calvin-
ists and the Hopkinsians, have attempted to ac-
count for the existence of sin. It comes, say they,
from God. He is the author of all sin. It must be
so, said they, because all power is from God. He
gives to every sinner both the power and the heart
to do evil. So the Bible teaches that he did in the
case of Pharaoh ; and our. reason teaches that the
fact must be the same in all other cases. God, they
maintained, caused sin, in order to turn it to a good
account. He does evil that good may come. And
they contend that he has a right to do it. This,
however, is a doubtful position. The law of moral
fitness extends, and is the same, throughout the
moral universe. God has no more right to do
wrong than a man has. His incomparable power
invests him with no right to violate the laws of
moral fitness. " Might cannot create right," It
would be equally wrong in God to utter falsehood,
and to commit wanton cruelty, as in man. Why
not ?

But, again, sin is not a means of producing good.
It is wholly evil; and from a pure evil no good
can be extracted. Sin never has done any good, nor
will it ever do it in future ; no more than sweet
water can be drawn from a salt-water fountain.

All the sin there has been in the world deducts so
much from the average good, and so much from the
18*

210 SIN A THING OF DEGREES.

value of human life. If the sin could have been
avoided, the world vv^ould have been the better, and
human life more valuable. But the fact, doubtless,
is, that sin, in a manner, is unavoidable. It is acci-
dental and necessary. It results from the imperfec-
tion of man. It is unavoidable in the same sense as
are mistakes, indiscretions, failures, unfortunate ac-
cidents, &c. More knowledge and discretion would
have enabled men to avoid many mistakes which
they have committed. It would also have enabled
them to escape many sins into which they have
fallen. But man is imperfect. He commences in
ignorance and weakness, but is capable of acquir-
ing knowledge and sti'ength. He is a being of
progress ; of progress indefinite in extent. This is
his peculiarity : it is the crowning feature of his
being. Had man been constituted instinctively
holy, as the beasts and birds are instinctively pru-
dent and industrious, his sins would have been few ;
but his virtues and prospects w^ould have been
equally small.

There are those among Christian theologians,
who, startled at the doctiine of the divine author-
ship of sin, adopt that of permission. God permits,
say they, those sins which he can overrule for
good, and permits no more of sin than he can thus
dispose of. This, however, seems to be a shallow
and a lame hypothesis. It does account for the
existence of sin, and assumes the fact that sin
may be the cause of good. We have already
denied this doctrine. We are aware, that good
results have often occurred from the conflict of

SIN A THING OF DEGREES. 211

good and evil. But the good in the results have
come from the good in the conflict. A man burns
his fingers or breaks his leg in doing a certain
thing ; and the accident makes him so careful, that
he avoids — what would else have befallen him —
the breaking of his neck, and burning himself to
death. But in this case it was not the burnt fin-
gers and the broken leg that caused the man's
escape, but his reason, his discretion, his thought-
fulness, which wrought up the requisite caution and
carefulness in him.

But did not God ordain the existence of sin ?
Our answer is, No. He ordains no evil. He has
no pleasure in it ; no use for it.

But could not God prevent sin ? He cannot pre-
vent it without staying the laws of his general
providence ; without altering the order of his work.
This he will not do, because his order is the best,
and cannot be improved.

The progress of man in gaining knowledge and
learning wisdom tends to the diminution of the ills
of life. They will gradually lessen as human pro-
gress advances. Wars will be less frequent, and
probably cease. Slavery will decline and become
extinct. The gallows and wantonly cruel punish-
ments will be abolished. Arbitrary government
and oppression will be done away. All the various
forms of injustice in the relations and intercourse of
men will disappear. When men understand the
whole truth, they will conform to it, and become up-
right, kind, and orderly. They will see it to be for
their own advantage. Their self-love would prompt

212 SIN A THING OF DEGREES.

them to it. But, in addition to this, the love of their
neighbor will spring up in their hearts. For the
susceptibility of this love is an element of human
nature ; and the knowledge of truth will bring it
into action.

It is the part of man to stay the prevalence of
sin ; and the work will be accelerated as men
learn the precepts and imbibe the spirit of our
Lord Jesus Christ. They will then love one an-
other, and be brethren ; live in the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace.

There is no more real difficulty in accounting for
the sin of the first man, and for sin in the gross
or abstract, than there is in accounting for the first
transgression of any child. Why does a child utter
his first falsehood ? It is temptation. He thinks
that he shall avoid an inconvenience, and is not
aware that he is bringing upon himself more harm
than benefit. It is the lack of knowledge and dis-
cipline. And the increase of these will fortify the
child against future delinquencies. And the fact
is the same with all transgressors. They enter-
tain erroneous views of what their own welfare
demands of them. " The eyes of their understand-
ing are darkened through the ignorance that is in
them, on account of the blindness of their hearts."
But they are susceptible of enfightenment and
reformation. And the sacred declaration is : " All
the ends of the earth shall understand and turn unto
the Lord ; and they that know his name will put
their trust in him."

But did not God often afflict the Israelites, and

SIN A THING OF DEGREES. 213

bring them to repentance by means of their punish-
ment? The pmiishment might be the means of
bringing them to consideration and reflection. It
was the occasion, rather than the cause. This must
have been in themselves, in their conscience and
moral nature. Here are the sources and springs of
repentance. Punishment without them is of no use.
But did not God educe infinite good from the
enormous wickedness of the Jews who crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ ? Did he not thus bear the
world's punishment, and pay the sinner's debt?
The exceeding injustice of the Jews toward the
Lord Jesus gave occasion for the brighter manifes-
tation of his pure and holy spirit. But it created
no new instrumentality for the salvation of men.
Christ never did bear the world's punishment, and
pay the sinner's debt. He assured men that God
was placable, and ready to pardon the penitent ; but
he did nothing to render God merciful. He was
lifted up and exhibited to the world as a Saviour,
to whom men might look, and on whom believe,
so as to receive the remission of sins. His material
blood and corporeal sufferings possess, in them-
selves, no atoning and propitiatory virtue. God
never frowned upon his Son in the garden of Geth-
semane and on the cross, in order to create in his
soul a load of expiatory pain and suffering. The
mere sufferings of his Son gave the Divine Father
no satisfaction. The mere death of the Son gave
him none. Mere sin and misery have no direct
agency in reforming and saving the world of man-
kind.

214

GRACE AND MERIT.

♦• By grace ye are saved, through faith." — Ephesians, ii. 8.

The great controversy which has been long waged
on the subject of faith and works, of merit and
grace, as concerned in the justification and salva-
tion of men, might perhaps have been, in some
considerable measm-e, compromised by fixing certain
points upon which all of both parties were agreed.
These points are, -— First, that eternal life is ex-
pressly called a gift^ — the gift of God through
Jesus Christ our Lord ; and the saved are said to be
justified freely by God, thi'ough the redemption of
Christ. All Christian theologians, therefore, will
assent to this fact. On this point there is union,
agreement. — Second, Another equally plain scrip-
tural fact is, that eternal life and salvation are called
a reward. This fact occurg often in the New Tes-
tament. " Thou shalt be rewarded at the resiu--
rection of the just." " Thy heavenly Father shall
reward thee openly." " There is laid up for me a
crown, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall
give me in that day ; and not to me only, but to
all who love his appearing." " Be thou faithful

GRACE AND MERIT. 215

until death, and I will give thee — will reward thee
with — a crown of life." "Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord : they do rest from their labors,
and their works follow them." " When the Son of
man shall come in his glory, he will reward every
man according to his works. Them who have
patiently continued in well-doing, he will reward
with eternal life."

This point is so clear that none of the abetters of
the doctrine of grace ^vill deny it. The case, then,
stands thus : Eternal life is declared to be a gift
of God, and justification is ascribed to the gi*ace of
God. This on the one hand ; while, on the other,
the divine acceptance and eternal life are called the
reward of the righteous. All of both parties must
admit this. What, then, is the plain and undenia-
ble inference ? It is this, — and all must admit it,
— that eternal life is not a gift in such a sense as to
hinder its being a reward, nor is it a reward in
such a sense as to hinder its being a gift. It is
both a gift and a reward ; not a gift in the most
absolute sense, nor a reward in a common and com-
plete sense.

That salvation is not entirely gratuitous is mani-
fest from this fact, that it is conditional. There is
a condition for a man to comply with in order to
salvation. It is faith. So teaches our text : " By
grace ye are saved, through faith." A free gift, one
entirely gratuitous, is unconditional. When a con-
dition is annexed to a gift, its entirely gratuitous
character is lost. That the Christian salvation is
conditional on faith is abundantly testified : " God

216 GRACE AND MERIT.

SO loved the world that he gave his only-begotten
Son, that whosoever belie veth in him may have
eternal life." " As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him may not
perish, but have eternal life." " He that believeth
shall be saved." " Whosoever believeth in him shall
receive the remission of sins."

Again : faith implies righteousness in itself. It is
a thing morally and intrinsically good. A wicked,
impenitent, graceless man cannot be a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as a man believes
in Christ, his heart softens ; a spiritual pulse begins
to beat in his soul; a fountain of contrition is
opened within him ; the love of God begins to per-
vade his whole inner man ; he is in a state of tran-
sition from the old creature to the new. It is on
this principle that the apostle Paul answers the so-
phism, " Let us continue in sin that grace may
abound." He replies, " How can we, who are dead
to sin. Live any longer therein ? " This reply signifies
that faith itself is righteousness ; that it constitutes
deadness to sin. And men cannot live in con-
ti-adiction to their inward principles, — their real
character.

The advocates of the exclusive scheme of grace
have assumed several positions that are inconsistent,
unscriptural, and untenable. They have assumed
that believers are justified, not by the moral force of
faith, but " by the righteousness of Christ, imputed
to them, and received by faith." They represent
faith as the arbitrary instrument, deriving aU its

GRACE AND MP:RIT. 217

efficacy from divine appointment, and nothing
from its own intrinsic moral virtue. This is incon-
sistent. It supposes that to be a condition which
is not a condition ; that there is nothing morally
fitting in faith itself, which renders it eft'ectual in
securing justification ; that its virtue results wholly
from an arbitrary divine appointment ; that God
has no respect to the worth or worthiness of the
faith of a believer, when he judges him to be just;
— of course, that God judges him to be different
from what he really is, and from what he knows
him to be. But this cannot be a truth. God al-
ways judges right. He never accounts a man to
be what he is not. He perfectly knows what every
man is, and accounts him accordingly. He never
judges with partiality ; he never commits a mis-
judgment.

The position so strongly and earnestly taken,
that the personal righteousness of Christ is ac-
counted to the beUever, involves an absurdity.
Personal qualities cannot be transferred. The thing
is impossible. A person's acts are his own, and
cannot be another's. A man's guilt and merit are
his own, and cannot be another's. There is not a
single passage of Scripture sustaining the popular
doctrine, that believers are clothed with the personal
righteousness of Christ. The apostle Paul affirms
of himself, that he had suffered the loss of all things,
and counted them but dross that he might win
Christ, and be found in him ; not having on his
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that

righteousness which is of the faith of Christ ; the
19

218 GRACE AND MERIT.

righteousness of God by faith. If the apostle had
understood and entertained the doctrine of imputed
righteousness, he would have signified it in this
passage. It was the very occasion for it. But he
does not say that he hoped to be found having on
the righteousness of Christ, but the righteousness
which is "of the faith of Christ;" — the righteous-
ness which consists of faith in Jesus the Saviour of
men ; the righteousness which God commands men
to possess, and has appointed to be the means of
their salvation. This was a personal righteousness,
and a better one than that of the law. " Except your
righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and
pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven."

The Revelator, as he is called, relates that he saw
persons clothed in garments clean and white, which
is " the righteousness of saints ; " not the personal
righteousness of Christ, but the righteousness of the
saints. Of course, he — St. John the divine — did
not, any more than Paul the apostle, understand
and entertain the doctrine of a ti'ansfeiTed righteous-
ness.

Calvinists have contradicted themselves, when
with one breath they have affirmed that men are
justified by faith, and with the next breath have
denied that faith is the ground of the believer's jus-
tification. For if they are justified by faith, then,
of course, faith is the ground of the justification :
it is the very thing itself, on account of which they
are accounted just, righteous. And if it be not the
ground of justification, then believers are not jus-

GRACE AND MERIT. " 219

tified by faith. The celebrated and excellent Dr.
Fuller, in his tract, solving " the great question,"
What shall I do to be saved? shows his exceeding
embarrassment and perplexity when he attempts to
specify what is the office and character of faith in
the sinner's salvation. We think that he could not
have been satisfied with his own account. And
yet this account is probably as good a one as
the Calvinistic theory admits. It is adapted to per-
plex more than to enlighten.

It is strongly urged by those who call themselves
orthodox, that a perfect righteousness is requisite
to justification ; that a single defect in a person's
righteousness " spoils the whole." But this is not a
scriptural sentiment. There is not a text in the whole
Bible which teaches it; but there are many texts
which teach the contrary. All those texts in which
pardon and salvation are promised to the penitent,
the regenerated, the believer in Christ, are of this
description. The reformed man is accounted a
righteous man. " If the wicked will turn from aU
his sins and keep all my statutes, he shall surely
live : all his transgressions shall not be mentioned
unto him : in his righteousness which he hath done
he shall live." Ezek. xviii. 21, 22.

The apostle Paul affirms, that we are justified
freely by his grace through the redemption there is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. What, then, is the sig-
nificance of the term justified? It signffies to be
righteous ; to be made righteous ; to become right-
eous. And how is it that Christians do become
righteous ? how are they made righteous ? It is by

220 GRACE AND MERIT.

faith in Christ : by believing that Jesus is the Sa-
viour of men ; that he saves them from their sins ;
that repentance is the first commandment of his
gospel. As soon as men believe in Christ, they feel
the force of his first injunction: "Repent; for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand." They heed his
warning admonition : " He who heareth my sayings,
but doeth them not, is like a man who built his
house upon the sand. And when the winds blew,
and the rain descended, and the flood, and beat
upon the house, it fell; and great was the fall of
it." This faith will not be inactive and dead. It
will work out effects. The believer will break off
from his sins, by doing righteousness. He will
hunger and thirst after goodness ; will learn humi-
lity, meekness, purity of heart, peaceableness, merci-
fulness, and charity. It is thus that he becomes
justified; thus is he made righteous. And the
opportunity and the means of thus becoming right-
eous are furnished by the gospel of Christ; furnished
freely. The gospel came to him unsought for: it
found him, rather than he it. " Not by works of
righteousness which we had done, but by his mercy,
he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us
abundantly in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Again, the apostle teaches that " by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified." In this instance,
as in many others, our apostle employs the term
the law in the sense in which his Jewish brethren
usually interpreted it; which was, according to the
letter; as a prescription of rules for outward con-

GRACE AND MERIT. 221

duct. Now, every precept of the decalogue might
be outwardly and even honestly observed, while the
heart remained selfish and worldly. And if the com-
mands of the decalogue might be literally and
outwardly kept, and yet the keeper of them remain
destitute of that higher righteousness which the law
of the gospel demands, much more might the forms
and ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual be observed.
The righteousness of the scribes and pharisees was
of this description. It embraced only obedience
to the letter of the moral law, and the observance
of the forms of the ceremonial. This description of
righteousness the apostle calls his own : " Not hav-
ing on my own righteousness, which is of the law."
He had carefully and punctually observed the whole
letter of the Jewish institutes; but it had not made
him righteous in the Christian sense. It had not
filled his heart with that charity which forgives ene-
mies, loves all men, thinketh no evil, is not pufi*ed
up, hopeth all things and endureth all things. The
righteousness demanded by the letter of the law
was defective. And on this account it could not
justify; could not make a man righteous, in the
Christian sense of the word.

It is a mistake to say, as is often said, that the
law could not justify men because they could not
obey it ; that obedience to the law is above the fac-
ulties of fallen man ; that God in his law demands
of men what it is impossible for them to render.
This must surely be a false doctrine. It represents
God as unjust and tyrannical. But the representa-
tion is not true. God requires of men according to
19*

222 GRACE AND MERIT.

the ability they have ; not according to what they
have not. Nor is there any thing in the Mosaic
law, which, according to the letter, is impracticable.
Every man educated by Jewish parents can easily
keep the first of the ten commandments. It merely
forbids him to acknowledge and worship any of the
Gentile gods. And the second is as easily obeyed
as the first : it forbids the use of images in religious
worship. The third forbids the profane use of sa-
cred and divine names. The fourth forbids all
secular labor on the sabbath. Nothing impractica-
ble in these two precepts. The fifth requires respect
and reverence to parents, but nothing onerous or
intolerable. The sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth
are literally fulfilled by mere abstinence, and may
be, and have been doubtless, thus fulfilled by the
majority of Jews. The tenth possesses more of a
spiritual character, but is not a command of impos-
sible obedience. It was not, therefore, because the
Jewish law was impracticable that righteousness
could not be obtained by it. The defect was in
the righteousness itself, even after the law had been
literally obeyed.

Our apostle, in a certain passage, says, that " if
righteousness come by the law, then is Christ dead
in vain." And in another passage : " If a law
could have been given that would have given life,
verily righteousness had been by the law." His
meaning is doubtless this, — that no law consisting
of mere rules can reach the character and the heart.
And all laws do consist of rules. No person be-
comes eminently good and distinguished for wisdom,

GRACE AND MERIT. 223

while he lives by rules, and depends upon them.
He must rise above rules, and govern himself by
principles. There is life in principles, but not in
rules. Our Saviour's instructions did not consist
chiefly in giving rules of conduct, but in inculcating
principles. Hence he said, " The words which I
speak unto you, they are spirit ; they are life."

The prophet Jeremiah gives a happy account of
what we may call evangelical righteousness, in dis-
tinction from legal : " It shall come to pass, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel; different from that which I
made with their fathers in the wilderness, which
covenant they brake. I will write my laws upon
their hearts ; and thus they will become my people,
and I their God."

224

AN IDEAL OF GOD.

" Who is the Lord ? " — Pkov. xxx. 9.

This may be the language of either unbelief and
irreverence, as it is in this text, or of sober and
devout inquiry, as we would employ it in this dis-
course. Who is God ? what his essence and
attributes ? What, in our minds, would be a just
ideal of him?

We are aware that this inquiry has respect to
the infinite, and that our limited intelHgence is
incompetent to a proper solution of such a problem.
The finite cannot comprehend the infinite. None
but God himself can comprehend infinity. Yet we
may understand something of the Great Power
above. The human mind, in all ages, has enter-
tained some conception of it. In the early and
pati-iarchal ages, men conceived God to be a supe-
rior kind of man, having a body like the human.
Hence they spoke of his hands, his feet, his face,
and his eyes ; also of his sword, his bow, his tem-
ple, and his throne. His eyes could see beyond the
ends of the earth, and to the bottom of the sea.

AN IDEAL OP^ GOD. 225

He sat on the circle of the earth, weighed the moun-
tains as in scales, tlie hills as in a balance, and
took up islands as a very little thing. As the hu-
man intellect has gradually, by increased experience
and reflection, developed more of its power, a more
just and consistent conception of God has been
attained. The idea of a human-shaped body has
been repudiated. He has been called a Spirit,
omnipresent and invisible. In the Old Testament,
his knowledge and power are his cardinal attributes;
in the New Testament, his mercy and love. Yet,
even here, he is not consistently and justly repre-
sented, but described as a competitor and a warrior,
acting both on the defensive and aggressive, having
for adversaries " principalities and powers," " the
prince of the power of the air," " spiritual wicked-
nesses in high places." There is " war in heaven ; "
and, although God in the issue will be conqueror,
yet he and his cause sustain great damages, and
even some defeats. This belligerent conception of
God has long been on the decline, but has not yet
disappeared. Though the problem. What is God?
cannot be completely solved by man, yet it is w^orthy
of his close and persevering attention, of his ear-
nest and devout study. Man can become what he
ought to be, only in proportion as he becomes god-
like ; and, in order to this, he must have some just
knowledge of God. They who are utterly ignorant
of God are like the brutes which perish. It is they
who know him that put their trust in him. They
who do know their God shall be strong, and do ex-
ploits. It is when the knowledge of the Lord shall

226 AN IDEAL OF GOD.

cover the earth, as the waters do the seas, that the
people shall be all righteous, wars cease to the end
of the world, and every man sit in his own seat,
without fear or molestation.

The question before us is this : What should be
our ideal of God ? How may we justly conceive
of him as the Source of all finite being, as the Crea-
tor of the world, as the Giver of all intelligence
and life ? To prove the existence of God is an
easy task ; but to ascertain the relation which he
sustains to nature is more difficult. Ai'e God and
nature identical, as some men have asserted; or
are they distinct, so that one may exist without the
other? Is God on the outside of nature, or is he
within ? Almost every man will admit that all
things are of God. But in what sense ? Are they
of God as the contents of the stream are of the
fountain ; or only as the house is of the builder,
and as the garment is of him that made it ? These
are the perplexing questions.

The word nature is employed in different senses :
sometimes in a universal sense, signifying the
whole of whatever exists ; but more frequently to
signify the principal creature of God, — the organic
creation. In the former of these two senses was the
word understood by the celebrated John Scotus Eri-
gena, the most prominent man of the ninth century.
He wrote an extraordinary book, entitled " The Divi-
sions of Nature." He distinguished four divisions
or departments. The first contained what is crea-
tive, but is uncreated. Of course, it contained God,
and him only. The second division contained what

AN IDEAL OF GOD. 227

is both created and creative. Of course, it con-
sisted of the laws and tendencies of the organic
creation ; of what is commonly understood by na-
ture, as a creature of God. The third division
consisted of what was created, but was not creative.
This division contained the various forms of organic
life ; such as angels, men, beasts, birds, and fishes.
These are creatures : they cannot create, except in
a secondary sense, that of construction. The fourth
division of nature, in Erigena's book, consists of
what neither creates nor is created. It contained
creation in its perfected state. It will obtain when
all the forms of organic life shall have either worn
out and ceased to exist, or shall have arrived at
their consummation, and shall live in harmony with
the laws and attributes of God ; shall thus live in
God, so that, as all things proceeded from God, they
will thus return to God, and he again be all in all.

The doctrine of Erigena was accounted heresy
by his cotemporary Christian brethren. He was
excommunicated by Pope Nicholas, and his writ-
ings prohibited and burned. But his " Division
of Nature" could not be utterly destroyed. The
monks concealed copies of it in secret corners of the
monasteries ; and there they were kept and read
until the dark ages had passed away. The book
was choice food to those of the Platonic or tran-
scendental school. Among the moderns, different
views have been entertained of Erigena's doctrine.
Some regard it as pantheism ; and it seems to
come to it in the end. But the admirers of Eri-
gena deny that he Avas a pantheist, or that his doc-

228 AN IDEAL OF GOD.

trine implies it. They insist upon the import of
the symbols which he employed to illustrate his
views, — that of the air filled with light, and that
of iron heated to a red-hot flaming heat. Though
the air be filled with light and exists in the light,
yet it remains air, and as such is distinct from the
light. And though the red-hot sparkling iron exist
in the fire, yet the iron remains iron, and is distinct
from the fire. So, when all souls shall be so ab-
sorbed in God as to live in him, they will still re-
tain their individuality, and be distinct from the
personality of God.

It has been charged against Erigena, that he was
extravagantly bold and adventurous, and that he
attempted to comprehend the infinite. The justice
of this charge, however, is not apparent. Erigena
himself virtually and very positively denies it. He
strongly avows his inability to define or to describe
God. God, said he, cannot be described ; for he is
above every thing. The meaning of words cannot
reach him. To say that God is good is not saying
all the truth ; for he is more than good : he is more
than great, more than wise, more than perfect,
more than almighty. This language, whether it
be proper or not, is at least a disclaimer of an
attempt to comprehend the divine infinity. He
may have attempted to explain what to man is in-
explicable ; but this was not the infinity of God.

Erigena represents that the time will come w^hen
God will cease to create ; when the w^ork of crea-
tion and providence will be finished, and the great
concern wound up. But this is a doubtful doctrine.

AN IDEAL OF GOD. 229

Wc cannot very consistently conceive that God will
ever be idle ; that he ever was, or ever will be, in the
rest, of inactivity. How can infinite love, wisdom,
and power be inactive ? — lie still and do nothing ?
Whence can come the motive for inactivity? If
we look forward millions of millions of ages, will
there be nothing for God to do? — no room then,
in the infinity of space, for the creation of new
W'Orlds ? Or, if we look back millions of centm-ies
into the past, was not God then active ? Who can
tell how long a time God has been employed in
constructing the immense universe which lies all
around us in the boundless bosom of infinite space ?
Surely God cannot be idle, when there is any thing
worthy for him to do I

We now return to the question. What relation
does God sustain to nature ? Is he within nature, or
on the outside ? — within, as the soul of man is within
his body ? — as the life of a tree or of a bird is with-
in its visible form ? Or is he out of it, and no part
of it, as the maker of a machine is distinct from the
machine, and no part of it?

The Jewish doctrine, obviously, w^as that w'hich
places God on the outside of nature, and makes
him no part of it. The sacred wTiters represent
God making the world as something extrinsic to
himself. What they intended, however, was to
describe God as the Maker, the Superior, the Sove-
reign. If God within nature be equally the Maker,
the Superior, the Sovereign, of the world, the sacred
writers are not gainsaid or contradicted. If God

in nature be as efficient as God on the outside of
20

230 AN IDEAL OF GOD.

nature ; if he be equally intelligent, kind, just, and
merciful, — we, then, vsustain no loss in accepting
the former, instead of the latter. But, in forming
our ideal of God, we mav overlook the distinction
of in ox out of nature, and let that distinction come
in as a corollary in the conclusion. We therefore
again put the question. What may reasonally be
our ideal of God ?

We all believe that there is an infinite intelli-
gence, now existing, which has devised the whole
plan of the world ; that this intelligence exists in
connection with love or goodness ; and that they
have always existed, and are self-existent and in-
dependent. We may also believe, that a material
substance has always existed, and is self-existent.
And this material substance is the substratum of
infinite intelligence and love. We cannot conceive
of intelligence or of love without a substratum.
Indeed, we cannot conceive of any thing Avithout
a substratum, without something on which it rests
and acts. Where there is motion, there must be
something which moves ; where there is thought,
there must be something which thinks ; where there
is an attribute, — as love, wisdom, power, life, —
there must be some substantive subject, or substra-
tum, in which the attribute adheres, and to which
it belongs. We cannot conceive of a purely im-
material being, — of a spnit ^vhich has no connec-
tion with matter. The ghosts which men's imagi-
nations have created are not wholly immaterial.
Matter is, manifestly, indispensable to all substan-
tive existence. We may talk of an immaterial

AN IDEAL OF GOD. 231

world, of immaterial men, of immaterial angels,
and of a God wholly disconnected with material
substance ; but we can have no distinct conception
of them. God could not have made the world, nor
angels, nor men, nor beasts, nor birds, nor fishes,
without matter. We all acknowledge, we know,
that God does naake use of matter in his creations.
And why does he do it? He uses it because it is
needed, because it is indispensable. It is indispen-
sable to human existence ; and why not indispensa-
ble to divine existence ?

We conceive of man as a being consisting of
trwo parts, — body and soul : the body is the sub-
stratum of the soul. And man is an image of God.
As the human soul pervades the human body, and
constitutes its life, so we can conceive of God per-
vading all parts of the world and of the universe,
and being the life of them. We often think of God
as being in the wind, and causing it to blow ; in
the sun, and causing it to shine ; in the waters, and
causing the current to flow, and the waves to roll ;
in the trees, and causing them to grow and live ; in
the fruits, and causing them to ripen.

You will perhaps say, that this language is pan-
theistic ; but you cannot justly say, that it is atheis-
tic. St. Paul used pantheistic language : " God,
who is over all, above all, and in you all." And we
would now ask. Do not infinite intelligence, love,
and consciousness, existing without dependence on
any prior existence, and imparting of themselves to
all creatures according to their capacity to receive
them, constitute an all-efficient and perfect God ?

232 AN IDEAL OF GOD.

Can we conceive of one more efficient and perfect ?
And, if material substance be the substratum of his
atti'ibutes, the fact by no means degrades or mars
his transcendent greatness and perfection. God is
what he is. God is what his works indicate and
declare him to be. He has constructed this world
and this universe. He is the Source and the Au-
thor of all the good contained in it. All beauty,
all order, all enjoyment, and all holiness, is from
him. If you place God on the outside of nature,
the universe becomes no better. God, inside of
nature, can do for his creatures all that is or has
been done for them. You cannot prove the con-
trary. If you insist that God has no material
substratum, you gain nothing. He remains what
he is, and what he always has been. The charac-
ter of God is determined by his works ; and these
declare him to be incomparable and matchless in
power and goodness. God, in our view, could do
no work, without a material substratum. He could
have no being without it. An empty universe with-
out a particle of substance in it, — substance that
can occupy space, — is a thing inconceivable. You
may try to have such a conception ; but it can be
no other than a phantom. God is a reality, a sub-
stantive and substantial reality. The universe never
has been empty, nor will it ever be ; for God is, and
ever has been, " over all, above all, and in you all."
He is " all in all."

233

TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON, SENSA-
TION, FAITH.

"What is truth ?"' — John, xviii. 38.

Truth is the objective of knowledge, as know-
ledge is the subjective of truth. They are correla-
tives : the one presupposes the existence of the
other. Any reality becomes a truth when it is
known, conceived of, or believed. Until then,
though a real entity, it is not properly a truth.

The whole world is full of realities, and is divisi-
ble into two great departments, — the sensible and
the unsensible ; or the physical and the metaphysi-
cal ; or the natural and the spiritual. With realities
in both these worlds, men are capable of becoming
acquainted. They become acquainted with the
realities of the sensible world by the organism of
sensation and reason ; with the realities of the unsen-
sible world ])y faith and reason. Reason, intellect,
understanding, is man's cognitive faculty. He can-
not know any thing until his reason acts in the case.
His sensations, of themselves, give him no know-
ledge. He hears a sound ; but he does not know

20*

234 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

what it means until his understanding interprets it.
He sees things ; i. e. he has sensations of light,
color, shape, &c. ; but they are unmeaning until his
reason extracts from them a significance. A man
also has impressions of faith ; but these impres-
sions are not reliable until they are brought under
the supervision of his intellect. This alone is the
organ of knowledge. As much as a man can hear
nothing, except by the instrumentality of his ears, —
as much as he can see nothing, except by the instru-
mentality of his eyes, — even so he can know
nothing, except by the instrumentality of his under-
standing, reason, intellect.

We explore the sensible world by means of our
senses and reason. This department of the uni-
verse contains what is visible, audible, tangible,
measurable, numerable. It embraces the whole
immense field of all the sciences, — all the facts and
ti'uths of geography, astronomy, geology, philoso-
phy, and the mathematics. Such facts and truths
are susceptible of scientific proof: they can be
demonstrated. But the facts and truths of the un-
sensible, the spiritual, the metaphysical world, are
not susceptible of this description of evidence.
They cannot be scientifically proved and demon-
strated. Some of them, however, may be known.
They are known by the instrumentality of faith,
supervised by human reason. By his senses, man
cannot penetrate beyond the precincts of the sensi-
ble, the natm-al, the physical world. He cannot
confirm, by scientific proof and demonstration, any
of the truths of the invisible world. How, then,

SENSATION, FAITH. 235

can he penetrate into it? How can he know any
thing of what is unseen, unheard, unfelt, unmea-
sured, and unnumbered ? It is done by faith.

" Faith is the brightest evidence
Of things beyond our sight ;
Breaks through the veil of fiesh and sense,
And dwells in heavenly light."

" Through faith, we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God, and that the
things which are seen were not made of things
which are now visible." But it is not every thing
which a man believes that is true. Mere faith is
not reliable evidence. No more is it than mere
sensation is in regard to the facts of the natural
world. As the one must be subjected to the domi-
nion of reason, so likewise the other. As human
sensations, when pondered, examined, sifted, and
weighed in the balance of reason, fm-nish grounds of
knowledge, so do impressions of faith. Men believe
a thousand things belonging to the invisible world.
Some of these must be true, because reason ap-
proves, justifies, and sustains them. Men believe
that the spiritual world contains God, angels, and
the spirits of the dead. But is this faith justified
by reason ? In respect to the existence of God, it
certainly is. Though we have no sensible and sci-
entific proof and demonstration of the being and
attributes of God, yet we have reliable and irref-
ragable evidence, — evidence as satisfactory and
reliable as that of sense and scientific demonstra-
tion.

236 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

It is a fact, most obvious on reflection, that the
visible world stands on the invisible as its basis.
The former consists of sensible phenomena. And
these are constantly undergoing change. And
every change is an effect which must have a cause.
Take any living creature as an example for illustra-
tion,— a tree or an animal. The tree starts from
a seed. This seed sprouts and springs forth. It
sends down a root, and sends up a blade. The tree
grows ; puts forth branches, leaves, and blossoms.
It comes to maturity, and bears fruit. These phe-
nomena are visible. We see them. But there is
obviously something which we cannot see; some-
thing which constitutes its life, which makes it
grow, and grow according to order. It so grows
as to be a regular tree, and bear fruit. It is evi-
dent that the real essence of the tree is invisible ;
that the outward of the tree is dependent upon
what is inward. What is inward constitutes its life
and strength. If this fail, the tree stops its growth.
It languishes, drops its leaves, and dies. It soon
ceases to be a tree. As soon as the inward life de-
parts, the outward phenomena decline and soon
disappear. The invisible part of the tree, therefore,
was its principal part. Upon it the outward and
visible wholly depended. The latter stood upon
the former as on its basis and foundation.

Look now at an animal. It grows from a germ.
It gradually increases, and develops, in order, all
the parts, organs, and powers of the kind to which
it belongs. We can see all these phenomena. But
there must be something of this animal which we

SENSATION, FAITH. 237

cannot see ; something which we cannot feel ;
something which caused it to grow, to develop, and
complete its maturity. And this is the principal
part of the animal. In it consists the animal's
essence, life, and power ; and, when this departs, the
animal is dead. It is no more.

Now, as it is with a tree and an animal, such
also is the fact with the whole sensible world.
This whole world consists of phenomena. They
appear and disappear in a continuous line and cir-
cle of changes. They must, therefore, have a cause ;
and on this cause they are entirely dependent. The
cause or power on which they depend is invisible.
The phenomena are sensible ; but the causal and
supporting power is unsensible. We can see, hear,
touch, and smell the former; but the latter is
wholly beyond the reach and sphere of our corpo-
real senses. But, though unsensible, it is mani-
festly the principal reality. It is the life, essence,
and strength of the whole. The visible world,
therefore, stands on the invisible as its basis, con-
tainer, and firmamentum.

There is nothing of which we feel more certain
and sure than of the necessary and indispensable
relation between cause and effect, — between any
change or phenomena, and some power which pro-
duced it. We witness, for instance, that a stone is
now in a different locality from what it was yester-
day. We feel assured that somebody moved it.
We say, with all possible confidence, that the stone
could not move itself. It may be very difficult to
account for the stone's removal. This circum-

238 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

stance, however, does not in the least abate our
assurance that some power, external to the stone,
caused its locality to be changed. Whenever any
thing is done, we think and say that somebody did
it. Changes do not take place without a cause.
Of this we feel as strong an assurance as we do of
our own existence. The sun does not rise, and ap-
parently revolve from the east to the west, without
some acting power. The clouds do not condense
in the atmosphere, and pour down rain upon the
earth, without some causal agency in the case. The
Avinds do not blow, the waves of the sea do not roll,
storms and calms do not alternate with each other,
nor do summer and winter come and go, without
the action of some invisible power. We- see the
phenomena ; but the power is beyond our ken. It
is, however, the principal reality. The spiritual
world contains the foundations and the pillars of
the universe.

The fact of the invisible world being confirmed,
the next inquiry is. What does it contain ? Com-
mon belief, as we have already said, answers, —
" God, with all his infinite attributes ; angels, high
and low, good and evil ; also the souls of the dead
of all the past generations of mankind."

We might, however, make a different distinction
and analysis, and say that the unsensible world
contains infinite power, intelligence, and goodness ;
in other w^ords, omnipotence, omniscience, wisdom,
love, and life. This we believe, and our belief is
justified by our reason ; for in the phenomenal
world we perceive the unmistakable manifesta-

SENSATION, FAITH. 239

tions and proofs of these attributes of God. Every
phenomenon is a manifestation of his power.
These phenomena are so innumerable, and some of
them so immensely great, as to indicate the, im-
mensity of the power which produces them. There
are also the plain indications of design. Uses
were manifestly intended. Air and water, day and
night, summer and winter, answer important pur-
poses of use. Of course, they must have been de-
signed. And design implies intelligence : it proves
a Designer. And this Designer must have been
kind, benevolent, good : for such are the uses ac-
complished. They are good. By them the welfare
of creation is served and promoted. There is noth-
ing evil in the work of God. It is, therefore, said
that God looked upon all things which he had
made, and, behold, all of them were very good. It
would imply an absurdity to suppose a different
fact ; to suppose that God ever made a bad crea-
ture, or ever did an evil work.

But are there not such things as sin and misery
in the world ? And did not God make them ? At
least, did he not make the sinner who does make
them ? Answer : sin and misery are not substan-
tive things. They are not creatm-es. They consti-
tute no part of creation or of man. They are but
states and degrees. The very same thing which,
in one state and degree, is called an evil, in an-
other state and degree is a good. The very same
sensation — that of heat, for instance — which in
one degree is pleasant, in another degree is painful.
The same fact may be affirmed of other sensations ;

240 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

that of cold, of acid, of sweet, and even of bitter.
In certain degrees they are grateful ; in the oppo-
site, they are disgustful. And the two apparent
opposites depend on the same sensibility. To the
very same taste, one degree of sweet, of acid, of
bitter, of cold, of heat, &c., is pleasant ; but another
degree is painful. The same sensibilities Avhich
render a man's body an organ of pain do also con-
stitute it an organ of pleasure. Remove all his
sensibility, and he will never more suffer pain ;
neither will he ever more enjoy bodily pleasure.
He will purchase his exemption at a great price,
incomparably more than its worth.

The same doctrine is applicable also to his mind.
The same mental passions which in certain degrees
are bad, in other degrees are good. Self-love,
w^orldly love, resentment, anger, and sexual love,
are not of themselves wicked: they only become
such by being inordinate. Nor are kindness, com-
passion, generosity, modesty, and veneration, neces-
sarily and under all circumstances virtuous : they
all need to be exercised with judgment and enlight-
ened discretion. Indiscreet kindnesses, charities,
and modesty, are not useful, but injurious. The sin
on the one hand, and the virtue on the other, of an
action or a passion, depends chiefly on the intelli-
gence and discretion with which it is timed, adapt-
ed, and modified. The meritorious man is he who
acts wisely in discharging all the offices and duties
of life. God makes no man a sinner. The man
makes himself such by his eccentricities, his indis-
cretions, his ignorance, his extravagances, his in-

SENSATION, FAITH. 241

justice. This doctrine, in the germ of it, is so
reasonable that it is affirmed by all Christians.
Hence their avowed belief, that the first human
pair and all the angels of heaven were created in a
state of perfect holiness.

There is not a faculty in man's body or mind
but what was given him for a good use. This doc-
trine is justified by reason, attested by creation and
providence, and confirmed by the Bible. The per-
fect goodness of God, therefore, is an illustrated
and confirmed truth. It is a truth that there is a
God, and that his character is love. It is a scrip-
tural maxim, that the character of a man, as right-
eous or wicked, may be inferred from his works.
" By then' fruits ye shall know them." On the
same principle we learn the attributes and cha-
racter of God. We learn his goodness from the
fact, that he does good, and his tender mercies are
over all his works. On the same principle we learn
his amazing power, his ineffable wisdom and intel-
ligence ; also his transcendent and superabounding
life. He is the living God. Animals and men are
only the recipients or the receptacles of a measure
of life. Their lives begin, and seem to come to an
end. But life in God is underived, self-existent,
inexhaustible, and eternal. He giveth to all, life
and breath and all things ; yet his resources are no
more diminished than is the great ocean by the va-
pors which are daily exhaled from its broad bosom.

We have now, as we think, ascertained some
truths of the invisible world : The existence of God,
who is incomprehensibly powerful, wise, and good ;

21

242 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

who is life, and the source of all life in creatures ;
who lives in them as the human soul lives in the
human body, and as the life of trees and brutes
lives in their external forms ; — that there is an invi-
sible world, and that the visible world came of it,
is dependent upon it, and stands upon it as a build-
ing does upon its foundation. And, although of
all this we can furnish no scientific demonstration,
yet we have reliable and irrefragable evidence. The
principle of faith occupies a place, in regard to the
spiritual world, similar to that occupied by sensa-
tion in regard to the natural world. Neither of
them are safe and infallible, until their impressions
are acted upon by reason, and their conclusions
justified by it. The human intellect is the cogni-
tive faculty of man. It is the organ of knowledge
as solely as the ear is the organ of sound, and as
the eye is the instrumentality of sight. Man
knows nothing until his understanding acts and
decides. In many cases, it must act gradually,
progressively ; by a long process of examination,
experience, and observation. Reason has thus cor-
rected many popular beliefs derived from sensual
impressions. It was long and universally believed,
that the sun and moon were bodies of nearly or
exactly the same size, both of them radiating lu-
minaries, much smaller than the earth ; and actu-
ally revolved around it, as they appear to do, from
east to west, every day. It was once, and for
many ages, believed that the earth was an extended
plain, its bottom in the water, and all its border
washed by the sea ; that its shape was flat, not

SENSATION, FAITH. 243

round ; that it was supported by foundations, and
that these were " the floods, the seas," Psahn xxiv. 2.
It was believed that real stars often started from
their fixed places, and descended toward the sur-
face of the earth. Hence the oft-occurring phrase,
" The stars shall fall from heaven." These, and a
thousand other popular mistakes in the sensible
world, reason has detected, and they are now ex-
ploded. And an equal number of misbeliefs re-
specting things of the spiritual w^orld have likewise
been exposed and corrected. The human intellect,
gi'owing in enlightenment as the race advances in
age, has effected revolutions in the world of faith
and metaphysics ; in spirituals as in naturals. It
was once believed, that God was a great, omnipo-
tent man, residing in a magnificent palace on the
upper surface of that huge, solid structure, over-
hanging the whole earth, called the firmament;
that this firmament not only sustained the sun and
moon, but also about one half of all the water of
the world ; and that the clouds were supplied from
these " upper springs." It has been generally be-
lieved, that there is an order of beings superior to
man, belonging to some department of this world,
called angels^ daiinons, demons, and devils ; and who
have much agency in the management of human
affairs. This popular doctrine has now become
doubtful in eye of human reason. For where does
this order of beings belong? Not to this earth,
which is appropriated for the residence of man.
The ancients assigned them a home on the upper
surface of the firmament. But, since the explosion

244 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

of the doctrine of a platform-firmament, they have
been destitute of a proper residence, except the
atmosphere. Their chief has been styled, " the
prince of the power of the air." But the atmo-
sphere cannot be the proper home of a race of
superior intelligent beings. God must have given
to every such race a solid globe, like our earth, for
their -use and accommodation. There is, doubtless,
such a race upon every planet in our solar system,
and in all the stellar systems. But these angels of
the popular belief are a description of vagabond :
they have no proper home. Reason cannot sustain
and justify the belief of any rational beings resid-
ing in the atmosphere of the earth, except the
spirits of the dead, which have been divested of
their ponderable bodies, and invested with bodies
so ethereal and rarified that the atmosphere may be
a suitable place for them. You may call them
angels^ if you please ; but they are not of the kith
and kindred of the Jewish angels. And they, doubt-
less, can answer all the ends and purposes for which
a race of angels has been wanted.

The Greeks and Romans spake and wrote about
three orders of celestial beings. These w^ere the
gods, the daimons, and the heroes. But they were
embarrassed to find a location for them. Some-
times they were posited in the tops of the highest
mountains, and sometimes in the cerideum. But
where the ceruleum was, but few, or none, could
tell. These gods, daimons, and heroes had no sub-
stantial home ; and reason pronounces all such to
be but imaginary beings.

SENSATION, FAITH 245

DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

On the subject of divine providence the belief of
men has been discrepant and various. Many hold
the doctrine of a particular providence, including
the foreknowledge and predestination of whatso-
ever comes to pass. God, say they, foresaw the
catastrophe which befell the ship Mexico, the Pre-
sident, the Lexington, the Atlantic, and the Light-
house on Minot's Ledge. He not only foreknew
those distressing' disasters, but he purposed them,
he ordained them ; and he had particular ends to
accomplish by means of them. Others hold the
doctrine of a general divine providence : they be-
lieve that God has no particular purposes, no par-
ticular plans, no solitary ends ; that his whole work
is a unity ; that his whole design, purpose, and end,
is one. Evils occur, but they are accidents : he
did not intend nor ordain them. No good has
come of them ; therefore, they could not have been
designed as the means of good.

Some men, unwilling to affirm that God designs
and produces evils, take the ground of permission.
He, say they, permits them ; but he will permit none
which he cannot turn to a good account and over-
rule for good. These men take a very loose and
inconsistent position. Whom does God permit to
do evil ? Has any wicked man such a permission
from God ? And is it a fact that God does turn
evils to a good account ? What good was brought
about by the St. Bartholomew massacre in France ?
What benefit was brought to pass by the great

21*

246 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

earthquake at Lisbon? — by the late famine in L"e-
land ? By the experience of disappointments and
misfortunes, men are made more cautious, more
discreet, more correct in their calculations and the
use of means. Their discretion is rendered more
ready and efficient. And to this fact is their better
future success to be ascribed. Out of evil, properly
speaking, no good ever comes. It is impossible.
For there is no good in evil ; therefore, none can
come out of it.

Reason, when enlightened and impartial, decides
that God's providence must be general ; that evils
are undesigned and accidental ; that God has no
particular purposes, no plans consisting of a com-
bination of means to accomplish a particular end,
as men have ; that his whole providence is a sys-
tem of uniform tendencies, working out a general
end. Such a divine providence as this brings to
pass all the good there is in the world. Every par-
ticular good may be traced to the tendencies of
God's general providence. It is the belief of many
persons, that divine providence could not be so good
as it actually is, unless it were particular ; that, if
all providence was general, there would be more
disasters and fewer benefits than we have. But
this belief stands on no satisfactory basis. It is a
mere assumption. There is but one way in which
the point assumed can be substantiated. It is by
adducing actual instances either of good conferred
or of dangers escaped, or of both, which could not
have been the work of a general providence. But
what instances of this description can be adduced ?

SENSATION, FAITH. 247

What instances — miracles excepted — does the
history of the world furnish ? We are not aware
of any. It is a mere assumption to allege, that a
particular providence would be better than a gen-
eral one. It is, as we think, a more reasonable as-
sumption to say, that there could not be a better
providence than is the one which presides over the
world ; that a more perfect providence is impossi-
ble. Let any change be made in it, and, instead of
being improved, it would doubtless be deteriorated.
" Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever : no-
thing can be taken from it, nor added to it."

But what are the evidences of a general divine
providence ? There is a basis in divine providence
for human calculation and foresight. Things which
do not now exist may be foreseen. The astronomer
foresees eclipses ; the changes and the quarterings
of the moon, the position of the planets, the rising
and the setting of the sun and moon. These things
could not be, except on the basis of a general provi-
dence. Other phenomena, though less certain, may
be foreseen and produced with a great degree of
probability. The husbandman knows how to pro-
duce good crops ; the mariner how to make good
voyages ; the carpenter knows how to build a good
house ; the teacher how to have a good school. And
the basis of all this foreknowledge is a divine pro-
vidence which works by fixed and uniform laws.
This is the evidence we have that divine providence
is general; and to candid, reflective, and enlight-
ened minds, this evidence is irrefragable. It is ac-
knowledged,— acknowledged even by sticklers for

248 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

a particular providence, that the greater part of the
phenomena of the world come of a general divine
providence. But, say they, this does not constitute
the whole. There is a particular providence co-
working with the general. We are willing that
these persons should enjoy their opinion. But, in
our view, if God sometimes gives a special direc-
tion to the tendencies of his providence, the occur-
rence, every year, of ten thousand such disasters as
shipwTccks, steamer-explosions, the collision of rail-
road cars, devastating storms and conflagrations,
would not take place : they conflict with the doctrine
of divine goodness. If God could consistently pre-
vent them, w^ould he not do it ? We have already
said that in our view, and according to our theory
of providence, they are unavoidable and accidental ;
that God has no direct agency in producing them.

man's early estate.

It has been commonly believed, that the early
generations of the human race w^ere very highly
enliglitened and virtuous ; that there w^as then but
little difference between gods and men. The my-
thology of the Greeks runs back to the time when
gods and men had intimate intercourse, and some-
times had amalgamated offspring. The ancient
Egyptian historiographers teach, that the first dy-
nasty of government in Egypt was that of the gods;
the second, that of the demigods; the third, that of
kings. Hence the prevalent docti'ine, that the first
was the golden age of the world. It was perhaps
natural that such should have been the common

SENSATION, FAITH. 249

belief. The primitive human generations had not
learned to be vicious and wicked. They lived on
the spontaneous fruits of the forest. They were
exempted from the toil of tilling the gi'ound. Their
manners and custom^ were simple, artless, and
honest. As the race multiplied, and labor became
requisite to provide the means of sustenance, the
people looked back to the times of the Eden-state.
They saw it through the magnifying medium of
time and tradition. The Eden-state seemed to
them to be most happy and desirable. And they
conceived that it had been lost bv men's becominor
wicked ; that thus they had incurred the curse of
tilling the ground and obtaining bread by the sweat
of the brow. All this was natural, but it was a
mistake. The true philosophy of labor was not
then correctly understood. When thus understood,
it is seen to be a blessing, not a cm'se. While
men had but few wants, and these were easily sup-
plied, the motives and temptations to injustice
would also be " few, and far between." The first
generations were innocent, rather than virtuous. As
their circumstances changed, so did their customs.
They learned to be dissemblers, injurers, oppressors,
and murderers. But that they ever stood high in
enlightenment and holiness is a preposterous as-
sumption. It is contrary to* the order of God's
whole work. This order is from the small to the
great, from the low to the high, from the weak to
the strong. Every high tree was once a low one ;
every strong animal was once a feeble one ; every
great city was once a small one ; every enlightened

250 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

and holy man was once destitute of knowledge and
holiness. And as men have been learning vice
and wickedness, on the one hand ; so, on the other,
they have learned wisdom, virtue, self-denial, and
philanthropy. And they wilj doubtless continue to
learn such lessons. We place the golden age in
the future ; and so did the bards of ancient Judea :
" The mountain of the Lord's house shall be higher
than other mountains, and all flesh shall be gath-
ered to it." ■

man's immortality.

It has been matter of popular belief in all na-
tions, that a man's mind survives his body ; that
his ethereal part outlives his corporeal part; that,
when the gross body falls to decay, there escapes
from it an aerial form, — a shade, a ghost, a spirit,
possessing all the intelligence and character of
the man ; that it is the man himself redintegrated
in a new form of a existence. Our Saviour, in his
discourse with the Sadducees, recognizes and sanc-
tions this doctrine as the truth on the subject of
the resurrection. He represents that the pati'iarchs
lived after the death of their bodies. This was
the resurrection. The doctrine of the reconstruc-
tion and re-animation of the gross body, after its
decomposition, does not appear to have been the
original doctrine of the resurrection. It was not
entertained either by the Gentiles or the Jews. As
soon as the Athenians understood Paul to declare
the doctrine, they kept silence no longer. Nor had
the Jews much, if any, more confidence in it than

SExXSATION, FAITH. 251

the Gentiles. Hence the astonishment of the dis-
ciples, when Jesus announced to them that he
should rise from the dead on the third day. " They
questioned one with another what the rising of the
dead should mean." They were ignorant of a cor-
poreal resurrection ; nor did they understand it,
until it was ex])lained to them by the actual — as
they believed — resurrection of Jesus. Here origi-
nated the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.
But, notwithstanding its almost universal reception
in the Christian Chm*ch, the doctrine, in the view
of reason, is embarrassed with insuperable diffi-
culties. It is not in accordance wdth the order of
God's works. God never does a thing, and then
undoes it, and afterward does it up again. If God
intended that man's immortahty should be in the
body, why should he give the body over to perish ?
Would he cause it to perish, if he intended it should
be immortal ? Is it worthy the wisdom of God to
destroy a thing, and then reconstruct it ? Men
may do it for the purpose of amending their work,
but not so with God.

But can man's immortality be maintained with-
out the doctrine of the resurrection of the body ?
Our answer is affirmative. Men are immortal pre-
viously to the resurrection. So teaches the Assem-
bly's Catechism. The souls of believers do, at their
death, immediately enter into glory. Of course,
the death of their bodies does not interrupt their
being and their peace. They immediately enter
into glory. They have no need of the resurrection
of the body. Their residence is probably the atmo-

252 TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, REASON,

sphere ; and such residents cannot have gross, pon-
derable bodies. They can only make use of ethereal
ones. Such an one had Jesus after the third day.
It was a body that could appear and vanish in-
stantly ; could enter a room, and leave it, without
passing the doors. This could not have been what
the apostle Paul calls a natural body, but a spiri-
tual. The bodies of all the dead can be no other
than aerial or spuitual. Reason can justify no
other doctrine.

But what are the evidences of man's immortali-
ty ? Death does not annihilate the human mind.
There is no proof that it does. And it has been a
matter of belief among ail nations, — the rude and
the improved, the savage and the enlightened, the
])arbarous and the learned : all unite in theii' desire
and expectancy of a future life. But why should
they all so strongly desire and expect a further
state of existence ? Did not God place this power-
ful instinct ^vithin them ? And, in all other cases,
has not God made the subjective of the world
within, and the objective of the world without, to
correspond to each other ? Whatever man strongly
covets — we mean, the kind of thing which he
wisely desues — he is capable of attaining. Shall
he, then, be disappointed in his anxious search for
glory, honor, and immortality ?

Without an immortal existence, how imperfect
appears the work of God I What an imperfect des-
tiny is that of man I To what great and important
purpose was man made ? How slender and uncer-
tain is his life I He often lives but a few days.

SENSATION, FAITH.

253

Most men die prematurely. If there be no future
life, what a perplexity is man I Made in the image
of his Creator, endowed with high intellectual and
moral powers, — all to be lost, wasted ! Can such
be the fact ? Must there not be a better destiny
for man? Will he not outlive the mortal body?
Will he not survive the material world? Was not
the poet inspired with the spirit of truth, when he
WTote, —

** The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years ;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth.
Unhurt amid the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds " ?

22

254

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

"Search the Scriptures." — Joh?}, v. 39.

The Bible has wrought all its great and good
work by means of its truths. The work of truth
is good; but the work of error is not good. If
there be parts and passages of the Bible which are
not true, the detection and repudiation of them
will do no harm. We lose nothing valuable by
giving up what is untrue ; and, in retaining all the
parts of the Bible which stand on the basis of
truth, we hold on to the whole of what has done
good and is now useful. No truth contained in
the Holy Scriptures can ever be eliminated out of
them. No man can injure them by search and
examination. For, if he do it candidly, he will
know better what the Bible is ; and, if he do it
uncandidly, there are those who will con-ect his
errors. The investigation of every subject is the
only true mode by which to comprehend and
master it.

It is the judgment of many, that the Bible, being
a book of matchless excellence and utility, cannot
be too highly appreciated, cannot be overrated; that.

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED. 255

if it have defects and blemishes, they should not be
exposed, but kept as much as possible out of sight ;
that to expose them would diminish its influence
and power of doing good.

This argument is not solid and conclusive. It is
deceptive and false. It supposes ignorance of the
real character of the Bible to be useful. But this
is a false position. It is useful to know the whole
truth in respect to every writing, document, book,
which comes into our hands. If it be all true, it
is useful to know it ; if there be mistakes, it is use-
ful to beware of them. The more we understand
of the history of any book, the better prepared we
are to avail om*selves of whatever advantages may
be derived from it ; also to avoid the disadvantages
it might otherwise bring.

If there be mistakes in the Bible, they are
adapted to do harm. Indeed, the Bible has done
much evil, as well as much good. It has furnished
sustenance to the wicked customs of war, of sla-
very, and of needless sanguinary penalties. The
warrior, the slaveholder, and the cruel legislator,
have appealed to the Bible for justification. The
Bible, say its adulators, imparts such benefits to
the afilicted, such hope to the dying, such courage
to the disheartened, so much consolation to the
bereaved, so much comfort to the outwardly mis-
erable, that it becomes an act of inhumanity and
injustice to cast any suspicion upon its divine au-
thority. Our answer is, that the hope, the courage,
the consolation, and the comfort, which are gained
by misunderstanding the Bible, are illusive and of

256 THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

little worth. We should first ascertain what are
the truths of the Bible, and from these only derive
our hopes and consolations. It is no uncommon
thing for persons to be elevated with false hopes.
But of what real benefit are they ? It is upon the
rock of truth that the wise man's house is builded.
Truth is worth being sought and possessed. To
understand the truth about the history of the Bible
is exceedingly important ; as much so, at least, as
the history of any other book. We acknowledge
this in regard to other books : why, then, not ac-
knowledge it in regard to the Bible ?

Our present method of searching the Scriptures
will be in the way of collating and comparing dif-
ferent parts and passages of them. Their agree-
ment will confirm the truth, and their discrepancy
will manifest the mistakes. We repeat, that no
injustice and injury can be done to the Bible and
to the cause of truth by examination, by research ;
for it is in proportion to its truth that the Bible is
a treasure to men. The iTiistakes, if any, contained
in it, are not things of utility and worth.

With these premises, we will proceed to examine
those passages of the New Testament which relate
to the manifestations made by om* Lord Jesus
Christ to his disciples, between the time of his
resurrection from the dead and that of his ascen-
sion into heaven. Of these, Matthew mentions
two ; Mark, three ; Luke, three ; and John, four.
The two appearances recorded by Matthew are not
mentioned by the other evangelists. The first of
these two was made to the women returning from

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED. 257

the sepulchre, on the morning of the resuiTection.
The accounts are given by him as follows : " And
as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus
met them, saying. All hail! .... Go, tell my bre-
thren that they go into Galilee, and there they

shall see me Then the eleven disciples went

away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus
had appointed them. And when they saw him,
they worshipped him ; but some doubted." Per-
haps some, besides Thomas, had doubts at first.
No other appearance is mentioned by Matthew.
And the one made to the eleven occurred in Gali-
lee. And, according to this evangelist, the commis-
sion given to the apostles, and the ascension into
heaven, took place at the mountain in Galilee.

The three manifestations related by Mark are
thus given : " Now, when Jesus was risen, early the
first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary
Magdalene. And she went, and told them that
had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
And they, when they had heard that he was alive
and had been seen of her, believed not. After that,
he appeared in another form to two of them, as
they walked, and went into the country. And they
went, and told to the residue ; neither believed they
them. Afterward, he appeared to the eleven, as
they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their
unbelief, because they believed not them which
had seen him after he was risen." Then immedi-
ately follows the commission and charge to preach
the gospel to every creature.

The three manifestations recorded by Luke were

22*

258 THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

— 1. That made to the two travellers at Emmaus.
2. That made to Simon Peter. 3. The one made
to the eleven disciples in the evening of the day
of the resurrection. The details of the interview
with the two ti'avellers are given at length in chap,
xxiv., ver. 13 — 31. Those of the interview with
the eleven apostles are related in the same chap-
ter, from verse 35 to 50. The evangelist then
proceeds to say : " And he led them out as far as
Bethany ; and he lifted up his hands, and blessed
them ; and, while he blessed them, he was parted
from them, and carried up into heaven."

Of the four appearances recognized by John, the
first was made to Mary Magdalene. The other
three were to the eleven disciples in company : two
of them at Jerusalem ; the last at the Sea of Tibe-
rias in Galilee. The first appearance of him to
the eleven was on the evening of the day of his
resurrection. The details of this are recorded in
XX. 19 — 24. The second took place eight days af-
terwards, and in the evening. The particulars are
given in xx. 26 — 30.

The four evangelists, in conjunction with Paul,
recognize nine manifestations : — 1. That made to
Mary Magdalene. 2. That made to the women as
they were on their way returning from the sepul-
chre. 3. That made to Simon Peter. 4. That to
the two travellers. 5. That to the eleven on the
evening of the day of the resurrection. 6. That
to the eleven, eight days afterward. 7. That made
at the mountain in Galilee. 8. The appearance
made at the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee. 9. The

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED. 259

appearance made to five hundred brethren at once,
stated by St. Paul. The account of the appearance
made to Peter is not given by any writer, though
mentioned both by the evangelist Luke and by the
apostle Paul. The one made to five hundred
stands solely on the testimony of Paul.

The difterences in these accounts are irreconci-
lable with the fact of the plenary inspiration of
each of the different writers. Had they been thus
inspired, they must have each given a full and per-
fect account. There could certainly have been no
discrepancy, nor should we expect even any varia-
tion. For there can be no difference in two narra-
tives which are both entire and perfect.

As two of the evangelists, Matthew^ and John,
were of the eleven apostles, it is a most surprising
and unaccountable fact that they should so widely
disagree in the accounts they give of such extraor-
dinary and thrilling scenes as must have been those
of the re-appearance of Jesus to his disciples after
his death and burial ; that John should give four,
and Matthew but two ; that Matthew should make
no mention of the two which took place at Jerusa-
lem, and John should be silent about the manifesta-
tion in the mountain of Galilee, and Matthew equally
silent about the one at the Sea of Tiberias.

We will now take some notices of the accounts
given of the women who visited the sepulchre.
Matthew mentions two ; " Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary." Mark mentions three ; the two Maries
and Salome. Luke names three ; the two Maries,
.Joanna, and other w^omen. John names but one ;

260 THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

Mary Magdcilene. INIatthew represents that the
women saw an angel sitting on the "very great"
stone which he had rolled from the door of the
sepulchre, who announced to them that Jesus was
risen from the dead, and directed them to carry
intelligence of this to his disciples. Mark and
Luke represent, that, when the ^vomen arrived at
the sepulchre, they found it open, and entered it
The body of Jesus was not there. They were
surprised and perplexed. Mark says that they
now saw a young man sitting on the right side of
the tomb. Luke says that they saw two men.
The women were informed that Jesus was no
longer dead, but alive, and directed to go and tell
his disciples " that he goeth before you into Gali-
lee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you."
John relates that Mary Magdalene went, and found
the tomb open ; that she returned hastily, and,
having found Simon Peter and the other disciple
whom Jesus loved, informed them that the body of
the Lord had been abducted from the tomb, and
she knew not where it had been laid ; that these
two disciples ran very speedily to the place, found
the sepulchre open, went into it, saw the grave-
clothes, but no dead body ; that they believed that
this had been stolen, " For as yet they knew not
the Scripture, that he must rise again from the
dead."

But there are not only omissions on the part of
the evangelists, but also some conflict. Matthew
declares that the women, on their return, met the
risen Jesus, and both saw him and heard him

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED. 261

speak. Luke reports that the women saw " a
vision of angels, but him they saw not." Matthew
and John represent that the women did not enter
into the sepulchre ; Mark and liuke say that they
did enter into it. Luke represents that Peter went
alone to the sepulchre, and, " stooping down, looked
into it, beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves,
and departed." John says that he went in company
with another ; and that, immediately on his arrival,
he went into the sepulchre. Matthew represents
that the women saw the angel roll the stone from
the door of the tomb ; Mark, Luke, and John say
that they found the stone already rolled away.
John says, " Then," immediately after it was ascer-
tained that the tomb was open, and the body of
Jesus not in it, " the disciples went away again to
their own home." And this seems to accord with
the command recorded by Matthew, " Go, tell my
brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall
they see me." Also with the fact which he states,
" Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee,
into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them."
Luke, however, says nothing of Galilee. On the
contrary, he says that they were directed to " tarry
in the city of Jerusalem, until they should be endued
with power from on high." According to Matthew,
our Lord took his final leave of the disciples on a
mountain in Galilee. According to Luke, he did
it on the Mount of Olives, in Bethany, near to Jeru-
salem.

There is, we think, but one hypothesis by which
these discrepant and conflicting statements and

262 THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

representations can be accounted for. It is this, —
that the authors of the four Gospels wrote on the
authority of tradition ; and that this authority,
in many points, was not reliable, but erroneous.
Many of us may be unwilling to adopt this con-
clusion ; but we must, all of us, eventually come to
it, whether we will it or not. The event is inevi-
table.

And what loss do we sustain by it? Does it
falsify the ministry and the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ ? Not at all. That Jesus lived and
taught and died are facts inscribed on the history
of the world. How he lived, and what he taught,
are facts which depend not on the inerrable ac-
curacy of his biographers. They may have fallen
into many mistakes. But they did not misrepresent
his life and doctrine. These were akeady known.
Christianity was established in the world before
the Gospels were \sT.'itten. The religion of Jesus
does not depend on Scripture ; but this depends
upon that. K the material Bible, every copy of it,
w^ere this day to perish, the religion of Christ would
remain. Not a particle of it would be lost. Not
a single element thereof would perish. That spirit
of man, which is made in the image of its Maker,
is the depository of it. Christianity is the religion
of Jesus. It came out from him as truly as he
came out from God. " My doctrine is not, origin-
ally, mine, but His who sent me. As my Father
hath given me commandment, even so I speak."
The Lord Jesus did not write a book. He
" preached the way of God." The seed is the

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED. 263

word of God. He that soweth the good seed is the
Son of man. He sowed it by preaching, not by
writing. Some of this seed fell into good gi'ound,
into honest and good hearts ; and by such hearts it
is perpetuated. And it is an incorruptible and un-
dying seed, " which liveth and abideth for ever."

It is a mistake to believe, that the material Scrip-
tures are the inerrable word of God itself. They
are but an imperfect record of that word. They
are a very important aid, an invaluable instrumen-
tality ; but they are not the basis of Christianity.
This is not written with ink, but by the finger of
the living God on the susceptible tables of human
hearts.

Revealed ti'uth is God's word. All truth is from
God. He is its fountain, its eternal source. Wher-
ever and howsoever made known, truth comes from
him. There is truth in the Bible, and it came from
God. There is truth in other books, and it came
from God. But no book contains all truth ; nor,
probably, is any book pure from all error. The
Bible contains some manifest mistakes. No man
believes all which is asserted for fact in the Bible.
It asserts that God made a firmament to separate
the waters which were above it, from the waters on
the earth. This doctrine accorded with the philo-
sophy of the age when the book of Genesis was
written. But a different philosophy has since been
learned, and now prevails. No enlightened man,
however orthodox, now believes that the earth is
the centre of the world, and that there is a solid
structure overhanging the earth, and sustaining, as

264 THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

on a platform, the sun, moon, and all the visible
host of heaven.

It is asserted in the Bible, that God hardened the
heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and did it for the
purpose of preventing him from doing right, and
instigating him to do wrong ; also that he deter-
mined other persons to commit wickedness. This
doctrine likewise harmonized with the philosophy
which then prevailed. But what man, even among
the abetters of plenary inspiration, now believes
that God ever instigates any of his rational creatures
to the perpetration of iniquity? The doctrine is
now obsolete, and is repudiated, though contained
in the Bible.

The evangelists of the New Testament are re-
garded in the character of witnesses. They testify
to facts in the life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. In the cases wherein their testimony agrees,
there can be no reasonable doubt of its truth. But
if the testimony of one conflict with that of another,
either directly or indirectly, either in statement or
by omission, some doubt may reasonably be enter-
tained. All the evangelists concur in affirming, that
the names of the parents of Jesus were Joseph and
Mary ; that he was brought up in ' Nazareth ; that
he was baptized by John in Jordan ; that he itine-
rated and preached in Galilee, Judea, and Samaria ;
that he chose t^A^elve of his disciples, and appointed
them to be his apostles ; that one of these betrayed
him ; and that he A\^as crucified, under Pontius
Pilate, on the hill of Calvary, in one of the suburbs
of Jerusalem. These, therefore, and many other

THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED. 265

facts concerning which there is no deficiency or
conflict of testimony, are to be readily accepted and
believed. But, in cases wherein deficiency or con-
flict does obtain, some doubts may naturally arise.
St. Luke, for instance, asserts the visible ascension
of the Lord Jesus. But no other evangelist asserts
such a fact. St. Mark afl[irms, that he was received
up into heaven, and seated on the right hand of God ;
but he does not affirm, that this was done visibly,
in the presence of men. Neither Matthew nor John
mentions the fact of the ascension. Our Lord him-
self declared his ascension ; but he does not declare
that it should take place visibl^^. This fact stands
on the single testimony of Luke. No doubt that
he had been so informed, and that he so believed.
But, as the other evangelists do not mention the
visible ascension, may we not reasonably conclude
that they were unprepared to affirm it ?

The flight of the holy family into Egypt, and
the slaughter of children in Bethlehem, are not
recognized by any waiter in the New Testament,
except Matthew. This evangelist is strongly ad-
dicted to find passages in the Old Testament which
have a fulfilment in the person of Jesus the Mes-
siah. It seems to have been a passion in him.
Doubtless it was so in many others at that time.
The passage in Hosea, " Out of Egypt have I
called my Son," seemed to them very significant.
It must have reference to the Messiah, for he only
is God's Son. Hence may have been got up the
story of the temporary sojourn of Joseph and Mary
in Egypt. And there was another pathetic passage
23

266 THE BIBLE A BOOK TO BE EXAMINED.

in Jeremiah : " In Rama was a voice heard, weep-
ing and lamentation ; Rachel weeping for her chil-
di'en, and would not be comforted, because they are
not : " they are lost, dead. Herod was a notori-
ously cruel and bloody man. He caused the mur-
der of many of his own family. And what more
natural than that he should command, that all the
young children in Bethlehem should be slaughtered,
in expectation that the young child who was said
to have been born there, and styled the King of the
Jews, would be included among them ? Hence
may have come the story of the massacre of the
innocents ; and thq. mind of Matthew was prepared
to receive and to credit it.

The credulity of this evangelist is apparent in
the account he gives of the resurrection of Jesus.
He says that there was a great earthquake, and
that an angel, whose face was like lightning, de-
scended from heaven, and rolled away the stone
from the door of the sepulchre, and sat down upon
it. But the other evangelists are silent on this
head, — like -the other earthquake which Matthew
says occurred immediately after Jesus expned on
the cross. They make no mention of the rending
of the great veil of the temple, the rent rocks, and
the opening of the graves, and the uprising of many
bodies of dead saints. The very extraordinary
character of these events, in conjunction with the
silence of all other authorities, furnishes cause to
doubt, not the veracity, but the discretion, of our
evangelist.

267

THE

HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

"The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." — Psalm
xix. 8.

Much has been said and written about the inte-
rior and occult meaning of Holy Scriptures. It
is desirable to understand the import of this lan-
guage. What is the fact which it asserts ? Is it
that the Bible contains figurative language ? This
fact is universally recognized. All readers of the
sacred pages understand much of their language in
a figurative sense. All those forms and varieties of
the figures of speech, taught in manuals of gram-
mar and rhetoric, — the metonymy, the metaphor,
the hyperbole, the ellipsis, the parable, the alle-
gory, &c., — are admitted and observed. As every
other book contains figurative language, so likewise
the Bible. We can understand this fact. But it
does not probably fulfil the doctrine of the " hid-
den sense of the word." In addition to the gram-
matical figures of speech, Christian theologians
have superinduced the typical, — types, antitypes,
and archetypes. Great use has been made of this

268

THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

principle of scriptural interpretation. The fathers
of the second and third centuries employed it abun-
dantly ; and their example has been followed,
though not always with equal license, by their suc-
cessors down to the present time. But does this
principle of typical representation fulfil the theory
of the " hidden sense of the word " ? We suspect
that it does not ; that the latter is much deeper
and more extensive than the former ; that the
Scriptures have two distinct meanings, — the exte-
rior and the interior: the former of these can be
comprehended by the human senses and intellect,
but the latter only by the opening of a spiritual
eye in the soul. Thus the account of the creation
in Genesis has two distinct significations, one of
which describes the formation of the material world ;
the other, the spiritual. Such w^as the doctrine
of Mr. John Hutchinson, and of Baron Emanuel
Swedenborg. Mr. Hutchinson says that "the Scrip-
tures (^^^.•itten in Hebrew, the language of Paradise,
each root of which represents some idea of action
or condition, suggested by the sensible object it ex-
presses, and is further designed to signify spuitual
things), rightly translated and understood, comprise
a perfect system of philosophy, theology, and re-
ligion." But of " the Greek, that language of
erring Heathen, he says that Christ and his apos-
tles knew too well its imperfections and unfitness
to give ideas of the divine economy, to make use
of it for that purpose." He also observes, that
" as the material machine is primarily suited to the
service of the body, so its secondary but most im-

THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD. 269

portant use is to treasure up ideas for the immortal
soul by affording types and evidences of the other-
wise unutterable attributes of the Deity."

Baron Swedenborg, we believe, did not adopt ex-
actly the theory of Mr. Hutchinson, yet one much
resembling it. Mr. Hutchinson seems to have
placed his on the basis of types. Swedenborg made
little or no use of this word, but abundantly em-
ployed that of correspondence. The details of each
theory of these two celebrated masters — mystics
— may be intelligible and clear to their respective
disciples ; but to us they are too obscure to be un-
derstood. We will not, therefore, presume to pro-
nounce them peremptorily either true or false. It
would seem to be presumption to sit in judgment
upon what we do not understand.

On one point, however, om* mind is fixed and
definite. It is this, that every writer and speaker —
with the exception of the composer of riddles and
paradoxes — always intends one thing only when
he utters a sentence. His aim is to use words in
some one certain sense. Such is the purpose and
use of language. The idea of double meaning is
preposterous. It defeats the end for which words
are employed. The designed use of equivocal
language presupposes this thing. For, if he de-
sign that his words should be understood differently
from that sense in which they are true, he is a de-
ceiver, and perverts the true end of language. AH
historians, preachers, lecturers, public speakers, de-
baters, pleaders, and didactic writers, aim at one
thing, which is to be understood in a certain sense ;

23*

270 THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

the sense entertained in their own mind. On this
point, the authors of the different documents of the
Bible are doubtless in accordance with all other
waiters. They \vrote for the purpose of communi-
cating information, declaring truth, administering
counsel, uttering rebuke, giving encouragement,
warning, and instruction. They wrote for the im-
mediate use of their fellow-creatures about them.
They did not look forward to futui'c generations,
who should put a sense upon their language differ-
ent from that of their cotemporaries. What is
common to all men who ^vrite and speak must be
a fact with the sacred writers.

This point needs not a labored proof or illustra-
tion. But it is a question of some importance to
inquire. Why and whence has it happened, that
such a theory — the theory of a double sense of
Scripture-language, the doctrine of a hidden sense
of the sacred word — was conceived and got up
among Christians ? The ground and cause of it,
we think, can be traced. The Hebrew Scriptures
are very ancient. They were composed when the
language was in an immature and unripened con-
dition. Words were comparatively few ; and many
of these were unsettled in their import. The same
words are often used in different senses. Of course,
the language would be loose, and its import in par-
ticular applications doubtful and uncertain. Hence
it is that so many different interpretations are by
commentators given to hundreds of texts in the
Old Testament.

The known fact is, that the Hebrew documents

THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE AVORD. 271

of the Biblo were written in a comparatively dark
age. The contents of them could be believed and
received as divine truth by the people of the age
and counti-y when and where they were produced.
Aftervvard came another age more enlightened.
The doctrine of the divine inspiration of these
writinofs had come down by tradition from time
immemorial : it was still firmly held. But some
of the narratives seemed to be incredible. Some of
the institutions seemed improper. To relieve these
difficulties, the theory of types was invented. This
doctrine answered a great purpose, and was exten-
sively improved. The Old Testament became
filled with types. By this means it was converted
into a gospel, whose light was little less clear and
bright than the sun of Christianity.

At length, bold adventurers in this line appeared.
Such, certainly, were Swedenborg and Hutchinson.
They changed narratives into prospective histories.
The first chapter of Genesis did not relate the man-
ner and stages of the material creation, but foretold
the reconsti'uction of the human race under the
Messiah. The six days' work intended and de-
scribed the six stages of regeneration. And the
account in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters,
of the sons of God, — the angels who left their first
estate in the firmamental heavens, being smitten
with the beauty of the daughters of men, whom
they married, and from which unnatural amalgama-
tion came a race of giants, tyrants, and oppressors,
such as the world could not bear, but became utterly
corrupted, man unfitted to be an habitant of the

272 THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

world, and God took the resolution to destroy him
utterly from off the face of the earth. The conse-
quent flood caused by an incessant rain of forty
days' continuance, so that the waters rose eight or
ten miles above the usual level of the sea, and
added more than two thousand millions of square
cubic miles to the size of the earth ; the waters
rising more than thirty feet, on an average, every
hour ; and finally the stranding of the ark on the
peak of Ararat, a place of perpetual snow, and such
intense cold that every creature from the ark must
have perished the very day, if not the very hour,
when it came into the open air; — these alleged
facts, says Swedenborg and his disciples, are in-
credible ; for they are palpably impossible. They
are out of the sphere of God's order of working.
Therefore the account of them is not post-history,
but prospective and prophetic. The real facts are
not in the natural but in the spiritual world. It
foretells the corruption and ruin of the Christian
Church. It is a flood of false doctrine, pernicious
institutions, and moral death. The fallen angels
are the bishops of the church, such as Gregory of
Cappadocia, who converted heathen festivals into
saints' days, putting the martyrs in the place of the
pagan gods and goddesses, altering the name and
face of the thing without changing the substance
of it. The Christian Church, say they, is now on
the very eve of its " consummation," by which term
they mean its ruin. Thus they expound the ac-
count of the flood. Such is a specimen of the

THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE AVORD. 273

doctrine of Swedenborg in respect to the interior
and occult sense of the Hebrew Scriptures.

But though we repudiate the doctrine of a double
sense, to be explained by the theory of types and
correspondence, we do, nevertheless, hold to what
may be termed a secondary and constructive sense
of many passages of the Holy Scriptures. They
contain a sense in the principles which underlie
them ; and this sense, for a long time, may not be
distinctly understood. Every law and every rule,
every maxim or proverb, stands on certain princi-
ples. If the law be a good law, there must be
something that makes it good. And this some-
thing is always good. The law itself, as a form,
may become obsolete and worthless ; but those
elementary principles which once rendered it good
and useful remain unchanged, good and true as ever.
It was once the law or custom of society to return
blow for blow, stripe for stripe, and to take life for
life. There was then no magistracy. A man must
be his own defender and avenger. This bad law or
custom was, nevertheless, based upon right princi-
ples. And these principles remain now what they
were then. They are right and good. It is right
that injury, injustice, and abuse should be resisted,
and that the author of the injustice should suffer for
what he has wrongfully done.

At the time the Bible was wTitten, it was believed
that God supervised all human affairs by a particu-
lar and special providence ; that he sent showers
and harvests as the people deserved such blessings ;
that he sent drought and frost and caterpillars and

274 THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

mildew, in accordance to their demerit and wicked-
ness ; that, when two armies met in battle, God,
as he pleased, gave victory to one, and defeat to
the other. And it was expressly promised to a
people or a nation, that, if they obeyed God's laws,
they should be prospered and built up ; but, if they
disobeyed these laws, they should be distressed and
diminished, Jer. xviii. 5 — 10. It was believed that
the seven thraldoms which the Israelites endured,
during the times of the judges, were incurred and
brought upon them by their undue indulgence and
participation in the customs and worship of the
pagan people of Canaan, among whom they lived.
It was believed that the captivities, that of the ten
tribes by the king of Assyria, and afterwards that
of Judah by the king of Babylon, were punishments
of the people for not duly sanctifying the seventh
day of the week as the Lord's sabbath ; for building
altars, planting groves, and eating sacrifices, on the
mountains, instead of confining their worship to
the sanctuary at Jerusalem ; and for, sometimes,,
rendering homage to God under the denomination
of Baal, instead of Jehovah. But though there
was a manifest mistake in the letter of these beliefs,
yet the spirit of them, the principles which under-
lay them, were true. Though the doctrine of a
particular divine providence is but imaginary, yet
it is a truth that God's general providence contains
all those tendencies which do usually protect and
prosper the righteous, and disappoint and frustrate
the schemes and designs of the wicked. A general
providence, such as God has instituted and such as

THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD. 275

he maintains, does bring to pass all the prosperity
and enjoyment which attend and follow industry,
discretion, uprightness, and piety. We lose nothing
by foregoing the doctrine of a particular divine
providence, and adopting that of a general. For
all the good there is in providence remains the
same. The amount of the good is what it is : it
is neither increased nor diminished by our theory
respecting it. We have the same encouragement
to live soberly, righteously, and devoutly; to deal
justly, to love mercy, and humbly to acknowledge
God in all our ways, as though God did specially
order all the allotments of our lives. The mis-
fortunes which befall an unrighteous man, and the
success which follows the labors of an upright man,
administer to us the same instructive lessons, w^he-
ther divine providence be particular or general.

There was, w^e conceive, an undue importance
attached by the Jews to ceremonial righteousness,
to sacrifices, and to the place and manner of offer-
ing them ; to the rigid observance of the sabbath ;
to the name by which the great Power above should
be recognized and adored. We believe them to
have been mistaken in ascribing the cause of their
thraldoms and captivities to their failures in the
due observance of the outward forms of their reli-
gion. But they were doubtless right in ascribing
them to something wrong in themselves. There
might be as much iniquity in them as they suspect-
ed ; but it did not chiefly lay where they placed it.
The root of their belief was sound and true ; but
some of the branches which grew from it were wild

276 THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

and unsound. The accounts which they give of
the causes of their good and ill fortunes are true in
the spirit of them, though not in the letter. There
is, therefore, a hidden sense in which they should
now be read and understood.

The doctrine which we have proposed and en-
deavored to illustrate is not new. It has, in the
essence of it, been known and made use of in past
ages of the Christian Church. Yet it has not often
been distinctly and correctly recognized and avowed.
Christian theologians have, almost from the begin-
ning, given a cc:)nstructive sense to those portions
of the Old Testament which predict the character
and times of the Messiah. The prophets describe
him as a potent and magnificent monarch, wield-
ing an iron sceptre, and crushing all nations who
do not immediately yield to his sway. They declare
the glorification of the temple on Mount Zion, and
the exaltation of Jerusalem to be the metropolis
of the world. And Christian writers have given a
new and constructive sense to all such passages of the
Hebrew Scriptures. They understand the monarch
and king to mean a Reformer, a Teacher, a Ran-
som, a Saviour ; and by Zion, Jerusalem, the Lord's
house, and the Lord's people, they understand
the Christian Church. The prophet said that the
set time to favor Zion should come ; that, when
the Lord should build up Zion, he would appear in
his glory ; that Zion was beautifully situated on the
sides of the North ; and it was, or would be, the
beauty of perfection, and the joy of the whole earth.
And all this is by theologians applied to the

THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD. 277

Christian Church. But they have not done this
consistently and understandingly. They have as-
sumed, at once and in the outset, that the prophets
meant what Christian interpreters understand them
to mean; that, when they wrote Zion, Jerusalem,
and the daughter of my people, they intended the
Gentile people of the Messiah. This, however, was
not the fact. By Jerusalem the prophets intended
the local city of David ; by Zion they intended the
elevation on which the temple was builded ; and
by the house of the Lord they intended the material
temple. Thus the people understood them. This
literal sense was so deeply enstamped upon the
Jewish mind that it has never been effaced. The
people for whom the prophets wTote must have un-
derstood what the writers intended. It is wholly a
gratuitous assumption, that the prophets did intend
the sense which Christian commentators have at-
tached to their language.

And there is no necessity for this assumption.
We attain all the advantages of a constructive
sense by means of the principles-theory. And this
theory is natural and easy. It has been adopted
in the ages which are past. Our Saviour adopted
it in his exposition of the sixth and seventh precepts
of the decalogue; also when he said, "Think not
that I am come to destroy the law and the pro-
phets ; I am come, not to destroy, but to fulfil." He
carried out the principles on which the Mosaic in-
stitutions had been built. In no other sense did he
sustain and confirm them.

The prophecies of the New Testament, as well
24

278 THE HIDDEN SENSE OF THE WORD.

as those of the Old, are true, and have been or will
be fulfilled, only in what we have called the princi-
ples-sense. In no other sense has the kingdom
of God come, and that of the saints commenced
on the ruins of the old worldly kingdoms. St. John
the divine distinctly foresaw the fall of Babylon,
the great and terrible antichrist. He intended Pa-
gan Rome. No reasonable doubt on this point.
This arch-enemy would fight against Christianity,
so long as he had a breath to draw, or a particle of
strength to use. But he would be gi-adually crushed
and annihilated by the special judgments of the
Almighty. The Revelator — as he has been called
— had no conception that Pagan Rome would be-
come Christian Rome. He believed that, so long
as Rome existed, the Church would be persecuted.
In this he was in a great mistake ; one similar to
that of the prophets who foretold a splendid, secu-
lar, military Messiah. The Revelator's prophecy
is fulfilled, as that of the Hebrew oracles were,
only in that constructive sense which is obtained
by employing the theory of principles ; — making
the proper distinction between the letter and the
spirit.

Thus there is a hidden sense of the word. But
it is not discovered by a tact to spell out the lines
of symbolical imagery and correspondential rela-
tions. It requires not the flights and labors of the
imagination. It is obtained by enlightenment and
sober reflection. It is the spirit, in distinction from
the letter. I would speak as to wise men : judge
ye what I have said.

279

THE HEBREW RECORDS.

" Hilkiali the priest found a book of the law of the Lord, given by Moses." —
2 Chroit. xxxiv. 14.

The Israelites had hitherto conducted the affairs of
their religion by precedent, tradition, and perhaps
some smaU written documents. The law of Moses,
as it is in the Pentateuch, was probably unknown
to them. Their doctrinal and ceremonial system,
like all other institutions of the kind, grew up gra-
dually, and from small beginnings. Such w^as the
fact in relation to the Romish and Papal hierarchy.
This institution, so compKcate and complete, could
not have been the work of one day, nor of a single
age. It had the growth of centuries. And so,
doubtless, had the Jewish hierarchy. In the early
times of their judges and kings, theii* religious forms
were few and simple. In the days of Eli, the people
held one annual festival, and evidently but one.
1 Bam. i. 3 and 21 : "The man Elkanah went up
yearly, and offered a yearly sacrifice." No inti-
mation is given of the celebration of a passover
from the time of Joshua to that of Solomon ; nor
of another until the time of Hezekiah ; nor, again,
until the time of Josiah. If the passover had been

280

THE HEBREW RECORDS.

annually and regularly kept, the three particular
ones above mentioned would not have been such
extraordinary occurrences as to have been matter
of historical record.

The law of Moses, the Pentateuch edition, ex-
pressly and severely forbids intermarriages between
circumcised Hebrews and uncircumcised Gentiles.
This prohibition could not have been known in the
times of the judges, nor in those of David and
Solomon. The practice of intermarriages could not
have gi'own up in the face and eyes of such a law
as that in the Pentateuch. David married two or
three Gentile women : one of them a Geshurite,
another an Ammonitess ; a thii-d, probably, a Hittite.
David himself came within the pale of exclusion
from the sanctuary. The law, as we now have it,
declares that a Moabite shall not enter the sanctuary
of the Lord, even unto the fourth generation ; and
David was of the fourth generation, a descendant
of Ruth the Moabitess. So pious a man as David
would not have knowingly and deliberately violated
the plain and palpable provisions of a sacred law.

The Pentateuchal law ordains, that there should
be but one national altar and sanctuary, to which
all sacrifices and offerings should be brought. But
this law obviously was not understood in the days
of the judges, nor of the kings of the line of David ;
for, in these days, altars were raised and sacrifices
offered in other places. Gideon and Manoah of-
fered sacrifices on or near their own premises.
David built an altar at the threshing-floor of Arau-
nah the Jebusite. Solomon offered sacrifices in

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 281

Giboon. Elijah built an altar and offered sacrifice
on Mount Carmel. Such things could not have
been done, provided they had been known to be
unlawful.

In the times of the judges, the Israelites appear to
have been in a very loose and dislocated position.
They were dispersed over the face of the country ;
some of them in Gilead, on the east of Jordan ; some
of them in Palestine and Canaan, on the west.
They were intermingled with the aboriginal popu-
lation. The author of " Judges " says that " the
children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites ;
and they took their daughters to be their wives,
and gave their daughters to their sons, and served
their gods." The national character remained un-
formed and unfixed. There was no proper national
government; no legislative pow^er; no supreme
tribunal ; no national head : except in times of
war, no military chief. Their judges were little, if
at all, more than advisers and arbitrators, who had
obtained distinction by some warlike exploits, as
Othniel, Ehud, and Jephthah ; or by their wealth, as
Jair, Ibzan, Abdon, and Elon. " In those days there
was no king in Israel, and every man did what
was right in his own eyes." — And, even after the
establishment of the kingdom, the former loose
condition, in many respects, still continued. The
circumcised and the uncircumcised lived inter-
mingled together. The war of the two races had
ceased. During the four hundred years of the time
of the judges, a state of war and peace had alter-
24*

282 THE HEBREW RECORDS.

nated. The separate tribes often made war on their
own account. Judah, assisted by Simeon, gained
advantages over the Canaanites and Perizzites in
Bezek, Hebron, Debu*, and Jerusalem : Judges, i.
4 — 8. Simeon, assisted by Judah, overcame the
inhabitants of Zephath and Hormah. Benjamin
was unsuccessful in his attempts to expel the Jebu-
sites from Jerusalem. " The Jebusites dwell with
the childi'en of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this
day." Joseph conquered Luz, and changed its name
to Bethel. Manasseh struggled long, and ^vithout
success, against Bethshean, Dor, and Megiddo ;
"but the Canaanites would dwell in that land."
Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites from
Gezer; nor Zebulon, those of Kitron and Nahalol:
nor Asher, those of Accho and Zidon ; nor Naphthali,
those of Bethshemesh and Bethanath : but the
Canaanites of all those places continued to dwell in
them. Yet in time they were reduced to the condi-
tion of tributaries. But such a state of things could
not have obtained after the written law of Moses
had been promulged among them. This law ex-
pressly forbade any intercourse with the people of
Canaan : " Thou shalt consume all the people which
the Lord thy God shall deliver thee ; thine eye
shall have no pity upon them." " Ye shall utterly
destroy all the places wherein the nations, which ye
shall possess, served their gods, upon the high moun-
tains and under the green trees. Ye shall overthrow
their altars, and break their pillars, and hew down
the graven images, burn their groves, and destroy
the names of them out of that place : " Dei:^t. xii. 2, 3.

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 283

But the fact of " the book of the law, given by
Moses," being found during the reign of Josiah, is
proof conclusive that such a document had not been
previously known. To the king and the people this
event was a matter of great surprise. They had
never heard of such a book before. The Mosaical
law had hitherto existed in tradition, usage, remem-
brance, and probably some inscriptions, like that of
the decalogue, on tablets of stone ; and that of the
blessings and curses on the plastered pillars upon
the Mounts Gerizim and Ebal. But a Scriptm-e of
this description had not been heard of. It was a
new thing. Had it ever been known, the fact would
not have been forgotten. Had the book ever been
suppressed, as Prof. Stuart thinks it had been by
Manasseh, or disappeared and been lost, this fact
also must have been remembered. The book was
manifestly new : it now, for the first time, saw the
open light of the sun.

Let it now be remembered, that God directed
Moses to cause a copy of the law to be deposited
in the most holy place by the side of the ark of
the covenant, and there kept ; and further, that this
copy of the law should be taken out, on every sab-
batical year, and read in the hearing of all the
people. Once in seven years, the law was to be
publicly read at one of the great gatherings of the
people. If these directions had been followed, —
and they doubtless would have been followed, had
they really been given, — the contents and provi-
sions of the law would have been kept fresh in the
minds of the people, and there never could have

284

THE HEBREW RECORDS.

come a time when the findinfi^ of the book of the law
would have produced such surprise, nor the reading
of it caused such alarm and consternation.

But in what form did this Mosaic code now ap-
pear ? We cannot now obtain a certainty in answer
to this question. We can, however, hazard a con-
jectm-e. We will say it was the so-called second
law, — the book of Deuteronomy. The Pentateuch
has three principal parts : the book of Genesis,
which has been called the introduction ; the books
of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, which contain
the history and legislation of the Jewish law ; and,
third, the Deuteronomy, or second version of this
law. Deuteronomy has not the character of an
appendix, or addenda, or a supplement. It is the
whole thing itself. It covers the same ground.
The same materials constitute its substance. Like
the other version, it includes and interweaves history
and legislation. The difference between the two
versions is, that Deuteronomy is the rough draft ; it
has less of particular and detail; its language is
more redundant ; it abounds in declamation and
appeals. It purports to have been delivered per-
sonally by Moses, in an address, or a series of
addresses, to the whole congi'egated family of Is-
raelites. It is in a form adapted to be read and
rehearsed before a great assembly, like those to
which the law of Moses is said to have been read
in the times of Josiah and Ezra. The whole book
is interspersed with declamatory and solemn exhor-
tation, adapted to make the impression which was
made on those occasions. " And it came to pass.

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 285

when the king had heard the words of the law,
that he rent his clothes. And he gathered all the
elders of Judah and Jerusalem, and went up into
the house of the Lord, and all the people, great and
small ; and he read in their ears all the words of the
book of the covenant found in the house of the Lord.
And the king stood in his place, and made a cove-
nant before the Lord, to keep his commandments,
with all his heart, to perform the words of the cove-
nant written in this book. And he caused all that
were present to stand to it. And they did according
to the covenant of God." 2 Chron. xxxiv. 19, 29.

" And all the people gathered themselves as one
man, and spake unto Ezra the priest to bring the
book of the law of Moses. And he brought the
book before the congregation, upon the first day of
the seventh month. And he read therein from morn-
ing until mid-day ; and the ears of the people were
attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra stood
upon a pulpit of wood, and opened the book in the
sight of all the people. And when he opened it, all
the people stood up. So they read in the book, and
gave the sense, and caused the people to under-
stand. And NeheiTiiah the governor, and Ezra the
priest and scribe said unto the people. This day is
holy unto the Lord your God: mourn not, nor
weep. For all the people wept, when they heard
the words of the law. And on the second day, they
found written in the law, that the childi'en of Israel
should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh
month. So the people went forth unto the mount,
and brought olive-branches and pine-branches, myr-

286

THE HEBREW RECORDS.

tie and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees,
to make booths, as it is written. And they made
booths every one, either upon the roof of his house,
or in the courts of their houses, and in the courts
of the house of God, and in the streets of the city.
And they sat under the booths : for since the days
of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, had not
the children of Israel done so." — But w^hy had
they not done so ? They did not know that there
was such a provision in the law. And this is strong
presumptive evidence that such a law did not pre-
viously exist.

It is the opinion of biblical commentators, that
Ezra revised the literature of the Hebrews, and com-
piled the sacred canon ; that he interpolated many
passages, such as the account of the death and
burial of Moses, and that of the dukes of Edom
down to the time of the kings of Israel ; together with
such as declare the continued existence of certain
monuments ; " and there they are unto this day."
Now, if Ezra and his companions, " the members of
the great synagogue," took the liberty to interpolate
and make additions, they might also take the liberty
to compose new books from the materials which
they possessed. They might thus have composed
the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. The
groundwork of these would be furnished by the
book of Hilkiah, and by the traditions which had
come down to their own time. There seems to
be an intimation of something like this in 2 Es-
dras, xiv. 41 : " And my mouth was opened and
shut no more. And the Highest gave understand-

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 287

ing unto the five men, and they wrote the wonder-
ful things of the visions of the night which were
told ; and they sat forty days, and they wrote in
the day, and at night they ate bread. In forty days
they wrote two Imndred and four books. And the
Highest spake, saying. The first written books pub-
lish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read
them. But keep the seventy last written, and deli-
ver them only to such as be wise among the people.
. . . Fear not the imaginations against thee ; let not
the incredulity of them trouble thee ; for all the un-
faithful shall die in their unfaithfuhiess." Though
this be apocrypha, yet there must have been some
cause for its having been written.

The books of Genesis, Joshua, Samuel, Kings,
and Chronicles were probably prepared about this
time. The materials for their preparation might
have been afforded from the books of Jasher, of
the wars of the Lord, of Nathan the prophet, Iddo
the seer, Shemaiah the prophet. Gad the seer,
and Isaiah the prophet; others, also, of which no
mention is made in any Scripture now extant. That
the books above mentioned were ever read or seen
previously to the restoration from the Chaldean
exile, there is no evidence. And this declaration
may likewise be made concerning the books of
Esther, Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Canticles,
Ecclesiastes, and most of the minor prophets. The
materials for their preparation doubtless were af-
forded. No evidence that some of these had ever
yet been seen, but evidence that some of them had
not been known. It had not been known that the

288 THE HEBREAV RECORDS.

feast of the seventh months should be kept in
booths or tabernacles, nor that intermarriages be-
tween Hebrews and Gentiles had been prohibited
in the law of Moses. " On that day they read in
the book of Moses, in the audience of the people ;
and therein it was found WTitten, that the Ammo-
nite and the Moabite should not come into the con-
gregation of God for ever. Now it came to pass,
when they heard the law, that they separated from
Israel all the mixed multitude." " Now, when
these things were done, the princes came to me,
saying. The people of Israel and the priests and
the Levites have not separated themselves from the
people of the lands of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the
Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For
they have taken of theu* daughters for themselves
and for their sons, so that the holy seed have
mingled themselves with the people of those lands :
yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been
chief in this ti'espass." " Now, therefore, let us
make a covenant with our God to put away all the
wives, and such as are born of them, according to
the counsel of my lord, and let it be done accord-
ing to the law. Arise ! for this matter appertaineth
unto thee : we also will be with thee ; be of good
courage, and do it. Then arose Ezra, and made
the chief priests and the Levites and all Israel to
swear that they would do according to this word.
And they sware." " And Ezra the priest, with cer-
tain of the fathers, were separated and sat down,
on the first day of the tenth month, to examine the

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 289

matter. And they made an end with all the men
that had taken strange wives by the first day of first
month." Then follows a long catalogue of the
names of those implicated in this transgression.

It is apparent, from the statements given above,
that Ezra, Nehemiah, and their associates, had the
zeal, confidence, and tact to produce new provisions
of the Jewish law, and to make the people believe
that statutes, which they had never known before,
had been ordained by Moses, and were, of course,
some seven or eight hundred years old. And, as
they did this, they might have done much more.
The account of the two hundred and four books,
written by the five scribes from the dictation of Ezra,
possesses significance. It signifies that this emi-
nent man produced many books ; more than some
people about him believed to be authentic and
genuine. The prophet, therefore, is exhorted not to
be disturbed by " the incredulity " of the unbelieving
and " unfaithful."

That there had been, even from the time of Abra-
ham, a sentiment, more or less entertained, of the
impropriety of intermarriages between the circum-
cised and the uncircumcised, is manifest from pas-
sages in Jewish history. But if any known law,
invested with divine authority, had forbidden them,
we may feel sm'e that such men as David and Solo-
mon, together with many other kings, princes, and
priests, would not have violated it. It is, moreover,
manifest that the multitude, in the time of Nehe-
miah and Ezra, found to have offended in this thing,

were taken by surprise. Their ti*espass had been
25

290 THE HEBREW RECORDS.

the sin of ignorance. And, it is distinctly stated,
the hand of princes, priests, and rulers, had been
chief in this trespass.

Can we readily believe, that the law of Moses,
as we have it in the Pentateuch, had been in the
hands of the people during the principal part of a
thousand years, containing the injunction for the
use of booths on the festival of the seventh month,
and prohibition of the admission of Gentiles into
the sanctuary, and that of intermarriages with them,
and yet that this injunction and prohibition should
have remained all this time an unknown and a
dead letter ?

The distinctive Jewish character manifestly did
not become fixed until after the time of Ezra and
Nehemiah. These men and their associates took
especial pains to fix it. Until now, the intercourse
betAveen the different races in the land had been
comparatively free. They had intermarried, and
had worshipped each other's gods. It was now de-
termined that a non-intercourse should be observed ;
and the means employed proved very effectual. It
required a strenuous effort to make the separation.
It seems to have commenced with the refusal to
permit the Samaritans to unite with the Jews in
rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. This prepared
the way for establishing a closer isolation.

But would so pious a man as Ezra have acted
the part of an impostor? Imposture of this des-
cription was not then accounted sinful and criminal.
It was but a " holy fraud." It was only doing a
nominal evil that real good might come. The end

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 291

sanctified the means. And this principle, among
the elect, has scarcely died out, even to this day.
Hence the thousand and one apocryphal books,
and the ten thousand falsely reported miracles.
The men who wrote the books of Esdras, the se-
cond book of the Maccabees, the story of Susanna,
of Bel and the Dragon, the Song of the Three
Holy Children, the book of Enoch, the Ascension of
Isaiah, and the Epistle of Barnabas, thought them-
selves justified in the endeavor to pass oiT theu* own
scripture for that of sainted and prophetical men.

The name of Ezra has always been venerated
among the Jew^ish Rabbis as being the head man
of the " great synagogue " which revised and settled
their canonical Scriptures. And, in doing so much,
he might have done more. His opportunity was
extraordinary and without a parallel. The common
people had no sacred wi'itings in their hands ; nor,
if they had, could they have read them, having lost
their knowledge of the pure Hebrew dialect. Their
vernacular was now the Syriac. Hence, when
Ezra read from the book of the law, it was needful
to explain, " to give the sense, and cause the people
to understand." They had opportunity to prepare
and read just what they pleased; consequently to
prepare and compile just such a canon as they
thought most conducive to their desired object.

About this time, — not far from the time of the
restoration, — four distinct Jewish canons of Scrip-
ture were put forth ; the Babylonian, the Jerusalem,
the Samaritan, and the Alexandrian. The Sama-
ritan contained the Pentateuch only. A schism

292 THE HEBREW RECORDS.

between the Jews and the Samaritans was created,
and became a sharp one, from the time that the
latter were refused as coworkers and fellow-wor-
shippers in rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem. This
fact — the fact of their rejection — indicates that
they had all worshipped together. "We read in
2 Chron. xxx., that " Hezekiah the king sent to all
Israel, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh,
that they should come to the house of the Lord at
JeiTisalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God
of Israel. ... So they established a decree to make
proclamation throughout all Israel, from Dan to
Beersheba, that they should come to keep the pass-
over." This invitation was differently received.
" But they laughed them to scorn and mocked
them. Nevertheless, divers of Asher and of Ma-
nasseh and Zebulon humbled themselves, and came
to Jerusalem." It is manifest, that, though the
union was loose, there was no open schism.

That a Rabbinical school had been formed in
Chaldea, previously to the time of Ezra and Nehe-
miah, is apparent from the fact that the former of
these men is said to been " a ready scribe in the
law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had
given." Of com*se, he must have learned his pro-
fession in Babylon, in the country of his exile. It
was probably in this school that the rule of non-
intercourse and exclusiveness was agi'eed upon and
determined. As a consequence, the proposal of the
Samaritans to unite with the Jews, under Zerubba-
bel and Joshua, in rebuilding the temple, was re-
jected. " And they came to Zerubbabel, and said,

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 293

Let US build with you ; for we seek your God, as ye
do ; and we have done sacrifice unto him since the
days of Esar-haddon, king of Assur, who brought
us up hither. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the
rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto
them. Ye have nothing to do with us to build a
house unto our God ; but we ourselves together will
build to the Lord God of Israel." The consequence
of this refusal and the resultant schism was the
building of the rival temple of the Samaritans on
Mount Gerizim. From that time forward, " the
Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans."

Between the Rabbinical schools of Babylon and
Jerusalem there was a friendly correspondence and
intercourse, yet not entire harmony. The canons
which they compiled were nearly, but not entkely,
alike. One accepted the book of Judith, the other
did not; one the book of Esther, the other not;
one the Canticles, the other not. The books of
Tobit and of Daniel had a similar lot. The two
canons, how^ever, were almost the same.

But the Alexandrian — probably a little later in
its origin — was more copious than the others, and
contained all, or nearly all, the books accounted
apocryphal. This canon was translated into the
Greek language, some t\vo hundred years anterior
to the Christian era. And this translation, called
the Septuagint, contains all the contents of what is
called the Apocrypha, except the book of Daniel.
The Daniel now in the Septuagint is a translation
made four or five hundred years afterward.

Soon after the compilation of the Palestine and
25*

294 THE HEBREW RECORDS.

Chaldean canons, the Targums were produced.
Of these there were two ; one by Onkelos, and the
other by Jonathan ; the former for the use of the
Palestine Jews, and the latter for the use of the Ba-
bylonian. They have been called versions, rather
than translations ; being only a change from one
dialect to another.

All the documents comprised in the Palestine
canon were composed in the old, genuine Hebrew
language, except some parts of Ezra and Daniel.
Of course, none of them can be later than the time
of Ezra. The book of Malachi was last written.
Its composition is real Hebrew; not Rabbinical
Hebrew, like the Talmudic WTitings. It was proba-
bly composed in the time of Ezra. Its aim is to
rivet the ceremonial law. It makes the highest
possible account of the prescribed forms and rites,
of the sacerdotal office, and of ceremonial righteous-
ness. The older prophets had spoken in a very dif-
ferent tone, and had administered many reproofs
and charges against the priests ; whom Malachi
styles " the messenger of the Lord of hosts, and
whose lips keep know^ledge." They had depre-
ciated ceremonial holiness in comparison with
moral, and complained rather that there was too
much of it than too little. " I am full of the sacri-
fices of rams and fed beasts. Bring no more vain
oblations : incense is an abomination unto me. . .
Your hands are full of blood." But this prophet
charges it as a crime upon the people, that they
had withholden the tithes, and brought the " blind,
and the lame, and the sick," as offerings for the
altar.

THE HEBREW RECORDS. 295

The Jewish ceremonial did not become stringent,
nor did the Jewish character become fixed, until
after the time of the restoration. Up to this time,
many of the provisions of the Mosaical law were
unobserved, and consequently, as we judge, were
unknown. There had been but one annual festival.
The Passover seems to have been kept but four
times : first, in the time of Joshua ; second, in the
time of Solomon ; third, in the time of Hezekiah ;
and, fourth, in the reign of Josiah. And the feast
of Tabernacles, as we have seen, had never been
kept at all.

The Pentateuch may be divided into three very
distinguishable parts : the book of Genesis, extended
through sLxteen chapters of Exodus ; the remainder
of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers ; the Deutero-
nomy, or second law. This, we judge, must have
been the first in the order of the time of composition.
Its literarv character is much inferior to that of the
Law, properly so called, continued in Numbers,
Leviticus, and twenty-five chapters of Exodus, be-
ginning with the seventeenth chapter. Genesis is
the introduction, and probably was last written.

We have already expressed our conviction, that
the book of Judges was composed at an earlier
period than the book of Joshua. The latter book
is a better- written history. It is more compact and
connective. It probably has a quotation from the
book of Judges. We refer to the account of Oth-
niel and Achsah, in Joshua, xv. 16 — 20 ; also in
Judges, i. 10 — 15. One author must have quoted
from the other, or both from a common document.

296 THE HEBREW RECORDS.

The account in Joshua is out of place ; for the
transaction narrated did not take place under the
administration of Joshua, ^vhen all the twelve tribes
are represented as united under one national leader,
but at a time each tribe was contending separately
for the acquisition of territory, — Judah fighting the
Canaanites and the Perizzites in Bezek, Hebron,
and Debir ; Simeon fighting them in Zephath and
Hormah ; Benjamin fighting the Jebusites in Jeru-
salem, but ^vithout success until he is aided by
Judah ; the house of Joseph invading the city of
Luz, and taking it by stratagem ; Manasseh striv-
ing in vain to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-
shean. Dor, and Megiddo ; Ephraim, with no better
success, making war upon Gezer ; Asher unable to
force the Canaanites from Accho, Helbah, Aphik,
and Rehob ; Naphthali playing the same successless
game against the Canaanites in Bethshemesh and
Bethana.

297

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

" All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." — 2 Tim. iii. IG.

The Bible being acknowledged to be the best book
which was ever wi'itten, and to have had more in-
fluence than any other book in producing the modern
Christian civilization, which is so much superior to
the ancient and Pagan, — it becomes, of course, an
interesting object of inquiry and knowledge. It is
desirable to know all the facts, so far as they can
now be learned, about the composition and compi-
lation of the Bible ; of the men who wi'ote the dif-
ferent documents of which it consists, and of the
occasions which caused them to be written ; and of
the manner and circumstances of the compilation
of the several sacred canons, — the Babylonian, the
Palestine, the Alexandrian, and the Christian.

The Bible cannot be injured by examination.
Free discussion can do it no damage. The ten-
dency of discussion is to elicit truth. The freer
and abler the discussion is, the greater will be the
result in the detection of error and the manifestation
of truth. It is truth, and truth only, which does
good. It is the truth contained in the Bible which

298 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

has wrought all the good of which it has been the in-
strumentality. And it makes no difference whether
this truth pervade the whole volume of Scripture, or
only a part of it. If the former, it does not increase
the amount of good done by the Bible ; or, if the
latter, it does not diminish it. It is, therefore,
perfectly safe to subject the Bible to the freest
investigation ; for its truths, by such means, must
become more manifest and undeniable. And if
there be any thing contained in it besides truth, it
will probably be detected. And yet this detection
will detract nought from the good which the Bible
has wTought in the \vorld ; for the ^vhole of this
good has been done by those truths w^hich are in
the Bible. Retain these truths, and the Holy Book
is uninjured, whatever number of errors be found
out and exploded.

The popular views entertained respecting the
composition and compilation of the Holy Scriptures
are like the following : that Moses, by inspiration of
God, wrote the five books called the Pentateuch,
which was most carefully and sacredly kept by
the side of the holy chest, denominated the ark of
the covenant^ in the most holy apartment of the
tabernacle and temple ; that the other books, those
of Joshua, Judges, &c., were subsequently composed
by inspired men, and written for the express pur-
pose of being added to the Pentateuch and used as
Holy Scriptm-e, and called the Word of God ; that
Malachi was the last of these prophetical men who
preceded the Christian era : that thus was composed
and compiled the book of the Old Testament ; the

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 299

several portions, as they successively appeared, were
added to the Pentateuch, having been \\Titten for
that very purpose ; that the writers claimed inspira-
tion, and had it readily accorded to them by the
people. Such, for substance, we suppose are the
prevalent views on this subject. But, in our opi-
nion, they are not wholly correct.

Moses manifestly did not compose the Penta-
teuch in its present form. It contains accounts of
some things which did not occur until after his
death, nor until the establishment of monarchy
among the Israelites. In these books it is not Moses
who speaks and writes, but he is spoken of and
\\Titten about. Neither the ^vriter of these books,
nor the writer of any book in the Old Testament,
claims inspu'ation. They do not allege, that God
commanded them to ^\'rite a book, or dictated to
them the contents with which it should be filled.
There is no intimation, that the authors of the many
different documents of the Old Testament had any
expectation, or even the least thought, that there ever
would be such a compilation as the Bible, and that
their contributions would make part and parcel of it.
The Pentateuch seems to have been \vritten for
deposit in or near the sacred chest, — the ark. But
not the other books. Not one of them enjoyed
such distinction. It was manifestly the Pentateuch
which contained the law, the testimonies, and sta-
tutes of the Lord, which are celebrated in the psalms
and prophecies of the Old Testament.

From time to time, historical documents were
put forth by scribes and prophets. Mention is

300 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

made of " the book of Jasher," and " the book of
the wars of the Lord." These may, or they may
not, be the names of one and the same book. We
also find mention of the books of Shemaiah and
of Nathan, the prophets ; and those likewise of
Iddo and of Gad, who are styled seers. These
probably consisted of ennals and chronicles of the
times in which the writers lived. The book of
Judges is probably the oldest document contained
in the Bible. Learned men inform us, that this
book contains more barbarisms of expression than
are found in all the other sacred books. This fact
strongly indicates its earlier composition. The
book also describes the Israelites as being in their
most loose, unsettled, rude, and dislocated con-
dition. They had no national magistrates or gov-
ernment. There existed among them no legislative
power; no king, no senate, no pati'iarch, except
the heads of the several tribes. The judges ob-
tained their distinction chiefly by their military
services. They had no definite jurisdiction, com-
mission, or term of office. They merely acted as
arbiti'ators in cases voluntarily brought before them.
A single ti'ibe made war on its own responsibility.
Sometimes two or more tribes united in prosecut-
ing a war for the extension of then- temtory.
Whatever of authority existed among them was
tribal or patriarchal, not national. A partial ex-
ception, perhaps, for a short period obtained in the
times of Jephthah and Abimelech. The people did
not become consolidated as a nation until the days
of Saul and David. Previously, "there was no

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 301

king in Israel, and every man did what was right
in his own eyes."

At what time this book of Judges was composed
cannot now be determined. The author must have
depended on tradition, and some documents which
have long perished. This book was never deposited
in the ark ; nor were the books which were subse-
quently written. But, after the return of the Jews
from Babylon, and the pure Hebrew tongue ceased
to be vernacular, pains were taken to collect and
preserve all the Hebrew manuscripts. This collec-
tion constituted the sacred canon, or the Bible. Of
these there were three : the Babylonian, made by
the Rabbis in Chaldea ; the Jerusalem, made by the
Jews in Palestine ; and the Alexandrian, made by
those in Egypt. But these canons were not all
alike. Some of them contained the books of Es-
ther, Judith, Wisdom, Canticles, Tobit, and Eccle-
siasticus ; but not all. Some doubts existed of their
authenticity and genuineness. Even the book of
Daniel was not universally received.

Now, if there be and have been in the world
certain documents, whose contents were dictated
by the mind of God, and, of course, are \vise,
significant, and elevated, beyond example, among
human compositions ; which are inerrable, infalli-
ble, and above criticism, — they must possess a
character so distinctive and peculiar as to be easily
and readily known and distinguished from all other
writings. Why, then, was there any doubt about
the inspiration of certain books ? Why were the

Jewish canons of Babylon, Palestine, and Alexan-
26

302 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

dria unlike each other? Why did one canon con-
tain the book of Judith, and another reject it? —
one, the book of Esther ; another reject it ? — one,
the book of Canticles ; another, not ? — one contain
Daniel ; another reject him ? — one, the books of
Wisdom and the Son of Su*ach ; another refuse
both ? This phenomenon in the moral world is
inexplicable on the ground that all canonical books
are the work of direct divine inspiration. In this
case, they would carry their own unmistakable
mark, stamp, and seal. They would differ as the
works of God differ from the works of men.

But, in the books received and rejected by the
Jewish compilers, it is impossible to perceive much
of difference. Between the books of Judith and
Esther, what remarkable difference? How much
superiority has the latter over the former ? Is it less
extravagant and more credible ? We admit that
it has more embellishment; but is this a trait of
divine authorship ? Why is the Song of Solomon
in the Palestine canon, but the Song of the Three
Holy Children out of it ? — why the book of Eccle-
siastes in, but that of Ecclesiasticus out? Has the
latter fewer dark passages than the former ? Why
was the book of the Proverbs of Solomon accepted,
but that of the Wisdom of Solomon refused ? Whv
was Jonah admitted, but Tobit denied ? What
manifest marks of divinity in the books accepted,
which distinguish and elevate them in relation to
the ones discarded?

Now, according to the popular view, there must
be a great and an essential difference between the

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 303

documents of the Bible and all others ; and, if the
fact be such, it must be observable and manifest.
We should, of course, perceive that the book of
Joshua was incomparably a better history of the
wars of his times, than the book of the Maccabees
is of the times of the Asmonean patriots and
princes. And yet who can perceive this ? Is not
the book of Maccabees as well written as the book
of Samuel ? as the book of Kings ? as the book of
Chronicles ? And why is not Esdras as well com-
posed as Ezra ? And why should the story of
Susanna be accounted less credible than those of
Esther and Ruth? There are certainly no visible
and decisive marks by which the canonical Scrip-
tures are verified, and the apocryphal discredited.

Again, if ail the penmen of the Scriptures were
divinely and infallibly taught and guided, they
would give consistent and harmonious accounts.
When two writers narrated the same transactions,
they would give the same account. But the author
of the Chronicles does not always tell the same
story as the author of the Kings. One of these
writers says, that the Lord moved David to number
the people ; the other says it was Satan. The author
of the Kings relates the occurrences of a war waged
by the King of Israel upon Moab, on account of
revolt ; the author of the Chronicles says nothing
of a war upon the Moabites, but represents it as
having been made upon the King of Edom for the
same cause. Neither of these authors gives a full
and perfect account of the kings, and the times
over which their histories extend. But, if the

304 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

omniscient God had indited their documents, we
should have had but one, and that a perfect history
of them. One full and indefectible history would
have been all which was needed. God does no
superfluous work. He would not have dictated a
second account, if the first had been one of his own
perfect works. The very fact itself of two histories
of the same times and people is proof that neither
of them is a product of divine and plenary inspi-
ration.

We ought here to note, that none of these
writers make for themselves the claim of inspira-
tion. They do not assert, nor even intimate, such
a thing. It is but doing common justice to them
to take notice of this fact ; for it exonerates them
from putting forth a claim which would render
them ridiculous. For such must be the light in
which they would inevitably stand, if they had
assumed the ground of divine dictation and infalli-
bility. There is, moreover, some self-inconsistency
in the accounts given by the same w^riter. The
author of the book of Samuel, for instance, gives
two different accounts of the introduction of David
to the acquaintance of Saul the king. According to
the first account, David was sent for by the king
to come as a musician and play on a harp in Saul's
presence, when his mind was discomposed. David's
music had the desired effect ; and the king kept him
at court, and made him his armor-bearer. Accord-
ing to the other account, David w^as unknown to
Saul until after his successful combat with the giant
of Gath, and owed his introduction to that extra-

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 305

ordinary exploit. Here certainly is a discrepancy
which CO aid not have obtained in a perfect account
dictated by divine inspiration. It is also said, in
this connection, that David brought the giant's head
to Jerusalem. But this place was now in the hands
of the Jebusites, and was not conquered until many
years afterwards by Joab, the chief captain of
David's army.

We now pass to the New Testament. The
same remarks, just made upon parallel histories in
the Old, apply equally to such histories in the New
Testament. The four Gospels are biographies of
the personal ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They, each of them, cover the same ground. The
agreements and the differences are just what occur
in other human compositions of the same kind,
written by honest but fallible men. But if the
first of these biographies had been divinely dictated,
and consequently full, inerrable, and perfect, no
other would have been needed. No second, third,
and fourth would have been written. They would
have been of no use. One perfect account renders
any further one entirely superfluous. And we here
repeat the adage, " God never does any superfluous
work."

The imperfections of the evangelical histories are
apparent to all readers of the New Testament.
The writers do not give the same accounts of the
same things. Matthew, for instance, represents
Joseph and Mary as residents of Bethlehem ; Luke
describes them as residents of Nazareth. Matthew
relates the flight into Egypt ; Luke makes no men-

26*

306 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

tion of this sojourn in Egypt, but says that the
parents, after the dedication of the child, returned
to their own city Nazareth. Matthew describes
the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem ; but
none of the other evangelists mention it. Luke
relates the account of the child Jesus, at twelve
years old, holding conference, in the temple at
Jerusalem, with " the doctors," — hearing them and
asking them questions. But the other biographers
are silent on this subject. Both Matthew and Luke
give a genealogy ; but that of the one does not agree
with that of the other. Both purport to be a ge-
nealogy of Joseph, not of Mary, who, according to
them, was the only human parent of Jesus. Of
course, neither of them is a genealogy of the son of
Mary. Luke says that the name of Joseph's father
was Heli ; Matthew says it was Jacob. Matthew
makes fourteen generations between Zerobabel and
Joseph; Luke makes nineteen; and almost every
name is a different one from Matthew's. Matthew
gives a list of fourteen names between David and
Zerobabel ; Luke gives twenty-one. Matthew puts
down Zerobabel as the father of Salathiel; Luke
puts down Salathiel as the father of Zerobabel.
All the names between David and Zerobabel are
different ones in the two genealogies. These ge-
nealogies cannot be correct ones, and therefore not
the work of God.

The evangelists give different versions of our
Saviour's answers to the same questions. The
question of the Sadducees, in regard to the resur-
rection, was answered, according to one evangelist,

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 307

in these words : " Ye do err, not knowing the Scrip-
tures nor the power of God ; for in the resurrection-
state they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven." Accord-
ing to another evangelist, the answer was in the
following words : " The children of this world marry,
and are given in marriage ; but they which shall be
accounted worthy to inherit that world and the
resurrection-state, neither marry nor are given in
marriage ; neither can they die any more, for they
are equal to the angels, and are the children of God,
being the children of the resurrection." It is per-
ceived that these answers are not the same. One
is twice as long as the other ; and yet the shorter
of the two contains some ideas not embraced in
the other. Of course, neither of them contains the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They are
such reports as might be naturally given by honest,
intelligent, uninspired men ; but the differences
are such as are irreconcilable with the fact that
both reporters were divinely inspired. And there is
also the reported answer of Simon Peter to our
Lord's question, " But whom say ye that I, the Son
of man, am ? " According to one evangelist, Peter
answered, " Thou art the Christ ; " according to
another, " Thou art the Christ of God ; " accord-
ing to a third, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God." The three accounts are each differ-
ent. The second contains more than the first ; the
third, more than the second. They are not ahke :
consequently they are not inspiration.

Matthew represents that Jesus showed himself

308 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

alive, after his death, to the disciples at a mountain
in Galilee, where they saw him for the first time
after his resurrection, " and worshipped him, but
some doubted." The reference, undoubtedly, is to
Thomas's incredulity. And, from this mountain,
Matthew represents that Jesus made his ascension
into heaven. But Luke expressly states, that the
ascension took place on the Mount of Olives, in
Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. Matthew repre-
sents that the first resurrection-appearance of Jesus
was to the women, as they were returning from the
sepulchre ; that he conversed with them, and sent a
message to the disciples, directing them to meet
him in Galilee. But Luke represents that the
women returned, having " seen a vision of angels,
but him they saw not." Mark says that Jesus first
appeared to Mary Magdalene ; and John represents
Mary as lingering at the sepulchre after the other
women had departed, and that she here at length
saw Jesus, but did not at first recognize him, yet
finally conversed with him. This was his first
appearance, according to Mark and John. But
Matthew represents the first appearance as having
been made to all the women together, as they were
returning from the sepulchre to the city. One
evangelist says distinctly, that Jesus' first appear-
ance w^as to Simon Peter. Matthew represents all
the appearances, except the first to the women, as
having taken place in Galilee. But Mark and
Luke are entirely silent respecting any appearances
in Galilee, and represent all of them as having
taken place at and near Jerusalem. John repre-

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 309

sents INIary Magdalene as going alone to the sepul-
chre, and, finding it open, returned in great haste,
and re})orted the fact to Peter and John, who went
immediately, and ascertained that the sepulchre was
open, the body absent, the grave-clothes there ; but
nothing about his resurrection. John, having given
account of the appearance of our Lord to Mary
Magdalene, and of two others to the assembled
disciples, transfers the scene to Galilee, and gives a
detailed account of another which he calls the
third, and which occurred at the Sea of Tiberias.
Of this manifestation the other evangelists make
no mention. Nor does John mention the final
manifestation, made at the mountain in Galilee ;
whence, according to Matthew, took place the
ascension into heaven.

But, notwithstanding the discrepancies, there are
points of agreement, among the evangelists. They
agree in testifying to the facts of the crucifixion,
the resurrection, and a subsequent manifestation.
But they disagree about the number, order, and
circumstances of these manifestations and the as-
cension. As the accounts disagree, they cannot be
the word of God. They, of course, are human ac-
counts, and are to be treated as such. The points
in which human accounts agree may reasonably
be accepted as true; but those in which they dis-
agree, regarded as doubtful. On this principle, we
are to accept the account of the crucifixion, the
burial, and the resurrection of Jesus, and of his
manifestation alive, as true ; but the accounts of
the particular manifestations, and of the bodily

310 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

ascension into the firmamental heaven, as doubtful,
John is entirely silent about the ascension. He
does not assert that it ever took place. Nor does
Mark describe it as being a visible one : he merely
says, " So then, after the Lord had spoken unto
them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on
the right hand of God." He is totally silent about
the manner and the place. One evangelist, as we
have seen, represents it having taken place from a
mountain in Galilee ; another from Bethany, a few
miles from Jerusalem. It cannot, therefore, be
safely and certainly concluded that any bodily and
visible ascension did take place.

We are prone both, on the one hand, to confuse
things which are identical, and to identify things
which are distinct. We often identify divine reve-
lation with the Bible, and Christianity with the
New Testament. But these are distinct things.
Holy Scripture is one thing, and divine revelation
is another ; Christianity is one thing, and the New
Testament is another thing. Christianity had ex-
isted a hundred years before such a book as the
New Testament came into being. The former had
existed some thirty years before one of the docu-
ments of the New Testament was written. The
first of these probably was the Epistle to the Ro-
mans. Dr. Lardner dates the Gospels between 60
and 70 of the first century ; and it was not until
about one hundred years after their composition
that they were bound together in a volume, called
the Gospel. At a still later period were the apos-
tolical letters to the churches collected in another

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 311

volume, called the Epistles. Still later were the
Gospel and the Epistles brought together in one
volume, with the book of the Acts, &c., inserted
between them. And the Apocalypse was added
long afterwards. Christianity, therefore, did not
oriijinate from the Ncav Testament. The former
had come into the world, and established itself,
long before the latter. Among all the numerous
churches between Arabia and Spain, among whom
Paul and the other apostles labored, not one of
them owed its existence to the New Testament.
Not one of the apostles ever saw the book. The
New Testament spoken of by our Lord Jesus Christ
and by St. Paul was not a book, but a dispensation.
Christianity came by Jesus Christ, It existed first
in his mind, and was by him preached to men.
The revelation was made from his mind to their
minds. " The seed is the word of God. He that
sowed the good seed is the Son of man." He sowed
it broadcast on the field of human nature. He did
not write a book : he did not dictate a Holy Scrip-
ture to be the platform of Christianity. Scriptm-e
was but an auxiliary of subsequent times. Scrip-
ture cannot be divine revelation. It can only be
an instrumentality of it ; nor even this by itself
alone. Language is not sufficiently significant and
definite. It signifies one thing to this person, an-
other thing to that, and perhaps has no satisfactory
meaning to a third. There must be both a sub-
jective and an objective in every revelation ; and, if
the subjective correspondent does not exist, the
objective must be forceless and unmeaning. The

312 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

idea must first be received, and thus have become
subjective, before the word which expresses it can
be understood. The declaration, — for instance, —
" There is a God," could not reveal the fact of a
divine existence, unless the meaning of the word
Qod were already in the mind. The declaration
otherwise would be without significance, meaning-
less. The idea must be first, before the word
which signifies it can be significant. An original
revelation, therefore, cannot be made even by
speech, much less by writing or Scripture. The
first commandment in the decalogue is in these
words : " Thou shalt have no other god before me."
This could not be an original revelation. The idea
of God, or rather of gods, is presupposed ; other-
wise the prohibition would have no import : it
would neither enjoin nor forbid any thing.

And, furthermore, the thing forbidden — the im-
propriety of it — must have been already enter-
tained, or the prohibition could not have been felt
and accepted. Tell a man that it is wrong to wor-
ship an idol, and you make no impression upon
him, unless there be previously in his heart some-
thing which corresponds to the prohibition. This
something is subjective ; the prohibition is objective.
Both are requisite in order to impression.

The fifth commandment enjoins, " Honor thy
father and thy mother." This injunction can have
no force, unless a child already knows what it is to
honor a parent. He must also know that it is a
right and a proper thing. God must first WTite his
law upon men's hearts, — we mean the germ and

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 313

substance of it, — or the Scripture announcing
them will be unmeaning and forceless. And
equally true is it that his revelations must also be
thus wi'itten, or they will be unavailable : the sub-
jective must be first, and the objective afterward.

We, therefore, make a great mistake when we
think, and say, that the Bible is the foundation of
religion ; the New Testament, the foundation
of Christianity ; and that, if the former were lost,
the latter \vould cease and die out of the world.
If every Bible and Testament in the world were
this day to be burned to ashes, religion and Chris-
tianity would still survive. And they would sur-
vive in all their power. The loss of Scripture
would scarcely be a check to its progress. Chris-
tianity never possessed more force than it had dur-
ing the first century and before the compilation of
the New Testament.

The different portions of this volume were not
written for general use in all future time, but for
particular occasions. Paul wrote his letter to the
Romans to meet the existing wants of the church
at Rome ; and he manifestly did not anticipate the
universal use which has since been made of this,
and of his other epistles. The Jewish prophets
wrote what are called tlieir prophecies on local and
temporary emergencies, without a thought of con-
tributing a chapter or a book to the formation of a
Bible. The Old Testament was, probably, com-
piled not long after the return from the Babylonian
exile. It soon began to be regarded with venera-
tion ; and this i:everential feeling grew deeper and
27

314 THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS.

deeper, until it reached a point of extreme supersti-
tion. Every letter and point was the work of inspi-
ration. Every sentence had several meanings, such
as literal, figurative, historical, prophetical, precep-
tive, &c. The apostles, in common with their
countrymen, believed in the plenary inspkation of
the wTiters of the Old Testament. This sentiment
is uttered by Paul, in the language of the text :
" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God."
All the apostles, doubtless, entertained the same
view. And so, like^vise, they believed in the reality
of demoniacal possessions. They believed that
earth was a flat plane, having the sea all around
it and under it, with a concave, solid firmament
above it. They believed that the sun was vastly
smaller than the earth, and that the former revolved
every day about the latter.

It has been illustrated in this discourse, that some
of the accounts contained in the Holy Scriptiu-es
are not full and perfect. Consequently, they can-
not be the word of God. But all truth is the word
of God. All truth is originally and constructively
from God. Whether it be revealed by the Bible or
by other means, it is not essential. Every report,
narrative, history, or account is the word of God, if
it be true. Every doctrine, theory, law, proverb,
and precept is also, if true, God's word. Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word which
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He derives
sustenance for the inward man fi*om truth. All
truths are things upon which man should live.
And God hath not left himself without a witness.

THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS. 315

" What may be known of God is manifest among
them, — even his eternal power and godhead."
" And they shall be all taught of God." " There is
a spirit in man : the inspiration of the Almighty
hath given him understanding." But all men are
not alike taught of God. Some have been burning
and shining lights. Such were Abraham, JNIoses,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostle Paul. God
gave the spirit without measure to his Son. To
him we do well to take, as to a light which shineth
in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-
star arise in our hearts. Take heed that the light
in you do not become darkness.

316

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

"Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Cor. i. 7.

The personal re-appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
has been perhaps the most exciting topic of thought,
feeling, and speculation, which has ever existed
among Christians. The Chiliasm of the first three
centuries — the doctrine of Christ's speedy return
to the earth — was considerably prevalent in the
church. And, though at length it gradually de-
clined, yet it seems never to have died out. It was
powerfully revived in the tenth and eleventh centu-
ries, and again in the sixteenth ; from which time
it has taken an altered form, — that of modern Mil-
lenarianism. Notwithstanding the declarations of
the Lord Jesus, " It is not for you to know the
times and the seasons ; " " Of the day and the hour
knoweth no man, no angel, nor even the Son him-
self; none but the Father only," — yet such has been
the power of human curiosity, the strong thirst for
knowledge of the future, that, even with nice calcu-
lations, " the times and the seasons " have been
confidently and ingeniously prognosticated. One
of the most extraordinary instances of this kind has

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 317

recently occurred in our midst, and has not yet
entirely disappeared. The fact is, that certain opi-
nions on which the doctrine of Chiliasm rests for its
foundation have been general and popular, not only
in the Protestant connection, but throughout Christ-
endom ; and even more or less during the whole
existence of the church. And, while such opinions
are entertained, calculations and excitements, like
those made and produced by Mr. William Miller,
will, from time to time, be put forth, and agitate the
bosom of the Christian community. It is a deside-
ratum that this subject should be re-examined and
better understood. We profess not to be able to do
it justice ; and with this acknowledgment we ven-
ture to offer some suggestions and inquiries.

Our starting-point is the passage of Scripture
in the book of Acts, i. 11 : " Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same
Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall
so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven." On the theme now and thus intro-
duced, we make the following remarks and sugges-
tions.

I. The apostles and primitive Christians identi-
fied the return-advent of Christ, declared in Acts,
i. 11, with the " coming of the Son of man," so
frequently predicted by the Lord Jesus himself.
He said, " The Son of man shall come in the glory
of the Father, with all the holy angels." " Then shall
ye see the sign of the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven." " Hereafter shall the Son of
man sit on the right hand of the power of God."
27*

318 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

The designation, " Son of man," and the cir-
cumstances of his exaltation and glorification, are
manifestly taken from Daniel, vii. 13 : " And I saw
one like the Son of man, who came in the clouds
of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and
they brought him near before him ; and there was
given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that
all people and nations should serve him ; his domi-
nion, an everlasting dominion; his kingdom shall
not be destroyed." There had been in succession
four great kingdoms represented in the vision ; and
these were to be succeeded by a fifth, which should
far exceed the others in extent, glory, and duration.
It was to be the kingdom of "the saints," the
" holy ones," the holy people, by which the pro-
phet himself, and his countrymen, doubtless under-
stood the Jews; and by the Son of man, their
Messiah, of whom Moses and the prophets had
wnritten. The Roman kingdom was now in its
culminating point ; the Jews were subjugated under
its sway, and they bore the yoke with great impa-
tience and indignation. The Messiah, as they in-
terpreted and believed, would surely deliver them.
The apostles of Jesus had received him as the
Messiah ; as the Son of man. They were disap-
pointed that he had not assumed the kingship of
the nation and of the world, before his crucifixion,
and were then almost or quite in despair. But his
resurrection had restored their confidence. He had
now gone up into heaven ; but he would return,
and be the king of glory over all the earth. At the
return-advent, as they believed, the Son of man

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 319

would come in his own glory, and in his Father's
glory ; and all peoples would serve and obey him.

II. The apostles and primitive Christians be-
lieved that the promise of the return-advent of
Christ would be speedily fulfilled. They all had
manifestly one common opinion respecting it. And
what it was is apparent from such expressions as
the following : " The Lord is at hand ; " " The time
is short ; " " He that shall come will come, and
will not tarry ; " " The night is far spent, the day
is at hand ; " " The Judge standeth at the door ; "
" Now is our salvation nearer than when we be-
lieved." And they had received this impression
from the declaration of Jesus, who had said :
" This generation shall not pass away, until these
things are fulfilled ; " " There be some standing here
who shall not taste of death, until they see the king-
dom of God come with power."

III. They believed that, when the return-advent
of the Son should take place, there would be a
resurrection of the " dead in Christ." The apostle
Paul made the following declaration to the Thessa-
lonians : " For the Lord himself sh,all descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-
angel, and the trump of God ; and the dead in
Christ shall first rise, and then we who remain
alive shall be caught up together with them [who
have been raised from their graves] to meet the
Lord in the air ; and so we shall be for ever with
him." And again : " Behold, I show you a mystery:
we shall not all sleep [die], but we shall be changed
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the

320 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

last trumph ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed."

IV. They believed that the return-advent would
be attended or immediately followed by the sever-
ance of the wicked from the righteous : " So shall
it be at the end of the world : the angels shall come
forth, and sever the wicked from among the just."
" The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
which offend and which do iniquity." " The Son
of n:ian shall sit on the throne of his glory, and be-
fore him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats." The tares and
the wheat were no longer to grow together, but the
chaff and the wheat to be finally separated.

V. They believed that opposite destinies would
then be accorded to the righteous and the wicked.
" Gather the tares, and bind them in bundles to
burn them ; but gather the wheat into my barn."
" The angels shall gather out of the kingdom all
things which offend, and cast them into a furnace
of fire : there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. And then shall the righteous shine forth as
the sun in the kingdom of thek Father." " The
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his
mighty angels, in flaming fire ; taking vengeance on
them who know not God and obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and who shall be pun-
ished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 321

he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and ad-
mired in all them that believe." " He shall set the
sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall he say to them on the right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre-
pared for you before the foundation of the world.
But to those on the left, Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment ; but the righteous shall enter into life
eternal." Thus should the wicked be no more, but
the righteous had in everlasting remembrance.
" For the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of
God, eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

VI. The apostles believed that, when their divine
Lord should make his return-advent, this \vorld
would be entirely and awfully destroyed. " The
heavens and the earth which now are, by the same
word [which created them] are kept in store, re-
served unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men." " The day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth
also, and the things which are in it, shall be burned
up." " The end of all things is at hand : be ye
therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."

VII. They believed that the time of the return-
advent would be the point of separation between
the present world or age, and that which was to
come. This fact is manifest from the events which
were then to transpire. The dead were then to be

322 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

raised, the living changed, and the immortal state
commence. Corruption was then to put on incor-
ruption ; mortal, put on immortality ; and death, be
swallowed up in victory. They believed that the
kingdom of God would then come in its full and
proper sense, and in which sense it never had come
before; that the divine Son would then be en-
throned, being put in actual possession of his king-
ship and dominion ; that his reign would henceforth
be illimitable : " And the kingdom and the greatness
of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be
given to the saints of the Most High, whose king-
dom is an everlasting kingdom ; and all dominions
shall serve and obey him." " The saints of the
Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess it
for ever ; even for ever and ever."

But where was to be the location of this king-
dom ? It was to be on this earth. But how could
this be after the earth had been destroyed ? It was
not to be disintegrated, and reduced to its elements
and to chaos. As the old world had been destroyed
by water, yet not annihilated, nor rendered unin-
habitable ; so the present world might undergo a
conflagration, and yet come from the furnace in
a habitable condition, and even much improved.
It is called the new heavens and the new earth, in
which the righteous shall dwell. The wicked had
all been burned up in the conflagration ; but the
righteous had escaped it, having been caught up in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The New
Jerusalem now comes down from God out of hea-
ven, adorned as a bride for her husband. " And I

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 323

heard a great voice out of heaven, saymg, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men ; and he shall
dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them and be their God.
And God shall wipe away away all tears from their
eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow nor crying ; neither shall there be any more
pain : for the former things are passed away."

It is an obvious truth, that even the apostles were
not divested of their Jewish notions and prejudices.
They had believed in Jesus as the promised Mes-
siah ; that he would reign King of kings, and Lord
of lords. They associated their ideal of his reign
with that of national aggrandizement and the glo-
rification of their king. This had failed at his first
advent ; but the failure would be more than com-
pensated for at his second ; — that the Redeemer
would then return, and come to Zion, and turn
away ungodliness and unbelief from Jacob ; the
fulness of the Gentiles be brought in, and so all
Israel should be saved. Thus would all things be
subdued under him. Then would the end, the
consummation, come ; the kingdom, the mediato-
rial administration of it, be delivered up to God,,
even to the Father, from whom he had received his
appointment ; — the object and the work of which
having been achieved and finished, God would be
all in all, and the Son continue, as he ever had'
been, subject to Him who had put all things under
his feet.

We have thus given our views of the return-
advent of Christ, as that event was contemplated

324 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

by the apostles and the primitive Christians. We
believe that the truth of this representation lies
upon the face of the New Testament. But the
important inquiry now arises, Were these views
correct ? Did they justly interpret the declarations
of their divine Master? Was not his kingdom
more entirely spiritual than they conceived it to be ?
Did not their educational prejudices still cleave to
them, and lead them into misconceptions and mis-
takes ? Did they not overlook some of the im-
portant intimations which he had given them ?
He had said, " My kingdom is not of this world."
He had bidden them to disregard those who should
say, " Lo, here ; and lo, there ; for the kingdom of
God Cometh not with observation; — the kingdom
of heaven is within you." He had told them that
this kingdom consisted of little children, and that
even they themselves could not enter it, until they
were converted from their existing ambitious and
worldly spirit. All this, however, had not dispos-
sessed them of their national prepossessions. They
continued to look for a kingdom to which the na-
tions and monarchs of the earth should bring their
glory and their riches.

There is another and a prophetical testimony
of their Lord and Master, which the apostles seem
to have almost entirely neglected. He had said,
" And they [the Jews] shall be carried away captive
into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gen-
tiles be fulfilled." This annunciation contemplates
a long period ; ages being necessary to the accom-

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 325

plishment. And it was to take place before his
return-advent. With what consistency, then, could
the apostles expect that the glorification of the
Messiah, and the consummation of his kingdom,
was an event near at hand ? Is it replied, that
Jesus had declared that it would come to pass
during the lifetime of some who then lived ? But
were the apostles correct in identifying the return-
advent with the coming of the Son of man, — the
coming of the kingdom of God ? The personal
appearance of the Son in the flesh was not neces-
sary to the advent, extension, and prosperity of the
kingdom of God ; for, in reality, this kingdom does
not consist in organization, monarchy, or visible
glory. It being a kingdom not of this world, nor
coming with observation, it does not imply the ap-
pendages of state, or of an hierarchy, or of exter-
nal splendor and authority. It consists in rectitude
of spirit. The pure in heart belong to this king-
dom ; the peace-makers, the meek, the merciful, and
contrite. " The kingdom of God is within you,"
in every member's heart. It, therefore, comes when
and where this spirit of moral rectitude and holy
faith prevails, and has not a necessary connection
with a personal advent of Uim by whom its foun-
dations were laid.

The kingdom of God, moreover, is a progressive
institution. It comes by gradual advances. The
first degree of it appeared in the mission of John
the Baptist. " From the days of John the Baptist
until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth vio-
lence, and the violent take it by force." It came
28

326 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

in a further degree, while Jesus of Nazareth pro-
claimed the doctrine of repentance and salvation
in all the region of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.
It came in a still greater degree, when he had
risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven.
On the ground of this principle, we may interpret
his declaration, made at the last supper : " For I
say unto you, I will no more drink of the fruit of
the vine, until I drink it new in the kingdom of
God ; " drink it in his resun-ection-state. Having
risen from the dead, the kingdom of God was ex-
hibited to men in a new aspect. In a manner, the
resmTCction-state was then revealed. The first
fruits of that glorious harvest were brought forth
and offered. He now ate and drank with his dis-
ciples, " new in the kingdom of God." Still more
advanced was his glorification in his kingdom,
when he ascended into heaven. It was then that
he took his seat on the right hand of God; " angels,
principalities, and powers, being made subject unto
him." In a manner, it was his instalment in his
glorified office. It was the pledge of his power to
" save his people from their sins " and ruin. Hence
the apostle's remark : " He ascended on high, led
captivity captive, and jeceived gifts for men, even
for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell
among them ; and to some he gave apostles, to
some evangelists, to some pastors and teachers, for
the perfection of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."

Could the apostles be correct, then, in identifying
the return-advent with the promised " coming of

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 327

the Son of man " ? In our Saviour's last discourse
with his disciples, he said : " A little while, and
ye shall not see me ; and again a little while, and ye
shall see ; for I go to the Father. And ye now
have sorrow ; but I will see you again, and your heart
shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from
you." Here is a return implicitly promised. But
was it a personal advent ? Take the above-quoted
passage in connection with another from the same
discourse : " Because I have said these things unto
you, son'ow hath filled your hearts. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I
go away ; for, if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come to you ; but, if 1 depart, I will send him
unto you." " The Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the
Spirit of truth, whom the Father will send in my
name." May we not justly conclude that the
return, "the coming again and receiving them
unto himself," was identical with the advent of
the Comforter? In what other sense or manner
did Jesus return to his disciples ? He never returned
to them personally ; but he did come to them spiri-
tually when they were " endued with power from
on high," by the illapses of the Holy Ghost upon
them on the day of Pentecost, and upon others on
subsequent occasions.

Again, he came to them at their death. Many
were then received unto himself, into the mansions
which he had prepared for them. Their advent to
him implied his advent to them. We must inter-
pret the predictions of our Saviour by the events
which followed. This must be our fundamental

328 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

rule. As he did not return to them personally during
the lifetime of any of that generation, we cannot,
of course, understand a personal return. The ex-
pectation even of the apostles cannot be admitted
as infallible in the case. They might have mis-
apprehended the language of our Lord.

And may we not assume, that they did also
misapprehend him in regard to the time of the
resurrection ? In all his remarks and parables, de-
clarative and descriptive of the advent of the Son of
man and of the kingdom of God, he made no men-
tion of the resurrection of the dead. In the parable
of the sheep and the goats, of the tares of the field,
and of the net cast into the sea, all which relate to
the consummation of the kingdom of heaven, no
resurrection is declared or intimated. From this
fact arises the presumption that this kingdom was
to exist on earth, and among mortal men. If it
were to have been in the resmTcction-state, we
might expect that some notice to that effect would
have been given.

The New Jerusalem -state, described in the Apo-
calypse, is evidently the same as the halcyon-days
foretold and brilliantly depicted by the prophet
Isaiah. The imagery employed in the former is
chiefly taken from the latter. In both descriptions
are seen the gold, the pearls, the gems, the better
light than that of the sun and moon ; the absence of
violence, sin, crying, tears, pain, and death, — bold
metaphor and sti'ong hyperbole. What the prophet
described was obviously to take place on earth and
among mortal men. Nor is the imagery employed

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 329

more exaggerated than that which describes the
vials of destruction to be poured out on Jerusalem
and on the land of Idumea. And if the descrip-
tions of Isaiah are those of earthly scenes, then
doubtless are those of St. John. And though the
latter makes mention of " the first resurrection," yet
this must, in consistency, be accepted as one of a
moral description. It is " the dead," not the risen,
who are judged. It is the righteous dead who are
placed upon thrones ; and it is the unrighteous
dead who are cast into a lake of fire, and undergo
" the second death."

We may now inquh'e how far the views of the
apostles are sustained by the authority of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He had declared a future advent of
the Son of man ; that he would come to reign and
be glorified; that his coming would be attended
with heavy judgments on wicked men and nations ;
that, during his reign, the proper and the just differ-
ence would be made and put between the righteous
and the wicked; and that, at least, the glorious
beginning of his advent would speedily be fulfilled.
But he had not declared that a physical resurrec-
tion— that which introduces into the immortal
state — would attend his second advent. This,
however, was evidently the impression entertained
by the apostles. The coming of the Son of man
must long ago have taken place ; for, if yet delayed,
it could not then have been near at hand. We
must interpret prophecy by the event. There has
been no corporeal resurrection of the dead; nor
has the world, consisting of this earth and these

28*

330 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

heavens, been destroyed. In entertaining such
views, therefore, the apostles manifestly were not
correct, but misinterpreted the language of their
divine Master.

The two remarkable and expressive passages in
the Epistles to the Thessalonians, already given in
this essay, are worthy of some further attention.
In the first, the apostle says, " The Lord shall de-
scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God; and
the dead in Christ — Christians who have died —
shaU rise." In the second passage, " The Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance," &c.
That these passages describe the same advent of
the Lord, but few, if any, will entertain a doubt.
And there can be as little doubt, that the apostle
intended the return-advent of Jesus Christ ; also
the advent that was near at hand. And, at the
time of this advent, he believed the resuiTCction of
the dead in Christ would obtain. But was his be-
lief grounded on any due authority, derived from
the language of Christ ? The Christians at Thessa-
lonica received from his first Epistle the impression,
that the great day of the Lord was just at hand ;
and they were so disturbed that they neglected their
secular labors. To correct this impression, the
apostle, in his second Letter to them, states that
the day of the Lord was not to be immediately ex-
pected. There was previously to be an apostacy ;
the one, probably, predicted by the prophet Daniel ;
the little horn, which magnified itself above every

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 331

God, and spake great words against the Most
High, and into whose hand the saints were to be
delivered " for a time and times and the dividing
of time ; " three and a half of times, i. e. years ;
just half as long as Nebuchadnezzar, king of Ba-
bylon, was to graze among the beasts of the field.
This term of time, not consisting of " year-days,"
but of natural years, \vould not be of very long du-
ration ; and " the man of sin, that son of perdition,"
might soon " come to his end, having none to help
him ; whom the Lord will destroy by the spirit of
his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his
coming." Though the apostle postpones for a sea-
son the time of the return-advent, it is not to a
distant period. He seems still to have believed that
he himself should live to reach it ; for he says, " We
who are alive and remain shall be caught up."

What, then, are some of the conclusions which
are or may be derived from the preceding remarks ?
Among them may be the following : —

1. That the second advent, so frequently recog-
nized in the New Testament, did not take place at
the fall of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, under
the command of Titus. This event, though great
and tremendously awful to the whole million of
sufferers, and though it had some favorable bearing
on Christianity, did not, however, fulfil all the con-
ditions. It did not give safety, peace, and pros-
perity to the saints. The church remained fee-
ble and persecuted, still accounted as the filth of
the earth, and the offscouring of all things. The
Son of man did not then sit on the throne of his

332 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

glory, having all nations gathered before him, which
he separated into two divisions ; the righteous by
themselves on his right hand, and the unrighteous
by themselves on his left. The apostle's representa-
tion was not then verified : " Judge nothing before
the time, until the Lord come, who shall bring to
light the hidden things of darkness, and make ma-
nifest the counsels of all hearts ; and then shall
every man be rewarded according to his works."

Nor did it take place in the subsequent catas-
trophe which befell the Jews under the reign of
Hadrian, when Jerusalem was literally " ploughed
as a field," and the besom of destruction swept the
face of the whole land of promise. These events
were rather the manifestation of Roman power and
vengeance, than the revelation of the Son of man
in his kingdom and glory.

Nor was the predicted advent realized in the con-
version of the Roman empire from Paganism to
Christianity, nor in the reformation from Popery
to Protestantism in the sixteenth century. All these
prominent events above mentioned might be im-
portant links in the gi*eat chain of occurrences by
w^hich the world is to be converted into the church
of the living God ; but they did not consummate
the event, nor have the conditions yet been fulfilled.
The saints of the Most High have never yet " taken
the kingdom to possess it for ever," nor their prince
yet had " all nations to serve and obey him."

2. We may conclude, that the predicted coming
of the Son of man is a gradual and progressive
movement ; that it takes place in proportion as the

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 333

world becomes truly evangelized. Our Saviour in-
timated this in the parables of the leaven in the
meal, and of the mustard-seed. The leaven works
its oflice gradually : tlie mustard-seed roots, springs,
grows, and becomes a tree, not at once, but by
slow and imperceptible degrees. •' So is the king-
dom of God as if a man should cast seed into the
earth, which groweth he knoweth not how." " The
kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation."
Its coming is not attended with visible, striking
appearances, popular developments, and national
demonstrations. " Not by might nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The kingdoin is not
an organization, but a right spirit ; not in forms,
"but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost."

In a partial sense the Son of man doubtless did
come, when the Jewish power, so hostile to Chris-
tianity, was crippled and broken by Titus and
Hadrian ; also when Constantine made the gospel
of Jesus Christ the state-religion of the Roman
empire ; and also when the monk of Erfm-th and
the princes of Germany effectively protested against
the tyranny and corruptions of the Romish Chm-ch ;
but these can have been only incipient acts in that
grand movement by which the kingdoms of this
world shall become the dominion of Christ.

3. Certain conditions of the advent, though de-
clared generally, must be understood as applicable
only to particular and partial manifestations of it.
The severest judgments are sometimes announced
as being its accompaniments. " As it was in the

334 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man
is revealed. They were eating and drinking, mar-
rying and being given in marriage ; but on the day
Noah went into the ark, the flood came and swept
them all away. And, as it was in the days of Lot,
they bought, they sold, they planted, they build ed ;
but, when Lot went out of Sodom, the same day it
rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed
them all. So shall it be when the Son of man shall
be revealed." This condition may have been ful-
filled at the overthrow of the national power of the
Jews. But there are other conditions which did
not then have their fulfilment. The chm'ch was not
then redeemed ; the hidden things of darkness were
not all brought to light, nor the counsels of all hearts
made manifest, nor every man rewarded according
to his works, whether good or bad.

4. We should, doubtless, contemplate the advent
of Christ as a complex occun-ence, including the
punitive judgments declared on the one hand, and
the spiritual means and successes implied in it on
the other. In no inconsiderable extent it has al-
ready taken place. The kingdom of the Son of
Mary is now a greater empire than that of the Ne-
buchadnezzars, Cyruses, Alexanders, and Caesars
of the ancient w^orld. But it is not yet what the
predictions of it declared it should be. Nor has
there been any one event by which it has been in-
vested with its present strength ; no single point of
time which has separated it from the times of its
earthly, secular predecessors. It does not exist in
the immortal state. There has been no physical

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 335

resurrection of the martyrs and Christians who
had died ; yet this kingdom has become great,
incomparably great and glorious. But it has not
risen on the ruins of the fourth monarchy, as that
rose on the overthrow of the third; the third on
the ruin of the second ; and the second on that
of the first. The apostles, retaining their Jewish
belief, expected manifestly that such would be the
fact. The early Christian views of the Messiah's
reign had a deep tinge of the Jewish faith. It was
to include an hierarchy, an oligarchy, and a monar-
chy, of unsurpassed splendor, wealth, magnificence,
and strength. It was to be separated from the
time of the fourth kingdom by the event of the
resurrection. Thus all the members of the kingdom
would be brought together ; none, without all the
others, be made perfect. But these expectations
have not been realized. The fourth monarchy fell
more than a thousand years ago. But the kingdom
of Christ did not rise on its ruins. It had become
a Christian kingdom before its fall. No personal
advent of the Son of man then took place. And
that the return-advent will be a personal one, is
exceedingly problematical. This, however, is gen-
erally believed : " We believe that thou wilt come
[personally, that is the idea] to be our Judge." But
he was to have come speedily. His reign was to
have commenced immediately on the fall of the
fourth — the Roman — monarchy.

5. It is manifestly not the pleasure of God that
men should have a prescience of " the times and
the seasons " which are to come : he retains them

336 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

in his own keeping. The vision of scriptui*al pro-
phecy does not constitute a prospective history of
the future. It is not, nor ever has been, available
for this purpose. The Jews have never been able
to turn the prophecies of their Scriptures to this
account ; and Christians have had no better suc-
cess in this thing than the Jews. They have never
turned a single prophecy to any good account.
They have never been able to descry one of the
great events of the world before it happened. Since
the composition of the New Testament, many
important revolutions have taken place : the con-
version of the fourth kingdom to Christianity; the
fall of that kingdom ; the rise of the Mahommedan
power ; the dissolution of the Saracenic empire ;
the growth and decline of the Ottoman empire ; the
Protestant Reformation ; the French Revolution, —
these have been the remarkable events of the last
eighteen centuries. But the interpretation of pro-
phecy did not reveal one of them. They occurred
before they were predicted. And thus will doubt-
less occur the remarkable events of the future. The
primitive Christians had no better prescience of the
events of the next thousand years than we now
have of the thousand years which are immediately
before us. They had many imaginations, and so
have we. Some of their imaginations were proba-
bly useful to them. The same may be true of
some of ours. But they may likewise be hurtful.
The nearness of the return-advent, as they believed,
inspired them with greater fortitude and zeal, under
the contempt and persecution to which they were

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 337

subjected. The dazzling glories of a kingdom to
Avhicli all the monarchy and nations of the earth
should be tributaries animated them with a con-
fidence and a courage which rendered their spirits
patient and invincible. — If the question now be
asked, Will there be a future personal advent of
the Lord Jesus Christ to our earth ? the answer is.
We cannot tell. Our Saviour himself, we believe,
did not discriminate between a first and a second
advent. He often spoke of " the coming of the Son
of man." But he always spoke of this as one
event. And we have already described it as an
event of a complex character ; as having its incipi-
ent, its progressive, and its consummating stages ;
as commencing in the preaching of John Baptist;
progressing in the personal ministry of Jesus and
his disciples; and to be consummated when the
gospel of the kingdom shall become the acknow-
ledged law of all mankind. Then will all things
be actually given into the hand of the Son, as they
were constructively when he had fulfilled his per-
sonal mission on earth. But of the times and
seasons and manner we are not enabled to know;
nor does it become us curiously and presumptu-
ously to inquire. We may think the time long,
and the movement too slow ; but He who governs
the world is wiser than we : " the foolishness of
God is wiser than men."

Again, if it is asked. Will there be two resurrec-
tions, that of the just at the beginning of the mil-
lennium, and that of the unjust after the close of
it? we give the same answer, We cannot tell.
29

338 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

Our Saviour himself, we believe, did neither assert
nor intimate more than one resurrection ; and that
was the resurrection of the just : " They who are
accounted worthy to inherit that world and the re-
surrection of the dead can die no more, but are
made like the angels ; the children of God being the
children of the resurrection."

If, yet again, it be asked, " What will be the cha-
racter of the millennium ? and when will the time
be ? " our answer must be the same. We cannot
tell. Our Saviour made no mention of a millen-
nium. He did, however, declare himself to be
the Son of man ; the same, obviously, whom the
prophet Daniel in vision saw coming in the clouds,
and came to the Ancient of days, and received a
kingdom, which embraced all people and nations,
and should endure for ever. The Son is put in pos-
session of this kingdom, just as fast as mankind
embrace Christianity, imbibe its spirit, and obey its
law. But how absolutely perfect and universal
the kingdom of God will ever be on earth, we can-
not know. There is, as all enlightened minds will
admit, much Orientalism in the language of the
Bible. Its real, unadorned import must be under-
stood from a knowledge of the facts and objects
which it describes. When these are yet future, they
cannot be specifically known until after they have
actually occuiTed. Moreover, is the question put,
Will this earth ever be burned up, and reduced to
cinders and chaos ? we must still confess our ignor-
ance, and say. We cannot tell. Our Saviour did not
say that this earth should be destroyed. He spoke

THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST. 339

of the end of the world or age ; of the time whieh
should be the point of separation between the
world, the age, which then was, and the world or
age of the reign of the Son of man. But this did
not imply a disintegration of the earth, or a conlla-
gration of its elements. The reign of the Son of
man and of the saints, being of a moral descrip-
tion, requires no change in physical nature. All
things become new, in the scriptural sense, when
men have all imbibed the spirit of Jesus, and be-
come holy, harmless, and separate from sin.

But ^vhen will the resurrection take place ? How
long before the event will come ? Will the world
then be burned up ? And what is there yet to take
place previously to the consummation ? To all
these and the like inquiries, we must answer as
above. We cannot tell. We are confident no man
can tell. We have had no oracle from heaven
announcing the solution of such problems. This
world may, notwithstanding what we know, con-
tinue essentially as it now is for millions of years,
or it may not continue for one year. If the world
should come to its catastrophe to-morrow, it can-
not be made apparent that the Scriptures would
be broken. All the scriptural prophecies may have
been fulfilled, so far as they have regard to this
world. — But the millennium has not yet taken
place ? You do not know that it has not. And
the Jews have not returned to their own land to
enjoy the great and the long jubilee of their na-
tion ? You do not know that they ever will, even if
the earth should abide for ever ; nor do you know

340 THE RETURN-ADVENT OF CHRIST.

that the Scriptures have foretold such a restoration.
But neither Mahommedanism nor Popery has yet
come to an end ? And you do not know for cer-
tainty that they will not continue as long as the
moon shall endure. You may have belief; but, on
this subject, you cannot possess knowledge. But
you cut us off from all prophetic knowledge of the
times and seasons ? And thus, doubtless, our Lord
designed that we should be placed. His admoni-
tory command is, that we should be always watch-
ing ; that the Son of man is always near to us, — he
may come at any hour ; that the time is short. The
Lord comes to us, when we are called to him :
when our work on earth is finished, we go to our
account. And who is that faithful and wise servant,
who lives continually watchful and always ready ?

341

NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR BE-
TWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES.

"It was ordained of angels in the hand of a mediator." — Galatians, iii 19.

The person adverted to in this text was Moses,
the mediator through whom the " first covenant "
had its dispensation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Mediator of the " better covenant." Hence the de-
claration of the evangelist John : " For the law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ."

The intercourse between God and mankind is
not usually direct and immediate, but mediate and
secondary. God works by principles. He employs
intermediate agencies. He acts by the hand of
mediators. God, for instance, dispenses blessings
to children by the mediation of their parents ; bless-
ings to nations by the mediation of their rulers; food
and raiment to his people through the mediation
of the husbandman, the shepherd, the fisherman,
and the mechanic. The number of mediators, there-
fore, is so numerous that they cannot easily be
counted. But of this vast multitude, there are three
which stand pre-eminent, — Moses, the Lord Jesus

29*

342 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

Christ, and Nature. The mediatorial office of
Moses was broad and important ; that of the Lord
Jesus was incomparably broader, more interesting,
more important ; and that of nature is the broadest
of all. It was through the mediation of nature that
we all had our birth ; that we became living crea-
tures ; that we then received those attentions by
which we were bred and nurtured ; that we were
endowed with all our mental and physical faculties ;
that we have obtained all our knowledge, our capa-
city for business, our enjoyments, and even our
moral habits, both of virtue and of vice. We, our
very selves, are the offspring of nature, as well as
the offspring of God.

But what is nature ? It is not God, but the
work of God. Nature is the creature ; the creation ;
the whole of it; creation primary, universal, and
absolute. Nature came into existence when God,
by his almighty word, produced in a moment all
the substance of which this whole world consists ;
w4ien he said, " Let there be light," and every other
element. These were produced in just such num-
bers and quantity, and endowed with just such
powers and qualities, as fitted them for the construc-
tion of the world which now exists. These elements
must have once existed in a state of dispersion and
confusion. Hence the doctrine of chaos among the
ancient philosophers. There was once no composite
thing ; no sun, no moon, no planets ; no water,
air, rocks, or minerals ; no herbs, grasses, or trees ;
no fishes, beasts, or men ; none of these ; yet all
the materials out of which they have been formed.

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES.

343

generated, grown, and made. Naturalists inform
ITS, that the elements must have once been in a state
of extreme rarification ; that the body of them filled
a wider space than that now occupied by our whole
solar system ; that every particle was then endowed
with its chemical and mechanical attributes ; and
that these attributes fitted and empowered them to
do the whole work of formation, construction, pro-
pagation, growth, and decay. Thus God made the
elements, and the elements made the world and all
things in it. That substance of which a thing is
made must, in all cases, exist previously to the
thing itself. The materials of a house always
precede the house. The elementary particles of
which all composite things consist were the first
productions. And when God created them, he
gave existence to nature. In this consisted the
work proper of creation. Nothing but the produc-
tion of the primary elements are true and proper
creations. All subsequent productions are the re-
sults of formation, combination, generation, &c.
Thus have been produced the sun, the planets, the
moons, the atmospheres, the oceans, the seas,
the rivers, the hills, the mountains, the plains, the
vegetables, the reptiles, the fishes of the seas,
the fowls of the air, the beasts, wild and tame, of
the forest and the field; together with man him-
self, made in the likeness of God. All these are
doubtless the immediate work of nature. In a
constructive sense, they are all God's work. God
made the elements for the very purpose that they
should produce all these things. He gave to the

344 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

former the power requisite to produce the latter.
We perceive the manifestations of design, of won-
derful knowledge and skill, in the works of nature.
All this must be referred to God; for nature is
unintelligent. Nature has no understanding, no
soul, no design. The power of nature is very great,
immeasurable. But in her heart is no such thing
as thought, feeling, or purpose. Nature is God's
creature, his agent, his mediator, standing between
himself and mankind. Nature is the creature
universal and absolute. As soon as the substance
of our material and visible universe came into
being, nature had an existence. And she has ever
since existed constantly. She never ceases either
to be or to work ; nor do we know that she ever
will cease to be and to work. If this whole uni-
versal system of sensible things should grow old,
and dissolve again into its original particles, as
man's body dissolves into its primitive dust, nature,
nevertheless, would remain. The dust of the ma-
terial universe would be nature ; and it might again
reconstruct itself into worlds replete with life, order,
and beauty.

Nature, we have said, is God's universal agent.
Our w^orld is constantly full of phenomena. Every
year, and even every day, contains them. There are
births and deaths, calms and storms, heats and frosts,
pleasures and pains, accidents both happy and un-
happy, events adverse and prosperous, friendships
and enmities, wars and rumors of wars, continually
transpiring. None of these are the immediate work
of God. They are all, as we hold, the work of

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 345

nature. God never does evil. That cannot be.

because he is good. None of the ills of this life
and world can be the immediate work of God.
They are wrought by the agency of nature. Na-
ture itself w^orks involuntarily and without design.
We have already said, that it has no intelligence,
no sensation, no soul. Nature is mechanical, che-
mical, perhaps instinctive ; and yet this agent, as
we above intimated, performs more work than all
other agents. Nature propagates the successive
generations of all the animal races, and had pre-
viously made the world, — all the minerals, metals,
rocks, mountains, plains, rivers, and oceans. She
sends abroad among men the diseases, the famines,
the devouring locusts, the mischievous vermin, the
wars and the commotions, which so often afflict
and distress the world ; all the storms, hurricanes,
w^iirlpools, waterspouts, earthquakes, avalanches,
electric shocks, and volcanic eruptions. God does
not do any of these things. He does them in no
other sense than he commits the murders, the lar-
cenies, the cruelties, the various and innumerable
abominations, which have been in the world. In a
constructive sense, all things are of God. They
are consequences of God's work of creation. But
the good and the evil are not equally the work of
God ; for he designs the former, but not the latter.
He made fire wholly for the good Avhich comes of
it. He made water wholly for the benefits it con-
fers on the world. But there are many disasters
which come of water and fire. God, however, had
no view to them, when he ordained that fire and

346 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

water should abound, as they do, on earth. The
evils that come are undesigned, accidental, unavoid-
able. When a child's dress takes fire, and it is
burned to death, it is an accident. We call it such ;
and we understand what we say. The event was
an accident, because not sought, not designed.
And equally such, doubtless, are all famines, pes-
tilences, earthquakes, together with the less forms
and measures of disease, pain, and mortality among
men.

But how and whv is all this so? Is it true?
Is it right? Ought the fact to be as we have
represented ? For the proof of our doctrine, we
refer every man to his own experience and obser-
vation. From these sources, he has already learned
that there is an established order in the world.
Things do not eventuate at random. Means are
requisite to the production of ends. We cannot
have fire without fuel, nor bread without husban-
dly, nor mills ^vithout a physical po^\^er to move
them. And the right means, duly applied, always
produce the ends designed. When seeds are duly
planted in the earth, they spring and grow into
vegetables. When stones are duly placed by and
upon each other, they constitute a wall. When
suitable timbers are duly joined together, they make
a house. When a man puts on a stout woollen
garment, it defends him against the cold and the
storm. All these, and all other suitable means,
always accomplish their proper ends ; and the for-
mer produce the latter efficiently and necessarily.
The means are the proper causes, and the ends are

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 347

the proper effects. The connection between these
and those is necessary and inevitable. The proper
means cannot be employed, without producing the
subsequent end. You cannot duly mix lime, sand,
and water together, without producing mortar.
You cannot place brick and mortar together, in
a certain order and quantity, and not build a chim-
ney or the walls of a house. You cannot apply a
flame to dry combustibles, without producing a con-
flagration. You cannot pass an edge-tool through
the middle of a bar of wood, without dividing it
into two equal parts. It is therefore no other than
cant to say, as metaphysicians have said, that
means are not efficient causes ; that they are mere
antecedents ; that they precede by order, not by
causality. This doctrine of the inefficiency of all
means is contradicted by what occurs every day,
and before every man's eyes. He sees and knows
that additions to a thing do necessarily increase it ;
that subtractions from a thing do necessarily les-
sen it. Tell a plain man that the addition, for
instance, of a quart to a gallon of water in a bucket
does not necessarily increase the quantity in it, or
that the addition is no proper cause of the increase
in the amount of water, — would you tell him the
truth ? would he believe you ? Is it any other than
cant, sophistry, and pantheism to refer every phe-
nomenon in the world to the immediate volition of
God?

There are two descriptions of pantheists among
men. One deny the existence of God antecedent
to nature : the other deny the existence of nature.

348 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

The former are atheists ; the latter, metaphysicians.
Both are agreed in discarding the doctrine of me-
diation. Both refer all phenomena to the first
cause. Both repudiate the doctrine of secondary
causes. Both affirm that there is no medium, no
interventional agency, between the first cause and
the phenomena of the world. They differ in one
thing : the class first mentioned call the Great First
Cause nature ; the other class call it God. It is
hence apparent that the metaphysicians and the
atheists have a near point of conjunction with each
other.

In contradistinction from both stands our posi-
tion. It recognizes the threefold distinction of
being, — God, Nature, and Phenomena. God is
one thing, nature is another thing, and phenome-
na differ from both God and nature. God is the
Great First Cause ; nature is the first and universal
creature of God ; phenomena are the events and
changes which take place in the world. And is
not this the doctrine of common sense ? Is it not
recognized by all unsophisticated minds? None
deny it but a certain school of metaphysicians.
And the doctrine of these excludes the reality of
creation. There never was, according to their
doctrine, such an event. Creation with them was
but the commencement of phenomena, and it is
now constantly going on. They say that the crea-
tions of to-day are as numerous and real as those
of any antecedent period of time.

Now, if we can furnish rational and satisfactory
proof that there has been accomplished such a work

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 349

as creation, it will be also proved that there is such
a thing as nature, and consequently such things as
secondary causes and mediation.

What, then, is creation? It is giving existence
to something which in no sense, form, or manner,
had an existence before. Something is produced ;
and this something must have attributes, properties,
powers. The idea of there being something which
possesses no properties is a contradiction and an
absurdity. A fancied thing, having no properties,
is really nothing. A property is a power. If no
powers are produced, nothing has been created.
But, if something has been created, it possesses
attributes, powers ; and these are the secondary
causes which produce phenomena. There is no
middle ground between this doctrine of the effi-
ciency of secondary causes and pure universal
idealism. According to the latter doctrine, the
whole universe consists of God and of ideas. All
phenomena are nothing but ideas. And what we
call nature is no other than an ideal existence.
Our metaphysicians admit that there is an order in
the occurrence of phenomena. But it consists, say
they, wholly of antecedents and consequents. One
phenomenon follows another, but it is not caused by
it. Of what use, then, is it ? It is a maxim that
" God does no superfluous work." Why should he
connect certain phenomena, if there be no depend-
ence of one upon the other? Why should God
have created the sun, if it have not the real power
of illuminating the earth? Why should he send
rain upon the fields and pastures, if rain be not the

30

350 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

real cause of refreshing and reviving them ? Why
should man have hands and feet, if these are not
among the real causes of his being able to walk
and to labor? If God must now, by immediate
acts of his own power, produce all phenomena
equally with means or without them, then of what
value or for what purpose are they? Is it any
better than impertinence to say, that a man's eyes,
ears, feet, and brains are antecedents to his seeing,
hearing, walking, and thinking, but not the causes
of these phenomena ? — to say that water is ante-
cedent to the sailing of a ship, and air to the flying
of a bird, but neither causal nor necessary ? Natu-
ralists have been in the habit of tracing the marks
of God's adorable wisdom in the formation of the
human body ; the adaptation of his bones, joints,
and sinews to the piu*pose of action ; his eyes to
the purpose of vision ; his ears to the pm-pose of
hearing. But if properties are not powers, if sec-
ondary causes have no real efficiency, if means are
not causal, — it follows, as an inevitable deduction,
that the whole idea of adaptation is a fallacy ; that
no phenomena produce other phenomena, no an-
tecedents are causes, no sequents are effects. And
if these are just premises, then there never has been
such a work as creation ; and there really exist no
such things as sun, moon, planets, earth, oceans,
rivers, mountains, and seas.

We will now briefly define our position, and then
consider the objections which are alleged against
it. It is this, — that there has been a creation, a
world produced, in its elementary state, by the will.

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 351

knowledge, and power of God ; that this world has
poAvers, and could not be a world without them ;
that the world consists of elements ; that the powers
of the world exist primarily in the elements, and
are the attributes of them ; that these elements
constitute nature ; and that nature, miracles ex-
cepted, produces all the phenomena of the world,
and is the mediator between God and men.

But, against the view now given, objections have
been strongly urged.

1. It is objected, that the doctrine places God at
a great distance off from men : nature intervenes
between him and his rational creatures. But we
want a God that is near ; a God who governs and
directs in all things, — in all the particulars, as
well and as much as in the w^hole general course
of events.

This objection, though it has some plausible
appearance, yet on examination will be found to
imply more difficulties than it removes. If provi-
dence be particular, then it is God who produces
all the evils in the world. By his direct agency,
he dispenses all the calamities which afflict human
nature, all the premature instances of mortality, all
the distressing casualties, all the errors and the sins
committed by mankind. And what difficulty is
greater than this ? But few men have possessed
nerve enough to look this difficulty full in the face.
Yet some have boldly done it Calvin and Ed-
wards, and their followers, have done it. They
flinched not to avow the doctrine, that " God hath
foreordained whatsoever comes to pass ; " that he

352 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

knows all future events, because he hath deter-
mined to produce them. But can that God be
wise and good who produces so much evil? and
are not the principles of moral rectitude the same
both in heaven and on earth ? Can it be right in
God to do what it would be wrong for a man to
do? If he instigate a man to act the part of a
murderer, a robber, a thief, an incendiary, is the
crime wholly with the man ? Is the instigator
faultless, and the organ by which he operates alone
criminal ? God's infinity and independence invest
him with no right to violate the laws of moral
equity. These laws are universal, common to all
moral beings. Besides, God cannot be tempted of
evil. He is inaccessible to all motives of envy,
jealousy, rivalship, and anger. For none are above
him, none can compete with him. Therefore, God
can have no motive to do WTong.

It is, however, alleged, that God produces evils
for the sake of the good which results from them.
But is there not a palpable inconsistency in this
hypothesis ? Have not all evil things an evil ten-
dency ? Can good come out of evil ? Can sweet
water proceed from a bitter fountain ? It may, and
it is, sometimes the fact, that, in a conflict between
evil and good tendencies, the result may be good.
But this salutary result comes of the good tendency,
not of the evil. It is an absurdity to talk of the
useful tendencies and consequences of sin. If sin
have a good tendency, how can the sinner be justly
accounted a mischievous doer, a guilty culprit? If
sin came into existence because the highest good

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 353

of the universe required it, with what propriety can
the transgressor be condemned, and everlastingly
punished ?

There is, moreover, a further inconsistency in the
hypothesis that sin and all other evils are the means
of promoting the greatest general good. This
theory is maintained only by the metaphysicians
who deny that means possess any causal efficiency.
They hold that God employs means, not as causes,
but as signs; that means have no efficiency; that
God can as easily produce the effects without the
means as Avith them. They admit that food and
drink are the means of sustaining the bodies of
men in health and life ; but they deny that food
and drink are the causes that support the human
body. The cause, say they, is the immediate power
of God ; and he could as easily support a man in
health without the means as with them. Very well.
Then God could as easily promote and accomplish
the highest good of his great kingdom without
sin as with it. For sin and all other evils are
but means ; and means are not causes : they are but
signs of the established order of phenomena. They
might all be dispensed with without foregoing any
beneficial result. Of what importance, then, can
sin and suffering be as means of promoting the
general welfare ?

There are others who adopt a medium-theory
on the subject of divine providence as being general
or particular. They assign one portion of the phe-
nomena of the world to a special divine agency,
and the other portion of them to a general or com-

30*

354 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

mon providence. But where or how can the line
of demarcation between the two portions be drawn ?
This line has never yet been drawn. And let any
man attempt to run it definitely, and he will
find himself involved in insurmountable difficulties.
Suppose, for instance, that he starts on the princi-
ple that God interposes a special direction of aU
the important events, but commits other occurrences
to the course and order of his common and general
providence. It now becomes necessary to fix the
distinction, and draw the line between important
events and those which are not important. And
w^hat man is competent to do this thing correctly ?
Is there such a man on earth ? No ; no such man
on earth, no such angel in heaven.

Again : suppose the distinction between good and
evil to be made the line of demarcation ; that all
which is good be referred to the special agency of
God, but the evil to the action of common pro-
vidence. We would now inquire, in the first place,
what is gained by this assumption? If found to
be true, of what benefit is it to the world ? Does
it increase the amount of good there is in it ? Not
at all. The amount of good in the world is a mat-
ter of fact. It is what it is. Any theory about
the mode of its existence neither increases nor dimi-
nishes it. And the real question now at issue is, May
not a general providence be competent to produce
it ? Is the sum total of human virtue and welfare
so great that God's providence must have been par-
ticular in order to produce it ? No man will affirm
this. But it is the true question. If all the good

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 355

which exists may have come to pass under the
divine administration of a general providence, then
there can be no evidence — from facts — that pro-
vidence is not general. And the universal con-
fession, that there is a common providence, goes far
toward a satisfactory proof that the whole of it is
such ; for the strong presumption must be, that all
providence is of this description. That a part of it
should be of one character, and a part of another,
indicates incongruity. Wherever there is wisdom,
we expect consistency. If God have a common
providence, then doubtless he accomplishes as much
by it as possible. And can we reasonably doubt
that he was able to institute such an order of things
as should be so far complete and perfect as to work
out all the good which now is, or which has been,
or which will be ? — miracles only excepted. And is
it not a fact that we are able to trace phenomena
to their principles ? Do we not, in nearly all cases,
make the attempt? Do we not inquire for the
cause ? And we generally find one which, whether
true or false, is satisfactory to our own mind. In
all such cases, we proceed on the assumption that
there is an established, systematic order or course
of secondary causes, by which all the phenomena of
the world eventuate ; that there is something which
stands between God and phenomena ; that he acts
through a mediatory organ ; that this organ is na-
ture; and that nature, notwithstanding her non-
intelligence, is yet competent to produce whatever
transpires on the earth. We assume all this when
we inquire after the cause of unexpected events.

356

NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR

And yet most of us flinch from the whole of the
doctrine, when it is distinctly announced. We
think it needful that God should often interpose,
and give a particular direction to the course of
events. We seem to think it impossible that even
God himself could have made so perfect a creature
as nature is, if indeed she be the dispenser of aU
the good phenomena of the world. But are we
warranted in resting on such a conclusion ? Is
there any thing, but a contradiction, which is
too hard for God? If man can make a creature
that is able to speak, to sing, and even to play a
game of chances, is it a thing incredible that God
should have made a creature invested with all those
great and wonderful powers which we find in na-
ture ?

The time has been when those phenomena which
could not be accounted for by being traced to some
known principles, v/ere ascribed to the immediate
agency of God. Hence all such events as eclipses
of the sun and moon ; all unusual appearances of
the heavens, by night or by day ; all earthquakes,
pestilences, and famines ; all premature and sudden
deaths, were accounted to be the immediate work
of God. The capacities of nature were then but
very imperfectly understood. The fact is now con-
siderably different. There is now no hesitation in
attributing storms, pestilences, meteors, and the ob-
scuration of the celestial luminaries, to the agency
of nature. Still, however, there is much confusion,
and even inconsistency, in the views and language
of men on the subject of divine providence. The

BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATURES. 357

doctrine of means, or rather of the use of means, is
confused and discrepant. Men talk about means
which are not causes. And they can even adduce
the authority of such eminent men as Dugald Ste-
wart and Thomas Brown to endorse that empirical
doctrine. It is, however, foundationless and cannot
stand. If man's common sense does not utterly,
constantly, and universally deceive him, the doctrine
is false. If there ever was such an event as creation,
this doctrine must be false. If God have not de-
signed and contrived that all men should live and
die under a dense, dark cloud of delusion, the doc-
trine is untrue. If true, God must be the greatest
deceiver in the universe.

Our metaphysicians say that means are signs,
and as such possess an importance. But if the
signs of realities have some importance, the reali-
ties themselves must possess much more. The
body is always better than the shadow ; the thing
typified is of more value than the type which pre-
figured it.

Let us not be deceived : " God is not mocked ;
whatsoever a man soweth, that must he also reap."
There is a God. The things w^hich are made de-
monstrably declare his existence. You know that
the world is full of phenomena. Nature is the me-
diator between God and men ; between man and
God. Nor is this doctrine an idle speculation : it
is the most practical truth in the world. If you
would be respected, you must possess integrity of
character. If you would be happy, you must be
good. If you would be God's accepted servants,

358 NATURE THE UNIVERSAL MEDIATOR.

you must serve him in spirit and in truth. The
great results of salvation and eternal life must be
wrought out with fear and trembling, by a patient
continuance in well-doing.

359

GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH.

" And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." — John,
viii. 32.

This text declares that a knowledge of truth is the
condition and the cause of true freedom. But upon
what principle does the truth of this declaration
stand ? Whence is it apparent that a knowledge
of truth invests a man with that self-control and
just balance of mind in which the best description
of freedom consists ? In other words, on what
principle is it that the knowledge of truth is useful,
so that the man who possesses just views of things
holds a great advantage over him whose views are
erroneous? It must manifestly be this, that there
is an adaptation between the constitution of man
and the condition in which he exists; between the
elements within him and the elements about him ;
betw^een the world within and the world without.
For it is obvious that any creature must be un-
happy, if situated where there is a discrepancy
between what is in him and what is around him.
Where the more knowledge he has of the circum-
stances about him, the greater is the conflict in his

360 GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH.

own mind ; where the better he understands his po-
sition, the gi'eater is his uneasiness and discontent.

The sentiment of this text, and the doctrine which
we shall endeavor to substantiate in this discourse,
is this, — that knowledge is preferable to ignorance ;
that correct views are more advantageous to man
than those which are WTong; that the apprehension
of truth is more healthful and happy than the be-
lief of eri'or; that the nature of man is suited to
the constitution of the universe, of which he is a
part.

Our first endeavor will be to prove this doctrine.
And a strong presumptive argument in proof of
our position is furnished by the acknowledged doc-
trine of God's absolute perfection. That he is per-
fect in wisdom, power, and goodness, is a point of
belief among all Christians. And a wise and good
being will always adapt whatever he produces to
the place which it is to occupy, — to the circum-
stances in which it is to be and to act. If the fact
be otherwise, the work must be a failure. Any
thing un suited to its place and circumstances is a
bad thing for that position. If the nature of man
be unsuited to his place and destiny, God has made
him wTong. His great work of the human creation
has been a failure. But this cannot be. God must
have made man right ; and, if so, the knowledge of
truth must be better for him than ignorance or the
belief of error. In the acknowledged attributes of
God we have a pledge of the fact that man is
suited to the world, and the world is suited to
man.

GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH. 361

We also have the doctrine declared in the Holy
Scriptures ; the doctrine that truth has a salutary
and a sanctifying influence upon the human mind.
Our Saviour thus prayed to his heavenly Father :
" Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is
truth." Here is the plain fact, that the tendency
of truth is to sanctify the heart, to correct its obli-
quities, to restrain the passions and appetites from
extravagance, to quicken and invigorate right affec-
tion, to regulate the whole soul through the agency
of enlightened reason. The same fact is also indi-
cated in another scriptural passage : " Sanctified by
faith wiiich is in me." It is here asserted that faith
sanctifies. Faith is a correlative of truth. Faith
is the subjective, and truth is the objective, of the
same thing. Truth sanctifies through the medium
of knowledge and faith. It cannot otherwise act
upon the mind.

The great work of human redemption is accom-
plished by the instrumentality of truth. The good
old puritan divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, such as Isaac Ambrose, Matthew Mead,
Robert Fleming, and many others of kindred theo-
logy, said much about the consultations holden in
heaven about the redemption of man. The unre-
pealable law of God condemned him to eternal death
and misery. But was it possible to save the race, or
even a part of it ? The angels said, No. God's law
must stand; therefore man must be damned. There
is no possible remedy. At length, Jehovah himself
suggested an idea : it was, that the second person in

the Godhead should consent to be incarnated and
31

362 GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH.

victimized in the room and stead of the offenders.
The suggestion was received with shouts of admi-
ration and gladness. The deepest wonder was
expressed. How astonishing, said they, that even
infinite wisdom could dive so deep, and infinite
love grasp so much ! And this topic has been the
theme of much eloquent declamation, even in mod-
ern pulpits. We have heard the excellent and
gifted Eliphalet Nott and the late ingenious Jabez
Fisher expatiate with great force upon it. Had
angels, said they, sat in consultation through the
whole of eternity, they could not have devised an
effective and satisfactory method. They could not
have proposed a plan which would honor God's
law, and save man the sinner. It has, we observe,
been a fine theme for eloquent pulpit-declamation.
Yet it is all moonshine. Man is not redeemed,
even on their principles, by having his penal debt
cancelled ; by having an angry God appeased ; by
a vicarious sacrifice.

Our imaginative theologians have assumed false
principles ; that sin is transferable, and may be im-
puted to the innocent; and the guilty, by this
means, acquitted ; that the death of Christ was a
real expiatory sacrifice ; that it was so satisfactory
to God that he becomes willing to propose terms
of reconciliation to sinful men. These, however,
are not truths, but mistakes. What theologians
call the atonement does not, of itself, according to
their own doctrine, save a single soul. It only
brings man into a salvable state ; a state in which, by
conversion and repentance, he may secure the par-

GREAT POWER AND USE OP TRUTH. 363

don of his sins and the favor of God. And this cer-
tainly is the state in which man has ever been from
the sixth day of the first week to the present time.

This scheme of redemption — as it has been
called — and which has been so much extolled, and
called a matchless wonder for its profundity of wis-
dom, does, in reality, when fairly examined, bear
more of the marks of human weakness and folly than
of divine strength and intelligence. It assumes for
truth the palpable error that the temporary death of
one human soul is an equivalent to the eternal death
of the whole human race. For the death of Christ
was the death of a man. It was the man only, as
they acknowledge, that died ; and it was impossi-
ble that he could have suffered the penalty of the
law. The penalty, say they, is eternal death, end-
less misery. This Christ did not suffer, nor any
thing like an equivalent to it.

The power of truth has been acl^nowledged by
different forms of expression. It has long been a
maxim, that time is the wisest thing in the world.
Also, that truth is the strongest thing in the world.
Also, that knowledge is incomparable in its power.
All these maxims stand on the same basis, and are
essentially one and the same. Time itself has no
power, except as it furnishes opportunity for the
action of knowledge and truth. Truth has no
power, except as it is known. And knowledge de-
rives all its strength from truth. It follows that
time, knowledge, and truth are a combined power.
One is nothing without the other. And what one
of them can do, another of them can do also. All

364 GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH.

the improvements and reformations that have been
effected in the human world have been the work of
truth. When the faults and vices of an age have
been avoided by a succeeding age, the reform has
taken place through the action of truth. If the
Chaldeans were less vicious than the Egyptians, it
was because the former were more enlightened than
the latter. If the Persians were less immoral
than the Chaldeans, it was due to their superior
enlightenment. And the same thing may be pre-
dicated of the Greeks in relation to the Persians,
and of the Romans in relation to the Greeks. The
amount of knowledge in the world has been ever,
gradually and slowly, on the advance ; and, as
knowledge has advanced, some forms of vice and
wickedness have disappeared. The custom of reta-
liation, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and the right of
the nearest relative to avenge a death by killing the
man-slayer, — who might be innocent of intentional
murder, — fell into disuse and became obsolete
through the prevalence of knowledge. The ten-
dency of truth is to humanize man's heart. It
assuages his anger ; it cools his malignant passions;
it moderates his selfishness ; it gives scope to com-
passion and generosity. All the reforms in modern
society have been effected by enlightening public
sentiment, — the temperance reform; the peace re-
form ; the anti-slavery reform ; the free government
reform. These reforms are not yet consummated ;
but they have commenced, and the requisite amount
of public enlightenment will carry them on to com-
pletion.

GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH. 365

There is no condition of human society so bad,
be it among savages, barbarians, or nominally civi-
lized ; no amount of vicious customs so prevalent
and strong, though it be what has been called a
hell upon earth ; we repeat, no condition of human
society so bad that it cannot be reformed by en-
lightenment and truth. Every society is composed
of men ; and every man is susceptible of good im-
pressions and of true virtue. Enlighten him to the
requisite extent, and he will become the subject of
them. It is not requisite that any change should
be WTOught in man's constitutional susceptibilities.
When he knows the whole truth, he perceives that
it is for his own advantage to act right; that his
duty and his welfare are identified. Even his self-
love will then lead him on in the ways of justice,
sobriety, and rectitude.

The wise man uttered the following doctrine :
" There is a way which seemeth right to man ; but
the end thereof are the ways of death." Men may
practise wrong, thinking that it is right. In this
way, doubtless, all wrong customs have been intro-
duced into human society. Men commenced them
under the impression that the thing was right.
Thus, undoubtedly, commenced the custom of war;
that of slavery; that of arbitrary and tyrannical
government ; that of unprincipled competition ; —
the strong taking advantage of the weak, thinking
that might and right are nearly identical. By
means of these customs, the great mass of man-
kind have been oppressed, degraded, vitiated, and
brutalized. AU these customs are wicked ; and,
31*

366 GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH.

when men become convinced that they are wicked,
they will renounce them, though not before. The
way, therefore, to redeem the world from its sins,
is to enlighten it. Convince all men, that war,
slavery, arbitrary government, cruel and bloody
laws, selfish and unprincipled competition, and the
oppression of the weak by the strong, are unrighte-
ous and wicked customs ; and they will cease to
practise them. The world will then be redeemed
from these sins, and all the miseries which attend
them. And this is the method proposed and pur-
sued by the gospel of Christ. It acts first upon
individuals ; and it acts by way of enlightenment
and instruction. Men are to receive the truth by
conviction, not by dictation, not by authority and
a blind faith. The man who thus receives his
creed does not know whether it consists of truth
or falsehood. The man must be free to accept or
reject ; free to discuss and examine ; free to profess
what he believes, without incmTing any stigma or
disadvantage. It is conviction of truth, thus ob-
tained, that will work reform and sanctification.
Freedom of thought is requisite previously to ob-
taining freedom from error and sin.

It has of late become the fashion, in certain
quarters, to disparage intellectual education, and
to extol what they call the moral, — the culture of
the heart. Knowledge, say they, does not make a
man righteous : it does not regulate his heart. The
most enlightened man may be a knave, a counter-
feiter, an embezzler, an unprincipled demagogue.
We are, however, dissatisfied with this doctrine.

GREAT POWER AND USE OF TRUTH. 367

We believe that all enlightenment, even what is
called the moral, comes through the instrumentality
of the intellect. All just moral distinctions are the
work of the understanding. No emotive impulse
is safe and reliable, until it has been judged of by
the intellect. Emotions of compassion, of genero-
sity, of tenderness, and pious zeal, must be exam-
ined and justified by the understanding, before they
can be safely adopted as principles of actions.
There must be discretion, as w^ell as kindness, mer-
cy, and conscientious zeal, in order that an action
be useful and good. Indiscreet acts of kindness, be-
neficence, and pious zeal, may be, and wdll usually
be, injurious rather than beneficial.

When a man knows the whole truth, he knows
how to make moral distinctions. Until he makes
such distinctions accurately, he is not duly enlight-
ened. And he must make them by the use of his
intellect. He knows nothing except through the
instrumentality of his understanding. All useful edu-
cation comes through this medium. All useful
preaching acts on the same principle. It must
address the heart through the medium of the un-
derstanding, or it is as water spilled on the ground,
which forthwith is evaporated and dried up. A
man is not well intellectually educated, unless he
is capable of readily making right moral distinc-
tions, and obeying them. A morally unprincipled
man must be deficient in knowledge. He does not
understand in what his own welfare consists. He
makes the great mistake of thinking that gain is
godliness ; that dishonesty may be profitable.

368

THE NEW AND THE OLD.

"No man, having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new; for he saith,
The old is belter." — Luke, v. 39.

The meaning is not that old, stale, and sour wine
is better than that which is fresh, well made, and
comparatively new ; but that wine well fermented
and of suitable age is better than that which is just
from the press and imperfectly made. Our Lord
here asserts a fact which was doubtless well known
and acknowledged. But was such an assertion
worth being made ? Perhaps not for its own sake ;
but the language is to be understood as figm-ative.
The real meaning is one more ultimate than the
literal. It appears to be this, that the new dispen-
sation, about to be erected, and now in its incipi-
ency, would be better than the old ; that Christianity
would be better than Judaism.

We are led to this conclusion from the connection.
In this our Lord makes use of several similitudes :
" No man putteth new wine into old bottles ; else
the bottles will burst, and the wine be spilled, and
the bottles destroyed. But new wine must be put
into new bottles, and then both the bottles and the

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 369

wine are preserved." These bottles were the skins
of small animals. New, fresh skins, being strong
and elastic, would bear the fermentation of the wine.
They would stretch and enlarge. But old skins,
being stiff and unyielding, could not endure the
wine's fermentation, but would break, and the wine
be wasted. Old bottles or skins are unsuitable for
new wine. Again : " No man putteth a piece of
new cloth into an old garment ; else the new not
agreeing with the old, taketh from it, and the rent
is made worse." Garments were generally made
of wool. By being often washed, they became fuller
and thicker as they grew old. New cloth was
thinner than that of an old garment. Hence it
was not suitable to be put into it for the purpose
of fining up a hole or rent ; because the new piece
would shrink by being washed more than the old.
It would then cease to answer its intended purpose.
New cloth, therefore, was unsuited to mend an old
garment.

Furthermore, in the immediately preceding con-
nection, we are informed, that " they said unto him.
Why do the disciples of John often fast and make
prayers, likewise the disciples of the Pharisees ; but
thine eat and drink ? " He answered, " Can ye
make the children of the bride-chamber fast, as long
as the bridegroom is with them? But the days
will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from
them; then shall they fast in those days." The
idea seems to be this : fasting is suitable for times
of aflliction. Men in ease and prosperity do not
often fast. But it is when in danger and distress

370 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

that they betake themselves to fasting and prayer.
Thus the children of Israel, when engaged in an
unfortunate and distressing war with the tribe of
Benjamin, fasted and wept in a great general as-
sembly before the Lord in Mizpeh. And in the
time of Jehosaphat, when the country was menaced
by a most formidable invasion of hostile Ethiopians,
— people, probably, of Upper Egypt, — the good
king instituted a special fast as a means of invoking
and obtaining divine help and protection. And
when the Jews were in imminent danger from the
conspiracy of Haman, Esther the queen and Mor-
decai and their companions fasted for the space of
three days. And the king and people of Nineveh,
being greatly alarmed by the preaching of Jonah,
observed a fast of so rigid a character that all
persons from the throne to the footstool clothed
themselves in sackcloth, and neither ate bread nor
drank water. And this regimen was extended to
brute as well as to man.

Fasting is an observance appropriate to times
and circumstances of adversity and sorrow. Our
Lord did not enjoin it upon his disciples ; for they
were then in the circumstances and enjoyment of
great privilege. The bridegroom was with them.
But this privilege would not always continue. The
time was coming when he would be removed.
They would then be afflicted, and have occasion to
fast.

The beauty of a thing depends upon its adapta-
tion and suitableness. " A word fitly spoken, how
good it is ! It is like [painted] apples of gold in

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 371

pictures of silver." There were many things in the
old dispensation, which, though there proper and
useful, are nevertheless unsuitable to the genius of
the new. A different age of the world had come.
The human mind had improved by experience and
enlightenment. The Mosaic institute was distin-
guished by its numerous, rigid, general, and unyield-
ing rules. The whole service of God was a matter
of prescription ; the whole duty of man, laid down
in specific laws. He must do so much, and no
more. Thus he was made a kind of slave or pri-
soner. He possessed but small discretionary power.
And these laws and customs, in many cases, were
burdensome, harsh, cruel, unjust, and barbarous.
The distinctive of Christianity is that of mildness,
utility, mercifulness, and liberty. The man is al-
lowed a large share of discretionary power. He
may adapt his conduct to circumstances. He may
govern himself by principles. The fixed speci-
fic laws of Christianity are few. It is the obser-
vance of principles, not of prescriptive rules, that
regulates the Christian's life. Our Lord Jesus
Christ did not rigidly observe the Mosaic and the
Jewish formalities. Hence he was accused of
being a sabbath-breaker, a wine-bibber, a glutton-
ous man, a friend of publicans and sinners. There
was a freedom in his demeanor which to the formal
pharisee seemed to amount to transgression and
licentiousness. John Baptist was an ascetic, wear-
ing sackcloth of camel's hair with a leathern girdle,
and subsisting upon locusts and wild honey. The
pharisees wore broad phylacteries, and enlarged the

372 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

borders of their garments. Jesus our Lord made no
artificial display of sanctity. He knew that pure
religion and undefiled in the sight of God consisted
in holiness of heart and rectitude of conduct.

The sentiment we have deduced from the text,
and which we shall endeavor to illustrate, is this, —
that Christianity is better than Judaism. That it
is such may be made apparent from the following
considerations : —

1. Christianity discards the inhumanity and in-
justice contained in some parts of the Mosaical
law. This law, being produced in a barbarous
age, adopted a considerable measure of the usages
of its times. Many of these were inhumane and
unjust. The penalties affixed to offences, real
and imaginary, were often unreasonable and cruel.
The punishment of death was more common than
any other. The statutes of Moses ordained that a
slight violation of the law for the observance of the
sabbath should incur the forfeiture of life. The
man who gathered sticks for his fire-hearth was
put to death. The woman who broke her conju-
gal vow was doomed to die without mercy. So
likewise the stubborn son. And the man who pro-
posed an alteration in rehgious worship was to be
capitally punished. If a man, not a priest, touched
the ark or any of the sacred vessels, he must die
for his transgression. If a man ceremonially un-
clean came into the sanctuary, and mingled with
the great congregation of worshippers, he must be
cut off, — put to death ; and these ceremonial de-
filements were easily and necessarily incurred. It

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 373

was done by the sight of a dead body; by touch-
ing a grave, or the bone of a dead man ; by having
the leprosy, and certain other diseases ; by any
malformation of body ; by being a bastard, a dwarf,
or a cripple ; by having the itch or a scab. And
the penalty to all these, for entering the sanctuary
or attending public worship, was death. A large
number of persons were thus excluded, and many
of them excluded for life, from the place and the
privilege of public worship ; and this exclusion was
for no fault of their own. Such a deprivation im-
plied a hardship and injustice.

Children and other relatives were often involved
in the same disabilities and punishment with the
offenders. When Achan was put to death for his
theft, his wife, children, and all his household, per-
ished with him. When the inhabitants of Jabesh-
Gilead had incurred the displeasure of the eleven
tribes for not coming to Mizpeh, on being sum-
moned thither in order to consult about the war
with the tribe of Benjamin, an army was sent
against them with instructions to slay and destroy
man, woman, child, and property ; and these in-
structions w^ere punctually fulfilled. And the same
barbarity was inflicted on the offending tribe of
Benjamin. There was an indiscriminate slaughter
of old and young, male and female ; and the cities
of the tribe converted into waste and desolation.

In the first chapter of Judges, it is related that a

certain Canaanitish king, named Adonibezek, was

taken a prisoner of war. And how did they treat

him? They cut off his thumbs and his great

32

374 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

toes. Agag, king of the Amalekites, in a similar
condition, was hewed in pieces, — had his limbs
lopped off, probably, one after another, and then
his head. And all these things were done pm*su-
ant to the spirit, and in many cases the very letter,
of the Mosaical law. And the instances recorded
in the Old Testament of these barbarities are very
numerous, too much so to be given in detail. It
cannot be candidly denied, that the Jewish law
sanctioned a great amount of injustice and cruelty.
Their mode of execution was barbarous. They
killed a man by pelting and bruising him with
stones until he was dead. Such was Judaism.
But such is not Christianity. Its author specially
inculcated compassion, forgiveness, and mercy : —
" Be ye, therefore, kind and merciful like your Fa-
ther who is in heaven." He is good unlo all, — to
the just and the unjust ; and causes his sun to rise
upon them both, and sendeth his rain upon their
fields and pastures. To a woman brought before
him, charged with the crime of adultery, he said,
" Go, and sin no more." He sanctioned no severe
penalties, no intolerance, no bloodshed. He speci-
fied, on different occasions, many passages of the
Old Testament that were exceptionable, and taught
a contrary doctrine ; declaring that Moses, for the
hardness of the people's hearts, gave them those
precepts. The apostles, having learned in the
school of Jesus, imbibed his doctrine and spirit.
They taught the lessons of patience under injuries,
forbearance toward erring brethren, forgiveness of
enemies, and love for aU mankind. " Be ye kind,

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 375

pitiful, courteous, tender-hearted, forgiving one an-
other, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you."

2. Christianity is better than Judaism, because
it renounces its superabundance of ceremony and
its superstition. The law of Moses laid a heavy
and burdensome yoke of ritual service upon the
people. The sacrifices for the altar were very nu-
merous and expensive. The ablutions, both of the
body and clothing, were, in a manner, constant and
endless. The three annual festivals, at which the
whole nation were required to attend, and each of
which continued for seven days or more, must have
been onerous and inconvenient. And some parts
of this ceremonial were even grossly superstitious.
There was the law in regard to the leprous house.
If the walls of a man's domicile exhibited spots
seemingly analogous to those on a leper's body,
the conclusion was that the house had the leprosy.
The priest was sent for to examine it. This he
did with great formality, observing the same pro-
cess as if he were examining a human body. It
was believed that houses were susceptible to the
same unclean disease as the body of a man. If
the priest, having gone through the prescribed for-
malities, pronounced the house leprous, it was or-
dered to be forthwith demolished, being regarded
as an intolerable nuisance and a dangerous plague.
For it might, by its infection, communicate its
plague to other houses, perhaps to the family which
occupied it, and the neighbors who entered it. All
this surely was a superstition. Nor was it an inno-

376 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

cent one : it possibly caused the destruction of many
needed and valuable habitations.

And they had another superstition of a vastly
more barbarous and cruel character. The husband
was allowed to be jealous of his wife without cause.
Though he could prove nothing against her, nor even
give facts to sustain suspicion, yet he was legally in-
vested with power to bring her before the magis-
trates and the priests for inquisition. He might say
to them, " The spirit of jealousy has come over me ;
I suspect that my wdfe has been unfaithful to my
bed, but I have no evidence of the fact." And, on
the ground of this empty allegation, the woman
was subjected to undergo a most degrading, painful,
and dangerous ordeal, like that of being tied up in
a sack, and thrown into the water; or stripped
naked, and caused to pass through the fire. The
priest, having abjured the woman, made her drink a
certain liquid, called " the bitter water which causeth
the curse." It was probably a description of poison
which sometimes proved fatal, but not always. The
person who drank it had some chance of escaping
death. It was superstitiously believed, that, if the
woman were guilty, she would be mortally poi-
soned, and die by slow and dreadful agonies ; but
that, if she were innocent, the bitter water would
do her no harm. Here surely was gross supersti-
tion and wanton cruelty. The process itself, made
in the most public manner, was scarcely less tolera-
ble than death. What could be worse, even if she
escaped with her life? But the chance might be
against her; for, guilty or innocent, the poison would

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 377

work its office. Even supposing that the innocent
always escaped with their Uves, that could not re-
pair the injury done to her feelings by having been
made such a public example. And all this in
pursuance of the whim of a husband, who took it
into his head to declare himself jealous of his wife,
though he could not tell why nor wherefore.

There is nothing like this in Christianity. It en-
joins no burdensome ritual. The religious services
it demands are of the most simple description.
" God is a spirit, and they who worship him should
do it in spirit and in truth." It aims at mental en-
lightenment and spirituality ; and its design is to
produce this effect by moral means, — instruction,
persuasion, rebuke, and encouragement ; by motives
addi'essed to the understanding and the heart. The
Mosaical law aimed to regulate the heart and the
life by means of rites, ordinances, and rules. It
proceeded on the presumption, that the observance
of these prescriptions would form a good character.
And perhaps this method was the best which could
at that time have been employed. Children, we
know, must be governed by rules. They do not
comprehend principles. But the time comes when
they are able to understand them. Judaism im-
proved under the ministry of the prophets. They
perceived that men might make a righteousness of
outward formalities ; that they rested on the means,
and overlooked the end. But the instructions of
the prophets did not effectually correct the evil.
The tendency to formality proceeded on, and ripened
in phariseeism. The pharisces were just such a
32*

378 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

description of men as the law of Moses was fitted
to produce. They kept the law externally ; and
they thus kept it rigidly, scrupulously, sanctimoni-
ously. But it did not make them spiritual; it
did not arrest the growth of inordinate and evil
passions. They who governed themselves by its
precepts were inflated with pride, self-esteem, arro-
gance, bigotry, and contempt of mankind, instead
of being " clothed with humility," and filled with
the fruits of the spirit of goodness, love, peace,
gentleness, forbearance, and charity. Christianity
seems to have been indirectly produced by the re-
action of phariseeism. It corrects its errors. It
recalls the human mind back to the principles of
real goodness. It teaches that God is neither
pleased or honored, nor is man improved or bene-
fited, by mere external services, by sacrifices, ablu-
tions, penances, vows, mortifications, all of which
go to the construction of an artificial righteousness.
It teaches men that nothing is available in the sight
of God but a religious morality which consists in
heart-and-life goodness. The prophets had taught
this ; but their voice was not duly heard. The in-
comparable efficiency of Jesus, the Son of God,
to whom the spirit of the Father was given without
measure, was needed to enlighten and reclaim the
Jewish and the Gentile world. His mission has
been attended and followed with vastly important
results, with the most glorious success. iPor though
men have tenaciously and stubbornly clung to their
errors, yet the strongholds of superstition have been
effectively assaulted ; post after post has been sur-

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 379

rendered ; the darkness has been receding, and the
light making advances ; and the consummation
must come. Jesus will be king of nations as he is
king of saints.

3. Christianity is preferable to Judaism, because
it confers more freedom of thought and judgment.
It recognizes no hierarchy to control the opinions
and the practice of individual men. It virtually for-
bids such an institution. " Call no man on earth
your father; for one in heaven is your Father. And
call no man your master ; for one is your Master,
even Christ. And be ye not called Rabbi ; for ye
are all brethren." The aim of Christianity is to
impart unto every man that enlightenment by which
his own conscience shall become his own compe-
tent director. He is commanded to prove all things,
and to hold fast that which he finds to be true and
good. This liberty was not accorded to individuals
by the Jewish institute. In this the people were
instructed just what they should believe and do.
Its rules and statutes w^ere specific. But small
latitude was allowed to private judgment. The
man was to learn his duty as the child learns his
lesson. He was rather passive than active. But
not such is Christianity. It furnishes the elements
of truth and doctrine, and then leaves the task of
working them up into rules and system to the in-
dividual man. And it exonerates him from blame,
from the condemnation of his brethren, for his opi-
nions' sake. One man esteemeth one day above
another; another man esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

380

THE NEW AND THE OLD.

One man eateth meat [on holy days] ; another man
eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him
that eateth not ; nor him that eateth not, him that
eateth ; for God accepts them both. Because he
that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord
[he acts conscientiously] ; and he that regardeth not
the day, to the Lord he regardeth it not [he also
acts conscientiously], giving God thanks. Why
should one man's liberty be judged of by another
man's conscience ? To his own Master [in heaven]
he standeth or falleth. To him who acts from a
pure conscience, all things are pure [he is morally
unblamable] ; but to him who acts against his con-
science, all his actions are morally \\Tong. Happy
is he who is not self-condemned for his habitual
and deliberate conduct. Whatsoever is not ap-
proved by a man's own conviction incurs guilt.
He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, it is
sin.

The gospel of Christ regards every man as
accountable for his own conduct ; and the condi-
tion of moral responsibility is freedom of thought
and judgment. It is only by enjoying liberty of
investigation that a man can arrive at an enhght-
ened conclusion on the points of truth and duty.
It is opportunity for free reflection and discussion
that brings forth improvement on the subjects of
morality, philosophy, and religion. An hierarchy,
consisting of a grade of authorities, exercising the
power of prescribing to the people what each one
must believe and practise, is a yoke of bondage. It
is a chain which cramps and confines the intelligent

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 381

soiil, and renders it a prisoner. It bars up the path
of progress, saying to the voice of inquiry, " Thi-
therto you may advance, but not beyond ; at that
point you must stop, — cease to think, and only
believe." By the effectual operation of this insti-
tution, the human mind must be kept in a state of
perpetual childhood. It can never arrive at inan-
hood. The errors of the times of ignorance are
thus fastened on all posterity. Man can never
attain to his proper stature. Science cannot divest
itself of its falsehood, nor morality of its vices, nor
religion of its superstitions. Judaism furnished this
iron yoke, but Christianity breaks it. It brings
forth the prisoner, and bids him go free.

4. Christianity brings us into acquaintance with
a God of greater perfection and goodness than
was the Jehovah of the Jews. His character was
marred with many imperfections. Though he was
called merciful and gracious, yet he was described
as jealous, wrathful, and unjustly severe. Though
declared to be good unto all, extending his tender
mercies over all his works, yet he is represented
as oftentimes furious, implacable, and merciless ;
though declared to be full of pardoning mercy and
forgiving love, yet described as visiting the ini-
quity of the fathers upon their children unto the
third and fourth generation, and as glorifying
himself by the infliction of the most dire, indiscri-
minate, and destructive judgments. He hardens a
king's heart, that he may deluge a whole kingdom
with plagues and distress. He deceives a prophet,
that he may have the occasion of destroying him.

382 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

Now, if all mankind were indeed in the hand of
such a God, how wretched must be the condition
of the world! Christianity, however, reverses this
position. It brings mankind into acquaintance
with that Holy One, whose mercy is as great as his
power ; with One who would have all men come to
the knowledge of the truth, and be saved. Though
the Jewish prophets had announced him as such,
yet the Mosaical doctrine had generally prevailed.

5. Christianity gives to the world, instead of a
national deity, a God and Father of the whole
human race. Judaism was a national religion.
It recognized but one altar of public worship, and
but one people, w^hom he had chosen to be his own.
Although it tolerated the admission of proselytes to
partial privilege, it could not become a universal
religion. All nations cannot go to Jerusalem for
to worship ; and the burdensome ritual of the Jews
served as an impassable wall of partition between
them and the great mass of mankind. But the
religion of Christ brings all men into a paternal
relation to their divine Creator. With the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no
partiality, no favoritism. " In every nation, he that
feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted."
The commandment given to the apostles was, —
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature." He that believeth and obej^eth
this gospel, whether Jew or Gentile, shall be saved.
There is no respect of persons with the God of
Christianity. It is not his wiU that one of his lit-
tle children should perish.

THE NEW AND THE OLD. 383

Finally: Christianity stands on better promises,
and is inspired with better hopes. It brings life and
immortality to light. It promises a resurrection
and a futm^e life ; the exchange of the corruptible
for the incorruptible, of the mortal for immortality ;
the dissolution of this house of our earthly taber-
nacle to be replaced with a building of God, — a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
But the promises of Judaism were of an earthly
description. Its language was, " There is no know-
ledge nor thought nor work in the grave. In the
day men die, their very thoughts perish. They go
down into the regions of darkness and the shadow
of death, of darkness as darkness itself, where the
light is as darkness." Thus have Christians been
begotten again to a lively hope by the resuiTection
of Jesus from the dead. As they have borne the
image of the earthly, it is promised that they shall
bear the image of the heavenly. For, as in Adam
all die, so in Christ shall all be made aUve.

In view of the preceding propositions and re-
marks, we have occasion to reflect that Christianity
has been much misunderstood by its professors.
They have erected hierarchies, and deprived indivi-
duals of that liberty with which Christ has made
them free. The Jewish law has been adopted as
the model of ecclesiastical order. The children
of the church have been put under the same kind of
bondage as were those of the Hebrew covenant.
They have been taught to fashion their faith and
their practice in accordance with the forms of doc-
trine and discipline given them. Ecclesiastical

384 THE NEW AND THE OLD.

authorities have usurped the seat of the great Head
of the church. They have exercised domination
over God's heritage. They have grievously op-
pressed those who, in all honesty and conscience,
have dared to think for themselves. They have
accounted men heretics and criminals for entertain-
ing opinions different from those contained in
human standards. Thus have Christians been shut
out from the enjoyment of moral freedom. Thus
have the errors, the ignorance, and the superstitions
of dark ages been fastened upon the generations
which came after them. All this is unchristian.
What has Christianity to do with popes and pri-
mates, with councils and synods, with creeds and
excommunications, with penances and indulgences,
with anathemas and canonization? , It is putting
new wine into old bottles ; it is mending an old
garment with new cloth ; it is wedding the virgin
bride of Christ to Moses, or Elijah the Tishbite.

385

FASTING AND PRAYER.

" Then shall they fast in those days." — Luke, v. 35.

Our Lord, in his discourses, chiefly urged those
duties which are things good of themselves ; such as
humility, pureness of heart, forgiveness of injuries,
trust in God, hungering and thirsting for the right-
eousness of the kingdom of heaven. These are
called moral duties, in distinction from others called
ceremonial, such as sabbath-keeping, fasting, prayer,
and attending the ordinances of religious worship.
The former of these two descriptions of duty are
things good in themselves ; they constitute actual
righteousness : but the latter are only relatively
good ; useful as means ; and, when attended to as
an end, fall into the category of formality and self-
righteousness. It was the great fault of the Jews in
our Saviour's time, that they had become religious
formalists. There was comparatively little need of
urging attention to ceremonial duties. The want
was on the other hand. Hence this peculiarity in
the discourses of our Lord. This omission became
a matter of notice and inquiry. They said of Jesus,

" This man is not of God, because he keepeth not
33

386 FASTING AND PRAYER.

the sabbath-day." To this allegation he replied by-
saying, " The sabbath was made for man, not man
for the sabbath." It is not an idol to be worshipped,
but a privilege to be made use of and improved. —
Again, they accused him of immorahty in eating
and drinking with publicans and sinners. This
accusation he repelled by pronouncing the three
admirable parables recorded in the fifteenth chap-
ter of Luke. He mingled among these men, not
for the sake of enjoying their society, but to do
them good ; to convert them from their sins. It
was always lawful to do good ; always right to
perform acts of mercy, usefulness, and truth, even
sometimes at the expense of disregarding the con-
ventional morality of the times. On a certain
occasion, the disciples of Jesus came to him, " say-
ing. Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his
disciples." This request seemed to imply a ne-
glect on the part of Jesus to inculcate the duty of
prayer. On this occasion he gave them that ad-
mirable formula denominated the Lord's Prayer ;
at the same time cautioning them against repeti-
tious formality, " like the heathen who thought that
they should be heard for their much speaking." And
again, " they said unto him. Why do the disciples
of John fast often, and make prayers ; likewise the
disciples of the pharisees ; but thine eat and drink ? "
He answered by saying, " Can ye make the children
of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is
with them ? But the days will come when the
bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and
then shall they fast in those days." The principle

FASTING AND PRAYER. 3^7

in rcgiird to fasting, inculcated in this passage, is
obviously this, that religious fasting is appropriate
to times and occasions of affliction ; that it is na-
tural and proper for men to fast when they are in
peril or in trouble. David fasted when he was dis-
tressed. The Jews fasted when they were in peril
from the machinations of Haman. The people of
Nineveh fasted when alarmed to a sense of their
danger by the preaching of Jonah.

But what is the design and the origin of fasting
as a religious exercise ? The design doubtless is
humiliation, self-abasement, a suitable concomitant
of prayer. When a person feels deeply afflicted on
account of his sins, he has no relish for food ; he
neglects his usual meals. This fact undoubtedly
suggested the thought of ceremonial fasting. It
might deepen the feelings of contrition and humi-
lity in the heart. It is nearly akin to ceremonial
mourning. All mourning, as well as fasting, is pri-
mitively natural. Both have their origin in nature
and in fact. Lamenting the death of a worthy
relative was a thing fitting and commendable.
Hence, mourning gi-ew into a ceremony. A cer-
tain number of days were set apart for the forms
and exercise of mourning. Musicians and min-
strels were sometimes employed on such occasions.
Forty days of mourning are said to have been kept
at the tomb of the patriarch Jacob. The expres-
sion repeatedly occurs, " And when the days of
mourning w^ere ended." A specific time was also
devoted to ceremonial fasting. The Jews in the
time of Esther fasted for three days and three

388

FASTING AND PRAYER.

nights. Daniel represents that on one occasion he
fasted during the space of "three Avhole weeks,
eating no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor
wine into his mouth." The pharisee in the parable
said, " I fast twice in the week." The advantage
of fasting resulted from the favorable opportunity
it afforded for devout meditation and prayer. And,
so long as it was observed for this purpose, it was
proper and useful. But when it became a mere
formality, and was observed for the sake of the
righteousness which was supposed to consist in
mere fasting, its proper design and use were over-
looked. Fasting lost its true character ; it became
a superstition ; it gi'ew into an enormous extrava-
gance among Christians in the third, fourth, and
succeeding centuries. It was the basis on which
the huge and unsightly edifice of monasticism was
built. The hermits were accounted the rarest and
most excellent Christians. And such is usually the
perversion of ti'uth, when ceremonial righteousness
is substituted for moral, and even raised above it.

Ceremonial mourning and fasting have prevailed
most among people comparatively rude and un-
enlightened. As the amount of enlightenment has
increased among them, they have made less account
of them. This result may be accounted for, not so
much because they discover the impropriety of the
thing itself, but the uselessness of the superstitions
which have been associated with it. Ceremonial
mourning, fasting, and prayer, all stand on the
same original foundation. If any one of these be
utterly useless and improper, so likewise each and

FASTING AND PRAYER. 389

all of them. The fact, however, is, that there must
be some use and propriety in them all, or they never
would have been adopted and practised. Every
phenomenon must have a cause. Every custom
among every people must have originated in some
want; in some sense of use and propriety. Cere-
monial mourning expressed a feeling of respect
for deceased relatives, benefactors, and friends ; and
this was proper and beautiful. Ceremonial fasting
contributed to deepen feelings of contrition and hu-
mility; and this also was proper and useful. And
ceremonial prayer was found to cherish and to
strengthen feelings of devotion, and on this ac-
count was estimated as useful and important. If
there are those who can, without any injury to them-
selves or others, dispense wholly with ceremonial
mourning, and also those who can thus dispense
with ceremonial fasting, there may likewise be
those who might wholly dispense with c^premonial
prayer. None of these customs prevailed among the
early generations of mankind. Men then mourned,
fasted, and prayed from natural impulses only.
And if they would return back to any one of these,
and wholly exclude the ceremonial, consistency per-
haps requires that they return to all of them. Let
them reject ceremonial prayer as much as they do
mourning and festing. The argument against the
first of these is the same as it is against the two
others. If you allege that outward mourning does
not create sorrow, nor necessarily express it, the
same allegation may be made against prayer. It

does not change the mind and the will of God.
33*

390 FASTING AND PRAYER.

Why, then, should we pray at all? Is not prayer
wholly useless ? Doubtless it is so, unless there
are good subjective efFects. If the tendency of
prayer be to render the mind more conscientious,
contemplative, and devout, then it is useful ; not
useless, but availing. And the same is true of
ceremonial mourning and fasting. So far as they
contribute to deepen and to regulate a healthy sor-
row, they are useful. For sorrow itself may be a
good thing. Hence the proverb among them of old
time : " Son*ow is better than laughter ; for by the
sadness of the countenance the heart is made bet-
ter."

There are, probably, many who have very little
faith in the use of ceremonial mourning and fasting,
yet very strong faith in the availableness of prayer.
But is there not some inconsistency in this thing?
For if the power of godliness without the form,
if the spirit of truth without the letter, if the meat
of the nut without the shell, be the only things valu-
able and needful, then may every part and parcel
of the ceremonial be at once laid aside. Prayer, in
this case, must be repudiated as the natural sister
of fasting and mourning. To retain the first as a
thing good of itself, but to reject the others, would
be anomalous. But, if the utility of the things
determine their propriety, you may perhaps con-
sistently retain one part, and lay aside the other.
The subject now becomes wholly conventional and
arbitrary. You may mourn or not mourn, fast
or not fast, pray or not pray, just as you deter-
mine the use and propriety to be in your own mind ;

FASTING AND PRAYER. 391

remembering, however, that you are responsible for
all your determinations and practices. For, as
mourning does not create sorrow, nor fasting neces-
sarily induce contrition ; so prayer cannot change
the mind of God, nor alter the course and laws of
his natural providence.

The time, however, has been when it was believed
that prayer could do such a thing; that prayer could
shut up heaven, that it rained not ; that prayer also
could open the windows of heaven, and bring down
rain upon the earth ; that prayer could repel a
powerful army of invaders, drive a\vay clouds of
destructive locusts, stay the hand and the sword
of the angel of pestilence, and convert abodes of
famine into a place of plenty. But such belief is
not now prevalent. It is now generally believed,
that God governs the world by a system of con-
stant and uniform laws or tendencies, by which
are brought about whatsoever comes to pass ; that
all natural phenomena have appropriate physical
causes ; that the only way to change the course of
results is to remove the productive causes; that
physical effects are always and only produced by
physical agencies. It was once believed, that God
interfered with the laws of nature, and sent upon
individuals and nations physical calamities, such as
wars, wild beasts, pestilence, dearths, floods, tem-
pests, earthquakes, &c. as penal retributions for such
iniquities as sabbath-breaking, idolatry, and injustice
between man and man ; and that a reformation
from these delinquencies would change the tide of
war, arrest the depredations of the lions, the locusts,

•392 FASTING AND PRAYER.

and the caterpillar ; would stay the progress of floods,
tempests, and earthquakes. It is now, however,
more generally believed, that reformations produce
their good results by the physical powers embraced
in them ; that all moral phenomena possess also a
physical character ; that conscience and fear and
love and sympathy are physical as well as moral
principles ; that, though the physical and the moral
are distinct things, and often act independently of
each other, yet that they are intimately related, the
one sometimes running into the other, and the two
being often combined in the same faculty and action ;
that, under the constitution and government of God,
universal obedience to his laws would be necessarily
attended with peace, content, competent supplies
of things needful, general prosperity, health, and hap-
piness ; that an infringement upon physical laws
produces mischiefs which the strictest obedience to
moral la^v cannot countervail and resist ; that a dis-
regard of the laws of health will be attended and
followed by sickness and death, however conscien-
tious and godly are the people ; that a skilful obser-
vance of these laws will generally insure health and
life, however wicked be the people ; that, in the
constitution of things, means and ends, causes and
effects, are appropriately related and connected.
Make use of all the appropriate means, and the end
is certainly attained. Neglect to use all the means,
and ^vhat means you do use will probably fail.
That there are good ends attainable by such moral
means as mourning for sin, fasting, prayer, and
religious faith. But the ends are appropriate to

FASTING AND PRAYER. 393

the means. They may produce carefulness, con-
scientiousness, confidence, hope, courage, resolu-
tion, and perseverance. And these are important
facilities for removing many afflictions. But they
will never accomplish that for which they are un-
fitted and inappropriate. They will not change
drought into rain, noxious air into salubrious, frost
into warmth, or famine into plenty. Yet devout
fasting and prayer may add much to the corn-age
and energy of pious reformers, who labor to en-
lighten and persuade an ignorant and a vicious
people, and thus be the means of converting dis-
order into order, dissipation into sobriety, sloth into
industry, and destitution into supplies. All forces
are fitted to produce effects. But every one " ac-
cording to its kind." Some forces are adapted to
produce certain results, but not others. In all cases,
the right forces must be employed, or all endeavors
will be ineffectual. Evils which have a purely phy-
sical cause must be remedied by the removal of
their causes. If the causes be indolence, indiscre-
tion, luxury, intemperance, uncleanliness, poverty,
and the like, the remedy lies in the virtues which
are the counterparts to those ills and vices. Those
neglected, all the fasting and prayers which ever
were among God's saints upon earth will avail
nothing.

We have already remarked, that it was once be-
lieved that idolatry and sabbath profanation procured
such evils as drought, locusts, caterpillars, and earth-
quakes. This was, doubtless, a mistake. And our
Saviour coiTCcted it when he said, " Your heavenly

394 FASTING AND PRAYER.

Father is good unto all, sendeth rain upon the just
and the unjust, maketh the sun to rise upon the
evil and the good." All the agencies of divine
providence are constantly fulfilling their missions,
without regard to the moral character of men.
God has so wisely adjusted them in the constitu-
tion of the world, that there is no sufficient occasion
for his supernatural interference. He certainly does
not interfere on occasions which we should judge
to be the most urgent and imperative. He did not
interpose in the case of the Mexico, the Lexington,
the Atlantic, and the Fredonian. And if no divine
interpositions in such extremities as those, where
can we ever expect to find them ?

But why did the ancient saints believe in the
facts of divine interposition and special providence ?
Must they not have had some reason for such a
belief ? They certainly had ; a reason that was
satisfactory to them. They saw, in the world of
nature and of providence, abundant evidence of the
goodness of God ; and they concluded that a God of
infinite goodness would not leave the occurrences
of time to the haphazard of chance. They saw
so much of righteous retribution, both upon the
just and the unjust, that they easily infeiTed the fact
of a special dispensation. They had learned but
fittle about many of the laws of the divine econo-
my. They were ignorant of the exquivsite perfection
of the world's constitution. It was to supply what
seemed to them to be the deficiencies of nature that
they brought in the doctrine of the immediate su-
pervision and agency of the Almighty Creator.

FASTING AND PRAYER. 395

And, though tliere was much mistake, there was
also much of truth, in their views. It was a truth,
as they believed, that God reigns over the world ;
that he judgeth in the earth ; that the righteous are
recompensed here, much more the ungodly and the
sinner. But it was their mistake, that a special
and supernatural providence was indispensable to
such a divine government. It was also their mis-
take, that causes merely moral produced physical
effects, both for good and for evil. They were in
a mistake when they concluded that the greatest
sufferers were the greatest sinners. Our Saviour
corrected this mistake when he said, " Think ye
that these men were sinners above all others,
because they suffered such things ? I tell you,
nay." And some of the wise men " of old time "
entertained very serious doubts of the correctness of
the popular views on this subject. The authors
of the books of Job and of the Ecclesiastes were of
this number. They even seem to have repudiated
them. " All things," says the Preacher, " come
alike unto all. There is one event to the righteous
and to the wicked ; to the clean and to the unclean ;
to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth
not." " There is a vanity upon the earth, that there
be just men, to whom it happeneth according to
the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked
men, to whom it haj)peneth according to the work
of the righteous." This fact, though it perplexed
him, did not unsettle his faith in the moral govern-
ment of God. " Yet," said he, " surely I know that
it shall be well with them that fear God; but it

396 FASTING AND PRAYER.

shall not be well with the wicked which fear not
God." And he concludes his book with the asser-
tion, that " God will bring every work into judgment,
even every secret thing, whether it be good or evil."
And Job goes so far as to say, and to repeat the
assertion, that " God destroyed the righteous with
the wicked." He doubtless intended no more than
the Preacher did in the declaration, "All things come
alike unto all," designing to express the idea, that all
men are alike mortal ; all equally liable to the deti'i-
mental accidents of life ; to the pestilence, to dearth,
to the floods, to the thunderbolt, to the whirlwind,
to sudden death.

It is hence obvious that there was, in ancient
society, an under-cun-ent which moved in a different
direction from the one on the surface. This curi'ent
has been rising toward the surface, so that now
most of the great ships are influenced by it. But
the customs of ancient societv have not all died out ;
nor ought they utterly to die. There was much
truth at the bottom of them. Ceremonial mourning,
fasting, and prayer, are of this description. They
still hold a place in society, and will long hold it.
When a member of Congress dies, a resolution is
brought forward and passed that the surviving
members wear a badge of mourning for the space
of thirty days. And in each of the New England
States the governor annually issues a proclamation,
recommending that a certain day, which he speci-
fies, be observed as a season of humiliation, fasting,
and prayer. And the President of the United
States has recently issued a " recommendation " to

FASTING AND PRAYER. 397

the people of these states to observe the third day
of August instant, as a religious fast for the pur-
pose of imploring the aid of God to stay the ra-
vages which the cholera is making in many parts
of our country. Some of the editors of our public
journals have attempted to ridicule this official
document of our chief magistrate as being a return
again to obsolete ideas, to a worn-out superstition.
But our view and judgment of the case are of a
different kind. We still believe there is a propriety
in ceremonial mourning, fasting, and prayer. What
if fasting and prayer cannot change the mind of
God, nor alter the action of nature's laws ? We
can, by such means, hold a description of inter-
course with Him in whose hand our life and our
breath are, and whose are all our ways. Though
it would be an impropriety to ask of God what
we have every reason to believe he will not do, yet
there can be none in praying for things which we
may reasonably hope that he will bestow. And
may we not hope that it is the will of God to check
and to stay the " Asiatic scourge " which is depopu-
lating some localities of our country ? If it now be
alleged that fasting and praying will not alter the
event, we answer, that, when the plague shall be
stayed, it will be a satisfaction to us that we have
devoutly prayed for such a mercy ; for, in this case,
we have become better prepared and fitted to be
thankful recipients of the blessing. We may never
pray for the purpose of changing the mind of God.
But, in cases wherein the divine will is unknown to
us, it may be proper for us to act on the ground
34

398 FASTING AND PRAYER.

that our prayers might persuade him ; for it is on
this ground that we can come to him as to a Father,
" able and willing to help us." We can thus have
intercourse and communion with the Father of our
spirits. As it is our duty as individuals to acknow-
ledge him in all our ways, so likewise as a nation ;
for as a nation we are dependent upon him. And
we are made to feel it in the present visitation of
his providence. Though as a nation we are strong,
and can send forth great fleets and armies suffi-
ciently powerful to humble om* enemies, yet we
cannot repel the destroying angel of pestilence;
we lie at his mercy ; we are dependent on a Power
above us, and it is good for us that we acknow-
ledge it. It is suitable for us as a nation to bow
and tremble before God ; not as menials and syco-
phants, but as intelligent and accountable beings.
It is fitting that we adopt the language of the pro-
phet : " Doubtless thou art our Father, though
Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknow-
ledge us not. We are a people called by thy name.
Save us."

We repeat in substance what we have already
said, that we should pray just as we would, provided
we did believe that God might be persuaded by
our prayers. We may never pray for what it is
contrary to the order of God's providence to dis-
pense ; and, when we pray for things which it is
in accordance with the order of his providence to
confer, we may reasonably hope for them. Yet the
thought of obtaining things by only praying for
them should not be entertained. Some devout

FASTING AND PRAYER. 399

persons appear not only to have expected success
to their prayers, but have felt an assurance that
they had received specific blessings in answer to
their prayers. This we call presumption. It is
not the proper design and end of prayer to obtain
outward benefits which we should not receive with-
out it. If we knew that we should realize certain
benefits, — proper subjects of prayer, — whether we
supplicated for them or not, this knowledge would
not diminish the duty of praying for them. We give
an illustration. A son earnestly desires a favor
from his good father. It is one for which it is
proper that the son should make request to his fa-
ther. Now, if the son should say. My father knows
all my circumstances ; he knows that I need the
thing ; and he will do it whether I ask him or not.
It is, therefore, useless for me to make the request.
Now, would this son act with propriety ? Would
it not be a mark of dutifulness, a suitable acknow-
ledgment of dependence, on the part of the son,
to go to his kind father, and make his request ?
Could he well acquit himself as a dutiful son with-
out doing it? Would not the mutual sympathies
of the father and the son be thus cherished and
augmented ? And the chief object of prayer is to
hold communion with God ; to walk with him ;
to be in harmony with him ; to demean ourselves
as the sons and daughters of the Almighty. There
is no impious impropriety in men's aspiring to
friendship and sympathy with God. They are, in
a degree, capable of it ; for man was made in the
likeness of God. His mind is an image of the

400 FASTING AND PRAYER.

divine mind ; his soul, a miniature of the great soul
of the universe ; his goodness, a reflected form of
God's goodness. Why, then, may there not be
communion between God in heaven and men upon
earth ? How accordant \vith this idea the declara-
tion of our Savioiu', " If a man love me, my Father
will love him ; and we will come unto him, and
make our abode with him " I

The proper use and end of fasting and prayer is
the cultivation of a devotional spirit; of a spirit
which acknowledges God, communes with God,
walks humbly with God, ti'usts in God, seeks earn-
estly and continually to be in harmony ^vith God ;
a spirit which laments its deficiencies, mourns for
its transgressions, and ardently aspires to retm'n
and be reconciled to Him from whom it has sin-
fully revolted. This spirit finds encouragement in
the Bible : " Return unto me, O ye who have back-
slidden! and I will return unto you." " I dwell in
the high and the holy place ; with him also which
is of a humble and contrite spirit, and trembleth
at my word." " Behold, I stand at the door, and
knock: if any one hear my voice and open the
door, I will come and sup with him, and he with
me."

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