The witness of the Spirit with our spirit, illustrated from the eighth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Roman, and the heresies of Montanus, Pelagius, &c. &c. : in eight sermons preached before the University of Oxford, in the year MDCCCXLVI ..

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THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT WITH OUR SPIRIT,

ILLUSTRATED FROM THE EIGHTH CHAPTER OF ST. PAUL'S
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS;

AND THE HERESIES OF

MONTANUS, PELAGIUS, &c. &c.

IN

EIGHT SERMONS

PREACHED BEFORE

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,

IN THE YEAR MDCCCXLVI.

AT THE

LECTURE

FOUNDED BY

THE LATE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M.A.

CANON OF SALISBURY.

BY

THE REV. AUGUSTUS SHORT, M.A.

VICAR OF RAVENSTHORPE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, RURAL DEAN:
AND LATE STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH.

OXFORD:
J. H. PARKER,
F. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON.
1846.

PRINTED BY T. COMBE, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY.

EXTRACT

FROM
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OF THE
REV. JOHN BAMPTON,
CANON OF SALISBURY.

Se

“I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to

‘¢ the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of
, yi

“Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular

«‘ the said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents
6

.

and purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will
“and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of
“ Oxford for the time being shall take and receive all the
rents, issues, and profits thereof, and. (after all taxes,
reparations, and necessary deductions made) that he pay
all the remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity
‘¢ Lecture Sermons, to be established for ever in the said
University, and to be performed in the manner following:

«I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in

"

‘

nn

ce

‘

.

.
.

‘¢ Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads
“of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoiming
ce

to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the
morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity
“ Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary’s in

6

©

iv EXTRACT FROM CANON BAMPTON’S WILL.

“ Oxford, between the commencement of the last month in
“ Lent Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term.

“* Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity
«‘ Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the
‘© following Subjects—to confirm and establish the Christian
‘ Faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics—upon
‘the divine authority of the holy Scriptures—upon the
“ authority of the writings of the primitive Fathers, as to
‘the faith and practice of the primitive Church—upon the
‘¢ Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—upon the
‘«‘ Divinity of the Holy Ghost—upon the Articles of the
‘Christian Faith, as comprehended in the Aposties’ and
“‘ Nicene Creeds.

«Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divimty
“‘ Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within two
“ months after they are preached, and one copy shall be
“given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy
“to the Head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor
“of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the
‘¢ Bodleian Library; and the expense of printing them shall
‘be paid out of the revenue of the Land or Estates given
“‘ for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons; and the
‘¢ Preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue,
‘* before they are printed.

« Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be
‘‘ qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless
‘‘he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in
<¢ one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and
“¢ that the same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture
«¢ Sermons twice.”

Pa oe A:

‘THE Sceptical or Pelagian tone of mind on
the one hand, and the unreal familiarity with
which Fanatics are wont to speak of Spiritual
influences on the other, led the Author to
reflect on the evidences which the Holy Spirit
appeared from Scripture to vouchsafe of His
presence with the Christian. While the former
virtually denies the undoubted work of the
Holy Ghost, the latter, by their extravagance
and presumption, appear to revolt men from
the blessed doctrine of divine grace; more
especially when it is found, that practically, if
not theoretically, such Enthusiasts are some-
times Antinomians. The Eighth chapter of
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans seemed on
being examined to determine the notes of the
Spirit’s indwelling in the adopted sons of God.
The evidences which presented themselves were
accordingly drawn out in the six first Lectures.
But the subject naturally brought to mind the
early heresies respecting the Personality and

vi PREFACE.

the Agency of the Comforter ; those, namely, of
Macedonius and Pelagius. A sketch therefore
of these heresies appeared likely to be useful.
It was accordingly attempted in the Seventh
Lecture; while the Eighth was reserved for
the consideration of those Fanatical sects, which
from the second century to the present day,
by their unfounded pretensions to extraordinary
illumination and gifts of the Spirit, have not
ceased to trouble the Church. The Appendix
contains a collection of passages from various
writers, on whose authority the facts and
statements in the two last Lectures are ad-
vanced. ‘The Author has nothing farther to
add than to express his hope, that the sober
doctrine of the Church of England, respecting
the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart may,
by God's blessing, find day by day wider ac-
ceptance, and rescue the public mind from the
evils both of Rationalism and Enthusiasm on
this momentous truth, namely, “The witness
of the Spirit with our spirit that we are the
children of God.”

a pmADrAhad a) AA *

”

pps vi
pPSROPERTY OF Stay
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\ 2

PRINCETON

LECTURE I.

Romans vii. 9.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
GE MRT OOD ko cena Aras Mladen ares ch tras dee e cas ens dead

LECTURE II.
Romans vill. 5.

They that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the
BS BUG rated vat Asthic a ans gee des PR at uok hed sins seins vag deslgcmaeceise ON

LECTURE III.

Romans vill. 15, 16.

Ve have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear ; but
ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
PEC OTA CHMOLON Of GOO ven -is2stieaancasadstisss «ieeuacee ence sm: 46.

LECTURE IV.

Romans vill. 4.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. .......ccsceceeees 67.

LECTURE V.

Romans viii. 13.

Tf ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
MRP ne Ree ooo ek ees yan ccawes van av seed euesce asters 88.

Vill CONTENTS.

LECTURE VE
Romans viii. 23.

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. ......... A:

LECTURE VIL.
PELAGIANISM.
Acts v. 38, 39.
If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought :

but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be
found even to fight agarmst God. ........ccsecescecesesevcerses 132.

LECTURE VIII.
MONTANISM.

1 Cor. xii. 31.
But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you
a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal. .........s00cesesenees nose aoe 153.

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LECTURE I.

Romans vil. 9.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.

seep presence of the Holy Spirit, “the Author and
Giver of life,’ in the Christian, is a question of
such vital importance, as to claim for its evidences
the most attentive consideration. Real however as
that presence is, yet being mystical, it has afforded
peculiar scope for the extravagances of fanaticism,
and by an unhappy reaction for the sneers of un-
belief. But if the life of the soul be bound up, as
the Scriptures intimate, with that presence, we
might surely expect that some unerring tests would
be supplied, whereby believers might know as-
suredly that they are walking in the Spirit. To
assert the ewvistence, and to illustrate the nature
of such tests, will be the object of these Lectures.
I shall attempt to shew from the Holy Scriptures
that they are not the inventions of fancy, but the
work of God in the soul; and while they are such
as to give quiet confidence to the believer, and
assist his progress in the divine life, they can
B

2 LECTURE I.

neither be perverted by enthusiasm, nor overthrown
by unbelief.

In approaching so solemn a subject, he can be
little impressed with the majesty of the Eternal
Spirit, and as little conscious of man’s blindness in
spiritual things, who does not invoke the help of
that Comforter, who came as well to enlighten the
understanding, as to sanctify the will. “For what
man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit
of man which is in him? even so the things of God
knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of
God*.” We live too under the dispensation of the
Spirit; not a law of carnal ordinances. It would be
little short then of blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost, to treat of the fellowship which he vouch-
safes to the believer, without yielding up to His
guidance our meditations on this subject. May He
erant us a right judgment in all things, but espe-
cially touching His witness with our spirit; that
we speak of it, not as a matter of speculation, but
as realized by experience; unexaggerated by en-
thusiasm, and unfalsified by deceit.

That the inquiry is of great practical importance
will be evident, if we reflect on the various degrees
of religious attainment. The question whether we
have the fellowship of the Spirit, or only a name
to live and are dead, presses upon the mind with
increased intensity in proportion as we realize “ the
powers of the world to come.” All indeed who have
been awakened from the sleep of death feel anxious

an (Cor Ween.

LECTURE I. 3

to learn their spiritual state before God. We pray
in the Litany that God will be pleased to “ strengthen
such as do stand; to comfort and help the weak-
hearted; and to raise up them that fall.” To each of
these classes the witness of the Spirit must present
itself with different degrees of clearness ; and while.
they who do stand upright enjoy, no doubt, full
assurance of the Spirit’s presence, the weak-hearted
and desponding will be afflicted in an equal degree
with doubts and fears. Again, the wndecided Christian,
who serves God and mammon too: who crying
Lord, Lord, does not what he says: who at one
time is under apparent convictions of sin, and anon
is swept back by the tide of worldly cares and
passions, (whom yet we dare not pronounce repro-
bate from God ;) he also may be alarmed into earnest
thoughtfulness by the absence or obscurity of that
witness in himself. And lastly, since in many things
we all offend; being guilty of “ sins, negligences, and
ignorances;” it must be profitable to know the tokens
of the Holy Spirit’s presence, that we may discern
our fellowship in it, and ascertain our advance or
decline in grace. Every sin willingly committed after
baptism must needs grieve the Holy Spirit, and
proportionably obscure our experience of His pre-
sence; and this thought ought surely to urge every
baptized person to be zealous and repent; to
strengthen the things that remain, if they be ready
to die; and examine the witness of the Spirit in
himself with deeper and more awful interest.

It may be thought perhaps that we are about to
enter upon a field of inquiry of which the /:mits are

BZ

+ LECTURE .

unknown, and the landmarks capricious, if not
imaginary. It were so indeed, if we were about to
describe the whole life of grace; its dawn and pro-
eress as well as its noonday brightness. Ours is a
less arduous task; for what mortal eye can discern
the first quickening into life of the immortal spirit ?
Who can mark where the viewless breeze arises, or
testify the moment when the hue of health first
revisits the pale cheek of sickness? The witness of
the Spirit which we would reverently survey, is not
as manifested in the infancy of grace ; but when the
believer is in “ understanding a man,” and “renewed
in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him*.” We have not to treat of the doctrine of
baptism and laying on of hands; the birth of water
and of the Spirit; the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. Our inquiry is into
the evidences and marks of the presence of the Holy
Ghost in those of “full age.... who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and
evil®.”

Of this peculiar stage of the spiritual life, St. Paul
takes notice in several passages : “ Howbeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect®:” “Let us there-
fore, as "many as be perfect, be thus minded? :”
“ Brethren, be not children in understanding : how-
beit in malice be ye children, but in understanding
be men®;” that is, “ perfect,” 7éAco, “ of a ripe age,”
as it is translated in the margin. The like dis-
tinction prevails also in the early Christian writings.

a Col. ili. 10. b Heb. v. 14. 1 Cor.11.-6:
d Phil. iii. 15. e x Cor. xiv. 20.

LECTURE TI. 5

Irenzeus¢ for example interprets, as describing the
perfect man, St. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians :
«And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Such is the ewtent of our inquiry; and as it is
limited to a given period of the spiritual life, so
also is it restricted in the nature of the evidences to
be propounded. We shall not intrude upon those ex-
traordinary gifts which were the credentials of
teachers in the Apostolic age. There is a very clear
and marked distinction between the earnest of the
Spirit in the heart; and those gifts of the Spirit,
which were too often disjoined from charity. The
earnest of the Spirit was a moral transformation ;
not enlarged power of mind or spirit. “Now He
which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and
given the earnest of the Spirit iz our hearts®.”. And
St. John says, “If we love one another, God dwedleth
a Daa Hereby know we that we dwell in Him,
and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.”
Such indeed was the promised work of the Comforter
when sent down from the Father. “When He is
come, He will reprove the world of sin, anu of right-
eousness, and of judgmenti.” And therefore St. Paul
affirms, “that no man can say that Jesus is the
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost*.”

It is then of moral effects, not miraculous gifts, as

Ej lab. voG. 8, f 1 Thess.-v. 23. G52; Cor... 2/6422;
h 1 John iv. 12,13. i John xvi. 8. Kp Cor:, xi) 3:

6 LECTURE i

witnessing the presence of the Comforter, that we are
about to treat. Needful as diversities of gifts and
operations were for the unlearned men, who went
forth to convert the world; and though the same
Spirit, Lord, and God worked all in them all'; yet this
did not prevent their being abused to pride, emula-
tion, and vanity. Above those gifts were the graces
of faith, hope and charity; and “the greatest” even
“of these was charity.”

Surveying therefore the witness of the Spirit, after
the suspension of miraculous powers, our inquiry
necessarily limits itself to the effects wrought in the
Christian of full age by the Holy Ghost. And
these, we are persuaded, are so real and palpable ;
so varied yet harmonious; as to satisfy every de-
vout inquirer that he is indeed “ an habitation of
God through the Spirit,” no less so than the saints
who first trusted in Christ; even though superna-
tural gifts were poured upon them in addition.

One more remark must be made as to the source
from whence we derive these notes of the Spirit.
It is not then to metaphysical science, nor presumed
experience ; much less to fancy, that we purpose pri-
marily to refer. The pure well of inspiration alone
shall supply the water of life; the voice of the
Spirit testifying in His word to His own supernatural
work will be our guide. By comparing Scripture
with Scripture, the marks of the Spirit’s presence
may be best ascertained. The eighth chapter of
St. Paul to the Romans will suggest all that is ne-
cessary ; and enable us to arrive at evidence satis-
factory, it is hoped, to the sober-minded ; unavailable

Lei Wor. iy; 6500:

LECTURE lI. 7

to the fanatic; and above all, impregnable to
rationalism and unbelief.

The passages which suggest the several evidences
to be elucidated in the six first Lectures, are as fol-
lows: Verse 1, “ Walk after the Spirit ;” v. 6, “ To be
spiritually minded ;” v. 15, “ The Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father ;” v. 4, “ The righteous-
ness of the law fulfilled in us;” v. 13, “ Mortify the
deeds of the body;” v.23, “ We ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption.” Con-
nected with each, there appears to be a frame of
mind and habitual temper characteristic of the ma-
ture Christian; such, for example, as resignation of
the will; spirituality of thought; filial love of God ;
brotherly love of man ; crucifying of the flesh ; and
longing for immortality. Though spiritually con-
nected they may be practically treated as distinct.
To each then of these topics I purpose to devote a
separate Lecture. The seventh will be occupied
with the heresies touching the Holy Spirit emanating
from Unbelief; and the last will trace the aberra-
tions of Fanaticism, grounded on His mystical pre-
sence in the believer.

We enter now upon the first of these evidences,
resignation of the will, which is implied in walk-
ing after the Spirit, (v. 1.) and in being led by
the Spirit, (v.14.) But this grace is referred by
St. Paul to a yet higher and more mystical cause ;
even the zndwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
The fellowship of the Holy Ghost amounts to nothing
short of this: “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in

8 LECTURE I.

you. ... And if Christ be zz you, the body is dead be-
cause of sin, but the Spirit is life because of right-
eousness™.”

Wonderful as is the condescension of Him who
inhabiteth eternity, thus to dwell with the lowly
and the contrite; yet the language of Scripture
is too explicit to be gainsaid. We can know little
indeed concerning the union of spirit with spirit;
but “ he that is joined to the Lord,” says the apostle,
“is one spirit"; not, of course, one in essence, for
this would be to teach a modified Pantheism; yet
thus much at least must be affirmed, that the Chris-
tian’s body is “ the temple of the Holy Ghost.” The
union is at least as intimate as that of which it was
said, “ They two shall be one flesh.” And such per-
sonal communion was promised on the coming of
the Holy Ghost. “ He,” the Spirit of truth, “ dwelleth
with you, and shall be ix you°®,” This promise was
reiterated in our Lord’s last prayer for his Apostles
and for his Church: “The glory which thou gavest
me I have given them; that they may be one, even
as we are one: I iz them, and Thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one?.”

m Rom. viii. g, ro. It is well to remark in these consecutive
verses, the incidental and seemingly undesigned assertion of the
hypostatic union of the ever blessed Trinity. The Spirit of God,
the Spirit of Christ, and Christ, being used to denote our fellowship
with God the Father and the Son through the Spirit. There is the
like unstudied mention of the three Persons in the 1 Cor. xii. 4,
where the Apostle is about to describe the gifts of the Spirit: ‘‘ Now
there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit: and there are differ-
ences of administrations, but the same Lord: and there are diversities
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in ali.”

ne Cor vie 17. © John xiv. 17. P John xvi. 22.

LECTURE I. 9

The effect, moreover, of this blessed fellowship is
represented as passing on to the Jody; for St. Paul
says, “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal dodies by
his Spirit that dvwelleth in you%.” Such scriptures
surely are enough to shew the fact of the divine
presence in the regenerate man; mystical indeed,
but real; and awful as it is supernatural; if, at least,
language has any definite meaning.

This indwelling, however, can only become matter
of conscious experience by its effects; and the first
which the Apostle has set before us is, resignation of
the will, implied in walking after the Spirit, and
being /ed by the Spirit. Such indeed is the prophetic
character of the people of Christ : “Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy powert.” The Bride in
like manner is admonished: “ Hearken, O daughter,
and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine
own people, and thy father’s houses.” Resignation
of the will indeed is the foundation of all the other
Christian habits; for by the Fall the will of man
became at enmity with God. When the righteous-
ness therefore of faith comes, it is immediately evi-
denced by subjection of the unruly will.

Naaman, as he arrived at the door of the Prophet
with his horses and his chariots, is a type of the
pride and self-confidence of the natural man. When
bidden simply to wash in Jordan and be clean, “ he
turned, and went away inarage*.” But “ the wrath

q Rom. vii. 11. Peal. ex. 3:
S Psal. xlv. 10. t 2 Kings v. 12.

10 LECTURE I.

of man worketh not the righteousness of God".” Far
different was the effect of faith in the man born
blind : “ Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. ... He went
his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”
A cheerful unquestioning obedience then—resigna-
tion, in short, of our will to the will of God—is the
first evidence of a lively faith. As such it isa mani-
fest witness of the Spirit, and the foundation of all
the other graces. We must say with Saul, humbled
and penitent, “ Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
before we shall be told what we are to learn.
“God be thanked,” says St. Paul of the Romans,
“that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you ¥.”

The perversion of the will by nature was aptly
illustrated in the heathen moralist by the image of
a bent stick. Resignation to the will of God, which
is habitual in the Christian of full age, is its restora-
tion to original rectitude. This is the work indeed of
the Holy Spirit in us; but such is the necessity for
training the will of childhood to submission; that
God has annexed the special blessing of length of
days, and security of inheritance to them that are
exercised therein.

Nor is the lesson perfectly learnt in chi/dhood. The
whole of life is but a discipline of the will; and
hence it is proclaimed by the Prophet as an axiom
of the divine life: “It is good for a man that he
bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and
keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.

u James i. 20. x John ix. 7. y Rom. vi. 17.

LECTURE I. 11

He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there
may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that
smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. For the
Lord will not cast off for ever’.” It is thus God
chasteneth those whom He loves. This is the train-
ing by which, under the Spirit of God, the Christian
is formed, until in the fulness of age he can say,
“It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.”

And is not this the great example left by our
Lord himself? He came not to do his own will, but
the will of Him that sent Him’. He was content to
do it, yea, the law of God was in His heart». Such
too was the burden of His thrice repeated prayer at
Gethsemane; and when all had been accomplished
on the Cross, his triumphant exclamation was, “ It
is finished ;” and He gave up the ghost.

As a human example of the same resigned will,
we can find none more striking than the “ father of
the faithful.” Let us picture to ourselves those
three fearful days, when with unshrinking faith he
journeyed with his child of promise towards Moriah.
How firm and calm his answer to Isaac—* My son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offer-
ing !”

This then it is to be ded of the Spirit; and such
conformity to the will of God we are taught to pray
for in the petition, “ Thy will be done on earth, as it
is in heaven.”

Among the holy angels indeed, who kept their
first estate, His will finds a perfect and immediate
echo. How jarring, on the contrary, are the notes

Z Jerem. Lam. iii. 27. @ John vi. 38. b Ps, xl. 8.

12 LECTURE A.

which are heard upon earth! To remove the discord,
and bring in the harmony of heaven, the Son of God
became flesh and dwelt among us; that we might
behold his glory, and be changed into his likeness,
from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord!
In those then who are born of God, and continue his
spiritual children, the pride, the self-will, the unru-
liness of the natural man are subdued. While young
in grace they may indeed, like St. Peter, gird them-
selves, and walk whither they will; but when they
are old they are content to be girded of another,
even their Redeemer, and be carried whithersoever
He would¢.

Such is ¢hzs evidence of the Spirit’s presence. Its
outward fruits are various. I can only touch on the
more prominent. The surrender of the Christian’s
will to the will of God will display itself in a two-
fold manner ; either in active obedience, or passive en-
durance. The ripe Christian will of course exhibit
both; and the chequered character of this life is
exactly calculated to call forth each at the proper
season, and in due proportion.

In youth, the period of enterprise, how blest are
they who have been thus trained in the school of God!
So trained must have been that holy maiden, who
on the salutation of the angel could say, “ Behold
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according
to thy word.” The like disciplined will St. Paul
must have seen in the youthful Timothy, when he
would have him go forth with him; and found him
obedient, even as a child to his parent. And what

¢ John xxi. 18, d Luke i. 38.

LECTURE I. 13

might we not hope for our country and the world ;
if our youth were so “led of the Spirit” as not to
seek their own will, but the will of Him who has
called them to the knowledge of His grace; and in-
corporated them into His holy church: Who has
placed them in His vineyard, and given to every man
his work! What blessings would be showered upon
us, if all were resolved to consecrate their best ener-
gies to the fulfilment of God’s will; and make all
art and science, law and government, literature and
arms, minister to His glory! This surely were true
ambition, to rescue from the dominion of evil the
power of man’s will; to seize upon every avenue of
thought; to harmonize the book of nature with the
page of Revelation; and sanctify philosophy by sub-
duing it to religion. When the will is habitually
surrendered to the word and will of God, the vigor-
ous mind may plunge fearlessly into the stream of
Science; and be borne in safety upon its onward
waves. And when the haven has been reached at
last, to God will be given the glory both of safety
and success.

But we must not linger in the pleasing recesses
of Science, while the busy hum of life calls us to
take our part in its active duties. Let us follow the
Christian youth, whose purpose it is in all things to
be conformed to the will of God. How much will
he find to try the strength of this principle—the ha-
bitual surrender of his own will, whether in religion
or politics: in domestic as well as social life! Our lot
is cast on comparatively peaceful times; but they
are not so peaceful, as to render useless the great

14 LECTURE I.

examples of consistent principle and firm endurance,
which the history of our Church and Country sup-
plies. Memory delights to dwell, and faith nerves
itself for daily conflict dy dwelling on those names,
which are associated with obedience to God rather
than man; with the surrender of natural predilec-
tions, tastes, affections, desires, and interests, to what
seemed (however mistakenly) to be the cause of
truth; and for the will, as it was believed, of the
Most High. Some of them may have reasoned
wrongly, but their hearts and motives were right ; and
the names of More and Fisher; of Ridley, Falkland
and Ken, will live enshrined in generous bosoms, as
patterns of religious and political integrity.

In politics, singleness of purpose, and true con-
sistency can only result from such surrender of the
will to God. The mists of ambition, popularity,
party interest, and rivalry, will assuredly cloud the
view, unless they are dispersed by the rays of Divine
truth, or blown aside by the breath of the Spirit of
God. Thus alone will the great law of rzght influ-
ence the conduct; and every step be weighed in the
balances of eternity. Thus alone will the confidence of
the wise and the attachment of the good be lastingly
secured.

Again, we live in times when the sea of religious
opinion is strongly agitated; and not only the in-
ternal doctrines, but the outward framework of the
visible Church, are the subject of heart-searching
discussions. But how fruitless and unreal, how
bitter and uncharitable, will all controversy be, until
the will be habitually surrendered to the will of

LECTURE I. 15

God! It is only when men seek to be conformed to
His will, that there can be a real hope of coming to
the same mind and judgment. And if so be they
are still otherwise minded; it is in that state of mind
only, that they can differ with mutual respect.

Assuredly a dutiful spirit will lead men not /ghtly,
or suddenly ; least of all scornfully, to quit that Com-
munion, wherein they have derived spiritual life; in
spite of morbid sensitiveness, or diseased craving
after sympathy. The path of duty has ever been
rugged, and the Christian soldier is ill instructed if
he cannot “endure hardness.” It argues badly for
the discipline of the will, when ancient ties are
broken for new and unknown bonds; and when duties
assigned by Providence are abandoned for others se//-
imposed. If the motive indeed of separation be the
supposed will of God; whatever we may think of the
judgment, we cannot but respect the plea; and such
aberrations are surely more fit subject for pity and
prayer, than that we should cast out their names as
evil.

But in social and domestic life there is not less oc-
casion for the same moral discipline. Which of us
can look back ona brief portion of our lives, and
not remember many hopes disappointed ; and many
wishes unfulfilled? And if the will of God be so,
that we should in all things here on earth “ rather
be resigned than blessed ;” how well has he been
trained for the warfare of life, who has learned not
only to say but to act, “Thy will be done!” We
cannot always cut out our own path; and it is well
that we have not the power: “The lot is cast into

16 LECTURE IL.

the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the
Lorde.” Spheres of labour must be occupied, and
plans of life adopted, for which there may be little
inclination, but a plain call of duty. How much of
restlessness then will be taken away, and of regret
alleviated, by habitual surrender of the will to God !
The Christian who is led by the Spirit will not
shrink from this trial. He will answer like St. Paul
to his sorrowing friends at Ceesarea: “ What mean
ye to weep and to break mine heart? for Iam ready
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem
for the name of the Lord Jesus*.”

And in domestic life; within the narrow precincts
of a Christian household; a disciplined will is most
needful. I know indeed of no sublimer moral spec-
tacle, than that of Onesimus returning from Rome
to Colossee; surrendering for conscience sake that
liberty which he had stolen from his master. Nor
are the other parties concerned less trained in the
discipline of the Cross: Philemon consenting to re-
ceive back as a beloved brother in the gospel and
manumit the runaway: St. Paul, though he might
command as an apostle; yet entreating for his con-
vert by the touching pleas of old age and bond-
age.

Such then are examples of that subjection of the
will, which fulfils the idea of “walking after the
Spirit,” and being “led by the Spirit :” such is the
transforming power of divine grace upon the natu-
rally unruly spirit. Surely they are an evidence of
the indwelling of the Comforter, being effects which

e Prov. Xvi. 33. f Acts xxi. 13-

LECTURE I. uiive

no other power can produce. Surely they are proofs
of supernatural agency, as palpable as the sanity of
the Gadarene demoniac, clothed, and in his right
mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

But every Christian grace has its counterfeit ; and
the free surrender of the will to the will of God is
feebly imitated by constrained subjection to such as
would be “lords over God’s heritage.” Blind submis-
sion to Auman authority; and unreasoning acceptance
of the traditions of man, appear rather to savour of a
“ voluntary humility,” condemned by the Apostle,
unsuitable to the capacities, and destructive of the
responsibilities of Reason. Though chi/dren in malice,
Christians are to de men in understanding. “ Judge
ye What I say,” is St. Paul’s constant appeal to his
converts. Reason, then, is not given us to be thrown
aside, but to inform the conscience and enlighten
judgment. No human authority can prevent the
activity of thought. Reason may be guided, in-
structed, stablished, strengthened, settled ; it cannot
be coerced. The constrained submission of fear, of
ignorance, of superstition, may issue in bigotry or
lapse into hypocrisy ; but is not the fruit of the “ holy
spirit of discipline.” A tempered liberty differs alike
from bondage and licentiousness. As in civil so in
religious things, it is ew happy birthright. We are
not restricted from the free use of the Holy Scrip-
tures; nor from examining their claim to our submis-
sion; and their agreement with the “form of sound
words,” in which the faith of the primitive Church
was enshrined. If individual judgment is thus d-
rected, and so far restrained; still its claims are neither

6

18 LECTURE I.

denied nor abrogated. The Church of the Fathers is
thus the helper of our joy, rather than exercises
dominion over our faith. Our acceptance of the
Gospel is free and willing; not timid and con-
strained; and if religious sentiment loses somewhat
of uniformity, it gains in solidity and depth of
conviction.

While God is thus glorified in some by the active
surrender of the will; in others the same holy prin-
ciple is evinced by passive endurance. And this to
the eye of faith wears even a more heavenly appear-
ance. The resignation indeed of our Lord upon
the Cross finds no earthly parallel. He “ pleased not
himself;” the reproaches of them that reproached
God fell on Him. He became poor, that He might
make many rich. In how many different ways
then—in sickness, and pain, and weariness ; In narrow
circumstances, and patient continuance in well doing,
may a will surrendered to the will of God be
shewn, even in the stillest shades of life! And many
such there are who, unrepining in desolation and
unconsoled by sympathy, bear their daily cross; and
so follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.

It is the praise of Moses that he was faithful in
all God’s house as a servant: the Christian’s obedience
to the will of God is of a higher character, as it
flows from a higher motive; even Love. His is the
obedience of a son; but though a son, he learns
obedience by the things he suffers. So long as he isa
babe in grace, he should regard himself as under
tutors and governors ; not attaining to the full free-
dom of sonship until he is of s7pe age. Then he

ERCTURE, ¥. 19

habitually feels that he is not his own; that he is
bought with a price, and glorifies God in his body
and his spirit, which are God’s. He has surrendered
his will to the will of God, and the guidance of
His Spirit. The law of God is his law: the mind
of Christ is his mind. He thinks, he wishes, he
speaks, he acts from a power within him not of
this world. In its effects, those around him recog-
nise the real presence and effectual indwelling of
the Comforter; who is not only wth, but in him.
The witness of the Spirit with his spirit is thus
realized to his own consciousness; and palpable
also to the discernment of others. Christians can
see, and the world will marvel at an habitual sur-
render of the natural will to the revealed will of
God. This it is to be led of the Spirit, and to walk
after the Spirit.

And now, what remains but to try of what spirit
we are by this test? Can we gladly do or suffer
the will of God? Are our hearts set upon being con-
formed in all things to the mind of Christ? Try it
with reference to our daily pursuits; the professions
some are about to choose; and the manner in which
we perform the duties of our callings. Blessed is he
who lives according to the spirit of his daily prayer :
* Thy will be done on earth, as it isin heaven.” He
who feels in himself that this is his solemn and
deliberate endeavour, has one great evidence of the
Holy Spirit’s guidance and presence. There remain
several others equally cogent and certain. The next
I shall proceed to notice is the sperttual mind.

An obedient will indeed is the great preparative

C2

20 LECTURE I.

for spiritual discernment. “If any man will do His
will, he shall Anow of the doctrine, whether it be of
God.” Meanwhile, for self-knowledge to the confident
and strong; for consolation to the contrite and weak
hearted ; and lastly, for guidance in self-discipline to
such as are seeking the fellowship of the Spirit, the
habitual surrender of the will offers a plain, tangible,
decisive test, as well as ewercise. “The Lord hath de-
clared His salvation, and His righteousness hath He
openly shewed in the sight of the people.” Blessed
then are they who can testify in their spirit, by the
complete and habitual subjection of the will; that
with the right hand of His Majesty, and the holy
arm of His Spirit, hath He gotten Himself the vic-
tory over their naturally wayward, carnal, and un-
yielding hearts.

LECTURE II.

Romans Vill. 5.
They that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.

HE coming of the Holy Ghost upon earth was

the temporal completion of the Covenant of
Grace. When He had been revealed, no farther
counsel remained to be unfolded for the recovery
of fallen man; no more to be done for the vine-
yard*. Having loved His own, God loved them
unto the end.

By the Incarnation of the only begotten Son, His
love was shewn in the greatest of gifts: by the
death of the Cross it was seen in the extremity of
suffering: for “His visage was so marred more than
any man, and His form more than the sons of men».”
Nothing remained but to apply the benefit of that
great sacrifice to the souls He had redeemed; and
for this purpose the Holy Ghost came down from
heaven, that He might make a people prepared for
the Lord, and abide with the Church of Christ for
ever’.

a Is. v. 14. Beds. i. 04.

¢ The Christian is doubly comforted of God. The atonement

for sin having been accomplished, Christ ascended to the Father to
be our Advocate, “the Paraclete,” in Heaven, 1 John ii.1. And

Q2 LECTURE’ If.

In harmony however with the double nature of
the inner man, the office of the Paraclete on earth is
twofold. The Holy Ghost is revealed not only as the
“Comforter,” but also as the “Spirit of Truth.”
It is His not only to regenerate and to renew—to
transform and perfect the will; but it is His also
to enlighten the mind, and instruct the conscience—
to impart spiritual wisdom; to search even the
deep things of God4.

The distinction of these offices was clearly denoted
in the difference of gifts vouchsafed to the Apostles.
They partook in fullest measure not only of ordinary
graces, but of extraordinary powers. “The word of
wisdom,” whereby are discerned the things of the
kingdom of God, was peculiarly theirs ; according to
the promise, “ He shall teach you all things, and bring
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you®.” Again, it was said to them, “ He
shall shew you things to come',” and thus the spirit
of prophecy became the testimony of Jesus®. By
the same Spirit also they spake with a w7zsdom which
the rulers of the world could not withstand®*.

With these extraordinary endowments however
we are not now concerned, farther than as they shew
one branch of the office of the Holy Spirit to be

he sent from the Father the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter, ‘‘ the
Paraclete,” on earth, John xiv. 16, “ who maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Rom. viii. 26. Under
the encouraging symbols then of the Lamb and Deve, the surest
pledges have been conveyed to us of acceptance in heaven, and
succour upon earth.

d 1 Cor. ii. 10. e John xiv. 26. f John xvi. 13.

g Rev, xix. 10. h Luke xxi. 15.

LECTURE II. 23

the turning men from darkness to light—enlight-
ening the eyes of their understanding—as well as
“from the power of Satan unto God.”

That such spiritual wisdom is peculiarly the work
of “the Spirit of Truth,” is evident from this; that
the Apostles themselves, though blessed with the
personal teaching of our Lord, did not, until He
had “led captivity captive, and received gifts for
meni,” realize his essential unity with the Father.
“ At that day,” said He, (looking forward to the pro-
mise of the Comforter,) “ye shall know that I am in
my Father, and ye in me, and I in you*.” And by
the same Spirit, all who now believe attain unto the
like knowledge; for not only is He the Comforter
dwelling in them, and sanctifying them to be meet
for an habitation of God!; but He is also “ the Spirit
of Truth,’ whereby they know the things that are
freely given them of God™.

If this be so, one branch of the witness of the
Spirit with our spirit must needs be the spiritual
mind, spoken of in the text. “They that are after
the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.” We
proceed therefore in the present Lecture to illustrate
that mental state, which is referred to by St. Paul,
as al express evidence of the presence of the Holy
Ghost in the Christian of “ full age.”

Perhaps we shall obtain a clearer insight into the
nature of the spiritual mind, by considering first
its opposite, the carnal mind; just as mishapen
deformity by the force of contrast sets off more

i Psalm Ixvii. 18. k John xiy. 20.
E Eph..ii. 22 1 Cor. vi. 19. m yCor di: 12%

24 LECTURE II.

strikingly the beauty of symmetry in the human
form. Both seem different states of the same men-
tal faculty, practical reason, or mind employed upon
moral or spiritual things. As exhibited in the
unbelieving Jews and heathens, the carnal mind
is characterised by dislike of the truth and wnruli-
ness of thought. The heathen are described by
St. Paul as being “without understanding;” as
having become “vain in their imaginations" ;”
“having the understanding darkened, being alien-
ated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them’;” as being fools, though profess-
ing to be wiseP; as not liking to retain God in
their knowledge, and therefore given over to a re-
probate mind’. The more educated, we know,
treated with scornful incredulity the great truths
of the Gospel preached to them by St. Paul; and
while they from zntellectual pride would not submit
themselves to the wisdom of God in a mystery; the
Jews sinned no less fatally from moral repugnance
to accept a righteousness not their own; even the
righteousness which is of God by faith. If then to
the Greeks the Cross was “ foolishness,” to the Jews
it was “a stumbling-block.” In the one, the carnal
mind exhibited dislike of God’s holiness ; in the other,
it would not submit itself to his revealed wisdom.
With respect to the doctrine of the Cross, St. Peter
himself offers a striking illustration of “the carnal
mind.” When first informed that the Son of man
must be crucified, he could neither conceive nor

nom. 1. 21. 31. o Eph. iv. 18.
P Rom. i. 22. 4 Rom. i. 29.

LECTUBE If. 25

admit the counsel of God; he failed alike to under-
stand and to accept it. “Be it far from thee, Lord,”
might seem the natural expression of human sym-
pathy; but emanating as it did from carnal motives,
how severely was it rebuked! “Get thee behind
me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou
savourest not, ov dpoveis, the things that be of God,
but those that be of men*.”

The great features then which characterise the
carnal mind appear to be moral aversion to the
holy truths of God; and an intellectual repugnance
to His counsels. And these features will be detected
in all its various forms; whether as exhibited by
the ignorant heathen, or nominal but unconverted
Christian.

Of the former the Apostle bears witness, that they
not only do evil things, but Aave pleasure in them that
do them’. And yet even under the Fall, it would seem
that a long and persevering course of sin is required,
thus utterly to darken the eye of the soul. They
are arraigned for example by St. Paul, as being
without excuse; because God’s eternal power and
being might be known from the things that are
made. But when they knew, or might have
known Him, they “glorified Him not as God....
their foolish heart was darkened: professing them-
selves to be wise, they became foolst.”

Perverted then, and powerless as it may be, there
is still a moral sense in the benighted heathen.
Were indeed his eye single as before the Fall, his
whole body would be full of light; but by sowing

F Matt. xvi. 23. s Rom; 1.32. t Rom. i. 21.

26 LECTURE II.

continually to the flesh, he hath of the flesh reaped
corruption". Blind accordingly to the Attributes
of God, he is ignorant of his own moral duties.
He works uncleanness with greediness’. He even
thinks God to be such an one as himself’. Nay, he
transeresses farther: for he lowers Him to the like-
ness of fourfooted beasts and creeping things: and
hath not understanding to say, “Is there not a lie
in my right hand* ?”

The balance indeed between the reason and the
passions was originally adjusted to perfection.
Since the Fall, reason has kicked the beam; and
ever with increasing preponderance has the scale
of Concupiscence sunk downward to the earth. Thus
the natural man fulfils the desires of the flesh
and of the mind’. The carnal reason panders to
the animal passions, instead of controlling and ele-
vating them. In the unbelieving, the very mind
and conscience is defiled%. The sinner calls good
evil, and evil good; he puts darkness for light, and
light for darkness; he puts bitter for sweet, and
sweet for bitter*. He is given over to the reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient?.

It would be well indeed if this love of darkness
rather than light; this aversion to the holy truth of
God in the carnal mind, were confined to the regions
of heathenism. But since “the wisdom or sen-
suality of the flesh, ppovyua capxos, doth remain,
yea in them that are regenerated, renatis, or bap-

u Gal. vi. 8. v Eph. iv. ro. w Ps. 1. at. x Is. xliv. 20.
y Eph. ii. 3. ae Tit. 1.95. a 1s: ye 22 b Rom. i. 28.

LECTURE II. 27

tized¢;” even within the borders of the Christian
Church there are men, of whom St. Paul spake even
weeping, that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ;
whose God is their belly; who mznd earthly things®.
If the lust of the flesh and the pride of life form
two great classes of temptation in this world, the
carnal mind in the former case ministers to sensual
gratification; in the latter, to personal aggrandize-
ment. The votary of pleasure, who devises schemes
of varied enjoyment; and the idolater of covetous-
ness, who heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall
gather them; equally employ those faculties, which
God has given them for His glory, in the service of
Mammon. Both are lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God; both shew the secret aversion of the
carnal mind to goodness, holiness and everlasting
truth ; both have pleasure in unrighteousness.

But are there no indications of the other charac-
teristic of the carnal mind, even unruliness of
thought, in those who are called to be saints? When
the coarse indulgence of animal passion is re-
strained, and the wor/d has no longer charms to
captivate; does not the unruly mind sometimes
manifest itself in them that would be spiritual? Is
there not a disregard of His ordinances, which, often-
times proceeding from ignorance or prejudice, and
consequent unbelief in their efficacy, may be really
fighting against God; and fulfilling the desires of
the fleshly mind ?

The Holy Spirit has not left us without warning
against the sinful presumption both of Heresy and

cu Art, EX. a SPH. 1516.

28 LECTURE; TH.

Schism. Some, for example, of the Colossians“, vainly
puffed up with the fleshly mind, intruded into
things which He had not revealed. They had in-
troduced a voluntary “ worshipping of angels,” over
and above the doctrine which they had received from
the Apostle.

How wide a region of heretical error was here
carefully marked off, lest other churches should
trespass upon it! Yet how truly may it be said of
many doctrines of the medieval church, that they
intrude into things which they have not seen*!

The cause moreover of such “ will-worship” is no
less accurately pointed out; namely, the unruliness
of the carnal mind, in being wise “ above that which
is written’” For the principle so enunciated by
the Apostle is of wider application, than as used by
him merely to reprove party spirit. And they who
will add to the written word the spurious tradi-
tions of doubtful antiquity; or the capricious deve-
lopements of a subtle intellect; seem to fall under
the censure of the Apostle, for that vain philosophy
and fleshly mind, which are “ not after Christ.” From
this source indeed have flowed all the heresies,
which have distracted the church; while the “ cer-
tain warranty of Scripture” has placed the three
Catholic Creeds on the solid basis of Divine au-
thority.

There is yet another fruit of the unruly carnal

4 Coloss. ii. 18.

e The assumption of the blessed Virgin, her elevation as queen of
heaven—invocation of her and other saints, purgatory, the relief of

souls therein detained by the sacrifice of the mass, &c.
£7 Corciva6:

LECTURE II. 29

mind; namely, recklessness of severing the body of
Christ. Hence those d:yooracia, or standings apart,
which the Apostle has enumerated among “the
works of the flesh®.” Concerning the doers of such
things, St. Jude has affirmed that they are sensual,
and have not the Spirit®. What marvel then, if
these men should utterly disregard that oneness of
mind and judgment, of which He is the author; and
which is so repeatedly inculcated by St. Paul ?

I need hardly enumerate the passages in which he
enjoins such unity’. And if the principle is of per-
petual obligation, the present divided state of Chris-
tians in regard to the kingdom of God, is strikingly
at variance with Apostolic precept. Nor can we take
refuge in the hope, that there is at least unity of
spirit, if not uniformity of sentiment or discipline.
Distinctions without essential differences seem still
more wayward and offensive, than where principles
are diametrically opposed. In either case, however,
the real author of schism is he, who imposes un-
lawful conditions of communion; or refuses those
which are lawful. Upon his head must be the sin;

& Gal. v. 20.

h Wuyixol, mvedpa pu) €xovres, (Jude 1g.) In throwing off the supre-
macy of the bishopof Rome, the Crown and Church of England claimed
once more their undoubted ancient independence of that See—the
“ Jus Cyprium’”’ secured to us by Canon viii. of the council of Ephe-
sus: and because the unlawful terms of communion proposed by
Pius IV. in his Creed were not received, the Papal church excommu-
nicated us, not we that church. Bulla Pii IV. 87. §. 3. Conc. Trid.
It made the schism, not we. ‘‘ Nec tam discessimus quam ab istis
diris, et devotionibus ejecti sumus.” Jewelli Apol. Randolph Ench.
Theol. p. 171. ‘“ Non fugimus, sed fugamur.” King James I. Is.
Casaub. ad Ep. Card. Perron.

=i Cor. 12.20:

30 LECTURE II.

the work of the flesh is his; and as such it affords no
doubtful mark of “ the carnal mind” within. To wn-
ruliness of thought; but not, let us hope, dislike
of holiness; must be ascribed the divisions and of-
fences, which have disturbed the organized unity of
the church; and separated those who should, as in
the days of old, have walked in the house of God
as friends, and taken sweet counsel together*.

Such then is the carnal mind in some of its ordi-
nary workings; fulfilling the desires of the flesh, or
subservient to human passions; both morally and
intellectually repugnant to the wisdom which is from
above.

The subject matter of the “ spiritual mind” is dif-
ferent; it habitually dwells upon moral and _ spiri-
tual truths, Neither the inquiries of science nor
the wisdom of the world are essentially connected
with it. “We have received,” says St. Paul, “not
the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of
God; that we might Anow the things that are freely
given to us of God!” “Howbeit we speak wisdom
among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of
this world...but the wisdom of God in a mystery™.”

The spiritual mind then is conversant with the

k He who rejects the Universal, Concurrent, Uninterrupted ¢estz-
mony of Apostolic tradition (so far as it will go) as the means of
ascertaining the ‘‘ mind of the Spirit” revealed in the Scriptures,
throws the Church back on the dictation of an asswmed infallibility ;
or casts it loose on the multitudinous sea of individual opinion ;
which (humanly speaking) renders unity of sentiment impossible.
By the aid of Apostolic Tradition illustrating Scripture, unity of
doctrine and discipline might, under the grace of God, be attained ;
so far at least as were needful for communion between independent

National Churches.
Pr Corml. 12. i ii (Oleves sis (Gs

LECTURE II. 31

ereat truths of revelation, or the application of those
truths to civil, social, and individual life. Under the
former head, “the mystery of godliness” in all its
extent and variety supplies an inexhaustible store
of spiritual thoughts. The attributes of God, as dis-
played in the Redemption of mankind; and in His
Triune essence; are themes which never entered into
the heart of the natural man to conceive.

The lofty guesses at truth made by heathen mo-
ralists: their mistaken views of God’s government
of this world, as well as of their own moral powers
and conditions: shew at once both the need and the
blessing of the Christian revelation. In Immanuel
are summed up all the treasures of spiritual wisdom
and knowledge. Not only was He the express
image of the Father; but the Father in Him wrought
the works ; and the words which he spake “ he spake
not of himself.” The Divine nature was thus made
palpable to the senses and reason of man; and this
manifestation of God has accordingly become, from
its reality, certainty, and definiteness, the indestruct-
ible basis of spiritual thought; as well as a living
rule of daily action. “ This is life eternal, that
they might Anow thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent®.” “The Son of God
is come, and hath given us an wnderstanding, that we
may know Him that is true: and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ°.”

It is no abstract idea of goodness then which is
thus presented for our contemplation; but Divine
truth and holiness embodied, living, tangible, dwell-

n John xvii. 3. oy John v. 10.

32 LECTURE II.

ing among us. We have beheld His glory: He has
left us an example that we should follow His steps.
Hence the spiritual mind will ever be looking unto
Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of our faith. It
has an unerring standard whereby to judge of every
desire, passion, or affection as it arises; and to de-
termine the character of every thought, and word,
and deed.

Nor are the general relations alone of Father, Re-
deemer, Comforter, in which God stands to believers,
the subject of habitual thought to the spiritual
mind. It embraces also the Christian’s own personal
fellowship with the Father, as a member of the mys-
tical body of His Son. And if by a living faith and
the communication of His grace he is joined to the
Lord as “ one spirit ;” if Christ is effectually made
to him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption: then, since the first fruit being holy,
the lump also is holy’, he is made to sit with
Christ in heavenly places; whither He the forerunner
is for us entered. The spiritual mind thus takes a
lively personal interest in those high themes con-
nected with the manifestation of God in the flesh.
They are no longer matters of unimpassioned spe-
culation ; but are no less heart-stirring than they are
sublime.

There is a passage in the epistle to the Ephesians 4,
which in its pregnant brevity comprehends all those
subjects, on which the spiritual mind will habitually
dwell. The language even of inspiration seems to
labour for terms, to express the sublimity of the con-

P Rom. xi. 16. q Ephes. 1. 17—22.

LECTURE II. 33

ceptions presented to the Christian’s thoughts. The
Apostle prays that “the Father of glory may give”
them “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that ye may know what is the
hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of
his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceed-
ing greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power,
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and
power ;....and hath put all things under His feet, and
gave Him to be the head over all things to the
church.”

Thus far the relations to us-ward of the Manhood
taken into God for the salvation of the world, are
marked out as themes of thought to the spiritual
mind; but to them he farther adds the contem-
plation of our own personal hopes, as redeemed of
Christ. For he goes on to say, “ You hath he quick-
ened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;....and
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus4.”

The glorious aspirations of justifying faith are thus
the habitual communings with itself of the spiritual
mind; and they who have attained to the higher
degrees of devout abstraction have at length become
so absorbed in such meditations, as almost to be
entranced, like the Apostle, into the third heaven ;

q Ephes. 11. 6,
D

34 LECTURE II.

and scarcely fitted for a season to mingle in the
turmoil of this lower world.

While the carnal mind then dwells on the things of
sense ; the lust of the flesh and the eye, and the pride
of life; or perplexes itself with the mazes of heresy
and paradox; or expatiates in the self-willed caprices
of individual judgment; he who habitually minds the
things of the Spirit is elevated by Him to congenial
meditations; and is changed into the likeness of the
Divine goodness by sympathetic and progressive
sanctification. ‘“ We all,” says St. Paul, “ with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord'.”

It can hardly be necessary to remark how this
elevated tone of mind will find its natural expres-
sion in fervent and constant prayer. The Christian’s
meditations must lead to his communing with God,
if they be the work of God’s Spirit. And it is thus
that St. Paul connects knowledge with love and
faith, when he charges the Colossians, “ Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace
in your hearts to the Lords.” So will they who fear
the Lord speak often one to another concerning spi-
ritual things; and a book of remembrance will be
written before Him for them that fear Him and
think upon His name; and they shall be His in the
day when He maketh up his jewels *.

Such is a faint outline of the spiritual mind in its

r 2 Cor. iii. 18. S Coloss. ili. 16. t Malachi ii. 17.

LECTURE II. 35

contemplative functions; which delightsin thelaw of the
Lord, and in his law doth meditate day and night".

But there remains to be considered the practical
wisdom of the faithful and wise steward’; or the
application of evangelical truth to the affairs and
conduct of daily life.

And here also, no less than in its habitual subjects
of thought, will the spiritual mind give clear evi-
dence of the Divine Monitor within. There is an
intuitive judgment of right and wrong; truth and
error; “lawful” and “expedient ;” which they, and
they only possess, whose senses have been exercised
by reason of use to discern both good and evil”.

If we consider the various influences which tend
to warp the judgment; the example of the world,
self-interest, the fears and hopes of ambition; then to
see Truth clearly, and hold it with patient firmness ;
yea, and if need be, to state it without reserve,—in the
face possibly of popular opinion, or interested power,
—this is one of the decided triumphs of the spiritual
mind.

But perhaps its severest trial arises not from
without the Church, but from within. The spirit
of the world and the Spirit of God are so op-
posed to each other, that sincere minds can hardly
be so far warped, as to put aside the plain de-
cisions of God’s word in their converse with man-
kind. Indolence or timidity indeed may render
men unwilling to bear their testimony against world-
ly selfishness or vanity as boldly as they ought.
They may be silent when they ought to speak ;

u Psalm i. 2. Vv Luke xii. 42. w Heb. v. 14.
D2

36 LECTURE II.

but they can hardly dare to contradict the written
declarations of God’s will. It is therefore from
within the Church, and in the things of the king-
dom of God, that the spiritual mind is most se-
verely proved. Many good men, for example, have
confessedly embraced some portion of religious error.
Many more have laboured to effect good ends by
faulty means. Again, how hard is it, to run counter
to the opinion of the world, in regard to the
lawfulness, or expediency of some favourite amuse-
ments or occupations. And yet try them by their
tendency to forward the kingdom of God, which we
daily pray may come; and we shall soon find their
utter incompatibility with spiritual mindedness.
For characters indeed of an elevated cast, it must
be either from the subject-matter of revealed truth;
or its application to civil, social, or religious life, that
their probation comes. The flesh and the world for
them have no charms; but to influence opinions for
the glory of God; to lead mankind; to operate
changes in society with the hope of doing good;
these are the glorious ends for which they desire
to live, or are content to die. But still the spzrztual
mind may be warped by the love of power; or by
the consciousness of influence; no less than the
carnal mind by pleasure, or gain, or vanity. Such
trials the Scriptures themselves lead us to expect in
the last days; when that wicked one shall be re-
vealed, “ whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders*.” There
may yet come “strong delusions” which shall test

x 2 Thess. ii. 9,

LECTURE. It. 37

both the faith and discernment of the spiritually
minded. Another gospel may be preached than
that which St. Paul preached. But amidst such se-
ducing spirits, we are warned still to hold fast the
form of sound words in faith and love which are in
Christ Jesus’; to continue in the things which we
have learned, and been assured of, knowing from
whom we have learned them; and that the Holy
Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation
through faith that is in Christ Jesus’.

Evil principles of an insidious nature may charac-
terise the religion of this our day; and put to the
test the wisdom of the spiritual mind. Of these it
may be profitable to point out some of the more pro-
minent. To do evil that good may come; to let the
end justify the means; to sacrifice principle for the
fear of man, or to please him; are ways of worldly
wisdom which have seduced men of every commu-
nion. They have even been elevated into prin-
ciples of religious conduct by such as profess the
deepest reverence for the name of Jesus, and devo-
tion to His cause®.

The history of the Church at large teems with
examples of men great in their generation, who
have either by God’s grace held fast their integrity
in trying times; or who, on the contrary, have
swerved from the high standard of Christian truth-
fulness. Not a few names in our own communion
might be mentioned, venerated for that firm spi-

Yor Dim...i. 03. z 2 Tim. ill. 14, 15.

a See the case of Riembauer, a Bavarian priest, and his testimony
to the effects of the teaching upon his mind of the Jesuit Sattler.—
Edinb. Review, No. 166.

38 LECTURE II.

ritual mind, which neither worldly interest; nor spe-
ciousness of argument; nor the seductions of power,
could move from their steadfastness. They followed
that course which they deemed agreeable to the will
of God, and for the lasting good of His Church.

How many, on the contrary, in the religious and
political changes of our country, have stifled their
opinions for temporal advancement; and complied
with an order of things against which their hearts re-
volted! Surely such weakness savours little of the
spiritual mind. And have we not ourselves witnessed
religious engagements taken in one sense, wrested
to another ;—finally to be abandoned altogether ?

Have not the landmarks of Theological opinion
been obliterated or obscured; in order to approxi-
mate, if not amalgamate, systems which are essen-
tially opposed ?

Has not Language itself been stripped of its defi-
nite meaning; or palpably evaded, in order to favour
opinions it was intended to exclude®?

Has not the Pastoral office itself been tainted with
suspicion; while the liberty has been claimed of
holding opinions inconsistent with the express obli-
gations of the preacher ?

And what shall we say of that stealthy system of
proselytism; in which parental confidence has been

a Thus baptismal regeneration, not to specify other instances, has
been denounced as a heresy, in spite of the letter of the [Xth Article,
and the spirit (as well as letter) of the baptismal office. Renatis is
rendered in the English version of the [Xth Article by “ regenerated”
and ‘* baptized.’ Hence it follows, that in the minds of our Re-
formers those terms were synonymous ; whatever may now be thought
of the doctrine by some few members of our Church, who profess to
follow their steps most closely.

LECTURE II. 39

abused; and the sacred ties of domestic authority
and affection been artfully and cruelly broken? And
are such methods of acting, [ would ask, compatible
with the spiritual mind®? The Pharisees compassed
sea and land to make one proselyte ; but He who
came to bear witness to the truth spake ever
openly in the temple and the synagogue, and in
secret said nothing; thus “providing,” in his own
example, “things honest in the sight of all men.”
And such surely should be the conduct of His minis-
ters, if the Spirit of truth be in them; and they pos-
sess the spiritual mind in its integrity.

It is not, believe me, without great heaviness and
sorrow of heart, (God knoweth,) that I refer to these
things; not as wishing to judge any thing before the
time: but desirous to bring before you, in the way of
suggestion, the question, how far they, who really
mind the things of the Spirit, can be guilty of such
methods of acting. To me, at least, they seem at va-
riance with the mind, which is after the Spirit. They
appear inconsistent with moral rectitude ; and so give
occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. Reli-
gion is thus wounded through the sides of its profes-
sors; nor can other marks of spirituality atone for, or
remove the stigma justly attaching to such perverted
principles. Truth herself repudiates the support of
such auxiliaries; and the appropriate punishment of
all tampering, (from whatsoever side it comes,) with
moral rectitude of mind, seems to be; “that men

b The case of the daughter of the Netherlands minister at Turin;
and the conduct of the Archbishop of that see, with reference to her
concealment in a convent, illustrates this assertion; not to mention
other recent instances of the same sort.

40 LECT Ss.

should “ believe a lie,” “ because they receive not the
love of the truth*.” Surely in the fiery trial which
the visible Church of Christ seems at present under-
going, the spiritual mind is severely exercised. To dis-
cern the truth,—the whole truth, once for all deliver-
ed to the saints,—respecting the kingdom of Christ;
and to hold it fast; neither conceding, nor compro-
mising, nor explaining it away; whether in doctrine
or discipline: this is our daily; I may say, hourly task.

At such a erzsis it is well to remember that them
that are meek God will guide in judgment; and to
follow David in spirit, when he says, “ Lord, my
heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither
do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things
too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted
myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my
soul is even as a weaned child*.” The Scriptures of
God interpreted by Apostolic practice; so far as that
can be reasonably ascertained ; will cut off the zn-
ventions of men, whether in the way of positive
addition, or fancied developement; as well as the
caprices of individual opinion. But after all, “the
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith un-
feigned¢;” and such a frame of mind habitually
present will be the first object of one who “minds
the things of the Spirit.” Some things he will be
content to “see through a glass darkly: yet he
will never “ handle the word of God deceitfully ; but
by manifestation of the truth” he will commend hin-
self “to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

¢ 2 Thess. il. Ic. Psalm: exxxi.(7 bon Tam sig:

LECTURE ITI. 41

Such is a brief sketch of the nature and working
of the spiritual mind. That it is the work in us of
the Spirit of God, Scripture and Experience alike
testify. St. Paul’s mission was to “ open the eyes” of
the Gentiles, “and to twin them from darkness to light'.”
And believers are said by St. Peters to be a “peculiar
people,” that they should shew forth the praises of
Him, who hath called them out of darkness into his
marvellous light. On the other hand, unbelievers
have “ the understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God through the zgnorance that is in
them, because of the blindness of their heart®.” It
cannot be then from ztse/f that the enlightenment
of the mind in spiritual things proceeds. It must
come from a power without and above us. That
power is “the Spirit of Truth,” who descended from
the Father to lead us into all truth. He enlightens
the understanding as well as converts the soul; and
his teaching is often wonderfully manifested in the
clear views and lively hopes of the unlearned Chris-
tian ; while they who are wise in this world’s conceit
are ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. “It is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
sheweth mercy.”

And since the Holy Spirit is the real teacher of
spiritual wisdom, it follows that our ewperimental
knowledge of evangelic truth will be in proportion
to our advance in holiness. While the “ natural
man” is strong in us; and it is strong, until by a
realizing faith Christ is made unto us wisdom and

f Acts xxvi. 18. & 1 Peter 1. 9. h Eph. iv. 18.

42 LECTURE II.

righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
the things of the Spirit will be “ foolishness” to us.
They are spiritually discerned, and we cannot know
the mind of the Spirit, until He hath planted in us
the love of holiness: until the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. To seek religious truth through
the zntellect alone will be vain, as it is presumptuous.
Religious zaformation may be so acquired, but not
experimental Anowledge ; a cold and lifeless theology;
a lesson of the memory, but not the power of God
unto salvation in the believing heart; a pale marble
image, instead of the living animated reality.

Imagine then for a moment one who is endued
with this great gift of God, even a spiritual mind;
the Christian sage, the true philosopher; the begin-
ning of whose wisdom is the fear of God, and the
perfection of it conformity to the mind of Christ.
View him in his Mental, Spiritual, and Practical
character: his intellect elevated, expanded, con-
versant with the sublime truths of Christian Theo-
logy—God’s revealed nature and dealings with a
lost guilty world; not speculating upon them with
careless indifference, or babbling of them under
unreal excitement and self-deceiving vanity; but
with grateful love towards the Creating, Redeem-
ing and Sanctifying God of love.

From the contemplation of the Almighty in his
relations to his fallen creatures, He will pass on
to the destiny of believing, repenting, obeying man.
The second Adam, the Lord from heaven ;
into heaven,

ascended
and invested with all power zz heaven

and on earth, opens to him a grandeur and va-

LECTURE II. 43

riety of thoughts matchless in the range of human
speculation. What are the views of the statesman or
philanthropist, embracing as they do the earthly
well-being of kingdoms and generations, compared
with the prospects which bring all heaven before
our eyes? Ifthe glory of our country is calculated
to fill the patriotic mind with interest; what king-
dom is there to compare with the universal kingdom
of Christ; and the restoration of His Israel, when the
fulness of the Gentiles is come in? No wonder that
they, whose minds are habitually conversant with
such contemplations, view with comparative indif-
ference the jarring interests, and selfish struggles
of classes or nations.

But he who minds the things of the Spirit is
not merely a contemplative being; not only able to
discern between good and evil, true and false, right
and wrong, by reason of having his senses exercised
in such subjects; but he is eminently practical. It
is his privilege to pursue right ends by right means;
and with a tempered energy to overcome with good
the evil designs of worldly men. And if few there
be, who are eminent examples of this great grace,
let us remember that it is the result of long pro-
bation and patient experience in well doing; not in
some, but in all the branches of Christian conver-
sation. He must have added to his faith virtue,
and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge tem-
perance, and to temperance patience, and to pa-
tience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness charity’. “He that

We bet. ts 6

44 LEC TURE II.

lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar
off*.” He has little of that spiritual mind or dis-
cernment, which is the result of continuance in well
doing; and diligence to make our calling and election
sure,

And if holiness be the true source of that wisdom
which they have, who mind the things of the Spirit,
not less excellent are its fruits towards them that
are “without.” “The wisdom that is from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be en-
treated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality, and without hypocrisy!.”. Perhaps no
human being exhibited more of this grace than the.
great Apostle, whose statement of the evidences of
the Spirit we are endeavouring to illustrate. When
Barnabas, for example, his fellow apostle; and
Cephas, afraid of the brethren from Jerusalem, dis-
sembled the truth of the Gospel; how eminently
did the spiritual mind shew itself in St. Paul! What
clearness of view, what sincerity of purpose, what
trueness of courage, what sternness of determination,
and yet withal “meekness of wisdom,” were required
to rebuke St. Peter before them all, without making
a breach in theChurch; and separating theJewish and
Gentile Christians into rival and contending sects!

Again, how clearly was the same spiritual judg-
ment evinced as to things offered to idols; the pro-
priety or inexpediency of circumcision in the case
of Timothy and Titus; above all, in asserting the
superiority of Charity above every other spiritual
gift. There are many other examples, which your

k 2 Pet. i. g. 1 James iii. 17.

LECTURE II. 45

own recollection will supply; but it may be well
to notice the firmness of purpose shewn in his
refusal to take with him a second time John, whose
surname was Mark; because he had once turned
back from the work.

And who is sufficient for such spiritual discern-
ment, or for the habitual thoughtfulness of the
spiritual mind, but one in whom the Holy Spirit
hath made his abode; enlightening his mind, sub-
duing his passions, and disciplining his will to obey
in all things the will and mind of God.

He then who is thus taught of God hath the
witness in himself that he is after the Spirit. The
Spirit beareth witness with his spirit by his mending
spiritual things. Combined with the other evidences
of the Spirit’s indwelling, this may assure him that
he is indeed a temple of the living God; a chosen
vessel in the household of faith; a lively stone of
the spiritual building. Blessed then is he who can
thus trace in himself the witness and work of the
Spirit. The remaining signs of His sanctifying
presence, we shall proceed to treat in their natural
order ; and select accordingly as the first of them the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

LECTURE III.

Rom. vill. 15, 16.

Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye
have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we
are the children of God.

E have here brought before us a fresh branch

of the internal evidences, whereby the pre-

sence of the Holy Ghost in the Christian may be

discerned. The inquiry is transferred from the

region of intellect to that of feeling and affection ;

and under the grace of Adoption, a new and blessed
relation to the Father of spirits is unfolded.

In the pursuit even of spiritual knowledge, there
must in this world be a limit. “Now we see through
a glass, darkly ; but then face to face: now I know
in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known®*.” The Holy Ghost therefore, as the Spirit of
Truth, will make manifest to the spiritual mind only
in part the things, which are “freely given to us of God.”
But in His power over the heart, as the Comforter,
who shall say to what height of angelic purity, or

a y Cor. xili. 12.

LECTURE II. 47

seraphic love, He may elevate His saints even on
earth ? Who, for example, can fix the measure of
divine grace which rested on the mother of our
Lord; or upon the beloved disciple to whose filial
care she was consigned at the cross? And yet how
immeasurably below the glory of the only begotten
Son, to whom alone the Spirit was given without
measure; and at whose feet, in the vision, the same
beloved disciple fell as one dead». Nevertheless,
on both the Holy Spirit had indelibly impressed
the seal of the living God. In both “the Spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” was shed
abroad in their hearts.

In the present Lecture I purpose to consider both
the nature and effects of this witness of the Spirit with
the spirit of the Christian who is of full age; the
habitual temper of filial love towards God. And if its
consequences are of that transcendent blessedness as
to realize the bold figure of Scripture, making us
“kings and priests unto God;” we shall doubtless
be led from such thoughts to pray earnestly for
fuller communications of the grace; and be con-
strained to live more diligently according to the
standard of our high calling in Christ Jesus.

In considering the nature of this witness, we are
led to remark that it is not, as fanatics have ima-
gined, an inward voice sensibly and immediately
assuring the believer of his adoption. Such inward
communications may possibly have been granted
to the apostles; but for assurance of their final
acceptance they were not needed. St. Paul appeals

b Rev. i 17.

48 LECTURE -1iT.

to no such ground of confidence in his farewell to
Timothy. On the contrary, he appeals to the reality
of his faith evinced by the course of his past life.
«T have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid
up for me a crown of righteousness¢ :” according to
the promise of our Lord, “he that endureth to the
end, the same shall be saved?.”

And when the messenger of Satan was sent to
buffet him, he was strengthened to endure it; not
by an inspired assurance of his adoption, but of
the sufficiency of the grace given to him; and that
the strength of Jesus would be made perfect in his
weakness*. The witness of the Spirit then in this case
was not the supernatural communication of inward
certainty, but the power of the Spirit: to be testified
by more entire conformity of his life to the will
of God.

Nor does the original language of the passage:
“the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God‘;” imply any such direct,
sensible, inspired communication. The compound
cunpaptupe®, (translated, “beareth witness with,”)
seems to express little more than the simple verb.
Thus the Gentiles, says St. Paul, shew the work of
the law written in their hearts, “their conscience also
bearing witness,” TUMMAPTUPOVG nS QUTOV TIS cuverdncews!,
And if the voice of their conscience, either excusing

¢2Tim.iv.7. 4 Matt. xxiv.13. ¢€2Cor.xii.g. f Rom. viii. 16.

g It is used by St. Paul in three out of the four instances in which
it occurs. Rom. ii. 15. viii. 16. ix. 1. Apoc. xxii. 18.

h Rom. ii. 15.

LECTURE III. 49

or accusing them, bore witness to the work of the
law written in their hearts; in like manner, the
Spirit of supplication, which cries, Abba, Father, is a
witness to the Christian of his adoption.

St. Chrysostom indeed distinguishes between the
prayerfuli spirit of adoption, which is a gift, and
the’ Spirit itself, the Author and Giver of it. The cry,
« Abba, Father,” is traced through the one up to the
other; and the combined voice of both gift and
Giver is considered the jomt witness to our
adoption. There is however apparently no more
immediate or sensible inspiration intended by him,
than is evinced in the effectual fervent prayer of
every righteous man!.

When therefore with fervency of devotion and
realizing faith we call upon God as our Father, we
may recognise the Holy Spirit bearing witness with

| qvedpa viobecias ev @ Kpagoper.

kK airo 76 Tvedpa.

1 The spirit of adoption is claimed by him for all who are bap-
tized*, priests and people, governors and governed. They are
all, he says, alike commanded or encouraged to use the Lord’s prayer ;
and when under the godly motion of the Spirit they use this
baptismal privilege, they evidence their adoption, both by so doing,
and by the Spirit moving them to it. There is nothing here of a
fanatical claim to conscious, inward, immediate inspiration.

* Chrysost. in Ep. ad Rom. c. viii. hom. xiv. Contrasting the Christian’s
privileges with those of the Jews, he says, Ovdauod TotTo ebploxouey adtois
KaAoovTas Td pha, Tov Oedv’ ovde edXomevous ovTwS. Tuets BE Gnaytes Kal icpets
Ka) idiGra Kad &pxovres Kai apyduevar otTws ctxecOar exeAcvaOnuev’ Kal TavTHY
mpaorny ableuev pov, meta Tas Oavuacras wdivas éxevas, Kat Tov Eevoy Kal ma-
padotoy Tav AoXEvUATwY VouoV.

Ti dé dori, Td mvedUa TS TvEebmart cuupapTupel; 6 MapdKAntds, pnot, TP Xaplo-
pate TG Sedomévy hiv ob yap Tod xaplopaids eat | pwr) pdvov, GAAG Kal TOD
ddvros Thy Bwpedy TapaxAhtou' avrhs yap nuas obros ebldake dia Tov xaplouaros
ottw pbeyyerbar.

E

50 LECTURE II.

our spirit by His gift, the prayerful spirit of adoption.
But this is a witness not peculiar to the Apostolic
age. It is applicable to all believers, and available
to the end of the world. Though not the infallible
voice of direct inspiration, it is a sufficient evidence
of the Spirit’s presence for the comfort of the indi-
vidual ; enabling him to “rejoice in hope” as well as
to be “ patient in tribulation.”

We pass on from its nature to its effects upon the
inner man: “Ye have not received the Spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

The apostle here contrasts the spiritual condition
of the Jew, with the happier state of the believer in
Christ; the Spirit of dondage with the Spirit of
adoption. Whatever then be the value of the Mosaic
dispensation as a code of morals, and a revelation of
the attributes of God, He at least who gave it has
designated its spirit as one of bondage; and the
Mediator of the new covenant has pronounced, that
the greatest of its prophets was less than the least
in the kingdom of God.

The superiority of the latter consists not only in
his wider range of spiritual Anowledge, but in the
enjoyment of higher spiritual endowments. Not
only had many prophets and righteous men desired
to see those things that ye see, and to hear those
things that ye hear, and heard them not™; but
the elements of the law were “ beggarly” as com-
pared with “the principles of the doctrine of Christ.”

m Matt. iii. 17.

LECTURE 111. 51

They were but shadows of those good things of
which He was the substance. They were but the
schooling, to bring the Jews to Him, who alone could
make them perfect as regards the conscience. In-
deed, the “wondrous things” of the Gospel—God ma-
nifested in the flesh, and the Comforter proceeding
from the Father and the Son—are such as neither
imagination in its most daring flight, nor hope in its
boldest aspiration, could attain unto. The love of
God in Christ for man “ passeth knowledge ;? and the
confession of the Apostle is not a figure, but the
sober statement of evident truth, “Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him».”

Contrast the Evangelic with the Legal revelation
of His attributes. It is true that He proclaimed
Himself as “ keeping mercy for thousands;” and yet
He appeared in five to Moses at the bush; upon
the heights of Sinai; and on the sands of the wilder-
ness. The broad plates of the altar were a fearfal
reminiscence to the congregation of Israel of His
vengeance. They must needs have impressed upon
the thoughtful Jew “the terror of the Lord.” And
when the Lord passed by before Moses, and “ pro-
claimed, The Lord, The Lord God,” He warned him
that his name was Jealous; that he was “a jealous
God°;” and that He would do “a ferrzb/e thing” with
his people, in driving out before them seven nations
for their sins. They beheld therefore in the Cove-
nant made with them at once the goodness and the

n x Cor. ii. 9. © Exod. xxxiv. 14.

E2

52 LECTORE III.

severity of God; goodness to themselves if they con-
tinued in his goodness; but severity, intense and
absolute, on them that fell. The attributes of Just-
ice, Holiness, Truth, and Power, were written in cha-
racters of fire upon the walls of the tabernacle, and
the pages of the law. Mercy and long-suffering
indeed were not shut out; but in the denunciation,
“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to
do them?,” obedience complete and unfailing was
required ; and death as the recompense of reward
was denounced upon the transgressor. They knew
God then in the most awful of his attributes. To
us He is revealed as Love.

That awful penalty, moreover, placed a yoke of
bondage upon the Jew, from which his heart could
never be free. If the weakness of the flesh hindered
the fulfilling of the law, there was no means of free-
ing the conscience from a sense of guilt to serve the
living God. It was “not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins,” and so the
sentence of death hung over even the righteous, as a
burthen too heavy to bear; as a bondage of fear
from which he could never be released‘. Well might
the prophet describe the “acceptable year of the
Lord” as proclaiming “liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound".”

Nor was the spirit of bondage experienced only
the fear of death; unrelieved, as this is to us, by the
hope of a resurrection of the body. It was wrought
into the very tissue of life, and gave a mournful

P Gal. ili. To. a Heb, ii. 15. r Isai. Ixi. 1.

LECTURE III. 53

colouring to the whole. In the religion of the Jew
there was a servile spirit. He was hemmed in
and constrained by laws and ordinances. ‘“ Touch
not, taste not, handle not,” met him at every turn;
and though the secret grace of God, no doubt, fre-
quently turned these restraints into a discipline of
godliness, still they too often were perverted to Pha-
risaic formality, and ministered to an unrighteous
pride. The language indeed of the prophets, as well
as of “ the sweet Psalmist of Israel,” might have cor-
rected this tendency of a stringent law. With Azm
the sacrifices of God were a broken and contrite
heart; or the offering of thanksgiving and a willing
spirit. All other oblations without these he knew
to be in vain; but the pride and corruption of the
natural heart so far prevailed with the Jewish peo-
ple, as to substitute for a spiritual worship petty
observances and external decency; “ which stood
only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and
carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time
of reformation’.” And perhaps we trace in their
dulness of spiritual apprehension, and their want of
faith, the unhappy evidence of that “ bondage,” from
which our blessed Saviour redeemed his people, and
set them free by the Spirit of adoption.

And yet how reluctantly did they surrender the
obligations of the law; and abandon that mid-wall
of partition, behind which their selfish pride would
still have entrenched itself! By allegory, therefore,
by argument, by exposition of prophecy, by just
sarcasm, by bold reproof, yea, even of his fellow-

8 Heb. ix. Io.

54 LECTURE III.

apostles, by concession at one time, by resistance at
another, in all and every way, St. Paul shewed
that the law made nothing perfect; that the cove-
nant from Sinai gendered to bondaget; while Jeru-
salem from above alone is free, “ which is the mother
of us all.” To as many as Jéelieve, he testified that
God had given power to become his Sons. They had
therefore received, not the Spirit of bondage to fear,
but the Spirit of adoption, whereby they might cry,
Abba, Father!

Surveying then the bondage of the law, we have
seen that it reached both to body and soul; to time
and to eternity. As it pervaded life, so it ceased
not with death. The freedom therefore conferred by
“the Spirit of adoption” was equally extensive and
enduring. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us";” “that we
might receive the adoption of sons*.” As then we
are no longer under a curse, so we are no more ser-
vants, but sons. ‘The sting of death is taken away;
the sentence of death is cancelled; for there is
“now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit’;” and the blessing also of Abraham has
come upon the Gentiles, through faith in Jesus
Christ.

The worship also of the Christian is free and spi-
ritual. No longer a servant, he is released from the
trammels of a costly and burdensome ritual. Time
and Place, Method and Ceremony, are no longer of

t Gal. iv. 24. u ‘Gali ni 13.
* Gal. iv. 5. y Rom viii. 1.

LECTURE III. 55

the essence of divine worship. “ The true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
Father seeketh such to. worship Himz.” Within the
temple of the spiritual mind, and on the altar of the
renewed heart, the Christian sacrifice of prayer and
praise must now be offered up. The breathing of the
Spirit within ascends in place of the incense of old:
to be presented by our great High Priest, for a sweet
smelling savour and acceptable oblation through
His alone meritorious sacrifice.

Out of condescension indeed to the weakness of the
flesh, besides His written word, He has ordained a visi-
ble and organized* Church ; an authorized ministry ;
holy mysteries as pledges of His love; and the day of
His resurrection to be kept holy. These are the ap-
pointed means and channels of His grace; supports
to our wavering faith and flagging devotion. Still
they are but means, however valuable; they are but
as the setting of the jewel, distinct from the “ goodly
pearl” itself; inferior and subordinate. “He that is
joined to the Lord is one spirit’.”. He has fellow-
ship with the Father and the Son’. Not only in

Z John iv. 23.

a Not a mere number of believers in the aggregate, without sys-
tem or coherence of parts, or mutual dependance ; but a body, “ fitly
joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth ;”
such as the kingdom of Christ was under the united government of
the Apostles; and such as the Church might be now under their suc-
cessors; independent national churches being in communion with
each other under their own bishops; and ‘‘ the Powers that be.”

b x Cor. vi. 17.

¢ 1 Johni. 3. his fellowship of the saints, though formed ori-
ginally within the bosom of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, is yet
not coextensive with it; nor even confined (if we may venture to
judge on such a point) within its pale. The wind bloweth where

56 LECTURE Til.

the temple or synagogue, but in the lonely wilder-
ness, on the bleak mountain-top, the darkness of the
night, or stillness of the dawn, did the Son of man
offer up his prayers to God.

The loss or absence then of ordinary means
cannot hinder the free spirit of those who are
begotten of God from communing with Him; and
pouring forth at the feet of Jesus the strong en-
treaties of an earnest heart. The flesh, no doubt,
is weak, though the spirit be willing; and for this
reason, a Sacramental character has been mercifully
added both to Christian fellowship and Christian
worship. The service of God has been enshrined,
even since the coming of the Holy Ghost, in a
visible temple; the church or congregation of pro-
fessed believers, with its overseers and elders and
deacons ; ministering outward signs as means of
grace to faithful partakers ; witnessing ¢o the canon-
ical Scriptures; teaching from those lively oracles
the truth as it is in Jesus; and presenting to the
eyes of men every where a sign that God has sent
His Son to be the Saviour of the world. But let us
not mistake these things for the essence of worship.
it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, even amongst those who,
unmindful, or regardless of visible catholic unity, appoint a ministry
and service of their own devising. With what peril to salvation; with
what loss of spiritual blessing; with what defectiveness of religious
attainment, such iso/ation may be attended, will be best known at the
great day. Meanwhile, since our lot has fallen to us in fair ground,
and we have a goodly heritage in our Reformed branch of the
Apostolic Church, Jet us be thankful, but not “ highminded;” leav-
ing to the Holy Spirit to do what He will with his own gifts, but

candidly acknowledging, wherever we find them, the fruits of His
sanctifying presence.

LECTURE III. 57

In themselves, unless made effectual to the wor-
shipper by the Holy Ghost, they are as much “ weak
and beggarly elements,” as the corresponding sacra-
ments of the Law. The passover and circumcision ;
the ordinances of divine service; the meats and
drinks and divers washings; the days and months
and years to be observed; the stated fasts, and new
moons, and incense, became not only an intolerable
yoke to the Jew; but God was “weary to bear
them,” when substituted for purity of heart and
spiritual worship. The great law of Christian ser-
vice is, to worship God in spirit and in truth. The
Spirit of adoption has exchanged the servile obliga-
tion of duty for the free devotion of filial affection.
“ My son, give me thine heart‘,” is the Lord’s re-
quirement, and the Spirit of adoption replies, “ Abba,
Father.” It realizes the language of the Psalmist,
“An offering of a free heart will I give thee, and
praise thy Name, O Lord, because it is so comfort-
ablee.”

If these are the immediate effects of the Spirit of
adoption on the inner man, there are others also nei-
ther remote nor uncertain. Wonderful as is the rela-
tion, thus created ; when realized by faith, it fills the
heart with unspeakable joy. It is indeed so great a gift
that we are slow to appropriate it; satisfied if we
might be as hired servants in the house of God. But
while we are yet a great way off he receives us as sons.
He clothes the ruined prodigal, and satisfieth his hun-
gry soul. He reassures him by the kiss of peace. And
not as when Moses put on a veil, because the children

d Prov. xxill. 26. e Psal. liv. 6.

58 LECTURE III.

of Israel could not steadfastly behold his face for
the glory of itf; but we all, with open face, be-
hold as in a glass the glory of the Lord#. We
are invited as adopted sons to draw near to God,
We have “ do/dness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus :” to join with the general assembly of
the first-born, and an innumerable company of an-
gels, in offering the sacrifice of praise to our Father .
which is in heaven. We are no more servants but
sons; heirs of God, and joimt-heirs with Christ; no
longer have the Spirit of bondage to fear, but the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The promise even of the life that zow is, as well
as of that which is to come, is thus realized to the
Christian; for our natural state, as outcasts from
paradise, is one of unrest and fearfulness. The
imagery by which this life is depicted in the Scrip-
tures denotes any thing but ease and tranquillity.
It is a pilgrimage, a warfare, a sojourn. All around
us is in a state of flux and decay. The great and
sore wilderness which lay between Egypt and Ca-
naan is a lively type of our lot on the earth; of the
toil and disquiet to which we are subject. But to
the wearied Israelite, the presence of the cloud by
day and the pillar of fire by night gave strength
and confidence; whether he sojourned in his tent,
or journeyed onward when the cloud removed.

And what though we walk by faith and not by
sight? have we not in the Spirit of adoption a very
present help? Have we not the Spirit itself, the true
Comforter; whose presence in ourselves and with his

' Exod, x2xive28); 2 Cor. ili. 7. g 2 Cor. ii. 18.

LECTURE TT. 59

Church should give us guwéetness and assurance for
ever ? He who has this witness; supplicating in the
Spirit, “ Abba, Father,” and keeping himself as a son
of God unspotted from the world; he cannot be soon
shaken in mind. His heart standeth fast and trusteth
in the Lord. He knows that God will “ avenge his
own elect, which cry day and night unto him?.” He
will hide them privily by his own presence from the
provoking of all men. He will keep them secretly
in his tabernacle from the strife of tongues’.

Such doubtless was the support of holy men of
old, who endured a great fight of afflictions. And
the same comfort will the sons of God in our day
find in the Spirit of adoption, amidst the multitude
of social evils; and the offences which distress and
perplex them, as subjects of His visible kingdom.
“Cast down,” they may be, “but not in despair;”
while they evidence their adoption by “bearing about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus ;” being cru-
cified with him unto the world. Even when chas-
tened, they feel that He dealeth with them as sons.
And while the earth is heaving with convulsive
throes, and the passions of mankind seem ready to
burst forth and dash the social fabric in pieces, they
know that “all things work together for good to them
that love God ;” and that nothing can separate them
from His love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Their inheritance is far away. None can take it from
them. They are heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Christ. They are content therefore to suffer here
with Him, that they may also be glorified together.

h Luke xviii. 7. i Psalm xxxi./22.

60 LECTURE TIL.

Nor have they merely a vague and shadowy hope of
of spiritual joys, in some future state of disembodied
existence. Redemption of the dody from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God, is part of the purchased possession guaran-
teed to the sons of God by the Spirit of adoption. In
the resurrection they will be as His angels in hea-
ven. This hope is a strong tower amid the troubles
of the world. The righteous runneth into it and is
safe.

But the greater the blessings which flow from the
Spirit of adoption, so much the more awful does it
become, to mistake, or abuse, or profane it. And there-
fore it may be profitable to set before you some
tests, not only of the reality of this witness of the
Spirit in ourselves; but safeguards against any fana-
tical abuse of it.

Nor need we be reluctant to enter upon this task;
for they are neither fanciful nor imoperative. The
work of the Holy Ghost in those who have come to
years is ever testified by its fruits. The profane and
careless have no right to think themselves under His
guidance, until they are converted. And the fer-
vours of the fanatic are equally without foundation,
unless accompanied by real holiness of life. Truth
repudiates whatever is either forced or fictitious : and
the Spirit of truth must spurn the self-delusion of
excitement, no less than the coldness of formality.
The evidences then of the Spirit of adoption must be
clear and undoubted; and this character especially
appertains to that mentioned in the text; the cry,
“ Abba, Father.”

LECTURE It. 61

Its entire sincerity indeed is cognizable alone by
Him to whom it is addressed. But can that cry long
be counterfeited? At all events, they who xever
pray, or who pray not with the spirit as well as the
understanding; who use the words of knowledge
without the unction of devotion; they cannot pre-
tend that the Spirit beareth witness with their spirit
that they are the children of God. Even the Lord’s
prayer may thus be desecrated by familiarity of use ;
and the grieved Spirit refuse to own it as the ex-
pression of filial love.

The privilege indeed of thus approaching the Al-
mighty is so wonderful, that the conscience-stricken
sinner feels, like Lazarus at the gates of Dives, too
poor and naked and miserable thus to obtrude
within the precincts of heaven. But since it is God
himself who crowns us with this glory and honour,
giving the adoption of sons; since Christ himself
is not ashamed to call us brethren, it is only weak-
ness of faith which checks such an outpouring of
the heart. With Jesus as our High Priest and Advo-
cate, thus to call upon God becomes possible even
to the broken and contrite spirit.

But alas for those who profane that blessed rela-
tion, and claim the privilege of sonship without in
some degree experiencing the filial love which it im-
plies! The very term xpaCouey expresses earnestness,
importunity, truth, devotion. It describes the prayer
of the poor in spirit; of those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness ; longing to be delivered from the
bondage of sin, and to become sons, not in name

k Heb. ii. 11.

62 EECYURE 71,

only but in reality. It breathes reverence and godly
fear, without servile dread. He who thus prays may
repose tranquilly on the love of his heavenly Father;
and the intercession of One, who is better to him
than a brother. If we, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to our children, how much more shall
our heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him!?

But there is another and outward evidence of the
Spirit of adoption, which strikes the eye even of the
passing stranger; namely, the thorough transform-
ation of the renewed heart. That the Spirit of
adoption makes a new creature of every son of God,
no one who is conversant with the details of their spi-
ritual life can fora moment doubt. Such characters
indeed are often for a time the objects of suspicion,
wonder, compassion, or ridicule; but when one like
the great Apostle of the Gentiles, from having been a
blasphemer, confesses the faith which once he per-
secuted ; and not only so, but crucifying that fierce
spirit, in the meekness and gentleness of Christ
entreats “as Paul the aged ;’ who can doubt that he
is in fact a new being; that the inner man is es-
sentially changed ?

With the zaward working of “the Spirit of adop-
tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” no stranger
can intermeddle. It is beyond the reach of mortal
gaze, and only “naked and open to the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do.” But when any
one is changed into the lékeness of God’s image by
that same Spirit, all may recognise the lineaments
of the only begotten of the Father; and trace the

1 Luke xi. 13.

EBECWOU RE Tf. 63

resemblance between the great Prototype, and the
impressions drawn from the divine original.

Nor is the likeness merely general, in that, like the
only degotien of the Father, the adopted sons of God are
blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation™ ; but the same mind is in them,
which was in Him. He is “the firstborn among
many brethren".”. They “prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect will of Gode.” They are
dead to sin and to the world, and their life is hid
with Christ in God?.

Tested thus by its outward fruits——likeness to
the express image of the Father in m7nd and con-
versation, as well as by the yearnings of filial love
towards Him—the Spirit of adoption surely cannot
deceive. It is only when the inward eaperience and
the outward fruits are disjoined; when there is no real
resemblance between the only begotten and the
adopted sons of God; when unreal excitement and
fervid aspirations are abortive of results; that the
presence of the Spirit of adoption may justly be
doubted. Even zeal, if it be not after knowledge, or if
it be disjoined from charity, is no criterion of that
holy fellowship. For the former cause St. Paul con-
fessed himself to be chief of sinners. And it is by
charity that the new man approaches nearest to the
image of Him that created him. Whenever then it is
wanting, the cry of Abba, Father, cannot be genuine;
nor the Spirit of adoption truly present. There is
no real sympathy, where there is no aetwal likeness
between the parent and the child.

m Philipp. 1.15. n Philipp. i. 5-
© Rom. xii. 2. P Coloss. ill. 3.

64 LECTURE III.

But assuming that there is nothing wanting
to mark the reality of this witness of the Spirit in
the Christian; it would seem to throw light upon
the question, how far he can be assured in this life
of his future acceptance. If the Spirit of adoption
is evidenced by its happy fruits: the continuing
instant in prayer; spirituality of life; and likeness
to Christ; all uncertainty as to that inheritance, of
which adoption is the title, seems excluded. So
long as the Christian lives consistently with his high
calling; and in the Spirit of adoption calls on God
as his Father, he must be kept “through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.”
He may have fears whether he does so live; but
there can be none of his inheritance above, if he is
made like to the only begotten Son; and lives blame-
less and harmless in the midst of a wicked and
perverse world.

Let not those then of a sorrowful and downcast
spirit harass themselves with anxious and un-
believing doubts. They have received not the Spirit
of bondage to fear, but the Spirit of adoption. By
it they cry, Abba, Father. With such an evidence
within, confirmed by a godly life without, why should
they doubt their calling and election of Him; sealed
as it is by the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts4.
“If God be for us,” and iz us, “ who can be against
us?’ We are made to sit in the heavenly places with
Christ Jesus, the first begotten from the dead of
many brethren.

But lest we should be too much exalted by this
high privilege of adoption; we are reminded by

4 Gal. iv. 6.

LECTURE III. 65

various thorns in the flesh, that we have a work to
do, and a warfare to accomplish. We should remem-
ber, that when God would bring many sons unto
glory, He made the Captain of their salvation
perfect through suffering: “Though he were a Son,
yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered'.” The sons of God, then, must in this
world expect tribulation ; and must comfort them-
selves with the reflexion, that they suffer here with
Christ. We have most to fear, when all goes well
with us. It is then that ease unnerves our minds;
peace and safety throw us off our watch.

It was said to them of old, to whom the word of
God came, “ Ye are Gods; and all of you are children
of the most Highs.” But for as much as they forgot
their heavenly Father, and walked not in His ways,
the sentence went forth, “ Ye shall die like men, and
fall like one of the princes.” And so will it be with
all who despise their adoption, and barter it away
for the pottage of the world. Such are not really
sons of God. They have a name to live, and are
dead. They do not cry, Abba, Father, from the heart.
They are not made like their Father which is in
heaven. They are not conformed to the image of
his only begotten Son.

But all who feel in themselves the working of the
Spirit, mortifying the deeds of the body; drawing
up their minds to high and heavenly things; and
supplicating in them with filial love,—crying, Abba,
Father; they may draw nigh in fell assurance of
faith and hope. They are adopted sons, and if

r Heb. v. 8. s Psalm Ixxxii. 6,

66 LECTURE III.

sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ. All things are theirs, whether the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all
are theirs; and they are Christ’s; and Christ is
God’st. Such is the witness of the Spirit with our
spirit, in the hadit of filial love towards God; and
the next is like unto it, even the dove of our neigh-
bour as ourselves, the fulfilling the righteousness of
the law; which shall be reserved for the ensuing
Lecture.

tricone ive 22.

LECTURE IV.

Romans vill. 4.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled nm us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

HAT any large number of Christians should have

thought themselves released from the require-
ments of God’s moral law, by the imputed right-
eousness of faith, seems one of the strangest errors
with which the Enemy of mankind has ever deluded
unstable souls. “ The law,” indeed, the apostle
allows, “is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient; for the ungodly and for
sinners, for unholy and profane*.” But this is sim-
ply the assertion of a moral truth: that the righteous
man is not righteous merely through fear of the
penalties of the law. He doves righteousness for zs
own sake. The real Christian is a law unto himself,
being under law to Christ. Indeed mora/ virtue, if it

ay Tim. i. 9.

KF 2

68 DEC PU RE Ty.

were actuated solely by fear, would lose its essential
character. It would cease to be virtue. That the
righteousness therefore of our holy Redeemer, when
reputed ours by faith, should set us free from moral
restraints, or render needless holiness in ourselves ;
that because we can add nothing to His zmputed per-
fection, it matters little in what degree that perfec-
tion is ¢mparted; whether in short the believer be
guilty of more or less actual sin; this surely is one
of the most detestable perversions of the gospel,
which ever entered into the evil heart of unbelief.
It is, if ever any was, the work of the Tempter:
thrusting curious and carnal persons into reckless-
ness of unclean living, and separating most wickedly
moral purity from religious faith.

It would be hardly credible that the human mind
could have been guilty of this perversion, if history
did not too faithfully record the fact; and though
happily the formal defence of such error has been
abandoned by every Christian body, yet even still
a laxity of morals concurrent with an eaclusive
profession of faith in the imputed righteousness of
Christ, is one of the most painful phenomena of the
present state of religion. With the disciples of this
school, the grossest breach of the moral law is
hardly an evidence of the quenching in them of the
Holy Spirit. Acts of profligacy, much more of fraud,
conjoined with loud professions of faith and spiritu-
ality, make sad the heart of the righteous, and give
great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme. Meanwhile the sinner himself seems
unconscious that he has fallen from grace. Religion

LECTURE IV. 69

is damaged by the conduct of its professors, and
men are revolted from its doctrines by observing
the small effect they exercise on those, who bruit
them most unreservedly.

The testimony then of St. Paul to the necessary
connexion between Christian faith and Christian
morals has need to be emphatically taught, and
perpetually brought under notice. Accordingly, the
witness of the Spirit with our spirit, manifested in
“the fulfilling of the law,” becomes of primary
importance. And with this view, I pass from the
habit of filial love towards God, considered in my
last Lecture, to brotherly love towards man, which
equally characterizes the Christian who is of “full
age.” It is, not less than the former, an unimpeach-
able testimony to the presence of the Comforter; if
at least the righteousness of the law is to be
fulfilled in them who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit.

It may seem perhaps, that we are restricting too
narrowly “ the righteousness of the law,” in making
it coincide with the obligations of the second table
of Commandments. But as the other branch of our
duty, the love of God, is implied in “the Spirit
of Adoption ;” it is probable that the Apostle had
mainly in view the love of our neighbour, in the
witness of the Spirit, which arises from the “fulfilling
of the law.”

This opinion derives confirmation from various
passages in which “ the fulfilling of the law” is used
in the same restricted sense. “Owe no man any
thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth

70 LECTURE IV.

another hath fulfilled the law.” The apostle then
proceeds to specify the five /ast Commandments ; and
adds, “if there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh
no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fu/-
filling of the law’.’ In like manner he writes to the
Galatians’, “ All the law is fw/filled in one word, even
in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”
That this view of the righteousness of the law
was pushed by the Jews farther than truth war-
ranted; that many did in fact put the part—the
lesser part—for the whole of righteousness, is evi-
dent from several circumstances recorded in the
Gospels. Moral conduct was taken then (as it often
is now by ill-instructed Christians) for the whole of
religion. This is evident from the behaviour of the
rich young ruler; and gives the key to his question,
“ What good thing shall I po, that I may have eternal
life?” When referred to the second table of Com-
mandments, he answered with natural self-compla-
cency, “ All these things have I kept from my youth
up.” He thought, apparently, that he had fulfilled the
law. He asked therefore over-boldly, « What lack I
yet?” Alas! he still lacked the “ one thing needful!”
The love of God was not the prominent or per-
vading principle of his religion. He had never
thought of resigning all for the love of God. He had
not resolved to forsake all to follow that Master,
whom he called Good. He was not prepared to set
his hand to the plough, and preach the glad tidings

b Rom. xiii. 8. ¢ Rom. xiii, to. 4 Gal. v.14. ¢ Matt. xix. 16.

LECTURE Iy. 71

of Messiah to a benighted world. The fulfilment of
the law towards his neighbour (and that within the
narrow limits of Jewish prejudice) had satisfied his
conscience, and thrust into the background the
higher requirements of the first table of the cove-
nant. He had not received “ the Spirit of adoption :”
the love of God was not shed abroad in his heart;
and consequently, a subtle self-righteousness found
there congenial soil wherein to strike its roots. He
contented himself with the at best imperfect fulfil-
ment of the moral duties relating to his neighbour.

Indeed the “righteousness of the law” is in its
nature rather outward than inward: “'This do and
thou shalt live,” has plainly more reference to
external act, than internal motive. The scope of law
is to regulate the former; of religion, the latter.
Accordingly, an outward and visible righteousness
rather than inward holiness, was the characteristic
aim of the Jewish mind, as exhibited in the New
Testament. “ What shall we do?” asked the people
who came to Jesus, “ that we might work the works
of God'?” Here, as when John the Baptist preached
in the wilderness, they had no thought beyond the
righteousness of works. The answer of our Lord
therefore was framed to overthrow that proud spirit,
and to bring every imagination into obedience to
Christ: “This is the work of God, that ye Jdelieve
on Him whom He hath sents.”

The same habit of mind probably dictated the
enquiry of the lawyer, “ Which is the great command-

f John vi. 28. g John vi. 29.

72 LECTURE IV.

ment of the law?’ as if one act of obedience for
conscience sake were in principle different from
another! or as if the outward act rather than the
motive determined the relative value of moral duties.
Perhaps then with the view of correcting such false
notions, throughout the sermon on the mount, the
contrast between the doings of the law and the
inward temper of the gospel is strikingly brought
forward. One specimen will suffice.

“ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not kill;....but I say unto you, That
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause
shall be in danger of the judgments.”

It would be therefore entirely in accordance with
Jewish ways of thinking and speaking, if we under-
stand by the “ fulfilling of the law,” the keeping the
commandments of the second table; and this, toge-
ther with the positive language of St. Paul, above
cited, “he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled
the law,” sufficiently warrants our considering such
to be the meaning of the text.

We proceed therefore to survey brotherly love,
as one of the distinct evidences of the presence of
the Comforter. I shall attempt to shew, Ist, why
such fulfilling of the righteousness of the law is a
witness of the Holy Spirit with the spirit of the
Christian ; 2ndly, point out some of its more remark-
able features; and lastly, observe on the high place
in the scale of Christian attainment which this grace
of charity occupies.

And where shall we look for the fullest illustra-

& Matt. v. 21.

LECTURE IV. 73

tion of this element of the Christian character, if
not to the writings of the beloved disciple ? Honoured
by the friendship of the Son of God, he surely, if
any human being ever did, must have realized the
fulness of brotherly love towards man, no less than the
filial love of God. His epistles indeed breathe forth
this divine Spirit in every line. In the first he dwells
primarily on the love of God, in calling us to the
adoption of children, through the only begotten Son.
But on that foundation he proceeds to build the
Christian’s obligation to brotherly love: “If God so
loved us, we ought also to love one another".” Nay
more: he shews that the absence of that feeling ren-
ders any love of God on our part, not only unreal,
but zmpossible. “ He that loveth not his brother whom
he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not
seen'?” Such an one therefore is utterly shut out of
the grace of Adoption. He has neither part nor lot
in the matter. He is not of God*. For “God is
love,” and “he that loveth not knoweth not God!.”

It is evident then from these passages, that bro-
therly love must be the fruit of the Spirit; and that
it ever accompanies the grace of adoption. Indeed
filial love toward God, and brotherly love to man, are
plants of the same heavenly planting: they flourish
in the same good ground: they are nurtured by the
same dew of divine grace: they closely resemble
each other, and can no more be severed than the
prismatic colours which form the rays of heaven.

Essential to the Christian character as this grace

hy John iv. rr. ‘' 1 Johniv. 20. 1 John iii. ro. + John iv. 8.

74 LECTURE IV.

is thus proved to be, we shall do well to mark the
spiritual process by which it is formed in the heart.
That process is laid bare in the prayer of St. Paul
for the Ephesians. He prays that they might be
strengthened with might by the Spirit of God in the
inner man; that Christ might dwell in their hearts
by faith; that so being rooted and grounded in love,
they might be able to comprehend with all saints
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge™, and
be filled with all the fulness of God. Only when
that love is shed abroad in the heart in all its ful-
ness, can brotherly love be an abiding and effective
principle.

For let us contrast the friendship of the world
with that brotherly kindness which flows from the
love of Christ. The natural man is the god of his

own idolatry:
*« Sua euique Deus fit dira Cupido® :”

he is a congeries of selfish, though conflicting
passions: true to self-interest as the magnet to
the pole; the friend to himself that is nearer
than a brother. Trace human nature in its earliest
displays, and how is znfancy characterized by self-
will and self-love! How transparent is the guile,
or outrageous the passion, whereby the strong
desire may be compassed ! How truly does St. Augus-
tine in his Confessions picture a child of nature,
moved successively by desire, and passion, and
wrath, and malice; if opposition, however whole-
some, be made to its wishes®. “Thus,” he says, “ the

m Ephes, ili. 17—19. n Aineid. ix. 185.
© « Flendo petere etiam quod noxie daretur ; indignari acriter non

LECTURE IV. 75

infant’s weakness, not its will, protects it from
committing actual sin.” Such, he exclaims, is the
innocence of infancy !

Passing on to childhood, selfishness is still the pro-
minent feature; and sedulously indeed must it be
repressed, if the root of bitterness is, through divine
grace, to be eradicated! How certainly otherwise
will it grow with the growth, and strengthen with
the strength; until it becomes entwined with every
faculty of the mind, and every affection of the
heart! And then neither the prayers, nor tears, nor
entreaties of parental anxiety will avail to check
the mischief, or be blessed with the happiness of
a child’s conversion.

In youth there is much indeed of generous self-
sacrifice, which flows from natural impulse, rather
than principle. It leads often to deeds of high
daring and patient endurance for the sake of others.
The world blindly mistakes such heroism for Chris-
tian brotherly kindness. But it may, and often does,
spring from an ardent temperament, sanguine hopes,
and eager ambition. It craves the activity of enter-
prise, and withers under the agony of passive and
protracted suffering! Not so the self-devotion, high
and pure, of true brotherly love—love, which draws
from the Cross its truest inspiration and noblest ex-
ample. It is there alone that it expands to its full
dimensions. Before the calm unshrinking agony
and death of the Son of God, all human deeds of

subjectis hominibus ; feriendo nocere niti quantum potest; quia non
obeditur inprimis, quibus perniciose obediretur? Ita imbecillitas
membrorum infantilium innocens est, non animus infantium.” Conf.
Ease

76 LECTURE IV.

devoted bravery shrink into measureless inferiority.
Spartan heroism or Roman virtue had thei reward
in the applause of admiring nations; they were up-
held by the hope of future fame. But to die amid
the triumphant jeers of his rebellious creatures: by
that very death to rescue them from evils which
they saw not; and with the latest breath to pray
for theiy welfare! Oh! where else shall we find such
love, but in the only begotten of the Father, full of
erace and truth ?

And so too the Christian martyr faintly reflects
the image of that divine charity. Rather than deny
his Master, he endured the lingering torments of
a cruel death: and for his drethren’s sake resigned
the world to bear witness to the truth. This surely
is a far higher victory over the natural man, than
to die cheered by the fond regrets of admiring
thousands; handing down a name to generations yet
unborn as the deliverer or benefactor of a nation.

Let us survey amoment the c7v7/ history of class-
ical antiquity. Observe how thoroughly genuine
patriotism was confounded with zeal for party, or
personal ambition. Who has not turned with disgust
from the interested motives of those great statesmen
or warriors, celebrated in the pages of our favourite
authors? Which of us has not risen from their per-
usal invincibly persuaded that Christianity alone is
essentially unselfish ; and that the crucifixion of our
blessed Lord is the true fountain of brotherly love ?

Pursue the enquiry a little farther; follow it into
the privacy of their domestic life: what do we find ?
It can hardly indeed be supposed that virtues

LECTURE IV. 77

unknown in public life should flourish in its private
relations. The soldier, or magistrate, or statesman,
who identified his country’s interests with his own,
would hardly act wnselfishly towards his friends and
kinsfolk. Ueathen biography, therefore, no less than
civil history, fails to exhibit the traces of “ brotherly
love.” And yet this forms the prominent feature in
the lives of the Saznts.

Natural affection indeed may have in a few in-
stances led even heathens to sacrifice life in behalf
of some beloved object; but the daily and hourly
giving up of inclinations; the finding our gratifi-
cation in pleasing our neighbour to his edification,
this forms no part of the unregenerate mind. It is
the wisdom from above, which teaches charity to be
the bond and crown of the moral virtues. In a
word, the corruption of human nature renders
impossible any thing like a full developement of
brotherly love, without the regenerating power
of the Spirit of God; and the records of anti-
quity, whether of history or fiction, shew that to
love an enemy or pardon injury, was as inconceiv-
able, as it was unpractised. P:radeAdia is as strange
to the language as the feeling was to the heart of
classical antiquity. Christianity claims “charity”
as its own. “The righteousness of the law is
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit.”

Let us consider the question now with reference
to the Jews. Their advantage in having committed
to them the lively oracles of God, is in this point
strikingly manifest; for in many provisions of the

78 LECTURE IV.

Jewish law, “brotherly kindness” was strongly incul-
cated. Their common descent from one progenitor,
their exclusive nationality loudly called for the
exercise of this virtue. Accordingly, restoration of
the debtor’s pledge before the sun went down; the
gleaning corn left for the poor, the fatherless, and
the widow; the year of release in which the Hebrew
servant was to go free, and be sent away not with-
out a blessing; the rest of the Sabbath day from the
toils of servitude, secured both to man and beast,
all tended to enforce the duty of brotherly kind-
ness from Israelite to Israelite. Yet Ephraim vexed
Judah and Judah Ephraim; while the stern prin-
ciple of public justice, (in case of wilful injury,) “ an
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” seems to
have been adopted into the code of private morals;
and to have obliterated or obscured the sense of
brotherhood in the people at large. Hence the popu-
lar maxim so strongly reprobated by our blessed
Lord, “'Thou shalt dove thy neighbour, and /ate thine
enemy :” and what could be worse than the cold
unfeeling selfishness of Priest and Levite, the off-
spring of religious bigotry, illustrated in the parable
of the good Samaritan !

Brotherly love then, the essential righteousness of
the Jewish polity, was not fulfilled by those who
made their boast of the law all the day long. It is
faith only which worketh by /ove ; and consequently
to the power of the Holy Ghost (whether before or
since the coming of the Son of man) must be as-
signed all its triumphs over the flesh and the world.
Among the Jews there was indeed a cloud of

LECTURE IV. 79

witnesses, who in the strength of faith and charity
would not accept deliverance from their heathen
enemies. They counted not their lives dear unto
themselves, so that they might hand down unimpaired
to others their own spiritual birthright. By their
hope in death, they testified of that better country,
to which they were so soon called away. Still few
and far between were they, who became partakers,
as it were beforehand, of Evangelic grace ; while to
Israel at large it was literally a “new” command
ment, that they should have love one towards an-
other. The pattern, the motive, and the measure,
were alike wanting. No prophet had yet risen among
them who could bid them love one another “as I
have loved you:” or say, “By this shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another4.”

The evident absence of brotherly love in the world
at large, whether Jews or Gentiles, suggested to the
Apostle that striking contrast between the love of
God for man, and of man towards his fellow man
in his Epistle to the Romans, “Scarcely for a
righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for
a good man some would even dare to die. But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And again,
“ He pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The
reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me’.”
Hence we conclude, that “brotherly love” draws
its true inspiration from the love of God in Christ ;

9 John xiii. 35. r Rom. v. 7,8. s Rom. xv. 3.

80 LECTURE ‘IV.

not from the positive enactments of the Jewish law,
nor the yet more uncertain impulses of the natural
heart, but from the Cross of Jesus.

But the same wonderful event, even the Cruci-
fixion, points out also its highest developements. If
we turn our eyes to Calvary, we shall see that
Christian love is made perfect, less in active exer-
tion, than passive endurance. Resisting even unto
blood, striving against sin, is the great triumph of
spirit over body; of mind over matter. This is a
righteousness to which they who walk after the flesh
can never attain.

And distinct from martyrdom in the flesh, there
is also a crucifying of the spirit in bearing the
“contradiction of sinners” for brotherly love’s
sake. This equally evinces the witness of the
Spirit with our spirit; for human nature alone is
unequal to the task. St. Paul speaks of his own
condition in respect of the gospel in these terms:
“ Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto
bonds; but the word of God is not bound. There-
fore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ
Jesus with eternal gloryt.”. And such also has been
the general fate of the true servants of God in each
successive age—* All that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution.” The noble army of
martyrs shews that “we must through much tribu-
lation enter into the kingdom of God.” This great
lesson seems also to have been prefigured to us in
the last temptation of our blessed Lord, when he

E 2, Tim. Ni...

LECTURE IV. 81

rejected the glory of the world that he might
accomplish its redemption by vicarious suffering.

Painful as is this taking up the cross to flesh and
blood, still it is the necessary condition of “ reigning
with Christ” in glory. We must in various ways
suffer here with him; suffer, not merely for our own
discipline and eventual sanctification, but for the
“elects sake;” that the word of truth and right-
eousness may go forth and be glorified; and that
the name of Christ may be for salvation to all the
ends of the earth.

It is not then merely in the common efforts of
active benevolence that brotherly love has its highest
or fullest developement. He who seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compas-
sion from him, must be indeed hardened in selfish-
ness; but feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
comforting the sick, visiting the prisoner, instruct-
ing the ignorant, or any other act of benevolence,
assuming it to spring from brotherly love, forms but
a portion of Christian charity. Verily they have a
recompense even in the life that now is. “It is more
blessed to give than to receive.” The cup of cold
water given in the name of Christ in no wise loses
its reward. There is exceeding present pleasure in
the act, to say nothing of the good measure, pressed
down, and shaken together, and running over, that
men will give into the bosom. Active benevolence
then is but the inferior grade of brotherly love.
The sterner and loftier work of charity is to dear
all-things for the elect’s sakes: to endure unto the
end, when the love of many waxes cold; to suffer

G

82 LECTURE IV.

long and be kind; to think no evil; not to seek
her own; to rejoice in the truth, and to be doing
good like the eternal Father to the unthankful and
the froward.

[t was said by one of old, that it was a sublime
spectacle to behold a good man struggling against
misfortune, suffering wrongfully ; but how far more
sublime is the triumph of divine grace, when charity,
soothing the wounded spirit, in place of being over-
come, overcomes evil with good! It is when motives
are mistaken, intentions misunderstood, actions mis-
construed, words perverted, and cold suspicion takes
the place of affectionate regard, that its highest
exercise is called forth. He who can pass unharmed
through this fiery trial and still do good, “ hoping
for nothing again,” he surely is borne up by a Power
not from beneath, or from himself. He is sealed
with the earnest of the Spirit in his heart. He in
truth fulfils the righteousness of the law.

Perhaps the most striking developement of this
grace yet remains to be noticed; and we shall look
for it in vain elsewhere than in the school of Christ.
The first martyr prayed like the Son of God for his
unbelieving persecutors, “ Lord, lay not this sin to
their charge.” It is thus that true charity never
faileth. The outward man may perish, but the free
spirit still lives and acts. The arm of flesh has no
power over the mind and heart. Earthly goods
may be spoiled, bodily pangs may be inflicted; but
when nothing remains whereon malice may vent
itself, the prayer of charity still arises; and bro-
therly love is exercised even in death itself.

LECTURE IV. 83

Such is the grace of brotherly love as depicted by
St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians"; and the
whole range of heathen literature can produce no
parallel to his sublime description. If we might
presume to view for a moment the human apart
from the divine nature of our Lord, we should at
once recognise in Him the original of the picture.
In all its minutest shades, as well as general out-
line, He is the prototype of charity. As on the one
hand the Spirit of adoption essentially dwelt in Him
the only begotten of the Father; so He was not
ashamed to call us brethren. In the Manhood, He
not only did, but suffered for us more than we
could ask or think ; and ¢hat, not for the righteous,
but to call sinners to repentance; not for friends,
but enemies of God; and persecutors, and injurious,
and blasphemers of His holy Name. Let His bro-
therly love then awaken a responsive chord in our
hearts, and constrain us to follow His steps; so
that walking after His Spirit we may love the
brotherhood, not in word only, but in deed; yea
even our enemies, and them that hate us.

And are there no spiritual blessings which flow
from this grace, when matured in the Christian ?
A happy tranquillity of mind seems to be its pecu-
liar reward. “We know,” saith St. John, “that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love
the brethren’.” It is a convincing proof then that
we are not of the world; for the world is full of
“ cruel habitations.” And this grace, in proportion
as it is realized, will serve to calm the fears of the

u 1 Cor. xiii. v x John iil. 14.
G2

84 LECTURE IV.

anxious mind. If anger, wrath, clamour, evil speak-
ing, with all malice, be put away; if meekness has
taken the place of pride of heart; if brotherly kind-
ness flows from the belief that the only begotten Son
has laid down His life for our sakes, we then are
of God delivered from the body of death. The law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free
from it and from the law of sin—“ we have passed
from death unto life.”

Nor is the assurance of which we have been
speaking a mere delusion of the fancy, or the
result of a sanguine temperament. There is a
truthful reality in “ brotherly love,” if carried out
into practice according to the scriptures, such as
no fanaticism can counterfeit. “ Hereby,” says the
apostle, “we know that we are of the truth*.”
Nothing fictitious or forced will endure the fiery
trial of ingratitude—still persisting, like St. Paul, to
love, though the more abundantly he loved, the
less he was loved. Every plant, whatever outward
resemblance it may bear to charity, which is not
planted of the Father; whether it spring out of
natural feeling, or religious excitement, or generosity
of temper, (such as worldly men sometimes shew,)
will wither under the chilling blasts of human
selfishness. But the charity which is the fruit
of the Spirit is sustained by a secret perennial
fountain, even in the arid wilderness of the world.

Charity moreover not only assures the Christian
of his acceptance; it also enables him the better to
fulfil the first and great commandment of the law:

x 1 John iii. ro.

LECTURE IV. 85

for love is homogeneous in its nature. It emanates
from God, and to Him it returns. He who loves
God will love his brother also; and brotherly love
in like manner increases the love of God. Whoso
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot
love God whom he hath not seen. Thus charity
elevates the affections from earth to heaven. It not
only assures the heart before Him, but it enlarges
man’s capacity for loving God, even as He hath
loved us.

Another happy privilege results from the trust
to Godward thus engendered, even confidence in
prayer. “ Whatsoever we ask,” says St. John, “we
receive of Him, because we...do those things that
are pleasing in His sight,...and dove one another,
as He gave us commandment’.” To pray then
without charity is to offer a vain oblation. It is to
ask for blessings of which we do not feel the want,
and overlooks a duty which ought to be fulfilled
before we weary God with unmeaning petitions.

I need hardly remark, what strong incentives are
thus supplied to brotherly love. But blessings such
as have been enumerated imply responsibility. The
position then held by charity in the scale of
Christian graces must not be forgotten: “Now
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the
greatest of these is charity,” It may well awaken
the thought, how far we have shewn the faith
which worketh by love. A deeper and more con-
scientious study of the minuter features of that
heavenly temper would tend to humble our self-

y 1s John iit. 22, 23.

86 LECTURE IV.

esteem, as well as restrain concupiscence. The
just would perceive how often in the course of one
single day they fell; and how short at best they
came of that perfection, which even our fallen
nature with the aid of the Spirit admits, and our
promised inheritance demands.

The exquisite refinement of a spirit wholly lea-
vened with charity would perhaps excite even the
admiration of the world, and men would envy a
erace which they could neither rival nor attain.
The polished selfishness of society would appear
hideous beside the genuine kindness of brotherly
love. Not only in its self-sacrificing spirit, but in
the softer charm of sympathy, men would recognise
the work of the Holy Ghost, and glorify God who
had given such power unto men.

If indeed meekness shall inherit the earth, and
be refreshed in the multitude of peace, then is
charity the greatest of earthly blessings, no less
than the bond of all virtues. It is in fact the warp
of a Christian life; the rich texture on which may
be wrought various and beautiful devices. It lasts
for time and for eternity. “Charity never faileth ;”
but while its sister-graces, faith and hope, expand
into certainty and fruition ; while knowledge is done
away by perfect mutual recognition, charity abideth
ever. It is our meetness in part for heaven, where
love reigns triumphant, and unites His elect to God
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; and to each other.
Nor, on the other hand, can we form a more horrible
idea of hell, than that each evil spirit is at discord
with himself, and with all around, as well as under

EHC PURE: iv. 87

the avenging wrath of God. Whatever other gifts
or graces may be possessed, charity is the greatest,
and they who have this witness of the Spirit
with their spirit may wait with confidence their
summons to depart and be with Christ ; whose last
act in this life was the noblest work of charity ;
who having loved His own, loved them to the
end; and dying for His brethren, commended His
spirit into the hands of God, and with His latest
breath entreated pardon for His murderers.

LECTURE V.

Romans vill. 13.

Lf ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
shall live.

N the preceding Lecture, brotherly love, or the

“fulfilling of the law,” was considered rather in
its inward influence than outward developement—
as a disposition of the heart more than as exhibited
in action. It must now be viewed under a sterner
phasis, as displaying itself in temperance, sober-
ness and chastity; as mortifying through the Spirit
the deeds of the body; not only as cutting off the
sins of the flesh, “the earthly members,” but sin-
ful excesses in things lawful: nay, as “ keeping under
the body», and bringing it into subjectione’ by
abstinence and self-denial—by the sparing use of
the gratifications of sense; for happy is he that
condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth¢.
The general habits therefore of the Christian “ of
full age” in his converse with the world will thus
come under review.

a Coloss. iii. 5.
b Compare the Collect for the Circumcision of Christ.

e ¢ Cor, 1x. 27. d Rom. xiv. 22.

LEePrURE. V. 89

If, indeed, every man who is in Christ is really

“a new creature;” if his modes of thinking and
acting are transformed by the renewing of his mind,
his outward life must bear witness to the change,
unless indeed he hath quenched the light of the
Spirit in himself. When the tree is made good the
fruit must be good also. As well in quality then as
its abundance, there will be a plain witness of the
Spirit with his spirit to his adoption and calling
of God.
\ We cannot however reverse the process, and argue
with equal certainty from the outward habits to the
spiritual state of the inner man. Motives entirely
change the moral character of every act. ‘“ Whatso-
ever is not of faith is sin’,” though to the eye of
man it may wear the garb of righteousness. It is
no necessary proof, therefore, of the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit, that the outward life should be
austere and mortified. The Master of the house
was once unjustly called “a gluttonous man and a
winebibber,” because he did not refuse the good
creatures of God, which are to be received with
thanksgiving. He was stigmatized as the friend
of publicans and sinners, for not rejecting the
hospitality of grateful hearts.

On the other hand, the Pharisee made clean the
outside of the cup and platter; he was scrupulous
and severe, yet within he was full of extortion and
uncleanness. The form therefore of godliness does
not necessarily imply the power of it. Hypocrisy is
still, as it was of old, of a sad countenance; and
under that specious mask, self-deceit too often

a Rom. Xiv. 23.

90 LECTURE V.

does its worst work. Seriousness of demeanour
is no security against corruption, and strictness
is possibly the sign of formality.

There was, moreover, a “neglecting of the body”
practised by some members of the Colossian church,
which was reproved by the Apostle as “ will wor-
ship,” and a “ voluntary humility.” This, therefore,
could be no true mark or witness of the Spirit. It
was after the tradition of men, and savoured of the
rudiments of the world. Self-mortification indeed
is common to false as well as true religion. Ambi-
tion, vain-glory, gain, as well as superstition, have
led men to macerate their bodies, that they might
not only deprecate the wrath of an offended God,
but gain influence over their fellow men. Even the
worship of devils at this day commends itself to its
followers by the austerity of its devotees; nor has
the profession of the Gospel wholly excluded the
influence of such motives. The monastic life is not
exempt from the restlessness of ambition, the love
of fame, or the desire of corporate wealth. We
cannot therefore at once infer from an ascetic life
a mortified spirit.

And yet the words of the text assure us, that
there is a crucifying of the flesh with the affections
and lusts, which is effected through the Spirit. It
must therefore be a witness of His presence; and
emanating from, as well as regulated by, the Holy
Ghost, it must differ in some essential points from
the will worship of a mistaken Christianity, no less
than the self-torture of fanatical idolatry. It will
be my business then in this Lecture to trace this
difference; to point out the influence of revelation

LECTURE V. 9]

in determining the object and measure of Christian
Abstinence as well as Temperance; the duty not
only of mortifying the deeds of the body, but also
keeping it under and bringing it into subjection.
In the contrast so exhibited, a distinct witness of
the Spirit with our spirit will, I trust, be disclosed,
giving a fresh pledge of adoption and grace; for
until we use such abstinence that the flesh is
subdued to the Spirit, we shall not obey his godly
motions in righteousness and true holiness; and so
long as any of the deeds of the body are not
mortified we fulfil the law only in part; and he
who breaketh it in one point is guilty of all.

But though the duty of Abstinence, or keeping
under the body, as well as of Temperance, be not
controverted, yet the necessity of a systematic disci-
pline for that end, and the extent to which it should
be carried, are questioned with the asperity usually
attaching itself to antagonist views in religion.
On the one side it is branded as superstitious or
unscriptural; on the other, it is exalted as the
most prominent characteristic of the Christian life.

The erroneous doctrine however of meriting grace
by acts of mortification and penance; the use made
by priestcraft of the belief so inculcated; the do-
minion over the faith of individuals thus established,
led by a natural though unreflecting reaction to an
almost total disregard of systematic discipline. In
the popular religion, for example, of our day, fasting
is deemed either unnecessary or unscriptural; and
the system of our Church is branded as the tradition
of men; as tending to promote superstition, or sup-
port priestly authority. But the opinion that such

92 VEGL Une TV:

a rule is unnecessary, though widely disseminated,
seems at variance both with Revelation and Expe-
rience; both with the New Testament Scriptures
and the tradition of the Universal church.

The duties, for example, of fasting, almsgiving
and prayer, as the Christian’s protection against the
flesh, the world, and the devil, are enforced in the
Sermon on the Mount; the very same authority on
which rests the Liturgical use of the Lord’s Prayer.
Again, they are commended to our observance by
the perpetual and concurrent practice of the church
in all ages and countries: at least for private and
personal discipline. And if, “ through the Spirit,”
we are to mortify the deeds of the body, in habitual
abstinence certainly, as well as temperance; if not
in the observance of the systematic rule of the
Church, we shall find a sure witness of the Spirit
with our spirit of His presence and guidance.

But before I trace from the Scriptures of the New
Testament the obligation and true limits of such
“ bedily exercise,” it may be advisable to suggest
some observations tending to shew the Christian’s
need of crucifying the flesh with its affections and
lusts, and the utility of some such systematic disci-
pline for that end.

The subjection then of the material to the spirit-
ual nature, and of both to the will of God, seems to
be the special f77a/ of our compound being. The law
of subordination ran from the beginning through
the whole of creation. Obedience was the rule of
the Universe. In man, that little world in himself,
the lower essence was made subject to the spiritual
part, and his meetness for the presence of God in

LECTURE 'V. 93

Paradise depended on the preservation of this ori-
ginal harmony of his being. When order was once
disturbed by the Fall, and the mortal sin was com-
pleted, it became essential to spiritual life, that the
unruly flesh should be brought into subjection, and
those lusts which war against the soul be crucified
and slain. And as man had fallen in his own
strength, through the Spirit he must mortify the
deeds of the body.

Fretting however under the stringency of this
law, and cast down by the tremendous effects of
Adam/’s sin, the potsherd of the earth may be tempted
to “strive with his Maker,” and in his heart to say,
“Why hast thou made me thus?” But even if it
were permitted, as to the Patriarch, to appeal from
the sovereignty of God’s will—from the pover of
the Potter over the clay—to the final cause of His
arrangements, and to reason upon the mysteries
of His government and creation, fria/, some such
as Adam underwent, seems to be a necessary
consequence of the nature of Moral goodness, and
of created Intelligence.

A creature, however good, must yet be finite. He
must come short of the infinite perfection of God.
God alone, says the Apostle, cannot be tempted
with evil>. Capacity therefore of temptation, and
consequent liability to sin, seems inseparable from
the essence of created moral agents, whether angels
or men. The perfection which would have exempted
them from ¢ria/, would at the same time have made
them Gods. Being finite, they were liable to sin.

b James i. 13.

94 LECTURE V.

Again, we can form no idea of moral goodness,
from which freedom of will is wholly excluded.
A machine endued with intelligence cannot be
morally virtuous. The oly angels therefore are
they which fepé their first estate; while they
which sinned are delivered into chains of darkness
to be reserved unto judgement °.

In like manner Adam by transgression fell, and
under the law of his creation became subject unto
death. Neither his own spiritual ruin, nor the
destruction entailed upon his posterity (from which
God has mercifully relieved us in Christ)—neither
his own personal happiness, nor the welfare of his
descendants, (motives most powerful even in our
fallen state.) were sufficient to counterbalance the
attractions of sense, or check the desires of the
unruly mind.

If, then, neither the original uprightness of the
angelic hosts, nor the finite goodness in which Adam
came from the hands of the Creator, could exempt
them from trial and probation; if self-government
and the subjection of his lower nature needed the
additional force of habit, that the father of man-
kind might stand upright in goodness, what shall
we say of fallen man—of man “shapen in iniquity,”
and froward from his mother’s womb? How far
more necessary must Temperance, Abstinence, and
discipline of the flesh be towards the remedy of
our disordered nature; and for the recovery, instead
of preservation, of original purity!

The moral perfection of Adam consisted in the
subjection of the flesh to the spirit, and of both to

6.9 Per tay as

LECTURE V. 95

the law of God. The balance between Reason and
Passion was at his creation evenly adjusted; but
increasing weight required to be thrown into the
scale of spirit so as to render it incapable of kick-
ing the beam under the counterpoise of sense. That
weight appears to have existed in the force of habit.

Accordingly, a simple test of obedience, at once
to prove and fortify the inner constitution of man,
was provided. The boundless stores of paradise
were placed at his disposal, with one single restric-
tion. Could the pressure of authority or the re-
straint of law be made more light? Drawn away
however by the Tempter and enticed, the animal
nature rebelled and prevailed. Lust conceived and
brought forth sin. He touched, he tasted, and he
died. Passion triumphed over reason and con-
science. Fear and gratitude, and hope and love,
were forgotten or disregarded. The enemy came in
like a flood, and man became the corrupt and weak
and guilty thing he is.

The fall, however, but paved the way for a fuller
display of God’s goodness; for who shall fathom the
depth of its riches in our Redemption? When sin
abounded grace did much more abound. Still, the
free grace of God which bringeth salvation did not
supersede the necessity of self-restraint. His mercy
was not designed to be a plea for sloth, nor an ex-
cuse for continuance in sin. Nay, the power of the
Tempter being enlarged through our inherited cor-
ruption, the trial of the spirit of man became more
severe; his probation more urgent; his sanctifi-
cation of the flesh more necessary ; and the discipline
of abstinence indispensable. Henceforth, whosoever

96 LECTURE V.

would be saved must needs through the Spirit
mortify the deeds of the body.

There is a close analogy between the condition of
Adam before the Fall, and the state of man rege-
nerated. //e might freely eat of all the trees in
Paradise, one only excepted. ‘To the Christian every
creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused,
on one condition only; it must be received with
thanksgiving®; and this implies that he shall not
use his liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as
the servant of God. He is so to use the world, as
not to abuse it". Enjoyment, though not forbidden,
is restrained, and ¢hat under a stronger obligation,
because of the corruption of the flesh.

Raise then the condition of the regenerate man
as high as can be conceived; elevate the power of
divine grace in him to the utmost, still he is less
favourably circumstanced for the subjection of ap-
petite to the will of God than the sinless inhabitant
of Paradise. If Adam was weak because he was
finite, we are more so because corrupt. If he needed
to be fortified by habit, much more must we require
systematic discipline for the acquirement of Tem-
perance, Abstinence, and the subjection of the
material nature.

But this necessity becomes still more palpable
when we consider the énfancy of man. The infec-
tion of nature, which remains even in them that
are regenerated, shews itself long before Reason
and Conscience can be appealed to. Passionate
concupiscence and angry resentment upon denial,
are the constant indications of natural froward-

oy Tim. ivads hin (Cora yim.

LECTURE V. 37

ness; while the fearful difference resulting from
indulgence or restraint proves too painfully the
need of systematic mortifying the deeds of the
body in. childhood and youth. Perhaps the greatest
curse which can afflict a man through life arises
from the plague of his own heart—from inordi-
nate concupiscence, and an ungoverned will. The
fleshly lusts not only war against the soul, but
form also its sharpest scourges*, for so God in
mercy has ordained, bringing good out of evil, and
retributive correction on those who live after the flesh.
To the force of inherent corruption, as necessi-
tating systematic self-restraint, must be added the
influence of evil example. If the world in which we
live were leavened with the spirit of holiness, the
Christian’s task would be comparatively easy. No
sights nor sounds of ill would allure his senses;
nor would pleasure, divested of grossness, beguile
him into Capuan effeminacy. But refinement too
often transforms Satan into an angel of light. The
rugged path of Christian abstinence is left for a
smoother track, which promises an easier ascent,
but never reaches the summit of the hill of Zion.
And not only do the refined enjoyments of our
present social life render it difficult to train the
child of God to “endure hardness.” The spirit of
the world penetrates into our seminaries of religious
learning, mingling visions of ease and wealth with
the associations of boyhood, and perverting to sloth
and luxury the noblest institutions of Science and

e «« Jussisti enim et sic est,” says St. Augustin, “ut pcena sua sibi

sit omnis inordinatus animus.” Confess. lib.i. 19.
H

98 LECTURE V.

Education. The tares are freely sown among the
wheat while men sleep; they grow together in the
same vineyard, and even healthy plants imbibe
noxious aliment from a tainted atmosphere. Yet
the word of God standeth sure. Ye through the
Spirit must mortify the deeds of the body, if ye
would live; and it is your duty therefore, “ young
men,” to consider, how far systematic self-discipline
may be necessary to give you the victory over those
fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Many certainly who bear the name of Christ,
walk as the enemies of His Cross; whose God is
their belly; who mind earthly things. Without you
is the Tempter; within you corruption and weak-
ness; around you the allurements of the world.
Can unmortified desires then and unruly affections
be safe? Will not he who goeth through the earth,
seeking rest and finding none, return and occupy
the house which stands empty, swept, and gar-
nished for his reception? Happy then are they who
mortify the deeds of the body, and cut off occasions
of sin by habitual and systematic Abstinence; who
taste sparingly of worldly enjoyments; and are
lovers of God more than lovers of pleasure.

The joys of heaven may further be adduced in
support of the same argument. Whatever be the
employment of the glorified body, the gratifications
of touch and taste will surely not form a part of them.
The ties even of earthly affection will disappear in

«Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded,” 1 Tim. ii. 6.
‘“«T write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked

’

one.” 1 John ii. 13.

LECTURE V. 99

the sublimer bond of universal love in the Lord.
The children of the resurrection will neither marry
nor be given in marriage. Whosoever hath done
the will of God upon earth, the same will be bre-
thren and sisters, and parents and kinsfolk, in the
kingdom of heaven. And though in this lower world,
that pure union of spiritual affection is perhaps be-
yond attainment, as well as subversive of the duties
which earthly ties impose, yet these latter must
undoubtedly so be borne, as to prove no hinderance
in our way to heaven. Through the Spirit earthly
affections must be mortified.

Under /7is training, indeed, they may even be-
come helps towards crucifying the old man, and
utterly abolishing the whole body of sin. What, for
example, is so unselfish as a mother’s love? How
much of patience and self-denial does it involve?
Who can forget the tears and prayers of Monnica
in behalf of her prodigal child? Surely instinctive
affection was sanctified to train her in faith and
patience, and perseverance in prayer ;—to the mor-
tifying of the flesh with its affections and lusts®.

Doubtless there are conjunctures both in public
and private life, when the Christian should not be

s «Et mentitus sum matri et illi matri et evasi: quia et hoc tu
dimisisti mihi misericorditer, servans me ab aquis maris, plenum
exsecrandis sordibus, usque ad aquam gratie tua, qua me abluto
siccarentur flumina maternorum oculorum quibus pro me quotidie
rigabat terram sub vultu tuo. Et tamen recusanti sine me redire,
vix persuasi ut in loco, qui proximus nostre navi erat memoria beati
Cypriani, manerat ea nocte. Sed ea nocte clanculo ego profectus
sum; illa autem remansit* orando et flendo.” §. Augustini Ep.
Confess. lib. iii. 21. lib. v. 15.

* Non mansit. MS.

H 2

100 LECTURE V.

entangled with the cares of this world, that he may
the better serve Him who has chosen him to be a
soldier; but unselfish feelings nevertheless spring
up and are matured round the domestic hearth.
And while the relations arising from the marriage
tie ave selected by the Holy Spirit to reveal to us
the leading doctrines of our holy faith—especially
the union betwixt Christ and His Church—they are
sanctified to the Christian from the profanation of
passion, and may not be less preparatory for the
joys of heaven than the ascetic devotion of the
virgin state.

Again, the necessity not only of mortifying the
deeds of the body, but of a sparing use of the
enjoyments of life, comes enforced to us by the
personal conduct of the second Adam. In Him there
was continual abstinence without austerity. The
marked contrast between his manner of life and
that of John the Baptist, was a leading objection
with the Pharisees. While He was with them the
disciples did not even observe the fastings customary
among the stricter Jews. He graced the marriage
feast; He turned water into wine; He refused not
the hospitality of the wealthy; He permitted the
costly spikenard very precious to be poured on his
head; yet, while avoiding Pharisaic austerity, He
nevertheless lived a life of continued self-denial.
The barley loaf or few small fishes constituted the
daily food of Himself and disciples. He had not
where to lay his head. He provided neither purse
nor scrip. Casual alms were the support of Himself
and His disciples. He made no provision for the

LHeCTURE? V.. 101

flesh. The humblest dwelling was the scene of his
birth; the obscurest village the witness of his child-
hood. The pride of life was mortified by the toil
and servitude of a handicraft. His daily life then is
the type of Christian abstinence, even as his death
was the pattern of self-sacrifice. Whoso then taketh
not his Cross, and through the Spirit mortifies the
deeds of the body cannot surely be his disciple: he
is not himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God.

Necessary however as such crucifying of the flesh
appears to be for all who would be spiritual; never-
theless, both the obligation and the measure of
abstinence—whether, in short, it is left wholly to
the discretion of the individual, or, on the other hand,
a systematic rule is binding upon the Church by
the authority of Scripture, is still the subject of
popular discussion.

If, however, the Sermon on the Mount be taken
as the exponent of principles, tempers, and duties
essentially Christian, in contradistinction to Jewish
and Pharisaic morality, then is there reason to think
that discipline of the body was to be systematically
observed by the Christian,Church. The three duties
of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, are there indisso-
lubly linked together; and if the liturgical use of
the Lord’s prayer is defended on that Scripture,
the same argument will equally enforce systematic
fasting, as well as prayer and the giving of alms.
A sacred reserve indeed, a care not to be seen of
men, is the sole restriction. And if our spiritual
danger chiefly arises from the world, the flesh,
and the Devil, it would seem that in those duties

102 LECTURE V.

systematically performed are we to find our surest
defence. Fasting would subdue the flesh; alms-
giving, the covetousness which is idolatry; prayer,
the suggestions of the Tempter. Finally, he that
heareth and doeth those sayings of our Lord is
likened by Him to a wise man. He buildeth his
house upon a rock. The winds may lift up their
voices, the rain may descend, and the floods may
beat upon it, but it will not fall; for its founda-
tions are on the rock; its walls also are daubed
with tempered mortar, even the word, and example,
and spirit of Christ himself.

The life of St. Paul exhibits traces of the same
systematic discipline; of keeping under the body,
and bringing it into subjection, with its affections
and lusts.

None was ever freer from the “spirit of bondage”
than the great Apostle of the Gentiles. His writings
indeed manifest a remarkable union of two very
opposite qualities—rigid adherence to principle, and
easy compliance with indifferent customs. While
contending for the perfect freedom from the Jewish
ritual of the heathen converts, he himself never-
theless walked “orderly,” and according to the
traditions of the law. Though he was not “ saudject
to ordinances,” yet he complied with them. Never-
theless he sought not salvation otherwise than in
the Cross of Christ.

The simplicity indeed and godly sincerity of his
faith enabled him, in things indifferent, to become all
things to all men, that he might save some. To the
Jews he was in his religious habits as a Jew: while
the Gentiles he encouraged to hold fast the liberty

LECTURE V. 103

wherewith Christ had made them free. Having re-
ceived life through the Spirit, they were not to seek
perfection by the Law. For this cause he withstood
St. Peter to his face, when by separating himself he
seemed desirous to place the yoke of bondage on
the Gentile converts. Yet in this same church of
Antioch we find a systematic discipline established.
The prophets and teachers fasted with prayer before
they set apart Saul and Barnabas, and sent them
away to preach the gospel to the heathen. This
“neglecting of the body” was surely no will worship
of human invention; for “as they ministered to the
Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them?.”

Nor was it only on the solemn call of the Spirit
to designate for a particular work some of their
number by the imposition of hands, that the
prophets and teachers fasted. It was the regular
_and ordinary practice of St. Paul and Barnabas in
the ordination of elders in every church. “When
they had preached the gospel to that city, and had
taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to
Iconium, and Antioch.” “And when they had or-
dained them elders in every church, and had prayed
with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on
whom they believed:.” In the like spirit he charged
the clergy of Corinth to approve themselves as
ministers of Christ, not only “in afflictions, in ne-
cessities, in distresses,” but “in watchings, in fast-

h Acts xiii. 2. i Acts xiv. 23.

104 LECTURE V.

ings.” He pointed to his own example, not only as
enduring “cold and nakedness,” through the cruelty
of persecution; but as being often “in watchings
and fastings',” lest having preached to others, he
himself should be a castaway. In like manner he
charges Timothy to watch in all things, (vie év 7aox,)
and to endure afflictions: at another time, he ex-
horts him to remit somewhat of the usual severity
of his abstinence in consideration of his weakened
health.

Again, in the married state, seasons of prayer
and fasting are recommended as helps to spiritu-
ality™ ; and he therefore must be bold indeed who
would stigmatize as formal and self-righteous such
mortification of the deeds of the body; or hope for
a fuller communication of the Spirit of grace, while
neglecting the authoritative lesson of Scripture and
the example of Apostles.

It may be urged perhaps on the other side, that
Christianity is a religion of motives rather than of
rules; and that they who would worship the Father
acceptably, must worship him “in spirit and in
truth.” It is however as a means and help to that
very object, that habitual mortifying the deeds
of the body through the Spirit is requisite, and a
systematic discipline expedient. There are still evil
spirits that go not out but by “prayer and fasting.”
And if under the dispensation of the Comforter ;
with our Lord’s promise of His abiding with His
Church for ever; and of His presence wherever
“two or three are gathered together in His name,’—

k 2 Cor. vi. 4, 5. 1-2 Conta 27- m 1 Cor. vii. 5.

LECTURE V. 105

we cannot imagine that the Bridegroom is taken
from us, yet doubtless there are seasons, both to
individuals and the Church, when the light in the
heavens is darkened; and they long again to see
one of the days of the Son of man. At such times,
to chasten the soul with fasting; to abstain from
ordinary indulgences and even allowable enjoy-
ments; to wait thus humbled and supplicating
patiently upon the Lord, may be the means of
recovering the comfort of His help again, and
being established with His free Spirit".

“The marriage,” says the Homily of Fasting, “ is
said then to be ended, and the Bridegroom to be gone,
when Almighty God smiteth us with affliction, and
seemeth to leave us in the midst of a number of
adversities. So God sometime striketh private men
privately with sundry adversities, as trouble of
mind, loss of friends, loss of goods, long and dan-
gerous sicknesses, &c. Then is it a fit time for that
man to humble himself to Almighty God by fasting
and to mourn and bewail his sins with a sorrowful
heart, and to pray unfeignedly, saying with the
prophet David, ‘Turn away thy face, O Lord, from
my sins, and blot out of thy remembrance all mine
offences. Again, when God shall afflict a whole
region or country with wars, with famine, with
pestilence, with strange diseases and unknown
sicknesses, and other such like calamities; then is
it time for all states and sorts of people, high and
low, men, women and children, to humble themselves
by fasting, and bewail their sinful living before
God, and pray with one common voice. ... Fasting

n Psalm li. 12.

106 LECTURE V.

thus used with prayer is of great efficacy, and
weigheth much with God°.”

But while thus, on the authority of Scripture,
enforcing the duty of special and systematic ab-
stinence, our Reformers took care at the same time
to mark the true purpose and limits of fasting.
They carefully repudiated the notion of merzting
erace, Whether of congruity or condignity.

But forasmuch, they said, as “fasting” and the
other works of self-mortification are of themselves
“merely indifferent, and are made better or worse
by the end they serve to,” zf they be done with
“this persuasion of mind, that they can make us
perfect and just men, and finally bring us to heaven,
it is a devilish persuasion P,”

To trust then in crucifying of the flesh as of itself
meritorious before God; to aim by it at appearing
holy before men; or to substitute it to our own
consciences for inward purity—any or all of these
persuasions savour of that wisdom which is earthly
and from beneath. Whenever the idea of merit
in any degree enters into the mind, the inevitable
result must be something of Pharisaic satisfaction,
and an austerity more Stoical than Christian. The
triumph of spirit over matter, of mind over sense,
becomes gratifying to our self-love ; and so Heathen-
ism boasts of self-inflicted penances far beyond
those of the strictest Monasticism.

Such bodily exercise then cannot edify in faith
and love. It proceeds not from the Spirit. At.
best, we are warned, it “profiteth little ;” and that
little is its aptitude for repressing passion, and in-

° Hom. of Fasting, 2nd. Part. P Hom. of Fasting, 1st Part.

a

LECTURE V. . 107

ducing self-command, so that we may exercise our-
selves rather unto godliness. A mind indeed absorbed
in the one thing needful, a heart which hungers and
thirsts after righteousness, need not be tied down
by minute rules, “touch not, taste not, handle not.”
Abstinence will be its daily rule, and the seasons
appointed by the church, its special guide: not
as if it were attaining temperance by painful asce-
ticism; but using it as one whose treasure is in
heaven, and whose affections are weaned from the
world.

The gospel is undoubtedly characterised as a
law of liberty. It acts by motives rather than or-
dinances. It cleanses first the inside of the cup and
the platter, that the outside may be clean also.
Wholly to reverse the process is to mistake its
character. The denial of worldly lusts,—mortifying
our members that are upon the earth; the living
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world ;
systematic discipline, and keeping under the body,
follow, when men are pricked in heart, and cry out,
“ What must I do to be saved?” He who has received
the doctrine of the Cross cannot nourish his heart
as in a day of slaughter; nor live in pleasure on
the earth®.

One who so acts may indeed require, though he will
be the last to adopt, a rigid system of bodily disci-
pline. And after all, his constrained temperance
would be a poor substitute for that habitual absti-
nence, which fits the imner man for communing
with God and the fellowship of His Spirit.

© James v. 5.

108 LECTURE V.

Again, there is a mortification of the deeds of the
body, which flows from the desire of leading others
to recover themselves out of the snare of Satan;
or to remove a stumblingblock out of their way;
or to procure enlarged means of alms-giving. Ori-
ginating in such motives, we may confidently hope
that it proceeds from the Holy Ghost. Consideration
for his neighbour’s spiritual good would have led
St. Paul to eat no flesh so long as the world endured,
if meat made his brother to offend?. To walk
thus in charity is one of the most certain fruits of
the Spirit; and he who, like the Apostle, for the sake
of peace, and edifying his neighbour, should think
it expedient to deny himself gratification and enjoy-
ment, would have the sure witness of the Spirit
with his spirit in the charity of his Abstinence.

Used then neither as justifying the sinner by way
of atonement ; nor as, strictly speaking, meritorious of
erace; but simply for keeping under the body,
quickening the spirit of prayer, and testifying our
contrition before God,—left moreover, both as to
mode and measure, to individual discretion, though at
the appointed seasons of the Church, the habitual
and systematic abstinence which mortifies the flesh
will be an earnest and fruit of the Spirit of God.
It will testify its divine origin both by meekness of
spirit and the gentleness of charity, “fulfilling the
law” in self-denial and self-control. The Comforter
will witness in this as well as other ways the
reality of His presence.

Pa: Cor: vill. 13,8 Roticsay: 15.621,

ERECTURE V. 109

God has indeed scattered in profuse variety inno-
cent enjoyments along the path of life. Yet we need
not go out of our way to court affliction, or to en-
dure hardness. The season will assuredly come in
due time, in which the Christian will have to en-
counter both; happy then if he shrinks not from
them, nor faints under the trial. It may be in these
latter times, that the outward circumstances of the
Church present little that is parallel to the trials of
old; yet amid the refinements of society, occasions
are frequent, when a body brought under subjection
and a mortified spirit may shine with quiet lustre,
if not the supernatural glory of the martyr. There
are still some who in desolation are unrepining ;
who, without sympathy or support, continue an
unobtrusive course of duty and charity in the stillest
shades of social obscurity. Like the widow of
Sarepta, they think not that they are the favourites
of Heaven, and chosen to be ensamples to the
Church for ever. Her mortified habit of life not
even famine could master, nor extremity of distress
render selfish.

Such is the crucifying of the flesh which indicates
the presence of the Spirit. Springing from that
heavenly source, it will be free; for “where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;” not constrained,
but willing; not downcast and embittered, but
thankful and rejoicing; not excessive and ascetic,
but tempered and healthful; without a thought of
merit, but clothed with humility ; secret as may be
before men, but known to Him who seeth in secret
and rewardeth openly. It will be, in short, as far

110 LECTURE V.

removed from pampered self-indulgence, as from
servile scrupulosity. They who so mortify the deeds
of the body through the Spirit shall live. The
Spirit liveth in them. They are preserved from the
seductions of pleasure, as well as the gratification of
sense. They keep themselves unspotted from the
world. They purify themselves even as Christ is pure;
and when He comes they will be owned as virgins
round His throne, having lived blameless and harm-
less the sons of God in the midst of a perverse and
self-indulgent world.

LECTURE VI.

Romans vill. 23.

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

HE life of man is aptly described in those

solemn words of the affiicted patriarch: “He
fleeth as it were a shadow, and continueth not.” The
corruptible body is undergoing perpetual change.

This curious frame, so “fitly joined together, and

compacted by that which every joint supplieth,”

maketh increase of itself only to wax old and
dissolve.

In this respect, however, it stands in direct con-
trast with the living soul; for though some portion
of mental power may seem to decay; yet in all
probability it is merely suspended. The will and
affections, the temper and habits, harden into un-
changeableness, as men approach the allotted goal
of threescore years and ten. Even sickness, the
great corrector, then appears to lose its softening
power; and the undisciplined temper, amid weari-

112 LECTURE VI.

ness and painfulness, loses what self-control it once
possessed. Irreligious old age is too often a period
of ungoverned irritability and selfish impatience.
On the other hand, the devout and pious spirit in
the evening of life, enjoys more unclouded sun-
shine. Mists have cleared away, storms have ceased,
the heavens are serene, a calm and holy gladness
pervades the soul, and cheers the closing hours of
a godly life.

If the spirit of man is thus capable of progress
and improvement, individual character will be
more or less developed at different periods. And
of the various thoughts, desires, and affections,
which make up the “inner man,” some will stand
out more prominently than others as life advances.
The mild entreaty to Philemon that he would
pardon Onesimus, came from “such an one as Paul
the aged;” and seems to bespeak a less energetic
time of life, than when he withstood St. Peter to
the face; or resisted the wish of St. Barnabas to
associate in their labours the less resolute Mark.
The softer graces thus shew to greater advantage
as the bodily strength decays, like the hues of
autumn banishing our regrets for the departed
splendours of summer. The scene indeed is substan-
tially the same; the outline remains unaltered ;
but the general effect to the eye is different. So
too it is with Christian character. The liveliness
of youth and energy of manhood give place to the
soberness of age; and while earth is receding from
the view, strong wishes, and ardent resolves, and
energetic labours yield to increasing desires for

ERCTURE) VI: 113

that rest which remaineth for the people of God.
The longing after immortality realizes to the groan-
ing spirit the powers of the world to come, and
faith actually becomes the substance of things
hoped for, as well as the evidence of things not
yet seen.

Of the several mental habits then which have
been touched upon in the preceding Lectures, some
appear more especially to characterise the opening
of Christian life, while others are reserved for its
close. For example, surrender of the will to the
will of God, seems the primary step in explicit
personal acceptance of the covenant of salvation ;
to mortify the deeds of the body, the peculiar duty
of that period of life, when the lust of the flesh,
and the lust’of the eye, and the pride of life, are
most seductive. Again, brotherly love expands as
the business of life calls the Christian into ac-
tive commerce with the world, and commits him
to the interchange of sentiment and feeling with
all the variety of human character. Perhaps the
most pervading and permanent grace is the filial
love of God shed abroad in the heart; and in like
manner the spiritual mind grows with the growth
and strengthens: with the strength; while the
earnest expectation of the creature, which waiteth
for the manifestation of the sons of God, emerges
to view as the day of life declines, and the gloom
of night sets in.

That this latter frame of the soul, no less than
the others, is a witness of the Spirit with our
spirit, seems evident from the Apostle’s words;

I

114 LECTURE VI.

“Ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption
of our body.”

But though it characterises most strongly the
decline of life, when, like the aged Barzillai, the
Christian desires to be gathered in peace unto his
fathers, still whoever has the witness of the Spirit
in himself cannot be altogether without the desire
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
He must be gladdened with the thought that if
his earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
he has a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. And this hope will
lead him to purify himself even as Christ is pure?.
Let us proceed then to illustrate the habit of mind
in the Christian “ of full age;” tracing the various
feelings which are associated with it; that so we
may complete the cycle of those subjective evi-
dences, whereby the Holy Spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we are children of God.

The Gospel has placed the resurrection of the
body on so firm a basis, and it is so explicitly
taught in all the creeds of the Church; it enters
so largely into the motives which ought to sway
the Christian’s conduct, and influences so exten-
sively his views of heaven, that no one on whom
it fails to exercise a palpable effect can presume
that he is “led of the Spirit,” or truly enjoys the
fellowship of the Comforter. Even the Sadducees
were reproved on this head for their ignorance,
both of the Scriptures and the power of God. And

ay John iii. 3.

Wee LURE VI. 115

yet the law ¢mplied rather than eaplicitly taught
the doctrine of a resurrection. The Pharisees,
though better instructed in the things of God,
nevertheless restrained its application to the right-
eous, while the wicked spirits? were imprisoned
for ever in the night of death. St. Paul, on the
contrary, before the tribunal of Felix, avowed his
hope that there should be “a resurrection of the
dead, both of the just and unjust®;’ and then
immediately subjoins the practical effect of the
doctrine upon his own life and conversation. “Here-
in do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience
void of offence toward God, and toward men.” In like
manner then the spiritual man, the ripe Christian,
will be discerned by the general frame of his mind
upon the same subject. The glorified body that
shall be cannot fail to exercise an influence upon the
life in which he now is. His will be no Sadducean
philosophy, “ Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow
we die.” Nay, rather will he hear the Apostle
emphatically warning believers, “ Ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory4.”

And the more the Christian realizes the future

b Kai rats ev eipypov aidiov mpoaribecOa, trois Sé€ paor@rny Tov ava-
Budv. Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 1. §. 2. See Whitby on Acts xxiv. 15.
The like sentiment is put in the mouth of Titus in his address to his
soldiers, de Bell. Jud. VI. 1. 5. rois a\ANws €xovor tov Kar’ eipynyny &k
vooou @dvatoy, ois peta TOU GwpaTos Kal 7 Wry Tadw KaTakpiverat,
immortality as heroes being reserved for those who die bravely in
battle.

¢ Acts xxiv. 15. 4 Coloss. ili. 3, 4.
12

hn

116 LECTURE VI.

world, so will he learn not to lay up treasure upon
earth. For the interests of time and eternity are
not identical. They may not be pursued with equal
eagerness. “ Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”
And yet the hope full of immortality will not
absorb all his thoughts, nor turn into a recluse one
who is bidden to be “ not slothful in business,” but
“fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” Like our great
Example, he will work “while it is day: for the
night cometh, when no man can work®.”

In all his labours, however, he will remember
that “one thing is needful;” and that the great
end to be aimed at is the glory of God. Worldly
ambition is, scripturally speaking, idolatry. It is
an evil covetousness; he therefore who groans
within himself, waiting for the adoption, will not
fall down and worship the Prince of the powers
of darkness, even though it were to obtain the
kingdoms of the earth and all their glory.

And here the question may arise as to the moral
effect of scholastic honours, and the principles on
which they are to be awarded. It may be asked,
how far it can be right, in a Christian point of view,
thus to stimulate youthful ambition? Is the love
of fame a motive compatible with a Christian tone
of mind? May not the value and importance of
intellectual power thus receive undue prominence
in Christian training ?

The evil would indeed be great, and the error
inexcusable, if at the same time no effort were
made to elevate the thoughts beyond the world

e John 1x. 4.

LeECLUnRE VI. 17

that now is. If “the glorious liberty of the children
of God” in the life to come is not habitually kept
in view, honour would only minister to vanity,
rewards to covetousness. But if the fleeting nature
of things present were duly remembered, if the
doctrine of the resurrection exercised a practical
influence, if the youthful mind were habitually
trained to look beyond the grave, and some friendly
voice should whisper to the vain or reckless youth,
as he turned to the right hand or the left, “ What
is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own souls?’ honourable distinctions
would work no evil. They would be estimated at
their real worth; not less sought for, but less
highly prized; not coveted for the gratification of
vanity ; but thankfully received as testimonies of
proficiency; seals of the due improvement of the
talents God has given, and encouragements to
farther exertion.

In truth, the servant of Christ, whose life is
- hid with Him in God, and who is waiting for the
redemption of the body, will consider every gift of
nature or means of grace, as a talent committed
to his charge—to trade with according to his ability.
It is of duty then and obligation, not as a matter
of ambition and for self-gratification, that the
young Christian cultivates the powers of mind with
which he is blessed. He will seek to be wise in his
generation, and to gain the approbation of those who

f It is related of Ignatius Loyola, that he thus converted Francis
Xavier at the university of Paris.
£ Matt. xvi. 24.

118 LECTURE VI.

are over him in the Lord, not to obtain a “ corrup-
tible crown.” Perhaps to his hands may hereafter be
given an unfading palm: his brows may be wreathed
with amaranths in the heavenly Jerusalem, if he
strives to adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour
in all things. It will be his endeavour then to
honour God with the first-fruits of his mental toil ;
to shew to the world in admirable union the best
qualities of head and heart; to commend the reli-
gion of the Gospel by intellectual superiority no
less than by spiritual attainments.

St. Paul did not disdain the aid of human learn-
ing, nor fail to make even heathen poetry subser-
vient to the cause of Gospel truth. He almost
seems (be it spoken with reverence) to have been
specially raised up as the Apostle of the Gentiles,
to shew that human learning must be consecrated
to God’s service; that literature is no enemy to
Christian simplicity, and that civil rank and gene-
rous birth are not incompatible with devotedness
of spirit.

Not then the better to amass wealth, nor to attain
civil honours; nor to leave a name to posterity, will
the Christian improve all the powers of his mind.
Not for such objects is mental culture to be stimu-
lated by distinctions and rewards; but if knowledge
and ability, governed by the fear of God, are for
His glory and the welfare of mankind: if they
enable the wise and good to alleviate social evils,
and draw out the better instincts of human nature:
if the redemption of the body and a crown of glory
at the resurrection of the just, be the supreme and

LECTURE VI. 119

ruling object kept in view, then the greater our
proficiency and higher our advance in knowledge,
the more will it redound to the Giver of all good,
from whom every good and every perfect gift cometh
down for the welfare of His creatures.

The redemption of the body thus tends to over-
throw what the world calls ambition. The Christian
ever bears about the body of death. In it he groans,
being burdened; he feels that the creature is made
subject to vanity; he has no abiding city, but is
looking for one whose builder and maker is God.
To him therefore the best joys of earth, though
received with thanksgiving, are nevertheless enjoyed
with somewhat of distrust and awe. He knows
that love of the world is enmity with God. The
advantages of life, fortune, station, power, talents,
domestic happiness, all may serve to rivet his
affections to the world, choking the word and ren-
dering it unfruitful. As an heir of immortality
he finds it spiritually better to go to the house of
mourning than of feasting. He faints not when he
is corrected of the Lord. The time is short, and
he would fain redeem it to the saving of his soul.

The sons of God are essentially the same in all
ages, and from the cloud of witnesses under the
old covenant, the example of Moses may be selected
as affording a striking illustration of the Christian’s
comparative view of things present and things to
come. When he had realized by faith Jehovah as
the God of Abraham, and the land of Canaan as
the inheritance of Israel, he refused any longer to
be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He had

120 LECTURE VI:

no ambition to be as one of the princes of Egypt.
He preferred to suffer affliction with the people of
God. Bondage, though gilded by ease and splen-
dour, was to his yearning spirit still bondage. The
land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all
lands, and the day of freedom, when he might
worship with his people the God of their fathers,
was continually in his thoughts, until the pent up
feelings of his heart burst forth into unlawful
violence, and in the ardour of his zeal he forgot
the duty of patient waiting upon God.

The Christian’s views must in like manner be
cast forward into another land. He will long for
deliverance; he will despise the pleasures of sin
for a season. He will be sobered and patient, like
Moses after his forty years of exile; content to
follow the path which God in His providence opens
for him; what his hand findeth to do, he will do
it with all his might, in singleness of heart fearing
God, and looking to that Canaan which his ascended
Saviour has opened to his hopes. This is his azo-
capadoxia, his earnest expectation; as if with eagle-
eye he gazed upon the source of light, and piercing
through the veil, saw the general assembly of the
first-born, and the innumerable company of angels
before the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is
when the thought of heaven is thus habitually
present, elevating or absorbing all meaner themes,
that we trace the influence of the Spirit, and pos-
sess a clear indication of His presence with the
Christian.

But our inner no less than outer life is made up

LECTURE VI. 14 |

of contrasts; and he who has been rapt into the
future world with intensest meditation, is propor-
tionably saddened when he returns to earthly
scenes, and compares what is going on around
with the bright images of his mental vision. The
“earnest expectation of the creature” is not attended
with unmixed pleasure. They who have the first-
fruits of the Spirit, says the Apostle, groan within
themselves, while they look and wait for their
deliverance from the burden of the flesh.

There is then a Christian sadness, which casts
down ambition and the pride of life. St. Paul
depicts the chequered feelings of the ministers of
Christ, as being “sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing}.”
“The sorrow of the world,” on the other hand,
“worketh death'.”. There is therefore a marked
difference between the sadness of the Christian,
whose thoughts are with the spirits of just men
made perfect, and the jaded feelings of the hopeless
worldling. Both indeed find that the creature is
made subject to vanity; both groan in spirit;
both acknowledge with the Preacher that “all is
vanity* ;” but here ends the likeness. There is an
aching void in the heart of the one, and a restless
yearning after solid satisfaction. The sadness of
the other is cheered by hope. The former has
exhausted the enjoyments of sense; to him all is
“stale, flat and unprofitable.” No new world can be
discovered to rouse his flagging interest or stimu-
late his sated appetite. The relish indeed for vicious
pleasure has passed away, but a sense of disgust

hi 2° Cor. viz ro: i; Cor. vil..7; k Eccles. i. 2.

122 LECTURE? VL:

rather than sorrow ; of remorse, and not repentance,
embitters his memory of the past, and clouds his
prospect of the future. He is subject to vanity,
but without the consolation of the Christian. Faith
only can impart what he needs; for “ there remain-
eth a rest for the people of God;” and this hope
relieves the sadness of the believer, who waits for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.

And what has the world to offer in comparison
or in lieu of this? Will undying fame satisfy the
craving of the statesman? will a name to live
in history give rest to the spirit of the soldier
when tired of war? can the memory of foughten
fields and carnage, or the sack of cities, give ease
to the inner man? Well did the heathen moralist
remind! his prince, that after the conquest of the
world he could but repose, and that he must
look elsewhere for rest, than the subjugation of
mankind.

And for the great multitude of men, who are
doomed to toil and suffer unrewarded by wealth,
or ungratified by fame, what remains but sensual
excitement, or gloomy discontent, unless the hopes
of religion sustain the fainting spirit™? The con-
sciousness then of being made subject to vanity
cankers like a worm in the bud all earthly enjoy-
ment, and makes both rich and poor travail in pain,

1 Tevopevav d€ ravrov tp hpyiv rl roujropev; Kal 6 Uvppos émcyeddoas*
SxoAnv, ey, déowev moArHY kK. 7. A. Plut. Pyrr. XIV.

m * Panem et Circenses,” was the cry of the Roman populace.
Hence, gladiatorial exhibitions, bull-fights, prize-fights, and such
other exciting public amusements, as they are called.

LECTURE VI. 12%

until they realize the Gospel promises of an eternal
inheritance. Then sorrow no longer worketh death ;
then the Christian can go on his way through the
world rejoicing, like the Ethiopian eunuch, though
doomed to serve among those who neither under-
stand nor sympathise with his views. He groans
indeed within himself, “ waiting for the adoption,”
but he has a hope which the world neither gave,
nor can it take away; a joy with which no man
intermeddleth.

Here then we find another feature of the mind
of the spiritual Christian. There is not only the
earnest looking for that better country, which makes
the life that now is appear like a parched desert
to the weary spirit; but there is a cheerful hope
combined with the views of eternity.

Without this indeed, the certainty of judgment
to come, and of the restoration of the body to an
incorruptible and eternal state, would be trying
to the most approved servants of God. “The
righteous will scarcely be saved,” says St. Peter’,
and they who build on the true foundation
unsuitable materials, shall suffer loss, though they
themselves shall be saved as by fire®.

Without the comfort then of hope, the expect-
ation of the believer would be anxious at the
best. But being “begotten again unto a lively
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead?,” he rejoices “ with joy unspeakable and
full of glory4.” As he sees the day approaching,

my Petviv. 18: .¢ 1 Cor, du 14-25.), ) 1 Pet.1.3, 91 Pet.a. 8,

124 LECTURE VE

he dwells with triumphant exultation on the full
assurance of his reward.

Such was the peaceful confidence of the aged
Simeon, when he had seen the Lord’s Christ ; and
such the desire of St. Paul to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better". The discipline of
a painful life had purged out the old leaven of
stern unrelenting Pharisaism. Uncompromising as
ever, the love of Christ had shed its gentle influence
over that true but fiery spirit. His race was run,
and the goal attained; the battle fought, the victory
won. He was ready to be offered, and the time
of his departure was at hand. The crown of
martyrdom awaited him, and in the hope that
maketh not ashamed, he looked joyfully to the
end, for the reward that was to be brought to him
at the day of Christ.

Another, however, and not less important charac-
teristic of the Christian’s spiritual ripeness is linked
with his eapectation and his hope. Those two feelings
alone, the more intense and earnest they became,
would only add to the burden of the vanity of life.
The more ardently a rich inheritance is expected
and longed for, the more insupportable becomes
the pressure of those evils from which that inherit-
ance would relieve us. But in the matured Christian
there will be no such impatience. By an excellent
harmony—the work of the Spirit—no single temper
in him becomes unduly prominent, nor mars the
even growth of the different graces. The kingdom

r Philip. i. 23.

LECTURE VI. 125

of heaven indeed at its commencement upon earth
suffered violence, and the violent took it by force.
To scale Olympus, was in heathen fiction the
ungodly attempt of gigantic strength; and over-
bold perhaps has sometimes been the language of
irreverent fanaticism: the gates of heaven have
been knocked at with impatient and presumptuous
confidence: but such is not the character of the
hope and expectation of the Christian of “full age.”
He has his task assigned him, and his appointed
station in the vineyard. He may be called to bear
the burden and heat of the day; “though he
longeth for the shadows of evening like the hire-
ling,” yet in patience he will possess his soul; and
ply with unrepining industry his daily task. “If
we hope for that we see not, then do we with
patience wait for it’.” Our times are in God’s hand.
We know not what work He may be carrying
on by us, although we see it not. Saints are the
salt of the earth, and all unconsciously they may
be preserving from corruption an evil generation,
which but for them would be utterly lost. Not
only for its own ripening must the good seed grow
up together with the tares, but also to clear the
everlasting judgment of God, in that sinners
have despised the riches not only of His goodness
and forbearance, but of His long-suffering; when
neither the example of the righteous, nor the pro-
vidences of God could awaken them to repentance ;
nor the means of grace abundantly bestowed.

S Rom. vill. 25.

126 LECTURE VI.

We may well imagine that the feeling of the
Christian who has realized to himself the powers
of the world to come should be like that of the
wearied prophet, when he requested for himself
that he might die‘, and said, “It is enough; now
O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better
than my fathers.” And yet such impatience must
be corrected. Much work may remain for him
to do: even as for the prophet. Two kings were
to be anointed as God’s special instruments of
vengeance upon his apostate people, and a successor
also consecrated to His own prophetical office.
Seven thousand faithful souls were yet to be
cheered and comforted by his presence on earth,
as their guide and counsellor, the anointed mes-
senger of the Lord. It was needful then for the
Church of God that he should abide; and he
received strength proportioned to the “greatness
of the way.”

In like manner, the great Apostle of the Gentiles,
though longing to depart and be with Christ, saw
that it was expedient for the infant Church that
he should abide in the flesh. Therefore, although
he had been “caught up into the third heaven, and
heard unspeakable words,” and been present, “ either
in the body or out of the body,” with all the
company of heaven; yet he cheerfully resigned
himself to the will of God, and was willing to
abide with the churches “for their furtherance and
joy of faith.’ The earnest expectation then of

t 1 Kings xix. 4. u Philipp. i. 25.

LECTURE VI. 127

the ripe Christian, his longing to depart, and hope
full of immortality, will be tempered also by
Resignation.

Nor is this all; for, lastly, it will live in the
spirit of Prayer. As years advance, and eternity
draws on, the hour of death will be the subject
of more constant meditation. In the vigour of
life, the Christian will ask for strength to overcome
the world, and do his Master’s work, but when the
turmoil of life is over, and that work done, a
departure in peace, and if it please God without
pain, will be more earnestly supplicated. Yet even
here, all will be left to God’s ordering. Assured
that all things work together for good to them
that love Him, the Christian will not repine if he
be chastened and corrected even in old age. The
most painful death is but part of our inherited
penalty, and short of what sin has deserved. The
Captain of our salvation was made perfect through
suffering’.

We hardly know therefore what to pray for as
we ought, whether to be released without suffering,
or to endure, if so it be the will of God, the severest
trials of lingering disease. As in //fe, so also in
death; as in doing, so also in suffering, Christ may
be glorified; and perhaps the triumph of the spirit
over the flesh, and the power of the Holy Ghost, are
never more distinctly seen, than in the Christian’s
conquest over temper, and the irritability caused
by pain and sickness. But the Spirit helpeth his
infirmities; and “having subdued all things unto

Vv Heb. ii. Io.

128 LECTURE YE

Himself, maketh intercession for him with groanings
that cannot be uttered; and these silent aspira-
tions of the resigned heart, the Apostle assures us,
are according to the will of God. “ He” therefore
“that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the
mind of the Spirit,” and apportions strength accord-
ing to the Christian’s day. The sufferer is comforted
and satisfied, that the light affliction which is but
for a time will work for him a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory.

In expectation then, hope, longing, patience, resig-
nation, and prayer, the Christian “of full age”
waits for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of
the body. He looks to heaven, as the end of his
labours, and the goal of his pilgrimage. When
erace thus reigns triumphant, the residue of natural
corruption is well nigh destroyed, and this habit of
mind with respect to the future world is a witness
of the Spirit with his spirit that he is a child of
God.

Doubtless every creature has then reached its
proper proportion, when it fulfils the purpose of
Him who made it; when the pulse at the extremity
of the frame beats in unison with the vibration at
the heart. In intelligent beings this is brought to
pass when the will of the creature is entirely
conformed to the will of the Creator. The holy
angels who kept their first estate thus do the will
of their heavenly Father. Even so must His will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. But the fallen
race of Adam need the sharp and continued disci-
pline of pain and sorrow before their wayward will

LECTURE VI. 129

and affections are ordered according to the will of
God. The external circumstances therefore of the
world are wonderfully adapted to carry on this
moral discipline. And this very adaptation brings
home most strongly to us, that we are in the hands
of a merciful as well as faithful Creator. The
creature, indeed, He has made sulyect to vanity and
corruption, in order to correct the sinner and subdue
the desires of the flesh and mind. The pride and
pomp of kings, the victor’s fame, the wisdom of
the statesman, and the learning of the sage, alike
are transient, and satisfy not. All have in turn
confessed the vanity of human wishes: and while
thus on the one hand carnal Reason mourns over
her fallen shrines, on the other, Faith raises a temple
of eternal hope from their ruins. She assures us
that a kind purpose is accomplished by this dispen-
sation; that trial and probation are thus provided,
and “all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose.” The whole character of life is
thus changed. The sad confession that “man is
born to trouble” is divested of its gloomy influence
by the purposes and hopes with which it is asso-
ciated. If the wilderness seems long and dry to
the journeying Israelite, yet Egypt is left far behind,
and Canaan flowing with milk and honey is smiling
before him.

Were such views of human life inculcated in
youth; and were men not left (as they too often
are) to find by sad experience that they are placed
under a system of inevitable and strict probation ;

K

130 LECRUR EE: Vi,

the vanities of the world would have less hold on
their affections; its good things would less be
coveted; its disappointments felt less keenly. The
Christian as he entered on the race would gird up
the loins of his mind to run it with patience. The
flowers which spring up by the wayside would
refresh but not detain him. No golden apple would
lure him from the course, but fixing his eye upon
the distant goal, he would so run that he might
obtain the prize.

This steadfastness of purpose, this intentness of
the spiritual view, is impressively urged upon us
by “the vanity to which the creature is here made
subject,” and the hope of redemption in which God
has so subjected it. To what other end indeed
should we turn the unsatisfying character of all
human pursuits, if not to detach us from the world?
This is the moral lesson which the want of sym-
pathy, coldness of heart, hard worldliness, decay
of early friendships, disappointment of cherished
wishes, the loss of loved companions, the pains and
danger of sickness, the gradual departure one by
one of parents and kinsfolk, our own silent progress
toward the grave, teach to thoughtful hearts; shew-
ing the loving-kindness of God in thus severing,
link after link, the chains which bind us to the
world. This reflection infuses sweetness into the
otherwise bitter cup of mortality. The vanity of
the creature is made less disheartening by the hope
of everlasting glory. Death is swallowed up in
victory. Thus the ripe Christian is the true philo-
sopher, and the wisdom from above the instruction

LECTURE VI. 131

of life. The Holy Spirit is its teacher, and they
who are taught of Him will not only see the vanity
of the world, but will also have that earnest ex-
pectation, that longing, that hope, that patience,
that resignation, that inward supplication, which the
apostle has alluded to, and which doubtless present
a faithful transcript of his own devout mind. It
is thus the Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit
of the Christian, who is ripe for immortality. He
groans within himself, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of the body. The passage to
the world of spirits is thus rendered easy to the
child of God. The weary pilgrim disappears from
a scene on which he was but a stranger and
sojourner; he enters the city of his rest, and
becomes a fellow-citizen of the saints and the
household of God in the heavenly and everlasting
Jerusalem.

ee

—

LECTURE VII.

Acts vy. 38, 39.

Tf this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought : but
if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found
even to fight against God.

HE course of these Lectures has now brought
us to the consideration of those unhappy men,
who, fulfilling the anticipations of Gamaliel, have

“not overthrown the counsel of God;” while they

have been found to fight against Him, in the person

of the Holy Ghost. The aberrations of reason, and
the unruliness of will concerning the things of the
kingdom of God, involving, as they have done in
every age, the perdition of multitudes, can never
be without interest for the Christian. The more
we feel the blessedness of standing upon the faith
once delivered to the saints; the more certainly we
perceive that we are built in through the Spirit,
as living stones in the Church of God, whose foun-
dations are on the Rock of ages; the more painful

BEC TU HE Vil. 133

it becomes to contemplate such as have fallen from
the faith, “ which is able to save their souls.”

The earliest heresies were those which swerved
from the great confession of St. Peter: “Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God.” No sooner,
however, had the voice of the Church borne solemn
witness at Niczea to the “mind of the Spirit ;’ and
Apostolic Tradition there attested had asserted the
sense of Scripture touching the “ coequal and con-
substantial” Son; than the evil heart of unbelief
devised a fresh assault upon the Christian faith.
Weapons borrowed from the armoury of Arius were
furbished anew for warfare against the Comforter ;
and the champions of the Gospel had to renew on
a fresh battle-field the combat with the foes of
Truth. The heresy however of Macedonius perished
sooner even than that which it succeeded; but the
soldiery of Satan, though defeated and dispersed,
still cherished a secret hostility, and sought to
undermine what they dared no longer to assail.
When the Creed* of the universal church asserted
the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost from the
Father, the spirit of unbelief, ceasing to deny his
Personality and Agency, nevertheless artfully en-
deavoured to explain it away. The sufficiency of
man to originate and work out his own salvation
was then disseminated by Pelagius.

To characterise these latter forms of Unbelief,
and to suggest those views of God and of ourselves,

@ At the council of Constantinople, A. D. 381.
b « And the Son” was added at a later period.—Pearson on the
Creed, Art. VIII. See Appendix.

134 LECTURE VII.

which are corrective of the mental or moral state
from which they sprang, will be the object of the
present Lecture.

The Preacher in his retrospect of life asks, “Is
there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is
new? it hath been already of old time, which was
before us°.” This is singularly true of those fruits
of the evil heart of unbelief which we are about to
consider; for the Jewish church presents the like
phenomena. The Sadducee believed neither in
angel nor spirit. The Pharisee rested on his ability
to keep the whole law of God. With the former
the powers of the world to come were a mere
dream of the imagination, and the practical result
of his material philosophy was, “ Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die,” All the elevating
hopes, linked with the belief in the ministry of
angels and the being of glorified spirits, were lost
to him. <A cold selfish sensualism dried up the
better and more generous feelings; rendering at
length the temple at Jerusalem no meet habitation
for the Spirit of God.

The Pharisee, on the other hand, without reject-
ing the evistence of spiritual beings or their agency
towards man, still relied on the sufficiency of Reason
to teach the way of God in truth, and perfect
holiness in His fear. Hence his traditions making
the commandments of God of none effect: hence

€ Eccles. i. 10.
d Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 1. §. 2. “Qu re 6 Adyos Kpivas mapéSoxev aya-
Oav erovrae TH ryepovia, TepimaxnToy Hyovpevor THY sbvAaKHY ov Tpoayo-

pevew nOeAnoe,

LECTURE VII. 135

his boastful confidence in his own righteousness of
works. Feeling no hinderance from natural corrup-
tion, and no need therefore of supernatural help;
he contrived to exhibit in his own person the hate-
ful union of austerity and uncleanness: of alms-
giving and extortion. His phylactery was made
broad; but his heart was narrowed to the straitest
measure of pride and bigotry. The ‘standard of
holiness was lowered in proportion as the sufficiency
of man was exalted, and setting aside as unneces-
sary the work of the Spirit in the heart, he resem-
bled the Pelagian, as the unbelieving spirit of the
Sadducee reappeared in the heresy of Macedonius.
It is thus in every age that Ecclesiastical history
presents the recurrence of the like errors; and
though the solemn condemnation of the universal
Church has overthrown those ancient forms of
heresy, yet there is enough both of positive unbe-
lief and sceptical rationalism in the world, to make
us guard with jealousy the deposit of the faith; to
assert continually both the divine Personality as
well as the inward and spiritual grace of the Com-
forter; and to maintain in its integrity the frame-
work of the Apostolic Church, which He has made
the shield of our common faith, and chosen to be
the ordinary channel of His gifts and fellowship.
The world indeed ever loves its own. It may
be well therefore to notice in the first place the
character of these Heresiarchs, that we may not
be misled by appearances, or judge too favourably
from outward show. They were men of cultivated
minds, and decent morals; of plausible speech and

136 LECTURE VII.

insinuating address®; but they wanted that singleness
of heart, humbleness of mind, steadfastness of
judgement, which are the most hopeful qualities in
the search of divine truth. Language in their
mouths became the medium of fraud. Wavering
in their faith, and yet afraid to avow their senti-
ments, they wrapped up their opinions in ambiguous
or inconsistent terms; and while seeming to confess
the being and agency of the Holy Ghost, they
explained away all that was divine in the one,
and all that was special, personal and individual
in the other. Such tampering with language seems
indeed the perpetual characteristic of “the double-
minded man;” for that which is clearly appre-
hended can be plainly expressed; and whatever is
firmly believed will be consistently stated.

The history of Macedonius is a melancholy
one. Obtruded by the Arian party on the see of
Constantinople, his enthronement was attended
with much bloodshed. Begun in violence his Epi-
scopate was carried on in guile; and professing the
Arian dogma concerning the Son‘, he proceeded to
deny the divinity of the Holy Ghost, asserting him
to be a created® being, and made? by the Son.

Consistently with these views he placed the
agency of the Comforter on a par with that of
Angels'; but never taught that He was that Person

€ Sozomen. IV. 27. August. de Peccat. Meritis, lib. ii. 25.

f The dporovoror. & Kriorov, Theodorit ii. 6.

h Teyevjo@a dia tod viod. Theodorit v. 11. Ep. Damasi Synodica
contra diversas hzereses.

' Audkovoy kat bmnpérny Kad@v Kai doa mept Trav Oevdv ’AyyéA@v héyov

Tis odk av Guapto. Soz. IV. 27.

LECTURE VII. 137

of the ever blessed Trinity, without whom “ nothing
is strong, nothing is holy.”

In the catastrophe of his fortunes there seems
something of retributive justice; for having been
obtruded upon his See by the arm of flesh, he was
quickly pierced by the broken reed on which he
leant. Constantius, his patron, soon caused! him
to be deposed on charges of bloodshed, and laxity*
of discipline; and in the obscure suburbs! of that
city over which he had presided as patriarch, he
died a memorable example of the downfall of
ambition, unscrupulously leagued with heresy and
schism. Nor did his sect long survive him; but
adopting with some reservation the Nicene faith,
preserved to the last™ the worldly and artful
character of their founder.

The Scriptural doctrine of the holy and undivided
Trinity being at length established both in the
East and West, the evil heart of unbelief manifested
itself under another form. As it is possible to
own the being of God and deny his Providence;
to acknowledge the Son, but reject His divinity;
so it was easy to confess the Holy Ghost, but dis-
own his grace. Such was the wicked attempt of
Pelagius.

This, like other heresies, had its germ in the
East, and grew out of an over-estimate of philo-

‘ He was offended at the removal to another church, without his
permission, of the bones of Constantine. Socr. ii. 38.

k Socr. lib. ii. 42. 1 Sozom. iv. 26.

m Under Jovian at the synod of Antioch, A.D. 363, they ac-
cepted the Nicene Creed, confessing the Son to be of the substance
of the Father; but dike instead of one with Him. Socr. iii. 25.

138 LECTURE VII.

sophy, as if necessary for Christian perfection".
Man being taught to look inward for moral strength,
the need of preventing and assisting grace was lost
sight of. Holiness was to originate, not from the
Spirit of adoption, but in Stoical self-command and
a meritorious service of God. Much of this spirit
was doubtless owing to Monachism; Pelagius at
least, the great disseminator of such views, being
a layman® and a monk. His heresy turns princi-
pally upon two points; one, the assumed incorrupt-
ness of human nature; the other, denial of super-
natural influence upon human will.

In connection with the first, it was asserted that
Adam’s transgression was personal, and that neither
sin nor death passed upon all men through his
fall. Infants, therefore, it was contended, needed
not baptism for the remission of sin, being by
nature in the same state as Adam before he fell;
that man’s will is sufficient of itself to refuse the
evil and choose the good; so that he can perfect
righteousness, and overcome the world by the exer-
cise of his own free choice. Accordingly, men, it
was affirmed, might be saved as well by the Law as
the Gospel; but to that end the rich must renounce
their wealth, as it was said to the young ruler in
the Gospel, nor could they be called the children
of God until they were altogether without sinP.

n It may be traced back from Pelagius through Rufinus, a
Syrian ; and Theodore of Mopsuesta in Cilicia to Origen. Commonit.
Mercatoris. in heresim Pelagii &c.

© Augustin. de Gest. Pelagii 61.

Pp Such were the tenets of Ccelestius, the disciple of Pelagius,
treated of in the synod of Lydda or Diospolis A. D. 415. Augustin.
de Gestis Pelag. 24.

LECTURE VII. 139

On the second head—the denial of supernatural
influence—grace was explained to be God’s original
gift to us of free will; or His revelation of a moral
law to teach us; that it was obtained therefore in
proportion to our own meritorious self-improve-
ment, and thus the penitent sinner was enabled to
earn for himself the pardon of his sins.

These sentiments, drawn partly from his own and
partly from the writings of Coelestius his disciple,
Pelagius had the meanness first to disavow, and
then immediately republish. His object however
was gained by such prevarication; on the one hand
he escaped formal condemnation by the rulers of
the churches, and on the other obtained time to
disseminate his views more widely.

It would be tedious however to trace his insin-
cere and artful proceedings, whereby he imposed on
the credulity of some, and among others (for a
time at least) on Zosimus' bishop of Rome. At
length, however, the plenary council, in which
under Aurelius of Carthage’ were assembled the
prelates of all Africa, anathematized in nine canons
the main principles of the heresiarch; such as for
example, the natural mortality of Adam; the non-

4 The conduct of Pelagius was singularly tortuous, and his abuse
of language most artful. By these means he contrived to escape
public condemnation for many years. At length, however, the ex-
treme danger of his opinions became manifest, and provoked the
censure both of Councils and Fathers.

r Zosimus seems at first to have been quite ignorant of the pro-
ceedings of Innocent his predecessor in regard to Pelagius; see
his letter to Aurelius. Appendix.

s A. D. 418. Cone. Afric Universale Honorio XII. et Theodosio
VIII. Coss. Appendix.

140 LECTURE VII.

transmission of his corruption; the asserted need-
lessness of baptism to infants for the remission of
birth-sin; their admission, though unbaptized, into
some inferior heaven; the grace of Christ being
only vemission of past sin, not help against future ;
or only so far help, as it informed the understanding
without influencing the heart; or that it only
enabled man to do the will of God detter than he
could do without it; that the confession of their
sinfulness by saints, (according to the words of
St. John, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves ;” and the Lord’s prayer), was not real, but
for the exhibition of humility; or made for others
rather than themselves. All these positions were
simultaneously condemned, and the teachers of
them excommunicated until they should recant
their errors. To the vigilance then and firmness
of the African bishops, acting on their own inde-
pendent authority, was this important decision
owing, by which, under God, this most pernicious
heresy was put down.

And here we cannot omit some reference to
St. Augustine, whose accurate analysis of the lan-
guage of Pelagius brought the controversy to an
easy issue, and whose treatiset on the grace of Christ
clearly exposed his fraudulent use of that word.
Pelagius® had distinguished between the capacity,
and the act of willing, or doing; which difference
he expressed by the terms “ posse,” “ velle,” “ esse.”

t Written A. D. 418, after the general council of Africa.

"In his work on Free Will, lib. iii. mentioned by St. Augustine
de Grat. Christi, c. 6.

LECTURE’ Vir 141

To the first of these, namely, “ posse”’—the capacity
of willing or doing—he wholly confined the action
of God’s grace. In this view grace became syn-
onymous, either with the natural capacity for good
implanted in us; or, since that was feeble and
needed aid, to the instruction supplied by revelation,
and the evample of Christ. The doctrine of meriting
erace was a direct and obvious consequence; for
knowledge comes by research, and capacity is im-
proved by exercise. But any thing farther removed
from the Evangelical doctrine of grace, it is impos-
sible to conceive. No wonder then that St. Augustine
should cite the words of St. Paul to the Philip-
pians, “it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do,” as expressly designed by the Holy
Spirit* to meet these enemies of grace; and to shew
that not only in man’s capacity for good, but zm
every single act of willing and doing righteously is
the power of the Comforter manifested. He rei-
terates the words of St. Ambrose, that “God calls
whom He counts worthy of the favour, and makes
him religious ;” through preventing grace he obeys
the call; he desires to be governed of God; sur-
renders his own will to God’s will; and by conti-
nually through grace cleaving to Him becomes as
the Apostle says, one spirit with Him.

After the specimens of the teaching of Pelagius
already cited, it is needless to pursue the labyrinth
of his ambiguous language. Nothing indeed im-
presses the mind with stronger indignation, than
his persevering attempts to mislead the simple by

x De Grat. Christi, 6. y De Grat. Christi, 51.

142 LECTURE VII.

his misuse of terms. Equally offensive is his
reiteration of heresy after repeated disavowals,
until through the zeal of the African bishops, his
real doctrine was dragged into the light of day,
and crushed by the anathema of universal Christ-
endom.

Such then were the two great forms of hetero-
doxy concerning the Holy Ghost in the early
Church. The sect of Macedonius soon perished to
rise no more; but an off-shoot from that of Pelagius
kept his name still before the world. The Semi-
Pelagians, as they were called, would not arrogate
to man himself the praise of actually willing and
doing righteously, They conceded this to be the
gift of God; but while they strained out the gnat
they swallowed the camel. The preparation* of
the heart 7 order to will and to act rightly, they
maintained was not from God, but originated in
man himself; and that to his merit mn such pre-
paration was accorded the grace of so willing and
acting. Their error arose from supposing, that
the acknowledgment of divine grace destroyed
free will.

St. Augustine* himself confesses, that before his
elevation to the episcopate he had been of that
opinion; but his views were altered by considering
after Cyprian the passage of St. Paul, “ What hast
thou that thou didst not receive? ?”

Again, he argues from the words of our Lord,
“This is the work of God, that ye delieve on him

z Aug. de Preedest. Sanct. 3, 4. “ De Predest. c. 7.
b x Cor. iv.. 7. ¢ John vi. 29.

LECTURE VII. 143

whom He hath sent*.” Faith then itself, he infers
to be the work and gift of God; not of man, lest
any one should boast. Thus the light, which
streamed from those two passages of holy Scripture,
dissipated the dark cloud which the pride of
reason and the self-sufficiency of will had spread
over the schools of Philosophy, and which brooded
for a time even upon the acute mind of this great
Prelate.

If we now analyse the nature of these heresies,
one may be characterised as an error of the Intel-
lect, the other of the Will. Macedonius, like Arius,
seems to have permitted himself to speculate too
boldly on the mystery of the ever blessed Trinity.
It seems obvious that, when once Revelation is
admitted, the only business of Reason is to ascer-
tain what is contained in it; not to sit in judgment
on its contents, and square them to human notions.
If Scripture is inspired, then to scrutinize the
nature of God, as revealed to us in three Persons,
is to pry irreverently, as some did of old, into the
ark of God, and to provoke His judgements.

To such a spirit of speculation, the Arian, Nesto-
rian, Eutychian, Monothelite, and Macedonian here-
sies may be justly ascribed; and perhaps the Nicene
Fathers were providentially kept from error by
adhering firmly to the opposite principle; and
resting on the authority of that Concurrent, Perpe-
tual, and Ubiquitous tradition, which had come
down to them from the saints, to whom the faith
was delivered once for all.

It was the peculiar bane of the Greek mind, to

144 LECTURE VIL

love the nice distinctions of philosophy, and to
view intellectually rather than morally the revealed
nature of God. For such disquisitions the way
had unhappily been prepared by Platonism; and
literary Christians were too fond of harmonizing
the truths of Christianity with the guesses of the
philosopher. “ Professing to be wise they became
fools,’ as must ever be the case, when man will
thrust in his own crude notions upon God’s reve-
lations. Intellect has indeed its proper office, to
examine the credentials of revelation; but when it
would search “the deep things of God” it steps
beyond its sphere, and, like those who gaze at the
sun, is blinded by excess of light.

The seat of the other heresy was rather the will
than the mind. It seems never to have entered
into the thoughts of Pelagius, to deny in terms the
Athanasian doctrine. He did not even expressly
deny the gift of grace; but his view of the office
and work of the Holy Spirit was miserably defective
and low. Instead of an influence exercised upon
every act of will, and every deed done, with him
Grace was really nothing more than the effect of
a general law implanting a capacity in our nature ;
or it was limited to the act of inspiring the sacred
writers; or the help afforded to us through their
teaching, or recollection of the Cross of Christ.
The power to exert his own will aright, and to act
rightly in consequence, was arrogated to man him-
self. In the language of Scripture, the Pelagian
thought himself rich and increased with goods,
and in need of nothing. He knew not that he was

EeCTwRE Vit. 145

“ wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked“.” He sinned from pride of will.

Under the same two heads of intellectual and
moral unbelief, the enemies of revealed truth may
still be ranged. Like Macedonius, the Socinian not
only reduces to the condition of creatures the
consubstantial Son and eternal Spirit, but, with
Pelagius, he denies the supernatural influence of
the Holy Ghost upon the mind and will. His course
at least is plain; he assumes no disguise; employs
no subterfuge; is guilty of no ambiguity.

The Rationalist, on the other hand, more timid
or less sincere, tries to explain away whatever is
mystical in religion. He rejects as hard sayings,
not only the definitions of the Athanasian Creed,
but portions of Holy Writ itself. On no_ better
eround indeed than his own private notion of
inspired Scripture, did Luther himself impugn the
divine authority both of the Epistle of St. James,
and the Apocalypse. The Song of Songs in our
day has been assailed on the same presumptuous
principle. Others have gone farther, and have
rejected, together with the Creeds, all that is posi-
tive and objective in faith. Thus the little cloud,
no bigger than a man’s hand at the Reformation,
has gradually overspread the heavens, and threatens
by abuse of private judgment to overthrow the
faith of thousands.

There is another species of Rationalism, which
with no such intention tends nevertheless to

ORev.. gu. 17

L

146 LECTURE VIL

further Pelagian views. The doctrine which denies
sacraments to be means of grace, and reduces them
to symbolical teaching, is of this character; for
Pelagius would allow no gift of grace beyond
instruction conveyed by Revelation. And those un-
learned or unwise men, who disparage the sacra-
ments as “mere forms,” instead of the appointed
channels of supernatural influence to those who
use them fazthfully, are abetting the same danger-
ous error; for to stigmatize sacramental grace as
a superstitious dream is a step towards asserting
the sufficiency of the natural will.

And here it is to be lamented, that many earnest
persons, who magnify the grace of God, and try
to walk in that grace, should by lowering the effi-
cacy of the sacraments, when duly used, virtually
encourage such dangerous views. Why, it may
be asked, should not faith be exercised through
the medium of those holy rites, instead of being
opposed to them as if they were merely and irre-
trievably formal? In the hands of St. Augustine
infant baptism was an irrefragable proof of the
Church’s belief in original® sin; of God’s favour

€ Ipsa mimquam Sanctze Ecclesiz Sacramenta satis indicant, par-
vulos a partu etiam recentissimos per gratiam Christi de Diaboli
servitio liberari. Excepto enim quod in peccatorum remissionem,

non fallaci sed fideli mysterio baptizantur, etiam prius exorcizatur
in eis, et exsufflatur potestas contraria; cui etiam verbis eorum a

quibus portantur se renuntiare respondent
Non enim solos ztate majores, sed etiam pusillos eruit a potestate
tenebrarum, ut transferat in regnum Filii charitatis suze. De Peccat.
Orig. 45.
St. Augustine supports the view adopted in our twenty-fifth
Article, that Sacraments are not only tokens of Christian men’s

EBC TURE, VIL. 147

towards the child‘, and its election; and of the gift
of grace to influence its will. In like manner, the
true mystical presence of Christ in the “ commu-
nion of bread and wine” was the readiest 7//ustration
to the Fathers of the incarnation of the Godhead.
They, on the other hand, who deny the association
of spiritual agency with material elements, might
by parity of reasoning question the reality of God
being manifested in the flesh; they might stumble
at the clay and spittle and water of Siloam, the
shadow of Peter, or the kerchiefs touched by Paul,
as media of miraculous operations. The Sacraments
in fact are the most palpable of all testimonies,
that grace is needed by us; and conveyed from the
Spirit of God to the spirit of man, in answer to
the special prayer of faith.

It is hard to say whether the presumption, or

profession, but rather effectual signs of grace and God’s good will
towards us, by which he does not only guicken, but also strengthen
and confirm our faith in him.

And since he says that Sponsors renounce the Devil in behalf of
the infant, he certainly supposed an act of faith on their part would
precede the washing of regeneration to the infant. Such too is the
spirit of the Baptismal service; which is made for Christians, not for
the unbelieving and profane. But though “in such only as
worthily receive the same the Sacraments have a wholesome effect or
operation,” the unconscious infant cannot itself interpose a bar of
unworthiness : neither is the “ effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away
by the wickedness of Ministers ;” and by parity of reason, not of
Sponsors. See Art. XXVI.

f «Quo (originali sc. peccato) sive soluto per Dei gratiam,
sive per Dei judicium non soluto, cum moriuntur infantes, aut merito
regenerationis transeunt ex malis ad bona, aut merito originis
transeunt ex malis ad mala. Hoc catholica fides novit.”” De Praedest.
Sanct. 23.

L2

148 LECTURE Vit.

the shortsightedness of such rationalizing views is
the greater: for it is by the outward shield of
the sacraments that the great Christian verities
of the incarnate Godhead, and the perpetual work
of the Comforter in the souls of men, are guarded
and enforced. Certain it is, where Sacramental
grace is systematically rejected, a wide door has
been opened for unbelief. Even where the evil
has not proceeded to this length, the guilt of birth-
sin; the need of preventing grace to infants; the
obligation to partake of the Lord’s table; the sinful-
ness of continuing in sin that grace may abound;
the power of the believer through divine grace to
perfect holiness in the fear of God, are truths
either not apprehended, or practically denied.
Christianity thus becomes a matter of feeling, and
purely subjective. The creed of the Gospel is
held more by accident than on grounds of reason,
and Pelagianism virtually returns upon the scene.

In approaching then the mysteries of Revelation,
and among the rest the being and operations of the
Holy Ghost, we must carry along with us certain
principles, if we would avoid Unbelief or Ration-
alism—the Macedonian or Pelagian spirit.

Let our first rule be to receive with implicit
reverence the declarations of God concerning him-
self in Holy Writ. Our only inquiry should be,
what He has spoken by the mouth of His inspired
servants? When at the fulness of the time the
scheme of salvation was completed, the faith was
delivered once for all to the saints. It admits
therefore, neither of increase nor curtailment; nei-

EEeGruReE Vit. 149

ther change nor novelty, under the specious name
of developement. The deep things of God His
Spirit alone can search, and by Him are they
revealed to holy and humble men of heart. He
who would believe rightly must say with Samuel,
«Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,” or with
David, he must restrain his soul and keep it low,
“even as a child that is weaned from his mother®.”
And secondly, What is there in the nature of
man, considered intellectually or morally, which
should make him refuse to submit himself to the
wisdom of God in a mystery? Can he fathom the
secrets of his own being, the union of matter and
spirit in himself? Can he divide the essence which
remembers, thinks, and wills; or does he confound
these faculties? If he cannot then do that which
is least, even find out himself to perfection, how
should he dare to refuse the instruction of God
concerning the Godhead? Why then will he not
receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is
able to save his soul? Thus we are compelled both
by the majesty of God, and by our own blindness
and helplessness, to be taught of Him. Earthly
analogies within and around us bid cavils cease, and
mountains sink down under the power of faith.
And lastly, the character of our blessed Lord, who
is emphatically the faithful Witness, should impart
confidence amid the strife of tongues concerning
the word of Truth. The beauty of holiness in His
life renders His appeal to the unbelieving Jews

& Psalm cxxxi. 3.

150 LECTURE Vit.

as overpowering to us as it was to them. “ Which
of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the
truth, why do ye not believe me*?’ The moral
persuasion thus arising ought to be an impe-
netrable shield against the fiery darts of un-
belief.

With respect to the peculiar danger of Pelagian
or Semi-Pelagian views, we must seek safety in
Christian watchfulness over ourselves, and eaperience
of our own weakness. A slight acquaintance with
Scripture and real life ought to convince men of
their moral inability, so as not to think any thing
as of themselves. But unhappily the experimental
knowledge of evil lessens the sorrow for it; and
hence even conviction often loses its force, instead
of making sinners pray more earnestly for grace.
Still it does seem awful presumption, when men
deliberately reject the proffered help of the Spirit
of God; or reduce grace to mere natural capacity,
or the knowledge imparted by revelation; or arro-
gate to themselves the ability to turn from the
power of Satan unto God,—nay, both to will and do
righteously of their own good pleasure; above all,
when they assume foreseen merit in their own acts
sufficient to determine from everlasting the pur-
poses of God concerning them. Surely it is humbler
and better, and wiser, to repose with confidence on
His perfect justice, holiness, goodness, and wisdom,
though to us His ways may be past finding out,
and His counsels unsearchable; and when we feel

h John viii. 46.

LECTURE VII. 15]

our own unworthiness, to empty ourselves of every
thought of pride, and glory in Him alone.

What if the light of Conscience be not absolutely
extinguished; yet the preparation of the heart,
whereby we will what is good, and carry that same
will into good effect, is from the Lord. And how
presumptuous is it, we may say with St. Augustine,
to prefer to rest on the weakness of the will of
man, rather than on the stability of God’s purposes
of mercy towards him!

Penetrated with such thoughts, we shall not
presume to talk of our resolutions, and choice, and
determination to do the will of God; but we shall
consider our baptismal calling, as the pledge of His
love, and of imparted as well as imputed grace.
We shall rejoice that the Comforter has been sent
from the Father by His Son our Redeemer; that
He is “the Lord and Giver of life;” that by “one
baptism for the remission of sins” he has chosen
us out of the world, to have fellowship with the
saints and the household of faith; that by working
in due season, He has given us power to obey Him
as His adopted sons; that He has worked 7 us
a good will, and with us when we had that good
will, “for we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works,” through the in-
dwelling guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Realizing thus His presence in ourselves by eape-
rience of his power, we shall go on our way rejoicing;
and while we are working out our salvation with
fear and trembling, we shall nevertheless feel that
we have the surest pledge of final perseverance in

152 LECTURE VII.

God’s love, and the aid of Him, who, proceeding
from the Father and the Son, with them “ together
is worshipped and glorified ;” being of “ one sub-
stance power and glory, very and eternal God,”

LECTURE VIII.

1 Cor. xn. 31.

But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a
more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

N considering the perversions of heresy, there

are seldom many redeeming traits to heighten
the regret with which we contemplate their Authors.

There was nothing certainly in the artful conduct

of Pelagius to rescue his memory from merited

reproach ; nor can we pity the fall of Macedonius,
when brought about by the same Arian party and
civil despotism, to which he owed his elevation
to the see of Constantinople. Political subserviency,
no less than doctrinal dishonesty, abate the sorrow
we might otherwise feel for these Heresiarchs ; who
sinned against the Holy Ghost, the one denying

His divinity, the other His spiritual agency in

the soul.

It is not so, however, with Enthusiasts or Fanatics.
In their case, the unforgiven sin does not seem to
be committed; is certainly not intended; and while
we are thus relieved from the sense of exceeding

154 LECTURE VIII.

sinfulness in them, we cannot but pity that
fervour of imagination, which fondly presumed
on immediate inspiration ; or rejoiced on insufficient
grounds in the fancied impulses of the Comforter.
Even in such characters, nevertheless, evil traits
mixed up with much of good often arrest our
sympathy ; for while some Enthusiasts have been
simple, self-denying, and devout men, others have
turned the supposed grace of God into a cloak
of maliciousness, and made a gain of their pre-
tensions to higher spiritual attainments.

We have not however on the present occasion
to survey the evil heart of unbelief, “fighting
against the Holy Ghost*.” But we are to trace
the views and feelings of men who have sup-
posed themselves more immediately and emi-
nently favoured with His presence. Compelled
indeed as we are to deny their pretensions; and
that for the sake of truth itself, lest the real
graces of the Spirit should, by reason of such
extravagancies, be disparaged or denied; yet we
shall have rather to arraign their want of wisdom
than of substantial pzety. We could even desire
to say of them, what the Pharisees in the council
did of St. Paul, If a spirit or an angel hath spoken
to him, let us not fight against God». In a word,
we can sympathize more with the Enthusiast than
the Heretic.

The earliest error concerning the dispensation
of the Spirit was not like those opinions which

a The followers of Macedonius were called mvevparopaxor,
b Acts xxiii. g.

LECTURE VIII. 155

were reviewed in the last Lecture, of an aggressive
character. Montanus, on the contrary, asserted
for himself a fuller and more striking effusion of
the Holy Ghost, than had been granted on the
day of Pentecost. His feelings at the state of the
Church in his day were similar to those of the
Psalmist: “We see not our tokens, there is not
one Prophet more’ :” he lamented over the decay
of spiritual power, and the withdrawal of super-
natural agency. Missing the fulfilment of prophecy,
and mistaking the time, he earnestly longed for
that season of refreshing, when God would pour
out of His Spirit upon all flesh; and the sons and
daughters of Israel should prophesy, the old men
should dream dreams, and the young men should
see visions, and upon the servants, and upon the
hand-maids in those days the Spirit should be
poured from on high. Montanism then was in its
object restorative. It reverted to the original phe-
nomena of the day of Pentecost, and claimed to
reproduce them. To understand therefore its true
character, we must briefly advert to the extraor-
dinary gifts® of the Spirit, which were then poured

b Psalm Ixxiv. to.

¢ See Appendix, Lect. viii. The distinction between gifts and
graces has been already noticed. The various habits, which were
considered in the six first Lectures, as combining to form the wit-
ness of the Spirit with our spirit, belong to the latter class. The
gifts which were the special credentials of the first ambassadors of
Christ, constitute the former. And whereas the gifts might be
severed from charity*, and so ‘ profit’ their possessor nothing ;
the graces were essentially combined with the ‘‘ more excellent

way,” and accordingly were effectual to the saving of the soul.

* Chrysostom Hom. viii. on 1 Cor. gore 5 Kal onueta TorjoavTa capkixoy elvat.

156 LECTURE VIII.

out upon the Church, “for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ*.”

Of those gifts, administrations, and operations
mentioned by St. Paul, some appear from their
very nature to have been of temporary, others of
perpetual duration. Miracles, and healing; the
Faith which could remove mountains; Tongues
which were for a sign to unbelievers; Prophecy
and Discerning of spirits seem peculiarly necessary
for the instruction and safeguard of the infant
church. But they were soon perverted to strife
and envying, vain-glory and ambition. We are
prepared therefore to expect that they would cease
with the race of Apostles or Apostolic men, by
whose authority even they were with difficulty
controlled and regulated.

That the poor had the Gospel preached to them °,
was referred to by our Lord, as a not less certain
witness of His mission from the Father, than that
the blind received their sight, the lepers were
cleansed, or the dead raised up. She who was
forgiven because she loved much, had in her peace
of mind as effectual an assurance that the Son
of man had power on earth to forgive sins, as he
who at the Lord’s bidding took up the bed whereon
he lay palsied, and went unto his house. Even
so miracles and the other extraordinary gifts were
not needed for the eventual propagation of the
Gospel. It might be safely left, as the word of
the Spirit, to its inherent power of convincing

d Eph. iv. 11. e Mat. xi. 5.

BECT Ui Et Vir. ao /

the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment
to come. The “word of wisdom” also, and “the
knowledge of mysteries,” might likewise be suffered
to depend on the ordinary process of acgutrement ;
even as the care and instruction of the churches
was transferred from Apostles and Prophets to
Pastors and Teachers duly commissioned by those,
who should succeed to the Apostolic office of ruling
in the Church, and ordaining elders.

There was nothing then in the rarity, in his
time, of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which
should have awakened the surprise, or stirred up
the fanatical zeal of Montanus; much less have
made him assert the superiority of the New Pro-
phecy, as he named his mission, over the effusion
of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles at the day of
Pentecost. Yet such were his presumptuous, or
enthusiastic pretensions; and in this claim to special
and immediate illumination, we discover the prin-
ciple of Fanaticism in all ages.

The continuance or revival from time to time of
miraculous power in the Church is still matter of
dispute. On the one hand, it is contended that
miracles ceased either with the generation of
Apostles or Apostolic men, or soon after. On the
other, their continuance in the early church for
several centuries is boldly asserted; nay, their pos-
session at the present day in the Roman commu-
nion, as well as in some insignificant sections of
schismatic Protestants®.

e Vain however we trust is the subtilty which would confound

Providential and Miraculous interposition, because both are super-
natural; and would place the doubtfully evidenced miracles of

158 LECTURE VIII.

The rise indeed of Montanism would seem to be
almost decisive of the question; for why assert a
fresh effusion of the Holy Spirit in the extra-
ordinary gift of prophecy, if in every church
there were still inspired prophets and teachers, as
well as discerners of spirits, to whom the spirits
of the prophets were subject®? Had the extraor-
dinary seals of the Spirit and inspired authority
of the Apostles still existed in the churches,
Montanus and his prophetesses would hardly have
escaped the punishment of Elymas or the sons of
Sceva. They would have been delivered to Satan,
that they might learn not to blaspheme, instead of
being left to the ordinary censure of the Church.
If, however, those gifts were gradually withdrawn
upon the departure of Apostles and Apostolic men,
it is not surprising that the false claims of Mon-
tanus should have been put forth within a few

Ecclesiastical history on the same pedestal of truth, as those which
are recorded in the Gospel by eye-witnesses of the word: much less
can we give credit to the hearsay wonders of the middle ages;
or accept as a miracle Transubstantiation, the asserted change of the
substance of the bread and wine in the Eucharist being impalpable
to the senses; or the temporary effects occasionally produced upon
diseased members of the body by a highly excited imagination,
The attempt to pass these off as miracles has always returned with
fatal recoil upon its authors, and damaged in an unbelieving world
the authority even of the Inspired Narrative itself.

e Tertullian even claims the title of ‘ spiritual men’”’ for the disci-
ples of Montanus, expressly on the grounds of their ewclusive
acknowledgment of the new prophecy : that is, the revival of the gift
of prophecy in the church. But how could this argument avail for a
moment, if that as well as the other extraordinary gifts were conti-
nually being exercised and recognized universally. De Monogam. c. 1.

' See the account given by Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Euseb. v. 15.

VECTURE VIL 159

years, and not far from the scene of the martyrdom’
of Polycarp".

Again, the opening as well as closing words’ of
the Apocalypse seem to intimate, that the testimony
of Jesus, the Spirit of prophecy, had then received
its fullest developement, and future generations
were to find the truth of God’s word, not in a new
effusion of the Spirit, but in the fulfilment of that
great prophecy as it was gradually unfolded in the
course of ages.

The exact pretensions however of this Fanatic were
as follows. He asserted that he had received fuller
inspiration by the Paraclete than the Apostles ; and
that this new dispensation of the gift of Prophecy
was designed to complete and perfect what had been
left obscure and unfinished by them/. Tertullian,
who at last became a disciple of this deceiver, in
his treatise on single Marriage urges‘, that “ the

8 A. D.167. (Greswell, Feb. 24, A. D. 164.) Eusebius lib. v. 16. The
sect arose at Ardabau in Mysia when Gratus was proconsul of Asia.

h Treneus indeed seems to intimate their continuance to his
time, A. D. 154—202. Kai moddAav dxovopev adehpav ev TH exkhyoig
mpogntixa xXapiopata €xdvT@v, Kai Tavtodamais Aadovvt@r bia Tov IIvev-
patos yhdooats, kal Ta Kpiqua Tov avOporar cis pavepoyv ayovTav ent TO
cupepovt, kai Ta pvornpia Tod Oeod exdinyoupever. lib. v. 6. Euse-
bius v. 7; who adduces this passage as a proof of the continuance to
that time of the extraordinary gifts.

Reyer. 35 Xx: 18.

j St. Augustin. lib. de Heresibus c. 26.

k « Cur non potuerit post Apostolos idem Spiritus superveniens ad
deducendam disciplinam in omnem veritatem per gradus temporum
(secundum quod Ecclesiastes, Tempus omni rei, inquit) supremam
jam carni fibulam imponere, jam non oblique a nuptiis avocans, sed
exerte ; quum magis nunc tempus in collecto factum sit, annis cir-
citer cLx. exinde productis ?— Nihil novi Paracletus inducit, quod
premonuit, definit ; quod sustinuit, exposcit.”” De Monogam. ce. 3.

It is evident from this passage, that the distinction which Mosheim

160 LECTURE VIII.

same Spirit, which inspired St. Paul to give the
preference to the unmarried state, had now by
Montanus imposed a final and complete restraint
on the flesh. The Paraclete, he said, introduced
no new doctrine; he definitively enjoins that of
which he before gave warning.” And again, “ The
Holy Spirit having previously allowed some doc-
trines to remain involved in obscurity, in order to
prove the faith of Christians, had now removed all
ambiguities by a clear and explicit developement}
of the whole mystery of the Gospel, through the
new prophecy; which had been poured out abun-
dantly from the Paraclete.”

The new prophecy then, however false its preten-
sions to supernatural gifts and divine authority,
still in its objects was not opposed to the agency
or work of the Comforter. Neither Montanus nor
his Prophetesses relaxed or tried to set aside the
requirements of the moral law. Theirs was no
Antinomian assumption of spirituality. They de-
sired rather to restore discipline; to bring in
excessive rigor; more frequent and severer fastings;
neglecting of the body; disparagement of marriage ;

(Kecl. Hist. ii. Cent. c. 5.) says was made by Montanus between
the Holy Spirit shed on the Apostles, and the Paraclete promised to
them, was not made by the heresiarch.

1 « At enim Deus Omnipotens adversus hee incredulitatis, et perver-
sitatis ingenia, providentissima gratia sua effundens in novissimis die-
bus de suo Spiritu in omnem carnem in servos suos et ancillas, et fidem
laborantem resurrectionis carnalis animavit, et pristina instrumenta
manifestis verborum et sensuum luminibus, ab omni ambiguitatis
obscuritate purgavit .....idcireco jam omnes retro ambiguitates, et
quas volunt parabolas, aperta atque perspicua totius Sacramenti pre-
dicatione discussit per novam prophetiam de Paracleto mundantem.”

Tertull. de Resur. Carn. 63.

Eeereyne Vir. 161

denial of absolution for breaches of the seventh
commandment. They taught that it was sinful to
fly from persecution, or by any means to purchase
a fallacious security. The New Prophecy in a word,
only claimed to enforce and develope truths already
revealed. Predictions™, strictly speaking, beyond
the general one—of the coming of Anti-Christ, and
speedy downfal of the Roman empire, there were
none. The whole conduct of Montanus is therefore
consistent with self-deceiving enthusiasm, and not
with deliberate fraud. Indeed, his organized system
of preachers", whose salaries he paid from the
oblations of his followers, seems more like modern
Methodism than the wild proceedings of an igno-
rant fanatic or impostor.

“ Montanus,” writes a learned prelate® of our
Church, “was evidently a man of weak intellect, who
was induced, partly by a superstitious temper, partly
by the desire of distinction, himself to pursue and
to recommend to others an ascetic course of life.
The austerity of his doctrine and practice naturally
gained him admirers and followers, and he con-
firmed his empire over their minds by professing
to see visions, and to receive revelations from
heaven. Perhaps he had succeeded in persuading
himself that he was divinely inspired. Fanaticism
is for the most part combined with fraud in the
character of the religious impostor’; nor is it

™ Maximilla predicted wars and tumults after her death. (Kaye 17,
from Epiphanius.) Euseb. V. 16.

n Euseb. V. 18, from Apollonius.

© Kaye, bishop of Lincoln, on Tertullian. Introduction, p. 30.

P The imputation of fraud seems inconsistent with the other

M

162 LECTURE VIII.

improbable, that in the state of exhaustion to
which his body was reduced by the length and
frequency and severity of his fasts, his mind might
occasionally become disordered, and he might mis-
take for realities the creations of a distempered
fancy.”

If now we analyse the feelings or principles
which lay at the bottom of his proceedings, they
seem to resolve themselves into two; namely,
his own personal illumination by the Holy Spirit ;
and his authority as a teacher specially called of
God to reform His Church. Under the first of
these convictions he asserted his own higher spi-
ritual attainments; upon the second, he superseded
the Apostolic commission, and authority of the Epi-
scopate.4 By this New Prophecy heresy was to be

circumstances of his behaviour: and we can hardly think that the

cute and legal Tertullian would have failed to detect such a
characteristic, or yielded himself unreservedly to any thing short
of a sincere fanaticism. Euseb. V. 16. The idea of fraud indeed
is easily conceived from the title of the ‘‘ New Prophecy”
claimed by Tertullian for Montanism; but it is necessary to bear
in mind the wide meaning of that term. The office of Prophet
under the old covenant was not confined to predicting future events.
Moral reproof and spiritual instruction were also included in
prophetic inspiration. The greater portion of the ancient .pro-
phecies consists of these subjects. And so also in the Christian
Church, the office of prophet comprised not only foretellmg* things
to come, but inspired | penetration of the inmost thoughts, preach-
ing t in the ordinary sense of that term, and composing § psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs.

4 Tertullian is plain upon both points. He claims for his sect
exclusively the title of ‘‘ Spiritual men|j,” all others being carnal :
and he affirms the Church not to consist in the number of bishops,

* Agabus Acts xxi. 11; 1 Cor. xiv. 29. 6.

+ 1 Cor. xiv. 24. cf. Origen, Rom. x. 15. fr Corexiviens.

§ 1 Cor. xiv. 263 Vadmodv, aroxdduuy. || De Monogam. c. tr.

LECTURE VIII. 163

put down, controversies settled, Christian holiness
advanced. The fundamental doctrines indeed of
the Church were still the unalterable basis of the
Christian life; but Episcopal rule was set aside by
the Montanist prophets, and the ordinary means of
grace discarded for immediate and sensible illapses
of the Spirit.

In these principles then, we seem to find the type
of religious fanaticism in all ages; and the prolific
sources of all schism. As reason abused leads to
heresy, so the doctrine of grace is perverted to divi-
sion; and He who is the Author of peace is profanely
made to authorize and approve of confusion’.

Proceeding onwards in Ecclesiastical History, we
detect the same principles at work in the great
African schism of the Donatists.

One, if not the principal cause of this separation
was the alleged unholiness of a bishop’, who had
joined in the consecrationt of the primate" of
Carthage. It was said, that the grace of the
Holy Spirit could not be conveyed through the
instrumentality of one who was himself unspi-
ritual’. The validity of an official act was thus

but in the Spirit’s indwelling in those who are spiritual*; which is
true of the invisible church, while in the visible the evil have ever
been mingled with the good. S. Optati de Sch. Donat. lib. vii. 2.

ry) Cor. 1x. 33; S Felix.

t This had been irregularly performed in the absence of the
Numidian bishops.—St. Optatus lib. 1. 18.

u Cecilianus, Augustin, Ep. 43. Breviculus Collationis cum
Donatistis, die 34°, xiv.

v He and Felix were falsely accused of having delivered up the
scriptures to be burnt in the persecution of Diocletian.

August.
cont. Cresconitm Donatistam, lib. iv. c. 10.
* De Pudicitia, cap. 21.

M 2

164 LECTURE VIII.

confounded with the personal character of the minis-
ter; but the same principle would render uncertain
or invalid every administration of the Sacraments,
Ordination, and all other rites of the Church.

Happily indeed for our comfort and peace of
mind, our Church has asserted the principle that
“the unworthiness of the minister hindereth not
the effect of the sacraments ;” and it might have
been thought, that the call of Judas Iscariot
and his mission to preach the gospel, heal the
sick, and cast out devils, would have for ever
precluded any such views; but when did Fanaticism
listen to reason, argument, example or authority ?

On such grounds however, though falsely alleged,
did the Numidian bishops proceed to cut* off the
rest of the Christian world from the Church of
God, which they affirmed to be exclusively with
themselves’. According to their own view, they
alone could impart valid baptism, and ordination ;
and they confidently pointed to the “ Mirabiliaz”
or preternatural works of Donatus and Pontius, to
the waking visions, and dreams, and the successful
prayers of some of their brotherhood, as evincing
the true fold of Christ.

Here then, as in the history of Montanism, we
discover precisely the same enthusiastic pretensions
advanced, and in both cases made the ground of
schism. The spiritual and invisible church was
evoked to set aside the outward and visible
institution; and though not styling itself a new
prophecy, Donatism claimed nevertheless the same

x August. Ep. 185.
y August. c. Donatist. 49. vulgo de Unitate Eccl. lib. x Ibid.

LECTURE VIII. 165

seals of divine inspiration as Montanism: miracu-
lous gifts, ecstatic visions and dreams, together
with prayers manifestly and immediately answered.

A close examination would probably shew, that
the various sects of the middle ages mixed up
the like views with much that was good and true.
The Paulicians for example, of the seventh century,
are classed by an early writer with the Montanists.
They certainly pretended to some extraordinary
gifts of the Spirit?; while in their view the Sacra-
ments were reduced to mere symbolical teaching,
if not altogether dispensed with; the word of the
gospel being in their judgment to the deliever both
baptism and the supper of the Lord. The literal
interpretation of Scripture was thus necessarily
set aside, for figurative and allegorical meanings;
and they condemned not only prelacy, but even
the order as well as title of elders or presbyters
as savouring of Mosaic institution».

Time would fail me, were I to dwell upon the views
or proceedings of the Cathari and Waldenses; but
coming down to the Reformation, we find that mighty
agitation of intellect and spirit disengaging a fiercer
enthusiasm, and bringing out men who believed that
they were especially favoured with the illapses
of the Spirit. Like the Montanists of old, the
Puritans first disregarded, and then superseded
Episcopacy. Freeing themselves also from the
restraints of a Liturgy, they boldly pretended to

a Gibbon, ec. liv.

b Milner, Cent. ix. c. 1. refers to Petrus Siculus contra Mani-

cheos, and Photius hist. of Manicheism. Gibbon, c. liv. p. 173, 4.
and Mosheim Eccl. Hist. Book iii. c. ix. pt. ii.

166 LECTURE VIII.
the immediate influence of the Spirit in congre-
gational prayer’.

A writer‘, who lived through the great Rebellion,
and had entered the Church under the Restoration,
thus represents the sentiments of the fanatics of
that day touching their pretensions to the Holy
Spirit: “ Many,” he says, ** we know there have been,
and are, who pretend to such extraordinary gifts
of the Holy Spirit as were peculiar to the first
ages of the Church. Thus doth the Church of
Rome (as did the Donatists of old) make such
miraculous testimonies the necessary sign of a true
Church. And somewhat like both these are the
Enthusiasts of our late ages, who would make the
privileges of the Holy Spirit special and singular
to their enclosures’.” And for what purposes were
these special impulses and extraordinary illumi-
nations of the Spirit claimed? Exactly the same
as those for which the Montanists and Donatists
claimed them; first, for authenticating and inter-
preting the Holy Scriptures——thus superseding
the prophetical office of the Church, as_ the
witness and keeper of Holy Writ, and its authority
in controversies of faith ; secondly, for the personal
assurance of salvation and comfort of the Christian ;
and lastly, for his readiness in prayer, so that the
words and petitions might assume the authority
of immediate inspiration.

Calvinf indeed, in his Institutes, had laid the

¢ The Assembly of Divines substituted the Directory (A. D. 1644.)
for the Prayer Book: but they only paved the way for the

inroads of wilder enthusiasts.

d Puller. ¢ Puller, Eden. p. 63. c. 5.8. £ Instit. lib. i. ec. 7. 1.

LECTURE VIII. 167

foundation for these extravagant claims. The
exigencies of his ecclesiastical position required
him to lower as far as possible the authority and
use of an external and apostolic Church. The
importance of its testimony to the authenticitys,
as well as true interpretation of Scripture, was
to be made of no account. He asserted therefore
that Holy Writ bears upon its face the character
of truth, as palpably as any white or black sub-
stance its colour. The Bible was made the witness
not only to its own truthfulness and inspiration,
but also to the authenticity and genuineness of its
several parts. The secret voice of the Spirit was
to secure the Christian against all doubts, and
enable him to extort this confession from the most
learned antagonist, that a//™ the books of Holy
Scripture were far superior to all others’, And
yet, singular to say, his co-reformer Luther doubted
the inspiration both of the Apocalypse and the
Epistle of St. James. Hence it becomes evident,
that if we discard the testimony of the Church
to the canon of Scripture, or weaken that testimony
by casting off its ancient Episcopal succession, we
are thrown upon the restless ocean of rationalist
speculation, and drift at the mercy of every wind
of opinion,

& Inst. lib. i. 7. 1. h Inst. lib. i. 7. 4.

i There were some fanatics who superseded scripture altogether
as being a dead letter. Against these, Calvin expresses himself very
strongly: yet what was this but Montanism revived, or illumi-
nation of the Spirit pushed to its full extent.— Instit. i. g. 1.

k It is very true, that the inward persuasion, without which, the
intellectual study of the evidences of scripture will profit nothing to

168 LECTURE VIII,

And so it has been proved by experience; for
the extensive fall of the Helvetic and Lutheran
churches from the orthodox faith, shews too plainly
how Calvin’s idea of trusting to special illumination
of the Spirit, for ascertaining and interpreting
canonical Scripture, will in all probability end,
Thankful therefore ought we to be, that our own
Church was preserved from such enthusiastic
rationalism, and both for the authenticity and
true doctrine of the Word of God, rested on the
witness of the Church in its primitive, universal,
and concurrent tradition,

Before however I select from the Homilies speci-
mens of her teaching, it behoves me to notice
one more outbreak of enthusiasm in the early
phenomena and principles of Methodism,

Nurtured in the bosom of our Church, J. Wesley
at first contended for no more than this! ; that men
should evince the reality of their regeneration by
personal righteousness. Since, he said, “if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature,” he must be
renewed in five particulars, his judgment, his
designs, his desires, his conversation, his actions.
salvation, is the work of the Holy Spirit. When the word of God
speaks to the inner man like the piercings of a sword*, there is
a different kind of assurance that it is from God, from that derived
from the tradition of the Church; but how the former can be
pressed to the extent of proving to ourselves either all the books,
or all parts of them to be genuine and inspired, it is difficult to see ;
and as to satisfying others, our personal conviction must be nuga-
tory.

1 Nightingale on Methodism, Letter xi.

* The officers of the Chief Priests bore testimony to the power of our Lord's
word, when they said, ‘‘ Never man spake like this man.”

LECTURE VIII, 169

He who lives in sin after baptism™, “if he was then
a child of God, is now a child of the Devil®;” for
the works of his father he will do. Therefore he
must go through an entire change of heart. In
one not yet baptized you would call that change
the new birth. In the baptized sinner, call it what
you will; but remember meantime, if you or he
die without it, your baptism will be so far from
profiting you, that it will greatly increase your
“ damnation.”

Not satisfied however with such statements, he
soon began to preach instantaneous conversion, and
then identified it with the new birth of the Spirit’.

But the ravings and ecstacies, the dreams? and
specially-answered prayers, of which the journals
of Whitfield and Wesley are full, if in some
instances they appear to have been followed by
a true conversion; in others, they assuredly masked
a detestable hypocrisy4; while the frantic pro-
phesyings of some of the female proselytes" irre-
sistibly remind us of the prophetesses of Montanus.

At an early period also of the Methodists’ asso-
ciation, the schismatic tendency of the supposed

m A Further Appeal, Letter xl.

0 In his summary of doctrine, he says, ‘‘ Baptism is the outward
sign of the new birth, which is supposed by our Church to be given
with and through that sign to all infants.” This testimony is worthy
of notice.

© Without denying the fact of some sudden changes of views
and feelings, yet when the doctrine was applied to all cases, it pro-
duced a plentiful harvest of pride and self-deceit, while it sent away
the humble-minded, anxious and unhappy.

P Nightingale, Letter xiii. xxvii. 4 Letter xxxii, James Wheatley.

r Letter x. Miss Roe.

170 LECTURE Vill.

outpouring of the Spirit began to shew itself. It
could not be expected that men who felt in them-
selves, or supposed they felt, the immediate influence
of the Holy Spirit should long be tied down to
forms and ordinances, or continue subject to the
rule of pastors lawfully called and ordained in the
Church.

It soon therefore began to be asserted among
the brotherhood, that any Christian might preach
and administer the sacraments ; and that Christianity
knew nothing of any distinctive order of men as
spiritual church officers. Long and firm was the
resistance made by J. Wesley to this attempt*.
Time however modified his views, or enfeebled his
judgment. It rarely if ever happens, that one false
step in religion is retrieved. In his 82nd year,
he was induced to complete his work of schism,
by ordaining three missionariest for America.

Here then was at length reproduced the likeness
of Montanism. The Apostolic authority of Episco-
pacy was infringed or superseded, even as ecstatic
illumination had before been claimed; so_per-
petually does human nature move in the same
vicious circle, and the unruliness of man’s heart
display itself in one unvarying form.

5 Shaw, the author of it was expelled from the society 1739.
Nightingale, Letter xiv.

t Nightingale, Lett. xxxvii. Coke, Whatcoat, and Vasey. C. Wesley
opposed the scheme, in the following Epigram :

«So easily are Bishops made
By man or woman’s whim,
Wesley his hands on Coke hath laid ;
But who laid hands on him ?”

LHe TUE VEL. Pu

The Montanist principles inherent in the church
of Rome have been already alluded to. The object
of the New Prophecy was, as we have seen, to
develope the teaching of the Apostles; to remove
doubts and determine controversies by an appeal
to infallible authority; to carry out and perfect
the spiritual life by more rigid discipline; and for
these ends the ordinary Episcopal authority was
superseded by Montanus, his prophetesses, and
preachers. Lastly, the pretensions of this schis-
matical communion were supported by the claim
of miraculous gifts and spiritual ecstasies.

It is not difficult to recognise the same features
in the Papal system. Here too, as in Montanism,
the faith delivered to the saints once for all, and
the apostolic order of episcopacy, have been set aside
as insufficient. New articles have been appended
to the Creed by an assumed infallible authority";
and the independent episcopal succession abolished
by the papal claim of divine right to supremacy.
The ascetic life also is unduly exalted; while
ambiguous miracles and ecstatic fervours complete
the parallel. Novelty, in a word, is masked under
the guise of developement.

It remains then to contrast with such views the
sober principles of our reformed Church.

Ist, then, she does not leave the authentication of
inspired Scripture to some undefined inward witness
of the Spirit. On the contrary, she holds the
Catholic Church to have been both the witness

u XII. in number, vid. Prof. Fid. Cath. sec. Conc. Trid. ex bulla
Pii Pape IV.

172 LECTURE VIII.

and keeper of the canonical Scriptures ; those books
both of the Old and New Testament, of which in
the Church there never was any doubt.

2ndly, For the interpretation of those books, her
golden rule is set forth in the famous Canon of
1571, concerning preachers: “ That nothing be
taught to be held or believed, upon the account of
religion, but what is agreeable to the doctrine of the
Old and New Testament, which the Catholic Fathers
and ancient Bishops have gathered from thence.”

The faith once delivered to the saints contained
of course a// things necessary to salvation; and the
harmony of that faith, as taught in the three Creeds,
with the inspired Scriptures, is confirmed to us by
the concurrence of the universal Church in their
substance from the Apostolic age downward. In
other inatters of probable or edifying opinion, the
joint testimony of the Fathers to the sense of Scrip-
ture, our Church holds to be a sufficient guide to
soundness of judgment. And if in such matters we
seem to see as through a glass darkly, yet this very
uncertainty may be intended for the exercise of
humility and charity, for greater diligence in prayer,
and more unwearied study of the Scriptures. As to
special illumination superseding the ordinary means
of knowledge, the judgment of our Church is well
set forth by Dr. Hammond; “Study, search,
meditation, the collation of the places of Scripture ;
the use of reason, and learning and skill in original
languages; the help of our spiritual guides; the
declarations of God’s Church; the analogy of re-
ceived doctrine ; constant prayer for God’s blessing ;

LECTURE VIII. 173

the necessary assistance and gracious aids of God’s
Spirit; these are the ordinary means of sound
Scripture interpretation, for the assurance of faith,
and quieting of the conscience.”

On these principles our Church repudiates alike
the assumed infallibility of the see of Rome, and
the equally unfounded pretensions of enthusiasts
and fanatics. The liberty of private judgment is
not perverted, on the one hand, to schismatic or
heretical rationalism; nor is the authority of one
single portion of the Church exaggerated into
dominion over the faith of the world.

But let us pass to personal and subjective reli-
gion. Our Church denies the necessity of a sensible
impulse, or Ulumination, whether instantaneous or
otherwise, for assurance of salvation. “If you would
be sure of your faith,” says the homily of Salvation,
“try it by your living; the true Christian faith is
no dead, vain, unfruitful thing. Therefore let us,
by such virtues as spring out of faith, shew our
election to be sure and stable.”

Neither for the gift of prayer does she deem
sensible or conscious impulses necessary; because
He by whom the Spirit is given to the Church
taught His disciples, and in them all Christians,
a congregational form of prayer, requiring them to
use the samet.

Lastly, the homily for Whitsunday, part i, coun-
sels us thus on the fifth chapter of Galatians:
“Here now is the glass wherein thou must behold
thyself, and discern whether thou hast the Holy

t Matt. vi. g; Luke xi. 2.

174 LECTURE VIII.

Ghost within thee or the spirit of the flesh. If
thou see thy works to be virtuous and good, conso-
nant to the prescript rule of God’s word, savory
and tasting not of the flesh but the Spirit, then
assure thyself thou art endued with the Holy Ghost:
otherwise, in thinking well of thyself, thou dost
but deceive thyself. The Holy Ghost doth always
declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts.”
And again, part ii, “ Wherever ye find the spirit
of arrogance and pride, the spirit of envy, hatred,
contention, cruelty, assure yourselves that there is
the spirit of the devil and not of God: albeit they
pretend to the world outwardly ever so much holi-
ness: for as the Gospel teacheth us, the Spirit of
Jesus is a good, holy, sweet, lowly, merciful Spirit,
full of charity and love, full of forgiveness and pity,
not rendering evil for evil, extremity for extremity.
According to which rule, if any man live uprightly,
of him it may be safely pronounced that he hath
the Holy Ghost within him; if not, there is a plain
token he doth usurp the name of the Holy Ghost
in vain.”

The consistency of these views with holy Scrip-
ture has, I trust, been manifested in the six first
of these Lectures. And if, by a close examination
of the words of St. Paul, the notes of the Holy
Spirit’s presence in the Christian “ of full age” have
been more distinctly set forth, I trust it may serve
to the edification of the sincere inquirer. To be
destitute of the Spirit of God is to be spiritually
dead; and by the fruits of the Spirit will the sons
of God be known. What those fruits are cannot

LECTURES VMI. 175

be doubted: a subdued will; a spiritual mind; the
love of God shed abroad in the heart; the love of
man; a mortified body with its affections and lusts;
a patient waiting and longing for immortality.
On this solid basis, the assurance of salvation
through the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ may
be built up and stand. A saving justifying faith may
thus be known; and where all or any of these fruits
are wholly wanting, there we may be satisfied that
the Spirit does not bear witness with our spirit
to our Adoption. No ecstatic feelings, no raptured
excitement, no pretensions to preternatural gifts,
either of healing or tongues", no simulated voice of
conscience must be allowed to set aside the mani-
fest work of the Holy Spirit in those chastened
and unearthly dispositions. We give place, no not
for an hour, to such delusions, even though they
come to us transformed as angels of light.

And if we can trace in the History of the Church
the general results of such pretensions to be schism
and heresy, let us reject the poison, whether it
come to us in the rude enthusiasm of the unlearned
and unstable; or wrapped up in the artful and
imposing structure of Papal ambition.

True to the sober faith and chastened reason
of our reformed communion, let us seek the fellow-
ship of the Spirit and Christian perfection, in what
appears to be God’s appointed way; namely, the
instrumentality of the holy Catholic Church; the
Scriptures interpreted by the Creeds of the cecume-

" See the accounts of the Rev. E. Irving, Nich. Armstrong, &c. in
1832.

176 LECTURE VIII.

nical councils; the Sacraments ordained by Christ
himself; an Apostolic ministry and ordinances;
diligent use of the primitive Liturgies, and the
constant practice of private prayer and meditation.
Through these means let us seek the comfort of
the Holy Ghost, and the earnest of the Spirit in
our hearts, trusting that He who vouchsafed to
make our vile body the tabernacle of His presence
upon earth; who in that body used the water of
Siloam, and clay and spittle and touch, to heal the
body and confirm faith, may even now sanctify
“beggarly elements” to the spiritual benefit of
those who use them faithfully.

While the virtue resides not in them but in Him+*,
we deify them not; we set them not up as idols;
we put them not in the place of the Saviour Him-
self. In the language of the Waldensian Catechism
of the thirteenth century, “ We believe not in the
Church, for it is a creature; but we believe that
there is oneY:” we believe it to be, according to
St. Augustine, the outward and ordinary instrument
of adoption, and of God’s imparting the Holy Spirit
tous. Thus joined through baptism to the visible
body of Christ, and inwardly to Himself by the
Spirit working opportunely, we grow in grace and
the knowledge of our God and Saviour: the new
man is raised up in us, and when it has come to
maturity, it will manifest itself to be “ of full age”
by those fruits above specified. Call them by what
name you will, there is in them real experience of

x S. Optati de Schism. Donat. lib. v. 4. Augustin. Ep. 89.
y Milner, c. iii. Cent. xiii.

LECTURE VIII. boy Wf

the effectual working of the Holy Ghost. He who
has it may assuredly know that he has built his
house on the Rock of ages; and the Church which,
organized on the primitive model, is blessed with
such members, may appropriate the promise that
“the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.”

Believing such to be the case with that branch
of the Catholic Church in which our own spiritual
life has been imparted, my earnest prayer is, that
God will continue to bless its members with all
spiritual blessings. My endeavour has been to
point out the true “ witness of the Spirit” subjectively
in the Christian; resting neither upon implicit
obedience to the despotism of priestcraft, nor the
unruly impulses of fanatical illumination. And if
I have said any thing which either is wide of the
Scriptural teaching of our reformed communion,
or of catholic truth as received in it, I retract it
as contrary to God’s holy word, and the teaching
of His Spirit; but wherein it is agreeable to that
word, I pray that it may serve to the edifying of
His Church, by leading you and others to self-
examination touching the work of the Spirit in
their hearts; remembering the awful saying of
St. Paul, “ Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His.” But if He be in us, the
body indeed is dead because of sin; but the Spirit
is life because of righteousness; and that same
Spirit by His presence shall quicken our mortal
bodies unto the resurrection of eternal glory.

APPENDIX.

LECTURE VII.

Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, Art. vin.

“ THE second General Council, held at Constantinople,
(A.D. 381), finding it necessary to make an addition to the
Nicene Creed, in the Article concerning the Holy Ghost, of
which that Council had said no more than this, ‘ I believe
in the Holy Ghost, framed this accession against Mace-
donius ; es To [Ivetpa 7d “Aytov, rd Kvpiov to (womo.dv, TO Ex
rob Tlarpos éxaopevduevov' in which they spake most warily,
using the words of Scripture, and the language of the
Church, which was so known and public, that it is recorded
even by Lucian, in his Dialogue called Philopatris, §. 12:

KPITIAS. Kai riva éropdcopai ye ;

TPIEGON, ‘Yyipédorra Oedv, péyav, duBporov, ovpaviwva,
Yidv Matpés, Mvedpa éx Matpds exropeudpevor,
4 > * Cy) eon s
Ev ek tpi@yv, Kat €€ évos Tpia.

Tatra vopite Ziva, tévd tyov Ocdv.

“This Creed being received by the whole Church of God,
and it being added also by the next General Council at
Ephesus, that it should not be lawful to make any addition
to it, notwithstanding, the question being agitated in the
West: Utrum Spiritus Sanctus, sicut procedit a Patre, ita
et procedat a Filio; and it being concluded in the affirm-
tive, they did not only declare the doctrine to be true, but

N 2

180 APPENDIX.

also added the same to the Constantinopolitan Creed, and
sang it publicly in their liturgy: ‘ Credimus et in Spiritum
Sanctum, Dominum et Vivificatorem, ex Patre Filioque
procedentem. ”

This being first done in the Spanish and French Churches,
it was opposed by Leo III., who caused two silver tablets to
be fixed up in the Basilica of St. Peter's, on which was
inscribed the Constantinopolitan Creed in Greek and Latin ;
adhering, in this instance, to the decree of the Council of
Ephesus.

Nicholas I. however (Sergius III. Vossius: Suicer. Thes.
exmopevors) admitted “ Filioque,” and hence the origin of the
schism between the Greek and Latin Churches. See the
account given by Pearson ibid. at large.

That the early Latin fathers held the doctrine which was
afterwards asserted in the Creed, is clear from the following
passages :

St. Hilary says of the Holy Spirit: “ Loqui de eo non ne-
cesse est, quia de Patre et Filio auctoribus confitendus est.”
De Trinit. lib. 2. cap. 29.

St. Ambrose: “ Spiritus quoque Sanctus cum procedit a
Patre et Filio, non separatur a Filo.” De Sp. Sanet. ¢. 10.

‘“‘ Spiritus autem Sanctus vere Spiritus est, procedens qui-
dem a Patre et Filio: sed non est ipse Filius quia non gene-
ratur ; neque Pater, quia procedit ab utroque.” Idem, De
Symb. c. 3.

The Greeks, though not saying that the Holy Spirit pro-
ceedeth from the Son, yet acknowledged in substance the
same truth, They understood Him to receive his infinite
and eternal essence from both the Father and the Son.

Justin Mart. in Expos. Fidei: 1ré [veda é« rod [arpos
pds ex dhords, ov piv yevvynt@s, GAN extopevTds Tpo7ndAde.

Theophylact in ec. xvi. Joannis: érav dxovons Ore exmopeve-
Tal, pr) vdEL ATooToAnY THY exmdpevolv, Stay aTooTEAAOVTAL TA
Aevtoupytka vetpata, adda pvaorki) brapéis Tod Uvevparos €or
) €xTOpeEvats.

Epiphanius: Uvedya yap cod, cat Tvedya Tarpos, kal
[lvetua Yiod, ex tov Tlatpos cai tod Yiov, tpitoy ti ovopacia,

in Ancorato, e. 8.

LECTURE VII. 18]

"Apa @cds ex Ilatpds kcal Yiod rd TIvedpa © eWetoavro ot
ano Tod TysnpaTos vordurduevot, in Ancorato. ¢. 9.

The Philopatris is considered not to be a genuine Dialogue
of Lucian; but composed about the time of Julian the

Apostate.

“ Pelagit heresiarche patria, vite institutum et mores,” ex pra-
Jatione in tomum decimum Opp. Sti Aurelii Augustini, Hip-
ponensis Episcopi, &c. opera et studio Monachorum Ordinis
Sti Benedicti e congregatione S. Mauri. Editio Parisina
altera emendata et aucta.

Pelagius hzeresis princeps vulgo dicebatur Brito: quod illi
cognomen Augustinus, ut ab illo distingueretur ejus eequali,
quem Pelagium Tarenti appellabant, inditum esse credidit.
(Ep. 186. 1.) Eodem ipsum cognomine Prosper in Chronico
ad annum quadringentesimum decimum tertium, et Genna-
dius (in lib. Scriptorum Ececlesiasticorum) ad veteres codices
emendatus vocant. Dicitur quoque ab Orosio “ Britannicus
noster” (Apolog.): a Mercatore “ gente Britannus.” Deni-
que Prosper, in carmine de Ingratis, auctorem heeresis Pela-
gianze notat his verbis:

« Dogma quod antiqui satiatum felle draconis
Pestifero vomuit Coluber sermone Britannus.”

Et multo infra in Semipelagianam impietatem dicit
«« Auctorem comitare exclusa Britannum.”

Idemque in epigrammate adversus quendam Augustini ob-
trectatorem :

« Aut hunc (ait) fruge sua equorei pavere Britanni.”’
oD

Preeterquam quod suo in Collatorem opere, ubi inimicos
gratiz quosdam in Britanniis deprehensos memorat, hos
“solum suz originis occupasse” scribit. Atque adeo idem
si fuerit Pelagius, quem dicit Hieronymus, ‘“ Scotorum pul-
tibus preegravatum :” hoc ipsum quod in homines natali ejus
solo finitimos quadrabat, ei attribuit. Qua ratione de eodem
in alio loco, Habet, inquit, progeniem Scoticz gentis, de
Britannorum vicinia.” Quibus verbis nihil aliud significat,

182 APPENDIX.

nisi illum gente Scotum seu Hibernum videri; quando et
innata essent ipsi Scoticee, id est Hibernicee regionis vitia, et
ortum e finitima Britannia duxisse. Ipsum autem humilibus
parentibus natum prodit Orosius, quippe cui natales ait non
dedisse ut honestioribus disciplinis erudiretur, ob idque ad
conficiendos libros subsidiariis indiguisse operze comitibus, qui
sermonem ei suum commodarent.

Is tum Augustino, tum aliis a quibus memoratur solet
Pelagius Monachus appellari; unde colligas eum hoe vite
genus non modo professum fuisse, verum etiam titulum, quo
vocaretur, clariorem nullum habuisse, atque clericali digni-
tate neutiquam cohonestatum. Hine ejus heresim Augus-
tinus non ab Episcopis, non a Presbyteris, vel quibuscumque
clericis, sed a quibusdam pseudo-monachis invectam affirmat.
De Pece. Orig. 24. Illum Orosius disertis verbis “ hominem
laicum” dicit queriturque locum ipsi in Jerosolymitano con-
eessu datum inter Presbyteros. Et Zosimus papa eidem
Pelagio, quem erroris falso insimulari existimabat, initio
fayvens eum, “laicum virum ad bonam frugem longa erga
Deum servitate nitentem” nuncupavit. Utrum vero mona-
chum in Anglia apud Bangorenses, vel in Italia induerit
Pelagius, statuere hic non magni refert.......

ili. Pelagiana heeresis originem ex Oriente primam traxit,
ab Origene Adamantio, ut volunt, praecipue autem a Theo-
doro Mopsuestize Episcopo proseminata. Hane Rufinus qui-
dam natione Syrus Anastasio Romano Pontifice, id est circi-
ter annum Christi quadringentesimum, Romam primus in-
vexit: et “ut erat argutus,” ait Mercator, “‘se quidem ab ejus
invidia muniens, per se proferre non ausus, Pelagium gente
Britannum monachum tune decepit, eumque ad preedictam
apprime imbuit atque instituit impiam vanitatem.” Hue
facit quod in Carthaginensi concilio affirmabat Ccelestius
Sanctum Rufinum, presbyterum Rome, qui mansit eum
sancto Pammachio, peccatum originale presente se atque
audiente negavisse. Sunt qui Rufini hujus nomine Aqui-
leiensem illum toto Christiano orbe celebrem intelligant :
attamen Romze nunquam in convictu Pammachii fuisse Ru-
finum Aquileiensem, neque eum tempore Anastasii pape in
urbe commoratum esse asseverare licet ..... .

LECTURE VII. 183

With the progress of heresy Pelagius seems to have grown
worldly. Orosius, in his Apology, A. D. 416, calls him
“novus magister ministerque mensarum ;” and remarks on
his inconsistency in that professing the perfectibility of hu-
man virtue, “ dvaydpryntos,” venire sibi posse perfectionem
vite immaculate manducanti, bibenti, dormientique con-
firmet ; i. e. without “watching and fasting.” Again: Balneis
epulisque nutritus latos humeros gestas robustamque cervi-
cem, preeferens etiam in fronte pinguedinem. He seems
therefore to have abandoned his monkish habits. Isidore
Pelusiota speaks of him as “ex alio monasterio in aliud sub-
inde migrans atque omnium mensas perscrutans atque ex-
plorans. Quamobrem si tibi carnium nidor atque obsoni-
orum condimentum curz est, lis qui magistratus gerunt po-
tius blandire atque urbium caminos vestiga; neque enim
homines eremitz facultates eas habent ut te, quemadmodum
tibi gratum est, excipere valeant.”” Written probably about
Ae DALI.

Gennadius reports his having published three books, De
Trinitate, orthodox and useful. His book of Chapters or
Testimonies (after the manner of Cyprian’s work to Quiri-
nus) was however infected with heresy. Though written in
Latin, places out of it were objected to in the synod of
Diospolis or Lydda. Jerome contrasts a passage from the
hundredth title, ‘‘ Posse hominem sine peccato esse et Del
mandata facile custodire si velit,” with a passage from the
fifty-fourth title of the third book of Cyprian, which says,
‘¢ Neminem sine sorde et sine peccato esse.”

Even his letter to Paulinus about A.D. 405, according to
Augustine, was unsound: ‘“ Naturze vires ac possibilitatem
ubique preedicari, et pene 27 tantum Dei gratiam consti-
tuere, quin imo non apparere prorsus an aliud quid per
eam gratiam intelligi velit quam remissionem peccatorum et
Christi doctrinam.”

Augustine also cites a Commentary of his upon St. Paul’s
Epistles, A. D. 409, in which he suggests, under the person

of an objector, all the possible arguments against Original
Sin.

184 APPENDIX.

A. D. 415, Pelagius wrote to Demetrias on her vow of
celibacy. Augustine, comparing this with his other writings,
found “ gratiz ab illo voeabulum elevande tantummodo
invidize causa usurpari, neque aliud quidquam in illius ore
sonare hane vocem, nisi vel institutam a Deo naturam, vel
doctrinam, vel ad summam remissionem peccatorem aut ex-
emplum Christi.”

This offensive passage occurs in it: ‘“ Nam corporalis
nobilitas atque opulentia tuorum intelliguntur esse, non tua ;
spirituales vero divitias nullus tibi preeter te conferre potuit.
In his ergo jure laudanda, in his merito ceteris preeferenda
es, quee nisi ev te et in te esse non possunt.”’

Coelestius was the disciple, and Julian of EKelanum (hodie
Mirabella) the defender of Pelagius.

Of the former, Augustine says, ‘* Quid inter ipsum Pelagium
in hac queestione distabit nisi quod ille apertior, iste occultior
fuit ; ille pertinacior, iste mendacior ; vel certe ille liberior,
hic (Pelagius) astutior.” De Pece. Orig. 13.

About A.D. 412, Paulinus, Diaconus of Milan, accused
him of heresy. Seven heads of his doctrine were con-
demned, and himself excommunicated, in the Council of
Carthage: he appealed to the apostolic see, then filled by
‘Innocentius.

Varia Scripta et Monumenta ad historiam Pelagianorum
pertinentia.

Incipit Commonitorium adversus heresim Pelagii, et Ceelestii, vel
etiam scripta Juliani a Mario Mercatore servo Christi.

1. Queestio contra catholicam fidem apud nonnullos Syro-
rum, et precipue in Cilicia a Theodoro quondam episcopo
oppidi Mansisteni* jamdudum mota, nune usque penes pau-
cos eorum admodum roditur, nec ea palam profertur ; sed

ab ipsis qui de ea fornicantur, velut Catholicis, intra Ecelesias

* Legendum Mopsuesteni. De Theodoro, Photius in Biblioth.

cod. 177.

LECTURE VII. 185

imterim retinetur: ‘“ Progenitores videlicet humani generis
Adam et Evam mortales a Deo creatos, nee quenquam
posterorum, sui przevaricatione transgressi, leesisse sed sibi
tantum nocuisse; seque mandati reos apud Deum fecisse,
alterum penitus nullum.”

2. Hane ineptam, et non minus inimicam rectz fidei quee-
stionem sub sanctze recordationis Anastasio (obit an. 402.)
Romanz Ecclesize summo Pontifice, Rufinus quondam na-
tione Syrus Romam primus invexit; et ut erat argutus, se
quidem ab ejus invidia muniens, per se proferre non ausus,
Pelagium gente Britannum monachum tune decepit ; eum-
que ad preedictam apprime imbuit, atque instituit impiam
vanitatem, &c.

3. Huic Pelagio adhzesit Ccelestius, nobilis natu quidem,
illius temporis auditorialis scholasticus (idem ac forensis.
Augustinus con. Julianum, lib. ii. n. 37. lib. vi. n. 34.) sed
nature vitio eunuchus matris utero editus. Hic a Pelagio
preedicto institutus, sensum istum impiissimum meracius im-
bibit, ac multos ineredibili loquacitate amentiz hujus suze
participes et complices fecit, &e.

Photius in Biblioth. cod. 54.

2. Porro hee quidem Pelagiana seu Ccelestiana heeresis in
Oriente viguit, sed in Occidente quoque propagata est, et Car-
thagine in Africa ab Aurelio atque Augustino deprehensa et
convicta, variisque publice conciliis damnata. Qui vero sic
sentirent ejecti tanquam heeretici extra Keclesiam, tempori-
bus Episcoporum Theophili Alexandrize, et Innocentii urbis
Rome, tam a Romanis quam Africanis, ceeterisque Occidentis
Episcopis.

3. Ipse quidem Pelagius in Palestina Synodo, cui Episcopi
quatuordecim aderant, absolutus fuit, cum alia quidem ob-
jectorum capitum, ut stulta, omnino abnegasset atque dam-
nasset ; alia vero a se quidem dicta confessus esset non, eo
tamen sensu quo accusatores illa interpretarentur, et prout
eum Eeclesia catholica concordarent. Accusatores erant
Neporus* et Lazarus, Gallicani Episcopi, qui queestioni de illo

* Heros.

186 APPENDIX.

habitze non interfuere, ob alterius eorum invaletudinem ve-
niam precati, ne se sisterent. Sic in iis que ad Aurelium
Carthaginis Episcopum scripsit Augustinus *, prodit.

4. Heee eadem heeresis anathemate iterum damnata est in
sacra Ephesina synodo.

Commonitorium aliud Mercatoris contra Pelagianos; ...ex Greco
in Latinum translatum per eundem Marium Mercatorem
Christi sercum in consulatu Florentii et Dionysit, A. D. 429.

1. Coelestius quidam eunuchus matris utero editus, ante
viginti plus minus annos discipulus et auditor Pelagii egressus
ex urbe Romana, Carthaginem Africe totius metropolim
venit, ibique de infra scriptis capitulis apud Aurelium Epi-
scopum memorate urbis per libellum a quodam Paulino
Diacono sanctze memorize Ambrosii Mediolanensis episcopi
est accusatus, sicut gestorum confectio se habet, quibus idem
libellus insertus est (quorum gestorum exemplaria habemus
in manibus), tanquam heee non solum ipse doceret, sed et per
provincias conspirantes sibi diversos, qui heee per populos
disseminarent, misisset: id est, ‘* Adam mortalem factum,
qui sive pecearet, sive non pecearet, moriturus fuisset.” Quo-
niam ‘“ peccatum Adee ipsum solum kesit, et non genus huma-
num.” Quoniam “ parvuli qui nascuntur in eo statu sunt, in
quo Adam fuit ante preevaricationem.” Quoniam “ neque per
mortem, vel przevaricationem Adze omne genus hominum
moriatur, neque per resurrectionem Christi omne hominum
genus resurgat.” Quoniam ‘* Lex sic mittit ad regnum ccelo-
rum quomodo et Evangelium.” Quoniam “ et ante adventum
Domini fuerunt homines impeccabiles, id est, sme peccato.”
Quoniam “ infantes etiamsi non baptizentur, habent vitam
eeternam.”

This last head is added from the other Commonitorium
of Mercator.

* De Gestis Pelagii 2.

LECTURE VII. 187

De Palestina Synodo apud Diospolim in causa Pelagii celebrata
mense Decembri Anno Christi 415.

Augustinus in libro 2. Retractationum, c. 47.

In Oriente, hoe est in Syria Palestina, Relagius a quibus-
dam catholicis fratribus ad Episcopalia Gesta perductus, eis-
que absentibus qui de illo libellum dederant, quoniam ad
diem Synodi, non potuerunt occurrere, ab Episcopis quatuor-
decim auditus est, ubi eum dogmata ipsa damnantem, quze
inimica gratiz Dei adversus eum de libello legebantur, catho-
lieum pronuntiarunt.

Idem in libro de Gestis Pelagii 2.

Denique in his que de libello, quem dederunt sancti
fratres, et coepiscopi nostri Galli, Heros et Lazarus, qui
propter gravem (sicut postea probabilius comperimus) unius
eorum zgritudinem przesentes esse minime potuerunt, recitata
sunt objecta Pelagio, illud est primum, quod in libro suo
quodam scribit, “‘ Non posse esse sine peccato, nisi qui legis
scientiam habuerit.” Quo recitato Synodus dixit: ‘ Tu hoe
edidisti, Pelagi?’ At ille respondit, ‘“* Ego quidem dixi, sed
non sicut illi intelligunt: non dixi, non posse peceare qui
scientiam legis habuerit ; sed adjuvari per legis scientiam ad
non peccandum, sicut seriptum est, Legem in adjutorium dedit
illis” (Is. vili.20. see. LX. X.) Hoe audito, Synodus dixit, ‘ Non
sunt aliena ab Ecclesia, que dicta sunt a Pelagio.”’ Plane
aliena non sunt quee respondit; illud vero quod de libro
ejus prolatum est aliud sonat. Sed hoe Episcopi, Greeci
homines, et ea verba per interpretem audientes discutere non
curarunt, hoe tantum intuentes quid ille qui interrogabatur
sensisse se diceret, non quibus verbis eadem sententia in ejus
libro seripta diceretur......

Idem, in libro contra Julianum i. 19.

.....Wide jam utrum sufficiant tibi ex Orientis partibus duo
isti tam insignes viri, et tam clara preediti sanctitate, et sicut
fertur etiam carne germani. (Basilii germanus frater Gre-
gorius Nyssenus.) Sed die non sufficere. Habemus alios

188 APPENDIX.

orientales Episcopos quatuordecim, Eulogium, Joannem,
Ammonianum, Porphyrium, Eutonium, Porphyrium, Fidum,
Zoninum, Zoboennum, Nymphidium, Chromatium, Jovinum,
Eleutherium, Clematium, quos uno loco simul inventos in
istum consessum introducere valeamus ; illos ipsos qui Pe-
lagio judices preesederunt, eumque ut homines, nullo ex altera
parte urgente adversario putantes catholicum, tanquam c¢a-
tholicum pronuntiarunt. Nisi enim in eorum conspectu
audituque damnasset eos qui dicunt, “ quod peccatum Adee
ipsum solum leserit, et non genus humanum; et quod in-
fantes nuper nati in eo statu sint, in quo Adam fuit ante
peccatum ; et infantes, etiamsi non baptizentur, habere vitam
zeternam ;”’ nullo modo inde nisi damnatus exisset......

Scriptio contra Pelagii errores ex Augustini Epistola 186. 31—
33. ad Paulinum decerpta.

1. Quod ad Jerusalem nolentem colligi filios suos Dominus
clamabat, hoe nos clamamus adversus eos qui filios Ecclesize
volentes colligi nolunt; nee saltem post judicium quod de
ipso Pelagio in Palestina factum est, corriguntur; de quo
damnatus exisset, nisi objecta sibi contra gratiam Dei dicta,
que obscurare non potuit ipse damnasset.

2. Preeter illa enim quae quomodo potuit, ausus est quali-
cumque ratione defendere, objecta queedam sunt, que nisi
remota omni tergiversatione anathematizasset, ipse anathe-
matizatus exisset. Objectum est enim eum dicere: “ quia
Adam sive peccaret, sive non peccaret, moriturus esset: et
quod peceatum ejus ipsum solum leserit, et non genus hu-
manum: et quod infantes nuper nati in illo statu sint in quo
Adam fuit ante przevaricationem: et quod neque per mortem
vel preevaricationem Adze omne genus humanum moriatur,
neque per resurrectionem Christi, omne genus humanum
resurgat: et infantes etiamsi non baptizentur, habere vitam
eeternam: et divites baptizatos, nisi omnibus renuntient, si
quid boni visi fuerint facere, non reputari, nee eos habere
posse regnum Dei: et gratiam Dei atque adjutorium non
ad singulos actus dari, sed in libero arbitrio esse, vel in lege

LECTURE VII. 189

atque doctrina: et Dei gratiam secundum merita nostra dari:
et Filios Dei non posse vocari, nisi omnino absque peccato
fuerint effecti: et non esse liberum arbitrium, si Dei indiget
auxilio; quoniam in propria voluntate habet unusquisque fa-
cere aliquid vel non facere: et victoriam nostram non ex
Dei adjutorio esse, sed ex libero arbitrio: et quod pceniten-
tibus venia non detur secundum gratiam et misericordiam
Dei, sed secundum meritum et laborem eorum qui per pceni-
tentiam digni fuerint misericordia.”

3. Heee omnia Pelagius sic anathematizavit, quod satis
Gesta ipsa testantur, ut nihil ad ea quoquo modo defendenda
disputationis attulerit ; unde fit consequens ut quisquis sequi-
tur illius episcopalis auctoritatem judicii, et ipsius Pelagii
coniessionem, hzee tenere debeat, quae semper tenuit catholica
Keclesia: Adam nisi peccasset non fuisse moriturum: quod
peccatum ejus non ipsum solum leserit, sed et genus huma-
num: et quod infantes nuper nati non sint in illo statu, in
quo Adam fuit ante preevaricationem, ut ad ipsos pertineat
etiam quod breviter ait Apostolus: Per unum hominem mors,
et per unum hominem resurrectio mortuorum. Sicut enim in
Adam omnes moriuntur, ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur.
(1 Cor. xv. 21,12.) Unde fit ut infantes non baptizati, non
solum regnum czlorum, verum enim vitam eternam habere
non possint. Confiteatur etiam divites baptizatos, etiamsi
divitiis suis non careant, et sint tates quales ad Timotheum
deseribit Apostolus dicens, Precipe divites hujus mundi, non
superbe sapere, neque sperare in meerto divitiarum, sed in Deo
vivo, qui prestat omnia abundanter ad fruendum ; divites sint
in operibus bonis, facile tribuant, communicent, thesaurizent sibi
fundamentum bonum in futurum, ec apprehendant veram vitam :
(; Tim. vi. 17-19.) non eos regno Dei posse privari. Fa-
teatur gratiam Dei et adjutorium etiam ad singulos actus
dari; eamque non dari secundum merita nostra, ut vera sit
gratia, id est, gratis data, per ejus misericordiam qui dixit:
Miserebor cui misertus ero, et misericordiam prestabo cui mise-
ricors fuero. (Rom. 1x. 15.) Fateatur filios Dei vocari posse,
illos qui quotidie dicunt: Dimitte nobis debita nostra: quod
utique veraciter non dicerent, si essent omni modo sine pec-
cato. Fateatur esse liberum arbitrium etiamsi divino indi-

190 APPENDIX.

get adjutorio. Fateatur, quando contra tentationes, concu-
piseentiasque illicitas dimicamus, quamvis et illic habeamus
propriam voluntatem, non tamen ex illa sed ex adjutorio
Dei nostram provenire victoriam. Non enim aliter verum
erit quod Apostolos ait: Non volentis neque currentis, sed
miserentis est Dei. (Rom. ix. 16.) Fateatur secundum gra-
tiam et misericordiam Dei veniam poenitentibus dari, non
secundum merita eorum; quandoquidem etiam ipsam pceni-
tentiam donum Dei dixit Apostolus, ubi ait de quibusdam :
Ne forte det illis Deus ponitentiam. (2 Tim. ii. 25.) Heee
omnia simpliciter sine ullis fateatur ambagibus, siquis in
auctoritatem catholicam, et in ipsius Pelagii expressa eccle-
siasticis gestis verba consentit. Neque enim illa, que his
sunt contraria, veraciter anathematizata esse credendum est,
nisi heee quibus sunt contraria, fideli corde teneantur, et
aperta confessione promantur.

De Errore Palestinorum Episcoporum et ipsius Zosimi, Pape,
in judicio Pelagit sive Coclestii.

Facundus Episcopus Hermianensis, lib. vii. cap. 3.

Inyenient etiam Pelagium heeresiarcham, a quo Pelagiani
dicuntur, in judicio Palzestinorum Episcoporum, que contra
Christi gratiam sentiebat operientem, pravasque sententias
suas versutia interpretantem, per eandem ignorantiam abso-
lutum. Invenient postremo beatum quoque Zosimum A po-
stolicze Sedis antistitem, contra sancti Innocentii decessoris
sul sententiam, qui primus Pelagianam heeresim condemnavit,
fidem ipsius Pelagii, ejusque complicis Coelestii, quem in Ec-
clesia Carthaginensi convictum, atque appellantem A posto-
licam Sedem, et ipse gestis discusserat, tanquam veram et
catholicam laudantem, insuper etiam Africanos culpantem
Episcopos, quod ab illis heeretici crederentur: cwm, needum
ipsis Africanis Episcopis dolos eorum multo manifestius
detegentibus, memoratos Pelagium et Ccelestium putaret
orthodoxos.

So much for the personal infallibility of the successors of
St. Peter in the fifth century.

LECTURE VII. 191

See the two letters addressed by Zosimus to Aurelius and
the bishops of all Africa, on the behalf of Coelestius and
Pelagius, A. D. 417, between the synod of Milevis, A. D. 416,
and the general council of Carthage, A. D. 418.

OConcilium Africe Universale Carthagine habitum anno 418
contra heresim Pelagit a Colestir.

Gloriosissimis imperatoribus Honorio duodecies et Theo-
dosio octies consulibus, kalendis Matis, Carthagine in secre-
tario basilicee Fausti, cum Aurelius Episcopus in universali
concilio consedisset, astantibus diaconis, placuit omnibus
Episcopis, quorum nomina et subscriptiones indictee sunt,
in sancta Synodo Carthaginensis Ecclesize constitutis :

1. Ut quicumque dixerit Adam primum hominem morta-
lem factum, ita ut sive peccaret, sive non peccaret, more-
retur in corpore, hoc est, de corpore exiret, non peccati
merito, sed necessitate naturze, anathema sit.

2. Item placuit ut quicumque parvulos recentes ab uteris
matrum baptizandos negat, aut dicit in remissionem quidem
pececatorum eos baptizari, sed nihil ex Adam trahere origi-
nalis peccati, quod lavacro regenerationis expietur, unde sit
consequens ut in eis forma Baptismatis in remissionem pecca-
torum non vera, sed falsa intelligatur, anathema sit. Quo-
niam non aliter intelligendum est, quod ait Apostolos, Per
unum hominem peccatum intravit in mundum, et per peccatum
mors; et ita in omnes homines pertransiit, in quo omnes pecca-
verunt, (Rom. vy. 12.) nisi quemadmodum Ecclesia Catho-
lica ubique diffusa semper intellexit. Propter hance enim
regulam fidei etiam parvuli, qui nihil peccatorum in semet-
ipsis adhuc committere potuerunt, ideo in remissionem pec-
eatorum veraciter baptizantur, ut in eis regeneratione mun-
detur, quod generatione traxerunt.

3. Item placuit, ut si quis dicit, ideo dixisse Dominum,
In domo Patris mei mansiones multe sunt, (Joan. xiv. 2.) ut
intelligatur, quia in regno ccelorum erit aliquis medius, aut
ullius alicubi locus, ubi beate vivant parvuli, qui sine Baptismo
ex hac vita migrarunt, sine quo in regnum coelorum, quod est

192 APPENDIX.

vita «eterna, intrare non possunt, anathema sit. Nam cum
Dominus dicat, Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu
Sancto, non intrabit in regnum coelorum, quis catholicus dubi-
tet, participem fieri diaboli eum, qui cohzeres esse non me-
ruit Christi? qui enim dextera caret, sinistram protuldubio
partem incurret.

4. Item placuit ut quicumque dixerit, gratiam Dei qua
justificamur per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, ad
solam remissionem peccatorum yalere, quee jam commissa
sunt, non etiam ad adjutorium, ut non committantur, ana-
thema sit.

5. Item quisquis dixerit, eandem gratiam Dei per Jesum
Christum Dominum nostrum propter hoc tantum nos adju-
rare ad non peccandum quia per ipsam nobis revelatur, et
aperitur intelligentia mandatorum, ut sciamus quid appetere,
et quid vitare debeamus, non autem per illam nobis pre-
stari, ut quod faciendum cognoyerimus, etiam facere diliga-
mus, atque valeamus, anathema sit. Cum enim dicat Apo-
stolus, Scientia inflat, charitas vero edificat; valde impium
est ut credamus, ad eam que inflat, nos habere gratiam
Christi, et ad eam que eedificat, non habere; cum sit utrum-
que donum Dei, et scire quid facere debeamus et diligere
ut faciamus, ut edificante charitate scientia non possit in-
flare. Sicut autem de Deo scriptum est, Qui docet hominem
scientiam ; ita etiam scriptum est, Charitas ex Deo est.
(1 Joan. iv. 7.)

6. Item placuit ut quicumque dixerit, ideo nobis gratiam
justificationis dari, ut quod facere per liberum jubemur arbi-
trium, facilius possimus implere per gratiam, tanquam etsi
gratia non daretur, non quidem facile, sed tamen possimus
etiam sine illa implere divina mandata, anathema sit. De
fructibus enim mandatorum Dominus loquebatur, ubi non ait,
sine me difficilius potestis facere ; sed ait, Sine me nihil potestis
facere. (Joan. Xv. 5.)

7. Item placuit, quod ait S.Joannes Apostolus, St dixe-
rimus quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus, et veri-
tas in nobis non est: quisquis sie accipiendum putaverit, ut
dicat propter humilitatem non oportere dici, nos non habere
peceatum, non quia vere ita est, anathema sit. Sequitur

LECTURE VII. 193

enim Apostolus, et adjungit: Si autem confessi fuerimus pee-
cata nostra, fidelis et Justus est, qui remittat nobis peccata, et
mundet nos ab omni iniquitate. Ubi satis apparet, hoe non
tantum humiliter, sed etiam veraciter dici. Poterat enim
Apostolus dicere, Si dixerimus quia non habemus peceatum,
nos ipsos extollimus, et humilitas in nobis non est: sed cum
ait, Nos ipsos decipimus, et veritas in nobis non est: satis
ostendit eum qui dixerit se non habere peccatum, non verum
loqui, sed falsum.

8. Item placuit ut quicumque dixerit, in oratione Dominica
ideo dicere sanctos, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, ut non pro se
ipsis hoe dicant, quia non est eis jam necessaria ista petitio,
sed pro aliis, qui sunt in suo populo peccatores: et ideo non
dicere unumquemque sanctorum, Dimitte mihi debita mea,
sed, Dimitte nobis debita nostra ; ut hoe pro aliis potius, quam
pro se justus petere intelligatur, anathema sit. Sanctus enim
et justus erat Apostolus Jacobus, cum dicebat, Zi multis enim
offendimus omnes. Nam quare additum est, omnes; nisi ut
ista sententia conveniret et Psalmo, ubi legitur, Von intres in
judicium cum servo tuo, quoniam non justificabitur in conspectu
tuo omnis vivens (Ps. exlii. 2.): et in oratione sapientissimi
Salomonis, Non est homo qui non peccet: (Hecles. vii. 21.)
et in libro Job, Zn manu omnis hominis siqnat, ut sciat omnis
homo infirmitatem suam, (xxxvii. 7.) Unde etiam Daniel
sanctus et justus, cum in oratione pluraliter diceret, Peccavi-
mus, iniquitatem fecimus ; et cetera quee ibi veraciter et hu-
militer confitetur, ne putaretur, (quemadmodum quidam sen-
tiunt) hee non de suis, sed de populi sui potius dixisse
peceatis, postea dixit, Cum orarem, et confiterer peccata mea,
et peccata populi met Domino Deo meo: noluit dicere peceata
nostra, sed populi sui dixit, et sua, quia futuros istos, qui tam
male intelligunt, tanquam propheta preevidit.

g. Item placuit, ut quicumque ipsa verba dominic ora-
tionis, ubi dicimus, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, ita volunt a
sanectis dici, ut humiliter, non veraciter hoe dicatur, anathe-
ma sit. Quis enim ferat orantem et non hominibus, sed ipsi
Domino mentientem, qui labiis sibi dicit dimitti velle, et
corde dicit, quee sibi dimittantur, debita non habere ?

194 APPENDIX.

De eodem Carthaginensi Concilio Photius in Bibliotheca, Cod. 53.

1. Lectus liber seu Synodus adversus Pelagium et Coeles-
tium Carthagine in magna Ecclesia Fausti habita, Honorio
Occidentis imperil clavum tenente. Przesedit in ea Aurelius
Episcopus, et Donatianus Teleptensis primze sedis Byzacenze
provincize: quibus adfuerunt variis e provinciis Episecopi
numero ducenti quatuor et viginti. Damnat hee synodus
anathemate eos qui assererent, Adamum mortalem esse con-
ditum, non autem prezevaricationis causa morte muletatum.
Similiter et eos qui recens natos infantes baptismo non indi-
gere dicerent, quod illos peceato originis ex Adamo non pu-
tarent obnoxios. Eos quoque qui affirmarent medio quodam
loco paradisum inter et inferos non baptizatos infantes beate
vivere. Sex item alia his affinia capita, quee Pelagianis et
Ceelestianis favent, anathematizat.

2. Seripserunt vero et Theodosius et Honorius Imperato-
res contra eosdem heereticos ad Aurelium Episcopum. Post
heec etiam Constantius Placidize conjux, Valentiniani minoris
pater, de Ccelestio hzeretico in exilium pellendo scripsit de-
eretum ad Volusianum Urbis Preefectum......

Epistola Imperialis ad Aurelium Carthaginensem Episcopum *.

Imperatores Honorius et Theodosius, Aurelio Episcopo,
salutem.

Dudum quidem fuerat constitutum, ut Pelagius atque
Ceelestius nefandi dogmatis repertores ab urbe Roma, veluti
queedam catholic veritatis contagia pellerentur; ne igno-
rantium mentes sczva persuasione perverterent. In quo
secuta est clementia nostra judicium Sanctitatis tuae, quo
constat eos ab universis justa sententize examinatione dam-
natos, ete. Data quinto iduum Juniarum, Ravenne, Mo-
naxio et Plinta consulibus. Hodem tenore etiam ad Sanctum
Augustinum Episcopum data.

* Anno Christi 419.

LECTURE VII. 195

Epistola Aurelii Carthaginensis Episcopi ad Universos Epi-
scopos per Byzacenam et Arzugitanam provinciam constitutos,
de damnatione Pelagii et Coclestii.

Dilectissimis ac desiderabilibus fratribus et consacerdotibus, Dona-
tiano prime sedis, Januario, Felici, Palatino, Primiano, Gaiano,
et alii Gaiano, Januario, Victorino, et ceteris per tractum provin-
cie Byzacene et Arzugitane constitutis, Aurelius Episcopus.

Super Ceelestii et Pelagii damnatione eorumque dogmati-
bus, participem se sancta dilectio vestra in plenario concilio
fuisse commeminit, dilectissimi ac desiderabiles fratres. Sed
quoniam pro honore Dei, in cujus manu cor regis est con-
stitutum, gloriosissimorum principym Christianorum fidem
rectam et catholicam custodientium accessit auctoritas, quam
per humilitatem meam universis meis coepiscopis voluit in-
timari: idcirco honorabilem fraternitatem vestram missis
exemplaribus instruere festinavi; ne in aliqua parte provin-
ciz, supra dictorum serpentina persuasio, ab universali eccle-
sia totius orbis exclusa, fortasse subrepat. Ad hoc ergo tam
necessaria constitutio Christianorum principum charitatem
vestram latere non debuit, et ad me ab eis datze literze vobis
mitti debuere: quarum simul exemplaribus lectis, quemad-
modum subscribere unusquisque vestrum debeat, Dilectio
vestra cognoseat, sive quorum in synodalibus gestis sub-
scriptio jam tenetur, sive qui non potuistis eidem plenario
totius Africe concilio interesse: quo cum de supra dictorum
heereticorum damnatione omnium vestrum fuerit integrata
subscriptio, nihil omnino sit, unde ullius dissimulationis, vel
negligentiz, vel occult forsitan pravitatis aliqua videatur
merito remansisse suspicio.

Et alia manu: Opto fratres bene vivatis mei memores.
Data kalendis Augusti, Carthagine, Monaxio et Plinta con-
sulibus.

196 APPENDIX.

On Pelagianism.
St. Augustin. Ep. 145 *. ad Anastasium.
Anastasio rescribens Augustinus, docet non per Legem sed per Gra=
tiam, neque timore sed charitate, impleri justitiam.
8.

..+.. Nimium arrogant humane voluntati, quam lege data
putant ad eam implendam sibi posse suffiecere, nulla super
doctrinam legis gratia sanctze inspirationis adjutam: per
quorum disputationem infirmitati hominum miserze atque
indigee suadetur, ut nee orare debeamus ne intremus in ten-
tationem. Non quia hoc audent aperte dicere, sed eorum
sententiam velint nolint, hoe utique sequitur. Nam utquid
nobis dicitur, “ Vigilate et orate ne intretis in tentationem 2”
utquid etiam secundum hane exhortationem, eum doceret
orare, preecepit ut dicamus, ‘* Ne nos inducas in tentationem:”
si hoe non impletur ex adjutorio gratize divinze, sed id totum
est in arbitrio voluntatis humane ?..... :

2.

... Mundus quippe iste periculosior est blandus quam
molestus, et magis cavendus cum se illicit diligi quam cum
admonet cogitque contemni. Nam cum omnia que in illo sunt
concupiscentia sint carnis, et coneupiscentia oculorum et
ambitio seeculi, seepe etiam iis, qui talibus spiritualia invisi-
bilia «eterna preeponunt, inserit se terrenze suavitatis affectus
et delectationibus suis nostra comitatur officia. Quanto enim
sunt charitate futura meliora, tanto sunt infirmitate violen-
tiora preesentia. Et utinam ii qui ea videre et gemere nove-
runt vincere et evadere mereantur! quod sine Dei gratia
nullo modo voluntas implet humana; que nec libera dicenda
est, quamdiu est vincentibus et vincientibus cupiditatibus
subdita. A quo enim quis devictus est, huie et servus ad-
dictus est, et, “si vos Filius liberaverit,” ait ipse Dei filius,
“tune vere liberi eritis.”

Ths

Que charitas Dei (quod perpetua cogitatione tenendum
est) diffunditur in cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum qui
datus est nobis, ut qui gloriatur in Domino glorietur. Cum
ergo nos hujus charitatis, qua lex verissime impletur, pau-

* alias 144.

LECTURE VII. 197

peres egentesque sentimus, non de inopia nostra divitias ejus
exigere, sed orando petere, quzerere, pulsare debemus ; ut ille
apud quem est fons vitze, det nobis inebriari ab ubertate
domus suze, et voluptatis suze potare torrente: quo inundati
atque vegetati non solum tristitia non absorbeamur, verum
etiam gloriemur in tribulationibus, scientes quia tribulatio
patientiam operatur, patientia probationem, probatio spem,
spes vero non confundit; non quia per nos ipsos hoe possu-
mus, sed quoniam charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris
per Spiritum Sanctum qui datus est nobis.
8.

..... Orate ergo pro nobis ut justi simus; quod quidem
homo non potest; nisi norit et velit, et erit continuo qui plene
voluerit: sed hoe ipsum in eo non erit, nisi gratia Spiritus
sanetur, et adjuvetur ut possit.

S. Augustin. de Gratia Christi.
2.

..... Etsi gratiam Dei, qua Christus venit in mundum
peccatores salvos facere, in *sola remissione peccatorum con-
stituat (Pelagius), potest huic sensui verba ista coaptare
dicens, ideo eam per singulas horas, per singula momenta et per
actus singulos necessariam ut semper in memoria retinentes et
reminiscentes dimissa nobis esse peccata non peccemus ulterius,
adjuti non aliqua subministratione virtutis sed viribus proprie
coluntatis, quid sibi remissione peccatorum prezestitum fuerit
per actus singulos recordantis. Item quoniam solent dicere
nobis in eo Christum ad non peceandum preebuisse adjutorium,
quia juste ipse vivendo justeque docendo reliquit exemplum :
possunt etiam ad hoe ista verba coaptare ut dicunt per
singula momenta, per singulos actus necessariam nobis esse
hujusmodi gratiam, id est ut omni conversatione nostra 7-
tucamur dominice conversationis exemplum..... .

a
.....Gratiam Dei et adjutorium quo adjuvamur ad non
peccandum aut in natura et libero ponit arbitrio, aut in lege
atque doctrina: ut videlicet cum adjuvat Deus hominem ut
declinet a malo et faciat bonum, revelando et ostendendo quid
fieri debeat, adjuvare credatur; non etiam cooperando et
* The Italics are introduced by the Editor.

198 ' APPENDIX,

dilectionem inspirando, ut id quod faciendum esse cognoverit
faciat.
5. [IV]

..... [psa jam verba ejus accipite. “ Nos,” inquit, “ sic tria
ista distinguimus—primo loco posse statuimus, secundo velle,
tertio esse. Posse in natura, velle in arbitrio, esse in effectu,
locamus, Primum illud, id est posse, ad Deum proprie per-
tinet, qui illud creaturze suze contulit : duo vero reliqua, hoe
est velle et esse, ad hominem referenda sunt, quia de arbitrii
fonte descendunt. Ergo in voluntate et opere bono laus hominis
est: imo et hominis, et Dei, qui ipsius voluntatis et operis
possibilitatem dedit, quique ipsam possibilitatem gratiz suze
adjuvat semper auxilio. Quod vero potest homo velle bonum
atque perficere solius Dei est.,.....

* Kt ut generaliter universa complectar quod possumus omne
bonum facere, dicere, cogitare, illius est qui hoc posse donavit,
qui hoe posse adjuvat: quod vero bene vel agimus vel loqui-
mur vel cogitamus xostrum est; quia heee omnia vertere in
malum etiam possumus. Unde quod propter calumniam ves-
tram sepe repetendum est, cum dicimus hominem posse esse
sine peccato, et confessione possibilitatis accepte laudamus
Deum, qui nobis hoc posse largitus est, nec est ibi ulla
laudandi homines oceasio ubi solius Dei causa tractatur ;
non enim de velle nee de esse, sed tantummodo de eo quod
potest esse disseritur,”

6: Vel

St. Augustine comments upon this statement as follows:
Eece est totum dogma Pelagii in libro ejus tertio pro Libero
Arbitrio, his omnino verbis diligenter expressum quo tria ista,
unum quod est posse, alterum quod est velle, tertium quod
est esse, id est possibilitatem, voluntatem, actionem, tanta
curavit subtilitate distinguere, ut quandocunque legimus vel
audimus divine gratie adjutorium eonfiteri, ut a malo deeli-
nemus bonumque faciamus, sive in lege atque doctrina sive
ubilibet constituat, sciamus quod loquitur; nee erremus aliter
eum intelligendo quam sentit. Scire quippe debemus quod
nec voluntatem nostram nee actionem divino adjuvari credit
auxilio, sed solam possibilitatem voluntatis atque operis,
quam solam in his tribus nos habere affirmat ex Deo, tan-

LECTURE VII. 199

quam hoe sit infirmum quod Deus ipse posuit in natura ;
cetera vero duo que nostra esse voluit ita sint firma, et
fortia, et sibi sufficientia, ut nullo indigeant ejus auxilio ; et
ideo non adjuvet ut velimus, non adjuvet ut agamus, sed
tantummodo adjuvet ut velle et agere valeamus......

He then refers to Philip. 11.12, 13..... .. Videte si non
Apostolus gratize Dei futuros adversarios Sancto Spiritu tanto
ante preevidit, ut hee duo, id est et velle et operari, que
iste ita nostra esse voluit, tanquam ipsa divine gratiz non
adjuventur auxilio, Deum in nobis dixit operari.

G2 SLVIT.|

....-Quapropter quantum attinet ad istam de divina gratia
et adjutorio queestionem, tria illa que apertissime distinxit
attendite, posse, velle, esse; id est, possibilitatem, voluntatem,
actionem. Si ergo consenserit nobis, non solam possibilitatem
in homine, etiamsi nee velit, nee agat bene, sed ipsam quoque
voluntatem et actionem, id est ut bene velimus et bene
agamus, (que non sunt in homine nisi quando bene vult et
bene agit:) si, ut dixi, consenserit etiam ipsam voluntatem
et actionem divinitus adjuvari, et sic adjuvari, ut sine illo
adjutorio nihil bene velimus et agamus; eamque esse gratiam
Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, in qua nos sua,
non nostra justitia justos facit, ut ea sit vera nostra Justitia,
que nobis ab illo est; nihil de adjutorio gratize Dei, quantum
arbitror, inter nos controversiz relinquetur.

With regard to meriting grace, Augustine attacks the fol-
lowing passages of Pelagius.

25% ROT.

Sed forte, ut daretur nobis, (charitas) precedentia merita
nostra fecerunt: sicut iste* de gratia Dei sentit in eo libro,
quem ad sacram virginem+ scripsit. Ibi enim interposito
Jacobi apostoli testimonio, quo ait, “ Subditi estote Deo;
resistite autem Diabolo, ut fugiet a vobis,” subjungit et dicit,
“Ostendit quomodo resistere debeamus Diabolo, si utique
subditi simus Deo, ejusque faciendo voluntatem, divinam me-
reamur gratiam, et facilius nequam spiritui, Sancti Spiritus
auxilio resistamus.......

* Pelagius. + Demetriadem.

200 APPENDIX,

24.

Sed ne forte respondeat, ita se hic dixisse “ Dei faciendo
voluntatem, divinam mereamur gratiam,” sicut fidelibus et pie
viventibus additur gratia, qua resistunt fortitur tentatori,
cum tamen gratiam etiam primitus accepissent ut Dei face-
rent voluntatem: ne forte ergo ita respondeat, alia de hae
re verba ejus accipite. * Qui currit, inquit, ad Dominum et ab
eo se regi cupit, id est, voluntatem suam ex ejus voluntate
suspendit ; qui ei adhzerendo jugiter unus, secundum A posto-
lum, cum eo fit spiritus, non hoe nisi de arbitrii efficit liber-
tate.” Videte quantam rem dixerit non effici nisi de arbitrii
voluntate ; ac per hoe sine adjutorio Dei nos Deo existimat
adhzerere : hoe est enim “ nonnisi de arbitrii voluntate,” ut eum
adhzeserimus eo non adjuvante, tune quoniam adhesimus,
etiam adjuvari mereamur. [X XIII.] Sequitur enim et dicit,
“qua qui bene utitur, id est arbitrii libertate qui bene utitur,

ita se,”

inquit, * totum tradit Deo, omnemque suam morti-
ficat voluntatem, ut cum A postolo possit dicere, “* Vivo, autem
jam non ego, vivit autem in me Christus,” ponitque cor suum in
manu Dei, ut illud quo voluerit ipse declinet.””, Magnum pro-
fecto adjutorium divinze gratia, ut cor nostrum quo voluerit
Deus, ipse declinet. Sed hoe tam magnum adjutorium sicut
iste desipit, tune meremur, cum sine ullo adjutorio, nonnisi
de arbitri libertate, ad Dominum currimus, ab eo nos regi
cupimus, voluntatem nostram ex ejus voluntate suspendimus,
eique adhzrendo jugiter, unus cum illo efficimur spiritus.
Heee scilicet tam ingentia bona nonnisi de arbitrii, secundum
istum, efficimus libertate, ut his preecedentibus meritis sic ejus
gratiam consequamur, ut cor nostrum quo voluerit declinet.
Quomodo ergo est gratia, si non gratis datur? quomodo est
gratia si ex debito redditur‘ Augustine then quotes Eph. il.
8, 9,
Sie XLVI

Contra autem beatus Ambrosius ipsius tam excellenter ore
laudatus. ‘“* Dominus Deus, inquit, quem dignatur vocat, et
quem vult religiosum facit.”. Ergo ut currat ad Dominum,
et ab eo se regi cupiat, suamque voluntatem ex ejus voluntate
suspendat, eique adhzrendo jugiter unus, secundum Aposto-
lum, cum eo fiat Spiritus, Deus quem vult religiosum facit ;

* Lib. vi. Expositionis Evangelii secundum Lucam.

LECTURE VII. 201

et hoe totum homo nisi religiosus non facit. Quapropter nisi
a Deo fiat ut hoe faciat, quis hoe facit ?
55- [L.]

Lastly, he concludes ..... Ipsa est enim per peccatum primi
hominis, quod ex libero ejus venit arbitrio, vitiata et dam-
nata natura; cui sola per Mediatorem Dei et hominum et
omnipotentem medicum, divina subvenit gratia.....

59. | XBVIT. |

.....Ista quzestio ubi de arbitrio voluntatis et Dei gratia
disputatur ita est ad discernendum difficilis ut quando de-
fenditur liberum arbitrium, negari Dei gratia videatur ;
quando autem asseritur Dei gratia, liberum arbitrium putetur
auferri.

This passage Julianus, bishop of Eclanum*, who supported
the views of Pelagius, unfairly quoted and commented upon.

Aug. contr. Julianum iv. 47.

Asseris me in alio libro meo dixisse, Negari liberum arbi-
trium si gratia commendetur, et iterum, Negari gratiam si
liberum commendetur arbitrium. Calumniaris: non hoc a
me dictum est; sed propter ipsius queestionis difficultatem
vider hoe posse dictum est et putari. Non est multum ut
ipsa verba mea ponam, unde videant qui hzee legunt quem-
admodum scriptis meis insidieris, et qua conscientia vel tardis,
vel ignaris cordibus abutaris......

On the Semi-Pelagians.

S. Augustin. de Preedestinatione Sanctorum, 2. [I.]

..... Peryenerunt autem isti patres nostri, pro quibus solli-
cita est pia charitas vestra, ut credant cum Keclesia Christi,
peceato primi hominis obnoxium nasci genus humanum, nec ab
isto malo nisi per justitiam secundi hominis aliquem liberari.
Pervenerunt etiam, ut preveniri voluntates hominum Dei
gratia fateantur, atque ad nullum opus bonwm vel incipiendum
vel perficiendum sibi quenquam sufficere posse consentiant.
Retenta ergo ista in que pervenerunt, plurimum eos a Pela-
gianorum errore discernunt......

* On the Via Appia, (near Mirabella.)

202 APPENDIX.

Soli

Prius itaque fidem qua Christiani sumus, donum Dei esse
debemus ostendere: si tamen diligentius id facere possumus,
quam in voluminibus tot tantisque jam fecimus. Sed nune
eis respondendum esse video, qui divina testimonia, quee de hae
re adhibuimus, ad hoe dicunt valere, ut noverimus ex nobis
quidem nos habere ipsam fidem, sed inerementum ejus ex
Deo: tanquam fides non ab ipso donetur nobis, sed ab ipso
tantum augeatur in nobis, co merito, quo capit a nobis. Non
ergo receditur ab ea sententia, quam Pelagius ipse in
Episcopali judicio Paleestino, sicut eadem Gesta testantur,
damnare compulsus est “‘ Gratiam Dei secundum merita nos-
tra dari;” si non pertinet ad Dei gratiam quod credere
ccepimus, sed illud potius quod propter hoe nobis addatur, ut
plenius perfectiusque credamus ; ac per hoc, ¢nitiwm fidei
nostre priores damus Deo, ut retribuatur nobis et supple-
mentum ejus, et siquid aliud fideliter poscimus.

Sed contra hzee cur non potius audimus ; “ Quis prior dedit
ei et retribuetur illi? quoniam ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso
sunt omnia?” et ipsum igitur initium fidei nostrze, ex quo, nisi
ex ipso est ? neque enim hoe excepto ex Ipso sunt czetera.....

6.
Cavendum est, fratres dilecti a Deo, ne homo se extollat
adversus Deum...... volens a se ipso sibi esse quod credit,

quasi componit homo eum Deo, ut partem fidei sibi vindicet,
atque partem illi relinquat: et quod est elatius, primam tollit
ipse, seqguentem dat Illi; et in eo quod dicit esse amborum
priorem se facit, posteriorem Deum.
Pe
Non sie pius atque humilis doctor ille sapiebat: Cypria-
num beatissimum loquor, qui dixit, “ In nullo gloriandum,
quando nostrum nihil sit*.’? Quod ut ostenderet adhibuit
Apostolum testem dicentem, “ Quid autem habes quod non aec-
cepisti? Si autem et accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acce-
peris?” Quo preecipue testimonio etiam ipse convictus sum,
cum similiter errarem, putans fidem qua in Deum credimus,

* Ad Quirinum, lib. 3. ¢. 4.

LECTURE VII. 203

non esse donum Dei, sed a nobis esse in nobis, et per illam
nos impetrare dona quibus temperanter et juste et pie viva-
mus in hoe seculo. Neque enim fidem putabam Dei gratia
preeveniri, ut per illam nobis daretur quod posceremus utili-
ter; nisi quia credere non possemus si non preecederet pre-
conium veritatis: ut autem preedicato nobis evangelio con-
sentiremus nostrum esse proprium, et nobis ex nobis esse
arbitrabar. Quem meum errorem nonnulla opuscula mea satis
indicant, ante Episcopatum meum scripta...... that is,
St. Augustine was then a Semipelagian.
SEV]

... Hoe igitur Apostoli testimonium, ubi ad reprimendam
hominis inflationem dixit “quid enim habes quod non acce-
pisti’’ non sinit quemquam fidelium dicere, ‘“ habeo fidem
quam non accepi.” Reprimitur omnino his apostolicis verbis
tota hujus responsionis elatio. Sed ne hoe quidem potest
dici: quamvis non habeam perfectam fidem. habeo tamen
ejus initium, quo in Christum primitus credidi. Quia et
hic respondetur,” Quid autem habes, &e.

10. Vir]

Fides igitur et inchoata et perfecta donum Dei est: et hoe
donum quibusdam dari, quibusdam non dari, omnino non du-
bitet, qui non vult manifestissimis sacris literis repugnare. . . .

22 (UTE

Sed omnis hee ratio, qua defendimus gratiam Dei per
Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum vere esse gratiam, id est,
non secundum merita nostra dari, quamvis evidentissime divino-
rum eloquiorum testimoniis asseratur: tamen apud eos, qui
nisi aliquid sibi assignent, quod priores dent ut retribuatur
eis, ab omni studio pietatis reprimi se putant, laborat ali-
quantum in ztate majorum, jam utentium voluntatis arbitrio:
sed ubi venitur ad parvulos, et ad ipsum Mediatorem Dei et
hominum, hominem Christum Jesum, omnis deficit preeceden-
tium gratiam Dei humanorum assertio meritorum: quia nee
illi ullis bonis przecedentibus meritis discernuntur a ceteris,
ut pertineant ad liberatorem hominum ; nee ille ullis humanis
preecedentibus meritis, cum et ipse sit homo, liberator factus
est hominum.

204 APPENDIX.

The difference between the Pelagian and Semipelagian is
well explained in the following passage.

38.

Sed hi nostri, de quibus et pro quibus nune agimus, forsitan
dicunt, Pelagianos hoe apostolico testimonio refutari, ubi dicit
ideo nos electos et preedestinatos (Ephes. i. 1—12.) ante
mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in
conspectu ejus in charitate. psi enim putant, “ acceptis pre-
ceptis jam per nos ipsos fieri liberee voluntatis arbitrio sanctos
et immaculatos in conspectu ejus in charitate: quod futurum
Deus quoniam preescivit, inquiunt, “ideo nos ante mundi
constitutionem elegit et praedestinayit in Christo ;”? cum dicat
Apostolus, non quia futuros tales nos esse preescivit, sed ut
essemus tales per ipsam electionem gratiz suze, qua gratifi-
cavit nos in dilecto Filio suo. Cum ergo nos preedestinavit,
opus suum preescivit, quo nos sanctos et immaculatos facit.
Unde recte hoe testimonio Pelagianus error arguitur. ‘‘ Nos
autem dicimus, (Semipelagiani) inquiunt, nostram Deum non
preescisse nisi fidem, qua credere incipimus, et ideo nos ele-
gisse ante mundi constitutionem ae preedestinasse ut etiam
sancti et immaculati gratia atque opere ejus essemus.” Sed
audiant et ipsi in hoe testimonio ubi dicit, “ Sortem consecuti
sumus, preedestinati secundum propositum qui universa ope-
ratur.” Ipse ergo ut credere incipiamus operatur, qui uni-
versa operatur.....

St. Augustin. de Gratia et Libero Arbitrio.

The object of this Book is to shew from Scripture that Grace
and Free Will are both there asserted; that we can neither
will nor do without preventing and cooperating grace, and yet
we do freely what good we do by grace, or do freely the evil
we do, without it. The semi-Pelagian doctrine of “ willing”
before grace given, is refuted.

2. SIVi)

Nam si fides liberi est tantummodo arbitrii, nee datur a

Deo, propter quid pro eis qui nolunt credere, oramus ut cre-

LECTURE VII. 205

dant? quod prorsus faceremus inaniter, nisi rectissime erede-
remus, etiam perversas et fidei contrarias voluntates omnipo-
tentem Deum ad credendum posse conyertere. Liberum qui-
dem hominis arbitrium pulsatur ubi dicitur : “ Hodie si vocem
ejus audieritis, nolite obdurare corda vestra ;” sed nisi posset
Deus etiam duritiam cordis auferre, non diceret per prophe-
tam: Auferam ab iis cor lapideum et dabo eis cor carneum.
Hex, 19, 20... 2)

......Numquid ergo possumus nisi absurdissime dicere,
bonum meritum bonz voluntatis in homine preecessisse, ut
evelleretur ab eo cor lapideum: quandoquidem ipsum cor lapi-
deum non significat nisi durissimam voluntatem, et adversus
Deum omnino inflexibilem? Ubi enim precedit bona voluntas
jam non est cor lapideum.

Evian Big]

..... Meminerimus eum dicere “ et convertimini et vivetis,”
(Eiz. xviii. 31.) cui dicitur, “ Converte nos, Deus (Ps. lxxix. 4.).
Meminerimus eum dicere, “ Projicite a vobis omnes impie-
tates vestras ;” cum ipse justificet impium, (Rom. iv. 5.) Me-
minerimus ipsum dicere, ‘* Facite vobis cor novum et spiritum
novum ;” qui dicit, “ Dabo vobis cor noyum et spiritum novum
dabo in vobis.’’ Quomodo ergo qui dicit, ‘ Facite vobis,” hoe
dicit, “ Dabo vobis?” Quare jubet si ipse daturus est? Quare
dat si homo facturus est ; nisi quia dat quod jubet, cum ad-
juvat ut faciat cui jubet ? Semper est autem in nobis voluntas
libera, sed non semper est bona. Aut enim a justitia libera
est, quando servit peccato et tune est mala: aut a peccato
libera est, quando servit justitiz, et tune est bona. Gratia
vero Dei semper est bona, et per hane fit, ut sit homo bonze
voluntatis, qui prius fuit voluntatis male. Per hane etiam
fit, ut ipsa bona voluntas, quae jam esse ccepit, augeatur, et
tam magna fiat, ut posset implere divina mandata, quee volu-
erit, cum valde perfecteque voluerit. Ad hoe enim valet quod
scriptum est, “Si volueris servabis mandata,” Keclus. xx. 15,
ut homo qui voluerit et non potuerit, non se plene velle cog-
noscat, et oret, ut habeat tantam voluntatem, quanta sufficit
ad implenda mandata. Sic quippe adjuvatur, ut faciat quod

9

206 APPENDIX.

jubetur. Tune enim utile est velle, cum possumus; et tune
utile est posse, cum volumus: nam quid prodest, si quod non
possumus, aut quod possumus nolumus ?

a2. [XVI]

Magnum aliquid Pelagiani se scire putant, quando dicunt,
“ Non juberet Deus, quod sciret non posse ab homine fieri?”’
Quis hoe nesciat? Sed ideo jubet aliqua, que non possumus,
ut noverimus quid ab illo petere debeamus. Ipsa est enim
fides, quee orando impetrat, quod lex imperat......

..... Certum est enim nos mandata servare, si volumus:
sed quia preeparatur voluntas a Domino, ab illo petendum
est ut tantum velimus, quantum sufficit ut volendo faciamus.
Certum est nos velle cum yvolumus, sed ille facit ut velimus
bonum, de quo dictum est, quod paulo ante posui, “ Praepa-
ratur voluntas a Domino.” (Prov. vil.) .....

Certum est nos facere cum facimus: sed ille facit ut facia-
mus, preebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati, qui dixit, “ Fa-
ciam ut in justificationibus meis ambuletis et judicia mea
observetis et faciatis.”’ (Hz. xxxvi. 22-7.)......

33°

.....Ipsam charitatem Apostolus Petrus nondum habuit,
quando timore Dominum ter negavit. ‘Timor enim non est
in charitate, é&c. ..-..

Et tamen, quamvis parva et imperfecta, non deerat quando
dicebat Domino, ‘“‘ Animam meam pro se ponam,” putabat
enim se posse quod se velle sentiebat. Et quis istam etsi
parvam dare cceperat charitatem, nisi ille, qui preparat volun-
tatem, et cooperando perficit quod operando incipit? quoniam
ipse ut velimus operatur incipiens, qui volentibus cooperatur
perficiens. Propter quod ait Apostolus: “ Certus sum
quoniam, qui operatur in vobis opus bonum, perficiet us-
que in diem Christi Jesu, Phil. i.6. Ut ergo velimus sine
nobis operatur ; cum autem volumus, et sic volumus ut faci-
amus, nobiscum cooperatur: tamen sine illo vel operante ut
velimus, vel ecooperante cum volumus, ad ,bona pietatis opera
nihil valemus. De operante illo ut velimus, dictum est, ‘‘ Deus
est enim qui operatur in nobis et velle.” De cooperante autem

LECTURE VII. 207

cum jam volumus, et volendo facimus, ‘‘ Scimus,” inquit, ‘* quo-
niam diligentibus Deum omnia cooperatur in bonum
Upon free grace, election, baptism, vide 43—45.

De Peccato Originali, 16. [XV.]

Quid enim ad rem, de qua nunc agimus pertinet, quod dis-
cipulis suis respondet (Pelagius), “ideo se illa objecta dam-
nasse, quia et ipse dicit non tantum primo homini, sed etiam
humano generi primum illud obfuisse peccatum, non propagine
sed exemplo ;” id est non quod ex illo traxerint aliquod vitium,
qui ex illo propagati sunt, sed quod ewm primum peccantem
imitati sunt omnes, qui postea peceaverunt! aut quia dicit,
“ideo infantes non in eo statu esse, in quo fuit Adam ante
preevaricationem, quia isti preeceptum capere nondum possunt,
ile autem potuit; nondumque utuntur rationalis voluntatis
arbitrio, quo ille nisi uteretur, non ei preeceptum daretur?...

NOs oc Leh

Objicitur autem illis, quod non baptizatos parvulos nolunt
damnationi primi hominis obnoxios confiteri, et in eos trans-
isse originale peccatum regeneratione purgandum: quoniam
propter accipiendum regnum czlorum tantummodo eos bap-
tizandos esse contendunt: quasi preter regnum celorum
habere nisi eternam mortem possint, qui sine participatione
corporis et sanguinis Domini zternam vitam habere non
possunt.......

a1. [XIX.]

.... De purgatione originalis peccati in parvulis queestio est.
Inde se purget, qui non vult fateri, lavacrum regenerationis
in parvulis habere quod purget.......

30. [XXVE|

Non igitur sicut Pelagius et ejus discipuli, tempora divida-
mus, dicentes, ‘“ Primum venisse justos homines ex natura,
deinde sub /ege, tertio sub gratia... ...”

34. [XXI1X.]

Quapropter quisquis humanam contendit in qualibet ztate
naturam non indigere medico secundo Adam, quia non est
vitiata in primo Adam, non in aliqua quzestione, in qua dubi-

208 APPENDIX.

tari vel errari salva fide potest, sed in ipsa regula fidei qua
Christiani sumus, grati@ Dei convincitur inimicus ...... Ex
quo tempore igitur “ per unum hominem peccatum intravit in
mundum, et per peccatum mors, et ita in omnes homines
pertransiit, in quo omnes peccaverunt,” profecto universa
massa perditionis facta est possessio perditoris. Nemo itaque,
nemo prorsus inde liberatus est, aut liberatur, aut liberabitur
nisi gratia Redemptoris.
42. [XXXVITI.]

..... Naturze nascentis est auctor Deus, qui hominem con-
didit, et qui virum ac feminam nuptiali jure conjunxit : vitii
vero auctor est diaboli decipientis calliditas, et hominis con-
sentientis voluntas.

435 | XC dT]

Ubi nihil Deus fecit, nisi quod hominem voluntate peccan-
tem, justo judicio cum stirpe damnavit: et ideo ibi quidquid
etiam nondum erat natum, merito est in preevaricatrice radice
damnatum : in qua stirpe damnata tenet hominem generatio
earnalis, unde sola liberat regeneratio spiritualis. ....

Fa ate]

Reatus itaque vitii ejus de quo loquimur, in regeneratorum
prole carnali tamdiu manebit donee et illic lavacro regenera-
tionis abluatur. Regeneratus quippe non regenerat_ filios
carnis sed generat ; ac per hoc in eos non quod regeneratus,
sed quod generatus est, trajicit. Sic igitur, sive reus infidelis,
sive absolutus fidelis, non generat absolutos uterque, sed reos :
quomodo non solum oleastre, sed etiam oleze semina non oleas
generant, sed oleastros......

... Denique ipsa Ecclesia sacramenta que tam prisce tra-
ditionis auctoritate concelebrat, ut ea ist? (Pelagiani), quamvis
in parvulis existiment simulatorie potius quam veraciter fieri,
non tamen audeant aperta improbatione respuere : ipsa in-
quam sancte EKeclesiz sacramenta satis indicant, parvulos a
partu etiam recentissimos, per gratiam Christi de diaboli ser-
vitio Viberari. Excepto enim quod im peccatorum remissionem
non fallaci sed fideli mysterio baptizantur, etiam prius exor-
cizatur in eis et exsufflatur potestas contraria; cul etiam
verbis eorum a quibus portantur se renuntiare respondent.
Quibus omnibus rerum occultarum sacratis et evidentibus

LECTURE VIII. 209

signis, a captivatore pessimo ad optimum Redemptorem trans-
ire monstrantur..... non enim solos etate majores, sed
etiam pusillos eruit a potestate tenebrarum, ut transferat in
regnum Fili charitatis sue.

46.

Nec quisquam miretur et dicat, Cur hoe creat bonitas Dei,
quod possideat malignitas diaboli? Hoc enim suze creature
seminibus ex illa bonitate largitur, qua etiam facit solem
suum oriri super bonos et malos, et pluit super justos et in-
justos. Hae quippe bonitate etiam ipsa semina benedixit vel
benedicendo constituit: quam benedictionem nature lauda-
bili culpa damnabilis non ademit. Que licet per Dei puni-
entis justitiam valuerit, ut homines cum peccati originalis
vitio nascerentur, non tamen valuit ut homines non nas-
COROME Reis <0. ke

Quid ergo mirum est vel iniquum, ut immundo spiritui
subdatur homo, non propter naturam sed propter immun-
ditiam suam, quam non ex opere divino, sed ex humana
voluntate venientem in originis labe contraxit: cum et ipse
spiritus immundus bonum sit, quod spiritus; malum quod
immundus? Ilud quippe est ex Dei opere, hoe ex propria
voluntate........

LECTURE VIII.

Tue endowments of the Spirit, which were the credentials
of the ministers of Christ in the Apostolic age, were xapioyuara,
diakoviau, évepynwara, 1 Cor. xii. 4,5, 6, gifts, administrations,
operations. Of these some were temporary, others of a per-
manent character. The dcaxovia, administrations, seem to be
of the latter class; and all of them gave outward or objective
evidence of a due and authorized call to exercise the ministry
of the word and the stewardship of the mysteries of God.
But even these special seals of the Spirit did not supersede the
necessity of regular ordination by the imposition of the hands,
either of an Apostle, or those authorized by them to ordain
others. Certain ‘“ prophecies’? prepared the way for the
ordination of Timothy by St. Paul, but nevertheless authority
to preach the word was communicated to him by the putting

rE

210 APPENDIX.

on of the Apostle’s own hands with the hands of the presby-
tery. The latter concurred in the act, but the right and
power to send into the Lord’s vineyard was vested in the
Apostle alone; 4y whose instrumentality the authority to
preach and minister the Sacraments was conveyed to Timothy.

“ This charge 1 commit unto thee, son Timothy, according
to the prophecies which went before on thee,” 1 Tim. i. 18.

“ Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up
the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my
hands,” 2 Tim. i. 6.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee
by prophecy, eth the laying on of the hands of the pres-
bytery,” 1 Tim. iv. 14.

This was in accordance with the original mission of the
Twelve, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
John xx. 21. So also Paul and Barnabas ordained elders in
every city, Acts xiv. 23. and authority was delegated to
Timothy and Titus to ordain and rule the presbyters of given
churches. In the very earliest remains of Christian literature,
(Patres Apostolici) we find the three orders of Bishop, Priest
and Deacon, explicitly recognised, and that within a few years
of St. John’s martyrdom. The succession of bishops in every
part of the universal Church was undisputed for 1500 years,
and therefore the ovtward sign of an authorized ministry
seems undoubtedly to be Episcopal ordination, transmitted
through the regular succession of bishops, from the Apostles’
times to the present age.

By this means an authority external to the local congre-
gation is obtained, which strengthens discipline and elevates
the ministerial office above the despotism of the civil magis-
trate, or the caprice of a congregation.

The following seems to be the true order of the Gifts: &e.

I Cor. xii. 28. 30. 1 Cor. xii. 8—to. 1 Cor. xiii.
1. Apostles. rf
2. Prophets. 2. sodla. 2. Mpopnteta.
3. Teachers. 3. yraos. 3. yuaos wvornplav.
4. Miracles. 4. Suvduers, whorts. 4. mlotts.
5. Healing. 5. iduara. xe
6. Helps, (1 Thess. v. 14.) 6. mpopnrela. 6.
7. Governments (1 Cor. xiv. 32.) 7. Discerning of spirits. 7.
8. Tongues. 8. yévn yAdoowr. 8. yA@coat.

g. Interpretation. . épunveia.

No)
S

LECTURE VIII. 211

To account for the place of zpopnrefa, 1 Cor. xil. 10, as
sixth in the order of gifts, whereas Prophets stand second,
verse 29, Origen in loc. Cat. Greece. Pat. tom. v. Cramer,
divides Prophecy into two kinds; !. Predictive; 2. Judicial,
1 Cor. xiv. 24. The Predictive Prophet, such as Agabus,
came next to the Apostle; the other prophetieal office
resembled that of the ordinary preacher, and might be
exercised by several individuals in a local Church by turns,
F Cor! xiv. 3.23505

In Ephesians iv. 11, the same order of offices is preserved
as 1 Cor. xii. 29, but the offices of Evangelist and Pastor are
introduced, “ And He gave some, apostles; and some, pro-
phets; and some. evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.”
The Evangelist, like the Prophet, may be distinguished into
two sorts; 1. the inspired Writer of the Gospel; 2. the
Preacher of it, 2 Tim. iv. 5, épyov moincoy eiayyedwotod,
Isaiah lil. 7, @s @pator of médes Tay evayyeAtCopevav eipyvny,
Tov evayyeAiCopever Ta ayaa. Origen asks, [lds 6€ Kai edayye-
Aoths tls Coral, o0 i) Gpaior—ot mddes THs Wuxns; He adds,
GAG Kal Tpopytyy arioTous eh€yxovTa Kal avaKpivovta’ ToLovTos
yap eat 6 Ths Kawis diabnkhs Tpodytys.

The Prophet and Evangelist proper predicted, or wrote
under immediate inspiration, tor the instruction and safety
of the Church. Pastors and Teachers taught probably from
acquired knowledge.

The Prophet or Evangelist, in the wider and secondary
signification, seems also, occasionally at least, to have been
under inspiration, as is evident from 1 Cor. xiv. 2y, popyrat
dé dvd 7) Tpets AadElrwoav Kal of GAou SiakpiveT@omL™ Edv OE
Gio atoKkahugdy Kadnueve 6 TpOtos ovydtw’ dvyvacbe yap
Kad’ é€va Tavres TpopyTevey, iva TavTes pavOavect Kal TarTES
TApakaA@VTal.

Perhaps the intimate knowledge of the human heart, which
enabled him to convince the Gentile hearer, may also have
been the special gift of the Spirit, verse 24, ibid. ea» 6€ waves
mpopynrevaoww, elo€AOn SE Tis AmLOTOS 7) ldudTNS EAEYXETAL UTO
TAVTOV, avakpiveTal bTO TaVT@L’ Kal OTH TA KpUTTA TIS Kapdlas
avtod davepa yivera. But ordinarily he seems to have been no
more than one who exhorted the congregation, Rom. xii. 6, 8,

Pas

212 APPENDIX.

6 mpopynrevov adel olkodopny Kal TapdkAnow Kal TtapapvOlav,
1 Cor. xiv. 3.

Verse 6, St. Paul distinguishes between dzoxdAvwis, yroous
mpopyreta and ddaxy. Of these perhaps zpodnrefa and dzokd-
Avis belong to the zpodirns, yrGos and ddaxy to the Toryv
and dddoKados.

Verse 26, dtav cvvépynode Exaotos tuav Warmov exer, ddaxiV
éxet, yAGooar exer, AToxddvwiy exe, Epunveiar éxer. Of these
the Psalm and Revelation would, according to the analogy
of the Old Testament, belong to the office of Prophet.

None of these gifts implied necessarily the earnest of the
Spirit in the Aeart. Balaam was inspired, but wicked: éo7e
Kal onela Toujocavta elvar capikdv' Chrysostom. Hom. 8. in
1 Cor.

Joseph Milner says in his History of the Church, cent. ii.
e.g, “Kyven Justin Martyr, before the period of eclectic
corruption, by his fondness for Plato adulterated the gospel
in some degree, particularly in the article of Free Will.
Tatian his scholar went bolder lengths, and deserved the
name of heretic. He dealt largely in the merits of conti-
nence and chastity ; and these virtues pushed into extravagant
excesses under the notion of superior purity, became great
engines of self-righteousness and superstition, and obscured
men’s views of the faith of Christ, and darkened the whole
face of Christianity. Under the fostering hand of Ammo-
nius and his followers, this fictitious holiness, disguised under
the appearance of eminent sanctity, was formed into a system:
and it soon began to generate the worst of evils. That man
is altogether fallen—that he is to be justified wholly by the
faith of Christ—that his atonement and mediation alone
procures us access to God and eternal life—that holiness is
the effect of divine grace, and is the proper work of the Holy
Spirit on the heart of man; these, and if there be any other
similar evangelical truths, as it was not possible to mix them
with Platonism, faded gradually in the Church, and were at
length partly denied and partly forgotten.”

Century 3rd, ¢. 4. of Clemens Alexandrinus. “In his
Stromata he speaks with his usual partiality in favour of

LECTURE VIII. 213

philosophy, and shews the effect his regard for it had on his
own mind, by saying that faith is God’s gift, but so as to
depend on his own free will. In truth, if his knowledge of
Christian doctrine was really defective, the defect lay in
the point of original sin. Of this his philosophical spirit
knew nothing aright, and it must be owned he speaks of it
in a very confused, if not in a contradictory manner. That
he was in the main a truly pious person, neither makes this
account less credible, nor the danger less of admitting the
pestilent spirit of human self-sufficieney to dictate in the
Christian religion.”

Cent. ili. ¢. 5. of Origen. ‘“‘ We seem to discover in the
very beginning of Origen the foundation of that presump-
tuous spirit which led him afterwards to philosophize so
dangerously in the Christian religion, and never to content
himself with plain truth, but to hunt after something singular
and extraordinary.

“ What can this extraordinary teacher and author mean
by asserting the utility, and even the necessity of philosophy
for himself as a Christian? Are not the Scriptures able to
make a man wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished to every good work. Certainly an acquaintance
with classical or philosophical learning may furnish him with
strong arguments to prove the necessity and the excellency
of divine revelation; and therefore they deserve seriously to
be encouraged in the minds of all who are to instruct others—
for their improvement in taste, language, eloquence and
history : but if they are to dictate in religion, or are thought
capable of adding to the stock of theological knowledge, the
Seriptures—he it reverently spoken—may seem to have been
defectively written. In truth, we hear among these learned
converts of Origen nothing of conviction of sin—of conver-
sion—of the influence of the Holy Spirit—of the love of
Christ. The mischief which actually followed was to be
expected: characters were confounded: and henceforward
among the learned, the distinction between Christian godli-_
ness and human philosophy is but faintly marked.”

The following passages from some Apostolic and_pri-

214 APPENDIX.

mitive Fathers may serve to shew their subjective realiza-
tion of “inherent corruption,” and the “ power of divine
grace” upon the will. For objective doctrine concerning the
divinity of the Holy Ghost, Burton’s Testimonies of the Ante-
Nicene Fathers will suffice; and doubtless in connection with
Baptism “ the gift of divine grace” may be amply illustrated :
but it is important to shew how the earliest Christian writers
realized the “ fellowship of the Spirit” in their daily life.

Clemens Romanus, ad Cor, :

Cap. 2: otrws eipyvn Babeta kat AiTapa €déd0T0 Tacw Kal
b) , , ’ b) he ‘ / / ¢ 7
akdpeatos 7000s eis ayaboroilav, kat TAnpys IIvetpatos Ayiov
¥ 3 ‘ / , we / c ‘4 Led 3 e Led
Exxuols emt TaVvTas eylveTo’ peatol TE Oolas BovdArs ev ayabh
Tpobuula per eboeBods TeTOWOioEws eLeTElvaTe Tas XElpas pOVv
mpos TOV TavToKpatopa @eov, txeTevovTes avTov irA€ws yéeverOar,
el TL Gkovtes tpaptete. “Ayov jv tyiv huepas Te Kal vuKTos bTEp

/ co > , > SS , DD ah \
Taons THs abeA@dtyntos, eis TO ToleTOat eT EAEOUS KaL TVVEI-
djoews TOV apiOpov TOV exAEKT@v avTov" EiALKpivEis Kal AKEpator
s x > ce ) 2] / ° / \ ca s,
77€ Kal Gvynotkakot eis GAAHAOVs. Ilaca oraows kal Tay cxiopa
BoedukrTov tpiv’ emt tots TapatTeépact Tots TAnolov emevOcire’ Ta
vorepypata attav tdia eéxpivere’ dpetapeAntor ire emt Taon
ayaborouia, €roysor eis Tav Epyov ayabdv. Th mavapéT@ kal oe-

, , / / 3 n , > a °,
Bacuio ToXTEia KEeKoopNpEevor TavTa Ev TH PoOBw avTod ezeTeE-
AeiTe. TA TpOTTAypaTa Kal TA OiKaL@pata TOD Kupiov etl Ta TAT
THs Kapdlas buOv ey€eypanto.

Cap. 38: 6 @yvos év tH capxi...... Kal pr adafoveve-
0, ywookorv bru Erepds eotiv 6 emxXopnyGVv a’Te THY eyKpa-
Tetav’ dvadoyitépeOa ov adeAdol ex molas bAns eyevynOnyer,

lal \ / ’ / >? x , c 3 fal if \
motor kal tives elonAOopev els TOY KOopOV, ws EK TOU Tadov Kal
OKOTOUS.

Cap. 50: ‘Opare, adyamnroi, 7s péya kal Oavpacrdy éotiv h
oO / bY ~ , rn a] > ¥ - / i c \
aydmn, Kal THs TeAELOTHTOS adTHs ovK Eat e€jynots. Tis ikavds
€v avTn edpeOnvat, ei pa ods dv Katakidon 6 Ocds; Etxapeba odv

\ , / b) A cel 3 / > nan ee b] 3 n lal /
Kal airwpe0a amd Tov e€d€ovs adtod, Wa ev ayanhn COuev, dixa
mpookAtcews avOperivys, dpopor.

Cap. 56: Kal iets obv évrdxwpev mepl Tov Ev Tie TapaTTO -
part tTapxXovtav, Otws 6007 avtois eTLElkELa Kal TaTELVOppoovrn,
, \ > ’ \ X Ls lal >) \ had / cal fol
eis TO €i€ar avTovs pur) NIV, AAAG T@ OeAHpaTL TOD Oeod.

Ignatius ad Eph. 5: Ei yap éym é€v puxp@ xpov@ Toradtny
avrnbeiav Exyov Tpos Tov éenloKoToY bpOrv, ovK avOpertvnv oboar

LECTURE VIII. 215

GAAG TVEVpATLKIV, TOTH paAAoV tpas (Ce bs ep
b nv, DM vy vpas pakaplC@m TOUS EVKEKpa-
5) ie a
Mévous oUTas, @s 1) ExxAnola Inco’ XpiotG —

Ibid. ¢.8:.. . O8 capkixol Ta TrevpatiKa Tpdocew ov SivavTat
ovde of mvevpatikol Ta capKiKd? BoTEp ovde 1) TloTLs Ta THs
amotias, ovde 7 amiotia Ta THs TloTEws’ & Se KaTa od pKa TpdoCeETE
TavTa Tvevpatikd eat, €v ‘Inood yap Xpiote Tdvta mpaocere.

Ibid. ¢ g: ...@s dvtes AiPou vaotd Tarpos, jroywacpévor eis oi-
Kodopiv Ocod Uarpos, avaepdpevor eis Ta HW Sia Tis pnxavijs
’ a a ¢ \ , a
Inoot Xpiorod, 6s eotiv atTavpos, cXowim xpeépyevor TS Ivetpare
To S/N / 5 c oe tor v OV Ava NOX c lal c de >) d 550

@ ‘Ayio’ 4 6€ mlotTis tev dvaywyeds tyadv, 7 be aydan 6d0ds
c >] / > ,
n avadepovoa eis Meov.......
Idem, ad Magnesianos 14: .. . . émd€opau yap Tis hvepevns
UUOV ev Oc@ Tpocevxis Kal ayd ls TO a£iwO7, Hv ev Supl
be » Tp x1 yarns, els TO aiwOyjvar THY Ev Lupia
3 / ‘ ”~ 3 7 ig lal nm
exkAnotav dia THs ExkAnolas tuav Spots Ojvat.

Idem, ad Rom. 1:....7v cat dondfopar év évdpate “Inood
r a ee \ ‘ a
Xpiorod viod Ilarpos, cata odpxa Kat tvedpa Hvepevors Tao7n
3 ~ >’ lal / ny °
EVTOAH avTod, TETANPwMEVOLS xXapLTOos Oeo0d adiaxplros,

\ 3 / > Ni 3 7 , tal b) , cal
kal avodwAuopevors ATO aAAoTpiov xpeyuatos, TAEicTa €v ‘lnoov

° lod Sie lal p) , /
Xp.oT@ TO Oc@ 7TpOv apopos xaipew.

Ibid. 3:....pdvov pow dvvamw aireiobe eowbéy te Kai e&-
aber, iva pr povov A€yo GAG Kal O€Aw: iva pH} povov A€yopat
Xpiotiavos GAAG Kal ebpeOO.

Ibid. 7: .. . Zév ypade piv epdv rod amobavetv’ 6 euods Epws
3 / \ > ys b] b] \ al fee WA x lal
€oTavpwtat Kal ovK €oTi Ev Eol Tp diAdcdvAov, Vowp S€ Cor,
kal Aadovy ev eyo EcwO€v por, A€yov' “ Aebpo mpos tov Tlarépa.”

Idem, ad Philad. Preface: .... ots cata TO tOvov O€Anua

7 >] / a ¢ / >’ n 4,
eornpitev ev BeBarwovvyn, TO “Ayiw adrod [vetvpare.
Ibid. 7: .... €¢ yap kal kata odpka pe tives nO€Anoav TAa-
om >) ~ NX _ > lad >] \ an a \ ,
vicar, dAAa TO TVEdpa OV TAaVaTAaL ATO Oecov Ov" oidev yap TODEV
épxetat kal Tov bTayel, kal TA KpUTTA eA€yyXeL.

Idem, ad Smyrn. 11: ... kava O€Anpa 6€ KarnL@Onv, ovK Ek

auvelodtos GAN ek xdpitos Ocod, nv ebxowar Tedelav por So0Ojvat,
> a ee na m~ 3: /
iva év TH TpocEryxy} tpav Ocod emirdvxo. . .

.... Tédevor Ovres TéAeva Kal dpoveire’ O€Aavow yap vpiv eb
mpdocew Ocds Eroipos eis TO Tapacyeiv.

Ibid. 13: .... &ppwobe pou é€v dvvapyer [vevpatos———ép-
c 3 / fal
poode ev xapitt Oecod.

Idem, ad Polycarpum 2: .... 61a TodTo sapKiKos EL Kat
mvevpatikos iva Ta pawopeva cov Els TPdcwTOV KoAaKEvNS’ Ta bE

216 APPENDIX.

aopata aire: iva cor pavepwOh Srws pndevds Aeltn Kal TavTos
xaplopatos Tepiooev’ns. ....

Polyearpus ad Philip. 11: Vers. Vet. Valde ergo fratres
contristor pro illo et pro conjuge ejus quibus det Dominus
peenitentiam veram.

Martyr. S. Ign. IV: .... ypapparer evxapiotov éexreupev-
T@Y TPOS AUTAS, TVEVPATLKIY PET EVXTS Kal Tapaiwecews ATOTTA-
Covtov xdpw.....

Eccl. Smyrn. Ep. de 8. Polyearpi Martyr. 7:.... rév 8
emitpeyavtav, otabeis mpooevatto, TANpns Ov THs xXapitos Tod
Ocod, obtws Sorte ert dVo Spas pi) SbivacOar cvwmjoat, Kal exwAT-
TeoOar Tovs akovovtas, ToAdovs TE peTavoeiy emt TO eANAVOEVAL
€ml ToLovToy OeompeTn TpETBUTHV.

Ibid. 12; Tatra 6& kat dAda TAclova €ywov, Oapoovs Kal
xapas évev(umdato, kal TO TpdcwTov avTod xdpitos émAnpodro,
@OTE OV PLOY i) TUMTETELY TapaxOevTos b7d TOV AEyoMEVOV TPOS
QUTOVS se

Ibid. 13.... aperé pe otrws' 6 yap dots mou bropetvat
TO Top, ddoe Kal xwpis THs tueTépas ex TOV TAwv dodadrelas
dodAevtov emeivar TH Tupa.

Ibid, 20: .... 7@ Svvapevm Tavtas tas eicayayety ev TH
avrod xdpite Kal doped eis THY aidvioy adTovd BactArclay 61a TOD
Tald0s avtod Tod povoyevods Inood Xpiotod, © 7 dd€a, Tyu7, Kpd-
Tos, weyadoovry eis aidvas.

Justin Martyr, Apol. ii. 10: é7ep yap od« jdvvnOnoav ot av-
Opdrrevoe vopor Tpakat, TavTa 6 Adyos Oetos dv eipyacaro, ei ui ot
dadrou datyoves Kateckédacav TOAAG Wevdy Kal GOea Karnyopn-
pata, ovppaxov AdBovtes THY ev ExdoTH KAKIVY TPOS TAV-
Ta kal wToukiAnv dvoet ETLOvpLlav, Sv odev TpdcEoTLV TLV.

Ibid. 36: apoywoécKe: ydp twas éx petavolas cwOjrecOa.,
kal tias pndémo tows yernOévtas’ Kal tiv apxiv voepov Kal
duvdpevov atpeicOar TaAnOn, Kal eb mpatTEW TO yeévos TO avOpa-
Tivov TEeTOinkev, GoTE TaVaTOADYNHTOV Elva Tots Tao dv-
Opedros Tapa TO Oew oyikol yap kal Oewpytikol yeyevvnvrat.

Ibid. 61: tov Xpictdv spwrdtoxov tod Oeod eivar edid4-
xOnpev, Kal Tpoeunvicapyev Adyov OvTa, ov Tay yévos avOpdreVv
petéoxe’ kal ol peta Adyou Bidcavtes Xpiotiavol elo, kav aber
evoulaOnoav' otov év”"EAAnoe pev Swxpatrns kal “HpdkAetos Kal
vl Gpouot avtois’ ev BapBdpors b€ ABpadp. ef.S. Joan. Ev. I. 9.

aie

LECTURE VIII. 217

Ibid. 80: évewdy rHv mperny yeveow tudv dyvoodvres, Kar
/ las Cc al
avaykny yeyevunpeda €€ vypas oTopas Kata pie riv Tov yovéwy
/ a -
mpos GAArAous, Kal €v eect avAots Kal Tovnpais avatpodais
, o NOP Sas / eee tS) , , > x
yeyovaper, OTS pH avayKns Téxva pnde dyvolas wévopev, GAG
l , a
Mpoaipegews Kal ETLoTHUNS, Abeceas TE Gyaptlwov, breép Gv Tpon-
/ 4 3 tay y 5) , ~
PapToMEy TUX@HEVD EV TH VOaTL, ETOVOUACETAL TO EAOMEVM GV a-
yevvnOyjvat Kal petavojoavts ent tots tpyaptnwévors TO Tod
Ilatpos tév dAov Kal decrdétov Ocod Gvopa aitd TodTo pdvov
, = 5
emlA€yovtes TovTOV Aovaduevov tyovTes em TO AoUTPOV’ K.T. A.

kadcirat d€ TodTO TO AoUTPOY wTicpos, os PoTiCouevav
Thy Siavotav TOY TadTa pavdavorvTwnr.
Dialog. cum Tryph.: . .. €or ody dyot To ve hpydv Tovadry
\ , 7 A ~ , ,’ ’ tp vs x \
Tis Kal TooavTy Svvayis O pun TAaXLOV OL aicOjcews EAaBEV: 7) TOV
\ a
Oedv avOpdrov vovs dweral Tore pt) Gylo Lvedpare Kexoopnpevos 5
RN fal / b]
Tis ovv muir, EAEyE, TVyyEvELA TpOS TOV Oedv EoTLV ; EvXOU BE oV
\ , \ 9 lo 4 A ’ SS XX 3 2S
Tpo0 TaVT@V cwTos avoltxOjvat TvAaS’ Ov yap TvVOTTA OvdE
cuvvonta Taw eoTiv, ef Wyn TY Oeds 66 TuvrLevat Kat 6
Xpiords avrod.
il = lal XX 7 4 > na > / /
bid. : ...mapeorari yap delEw Gru od Kevols emia TEVoapeEV pvOoLS
XOX 3 7 , ) SS a / / AN
Ovde avaTode(Ktols Adyous GAAA peoTois TVEvpaTos Belov Kat
/
duvaper Bpvovr. Kat TEONASTL XaputTe.
= > a na / lal
Ibid. :——Inoods Xpiords 6 Kvpios tev tapedmxe Tovety,
vA > lal mn a is , lal \ \ ,
ta dua Te evxapioT@yev TO Ow brEep TE TOU TOV KOOMOV EKTL-
Kévat ody Tat Tols Ev aiT@ bia TOV AvOpwToP, Kal bTEp TOU ATO
THS KaKlas €v } yeyovaper jAEvOEepwxKevat Has Kal Tas apxas
\ ‘\ b} / /
Kal Tas e€ovolas KataAeAvuKevan k. T. A.
. An a \
Ibid. : .. . . jets 6€ b1a Tod Banricuaros adi [Sc. TEpiToujv
XN 3 X\ c \ e] / XX Ni, \ X\
TVEVPATLKIY] €TELO GuapTwdol eyeydverpev Oa TO EAEOS TO Tapa
nn nN lol Ul
Tod Ocod ehaBopev, kal Tacw edherov dpolws AapBavew.
. r , / \ /
Ibid.:.. kal yap Tav yevos avOpdTwv ebpeOjoeTal VTO KaTapay
/ b) o a >
dv Kata Tov vopov Mocews* emiKaTapatos yap elpnTar Tas Os OvK
eupever ev TOs yeypappevols EV TH BLBAL@ TOD Lopov TOV ToLT}T aL
3 , \ = LNG > lan / b) 7 x5) val /
avira’ Kal ovdeEls axpiBGs TavTa eTOinoEV, OVO tyEls TOA NOETE
a a /
dQvreumety' .. 1... +. €f O€ Of UTO Voyov TotTov bTO KaTapay
/ / lad hs
gaivovtat eivat b1a TO pa) TavTa Ppvddgat, odxi TOAY MaAdov TavTa
ra €Ovn pavjcovta td Katdpav dvta Kal eidmAodaTpodvTa Kat
matdopOopodrra, kal Ta GAAG Kaka epyatoueva. ;
_ P , ee ¥ Chee 5S »y
Ibid.:... éyé Te ad eizov, olecO€ dv pas TOTE w AvdpeEs VEVoN-
/ lol b} na lal fal ~ \ / ~
Kevat duvnOfjvar év tais ypadais Tatra, «i pn OedAnpate Tod
/ f fal nr
Oed\noavtos atta €haBouev xapiv TOD voyoa.

218 APPENDIX.

Ep. ad Diog.: . . . wéxpe per ody Tov mpdcbev xpdvov €elacev
Has ws €Bovrcpeda araxtors popats peperOat ydovais Kat emOvpl-
5 / _ 1) / 3 , ~ ‘3 , ¢ n 3 ’
als AyOpLEVOUS’ OV TAVTMS E:bNddpeVvos TOLs GuapTHMaATLY NU@V AAA
> , IO n” , lal ° / ”~ cel 2 XX \
QVEXOMEVOS* OVOE TH TOTE THS GOtKias Kalpw TuvEvOOKOU, GAAG TOV
na / Cert . > n” , /, 3 4 ;
vobv dikatoovvyns OnutovpyOv" iva ev TH TOTE xpovw €eEyyxOErvTeEs
b) lal ID / y i / Led a b) X las a fal ,
ex TOV ldiwv Epywr ava€.ot Cams, viv a7 THs Tod Oeod xpynotd-
>] lal \ \ Jeo \ , 2 7
TyTos afiwOGpev’ Kal TO KAO EavTovs havepwoartes AHUVVATODV
eiceAOciv eis THY Baotdelav Tod Ocov, TH Svvayer TOD Oecod
duvatol yevnOGpev.
a / > oO ”~
Ibid.: ... €déy£as ody €v TH TpdaVEV xpdrm TO addvvaTov THs
c / / , A cal lal Lal XX \ fal lal
qpetepas dtoews eis TO TvxXElv Cons, viv b€ TOv cwrhpa Seitas
duvvarov o@€etv, k.T. X.
= /
Ibid. :. .. Kal pr Oavpaons ef dvvaTat pipyntns GvOpwmos yevér-
Oat cod: Stivarar O€AOvTOS adTod.
= e () >a) ”~ € \ \ \ c \
Ibid.: ... odrTos 6 am apxijs 6 Katvos pavels kat ... etpeOeis,
kal mavToTe véos ev &ylwv Kapdias yevvepevos. ovTOS 6 GEL, ONME-
pov vidos AoytaGels, bv ob TAovTiCeTaL 7 ExKAnola® Kal xdpis amAov-
peévn ev aylous TAnOdverar Tapexovoa vovv, pavepodtoa pvoTipta,
diayyeAoveca Katpods, xalpovoa emi muoTots, emu{nTodoL Swpovr-
/ a - v4 > / NN eee / /
pévn’ ols Gpia tlorews ov OpaveTat, ode Gpia TaTEpwv TapopiCe-
— r lat /
rau’ eita pdéBos vopov ddeTar, Kal TpodynTGv xapts ywweoKeTat, Kar
> / / ef \ >) / / f
evayyeAlov Tiotis tdpuTat, Kal aTooTOA@Y Tapadools dvAaoceTat,
‘ bp] f =x a , x a 2 Be &
Kat exkAnolas xapis oKipTa. jv Xap py AvT@V EnLyvoon a
lal 7 @
Adyos dpirci, &0 Gv BovreTaL, dre OeArEL.

Trenzeus Cont. Heereses, II]. 17. 2: ....Et sicut arida
terra, si non perecipiat humorem non fructificat: sic et nos
lignum aridum exsistentes primum, nunquam fructificaremus
vitam, sine superna voluntaria pluvia. ....

III. 17. 3: .... Quapropter necessarius nobis est vos Dei,
ut non comburamur neque infructuosi efficiamur, et ubi accu-
satorem habemus illic habeamus et paracletum. .. .

III. 18.7: .... Deus hominis antiquam plasmationem in
se recapitulans, ut oecideret quidem peccatum, evacuaret
autem mortem et vivificaret hominem: et propter hoe vera
ejus opera.

TVA age Aer Sed et legem peedagogum nostrum in
Jesum Christum dixit. Non ergo quorundam infidelitatem
legi adscribant: non enim Lex pevrhibebat eos eredere in

LECTURE VIII. 219

Filium Dei sed et adhortabatur, dicens; non aliter salvari
homines ab antiqua serpentis plaga nisi credant in eum, qui
secundum similitudinem carnis peceati in ligno martyrii
exaltatur a terra, et omnia trahit ad se, et vivificat mortuos.
This is quoted by 8. Augustine, hb. i. cap. 3, against Julian
and Pelagius. .

V.6.1: ....€um autem Spiritus hic commixtus anime
unitur plasmati; propter effusionem Spiritus, spiritualis et
perfectus homo factus est; et hie est qui secundum imaginem
et similitudinem factus est Dei. Si autem defuerit anime
Spiritus, animalis est vere qui est talis: et carnalis derelictus
imperfectus erit, imaginem quidem habens in plasmate, simi-
litudinem vero non assumens per Spiritum.

V.6.1:... Perfecti igitur qui et Spiritum in se perse-
verantem habuerint Dei, et animas et corpora sine querela
servaverint: Dei, id est, illam quz est ad Deum fidem ser-
vantes, et eam que est ad proximum justitiam custodientes.

V.7.1:.... Hoc autem (mori) neque anime evenit ;
flatus est enim vite: neque Spiritui: incompositus est
enim et simplex Spiritus qui resolvyi non potest, et ipse Vita
est corum qui percipiunt lum.

V. 8. 2: Qui ergo pignus Spiritus habent et non con-
cupiscentiis carnis serviunt, sed subjiciunt semet ipsos Spiri-
tui et rationabiliter conversantur in omnibus, juste Apostolus
spirituales vocat, quoniam Spiritus Dei habitat in ipsis... .
ice rens.s Eos autem qui abjiciunt quidem Spiritus consilium,
carnis autem voluptatibus serviunt, et irrationabiliter vivunt,
et ineffrenati dejiciuntur in sua desideria, quippe nullam
habentes adspirationem divini Spiritus, sed porcorum et canum
more vivunt;....

V.g.1t:.... Propter hoe autem et mortui tales dicti
sunt a Domino: sinite enim inquit mortuos sepelire mortuos
suos: quoniam non habent Spiritum qui vivificet hominem.

V.9. 2: Quotquot autem timent Deum, et ecredunt in
adventum Filii ejus, et per fidem constituunt in cordibus
suis Spiritum Dei, hi tales juste homines dicentur, et mundi,
et spirituales, et viventes Deo: quia habent Spiritum Patris
qui emundat hominem et sublevat in vitam Dei.

V. 9. 3: énet dvev mvetpatos Ocod coOjva ov bvvayeda,

220) APPENDIX.

eo

mpotperdpevos tas 6 Amdorodos 81a Ths TloTeEws Kal Tis ayvis
dvactpopys cuvtnpeiv Td Ilvedya tod Ocod, twa pa Gporpor
To0 @ceod Ivedvparos yevopuevor, aroTtbyouev tis BacwWelas TOV
otpavarv, &Bdnoe pi) SbvacOa Tiv odpKa Kad’ CavTiy ev TO aipati*
Baowrelav KkAnpovopnoa Ocod.

V.15.3:.... Et quoniam in illa plasmatione, que se-
eundum Adam fuit, in transgressione factus homo, indigebat
lavacro regenerationis; postquam linivit lutum super oculos
ejus, dixit ei: Vade in Siloam et lavare; simul et plasma-
tionem, et eam gue est per lavacrum regenerationem resti-
tuens el.....

Lib. V. 19. 1:.... Et quemadmodum adstrictum est morti
genus humanum per virginem, salvatur per virginem: equa
lance disposita, virginalis mobedientia, per virginalem obe-
dientiam. Adhue enim protoplasti peccatum per correp-
tionem primogeniti emendationem accipiens, et serpentis
prudentia devieta in columbze simplicitate, vineulis autem
illis resolutis, per quee alligati eramus morti.

Tertullian ad Martyr.:... In primis ergo, benedicti, nolite
contristare Spiritum Sanctum qui vobiscum introit carcerem.
Si enim non vobiscum nune introisset, nee vos illic hodie
fuissetis. Et ideo date operam, ut illic vobiscum perseveret :
ita vos inde perducat ad Dominum. ... .

... Bonum agonem subituri estis, in quo agonothetes Deus
vivus est: Xystarchus Spiritus Sanctus: corona eternitas:
brabium angelicze substantize politia in ceelis, gloria in seecula
seeculorum. Itaque epistates vester Christus Jesus: qui vos
Spiritu unxit, et ad hoe scamma produxit, voluit vos ante
diem agonis ad duriorem tractationem a liberiore conditione
seponere, ut vires corroborarentur in vobis.....

Idem, de Anima, cap. 21:.... Non dabit enim arbor mala
bonos fructus, si non inseratur ; et bona malos dabit, si non
colatur; et lapides filii Abrahze fient, si in fidem Abrahze
formentur, et genimina viperarum fructum peoenitentiz facient,
si venena malignitatis expuerint. Hee erit vis divine
gratie, potentior utique natura, habens in nobis subja-

* Legit Interpres, kal 76 dipa.

LECTURE VIII. 221

centem sibi liberam arbitrii potestatem, quod adtrefovovov
dicitur ; que cum sit ipsa naturalis atque mutabilis, quoquo
vertitur, natura convertitur. Inesse autem nobis 76 atregovo.ov
naturaliter, jam Marcioni ostendimus et Hermogeni ....

Idem, Exh. Cast. ii.: ..... Non est bone et solidee fidei sic
omnia ad voluntatem Dei referre, et ita adulari sibi unum-
quemque dicendo nihil fieri sine nutu ejus, ut non intelli-
gamus esse aliquid in nobis ipsis. Ceterum excusabitur
omne delictum si contenderimus nihil fieri in nobis sine Dei
Wolumbabes',. 2a, 2 see quos vult ipse et velle, qui malum
non vult. Ita nostra est voluntas, cum malum volumus
adversus Dei voluntatem, qui bonum vult......

Idem, adv. Praxeam, ¢. 29: .. . quando et nos pati pro Deo
non possumus nisi Spiritus Dei sit in nobis, qui et loquitur de
nobis, quze sunt confessionis; non ipse tamen patiens, sed
pati posse preestans.

Idem, de Patientia, 1: ..... Atque utinam erubescere istud
remedium ferat, uti pudor non exhibendi quod aliis suggestum
imus, exhibendi fiat magisterium. Nisi quod bonorum quo-
rundam, sicuti et malorum intolerabilis magnitudo est: ut
ad capienda et prestanda ea, sola gratia divine inspirationis
operetur: nam quod maxime bonum id maxime penes Deum,
nec alius id, quam qui possidet, dispensat, ut cuique dig-
MABUM S ereis

Idem, ¢.15:.... Nam ubi Deus ibidem et alumna ejus, pati-
entia scilicet. Cum ergo Spiritus Dei descendit, individua pati-
entia comitatur eum. Si non eam cum spiritu admiserimus in
nobis morabitur semper? Immo nescio an diutius perseveret.
Sine sua comite ac ministra omni loco ae tempore angatur
necesse est. Quodcunque inimicus ejus inflixerit, solus
sustinere non poterit, carens instrumento sustinendi. Heee
patientiz ratio, hee disciplina, heee opera ceelestis et vere,
seilicet Christiane ; non ut illa patientia gentium terre falsa,
probosa.

Idem. De Virg. Vel. c.1.... Hac lege fidei manente, cetera
jam disciplinee et conversationis admittunt novitatem correc-
tionis, operante scilicet et proficiente usque ad finem gratia Dei.
Quale est enim ut diabolo semper operante et adjiciente ad
iniquitatis ingenia, opus Dei aut cessaverit, aut proficere

222 APPENDIX.

destiterit? cum propterea Paracletum miserit Dominus, ut
quoniam humana mediocritas omnia semel capere non poterat,
paulatim dirigeretur, et ordinaretur, et ad perfectum perdu-
ceretur disciplina ab illo vicario Domini Spiritu Saneto”....
“ Quze est ergo Paracleti administratio nisi heec, quod disci-
pina dirigitur, quod Seripture revelantur, quod intellectus
reformatur, quod ad meliora proficitur 2”... ..

On Montanism.

“ Tertullian,” says bishop Kaye, “who believed that Mon-
tanus was commissioned to complete the Christian revelation,
eould not deem him inferior to the apostles, by whom it was
only obscurely and imperfectly developed.” This in answer
to Lardner, who says, “ that the Montanists could not think
his inspiration equal to that of the apostles, as it did not
relate to the great articles of faith, but chiefly to matters of
external order and discipline.”

Did they not hold his inspiration to be from the same
Spirit, and given with a view to perfect practice rather than
teach a new doctrine or system ?

Idem, de Monogamia 3: ..... eur non potuerit post apo-
stolos idem Spiritus superveniens ad deducendam disciplinam
in omnem veritatem, per gradus temporum (secundum quod
Keclesiastes, Tempus omni rei, inquit) supremam jam carni
fibulam imponere, jam non oblique a nuptiis avocans sed
exerte 2 nuptiis avocans, quum magis nune tempus m collecto
factum sit, annis circiter ctx exinde productis? Nonne ipse
apud te retractares, Vetus hee disciplina est, preemonstrata
jam tune in carne Domini et voluntate; dehine in Aposto-
lorum ejus tam consiliis quam exemplis. Olim sanctitati
huie destinabamur. Nihil xovt Paracletus inducit : quod pree-
monuit definit : quod sustinuit exposuit. Et nune recogitans
ista, facile tibi persuadebis multo magis unicas nuptias
competisse Paracleto praedicare, qui potuit et nullas. Magis-
que credendum temperasse illum, quod et abstulisse decuisset
si que velit Christus intelligas. In hoe quoque, Paracletum
agnoscere debes advoeatum, quod a tota continentia infirmi-
tatem tuam excusat. Secedat nune mentio Paracleti ut nostri

LECTURE VIII. 223

alicujus auctoris. Evolvamus communia instrumenta serip-
turarum pristmarum. Hoe ipsum demonstratur a nobis
neque novyam neque extraneam esse Monogamie disciplinam,
immo et antiquam et propriam Christianorum, ut Paracletum
restitutorem potius sentias ejus, quam institutorem.....
Idem, cap. 14:.... Si enim Christus abstulit quod Moyses
preecepit, quia ab initio non fuit sic, nec sic ideo ab alia
venisse virtute reputabitur Christus; cur non et Paracletus
abstulerit, quod Paulus indulsit? quia et secundum matri-
monium ab initio non fuit, nee ideo suspectus habendus sit,
quasi spiritus alienus, tantum ut Deo et Christo dignum sit,
quod superinducitur? Si Deo et Christo dignum fuit duri-
tiam cordis tempore expleto compescere, cur non dignius sit
et Deo et Christo infirmitatem carnis tempore jam collectiore
diseutere Si justum est matrimonium non separari, utique et
non iterari honestum est. Denique, apud seculum utrumque
in bona disciplina deputatur, aliud Concordiz nomine, aliud
Pudicitize. Regnavit duritia cordis usque ad Christum; regna-
verit et infirmitas carnis usque ad Paracletum. Nova lex
abstulit repudium, habuit quod auferret. Nova Prophetia,
secundum matrimonium, non minus repudium prioris. Sed
facilius duritia cordis Christo cessit quam infirmitas carnis. .. .
Idem, De Virg. Vel. 1: Regula quidem fidei una omnino
est sola immobilis, et irreformabilis, credendi scilicet in unicum
Deum omnipotentem mundi conditorem, et Filium ejus Jesus
Christum, natum ex Virgine Maria, crucifixum sub Pontio
Pilato, tertia die resuscitatum a mortuis, receptum in ccelis
sedentem nune ad dexteram Patris, venturum judicare vivos
et mortuos, per carnis etiam resurrectionem. Hace lege fidei
manente cetera jam discipline et conversationis admittunt
novitatem correctionis operante scilicet et proficiente usque
ad finem gratia Dei. Quale est enim ut diabolo semper
operante et adjiciente quotidie ad iniquitates ingenia, opus
Dei aut cessaverit aut proficere destiterit? cum propterea
Paracletum miserit Dominus ut quoniam humana mediocritas
omnia semel capere non poterat paulatim dirigeretur, et
ordinaretur, et ad perfectum perduceretur disciplina ab illo
vicario Domini Spiritu Saneto. ‘‘ Adhuc inquit, multa, habeo
loqui vobis, sed nondum potestis ea bajulare : Cum venerit ille

224 APPENDIX.

Spiritus veritatis deducet vos in omnem veritatem et super-
venientia renunciabit vobis.” Sed et supra de hoe ejus opere
pronunciavit. Que est ergo Paracleti administratio nisi heee
quod disciplina dirigitur, quod scripture revelantur, quod
intellectus reformatur, quod ad meliora proficitur? Nihil sine
eetate, et omnia tempus expectant. Denique Ecclesiastes,
Tempus, inquit, omni rei. Aspice ipsam creaturam paulatim
ad fructum promoverl..... Sie et justitia (nam idem Deus
justitiz et creature) primo fuit in rudimentis, Natura Deum
metuens: dehine per Legem et Prophetas promovit in infan-
tiam : dehine per Evangelium effervuit in juventutem: nune
per Paracletum componitur in maturitatem. Hie erit solus
a Christo magister et dicendus et verendus. Non enim ab se
loquitur, sed quee mandantur a Christo. Hie solus ante-
cessor, quia solus post Christum. Hune qui receperunt veri-
tatem consuetudini anteponunt. Hune qui audierunt usque
nunc, non olim, prophetantem, Virgines contegunt. . . .

Idem, c. 13: Et si a Deo confertur continentiz virtus ;
quod gloriaris quasi non acceperis! Si vero non accepisti,
quid habes quod datum tibi non est? Hoe ipso autem constat
a Deo datam tibi non esse quod illam non soli Deo prestas !
Videamus ergo quod humanum est an firmum sit et verum.

Idem, de Monog. ¢.1: ... Penes nos autem quos “ spiri-
talis” merito dici facit aguitio spiritalium charismatum, &e.

Idem, de Pudicit. c. 21: .... Ecclesia Spiritus per spiri-
talem hommem, non ecclesia numerus episcoporum. . . .

Idem, con. Manic. iv. 22: In spiritu homo constitutus,
preesertim cum gloriam Det conspicit, vel cum per ipsum Deus

loquitur, necesse est excidat sensu, obumbratus scilicet virtute
divina....

On Donatism.

August. Ep. 76. Class. 2: Attenditis falsa que vobis
dicuntur ab hominibus, aut mentientibus aut errantibus
de traditione codicum divinorum est in heeretica separatione
moriamini: et non attenditis quod vobis ipsi codices dicunt
ut in catholica pace vivatis.

LECTURE VIII. 225

Ibid. 2: Fingitis vos ante tempus messis fugere permixta
zizania ; quia vos estis sola zizania: nam si frumenta essetis
permixta zizania toleraretis, et a segete Christi non vos
divideretis. .....

Ibid. 3: Ile communicat malis qui consentit factis malo-
rum, non qui tolerat in agro dominico zizania usque ad
messem, vel paleam usque ad ultimam ventilationem.....

Ibid. 4: Si daptismum vos soli habetis, quid apud vos facit
baptismus Maximianistarum ... .¢

Ibid. Cont. Donatist. Ep. 48, vol. v. p. 586: Quisquis ergo
huie epistole respondere se preeparat, ante denuntio, ne mihi
dicat: Illi codices dominicos ignibus tradiderunt, ili simu-
lacris gentium sacrificaverunt, illi nobis iniquissimam perse-
cutionem fecerunt; et vos eis in omnibus consensistis.
Breviter enim respondeo quod szepe respondi: aut falsa
dicitis, aut, si vera sunt, non ad frumenta Christi, sed ad
eorum paleam pertinent ista que dictis.....

Ibid. 49: Omissis ergo istis morarum tendiculis ostendat
Ecclesiam vel in sola Africa, perditis tot gentibus, retinendam,
vel ex Africa in omnibus gentibus reparandam atque adim-
plendam.....,

S. Optati Afri Milevitani Episcopi de Schismate Donatistarum,
libvas 1s:

“ Tempestas persecutionis peracta et definita est. Jubente
Deo, indulgentiam mittente Maxentio, (anno 311) Christianis
libertas est restituta. Botrus et Celestius, ut dicitur, apud
Carthaginem ordinari cupientes, operam dederunt, ut absen-
tibus Numidis, soli vicini episcopi peterentur, qui ordina-
tionem apud Carthaginem celebrarent. Tune suffragio totius
populi Cecilianus cligitur: et manus imponente Felice
Aptungitano, episcopus ordinatur. Botrus et Celestius de
spe sua dejecti sunt. Brevis auri et argenti sedenti Ceci-
liano, sicuti delegatum a Mensurio fuerat, traditur, adhibitis
testibus. Convocantur supra memorati seniores, qui faucibus
avaritie commendatam ebiberant preedam. Cum reddere
cogerentur subduxerunt communioni pedem. Non minus et

Q

226 APPENDIX.

ambitores, quibus et ordinari non contigit: neenon et Lueilla,
que jamdudum ferre non potuit disciplinam, cum omnibus
suis potens et factiosa femina, communioni misceri noluit.
Sic tribus convenientibus causis et personis, factum est
ut malignitas haberet effectum.

19.

Schisma igitur illo tempore confuse mulieris iracundia
peperit, ambitus nutrivit, avaritia roboravit. Ab his tribus
personis contra Ceecilianum cause confictze sunt, ut vitio
diceretur. Ad Secundum Tigisitanum missum est, ut Cartha-
ginem yeniretur: proficiscuntur omnes supra memorati tradi-
tores, suscepti hospitio ab avaris, ab ambitoribus, ab iratis: non
a eatholicis, quorum petitione Czecilianus fuerat ordinatus. In-
terea ad Basilicam, ubi cum Ceciliano tota civica frequentia
fuerat, nullus de supradictis accessit. Tune a Ceeciliano man-
datum est: ‘‘Si est quod in me probetur, exeat accusator et
probet.” Ilo tempore a tot inimicis nihil in eum potuit confingi:
sed de ordinatore suo, quod ab iis falso traditor diceretur, me-
ruit infamari. Iterum a Ceciliano mandatum est, ut si Felix
in se, sicut illi arbitrabantur, nihil contulisset, ipsi tanquam
adhue diaconum ordinarent Cecilianum. Tune Purpurius solita
malitia fretus, quasi et Ceecilianus filius sororis ejus esset, sic
ait: ‘Exeat hue quasi imponatur illi manus in Episcopatu,
et quassetur illi caput de poenitentia.” His rebus compertis,
tota Ecclesia Czecilianum retinuit, ne se latronibus tradidisset.
Illo tempore aut reus de sede debebat expelli, aut commu-
nicari debuit innocenti. Conferta erat ecclesia populis: plena
erat cathedra episcopalis: erat altare suo loco, in quo paci-
fici episcopi retro temporis obtulerant, Cyprianus, Lucianus,
et czteri. Sic exitum est foras, et altare contra altare
erectum est; et ordinatio illicite celebrata est ; et Majorinus
qui Lector in diaconio Ceeciliani fuerat, domesticus Lucille,
ipsa suffragante, Episcopus ordinatus est a traditoribus, qui
in concilio Numidize (ut superius diximus) crimina sua sibi
confessi sunt, et indulgentiam sibi invicem habuerunt. Mani-
festum est ergo exiisse de Ecclesia, et ordinatores qui tradi-
derunt, et Majorinum, qui ordinatus est.

20.
Interea de suorum ecriminum fonte, qui apud eos multorum

LECTURE VIII. 227

flagitiorum venis exuberaverat, unum traditionis convicium
in ordinatorem Ceeciliani derivandum esse putaverunt: provi-
dentes quod fama duas res similes uno tempore loqui non
posset: ut erimina in silentium mitterent sua, vitam infa-
mare conati sunt alienam : et cum possent ipsi ab innocentibus
argui, innocentes arguere studuerunt, mittentes ubique litteras
livore dictante conscriptas, quas inter czeteros actus habemus
in posterum......

Of administering Baptism Optatus speaks thus to his oppo-
nent Parmenianus a Donatist, lib.i. cap. v. ... Si peccatoribus
non licet, etiam peccatores vos esse testimonio divino convin-
cimus. Et tamen quia semel licet, non per electum hominem,
sed per quod seme licet, ideo post vos non emendamus, quia
et apud nos et apud vos unum est Sacramentum.....

Of the Holy Spirit, lib. ii. 7.

Ecce jam apud vos dotes esse non possunt; non enim
Spiritum Dei soli vobis vindicare potestis, aut includere quod
intelligitur, et non videtur. Sic enim in Evangelio scriptum
est. ‘“‘ Nam Spiritus Deus est ;” “ et ubi vult aspirat, et voeem
ejus audis, et nescis unde veniat et quo eat.” Permitte
Deum unde velit ire, et quo velit accedere habeat libertatem :
qui audiri potest, et videri non potest. Et tamen studio
eriminandi libenter blasphemare voluisti, ut diceres: “ Nam
in illa Ecclesia quis Spiritus esse potest, nisi pariat filios

Gehenne.”....
Ibid. 20.

Etiam vos ipsi qui sancti et innocentes videri ab hominibus
vultis, dicite, unde est ista sanctitas, quam vobis licentius
usurpatis! quam Joannes apostolus profiteri non audet, qui
ait: Si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos
decipimus &c......

On the Paulicians.

Photii lib. i. ¢. 7. contra Manichzos.

‘Qeatros 8 THY Kowwviay tod Tyslov gdpaTos Kal aluaros
Xpicrod rod Oeod yudv pupiais tBpeot mAVvovtes, av0d€xecOal
act oGpa Kal alua, tepatoAoyotvres Ta SeoToTLKa pryyata, &

Qz

228 APPENDIX.

cal n /
xal aot peradiddvra tois AvoordAos eimeiy’ AaBere, padyere Kal
, > > > bY S BAG eae /
mleTe, GAN ovK apTov ToOEY 7 Olvovy TpoceporTa.
Ps
Idem, c. 9. [TX.]
Kadoduxy 8& éxkAnolay ta éavTGv Kadovor cuvédpia jviKa
/ \ \ > tal , «. / fal > >
pddusta mpos tovs evoeBeis Adyouvs Kal ouvenTioELs KLVoUoL Kad
< \ \ > a Cee ax X ld > NW 3 X\
€avTovs yap Tpovevyas Kadovow avTGv TA ouvEdpia, OV pV GAAG
/ /
kal TO cwTiplov SiamTVvovTes BanTicpa, DromAaTTovTa, TapadE-
3X XX ~ , / cy7. ioe fal 7 Ca
xec0ar adtd, Ta TOD EvdayyeAlov pryata tH Tod Bantiopatos pwvy
ua \
imoBdddovtes* Kal yap pac, 6 Kvpwos épn* "Eye elute ro top TO
ROU ote es ate a we ie
n a an Lovee rd
wea eeeess GAAG Kal TOs Taldas adtGv, t7d0 TOV THs ’ExkAn-
/ >) / , / ’ > an
alas TpecButepwv, aixpadtwotas Aoyw ToAAGKis Tap avTols KaTeE-
XOMEVOV, TO ToTNpio afodor PoticOjvar Barticparer Avoitedeiv
- , , \ \ A /, c / >
TO o@pat. TOV Te oTaUpdY Kal TO BdaTicpa ol Taons wedrelas
an /
Noyorouobyres avag.or, pry pevtTor ye SiaBalvew THY TovT@V evEp-
lal X\
yevav eis Woxijs Kapow, 7) Twa GAAnv Tadrns Opedrctav. Nat oy
lal , n na x
Kal Tis Kowwvlas eioly avTGv odk dAlyou TOD Tyuiov TdpaTos Kal
aipatos Xpiotod rod Ocot jyudv. *AAAG TodTo Tpbs eEaTarnY TOV
3 / / ’ \ XX a > / OX \
amovotéepwv petadapBavovow. "Ent 5€ tots eipnwevois ovde Tovs
c a > / / ION x \ € a
Ths KaBoAuKhs “ExxAnotas mpeaBuTepovs, ovd€ Tovs AoiTOUs LEpeEts
> ! 4 , \ \ \ A , eve a
amodexovta’ bidT. act TO Kata Xpiordv cuvedptov ot tepets Kal
mpecBvTEpor TOD aod ouvEoTHcaYTO. Tovs pEvTOL Tap avTots
€ / / b] / > € cal b>) \ / \ /
lepewy Tag éemeXoVTas OvX Lepets GAAG ovVEKOHNOUS Kal VoTapiovs
erovopdtovow. Obrou b€ ovre cxipare ovTE dtalryn ovTE Ti GAA@
, al nr X\
tpomm Biov cewvdrepov emitedodyTt, TO Siaopov ait@y mpos TO
TAHOoS emOElKVULTAL.

Petri Siculi Historia.
E sex Manicheorum sectz capitibus seu paradoxis. [y’.]
Tplrov. ro rthv Oelay Kal dpixtyy Tdv aylov protnplwy Tod
gopatos Kal aiwaros ToD Kuplov kal Ocod jay petadnww damo-
Tpéwat, ov pdvov 6 AAAQ kal GAXovs TeEpl TodTo TElOe olecOau
A€yovres Sti ovk Fv Aptos Kal oivos, dv 6 Kuvpuos edidov Trois pabn-
tais avtod én rod delmvov' GAAG ovpPorLKGs TA pyuata avTod
avtois €dfd0u ws aptov Kal oivor.
Ibid. ¢’.
“Extov" TO tTovs mpeaButépovs tis "ExxAnolas amotpemecdau
not d€ dru THY ot TpeaBUTeEpor Kata Tod Kuplov: cvv7xOnoav, Kal

LECTURE VIII. 229

4,

dua Totro od xpi adrovs dvopaterOa, WAG TO dvdpare Kal pov@
amex Oavopevot.

Peter, after summing up the unhappiness, which Sergius
(who called himself Tychicus, after the fellow-worker of St.
Paul) had caused by his teaching, indignantly asks, Ka? 6 ro-

4 fan / o iy > / c
TOUTMY KAKOY Tapatios TpocKUVElTOaL apa delet ws LlapakAntos ;
kal yap of wadyral atrod ev TO dvdyartt adrov ebydpuevor N€yovow"
c > X\ ay « / /, pI / ¢ ° c / 3) \ lal
n €vX7) TOD aylov TVEvpaTos EhEenoeL Has’ O 6€ now, Eyw TOV
KaKOV TovT@V avaitids Ely? TOAAA yap TapryyeAAov avrots eK TOU
aixpadurifew tovs ‘Pwmalovs admoorivat Kal ovK bmjKOVodY pol.

On the Montanistic character of Romish Developement.

Assertionis Lutherane confutatio per Reverendum Patrem
Roffensem Episcopum. (Fisher, cons. A. D. 1504.)

Articulus decimus octavus.

“ Indulgentiz sunt pi fraudes fidelium, et remissiones
bonorum operum, et sunt de numero eorum quee licent et non
de numero eorum que expediunt.”

Multos fortasse movet, indulgentiis istis nos usque adeo
fidere, quod earum usus in Heclesia videatur esse recentior,
et admodum sero repertus apud Christianos. Quibus ego
respondeo non certo constare, a quo primum tradi coeperunt.
Fuit enim nonnullus earum usus (ut aiunt) apud Romanos
vetustissimus. Quod vel ex stationibus in urbe frequentatis-
simis, intelligi datur. Sed et Gregorium primum (A.D. 590)
aiunt, aliquas suo tempore concessisse. Neque cuique obscurum
est, quin posterioribus ingeniis multa sunt, tam ex Evangeliis
quam ex Scripturis ceteris, nunc excussa luculentius, et
intellecta perspicacius, quam fuerant olim. Nimirum aut
quia veteribus adhue non perfracta glacies, neque sufficiebat
ilorum zetas, totum illud Seripturarum pelagus ad amussim
expendere: aut quia semper in amplissimo scripturarum
campo, post messores quantumvis exquisitissimos, spicas
adhue intactas licebit colligere. Sunt enim adhue in Evan-
geliis loca pleraque satis obscura, quee non dubito, posteritati
multo fient apertiora. Cur enim istud desperabimus, quum
ideo traditum sit Evangelium, ut a nobis penitus et ad

230 APPENDIX .

unguem intelligatur. Quum igitur in ecclesiam suam amor
Christi, non minus nunc quam antea, fortis perseverat, cujus
etiam potestas nihil hactenus est imminuta: quumque sacer
ille Spiritus perpetuus ejusdem ecclesiz custos et edituus
fuerit, cujus dona tam indesinenter et eeque copiose fluunt,
sicut ab initio, quis ambigere potest, quin ad eorum, (que
jam in Evangelio supersunt incognita) claram notitiam, in-
genia posteriorum illustrabuntur*. Czeterum (ut dicere
ccepimus) multa sunt, de quibus in primitiva ecclesia nulla
queestio facta fuerat, que tamen posteriorum diligentia,
subortis dubitationibus, jam evaserunt perspicua. Nemo certe
(ut ad negotium nostrum redeamus) jam dubitat orthodoxus
an purgatorium sit, de quo tamen apud priscos illos nulla vel
quam rarissima fiebat mentio. Sed et Greecis ad hune usque
diem, non est creditum purgatorium esse. Legat qui velit
Greecorum veterum commentarios et nullum quantum opinor,
aut quam rarissimum de purgatorio sermonem inyeniet. Sed
neque Latini, simul omnes ac sensim, hujus rei veritatem
conceperunt. Neque tam necessaria fuit, sive purgatorii, seu
indulgentiarum fides in primitiva ecclesia atque nune est.
Nam tune usque adeo charitas ardebat, ut paratissimi fue-
rant singuli pro Christo mortem oppetere. Rara fuerunt
crimina, et ea que contigerunt magna fuerant canonum seve-
ritate vindicata. Nune aut bona pars populi, magis Chris-
tianismum exureret, quam rigorem canonum pateretur, ut
non absque Sancti Spiritus dispensatione factum sit, quum
post tot annorum curricula, purgatorii fides, et indulgentiarum
usus ab orthodoxis sit receptus.

The acknowledgment of the novelty of purgatory and
indulgences; the /Acarsay argument for referring the com-
mencement of the latter to the time of Gregory I.; the claim
to progressive illustration, and xew developement of the sense
of Scripture; the assertion of the unceasing and abundant
flow of spiritual gifts in the Church; the quiet assumption of
the truth of those doctrines, and resting them upon their
expediency, in the decay of true piety, rather than Scripture,
as attested by primitive tradition, will not escape the atten-

* alia manu, illustrabunda sint.

LECTURE VIII. 231

tion of the reader. The theory of developement is plainly
no new scheme of papistic controversy, but is essentially Mon-
tanistic.

On the Moderation of the Church of England.
Puller, Moderation of Ch. p. 63. ¢. v. 7.

‘** Though the moderation of the Church shews itself in
that it doth not vain-gloriously boast of the Spirit, yet it may
well consist with her excellent modesty to believe of herself,
that in the interpretation of holy Scripture, she hath such an
assistance of the Spirit of God as is promised to the Church
in general, the Church of England being a true part thereof,
subject to and governed by the word of God.... (Can. i39.)...
It may be presumed that where the lawful representative of a
church is gathered together rightly, the assistance of God’s
Spirit is not wanting: wherefore it argues immoderate pre-
sumption in them who receive with impious scorn our confes-
sion of our undoubted hope, that the Church of England
hath the testimony of the Spirit of God in her interpretation
of Scripture; and yet these depravers of the Scripture shall
with glorious assurance affirm to themselves and their com-
plices the wonderful illapses and impulses of the divine Spirit,
when at the same time they contradict the holy Catholic
Church and themselves; and when also many pretenders to
a double portion of the Spirit have acted as the eldest sons of
Belial. Whereas indeed, the testimony of the Spirit in the
hearts of the faithful themselves, for the interpreting holy
Scripture, and determining doubtful matters, hath been more
often urged than understood: yea, if we could suppose it was
not a precarious assertion, to be sure it is an improper method
to convince gainsayers, yet to those who are out of commu-
nion with the Church, it must needs be a most wacertain and
insufficient testimony.

8. Many we know there have been and are, who pretend to
such extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit as were peculiar
to the first ages of the Church: thus doth the church of
Rome (as did the Donatists of old) make such miraculous
testimonies the necessary sign of a true church. And some-

232 APPENDIX.

what like both these, are the enthusiasts of our late age, who
would make the privileges of the Holy Spirit special and sin-
gular to their inclosures ; affirming a particular inspiration
of the Spirit absolutely necessary, 1. to convey into our minds
the sense and interpretation of Scripture; 2.to assure all Chris-
tians of the certainty of their salvation; 3. to furnish them
with words and petitions in prayer; 4. to convince any of the
authority of holy Scriptures and the certainty of faith. Our
Church declares [Hom. Whit-Sunday, part 2.] “ It is not the
duty and part of any Christian, under pretence of the Holy
Ghost, to bring in his own dreams and phantasies into the
Church ; for such blaspheme and belie the Holy Ghost:
whereas, ‘‘ the proper office of the Holy Ghost is not to insti-
tute and bring in new ordinances, contrary to His doctrine
before taught ;” the doing of which the homily declares ‘“ is
the sign of a false church, and of such as are deceivers.”

It is to be acknowledged, that the discourses concerning
the operation and testimony of the Spirit are lable to many
difficulties; but the principal conclusions which are rightly
made in this matter, I suppose may be truly made out to be
the sense of our Church declared in her own words: ist, for
interpretation of holy Scripture, the reason why our Church
holds such extraordinary illumination not necessary is, be-
cause all things necessary for our salvation are plain to
understand, that is, as the Homilies deliver, to such as use
the means, and so far as their explicit knowledge is required.
(2nd Homily of Seripture). For our Church doth speak of
the illumination of the Spirit and interpretation of Seripture,
as generally joined with the use of means: “ when any apply
their minds to the study of the Scripture, to hear, read, and
search, thus God openeth the dark things of Scripture unto
faithful people. *“ It cannot be,” saith St. Chrysostom, “ that
such should be left without help.” When our homily mentions
the Holy Ghost “inspiring the true meaning of the Serip-
ture,” it adds, “to them that with humility and diligence do
search therefore,” which clause is not to be left out (as it is by:
the author of the Scriptures Genuine Interpreter, p. 5.)
“Those that thus thankfully, cheerfully, and diligently hear.
read, meditate, and ruminate on holy Scripture, such haye the

LECTURE VIII. 233

sweet juice, spiritual effect, taste, comfort, and consolation
of them ;” which doctrine of our Church is most intelligible
and sober, and different from what some others mystically
have discoursed of concerning spiritual gusts, which they
attribute to accountable communications. The ordinary
means to which the interpretation of Scripture is generally
annexed, our Church judgeth the same which Dr. Hammond
mentions in his Postscript concerning divine illuminations :
study, search, meditation, the collation of places of Scripture, or
bringing one place together with another, the use of reason and
learning and skill in original languages: the help of our spiri-
tual guides, the declarations of God’s Church: the analogy of
received doctrine: constant prayer for God's blessing: the
necessary assistance and gracious aids of God's Spirit. (Homily
of places of Scripture, part 2; 1st and 2nd Homily of Scrip-
ture; 3rd part of Homily for Rogation week.)

.... Our Church doth not judge that the particular immediate
testimony of God’s Spirit is necessary to every Chistian for
his comfortable assurance of salvation ; but supposeth that the
best assurance of salvation is from the sure trust and belief
of God’s promises: and a certain consciousness of our own
sincerity, according to what is required of us. ‘“ If you would
be sure of your faith, try it by your living: the true Christian
faith is no dead, vain, or unfruitful thing. Therefore, let us
by such virtues as spring out of faith shew our election to be
sure and stable. Homily of Salvation; Homily of Alms-
deeds, part 2; Homily of Falling from God, part 1.

Our Church doth not judge an immediate gift of the Spirit
necessary to every Christian, “to furnish them with words in
prayer =” but doth rightly suppose, that the Holy Spirit doth
effectually assist every sincere and devout person using a
good form of prayer; because He by whom the Spirit is
given to the Church did teach his disciples, and in them all
Christians, a form of prayer, requiring them to use the same.
Our Church hath also furnished those of her communion with
general prayers, according to their occasions ; judging also
that such common prayers are most available before God,
(Homily of Prayer,) and the means of obtaining the Holy
Spirit to be most assisting us in our prayers, our Church

234 APPENDIX.

declares is for us, “ to humble ourselves in his sight, and in all
our prayers both public and private, to have our minds fully
fixed on Him,” so that our Church supposeth those that are
thus humble to pray by the Spirit.

[C. vi. 8. Others there are, who deliver that an infallible cer-
tainty of assent, wrought only by the immediate extraordinary
operation of the Spirit of God, is necessarily in every true be-
liever. Now, though our Church doth, as much as any can do,
own the necessity of God’s grace and Holy Spirit to prevent,
assist and follow us, especially in what concerns divine matters ;
yet our Church is not so bold with the Holy Spirit of God,
to affirm that such an inward testimony of the divine Spirit
working together in our spirits an infallible assent is so
necessary to assure us of the certainty of faith and of the
authority of holy Scriptures, and of the truth of other doe-
trines in question, as without which we could have no such
belief as is required to salvation. Which precarious presump-
tion tends to render useless all those sufficient evidences we
have of divine truth, by the gracious means which God hath
appointed ordinary in his Church: and whereas the asserters
of this extraordinary spirit exclude all other means of real
certainty as insufficient, such a doctrine being false must
needs tend also to overthrow all Christian religion. Such is
the sad consequence of the doctrines of Dr. J. Owen in his
Reason of Faith, and Mr. J. Serjeant in his Faith Vindicated
from possibility of falsehood, London, 1667, 8vo, in making,
though on differing grounds, an infallible assent necessary to
a true belief..... To preserve us from these uncertainties,
among the very many reasons which we have from rational
and moral evidence, whereby the truth of the divine testimony
is confirmed to us abundantly, our Church owns no one greater
(since the miraculous gifts) than the testimony of God's Church
now and in all ages since Christ and his apostles time.” |

From which few passages, cited in comparison of those
very many to the same purpose which abound in the Homilies
for Whit-Sunday ; the Homily of Good Works; of Salvation ;
of Falling from God; of Alms-deeds : it is most evident that
our Church judgeth rightly concerning the Holy Spirit of
God; and lays down the best rules for discerning who have

LECTURE VIII. 235

the Holy Spirit; for according to the doctrine of our Church,
believing and obeying the gospel and having the Spirit are all
one. ‘“ For how can a man have true faith when he liveth
ungodly, and denieth Christ with his deeds; contrariwise, he
is most inspired with the Holy Ghost who is most changed in
his life. So then this is to be taken for a most true lesson,
taught by Christ’s own mouth, that the works of the moral
commandments of God be the very true works of faith, which
lead to the blessed life to come.” (Homily of Good Works,
part 2.)

Our Church also doth suppose that those who receive most
of the Spirit, are such as are most truly virtuous and good:
such have most of the divine grace to confirm and strengthen
them in all goodness, as it is in the office for the holy com-
munion, “if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we
receive that holy sacrament, then we dwell in Christ and
Christ in us.” “ Wherefore, if any say, O but how shall I
know that the Holy Ghost is within me? some man will
perchance say, Forsooth, as a tree is known by the fruit, so is
also the Holy Ghost: the fruits of the Holy Ghost according
to the mind of Paul are these ; love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, Xe.
Contrariwise, the deeds of the flesh are these ; adultery, forni-
eation, &c. and such like. Here now is the glass, wherein
thou mayest behold thyself, and discern whether thou hast
the Holy Ghost within thee or the spirit of the flesh. If
thou see thy works be virtuous and good, consonant to the
prescript rule of God’s word, savory and tasting not of the
flesh but the Spirit, then assure thyself that thou art endued
with the Holy Ghost: otherwise in thinking well of thyself
thou dost but deceive thyself. The Holy Spirit doth always
declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts.” Sermon
for Whit-Sunday, part 1.

“ But to conclude, (part 2) ye shall briefly take this short
lesson; wheresover ye find the spirit of arrogancy and pride, the
spirit of envy, hatred, contention, cruelty, &c., assure yourselves
that there is the spirit of the devil, and not of God, albeit
they pretend outwardly to the world never so much holiness.
For as the gospel teacheth us, the Spirit of Jesus is a good.

236 APPENDIX.

holy, sweet, lowly, merciful Spirit, full of charity and love,
full of forgiveness and pity, not rendering evil for evil, extre-
mity for extremity. According to which rule, if any man
live uprightly, of him it may be safely pronounced, that he
hath the Holy Ghost within him: if not, then it is a plain
token that he doth usurp the name of the Holy Ghost in
vain.”

As for the manner and measure of the operations of the
Holy Spirit, the modesty and moderation of our Church doth
not decree any thing, lest, as St. Austin saith, “ human in-
firmity proceed beyond what is safe.” Yet our Church gives
a right account in sundry places of its Homilies, (Homily of
Falling from God, part 2.) “how the Holy Spirit comes to be
withdrawn from men: by all these examples of holy scrip-
ture we know, that as we forsake God, so shall he even forsake
us. When he withdraweth from us his word, the right
doctrine of Christ, his gracious assistance and aid which is
ever joined with his word; and leaveth us to our own wit
and will and strength; he declareth then he beginneth to
forsake us ;” which is (Homily of Falling from God, pt. 1), as it
follows, ‘‘ after any do neglect the same, if they be unthankful
to him, if they order not their lives according to his example
and doctrine.” From whence we see also, that our Church
judgeth “the promise of the Spirit is conditional: for as
God for his part delivered his Son to suffer death for us, so
again we for our parts should walk in a godly life, as becometh
his children so to do. He that is first made good by the
Spirit and grace of God, afterward bringeth forth good
fruits.” (Hom. Alms-deeds, part 2.)

As for those who affirm a supernatural and immediate
illumination necessary, without which other ordinary means
are insufficient, either to give us certainty of the authority or
interpretation of divine writ, they affirm that which is no-
where declared: that which we have little reason to credit
from them that affirm so: we having neither experience of
their extraordinary knowledge and goodness, but have found
them most mistaken of any in their interpretations of Serip-
ture: and also by the notes of having the Spirit delivered in
Seripture, what is quite different hath appeared. The holding

LECTURE VIII. 237

such an opinion tends to lessen the authority of the written
Word of God, and to make the dictates of the human spirit,
if not sometime the diabolical, equal with the holy canon.

And those others, who Jay the stress of the proof of the
authority of the Scripture, and the certainty of faith, and the
interpretation of Scripture upon such uncertainties as only
the internal testimony of the Spirit, (as is yet neither proved
necessary or real; however, of which there is no proof unto
others ;) verily such labour unprofitably to overthrow
Christianity, and render all our faith wncertain. Their doc-
trine leads to such enthusiasm as is not consistent with the
peace of kingdoms, much less the peace of God’s Church.

But such is the constant moderation of our Church, though
it doth reject and oppose all fanatical and ungrounded pre-
tensions of the Spirit; yet our Church most frequently, and
with all humble reverence, owns the necessity of the gracious
aids and assistance of the Spirit.

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