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Hill, George, 1750-1819.
Lectures in divinity
LIBRARY OF FRii^CCTON
I
FEB 2 S 2005
TKEOLCGICAL SEfl'NARY
LECTURES
DIVINITY.
EDINBURGH :
rRINTED BY JOHN STARK, OLD ASSEMBLY CLOSE.
* DEC 19 191
LECTURES \^/^.;r-^^'-:.,
IN
DIVINITY,
BY THE LATE
GEORGE HILL, D. D.
PRINCIPAL OF ST MARY's COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.
EDITED FROM HIS MANUSCRIPT,
BY HIS SON,
ALEXANDER HILL, D.D.
MINISTER OF DAILLY.
FOURTH EDITION.
VOL. I.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH;
AND T. CADELL, STRAND, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXVIL
PREFACE
BY THE EDITOR.
The Author of the following Lectures was appointed Pro-
fessor of Divinity in 1778, and completed the plan which he
had formed for himself, in about four years. In every suc-
ceeding year, he revised with unwearied care that part of his
course which he intended to read to his students ; and not a
few of the Lectures appear to have been recently transcribed.
He took no steps himself for pubhshing them as a whole ;
but he is known to have had this in contemplation ; and at
his death he consigned them to the Editor, in such terms as
impUed that the publication of them would not be in opposi-
tion to his wishes.
It will be agreeable, the Editor believes, to the wishes of
that large proportion of the ministers of the Church of Scot-
land, who went from the hall of St Mary's College with un-
feigned respect for the character and talents of the Author,
to peruse those prelections which commanded the attention
of their earlier years. And he is well persuaded, that there
are many, who, from personal attachment to the Author, or
from a knowledge of his high reputation, are anxious to be-
come acquainted with his sentiments, on points so important
as those which his Lectures embrace.
These considerations alone, however, would not have in-
PREFACE.
duced the Editor to disclose his father's manuscripts to the
pubhc eye. In the conclusion of his opening address, as
Professor of Divinity, the Author pledgt-d hinnself by making
this solemn declaration : " Under the blessing and direction
of the Almighty, in whose hands I am, and to whom I must
give account, no industry or research, no expense of time or
of thought, shall be wanting on my part, to render my labours
truly useful to the students of divinity in this college." It
was under a strong impression that this pledge has been fully
redeemed ; — in the firm belief that the publication of his
theological lectures, one of the principal fruits of the Author's
active and laborious life, will do honour to his memory ; —
and in the anxious hope that the object, for which the Lec-
tures were written, to teach and to defend " the truth as it
is in Jesus," may be thus more largely attained, that the Edi-
tor resolved to present them to the world.
He cannot withdraw from the charge, which he has felt
it both a duty and a pleasure to fulfil, without expressing
the increased veneration, which an attentive perusal of the
Lectures has excited in his bosom for the Author; and
without offering a fervent prayer to God, that the church,
of which he formed so distinguished a member, may never
want men, on whom the example of his diligence and success
may freely operate, who may be equally eminent in biblical
and theological learning, and may cherish his liberal, en-
lightened, and truly Christian views.
The Author himself divided his course into Books, and
Chapters, and Sections, first when he printed the heads of
his Lectures for the use of his students, and afterwards in a
laro-er work, entitled " Theological Institutes." In the
present publication the same arrangement has been adopted.
PREFACE. Vli
This has necessarily led to some inconsiderable changes on
the Lectures, as they were read from the chair. But the
Editor has been scrupulous in making as few other altera-
tions on the manuscript as possible. The introductory dis-
course to the students, which related to the sentiments and
character essential for them to maintain, has been much
abridged, as it bore in some measure upon local circum-
stances in the University of St Andrews. And towards the
end of this work, it will be found, by a reference to the notes,
that those parts of the course have been omitted, which the
Author himself had previously given to the public.
It was the wish of the Editor to subjoin a note of refe-
rence to every quotation made by the Author. But in the
manuscript it frequently happened that there was nothing to
lead him particularly to the passage or authority cited. In
his remote situation he had not access to all the books which
it was necessary to consult ; and even with the assistance of
his friends, he has not been uniformly successful in compar-
ing the quotations with the works from which they are ex-
tracted.
He has annexed to different chapters the names of the
books which the author was accustomed to recommend to his
students, with some of the comments which he made on them.
His remarks, however, were usually delivered without having
been written ; and hence, comparatively few are preserved.
It may be thought, that the printed list of books recom-
mended is far from being complete. But it is to be consi-
dered, that, at the commencement of the Author's labours,
the library of St Andrews was deficient in modern theologi-
cal works ; that those which were more immediately useful
were only gradually procured ; that it was far from being his
VIU PREFACE.
object to load the memory, or to distract the attention of his
students by multifarious reading ; and that, as the business of
his profession occupied his mind to the end of his days, it is
probable that there was no publication of moment, which he
had an opportunity of perusing, of which he did not in his
class-room deliver an opinion.
Manse or Dailly,
April 2S, 1821.
PREFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
It was in contemplation to present the following course of
Lectures complete, by subjoining to this edition the View of
the Constitution of the Church of Scotland, and the Counsels
respecting the Duties of the Pastoral Office, which were pub-
lished during the Author's lifetime. But being unwilling to
make alterations on a work which has been so favourably re-
ceived, the Editor sends it forth in the state in which it ori-
ginally appeared, only freed, he trusts, from many of the er-
rata which had crept into the first edition. Such readers,
as may wish to peruse those parts of the course which are not
contained in this work, will find a note referrinof to them at
the end of the I^ectures.
Manse of Da illy,
April 2], 18-25.
PREFACE
TO THE THIRD EDITION.
The established character of Prhiclpal Hill's Theological
Lectures, and the gratifying testimonies which have been
borne to their value, not in the Scottish church alone, but
also by distinguished men in other portions of the Church of
Christ, have induced the Editor to present them again, un-
changed as to the matter of which they treat.
The form in which they now appear has been adopted with
the view of making them more generally accessible than they
were, and of suiting the convenience, in particular, of Stu-
dents of Divinity. To them, and to readers of every descrip-
tion, the Index, which is subjoined to this Edition, will pro-
bably be useful.
J^.rif, 1833.
In a few days,
THE
PRACTICE
IN THE
SEVERAL JUDICATORIES
OF THE
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
By ALEXANDER HILL, D.D.
MINISTER OF DAILLY.
THIRD EDITION,
GREATLY ENLARGED AND IMPROVED.
MEMOIR
PRINCIPAL HILL.
The Author of the following- course of Lectures was born at St
Andrews in June 1730. His father, Mr John Hill, and his ma-
ternal grandfather, Mr M'Cormick, were collegiate ministers of
that city. By his mother he was great-grand-nephew of Principal
Carstaii's.
His early life was spent at St Andrews. He was always re-
markable for the sedateness and propriety of his behaviour. His
excellent cUspositions endeared him to his companions, as well as
to the members of his family. And the progress which he made
in his studies rendered him an object of general attention. In his
fifteenth year he completed his attendance on the classes of phi-
losophy, and took the degree of A. M.
Even in his boyhood he showed a strong taste for moral and reli-
gioxis subjects. He paid particular attention to the sermons which
he heard. He composed one himself at nine years of age. All
his pursuits pointed to the clerical profession as the object of his
choice ; and, accoi'dingly, having finished his preparatory course,
he entered the Hall of St Mary's College when he was only fif-
teen. He carried with him there the same assiduous application
to study, and the same successful prosecution of it, by which his
academical career had previously been distinguished. Some of his
class-fellows were persons who afterwards rose to literary eminence;
b
XU MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
but, young as he was, the discourse which he wrote on occasion of
the first prize given by the chancellor of the university, was pre-
ferred to that of any of his competitors.
In the months of vacation he was accustomed to visit his uncle,
Dr M'Cormick, who was minister successively of Temple and of
Prestonpans, before he became Principal of the United College of
St Andrews. By him he was introduced to Principal Robertson.
The favourable opinion of that very eminent man it was his happi-
ness to enjoy from the fii^st. And so highly did Principal Ro-
bertson think of his attainments and discretion, that, notwith-
standing his youth, he recommended him, when only seventeen, as
tutor to a branch of the Cawdor family. In that situation he conti-
nued between four and five years, s])ending his time with his pupil
partly in London and partly in Wales, and having also the advantage
of accompanying him for two successive winters to Edinburgh
College. In these two winters he finished his attendance at the
Divinity Hall. He took an active share also in the proceedings
of the Speculative Society, where the talent for public speaking,
which he had cultivated while in London, by frequenting some of
the debating societies of the day, enabled him to distinguish him-
self among the eminent men who were members of that institu-
tion.
An opening having occurred in the University of St Andrews
in 1772, he was appointed Professor of Greek, along with Mr
Morton, who occupied the chair, 1)ut had announced his wish to
retire upon his salary. Mr Hill was then in the 22d year of his
age. His previous studies, and his employment as tutor to Mr
Campbell, had prepared him for the ofllice, and during the fifteen
years that he continued to hold it, he was both a laborious and an
efficient professor. He lectured statedly for the improvement of
his students on the history and literature of Greece ; he drew up a
vocabulary and grammar for their use ; and he had made some pro-
gress in preparing extracts from various Greek authors to be read
in his class, when Mr Dalziel's Collectanea appeared, and answered
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XUl
his object of fui'nishing to his pupils a book, which, at a moderate
expence, would acquaint them with the style and the sentiments of
some of the principal writers of ancient Greece.
In 1775, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Haddington to
preach the Gospel. His connection with that Presbytery arose
from one of his sisters being- married to the Rev. Matthew Mur-
ray, the minister of North Berwick. His powers as a preacher
were immediately called into exercise in the parish church of St
Leonard's, where the Professors and students of the United Col-
lege of St Andrews regularly assemble for the worship of God. He
was assistant, first, to Principal Tullideph, and, next, on the death
of that venerable man, to Principal Watson, who succeeded him.
As a preacher, he commanded attention from the commencement
of his career. The gravity of his appearance, the chasteness of
his delivery, his distinct enunciation, and his clear and harmonious
voice, would have prepossessed any audience in his favour. But
in addition to all this, he had studied human nature, and was richly
furnished with Scriptural knowledge. His discourses were never
jejune or feeble. They bore the marks of a vigorous and reflect-
ing mind. The views which they unfolded made them interesting
to the learned audience before which he preached ; and yet their
train of thought was so natural, and so perspicuously expressed,
that the humblest of his hearers listened to him with profit and
delight.
His celebrity as a preacher was not confined to St Andrews and
its neighbourhood. The living of Coldstream was offered to him
by the Earl of Haddington, and in 1779 he was solicited by the
Lord Provost of Edinburgh to accept of one of the parochial charges
in that city. But he determined on remaining at St Andrews.
Prospects were opening to him there, which could not fail to be in
accordance with his feelings, and which were also agreeable to his
favourite pursuits. In the same year, 1779, a vacancy occurred in
the first charge of the parish of St Andrews, the parish over which
his father had presided. The succession to it was secured to him by
XIV MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
the Earl of Kinnovil, the Chancellor of the University of St An-
drews, who had noticed him when a student, and who continued to
he his steadfast patron and friend. But Mr Hill gave on this oc-
casion a striking instance of that disinterested spirit which charac-
terized him through life. He solicited that Dr Adamson, who then
held the second charge, should be advanced to the first, and that he
himself should be nominated to the second, which in point of emolu-
ment was greatly inferior to the other. The arrangement was
made as he desired. Plis admission took place in June 1 780, ordi-
nation having been given to him in 1778, by the presbytery of Had-
dington, to enable him more efficiently to perform the duties of as-
sistant at St Leonard's. On the death of Dr Adamson in 1808, he
was translated to the first charge, and he continued to hold it till
his own death on December 19, 1819.
From the moment that he entered on his ministerial labours, he
applied himself to them with indefatigable earnestness ; and, till the
infirmities of age disabled him from pursuing them, he furnished a
])right example of ministerial faithfulness. His heart was wholly in
his work ; and he spared no pains to perform it. To the calls of his
people he was ever ready to attend. He became personally ac-
quainted with every one of them, and he took a fatherly concern in
their welfare. Regularly, from year to year, did he visit from house
to house, and afterwards examine that half of the parish which al-
ternately fell to his share. The town w'as the field of his labours
in winter, and the country in summer. A roll of the householders,
w ith every necessary detail respecting themselves and their families,
was made up by him in the covu'se of his visiting, and from that roll
he w^as acciistomed at his examinations to call up the different fa-
milies in the order in which they stood. He thus knew who were
in the practice of attending these meetings, and he -was generally
informed of the cause which prevented others from being present.
The annual roll was ultimately copied out and preserved.
The sick, for whom the prayers of his congregation were asked,
received from him the kindest attention. Such of them as resided
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XV
in the town he gen^-ally saw in the afternoon or evening- of the
Lord's day ; and there were various famiHes containing- aged indivi-
duals who were no longer able to go to the house of God, on whom
he regularly called as a ministei", after the public duties of the sanc-
tuary were finished, and before he commenced the private exercises
in which he engaged with his family.
In the exercises of the jjulpit he delighted and excelled, and to
the very last of his public life, he was followed and admired as an
eloquent and impressive preacher. Some of his best discourses, he
has been heard to say, were written by snatches, at broken inter-
vals, in consequence of interruptions which he met with. But his
practice was to prepare assiduously for instructing his people. His
sermons were written with the utmost care. Being- endowed with
a strong and retentive memory, he never read his discourses in the
pulpit, or used any notes whatsoever. His lectures, too, which were
unusually interesting from the extent of Scriptural and other infor-
mation which they contained, and from the beautifully simple man-
ner in which they exhibited the meaning of the sacred penmen, were
all completely written out, and committed to memory. In a little
note-book which he kept, beginning with the date of his admission
to St Andrews, and ending- in a very altered hand, in the year 1818,
when he ceased to officiate in public, he mai'ked every text upon
which he preached, and the time at which he used it ; and also, all
those portions of Scripture upon which he lectured, and the period
during which he was occupied with each successive portion. The
note-book in fact gives an insight into his character as a minister,
the kind of instruction which he addressed to his people, and the la-
bour which he must have bestowed in preparing it. The texts are very
numerous. In all his discourses he invariably and powerfully pressed
upon his hearers the duty of holy living, because he held every ser-
mon to be defective which had not very distinctly a practical bearing-.
But it appears from the nature and variety of the subjects which he
chose, that the truths of Christianity were the source from which his
practical lessons were drawn, and that his own preaching was really
XVI MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
an exemplification of what he taught in his class, when he said,
" that the preaching- of the Word is one of the means which the
Spirit of God employs to render the instructions and the motives
of the Gospel effectual in producing that character, without which
men cannot he saved." " The most evangelical, the most useful,
and the most acceptable kind of preaching is that in which doctrine
and practice are skilfully blended, in which morality is grounded
upon faith, and the native influence of the revelation of God, in
cherishing the virtue of all who receive it, is illustrated and ap-
phed,"*
He lectured on many single and detached passages, and, in suc-
cessive courses, on the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John ; a
part of the Epistle to the Romans, a part of the first Epistle to the
Corinthians, a part of the Epistle to the Ephesians, the whole of
the Epistle to the Colossians, the two Epistles to the Thessalonians,
the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the two Epistles
of Peter, the three Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, a part of
the Revelation, and all the books of the Old Testament, so as to
give an account of each, — of its peculiar style, of the object for
which it was written, and of the principal matters which it con-
tains. It appears from the note-book that this course of lectures,
on the books of the Old Testament, was completed in two years
and eleven months.
So long as he was able to exert himself, there was no diminution
of energy or mental labour in preparing to edify his people. For
the same evidefnce of the note-book shows that in 1812, in the
63d year of his age, he commenced his lectures on the Gospel by
Luke. He had formerly abstained from commenting on that por-
tion of Scripture, because his colleague Dr Adamson had lectured
largely upon it. The field was open to him after Dr Adamson's
death, and he continued to gather its fruits for his people till near
the end of 1816.
During much the greater part of his ministry, the old practice
* Hill's Theol. Institutes, p. 352.
3
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XVll
of the Churcli of Scotland was maintained of having two separate
discourses at the forenoon meeting for divine service. His col-
league and he divided that part of the day between them, and were
both accustomed to employ it in lecturing to their people. This
will account for such a mass of that species of composition, which
is called lectiires, having been prepared and left by him.
He retained the chair of Professor of Greek till 1788. He was
then removed to St Mary's College ; and first, as Professor of
Divinity, and three years after, as Principal of the College, whose
business it is as well as the Professor's to lecture to the students,
he raised his already high reputation by his prelections ou theology.
They were the fruit of laborious study and research. In compos-
ing them he departed completely from the plan which preceding
professors had adopted, and chalked out one for himself. What
the nature of his plan was, it is unnecessary to specify here. It
appears from the lectures themselves ; and he has stated it in con-
trast with other plans which might have been followed, in the
account which he gives of the arrangement of his course. To
complete his object, and to qualify himself for stating and dis-
cussing the different opinions which had been formed on contro-
verted points in theology, he read and studied with intense applica-
tion. But in framing his lectures, and explaining the views which
he conceived it right to entertain, the Scriptures were invariably
the rule by which he walked. And the writer of this Memoir
dwells with fond recollection on his father's appearance and manner,
when, pacing to and fro in his study with the Greek Testament or
a Bible in his hand, he dictated from time to time to the amanu-
ensis whom he occasionally employed. It was his object to con-
dense and improve his lectures, and, year after year, the portions
which were to be read to the students, were revised with unre-
mitting assiduity. They were left in the state in which they have
been submitted to the public, and the reception which has been
given to them, not only in Britain, but also in Ireland, and Ame-
rica, shews the high estimation in which they are held.
XVUl MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
It is, perhaps, as an eminent divine, who has brought into nar-
row compass, and exhibited in a clear and masterly manner, a mass
of theological lore, and whose candour and fairness in stating the
opinions of others entitle him to rare and unqualified praise, that
the name of Principal Hill will be best known to posterity. But
the time is not yet gone past, when the active share which he took
in ecclesiastical affairs is remembered by many, and his name in
connection with the judicatories of the church is familiar to alL
Having been ordained an elder in 1773, he sat for the first time as a
member of the General Assembly in that year; and either as elder
or minister he was annually returned to the supreme ecclesiastical
court for the long period of forty-four years. He acquired in con-
sequence the most intimate acquaintance not only with its forms-
of procedure, but with its acts, and the grounds upon which they
were framed. He had deeply studied the histoiy of the church,
its constitution and laws. The respect which his character and
talents commanded gave weight to all his sentiments, and he
possessed many natural endowments, which singularly fitted him
for the prominent station which he held as a member of Assembly
To a clear and masculine understanding, which had no difficulty
in at once comprehending all the bearings of a question, he joined
an uncommonly ready and retentive memory, which enabled him
to avail himself of his intimate knowledge of ecclesiastical proceed-
ings, and to advert without embarrassment or mistake to any
statement that had been made in even the most lengthened de-
bate ; — a peculiar blandness and dignity of manner ; — a graceful
elocution, which in itself was eminently attractive ; — and a force
and facility of expression which never failed to ai-rest the most ex-
hausted attention, and which often assumed the highest proper-
ties of eloquence. The deference which was paid to his opinion
was great. He was consulted by men of every party, not only
during the sitting of the Assembly, but at all other times. Few
weeks passed in which a very extensive correspondence was not
maintained by him with members of the church, or in relation
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XIX
to their concerns. It was at the meetings of the Assembly, how-
ever, where he had not only to interest himself in every public
measure that was proposed, but also to give advice to all who ap-
plied to him, that his labour as a churchman was greatest ; and he
has been heard to remark, after returning to his family at St An-
drews, that it required the unbroken rest of a number of nights to
compensate for the exertion which was necessary, and the want of
repose to which he was subjected, during his residence in Edin-
burgh.
He attached himself from the first to the party over which Prin-
cipal Robertson presided ; and on the retirement of that distin-
guished person, he continued to support and to act upon his prin-
ciples. A supreme regard for the existing laws of the church, and
a great reluctance to take any step as a ruler of the church, which
was dictated only by views of expediency, and which was not war-
ranted by positive statute, appear to have influenced much of his
public conduct. He felt strongly, that although objections might
lie against existing enactments, yet so long as they remained
in force they were binding, and ought to be observed. It was
this consideration which induced him on two different occasions
to appear at the bar of the Assembly in support of Professors
of St Andrews, who were presentees to parishes at a distance
from the University seat. They were men, he maintained, in
all respects qualified to hold these livings, and there was no law
to prohibit their appointment, simply because they retained their
professorships. He resisted all attempts to make it appear, by in-
ference, that the church condemned this union of offices, because
no safe or stable procedure could be built on such a foundation.
But finding that the sense of the church was decidedly against the
junction of professorships with parochial charges, where the two
were so situated as not to admit of the constant and actual resi-
dence of the minister in his parish, he himself introduced an over-
ture in 1816, which is now the law of the church upon that subject.
He had a strong impression, as he stated sometimes to his friends
62
XX MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
in private, and occasionally to his pupils in the class-room, that
the Church of Scotland was in dang-or of declining- to the principles
of Independency, or of that form of church government, in which
each cong-regation, or each ecclesiastical court, acts for itself, or
according to its own views of what is right. It was an object with
him, therefore, to uphold the authority of the General Assembly,
and to preserve that subordination of the inferior judicatories, which
forms an essential element in the constitution of the national church.
He followed out the regular and systematic procedure which Prin-
cipal Robertson introduced in regard to disputed settlements, re-
quiring that if qualified men, against whom no valid objections were
offered, were presented to livings, they should be inducted into of-
fice. Presbyteries were, therefore, called upon sometimes to execute
the orders of the Superior Court, whatever might be the opi-
nion of the individual members of Presbytery upon the measures
which they were enjoined to carry into effect. He did not think
that any option was left to them, when they had to act ministe-
rially. It was both agreeable to the constitution of the church,
and provided by the law of the land, that when appeals on the ap-
pointment of ministers were made " to the General Assembly of
this haill realm, the cause beand decyded by them, sail take end
as they decern and declair." There was no room consequently for
difference of opinion when the decision of the Assembly was given.
It would be a violation of law, and an utter subversion of order in
the church, if the decrees of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Judicatory
were not to be put in execution.
It was clear, indeed, from the train of decisions, that patronage
was meant to be upheld, and that when patronage was exercised
in favour of men whom the church had pronounced to be quali-
fied, and whom the church continued to find qualified, their title
to be admitted as ministers was held to be complete. For patro-
nage being the law of the land, and having been acted on as such
for a long series of years, it did not appear to Principal Hill that
a change in the mode of appointing ministers was in any degree
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XXI
desirable ; and he was satisfied that the church possessed in herself,
in the education which she prescribed for her licentiates, in the
trials which she required them to undergo, and in the various steps
which she took before their induction to the ministerial office, suf-
ficient checks to the evils which were alleged to attend upon the
exercise of patronage.
He did not attach to what is termed " a call" from the people,
all the importance which was given to it by many in his own days,
or which continues to be given to it by many in the present age.
Holding that Presbyteries are " bound and astricted to receive
and admit whatsomever qualified minister presented be his Ma-
jesty or laick patrones," he conceived that when Presbyteries were
satisfied with the qualifications of a presentee, it was not material
whether the people came forward or not to call him as their minis-
ter. Their doing so he regarded as an interesting and kindly ex-
pression of the good-will which they bore to him, and of their de-
sire to encourage him in his pastoral labours. Pie lamented when
that expression was withheld ; but he did not consider its being
withheld as depriving a presentee of the right which he had other-
wise acquired to be inducted to a parochial charge.
In consequence of entertaining these views he was often accused
of trampling on the rights of the people, and disregarding the voice
which they should have in the appointment of a minister. But it
has always been a matter of doubt and discussion to what extent
that voice should reach. It is not an easy matter to reconcile the
expression of it with the exercise of patronage, so as really to make
the voice of the people an element in the appointment of ministers
while patronage subsists. If both are admitted, it can only be by
each yielding somewhat to the other. And, accordingly, in look-
ing to the history of the Church, it will be found that the instances
of ministerial appointments are comparatively few in which the peo-
ple have been wholly disregarded ; that some anxiety has been
usually felt to gain their concurrence ; that in later times patrons
have deferred more and more to what they understood to be agree-
XXU JIE310IR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
able to them ; and that without any formal application foi' the con-
sent of the people in the outset, the settlements which were made
were, in general, not only peaceful, but harmonious. In conducing
to this state of matters, Principal Hill had no reason to reproach
himself with being adverse to the interests of the people. Enter-
taining the views which he held, he could not admit of any thing
like a right on their part to the nomination of ministers. But
whatever right they really possessed, their right, for example, to
object to the doctrine and life of a presentee, and to shew that he
was disqualified by either the one or the other, he was scrupulous
to preserve ; and he believed that he was promoting- the welfare of
the people in the best and most effectual manner, by providing, as
far as it was practicable to do so, that every licentiate of the church
to whom a presentation to a parish might be given, should be, " a
scribe well instructed into the kingdom of God," " a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
It would not suit the purpose of this brief memoir, to advert to
every part of Principal Hill's conduct throughout his lengthened
career in the General Assembly. Different opinions were enter-
tained, and will continue to be formed, in regard to his views of
ecclesiastical matters, and the policy which he pursued. But al-
though, like all public men, he was exposed to obloquy at times,
and was occasionally subjected to very bitter personal attacks, yet,
in every quarter of the church, there was a general feeling of ad-
miration of his talents, and respect for his character, and his zeal
for the prosperity of our Zion. To the party which he espoused, he
firmly and invariably adhered. But he did so, because he believed
that its principles were right ; and he did so without the slightest
illiberality or unkindness towards those from whom he differed.
Zealous as he was in supporting the opinions of those with whom
he acted in the ecclesiastical courts ; and extensive as his influence
might be supposed from the office which he held as Principal of
St Mary's College, he never employed it for party purposes, to bias
the young men who attended his class. He was deeply aware that
MEMOin OP PRINCIPAL HILL. XXUl
it was not the interest of a section of the church, which, as head
of a college, he was required to promote ; and the lesson which he
taught to the students of divinity from the first, and which he often
repeated in the course of his lectures, was, that they were not to
adopt his sentiments, without being satisfied that they were right,
but to cherish a spirit of inquiry, and to form their opinions for
themselves.
He had the happiness of living on terms of fi'iendly intercourse
with many of those, whose views of ecclesiastical matters were op-
posite to his. It was not to be expected that, in the eager discus-
sions which occasionally arose, nothing should occur to alienate
them from one another. But the close of his life was not embit-
tered by the recollection of his being at variance with any indivi-
dual. Peace had been restored between him and all with whom
he differed. And never can the writer of this Memoir forget the
truly Christian spirit which breathed through one of his father's
letters to iiim, when he announced the very sudden demise of a
colleague in the university, who had been decidedly hostile to him,
but with whom, previous to his death, he had effected the most per-
fect good understanding.
Acting from conviction himself, and possessed of no ordinary
firmness of character, he pursued the course on which he had fixed,
unmoved by threats, whether from popular fury, or from men in
power. For threats from both he occasionally met with. He was
careful, at the same time, not to provoke hostility. In so far as
he was personally concerned, he showed, on more occasions than
one, by his independent and magnanimous conduct, how completely
he was superior to interested views. But, for the sake of the
church, which stands by opinion, and is destitute of power to en-
force its enactments, he felt that it was necessary to use concilia-
tion to its utmost extent. There was an anxiety, therefore, often
displayed by him to yield all that it was possible to yield. And
he laid himself out to soften the asperities of party by the courtesy
with which he treated those who opposed him, and to gain for the
XXlV MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
church, oi' the measures which he heheved to be essential for its
good, the countenance of those who were able to u})hold it.
From the prominent place which he occupied in the Church of
Scotland, and the public services which he was considered as per-
forming, he obtained various marks of his Sovereign's favour. The
most substantial of these was his appointment to be one of the
Deans of the Chapel Royal, and one of his Majesty's Chaplains for
Scotland.
The degree of D. D. was conferred on him by the Senatus Aca-
demicus of St AndreAvs, in 1787. The diploma which conveyed
it, embodied in it a testimony to his character and talents, so ho-
nourable to him, and so correctly true, that some of its expressions
cannot be omitted in this memoir of his life. It spoke of him not
only in general as virum tot meritis iUustrem, coUegam nobis di-
lectlssimum, but also as one who diligenti sua opera turn artium
liberalium, turn prcesertim S. S. Theologice, studio sedulo na~
rata, summam, in ed disciplind, laudem ac famam coi^paraverit.
Idem vir eximius ac props singidaris, multarum ciirarum, sub otii
ct quietis specie, capax, divers issima Academice et Ecclesice munia
pari omnia facilitate felicitate que obeat, juventutem studiosam ad
literarum amorem, cives ad ver<s virtutis cultum, exemjilo allicie?is,
eloquio excitans et accendens.
In 1788, he was Moderator of the General Assembly. In that
honourable station, the firmness and composure of his character
were pre-eminently displayed, and he obtained a tribute of re-
spect, such as few have ever received. The business which chiefly
occupied the Assembly was the election of its principal clerk.
Parties ran high. A scrutiny into the votes that were given was
demanded and agreed to. The examination was conducted with
the utmost keenness. Protracted debates ensued, and greater ve-
hemence was shewn than was suited to an ecclesiastical court.
On one occasion, the authority of the Moderator was completely
disregarded. He turned to the Commissioner, arranged with his
Grace the hour of meeting on the following day, and having inti-
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XXV
mated that the Assembly adjourned till then, he pronounced the
blessing-, and left the chair. This bold and decided proceeding
g-ained him universal applause ; and, at the close of the scrutiny,
which lasted for several days, the thanks of the House were una-
nimously given to him " for his most impartial, dignified, and able
conduct in a very delicate and uncommon situation, during- all the
preceding diets of this venerable Assembly."
Besides several single sermons, he published one volume of ser-
mons, one volume, as a specimen, of his Lectures on the Old Testa-
ment, and one volume entitled Theological Institutes, embracing-
a syllabus of his Theological Lectures, the pastoral counsels which
he gave to his students, and a view of the constitution of the Church
of Scotland. This last part, as a sepai-ate work, has now reached a
third edition.
The labour undergone by Principal Hill was vast and inces-
sant. He had that turn of mind, as he himself expressed it, that
occupation was enjoyment to him. In his busiest seasons he had
no appearance of being oppressed or care-woi'n. Intensely did he
apply himself to his task. The sulject which occupied him was
revolved again and again. Even at times when it might be thought
that he was seeking- relaxation from mental exertion, his mind was
busily engaged. Riding- was his favourite exercise, and his chil-
dren, who were usually his companions on horseback, have not un-
frequently overheard him thinking aloud, as they rode by his side.
He was married in 1782, and had twelve children, eight of whom
survived him. His fondness for them, and the attention which he
paid them were matters of every day remark. The severities
to which he subjected himself in study were not allowed to inter-
fere with the happiness of the domestic circle ; and in the midst of
his children he was usually the gayest and most playful of the
group. But had he not been an economist of time, regular and
orderly in all his habits as a student and a man, no inclination for
labour, and no capacity for performing it, would have enabled him to
accomplish all that he did, and to accomplish it in a manner at once
XXYl MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL.
unexceptionable to others, and satisfactory to himself. Winter
and summer did he repair to his study before the other members
of his family were astir. His temperate meals were briefly con-
cluded. His hours were never wasted in listlessness and inactivi-
ty. He could thus bear with the less inconvenience those inter-
ruptions to which persons in his situation must ever be exposed.
He seemed in fact to have time at every one's command, to be use-
ful in any way that might be desired.
His constitution was sti'ong-, and he enjoyed very regular health ;
but the labour which he underwent was gradually weai'ing him
down. In 1807, almost immediately after his return from the
Assembly, he was seized with alarming illness. From that in-
deed he rapidly recovered, insomuch that he was able in the
same month of June to dispense the ordinance of the Lord's Sup-
per to his large congregation. And till 1816, he continued to at-
tend the General Assembly, and to conduct its business as in for-
mer years. But disease had before that time been stealing upon him.
Slight strokes of apoplexy afterwards weakened his frame, and in
some degree impaired his speech. He was very unwilling to abandon
his official duties, and till 1818 he did not cease altogether to mi-
nister to his people. It affected him deeply when he could no
longer be an active labourer in the vineyard of his Lord. He was
not satisfied with retaining a living, the duties of which he was un-
able to perform. He consulted with some of his friends how far
he was warranted in doing so. It indicated the same sense of duty,
the same conscientious feeling, that when infirmities prevented him
from going to the hall to his students, he asked them to meet him
in his house ; and when he found that he could not address them
as distinctly as he wished, he employed his youngest son, then a
student of divinity, to sit by his side and read his lectures for him.
When Si Mary's College met for the session 1819-20, he was
still alive, but incapable of taking part in any business whatsoever.
He had been aware himself for many months that his dissolution
was approaching ; and his family saw from the beginning of De-
4
MEMOIR OF PRINCIPAL HILL. XXVll
cember that the melancholy event which they had long- dreaded
was at hand. He lingered till the 19th day of that months bear-
ing- his suiferings without the slightest expression of impatience,
and, from the frequent movement of his hands, apparently engaged,
after speech had failed him, in acts of mental devotion. He died
on the morning of the Lord's day, in the seventieth year of his ag-e.
It is not for the writer of this memoir to attempt to delineate
the character of his parent, or to exhibit him in those private and
domestic relations, in which he was more estimable and exemplary
than even in his public capacity. The statements which have been
made may serve in some degree to show how conscientious, and
disinterested, and attentive to the welfare of others he invariably
was. His theological lectures disclose not only what his religious
sentiments were, but how deeply they had taken possession of his
mind. And if proof were still wanting of his being very strongly
under the influence of that faith which he preached as a minister,
and as a professor prepared others to illustrate and explain, it may
be found in these closing words of his testamentary deed, which
had been altered in his own handwriting- about two months before
he died, " Committing my soul to the mercy of my Creator, through
the merits of Christ, and my wife and children to the God of my
fathers, who has followed me with loving kindness, I leave this as
my last will and testament."
alexr. hill.
Manse of Dailly,
I2th April 1837.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
BOOK I.
EVIDENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE, Page 1
Belief of a Deity founded on the constitution of the Human Mind — Ahuost
universal — Moral government of God traced in the constitution of Hu-
man Nature, and the state of the world — Brought to light hy the
Gospel.
CHAP. I.
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY FROM HISTORY, . 12
CHAP. n.
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT. ..... 15
Sect. 1. External Evidence of their authenticity full and various — In-
ternal marks.
2. Various readings — Sources of correction.
CHAP. HI.
INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, . 22
Manner in which the claim of containing a divine revelation is advanced
in the New Testament — Contents of the Books — System of religion
CONTENTS.
and morality — Condition of the sacred writers — Character of Jesus
Christ and of the Apostles.
CHAP. IV.
DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY — MIRACLES, 33
Sect. 1. Argument from the miracles of Jesus — Uniformity of the
course of nature — Power of the Almighty to interpose. —
Communication of this power a striking mark of a divine com-
mission.— Harmony between the internal and external evi-
dence of Christianity — Miracles of the Gospel illustrate its
peculiar doctrines.
2. Mr Hume's argument against miracles — Circumstances which
render the testimony of the Apostles credible — Confirmation
of their testimony — Faith of the first Christians — Manner in
which the miracles of Jesus are narrated — No opposite testi-
mony.
3. How far the argument from miracles is affected by the prodi-
gies and miracles mentioned in history — Duration of miracu-
lous gifts in the Christian church.
CHA.P. V.
ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, . 65
John xi. Exhibition of character — The historian — The other Apostles —
The family of Lazarus — Our Lord — Resurrection of Lazarus — Effects
produced by the miracle.
CHAP. VI.
EXTERNAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY — PROPHECY, 85
Sect. 1. Antiquity and integrity of the books of the Old Testament —
Hope of the Messiah founded on the received interpretation
of the prophecies.
2. Correspondence between the circumstances of Jesus, and the
predictions of the Old Testament.
3. Direct prophecies of the Messiah — Double sense of prophecy —
Not inconsistent with the nature of prophecy — Supported by
the general use of language.
4. Quotations in the New Testament from the Old Testament.
5. Amount of the argument from prophecy.
CHAP. VII.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS, . 113
Magnificence and extent of the system of prophecy — Jesus the object of
CONTENTS. X;
the old prophecies, and the author of new ones — Advantages of attend-
ing to the propliecies of our Lord and his Apostles — Clearness and im-
portance of his ijredictions — Specimens.
CHAP. VIII.
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, , . 149
Resurrection of Christ an essential fact in the history of his religion —
Evidence upon vchich it rests — Evidence of it in these later ages — Uni-
versal belief of the fact — Clear testimony of the Apostles — Their extra,
ordinary powers.
CHAP. IX.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY, . . 159
Sect. 1. When the success of a religious system forms a legitimate argu-
ment for its divine original — Progress of JVIahometanism and
Christianity compared.
2. Secondary causes of the progress of Christianity assigned by Mr
Gibbon considered.
3. Rank and character of some of the early Converts to Christi-
anity.
4. Measure of the effect produced by the means employed in pro-
pagating the Gospel — Objections drawn from it — Answers,
BOOK II.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM.
CHAP. I.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE, . 186
Inspiration not impossible — Three degrees of it — Necessary to the Apos-
tles for the pin-poses of their mission — Promised by our Lord — Claimed
by themselves — Admitted by their disciples — Not contradicted by any
thing in their writings.
CHAP. II.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRI3TIANITV, . 207
XXXU CONTENTS.
CHAP. III.
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE, . 226
Sect. 1. The Gospel a republication of Natural Religion — Mistakes oc-
casioned by the use of this term.
2. The Gospel a method of saving sinners — Duties consequent upon
the revelation of this method.
CHAP. IV.
DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM, 244
Difficulties to be expected — Extent of our knowledge.
CHAP. V.
USE OF REASON IN RELIGION, . 251
CHAP. VI.
CONTROVERSIES OCCASIONED BY THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM, 2j9
Multiplicity of Tlieological Controversies — Platonic and Peripatetic Phi-
losophy— Progress of Science — Authority of the Fathers.
CHAP. VII.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE, 268
The Gospel a remedy for sinners — All opinions respecting it relate to the
Persons by whom the remedy is brought, or to the nature, extent, and
application of the remedy — Church government.
BOOK III.
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SON, THE SPIRIT, AND THE MAN-
NER OF THEIR BEING UNITED WITH THE FATHER.
CHAP. I.
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE SON, 276
Three systems— Sociuians — Arians — Council of Nice.
CONTENTS. XXXlii
CHAP. II.
SIMPLEST OPINION CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST, 286
Christ truly a Man — Not the whole doctrine of Scripture respecting him.
CHAP. HI.
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 289
Explicit declarations of Scripture — Socinian solution.
CHAP IV.
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE —
CREATION, 301
Sect. 1. John i. 1—18.
2. Colos. i. 15—18.
3. Heb. i.
4. Amount of the proposition, that Jesus Christ is the Creator of
the World.
CHAP. V.
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE,
ADMINISTRATION OF PROVIDENCE, 338
Sect 1 . All the divine appearances recorded in the Old Testament, refer-
red to one Person, called Angel and God.
2. Christ the Jehovah, who appeared to the Patriarchs, was wor-
shipped in the Temple, and announced as the author of a new
dispensation.
3. Objections to the preceding proposition — Different opinions as to
the amount of it.
CHAP. VI.
DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST TAUGHT DURING
HIS LIFE, 370
Reserve with which he revealed his dignity — Circumstances attending his
Birth — Voice at his Baptism — ^Manner in which he spoke of the con-
nexion between the Father and him — Omniscience — Miracles.
CHAP. VII.
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD, 382
Sect. 1. Jesus called God — Circumstances which intimate that the name
is applied to Jesus in the highest sense.
XXxiv CONTENTS.
Sect. 2. Essential attributes of Deity ascribed to Jesus.
3. Worship represented as due to Jesus — Supreme and inferior vror-
sliip of tlie Arians — Socinian explanation of passages in whicli
worship is given to Jesus.
CHAP. VIII.
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST, 410
Passages which present the divine and human nature of Christ together —
opinions as to the inanner of their union — Gnostics — Apollinaris — Nes-
torius Eutyches — Monophysites — Monothelites — Miraculous concep-
tion— Hypostatical union the key to a great part of the phraseology of
Scripture — That which qualifies Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the
world.
CHAP. IX.
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT, . 431
Form of Baptism — Instruction connected with the administration of Bap-
tism— .Catechumens — First Christians worshipped the Holy Ghost — -
Gnostics — Macedonius — Socinus — Personality of the Holy Ghost — His
divinity.
CHAP. X.
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, . 442
Sect. 1. Unity of God, the doctrine of the Old and New Testament.
2. Threg systems of the Trinity — Sahellian — Arian, and Semi- Arian
— Catholic.
3. Principles by which the Catholic System repels the charge of
Tritheism.
4. Dr Clarke's system — Amount of our knowledge respecting the
Trinitv — Inferences.
LECTURES IN DIVINITY.
BOOK I.
EVIDENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.
The professed design of students in divinity is to prepare for a
most honourable and important office, for being workers together
with God in that great and benevolent scheme, by which he is re-
storing the virtue and happiness of his intelligent offspring, and
for holding, with credit to themselves and with advantage to the
public, that station in society, by the establishment of which the
wisdom of the state lends its aid to render the laboui's of the ser-
vants of Christ respectable and useful. Learning, prudence, and
eloquence never can be so worthily employed as when they are
devoted to the improvement of mankind : and a good man will find
no exertion of his talents so pleasing as that by which he endea-
vours to make other men such as they ought to be. We expect
the breast of every student of divinity to be possessed with these
views. If any person is devoid of them, if he despises the office
of a minister of the gospel, if the character of his mind is such as
to derive no satisfaction from the employments of that office, or
from the object towards which they are directed, he ought to turn
his attention to some other pursuit. He cannot expect to attain
eminence or to enjoy comfort in a station, for which he carries
about with him an inward disqualification ; and there is an hypo-
crisy most disgraceful and most hurtful to his moral character in
all the external appearances of preparing for that station.
VOL. I. A
55 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.
In attempting' to lead yoii tbrougli that course of study which
is immediately connected with your profession, I begin with what
is called the Deistical Controversy, that is, with a view of the
Evidences of Christianity, and of the various questions which have
arisen in canvassing- the branches of which they are composed.
I assume, as the ground-work of every religious system, these
two great doctrines, that " God is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that seek him."* When 1 say that I assume them, I do not
mean that human reason unassisted by revelation was ever able to
demonstrate these doctrines in a manner satisfactory to every un-
derstanding. But I mean that these doctrines are agreeable to the
natural impressions of the human mind, and that any religious
system, which purifies them from the manifold errors with which
they have been incorporated, corresponds, in that respect, to the
clear deductions of enlightened reason.
It is not my province to enter into any detail upon the proofs
of these two doctrines of natural religion ; and I am afraid to en-
gage in discussions which have been conducted with much erudi-
tion and metaphysical acuteness, lest I should be enticed to employ
too large a portion of your time in reviewing them. Leaving you
to avail yourselves of the copious sources of information which
writers upon this subject aiford, I will not enumerate, far less at-
tempt to appreciate, the different modes of reasoning which have
been adopted in proof of the being of God, and of his moral govern-
ment. Bui, having assumed these doctrines, I think it proper to
give, by way of introduction to my course, a short view of the
manner in which it appears to me that they may be established as
the ground-vvork of all religion.
When we say that there is a God, we mean that the universe
is the work of an intelligent Being ; that is, from the things which
we behold, we infer the existence of what is not the oltject of our
senses. To show that the inference is legitimate, we must be able
to state the principles iipon which it proceeds, or the steps of that
2)rocess by which the mind advances, from the contemplation of
the objects with which it is conversant, to the conviction of the
existence of their Creator. These principles are found in the con-
stitution of the human mind, in sentiments and perceptions which
are na,tural and ultimate, which are manifested by all men upon
various occasions, and which are only followed out to their proper
conclusion when they conduct us to the knowledge of God. One
of these sentiments and perceptions appeal's in the spirit of inquiry
and investigation which universally prevails ; another is invai'iably
excited by the contemplation of order, beauty, and design.
A spirit of inquiry and investigation has larger opportunities
* Hebrews xi. 6.
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. «»
of exertion, it is better directed, and is applied to nobler objects,
with some than with others. But, to a certain degree, it is com-
mon to all men, and traces of it are found amongst all ranks. Now
you will observe that this spirit of inquiry is an effort to discover
the cause of what we behold. And it proceeds upon this natural
perception, that every new event, every thing- which we see com-
ing into existence, every alteration in any l)eing, is an effect.
Without hesitation we conclude that it has been produced, and we
are solicitous to discover the cause of it. We begin our inquiries
\vith eagerness ; we pursue them as far as we have light to carry
us ; and we do not rest satisfied till we arrive at something which
renders further inquiries unnecessary. This persevering spirit of
inquiry, which is daily exerted about trilles, finds the noblest sub-
ject of exertion in the continual changes which we behold upon
the appearances of the heavenly bodies, upon the state of the at-
mosphere, upon the surface of the earth, and in those hidden re-
gions which the progress of art leads man to explore. To every
attentive and intelligent observer, these continual changes present
the whole universe as an effect ; and, in contemplating the succes-
sion of them, he is led, as by the hand of nature, through a chain
of subordinate and dependent causes, to that great original Cause
from whom the universe derived its being, upon whose operation
depend all the changes of which it is susceptible, and by whose
uncontrolled agency all events are directed.
Even without forming any extensive observations upon the
train of natural events, we are led by the same spirit of inquiry,
from considering our own species, to the knowledge of our Creator.
Every man knows that he had a beginning, and that he derived
his being from a succession of creatures like himself. However
far back he supposes this succession to be carried, it does not afford
a satisfying account of the cause of his existence. By the same
principle which directs him in every other research, he is still led
to seek for some original Being, who has been produced by none,
and is himself the Father of all. As every man knows that he
came into existence, so he has the strongest reason to believe that
the whole race to which he belongs had a beginning. A tradition
has in all ages been preserved of the origin of the human race.
Many nations have boasted of antiquity. None have pretended
to eternity. All that their records contain beyond a certain period
is fabulous or doubtful. In looking back upon the history of man-
kind, we find them increasing in numbers, acquiring a taste for the
ornaments of life, and improving in the liberal arts and sciences ;
so that unless we adopt without pi'oof and against all pro})ability
the supposition of successive deluges which drown in oblivion all
the attainments of civilized nations, and spare only a few savage
4 INTHODUCTORY DISCOURSE.
inhabitants to propagate tiie race, we find in the state of mankind
all the marks of novelty which it must have borne, had it begun
to be some few thousand years ago. But if the human race had a
beginning, we unavoidably regard it as an effect of which we re-
quire some original cause ; and to the same cause from which it
derived existence we must also trace the qualities by which the
race is distinguished. The Being who gave it existence must be
capable of imparting to it these qualities, that is, must possess
them in a much higher degree. " He that planted the ear, shall
he not hear ? He that formed the eye, shall he not see ? He
that teacheth man knowledge, shall he not know ?"* Thus, from
the intelligence of men, we necessarily infer that of their Creator ;
while the numlier of intelligent beings with whom we converse
cannot fail to give us the noblest idea of that original primary in-
telligence from which theirs is derived.
While the spirit of inquiry, which is natural to man, thus leads
us from the consciousness of our own existence to acknowledge the
existence of one supreme intelligent Being, the Father of Spirits,
we are conducted to the same conclusion by that other natural
perception which I said is invariably excited by the contemplation
of order, beauty, and design.
The grandeur and beauty of external objects do not seem to af-
fect the other animals. But they afford a certain degree of plea-
sure to all men ; and in many persons a taste for them is so far
cultivated that the pleasures of imagination constitute a large source
of refined enjoyment. When grandeur and beauty are conjoined as
they seldom fail to be with utility, they do not merely afford us
pleasure. We not only perceive the oljects which we behold, to
be grand and beautiful and useful ; but we perceive them to be ef-
fects produced by a designing cause. In viewing a complicated
machine, it is the design which strikes us. In admiring the object,
we admire the mind that formed it. W^ithout hesitation we con-
clude that it had a former ; and, although ignorant of every other
circumstance respecting him, we know this much, that he is pos-
sessed of intelligence, our idea of which rises in proportion to the
design discovered in the construction of the machine. By this
principle, which is prior to all reasoning, and of which we can give
no other account than that it is ])art of the constitution of the
human mind, we are raised from the admiration of natural objects
to a knowledge of the existence, and a sense of the perfections of
Him who made them.
When we contemplate the works of natui'e, distinguished from
those of art by their superior elegance, splendour, and iitility ; when
we behold the sun, the moon, and the stars, performing their offices
• Psal, xciv. 9, 10.
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. O
with the most perfect regularity, and, ahhoug-h removed at an im-
mense distance from us, contributing- in a high degree to our pre-
servation and comfort ; when we view this earth fitted as a conve-
nient habitation for man, adorned with numberless beauties, and
provided not only with a supply of our wants, but with every thing
that can minister to our pleasure and entertainment ; when, ex-
tending our observation to the various animals that inhabit this
glol)e, we find that every creature has its proper food, its proper
habitation, its proper happiness ; that the meanest insect as well as
tlie noblest animal has the several parts of its body, the senses be-
stowed upon it, and the degree of perfection in which it possesses
them, adapted with the nicest proportion to its preservation and to
the manner of life which by natural instinct it is led to pursue ;
when we thus discover within our own sphere, numberless traces
of kind and wise design, and when we learn, both by experience
and by observation, that the works of nature, the more they are
investigated and known, appear the more clearly to be parts of one
great consistent whole, we are necessarily led l)y the constitution
of our mind to believe the being of a God. Our faith does not
stand in the obscure reasonings of philosophers. We but open our
eyes, and discerning, wheresoever we turn them, the traces of a
wise Creator, we see and acknowledge his hand. The most super-
ficial view is sufficient to impress our minds with a sense of his
existence. The closest scrutiny, by enlarging our acquaintance
with the innumerable final causes that are found in the works of
God, strengthens this impression, and confirms our first conclusions.
The more that we know of these works, we are the more sensible
that in nature there is not only an exertion of power, but an ad-
justment of means to an end, which is what we call wisdom ; and
an adjustment of means to the end of distributing happiness to all
the creatures, which is the highest conception that we can form of
goodness.
A foundation so deeply laid in the constitution of the human
mind for the belief of a Deity has produced an acknowledgment of
his being, almost universal. The idea of God, found amongst all
nations civilized in the smallest degree, is such that by the slight-
est use of our faculties we must acquire it. And accordingly the
few nations who are said to have no notion of God are in a state
so barbarous, that they seem to have lost the perceptions and sen-
timents of men.
The Atheist allows it to be necessary that something should
have existed of itself from eternity. But he is accustomed to
maintain that matter in motion is sufficient to account for all those
appearances, from which we infer the being of God. The absur-
dities of this hypothesis have been ably exposed. He supposes
b INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.
that matter is self-existent, although it has marks of dependence
and imperfection inconsistent with that attribute. He supposes
that matter has from eternity been in motion, that is, that motion
is an essential quality of matter, although we cannot conceive of
motion as any other than an accidental property of matter, im-
pressed by some cause, and determined in its direction by foreign
impulses. He supposes that all the appearances of uniformity and
design which surround him can proceed from irregular undirected
movements. And he supposes, lastly, that although there is not
a plant which does not spring from its seed, or an insect which is
not projiagated by its kind, yet matter in motion can produce life
and intelligence, properties repugnant in the highest degree to all
the known properties of matter.
I do not say that it is possible by reasoning to demonstrate that
these suppositions are false ; and I do not know that it is wise to
make the attempt. The belief of the being of God rests upon a
sure foundation, upon the foundation on which He himself has
rested it, if all the suppositions by which some men have tried to
set it aside contradict the natural perceptions of the human mind.
These are the language in which God speaks to his creatui'es, a
language which is heard through all the earth ; and the words of
which are understood to the end of the world. By listening to
that language we learn, from the various yet uniform phenomena
of nature, that there is a wise Creator : we are taught, by the im-
perfection and dependence of the soul, that it owes its being to some
original cause ; and in its extensive faculties, its liberty, and power
of self-motion, we discern that cause to be essentially different from
matter. The voice of nature thus proclaims to the children of men
the existence of one supreme intelligent Being, and calls them with
reverence to adore the Father of their spirits.
The other great doctrine, which I assume as the ground-work
of every religious system, is thus expressed by the Apostle to the
Hebrews :" God is a rewarder of them that seek Him ;" in other
words, the government of God is a moral government.
We are here confined to an inconsiderable spot in the creation,
and we are permitted to behold but a small part of the operations
of Providence. It becomes us therefore to proceed in our inquiries
concerning the Divine Government with much humility : but it
does not become us to desist. The character and the laws of that
government, under which we acknowledge that we live, ai"e mat-
ters to us of the last importance ; and it is our duty thankfully to
avail ourselves of the light which we enjoy. The constitution of
human nature and the state of the world are the only two sulijects,
within the sphere of our observations, from which unassisted rea-
son can discover the character of the divine government.
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 7
When we attend to the constitution of human nature, the three
following particulars occur as traces of a moi'al government.
1. The distribution of pleasure and pain in the mind of man is
a moral distribution. Those affections and that conduct which we
denominate virtuous are attended with immediate pleasure ; the
opposite affections and conduct with immediate pain. The man
who acts under the influence of benevolence, gratitude, a regard to
•ustice and truth, is in a state of enjoyment. The heart which is
actuated by resentment or malice is a stranger to joy. Here is a
striking fact of a very general kind furnishing very numerous spe-
cimens of a moral government.
2. There is a faculty in the human mind which approves of vir-
tue, and condemns vice. It is not enough to say that righteous-
ness is prudent because it is attended with pleasure ; that wicked-
ness is foolish because it is attended with pain. Conscience, in
'udging of them, pronounces the one to be right, and the other to
be wrong. The I'ighteous, supported by that most delightful of
all sentiments, the sense that he is doing his duty, proceeds with
self-approbation, and reflects upon his conduct with complacence ;
the wicked not only is distracted by the conflict of various wretched
passions, but acts under the perpetiial conviction that he is doing
what he ought not to do. The hurry of business or the tumult of
passion may, for a season, so far drown the voice of conscience, as
to leave him at liberty to accomplish his purpose. But when his
mind is cool, he perceives that in following blindly the impulse of
appetite he has acted beneath the dignity of his reasonable nature ;
the indulgence of malevolent affections is punished by the senti-
ment of remorse ; and he despises himself for every act of base-
ness.
3. Conscience, anticipating the future consequences of human
actions, forebodes that it shall be well with the righteous, and ill
with the wicked. The righteous, although naturally modest and
unassuming, not only enjoys present serenity, but looks forward
with good hope. The prospect of future ease lightens every bur-
den, and the view of distant scenes of happiness and joy holds up
his head in the time of adversity. But every crime is accompanied
with a sense of deserved punishment. To the man who has dis-
regarded the admonitions of conscience she soon begins to utter
her dreadful presages ; she lays open to his view the dismal scenes
which lie beyond every unlawful pursuit ; and sometimes awaking
with increased fury, she produces horrors that constitute a degree
of wretchedness, in comparison of which all the sufferings of life
do not deserve to be mentioned.
The constitution of human nature being the work of God, the
three particulars which have been mentioned as parts of that con-
8 INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.
stitution are parts of his government. The pleasure which accom-
panies one set of affections and the pain which accompanies the
opposite, afford an instance in the government of God of virtue
being rewarded, and of vice being punished: — the facuhy which
passessentenceuponhuman actions is a declaration from the Author
of our nature of that conduct which is agreeable to Him, because
it is a rule directing his creatures to pursue a certain conduct : —
and the presentiment of the future consequences of our behaviour
is a declaration from the Author of our nature of the manner in
which his government is to proceed with regard to us. The hopes
and fears natural to the human mind are the language in which God
foretells to man the events in which he is deeply interested. To
suppose that the Almighty engages his creatures in a certain course
of action by delusive hopes and fears, is at once absurd and impious ;
and if we think worthily of the Supreme Being, we cannot enter-
tain a doubt that He, who by the constitution of human nature has
declared his love of virtue and his hatred of vice, will at length ap-
pear the nghteous Governor of the universe.
I mentioned the state of the world as another subject within the
sphere of our observation, from which unassisted reason may dis-
cover the character of the government of God. And here also we
may mark three traces of a moral government. ,
1. It occure, in the first place, to consider the world as the
situation in which creatures, having the constitution which has
been described, are placed. Acting in the presence of men, that
is, of creatures constituted as we ourselves are, and feeling a con-
nexion with them in all the occupations of life, we experience, in
the sentiments of those around us, a farther reward and punish-
ment than that which arises from the sense of our own minds.
The faculty which passes sentence upon a man's own actions, when
carried forth to the actions of others, becomes a principle of esteem
or contempt. The sense of good or ill desert becomes, upon the
review of the conduct of othei's, applause or indignation. When it
referred to a man's own conduct, it pointed only at what was fu-
ture. When it refers to the conduct of others, it becomes an ac-
tive principle, and proceeds in some measure to execute the rules
which it pronounces to be just.
Hence the righteous is rewarded by the sentiments of his fellow-
creatures. He experiences the gratitude of some, the friendship,
at least the good-will of all. The wicked, on the other hand, is a
stranger to esteem, and confidence, and love. His vices expose
him to censure ; his deceit renders him an object of distrust ; his
malice creates him enemies ; according to the kind and the degree
of his demerit, contempt or hatred or indignation is felt by every
one who knows his character ; and even when these sentiments do
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 9
not lead others to do him harm, they weaken or extinguish the
emotions of sympathy ; so that his neig-hhours do not rejoice in his
prosperity, and hardly weep over his misfortunes.
Thus does God employ the g-eneral sense of mankind to en-
coiirage and reward the righteous, to correct and punish the wickeil ;
and tlius has he constituted men in some sort the keepers of their
hrethren, the guardians of one another's virtue. The natural un-
perverted sentiments of the human mind with regard to character
and conduct are upon the side of virtue and against vice ; and the
course of the world, turning in a great measure upon these senti-
ments, indicates a moral government.
2. A second trace in the state of the world, of the moral go-
vernment of God, is the civil government by which society subsists.
Those who are employed in the administration of civil govern-
ment are not supposed to act immediately from sentiment. It is
expected that, without regard to their own private emotions, they
shall in every case proceed according to certain known and esta-
blished laws. But these laws, so far as they go, are in general
consonant to the sentiments of the human mind, and, like them,
are favourable to the cause of virtue. The happiness, the existence
of hxmian government depends upon the protection and encourage-
ment which it affords to virtue, and the j)unishment which it in-
flicts upon vice. The government of men, therefore, in its best
and happiest form, is a moral government ; and being a part, an
instrument of the government of God, it serves to intimate to us
the rule according to which his Providence operates through the
general system.
3. Setting aside all consideration of the opinions of the instru-
mentality of man, there appear in the world evident traces of the
moral government of God. Many of the consequences of mens
behaviour happen without the intervention of any agent. Of this
kind are the effects which their way of life has upon their health,
and much of its influence upon their fortune and situation. Effects
of the same nature extend to communities of men. They derive
strength and stability from the truth, moderation, temperance, and
public spirit of the members ; whereas idleness, luxury, and turbu-
lence, while they ruin the private fortunes of many individuals, are
hurtful to the community ; and the general depravity of the mem-
bers is the disease and weakness of the state.
These effects do not arise from any civil institution. They are
not a part of the political regulations which are made with dift'er-
ent degrees of wisdom m different states ; but they may be ob-
served in all countries. They are part of what we commonly call
the course of nature ; that is, they are rewards and punishments or«
dained by the Lord of natui'e, not affected by the caprice of his
A 2
10 INTRODUCTOny DISCOURSE.
subjects, and flowing immediately from the conduct of men. There
arise, indeed, from the present situation of human aifairs, many ob-
structions to the full operation of these rewards and punishments.
Yet the deg-ree in which they actually take place is sufficient to
ascertain the character of the government of God. In those cases
where we are able to trace the causes which prevent the exact dis-
tribution of good and evil, we perceive that the very hindrances are
wisely adapted to a present state. Even where wo do not discern
the reasons of their existence, we clearly perceive that these hind-
rances are accidental ; that virtue, benign and salutary in its influ-
ences, tends to produce happiness, pure and unmixed ; that vice, in
its nature mischievous, tends to confusion and misery ; and we can-
not avoid considering these tendencies as the voice of Him who hath
established the order of nature, declaring to those who observe and
undei'stand them, the future condition of the righteous and t he wicked.
And thus in the world we behold, upon every hand of us, open-
ings of a kingdom of righteousness corresponding to what we for-
merly traced in the constitution of human nature. By that consti-
tution, while reward is provided for virtue, and punishment for
vice, there arise in our breasts the forebodings of a higher reward
and a higher punishment. So in the world, while there are mani-
fold instances of a righteous distribution of good and evil, there is
a tendency towards the completion of a scheme which is here but
begun.
This view of the government of God, which we have collected
from the constitution of human nature and the state of the world,
is lirought to light by the religion of Jesus Christ. The language
of God in his works leads us to his word in the Gospel. All our
disquisitions concerning the nature of his government only prepare
us for receiving those gracious discoveries, which, confirming every
conclusion of right reason, resolving every doubt, and enlarging the
imperfect views which belong to this the beginning of our existence,
bring us perfect assurance that, in the course of divine government,
unlimited in extent, in duration, and in power, every hindrance
shall be removed, the natural consequences of action shall be allow-
ed to operate, virtue shall be happy, and vice shall be miserable.
Abernetliy on the Attributes.
Cudwortli's Intellectual System; a magazine of learning, where all the different
scliemcs of Atheism are combated with profomid erudition and close argu ■
niLMit.
Boyle's Lectures ; a collection of the ablest defences of the great truths of reli-
gion that are to be found in any language. Having been composed in a long-
succession of years, by men of different talents and pursuits, they furnish an
ahimdant specimen of all the variety of argument that has ever been adduced
upon the suly'ects of which they treat.
3
INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 11
Butler's Analogy, the first chapters of which should be particularly studied in
relation to the subjects of this discourse.
Essays on IMorality and Natural Religion, by Henry Home, Lord Kaimes.
Paley's Natural Theology, the last, and perhaps the most elaborate work of this
author. He had here his pioneers as well as his forerunners. But his ini-
mitable skill in arranging and condensing his matter, his peculiar turn for what
may be called " animal mechanics," the aptness and the wit of his illustra-
tions, and occasionally the warmth and the solemnity of his devotion, which,
by a happy and becoming process, was rendered more animated as he drew
nearer to the close of life, stamp on this work a character more valuable than
originality.
[ 12 ]
CHAP. I.
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY FROM
HISTORY.
The ground- work, which I suppose to be laid in an inquiry into
the truth of the Christian rehgion, is a belief of the two great doc-
trines of natural religion, that God is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that seek him. You consider man as led by the principles of
his nature, to believe that the universe is the work of an intelligent
Being, although wandering very much in his apprehensions of that
Being ; you consider him as feeling that the government of the
Creator of the world is a righteous government, although conscious
that he often transgresses the law of his Maker, and very uncertain
as to the method in which the sanctions of that law are to operate
with regard to him ; and you propose to examine whether to man,
in these circumstances, there was given an extraordinary revelation
by the preaching of the Son of God, or whether Jesus Christ and
his apostles wei"e men who spoke and wrote according to their own
measure of knowledge, and who, when they called themselves the
messengers of God, assumed a character which did not belong to
them. It is manifest at first sight, that such a revelation is extreme-
ly desirable to man ; and a closer investigation of the subject may
show it to be desirable in such a degree, so necessary to the com-
fort and improvement of man, as to create a presumption in favour
of the proofs that the Father of the human race has been pleased
to grant it. But the necessity of the revelation is a subject upon
which, in my opinion, it is better not to enter at the outset ; he-
cause, if the proofs of the truth of Christianity be defective, the pre-
sumption arising from this necessity will not be sufficient to help
them out ; and if they be clear and conclusive, the necessity of re-
velation will be more manifest after you proceed to examine its na-
ture and effects.
The truth of Christianity turns upon a question of fact, which,
like ever}" other question of the same kind, ought to be judged of
calmly and impartially — not by the wishes which it may be natural
to form on the subject, but by the evidence which is adduced in sup-
port of the fact. We allow the great body of the people to retain
hU the early prejudices which they happily acquire on the side of
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIAN ITY. 13
Christianity. We allow its full weight to every consideration which
is level to their capacity, and which corresponds to their habits ; be-
cause, what we wish to impress upon them is a practical belief of
the truth of religion ; and this practical belief may be sufficient to
direct their conduct and to establish their hope, although it be not
grounded upon critical inquiries and logical deductions. But it is
expected that the teachers of religion should be able to defend the
citadel in which they are placed, against the attack of every enemy,
and that they should be acquainted with the quarters which are
most likely to be attacked, with the nature of the blow that is to be
aimed, and the most successful method of warding it off. With
them, therefore, belief ought to be not merely the result of early
habit, but a conviction founded upon a close examination of evi-
dence; and in this, as in every other inquiry, they ought to take the
fair and safe method of arriving at the truth, by bringing to the
search after it a mind unembarrassed with any prepossession.
A person who, in this state of mind, begins to examine the ques-
tion of fact upon which the deistical controversy turns, will be
struck with that support which the truth of Christianity receives
from the whole train of history for more than 1700 years. The
impartial historians of those times, Suetonius, Tacitus, and Pliny,
in passages* which have been often quoted and commented upon,
and the exact amount of which every student of divinity ought to
know, concur with Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian, the learned, inve-
terate, and inquisitive adversaries of the Christian faith, in establish-
ing beyond the possibility of doubt the following leading facts ; —
that Jesus Christ, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death ; that
this man, during his life, founded, and his followers, after his death,
supported a sect, upon the reputation of performing miracles ; and
that this sect, spread quickly, and became very numerous in diffe-
rent parts of the Roman empire. A succession of Christian writers
is extant, some of whom lived near enough the event to be witnesses
of it, and all of whom pul)lished books, which must have appeared
absurd to their contemporaries, if the facts upon which these books
proceeded had then l)een known to be false. A chain of tradition
can be shown, by which the principal facts were transmitted into the
Christian church. The existence of our religion can be traced back
to the time and place to which the beginning of it is referred ; and
since that time, by the institution of a Gospel ministry, by the cele-
bration of the Lord's Supper, and by the observance of the Lord's
day, there have continued, in m.any parts of the world, standing me-
morials of the preaching, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus.
• Sueton. Claud, cap. 25. Sueton. Xero. cap. IG, Tacit. Ann. 1. xv. 44,
■ Plin. 1. X. ep. 97.
14" COLLATERAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY,
I begin with mentioning these things, because every literary man
will perceive the advantage of taking possession of this strong
ground. By placing his foot here he is furnished with a kind of ex-
trinsical evidence, the force of which none will deny, which cannot
be said to create any unreasonable prepossession, and yet which pre-
pares the mind for the less remote proofs of a Divine revelation.
Giotius de Veritate Rel. Chris.
Macknight on the Truth of the Gospel History.
Addison's Evidences.
Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History.
[ 15 ]
CHAP. II.
AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF THE BOOKS OF THE
NEW TESTAMENT.
The whole of that revelation which is peculiar to Christians is
contained in the books of the New Testament ; and, therefore, it
appears to nie, that before we begin to judg-e of the divine mission
or inspiration of the persons to whom these books are ascribed, we
ought to satisfy ourselves that the books themselves are authentic
and genuine. For even although the apostles of Jesus did really
receive a commission from the Son of God, yet if the books which
bear their names were not written by them, or if they have been
corrupted as to their substance and import since they were written,
that is, if the books are not both authentic and genuine, we may
be very much misled by trusting to them notwithstanding the di-
vine mission of their supposed authors. I oppose the word authen-
tic to supposititious ; the word genuine to vitiated ; I call a book
authentic which was truly the work of the person whose name it
bears ; I call a book genuine which remains in all material points
the same as when it proceeded from the author. Upon these two
points, the authenticity and genuineness of the books of the New
Testament, I am at present to fix your attention. Both the sub-
jects open a wide field, and have received ranch discussion. All
that I can do is to mark to you the leading circumstances which
have been discussed, and with regard to which it becomes you to
inform and satisfy your minds.
1. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books
wi'itten by the apostles or by persons under their direction, and re-
ceived by Christians as of divine authority. This canon was not
formed by any General Council, who claimed a power of deciding
in this matter for the Christian Church ; but it continued to grow
during all the age of the apostles, and it received frequent acces-
sions, as the different books came to be generally recognised. It
was many years after the ascension of Jesus before any of the books
of the New Testament were written. The apostles were at first
entirely occupied with the labours and perils which they encoun-
tered in executing their commission to preach the Gospel to all na-
16 AUTHEMTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF
tions. They found neither leisure nor occasion to write, till Christ-
ian societies were formed ; and all their vvriting-s were suggested
by particular circumstances which occurred in the progress of Christ-
ianity. Some of the Epistles to the Churches were the earliest of
their writings. Every Epistle was received upon unquestionable
evidence by the Church to which it was sent, and in whose keep-
ing the original manuscript remained. Copies were circulated first
among the neighbouring churches, and went from them to Christ-
ian societies at a greater distance, till, by degrees, the whole Christ-
ian world, considering the superscription of the Epistle, and the
manner in which it came to them, as a token of its authenticity,
and relying upon the original, which they knew where to find, gave
entire credit to its being the work of him whose name it bore.
This is the history of the thirteen Epistles which bear the name of
the apostle Paul, and of the First Epistle of Peter. Some of the
other Epistles, which had not the same particular superscription,
were not so easily authenticated to the whole Church, and were,
iipon that account, longer of being admitted into the canon.
The Gospels were written by different persons, for different pur-
poses ; and those Christian societies, upon whose account they
were originally composed, communicated them to others. The
book of Acts went along with the Gospel of Luke, as a second part
composed by the same author. The four Gospels, the book of
Acts, and the fourteen epistles which I mentioned, very early after
their publication, were known and received by the followers of Jesus
in every part of the world. References are made to them by the
first Christian writers ; and they have been handed down by an un-
interrupted tradition, from the days in which they appeared, to our
time. Polycarp was the disciple of the Apostle John ; Irenseus
was the disciple of Polycarp ; and of the works of Irenseus a great
part is extant, in which he quotes most of the books of the New
Testament, and mentions the number of the Gospels, and the names
of many of the Epistles. Origen in the third century, Eusebius
and Jerome in the fourth, give us, in their voluminous works, ca-
talogues of the books of the New Testament which coincide with
ours, relate fully the history of the authors of the several books,
with the occasion upon which they wrote, and make large quota-
tions from them. In the course of the first four centuries, the
greater part of the New Testament was transcribed in the writings
of the Christians, and many particular passages were quoted and re-
ferred to by Celsus aud Julian, in their attacks upon Christianity.
From the beginning of the Church, throughout the whole Christ-
ian world, the books of the New Testament were publicly read
and explained to the people in their assemblies for divine worship ;
and they were continually appealed to by Christian writers as the
i
THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 17
standard of faith, and the supreme judg-e in controversy. The
Christian world was very far from being- prone to receive every book
which claimed inspiration. Although many were circulated under
respectable names, none were ever admitted by the whole Church,
or quoted by Christian writers as of divine authority, except those
which we now receive. Audit was very long before some of them
were universally acknowledged. When you come to examine the
subject particularly, you will find that we stand upon ground which
we are fully able to defend, when we admit the Epistle to the He-
brews, the smaller Epistles, and the book of Revelation, as of equal
authority with any other part of the New Testament. At the
same time, the hesitation which, for several ages, was entertained
in some places of the Christian world with regard to these books,
is satisfying to a candid mind, because this hesitation is of itself a
strong presumption, that the universal and cordial reception, which
was given to all the other books of the New Testament, proceeded
upon clear incontestable evidence of their authenticity.
If, then, we readily receive, upon the authority of tradition, the
History of Thucydides, the Orations of Cicero, the Dialogues of
Plato, as really the composition of these immortal authors, we
have much more reason to give credit to the explicit testimony
which the judgment of co-ntemporaries, and the acknowledgment
of succeeding ages, have borne to the writers of the New Testa-
ment. There is not any ancient book with regard to which the
external evidence of authenticity is so full and so various ; and
this variety of external evidence is confirmed to every person who
is capable of judging, by the most striking internal remarks of
authenticity, — by numberless instances of agreement with the his-
tory of those times, which are most satisfying when they appear
to be most trivial, because they form altogether a continued coin-
cidence in points where it could not well have been studied ; a
coincidence wbich, the more that any one is versant in the man-
ners, the geography, and the constitution of ancient times, will
bring the more entire conviction to his mind, that these books
must have been written by persons living in the very country,
and at the very period to which we refer those who are accounted
the authors of them. Undesigned coincidences between the Acts
and the Epistles are pointed out with admirable taste and judg-
ment in Paley's Horse Paulinas, which is perhaps the most cogent
and convincing specimen of moral argumentation in the world ;
and in the first volume of his Evidences of Christianity, — which
are professedly a compilation, but so condensed and compacted, so
illuminated and enforced, that it is impossible not to admire the
matchless powers of the compiler's genius in turning the patient
18 AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF
drudgery of Lardner to such account, — the authenticity of the
Gospels and Acts is estaldished.
2. Having- ascertained to your own satisfaction the authenticity
of the books of the New Testament, you will next proceed to in-
quire whether they are genuine, that is uncorrupted. For even
although they proceeded at first from the apostles or evangelists
whose names they bear, they may have been so altered since that
time as to convey to us very false information with regard to their
original contents. It does not become you to rest in the presump-
tion that the providence of God, if it gave a revelation, would
certainly guard so precious a gift, and transmit entire through all
ages " the faith once delivered to the saints."* The analogy
of nature does not support this presumption ; for the best bless-
ings of heaven are abused by the vices or the negligence of those
upon whom they are bestowed ; and succeeding generations often
suffer in their domestic, political, and religious interests, by abuses
of which their predecessors were guilty. It becomes a divine to
know, that the manuscripts of the New Testament, which were
originally deposited with the Christian societies, no longer exist ;
that there have been the same ignorance, haste, and inaccuracy in
transcribing the Gospels and Epistles, as in transcribing all other
books ; and that the various readings arising from these or other
sources were very early observed. Origen speaks of them in the
third century. They multiplied exceedingly, as was to be expect-
ed from the nature of the thing, after his time, when the copies
of the original MSS. became more mmierous and more widely
diffused ; so that Mill, in his splendid and valuable edition of the
Greek Testament, has numbered 30,000 various readings.
This has been a subject of much declamation and triumph to the
enemies of our Christian faith. Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, Col-
lins, Toland, Tindal, and many other deistical writers in the be-
ginning of the last century, boasted that Christians are not in
possession of a sure standard ; and they built, upon the supposed
corruption of the Greek text, an argument for the superiority of
the light of nature above that uncertain instruction which varies
continually as it passes through the hands of men. A scholar
must be aware of this difficulty, and prepared to meet it.
When you come to estimate the amount of the 30,000 various
readings, you will find that almost all of them are trifling changes
upon letters and syllables, and that there is hardly one instance in
which they affect the great doctrines of our religion. It will give
you much satisfaction to observe, that the different sects into
which the Christian church was earlv divided, watched one ano-
• Jude
THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 19
ther; that any great alteration of a book which, soon after its
being pubHshed, had been sent over the whole world, was impos-
sible ; that even those who corrupted Christianity have preserved
the Scriptures so entire, as to transmit a full refutation of their
own errors ; and that from the most vitiated copies the one faith
and hope of Christians may be learned. Still, however, it is de-
sirable that these various readings should be corrected, and it is
proper that you should have a general acquaintance with the
sources from which the correction of them is to be derived. These
sources are four. 1. The MSS. of the New Testament which
abound in Germany, France, Italy, England, and other countries
of Europe. I mean MSS. written long before printing was in
use, some of which, particularly Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alex-
andrinus, are referred to one or other of the three first centuries
of the Christian era. 2. The ancient versions of the New Testa-
ment, which having been made in early times from copies much
nearer the original MSS. than any that we have, may be consi-
dered as in some degree vouchers of the contents of those MSS.
The most respectable of the ancient versions is the old Italic,
which, we have reason to believe, was made in the first century
for the benefit of those Christians in the Roman empire who un-
derstood the Latin better than any other language. It has, in-
deed, undergone many alterations ; but so far as it can be re-
covered in its most ancient form, it is the surest guide, in doubt-
ful places, to that which was the original reading. 3. A third
source of correction is found in the numberless quotations from
the New Testament with which the works of the Christian fathers
and other early writers abound. Had they always copied exactly
from books lying before them, the extent of their quotations would
have rendered them as certain guides to the genuine reading, as
they are unquestionable witnesses of the authenticity. But it
cannot be denied, that as the books of the New Testament were
perfectly familiar to them, they have often quoted from memory,
and that being more careful to give the sense than the words, they
diff'er from one another in some trivial respects, when quoting
the'same passage, so that their quotations cannot be applied indis-
criminately to ascertain the original. 4. The last source of cor-
rection is sound chastised criticism, which, joining to the sagacious
use of the most ancient MSS., versions, and quotations, cautious
but skilful conjecture, determines which of the various readings is
to be preferred, upon principles so clearly established, and so ac-
curately applied, as to leave no hesitation in the mind of any
scholar. The canons of scripture criticism have been investigated
and digested by many learned men. You will find collections of
them in the Prolegomena to the larger editions of the Greek
20 AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS OF
Testament. They are frequently applied by the later commenta-
tors, and they are the introduction to a kind of learning- which,
although it is apt, when prosecuted too far, to lead to what is
minute and frivolous, yet is in many respects so essential that it
does not become any one who professes to interpret the Scriptures
to others to be entirely a stranger to it.
Superficial reasoners may think it strange that so much discus-
sion should be necessary to ascertain the true reading of the oracles
of God ; and in their haste they may pronounce, that it would have
been more becoming the great purpose for which these oracles were
given, more kind and more useful to man, that the originals should
have been saved from destruction ; and that if the great extent of
the Christian society rendered it impossible for every one to have
access to them, the all-ruling providence of God should have pre-
served every copy that was taken from every kind of vitiation. They
who thus judge, forget that there is no part of the works of crea-
tion, of the ways of Providence, or of the dispensation of grace, in
which the Almighty has done precisely that which we would have
dictated to him, had he admitted us to be his counsellors, although
we are generally able, by considering what he has done, to discover
that his plan is more perfect and more universally useful, than that
which our narrow views might have suggested as best. They for-
get the extent of the miracle which they ask, when they demand,
that all who ever were employed in copying the New Testament
should at all times have been effectually guarded by the Spirit of
God from negligence, and that their works should have been kept
safe from the injuries of time. And they forget, in the last place,
that the very circumstance to which they object has, in the wisdom
of God, been highly favourable to the cause of truth. The infidel
has enjoyed his triumph, and has exposed his ignorance. Men of
erudition have been encouraged to apply their talents to a subject,
which opens so large a field for the exercise of them. Their re-
search and their discoveries have demonstrated the futility of the
objection, and have shown that the great body of the people in
every country, who are incapable of such research, may safely rest
in the Scriptures as they are ; and that the most scrupulous critics,
by the inexhaustible sources of correction which lie open to them,
may attain nearer to an absolute certainty with regard to the true
reading of the books of the New Testanient, than of any other
ancient book in any language. If they require more, their demand
is unreasonable ; for the religion of Jesus does not profess to satisfv
the careless, or to overpower the obstinate, but rests its pi'etensions
upon evidence sufficient to bring conviction to those who with
honest hearts inquire after the truth, and are willing to exercise
their reason in attempting to discover it.
THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 21
Griesbach, professor at Jena, in Saxony, published in I79fi, the first volume of
his second edition of the Greek Testament, containing the four Gospels ;
and in 1806, the second volume, containing the other books of the New-
Testament. He availed liiniself of the materials wliieli sacred criticism had
been collecting from the time of the publication of Will's edition. And,
adverting to all the manuscript quotations and versions which the research
of a number of theological wi iters, in diffijrent parts of the world, had brought
into view, he went farther than the former editors of the New Testament
had done. They adhered to what is called the tcxtus rccrptus, which had
been established in the Elzevir edition of the Greek Testament in 1624,
which is very much the same with that of the editions of Bezaand Erasmus,
and which is now in daily use. They only collected various readings from
manuscrip'ts, versions, and (juotations, introduced them in a preface or notes,
and explained in large and learned jjrolegomena, the degree of credit that
was due to them ; thus furnishing materials for a more correct edition of
the Greek Testament, and unfolding the principles upon which these ma-
terials ought to be applied. But Griesbach proceeded himself to apply the
materials, by introducing emendations into the text. This he is said by Dr
Marsh, late IMargaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and now Bishop
of Peterbro', to have done with unremitted diligence, with extreme caution,
and with scru]ndous integrity. His emendations never rest merely upon
conjecture, but always upon authority which ap])eared to him decisive.
They are printed in a smaller character than the rest of the text, or in some
clear way distinguished from the received text: and when he was in any
doubt, they are not introduced, but remain in the notes or margin. I have
great satisfaction in saying, that in so far as I have examined Griesbach's
New Testament, it does not appear to differ in any material respect from the
received text ; so that all the industry and erudition of this laborious and
accurate editor serve to establish this most comfortable doctrine, that the
books of the New Testament are genuine. Dr Marsh says, that Griesbach's
edition is so correct, and the prolegomena, or critical apparatus annexed to
it, so full and learned, that there will be no occasion for a different edition
of the Greek Testament during the life of the youngest of us. I quote Dr
Marsh, because in that portion of his lectures which has been published, he
gives the inost minute and ample information concerning all the editions of
the Greek Testament. He mentions repeatedly, with due honour, Dr Ge-
rard's Institutes of Biblical Criticism, to which I refer you.
Marsh's Lectures, and his translations of -Michaelis's Introductions.
Macknight's Preliminary Discourses in his Commentary on the Epistles.
Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, and Supplement to it.
Leland.
Jortin.
Hartley in vol. 5th of Watson's Theological Tracts.
Pretty man's Institutes.
Paley's Horae Pauiinte, and Evidences of Christianity.
L 22 ]
CHAP. III.
INTERNAL EVIDE^•CE OF CHRISTIAKITV.
The leading characteristical assertion in the books of the New
Testament is, that they contain a divine revekition. Jesus said,
" My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me;"* and when he
gave his apostles a commission to preach his gospel, he used these
words, " As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you."f " He
that heareth you, heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth
him that fent me.":j: This is the highest claim which any mortal
can advance. It holds forth the man who makes it under the
most dignified character ; and, if it be well founded, it involves con-
sequences the most interesting to those who hear him. Such a
claim is not to be carelessly admitted. The grounds upon which
it rests ought to be closely scrutinized ; and reason cannot have a
more important or honourable office than in trying its pretensions
by a fair standard.
As every circiimstance respecting those who advanced such a
claim merits attention, the first thing which presents itself to a ra-
tional inquirer, is the manner in which the claim is made, and the
state of mind which those who make it discover in their conduct,
in the general style of their writings, or in particular expressions.
Now, if you set youi'selves to collect all the characters of enthu-
siasm, either from the writings of those profound moralists who
have analysed and discriminated the various features of the human
mind, or from the behaviour of those who, in different ages, have
mistaken the fancies of a distempered brain for the inspiration of
heaven, you will find the most marked opposition between these
characters and the appearance which the books of the New Testa-
ment present. Instead of the general, indistinct, inconsistent rav-
ings of enthusiasm, you find in these writings discourses full of
sound sense and manly eloquence, connected reasonings, apposite
illustrations, a multitude of particular facts, a continual reference
to common life, and the same useful instructive views preserved
thi'oughout. Instead of the gloom of enthusiasm, you find a spirit
of cheerfulness, a disposition to associate, an accommodation to pre-
« John vii. 16, f John xx. 21. + Luke x. 16.
INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 23
judices and opinions. Instead of credulity and vehement passion,
you observe in the writers of these books a slowness of heart to be-
lieve, a hesitation in the midst of evidence, perfect possession of
their faculties, with calm sedate manners. Instead of the self-con-
ceit, the turgid insolent tone of enthusiasm, you find in them a re-
serve, a modesty, a simplicity of expression, a disparagement of
their own peculiar gifts, and a constant endeavour to magnify, in
the eyes of their followers, those virtues in which they themselves
did not pretend to have any pre-eminence. The claim which they
advance sits so easy and natural upon them, that tbe most critical
eye cannot discern any trace of that kind of delusion which has
often been exposed to public view ; and they are so unlike any en-
thusiasts whom the world ever saw, that, as far as outward appear-
ances are to be trusted, they " speak the words of truth and sober-
ness.
"*
But you will not trust to appearances. It becomes you to ex-
amine the words which they speak, and you are in possession of a
standard ])y which these words should be tried, and without a con-
formity to which they cannot be received as divine. Reason and
conscience are the primary revelation which God made to man.
We know assui'edly that they came from the Author of nature, and
our apprehensions of his perfections must indeed be very low, if we
can suppose it possible that they should be contradicted by a sub-
sequent revelation. If any system, therefore, which pretends to
come from God, contain palpable absurdities, or if it enjoin actions
repugnant to the moral feelings of our nature, it never can approve
itself to our understandings. It is unnececsary to examine the
evidences of its being divine, because no evidence can be so strong
as our perception of the falsehood of that which is absurd, and of
the inconsistency between the will of God and that which is im-
moral. When 1 say that a divine revelation cannot contain a pal-
pal)le absurdity, I am far from meaning, that every thing contained
in it must be plain and familiar, such as reason is already versant
with. The revelation, in that case, would be unnecessary. Neither
do I mean that every thing contained in it, although new, must be
such as we are able fully to comprehend ; for many insuperable
difficulties occur in the study of nature. We have daily expe-
rience, that our ignorance of the manner in which a thing exists,
does not create any doubt of its existence ; and in the ordinary
l)usiness of life, we admit, without hesitation, the truth of facts
which, at the time we admit them, are to us unaccountable. The
presumption is, that if a revelation be given it will contain more
facts of the same kind ; and it addresses you as reasonable creatures,
* Acts xxvi. 25.
24 INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
if it require you, in judg-ing- of the facts which it proposes to your
belief, to follow out the same principles upon which you are ac-
customed to proceed with regard to the facts which yoii see or hear.
If the books of the New Testament be tried with this caution by
the standai'd of reason, they will not be found to contain any of
that contradiction which might entitle you to reject them before
you examine their evidence. There are doctrines to the full ap-
prehension of which our limited faculties are inadequate ; and there
has been much perplexity and misapprehension in the presump-
tuous attempts to explain these doctrines. But the manner in
which the books themselves state the doctrines, caimot appear to
any philosophical mind to involve an absurdity. The system of
religion and morality which they deliver is every way worthy of
God. It corresponds to all the discoveries which the most en-
lightened reason has made with regard to the nature and the will
of God ; and it comprehends all the duties which are dictated by
conscience or clearly suggested by the love of order. The few ob-
jections which have been made to the morality of the gospel, as
being defective in some points, by not enjoining patriotism or
friendship, or too rigorous in others, admit of so clear and so easy
a solution, that nothing but the desire of finding fault, joined to the
difficulty of discovering any exceptionable circumstance, could
have drawn remarks so frivolous from the authors in whose works
they appear.
You may, then, without much trouble, satisfy yourselves that
neither the manner in which the writers of the New Testament
advance their claim, nor the contents of their books, afford any
reason for rejecting that claim instantly, without examining the
evidence. I do not say that this affords any proof of a divine reve-
lation ; for a system may be rational and moral without being di-
vine. This is only a pre-requisite, which every person to whom a
system is proposed under that character has a title to demand. But
we state the matter very imperfectly when we say, that there is
nothing in the manner or the contents of these books which de-
serves an immediate rejection. A closer attention to the subject
not only renders it clear that they may come from God, but sug-
gests many strong presumptions that they caimot be the work of
men. These presumptions make up what is called the internal
evidence of Christianity.
The Jirgt branch of this internal evidence is the manifest supe-
riority of that system of religion and morality which is contained
in the books of the New Testament, above any that was ever de-
livered to the world before. Here a Chi'istian divine derives a
most important advantage from an intimate acquaintance with the
ancient heathen philosophers. He ought not to take upon trust
INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 25
the accounts of their discoveries which succeeding writers have
copied from one another. But setting that which they taught,
over against the discourses of Jesus Christ, and the writings of his
apostles, he ought to see with his own eyes the force of that argu-
ment which arises from the comparison. Do not think yourselves
obliged to disparage the writings of the heathen moralists. The
effort which they made to raise their minds above the grovelling
superstition in which they were born was honourable to them-
selves ; it was useful to their disciples, and it scattered some rays
of light through the world. It does not become a scholar, who is
<laily reaping instruction and entertainment from their works, to
deny them any part of that applause which is their due ; and it is
not necessary for a Christian. You may safely allow that they
were very much superior in the knowledge of religion and morality
to their countrymen ; and yet, when you take those philosophers
who lived before the Christian era, and compare their writings with
the books of the New Testament, the disparity appears most strik-
ing. The views of God given in these books not only are more
sublime than those which occasional passages in the writings of the
philosophers discover, but are purified from the alloy which abounds
in them, and are at once consistent with, and apposite to, the con-
dition of man. Religion is here uniformly applied to encourage man
in the discharge of his duty, to support him under the trials of life,
and to cherish every good affection. To love God with all our heart,
and strength, and soul; and mind, and to love our neighbour as our-
selves, the two commandments of the gospel, are the most luminous
and comprehensive principles of morality that ever were taught.
The particular precepts, which, although not systematically deduced,
are but the unfolding of these principles, form the heart, x'egu-
late the conduct, descend into every relation, and constitute the
most perfect and refined morality, — a morality not elevated above
the concerns or occasions of ordinary men, but sound and practi-
cal, which renders the members of society useful, agreeable, and
respectable, and at the same time carries them forward by the pro-
gressive impi'ovement of their nature to a higher state of being.
The precepts themselves are short, expressive, and simple, easily
retained, and easily applied ; and they are enforced by all those
motives which have the greatest power over the human mind.
That future life, to which good men in every age had looked for-
ward with an anxious wish, is brought to light in these books.
There is not in them the conjecture, the hesitation, the embarrass-
ment which had entered into the language of the wisest philoso-
phers upon this subject. But there is an explicit declaration, de-
livered in a tone of authority which becomes that Being who can
order the condition of his creatures, that this is a season of trial,
VOL. I. B
26 INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIAKITY.
that there will hereafter he a time of recompense, and that the con-
duct of men upon earth is to produce everlasting- consequences with
regard to their future condition. To the fears, of which a heing
who is conscious of repeated transgressions cannot divest himself,
110 other system had applied any remedy but the repetition of un-
availing- sacrifices. '1 hese books alone disclose a scheme of Provi-
dence adapted to the condition of sinners, announced, introduced,
and conducted with a solemnity corresponding to its importance,
admiral)ly fitted in all its parts, supposing it to be tnie, to revive
the hopes of the penitent, to restore the dignity, the purity, and
happiness of the mteUigent creation, and thus to repair that de-
generacy which all writers have lamented, of which every man has
experience, and to the cure of which all human means had proved
inadequate. This grand idea, which is characteristical of the books
of the New Testament, completes their superiority above every
other system, and gives a peculiar kind of sublimity to both the
religion and the morality of tlie gospel.
The second branch of the internal evidence of Christianity arises
from the condition of those men in whose writings this superior
system appears. We can trace a progress in ancient philosophy ;
we see the principles of science arising out of the occupations of
men, collected, improved, aliused ; and we can mark the effect
which both the improvement and the al)use had in producing that
degree of perfection which they attained. To every pei'son ver-
sant in the history of ancient philosophy, Socrates must appear an
extraordinary man. Yet the eminence of Socrates forms only a
stage in the progress of his countrymen. His disciples, who have
recorded his discourses, were men placed in a most favouraljle si-
tuation for polishing and enlarging their minds ; and the Roman
philosophers trode in their steps. But, if the books of the New
Testament be authentic, the writers who have delivered to us this
superior system, were men born in a mean condition, without any
advantages of education, and with strong national prejudices, which
the low habits formed by their occupations could not fail to
strengthen. They have interwoven in their works their histoiy
and their manner of thinking. The obscurity of their station is
vouched l)y contemporary writers, and it was one of the reproaches
thrown upon the Gospel by its eai'liest adversaries. Yet the con-
ceptions of these mean men upon the most important sulijects, far
transcend the continued efforts of ancient philosophy ; and the
sages of Greece and Rome appear as children when compared with
the fishermen of Galilee. From men, whose minds we cannot
suppose to have been seasoned with any other notions of divine
things than those which they derived from the teaching of the
Pharisees, who had obscured the law by their traditions, and load-
INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 27
ed it with ceremonies, there arose a pure and spiritual religion.
From men, educated in the narrowness and big-otry of the Jewish
spirit, there arose a religion which enjoins universal benevolence,
a scheme for diffusing the knowledge of the true God over the
whole earth, and forming a church out of all the nations under
heaven. The divine plan of blessing the human race, in turning-
them from their iniquity, originated from a little district,- — was
adopted, not by the whole tribe as a method of retrieving their
ancient honoiirs, but by a few individuals in opposition to public
authority, — and was prosecuted with zeal and activity under every
disadvantage and discouragement. When his contemporaries heard
Jesus speak, they said, " Whence hath this man wisdom ? How
knoweth this man letters, having never learned ?"* When the
Jewish council heard Peter and John, they marvelled, because
they knew that they were ignorant and unlearnt^*! men ; -|- and to
every candid inquirer, the superiority of that system, and the
magnificence of that plan contained in the books of the New Tes-
tament, when compared with the natural opportiinities of those
from whom they proceeded, must appear the most inexplicable
phenomenon in the history of the human mind, unless we admit
the truth of their claim.
A third branch of the internal evidence of Christianity arises
from the character of Jesus Christ. It is often said with much
truth, that the Gospel has the peculiar excellence of proposing in
the character of its author an example of all its precepts. That
character may also be stated as one branch of the internal evidence
of Christianity, whether you consider Jesus as a teacher, or as a
man. His maimer of teaching was most dignified and most win-
ning. " Never man spake like this man." He taught by parable,
by action, and by plain discourse. Out of familiar scenes, out of
the objects which surrounded him, and the intercourse of social
life, he extracted the most pleasing and useful instruction. He
repelled the attacks of his enemies with a gentleness which dis-
armed, and a wisdom which confounded their malice. There was
a plainness, yet a depth in all his sayings. He was tender, per-
suasive, or severe, according to circumstances ; and the discourse,
which seemed to have been dictated to him merely by the occasion,
is found to convey lasting and valuable counsel to posterity. His
character as a man, is allowed to be the most perfect which the
world ever saw. All the virtues of which we can form a concep-
tion, were united in him with a more exact harmony, and shone
with a lustre more bright and more natural, than in any of the
sons of men. His descending from the glories of heaven, assum-
ing the weakness of human nature, and voluntarily submitting to
• Matt. xiii. 54. John vii. 15. f Acts iv. 13.
28 INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
all the calamitios which he endured for the sake of men, exhibits
a degree of benevolence, magnanimity, and patience, which far ex-
ceeds the conception that Plato formed of the most tried and per-
fect virtue. The majesty of his divine nature is blended with the
fellow-feeling and condescension implied in his office ; and although
the history of mankind did not afford any model that could here
be followed, this singular character is supported throughout, and
there is not any one of the words or actions ascribed to him, which
does not appear to the most correct taste to become the man
Christ Jesus. It is not possible that a manner of teaching, so in-
finitely superior to that of the Scribes and Pharisees, or that a
character so extraordinary, so godlike, so consistent, could have
})een invented by the fishermen of Galilee. Admit only that the
books of the New Testament are authentic, and you must allow
that the authors of them drew Jesus Christ from the life. And
how do they draw him ? Not in the language of fiction, with
swoln panegyric, with a laborious effort to number his deeds, and
to record all his sayings, bvit in the most natural artless manner.
Four of his disciples, not many years after his death, when ever}^
circumstance could easily be investigated, write a short history of
his life. Without attempting to exhaust the siibject, without
studying- to coincide with one another, without directing your at-
tention to the shining parts of his history, or marking any contrast
between him and other men, they leave you, from a few facts, to
gather the character of the man whom they had followed. Thus
you learn his innocence not from their protestations, but from the
whole complexion of his life, from the declaration of the judge who
condemned him ; of the centurion who attended his execution ; of
a traitor, who, having been admitted into his family, was a witness
of his most retired actions, who had no tie of affection, of delica-
cy, or consistency, to restrain him from divulging the whole truth,
and who might have pleaded the secret wickedness of his master
as an apology for his own baseness, who would have been amply
repaid for his information, and yet who died with these words in
his mouth, " I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood."* Had Judas borne no such testimony, an appeal to him
was the most unsafe method in which the wi'iters of this history
could attest the innocence of their master. But if the wisdom of
God had ordained, that even in the family of Jesus the wrath of
his enemies should thus praise him, it was most natural for one of
the evangelists to record so striking a circumstance : and I men-
tion it here, only as a specimen of the manner in which the cha-
racter of Jesus is drawn, not by the colouring of a skilful pencil,
but by a continual reference to facts, which to impostoi-s are of
• Matt, xxvii. 4.
INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 29
difficult invention, and of easy detection, hut which, to those who
exhibit a real character, are the most natural, the most delightful,
and the most eifectual method of making- their friend known.
" Shall we say," wi"ites Rousseau, no uniform champion for the
cause of Christianity, " shall we say that the history of the gospel
is invented at pleasure ? No. It is not thus that men invent.
It would be more inconceivable that a number of men had in con-
cert produced this book from their own imag-inations, than it is
that one man has furnished the subject of it. The morality of the
gospel, and its general tone, were beyond the conception of Jewish
authors ; and the history of Jesus Christ has marks of truth so
palpable, so striking, and so perfectly inimitable, that its inventor
would excite our admiration more than its hero."*
A fourth branch of the internal evidence of Christianity arises
from the characters of the apostles of Jesus as drawn in their own
writings. Their condition renders the superiointy of their doctrine
inexplicable, without admitting a divine revelation : their character
gives the highest credibility to their pretensions. We seldom read
the work of any pei'son, without forming some appi'ehension of his
character; and if his work represent him as engaged in a succes-
sion of trials, pouring forth the sentiments of his heart, and hold-
ing, in interesting situations, much intercourse with his fellow-
creatures, we contract an intimate acquaintance with him before we
are done, and we are able to collect from numlierless circumstances,
whether he be at pains to disguise himself from us, or whether he
be really such a man as he wishes to appear. No scene ever was
more interesting to the actors, than that in which the writings of
the apostles of Jesus exhibit them ; and the gospels and epistles
taken together, afford to every attentive reader a complete display
of their character. We said, that they appear from their writings
devoid of enthusiasm, cool and collected. Yet this coolness is re-
moved at the greatest distance from every mark of imposture. They
are at no pains to disguise their infirmities ; all their prejudices
shine throiigh their narration ; and they do not assume to them-
selves any merit for having abandoned them. We see light open-
ing slowly upon their minds, their hopes disappointed, and them^
selves conducted into scenes very different from those which they
had figured. " We trusted," said they, after the death of their
master, " that it was he which should have redeemed Israel."f
Yet it is not long before they become firm, and cheerfiil, and reso-
lute. Not overawed by the threatnings of the magistrates, nor
shaken by the persecutions which they endured from their country-
men, they devoted their lives to the generous undertaking of spread-
• Rousseau, Emile, ii. 98. -j- Luke xxit. 21.
30 INTERNAL EVrDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
ing- throixgh the world the knowledge of that religion which they
had embraced. Appearing- as the servants of another, they disclaim
the honours which their followers were disposed to pay them ; they
uniformly inculcate quiet inoffensive manners, and a submission to
civil authority, and labouring with their hands for the supply of their
necessities, they stand forth as patterns of humility and self-denial.
The churches to which they write are the witnesses to posterity of
their holy, unblameable conduct ; their sincerity and zeal breathe
through all their epistles ; and, when you read their writings, you
behold the most illustrious example of disinterested beneficence,
that exaltetl love of mankind, which made them forego every pri-
vate consideration, in order to promote the virtue and happiness of
those to whom they were sent. They had differences amongst
themselves, which they are at no pains to conceal ; yet they re-
mained united in the same cause. They had personal enemies in
the churches which they planted ; yet they were not afraid to re-
prove, to censure, to excommunicate ; and, in the immediate pros-
pect of death, they continued their labour of love.
Such is the chai'acter of the apostles of Jesus, as it appears in
their authentic writings, not drawn by themselves, but collected
from the facts which they relate, and the letters which they ad-
dress to those who knew them. It is a character so far raised above
the ordinary exertions of mortals, and so diametrically opposite to
the Jewish spirit, that we natiu'ally search for some divine cause of
its being- formed. We are led to consider its existence as a pledge
of the truth of that high claim which such men appear not unwor-
thy to make ; and this assurance of their veracity which we derive
from their conduct, disposes our minds to attend to that external
evidence which they offer to adduce.
I have thus stated what appear to me the principal parts of the
internal evidence of Christianity. I have not mentioned the style
or composition of the books of the New Testament, because al-
though I am of opinion that there are in them instances of subli-
mity, of tenderness, and of manly eloquence, which are not to be
eqxialled by any human composition, and although the mixture of
dignity and simplicity which characterizes these books is most worthy
of the author and the subject of them, yet this is a matter of taste,
a kind of sentimental proof which will not reach the understand-
ings of all, and where an affirmation may be answered by a denial.
The only evidence which Mabomet adduced for his divine mission,
was the inimitable excellence of his Koran. Produce me, said he,
a single chapter equal to this book, and I renounce my claim. We
are not driven to this necessity ; and thei'efore, although every per-
son of true taste reads with the highest admiration many parts of
the New Testament, although every divine ought to cultivate a
INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 31
taste for the saci'ed classics, and has often occasion to illustrate their
beauties, it is better to rest the evidence of our religion upon argu-
ments less controvertible. Neither have I mentioned that inward
conviction which the excellence of the matter, the grace of the pro-
mises, and the awfulness of the threatnings, produce on e very-
mind disposed by the influence of heaven to receive the truth.
This is the witness of the Spirit, the highest and most satisfying
evidence of divine revelation ; the gift of God, for which we pray,
and which every one who asks with a good and honest beart is en-
couraged to expect. But this witness within ourselves, although
it removes every shadow of doubt from our own breasts, cannot be
stated to others. They are to be convinced, not by our feelings
but by their own ; and the truth of that fact, upon which the Deis-
tical controversy turns, must be established by arguments which
every understanding may apprehend, and with regard to which the
experience of one man cannot be opposed to the experience of an-
other. Of this kind are the points which I have stated; the su-
perior excellence of that system contained in the books of the New
Testament, taken in conjunction with the condition of those whom
we know to be the authors of them, the character of Jesus Christ,
as drawn by his disciples, and their own character as it appears from
their writings. I do not say that these arguments will have equal
force with all ; but 1 say that they are fitted by their nature to
make an impression upon every understanding which considers them
with attention and candour. I allow that they form only a pre-
sumptive evidence for the high claim advanced in these books ; and
I consider the external evidence of Christianity as absolutely ne-
cessarj^ to establish our faith. But 1 have called your attention
particularly to the various branches of this internal evidence, not
only because the result of the four taken together appears to me
to form a very strong presumption, but also because they constitute
a principal part of the study of a divine. By dwelling upon these
branches — by reading with care the many excellent books which
treat of them, — and, above all, by searching the Scriptures with a
special view to perceive the force of this internal evidence, your
sense of the excellence of Christianity is confirmed ; your hearts
are made better, and you acquire the most useful furniture for those
public ministrations in which it will be more your business to con-
firm them tbat believe, than to convince the gainsayers. The se-
veral points which I stated perpetually recur in our discourses to
the people ; our lectures and our sermons are full of them ; and
therefore, the more extensive and various our information is with
regard to these points, and the deeper the impression which the fre-
quent contemplation of them has made upon our own minds, we
are the better able to magnify, in the eyes of those for whose sakes
32 INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
we laboiir, tlie unsearchable riches of the Gospel, and to build thertt
\ip in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
Newcome on the Character of our Saviour.
Leechman's Sermons.
Conybeare's Answer to Tindal.
Leland on the Advantages of the Christian Revelation.
Leland's View of the Deistical Writers.
Duchal's Sermons.
Jenyns on the Internal Evidences of Christianity.
Macknight on the Truth of the Gospel History.
Palev's Evidences of Christianity, Vol. II.
Bishop Porteus' Summary of the Evidences of Christianity.
[ 33 J
CHAP. IV.
DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
Having satisfied your minds that the books of the New Testament
are authentic and genuine, that they contain nothing upon account
of which they deserve immediately to be rejected, and that their
contents aiford a very strong- presumption of their being what they
profess to be, — a revelation from God to man, it is natural next to
inquire what is the direct evidence in support of this presumption ;
for, in a matter of such infinite importance, it is not desirable to
rest entirely upon presumptions : and it is not to be supposed that
the strongest evidence which the nature of the case admits will be
withheld. The Gospel professes to offer such evidence ; and our
Lord distinguishes most accurately between the amount of that
presumptive evidence which arises from the excellence of Christ-
ianity, and the force of that direct proof which he brought. Of
the px'esumptive evidence he thus speaks : " If any man will do
the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of
God."* i. e. Every man of an honest mind will infer from the na-
ture of my doctrine, that it is of Divine origin. But of the direct
proof he says : " If I had not done among them the works whicli
none other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have
both seen and hated both me and my Father." " If I do not the
works of my Father*, believe me not : But if I do, though ye be-
lieve not me, believe the works."-]- To the direct proof he con-
stantly appeals : " The works which the Father hath given me to
do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.":|: He de-
clares that the same works which he did, and greater than them,
should his servants do:§ And what these works are, we learn
from his answer to the disciples of John the Baptist, who brought
to him this question, " Art thou he that should come?" " Go,"
said he, " and show John again those things which ye do hear and
see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk ; the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead ai'e raised." || The Gospel
then professes to be received as a divine I'evelatioa upon the foot-
* John vii. 17. t Juhn xv. 24; x. 37, 38. t John v. 3G.
§ John xlv. 12. II Matt. xi. 4, 3.
B 2
34 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
ing of miracles ; and, therefore, every person who examines into
the truth of our religion, ought to have a clear apprehension of the
nature of that claim.
That I may not pass hurriedly over so important a subject, I
have been led to divide my discourse upon miracles into three
parts : in the first of which I shall state the force of that argument
for the truth of Christianity which arises from the miracles of Jesus
recorded in the New Testament.
SECTION I.
All that we know of the Almighty is gathered from his works,
lie speaks to us by the effects wiiich he produces ; and the signa-
tures of power, wisdom, and goodness, which appear in the objects
around us, are the language in which God teaches man the know-
ledge of himself. From these o) jects we learn the providence as
well as the existence of God ; because, while the objects are in
themselves great and stupendous, many of them appear to us in
motion, and', through the whole of nature, we observe operations
which indicate not only the original exertions, but also the con-
timied agency of a supreme invisible power. These operations are
not desultory. By experience and information we are able to trace
a certain regular course, according to which the Almighty exer-
cises his 2)ower throughovit the universe ; and all the business of
life proceeds upon the supposition of the uniformity of his opera-
tions. We are often, indeed, reminded that our experience and
information are very limited. Extraoi'dinary appearances at par-
ticular seasons astonish the nations of the earth ; new powers of
nature unfold themselves in the progress of our discoveries; and
the accumulation of facts, collected and arranged by successive
generations, serves to enlarge our conceptions of the greatness and
the order of that system to which wc belong. But although we
do not pretend to be acquainted with the whole course of nature,
yet the more that we know, we are the more confirmed in the be-
lief that there is an established course : and every true philosopher
is encouraged by the fruit of his own researches to entertain the
hope, that some future age will be able to reconcile with that course
appearances which his ignorance is at present unable to explain.
Although the business of life and the speculations of philoso-
phy proceed upon the uniformity of the course of nature, yet it
OF CHRISTIANITY. 35
cannot be understood by those who believe in the existence of a
Supreme Intelligent Being-, that this uniformity excludes his in-
terposition whensoever he sees meet to interpose. We use the
pln-ase, laws of nature, to express the method in which, according
to our observation, the Almighty usually operates. We call them
laws, because they are independent of us, because they serve to
account for the most discordant phenomena, and because the
knowledge of them gives us a certain command over nature. But
it would be an abuse of language to infer from their being called
laws of nature, that they bind him who established them. It
would be recurring to the principles of atheism, to fate, and blind
necessity, to say that the author of nature is obliged to act in the
manner in which he usually acts ; and that he cannot, in any
given circumstances, depart from the course which we observe.
The departure, indeed, is to us a novelty. We have no principles
by which we can foresee its approach, or form any conjecture with
regard to the measure and the end of it. But if we conceive
worthily of the Iluler of the universe, we shall believe that all
these departures entered into the great plan which he formed in
the beginning ; that they were ordained and arranged by him ;
and that they arise at the time which he appointed, and fulfil the
purposes of his wisdom.
There is not then any mutability or weakness in those occa-
sional interpositions which seem to us to suspend the laws and to
alter the course of nature. The Almighty Being, who called the
universe out of nothing, whose creating hand gave a beginning to
the course of nature, and whose will must be independent of that
which he himself produced, acts for wise ends, and at particular
seasons, not in that manner which he has enabled us to trace,
but in another manner concerning which he has not furnish-
ed us with the means of forming any expectation, and which is
resolvable merely into his good pleasure. The one manner is his
ordinary administration, under which his reasonable offspring en-
joy security, advance in the knowledge of nature, and receive much
instruction : the other manner is his extraordinary administration,
which, although foreseen by him as a part of the scheme of
his government, appears strange to his intelligent creatures, but
which, by this strangeness, may promote purposes to them most
important and salutary. It may rouse their attention to the na-
tural proofs of the being and perfections of God ; it may afford a
practical confutation of the scepticism and materialism to which
false philosophy often leads ; and, rebuking the pride and the secu-
rity of man, may teach the nations to know that the Lord God
reigneth " in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places."*
• Psalm cxxxv. 6.
36 r-IUECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
To such moral purposes as these, any alteration of the course
of nature, by the immediate interposition of the Almighty, may
be subservient ; and no man will presume to say that our limited
faculties can assign all the reasons which may induce the Al-
mighty thus to interpose. But we can clearly discern one most
important end which may be promoted by those alterations of the
course of nature, in which the agency of men, or other visible
ministers of the divine power, is employed.
The circumstances of the intelligent creation may render it
highly expedient that, in addition to that original revelation of
the nature and the will of God which they enjoy by the light of
reason, there should be superadded an extraordinary revelation,
to remove the errors which had obscured their knowledge, to
enforce the practice of their duty, or to revive and extend their
hopes. The wisest ancient philosophers wished for a divine reve-
lation ; and to any one who examines the state of the old heathen
world in respect of religion and morality, it cannot appear un-
worthy of the Father of his creatures to bestow such a blessing.
This revelation, supposing it to be given, may either be imparted
to every individual mind, or be confined to a few chosen persons,
vested with a commission to communicate the benefits of it to the
rest of the world. It is certainly possible for the Father of spirits
to act upon every individual mind so as to give that mind the
impression of an extraordinary revelation : it is as easy for the
Father of spirits to do this, as to act upon a few minds. But in
this case, departures from the established course of nature would
be multiplied without end. In the illumination of every indi-
vidual, there would be an immediate extraordinary interposition of
the Almighty. But such frequent extraordinary interpositions
would lose their nature, so as to be confounded with the ordinary
light of reason and conscience : or if they were so striking as to
be, in every case, clearly discriminated, they would subdue the un-
derstanding, and overawe the whole soul, so as to extort, by the
feeling of the immediate presence of the Creator, that submission
and obedience which it is the character of a rational agent to yield
with deliberation and from choice. It appears, therefore, more
consistent with the simplicity of nature, and with the character of
man, that a few persons should be ordained the instruments of
conveying a divine revelation to their fellow-creatures ; and that
the extraordinaiy circumstances which must attend the giving
such a revelation should be confined to them. But it is not
enough that these persons feel the impression of a divine revelation
upon their own minds ; it is not enough that, in their commu-
nications with their fellow- creatures, they appear to be possessed
of superior knowledge and more enlarged views : it is possible
that their knowledge and views may have been derived from some
OF CIIRISTIANITY. 37
natural source ; and we require a clear indisputable mark to au-
thenticate the singular and important commission which they pro-
fess to bear. It were presumptuous in us to say what are the
marks of such a commission which the Almighty can give ; for
our knowledge of what He can do, is chiefly dei'ived from our ob-
servation of what he has done. But we may say, that, according
to our experience of the divine procedure, there can be no mark
of a divine commission more striking and more incontrovertible,
than that the persons who bear it should have the privilege of
altering the course of nature by a word of their mouths. The
revelation made to their minds is invisible ; and all the outward
appearances of it may be delusive. But extraordinary works, be-
yond the power of man, performed by them, are a sensible outward
sign of a power which can be derived from God alone. If he has
invested them with this power, it is not incredible that he has
made a revelation to their minds ; and if they constantly appeal
to the works, which are the sign of the power, as the evidence of
the invisible revelation, and of the commission with which it was
accompanied, then we must either believe that they have such a
commission, or we are driven to the horrid supposition that God
is the author of a falsehood, and conspires with these men to de-
ceive his creatures.
When I call the extraordinary works performed by these men
the sign of a power derived from God, you recollect that all the
language which we interpret consists of signs ; i. e, objects and
operations which fall under our senses, employed to indicate that
which is unseen. What are the looks, the woi'ds, and the actions
of our fellow-creatures, but signs of that internal disposition which
is hidden from our view ? What are the appearances which bodies
exhibit to our senses, but signs of the inward qualities which pi'o-
duce these appearances ? What are the works of natui'e, but signs
of that supreme intelligence, " whom no man hath seen at any
time ?"* Upon this principle all those events and operations, be-
yond the compass of human power, which happen according to the
established course of nature, form part of the foundations of Na-
tural Religion ; and any person who foretells or conducts them
only discovers his acquaintance with that course, and his sagacity
in applying what we call the laws of nature. Upon the same
principle all those events and operations, which happen in opposi-
tion to the established course of nature, imply an exertion of the
same power which established that course, because they counte-
ract it ; and any person, v/ho, by a word, produces such events and
02>erations, discovers that this power is committed to him. To
command the sun to run his race until the time of his going down,
• John i. 18.
38 DIRECT OR EXTERS'AL EVIDENCE
and to command him to stand still about a whole day, as in the
valley of Gibeon in the time of Joshua,* are two commands which
destroy one another; and, therefore, if we believe that the will of
the Almighty Ruler of the universe produces an uniform obe-
dience to the lirst, we must believe that the obedience which,
upon one occasion, was yielded to the second, was the effect of
his will also. As no creature can stop the working- of his hand,
every interruption in that course according to which he usually
operates ha])pens by his permission ; and the power of altering
the course of nature, by whomsoever it be exerted, must be de-
rived from the Lord of nature.
This is the reasoning upon which we proceed, when we argue for
the truth of a revelation from extraordinary works performed by
those through whom it is communicated ; and here we see the im-
portant purpose which the Almighty promotes by employing the
agency of men to change the oi'der of nature. Those changes which
proceed immediately from his hand, however well fitted to impress
his creatures with a sense of his sovereignty, do not of themselves
prove any new proposition, because their connexion with that pro-
position is not manifest. But, when visible agents perform works
beyond the power of man, and contrary to the course of nature, they
give a sign of the interposition of the Almighty, which being ap-
plied by their declaration to the doctrine which they teach, becomes
a voucher of the truth of what they say. To works of this kind,
the term miracles is properly applied ; and they form what has been
called the seal of heaven, implying that delegation of the sovereign
authority of the Lord of all, which appears to be reserved in the
conduct of providence as the credential of those to whom a divine
commission is at any time granted. This was the rod put into the
hand of Moses, wherewith to do signs and wonders, that Pharaoh
and the children of Israel might believe that the Lord God had sent
him. This was the sign given to Elijah, that it might be known
that he was a man of God ; and this was the witness which the Fa-
ther bore to " Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by mi-
racles, which God did by him in the midst of the people,"T and to
the apostles of Jesus who went forth to preach the Gospel, " the
Lord working with them, and confirming the word by signs fol-
lowing.":!;
The nature of the revelation contained in the books of the New
Testament alfords a very strong presumptive proof that it comes
from God ; whilst the works done by Jesus and his Apostles are the
direct proof ; and the two proofs conspire vvith the most perfect har-
• Joshua X. 12—14. + Acts, ii, 22.
t Mark xvi. 20.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 39
mony. The presumptive proof explains the importance and the
dignity of that occasion upon which the Almighty was pleased to
make the interposition, of which these works are the sign : The di-
rect proof accounts for that transcendent excellence in the doctrine
and the character of the author of this system, which, upon the sup-
position of its heing of human origin, appeared to be inexplicable ;
and thus the internal and extei'nal evidence of Christianity, by the
aid which they lend to one another, make us " ready to give an
answer to every man that asketli a reason of the hope that is in us."*
We have found that the reasoning involved in the argument
from miracles, proceeds upon the same principles by which a sound
theist infers the being and perfections of God : in both cases, we
discover God by his works, which are to us the signs of his agency.
Tins analogy between the proofs of natxiral and revealed religion is
very mucli illustrated by considering the particular miracles record-
ed in the Gospel. When we investigate the evidences of natural
religion, we find that any works manifestly exceeding human power
would lead us, in the course of fair reasoning, to a Being antece-
dent to the human race, superior to them in strength, and indepen-
dent of them in the mode of his existence. But it is the transcen-
dent grandeur of those works which we behold, their inimitable
beauty, their endless variety, their harmony and utility ; it is this
infinite superiority of the works of nature above the works of art,
which renders the argument completely satisfying, and leaves no
doubt in our minds, either of the power or of the moral character
of that Being from whom they proceed. In like manner, although
in stating the argument from miracles in support of the Gospel, we
have reasoned fairly upon this simple principle, that they are inter-
ruptions of the course of nature, yet, when we come to consider
those particular interruptions upon which the Gospel founds its
claim, we perceive that their nature furnishes a very strong confir-
mation of the general argument, and that, like the other works of
God, they proclaim their Author.
In Him who ruled the raging of the sea, and stilled the tempest,
we recognise the Lord of the universe. In that command which
gave life to the dead, we recognise the Author of life. In the works
of Him who, by a word of his mouth, cured the most inveterate dis-
eases, unstopped the ears which had never admitted a sound, open-
ed the eyes which had never seen tiie light, conferred upon the most
distracted mind the exercise of reason, and restored the withered
maimed, distorted limb, we recognise the Former of our bodies and
the Father of our spirits. This is the verypower by which all thinos
consist, the energy of Him " in whom we live, and move, and have
* 1 Peter iii. 15.
40 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
our being-."* The miracles of the Gospel were performed without
preparation or concert ; they were instantaneous in the manner of
being- produced, yet their eifects were permanent ; and, like the
works of nature, although they came without eifort from the hands
of the workman, they bore to be examined by the nicest eye.
There does not appear in them that poverty which marks all human
exertions ; neither the strength nor the skill of Him who did them
seemed to be exhausted ; but there was a fulness of power, a mul-
tiplicity, a diversity, a readiness in the exercise of it, by which they
resemble the riches of God that replenish the earth. Yet they were
free from parade and ostentation. There were no attempts to
dazzle, no anxiety to set off every work to the best advantage, no
waste of exertion, no frivolous accompaniments ; but a sobriety, a
decorum, all the dignified simplicity of nature. The extraordinary
power which appeared in the miracles of the Gospel was employed
not to hurt or to terrify, but to heal, to comfort, and to bless. The
gracious purpose to which they ministered declared their divine ori-
gin ; and they who l)eheld a man who had the command of nature,
and " who went about doing good,"-)- dispensing with a bountiful
hand the gifts of heaven, lightening the burdens of human life, and
accompanying every exercise of his power with a display of tender-
ness, condescension, and love, were taught to venerate the messen-
ger, and the " express image" of that Almighty Lord, whose king-
dom excels at once in majesty and in grace.
As the religion which these miracles were wrought to attest is
in every respect worthy of God, so they were selected with divine
wisdom to illustrate the peculiar doctrines of that religion ; and in
the admirable fitness with which the nature of the proof is accom-
modated to the nature of the thing to be proved, we have an in-
stance of the same kind with many which the creation affords of the
perfection of the divine workmanship. Jesus came preaching for-
giveness of sins ; and he brought with him a sensible sign of his
having received a commission to bestow this invisible gift. Disease
was introdiiced into the world by sin. Jesus therefore cured all
manner of disease, that we might know that he had power to for-
give sins also. His being able to remove, not by the slow uncer-
tain applications of human art, but instantly, by a woi'd of his
mouth spoken at any distance, those temporal maladies which are
the present visible fruits of sin, was an assurance to the world of
his being able to remove the spiritual evils which flow from the same
source. It was a specimen, a symbolical representation of his cha-
racter as physician of souls. Jesus was that seed of the woman who
was to bruise the head of the serpent, and he gave in his luiracles
a sensible sign of the fall of Satan. The influence, which this ad-
* Acts xvii. 28. f Acts x. 30.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 41
versary of mankind in every ag-e exercises over the minds of men,
was in that age connected with a degree of power over their bodies.
It was the general IjeUef in Judea, that certain diseases proceeded
from the possession which his emissaries took of the human body.
To the Jews therefoi'e, the casting out devils was an ocular demon-
stration that Jesus was able to destroy the works of the devil. It
was the beginning of the triumphs of this mighty prince, a trophy
which he brought from the land of the enemy, to assure his fol-
lowers of a complete victory. I have bound the strong man. Do
you ask a proof ? See, I enter his house and spoil his goods. I set
free the mind and conscience which he had enslaved. My people
feel their freedom, and need no foreign proof. But does the
world require one ? See, by the finger of God, I set free those
bodies which Satan torments. His raising the dead was a practical
confirmation of that new doctrine of his religion, that the hour is
coming when they who are in their graves shall hear his voice, and
shall come forth to the resurrection. You cannot say that the thing
is impossible ; for you see in his miracles a sample of that almighty
power which shall quicken them that sleep in the dust, a sensible
sign that Jesus " hath abolished death," and is able to " ransom his
people from the power of the grave."*
Other miracles of Jesus may be accommodated to the doctrines
of religion, and much spiritual instruction may be derived from
them. But these three, the cure of diseases, the casting out devils,
and the raising the dead, are applied by himself in the manner which
I have stated. They are not only a confirmation of his divine mis-
sion, by being a display of the same kind of power which appears
in creation and providence, but, from their nature, they are a proof
of the characteristical doctrines of the Gospel ; and we are led by
considering works so great in themselves, and at the same time so
apposite to the purpose for which they were wrought, to transfer
to the miracles of Jesus that devout exclamation which an enlarged
view of the creation dictated to the Psalmist : " How manifold are
thy works, O Lord ; in wisdom hast thou made them all."f
I have thus stated the force of that argument which arises from
the miracles of Jesus, as they are recorded in the New Testament.
They who beheld them said, " When Messias coroeth, will he do
moi'e miracles than those which this man doth ? This is the pro-
phet.":): They spoke what they felt, and the deductions of the
most enlightened reason upon this subject accord with the feelings
of every unbiassed spectator. But we are not the spectators of the
miracles of Jesus : the report only has reached our ears ; and
* 2 Tim. i. 10 ; Hos, xiii. 14. f Ps. civ. 24. | John vii. 31—40.
42 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
some farther principles are necessary in our situation to enable
us to apply the argument from miracles in support of the truth of
Christianity.
SECTION II.
It appeared more consistent with the simplicity of nature and the
character of man, that one or more persons should be ordained the
instruments of conveying- an extraordinary revelation to the rest of
the world, than that it should be imparted to every individual mind.
The commission of these messengers of heaven may be attested by
changes upon the order of nature, which the Almighty accomplishes
through their agency. But the works which they do are objects
of sense only to their contemporaries with whom they converse.
Without a perpetual miracle exhibited in their preservation, those
facts which are the proof of the divine revelation must be transmit-
ted to succeeding ages by oral or written tradition, and, like all
other facts in the history of former times, they must constitute part
of that information which is received upon the credit of testimony.
Accordingly we say, that Jesxis Christ, for a few years, did signs
and wonders in the presence of his disciples, and l)efore all the peo-
ple : the report of them was carried through the world after his
departure from it by chosen witnesses, to whom he had imparted
the power of working miracles ; and many of the miracles done both
by him and his apostles are now written in authentic genuine re-
cords which have reached our days, that we also may believe that
he is the Son of God. Supposing then we admit, that the eye-
witnesses of the miracles of Jesus reasoned justly when they con-
sidered them as proofs of a divine commission ; still it remains to
be inquired, whether the evidence which has transmitted these
miracles to us, is sufficient to warrant us in drawing the same in ■
ference which we should have drawn if we ourselves had seen
them.
There are three questions which require to be discussed upon
this STibject. Whether miracles are capaltle of proof? Whether
the testimony borne to the miracles of Jesus was credible at the
time it was given ? And whether the distance at which we live
from that time destroys, or in any material degree impairs, its ori-
ginal credibility ?
1. It was said by one of the subtlest reasoners of modern times,
OF CHRISTIANITY. 43
that a miracle is incapable of being- proved by testimony. His
argument was this : " Our belief of any fact attested by eye-wit-
nesses rests upon oiu' experience of the usual conformity of facts to
the reports of witnesses. But a firm and unalterable experience
hath established the laws of nature. When, therefore, witnesses
attest any fact which is a violation of the laws of nature, here is a
contest of two opposite experiences. The proof against a miracle,
from the veiy nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from
experience can be imagined ; and if so, it cannot be surmounted by
a proof from testimony, because testimony rests upon experience."
Mr Hume boasted of this reasoning as unanswerable, and he holds
it forth in his Essay on Miracles as an everlasting check to super-
stition. The principles upon which the reasoning proceeds have
been closely sifted, and tlieir fallacy completely exposed, in Camp-
bell's Dissertation on Miracles ; one of the best polemical treatises
that ever was written. Mr Hume meets here with an antagonist
who is not inferior to himself in acuteness, and who, supported by
the goodness of his cause, has gained a triumphant victory. I con-
sider this dissertation as a standard book for students of divinity.
You will find in it accurate reasoning, and much information upon
the whole subject of miracles, and, in particular, a thorough inves-
tigation of the question which I have now stated.
It is not true that our belief in testimony rests wholly upon ex-
perience ; for, as every man has a principle of veracity which leads
him to speak truth, unless his mind be under some particular wrong-
bias, so we are led, by the consciousness of this principle, and by
the analogy which we suppose to exist between o'ir own mind and
the mind of others, to believe that they also speak the truth, until
we learn by experience that they mean to deceive us. It is not
accux'ate to state the firm and unalterable experience which is said
to establish the laws of nature as somewhat distinct from testi-
mony ; for since the observations of any individual are much too
limited to enable him to judge of the uniformity of nature, the word
experience, in the sense in which it is used in this proposition,
presupposes a faith in testimony, for it comprehends the observa-
tions of others communicated to us through that channel. It is
not true that a firm and unalterable experience hath established the
laws of nature, because the histories of all countries are tilled with
accounts of deviations from them.
These are objections to the principles of Mr Hume's argument,
which his subtle aritagonist brings forward, and presses with much
force. But, independently of these inferior points, he has shown
that the argument itself is a fallacy ; and the sophism lies here.
Experience vouches that which is past ; but, if the word has any
meaning, experience does not vouch that which is future. Our
44 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
judgment of the future is an inference which we draw from the
reports of experience concerning- the past ; the reports may be
true, and yet our inference may be false. Thus experience de-
clares that it is not agreeable to the usual course of nature for the
dead to rise. Suppose twelve men to declare that the dead do
usually arise, there would be proof against proof; a particular tes-
timony set against our own personal observations, and against all
the reports and observations of others which we had collected up-
on that subject. But suppose twelve men to declare that one dead
man did arise, here is no opposition between the reports of expe-
rience and their testimony ; for it does not fall within the province
of experience to declare that it is impossible for the dead to rise, or
that the usual course of nature in this matter shall never be de-
parted from. We may hastily draw such inferences from the re-
ports of experience. But the inference is our own : we have taken
too wide a step in making it ; and it is a sophism to say, that be-
cause experience vouches the premises, experience vouches also
that conclusion which is drawn from them merely by a defect in
our mode of reasoning.
When witnesses then attest miracles, experience and testimony
do not contradict one another. Experience declares that such
events do not usually happen ; testimony declares that they have
happened in that instance. Each makes its own report, and the
reports of both may be true. Instances somewhat similar occur in
other cases. Unusual events, extraordinary phenomena in nature,
strange revolutions in politics, uncommon efforts of genius or of
memory, are all received upon testimony. Magnetism, electricity,
and galvanism are opposite to the properties of matter formerly
known. Yet many, who never saw these new powers exerted,
give credit to the reports of the experiments that have been made.
Experience indeed begets a presumption with regard to the future.
We are disposed to believe that the facts which have been uni-
formly observed will recur in similar circumstances ; and we act
upon this presumption. But as new situations may occur, in which
a difference of circumstances produces a difference in the event,
and as we do not pretend to be acquainted with all the circumstan-
ces which discriminate every new case, this pi'esumption is over-
turned by credible testimony relating facts different from those
which have been ol)served. Without the presumption suggested
by experience we should live in perpetual amazement ; without the
credit given to testimony, we should often remain ignorant, and be
exposed to danger. By the one, we accommodate our conduct to
the general uniformity of events ; by the other, we are apprized of
new facts which sometimes arise. The provision made for us by
OF CHRISTIANITY. 45
tiie Author of our nature is in this way complete, and we are pre-
pared for our whole condition.
There does not appear, then, to be any foundation for saying-,
that a miracle is, from its nature, incapable of being- proved by tes-
timony. As nothing- can hinder the Author of nature from chang--
ing- the order of nature whensoever he sees meet, and as one very
important purpose in his ,g-overnment is most effectually promoted
by employing-, at particular seasons, the ministry of men to change
this order, a miracle is always a possible event, and becomes, in
certain circumstances, not improbable. Like every other possible
fact, therefore, it may be communicated to such as have not seen
it by the testimony of such as have^ It is natural, indeed, to weig-h
very scrupulously the testimony of a miracle, because testimony
has in this case to encounter that presumption against the fact
which is suggested by experience. The person who relates it may,
from ignorance, mistake an unusual application of the laws of na-
ture for a suspension of them ; an exercise of superior skill and
dexterit)^ for a work beyond the power of man, or he may be dis-
posed to amuse himself, and to promote some private end by our
credulity. Accordingly we do not receive any extraordinary fact
in common life upon the credit of every man whom we chance to
meet. We attend to the character and the manner of the reporter ;
we lay together the several parts of his report, and we call in every
circumstance which may assist us in judging whether he is speak-
ing- the truth. The more extraordinary and important the fact be,
there is the more reason for this caution ; and it is especially pro-
per, in examining- the reports of those facts which deserve the name
of miracles, i. e. works contrary to the course of nature, said to be
performed by man, as the evidences of an extraordinary revelation.
2. We are thus led to the second question which I stated,
Whether the testimony borne to the miracles of Jesus was cre-
dible ?
The Apostles were chosen by Jesus to be witnesses to the ut-
termost parts of the earth of all things which he did, both in the
land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, and of his resurrection from the
dead. This was the commission which they received from him
immediately before his ascension, the character under which they
appeared before the Jewish council, and the office which they as-
sume in their writings. It is not my business to spread out the
circumstances which render theirs a credible testimony, and give
to each its proper colouring-. It is enough for me to mention the
sources of arg-ument.
In judging- of the credibility of this testimony, you are led back
to that branch of the internal evidence of Christianity which arises
from the character of the Apostles, as it appears in their writings
4G DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
— in their unblemished conduct, ami distinguished virtues — in that
soundness of understaiuling-, and calmness of temper which are op-
posite to enthusiasm, — and in those simple artless manners which
are most unlike to imposture. You are farther to observe, that
their relation of the miracles of Jesus consists of palpable facts,
which were the objects of sense. The power by which a man born
blind received his sight was invisible ; but that the man was born
Idind might be learned with certainty from his parents or neigh-
bours : and that, by obeying a simple command of Jesus, he re-
covered his sight, was manifest to every spectator. The power
w'hich raised a dead man was invisible ; but that Jesus and his
disciples met a large company carrying forth a young man to his
burial — that this young man was known to his friends, and believed
liy all the company to be truly dead, and that upon Jesus' coming
to the bier, and bidding him arise, he sat up and began to speak ;
all these are points which it did not require a superior learning or
sagacity to discern, but concerning which any person in the exer-
cise of his senses, who was present and who bestowed an ordinary
degree of attention, could not be mistaken. The case is the same
with the other m.iracles. We are not required to rest upon the
judgment of the Apostles — upon their acquaintance with physical
causes, for the miraculous nature of the works which Jesus did ;
for they give us simply the facts which they saw, and leave us to
make tbe inference for ourselves. There is no amplification in
their manner of recording the miracles, no attempt to excite our
wonder, no exclamation of surprise upon their part ; they relate
the most marvellous exertions of their Master's power with the
same calmness as ordinary facts : they sometimes mention the
feelings of joy and admiration which were uttei'ed by the other
spectators ; they hardly ever express their own.
This temperance, with which the Apostles speak of all that Jesus
did, gives every reader a security in receiving their report, which
he would not have felt had the narration been turgid. Yet he can-
not entertain any doubt of their being convinced that the works of
Jesus were truly mii-aculous ; for by these works they were attached
to a stranger. While they lived in honest obscurity, an cxtraor-
dinaiy personage appeared in their country, and called upon them
to follow him. They left their occupations and their homes, and
continued for some years the witnesses of all that he did. They
wei'e Jews, and had those feelings which have ever distinguished
the sons of Abraham with regard to the national religion. Their
education, instead of enlarging their views, had confirmed their
prejudices. Yet they w^ere converted : with every thing else, they
forsook their religion, and joined a man who was the author of a
system which professed to supersede the law of Moses. They re-
3
OF CIIRISTIAMTy. 47
ceived him as the promised Messiah. But, possessed with the fond
hopes of the Jewish nation, they beheved that he was a temporal
prince, come to restore the kingdom to Israel, and to make the
Jews masters of the world. They were undeceived. Yet this dis-
appointment did not shake their faith. Although they had followed
Jesus in the expectation of being- the ministers and favourites of
an earthly prince, they were content to remain, during his life, the
wandering attendants of a man who had " not where to lay his
head ;" and they appeared in public, after his departure from the
earth, as his disciples. The body of the Jewish people, attached
to the law of Moses, regarded them as traitors to their nation. To
the priests and rulers, whose influence depended upon the esta-
blished faith, they were peculiarly obnoxious. That civil power,
with which the spirit of the Jewish religion had invested its minis-
tei's, was directed against the apostles of Jesus : and without any
attempt to disprove the facts which they asserted, every effort was
made to silence them by force. They were impi'isoned and called
before the most august tribunal of the state. There the high
priest, armed with all the dignity and authority of his sacred office,
commanded them not to preach any more in the name of Jesus.
Yet these men, educated in servile dread of the higher powers, with
the prospect of instant punishment before their eyes, declared that
they would obey God rather than man. Their conduct corre-
sponded to this heroic declaration. Although exposed to the fury
of the populace and the vengeance of the rulers, they continued in
the words of truth and soberness to execute their commission ; and
they sealed their testimony with their blood ; martyrs, not to spe-
culative opinions in which they might be mistaken, but to facts
which they declared they had seen and heard, which they said they
were commanded to publish, and which no threatning or punish-
ment could make them either deny or conceal.
The history of mankind has not preserved a testimony so com-
plete and satisfying as that which I have now stated. If, in con-
formity to the exhibitions which the writings of these men give of
their character, you suppose their testimony to be true, then you
can give the most natural account of every part of their conduct,
of their conversion, their steadfastness, and their heroism. But if,
notwithstanding every appearance of truth, you suppose their testi-
mony to be false, inexplicable circiunstances and glaring absurdi-
ties crowd upon you. You must suppose that twelve men of mean
birth, of no education, living in that humble station which placed
ambitious views out of their reach and far from their thoughts,
without any aid from the state, formed the noblest scheme that
ever entered into the mind of man, adopted the most daring means
of executing that scheme, and conducted it with such address as to
48 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
conceal the imposture under the semblance of simplicity and virtue.
You must suppose that men guilty of blasphemy and falsehood
united in an attempt the best contrived, and which has in fact
proved the most successful, for making- the world virtuous ; that
they formed this singular enterprise without seeking any advantage
to themselves, with an avowed contempt of honour and profit, and
with thecertain expectation of scorn and persecution ; that although
conscious of one another's villany, none of them ever thought of
providing for his own security by disclosing the fi'aud ; but that,
amidst sufferings the most grievous to flesh and blood, they per-
severed in their conspiracy to cheat the world into piety, honesty,
and benevolence.
They who can swallow such suppositions have no title to object
to miracles. They should remember that there is a moral as well
as a physical order ; that there are certain general principles by
which human actions are regulated, and upon which we are accus-
tomed to proceed in our judgments of the conduct of men ; and
that it is much more difficult to conceive that, in opposition to
those principles which analogy and experience have established,
such a testimony as the apostles uttered should be false, than that
the laws of nature in some particular instances should have been
suspended. Of the suspension of the laws of nature we can give
a rational account : the purpose for which it is said to have been
made renders it not incredible. But the falsehood of testimony
in such circumstances would be a phenomenon in the history of
the human mind so strange and inexplicable, that we need not be
afraid to apply to this case the words of Mr Hume, although he
certainly did not mean them to he so applied : " No testimony is
sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a
kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact
which it endeavours to establish." The falsehood of the testimony
of the apostles would be more miraculous, i. e. it is more impro-
bable, than any fact which they attest.
3. But although the testimony of the apostles appears, upon
all the principles according to which we judge of such matters, to
have been credible at the time when it was given, it remains to
be inquired, whether the distance at which we live from that
time does, in any material degree, impair to us its original credi-
bility.
It is allowed that the testimony of the apostles received the
strongest confirmation from its having been emitted immediately
after the ascension of Jesus, in the very place where they said he
had performed many of his mighty works, under the eye of that
government which had persecuted him, and in presence of multi-
tudes to whom they appealed as witnesses of what they declared.
4
OF CHRISTIANITY. 49
This must be allowed by all who are qualified to judg-e of evi-
dence. Now let it be remembered that the benefit of this confir-
mation is not lost to us, because, although their testimony was at
first oral, given in their preaching to those whom they converted,
it was soon recorded in books which we receive upon satisfying-
evidence as authentic and genuine. There is therefore no room
to alleg-e, in disparagement of this testimony, the inaccuracy of
verbal reports, or the natural disposition to exag-gerate in the re-
petition of every extraordinary event. We are put in possession
of the facts as they were published in the lifetime of the apostles,
without the embellishments of succeeding ages ; and every cir-
cumstance which moved those who heard their testimony is pre-
served in their liooks to establish our faith.
The early publication of the Gospels and Acts is to us an un-
questionable voucher of the following most important facts, — that
the miracles of our Lord and his apostles were not done in a corner
before a few select friends, and by them artfully spread through
the world, but were performed openly, in the fields, in the city, in
the temple, before enemies who had every opportunity of examin-
ing- them, who did not reg-ard them with indifference, who were
alarmed with the effect which they produced upon the minds of the
people, and were zealous in bringing- forward every objection. Had
any one of these circumstances been false, the early publication of
books asserting- them would have overturned the scheme. Further,
there is much particularity in the narration of many of the mira-
cles : reference is made to time and place; many local circumstances
are introduced ; persons are marked out, not only by their distress,
but by their rank and their names ; the emotions of the spectators^
the joy of those who received deliverance, the consultations held
by rulers, and the public orders in consequence of certain miracles,
all enter into the record of these books. While every intelligent
reader discerns in this particular detail the most accurate acquaint-
ance with the prejudices and the manners of the times, and is from
thence satisfied that the books are authentic, he must also be satis-
fied that a detail which, by its particularity, called so much atten-
tion, and a'lmitted, at the time it was published, of so easy investi-
gation, is itself a voucher of its own truth. Ag-ain, the historj' of
the miracles is so closely interwoven with the rest of the narration,
that any man who reads it may be satisfied that it could not have
been inserted after the books were published. There are numlier-
less allusions to the miracles even in those passages where none of
them are recorded ; the faith of the first discijiles is said to have
been founded upon them, and the change upon their sentiments is
truly inexplicable, unless we suppose the miracles to have been done
in their presence. All, therefore, who received the Gospels and
VOL. I. c
50 DIRECT OU EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
tlie Acts in early times, when they could easily examine tlie trutli
of the facts, may be considered as setting- their seal to the miracles
of Jesus and his ajjostles ; and the numl)er of the first converts out
of Judea and Jerusalem forms, in this way, a cloud of witnesses.
That confirmation of the testimony of the apostles, which ap-
}»ears to be implied in the faith of all the first Christians, is rendei'ed
much more striking, l)y the peculiar nature of a larg-e part of the
New Testament. I mean the epistles to the different churches.
Paul, in several of the epistles which he sent by particular mes-
sengers to those whose names they bear, and which were authen-
ticated to the whole Christian world by his superscription, mentions
the miracles which he had performed, the effect which his miracles
had produced, and the extraordinary powers which he had imparted.
A large portion of the first Epistle to the Corinthians is occupied
with a discourse concerning spiritual gifts, in which he speaks of
them as common in that church, as abused by many who possessed
them, and as inferior in excellence to moral virtue. In his first
Epistle to the Thessalonians, which is known to have been the
earliest of the apostolical writings, Paul says, " Our Gospel came
to j'ou not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost ;
and they, i. e. your own citizens, in their progress through different
parts of the world, show of us what manner of entering in we had
imto you, and how ye turned from idols to serve the living God."*
Here is a letter written not twenty years after the ascension of
Jesus, sent as soon as it was written to the church of Thessalonica
to be read there, and in the neighbouring churches, copied and cir-
culated l)y those to whom it was addressed, uniformly quoted since
that time by the succession of Christian writers, and come down
to us with every evidence that can be desired, indeed without any
dispute, of its being a genuine letter. In this letter the apostle
Tells the Thessalonians that they had been converted to the Gospel
by the miracles of those who preached it, and that the effect M^hich
ihis conversion had produced upon their conduct was talked of
everywhere. U these facts had not been known to the Thessa-
lonians, the letter would have been instantly rejected, and the
character of him who wrote it would have sunk into contempt.
Its being publicly read, held in veneration, and transmitted by them,
is a proof that every thing said in it concerning themselves is true,
and therefore it is a proof that those who could not be mistaken,
believed in the miracles of the apostles of our Lord. This argu-
ment is handled by Butler, and all the aldest defenders of our reli-
gion ; and I have been led to state it particularly, because it has
always appeared to me an unanswerable argument, arising out of
• 1 Th'jss. i. 5, 0.
OF CHRISTIANITY. Si
the books themselves, a confirmation of the testimony of the apos-
tles that is independent of their personal character, and yet is de-
monstrative of the estimation in which they were held by their
contemporaries, and of the credit which we may safely give to their
report.
4. It only remains to be added upon this question, that a testi-
mony thus strongly confirmed is not contradicted by any opposite
testimony. The books of the New Testament are full of conces-
sions made by the adversaries of Christianity ; concessions, the
force of which must be admitted l>y all who believe the books to
be authentic : and it is very remarkable, that concessions of exactly
the same kind with those made by the Jews in our Saviour's days,
were made by the zealous and learned adversaries of our faith in
the first four centuries. Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, and Julian
did not deny the facts ; they only attempted to disparage them, or
to ascribe them to magic. Julian was emperor of Rome in the
fourth century. He had renounced Christianity, and his zeal to
revive the ancient heathen worship made him the bitterest enemy
of a system which condemned all the forms of idolatry. Yet this
man, with every wish to overturn the establishment which Christ-
ianity had received from Constantine, does not pretend to say in
his work against the Christians, that no miracles were performed
by Jesus. In one place he says, " Jesus, who rebuked the winds,
and walked on the seas, and cast out daemons, and as you will have
it, made the heavens and the earth." In another place, " Jesus
has been celebrated about three hundred years, having- done nothing;
in his lifetime worthy of remembrance, unless any one thinks it a
mig-hty matter to heal lame and blind people, and exorcise dsemo-
niacs in the villag-es of Bethsaida and Bethany."* The prejudices
of the emperor led him to speak slightingly of the miracles ; but
the facts are admitted by him. It was reserved for infidels at the
distance of seventeen hundred years from the event, to dispute a
testimony which had appeared satisfying to those who heard it,
and which had not received any contradiction in the succession of
ages. Because they tUd not believe in mag-ic, and saw the futility
of that account of the works of Jesus which the prejudices of the
times had drawn from their predecessors in infidelity, they have
taken a new ground, and they affirm, against the principles of human
nature, ag-ainst the faith of history, and the concessions of the
earliest adversaries, that the works never were done. But Christ-
ianity has nothing- to fear from any chang-e in the mode of attack.
Sound philosophy will always furnish weapons sufficient to repel
the ag-gressor ; and the truth will be the more firmly established by
every display of the mutability of error.
* Lardner's Heath. Test. cli. kIvi.
52 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
It appears then, that even that part of the external evidence of
Christianity, which from its nature is the most hkely to be affect-
ed by length of time, is not evanescent ; that various circumstan-
ces preserve it from diminution ; and that we, in these latter ages,
may certainly know the truth of the testimony borne by those who
declare in the books of the New Testament that which they saw
and heard.
SECTION III.
The subject would now be exhausted if the only miracles record-
ed in history were those to which Jesus and his Apostles made
their appeal. This singular attestation, given upon so important
an occasion, would then appear a decisive mark of the interposition
of the Almighty ; and every person who believes the books of the
New Testament to be authentic, might be expected to join in the
opinion of Nicodemus, who said to Jesus, " We know that thou
art a teacher come from God ; for no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God he with him."* But the subject is
involved in new difficulties, and assumes a much more complicated
form, when we recollect that accounts of prodigies and miracles
abound in all history, that these miracles are generally connected
with the religion of the country in which the record of them is
preserved, and that, as the religions of different counti'ies are wide-
ly different, the miracles of one country appear to contradict the
miracles of another. If it be said that all the reports of miracles,
excepting those recorded in the Scriptures, are false, then it fol-
lows that there must be a facility of imposition in this matter
against which the human mind has never been proof. If some
other reports of miracles, besides those in Scripture, are admitted
to be true, then it seems to follow, that miracles are not the un-
equivocal mark of a divine commission.
This multitude of reports concerning mii-acles has afforded much
triumph to the adversaries of Christianity, and, in the opinion of
Mr Hume, the authority of any testimony concerning a religious
miracle is so much diminished by the ridiculous stories, and the
gross impositions of the same kind in all ages, that men of sense
should lay down a general resolution to reject it without any exa-
* John iii. 2.
3
OF CHRISTIANITY. 53
mination. The zeal with which he writes has led him to recom-
mend a resolution very unhecoming- a pliilosopher. At the same
time, it must be allowed that, upon the one hand, the prejudice
arising from the multitude of false miracles which have been re-
ported and believed, and, upon the other hand, the suspicion that
out of the number preserved in ancient history, some may have
been real miracles, furnish a very plausible objection against this
branch of the external evidence of Christianity ; an objection which
every person whose business it is to defend the truth of our reli-
gion must be prepared to meet ; and an objection which there is
the more reason for studying with care, because the attempts to
answer it have not always been conducted with sufficient ability and
prudence, and some zealous champions of Christianity have mis-
taken the ground which ought to be maintained in repelling- this
attack.
The four observations which follow, appear to me to embrace
the leading points in this controversy, and when properly extend-
ed by reading and rellection, will Ite found sufficient to I'emove the
objection arising from the multitude of miracles mentioned in his-
tory.
1. No religion, except the Jewish and Christian, which, by
every person who understands the Gospel, are accounted one reli-
g-ion, — no other religion, that we know of, claimed to be received
upon the footing- of miracles performed by its author.
Some of the ancient lawgivers said that they had private confe-
rences with the Deity, in which the system of religious or civil
polity, which they established, v/as communicated to them. But
none of them pretended to produce, in the presence of the people,
changes upon the order of nature. The Pagan mythology was
much more ancient than any record of miracles in profane history.
Many of the achievements of the gods run back into those periods
of which there is no history that is not accounted fabulous ; — some
are known to the learned to be an allegorical method of conveying-
moral or physical truth ; and others are merely the colouring which
fable and poetry gave to the transactions of a remote antiquity
handed down by oral tradition. The miracles recorded in the times
of authentic history coincided with a superstition already establish-
ed, the influence of which prepared the minds of men fur receiving
them. They were performed by priests, or men of rank, to whom
the people were accustomed to look up with reverence ; generally
in temples consecrated by the oftVrings of ages, where it was im-
pious for the eye of the worshippers to pry too closely ; under the
protection of civil government ; and in support of a system which
antiquity had hallowed, and which the law commanded the citizens
to respect. The miracles of the Gospel, on the other hand, were
54 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
performed by obscure despised men, in the midst of enemies, as the
vouchers of a new doctrine which was accounted an insult to the
gods, and which did not flatter the passions of men. It is mani-
fest that the cases are widely different ; and before proceeding to
any particular examination of the heathen miracles, you are war-
ranted in considering- the whole multitude of them as clearly dis-
criminated from the miracles recorded in Scripture, by this circum-
stance, that they were not wrought for the purpose of pi-ocuring
credit to a new system of faith. In the seventh centuiy ^lahomet
appeared in Arabia, calling himself the chief of the prophets of God,
sent to extirpate idolatry, and to establish a new and perfect reli-
gion. He acknowledged the divine mission both of Moses and of
Jesus. He often mentions the evident miracles which Jesus
wrought, and he has preserved the names of the persons whom our
Lord raised from the dead. Those who opposed him demanded a
sign of his mission. He gave various reasons for not complying
with this demand, and in different places of the Koran appears so-
licitous to obviate the doubts which his refusal excited. But al-
though his reasons were not satisfying, and he was harassed with
importunity, — although he lived amongst a barbarous unlearned
people, and although he possessed a very imcommon share of abi-
lity and address, he had the prudence never to make the experi-
ment of working a miracle, and he confesses that God, in his so-
vereignty, had withheld from him that power. The Church of
Rome claims the power which Mahomet did not assume, and the
history of that church is full of wonders said to be performed at
the shrines of saints and martyrs, by the divine virtue residing in
a relic, or by the power committed to a religious order, to a par-
ticular sect, or to the whole church. But all these are in support
of a system already established, and in conformity to the wishes
and expectations of the spectators ; and, like the heathen miracles,
they extend the prevailing superstition by introducing or confirm-
ing doctrines, rites, and practices, exactly similar to those which
had been formerly received.
It appears, then, from this review, that the histoiy of the world
does not present, out of that multitiide of miracles which it has re-
corded, any that were performed under the disadvantages which at-
tended the Christian, for the purpose of introducing a change upon
the religious sentiments of mankind. All the rest were aided by
the prevailing opinions ; these alone were oj)posed by them : all the
rest found men ready to believe ; these alone produced a new faith.
2. As the circumstance which I have mentioned forms, upon a
general view of the matter, a clear discrimination of the miracles
of the Bible, so, when we enter upon a particular examination, there
OF CtlRISTIANITY. 55
appears to be the most striking- difference between them and all
other miracles, in the evidence with which they are transmittol.
The testimony for a miracle requires to be tried with caution, be-
cause it contradicts the presumption suggested by experience ; and
the more instances there are of imposition or mistake in reports of
this kind, there is the more reason for weighing- every report with
the most scrupulous exactness. When we proved the testimony,
borne by the apostles to the miracles of Jesus, we found a multi-
tude of circumstances which conspire to render it credible. But
when we try, by the same standard of sound criticism, the testimony
borne either to the heathen or to popish miracles, it is found to be
very much wanting. Many of the heathen miracles were prodigies
which had no connexion with any religious system, or they were
phenomena which appeared wonderful to ignorant men, but which
a more enlarged acquaintance with nature has enabled lis to explain.
Othei'S were extraordinaiy works, recorded long after the time when
they are said to have been performed, and recorded by historians
who, while they adorn their writing's with popular stories, are care-
ful to disting-uish the narration, which they consider as authentic,
from the reports which they retail because they received them.
The miracles which Tacitus reports as performed by the Emperor
Vespasian, the feats of Alexander of Pontus, which we learn from
Lucian, who represents him as an impostor, and the works ascribed
to ApoUonius of Tyana, whom some of the later Platonists are said
to have raised up as a rival to our Lord, — all these have been ex-
amined by men of learning and judgment ; and the most zealous
friend of Christianity coulil not wish for a more favourable display
of the unexceptionable testimony upon which its miracles are re-
ceived, than is obtained by contrasting- it with the air of falsehood
which runs through all these accounts.
Mr Hume has been solicitous to place the evidence of some po-
pish miracles in the most advantageous light, and he has collected,
with an air of triumph, various circumstances which conspired to
attest the miracles said to be performed about the beginning of the
last century, in the church-yard of St Medard, at the tomb of the
Abbe Paris. But although a particular purpose induced him to as-
sume the appeai"ance of an advocate for these miracles, yet the im-
posture was manifest at the time to many who lived upon the spot,
and it has since that time been completely exposed in several trea-
tises. In Campbell's Dissertation, in the Criterion by Dr Douglas,
late bishop of Salisburj^, in Macknight's Truth of the Gospel His-
tory, and in other books, there is an investigation of many pretend-
ed miracles ; and I believe it will be acknowledged, without hesi-
tation, that Dr Caiupbell and Dr Douglas have clearly shown, with
regard to all the miracles to which their investigation extends,
56 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
either that the accounts of them, from the circumstances, appear to
he false, or that the facts, from their nature, are not miraculous. I
am inclined to think that, as far as this investigation can he carried,
it will he found uniformly to ai)ply to the miracles recorded in
heathen story, or in popish legends ; and that, as a person, who has
heen accustomed to read much history and much fable, is at no loss
to distinguish the one from the other when they are presented to
him, so any one who duly considers the circumstances of the case
will most readily discriminate the precise assured testimony of mi-
racles wrought by Jesus as a divine teacher, which eye-witnesses
submitted at the very time and place to the examination of their
enemies, from the hesitating-, suspicious record of wonders said to
be performed for some insignificant purpose, which the historians
did not see, or which the rank and characters of the person to whom
they are ascribed preserved from the scrutiny even of those who saw
them. The evidence of the miracles of the Gospel, far from being-
diminished by the number of impostures, is very much illustrated
by this contrast. Men, indeed, cannot perceive the diiference with-
out an exercise of understanding-. They are required here, as upon
every other subject, to separate truth from falsehood, to " prove all
things, and to hold fast that which is good."* Extensive informa-
tion and enlightened criticism are called in to be the handmaids of
religion ; and the continued increase of human knowledge, instead
of giving Christians any reasonalde ground for apprehending dan-
ger, enables them to defend the principles which they have em-
braced, dissipates objections which might occur to the ignorant, and
establishes the faith of those who inquire.
I said, I am inclined to think, that if the investigation of which
Dr Douglas and Dr Campbell have given a specimen, were extend-
ed fai'ther, it would be found to ajiply uniformly to the miracles re-
corded in heathen story or in popish legends, I used this guard-
ed expression, because I do not consider any man as warranted to
say, before he has examined them, that all apparent miracles, ex-
cepting those recorded in the Bible, may be accounted for by the
dexterity of an impostor, or by the carelessness or ignorance of the
spectators.
S. And, therefore, my third observation is, that although we
should ascribe some of the extraordinary works recorded in history
to the agency of evil spirits, the argument from miracles for the
truth of Christianity is not impaired.
They who can satisfy their minds that such works are not mira-
culous, or that the accounts of them are false, leave the argument
from miracles entire to Judaism and Christianity. They who can-
* 1 Thess. V. 21.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 57
not satisfy their minds in this manner, and who judge from the na-
ture of the works, or the purpose which they promote, that they
did not proceed from God, are led by their principles to ascribe
them^ to some intermediate l)eings between God and man. But this
system, as we have been taught by our Lord to reason,* does not
affect the argument from miracles. For thus stands the case : The
orders of intermediate beings are wholly unknown to human reason.
There may be good, and there may be bad spirits, and their measure
of power may be more, or it may be less. But as we infer from all
the appearances of nature, and especially from the constitution of
our own minds, that this world is not the work of an evil being-,
so having- found that the nature of the revelation contained in the
New Testament aifords a very strong presumption of its coming
from God, we cannot suppose that the miracles, which are the di-
rect proof oi' this presumption, and which actually were the means
of establishing the Gospel, came from an evil being-. The conduct
of the adversary of mankind was indeed very opposite to the cun-
ning- which is ascribed to him, if he gave his sanction to the man
who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and employ-
ed his power to undermine his own kingdom, and put an end to his
own malicious joy. As far, then, as the argument from miracles
for the truth of Christianity is concerned, the power of evil spirits
is merely a speculative point, upon which, as upon many other spe-
culative points concerning- which our information is imperfect, dif-
ferent opinions may he held without any injury to the truth. What-
ever system we adopt with reg-ard to the power of Satan, howsoever
evil spirits may be supposed to have acted at other times, we are
■as certain as the nature of the thing- can make us, that their power
was not exerted in the establishment of our faith, and we rest in
the miracles of Jesus as wi-ought by the linger of God.
But, although speculations concerning- the power of evil spiints
are in no degree necessary to a rational belief of Christianity, yet
they will naturally fall in your way, when you are investigating-
the argument from miracles, and you ought not to be strangers to
the grounds upon which the different opinions rest. It has been
said, that God alone can work miracles, because the sovereig-n of
the universe never will permit any evil spirit to encroach so far
upon the prerogative of his majesty, as to produce any work con-
trary to the order of natiu-e. This opinion seems to present the
most honourable view of the Almighty ; it professes to afford se-
curity against many delusions, which, according- to other systems,
are practicable ; it leaves the argument from miracles clear and un-
embarrassed, and it has been supported by much ingenious reason-
* Matt. chap. xii.
c2
58 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENX'K
ing-. But it appears to me pi'esumptuoiis, because it assimies more,
and pronounces with a more <lecisive tone concerning' the conduct
of the divine government, than is competent to our ignorance. It
contradicts the obvious interpretation of several passages of Scrip-
ture, and the attempts to give these passages a meaning not in-
consistent with it. have tortured Scripture in a manner which is
not justifiable. It has been said, on the other hand, that evil spirits
have been accustomed, in all ages, to exercise their power in as-
tonishing, deluding, and misleading the minds of men ; that all
false religions have been supported l)y their influence, and that they
are continually Imsied in corrupting true religion. Even the able
and profound (^udworth represents it as unquestionable, that
Apollonius of Tyana was made cboice of by the policy, and assist-
ed by the powers of the kingdom of darkness, for the doing some
things extraordinary, in order to derogate from the miracles of our
Saviorir, and enable Paganism to bear up against the attacks of
Christianity. When the matter is thus stated, a most uncomfortable
view of the moral state of the universe is presented to us ; a view
which, without some qualification, approaches very near to the
Manicha^an system, by subjecting the feeble race of man, in their
most important concerns, alternately to the dominion of opposite
powers. The safe opinion upon this subject appears to me to lie
in the middle between these two. We cannot pretend to say that
an intermediate being never is allowed to suspend the laws of na-
ture. But we are certain that all power is dependent upon the
Lord of nature. We should be careful not to bewilder ourselves,
by carrying the ideas suggested by the weakness of human govern-
ment into our speculations concerning the ways of God; and, we
should always remember, that, in the administration of Him whose
eyes are in every place, there can be no delay or opposition to his
purpose from the multitude of his ministers. " He doeth accord-
ing to his will in the army of- heaven." God is all in all. The
power of working miracles may descend from the Aliuigbty through
a gradation of good spirits; and he may commission evil spirits, by
exercising the power given to them, to prove his people, or to
execute a judicial sentence upon those who receive not the love of
the truth. But both good and evil spirits are absolutely under his
control ; they fulfil his ])leasure, and he works by them.
This is the system which ajipears to be intimated in Scripture,
as far as the Spirit of God hath seen meet to reveal a speculative
]joint which is not essential to our improvement or comfort. It is
indeed very remarkable, that at the introduction of both the Jewish
and the Christian dispensations, there seems, according to the most
natural interpretation of Scripture, to have been a certain display
of the power of evil spirits — I mean in the works of the Egyptian
4
OF CHRISTIANITY. 59
magicians, and in the demoniacs of the New Testament. But in
botii cases the display appears to have been permitted by God, that
it might be made manifest there was in nature a superior j)ower.
The magicians, after they had imitated some of the works of Mo-
ses, could go no farther, but said " This is the finger of God ;"
and therefore God says to Pharaoh, " For this cause have I raised
thee up for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be
declared throughout all the earth."* The evil spirits which had
afflicted the bodies of men owned, in like manner, the power of
Jesus, and retired at his command. Therefore he says, " I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven ;" and again, " If 1 with the
linger of God cast out devils, no doubt the king-dom of God is
come to you."-|- Both dispensations give warning of false prophets
who should show signs. Moses says, " If there arise among you
a prophet and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, saying, let us go
after other gods, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that
prophet, for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you
love him with all your soul." J Our Lord says, " There shall arise
false Christs, and shall show great signs and wonders ;" § and it is
part of the description which his Apostle gives of Antichrist, " His
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs,
and lying wonders." || Even although you suppose it to be meant
by these warnings, that the signs and wonders were to be perform-
ed with the assistance of evil spirits, still the miracles upon which
the two dispensations are founded afford a clear demonstration of
the supremacy of their Author ; and if evil spirits had permission
given them to exercise a certain power at those times, it was only
to prepare for the destruction of their power.
In the very constitution of the evidence of the two religions,
provision is made for preserving the true disciples from the dread
of evil spirits. Whatever opinions may have been entertained con-
cerning- their power, they manifestly stand forth in the Bible con-
fessing their inferiority, and furnishing by this confession, to all
whose understandings are sound, and whose hearts are upright, a
perpetual antidote against the fears of superstition.
It appears, then, that the system which ascribes many of the
miracles recorded in histor)^ to the agency of evil spirits does not
detract from the evidence of Christianity, because our faith rests
upon works whose distingnishing character, and whose manifest su-
periority to the power of evil spirits, are calculated to remove every
* Exod. viii. 19. ; ix. \6 + Luke x. 18. ; xi. 20.
:;: Deut. xiii. 1, 2, :<. § Matt, xxiv. 24.
I! 2 Thcss, ii. 9.
60 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
degree of hesitation in ajiplving the argument which miracles af-
ford.
One observation more shuts up the subject.
4. The uncertainty with regard to the duration of miracles in
the Christian church, does not invalidate the argument arising
from the miracles of Jesus and his apostles.
All Protestants, and many Catholics, believe that the claim of
working miracles which the Church of Rome advances as one mark
of her being the true Church is without foundation; and no im-
partial discerning person, who reads the history of the wonders
which for many centuries have been recorded by that Church, can
hesirate a moment in classing them with the tricks of heathen
priests. Dr Middleton, in his letter from Rome, has shown that
many of the Po])ish are an imitation of the heathen miracles, and
even those who do not admit that they have been borrowed, can-
not deny the resemblance. On the other hand, every Christian be-
lieves that real miracles were performed in the days of the Apos-
tles : and the unanimous tradition of the Christian Church has
preserved the memory of many in succeeding ages. It is natural
then to inquire at what period the true miracles ceased, and the fic-
titious commenced. Some mark is called for to distinguish so im-
portant an era, and the imprudence of which some Christian wri-
ters have been guilty in their attempts to fix it, has afforded a kind
of triumph to those who were willing to expose every weak quar-
ter in the defence of Chrii<tianity. Dr Middleton, in his book, en-
titled— A free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers which have
been supposed to subsist in the Christian Church, maintained this
position, that after the days of the Apostles, the Church did not
possess any standing power of working miracles. Those who were
zealous for the honour of the early fathers attacked, with much bit-
terness, a position which directly impugned their authority. Some
of them very unadvisedly said, that if all the miracles after the days
of the Apostles, which were attested unanimously by the primitive
lathers, are no better than enthutsiasm and imposture, then we are
deprived of our evidence for the truth of the Gospel miracles. Others
undertook to defend the reality of the miracles in the first fourcen-
turies ; and they weakened their defence by extending their fron-
tier. The controversy was keenly agitated about the middle of the
last century ; and the attention of the world was lately drawn to it
by the fascinating language of Mr Gib[)on, who, mixing truth and
falsehood together, and coloui'ing both with his masterly pencil,
has contrived to reflect, from the claims of the primitive Church,
a degree of suspicion upon the Gospel miracles.
No j)erson who believes the Gospel will think it incredible that
miracles were performed during the whole of the first century, he-
OF CHRISTIANITY. 61
cause the Apostle John lived about the end of it, and many of those
to whom the Apostles had communicated spiritual gifts probably
survived it. All the Christian writers of the second and third cen-
turies affirm that miraculous gifts did, in certain measure, continue
in the Christian Church, and were, at times, exerted in the cure
of diseases, and the expulsion of demons. But those, who have
examined their writings with critical accuracy, have shown that
there is much looseness and exaggeration in the language which
Mr Gibbon has employed with regard to these gifts. To satisfy
you of this, I shall place a passage from that historian over against
passages from Irenreus, Origen, and Eusebius. Mr Gibbon says,
the Christian Church, from the times of the Apostles and their
first disciples, has claimed an uninterrupted succession of miracu-
lous powers. Amongst these he mentions the power of raising the
dead. In the days of Irenteus, he affirms, about the end of the se-
cond century, the resurrection of the dead was far from being- es-
teemed an uncommon event ; the miracle was frequently perform-
ed on necessary occasions, by great fasting- and the joint supplica-
tions of the church of the place, and the persons thus restored to
their prayers, lived afterwards among- them many years. * Now
hear Irenaeus himself. The true disciples of Jesus, by a power de-
rived from him, conferred blessings upon other men, as each has
been enabled. Some expel demons so effectually, that they who
have been delivered from evil spirits believe and become members
of the church ; others have knowledge of futurity, see visions, and
utter prophecies ; others cure diseases liy the imposition of hands ;
and, as we have said, the dead too have been raised, and remained
some years with us.f Observe he changes the tense in the last
clause ; it is rr/isdi^ffa'j (have been raised,) va^ifMU'jm (have remain-
ed.) He does not speak of the power of raising- the dead as pre-
sent, but as having- been exerted in some time past, so that the
persons who were the objects of it reached to his own days. Mr
Gibbon himself has shown that the Bishop of Antioch did not know,
in the second century, that the power of raising- the dead existed in
the Christian church ; and no Christian writer, in the second or
third century, mentions this miracle as performed in his time. You
may judge from this specimen of the accuracy of Mr Gibbon. Ori-
g;en says, in the third century, signs of the Holy Spirit were shown
where Jesus began to teach, more numerous after his ascension ;
and, in succeeding times, less numerous. But even at this day,
there are traces of it in a few men who have had their souls cleans-
ed.J Eusebius, in the beginning- of the fourth century, says, Our
• Gibbon's Horn. Ilist. ch. 15. -j- Iren. lib, ii. cap.32.
J Orig. contra Ccls. lib. vii. p. 337.
G2 DIRECT OB EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
Lord himself, even at this day, is wont to manifest some small por-
tions of his power in those whom he judges proper for it.* If yoii
g'ive credit to these respectable testimonies, and they are entitled to
respect, both from the manner in which they are given, and from
the characters of the authors, you will believe that the profusion of
miraculous gifts which was poured forth in the days of the Apostles
was gradually withdrawn in the succeeding- ag^es, and that the fa-
thers were sensible of this gradual cessation, liut boasted that some
gifts did continue, and were occasionally exerted during the first
three centuries. This gradual cessation is agreeable to the analogy
of the divine procedure in other matters. It left an occasional sup-
port to the faith of Christians, so long as they were exposed to per-
secution under the heathen emperors; and it serves to account for
what Mr Gib])on calls the insensibility of the Christians with regard
to the cessation of miraculous powers. If these powers were with-
drawn, one by one, and the display of them became gradually less
frequent, the insensibility of Christians with regard to the cessa-
tion of miracles is not wonderful ; and the writers, whom I have
quoted, have spoken of the subject in that manner which was most
natural.
Although it seems probable that miraculous powers did, in cer-
tain measure, continue in the Christian church during the first
three centuries, yet it cannot be said that the testimony borne to
all the miracles of that pei'iod is iinsuspicious. There probably
was much credulity and inattention in the relaters, and their re-
ports are destitute of many of those circumstances which are found
in the testimony of the Apostles. But it is ahvavs to be remem-
bered that the two are independent of one another. We do not
receive the miracles of the Gospel upon the testimony of the
fathers ; and, although all the miracles said to be wrought after
the days of the Apostles be rejected, the evidence of the works,
which Jesus and his Apostles did, would rest exactly upon that
footing on which we placed it.
It was to be expected, that miraculous gifts which had percep-
tibly decreased till the days of Constantine, would cease entirely
when the protection afforded by the civil government to the
Christians rendered them less necessary. Yet we find ecclesiasti-
cal history, after Christianity became the religion of the state,
abounding with a diversity of the greatest miracles. No wise
champion of Christianity will attempt to defend the reality of
these wonders ; at the same time, the extravagance of the latt-r
fictions will not discredit, with any wise inquirer, the miracles of
former times. It is obvious to observe, that the Christian world
» Eus. Dem. Ev. lib. iii. p. 109.
OP CHRISTIANITY. 63
was prepared, by having been witnesses of real miracles, for re-
ceiving- without suspicion such as were fictitious, that the effect,
which true miracles had produced, might induce vain or deceitful
men to employ this engine in accomplishing their own purposes,
and that after Christianity was the esta1)lished religion, the use of
this engine became as easy to the Christians, as it was to the hea-
then priests of old. The innumerable forgeries of this sort, says
Dr Middleton, strengthen the credibility of the Jewish and Christ-
ian miracles. For how could we account for a practice so uni-
vei'sal, of forging miracles for the support of false religions, if on
some occasions they had not actually been wrought for the con-
firmation of a true one ? Or how is it possible that so many spu-
rious copies should pass upon the world, without some genuine
original from whence they were drawn, whose known existence
and tried success might give an appearance of probahility to the
counterfeit ? We may add, that if these counterfeits were at any
time detected, the strong prejudice which would arise fi'om the
detection against that religion, in support of which they were ad-
duced, could be counterbalanced only by the unquestionable evi-
dence of the miracles of former times.
It appears then, that the duration of miracles in the Christian
church is a question of curiosity in no degree essential to the evi-
dence of our religion. If no miracles were really performed after
the days of the apostles, then every Christian receives all that ever
wei'e wrought upon unquestionable testimony. If there were some
real miracles iu after-times, they must stand upon their own evi-
dence. We may receive them, or reject them, as they appear to ris
well or ill vouched ; and we can draw no inference, from the mul-
tiplicity of imitations or forgeries, unfavourable to the trxith and
divinity of the original.
Bonnet, in his philosophical and critical inquiries concerning Christianity, ha^s
given, besides much other valuable matter, the most satisfying statement
that I have met with of the argument from miracles. Bonnet's work was
written in French. An extract of the part of it most interesting to a stu-
dent in divinity, was translated by a clergyman of this church, and published
some years ago.
Bishop Sherlock, in his first volume of sermons, which is chiefly occupied in
stating the superiority of revealed to natural religion, has two discourses,
the ninth and tenth, upon miracles considered as the proof of revelation. He
treats the subject in his usual luminous manner, and suggests many just and
useful views.
Newcomc, in his observations on the conduct of our Saviour, has written
largely and delightfully of his miracles.
Jortin also, in some of his essiiys or discourses, and in his remarks on ecclesi-
astical history, has very ably illustrated the fitness with which our Lord's
miracles were adapted both to ])rt)ve the truth of his religion, and to impress
upon his followers the characteristical doctrines of the gospel. This view of
the subject is also prosecuted liy Ogden in his sermons.
64 DIRECT OR EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
Camjjbeirs Dissertation on IMiracles.
Douglas's Criturion.
Butler's Analogy.
Mackr ijiht's Trutli of the Gospel History.
J'aley's Evidences.
Farmer on IMiracles.
Cuclworth, translated by Moslieim.
Leland's View of Deistical Writers.
Kandolijh's View of our Lord's Ministry.
Clarke.
Boyle's Lectures.
Middleton.
Sir David Dalrymple's Liquiry into Gibbon's Secondary Causes.
[ 65 ]
CHAP. V.
ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITV.
Those lectures upon Scripture are properly called critical, wliicb
are intended to elucidate the meaning' of a difficult passage, and to
bring- out from the words of an author the sense which is not ob-
vious to an ordinary reader. The sources of this elucidation are,
such emendations upon the reading or the punctuation as may war-
rantably be made, an analysis of the particular words, a close atten-
tion to the manner of the author, to the scope of his reasoning, and
to the circumstances of those for whom he writes ; and, lastly, a
comparison of the passage, which is the subject of the criticism,
with other passages in which the same matters are treated. There
is great room for critical lectures of this kind, and my theological
course abounds with specimens of them. Much has been done in
this way since the beginning of the last century, by the application
of sound criticism to the Holy Scriptures ; and one great advantage
to be derived from an intimate acquaintance with the learned lan-
guages, and from the habit of analyzing the authors who wrote in
them, is, that you are thereby prepared for receiving that rational
exposition of the word of God, which is the true foundation of
theological knowledge.
There is another kind of critical lecture, which professes by a
general comprehensive view of a passage of scripture, to illustrate
some important points in the evidence or genius of our religion.
This kind of lecture is applicable to those passages whei'e there is
not any obscurity in the expression, any recondite meaning, or any
controverted doctrine, but where there is a number of circumstances
scattered throughout, the force of which may be missed liy a care-
less or ignorant reader, but which by being arranged and placed
clearly in view, may be made to bear upon one point, so as to bring-
conviction to the understanding, at the same time that they minister
to the improvement of the heart. The inimitable manner of Scrip-
ture, so natural and artless, yet so pregnant with circumstances the
most delicate and the most instructive, affords numberless subjects
of this kind of lecture ; and I do not know any method so well cal-
culated to give a person of taste and sensibility a deep impression
of the excellency and the divinity of the Scriptures. One is tempted,
66 ILLUSTUATIGN OF THE EVIDENCES
by the peculiar fitness of the passages which occur to him, to adopt
this mode of lecturing occasionally in speaking to an assembly of
Christians, although it cannot be denied that the ordinary method
of lecturing, by suggesting remarks from particular verses, is more
adapted to that measure of understanding, of attention, and of me-
mory, which is found in the generality of hearers.
But such a mode may here be followed with advantage ; and I
am led to give you now a specimen of this criticism upon the sense,
rather than upon the words of an evangelist, because the eleventh
chapter of John's Gospel may be stated in such a light as to illus-
trate much of what has been said with regard both to the internal
evidence of Christianity, and to that branch of the external evi-
dence which arises from miracles.
The eleventh chapter of John is the history of the resurrection
of Lazarus, the greatest miracle which Jesus performed. Upon
such a general view of the chapter as a critical lecture of this kind
is meant to give, we are led to attend to that exhibition of charac-
ter which the chapter contains — to the nature and circumstances of
the miracle — and to the effects which the miracle produced.
I. The exhibition of character which this chapter contains is va-
rious, and our attention is directed to several very pleasing objects.
It is natural to speak first of the exhibition given of the charac-
ter of the historian. The other evangelists have not mentioned
this miracle, perhaps out of delicacy to Lazarus, who was alive
when they wrote. They did not choose to expose the friend of
their master to the fury of the Jews, by holding him forth in writ-
ings that were to go through the world, as a monument of his
power. But John, who lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem,
probably survived Lazarus ; and there was every reason why this
evangelist, who has preserved other miracles and discourses which
the former historians had omitted, should record this event. It is
a subject suited to the pen of John : the beloved disciple seems to
delight in spreading it out ; for he has coloured his narration with
many Ijeautiful circumstances, which unfold the characters of the
other persons, and discover his intimate acquaintance with his mas-
ter's heart. It is a striking instance of that strict propriety which
pervades all the books of the New Testament, and which marks
them to every discerning eye to be authentic writings, that the
tenderest scenes in our Lord's life, those in which the warmth of
his private affections is conspicuous, are recorded by this evange-
list. From the others we learn his piiblic life, the grace, the con-
descension, the benevolence which appeared in all his intercourse
with those that had access to him. It was reserved to " the dis-
ciple whom Jesus loved" to present to succeeding ages this divine'
OF CHRISTIANITY. 67
person in liis flimily, and amongst his friends. In his Gospel we
see Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the last snpper that
he ate with them. It is John, the disciple that leaned on the
bosom of Jesus while he sat at meat, who relates the long- discourse
in which, with the most delicate sensibility for their condition, he
soothes the troubled heart of his disciples, spares their feeling-s,
while he tells them the truth, and g-ives them his parting- blessing-.
It is John, whom Jesus judged worthy of the charg-e, who records
the filial piety with which, in the hour of his agony, he provided
for the comfort of his mother ; and it is John, whose soul was con-
genial to that of his Master, tender, affectionate, and feeling- like
his, who dwells upon all the particulars of the resiirrection of
I-azarus, bring-s forward to our view the sympathy and attention
with which Jesus took part in the sorrows of those whom he
loved, and making- us intimately acquainted with them and with
him, presents a picture at once delightful and instructive.
The next object in this exhibition of character is the friendship
which Jesus entertained for the family of Lazarus. Bethany was
a small village upon the mount of Olives, within two miles of
Jerusalem, in the road from Galilee. Jesus, who resided in Gali-
lee, and went only occasionally to Jerusalem, was accustomed to
lodge with Lazarus in his way to the public festivals : and we are
led to suppose, from an incidental expression in Luke,* that dur-
ing- the festivals he went out to Bethany in the evening-, and re-
turned to Jerusalem in the morning-. To this little family he re-
tired from the fatigues of his busy life, from the disputations of the
Jewish doctors, and the bitterness of his enemies ; and being-, like
his l)rethren, compassed with infirmity, like his brethren also he
found refreshment to his soul in the intei'course of those whom he
loved. " Now Jesus," says John, " loved Martha, and her sister,
and Lazarus." He ioved the world ; he loved the chief of sinners.
That was a love of pity, the compassion which a superior being-
feels for the wretched. This was the love of kindness, the com-
placency which kindred spirits take in the society of one another.
Of the brother he says to his apostles, with the same cordiality
with which you would speak of one like yourselves, " Our friend
Lazarus." And although we shall find the character of the two
sisters widely different, yet he discerned in Ijoth a mind worthy of
his friendship.
It appears strange to me, that any person who ever read this
chapter can blame the Gospel, as some deistical writers in the last
century were accustomed to do, for not recommending private
friendship. Can there be a stronger recommendation than this
* Luke xxi 37, 38.
68
ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
picture of the Author of the Gospel, drawn by the hand of his be-
loved disciple ? When you follow Jesus to Jerusalem, you may
learn, from his public life, fortitude, diligence, wisdom. When you
retire with him to Bethany, you may learn tenderness, confidence,
and fellow-feeling, with those whom you choose as your friends.
The servants of Jesus may not in every situation find persons so
worthy of their friendship as this family; and there is neither duty
nor satisfaction in making an improper choice. Many circum-
stances may appoint for individuals days of solitude, and therefore
the universal religion of Jesus has wisely refrained from delivering
a precept which it may often be impossible to obey. But they, who
are able to follow the example of their master, by having a heart
formed for friendship, and l)y meeting with those who are worthy
of it, have found the medicine of life. Their happiness is inde-
pendent of noise, and dissipation, and show ; amidst the tumult of
the world, their spirits enter into rest ; and in the quiet, pleasing,
rational intercovirse of Bethany, thev forget the strife of Jerusalem.
The next object in this exhib.ition is the character of the two
sisters, painted in that most perfect and natural mannei", which the
Scriptures almost always adopt, by actions, not by words. As soon
as Lazarus is sick, the two sisters send a message to Jesus, with
entire confidence in his power to heal, and his willingness to come.
He is now beyond Jordan ; the countries of Samaria and Galilee lie
between Bethany and his present abode. But the sisters of Lazarus
knew too well his affection for their brother, and his readiness to
do good, to think that distance would prevent his coming. They
say no more than, " He whom thou lovest is sick," and they leave
Jesns to interpret their wish. When Jesus arrives at Bethany, after
the death of Lazarus, the different characters of the two sisters are
supported with the most delicate discrimination, even under that
pressure of grief which, in the hand of a coarse painter, would have
obliterated every distinguishing feature. Martha, who had been
" cumbered with much serving," when she had to entertain our
Lord, rises with the same officious zeal from the ground, where she
was sitting dishevelled and in sackcloth, amongst the friends who
had come to comfort her. She rises the moment she hears by some
chance messenger that Jesus is at hand, and runs to meet him.
Mary, who had sat at the feet of Jesus, so much engaged with his
discourse as not to think of providing for his entertainment, is in-
capable of so brisk an exertion, or thinks it more respectful to Jesus
to wait his coming. This difference in the conduct of the two sis-
ters is in the style of nature, according to which the particular tem-
per, and feelings of particular persons, give a very great variety to
the language of passion upon occasions equally interesting to all of
them, A man may know, he ought to know, every corner in his
OF CIiniSTIANITY. C9
own heart, liow far any part of his conikict proceeds from the defect
of good, or the prevalence of wrong principles. Bnt the most inti-
mate acquaintance does not give him access to know all the notions
of delicacy and propriety which may restrain or urge on others at
particular seasons, and may give to their conduct, in the eye of
careless observers, a very different appearance from that which they
would wish ; and it argues both an uncandid spirit, and very little
knowledge of the world, to say or to think this man does not feel
as he ought, because he does not express his feelings as I would ex-
press mine. Martha ran and met Jesus : Mary sat still in the
house. When Martha comes to Jesus, there is in her first words a
mixture of reproach for his delay, and of confidence in his kindness,
" Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." A gleam
of hope, indeed, shoots athwart the sorrowful mind of Martha at
the sight of Jesus. But her wish was so great that she is afraid to
mention it. " I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask
of God, God will give it thee." She has conceived a hope, in the
state of her mind it was a wild hope, that her brother whom she
had lost might be instantly restored. Jesus composes her spirit,
prepares her for this gift, by recalling her thoughts from the general
resurrection to himself, and proliably gives her some sign or some
direction, in consequence of which she goes to the house, and with-
out alarming the Jews who were assembled there, says secretly to
her sister, " The Master is come, and calleth for thee." This mes-
sage instantly rouses Mary. Her spirit, bowed down with grief,
revives at his call, and without knowing, probably without con-
ceiving the purpose for which he called her, she arose quickly and
went to him. When she arrives, there is more submission in her
manner than there had been in that of Martha. The marks are
stronger of a depressed and afiiicted spirit. She fell down at his
feet, weeping. But, as if to remind us that we should look beyond
these outward expressions, which being very nmch a matter of con-
stitution, vary exceedingly in different persons, the evangelist puts
the same words into the mouth of both, " Lord, if thou hadst been
hei'e, my brother had not died ;" and whatever interpretation we
give to these words when they are spoken by the one sister, we
cannot avoid giving them the same when they are spoken by the
other. In this exhibition of the manner of the two sisters there is
so much of nature and of nature appearing strongly in minute cir-
cumstances, as to be far superior to that truth of painting wliich we
admire in a fancied picture, and to carry with it an internal evi-
dence that John was a witness of what he describes, and that his
drawing is part of a scene which, from the powerful, yet different
emotions of the two sisters, had made a deep impression upon his
feeling- breast.
70 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDEACES
The next ol)ject which pi'esents itself in this moral exhil)ition
is the character of the Ajjostles. The Gospels present us with
the most natural picture of the Apostles ; their doubts, their fears,
their slowness of apprehension and of belief. By circumstances
that seem to be incidentally recorded, we see them feeling and
acting-, not indeed in the manner which would have occurred to a
rude, unskilful hand, had he attempted to draw those who were
lionoured with being the companions of Jesus, but in the manner
which any one intimately acquainted with the human heart will
perceive to be the most natural for men of tlieir condition and
education, and situated as they were. We see them ditfering from
one another in sentiments and conduct, with the same kind of va-
riety which is observable amongst our neighbours and companions,
each preserving in everj^ situation his peculiar character, and all
at the same time uniting in attachment to their master.
Although the companions of Jesus were interested in the fate
of his friend Lazarus, yet they did not understand the hints which
our Lord gave them. Although sleep is one of the most common
images of death, they suppose when Jesus says, " Our friend La-
zarus sleepeth," that he was enjoying a refreshing sleep, by which
natiu'e was to work his cure ; and not attending to the impro-
priety of Jesus going a long way to awake him out of such a sleep,
they say, " Lord, if he sleep he shall do well." When Jesus tells
them plainly " Lazarus is dead," Thomas stands forth, and by one
expression presents to us the same character which is more fully
unfolded in another chapter of this Gospel."*
All the disciples were filled with sorrow and despair, when they
saw their Master condemned, executed, and laid in the tomb.
" For as yet," says John, " they knew not the Scripture that he
must rise again from the dead." At length, '< Jesus came and
stood in the midst of them." " Then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord." It happened that Thomas was not present.
And when " the other disciples had said to him, we have seen the
Lord," his answer was, " Except I shall see in his hands the print
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and
thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." About eight
days after, Jesus condescended to give him this proof. " Reach
hither," said he, " thy finger, and behold my hands ; and reach
hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless
but believing. And Thomas answered and said. My Lord and
my God." He had felt doubts, but his heart appears full of af-
fection and reverence. Now, mark here the same Thomas. The
disciples were alarmed at the danger of going back to Judea. They
• Jolinxx. 9, 19,20, 24— 28.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 71
had tried to dissuade their Master, but they find him fixed in his
purpose. " Lazarus is dead, nevertheless let us go unto him.
Then said Thomas unto his fellow-disciples, let us also go, that we
may die with him." You see here the same warmth of temper,
the same firm determined mind which appeared at the other time,
but you see also the same defect of faith. Thomas does not think
it possible that Jesus coidd shelter himself from the Jews. He
does not see any purpose that could be served by the journey.
He thinks Jesus is going- to throw away his life. Yet he resolves
himself, and he encourages his fellow-disciples not to pai't with
him. Our Master makes a sacrifice of his life. We have forsaken
all and followed him. Let us follow him also in this journey ;
" let us go that we may die with him." It is the strong effort
of a mind which loved and venerated Jesus, yet distrusted and did
not know his divine power : Thomas faithless, yet affectionate and
manly.
Such is the mixture of character which we often meet with in
common life. They who are most intimately acquainted with the
workings of the human heart, and who have observed most accu-
rately the manners of those around them, will best perceive the
truth of that picture which the Evangelists have drawn of them-
selves, and they will be struck with the force of that internal evi-
dence for the Gospel history which arises from this simple natural
record. We cannot attend to this picture without recollecting the
divine power which, out of these feeble doubting men, raised the
most successful instruments of spreading the religion of Jesus.
There was no want of faith after the day of Pentecost. Thomas
was one of that company which was assembled, when they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost ; and he who now says, " Let us
go and die with Jesus," with power gave witness of the resurrec-
tion of the Lord.*
The principal object in this moral exhibition yet remains. It
is Jesus himself. The striking feature throughout the whole is
tenderness and love. But we discern also prudence, fortitude, and
dignity ; and this chapter may thus serve as a specimen of that
most perfect and most difficult character, which the Apostles were
incapable of conceiving, and which, had they conceived it, they
would have been unable to support in every situation with such
exact propriety, if they had not drawn it from the life.
After he receives the message from the sisters, he relieves him-
self from the importunity of his disciples, by an assurance which
was sufficient to remove their anxiety, and he lingers for two days
in the place where he was. The purpose of his lingering was,
* Acts iv. .31, 03.
72 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
that Lazarus might ho truly dead, that ho mlg-ht not merely reco-
ver a man who was si( k, hut that ho might raise a man who had
been in the grave. But this lingering- did not proceed from indif-
ference. Mark how beautifully the fifth verse is thrown in be-
tween the assurance given to the disciples, and the resolution to
delay. He loved the family. He entered into their sorrows. His
sympathy for them, indeed, yields to his prosecution of the great
purpose for which he came, yet his love is not the less for delay.
How tender and how soothing ! The merciful High Priest, to
whom Christians still send their requests, is not forgetful, although
he does not instantly grant them. He loves and pities his own.
Biit he does not think their time always the best. His own time
for showing favour is set. No intervening' circumstance can pre-
vent its coming ; and when it arrives, they themselves will ac-
knowledge that it has been well chosen, and all their sorrow will
be forg-otten and overpaid by the joy which is Itrought to their
souls. One of the finest moral lessons is conveyed by this delay of
•Jesus. It is pleasing- to act from kindness, compassion, and love.
But the excess of good affections may sometimes mislead ns; and
there are considerations of prudence, of fidelity, and justice, which
may give to the conduct of the most tender-hearted man an appear-
ance of coldness and severity. Tlie world may judge hastily in such
instances. But let every man be satisfied in his own mind, first,
that he has good aifcctions ; and next, that the considerations which
sometimes restrain the exercise of them are such that he need not
be ashamed of their influence.
It is strongly marked in this moral picture, that the delay of
Jesus, although dictated by prudence, did not pi'oceed from any con-
sideration of his personal safety. For, when the disciples repre-
sented the danger of retiring to Judea, his answer is, " Are there
not twelve hours in the day ? If any man walk in the day, he
stumhleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a
man walk in the night, he stumhleth, because there is no light in
him." His meaning is explained by other similar expressions. The
.Tows divided the day both in summer and winter into twelve hours,
so that an hour with thom marked, not as with us, a certain por-
tion of time, hut the twelfth ])art of a day, longer in summer, and
shorter in winter. The time of his life u})on earth was the day of
,Iesus, during which he had to finish the work given him to do.
While this day continued, none of his enemies had ])ower to take
away his life, and he had nothing to fear in fulfilling the command-
ment of Ciod. When this day ended, his work ended also ; he fell
indeed into the hands of his enemies ; but he was ready to be offered
up. And thus in the same picture .Jesus is (>xhil»itod as gentle, feel-
ing, compassionate to his friends, undaunted in the face of his cne-
OF CHRISTIANITY. 73
mies, assiduous and fearless in working the work of Ilim that sent
him. There shines throughout the whole of this picture a dignity
of manner; no indecent haste ; no distrust of his own power ; a de-
lay, which rendered one work more difficult, yet which is not em-
ployed in preparing for an uncommon exertion. " Lazarus is dea<J,
and I am glad for your sakes that 1 was not there, to the intent ye
may believe." He wishes to give his disciples a more striking mani-
festation of his divine power : andthe display is madefor their sakes,
not for his own. With what awful solemnity does he unfold to
Martha his exalted character in these words : " I am the resurrec-
tion and the life ; he that helieveth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth, and helieveth in me, shall
never die ;" and how suitably to the authority implied in that cha-
racter does he require from Martha a confession of her faith in him I
Vet how easily does he descend from this dignity to mingle his
tears with those of his friends. " When he saw Mary weeping, and
the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the
spirit, and was troubled :" and as they led him to the sepulchre,
" Jesus wejjt." How amiable a picture of the Saviour of the world !
He found upon earth an hospital full of the sound of lamentation,
a dormitory in which some are every day falling asleep, and they
who remain are mourning over those who to them are not. He
hath brought a cordial to revive our spirits, while we are bearing
our portion of this general sorrow, and he hath opened to our view
a land of rest. But even while he is executing his gracious pur-
pose, his heart is melted with the sight of that distress A\liich he
came to relieve, and although he was able to destroy the king of
terrors, he was troubled when he beheld in the company of
mourners a monument of his power. We do not read that Jesus
ever shed tears for his own sufferings. When he was going to
the cross, he turned round and said, " Daughters of Jerusalem,
weep not for me." But he wept over Jerusalem when he thought
of the destruction that was coming upon it ; * and here the an-
guish of his friends draws from him groans and tears. He was
soon to remove their anguish. But it was not the less bitter du-
ring its continuance ; and it is the present distress of his friends
into which his heart enters thus readily.
Let the false pride of philosophy place the perfection of the
human character in an equality of mind, unmoved by the events
that befal ourselves or others. But Christians may letirn from
the example of him who was made like his brethren, that the
variety in the events of life was intended by the author of nature
* Luke xxiii. 28; xix. 41.
VOL. I. D
74 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
as an exercise of feeling ; that it is no part of our duty to harden
our heart against the impressions which they make, and that we
need not be ashamed of expressing what we feeh That God who
chastens his children loves a heart which is tender before him ;
and Jesus, who wept himself, commands us to weep with them
that weep. The tears shed ai'e both a tribute to the dead, and an
amiable display of the heart of the hving, and they interest every
spectator in the persons from whom they flow.
Thus have we seen in this moral picture of the character of
Jesus, tenderness, compassion, prudence, fortitude, dignity, "Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God,"* the strength of
an almighty arm displayed by a man like his brethi'en, " the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. "t The assemblage of qualities is so uncommon, and the
harmony with which they are blended so entire, that they convey
to every intelligent reader an impression of the divinity of our
religion, and we cannot contemplate this picture without feeling
the sentiment which was afterwards expressed by the Centurion
who stood over against the cross of Jesus ; " Truly this was the
Son of God."J
II. Circumstances of the miracle.
Mr Hume and other philosophers, both before and after his
time, have denied the conclusiveness of the general argument from
miracles, or they have endeavoured to destroy that evidence from
testimony upon which we give credit to the works recorded in
the Gospel. But there is a set of minute writers in the deistical
controversy, who have adopted a style of philological or verbal ob-
jections, which would set aside the truth of the record, not by any
general reasoning, but by supposed instances of inaccuracy or im-
propriety in particular narrations. This style of objections enters
into ordinary conversation ; it is level to the understanding of
many, who are incapable of apprehending a general argument ;
and it is the usual refuge of those who have nothing else to op-
pose to the evidences of the Christian religion.
You will find objections of this kind occasionally thrown out in
many deistical writers. But they were formed into a sort of sys-
tem in a treatise published about sixty years ago, by Mr Wool-
ston, and entitled " Discourses iipon the Miracles of our Savioiu',"
a book now very little known, but which drew great attention at
the time, and was overpowered by a variety of able answers. Mr
Woolston attempted to show that the earliest and most respecta-
1)le writers of the Christian church understood the miracles of our
* 1 Cor. i. 24. t John i. 14. i INIatt. xxvii. 54.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 75
Saviour purely in an allegorical sense, as emblems of the spiritual
life ; and that there was good reason for doing so, because the
accounts taken in a literal sense are absurd and incredible. He
has been convicted, l)y those who have answered him, of gross
disingenuity in maintaining the first of his positions. It is true
that the fathers, even of the first century, were led by their at-
tachment to that philosophy in which they had been educated, to
seek for hidden spiritual meanings in the plain historical parts of
Scripture. And Origen, in the third century, went so far as to
undervalue the literal sense in comparison with the allegorical,
saying, " the Scriptures are of little use to those who understand
them as they are written."* He has pui'sued this manner of in-
terpreting the miracles of our Saviour much farther than ))ecame
a sound reasoner. But although it appeared to him more sublime
and instructive than a simple exposition of the facts recorded, yet
it proceeds upon a supposition of the truth of the facts ; and ac-
cordingly in his valuable work against Celsus the Jew, where he
answers the objections to the truth of Christianity, and states with
great force of reason the arguments upon which our faith rests, he
appeals repeatedly to the miracles which Jesus did, which he
enabled his apostles to do, and some faint traces of which remain-
ed in the days of Origen. He says that the miracles of Christ
converted nations, and that it would have been absurd in the
ajiostles to have attemjDted the introduction of a new religion
without the help of miracles. Mr Woolston, therefore, is left
without the support of that authority which he pleads; for Ori-
gen, the most allegorical of the fathers, even where he prefers the
allegorical, does not exclude the literal sense ; and his argumen-
tative discourse proceeds upon the acknowledged truth of the facts
recorded.
The second position does not profess to rest upon the authority
of any name, but upon the nature of the narration, which, Mr
Woolston says, is so filled with monstrous incredibilities and absur-
dities, that the best way in which any j)erson can defend it, is by
having recourse to the allegorical sense. But, in this way, the
argument from miracles is totally lost, because, if we regard them
not as facts, but as a method of conveying spiritual instruction, the
appeal which Jesus continually made to the works that he did, must
appear to us chimerical or false. Although, therefore, Mr Wool-
ston has the effrontery to pi'etend a zeal for the honour of Jesus,
in his attempts to get rid of the difficulties arising from the literal
sense, that literal sense must be defended by every Christian.
It is impossible to lead you through all the objections which have
* Origen, Stromata, lib. x.
70 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
been made by Woolston and other writers. But I shall point out
the sources from which satisfying: answers may be drawn, and give
some specimens of the application of these sources.
The sources of answers are three : An intimate acquaintance
with local manners, customs, and prejudices — an analysis of the true
meaning- of the words in the original — and a close attention to the
whole contexture of the narration.
1. An intimate acquaintance with local manners, customs and
prejudices. One of the most satisfying- evidences of the authenti-
city of the Itooks of the New Testament, arises from their reference
to the peculiarities of that country in which we say the authors of
them lived, a reference so exact, so uniform, and extending to such
minuteness, as to ati'ord conviction to any person who considers it
properly, that these are not the production of a later age or another
country. This continual reference, while it is a proof of their
authenticity, colours every narration contained in them with cir-
cumstances which appear strange to a reader who is not versant in
Jewish antiquities ; and this strangeness furnishes many olijections
to those who are themselves ignorant, or who wish to impose upon
the ignorance of others. But the phantom is dissipated by that
local knov/ledg-e which may be easily acquired and easily applied.
2. An analysis of the words in the orig-inal. Particular objec-
tions against the miracles of Jesus are multiplied by this circum-
stance, that we read a narration of them, having- a continual refer-
ence to ancient manners, not in the language in which it was ori-
ginally written, but in a translation. For, allowing that translation
all the praise that is due to it, and it deserves a great deal, still it
must happen that the words in the translation do not always con-
vey precisely the same meaning with those to which they corre-
spond in the original. Difterent combinations of ideas, and differ-
ent modes of phraseology diversify those words which answer the
most exactly to one another in different languages ; and altliough
translations even under this disadvantage are sufficient to give every
necessary information to those who are incapable of reading the ori-
ginal, yet we have experience, in reading all ancient authors, that
the delicacy of a sentiment and the peculiar manner of an action
may be so far lost by the words used in a translation, that there is
no way of answering objections grounded upon the mode of exhibit-
ing the sentiment or action, but by having recourse to the original.
3. A close attention to the whole contexture of the narration.
Those who are forward to make objections are not disposed to com-
pare the different i)arts of the narration, because it is not their busi-
ness to find an answer. They choose rather to lay hold of parti-
cular expressions, and to give them the most exceptionable form,
by presenting them in a detailed view. The beautiful simplicity of
OF CHRISTIANITY. 77
Scripture leaves it very much exjjosed to this kind of objections.
When all the circumstances of a story are artfully arranged, so as
to have a visible reference to one another, the manifest unfairness
of attempting- to present a part of the story disjointed from the rest
betrays the design of a person who makes such an attempt. But
when the circumstances are spread carelessly through the whole
narration, inserted by the historian as they occurred to his observa-
tion or his recollection, without his seeming desirous to prepossess
the readers with an opinion that the story is true, or aware that any
objection could be raised to it in this natural manner, which is the
manner of truth and the manner of Scripture, it is easy to raise a
variety of plausible objections ; and a connected view of the whole
is necessary in order to discern the futility of thesn.
From these three sources answers may be drawn to all the ob-
jections that have ever been made to the literal sense of the mira-
cles of Jesus. To show their utility, I shall give a specimen of the
application of them to some of the oljections which Mr Woolston
has urged against three of the miracles of our Lord ; the cui"e of
the paralytic in the second chapter of Mark, the turning of water
into wine at Cana, in the second chapter of John, and the resurrec-
tion of Lazarus in the eleventh chapter.
" And again he entered into Capernaum, after some days ; and
it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many
were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to re-
ceive them, no, not so much as about the door : and he preached
the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick
of the pals}^, which was borne of four. And when they could not
come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where
he was : and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed
wherein the sick of the palsy lay." *
Mr Woolston says, in a mode of expression which he uses with-
out any scruple, this is the most monstrously absurd, improbable,
and incredible of any, according to the letter. If the people thi'onged
so much that those who bore the paralytic could not get to the
door, why did not they wait till the crowd was dismissed, rather
than heave up the sick man to the top of the house with ropes and
ladders, break up tiles, spars, and ralters, and make a hole large
enough for the man and his bed to be let through, to the injury of
the house, and the danger and annoyance of those who were with-
in ? A slight attention to the ordinary style of architecture in
Judea, and to the words of the original, removes every appearance
of absurdity in the naiTation. The houses in Judea were seldom
more than two stories high, and the roofs were always flat, with a
• Mark ii. 1—4.
78 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
battlement or parapet round the edges, so that there was no dang-er
in walking- or pitching a tent, as was often done, upon the roof.
There was a stair within the house, which led to a door that lay
flat when it was not opened, forming to all appearance a part of the
roof, and was secured l)y a lock or bolt on the inside, to prevent its
being readily opened by thieves. By this door the inhabitants of
the house could easily get to the roof, and there was often a fixed
stair leading to it from the outside, or where that was wanting, a
short ladder was occasionally applied. Supposing, then, the house
mentioned by Mark to have been built after this common fashion ;
the court before it so full, that it was not possible to get near the
door of the house ; the people so throng, and so earnest in listen-
ing, that it was vain to think of their giving place to any one ; in
this situation, the four persons who carried the palsied man upon
a little couch, zXivi^iov, think of going round to another part of the
house, at which by a stair or ladder they easily reach the roof.
They find the door lying flat, and the word s^o^u^avrsg implies that
some force was necessary to break it open. That force might have
disturbed the family had they been quiet. But at present they are
too much engaged to attend to it, or their knowledge of the pur-
pose for which the force was used, prevents them from giving any
interruption. The door being made to allow persons to come out
upon the roof, and the couch being a -/.'Kivihov,* it woiild not be
difficult for four men to let down the couch by the stair on the in-
side, two of them going before to receive it out of the hands of the
others. After the couch is thus brought into the room where
Jesus was, in the only method by which access could be found to
him, he rewards the faith of the sick man by performing, in pre-
sence of his enemies, several of whom appear to have mingled with
the multitude, an instantaneous and wonderful cure. The palsy is
a disease seldom completely, never suddenly removed. The ex-
treme degree in which it aflfected this man was known to the four
who carrie<l him, to the multitude in the midst of whom he was
laid, to all the inhabitants of Capernaum. Yet by a word from the
mouth of Jesus, he is enabled to rise up and carry his couch. Judge
from this simple exposition, whether the narrative of Mark deserves
to be called monstrously absurd and incredible.
The turning of water into wine is recorded in the second chap-
ter of John. The only oljjection to this miracle, which merits con-
sideration, is the offence conceived by Mr Woolston at the expres-
sion which our Lord uses to his mother. And I doubt not that it
sounds harsh in the ears of every English reader. " When they
wanted wine, the mother of Jesiis saith unto him, they have no
wine ; Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?
* Luke V. 19, 24.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 79
Mine hour is not yet come." Here an analysis of the words in the
original aj)pears to me to aflbrd a satisfying' answer to the olijec-
tion. I need scarcely remark, that yovri is the word by which wo-
men of the highest rank were addressed in ancient times ])y men of
the most jjolished manners, when they wished to show them every
mark of respect. It is used by Jesus, when with filial aifection, in
his dying moments, he pi'ovides every soothing attention for his
mother. The phrase ri simi xai goi occui's in some places of the
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, and also in the New
Testament. It is uniformly rendered " What have I to do with
thee ?" and seems to mark a check, a slight reprimand, a degree of
displeasure. It was not unnatui'al for our translators to give the
Greek phrase the same sense here ; and many commentators un-
derstand our Lord as checking his mother for directing him in the
exercise of his divine power. I do not think that such a check
would have been inconsistent with that tender concern for his mo-
ther which our Lord showed upon the cross. It became him, who
was endowed with the Spirit without measure, to be led by that
Spirit in the discharge of his public office, and not to commit him-
self to the narrow conceptions of any of the children of men. I
do not therefore find fault with those who understand Jesus as say-
ing, the time of attesting my commission by miracles is not come,
and I cannot receive directions from you when it should begin.
This may be the meaning of the words. But as they will easily
bear another translation, perfectly consistent with the meekness
and gentleness of Christ, I am inclined to prefer it. " What is that
to thee and me ? The want of wine is a matter that concerns the
master of the feast. But it need not distress you ; and my friends
cannot accuse me of unkindness in withholding an exercise of my
power, that may be convenient for them ; for I have yet done no
miracle, the season of my public manifestation not being come."
We know that Jesus did not enter upon his ministry till after John
was cast into prison. We find John, in the next chapter, baptiz-
ing near Salim, and this is called the beginning of miracles. Ac-
cording to this translation, every appearance of harshness is avoid-
ed, and the whole story hangs perfectly together. You will ob-
serve, Mary was so far from being offended at the su])posed harsh-
ness of the answer, or conceiving it to be a refusal, that she says
to the servants, " Whatever he saith unto you, do it :" and our
Loi'd's doing the miracle after this answer, is a beautiful instance
of his attention to his mother. Although his friends had no rea-
son to expect an interposition of his power, because his hour was
not come, yet, in compliance with her desire, he supplies plenti-
fully what is wanting.
To the resurrection of Lazarus, in tlie eleventh chapter of John,
80 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
Mr Woolston objects, that the person raised was not a man of emi-
nence suflicient to draw attention — that he g'ives no account of
what he saw in the separate state — that it was absurd in Jesus to
call with a loud voice to a dead man — that Lazarus having- his head
bound is suspicious — and that the whole is a romantic story. Now
the answer to all this is to be drawn from the contexture of the
narrative, in which, beautiful, simple, and tender as it is, there are
interwoven such circumstances as can leave no doubt upon the
mind of any person who admits the authenticity of this liook, that
the greatest of miracles was here really performed. Instead, there-
fore, of following' the frivolous objections of Mr Woolston one by
one, 1 shall present you with a connected view of these circumstan-
ces, as a specimen of the manner in which the credibility of other
miracles may be illustrated.
Jesus ling-ered in the place where he was, when he received the
message from the sisters, till the time when, by the divine know-
ledg-e that he possessed, he said to the apostles, " Our friend La-
zarus sleepeth." After this, he had a long- journey to Bethany ;
and it does not appear that he performed it hastily, for he learned,
as he approached the villag-e, that Lazarus had lain four days in
the grave. He delayed so long, that the divine poucr, which he
was to exert in the resurrection of Lazarus, might be magnified
in the eyes of the spectators ; and, at the same time, he provided
an unquestionable testimony for the truth of the miracle, by ar-
I'iving' before the days of mourning- were expired. You will be
sensible of the effect of this circumstance, if you attend for a mo-
ment to the manners of the Jews respecting- funerals. One of
the g-reatest calamities in human life is the death of those persons
whose society had been our comfort and joy. It has been the
practice of all countries to testify the sense of this calamity by ho-
nours paid to the dead, and by expressions of grief on the part of
the living-. In eastern countries, where all the passions are strong-,
and agitate the frame more than in our northern climates, these
expressions of grief are often exceedingly violent ; and, notwith-
standing- some wise prohibitions of the law of Moses, the mourn-
ing- in the land of Judea was more expressive of anguish than that
which we commonly see. The dead body was carried out to bu-
rial not long after the death. But the house in which the person
had died, the furniture of the house, and all who had been in it at
that time, became in the eye of the law unclean for seven days.
During that time, the near relations of the deceased remained con-
stantly in the house, unless when they went to the grave or se-
jjulchre to mourn over the dead. They did not perform any of the
ordinary business of life ; they were not considered as in a proper
condition for attending- the service of the temple, and their neigh-
OF CHRISTIANITY. 81
bours and acquaintances, for these seven clays, came to conJole
with them, bringing bread and wine and other victuals, as there
was nothing- in the house which could lawfully be used. Upon
this charitable errand, a number of Jews, inhabitants of Jerusalem,
had come out to Bethany, which was within two miles of the city,
upon the day when Jesus arrived there ; and thus, as we found the
sisters brought out to the sepulchre one after another, by the most
natural display of character, so here, without any appearance of a
divine interposition, but merely by their following- the dictates of
good neighbourhood or of decency, the enemies of Jesus are ga-
thered together to be the witnesses of this work. When the Jews
saw Mary rise hastily and go out, after the private message which
Martha brought her, knowing that she could not go anywhere but
to the sepulchre, they naturally arose to follow her, that they
might restrain the extravagance of her grief, and assist in com-
posing her spirit and bringing her home. They found Jesus in
the highway where Martha had first met him, groaning in spirit
at the disti'ess of the family, and soothing Mary's complaint by
this kindly question, " Where have ye laid him?" a question which
showed his readiness to take part in her sorrow, by going with
her to the house of the dead. The Jews answer his question,
" Lord, come and see ;" and Jesus suffers himself to be led by
them, that they might see there was no preparation for the work
he was aliout to perform, when he stepped out of the highway
along with them, and allowed them to reach the sepulchre before
him. His tears draw the attention of the crowd as he approaches
the place ; and the Evangelist has presented to us, in their diffe-
I'ent remarks, that variety of character which we discover in every
multitude. The candid and feeling admired this testimony of his
affection for Lazarus, " BehoM how he loved him !" Others, who
pretended to more sagacity, argued fi'om the grief of Jesus, that,
in the death of Lazarus, he had met with a disappointment which
he would have prevented if he could. Jesus, without making any
reply to either remark, arrives at the grave. John, who wrote his
Gosjjel at a distance from Jerusalem, for the benefit of those who
were strangers to Jewish manners, has given a short description
of the grave, which we must carry along with us. The Jews, es-
pecially persons of distinction, were generally laid, not in such
graves as we commonly see, but in caves hewn in the rocks, with
which the land of Judea abounded. Sometimes the sepulchre was
in piirt above the ground, having a door, like that in which our
Lord lay. Sometimes it was altogether belov/ ground, having an
aperture from which a stair led down to the bottom, and this aper-
ture covered with a stone, except when the sepulchre was to be
opened. The body, swathed in linen, with the feet and hands
D 2
82 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES
tightly bound, and the whole face covered by a napkin, was laid,
not in a coffin, but in a niche or cell of the sepulchre. As the
Jews, at the command of Jesus, were attempting- to take away the
stone, Martha seems to stag-ger in the faith which she had for-
merly expressed. " Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath
been dead four days," nraoratog yao is-t. The word means, that
he has been four days in some particular condition, without ex-
pressing what condition is meant. Now, his present condition is,
being in the cave. It was mentioned befoi*e, that he had been
there four days, and therefore our translators should have inserted
in italics the word buried, not the word dead. Jesus revives
the faith of Martha ; and as soon as the stone is I'emoved, he lifts
up his e_yes to heaven, and thanks the Father for having- heard
him. His enemies said that he did his mighty works by the as-
sistance of the devil. Here, in the act of performing- the greatest
of them, he prays, with perfect assurance of being- heard, ascribes
the honour to God, and takes to himself the name of the messen-
ger of heaven. Think of the suspense and earnest attention of
the multitude, while after the sepulchre is opened Jesus is utter-
ing this solemn prayer. How would the suspense be increased,
when Jesus to show the whole multitxide that the resurrection of
Lazarus was his deed, calls with a loud voice, " Lazarus, come
forth !" And what would be their astonishment when they saw
this command instantly obeyed ; the man, who had lain four days
in the sepulchre, sliding his limbs down from the cell, and stand-
ing before it upright I The bandages prevent him from moving-
forward. But Jesus, by ordering the Jews to loose him, gives
them a nearer opportunity of examining- this wonderful sight, and
of deriving, from the dress of his body, from the state of the grave-
clothes, from the manner in which the napkin smothered his face,
various convincing proofs, that the man, whom they now saw and
touched alive, had been truly numbered among- the dead.
The contexture of this narration is such as to eiface from our
minds every objection against the consistency of it ; and the great-
ness of the miracle is obvious. We behold in this work the Lord
of Life. None can restore a man who had seen corruption, but He
who in the beginning created him. Jesus gives us hei'e a sample
of the general resurrection, and a sensible sign that he is able to de-
liver from the second death. This is the meaning of that expres-
sion, " Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die," or
li'/l a'-TTodarfi Big tov a/wva, i. e. shall not die for ever. Natural death
is the separation of soul and body ; eternal death is the loss, the de-
gradation, and final wretchedness of the soul. Both are the wages
of sin, and Jesus delivers from the first, which is visible, as a pledge
of his being able to deliver, in due time, those who live and believe
4
OF CHRISTIANITY. 83
in him, from the second also. The miracle is in this way stated by
himself, both as a confirmation of his mission, and as an illnstratioii
of the great doctrine of his religion.
Before leaving- the circumstances of the miracle I would observe,
that however ably such objections as I have mentioned may be
answered, there is much caution to be used in stating- them to a
Christian assembly. It is very improper to communicate to the
people all the extravagant frivolous conceits that have been broach-
ed by the enemies of Christianity. The objection may remain with
them after they have forg-otten the answer ; and their faith may be
shaken by finding- that it has received so many attacks. It becomes
the ministers of religion, indeed, to possess their minds with a pro-
found knowledg-e of the evidences of Christianity, and of the an-
swers that may be made to oljections. But out of this storehouse
they should bring- forth to the people a clear unembarrassed view
of every subject upon which they speak, so as to create no doubt or
suspicion in those who hear them, but to give their faith that sta-
bility which is always connected with distinct apprehension.
III. It remains to say a few words upon the effects which this
miracle produced. Some of the persons who had come to comfort
Mary, when they saw " the things which Jesus did, believed on
him." It was the conclusion of right reason, that a man who, in
the sight of a multitude, exerted, without preparation, a power to
which no human exertion deserves to be compared, was a messen-
ger of heaven. It was the conclusion of an enlightened and unpre-
judiced Jew, that this extraordinary person, ajtpearing in the land
of Jiulea, was the Messiah, whose coming was to be distinguished
by signs and wonders. The chosen people of God, who " waited
for the consolation of Israel," found in this miracle the most striking-
marks of him that should come. The conclusion seems to arise na-
turally out of the premises. Yet it was not drawn by all. Many
believed, " but some went their ways to the Pharisees and told
them what things Jesus had done." They knew the enmity which
these leading men entertained against him. They were afraid of in-
curring their anger by appearing to be his disciples ; they hoped to
obtain their favour by informing against him ; and, sacrificing- their
conviction to this fear and this hope, they go from the sepulchre of
Lazarus, where with astonishment they had seen the power of
Jesus, to infiame the minds of his enemies by a recital of the deed.
And what do these enemies do ? They could not entertain a doubt
of the fact. It was told them by witnesses who had no interest in
forging or exaggerating miracles ascribed to Jesus. The place was
at hand ; inquiry was easy ; and the imposture, had thei'e been any,
could not have remained hidden at Jerusalem for a day. The Pha-
84 ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
risees, therefore, in their dehberations, proceed upon the fact as un-
deniable. " This man doeth many miracles." But, from mistaken
views of political expediency, the result of their deliberation is,
" They take counsel together to put him to death."
There is thus furnished a satisfactory answer to a question that
has often been asked, If Jesus really did such miracles, how is it
possible that any who saw them could remain in unbelief? Many,
we are told, did believe ; and here is a view of the motives which
indisposed others for attending to the evidence which was exhibit-
ed to them, and even determined them to reject it. You cannot
be surprised at the influence which such motives exerted at that
time, because the like influence of similar motives is a matter of
daily observation. The evidence upon which we embrace Chi'isti-
anity is not the same which the Jews had ; but it is sufficient. All
the parts of it have been fully illustrated ; every objection has re-
ceived an ap])osite answer ; the gainsayers have been driven out of
every hold which they have tried to occupy ; the v/isest and most
enlightened men in every age have admitted the evidence, and " set
to their seal that God is true." Yet it is rejected by many. Pride,
false hopes, or evil passions, detain them in infidelity. They ask
for more evidence. They say they suspect collusion, enthusiasm,
credulity. But the example of those Jews, who went their ways
to the Pharisees, may satisfy you that there is no defect in the evi-
dence, and that there is the most literal truth in our Lord's declara-
tion, " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they
be persuaded though one rose from the dead."
The difl"erent eff'ects, which the same religious truths and the
same religious advantages produce upon diff"erent persons, afford one
instance of a state of trial. God is now proving the hearts of the
children of men, drawing them to himself by persuasion, l>y that
moral evidence which is enough to satisfy, not to overpower. Faith
in this way becomes a moral virtue. A trial is taken of the good-
ness and honesty of the heart. " If thine eye be single, thy whole
bofly shall be full of light ; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body
shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darkness !" The same seed of the word
is scattered hy the blessed sower in various soils, and the quality ot
the soil is left to appear by the produce.
Pierce's Commentary.
C 85 ]
CHAP. vr.
EXTERNAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY PROPHECY.
Had Jesus appeai'ed only as a messenger of heaven, the points al-
ready consirlei'ed might have finished the defence of Christianity,
because we should have been entitled to say that miracles such as
those recorded in the Gospel, transmitted upon so unexceptionable
a testimony, and wrougdit in support of a doctrine so worthy of
God, are the complete credentials of a divine mission. But the na-
ture of that claim which is made in the Gospel requires a further
defence : for it is not barely said that Jesus was a messenger from
heaven, but it is said that he was the Messiah of the Jews, " the
prophet that shoulil come into the world."* John, his forerunner,
marked him out as the Christ.t He himself, in his discourses with
the Jews, often refei'red to their books, which he said wrote of
him.J Before his ascension, he expounded to his disciples in all
the Scriptures the things concerning himself. § They went forth
after his death declaring that they said none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come;|| and in all
their discourses and writings they held forth the Gospel as the end
of the law, the fulfilment of the covenant with Abraiiam, the per-
formance of the mercy promised to the fathers.
If the Gospel be a divine revelation, these allegations must be
true ; for it is impossible that a messenger from heaven can advance
a false claim. Although, therefoi-e, the nature of the doctrine, and
the confirmation which it receives from miracles, might have been
sufficient to establish our faith, had no such claim been made ; yet,
as Jesus has chosen to call himself the Messiah of the Jews, it is
incumbent upon Christians to examine the correspondence between
that system contained in the books of the Jews, and that contained
in the New Testament ; and their faith doth not rest upon a solid
foundation, unless they can satisfy their minds that the characters
of the Jewish Messiah belong to Jesus. It is to be presumed that
he had wise reasons for taking to himself this name, and that the
faith of his tUsciples will be very much strengthened by tracing the
• John iv. 26 ; vi. 14. f John i. 29—31. + John v. 3D, 46.
§ Luke xsiv. 2?. || Acts xxvi. 22.
86 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
connexion between the two dispensations. But the nature and the
force of the argument from prophecy will unfold itself in the pro-
gress of the investigation ; and it is better to begin with attending
to the facts upon which the argument rests, and the steps which
lead to the conclusion, than to form premature conceptions of the
amount of this part of the evidence for Christianity.
SECTION I.
In every investigation it is of great importance to ascertain pre-
cisely the point from which you set out, that there may be no dan-
ger of confounding the points that are assumed, with those that are
to be proven. There is much reason for making this remark in
entering upon the subject which we are now to investigate, because
attempts have been made to render it confused and inextricable, by
mis-stating the manner in which the investigation ought to pro-
ceed. Mr Gibbon, speaking of that argument from prophecy,
which often occurs in the apologies of the primitive Christians, calls
it an argument beneath the notice of philosophers. It might serve,"
he says, " to edify a Christian, or to convert a Jew, since both the
one and the other acknowledge the authority of the prophets, and
Ijoth are obliged with devout reverence to search for their sense
and accomplishment. But this mode of persuasion loses much of
its weight and intiuence, when it is addressed to those who neither
understand nor respect the Mosaic dispensation, or the prophetic
spirit."* Mr Gibbon learned to use this supercilious inaccurate
language from Mr Collins, an author of whom I shall have occa-
sion to sj>eak fully before I finish the discussion of this subject, and
who lays it down as the fundamental position of his book, that
Christianity is founded upon Judaism, and from thence infers that
the Gentiles ought regularly to be converted to Judaism before
they can become Christians. The object of the inference is mani-
fest. It is to us, in these later ages, a much shorter process to at-
tain a conviction of the truth of Christianity, than to attain, with-
out the assistance of the Gospel, a conviction of the divine origin
of Judaism: and, therefore, if it be necessary that we become con-
verts to Judaism 1)efore we become Christians, the evidence of our
religion is involved in numberless difficulties, and the field of oli-
* Oibbon's Roman History, chap. xv.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 87
jection is so much extended, that the adversai'ies of our faith may
hope to persuade the g-eneraUty of mankind that the subject is too
intricate for their understanding-. The design is manifest ; but
nothing- can be more loose or fallacious than the statement which
is employed to accom2)lish this design. In order to perceive this
you need only attend to the difference between a Jew and a Gen-
tile in the condvict of this investigation. A Jew, who ret^pects the
Mosaic dispensation and the prophetic spirit, looks for the fulfil-
ment of those prophecies which appear to him to be contained in
his sacred liooks, and when any person declares that these prophe-
cies are fulfilled in him, the Jew is led, by that respect, to compare
the circumstances in the appearance of that person with what he
accounts the right interpretation of the prophecies, and to form his
judgment whether they be fulfilled. A Gentile, to whom the di-
vinity of the prophecies was formerly unknown, but who hears a
person declaring- that they are fulfilled in him, if he is disposed by
other circimistances to pay any respect to what that person says,
will be led, by that respect, to inquire after the books, in which
these prophecies are said to be contained, will compare the appear-
ance of that person with what is written in these books, and will
iudge from this comparison how far they correspond. Both the
Jew and the Gentile may be led, by this comparison, to a firm con-
viction that the messeng-er, whose character and history they ex-
amine, is the person foretold in the prophecies. Yet the Jew set
out with the belief that the prophecies are divine ; the Gentile only
attained that belief in the progress of the examination. It is not
possible, then, that a previous belief of the divinity of the prophe-
cies is necessary in order to judg-e of the fulfilment of them ; for
two men may form the same judg-ment in this matter, the one of
whom from the beginning had that belief, and the other had it not.
The true point, from which an investigation of the fulfilment
of prophecy must commence, is this, that the books, containing
what is called the prophecy, existed a considerable time before the
events which are said to be the fulfilment of it. I say, a consi-
derable time, because the nearer that the first appearance of these
books was to the event, it is the more possible that human saga-
city mav accoxint for the coincidence, and the remoter the period is,
to which their existence can be traced, that account becomes the
more improbable. Let us place ourselves, then, in the situation
of those Gentiles whom the first preachers of the Gospel addres-
sed ; let us suppose that we know no more about the books of the
Jews than they might know, and let us consider how we may
satisfy ourselves as to the preliminary point upon which the in-
vestigation must proceed.
The prophecies, to which Jesus and his apostles refer, did not
88 EXTERNAL EVIDEKCES
proceed from the hamls of obscure indivitluals, and apjjcar in that
suspicious form which attends every prediction of an unknown
date and a hidden origin. They were presented to the workl in
the pubhc records of a nation ; they are completely incorporated
with these records, and they form part of a series of predictions
which cannot be disjoined from the constitution and history of
the state. This nation, however sijignlar in its religious princi-
ples, and in what appeared to the world to be its political revolu-
tions, was not unknown to its neighbours. By its geographical
situation, it had"a natural connexion with the greatest empires of
the world. War and commerce occasionally brought the flourish-
ing- kingdom of Judea into their view ; and, althoug-h repugnant
in manners and in worship, they were witnesses of the existence
and the pecuharities of this king-dom. The captivity, first of the
ten tribes by Salmanazar, afterwards of the two tril»es by Nebu-
chadnezzar, served still more to draw the attention of the world,
many centuries before the birth of Chribt, to the peculiarities of
Jewish manners. And there was a circimistance in the return of
the two tril)es from captivity, which was to those who ol)served it
in ancient times, and is to us at this day, a singular and unques-
tionable voucher of the early existence of their books. Nehe-
miah was appointed by the king of Persia to superintend the re-
building' of the walls of Jerusalem. He had received much oppo-
sition in this work from Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, that
district of Palestine which the ten tribes had inhabited, and into
which the king of Assyria had, at the time of their captivity,
transplanted his own subjects. The work, however, was tinished,
and Nehemiah proceeded in making the regulations which appear-
ed to him necessaiy for maintaining order, and the observance of
the law of Moses amongst the multitude whom he had gathered
into Jerusalem. Some of these regulations were not universally
agreeable ; and Manasseh, a son of the high priest, who had mar-
ried a daughter of Sanballat, fled at the head of the malcontent
Jews into Samaria. The law of Moses was not acknowledged in
Samaria, for the king of Assyria, after the first captivity, had sent
a priest to instruct those whom he planted there, in tlie worship
of the God of the country, and for some time they had offered
sacrifices to idols in conjunction with the true God. But Ma-
nasseh, emuloxis of the Jews whom he had left, and considering
the honour of a descendant of Aaron as concerned in the purity
of worship which he established in his new residence, prevailed
upon the inhabitants to put away their idols, built a temple to
the God of Israel upon Mount Gerizim, and introduced a copy of
the law of Moses, or the Pentateuch. He did not introduce any
of the later books of the Old Testament, lest the Samaritans ob-
3
OF CHRISTIANITY. 89
serving- tlie peculiar honours with which God had distinguished
Jerusalem, " the place which he had chosen, to put his name
there," should entertain less reverence for the temple of Gerizim.
And as a further mark of distinction, Manasseh had the hook of
the law written for the Samaritans, not in the Chaldee character,
which Ezra had adopted in the copies of the law which he made
for the Jev/s, to whom that language had become familiar during-
the captivity, but in the old Samaritan character. During- the
successive fortunes of the Jewish nation, the Samaritans con-
tinued to reside in their neighbourhood, worshipping the same
God, and using the same law. But between the two nations
there was that kind of antipathy, which, in religious differences,
is often the more bitter, the less essential the disputed points are,
and which, in this case, proceeded so far that the Jews and Sa-
maritans not only held no communion in worship, but had " no
dealing's with one another."
Here then are two rival tribes stated in opposition and enmity
five hundred years before Christ, yet acknowledging- and preserv-
ing- the same laws, as if appointed by Providence to watch over
the corruptions which either might be disposed to introduce, and
to transmit to the nations of the earth, pure and free from suspi-
cion, those books in which Moses wrote of Jesus. The Samaritan
Pentateuch is often quoted by the early fi^thers. After it had
been unknown for a thousand years, it was found l)y the industry
of some of those critics who lived at the beginning- of the seven-
teenth century, amongst the remnant who still worship at Geri-
zim. Copies of it were brought into Europe, and the learned
have now an opportunity of comparing the Samaritan text used
by the followers of Manasseh, with the Hebrew or Chaldee text
used by the Jews.
While this ancient schism thus furnished succeeding ages with
jealous guardians of the Pentateuch, the existence and integrity
of all their Scriptures were vouched by another event in the his-
tory of the Jews.
Alexander the Great, in the progress of his conquests, either
visited the land of Judea, or received inteihgence concerning the
Jews. His inquisitive mind, which was no stranger to science,
and which was intent upon great plans of commerce not less than
of conquest, was probably struck with the peculiarities of this an-
cient people -, and when he founded his city Alexandria, he in-
vited many of the Jews to settle there. The privileges which he
and his successors conferred upon them, and the advantages of
that situation, multiplied the Jewish inhabitants of Alexandria ;
and the constant intercourse of trade obliged them to learn the
Greek language, which the conquerors of Asia had introduced
90 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
through all the extent of the Macedonian empire. Retaining the
religion and manners of Judea, but graduall)' forgetting the lan-
guage of that country, they became desirous that their Scriptures,
the canon of which was by this time complete, should be translated
into Greek ; and it was especially proper that there should be a
translation of the Pentateuch for the use of the synagogue, w here
a portion of it was read every Sabbath-day. We have the best
reason for saying that that ti'anslation of the Old Testament, which,
from an account of the manner of its being made, probaldy in many
points fabulous, has received the name of the Septuagint, was be-
gun at Alexandria about two hundred and eighty years before
Christ ; and we cannot doubt that the whole of the Pentateuch was
translated at once. Learned men have conjectured, indeed, from
a difference of style, that the other parts of the Old Testament were
translated by other hands. But it is very improbable that a work,
so acceptable to the numerous and wealthy body of Jews who re-
sided at Alexandria, would receive any long interruption after it
was begun ; and a subsequent event in the Jewish history appears
to fix a time when a translation of the prophets would be demand-
ed. About the middle of the second century before Christ, An-
tiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, committed the most outrageous
acts of wanton cruelty against the whole nation of the Jews ; and
as he contended with the king of Egypt for the conquest of Pales-
tine, we may believe that the Jews of Alexandria shared the fate
of their brethren, as far as the power of Antiochus could reach them.
Amongst other edicts which he issued, he forbade any Jews to read
the law of Moses in public. As the prohibition did not extend to
the prophets, the Jews began at this time to substitute portions of
the prophets instead of the law. After the heroical exploits of the
Asmonaean family, the Maccabees, had delivered their country from
the tyranny of Antiochus, and restored the reading of the law, the
prophets continued to be read also ; and we know that, before the
days of our Saviour, reading both the law and the prophets was a
stated part of the synagogue service. In this way the whole of the
Septuagint translation came to be used in the churches of the Hel-
lenistical Jews scattered through the Grecian cities ; and we are
told it was used in some of the synagogues of Judea.
When Rome, then, entered into an alhance with the princes of
the Asmonsean line, who were at that time independent sovereigns,
and when Judea, experiencing the same fate with the other allies
of that ambitious republic, was subdued by Pompey about sixty
years before the birth of our Saviour, the books of the Jews were
publicly read in a language which was then universal. The diffu-
sion of the Jews through all parts of the Roman empire, and the
veneration in which they held their Scriptures, conspired to assure
OF CHRISTIANITY. 91
the beathen that such books existed, and to spread some general
knowledg-e of their contents : and even coubl we suppose it pos-
sible for a nation so zealous of the law, and so widely scattered as
the Jews were, to enter into a concert for altering their Scriptures,
we must be sensible that insuperable difficulties were thrown in the
way of such an attempt, by the animosity between the religious
sects which at that time ilourisiied in Judea. The Sadducees and
the Pharisees differed upon essential points respecting the inter-
pretation and extent of the law ; they were rivals for reputation
and influence ; there were learned men upon both sides, and both
acknowledged the authority of Moses ; and thus, as the Samari-
tans and the Jews in ancient times were appointed of God to watch
over the Pentateuch ; so, in the ages immediately befoi'e our Sa-
viour, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were faithful guardians of
all the ancient Scriptures.
Such is the amount of that testimony to the existence of their
sacred books, long before the days of our Saviour, with which the
Jews, a nation superstitiously attached to their law, widely spread,
and strictly guarded, present them to the world ; and to this tes-
timony there are to be added the many internal marks of authen-
ticity which these books exhibit to a discerning reader, — the agree-
ment of the natural, the civil, and the religious history of the
world, with those views which they present — the incidental men-
tion that profane writers have made of Jewish customs and pecu-
liarities, which is always strictly conformable to the contents of
these books — the express reference to many of them that occurs in
the New Testament, a reference which must have destroyed the
credit of the Gospels and Epistles, if the books referred to had not
been known to have a previous existence — and, lastly, the evidence
of Josephus, the Jewish historian, a man of rank and of science,
who may be considei'ed as a contemporary of Jesus, and who has
given in his works a catalogue of the Jewish books, not upon his
own authority, but upon the authority and ancient conviction of
his nation, a catalogue which agrees both in number and in de-
scription with the books of the Old Testament that we now receive.
Even Daniel, the only writer of the Old Testament against the
authenticity of whose book any special objections have been offer-
ed, is styled by Josephus a prophet, and is extolled as the greatest
of the prophets ; and his liook is said by this respectable Jew to be
a part of the canonical Scriptures of his nation.*
It appears fi'om laying all these circumstances together, that as
our Lord and his apostles had a title to assume, in their addresses
to the Gentiles, the previous existence of the Jewish Scriptures as
• Joseph, lib. x. cap. 11, 12.
92 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
a fact generally and clearly known, so no doubt can be reasonably
entertained of this fact, even in the distant age in which we live.
I do not speak of these Scriptiires as a divine revelation ; I alistract
entirely from that sacred authority which the Christian religion
communicates to them ; I speak of them merely as an ancient book ;
and I say, that while there is no improbability in the remote date
which any part of this book claims, tliere is real satisfying evidence,
to which no degree of scepticism can justify any man for refusing
his assent, that all the parts had an existence, and might have been
known in the world, some centuries l)efore the Christian era.
Having thus satisfied our minds of the previous existence of those
Scriptures, to which Jesus appeals as containing characters of the
Messiah which are fulfilled in him, it is natural, before we examine
bis appeal, to inquire whether the nation, who have transmitted
these Scriptures, entertained any expectation of such a person. For
although it be possible that they might be ignorant of the full
meaning of the oracles committed to them, and that a great Pro-
phet might explain to the nations of the earth tbat true sense
which tlie keepers of these oracles did not understand, yet his ap-
peal would be received with more attention, and even with a pre-
judice in its favour, if it accorded with the hopes of those who had
the best access to know the grounds of it. Now, it is admitted
upon all hands, that at the time of our Saviour's birth there was in
the land of Judea the most earnest expectation, and the most as-
sured hope, that an extraordinary personage, to whom the Jews
gave the name of Messiah, was to arise. We read in the New
Testament, that many looked for redemption in Jerusalem, and
waited for the consolation of Israel ; that when John appeared, all
men mused in their hearts whether he was the Christ, and the
priests and Levites sent messages to ask him, Art thou that Pro-
phet ? that the conclusion which the people drew from some of the
first of our Lord's miracles was, " This is of a truth that prophet
that should come into the world ;" and that the expectation of this
person had spread to other countries ; for wise men came from the
east to Jerusalem, in search of him who was to be born King of
the Jews * You will not think it unfair reasoning to quote these
passages from the New Testament in proof of the expectation of
a Messiah ; for it is impossible that the books which refer in such
marked terms to a sentiment so universal and strong, could have been
received by any inhabitant of Judea, if that sentiment had no exist-
ence ; and the inference, which we are thus entitled to draw from
the authenticity of the books of the New Testament, is confirmed
in every way that the nature of the case admits of, by historians
* Luke ii. and iii. ; John i. and vi. j Matt. ii.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 93
who write of these times, hy the books of the ancient Jev.'s, and
the sentiments of the modern. Josephus, Suetonius, and Tacitus,
although desirous to flatter the Roman emperor Vespasian, by ap-
plying- the prophecies to him, yet unite in attesting the expectation
which these prophecies had raised. Josephus says, " 'J'hat which
chiefly excited the Jews to war, was an ambiguous prophecy found
in the sacred books, tliat at that time some one within their coun-
try should arise, that should obtain the empire of the world. For
this they had received by tradition, that it was spoken of one of
their nation, and many wise men were deceived with the interpre-
tation. But, in truth, Vespasian's empire was designed in this
prophecy, who was created emperor in Judea."* Josephus, although
he affects in this place, (he speaks otherwise elsewhere,) to con-
demn that interpretation of tlie prophecy which led the Jews to
expect a Messiah, yet acknowledges that this expectation was ge-
neral, derived from the prophecies, and entertained by many of the
wise. Suetonius says, " Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus et con-
stans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore Judaea profecti rerum
potirentur. Id de imperatore Romano, quantum postea eventu
patuit, prsedicium, Judsei ad se trahentes, rebellarunt."f [An old
and estabhshed opinion had become more prevalent throughout
the whole of the East, that the fates had decreed, that persons
proceeding at that time from Judea should obtain the sovereignty
of the world. That was foretold of the Ron)an emperor, as was
afterwards plain from the event. But the Jews, applying it to
themselves, rebelled.] Tacitus says, " Pluribus persuasio inerat,
antiquis sacerdotum libris contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut vales-
ceret oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur. Quae ambages
Vespasianum ac Titura praedixerant. Sed Vulgus, more humanae
cupidinis, sibi tantam fatorum magnitudinem interpretati, ne adver-
sis quidem ad vera mutal)antur." '^ [It was the conviction of many
that the ancient books of the priests announced, that at that very
time the East was to prevail, and persons proceeding from Judea
were to obtain the sovereignty of the world. These doubtful say-
ings had foretold Vespasian and Titus. But the great body of the
Jews, actuated by the selfishness which belongs to human nature,
understood the greatness announced by the fates with reference to
themselves, and were not induced by adversity even to acquiesce
in the truth.] Both historians, with that very cupido which they
charge upon the Jews, apply the prophecy to a Roman emperor;
an application which, at the time, was most unnatural, and which
the event has clearly shown to be false. But both bear witness to
the existence and antiquity of the prophecy, and to the universality
* Jos. Hist, vi. 31. -|- Suet. Vespas, vi. 8. + Tacit. Hist. lib. v. 9,
94 EXTERNAL EVIDEN'CES
and streng'th of the expectation gronndefi upon it. The oldest
Iiabbinical books extant are the Targum of Onkelos on the Penta-
teuch, and the Targum of Jonathan on the Prophets ; Targums,
»'. e. interpretations or paraphrases of books of the Old Testament,
composed for the instruction of the people, and used in the syna-
gogues. There are many more modern Targums. But these two,
Onkelos and Jonathan, are said by the Jews to have been written
before or al)out the time of our Saviour, and they appear to be
collections from more ancient books. They continued always in
the hands of the Jews ; they v.ere not known to the Christians till
a few centuries ago, yet they uniformly bear testimony to the na-
tional expectation of a Messiah, and mark out the prophecies
which had produced that expectation. Even the Samaritans, who
had only the Pentateuch, entertained the same expectation with
the Jews. " I know," said the Samaritan woman, in the Gospel
of John, " that Messias cometh. Wlien he is come, he will tell us
all things."* And it deserves to be mentioned, that those learned
men, who, in the beginning of the 17th century, introduced the
Samaritan Pentateuch into Europe, obtained also from the rem-
nant which still worships upon Mount Gerizim, a declaration of
their faith concerning the Messiah. " You would know," they
say, in a letter which is extant, " whether the Messias be come,
and whether it be he that is promised in our law as the Shiloh.
Know that the Messias is not yet risen. But he shall rise, and
his name shall be Hathab." It is well known that the modern
Jews still retain hopes that the Messiah will come. They have
devised various schemes to account for his delay, and to elude the
argument which we draw from the application of the prophecies to
Jesus. But even their modern doctors declare, that he who be-
lieves the law of Moses should believe the coming of the Messiah ;
for the law commands us to believe in the prophets, and the pro-
phets foretell his coming.
This much, then, we have gained by attending to the sentiments
of the Jews — satisfying evidence that it was not an invention of
our Lord and his apostles, to say, that Moses wrote of the Mes-
siah ; that Abraham rejoiced to see his day ; that David, being a
prophet, foresaw him in spirit ; and that all the prophets, from Sa-
muel, foretold of his days. Tiie Jews said the same thing, and
looked for the fulfilment of the promises made to their fathers.
How ancient this expectation was, we cannot say, because except
the Scriptures of the Old Testament, we have no Jewish books of
unquestionable authority older than the days of our Saviour. But
as it is clear that the expectation was not at that time new, as the
• John iv. 25.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 95
first of the Jewish books extant declare, that all the prophets, from
Moses to Malachi, prophesied only of the Messiah, and abound
with explications of particular predictions, and as the most ancient
prayers of the people in their synagogues adopt these exjilications,
speaking- of the Messiah under the names and characters ascribed
to him in the predictions, it does not seem to admit of a doubt,
that the hope of the Messiah was, in all ages among- the Jews, the
i-eceived national interpretation of those predictions in which they
gloried.
The matter, then, is lirought to a short issue. Certain books
existed some ce)ituries before the birth of Jesus, which raised in
the nation that kept them a general expectation of an extraordi-
nary personage. Jesus appeared in Judea, claiming to be that per-
sonage. The people, in whose possession the books had always
remained, are bound by their national expectations to examine his
claim. The curiosity of the other nations to whom this claim is
made known, or to whom the person advancing it appears upon
other accounts respectable, is excited by the coincidence between
the claim, and the expectations of that people upon whose ancient
books it is founded : and thus both Jews and Gentiles, without any
previous agreement in religious opinions, are called to attend to the
same object, and one point is submitted to their examination ;
Whether the predictions concerning the Jewish Messiah apply to
the circumstances in the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth.
SECTION II.
The obvious method of proving that Jesus is the Messiah of the
Jews is to compare the predictions in their Scriptures with the cir-
cumstances of his appearance It is impossible, in any other way,
to attain a conviction of the justness of liis claim to that character :
and it is clear, that if his claim be well founded, this method will
be siifficient to ascertain it. This is the method which our Lord
prescribed to the Jews. " Search the Scriptures, for these are thev
which testify of me." It is the method which he employed wheii,
before his ascension, " he expounded to his discijdes the things
which were written concerning him in the law of Moses, and in
the Prophets, and in the Psalms." It is the method by which
Philip converted the minister of the Queen of Ethiopia, when he
96 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
])egan at the 53(1 chapter of Isaiah, and preached to him Jesus.
And it is the method which is continually recurring- in the dis-
courses and writings of the apostles.
A person wlio had no previous information upon the suhject,
would 1)6 oliliged, in following this method, to mark, as he read
through the Scriptures of the Old Testament, those passages which
to him appeared to point to an extraordinary person ; and then he
would either apply every one singly, or all of them collectively to
Jesus, in order to judge how far they were fulfilled in him. But
we are provided with much assistance in this examination. We
are directed, in our search of the Old Testament, hy the passages
which our Lord and his apostles have quoted, by the knowledge
which men versant in Jewish learning have diffused of the predic-
tions marked in the Jewish Targums, and by the laljours of the
ancient apologists for Christianity, and of many divines since the
Reformation, and more especially since the beginning of the last
century, who, with very sound critical talents, and much histori-
cal information, have devoted themselves to the elucidation of this
suhject. There is no reason why we should not avail ourselves of
these helps. They abridge the laliour of investigation ; but they
do not necessai'ily bias our judgments. We may examine a pro-
jihecy which is pointed out to us, as strictly as if we ourselves had
discovered it to be a prophecy. Y\e may even indulge a certain
degree of jealousy with regard to all the prophecies which are sug-
gested by the friends of Christianity, and may fortify our minds
with the resolution that nothing but the most marked and striking
correspondence shall overcome this jealousy. It is right for you
to employ every fair precaution against being deceived ; and then
take into your hands any of those books which serve as an index
to the predictions in the Old Testament respecting the Messiah.
You have an excellent index in Clarke's Evidences of Natural and
Revealed Religion, which is, upon the whole, one of the best ele-
mentary l)ooks for a stvident in divinity, and which is rendered pe-
culiarly useful with regard to the prophecies, by a part of Dr
Clarke's character that appears in all his theological writings — an
intimate profound knowledge of Scripture, and a fixculty of bring-
ing together, and arranging in the most lucid order, all the texts
which relate to a subject. You have another index in Bishop
Chandler's Defence of Christianity. Sherlock, Newton, Jortin,
Hurd, Halifax, Bagot, Macknight, and other divines, have both
given a full explication of some particular predictions, and direct-
ed to the solution of many others. The comparison of the predic-
tions in the Old Testament resjjecting the Messiah, with the facts
recorded in the New, is one of the most essential parts of the edu-
cation of a student in divinity. Other Christians may not have
OF CHRISTIANITY. 97
leisure for such an employment. But it is expected from your
profession, that you know the occasions upon which the predic-
tions were given, and that you are able to defend the received in-
terpretations of them, and to state the order in which they suc-
ceeded one anothei", and the manner in which they were fulfiUed.
And if you either bring- to this inquiry critical sagacity, and histo-
rical information of your own, or avail youi-selves judiciously of the
labours of others, you will attain an enlightened and firm convic-
tion that Jesus is not only a messenger from heaven, but the Mes-
siah of the Jews.
It is impossible for me to lead you through all the particulars of
this investigation. But I shall mention, in a few words, the result
to which men of the soundest judgment have been conducted, and
which they have rendered it easy for us to teach ; and then I shall
give you a specimen of the exact fulfilment of Jewish prophecy in
Jesus.
Moses, by whom the most ancient predictions were compiled,
lived a thousand years before Malachi ; and Malachi lived after the
Jews had returned from their captivity, above four hundred years
before the birth of our Saviour. During the long period that in-
tervened between the earliest and the latest prophets, there are
scattered through the books of the Old Testament predictions of a
dispensation of Providence, to be executed in a future time by an
extraordinary personage. And all these predictions are found to
apply to the history of Jesus of Nazareth. Although the predic-
tions, which point through such a length of time to one dispensa-
tion, dilfer widely from one another in clearness and imagery, not
one of them is inconsistent with the facts recorded in the Gospel.
By the help of that interpretation which the event gives to the
prophecy, we can see an uniformity and continuity in the scheme.
The more general expressions of the ancient prophets, and the more
minute descriptions of the later, illustrate one another. Every pre-
diction appears to stand in its proper place, and every clause assumes
importance and significancy.
There are two circumstances which every false prophet is care-
ful to avoid, or at least to express in ambiguous terms, but which
were precisely marked, and literally accomplished with regard to the
Messiah. The circumstances are, time and place. It was foretold
in a succession of limiting prophecies, that that seed of the woman,
which was to bruise the head of the serpent, should ai'ise out of the
family of Abraham, out of the children of Israel, out of the tribe
of Judah, out of the house of David, and out of the town of Beth-
lehem, where David was born. It is said in the book of Chronicles,
" Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief
VOL. I. E
9S EXTEIINAL EVIDENCES
iMilcr."* And to satisfy us that this prophecy was not exhausted
\>\ the niU'Ps tliat lia«l formerly come of Judah, we read in Mieah.
who hved in the rei,i;n of Kinj^- He/ekiah, " IJut thou, Hetldehem
r.phratuli, tiioiif^ii thou l)e Httle amoiiu;- the tliousands of .hidah, yet
out of thee .sliali he come fortli nnto me that is to he the ruh'r in
Israel ; whose f^oings foi'th have heen from of old, from (tverlast-
ini;-.' f Here is the place, an o1)scure village in Judea, so fixed hy
prophecy, seven hun(h'ed years l)efore the event, that the ancient
Jews exj)ected the Messiah was to he horn there ; and some of the
modern Jews have said that he was born before Bethleliem was de-
solated, and lies hidden in the ruins. The time is also fixed. Da-
ni(d numbered seventy weeks, that is according- to the prophetic-
style, in which a day stands for a year, four hundred and ninety
years, as the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusa-
lem, and the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom. J This in-
terpretation of the weeks of Daniel, which learned men have, 1
think, incontrovertibly established, is confirmed hy other predic-
tions still more clear, which declare that the extraordinary person-
age was to arise out of Judea, while it remained a distinct tribe, pos-
sessijig some authority, and while its tem})le stood ; and that he was
to arise during the fourth kingdom, after the l{omans became mas-
ters of the world. The four successive kingdoms are described in
the interpretation of the vision in the seventh chapter of Daniel,
and so described, that any ])erson versant in history cannot mistake
the Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman. The Romans
had successively conquered the three other branches of the Mace-
donian empire. But Kgypt still existed as an independent king-
dom, till the unfortunate Cleopatra ended her days at the battle of
Actium, thirty years before the birth of our Saviour ; the next year
Kgypt was made tributary to Rome ; and then, first, says the his-
torian Dion Cassius, did Ca>sar alone possess all power. The city
and temple of Jerusalem were destroyed, and the constitution of the
.Jewish state annihilated about seventy years after the birth of our
Saviour. Thus the establishment of the universal empire of Rome,
and the desolation of Jerusalem, are two limits marked by ancient
prophecy. The Messiah was to be born after the first, and before
the last. They contain between them a space of about a hundred
vears, within which space the Messiah was to be born ; hut at such
a distance from the last of the two limits, as to allow time for his
preaching to the Jews, for his being rejected by them, and for their
suffering upon account of that rejection ; all which events were also
for^-told. Within the space of a hundred years the ditferent divi-
sions of Daniel's seventy weeks had their end ; and within this space
* 1 Clnon. V, 2. f Micali v. '2. \ Daniel ix. 24, 25.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 99
Jesus was Ijorn. According to «ivery method, then, in which the
time of the Messiah's hirth can be computed from ancir^nt predic-
tions, it was fulfilled in Jesus ; and this fulfilment of the time
brouj^ht about, by a wonderful concurrence of circumstances, a ful-
filment with reg-ard to the place also of the Mejisiah's birth. After
the Romans, in the progress of their conquests, ha^l subdued Syria,
and the other parts of the Macedonian empire adjoining to Judea,
that state, standing alone, could not long remain independent. Its
form of government was for some time preserved by the indulg-ence
of the Romans, liut, about forty years before the birth of our Sa-
viour, an act of the senate set aside the succession of tlie Asmonaean
princes, and conferred the crown of Judea upon Herod the Great.
Although Herod was king of Judea, he held his kingdom as a prince
dependent upon Rome ; and, in token of his vassalage, an order was
issued by Augustus, before his death, that there should be a general
enrolment of the inhabitants of Palestine ; that is, the Roman
census, by which the state acquired a knowledge of the numbers,
the wealth, and the condition of its subjects, was extended to this
appendage of the Roman empire. In conformity to the Jewish
method of classing- the people by tribes and families, every inha-
bitant of Palestine was ordered to have his name enrolled, not in
the city where he happened to reside, but in that to which the
founder of his house had belonged, and which, in the language of
the Jews, was the city of his people. By this order, which was to-
tally independent of the will of Joseph and Mary, and which in-
volved in it a decree of the Jioman emperor then for the first time
issued concerning Judea, and a resolution of the king of Judea to
adopt a particular mode of executing that decree, Joseph and Mary
are brought from a distant comer of Palestine to Bethlehem. They
are brought at a time when Mary would not have chosen such a
journey; and Jesus, to their great inconvenience and distress, is bom
in a stable, and laid in a rnanger. It is not easy for any person, who
attends to these circumstances, to refrain from acknowledging the
hand of Providence connecting the time and the place of the birth
of Jesus, so as that, without the possibility of human preparation,
they should together fulfil the words of anc-ient prophets.
1 have selected these two necessary accompaniments of every
action, because it was possible, within a short compass, to give you
a striking view of the coincidence between the prediction and the
event. But the same coincidence extends through a multitufle of
circumstances, which in the prophecies appear minute, unrelated
and sometimes contradictor)-, and which cannot be applied to any
one person who ever lived upon earth, except to Jesus of Nazareth,
in whom they are united with perfect harmony, so that every one
has a meaning, and all together form a consistent whole.
100 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
It would seem, then, that we are fully warranted in saying that
the circumstances in the appearance of Jesus correspond to the pre-
dictions of the Old Testament respecting the Messiah of the Jews,
and that the presumptive proof and the direct proof of his being a
messenger of heaven, are entitled to all the support which they can
derive from the justness of his claim to the character of Messiah.
SECTION III.
But the adversaries of Christianity do not allow us so readily to
draw this conclusion : And there are objections to the argument
from prophecy, the proper answer to which well deserves your
study. These objections were brought forward, and stated with much
art and plausibility, in a book entitled. Grounds and Reasons of the
Christian Religion, written after the beginning of the last century,
by Mr Collins. Bishop Chandler's Defence of Christianity, fi'om
the prophecies of the Old Testament, was an answer to this book :
and Mr Collins published a reply, entitled. The Scheme of Literal
Prophecy Considered. Bishop Sherlock in his discourses on Pro-
phecy, Warburton in his Divine Legation of Moses, and many mo-
dern divines, have combated with sound learning and argument the
positions of Mr Collins ; so that any student who applies to this
important subject, may receive very able assistance in forming his
judgment.
I shall state to you the objections, with the answers. The po-
sition of Mr Colhns' book is this : Christianity is founded on Ju-
daism. Our Lord and his apostles prove Christianity from the Old
Testament. If the pi'oofs which they draw from thence are valid,
Christianity is true : if they are not valid, Christianity is false.
But all the prophecies of the Old Testament are applicable to Christ
only in a secondary, typical, allegorical sense. Such a sense, being
fanatical and chimerical, cannot be admitted according to the scho-
lastic rules of interpretation. And thus Christianity, deriving no
real support from Judaism upon which it is professedly grounded,
must be false.
To this artful mis-statement of the subject, we have two answers.
The first is, that there are in the Old Testament direct prophe-
cies of the Messiah, which, not in a secondary, but in their primary
sense, apply to Jesus of Nazareth. There is in the Pentateuch a
promise of a prophet to be raised up from amongst the Jews like
OF CHRISTIANITY. 101
unto Moses.* But none in all the succession of Jewish prophets
was like him in the free intercourse which he had with the Al-
mighty, the importance of the commission which he hore, and the
signs which he did. And, therefore, that succession not only kept
alive the expectation, hut was itself a pledge of the great prophet
that should come. The writings of the succession of prophets are
full of predictions concerning a new dispensation more glorious,
more general, more spiritual than the Jewish economy, when " the
sons of the stranger should join themselves to the Lord ;" when
" his house should he an house of prayer for all people ;" when
" the gods of the earth should he famished ;" no more offerings be-
ing presented to them, and " every one from his place," not at Je-
rusalem, hut in his ordinary residence, " should worship Jehovah."
" Behold the days come, saith the Lord," by Jeremiah, who lived
in the time of the captivity, " that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to
the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. But
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ;
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their in-
ward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.'f It is further
to be remarked, that the prophecy of this new spiritual dispensation
is connected throughout the Old Testament with the mention of
a person by whom the dispensation was to be introduced. If
it is called a covenant, we read of the Messenger of the covenant.
If it is called a kingdom, set up by the God of heaven, which should
never be destroyed, we read of a chief ruler to come out of Judah,
of the Prince of Peace who was to sit on the throne of his father
David, to estaldish it with justice and judgment for ever ; of one
like the Son of man coming- with the clouds of heaven, to whom
is given an universal and everlasting dominion. If the new dis-
pensation is represented as a more perfect mode of instruction, we
read of a prophet upon whom should rest the spirit of wisdom and
understanding. If it is styled the deliverance of captives, there is
also a redeemer ; or victory, there is also a leader ; or a sacrifice,
there is also an everlasting priest. The intimations of this extra-
ordinary personage, so closely connected with the new dispensation,
became more clear and pointed as the time of his coming approach-
ed : and there are predictions in Malachi and the later prophets,
which in their direct primary sense can belong to no other but the
Messiah. " Behold," says God by Malachi, " 1 will send my mes-
senger, and he shall prepare the way before me ; and the Lord whom
* Deut. xviii. 15, 18. f Jer. xxxi. 31—34.
102 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple ; even the messeng-er of
the covenant whom ye dehght in." And ag-ain, " Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and dreadful day of
the Lord."* Even Grotius, whose principle it was, in his expo-
sition of the Old Testamant, to seek for the primary sense of the
prophecies in the Jewish aifairs which were immediately under the
eye of the prophet, and to consider their application to Jesus as a
secondary sense, and who has often been misled by this principle
into very forced interpretations, has not been able to assign any
other meaning- to these projihecies, with which the Old Testament
concludes, and with a repetition of which Mai-k begins his Gospel,
than that Malachi, with whom the prophetical spirit ceased, gave
notice that it should be resumed in John the forerunner of the
Messiah, who in the spirit and the power of Elias, should prepare
the way before the messenger of the covenant.
The first answer then to Mr Collins is, that there are in the Old
Testament direct prophecies of the dispensation of the Gospel, and
of the Messiah.
The second answer is, that prophecies applicalile to Jesus only
in a typical and secondary sense are not fanatical or imscholastic.
We are taught by the Apostle Paul to consider all the cere-
monies of the law as types of the more perfect and spiritual dis-
pensation of the Gospel. The meats, the drinks, the washings, the
institution of the Levitical priesthood, the paschal lamb, and the
other sacrifices, were figures for the time then present, shadows of
good things to come, a rough draught, as the word type properly
imports, of the blessings of that better covenant which the law an-
nounced. Many actions and incidents in the lives of eminent per-
sons under the law are held forth as types of the Christ ; and by
the application which is made in the Gospels, the Acts, and the
Epistles, of various passages in the Old Testament, we are led to
consider many prophecies, which originally had, both in the inten-
tion of the speaker and in the sense of the hearers, a reference only
to Jewish aifairs, and were then interpreted by that reference, as
receiving their full accomplishment in the events of the Gospel.
This is what we mean by the double sense of prophecy. The
seventy-second psalm is an example. It is the paternal blessing
given by David in his dying moments to Solomon, when with the
complacency of an affectionate father and a good prince, he looks
forward to that happiness which his people were to enjoy under
the peaceful reign of his son. But while he contemplates this
great and pleasing object, he is led by the Spirit to look beyond it,
* Malachi iii. 1. iv. 5.
OF CHRrSTIANITY. 103
to that illustrious descendant whose birth he had been taught to
expect, — that branch which in the latter days was to spring- out of
the root of Jesse. The two objects blend themselves together in
his imagination ; at least the words in which he pours forth his
conceptions, although sug-gested by the promise concerning- Solo-
mon, are much too exalted when applied to the occurrences even
of his disting-uished reign, and were fulfilled only in the nature and
theextentof the blessing- conveyed by the Gospel. Had we no warrant
from authority upon other accounts respectable, to bring- this second-
ary sense out of some prophecies ; or had we no pi'ophecies of the
Messiah in the Old Testamentof another kind, it would be imfairand
unscholastical reasoning- to infer that Jesus is the Messiah, because
some passages may be thus transferred to him. We rest the argu-
ment from prophecy upon those predictions which expressly point
to the Messiah, and upon that authority which the miracles of Jesus
and his apostles gave to them as interpreters of prophecy : and we
say that when their interpretation of those prophecies, V)'hich were
originally applicable to other events, gives to every expression in
them a natural and complete sense, and at the same time coincides
with the spirit of those predictions concerning- the Gospel, which
are direct, we have the best reason for receiving this further mean-
ing, not to the exclusion of the other, but as the full exposition of
the words of the prophet.
There is nothing in the nature of prophecy, or the general use
of language, inconsistent with this account of the matter. If you
allow that prophecy is a thing possible, you must admit that " it
came not by the will of man, but that holy men spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost." Prophecy by its nature is dis-
tinguished from other kinds of discourse. At other times, men
utter sentiments which they feel ; they relate facts which they
know ; they reason according to the measure of their faculties.
But when they prophecy, that is, when they declare, by the in-
spiration of God, events which are out of the reach of human fore-
sight, they speak not of themselves ; they are but the vehicles for
conveying the mind of another Being- ; they pronounce the words
which he puts into their mouth ; and whether these words be in-
telligible or not, or what their full meaning may be, depends not
upon them, but upon him from whom the words proceed. It is
thus clearly deducible from the nature of prophecy, that there
might be in the predictions of the Old Testament, a further mean-
ing than that which was distinctly presented to the minds of those
who spake. And we may conceive, that as the high priest Caia-
phas was directed in the Jewish council to employ words which,
although in his eyes they contained only a political advice, were
104 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
really a prophecy of the benefits resulting from the death of Christ,*
so the Spirit of God might introduce into predictions, which to
those who uttered them seemed to respect only the ])resent fortune
of their countiy, or the fate of some illustrious personage, ex-
pressions, in a cei'tain sense indeed, applicable to them, but point-
ing to a more important event, and a more glorious personage, in
whom it was to appear at a future period that they were literally
fulfilled.
As there is nothing in the nature of prophecy inconsistent with
that account of types and secondary senses which constitutes our
second answer to the objection of Mr Collins, so this account is
supported l)y the general use of language. And any person versant
in that use, will not be disposed to call the application of types and
secondary prophecies unscholastic. The typical nature of the
Jewish ritual accords with that most ancient method of conversing
by actions, that kind of symbolical language, which is adopted in
early times from the scantiness of words, which is retained in ad-
vanced periods of society, in order to give energy and beautv to
speech, which aboimds in the writings of the Jewish prophets, and
appears to have been in familiar and universal use through all the
regions adjoining to Judea. In like mannei", prophecies which ad-
mit of two senses, one immediate and obvious, the other remote
and hidden, are agreeable to that allegory which is only the sym-
bolical language appearing in an extended discourse. Both sacred
and profane poets afford beautiful examples of allegory. In the
14th Ode of the first book of Horace, the poet, under a concern
for the safety of his friends at sea in a shattered bark, contrives at
the same time to convey his apprehensions concerning the issue
of the new civil war. There is a finished allegory in the 80th
Psalm. And Dr Warburton has pointed out a prophecy in the two
first chapters of Joel, where the prophet, he says, in his prediction
of an approaching ravage l)y locusts, foretells likewise, in the same
words, a succeechng desolation by the Assyrian army. For, as
some of the expressions mark death by insects, and others desola-
tion by war, both senses must be admitted. Allegory abounds in
all the moral writings of antiquitv, and is employed at some times
as an agreeable method of communicating knowledge, and at other
times as a cover for that which was too refined for vulgar eyes.
There is not any particular reason for saying that it was unworthy
of God to accommodate the style of many of his prophecies to this
universal use of allegory ; because, whenever the Almighty con-
descends to speak to us, whether he \ises plain or figiarative lan-
guage, he must speak after the manner of men ; and we are able
• John xi. 49.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 105
to assig-n a most important purpose which was attained by those
prophecies of a double sense, the interpretation of which, although
very far from deserving' the name of unscholastic, may be called
alleg-orical. It pleased God, in the intermediate space between the
first predictions of the Messiah and the fulfilment of them, to es-
tablish the Jewish economy, an institution sing-ular in its nature,
and limited in its extent. This intermediate institution being- for
many ages a theocracy, there arose a succession of pi'ophets by
whom the intercourse between the Almighty Sovereign and his
people was maintained ; and the whole administration of the affairs
of the Jews was long- conducted by the prophets. It was natural
for this succession of prophecy to g-ive some notice of the better
covenant which was to l)e made ; and accordingly we can trace pre-
dictions of the Messiah from the books of Moses, till the cessation
of the prophetical spirit of Malachi. The Holy Ghost, by whom
the prophet spoke, could have rendered these notices of the spiritual
and universal nature of the future dispensation clear and intelligi-
ble to eveiy one who heard them. But, in this case, the interme-
diate preparatory dispensation would have been despised. The
Jews comparing- their Ijurdensorae ritual with the simplicity of
Gospel worship, — their imperfect sacrifices with the efficacy of the
g-reat atonement, — their temporal rewards with the crown of glory
laid up in heaven, would have thrown off the yoke which they
were called to bear ; and those rudiments by which the law was
given to train their minds for the perfect instruction of the Gos-
pel, would have been cast away as " beggarly elements." If the
law served any purpose, it was necessary that it should be respected
and observed so long as it was to subsist ; and therefore it would
have been inconsistent with the wisdom of Him from whom it pro-
ceeded, that it should impart such a degree of light as might have
destroyed itself. Enough was to be declared to raise and cherish
an expectation of that which was to come, but not enough to dis-
parage the things that then were. This end is most perfectly at-
tained by the types, and the prophecies of a double sense which are
contained in the Old Testament. Both were so agreeable to the
manners of the times, and both received such a degree of explica-
tion from the direct prophecies concerning the Messiah, that there
was an universal apprehension of their fm'ther meaning. Yet their
immediate importance preserved the respect which was due to the
law ; and when, in the end of the age of prophecy, predictions of
the Messiah were given l^y different prophets which could not ap-
■ply to any other person, — these direct predictions were clothed m
a figurative language, all the figures of which were borrowed from
the law. The law, in this way, was still magnified ; and as the
child is kept under tutors and governors till the time appointed of
106 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
the father, so says the apostle to the Galatians, the Jews were kept
under the law, the g-uardiaris of the oracles of God, — the deposi-
taries of the hopes of mankind, until the time came that the faith
should be revealed.* When it was revealed, then the allegory re-
ceived its interpretation ; the significancy of the types, the reddi-
tiou of the parables, the hidden meaning of the ancient prophecies,
and the propriety of the figures in which the latter were clothed,
all now stand forth to the admiration and conviction of the Christian
world. What was a hyperbole, in its application to Jewish affairs,
becomes, says DrWarburton, plain speech, or an obvious metaphor,
when transferred to the Gospel ; and the Old Testament appears to
have been, what St Austin calls it, a continued prophecy of the New.
SECTION IV.
Before I proceed to state the amoTint of the argument from pro-
phecy, there is one other objection to that argument which requires
to be mentioned. The objection arises from a kind of verbal cin-
ticism, but does not deserve upon that account to be dismissed as
unimportant.
It was long ago observed, that many of the passages, quoted from
the Old Testament in the New, do not exactly agree with the text
of our copies of the Old Testament. The apology commonly made
for this difference was, that our Lord and his apostles did not quote
from the Hebrew, but from the Septuagint translation, which was
known and respected in Judea. But, upon accurate investigation,
it was found that the quotations do not always correspond with the
Septuagint ; and that there are many which agree neither with the
Septuagint nor with the Hebrew. It was insinuated, therefore, by
the adversaries of Christianity, that our Lord and his apostles had
not been scrupulous in their method of quoting the Old Testament ;
but wishing to ground Christianity upon Judaism, and finding it
diflficult to lay this foundation with the materials that existed, had
accommodated the words of the Old Testament to their argument,
and made the prophets say what it was necessary for the conclu-
siveness of that argument they should seem to say. It appears at
first sight very unhkely that our Lord and his apostles, who began
• Gal. iv.
OF CHRISTIANITY. 107
the preaching' of the Gospel from Judea, would, in the heai'ing of
the Jews, use such liberty with the Scriptures which were publicly-
read in those very synagogues where they were thus misquoted.
The detection of the fraud was easy, or rather unavoidable, and
must have been ruinous to the cause of Chinstiauity. But however
improbable it may seem that our Lord and his apostles should be
guilty of such a fraud, the fact is undeniable, that the quotations
in the New Testament do not always agree with the books from
which they are taken ; and it remains with the friends of Christ-
ianity to account for this fact. Many zealous Christians have
thought it essential to the honour of that revelation granted to the
Jews, to maintain the integrity of the original Hebrew text ; and
even during the course of the last century, some men versant in
Jewish learning argued most strenuously, that the Pi'ovidence of
God employed the vigilance of the Jewish nation, and certain pre-
cautions of the Jewish Rabbis, to preserve the Hebrew text through
all ages from every degree of adulteration. Were this opinion
sound, it does not appear to me that any satisfying account could
be given of the diiference between the Old Testament and the New,
in those passages where the latter professes to quote the former.
But as suspicions had been long entertained that there were varia-
tions in the Hebrew text, so the opinion of those who maintain its
integrity was in the last century completely refuted by the labours
of Dr Kennicott, who, from a collation of six hundred manuscripts
of the Hebrew Bible, has demonstrated that there have been num-
berless small alterations, and some of considerable importance. We
found formerly that the various readings of the Greek text of the
New Testament arose from the ignorance or carelessness of trans-
cribers, and that their being permitted could easily be reconciled
with the wisdom of God, and the divine original of Christianity.
We need not be surprised to find the same causes producing similar
effects with regard to the Hebrew text. It has been said, that par-
ticular circumstances may naturally lead us to look for a greater
immber of such varieties in the Hebrew text than in the Greek ;
and there is much reason to suspect that both the Hebrew text
and the Septuagint translation were wilfully corrupted by the Jews
after the days of our Saviour, in order to elude the argument whicii
the Christians deduced from the clear application of Jewish pro-
phecies to him. We know that, in the second century, another
Greek translation of the Old Testament, by Aquila, more inaccu-
rate, and designedly throwing a veil over many prophecies of the
Messiah, was substituted by the Jews in place of the Septuagint.
Taking then the learned men who have devoted themselves to this
study as our guides, and resting in the conclusions which they have
established by a laborious induction of particulars, we say, tliat the
108 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
copies both of the Hebrew text and of the Septiiagint, which were
in use in the clays of our Saviour, were more correct than those
which we now have ; that by the help of many manuscripts, and
of the Samaritan Pentateuch, which was much less comipted than
the books of Moses in Hebrew, the true reading- of the Hebrew
has been discovered in many places where it had been vitiated ; and
that the honour of our Lord and his apostles has been fully vindi-
cated ; for it appears that they quoted from the Septuag-int when
the sense of the author was there clearly expressed ; that, at other
times, they translated the original for themselves, or iised some
translation more perfect than the Septnagint, and that there are
many places in which their quotations, although different from the
Hebrew that is now read, agree exactly with the Hebrew text, as
by sound criticism it may be restored.
Such is the important service which sound criticism has rendered
to religion. The unbeliever triumphed for a season in an objection
v/hich was plausible, because the answer to it was misapprehended
or unknown. But the progress of investigation has unfolded the
trutli, and has placed, in the most conspicuous light, the fidelity
and accuracy of the quotations made by those who grounded Christ-
ianity upon Judaism.
SECTION V.
Having thus cleared the way, by settling every preliminary point,
and removing the objections which appear to me the strongest, I
come to state concisely the argument from prophecy, or the nature
of that support which the truth of Christianity derives from the
coincidence between the appearance of Jesus, and the predictions of
the Old Testament.
In stating this argument, we allow that there are passages
quoted ])y our Lord and his apostles from the Old Testament, in
which there is merely an accommodation of words, that had been
spoken in one sense, to another sense, in which they are equally
true. When it is said, in the second chapter of Matthew, " Joseph
took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into
Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod : that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
out of Egypt have I called my Son," nothing more is meant by
the expression, " that it might be fulfilled," and the idiom of an-
OP CHRISTIANITY. 109
cient languages does not require any thing more to be undei'stood,
than that the words which in Hosea are apphed to Israel, whom
God calls his Son, received another meaning when he, who is
truly the Son of God, was brought out of the same place from
which Israel came. We allow that it does not follow, from the
possibility of this accommodation, that Hosea meant to foretell
the future transference of his words, any more than that he who
first enunciated a proverbial saying, foresaw all the particular oc-
casions upon which it might be iitly applied. We admit, further,
that the secondary sense of those prophecies in which we say the
Messiah was included, and the typical nature of those ceremonies
or actions which prefigured him, are not always obvious upon the
consideration of particular prophecies or types. Nay, we admit
that there is a degree of obscurity or doubt with regard to some
of those prophecies in which the Messiah is directly foretold : and,
therefore, the argument does not depend upon the clearness of
any single prophecy, or upon the interpretation which may be
given to this or that passage, but it arises from a connected view
of the direct predictions, the secondary prophecies, and the types,
as supporting and illustrating one another. Allow as much as
any rational inquirer can allow to the shrewdness of conjecture, to
accidental coincidence, and to human preparation, still the induc-
tion of particulars that cannot be accounted for by any of these
means, is so complete and so striking, as to constitute a plain in-
controvertible argument.
From the exact fulfilment of predictions extending through
many centuries, uttered by different prophets, with diifei-ent ima-
gery, yet pointing to one train of events, and marking a variety
of circumstances, in their natm'e the most contingent : from the
aptness of all the parts of the intermediate dispensation to sha-
dow forth the blessings and the character of that ultimate dispen-
sation which it announced, and from the sublime literal exposition
which the events of the ultimate dispensation give to all those
prophecies under the preparatory dispensation, which are expres-
sed in language too exalted for the objects to which they were
then applied ; from these things laid together, there arises, to
any person who considers them with due care, the most satisfy-
ing conviction that the whole scheme of Christianity was fore-
seen and foretold under the Old Testament. If you admit this
position, there are two consequences which you will admit as
flowing from it. The first is, that the prophets under the Old
Testament were divinely inspired. The very means, by which
you attain a conviction that they prophesied of the gospel, render
it manifest that the things foretold were beyond the reach of
human sagacity ; and there is thus presented to us in the fulfil-
110 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES
ment of their predictions, an evidence of the truth of the Mosaic
dispensation as clear as that arising from the miracles performed
by Moses before the children of Israel. The second consequence,
and that which we are more immediately concerned in drawing,
is this, that the scheme in which the predictions of these pro-
phets were fulfilled is a divine revelation. In order to perceive
how this consequence flows from the position which we have been
establishing, you will attend to the two uses of prophecy, its imme •
diate use in the ages in which it was given, and that further use
which extends to the latest ages of the world. It is certain that
prophecy ministered to the comfort, the instruction, and the hope of
those who lived in the days of the prophets ; and we know, that
the predictions respecting the Messiah were so far imderstood, as
to excite in the whole nation of the Jews an expectation of the
Messiah, and to cherish in just and devout men that state of mind,
which is beautifully styled by Luke in the second chapter of his
gospel, " waiting for the consolation of Israel," and " looking for
redemption in Jerusalem." But that this was not the whole inten-
tion of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, appears indisput-
ably from hence, that, according to the account which has been
given of these prophecies, they contain a further provision than
was necessary for that end. There were many parts of them
which were not understood at that time, but were left to be un-
folded to the age which was to behold their fulfilment. As such
parts were useless to the age which received the prophecy, we
must believe that, if they had any use, they were designed for
that future age, and that the prophets, as the apostle Peter speaks,
" ministered not unto themselves, but unto us, the things which
are now reported by them that have preached the gospel."*
Bishop Sherlock wrote his admirable discourses on the use and
intent of prophecy in the several ages of the world, to show that
prophecy was intended chiefly for the support of faith and religion
in the old world, as faith and religion could not have existed in
any age after the fall without this extraordinary support ; and he
has been led, by an attachment to his own system, to express
himself in some places of his book to the disparagement of the
further use of prophecy. Yet even Bishop Sherlock admits that
prophecy may be of great advantage to future ages, and says that
it was not unworthy of the wisdom of God to enclose, from the
(lavs of old in the words of prophecy, a secret evidence which he
intended the world should one day see. The Bishop has stated
in these few words, with his wonted energy and facility of expres-
sion, that further use of prophecy of which I am speaking. It is
* 1 Peter i. \2.
OF CHRISTIANITY. Ill
merely a dispute about words, whether the laying up this secret
evidence was the primary or the secondary intention of the Giver
of prophecy. But it is plain, that when all the notices of the
first coming- of Christ, that were communicated to different na-
tions, are brought together into our view, and explained by the
event, they illustrate, in the most striking manner, both the truth
and the importance of Christianity. The gospel appears to be
not a solitary unrelated part of the divine economy, but the pur-
pose which God purposed from the beginning ; and Jesus comes
according to the declared counsel of heaven to do the will of his
Father. The miracles which he wrought derive a peculiar con-
firmation, from being the very works which ancient prophets had
foretold as characteristical of the Messiah. Prophecy and miracle,
in this way, lend their aid to one another, and give the most com-
plete assurance which can be desired that there is no deception ;
for as miracles could not have justified the claim of Jesus to the
character of Messiah, unless ancient predictions had been fulfilled
in him, so the miracles which he wrought were an essential part
of that fulfilment ; and hence arises the peculiar significancy and
force of that answer which he made to the disciples of John, when
they asked him, " Art thou he that should come?" " Go," said
he, " and show John again those things which ye do hear and
see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them." He refers to his mira-
cles ; but he mentions them in the very words of Isaiah, thus con-
joining with that divine wisdom which shines in all his discourses,
the two great arguments by which his disciples in all succeeding
ages were to defend their faith. The internal evidence, too, aris-
ing from the nature of his undertaking is very much heightened,
when we see that that undertaking was the completion of the
plan of Providence. We are often able to vindicate and explain
the pecidiar doctrines of Christianity, by I'eferring to the manner
in which they were sketched out by the preparatory dispensation ;
and the intimate connexion of the two systems, which enables us
to give a satisfactory account of the peculiarities of the law, re-
flects much dignity upon the gospel. While the kingdoms of this
world are spoken of only in so far as the kingdom of the Messiah
was to be affected by their fate, we see the servants of the Al-
mighty preparing the way for the Prince of Peace ; the continued
effusion of the divine Spirit does honour to Jesus ; the prophets
arise in long succession to bear witness to him ; and our respect
for the sundiy intimations of the will of heaven is concentred in
reverence for that scheme towards which all of them tend. In
the magnificence of that provision which ushei'ed in the Gospel,
112 EXTERNAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
we recognise the majesty of God ; in the continuity and nice ad-
justment of its parts, we trace his wisdom ; and its increasing
light is analogous to that gradual preparation, by which all the
works of God advance to maturity.
Such is the support which the truth of Christianity derives from
the predictions of the Old Testament respecting the Messiah.
The argument from prophecy, therefore, was not, as Mr Gibbon
sarcastically and incorrectly says, merely addressed to the Jews as
an argumentum ad hominem. To those to whom the books of
the Old Testament are known chiefly if not entirely by the refe-
rences made to them in the gospel, it affords much confirmation
to their faith, and much enlargement of their views with regard to
Christianity.
Prideaux — Hartley — Gray — Prettyman's Institutes — Stillingfleet's Orig. Sa-
cra?— Chandler — Hurd — Warburton — Newton — Law — Sykes — Kennicot —
llandolph's Collation — Geddes's Prospectus — Lowth de Sacra Poesi —
Home's Preface to Commentary on the Psalms.
[ 113 ]
CHAP. VII.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JKSUS.
The support of which we have hitherto spoken proceeds upon
those prophecies in the Old Testament concerning- the Messiah,
which were fulfilled by his appearing in the flesh. But a due at-
tention to the subject leads us much further, and we soon perceive
that the birth of Christ, important and glorious as that event was,
far from exhausting- the significations given by the ancient pro-
jihets, only served to introduce other events most interesting- to the
human race, which were also foretold, which reach to the end of
time, and which, as they arise in the order of Providence, are fitted
to afford an increasing evidence of the truth of Christianity.
In entering upon this wide field of argument, which here opens
to our view, I think it of importance to direct your attention to
the admirable economy with which the prophecies of the Old Tes-
tament are disposed. They may be divided into two great classes,
as they respect either the temporal condition of the Jews and theiv
neighbours, or that future spiritual dispensation which was to arise
in the latter days.
As the whole administration of the aifairs of the Jews was for
many ages conducted by prophecy, there are, in the Old Testa-
ment, numberless predictions concerning the temporal condition of
themselves and their neighbours. Some of these predictions were
to be fulfilled in a short time, so that the same person who heard
the prophecy saw the event. This near fulfilment of some pre-
dictions procured credit for others respecting more distant events.
" Behold," said the Almighty to the nation of the Jews, " the for-
mer things are come to pass, and new things do I declai'e. Before
they spring up, I tell you of them.'* There are prophecies of
the temporal condition of nations, which are at this day fulfilling
in the world. The present state of Babylon, of Tyre, of Egypt,
of the descendants of Ishmael, and of the Jewish people them-
selves, has been shown by learned men, and particularly by Bishop
Newton, to correspond exactly to the words of ancient prophets ;
" Isaiah xlii. 9.
114 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
and thus, as the experience of the Jewish nation taught them to
expect every event which their prophets announced, so the visible
continued accomphshment of what these prophets spoke, two or
three thousand years ag-o, is to us a standing' demonstration that
they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
But this whole system of prophecy was merely a vehicle for
preserving- and conveying to the w^orld the hopes of a future spiri-
tual dispensation. It embraced indeed the temporal affairs of the
Jews, and of the nations with whom they were particularly con-
nected, because an intermediate preparatory dispensation w^as esta-
blished till the better hope should be bi-ought in. But all the prophecies
of temporal g-ood and evil were subservient to the promise of the Mes-
siah, and the fulfilment of those prophecies cherished among- the
nation of the Jews the expectation of that future covenant which
was the end of the law. The birth of the Messiah justified this
expectation. It did not indeed accomplish all the words of the
prophets, but it brought assurance that there should be, in due time,
a complete accomplishment. Several great events happened soon
after the birth of the Messiah, according to the ancient Scriptures.
Other instances of fulfilment are at this day seen in the religious
state of the world, and there are parts of the prophecy yet to be
fulfilled. We are thus placed in the middle of a great scheme, of
which we have seen the lieginning and the progress. The conclu-
sion remains to be unfolded. But the correspondence to the words
of the prophets both in the events which are past, and in the pre-
sent state of things, may establish our hope that the mystery of
God will be finished ; and the succession of events, as they open in
the course of Providence upon the generations of men, gradually
explains those parts of the prophecy which were not understood.
The prophecies of the temporal state of Babylon, Tyre, Egypt,
and other nations which are now fulfilling in the world, are so
clear, that any one versant in history may compare the event with
the prediction — and I do not know a more pleasing, satisfactory book
for this purpose than Newton on the Prophecies. B\it the pro-
phecies of those events in the spiritual state of the world, which
were to happen after the birth of the Messiah, are in general short
and obscure : and although any person who is capable of consider-
ing the scheme of ancient prophecy, may be satisfied of its looking
forward to the end of all things, yet without some assistance it
would be impossible for him to form a distinct conception of what
was to follow the birth of the Messiah, and difficult even to refer
events, as they arise, to their place in the prediction. This kind
of obscurity was allowed by God to remain upon the ancient pre-
dictions respecting the future fortunes of the Messiah's kingdom,
because a remedy was to arise in due time by the advent of that
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 115
great Prophet who, having- fulfilled in his appearance one part of
those predictions, became the interpreter of that which remains.
The miracles by which he showed that he was a messeng-er of hea-
ven, and the exact coincidence between the history of his life, and
the characters of the Jewish Messiah, were sufficient to procure
credit for his interpretation. He was worthy to take the book
which Daniel had said was sealed till the time of the end, to open
the seals of it, and to explain to the nations of the earth the words
which were shut up therein. Thus Jesus stands forth not only as
the personage whom ancient pi'ophets had foretold, but as himself
a Prophet. The same Spirit which had moved them, but whose
significations of future events had ceased with IMalachi, speaks by
that messenger of the covenant whom Malachi had announced,
and upon whom Isaiah had said the Spirit of the Lord should
rest ; and there is opened, in the discourses of Jesus and the writ-
ing's of his apostles, a series of predictions explicatory of the dark
parts of ancient prophecy, and extending to the consummation of
all things.
It is not possible to conceive a more perfect unity of design than
that which we have now traced in the system of prophecy ; and
every human scheme fades and dwindles when compared with the
magnificence and extent of this plan — Jesus Christ the corner-
stone which connects the old and the new dispensation ; in whom
one part of the ancient predictions received its accomplishment,
and from whom the other received its Interpretation. The spirit
of prophecy thus ministers in two distinct methods to the evidence
of Christianity. It enclosed in the words and actions of the Old
Testament a pi^oof that Jesus was that person whom the Father had
sanctified, and sent into the world ; and it holds forth, in the words
uttered by Jesus and his apostles, that mark of a divine mission,
which all impostors have assumed, and which mankind have often
ascribed to those who did not possess it, but which, where it real-
ly exists, may be easily distinguished from all false jjretensions,
and is one of the evidences which the Almighty hath taught us to
look for in every messenger of his. He claims it as his preroga-
tive to declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that shall be ; he challenges the gods of the nations to
give this proof of their divinity; " Produce your cause, saith the
Lord : bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that
ye are gods."* And he hath given this mark of his messengers :
" When the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the
prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him." -|-
• Isaiah xli. 21, 23; xlvi. 9, 10. t Jer. xxviii. 9.
116 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
As Jesus assumed this universal character of a divine messenger,
so he was distinguished from other prophets by the clearness, the
extent, and the importance of his predictions. And he showed
that the Spirit was given to him without measure, by exercising
the gift of prophecy upon subjects very different from one another,
both in their nature, and in their times. He foretold events which
seem to be regulated by the caprice of men, and those which de-
pend purely upon the will of God. He foretold some events so
near, that we lind in Scripture both the prophecy and the fulfil-
ment ; others which took place a few years after the canon of
Scripture was closed, with regard to which we learn the complete
fulfilment of the prophecy from contemporary historians ; others
which are carrying forward in the world, with regard to which the
fulfilment of the prophecy is a matter of daily observation ; and
others which reach to distant periods, and to the consummation of
all things, which are still the objects of a Christian's hope, but
with regard to which, hope rises to perfect assurance by the recol-
lection of what is past.
This is a general view of the prophecies of Jesus and his apostles ;
and I recommend them to your particular attention and study, be-
cause, in my opinion, the evidence of Christianity derives two great
advantages from the study of them. The first advantage ai'ises
from their appearing to be the explication and enlargement of the
short obscure predictions contained in the Old Testament with re-
gard to the same events ; such an explication as no other person
was qualified to give, and therefore as clear a demonstration of the
prophetical spirit of Jesus as if he had uttered a series of predic-
tions perfectly new, yet such an explication as illustrates the in-
timate connexion of the two dispensations. The prophecies of
Jesus and his apostles, while they introduce many particulars that
are not found in the writings of the ancient prophets, are always
consistent with the words spoken by them, referring to their images,
and unfolding their dark sayings. The highest honour is, in this
way, reflected upon the extent of the scheme of ancient prophecy ;
and Jesus, by honouring this scheme, and carrying it forward, con-
firms his claim to the character of the Jewish Messiah, because he
speaks in a manner most becoming that great Prophet, who was
to be raised up like unto Moses. The second advantage arising
from a pai'ticular study of the predictions of Jesus is this, that all
the events, which constitute the histoiy of his religion, thus appear
to be the fulfilment of prophecy. Besides the support which every
one of them in its place gives to the truth of Christianity, all to-
gether unite as parts of a system which had entered into the mind
of the Author of our religion, and when they happen, they afford
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 117
a demonstration that the God of knowledge had put words into his
mouth.
To perceive distinctly the nature and the importance of this se-
condary advantage, the four Gospels should be read from beginning
to end, with a special view to mark the prophecies of Jesus. In
doing this, you will set down the many instances in which he dis-
covers a knowledge of the human heart, of the intentions and
thoughts of both his friends and his enemies, as of the same order
with the gift of prophecy. You will find predictions of common
occurrences, and near events, which must have made a deep im-
pi'ession upon those who lived with him ; and, scattered through
all his discourses, you will meet with predictions of remote events,
for which the fulfilment of the predictions of near events was fitted
to procure credit. Out of the many particulars which, upon such
a review, may engage your attention, I select the following im-
portant objects, as affording a specimen of the variety of our Sa-
vioui''s prophecies, and of the manner in which those events which
constitute the history of his religion, may be considered as the ful-
filment of his predictions ; the prophecies of his death, of his re-
surrection, of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the situation and be-
haviour of his disciples, of the destruction of Jerusalem, of the
progress of his religion previous to that period, of the condition of
the Jewish nation subsequent to it, and of the final discrimination
of the righteous and the wicked
I. The death of Jesus, that great event which, when considered
in the Scripture view of it, is characteristical of the Gospel as the
religion of sinners, is the suly'ect of many of our Lord's prophecies.
He marks, without hesitation, the time, the place, and the manner
of it ; the treachery of one disciple, the denial of another, the de-
sertion of the rest, the sentence of condemnation which the su-
preme council of the Jewish nation, at a time when Jews were
gathered from all corners of the land, was to pronounce in Jerusa-
lem upon an innocent man, whom many of the people held to be
a prophet, and the execution of that sentence by the Gentiles, to
whom the rulers of the Jews, jealous as they were of their own
authority, and indignant under the Roman yoke, were to deliver
the pannel. But of all the kinds of death which might have been in-
flicted, the prophecy of Jesus selects one unknown in the land of
Judea, and reserved by the Romans for slaves, who, having been
distinguished from freemen in their life, were distinguished also in
the manner of their death. It is not possible to conceive any events
more contingent than those which this prophecy embraces. Yet
it was literally fulfilled. When you examine it attentively, there
are several particulars which you will be delighted with marking,
because they constitute an indirect support to the truth of Christ-
118 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
ianity, arising- oiit of the contexture of the prophecy. Thus, you
will tind that the prophecy applies to Jesus many minute circum-
stances in the Jewish types of the Messiah, and in this way shows
us that as the death of the Messiah had been shadowed forth by
the sacrifices of the law, and foretold by Isaiah and Daniel, so the
manner of it had, from the beginning-, been in the view of the spi-
rit of prophecy, and was sig-nified ])eforehand in various ways. You
will admire the magnanimity of that man who came into the world
that he might lay down his life, and who never courted the favour
of the people, or shrunk from the discharge of any duty, althoug-h
all the circumstances of barbarity that marked his death were ful-
ly before his eyes. You will admire the dignity, and the regard
to the peace of his country, which restrained Jesus from raising
the pity and indignation of the multitude by publishing his future
sufferings to them, and which led him to address all the clear mi-
nute predictions of his death to his disciples in private. You will
admire the tenderness and wisdom with which he delayed any such
communication even to them, till they had declared a conviction of
his being the Messiah, and then gradually unfolded the dismal
subject as they were able to bear it : and you will perceive the
gracious purpose which was promoted by the growing particulari-
ty of his prophecy, as the event drew near. " Now," says he, " I
tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may be-
lieve that I am he."*
2. The circumstances of his death, every one of which had been
foretold by himself, thus served to procure credit for that prophecy
of his resurrection, Mdiich was always conjoined with them. The
ancient prophets had declared that the Messiah was to live for ever ;
and as both Isaiah and Daniel, who spoke of his everlasting king-
dom, had spoken also of his being cut off out of the land of the
living, their words implied that he was to rise from the dead.
This implication of a resurrection was brought out by our Lord.
Conscious of the divine power which dwelt in him, he said that on
the third day he should rise again ; and in the hearing of all the
people, he held forth Jonas as a type of himself. The people re-
collected his words as soon as he was put to death, for " the chief
priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we
remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after
three days I will rise again :"f and they vainly employed precaii-
tions to prevent the fulfilment of his prophecy. The apostles have
left a most natural picture of their own weakness and disappoint-
ment, by transmitting it upon record to posterity, that the death
of Jesus effaced from their minds his promise of rising again, or at
* John xiii. 19. I Matt, xxvii. 62, 63.
4
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 119
least destroyed in the interval their faith of its being- fulfilled. But
you will iind that both the angels who appeared to the women, and
our Lord in his discourses with his disciples, recalled the prophecy
to their minds : and, by one expression of John, you may judge of
the confirmation which their faith was to receive from the recol-
lection of predictions which had been addressed to themselves, and
the fulfilment of which they had seen. When the Jews asked a
sign of him, he said, " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up." The Jews understood him to mean the temple in
which they were standing-. " But he spake," says John, " of the
temple of his body. When, therefore, he was risen from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them ; and they
believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."*
There is no fact in the history of the Christian religion more im-
portant than the resurrection of Jesus. It is that seal of his com-
mission, without which all the others are of none avail ; the assu-
rance to us that the purpose of his death is accomplished, and the
pledge of our resurrection. " If Christ be not risen, our faith is
vain." As the evidence of the fact therefore will appear to us,
when we proceed to examine it, to be most particular and satisfy-
ing, so it was most natural that this very important fact should be
the subject of prophecy.
•3. Our Lord foretold also that he was to ascend into heaven ;
and the fulfilment of this prophecy was made an object of sense to
the apostles as far as their eyes could reach. But that they mig-ht
be satisfied there was no illusion, and that the rest of the world
might know assuredly that he was gone to the Father, the prophecy
of this ascension was connected with the promise of the Holy Ghost,
which he said he would send from his Father to comfort the dis-
ciples after his departure, to qualify them for preaching- his relig-ion,
and to ensure the success of their labours. You learn from the
Book of Acts the fulfilment of this promise ; and, when you ex-
amine the subject, the following- circumstances will deserve your at-
tention. The miraculous gifts poured forth on the day of Pente-
cost are stated by the apostle Peter, as " that which was spoken by
the prophet Joel ; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. "t The last days
is a prophetical expression for the age of the Messiah, which was
to succeed the age of the law. It is plain that the prophecy of Joel
had not been fulfilled before the day of Pentecost ; for during the
greater part of the time that had elapsed between the word of Joel
and that day, the prophetical spirit had ceased entirely. His word
did receive a visible fulfilment upon that day ; and this fulfilment
* John. ii. 18—2-2. f Acts ii. 16, 17.
120 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
being an event which our Lord had taught his apostles to look for,
Peter was entitled to apply tlie word of Joel to the event which
then took place ; and our Lord appears in his promise of the Holy
Ghost, as in his other prophecies, to be the true interpreter of an-
cient predictions. Furtlier, the promise of Jesus does not respect
merely the inward influences of the Spirit. These, however essen-
tial to the comfort and improvement of man, do not admit of being-
clearly proved to others, either by the testimony of sense, or by the
deductions of reason, and cannot always be distinguished by certain
marks from the visions of fanatical men. But the promise of Jesus
expresses precisely external visible works, to which the power of
imagination does not reach, and with regard to which every specta-
tor may attain the same assurance as with regard to any other ob-
ject of sense. " These signs," said Jesus before his ascension,
" shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up
serpents, and, if they drink any deadly thing-, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."* It limits
a time, within which the faculty of performing- such works was to
be conferred ; and it chooses the most public place as the scene of
their being exhibited. For Jesus, just before he was taken up into
heaven, " commanded his apostles that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which," saith he,
" ye have heard of me ; ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence."f Lastly, You will be led by the examina-
tion of this subject to observe, that when the works, performed in
consequence of the gifts conferred upon the day of Pentecost, be-
came palpable to the senses of men, they were, like the miracles of
Jesus, the vouchers of a divine commission. Being- performed in
his naiue, and in fulfilment of his promise, they wex'e fitted to con-
vince the world that he had received power from the Father after
his ascension, and that he had given this power to his apostles.
These men were, in this way, recommended to the world as sent by
Jesus to carry forward the great scheme which he had opened. Full
credit M-as procured for all that they taught, because their works
were the signs of those internal operations by which they were in-
spired with the knowledge, wisdom, and fortitude necessary for their
undertaking ; and their works were also the pledges of the fulfil-
ment of that promise which extends to true Christians in all ages,
that the Holy Spirit shall be given to those who ask it, according
to the measure of their necessities.
4. The fourth subject of our Lord's prophecies which I mention-
ed was the situation and behaviour of his apostles after he should
« Miiik xvi. 17, 18. t Acts i. 4. 5.
3
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 121
leave them. He never amused them with false hopes ; he forewarn-
ed them of all the scorn, and hatred, and persecution which they
were to expect in preaching- his religion ; and yet, althoug-h he had
daily experience of their timidit}', and slowness of apprehension, al-
thoug-h he foretold that at his death they would forsake him, yet he
foretold with equal ass\irance, that after his ascension they should
be his witnesses to the ends of the earth ; and he left in the hands
of these feeble men, who were to be involved in calamities upon his
account, that cause for which he had lived and died, without ex-
pressing any apprehension that it would suffer by their weakness.
" If ye were of the world," he says in his last discourse to them be-
fore his death, " the world would love his own, but because ye are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you. They shall put you out of the synagogues;
yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that
he doth God service. And these things will they do unto you, be-
cause they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things
have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember
that I told you of them."* There is in all this a dignity of man-
ner, and a consciousnes of divine resources, which exalt Jesus
above every other person that appears in history. When we see
in the propagation of his religion, the fortitude, the wisdom, and
the eloquence of his servants, their steadfastness amidst trials suf-
ficient to shake the firmest minds, and the joy which they felt in
being counted worthy to suffer for his name, we remember his
words, and we discern the fruits of that baptism, wherewith they
were baptize<l on the day of Pentecost. In a heroism, so different
from the former conduct of these men, and so manifestly the g-iffc
of God, we recognise the spirit which l)oth dictated the })rophecy,
and brought about the event ; and our Lord's prediction of the si-
tuation and behaviour of his apostles, when thus compared with
the event, furnishes the most striking- illustration of his truth, his
candour, his knowledg-e, and his power.
5. We come now to the long-est and most circumstantial of our
Lord's prophecies. It respects immediately the destruction of Je-
rusalem : but we shall find that it embraces also the remaining- sub-
jects of prophecy which I mentioned, and, in speaking- of them, I
mean to follow it as my g-uide.
The prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem was uttered at a
time when Judea was in complete subjection to the Romans. A
Roman governor resided in Jerusalem with an armed force ; and
this state, no longer at enmity with the masters of the world, was
regarded as a part of the Roman empire. There was, it is true,
* John XV. 19; xvi. 2, 3, 4.
VOL. I. F
122
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
a g-eneral indignation at the Roman yoke, a tendency in the minds
of the people to sedition and tumult, and a fear in the council lest
these sentiments should at some time be expressed with such vio-
lence, as to provoke the Romans to take away their place and their
nation. It was, in fact, the turbulent spirit, and the repeated in-
surrections of the Jewish people, which did incense the Romans ;
and a ])erson well acquainted with the disaffection which generally
prevailed, and the character of those who felt it^ might foresee that
the public tranquillity would not continue long-, and that this sul-
len stiff-necked people were preparing- for themselves, by their
murmurings and violence, more severe chastisements than they
had endured, when they were reduced into the form of a Roman
province. But although a sagacious enlig-htened mind, which rose
above vulgar prejudices^ and looked forward to remote consequen-
ces, might foresee such an event, yet the manner of the chastise-
ment, the signs which were to announce its appi'oach, the measure
in which it was to be administered, and the length of time during
which it was to continue, — all these were out of the reach of hu-
man foresight. There is a particularity in this prophecy, by which
it is clearly distinguished from the conjectures of wise men. It em-
braces a multitude of contingencies depending upon the caprice of
the people, upon the wisdom of military commanders, upon the
fury of soldiers. It describes one certain method of doing that
which might have been done in many other ways, a method of sub-
duing a rebellious city very different from the general conduct of
the Romans, who were too wise to destroy the provinces which
they conquered, and very opposite to the character of Titus the
emperor, under whose command Jerusalem was besieged, one of
Ihe mildest and gentlest men that ever lived, who, placed at the
head of the empire of the world, is called by historians, the love
and delight of mankind. The author of a new religion must have
been careless of his reputation, and of the success of his scheme,
who ventured to foretell such a number of improbable events with-
out knowing certainly that they were to come to pass ; and it re-
quired not the wisdom of a man, but the Spirit of the God of
knowledge, to foresee that all of them would concur, before the ge-
neration that was then alive upon the earth passed away. Yet
this prophecy Jesus uttered about forty years before the event.
The prophecy was not laid up after it was uttered, like the pre-
tended oracles of the heathen nations, in some repository, where
it might be corrected by the event. But, having been brought to
the remembrance of those who heard it spoken, by the Spirit v.'hich
Jesus sent into the hearts of his apostles after his ascension, it was
inserted in books which were published before the time of the ful-
filment. We know that John lived to see the destruction of Je-
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 123
fusalem, and it is not certain whether he wrote his Gospel before
or after that event. But John has omitted this prophecy alto-
gether. Our knowledge of it is derived from the Gospels of Mat-
thew, Mark, and Luke, which were carried by the Christian con-
verts into all parts of the world while Jerusalem stood, which were
early translated into different languages, which were quoted by
writers in the succeeding age, and were universally held by the
first Christians as books of authority, as the standards of faith. In
these books thus authenticated to us, we find various intimations
of the destruction of Jerusalem, by parables and short hints inter-
woven in the tliread of the history ; and all the three contain the
same long particular prophecy, with a small variety of expression,
but without the least discordance, or even alteration of the sense.
The greatest part of this long prophecy has been most strikingly
falHlled, and there are parts, the fulfilment of which is now going
on in the world.
We learn the fulfilment of the greater part of this prophecy, not
from Christian writers only, but from one author, whose witness
is unexceptionable, because it is not the witness of a friend ; and
who seems to have been preserved by Providence, in order to trans-
mit to posterity a circumstantial account of the siege. Josephus,
a Jew, who wrote a history of his country, has left also a relation
of that war in which Jerusalem was destroyed. In the beginning
of the war he was a commander in Galilee. But being besieged
by Vespasian, he fled with forty more, after a gallant resistance,
and hid himself in a cave. Vespasian, having discovered their lurk-
ing place, offered them their life. Josephus was willing to accept
it. But his companions refused to surrender. With a view to pro-
long the time, and in hopes of overcoming their obstinacy, he pre-
vailed upon them to cast lots who should die first The lots were
cast two by two : and that God, who disposeth of the lot, so or-
dered it, that of the forty thirty-nine were killed by the hands of
one another, and one only was left with Josephus. This man
yielded to his entreaties ; and these two, instead of drawing lots
who should kill the other, went together, and offered themselves
to Vespasian. The miserable fate of their companions procured
them a kind reception ; and from that time Josephus remained in
the Roman camp, an eye-witness of every thing that happened
during the siege. He has the reputation of a diligent faithful his-
torian in his other work. And his very particular account of the
siege was revised by Vespasian and Titus, and published by their
order. The only impeachment that has ever been brought against
the veracity of Josephus is, that, although his history of the Jews
comprehends the period in which our Lord lived, he hardly makes
mention of his name ; and, although exact and minute in every
124 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
thing' else, enters into no detail of the memorable circumstances
that attended his appearance, or the influence which it had upon
the minds of the people. He takes no notice of this prophecy. A
Jewish priest, whose silence betrays enmity to Jesus, certainly did
not wish that it should be fulfilled : and yet his history of the siege
is a comment upon the prophecy : every word which our Lord ut-
ters receiving the clearest explication, and most plainly meeting
its event in the narration of this prejudiced Jewish historian.
Archbishop Tillotson, Newton on the prophecies, Lardner, Jor-
tin, Newcome, and many other writers have made very full extracts
from Josephus, and, by setting the narration of the historian over
against the prediction of our Lord, have shewn the exact accom-
plishment of the words of the great Prophet, from the record of a
man who did not acknowledge his divine mission. These extracts
well deserve your study. But it is not necessary, after the labour
which so many learned men liave bestowed upon this sul ject, that
I should lead you minutely through the parts of the prophecy.
There are, however, some circumstances upon which I think it of
importance to fix your attention. I mean, therefore, to give a dis-
tinct account of the occasion which led our Lord to utter this pro-
phecy ; and, after collecting briefly the chief points respecting the
siege, I shall dwell upon the striking prophecy of the progress of
Christianity before that period, which Matthew has preserved in
his twenty-fourth chapter.
Our Lord had uttered in the temple, in the hearing of a mixed
multitude, a pathetic lamentation over the distress that awaited the
.Jewish nation. As he goes out of the temple towards the mount
of Olives, the usual place of his retirement, the disciples, struck
with the severity of an expression he had used, " Behold your house
is left unto you desolate," as if to move his compassion and miti-
gate the seuti'iice, point out to him while he passed along, the
buildings of the temple, and the goodly stones and gifts with which
it was adorned. The great temple, which Solomon had built, was
destroyed at the time of the Babylonish captivity. Cyrus permit-
ted the two tribes, who returned to Judea, to rebuild the house of
their God. And this second temple was repaired and adorned by
Herod the Great, who, having received the crown of Judea from
the Romans, thought that the most efl"ectual way of overcoming
the prejudices, and obtaining the favour of the Jewish people, was
l)y beautifying and enlarging, after the plan of Solomon's temple,
the building which had been hastily erected in the reigns of Cyrus
and Darius. It was still accounted the second temple, but was so
much improved by the reparation which Herod made, that both
Josej)hus and the Roman historians celebrate the extent, the beau-
ty, and the splendour, of the building. And Josephus mentions,
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 125
in particular, marble stones of a stupendous size in the foundation,
and in different parts of the building-. The disciples, we may sup-
pose, point out these stones, lamenting the destruction of such a
fabric ; or perhaps meaning- to insinuate, that it would not be easy
for the hand of man to destroy it. But Jesus answered, " Verily,
I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another,
that shall not be thrown down." It is a proverbial saying-, mark-
ing- the complete destruction of the temple ; and there would not,
according- to the general analogy of language, have been any im-
propriety in the use of it, if the temple had been rendered unlit for
being- a place of worship, although piles of stones had been left
standing- in the court. But, by the providence of God, even this
proverbial expression was fulfilled, according- to the literal accepta-
tion of the words. Titus was most solicitous to preserve so splen-
did a monument of the victories of Rome : and he sent a messag-e
to the Jews who had enclosed themselves in the temple, that he
was determined to save it from ruin. But they could not bear that
the house of their God, the pride and glory of their nation, should
fall into the hands of the heathen, and they set fire to the porticoes.
A soldier observing- the flames, tlu*ew a burning brand in at the
window ; and others, incensed at the obstinate resistance of the
Jews, without regard to the commands or threatnings of their ge-
neral, wlio ran to extinguish the flames, continued to set fire to
diff'erent parts of it, and at length even to the doors of the holy
place. " And thus," says Josephus, " the temple was burnt to the
ground, against the will of Titus." After it was in this way ren-
dered useless, he ordered the foundations, probably on account of
the unusual size of the stones, to be dug up. And llufus, who
commanded the army after his departure, executed this order, by
tearing them up with a plough-share ; so truly did Micah say of
old, " Zion shall be plouglied as a field, and Jerusalem shall become
heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the fo-
rest."*
The multitude proba1)ly pressing around our Lord as he went out
of the temple, the disciples forbear to ask any particular explication
of his words, till they come to the Mount of Olives. That mount
was at no great distance from Jerusalem, and over against the
temple, so that any person sitting upon it had an excellent view of
the whole fabric. The disciples, deeply impressed with what they
had heard, and anxious to receive the fullest information concern-
ing the fate of the city of their solemnities, now that they are re-
tired from the multitude, come around Jesus upon the mount, and
looking down to the temple, say, " Tell us, when shall these things
• Mi call iii. 1 2.
126 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
l)e ; and what shall be the sign of thy coming-, and of the end of the
world ?"* It is of consequence that you form a clear apprehension
of the import of this question. The end of the world, according to
the use of that phrase to which our ears are accustomed, means the
consummation of all things. And this circumstance, joined with
some expressions in the prophecy, has led several interpreters to
suppose that the apostles were asking the time of the judgment.
But to a Jew, ri evvriXna rou aimoc. [the end of the world, or age,3
often conveyed nothing more than the end of the age. Time was
divided by the Jews into two great periods, the age of the law and
the age of the Messiah. The conclusion of the one was the be-
ginning of the other, the opening of that kingdom which the Jews
believed the Messiah was to establish, which was to put an end to
their sufferings, and to render them the greatest people upon the
earth. The apostles, full of this hope, said to our Lord, immediate-
ly before his ascension, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the
kingdom to Israel ?" Our Lord used the phrase of his coming, to
denote his taking vengeance upon the Jews by destroying their city
and temple. " There be some standing here," he said, " that shall
not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his king-
dom."-]- All that heard him are long since gathered to their fathers,
and Jesus has not yet come to judge the world. But John, we
know, survived the destruction of Jerusalem. There are two other
places in the New Testament where a phrase almost the same with
!5 C'jvTiXita Tov aiuvog occurs. And in neither does it signify what we
call the end of the world. The apostle to the Hebrews, ix. 26,
says, " But now once, sr/ ffuvrsXna rorj aioivon [at the end of the
worlds, or ages,] hath Christ appeared." At the conclusion of that
dispensation iinder which the blood of bulls and goats was offered
upon the altar of God, " Christ appeared, to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself." The apostle to the Corinthians says, " These
things are written for our admonition, upon whom are come ra.
rikfi rcf)v aiuvuv,"'^ our translation rendere it the ends of the world ;
yet the world has lasted about 1800 years since the apostolic days ;
the meaning is, the ends of the ages, the conclusion of the one age,
and the beginning of the other, are come upon us ; for we have
seen both.
It is agreeable, then, to the phraseology of Scripture and to the
expectations of the apostles, to interpret their question here, " What
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" as
meaning nothing more than the corresponding question, to which
an answer, in substance the same, is given in the 13th chapter of
Mark, and the 21st of Luke. What shall be the sign when these
* Matt. xxiv. 3. f Ibid. xvi. 28. t 1 Cor. x. II.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 12.7
things, this prophecy of the destruction of the temple, shall be ful-
filled, or come to pass ? But the language, in which the question
is proposed in Matthew, suggests to us the sentiment which had
probably arisen in the minds of the apostles, after hearing the de-
claration of our Lord, as they walked from the temple to the Mount
of OHves. They conceived that the whole frame of the Jewish polity
was to be dissolved, that the glorious kingdom of the Messiah was
to commence, and that, as all the nations of tlie earth were to be
gathered to this kingdom, and Jerusalem was to be the capital ot
the world, the temple which now stood, extensive and magnificent
as it was, would be too small for the reception of the worshippers,
that on this account it was to be laid in ruins, and one much more
splendid, more suitable to the dignity of the Messiah, and far sur-
passing every human work, was to be erected in its stead. Pos-
sessed with these exalted imaginations, and anticipating their own
dignity in being the ministers of this temple, they come to Jesus
and say, " Tell us when these things shall be, and what shall be
the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age ?" The question
consists of two parts. They ask the time, and they ask the signs.
Our Lord begins with giving a particular answer to the second
question. He afterwards limits the time to the existence of the
generation then alive upon the earth. But he represses their cu-
riosity as to the day or the hour.
Of the signs mentioned by our Lord, I shall give a short general
view, deriving the account of the fulfilment of his words from the
history of the events left us by Josephus, and shall then fix your
attention upon that prophecy of the general progress of Christi-
anity before the destruction of Jerusalem, which you will find in
the 24th chapter of Matthew. ■
The first sign is the number of false Christs who were to arise
in the interval between the prophecy and the event : impostors
who, finding a general expectation of the Messiah, as the seventy
weeks of Daniel were conceived to be accomplished, and a dispo-
sition to revolt from the Romans, assumed a character correspond-
ing to the wishes of the people. There is frequent reference to
these impostors in the book of Acts : and Josephus says, that
numbers of them were taken under the government of Felix.
They led out the deluded people in crowds, promising to show
them great signs, and to deliver them from all their calamities,
and thus exposed them to be cut to pieces by the Roman soldiers,
as disturbers of the peace. Our Lord graciously v/arns the apos-
tles not to go after these men ; to put no faith in any message
which they pretended to bring from him, but to rest satisfied witli
the directions contained in this prophecy, or hereafter communi-
cated to themselves by his Spirit. While he thus preserves his
128 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS,
followers from the destruction which came upon many of the
Jews, he enables them, by reading- in that destruction the fulfil-
ment of his words, and a proof of his divine character, to derive
from the fate of their unwise countrymen an early confirmation
of their own faith.
The second sig-n consists of g-reat calamities which M'ere to
hapj)en during the interval. The madness of Caligula, who suc-
ceeded Tiberius, butchered many of the Jews ; and there was in
his reign the rumour of a war, which was likely to be the destruc-
tion of the nation. He ordered his statue to be erected in the
temj)]e of Jerusalem. Not conceiving why an honour, which
was granted to him by the other provinces of the empire, should
1)6 refused by Judea ; and not being- wise enough to respect the
religious prejudices of those who were subject to him, he rejected
their remonstrances, and persisted in his demand. The Jews had
too high a veneration for the house of the true God, to admit of
any thing like divine honours being- there paid to a mortal, and
they resolved to suffer every distress, rather than to give their
countenance to the sacrilege of the emperor. Such was the con-
sternation which the rumour of this war spread through Judea,
that the people neglected to till their lands, and in despair waited
the approach of the enemy. But the death of Caligula removed
their fears, and delayed for some time that destruction which he
meditated. Although, therefore, says Jesus, you will find the
Jews troubled when these wars arise, as if the end of their state
was at hand, be not ye afraid, but know that many things must
first be accomplished. What strength was the faith of the apostles
to derive from this prophecy, but a few years after our Lord's
deatl.', when they heard of rumours of wars, when they beheld the
despair of their countrymen, and yet saw the cloud dispelled, and
the peace of their country restored ! The peace, indeed, was soon
interrupted, by frequent engagements between the Jewish and
heathen inhabitants of many cities in the province of Syria ; by
disputes about the bounds of their jurisdiction, amongst the go-
vernors of the different tetrarchies or kingdoms into which the
land of Palestine was divided ; and by the wars arising from the
quick succession of emperors, and the violent competitions for the
imperial diadem. It was not the sword only that filled with cala-
mity this disastrous interval. The human race, according to the
words of this prophecy, suffered xmder those judgments which
proceed immediately from heaven. Josephus has mentioned fa-
mine and pestilence, earthquakes in all places of the world where
Jews resided, and one in Judea attended with circumstances so
dreadful and so unusual, that it was manifest, he says, the whole
power of nature was distm'bed for the destruction of men.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 129
The third sign is the persecution of the Christians. The suf-
fering's of which we read in the Epistles and the Acts were early
aggravated by the famines, and pestilence, and earthquakes with
which God at this time afflicted the earth. The Christians were
regarded as the causes of these calamities ; and the heathen, with-
out inquiring- into the nature of their religion, but viewing it as a
new pestilential superstition, most offensive to the gods, tried to
appease the divine anger, which manifested itself in various judg-
ments, by bringing every indignity and barbarity upon the Christ-
ians. The example was set by Nero, who, having in the madness
of his wickedness set fire to Home that he might enjoy the sight
of a great city in Hames, turned the tide of that indignation,
which the report excited, from himself against the Christians, by
accusing them of this atrocious crime. He found the people
not unwilling to believe any thing of a sect whom they held in
abhorrence ; and both in this, and in many other instances, the
Christians suffered the most exquisite toi-ments for crimes not
their own, and as the authors of calamities which they did not
occasion. The persecution which they endured has been well
called by one of the oldest apologists for Chi'istianity,* a war
against the name, proceeding not from hatred to them as indivi-
duals, but from enmity to the name which they bore. " Ye shall
be hated of all nations for my name's sake."
The fourth sign is the apostacy and treachery of many who had
borne this name. Although persecution naturally tends to unite
those who are persecuted, and although the religion of Jesus can
boast of an innumeralde company of martyrs, who, in the flames
witnessed a good confession, yet there were some in the earliest
ages who made shipwreck of faith, and endeavoured to gain the
favour of the heathen magistrates by informing against their
brethren. This apostacy is often severely reprehended in the
Epistles of Paul ; and the Roman historian speaks of a multitude
ot Christians who were convicted of bearing the name, upon the
evidence of those who confessed first.f It cannot surprise any
one who considers the weakness of human nature, that such ex-
amples did occur. But it must appear very much to the honour
of Jesus, that he adventures to utter such a prophecy. He is not
afraid of sowing jealousy and distrust amongst his followers. He
knew that many were able to endure the trial of affliction^ and he
leaves the chaff to be separated from the wheat.
The fifth sign is the multitude of false teachers, men who,
either from an attachment to the law of Moses, or from the pride
of false philosophy, corrupted the simplicity of the Gospel. This
* Justin Martyr. -f Tac. Ana. xv. 44.
f2
130 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
perversion appeared in the days of the apostles. Complaints of
it, and warning-s against it are scattered through all their Epistles.
Neither the sword of the persecutor, nor the wit of the scorner
has done so much injury to the cause of Christianity, as the
strifes and idle disputes of those who hear his name. Many, in
early times, were shaken by the errors of false prophets. Impro-
per sentiments and passions were cherished ; the union of Christ-
ians was broken, and the religion of love and peace became an
occasion of discord. But these corruptions, however disgraceful
to Christians, are a testimony both of the candour and the divine
knowledge of the Author of the Gospel ; and even those who per-
verted his religion fulfilled his works.
We have now gone through those signs which announced the
destruction of Jerusalem, and we are come to the circumstances,
marked in the prophecy, which happened during the siege.
The firet is, Jerusalem being compassed with armies, or, as Mat-
thew expressed it, the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place. There were com-
monly engraved upon the Roman standards, after the times of the
republic, the images of those emperors whom admiration or flattery
had translated into the number of gods. The soldiers v.'ere accus-
tomed to swear by these images, to worship them, and to account
them the gods of battle. The Jews, educated in an abhorrence of
idolatry, could not bear that images, before whom men thus
bowed, should be brought within the precincts of their city : and
soon after the death of our Lord, they requested a Roman general,
Vitellius, who was leading troops through Judea against an enemy
of the emperor, to take another road, because, said they, it is not
■■::arPiov %<m to behold from our city any images. With strict pro-
priety, then, the dark expression of Daniel, which had not till that
time been understood, is interpreted by our Lord as meaning the
offensive images of a great multitude of standards brought within
that space, a circumference of two miles round the city which was
accounted holy, in order to render the city desolate ; and he men-
tions this as the signal to his followers to fly from the low parts
of Judea to the moimtains. It may appear to you too late to
think of flying, after the Roman armies were seen from Jerusalem.
But the manner in which the siege was conducted justified the
wisdom of this advice. A few years before Titus destroyed Jeru-
salem, Cestius Gallus laid siege to it ; he might have taken the
city if he had persevered ; but without any reason that was known,
says Josephus, he suddenly led away his forces. And after his
departure many fled from the city as from a sinking ship. Ves-
pasian, too, was slow in his approaches to the city ; and by the
distractions which at that time took place in the government of
4
PREDICTIONS DELIVEIIED BY JESUS. 131
Rome, was frequently diverted from executing his purpose ; so
that the Christians, to whom the first appearance of Cestius's
army brought an explanation of the words of Jesus, by following
his directions, escaped entirely from the carnage of the Jews. Our
Lord warns his disciples of the imminency of the danger, and urges
them, by various expressions, to the greatest speed in their flight.
The reason of this urgency is explained by Josephus. After Ti-
tus sat down before Jerusalem, he surrounded the city with a wall,
which was finished in three days, so that none could escape ; and
factions were by that time become so violent, that none were al-
lowed to surrender. The party called zealots, who in their zeal
for the law of Moses, and in the hope of receiving deliverance from
heaven, thought it their duty to resist the Romans to the last ex-
tremity, put to death all who attempted to desert, and thus assisted
the enemy in enclosing an immense multitude within this devoted
city. With what gracious foresight does the divine prophet guard
his followers against this complication of evils, and repeat his
warning in the most striking words, in order to convince all who
paid regard to what he said, that their only safety lay in flight !
A second circumstance, by which our Lord marks this siege,
is the unparalleled distress that was then to be endured. " Then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of
the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." It is a very strong-
expression, of itself sufficient to distinguish this prophecy from
conjecture. And the expression, strong as it appears, is so strictly
applicable to the subject, that we find almost the same words in
Josephus, who certainly did not copy them fi-om Jesus. "In my
opinion," he says, " all the calamities which ever were endured
since the beginning of the world were inferior to those which the
Jews now suffered. Never was any city more wicked, and never
did any city receive such punishment. Without was the Roman
army, surrounding their walls, crucifying thousands before their
eyes, and laying waste their country : within were the most vio-
lent contentions among the besieged, frequent bloody battles be-
tween different parties, rapine, fire, and the extremity of famine.
Many of the Jews prayed for the success of the Romans, as the
only method to deliver them from a more dreadful calamity, the
atrocious violence of their civil dissensions."
A third circumstance mentioned by our Lord is the shortening
of the siege. Josephus computes that there fell, during the siege,
by the hands of the Romans, and by their own faction, 1,100,000
Jews. Had the siege continued long, the whole nation would
have perished. But the Lord shortened the days for the elect s
sake: the elect, that is, in Scripture language, the Christians, both
those Jews within the city, whom this fulfilment of the words of
132 PREDICTIONS DELIVEHED BY JESUS.
Jesus was to convert to Christianity, and those Christians who,
accoi'dingf to the directions of their Master, had fled out of the city
at the approach of the Roman army, and were then hving- in the
mountains. The manner in which the days were shortened is
most striking. Vespasian committed the conduct of the siege to
Titus, then a young man, impatient of resistance, jealous of the
honour of the Roman army, and in haste to return from the con-
quest of an obscure province to the capital of the em})ire. He
prosecuted the siege with vigour; he invited the besieged to yield,
by oifering them peace ; and he tried to intimidate them, by using,
contrary to his natiure, every species of cruelty against those who
fell into his hands. But all his vigour, and all his arts, would
have been in vain, had it not been for the madness of those with-
in. They fought with one another ; they burned, in their fury,
magazines of provisions sufficient to last them for years ; and they
deserted with a foolish confidence strong-holds out of which no
enemy could have dragged them. After they had thus delivered
their city into his hands, Titus, when he was viewing it, said,
" God has been upon our side. Neither the hands nor the ma-
chines of men could have been of any avail against those towers.
But God has pulled the Jews out of them, that he might give
them to us." It was impossible for Titus to restrain the soldiers,
iiTitated by an obstinate resistance, from executing their fury
against the besieged, liut his native clemency spared the Jews in
other places. He would not allow the senate of Antioch, that city
in which the disciples were first called Christians, to expel the
Jews ; for where, said he, shall these people go, now that we have
destroyed their city ? Titus was the servant of God to execute
his vengeance on Jerusalem. But when the measure of that ven-
geance was fulfilled, the compassion of this amiable prince was
employed to restrain the wi-ath of man. " The Lord shortened
the days."
A fourth circumstance is the num])er of false Christs, men, of
whom we read in Josephus, who, both during the siege and after
it, kept up the spirits of the people, and rendered them obstinate
in their resistance, by giving them hopes that the Messiah was at
hand to deliver them out of all their calamities. The greater the
distress was, the people were the more disposed to catch at this
hope ; and, therefore, it was necessary for our Lord to warn his
disciples against being deluded by it.
The last circumstance is the extent of this distress. Our Lord
has employed a bold figure. But the boldest of his figures are al-
ways literally true ; " As the lightning cometh out of the east,
and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be : For wheresoever the carcase is, there shall the
3
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS- 133
eagles be gathered together." The Roman army, who were at
this time the servants of the Son of man, entered on the east side
of Judea, and carried their devastation westward ; so that, in this
grand image, the very direction of the ruin, as well as the sudden-
ness of it, is painted ; and it extended to every place where the
Jews were to be found. A gold or silver eagle, borne on the top
of a spear, belonged to every legion, and was always carried along
with it. Wheresoever the carcase — the Jewish people who were
judicially condemned by God — was, there were also those eagles.
There ^vas no part of Judea, says Josophus, which did not par-
take of the miseries of the capital ; and the history of the Jewish
war ends with numbering the thousands who fell in other places
of the world also by the Roman sword.
I have thus led you, as particularly as appears to me to be neces-
sary, through the prophecy of our Lord respecting the signs which
announced the destruction of Jerusalem, and the circumstances
which attended the siege ; and I wish now to fix your attention upon
a particular prediction interwoven in this prophecy, concerning the
progress of Christianity previous to that ])eriod, both because the
subject renders it interesting, and because the place which our Lord
has given it in this prophecy, opens a most instructive and enlarged
view of the economy of the divine dispensations.
6. The prediction is — " And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations, and then
shall the end" of the Jewish state " come."
We find our Lord always speaking with confidence of the esta-
blishment of his religion in the world. It is a confidence which
could not reasonably be inspired by any thing he beheld: multitudes
following him out of curiosity, but easily offended, and at length
demanding his crucifixion — a few unlearned, feeble men, aff'ection-
ately attached indeed to his person, but with very imperfect appre-
hensions of his religion, and devoid of the most likely instruments
of spreading even their own apprehensions through the world — a
world which hated him while he lived, and which he knew was to
hate his disciples after his death — a world, consisting of Jews, wed-
ded to their own religion, and aljhorring his doctrine as an impious
attempt to supersede the law of Moses ; and of heathens, amongst
whom the philosophers, full of their own wisdom, despised the sim-
plicity of the Gospel, and the vulgar, devoted to childish abomin-
able suj)erstitions, and averse from the spiritual worshij) of the Gospel,
were disposed to execute the vengeance of jealous malignant deities
upon a body of men who refused to offer incense at their altars — a
world, too, in which every kind of vice abounded — in which the pas-
sions of men demanded indulgence, and spurned at the restraint of
the holy commandment of Jesus. Yet, in these circumstances, with
134 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
such obstacles, our Lord, conscious of his divine chai'acter, and
knowing- that the Spirit was given to him without measure, fore-
tells, with pei'fect assurance, that his Gospel shall be preached in all
the world. Had he fixed no time, this prophecy, bold as it is, might
have been regarded as one of the acts by which an impostor tries to
i*aise the spirits of his followers ; and we should have heard it said,
that, instead of a mark of the spirit of prophecy, there was here
only the sagacity of a man, who, aware of the wonderful revolutions
in the opinions and manners of men, trusting that, in some succeed-
ing age, after some other systems had, in their turn, been exploded,
his system might become fashionable, had ventured to say, that it
should be preached in all the world, and left the age which should
see this publication to convert an indefinite expression into an ac-
complished prophecy. But here is nothing indefinite — a pointed,
precise declaration, which no impostor, who was anxious about the
success of his system, would have hazarded, and concerning the truth
of which, many of that generation amongst whom he lived remain-
ed long enongh upon earth to be able to judge. The end, by the
connexion of the words with the context, means the conclusion of
the age of the law ; and it is still more clearly said, in the 1 3th
chapter of Mark, in the middle of the prophecy of the destruction
of Jerusalem, " But the Gospel must first be published to all na-
tions." Now, the destruction of Jerusalem happened within forty
years after the death of our Saviour, so that we are restricted to
this space of time in speaking of the fulfilment of the prophecy.
We learn from the book of Acts, that many thousands were con-
verted soon after the day of Pentecost, and that devout Jews out of
every nation under heaven were witnesses of the miraculous effu-
sion of the Holy Ghost. These men, all of whom were amazed,
and some of whom were converted, by what they saw, could not fail
to carry the report home, and thus prepared distant nations for re-
ceiving those who were better qualified, and more expressly com-
missioned, to preach the Gospel. After the death of Stephen,
there arose a great persecution against the church at Jerusalem,
which by this time had multiplied exceedingly ; and they " were
scattered abroad through the I'egions of Judea and Samaria ; and
they travelled as far as Phojuice, and Cyprus, and Antioch ; and the
hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed."*
The book of Acts is chiefly an account of the labours of the Apostle
Paul ; and we see this one apostle, to adopt the words of a fellow-
labourer of his, a preacher both in the East, and to the utmost
Ijoundaries of the West, planting churches in Asia and in Greece,
and travelling from Jerusalem to Illyricum, a tract which has been
* Acts viii. 1. ; xi. 19, 20,
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY jESUS. 1'35
computed to be not less than 2000 miles. If such were the labours
of one, what must have been accomplished by the journeyings of
all the twelve, who, taking- different districts, went forth to fulfil the
last command of their master, by being his witnesses to the utter-
most ends of the earth? The Apostle Paul says, in his Epistle to
the Romans, '• that their faith was spoken of throughout all the
world ;" and to the Colossians, " that the word which they had
heard was by that time preached to every creature." We know cer-
tainly that Paul preached the Gospel in Rome : and such was the
effect of his preaching, that, seven years before the destruction of
Jerusalem, Tacitus says there was an immense number of Christ-
ians in that city.* From the capital of the world the knowledge
of Christianity was spread, like all the improvements in art and sci-
ence, over the world ; that is, according to the common sense of the
phrase, throughout the Roman empire. When the whole known
world was governed by one prince, the communication was easy. In
every part of the empire garrisons were stationed — roads were open-
ed— messengers were often passing — and no country then discovei'-
ed was too distant to hear the Gospel of the kingdom. It is gene-
rally agreed, that within the forty years which I mentioned, Scythia
on the north, India on the east, Gaul and Egypt on the west, and
^Ethiopia on the south, had received the doctrine of Christ : and
we know that the island of Britain, which was then regarded as the
extremity of the earth, the most remote and savage province, was
frequently visited during that time by Roman emperors and their
generals. It is even said that the Gospel was preached publicly in
London ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem. As far, then,
as our information goes, whether we collect it from the book of Acts,
from the occasional mention made by heathen historians of a sub-
ject upon which they bestowed little attention, or from the concur-
ring testimony of the oldest Christian historians, the word of Christ
was literally fulfilled ; and you have, in the short space of time to
which he limits the fulfilment of this word, a striking proof of his
prophetic spirit.
But it is not enough to attend to the fulfilment of this prophecy.
The place which it holds, and the manner in which it is expressed,
suggest to us something farther. The Gospel, at whatsoever time
it be published, is a witness to those who hear it, of the being, the
providence, and the moral government of God, But, as it is said,
" it shall be preached to all the world, for a witness to all nations,
and then shall the end come," we are led to consider that particular
kind of witness which the preaching of the Gospel, before the end
of the Jewish state, afforded to all nations ; and it is here, I said,
* Tacit. Ann. lib. xv. 44.
136 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
that there opens to us a most instructive and enlarged view of the
economy of the divine dispensations.
Had it not been for this early and universal preaching-, the de-
struction of Jerusalem by Titus would have appeared to the world
an event of the same order with the destruction of any other city.
They might have talked of the obstinacy of the besieged — of the
fury of the conquerors — of the unexampled distress which was en-
dured ; but it would not have appeared to them that there was in
all this any thing divine, any other warning than is suggested by
the ordinary fortune of war. But when the Gospel was first pub-
lished, it was a witness to all nations, that in the end of the Jewish
state there was a fulfilment of prophecy — a punishment of in-
fidelity— and the termination of the law of Moses.
1. It was a witness of the fulfilment of prophecy. Wherever
the first preachers of Christianity went, they carried the Gospels
along with them, as the authentic history of Him whom they
preached. We have reason to think, that in many parts of the
world the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were trans-
lated into the language of the country, or into the Latin, which
was generally understood, before Jerusalem was destroyed. The
early Christians, then, in the most distant parts of the world, had
in their hands the prophecy before the event. The Roman armies,
and the messengers of the empire, would soon transmit a general
account of the siege. The history of Josephus, written and pub-
lished by the order of Vespasian and Titus, would transmit the par-
ticulars to some at least of the most illustrious commanders in dis-
tant ])rovinces ; and thus, while all who named the name uf Christ
would learn the fact, that Jerusalem was destroyed, they who were
inquisitive might learn also the circumstances of the fact, and by
comparing the narration which they received, with the prophecy
of which they had been formerly in possession, would know assur-
edly that he who had uttered that pi'ophecy was more than man.
There are still great events to happen in the history of the Christ-
ian church, which we trust will bring to those who shall be per-
mitted to see them a full conviction of the divine character of Jesus.
But it was wisely ordered, that the earliest Christians should receive
this prophecy long before it came to pass, that the faith of those
who had not seen the Lord's Christ, might, at a time when edu-
cation, authority, and example, were not on the side of that faith,
be confirmed by the event ; and that all the singular circumstances
of this siege might afford to the nations of the earth, in the be-
ginnings of the Gospel, a demonstration that Jesus spake the truth.
2. A witness of the punishment of infidelity. The desti'uction
of Jerusalem was foretold, not merely to give an example of the
divine knowledge of him who uttered the prophecy, but because
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 137
the Jews deserved that destruction. The crime which brought it
upon them is intimated in many of our Lord's parables, and is de-
clared clearly in other passages, so that those who were in posses-
sion of the prophecy could not mistake the cause. All the nations
of the earth to whom the Gospel was preached, knew that the Jews
had killed the Lord Jesus with this horrid imprecation, " His blood
be upon us, and upon our chililren ;" that they had rejected all the
evidences of the truth of Christianity which were exhibited in their
own land, and not content with despising- the Gospel, had stirred
up the minds of the heathen against the tlisciples of Jesus, and ap-
peared, so long- as their city existed, the most bitter enemies of the
Christian name. The nations of the eai'th saw this obstinacy and
barbarity recompensed in the very manner which the Aiithor ot
the Gospel foretold, and having- his predictions in their hands, they
beheld his enemies taken in the snare which he had announced.
The mighty works which he did upon earth were miracles of mercy,
by which he meant to win the hearts of mankind. But the execu-
tion of his threatnings against a nation of enemies was a miracle
of judgment. And the unparalleled calamities, which the Jews, ac-
cording- to his words, endured, were a warning from heaven to all
that heard the Gospel, not to reject the counsel of God against
themselves.
3. A witness that, in the destruction of Jerusalem, there was the
termination of the law of Moses. While many Jews persecuted the
Christians, there were others who attempted, by reasoning, to im-
pose upon them an observance of the law of Moses. They said
that it was impious to forsake an institution confessedly of divine
original, and that no subsequent revelation could diminish the sanc-
tity of a temple built by God, or abolish the offerings which he
had required to be jiresented there. You find this reasoning most
ably combated in the Epistles of Paul, and particularly in the
Epistle to the Hebrews. But the arguments of the apostle did not
completely counterbalance the evil done, by the Judaizing teachers,
to the cause of Christ. Many were disturbed by the sophistry of
these men in the exercise of their Christian liberty ; and many
were deterred from eml)racing the Gospel, by the fear of being
I)rought under the yoke of the Jewish ceremonies. Some signal
interposition of Providence was necessary to disjoin the spiritual
universal religion of Jesus from the carnal local ordinances of the
law of Moses, and to afford entire satisfaction to the minds of those
who wished for that disjunction. The destruction of Jerusalem
was that interposition ; and the general publication of the Gospel,
before that event, led men both to look for it as the solution of
their doubts, and to rest in it after it happened, as the declaration
from heaven that the ceremonial law was finished. The service
138 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
of the temple could not continue after one stone of the temple was
not left upon another ; the tribes could no longer assemble at Je-
rusalem after the city was laid in ruins ; and that bondage, under
which the Jewish nation wished to bring the Christians, ceased after
the Jews were scattered over the face of the earth.
And thus we are enabled, by the place which this prophecy holds,
to mark a beautiful consistency, and a mutual dependency in the
revelations with which God hath favoiu'ed the world, — the mani-
fold wisdom of God conspicuous in the whole economy of religion.
The Almighty committed to Abraham and his descendants the
hope of the Messiah, and the law was a schoolmaster to bring men
to Christ. When he who was the end of the law appeared, he ap-
pealed to Moses and the prophets as testifying of him, and he claim-
ed the character of that prophet whom they had announced. But
the purpose of the law being fulfilled by his appearance, it was no
longer necessary that the preparatory dispensation with its appurte-
nances should continue. He gave notice, therefore, of the conclu-
sion of the age of the law, and as that age began and was conducted
with visible symbols of divine power, so with like symbols it was
finished. The declaration of these symbols, published to the world
in the Gospels, prevented them from looking upon the event with
the astonishment of ignorance, and taught them to connect this
awful ending of the one age with the character of that age which
then commenced. Having seen a period elapse sufficient for the
faith of Christ to gain proselytes in many countries, they saw the
temple of Jerusalem by an interposition which was the literal ful-
filment of the words of Christ taken down, and were thus assured
that the hour was indeed come at which ancient prophets had moi*e
obscurely hinted, and which Jesus had declared in express words as
not very distant, when men were not to worship the Father at Jeru-
salem, but when the true worshippers, every one from his place,
should worship God in spirit and in truth. The effect of the event,
thus interpreted by the prophecy, was powerful and instantaneous.
It furnished the earliest Christian fathers with an unanswerable ar-
gument against the Judaizing teachers : it solved the doubts of those
who were stumbled by their reasonings : it removed one gi'eat ob-
jection which the Gentiles had to the Gospel : and when the wall
of partition was thus removed, numbers were " turned from idols
to serve the living God."
7. I mentioned as the next siibject of the predictions of Jesus,
the condition of the Jewish nation subsequent to the destruction of
their city.
You may mark first the immediate consequences of the sieged
" Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 139
fall from hoaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ;
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven." It
seems to be plain that these expressions point to the consequences
of the siege, for they are thus introduced, " Immediately after the
tribulation of those days," i. e. the distress endured during- the
siege ; and as if on purpose to show us that the event pointed at
was not very distant, it is said a few verses after, " This genei'ation
shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." To perceive the
propi'iety of using- such expressions in this place, you will recollect
that symbolical languag-e of which we spoke formerly, — dictated by
necessity in early times, when the conceptions and the words of
men were few, — retained in after times partly from habit, and partly
to render speech more significant, — universally used in eastern
countries, — and abounding- in the writings of the prophets, who,
speaking- under the influence of inspiration, full of the events which
they foretold, and elevated above the ordinary tone of their minds,
emplov a richness and pomp of imagery which exalts our concep-
tions of the importance of what they say, but at the same time in-
creases the obscurity natural to prophecies, and made the people
whom they addressed often call their discourses dark sayings. This
eastern imag-ery, which pervades the prophetical style, is especially
remarkable when the rise or fall of kingdoms is foretold. The
images are then borrowed from the most splendid objects ; and as
in the ancient mode of writing- by hierog-lyphics, the sun, the moon,
and stars, being bodies raised above the earth, were used to repre-
sent king-doms and princes, so in the prophecies of their calamities,
or prosperity, chang-es npon the heavenly bodies, bright lig-ht, and
thick darkness came to be a common phraseolog-y. Of the punish-
ment which God was to inflict on Judea, he says by Jeremiah, " I
will stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee ; she hath
given up the ghost ; her sun is gone down, while it is yet day."*
Of Egypt, by Ezekiel, " All the bright lights of heaven will I make
dark over thee, and make darkness over thy land, saith the Lord
God."-j- So by Joel, " The earth shall quake before them, the
heavens shall tremble ; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and
the stars shall withdi'aw their shining ; and the Lord shall utter his
voice before his army."j: And when God promises delivei'ance and
victory to his people, it is in these beautiful words, " Thy sun shall
no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself. But
the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light
of the sun shall be seven-fold." § It was most natural for the Mes-
siah of the Jews to introduce this uniform language of former pro-
phets in foretelling the dissolution of their state ; and all that he
•Jer. XV. G, 9. f Ezek. xxxii. 8. :{ Joel ii. 10, 11. § Isaiah Ix. 20 ; xxx. 26.
140 TREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
says was fulfilled, according- to the appropriated use of that lan-
guage, immediately after the siege. For the city was desolated ; the
temple was burnt; that ecclesiastical constitution which the Romans
had tolerated after Judea hecame a province of the empire was dis-
solved ; the Sanhedrim no longer assembled ; the office of the High
Priest could no more be exercised according to the commandment
of God ; every privilege which had distinguished the people of the
Jews ceased ; the sceptre, in appearance as well as in reality, de-
parted from Judah, and the very forms of the dispensation given
by Moses came to an end.
As changes upon the kingdoms of the earth are produced by the
all-ruling providence of God, so the ancient prophets often represent
him in tbeir figurative language as coming in the clouds of heaven
to execute veng-eance upon a guilty nation ; and Daniel applies this
language to the exertion of the power of the Son of Man, when
he was to take away the dominion of the four beasts whom Daniel
had seen in his vision, and to give the kingdom to the saints of the
Most High.* You find our Lord referring to this expression,
which was familiar to every Jew. Immediately after the distress
of the siege you shall see the sign of the Son of man in heaven.
The sign which you have been taught to look for is not a comet,
or meteor, a wonderful appearance in the air to astonish the igno-
rant : it is the Son of man employing the Roman armies as his
servants, to execute vengeance upon those who crucified him, and
demonstrating to the world, by the complete dissolution of the
Jewish state, that all power is committed to hirn.
The first part, then, of our Lord's prophecy concerning the con-
dition of the Jewish people subsequent to the siege, although ex-
pressed in sublime and figurative language, may be understood, by
the analogy of the prophetical style, to mean, that the political
and ecclesiastical constitution of Judea was to be annihilated im-
mediately after that event.
But you may observe in Luke another prophecy concerning their
condition, reaching to a remote period, and marking events, in their
nature, most contingent. " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of
the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."-]- Not
only shall the city be taken, and the constitution be dissolved, and
many Jews fall by the edge of the sword, and many be led captive
into all nations ; but Jerusalem shall belong to the Gentiles, and
be used by them in a contemptuous manner till the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled. As this prediction, when taken in connexion
with other passages of Scripture, means a great deal more than is
obvious at first sight, and as the present state of the Jews is one ■
• Dan, vii. 13, 14, 27. f Luke xxi. 24.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 141
of the strongest visible arguments for the truth of Christianity, I
shall lay before you the history of Jerusalem since it was taken,
the condition of the Jewish people during- the desolation of their
city, and that prospect of a better time which is intimated in the
concise expression of our Lord.
The history of Jerusalem, from the time of its being destroyed
by Titus till this day, is a literal fulfilment of the expression,
" Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles." The empe-
ror Adrian conceived the designof rebuilding Jerusalem about forty-
seven years after its destruction. He planted a Roman colony
there, and in place of the temple of the God of the Jews he erect-
ed a temple to Jupiter. The Jews, who inhabited the other parts
of Judea, inflamed by this insulting act of sacrilege, engaged in
open rebellion against the Romans, and assemltling in vast multi-
tudes, got possession of their city, and kept it for a short time.
But Adrian soon expelled them, demolished their towns and castles,
desolated the land of Judea, and scattered those who survived over
the face of the earth. He re-established the Roman colony in Je-
rusalem, gave it a new name, and forbade any Jew to enter it.
Three hundred years after the death of our Saviour, Constantine,
the first Roman emperor who embraced Christianity, built many
splendid Christian churches in this Roman colony, and dispersed
the Jews who attempted to disturb the Christians in their worship.
Within thirty years after the death of Constantine, the Emperor
Julian, who is known by the name of the Apostate, because, al-
though he had been bred a Christian, he became a heathen, out of
hatred to the Christians, and with a view to defeat the prophecy,
invited the body of the Jewish people scattered through the em-
pire, to return to their city ; anil professing to lament the oppres-
sion which they had endured, gave orders for rebuilding their tem-
ple. His lieutenants did begin. But, says the Roman historian
Ammianus IMarcellinus, whose respectable authority there is no
reason in this instance to question, balls of fire bursting foi'th near
the foundation made it impossible for the workmen to approach
the place, and the enterprise was laid aside.* Julian did not reign
above two years ; and as all the emperors who succeeded him were
Christians, no attempt was ever made to rebuild the temple, and
the Jews were prohii)ited from living in the city. It was only by
stealth, or I)y bribing the guards, that they obtained a sight of the
ruins of their temple. In the year 637, Jerusalem was taken by
the successors of the great impostor Mahomet. A mosque was
built upon the very spot where the temple of Solomon had stood ;
and this moscjue was afterwards so much enlarged and beautified
• Amm. Marcel, lib. xxiii.
142 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
that it became the resort of the Mahometans in the adjoining-
countries, in the same manner as the temple had been of the Jews.
Since that time it has passed, in the succession of conquests made
by different nations and tribes, throug-h the hands of the Turks,
the Egyptians, and the Mamelukes. It was for some time in pos-
session of Christians, who, having- marched from Europe at the
era of the Crusades, to deliver their brethren in the holy land from
oppression, and to rescue the sepulchre of our Lord out of the
hands of Mahometans, took Jerusalem, and established a kingdom
which lasted about a century. The Christian forces were at length
expelled ; the Mamelukes, and after them the Ottoman Turks, re-
g-ained the city, and till this day the Mahometan worship is esta-
blished there. Christians, who are drawn thither by reverence for
the place where our Lord lay, are admitted to reside ; and their
worship is tolerated upon their paying- a larg-e tribute. But hard-
ly any Jews are to be seen in the city. They consider it as so
much defiled by the Mahometans and Christians, that they choose
rather to worship God in any other place. They are persecuted
by the reigning power. And the poverty of the city does not af-
ford them much temptation in the way of gain to counterbalance
the inconveniences to which they would be obliged to submit if
they attempted to live there. Jerusalem then, is still trodden
down of the Gentiles. During- the seventeen hundred years that
have elapsed since it was destroyed by Titus, the Jews have never
been quietly settled there. It has, with hardly any interruption,
belonged to Gentile nations ; and it has received every thing which
the Jews account a pollution.
You will attend next to the condition of the Jewish })eople dur-
ing this desolation of their city. Amongst the many striking cir-
cumstances in the history of the ancient Jews, every intelligent
observer will reckon the frequent dispersions of that unhappy peo-
ple. Most other nations, when subdued by a warlike or powerful
neighbour, have continued to inhabit some portion of their ancient
territory. They have either adopted the laws and manners of their
conquerors, and in process of time have been so completely incor-
porated with them, as not to form a distinct body ; or if the cruel
policy of the conquerors marked out for them a humbler station,
they have descended from their former rank of freemen, without
changing- their climate, and have remained as servants in the land
of which they were once the masters. But the conquerors of Ju-
dea in all ages, not content with the sulyection of the inhabitants,
transplanted them into other countries, and in distant lands mark-
ed out the cities which they were to possess, and the fields which
they were to cultivate. Thus Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, took
away the ten tribes of Israel, and planted them beyond the river
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. l43
Euphrates, in the cities of the Medes. Nebuchadnezzar, 130 years
after, carried the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin captive to
Babylon ; and the Romans also at a later period led the Jews cap-
tive into all nations. Whatever were the motives which led the
enemies of the Jews to adopt this sing-ular system of policy, in
following- it out, they only fulfilled the appointment of heaven :
and the king-s of Assyria and Babylon, and the emperors of Rome,
although they meant it not so in their hearts, yet by the pecuHar suf-
ferings which they brought upon the captive nation, were the in-
struments of accomplishing the prophecies contained in its sacred
books. Moses, amongst other curses which were to overtake the
children of Israel in case of disobedience, mentions this : " I will
make thy cities waste, and I will bring- the land into desolation ;
and thine enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
The Lord shall bring- against thee a nation from far, and he shall
besieg-e thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come
down. And ye shall be plucked off the land whither thou goest
to possess it ; and the Lord shall scatter thee among all people,
from the one end of the earth even unto the other."* The fre-
quent captivities and dispersions of the Jews coi'responded exactly
to the words of the curse ; and this singular punishment has been
repeated as often as the sins of the nation called for the judgments
of heaven.
It might have been expected that, by these frequent dispersions,
the whole race of the Jews would be confounded amongst other
nations. But it is most remarkable, that although distinguished
from all other people by being scattered over the face of the earth,
they remain distinguished also by their religion and customs ; and
although everywhere found, they are everywhere separated from
those around them. I speak not of the ten tribes carried away by
Esarhaddon, who were so far estranged from the true God before
they left their own land, that they easily adopted the idolatry of
the nations to which they were led captive, and so ceased to be a
people.f But I speak of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, com-
posing what was properly called the kingdom of Judah, which ad-
hered to the family of David after Israel had rebelled against them,
to which the promise of the Messiah had been restricted by the pa-
triarch Jacob, and in which the fulfilment of the prophecies con-
cerning the fortunes of the Jewish nation is to be looked for. Now
we know that when Judah was carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar
to Babylon, the captives did not worship the gods of the conquerors.
Daniel and other great men were raised up by God to preserve the
* Levit. xxvi. 31 32 ; Deut. xxviii. passim.
■f Buchanan's Christian Researches.
144 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
spirit of piety and the fortitude of the servants of heaven. And by
a concurrence of circumstances which the providence of God com-
bined to fulfil his pleasure, those who were for the God of Israel
received an invitation to return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the
temple. The edict of Cyrus king- of Persia contained these words :*
*' The Lord of heaven hath charged me to l)uild him an house at
Jerusalem. Who is there among- you of all his people? His God
be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah,
and build the house of the Lord God of Israel." It was under the
character of the servants of God, by which character they were dis-
ting-uished from their idolatrous neighbours, that the Jews return-
ed : and the calamities which they had suffered during- their capti-
vity, seem to have cured that proneness to idolatry, which the more
ancient prophets so often reprove. All that returned are spoken
of in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as zealous for the w orship
of the true God. Their descendants, who settled and multiplied in
the Holy Land, never showed any inclination to worship idols.
They endured a severe persecution under Antiochus, because they
would not submit to the worship which he prescribed ; and one of
the causes which incensed the Romans against them was their ab-
horrence of the g-ods of the empire. Since their dispersion by Titus
and by Adrian, they have never joined in Heathen, Christian, or
Mahometan worship. Their rites, Imrdensome as they are, and
contemptible as they appear in the eyes of strangers, have been re-
ligiously observed by the whole nation. A sullen, uncomplying-,
covetous spirit, has conspired with the singularity of their rites to
render them odious and ridiculous. The character of a Jew is mark-
ed in every corner of the earth ; and one can find no words which
so literally express the condition of this people, as the words utter-
ed more than 3000 years ago by their own lawgiver. " These
curses shall come upon thee for a sign and for a w onder, and upon
thy seed for ever ; and thou shalt become an astonishment, a pro-
verb, and a by-word among- all the nations whither the Lord shall
lead thee."f In this wonderful manner have the Jews, whose na-
tive land is still trodden down of the Gentiles, been preserved in
all parts of the earth a distinct people.
But the prediction brings into our view the prospect of a better
time : " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the
times of the Gentiles be fulfilled ;" which, in plain grammatical
construction, implies, that when the times of the Gentiles are ful-
filled, Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden down. Our Lord is
referring to the latter part of Daniel's prophecy of the seventy
weeks : " The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy
• Ezra i. 2, 3. f Deut. xxvili. 37, 4(;.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 145
the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a
flood ; and — he shall make it desolate, even until the consumma-
tion, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate ;" or,
as 1 am assured by tlie best authority, it may be rendered, " upon
the desolator." * Now, this consummation, what the Septuagint
calls rj svvTiKsia -ov kki^ou, [the end of the time,] is to be learned
from other parts of the book of Daniel, in which there is a most
circumstantial prophecy of the fate of the great empires of the
world, and, amongst the rest, of the empire of the Romans, who
were the dosolators of Jiulea.t A great part of that prophecy has
been fulfilled. Learned men have traced so striking a coincidence
between the words of Daniel and the history of the world, as is
sufficient to impress every candid mind with the divine inspii'ation
of this prophet, highly favoured of the Lord, and to beget a full
conviction, that every word whicli he has spoken will in due time
be accomplished. When that will be, or how it will be, we know
not. But as the events that have already happened have reflected
the clearest light upon former parts of the prophecy, we may rest
assured that the end, when it arrives, will exj)lain those parts which
are still dark, and that there are methods in reserve, by which the
times of the Gentiles, that which is determined upon the detolator,
all the purposes of God's providence res])ecting the kingdoms
which have arisen out of the Roman empire, shall be fulfilled. It
is perfect!)' agreeable to our Lord's words, to consider the return
of the Jews to their own land as connected with this end, tb.e ful-
filment of the times of the Gentiles : and when we take into our
view other parts of Scripture, hardly any doubt is left in our minds
that this was his meaning. Moses, when he threatens the Jews
with dispersion, gives notice, that if, in their captivity, they re-
turned to the Lord, he would gather them from the nations to
whicli he had scattered them : " And yet for all that, when they
be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither
will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break my cove-
nant with them; for I am the Lord their God.":]: You find this
hope expressed by David, by Solomon, by Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
Accordingly the two tribes who remembered the God of their fa-
thers, in fulfilment of this promise, as Nehemiah interprets their de-
liverance, were gathered from their captivity. After their return,
the same threatnings of dispersion were denounced against them
if they disobeyed, and the same promises of being brought back if
they repented. Zechariah, who prophesied after the return, says,
" I will gather all nations against Jerusalem, and the city shall be
taken." But he says also, the day is coming when " I will seek
* Dan. ix. 26, 27. f Dan. ii. and vii. ^ Levit. xxvi. 44.
VOL. I. G
146 PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I
will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication."* And this is
agreeable to the words of more ancient prophets : for God says by
Jeremiah, " Though I make a full end of all the nations whither
I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee ;"-}-
and by Amos, " I will plant them upon their land, and they shall
no more be pulled out of the land which I have given them."J
These prophecies, and many others of the same import, open to
our view a time when the Jews are to be brought back from cap-
tivity. Their return from Babylon, which was a fulfilment of
their own prophecies, is a pledge that the greater promise of an
everlasting settlement in their own land shall be fulfilled also.
Their being to this day a distinct people, separate from all others,
renders the fulfilment of the prophecy possible, and seems intend-
ed as a standing miracle to keep alive in the world the faith of this
event. Our Lord, at the very time when he foretells the destruc-
tion of the holy city, and the second long captivity of the Jews,
intimates, by his mode of expression, that it was not to be per-
petual : and his apostle Paul, to whom Jesus, after his ascension,
revealed the whole counsel of God, delights to dwell upon this
thought — '• I would not, brethren," he says to the Romans, " that
ye should ])e ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part has
happened to Israel, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; and
so all Israel shall be saved." §
What a glorious view is here presented of the universal king-
dom of the Messiah, which is at length to comprehend even the
children of those who slew him ! What a consistency and gran-
deur in the conduct of divine Providence with regard to the Jews,
that people whom God formed for himself to show forth his praise !
liaised up at first as a light in a dark place — retaining the know-
ledge and worship of the true God amidst the idolatry of the na-
tions— keeping in their oracles the hope of the Saviour of man-
kind— carrying by their dispersions these oracles, this knowledge
and hope, through the whole earth, and thus rendering the Mes-
siah the desire of all nations — exhibiting in their singular misfor-
tunes the holiness and the power of their God — a monument to
the world in their present state, that Jesus is able to take vengeance
of his enemies — and yet preserved, even in the midst of that
punishment which they endure for obstinacy and infidelity, to re-
ceive Christ as a nation, and thus to be the future instruments of
the convei'sion of the whole world ! When this people, by the
' Zech. xiv. 2 ; xii. 9, 10. t Jer. xxx. 11.
i Amos ix. 15. ( Rom. xi. 25.
PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS. 147
out-stretched arm of the Almighty, shall be brought back in his
time from the lands where they now sojourn, to that land which,
in the beginning he chose for them, and Jerusalem, which is now-
trodden down of the Gentiles, shall be delivered to the Jews ; when
every prophecy in their books shall be found to conspire most ex-
actly with the words spoken by Christ and his apostles, and all
shall receive a striking accomplishment in events most interesting
to the whole universe — what eye will be so sealed as to exclude
this light, what mind so hardened as not to yield to a conviction
which the infinite knowledge and power of Ciod will then appear
to have united in producing! Every charge of partiality in the
Lord of nature, which the superficial infidel is hasty to bring for-
ward, shall then be swallowed iip in the full exposition of that
great scheme which is now carrying forward for the final salvation
of all the children of God, and every tongue will join in that ex-
pression of exalted devotion with which the Apostle Paul shuts up
this subject — " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, or who hath been his counsellor ?"*
8. I mentioned, as the last subject of our Lord's prophecies, the
final discrimination of the righteous and the wicked at the day of
judgment. This great event is foretold under similitudes, in plain
words, without hesitation, with solemnity, with minuteness. The
veil is in some measure removed, and we, whose views are gene-
rally confined to the events of the little spot which we inhabit, are
enabled by the great Prophet to look forward to the end of the
world. He has, indeed, hidden the time from our eyes, but he
has minutely described every other circumstance. The clearness
of his predictions upon such a subject distinguishes him from everv
other teacher who had appeared before his time, and affords a pre-
sumption of his divine character. But this is not the place for en-
larging upon these predictions, and I mention them at j)resent, on-
ly to state the connexion between them and the prophecies which
we have been considering. The darkening of the sun, and moon, and
stars — the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven — his send-
ing forth his angels with a trumpet, and gathering his elect from
the four winds ; all these circumstances bring to our minds a day
more awful and important than the destruction of Jerusalem, or any
of its immediate consequences. And although it is possible, and
agreeable to the analogy of Scriptm'e language, to find a meaning
for the various expressions here used, in the dissolution of the
Jewish state, in the general publication of the gospel after that
• Rom. xi. 33, 34.
i'iS PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.
event, and the great accession of converts which it contributed to
hring- to Christianity — yet we know that these are the very ex-
pressions by which our Lord and his apostles have desci'ibed that
day, when all who have lived upon the face of the earth shall
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Several commentators
have been of opinion that there is here, in addition to the pro-
phecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, a direct prophecy of the
day of judgment. But the limitation of the time of the fulfil-
ment to the existence of the generation then alive, is an unan-
swerable olijection to this opinion ; and, therefore, I consider the
latter part of this prediction as a specimen given by our Lord of
a jji'ophecy with a double sense. We found that, in the Old Tes-
tament, the language of the prophet is often so contrived as to
apply at once to two events, the one near and local, the other re-
mote and universal. Thus David, in describing his own suiferings,
introduces expressions which are a literal description of the suf-
ferings of the Messiah, and are applied as such by the Evangelists;
and the words in which he paints the peaceful reign of Solomon,
received a literal accomplishment in the kingdom of the Prince of
Peace. So here the Messiah, who often, in other respects, copies
the manner, and refers to the words of ancient prophets, while he
is immediately foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, looks for-
ward to the day of judgment, and expresses himself in a language
which, although, by the established practice of the prophets, it is
applicable in a figurative sense to the fall of a city and the disso-
lution of a state, yet in its true, literal, precise meaning, applies
to that day in which all cities and states are equally interested.
While the fulfilment then of the direct sense of this prophecy is
a standing proof of the divine knowledge of .Tesus, it is also a
pledge, that the secondary sense shall in diie time be accomplished ;
and thus the exhortation with which our Lord concludes this pro-
phecy, and which is manifestly expressed in such a manner, as
shows that it was intended for his disciples in every age, is en-
forced upon us as well as upon those that heard him. The Christ-
ians were delivered from the destruction in which their coiintrj'-
men were involved, by following the directions of Jews ; and upon
our watchfulness and obedience to him depend our comfort, our
improvement, and the salvation of our souls in the great day of
the Lord.
Josephus, Hurd, and Commentaries on the 24th chapter of Matthew, in the
works of Tillotson, Jortin, Newton, Newcome, &c.
C 149 ]
CHAP. VIII.
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
Many of the principal facts in the Christian religion may be in-
troduced as instances of the fulfilment of the prophecies of Jesus,
and as thus serving- to illustrate the abundant measure in which
the spirit of prophecy was given to that Great Prophet, who had
been announced from the beginning- of the world. But two of
these facts deserve a more particular consideration in a view of the
evidences of Christianity, because, independently of their having
been foretold, they bring a very strong confirmation to the high
claim advanced in the Scriptures. The two facts which I mean
are, the resurrection of Jesus, and the propagation of Christianity.
The first of these facts is the resurrection of Jesus. Had he
never returned from the grave, his enemies would have considered
his death as the completion of their triumph : and those who had
admired his character, and had been convinced by his works that
he was a teacher sent from God, must have considered his blood
as only adding to the sum of all the righteous blood that had been
shed upon the earth. His friends might have made a feeble at-
tempt to transmit, with distinguished honour to posterity, the
name of Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet mighty in word and in
deed. Yet even they would have been stumbled when they recol-
lected his pretensions and his prophecies. He had claimed a cha-
racter and an authority very inconsistent with the notion of his
being a victim to the malice of men ; and he had foretold thai after
being three days, that is, according to the Jewish phraseology, a
part of three days in the grave, he would rise from the dead on
the third day ; resting the truth of his claim upon this fact as the
sign that was to be given. The resurrection of Jesus, then, is not
merely an important, it is an essential fact in the history of Christia-
nity. If the Author of this religion did not return from the grave,
he is, according to his own confession, an impostor : if he did, all
who are satisfied with the evidence of this singular fact, must ac-
knowledge, from the nature of the case, that he was the Son of
God with power, by his resurrection from the dead.
It behoves you to examine with particular care the kind of evi-
dence upon which the wisdom of God has chosen to rest a fact so
150 RESURRECTION OF CUniST.
essential. To the apostles, who were with Jesus when he was ap-
prehended, who knew certainly that he was crucified, one of whom
saw him on the cross, and all of whom were permitted to converse
with him after he was risen, his resurrection was as much an ob-
ject of sense, at least it was an inference as clearly deducihle from
what they did see, as if they had been present when the angel
rolled the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and when Jesus
came forth in the same manner as Lazarus had done a little before
at his command. But this evidence of sense could not extend be-
yond the forty days during- which Jesus remained upon earth. And
the first thing that meets you, in an inquiry into the truth of the
resurrection, is the number of persons to whom this evidence of
sense was vouchsafetl. The time is limited. But there is no ne-
cessary limitation of the number that might have seen Jesus du-
ring that time, and, as the faith of future ages must in a great
measure rest upon their testimony, it is natural to consider whether
there be any thing in the jiarticular number to which this evidence
of sense was confined, that serves to render the fact incredible.
The number is much greater than will ajipear at fii'st sight to a
careless reader of the Gospels. The soldiers, the women, and the
disciples only are mentioned there. But you will find it said, that
Jesus went before his disciples into Galilee, where lie had a])point-
ed them to meet him ; and one of the aj)pearances narrated by John
is said to have been at the sea of Tiberias, which lay in Galilee.
Now Galilee was the country where our Lord had spent the great-
est part of his life, where his person was perfectly well known,
where his mother's relations and the families of the apostles resid-
ed. His going to Galilee therefore, after his resurrection, was giv-
ing to a numl)er of persons deeply interested in the fact, an oppor-
tunity of being convinced by their own senses that the Lord was
risen indeed, and thus crownetl those evidences of his divine mis-
sion which they had derived from their former acquaintance with
him. Accordingly Paul says, that our Lord " was seen of above
five hundred brethren at once," which must have happened in Ga-
lilee, for the number of disciples in Jerusalem after the ascension
was but " an hundred and twenty." The testimony of this multi-
tude of witnesses in Galilee was suflficient to diifuse through their
neighbours and contemporaries a conviction of the fact which they
saw.
But, it has been asked, why did Jesus retire to a remote province,
and show himself at Jerusalem only to a few witnesses ? Why did
he not appear openly in the temple, in the synagogue, in the streets
of the holy city, as he was accustomed to do before his death, and
overpower the inci'edulity of the Jews by an ocular demonstration
of his divine power? It is admitted that he did not show himself
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. lol
to all the people. But the objection arising from this supposed
deficiency in the evidence, has been completely answered by some
of the best commentators upon the New Testament, and by writers
in the deistical controversy. The heads of the answers are these.
The Jewish nation, who had resisted all the evidences of our Lord's
divine mission which were exhibited before their eyes during- his
ministry, were not entitled to expect that any farther means should
be employed I)y heaven for their conviction. The probability is,
that the same narrow views and evil passions wdiich had produced
their unbelief while he lived, would have rendered his appearance
in their city after his death ineffectual. Our Lord, who foresaw
this inefficacy, seems to suggest it as the reason of his conduct in
this matter, when he concludes one of his parables with saying, " If
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per-
suaded, though one rose from the dead." After our Lord spake
these words, the experiment was made in the case of Lazarus.
Many of the neighbours of Mary might know certainly that her
brother had been raised by the power of Jesus. Yet some of them
who had seen all the things that were done, went and told the Pha-
risees ; and the Pharisees, upon the report of this miracle, took
counsel to put Jesus to death. It was not meet that his own re-
surrection should give occasion to similar plots again to take away
his life. To all this it is to be added in the last place, that, what-
ever reception Jesus had met with in Jerusalem, the evidence for
Christianity might have been injured by his appearing there after
his resurrection. Had the Jews continued to reject and persecute
him, the imited testimony of the nation against the resurrection
might have been represented as sufficient to out-weigh the positive
testimony of the apostles. Had they received him as their Mes-
siah after he was risen, the Christian religion might have been re-
presented as a state-trick devised by able men for the glory of the
nation, which met with opposition at first, but to the faith of which
a well-concerted story of the death and resurrection of its author
did at last subdue the minds of the people. From this specimen
of the answers which may be made to the objection, it appears that
God tries the honesty of our hearts by the methods which he em-
ploys to enlighten our reason, that the evidence of religion was not
intended to overpower those whose minds are perverted, but to sa-
tisfy those who love the truth, and that, in examining any branch
of that evidence, our business is not to inquire what God might
have done, but to consider what he has done, and to rest on those
facts which appear to our understanding to be sufficiently proven,
although our imagination may figure other proofs by which they are
not supported.
Having seen that the objection, suggested by the limitation of
152 RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.'
the number of those who saw Jesus after his resurrection, may easi-
ly he answered, I proceed to state the different kinds of evidence
which we, in these hiter ages, have for the truth of this fact. They
are three. The traditionary evidence arising- from the universal
diffusion of the behef of this fact through tlie Christian world — the
clear testimony of the apostles recorded in their writing's — and the
extraordinary powders conferred upon the apostles.
The lowest degree of evidence, which we enjoy for the resurrec-
tion of Jesus, is that kind of traditionarj' evidence which arises from
the universal diffusion of the belief of this fact through the Christ-
iau world. It appears from the earliest Christian writers, that it
was the g^eneral faith of all who named the name of Christ, that he
had risen from the dead. We are told that the first Christians, in
that exultation of mind of which our familiarity with the great
truths of religion makes it difficult for us to form a just conception,
were accustomed to salute one another when they met, with this
expression, Xoisrog ansffTi^ [Christ has risen] : and the first day of
the week, which, from the beginning of the Christian church, was
called Kus/axT] Tj/mpu [the Lord's day,] and in all parts of the Christ-
ian world has been observed as the day upon which the followers of
Jesus assemble for the exercises of devotion, is a standing unequi-
vocal memorial of the truth of the fact which upon that day espe-
cially is remembered. It is impossible to conceive how so extra-
ordinary a fact should have been so universally propagated, if it had
not been founded in the certain uncontradicted knowledge of those
who lived near the time. But, strong as this presumption may justly
be held, the faith of future ages in so essential a fact required a more
determinate snp}!ort.
And this is found in the clear precise testimony of the apostles,
those witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat and drink with
Jesus after he rose from the dead ; a testimony transmitted to us
in the authentic genuine record of discourses that were delivered
before his murderers in the city where he suffered, six weeks after he
rose ; and of other discourses, and histories, and epistles, in which
eye-witnesses declare what they had seen, and heard, and handled
of the word of life. To this office Jesus separated the apostles,
when he called them, as soon as he began to teach, to be always
with him ; and when he said to them a little before his death, " Ye
also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the be-
ginning ;" and a little before his ascension, " Ye shall be witnesses
unto me to the uttermost parts of the earth." The apostles had
this apprehension of the nature of their office ; for when the place
of Judas was to be supplied, Peter says to the disciples, " Of these
men that have companied with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us, must one be ordained to be a witness
with us of his resurrection." And to Paul, who was an apostle
RESURRECTION OP CHRIST. 153
*< born out of due time," Jesus appeared from heaven, that he might
also }je a witness of the things which he had seen.
You may mark here an uniformity in the evidence of Christiani-
ty. The same persons, who are to us the witnesses of the signis
which Jesus did in the presence of his disciples are witnesses also
of his having risen from the dead. In both cases they do not de-
clare opinions upon doubtful points, Init they attest palpable facts,
level to the apprehension of the plainest understanding : and their
clear unambiguous testimony to the miracles and the resurrection
of Jesus, in which they agreed with themselves and with one au-
otlicr till the end, is written in the same books, that we may be-
lieve that he is the Christ, the Son of God.
We are thus led back to those circumstances which were former-
ly stated as giving credibility in our days to the miracles of Jesus ;
such as the character of the apostles, the scene of danger and suf*
fering in which their testimony was given, the fortitude with which
they adhered to it, and that simplicity, that air of truth, which per-
vades the evangelical history, and which falsehood cannot uniform-
ly preserve. AH these circumstances are common to the record of
the miracles and to the record of the resurrection. But there are
some internal marks of truth in the history of the resurrection,
which are peculiarly fitted to impress conviction upon all who are
capable of apprehending them. I shall mention the three follow-
ing. The history of the I'esurrection, published during the life of
the witnesses of that event, relates the consternation which it ex-
cited amongst the enemies of Jesus, the awkward attempts which
they made to affix the charge of imposture upon the disciples, and
the currency of that report among the Jews at the time of the pub-
lication of the history. Again, the historians exhibit the prejudices
of the apostles, their slowness of heart to believe, the natural man-
ner in which their doubts were overcome, and the combination of
circumstances by which a firm belief of the resurrection was esta-
blished in the minds of the witnesses, and a foundation v.as laid for
the faith of succeeding ages. There are, lastly, that apparent im-
perfection and inaccuracy in the several accounts of this transaction,
and those seeming contradictions, which render it impossible for any
person to believe that there was a collusion amongst the evange-
lists in framing their story, ajul which yet are of such a kind, that
the ingenuity of learned men, by attending to minute and delicate
circumstances which escape ordinary observers, has forined out of
the four narrations a consistent, probable account of the whole tran-
saction. It is not possible for me to enlarge ujion these points.
But they are so essential to this most interesting article of our faith,
that they deserve your closest study. And for that purpose I re-
commend to you the four following books, which every student of
g2
154
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
divinity ought to read. The first is Ditton on the Resurrectioi/,
One part of this book is a general view of the nature of moral evi-
dence, and of the obligation which lies upon every reasonable being
to assent to certain degrees of moral evidence ; the other part is an
application of this general view to the testimony upon which the
resurrection of Christ is received ; and is calculated to show that
this testimony has all the qualifications of an evidence obligatory on
the human understanding. The second book is known by the name
of the Trial of the Witnesses. There are a judge, a jury, and
pleaders upon both sides of the question. The arguments are sum-
med up by the judge, and the jury are unanimous in their verdict
that the apostles were not guilty of bearing false witness in their
testimony of the resurrection. The form of the book, as well as the
excellence of the matter, has rendered it popular ; and it will be par-
ticularly useful to you by making you acquainted with the oljections
and the heads of the answers. The third is, Gilbert West's Obser-
vations upon the history of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which
you will find both as a separate book, and also inserted in Watson's
Tracts. This masterly writer lays together the several narrations,
so as to form a consistent account of the whole transaction. He
gives a very full view, first, of the order and the matter of that evi-
dence which was laid before the apostles, and then of the arguments
which induce us, in this remote age, to receive that evidence. His
book, according to this plan, not only places in the strongest light
those internal marks of credibility by which the history of the re-
surrection is distinguished, but also embraces most of the alignments
for the truth of Christianity. The fourth is Cook's Illustration of
the General Evidence of the Resurrection of Christ, a work which
displays much acuteness, and a degree of novelty in the manner of
stating that evidence. Even Dr Priestley, an author whom I fre-
quently mention in the following parts of my course, but whose
name I seldom have occasion to quote in support of any doctrine of
the Christian religion, and whose creed Mr Gil>bon has well called
a scanty one, has said in one of his latest publications, " The re-
surrection of our Saviour, being the most extraordinary of all events,
the evidence of it is remarkably circumstantial, in consequence of
which, there is not perhaps any fact in all ancient history so per-
fectly credible, according to the most established rules of evidence,
as it is."*
Besides the univeral tradition, in the Christian church, and the
written testimony of the apostles, there is yet a third ground upon
which we believe the resurrection of Christ.
" If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater;"
* Hist, cf Early Opinions, iv. 19.
RESURRECTION' OF CHRIST. 155
and that witness was given in the extraordinary powers which were
conferred upon the apostles hefore they heg-an to execute their com-
mission, and which continued with them always. I stated these
powers formerly as the fulfilment of prophecy. But they present
themselves at tliis place as the vouchers of the testimony of the
apostles ; and in this light they are uniformly stated both by our
Lord and by the witnesses themselves. He said to them before his
death, " But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, he shall testify of me ;" and " he will con-
vince the world of sin, because they believe not on me."* Again,
a httle before his ascension, he said, " Ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses
to me."f Peter, in one of his first sermons, speaking of the resur-
I'ection and exaltation of Jesus, says, " We are his witnesses of these
things ; and so is also the Holy Ghost whona God hath given to
them that obey him.":j: The word translated Comforter, in the first
passage that I quoted, is craoaxXyjros, which exactly corresponds in
etymology to the Latin word advocatus., from which comes our
word advocate, a person called in to stand by another in a court of
justice, to assist him in pleading his cause, and confuting his adver-
saries. The apostles spake before kings and govei'nors, before the
whole world, bearing witness to the resurrection of Christ. But
lest they should be confounded by the svd)tlety, or overwhelmed by
the power of their enemies, here is a divine person pi'omised to con-
firm what they said, and to join with them in convincing the woidd
of their sin in i^ejecting Jesus, and of his righteousness, that although
he had been condemned as a malefactor, he was accounted righteous
in the sight of God. His own works were the evidence, to whicli
he always appealed in his lifetime, that God was with him; and when
he left the earth, the works which he enabled his servants to per-
form, the same in kind with his own, were the evidence that he had
returned to his Father. " Therefore," says Peter on the day of
Pentecost, " being by the right hand of (iod exalted, and having
received of tlie Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath she I
forth this, which ye now see and hear."§
Here is another instance of that uniformity which we have often
occasion to mark in the evidence of Christianity ; the same divine
attestation of the servants of Jesus as of himself; the same proof
of his resurrection from the dead, as of the high claim which he ad-
vanced when he was alive- " The works which I do," he said, " bear
witness that the Father hath sent me ; and the works which I do,
shall ye my apostles do also, because Fgo to my Father." We are
thus led back to the amount of the argument from miracles, in order
* John XV. 20 ; xvi. 8, 9. f Acts i. 8. J Acts. v. 3:2. § Acts ii. 33.
156 RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
to perceive the nature of that confirmation which this testimony of
the Spirit gives to the testimony of the apostles. If there be an
ahnighty Ruler of the universe, who has established what we call
the laws of nature, and who can suspend them at his pleasure ; and
if this almightv Ruler be a God of trutb, who takes an interest in
the happiness of his reasonable offspring-, it is impossible that the
apostles of Jesus could be invested with powers, the exertion of
which was fitted to convince every candid observer of the truth of
an imposture ; and, therefore, since signs and wonders, far beyond
the measure of human power are ascribed to the apostles in authen-
tic histories published at the time, in epistles addressed by them-
selves to the witnesses of those signs, and in the writings of authors
nearly contemporary ; since no attempt was made to disprove the
facts at the time when the imposture might have been easily ex-
posed, and since the signs were expressly wrought in confirmation
of this assertion of the apostles, that their Master was risen from
the dead, we are constrained by the strong^est moral evidence to be-
lieve that that assertion was true.
It is impossible for words to make this argument plainer. But
there are some particulars which may illustrate the economy of the
divine dispensation in conferring these extraordinarj- pov/ei's, and
the connexion which they have with the other liranches of the
evidence for Christianity.
The day upon which our Lord rose was the day after that Sab-
bath which was the passover, i. c. it was the first day of the week,
the Jewish Sabbath being- the seventh ; and it was called in the
Levitical law, the wave-offering-. Pentecost was the Tevr-z^/coffrf) ^/xsga,
the 50th day from the wave-oftering. It was therefore also the
first day of the week, and it was a day upon which all the males of
Judea were supposed to be present before the Lord in Jerusalem.
Our Lord remained forty days upon earth after his resurrection,
and he probably spent the greatest part of that time in Galilee.
But he was in the neighliourhood of Jerusalem upon the fortieth
day, for he ascended from Mount Olivet.* The apostles, who
probably would feel it to be their duty as Jews to be present at the
apjiroachiijg festival, were commanded by their Master not to de-
part from Jerusalem till they received the promise of the Father :
for, said he, " Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence."
Accordingly the eleven returned from the mount, where they
had witnessed the ascension, to Jerusalem, and continued quietly
with the disciples in prayer and supplication. We have reason to
think that they did not appear in public ; and we do not read of
' Luke xxiv. 00; Acts i. 12.
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 157
any other transaction but tilling- up the Apostolical College, till the
day of Pentecost, the 10th day after the ascension, when, being
" all with one accord in one place, they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost." The gift of tongues was the first that was exer-
cised, because it was suited to the occasion. Devout Jews and
proselytes were assembled, from respect to the festival, out of all
countries. To every one in his own tongue, the apostles, inspired
Avith fortitude, another gift of the Spirit, spoke the wonderful
works of God. And Peter explained the appearance which excited
their wonder, to be the attestation which, in fulfilment of their
own prophecies, God was now bearing to the resurrection of the
Messiah, whom, after all the works that he had done in the midst,
of them, their rulers had crucified, but whom God had exalted.
You can thus trace, in the time of conferring these powers, the
wise adjustment of means to an end. You see the silence and
quietness, which had been maintained after the death of Christ,
abundantly compensated by the public manner in which the gospel
is first preached. The apostles are directed to submit their claim
to the examination of the greatest multitude that could lie assem-
bled at Jerusalem ; and the report, which this multitude would
cai'ry to their own countries of so extraordinary an appearance,
was employed as an instrument of preparing many dift'erent parts
of the world for the preaching of the apostles, who were soon to
visit them. The powers themselves are delineated in the Acts
and in the Epistles. You read of the woi'd of wisdom, i. c. a clear
comprehensive view of the Christian scheme — the word of know-
ledge, pi'ohably the faculty of tracing the connexion between the
Jewish and Christian dispensation — prophecy, either the applying
of the prophecies in the Old Testament, or the foretelling future
events — heahng — the gift of tongues — the gift of interpreting
tongues — and the gift of discerning spirits, /'. e. perceiving the true
character of men under the disguise which they assumed, so as to
be able to detect impostors.* There is a variety in these gifts
corresponding to all the possible occasions of the teachers of this
new rehgion. Some of them, being external and visible, Avere the
signs and pledges of those which, although invisible, were not less
necessary. Some of them were disseminated through the Christ-
ian chui'ch, and the gifts of healing and of tongues were often con-
ferred by the hands of the apostles upon believers. This abundance
of miraculous gifts was proper at that time, to demonstrate to the
world the fulness of those treasures which were dispensed by the
Lord Jesus, the dignity with which he had invested his apostles,
and the obligation which lay upon all Christians to receive his
• 1 Cor. xii. 8—10.
158 RESURRECTION OP CHRIST.
word at their mouth. It was proper to rouse the attention of the
world to a new rehgion, to overcome those considerations of pru-
dence which made them unwilHng- to forsake the rehgion of their
fathers, and to inspire them with steadfastness in the faith. It was
proper also to remove the prejudices which the Jews entertained
against the Heathen, and to satisfy those who boasted of the pri-
vileges of the law, that God had received the Gentiles. Cornelius
and his kinsmen and his friends were the first uncircumcised per-
sons to whom the Gospel was preached. They of the circumcision
who believed were astonished when they saw the gift of the Holy
Ghost poured out upon them, and heard them speak with tongues.
Peter considered this as his warrant to baptize them ; and when
he reported it afterwards to the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem,
they no longer blamed what he had done, but " held their peace,
and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life."
This abundance of miraculous gifts, which so many reasons ren-
dered proper at the first appearance of Christianity, was gradually
withdrawn as the occasions ceased. We have no reason to think
that any but the apostles had the power of conferring such gifts
upon others. We are not indeed warranted to say that miraculous
gifts were never visible in any who had not received them from
the hands of the apostles. But we know that in the succeeding
generations they became more rare. And when we were speaking
of this subject formerly, we found writers in the third, and begin-
ning of the fourth century, acknowledging that only some vestiges
of such gifts remained in their days.
If you lay together the several particulars which have been
mentioned respecting the economy of these mii'aculous gifts, it will
appear that, as from their nature, they were the unquestionable
witnesses of the Spii'it, confirming the testimony which the apos-
tles bore to the resurrection of their Master ; so, in the manner of
their being conferred, every wise observer may trace the finger of
God. There is none of that waste which betrays ostentation, none
of that scantiness or delay which implies a defect of power, no cir-
cumstance unworthy of the divine author of them : but the wisdom
and power of God are united in the cause of the Gospel, and the
same fitness and dignity, which distinguished the miracles of Je-
sus, are transferred to the works which his Spirit enabled his apostles
to perform.
[ 159 ]
CHAP. IX.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
In our Lord's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, we meet
with these words : " This Gospel of the kingdom shall first be
preached to the world for a witness to all nations, and then shall
the end come." These words mark the space intervening- between
the prediction and the termination of the Jewish state, that is, a
space of less than forty years, as the period within which the Gos-
pel was to be preachetl to all nations. When we attended to the
fulfilment of this prophecy, we found that the account given in the
book of Acts, of the multitude of early converts, of the dispersion
of the Christians, and of the success of Paul's labours, is confirm-
ed by the most unexceptionable testimony. We learn from Taci-
tus, that in the year of our Lord 63, thirty years after his death,
there was an immense multitude of Christians in Rome. From
the capital of the world the communication was easy through all
the parts of the Roman Empire ; and no country then discovered
was too distant to hear the Gospel. Accordingly it is generally
agreed that, l)efore the destruction of Jerusalem, Scythia on the
north, India on the east, Gaul and Egypt on the west, and Ethio-
pia on the south, had received the doctrine of Christ. And Bri-
tain, which was then regarded as the extremity of the earth, ])eing
frequently visited during that period by Roman emperors or their
generals, there is no improbability in what is affirmed by Christian
historians, that the Gospel was preached in the capital of this island
thirty years after the death of our Saviour. The last fact which
Sci'ipture contains respecting- the propagation of Christianity is
found in the book of the Revelation. It appears from the epistles
which John was commanded to write to the ministers of the
churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Phila-
delphia, and Laodicea, that there were, during the life of that
apostle, seven regular Christian churches in Asia Minor. We may
consider the facts hitherto mentioned as the fulfilment of that pro-
phecy which I quoted. As to the progress of our religion, sub-
sequent to the period marked in the prophecy, we derive no light
from the books of the New Testament, because there is none of
them which we certainly know to be of a later date than the de-
160 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
struction of Jerusalem. But there are other authentic monuments
from which I shall state to you the fact ; and then I shall lead you
to consider the force of the argument for the truth of Christianity,
which has been grounded upon that fact.
The younger Pliny, proconsul of Bithynia, writes in the end of
the first century to the emperor Trajan, asking directions as to his
conduct with regai'd to the Christians. The letter of Pliny, the
97th of the 10th book, ought to be familiar to every student of di-
vinity. He represents that many of every age and rank were cal-
led to account for bearing the Christian name ; that the contagion
of that superstition had spread not only through the cities, but
through the villages and fields ; that the temples had been desert-
ed, and the usual sacrifices neglected. There are extant two apo-
logies for Christianity, written by Justin Martyr, about the mid-
dle of the second century, and one by TertuUian before the end of
it. These apologies, which were public papers addressed to the
emperor and the Roman magistrates, mention with triumph the
multitude of Christians. And there is a work of Justin Martyr,
entitled a dialogue with Trypho the Jew, published about the year
146, in which he thus speaks, — " There is no nation, whether of
Barbarians or Greeks, whether they live in waggons or tents,
amongst whom prayers are not made to the Father and Creator of
all, through the name of the crucified Jesus." Both Christian and
heathen writers attest the general dilfusion of Christianity through
the empire during the third century; and in the beginning of the
foiirth, Constantine, the emperor of Rome, declared himself a
Christian. If we consider the emperor as acting from conviction,
Christianity has reason to boast of the illustrious convert. If we
consider him as acting from policy, his finding it necessary to pay
such a compliment to the inclinations of the Chi'istians is the
strongest testimony to their numbers. After Chinstianity became,
by the declaration of Constantine, the established religion of the
empire, it was diifused, under that character, through all the pro-
vinces. It was em])raced by the barbar ous nations who invaded dif-
ferent parts of the empire, and it received the sanction of their au-
thority in the independent kingdoms which they founded. From
them it has been handed down to the nations of modern Europe.
It is at present professed throughout the most civilized and en-
lightened part of the world ; and it has been carried in the progress
of modern discoveries and conquests to remote quarters of the globe,
where the arms of Rome never penetrated.
Upon these facts there has been grounded an argument for the
truth of our religion. Gamaliel said in the sanhedrim, when the
Gospel was first preached, " If this counsel or this work be of men,
it will come to nought. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 161
it."* The counsel has not been overthrown, therefore it is of God.
The argument is specious and striking-, and, with proper qualifica-
tions, it is sound. But much caution is required in stating- it. And
as I have given you the facts without exaggeration, so it is my
duty to suggest the difficulty to which the argument is exposed,
and" to warn you of the danger of hurting the cause which you mean
to serve, by arguing loosely from the success of the Gospel.
SECTION I.
We are not warranted to consider the success of any system which
calls itself a religion, as an infallible proof that it is divine. The
prejudices, the ignorance, the vices, and follies of men, a particular
conjuncture of circumstances, and the skilful application of human
means, may procure a favourable reception for an imposture, and
may give the belief of its divinity so firm possession of the minds
of men, as to render its reputation permanent. We justly infer
from the moral attrilmtes of God that he will not invest a false
prophet with extraordinary powers. But we are not warranted to
infer that he will interpose in a miraculous manner to remove the
delusion of those who sul)mit their understandings to be misled by
the arts of cunning men. He has given us reason, by the right use
of which we may distinguish truth from falsehood. He leaves us
to sufter thenatui'al consequences of neglecting to exercise our rea-
son ; and it is presumptuous to say that there can be no fraud in a
scheme, because the Almighty, for the wise purposes of his govern-
ment, or in just judgment upon those who had not the love of the
truth, permitted that scheme to be successful.
As the reason of the thing suggests that success is not an une-
quivocal proof of the divine original of any system, so the provi-
dence of God has afforded Christians a striking lesson, how care-
ful they ought to be in qualifying the argument deduced from the
propagation of Christianity. For, in the seventh century of the
Christian era, there arose an individual in Arabia, who, although
he be regarded by every rational inquirer as an impostor, was able
to introduce a religious system, which in less than a century spread
through Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Persia, which has subsisted
• Acts V. 36, 39.
162 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
in vigour for more than eleven hundred years, and is at this day
the established religion of a portion of the world much larger than
Christendom. The followers of Mahomet triumph in the extend-
ed dominion of the author of their faith. But a Christian, who
understands the method of defending his religion, has no reason to
be shaken by the empty boast. For thus stands the argument.
When we are able to point out the human causes which havepro-
duced any event, the existence of that event is no decisive proof of
a divine interposition. But when all the means that were employ-
ed appear inadequate to the end, we are obliged to have recourse
to the linger of God ; and the inference, which arises from our be-
ing unable to give any other account of the end, will be drawn
without hesitation, if there be positive evidence that, in the accom-
plishment of the end, there was an exertion of divine power.
When you apply this universal rule in trying the argument
which appears at first sight to be equally implied in the success of
the two religions, you find the history of the one so clearly dis-
criminated from the history of the other, that the inference, which
a proper examination of circumstances enables a Chrisiian to draw
from the success of the Gospel, does in no degree belong to the
disciples of Mahomet. The best guide whom you can follow in
making this discrimination is Mr White, who, availing himself of
that acquaintance with eastei'n literature to which his inclination
and his profession had conspired to direct him, has published a
volume of Sermons, entitled, A Comparative View of Christianity
and Mahometanism, in their history, their evidence, and their
effects. There is in these sermons much valuable and uncommon
information combined with great judgment, and expressed in a
nervous and elevated style. They meet many of the objections of
modern times, and form one of the most complete and masterly
defences of the truth of Christianity. You will learn from him,
better than from any other writer, the favourable circumstances to
which Mahomet owed his success. And the short picture, which
I am now to give you of these circumstances, is little more than
an abridgment of some of Mr White's sermons.
Born in an ignorant imcivilized countiy, and amidst indepen-
dent tribes of idolatrous Arabs, when the Roman empire was
attacked on every side l)y barbarians, when the Christian world
was torn with dissension about inexplicable points of controversy,
when the simplicity of the Gospel was corrupted, and when Christ-
ian charity was forgotten in the bitterness of mutual persecution,
Mahomet, who possessed strong natural talents, saw the possibility
of rising to eminence as the great reformer of religion. Having
waited till his own mind was matured by meditation, and till he
had established in the minds of his neighbours an opinion of his
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 163
sanctity, he began at the age of forty to deHver chapters of the
Koran. During' the long space of twenty-three yeai's, he had an
opportunity of trying- the sentiments of his countrymen. By
successive communications he corrected what had proved disagree-
able, and he accommodated his system so as to give the least pos-
sible oifence to Jews, or Christians, or idolaters. He admitted
the divine mission of Moses and of Jesus. He inculcated the
unity of God, which is a fundamental article of the Jewish and
Christian religions, and which was not denied by many of the
surrounding idolaters. From the Old and New Testament he
borrowed many sublime descriptions of the Deity, and much ex-
cellent morality ; and all this he mixed with the childish traditions
and fables of Arabia, with a toleration of many idolatrous rites,
and with an indulgence of the vices of the climate. And thus
the Koran is not a new system discovering the invention of its
author, but an artful motley mixture, made up of the shreds of
different opinions, without order or consistency, full of repetitions
and absurdities, yet presenting to every one something agreeable
to his prejudices, expressed in the captivating language of the
country, and often adorned with the graces of poetry. To his
illiterate countrymen such a work appeared marvellous. The arti-
fice and elegance with which its discordant materials were com-
bined so far surpassed tkeir inexperience and rudeness, that they
gave credit to the declarations of Mahomet, who said it was
delivered to him by the angel Gabriel. The Koran became the
standard of taste and composition to the Arabians ; and the blind
admiration of those who knew no rival to its excellence was easily
transformed into a belief of its divinity.
In the beginning of his scheme, Mahomet met with much op-
position, and he was obliged at one time to fly from Mecca to
Medina. His reputation had prepared for him a favourable recep-
tion in that city. His address, his superior knowledge, and the
influence of his connexions, soon gathered round him a small
party, with which he began to make those predatory excursions,
which have, in every age, been most agreeable to the character of
the Arabs. Mahom.et pretended, that as all gentle methods of
reforming mankind had proved ineffectual, the Almighty had
armed him with the power of the sword ; and he went forth to
compel men to receive the great prophet of heaven. His talents
as a leader, the success of his first expeditions, and the hope of
booty, increased the number of his followers. It was not long-
before he united into one body the trilies of x'\rabs who flocked
around his standard ; and at the time of his death he was medi-
tating distant conquests. The magnificent project which he had
conceived and begun was executed with abihty and success by th«
164 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
caliphs, to whom he transmitted his temporal and spiritual power.
They led the Arabs to invade the neighbouring- provinces, and by
their victorious arms they founded, upon the religion of the Koran,
an empire, which the joint influence of ambition and enthusiasm
continued for ages to extend.
Mahomet, then, is not to be classed with the teachers of piety
and virtue, whose success may be considered as an example of the
power of truth over the mind. He ranks with those conquerors,
whom the spirit of enterprise and a concurrence of circumstances
have conducted from a humble station to renown and to empire.
He is distinguished from them chiefly by calling in religion to his
aid ; and his sagacity in employing so useful an auxiliary is made
manifest by the progress and the permanence of his scheme. But
the means were all human ; the only assistance which Mahomet
pretended to receive from heaven consisted of the revelation which
dictated to him the Koran, and the strength which crowned him
with victory. How far a revelation was necessary for the compo-
sition of the Koran may be left to the decision of any person of
taste and judgment who remembers, when he reads it, that Ma-
homet was in possession of the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament. How far the strength of heaven was necessary to
give victory to Mahomet may be left to the judgment of any one
who compares the spirit of the Arabs, 'influenced and directed
by the character and the views of their leader, with the wretched
condition of those whom they conquered. Yet these were the
only pretences to a divine mission which Mahomet made. He
declared that he had no commission to work miracles ; and he
appealed to no other prophecies than those which are contained in
our Scriptures.
And thus, as the introduction of his scheme did not imply the
exercise of supernatural powers, as no positive unequivocal evi-
dence of his possessing such powers was ever adduced, so his
success may be fully accounted for by human means. The more
that an intelligent reader is conversant with the Koran, he discerns
the more clearly the internal marks of imposture ; and the more
that he is conversant with the manners of the times in which
Mahomet lived, and with the history of the progress of his em-
pire, he is the less surprised at the propagation and the continu-
ance of that imposture.
When you turn from this picture to view the history of the
progress of Christianity, the striking contrast will appear to you
to warrant the conclusion which the followers of Jesus are accus-
tomed to draw from the success of his religion.
In a province of the Roman empire, after it had reached the sum-
mit of its glory, and in the Augustan age, the most enlightened pe-
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 165
riod of Roman history, there appeared a Teacher delivering- open-
ly, in the temple and the synagogue, the purest morality, the most
spiritual institutions of worship, and the most exalted theology,
not in a systematical form, hut in occasional discourses, and in the
simplest language. He committed his instructions, not to writing,
but to a few illiterate men who had been his companions ; and the
number of his disciples, after he was crucified by the voice of his
countrymen, did not exceed 120. His apostles, in teaching what
they had received from their Master, had to encounter an opposi-
tion which, by all human rules of judgment, was sufficient to create
an insurmountable obstacle to the progress of their doctrine. They
had to combat the vices of an age which, according to all the pic-
tures that have been drawn of it, appears to have exceeded the usual
measure of corruption. Yet they did not accommodate their pre-
cepts to the manners of the world, but denounced the wrath of God,
against all unrighteousness of men, against practices which were
nearly universal, and the indulgence of passions which were esteem-
ed innocent or laudable. They had to combat what is generally
more obstinate than vice, the religious spirit of the times ; for they
commanded men " to turn from idols to serve the living God."
That reverence for public institutions which even an unbeliever may
feel, that attachment to received opinions, that fondness for ancient
practices, and those prejudices of education, which always animate
narrow minds, united with the influence of the priests, and of all the
artists who lived by ministering to the magnificence of the temples,
against the teachers of this new doctrine. The zeal of the wor-
shippers, revived by the retxirn of those festivals at which the
Christians refused to partake, often broke forth with fury. The
Christians were considered as atheists ; and it was thought that the
wrath of the gods could not be better appeased than by pouring every
indignity and abuse upon men who presumed to despise their wor-
ship. The wise men in that enlightened age, who rose above the
superstition of their countrymen, although they joined with the
Christians in thinking contemptuously of the Gods, were not dis-
posed to give any countenance to the teachers of this new system.
They despised the simplicity of its form, so different from the sub-
tleties of the schools. When at any time they condescended to lis-
ten to its doctrines, they found some of them inconsistent with their
received opinions, and mortifying to the pride of reason. They con-
founded with the popular superstitions a doctrine which professed
to enlighten the great body of the people, and they condemned the
prohibition of idolatry ; for it was their principle, that philosophers
might dispute and doubt concerning religion as they pleased, but
that it was their duty, as good citizens, to conform to the establish-
ed modes of worship. Upon these grounds, Christianity was so far
166 I'ROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
from being favourably received by the heathen philoso^jhers, that it
was early opposed and ridiculed by them ; and they continued to
write against it after the empire had become Christian.
The unbelieving Jews were the bitterest enemies of the Christ-
ian faith. They beheld with peculiar indignation the progress of
a doctrine, which not only invaded the prerogative of the law of
Moses, by claiming to be a divine revelation, but even professed to
supersede that law, to abolish the distinctions which it had esta-
blished, and to enlighten those whom it left in darkness. National
pride, and the bigotry of the Jewish spirit, were alarmed. The
rulers, who had crucified the Lord Jesus, continued to employ all
the power left them by the Romans in persecuting his servants ;
and the sufferings of the first Christians arose from the envy, the
jealousy, and fear of a state, which the prophecies of their Master
had devoted to destriiction.
It was not long before the Christians felt the indignation of the
Roman emperors and magistrates. The Roman law guarded the
established religion against the introduction of any new modes of
worship which had not received the sanction of public authority;
and it was a principle of Roman policy to repress private meetings
as the nurseries of sedition. " Ab nuUo genere," says M. Porcius
Cato, in a speech preserved by Livy, " non aeque summum pericu-
lum est, si coetus, et concilia, et secretas consultationes esse sinas."*
[There is no danger equal to that of allowing meetings, and coun-
cils, and secret deliberations.] Upon this principle, the Christians,
who separated themselves from the established worship, and held
secret assemblies for the observance of their own rites, were consi-
dered as rebellious subjects ; and when they multiplied in the em-
pire, it was judged necessary to restrain them. Pliny, in the let-
ter to which I referred, says to Trajan, " Secundum tua mandata
iraiotag esse vetueram ;" [according to thy commands, I had prohi-
bited the assemblies.] And Trajan, in his answer, requires that
every person who was accused of lieing a Christian shoiild vindicate
himself from the charge, by offering sacrifice to the gods. " Con-
quirendi non sunt ; si deferentur et arguentur puniendi sunt ; ita
tamen ut qui negaverit se Christianum esse, idque re ipsa manifes-
tum fecerit, id est, supplicando deis nostris, quamvis suspectus, in
praeteritum fuerit, veniam ex po^nitentia impetret." [They are not
to be sought for ; if they are brought before you, and convicted,
they must be punished ; yet so that he who shall deny that he is a
Christian, and shall make this plain by his conduct, that is, by pray-
ing to our gods, however he may have been suspected in time past-,
shall be pardoned on repentance.]
It was not always from the profligacy or cruelty of the empe-
* Liv. xxxiv. 2.
4
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 167
rorsthat the sufferings of the Christians flowed. Some of the best
princes who ever filled the Roman throne, men who were an orna-
ment to human nature, and whose administration was a blessing
to their subjects, felt themselves bound, by respect for the esta-
blished religion and care of the public peace, to execute the laws
ag-ainst this new society, the principles of whose union appeared
formidable, because they were not understood. Accordingly, eccle-
siastical historians have numbered ten persecutions before the con-
version of Constantine ; and an innumerable company of martyrs
are said to have sealed their testimony with their blood, and to
have exhibited amidst the most cruel sufferings, a fortitude, resig-
nation, and forgiveness, which not only demonstrated their firm
conviction of the truths which they attested, but conveyed to
every impartial spectator an impression that these men were as-
sisted by a divine power which raised them above the weakness of
humanity. Voltaire, Gibbon, and other enemies of Christianity,
avvare of the force of that argument which arises from the multi-
tude of the Christian martyrs, and from the spirit with which they
endured the severity of their sufferings, have insinuated that there
is much exaggeration in the accounts of this matter ; that the ge-
nerous spirit of Roman policy rendered it impossible that there
should be an imperial edict enjoining a general persecution ; that
although the people might be incensed against the obstinacy and
sullenness of the Christians, the magistrates, in their different pro-
vinces, were their protectors ; that there was no wanton barbarity
in the manner of their sufferings ; and that none lost their lives
but such as, by provoking a death in which they gloried, put it out
of the power of the magistrates to save them.
It is natural for a friend to humanity and an admirer of Roman
manners, to wish that this apology were true ; and it is not un-
likely that the vanity of Christian historians, indignation against
their persecutors, and the habits of rhetorical declamation, have
swelled, in their descriptions, the numbers of the martyrs. It is
most likely that the mob were more furious than the magistrates ;
that those who were entrusted with the execution of the Roman
laws would observe the spirit of them in the mode of trying per-
sons accused of Christianity ; and that the governors of provinces
might, upon several occasions, restrain the eagerness with which
the Christians were sought after, and the brutality and iniquity
with which they were treated. But after all these allowances, any
person who studies the history of the Christian church will per-
ceive that there is much false coloiiring in the apology which has
been made for the Roman magistrates ; and we can produce incon-
testible evidence, the concurring testimony of Christian and hea-
then writers, that, upon the principles which have been explain-
168 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITy.
ed, Christianity was puMicly discoiiraged in all parts of the Roman
empire ; and that, although favourable circumstances ])rocured some
intervals of respite, there were many seasons when this reli-
gion was persecuted by order of the emperors — when the Christians
were liable to imprisonment and confiscation of their estates — and
when death, in some of its most terrifying forms, was inflicted upon
those who, being brought before the tribunals, refused to abjure the
name of Christ.
Such was the complicated opposition which the apostles of Jesus
had to encounter. Yet the measure of their success was such as I
have stated. Without the aid of power, or wealth, or popular pre-
judices ; without accommodation to reigning vices and opinions ;
without drawing the sword or fomenting sedition, or encouraging
the admiration of their followers to confer upon them any earthly
honours — but by humble, peaceable, laborious teaching, they diffu-
sed through a great part of the Roman empire the knowledge of a
new doctrine ; they turned many from the idols which they had
worshipped, and from the enormities which they had practised, to
serve the living God ; and this spiritual system advanced under every
discouragement, till the conversion, or the policy of Constantine
rendered it the established religion of the Roman empire. All spe-
culations concerning the contagion of example, the zeal that is kin-
dled by persecution, the power of vanity, and the love of the mar-
vellous, are visionary, when you apply them to account for the
change which Christianity made during the three first centuries.
That multitudes in every country, and of every age and rank, should
forsake the religion in which they had been educated, and embrace
one which was much stricter, and which brought no worldly advan-
tage, but exposed them to the heaviest afflictions ; that they should
be thus converted by the preaching of mean men, and that their con-
version should appear in the reformation of their lives as well as in
the alteration of their worship, is a phenomenon of which we re-
quire some cause, whose influence does not depend upon refined spe-
culations, but is real and permanent ; and not being able to And any
such cause in the human means that were employed, we are led by
the })rinciples of our nature to acknowledge the interposition of the
Almighty.
But this is the very conclusion to which we were formerly con-
ducted. It is said in their books that God bare witness to the
apostles by signs, and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the
Holy Ghost. And there is as clear histoi'ical evidence as the na-
ture of the case admits of, that this assertion is true. The change,
then, which we have been contemplating, is no longer unaccount-
able. Miracles wrought by the first teachers of Christianity were
sufficient to rouse the attention of the world even in the most su-
3
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 169
perstitious age, and the argument employed in them was so plain
as to be level to every understanding-, and so powerful, that we
are not surprised at its overcoming-, in the breasts of those who
beheld them, all considerations of prudence and expediency. The
eye-witnesses of the miracles, yielding to the demonstrations of
the Spirit, gave glory to God by receiving his servants ; and when
the signs done by the hands of the apostles were transmitted to
succeeding ages, attested by an innumerable cloud of witnesses,
the certain knowledge that they had been wrought produced in the
minds of numbers a full conviction, that the religion of Jesus was
introduced into the world by the mighty power of God.
Thus, then, stands the argument arising from the propagation
of Christianity. The human means appear wholly inadequate to
the effect. But there is positive evidence of a divine interposi-
tion ; and if that be admitted, the effect may easily be explained.
The two parts of the argument illustrate one another. The mi-
racles, which we receive upon a strong concurring testimony, en-
able us to assign the cause of the propagation of Christianity ; and
the knowledge of that propagation, which we derive from history,
reflects additional light and credibility upon the miracles. The
discrimination between the success of Mahomet and the establish-
ment of Christianity is so clear and striking, that we may with
perfect fairness apply the reasoning of Gamaliel to the latter, al-
though we do not admit that it has any force when applied to the
former.
These are the principles upon which you may safely argue from
the success of the gospel that it is of divine origin. But although
the argument, when thus stated, approves itself to every candid
mind as sound and conclusive, there are still several difficulties re-
specting the propagation of Christianity.
SECTION II.
I MENTION, first, an objection which a celebrated part of the writ-
ings of Mr Gibbon has suggested to the account given in the pre-
ceding- Section. The 13th chapter in his first volume professes
to be a candid, but rational inquiry into the progress and establish-
ment of Christianity. " Our curiosity is naturally prompted to
inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable
VOL. I. H
170 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
a victory over the established religions of tbe earth. To this in-
quiry an obvious but satisfactory answer may be returned ; that it
was owing- to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to
the ruling Providence of its great Author. But as truth and rea-
son seldom find so favourable a reception in the worh], and as the
wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions
of the human heart and the general circumstances of mankind as
instruments to execute its purpose, we may still be permitted,
though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were
the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth
of the Christian church."
The soundest divine might have used this language. We ac-
knowledge that the providence of God condescends to employ A'a-
rious instruments to execute his purpose ; and therefore, while we
affirm that the manifestation of the power of God was the great
mean of overcoming those prejudices, which prevented the easy
admission of truth and reason into the minds of the first hearers
of the gospel, we admit that there were also means prepared by
the providence of God to facilitate the progress of this religion.
But it happens that Mr Gibbon is doing the office of an enemy,
while he speaks the language of a friend. His object is to show,
that the joint operation of the five secondary causes, which he enu-
merates, is sufficient to account for the propagation of Christianity;
and the influence which the whole chapter tends to convey to the
mind of the reader, although it be nowhere expressed, is this, that
there is not any occasion for having recourse, in this matter, to the
ruling providence of God. The five secondary causes enumerated
by Mr Gibbon are these, 1. " The inflexible and intolerant zeal of
the Christians, derived, it is true, from the Jewish religion, but
purified from the narrow and unsocial spirit which, instead of in-
viting, had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of Moses."
2. " The doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional cir-
cumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important
truth." 3. " The miraculous powers of the primitive church." 4.
" The virtues of the primitive Christians." 5. " The union and
discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually formed an in-
dependent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman Empire."
Mr Gibbon's illustration of these five causes is not a logical dis-
cussion of their influence upon the propagation of Christianity, such
as might have been expected from his manly understanding. But
it is filled with digressions, which, although they often detract from
the influence of the causes, serve a purpose more interesting to the
author than the illustration of that influence, by presenting a de-
grading view of the religion which these causes are said to promote.
It is filled with indirect and sarcastic insinuations, with partial re-
PROrAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 171
presentations of facts and arguments, and with very strained uses
of quotations and authorities. I consider the fifteenth chapter of
Mr Gibbon's history as the most uncandid attack which has been
made upon Christianity in modern times. The eminent abilities,
the brilhant style, and the high reputation of the author, render it
particularly dangerous to those whose information is not extensive :
and therefore I recommend to you — not to abstain from reading it.
Such a recommendation would imply some distrust of the cause
which Mr Gibbon has attacked, and a compliance with it would be
very unbecoming an inquirer after truth. But I recommend to you
to read along with this chapter some of the answers that have been
made to it. I know no book that has been so completely answer-
ed. The author, indeed, continues to discover the same virulence
against Christianity in the subsequent volumes of his work, upon
subjects of less importance than the causes of its propagation, and
where the indecent controversies amongst Christians give him the
appearance of a triumph in the eyes of those who confound true
religion with the corruptions of it. But any person who has ex-
amined the fifteenth chapter with due care, and with a sufficient
measure of information, must, I think, entertain such an opinion
of the inveteracy of Mr Gibbon's prejudices against Christianity,
and of the arts which those prejudices have made him stoop to em-
ploy, as may fortify his mind against any inclination to commit
himself to a guide so imsafe in every thing which concerns religion.
When you attend to the nature of the five secondary causes,
you are at a loss to conceive how they come to be ranked in the
place which Mr Gibbon assigns them. If by the intolerant and
inflexible zeal of the first Christians be meant their ardour and ac-
tivity in promoting a religion which they believed to be divine,
we reachly admit that the labours of the apostles and their succes-
sors were an instrument by which God spread the knowledge of
the Gospel. But this cause is so far from accounting for the con-
viction which the first teachers themselves had of the facts which
they attested, that their ardour and activity are incredilile, unless
they proceeded from this conviction ; and the kind of inflexibility
and intolerance of the idolatry and the vices of the world, which
was necessarily connected with their conviction of the great facts
of Christianity, was more likely to deter than to invite men to
embrace it. If by the doctrine of a futiire life be meant the hope
of life eternal, which is held forth with assurance in the gospel to
the penitent, this is so essential a branch of the excellency of the
doctrine, that it cannot, with any propriety, be called a secondary
cause ; and those adventitioiis circumstances which Mr Gibbon
represents as connected with this hope, he means the speedy dis-
solution of the world, and the reign of Christ with his saints upon
172 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
earth for a thousand years, commonly called the Millennium, ap-
pear to every rational inquirer to have no foundation in Scripture,
and never to have formed any part of the teaching- of the apostles.
If by the miraculous powers of the primitive church be meant the
demonstration of the Spirit, which accompanied the first preaching
of the Gospel in the signs and wonders done by the hands of the
apostles, this is manifestly a part of the ruling providence of its
great master. It is not denied that the miracles, which rest upon
unexceptionable historical evidence, were succeeded by many pre-
tensions to miraculous powers after this gift of the Spirit was
withdrawn. But it is not easy to conceive how these pretensions
obtained any credit in the Christian church, unless it was certainly
known that many real miracles had been wrought ; and it is ob-
vious that the multitude of delusions which were practised tended
to discredit the Gospel in the eye of every rational inquirer, and,
instead of promoting the success of the new religion, was most
likely to confound it with those Pagan fables which it commanded
men to forsake. The virtues of the primitive Christians were ex-
hibited in circumstances so trying, that they recommended the
new religion most powerfully to the world. But these virtues,
which were the native expression of faith in the Gospel, and the
fruit of the Spirit, must be resolved into the excellence of the
doctrine. Mr Gibbon, indeed, has drawn under this head a pic-
ture of the manners of the primitive Christians, which holds them
up to the ridicule and censure, not to the admiration, of the world.
The colouring of this picture has been discovered to be, in many
places, false and extravagant : and this glaring inconsistency strikes
every person who attends to it, that an author who assigns the
virtues of the primitive Christians as a cause of the propagation
of (Christianity, chooses to degrade that religion by such a repre-
sentation of these virtues, as, if it were true, would satisfy every
reader that they had no influence in producing the effect which he
ascribes to them.
In stating the last cause, there is an obvious inaccuracy, which
Mr Gibbon would not have been guilty of upon another subject.
He is professing to accoimt for the rapid growth of the Christian
church. His fifth cause is the union and discipline of the Christ-
ian republic, which gradiiaUy formed an independent state ; and
his account of the manner of its formation extends through the
three first centuries of the Christian era. It matters not to the
subject upon which it is introdiu^ed, whether the account be just
or false ; for it is manifest that the rapid gi'owth of the Christian
church in the first and seco)id centuries cannot be ascribed to the
union and discipline of the Christian republic, which was not com-
pleted till after the third century.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 173
You will perceive by the short specimen which I have given,
that the danger of Mr Gibbon's book does not arise from his hav-
ing discovered five secondary causes of the propagation of Clu-ist-
ianity, to which the world had not formerly attended. It arises
from the manner in which he has illustrated them : and the only
way to obviate the dangler is to canvass his illustration very closely.
There is very complete assistance provided for you in this exer-
cise.
Mr White has touched upon Mr Gibbon's five causes shortly,
but ably, in his Comparative View of Mahometanism and Christ-
ianity. Bishop Watson, in his Apology for Christianity, has
given, with much animation, and without any personal abuse, a
concise clear argument upon every one of the five causes, which
appears to me to show, in the most satisfactory manner, that they
do not answer the purpose for which they are introduced, and that
it is still necessary to have recourse to the ruling providence of
the great Author of Christianity in order to account for its propa-
gation. After Bishop Watson's Apology was published, an an-
swer was made to this 15th chapter, by Sir David Dalrymple,
Lord Hailes, entitled, An Inquiry into the secondary causes which
Mr Gibbon assigns for the rapid growth of Christianity. Sir Da-
vid was peculiarly fitted for such an inquiry. He had an acute
distinguishing mind, enriched with a very uncommon measure of
theological reading, and capable of the most patient minute inves-
tigation. He was a zealous friend of Christianity. And he has
applied his talents with great success in hunting out every misre-
presentation and contradiction into which Mr Gibbon was betrayed
by his favourite object. There is not so much general reasoning
in the Inquiry as in the Apology. But Lord Hailes has sifted
the loth chapter thoroughly. He treats his antagonist with de-
cency, and yet he triumphs over him in so many instances, and
brings conviction home to the reader in so pointed a manner, that
he is warranted to draw the conclusion which I shall give you in
the moderate terms that he has chosen to employ. " Mr Gibbon's
first proposition is, that Christianity became victorious over the
established religions of the earth, by its very doctrine, and l)y the
ruling providence of its great Author ; and his last, of a like im-
port, is, that Christianity is the truth. Between his first and his
last propositions there are, no doubt, many dissertations, digi'es-
sions, inferences, and hints, not altogether consistent with his
avowed principles. But much allowance ought to be made for
that love of novelty which seduces men of genius to think and
speak rashly ; and for that easiness of belief, which inclines us to
rely on the quotations and commentaries of confident persons,
without examining the authors of whom they speak. From a I'e-
174 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
view of all that he has said, it appears that the things which Mr
Gibbon considered as secondary or human causes, efficaciously
promoting- the Christian religion, either tended to retard its pro-
gress, or were the manifest operations of the wisdom and power of
God."
SECTION III.
As Mr Gibbon dwells upon secondary causes, it occurs in this
place to mention the rank and character of those who were con-
verted to Christianity in early times. It is obvious to observe,
that although the condition and circumstances of the first teachers
had been ever so mean, if by any accident their doctrine had been
instantly adopted by men of superior knowledge or of commanding-
influence, there might have been, in this way, created a secondary
cause, sufficient, in some measure, to account for the propagation
of Christianity. But the fact long continued to correspond to the
description given by the apostle Paul, not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble were called. God employed the foolish
to confound the wise, and those who were despised to confound
those who were highly esteemed, that no flesh might glory in his
presence, and that the excellency of the power might appear to
be of him.* Yet even hei'e a bound was set by the wisdom of
God. Had Christianity been embraced in early times only by the
ignorant vulgar, it might have been degraded in the eyes of suc-
ceeding ages ; and the universal indifference or unbelief of those,
whose understandings had received any degree of culture and en-
largement, might have conveyed to careless observers an impres-
sion that this new religion was an irrational, mean superstition.
To obviate this objection, even the Scriptures mention the names
of many persons of superior rank who embraced Christianity at
its first publication ; and we know that, during the two first
centuries, men completely versed in all the learning of the times
left the schools of the philosophers, and employed their talents
and their knowledge in explaining and defending the (bjctrines of
Christ. Quadratus and Aristides were Athenian philosophers,
who flourished in the very beginning of the second century, and
who continued to wear the dress of philosophers after they became
* 1 Cor. i. 2G, 27, 28 ; 2 Cor. iv. 7.
PROPAGATION OF CPIRISTI ANITY. 175
Christians. Their apologies for Christianity are quoted by very
ancient historians ; but the quotations made from them are the
only parts of them now extant. We still have several works of
Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century. In his dialogue
with Trypho the Jew, he gives an account of the time and atten-
tion which he had bestowed upon the study of Platonism, and the
admiration in which he once held that doctrine. But now, he
says, having been acquainted with the prophets and those men
who were tbe friends of Jesus, I have found that this is the only
safe and useful philosophy. And thus I have become a philosopher
indeed. Taurriv jmovov iv^iaaov fiXoanipiav aa^paXri n xai c!ufM(po^ov. [^This
only I have found safe and useful pbilosophy.]
There was one early convert to Christianity, whose attainments
and whose character may well be considered as constituting a most
powerful secondary cause in its propagation. I mean the apostle
Paul, a learned Pharisee, bred at the feet of Gamaliel, a man of an
ardent elevated mind, and of a strong well-cultivated understanding,
who laboured more abundantly than all the apostles, with indefati-
gable zeal, and with peculiar advantages. But it is remarkable that
this man, in preaching the gospel, did not avail himself of all the arts
which he had learned to employ. His knowledge of the law was use<l
not to support, but to overturn the system in which he had been
bred. There is not in his writings the most distant approach to the
forms of Grecian or Asiatic eloquence ; and there are a freedom and
a severity in his reproofs, very different from the courtly manner
which his education might have formed. His conversion is in it-
self an illustrious argument of the truth of Christianity. You will
find the force of this argument well stated in a treatise of the first
Lord Lyttelton, entitled. Observations ou the Conversion and
Apostleship of St Paul ; one of those classical essays which every
student of divinity should read. The elegant and amiable writer,
whose name is dear to every man of taste and virtue, demonstrates
the following points with a beautiful persuasive simplicity. 1. The
supposition, either of enthusiasm or of imposture, is insufficient to
account for the conversion of this apostle ; 2. The character of his
mind, and the history of his life, conspire in confirming the narra-
tion so often repeated in the l)ook of Acts ; 3. That narraticn in-
volves in it the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, the great fact
which the apostles witnessed ; 4. Paul had had no opportunity of
holding any previous concert with the other apostles, but was com-
pletely separated from them ; b. His situation gave him the most
perfect access to know whether there was truth in the report pub-
lished by them, as witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus ; and
therefore his concurrence with the other apostles, in publishing
that report, and preaching the doctrine founded upon it, is an ac-
176 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITT.
cession of new evidence after the first promulgation of Christia-
nity. The force of this new evidence will always remain with those
who acknowledge the hooks of the New Testament to be authen-
tic. And, for the benefit of the Christians who lived before the
books were published, it was wisely contrived that the new evidence
should arise out of the history of that man whose labours contri-
buted most largely to the conversion of the world, so that, in the
very person from whom they received their faith, they had a de-
monstration of its being divine.
And thus you observe, that, while the humble station of the
rest of the apostles necessarily leads us to a divine interposition, as
the only mean of qualifying such men for being the instructors of
the world, the condition and education of the apostle Paul, which
furnished a secondary cause that was useful in the propagation of
Christianity, do, at the same time, render his conversion such an
argument for the truth of that religion, as is much more than suf-
ficient to counterbalance all the advantages which it could possibly
dei'ive from his knowledge and his talents. All this you will find
illustrated in a very full life of St Paul, which Dr Macknight has
prefixed to his commentary on the epistles.
SECTION IV.
I HAVE stated the qualifications which are necessary in order to
render the ax'gument arising from the propagation of Christianity
sound and conclusive ; I have suggested the manner of obviating
the objections contained in Mr Gibbon's account of the secondary
caiises which promoted the rapid growth of the Christian church ;
and I have mai'ked the argument implied in the conversion of the
apostle Paul.
All thjt I have hitherto said respects the means employed in
propagating the Gospel. But there is another set of objections
that will often meet you respecting the measure of the effect which
these means have produced. " If the Gospel was really intro-
duced by the mighty power of God, why was it not published much
earlier ? It is as easy for the Almighty to exert his power at one
time as at another, yet the world was four thousand years old be-
fore the Gospel appeared. Why is this beneficent religion dif-
fused through so small a portion of the globe ? It has been said
that if our earth be divided into thirty equal parts, Paganism is
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 177
^stablishefl in nineteen of those parts, Mabometanism in six, and
Christianity only in five. Why have the evil passions of men been
permitted to mingle themselves with the work of God ? Why has
the sword of the persecutor been called in to aid the counsel of
heaven p Why does the Gospel now spread so slowly, that the
triumphs of this religion seem to have ceased not many centuries
after they began? Why has a system, in support of which the
Ruler of the universe condescended to make bare bis holy arm,
degenerated, throughout a great part of the Christian world, into a
corrupt form, very far removed from its original simplicity ? And
why is its influence over the hearts and lives of men so inconsi-
derable, even in those countries where the truth is taught as it is
in Christ Jesus ? This partiality, and delay, and imperfection in
the propagation of the Gospel resemble very much the work of
man, whose limited operations correspond to the scantiness of his
power. But all this is very unlike the word of the Almighty,
which runneth swiftly throughout the whole earth, to execute all
the extent of the gracious purpose formed by the Universal Father
of mankind."
I have stated these olyections in one view with all their force»
You will find them not only urged seriously in the works of deis-
tical writers, but thrown out lightly and scoffingly in conversation,
so that it behoves you very much to ])e well apprized of the man-
ner of answering them. It is impossible for me to enter into any
detail upon this subject ; but I shall suggest to you, in the six fol-
lowing propositions, the heads of answers to all objections of this
kind, leaving them to be enlarged and applied by your own reading.
1. Observe that these questions, were they much more pointed
and unanswerable than they are, could not have the effect to over-
turn historical evidence. If there be positive satisfying testimony
that the divine power was exerted in support of Christianity at its
first promulgation, our being unalile to account for the particular
measure of the effect which that exertion has produced does not,
by any clear connexion of premises with a conclusion, invalidate
the testimony, but only discovers our ignorance of the ways of
God ; and this is an ignorance which we feel upon every other
subject, which, in judging of the works of nature, we never admit
as an argument against matter of fact, and which any person, who
has just impressions of the limited powers of man, and the immense
extent of the divine counsels, will not consider as of weight when
applied to the evidences of religion.
2. Observe that all the questions imply an expectation that God
will bestow the same rv4igious advantages upon the children of
men in every age and country. But, as no person, who under-
stands the terms which he uses, will say that God is bound in jus-
H 2
178 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY*
tice to distribute his favours equally to all his creatures, so no
person who attends to the course of Divine Providence will baled
to draw any such expectation as the questions imply, from the con-
duct of the Almif^hty in other matters, liecollect the diversities
of the human species, the differences amongst individuals, in vi-
gour of constitution, in bodily accomplishments, in the powers of
understanding, in temper and passions, in the opportunities of im-
provement, and the measure of comfort and enjoyment, or of toil
and sorrow, which their situations afford. Recollect the differences
amongst nations in climate, in government, in the amount of na-
tural and political advantages, and in the whole sum of national
prosperity. It is imj)ossible for us to conceive how the subordi-
nation of society could be maintained, if all men had the same
talents ; or how the course of human affairs could proceed, if every
part of the globe was like every other. Being thus accustomed to
behold and to admire the varieties in the natural advantages of
men, we are prepared, by the analogy of the works of God, to ex-
pect like varieties in their religious advantages ; and although we
may not be al)le to trace all the reasons why the light of the Gos-
pel was so long of appearing, or is at present so unequally distri-
buted, yet if we bear in mind that this is but the beginning of our
existence, and that every man shall, in the end, be dealt with, ac-
cording to that which had been given him, we shall not for a
moment annex the idea of injustice to this part of the Divine
conduct.
3. Observe that these questions imply an expectation that, while
human works admit of preparation, the work of God will, in every
case, be done instantly. But it is manifest that this expectation
also is contradicted by the whole coiu'se of nature. For although
God may, by a word of his mouth, do all his pleasure, yet he gene-
rally chooses, for wise reasons, some of which we are often able to
trace, to employ means, and to allow such a gradual operation of
those means, as admits of a progress, in which one thing paves the
way for another, and gives notice of its approach. In all that pro-
cess by which food for man and beast is brought out of the ground
— in the opening of the human mind from infancy to manhood —
and in those natural changes which affect the bowels or the surface
of the earth, we profit very much by marking the slow advances of
nature to its end ; and therefore we need not be surprised to Hud
the steps of Divine Providence in the publication of the Ciospel very
different from the haste, which, in our imagination, a])pears desira-
ble. As there is a time of maturity in natural productions to which
;dl the preparation has tended, so the Gospel appeared at that sea-
son which is styled in Scripture the fulness of tinu^, and which i
found, u])0u a close attention to circumstances, to have been the tit
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 179
test for such a revelation. There is an excellent sermon upon this
subject by Principal Robertson, which you will find in the " Scots
Preacher," disting'uished by that soundness of thought, and that
compass of historical information, which his other writings may lead
you to expect. The same subject will often meet you in the books
that you read upon the deistical controversy ; and when you attend
to the complete illustration which it has received from the writings
of many learned men, you will be satisfied that, as the need of an
extraordinary revelation was at that time become manifest, so the
improvements of science, and the political state of the world, con-
spired to render the age in which the Gospel appeared l)etter qua-
lified than any preceding age for examining the evidences of a reve-
lation, for affording many striking confirmations of its divine origi-
nal, and for conveying it with ease and advantage to future ages.
The preparation which produced this fulness of time had been car-
rying forward during 4000 years ; and nearly 2000 have elapsed
while Christianity has been spreading through a fifth part of the
globe. But this slowness, so agreeable to the general course of
nature, will not appear to you inconsistent with the wisdom or good-
ness of the Almighty, when you,
4. Observe that in all this there was a preparation for the uni-
versal diffusion of the Gospel. A considerable measure of religious
knowledge was diffused through the world before the appearance of
the Gospel ; and the delay of its universal publication has perhaps
already contributed, and may be so disposed in future as to contri-
bute still more to prepare the world for receiving it. The few sim-
ple doctrines of that traditional religion which existed before the
deluge, were transmitted, by the longevity of the patriarchs, through
very few hands for the first 1400 years of the world. Methuselah
lived many years with Adam ; Shem lived many years with Me-
thuselah ; and Abraham lived with Shera till he was 75. Between
Adam and Abraham there were only two intermediate links ; yet a
chain of ti'adition, extending through nearly 1700 years, and em-
bracing the creation, the fall, and the promise of a Saviour, was pre-
served. The calling of Abraham, although it conferred peculiar ad-
vantages upon his family, was fitted, by his character and situation,
to enlighten his neighbours ; and the whole history of the Jewish
people — their sojourning in Egypt, the place which they were des-
tined to inhabit, their conquests, and the captivities by which they
were afterwards scattered over the face of the earth, rendered them,
in an eminent degree, the lights of the world. Bryant, in his
" Mythology," and men who have applied to such investigations,
have traced, with much proljability, a resemblance to the Mosaic
system in the religions of many of the neighbouring nations ; and if
we pay any attention to the force of the instances in which this re-
180 PROPAGATION OP CHRISTIANITY.
semblance has been illustrated, even although we should not give
credit to all the conjectures that have been advanced, we can hard-
ly entertain a doubt that the revelation with which the Jews were
favoured was a source of instruction to other people. During the
existence of this peculiar religion wise men were raisedup,bythepro-
vidence of God, in many countries, who did not, indeed, pretend to
be the messengers of heaven, but whose discoveries exposed the
growing corruptions of the established systems, or whose laws im-
posed some restraint upon the excesses of superstition ; while the
progress of society, and the advancement of reason, opened the
minds of men to a more perfect instruction than they had former-
ly been qualified to receive.
These hints suggest this enlarged view of the economy of Divine
Providence, that God in no age left himself without a witness, and
that the several dispensations of religion, in ancient times, both to
Jews and heathens, were adapted to the circumstances of the human
race, so as to lead them forward by a gradual education from times
of infancy and childhood to the rational sublime system unfolded in
the Gospel.
It is following out the same view, to consider the partial propa-
gation of the Gospel as intended to prepare the world for receiving
it. Many of the heathen moralists, who lived after the days of our
Saviour, discover more refined notions of God, and more enlarged
conceptions of the duties of man, than any of their predecessors.
They profited by the Gospel, although they did not acknowledge
the obligation ; and they disseminated some part of its instruction,
although they disdained to appear as its ministers. The Koran in-
culcates the unity of God, and retains a part of the Christian mo-
rality ; and thus the successful accommodating religion of Mahomet
may be considered as a step, by which the providence of God is to
lead the nations that have embraced it from the absurdities of Pa-
ganism to the true faith. When Christianity became the establish-
ed religion of the Roman empire, the other parts of the world were
very far behind in civilization, and many of the countries that have
been lately discovered are in the rudest state of society. B\it the
conversion of savage tribes to a spiritual rational system is imprac-
ticable. Much time is necessary to open their understandings, to
give them habits of industry and order, and to render them, in some
measure, acquainted with ideas and manners more polished than their
own. A long intercourse with the nations of Europe, who appear
fitted by their character to be the instructors of the rest of the
world, may be the mean appointed by God for removing the preju-
dices of idolatry and ignorance ; and as the enlightened discoveries
of modern times make us acquainted with the manners, the views,
and the interests, as well as with the geographical situation of all
3
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 181
the inhabitants of the globe, we may, not indeed with the precipi-
tancy of visionary reformers, but in that gradual progress which the
nature of the case requires, be the instrument of preparing- them for
embracing our religion ; and, by the measure in which they adopt
our improvements in art and science, they may become qualified to
receive, through our communication, the knowledge of the true God
and of his Son Christ Jesus.
5. Observe that the objection, implied in some of the questions
that I stated, necessarily arises from the employment of human
means in that partial propagation of the Gospel which has already
taken place. Any such objection might have been effectually ob-
viated by a continued miracle ; but it remains to be inquired whe-
ther the nature of the case, or the general analogy of Divine Pro-
vidence, gives any reason to expect this method of obviating the
objection. Had the outstretched arm of the Almighty, which first
introduced the Gospel, continued to be exerted through all succeed-
ing ages in the propagation of it, the course of human affairs would
have been unhinged, and the argument from miracles would have
been weakened, becatise the extraordinary interposition of the Al-
mighty would, by reason of its frequent returns, have been confound-
ed with the ordinary course of nature. The divine original of the
gift, therefore, being- ascertained, the hand of Him from whom it
had proceeded was M^isely withdrawn, and human passions and in-
terests were comliined, by his all-ruling Providence, to diffuse it in
the measure which he had ordained. The pious zeal of many
Christians in early and later times, the vanity, ambition, or avarice,
which led others to promote their private ends by spreading the faith
of Christ, the wide extent of the Roman empire at the time when
Christianity became the established religion of the state, the sub-
sequent dismemberment of the empire by the invasions and settle-
ments of the barbarous nations, and the spirit of commerce which
has carried the descendants of these nations to regions never visit-
ed by the Roman arms, are some of the instruments employed by
the providence of God in the propagation of Christianity. It was
not to be expected, that in a propagation thus committed to human
means, the heavenly gift would escape all contamination from the
imperfect and impure channels through which it was conveyed ; and
it cannot be denied that there have been many corruptions, many
improper methods of conveiting men to Christianity, and many gross
adulterations and perversions of " the faith once delivered to the
saints." But you will observe in genei'al, that although the gifts
of God are liable to abuse through the imperfections and vices of
men, such abuse is never considered as any ai'gument that the gifts
did not proceed from him : and with regard to the corruptions of
182 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Christianity in particular, you will observe, that so far from their
creating any presumption against the evidence of our religion, there
are circumstances which render them an argument for its divine ori-
ginal. They are foretold in the Scriptures. They arose by the ne-
glect of the Scriptures, and they were in a great measure remedied
at the Reformation, by the return of a considerable part of the
Christian world to that truth which the Scriptures declare. The
case stands thus. The Gospel contains a system of faith and prac-
tice, which is safely deposited in those authentic records that are re-
ceived by the whole Christian world. That system was indeed de-
formed in its progress by the errors and passions of men, but it breaks
through this cloud by its own intrinsic light. The striking man-
ner in which the prophecy of the corruptions of Christianity has
been fulfilled forms an important branch of the evidence of our re-
ligion. The discussions which they occasioned have contributed
very much to render the nature of the Gospel more perfectly un-
derstood ; and the farther that the Christian world departs either
from those corruptions to which the Reformation applied a remedy
or from any others which the Scriptures condemn, the divinity of
their religion will become the more manifest. Hence you may
perceive an advantage arising from the slowness with which the
Gospel was propagated for many centuries. In its rapid progress
before the destruction of Jerusalem, the pure doctrine of tbe apos-
tles was carried by themselves, or their immediate successors,
through all the parts of the then known world. But had it spread
with equal rapidity in the dark ages, all the absurdities which at
that time adhered to it would have spread also ; and so universal a
disease could hardly have admitted of any remedy. It is now pu-
rified from a great part of the dross. The influence of the Refor-
mation has extended even to Roman Catholic countries ; and in
those which are reformed, the progress of knowledge, and the ap-
plication of sound criticism, are continuing to illustrate the genuine
doctrines of Christ. The Gospel will thus be communicated with
less adulteration to those parts of the world which are yet to re-
ceive the first notice of it : and that free intercourse, which the
spirit of modern commerce is now opening between countries
which formerly regarded each other with jealousy, may be the
mean of extirpating the errors of Popery which were sown in
remote regions by the zeal of Roman Catholic missionaries. These
are pleasing views, sufficient to overpower the peevish objection
suggested by the corruptions of Christianity ; they lead us to con-
sider the Almighty as making all things work together for the es-
tablishment of truth and righteousness iipon earth ; and they teach
us to rest with assurance in the declaration of Scripture, that " all
4
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 183
the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our
Lord."
6. One part of the objection only remains. It cannot be denied
that there is mnch wickedness in Christian countries, even in those
which hold the truth in its primitive simplicity. It is not unna-
tural for a benevolent mind, which wishes the virtue of mankind
as the only sure foundation of their happiness, to regret that the
Gospel does not produce a more complete reformation of the vices
of the world ; and if the most important blessing which a revela-
tion can confer is to turn men from their iniquities, a doubt may
sometimes obtrude itself even upon a candid and devout mind, how
far the effect really produced is proportioned to the long prepara-
tion, and the mighty works which ushered in the Gosjiel. The fol-
lowing observations serve to remove this doubt. It is extremely
difficult to attain to any precise notion of the sum of wickedness
in ancient times ; and there are no data upon which w^e can form
any estimate of what would have been the measure of wickedness
in the present circumstances of society, if the Gospel had not ap-
peared. The religion of Jesus has extirpated some horrid practices
of ancient times : it has refined the manners of men in war, and in
several important articles of domestic intercourse ; and it has pro-
duced an extension and activity of beneficence unknown in the
heathen world. It imposes restraints upon those evil passions and
inordinate desires, which, were it not for its influence, would be
indulged by many without control ; and it cherishes in the breasts
of individuals those private virtues of humility, patience, and resig-
nation, which do not receive all the honour which is due to them,
because their excellence withdraws them from public observation.
It addresses itself to every principle of action in the human breast
with greater energy than any other system ever did ; the tendency
of all its parts is to render men virtuous ; and if it fails in reform-
ing the world, we cannot conceive any method of reformation con-
sistent with the character of free agents, that is likely to prove
efiectual. It is according to this character that God always deals
with the children of men. Religion joins its influence to reason.
But it is an inconsistency in terms to say that religion should com-
pel men to be virtuous, because compulsion destroys the essence
of virtue.
These observations appear to me to be a sufficient answer to the
objection against the truth of Christianity, which has been drawn
from its appearing to have little influence upon the lives of Christ-
ians. But I am sensible that they are not sufficient to counteract
the influence of this objection upon the minds of men. The
wickedness of those who call themselves Christians is undoubtedly
184 PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
a reproach to our religion. It is a grief to the friends of Christia-
nity, and the most ready sarcasm in the mouths of its enemies. It
is your business, the office for which all your studies are meant to
prepare you, to diminish the influence of this objection. If you
convert a sinner from the error of his ways, or brighten by your
example and your discourse, the graces of the disciples of Christ,
you confirm the argument arising from the propagation of our re*
ligion. And the best service that you can render to that honoui*-
able cause, in support of which you profess to exert your talents,
is to exhibit in your own character the genuine spirit of Christia-
nity, and to illustrate the principles of that doctrine which is accord-
ing to godliness, in such a manner as may render them, through
the blessing of God, the means of improving the character of your
neighbours.
'J'he amount of the answers which I have suggested may be sum-
med up in a few words. Any objection, arising from the mea-
sure of the effect produced by the Gospel, cannot overturn direct
historical evidence of a divine interposition. We are not war-
ranted, by the course of nature, and the conduct of divine Pro-
vidence in other matters, to expect either that the Almighty will
confer the same religious advantages upon all his creatures, or that
he will accomplish, in a short space of time, that publication of
the Gospel which formed part of his original purpose. A consi-
derable measure of religious knowledge was diffused through the
world during the preparation for the appearance of the Gospel, and
the delay of its universal publication may contribute to prepare
the world for receiving it. The corruptions of Christianity, which
arose unavoidably from the human means employed in its propa-
gation, could not have been obviated without a continued miracle ;
and the imperfect degree in which the Gospel has actually re-
formed the world, however much it may be a matter of regret to
Christians, yet, when compared with the excellence and energy
of the doctrine, is only a proof that religion was given to improve,
but not to destroy, the character of reasonable agents.
Besides the books mentioned in the course of this chapter, you may read two
excellent sermons of Bishop Atterbury, on the Miraculous Propagation of
the Gospel.
You will derive the most enlarged views upon this, as upon every other sub-
ject connected with Christianity, from Butler's Analogy, particularly from
Part ii. chap. vi. at the beginning.
Consult also Jortin.
Law's Considerations on the Theory of Religion.
Paley's Evidences, vol. ii.
Hill's Sermons.
Shaw and Dick upon the Counsel of Gamaliel.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 185
Macknight's Truth of the Gospel History ; a book that deserves to be better
known, and more generally read than it is. All the authorities and argu-
ments, which are concisely stated by other writers, are spread out in that
large work with a fidness and clearness of illustration that is very useful, and,
in many places, with a degree of acuteness and ingenuity that is not com-
monly met with. He has dwelt very largely upon the argument for the
truth of the Ciiristian religion, which arises from the conversion of the world
to Christianity. You will find, in this part of his work, a most complete
elucidation of the whole argument — the history of the ten persecutions be-
fore Constantine — and a great deal of information with which it is highly
proper your minds should he furnished, and which you will not easily gather
from any other single treatise.
186 ]
BOOK II.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SCRIPTURAL SYSTEM.
CHAP. I.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
I HAVE stated the evidence upon which we receive the books of
the New Testament as authentic genuine records ; and I have long-
been employed in examining- this high claim which they advance,
that they contain a divine revelation. It appeared that this claim
was not contradicted by the general contents of the books, but ra-
ther that there was a presumption arising from thence in its favour.
We found the claim directly siipported by miracles received upon
clear historical evidence, by the agreement of the new dispensation
with a train of prophecies contained in books that are certainly
known to have existed many ages before our Saviour was born, by
the striking fulfilment of his prophecies, by his resurrection from
the dead, by the miraculous powers conferred upon his apostles
after his ascension, and by the propagation of his religion.
But, even after this review of the principal evidences of the truth
of Christianity, there remains a very interesting question, before
we are prepared to enter upon a particular examination of the sys-
tem of truth revealed in the books of the New Testament. The
question is, whether we are to regard these books as inspired writ-
ings ? It is possible, you will observe, that Christ was a divine
messenger, that the persons whom he chose as his companions dur-
ing his al)ode upon earth were endowed by him with the power of
working miracles ; and yet that, in recording the history of his life,
and publishing the doctrines of his rehgion, they were left merely
to the exercise of their own recollection and understanding. Upon
this supposition, the miracles of our Lord and his apostles may be
received as facts established by satisfying historical evidence ; and
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 187
an inference may be drawn from them, that the person who per-
formed such works, and who committed to his disciples powers si-
milar to his own, was a teacher sent from God ; and yet the writ-
ing's of the apostles will be considered as human compositions, dis-
tinguished from the works of other men merely by the superior ad-
vantages which the authors had derived from the conversation of
such a person as Jesus, but in no respect dictated bv the Spirit of
God.
This is the system of the modern Socinians, which their eager-
ness to get rid of some of the doctrines, that other Christians con-
sider as clearly revealed in Scripture, has led them of late openly
to avow. I quote the sentiments of Dr Priestley from one of his
latest publications, the very same in which he bears a strong- testi-
mony to the credibility of the resurrection of Jesus. " I think that
the Scriptures were written without any particular inspiration, by
men who wrote according to the best of their knowledge, and who,
from their circvimstances, could not be mistaken with respect to the
greater facts of which they were proper witnesses, but (like other
men subject to prejudice) might be liable to adopt a hasty and ill-
grounded opinion concerning things which did not fall within the
compass of their own knowledge, and which had no connexion with
any thing that was so." " Setting aside all idea of the inspiration
of the writers, I consider Matthew or Luke as simply historians,
whose credit must be determined by the circumstances in which
they wrote, and the nature of the facts which they relate." And
again, when he is speaking of a particular doctrine, in proof of which
some passages in the Epistles ai'e generally adduced, Dr Priestley
says, " It is not from a few casual expressions in epistolary writ-
ings, which are seldom composed with so much care as books in-
tended for the use of posterity, that we can be authorised to infer
that such was the serious opinion of the apostles. But if it had
been their real ojjinion, it would not follow that it was true, un-
less the teaching of it should appear to be included in their gene-
ral commission."*
And thus, according to Dr Priestley, there is no kind of inspira-
tion either in the Gospels or in the Epistles. He admits them to
be wi'itings of the apostles. But he maintains that the measure of
regard due to any narration or assertion contained in these writ-
ings is left to be determined by the rules of criticism, by human
reason judging how far that assertion or narration was included in
the commission of the apostles, i. e. how far it is essential to the
Christian religion. Different persons entertain different apprehen-
sions concerning that which is essential to revelation. And, ac-
* History of Early Opinions, vol. iv. p. 5, 58 ; vol. i. p. 70.
188 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
cording- to Dr Priestley's system, every person being at liberty to
deny any part of Scripture that appears to him unessential, there
is no invariable standard of our religion ; but the Gospel is to every
one just what he pleases to make it. Accordingly Dr Priestley, who
sometimes argues very ably for the divine mission of Jesus, by
availing himself of that liberty which he derives from denying the
inspiration of Scripture, has successively struck out of his creed
many of those articles which appear to us fundamental. And you
may judge of the length to which his principles lead, when one of
his followers, in a publication avowedly under his protection, has
written an essay to show that our Lord was not free from sin.
Many years before Dr Priestley's writings appeared, the received
notions of the inspiration of the apostles, which had been held by
Christians without much examination, were acutely canvassed. Dr
Conyers Middleton, author of the Life of Cicero, has done eminent
service to the Protestant cause, by exposing the imposture of the
Popish miracles, and by tracing, in his letter from Rome, the hea-
then original of many ceremonies of the church of Rome. But his
attachment to Christianity itself is very suspicious, and he is far
from being- a safe guide in any questions respecting the truth of our
holy faith. In some of his miscellaneous tracts he infers from the
dispute between Peter and Paul at Antioch,* from the variations in
the four evangelists, and from other circumstances, that the inspi-
ration of the apostles was only an occasional illapse, communicated
to their minds at particular seasons, as the power of working mi-
racles was given them only at those times when they had occasion
to exert it ; that they were not under the continual direction of an
unerring Spirit : and that, on ordinary occasions, they were in the
condition of ordinary men. Nearly the same opinion is held by the
late Gilbert Waketield, who was a disciple of Priestley, but who
does not appear to advance so far as his master. He contends, that
a plenary infallible inspiration, attending and controlling- the evan-
gelists in every conjuncture, is a doctrine not warranted by Scrip-
ture, unnecessary, and injurious to Christianity ; although he ad-
mits that the illuminating spirit of God had purified their minds
and enlarged their ideas. The system of Bishop Benson, in his
essay concerning inspiration, prefixed to his paraphrase of St Paul's
Epistles, is, that the whole scheme of the Gospel was communicat-
ed from Heaven to the minds of the apostles, was faithfully retain-
ed in their memories, and is expounded in their writings by the use
of their natural faculties. The loose notions concerning inspira-
tion, entertained by the vulgar and by those mIio never thought
deeply of the subject, go a great deal farther. But it is proper that
• Gal. ii.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 189
you should know distinctly what is the measure and kind of inspi-
ration which we are warranted to hold.
In order to establish your minds in the belief that the Scriptures
are given by inspiration of God, it is necessary to begin with ob-
serving-, that inspiration is not impossible. The Father of Spirits
may act upon the minds of his creatures, and this action may ex-
tend to any degree which the purposes of divine wisdom require.
He may superintend the minds of those who write, so as to prevent
the possibility of eri'or in their writings. This is the lowest de-
g-ree of inspii'ation. He may enlarg-e their understandings, and
elevate their conceptions beyond the measure of ordinary men.
This is a second degree. Or he may suggest to them the thoug^hts
which they shall express, and the words which they shall employ,
so as to render them merely the vehicles of conveying his will to
others. This is the highest degree of inspiration. No sound theist
will deny that all these three deg-rees are possible ; and it remains
to be inquired, what reason we have for thinking' that the Al-
mighty did act in any such manner upon the minds of the writers
of the New Testament. If they were really inspired, the evidence
of the fact will probably ascertain the measure of inspiration which
was vouchsafed to them. The evidence consists of the following-
parts : The inspiration of the apostles was necessary for the pur-
poses of their mission — It was promised by our Lord — It is claimed
by themselves — The claim was admitted by their discij^les — And
it is not contradicted by any circumstance in their writings.
I. Inspiration of the apostles appears to have been necessary for
the purposes of their mission ; and, therefore, if we admit that
•fesus came fi'om God, and that he sent them forth to make disciples
of all nations, we shall acknowledge that some degree of inspiration
is highly probable.
The first light in which the books of the New Testament lead
us to consider the apostles is, as the historians of Jesus. After
having been his companions during his ministry, they came forth
to bear witness of him ; and as the benefit of his religion was not
to be confined to the age in which he or they lived, they left in the
four Gospels a record of what he did and taught. Two of the four
were written by the apostles Matthew and John. Mark and Luke,
whose names are prefixed to the other two, were probably of the
seventy whom our Lord sent out in his lifetime ; and we learn from
the most ancient Christian historians, that the Gospel of Mark
was revised by Peter, and the gospel of Luke by Paul ; and that
both were afterwards approved of by John, so that all the four may
be considered as transmitted to the church with the sanction of
apostolical authority. Now, if you recollect the condition of the
apostles, and the nature of their history, you will perceive that,
190 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
even as historians, they stood in need of some measure of inspira-
tion. Plato might feel himself at liberty to feign many things of
his master Socrates, because it mattered little to the world whether
the instruction that was conveyed to them proceeded from the one
philosopher or the other. But the servants of a divine teacher,
who appeared as his witnesses, and professed to be the historians
of his life, were bound by their olSce to give a true record. And
their history was an imposition upon the world, if they did not de-
clare exactly and literally what they had seen and heard. This
was an office which required not only a love of the truth, but a
memory more retentive and more accurate than it was possible for
persons of the character and education of the apostles to possess.
To relate, at the distance of twenty years, long moral discourses,
which were not originally written, and which were not attended
with any striking circumstances that might imprint them upon the
mind ; to jireserve a variety of parables, the beauty and significancy
of which depended upon particular expressions ; to record long and
minute prophecies, where the alteration of a single phrase might
have produced an inconsistency between the event and the predic-
tion ; and to give a particular detail of the intercourse which Jesus
had with his friends and with his enemies ; all this is a work so
very much above the capacity of unlearned men, that, had they
attempted to execute it by their own natural powers, they must
have fallen into such absurdities and contradictions as would have
betrayed them to evei*y discerning eye. It was therefore highly
expedient, and even necessary for the faith of future ages, that be-
sides those opportunities of information which the apostles enjoy-
ed, and that tried integrity which they possessed, their understand-
ing and their memory should be assisted by a supernatural influ-
ence, which might prevent them from mistaking the meaning of
what they had heard, which might restrain them from putting into
the mouth of Jesus any words which he did not utter, or from
omitting what was important, and which might thus give us per-
fect security, that the Gospels are as faithful a copy, as if Jesus
himself had left in writing those sayings and those actions which
he wished posterity to remember.
But we consider the apostles in the lowest view, when we speak
of them as barely the historians of their Master. In their epistles
they assume a higher character, which renders inspiration still more
necessary. All the benefit which they derived from the public and
the private instructions of Jesus before his death, had not so far
opened their minds as to qualify them for receiving the whole
counsel of God. And he, who knows what is in man, declares to
them the night on which he was betrayed, " I have yet many
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 191
things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now." * The
purpose of many of his parables, the full meaning even of some of
his plain discourses, had not been attained by them. They had
marvelled when he spake to them of earthly things. But many
heavenly things of his kingdom had not been told them ; and they,
who were destined to carry his religion to the ends of the earth,
themselves needed, at the time of their receiving this commission,
that some one should instruct them in the doctrine of Christ. It
is true that, after his resurrection, Jesus opened their understand-
ings, and explained to them the Scriptures, and he continued upon
earth forty days, speaking to them of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God. It appears, however, from the history which
they have recorded in the book of Acts, that some further teach-
ing was necessary for them.-]- Immediately before our Lord as-
cended, their minds being still full of the expectation of a tempo-
ral kingdom, they say unto him. Lord, wilt thou at this time re-
store the kingdom of Israel ? It was not till some time after they
received the gift of the Holy Ghost, that they understood that the
gospel had taken away the obligation to observe the ceremonies of
the Mosaic law ; and the action of Peter in baptizing Cornelius, a
devout heathen, gave offence to some of the apostles and brethren
in Judea when they first heard it.j; Yet in their epistles, we find
just notions of the spiritual nature of the religion of Jesus as a
kingdom of righteousness, the faithful subjects of which are to re-
ceive remission of sins, and sanctification through his blood, and
just notions of the extent of this religion as a dispensation, the
spiritual blessings of which are to be communicated to all in every
land who receive it in faith and love. These notions appear to us
to be the explication both of the ancient predictions, and of many
particular expressions that occur in the discourses of our Lord.
But it is manifest that they had not been acquired by the apostles
during the teaching of Jesus. They are so adverse to every thing
which men educated in Jewish prejudices had learned, and had
hoped, that they could not be the fruit of their own reflections ;
and, therefore, they imply the teaching of that Spirit who gradu-
ally impressed them upon the mind, guiding the apostles gently,
as they were able to follow him, into all the truth connected with
the salvation of mankind. As inspiration was necessary to give
the minds of the apostles possession of the system that is unfolded
in their epistles, so many parts of that system are removed at such
a distance from human discoveries, and are liable to such misap-
prehension, that unless we suppose a continued superintendence of
the Spirit by whom it was taught, succeeding ages woidd not have
* John XV. 12. f Acts, ch. i. * Acts, ch. xi.
192 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
a sufficient security that those, who were employed to deliver it,
had not been guilty of gross mistakes in some most important doc-
trines.
Inspiration will appear still further necessary, when you recol-
lect that the writings of the apostles contain several predictions of
things to come. Paul foretells, in his epistles, the corruptions of
the Church of Rome, and many other circumstances which have
taken place in the history of the Christian Church ; and the Re-
velation is a book of prophecy, of which part has been already ful-
filled, while the rest, we trust, will be explained by the events which
are to arise in the course of Providence. But prophecy is a kind
of writing which implies the highest degree of inspiration. When
predictions, like those in Scripture, are particular and complicated,
and the events are so remote and so contingent as to be out of the
reach of human sagacity, it is plain that the writers of the predic-
tions do not speak according to the measure of information which
they had acquired by natural means, but are merely the instru-
ments through which the Almighty communicates, in such mea-
sure and such language as he thinks fit, that knowledge of futurity
which is denied to man. And although the full meaning of their
own predictions was not understood by themselves, they will be
acknowledged to be true prophets, when the fulfilment comes to
reflect light upon that language, which, for wise purposes, was made
dark at the time of its being put into their mouth.
Thus the nature of the writings of the apostles suggests the ne-
cessity of their having been inspired. They could not be accurate
historians of the life of Jesus without one degree of inspiration ;
nor safe expounders of his doctrine without a higher ; nor prophets
of distant events without the highest. As all the three degrees
are equally possible to God, it is natural to presume, from the end
for which the apostles were sent, that the degree which was suited
to every part of their writings was not withheld ; and we find the
promise of Jesus perfectly agreeable to this presumption.
II. Inspiration of the apostles was promised by our Lord. It is
not unfair reasoning to adduce promises contained in the Sci'iptures
themselves, as proofs of their divine inspiration. It were, indeed,
reasoning in a circle, to bring the testimony of the Scriptures in
proof of the divine mission of Jesus. But that being estabhshed by
the evidence which has been stated, and the books of the New Tes-
tament having been proved to be the authentic genuine records of
the persons whose names they bear, we are warranted to argue from'
the declarations contained in them, what is the measure of inspira-
tion which Jesus was pleased to bestow \ipon his servants. He
might have been a divine teacher, and they might have been his
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 193
apostles, although he had bestowed none at all. But his character
gives us security that they possessed all that he promised. We read
in the Gospels, that Jesus " ordained twelve that they should be
with him, and that he might send them forth to preach."* And as
this was the purpose for which they were first called, so it was the
charge left them at his departure — " Go," said he, " preach the gos-
pel to every creature ; make disciples of all nations."-|- His con-
stant familiar intercourse with them was intended to qualify them
for the execution of this charge ; and the promises made to them
have a special reference to the office in which they were to he em-
ployed. When he sent them during his life to preach in the cities
of Israel, he said, " But when they deliver you up, take no thought
how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same
hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spi-
rit of your Father which speaketh in you.":{: And when he spake
to them in his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, of the per-
secutions which they were to endure after his death, he repeats the
same promise : " For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which
all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist."§ It is
admitted that the words in both these passages refer properly to
that assistance, which the inexperience of the apostles was to de-
rive from the suggestions of the Spirit, when they should be called
to defend their conduct and their cause before the tribunals of the
magistrates. But the fulfilment of this promise was a pledge, both
to the apostles and to the world, that the measure of inspiration ne-
cessary for the more important purpose implied in their commission
would not be withheld ; and accordingly, when that purpose came
to be unfolded to the apostles, the promise of the assistance of the
Spirit was expressed in a manner which applies it to the extent of
their commission. In the long affectionate discourse recorded by
John, when our Lord took a solemn farewell of the disciples, after
eating the last passover with them, he said, " And I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can-
not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But
ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. The
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to
your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. I have yet
many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.
Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you
into all truth ; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
" Mark iii. 14.
•f- Mark xvi. 16 ; Matt, xxviii. 19. See original,
t Matt. X. 19, 20. See original. § Luke xxi. 15.
VOL. I. I
194 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
shall hear that shall he speak ; and he will show you thing's to
come."* Here are all the degrees of" inspiration which we found
to be necessary for the apostles : the Spirit was to bring to their re-
membrance what they had heard — toguidethem into the truth, which
they were not then able to bear — and to show them things to come ;
and all this they were to derive, not from occasional illapses, but
from the perpetual inhabitation of the Spirit. That this inspiration
was vouchsafed to them, not for their own sakes, but in order to
qualify tbem for the successful discharge of their office as the mes-
sengers of Christ, and the instructors of mankind, appears from se-
veral expressions of that prayer which immediately follows the dis-
course containing- the promise of inspiration ; particularly from these
words, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall jjelieve on me through their word ; that they all may be one,
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee ; that they may be one in
us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."-|- In confor-
mity to this prayer, so becoming- him who was not merely the friend
of the apostles, but the light of the world, is that charge which he
gives them immediately before his ascension, " Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching- them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world," — the conclusion of the age
that has l;een introduced Ijy my appearance. I am with you alway,
not by my bodily presence, for immediately after he was taken out
of their sight, but I am with you by the Holy Ghost, which I am
to send upon you not many days hence, and which is to abide with
you for ever.:{;
The promise of Jesus then implies, according- to the plain con-
struction of the words, that the apostles, in executing their com-
mission, were not to be leit wholly to their natural powers, but
were to be assisted by that illumination and direction of the Spirit
which the nature of the commission required; and you may learn
the sense which our Lord had of the importance and etfect of this
promise from one circimistance, that he never makes any distinc-
tion between his own words and those of his apostles, but places
the doctrines and commandments which they were to deliver upon
■a footing- with those which he had spoken ; " He that heareth you,
heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me ; and he that
despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." § These words plainly
imply, that Christians have no warrant to pay less regard to any
thing- contained in the Epistles than to that Mhich is contained in
* John xiv. 16, 17, 2C; xvi. 12, 13. Sec original. f Jo'm ^^ii. 20,21.
:j: Matt, xxviii. 19, -20. See original. § Luke x. 16.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 195
the Gospels ; and teach us, that every doctrine and precept clearly
delivered by the apostles, comes to the Christian world with the
same stamp of divine authority as the words of Jesus, who spake
in the name of him that sent him.
The author of our religion, having thus made the faith of the
Christian world to hang upon the teaching of the apostles, gave
the most signal manifestation of the fulfilment of that promise
which was to qualify them for their office, by the miraculous gifts
with which they were endowed on the day of Pentecost, and by
the abundance of those gifts which the imposition of their hands
was to diffuse through the chui'ch. One of the twelve indeed,
whose labours in preaching the Gospel were the most abundant
and the most extensive, was not present at this manifestation, for
Paul was not called to be an apostle till after the day of Pentecost.
But it is very remarkable, that the manner of his being called was
expressly calculated to supply this deficiency. As he journeyed
to Damascus, about noon, to bring the Christians who were there
bound to Jerusalem, there shone from heaven a great light round
about him. And he heard a voice, saying, I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest. And 1 have appeared unto thee for this purpose to
make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which
thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee ; and now I send thee to the Gentiles to open their eyes *
In reference to this manner of his being called, Paul generally in-
scribes his epistles with these words : Paul an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by the will or by the commandment of God ; and he ex-
plains very fully what he meant by the iise of this expression, in
the beginning of his epistle to the Galatians, where he gives an
account of his conversion. " Paul an apostle, not of men, neither
by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him
from the dead. I neither received the Gospel of man, neither was
I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. When it
pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called
me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which
were apostles before me ; but I went into Arabia.'''t All that we
said of the necessity of inspiration, and of the import of the pro-
mise which Jesus made to the other apostles, receives very great
confirmation from this history of Paul, who, being called to be an
apostle after the ascension of Jesus, received the Gospel by imme-
diate revelation from heaven, and was thus put upon a footing with
the rest, both as to his designation, which did not proceed from
* Acts. xxvi. 12— 18. t Gal. i. 1, 12, 15, 16, 17.
196 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
the choice of man, and as to his qualifications, which were imparted
not by human instruction, but by the teaching- of the author of
Christianity. The Lord Jesus, who appeared to him, might fur-
nish Paul with the same advantages which the other apostles had
derived from his presence on earth, and might give him the same
assurance of the inhabitation of the Spirit that the promises which
we have been considering had imparted to them.
III. Inspiration was claimed by the apostles, and their claim
may be considered as the interpretation of the promise of their
Master.
You will not find the claim to inspiration formally advanced in
the Gospels. This omission has sometimes been stated by those
superficial critics whose prejudices serve to account for their haste,
as an objection against the existence of inspiration. But if you
attend to the reason of the omission, you will perceive that it is
only an instance of that delicate propriety which pervades all the
New Testament. The Gospels are the record of the great facts
which vouch the truth of Clu'istianity. These facts are to be re-
ceived upon the testimony of men who had been eye-witnesses of
them. The foundation of Christian faith being laid in an assent
to these facts, it would have been preposterous to have introduced
in support of them, that superintendence of the Spirit which pre-
served the minds of the apostles from error. For there can be no
proof of the inspiration of the apostles, unless the truth of the facts
be previously admitted. The apostles, therefore, bring forward
the evidence of Christianity in its natural order, when they speak
in the Gospels as the companions and eye-witnesses of Jesus,
claiming that credit which is due to honest men who had the best
opportunities of knowing what they declared. This is the language
of John.* " Many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples. But these are written that ye may believe, and this is
the disciple which testifieth of these things." The evangelist Luke
appears to speak differently in the introduction to his Gospel ;-|-
and opposite opinions have been entertained respecting the infor-
mation conveyed by that introduction.
There is a difference of opinion, first, with regard to the time
when Luke wrote his Gospel. It appears to some to be expressly
ii.t mated that he wrote after Matthew and Mark, because he
speaks of other Gospels then in circulation ; and it is generally
undex'stood that John wrote his after the other three. But the
manner in which Luke speaks of these other Gospels does not
seem to apply to those of Matthew and Mark. He calls them
many, which implies that they were more than two, and which
• John XX. 30, 31, and xxi. 2. Z Luke i. 1—4.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 197
would confound these two canonical Gospels with imperfect ac-
counts of our Lord's life, which we know from ancient writers
were early circulated, but were rejected after the four Gospels were
published. It is hardly conceivable that Luke would have alluded
to the two Gospels of Matthew and Mark without distinguishing
them from other very inferior productions ; and therefore it is pro-
bable, that when he used this mode of expression, no accounts of
our Lord's life were then in existence but those inferior produc-
tions. There appears also to very sound critics to ))e internal
evidence that Luke wrote first. He is much more particular than
the other evangehsts in his I'eport of our Lord's birth, and of the
meetings with his apostles after his resurrection. They might
think it unnecessary to introduce the same particulars into their
Gospels after Luke. But if they wrote before him, the want of
these particulars gives to their Gospels an appearance of imperfec-
tion which we cannot easily explain.
The other point suggested by this introduction, upon which there
has been a difference of opinion, is, whether Luke, who was not
an apostle, wrote his Gospel from personal knowledge, attained by
his being a companion of Jesus, or from the information of others.
Our translation certainly favours the last opinion ; and it is the more
general opinion, defended by very able critics. Dr Randolph, in the
first volume of his works, which contains a history of our Saviour's
life, supports the first opinion, and suggests a punctuation of the
verses, and an interpretation of one word, according to which that
opinion may be defended. Read the second and third verses in
connexion. Ka^w; Ta^idoaav r^fMiv o'l kt' aoyji? auro-rrai -/.ai •jt?;^-
irai yivo/jjivoi tou Koyou Jido'^i -/.cf,/JjO{ , 'Xapyj'/.oAovdriX.ori avoihv •~aGtv ax^iZui;
xak'^ri; Got yga^'a/, -/.oaTiGTi Qio:piXs. By i^,a/> [unto us] is understood
the Christian world, who had received information, both oral and
written, from those that had been a-jrorra/ zai uT?;g=r«/ [eye-wit-
nesses and ministers.] Ka/xo/ [to me also] means Luke, who pro-
posed to follow the example of those aurffTrrai [eye-witnesses] in
writing what he knew ; and he descril)es his own knowledge by the
word 'ra^rj/ioXoudrj-M-i, which is more precise than the circumlocu-
tion, by which it is translated, " having had perfect understanding
of all things." Perfect understanding may be derived from various
sources ; but 'rta^a-Aoko-oku) properly means, I go along with as a
companion, and derive knowledge from my own observation. And,
it is remarkable that the word is used in this very sense by the
Jewish historian Josephus, who published his history not many
years after Luke wrote, and who in his introduction represents
himself as worthy of credit, because he had not merely inquired of
those who knew, but 'ra^riKoXoudT^Mra Toig yiywociv [gone along with
198 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
the thing's that happened,] which he explains by this expression,
noT-.y.'Mv ijjiv avro-joyog cTf«^;ai!/, 'rrXitdToi^ 6 avro~rriC yinof/^-nog, [having'
been myself a doer of many of the actions, and an eye-witness of
most of them.] If this interpretation is not approved of, then,
according to the sense of those verses which is most commonly
adopted, Luke will be understood to give in the second verse, an
account of that ground upon which the knowledge of the Christian
world with reg^ard to these things rested, the reports of the a-jroTrroii
•/.fx.1 ■o-~Yi»iTai ; and to state in the third verse, that he, having col-
lected and collated these reports, and employed the most careful
and minute investigation, had resolved to write an account of the
life of Jesus. Here he does not claim inspiration ; he does not
even say that he was an eye-witness. But he says that, having-
like others heard the report of eye-witnesses, he had accurately
examined the truth of what they said, and presented to the Christian
world the fruit of his researches.
The foundation is still the same as in John's gospel, the report
of those in whose presence Jesus did and said what is I'ecorded.
To this report are added, 1. The investigation of Luke, a contem-
porary of the apostles, the companion of Paul in a great part of
his journeyings, and honoured by him with this title, " Luke the
byloved physician." * 2. The approbation of Paul, who is said by
the earliest Christian writers to have revised this gospel, written
by his companion, so that it came abroad with apostolical autho-
rity. 3. The universal consent of the Christian church, which,
although jealous of the books that were then published, and re-
jecting' many that claimed the sanction of the apostles, has uni-
formly, from the earliest times, put the Gospel of Luke upon a
footing with those of Matthew and Mark ; a clear demonstration
that they who had access to the best information knew that it had
been revised by an apostle.
As then the authors of the Gospels appear under the character
of eye-witnesses, attesting- what they had seen, there would have
been an impropriety in their resting the evidence of the essential
facts of Christianity upon inspiration. But after the respect which
their character and their conduct procured to their testimony, and
the visible confirmation which it received from heaven, had esta-
blished the faith of a ])art of the world, a belief of their inspiration
became necessary. 'J'hey m'ght have been credible witnesses of
facts, although they had not been distinguished fi-om other men.
But they were not qualified to execute the office of apostles with-
out being inspii-ed. And therefore, as soon as the circumstances,
of the church required the execution of that office, the claim which
" Coloss. iv. 14.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE, 199
had been conveyed to them by the promise of their Master, and
which is imphed in the apostoUcal character, appears in their writ-
ing's. They instantly exercised the authority derived to them from
Jesus, by planting- ministers in the cities where they had preached
the gospel, by setting every thing pertaining to these Christian
societies in order, by controlling the exercise of those miraculous
gifts which they had imparted, and by correcting the abuses which
happened even in their time. But they demanded, from all who
had received the faith of Christ, submission to the doctrines and
commandments of his apostles, as the inspired messengers of hea-
ven. " But God hath revealed it," not them, as our translators
have supplied the accusative, revealed the wisdom of God, the dis-
pensation of the Gospel " unto us by his Spirit ; for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now we have
received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of CJod;
that we might know the things which are freely given us of God ;
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." * *' If any man
think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge
that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of
the Lord ;" i. e. Let no eminence of spiritual gifts be set up in op-
position to the authority of the apostles, or as implying any dis-
pensation from submitting to it.t " For this cause also thank we.
God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God
which ye heard of iis, ye received it not as the word of men, but,
as it is in truth, the word of God." ;}: Peter speaking of the epistles
of Paul, says, " Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according-
to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you." 8 And
John makes the same claim of inspiration for the other apostles, as
well as for himself. " We are of God : he that knoweth God, hear-
eth us ; he that is not of God, heareth not us." ||
The claim to inspiration is clearly made by the apostles in those
passages, where they place their own writings upon the same foot-
ing with the books of the Old Testament ; for Paul, speaking of
the lisa y^afi,;hara, [sacred writings,] a common expression among
the Jews for their Scriptures, in which Timothy had been instruct-
ed from his childhood, says, " All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God." ^ Peter, speaking of the ancient prophets, says, " The
Spirit of Christ was in them ;'' and " The prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man ; but Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost." ** And the quotations of our
• 1 Cor. ii. 10, 12, 13. t ' Cor. xiv. 37.
+ 1 Thes. ii. 13. § 2 Pet. iii. 13.
II I John iv. 6. 4 2 Tim. iii. 16.
•• 1 Pet. i. II ; 2 Pet. i. 21.
200 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Lord and his apostles from the books of the Old Testament are
often introduced with an expression in which their inspiration is
directly asserted. '^ Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias ;" " By
the mouth of thy servant David thou hast said," * <S:c, <S:c.
With this uniform testimony to that inspiration of the Jewish
Scriptures, which was universally believed among that people, you
are to conjoin this circumstance, that Paul and Peter in different
places rank their own writings with the books of the Old Testa-
ment. Paul commands that his epistles should be read in the
churches, where none but those books which the Jews believed to
be inspired were ever read.t He says that Christians " are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets ;" i'xi rw ^iasXitf)
Tujv wTToffroXcij]/ %ai itoo(p'riro)v,\ a conjunction which would have been
highly improper, if the former had not been inspired as well as the
latter ; and Peter charges the Christians to be " mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the
commandments of us the apostles." § The nature of the book of
Revelation led the apostle John to assert most directly his person-
al inspiration ; for he says that " Jesus sent and signified by his
angel to his servant John the things that were to come to pass ;"
and that the divine person, like the Son of Man, who appeared to
him when he was in the spirit, commanded him to write in a book
what he saw ; and in one of the visions recorded in that book, Rev.
xxi. 14, when the dispensation of the gospel was presented to John
under the figure of a great city, the new Jerusalem, descending-
out of heaven, there is one part of the image that is a beautiful
expression of that authority in settling the form of the Christian
church, and in teaching articles of faith, which the apostles deriv-
ed from their inspiration : " The wall of the city had twelve foun-
dations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb." II
These are only a few of the many passages to the same purpose
which will occur to you in reading the New Testament ; but it is
manifest even from them, that the manner in which the apostles
speak of their own writings is calculated to mislead every candid
reader, unless they really wrote under the direction of the Spirit
of God. So gross and daring an imposture is absolutely incon-
sistent not only with their whole character, but also with those gifts
of the Holy Ghost, of which there is unquestionable evidence that
they were possessed ; and which, being the natural vouchei's of the
assertion made by them concerning their own writings, cannot be
• Acts i. 16; iv. 25; xxviii. 25. f Col. iv. 16.
+ Ephes. ii. 20. § 2 Pet. iii. 2.
11 Rev. i. 1, 10—19; xxi. 14.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 201
supposed, upon the principles of sound theism, to have been im-
pai'ted for a long- course of years to persons who continued during-
all that time asserting such a falsehood, and appeaUng to those gifts
for the truth of what they said.
IV. The claim of the apostles derives much confirmation from
the reception which it met with amongst the Christians of their
days. It appears from an expi'ession of Peter, that at the time
when be wi-ote his second epistle, the epistles of Paul were classed
with the other Scriptures, the books of the Old Testament ; i. e.
were accounted inspired writings.* It is well known to those who
are versant in the early history of the church, with what care the
first Christians discriminated between tbe apostohcal writings, and
the compositions of other authors, however much distinguished by
their piety, and with what reverence they received those books
which were known by tbeir inscri])tion, by the place from which
they proceeded, or the manner in which they were circulated, to
be the work of an apostle. In Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel
History you will find the most particular information upon this
s\ibject ; and you will perceive that the whole history of the suppo-
sititious writings, which appeared in early times, conspires in at-
testing the veneration in which the authority of the apostles was
held by the Christian church. We learn from Justin Martyr that,
before the middle of the second century, ra aro;Mri/MOKu,u^ara tuv
a'roaroXojv x,ai ra avyyoa/j^iUjara tuv cr^oipTjrw!/ [the records of the apostles
and the books of tlae prophets] were read together in the Christian
assembUes ; we know that, from the earliest times, the church has
submitted to the writings of the apostles as the infallible standard
of faith and practice ; and we find the ground of this peculiar respect
expressed by the first Christian writers as well as by their succes-
sors, who speak of the writings of the apostles as ^)sicci y^afaj, ?|
i'Xi-TTmag ayio-j Tviv/iarog.f [divine writings, from inspiration of the
Holy Ghost.]
V. The only point that remains to be considered is, whether
there be any thing in the books themselves inconsistent with the
notion of their being inspired. It is impossible for me to follow
the detail into which tliis point runs. But I may suggest the ge-
neral heads of ansvver to the multiplicity of objections which fall
under it. Even those who acknowledge the excellence of the ge-
neral system contained in the New Testament, who admit that it
must have been revealed to the authors of the books by the Spirit
of God, and that there are some instances in which the clearness
of the predictions, and even the majesty of the style imply a pecu-
• 2 Peter iii. IG.
f Lardner's Cred. vol. i. {>■ '27o ; vol. iii p. 2W.
i2
202 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
liar illumination and direction of their minds, even such persons
meet, in reading- the New Testament, with (Hfficulties which they
are unable to reconcile with the notion of inspiration ; and if they
are stumbled, others, who wish to discredit the truth of Christia-
nity, represent the notion of inspiration as rendered wholly indefen-
sible, and even ridiculous, by the mistakes in small matters, the
contradictions, the varieties, and littlenesses that occur in several
places, and the numberless instances of a style very far removed
from that which the Almighty might lie conceived to assume.
When you come to examine these objections, there are two ge-
neral remarks which it will be of great importance for you to carry
in your minds.
1. Recollect that the objectors upon such a subject have great
advantage. It is very easy to start difficulties and objections. And
when the solution is to be derived from an examination of the con-
text, and from a knowledge of ancient languages and customs, the
difficulty or objection may l)e urged in so specious or lively a man-
ner as to make a deep impression, before the solution can be brought
forward. But the diligence, the learning, and sagacity of modern
commentators have furnished every student, who wishes the Scrip-
tures to be true, with satisfying answers to the most formidalde ob-
jections against particular parts of them ; and it is a general rule
which you ought to observe in your study of the Scriptures, never
to suppose, never to allow the most positive affirmation or the
most pointed ridicule to persuade you, that a passage is indefensi-
ble, because that measure of information respecting antiquity, and
of experience in sacred criticism which you possess, does not sug-
gest the manner in which it can be defended. You will find, upon
inquiry, that apparent contradictions in the narration of the Gos-
pels, or in the doctrine of the epistles, may be easily reconciled ;
that expressions, which have been represented as mean, are justi-
fied by the practice of classical writers ; that the harsh sense, which
single phrases seem to contain, is removed either by a more accu-
rate translation of the original, or by the connexion in which they
stand ; that supposed errors in chronology or geography either dis-
appear u])on being closely examined, or arise from some of those
trifling variations in the copies of the New Testament which mo-
dern criticism has investigated ; that those parts of the conduct of
Peter and Paul which have been censui'ed are in no respect incon-
sistent with the general doctrine which they taught ; and, upon the
whole, that as the general matter of the New Testament could not
have been known to any who were not inspired of God, and as the ■
manner in which that matter is delivered appears, the more it is
considered, to be the more fit and excellent, so there is nothing
Inspiration of scripture. fiO^
throughout all the books unworthy of that measure of inspiration
of which we have hitherto spoken.
2. Observe that the objections which have been urg-ed ag-ainst
particular passages of the New Testament are in general of no
weight in overturning the doctrine of inspiration, unless you sup-
pose that the authors wrote continually under the influence of what
has been called the inspiration of suggestion, i. e. that every thought
was put into their mind, and every word dictated to them by the
Spirit of God. But tliis opinion, which is probably entertained by
many well meaning Christians, and which has been held by some
able defenders of Christianity, is now generally abandoned by those
who examine the subject with due care. And the following rea-
sons will satisfy you that it has not been lightly abandoned. It is
unnecessary to suppose that this highest degree of inspiration is
extended through all the ])arts of the New Testament, because
there are many facts in the Gospels, which the apostles might know
perfectly from their own observation or recollection, many expres-
sions which would naturally occur to them, many directions and
salutations in their epistles, such as were to be expected in that
coiTespondence. It is not only unnecessary to suppose that the
highest degree of inspiration was extended through all the ])ai"ts of
the New Testament, but the supposition is really inconsistent with
many circumstances that occur there. I shall mention a few. Paul
in some instances makes a distinction between the counsels which
he gives in matters of indiflFerence, upon his own judgment, and the
commandments which he delivers with the authority of an apostle ;
" I speak this by permission, and not of commandment." " This
I command, yet not I, but the Lord ;" a distinction for which there
could have been no room, had every word been dictated by the Spi-
rit of God.* Paul sometimes discovers a doubt, and a change of
purpose as to the time of his journeyings, and other little incidents,
which the highest degree of inspiration would have prevented, f
It is allowed that there is a degree of imperfection and oljscurity,
which, in some instances, remains on the style of the sacred wri-
ters, and particularly of Paul, which we cannot easily reconcile
with the highest degree of inspiration.;]: Once more, there are pe-
culiarities of expression, and a marked manner, by which a person
of taste and discernment may clearly distinguish the writings of
every one, from those of every other. But had all written uni-
formly under the same inspiration of suggestion, there could not
have been a ditference of maimer corresponding to the difference of
character ; and the expression used by all might have been expect-
ed to be the best possible.
These circumstances lead us to abandon the notion that the
* 1 Cor. vii. G, 10. f 1 Cor. xvi. 3—6, 10, 11. | 2 Tet. ili. 16.
204 INSPIRATION OF SCRITTURE.
apostles wrote under a continual inspiration of sug-gestion. But
they are not in the least inconsistent with that kind of inspiration
which we found to be necessary for the purposes of their mission :
which is commonly called an inspiration of direction, and which
consists in this, that the writers of the New Testament, although
allowed to exercise their own memory and understanding-, as far as
they could he of use ; although allowed to employ their own modes
of thinking and expression, as far as there was no impropriety in
their being employed, were, by the superintendence of the Spirit,
effectually guarded from error while they were writing, and were
at all times furnished with that measure of inspiration which the
nature of the subject required. In his history every evangelist
brings forward those discourses and facts which had made the deep-
est impression upon his mind ; but while, from the variety which
thus naturally takes place in the histories, there arises the strong^-
est proof that there was no collusion, the recollection of every his-
torian was so far assisted, that he gives us no false information ; and
by laying together the several accounts, we may attain as complete
a view of the transactions recorded as the Spirit of God judged to
be necessary. In the book of Acts we see the mind of the apostles
gradually led, by the teaching- of the Spirit, to a full apprehension
of the whole counsel of God. In the Epistles they apply the
knowledge which had thus been imparted to them by revelation, in
ministering to the edification, the comfort or reproof of the churches
which they had established ; and the Spirit, who had by this time
guided them into all truth, abode with them, so that from the
words and commandments of the apostles we may learn the truth
as it is in Christ Jesus.
It hath pleased God that the Christian world should derive those
treasures of divine knowledge which resided in the apostles, not by
formal systematical discourses composed for the instruction of
future ages, but by the short familiar incidental mention of the
Christian doctrines in their epistles. This form of the doctrinal
writings of the apostles has been stated as an objection to their
being inspired ; but by a little attention you will perceive the great
advantages of their being permitted to adopt this form. Our in-
dustry is thus quickened in searching the Scriptures. The doctrines
are rendered more level to the capacity of the great body of Christ-
ians, and more easily recalled to their minds by this mode of be-
ing delivered : and the books containing the doctrines are thus
made to bring along with them internal marks of authenticity,
which coubl not have belonged to them had they been in another,
form.* The inscription of the epistle is a sure voucher, transmit-
* Paley's Ilora Pauliiise.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 205
ted from the earliest times, that a letter had truly been sent by an
apostle of Christ to a church. The character of the apostle is
marked in his epistle, and the many little circumstances, which his
situation or that of the church introduces into an aifectionate let-
ter, while they exhibit the natural ex])ressions of Christian bene-
volence, bring a conviction, more satisfying- than that which arises
from any testimony, that the apostles of Jesus proceeded, in exe-
cution of the charge given them by their Master, to make disciples
of all nations.
In the prophecies which the New Testament contains there
must have been the inspiration of suggestion. Neither the words
nor the thoughts could there come by the will of man ; and the
writers spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Accordingly
Paul introduces his predictions with these vvords, The Spirit speak-
eth expressly ; and John, we found, says in the book of Revelation,
that he was commanded to write what he saw and heard.
I have explained under this second remark, that kind of inspira-
tion, which the diiferent branches of the evidence that has been
stated appear to me clearly to establish, and which is now generally
considered as all that was necessary for the purposes of the apos-
tolical office. We do not say that every thought was put into the
mind of the apostles, and every word dictated to their pen by the
Spirit of God. But we say, that by the superintendence of the
Spirit, they were at all times guarded from error, and were furnish-
ed upon every occasion with the measure of inspiration which the
nature of the subject required. Upon this view of the matter, we
can easily account for all the circumstances that are commonly
urged as objections against the notion of inspiration. We may
even admit that the apostles were liable to err in their conduct,
and were left ignorant of some things which they wished to know ;
and at the same time we have all that security against misrepresen-
tations of fact, or error in doctrine, which the nature of the com-
mission given the apostles and the importance of the tniths de-
clared by them render necessary for our faith. By this kind of in-
spiration, while a provision is made for the introduction of those
internal marks of authenticity by which the Bible is distinguished
above every other book in the world, there is also a perfect fulfil-
ment of the pi'omise given to the apostles by Jesus, a justification
of the claim which their writings contain, and a rational account of
that entire submission which the Chi'istian church in every age has
yielded to the authority of the apostles.
Here then is the groimd upon which I rest my foot, and the
point from which I desire to be considered as setting out in my
Lectures upon Divinity. Jesus was a teacher sent from God. His
apostles, who were commanded by him to publish his doctrine to
206 INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
the world, received, in fulfilment of his ])romise, such a measure of
the visible gifts of the Spirit as attested their commission, and such
a measure of internal illumination and direction, as render their
writings the infallible standard of Christian truth. From hence it
follows, that every thing- which is clearly contained in the Gospels
and Epistles, or which may be fairly deduced from the words there
used, is true ; and that every thing which cannot be so proved is no
part of the doctrine that Christians are I'equired to believe. After
we have attained this point, sound criticism becomes the foundation
of Theology. My business is not to frame a system of Divinity,
but to delineate that system which the Scri])tures teach, by a clear
exposition of the passages in which it is taught ; and to defend it,
by rescuing the Scriptures from misinterpretation. We shall be
very much assisted in this course by our knowledge of the Greek
language. The Greek Testament will be our constant companion ;
and the best preparation for what you are to learn from me is to
apply the knowledge, which you have acquired elsewhere, in ren-
dering the Greek Testament familiar to your minds.
The doctrine of tbe Inspiration of Scripture is touched upon in all the com-
plete defences of Christimity ; of most of which you have both an Index and
an Abridgement in Letand's view of the Deistical Writers.
Bish:!]) Burnet has treated it shortly in his Exposition of the Cth Article of
the Church of England.
There are many excellent Sermons of English Divines upon this subject. I
mention particularly Archbishop Seeker's, in the third volume of his works.
And tl ere is a rational, masterly essay upon this subject, in Bishop Benson's
Paraphrase on the Epistles of Paul.
Potter's Praelectiones Theologicae in Opera Theologica, torn. iii.
Le Clerc's Letters on Inspiration, with Lowth's Answer.
Randolph's Works.
Wakefield on Inspiration.
Middieton.
Prettyman's Elements of Christian Theology.
Watson's Apology for the Bible and for Christianity.
Preliminary Essays prefixed to Dr Wacknight'snew translation of the Epistles.
Dick on the Inspiration of Scripture.
Jones's Canon of Scripture.
Dotldridge.
I'aley.
Marsh's Michaelis.
C 207 ]
CHAP. II.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Having established the divine inspiration of the books of the New
Testament, we have next to learn i'rom this infallible g-uide that
system of doctrine which characterizes the Chi'istian relig-ion. It
is presumptnous and childish to busy ourselves in fancying- what
that system ought to be. If the books containing the Gospel of
Christ were really written by men under the direction of the Spi-
rit of God, they will teach us the truth without mixture of error;
and all our speculations vanish before the authoritative declarations
which they bring-.
I need not occupy time with delineating- the great truths of na-
tui'al religion. These must be the same in every true system, be-
cause they are unchangeable ; and it occurred formerly, in stating
the evidences of Christianity, that this revelation carries along with
it one strong presumption of its divine original, by giving- in the
simplest language, and the plainest form, views of the nature of
God, and of the duty of man, moi-e clear, more consistent, and more
exalted than are to be found in any other writings. If you were to
throw out of the Scriptures all the peculiar doctrines of Christia-
nity, there would I'emain a complete system of natural religion, in
comparison with which, even the speculations of the enlightened
and virtuous sage of Athens appear low and partial. But it is of
these peculiar doctrines that Christian theology consists; and I mean
at present to prepare for examining them particularly, by stating
them in a short connected view. I cannot propose to meet in this
view the sentiments of all the different sects of Christians ; for if I
were to attempt to accommodate the sketch that is to he given, to
the peculiar tenets of some sects, I should be obliged to leave out
several doctrines which appear to me most essential to Christianity.
But although I cannot meet the sentiments of opposite sects, I do
not wish to derive this short system from the discriminating tenets,
or the peculiar language of any one sect : I wish to avoid the use
of any terms that are not scriptural, and to present to you the form
of sound words which is taught by the apostles themselves. We
shall have enough of controverted opinions when we come to attend
to the different parts of the system. But it seems to me proper that
208 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
you should carry in your minds a general distinct conception of the
subjects upon which the controversies turn, before we be entangled
in that thorny path.
The foundation of the Gospel is this, that men are sinners. If
you take away this proposition, the whole system is left without
meaning : if you receive it in its full import, you perceive the use
of the different parts, and the harmony with which they unite in
producing the effect that is ascribed to the whole. The proposition
is often enunciated in Scripture ; but the truth of it is independent
of the authority of any revelation, and must be admitted by every
candid observer, whether he believes or rejects the divine mission
of Jesus. Although different states of society have exhibited dif-
ferent forms of wickedness, authentic history does not record any in
which human virtue has appeared pure. A great part of the busi-
ness of every government is to interpose restraints upon the evil
passions of the subjects : yet so ineffectual are those restraints, that
the peace of the best constituted society is often disturbed by enor-
mous crimes, while there are transgressions of virtue which elude
the law, that indicate a deeper depravity of mind than those enor-
mities which are punished : and even the best of the sons of men,
those who by the innocence of their lives are exempted not only
from the punishments, but even from the censures of human society,
have the consciousness of imperfection, of faiUng, and demerit.
The Scriptures connect this abounding of inquity with a trans-
action which took place soon after the creation of Adam. " By
one man," says Paul, " sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned : — By
the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation ;
in Adam all die."* This is the commentary made by an apostle
upon the third chapter of Genesis ; and when we take that chap-
ter, the commentary of Paul, and other incidental expressions in
connexion, we are led by the Scriptures to consider the transgres-
sion of the first parents of the human race as altering the condition
of their posterity, rendering this earth a less comfortable, and less
virtuous liabitation, than without that transgression it would have
been, and introducing sin, with all its attendant misery, amongst a
part of the rational creation who were made at first after the image
of God.
Something analogous to this effect of the transgression of our
first parents, may often be ol)served in human connexions. And we
are guarded against wantonly rejecting the Scripture account of this
early transaction, as incredible or inconsistent with the government
of God, when we see, in numberless instances, the sins of some per-
* Rom. V. 12, 18. 1 Cor. xv. 22.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 209
sons extending their baleful influence to the minds and the fortunes
of others, a father corrupting the manners of his children, entailing
upon them disease, disgrace, poverty and vice, and thus reducing
them by his wickedness to a calamitous state, which, had they
sprung from other parents, it appears to us they might have avoided.
To this it must be added, that in the present condition of the
human race there are many symptoms of degradation. The com-
bat between the higher and the lower parts of our nature, the temp-
tations to vice which every thing around us presents, the judgments
which are often executed by changes upon the face of nature, that
abridgement of the comforts of life which arises from our own
faults, or those of others, and the violence which is done to our feel-
ings and our aifections l)y the manner in which we are called out
of the world ; all this, and much more of the same kind, indicates a
disordered state, and accoi'ds with the slight incidental openings
which the Scriptures give us into that ancient transaction, to which
they trace the sin and misery of mankind. The effects of this
transaction continue in the world notwithstanding all the efforts of
philosophy, good government, and civilization. Neither the vigi-
lant education and rigorous discipline prescribed in some ancient
states, nor the circumspection and mortification learned in some
ancient schools, were able to cleanse the heart of any one indivi-
dual from every kind of defilement, or to maintain a life in all re-
spects blameless. And whatever remedy the progress of improve-
ment may be conceived to have applied to the other evils which
proceed from sin, there is one standing memorial of its power,
which defies the wit and the strength of man. None can deliver
his own soul, or the soul of his brother from death. " It is ap-
pointed unto all men once to die."* But death is represented in
the Scriptures as the fruit of sin ; and therefore the continuance of
death is one of those practical lessons which the Almighty often
administers, which is independent of speculation, but, being by its
nature a strong confirmation of the discoveries that are made, is
sufficient to teach all who receive the Scriptures, that the transac-
tion to which they ascribe the introduction of death has not ex-
hausted all its force.
The Gospel then proceeds upon a fact, which was not created
by the revelation, but would have been true, although the Gospel
had not appeared, that that part of the reasonable offspring of God
who inhabit this earth are sinners, and that their efforts to extri-
cate themselves out of this condition had proved ineffectual. But
sin is repugnant to our moral feelings, and excites our abhorrence.
How much more odious must it appear in the sight of Him, whom
• Heb. ix. 27.
210 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
natural religion and the declarations of Scriptiu'e teach us to con-
sider as infinitely holy ! We see only a small portion of human
wickedness. But all the demerit of every individual sinner, and.
the whole sum of iniquity committed throughout the earth, are
continually present to the eyes of Him with whose nature they are
most inconsisteut. The sins of men are transgressions of the law
given them by their Creator, an insult to his authority, a violation
of the order which he had established, a diminution of the happi-
ness which he had spread over his works. It is unknown to us
what connexions there are amongst different parts of the universe.
But it is manifest that no government can subsist if the laws are
transgressed with impunitj\ It is very conceivable that the other
creatures of God might be tempted to diso])edience, if the trans-
gressions of the human race received no chastisement. And there-
fore, as every temptation to disobey laws which bring peace to the
obedient is really an introduction to misery, it appears most becom-
ing the Almighty, both as the Ruler and the Father of the uni-
verse, to execute his judgments against the human race. Accord-
ingly the Scriptures record many awful testimonies of the divine
displeasure with sin ; and they represent the whole world as the
children of wrath, guilty before God, and iinder the curse, because
they are the children of disobedience. It is not in the nature of
repentance to avert those evils which past transgressions had de-
served. But we have seen that men were unal)le to forsake their
sins ; and we cannot form a conception of any mode, consistent
with the honour and the great objects of the divine government,
by which a creature who continues to transgress the divine laws,
can stop the course of that punishment, which is the fruit of his
transgression.
In this situation, when the reasonings of nature fail, and every
appearance in nature conspires to show that hope is presumptuous,
the revelation of the Gospel is fitted by its peculiar character to
enlighten and revive the human mind. We there learn that God
who is rich in mercy, moved by compassion for the work of his
hands, for the great love wherewith he loved the world, conceived
a plan for delivering the children of Adam from that sin and mi-
sery out of which they were unable to extricate themselves.*
Having foreseen, before the foundation of the world, that they
would yield to the temptation of an evil spirit, and abuse that li-
berty which forms an essential part of their nature, he comprehend-
ed in the same eternal counsel a purpose to create, and a purpose
to save.f Immediately after the transgression of the first man
* Ephes. ii, 1,2,3,4,5. Rom. iii. 19; v. 12. Gal. iii. 10,22. Col. iii. 5,C, 7.
-|- Ephes. iii. 11.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 211
there was some discovery of the gracious plan. At the same time
that a curse is pronounced upon the ground, and death is declared
to be the punishment of sin, there is an intimation of future deli-
verance in these words : " 1 will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between tliy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." * The promise was un-
folded, and the plan gradually opened through a succession of dis-
pensations, all conspiring in their place to produce the fulness of
time, when the plan was executed by the manifestation of that
glorious person whom prophecy had announced. The light o£
nature does not give any notice of the existence of this person.
But as the importance of the office which he executed renders his
character most interesting to the human race, the Scriptures de-
clare that he was with God in the beginning, that by him God
made the worlds, that he was God, b\it that veihng his glory, al-
though he could not divest himself of the nature of God, he was
born in a miraculous manner, was made in the likeness of men,
took part of flesh and blood, and dwelt with those whom he is not
ashamed to call his brethren.-|- The purpose, for which this extra-
ordinary messenger visited the earth, was declared by the angel who
announced the singular manner of his birth : " Thou shalt call his
name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins.";}; John
his forerunner thus marked him out : " Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world."§ He said of himself,
" I am come to call sinners to repentance ; to give my life a ran-
som for many." II And the charge which he gave to his apostles,
and which they executed in all their discourses and writings, was
this, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name amongst all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.^ These
expressions imply that the peculiarity of the Jewish state was con-
cluded by the appearance of this j)rophet, and that the benefit of
his manifestation was to extend to all nations. The same expres-
sions imply also that the nature of that benefit was accommodated
to what we have found the situation of mankind to require. In
fulfilment of that character of a Saviour which he assumed, he not
only taught men the will of God t)y precept and by example, un-
folded that future state in which they are to receive according to
the deeds done in the body, and enforced the practice of righteous-
ness by every motive addressed to the understanding and the af-
fections, but he voluntarily submitted to the most grievous suffer-
» Gen. iii. 15-
t Johni. 1,2,3, 14;xvii.5- Heb. i. 2; ii. 14. Phil. ii. 6, 7- Luke i. 2C— .38.
+ Matth. i. 21. § John i. 29. |1 3Iatth. ix. 13; xx. 28.
15
2
•' 21
^ Luke xxiv. 47.
212 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ings, and the most cruel death, as the method ordained in the coun-
sel of heaven for procuring- their deliverance from sin. There is
no mode of expression that we can devise, which is not employed
by Scripture to convey this conception, that the death of Christ
was not barely a confirmation of the truth of Christianity, an ex-
ample of disinterested benevolence and of heroic virtue, but a true
sacrifice for sin, offered by him to God the Father, in order to
avert the punishment which the sins of men deserved, and to ren-
der it consistent with the character of the Deity and the honour
of the divine laws, to forgive men their trespasses. " I am the
good shepherd," says Jesus ; " the good shepherd giveth his life
for the sheep."* " God hath set him forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the re-
mission of sins that are past."f " We are redeemed with the pre-
cious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and withoiit
spot." :}: The natural conclusion which any person, whose mind
is not warped by a particular system, will draw from these and num-
berless other expressions of the same kind, is this, that as the
scheme for the deliverance of the human race originated from the
love of God the Father, so it was accomplished by the instnimen-
tality of that person, who is called in Scripture the Son of God.
As the effect of this instrumentality is clearly declared in Scrip-
ture, so it is analogous to one part of the divine procedure which
we have often occasion to observe. The whole course of human
affairs is carried on by alternate successions of wisdom and folly.
Evils are incurred, and they are remedied. The good affections
or the generosity of some are employed to retrieve the faults or
the misfortunes of others : and the condescension and zeal, with
which the talents of an exalted character are exerted in some cause
which did not properly belong to him, are often seen to restore
that order and happiness which the extravagance of vice appeared
to have destroyed. The dispensation revealed in the Gospel is
the same in kind with these instances, although infinitely exalted
above them in magnificence and extent. We see there sin and
misery entering into the world by the transgression of one man,
the effects spreading through the whole race, and the remedy
brought by the generous interposition of a person who had no
share in the disaster, whose power of doing good was called forth
purely by compassion for the distressed, and, in opposition to all
the obstacles raised by an evil spirit, was exerted with persever-
ance and success, in removing the deformity and disorder which
he had introduced into the creation. " For this purpose the Son
of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the
* John X. 11. + Rom. iii. 25. ± 1 Pet. i. 18, 19,
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 213
devil." * " He took part of flesh and blood, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
life-time subject to bondage." +
That the interj)osition of the Son of God was effectual in pro-
moting the purpose for wdiich it was made, and that his death did
really overcome that evil spirit, who is styled the prince of this
world, J was declared by his resurrection, and by the gifts which
in fulfilment of his promise were sent upon his apostles after his
ascension. § This is the Scripture proof, " that Jesus is able to
save to the uttermost all that come to God by him." || So speaks
Peter in one of his first sermons. ^ " The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are
his witnesses of these things ; and so is the Holy Ghost, whom
God hath given to them that obey him," i. e. Our testimony of
his resurrection, confirmed by the witness of the Holy Ghost, is
the evidence that God hath exalted him to be a Saviour. He is
now, by the appointment of God, the dispenser of those blessings
which he died to purchase ; * * the Mediator of the new covenant,
which was sealed by his blood, and which is established upon bet-
ter promises, f f of the fulfilment of which we receive perfect as-
surance from the power that is given to him in heaven and in
earth, if:]: Pardon, grace, and consolation, flow from him as their
proprietor, who hath acquired by his sufferings the right of distri-
buting gifts to men. §§ " Being justified by his blood, we have
peace with God, and access to the Father through him."|| || He is
now the advocate of his people,^^ who appears in the presence of
God for them ;*** " who ever lives to make intercession,"-}- f-j- and
by whom their prayers and services are rendered acceptable.Jt t He
directs the course of his Providence, so as to promote their wel-
fare, not by abolishing the present consequences of sin, but by
rendering them medicinal to the soul :§§§ and death, which is still
allowed to continue as a standing memorial of the evil of sin, shall
at length be destroyed by the working of his mighty power, which
is able to quicken the bodies that had been mingled with the dust of
• 1 John iii. «. t Heh. ii. 14, 15.
t John xiv. 30. § Rom. i. 4. Acts ii. 32, 33.
II Heb. vii. 25. «[ Acts v. .30— .^2.
** Heb. xii. 2. ff Heb. viii. 4; ix. 12, 15.
++ Matth. xxviii. 18. §§ Ephes. iv. 8.
111! Rom. V. 1,2,9, 11. Eph. ii. 18. f H[ 1 John ii. 1.
"•• Heb. ix. 24. t+t Ro™. riii. 34.
**ii Rev. viii. 3, 4. §§§ Rom. viii. 28.
214 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
the eavtb.* " I am," says he, " the resurrection and the ]!fe,"f
" The hour is coming-, in the which all that are in the grave shall
hear the voice of the Son of Gorl, and shall come forth.":}: " Power
is given him over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many
as he will." § And the crown of life that shall be conferred at
the last day upon those for whom it is prepared, is represented in
Scripture not as a recompense which they have earned, Iiut as the
gift of God through him. " The wages of sin is death ; but eternal
Life is the g'ift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." ||
In this manner the blessings, which that divine Person who in-
terposed for the salvation of mankind is able to bestow, imply a
complete deliverance from the evils of sin. " As through one man's
offence, death reigned by one, so they who receive abundance of
grace, and of the g'ift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one
Jesus Christ." ^
Hitherto we have confined our attention to the interposition of
that Person, who appeared upon earth to save his people from their
sins. But we are introduced in the Gospel to the knowledge of a
third Person, who concurs in the salvation of mankind ; who pro-
ceedeth from the Father, who is sent by the Son as his Spirit,**
whose power is spoken of in exalted terms, f-j- to whom the highest
reverence is challenged,:): J and who, in all the variety of his opera-
tions, is one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every one seve-
rally as he will.§§ One God and Father of all is known by the
works of nature ; the Son of God is made known by revelation,
because the world which he had made stood in need of his interpo-
sition to redeem it : and the Spirit is made known by the same
revelation, because the benefits of this redemption are applied
through his agency. Our knowledge in this way grows with our
necessities. We learn how inadequate our faculties are to compre-
hend the divine nature, when we see such important discoveries
superinduced upon the investigations of the most enlightened rea-
son. And we learn also that the measures of knowledge, which
the Father of Spirits sees meet to communicate, are not intended
to amuse our minds with speculation, and to gratify curiosity, but
are immediately connected with the grounds of our comfort and
hope. They comprehend all that is necessary for us in our present
circumstances. But they may be far from exhausting the subject
revealed : and from the very great addition which the revelation
of the Gospel has made to our knowledge, it is natural for us to
• Phil. iii. 21. + Jolm iii- 25.
+ John V. 28, 29. § -Tohn xvii. 2.
II Rom. vi. 2;J. U lioin. v. 1 7.
•• John XV. 26. tt Acts iv. 31. 33. Rom. viii. 11, 26.
2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. ++ Heb. ix. 14; X. 29. §§ 1 Cor. xii. 4— 11.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 215
infer that creatures in another situation, or we ourselves in a more
advanced state of being, may see distinctly many things, which we
now in vain attempt to penetrate. The mode in which the Son
and the Spirit subsist, and the nature of their connexion with the
Father, however much tliey liave been the subject of human specu-
lation, are nowhere revealed in Scripture. But the offices of these
persons, being of infinite importance to us, are revealed with such
hints only of their nature, as may satisfy us that they are qualified
for these offices.
We have seen the office of the Son in the redemption of the
world, the right which he acquired by his perfect obedience and
suffering to dispense the Idessings of his purchase. It is in the dis-
pensation of those blessings that the office of the Spirit appears.
This office commenced from the earliest times : For he spake by
the mouth of all the holy prophets, who prophesied, since the world
began, of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should fol-
low.* To his agency the miraculous conception of the Son of man
is ascribed.f He descended upon Jesus at his baptism :J he was
given to him without lueasure during his ministry ;§ and after his
ascension he was manifested in the variety and fulness of those gifts
■which distinguished the first preachers of Christianity. || But all
these branches of the office of the Spirit, so necessary for confirm-
ing the truth, and for diffusing the knowledge of the Christian re-
ligion, were only the pledges of those ordinary influences, by which
the same Divine Person continues in all ages to apply the blessings
which are thus revealed.
The ordinary influences of the Spirit are represented in Scripture
as opposed to all those circumstances in the present condition of
human nature, which indispose men for receiving such a religion as
the Gospel. Thus you read, that " the natural man receiveth not
the things of God ; they are foolishness to him, because they are
spiritually discerned."^ Biit the spirit of wisdom and revelation is
given to Christians, that " the eyes of their understanding being en-
lightened, they may know what is the hope of their calling."**
You read, that " the carnal mind is enmity against God, and can-
not be svibjecttohis law: But they that are led by the Spirit, mind the
things of the Spirit."f f You read of a complacency in their own
righteousness, which prevents many from submitting themselves to
the righteousness of God.;]: J But the Spirit casts down every high
thought which exalteth itself."§§
• 1 Pet. i. 11. t Luke i. 35. + Luke iii. '22.
§ John iii. 34. II Acts. ii. 4. ^ 1 Cor. ii. 14.
*■* Ephes. i. 17, 18. tt Koin. viii. 5, 7. tt Rom. x. 3.
§§2 Cor. X. 3.
216 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRIbTIA SITY.
In all this there is nothing contrary to the reasonable nature of
man. We have daily experience of the influence which one mind
has over another, by presenting objects in the light best fitted to
command assent and conviction, by suggesting forcible motives, by
over-ruling objections, by addressing every generous principle, and
exciting every latent spark of good aifection. You sometimes see
or hear of persons formed for commanding others, not by force, but
by an acknowledged eminence in talents and virtues : and you often
see men conducted by a skilful exposition to the clear apprehen-
sion of truths which seemed to be above their capacity, and irresist-
ibly, yet freely, led, by well adapted persuasion, to exertions which
they considered as beyond their power. All this is a very faint
image indeed, but it may assist you in forming some conception of
the action of the Spirit of God upon the mind of man. He who
knows every spring of that heart which he formed, every method
of approach, every secret wish, every reluctant thought, and whose
power over mind is as entire as that which he exercises over mat-
ter, can in various ways illuminate the darkest understanding, and
bend the most stubborn will, without destroying that freedom which
is the essential character of the being upon whom he acts. The in-
fluence is efficacious, and the purpose of him from whom it pro-
ceeds cannot be defeated. Yet the being who is thus moved has as
httle feeling of constraint, acts as much from choice and delibera-
tion, as if the views and motives had occurred to his own mind with-
out a guide, or had been suggested to him by any of his neighbours.
Hence, although this influence of the Spirit is expressed in Scrip-
ture by a new creation,* and the quickening of those who were
dead,f although our Lord hath said, " Except a man be born again
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," i. e. be-
come a Christian ; and again, " No man can come unto me, except
the Father which hath sent me, draw him,";}: yet the persons thus
created, quickened and drawn, are said to be " willing in a day of
power."§ " Where the Spirit of the Lord is," says the Apostle,
" there is liberty," || the liberty which belongs to those whose un-
derstandings know the truth, whose aff'ections are orderly, and who
are not the servants of sin. The Gospel is styled " the perfect law
of liberty."^ A Christian is significantly called " the Lord's free-
man."** And Jesus said to those who believed on him, " If the
Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."-f-f
Such is the nature of that influence, which the Scriptures repre-
sent the Spirit of God as exerting upon every true Christian. The
• 2 Cor. V. 17. t Ephes. ii. 1. % John iii. 3, 5 ; vi. 44.
$ Psalm ex. 3. || 2 Cor. iii. 17. ^ James i. 25.
•* 1 . Cor. vii. 22. ft John viii. 36.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 217
immediate effect of that influence is called in Scripture faitli ; a word,
which according to its etymology, iriarig, denotes a firm persuasion
of trutli, but which, in the Scripture sense of the word, comprehends
all the sentiments and affections which naturally arise from a firm
])ersuasion of the truth of Christianity ; a cordial acquiescence in
the doctrines of the Gospel, a thankful acceptance of the method
of salvation from sin there offered, a reliance upon the promises of
God, and a submission to his will. Although an acquaintance with
the historical evidences of the truth of Christianity be the natural
foundation of a persuasion of its truth, yet a person may have stu-
died these evidences with care, and may be able to answer the ob-
jections that have been urged ag-ainst them, who, at the same time,
from some wrongness of mind, does not attain to the sentiments
and dispositions implied under faith. The Scriptures hold forth
examples of this in the enemies of our Lord during his life, who
had clearer evidences of his divine mission before their eyes than
we are able to attain with all our investigation, and in many of
those, who, by teaching and doing wonderful works in his name,
had that evidence within themselves, yet are for ever separated from
him by his own declaration. * And these examples will not ap-
pear strange to any person who has bestowed a philosophical at-
tention upon the inconsistencies in the human mind, and the small
influence which deductions of the understanding often appear to
have upon the heait. On the other hand, both the Scriptures and
our own experience afford many examples of persons, who, with
limited information and narrow powers of reasoning, yet by a trac-
table disposition, a love of the truth, and a fairness of mind, have
attained to what the Scriptures call faith, and become the disciples
of Christ indeed. To this purpose Jesus says, " I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these tilings
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. "f. And again,
" Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven ;" ^. e. Except ye receive the truth with that
freedom from prejudice, that desire of learning, and that simplicity
of intention, which are all implied in the character of children, ye
cannot become Chi'istians.J In another place, our Lord says, " If
any man will do the willof God, he shall know of the doctrine whe-
ther it be of God ;" § and he explains the good soil, in which the
seed fell that produced an hundred fold, by those " who in an honest
and good heart, keep the word, and bring forth fruit with patience." ||
All these expressions imply not merely that faith is an exercise of
* Matt. vii. 22, 23. t Matt. xi. 25, 26. t ^^a^t. xvlii. 3.
§ John vii. 17. [1 Luke viii. 15.
VOL. I. K
218 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
■understanding, but that a certain preparation of heart is requisite
for it ; and hence you will perceive that, althoug-h faith be a rea-
sonable act proceeding- upon evidence, there is room for the influ-
ence of the Spirit in disposing the mind to attend to the evidence,
and to see its force, in overcoming prejudice, and carrying home
the truth with power to the heart. Accordingly the Apostle Paul
says expressly, that faith is " the Gift of God ;" * and this decla-
ration is only expressing, in one sentence, the uniform doctrine of
Scripture upon this sulject.
Faith, which is thus produced by the influence of the Spirit of
God upon the mind of man, is the character with which a partici-
pation of the blessings of the Gospel is always connected in Scrip-
ture. These blessings were acquired, and are dispensed by the
Lord Jesus. But they are applied by his Spirit only to them who
believe. " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begot-
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish."
" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; he that believ-
eth not shall be damned." " This is the word of faith which we
preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved." We are said to be "justified by
faith :" and the only direction which Paul gave to the jailor, when
he cried out, " What must I do to be saved ?" was this, " Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."f
Declarations of this kind abound in Scripture. But there are
two mistakes w'hich such declarations are apt to occasion ; and both
are so opposite to the Scripture system, that they require to be
mentioned in this short account of it.
The first mistake, into which you may be led by the Scripture
declarations concerning faith, is to imagine that faith is the pro-
curing cause of our salvation ; that because Christ says, " this is
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent," any
person who does the work receives the blessings of the Gospel as
the wages which he has earned. But such an opinion contradicts
all the views which we have hitherto deduced from Scripture. For
the Gospel being a salvation fi'om sin, those who are to be saved
are considered as sinners, until they partake of the salvation. The
investiture with a certain character is indeed a present, and in some
sense an immediate efi"ect of the salvation, and is so inseparably
connected with it, as to be the Scripture mark, that a person has
" passed from death unto life." But being an eftect, it cannot in
the nature of things be a cause of that fi'om which it proceeds ; and
* Eplies. ii. 8.
t John iii. 16. Mark xvi. 16. Rom. x. 8, 9; v. i. Acts xvi. 30, 31.
PECULIAR DOCTIUNES OF CHRISTIANITY. 219
therefore the Scriptures speak in perfect consistency with them-
selves, when they declare, " God hath saved us, and called us with
an holy calling, not according- to our works, hut according- to his
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus."*
" When we were dead in sins, he quickened us together with Christ,
for l)y grace ye are saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God.'"t Faith is the instrument hy which the Spi-
rit of God applies to us the hlessings which Christ hath acquired
the right of dispensing. But there is no merit in the instrument.
Since all had sinned, and come short of the glory of God, " we are
justified freely hy the grace of God, through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus ;" and he is " the Lord our righteousness."
The second mistake into which you may he led hy the Scrip-
ture declaration concerning faith is, that faith is the only thing
which is required of a Christian. If all that Paul said to the jailor
was, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt he saved,"
it seems to follow that, if he believed, it mattered not how far he
disregarded every other precept of the Gospel. But the Scrip-
tures, by all their descriptions of faith, mean to teach us that it
cannot be alone. It is the principle of a divine life, by which we
are united to Christ and derive from him grace and strength for
the discharge of every duty. It works by love, and purifies the
heart, and overcomes the world. So we read in Scripture of a life
of faith, of the obedience of faith, of faith being dead, because it is
without works. " Do we make void the law through faith ? God
forbid ; yea, we establish the law.";]: Here then you will mark
the place which good works hold in the Christian system. They
are not the ground of our acceptance with God, for the whole
world, according to this system, being guilty before God, we must
have remained for ever excluded from liis favour had good works
been the condition upon which our being received into it was sus-
pended. " Therefore," the Apostle Paul says, " by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God." Neither
are those the good works of a Christian, which, although fit in
themselves, and profitable to those who do them, and to others, are
done merely upon considerations of reason, honour, and conscience,
which ought to actuate the mind in every situation. But the good
works required in the Gospel flow from faith, i. e. they are per-
formed in the spirit of a Christian, from the motives suggested by
a firm persuasion of the truth of the Gospel. Good works, there-
fore, are stated in Scripture as the fruits and evidences of faith, the
* 2 Tim. i. 9. f Ephes. ii. 1,8.
X Gal. V. 6 J ii. 20. Acts xv. 9. 1 John v. 4. Rom. i. 5 ; iii. 31. James
ii. 12.
220 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
necessary effect of tbe operation of the Spirit of God. " For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them ;"*
and there thus appears to be the most perfect consistency between
the doctrine of Paul and that of James. Paul says, that we are
not justified by any thing that we can do ourselves, but freely by
grace, through faith in the blood of Christ. James says, Show me
thy faith by thy works ; faith without works is dead, as the body
without the spirit. And he concludes, that a man is justified not
by faith only, i. e. by such a faith as does not produce what Paul
had stated to be the constant effect of a true faith, but by that
faith which by works is made perfect.
As the Gospel calls men, by motives peculiar to itself, and with
an energy which no other system ever possessed, to the practice of
righteousness, so it is uniformly supposed in Scripture, that the
followers of Jesus are to be distinguished by the zeal and constancy
with which they abound in the work of the Lord. The question
of our Lord, " What do ye more than others?" and such expres-
sions as these, " being- dead to sin," " crucifying- the flesh with the
affections and lusts," " being- alive unto God," " putting on the
new man," '• walking after the Spirit," imply an eminence and uni-
formity of virtues, a light which shines before men. That inno-
cence which the laws of our country enjoin, that measure of vir-
tue which a regard to public opinion or even the principles of na-
tural religion require, falls very far short of the evangelical stand-
ard. It is the duty of a Christian to aspire after perfection, yet
never to count that he has attained it ; to forsake the vices of
others, and to endeavour to excel their virtues, yet to be deeply
sensible of his own impei'fection, and ready to allow his brethren
all the praise which they deserve ; to fill up bis life with the va-
rious exertions of active, diffusive, disinterested benevolence, yet to
guard against the emotions of vanity, and that spirit of ostentation
by which a good deed loses all its value ; and to ascribe the honour
of his progress in virtue, not to his natural disposition, to his own
diligence or watchfulness, or to any concurrence of favourable cir-
cumstances, but to that God who called him to the knowledge of
the Gospel, to that Saviour by the faith of whom he lives, and that
Spirit by whose influence he is sanctified.
The Scriptures assure us that the good works which thus pro-
ceed from faith; although imperfect in degree, and mingled with
many infirmities, are well pleasing in the sight of God through
.Jesus Christ. He, in allusion to the Jewish law, is represented as
tie high priest over the house of God, who, having yielded a per-
* Ephes ii. 10.
PECULIAR DOCTHINES OF CHRISTIANITY. '221
feet obedience to the divine law, has no occasion to make any of-
fering- for his own sins, but appears in the presence of God for his
people.* And the g-ood works which they perform through the
strength which his Spirit imparts, are styled sj)iritual sacrilices ac-
ceptable to God by him.f The Almighty lifts the light of his
countenance upon those who offer this sacrifice ; he admits them
into his family ; he rejoices over them to do them good ; he chas-
tens them with the tenderness of a father ; he seals them by his
Spirit unto the day of redemption ; and he will receive them here-
after to that incorruptible inheritance which is not due to their
services, but a reward of grace, purchased by the death of Christ,
secured by his intercession, and " reserved in heaven for those who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."
It appears then from the Scriptures that the religion of Jesus,
having for its ultimate design the removal of those evils which sin
had introduced, destroys the present dominion of sin in all true
Christians. Its tendency is to restore upon the soul of man that
image of God after which he was made, to revive those sentiments
and desires which constitute the excellence and dignity of his na-
ture, to elevate his affections from earth to heaven, and, at the
same time, to enforce the discharge of those relative duties which
his present condition renders necessary to the comfort of society.
It is plain that if this religion were universally acknowledged and
obeyed, the character of every individual would be rescued from
the degradation of vice, and assimilated to the most exalted beings
in the universe ; that the happiness of human life would receive
the most substantial and permanent improvement, and that the
abode of the human race upon earth would l)e a stage in the pro-
gress of their existence to the pei'fection and the joys of heaven.
It is not possible to conceive any design more worthy of the Father
of mankind, and more beneficial to his creatures. There is implied
in the nature of this design the strongest obligation upon every
reasonable being to whom the knowledge of it is communicated,
to co-operate in its accomplishment ; and it is specially to be re-
marked, in a view of the Scripture system, that this co-operation
is not only required by precept, but is recommended Ijy the most
illustrious examples. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
condescend to take part in this scheme ; the angels attend to the
progress of it, rejoice in the conversion of a sinner, and are " mi-
nistering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation."
All the prophets and holy men in ancient times of whom the
Scriptures speak looked forward to it, and contributed in some
measure to its approach. And now that it is manifested, every
* Heb. vii. 25—28. f 1 Peter ii. 5.
222 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
one is called upon to he a worker together with God. The whole
Christian world is represented as one g^reat society, united, by their
submission to the same Master and by the g-uidance of the same
Spirit, in following " after holiness, without which no man shall
see the Lord :" and " after the things wherewith one may edify an-
other."
We are warranted to speak of this co-operation in accomplish-
ing the great design of the Gospel ; for although the Scriptures
represent the blessings there revealed as acquired by the interposi-
tion of the Son of God, and the character necessary in order to a
participation of them as originating from the influence of the Spi-
rit, yet they uniformly address us in a style which supposes that
there is something for us to do. We are commanded to " work out
our own salvation," and we are required to help our brethren in
the good ways of the Lord. We soon bewilder ourselves in our
speculations, when we attempt to settle the boundaries between the
agency of God and the agency of man. But the Scriptures, with-
out condescending to enter into these discussions, abound in ex-
hortations ; and we cannot suppose that our shallow reasonings
upon subjects so infinitely above our comprehension, will be sus-
tained as an excuse for neglecting to obey precepts so often re-
peated and so plainly expressed.
The Scriptures mention various means which the Spirit of God
employs, in producing that faith which is the principle of the Christ-
ian character, and those good works which flow from this principle.
But they have nowhere furnished any marks to distinguish the na-
tural operation of these means from that agency of the Spirit, with-
out which they are ineffectual. " The wind," says our Lord,
" bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth : so is every
one that is born of the Spirit." The Spirit may act as he will, but
there is no warrant to expect that the conversion of any individual
will be brought about in a sudden sensible manner. The exercises
of a pious education, the habits of virtuous youth, the impressions
fixed upon the mind by the continued instruction and conversation
of the wise, may have so gradually disposed a person for receiving
the Gospel in faith, that he shall not be able to mark any great
change which ever took place in the state of his soul, or the time
when faith, the gift of God, was imparted to him by the Spirit. Yet
this man may appear to be a Christian indeed, by bringing forth in
his life those fruits of the Spirit, which are the evidences of faith.
The assurance which arises from these evidences may give him that
" peace of God which passeth understanding ;" and the Spirit itself
may bear witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. From
hence we deduce the duty of using the means by which the influ-
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY. 223
ences of the Spirit are ordinarily conveyed, and the presumption of
all who, undervaluing- the means, say that they wait for an extra-
ordinary instantaneous illapse of the Spirit. Hence too you per-
ceive the reason why the Scriptures represent the earliest Christ-
ians, and speak of Christians in all succeeding- ages, as a society dis-
tinguished hy certain regulations and outward ordinances. If the
Spirit operated immediately upon every individual, all these would
be a yoke of ceremonies. But if the heavenly gift, as well as the
common bounties of Providence, is to be dispensed by the instru-
mentality of men, the establishment of what we call a church is ne-
cessary for " perfecting the saints, and for edilying- the body of
Christ." So speaks the apostle Paul. " How shall they call on
him in whom they have not believed ? And bow shall they believe
in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?
So faith Cometh by hearing-, and hearing by the word of God."* The
promise of our Lord to his apostles, " Lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the world," seems, by the terms of it, to extend
to a much longer period than their ministry required ; and that it
does really imply the presence of Jesus with his church in all ag-es,
not indeed by extraordinary inspiration, but by his countenance and
protection, is manifest from another declaration of his, " The g-ates
of hell shall not prevail against my church," and from the practice
of his apostles, who ordained teachers, overseers of the flock, in every
city where they preached, and who made provision that the instruc-
tion which they gave by word or writing should be transmitted to
future generations. " The things," says Paul to Timothy, the
minister of Ephesus, " that thou hast heard of me among many wit-
nesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to
teach others also."t Some of the epistles of Paul contain a delinea-
tion of the form of those churches to the ministers of which he
writes, and directions concerning the conduct of the several office-
bearers, and concerning the exercise of discipline. There can be
no doubt that this form had been established by his authority ; and
it is natural for all Christian churches to endeavour to show that
their ecclesiastical institutions do not depart far from it. Yet it is
nowhere said that this ought to be the form of the church univer-
sal ; and there are expressions in the epistles of Paul which imply
that Christians are allowed to use a prudent accommodation to cir-
cumstances in matters of external order. The spirit of Christianity
calls our attention to things infinitely more important than the va-
rieties of church government. " The kingdom of God is not meat
and di-ink,but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost:" J
• Rom. X. 14, 15. t 2 Tim. ii. 2. + Rom. siv. 17.
224 PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and those societies, whose institutions approach nearest to the apos-
tolical practice, have no warrant to condemn their brethren, who
have l)een led by a different progress of society to establishments
farther removed from it.
But amidst this diiference in matters of order, which the Scrip-
tures do not condemn, there are points resulting- from the desig-n of
their institution in which all churches ought to agree, otherwise
they are not the churches of Christ. They must acknowledg-e him
as their head and master, teaching- no other doctrine than that forni
of sound doctrine, which is to be gathered from the writings of his
apostles. They must maintain that spiritual worship which he hath
substituted in place of the idolatry of the heathen, and the ceremo-
nies of the Mosaic dispensation ; and they must observe, according
to his institution, the ordinances which he hath established in his
church. We apply the word ordinances or sacraments to baptism
and the Lord's Supper ; the first, a rite boi-rowed from the Jewish
custom of plung-ing into water the proselytes from heathenism to
the law of Moses, but consecrated by the words of Jesus, and the
universal practice of his disciples, as the mode of admitting mem-
bers into the Christian society; the second, a rite which originated
in the affectionate leave which our Lord took of his disciples at the
domestic feast that followed the celebration of the Jewish passover.
The woi-ds of the institution, " As often as ye eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come," imply
that the Lord's Supper is, by the appointment of Christ, a perpe-
tual ordinance in the Christian church, in which there is a thank-
ful commemoration of the benefits purchased by his death ; and the
Scriptures lead us to entertain a veiy high conception of the spiri-
tual effects of this ordinance wit'n regard to those who partake of
it worthily, by calling- it " the communion of the body and the blood
of Christ."* Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the external
badges of the Christian profession, the rites by which the author of
the Gospel meant that the society which he was to found should be
distinguished from every other. They are most apposite to the pe-
culiar doctrines of his religion ; there are a simplicity and a signi-
iicancy in them which accord with the whole character of the Gos-
pel : and, as they were appointed by Jesus himself, no human au-
thority is entitled to add to their number, or to make any material
alteration upon the manner of their being observed.
Upon this account we rank the right a<lministration of Baptism
and of the Lord's Supper, the preaching the " faith once delivered
to the saints," and the maintenance of spiritual woi'ship, as the ■
marks of a Christian chui'ch. We gather all the three marks from
* 1 Cor. X. 16.
PECULIAR DOCTRINES OS" CHRISTIANITY. 225
the nature of such a society, and from several places of Scripture ;
and we find the three broug-ht into one view in the description,
given in the book of Acts, of the 3000 who were added to the
number of the disciples by the sermon which Peter preached ten
days after the ascension of Jesus. " Then they that gladly re-
ceived his word were baptized. And they continued steailfastly in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking- of bread, and
in prayers." *
The Church of Christ, separated from the rest of the world by
these marks of distinction, is not set in opposition to human go-
vernment. But the Gospel, without entering into any discus-
sion of the claims made by subjects and their rulers, enforces obe-
dience by the example of Jesus and of his apostles, and by various
precepts such as these, " Render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's." '■ Let every soul be subject to the higher powers." " Siib-
mit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.' f
The ministers of this religion, although invested with a sacred cha-
ractei', and constituted by their master the spiritual rulers of that
society, for whose good they labour, are not entitled to assume, in
virtue of their office, any measure of civil power. They are not
the arbiters between the parties who contend for dominion. But
they co-operate with the authority of government, by their prayers,
by their exhortations, and by the natural tendency of discourses
composed upon the true principles of Christianity, to diffuse a ge-
neral spirit of industry, sobriety, and order. Upon this account
they have received, in every Christian country, the protection ot
the state ; and in these happy lands where we live, the establish-
ment of that form of Church government, which was supposed to
be most agreeable to the inclinations of the people, is incorporated
with the ci^'il constitution. The ministers of the establishment
have legal security for their livings. They have, in critical times,
by their influence over public opinion, rendered very important
services to their country , and, although that unwillingness to part
with any portion of their property, which is felt by all the orders
of the state, and which grows with the progress of luxury, may
prevent any great augmentation of the modei'ate provision which
is made for the ministers of our church, they cannot fail, while they
discharge their duty, to continue to receive the countenance, th«'
support, and the indulgence of the legislature.
* Acts ii. 41, 42.
t Matt, xxii, 21. Rom. xiii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 13.
k2
[ 226 ]
CHAP. III.
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
Out of the preceding- view of the Scripture system, there arise
some general observations upon which I wish to fix your attention,
because I think they may be of use in preparing your minds for the
more jtarticular discussions upon which we are to enter.
The first observation respects the importance of Christianity.
This is a subject upon which, for the reason which I mentioned
in the outset, I have hitherto hardly said any thing-. The common
method is, to place what is called the necessity of revelation before
the evidences of it, and to argue from the necessity to the proba-
bility of its having- been g-iven. But I have always thought this
an unfair and a presumptuous mode of arguing-. It appears to me,
that we are so little qualified to judge of what is necessary, and so
little entitled to build our expectation of heavenly g-ifts upon our
own reasonings, that the only method becoming our distance, and
our ignorance of the divine counsels, is first to establish the fact
that a revelation has been given, and then to learn its importance
by examining its contents. Agreeably to this method, I have led
you through the principal evidences of the divine mission of Jesus ;
I have given a general account of the system contained in those
books, which his servants wrote by inspiration ; and I now mean
to deduce from that account the importance of what the inspired
books contain.
There are two views under which the importance of Christia-
nity may be stated. We may consider the Gospel as a republication
of the religion of nature, or we may consider it as a method of
saving sinners.
SECTION I.
We may consider the religion of Jesus as a republication of the
religion of nature. I have a(loj)ted this phrase, because, from the
3
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPOnTANCE. 227
very respectable authority by which it has been used, as well as
from its own signiticancy, it has become a fashionable phrase ; and
yet there are two capital mistakes which the ungniarded use of it
may occasion. The first is an opinion, that Christianity is merely
a republication of the religion of nature, containing- nothing more
than the doctrines and duties which may be investigated by the
lig-ht of reason. But it follows clearly from the general view of
the Scripture system, that this is an imperfect and false account of
Christianity ; because in that system there are doctrines concerning
the Son and the Spirit, and their offices in the salvation of men,
of which reason did not give any intimation ; and there are duties,
resulting- from the interposition recoi'ded in the Gospel, which could
not possibly exist till the knowledge of that interposition was com-
municated to man. The Gospel then, professing to be more than
a republication of the religion of nature, a view of its importance,
proceeding- upon the supposition that it is mei'ely a republication,
must be so lame as to do injustice to the system thus iiiisrepre-
sented.
The second mistake, which the unguarded use of this phrase
may occasion, is an opinion that the religion of nature is essential-
ly defective either in its constitution, or in the mode of its being
promulgated, and that the imperfection originally adhering to it
called for amendment. But this is an opinion which appears at
first sight unreasonable. If the Creator intended man to be a re-
ligious creature, it is to be presumed that he endowed him in the
beginning with the faculty of attaining such a knowledge of the
divine nature as might be the foundation of religion. If he intend-
ed him to be a moral accountable creature, it is to be presumed that
he furnished him with a rule of life. These presumptions are con-
firmed, when we proceed to examine the subject closely ; for we
cannot analyze the human mind, without discovering that an im-
pression of the Supreme Being is congenial to many of its natural
sentiments. There is a strain of fair reasoning, by which we are
conducted, from principles universally admitted, to some knowledge
of the divine attributes. There are obligations implied in the de-
pendence of a reasonable being upon his Creator. There is a cer-
tain line of conduct dictated by the constitution and the circum-
stances of man ; and there is a general expectation with regard to
the future conduct of the divine govenmient, created by that part
of it which we beliold, and corresponding to hopes and fears of
which we cannot divest ourselves. All this makes up what we
call natural religion. And it is manifestly suj)posed in Scripture ;
for we read there, that "■ that which may be known of God is ma-
nifest among them : for God hath shown it to them ; for the invi-
sible things of God are clearly seen ever since the creation of the
228 CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
world, being understood liy the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead : so they are without excuse, because
that when they knew God, they gdorified him not as God." We
read that those who had no written law " are a law to themselves,
their conscience l)earing- witness." * And, through the whole of
Scripture, there are appeals to those notions of God which are
agreeable to right reason, and to that sense of right and wrong
which is there considered as a part of the human constitution. Al-
though, therefore, some zealous unwise fi'iends of Christianity have
thought of doing honour to revelation by depreciating natural re-
ligion, and although you will find that some sects of Christians
have been led bv their peculiar tenets to deny that man has natu-
rally any knowlege of God, you will not suppose that all who use
the phrase. Republication of the religion of nature, adopt these
opinions, or even approach to them ; and you will find, that the
soundest and ablest divines consider natural religion as suited to
the circumstances of man at the time of his creation. If you take
the known history of the human race in conjunction with the prin-
ciples of human nature, you will readily perceive that the opinion
of these divines is well founded. There would undoubtedly be
transmitted from the first man to his descendants a tradition of his
coming into the world, and of his finding every thing there new ;
and if you admit the truth of the Mosaic account, this tradition,
by the long lives of the first inhabitants of the earth, would pass
for many centuries through very few hands. It is to be presumed,
too, even independently of the authority of Moses, that, in the
infancy of the human race, there would be a more immediate in-
tercourse between man and his Creator, than after the connexions
of society had been formed and established upon the earth. This
tradition and this revelation might fix the attention of the poste-
rity of the first man upon those suggestions and deductions of rea-
son, which give some knowledge of the being, the attributes, and
the moral government of God ; and there might be thus a founda-
tion laid for the universal observance of some kind of worship as
the expression of gratitude and trust. From a sense of dependence
upon the Creator, there would arise the feeling of obligation to
serve him, so that natural religion would come in aid of the dic-
tates of conscience ; and the obedience which man yielded to the
law of morality, while by the constitution of his nature it was re-
warded with inward peace, would enal)le him, by his a])prehension
of a righteous Sovereig-i of the universe, to look forward with good
hope to those future scenes of the divine government under which
he might be permitted to exist. I do not say that this complete
• See Macknight's translation of Rom. ii. 15; i. 18, 19, 2().
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 229
system of pure natural religion ever was established in any country
merely by reasoning- ; but I do say, that all the parts of it may be
referred to principles of reason ; that early tradition called and di-
rected men to apply these principles to the subject of religion ; and
that, had they been properly followed out, man would have been
possessed, independently of any extraordinary revelation, of a ground
of religion, and a rule of life, suited to the circumstances in which
he was created.
Having guarded against the second mistake which I mentioned,
by fixing in your minds this preliminary point, that the religion of
nature was not originally defective, you proceed to consider what
importance the Gospel derives from being a republication of that
religion.
You will begin with observing it to be very conceivable that the
whole system of natural religion may admit of being proved by i-ea-
son, and yet that particular circumstances may have prevented that
continued exercise of reason, by which the knowledge of it might
have been attained. We often see men remaining, through their
own fault or neglect, ignorant of many things which they might
have known ; and the recency of many great discoveries is a proof
bow slowly the human mind advances to truth, although no one
is so absurd as to infer, from the abounding of error, that truth is
not agreeable to reason. If there was an early departure from the
duties of natural religion, it is plain that this circumstance in the
history of mankind would estrange them from that God whom they
were conscious of disobeying, would weaken the original impres-
sion of that law which they were ]>reaking, and would overcast the
hopes connected with the observance of it. The universal tradi-
tion of the creation might, for a few generations, in some measure
counterbalance this tendency. But as men spread over the earth,
the memory of the truths received from their fii'st parents would
become fainter : as their passions were excited by a multiplicity of
new objects, the restraints to which they had submitted in a sim-
pler state of society would lose their power, and a growing corrup-
tion of religion would accompany the progress of vice. This is
the very account of the matter which the apostle Paul gives us.
" When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, nor were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened ; and they changed the glory of the incorrupti-
ble God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. And even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."
These are the words of Paul in his Epistle to the Romans ; and
the best commentary upon them is the religious history of the hea-
230 CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
then world. You need not look to those savage tribes, where the
faculties of the human mind, depressed by unfavourable circum-
stances, have a very limited range, and man appears raised but a
few degrees above the beasts with whom he associates. Recollect
the polished and learned nations, whose philosophy we study, and
to whose writing's every scholar feels and owns his obligations ;
and in their religious history you will find aljundant confirmation
of the words of St Paul. Although reason was there highly cul-
tivated ; although art and science made distinguished progress : al-
though the public establishments of religion were magnificent and
expensive, yet the fathers of science, in respect of rehgious know-
ledge, were as children, " and the world by wisdom knew not God."
There was a darkness with regard to the nature of God. The
knowledge of one supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of all
things, the rewarder of those who seek him, the friend and protec-
tor of the good, and the avenger of the wicked, this most valuable
knowledge was lost in the belief of a multiplicity of gods, who had
the passions, the vices, the contentions of men, whose character and
conduct, instead of administering comfort in distress, and strength
under temptation, sunk the afflicted in despair, and corrupted the
manners of the woi'shipper. Tiiere was a darkness with regard to
the method of pleasing the gods. Multiplied sacrifices offered with
miich doubt, and with the fear of giving offence, a pageantry of
costly ceremonies, a wearisome round of superstitious observances,
made up the religion of the heathen, and excluded that worship in
spirit and truth, which it is the honour of a reasonable creature to
offer to the Searcher of hearts. There was a darkness with re-
gard to the duties of life. The voice of conscience was not only
left without the support of true religion, but was in many instances,
perverted by corrupt systems. No scholar will deny, that the laws
and the constitution of ancient states cherished certain public vir-
tues which were both useful and splendid ; and the names of many
citizens will be celebrated as long as the world lasts, for heroism,
the love of their country, disinterestedness, and generosity. But
any person, who takes a near view of the manners of the great bo-
dy of the people in ancient times, finds that the established system
of morality was loose and debauched ; for, although the state often
required great exertions from the citizens for its own preservation,
no restraint was imposed upon the indulgence of many evil passions,
and the grossest vices were conceived to be consistent with pure
virtue. There was still greater darkness with regard to the hopes
of men. The impression of a future state is so congenial to the
mind of man, that it could not be effaced. But the opinions ge-
nerally entertained with regard to the future place of both the
good and the bad were mixed with a number of childish fables,
CHRISTIANITY OF I>JFINITE IMPORTANCE. 231
which exposed to ridicule, and even brought into suspicion, that
important truth which they only obscured. The wise men who
arose in ditferent ages, although they did not implicitly adopt the
vulgar errors, were not fitted to dispel this darkness. Some were
led by the absurdity of the received creeds rashly to reject the fun-
damental articles of religion ; and that they mignt depart as far as
possible from the supei'stition of their countrymen, they denied the
being of a God, or they excluded him from the government of the
world. Those who did not thus contradict the natural sentiments
of the hvmian mind were unable to divest themselves of an attach-
ment to prevailing opinions and universal practice ; and while their
wi'itings contain many traces of a rational system, they sacrificed
in public to the gods of their country. Their writings and their
discourses did enlighten the minds of their scholars. But these
scholars were few. The great body of the people had neither lei-
sure nor capacity to follow their investigations. But they saw that
the practice of the philosophers did not, in any material respect,
differ from their own. The authority of the wise, therefore, in-
stead of correcting, confirmed the popular system, and that system,
founded in ignorance of the true God, took deep root in the minds
of men, and was established by law, by example, and by custom.
I need not dwell longer upon this picture of the religious state
of the heathen world. You find it drawn at full length in the
books which are commonly read upon this subject, particularly in
Clarke's Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, in Leland's
Advantages of the Christian Revelation, and in the first volume
of Bishop Sherlock's Discourses. But even from the slight sketch
that has now been given, it is manifest that there is a very great
difference between the system of natural religion, which we are
able to deduce from principles of reason, and the form.s of religion
which obtained in the most enlightened nations. It is true that
the land of Judea enjoyed, fi'om very early times, a revelation of
one God. The Maker of heaven and eai'th was worshipped in that
country for many ages without the mixture of idolatry, and a sys-
tem of pure morality was contained in the books that were read in
the Jewish synagogue. But the revelation which distinguished
this narrow distinct was not intended, and was not fitted, to be the
light of the world. At the time of our Saviour's birth, it was ob-
scured by tradition ; and the law given to the children of Israel,
instead of being able to correct the prevailing superstition, stood
in need of a more spiritual interpretation than it received from the
Jewish doctors. But whatever was the measure of light which
the Jews enjoyed, it extended in very scanty uncertain portions to
other nations, and they were, as the apostle speaks, " without God,
232 CHRISTIANIxy OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
and without hope in the world," till the pure system of natural re-
ligion which they had lost was republished in the gospel.
It appears, then, from the religious history of the world, that a
republication of the religion of nature was most desiralde. And
when you attend to the Gospel, you will lind that it not only con-
tains the knowledge which was lost, but is peculiarly fitted by its
character to give such a republication as the circumstances that
have been stated seem to require. Those notions of the being, the
attributes, and the government of God, which, as soon as they are
proposed, appear most agreeable to right reason, are delivered by
a teacher who was sent from heaven to declare God to man.
That law which the Almighty wrote in the beginning upon the
human heart is taught by authority as the will of our Creator; and
the hope of future recompense is established by his promise. The
manifest signatures of a divine interposition, which attended the
introduction of the Gospel, rouse the attention of the world to the
system there repul)lisheil ; the form in which that system is deli-
vered renders it level to the capacities of every one ; and the in-
stitutions of the Gospel perpetuate the instruction which it conveys.
It is particularly to be remarked upon this subject, that the sim-
plicity which distinguishes the Gospel corresponds in the most ad-
mirable manner to its character, as a republication of the religion
of nature. The ancient philosophers were accustomed to exercise
their reason in profound and subtle disquisitions, and valued any
system according to I he depth and acuteness of thought which it
discovered. There are many points respecting the nature of the
soul, the manner of its existence, and its operations, which they
had investigated with much care, and which, after all their research,
they found involved in much darkness. But such speculations,
however agreeable an amusement they aftord to a thinking mind,
form no part of natural religion ; and accordingly they do not en-
ter into the republication of it. There is not in the Gospel any
delineation of the nature and properties of spiritual substances, or
any solution of those questions about which the ancient schools
were divided. All abstruse points are left just where they were ;
and the important practical truths, in which the learned and the
unlearned are equally concerned, are rested not upon long deduc-
tions of reasoning, which the great body of the people find them-
selves incapable of following, but upon an authority which they
are at no loss to apprehend, the simple assertion of men who bring
with them the most satisfying evidence that they speak the truth.
The order and precision of a philosophical system might have
pleased the learned. But had the Gospel condescended, in this
respect, to assimilate itself to works of human genius, it would
have borne on its face this manifest inconsistency, that while it
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 2iJ3
professed to teach doctrines of equal importance to all, it taught
them in a manner which few only could understand. That it
might he of universal use, and might truly supply what was want-
ing, it came at first " not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom,"
but with great plainness of words, accompanied with the demon-
stration of the Spirit. The book in which this republication is
handed down, from the historical form of some parts, and the fa-
miliar epistolary style of others, imprints itself deeply upon every
understanding, mingles itself readily with the habits and modes of
thinking of ordinary men, and is retained in the memory, so as to
be easily applied upon every occasion. Those who are not accus-
tomed to form general views, to connect in their minds the parts
of a whole, or to act systematically, carry away from the reading
of this book detached sentences and precepts, which minister to
their comfort and improvement : and even when their quotations
discover narrow or mistaken notions of theology, their hearts are
made better by the facility with which the quotations occur.
To all this there must be added that popular and familiar mode
of instruction, which the institutions of the Gospel furnish. The
crowd of worshippers, who assembled in a heathen temple to be-
hold a splendid sacrifice, retired without any rational conceptions
of the Supreme Being. No attempt was made to connect the or-
dinary services of religion with the information of the great body
of the people, and lessons of morality were confined to the schools
of the philosophers. But all who live in a Christian country enjoy,
by the republication of natural religion, a standing kind of admo-
nition, with which the world was unacquainted in former ages.
Those truths and those duties which are intimately connected with
the happiness of society, as well as with the eternal interests of
man, are placed before them in a language which every one that
is willing to hear may understand. Persons who feel themselves
unequal in every other respect are admitted to receive the same
benefit and consolation. The ignorant are enlightened, and the care-
less are put in rememlirance.
And thus, as we formerly found that the system of natural re-
ligion contained in the books of the New Testament is infinitely
more perfect than any that had been published before, as we found
also that the growing improvement of those that have been pub-
lished since cannot reasonably be ascribed to any other cause than
to the benefit which they derived from this republication, so to
the same cause we may ascribe the universal diffusion of the prin-
ciples of natural religion in every Christian country. The public
establishment of Christianity is a standing memorial, a perpetual
rememlirancer of the fundamental truths of religion, and the great
duties of life. It has given the vulgar in our days more sound
234 CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPOUTANCE.
and enlarged conceptions of the nature and government of God,
of the extent of our obligations and our hopes, than almost any
philosopher in ancient times was able to attain ; and it is not easy
to find any words, which so perfectly express the difference between
the heathen world and those coimtries where Christianity is pro-
fessed in simphcity and purity, as the words by which Jeremiah
foretold the change. " After those days," saith the Lord, " I will
put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts :
And they shall teach no more every man his neighliour, and every
man his brother, saying, know the Lord ; for they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." *
X;!The sum of what has been said upon the first view of the im-
portance of Christianity is this. The Gospel is a republication of
the religion of nature, imparting that knowledge upon this subject,
which is agreeable to the deductions of the most enlightened rea-
son, but which unfavourable circumstances had prevented any man
from attaining by means of reason, removing those errors to which
no other method of instruction had applied any effectual remedy,
and diffusing by its institutions, to men of every condition, the in-
formation, the instruction, and the comfort which it conveys. If
knowledge be better than ignorance ; if, of all kinds of knowledge,
an acquaintance with the principles of true religion contribute the
largest share to the consolation and improvement of human life ;
and if this most valual)le knowledge be now rendered accessible,
extensive, and permanent, — Christianity, which has accomplished
so happy a change by republishing the religion of nature, is in this
view most important. It deserves to be received with thankful-
ness, to be cherished with care, to be honoured and encouraged by
every friend of mankind. He, whose discourse or example recom-
mends Christianity to others, contributes by so doing to preserve
and to spread the light that is in the world. He, who employs
any means to depreciate the public establish m.ent of Christianity,
does so far contribute to extinguish that light, and to bring back
those times of heathen darkness, from which this republication of
natural religion hath rescued a great part of the human race.
SECTION IL
The general account of the Scripture system presented Christi-
anity to us as a remedy for the depravity which has pervaded the
* Jer. xxxi. 33, 34.
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 235
human race. I am now to illustrate its importance considered in
this view.
Although the religion of nature be liable to be obscured by the
general practice of vice, yet if it were fitted, by its original con-
stitution, to be the religion of a sinner, nothing- more than a re-
publication would at any time be required, in order to render it
suitable to the circumstances of man. But even after the relig-ion
of nature has been restored in its original ])urity, the provision
made by it for the comfort, the direction, and the hope of man, is
inadequate to the new situation in which he is placed, by heing a
sinner. In this new situation, the deformity, the weakness, the
depravity of mind, which belong- to sin, enter into his condition ;
he is also a transgressor of the divine law, and as such is liable to
the consequences of transgression. But relig-ion cannot exist in
such a situation, without the knowledge of some method of obtain-
ing- pardon. For the expression which you read in the 130th
Psalm, is strictly accurate. " If thou. Lord, shouldst mark ini-
quities, O Lord, who shall stand ? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou raayest be feared ;" ^. e. there can be no fear of
God, no religion to a sinner, unless there be forgiveness with
God : and, therefore, the first thing- to be considered in judging- of
the importance of Christianity under this second view is. What
are the hopes of forgiveness in the religion of nature ? From
whence are these hopes derived ?
It is manifest, that the hopes of forgiveness are not necessarily
connected with that law which the religion of nature delivers. A
law enjoins obedience, promises reward, it may be, to those who
obey, and always denounces punishment against those who disobey.
It would destroy itself, if it were delivered in these terms : You
are commanded to obey, but you shall be forgiven although you
transgress. The hopes of forgiveness, then, are to be sought in
some part of the religion of nature distinct fi'om the law. But it
is not pretended that the religion of nature contains any specific
promise of forgiveness, the record of which may be pleaded by
transgressors as a bar to the full execution of the sanctions of the
law. It is not possible to shew the place where such a record is
to be found. And therefore there is no source from which the
hopes of forgiveness can be drawn under the religion of nature,
but those general notions of the compassion of God, from which
it may appear probable that he will accept of the repentance of a
sinner, and reinstate in his favour those who have offended him,
when they return to their duty. It is admitted, by all who have
just notions of the divine character, that the same process of rea-
soning, which conducts us to the knowledge of the being of God,
establishes in our minds a belief of his goodness. It is natural to
236 CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
think that the goodness of the Supreme Being, when exercised
to frail faUihle creatures, will assume the form of compassion or
long-suffering-. We see, in the course of Providence, various in-
stances of a delay or mitigation of punishment ; and there are
many appearances, which clearly indicate that we live under a mer-
ciful constitution. But we are hy no means warranted from them
to draw this general conclusion, that all who repent will finally be
forgiven under the Divine government. You will be satisfied that
this conclusion goes very far beyond the premises, if you attend
to the following circumstances. The same process of reasoning
which leads us to the belief of the goodness of God, ascertains also
his holiness, his wisdom, and his justice, all of which seem to re-
quire the punishment of sinners. It is true that those perfections,
of which our conceptions lead us to speak as separate from one
another, unite in the Deity with entire harmony to form one pur-
pose, and that there never can be any opposition among them in
the Divine mind, or in the execution of the Divine counsels. But
it is impossible for us to say how far any particular exercise of
justice or of goodness is consistent with this harmony ; and it is
manifest that every reasoning, which proceeds upon a partial view
of the divine character, must be insecure. Further, we are not
acquainted with the relations which subsist amongst the parts of
the universe. But we can suppose that reasons of the divine con-
duct, inexplicable to us, may arise from these relations ; and even
in that part of the universe which is most open to our observation,
although we cannot always account for the limitations of the di-
vine goodness, we can mark instances where the long-suffering of
God seems to be exhausted, where repentance ceases to be of any
avail, and men are left to endure, without alleviation, all the evils
which they had incurred hj transgression. It is possible that in-
stances of this kind, which are very numerous, may be mingled
with the examples of compassion in the Divine government to
guard us against the conclusion which repeated compassion might
seem to warrant, to give us warning that the time for repentance
has an end, and that, in the final issue of the system in which we
are placed, the obstinate transgressors of the divine law shall bear
without remedy the full weight of that punishment which they de-
serve.
But even although there were not so many analogies in nature,
conspiring to show that repentance is not always efficacious, the
bare impossibility of demonstrating, from any known principles,
that every penitent shall be forgiven, is sufficient to evince the
infinite importance of Christianity. If the religion of nature, with
all those intimations of the divine goodness, which are the ground
of trust and hope to those who obey, does not give a positive as-
CIiniSTIANlTy OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 237
surance that it is consistent with the nature and government of
God to forgive all who transgress, then it is plain that the new
situation, into which men are brought by being sinners, renders a
promise of pardon most desirable to them, because without this
special declaration of the divine will, their religion must rest upon
a very precarious foundation ; and therefore the Gospel, whose
peculiar character it is to contain such a declaration, which pub-
lishes the forgiveness of sins through the blood of him, by whom all
that believe are justified, and have peace with God, deserves the
name of i\)wyyi\m, good tidings, better than any other message
which the world ever heard, and is in truth the best gift which
heaven could bestow. It is further to be observed, that while the
religion of nature leaves the reason of a sinner to struggle with his
passions, and does not revive his soul, under the experience of his
weakness, by the assurance of his receiving any assistance in the
conflict, the Gospel contains a promise of grace as well as of par-
don. It confirms the law of his mind by those influences of the
Spirit, which we stated as perfectly consistent with the reasonable
nature of man, and while it publishes the remission of sins that are
past, places him in circumstances so favourable to his moral im-
])rovement as may prevent a repetition of sins. That jtrogress in
virtue, which the grace of the Gospel forms, is connected with the
hope of a reward, which is infinitely more precious than the most
exalted creature of God can claim as a recompense due to his obe-
dience, but which, having been purchased by the death of Christ,
is reserved in heaven to crown the feeble divided services of a de-
generate race, and the security of which is so completely incorpo-
rated with the whole constitution of the law, that no doubt of this
unmerited gift being at length conferred can remain in the breasts
of those who live under the power of the Christian religion.
From the circumstances that have been mentioned, you may
mark the precise difference between the religion of nature and the
religion "of Christ. The former has no original defect. When
properly understood, i. e. when conclusions are fairly and fully
drawn from premises which the light of reason may discover, it in-
cludes the most exalted views of the perfections of God, and of his
moral government, and a complete delineation of the duties of man
as a creature of God, an individual, and a member of society. But
being, by its constitution, the rehgion of those who perform their
duty, itholds forth only general doubtful grounds of hope to those
who transgress. The Gospel, on the other hand, having been re-
vealed after transgression was introduced, and professing to be the
religion of sinners, makes an adequate provision for the new situa-
tion of man. It is this difference which constitutes the infinite im-
portance of Christianity. A remedy is there offered for that state
238 CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
of depravity which is acknowledged to he universal. The remedy
is complete in its nature. But it is not of use to those by whom
it is rejected. In what degree its efficacy may extend to those who
never heard of it we have no warrant to say. But it is most reason-
able, that those, who refuse the remedy when it is offered to them,
should remain under the disease. The disease was not created by
the Gospel ; it existed beforehand, and unless it be removed the
natural eff'ects of it must be felt. The Scripture, therefore, says,
that " he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him,"* i. e. the sentence of condemnation, which
his sins deserve, retains its force. And he cannot surely complain,
if when he despises the deliverance which the Gospel hidings, he
continues in the same state in which the whole world would have
been, if there had been no Gospel.
Hitherto we have deduced the importance of Christianity from
its suitableness to the present circumstances of man, from the value
of the blessing's which are peculiar to this religion, and from this
plain position, that a rejection of it necessarily implies a forfeiture
of its peculiar blessings. But we have not yet exhausted the sub-
ject, and there remain some awful views of the importance of Christ-
ianity, which imply that the rejection of it is not only a forfeiture
of blessings, but is attended with a high degree of positive guilt.
In order to enter into these views, you will recollect, from the
general account of the Scripture system, that the manner in which
the assurance of pardon is conveyed by the Gospel, discloses to us
the Son and the Spirit of God, two persons, of whose existence the
light of nature had not given any intimation, but who, by their ac-
tive interposition in our behalf, claim the reverence and gratitude
of all to whom that interposition is made known. The sentiments
which it becomes us to entertain towards any person correspond to
the knowledge that we have of his character and his exertions. And
therefore as the first duties of natural religion respect the God and
Father of all, who is made known to us by his works, so there
are duties resulting immediately from that knowledge of the Son
and the Spirit which is communicated by the Gospel ; and a failure
in these duties is as truly a breach of morality as any transgression
of the law of nature.
It may be said, indeed, that these duties are binding only upon
those who study the revelation of the Gospel, and that if any per-
son willingly remains ignorant of the peculiar nature of that inter-
position which it records, he is not answeral)le for neglecting the
duties created by that interposition. But it will readily occur to
you in answer to this objection, that a reasonable creature is as
" John iii. 36.
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 239
much Louud to make himself acquainted with the extent of his
duty, as to perform it after it is known : and you will find that the
plea, drawn from wilful ignorance or unbelief, to excuse the neglect
of the peculiar duties of the Gospel, is diametrically opposite to
the declarations of Scripture. We read there, that " he that be-
lieveth not is condenmed,"for this very reason, "because he hath not
believed on the name of the Son of God."* His unbelief is the
cause of his condemnation. The enemies of Christianity have
formed, out of such declarations, a very heavy charge against our
I'eligion. They say that the gospel means to threaten men into a
belief of its doctrines, and that the manner in which we are now
stating the importance of Christianity is calculated to supply the
defect of evidence by working upon the principle of fear, and to force
assent in spite of reason. We admit that if this charge were true,
the Gospel would indeed be unworthy of God, and unworthy of
man. We admit that authority never can supply the place of truth,
and that not even the immediate prospect of danger can compel a
reasonable creature to yield his assent without sufficient evidence.
But, at the same time, we assert, that it is often incumbent upon
a reasonable creature to exercise his reason, and that he may de-
serve punishment for refusing his assent, when sufficient evidence
is offered him. In common life we meet with many instances
where men bring calamities upon themselves and their families, by
not believing what they would have believed, if they had bestowed
proper attention. It is therefore no new doctrine, and it is perfectly
analogous to the ordinary procedure of the Divine government,
that men should suffer for unbelief; and in the case of the Gospel,
there are circumstances which render unbelief in a peculiar degree
criminal. The Gospel contains the strongest call which a reason-
able creature can receive to exercise his reason in judging of evi-
dence. It professes to be a message from God, the author of hu-
man nature, affording man that assistance in recovering the dignity
and happiness of his nature, of which he is conscious that he stands
in need. The person, who delivered this gracious and seasonable
message, appealed to a series of prophecies meant to prepare the
world for his coming, and to works of his own, far exceeding hu-
man power. Unlike the former servants of heaven, he called him-
self the Son of God ; and he introduced his doctrine not as a tem-
porary institution, looking forward to something beyond itself, but
as a complete, universal, and unchangeable religion. " Last of
all," says Jesus, " he sent unto them his Son, saving, they will re-
verence my Son." We behold here every circumstance, which is
fitted to rouse attention, and which can render inattention unpar-
• John iii. 18.
240 CIIUISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTAN'CE.
doDable. That the most exalted Spirit should refuse to listen to
any thing which bears the name of a message from his Creator, is
presumption. But, that a feeble imperfect creature, who is con-
scious that he has offended God, should precipitately reject a reli-
gion which brings the offers of mercy, is ma(hiess. It might be
expected, that even although he doubted of its truth, he would
eagerly examine it, because, if it be true, it brings him the most
joyful tidings, and if it be true, to reject it is to reject the counsel
of God against himself, and to exclude himself from all future hope
of mercy. For you will notice, and it is an awful considei'ation
which places the importance of ('hristianity in the strongest light,
that, however men might flatter themselves, under the simple re-
ligion of nature, with general reasonings concerning divine mercy,
the moment that a special revelation is published, promising the
mercy of God upon certain terms, and disclosing a jjarticular man-
ner of dispensing j)ardon to those who repent, these general rea-
sonings are at an end. If every one must admit that God knows
better than we do, what is becoming his nature and consistent with
his administration, it follows undeniably that it is most presump-
tuous in those who acknowledge that pardon is necessary, to reject
the particular method of dispensing pardon that is revealed, and
yet still to build upon uncertain reasonings an expectation that it
will be dispensed. If the words which Jesus uttered be true, the
hopes of nature are included in the hopes of the Gospel, and no
hope is left to those who, neglecting the " great salvation spoken
by the Lord," betake themselves to the religion of nature.
" This,'" then, " is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta-
tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." It is
supposed by your profession that you understand and acknowledge
the infinite importance of (^diristianity considered in this view ; and
it will be your peculiar business to impress upon the minds of others
a sense of that importance. For this purpose you must " be ready
always to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of
the hope that is in you :" you must show, by your manner of de-
fending Christianity, that you are not afraid of the light, and that
you consider the evidences of Christianity as capable of bearing the
narrowest scrutiny, and those whom you call to receive it as en-
titled to examine into the trutii. But your chief diflSculty will be
to bring tliem to this examination with a fair unprejudiced mind.
You will meet with many who ascribe to want of evidence, or to
a peculiarity in their understanding, what does in fact proceed from
an evil heart. You have to encounter that pride which refuses to
submit to the righteousness of God, and those evil passions, which,
because they do not expect to receive indulgence under the Gos-
pel, create a seci'et wish that it were false. If your labours, per-
4
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 241
formed with good intention, with dihg-ence, with prudence, and
with ahihty, shall, through the blessing of God, overcome these
obstacles, shall form in the minds of your hearers what our Lord
calls a good and honest heart, and shall esta!)lish their faitli upon
a rational foundation, you will not only promote the welfare of
society by teaching in the most effectual manner the great duties
of morality, but you will be the instruments in the hand of
God of saving the souls of men from death, and so carrying for-
ward the great purpose for which this dispensation of grace was
given.
I have chosen throughout this chapter to avoid a phrase which
you often hear, the necessity of the Christian revelation, because
that phrase, when unguardedly used, is apt to convey improper
notions. It may be conceived to imply, that God was in justice
bound to grant this revelation ; whereas it should always be re-
memliered, in theological discussions, that sinners have no claim to
any thing', and that the Gospel is a free gift proceeding from the
unmerited grace of God, for the bestowing or withholding of which
He is in no degree accountable to any of his creatures. '1 he phrase,
necessity of the Christian revelation, may also be conceived to im-
ply, that it was impossible for God, in any other way, to save the
world ; whereas we have no principles that can enable us to judge
what it is possible for God to do. We investigate, according to
the measure of our understanding, the fitness of that v/hich he has
done. Biit there is an in^everence in our saying confidently, that
infinite wisdom could not have devised other ways of accomplish-
ing the same end. I have chosen rather to speak of the desirable-
ness and the importance of Christianity, which imply all that should
be meant by the necessity of it, viz. that it repul)lishes with clear-
ness and authority the religion of nature ; that it gives the peni-
tent that assurance of pardon which the religion of nature did not
afford them ; that it brings along with it an indispensable obliga-
tion upon those to whom it is made known to examine its evi-
dence ; and that it leaves those who wantonly reject it to perish in
their sins.
I have spoken of this subject with an earnestness and serious-
ness suited to its nature. You often hear it stated from the pul-
pit, and there are many printed sermons where it is fully illustrated.
It entei's into most of the books which treat of the evidences of
Christianity. But it requires from you a particular study ; and
when you have leisure to bestow close attention upon it, I would
recommend to you to read the ablest book that ever was written
against the importance of Christianity. I mean Tindal's book, en-
titled, Christianity as old as the Creation. The object of the book
is to show that the law given to man at his creation was complete ;
VOL. I. I,
242 CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE.
that it is published in the most perfect manner ; that it does not
admit of amendment ; and that the additions, which succeeding- re-
velations profess to make to it, are a proof that these revelations
are spurious. The positions of this book, then, if they be true,
completely annihilate the importance of Christianity ; for they go
thus far to show that there is nothing- in the Gospel true, but what
was from the beginning contained in the religion of nature, and
published more universally, and with much less danger of error,
by being written on the heart of man, than by being recorded in
the books of the New Testament. 1 would not advise you to read
this book, which is written with great art, without at the same
time reading some of the answers to it. Leland, on the Advan-
tages of the Christian Revelation, has given a full picture of the
religious and moral state of the world, when the Gospel was pub-
lished, which demonstrates that there is much false colouring in
Tindal's book. Foster also, the author of Sermons and Discourses
on Natural Religion, has written against Tindal. But the most
complete answer, which ought to be read by every student who
reads Tindal, is Conybeare's Defence of Revealed Religion. There
have been few abler divines than Bishop Coiiybeare. He had a
clear logical understanding, and his talents were vvdietted and called
forth by very formidable antagonists. He was contemporary with
Lord Bolingbroke, whose numerous writings against Christianity
are replete with false philosophy, malicious misrepresentations of
facts, and keen satire. Lord Bolingbroke used to say, that it cost
more troidde to demolisli Conybeare's outworks, than to take the
citadel of any of his other opponents ; an expression which implies
that this divine took always strong ground, and knew well where
to rest his defence. Accordingly in his answer to Tindal's book,
he has detected all its sophisms and equivocations : he has affixed
a precise meaning to his words, and has shown, in a train of the
most convincing and masterly reasoning, that that republication
of the religion of nature, and that method of redemption which the
Gospel contains, were most desirable ; and that these views of the
importance of Christianity are not inconsistent with the original
perfection which every sound theist ascribes to the law of nature.
Bishop Conybeare's book is a complete illustration of the import-
ance of Christianity. But there are three other names which can-
not be omitted at this time. Clarke, in his Evidences, has stated
fully what is commonly called the necessity of revelation. In the
iirst volume of Sherlock's Discourses, which is almost wholly oc-
cupied with this subject, you Hnd those luminous views which dis-
tinguish the writings of that eminent prelate : and Bishop Butler,
in the first chapter of the second part of his Analogy of Natural
and Revealed Religion, with rather less obscurity than is found in
CHRISTIANITY OF INFINITE IMPORTANCE. 243
other chapters of that precious treatise, but with no less depth of
thought, has stated, in a short compass, the importance of Christ-
ianity.
Leland on the Christian Revelation.
Foster on Natural Religion.
Conybeare's Defence of Revealed Religion.
Clarke's Evidences.
Sherlock's Discourses.
Butler's Analogy.
Paley's Evidences.
Brown against Tindal.
Halyhurton on Deism.
[ -244 ]
CHAP. IV.
DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM.
A SECOND general observation arising out of the short account of
the Scripture system is this, that we may expect to find in that
system many things which we do not fully comprehend. Deistical
writers urge this as an objection against the Gospel. They say
that it is the very character of revelation to make every thing
plain, but that a system which contains mysteries, leaves us still
in the dark, and, therefore, that the mysteries, with which the
Gospel abounds, are a convincing evidence that it did not proceed
from the God of light and truth. The same word, mysteries,
which generally enters into the statement of this objection, occurs
often in the writings and the discourses of many pious Christians,
who mean to speak of the Gospel with the highest reverence.
And yet, there is reason to think, that neither the former class of
writers, nor the latter, has paid a proper attention to the Scripture
use of the word. Upon this account, before I proceed to answer
the objection by illustrating my second observation, I shall state
the sense in which the Scriptures use the word mystery, and in so
doing shall explain the reason why I choose to avoid that word
upon this subject.
The ceremonies of the ancient heathen worship were of two
kinds. Some were public, performed openly in the temple, before
the great liody of the people who were supposed to join in them.
Others were private, performed in a retired place, often in the
night, far from the view of the multitude ; and they were never
divulged to the crowd, but Avere communicated only to a few en-
lightened worshippers. The persons to whom these secret rites
were made known were said to be initiated ; and the rites them-
selves were called fLvGrrioia [mysteries]. Every god had his secret
as well as his open worship; and hence various mysteries are occa-
sionally mentioned by ancient writers. " But," says Dr Warbur-
ton, who has investigated this subject in his Divine Legation of
Moses, " of all the mysteries, those which bore that name by w'ay
of eminence, the Eleusinian, celebrated at Athens in honour of
Ceres, were by far the most renowned, and, in course of time,
eclipsed and almost swallowed up the rest. Hence Cicero, speaking
DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM. 245
of Eleiisina, says, iibi initiantur gentes orarimi ultima;"* [where
the most distant nations are initiated]. I have quoted this passage
from Warhurton, because it contains the reason why you seldom
read of any other than the Eleusinian mysteries, although the word
had originally a general acceptation. The theme of the word is
/jt-uw, occhido, [I shut up,] from whence comes /iusw, in sacvis in-
stituo, [I teach in sacred things,] referring- to the silence which the
initiated were required to observe ; and from /xusw comes /Mdr^iov,
[mystery,] the amount of which may be considered as equivalent
to arcanum, [secret, hidden.] The writers of the New Testament
have adopted this word, which was at that time well understood ;
and it is used by them in a variety of instances to denote that which
God had purposed, but which was not known to men till he was
pleased to reveal it. When the disciples of Jesus came to him, and
said, " Why speakest thou to the people in parables ?" his answer
was Matt. xiii. 11, " Because it is given unto you to know the mys-
teries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given," ?. e.
there are cii'cumstances I'especting the nature and the history of my
religion, which I explain clearly to you my disciples by whom it is
to be published, but whicii it is proper at present to convey to the
people under the disguise of parables. You will not understand, how-
ever, from these words, that there were always to continue, under
the religion of Jesus, two kinds of instruction, one for the initiated
and one for the vulgar ; for our Lord had said to these very disciples
a little before, Matt. x. 26, 27, " There is nothing covered that shall
not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you
in darkness that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear, that
preach ye upon the house tops." Accordingly, when the apostles
came forth to execute their commission, the character under which
they appeared is thus expressed by Paul, 1 Cor. iv. 1 : " Let a man
so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God :' dispensers of that knowledge which was com-
municated to us first, for this very purpose, that we might be the
instruments of conveying it to others. Paul calls the Gospel, Col.
i. 26, — " The mystery hid from ages and from generations, but now
made manifest to his saints," hid from ages, because it was not in-
vestigated by reason, and must have remained for ever unknown, if
it had not been declared by God in his word. The rejection of the
Jewish nation, who had always considered themselves as the favour-
ite people of heaven, is called a mystery, Kom. xi. 25, because it
was very opposite to the opinions and expectations of men ; and for
the same reason, the calling of the heathen by the Gospel to par-
take of all the privileges of the people of God is in many places
* Vol ii. book ii. 4.
246 DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM.
sryled a mystery, Ephes. iii. 3, 3, 6. I mention only one other in-
stance, 1 Cor. XV. 51. The resurrection of the hody is called a
mystery, because although many philosophers had speculated con-
cerning- the immortality of the soul, it had never entered into the
minds of any that the body was to rise.
Dr Campbell, in the first volume of his new translation of the
Gospels, has one dissertation upon the word mystery. He states
that the leading- sense of (j^uGr/ioiov, in the Septuagint, the Apocry-
pha, and the New Testament, is arcanum, any thing- not published
to the world, thoug-h perhaps communicated to a select number.
With his usual accurate and minute attention, he mentions another
meaning very nearly related to the former, or more properly only-
a particular application of that general meaning. It is sometimes
employed to denote the figurative sense, which is conveyed under
any fable, parable, allegory, symbolical action, or dream. The rea-
son of tins application is obvious. The literal meaning of a fable is
open to the senses ; the spiritual meaning requires penetration and
reflection, and is known only to the intelligent. In Rev. i. 20, and
xvii. 7, John saw the figures, but he did not understand the mean-
ing intended to be conveyed by them, till it was explained to him
by the angel. To him it was arcanum. There is an allusion to
this import of the word mystery in Mark iv. 11. " Unto you it is
given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God ; but unto them
that are without, all these things are done in parables." The Eleu-
sinian mysteries being accessible only to the initiated, the early
Christians, to whom the language and the practice of the heathen
were familiar, transferred to the Lord's Supper the word mysteries ;
because from that ordinance were excluded the catechumens, who had
not yet been baptized, and the penitents, who had not yet been re-
stored to the communion of the church. It was administered only
to those who had been initiated by baptism ; and from fear of per-
secution it was often administered in the night. On account of
this secrecy, and the select number of communicants, strangers
might apprehend a similarity between the Lord's Supper and the
heathen mysteries ; and from whomsoever this use of the word ori-
ginated, the Christians might not be unwilling to retain it, as con-
veying, according to the language of the times, an exalted concep-
tion of their distinguishing x-ites.
It appears then, from this deduction, that there are three accep-
tations of the word (jj-jdrriowv. In the New Testament it is used
to express that which God had purposed from the beginning, which
was not known till he was pleased to reveal it, but whicli by the ■
revelation was shown and made manifest. With early ecclesias-
tical writers it means the solemn positive rites of our religion ;
and so, in the communion service of the Church of England, the
DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM. 247
elements after consecration are culled holy mysteries. In modem
theological writings, and in the objections of the deists, mystery
denotes that which is in its nature so dark and incomprehensible,
that it cannot be understood after it is revealed. As this sense is
really opposite to the sense in which the Scriptures use the word
mystery, it appears to me advisable, both in discourses to the people,
and in theological discussions, to choose other expressions for de-
noting that which cannot be coraprehejided.
But although, by avoiding an unscriptural use of a Scripture
word, we mav guard against the abuses and mistakes which the
change of its meaning has probably occasioned, yet we readily a<lmit
that there are, in the Scripture system of the Gospel, many points
which we do not fully comprehend. And this is so far from being
a solid objection to the Gospel, that to every wise inquirer it ap-
pears to arise from the nature of that dispensation. In order to
account for the difficulties which are found in the revelation made
by the Gospel, we may follow the same division which occurred
when we were speaking of the importance of Christianity, and
consider the Gospel as a republication of the religion of nature,
and as a method of saving sinners.
1. Even were the Gospel nothing more than a republication of
the religion of nature, we could not expect to find every thing in
it plain ; for we have experience that many points in natural re-
ligion, concerning the evidence of which we do not entertain any
doubt, are to our understanding full of tUfficulties. We have very
indistinct conceptions of the nature of spirits, or of the manner in
which spirit acts upon matter. The eternity and infinity of God
are connected with all the intricate speculations concerning time
and space. The origin of evil, under the government of a Being,
whose wisdom and goodness are not restrained by any want of
power, has perplexed the human mind ever since it began to Trea-
son ; and liberty, the very essence of morality, appears to be af-
fected by that dependence of a moral agent upon the influence of
a superior Being, which is inseparable from the notion of his being
a creature of God. Reason is unable to solve all the difficulties
that have been started upon these points, yet she draws, from pre-
mises within her reach, this conclusion, that a Spirit who exists in
all times and places exercises a moral government over free agents.
Revelation has given assurance to this conclusion, has diffused the
knowledge of it, and inculcates with authority the pFactical lessons
which it implies. B\it revelation, far from professing to enter into
the speculations connected with this conclusion, leaves man, with
regard to many metaphysical questions that have no influence upon
his virtue or happiness, in the same darkness which all the sages
of antiquity experienced. A clear explication of these points, sup-
248 DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM.
posing- it possible, might have afforded amusement to a few inqui-
sitive minds. To the great body of mankind, for whose sake the
rehgion of nature is republished in the Gospel, it is insignificant,
and would have only loaded a system whose simplicity is fitted to
render it of universal use, with subtleties which the generality find
neither interesting nor intelligible. Such an explication, then,
would have been of little importance. 1 said, supposing it pos-
sible ; for they who demand it know not what they ask. Diffi-
culties in any subject are merely relative to the understanding and
opportunities of those who consider it. As a child cannot form
any conception of the nature of the exertion which is made, or of
the object which is proposed in many of the employments of men ;
as a man, whose mind has been untutored, or whose observation
has been narrow, wonders at the discoveries of astronomy, or the
refined operations of art, and while he believes that both exist, is
incapable of apprehending the principles upon which they proceed ;
so it is likely that we feel ourselves involved in an inextricable la-
byrinth upon questions, which superior orders of being can easily
resolve. We inhabit a spot in the creation of God. We are placed
in a system consisting of many parts, the relations and dependencies
of which are beyond our observation ; and our faculties in vain at-
tempt to explore the intimate essence of those olijects which are
most familiar to us. There are measures of knowledge to which
our condition is manifestly not suited. There is a degree of mental
exertion of which we may be supposed incapable. " Now we see
through a glass darkly ;" and it is forgetting our condition and our
character, to ask that every thing in nature should at present be
made plain to our apprehension. If there be such a thing as Na-
tural Religion, the comfort and improvement which it administers
cannot imply a kind of illumination, which man is not qualified to
receive. They must be compatible with the rank which he holds
in the intellectual system, and they may leave him unacquainted
with many parts of that system, the whole extent of which he is
at present incapable of apprehending. It cannot, therefore, be
stated as an objection to the gospel, that while, liy republishing
the religion of nature, it restores that comfort and improvement
in the most perfect manner, it keeps his knowledge confined within
the limits suited to his condition. Other orders of spirits may
clearly appi'ehend the nature of objects, and the solution of ques-
tions, to which his faculties are inadequate : because the knowledge
of them is not, in any degree, necessary for his enjoyment of the
portion, or his discharge of the duties, assigned him by his Creator.
2. If difficulties belong to the Gospel, as it is a republication of
the religion of nature, we may expect to meet with more diffi-
culties, when we consider it in its higher character, as the religion
bIFPICULTlES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM. 249
of sinners. By this character the Gospel makes provision for a
new situation, which had brought upon men evils, any remedy of
which was not suggested by their knowledge of nature. We found
that %\\ those notions of the Divine character and government,
which constitute natural religion, fail us in this new situation ; and
that the assurance of pardon rests upon an interjjosition of the
Creator. What parts of the universe may be affected by that in-
terposition we cannot say ; and it is presumptuous to think, that
all the branches and ends of it may be fully comprehended by our
understanding-, since it is a subject confessedly farther beyond our
reach than any part of nature. But if the revelation of the Gospel
leaves no doubt that the interposition has been made, and that the
effects of it with regard to us are attained, this is all the knowledge
that is of real importance upon the suliject. Clear evidence of the
fact is sufficient to revive our hopes ; and although the manner in
which the interposition is calculated to produce the effect had not
been, in any measure, revealed to us, we should have been in no
worse situation with regard to this fact than with regard to many
others in nature, most important to our being and comfort, where
we know that an effect exists, but have no apprehension of the
kind of connexion between the effect and its cause. If this inter-
position involve the agency of other beings that are not made
known to us by the light of nature, and if their agency be a ground
of hope, or the principle of any duty, the revelation must inform
us that they exist. But the knowledge of their existence and
agency does not require an intimate acquaintance with their na-
ture. There are in natural religion many intricate questions con-
cerning the manner in which the Deity exists, that do not in
the least affect the proof of his existence. The manner in which
those beings exist, who are made known to us merely by revela-
tion, may be still farther removed beyond the reach of our faculties.
At any rate, the knowledge of it is not necessary for the piu'poses
of the revelation ; and, therefore, although so very little be revealed
concerning them, as to leave impenetrable darkness over all the
speculations by which men attempt to investigate the manner in
which they are distinguished from one another, and the manner in
which they are united, still their existence and their agency may
be placed beyond doubt by explicit declarations, and the reliance
upon these declai'ations may establish, on the firmest grounds, that
hope which the revelation was meant to convey.
The state of the case, then, with regard to the difficulties of re^
ligion, is precisely this. We have, by reason, the means of acquir-
ing that knowledge which the original condition of our being- re*
quired, but not that which our curiosity may desire ; and accord^
ingly when we launch into questions and speculations of mere cu*
l2
250 DIFFICULTIES IN THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM.
riosity, our pride is reV)iiked, and we are reminded that " we are of
yesterday, and know nothing-." The Gospel, by the provision
which it has made for the chang^e in our original condition, has
opened to us a state of things in many respects new, by which we
perceive how very Hmited the range of our natural knowledge was.
But this state of things is intimated only in so far as the provision
for our condition renders an intimation necessary ; and while all
the facts of real importance to our comfort and hope are published
with the most satisfying evidence, we are checked in our specula-
tions concerning this new state of things, by the very scanty mea-
sure of light which is afforded us to guide them. This is a view
of the extent of our knowlelge not very flattering to our pride.
But it may be favourable both to our happiness and to our im-
provement ; and if we are wise enough to cultivate the temper of
mind which such a view is peculiarly calculated to form, we may
derive much profit from the bounds which are set to our inquiries,
as well as from the enlargement which is given to our hopes.
There does arise, however, from this view of our knowledge, one
most interesting and fundamental question, which is the subject of
ray third preliminary observation, What is the use of reason in
matters of religion ?
Butler. Sherlock. Campbell.
r 251 ]
C HAP. V.
USE OF REASOX IN RELIGION.
If the Christian relig-ion contain many points which we do not
fully comprehend, and if we be required to believe these points, a
difficulty seems to arise with regard to the boundaries between
reason and faith. This is a subject upon which it is of very great
importance to form distinct apprehensions, before we proceed to a
particular consideration of the doctrines of Christianity. When
you study church history, you will find that this question has been
ajjitated in various forms from the beginning- of Christianity to
this day. It is not my province to relate the progress of this dis-
pute, or the different appearances which it has assumed. And, in
truth, many of the controversies to which it has given occasion are
insignificant, because when they are examined they appear to be
purely verbal. Those, who said that reason was of no use in mat-
ters of religion, sometimes meant nothing more than that religion
derived no benefit from that which is really the abuse of reason,
false philosophy, and the jargon of metaphysics. The argument
was kept up by the equivocation between reason and the aliuse of
reason ; and had the disputants shown themselves willing to under-
stand one another by defining the terras which they used, it would
have appeared that there was very little difference in their opinions.
But this account will not apply to all the controversies that have
turned upon this question. Tlie sublime incomprehensible nature
of some of the Christian doctrines has so completely subdued the
understanding of many pious men, as to make them think it pre-
sumptuous to apply reason any how to the revelation of God ; and
the many instances, in which the simplicity of truth has been cor-
rupted by an alliance with philosophy, confirm them in the belief
that it is safer, as well as more respectful, to resign their minds to
devout impressions, than to exercise their understandings in any
speculations upon sacred suljects. Enthusiasts and fanatics of all
different names and sects agree in decrying the use of reason, be-
cause it is the very essence of fanaticism to substitute in place of
the sober deductions of reason, the extravagant fancies of a disor-
dered imagination, and to consider these fancies as the immediate
illumination of the Spirit of God. Insidious writers in the deisti-
252 USE OF REASON IN' RELIGIOS.
cal controversy have pretended to adopt those sentiments of hu-
mility and reverence, which are inseparable from true Christians,
and even that total subjection of reason to faith which characterizes
enthusiasts. A ])amphlet was published about the middle of the
last century, that made a noise in its day, although it is now for-
gotten, entitled, Christianity not Founded on Argument, which,
while to a careless reader it may seem to magnify the Gospel, does
in reality tend to undermine our faith, by separating it from a ra-
tional assent; and Mr HumC; in the spirit of this pamphlet, con-
cludes his Essay on Miracles, with calling those, dangerous friends
or disguised enemies to the Christian religion, who have underta-
ken to defend it by the principles of human reason. " Our most
holy religion," he says, with a disingenuity very unbecoming his
respectable talents, " is founded on faith, not on reason ;" — and
" mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity." The
Church of Rome, in order to subject the minds of her votaries to
her authority, has reprobated the use of reason in matters of reli-
gion. She has revived an ancient position, that things may be
true in theology which are false in philosophy ; and she has, in
some instances, made the merit of faith to consist in the absurdity
of that which is believed.
The extravagance of these positions has produced, since the Re-
formation, an opposite extreme. While those who deny the truth
of revelation consider reason as in all respects a siifficient guide,
the Socinians, who admit that a revelation has been made, employ
reason as the supreme judge of its doctrines, and boldly strike out
of their creed every article that is not altogether conformable to
those notions which may be derived from the exercise of reason.
These controversies, concerning the use of reason in matters of
religion, are disputes not about words, but about the essence of
Christianity/. They form a most interesting object of attention to
a student of divinity, because they affect the whole course and di-
rection of his studies ; and yet, it appears to me that a few plain
observations are sufficient to ascertain where the truth lies in this
subject.
1. The first use of reason in matters of religion is to examine
the evidences of revelation. For the more entire the submission
which we consider as due to every thing that is revealed, we have
the more need to be satisfied that any system which professes to
be a divine revelation does really come from God. It is plain
from the review which we took of the evidence of Christianity,
that very large provision is made for affording our minds a rational
conviction of its divine original ; and the style of argument, which
pervades the discourses of our Lord, and the sermons and the writ-
ings of his apostles, is a continued call upon us to exercise our rea-
USE OF REASON IN RELIGION. 253
son in judging of that provision. I need not quote particular pas-
sages ; for that man must have read the Gospels and the Acts of
the Apostles with a very careless or a very prejudiced eye, who
does not feel the manner, in which our religion was proposed by
its divine author and his immediate disciples, to be a clear refuta-
tion of the position which I mentioned lately, that Christianity is
not founded on argument. You will recollect too, that all the dif-
ferent branches of the evidence of Christianity are ultimately re-
solvable into some principle of reason. The internal evidence of
Christianity is only then pei'ceived, when you try the system of
the Gospel by a standard which you are supposed to have derived
from natural religion. The argument which miracles and prophe-
cies afford is but an inference from the power, wisdom, and holiness
of God, all of which you assume as premises that ai'e not disputed ;
and that comjdication of circumstances which constitutes the histo-
rical evidence for Christianity, derives its weight from those laws of
probability which our experience and reflection suggest as the guide
of our judgment. It is not easy to conceive that a creature, who
is accustomed to exercise his reason upon every other subject,
should be required to lay it aside upon a subject so interesting as
the evidences of religion ; and it is plain, that to substitute as the
ground of our faith certain impressions, the liveliness of which de-
pends very much upon the state of the animal spirits, in place of
the various exercises of reason which this subject calls forth, is to
render that precarious and inexplicable which might rest upon sure
principles, and to disregard the provision made by the author of
our faith, who hath both commanded and enal)led us to " be always
ready to give an answer to every one that asketh a reason of the
hope that is in us."
'2. After the exercise of reason has established in our minds a
firm belief that Christianity is of divine oiiginal, the second use of
reason is to learn what are the truths revealed. As these truths
are not in our days communicated to any by immediate inspiration,
the knowledge of them is to be acquired only from books trans-
mitted to us with satisfying evidence that they were written above
seventeen hundred years ago, in a remote country, and a foreign
language, under the direction of the Spirit of God. In order to
attain the meaning of these books, we must study the language in
which they were written, and we must study also the mannei's of
the times, and the state of the countries in which the writers lived,
because these are circumstances to which an original aiithor is often
alluding, and by which his phraseology is generally affected : we
must lay together different passages in which the same word or
phrase occurs, because without this labour we cannot ascertain its
precise signification ; and we must mark the difference of style and
234 USE OF REASON IN RELIGION.
manner that characterizes different writers, because a right appre-
hension of their meaning- often depends upon attention to this dif-
ference. All this supposes the application of grammar, history,
geography, chronology, and criticism in matters of religion, i. e. it
supposes that the reason of man had been previously exercised in
pursuing these different branches of knowledge, and that our suc-
cess in attaining the true sense of Scripture depends upon the dili-
gence with which we avail ourselves of the progress that has been
made in them. It is obvious that every Christian is not capable
of making this application. But this is no argument against the
use of reason of which we are now speaking. For they, who use
translations and commentaries, only rely upon the reason of others,
instead of exercising their own. The several branches of know-
ledge, which I mentioned, have been applied in every age by some
persons for the benefit of others ; and the progress in sacred criti-
cism, which distinguishes the present times, is nothing else but
the continued application, in elucidating the Scriptures, of reason
enlightened by every kind of subsidiary knowledge, and very ranch
improved in this kind of exercise, by the employment which the
ancient classics have given it since the revival of letters.
As the use of reason thus leads us into the meaning of the sin-
gle words and phrases of Scripture, so it is equally necessary to
enable us to attain a comprehensive view of the whole system of
Scripture doctrine. Our Lord said to his apostles a little before
his death, " I have yet many things to say unto you, biit ye can-
not bear them now." The Spirit guided them into all truth after
the ascension of their master ; and their discourses and epistles are
the fruit of that perfect teaching, which they had not been able to
receive during his life. The epistles of Paul to the different
churches refer to points which he had explained to the Christians
when he was with them, or to questions which had arisen amongst
them after his departure. They mention I'ather incidentally than
formally the great truths of the Gospel : and there is no passage
in them which can be considered as a complete delineation of all
that we are called to believe. Yet the apostles speak of " the
form of sound words," of " the truth as it is in Jesus," of " the
faith once delivered to the saints," for which Christians ought to
contend. The knowledge of this form of sound words, this truth
and faith, we are left to attain by searching the Scriptures, by
comparing the discourses of our Lord, and tiie writings of his
apostles, by employing expressions which are plain to illustrate
those which are obscure, by giving such interpretations of the sa-
cred writers as will preserve their consistency with themselves and
with one another, by marking the consequences which are fairly
deducible from their explicit declaration, and liy framing, out of
USE OF REASON IN RELIGION. 255
what is said and what is implied in their writings, a system that
shall appear to be fully warranted by their authority. Without
all this, we do not learn the revelation which is in the Gospel ;
and yet this implies some of the highest exercises of reason, saga-
city, investigation, comparison, abstraction ; and it is the most im-
portant service which sound philosophy can render to Christianity,
that it enables us by these exercises to attain a distinct and en-
larged apprehension of the Gospel scheme in all its connexions and
consequences. It is very true, that many pious Christians derive
much consolation and improvement from the particular doctrines
of Christianity, although the narrowness of their views, and the
distraction of their thoughts, render it impossible for them to form
a just and comprehensive view of the whole. But it is the pro-
fessed object of those who propose to be teachers of Christianity
to attain such a view. It is an object for which they are supposed
to have leisure and opportunity ; and unless they thus know the
truth, they are not qualified to show that Christ is indeed " the
power of God and the wisdom of God," or to defend the Gospel
scheme against the objections, and rescue it from the abuses, to
which a partial consideration has often given occasion.
3. After the two uses of reason that have been illustrated, a
third comes to be mentioned, which may be considered as com-
pounded of both. Reason is of eminent use in repelling the attacks
of the adversaries of Christianity.
When men of erudition, of philosophical acuteness, and of ac-
complished taste, direct their talents against our religion, the cause
is very much hurt by an unskilful defender. He cannot unravel
their sophistry ; he does not perceive the amount and the effect of
the concessions which he makes to them ; he is bewildered by their
quotations, and he is often led by their artifice upon dangerous
ground. In all ages of the church there have been weak defenders
of Christianity ; and the only triumphs of the enemies of our re-
ligion have arisen from their being able to expose the defects of
those methods of defending the truth, which some of its advocates
had unwarily chosen. A mind, trained to accurate philosophical
views of the nature and the amount of evidence, enriched with
historical knowledge, accustomed to throw out of a subject all that
is minute and unrelated, to collect what is of importance within a
short compass, and to form the comprehension of a whole, is the
mind qualified to contend with the learning, the wit, and the so-
phistry of infidelity. ^Nlany such minds have appeared in this ho-
nourable controversy during the course of this and the last century ;
and the success has corresponded to the completeness of the fur-
niture with which they engaged in the combat. The Christian
doctrine has been vindicated by their masterly exposition from va-
256 USE OF REASON IN RELIGION.
rious misrepresentations ; the arguments for its divine orig^inal
have been placed in their true h'g-ht ; and the attempts to confound
the miracles and prophecies, upon which Christianity rests its
claim, with the delusions of imposture, have been effectually re-
pelled. Christianity has, in this way, received the most important
advantages from the attacks of its enemies ; and it is not improba-
ble that its doctrines would never have been so thoroughly cleared
from all the corruptions and subtleties which had attached to them
in the progress of ages, nor the evidences of its truths have been
so accurately understood, nor its peculiar character been so per-
fectly discriminated, had not the zeal and abilities, which have
been employed against it, called forth in its defence some of the
most distinguished masters of reason. They brought into the
service of Christianity the same weapons which had been drawn
for her destruction, and, wielding them with confidence and skill
in a good cause, became the successful champions of the truth.
I cannot speak of this third use of reason in matters of religion,
without recommending to you an excellent book, iu which you
will find the arlvantage that Christianity has derived from it very
fully illustrated. I mean Dissertations on the genius and evi-
dences of Christianity, by Dr Gerard, formerly Professor of Divi-
nity in King's College, Aberdeen. All his works show Dr Ge-
rard to have been an acute distinguishing man. The observations
in this book are very ingenious, and although there is in some of
them an appearance of I'emoteness and research that is not per-
fectly agreeable, yet they are spread out at such length, and placed
in so many different views, as to satisfy every reader not only that
they are just, but that they add considerable weight to the colla-
teral presumptive evidence of Christianity. The first part of the
book is intended to show that the manner in which our Lord and
his apostles proposed the evidences of Christianity was the most
perfect. It is the second part which relates more directly to our
present subject. Dr Gerard entitled the second part, Christianity
confirmed by the opposition of Infidels. He states the advantages
which it derived from the opposition of early infidels, and then,
with much viseful reference to the present state of theological dis-
cussions, the advantages which it has derived from opposition in
modern times, and the argument thence arising for its truth. The
whole second part is the best illustration, that I can point out, of
the use of reason in repelling the attacks of the adversaries of
Christianity.
But while many of the champions of Christianity have adorned
and illustrated that truth which they defended, you will find that
others, by a licentious use of reason, have mutilated the Christian
USE OF REASON IN RELIGION. 257
doctrine, and reduced it to little more than a system of morality,
-^nd therefore it hecomes necessary to speak,
4. Of the fourth use of reason in judging- of the truths of reli-
gion. The principles upon this sxibject are so simple and clear,
that I shall be able to state them in a few worJs ; and, althoxigh
there has been very gross abuse of reason in judging- of the truths
of religion, it will not readily occur to you, how any person who
understands the principles can fail essentially in the application of
them. Everything- which is I'evealed by God comes to his creatures
from so hig-h an authority, that it may be rested in with perfect
assurance as true. Nothing- can be received by us as true which
is conti'ary to the dictates of reason, because it is impossible for us
to perceive at the same time the truth and the falsehood of a pro-
position. But manjf things are true which we do not fully compre-
hend, and many ])ropositions, which appear incredible when they
ai'e lirst enunciated, are found, upon examination, such as our un-
derstanding- can readily admit. These principles appear to me to
embrace the whole of the subject, and they mark out the steps by
which reason is to proceed in judging- of the truths of religion.
We first examine the evidences of revelation. If these satisfy our
understanding-s, we are certain that there can be no contradiction
between the doctrines of this true religion, and the dictates of right
reason. If any such contradiction appear, there must be some mis-
take : by not making- a proper use of our reason in the interpreta-
tion of the Gospel, we suppose that it contains doctrines which it
does not teach : or, we give the name of right reason to some nar-
row prejudices which deeper reflection and more enlarged know-
ledge will dissipate ; or, we consider a proposition as implying a
contradiction, when, in truth, it is only imperfectly understood.
Here, as in every other case, mistakes are to be corrected by mea-
suring- back our steps. We must examine closely and impartially
the meaning of those passages which appear to contain the doc-
trine ; we must compare them with one another : we must endea-
vour to derive light from the general phraseology of Scri])ture and
the analogy of faith ; and we shall generally be able, in this way,
to separate the doctrine from all those adventitious circumstances
which give it the appearance of absurdity. If a doctrine, which,
upon the closest examination, appears unquestionably to be taught
in Scripture, still does not approve itself to our understanding-, we
must consider carefully what it is that prevents us from receiving-
it. There may be preconceived notions hastily taken up which
that doctrine opposes ; there may be pride of understanding- that
does not readily submit to the views which it communicates ; or
reason may need to be reminded, that we must expect to find in
religion many things which we are not able to comprehend. One
of the most important offices of reason is to recognize her own li-
258
USE OF REASON IN RELIGION.
raits. She never can be moved by any authority to receive as true
what she perceives to be absurd. But if she has formed a just es-
timate of the measure of human knovvledg-e, she will not shelter
her presumption in rejecting- the truths of revelation under the
pretence of contradictions that do not really exist ; she will readily
admit that there may be in a subject some points which she knows,
and others of which she is ig-norant ; she will not allow her igno-
rance of the latter to shake the evidence of the former ; but will
yield a firm assent to that which she does understand, without pre-
suming to deny what is beyond her comprehension. And thus
availing herself of all the light which she now has, she will wait
in humble hope for the time when a larger measure shall be im-
parted.
The importance, and indeed the meaning, of the principles which
I have stated would be best understood by examples. But were I
to attempt to exemplify them, I should anticipate the sulrjects upon
which we are to enter. These principles will often recur in the
progress of my lectures upon the particular doctrines of Christia-
nity ; and therefore I shall content myself with having stated them
in this general manner at present.
A right apprehension of this fourth use of reason in matters of
religion constitutes the defence of Christianity against a large class
of objections, that are often urged against some of its peculiar doc-
trines. You will find it therefore occasionally stated in all the
writers who treat of these doctrines, and if there is a proper selec-
tion of your reading, just views upon this important subject will
become familiar to your minds at the same time that you are study-
ing the Scripture system. The best prepai'ation for these views
is sound logic, which, in teaching the right use of reason, ascertains
its boundaries, and guards against the abuse of it. You bring that
furniture with you when you enter upon the study of divinity.
You improve it during- the prosecution of that study, by reading-
Bacon, Locke, and Reid, and the other writers who treat of the
intellectual powers, and by all those exercises, which render your
own intellectual powers more sound and more acute, which increase
their vigour, while they check their presumption. I would recom-
mend to you particularly to read and study upon this subject,
Reid's Essay on the Intellectual Powers, and five chapters of the
4th book of Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, which
treat of assent, reason, faith and reason, enthusiasm, wrong- assent
and error. They contain a most rational, and I think, when pro-
perly understood, a just view of reason in judging of the truths of
religion ; and every student ought to be well acquainted with them.
Potter, Praelectioncs Theologies, vol. iii.
llaudolph.
[ 259 ]
CHAP. VL
CONTROVERSIES OCCASIONliD BY THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM.
The last preliminary observation arising out of the general view
of the Scripture system respects the controversies, to which that
system has given occasion. Even those, who agreed as to the di-
vine authority of the Christian religion, have differed very widely
in their interpretation of its docti'ines. These differences have
not been confined to trifling- matters, but have often touched upon
points which are said to concern the very essence of the religion,
and they who held the opposite opinions have discovered a mutual
contempt and bitterness, very inconsistent with the spirit which
might be supposed to animate the disciples of the same Master.
When we endeavour to account for the controversies in religion,
we must begin with recollecting that there is hardly any subject
of speculation, upon which those by whom it has been thoroughly
canvassed have not differed in opinion. Tlie degrees of understand-
ing and the opportunities of impi'ovement are so vai'ious, and there
is such variety in the circumstances and connexions which direct
men to their first opinions, and which insensibly warp their judg-
ment, that the same sulyect is seldom viewed by two persons ex-
actly in the same light. Minuter shades of difference are generally
oveidooked by those who agree in important points. But there
are opinions so far removed from one another, that no explication
of terras, no concessions which either side can make in consistency
with their own principle, are sufficient to reconcile them. Hence
the different systems which have been framed, and zealously main-
tained with regard to several branches of natural theology and
pneumatics, with regard to the principles of morality, with regard
to politics, I do not mean the politics of the day, but the general
science of politics, and with regard to various questions in natural
philosophy. Any person who is conversant with the writings of
the ancient and modern philosophers knows that without opposi-
tion of interest, merely from a difference in the mode of exercising
the understanding upon subjects which appear to be within the
reach of the human powers, controversies have been agitated ever
since men began to speculate, and, after receiving the fullest dis-
cussion, have revived in a new form with fresh vigour.
260 CONTROVERSIES OCCASIONED BY
But, notwithstanding- this multiplicity of controversies, which
the love of disputation has produced upon all other subjects, it
may occur to you, that the authority, with which a messeng-er of
heaven speaks, should put an end to all dispute w^ith regard to the
subjects of his mission, amongst those who acknowledge that he
comes from God. You consider it as essential to a divine revela-
tion, that all which is necessary to be known should there be deli-
vered in explicit terms, and you think it impossible that any
Christian should deny those propositions which are clearly con-
tained in Scripture. A Httle attention, however, to the circum-
stances of the case will enable you to reconcile the existence of
theological controversy with these principles.
The different parts of my discourse upon this subject are, from
their nature, so blended together, that I shall not attempt to keep
them asunder by separate heads. But the points to which I am
to call your attention, as serving to account for the multiplicity of
theological controversies, are these — the manner in which the
truths of the Gospel are to be learned, — the nature and importance
of these truths — the sentiments and passions, which, from the
weakness of humanity, frequently operated in the breasts of persons
who speculated concerning them — and the genius of that philoso-
phy in which many of those persons were educated.
The truths of the Gospel must be deduced from an interpreta-
tion of the words of Scripture ; and this interpretation admits of
variety, according to the measure in which those who profess to
interpret are acquainted with the language, the manners, and the
phraseology of the writers, according to the attention which they
])estow, and the honesty of mind with which they receive the
truth. In the plainest language that can be used, there are meta-
phorical expressions which some may stretch too far, and others
may consider as not admitting of any direct application to the sub-
ject. In every discourse extending to a considerable length, there
are limitations of general expressions, arising out of the occasion
upon which they are used, that may be overlooked, or that may be
perverted ; and with regard to the Gospel in particular, there are
pre-conceived opinions, which, by bending every proposition to a
conformity with themselves, may lead men far from the truth,
without their being conscious of showing any contempt of the au-
thority of the revelation. These causes have operated even with
regard to the meaning of the precepts of the Gospel, and have
produced that casuistical morality, which, while it acknowledges
Scripture as the standard of practice, has al)Ounded in controversies
concerning the application of that standard to particular cases.
But the controversies, with which you are chiefly concerned,
respect not so much the practical parts of our religion as its doc-
THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM. 261
trines ; and you will not be surprised at the multiplicity of these,
when you recollect the imperfect measure in which the Gospel has
opened to the human mind new, interesting, and profound subjects
of speculation. We found formerly, that, while the Gospel brings
the most convincing evidence of the great facts in natural theology,
it leaves all the intricate questions which have occurred concerning
these facts just where they were ; and that, while by revealing a
new dispensation of Providence, it necessarily mentioned the exist-
ence of persons not known by the religion of nature, their relation
to us, and the conduct of that scheme in which they are engaged
for our benefit, it has communicated only such information, with
regard to this new set of facts that are to be received upon the
authoi'ity of revelation, as is of real importance, leaving many
points in darkness. Here is the most fruitful subject of contro-
versy that can be conceived. The propositions revealed in Scrip-
ture are so few and simple, that it is hardly possible for those who
rest in Scripture to disagree. But the pride of human wisdom
does not I'eadily submit to l)e confined within bounds so narrow.
Those, who have been accustomed to speculate upon other sul jects,
continue their speculations upon religion, and, forgetting the pro-
per province of reason with regard to truths that are revealed,
which is to receive with humility what does not appear upon ex-
amination to be absurd, they reject as unimportant every thing
that reason did not investigate ; or they endeavour, by means of
reason, to carry their explanations and discoveries far beyond the
measure of light contained in the Scripture ; or they embarrass, by
the terms and distinctions of human science, subjects so imperfectly
revealed as not to admit of them. It cannot be expected that there
should be uniformity in employments such as these, which do not
proceed upon certain principles, and do not admit of being reduced
to any fixed rule. When men of different modes of education, and
different habits of thinking, undervaluing the simplicity of the facts
revealed in Scripture, and desirous to be wise above what is writ-
ten, carry their inquiries into the manner of these facts, they set
out from different points, they wander without a guide in a bound-
less field of conjecture, and having assumed their premises at plea-
sure, they aiTive at opposite conclusions.
Even in the days of the apostles, " the form of sound words"
which they delivered was complicated, and disguised by the preju-
dices of those who embraced it. The Jewish converts, retaining
an implicit veneration for the teachers of the law, wished to incor-
porate with the Christian faith all the fables which they found in
the writings of their Rabbins ; and many of the heathen converts
proceeded to canvass the subjects of revelation, with the presump-
tuous and inquisitive spirit of the philosophy which they had
262 CONTROVERSIES OCCASIONED BY
learned. Hence you read in the Epistles of Paul of " foolish
and unlearned questions which gender strife ;" of teachers " who,
concerning- the truth had erred, and overthrew the faith of some ;"
of " fables and endless genealogies ;" and of" op])ositions of science,
falsely so called." We learn from Peter that the unlearned and
unstable wrested some things in Paul's Epistles that are hard to be
understood, and the other Scriptures also, to their own destruction :
and it is a tradition from the earliest Christian writers, that John
wrote both his first Epistle and his Gospel, with a view to combat
a heresy concerning our Lord's person, which attachment to the
oriental philosophy had introduced amongst the first Christians.
If controversy thus found a place in the church even under the
eye of the apostles, and was not effectually repressed by their ex-
planation of their own words, and by their authority, you may ex-
pect that it would multiply fast after their departure, when the
only standard of faith was the written word, and no person was
entitled to impose his interpretation of that word as the true mind
of the apostles. The same presumptuous curiosity, which had
appeared in the earliest times, continued to extend to all the parts
of Christian doctrine. Men speculated concerning the manner in
which the Son and the Spirit exist with the Father. Instead of
judging of the evidences of the divine mission of Jesus, they pro-
ceeded to scan the reasons of that dispensation which they were
required to believe. They investigated the principles upon which
the several parts of the dispensation combine in producing the end,
and they pretended to ascertain the nature and the manner of
their operation. They spread out the scanty information which
Scripture affords upon all these subjects into large systems. But
the original materials being very few, and the rest being supplied
by imagination and false philosophy, the systems differed widely
from one another, and it was impossible to find any method of
reconciling the difference.
You will not suppose that these discussions proceeded in every
instance purely from a desire of attaining the truth, or that they
were conducted with the calm disinterested spirit which becomes a
lover of knowledge. Any person, who has that acquaintance with
human nature which history and experience afford, will not be sur-
prised to find that other passions often mingled their influence with
the pride of reason. Jealousy of a rival produced oj)position to his
opinions, so that some systems of theology grew out of a private
quarrel. The vices of an individual needed some shelter, and he tried
to find it in the zeal and ingenuity with which he brought forward ■
speculations upon some of the points that were then universally in-
teresting. The love of power induced some to stand forth as the
leaders in theological controversy, whilst meaner desires dictated to
THE SCniPTURE SYSTEM. 263
others the station which they were to assume, and the humble offices
by which they were to maintain the combat. Matters of order,
ceremonies of worship, and all those usages in Christian societies,
which the word of God has left as matters of indifference to be re-
gulated by human prudence, were laid hold of by artful men, who
knew that they were of no essential importance, and placed in such
a light as to be the most effectual means of inflaming the minds of
the multitude. Some of the earliest and most violent controversies
respected the time of celebrating Easter ; and the history of the
church abounds with others equally insignificant. By this mixture
of more ignoble principles with the presumptuous curiosity that
pried into those " secret things which belong to the Lord," theolo-
gical subjects became one Held for exhibiting the angry passions,
which from the beginning of the world have disturbed the peace of
society. Had that field been wanting, men would have found other
pretexts for acting, from jealousy, ambition, and avarice ; and many
of the controversies of the Christian Church are, in one respect, a
proofofthatdepravity of human nature, which, notwithstanding the
remedy brought Iiy the Gospel, continued to operate in the breasts
of those who professed to receive that religion.
The number and intricacy of theological controversies Avere very
much increased by the philosophy of the times. In the second cen-
tury the philosophy of Plato was held in the highest admiration,
and some of the learned Christians, having been educated in the
schools of the later Platonists, retained the sentiments, and even the
dress of philosophers, after they became the disciples of Christ. In
the third century, Origen, who by the extent of his erudition, the
intenseness of his apphcation, and the vigour of his genius, was qua-
lified to lead the minds, not of his contemporaries only, but of suc-
ceeding ages, was a professed Platonist. In his theological system
he accommodates the whole scheme of Christian doctrine to the
leading principles of Platonism ; and in his interpretation of the
Scriptures he adopts that allegorical and mystical method of expo-
sition, to which the luxuriant fancy and the sublime imagery of the
Athenian philosopher had given occasion, and the Platonic father
was thus aide to ln"ing out of the simplicity of the Scriptures all the
profound speculations which he wished to find there. Origen is ge-
nerally regarded as the father of scholastic theology, which derives
its name from applying the terms and distinctions of human science
to the truths of revelation. Scholastic theology assumed different
forms corresponding to the succession of particular systems of phi-
losophy. But during the whole period of its existence it maintain-
ed this general character, that it altered and corrupted the divine
simplicity of the Gospel, and that, by affecting metaphysical preci-
sion upon subjects which the Scriptures have left undefined, it was
264 CONTIJOVERSIES OCCASIONED BY
productive of endless controversies. The progress of these contro-
versies, which rendered it necessary for the opposite parties to en-
trench their opinions behind definitions, divisions, and terms of art,
recommended to theologians the philosophy of Aristotle. The
subtile distinguishing genius of Aristotle had invented a language
peculiarly fitted to convey the discriminating tenets of their systems,
and his authority had introduced and established the syllogistical
mode of reasoning, a mode of no avail in making discovery, but of
singular use in disputation, because it furnishes a kind of defensive
weapons, which, by keeping an opponent at a distance, may, when
skilfully managed, render it impossible for him to gain a victory.
For these reasons, as well as for others, which it is not my pro-
vince to explain, the Platonic philosophy yielded after a few cen-
turies to the Peripatetic. The authority of Aristotle became as
complete in the schools of theology as in those of logic or meta-
physics ; and all theological systems abounded so much with the
barbarous jargon then in use, that we cannot at this day understand
the opinions which were held upon intricate points of divinity with-
out attempting to learn it. Upon all subjects this language served
to conceal ignorance under an ostentatious parade of words. But
when it is applied to those subjects which tlie wisdom of God hath
seen meet to reveal in very imperfect measure, the number of clear
ideas bears so very small a proportion to the multitude of words,
that the study of it forms a very unprofitable waste of time ; for it
requires much labour to apprehend the meaning, and, unless your
mind be so unhappily constituted as to remember words better than
things, the meaning escapes almost as soon as it is attained.
Since the era of the Reformation the Aristotelian philosophy
has been gradually sinking in the public esteem ; and the human
mind, having broken the fetters in which she had long been bound,
has freely canvassed all subjects connected with religion. While
the ablest writers have appeared during the two last centuries in
the deistical conti'oversy, all the other controversies relating both
to the doctrine, and to the rites or discipline of the Christian church,
have called forth men of profound erudition and of philosophical
minds. The same causes which we formerly mentioned have pi'o-
duced in modern times a difference of opinion, both with regard to
those intricate questions in natural theology which the Gospel has
not solved, and with regard to those new points concerning which
the information given in Scripture is by no means satisfying to the
curiosity of man. A more rational criticism, than that used in an-
cient times, has been applied to the interpretation of Scripture. A
more enlightened philosophy, a sounder logic, and a language less
technical, but not deficient in precision, have been employed in
supporting the different theological opinions which former habits
THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM. 265
of thinking, or the interpretation of Scripture, has led men to adopt.
The most controverted points have been the subject of pulihc na-
tional disputes, as well as of private inquiry. Churches are discri-
minated from one another by the system upon those points which
enters into their creed ; and individual members of every church,
with that boldness of inquiry of which the Reformation set the ex-
ample, have carried their researches into many points which most
creeds had left undefined. The consequence of this thorough ex-
amination of the Scripture system has been, not that all the parts
of it are understood, but that the measure in which they can be
understood is known ; every unnecessary degree of obscurity which
had been attached to them is removed, and the limits of i-eason in
judging of religion, together with the proper method of its being
applied to that subject, are ascertained. The opponents in these
controversies have corrected the errors of one another. The ap-
peals which have been constantly made to Scripture, the diligence
with which all the passages relating to every sulject have been col-
lected, and the ingenuity with which they have been applied in
support of diiferent systems, enalile an impartial inquirer to attain
the true meaning : and a student of divinity must be very much
wanting to himself, if, after all the labours of those who have gone
before him, he does not acquire a distinct notion of the various
opinions that have been entertained concerning the several parts of
the Scripture system, and an apprehension of the train of argument
by which every one of them is supported.
A review of the controversies forms a principal part of a course
of theological lectures. We do not bring forward to the people all
the variety of opinions which have been held by presumptuous in-
quirers, or superficial reasoners. To men who have not leisure to
speculate upon religion, and who require the united force of all its
doctrines to promote those practical purposes, which are of more
essential importance than any other, it is much better to present
" the form of sound words," as it was " once delivered to the
saints," unembarrassed by human distinctions and oppositions of
science, and to imprint upon their minds the consolation and " in-
struction in righteousness," which, when thus stated, it is well fit-
ted to administer. This is the business of preaching. But this is
not the only business of students of divinity. You ai'e not masters
of your profession, you are not qualified to defend the truth against
the multiplicity of error, and your conceptions of the system of
theology have not that enlargement and accuracy which they might
have, unless you study the controverted points of divinity. It is
true that there have been many disputes merely verbal ; that there
have been others that cannot be called verbal, the matter of which
is wholly unimportant ; and that perhaps all have been conducted
with a degree of acrimony which the principles of Christian tolera-
vot. I. M
£f^6 CONTROVERSIES OCCASIONED BY
tion, when thoroughly understood, will enable you to avoid. These
general remarks will find their proper place after reviewing the
particular controversies. But in that review you will meet with
many which tarn upon points so essential to the Christian faith,
where the arguments upon both sides appear to have so much force,
and have been urged in a manner so able, and so well fitted to en-
lighten the mind, that you will think it childish to affect to despise
theological controversies in general, because there has been some
impropriety in the manner of their being conducted, or because
some of them are insignificant.
The time was when the decision of all theological controversies
turned upon a kind of traditional authority. The writers in the
first four centuries of the Christian church were supposed to be
much better acquainted with the mind of the apostles, and to have
been in a more favourable situation for knowing the truth upon
all difficult questions, than those who apply to the study of theo-
logy in later times. They were dignified with the name of the
fathers. Their opinions were resorted to with a kind of reverence,
which is not due to any human compositions. They were consi-
dered as the only sure interpreters of Scripture ; and such confi-
dence was reposed in their interpretation, that their works were
sometimes placed veiy nearly upon a level with the inspired writ-
ings. The charm of human authority was dispelled by the Re-
formation. An accurate enlightened criticism has appreciated the
merit of the Christian fathers. We allow them all the credit,
which is due to honest men attesting facts that came within their
own knowledge. We venerate their antiquity : we prize that
knowledge of the early rites of the Christian church, and of the
tradition of doctrine from the days of the apostles, which can be
derived only from them. Above all, we consider their writings
as an inestimable treasure upon this account, that by their men-
tion of the books of the New Testament, and by the quotations
from Scripture with which they abound, they are to us the vouch-
ers of the authenticity of the saci'ed books, and of the manner in
which the canon of Scripture was completed. But our sense of
their merit, and of their importance to the Christian faith in the
character of historians, does not indujce us to submit to them as
teachers. Without any invidious detraction, with every indul-
gence which the manners of the times and the imperfection of
other early writers demand for the Christian fathers, Protestants
adhere to their leadinpi principle, which is this, to consider the
Scriptures as the only infallible rule of faith. They have learned
lo call no man their master, because one is their Master, even
Christ : and in interpreting the words of Christ and his apostles,
they consider themselves as no less entitled to judge for themselves,
and as, in some respects, no less qiialified to form a sound judg-
4
THE SCRIPTURE SYSTEM. 267
ment, than those who, hving in earlier times, had prejuflices and
disadvantag-es from which we may be exempt. I cannot express
this principle better than in the words of our Confession of Faith :
— " The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion
ure to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of an-
cient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be exa-
mined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but
the Holy Spirit speaking- in the Scripture."
This is the principle to be followed in that review of the great
controversies of religion, which forms a prominent subject of my
lectures, I may often give you, from ancient writers, the history
of opinions, and may occasionally combat those misrepresentations
of that history which are found in modern authors, eager to call
in every aid to support their particular systems. But I shall quote
the Christian fathers as historians, not as authorities. I know no
authority upon which you ought to rest in judging of the truth
of any doctrine but the Scriptures, and therefore I consider sacred
criticism as the most important branch of the study of theology.
We are to avail ourselves of an intimate acquaintance with the
language of the New Testament, i. e. with the meaning of single
words, with the usual acceptation of phrases, and with the real
amount of figurative expression. We are to study the general
customs of the people amongst whom that language was used, and
the habits of thinking which might dictate a particular phraseology
to some writers. We are to investigate the mind of an author,
by comparing his language in one place with that which occurs in
another, and we are to endeavour to attain a full and precise con-
ception of the whole doctrine of Scripture upon every point, by
laying together those passages of Scripture in which it is stated
under diffei'ent views.
It is by this patient exercise of reason and criticism that a stu-
dent of divinity is emancipated from all subjection to the opinions
of men, and led most certainly into the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus. It is the great object of my lectures to assist you in this
exercise, and I may hope, after having bestowed much pains in
going before you, to be of some use in abridging your labour, by
pointing out the shortest and most successful method of arriving
at the conclusion. I shall not decline giving my opinion ii])on
the passages which I quote, and the comparison of Scripture which
I shall often make. But I do not desire you to pay more regard
to my opinions than to those of any other writer, unless in so far
as they appear to you upon examination to be well founded. You
will derive more benefit from canvassing what I say than from
imbibing all that I can teach ; and the most useful lessons which
you can learn from me are a habit of attention, a love of truth,
and a spirit of inquiry.
C 268 ]
CHAP. VII.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE.
Our Shorter Catechism, and our Confession of Faith, are formed
upon the course in which systems of divinity commonly proceed,
and both of them are clear and well digested. You will find another
excellent abridgment of the ordinary course in Marckii Medulla
Theolog-ife, a duodecimo of 300 pages, which used to be the text
hook in St Mary's College, and which, in my opinion, ought to be
read by every student of divinity, not early, but before he finishes
his studies. You will see in this little book all the controversies
that have been agitated. But you will see them in the order of the
system, and the order is this. After a general account of tbe nature
of theology, and of the Scriptures as the principle of theology, the
following subjects succeed one another. God and the Trinity — the
decrees of God — the execution of these decrees in the works of
Creation — a view of the visible and invisible world — the Providence
and government which God exercises over his works — man — the
state of innocence — the fall — the consequences of sin — the cove-
nant of grace — the person, offices, and state of the Mediator of the
covenant — the benefits of the covenant — the duties of those who
partake of the benefits — the sacraments — the Church — the final
condition of mankind.
Upon all these subjects, the orthodox doctrine is stated, and the
objections that have been made to the several parts of the doctrine
are answered, so that every chapter contains an account of the se-
veral opinions, that have been held upon all the points that occur in
the clia])ter. I was afraid to entangle myself in this course, partly
from an apprehension, proceeding both upon the number of subjects
which it embraces, and upon the experience of other professors of
divinity who have engaged in it, that it was likely to stretch out to
stich a length, as to leave me no hope of finishing my lectures dur-
ing the longest term of attendance which the law prescribes to
students ; and partly from an opinion that the arrangement adopt-
ed in the ordinary course is not the most perfect. You will not think
this opinion ill founded, when you come to read Marckii Medulla ;
for there, and T believe in every other of the common systems, there
is so close an alliance between the subjects treated under the differ-
ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE. 269
ent heads, that the same principles are frequently resorted to in order
to illustrate the orthodox doctrine; objections, the same in substance
with those that had been answered in a former chapter, recur under
a different form, and the same answers are repeated with only a little
variation in the manner of applying them. I am very far from con-
demning- this arrangement as in all respects improper. It was adopt-
ed by very able men ; it is most useful for g^iving- a thorough ac-
quaintance with all the parts of the Scripture system ; and there is
one book in which it appears to such advantage, that what I account
its imperfection is almost forgotten, I mean Calvin's Institutes of the
Christian religion ; a l)Ook written in Latin, that is not only perspi-
cuous, but elegant, and giving a most masterly comprehensive view
of the great points of theology. It consists of four books. The
first is entitled, De Cognitione Dei Creatoris. The second, De
Cognitione Dei Redemptoris. The third, De Modo Percipiendae
Christi gratias, et qui fructus inde nobis proveniant, et qui effectus
consequantur. The fourth, De Externis Mediis ad Salutem. It re-
quires much time to read this book carefully ; but when a student
has leisure to make it his business, he will find his labour abundant-
ly recompensed ; and I do not know a more useful book for a clergy-
man in the country. It may be purchased for a trifle, and it is the
best body of divinity. But excellent and profitable as this book is,
the imperfection which I mentioned adheres to the plan upon which
it is composed; and although the order of Calvin's Institutes appears
to me simpler and more natural than that of any other system which
I have read, yet I think that, if 1 were to attempt to follow it, I
should be reminded by frequent repetitions, that a more perfect ar-
rangement might have rendered the course shorter and less fatiguing.
This impression led me to attend to another arrangement of the
controversies, which has been executed with much ability by some
theological writers. Every controversy is stated by itself; i.e. all
the distinguishing opinions of those, who derive a particular name
from the peculiarity of their tenets, are brought into one view, and
are referred to one general principle, so that you see the system of
their creed, and can mark the connexion between the several parts.
To give an example : Socinianism is the system of those who hold
the opinions of Socinus. The principle of Socinianism is, that
man may be saved by that religion, which is founded upon the re-
lation between God the Creator, and man his creature. From this
principle flow their opinions with regard to the intention of Christ's
death as a witness to the truth, and an example to his followers,
but not as an atonement for sin ; their exclusion of mysteries from
religion ; and all the tenets by which they transform the Christian
religion into the most perfect system of moi'ality. The principle
of Pelagianism, or of those who hold the opinions of Pelagius, is
270 ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE.
this, that the natural powers of man since the fall are sufficient to
enable him to keep the law of God, From this principle flow the
opinions of the Pelag-ians concerning- oiig-inal sin, the decrees of
God, the influences of the Spirit, and the measure of perfection
which may be attained upon earth.
This method of arranging- the controversies is manifestly much
more scientific than the former. In every set of opinions which
deserves the name of a system, there are some leading- principles
which connect the several parts. It is an agreeable exercise of the
understanding to trace these principles, and to mark that kind of
unity and subordination which arises from their influence. It is
an act of justice in those who examine the opinions of others, to
take into view that mutual dependence which renders thern a con-
sistent whole ; and it is an endless unavailing task to attempt to
defend the truth against a multitude of detached errors, unless your
reasoning reach the sources from which these errore proceed. I
recommend it, therefore, to those students who, in the course of
their reading, have attained an intimate acquaintance both with
the evidences of Christianity and with the particular doctrines of
our faith, to study the most important controversies in this scien-
tific manner. You Vv'ill derive much assistance in this branch of
your researches from Mosheim's Church History, which is an in-
valuable treasure of theological knowledge. This most learned
and ingenious author, who, when read along with the able and ju-
dicious notes of his translator Maclaine, is in almost every instance
a safe guide, has given, in one division of his work, a summary of
all the heresies or particular opinions that were held in the diffe-
rent ages of the Church. He has traced their rise and their pro-
gress, and has discriminated, with critical acumen, those which
appear to an ordinary eye almost the same. As his work, from its
nature, makes mention of all the controversies, both those which
are important and those which are trifling, you cannot expect that
even the opinions, upon which he has judged it proper to bestow
the most particular attention, will be fully elucidated in a book
which comprehends such an extent of time, and such a variety of
matter. You will supply this imavoidable defect by the books
which IMosheim quotes in his notes, or which I recommend : and
from the general index which he furnishes, and the treatises which
professedly explain the particular subjects, you will be able to form
a distinct connected view of every one of the five controversies
which are universally interesting, and which are commonly known
by the names of Arianism, Pelagianism, Socinianism, Arminian-
ism, and the Popish controversy. There are many other contro-
versies that turn upon very important points. But they have not
l)een so perfectly digested into the form of a system as the five now
ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE. 271
mentioned, nor have they been defended with such ability as to
occupy a great part of the attention of a student
Although I thus earnestly recommend attention to the scienti-
fical arrangement of the controversies, I have been restrained from
adopting it as the plan of my course by the following reasons.
Some of the five great controversies resemble one another in se-
veral points. Thus Pelagianism and Arminianism both turn upon
the natural powers which man has, since the fall, to obey the will
of God. Socinianism agrees with Pelagianism upon this point,
and it agrees with Arianism in denying that Jesus is truly God,
while it differs from Arianism in the account which it gives of his
person. You may judge from this specimen, that although the
scientifical method, which I mentioned, is unquestionably the best
for making you acquainted with any particular system of opinions,
yet to us, who mean to review all the most important controvert-
ed points, it would necessarily be attended with much repetition.
We should often meet, under different names, with the same ob-
jections, and the same heretical opinions, and we should be obliged
to bring forward the same arguments and the same passages of
Scripture in answer to them. Further, our object is not so much
to know who held the particular opinions, and what was the age
in which they lived ; but what were the various opinions upon the
great subjects of theology, and what were the grounds upon which
they rested. We may attain this object, although we confound
the shades of difference between systems that nearly approach, and
therefore to us it were a needless waste of research and of time to
discriminate them nicely. Further still, as every one of the five
great controversies embraces particular opinions upon many diffe-
rent points, the arranging the five separately breaks the subjects of
theology into parts, and does not afford a full united view of any
one subject. You will understand what I mean from an example.
Besides the opinions of the early ages concerning the person of
Christ, one opinion was held in the third century by Arius, an-
other at a much later period by Socinus, and a third has been the
general doctrine of the Christian church. Any one who wishes
to make himself master of this interesting subject will desire to
see the different opinions brought together, that he may compare
their probability, that he may judge of the support which every
one of them receives from particular passages of Scripture, or from
the analogy of faith, and may thus attain a conclusion which he
can defend by good reasons. Had you a book continually by you.
in which all the controversies were arranged singl}', you might
make a collation of the different opinions upon the same subject,
by reading first a part of Arianism, then the corresponding part of
Socinianism, and next the corresponding part of that system which
272 ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE.
is called Orthodox, in the same manner as you g-et a full view of
a siege in the Peloponnesian war, by passing directly from the
portion of the siege which is written in one book of the history of
Thucydides, to the portion of the same siege which is written in
another book. But you could not make this collation in hearing
a coiirse of lectures, unless I repeated under one controversy as
much of what I had said under the corresponding part of another,
as to bring it to your mind ; and this repetition would be a proof
that the arrangement, however favourable to your understanding
any one system of opinions, is unfavourable to your understanding
the whole controverted subject.
Once more, there is in the different opinions upon the same sub-
ject a progress that may be traced, by which you see how one
paved the way for the other ; and the succeeding opinion is often
illustrated by the preparation which had been made for its recep-
tion. This advantage is lost, when you throw together the diffe-
rent subjects that were agitated in one system of opinions. You
see, in this way, the chain which binds together ail the parts of
Pelagianism, Arminianism, or Socinianism. But in passing along
the chain, you miss the thread which conducts you from the opi-
nions on a particular subject found under one system, to the opi-
nions on the same subject found \inder another.
For these reasons 1 resolved neither to follow the path of the
ordinary systems of theology, nor to adopt the more scientific mode
of classing the opinions that distinguish different sects of Christians.
The plan of my course is this :
Out of the mass of matter that is found in the system, I select
the great subjects which have agitated and divided the minds of
those who profess to build their faith upon the same Scriptures. I
consider every one of these subjects separately ; I present the whole
train and progress of opinions that have been held concerning it ;
and I state the grounds upon which they rest, passing slightly over
those opinions which are now forgotten, or whose extravagance
prevents any danger of their being revived, and dwelling upon those
whose plausibility gave them at any time a general possession of
the minds of men, or which still retain their influence and credit
amongst some denominations of Christians.
In selecting the great subjects to be thus brought forward, I was
guided by that general view of the Gospel which was formerly il-
lustrated. We found its distinguishing character to be the religion
of sinners, — a remedy for the present state of moral evil, provided
by the love of God the Father, brought into the world by Jesus'
Christ, and applied by the influences of the Spirit. All the con-
troversies which are scattered through the ordinary systems, and
which have been classed under the different heads, Ai'ianisra, Pe-
ARRANGfeMENT OP THE COURSE. 273
lagianism, Arminianism, and Socinianism, respect either the Persons
by whom the remedy is brought and applied, or the remedy itself.
The different opinions respecting- the Persons comprehend the
whole of the Arian, a part of the Socinian, and all that is com-
monly called the Trinitarian controversy, upon which so much has
been written since the beginning of the last century. The diffe-
rent opinions concerning the remedy itself respect either the nature
of the remedy, the extent of the remedy, or the application of it ;
and they comprehend the whole system of Pelagian and Arminian
principles, a part of the Socinian, and many of the doctrines of
Popery. Opinions as to the nature of the remedy depend upon
the apprehensions entertained of the nature of the disease ; so that
all the questions concerning original sin, the demerit of sin, and
the manner in which guilt can be expiated, fall under this head.
Opinions as to the extent of the remedy embrace the questions
concerning universal and particular redemption, and concerning
the decrees of God. Opinions as to the application of the remedy
turn upon the necessity of divine assistance, the manner in which
it is bestowed and received, and the effects which it produces upon
the mind and the conduct of those to whom it is given.
It appears to me, therefore, that by this distribution we do not
omit any of the great controversies, with which students of divinity
ought to be acquainted ; at the same time, by tracing with undis-
tracted attention the progress of opinions upon every subject, by
viewing their points of opposition, and examining their respective
merits, we consider one subject closely upon all sides before we pro-
ceed to another, and are thus saved the necessity of returning at
any future period upon the ground which we had formerly trodden.
Much light will probably be struck from this collision of different
opinions. You have experience that you are never so thoroughly
acquainted with a subject, as when you have heard the discussion
of the several questions to which it gives rise, either in conversa-
tion, or in more formal debate ; and therefore you have reason to
expect that your knowledge of theology will be rendered mucii
more accurate and profound, by canvassing the different opinions
held in a succession of ages by very able men, and defended by
them with a zeal that cannot be supposed to have omitted any ar-
gument, because it was dictated not only by the love of truth, but
in many instances by the desire of victory.
Alter 1 have derived all the benefit which the labours of these
men can afford, in opening to you those doctrines of Christianity
which are the great subject of your studies, I next consider the
church of Christ as a society founded by its Author. This branch
of our course entered into tbe general view of the Scripture sys-
tem ; and it demands yoiir particular attention, not only from the
M 2
274 ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE.
mention made of it in Scripture, but also from the many violent
controversies to which it has given birth. The notion of a society
implies the use of certain external observances, which are neces-
sary to distinguish it from other societies, and to maintain order
amongst the members. It is natural, therefore, in speaking of the
Christian society, to give a history of church government, or an
account of the various practices and questions which have occurred
\ipon this head ; and in this account I am led to investigate the
grounds of that claim advanced by the Bishop of Rome, as the
Head of the church and the Vicar of Christ upon earth. There
are many of the doctrines of the church of Rome, which fall under
some of the controversies that we propose to review. But these
doctrines were only called in as auxiliaries of the hierarchy, to lend
their aid in supporting that system of spiritual power, of which the
claim made by the Bishop of Rome was the pi'incipal pillar; so
that by much the greater part of the Popish controversy belongs
to the head of church government.
It is impossible, in this country, to consider Church government
without bestowing attention upon the claims of Episcopacy and
Presbytery. After examining the support which they derive from
the word of God, and from the practice of antiquity, the transition
is natural to the constitution of that Church, of which you expect
to become members. The Church of Scotland, like every other
established Church, requires her office-bearers to subscribe a de-
claration of their faith. It is proper, therefore, to consider the
right upon which such a requisition rests, and the propriety of
that right being exercised. The peculiar doctrines contained in
that declaration, which we call the Confession of Faith, will have
passed in review before we come to this part of our course. But it
will be proper that you attend to the reason of the peculiarities of
that worship, in which you may soon be called to preside, and to
the principles of that discipline and government, of which you may
soon be called to be the guardians and the administrators.
The different parts of the office of a parish minister are familiar
to those who live in this country, where they are not neglected.
But some observations, with regard to the importance of perform-
ing ihem properly, and the manner in which they may be rendered
most useful, will not appear unseasonalde to those who are about
to enter upon the office of the ministry ; and there is one branch
of that office, I mean the preparation and the delivery of sermons,
concerning v.hich, after all that you have heard of composition
elsewhere, you will naturally ex])ect some practical rules in a place-
where your own discourses, the legal specimen of your proficiency
ii) the study of theology, are exiiibitcd and judged.
When I have filled up this plan to my own satisfaction, I shall
ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURSE. 275
think that I discharge that part of the public duties of my sta-
tion which consists in lecturing-, by contributing the whole stock
of my information and experience for your advantage. My prin-
ciple is to condense the execution of the plan as much as possible.
I shall be disappointed, if I be not able to comprise my whole
course in such a period as will give to every residing student of
divinity an opportunity, if he chooses, of hearing all the parts of
it ; and I shall think it an advantage, if, by omitting some parts,
and abridging others, I can so reduce the course, as to admit of
passing over it twice, in the time prescribed for regular attendance
at college.
Turretin, abridged by Russenius, is a very useful book for giving a short view
of all the controverted points.
Stapferi Instit. Theol. Polemicas, in 5 vols, is a valuable work. The different
systems of opinions concerning the truths of religion are there separately
arranged.
[ 276
BOOK III.
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SON, THE SPIRIT, AND THE
MANNER OF THEIR BEING UNITED WITH THE FATHER.
The Gospel reveals two persons, whose existence was not known
by the light of nature ; the Son, by whom the remedy offered in
the Gospel was brought into the world, and the Spirit, by whom it
is apphed. The revelation concerning- the first of these pereons is
much more full than that concerning- the second, and has given
occasion to a g-reater variety of opinions. I shall begin therefore
with stating- the opinions concerning the Son ; I shall next give
a short view of the opinions concerning the Spirit ; after which
there will remain a general subject, arising, as we shall find, out
of the illustration of these separate branches ; and, in speaking of
this, I shall have to state the opinions I'especting the manner in
which these two persons are united with the Father.
CHAP. I.
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE SON.
In entering- upon the opinions concerning the person of the Son,
I must warn yoxi not to consider the subject as iinimportant. It
is the language of Dr Priestley, that the value of the Gospel does
not, in any degree, depend upon the idea which we may entertain
concerning the person of Christ, because all that is truly interest-
ing- to us, is the ol ject of his mission, and the authority with which
his doctrine is promulgated. But this language is inconsistent
with the general strain of the New Testament, a great part of
which we shall find occupied in giving us just conceptions of the
person of Christ : It is inconsistent with the general sentiments .
of the Christian Church, who have canvassed this subject with
much diligence, and with deep interest, over since the Gospel
appeared : It is inconsistent with the zeal which Dr Priestley
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE SON. 277
and his associates have discovered in communicating- their opin-
ions ujjon this subject to the world ; and it is inconsistent with
the natural propensity to which the Scriptures have graciously ac-
commodated themselves, and by which every one is led to connect
the importance of a message with the dignity of the messenger.
It does not become any one to suppose, that the discoveries made
in the Gospel concerning the person of Christ contain merely a
popular argument, to which it is \innecessary for him to attend.
But it becomes every person, who believes that the message pro-
ceeds from heaven, to receive with reverence the discoveries con-
cerning the messenger, as conveying important truth, which claims
the attention of every understanding to which it is made known,
and creates duties which a Christian ought not to neglect.
With this impression of the importance of the subject, I pro-
ceed to analyse the opinions concerning the Person of Christ. I
do not propose to follow the order of time, because there is some
difficulty in ascertaining the dates of particular opinions, because
the order in which they arose is not always very material, and be-
cause the frequent revival of old opinions in new systems would
render a chronology of them full of repetitions. Neither do I
propose to fatigue your attention with the useless uninteresting
detail of all the extravagant conceits broached by particular men,
or of the minute shades of difference among those who agreed in
their general system. I shall furnish you with the information
that is of real importance, by bringing forward the three great
systems upon this subject. Their features are strongly marked
and clearly discriminated, and they appear to comprehend all the
variety of which the subject admits, because the several opinions
which have at some times been exploded and at other times reviv-
ed, are always reducible to one or other of these three systems.
The simplest opinion concerning the person of Christ is that he
was merely a man who had no existence before he was born of
Mary ; who was distinguished from the former messengers of
heaven, not by any thing more sacred in his original character,
but by the virtues of his life, and by the extraordinary powers
with which, upon account of the peculiar importance of his com-
mission, he was invested ; who, after he had executed this com-
mission with fiilelity, with fortitiide, and zeal, was rewarded for his
obedience to God, his good-will to men, and his patience under
suffering,, by being raised from the dead, and exalted to the high-
est honour, being constituted at his resurrection the Lord of the
creation, and entering at that time into a kingdom which is to con-
tinue to the end of the world, and the administration of which en-
titles him to reverence and submission from the human race. Some
who held this general system admitted that Jesus was born in a
278 OPINIONS CONCERNING THE
miraculous mannei' of a virgin ; while others contend that he was
literally the son of Joseph and Mary. Some said that Jesus might
be worshipped upon account of the dominion to which he is raised ;
while others, who allow that gratitude and honour are due to him,
confine adoration to the Father. But these two differences do not
aifect the general principle of the system. In whatsoever manner
Jesus came into the world, he is according to this system, ■■^iXog
av^gojTTog, a mere man; and whether reverence in general, or that
particular expression of reverence, that is called adoration, be con-
sidered as due to him, it is not upon account of any essential pro-
perty of his nature, but upon account of a dominion that was given
him by God.
The grounds upon whi(;h this opinion rests are, the general strain
of the prophecies of the Old Testament, in which Jesus is foretold
as the seed of the woman ; the general strain of the New Testa-
ment in which our Lord speaks of himself, and his apostles speak
of him, as a man ; the accounts of his birth, his childhood, his
sufferings, and his giving up the ghost ; and the manner in which
the Scriptures frequently state his glory as the recompense of what
he did upon earth. The argument drawn from this language of
Scripture is sujiported by general reasonings concerning the fitness
of employing a man, whose life is a pattern which we may be sup-
posed capable of imitating, and whose resurrection and exaltation
furnish an encouragement, suited to the condition of those who
encounter hardships the same in kind with those which he over-
came : and this argument is defended by attempts to explain away
such passages of Scripture as seem to contradict the system, and
particularly by referring every thing that is said of the gloiy of
Christ to that power which was given him upon earth, or to that
state of exaltation which he now holds in heaven.
It is said that this opinion was held in the first century by a
small sect of Jewish converts, called the Ebionites, who received
no other part of the canon of the New Testament but the Gospel
according to Matthew, after rejecting the first two chapters. The
opinion was openly taught by Theodotus and Artemon, about the
end of the second century ; and Eusebius says that Theodotus was
the first who taught the simple humanity of Christ.* It may be
traced also in other systems that divided the Christian church
before the Council of Nice, which met in the begiiniing of the
fourth century. But after that Council, this opinion appears to
have been exploded till the time of the Reformation, when it was
revived by Socinus, and ])ropagated among his disciples, who
abounded in Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland. It continues to
* Eus. Hist. Ecc. lib. v.
PERSON OF THE SON. 279
foi-m one of the leading- characteristical features of those who are
called Socinians. It was insinuated with modesty and diffidence
by some eminent men in the course of the last century, amongst
whom is Lai^dner, who has deserved so well of the Christian world
by that laborious and valuable collection entitled the Credibility of
the Gospel History. It has of late been published with zeal and
confidence l)y Lindsey, Priestley, and their associates ; and it is the
avowed principle of those Socinians who choose to distinguish
themselves by the title of Unitarians.
The second opinion concerning- the person of Christ is, that he
was not a mere man, but that he existed before he appeared upon
earth. It occurs to mention under this second opinion one Ijranch
of the tenets of the Gnostics, those heretics who began, even in
the days of the apostles, to corrupt the simplicity of the Gospel
by a mixture of oriental philosophy. They held that the Christ
was an emanation from the Supreme Mind, one of those beingfs
whom they considered as filling- the pleroma, and to whom they
gave the name of ^Eons. This glorious yEon, who was sent by
the Supreme Being to the earth, according to some of the Gnos-
tics, united himself to the man Jesus at his baptism, and left him
at his crucifixion ; according to others, he only assumed the ap-
pearance of a man ; so that the body which the Jews saw, and
which they thought they crucified, was a shadowy form that eluded
their malice. Hence this latter class of Gnostics was called by the
ancient fathers Docetse, from Soxsw, rideor, as they ascribed a seem-
ing, not a real body to Jesus. It were endless to follow all the
differences of opinion concerning the person of Christ among those
who held the Gnostic principles ; because as the principles were
merely the fruit of imagination, resting upon no solid ground either
in reason or in revelation, they admitted of infinite variety. A
sounder philosophy has exploded these abuses of fancy, and given
human speculations a more useful direction, so that the whole sys-
tem of Gnostic principles is now an object of study, only in so far
as some acquaintance with it is necessary to throw light upon those
parts of the sacred writings in which it is attacked. Mosheim has
dehneated that system in his Church History with great ingenuity
and learning, with more minuteness in some instances, than it ap-
pears to deserve, and with as much precision and clearness as its
obscure airy form admitted. You will learn from him all that
needs to be known upon this subject ; and you will find that almost
all the Gnostic sects considered Jesus as dignified and animated by
some kind of union with a celestial JEon, who had existed in the
pleroma before he descended to eartli.*
* Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. Cent. II. Part II. ch. V.
280 OPINIONS CONCERNING THE
It is of more importance to fix your attention upon the substan-
tial definite form which the second opinion concerning- the person of
Christ, I mean that which raised him above man by ascribing to him
pre-existence, assumed in the system of Arius. It was the leading
principle of this system, that the Christ, the first and most exalted
of the creatures of God, existed before the rest were created, and is
not like any thing else that was made. I call this the characteristi-
cal principle of Arianisra ; because, whatever traces of it some have
pretended to discover in more ancient writers, Arius is universally
allowed to be the first who taught it systematically ; and this prin-
ciple was the opinion for which he was condemned by the council of
Nice in the beginning of the fourth century. The writings of Arius,
in which he unfolded and defended his system, were burnt by the
authority which condemned his opinions. But a few of his epistles,
the creed which he gave iu to Constantine, and the sentence pro-
nounced against him by the council of Nice, are extant ; from a
comparison of which, a candid inquirer may attain a clear conception
of the outlines of his system. His system was this — the one Eter-
nal God, the source of all being and power, did, in the beginning, be-
fore any thing was made, produce by his own will a most perfect
Creature, to whom he communicated a large measure of glory and
power. By this Creature, God made the worlds, all things that are
in heaven and that are in earth, so that he alone proceeded immedi-
ately from God, while all other creatures not only existed after him,
but wei'e called into being by his instrumentality, and placed by the
Father under his administration. Having been the Creator of the
first man, he was from the beginning the medium of all divine com-
munication with the human race. He appeared to the patriarchs ;
he spake by the prophets, and in the fulness of time he was incar-
nate, i. e. clothed with that body, which, by the immediate operation
of God, was formed out of the Virgin Mary ; and thus, according to
the Arian system, the man Christ Jesus had a real l)ody, like his
brethren. But that body, instead of being animated by a human soul,
was informed by the super-angelical spirit, who had been with God
from the beginning, who condescended to leave that glory, partook
in the sorrow and agony which filled up the life of Jesus, and in re-
compense of this humiliation and obedience was exalted to be the
Saviour, the Sovereign, and the Judge of mankind.
Arius professed to have received this faith from the Gospel, and
to hold the sense of the Scriptures ; and he might suppose that his
system reconciled those passages which speak of the dignity and eter-
nity of the Son of God, with those which seem to imply an infe-
riority to the Father. It appeared to him, that this first creature,
upon account of the super-eminent glory and power communicated
to him, might without impropriety be called the only begotten Son
3
PERSON OF THE SON. 281
of God, and God ; and he admitted that this creature was in one sense
eternal, because he proceeded from God before the existence of those
measures of time, which arise from the motion and succession of
created objects. He thought himself at liberty, therefore, to hold
this language in his creed, " We believe in ^one God, the Father
" Almighty, and in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made
" by him, begotten before all ages, God the Word, by whom all
" things were made in heaven and in earth." But although all
these expressions, except one, " who was made by him," might have
been \ised by those who held the received opinions, there were three
points in his system which were condemned by the council. He said
of the Son, r^v Tors oth ovx riv — 'rr^n yivvri&rivat ou% rjv — and s^ ovx ovrojv
iyiVcTO, [there was once when he was not — before he was produced
he was not — he was produced out of nothing]. The meaning of the
three points vipon which he was condemned was this. Although
Arius carried back the existence of the Son before all worlds, and so
before all times, yet it was possible, according to his system, to con-
ceive some point from whence that existence commenced. The Son
had no existence till the act of the Father produced him, and he was
produced, not out of the substance of the Father, l)ut like other
creatures, out of nothing. We suffer persecution, says Arius in one
of his epistles, because we have said, the Son hath a beginning, but
God hath no beginning, and because we have asserted that the Son
is out of nothing.* This opinion was opposed by the authority of
successive councils, and by the decrees of tlie Roman Emperors, who
had by this time embraced Christianity, and those by whom it was
avowed were exposed to contumely and barbarity. Before the end
of the fourth century it was extirpated in the greater part of the
Roman empire, and appears to have been so much forgotten, that all
the Divines who wrote upon this subject after that period till the
Reformation, were almost wholly employed, not in explaining or
combating the Arian system, but in proposing different modifica-
tions of that which I am to state as the third opinion concerning the
person of Christ. The opinion of Arius revived in the seventeenth
century, when the progress of the Reformation allowed greater liber-
ty in religious speculation ; and, although it be contrary, not only
to the confessions of the established churches of Great Britain, but
to the laws of the land, it has appeared with little disguise in many
able treatises, and was held, with certain qualifications, by some of
the most eminent divines in the last century.
The third opinion concerning the person of Christ is, that from
all eternity he was God. Neither the Socinians nor the Arians deny
that the name of God is ascri])ed to him. But as, according to their
* K. A. apud Epiph. II. 69. N. vi.
282
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE
systems, the only foundation of that name is the degree of glory and
dominion with which he was invested at an earlier or a later period,
and as the same will, which thus freely distinguished him above the
other creatures, may remove the distinction when the purposes of it
are accomplished, it is manifestly implied in these systems, that
Christ has a dependence upon the will of another, and a possibility
of chang-e, which require that the word of God, when applied to the
Son, be understood in a sense very different from that in which it is
applied to Him who from everlasting- to everlasting- is God. Al-
thoug-h therefore the three opinions coincide in the use of the same
name, the third is essentially distinguished from the second as well
as from the first in this point, that according- to it Christ eternally
and necessarily co-existed with God. All the perfections of the di-
vine nature belong to him essentially ; no past time can be conceiv-
ed in which he did not possess them, and no time shall arrive here-
after in which any of them can be separated from him.
There has been much controversy whether this was the g-eneral
opinion of the Christian church before the council of Nice. Peta-
vius, a learned Jesuit, in his immense work, entitled Dog-raata
Theolog-ica, has laboured to show, that the Fathers of the first three
centuries inclined to Arianism, and have in many places spoken of
Christ as an inferior God. Bishop Bull, who wrote in the seven-
teenth century, and is by much the ablest defender of this third
opinion, has rendered it, in my opinion, moi'e than probable that Pe-
tavius gives a false representation of those -who are called the Ante-
Nicene Fathers, and that, although upon many occasions they ex-
press themselves loosely and inaccurately, yet it was the constant
opinion of the most respectable writers in the first three centuries,
that Christ was from eternity God. But the truth is, this contro-
versy concerning the opinion of the Ante-Nicene Fathers has de-
rived more importance from the labour and zeal with which it has
been agitated than it deserves. For the question does not depend
upon human authority ; and in whatever manner ancient waiters
have expressed themselves upon this subject, the truth remains the
same. Even although Dr Priestley could establish the position
which he has maintained in other smaller treatises, and in a great
•work of four octavo volumes, entitled, the History of Early Opinions
concerning the Person of Christ, that the Christian church from
the earliest times was in general what he calls Unitarian, and that
the Godhead of the Son, in the proper sense of the w^ord, was un-
known to the great body of Christians, and is found only occasion-
ally mentioned in the works of a few authors ; still the matter rests
upon its original ground, and the question recurs, which of the three
opinions concerning the person of Christ is most agreeable to the
revelation made in Scripture on that subject. We derive from the
PERSON OF THE SON. 283
Study of the ancient Christian writers the history of the progress of
theological opinions ; we may learn the manner in which very able
men, who bestowed their whole attention upon theological subjects,
illustrated and defended the opinions which they held, and we may
thus be assisted in understanding the truth, and directed where to
find the proper arguments in support of it. But these arguments
must ultimately be drawn from Scripture, and Dr Clarke, however
persons may diifer as to the merits of his system, of which I shall
have occasion to speak afterwards, must be allowed to have suggest-
ed the only proper method of attaining the Scripture doctrine of the
Trinity, by collecting all the texts in which there is any mention
of that doctrine. You will understand, then, that when at any time
I quote the sayings of ancient or respectable Christian writers, I
(jnote them as evidences of what their opinion was, not as proofs
that that opinion was true ; and you will agree with me in thinking,
that I should very much mispend your time, if I entered into a mi-
nute investigation of those passages in their works which appear to
be contradictory, and followed the labours of many modern authors
in thus endeavouring to ascertain what were the sentiments of Ter-
tuUian, Eusebius, or Origen.
But while we disclaim every kind of submission to the authority
of the Fathers, there are expressions which recur frequently in
their writings so marked and significant, that they deserve to be
brought forward, as they may assist you in understanding what the
third opinion concerning the person of Christ truly is. The Ante-
Nicene Fathers often speak of the kindling of one light by another,
as the image which most fitly expresses the generation of the Son
from the Father, because in this case there is no separation or dif-
ference of kind The original light remains undiminished, and
that which is kindled appears to be the same. They say, that as
the sun in the heavens cannot exist without emitting light, as no
interval can be conceived between the existence of the sun and the
emission of his rays, so Christ always existed with God ; and they
argue the eternity of Christ from his being the wisdom, the rea-
son, what the GiTek writers called the Xoyor of the Father. The
words of Athanasius, the great antagonist of Arius, are these, 6 wv,
(diog. £^ duTO'j %u.i ovra rov Xoyov s%e'* /^a' outs 6 Xoyog i-~iyiyonv o'jx wv
T^OTsgov, ouTi 0 vaTYj^ oKoyog Yiv Ton.* [he who is, God : Of himself
and in actual existence he has the Logos or word ; and neither has
the Logos been produced, not being before ; nor was the Father at
any time without the Logos.] The meaning of these, and other
similitudes, with which the Ante-Nicene Fathers abound, was pre-
cisely ascertained by that word which the council of Nice adopted
• Athanas Orat. passim.
iJ84 OPINIONS CONCERNING THE
in opposition to the opinion of Arius. They said that the Son is
oiMOisaifig [of the same substance] with the Father. This word the
Arians could not, in consistency with their principles, admit into
their confession. They held that the Son was produced imme-
diately by the Father out of nothing-. But they saw that, if he be
of the same substance with God, he is God, and that if he is God,
he cannot have a temporary precarious existence, but must have
always been with the Father what he now is. This word therefore
became the mark of distinction between the second and the third
opinions concerning the person of Christ, and the precise amount
of o'Miseiog when applied to the Son is this, that although it be im-
plied in the name of the Son, that he proceeded from the Father,
and although, in reference to his proceeding from God, he be called
the only begotten of the Father, yet the essential glory and per-
fections of the Father and the Son are the same.
It is further to be stated, that while the Socinians believed the
Christ to be a mere man, in whom an extraordinary measure of
the power of God dwelt, while the Arians believed that the Christ
was composed of a super-angelical spirit and a human body, those
who hold the third opinion believe that Christ assumed, at the in-
carnation, the complete human nature into union with the divine :
in other words, that the body of Christ was animated by a human
soul, and this soul was so united with the Godhead that the divine
and human nature formed one person.
1 enter not at present into the grounds of this third opinion. I
mean only to state what it is, and in order to assist your appre-
hension of both parts of it, I shall recite to you a part of the Ni-
cene Creed, by which this third opinion was more clearly defined
than it had been before, and those parts of the confessions of the
two established churches in Britain, by which it appears that both
of them have adopted the third opinion conceiniing the person of
Christ. The words of the Nicene Creed, translated literally from
the Greek, are these: " We believe in one God, the Father Al-
mighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible, and in one
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Fa-
ther, that is to say, of the substance of the Father, God of God,
light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, of the
same substance with the Father, by whom all things were made
both in heaven and in earth, who for us men, and for our salva-
tion, came down, and was incarnate, being made man." The se-
cond of the thirty-nine articles of the chui'ch of England is in these
words : " The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten
from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one
substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the
Blessed Virgin, of her substance, so that two whole and perfect
PERSON OF THE SON. 285
natures, that is to say, the godhead and manhood, were joined to-
gether in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ,
very God and very man." The words of our Confession of Faith
are : " The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being
very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father,
did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man's
nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities
thereof, yet without sin, being conceived by the power of the Holy
Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance, so that
two whole perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and the Man-
hood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without con-
version, composition or confusion, which person is very God, and
very man, yet one Christ."
286
CHAP. II.
SIMPLEST OPINION CONCERNING THE PER.-ON OF CHRIST.
Having stated the three opinions concerning the person of Christ,
to which all others may be reduced, I proceed to compare the
grounds upon which they rest.
And here I must begin with observing, that general reasonings
concerning the probability of any of these opinions, or its apparent
suitableness to the end of Christ's manifestation, ought not to enter
into this comparison. Ingenious men have said plausible things
in the way of general reasoning in support of all the three. It
may to some appear difficult to Italance one of the speculations
against the other, because men will be inclined to give a preference
according to the complexion of their understanding, and their for-
mer habits of thinking. But you will be satisfied that such rea-
sonings are of little or no weight in the scale of evidence, when
you recollect how soon they lead us beyond our depth. Probabi-
lity in this subject depends upon a multitude of circumstances,
which are not within the sphere of our observation. Fitness or
expediency in this subject depends upon the order and the designs
of that universal government of which we see only a part. The
fact, that Jesus Christ appeared in the land of Judea the teacher
of a new religion, could not have been investigated by reason, but
like all other facts is received upon credible testimony. The par-
ticular character and dignity of this person, therefore, is matter of
revelation to be gathered from the books that inform us of his
appearance ; and the only solid ground of any opinion concerning
his character is a right interpretation of the books in which it is de-
scribed. After we have attained by sound criticism the information
which is thus afforded us, reason may be employed in vindicating
the opinion which that information warrants us to hold, in bringing
forward those views of its expediency which revelation enables us
to assign, and in balancing the difficulties which may adhere to it,
against those difficulties and objections which appear to attend
other opinions not taught by Scripture. Reasoning comes here in
its proper place to support our faith, by being opposed to other
reasonings, that attempt to shake it, and to rescue the opinion that
is delivered in the Word of God from the charge of absurditv. But
SIMPLEST OPINION CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST, 287
we profess to learn the opinion from the Scriptures ; and we hold
it with firmness, hecause it is revealed.
This g-eneral observation sug'gests the plan upon which I mean
to proceed in comparing the grounds of the three opinions. I de-
fer all speculations concerning them, till we have learned what the
Scriptures teach. I begin with the simplest propositions, advancing,
as the information of Scripture leads us, to those which are farther
removed from ordinary apprehension ; and in this way, I shall not
arrive at the most intricate parts of the subject, till our minds are
established in the belief of those facts which ought to guide our
reasonings. This patient method of proceeding is not the most
favourable to disputation upon this subject ; it is not the best cal-
culated for lecturing upon it in a showy amusing manner ; but it
appears to me that in which I ought to persevere, as the only
method becoming our distance, and the certain method of attaining
truth.
The simplest opinion concerning the person of Christ is, that
he was merely a man, -^iXo; avtJjw-o; ; and the advocates of this
opinion rest it upon numberless passages of Scripture, upon a so-
lution of those declarations concerning Christ, which appear to be
inconsistent with their opinion, and upon the insuperable difficul-
ties in which they represent all other opinions as involved. I lay
aside at present all consideration of these difficulties, because I
consider every speculation concerning them as calculated to create
a prejudice either for or against the evidence that is to be examin-
ed ; and I direct your attention only to the Scripture grounds up-
on which this opinion is rested, and the declarations of Scripture
by which it is opposed.
I take the Scripture grounds of this opinion from a book pub-
lished about the year 1773 by Mr Lindsey, who gave the world a
pledge of his honesty, by resigning his preferment in the Church
of England, because he held this opinion. The following argu-
ments and testimonies, he says, will abundantly show that Christ
was a man like ourselves, saving those extraordinary gifts of di-
vine wisdom and power, by which he was distinguished from the
rest of mankind. 1. The prophecies that went before concerning
Christ speak of him as a man, — the seed of the woman ; the seed
of Abraham ; a prophet like to Moses ; the son of David. 2. In
consequence of these predictions, the Jews in all times have ex-
pected the Messiah to be a man. " Hath not the Scripture said,"
observe the people in the gospel of John, " that Christ cometh of
the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David
was ?" 3. Christ's appearance in the world ; his l)irth ; his increase
in wisdom and stature : and the visible circumstances of his con-
dition answered to the prophecies concerning him that he was to
288 SIMPLEST OPINION CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
he a man. 4. Christ continually spake of himself as a man, the
son of man being the phrase by which he commonly designed him-
self; and the son of God, the title which he sometimes assumed,
admitting of an interpretation, which does not contradict his being
a man. 5. John, his forerunner, calls him a man. And, 6. The
four evangelists show by their narration that they took him to be
a man ; and in the other books of the New Testament he is often
so designed.
The testimonies which Mr Lindsey has collected under these
heads* prove that Christ was truly a man ; they undoubtedly con-
vey an impression that he was a man in all respects like us ; and
if they contained the whole doctrine of Scripture concerning the
nature and person of Christ, the first opinion would claim to be
received upon the highest possible evidence. But Mr Lindsey is
aware that there are passages in Scripture which appear to contra-
dict this opinion. Like all those who have agreed with him in
opinion, he attempts to give a solution of them ; and the point that
must be considered is, whether there are declarations in Scripture
of such a kind, as to efface the impression made by the testimonies
collected under the six heads now mentioned, and to show that the
first opinion rests upon a partial view of Scripture.
" Sequel to Apology, by Theophilus Lindsey, ch. 7.
I 289 ]
CHAP. III.
PRE-EXISTEN'CE OF JESUS.
The philosophy which you have learned has completely exploded
the fanciful doctrine of some ancient sects, that the souls of men
existed before they animated those bodies with which we behold
them connected. You know that this doctrine supposes a fact,
which is nowhere revealed, which is not vouched by human testi-
mony, which is not supported by any solid argument, and is con-
tradicted by the principle of consciousness. You believe that the
souls of men began to exist with their bodies ; and, although you
cannot explain the time or the mannpr of the union between these
two companions, you never ascribe to the being of the man any
date more ancient than the first formation of his body. If then
there be evidence that Christ had a being befoi-e he was conceived
of the Virgin Mary, he cannot be a man like us. He may be truly
a man with all the essential properties of human nature, so that
there is no impropriety in ascribing to him the name of man, or
the Son of Man. But the opinion of those who consider him as
■^lAog avd^oj-zog, nothing more than man, must be false. Accord-
ingly, all those who hold the second and third opinions oppose to
the Socinian system one simple position, viz. there is evidence from
Scripture of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ. This position is
sufficient to overturn the first opinion, and it is necessary to lay a
foundation for the second and third. For although it does not fol-
low from the pre-existence of Christ, either that he is the most
exalted creature in the universe, or that he is God, yet, if he did
not exist before he was born of Mary, he cannot be either the one
or the other.
A position which contradicts the first opinion, and which is as-
sumed in the other two, seems to be the proper point from which
to set out in examining the three opinions concerning the person
of Christ. Unless you are satisfied of the truth of this position,
you will not be disposed to give yourselves much trouble in can-
vassing the second and third opinions. But if yo\i find evidence,
that by his pre-existence he is more than man, it will be natural
to proceed to inquire how far he is exalted above man, whether he
VOL. I. N
290 PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS.
is a creature of a higher rank, or whether he be entirely exempted
from the order of creatures.
In examining- this position, I shall first bring forward those pas-
sages of Scripture, which teach plainly that our Saviour did pre-
exist ; and I shall next direct your attention to those passages which
ascribe to him dilferent actions in his state of pre-existence. From
the first set of passages I do not mean to derive any thing more
than simply a proof of the pre-existence of Jesus; but, in attend-
ing to the second, we shall unavoidably be led, by the descriptions
of those actions which are ascribed to Christ, to consider his origi-
nal character and dignity, and we shall thus pass naturally from the
proofs of his pre-existence to the proofs of a higher point, to those
passages, upon a right interpretation of which turns the decision of
the question between the second and third opinions.
I shall at present bring forward only those passages of Scripture
which teach plainly that our Saviour existed before he was born of
Mary ; and, in reviewing them, I shall lay before you those solu-
tions of their meaning which are given by the more early or the
later Socinian writers, that you may judge how far it is easy to re-
concile them with the opinion of our Lord's being ^|///.o? avdoU'Troc,
fa mere man. 3
You will recollect a language which runs through a great part
of the New Testament, that " God sent Jesus into the world," that
Jesus " came in the flesh," " was made flesh," " was made a little
lower than the angels," " took part of flesh and blood." Now this
language is greatly wanting in propriety and significancy, if Jesus
began to exist at that time when he is said to have come in the
flesh ; whereas the expressions recited are the very manner in which
it is necessary to speak of his becoming a man, if he had an exist-
ence beforehand. A language which thus implies that Jesus ex-
isted before he was born of Mary, being found in numberless places,
may be considered as meant to correct the inference which might
otherwise be drawn from the phraseology of Scripture, in which he
is spoken of as a man. At the same time, you will not consider
this imphcation as the proper grcmnd upon which to rest so import-
ant a conclusion. We derive the knowledge of the pre-existence
of Jesus from exphcit declarations of Scripture, and having, in this
way, attained assurance of the fact, we find the general phraseo-
logy of Scripture so contrived as to reconcile this fact with his be-
ing truly a man. These explicit declarations were made by John
the Baptist, by our Lord himself, and by his apostles.
1. John the Baptist bore witness of Jesus in these words. Jo.
i. 15, 30. " After me cometh a man which is preferred before me,
for he was before me," 'rr^ooTog /xou r;i/. You would expect Tsonoog
[former, before,] instead'of '::^ojtoc, [first.] But there are many
3
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 291
instances in the best Greek writers of a similar construction. Hfp/e
Ti Uc^ffuv 'T^uTov rra'jTOJv Aa^nou, [before all the Persians,] is an ex-
pression used by Aristophanes ;* and if t^wtoj/aou, first, when com-
pared with me, be equivalent to T^ors^og fLov, [before me] there
seems to be here a plain declaration of the pre-existence of Jesus.
The Socinian interpretation is, " the Christ, who is to begin his
ministry after me, has, by the divine appointment, been preferred
before me, because he is my chief or principal, i:^c^ro6raTrig f/^ov, and
I am only his servant." But Bishop Pearson, on the second arti-
cle of the creed, has well observed, that, according- to this interpre-
tation, a thing- is made the reason of itself. He is preferred before
me, because he is my chief; whereas if Tgwroc aov Yiv [he was before
me] be considered as expressive of time, not of dignity, it contains
a reason for the former clause. He who was born a few months
after me, and whose ministry begins after mine, has been placed
before me, has a higher station assigned him in the economy ot
that dispensation which is now opening, because he had an exist-
ence before me. It is true, that the three other evangelists make
John the Baptist say, " He that cometh after me is mightier than
I." idyu^oTiooc (xo-j. But you will perceive, when you compare the
four, that the phrase is equivalent to i/xTgoff^sf /xou, " is preferred be-
fore me," not to •rgwros (Mj-o. For the speech in the other three
consists only of one clause ; and John, who, writing after the others,
has supplied many things that were wanting in them, added the
words on 'XPC/jrog fj,ou yiv, [because he was before me.] He has us-
ed the same expression in another place of his Gospel, where it
must denote time. If the worhl hate you, says Jesus to his disci-
ples, y/foiffXErs oTi ifjji 'TT^MTov -j^Kjiv iiiiu6'f\xi, [|ye kuow that it hated
me before it hated you.] You will observe, too, that if the phrase
had had the uncommon remote meaning which the Socinians affix
to it, instead of tt^wtcs '-:;', [^he was my chief,] it should have been
■r^dJTog sffn, [he is my chief.] For unless Jesus pre-existed, he
was not the chief of John till he entered upon his ministry, the be-
ginning of which John was only announcing. Lardner, aware pro-
bably of the force of the objections made by Bishop Pearson, has
given another interpretation of these words, which some of the mo-
dern Socinians consider as probably expressing the meaning still
more truly. " He that cometh after me has always been before
me, or in my view, i. e. present to my mind as the object of my
continual expectation and reverence ; for he was my superior." I
leave you to jiulge, whether it is likely that the hearers of John
would affix either the latter or the former Socinian meaning to his
words, and whether a declaration, which he repeats frequently as
* Aristoph.Ogv(9{f, lin. 484.
292
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS.
his witness to the Messiah, is not to be understood according to
the plain obvious sense given in our translation.
John iii. 31, " He that cometh from above is above all : he that
is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth : he that cometh
from heaven is above all." John is making a comparison between
himself and Jesus. " He must increase, but I must decrease." The
31st verse states a distinction, not merely in respect of dignity,
but in respect of origin and extraction ; and the heavenly extrac-
tion of Jesus is introduced as the ground of his superior dignity.
1 have called your attention to this passage, because it appears
to me to be the answer to a sophism which is frequent in the mo-
dern Socinian writers. When such expressions, as Jesus being
sent from God and coming from heaven, are lu'ged in proof of his
pre-existence, they uniformly answer, that these expressions mean
nothing more than that he received a divine commission. " For,"
they say, " John also is called a man sent from God ; and our
Lord, upon one occasion, asked the chief priests, the baptism of
John, was it from heaven, or w-as it from men ? he meant was it
of divine or of human institution ; and it was the same thing, whe-
ther he had asked did John come from heaven, or was his baptism
from heaven ?" But the words of John Baptist in this place show
that he understood there would have been an essential difference
between the two questions. He asserts in other places that he
was sent by God to baptize with water ; and therefore his baptism
might be said to be from heaven. But here he admits that he
himself was of earth, whereas the person to whom he bore witness
was from heaven. Their commission had the same authority ; for
both were sent by God. But the one was a man who received this
commission after he was born : the other was a Being who, having
existed before in heaven, came from heaven, and was made man,
that he might execute his commission.
John iii. 13. " And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but
he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in
heaven." These words appear to contain a declaration that the
Son of man came down from heaven. But in order to elude the
force of this declaration, two different expositions have been given.
The one was the exposition of Socinus and his immediate follow-
ers ; the other is adopted by the modern Socinians. The first is
this : " It is very }>robable, and agreeable to the words of Scrip-
ture, that Christ, between the time of his birth, and his entering
upon the office of Messiah, was translated by God to heaven, and
remained there some time, that he might see and hear those things
which he was to publish to the world. As Moses, who is acknow-
ledged to be a type of Jesns, was forty days on the mount with
Ciod, and brought from thence the two tables of the law, and the
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 293
pattei'ii of all things pertaining- to the worship of God, so it was
most fit that Jesus should go up to heaven, of which Sinai was a
type ; and it is prohable that the time of our Lord's temptation,
when he is said to have been forty days in the wilderness, was the
time of his being admitted to converse with God in heaven," Ac-
cording to this exposition our Lord says to Nicodemus, no man
hath ascended up to heaven, to learn these heavenly things which
I have to tell you, but he who came down from heaven, after he
was instructed in them, even the Son of man, who was — render-
ing wi/ [being] the imperfect ])articiple, who was in heaven. This
exposition was employed to solve all those passages where we read
of Christ's coming from heaven, proceeding from the Father, being
sent by God. But you will observe, that there is no other proof
of the fact upon which this exposition proceeds but this single cir-
cumstance, that it is possible, in this way, to explain such passages
as these, without supposing the pre-exist ence of Jesus. His trans-
lation to heaven is admitted without evidence, in order to exclude
his pre-existence. I say without evidence. For although it would
have been most honourable for a man to be thus admitted to con-
verse with God in heaven, although, according to the Socinian
system, it is of the utmost importance to the followers of Jesus to
have this assurance, that the words spoken by a man like them-
selves are truly the words of God, there is not any one passage in
the New Testament which plainly declares, or even by certain in-
ference implies, that he was translated to heaven. Other circum-
stances are mentioned in the short accounts that are given us of
that part of his life which elapsed before he appeared preaching
the Gospel. But this fact, in comparison of which most of them
are insignificant, is passed over in silence by all the evangelists.
The modern Socinians have abandoned an exposition thus rest-
ing upon a conjecture, which is not only destitute of evidence, but
is contradicted by the silence of the historians. And they have
adopted another exposition, founded upon the figurative language
which abounds in Scripture. In our way of apprehension they
say, a man that would be acquainted with the secrets of the divine
will should go to heaven to converse with God. Accordingly it
is said by Moses : " The commandment which I command thee
this day is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, who shall go
up for us to heaven, and bring it vmto us, that we may hear it and
do it." * But if ascending to heaven easily signifies being admit-
ted to the knowledge of the divine counsels, coming down from
heaven may signify being authorized to reveal it to men ; and being
in heaven, or in the bosom of the Father, means no more than
• Dout. XXX. 11, 12.
294 PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS.
being hig-hly favoured of God, and made acquainted with his coun-
sels. The declaration of Jesus to Nicodemus, therefore, does not
necessarily imply a literal ascent and descent ; but, when stripped
of the metaphorical language in which it is clothed, it amounts
merely to this — He alone was admitted to an intimate knowledge
of the will of God, and authorized to reveal it to men.
This exposition is much more plausible than the former ; and it
is agreeable to that interpretation which we are often obliged to
give to figurative language. But you will observe that the language
in this passage is not figurative ; the words are perfectly simple ;
there is no obvious necessity for departing from that sense which
is agreeable to the plain construction of them ; and if a liberty is
allowed of considering plain language as figurative, in order to give
it a meaning very remote, and evade a doctrine which it seems
clearly to teach, there can be no certainty in the declarations of
Scripture. You will observe also, that according to this exposition
there is a tautology in the words, which is both ungraceful and
unmeaning. No man hath known the divine counsels but he who
has a commission to declare them, even the Son of man, who is
intimately acquainted with them. On the other hand, if you un-
derstand the second clause, according to the literal import of the
words, and according to many other declarations of the New Tes-
tament, to denote a real descent from heaven, then the first and
third clauses are clearly distinguished. If you consider mv as the
imperfect participle, the third clause means, the Son of man who
was in heaven before he descended. If you consider c:v as the pre-
sent participle, you give the third clause a meaning which cannot
be reconciled with the Socinian system, but which is adopted by
our translators in opposition to that system ; the Son of Man, who,
being according to the views communicated in other passages of
Scripture both God and man, is in heaven while he now dwells
upon earth. There is an apparent difficulty in the clause, " No
man hath ascended up to heaven but the Son of Man ;" for we
know that Elijah did ascend, and our Lord had not ascended when
he spake these words. But attention to the context enables us,
without doing violence to the words, by an accommodation to cir-
cumstances which is easy and obvious, to remove that difficulty.
Our Lord had been stating to Nicodemus some of the doctrines of
tlie Christian religion, at which this master of Israel is stumbled,
saying, " How can these things be ?'" Our Lord answers in words
most expressive of the dignity of his character, and the entire credit
to which he was entitled. " We speak that we do know, and testify-
that we have seen. If I have told you earthly things, and ye be-
lieve not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things ?"
i. e. There are doctrines more sublime and heavenly than these at
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 293
which you are stumbled. My doctrine, according to the expres-
sion of Moses with which you are well acquainted, may be said to
be in heaven ; and you can learn it from none but me, for no per-
son has ascended to heaven for the purpose of bring-ing it from
thence, s/ ijjTi, [but,] unless you choose to apply that expression to
the person who, having been in heaven, came down from it. He
is better qualified to instruct you in heavenly things, than if he had
ascended for the purpose of bringing them down.
John vi. Q'2. " VVhat and if ye shall see the Son of Man as-
cend up where he was before ?" The ancient and the modern
Socinians explain away this declaration, in the same manner as
that which we have now been considering. One of their latest
commentaries is in these words:—" When you shall see me go
up to heaven to God, where I was before," i. e. from whom I have
received my instructions and authority, " you will then understand
the language which I now hold with you." As this declaration
of the pre-existence of Jesus is simpler and less embarrassed with
other circumstances than that in the third chapter, so the context
necessarily leads us to reject the Socinian paraphrase, and to un-
derstand the words in their obvious sense. Our Lord had been
holding a long discourse with the Jews, in which he spoke of him-
self as the " bread of life that came down from heaven." The
Jews understood this to be an assertion of his having been in hea-
ven, and they opposed to it their knowledge of his birth. " Is
not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know ? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven."
Our Lord, in answer to their murmurings, repeats and enforces
his former assertion ; and, after he had left the synagogue, under-
standing from his disciples that they also were oifended at this
hard saying, he says to them, *' Doth this offend you ? what and
if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before ;"
i. e. to heaven, of which he had been speaking. The expression
implies a literal ascent to heaven, which was to be an object of
sense, '>:-w5?)rs [ye shall see ;] and the intimation of this glorious
event, which was to remove all their doubts and their offence, is
conjoined with a repetition in simple language of that assertion at
which they had been offended. The Evangelist had told us the
sense which the Jews affixed to that assertion : the complaint of
the disciples implies that they affixed the same sense to it; and
we cannot suppose that they were mistaken, because this private
declaration of our Lord, where I was before, is expressly calcu-
lated to confirm them in the mistake. You have our Lord, there-
fore, in this sixth chapter of John, holding both in the synagogue
of the Jews, and in a confidential intercourse with the disciples,
296 PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS.
such a languag-e as his hearers understood to mean that he was in
heaven, before they saw him upon earth.
John viii. 58. " Before Abraham was^, I am." The old Soci-
nian interpretation was: — " I exist before that Patriarch has be-
come, acconUng to the import of the name Abraham, the Father
of many nations ; for that name is to receive its fulfihnent by the
preaching- of my rehgion, in which all the nations of the earth are
to be blessed through the seed of Abraham." But this is saying
nothing ; for the Jews, to whom our Lord is speaking, existed
also l)efore this event : I am, and ye all are, before the Patriarch
becomes Abraham in this sense. The modern Socinian interpre-
tation is not more plausible. " Before Abraham was born, 1 am
he ;" i. e. the Christ, in the destination and appointment of God.
My commission as Messiah was fixed and determined by the Al-
mighty, before Abraham had a being. But this is saying nothing
peculiar to the Messiah ; for known to God are all his works.
The existence and the circumstances of the meanest creature were
as much fore-ordained as those of the highest angel. The natural
meaning of the words is, that Christ had a being before the birth
of Abraham. Tipv yBviadai sxsnov is a common classical phrase for
before his birth ; and although cyu jjf [I was] might rather have
been expected, as he is speaking of existence in a past time, yet
the present tense does affirm existence ; and there is a reason for
this peculiar mode of expression which will occur afterwards.
This obvious interpretation of the words is very much confirmed
by the circumstances in which they were spoken. Our Lord had
said, " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw
it, and was glad." The Jews understood from this expression that
he had seen Abraham, that is, they understood him to affirm that
he existed in Abraham's day ; and they answered, " Thou art not
yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ?" Our Lord had
not said that he had seen Abraham, but, because it was true, he
does not disavow it ; and he confirms the conclusion which they
had drawn from his former saying, by declaring expressly that he
existed not only in the time, but before the birth of Abraham.
" Before Abraham was, 1 am," They did not mistake his mean-
ing ; but they were filled with indignation at the presumption
which his words appeared to them to discover ; and " they took
up stones to cast at him." Other texts, as John xvi. 28, John
xiii. 3, I Cor. xv. 47, 2 Cor. viii. 9, also teach the pre-existence
of Jesus.
To assist you in understanding the principles of that solution,-
by which the Socinians endeavour to evade the force of the plain-
est declarations concerning the pre-existence of Jesus, I shall give
a particular account of the manner in which they explain John
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 297
xvii. 5. " And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own-
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
Jesus appears in this place to declare explicitly, and at a most so-
lemn time, when he " hft up his eyes to heaven," and in the hear-
ing of his disciples prayed to God immediately before he went out
to the garden where he was betrayed, that he had glory with the
Father before the world was : and it is very remarkable that he
introduces the mention of this glory, when it was not necessary
to complete the sense of any proposition ; for he is praying that
God would glorify him. And yet, as if on purpose to prevent the
apostles who heard the prayer from supposing that he was asking
that which he had not possessed in any former period, he adds,
" with the glory which I had with thee befoi^e the world was."
To a plain reader it would seem, that, if Jesus never had any such
glory, these words, uttered in such circumstances, discover the
highest presumption and impiety. But, observe the Socinian ex-
position : " The glory for which Jesus prays is something poste-
rior to his sufferings ; yet he speaks of it in the 22d and 24th
verses as already given him, rrjv do'^av Tr,\i i'xriv r^v sSoixa; s/ao/ [my
glory which thou hast given to me.] He had not at this time
received it ; but the Father had promised it. And since the pro-
mise of God can never fail, he considers it as fully his own as it
he had been in possession of it. In the same manner he says he
had glory with (lod before the world was ; not that he had really
been in possession of it before the world was, but because it was
then destined for him by God. God is said to have ' chosen us
before the foundation of the world ;' and the kingdom of heaven
is said to be prepared for us from the beginning of the world, al-
though we had then no being. And so Christ says that God loved
him, and that he had glory with God before he had a being. And
the glory for which he prays is not his own private advancement,
but the success of that gospel by which the virtue and happiness
of mankind were to be promoted. This had been his sole aim, for
which he had lived, and for which he was about to die. And
now, at the approach of death, he says, I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, complete
thine own work in the happy beneficial consequences of my death,
and speedy restoration to life, as in thine all-wise eternal purpose
thou hast decreed." These are the most exalted sentiments which
can be conceived to animate a human breast ; and 1 doubt not you
feel, as I have often felt, that admiration of these sentiments cre-
ates a kind of prejudice in favour of that interpretation, which
supposes them to be uttered, in the most trying scenes, by a meii-
man. But we should recollect that there are many occasions in
which the influence of the principle of admiration makes us over-
N 2
298 PRE-EXISTENCE OP JESU3.
look the simplicity of truth ; and that the excellence of an object
is then really known, not when it is magnified by our imaginations
in a particular lig^ht, hut when its whole nature is considered.
The Scriptures, by teaching clearly the pre-existence of Jesus, by
representing- him as acting- at all times under a consciousness of
his original dig-nity, and an assurance of his exaltation, do not
leave room for that enigmatical exposition of the words of this
prayer, by which his sentiments at the close of his life are assi-
milated to the heroism of mortals. The expressions which he
uses, according- to the plain sense of them, are becoming him who
knew whence he came and whither he was going; and, if they do
not present us with an extraordinary effort of mere human virtue
in the Son of man, they present us with a worthier object of our
faith and hope, the Son of God, who had been made man, return-
ing to his Father.
Before I leave those passages which teach the pre-existence of
Jesus, it is proper to speak of a title, the true meaning of which
is intimately connected with this subject. One of the grounds of
the Socinian opinion, I said, is this, that Jesus commonly designs
himself the Son of man, and that the other title, the Son of God,
which he sometimes assumes, admits of an interpretation not in-
consistent with his being a mere man. This interpretation the
Socinians derive from different passages of Scripture, where Jesus
is styled the Son of God, for reasons that have no connexion with
his existence in a previous state. The first is his miraculous con-
ception. The angel said to Mary, " The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ;
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee," i e.
begotten of thee, " shall be called the Son of God." The second
is the distinguished commission which he received as Messiah, and
the honour conferred upon him. For in the language of the New
Testament the Christ, or Messiah, and the Son of God, are used
as equivalent interchangeable terms. " We believe," said the dis-
ciples, " that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The
High Priest asked Jesus at his trial, " Art thou the Son of the
Blessed ?" and John concludes his Gospel with saying, " These
things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God." There is still a third reason upon account of
which Jesus is called in Sci'ipture the Son of God, and that is his
resurrection. For Paul says, Acts xiii. 33, " God hath fulfilled
the promise which was made unto the fathers, in that he hath
raised uj) Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee :" and he says in
his Epistle to the Romans, " Jesus was declared to be the Son of
God with power, by the resurrection from the dead." It appears
PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 299
undeniably from these passages that there is an intimate connexion
in the language of Scripture between this title, the Son of God,
and these three circumstances, the miraculous conception, the
office, and the resurrection of Jesus. But none of these three
necessarily imply that he existed in a previous state ; and, there-
fore, it appears to me, that although it be natural to form the most
exalted conceptions of a person called the Son of God, yet if no
other premises were given us, we should not be warranted to infer
the pre-existence of Jesus from his bearing that name. You must
first establish by other evidence that he did pre-exist, and then you
infer, from his being called the Son of God, that the meaning of
that name is not exhausted by his miraculous conception, his office,
and his resurrection, but that it serves farther to intimate the
manner of his pre-existence. This reasoning would be fair and
conclusive if our Lord were called simply the Son of God. But
its conclusiveness appears more manifest when you consider those
discriminating epithets which are joined to this name. God is our
Father by creation, and by the grace of the Gospel, and they who
partake of that grace are often called his sons. But Jesus Christ
is styled his own Son, the Son of his love, his beloved Son in
whom he is well pleased ; and in the Gospels and Epistles of John,
the only begotten Son of God ; all which imply that the highest
meaning of this title belongs to Jesus. It has been said that the
phrase, only begotten Son, which is peculiar to John, means no-
thing more than beloved. But these two phrases are not syno-
nymous amongst men. A child may be only begotten without
being beloved, and he may be beloved without 1)eing only begot-
ten. It is irreverent to suppose that so significant a phrase would
be employed by John upon such a subject, in a sense so inferior
to its natural import. And it is knowii that the Christians, from
the earliest times, adopted in their creeds this phrase, his only be-
gotten Son, or his only Son, as distinguishing Jesus from every
other Son of God.
Now you will observe, that although the name of the Son of
Got! is connected in Scripture with the miraculous conception of
Jesus, his office, and his resurrection, none of these three come
up to the meaning of this phrase, the only Son of God. Not his
miraculous conception. — He was indeed conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost. But Adam also is called the Son of God ;
and unless you deny that Jesus was truly the Son of Mary, yon
must admit that there was in this respect still greater propriety in
giving the name of the Son of God to a person, who, being formed
without father or mother out of the dust of the earth, was still
more immediately the workmanship of God. Not his office as
Messiah ; for many special messengers had been sent by God to
'300 PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS.
men in former times. In allusion to them, Jesus is often styled
a prophet, a messenger, the sent of God. But the mark of dis-
tinction between him and them, which some prophecies of the
Old Testament announce, and wliich the hooks of the New Testa-
ment often express, is this, that he is the Son of God, his only
begotten Son ; words vvliich have iio meaning, if they refer purely
to that commission which lie received in common with others, and
whiv ' are always so introduced as to lead our thoughts to a charac-
ter Wi ch lie had l)efore he received the commission. Neither does
the' resurrection of Jesus come up to the meaning of the phrase,
the only ))egotton Son of God. He was indeed brought by the
Father out of tlie bowels of the earth. But we are taught that all
who are in their graves shall rise ; and he himself hath said that
they who are accounted worthy to obtain the world to come are
the children of God, being the children of_ the resurrection, iiioi
iiGi r()\) &BOU, rrig avadrainug bioi ovng. According to the views given
in Scripture, Jesus is the first that rose from the dead never to die
any more, and the resurrection of good men is the effect of his.
He is thus, in respect of his resurrection, the first among many
brethren. " Every one in his own order, Christ the first fruits ;
afterwards they that are Christ's." His resurrection was indeed
the demonstration that tliat name which he had taken to himself
during his life di<l really belong to him ; and therefore it is said,
he " was declared to be the Son of God with power by his resur-
rection." But to say that his resurrection made him the Son of
God is to confound tiie evidence of a thing with the thing itself.
These few remarks may satisfy you that neither the miraculous
conception of Jesus, nor his office, nor his resurrection, contains
the full import of this name, the only Itegotten Son of God. But
there is a more ancient and a more exalted title to this )ianie, which
is inseparable from his nature. I enter not at prersent into the
various and intricate speculations to which this subject has given
occasion. We shall be ])etter prepared afterwards for touching
them slightly. I meant only, by connecting the mention of this
name with those passages which teach the pre-existence of Jesus,
to make you liear in your minds during the progress of our re-
searches, that the peculiar reasons of a name, which you will find
uniformly a])j)ropriated to Jesus, are to be sought for not in the
history of his appearance upon earth, but in those passages which
contain the revelation of his pre-cxistent state.
•i
[ 301 ]
CHAP. IV.
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS IN' HIS PRE-EXISTEN'T STATE.
Creation.
Having drawn from fxplicit declarations of Scripture sufficient
evidence that Jesus existed before he was born of Mary, I am next
to direct your attention to those passages which ascribe to him
different actions in his pre-existent state. The nature of the ac-
tions, and the manner in which they are narrated, will unavoidably
lead us to form some conception of the character and dignity which
belonged to Jesus before he appeared upon earth ; so that, if this
branch of the examination shall confirm the belief of the pre-exist-
ence of Jesus, it will not only destroy the first opinion, bat will
assist us in comparing- the grounds upon which the second and
third opinions rest-
As no action in which we have any concern can )»e more ancient
than creation, it is natural to begin with those passages in which
creation is ascribed to Jesus. The Apostle Paul says, Eph. iii. 9,
" God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." But as the last
words, hi Jr^aryj Xficrov, are not found in the most ancient MSS. and
were not quoted by any of the Christian writers before the Counc-il
of Nice, it is conjectured by Mill, in whose valuable edition of the
Greek Testament all the various readings are collected, that these
words were first written in the margin, as a commentary suggested
by expressions in the other Epistles, and were afterwards adopted
by the transcribers of the Xew^ Testament into the text. The con-
jecture appears plausible, and the most zealous defender of the pre-
existence of Jes'xs need not hesitate to subscribe to it ; for our
faith in this important article, that he is the Creator of the world
does by no means rest upon this incidental expression, which, sup-
posing that it was not originally written by the apostle, would
never have obtained a place in the text, had it not been literally
derived from the more full declarations contained in other passages
of Scripture.
These full declarations are found in the beginning of the Gospel
of John, in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, and
302 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
in the first chapter of the Epistle to tlie Hebrews. All the three
appear to teach, explicitly and particularly, that Jesus is the Cre-
ator of the world. Yet they have received different interpretations,
of which you ought not to be ignorant ; and your being- able to
deduce with certainty that which we account the true meaning- of
the words, and to defend it ag-ainst the objections by which it has
been attacked, depends upon the knowledg-e of circumstances which
form so essential a branch of your studies, that I think it my duty
to g-ive a particular elucidation of these three passages.
SECTION I.
JOHN I. 1 18.
You will beg-in with observing the steps by which the apostle pro-
ceeds in enunciating his meaning. The first five verses do not of
themselves mark out the person to whom they apply. It would
seem that a person is intended : For time, iv a.^yj(i, [in the begin-
ning,"] place, -TOO J roi/ ©sov, [with God,] and action, 'xavra hi aurou
iyivsTo, [all things were made by him,] are ascribed to 6 A.oyog,
[the Word.] But the name is not clear enough to mark out who
he is. In the 6th verse there is the proper name of a man, Iwaw/j?,
[John.] And it appears from the sequel of the chapter, that this
Iwavcjjs is the person whom we are accustomed to call John the
Baptist. It is said of this luavvrig, in the 7th verse, ovTog rfkkv ztc,
iharr-j^iav, ha /jjtx^Tu^rjSrj -jri^i rou (purog, [he came for a witness, to
bear witness of the light.] The article defines the word (pojrog.
[of the light,] and leads you back to a light already spoken of, and
consequently supposed to be known to the reader ; i. e. the light
mentioned in the 4th verse, which, from the construction, is un-
questionably the same with o Xoyog. Ei/ ai/rw, i. e. Koyui, 'toifi ?jv,
xa/ 'ri '(jjifi Tiv TO ipw; tmv a\idpoo'7rc/jv, [In him, i. e. the Logos or Word,
was light, and the light was the life of men.] It is said in the 3th
verse that this light appears ; and the 7th verse establishes a con-
nexion between the appearance of the light and the appearance of
John, for he came to bear witness of it. 8th verse, ova rjv ixuvog to
(p(j}g, a}X ha fj^a^ru^yja'/j Tsg; to-j <pojTog. [He was not the light, but
that he might bear witness of the light.] The time of this shin-
ing of the light must have been posterior to the appearance of John,
and the manner of the shining must have been explained by his
words, otherwise his testimony could not have been of any use in
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 303
making- men believe. But John the Baptist was the contemporary
and the countryman of the writer of this Gospel. He died, indeed,
at an early period of life. Still, however, many of the persons into
whose hands this Gospel came might know perfectly, either from
their own recollection, or from what they had heard others report,
the general purport of John's testimony, so as to be directed by his
words in applving- the expression of the evangelist. Those, who
knew what John the Baptist had said, could not fail to know what
was the ro pw;, [the light,] of which he came to bear witness.
It is further stated that the person who had been called in the first
five verses, 6 'koyo:, [the Word,] and ro <poj;, [the light,] was an
inhabitant of the earth at the time of John's appearance ; for you
read in the 10th verse, iv rw /cotr/xw riv, [he was in the world,] —
I4th verse, sdiaffa/jbiSu. rriv do'^av avrou, [we beheld his glory.] And
this glory, which was beheld, was not a celestial transient glory,
dazzling the sight of mortals like a meteor, and quickly hid in clouds;
for 0 Aoyos (Taj^ iyivBTO, xai iSxriVjiGiv iv rj/j^iv [the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us]. It appeared in a bodily substantial
form. The person, who has been called 6 Xoyog, pitched his tent,
and dwelt for some time amongst men, and while the glory which
they beheld impressed them with a notion of his dignity, he en-
gaged their affections by the grace of his manners ; for he was
TATjffjjj y^a^iro; xa/ akriktai [full of grace and truth]. Here are
limiting circumstances so peculiar in their nature, that they can-
not apply to any other inhabitant of earth in the days of John
Baptist but that extraordinary personage, whose memory was fresh
in the minds of his countrymen when this Gospel was written,
and whose name is expressly mentioned in the 17th verse, IriSo-j;
Xoigrog [Jesus Christ]. It deserves particular notice, that with
all that simplicity of manner which distinguishes the writer of this
Gospel, he has inserted this name in such a way as to make it the ex-
plication of all that had gone before. He had said in the 1 4th verse,
6 Xoyoc ffao^ ly^vsro- xai i6-/.r\yoiSiv vj r^fhiv, (xa/ ihu.6an,i^a Tr\v do^av eturov,
do^a\i wg fjMoysvoug caga Targo;,) crX'/jf j;; yjxoiaroi -/mi a'Kri&nuc. Here
he applies to 6 Xoyog, the person of whom he had been speaking
from the beginning of the chapter, two phrases, iLwoyi^riz, and ■■rr'krfiric
y^a^iTog xa; akr,kiai, [only begotten — full of grace and truth :] and
in the 17th verse, he introduces the name, IriSougXoisroc, after the
repetition of one of these phrases, and before the repetition of the
other, manifestly connecting the name with both the phrases. It
appears, then, from this general analysis of these eighteen verses,
that this evangelist must be not merely a most inconsequential
writer, but a writer who purposely and artificially misleads his
readers, unless the persons who is called 6 Koyog in the first verse
be the same who is called Insovg X^igrog in the 17th, that is, unless
304 ACTIONS ASCniBED TO JESUS
the whole of this passage be applicable to Jesus Christ. But if the
whole be applicable to him, we have the testimony of an apostle,
that all things were made by him. nr/^T-a di' avrou iyvjiro- -/Lai yoioii
avTov lyiviTo ovdi h o ysyovs, [_A\\ things were marie by him, and
without him was not any thing made that was made]
I have chosen to lead you in this manner to the knowledge of
the person meant by 6 Xoyoc, because the fairest way of interpret-
ing a passage is to lay the whole of it together, and so bring the
sense of an author out of his words. But it is natural to inquire,
why did John use this dark expression ? Why has he begun his
Gospel in such a manner as to require this circuitous method of
arriving at his meaning ? Would it not have been better to have
said plainly. In the beginning was Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ
was with God, and Jesus Christ was God ?
In answer to this question, you will recollect that many of those
modes of expression in ancient writers, which appear hurtful to per-
spicuity, were dictated by some circumstances peculiar to the coun-
try, or the times in which the writers lived ; and that the obscuri-
ty, in which to us such expressions seem to be involved, is remov-
ed by the knowledge of those circumstances which rendered them
the most proper and significant when they were used. There has
been much dispute what were the circumstances that led John to
use this expression, 6 Xoyog. The subject is involved in consider-
able obscurity from our imperfect knowledge of the dates of parti-
cular tenets. But I shall endeavour to give, in a short compass,
the result of a very fatiguing examination of the dispute.
Before the days of our Saviour, there were Targums, ^. e. Chal-
dee paraphrases of the Old Testament, for the use of the vulgar
Jews, who, upon their return from the Babylonish captivity, did
not understand the original Hebrew. As these Targums were com-
posed by the learned men of the nation, and portions of them were
read every Sabbath-day in the synagogues, they may be consider-
ed as the national interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures ; and
they have often been quoted by those who have entered deeply in-
to the argument from prophecy, as the vouchers of the sense which
the Jews affixed to their own predictions before the days of our
Saviour. These Targums, in almost every place where Jehovah
is mentioned in the Hebrew as talking with men, assisting them,
or koLling any immediate intercourse with them, have iised this
circumlocution, the word of Jehovah. In the Hebrew, Jehovah
created man in his own image ; in the Targum, the word of Jeho-
vah created man. In the Hebrew, Adam and Eve heard the voice
of the Lord God ; in the Targum, they heard the voice of the
word of the Lord God. In the Hebrew, Jehovah thy God, he it
is that goeth before thee ; in the Targum, Jehovah thy God, his
IN HIS PRE-EXlSTENT STATE. 305
word goeth before thee. Those who are quahfied to judg-e of this
matter say that all the personal characters of action are ascribed in
the Targums to the word ; and that there are places where the
sense renders it impossible to understand the word of Jehovah as
merely an idiom of the language equivalent to Jehovah. Thus in
the Hebrew it is, God came to Abimelech; in the Targum, his
word came from the face of God to Abimelech. And the 110th
Psalm is thus paraphrased. Jehovah said to his Word, sit thou at
my right baud. We cannot suppose that this mode of expression
would have been introduced into the Targums, at the time when
they were composed, had it then appeared a novelty ; and there is
no doubt that, by the weekly reading of the paraphrases, it would
become familiar to the ears of Jews. Accordingly, in the Wisdom
of Solomon, a book which is understood to have been written a
hun h^ed years before Christ, we meet with the following expres-
sion, referring to the judgment upon the land of Egypt : " Thine
almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne,
as a tierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction, and
brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and
standing up, tilled all things with death, and it touched the hea-
vens, but it stood upon the earth."* This may appear to you a
bold expressive figure for the divine energy which was exerted in
the punishment of the Egyptians, in the same manner as that pas-
sage in Psalm xxxiii. " By the word of the Lord were the hea-
vens made," does not necessarily convey to a mind accustomed to
weigh the import of language any more than that the heavens
were made by tlie Lord. But there appears the best reason for
thinking that the constant use of this circumlocution cherished in
the minds of the body of the Jews the belief that there was a per-
son distinct from the Father whose name was the Word of Jeho-
vah ; and it is certain that Philo, a learned Jew, bred at Alexandria,
who lived about the time of our Saviour, whose books were pub-
lished before his death, speaks in numl>erless places of the Xoyog,
whom he calls a second God, the Son of God, the image of God,
the instrument by whom God made the worlds. Philo did not
learn this word in the Platonic school ; for although Xoyog occurs
often in the writings of the later Platonists, who lived in the second
and third centuries, there is no evidence that Plato, or any of his
disciples before Philo, used Xoyog as the name of a person distinct
from God. It is doubted by Mosheim whether Philo himself be-
lieved that there was a distinction ; anil that indefatigable inquirer
has brought together, in his notes upon Cudworth, several passages
which appear to me to make it probable that Philo, like many
* Wis'' rn of Solomon, xviii. 15, IG.
306 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
other ])liilosophers, bad an esoteric and an exoteric, a secret and
an ostensible doctrine. His secret doctrine was, tbat wbat bis
countrymen called 'Koyoi was notbing else but tbe conception formed
in tbe mind of God of tbe work wbich be was to execute, and that
what they accounted a distinction of persons was ideal and nominal,
accommodated to the narrowness of our apprehension. But if this
was truly his private sentiment, bis calling- tbe /.o^'&j the Son of
God, and a second God, is a proof that the opinion concerning tbe
Word of Jehovah as a person, bad so firm a possession of tbe minds
of his countrymen, tbat he did not wish to offend them by teaching-
openly and unequivocally a doctrine opposite to tbat which they
had derived from Scripture and tradition.
Not long- after tbe writings of Pbilo were published, there arose
the Gnostics, a sect, or rather a multitude of sects, who having-
learned in tbe same Alexandrian school to l)lend the principles of
oriental philosophy with tbe doctrine of Plato, formed a system
most repug-nant to tbe simplicity of Christian faith. It is this sys-
tem which Paul so often attacks under tbe name of " false philo-
sophy, strifes of words, endless g-enealog-ies, science falsely so cal-
led." The foundation of the Gnostic system was the intrinsic and
incorrigible depravity of matter. Upon this principle they made a
total separation between the spiritual and tbe material world. Ac-
counting- it impossible to educe out of matter any thing which was
good, they held tbat tbe Supreme Being, who presided over the in-
numeral)le spirits tbat were emanations from himself, did not make
this earth, but tbat a spirit of an inferior nature, very far removed
in character as well as in rank from the Supreme Being, formed
matter into that order which constitutes tbe world, and gave life to
the different creatures that inhabit tbe earth. They held tbat this
Inferior Spirit was tbe Ruler of tbe creatures whom be bad made,
and they considered men, whose souls he imprisoned in earthly ta-
bernacles, as experiencing under bis dominion the misery wbich ne-
cessarily arose from their connexion with matter, and as estranged
from the knowledge of tbe true God. Most of tbe later sects of
the Gnostics rejected every part of the Jewish law, because the
books of Moses give a view of tbe creation inconsistent with their
system. But some of their earlier sects, consisting- of Alexandrian
Jews, incorporated a respect for tbe law with the principles of their
system. They considered tbe Old Testament dispensation as grant-
ed by the h-riiMiovoyoc. tbe Maker and Ruler of tbe world, who was in-
capable from bis want of power, of delivering those who received
it from tbe thraldom of matter ; and they looked for a more glori-,
ous messenger, whom tbe compassion of the Supreme Being was to
send for the purpose of emancipating- tbe human race. Those
Gnostics who embraced Christianity regarded the Christ as this mes-
IN HIS PRE-KXISTENT STATE. 307
senger, an exalted JEon, who l)eing- in some manner united to the
man Jesus, put an end to the dominion of the hrifiiov^yoi, and re-
stored the souls of men to communion with God. It was natural
for the Christian Gnostics who had received a Jewish education, to
follow the steps of Philo, and the general sense of their country-
men, in giving- the name Xayoc to the hriiMiov^yog ; and as 'KoKSrog was
understood from the heginning- of our Lord's ministry to be the
Greek word equivalent to the Jewish name Messiah, there came to
be, in their system, a direct opjiosition between Xoiarog and Xoyog,
Aoyog was the maker of the world : Xoiarog was the JEon sent to de-
stroy the tyranny of Xoyog.
One of the first teachers of this system was Cerinthus. We have
not any particular account of all the branches of his system ; and
it is possd)le that we may ascribe to him some of those tenets by
which later sects of Gnostics were discriminated. But we have au-
thority for saying- that the general principle of the Gnostic scheme
was openly taught by Cerinthus before the publication of the Gos-
pel of John. The authority is that of Irenseus, a bishop who lived
in the second century, who in his youth had heard Polycarp, the
disciple of the apostle John, and who retained the discourses of
Polycarp in his memory till his death. There are yet extant of the
works of Ii'enaeus five books which he wrote ag-ainst heresies, one
of the most authentic and valuable monuments of theological eru-
dition. Jn one place of that work he says, that Cerinthus taught
in Asia that the world was not made by the Supreme God, but by
a certain power very separate and far removed from the Sovereign
of the Universe, and ignorant of his nature.* In another place, he
says, that John the apostle wished, by his Gospel, to extirpate the
error which had been spread among- men by Cerinthus ;f and Je-
rome, who lived in the fourth century, says that John wrote his
Gospel, at the desire of the Bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and
other heretics, and chiefly against the doctrines of the Ebionites,
then springing up, who said that Christ did not exist before he was
born of iMary.:|:
From laying these accounts together it appears to have been the
tradition of the Christian Church, that John, who lived to a great
age, and who resided at Ephesus, in proconsular Asia, was moved
by the growth of the Gnostic heresies, and by the solicitations of
the Christian teachers, to bear his testimony to the truth in writing,
and particularly to recollect those discourses and actions of our
Lord, which might furnish the clearest refutation of the persons who
denied his pre-existence. This tradition is a key to a great part of
* Iren. contra H.er. lib. iii. cap. xi. I. "f Id. lib. i. xxvi. 1.
X Jerome De Vit. lUust. cap. ix.
308 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
his Gospel. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, had given a detail of those
actions of Jesus which are the evidences of his divine mission ; of
those events in his life upon earth which are most interesting- to the
human race ; and of those moral discourses in which the wisdom,
the grace, and the sanctity of the Teacher shine with united lustre.
Their whole naiTation implies that Jesus was more than man. But
as it is distinguished by a beautiful simplicity which adds very much
to their credit as historians, they have not, with the exception of a
few incidental expressions, formally stated the conclusion that Jesus
was more than man, but have left the Christian world to draw it
for themselves from the facts narrated, or to receive it by the teach-
ing and the writings of the Apostles. John, who was preserved by
God to see this conclusion, which had been drawn by the great body
of Christians, and had been established in the Epistles, denied by
different heretics, brings forward, in the form of a history of Jesus,
a view of his exalted character, and draws our attention particularly
to the truth of that which had been denied. When you come to
analyze the Gospel of John, you will find that the first eighteen
vei'ses contain the positions laid down by the Apostle, in order to
meet the errors of Cei-inthus ; that these positions, which ai*e mere-
ly affirmed in the introduction, are proved in the progress of the
Gospel, by the testimony of John the Baptist, and by the words and
the actions of our Lord ; and that after the proof is concluded by
the declaration of Thomas, who, upon being convinced that Jesus
had risen, said to him, " my Lord and my God," John sums up the
amount of his Gospel in these few words : " These are written that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," i. e. that
Jesus and the Christ are not distinct persons, and that J; sus Christ
is the Son of God. The Apostle does not condescend to mention
the name of Cerinthus, because that would have preserved, as long
as the world lasts, the memory of a name which might otherwise
be forgotten. But although there is dignity and propriety in omit-
ting the mention of his name, it was necessary, in laying down the
positions that were to meet his errors, to adopt some of his words,
because the Christians of those days could not so readily have ap-
plied the doctrine of the Apostle to the refutation of those heresies
which Cerinthus was spreading among them, if they had not found
in the exposition of that doctrine some of the terms in which the
heresy was delivered : and as the chief of these terms, Xoj/o;, which
Cerinthus applied to an inferior spirit, was equivalent to a phrase in
common use among the Jews, the word of Jehovah, and was pro-
bably borrowed from thence, John, by his use of Xoyog, rescues it
from the degraded use of Cerinthus, and restores it to a sense cor-
responding to the dignity of the Jewish phrase.
You will perceive from this induction the fitness with which the
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 309
Apostle John introduces this word Koyog, although it had not been
used by the other Evangehsts who wrote before the errors of Ce-
i-inthus. You may think it strang-e that Xoyoc, which is^announced
with such solemnity at the beginning, does not occur again in^this
Gospel. But the reason is suggested by the introduction itself.
John has said in the 14th verse, 6 Aoyog ea^t, iyinro, Qhe Word was
made flesh] and he has inserted Jesus Christ in the 17th verse^as
the name of the man who was the Word made flesh. Our Lord
was Xoyoc, in the beginning. But during his ministry upon earth
his name was properly Jesus Christ ; and John might suppose that
every reader who was acquainted with his introduction would un-
derstand by that name, as often as it occurred, the same person
whom he had there called X0705. But although this name could
not with propriety occur in a history of the man Christ Jesus, it is
found in the beginning of the first Epistle of John, which, like his
Gospel, was opposed to the errors of Cerinthus. " That which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
■with our eyes, which \\q have looked upon, and our hands have
handled of the word of life, ts^/ t-oli 'h()y(i\j ttic, ''(^Mrjg, that declare we
unto you." And in one of those sublime descriptions of the per-
son of our Saviour, in his glorified state, which are found in the
book of Revelation, this name is directly applied to him. " And
he was clothed with a vesture dipt in blood ; and his name is cal-
led the Word of God," 6 Xoyog ro-o ©sou. Rev. xix. 13. If the
book of Revelation was written, as there has always appeared to
me great reason to suppose, before the Gospel of John, this direct
application of 6 \oyog to our Saviour, ^^•ould render it easy for the
Christians to understand the meaning of this introduction.
After having gone at such length into the reason of the use of
the word Xoyo;, which is the only real difficulty in this passage, I
shall easily deduce the proposition for the sake of which I quoted
it, that Jesus created the world. Observe then, that sv ag^yji [^in
the beginning] necessarily brings to our minds the first words of
Genesis, iv ci^'XJ, i~oirtf>iv 6 ©soj rov ov^awv zai rrjv yrjv ; j^In the be-
ginning God made the heaven and the earth ;] and that both by
this obvious reference to a well known jiassage, and by what is said
in the third verse, aaira di' avrfiu lyinro, [^all things were made by
him,] SI/ a.oyj(\ \m. the beinning] must be understood to mean a
time before any thing was made. The Apostle asserts that, at this
time, i\ a^X'fh the Word was. He does not say syiviroy was made,
but 7j\i, existed ; and that the word existed, not in a state of dis-
tance, but -TTPog Tov Qsov, at, or wiih God ; not in a state of inferi-
ority, but Qioc Tiv 6 Xoyog. This last clause is properly rendered,
" the Word was God." It is common in the Greek language to dis-
tinguish the subject of a proposition from the predicate, by prefix-
310 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
ing- the article to the subject, and giving no article to the predicate.
Examples of this will be found in Dr Campbell's Commentary, and
will occur to those who are familiar with the New Testament in
the original. John iv. 24 ; xvii. 10.
To draw the attention of the Christians to the error of Cerin-
thus, the second position is repeated in the second verse, 6 'rjiyoq ?ji.
Tgoe rw 0201/ : [[the Word was with God Q and then, after this ex-
plicit repeated affirmation of his original dignity, it is added, rravra
hi avTo-j ijinrb. [[all things were made by him.^ It is not said that all
other things were made by him, as if he was one created being. But
'zavra hi avrov syiviro : and, according to the manner of this apos-
tle, which abounds in repetition, and is here peculiarly fitted to
meet the error of Cerinthus, it is added, %cog/5 avrov sjiviro ouds Iv 6
ysyocs, [^without him was not any thing made that was made,]
which marks strongly that his creating power extended to all parts
of the universe. " In him," says the apostle, " was the life of
men." Not only the great objects of nature were formed by him,
but every individual being, every animal, derived existence from
him. When he came to enlighten the world which he had made,
he came s/j ra idia, to his own dominion, and those who did not re-
ceive him were o'l idioi, his own subjects. According to the system
of the Gnostics, the Christ, the light of the world, came into the
territory of another, to emancipate men from the tyranny of their
maker. But here original creation and future illumination are ex-
pressly ascribed to the same person, who being before all things
with God, in the beginning made, and at a subsequent period en-
lightened, the world. I have only further to remark, that Xoyog
Qhe Word] and ^oi/&ysv>3f, Qhe only begotten,] which, in the sys-
tem of some of the Gnostics, were different ^ons, are in this pas-
sage the same with Jesus Christ.
Having thus easily attained the proposition, which this passage
was adduced to prove, I shall not have occasion to occupy time in
refuting the two other interpretations which it has received. The
one is the old Socinian interpretation, according to which Jesus
is called Xoyog, merely because he revealed or spoke the will of
God to man ; and the first three verses receive the following pa-
raphrase. " In the beginning of the Gospel, there was a man,
who, being the revealer of God's will, was called 6 ?.oyoc, [the
Word,] who was with God, heing taken up to heaven after his
birth, that he might there learn what he was to teach to others ;
and who i^eceived, after his resurrection, the title of God, in virtue
of the powers conferred upon him, and the office to v\ hich he was
exalted. By this person the Gospel dispensation was established,
and without him no part of the world was reformed." According
to this interpretation, it is supposed, without evidence, that the
IN HIS TRE-EXISTENT STATE. 311
man Jesus was taken up to heaven : Ev a.^xV> D" ^^^ beg-inning,]
contrary to its obvious meaning-, is applied to the beginning- of the
Gospel : the phrase ©so; 551* 0 Xoy og Qhe Word was God] is con-
sidered as equivalent to this proposition, which appears to I)e di-
rectly opposite, the man who was not God is now made God ;
and expressions which, by the analogy and use of the Greek lan-
guage, denote that things were brought into being, are explained
of a reformation of their state.
But, besides all these reasons suggested by the words them-
selves, the history which 1 have given of the terra Xoyog is a clear
refutation of this forced construction. For Xoyog or its equivalent
in the Chaldee, being, at the time when this Gospel was written,
commonly applied to a person who made the worlds, John unavoid-
ably misled his readers, if he gave that name to a man who did
not exist before he was born of Mary, and said of that man bear-
ing this name, that all things were made by him, when he only
meant that all things were reformed by him.
This Socinian interpretation is generally abandoned, even by
those who deny the pre-existence of Jesus ; and they have adopted
in place of it, the old Sabellian interpretation. Aoyog signifies
reason as well as speech ; ratio mente concepta [reason conceived
in the mind,] and ratio enunciativa [reason expressed.] If it be
translated in this place reason, the woi'ds of John will bear a strik-
ing allusion to a remarkable passage in the eighth chapter of the
book of Proverbs. Wisdom thus speaks, " The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I
brought forth. When he prepared the heavens, I was there ;
when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by
him, as one brought up with him." Solomon, says Mr Lindsey,
represents Wisdom as a person dwelling with God, beloved by
him, present with him, attending upon him in all his works of
creation ; and so John says, in the beginning- reason or wisdom
was with God, i. e. God was complete in wisdom before he made
any manifestation of himself to his creatures ; and all things were
made by reason, i. e. were created according to the most perfect
wisdom ; and reason was made flesh, i e. the same divine wisdom
which had appeared from the beginning in the creation of the
world, was communicated in large measure to the man Jesus Christ,
and residing in him became visible to us.
When you judge of this interpretation, you will carry along
with you, that all the Christian writers, from the earliest times,
apply the description of Wisdom in the eighth chapter of Proverbs
to Christ. It is quoted and argued upon in this light ; and both
312 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
those who held that Christ was God, and those who held that he
was a creature, defended their opinions by particular expressions
in this passage. To us who enjoy the revelation of the Gospel,
every fact of that description appears most apposite to Christ.
The true doctrine of the Gospel respecting- the person of Christ
seems to have been anticipated by his illustrious predecessor ; and
John, by the manifest similarity of some expressions in this pas-
sage to expressions in the description of Wisdom, appears to give
his sanction to this interpretation of the meaning of Solomon. It
is not, however, in my opinion, probable that any person who had
not our advantages, would have found the person of Christ in this
description ; and if you lay out of your mind what yon know of Christ,
and attend merely to the poetical strain of the first nine chapters of the
book of Proverbs, you will probably be disposed to consider the pas-
sage in the eighth chapter as a beautiful and well-supported instance
of proso})opceia. But allowing what no person can certainly know,
that Solomon meant nothing more in that passage than to per-
sonify the divine attribute of wisdom, this does not afford the most
distant reason for imagining that John also personifies reason. For
observe the diffei"ence of the cases. The prosopopoeia of Solomon
is in the midst of other passages of a like kind ; and there is no
part of it inconsistent with those rules which are not of modern
invention, but are essential to the nature and the beauty of this
figure. But the prosopopoeia in this place, if there be one, is in-
troduced abruptly, without preparation, at the beginning of a plain
history. It is executed in so inartificial a manner, that words and
phrases, perpetually occurring in the passage, destroy the illusion,
and require a great effort of imagination to recal it. Reason, one
attribute of the Deity, is called the only begotten, as if he had no
other. Reason is called a man to whom another man bore witness :
and instead of co^/a [wisdom], the word used by the Septuagint
in that personification which John is supposed to imitate, he in-
troduces, and applies to the man of whom he speaks, Xoyoc, a term
applied at the very time of his writing to a person different from
God, and inferior to him. To consider John, therefore, as mean-
ing here a personification of the divine attribute of wisdom, is to
suppose that he employs a misplaced and ill-supported figure of
speech on pui'pose to mislead his readers ; that when he intended
to say, Jesus was a man in whom the wisdom of God the maker
of all things dwelt, he used language which, to the persons living
in those days, and to all who study that language, cannot fail to
convey the impression, that this man was a being who existed
before any thing was made, and who created the world.
IN HIS PHE-EXISTENT STATE. 313
SECTION 11.
Col. i. 15—18.
The Apostle, in reminding; the Christians at Colosse, amidst the
sufferings to which their faith might expose them, of the grounds
of thankfulness which it afforded, is led into one of those digres-
sions which are common in his writings. He had been speaking
of that redemption through the blood of Christ, which is the fun-
damental doctrine of the Christian religion. The redemption sug-
gests to him the dignity and character of the ransomer. He ex-
patiates upon these topics for a few verses, and then returns to the
point from which he had set out. The digression, although it
appears to interrupt the course of his argument, pi'omotes most
effectually the great design of his Epistle, because it serves to sa-
tisfy the Colocssians, that the Author of the new religion was
qualified for the office which he assumed, and that their faith in
him, without any aid from Jewish ceremonies, was able to save
them. This digression is contained in the 15th, 16th, 17th, and
18th verses of the first chapter.
I shall first give that interpretation of these verses, which seems
to arise out of the words themselves ; and I shall next comment
upon another interpretation which they have received.
Oj iSriv siKCfiv rou Qiov rou ao^rxrov [who is the image of the in-
visible God]. It is proper to take along with this expression, two
corresponding phrases in Heb. i. 3.—' O; m cirayyaff/o-a rra h(/^r,g,
■/.at yj/.sa7.rrio tyj; -U'roarasioj: aurou [who being the brightness of" his
glory, and the express image of his person]. All the three are
highly figurative, as the whole language in which we presume to
speak of the Almighty necessarily must be. But attention to the
point in which the three images coincide may assist us in under-
standing every one of them. Eixuv [image] is a likeness or por-
trait, representing the features of a person, the expression and air
of his countenance ; ara-jyag/j^a. [brightness,] that which shines
forth from a ray, a bright ray of his glory. The expression is pro-
bably borrowed from the book of Wisdom, vii. 25, where Wisdom
IS called ccxfis^oia -rn: rov TuvroTiPxro^og do^r}: siXi>iPir/]g, UTravyag/Ma
(p'^rcg aioiov, " a pure ray flowing from the glory ol" the Almighty,
the brightness of the everlasting light." As light, says Dionysius
of Alexandria, who wrote before the Council of Nice, is known by
Its shining forth, so ovrog as; ro-j (p'^rog, dnXov ug sgriv au to U'-u-j.
VOL. I, r.
314 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
yaojia, Qight being always, it is manifest that there is always its
shining forth.] On this expression was grounded an argument
for the eternity and consubstantiality of the Son, his being always
with the Father, and of the same nature. Xa^axr'/jo, from '/a^uacu,
imprimo, a stamp, an impression, as that by which the figure en-
gi'aved on a seal is truly represented in wax. Trjs vTosraecug aurou,
|[of his person.] I must warn you that the word ■o'lroGTaeig, which
our translatoi's have rendered person, does not, either by its ety-
mology, or by its use in the days of the Apostle, necessarily con-
vey that distinction which we now mark, when we speak of the
three Persons in the Godhead. For the first three centuries, o-jcr/a
and b-osracig were used promiscuously, and it was in the progress
of controversy, that men being obliged to speak with more pre-
cision, and to define their terms, came to appropriate h-off-acig to
denote a person, while ovaia signified that nature or substance which
different persons might have in common. It would therefore have
been more correct, because more agreeable to the language of the
Apostle's time, to have rendered yjx^ay.Tri^ rrig v'TroGraasojg avrov,
the express image or representation of his substance, i. e. of his
essential attributes. It is always unsafe to build an argument upon
figurative expressions ; and, until we be further advanced in this
inquiry, we are not warranted to say whether these three phrases
ought to receive that strict interpretation which renders them de-
scriptive of the nature of Christ. This much they certainly im-
ply, that the glory of the divine perfections was most accurately
reflected and exhibited to man in Jesus Christ. They may iinply
that this accurate exhibition arises from a similitude, or sameness
of nature ; and if plain declarations of Scripture shall authorize us
to affix this meaning to these figurative phrases, you will recollect
that it is such as they seem easily to bear.
U^uroroTiog irasrtg -/.riSiug [^first-born of every creature.] The
word 'TT^uTorox.og j^first born] is applied by Homer, II. xvii. 5, to an
animal who, for the first time bi'ought forth young ; crgwroroxos
/iivj^ri, ov crc/i/ siduia toxoid, non prius e.vperta partum, (^not having
formerly known l)ringing forth] If we followed the analogy of
the passage, we should translate '-fwroroxog tkcj^c xr/ffjwc Qhe first-
born of every creature,] he who first brought forth the whole crea-
tion, which would render it equivalent to a jjhrase, Rev. iii. 14,
where Jesus calls himself ri a-^yji Trjc jcr/ffsws rou Qsov Qhe begin-
ning of the creation of God.] A^;/?], in the language of ancient
philosophy, denoted an efficient cause, that which gave a beginning
to other things, a principle or source of existence.
According to this received sense of the word, a^yrj Trig -/.Tidiug
ro-o Qiou means more than oiu' English translation conveys, — the
beginning of the creation of God ; it is he who gave a beginning
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 315
to, produced, the creation of God. But there are several reasons
which prevent us from giving t^utotoxos 'xagrig zriaeug the sense
which renders it equivalent to this true meaning- of a^X''^ "^^^ xrissojg.
1. Although 'TPuiToroy.oi [first-born,] like other compounds of rima,
occurs in an active sense, there is no instance of its governing a
case of the word, denoting the thing brought forth ; and that case,
if there were one governed by it, would not be the genitive. 2. In
other places of the New Testament, and in the 18th verse of this
chapter, Towroro/coc must be translated in a passive sense, not the
first who brought forth, but the first who was brought forth. 3.
If you translate it here in an active sense, then the 16th verse only
repeats in a multitude of words that proposition of which it pro-
fesses to give a reason. He brought forth the whole creation ;
" for all things were created by him." For these reasons. Christian
writers from the earliest times have understood this expression in
a passive sense ; and you will understand the meaning which they
afhx to it, from the commentary of Justin Martyr in the second
century ; 6 Xojog, 'tt^o tojv 'jroiriiiaruiv &ovon VMt yivo[/j£mg [^the word,
who was with him, and who was before the things that are made.]
And Tgwroroxov rou Qiov, kui 'ttpo tuvtc/jv tmv xrig/Marujv [[the first be-
gotten of God, and before all creatures.] By their use of the pre-
position TOO [^before] in explaining this word, it appears that they
would have translated it in English, born or begotten before every
creature ; and this method of rendering the superlative is agreeable
to the expression in John, 'Tr^ooro? /mv riv, he was before me, i. e. in
comparison with me, he was the first ; and it is analogous to se-
veral other expressions that occur in the best Greek writers. I
mention only one, suggested by Dr Clai'ke, from Euripides ; ovrig
aKXfi duSTux^grarri yvvri sfMou TiifvAiv, there is no other woman, who,
considered in comparison with me, deserves the name of the most
unhappy. So here, Jesus, in respect of 'xcarig y-TtCiug [[every crea-
ture,] is ■TT^uTOTOKog the first-born, ^. e. he was born before it. XlaTjjg
■KTiGiug is rendered in our translation, " every creature." According
to the analogy of the Greek language, if pcr/^w means creo, xricig
is creatio, the act of creating, and zriafLa creatura, the thing cre-
ated. It is true that this distinction is not invariably observed ;
for as crga^/g often denotes an action, a thing done, so XTidig some-
times in the New Testament must be translated a creature. But
there are several passages where it must be understood in its ori-
ginal import, as Rev. iii. 14, already quoted, and Rom. i. 20, 7-a
aogara avrou a.'Tto xriCioig xoC/xou, to/s ir(jiri[j.aGt voou/Mva xaSooarai Fthe
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made.] The Eng-
lish would have come nearer the Greek if the word creation had
been used here instead of creature ; and if, at the same time, the
816 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
true force of i'Puroro-/.o; had been expressed by the insertion of the
preposition, so as to make the whole clause stand thus, begotten
before the whole creation, an inconvenience would have been avoid-
ed which arises from the present translation. To a careless reader,
indeed to every one who is not capable of looking- into the orig-i-
nal, these words, first-born of every creature, seem to convey that
Jesus is of the same rank and order with other creatures, distin-
guished from them only in seniority ; and some Arians have urged
this phrase in proof of the leading position of their system. But
the words, if closely examined, really contain a refutation of that
position which they appear to support. Had it ])een said, ■-o'mtu-
ZTiGroc Torffjj; zr/ffscog Qthe first created of every creature,] this would
have implied that Jesus was a xtisijm Qcreature,J like all other
beings. But the word 'rrooKoroxoi Qfirst-liorn, or, first-begotten]
separates him from all the KTKjiujira. The act of producing them
is XTisig [[creation.] But he is nyjug, derived, produced from the
Father in a different manner, before any of them were made. It is
not intimated in the word rowroroxoc [^first-born,] or in the phrase
used by John, iv uo^yj, [[in the beginning,] at what time the Son
was thus produced, whether immediately before the creation or
from eternity. That must be gathered from other passages of Scrip-
ture. All that we learn here is, that the existence of the Son of
God was prior to that of any created being, and that the manner
of his being produced is marked by a word different from creation.
In verse sixteenth, the Apostle mentions an infallible proof of
that which we have given as the amount of Tgw-oroxo; cracj;; -A-iGiuig
[[^the first-born of every creature.] The Son of God was born be-
fore the whole creation, for every thing that can be conceived as
a part of the creation was made by him. ' On iv aurw sx-zir^'/j ra
rravra ra sv roig ovpavoig ymi ra I'Si T7}g yrjg, ra ooara zai ra aooara,
iin ^oovoi, SITS xu^tOTTjTig, SITS uBy^ai, sirs s^oudiar ra rravra di avrov
zai sig avroM sxrisrai. [[For by him were all things created that
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things
were created by him, and for him.] The proposition is enunciated
in such a manner as to draw our attention very strongly to the
universality of it. There is first the same division as in the first
book of Genesis. TLv a^yy] STror/iam o Biog rov ov^anov /.ai n^v yriv, [[In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.] Here ra
Tuvra ra sv rotg ouoavoi; xat ra et/ r'/jj yr^g, [[all things that are in
heaven, and that are in earth.] And with the same anxiety to
mark the universality of the proposition, which suggested the I'e-
petition that we found in John, this Apostle adds, ra o^ara xai
ra ao^ara [[visible and invisible.] We deduce the propriety of
this addition from what we know of the tenets of the Gnostics.
IN HIS PUE-EXISTENT Si'ATE. 317
They said that llie visible world was made by the Brifiicu^yog, an
JEon of inferior rank ; but that the invisible world, all the diffe-
ent orders of angels, were emanations from the Supreme Mind.
To them, therefore, craira ra iv roig ov^avoig xai ra s-T; ttjc 'yrjg
[[all things that are in heaven, and that are in earth,] might seem
only to imply ^hat the celestial bodies and this lower world were
the work of Jesus. But ra aooara, Qthe invisible] joined to ra h^ara
[the. visible,] has no meaning unless it comprehends the angels ;
and that no order of angels might be conceived to be exempted,
the Apostle aids several names, all of which, being introduced by
the particle an [[whether,] appear to be partitions of -a, aooara [[the
invisible.] We cannot explain the reason why these particular names
are chosen. But we naturally infer, from their being chosen, that
they refer to a system and a language with regard to angels that
was then known. It was one of the doctrines of heathen philo-
sophy, that between God, the Father of spirits, and man, there
were many intermediate spirits, who had particular provinces al-
lotted them in the government of the universe ; and this doctrine
was readily embraced by those who wished to incorporate heathen
philosophy with Kabbinical learning. For it accorded with the
views given in the Old Testament of the dispensation of the law
which was ordained by angels, and with the whole of that inter-
course which the Almighty condescended to maintain with his
chosen people. We read in Scripture of Michael an archangel, and
of a chief prince, of cherubim and seraphim, all which gives us rea-
son to suppose that there are different orders amongst the spirits
who excel in strength. Learned men have collected from the most
ancient writings of the Jews that are extant, and from the men-
tion which other authors incidentally make of their tenets, that
they not only agreed in opinion Avith the heathen as to the super-
intendence of angels, but that many of them formed systems with
regard to the orders and offices of these spirits, gave names to the
different orders, and paid them a degree of homage corresponding
to the opinion entertained of their nature. To these opinions and
practices the Apostle manifestly refers. Col. ii. 18. And in ac-
commodation to the systems formed upon this subject, he says here,
that the angels, all of whom are withdrawn from the eyes of mor-
tals, were made by the Son, whatever be their rank, implied in
"^iojoi ; or power, in x-jwor^irsc, from KUPiog ; or extent of dominion,
in a^%a/ ; or liberty allowed them in exercising their power, in
i^o-jziai from s^sor; licet. All iv avrw BK-iG^ri j^were made by him,]
and 61 aurou iK-iffrai, |^were made by him.] These two expres-
sions are equivalent. They were made through the exertion of a
power residing in him. But Big avrov \Jo him, or, for him,] implies
more ; ug marks the point to which an object tends ; and the use
018 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
of it in this place suggests that Jesus did not create all things for
the purpose of ministering to the pleasure or glory of another, but
that as they proceeded from him, so they refer to him as their end.
It is equivalent to an expression in the book of Rev. i. 8. Eyw
uijjI to a Kai ro n, agy^ri %ai riXog, Xsyii 6 Kvoiog, \^l am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord.] It de-
serves your particular notice, that by the use of this preposition,
sig, one of the forms of expression, which, in other places, seems
to be appropriated to the Father, is here applied to the Son. We
read, Rom. xi. 36, s^ avrov, xai M aurov, zai ng avrov ra iiavra Fof
him, and through him, and to him are all things,] and 1 Cor. viii,
6, AXX' riijjiv i'lg Qiog o 'TrarriP, s^ ou to, Tavra, xai rjfisig sig avrov. xm
i'lg Kv^wg IriGo-og Xg/oToc, bi ov ra rravra, zai yj/xaig dl avrov. QBut to
US there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,
and we by him.] 'HfLsigng avrov is not, " we in him," as in our
translation, but " we to him," or " for him." The distinction made
by the Apostle to the Corinthians, seems to be removed, when it
is said, rra-vra bl avrov %ai sig avrov ixriarai [all things were made
by him and for him.]
Verse 17th. Kai avrog ssri Tgo iravrw, [^and he is before all
things.] The Ajjostle may be considered as repeating the amount
of the expression, 'TTPuroroxog 'xaarig -/.riffscog, [first-born of every
ereature,] that the existence of Jesus was prior to that of any
created being, a repetition made with propriety, after the thing
affirmed by him has been proved, by his being the Creator of all
things ; or he may be considered as saying something new. There
are two circumstances which lead us to luiderstand him so. 1.
The import of avrog^ [he,] a pronoun which is more proper to
introduce a new proposition than to repeat a former one. 2. The
tense of h/mi, [I am,] which intimates not what Jesus was before
his creation, but what he is now.
These circumstances render the first clause of the seventeenth
verse an expression of pre-eminence. He who existed before all,
and who created all, now stands before all, in a higher rank than
any created being. Kai ra ■Travra iv avrM owsffrrixs ; and in him
they consist, being continually preserved by his agency. Paul has
expressed creation fully in the sixteenth verse. And the pronoun
aurw giving notice that something further is to be said of the
same person, it is most natural to translate avvsarrj/csv, according to
classical use, by preservation. This is pei'fectily agreeable to the
passage in Aristotle. A^y^aiog /Mcv rig Xoyog ymi -Traroiog sen '::a(Uv
av&^'ji-oig, wg £X rov ©fou ra 'rtavru., xai hia Qiov r^'Miv gvvisrriXi- ou-
8e/x/a ^6 (pvffic, avrr] xaff savrrjv avra^xrjg i^riiLuOuaa rrig ix rourou ffu-i
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 3111
rrj^ixg.* [It is an opinion of long standing among all men, derived
from their fathers, that all things are of God, and are preserved to
lis by God. And there is no nature that, alone, is sufficient by
itself for its own preservation.] And also to an expression of
Paul, Acts xvii. 28, where Paul shows an acquaintance with the
Athenian poets. The quotation has been referred both to Aratus
and Cleanthes.
Thus, then, by an analysis of these three verses, we have found
a learned Jew employing the language suggested by the writers
of his own country and the philosophers of the times, as the most
proper for expressing that Jesus, the Son of God, is the creator
and the preserver of all.
It cannot be denied that Jesus Christ is the person here spoken
of. For there is no other antecedent to the relative bg [who,]
but v'lou r^g ayavfig aurov [the son of his love;] and as the
eighteenth verse, by its meaning, must be applied to Jesus Christ,
the first-born from the dead, there is as clear an intimation as can
well be given, that the verses intervening between the fifteenth
and the eighteenth apply to him also. But these intervening
verses, according to the analysis that has been given of them, are
inconsistent with the first opinion concerning the person of Christ.
And, therefore, those who hold that opinion, being unable to apply
these verses to any other, are obliged to bring forward a system of
interpretation, according to which they may, in consistency with
their opinion, be applied to Christ. As this system is employed
in the explication of several other passages, and is a characteristic
mark perpetually recurring in the writings of those who are called
Socinians, I shall take this opportunity of laying it before you fully,
with the grounds upon which it is I'ested by themselves.
The Gospel is represented in Scripture as making a complete
change upon the character of all who embrace it in faith. The
opinions, the sentiments, the affections, the desires, the whole con-
duct of those who were converted from the superstition and gross
vices of heathenism became different. They 2)ut oft' the old man
which was coiTupt, and they put on the new man which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. This total
change, which restores the image of God upon the soul of man, is
called in diff'erent places by St Paul, Tiaivrj '/.riGic, a significant fi-
gure, the meaning of which becomes more obvious, if you trans-
late it literally a new creation, rather than a new creature. E/
rig iv 'KoiSTuj, xuivri xriffig' ra a^^aia 'xa^i^AScv, idov yiyon yM.iva --iravTU..
2 Cor. V. 17. [If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old
things are passed away ; behold all things are become new.] And
the apostle, in an epistle to the Ephesians, written at the same
• Arist. Opera, vol. i. Lib. de Mundo, ch. vi. 375. Ed. Lug.
320 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
time as this Epistle, joining- himself, according- to his usual man-
ner, with the converts, says, i\ut(j-j ^ag sff,asv '::(,ir,!La, zriGdivri: sv
Xg/ffT-w Ir/ffou scr/ ipyfjic ayaOoic. Eph. ii. 10. [^For we are his workman-
ship, created in Christ Jesus unto g-ood works, which God hath
liefore ordained that we should walk in theui.~l But the figurative
language of Sci'ipture does not stop here. The Jewish prophets
were accustomed to descrilie future events relative to the fall of
kingdoms, or their restoration, by imag-es drawn from the Mosaic
account of the creation. I will shake the heavens and the earth,
is explained by Haggai to mean, I will overthrow the throne of
kings. That 1 may plant the heavens, and lay the foundation of
the earth, means, in Isaiah, the deliverance and restoration of the
Jews. — In conformity to thi,? frequent language of ancient pro-
phecy, the evangelical prophet Isaiah paints those blessed events
which were to be the consequences of Christ's coming-, the con-
version from idolatry, the assurance of pardon, the practice of
righteousness, and the union of Jews and Gentiles under one
head, by these words : " Behold I create new heavens and a new
earth : And the former shall not be remembered, nor come into
mind."* There was a particular reason for the apostles of our
Lord adopting and extending this image of Isaiah, because, in the
interval between the days of the prophet and their days, the early
opinions with regard to the different orders of spiritual beings had
been formed, by a mixture of Jewish tradition and heathen philo-
sophy, into a regular system. It was believed that those angels,
who had rebelled against God, exercised a malignant influence over
the minds and bodies of men ; and that the heathen were subject
to the rule of the prince of those spirits, who is styled in Scrip-
ture " the prince of this world."-)- But Jesus " was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil.":}: He himself says,
" I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."§ He gave his
disciples power over evil spii'its : and he is said to be now " set in
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and
might, and dominion ; angels, and authorities, and powers being
made subject to him."|| The Gospel dispensation, then, is repre-
sented in Scripture under the idea of a new creation of men ; a
regulation of the heavenly communities, a reformation of all things,
'ra'AiyjiviCia [regeneration :] and all this is only a figurative lan-
guage, according- to the style of ancient prophecy, describing" in a
manner the most likely to convince the understandings, and to
affect the imaginations of tliose who were addressed, the infinite
importance of the Gospel, the power exerted in its propagation, .
• Isaiah Ixv. 17. t Jol'" ^iv. 30. t 1 John iii. 8.
§ Luke X. 18. II Ephes. i. 20, 21. 1 Peter iii. 22.
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 321
its intended universality, and the efficacy with which it establishes
truth and virtue in the mind of man.
According to this general system of interpretation, which is ap-
plied to many passages of Scripture, the three verses in question are
thus understood. The Son of God, under whose rule you converts
are nuvv placed, is the representative of the invisible God, the Lord,
(the word tirst-born is conceived to be adopted instead of Lord, in
reference to that right which primogeniture conveys amongst men,)
the Lord of the new creation ; Jews and Gentiles being regene-
rated into one mass by that doctrine which he first preached. For
the eftects of his religion may be represented under the figure of
a new creation of all things, there being not only a reformation of
the world of mankind, but a subjection to Christ of those heavenly
powers who, according to Jewish notions, formerly bore rule ou
earth. The terms in vv'hich these powers are here spoken of were
found in Jewish traditions. But it matters not how far the tradi-
tions are well founded. Whether the powers were real or imagi-
nary, the style used would convey to those whom the apostle is
addressing the same exalted idea of the power of Christ. And the
whole image is introduced merely to paint the excellency of the
Gospel above all former dispensations.
I have endeavoured, in the exposition of this system of inter-
pretation, to do justice to the principles upon which it rests. And
I have explained it, not according to the rude form which it first
bore, but with all the improvements and corrections to which mo-
dern Socinians have been driven by a multitude of objections.
Before we proceed to examine particularly the application of this
system to the passage before us, there are two general observations
which I wish to premise, the one concerning the use of allegory
in Scripture; and the other concerning the interpretation of alle-
gory.— 1. It is allowed that allegory was a favourite method of
conveving truth in ancient times, and that while the vulgar rest
in the literal sense, an enlargement of understanding is discovered
in a]jprehending the further meaning. There are allegories of
different kinds in the Old Testament. There are many passages,
such as Psalm Ixxii., which apply, in a certain sense, to events
that fell under the prophet's observation, but the full explication
of which is found in the dispensation of the Gospel. This arose
naturally from the character of the Old Testament, which was a
pi'eparatory dispensation, looking forward in all its points to the
grace and truth that were to come by Jesus Christ. When grace
and ti'uth did come, this reason for the use of allegory ceased. For
the Gospel being the last dispensation, it has not, like the law, to
give intimation during its existence of an approaching change. Yet
still the general uses of figurative language continue : and it may
o 2
322 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
be expected that the writers of the New Testament, educated in
reverence for the books of the ancient prophets, and fnll of their
images, would not lay them aside entirely in describing the events
vvhich those images had been employed to foretell. Hence an ac-
quaintance with the figurative language of the Old Testament
is of great service in expounding the New ; and the exact corre-
spondence between the two dispensations may be so employed as
to make them throw light upon one another. 2. With regard to
the interpretation of the allegories which are found in Scripture,
I have to observe, that the same propensity to allegorize, or to
find hidden spiritual meanings in plain expressions, which is dis-
covered by some commentators upon Homer and other ancient
writers, has been the occasion of very great abuse in the exposi-
tion of Scripture. From the days of Origen to the present times,
the inspired writings have been brought into ridicule, or have had
the truths in them pervei-ted by the intemperate exercise of this
propensity. In mystical authors the Gospel has been made to as-
sume a foi-m which disfigures its simplicity, and alters its character:
and by those writers, whose principles lead them to banish out of
Christianity every doctrine that is not easily comprehended, the
language of that religion is often rendered enigmatical. For, as
has been pointedly said of them, the Socinians take mystery out of
the doctrine of Scripture, where it is venerable, and they place it
in the phrase of Scripture, where it is repugnant to God's sincerity.
The recollection of these abuses should make you receive with
some suspicion every allegorical exposition of Sci'ipture. And in
judging of it, it becomes you to recollect those rules concerning the
proper introduction of figurative language, which have been dic-
tated by good sense and enlarged observation, and which are com-
monly applied in reading other writers, both as a test of their good
taste, and as a method of attaining their true meaning. You have
direct notice from some expressions in a passage, that the words
are to be understood in a figurative sense. Or you find, upon ex-
amining them closely, that there is a defect in the meaning if you
understand them literally. Or the context intimates that a pas-
sage which appeared when considered singly to be literal is really
figurative. There does not occur to me any other way, in which
you can be warranted to give a passage of an inspired author a
sense different from that which the words naturally bear ; and if
none of these directions are given us in this place, the Socinian
interpretation of these three verses must be considered an unneces-
sary and licentious introduction of allegory.
There is not any expression in these verses which necessarily
suggests a figurative sense. All the nominatives introduced as
distributives of ra -iru.'iro. [all things,] are words generally used in
IN HIS PRE-EXrSTENT STATE. 323
the language of those times to denote created objects ; and x7/^w
with its derivatives, is the verb commonly used in the New Testa-
ment to denote creation. A^/05 si, Kvsn, XaQsiv rr^^ do^av on cu iXTi"
eagra rravra, xai dia. to SsX>j///(z aov usi, %ai V/iTiS&riaav, [Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory; for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.] Rev. vi. 11. a'ro
}(.Tiff:-u; KoS[x,o-j, []from the creation of the world.] Rom. i. 20. It
is true that xriZ,o) and z-isi:, are employed to denote reformation.
But some expression is always joined with them in these passages
to give notice that they are transferred from their original meaning.
When Paul uses xr/ff/g in this sense, 2 Cor. v. 17, Gal. vi. 15, he
prefixes the epithet zaivr], [new,] which is probably borrowed
from the Septuagint translation of that passage in Isaiah, which
runs in our Bibles, " I create new heavens and a new earth," EiTtk/
0 ov^a,vog zai rj yy\ Kuivf], [there shall be a new heaven and a new
earth Q and when he uses the verb xr/^w in the same figurative
sense, the intimation is still more direct, -/.risijevrig iiri i^yoig ayaSoig,
Ephesians ii. 10, [created unto good works.] In these places the
writer plainly leads us fi'om the literal to the figurative sense.
Here there is no such intimation ; and the first appearance of the
words does not suggest any reason why we may not translate them
literally. When we examine them according to this literal trans-
lation, we do not find such a defect in the meaning as might war-
rant our rejecting it and substituting a figurative sense in its place.
We believe, by the light of nature, that all things here spoken of
ixris-ai, were called out of nothing. The new information given
us is, that this was done rj uvt'jj [by him] by the Son of God.
But it is a very bold speculation to reject the obvious meaning of
a proposition contained in the Gospel, merely because it gives new
information ; and those who believe the inspiration of Scripture
will require some other reason to be assigned before they find
themselves at liberty to depart from the obvious meaning ; more
especially as they observe that the attempt to bring plain truth
out of the words in this place, by such departure, is very unsuc-
cessful. You cannot conceive a reason for so particular an enu-
meration as is here given in the partitives of ra Tec'jra, [all
things,] unless the action meant by the word ixrisrai [|w ere creat-
ed] extended to all the things enumerated. But that action cannot
be reformation; for with regard to the phrase ra Brri rrjc yrig, [things
on earth,] even although you restrict its meaning to men, the inha-
bitants of earth, we know that many have died without hearing the
Gospel, and that many who do hear it are not the better for it : and
with regard to the other phrase, ra ev ru) ov^uvm, [things in heaven,]
we have no ground for thinking that the character of the evil
angels, revealed in Scripture, was in the least improved by oui*
Saviour's coming, or that the character of the good angels stood
324 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
in need of any amendment : and thus the notion conveyed by the"
phrase xa/i/75 Kriffi;, [preformation,] does not apply to a great part
of the ra irri rr^g yri;, [things on earth,] or to any of the 7a iv tm
ov^a.vuj, [things in heaven.] The modern Socinians, aware of the
force of this objection, have substituted in place of y.aiy/) -/.rtgi:, or
rather have added to it, \\hat they call regulation. The evil angels,
they say, are stripped of their power by Jesus, and ho is placed at
the head of the angelic host. But this is a figurative use of the
word -/.ri^oj, not warranted by the other expressions in the Epistles
of Paul, where a new creation is meant ; and if it be adopted here,
by departing- from the plain literal sense of iXTis&ri, [via^re created,]
you are obhged in the same sentence to give it two figurative
nieaning-s, one reformation, apphed to those inhabitants of earth
who become by the Gospel " the workmanship of God, created
unto good works ;" the other regulation or sultjection, applied to
all those being-s whose character is not chang-ed by the Gospel. It
is plain then, that as the words themselves do not necessarily sug-
gest a figurative sense, nothing is gained in point of easy or sig-
nificant interpretation by forcing it upon them. But perhaps the
context will justify it. In extended allegory, the first sentence is
generally obscure. But the primary and secondary sense are gra-
dually unfolded by the art of the composition ; and, when we look
back to the beginning after having arrived at the end, the whole
becomes clear. Here the case is totally different. In the eighteenth
verse, Jesus is styled " the head of the l)ody, the church, i. e. of
those who were rescued by his blood out of the slavery of sin, and
translated into his kingdom. The same word ■■xgurorox.og, [first-
born,] which had been applied to him in reference to rraarjg zricrsMg,
[of every creature,] is there applied to him in reference to vix^uv,
[of the dead,] because he was the first that rose, or ^^•as brought
forth out of the ])owels of the earth, never to die any more ; and
as he was not only before the creation but produced it, so he was
not only the first that rose, but also a^yji^, the efficient cause of
the resurrection of others. The Head, by rising, gave assurance
that the members of the body should in due time be raised also.
And thus, as the pronoun avroc, [he, the same,] is the natui'al in-
timation that something else is to be said about the Person who
had been mentioned before, so if you understand the sixteenth and
seventeenth verses as expressing a literal creation, there is a
striking analogy between the phrases that had been used upon
that subject, and the phrases used \ipon the new subject in the
eighteenth verse. And there seems to be a direct notice given,
that the subjects are different, by the last clause of the eighteenth
verse, }va yivrirat sv Taciv avro; •■jrecijreuoo'j, by which means he might
become the first in all things. He was the first in creation, both
as existing before all creatures, and as having made them : He be-
IN nrs PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 325
came after his death the first also in the scheme for the recovery
of the workl, because being the first that rose, he is the cause of
the resurrection of others. Such is the hght which a plain inter-
pretation of the first three verses throws upon the context. If,
on the other hand, you understand them figuratively, you are re-
minded as you advance in the context that the harsh interpreta-
tion, which you have been obliged to impose upon the phrases
contained in them, is not the true one, because by it you confound
these three verses with the eighteenth ; you lose the beauty in the
analogy of the corresponding parts, and in the repetition of the
word •-rcojroTO/t.og [^first-born ;] and you destroy entirely the mean-
ing of the last clause of the eighteenth verse.
It appears, then, that according to those rules of interpretation,
which a x'egai'd to perspicuity or ornament suggests, the Socinian
sense of this passage is indefensible ; and, therefore, it must be
considered in the sense which naturally presents itself to every
person who reads it, as a declaration that Jesus Christ is the Cre-
ator of the world ; a declaration introduced most seasonably in this
place, to exalt the dignity of the Author of the Gospel in the eyes
of the new converts to that religion.
SECTION III.
HEBREWS 1.
The last passage which I mentioned as containing a full declara-
tion that Jesus is the Creator of the world, is the first chapter of
the Epistle to the Hebrews. I do not mean to give a particular
commentary upon all the parts of that chapter, because many of
them have no immediate connexion with our present object ; but
I shall state in general the purport of the apostle's argument, that
you may see the pi^opriety and significancy with which the decla-
ration that we seek finds a place in this chapter.
The apostle is writing to Jews, who had embraced the Gospel,
in order to furnish them with answers to those objections which
their unbelieving countrymen urged against the new religion.
The first source from which the answers are drawn is the superior
dignity of the author of that religion. The law, indeed, was given
from Mount Sinai by the ministry of angels ; and the succession
of prophets who enlightened the Jewish nation, were m.essengers
of heaven. But the various manifestations of himself, which the
326 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
Alrnig-hty had made in former times, 'TtoX-JiMooig xai voKvr^oiroig [at
sundry times and in divers manners,] cannot claim so high a degree
of reverence as that message which, in the last days, the time that
had been announced as the conclusion of the law, vvas broug-ht by
a person more glorious than a prophet or an angel : ' Ov i&rjXi
xXrjoovofj/OV TavTUv, hi ou zai rove aiuvag i-roirjGiv ' Og uv a'ravyaSfLa
rr]g bo'^ri;, '/.di yj/.oa7irrio ryjg ■l-rrodraaiug dvrov, (piouv n ret rrav-d rw
' oniiaTi r^g duvufMoj: oJjtcu, bl iaurou xa&aoiaiMO'j 'jrotriGaihivog tojv cc/xag-
riuv riW'ji,!, i-/M&i6iv iv bi^ia Trig n,iyaKoiS-j\ir,g iv v-^r,Xoig. [Whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who,
being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his per-
son, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high.] This is the description given of that person, by whom,
says the apostle, God in these last days hath spoken to us. When it
is said of the King Eternal, s^ijxs KXri^ovo/jjO]i\^he hath appointed heir,]
we must understand this figurative expression in a sense consistent
with his unchangeable glory, and such a sense is suggested by the
ideas universally annexed to xAyj^ow/xo;, [an heir.] The heir has an
interest in the estate more intimate than that of any one person
except the proprietor ; and he may be intrusted with a degree of
authority over it, because it cannot be supposed that he will abuse
that which he is to possess. Hence in the old Roman law, hceres
[^heir,"J and dominus [proprietor,] were considered as equivalent
terms. " Pro hserede gerere est pro domino gerere," says Justi-
nian : and Paul, in allusion to this maxim of law, says. Gal. iv. 1,
" The heir while he is a minor is under tutors," xug/os 'xdvruv uv,
[being lord of all.]
Agreeably to this import of the word -/.XriPovofMC [heir,] Christ-
ians of every sect understand the expression hei*e used to
mean that God constituted Jesus Lord of all. They agree
also, that his appointment to this sovereignty was declared to
the world at his resurrection. The point upon which they dif-
fer is the character of Jesus before this appointment. Those
who hold the first opinion concerning his person, that he is ■vJ/zAoj
dvdioj:Tog, [a mere man, ] consider the titles of honour, that are ascribed
to him in Scripture, as flowing from his being constituted Lord
of all things ; and they endeavour to explain the three first verses
in such a manner, as that they shall not seem to imply any origi-
nal dignity of nature. He is called the Son of God, they say, be-
cause he is made heir or Lord of all. By him God regulated and
reformed the world ; or, understanding aicovag, according to the li-
teraFimport of the word, and its use in several places of Scripture,
to denote the ages, and considering di ob as equivalent to di ov,
they thus paraphrase the last clause of the second verse ; for whom,
4
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE, 327
in respect to whom, in order to illustrate whose glory, when he
should be constituted Lord of all, God disposed or ordered the
ages : i. e. the antediluvian, the patriarchal, and the legal ages, all
the divine dispensations towards the sons of men. They interpret
the first two clauses of the third verse as expressions of that per-
fect representation of the divine perfections which appeared in
the character of Jesus while he dwelt upon earth. Every one who
saw that excellent man in whom the power, the wisdom, and the
goodness of God resided, saw the Father also. They apply the
clause, upholding all things by the word of his power, to his tran-
sactions upon earth, that command over nature which was given
him, and all those miracles by which he proved his divine commis-
sion, and established that dispensation which, having been opened
by his preaching, and sealed by his death, is magnified in the eyes
of men by the resurrection of its author, and by their knowing as-
suredly that he is set on the right hand of the throne of God, hav-
ing obtained an authority and a rank superior to that of the angels.
There is an appai'ent consistency in this interpretation which
renders it plausible. But when you weigh the several expressions
here used, you will find that it is by no means adequate to their
natural import. 1 . Jesus is called the Son of God, whom he made
heir, a construction which implies that he was the Son of God be-
fore his appointment to the sovereignty. *2. dl ov xai roug atuvd^
iTToirjSBv, [by whom also he made the worlds,] are words that would
not probably suggest to the first readers of this epistle either by
whom God reformed the world, or by whom he disposed the ages.
Some critics have thought the natural translation of them to be,
by whom God made the angels, as it is likely that, before this epis-
tle was written, the Gnostics used 0/ aiojvig Qhe iEons,] to mark the
multitude of spirits who were emanations from the supreme mind.
But although this use of the word might be known to the apostle,
we have no reason for thinking that it was at that time so familiar
to Chrisiians, that the apostle would choose, without any explica-
tion, to introduce it into an epistle written for the purpose of con-
firming their faith in the Gospel, more especially as another inter-
pretation of these words could not fail i-eadily to occur to their
minds. We are told that 0; aiuvsg is equivalent to a Hebrew jihrase,
which the ancient Jews employed to mark the whole extent of
creation, divided by them into three parts, this lower world, the
celestial bodies, and the third heavens, or habitation of God. The
Greek word a/wf, an uv, [always being,] was applied to the world
as marking its duration in contradistinction to the short lives of
many of its inhabitants. The word occurs often in the New Tes-
tament in this sense ; and there is one passage which appears to be
decisive of the meaning of this phrase. Heb. xi. 3. T/ffre/ vocu/ji^iv
328 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
xaTYiPTidOat Tovg uiojvag ' ^Yjiiari Giou, [tlirough faith we understand
that the worlds were framed hy tln^ wcn'd of (jod.] If you join
to this received use of aiojmg, [worlds] that EcrwTjfJs [he made,^ is
the word used in the Sejttuagint translation of the first verse of Ge-
nesis, and that biu [hy] is one of the prepositions which we found
in the Epistht to the Colossians, expressing- the creation of all
things hy tht! Son, you will not he inclined to douht that this clause
contains another declaration to the same purpose ; and when you
so understand it, you see the reason of the particle zai [also] heing
introduced. The Son, whom God did " appoint heir of all, bl &{/
■/.ai, hy whom also," it is a further information concerning his per-
son, no way implied in the appointment, and its heing- additional is
marked hy y.ai, " he made the worlds." 3. According- to this inter-
]>retation of b! ou xai roug aiMvag s'Troiriirs, [hy whom also he made the
worlds], fi^uvTi ra ira^ira rw 'pry/xr/r/ ryjc; bwa'iiMg abrou Qujdioiding
all thing-s hy the word of his power,^ will naturally ex])ress his
heing- the preserver and suj)porter of all things which he created,
as the apostle to the Colossians had said, " hy him all things con-
sist." And, 4th, The first two clauses of the third verse, which
are equivalent to the expression that we found there, hzojv rou Qio-j
roll ao^aroj, Qhe image of the invisihle God,] appear l)y their
form, as well as their meaning, intended to convey additional in-
formation concerning the person of the Son, so that the amount of
the thii'd verse may he thus stated, the Son, appointed by (iodthe
Lord of all, hy whom God created the world, who being originally
a bright ray of the Father's glory, and the exact representation of
his essence, and supporting without any fatiguing exertion all the
things made by him, did in th<^ last days appear to wash away sin
l>y the sacrifice of himself, and, having accomplished this work, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
It appears from this review of tlie first three verses, that ])esides
the simj)le projiosition which the Socinians find in them, that the
man h)' whom God sjioke in the last days is now the Lord of all,
they contain also farther intimation concerning this man, as being
the Son of God, by whom he made the worlds. These farther in-
timations require proof, and they do not admit the same kind of
))roof with the simple ])roposition that he is now Lord of all. That
was made manifest by the extraordinary gifts with which he en-
dowed the first preachers of his religion, gifts suflficient to prove
that all p(jvver in heaven and in earth is now given to him, but not
sufficient to establish with certainty any conclusion, which extends
to his state ])revious to the time of his receiving that power. As
there is thus occasion for ])roving the further intimations concern-
ing the person of Christ, which we have found in the first three
verses, it is natural to look for that proof in the remaining part of
IN HIS rUE-EXISTENT STA'IE. 329
the chapter, which seems at first readiiii^ to relate to the same sub-
ject ; and the proof is formally introfluced l»y the fourth verse.
Tooouruj jcfc/TToiv ytvo/Mivog rwu ayyi/.'jn, oU'jj biaipo^MTi^ov i:(m auToug
xsjc>.7i»oi/o/xji/C£i/ on/Moi., which may he literally rendered thus : " heing- as
far superior to the angels as the name which he hath inherited is more
excellent than theirs." The point to he proved is not that he is
now superior to the angels ; that is self-evident, if he be Lord of
all ; l)ut that the name which he has inherited as always belonging
to him, and the characters by which he has been announced in the
former revelations of God, imjjly a j)re-eminence over the angels
corresponding to his present exaltation. This point, a proof of
which the train of the aposthi's argument requires, is fidly esta-
blished in the following verses, in the manner most satisfactory to
the Hebrews, by a reference to their own Scriptures. I shall just
mark the steps of the proof, without staying to illustrate fully the
several quotations.
1. He is called the Son of God, with an emphasis which is
never applied to any other being. Of the two citations in the
fifth verse, the one is taken from Psalm ii. which the Jews con-
sidered as a prophecy of the Messiah ; the other from a message
which the prophet Nathan brought to David, 1 Chron. xvii. 11
— 14. There is no mention in that message of the Messiah, but
there are these words, which point to a greater than Solomon.
" And it shall come to pass when thy days be expired, that thou
must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise uj) thy seed after
thee, which shall be of thy sons. I will be his Father, and he
shall be my Son ; and I will settle him in mine house, and in my
kingdom for ever."
2. The Psalmist represents the Son as the object of worship to
angels. 6. 'Orav hi rra'Ki'j ii6aya.yr, rov 'Trp'jircnx.rjv %ig Tr,v rjr/j/o/j,':vr,v,
/.ly-r Kdi TPO'iX.-jy/iiyuTOjirrxv uvt'jj rravng ayyiiM Bsoj. ^And again,
when he bringeth in the first jjegotten into the world he saith ;
and let all the angels of God worship him.]] The repetition of
the adverb rruJ-iv [again] is the common method by which the
apostle introduces a succession of quotations. It is therefore a
very forced construction which has been given to this verse,
" When he bringeth again the first begotten, when he raiseth
him from the dead." The command is taken from the Scptua-
gint translation of Psalm xcvii. The j)salm appears to relate to
God the Father. But we are taught by the authority of the
apostle, in this citation, to apply it to the Son. " When God
bringeth in the first begotten, i. e. when he announceth his com-
ing into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship
him."
3. The pre-eminence of the Son over the angels is inferred
3^0 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO jEStS
from the very different language which is employed in relation to
the angels and him. TLgog /j,sv rou: ayyiXovg Xzysi. Tleog 0= rov v'lov.
7, 8, 9. [To the angels he saith — but to the Son — .] The angels
are spoken of as servants ; the Son is addressed by the name of
God, as a king, whose throne is everlasting. The quotations are
taken from Psalms civ. and xlv. which the Jews were accustomed
to apply to the Messiah. Although it be not very much to my
present purpose, I cannot avoid mentioning an ingenious criticism
on the 7th verse, which is found in Grotius, which was adopted
by Doctor Lowth in his elegant book De Sacrti Poesi Hebraeo-
rum, and is illustrated by Dr Campbell in one of his critical dis-
sertations. Three authorities so respectable claim our attention.
It is not easy to affix any meaning to the seventh verse, which
both in this place, and in Psalm civ. is thus rendered, " Who
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." But
the Hebrew as well as the Greek word for spirits may be trans-
lated " winds," and ayysXog is the general word for " messenger ;"
so that the verse admits of a translation most agreeal)le to the
context in Psalm civ. " Who maketh the clouds his chariot,
who walketh upon the wings of the wind ; who maketh the winds
his messenger, and the flaming fire his servant," i. e. who em-
ploys wind and fire to accomplish his purposes. This meaning
enters most naturally into the Psalm, which celebrates the glory
of God as it appears in the material creation, and, if adopted here,
contributes very much to the force of the apostle's reasoning, by
the improvement which it makes upon the sense of the quotation.
" So little sacredness is there in the name Angels, that it is applied
in Scripture to inanimate objects, storm, and lightning. But so
sacred is the name of the Son, that the Person who bears it is ad-
dressed by the Almighty as an everlasting King. Thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever."
There is one objection to this change which I was very much
surprised to find the minute accuracy of Dr Campbell had omit-
ted to mention. It is contrary to the rule to which I referred
when speaking of these words, 0so$ riv 6 Xoyog [the Word was
God,] that in Greek the predicate is commonly distinguished from
the subject of a proposition by being without the article, more
especially when the predicate stands first ; vv'^ n riixi^a iysvsTo [Jhe
day became night.] I doubt not that it was a regard to this rule
which led our translators of the Old and New Testament to adopt
a dark expression instead of an obvious one. I believe that this
distinction between the predicate and the sulyect of a proposition,
is observed with very few exceptions ; and much advantage arises
from the observance of it. At the same time, as the rule is found-
ed merely upon practice, and not, as far as I know, upon any
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 331
thing essential to the constitution of the lang-uag-e ; and as, in the
best writers, anomalous exjjressions sometimes occur, it does not
appear to me that the place of the article in this verse is a suffi-
cient reason for rejecting a ti-anslation which is so striking- an im-
provement.
4. The fourth quotation, 10, 11, 12, is taken from Psalm cii.
There is not in that psalm any direct mention of the Son of God.
But if you admit that the books of the New Testament are in-
spired, you cannot suppose that the apostle was mistaken in ap-
plying these words ; and, therefore, the only question is, Whether
he does apply them to Jesus Christ. The succession of quota-
tions leads you to expect this application, for there would be an
abruptness inconsistent both with elegance and perspicuity, if be-
tween the third and the fifth quotations, both of which are addres-
sed to the Son, there should be introduced, without any intima-
tion of the change, one addressed to the Father ; and all the at-
tempts to establish a connexion made by those who consider it as
thus addressed are so forced and unnatural, as to satisfy us that
they are mistaken. You may judge of the rest by that attempt
which is the latest, and is really the most plausible. Those, then,
who consider the 10th, 11th, and 12th verses, as addi'essed to
God the Father, endeavour to prepare for this application of the
words by translating the beginning of the 8th verse in a manner
which the syntax admits, although it creates a very harsh figure.
" Unto the Son, he saith, God is thy throne for ever," i. e. the
support of thy throne. As it is said by God to the Messiah,
Psalm Ixxxix. 4, " I will build up thy throne to all generations."
And they consider the 10th, 11th, and 12th verses as introduced
to show the unchangeableness of that God who is the support of
the Messiah's throne. It shall endure for ever ; for that Lord
who hath promised to support it has laid the foundations of the
earth, and remains the same after the heavens are dissolved. And
thus the apostle is made to interrupt a close argument by bringing
in three verses, in order to prove what nobody denied, that God
is unchangeable. The question is not whether God be able to
fulfil his promise. That was admitted by all the Hebrews, whe-
ther they received the Gospel or not. But the question is, what
God had promised and declared to the Messiah : and, therefore,
these three verses, according to the interpretation now given of
them, may be taken away without hurting the apostle's argument,
or detracting in the least from the information conveyed concern-
ing the person of Christ. On tbe other hand, if, following the
train of the apostle's reasoning, you consider this quotation as ad-
dressed to the same person with the third and fifth, it is a proof
of that assertion in the end of the 2d verse, dl cb y.ai rovg a/wvocj
332 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
'c-oiritti [by whom also he made the worlds,] of which no proof
had hitherto been adduced ; and it is a direct proof of such a kind
that it cannot be evaded. For the figurative sense, given by the
Socinians to the passage in the Colossians, will not avail them
here, because the heavens and the earth spoken of in this place
are to perish, and wax old like a garment. But the kingdom of
righteousness, which Isaiah expressed by new heavens and a new
earth, shall endure for ever. The number of its subjects is con-
tinually increasing ; and they who are " the v/orkmanship of God
in Christ Jesus, created unto good works," shall shine for ever
with unfading lustre in the kingdom of their Father. The ma-
terial, not the moral creation, shall be changed ; and, therefore,
the material creation must be meant by that earth and those hea-
vens, which are said to be the work of the Lord here addressed.
5. The original pre-eminence of Jesus Christ is inferred, in
the last place, from the manner in which the promise of that
dominion, which was to be given him, is expressed in the Old
Testament. The quotation in the i3th verse is taken from
Psalm ex. which the ancient Jews always applied to the Messiah.
It contains a promise which was fulfilled in the Son's being ap-
pointed Lord of all things, and in his sitting down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. The argument turns upon tiie style
of this promise. A seat on the right is in all countries the place
of honour ; and when the Almighty says to the Messiah, " Sit
thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool,"
the address conveys to our minds an impression of the dignity of
the person upon whom so distinguished an honour was conferred,
as well as of the stability and perpetuity of his kingdom. The
Almighty never spoke in this manner to any angel. They do
not sit at his right hand. They are spirits employed in public
woi'ks, sent forth at his pleasure in diiferent services. They are
not the servants of men. But the services appointed them by
God are 8ia rove. fXizlXmrac, %).7i^omiMitv GuirrjciaM, upon account of,
for the benefit of, those who are to inherit eternal life. The Son,
on the other hand, remains in the highest place of honour, with-
out ministration, till those who resist his dominion be completely
subdued.
There arises from this review of the latter part of the chapter,
the strongest presumption that we gave a right interpretation of
the first three verses. For if we consider the a])0stle as there
stating the original pre-eminence of the person who is now ap-
pointed Lord of all, we find the most exact correspondence be-
tween the positions laid down at the beginning, and the proofs of
them adduced in the sequel : whereas if, by a forced interpretation
of some phrases in the first three verses, we consider them as
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 333
stating simply the dominion of Christ, without any respect to
his having' been in the beginning the Son of God, and the Creator
of the world, we are reminded, as we advance, of the violence
which we did to the sense of the author, by meeting with quota-
tions which we know not how to apply to that simple proposition
to which we had restricted his meaning.
SECTION IV.
Having now found in Scrl])ture full and explicit declarations
that Christ is the Creator of the world, I shall direct your atten-
tion to the amount of that proposition, before I proceed to the
other actions that are ascribed to Jesus in his preexistent state.
The three passages that have been illustrated are a clear refu-
tation of the first opinion concerning the person of Christ. If he
was the Creator of the world, he cannot be -^iXog av^swcro?, \jl
mere man.] But it is not obvious how far this proposition
decides the question between the second and third opinions,
whether he be the first and most exalted creature of God, or
whether he be truly and essentially God. It has, indeed, been
said by a succession of theological writers, from the Ante-Nicene
fathers to the present day, that creation, i. e. the bringing things
out of nothing to a state of being, is an incommunical)le act of
Omnipotence ; that a ci^eature may be employed in giving a new
form to what has been already made, Ijut that creation must be
the work of God himself; so that its being ascribed in Scripture
to Jesus Christ is a direct proof that he is God.
It appears to me upon all occasions most unbecoming and pre-
sumptuous for us to say what God can do, and what he cannot
do : and I shall never think that the truth or the importance of a
conclusion warrants any degree of irreverence in the method of
attaining it. The power exerted in making the most insignificant
oljject out of nothing ]>y a word is manifestly so unlike the great-
est human exertions, that we have no hesitation in pronouncing
that it could not proceed from the strength of man ; and when
we take into view the immense extent, and magnificence, and
beauty of the things thus created, the dift'erent orders of spirits,
as well as the frame of the material world, our conceptions of the
power exerted in creation are infinitely exalted But we have no
means of judging whether this power must be exerted immediately
by God, or whether it may be delegated by him to a creature. It
334 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
is certain that God has no need of any minister to fulfil his plea-
sure. He may do by himself every thing- that is done through-
out the imiverse. Yet we see that in the ordinary course of
providence he withdi^aws himself, and employs the ministry of
other beings ; and we believe that, at the first appearance of the
Gospel, men were enabled by the divine power residing in them
to perform miracles, i. e. such works as man cannot do, to cure
the most inveterate diseases by a word, without any application
of human art, and to raise the dead. Although none of these acts
imply a power equal to creation, yet as all of them imply a power
more than human, they destroy the general principle of that
argument, upon which creation is made an unequivocal proof of
deity in him who creates. And it becomes a very uncertain con-
jecture, whether reasons perfectly unknown to us might not in-
duce the Almighty to exert, by the ministry of a creature, powers
exceeding in any given degree those by which the apostles of
Jesus raised the dead.
But although I do not adopt the language of those who pre-
sume to say that the Almighty cannot employ a creature in
creating other creatures, there appears to me, from the nature of
the thing, a strong probability that this work was not accom-
plished by the ministry of a creature ; and when to this proba-
bility is joined the manner in which the Scriptures uniformly
speak of creation, and the style of those passages in which creation
is ascribed to Jesus, there seems to arise from this simple propo-
sition, that Christ is the Creator of the world, a conclusive argu-
ment that he is God.
I. A strong probability, from the nature of the thing, that the
work of creation was not accomplished by the ministry of a crea-
ture. By creation we attain the knowledge of God. In a course
of fair reasoning, proceeding upon the natural sentiments of the
human mind, we infer from the existence of a world which was
made the existence of a Being who is without beginning. But
this reasoning is interrupted, in a manner of which the light of
nature gives no warning, if that work which to us is the natural
proof of a Being who exists necessarily, was accomplished by a
creature, i. e. by one who owes his l)eing, the manner of his being,
and the degree of his power, entirely to the will of another. By
this intervention of a creature between the true God and the crea-
tion, we are brought back to the principles of Gnosticism, which
separated the Creator of the world from the Supreme God ; and
the necessary consequence of considering the Creator of the world'
as'a creature is, that, instead of the security and comfort which
arise from the fundamental principle of sound theism, we are left
in uncertainty with regard to the wisdom and power of the Crea-
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 335
tor, to entertain a suspicion that he may not have executed in the
best manner that which was committed to him, that he may he
unable to preserve his work from destruction or alteration, and
that some future arrangement may substitute in place of all that
he has made, another world more fair, or other inhabitants more
perfect. It is not probable that the uncertainty and suspicion,
which necessarily adhere to all the modifications of the Gnostic
system, would be adopted in a Divine Revelation ; that a doctrine
which combats many particular errors of Gnosticism would inter-
weave into its constitution this radical defect, and would pollute
the source of virtue and consolation which natural religion opens,
by teaching- us that the heavens and the earth are the work, not
of the God and Father of all, but of an inferior minister of his
power, removed, as every creature must be, at an infinite distance
fi"om his glory.
II. This presumption, which, however strong it appears, would
not of itself wari'ant us to form any conclusion, is very much con-
firmed, when we attend to the manner in which the Scriptures
uniformly speak of treation. You will recollect that, in the Old
Testament, Maker of heaven and earth is the characteristic of the
true God, by which he is distinguished from idols. " The Lord,"
says Jeremiah, " is the true God ; he is the living God, and an
everlasting King. The gods that have not made the heavens and
the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under
these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath
established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the
heavens by his discretion." Jer. x. 10, 11, 12. Creation is uni-
formly spoken of as the Avork of God alone.* And it is stated as
the proof of his being, and the ground of our tnist in him.f
" The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handy work. The sea is his, and he made it, and his hands
formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down :
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. O Lord, how manifold
are thy works : in wisdom hast thou made them all.";]: I have
selected only a few striking passages. But they accord with the
whole strain of the poetical books of the Old Testament : and the
apostle Paul states the argument contained in them, when he says
to the Romans, i. 20. " The invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his etei'nal power and Godhead." The
things made by God are to us the exhibition of his eternal power :
and a few verses after, when he is speaking of the worship of the
* Job. xxxviii. Isaiah xl. 12; xliv. 24. f Isaiah xl. 26. Jer. xiy. 22.
X Psalm xix. xcv. civ.
336 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
heathen, the form of his expression intimates that no being in-
tervenes between the creature and the Creator. " They served
the creature more than the Creator, who is l)lessed for ever."
rov xr/ffavra, 6; ioriv vuXoyriTog iig rov; aimag. I have only to add,
that the book of Revelation states creation as the ground of that
praise which is offered by the angels in heaven. " The four and
twenty elders fall down l)efore him that sat on the throne, and
worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, Tbou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory, and honour and power ; for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they,are and were created."*
III. The style of the three passages of the New Testament, in
which creation is ascribed to Jesus Christ, does not admit of our
considering him as a creature. In the first of the three passages
Jesus is called God. It is admitted that the word God is used in
Scripture in an inferior sense, to denote an idol, which exists only
in the imagination of him by whom it is worshipped as a god, and
to denote a man raised by office far above others. But it has been
justly observed, that the arrangement of John's words renders it
impossible to affix any other than the highest sense to Qicc [GoiTj
in this place. In the first verse of John, the last M'ord of the
preceding clause is made the first of that which follows. Ev ci^yji
Yiv 0 Xoyogj '/.at 6 Xoyog rjv ir^og rov Qiov, zai Qiog riv h Koyog. [|In the
beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the
word was God.] There must be a purpose to mislead, in a writer
who with this arrangement has a different meaning to 0sog []God]]
at the end of the second, and at the Ijeginning of the third clause.
The want of the article is of no importance. For in the sixth
verse of that chapter, and in numberless other places, Qiog []God]]
without the article, is applied to God the Father. In the second
passage Jesus is called hx'm rou Gsou rov uo^arov, \jhe image of the
invisilue God.]] And in the third a.-zuvyag/j.a rrjg (5o^»j;, /tat
•^m^ayLTYi^ T7jg v'Troitraasug auruv, [the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person,] phrases which must be under-
stood in a sense very fur removed from the full import of the
figure, unless they imply a sameness of natiu'e. In the second
passage, it is said that all things were made di aurw [liy him,] a
phrase which might apjjly to a creature whom the Almighty chose
to employ as his minister. But it is said in the same passage,
that they were made ng avrov []for him,] which signifies that he
was much more than an instrument, and that his glory was an
end for which things were made. It is said also, 'rravru iv avri^o
Gvnsrrr/.i []by him all things consist,] which implies that his power
* Rev. iv. 10, 11.
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 337
is not occasional and precarious, but that he is able to preserve
what he has made, and so may be an object of trust to his crea-
tures. In the third passage it is said that God made the worlds
by the Son. But the quotation from the Psalms adduced in proof
of this position, represents the Son as the Creator ; and as in no
degree susceptible of the changes to which his works are subject.
" Thou, Lord, in the beginnings hast laid the foundations of the
earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. Thou art the
same, and thy years shall not fail."
When you take, in conjunction with the strong probability that
the Creator of the world is not a creature, the language of the
New Testament, where creation is ascribed to Jesus, you discover
the traces of a system which reconciles the apparent discordance.
Jesus Christ is essentially God, always with the Father, united
with him in nature, in perfections, in counsel, and in operations. —
" Whatsoever thing's the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise."* The Father acts by the Son, and the Son, in creat-
ing' the world, displayed that power and Godhead which from
eternity resided in him. If this system be true, then creation, the
characteristical mark of the Almighty, may, in perfect consistency
with the passag^es quoted from the Old Testament, be ascribed to
Jesus, because althoug'h the Father is said to have created the
world by him, upon account of the union in all their operations,
yet he is not a creature subservient to the will of another, but
himself " the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the
earth." This system is delivered in the earliest Christian writers.
" The Father had no need," they say, " of the assistance of angels
to make the things which he had determined to be made •, for the
Son and the Spirit are always with him, by whom and in whom he
freely made all things, to whom he speaks when he says, Let us
make man after our image ; and who are one with him, because
it is added, So God created man in his own image."-j-
We require more evidence than we have yet attained, before we
can pronounce that this system is true. You will only bear in mind,
that it is sug-gestedin all the passages of the New Testament which
give an account of the creation of the world by Jesus Christ ; and
that if it shall appear to be supported by sufficient evidence, it re-
conciles that account with the natural impressions of the human
mind, and the declarations of Scripture concerning- the extent of
power and the supremacy of character implied in the act of crea-
tion.
* John V. 19. t Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 20, edit. Massuet.
r 338 3
CHAP. V.
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE-
Administration of Providence.
Those passages, from which we learn that Jesus is the Creator of
the world, taught us also to consider him as the preserver of all the
thing-s which he made. This last character implies a continued
agency, and resolves all that care of Providence, by which the crea-
tures have been supported from the beginning, into actions per-
formed by Jesus in a state of pre-existence. There is nothing in
the ordinary course of nature which indicates the agency of this
person ; there is no part of the principles of natural religion which
requires that we should dislinguish his agency from the power of
the Almighty Father of alL; and therefore the Scriptures, in speak-
ing of those interpositions of Providence which respect the mate-
rial world, and the life of the diflferent animals, are not accustomed
to direct our attention particularly to that Person, by whom the di-
vine power is exerted. But they do intimate that the particular
economy of Providence, which respects the restoration of the hu-
man race, was administered in all ages by that Person, by whose
manifestation it was accomplished : and upon these intimations is
founded an opinion which, since the days of the apostles, has been
held by almost every Christian writer who admits the pre-exist-
ence of Jesus, that he, who in the fulness of time was made flesh,
appeared to the patriarchs, gave the law from mount Sinaij spake
by the prophets, and maintained the whole of that intercourse with
mankind, which is recorded in the Old Testament as preparatory to
the coming of the Messiah.
The early date of this opinion, and the general consent with
which it has been received, the frequent mention made of it in theo-
logical books, the uniformity which it gives to the conduct of the
great plan of redemption, and the extent of that information which
it promises to open, all conspire to draw our attention to it, and
induce me to lay before you the grounds upon which it rests. They
consist not of explicit declarations of Scripture, sufficient by them-
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS, &C. 339
selves to establish the opinion, but of an induction of particulars,
which, although they may escape careless readers, seem intended
to unfold to those who search the Scriptures, a view both of that
active love tovvar.ls the human race which chai'acterizes the Savi-
our of the world, and of the original dignity of his person.
The general jjrinciples of this opinion are these. God, the Fa-
ther, is represented in Scripture as " invisible, whom no man hath
seen at any time." But it is often said in the Old Testament that
the patriarchs, the prophets, and the people saw God ; and there is
an ease, a famlHarity of intercourse in many of the scenes which
are recorded, inconsistent with the awful majesty of him who co-
vereth himself with thick clouds. The God of Israel, whom the
people saw, is often called an angel, L e. a person sent ; therefore
he cannot be God the Father, for it is impossible that the Father
should be sent by any one. But he is also called Jehovah. The
highest titles, the most exalted actions, and the most entire reve-
rence are appropriated to him. Therefore he cannot be a being of
an inferior order. And the only method in which we can reconcile
the seeming discordance is, by supposing that he is the Son of God,
who, as we learn from John, " was in the beginning with God, and
was God," who being at a particular time " made flesh," and so mani-
fested in the human nature, may be conceive;!, without irreverence,
to have manifested himself at former times in different ways. This
supposition, suggested by the language of the Old Testament, seems
to be confirmed by the words of our Lord, John vi. 46, " Not that
any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath
seen the Father ;" and of his apostle, John i. 18, " No man hath
seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bo-
som of the Father, he hath declared him." The meaning of this
passage extends to the former declarations of God under the Old
Testament. For it is remarkable that it is not the preterperfect
tense which is used in the original, but the aorist, which intimates
that he, " who is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared him"
also in times past. He who alone was qualified to declare God, who
certainly did declare him by the Gospel, and who is styled by the
apostle, " the image of the invisible God," as the person in whom
the glory of the Godhead appeared to man, seems to be pointed out
as the angel who was called by the name of God in ancient times.
These general principles receive a striking illustration when we
attend to the detail of the appearances recorded in the Old Testa-
ment, because we find upon examination that all the divine appear-
ances, made in a succession of ages, are referred to one person, who
is often called in the same passage both Angel and Jehovah, and
that several incidental expressions in the New Testament mark
out Christ to be this person
340 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESCS
SECTION I.
ALL APPEARANCES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT REFERRED
TO ONE PERSON, CALLED ANGEL AND GOD.
In the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, it is said that " the Lord,"
which, when written in capital letters, is always the translation of
Jehovah, that " Jehovah a])peared unto Ahraham in the plains of
Mamre ;" and the manner of the appearance is very particularly re-
lated. " Abraham lifted up his eyes, and three men stood by him."
He received them hospitably, according- to the manner of the times.
In the course of the interview one of the three speaks with the au-
thority of God, promises such blessings as God only can bestow,
and is called by the historian Jehovah. Two of the men departed
and " went toward Sodom, but Abraham," it is said, " stood yet
before the Lord." He inquires of him respectfully about the fate
of Sodom; he reasons with him as the Judge of all the earth, who
has it in his power to save and to destroy ; and we may judge of
the impressions which he now has of the nature of the man, whom
a little before he had received in his tent, Avhen he sa)'s to him,
" Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who
am but dust and ashes." It is the same Lord, whom Abraham
saw in this manner, that appeared to him at other times, and, after
his death, to his son Isaac ; for a reference is made in the future
appearances to the promise that had been made at this time. To
Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, the Lord appeared upon different
occasions, under the name of the God of Abraham and Isaac, i. e.
the God who had blessed them ; he repeats to Jacob what he had
said to them, that his posterity should possess the land of Canaan,
and become a great nation, and that in his seed all the families of
the earth should be blessed, xxviii. 13, 14. Jacob, after one ap-
pearance, said, " I have seen God face to face," xxxii. 30 ; after
another, " Surely the Lord is in this place, and he called the name
of the place Bethel," i. e. the house of God, xxviii. \6 — 19. He
raised a pillar ; he vowed a vow to the God whom he had seen,
and at his return he paid the vow. Yet this God, to \\'hom he
gave these divine honours, and of whom he spoke at some times
as Jehovah the God of Abraham and Isaac, at other times he calls
an angel. " The angel of God," he says, " spake unto me in a
dream, saying, I am the God of Bethel," xxxi. 11 — 13 ; and upon
his death-bed he gives in the same sentence the name of God and
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE, 341
angel to this person, xlviii. 15. " He blessed Joseph, and said,
God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the
God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." The prophet Hosea
refers in one place to the earnestness with which Jacob begged a
blessing from the Lord who appeared to him, which is called in
Genesis his wrestling with a man and prevailing. So says Hosea,
xii. 2 — 5. " By his strength he had power with God, yea, he had
power over the angel, and prevailed ; he found him in Bethel, and
there he spake with us, even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is
his memorial." The same person is called in this passage God, the
angel, and the Lord God of hosts.
In Exodus iii. we read, that when Moses came to Horeb, " the
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the
midst of a bush." Moses turned about to see this sight, " And
when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto
him out of the midst of the bush, and said, I am the God of thy
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. And Moses hid his face ; for he was afraid to look upon
God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the afiliction of my
people which are in Egypt, and I am come down to deliver them,
and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land. Come
now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou may-
est bring forth my people." You will observe in this passage an
interchange of the names angel and God, a reference to the former
appearances which the Patriarchs had seen, and a connexion esta-
blished between this appearance and the subsequent manifestations
to the children of Israel ; so that the person whom Abraham saw
in the plains of Mamre, and who brought Israel out of Egypt, is
declared to be the same. Moses asks the name by which he should
call the God who had thus come down to deliver the children of
Israel. " And God said, I am that I am : thou shalt say to the
children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you." This very par-
ticular mode of expression is intended to be the interpretation of
Jehovah, the incommunicable name of God, implying his neces-
sary, eternal, and unchangeable existence. Other beings may be,
or may not be. There was a time when they wei'e not ; the will
of him who called them into existence may annihilate them ; and
even while they continue to exist, there may be such alterations
upon the manner of their being, as to make them appear totally
different from what they once were. But God always was, and
always will be, that which he now is ; and the name which distin-
guishes him from every other l)eing, and is truly expressive of his
character, is this, lyoi s//x/ 6 m \\ am He who is.]
It is very remarkable that in the same passage in which the per-
342 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
son who appeared to Moses assumed this significant phrase as his
name, he is called by the historian, the ang-el of the Lord ; and
Stephen, Acts vii. SO, 35, in relating this history before the Jewish
Sanhedrim, shows the sense of his countvymen upon this point,
by I'epeating twice the word angel. " There appeared to Moses
in the wilderness of Mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame
of fire." And again, " This Moses did God send to be a ruler and
deliverer by the hands of the angel which appeared to him in the
hush." Stephen says most accurately that Moses was sent to be
a ruler and deliverer by the hands of this angel ; for it was the
same angel who appeared to him in the bush ; that put a rod in
his hand wherewith to do wonders before Pharaoh ; that brought
forth the people with an out-stretched arm, and led them through
the wilderness. Accordingly, Exod. xiii. 21, we read, " The Lord
went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a
pillar of fire." In the next chapter, xiv. 19, we read, " The angel
of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went
behind them." The same Jehovah who led them out of Egypt
gave them the law from Mount Sinai ; for we read, Exod. xx. 1, 2,
" I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Our attention is thus
carried back by the preface of the law to that appearance which
Moses had seen ; and accordingly Stephen says. Acts vii. 38,
" Moses was in the chiirch in the wilderness with the angel which
spake to him in the Mount Sina." An angel thru spake to Moses
in Mount Sinai, yet this angel in giving the law takes to himself
the name of Jehovah. The first commandment is, " Thou shalt
have no other gods before me :" and Moses, when he recites in
Deuteronomy the manner of giving the law, says expressly that
God had given it ; iv. 33, 36, 39, " Did ever people hear the voice
of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard,
and live ? Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he
might instruct thee ; and thou heardest his words out of the midst
of the fire. Know, therefore, this day, and consider it in thine
heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth
beneath, there is none else."
All the interpositions recorded in the Pentateuch, by which the
enemies of the children of Israel were put to flight, and the people
were safely conducted to the land of Canaan, are referred to the
same person, who is often called the angel of the Lord that went
before them. Moses, who begins the blessing which he pronoun-
ced upon the children of Israel befoi'e his death with these words.
Dent, xxxiii. " The Lord came from JVIount Sinai,' seems to in-
tend to connect the first appearance, which this Lord made to him
in Horeb, with every subsequent manifestation of divine favour.
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 343
>vhen, in speaking of Joseph, he calls the blessing of God for whicli
he prays, " the good will of him that dwelt in the bush." During
a succession of ages all the affairs of the Jewish nation were ad-
ministered with the attention and tenderness which might be ex-
pected from a tutelary deity, or guardian angel, to whom that pro-
vince was specially committed ; and the prophet Isaiah has expres-,
sed that protection amidst danger, that support and relief in all
their distresses, which the people had experienced from his guard-
ianship, in these beautiful words, Isaiah Ixiii. 7, 9 : I will mention
the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, ac-
cording to all the great goodness towards the house of Israel, which
he hath bestowed on them. In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them : in his love and in his
pity he redeemed them, and he bare them and carried them all the
days of old." Yet we are guarded in other places against degrad •
ing the God of Israel to a level with the inferior deities to whom
the nations offered their worship. " Where are their gods," says
the Lord by Moses, Deut. xxxii. 36 — 40, " their rock in whom
they trusted ? See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God
with me : For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say I live for ever."
And Isaiah xliv. 6 : " Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and
his Redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last,
and besides me there is no God." This is the language in which
the God of Israel speaks of himself, and in which he is addressed
by the people through all the books of the Old Testament ; and in
the long addresses, several of which are recorded, the high charac-
ters which distinguish the true God are conjoined with the mani-
festations in former times, of which I have been giving the history,
in such a manner as to show that both are applied to the same
person. One of the most striking examples is the solemn thanks-
giving and prayer offered, Nehemiah, ch. ix. by all the congrega-
tion of Israel, who returned from the Babylonish captivity, in con-
sequence of the edict of Cyrus the Great. " Thou, even thou, art
Lord alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with
all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the sea,
and all that is thei'ein, and thou preservest them all, and the host
of heaven worshippeth thee. Thou art the Lord, the God who
didst choose Abraham, — and madest a covenant with him, — and
didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, — and didst divide
the sea before them, — and leddest them in the day by a cloudy
pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire. Thou earnest down also
upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven — yea, forty
years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness," &c. Thei'e is no
interruption, no change of person in the progress of this prayer, so
that we must suppose a delusion to run through the whole of the
344 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
Old Testament, unless the Creator of heaven and earth he the same
person whom Jacob, and Moses, and Isaiah, and Stephen, call the
Angel of the Lord.
In order to connect all the intimations which the Old Testament
gives concerning the God of Israel, you must carry this along with
you, that the person who appeared to Moses, and who gave the law
from Mount Sinai, commanded the people to make him a sanctu-
ary, that he might dwell amongst them. The command was given
to Moses at the time when he went up into the midst of the cloud
that abode upon Mount Sinai, and when the sight of the glory of
the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the Mount in the
eyes of the children of Israel. At this time Moses received from
God the pattern of the ark of the tabernacle, and of the mercy- seat
on the top of the ark, having cheruljims which covered the mercy-
seat with their wings, and looked towards one another. " Thou
shalt put," said God, " the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in
the ark thou shall put the testimony that I shall give thee. And
there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from
above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims, of all
things which I will give thee in commandment to the children of
Israel," Exod. xxv. 21. As soon as the tabernacle was reared, and
the ark with these appurtenances was brought into it, "a cloud co-
vered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord fill-
ed the tabernacle." This cloud was the guide of the children of
Israel in their journeyings. When the cloud was taken up from
the tabernacle, they went on ; when it was not taken up, they rest-
ed ; and you may judge how intimately they connected the appear-
ance of the ark with the presence of God, from the words record-
ed. Numb. X. 35, 36, as used by Moses in the name of the congre-
gation. The ark of the Lord, it is said, went before them. " And
when it set forward, Moses said, Rise up. Lord, and let thine ene-
mies be scattered ; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.
And when it rested, he said, Return, O Loi-d, unto the many thou-
sands of Israel." Wheresoever the ark was, the God of Israel was
conceived to be. In that place he met with his people. There they
consulted him in all their exigencies ; and the glory which filled the
tabernacle, called the Shechinah, was the visible symbol of the pre-
sence of the God of Israel. When Solomon built a temple, he in-
troduced into it the ark and the tabernacle. And the joy which he
felt in accomplishing that work arose from his having found a fixed
habitation for that sacred pledge of the divine favour which had
often been exposed to danger, which had for some time been in the'
possession of the enemy, but which every devout Israelite regard-
ed as the glory and security of his nation. In Psalm cxxxii., which
appears to have been composed to celebrate the introduction of the
IN Ills PRF.-EXISTENT STATE. 345
ark into the temple, you find these words : " Arise, O Lord, into
thy rest, thou, and the ark of thy strength. The Lord hath chosen
Zion ; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for
ever ; here will I dwell." In the solemn prayer of Solomon, at the
dedication of the temple, 1 Kings vi. it is declared to be a house
built for the Lord God of Israel, who had made a covenant with
their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. As
soon as the ark was brought into its place in the temple, the glory
of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. To this place all the
prayers and services of the people in succeeding generations were
directed. The Lord was known by this name, Jehovah the God of
Israel, who dwelleth between the cherubims. And hence arises the
sig-nificancy of that prayer of the good king Jehoshaphat, when he
stood in the house of the Lord before the new court, 2 Chron xx.
7, 8. " O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou our God who didst
drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and
gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? and they
dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name."
These circumstances also explain to us various expressions in the
book of Psalms, which, without attending to them, appear unintel-
ligible. The Psrilms were the hymns composed for the service of
the temple. The particular occasions upon which several of them
were composed are mentioned in the Old Testament history. And
many of them have a special reference to that principle which was
incorporated into the very constitution of the Jewish state, that the
peculiar residence of the God of Israel was in the ark, and that his
presence was manifested by a visible glory encompassed with clouds,
and shining sometimes with a dazzling splendour which none could
approach ; sometimes with a milder lustre which encouraged the
servants of the sanctuary to draw nigh. Ps. Ixxvi. 1. " In Judah
is God known : his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his
tabernacle, and his dwelling in Zion." Ps. xcix. 1. " The Lord
reigneth, let the people tremble : He sitteth between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved." Many of the Psalms, by their reference
to events in the history of the Jewish nation, show us that the God
who was worshipped in the sanctuary, is the same who made a cove-
nant with Abrabam, Isaac, and Jacob, who appeared on Mount
Sinai, and led his people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalms Ixxviii. cv. and cvi. contain an historical detail, and Psalm
Ixviii. confirms in a striking manner the glory in whicli God ap-
peared in the sanctuary with his former manifestations to Israel.
" O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people ; when thou
didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens
also dropped at the presence of God : Even Sinai itself was moved
at the presence of God, the God of Israel. They have yocn thy
p2
346 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
goings, O God, my king, in the sanctuary. Because of thy temple
at Jerusalem, shall kings bring presents to thee. O God, thou art
terrible out of thy holy places." While the Psalms thus bring to-
gether the former events in the history of Israel, and the glory of
their God in the sanctuary, they address this person as Jehovah,
the I^ord of hosts, who made the world, and the fulness thereof, the
mighty God, the king and judge of all the earth, whom the angels
worship, and wlio alone is to be feared.
The view of the infomuation contained in the Scriptures of the
Old Testament, concerning the person by whom the law was given ,
will be complete when it is added, in the last place, that the
writings of the later prophets represent him also as the Saviour
of Israel, and the author of a new dispensation, which was to be
introduced in the last days. The interpositions of the God of
Israel, to deliver them out of the many national calamities which
mark their history, do by no means exhaust the meaning of the
prophecies and thanksgivings, which abound in the sacred books
of the Jews. The expressions even of the earlier writers bear a
more exalted sense than is attained by explaining them of any
temporal mercies. And about the time of the captivity of the
nation, and of their return to their own land, the prophets, in
some places, speak plainly of a spiritual deliverance, and in others
adopt a richness of imagery, which is unmeaning and even ridi-
culous, unless it be understood to point to the davs of the Mes-
siah. But the clearest intimations of the future glorious dispen-
sation are always conjoined with the mention of its being accom-
plished by that very person who was the God of Israel. Isaiah
. sometimes represents the Almighty as himself the Saviour and
Redeemer of Israel : at other times, he speaks of a servant, an
elect of God, who was to be mighty to save. But this elect is
distinguished by such names, Immanuel, i. e. God with us, the
mighty God, the Prince of peace : and his character and appear-
ance are described with such majesty, that we soon recognize the
God of Israel, for whom the peojile are commanded to wait. Later
prophets give the name of Jehovah to the person who was to be
employed in bringing the salvation. Zech. ii. 10, 11. " Sing and
rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the
midst of thee, saith the Lord. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee." Here is one Jehovah
sending another to dwell in Judah. " I will have mercy upon the
house of Judah," Hosea i. 7, " and will save them by the Lord
their God." Micah v. 2, foretells a " ruler in Isi'ael that was to
come out of Bethlehem," not a new person, but one " whose goings
forth have been of old, from everlasting." Jeremiah says ex-
pressly that the new covenant with Israel was to be made by the
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 347
same person who had made the old. Jer. xxxi. 31. " Behold
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ; not ac-
cording to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to bring- them out of the land of
Egypt. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be
their God, and they shall be my people." In reference to the
covenant mentioned by Jeremiah, Malachi, the last of the prophets,
announces the coming- of the Messiah in these words, Mai. iii. 1 :
" Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me : And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight
in ; behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." The Lord
coming to his own temple is the God of Israel returning- to illu-
minate and glorify by his presence that Jewish temple, which had
been originally built for his name, but which, after the destruction
of the fabric erected by Solomon, had been left without the She-
I'hinah, the visible symbol of his presence. By his coming the
glory of the latter house, according to the prophecy of Haggai,*
was made greater than the glory of the former, because no symbol,
however sacred or splendid, deserved to be compared with the
actual presence, and inhabitation of the Lord of glory. The Lord
coming- to his own temple is called in this prophecy the Angel or
Messenger of the covenant, in whom the Jews delighted, i. e. u
person sent by another for the purpose of making that new cove-
nant with the house of Israel, which their sacred books tauglit
them to expect. Here, then, we are brought back, at the end of
the Old Testament, to the same word Angel or Messenger, whicli
we found at the beginning of it. The Angel, who had appeared
to Abraham, to Jacob, and to Moses, who had made the old cove-
nant with Israel, who had been worshipped in his own temple at
Jerusalem, is here called the Angel of the covenant which was to
be established upon better promises. The conjunction of names
in this concluding prophecy collects all the information concerning
this person, which we have found scattered through the Old Tes-
tament, and seems to be introduced on purpose to teach us, that
he who had conducted the former dispensation was to open the
new ; that the same person, by whom the whole plan of Divine
Providence respecting the souls of men had been carried on from
the beginning of the world, was to visit the Jewish temple before
it was demolished a second time; and having received the adorations
* Hasg. ii. 9,
348
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
of that people whom he had chosen in the temple, which was bis
own during all the time that it stood, was to be entitled by another
manifestation, and a fresh display of his love, to adorations and
thanksg-jving-s corresponding to the nature and extent of the bles-
sings conveyed by the new covenant.
This singular prophecy, which collects all the information con-
cerning the person of whom we have been speaking, is found in
the conclusion of the Old Testament ; and in the beginning of
the New it is applied by Mark to Jesus Christ. This apj)lication
is a favourable omen of the success to be expected in the second
part of this discussion, in which I propose to show, that, as all the
divine appearances made in a succession of ages are referred in the
Old Testament to one person, who is called both Angel and Je-
hovah, so many incidental expressions in the New Testament
mark out Christ to be this person.
SECTION II.
There is no passage in the New Testament which directly affirms
that every thing said in the Old Testament of that Person who is
called both Angol and Jehovah belongs to Christ. But this is not
the only instance in which the intimate connection between the
two dispensations is left to be gathered by those who inquire.
There are many parts of the counsel of God, with respect to which,
as the Apostle speaks, to those whose minds are blinded, the veil
remains untaken away in reading the Old Testament. And it does
not appear unworthy of the wisdom of God to have provided in
this way a reward for that industry which is directed to the Scrip-
tures, a satisfaction to speculative minds, and an increase of the
evidence of Christianity, according to the progress which men
make in sacred knowledge.
In the progress of this part of the discussion, you will have a
specimen of what the Apostle calls " comparing spiritual things
with spiritual," in order to " know the things that are freely given
lis of Goii." You will tind the proof consisting of a number of
detached circumstances. But you will not, upon that account,
think it incomplete. Circumstantial evidence is often resorted to
in human afifairs. There are many occasions upon which it is not
judged worthy of less credit than the most direct testimony ; and,
with regard to the particular object of this discussion, if we are
attentive and patient in the interpretation of Scripture, the senti-
3
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 349
ments of the apostles, whose wi'itings are the standard of our faith,
may be as certainly known from the manner in which they have
expressed themselves at many different times, as if any of them
had judged it proper formally to show that Christ is the Jehovah
who appeared to the patriarchs, who was worshipped in the temple,
and who was announced as the author of a new dispensation.
In collecting the evidence of this whole proposition, it is natural
to invert the order in which I brought forward the different parts
of it. For Christ is known in the New Testament as the author
of the new dispensation. That is the character under which we
rind him there. The first thing, therefore, to be derived from
thence, is an answer to this question, whether the terms in which
the author of the new dispensation was announced under the Old
Testament are applied to Christ in the New. If they ai'e, we
should be warranted to infer, from the induction of particulars for-
merly stated, that he was also worshipped in the temple, and that
he appeared to the patriarchs. But our faith in the whole pro-
position will be very much confirmed, if, independently of that
proof of the second and third facts which necessarily arises from
the proof of the third, we find them also established by separate
evidence.
I. It appears from various expressions in the New Testament
that Christ is Jehovah, the Saviour of Israel, who was announced
in the Old Testament as the author of a new dispensation. The
allusions that occur in the New Testament to expressions in the
Old respecting the Saviour of Israel are infinite in number, and
constitute a striking illustration of this part of the general propo-
sition. But there are two heads under which we may arrange
those passages, which afford the most conclusive proof that Christ
is the person who was thus announced. The first is the applica-
tion made in the New Testament of the prophecies respecting the
forerunner of Jehovah, the Saviour of Israel ; and the second is a
number of quotations, from a long prophecy of Isaiah, that extends
from the seventh to the twelfth chapter.
1. Application of the prophecies respecting the forerunner of
Jehovah, the Saviour of Israel. The first two verses of Mark's
Gospel are these : " The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God ; As it is written in the prophets. Behold, I send
my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before
thee ;" and the same prophecy is applied in Matthew and Luke to
John the Baj)tist. The words are taken, with a small variation, from
Malacbi iii. 1. In the prophet, the person whose messenger was
to prepare the way before him speaks, " Behold, I send my mes-
senger, and he shall prepare the way before me." In the Gospels,
the Almighty speaks to the person, whose way the messenger was
350 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
to prepare. " I send my messeng-er before thy face." As the
passage is literally the same in all the three Gospels, the variation
from the present reading- of the Old Testament was probably oc-
casioned by some version or copy of the Hebrew, different from
any now extant. The amount of the prophecy is the same, and
the fulfilment equally exact, whether you read " before me," or
•' before thee ;" and the direct application to John the Baptist of
the first part of the verse in Malachi, is a clear warrant to apply
the second part of the verse to Jesus, the person before whom
John went, i. e. to consider Jesus as Jehovah coming to his own
temple, the messenger of the covenant, whom the .lews were
taught by the later prophets to expect. This inference, legitimately
drawn from the use made of the first part of the verse in Malachi,
is estaljlished by that quotation which immediately follows in
Mark, and which is adopted by the other Evangelists in the be-
ginning of the Gospels. " The voice of one crying in the wilder-
ness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
This is the account which John gave of himself when the Jews
sent to him, asking, " Who art thou ? I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as
said the prophet Esaias." The quotation is taken from the fortieth
chapter of Isaiah, the first eleven verses of which are an account
of the nature and the manner of that salvation which the God of
Israel was to bring. When you recollect the language which
John uniformly employed with regard to himself, " I am not the
Christ, but I am sent before him ; that he should be made mani-
fest to Israel, therefore am I come, baptizing with water ;" and
when you find the inspired historians agreeing with John himself
in applying to him this prophecy of Isaiah, you have no doubt
that Jesus is the Lord, whose way the voice was to prepare ; and
you are directed to apply to Jesus all the expressions employed in
that passage to characterize the person before whom the voice
went, i. e. you will find, upon reading these eleven verses of
Isaiah, that you are taught by this application of one of them to
consider Jesus as Jehovah, the God of Israel, who came himself,
with a strong hand, to be their Saviour and their Shepherd. Ac-
cordingly the angel, in the first chapter of Luke's Gospel, thus
announces to Zacharias the Itirth of John : " Many of the chil-
dren of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God ; and he shall
go before him in the sjiirit and power of Elias, to make ready a
people prepared for the Lord," referring, in this annunciation, to
the prophecies of both Isaiah and Malachi : and our Loi'd, by
taking to himself the name of the good shepherd, and by frequent-
ly calhng his disciples his flock, his sheep, and his lambs, plainly
refers to these words of the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, " He shall
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 351
feed his flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with his
arm." But as all the parts of that prophecy mark one person
whom the voice was to announce, if this expression belong- to him,
the rest belong- also.
2. The other head, under which I proposed to arrang-e those ex-
pressions, which aiford the most conclusive proof that Jesus is the
person who was announced in the Old Testament, as Jehovah, the
Saviour of Israel, is a number of quotations from a long- prophecy
in Isaiah, that extends from the seventh to the twelfth chapter.
The kings of Syria and Israel had com])ined against the king-dom
of Judah, and they threatened to dethrone Ahaz, the king-, and to
raise a stranger to rule over the house of David. The prophet is
sent to comfort the king- and the people, by giving- them assurance
of the stability of the kingdom of Judah, and of deliverance from
their present enemies. The prophecy has an immediate reference
to the circumstances of the kingdom. But you find, upon reading it,
such a mixture as is not uncommon in the Old Testament prophe-
cies. You meet with expressions which seem to look far beyond
the events of which the prophet is speaking, names and epithets
which cannot, without a striking- impropriety, be applied to any
person born al)Out that time, l)ut which are a natural description of
the character and office of that illustrious descendant of David,
whom former prophecies had announced, and whose everlasting do-
minion is introduced into this prophecy of a temporal deliverance,
as the most entire security that the designs of the enemies of Ju-
dah must fail, because the counsels of heaven did not admit of any
interruption in the lineal succession to that crown, which was to
flourish for ever upon the head of the Messiah. This is the train
of thovight by which the promises of temporal and of spiritual de-
liverance are blended together in this message to the king of Ju-
dah. It is not easy to separate them from one another, and some
of the expressions are so dark, that in order to form a just concep-
tion of their meaning, you will find it necessary to call in the as-
sistance of some of tlie many authors by whom they have been
illustrated. You will derive particular advantage from reading one
of Bishop Hurd's Lectures, in which a part of this prophecy is
elucidated with the clearness and accuracy which distinguish this
master of saci-ed criticism. Even although you should not follow
the prophet in all the changes of subject, or assign the jjrecise
meaning of every expression, you are led by a general acquaintance
with the language of the Old Testament prophecies to consi.Ior
many of the names that occur in this prophecy as descriptive of tlie
Messiah ; and you find the apostles of our Lord making the appli-
cation to him. Matthew, in relating the miraculous conception of
our Lord, as announced by the angel to Mary, says, " Now all
352 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the
Lord by the prophet saying-, Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Erama-
niiel, which being- interpreted is, God with us." This is taken from
Isaiah vii. 14, and, being- applied to Jesus, we are taught that he
is God with us, the Jehovah of Israel, who, according to the pro-
mise by Zechariah, was to come and dwell in the midst of them.*
The Word was God, and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us. The angel who appeared to Mary said, in the first
chapter of Luke, " Thou shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call his
name Jesus : And he shall be great, and the Lord God shall give
unto him the throne of his father David ; and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever and ever ; and of his kingdom there
shall be no end." There is a reference here both to Isaiah vii. 14,
and also to Isaiah ix. 6, " Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son
is given ; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it for ever."
Jesus, then, being, according to this application of the prophecy,
that Son of David who was to sit for ever on the throne of his
Father, is also the mighty God. In another part of this prophecy,
Isaiah calls this Son " a rod out of the stem of Jesse," and " a
branch out of his roots, which should stand as an ensign to the
people, and to which the Gentiles should seek." And the Apostle
Paul, in the course of an argument to show that Jesus Christ not
only fulfilled the promises made to the fathers, but was given also
that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, applies these
words to him, Rom. xv. 1'2 : " And again Esaias saith, ' There
shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the
Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust." Allusions to other
expressions of this prophecy are to be found in the writings of the
apostles. But the direct quotations which have been made are
sufiicient to show that, in their eyes, Jesus Christ is that Saviour
of Israel whom the pi'ophet, from the beginning to the end of the
spiritual part of the prophecy, announces. That person, according
to the prophet, is Jehovah the God of Israel. Therefore we have
the authority of the inspired books of the New Testament for the
truth of the third part of our general proposition.
It is true that he is often styled in the New Testament a man
sent, given, raised up by God to be the Saviour of the world. It-
is said that he received power of God ; that the Spirit was given
* Zechar. ii. 10, 11.
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 353
him ; that he came to do his Father's will. And this language
may seem to be inconsistent with his being Jehovah. But you
will recollect that we meet with the same inconsistency in the Old
Testament. The ancient Scriptures speak of the Saviour of Israel
as Jehovah sent by Jehovah, himself the mighty God, the ever-
lasting Father, and as a Son born of a virgin. It is by this pecu-
liar manner of designation that we distinguish him in the Old
Testament from God the Father. When we find the same pecu-
liarity in the New Testament, we are confirmed in the application
which we have made ; and Jesus the Saviour must be the Jehovah,
who was to come and save Israel, because, like him, he is called both
the messenger of God, and God.
II. The second part of the general proposition is, that Jesus is
the Person who was worshipped in the temple at Jerusalem, and
whose glory filled the tabernacle. It might be sufficient to rest
the proof of this upon the prophecy of Malachi. The same Person
is there called the Lord coming to his own temple, and the mes-
senger of the covenant. But Jesus is unquestionably the messen-
ger of the Covenant. Therefore the temple to which he came was
his, and it could not without impiety be called his, unless he was
worshipped there. This proof is confirmed by many analogies, and
by some express intimations in the New Testament.
The analogies are of this kind. Jesus is called the effulgence of
the Father's glory. John says, iSytriVMGiv, he tabernacled among us,
and ikasaijjida doi^av aurou, we contemplated his glory ; a phraseo-
logy most natural in a Jew, who considered the Shechinah as the
visible symbol of the divine presence, if he also believed that the
Person, who had exhibited that symbol for many ages in the tem-
ple, became by his incarnation an inhabitant of earth. His body
was a tabernacle which veiled the glory of his presence in such a
manner as to make it safe for mortals, 6sac!a<r6ai, to look steadily,
for some time upon it. There is one occasion, indeed, recorded in
the Gospels, when this glory burst forth so as to overpower the
beholders. Upon a mount to which Jesus led three of his disci-
ples, " he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as
the sun, and his raiment was white as snow, and a bright cloud
overshadowed them." This is called by Peter, when relating this
vision, fj.iyaXo-T^s'rri; do^a, the transcendant glory. The veil which
usually concealed the majesty of the Godhead from the sight of
the disciples was for a moment dropped, and their senses were asto-
nished with an effulgence, such as filled the tabernacle at those
times when it was unsafe even for the sons of Aaron to enter.
This appearance, however transitory, was fitted to mark out Jesus
to those who were permitted to behold it as the Lord of glory ;
and it is stated by the apostle as the pledge of that glory in which
354 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
he is now enthroned, and in which he shall come to judge the
world, 2 Peter i. 16, 17. " We have not followed cunningly de-
vised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming-
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty.
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when
there came such a voice to him from the excellent g-lory, when we
were with him in the holy mount." The new Jerusalem is thus
described by John. " Behold the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them. The glory of God did lighten it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. xxi. 3, 23. It is said
that Jesus shall come at the last day, si* tu^/ (pXoyog [^in flaming fireQ
And that he shall destroy the man of sin, rri I'm^paviia, Trig Tra^oxieiac
avTou, with the manifestation of his presence. 2 Thess. ii. 8.
All this language of the New Testament is borrowed from the
Shechinah. And it will appear most proper and significant, when
you consider Jesus, whose glory enlightens heaven, whose bright-
ness dazzled the eyes of the disciples on the mount, and whose ex-
cellence might be contemplated when it shone " full of grace and
truth" through the veil of his flesh, as the Lord of the temple,
whose presence had formed both the more awful and the more en-
couraging appearances of the Shechinah. Analogies of this kind,
when they are fi'equent and striking, constitute a very satisfying
evidence to those who are capable of tracing them. But as they
may be abused, it is always desirable to have them supported by
some direct proofs of which the judgment may lay hold, without
the aid of imagination. The direct proofs of the point suggested
by these analogies, are of two kinds. The first consists of quota-
tions applied to Jesus from those Psalms in which the glory of the
Jehovah of Israel in his temple is described. The second is the
testimony of the Apostle John.
L The Psalms were hymns composed for the service of the tem-
ple ; and several of them were mentioned formerly in proof of this
position, that the person worshipped in the temjjle was the same
who had appeared to the patriarchs. But several expressions in
these very Psalms are applied by the apostles to Christ. We read
in Psalm Ixviii. " This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in.
They have seen thy goings, O God, my king, in thy sanctuary."
But the apostle, Eph. iv. 8 , when speaking of the gift of Chi'ist,
quotes in proof of it, the 18th verse of this Psalm : " Wherefore
he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men ;" and he argues that the propriety of the
expression, " he ascended," arises from this, that the same person
who ascended had first descended. Now one person is addressed or
spoken of from the beginning to the end of the Psalm. It is im-
possible that at the 18th verse there can be an abnipt address to
4
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 355
Christ, without any intimation that the person addressed is diffe-
rent from him mentioned in the 17th verse, and spoken of in the
sequel. We have, therefore, the authority of the Apostle Paul for
applying the whole of Psalm Ixviii. to Jesus, so that we may say
of him, as in the 20th verse, " Because of thy temple at Jerusa-
lem shall king-s bring- presents to thee." Again the apostle to the
Hebrews derived one proof that Jesus was originally superior to
angels from the command given them to worship him. But this
command is found in Psalm xcvii. where the majesty of the God of
Israel is described in his temple. " The Lord reigneth. Clouds
and dai'kness are round about him. A fire goeth before him.
Confounded be all they that serve graven images : worship him, all
ye gods, or angels. Zion heard, and was glad." The command is
introduced in a manner which plainly distinguishes the person to
be worshipped from idols, and marks him to be the God of Israel.
He then, whom the apostle to the Hebrews calls the first begot-
ten, is the same who in Judah " was high above all the earth."
Once more, the apostle derives his proof that Christ created the
world from a passage in Psalm cii. But we cannot consider these
words as addressed by the Psalmist to Christ, without admitting
that he is the person mentioned in the former part of the psalm.
And the reasoning of the apostle is inconclusive and sophistical,
unless the person of whom he is speaking in that chapter be the
same of whom the psalmist is speaking in that psalm, ^. e. the God
who was worshipped in Zion, the Saviour of Israel, who was to ap-
pear in his glory, and whose praise was to be declared in Jerusalem,
when he built up Zion.
2. The argument founded upon these quotations is confirmed by
the express testimony of John, xii, 41. The evangelist, speaking
of the many miracles which were performed by Jesus before the
Jews, but which had not the effect of leading them to believe on
him, quotes a passage from the sixth chapter of Isaiah, in which
theunbelief of the Jews is foretold ; and then he subjoins, — " These
things said Esaias, when he saw his glory and spake of him."
When you read that chapter of Isaiah, you will find a most awful
and majestic description of the glory of the Almighty in the tem-
ple, not that cloud which encouraged the priests to draw near, but
that bright refulgent glory which no man could see and live. " I
saw," says Isaiah, " the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lift-
ed up ; and his train filled the temple." The expression in the
Septuagint is '7rXr,^rig 6 oixog r'/j; doB.r,g a'orou, [the house full of his
glory. 3 This was shown in vision to Isaiah before the date of the
long prophecy to which I formerly referred, as if to qualify the
prophet for receiving that extraordinary communication of the spi-
ritual deliverance prepared for his people. But ho felt the weak-
356 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
ness of humanity in this manifestation of the glory of the Lord.
" Woe is me," he said, " for I am undone ; for mine eyes have
seen the king-, tlie Lord of hosts." Now that which Isaiah saw is
called by John his glory, i. e. according to the context, the glory
of Clirist. Therefore Christ is the Lord of hosts, whose glory fil-
led tlie temple. In order to evade the force of this evident con-
clusion, those who deny the pre-existence and the divinity of
Christ have adopted the paraphrase of Dr Clarke. " The true
meaning," he says, " is, when Esaias saw the glory of God the Fa-
ther revealing to him the coming of Christ, he then saw the glory
of him who was to come in the glory of his Father. Esaias in be-
holding the glory of God, and in receiving from him a revelation
of the coming of Christ, saw, that is, foresaw the gloiy of Christ
just as Abraham saw, i. e. foresaw his day and was glad."* You may
judge of the influence which attachment to system has upon the
most acute and enlightened minds, when such a man as Dr Clarke
could do such violence to two words in this short sentence of John.
He considers saw as equivalent tojhresaw, although neither Isaiah
nor John intimate that the objects presented to the prophet's sight
were a prophecy of future events ; and he considers his gloi'i/, i. e.
the glory of Christ, as equivalent to the glory of God revealing to
him the coming of Christ at the end of the world. I should rather
say that his interpretation gives a double meaning to each of the
words, iidi rrjv do^av aurou, [he saw his glory.] He saw the glory
of God, and he foresaw the glory of Christ.
III. One part of the general proposition still remains. That
Christ is the person who appeared to the patriarchs, and gave the
law.
We are entitled to consider this as an inference from the points
already proved. For Christ having been found to be the Saviour
of Israel, who was worshipped in the temple, he must, according
to the induction stated in the foi'mer section, be the same who ap-
peared to the patriarchs, and who gave the law from Mount Sinai.
But we are not obliged to have recourse to this mode of proof.
Even of this last point, seemingly the most remote from the Gos-
pel, the New Testament contains separate evidence : for there are
many expressions in the Nevv Testament, of which this part of the
proposition gives the most natural interpretation, and there are
others which require the belief of it. Of the first kind are the fol-
lowing : When our Lord says, John viii. 39, " Abraham saw my
day, and was glad ;" the words will appear most significant, if
Christ was the person who appeared to Abraham. When Peter
says, I Pet. i. 10, II, " The prophets prophesied of the grace which
' Clarke's Works, vol. iv. No. 597.
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 357
should come, seai'ching what the Spirit of Christ, which was in them,
did signify," he seems to say that Christ spake by the prophets';
and when he says, in the same Epistle, " Christ was quickened,"
i. e. raised from the dead " in the spirit, by which also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were dis-
obedient, when once the long-suffering- of God waited in the days
of Noah, while the ark was preparing," all the othermeanings which
have been affixed to these oljscure words appear forced and unna-
tural, when compared with this, that Christ is Jehovah, who said
before the flood, " My spirit shall not always strive with man, yet
his days shall be one hundred and twenty years," and who, during-
this time of forbearance, raised up Noah, a preacher of righteous-
ness. Once more, when our Lord says. Matt, xxiii. 37, " O Je-
rusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not I" if you consider our Lord as the person
who had carried the Jews in the days of old, who had sent pro-
phets, and by a mixture of mercies and chastisements, had called
them to repentance, this lamentation over Jerusalem has a consist-
ency, a beauty, and an energy, which are very much lost, by sup-
posing- that his peculiar care of them only began with his manifes-
tation in the flesh.
It is plain that all these passag-es derive much light and improve-
ment from admitting- that Jesus is the person who appeared to the
patriarchs and gave the law. But there are other passag-es in the
New Testament, the sense of which obviously requires the tnith
of this part of the proposition. The Apostle, 1 Cor. x. 4, in ap-
plying- the history of the children of Israel as an example and warn-
ing- to Christians, has these words : " They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." The part of
Jewish history to which the Apostle refers, is thus related, Psalm
Ixxviii. lo, 16, " He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave
them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also
out of the rock." In grateful remembi'ance of this seasonable ex-
ertion of divine power, God is often called in the Old Testament
the Rock of Israel ; so Psalm Ixxviii. 35, it is said, " They remem-
bered that God was their rock, and the High God their Redeem-
er." Now the Apostle says, that the spiritual rock that followed,
i. e. went along with them in their journey, was Christ. His power
brought water out of the rock, and the same power continued to
defend and guide them. Again, 1 Cor. x. 9, the Apostle, continu-
ing to draw a lesson to Christians from the history of the Israel-
ites, says, " Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also
tempted and were destroyed of serpents." We read, Deut. vi. 16,
358 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
" Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in
Massah." And here the Apostle substitutes Christ in place of the
Lord their God. Tiie Greek runs thus, M/;i5s ix-jei^a^oij/Mv rov X^/tf-
Tov, -/.adc/jc -/Ml rivig aurwv i'Tnisaciav, [[Neither let us tempt Christ, as
some of them also tempted.] It Las been well observed that the
particles -/.aOajc, zai \ja,s also,] require us to repeat after s'rrsi^asav
[tempted"] the same accusatives which had followed EXcrE/^a^w/xEv
[let us tempt] : and almost all the MSS. and the most ancient ver-
sions agree with the earliest writers who quote this jJassage in read-
ing X^iSTov [Christ] as the first accusative. The 18th verse of
Psalm Ixviii. which I mentioned formerly as quoted by the apostle
to the Ephesians, and applied to Christ, immediately follows an-
other verse of that Psalm, in which are these words, — " The Lord
is among them in the holy place, as in Sinai ;" so that the same
person who ascended on high was in Sinai : and accordingly the
apostle to the Hebrews xii. 25, 26, has taught us that it was the
voice of Christ which shook Mount Sinai. '' See that ye refuse
not him that speaketh from heaven ; for if they escaped not who
refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Whose
voice then shook the earth." It is not easy for one who is ac-
quainted with the phraseology of the New Testament to understand
any other by " him that speaketh from heaven" than Jesus Christ.
But this is the immediate antecedent to the relative which begins
the next clause, " Whose voice ;" and the time marked by " then"
is sufficiently determined by the context to be the time of giving
the law from Mount Sinai.
All these particulars laid together constitute an evidence which
appears to be satisfactory, that Jesus Christ is the person who
appeared to the patriarchs, and gave the law from Mount Sinai,
who was worshipped in the temple at Jerusalem, and who was
announced by the prophets as the author of a new dispensation.
SECTION III.
There are some objections to the conclusiveness of the evidence
now adduced, and there is a difference of opinion with regard to
the amount ol the proposition, supposing it to be proved. It is
proper that you should be acquainted both with the objections and
with the different opinions. In following out this discussion, I
IN HIS I'RE-EXISTENT STATE. 359
was led to consult a variety of authors, many of whom repeat the
same things, with a small change of expression. By comparing
them together, I shall be able to state the objections and the dif-
ferent opinions clearly : and it may be both agreeable and useful
to you to know the names, and to receive a specimen of the man-
ner of those writers who have entered most deeply into this con-
troversy. In the quotations which follow, I shall have occasion
to oppose Socinian, Arian, and Athanasian writers to one another.
For the objections which the Socinians make to the evidence of
the proposition are answered not only by the Athanasians, but by
the Arians also ; and the futility of the inference which the Arians
draw from the proposition is exposed by the Socinians, as well as
by the Athanasians. So that those who hold the third opinion
concerning the Person of Christ, have for their allies, in one part
of this discussion, those who hold the second opinion, and in ano-
ther part of it, those who hold the first.
The Socinians are obliged, in consistency with their principles,
to combat the whole of that proposition which we have been en-
deavouring to establish, because, if it be true, it leaves no doubt
with regard to the pre-existence of Jesus. I will not follow them
in their attempts to give another interpretation to those texts
which constitute the evidence of the proposition, but will leave
you to judge, from reviewing them, whether that interpretation
by which the proposition is supported be not agreeable to the na-
tural sense of the words in every particular passage, and to the
analogy of all of them taken together. In stating; the objections
to the evidence, I have two things to lay before you : — 1. The
Socinian solution of that expression in the Old Testament, an
Angel of Jehovah, which furnishes one of the general grounds of
the proposition. 2. A plausible argument against it, drawn from
a mode of expression which occurs in different places of the New
Testament.
1. The Person whom we traced through the Old Testament is
often called an angel, the angel of the Lord, from whence it has
been inferred that he cannot be God the Father. But Mr Lind-
sey, one of the latest and ablest defenders of pure Socinianism, in
the Sequel to his Apology, furnishes the following- solution of that
expression : " In the account which is given of the divine appear-
ances in the Scriptures, it is sometimes related in what form and
manner they were notified and made, viz. by an extraordinary
light, fire, cloud, audible voice, &c. At all other times it cannot
be doubted but there was some sensible sign given, though it be
not always mentioned. Now this outward token of the presence
of God is what is meant generally by the angel of God, where
not particularly specified and appropriated otherwise ; that which
360 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
manifested his appearance, whatever it was." He considers the
Shechinah, or material symbol of glory, and the audible voice of
the oracle from thence, as angels of the Lord, the true God acting
upon them, and manifesting himself by them ; and therefore he
concludes that it was not any great angel or separate spirit who
was seen and heard in the instances quoted from the Old Testa-
ment, but God himself appearing in the only way in which a spi-
ritual being can appear, by sensible tokens and actions, exhibited
for the end proposed, such as an extraordinary light, a particular
shape or hgure, an articulate voice, <S:c. &c. * The solution pro-
ceeds upon this sound principle of theism, that all the creatures
of God may be employed to execute his purposes. He maketh
the winds his messengers, and fire, pestilence, and sword, receiving
their destination from him, may be called his angels. But this
principle, however true, does not give a satisfactory explication of
the sulijcct to which it is applied. For the appearances to be ac-
counted for are not occasional, unconnected, and varying. We
have found one angel of God standing forth through all the Scrip-
tures, bearing a certain character, and employed in offices and ac-
tions which are described with every circumstance of time and
place that can serve to mark a person, and often with a reference
to former offices and actions of the same person. I shall give you
this answer to the Socinian solution, in the words of Mr Taylor,
an English clergyman, who published, some years ago, a book en-
titled, the Apology of Ben Mordecai to his friends for embracing
Christianity. Under the assumed appearance of a Jew, stating
the reasons which made him think the Christian faith not incon-
sistent with the law of Moses, Mr Taylor artfully introduces, and
defends with learning and ingenuity, his own views of the pecu-
liar doctrines of Christianity. He considers Jesus as the first of
the creatures of God, an angel distinguished above every other,
who conducted the dispensation of the Old Testament, and who
completed the scheme for the redemption of the human race, by
assuming a body at the time when the Gospel was preached.
This part of his creed leads him to defend the pre-existence of
Jesus against the attacks of the Socinians ; and in answer to their
hypothesis, that all the appearances which we have ascribed to one
person are nothing more than the appearance of the invisible Je-
hovah by symbol, he thus reasons : " The accounts of many of
these appearances are given in so plain and historical a manner,
and with so many circumstances, which cannot be accounted for
either by vision or figurative expression, that both the Jews and
Christians of former ages have looked upon them to be literal ;
* Sequel to Lindsey's Apol. p. 324, 336.
IN HIS PRE-EXfSTENT STATE. 36l
and if they are not historical facts, there is no dependence upon
the literal sense of any one action recorded in Scripture." " A
plague or an earthquake may be called a messenger of Jehovah,
though it be no person. But it is never calle<l Jehovah : and it
is impossible to conceive how an angel called Jehovah, who was
visible to several people at the same time, and conversed with
them personally, can be considered merely as a symbol, or as any
other than a real person." *
2. The second objection against the proposition, which we have
been ilhistrating, is a plausil)ie argument drawn from a moile of ex-
pression that occurs in different places of the New Testament. It
is said in the first verse of the Epistle to the Hebrews, " God, who
at sunih-y times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by
his Son." And there are many other expressions to the same pur-
port, which seem to imply that God had not spoken by his Son till
the last days ; and undoubtedly, if we knew nothing more of the
divine dispensations than these words contain, this is the interpre-
tation we shouhl give them. But every author is to be explained
in a manner which renders his meaning in one place consistent
with bis meaning in another ; and every author, supposing that his
readers will observe this rule, is not accustomed to say in one place
every thing that may be said upon a sul)ject, but leaves much to be
supplied from other places. When we take into view what we may
learn from the rest of Scripture concerning the character and olB-
ces of the Son, it is easy to interpret the words of the apostle in
this manner. Go;l spake formerly by the prophets, the messengers
of his will to the fathers. The Son did not appear. It was not
known to the world or to the prophets that they were inspired by
the ministry of the Son ; and no inconvenience arose from this cir-
cumstance not being made known, because the message was equally
divine, and claimed the same reverence, whether the prophets re-
ceived it from God, or from the Son of God But now the Son
hath been made manifest, A person assuming that name, and
conversing freely with men, hath declared God, not in visit m to
prophets, but openly to the people. Now, therefore, it is fit to re-
veal the original dignity of this Person, in order that respect for
the messenger may procure attention and obedience to the mes-
sage. The earliest Christian writers furnish the answer which I
have now given. " The Lord was truly the instructor of the an-
cient people, first by Moses, afterwards by the prophets. But he
is the guide of the new people, by himself face to face."f And
the answer has been adopted by those who hold the second and
" Ben Moidecai, p. 228, 236. f Clem. Alex. Padag. L. I. c. 8, 11.
VOL. I. Q
362 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
third opinions concerning the Person of Christ, as sufficient to re-
pel this part of the Socinian objection. " The plain sense of the
Avorfl," says Mr Ta}lor, " appears to me to be this : God spake
formerly to our fathers hy the mediation or ministry of the pro-
phets, hut now speaks to us hy the Son himself, without any such
mediation."* But there is another part of this oI>jection arising
from those expressions in the New Testament where the law seems
to be ascribed to angels. " Our father," says Stephen, Acts vii.
53, " received the law by the disposition of angels." And the
apostle to the Hebrews argues upon this ground, that the Gospel
is superior to the law. " If the word spoken l)y argels was stead-
fast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recom-
pense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salva-
tion, which began to be spoken by the Lord ?" It is impossible,
then, say the Socinians to other Christians, that the Son, whom
you account a being superior to Angels, was the Author of the law,
for the excellence of the Gospel is made to consist in this, that it
was given l)y liira. The answer to this objection is, in part, the
same as to the forzner.
It is implied in some passages of the Old Testament, that the
giver of the law was attended upon ]Mount Sinai by a multitude of
the heavenly host. — " The Lord," says Moses, Deut. xxxiii. 2,
" came from Sinai : He shined forth from Mount Paran, and he
came with ten thousand of his saints ; from his right hand went a
fiery law for them." The Son of God was not then revealed. His
superiority to the retinue of his angels was not known ; and no par-
ticular mention being made of him, it is said accurately by Stephen
that the fathers received the law s/c hiarayag ayyikav, iuler iurmas
angelarinii, Qimong hosts, or troops, of angels.] Whereas the
Gospel was spoken by the Lord himself, without that attendance of
the heavenly host which constituted part of the awful scene upon
Mount Sinai, but with a manifestation of his own original glory.
In this respect the manner of giving the law is clearly distinguished
from the manner of giving the Gospel, without our being obliged
to infer from the expressions used that an angel was the author of
the law. But in order to perceive the full force of the answer to
this objection, you must recollect that the ten commandments are
not included under " the word spoken by angels ;" for the history
of Moses requires us to make a distinction between the decalogue
and the rest of the law. The ten commandments were spoken by
(jod himself. " God spake these words, saying, I am Jehovah."
I'ut the majesty with which they were delivered was so terrible,
that the peo])le entreated God would not speak to them any more.
* Ben Mordeciii, p. 317-
4
IN Ills PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 3G-3
*« Speak thou with us," they said to Moses, " and we will hear, but
Jet not God speak with us, iest we die." Accordingly Moses says,
Deut. V. 22, " These words," the decalogue, " the Lord spake un-
to all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, with
a great voice, and he added no more." " The rest," says Dr
Randolph, " both thejudicial and the ceremonial law, was delivered,
and the covenant was made, by the mediation of Moses : and there-
fore the apostle says, Gal. iii. 19, ' The law was ordained by angels
in the hand of a Mediator : ' hence it is called the law of Moses.
And the character given of it in the Pentateuch is this — these are
the statutes, and judi^ments, and laws, which the Lord made be-
tween him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, by the hand
of Moses. In like manner, after the tabernacle was reared, God
communeil with Moses from between the cherubims on the mercy-
seat, who represented angels, and with the priests who entered the
tabernacle. But the people were not permitted to approach."*
iSo far Dr Randolph, formerly Professor of Divinity in Oxford,
whose writings, one entitled a Vindication of the Doctrine of the
Trinity, and another, Pnelectiones Theologicte, chiefly \ipon the
divinity of our Saviour, I have found very useful, composed with
sound judgment, and with much knowledge of the Scriptures. You
will attend to the force of the distinction which he has mentioned.
The ten commandments, which are of perpetual and universal ob-
ligation, and which are incorj)orated as part of the Gospel, so that
the moral law is e>«taldisbed by faith, were spoken by God himself.
But the judicial and ceremonial law, which were local temporary
institutions, not extending beyond the boundaries and the duration
of the Jewish state, were ordained by angels in the hand of a Me-
diator. The divine author of them was withdrawn from the eyes
of the people, for Moses stood between him and them; but there
was no intervention of this kind in the delivery of the Gospel.
Instead of that terrible majesty which had accompanied the giving
of the ten commandments, which made the people request that God
would not speak any more, there was in the appearance of Jesus a
grace which invited men to draw near; and he himself spoke the
words of eternal life.
Considering, then, the Socinian objections as not sufficient to in-
validate the evidence that has been adduced, I shall now direct your
attention to the different opinions that have been held concerning
the amount of the general proposition. If Jesus appeared to the
patriarchs, gave the law, and was worshipped in the temple, it is
plain that he existed before he was born of Mary. But it is not
self-evident whether he be an exalted creature, or essentially God.
* Prael. Theolog. v A. iii. p. 397.
364 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
And many of those who consider him as the first of the creatures
of God, while they defend his pre-existence against the Socinians,
endeavour to reconcile this proposition with their own system. You
will judg-e of the nature of the attempt from two books in which it
is formally made. The one is entitled, Essay on Spirit, by Dr Clay-
ton, formerly Bishop of Clogh.er in Ireland. The principles of his
book are these. The whole expanse is full of spirits of different
ranks and degrees. God may communicate what proportions of his
attributes he pleases to the different gradations of created beings ;
and, according to an ancient opinion, he may employ those upon
whom he has conferred more exalted powers, to act in a middle sta-
tion between him and the lower productions of his Almighty hand.
Now, while inferior angels were appointed to preside over other
people and nations upon earth, one angel, who is called by Moses
Jehovah, had Israel assigned to him by the Most High as the por-
tion of his inheritance. He was the guardian angel of the poste-
rity of Abraham ; and the peculiar distinction conferred upon him
was this, that he was authorised to appear in the name and person
of Jehovah, as his image and representative. Hence, although in
some places he is distinguished from the Almighty who sent him,
yet, in others, he takes the name of Jehovah, and claims and re-
ceives the honours due to God.
The other book is the apology of Ben Mordecai, one great ob-
ject of which is to elucidate and support the opinion that had been
delivered in the Essay on Spirit. Mr Taylor lays down this prin-
ciple, that as it is said in the Jewish Scriptures that Jehovah often
appeared and conversed with men ; and as the supreme (jod and Fa-
ther never was seen by any one, there must be some other person
besides him who is called by that name. He illustrates the truth
of this principle by isso.^t of the passages in the Old Testament, to
which I have referred in Section First ; and then he concludes from
them : — " Thus we see that the sacred writers attribute to the
angel who acts in the name, and authority, and moral character of
God, the name Jehovah. And this angel, speaking in the name of
God that sent iiim, uses the first person ; and whatever is perform-
ed by this angel is said to be performed by God himself. So the
angel who appeared to Moses in the bush, said, ' I am that I am.
Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I am hath sent me
unto you.' All this is agreeable to the received customs of man-
kind, and well understood. The angel takes the name of Jehovah,
because it is a common maxim, loquitur legatus se)-mune rnitlentis
eum, [an ambassador speaks in the language of him who commis-
sions him,] as an ambassador in the name of his king, or the feci-
alis when he denounced war in the name of the Roman people : and
what is done by the angel, is said to be done by God according to
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 365
another maxim. Qui facit per ciUum, facit per se."* [He who
acts by another, acts himself".]
From these two writers you may learn the Arian opinion with
reg-arti to the amount of the proposition which we have been con-
sidering-. That person, they say, whom the Scriptures of the Old
Testament call both angel and Jehovah, is a created spirit, who was
allowed to personate the Almighty, not only speaking- by his au-
thority, but appearing- in his person, and bearing- his name, who
having-, in the name of Jehovah, conversed with the ])atriarchs, and
given the law, came in the last days in his own person to preach the
Gospel.
To this opinion I shall oppose the words of Mr Lindsey and of
Dr Randolph.
It is an opinion which the Socinians cannot admit, because it esta-
blishes the pre-existence of Jesus : and as this opinion appears to
remove some of the difficulties which attend the third opinion con-
cerning- the person of Christ, and has been adopted by many as a
middle system between that which degrades the Saviour of the
world to the rank of a man, and that which exalts him to be equal
with God the Father, the Socinians consider it as peculiarly formi-
dable to their tenets, and they attack it with much vigour, and often
with sound argument. Mr Lindsey, after quoting- the manner in
which the Lord passed by and proclaimed his name befoi'e Moses,
says, " If this be not a description and peculiar character of God,
where shall we meet with it ? An angel ever so great, ever so an-
cient, is still a creature ; and can never be clothed, nor ought to be
clothed with these divine attributes upon any occasion." " The
whole transaction at Mount Sinai shows that Jehovah was present,
and acted, and not another for him. It is the God that had deliver-
ed tliem out of Egypt, with whom they were to enter into covenant,
as their God, and who thereupon accepted them as his people, who
was the author of their religion and laws, and who himself deliver-
ed to them those ten commands, the most sacred part. There is
nothing to lead us to imagine that the person who was their God,
did not speak in his own name ; not the least intimation that here
was another representing him."t
The author of the Essay on Spirit is aware of the force of these
objections to his system. " The only difficulty in this case," he says,
" is that the Jehovah of Zion does not always declare that he is de-
puted, l)ut actually and literally speaks in his own name, calls him-
self Jehovah, and positively prohibits the worship of any God but
himself. Thou shalt have none other Gods before me ; thereby
seeming to forbid even the woi'ship of the Supreme Jehovah." His
* Ben Mordecai, p. 245, 233. t Lindsey, p. 313— 339.
366
ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
answer to this difficulty is, that the Hebrews were far from beings
explicit antl accurate in their style ; and that it was customary for
prophets and angels to speak in the name and character of God.*
You will judge how far this answer removes the difficulty, from
the following- extract out of the writings of Dr Randolph, who, in
his vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity, has given a formal
answer to the Essay on Spirit ; and in other parts of his works also
employs much jmins to establish this point, that the ang-el who is
called Jehovah in the Old Testament is not a creature, hut truly
God. " Some, to evade these strong proofs of ouv Lord's divinity,
have asserted that this was only a created angel, appeainng in the
name or pereon of the Father; it being customary in Scripture for
one person to sustain the character, and act and speak in the name
of another. But these assertions want proof. I lind no instances
of one person acting and speaking in the name of another, without
tirst declaring in whose name he acts and speaks. The instances
usually alleged are nothing to the purpose. If we sometimes find
an angel in the book of Revelation speaking in the name of God,
yet from the context it will be easy to show that this angel was the
great ang-el, the angel of the covenant. But if there should be some
instances in the prophetical or poetical parts of Scripture, of an
abrupt change of persons, where the person speaking is not parti-
cularly specified, this will by no means come up to the case before
us. Here is a person sustaining the name and character of the most
High God from one end of the Bible to the other ; bearing his glo-
rious and fearful name, the incommunicable name Jehovah, expres-
sive of his necessary existence ; sitting in the throne of Gotl ; dwel-
ling and presiding in his temple ; delivering laws in his own name ;
giving out oracles ; hearing prayers ; foi'giving sins. And yet these
writers would persuade us that this was only a tutelary angel ; that
a creature was the God of Israel, and that to this creature all their
service and worship was directed ; that the great God, ' whose name
is jealous,' was pleased to give his glory, his worship, his throne, to
a creature. What is this but to make the law of God himself in-
troductory of the same idolatry that was practised by all the nations
of the heathen ? But we are told that bold figures of speech are com-
mon in the Hebrew language, which is not to be tied down in its
interpretation to the severer rules of modern criticism. We may
be assui'ed that those opinions are indefensible, which cannot be
supported without charging the word of (jlod with want of propriety"
or perspicuity. Such pretences nn'ght be borne with, if the question
were about a phrase or two in the poetical or pnjphetical parts of-
Scripture. But this, if it be a figure, is a figure which runs through
* Essay on Spii'it, p. 65.
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 3G7
the whole Scripture. And a bold interpreter must he be, who sup-
poses that such figures are perpetually and uniformly made use of
in a point of such importance, without any meaning- at all. This
is to confound the use of language, to make the Holy Scripture a
mysterious unintelligible book, sufficient to prove nothing-, or rather
to prove any tiling, which a wild imagination shall suggest."*
I have not been willing to interrupt the impression which this
whole passage is fitted to make. The three great circumstances
■contained in it, and which constitute the whole argument upon
this suliject, are these. 1. The uniformity with which the ange!
appears in the person of Jehovah. It is not upon a few particular
occasions, when an abrupt change of persons might be dictated by
strong emotions, or interpreted by interesting- situations. But
throughout the whole Bible, at the delivery of laws, in plain his-
torical narration, as well as in impassioned poetry, the angel, without
any intimation of a figure, speaks as God. But, as has been welS
said, even an ambassador, when he declares the commands of his
prince, speaks in the third person, — The King my master. The pro-
phets commonly introduced their revelations witii this exordium.
Thus saith the Lord, before they presumed to speak in his name.
Angels, when they appeared in vision, declared that they were sent
by the God of heaven ; and there appears the grossest impiety in
supposing that a creature during a succession of ages, histroniam
e.vercuisse in qua Dei nomen assiiniot, et omnia, qucB Dei sunt,
sibi attribuat,f Qhad acted a part in which he assumed the name
of God, and ascribed to himself all that is God's.] 2. The second
circumstance is, that this angel not only takes the other names by
which the Almighty is known, but calls himself Jehovah, although
that word, both by its natural import, and by the manner in which
the Scriptures introduce it, appears to be the proper distinguishing-
name of the Supreme God. E/w si/mi o c^v, [I am he who is,] is
the exposition which the Septuagint gives of this name. Now -o
■ov [that which is,] was the name given by Plato to the Supreme
Being. 'E/, Thou art, was the single word written upon the en-
trance of the temple at Delphos ; and Plutarch says that this name
is solely applicable to God, since that which truly is must be sem-
piternal. The Scripture use of the name Jehovah corresponds to
the import of this exposition. " Thou whose name alone is Je-
hovah." " Jehovah is my name, and my glory will I not give to
another.":|: Yet this word the angel takes to himself; and when
Moses asked him, if " they shall say unto me, what is his name ?
What shall 1 say unto them ?" this is the name which he desires
* Randolph's View, vol. ii. p. 1'29.
+ Ts. Ixxxiii. 18. Isaiah xlii. 8.
t Bull, p. 10.
868 ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO JESUS
Moses to carry to the children of Israel as his.* 3. The third cir-
cumstance is, that the angel not only demands worship, but claims
it as his to the exclusion of every other being-. The professed
object of the law of Moses was to preserve the Jews from the ido-
latry of the surrounding nations. But if the author of their law
was only a creature of a higher rank than the angels who pre-
sided over other kingdoms, and if the continued use of a figure of
speech, which was never properly explained, led them 1o consider
this creature as God, then did the Almigiity lend his name to
establish in the land of Israel the worship of a creature ; and all
the preparation and splendour of the law were insignificant, since
it only taught the Jews to worship one creatuce, while their neigh-
bours w^ere worshipping another.
These reasons ap])ear to show, that without supposing an inex-
tricable delusion to run through all the Scrij)tures, we must admit
that the person whom we have traced in the Old and New Testa-
ment is not a creature, but that the name which he uniformly
takes to himself, belongs to him by nature.
It may perhaps occur to you, that by ascribing that intercourse
with mankind which is recorded in the Old Testament to a per-
son who is himself truly God, we remove God the Father from
all care of the children of men, and detract from the honour due to
him. But we may find, as we advance in this subject, that the
Scriptures have obviated this difficulty, by intimating that perfect
union between the Father and the Son, which was just mentioned
in summing up the argument from creation. Although God made
the worlds by his Son, yet he is also the Creator of all, because the
Father and the Son are one; and although God from the beginning-
manifested himself by his Son, " who is the image of the invisible
God," yet the glory of the Father and the Son are the same. It
was the power of the undivided Godhead which was exerted by
the Son at creation ; it was the majesty of the undivided Godhead
which apj)eared in the Son upon mount Sinai ; and all the adora-
tions offered through ages to the giver of the law were the tribute
which the one true God is alone worthy to receive. We may find
that this system is revealed in Scripture ; and that it reconciles all
the discoveries made concerning the person of the Son of God.
At present we are employed in collecting the facts upon which
this system rests ; and without pretending to speculate as to the
probaliility of any particular fact, we receive the information which
the Scripture affords.
One great advantage we derive from the proposition which has ■
lately engaged our attention. It connects in the closest manner
• Exod. iii 13 — Ifi.
3
IN HIS PRE-EXISTENT STATE. 369
the Old and the New Testament. They not only point to one
great object, but they were conducted by one person, who, as
Justin Martyr speaks, although he did at length for good reasons
take to himself a body, yet had always been doing good to the liu-
man I'ace ; for no excellent thing was ever performed by men with-
out the presence of this Divine Person. You may expect then to
find in the Old and New Testament that unity of design, and that
correspondence and analogy of parts, which mark all the schemes
of a superior enlightened mind. According to this proposition,
the glorious person, who had established the dispensation of the
Old Testament, is not made to withdraw as soon as it comes to an
end. But he appears in the New Testament under another cha-
racter, with a display of more condescending and more universal
love, to complete the work which he had begun, and to fulfil the
words of his prophets. Every thing said by them concerning the
person who had sent them is applied by this proposition to the
person whom they announced ; and there is a depth and perfection
of wisdom in the manner of the application. As it was not neces-
sary that the Son of God should l)e known while the Old Testa-
ment dispensation existed, we find that the ancient Jews had very
imperfect conceptions of his nature. But when he came in the
flesh, he took off the veil from the ancient Scriptures. The Old
Testament now appears to be full of Jesus Christ ; and all the revela-
tions, from the beginning- of the world, collected and interpreted
by their application to hira, redound to the honour, and illustrate
the original dignity of the angel of the covenant.
Q 2
[ C70
CHAP. IV.
EOCTRINE CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST TAUGHT
DURING HIS LIFE.
I HAVE considered both those passages of Scripture, which teach
plainly that Jesus existed before he was born of Mary, and those
which ascribe certain actions to him in his pre-existent state. The
manner in which these actions are described not only contains a
clear refutation of the first opinion concerning the person of Christ,
but seems intended to convey an impression that he is not a crea-
ture ; and with the prejudice arising from this impression, we now
proceed to attend to those passages of Scripture which are to direct
us in foi'ming a conception of his original dignity.
Dr Clarke, in his Introduction to the Scripture Doctrine of the
Trinity, expresses himself thus : " 'Tis a thing very destructive of
religion, and the cause of almost all divisions amongst Christians,
when young persons, at their first entering upon the study of di-
vinity, look upon human and perhaps modern forms of speaking, as
the rule of their faith ; understanding those also according to the
accidental sound of the words, or according to the notions which
happen at any particular time to prevail in the world, and then pick-
ing out, as proofs, some few single texts of Scripture, which, to
minds already strongly prejudiced, must needs seem to sound, or may
easily be accommodated, the same way ; while they attend not im-
partially to the whole scope and general tenor of Scripture. Whereas
on the contrary were the whole Scriptures first thoroughly studied,
and seriously considered, as the rule and only rule of truth in mat-
ters of religion ; and the sense of all human forms and expressions
deduced from thence, the greatest part of errors, at least of uncha-
ritable divisions, might in all probability have been prevented."
Dr Clarke speaks the language of all true Protestants, when he
says that tiie Scriptures, thoroughly studied and seriously consider-
ed, are the rule, and the only rule of truth in matters of religion.
He speaks like a soimd critic, when he says that texts ought not to
be imderstood according to the accidental sound of the words, or ac-.
eording to the notions which happen at any particular time to pre-
vail. But it does not appear to me how we can attain a certain
knowledge of the whole scope and general tenor of Scripture, with-
DOCTRIXE Ci)NCERNlNG THE PERSON OF CHRIST, <S:C. 371
out a close examination of particular texts. In every inquiry we
find it necessary to guard ag-ainst the errors whicli arise from par-
tial views, by comparing- diiierent parts of the suhject, and by cor-
recting the conclusions which had been too hastily formed. But still,
notwithstanding- this danger, the scientific method of arriving at
truth in all subjects is to ])roceed by an induction of particulars to
an apprehension of the whole : and in the study of theology, which
is in truth the study of the Scriptures, any notions formed of the
doctrine contained in them must be loose and precarious, unless you
investigate by sound criticism the amount of words and phrases.
Although therefore I consider the collection of texts from the New
Testament relative to the doctrine of the Trinity, which I)r Clarke
has made the ground-work of his propositions, as a most useful help
to any one who sets himself to examine the sul)ject, I do think that
by following the method of studying it which he recommends, there
is a danger of being prevented, l)y a phraseology which runs through
many of the texts, from receiving the obvious sense of others, li,
because it is said in numberless places that the Son is sent by the
Father, and came to do the will of the Father, and that all things
are given him by God, we infer that there is an inferiority to God
in his nature, and afterwards find this inference in direct oj)positiou
to those texts, which teach that there is an equality, we have rea-
son to presume that we have committed a mistake ; and we are re-
minded, that the proper method of proceeding was not to draw a
conchision from a general impression, l»ut to begin with ascertain-
ing the sense of particular texts, and to rest in that conclusion
which affords a consistent interpretation of all the passages that re-
late to the same sultject.
I said, indeed, that we bring with us, to the part of the subject
upon which v*'e are now entering, an impression that Jesus is not a
creature. But this is an impression suggested by a careful and pa-
tient examination of those texts in which he is described as the
Creator of the world, and by the whole tenor of those parts of the
Old and New Testament, in which he is described as the Person by
whom all intercourse between the Deity and the human race has
been conducted. It is impossible to make progress in any subject
without forming some opinion as we advance. If that opinion re-
ceive no suppoi't in the further prosecution of the subject, it rests
upon its original foundation. If it be contradicted, we ought to re-
vise the grounds of it, that we may discover where the mistake lies :
but if it be found to coincide with the amount of future researches,
it receives light and confirmation from this concurrence of evidence.
These are the principles upon which I am to proceed in a criti-
cal examination of those texts of the Nev Testament, the true
meaning of which must decide the question between the second and
372 DOCTRINE CONCERNING CIIRISt's PERSON
third opinions concerning- the person of Christ. But as the texts
are found chiefly in the Epistles, which were not written for twenty
years aftei" our Lord's death, I think it proper to l)egin with an his-
torical view of the manner in which the doctrine concerning his per-
son was taught during- his life.
It is manifest to any one who reads the Gospels, that our Lord
did not unfold all the truths of his religion at once to his disciples.
In condescension to the narrowness of their views, and the strength
of their prejudices, there was a preparation hy which he led them
on, as they were ahle to bear it, to points of difficult apprehension.
When we observe that he never spoke plainly of his sufferings, till
they had declared their faith in him as the Messiah — that the future
extension of his religion was intimated to them in parables — that
they were not permitted before his death, to preach the gospel to
any but Jews — and that their expectations of a temporal kingdom
continued till his ascension, we cannot doubt that some of the fun-
damental doctrines of Chi-istianity were very imperfectly known by
the apostles while our Lord was with them ; and we are not sur-
prised to find these words in his last discourse to them, " I have
yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."*
If he was truly God, there was a peculiar titness in the reserve with
which he chose to reveal the dignity of his person. He appeared
as a man, that he might converse familiarly with his brethren —
that, by leading a life of sorrow, he might go before his companions
in the practice of those virtues which they also were tabe required
to exercise — and that, by falling in due time a victim to the malice
of his enemies, he might accomplish the salvation of the world. For
these purposes, the veil of humanity was assumed ; and if it was in-
deed the Godhead which that veil concealed from the eyes of ordi-
nary beholders, the same purposes required that those persons, who
were continually around the person of Jesus, should have, during
his life, only an indistinct impression of the glory and majesty of
him with whom they conversed — and that the clear knowledge that
he was God, should be conveyed to their minds after his death, by
that recollection and explication of his words, which they were to
derive from the illumination of his Spirit. After he had ascended
to heaven, they could not think too highly of his character; and
their conceptions of the wisdom and grace of their Master would be
very much raised, when they found that those woixls, the full force
of Avhich they understood not at the time when they were spoken,
admitted of an interpretation every way suited to the exalted no-
tions, which they were taught by the Spirit to entertain concerning
the dignity of him from whom they had ^^'oceeded.
' John xvi. 12.
TAUGHT DURING HIS LIFE. 373
This appears to be the plan which the wisdom of God followed
in revealing- this subject. We find, during- the life of Jesus, intima-
tions of the superiority of his character, such as are not only per-
fectly consistent with the future revelation that he is God, but such
as nothing less than that revelation can fully explain. At the same
time, we tind both the apostles and Jews rather confounded than en-
lightened by these intimations ; and it is not in the conversations
recorded in the Gospels, but in the expressions used by the authors
of them, or by the other apostles after the day of Pentecost, that
we discern their knowledge of the character of their Master. By
giving- a short connected view of these previous intimations, I shall
follow the preparation which our Lord used in showing- himself to
his disciples.
All the circumstances which attended the birth of Jesus mark-
ed him out as an extraordinary person. The annunciation by the
angel of the Lord, first to Mary, and afterwards to Joseph — the
reference to ancient prophecy in tlie languag-e which the angel
used — the glory which shone around the shepherds of Bethlehem
at the time of the birth — and the song- of the multitude of the hea-
venly host which was with the angel that spake — together with
the visit of the wise men, who, led by a star in the East, " came
to Jerusalem to worship him that was born King- of the Jews," —
all these things could not fail to be noised abroad ; they were mat-
ter of wonder to those that heard them, and Mary, not understand-
ing- what they meant, " kept all these things," we are told, " and
pondered them in her heart." The fii'st direct explication of them
was at the baptism of Jesus. John, whose mother Elizabeth was
a relation of Maryj had been born a few months before Jesus. The
Angel, who appeared to his father Zacharias the priest, had said
that the son who was to be born " should go befoi'e the Lord God
of Israel in the spii'it and power of Elias ;" and Zacharias, instruct-
ed by the temporary dumbness, which had been the punishment of
his iinbelief, to repose entire confidence in the words of the ang-el,
said, after John was born, " Thou, child, shalt be called the Pro-
phet of the Highest ; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord
to prepare his ways."* When John was about thirty, " the word
of God came unto him," and he appeared, according- to the desti-
nation of ancient prophecy applied to him at his birth, " the voice
of one crying- in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord."f
Although personally acquainted vvith Jesus, John knew not that
he was the Messiah, till taught by these words, in what manner
he was to be distinguished from others : " Upon whom thou shalt
see the Spirit descending- and remaining- on him, the same is he
* Luke ch. i. f Luke iii. 3 — G.
374 DOCTRINE CONCERNING CIIRIST's PERSON
which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."* Soon after this revela-
tion was made to John, Jesus came with the multitude to be bap-
tized of Jolin, wlio preached the baptism of repentance ; and as he
went up out of the water, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit
of God descended, either in the shape of a dove, or in the manner
in which a dove descends, and lighted upon him. " And lo, a voice
from heaven, saying-, This is m}' beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." Instantly John recog-nized Jesus as the Person to whom
he was sent to l)ear witness. Having- seen, he " bare record, that
this is the Son of God," and pointed out Jesus as such to the Jews.j
It appears impossible to me that any person, who, to all the cir-
cumstances that had conspired to raise the highest expectations con-
cerning- Jesus, joins the solemnity and splendour of that appear-
ance by which he is made known to John, his forerunner, can in-
terpret the words uttered by the voice from heaven in an inferior
metaphorical sense, or can g-ive them any other than that exalted
import which they naturally bear, and which is suggested by the
use of them in ancient prophecy. This opinion founded upon the
circumstances of the case is confirmed by two critical remarks
which deserve attention. The one is, that, by all the three Evan-
gelists who record them, the article is prefixed both to the sub-
stantive and the adjective, Matt. iii. 17, oiirog ss-.v o vioQ /j,ou 6 aya-
'!ty^'!'"g ; Qhis is my Son, the beloved ;] the most discriminating
mode of expression that could be employed, as if to separate Jesus
from every other who at any time had received the appellation of
the Son of God, and to lead back the thoughts of the hearers to
the prophecies in which the Messiah had been announced under
that name. This is that Son of mine who is the beloved. The
other critical remark is, that all the three Evangelists use the verb
of the second clause, in whom I am well pleased, in the first aorist,
iv w svdoTirisa. Now, although we often I'ender the Greek aorist by
the English present, yet this can be done with propriety only when
the proposition is equally true whether it be stated in the present,
in the past, or in the future time. Tac /zsi. raiv cpav?.'j)\i Gw/jdciaf
oXiyog y^^ovog disXuffsv. [^A little time, has dissolved the connections
of the wicked.] It matters nothing to the truth or significancy of
this proposition, in what time you translate dnXuss : for a short
space of time has dissolved the connexions of the wicked in past
ages, does dissolve them in our days, and will dissolve them in the
days of our posterity. This force of the Greek indefinite tense is
preserved in English by introducing the adverb always. A short
space of time always dissolves the connexions of the wicked.:]: And
• John i. .-^r?. t M'tt. iii. 16. 17. John i. 34.
J D.ilzul's Coll. Gneca Miyora, Nota,- in Herod. 19, 6. Ed. l!iU8.
TAUGHT DURING HIS LIFE. 375
thus the analogy of the Greek language requires us not only to
consider the name, Son of God, as applied in a peculiar sense to
Jesns, but alao to refer to the expression used at his baptism that
intercourse which had subsisted between the Father and the Son,
before this name was announced to men.
This voice from heaven, which John heard, appeared to have
conveyed to his mind the most exalted apprehensions of that Per-
son whom it marked out to him. For the words in which he af-
terwards speaks of Jesus correspond to the third opinion concern-
ing' his person, rather tlian to the second. '• He that cometh from
above is above all. And what he iiath seen and heard, that he
tostitieth. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into his hand." * We cannot say that the full meaning- of the
expression was known to the apostles, and that they could not
consider a man, to whom such a name had been given in such a
manner, as merely a man whom God had sent. And yet, when
we find them introducing- at different times into declarations of
their faith, this expression. Thou art the Son of the living- God,
it is natural to suppose that they referred to the voice heard at
his baptism. There is one place in John's Gospel, where o\ir
Lord appears to found an argument for his divine mission upon
this voice. John v. 37, 38. He Ixid spoken of the Witness
which he received from John, and of the works that he did, which
bare witness that the Father had sent him : and he adds, according
to our translation, " And the Father himself, which hath sent me,
hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at
any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding-
in you; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not." A different
translation of these verses, which had been sug-gested by others,
and which always appeared to me probable, is adopted and ably
defended by Dr Campbell. His translation is, " Nay, the Father,
who sent me, hath himself attested me. Did ye never hear his
voice, or see his form ? Or have ye forgotten his declaration, that
re believe not him whom he hath commissioned?" The reader
will observe, says Dr Campbell, in a note, that the two clauses,
which are rendered in the English Hible as declarations, are in
this version translated as questions. The difference in the original
is only in the pointing. That they ought to be so read, we need
not, in my opinion, stronger evidence, than that they throw much
light upon the whole passag-e, which read in the common way is
both dark and ill-connected. — Our Lord here refers them to the
testimony given of him at his baptism ; and, when you read the
two clauses as questions, all the chief circumstances attending- that
• John iii. 31, 32, 35.
376 DOCTRINE CONCERNING CIIRIST's PERSON
memorable testimony are exactly pointed out. Have ye never
heard liis voice, tpoivr^ v/. tmv ou^avwj [the voice from heaven,]
nor seen his form — the (!o)/j,ariKov ahog [the bodily shape,] in
which Luke says the Holy Ghost descended? And have ye not
his declaration abiding- in you, rov Xoyov, the words which were
spoken at that time ?
There appears to me very strong- internal evidence for the cor-
rection proposed by Dr Campbell, according- to which our Lord
here refers to the Xoyog, the words uttered at his baptism, as his
warrant for callings himself the Son of God. There is no doubt
that he takes that name to himself in an eminent sense, both in
his discourses with his disciples, with Nicodemus, a master in Is-
rael, with the people of the Jews, and at his trial, when, being-
asked by the Hig-h Priest, " Art thou the Son of God ?" he ac-
knowledged that he was : a confession which, accoi'ding- to the
sense affixed to the question by those who put it, was direct blas-
phemy. " What need we any further witnesses," said the High
Priest : " ye have heard the blasphemy." It is very remarkable,
that although our Lord seems to delight in calling- the Almighty,
when he is speaking- of him to the disciples, your Father, your
heavenly Father, a gracious name most suitable to the discoveries
of his religion ; and although, in the prayer which he taught them
to use, the address is, " Our Father which art in heaven," yet he
never uses the expression our Father in such a manner as to in-
clude himself with them. All his discourse implies that God is
his Father, in a sense diiferent from that in which he is the Father
of all mankind ; and the form of his expression in one place seems
chosen to mark the distinction, John xx. 17, " Go tell my bre-
thren, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God,
and your God." Indeed the strongest proofs of the divinity of
Jesus, that are found in his own words, arise from the manner in
which he speaks of the connexion between his Father and him.
" All things are delivered xmto me of my Father ; and no man
knoweth the Son but the Father : neither knoweth any man the
Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal
him." * Here the Father and the Son are held forth as alike in-
comprehensible to mortals. " What things soever the Father
doeth, these doeth the Son likewise." -|- Here is an exact likeness
in their works. Eyu xai 6 zc/.tso h sc/jt-sv, " I and the Father
are one." :j: The argument arising from the two last passages be-
comes much stronger than it a})pears at the first hearing- them,
when you attend to the circumstances in which the declaratiouvs
were made. In the filth chapter of John, our Lord, being accused
* Matth. xi. 27. f John v. 19. + John x. 3a.
TAUGHT DURING HIS LIFE. 377
of breaking- the Sabbath, because upon that day he made a man
whole, makes this apology, v. 17 : 'O nrarsp /.tou sw; a^ri i^yaZf-ai,
xayM i^ya(^o;jjai. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," i. e.
My Father, who rested on the seventh day from the work of crea-
tion, never rests from the work of preserving- and blessing- his
creatures ; and I, after his example, do works of mercy on the
Sabbath day. The Jews were ofi'ended with this saying-, because
they conceived it to imply that Jesus called God 'xanoa idiov, which
means much more than our translation has expressed, " said that
Ciod was his Father." l8io<j Tarsjfx means his Father, in a sense
approj)riated to him. Idiog [peculiar, one's own,] is opposed to
■/juvng [^common.] And I call him idiog 'xan^, who is not the
Father of others as well as of me, but who is the Father of me
only. From his calling God peculiarly his Father, they inferred
that he made himself equal with God ; and therefore they sought
to kill him. Attempts have been made to give a different inter-
pretation to the 18th verse. But they appear to me so forced that
I will not recite them. What the verse conveys to every plain
reader is this, that the Jews, although they looked up to God as
the Father of their nation, considered it as blasphemy in any in-
dividual to call God in a peculiar manner his Father, because this
was ]jutting- in a claim to that title, the Son of God, which seems
to impl}' a sameness or equality of nature with the Supreme Being-,
and which they were taiight by their Scriptures to regard with the
highest reverence. But our Lord, instead of giving such an ex-
plication of his words as might exculpate him from this charge of
blasphemy, subjoins in his answer other expressions which appear
to be a direct assertion of that equality with God, which the Jews
conceived to be implied in his calling- God peculiarly his Father.
He says, " What things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth
the Son likewise," assuming the omnipotence of God. He says,
" The Father showeth the Son all things that himself doeth,"
making his knowledge commensurate with the works of God.
He says, " The Son quickeneth whom he will. As the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself." It is acknowledged in all these expressions, that what-
soever the Son has is communicated to him by the Father; and
this is implied in the very name the Son of God. But if this
communication be not of so peculiar a kind as to imply an equality
with God, a sameness of nature and perfections, there is not only
an unwarrantable presumption in the words of our Lord, but in
the circumstances in which they were uttered there is an equivo-
cation inconsistent with the sincerity of an honest man.
This argument is confirmed by attending to a similar passage
in the 10th chapter of John. Our Lord, speaking of that assur-
378 DOCTRINE CONCERNING CHRISt's PERSON
ance of eternal life which his religion conveys to his disciples, says,
X 29, 30, " They shall never perish. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all ; and none is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Then the Jews
took up stones to stone him." And they assign, as the reason for
so doing, the very same which John had mentioned in the fifth
chapter: " We stone thee for blasphemy, because that thou, being
a man, makest thyself God." Our Lord's answer is, " Is it not
written in your law, I said, ye are gods ? If he called them gods
unto whom the word of God came, and the Scriptures cannot be
broken, i. e. if the language of Scripture be unexcei)tionable, say
ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world,
thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?" These
words are quoted, in support of their opinion, by those who hold
that our Saviour is called the Son of God purely upon account of
the commission which he received. But the force of the argu-
ment, and the consistency of the discourse, require us to affix a
much higher meaning to that expression. Our Lord is reasoning
afuriiori. He vindicates himself from the charge of blasphemy
in calling himself the Son of God, because even those who hold
civil offices upon earth are called in Scripture gods. But that he
might not appear to put himself upon a level with them, and to
retract his former assertion, " I and the Father are one," he not
only calls himself " him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent
into the world," which implies that he had a being, and that God
was his Father before he was sent ; but he subjoins, " If I do not
the works of my Father believe me not. But if I do, though ye
believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe
that the Father is in me, and I in him ;" expressions which appear
to be equivalent to his former assertion, " I and the Father are
one," and which were certainly understood by the Jews in that
sense ; for, as soon as he had uttered them, " they sought again
to take him." The full argument of our Lord is, that the union
between the Father and him gives him a much better title to the
name of the Son of God than any office can give men to the name
gods: and thus at the very time that he shelters himself from the
charge of Idasphemy under this Scripture expression, he intimates
repeatedly, in the hearing of those who accused him of blasphemy
for what he said, the superior dignity of his person.
As our Lord, in this emphatical manner, took to himself the
name of the Son of God, so there is a remarkable passage in which
he guards those with whom he conversed against supposing that
his being called the Son of Daviil implied a sameness of nature, or
an equality in point of dignity with his earthly progenitor. " While
the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, \\"hat
TAUGHT DURING HIS LIFE. 370
think ye of Christ ? Whose son is he ? They say unto him, the
son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in
spirit call him Lord, saying-, The Lord said nrito my Lord, sit thou
on my rig-ht hand, till 1 make thine enemies thy footstool. If
David then call him Lord, how is he his son ? And no man was
able to answer him a word."* It is known to those who have read
Psalm ex. in the original, that although the Septuagint version he
itTTi'i 6 Ku^iog T'jj Kvp/u) ,u,ov, and our Eng-lish translation he, " The
Lord said unto my Lord ;" yet the word in the nominative is dif-
ferent from that which is in the dative. The nominative is Jehovah,
the incommunicable name of God exi)ressing' his necessary exist-
ence. The dative is Adonai, a word expressing- dominion or sove-
reignty. It admits, therefore, of being- construed with a possessive
pronoun, my Lord ; and it may denote different kinds and degreen
of dominion. The difficulty, then, is not what our translation
might sug-g-est, that the same name Lord is applied to the Messiah
as to the Supreme Being-. But it lies here. David, a Sovereign
Prince, v/ho had no earthly superior, who was taught by the pro-
mise of God to consider the Messiah as his descendant, yet, many-
ages before the Messiah was born, calls him "my Lord ;*' an ex-
pression which is a direct acknowledgment of his inferiority to his
own descendant, and which implies that the Messiah existed in a
superior nature before he descended from him. Our Lord draws
the attention of the Pharisees to this difficulty in their own Scrip-
tures, which they seem to have overlooked, and which they were
imable to solve. He could not solve it without unfolding to them
what he chose at present only obscurely to intimate. But he leaves
it with them as a proof drawn from an authority which they did
not question, that, if they considered the Messiah as of no higher
extraction tlian a son of David, they were mistaken.
The whole conduct of our Lord tended to confirm the impression
arising from this manner in which he spake of himself. Amidst
all the simplicity, the humility, and condescension of his life, there
was an unaffected dignity uniformly supported in his words and
actions, which mark him, to an unprejudiced observer, as more than
man. He discovered, upon many occasions, that knowledge of the
secret workings of the heart, and that acquaintance with transac-
tions the most retired from the eyes of men, which constitute a
large part of the divine omniscience. And you cannot suppose,
that repeated displays of this omniscience would be overlookeil by
those who were continually with him, when you observe the effect
which one instance produced ; John i. 47, " Jesus saw Nathanael
coming to him, and saith of him, behold an Israelite indeed,^ in
♦iMatth. xxii. 41—46.
380 DOCTRINE CONCERNING CIIRISt's PERSON
whom is no guile. Nathanael saith, whence knowest thou me ?
Jesus answei'L'd, before that Philip called thee, when thou wast
under the fig-tree, I saw thee ;" referring prolial>ly to some act of
secret devotion, or of private beneficence. Nathanael finding that
this stranger knew a transaction which no eye had seen, and no
ear had heard from him, immediat(dy exclaims, " Kabl)i, thou art
the Son of (iod ; thou art the King of Israel." In our Lord's
miracles there was an ease and readiness which showed that he ex-
erted inherent powers, and a command over nature which indicates
its Lord. Upon some occasions he chose, for the instruction of
the spectators, to direct their attention to his Father, from whom
he acknowledged that he received all power ; but at other times,
he healed diseases, or raised the dead by a word. " I will, be thou
clean." " Young man," speaking to hiui that was dead, " I say
unto thee, arise." He taught men to infer from all his works, the
union between his Father and him : and he interprets one of his
miracles as a direct ])roof of his having power to do what belongs
to God alone. Mark ii. Knowing, pi'oljably, that the sick of the
palsy who was brought to him was humbled by disease, and pre-
pared to receive with contrition the Lord's Christ, he said to him,
" Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." The scribes, who were sitting
by, reasoned in their hearts, " Why doth this man thus speak blas-
phemies ? Who can forgive sins but God only ?" He discerned
their reasonings, and he answered them by saying, " Whether is
it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise, and take
up thy bed and walk ?" The same divine power which would have
rendered the one of these sayings, when pronounced by me, effec-
tual, entitles me to use the other : " And therefore, that ye may
know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, I
say unto thee, arise." Here, then, Jesus takes to himself a right
to forgive sins ; that prerogative which the scribes, both by reason,
and by express declarations of their own Scriptures, wei'e taught
to consider as belonging exclusively to God.
Such are the proofs of the superior nature of Jesus, which were
laid before the world during his abode upon earth. The ablest
critics on the New Testament have not agreed as to the inference
which the apostles drew from these ])roofs, whether a belief of the
divinity of Jesus accompanied their belief of his being the Mes-
siah. The question appears to me problematical, and I do not
think that the New Testament contains sufllicient evidence to de-
cide the point. But it is not of great importance. I obs(>rved, that
the intimations of the divinity of our Lord, given during his life,
were j)urposely obscure ; and the apostles brought with them such
prejudices, and met with such disappointment in their expectations,
that it is no wonder if they did not reason from these intimations as
TAUGHT DURING HIS LIFE. 381
they might have done. But there is recorded in the conclu'-ion of
the Gospel of John a declaration made l>y one of the apostlos, after
the resurrection of Jesus, of his ha%'ing- then attained the know-
ledge of that doctrine, which all these intimations seem intended
to prepare them for receiving. Thomas, after his scruples were
removed, answered and said to Jesus, John xx. 28, o Ku^iog fM-j., y.ai
fi ©coj [Mj-j ; a conjunction of words prohably from Ps. xxxv. 23,
" Awake to my judgment, my God, and my Lord." The 8o-
cinians consider the words of Thomas as an exclamation of sur-
prise upon seeing Jesus alive, or of gratitude to Go<] %vlio had
raised him : My God and my Lord hath done this. But you will
observe, it is expressly said that these words are addressed to Jesus,
as an answer to what he had spoken, amy.oi&rt -/.at nmv a-jr^jj ; and
our Lord in his reply, considers them as a confession of Thomas's
faith : " Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : Blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Either,
therefore, the nominative is here as in many other places, equiva-
lent to the vocative, or the ellipsis is to be supplied by =/ ii-j. It
is so natural to interpret these words as a declaration of Thomas's
believing Jesus to be his God, that if our Lord had wished them
not to be so understood, the ambiguity required a correction from
him. But by accepting- this declaration, and pronouncing his bles-
sing upon those who, without the same evidence of sense, should
make the same declaration, he approves of what Thomas had said,
according to the obvious sense of the words, and teaches his fol-
lowers in succeeding ages, to acknowledge him not only as their
Master or Lord, but as their God.
[ 382 ]
CHAP. VII.
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
The confession made by the apostle Thomas may be considered as
an introduction to those plain assertions of the divinity of .Jesus,
which are found in the writings of the apostles after the ascension
of their Master : and the words of that confession direct us to at-
tend, in the first place, to those passag-es in which Jesus Christ is
called God. But, before we begin to examine them particularly,
at is proper to advert to a difficulty attending the argument that is
lounded upon them.
SECTION I.
If the name, God, were in Scripture appropriated exclusively to
the Supreme Being, those passages of the New Testament in which
It is apphed to Jesus Christ would afford an unequivocal proof that
he IS not a creature. But the fact is, that although God, in the
strict and proper sense of that word, is the name of the Almighty,
there is a loose or figurative sense in which the use of it is very
much extended. Admiration, which delights in magnifying its ob-
jects, has often prompted men to speak of their fellow-creatures in
language to which no mortal is entitled. The expression in Ho-
mer, iffohog <puc, we have copied in the epithets godlike and divine.
By frequent use and by the progress of science these epithets have
come to be regarded as figures of speech. But they were originally
dictated by a principle which is most observable in ruder states of
society, a proneness to consider all who discover eminent qualities
or extraordinary powers, as raised above the condition of human
nature. The supposed existence of many of the heathen gods may
be traced to this principle. The protectors and benefactors of their
country, who had been a.lmired during their life, were adored after
death, t. e. were enrolled amongst those higher orders of being, to
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 383
whom it was conceived they had always been assimilated. Nay,
there were instances in which the extravagance of flattery, and the
excess of vanity which that flattery nourished, conspired in ascrib-
ing- to a mortal, even while he remained upon earth, the name and
honours of a god. The Scriptures, which must speak according
to the sentiments and usages of those who are addressed, have
adopted, in numberless places, this popular extension of the name
of the Supreme Being. The first commandment is. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me, as if any other could exist. The
name, gods, is uniformly given in the Old Testament to those fic-
titious objects of worship before which the nations bowed : and the
apostle Paul, 1 Cor. viii. 5, at the very time that he says, " An
idol is nothing in the world, and there is none other God but one,"
adds, " Though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven
or in earth, as there be gods many." The Hebrew word for gods
is applied to the angels " who excel in strength," and who dwell
in heaven.* To rulers, Itecause they are exaUed above their sub-
jects, it is said, " Ye are gods."f The belly of the sensualists, to
the service of which they are devoted, is called their god ; ^ and
the Almighty himself says to Moses, Exod. vii. I, " See, I have
made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy
prophet," i. e. the king shall be astonished at the displays of thy
power ; and the orders which thou sbalt issue to him shall be de-
livered by the mouth of Aaron, who shall thus be thy prophet to
Pharaoh.
This extendeil figurative use of the name of God has suggested,
to those who hold Jesus to be an exalted creature, the following-
system, which I give in the woi-ds of the author of the Essay on
Spirit, p. 89. "As the self-existent cause, of whom are all things,
can alone be properly called God, when this title is given in the
Scriptures to any other being but the Father, we are to understand
it only as expressive of some god-like power wbich bath been given
or communicated to that being by God the Father. In this sense
the application may be attributed to the Son, because, when all
power in heaven and earth was given to him, he was made a god
to those beings over whom that power was given." This system
is supported by a remark borrowed from Sir Isaac Newton, and
adopted by Dr Clarke. " God," says Sir Isaac, " is a relative term,
which has reference to subjects ; and the word deity denotes th«
dominion of God over subjects :" and again, " we worship and adore
God on account of his dominion." In like manner, Dr Clarke,
having laid it down as the 25th proposition in his scripture-doctrine
of the Trinity, " The reason why the Son, in the Old Testament,
• Psalm viii. 5. -f Psiiliii Ixxxii. 6. J Phil. iii. 19.
384 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
is sometimes styleJ God, is not upon account of liis metaphysical
substance, liow divine soever, hut of his relative attributes and di-
vine authority, communicated to him from the Father over us" —
supports the proposition in the notes by the following reason —
" The word God, when spoken of the Father himself, is never in-
tended in Scripture to express philosophically his abstract meta-
physical attributes, but to raise in us a notion of his attributes re-
lative to us, his supreme dominion, authority, power, justice, good-
ness," &c. However profound the respect is which every one, who
has imbibed the rudiments of Science, must entertain for the name
of Sir Isaac Newton, you will probaidy find reason to think, when
you examine his writings upon subjects not capable of sti'ict de-
monstration, that in them, according to the expression used by
Bishop Horsley, the editor of his mathematical works, the great
Kewton went out like a common man. It has been shown by Dr
Waterland, in his Vindication of Christ's Divinity, and by Dr Ran-
dolph, in his Vindication of the Trinity, that the name God, when
apj)lied in Scripture to the Supreme Being, involves in it the no-
tion of the excellence of his nature, his wisdom, power, eternity,
and all-sufficiency. I need not mention any other scripture-proof
of this, than that decisive passage in Psalm xc. — " Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
Dr Waterland observes, that although dominion enters into the
notion of God, yet it is the excellence of the divine nature manifest-
ed to us in his works, which is the object of our adoration, and the
foundation of his dominion over us : so that the whole idea of God
is that of an eternal, unchangeable, almighty Ruler and Protector.
" If," says Dr Randolph, p. 77, " God be only a relative term,
which has reference to subjects, it follows that when there were
no subjects, there was no God ; and, consequently, either the crea-
tures must have l)een some of them eternal, or there must have
been a time when there was no God. Again, as the creatures are
none of them necessarily existent, it will follow that (iod himself
does not exist necessarily ; and if we suppose God to annihilate all
creatures, he would thereby annihilate his own deity, and cease to
be God."
Although this reasoning should satisfy you that the word God
is not merely a relative term, but that, in its proper sense, it im-
plies a transcendent and independent excellence of nature, yet, at
the same time, you will perceive that as it does imjily dominion
founded upon this excellence of nature it may be used relativelv.
My God is that being whose infinite perfections are employed in
my ])rotection, and are an object of trust and submission to me.
You will perceive, also, from this account of its true meaning, how
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 385
it may be applied in a loose and figurative sense to those who resem-
ble the Supreme Being in any part of the whole idea annexed to the
word ; who have either attained any measure of the excellence of
his nature, or who are intrusted by him with the exercise of any
portion of his universal dominion.
It appears, from what has been said, that much circumspection
is necessary in drawing- an argument for the divinity of Jesus from
those passages in which he is styled God; but it does not follow
that the argument is necessarily inconclusive. There is hardly
any word which is not occasionally used in a sense somewhat loose
and figurative. It is one of the oflfices of sound criticism to judge
whether we are to interpret words and phrases more or less strictly ;
and every accurate composition furnishes some discriminating cir-
cumstances which guide us in making this judgment. No person
can be led into so gross a mistake as to think Moses truly a god,
when the Almighty says to him, — " See, I have made thee a god
to Pharaoh ;" or civil magistrates truly partakers of a divine na-
ture, when we read, " I said ye are gods ; but ye shall die like
men ;" or the angels, however exalted above men, really like to
God, when we read a command given them to worship another
being ; or the idols, before whom the nations bowed, worthy of
trust, when the prophets, at the same time that they call them
gods, say they are vanity, the work of errors, and have no power
to do good or evil. It may be expected, from the analogy of these
instances, that if this name be given in an improper figurative
sense to any other person, more especially if it be often so given,
ue shall, in some way, be effectually guarded against mistake. The
preservative, indeed, it has been said, against applying the term
God in the highest sense to that person who is often called God,
is to be found in those general declarations of Scripture that there
is but one God : " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."
" There is none good but one, that is God." But a little atten-
tion will satisfy you that this preservative is not suflficient ; for the
very person who is often called God in the New Testament, says,
" 1 and the Father are one ;" and this declaration, taken in con-
junction with the expressions of the Divine unity, has appeared to
many pious Christians, and to many of the most able and inquisi-
tive men in all ages, to teach this system, that although there be
liut one God, the Person to whom that name is often given in the
New Testament, is, in the highest sense of the word, God. The
general preservative being thus insufficient to guard against mis-
take, if the highest sense of the word does not belong to that Per-
son, there was much occa ion for some marks of inferiority in the
manner of its being applied to him which might suggest a lower
sense. But if, instead of meeting with such marks, we meet with
VOL. I. R
386 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
circumstanrps iu the manner of his being called God, which imply
that the word, in the strict and most exalted sense, belong-s to him;
and if the intc-rpivtation wliich we are thus led to give to the name
correspond witli other Scripture-proofs of the Divinity of the Per-
son to wdiom it is ajiplied, we cannot avoid concluding, that the
Scriptures, by calling Jesus Christ God, meant to teach us that he
is God.
Let your examination of the texts which are commonly alleged
for this purpose be scrupulous and suspicious. Every point of im-
portance ought to be carefully examined ; and it is the great ad-
vantage which accrues from diversity of opinion, that you are both
guarded against that supine indolence with which assent is yielded
to points in which men are generally agreed, and that you are fur-
nished with the best means of attaining the truth, by having an
opportunity of opposing to one another the arguments which verv
aide men have adduced upon either side. I shall not, therefore,
barely enumerate the texts in which Jesus is plainly called God,
but I shall endeavour, in canvassing their meaning, to exhibit a
specimen of that kind of scripture-criticism, without the continued
exei'cise of which you can neither arrive at certainty, nor give a
good reason of your own opinions upon any of the disputed ques-
tions of theology.
1. The first text is contained in that passage at the beginning
of John's Gospel, wdiich has already been fully explained. The
whole passage was then vindicated, from the Sabellian interpre-
tation, by showing that 6 Xoyoj [the Word^] is a distinct person
from the Father, the same who is called in the 17th verse Jesus
Christ. It was observed that in the second clause of the first verse,
6 X070; riv Tfo; TO'j Qin, Qhe Word was with God,] the word ©sor
I^God] occurs in the highest sense ; and that, as the form of the
apostle's expression is to make the last word of one clause the first
word of the succeeding, nothing but a purpose to mislead could
have induced him, without any warning, to apply the name God
to Jesus Christ in the beginning of the third clause, if he had meant
it to be understood there in a sense different from that in which
he had used it at the end of the second. It was observed, further,
that the want of the article makes no essential difference, lioth be-
cause the analogy of the Greek language requires that the article
should be prefixed to the subject rather than to the predicate of a
proposition; and also, because ©soc, without the article, in the fol-
lowing verses of this chapter, and in many other ])laces, is used in
the highest sense. I have only to add to these observations, that
Qiog cannot be understood here merely as a relative term, because
it is not said Qioc iyivsro 0 Xcyoc, the word became, or was made
God after the world was created ; but Qioc r,v 0 Xoyo;, the word was
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 387
Cod in ^i^g beginning-, L e. before he proceeded to make any thing,
when there were no ci'eatures and no subjects. Even Dr Clarke,
therefore, is obh'ged to paraphrase this expression thus : " Partaker
of divine power and glory with and from the Father, not only be-
fore he was made flesh, or became man, but also before the world
was." Now, if the manner in which the name God is here given
to Jesus implies that the excellencies of the Divine nature belonged
to him in the beginning when no creatures existed, and if there is
no limitation of the degree in which he then possessed these ex-
cellencies, we seem warranted, by fair construction of the apostle's
words, to infer from his being called God that he is God.
2. The second passage is Acts xx. '2S. TTgntrjp^grs ovv lauroig, xai
'ffavri ruj 'jtoiij^viui, iv w b[i,ac, to Uviv/jja to dyiov sOito i-TiS'/.o'Xoug, 'Troi-
/xai)/siv TTjv v/.7Cr.r,(]iav tou &iov, rjv -TriPiiToiriSaTo did tou idiou a'l/xaTog.
j^Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own l)lood.] The no-
minative to Tion-ToiriaaTo, [he hath purchased,] which is not ex-
pressed in the Greek, and is supj)lied in our translation by the pro-
noun he, must be taken from the nearest substantive, Qsov, [of
God.] There is no other noun in the whole verse which admits of
being made the nominative. But ©soj [God] cannot here mean
the Father ; for the doctrine of the Gospel is, that we are redeemed
or purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is an action appro-
priated to him in all the descriptions of the method of our salva-
tion. He took a body that he might shed his blood for us ; and
the phrase ioio'j u'l/j^a, the blood which was proper, peculiar to him,
is used also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and there opposed to
a'i/j.a aXXoT^io-j, [blood of others,] Heb. ix. 12, 25, to shov/ that it
was truly the blood of Christ, and of no other person, that was
shed. The nominative to -Trisis-roiriSaTo, [he hath purchased,] there-
fore, whatever the word be, must mean Jesus Christ ; and conse-
quently in this place he is called God.
But it is proper to mention that the MSS. of the New Testa-
ment do not agree in reading Qiou, [of God.] (Jrotius conjectures
that the original reading was X^igTou, [of Christ,] abbreviated into
Xov, and that out of Xol/ came Qov, for Gsov. But this conjecture
is unsupported by any authority. Mr Mill, who, in his most va-
luable edition of the Greek Testament, has collected the various
readings, and mentioned the authorities by which every one
of them is supported, informs us that some read zvpiov, [of the
Lord;] others zv^iou %ai ©soiy ; others Qio-o. [of God.] Mr Mill,
who had access to judge of all the manuscripts, versions, and
quotations in favour of each of the three, has no difticulty in pre-
ferring Qio-j as the best supported. Griesbach, the latest editor
388 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
of the NeA' Testament, prefers ■/.u^icv, (^of the Lord,]] and says it
is supported by the best and most ancient manuscripts, by the most
ancient versions, and l)y the fathers. There is i;ot any reason,
from the nature of the thing, for giving- up our reading, sxxXjiC/a
C-diou, [jhe church of God Q it is a very common conjunction of
words in the New Testament, and God's purchasing the church with
his own blood, is an expression fully justified by the perfect iinion
between the divine and human nature of Christ. At the same
time, as xugwu a; pears to be a very ancient reading, which may
be traced as far back as the time of Irenaeus, in the second century,
the present reading, however probable, cannot be certainly known
to have been that whi^ h proceeded from the apostle ; and no man
who is guided purely by the love of truth, would choose to rest
the divinity of our Saviour upon such questionable ground.
3. With regard to the next passage, Rom. ix. 5, there is no dif-
ficulty of this kind. Upon the authority of Mill, I say that all the
manuscripts, and all the ancient versions support the present read-
ing ; and Griesbach does not propose any various reading. It is
quoted by the fathers both before and after the Council of Nice,
as a clear proof that Christ is God. And there does not appear
the least ground for thinking that the text was ever read in any
other manner. We are at liberty, therefore, to argue from the
words as they now stand ; and the only question is, what is the
time interpretation of them ? Dr Clarke says, that the Greek
words, being of ambiguous construction, admit of three different
renderings ; and I choose to quote him, because he expresses ac-
curately and concisely what others have spread out more loosely.
" They may signify either, of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ
came : God, who is over all, be blessed for ever. Amen : or, Of
whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all ; God
be blessed for ever, Amen : or. Of whom, as concerning the flesh,
Christ came, M'ho is over all God blessed for ever. Amen." He
admits that the third rendering is the most obvious. But he in-
clines to prefer to it either the first or second, for these two rea-
sons. 1. Ev^oyrirog [blessed^ is applied in Scripture to God the
Father, and seems to have been used by the Jews as his proper
name ; for the High Piiest said to Jesus on his trial, 2u si 6 Xg/c-
rog, 6 v'log rev ivAcyyirov,* \jxrt thou the Son of the blessed ?] 2. 6
£T/ vavTuv Qsog [God over all] was generally understood to be a
title so peculiar to (iod the Father, that it could not be applied
to the Son, without danger of Sabellianism, i. e. of confounding
the person of the P'ather and Son. These are Dr Clarke's reasons
for preferring either of the two first renderings to the third. But
* Mark xiv. 61.
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 389
you will observe the present question is, whether these two titles
are here applied to Christ. It is not an answer to this question
to say that they are commonly applied to the Father. For it is
possible, and there may be very good reasons for so doing-, that
names and titles which are g-enerally appropriated to the Father,
should, in some places, be given to the Son. We may learn from
such occasional applications that the two persons are equal, and
yet by attending- to the discriminating- marks which the Scriptures
furnish, we may be preserved from the dang-er of confounding them.
It remains, then, to be examined, whether the consti'uction of
the words warrants, or seems to require, that these titles be, in this
place, applied to Christ. In order to judge of this, it will be of use
to attend to the four following- observations : —
1. The first observation respects the clause to v.ara saoy.a. The
apostle, having- expressed in the preceding- verse the warmest af-
fection for the Israelites, his countrymen, twv g-jyyivM'j [lvj -/.ara
dapy.a j^my kinsmen according- to the flesh,] enumerates in the 4th
verse many privileg-es which distinguished his nation from every
other ; and he proceeds in his enumeration at the beginning- of the
5th, on 01 -a-j^sg, " Whose are the Fathers," i. e. Who are descended
from the patriarchs, those venerable names that are found in Jewish
history, s| wi^ 6 Xoiffrog, " and from whom is descended the Christ."
The apostle adds a limiting- clause, to kutu ffao-/,a, secundum id
quod pertinet ad carnem, [as concerning; that which pertains to the
tiesh,3 which implies that there were circumstances pertaining- to the
Christ, in respect of which he did not descend from the Israelites.
Had the sentence ended here, this clause would have been a warn-
ing to the reailer that the Christ was not xcira cravra sg cwrwi/ ; Qin
all respects from them y\ and the reader would have been left to
supply, by his knowledge of the subject, derived from other sources,
what the respects are in which the Christ did not descend from the
Israelites.
2. But you will observe, that the sentence does not appear to
end with this limiting- clause, because the form of the subsequent
clause refers it to y^^-^ie-oc. QChrist.] 6 wi/ []who is]] is a relative ex-
pression, which carries you back to the preceding- nominative. This
kind of reference is perfectly agreeable to the analogy of the Greek
lang-uag-e. And it is used by this apostle, 2 Cor. xi. 31, where the
form of expression is very similar.
3. You will ol)serve that, by thus referring- the last clause to
y,.^i(STOc, [Chrisi-,] you obtain an antithesis to to zara eaoyia [^ac-
cording to the riesh,] and you discover the I'eason why the apostle
introduced that restricting- clause, viz. that the same person, who
in one respect was descended from the Israelites, was also God
over aU, and in that respect certainly was not of human extrac-
390
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
tion. It IS a most satisfying coincidence, that the connexion of
the two clauses, which we have seen to be one strictly eramma-
tical, furnishes that very information concerning the person men-
tioneii, which, without this connexion, you would be obliged to
derive from other sources of knowledge. And it is usual with the
apostle, in some such manner as this, to complete the description
ot this person. Rom. i. 3, 4, the same person is the Son of God
and the descendant of David. He was visibly the descendant of
Uavid, by the manner of his birth : He was demonstrated to be
the bon of God, by that attestation which the Holy Spii-it ffave
to his claim when he was raised from the dead : and thus, in that
passage, as well as in this, the apostle himself furnishes the an-
tithesis to the restricting clause, zara aaoza, [accordinff to the
fiesh.3
4. Observe that the comi)lete description, which the apostle, ac-
cording to his manner in other places, and according to the expec-
tation raised by the limiting clause, here gives of X^/ffroc [Christ] is
perfectly agreeable to the general scope of his discourse in this place.
He wishes to magnify the honours of his nation ; he has enume-
rated many of their privileges ; and he concludes by crowning all
of them with the mention of this, that he who is God over all,
when he assumed the human form, took a bodv from the seed of
Israel.
These four observations seem to constitute a strong internal evi-
dence in favour of the received translation ; and this evidence is con-
firmed when you attend to the consequences which result from adopt-
ing either of the other two renderings. If you put u i)oint at Kara
ea^nci [according to the flesh,] you obtain"the first; " Of whom,
as concerning the flesh, Christ came : God, who is over all, be bles-
sed for ever,— Amen." By this rendering, the information con-
cerning ^oiSTog [Christ] is incomplete. There is introduced most
abruptly a doxology to God the Father ; and the form of expression
in this doxology is not classical. For h uv [who is] being a rela-
tive expression, which leads you back to a preceding word, the parti-
ciple u)v [being, is,] is redundant and improper, if a succeeding word,
Qiog [God] lie the nominative that agrees with it. If you put a point
at Tai^Twi- [all,] you obtain what Dr Clarke calls the second render-
ing ; " Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over
all : God be blessed for ever. Amen." By this rendering, the in-
formation concerning X_o/Troc [Christ] is more complete, and uv
[who is] is referi-ed to a preceding nominative. But still there is
the abrupt introduction of a doxology to a Person M-ho had not
been mentioned in the preceding clause; and there is a barrenness
in the word Qioc [God,] which in this situation requires to be
clothed with an article, 0 0=05 i\j\oyr,roi [God be blessed.] It is
4
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 391
further to be aildetl, that the earliest Christian writers who quote
this passage appear, hy the course of the argument, to understand
it as a plain declaration that Christ is God over all, blessed for
ever. It is so rendered in the most ancient versions, and the pos-
sibility of another interpretation was not suggested till the six-
teenth century. If the apostle, then, did not mean to give these
titles to Jesus, he employs a form of expression, in which the na-
tural grammatical construction of the words misled the whole
Christian church for 1300 years. If he did mean to give them to
Christ, then not only is this Person called God, but the name has
such accompaniments that it must be understood in its most exalt-
ed sense. It is not said that he was appointed God to a particular
district, but in the most absolute terms that he is God. '0 wi/ scr/
TaiTwi^ Gsog [who is over all God,] as it is said of God the Father,
Eph. iv. 6, &sog xai Tar'/jj rcvrwy, o sr; cravrwv, [one God and Father
of all, who is above all.] To him is ascribed the title ivKoyriTog
[blessed,] which is used in the New Testament as the name of
the Most High, and which was employed hy the whole congrega-
tion of the Jews in their adoration of the God of Israel, I Chron.
xxix. 10, EuXoyrjTog ii, Kvpis, o Qiog Igsar,}.. [Blessed art thou,
Lord God of Israel.] We can place no reliance upon the language
of Scripture, if there be an inferiority of nature in a Being thus
designed. And the very purpose of the expressions here used seems
to be, to teach us that every notion which can be conceived to be
implied under the name God belongs to this Person as well as to
the Father.
4. 1 Tim. iii. 16. — There is a difference of opinion with regard
to the reading- of one word in this verse. Two of the most ancient
versions of the Greek Testament render the verse as if Qscg [God]
were not there. One Greek MS. has o [which] in place of Qsog
[God ;] another has og [^who, or he.] It has hitherto been con-
jectured that &iog [|God] is an interpolation made l)y some zeal-
ous Christian, who wished to add this verse to the other proofs
of the divinity of our Saviour. But you will observe, that if the
word be 6 [which,] the neuter of the relative, the antecedent is
/MUffTTi^iov, i- e. the Gospel ; in which case, the sense of several of
the clauses will be forced and unnatural. The Gospel, " mani-
fested in the flesh, seen of angels, received up into glory." If
the word be 6;, either the masculine of the relative, or the pro-
noun of the third person, it is not manifest who is meant. Jesus
Christ, to whom, by this reading, all the clauses are referred, had
not been mentioned in the preceding verse ; and it is not according
to the manner of a perspicuous or grammatical writer, to oblige his
readers to educe an antecedent to &; Qwho,] out of the amount of
the preceding clause /o-s/a iCTi ro Trig ivniZnag fj/jdrrisiov, [great is
392 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
the mystery of godliness.]] There is, thus, internal evidence that
some substantive noun, marking the person spoken of, is the no-
minative to the succession of verbs ; and all the Greek copies of
the New Testament, except the two mentioned above, concur in
reading Qsog [GodJ as the nominative. It is true that we do not
find this verse formally quoted in the Arian controversy till the
end of the fourth century, so that we have not an opportunity of
judging by early quotations what was the original reading. But
besides the authority of the most ancient Greek MS8. in support
of the word Qso:, there is this further evidence for the genuine-
ness of that reading, that if ©so; be the nominative, we can give
an easy explication of every one of the clauses in perfect agree-
ment with the analogy of facts, and the language of the most an-
cient writers.
Having mentioned the MSS of the New Testament, I shall
notice, as a matter of curiosity, the state of the controverted word
in the Alexandrian, one of the oldest and most respectable of these
MSS. There has been some controversy with regard to the age
of this manuscript. But there appears good reason to believe that
it was written in the fourth century, not long after the Council of
Nice, by the hand of an Egj'ptian lady. It was carried from Alex-
andria to Constantinople. It was given l»y the Patriarch of Con-
stantinople to Charles I. of England. It is now deposited in the
British Museum; and a Jctc simile, i. e. an edition in which the
form of the letter is an exact representation of the original, has
been published by Mr Woide. To understand his description of
the controverted word, it should be known that abl)reviations of
such words as frequently occur being common in the ancient MSS.
there was written, instead of ©soc, the Greek capital © and c, with
a line above the two letters, as a mark of the abbreviation. Mr
Woide says, " V\ bile I am writing, and looking at this place, which
has been often too imprudently touched by the finger, I can hardly
distinguish any thing but the short line of abbreviation, the point
in the middle of the 0 now become faint, and some small remains
of the circle round the point." Bishop Walton, who published a
Polyglott edition of the New Testament, who has collected the
various readings with great industry and fidelity, and who has men-
tioned the change upon this word in another MS. appears, by ex-
pressing no doul)t with regard to the reading of Qio: in the Alex-
andrian MS. to have found it there in his time. Bishop Pearson,
the very learned author of the Exposition of the Creed, says, that
all the transverse line was even then so faint, that at first he thought
the word was o;, yet, upon a narrower inspection, he saw marks
which satisfied him, that there had been such a line ; and Mr Woide
says, that on first inspecting the manuscript, he agreed in opinion
DIUECT PROOFS THAT CHUIST IS GOD. 3&3
with Mill, although, as the 0 is now almost wholly effaced, he can-
not affirm the same from the present state of the MS. From this
induction of particulars, it appears to be the opinion of the most
learned men who have examined this subject, that ©so; [God]
is the genuine reading- of the Alexandrian MS. coeval with the
MS. itself. They think that the reading- og [whQ~\ arose from
the faiutness of tlae transverse line, and that og was changed into
6 [which,] because the neuter antecedent /jjvsrri^wv |^mysteryj did
not admit of a masculine relative. I observe that Griesbach pre-
fers the reading- og [^who,] and has introduced it into the text :
but I adhere to the opinion of former editors of the New Testa-
ment, suppoi'ted, as they say, both by the Alexandrian, and by
other very ancient MSS. ; and you will observe, that if Qiog [^God J
be the g-enuine reading- in this passage, it affords an instance
not only of the name being applied to Jesus, but of its being- ap-
plied to him, when it is the subject not the predicate of a proposi-
tion. This is an advantag-e in the argument for the divinity of
Jesus, because those who contend that he is called God only in an
inferior sense of that word, affirm that the word may be predicated
of him, but that when it is the subject of a proposition, it is always
the name of the Father. Dr Clarke's 1 1th Proposition is, " The
Scripture, when it mentions God absolutely and by way of emi-
nence, always means the Person of the Father, particularly when it
is the subject of a proposition.'' The reason of the rule is, that
when the word is predicated of Jesus, we are taught by this very
circumstance, that it is predicated of a Person different from the
Supreme Being-, to g-ive it certain limitations ; but when it is the
subject of a proposition, it is of necessity stated absolutely, with-
out any sign of limitation. This would be the reason, if the Scrip-
tures did make such a distinction in the use of this word. But
here is an instance in direct opposition to Dr Clarke's rule, where
the Father cannot be meant, because he was never manifested in
tlie flesh, where the person meant is Jesus Christ, and God is stat-
ed as the subject of the jjropositions affirmed concerning- this per-
son. Dr Clark", indeed, aware probal>ly that the present reading-
cannot upon any sufficient grounds be rejected, says that it is, in
reality, of no importance ; for the sense is evident, that that person
was manifested in the Hesh whom John, in the beginning- of his
Gospel, styles Qiog QGod.] But this is giving- up his own dis-
tinction betv/een the subject and the predicate of a proposition.
For, in John, Qiog [God] was the predicate ; here Qeog [God] is
the subject : and, therefore, either the distinction which he made
in his 11th Proposition is of no importance, or something more
decisive with regard to the divinity of our Saviour is contained in
this passag-e of Timothy than in the beginning- of John's Gospel.
r2
S94
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
5. 1 John V. 20. In some manuscripts and versions,S£oi/[Go(l]is in-
serted after uXrjDivov [true J in this verse. This is of no importance to
the sense. But there is a controversy with regard to the application
of the last clause ; and that you may judge whether it is most na-
tural to refer it to the Father, or to his Son Jesus Christ, I shall
give two interpretations of it, in the words of Dr Clarke and Dr
Randolph. Dr Clarke's is, " The Son of God is come, and has
enhg-htened the eyes of our understanding-, that we may know the
true God ; and we are in that true God hy or through his Son
Jesus Christ. This God, whom the Son has given urs an under-
standing to know, is the true God, and to he in' him ])y his Son is
eternal life. This is the worship of the true God, and the way to
eternal hfe." Dr Randolph's is, This Jesus Christ, wlio hath " given
us an understanding to know him that is true, is the true God and
eternal life." By this interpretation, avrog [this] is referred to
the antecedent immediately preceding, which is also the princi2)al
suhject of the whole verse ; the tautology which Dr Clarke's pa-
raphrase fixes upon the apostle, " The true God is the true God,"
is avoided ; the strongest reason is given for our being in the true
God hy Jesus Christ, that he himself is the true God, and so can-
not mislead us : and, lastly, no more is affirmed concerning Jesus
Christ than may he gathered from other j)laces of John's writings.
He is elsewhere called life. * " Eternal life," it is said, " is iu
the Son."f He is called God; he is called 6 a}.ri^mc, [he that is
true.] J And if John meant to teach us that he who is called God
is truly God, it was most natural for him to join this adjective to
the substantive when speaking of the Son, in the same manner as
when speaking of the Father. This text was urged in the Council
of Nice against the Arians ; and they did not deny that Jesus Christ
is here called the true God ; but contented themselves with saying,
that if he was truly made God, he is the true God ; an evasion
which, joined to many others, produced the insertion of the term
6//,6oi;(r/o; [ofthesame substance] in the orthodox creeds, as a term
necessarily implying that the Son had not been made God, but is
essentially God.
SECTION II.
To those passages in which the name of God is given to Jesus
Christ, there naturally succeed those which ascribe to him attri-
* 1 John i. 2. f 1 John v. 11. + Rev. iii. 7, 14.
DtHECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 395
butes that constitute the character of the Being- to whom that name
belongs.
The passages in which all power is ascribed to Jesus are innu-
merable ; and they are various and strong- in point of expression.
But to the argument for his divinity that is derived from the
extent of his power, it is opposed by the Arian system, that the
Almighty is the sole fountain of all the power that is exerted
throughout the universe, that we behold various measures of power
communicated to the creatures with whom we converse, that the
purposes of the divine government may require that a degree, in-
finitely beyond any v.hich we behohl, or which we can conceive,
may be imparted to that being by whom God made, by whom he
saves, and by whom he is to judge the world ; but that as all the
power in heaven and in earth which is given to Jesus Christ was
derived from God, it redounds to tlie honour of Him from whom
it proceeds, and does not, in fair argument, prove the divinity of
him by whom it is received. This argument will appear to many
to be counterbalanced by the manner in which the Scriptures
speak of the power of Jesus. They will think it not likely that,
if Jesus were a creature, any exertions which he -was enaljled to
pei'form would be described in language by which they are assimi-
lated, both in the greatness and in the facility of them, to those of
the Creator. But as this language may not make the same im-
pression upon every mind, and as it was acknowledged by Jesus,
and is often said l)y his apostles, that he received all power from
God, we require, in arguing- from the attributes of Jesus to his di-
vinity, some attributes which do not admit of the same communi-
cation as power does, some which respect rather the manner of his
being-, than the extent of his exertions.
You may attend, first, to the time of his being-. If Jesus is the
Creator of all, it follows that he existed before any of those mea-
sures of time which are deduced from the motion or succession of
created objects. In this sense the Arians allow eternity to Jesus,
saying- that he was begotten t^o 'xavruv aiojvwj, [ before all ages.] But the
Scriptures do not admit of any equivocation with regard to this attri-
bute of Jesus, because the very same terms in which the eternity of
God is described are applied to him ; so that if the Scriptures are not
sufficient to prove the eternity of the Son, neither do they prove
the eternity of the Father. The ancients, all of whom applied the
description of wisdom in Proverbs viii. to that person whom John
calls Ao)'o;,Qhe Word,]arguedfrom the similarity between Psalm xc.
:i, " Before the mountains were brought forth, thou art God ;" and
a part of that chapter, " I was set iip from everlasting-, from the be-
ginning-, or ever the earth was." If we consider that Christ is only a
396 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
l)eautifal personification of wisdom, we shall not admit the force of
this argument. But there are plain declarations to the same pur-
pos3 in the hook of the Revelation. And you tvill observe the
reason why in that liook t'.iey become plain. In the convei'sations
with the apostles which the Gospels record, Jesus purposely ob-
scured his divinity, because he was with them in the human form.
But when Stephen, before his martyrdom, " lookeil up stedfastly
to heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the I'ight
hand of God." When Jesus appeared to Paul after his ascension,
" there was at mid-day a light from heaven above the l)rightness of
the sun ;" and out of that light the Lord spake to Paul, saying,
" I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." In both instances, it was
the full effulgence of the Shechinah, which every Jew regarded as
the visible symbol of the divine presence. In like manner, in the
book of the Revelation, Jesus speaks to his servant John from
heaven in his glorified state. In the description of the person
whom John saw, the most splendid ol)jects in nature are brought
together to convey some conception of his majesty. The bright-
ness of the sun is the image of his countenance ; his eyes are like
a flame of fire ; in his hand he wields seven stars ; and when he
speaks, it is not the weak sound of man's voice ; it is as the sound
of many waters, loud, continued, and impetuous. The manner in
which Jesus speaks of himself. Rev. i. 7, 8, corresponds most pro-
perly to this description of his majesty. It has been doi\bted whe-
ther the person speaking in the hth verse is the Father or the Son.
But you will find when you consider the whole passage, that by
applying this verse to the Father there is a most abrupt change of
person ; whereas the context leads us to consider Jesus Christ, the
person who is described in the 7th verse, and who begins to speak
to John at the 1 1 th, as giving this account of himself in the 8th.
The only reason for not following the direction of the context,
in applying this 8th verse to Jesus Christ, is that the two last ti-
tles here introduced are considered as peculiar to the Father. But
it has been clearly shown that this reason proceeds upon a mistake.
'O uv, xai 0 TiV, /toci 0 iPyjjiLiw;, \_\\\\o is, and who was, and who is to
como,] is indeed used in the 4th verse, as the distinguishing
character of the Father. But it is known by the learned that
the amount of these words is the full exposition of the name Je-
hovah. Now we found, by compasing the Old and New Testa-
ment, ni;my places in which the name Jehovah is given to Jesus;
and our Lord seems to take it to himself by the peculiarity of that
••xpression, John viii, 38, ttciv ACoaa,«, ysvssdai, [^before Abraham
was,]] not lyu tjv, \^l was,^ but syu nfxi, \1l am.] nairojcfaT-wp, a
word expressing the most exalted power and the most universal
dominion, the sovereign and projirietor of all, is used occasionally
;3
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 397
by the Septuagint as the translation of the same Hebrew phrase
which they elsewhere render, Lord of Hosts, kvpio; Syca/o-sw;. But
there are many places in the Old Testament, where that Hebrew
phrase is applied to the angel of the covenant ; and we learned from
John xii. 41, that the ylory of the Lord of hosts which Isaiah saw
was the glory of Christ. The application then of the two last titles
to Jesus does not afford any reason for transferring the whole verse
from the Son to the Father ; and the two first titles are elsewhere as-
sumed by the Son as his.* " I am the first and the last." " I am A
and n,the beginning and the end." But these are the very descriptions
which the Father gives of his eternity. Isaiah xliv. 6, " I am the
first ; and I am the last ; and beside me there is no God." Isaiah
xliii. 10, " Before me was there no God formed, neither shall there
he after me ;" titles which, both by their natural import, and by
their being consecrated as the description of God the Father, imply
that a being to whom they are applied had no beginning, and shall
liave no end.
As the existence of Jesus is thus affirmed to be without begin'
ning, so the Scriptures declare that it is not susceptible of change.
An unchangeable existence is the character of Him " who is, who
was, and who is to come." And the same thing, which is clearly
implied in this name, is directly expressed in that part of Psalm cii.
which we found the apostle to the Hebi-ewsin the first chapter ap-
plying to Jesus. " Thou art the same, and thy years fail not :" and
to this corresponds another expression, Heb. xiii. 8, Ir^Sf/og Xpitrro;
yjic, -Aril ffrjUA'^ov o auTog, %at Big roug aiujvag, [Jesus Christ, yesterday
and to-day the same, and for ever.] For although the Arians
understand these words to mean nothing more than this, that the
doctrine of Christ is unchangeable, yet it is plain that this is a figu-
rative sense of the words ; tliat, according to the literal interpreta-
tion, they teach that the person of Jesus Christ is the same in all
times, past, present, and future ; that this literal meaning is the
only sense which the words in the first chapter will bear; and that
the unchangealileness of his })erson is the surest foundation of the
unchangeableness of his doctrine. It is not easy for any one who
attends to these things to believe that the apostle, in commending
the steadfastness with which Christians ought to adhere to the
faith, would choose to introduce an expression which so naturally
leads his hearers to ascribe immutability to the author of that faith,
if Jesus was not truly exempt from all the vicissitudes that are in-
separable from created beings.
An existence thus without beginning, and continued in all times
without change, is represented also as extended through all space.
* Rev. i. !7; iii. 14; xxii. 13.
398 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
While it is the essential condition of a creature to inhabit the spot
assig-ned him, or to chang-e his habitation according- to the will of
his Creator, and thus to be only in one j)lace at one time, Jesus
says of himself, John iii. 13, o iz roj ouoavo-j KaraZa^, o vioc rov avdecj'Trou
0 oov £•; rui ov^avuj, [he who came down from heaven, the Son of man
who is in heaven ;] words which, according- to their most natui'al
exposition, imply that he who came down from heaven is in hea-
ven. He promises, Matth. xviii. 20, ob yao an dvo r^ rong suy/iyfj^svoi
Big TO iiM)V o'Ajijja, izii iiij,i iv [jjiCio a/or'Mv, [where two or three are ga-
thered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.]
He had said that his Gospel was to be preached in all the world.
The fact has corresponded to the prophecy. Yet here is his pro-
mise, that in every place where his disciples are assembled, there
he is ; and in like manner he said to his apostles, when he was
just about to ascend, Matt, xxviii. 20, ihoxj, syw /as^' u/iwv hjJjI rro.aag
rag ^fM-oag, iug rrjg ffvi/TiXnag rou aico<joc, [lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world.^ It cannot be said by any one
who understands the terms which he uses, that omnipresence, like
power, may be communicated to a being who, in some former pe-
riod of his existence, did not possess it. But even this assertion is
precluded by the Scriptures, which ascribe this essential attribute
to Jesus from the beginning-, ra <7rav-a sv ahru) avvsarriZi, [liy liim all
things consist Q words which imply that his existence, since the
creation, is co-extended with his works.
This extended existence is connected with the continued exer-
cise of the most perfect intelligence. The knowledge possessed
by the most exalted spirits must be limited in proportion to the
bounds of the space which they inhabit. At least their knowledge
of any thing- beyond that space cannot be immediate, but must be
communicated to them by other beings, or acquired by investiga-
tion. But of Jesiis Christ it is said, that he knoweth all things ;
that he knows that God who is incomprehensible to man ; that
he knows what is in man.* His knowledge extends to that re-
gion which, is removed from the eyes of mortals, and the know-
ledge and judgment of which the Almighty reserves to himself as
his prerogative. " Thou, even thou only," says Solomon, 1 King's
viii. 39, " knowest the hearts of all the children of men." " I the
Lord," says the Almighty, Jer. xvii. 10, " search the heart, I try
the reins." But Jesus, who, while he was upon eai'th, had dis-
covei'ed in numberless instances his knowledge of the heart, claims,
in the book of the Revelation, this divine prerogative as his own,
Rev. ii. 23, " All the churches shall know, on syw s///-/ o s^sjvojv 'js:p^oug
xai xa^diug," [^That I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts.] —
* Matt. xi. 27. John ii. -21, 25.
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 399
And tliere is a description of o Xoyac, rov ©sou, [the Word of God,]
Heb. iv, 12, 13, which all the ancients apply to Christ the Word, in
which it is said that the Word is " a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart : and that there is no creature that is not ma-
nifest in his sig:ht."
Thus we find the Scriptures ascri1)ing- to Jesus an existence
without beginning-, without change, without limitation, and con-
nected, in the whole extent of space which it fills, with the exer-
cise of the most perfect intelligence. These are the essential at-
tributes of Deity. Measures of power may be communicated ; de-
grees of wisdom and goodness may be imparted to created spirits :
but our conceptions of God are confounded, and we lose sight of
every circumstance by vvhich he is characterized, if such a manner
of existence as we have now described l)e common to him and any
creature. When we recollect that the person to whom this man-
ner of existence is ascribed is the Creator of the world ; that by
him all the intercourse between the Deity and the human race has
been carried on from the beginning ; that in the Old Testament
he often bears the incommunicable name Jehovah, and that in the
New Testament he is called God, in the proper sense of that word :
when we lay together these things, which are the premises that
have been established, the conclusion appears to be cleai'. The
Scriptures mean to teach us that this person is God : and this con-
clusion will be confirmed when we find that in Scripture he is
worshipped as God.
SECTION III.
This remaining ground of argument upon the subject of our Sa-
viour's divinity it is proper that I should state fully, on account of
the different opinions to which it has given occasion, and the ex-
tent of some of the discussions in which the different opinions have
been supported.
It appears to be agreeable to reason that worship, which is the
humblest expression of entire veneration, and of a sense of depen-
dence, shovdd be appropriated to the Supreme Being. It was the
character of heathen idolatry that even those, who believed in one
Being far exalted in power and dignity above every other, gave to
inferior deities testimonies of respect and submission the same in
kind with those which he received. It was the great object of the
law of Moses to form a people, who, instead of going after other
400 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOB.
gods, and bowing down before them, should confine their worship
to the one Lord, the God of Israel. — Hence the books of the Old
Testament al)ouud with descriptions of the vanity of idols : the
Almighty is there known by the name Jealous, claiming worship
as his incommunicable right ; and the spirit of the whole institu-
tion is thus expressed by Isaiah xlii. 8 : "I am the Lord, that is
my name, and my glory will I not give to another." This spirit
of the law seems to be incorporated into the Gospel, since our
Lord, upon being tem])ted by the devil to worship him, says,
" Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written. Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."* And, upon being
asked, Which is the first commandment of all ?f he began his
answer thus : " The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Is-
rael, the Lord our God is one Lord."
Upon a comparison of these quotations, it seems to be obvious
that our Lord meant to exclude every other being from a compe-
tition with the Lord God, either in the affections of the heart, or
in that expression of those affections, which is commonly called
worship. Yet the Apostle to the Hebrews, i. 6, applies to Jesus
Christ these words of the Psalmist, " let all the angels of God
worship him." Our Lord says, John v. 23, " that all men should
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father ;" words which
may imply an equality in the degree, and a sameness in the ex-
pression of honour. The Apostle to the Philippians ii. 10, says,
" that at the name of Jesus every knee should l)ow." During our
Lord's intercourse with his apostles, the astonishment excited in
their breast by some of his works produced expressions of reve-
rence, which implied at least a momentary apprehension of his di-
vine character ; and as he was carried up from them into heaven,
" they worshipped him.":}: The last words of the martyr Stephen
were, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, lay not tliis sin to
their charge."§
The Epistles contain many petitions which are directly address-
ed to Jesus, and in which his name is conjoined with that of God the
Father. In the book of the Revelation Jesus receives the adora-
tion of all the host of heaven. The twenty-four elders, who fall
down before him that sitteth on the throne, fall down before the
Lamb also ; and John heard every creature in heaven saying,
" Blessing and glory be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and to the Lamb, for ever and ever.''||
The Christian church, following these examples in Scripture,
introduces the name of Jesus into the earliest doxologies that are
Matt. iv. 10. t Mark xii. 20.
Luku xxiv. 52. § Acts vi'. 59, GO. || Rev. v. 13,
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 401
recorded. Ms^' ov eoi oo^a, -/.ai tuj ayiM 'xviufu/.n, [[with whom glory
to thee, and to the Holy Spirit,] and 2o/ 8o^a, xai ru) coo 'xaihi lr,S(/j,
y.ai Tw ayiw 'rrviuijjari, [glory to thee, and to thy Son Jesns, and to
the Holy Spirit,]] are forms found in the Avriting-s of Clemens llo-
manus, one of the apostolical fathers ; and the conclusion of the
prayer of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, which is preserved in a
letter from the church of Smyrna, giving- an account of his suf-
ferings in the second century, runs thus : IriSou X^iffrou tov aya'xr\T(yj
Gcyj Tuidog- di ob Goi duv a-jTo) sv •Tcsj/xar/ ayi^j do^^a Kai rov, %ai ng rt/jg
fjAXXovrag aiuvag. A/xjji/. [Jesus Christ, thy heloved Son, through
whom to Thee witli Him, in the Holy Spirit, lie glory hoth now
and for ever. Amen ] These doxologies of Clemens and Poly-
carp were not peculiar to them, hut were agreeahle to the practice
of the church in their days ; and from this venerable authority is
derived that form of words which appears to have been used through
all the ages of the Christian church, and is often repeated in the
English liturgy, " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy (ihost."
This account of the early doxologies is confirmed by Pliny, in
his letter to Trajan, about the beginning of the second century,
when, speaking of the Christians, he says, " Affirmabant banc
fuisse summam vel culpae suae, vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato
die ante lucem convenire ; carmenque Christo, quasi Deo, dicere
secnm invicem." [They affirmed that this was the sum either of
their fault or of their error, that they were accustomed on a stated
day to meet before day-break ; and to sing with one another a
hymn to Christ as God.*] And Eusebius appears to be describing
this cnnnen, [hymn^] or "the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual
songs," of which the Apostle Paul speaks, Eph. v. 19, when he
says in the fourth century, -^ak'jjoi %ai oihai ah'k(fM\i aira^yjiZ vto
■-idruv yoafiiGui, rov Xoyov rou Qiou, rov X^idrov vfMvovGi dioXoyov^rsg.-f
[Psalms and hymns, written from the beginning by faithful l)re-
thren, ascribe praise to the Word of God, Christ, calling him God.]
Although the Christians, in the earliest times, honoured the
memory of martyrs by meeting at the places where they had suf-
fered, by celebrating the anniversary days of their martyrdom, and
l)y recommending the imitation of their example, they distinguish-
ed most scrupulously the honours which they paid to mortals from
the worship which is due to God. For their principle, as it is ex-
])ressed at a later period by Origen, was this, " God only is to be
worshipped : other beings may be ri^j^rig a^ia ov /xsv -/.ai ■TPoff-z.-jvi^SiC/jg
7.0.1 ffsCac/xou," [^worthy of honour, or even both of adoration and
* Plin. Epist. Lib. X. 97. f ^^^ ^I'st- Ecc Lib. V. cap. 28.
402 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
of worship.]] And yet, notwithstanding- this distinction, the two
verbs 'rgosx.vvsiv [to adore] and aiZsadr/.i [to worship] are used by Jus-
tin Martyr in the second century to express tbe homage which be-
longs to the Son and the Spirit, as well as that which belongs to
the Father. When the Christians were charged with atheism,
because they did not worship idols, Justin INIartyr answered, " We
acknowledge that we are atheists in respect of those who are com-
monly called gods, but not in respect of the true God, the Father
of all ; both him, and the Son who came from him, and the pro-
phetical Spirit, (Tswo/xs^a %a/ ~eo(jx,-Jvav/J^iv, Xoycjj xa/ aX'/j^s/a rz/xw^rsj."*
[We worship and adore, honouring them in word and in truth.]
The particulars which I have mentioned may suffice as a spe-
cimen of the sentiments and practice of the first three centuries.
I do not propose to entangle myself in that controversy with re-
gard to the meaning of particular passages, which Dr Priestley's
hasty and superficial History of Early Opinions concerning Jesus
Christ has occasioned. It appears to me that his inaccuracy has
been completely exposed by his able and learned antagonists, and
that the more carefully any one examines the records which are
preserved in the earliest Christian writers, he will be the more
fully satisfied of the following points : that although a few indi-
viduals had begun, even then, to disseminate other opinions con-
cerning- the person of Christ, yet the great body of the Christian
church considered him as entitled to receive the same worship
with the Father, and were accustomed, in different parts of their
public services of devotion, to ascribe this worship to him ; that
his title to this worship was in their minds connected with the
divinity of his nature ; and that the pi'inciple upon which their
practice rested was the same which is expressed in the fourth cen-
tury l)y Cyril, who, when the Christians were accused by the
Emperor Julian of worshipping, like the Heathen, a dead man,
thus answered : " We do not make a god of a man, but vve wor-
ship him who is essentially God, and on that account is fit to be
worshipped." f
This being the principle upon which the Christian church from
the earliest times had worshipped our Saviour, when the Arians,
in the fourth century, avowedly taught thai Jesus Christ is a crea-
ture, and yet joined with other Christians in worshipping him,
Athanasius, and all those writers who held the I'eceived opinion
concerning- his person, charged them with idolatry, the same in
kind as that which was practised among the heathen. Their ar-
gument was this. Heathen idolatry did not consist in ascribing;
• Apol. Prima, p. 11. f Cyril. Cont Jul. Lib. VI, p. 203. Ed. Lips.
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST Is GOD. 403
the same dignity ami rank to all the multiplicity of gods who were
worshipped ; for the cosmogony of the philosophers, which always
exhibited some theory of the gods as a branch of the system of
nature, generally proceeded upon the supposition of there being sii;
ayiwyjrrjc, -/.ai -o'aXoi yji/v/iro/ |^one not produced, and many produced.]
And the popular traditionary theology of the i)oets and the vulgar
exalted the Father of gods and men far above the other objects of
worship. But heathen idolatry consisted in this, that the same kind
of worship was paid to deities who were acknowledged to be inferior
and produced, as to that Being who was called supreme ; and that
men, proceeding gradually in this prostitution of that which be-
longs exclusively to one unoriginate InteUigence, came to worship
animals which had their birth upon earth, and even inanimate ob-
jects, which, however splendid or useful, are confessedly the work-
manship of some mind. This is the very account of the idolatry
of the heathen which the Apostle Paul gives, Rom. i. 25, when
he says, E(SsQa,(J^r,gav 7(.ai ikar^i-jtsav r-f\ %ri6ii 'jraoa. rov -/.Tisavra ; not
as in our translation, " worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator ;" but, " by the side of the Creator, along with
him." But these words, in which the apostle most accurately
describes the practice of the heathen, may be literally applied to
the Arians. For in their zeal to maintain the honour of God the
Father, they had represented him as having, by an act of his will,
produced out of nothing that glorious being who is called the Son,
and after having thus separated the Son fi-om the Father, as far
as a creature is necessarily separated from the Creator, they wor-
shipped this creature, iXaTos-jSav rri xr/Cs/ 'xaoa rov ^riGavra, [they
served the creature along with the Creator.] It is trae that the
heathen worshipped many created beings in conjunction with one
supreme, whereas the Arians only worshipped one : but this cir-
cumstance did not constitute any essential difference between them.
The principle upon which the Arians worshipped Christ \yas so far
from being repugnant to the worship of other created beings, that
it naturally led to this extension of worship. For, as Athanasius
reasons, if Christ is worshipped on account of the superior emi-
nence of his glory, it follows that every inferior being ought to
worship its superior ; oKk ova. iSriv obrojg' xr/fr//,r^<r; yao xr/tf/xa ou
Tsoffxui/E/, a}JM ■/.rifffj.a Qiov. [but it is not so ; for a creature does
not worship a creature ; a creature worships God.] *
Such was the reasoning of Athanasius and the writers of his
day, when they accused the Arians of idolatry, for worshipping a
being whom they considered as a creature. The answer which
was then made to the charge is not extant, for almost all the writ-
' Athan. Orat. II. 23.
404 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CIirUST IS GOD.
ings of the ancient Arians ai'e lost. But if we may judge of their
answer from the rephes of their adversaries, it appears to have
been the same with that which is found in the writings of those
who in later times have held their opinions.
The modern Arians attempt to vindicate themselves from the
charge of idolatry by making a (Hstinction between the worship
which they pay to God the Father, and that which they pay to
the Son : the former they call supreme div^ine worship, the latter,
inferior religious worship. You will find amongst the tracts of
Mr Thomas Emlyn, a sincere and zealous assertor of Arian prin-
ciples in the beginning of the eighteenth century, a treatise, en-
titled, A Vindication of the worship of the Lord Jesus on Unita-
I'ian principles. The plan of the treatise is to show, that supreme
divine worship is, in Scripture, neither given nor required to be
given to Jesus Christ ; that the inferior religious worship of him,
which the Scriptures allow and command, does not intrench upon
the peculiar prerogative of God ; and that as this mark of honour
to the Saviour of the world, which the Scriptures expressly war-
rant, cannot be called will -worship, so it does not afford any sanc-
tion to Pagan or Popish idolatry. A distinction of the same kind
is the subject of several of those propositions in which Dr Clarke
sets forth what he calls the Scriptvu'e doctrine of the Trinity ; and
this is his manner of stating it. " Supreme honour or worship
is due to the person of the Father singly ; and all prayers and
praises ought primarily or ultimately to be directed to the person
of the Father : the honour which the Scriptures direct to be paid
to the Son is upon account of his actions and attributes relative to
us, in accomplishing the dispensation of God towards mankind,
and must always be understood as redounding ultimately to the
glory of God the Father."
The Roman Catholics employ the same distinction between su-
jjreme and inferior worship, in vindication of their worshipping
angels, the Virgin Mary, and departed saints. They have marked
the distinction by Xargs/a, and Sou/.s/a, two words which were
used pi'omiscuously in ancient times, but which are carefully
separated in the Church of Rome ; the first being employed to
express that worship which belongs to the Supreme Being, the
Creator and Preserver of all ; the second, to express that in-
ferior worship which it appears to them lawful and fit to yield
to beings created by God. They admit, that the practice of the
heathen deserves the severest condemnation, because it was iidoj-
XoXarfs/a, i. e. idololatria, giving the highest worship to idols ;
but they contend that no part of their practice deserves the name
of idolatry, because it is only dovXua which they i»ay to any of the
creatures whom t)iey worship.
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 405
It is of no importance in the present argument to investigate
at what period of the Christian church the distinction of these
two words was invented. It is manifest that the distinction was
unknown to the apostle Paul ; for, speaking of the heathen, he
says in one place, sAar^s-jffav r?; -/.rtaii caca tov ■/.Tiaaara ; * in ano-
ther, sdovXrjaari rote ij.i] (pvG'.i coat ^so/g. f Athanasius, and the
writers of his day, appear to have followed the Scriptiire in the
pi'omiscuous use of the two words ; and the whole train of reason-
ing which they employ against the Arians shows that they v.ere
ignorant of that distinction betwixt su})renie and inferior worship,
which the two words have been employed to mark. The fallacy
of the distinction has been fully exposed l)y the learned Bishop
otillingtleet, in several places of his works, and particularly in his
Discourse concerning the Nature of Idolatry. It is touched upon
occasionally by Dr ("udworth, in his valuable work, entitled The
Intellectual System of the Universe ; and it is stated at great
length and with much perspicuity, by Dr Waterland, in his reply
to Dr Clarke, and by the other writers whom the revival of the
Arian controversy in the last century has called foith in defence
of the ancient faith of the church.
The arguments, opposed by the Athanasian writers to the hH'
swers by which the Arians endeavour to exculpate themselves from
the charge of idolatry, may thus be stated in few words. There is
no intimation in Scripture of any distinction between supreme or
ultimate, and inferior or relative worship. On the other hand,
worship, which is the expi'ession of that veneration and that sub-
mission of soul which are due to God, is represented in Scripture
as consisting of certain outward acts, such as adoration, prayer, of-
fering sacrifice, burning sacrifice, burning incense, and making
vows ; all which acts are clearly discriminated from expressions of
the respect due to creatures. Instead of allowing these acts of
worship to be performed to creatures u])on this provision that they
ultimately tend to his glory, the Almighty hath chosen to guard
the honour of his great name, by claiming them as exclusively his
own ; and we are not left to distinguish an act of worship performed
to a creature, from the same act performed to the Creator, by the
difterence of intention, the dift'erent degrees of esteem which accom-
pany the act ; but we are required to follow the precise rule laid
down in Scripture, according to which the worship of a creature
never can agree with the worship of the Creator, but is directly
opposite to it, being an invasion of the prerogative of the Supreme
Being. The character which Paul gives of the heathen, is, iho-oy.vj-
Gan Tci; f/.r, (^.vcsi ovci '^=(>i:, [[ye serve those who by nature are not
* Rom. 1. 25. t Gal. iv. 8.
406 DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
Gods ;n and Christians, says one Father, return to heathenism, t/j
y.riSii G\jva.va<T:7,i-A0'JTii rov puffs/ &iov, [^connecting- with a creature him
who by nature is God.^ "Either, therefore," says another, " let the
Arians cease to woi'ship him whom they call a creature, or cease
to call him a creature whom they wor(<hip, lest, under the name of
worship, they be found to commit sacrilege."
Such is the state of the argument upon both sides in the Arian
controversy, with regard to the worship of Christ. I have now to
direct your attention to the form which this subject has assumed
in the Socinian controversy.
When Socinus, about the end of the sixteenth century, revived
that opinion which had been broached by a few individuals in the
first century, that Christ was a mere man, he did not so far depart
from the practice of the Christian Church as to deny that Christ
ought to lie worshipped. But having represented the title of Christ to
worship, as founded upon that universal dominion with which he
was invested after his resurrection, Socinus endeavoured to show,
that there is no instance in Scripture of our Saviour's being wor-
shipped prior to his resurrection, and that all the instances of wor-
ship paid to him posterior to that period have a reference to the
glory and power to which he was then exalted in consequence of
the actions which he had done upon earth ; and he maintained that,
independently of any positive precept, the kingdom which our Lord
received, and the authority which he continues to exercise in rela-
tion to us, create an obligalion upon Christians to worship him.
Several of those who held the sailie opinion with Socinus concern-
ing the person of Christ, did not agree with him in this specula-
tion. They contended that if Christ l:e merely a man he never
can be entitled to any other kind of honour than that which is due
to human excellence, and that no degree of exaltation is a sufficient
warrant to his disciples for ascribing to him that worship which
lielongs to God. Socinus did not perceive or did not choose to ad-
mit that this was a consequence which flowed from his principles.
There is extant in his works a dispute between him and Franciscus
Davides, upon this subject. The dispute ended, like most others,
without changing the opinion of either of the parties ; Socinus con-
tinued to inveigh against those who refused to worship Christ ;
and he gave his consent that Franciscus Davides should be siis-
pended from his public ministry, merely for his teaching that
Christ ought not to be worshipped.
Hut there is so manifest a repugnancy between the worship of
Christ and the pui'e principles of Socinianism, that it was impossi-
ble for any authority to preserve this branch of the practice of So-
cinus amongst those who received and followed out his system.
Accordingly Dr Pi'iestley, Mr Lindsey, and all the Socinians of
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 407
the last century, who call themselves Unitarians, have openly dis-
claimed the worship of Christ. While they profess the highest
veneration for the name of Socinus, they consider his zeal for de-
fending the worship of Christ as either an accommodation to esta-
blished opinion, which he judged prudent at the lirst introduction
of his system, or as a degree of prejudice and weakness of which
even his mind was unable to divest itself; and they remove what
they call an imperfection which adhered to the first sketch of the
Socinian doctrine, l)y avowing- as their principle, that religious
worship is to be offered to one God the Father only, as his incom-
municable honour and prerogative. Their chief objections to the
liturgy of the church of England amount to this, that it contains
prayers addressed to Jesus Christ, and their practice in their meet-
ings is to avoid every form of words which seems to imply that he
is an object of worship.
The arguments by which the modern Unitarians vindicate this
practice, appear to derive considerable advantage from the different
acceptations of <r. £rj(r-/.-ovsc>j, the word which, both in the Septuagint
and in the New Testament, is translated worship. It sometimes
marks adoration, and sometimes nothing- more than that prostra-
tion of the body which was common in eastern countries upon the
appearance of a superior. It is used in this last sense by Herodo-
tus,* and even in the Old Testament. Thus, 1 Chron. xxix. 20,
we read, " that all the congregation bowed down their heads, and
worshipped the Lord and the king," i. e. they bowed their bodies
in testimony of reverence both for the God and for the king of
Israel. Nay, in one of our Lord's parables. Matt, xviii. 26, it is said
that the servant falhng down before his Master, " ■-|o(rs/C-ijv£/ a-jru),"
[worshipped him,^ But the advantage which the Unitarians derive
from this ambiguous use of the Greek word is more apparent than real.
For besides that circumstances will almost always clearly indicate
whether the act ion marked by •Tgo(r%ui/5w, 1^1 worship^ expresses, in that
case, religious homage, or merely the highest degree of civil respect,
we derive our warrant for worshipping Christ not simply from the
application of that word, but from a variety of acts which, although
they are by no means implied in the literal sense of c-foffjcuKSw, go
to make iip the general notion of worship, and in which there is
nothing equivocaL We say that there are in Scripture many in-
stances of praise, thanksgiving, and prayer, being addressed to Je-
sus, all of which imply a conviction in the worshippers that his
knowledge and power are not limited, and that he is every where
present ; and from these instances, taken in conjunction with the
command to honour him even as Ave honour the Father, -j- and with
• Hercd. Polym. 1 36. f Jo*>n v. 23.
40S DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
the revelation of the glory of his character, and his relation to lis,
we infer that it is not only lawful but proper for Christians to
worship him.
The Unitarians endeavour to invalidate this conclusion by a la-
boured attempt to explain the Scriptures in a consistency with their
own system. They say, that the thanksgivings which we quote
are mere effusions of gratitude ; that the prayei's are only Avishes ;
that the invocation of Stephen in the book of Acts and the doxo-
logics in the l)Ook of the Revelation were addressed to Jesus when
he was present, and do not warrant us to pray to him or praise him
when he is absent. It is impossible to enter into the detail of their
criticisms. But if you take the instances of worship being- paid to
Jesus, which Dr Clarke has very fairly collected in his Scripture-
Doctrine of the Trinity, and read at the same time the comraenta-
I'ies upon these texts, which Mr Lindsey has inserted in the sequel
to his Apology, and in a separate dissertation upon this subject,
you will have an excellent specimen of that kind of Scripture-cri-
ticism which the Socinians are often obliged to employ in defence
of different parts of their system, and which, in giving- a sense of
Scriptui'e far from being obvious, requires such an expense of in-
genuity as has always appeared to me to be of itself a sufficient
proof that their opinions are not founded in Scripture.
The controversy between the Athanasians, the Arians, and the
Socinians, upon the points of which we have been speaking, may
be thus shortly stated. The Athanasian syllogism is, none but
God ought to be worshipped : Jesus Christ is worshipped in Scrip-
ture ; therefore he is God. The Arian syllogism is, supreme wor-
ship is due to God, but inferior worship may be paid to a creature :
It is only inferior worship that is paid to Jesus Christ in Scripture ;
therefore, although he be worshipped, he is a creature. The So-
cinian syllogism is, none Ijut God ought to be worshipped : Christ
is not God ; therefore all the passages of Scripture, which seem to
ascribe worship to him, are to be explained in such a sense as to
be consistent with this conclusion. The Socinians adopt the major
proposition of the Athanasian syllogism, that Christ is not to be
worshipped. The Arians deny it.
The manner in which the Arians attempt to evade the force of
the major proposition is by a distinction which, we say, has no
foundation in Scripture. The manner in which the Socinians at-
tempt to evade the force of the minor proposition is l)y a kind of
criticism which, we say, does violence to Scripture. If it shall ap-
pear to you, upon examining the subject, that we are right in say-
ing so, you will be struck with the simplicity and consistency of
the Athanasian system. According to that system, the Scriptures
having ascribed to Jesus the names, the attributes, and the actions
DIRECT PROOFS THAT CHRIST IS GOD. 409
of God, and having expi'essly declared that he is God, give us a
practical proof that those, whom the Spirit guided into all truth,
considered him as God, by their paying him that worship which
the Scriptures declare to he the incommunicable prerogative of the
Supreme Being. Here is a chain of argument in which nothing
appears to be wanting. All the parts of it hang together, and sup-
port one another. It produced a conviction of the divinity of our
Saviour in the minds of those to whom it was first proposed ; and
the authority of example, the respect which it is natural for us to
pay to the opinions of those who were placed in a most favourable
situation forjudging, is thus superinduced to warrant that conclu-
sion which the declarations of Scripture appear to us to establish,
that Jesus Christ is truly and essentially God.
VOL. I.
[ 410 n
CHAP. VIII.
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
It is one part of the third oj)inion concerning the person of Christ,
that he is ti'uly God. But the whole history of his hfe exhihits
him as a man ; and the constant language of Scripture upon this
head, which has led the Socinians to consider him as merely a man,
is the ground of the other part of the third opinion concerning his
person, that he is not only truly God, but also truly man.
The proofs of the human nature of Christ found in the Scrip-
tures are obvious to the plainest understanding ; and whatever dif-
ficulties may occur to those who attempt to speculate upon the
subject, the opinion itself has been generally held in the Christian
church. Although Jesus upon some occasions assumes this ex-
alted title, " the Son of God," he generally calls himself by a name
most significant of his humanity, " the Son of Man." We found
by an analysis of the beginning of John's Gospel, that "the Word,"
who " in the beginning was with God, and was God," is called
Jesus Christ ; and we read elsewhere of Jesus Christ, that he was
" wearied with his journey,"* that " he was hungry, "f that " he
ate and drank, ":|; that his soul was " exceeding sorrowful even unto
death, "§ that " he gave up the ghost, that he was buried, and that
he rose from the grave." t|
These propositions, so opposite to one another, imply a corre-
sponding difference of nature in the person concerning whom all of
them are affirmed. There is an illusion throughout the New Tes-
tament, if he who made the worlds, and he who " was an hunger-
ed," is not the same person ; and yet we have seen that he who
made the worlds was God, and we cannot doubt tbat he who was
an hungered was man. The inference thus clearly drawn, from
laying different passages together, is confirmed by an examination
of those places which present in one view the divine and the hxmian
nature of the man Christ Jesus. Of this kind are the three fol-
lowing.
John i. 14. Kai 6 Xoyog ffa^B, iyinro, [and the Word was rhade
* John iv. 6. f -^^•'»'l^ "i. 12. + Mark ii. 14.
§ Matth. xxvi. 38. H Johnxix. xx.
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 411
flesh.] The Socinians, in conformity to their interpretation of"
the first part of the chapter, understand this phrase to mean nothing
more than that the reason or wisdom of God resided in the man
Jesus Christ, and might thus figuratively be said to have become
flesh. But all those, both Athanasians and Arians, who consider
Xoyog [the Word] in the first verse as denoting a person, miist
understand what is here said of him as meaning, " this person
became Hesh, or was incarnate." And all that is said of the Xoyoc,
in the former verse ma)' be applied to the person who, at a certain
time, l)ecame flesh.
Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8- The apostle is recommending to Christians
humility from the example of Jesus Christ, " Let this mind be in
you which was in Christ Jesus." In order to explain what mind
was in Chi'ist, or what degree of humility he exhibited, the apostle
describes two different states of Christ, one which he resigned, and
another to which he submitted ; and his humility consisted in de-
scending from the one to the other. The first state is expressed
by this phrase, og sv f^o^^pr, &sov v'xagy^uv, []who being in the form of
God.] The Socinians, who do not admit that Jesus Christ ever was
in any state more dignified than that of a man, have no other mode
of explaining- this phrase, but by applying it to those extraordi-
nary displays of divine wisdom and power which Jesus exhibited
upon earth, and by which he who was merely a man, appeared to
the eyes of the beholders to be God. But this interpretation, be-
sides that it is by no means adequate to the import of the phrase,
inverts the order, and impairs the force of the whole passage. It
represents the /j^os^jj Qsov [the form of God] as posterior to the
xsi/wc/c, [humbling, emptying,] and the humility of Christ as con-
sisting purely in this, that he did not employ his extraordinary
powers in preserving his life. Whereas the i-i^o^q^r, Qeou [the form
of God] appears intended by the apostle to represent a state prior
to the -/.svojGig, [humbling] by which means the whole of Christ's
appearance upon earth becomes an example of humility.
The Arians, who admit that Jesus Christ often appeared inider
the Old Testament, in the person, and by the name of Jehovah,
employ these appearances to explain this phrase, " Who, being
before his incarnation in the form of God, appeared during his life
in the form of a man." The Athanasians, who believe that Jesus
is essentially God, understand by /j.c^(pri Qiou, [the form of God,] not
a character which he occasionally personated, but those glories of the
divine nature which from eternity belonged to him, which, in refe-
rence to the phrase used in the 4th verse, may be called ra sat;Tfrj,
[his own things,] and which correspond to the concluding clause of
the 6th verse, ro siaai /era Os'jj, [the being equal with God.~i
Whether the Arian or Atbanasian interpretation of /io|f ?j Qiov,
412 UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
[the form of God,] be adopted, Jesus Christ did display j?reat
humility in becoming a man. But the Arians find it difficult
to reconcile their system with the second clause of the 6th verse.
They cannot ado])t our translation, " thought it not robbery to be
equal with God," because that clearly implies that he was once
equal w-ith God, and that he considered this equality as his right,
which he was not under any obligation to resign. They translate
the clause, therefore, tlius, " He did not look upon the being
honoured equally with God. as a prize to be snatched, eagerly laid
hold of. He did not covet it." Dr Clarke has defended this
translation with the abiHty of a scholar; and, in my opinion, as
iar as ao-Ttayiiov riyriBaro [^thought it robbery] is concerned, with suc-
cess. For whether we consider these two words in themselves, or
compare the few places of other authors where they occur, it appears
more natural to render them, " thought it a prey of which he was
eager or tenacious," than " thought it a robbery." But if you read
the perspicuous able commentary which Bishop Sherlock has given
in the first three parts of his discourse on this text, at the beginning
of the fourth volume of his discourses, you will perceive that, al-
though the Arians are delivered from that direct contradiction to
their system which the translation in our Bible bears, yet even
their own translation does not give any essential support to their
system. For ro nvai tsa ©sw [the being equal with God] refers
to the same thing with ,aogf-/5 0£&i;, [the form of God,] and,
being set in opposition to the appearance of a creature which
Christ assumed, implies an essential equality with God. But
if he had no right to this equality, it is a strange instance of
humility in Christ, that he had not the presumption to lay hold
of it. Whereas if he had a right, his not eagerly retaining it, but
laying aside the appearance of it, was the greatest humility. So
that the apostle's argument turns upon the right of Christ to be
like God ; and the only difference created by the two translations
is this — according to our translation, the last clause of the 6th
verse is a continuation of the description of the prior state of
Christ : according to Dr Clarke's, it is the beginning of the de-
scription of his humiliation. You will perceive the course of the
apostle's argument in the following paraphrase : " Jesus Christ,
who, before he appeared upon earth, was in the form of God, /. e.
possessed all the glories of the divine nature, was not tenacious of
this equality with God, did not consider it as a thing to be eagerly
grasped, but emptied himself. He could not cease to be God, but
he divested himself of those glories which constitute the form of
God, having taken the form of a servant. Had he appeared as an
angel, this would have been taking, in respect of God, the form of
a servant ; and therefore it is added as the specific description of
UNION OP NATURES IN CEIRIST. 413
that form of a servant which he took, having- become in the like-
ness of men ; and although he retained the nature of God, yet, as
to outward ajipearance or fashion, being found by those who sought
to take away his life, such as man is, he humbled himself so far,
that, when he had power to retain his life, he surrendered it, and
submitted to an ignominious death."
By this natural interpretation, the succession of propositions
contained in this passage teaches us that the same person who was
God became man ; and since he who was once (jod must be always
God, the nature of God being unchangeable, it follows that he was
at the same time both God ami man.
The same thing is intimated less clearly, but with a little atten-
tion it will appear not less exclusively, in the third passage, Heb.
ii. 14, 16. The apostle is giving a reason why the Captain of
Salvation took part of flesh and blood. The reason is, that he
might have it in his power to die, because his death was to be the
instrument of our deliverance from death. But as nobody thinks
of giving a reason why a man should be a man, the apostle's giving
a reason why Christ took part of flesh and blood implies that this
was not the necessary condition of his being, but that it was a
matter of choice ; and therefore it follows not only that he existed
before he made the choice, but that he had it in his power to make
a different choice, i. e. that he existed in a state which admitted of
his choosing a more splendid appearance, had he so inclined. That
this state was superior to the condition of angels, is made plain by
the 16th verse, the most literal and proper rendering of which is,
" For truly he lays not hold of angels, but he lays hold of the seed
of Abraham," odsv, upon account of his making which choice, it
was necessary that he should in all things be made like his brethren.
Now, whether " laying hold of angels" implies, as the Socinians
are fond of interpreting the phrase, " helping angels," because they
do not suppose that Christ had it in his power to be like an angel ;
or whether it means, according to our translation, laying hold of
them, so as to assume their nature and form, the phrase is very
improper, unless the Beir.g to whom it is applied was so far su-
perior to angels, that he had it in his power to pass by them or
not, to lay hold of them or not, as he pleased. And this Being-,
who, in his antecedent state of existence was superior to angels, it
is here said, took part of flesh and blood, which are the character-
istics of men ; and because he was thus made in all things like
them, they are called his brethren.
The review of these three passages suggests the whole of the
argument upon this subject, which may be thus stated in a few
words. The names, the characters, the actions, and the honours
of God are ascribed to Jesus Christ : the affections, the infirmities,
414 UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
and the sufferings of man are also ascribed to Jesus Christ ; there-
fore in him the divine and human natures were united, or the same
Person is both God and man.
It would seem that this inference should be admitted by all those
who pay a due rog-ard to the plain declarations of Scripture : and,
had Christians rested in this inference, there could not have been
much variety of opinion upon the subject. But when men began
to speculate concerning the manner of that union which the Scrip-
tures teach us to believe, they soon went far beyond the measure
of information which the Scriptures afford. They multiplied words
without having clear ideas ; their meaning being, in this way, never
perfectly apprehended by themselves was readily misunderstood l)y
others ; and the controversies upon this point, which, at the be-
ginning, involved a fundamental article of the Christian faith, de-
generated at last into a verbal dispute, conducted with much acri-
mony in the mere jargon of metaphysics.
Those sects who considered Jesus as merely a man, whatever
was the date of their existence, or whatever were the numbers that
embraced their tenets, escaped by the simplicity of their system
from this controversy. But the great body of Christians, who
learned from Scripture that Jesus Christ was more than man, dif-
fered widely in their speculations as to the manner of reconciling
the opposite descriptions of his Person ; and, in the early ages of
Christianity, the dispute was of much importance, because it turned
upon the reality of the two natures, or the permanency of their
union.
In the history of this controversy our attention is first engaged
by the opinion of the Gnostics. All the Gnostics agreed in con-
sidering the Christ as an emanation from the Supreme Mind, an
^on of the highest order sent from the Pleroma, i. e. the space
inhabited by those spirits who had emanated from the Supreme
Mind, to deliver the human race. But as the fundamental prin-
ciple of their system was the inherent and incorrigible depravity
of matter, all of them agreed also in thinking it impossible that so
exalted a spirit was truly and permanently united to a gross ma-
terial substance. Some of them, therefore, supposed that Jesus,
although made in the likeness of men, was not really a man ; that
the body which the Jews saw was either a phantasm that played
upon their senses, or, if it had a real existence, was a spiritual sub-
stance, not formed of the same corruptible materials with our bodies,
standing in no need of those supplies which it seemed to receive,
and incapable of those sufferings which it seemed to endure. Thofee
(inostics, who considered Jesus as a man only in appearance, are
known by the name Aoxrirai. Other Gnostics, who found it dif-
ficult to reconcile the mere phantasm of a body with the history
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 415
of Jesus Christ, followed the more substantial system of Cerinthus,
who held that Jesus of Nazareth was a man born like other men,
and not distinguished from his countrymen, till he was thirty years
of ag-e, in any other way than by the innocence of his life ; that
when he came to John to be baptized, that exalted ^oa called the
Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove, or in the man-
ner in which a dove descends, and continued to inhabit his body
during- the period of his ministry ; that the person called Jesus
Christ was a man, all whose actions were directed by the ^on
who dwelt within him, but that when he was delivered into the
hands of the Jews, the Christ returned to the Pleroma, and Jesus
was left to suffer and to die.
It is a tradition derived from the earliest Christian writers, that
the Apostle John lived to witness both these branches of the Gnos-
tic heresy, and that he wrote his Gospel and his Epistles on pur-
pose to correct their errors ; and this ti'adition is very much con-
firmed by our observing that by means of the continual reference
which his writings bear to the tenets that were then spreading
among Christians, we are able to derive from them the clearest
proofs both of the divinity and of the humanity of our Saviour.
Thus, in his Gospel, as he begins with declaring " the word was
God," so he says at the 14th verse, " the word was made flesh ;"
and in his 1st Epistle, v. 20, as he says of Jesus Christ, " This is
the true God," so he bears his testimeny both against the Cerin-
thians, who separated Jesus from the Christ, (ii. 22,) and against
the Docetse, who said that Jesus Christ was not truly a man. (iv.
2, 3.) The phrase used in the last of these passages, " Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh," furnishes an argument which Dr
Horsley has urged with his wonted acuteness against the modern
Unitarians- The argument is this : Unless the words " in the
flesh " are mere expletives, they limit the words " is come " to
some particular manner of coming. This limitation either is nu-
gatory, or it presumes a possibility of other ways of coming. But
it was not possible for a mere man to come otherwise than in the
flesh ; therefore Jesus Christ is more than man. And thus in this
proposition " Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," the denial of
which John makes a mark of Antichi-ist, there is an allusion both
to the divinity and to the incarnation of our Saviour.
While the general principles of the Gnostics led them to deny
the reality of Christ's body, it is the character of that system which
is known by the name of the ApoUinarian, to ascribe to our Sa-
viour a true body, but not a human soul. We have reason to be-
lieve that the ancient Arians, who held Christ to be the most
exalted spirit that had proceeded from God, considered this spirit
as performing the functions of a human soul in the body which it
416 UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
assumed, so that, as in all mere men, there is the union of a body
with a human soul, there was in the person of Jesus Christ the
union of a body with an angelical spirit. ApoUinaris did not hold
the distinguishing- tenet of Arins. He was the friend of Athana-
sius, himself an able and zealous assertor of the divinity of Christ.
But he conceived that the most natural way of explaining the in-
carnation of the Son of God was to consider the Godhead as sup-
plying the place of a soul, and the body which the Godhead ani-
mated, as in all respects like the bodies of other men ; and as this
system appeared to degrade the Godhead, by subjecting it to all
the sensations of a human soul, ApoUinaris endeavoured to obviate
the objection arising from this degradation, by recurring to a dis-
tinction well known in the ancient Greek philosophy ; a distinction
between -v|>y%)3, the sensitive soul which man has in common with
the other animals, and vovc, the rational soul ))y which he is raised
above them. ApoUinaris held that Christ assumed, together with
a body, the 4'^/i'^' ^"^ principle of animal life ; but that he did not
assume the vovg, the principle of thought and reason, because all
the offices which belong to this higher power were in him performed
by the Gcxlhead.
The modern Arians who, in the last century, have revived the
ancient tenet, that Christ the Word is an exalted angel, incline to
adopt the ApoUinarian system. It appears to them superfluous to
place the spirit of an angel and the spirit of a man in the same bo-
dy ; and they say, that the easiest explication of this phrase, " the
Word was made flesh," that which preserves the most 2:>roper unity
of person, and renders Jesus Christ, strictly speaking, one intelli-
gent agent, is this, that the spirit of the angel, who is called the
Word, inhabited and animated a human body. The modern Arians
defend this ApoUinarian system by the following arguments. As
the body is the only part of human nature which we perceive, and
as we are entirely ignorant of the manner of the union between
body and mind, the name man is properly applie<^l to every being
which possesses a human body performing its functions under the
guidance of a spirit, whatever the origin or rank of that spirit be :
and, accordingly, those inhabitants of heaven who appeared fre-
quently under the Old Testament, and the angels who appeared at
the resurrection of Jesus, are called men, because they had the ap-
pearance of men, although it was never supposed that they had a
human soul. The Scriptures speak of Christ's coming in the
flesh, of his being made flesh, of his taking part of flesh and blood :
they never speak of his taking a soul ; anrl all the phrases, in
which the soul and spirit of Christ are mentioned, do not denote
dift'erent parts of the same person, but are Hebrew idioms which
mean nothing more than Christ himself.
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 417
The answers to these arg-uments of the modern Arians which
readily occur are the following- : that Jesus Christ was not ti'uly
a man, unless he assumed that kind of spirit which is characteris-
tical of the human species ; that man is what he is by his mind
more than by his body ; and that if our Lord stooped to the exter-
nal form, it is not likely that he would disdain to connect himself
with the spiritual inhabitant ; that there is no analogy between the
transient appearances of ang-els recorded in Scripture, and the per-
manent complete humanity manifested in the words, the actions,
and the sufferings of him who " dwelt among-" men : and that the
expressions of Scripture referring- to the soul of Christ are so many,
and repeated in such a variety of forms, that a great part of the
history of Jesus is enigmatical and illusory, unless he was truly a
man in respect of his soul as well as in respect of his body.
Such are the arg-uments which our habits and modes of thinking-
sug-gest, and which the Athanasians and Socinians of our days con-
spire in opposing to the ApoUinarian system. But there is an-
other argument which was considered in ancient times as a more
effectual refutation of the ApoUinarian system than any that I
have mentioned. It was universally believed in the first ages ot
the Christian church that there is a place for departed spirits, where
the souls of the rig-hteous rest in joy and hope, although they are
not put in possession of the complete happiness of heaven, until
they are reunited to their bodies at the last day. This place was
called Hades, hell, a word which, in ecclesiastical writers, denoted
originally not a state of punishment, but merely the habitation of
departed spirits, as the g-rave is the receptacle of the body. Of this
})lace David was supposed to speak in Psalm xvi. " For thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One
to see corruption ;" and, as the Apostle Peter expressly applies
these words to Jesus, Acts ii, 31, when he says, " David, seeing
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption," it was believed
on this authority, that when the Ijody of Christ was committed to
the grave, his soul went to the place of departed spirits, and re-
mained there till his resurrection. But if the soul of Christ went
to the place of departed spirits, it follows that he had a complete
human soul, and was in this respect, as well as in respect of his
body, made like his brethren. For the ■^■oyj/i-, the sensitive soul of
animals, does not enter that place; the Godhead cannot be supposed
to have been confined there ; and therefore it could be nothing- but
the vouc, the reasoning- soul, which the ApoUinarian system denied
to Christ, that waited, in the same place with other souls, the re-
surrection of his body.
When the council of Constantinople, in the end of the fourth
s 2
418 UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST;
century, the second of those which are called general councils, con-
demned the opinion of ApoUinaris, they declared that they consi-
dered Christ as being- ours a%|/u%oi/, ooirg awov, [^neither without the
sensitive soul, nor without the reasoning soul,] and that they did
not hold aTi\r\ rrjv rr\c. tfasxo; orMvoiMav, [that the economy of the
flesh was incomplete,] i. e. that they beHeved him to be truly
and completely a man. The church did not long- rest in this
acknowledgment of that truth which the Scriptures seem to
teach upon this subject, but soon began to speculate concerning the
manner in which this complete human nature is united with the
Godhead, and from their speculations upon this incomprehensible
point there arose different sects, whose peculiar tenets are still re-
tained in some parts of the Christian church. It is the business of
ecclesiastical history to trace the origin and the progress of these
sects. I shall content myself with marking their distinguishing
opinions, and, instead of attempting to follow them through the
labyrinth of metaphysics, in which they contended with one an-
other, I shall barely suggest the general views upon which the dif-
ferent opinions proceeded.
Nestorius, who had been taught to distinguish accurately be-
tween the divine and human nature of Christ, was offended with
some expressions commonly used by Christians in the beginning of
the fifth century, which seemed to destroy that distinction, and
particularly with their calling- the virgin Mary ^soroxoc, Hthe mother
of God,3 as if it were possible for the Godhead to be born. His
zeal provoked opposition ; in the eagerness of controversy he was
led to use unguarded expressions ; and he was condemned by the
third of the general councils, the council of Ephesus, in the year
431. It is a matter of doubt whether the opinions of Nestorius,
if he had been allowed by his adversaries fairly to explain them,
would have appeared inconsistent with the doctrine established
by the council of Ephesus, that Christ is one person, in whom
two natures were most closely united. But whatever was the
extent of the error of Nestorius, from him is derived that system
concerning the incarnation of Christ, which is held by a larg-e bo-
dy of Christians in Chaldea, Assyria, and other regions of the east,
and which is known in the ecclesiastical history of the west by the
name of the Nestorian heresy. The object of the Nestorians is
to avoid every appearance of ascribing- to the divinity of Christ
the weakness of humanity ; and therefore they distinguish between
Christ, and God who dwelt in Christ as in a temple. They say
that from the moment of the virgin's conception there commen*
ced an intimate and indissoluble union between Christ and God,
that these two persons presented in Jesus Christ one Tgoffwroc, or
aspect, but that the union between them is merely an union of will
4
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 419
and affection, such in kind as that which subsists between two
friends, ahhoug-h much closer in degree.
Opposite to the Nestorian opinion is the Eutychian, which de-
rives its name from Eutyches, an abbot of Constantinople, who,
about the middle of the fifth century, in his zeal to avoid the errors
of Nestorius, was carried to the other extreme. Those who did
not hold the Nestorian opinions had been accustomed to speak of
the " one incarnate nature" of Christ. But Eutyches used this
phrase in such a manner as to appear to teach that the human na-
ture of Christ was absorbed in the divine, and that his body had
no real existence. This opinion was condemned in the year 4ol,
by the council of Chalcedon, the fourth general council, which de-
clared, as the faith of the catholic church, that Christ is one per-
son ; that in this unity of person there are two natures, the divine
and the human ; and that there is no change, or mixture, or con-
fusion of these two natui'es, but that each retains its distinguishing-
properties. The decree of Chalcedon was not universally subjr.iir-
ted to. But many of the successors of Eutyches, wishing to avoid
the palpable absurdity which was ascribed to him, of supposing
that one nature was absorbed by another, and anxious at the same
time to preserve that unity which the Nestorians divided, declared
their faith to be, that in Christ there is one nature, but that this
nature is twofold or comjjounded.
From this tenet, the meaning of which I do not pretend to ex-
plain, the successors of Eutyches derive the name of Monophy-
sites ; and from Jacob Baradasus, who in the following century was
a zealous and successful preacher of the system of the Monophy-
sites, they are more commonly known by the name of Jacobites.
The Monophysites or Jacobites are found chiefly near the Eu-
phrates and Tigris ; they are much less numerous than the Nesto-
rians ; and although they profess to have corrected the errors which
were supposed to adhere to the Eutychian heresy, they may be con-
sidered as having formed their peculiar opinions upon the general
principles of that system.
The Monothelites, an ancient sect, of whom a remnant is found
in the neighbourhood of Mount Libanus, disclaim any connexion
with Eutyches, and agree with the Catholics in ascribing two na-
tures to Christ ; but they have received their name from their con-
ceiving that Christ, being one Person, can have only one will :
whereas the Catholics, considering both natures as complete, think
it essential to each to have a will, and say that every inconveni-
ence, which can be supposed to arise from two wills in one person,
is removed by the perfect harmony between that will which be-
longs to the divine, and that which belongs to the human nature
of Christ.
420 UNION OF NATURES IN CIiniST.
Only one circumstance remains to Ite stated, in order to com-
plete the view of the doctrine of the church, concerning' the incar-
nation of the Son of God. It is what is called the miraculous con-
ception of our Saviour ; by which is meant that the human nature
of Christ was formed, not in the ordinary method of generation,
but out of the sulistance of the Virgin Mary, by the immediate ope-
ration of the Holy Ghost.
The evidence upon which this article of the Christian faith rests
is found in Matt. i. 18 — 23, and in the more particular narration
which Luke has given in the first chapter of his Gospel. If we ad-
mit this evidence of the fact, we can discern the emphatical mean-
ing of the appellation given to the Saviour, when he is called the
seed of the woman. Gen. iii. 15 ; we can perceive the meaning of
a phrase which Luke has introduced into the genealogy of Jesus,
Luke iii. 23, and of which otherwise it is not possible to give a
good account ; wv, w; ivo/Mil^^iTo, u'lo; loiGrip ; [being, as was suj)posed,
the son of Joseph ;] and we can discover a peculiar significancy in
the expression of the Apostle Paul, Gal. iv. 4, " God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman."
Some sects of early Christians, whose principles did not allow
them to admit the miraculous conception, got rid of this article of
the Christian faith by rejecting the first two chapters of Matthew's
Gospel, the only Gospel which they received ; and Dr Priestley has
spent half a volume in attempting to show that this doctrine may
be false, although it is delivered by two Evangelists. Upon those
who believe the authenticity and inspiration of Scripture, his ar-
gument will make no impression, and as these are the two funda-
mental principles upon which my course proceeds, I will not, at
this stage of our progress, spend any time in combating the rea-
sons which Dr Priestley presumes to oppose to the authority of
Scripture. The miraculous conception, the last article, as Mr Gib-
bon says, which Dr Priestley has struck out of his scanty creed,
has been the uniform faith of the Christian church : it is the foun-
dation of several questions concerning Mary, more ciirious than
useful, which have been eagerly discussed ; and it is implied in those
honours which, from the beginning, have been paid to her, and
which, in the church of Rome, have degenerated into idolatry. The
conception of Jesus is the point from which we date the union be-
tween his divine and human nature ; and, this conception being-
miraculous, the existence of the Person in whom they are united
was not physically derived from Adam. But, as Dr Horsley speaks
in his sermon on the incarnation, union with the uncreated Woixl
is the very principle of personality and individual existence in the
Son of Mary. According to this view of the matter, the mira-
culous conception gives a completeness and consistency to the re-
3
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 421
velation concerning Jesus Christ. Not only is he the Son of God,
but, as the Son of man, he is exalted above his brethren, while he
is made like them. He is preserved from the contamination ad-
hering' to the race whose nature he assumed ; and when the only
beg-otten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, was made flesh,
the intercourse which, as man, he had with God is distinguished,
not in degree only, but in kind, from that which any prophet ever
enjoyed, and is infinitely more intimate, because it did not consist
in communications occasionally made to him, but arose from the
manner in which his human nature had its existence.
After the fact is admitted, that the divine and human natures
were united in Jesus Christ, all speculations concerning the man-
ner of the fact ai*e vague and unsatisfying ; all disputes upon this
point instantly degenerate into a mere verbal controversy, in which
the terms of human science are applied to a subject which is in-
finitely exalted above them, and words are multiplied very far be-
yond the number and clearness of the ideas entertained by those
who use them. There are no disputes, even in scholastic theology,
which are more frivolous, and none which, in the present state of
science, appear more uninteresting, than those that respect the doc-
trine of the incarnation ; and there is a danger that you may from
thence conceive a prejudice against the importance of the doctrine
itself. I mean, therefore, to lay aside all consideration of the dif-
ferent opinions, and to take hold of that simjjle proposition which
the Scriptures declare, thai I may show you the rank which it
holds in the scheme of Christianity — the consequences which flow
from it — and the influence which it sheds over other articles of
our faith.
We have Jearned from Scripture that Jesus Christ is truly God :
we have learned from Scripture that he is truly man ; and there-
fore it is unquestionably the doctrine of Scripture that he is both
God and man. This union of the nature of God and the nature
of man in his person, is called by divines the Hypostatical or Per-
sonal Union, of which it is impossible for us to foi^m an adequate
conception, and upon which the mind soon wanders when it begins
to speculate ; but which, with those who rest in tlie declarations of
Scripture, is understood to mean that the same person is both God
and man.
Since Jesus Christ is both God and man, it follows that each
nature in him is complete, and that the two are distinct from one
another. If the divine nature were incomplete, he would not be
God ; if the human nature were incomplete, he would not be man ;
and if the two natures were confounded, he would neither be truly
God, nor truly man, but something arising out of the composition.
In this respect the union of the soul and body of a man is a very
^-^ UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
inadequate representation of the hypostatical union. Neither the
soul nor the l.oily is by itself complete. The soul without the body
has no instrument of its operations : the body without the soul is
destitute of the principle of life ; the two are only different parts
of one complex nature. But Jesus Christ was God before he be-
came man ; and there was nothing deficient in his humanity • so
that the hypostatical union is the union of two distinct natures
each of which is entire. '
The hypostatical union, thus understood, is the key which opens
to us a great part of the phraseology of Scripture concerning Jesus
Christ. He is sometimes spoken of as God ; He is sometimes
spoken ot as man ; and things peculiar to each nature are affirmed
concerning him, not as if he possessed one nature to the exclusion
of the other, but because, possessing both, the characters of each
may with equal propriety be ascribed to him. This is known in
the Greek theological writers by the name of a^rtdoSK .dioj'Marajv,
which the Latins have translated com7nunicatio proprietatum, the
communication of the properties. You will not understand them
to mean by this phrase, that any thing peculiar to the divine nature
was communicated to the human, or vice versa ; for it is impos-
sible that the Deity can share in the weakness of humanity, and
It IS impossible that humanity could be exalted to a participa-
tion of any ot the essential perfections of the Godhead. Although,
therefore, the Word fills heaven and earth, because by him aU
things consist, yet, as it is of the very nature of body to occupy a cer-
tain portion of space, the body of Christ, without losing that na-
ture from which It derives its name, cannot, by union with the
Word, become omnipresent, but during our Lord's ministry was
upon earth, forty days after his resurrection ascended, i. e. was
transferred by a local motion from earth to heaven, and is now in
heaven— I have chosen this example, because the Lutheran church,
in attempting to explain the words used by our Lord in the insti-
tution of the Lord's supper, " This is my body," have conceived
that ubiquity is derived to the body of Christ from its connexion
with the Xoyo; [the Word.]
This error our church justly condemns. Each nature we con-
ceive to retain its own properties, and there is said to be a com-
munication of properties for this reason, because the properties of
both natures are ascribed to the same person, in so much, that even
when Jesus Christ derives his name from his divine nature, as
when he js called the Son of God, things peculiar to the human
nature are affirmed of him. «' Christ, in the Mork of mediation,
acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which
IS proper to itself. Yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 423
which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed
to the person denominated by the other nature." *
Thus, when we read of the " church of God which he hath pur-
chased with his own blood," — " that God laid down his Ufe for us,"
— " that the Lord of glory was crucified," — we do not, from such
expressions, infer that God could suffer : but, taking- the passages
from which we had inferred the union of two natures in Christ as a
guide, we consider these expressions as only transferring, in conse-
quence of the closeness of that union, to him who is called God,
because he is God, the actions and passions which belong to him be-
cause he is man. In like manner, when we I'ead that all things were
made by the Word, we do not suppose that they were made by the
Word after he became flesh ; and when our Lord says, " the Son
of man hath power to forgive sins," we recollect that the Person
who claims this high and incommunicable prerogative of the Deity
is the Word who " in the beginning was with God, and was God ;"
and the truth of the proposition does not appear to us to be in the
least impaired by his condescending to remind us, at the very time
when he claims this prerogative, that he is also the Son of man.
This mode of speaking, so frequent in Scripture, by which the
properties of both God and man are applied to Jesus Christ, the
properties of God even when he is called man, and the properties
of man even when he is called God, has given occasion to one dis-
tinction which is used by the ancient theological writers, and to
another which is used by the modern. Neither distinction is ex-
pressed in the words of Scripture : but both are warranted by the
authority of Scripture ; and both are employed for the same pur-
pose, to explain several passages concerning Jesus Christ, which,
without attending to such distinctions, appear to contradict the
analogy of faith. The ancient distinction is thus explained by
Bishop Bull,f whose words I shall nearly translate. " The whole
doctrine concerning Christ was divided by the ancient doctors of
the church into two parts, vvhich they called ^oXoyia [theology]
and ouovofiia [economy, arrangement.] By %o\oyia they meant
every thing that related to the divinity of our Saviour ; his being
the Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, and the
world's being made by him. By or/,ovo/Mia, they meant his incarna-
tion, and every thing that he did in the flesh to procure the sal-
vation of mankind. Our God Jesus Christ, says Ignatius, was
born by Mary xar' oixovo/Miav Qsou, [according to the economy of
God.] Christians, says Justin, acknowledge Christ the Son of
God, who was before the morning star, and condescended to be
* Confession of Faith, viii. 7. -f- Judicium Ecc. Cath. cap. v. p. 45
42* UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
made flesh ha bia. rrj; or/,om,'xia; raurri; [[that by this economy] the
serpent might be destroyed. We believe, says Irenseus, in the
Sou of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom are all things, zai nc
rag orMvaiMiai aurou, [^and in the arrangements,] by which the Son
of God became man." These three primitive writers, all of whom
lived before the middle of the second century, led the way to their
successors in tlie use of the word oixovoij^ia ; and the ancient mode
of explaining those passages which seemed to be inconsistent with
the divinity of our Saviour was to refer them to the oiKovofj^ia.
The same thing is meant by the modern distinction^ according
to which some things are said to be spoken of our Saviour in his hu-
man nature, and others in his divine. It is allowed that the words
divine and human nature of Christ are not found in Scripture.
But it cannot be denied that he is there spoken of sometimes as
God and sometimes as man, and that some propositions which
would appear to be false, if he were only God, and others which
would appear to be false, if he were only man, are affirmed con-
cerning him who is both God and man. We conceive, therefore,
that the Scriptures, although they do not use the words, afford us
a sufficient warrant for the modern distinction : and we learn, from
numberless instances in which the distinction is clearly implied, to
exercise our judgment in interpreting those passages which have
some degree of obscurity, according to either the divine or the
human nature of Christ, as may best preserve the analogy of faith.
I shall give you a specimen of this use of the ancient and mo-
dern distinctions, by applying them to the explication of passages
respecting the three following subjects, the humiliation of Jesus,
his exaltation, and the termination of that kingdom which is said
to have been given him.
1. The ancient and modern distinction, suggested by the doc-
trine of Scripture concerning the incarnation of Christ, is of use
to explain the descriptions that are given of his humiliation. It
is said that " Christ came down from heaven ;" that he who " was
rich became poor ;" that " he was made a little lower than the
angels ;" that sxsi'wcsi' saurov, which we render " made himself of
no reputation," but which properly means emptied himself of that
which he had. Now it has been asked with triumph by those who
deny the original dignity of our Saviour's person, how a God could
leave heaven ; how it is consistent with the character of the Creator
and Ruler of the universe to desert his station, and confine himself
for thirty years within a human body ; and how his place was sup-
plied during this temporary I'elinquishment of the care of all things?
The answer to these questions is derived from the distinction of
wliich we are speaking, i. e. the expressions now quoted are to be
referred to the or/.owMa. They do not imply any change upon the
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 425
divine nature of Christ, which by being' divine is incapable of
chang^e ; they do not mean that the powers of the Godhead were
impaired or suspended, but only that the exercise of them was con-
cealed from the eyes of mortals, and that the form of God, which
Jesus had before the worlds were made, was veiled by the hu-
manity which he assumed. For, as Eusebius speaks, (see Bull,
275), " he was not so entangled with the chains of flesh as to be
conflned to that place where his body was, and restrained from being
in any other; but at the very time when he dwelt with men, he
filled all things, he was with the Father, and he took care of all
things which are in heaven and which are in earth." And all this
is but a commentary upon these words of our Lord, John iii. 13,
" And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down
from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven ;" who is
in heaven at the very time when the body with which he has
united himself is upon earth. The same distinction suggests the
proper interpretation of those phrases in which our Lord speaks
of himself according to the language of the prophet Isaiah, as the
servant of God. " As the Father gave me commandment, even
so I do. As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
1 came not to do mine own will, but the will of him who sent
me."* The Apostle to the Hebi-ews, v. 7, 8, speaks still more
strongly. Now if we knew nothing more of Jesus than these
passages contain, we could not hesitate to admit all that inferiority
to the Supreme Being which the Arians or even the Socinians
teach. But if we recollect that the attributes and names of God
are elsewhere applied to him, then according to the rules of sound
criticism, which teach us to a<lopt that interpretation by which an
author is made consistent with himself, we must refer the passages
containing that strong language to the oixovoiJ^ia, and consider them
as spoken of the man Jesus Christ, who at his incarnation liecame
the minister of his Father's will, who, as man, prayed and gave
thanks to his God, and whose human nature admitted of learning,
and suffering, and strong crying, and fear.
In the same manner we are accustomed to explain that remark-
able expression of our Lord, Mark xiii. 32 : " Of that day knoweth
no man, no not the angels, neither the Son, but the Father." The
Son of God cannot be ignorant of the day of judgment. For we
read, that in him " are hid all the treasures of wisdom and know-
ledge ;" that " the Father showeth the Son all things that himself
doeth ;" that " no man knoweth the Father, save the Son."f We
are obliged therefore to have recourse to the distinction between the
* John siv. 31 ; viii. 28 ; vi. 38. t Col. ii. 3. John v. 20. Matth. xi. 27-
426
UNION OF NATURE'S IN CHRIST.
olivine and human nature of Christ : and as the expression, Luke
ii. 5:i, " Jesus increased in wisdom and stature," unquestionably
means that the human soul which animated his body improved as
his body grew, although the \oyoc, [VV'ordJ united to the soul knew
all things fi'om the beginning-, so here the Son, considered as the
Son of man, by which name our Lord had spoken of himself at the
26th verse, is said to be ignorant of that which the Son of God cer-
tainly knew.
2. We avail ourselves of the same distinction to explain what is
said in Scripture concerning- the exaltation of Jesus. You read in
numberless places of a dominion being- given to Jesus, of his re-
ceiving- power from the Father, of his overcoming- and entering into
his glory. You find the connexion between his sufferings and his
exaltation stated explicitly, Heb. ii. 9, and Phil. ii. 8, 9, 10; and
the words of our Lord, John v. 26, 27, appear to be to the same
purpose. The inference obviously drawn from such passages is this,
that Jesus Christ received from God the Father a recompense for
his obedience and sufferings in procuring our salvation ; that this
recompense was not only the highest honour and felicity conferred
on himself, but also a sovereignty over those whom he had redeem-
ed : and that thus by his recompense there is derived to him from
God a right to the worship and service of the human race.
It is so agreeable to our natural sense of justice, that eminent
virtue should be crowned with an illustrious reward ; it is so flat-
tering- to our ideas of the dignity of human nature, to behold a man
raised by the excellence of his character to the government of the
universe, that this inference constitutes by much the most pleasing-
part of the Socinian system : and as it may be stated in such a man-
ner as to be perfectly consistent with that doctrine which you pro-
fess to teach, you will find that you cannot introduce into your ser-
mons a more popular topic of exhortation, and of encouragement
to persevering exertion in the discharge of our duty.
But pleasing and useful as this view of the exaltation of Jesus
is, it plainly does not contain the whole account of the matter, for
the following reasons : — L Some of the very passages which speak
of a recompense being given to Jesus, had declared, a little before,
the original dignity of his person. He had been styled in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, " the brightness of the Father's glory ;" in
the Epistle to the Philippians, " he who was in the form of God;"
and he had said of himself, John v. 19, " What things soever the
Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." 2. Many pas-
sages of Scripture, by declaring that Jesus Christ created all things,
teach us that before he obeyed or suft'ered in the flesh he possessed
a clear title to universal dominion. And, 3. This original dignity
of person, and this most ancient title to dominion, are of such a
UNION OP NATURES IN CHRIST. 427
kind that it was impossible for them to receive any accession. He
who is the image of the invisible God could not by any new state
be rendered more glorious or more happy ; and no gift or subse-
quent appointment could constitute a more perfect right, or a more
complete sulijection of all things to Jesus Christ, than that which
arose from his being the Word by whom all things were made, and
by whom they consist.
For these reasons it is manifest that, if we consider Christ only
as the Son of God, his exaltation can mean nothing more than that
his original title to dominion was published by the preaching of the
Gospel, and universally recognised, and that to this original title to
dominion there was superadded the new title of Redeemer of the
world. But this is not a full explication of all the places in which
his exaltation is spoken of; for the passages quoted from the He-
brews, the Philippians, and from John, lead us to attend, in the very
appointment of this dominion, to the incarnation of the Son of God.
The dominion is said to be given him because he is the Son of Man
— for the suffering of death, — because he humbled himself ; and we
are thus obliged, in explaining that dominion, to have recourse to
the ancient and modern distinction which we are now applying. It
is part of the oixovo'jjia, which the Scriptures teach, that, as the Son
of God, when he was made flesh, veiled his glory, so after his re-
surrection, the flesh which he had assumed was exalted to partake
of that glory. All that from the beginning had appertained to the
Son of God is now declared to belong to that person who is both
God and man : and he is invested with the office of Ruler and
Judge, in the execution of which he completes that work which he
began when he was made flesh. It is not, therefore, in respect of
the divine nature of Christ, which does not admit of a recompense,
but in respect of his human nature, that his exaltation is stated
under the notion of a reward : the scandal attending his humiliation
is thereby completely removed : and the declaration of his appoint-
ment to the sovereignty of the universe is the provision which God
hath made, that, notwithstanding his humiliation, " all men should
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father."
3. By the same distinction we are enabled to account for what
is said in Scripture concerning the termination of the dominion
given to Chi'ist. The words of the Apostle Paul upon this subject,
1 Cor. XV. 24, 25, 28, cannot mean that the dominion of Christ,
which is founded on his having created all things, shall come to an
end ; for this must continue as long as any creature exists ; neither
can they mean that the gratitude and worship of those whom he re-
deemed by his blood, and that right to their obedience which arises
from his interposition, shall ever cease ; for this is an obligation
which must co -exist with the souls of the redeemed. Accox'dingly,
428 UNION OF NATURES IN CHniST.
John heard every creature in heaven and in earth saying, " Bles»
sing-, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him tliat sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever ;"* and the
kingdom of Christ is represented, both in the Old and in the New
Testament, as everlasting. Tlie meaning, therefore, of the words
of the Apostle must be, that the office with which the Son of Man
was invested, in order to carry into full effect the purposes of his
incarnation, which divines are accustomed to call his mediatorial
kingdom, shall cease when these purposes are accomplished. His
authority to execute judgment must expire, after the quick and the
dead have received according to their works ; and he can no longer
rule in the midst of his enemies, after they are all put under his
feet. Every thing which the ancient theological writers meant by
e/xovo/x/a will then be concluded : and although the Son of God never
can lay aside his relation to those whom by that economy he hath
brought to his Father, yet the offices implied under the character
of Mediator, which had a reference to their preparation for heaven,
can have no place amongst the glorided saints, but God shall be all
in all, and the Sou shall reign in the glory which he had with the
Father before the world was.
In this manner, from the union between the divine and human
natures of Christ, and the communication of the properties of the
two natures, we are able to deduce an explication of several passages
of Scripture which would otherwise appear unintelligible. There
is one other use of the doctrine concerning the incarnation, which
is clearly stated in Scripture, and with which I close all that relates
particularly to the person of Jesus Christ.
It is by the union of two natures in one person that Christ is
qualified to be the Saviour of the world. He became man, that with
the greatest possible advantage to those whom he was sent to in-
struct, he might teach them the nature and the will of God ; that
his life might be their example ; that by being once compassed with
the infirmities of human nature he might give them assurance of
his fellow-feeling ; that by suffering on the cross he might make
atonement for their sins ; and that in his reward they might behold
the earnest and the pattern of theirs.
But had Jesus been only man, or had he been one of the spirits
that surround the throne of God, he could not have accomplished
the work which he undertook : for the whole obedience of every
creature ])eing due to the Creatoi-, no part of that obedience can
be placed to the account of other creatures, so as to sup})ly the
defects of their service, or to rescue them from the punishment
\vhich they deserve. The Scriptures, therefore, reveal, that he
' Rev. V. 13.
UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST. 429
who appeared upon earth as man is also God, and, as God, was
mighty to save ; and by this revelation they teach us that the
merit of our Lord's obedience, and the efficacy of his interposition,
depend upon the hypostatical union. *
All modern sects of Christians agree in admitting- that the
greatest benefits arise to us irom the Saviour of the world being-
man; but the Arians and Socinians contend earnestly that his
sufferings do not derive any value from his being God ; and their
reasoning is specious. You say, they argue, that Jesus Christ,
who suffered for the sins of men, is both God and man. You
must either say that God suffered, or that he did not suffer ; if
you say that God suffered, you do indeed affix an infinite value to
the sufferings, but you affirm that the Godhead is capable of suf-
fering, which is both impious and absurd : if you say that God
did not suffer, then, although the person that suffereil had both a
divine and a human nature, the sufferings were merely those of a
man, for, according to your own system, the two natures are dis-
tinct, and the divine is impassible.
In answer to this method of arguing, we admit that the God-
head cannot suffer, and we do not pretend to explain the kind of
support which the human nature derived under its sufferings from
the divine, or the manner in which the two were united. But
from the uniform language of Scripture, which magnifies the love
of God in giving his only begotten Son, which speaks in the high-
est terms of the preciousness of the blood of Christ, which repre-
sents hira as coming in the body that was prepared for him, to do
that which sacrifice and burnt-offering could not do — from all this
we infer that there was a value, a merit, in the sufferings of this
person, superior to that which belonged to the sufferings of any
other ; and as the same Scriptures intimate in numberless places
the strictest union between the divine and human natures of
Christ, Iiy applying to him promiscuously the actions which be-
long to each nature, we hold that it is impossible for lis to separate
in our imagination this peculiar value which they affix to his suf-
ferings, from the peculiar dignity of his person.
The hypostatical union, then, is the corner-stone of our religion.
We are too much accustomed, in all our researches, to perceive
that things are united, without being able to investigate the bond
which unites them, to feel any degree of surprise that we cannot
wai» cTia THc iJ'iaf Tr^o( ix.a.Tt^out o/x5/ot«toc ii( <piXia.v niti ojuotoinv TOfc
ct/u^0T-^oi'( vvvay^yfiv. Ireii. cont. Hajr. lib. iii. cap. 187. (Therefore he
united the human nature to the Godhead. For it was necessary that the Me-
diator between God and Man, by his own intimacy with each, should brmg
both into friendship and concord.)
430 UNION OF NATURES IN CHRIST.
answer all the questions which ingenious men have proposed upon
this siilsject : hut wo can clearly discern, in those purposes of the
incarnation of the Son of (jod which the Scriptures declare, the
reason why they have dwelt so largely upon his divinity ; and if
we are careful to take into our view the whole of that description
which they give of the person hy whom the remedy in the Gospel
was brought ; if, in our speculations concerning him, we neither
lose sight of the two parts which are clearly revealed, nor forget
what we cannot comprehend, that union between the two parts
which is necessarily implied in the revelation of them, we shall
perceive, in the character of the Messiah, a completeness, and a
suitableness to the design of his coming, which of themselves cre-
ate a strong presumption that we have rightly interpreted the
Scriptures.
[ 431 ]
CHAP. IX.
OPINIONS CONCKRNING THE SPIRIT.
I HAVE now given a view of the different opinions that have
been held concerning- that Person, by whom the remedy offered
in the Gospel was brought to the world. But there is also re-
vealed to us another Person, by whom that remedy is applied, who
is known in Scripture by the name of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Ghost ; and whom our Lord, in different places of that
long discourse which John has recorded in chap. xiv. xv. and xvi.
of his Gospel, calls 'Xa^^axkyiroi. [Comforter.] When you read
John XV. 26, you cannot avoid considering- 6 'rraoay.}.rj-oc as the
same with ro -rusu/yva [the Spirit,] and as a person distinct from
the Father and the Son. Yla^ayCKriTOi is derived from Ta^axa?.£w,
the precise meaning- of which is, " standing- by the side of a per-
son I call upon him to do something," and which is commonly
translated, " I comfort or encourag-e." Hence the word Taga-
KXrirog is rendered in our Bibles the Comforter; but if you at-
tend to the analog-y of the Greek language, you will perceive
that the manner in which it is formed from the verb, suggests as
the more literal interpretation of the noun advoccitus, advocate,
" one who, being called in, stands by the side of others to assist
them."
Of the offices of this Person I shall have to speak, when I pro-
ceed in the progress of my plan to the application of the remedy.
At present I have only to state the information which the Scrip-
tures afford, and the different opinions to which that information
has given rise, concerning the character of this Person. The sub-
ject lies within a much narrower compass than that which I have
just finished.
Dr Clarke has collected, in his Scripture-Doctrine of the Tri-
nity all the passages of the New Testament in which the Spirit
is mentioned. They ai'e very numerous ; they have been differ-
ently interpreted ; and corresponding to this difference of inter-
pretation is the variety of opinions which have been held concern-
ing this Person. The simplest method in which I can state the
progress of these opinions, is to begin with directing your atten-
tion to the form of baptism taught by our Lord, Matt, xxviii. 19.
432 OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT.
Baptism ov washing- is found in the religious ceremonies of all na-
tions. Among- the heathen, the initiated after having- been in-
structed in certain hidden doctrines and awful rites, were baptized
into these mysteries. The Israelites are said l)y the Apostle Paul,
1 Cor. X. 2, to have been baptized into Moses, at the time when
they followed him as the servant of God, sent to lead them through
the Red Sea.
Proselytes to the law of Moses from other nations were received
by baptism ; and all the people who went out to hear John, the
forerunner of Jesus, were baptized by him into the baptism of re-
pentance. In accommodation to this general practice, Jesus, hav-
ing- employed his apostles to baptize those who came to him during
his ministry, sent them forth, after his ascension, to make disciples
of all nations by baptizing- them. But, in order to render baptism
a distinguishing- rite, by which his followers might be separated
from the followers of any other teacher who chose to baptize, he
added these words, " into the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost."
The earliest Christian writers inform us that this solemn form
of expression was uniformly employed from the beg-inning- of the
Christian church. It is true, indeed, that the Apostle Peter said
to those who were converted on the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. 38,
" Repent and ba baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ ;" and that, in different places of the book of Acts, it is
said that persons were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus :
and from hence those who deny the argument, which I am about
to draw from the form of baptism, have infei'red that, in the days
of the apostles, this form was not rigorously observed. Bui a lit-
tle attention will satisfy you that the inference does not follow,
because there is internal evidence from the New Testament itself,
that when the historian says persons were baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus, he means they were baptized according to the
form prescribed by Jesus. Thus the question put by Paul, Acts
xix. 2, 3, shows that he did not suppose it possible for any person
who administered Cliristian baptism to omit the mention of the
Holy Ghost ; and even after this question, the historian when he
informs us that the disciples were baptized, is not solicitous to re-
peat the whole form, but says in his usual manner. Acts xix. 5,
" when they heard this, they were Imptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus." There is another question put by the Apostle Paul,
1 Cor. i. 13, which shows us in what light he viewed the form of
baptism. The question implies his considering the form of bap-
tism as so sacred, that the introducing the name of a teacher into
it was the same thing- as introducing- a new master into the king-
dom of Christ.
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT. 433
There is nothing, then, in the New Testament contrary to the
clear information which we derive from tlie succession of Christ-
ian writers, who agree in declaring that the form of baptism ori-
ginally prescribed by Jesus was from the beginning observed upon
every occasion. At a time when Christianity was not tlie esta-
blished reHgion of the state, but was spreading rapidly through the
Roman empire, many were daily baptized who had been educated
in the knowledge and belief of other religions, and baptism was
their initiation into the faith of Christ. In order to prepare them
for this solemn act, they received instruction for many days in the
principal articles of the Christian faith, particularly in the know-
ledge of the three Persons into whose name they were to be bap-
tized, and they were required at their baptism to declare that they
believed what they had been taught. The practice of connecting
instruction with the administration of baptism rests upon aposto-
lical authority ; * and upon this was probably founded the follow-
ing practice, which we learn from early writers to have been uni-
versal. Those who were to be baptized underwent a preparation,
during which they were called, in the Greek church, ■/.a-riyji-oiLivoi
[^catechumens ; persons under instruction Q in the Latin church,
competentes. KuTTiy^riuiMvoi is derived from KaTnyj(^, a compound
of xara and T/J'-^' sono, which implies that they were instructed
viva voce by catechists, whose business it was to deliver to them
in the most familiar manner the rudiments of the doctrine of
Christ : Competentes, competitors, or candidates, implies that
they were seeking together the honour of being initiated into
Christianity. When the catechumens or competentes were judged
to have attained a sufficient measure of knowledge, they were
brought to the baptismal font, and immediately before their bap-
tism two things were required of them. The one was called
a-TTora^ig rov Sarava, segregatio a Satana ; [^separation from Sa-
tan ;] the other, auvrat^ii rr^og Xpistov, aggregatio ad Chri.stum.
Qadhesion to Christ.] By the one they renounced, in a form of
words that was prescribed to them, the devil, his works, his
worship, and all his pomp, i. e. they professed their resolution
to forsake both vice and idolatry : by the other, they declared
their faith in those articles in which they had been instructed.
The most ancient method of declaring this faith was taken fi'om
the form of baptism. The person to be baptized said, " I believe
iu God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." By these
words he professed that his faith embraced that whole name into
which he was to be baptized ; and the creeds, which came to be
used in different churches, appear to have been only enlargements
* Acts viii. 35—38. Rom. x. 10. 1 Pet. iii. 21.
VOL. I. T
434 OPIKIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT.^
of this original declaration, the substance of which was retained
in all of them, but was extended or explained by insertions which
were meant to oppose errors in doctrine as they sprang up, and
which consequently varied in every church according to the nature
of the errors that prevailed there, and the light in which these
errors were viewed. Every chiirch required its catechumens to
repeat its own creed before they were baptized, so that the repe-
tition of the creed was a declaration, on the part of the catechu-
mens, that their faith in the name into which they were to be
baptized was the same with that of the church from which they
were to receive baptism.
It appears by this deduction that faith in the Holy Ghost was a
branch of the rudiments of Christianity, derived from that form by
which our Lord appointed disciples to be initiated into his religion :
and in this form you observe that the Holy Ghost is conjoined
with the Father and the Son, in such a manner as obviously to imply
that he is a person of equal rank with them. When you recollect
the exalted conceptions which the Gospel gives of the Father, and
the full revelation which it has made of the dignity of the Son ;
when you recollect that there is authority in the New Testament
for worshipping the Son as well as the Father ; and when you con-
sider farther that the persons who professed their faith in the Fa-
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, did at the very same time renounce the
worship of idols, you will acknowledge that there is an unaccount-
able ambiguity in the expression prescribed by our Lord ; nay that
the form used upon his authority has a necessary tendency to lead
Christians into the practice of idolatry which they then renounced,
unless the Holy Ghost be, with the Father and the Son, an object
of worship. This clear inference from the form of baptism was
probably confirmed in the earliest ages by its being observed, that,
besides all those places of the New Testament which teach us to
reverence the Spirit, there is one passage where the Apostle Paul
has joined the three Persons together in such a manner as seems
intended to convey to his readers a conception of the equality of
their rank.* " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all."
Upon these authorities the Christian church, from the very be-
ginning, worshipped the Holy Ghost. There is clear evidence of
this fact, in a passage from Justin Martyr,f whom we are accus-
* 2 Cor. xiii. 13.
MM<*( TaVTa KUi Tov Titv «*Aaiv 'f7ro/u(ta'V Kai i^c/ucuv/ut\av ayabat o^^eXav
at^ttov, TiviVf^aii TO w^o(p>itiiiov atCcjUfbv x.ni ti^coxv icv/utv, }Q-ya<*a.t
ohM^utt ri/W'ffit- ^^'^ Bull. iJc'f. 70. [But we worship and adore both Him,
(the Fatlier) ;iiid the Eon who came from him, and has taught these things to
J
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT. 435
tomed to quote as the best voucher of the opinions and the prac-
tices of early times. The succession of Christian writers from
Justin say the same thing-, and the Spirit is conjoined with the
Father and the Son in the most ancient doxologies. But it was a
principle with the tirst Christians, rov Qiov imvov dsi 'tt^oskwhv, [^to
worship God alone.] The worship of any creature was in their
eyes idolatry ; and therefore their worshipping- the Holy Ghost
was expressing by their practice the same inference which they
draw in their writings from tlie form of baptism, viz. that the Holy
Ghost is a person of the same rank with the Father and the Son.
If this uniform testimony of the Christian writers could be sup-
posed to require any support, we might quote a dialogue entitled
Philopatris, commonly ascribed to Lucian, and certainly written
either by him, or by some contemporary of his, about the middle
of the second century. The author means to g-ive a ludicrous re •
presentation of the manner in which the catechumens were in-
structed, and amongst other circumstanres, he introduces the fol-
lowing.* The scholar asks by whom he should swear, and the
Christian instructor answers in words which imply that the Christ-
ians, in the days of Lucian, were accustomed to swear by all the
three Persons mentioned. But as swearing by a person is one of
those honours which ai^e most properly called divine, Lucian infers
from this part of the practice of the Christians, that in their esti-
mation every one of the three Persons was Zivg koli &sog, [Jupiter
and God ;] and thus his testimony comes to be a voucher of both
the opinions and the practice of the great body of Christians with
regard to the Holy Ghost.
During the first three centuries, there was not any particular
controversy upon this subject, except that which was occasioned
by the system of the Gnostics. The numerous sects that come
under this description, who corrupted the simplicity of the Gospel
by a mixture of the tenets of oriental philosophy, held both Christ
and the Spirit to be i?ions, emanations from the Supreme Mind.
But as they denied the divine original of the books of Moses, they
said that the Spirit, which had inspired him and the prophets, was
not that exalted i?^on whom God sent forth after the ascension of
Christ, but an iEon very much inferior, and removed at a great
distance from the Supreme Being. It was, on the other hand, the
general belief of the Christian church, that the same Spirit who
was afterwards sent to the apostles had operated in the saints from
the beginning ; and the character uniformly given of the Spirit by
Justin Martyr, Irenseus, and the other primitive writers, was in
us and the host of good angels who follow him, and are made like to him, and
tlie i)rophetical Spirit, honouring them in word and in truth.]
• See Bull, Def. F.N. 73, and Jud. 32.
436 OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT.
«uch words as these : ro 'rr^o(p'rirr/Jiv Cfju/xa — ro bia roiv T^&^?;rwv
■/.ixriyjyjic rac. oixovo/Miag 03&u. [the proplietical Spirit — who pro-
claimed hy the propliets the economies of God/] In order,tlieref'ore,
to oppose the errors of the Gnostics, there came to be introduced
into the creed of the church of Jerusalem, which was honoured
throughout the east as the mother of all the churches, in addition
to the original words, " I helieve sic ro ayiw -n-sn/xa," Qthe Holy
Spirit,^ the following-, " 70 ■-a^axXrirov.^ ro M.J.riGav oiaTon iT^of7i-o}v"
[tlu! Comforter, who spake by the prophets.] We know that
Cyril, who was bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century, wrote
an exposition of the creed of which these words are a part ; and
we learn from his writings that this creed was explained to the
catechumens in the church of Jerusalem, and that they were re-
quired to repeat it before they received baptism.
Here the matter rested till after the time of the Arian contro-
versy. As Arius helil the Son to be the most excellent creature
of God, by whom all others were created, the Spirit was necessarily
ranked by him amongst the productions of the Son : and accordingly
the ancient writers who have left an account of the heresy of
Arius, say that he made the Spirit xnsixa ZTiGi^aToz, the creature of
a creature. But as his attacks were chiefly directed against th«
divinity of the Son, and as his opinions concerning- the Spirit were
«mly an inference from the leading- principles of his system, they
did not draw any particular attention in the council of Nice. This
first general council, which met A.D. 325, published the creed,
which is known by the name of the Nicene creed, in direct oppo-
sition to the errors of Arius. Accordingly, there are added in this
creed to the second article of the ancient creeds, that concerning
the Son, several clauses which were meant to declare the dignity of
his person, and his consubstantiality with the Father; hut the third
article, that concerning the Spirit, is continued in the same simple
mode of expression which had been originally suggested by the form
of baptism y.a.i ng to 'rrviuiJ^a to ayiov, [and in the Holy Ghost."]
In the course of the fourth century, Macedonius, who held
a particular modification of the Arian system concerning the
Son, following- out the principles of that svstem, openly denied
the divinity of the Spirit, and was the founder of a sect, known
in those times by the name Tl'jro;xaToij.ayj)i, [^opponents of
the Spirit. J Macedonius is said by some to have denied that
the Holy Ghost is a person distinct from the Father, and to
have considered what the Scriptures call the Spirit as only a
divine energy diffused throughout the creation. According to
others, he held the Spirit to be a creature, the servant of the
Most High God. We are not acquainted with the detail of his
opinions. We only know in general, that he did not admit, what
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT. 437
in his time had been generally received in the Christian church,
that the Holy Spirit is a person of the same divine nature with
the Father and the Son ; and we have the clearest evidence that
the opinion of Macedonius appeared to the church to be an inno-
vation in the ancient faith. For as the first general council, the
council of Nice, had, A.D. 3-25, condemned the opinions of Arius
with regard to the Son, so the second general council, the council
of Constantinople, A.D. 381, condemned the opinions of Macedo-
nius with regard to the Spirit. The council of Nice testified their
disapprobation of the opinions of Arius, and guarded those who
should be received into the Christian church against his eiTors, by
the additions which they made to the second article of the ancient
creeds ; and the council of Constantinople in like manner entered
their testimony against the errors of Macedonius by the following
change upon that creed which had been used in the church of Je-
rusalem, and which ai)pears to have been the same in substance
with that used throughoiit the Christian world. The third article
of the ancient creed had run thus, nc ro ayiov •ri'su/xa, to rTa^aySKriTov,
TO XczA'/^ffav hia rwy crcofjjrwv. \jn the Holy Ghost, the Com-
forter, who spake by the prophets.] Instead of ro ':taia-/Xnro\,
[the Comforter,] which might be conceived to convey a notice of
inferiority and ministration in the Holy Ghost, the council of
Constantinople introduced the following- expressions : Ka/ ag ro
mi\)ihu. ro aytov, ro xupiov ro ^uo'zoiovv, ro bx rou Targog szTTo^siJofisvov, r»
ouv Turpi Ttai xj'iu) 'X^ogzvwvfjjiwv /tai evvdol^a^o/Mvov, ro XaXriSav dia ruv
c^o^jjrw;. [And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the giver of life, who
proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and Son is
worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.]
The expressions inserted instead of ro 'jrapu.xXrirov were intended
to declare, what the natural import of the words very strongly con-
veys, that majesty of character in the Holy Ghost, and that equa-
lity with the Father and the Son in worship and glory, which those
who are admitted to Christian baptism after being catechumens had
been taught, in the application of the original form, to believe, and
which it does not appear that the great body of tlie church, till the
time of Macedonius, had ever thought of questioning.
When, in the sixteenth century, opinions concerning the Son,
much bolder than those which had been held by Arius, or any of
his followers, were avowed and published by Socinus, it was not
possible that he could acquiesce in the received creed concerning
the Spirit : and the opinion which he adopted iipon this siibject
was the same with that refined system which has been ascribed by
some to Macedonius. Socinus did not say that the Holy Ghost
is a creature ; he said that it is the power and energy of God sent
from heaven to men ; that by its being given without measure, as
438 OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT.
the Scriptures speak, to Jesns Christ, this great Prophet was sanc-
tified, and led, and raised above all the other messengers of heaven ;
that by the extraordinary measure in which it was given to his
apostles they were qualified for executing their commission ; and
that it is still communicated in such manner and such degree as is
necessary for the comfort and sanctification of the disciples of
Jesus.
This is the system of the modern Socinians, which Lardner has
brought forward in some pieces that are published in the tenth and
eleventh volumes of his works, and which is found often recurring
in the writings of Piuestley and Lindsey. The arguments upon
which this system rests are of the following kind. An attempt is
made to reconcile with this system all those passages of Scripture
which seem to imply that the Holy Ghost is a distinct person : it
is said that the Spirit of God sometimes denotes the power or wis-
dom of God, as they are communicated to men, i. e. spiritual gifts ;
that it is sometimes merely a circumlocution for God himself; and
that when the Spirit of God appears to be spoken of as a person,
we are to understand that there is a figure of speech, the same kind
of prosopoposia by which it is said that charity is kind and envieth
not — that sin deceives and slays us — and that the law speaks. It
is allowed that the figure is variously used in different places : but
it is alleged, that, by a moderate exercise of critical sagacity, all
those passages of the New Testament, in which the Spirit of God
is mentioned, may be explained without our being obliged to sup-
pose that a person is denoted by that expression.
This is the Socinian mode of arguing with regard to the Holy
Ghost. Upon the other side, it is argued by Bishop Pearson, who
has treated the subject very fully and distinctly in his Exposition
of the Creed ; by Dr Barrow, in one of his Sermons on the Creed ;
by Bishop Burnet, on the Thirty nine Articles, and by others, that
numberless actions and operations which unavoidably convey the
idea of a person are ascribed to the Holy Ghost — that there are
many places in which neither prosopopoeia nor any other figure of
speech can account for this manner of speaking — and that the at-
tributes, and names, and description of this person, are such a§
clearly imply that he is no creature, but truly God.
The subject, it may be seen, from this general account of the
argument upon both sides, runs out into a long detail of minute
criticism. Without attempting to enter into this, I shall only sug-
gest four general observations, which it is proper to carry along
with you when you examine those passages which Dr Clarke has
fairly collected in his Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity^ and upon
which the other writers argue.
1. In many places of Scripture " the Spirit of God" may be a
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT. 439
circumlocution for God himself, or for the power and wisdom of
God. Thus when we read, " whither shall 1 go from thy Spirit,
and whither shall I flee from thy presence ?"— " they vexed his
holy Spirit,"—" hy his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens ;"
or when Jesus says, " if I by the Spirit of God ;" in another Gos-
pel it is, " if I by the finger of God cast out devils," it is not more
reasonable to infer from these expressions that the Spirit of God
is a person distinct from God, than it would be to suppose that,
when we speak of the spirit of a man, we mean a person distinct
from the man himself. You will not think that because the cir-
cumlocution, for which the Socinians contend, does not give the
true explication of all the passages to which they wish to apply it,
there is no instance of its being used in Scripture: and you will
always carry along with you this general rule of Scripture criticisrn,
that it is most unbecoming those, who profess to derive all their
knowledge of theology from the Scriptures, to strain texts in order
to make them appear to support jiarticular doctrines, and that there
never can be any danger to truth, in adopting that interpretation
of Scripture which is the most natural and rational.
2. There are many passages in which " the Spirit of God" means
gifts or powers communicated to men, and from which we are not
warranted to infer that there is a person who is the fountam and
distributer of these gifts. So we read often in the Old Testament,
«' the Spirit of the Lord came upon him," when nothing more is ne-
cessarily implied under the expression, than that the person spoken
of was "endowed with an extraordinary degree of skill, or might, or
wisdom. So the promises of the Old Testament, " I will pour
out my spirit upon you," were fulfilled under the New Testament
by what are there called " the gifts of the Holy Ghost ;" in refe-
rence to which we read, " that Christians received the Holy Ghost,"
— " that the Holy Ghost was given to them,"—" that they were
filled with the Spirit." Neither the words of the promise, nor the
words that relate the filtilment of it, suggest the personality of the
Spirit ; and if we knew nothing- more than what such passages
suggest, the Socinian system upon this subject would exhaust the
meaning of Scripture, and the Spirit would appear to he merely a
virtue or energy proceeding from God.
3. But ray third oliservation is, that if there are passages in which
the Holy Ghost is clearly and unequivocally described as a person,
then, however numerous the passages may be in which " the Spi-
rit of God" appears to be a phrase meaning gifts and powers com-
municated to men, this does not in the least invaUdate the evidence
of the personality of the Spirit, hecause it is a most natural and
intelligible figure to express the gifts and powers by the name of
that person who is represented as the distributer of them. The
440 CPINIOXS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT.
true method, then, of stating- the question upon this subject be-
tween the Socinians and other Christians, is not, whether it be
possible to interpret a great number of passag-es that speak of the
Spirit of God, without being- oblig-ed to suppose that there is a
distinct Person to whom this name is given, but whether there are
not some passages by which the personality of the Spirit may be
clearly ascertained.
There are two passag-es of this last kind to which I would di-
rect your attention. The first is the long- discourse of our Lord,
in chap. xiv. xv. and xvi. of John's Gospel, where, in promising
the Holy CJhost to the apostles, he describes him as a person who
was to be sent and to come, who hears, and speaks, and reproves,
and instructs ; as a person diiferent from Jesus, because he was to
come after Jesus departed, because he was to be sent by Christ,
and to receive of Christ, and to glorify Christ ; as a person diifer-
ent from tlie Father, l)ecause he was to be sent by the Father, and
because he was not to speak of himself, but to speak what he should
hear. The second passag-e is a discourse of the Apostle Paul, 1
Cor. xii. 1 — l«i, where the apostle, in speaking- of the diversities
of spiritual gifts, represents them as under the administration of
one Spirit. It is impossible to conceive . words which can mark
more strong-ly than the 11th verse does, that there is a Person
who is tlie author of all spiritual gifts, and who distributes them
according to his discretion
You will meet, in the collection of texts \ipon this subject, with
many other passages which show that the apostles considered the
Spirit as a person : and to the inference obviously suggested by all
these passag-es you are to add this general consideration, that as the
prosopopoeia, to which the Socinians have recourse in order to evade
the evidence of the personality of the Spirit, appears to be forced
and unnatural, when it is applied to the long- discourse recorded by
John, so the supposition of any such prosupopceia being- there in-
tended is rendered incredible by our Lord's introducing-, after that
discourse, the Holy Ghost into the form of liaptism, and thus con-
joining- the Holy Ghost, whom he had described as a person, with
the Father and the Son, who are certainly known to be persons.
There is, in all this, a continued train of argument, so much fitted
to impress our minds with a conviction of the personality of the Spi-
rit, that, if the Socinian system on this subject be true, it will be
hard to fix ujion any inference from the language of Scripture in
which our minds may safely acquiesce.
4. My fourth observation is, that, if the Sj)irit of God be a per-
son, it follows of course that he is God. I do not say that the Spi-
rit is anywhere in Scripture directly called God : and although the
writers on this subject have repeatedly said that this name is given
OPINIONS CONCERNING THE SPIRIT. 441
him by implication, because, Acts v. 3, 4, lying to the Holy Ghost
is stated as the same with lying to God ; and our bodies are called,
1 Cor. vi. 19, the temple of the Holy Ghost, and 1 Cor. iii. 16, the
temple of God, yet I would not rest so important an article of faith
upon this kind of verbal criticism. The clear proof of the divinity
of the Holy Ghost may in my opinion be thus shortly stated.
Since all spiritual gifts are represented as being placed under the
administration of this person ; since blasphemy against him is de-
clared to be an unpardonable sin ; since our Lord commands Christ-
ians to be baptized into the name of this person as well as into the
name of the Father and the Son ; and since the apostle Paul prays
or wishes for the communion of the Holy Ghost as for the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, it is plain that the
Scriptures teach us to honour and worship this person as we honour
the Father and the Son ; and it is not to be supposed that, if he bore
to these two persons the relation of a creature to the Creator, we
should be in this manner led to consider all the three as of the same
nature.
So much force is there in this argument, that the supposition of
the Spirit's being a creature has long been abandoned. It has not
even that support which the Socinian opinion concerning Jesus
Christ appears to derive from the expressions relating to his hu-
manity. The Spirit is nowhere spoken of in those humble terms
which belong to the man Christ Jesus : and they who are not dis-
posed to admit his divinity, finding no warrant for affixing to hira
any lower character, are obliged to deny his existence, by resolving
all that is said of him into a figure of speech.
Your business, therefore, in studying the controversy concerning
the Spirit, is to examine whether this figure of speech, which is na-
tural in some passages, can be admitted as the explication of all ;
or whether the impropriety of attempting to introduce it into some
places where the Spirit is described be not so glaring, as to leave a
convi(ftion upon the mind of every candid inquirer, that the Scrip-
tures reveal to us a third person, whose agency is exerted in ac-
complishing the purposes of the Gospel : and if your minds are sa-
tisfied of the personality of the Spirit, you have next to examine
whether the descriptions of this person, being incompatible with the
notion of that inferiority of character which belongs to a creature,
do not lead you to consider him as truly and properly God.
T2
[ 'i^2 :)
CHAP. X.
I30CTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
From the information which is g-iven us concerning the two per-
sons whom the Gospel reveals, it a])pears to follow that both the
Son and the Holy Ghost are truly and essentially God. But this
communication of the attributes, the names and the honours which
belong- to God the Father, implies that these two persons have an
intimate connexion with him, and with one another : and we are
thus led, after considering- the two ])ersons singly, to attend to the
manner in which they are united with the Father. For when rea-
son is able to deduce from Scrijiture that there are three persons,
each of whom is God, that curiosity, which is inseparable from the
exercise of our powers, renders her solicitous to investigate the
connexion that subsists amongst the three : and it is not till after
she has made many unsuccessful attempts, that she is forced to ac-
quiesce in a consciousness of her inability to form a clear appre-
hension of the subject.
I am now therefore to subjoin, to the Scripture account of the
Son and the Holy Ghost, a view of the opinions tbat have been
held concerning the manner in which they are united with the Fa-
ther ; a subject which is known in theology by the name of the
Doctrine of the Trinity. In stating these opinions, I shall not re-
cite a great deal that I have read without being able to penetrate
its meaning ; nor shall I attempt to go minutely through all the
shades of diflference that may be traced ; but I shall produce the
fruit which I gathered from a wearisome perusal of many authors,
by marking the great outlines of the three systems upon tliis sub-
ject, which stand forth most clearly distinguished from one another.
I shall give them the names of the Sabellian, the Arian, and the
Catholic systems. I call the third the Catholic system, because it
is the opinion concerning the Trinity which has generally obtain-
ed in the Christian Church.
SECTION I.
The point, from which a simple distinct exposition of opinions
concerning the Trinity sets out, is that fundamental doctrine of
3
DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. 443
natural religion, the unity of God. Although the heathens mul-
tiplied gods, yet, even in their popular mythology, a wide distinc-
tion was made hetween the subordinate deities and that Supreme
Being from whom they were derived, and by whom they were
controlled ; and the more enlightened that the mind of any philo-
sopher became he rose the nearer to an apprehension of the divine
unity. Our notions of the perfection of the divine nature involve
the idea of unity ; and that nice analogy of parts, which a skilful
observer discovers in the works of nature and Providence, is an
experimental confirmation of all the reasonings upon which this
idea is founded. The law of Moses, which separated the Jews
from the worship of the gods of the nations, declares that there is
none other besides him, and asserts his unity in tiiese words, Deut.
vi. 4, " Hear, O Isi'ael, the Lord our God is one Lord." Our Sa-
viour, Mark xii. 32, adopts the unity of God as the principle of
the first and great commandment of his religion. In another place,
Mark x. 18, he disclaims the appellation of good, saying, " there
is none good but one, that is God." The divine unity is asserted
in the strongest terms by his a})ostles, " To us there is but one
God, the only wise God, who only hath immortality."* It is said,
that those who were converted " turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God ;' f and we cannot read the New Testa-
ment without being strongly impressed with this truth, that the
supposition of a number of gods, which philosophy and Judaism
discard, is most repugnant to the perfect revelation made by Him
who came from the l)osom of the Father, to declare God to man.
If there be truth in this first principle of natural ridigion, so
earnestly inculcated by the general strain of the New Testament,
then the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost cannot be thi'ee Gods,
but there must be a sense in which these three Persons are one
God. Our Lord has been generally understood to intimate that
there is such a sense, when he says, John x. 38, " I and my Fa-
ther are one ;" and his apostle says the same thing with regard to
all the three, 1 John v. 7. It is proper, however, that you should
be aware of the objections that have been made to this application
of these two texts. With regard to the first, it has been said that
the words of our Lord do not necessarily imply that unity of which
we are speaking, and that, whether we consider the context, or the
similar expressions which he uses in the seventeenth chapter of
John, his words may mean no more than this, I and my Father
are one in purpose, i. e. his power, which none can resist, is always
exerted in carrying into effect my gracious designs towards my
disciples. With x'egard to the second text, it has been said that
* 1 Cor. viii. 6. 1 Tim i. 17 ; vi. 16. f 1 Thes. i. 9.
444 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
the whole verse is an interpolation, because it is wanting in many
Greek manuscripts, and because it is not quoted by any Christian
father who wrote in Greek before the Council of Nice. The au-
thenticity of this verse is certainly proldematical, for very able
judges have formed different opinions concerning' it. Mill, the
celebrated editor of the New Testament, in the beginning- of the
last century, after stating at great length the arguments upon both
sides, gives it as his judgment, that the verse is genuine. But
Griesbach, the latest editor of the New Testament, after a long-
investigation, declares in the most decided manner that the strong-
est testimonies and arguments are against this verse ; and that, if
it is admitted upon the slight grounds which have been alleged in
defence of it, Texhis Novi Testamenti universus plane incertus
esset atque clubius. [The whole text of the New Testament would
plainly be uncertain and doubtful.] This was also the opinion of
Porson, the late celebrated Greek Professor in England, and of
Herbert Marsh, the Editor of Michaelis. I must accede to such
authorities — and I have fui'ther to say, that even although we
should admit this verse, we cannot positively affirm that it teaches
an unity of nature in three persons ; for it may mean nothing more
than an agreement in that record, which all the three are there
said to bear.
It is not, then, upon this controverted verse in John's Epistle,
nor upon the probability, however strong, that the emphatical
words of our Lord, " I and my Father are one," mean something-
more than an unity of purpose, that the unity of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost ought to be rested ; but it is upon the
following clear induction. The Scriptures, in conformity with
right reason, declare that there is one God : at the same time, they
lead us to consider every one of the three Persons as truly God.
But the one of these propositions must be employed to quaHfy the
other; and therefore there certainly is some sense in which these
three persons are one God. This induction is conlirmed by the
language of the New Testament, which never speaks of three Gods,
but uniformly mentions these three persons in such a manner as to
suggest an union of counsel and operation infinitely more perfect
than any which we behold.
The force of the induction which I have now stated has been
felt in all ages of the church. The earliest Christian writers, who
paid the same honours to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as to the
Father, declared their abhorrence of polytheism, and considered
themselves as worshippers of the one true God. In the second"
century the word T^iac., trinitas, was imported from the Platonic
Bchoul, to express the imion of the three persons ; and the whole
succetsion of the Ante-Nicene fathers, although their illustrations
4
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 445
ai'e not always the most pertinent,, discover by innumerable pas-
sag'es that they worshipped the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, as constituting what TertuUian calls, in the second century,
Trinitas unius divmitatis, [[the Trinity of one divinity,] and Cy-
prian, in the third, Adimata trinitas, [the Trinity in one,] and
Athanasius, in the fourth, adiai^irog r^iag, Qhe undivided Trinity.]
SECTION 11.
The first attempt, in the way of speculation, to reconcile with the
unity of the Godhead what Christians had learnt to call the Trinity,
was made in the second century by Praxeas, and was continued, in
the beginning- of the third century, by Noetus, and in the middle
of it by Sabeliius. — There may be some shades of difference in the
opinions of these three men : but as the leading- parts of their sys-
tem were the same, the names of Praxeas and Noetus came to be
lost in the name of Sabeliius, and the points common to all the
three constitute that system of the Trinity which is known by the
name of Sabellianism, According- to this system, God is one Per-
son, who, at his pleasure, presents to mortals the different aspects
of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In respect of his creating- and
preserving- all things, he is the Father; in respect of ^hat he did
as the Redeemer of men, he is the Son ; and in respect of those
influences which he exerts in their sanctification, he is the Holy
Ghost. The accounts which ancient writers give of the opinions
of Sabeliius lead us to think that he considered the distinction of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as merely nominal, calling- God
T^tmv'jjog. But several circumstances, collected by the acute and
industrious Mosheim, render it probable that Sabeliius conceived
a ray or portion emitted from the divine substance to have been
joined to the man Jesus Christ, in order to form the Son ; so that
his opinion concerning- the Person of Christ coincided with that
of the Gnostics, who considered Jesus Christ as a man to whom
an emanation of the Supreme Mind was united, and with that of
the modern Socinians, who consider the power and wisdom of God
as dwelling- in the man Christ Jesus. But even after this refine-
ment upon the opinions of Praxeas and Noetus, God continued to
be stated in this system as one person, who assumes different names
from the difierent aspects, which himself or a part of himself pre-
sents : and the true character of Sabellianism is this, that it de-
446 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
stroys the distinction of persons which the Scriptures teach, con-
founding- the sender with the person sent, him that hegat with
him that is hegotten, and the Holy Ghost with the Father, from
whom he is said to proceed. TertuUian who wrote againt Praxeas
in the second century, and the writers of the third who opposed
SabeUius, urge with great strength of argument the various pas-
sages in which this distinction is expressed or imphed : and that
they might place in the most odious light the doctrine by wdiich
it was confounded, they gave to Sabellius and his followers the
name of Patropassians, meaning to represent it as a consequence
of their doctrine, that the God and Father of all had endured those
sufferings which the Scriptures ascribe to Jesus Christ.
Sabellianism preserves in the most perfect manner the unity of
God ; and on this account it may appear to be the most philoso-
phical scheme of the Trinity. 13ut insuperable objections to it
arise from the language and views introduced into the New Tes-
tament. Those who wrote after this system was first published
were so sensible of the force of these objections, that they discover
an extreme solicitude to express clearly the distinction between
the Father and the Son. They were sometimes led by this soli-
citude into modes of speaking, which have been represented as in-
consistent with a belief of the divinity of the Son : and the great
controversy which was agitated about a hundred years ago, with
regard to the opinion of the Ante-Nicene fathers concerning the
person of the Son, took its rise from this circumstance, that there
being in their times some who denied the divinity of our Saviour,
and others who denied the distinction of persons in the Godhead,
these fathers wrote against lioth, and, from their zeal for the truth,
or from the eagerness of controversy, used expressions in attack-
ing the one of those heresies, which it is not easy to reconcile w'ith
the expressions used against the opposite heresy.
The language employed by some of the ancient writers in con-
demning Sabellianism encouraged Arius, about the beginning of
the fourth century, to avoid every appearance of confounding the
person of the Father and the Son, by broaching an opinion which
his contemporai'ies represent as an innovation, till that time un-
heard of. He said that the Son was a creature who had no exist-
ence till he was made by God out of nothing — that his being be-
gotten means nothing more than his being made by the will of
the Father — and that this peculiar tenuis applied to him, because he
was made before all other creatures, that he might be the instru-
ment of the Almighty in creating them. By this system Arius
steered clear of Sabellianism, and at the same time he preserved
the unity of God. For Jesus Christ, according to him, is in reality
a creature, and only called God upon account of the offices in
DOCTRINE OF THE TIUNJTV. 447
which he was employed, ami the honour and dignity with which
he was invested by the Father Almighty. To Arius, therefore,
there was but one God, in the proper sense of that word : but as
he admitted that Jesus Christ, a different person from the Father,
was also God, because he was constituted God, his opinion must
be stated as one of the ancient systems of the Trinity.
I have formerly explained,* at great length, the grounds upon
which this opinion of Arius concerning the Son was rejected by
the Christian church. At present I ha,'e to advert to the mean-
ing of those terms in which the council of Nice, A. D. 3'2o, ex-
pressed their condemnation of this opinion. The council, who
knew the sense in which Arius aj>plied the words God, and only
begotten Son of God, to Jesus Christ, wished to frame such a creed
as could not be repeated by those who held the Arian opinions :
and with this view they made a large addition to the second article
of the ancient ci'eed, and annexed to the creed a condemnatory
clause.t
The word, in this addition, which requires the most particular
attention, upon account of its frequent use in the controversy con-
cerning the Trinity, is o/moovsioc, Qof the same substance.] It is
compounded of 6fi,Qc, idem, and ovffia, substantia ; denoting that
which is of the same sulistance or essence with another. It had
been used by classical Greek writers in this sense. So Aristotle
says, o/j.oovsia cravra adr^a, \ji\\ the stars are of the same substance.]
It had been applied, ;{; by Christian writers long before the council
" Book iii. ch. I.
■f" K«/ S/C TOV iVcL Kl/^ISV Ijl^oVV X^KTTSV, TOV VtOV Tot/ QiOU, yiWuQiVTO. iX,
TOU ■TTATg^OC H0V<iyt1», TCt/T'STT/V ?K TH( CUVIdi tHU TTUT^Cli' QiOV IK S'SOU, 4>aT
IX, (petTo;, S'sov <thniivot m ■3"8oy ahudivju, yiyvubinTa. ou To/«S«vTa, o/utoout'tov
TCf 7ra.T^i, Si oil la. '7ra.\na. ej-ivsro. x. t. a. tov( cfs XsjovTofc, xv ^ots, ors
OVA. »v, x.a.i TT^tV yiVVIlfillVcli, OUX. HV, H.XI OTt »^ (,Utt, OVTCet iyltSTO, M i^ ST6§*C
VVOVTlL^iaii « iV^tm <pl!niOVJOli: itlal, » XT<CT5V, » TgSTTOV, H ah>\OtUT'JV
rot uiov Tou ©sou, tovtcuc ccvctili/uaTt^ei « x,at.&o?'tx.ii K»t aretrrohlKu ixuhti^ix.
[And in one l^ord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten, only l)egotten of the
Father, i. c. of the substance of the Father ; God of God, Light of Light, very
God of very God, begotten not made ; of the same substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made, &c. &c. And tlie Catholic and Apostolical
Church anathematizes those who say that there was a time when he was not,
and that he was not liefore he was begotten, and that he was made of things
which were not, or who say that he is of another substance or essence, or a crea-
ture, or one who was brought up, or a Son of God that is liable to change.]
The second clause is thus translated by the church of England, in that creed
which they call the Nicene Creed, and which forms part of the comnmnion
.service. " And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, be-
gotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God
of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by
whom all things were made,"&c. &c. Tlie anathematizing clause is not adopted
by the Church of England.
+ Bull, D, F. N. 28.
448 DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY.
of Nice, in the very sense in which it was used by the council :
and it only expresses the amount of those images which had been
employed by the succession of writers from the earliest times, to
mark the relation between the Father and the Son, one of the most
common and significant of which is introduced into the creed itself
fug i% (puj-og, Qight of light.] As a derived light is the same in
nature with the original light at which it was kindled, so, whatever
be the meaning of ij^wg [light]] when applied to the Father, the
word must have the same meaning when the Son is called (fug zx
fMTog, [light of light.]
There is a circumstance respecting the ancient use of the word
6fMou(ririC, which it is proper to state, because it creates some em-
barrassment, and has been the subject of satire and ridicule. This
word, which the council of Nice introduced into their creed, had
been prohibited by a council which met sixty years before at An-
tioch ; and this inconsistency between two early councils has been
stated in alight very unfavourable to the uniformity of the Christ-
ian faith. But the true account of the matter appears to be this.
At the time of the council at Antioch, the controversy was with
the Sabellians, who denied the distinction of persons between the
Father and the Son. The Sabellians, employing every method to
fix an odium upon the doctrine generally held concerning the Son,
represented the word o/MovGiog, which Christians often used, as im-
plying that there was a substance anterior to the Father and the
Son, of which each received a part. The council of Antioch judged
that the easiest way of repelling this attack of the Sabellians, was
by laying aside the use of o/i'iousiog : and although they did not
mean to acknowledge that those who had used the -word held the
doctrine said by the Sabellians to be couched under it, they effec-
tually disowned that doctrine, by recommending that other terms
should be employed for expressing the Catholic opinion. At the
time of the council of Nice Sabellianism was less an object of at-
tention. The impossibility of reconciling that system with the
language of Scripture had been completel}^ exposed ; the sense of
the church with regard to the distinction of the Father and the
Son had been precisely I'xpressed ; there was little danger of any
misapprehension of terms upon this subject ; and a new adversary,
who held opinions directly opposite to those of Sabellius, but whose
system was conceived to be not less inconsistent with Scripture, by
agreeing with the church in the expression which had been intro-
duced into former creeds concerning the Son, seemed to demand
some unequivocal declaration of the common faith. The council
of Nice, therefore, whose faith we have the best reason for think-
ing was the same with that of the council of Antioch, revived the
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 449
worJ 0/Moovgiog, not in the Sabellian sense, upon account of which
the council of Antioch had laid it aside, but in the sense in which
it had been used by more ancient writers, and in which it was per-
fectly agreeable to the general train of their doctrine : and the
reason of the council's adopting this particular phrase was this,
that no other could be found so diametrically opposite to the Arian
system. For although the Arians might call Jesus God, meaning
that he was constituted Ciod, and might say that he was begotten
of the Father, meaning by begotten created, yet as they held that he
was made £5 ova. oi/rwi/jQof things which were not,] they could not say
that he was sx r?js ovsiag -rargog, Qof the substance of the Father f}
and as they said that he was ix r-^g srsga? oxxiiac, [of another sub-
stance,] being a creature in respect of the Creator, they could not
sav that he was ofjuoovsioc, Qof the same substance.] Eusebius, the
patron of the Arians, declared in a letter to the council of Nice,
that this word was incompatible with their tenets ; and for this
very reason we are told it was adopted by the council, that accord-
ing to an expression of Ambrose, which has been often quoted,
" with the sword which the heresy itself had drawn from the scab-
bard, they might cut off the head of the monster."
Whether it would have been more prudent to have avoided a
term which a great body of Christians declared they could not use,
and to have introduced into the creed only those general Scripture
phrases in which the Arians were ready to join with the Cathohcs,
is a point to be decided by some of the general principles of church
government. At present, in explaining the terms that have been
introduced into the controversy concerning the Trinity, we have
only to observe, that an aversion to the word ofMOvaiog is the mark
which distinguishes all those who hold any modification of the
Arian system. Some of the followers of Arius, wishing to avoid
the harshness of calling so exalted a Being a creature, said that the
Son was different from all other creatures, but still they were ob-
liged by their principles to say that he was a-M/Moiog ru) rrar^i, Qdif-
ferent from the Fathei'.] Others who received the name of Semi-
Arians, substituted o/u^owusiog Q<.»f a similar substance] in place of
ofMoovciiog, [of the same substance,] i. e. they admitted that the Son
was not only unlike all other creatures, but that he was like the
Father, having this peculiar privilege granted to him, to have a
substance in all things similar to that of God. The Semi Arians
spoke in the highest terms of the dignity of the Son ; and it was
not easy for those who approached so near to one another as the
Catholics and they did, to preserve, upon an incomprehensible sub-
ject, a marked difference in their writings. But the Semi- Arians
never admitted the word 6;zoouaiog into their creeds, because it im-
450 DocTHiNr. or tiik TiiiNirY.
j)li((l more tlmti tlicy liclicvcd. They iK-lii-vcd lliiil llii' I'litlipr
liud ^rmiUMl to the son a siiiiilarity 1o liiinsclt ; hut o/xMurr/o; iinplies
that tluM'c is ail essential saineiiess ol nature hetvveen iheni.
We are thus h-d, liy the exphcation of this discriminating term,
to what I caUed the third or Cathohe System of tlie 'IVinity, which
may be shortly ex])ressed in words of common use with the An-
cient CMiureh, fua ounia xai rgui uxoffraffE/f, or, iig (riio; iv r^isiv vcroff'
raflidi. QOm> substance and three ]»ersons, or, one God in tliree
persons.]
SECTION 111.
TiMO ecclesiastical sense of the word O-r^rfratf/c: was not ju-rfedly as-
certained in the bej^inning' of the fourth century. Hy some it was
considered as denotiu}^' the being or subsistence of u thing, and so
as equivalent to ouata.: by others it was understood to mean that
which has a subsistence, the thing subsisting, a person. It aj)])ear8
to be used in tiie first sense by the council of Nice, when in one part
of the anathematizing clause they condemn those; who said that the
Son £^ in^ac, ovc^iac. ri h'Troi^Teiniu; s/i/r//, [is of another essence or
being;] and according to this sense the council of Sar(Hs, in the
foni'th c«'nt-in"y, (b'clared /x/ai/ nvai v^rourcxttiv rov -Targio; xai rou u'lov %u.i
Tou ayuM ■■xviVfj^ariic., [that the being, or subsistence, of the; Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy (iliosl is one.] Had the council
meant by uToffrr/ff/; a person, their decree would have been pure
Sabellianism. Some alarm was spread through the church when
the decree was first published, from an appndiension that this
might be the meaning of it. Hut when the; matter came to be in-
vestigate<l, it was found that, as the council of Sardis understood
ivoSTaffig in the first sense, [being or essenc(>,] and those, who said
T^iig iiMHi {j'-Ttnaraani, [there are three jiersons] understood it in the
second, the meaning of both was precisely the sanm ; and after this
explication, it was generally understood that oL/rf/a sliould denote
th(> being or essence of a thing, V'-iKTrr/flig the person subsisting.
In this sense the last word had been used by the Platonics school
and by many of the Christian writers, before the council of Nice.
It is e\|>lained in the ancient (irei'k lexic(»ns by ■rr^^ofxwT&i', and it
Was rendered by the ImUws pursonn, a living intelligent agent.
The third system, then, was distinguished from Sabellianism by
admitting- r^ui i'TroOraaug [three persons;] the Father, the Son,
jjoctrine 01' I UK tiusi/ y.
451
and the Holy (iliost, instea<l of Ixiin^r f;onv.i'l<;r<!d as oik; pf;rson
rnanif'cKtirig- hirnM;lfiri variouK ways, wf-n; Ktat,('<l aw tlinMi jHTHoriK,
each of wliorii ha^ a jj«;rrnari(;nt <lihtirict Kubhisff-ricc. It was diH-
ting^uislu'd from Ariariisrn by ascribin;^ to all th«; thn-*; jxTSons
//,/« Oi/fl^/a []on«,' C'hKcnce.J And an Athanasiuh hpeakH, ro f/.iv fv<?/»
i?i>.<i/ r>i5 '.h'yrryr'y^' ro he rai ron r^ion i'6i(/rr,rv.i [\u the one cane it
rnanif<'hth the nature of the Godhea/J ; in the other wliat is \>wn-
liar to the Three I'ersonh.] Those who held this 8ystem wouU
not, with the ArianH, call the Son and the Holy (ihost 'cT'c>'/j<!i'ji
[of a different huhstance,]] heraune this conveyed the idea of M'pa-
ration and ijif(!riorify, Huch an e-^t-tfntial difference as there is be-
tween the nature of the creature and that of the Creator. Neither
(lid they adopt the wordx rtj.-KiTWjcihi and [iMwjru'ji, Ijecause these
might seem to favour the Sabellian confusion of persons. liut
they said the three persons were oiM'/jdi'ji, of one substance. Jef»Ui«
Christ, said the council of Clialcedon, is iiM'/jnidi iiJ^iv -/.'j.t/. rr,v «►-
^^wrM"/ira, 7.0.1 (ji/,wjt}iiii rrf/.r^t VMra rr,'j 'Mijrr,Ta : [^of one substance
with us according to the human nature, and of one substance with
the Father, according to the divine:] an expression which lea/is
us to conceive the meaning of the church in those days to have
been, that as all men partak«; of the same human iiature, so the
divine nature was common to the three persons.
but it will occur to you that three persons having a distinct
gubsihtence, and having the same divine nature, are in reality three
Gods ; that the most p<;rfect agreement in purpose, and the most
invariable consent in operation, do by no ineans correspond to that
unity of God, which is a first principle of natural religion ; and
that if those who held the third opinion bad reason to accuse the
Arians of paganism and idolatry for worshijjping a supreuie and
axi inferior (iod, the Arians hail reason to ac<;u>,e them in turn of
polytheism for believing in three (/ods. Accordingly, the names
which Mr Gibbon gives to the three distinct systems conc<;rning
the nature of the Divine Trinity, which he professes to delineate
in the second volume of his History, are these, Arianism, 'IVithe-
1801, Sab(dlianism ; and the charge which is miumoiAy brought
against Athanusians, the name given to those who hold the third
or Catholic opinion, is that they are 'i'ritheists. It is certain,
however, that Athanasius and his followers uniformly disclaimed
tritheihm,— and that while they asserted the equality of the Son
and the Holy (ihost with the Father, by saying that the divine
nature was common to all the three, they maintained at the same
time, that the three persons were united in a manner perfec-tly
different from that union which subsists amongst individuals of
the same fpecies. In order, therefore, to do justice to the Catho-
lic eystero, it is necessary to state the manner in which those who
•♦52 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
hold this system endeavour to reconcile the divine unity with the
•ubsistence of the three persons. What I have read of their writ-
ings upon this sul)ject, a))pears to me reducible to two heads. 1.
That the Father is, in their language, the fountain of deity, the
principle and origin of the Son and Holy Ghost. 2. That the
three persons are inseparably joined together.
1. The Father is the fountain of deity, Tjjy/] ^so-jjt-oj. They
called the Father a^x^' "°^ ^" the common sense of that word, the
beginning, as if the Father existed before the Son and the Holy
Ghost, but in the philo.sophical sense of the word, the principle
from which another arises. In this sense he was called am^yjg —
ayivvYiTo; — aiTia viou [without beginning — not begotten — the cause
of the Son.] It was said to be implied in the very name of Father
that he was aina xai aoyji tov s.^ dv-ou yivvViSsi/To; [the cause and
the beginning of him who is begotten of him Q and the difference
of the three persons was conceived to consist in this, that the FV
ther was ami-iog [^without cause of his being ;j and that both the
Son and the Holy Ghost were airtaroi [deriving their being from
a cause.]
Upon this principle the ancient Catholics grounded the unity
of God. They did not conceive that there were three unoriginated
beings, but that there was fLia aoyj\ ^s6T-/;r&: [one beginning, or,
fountain of deity,] and that the Father, by being the a^yjn [begin-
ning,] is the h^Gii [oneness.] God, they said, is one, because
the Son and Holy Ghost are referred iic, h o.iTim [to one cause.]
On this account they held, that, although there are three Persons
in the Godhead, 'Mvac, ^sotjjtoc adiai^srog [the unity of the God-
head is undivided.]
Different names were employed to express the manner of cau-
sation with regard to the two persons who were considered as
airiaroi [caused.] It was said of the one that he was begotten,
of the other that he proceeded. The generation of the one was
suggested by his being called in Scripture v'log rou Giou — /MwyivTjg
Taga TttT-gos [the Son of God — the only begotten of the Feather.]
The procession of the other was suggested partly by his being
called -Trvsu/Ma, a 'ttvsu, spiro, I send forth breath ; and partly by cm'
Lord's saying in one place, John xv. 2G, to rrvi-jiia rrig aXrihiag, 6
waga rou Trargog sxToasusra/ [the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth
from the Father.] But although generation be applied to the
Son, we must be sensible that the manner in which he derived his
origin from the F'ather cannot bear any analogy to the proper
meaning of the word ; and that all attempts to explain the manner
of this derivation must be in the highest degree presumptuous and
unprofitable. The procession of the Holy Ghost is a word of
more general signification, and does not convey any precise idea
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 453
of the manner in which this Person is derived. It is appropriated
to Him, because the Scripture nowhere says of him that he is be-
gotten of the Father. But it is impossible for us to form a clear
apprehension of the distinction between procession and generation,
the two terms which are stated as the ioi(j77,rig [peculiar proper-
ties] of the Son and the Holy Ghost ; both denote the communi-
cation of the divine essence from the Father ; and all the attempts
of ancient and of modern writers, to discriminate the modes in
which the communication may be made, consist of words without
meaning.
Although those who held the third system of the Trinity main-
tained tlie unity of the (iodhead, by saying that the Son and the
Holy Ghost were derived from the Father, they are not to be un-
derstood as meaning that the existence of these two Persons had
a beginning, or that the Father, after existing for some time alone,
brought them into being by an act of his will, and imparted to
them such powers as he chose. This is the Arian creed ; but it
cannot be received by those who hold t&s/j v-Troffraffiig sv /ua ovgict
[three persons in one essence ;] for the divine nature, being in-
capable of cliange, cannot V)e extended to three Persons after hav-
ing been peculiar to one ; and if the being of two of these Persons
had been precarious, communicated to them at a certain time by
the will of another, both of them would want eternity and immu-
tability, two of the essential properties of the divine nature.
The Athanasians, therefore, in consistency with the leading
principles of their system, considered the Son and the Holy Ghost
as having always existed with the Father ; and they illustrated
their meaning by saying that as light cannot exist without efful-
gence, nor the sun without emitting his rays, nor the mind with-
out reason — so the Father never existed without the Son and the
Spirit.
The Son was vio; aioiog a'/diou rranog — uv cvva'/dioi /Co.i tuj xhpiw
irvev/ji,ari [the eternal Son of the eternal Father — being co-eternal
with the Lord, the Spirit.*] And in the confession of faith of
Gregory, an illustrious writer of the third century, after a descrip-
tion of the three Persons, it is added, rj/a; rf/.na co'^r,, y-ai a'/dicTr,Ti
y.a.1 C«(T//.:/a (j/r^ ijA'^i'(^i,iJAYf\ [the Trinity perfect in glory, and in
eternity and sovereignty not divided.^
The same general reasoning applies to the necessary and eternal
eo-existence of both the a/r/aro/ [^caused] with the a/r/o; [cause.]
But as the dignity of the person of the Son was much more an
object of attention and controversy in the early ages, than that of
the Spirit, most of the images, and the greatest part of the lan-
* Bull D- F. N. 199.
454 DOCTRINK OF THE TRINITY.
giiage employed on this subject, refer particularly to him. One
of the images, probably suggested by the A])ostle John's often
calling the Son Xoyri;, arose from the meaning of that word. It
was said by the Platonic fathers, that " God being an eternal in-
telligence from the beginning had the 7.oyo: |^VVord] in himself,
being eternally rational ;" and hence they often called Jesus Christ
Xoyoc a'/diog Targog [the eternal Word of the Father.] I shall
illustrate this principle by the words of Bishop Horsley, who con-
curs in it with the ancient Platoiiists. " The personal subsistence
of a divine 7.(yog is implied in the very idea of a God. The
argument rests on a princij)le which was common to all the Pla-
tonic fathers, and seems to be founded on Scripture, that the ex-
istence of the Son flows necessarily from the divine intellect ex-
ei'ted on itself; from the Father's contemplation of his own per-
fections. For as the Father ever was, his perfections have for ever
been, and his intellect hath been ever active. But perfections
which have ever been, the ever-active intellect must ever have
contemplated ; and the contemplation which hath ever been must
ever have been accompanied with its just eifect, the personal ex-
istence of the Son." *
This method of illustrating the necessary co-existence of the
Son with the Father, which has passed from the Platonic fathers
of the second century through a succession of Athanasian writers
to the jiresent time, does certainly convey to ordinary readers an
idea that the Son is merely an attribute of the Father, the reason
of God ; and, accordingly, Dr Priestley and others have represented
the earlier writers who called the Son 7.oyo;, as speaking a Sahel-
lian language ; and they say that it was to avoid the Sabellianism
implied in the use of this word that the Arians, made a distinc-
tion between the Xoync, which always was with God, i. e. his owti
reason, and the Xoyoc, by whom he made the world, i. e. the per-
son whom he created to be the instrument of making other things.
The former is 'Koyog ivdiahrog, ratio insita, reason. The latter is
"koyog Ttoijj'os/xoc, ratio prolata, speech, reason, brought forth in
words. The Son, said Arius, might be compared to the latter, in
order to express that he proceeded immediately from God, but he
cannot be compared to the former, which means only an attribute
of the Deity. This was a distinction, by which Arius wished not
only to avoid the appearance of Saliellianism, but also to evade the
argument for the necessary and eternal co-existence of the Son with
the Father, drawn from his being called Xoyog 0iou, [the Word
of God.] It cannot be denied that the analogy between the re-
lation of the Father to the Xoyog, and the relation of every man's
* Horsley's Tracts, p. 61. 3tl edit.
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 455
miiul to its own thoughts, which the early writers laid hold of as
furnishing an argument for the eternal co-existence of the Son,
was pursued too far hy some of them, and that the ol)scurity and
inconsistency which always flow from an ahuse of images was the
consequence. At the same time it is certain that the very same
writers, who make the most frequent use of this image, far from
conceiving the Xoyog to be an attribute of the Father, speak of the
Son as a distinct person, and as eternal; it has been made pro-
bable by Bishop Bull, that, when they spoke of >.oyog svdiadsTog,
[reason,] they meant a person, the oflspring of the divine mind,
who having been from eternity with the Father, became before the
creation Xaycg Tr^o^o^r/.og [reason bi"ought forth ;] and we know
that Athanasius, probably aware of the abuse of this image, does
not approve of applying" either Xoyog svdiadirog or Xoyoc 'z^ofo^r/.og
as a description of the Son, but calls him v'log auronXrig [the Son,
perfect in himself]
The distinction, which the ancient Catholic writers upon the
Trinity made between Xoyog ivdiaSsrog and Xoyog ir^o^po^ixog, is con-
nected with a circumstance which has contril»uted very much to
this apparent embarrassment and contradiction in what they say of
the person of the Son. The circumstance is this, that the gene-
ration of the Son has with them different meanings, according as it
respects the divine nature of this person, or his exertions towards
the creatures. The generation of the Son properly means the
manner in which the divine essence was from all eternity commu-
nicated to him. In respect of this, he is styled in Scripture (mvo-
yivTig itaoa crarffog l^only begotten of the Father \\ and, in the
Nicene creed, 0£oc sx ©sou [God of God ;] and, in reference to
this, Athanasius says, 0=05 an mv an rov v'lou -TraTrjo sari. [God
always being, always is the Father of the Son.] But the ancients
often speak of a generation of the Son which took place at a par-
ticular time, immediately before the creation of the world. By
this they mean, not the beginning of his existence, but the dis-
play of his powers in the production of external objects. In refe-
rence to this, Athanasius explains theexpression which Paul applies
to the Son, 'Tr^c/jTorozog 'racrig KriSiMg, begotten before all creation ;
not that he then began to be, for he had existed as a distinct per-
son from all eternity, but he had remained with the Father without
exerting his powers upon external objects, and at the creation came
forth from the Father. This, therefore, was properly named 'ttpos-
Xsvciig — 'zr^oCoATi, prolatio, the projection of his energies ; and the
ancient writers, who gave it tlie name of generation, never con-
ceived that this coming forth to act was the beginning of the Son's
existence. But the Arians, laying hold of this improper expres-
sion, and sheltering their opinioa concerning the creation of the
456 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
Son under what the ancients had said of his figurative g-eneration,
declared it to be an article of their faith, that the Son did not exist
before he was begotten. The declaration appears to carry intrinsic
evidence of its own truth. Yet the council of Nice condemned
those who say of the Son rr^iv ysvvrjdr]vai oux T/V [he was not before
he was begotten ;] a part of the anathematizing clause, of which
we could not make sense, if we did not know that the ancient
writers, who say that the Son was begotten when he came forth
to create, understood by this expression merely a figurative gene-
ration, not the beginning of his existence but the exertion of his
powers, and that they believed that before this 'r^osXivaig, 6 "koyog,
as John speaks, 751/ 'rroog rov Qiov [projection of his energies, the
Word was with God]
There is yet a third generation of which the ancients speak,
when " the Word was made flesh." This generation is part of that
bixovo/Mo, [economy] which the Scriptures reveal, and there is much
better authority for applying the word generation in this sense than
in the former. For the angel said to Mary, " the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, — therefore, also, that holy thing which shall b«
born of thee shall be called the Son of God."*
It is plain from what has been said, that neither the 'z^osXivffig of
the Son, nor his incarnation, has any connexion with the manner
of his being. They were only what the ancients called ff-jy/.aTaQaaei;,
acts of condescension in a person who had a complete existence.
But in this view they serve to illustrate the first principle of which
we are now speaking. For, by being acts of condescension, they
imply that subordination in the Son which results from the Father's
being the foundation of deity. There cannot be degrees of perfec-
tion in the godhead, a greater and a less divinity ; and, if the Son
be 6/Mou<fiog 'xar^i, [of the same substance with the Father,] he must
possess all the essential perfections of deity. But he is, in this re-
3pect, less than the Father, that he l.ath received from him. He is
auroOsog, a word of frequent use among the ancient writers of the
Trinity, if the word be understood to mean ipse Deus, veiy God,
but he is not avrohog, if the word be understood to mean Deus a se
ipso, [God from himself Q for, in this sense, the Father alone is
avToJicg, while the Son is 5so5 sx ':)srj-j, |^God of God.] When Jesus
therefore says, " my Father is greater than I," although, upon the
principles of the third system, he cannot mean any difference of na-
ture, he may mean that pre-eminence of the Father which is ne-
cessarily implied in his being aymTjTog Qnot produced Q a pre-emi-
nence which does not appear to us to admit of any act of conde-
scension in the Father, of his receiving a commission, or being ap-
* Luke 1. as.
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 437
pointed to hold an office ; whereas there is a manifest congruity in
the Son, who derived his nature from the Father, heing- employed
to exert the perfections of the Godhead in the accomplishment of
a particular purpose. Hence, as our Lord speaks of the Father's
giving- him a commission, of his being sent by God, of his coming
to do the will of God, so those ancient writers, who represent the
Son as equal to the Father, speak of him at the same time as
ayyi\og, 'orrrioirric, Q-ov ; [^the messenger, the servant of God ;]] and
the fitness of that oixovcijbia, [^economy,] which he vmdertook for the
salvation of mankind, results from the essential subordination of the
Son to the Father.
In like manner, the Spirit who " proceedeth from the Father"
is, upon that account, subordinate to the Father. Hence, in num-
berless places of Scripture, he is both called the Spirit of God, and
is said to be sent by the Father. But the Scrijjtures intimate also
a subordination of the Spirit to the Son, for he is called the Spirit
of Christ. Jesus says, in the discourse formerly quoted from John's
Gospel, " I will send him — He shall glorify me ; for he shall re-
ceive of mine, and shall show it to you."* It is not indeed any-
where said in Scripture, that the Spirit proceedeth from the Son,
and, for this reason, the council of Constantinople, A. D, 381, when
they condemned the errors of Macedonius, introduced amongst the
exalted titles which they applied to the Spirit, this designation,
taken literally from Scripture, ro s-/, rou 'Trar^og szto^s-jo/j^svov, [which
proceedeth from the Father.] In the fifteenth century it became
a controversy whether the Spirit, not in respect of occasional mis-
sion, for none could deny what the Scriptures say, that the Spirit
is sent by the Son, but, in respect of his nature, proceeds fi*om the
Sou as well as from the Father. Most of the Greek fathers, while
they acknowledged the personality and divinity of the Spirit, would
not adopt an expression concerning him, which appeared to them
improper, because it is unscriptural, and preserved the language of
the council of Constantinople, ro 'Trvi-ojui 6 ix. rov crar^og i-zCTTo^inBrai,
[the Spirit which proceedeth from the Father.] But the Latin
fathers argued in this manner. Since the Spirit, who is called in
Scripture the Spirit of God, is called also the Spirit of his Son ; and
since the Spirit, who is sent by the Father, is also said to ])e sent
by the Son, it follows that there is the same subordination of the
Spirit to the Son as to the Father. But the subordination of the
Spirit to the Father is grounded upon his proceeding from the Fa-
ther, and his being subordinate to the Son must have the same
foundation, i. e. as the divine nature was communicated by the Fa-
ther to the Son, so it was communicated by the Father and the Son
to the Holy Ghost.
* John XV. 26 J xvi. 14.
VOL. I. U
458 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
Upon the streng-th of this reasoning the Latin fathers made an
atlthtion to the creed of Constantinople, and instead of simply trans-
lating the clanse nsed in that creed, '•'•qui a Patre procedit" [which
proceedeth from the Father,] they said, " qui a PatreJiUoque pro-
cedit" [which proceedeth from the Father and the Son.] The
Greek churches, who did not admit the truth of that w-hich was ad-
ded, were enraged at the presumption of the Latin churches in
making an addition, upon account of their peculiar tenets, to a
creed which had heen composed hy a general council, and had lieen
declared to he unchangeable ; and a contention for authority thus
mingling itself, as has often happened in the church of Christ, with
a difference of opinion, the word '•'• jilioque' [and the Son] came
to be an ostensible ground of that schism between the Greek and
Latin churches, which began in the eighth century, and continues
till this day. The reformed churches, without vindicating the
Latin church, or asserting its right to make the addition, acquiesce
in the reasoning upon which its opinion was founded, and say with
it that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son.
I have now stated the full amount of the first princijile, by which
I said those who hold the third or Catholic system of the Trinity
endeavour to maintain the unity of God. They do not believe in
three unoriginated beings, co-ordinate and independent. But they
lielieve in three persons, from the first of whom the second and
third did, from all eternity, derive the nature and perfections of the
Godhead ; and, upon this communication of the substance of the
Father to the Son, and the substance of the Father and the Son to
the Holy Ghost, they ground that gradual subordination, which,
with an entire sameness of nature, constitutes the most perfect con-
sent and co-operation of the three persons.
But after we have admitted all that is implied in this first ])rin-
ciple, the third system of the Trinity appears to fall very short of
those conceptions of the unity of God which reason and Sci-ipture
teach us to form. We must therefore take into view the second
principle.
2. It may be thus expressed ; the three persons are insepai'ably
joined together. So necessary and indissoluble is this connexion,
that as the Father never existed without the Son and the Spirit,
so the Son and the Spirit were not sejjarated from him by being
produced out of his substance. Every idea of section, and division,
and interval, which is suggested to us b)' material objects and by
individuals of the same species, is to 1)e laid aside when we raise
our conceptions to that distinction of persons under which the
Deity is revealed to us in the Scripture. We are to attempt to
conceive that this distinction does not dissolve the continuity of
nature, — that while every one of the three persons has his distinct
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 459
subsistence, they are never iXjS'M^iaiMim, 7] ^im aW-/]km, aXX' iv
akXri'Kotg aguyy^uroog ■rriPi'^cij^ovvTsg, [^separated, or estranged from one
another, but dwelling- in one another without mixture or confu-
sion.]
Tiiere were two phrases which the ancient Catholics employed
to mark this idea. In order to show that they did not consider
the Son as sent forth from the Father, as our children are sent
forth to have an existence separated from their parents, they called
his generation an interior, not an external production, meaning that
he remained in the Father, from whom he was produced ; and, in or-
der to mark the indissoluble connexion of all the three persons,
they used the word TEg/p^w^'/jiT/s or s,acrsc/;>/wo?j(r/f, clrcum-incessioy
which is thus defined, " that union by which one being exists
in another, not only by a participation of nature, but by the most
intimate presence with it, so that, although the two beings are dis-
tinct, they dwell in and penetrate one another." They considered
both these phrases as wan'anted by such expressions in Scripture
as the following, John x. 38, " That ye may know and believe that
the Father is in me and I in him ;" and, John xiv. 10, " The Fa-
ther that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." And they consi-
dered this in-dwelling of the persons in one another as completing-
the unity of God.
If, upon this subject, they sometimes speak unintelligibly, and
at other times approach to the language of Sabellianism, the apo-
logy is to be found in their own confession, that the manner of the
divine existence is al)ove the comprehension of man, and in their
anxiety to reconcile a fundamental truth of natural rehgion with
the discoveries of revelation.
I cannot better illustrate the thii'd or Catholic system which I
have now delineated, than by giving an account of what is called
the Platonic Trinity. I do not mean the Trinity held by Plato
hinaself ; for, although it has been said that this philosopher anti-
cipated the I'evelation of three persons in the godhead, and that
his philosophy prepared the world for receiving this incomprehen-
sible truth, yet the passages relating to this subject, which I either
found in his works, when I read them, or which I have, since that
time, seen extracted from him, are so ^q\v in number, so short, and
so obscure, that it seems to me impossible for any person, who had
not much previous knowledge of the subject, to draw that conclu-
sion from them, which they have sometimes been brought to esta-
blish. It has been said, indeed, that the Trinity of persons in the
Deity was a secret doctrine of Plato, which, although couched in
his writings under dark words, was plainly taught to those disci-
ples who were able to receive it. I know not upon what evidence
this is said ; but supposing- it to be true, it must be allowed that
460 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
this secret doctrine was not published to the world till the second
or third century of the Christian era, when the Platonic school,
following- out the sublime views of the divine nature given by their
master, which in some points corresponded with the Christian re-
velation, and themselves enlightened by acquaintance with the Gos-
pel, which they could not fail to acquire while it was spreading
over the Roman empire, and was embraced by many Platonists,
brought forward in the language of Plato, a scheme very miich re-
sembling what 1 called the third system of the Trinity.
The following is a short view of this scheme, in the words of
Bishop Horsley, who writes like one deeply read in ancient j)hilo-
sophy, and whose acknowledged eminence as a man of science pro-
cures credit for his account of the opinions of other men. Dr
Priestley having asserted in one of his publications, that it was ne-
ver imagined that the three component members of the Platonic
Trinity wei'e either equal to each other, or were, strictly speaking,
one, his zealous and able antagonist ascribes this assertion to an
ignorance of the true principles of Platonism, and opposes to it
the following account of these principles, which I gather from dif-
ferent parts of his 13th letter to Dr Priestley. The three princi-
ples in the Deity are ro aya^w, goodness, vwc, intelligence, -^'oyji,
vitality. These three, strictly speaking, are more one, than any
thing in nature of which unity may be predicted. No one of them
can be supposed without the other two. Tlie second and third be-
ing, the first is necessarily supposed ; and the first being, the se-
cond and third must come forth. All the three were included by
the Platonists in the divine nature, the ro ^im\ a notion imply-
ing the same equality which the Christian Fathers maintained. To
the first principle they ascribed an activity of a very peculiar kind
— such as might be consistent with an undisturbed immutability.
He acts n,i\m m lavrou rjdn, [remaining in his own character, or
nature,] by a simple indivisible unvaried energy ; which, as it can-
not be broken into a multitude of distinct acts, cannot be adapted
to the variety of external things ; on which, therefore, the first
God acts not, either to create or to preserve them, otherwise than
through the two subordinate principles. But eternal activity
was supj)osed to be the consequence of the goodness of the Deity ;
and from this eternal activity flowed, by necessary consequence,
the existence of intellect, and the vital principle, in which alone
the divine nature is active upon external things. According to
this system too the world was supposed to be eternal, because it
was conceived that the goodness of the Deity could not suffer that
to 1)6 delayed which, because he hath done it, appears fit to be done.
But the world was supposed to be eternal, not by its own nature,
but by the choice of a tree agent who might have willed the con-
4
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 461
trary ; whereas intellect and the vital pnncij)le have heen eternal
by necessity, as branches of the divinity ; and, therefore, when the
converted Platonists, upon the authority of revelation, discarded
the notion of the world's eternity? they did not find themselves ob-
liged to discard with it the eternity of the voug, [intelligencts]
which they considered as equivalent to the Christian Xoyog, \^Wo\\\,~]
because that was an eternity of quite another kind.
Such is the view of the Platonic Trinity given by Dr Horsley ;
and in perfect conformity to this is the confession of his faith in
the Christian Trinity, which his 13th and 15th letters to Ur
Priestley contain, and which form the most useful recapitulation
that I can give of what has been said upon the Catholic system.
" I hold," says Dr Horsley, " that the Father's faculties are not
exerted on external things, otherwise than through the Son and
the Holy Ghost ; that the Scriptures, by discovering a trinity,
teach clearly that the metaphysical unity of the divine nature is
not an unity of persons, but that they do not teach such a separa-
tion and independence of these persons as amounts to tritheism. 1
maintain that the three persons are one being — one by mutual re-
lation, indissoluble connexion, and gradual subordination ; so strict-
ly one, that any individual thing in the whole world of matter and
of spirit presents but a faint shadow of their unity. I maintain
that each person by himself is God, because each possesses fully
every attribute of the divine nature. But I maintain that these
three Persons are all included in the very idea of God. I main-
tain the equality of the three Persons in all the attributes of the
divine nature, and their equality in rank and authority with respect
to all ci'eated things, whatever relations or ditferences may subsist
between themselves. Differences there must be, lest we confound
the persons, which was the error of Sabellius. But the differences
can only consist in the personal properties, lest we divide the sub-
stance, and make a plurality of independent gods."
SECTION IV.
The third or Catholic system of the Trinity is the declared faith
of both the established churches of Great Britain. The first of the
thirty-nine articles of the church of England contains this clause ;
" And in the unity of this Godhead there be three persons, of one
substance, power, and eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost." And the creed called the Creed of Athanasius, because
462 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
it delivers with great fulness of expression that doctrine of which
he was the distinguished champion, is appointed to be read upon
certain days, as the most explicit declaration that the Church of
England is equally removed from the Saljellian and the Arian sys-
tems. The words in the second chapter of our Confession of
Faith are nearly the same with those of the first article of the
Church of England. " In the unity of the Godhead there be three
persons, of one substance, power, and eternity : God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none,
neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of
the Father ; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father
and the Son." And this doctrine is accounted by our church so
essential, that it is introduced into the catechism which they re-
commend for the instruction of young persons in the principles of
the Christian religion.
In Scotland there were few publications during the course of
the last century that particularly respected the doctrine of the
Trinity; and in most parts of the country the minds of the great
body of the people, from the force of early instruction, acquiesce,
perhaps without much speculation or inquii-y, in the Catholic sys-
tem. But in England many writers since the lieginning of the
last century have drawn a large share of the ])ublic attention, and
have produced a considerable degree of agitation in the minds of
Christians, by the theories which they have offered, in order to re-
concile the trinity of persons with the unity of the Godhead. A
particular account of these theories would lead into a very per-
plexed and tedious detail, and is in reality of no use, because all
of them approach to one or other of the three systems that have
been mentioned. By assuming a new name they may seem to
keep clear of the objections that have been urged against their pa-
rent system ; but when they are narrowly canvassed, they are al-
ways found to be resolvable into the same principles, and they must
be tried upon the same grounds.
Although for these reasons I shall not recite the names of all
who have held some particular opinion about the Trinity, or attempt
to discriminate their tenets, there is one exception which I cannot
avoid making. Dr Samuel Clarke is so deservedly held in high
estimation for his abilities as a general scholar, and for the excel-
lence and usefulness both of his sermons and of his discourses on
the evidence of natural and revealed religion ; his theory of the
Trinity is a work executed with such labour and skill, and the
controversy to which it gave occasion was carried on with such
eagerness at the time, and is still referred to in so many theologi-
cal treatises, that there would be an essential defect in this view of
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 463
opinions concerning- the Trinity, if no particular notice were taken
of his system.
Dr Clarke has entitled his book, The Scripture Doctrine of the
Trinity. The iirst part is a collection and explication of all the
texts in the New Testament relating- to the doctrine of the Trinity.
The collection is a complete and a fair one ; his explication of
some of the texts does not agree with the interpretation most ge-
nerally received ; but he defends his criticisms like a scholar and
an acute reasoner ; and upon this collection of texts and his ex-
plication of them, is founded the second part, in which what he
accounts the true doctrine of the Trinity is set forth at large in
fifty-live distinct propositions. He accompanies these propositions
with references to the particular texts which support them, and
often both with illustrations of his own, and with citations from
ancient and modern writei's ; his object being to show that the
doctrine which he professes to ground upon the Scriptures is also
agreeable to the sentiments of the succession of ecclesiastical writ-
ers. It has been said that there is not the same fairness in his
citations, as in the collection of texts. He not only omits those
passages which are unfavourable to his own opinion, but he often
leaves out parts of the sentences which he quotes, and he gives
them in so detached a form, that they sometimes appear to speak
a meaning perfectly difterent from that which a reader, who has
an opportunity of comparing them with the context, perceives to
be the sense of the author. His book, therefore, is by no means
a safe guide to those who wish to be instructed in the sentiments
of the ancient church with regard to the Trinity. But to those
who have derived that knowledge from other less exceptionable
authority, or who read his book merely from a desire to know
what Dr Clarke himself thought, it presents the following consis-
tent and intelligible scheme, which I give as the amount of the
fifty-five propositions that constitute the second part of his book.
There is one living intelligent agent or person, who alone is
self-existent, the author of all being and the origin of all power, who
is supreme over all. With this first Supreme Cause and Father of
all, there have existed from the beginning a second divine person,
who is his Word or Son, and a third divine person, who is his Spirit;
and these three are distinguished in Scripture by their personal cha-
racters. When the Sci-iptures mention the one God, the only God,
or God by way of eminence, they always mean the Person of the
Father. The Son derived his being and all his attributes from the
Father, and therefore he is not the self-existent substance. But
as the Scriptures have not declared the metaphysical manner of
this derivation, they are worthy of censure who affirm that the
464 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
Son was made out of nothing ; and, as the Scriptures never make
any limitation of time in declaring- the Son's derivation from the
Father, they are also worthy of censure who say that there was a
time when the Son was not. The Son derived his being from the
Father, not by mere necessity of nature, but by an act of the Fa-
ther's incomprehensible power and will. In like mannex*, the Spirit,
without any limitation of time, derived his being from the Father.
The Son is sometimes called God, not on account of his meta-
physical nature, how divine soever, Init on account of his relative
attributes and divine authority communicated to him fix)m the
Father over us. To the Son are ascribed all commiinicable divine
powers, i. e. all powers which include not the independence and
supreme authority by which the God and Father of all is distin-
guished ; for in this the Son is evidently subordinate to the Fa-
ther, that he derived his being, attributes, and power from the
Father. Every action of the Son is only the exercise of the Fa-
ther's power communicated to him, and the reason why the Scrip-
tures, although they style the Father God, and also style the Son
God, yet at the same time always declare there is but one God, is,
because there being in the monarchy of the universe but one au-
thority, original in the Father, derivative in the Son, therefore the
one God, absolutely speaking, always signifies him in whom the
power and authority are oi'iginal and underived. In like manner,
the Holy Spirit, whatever his metaphysical nature be, and what-
ever divine power or dignity be ascribed to him, is evidently sub-
ordinate to the Father ; and, in Scripture, he is also represented as
subordinate to the Son, both by nature and by the will of the Fa-
ther. And thus all authority and power are original in the Fa-
thei', and from him derived to the Son, and exercised according to
the will of the Father, by the operation of the Son, and by the
influences of the Spirit.
This system was regarded at its first appearance as heretical. A
prosecution was commenced against the author by the lower house
of Convocation in England ; and he was attacked by many divines,
at the head of whom is Dr Waterland. After reading a great part
of what has been written by Dr Clarke and his antagonists, it ap-
pears to me that the difference between them may be stated with-
in a narrow compass. Dr Clarke avoids the most offensive ex-
pressions used by the Arians. Instead of calling Christ a creature,
or limiting the beginning of his existence, he says " that the Son
was eternally begotten by the will of the Father." But the word
eternally in this sentence means nothing more than that the Son
was begotten before all ages, before those measures of time which
the succession of created objects furnishes, in the incomprehensible
duration of the Father's eternity : and the phrase " by the will of
DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. 465
the Father," implies that the Father might not have produced the
Son, or that he might have produced him at any other time as
well as at the time when he did ; so that however g-reat the powers
are which the Father hath been pleased to communicate to the
Son, he is not essentially God, but there are, in the manner of his
existence, a mutability and a dependence inconsistent with our
ideas of the Divine Nature. The opinion of Dr Clarke, therefore,
is in reality that of the Semi-Arians, who were called Homoiou-
sians, because they exalted Christ above the rank of creatures, and
held that, not by necessity of nature, but by special privilege, he
was like to God. On the other hand, according- to the third sys-
tem, eternity in its proper sense, and necessary existence, are as-
cribed to the Son. All the attributes of the godhead are conceived
to belong to him by natui'e, and it is not supposed possible that he
could be other than that which he is. Dr Clarke and his oppo-
nents agree that the Son is not self- existent ; for both account the
Father the fountain of deity. But Dr Clarke thinks, that, since
the Son is not self-existent, he does not exist necessarily, while
his opponents affirm, that, with the consent of the Father, and ac-
cording to his will, yet by necessity of nature, the Son derived his
being from the Father. Dr Clarke and his opponents agree that
the Son is subordinate to the Father ; but the subordination of Dr
Clarke implies an essential inferiority of nature, while his oppo-
nents do not admit of any difference in point of duration or dignity,
and understand the word subordination as respecting merely order.
Dr Clarke and his opponents agree that the Father and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, are three distinct persons, to every one of
whom the name God is applied : but Dr Clarke considers that
name as belonging in its highest sense to the Father, and only in
an inferior sense to the other two, and thus maintains the unity of
the godhead upon the same principle with the Arian system, while
his opponents, making no distinction between the word God when
applied in Scripture to the Father, and the same word when ap-
plied in Scripture to the Son, and inferring, from the language of
Scripture, that it may also be applied to the Spirit, have recourse '
to the principles which were stated under the third system, for
maintaining the unity of three persons, each of whom is truly God.
In stating this unity, the opponents of Dr Clarke adhered to the
word which had been used by the council of Nice, saying that the
three persons were bij^oo-odioi, con-substantial, which is rendered,
both in the English Articles and in our Confession of Faith, " of
one substance." It did not escape the acuteness of Dr Clarke, that
the phi'ase is ambiguous. " One substance " may mean one nu-
merical substance, i. e a substance which is one in number, indivi-
466 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITV.
dual ; or one generical substance, i. e. the same in kind, that which
belong-s to all of one kind, as Aristotle said all the stars are, ofMouffia
fof the same sul)stancc,J On account of this ambiguity, Dr
Clarke required his opponents to declare in what sense they un-
derstood the word ; and by a succession of writers, who followed
his steps, and wished to expose the third system as untenalde, the
following dilemma is often stated. " If you mean, by con-sub-
stantial, that the three persons are of the same individual substance,
you destroy their personality ; for three persons, of whom each has
not his own distinct substance, but who are in one substance, are
only different modifications or manners of being, so that your Tri-
nity becomes nominal and ideal, and in your zeal for the imity
of the godhead, you recur to Sabellianism. If, on the other hand,
you mean by con-substantial, that the three persons are of the
same generical substance, then you destroy their unity ; for three
persons, having the same substance in kind, have each of them
his own substance, and are, in reality, three beings."
This dilemma, like many others which appear to be inextri-
able, is merely captious. For the ancients, who seem to have un-
derstood 6/jjoovffiog, j^of the same substance,^ as marking a generical
identity of substance, declare that they consider the three persons
as not separated from one another like three individuals of the same
species, but as united in a manner more perfect than we are able to
conceive ; and the moderns, many of whom seem to understand
con- substantial as marking a numerical identity of substance, de-
clare that they consider each of the three persons as having a dis-
tinct subsistence, and the divine substance as in this respect essen-
tially distinguished from every thing material, that without dimi-
nution or division it extends to three persons. The difficulty,
therefore, arising from the ambiguity of the word con-substantial,
with which those who hold the Catholic system have been so often
pressed, is only a proof that it is a vain attempt to apply the terms
of human science to the manner of the divine existence, and that
the multiplication of words upon this sidjject does not in any de-
gree increase the stock of our ideas.
We are thus brought back, after reviewing a multiplicity of opin-
ions, to the few simple positions which constitute the whole amount
of the knowledge that Scripture has given us concerning the Tri-
nity, and which may be thus briefly stated. The Scriptures, while
they declare the fundamental truth of natural religion, that God is
one, reveal two persons, each of whom, with the Father, we are
led to consider as God, and ascribe to all the three distinct person-
al properties. It is impossible that the three can be one in the
same sense in which they are three : and therefore it follows, by
DOCTKINE OP THE TRINITY. 467
necessary inference, that the unity of God is not an unity of per-
sons ; but it does not follow, that it may not be an unity of a more
intimate kind than any which we behold. An unity of consent
and will neither corresponds to the conclusions of reason, nor is by
any means adequate to a great part of the language of Scripture,
for both concur in leading- us to suppose an unity of nature. Whe-
ther the substance common to the three persons be specifically or
numerically the same, is a question, the discussion of which cannot
advance our knowledg;e, because neither of the terms is applicable
to the subject ; and after all our researches and reading-, we shall
find ourselves just where we began, incapable of perceiving- the
manner in which the three persons partake of the same divine na-
ture. But we are very shallow philosophers indeed, if we consider
this as any reason for believing- that they do not partake of it ; for
we are by much too ignorant of the manner of the divine existence
to be warranted to say that the distinction of persons is an infringe-
ment of the Divine unity. " It is sti'ange boldness in men," says
Bishop StiUing-fleet, (iii. 352,) to talk of contradictions in things
above their reach. Hath not God revealed to us that he created
all things ; and is it not reasonable for us to believe this, unless
we are able to comprehend the manner of doing- it ? Hath not
God plainly revealed that there shall be a resurrection of the dead?
And must we think it unreasonable to beheve it, till we are able
to comprehend all the chang-es of the particles of matter from the
creation to the general resurrection ? If nothing is to be believed
but what may be comprehended, the very being of God must be
rejected, and all his unsearchable perfections. If we believe the
attributes of God to be infinite, how can we comprehend them ?
We are strangely puzzled in plain ordinary, finite things ; but it is
madness to pretend to comprehend what is infinite; and yet, if
the perfections of God be not infinite, they cannot belong to him.
Let those, who presume to say that there is a contradiction in the
Trinity, try their imaginations about (j'od's eternity, not merely
how he should be from himself, but how God should co-exist with
all the differences of times, and yet there be no succession in his
own being- ; and they vvill perhaps concur with me in thinking that
there is no greater difficulty in the conception of the Trinity than
there is of eternity. For three to be one is a contradiction in
numbers ; but whether an infinite natui'e can communicate itself to
three different substances, without such a division as is among
created beings, must not be determined by bare numbers, but by
the absolute perfections of the Divine nature ; which must be
owned to be above our comprehension."
Since then the Scriptures teacli that the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost are one, and since the unity of three persons who
468 DfCTRINE OF THE TRINITV.
partake of the same divine nature must of necessity be an unity of
the most perfect kind, we may rest assured that the more we can
abstract from every idea of inequaUty, division, and separation,
provided we preserve the distinction of persons, our conceptions
approach the nearer to the truth. But since the manner of the
Divine existence is confessedly above our comprehension, and since
no words or images that we can employ are found to correspond to
the unity of these three persons, there are two inferences or advices
that present themselves upon this subject, which I shall just men-
tion in taking- leave of it.
The first inference is, that men of speculation ought to exercise
mutual forbearance if they differ from one another in their attempts
to explain that which all acknowledge to be inexplicable. It is vain
to think of confining the human mind to those researches in which
she may easily attain some certain conclusion. She loves to soar
and to roam, and she gathers much wisdom from her own most ad-
venturous flights; but this lesson surely should not be one of the last,
that those who presume to expatiate in the sublime regions, where
the light of human science becomes dim and uncertain, need not
be surprised to meet with many wanderers. Every sober inquirer,
who finds that, after all his investigations, the union of the three
persons in the Godhead remains to him involved in impenetrable
darkness, will judge with candour of the attempts made by other
men to obtain a solution of the diificulties which presented them-
selves to their minds ; and he will not readily suppose that they
doubt of the fact, although they may differ from him in the man-
ner of explaining the fact.
The second inference or advice is, that as you cannot expect to
give the body of the people clear ideas of the manner in which the
three persons are united, it may be better in discoursing to them,
to avoid any particular discussion of this subject ; and to follow
here, as in every other instance, the pattern of teaching set in the
New Testament. Our Lord and his Apostles do not propose any
metaphysical explication of the unity of the Divine nature. But
they assume it, and declare it as a fundamental truth ; and they
never insinuate that it is in the smallest degree infringed by the
revelation which they give of the three persons. After this ex-
ample, I advise you never to perplex the minds of the people with
different theories of the Trinity, and never to suggest that the
unity of the Divine nature is a questionable point ; but, without
professing to explain how the three persons are united, to place
before your hearers, as you have occasion, the Scripture account of
the Son and the Holy Ghost, as well as of the Father, and thus to
preserve upon their minds what the Scriptures have revealed, and
what upon that account it is certainly of importance for them to
I
DOCTRINE OF THE TIIINITY. 469
learn, the dignity of the second and third persons, their relation to
ns, and their power to execute the g-racions offices necessary for
our salvation. These essential points of Christian instruction,
which it is the duty of the ministers of the Gospel to impress upon
the people, are revealed in the Scriptures in such a manner as to
be in no danger of leading- into the Sabellian, the Arian, or the
Tritheistic scheme of the Trinity ; and, therefore, if we adhere, as
we ought always to do, to the pure revelation of Scripture in our
account of the three persons, we have no occasion to expose to the
people the defects of these schemes ; and we may reserve to our-
selves all the speculations about the manner in which the three
persons are united.
I conclude this specimen of the variety of opinions, and of the
kind of language which you may expect to find in ancient and
modern writers upon the Trinity, with mentioning the books frora
which I have derived most assistance.
The best writer in defence of the Catholic system of the Trinity
is Bishop Bull. His works are published in a large folio volume,
more than half of which is filled with the three following treatises :
Defensio Fidei Nicense — Judicium Ecclesite Catholicae — Primitiva
et Apostolica Traditio. All the three respect the Trinity, and are
often quoted by succeeding writers, who borrow the greatest part
of their matter from this very learned and able divine. His prin-
cipal work is, Defensio Fidei Nicenae, which consists of four parts.
1. The T^ourao^/c, pre-existence of the Son — 2. to ofj^oousiov, con-
substantiality of the Son — 3. to avvaibiov, his eternal co-existence
with the Father. 4. His subordination to the Father. Bishop
Pearson, in his Exposition of the Creed, gives the same view
of the Trinity with Bishop Bull ; which is the true Athanasian
scheme ; and he states it as he states every other point in theology
of which he treats, with clearness, with sound judgment, and with
much learning. Dr Cudworth, in that magazine of learning, which
he calls the Intellectual System, gives a full view of the Christian
and the Platonic Trinity. If you consult, when you read him,
the ingenious and learned notes which Mosheim has added to his
Latin edition of Cudworth, you will be preserved from some errors,
and your views of the subjects treated will be much enlightened
and improved. When you come down to the last century, Dr
Clarke's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity is the first book which
will engage your attention. As a collection of texts upon the
subject it is most useful; as a view of the opinions of the ancient
church it is to be read, for the reasons which I mentioned, with
suspicion ; and as the argument of a very able and acute man, upon
a subject which seems to have been near his heart, it is proper
that you should read at the same time what was said by his oppo-
470 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.
nents. There are two books by Dr Waterland. The one, Sermons
in Defence of the Divinity of Jesus Christ ; the other, A Vindica-
tion of Christ's Divinity. And there is an excellent book, not so
controversial as Dr Waterland's, vi'hich should be read by every
student of divinity, A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity,
by Dr Thomas Randolph. Dr Randolph opposes the principles
of Dr Clarke. But he writes directly in answer to a small book
entitled. An Essay on Spirit, which presents a modification of the
Arian system. You will read with pleasure a rational intelligible
history of Arianism, which Dr Jortin, who is very far from having
any prejudice in favour of the Catholic system, gives in the third
volume of his Remarks on Ecclesiastical History. I referred for-
merly to Ben Mordecai's Apology by Taylor. You will find many
able attacks \ipon all the parts of the Catholic system, in the works
of Mr Thomas Emlyn. — Mosheim, in his valuable work, De Re-
bus Christianorum ante Christianura Magnum, gives the most
complete information as to Sabellianism, and the other early sys-
tems of the Trinity ; and his Church History joins to a short ac-
count of all the variety of opinions upon this suV)ject, references
to the authors who have treated of them more largely. Mr Gib-
bon has introduced into his second volume a history of the Arian
controversy, in which he professes to delineate the three systems
of the Trinity. But it displays the same inveterate prejudice against
religion, and the same constant ei^deavour to turn into ridicule
every branch of that sulyect, which disgrace so large a portion of
the writings of this illustrious historian. Some of the books which
I have mentioned will prepare you for reading this part of Gibbon,
by enabling you to discern where his account is lame or unfair.
Lardner, Priestley, Lindsey, and the other Socinians of later times,
incline to the Sabellian system, and employ every art to represent
the other two as contrary to Scripture, to reason, and to the opi-
nions of the primitive church. They have been attacked by many
modern writers. But you will need no other antidote to their
heresy than the volume of tracts by Bishop Horsley, a formidable
antagonist, whose superiority in argument and in learning gives
him some title to use that tone of disdain which pervades the vo-
lume. It consists of a charge to the clergy of his Archdeaconry,
exposing the errors in one of Dr Priestley's publications ; of letters
to Dr Priestley, occasioned by his reply to the charge :, of a sermon
on the incarnation, and of supplemental disquisitions.
Of other writers who have published particular schemes of the
Trinity, I am almost entirtdy ignorant. From the short accounts-
of their works which have come in my way, I found that their
schemes are only certain modifications of the first or the third sys-
tems, by which ingenious men have attempted to satisfy their own
DOCTRINE OF THE TUINITY. 471
minds, or to remove the olyections which others had made ; and
knowing- well that, after all our researches, difficulties must remain,
and that these difficulties furnish no argument against the truth,
I thought that my time might he employed more profitably than
by labouring to fix in my mind their nice discriminations, which
it might be difficult to appi'ehend and imposssible to retain.
END OF VOLUME FIRST.
EDINBURGH :
PRINTED liY JOHN STARK, OLD ASSK.AIEI.Y CLOSE.
1932YG^,. I
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