From the Works Of James Arminius Vol.
1
To Almighty God a
ORATION I THE OBJECT OF THEOLOGY.
To Almighty God alone belong the inherent
and absolute right, will, and power
of determining
concerning us. Since, therefore, it
has pleased
him to call me, his unworthy servant,
from
the ecclesiastical functions which
I have
for some years discharged in the Church
of
his Son in the populous city of Amsterdam,
and to give me the appointment of the
Theological
Professorship in this most celebrated
University,
I accounted it my duty, not to manifest
too
much reluctance to this vocation, although
I was well acquainted with my incapacity
for such an office, which with the
greatest
willingness and sincerity I then confessed
and must still acknowledge. Indeed,
the consciousness
of my own insufficiency operated as
a persuasive
to me not to listen to this vocation;
of
which fact I can cite as a witness
that God
who is both the Inspector and the Judge
of
my conscience. Of this consciousness
of my
own insufficiency, several persons
of great
probity and learning are also witnesses;
for they were the cause of my engaging
in
this office, provided it were offered
to
me in a legitimate order and manner.
But
as they suggested, and as experience
itself
had frequently taught me, that it is
a dangerous
thing to adhere to one’s own judgment
with
pertinacity and to pay too much regard
to
the opinion which we entertain of ourselves,
because almost all of us have little
discernment
in those matters which concern ourselves,
I suffered myself to be induced by
the authority
of their judgment to enter upon this
difficult
and burdensome province, which may
God enable
me to commence with tokens of his Divine
approbation and under his propitious
auspices.
Although I am beyond measure cast down
and
almost shudder with fear, solely at
the anticipation
of this office and its duties, yet
I can
scarcely indulge in a doubt of Divine
approval
and support when my mind attentively
considers,
what are the causes on account of which
this
vocation was appointed, the manner
in which
it is committed to execution, and the
means
and plans by which it is brought to
a conclusion.
From all these considerations, I feel
a persuasion
that it has been Divinely instituted
and
brought to perfection.
For this cause I entertain an assured
hope
of the perpetual presence of Divine
assistance;
and, with due humility of mind, I venture
in God’s holy name to take this charge
upon
me and to enter upon its duties. I
most earnestly
beseech all and each of you, and if
the benevolence
which to the present time you have
expressed
towards me by many and most signal
tokens
will allow such a liberty, I implore,
nay,
(so pressing is my present necessity,)
I
solemnly conjure you, to unite with
me in
ardent wishes and fervent intercessions
before
God, the Father of lights, that, ready
as
I am out of pure affection to contribute
to your profit, he may be pleased graciously
to supply his servant with the gifts
which
are necessary to the proper discharge
of
these functions, and to bestow upon
me his
benevolent favour, guidance and protection,
through the whole course of this vocation.
But it appears to me, that I shall
be acting
to some good purpose, if, at the commencement
of my office, I offer some general
remarks
on Sacred Theology, by way of preface,
and
enter into an explanation of its extent,
dignity and excellence. This discourse
will
serve yet more and more to incite the
mind,
of students, who profess themselves
dedicated
to the service of this Divine wisdom,
fearlessly
to proceed in the career upon which
they
have entered, diligently to urge on
their
progress and to keep up an unceasing
contest
till they arrive at its termination.
Thus
may they hereafter become the instruments
of God unto salvation in the Church
of his
Saints, qualified and fitted for the
sanctification
of his divine name, and formed "for
the edifying of the body of Christ,"
in the Spirit. When I have effected
this
design, I shall think, with Socrates,
that
in such an entrance on my duties I
have discharged
no inconsiderable part of them to some
good
effect. For that wisest of the Gentiles
was
accustomed to say, that he had properly
accomplished
his duty of teaching, when he had once
communicated
an impulse to the minds of his hearers
and
had inspired them with an ardent desire
of
learning. Nor did he make this remark
without
reason. For, to a willing man, nothing
is
difficult, especially when God has
promised
the clearest revelation of his secrets
to
those "who shall meditate on his
law
day and night." (Psalm i. 2.)
In such
a manner does this promise of God act,
that,
on those matters which far surpass
the capacity
of the human mind, we may adopt the
expression
of Isocrates, If thou be desirous of
receiving
instruction, thou shalt learn many
things."
This explanation will be of no small
service
to myself. For in the very earnest
recommendation
of this study which I give to others,
I prescribe
to myself a law and rule by which I
ought
to walk in its profession; and an additional
necessity is thus imposed on me of
conducting
myself in my new office with holiness
and
modesty, and in all good conscience;
that,
in case I should afterwards turn aside
from
the right path, (which may our gracious
God
prevent,) such a solemn recommendation
of
this study may be cast in my face to
my shame.
In the discussion of this subject,
I do not
think it necessary to utter any protestation
before professors most learned in Jurisprudence,
most skillful in Medicine, most subtle
in
Philosophy, and most erudite in the
languages.
Before such learned persons I have
no need
to enter into any protestation, for
the purpose
of removing from myself a suspicion
of wishing
to bring into neglect or contempt that
particular
study which each of them cultivates.
For
to every kind of study in the most
noble
theater of the sciences, I assign,
as it
becomes me, its due place, and that
an honourable
one; and each being content with its
subordinate
station, all of them with the greatest
willingness
concede the president’s throne to that
science
of which I am now treating.
I shall adopt that plain and simple
species
of oratory which, according to Euripides,
belongs peculiarly to truth. I am not
ignorant
that some resemblance and relation
ought
to exist between an oration and the
subjects
that are discussed in it; and therefore,
that a certain divine method of speech
is
required when we attempt to speak on
divine
things according to their dignity.
But I
choose plainness and simplicity, because
Theology needs no ornament, but is
content
to be taught, and because it is out
of my
power to make an effort towards acquiring
a style that may be in any degree worthy
of such a subject.
In discussing the dignity and excellence
of sacred Theology, I shall briefly
confine
it within four titles. In imitation
of the
method which obtains in human sciences,
that
are estimated according to the excellence
of their OBJECT, their AUTHOR, and
their
END, and of the IMPORTANCE of the reasons
by which each of them is supported—I
shall
follow the same plan, speaking, first,
of
The OBJECT of Theology, then of its
AUTHOR,
afterwards of its END, and lastly,
of its
CERTAINTY.
I pray God, that the grace of his Holy
Spirit
may be present with me while I am speaking;
and that he would be pleased to direct
my
mind, mouth and tongue, in such a manner
as to enable me to advance those truths
which
are holy, worthy of our God, and salutary
to you his creatures, to the glory
of his
name and for the edification of his
Church.
I intreat you also, my most illustrious
and
polite hearers, kindly to grant me
your attention
for a short time while I endeavour
to explain
matters of the greatest importance;
and while
your observation is directed to the
subject
in which I shall exercise myself, you
will
have the goodness to regard IT, rather
than
any presumed SKILL in my manner of
treating
it. The nature of his great subject
requires
us, at this hour especially, to direct
our
attention, in the first instance, to
the
Object of Theology. For the objects
of sciences
are so intimately related, and so essential
to them, as to give them their appellations.
But God is himself the Object of Theology.
The very term indicates as much: for
Theology
signifies a discourse or reasoning
concerning
God. This is likewise indicated by
the definition
which the Apostle gives of this science,
when he describes it as "the truth
which
is after godliness." (Tit. i.
1.) The
Greek word here used for godliness,
is eusebeia
signifying a worship due to God alone,
which
the Apostle shews in a manner of greater
clearness, when he calls this piety
by the
more exact term qeosebeia All other
sciences
have their objects, noble indeed, and
worthy
to engage the notice of the human mind,
and
in the contemplation of which much
time,
leisure and diligence may be profitably
occupied.
In General Metaphysics, the object
of study
is, "BEING in But let us consider
the
conditions that are generally employed
to
commend the object of any science.
That OBJECT
is most excellent (1.) which is in
itself
the best, and the greatest, and immutable;
(2.) which, in relation to the mind,
is most
lucid and clear, and most easily proposed
and unfolded to the view of the mental
powers;
and (3.) which is likewise able, by
its action
on the mind, completely to fill it,
and to
satisfy its infinite desires. These
three
conditions are in the highest degree
discovered
in God, and in him alone, who is the
subject
of theological study.
1. He is the best being; he is the
first
and chief good, and goodness itself;
he alone
is good, as good as goodness itself;
as ready
to communicate, as it is possible for
him
to be communicated: his liberality
is only
equaled by the boundless treasures
which
he possesses, both of which are infinite
and restricted only by the capacity
of the
recipient, which he appoints as a limit
and
measure to the goodness of his nature
and
to the communication of himself. He
is the
greatest Being, and the only great
One; for
he is able to subdue to his sway even
nothing
itself, that it may become capable
of divine
good by the communication of himself.
"He
calleth those things which are not,
as though
they were," (Rom. iv. 17) and
in that
manner, by his word, he places them
in the
number of beings, although it is out
of darkness
that they have received his commands
to emerge
and to come into existence. "All
nations
before him are as nothing, the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers, and the
princes
nothing." (Isa. xl. 17,
22, 23.) The whole of this system of
heaven
and earth appears scarcely equal to
a point
"before him, whose center is every
where,
but whose circumference is no where."
He is immutable, always the same, and
endureth
forever; "his years have no end."
(Psalm 102)
Nothing can be added to him, and nothing
can be taken from him; with him "is
no variableness, neither shadow of
turning."
(James i. 17.) Whatsoever obtains stability
for a single moment, borrows it from
him,
and receives it of mere grace. Pleasant,
therefore, and most delightful is it
to contemplate
him, on account of his goodness; it
is glorious
in consideration of his greatness;
and it
is sure, in reference to his immutability.
2. He is most resplendent and bright;
he
is light itself, and becomes an object
of
most obvious perception to the mind,
according
to this expression of the apostle,
That they
should seek the Lord, if haply they
might
feel after him, and find Him, though
he be
not far from every one of us; for in
him
we live, and move, and have our being;
for
we are also his offspring:" (Acts
xvii.
27, 28.) And according to another passage,
"God left not himself without
witness,
in that he did good, and gave us rain
from
heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling
our
hearts with food and gladness."
(Acts
xiv. 17.) Being supported by these
true sayings,
I venture to assert, that nothing can
be
seen or truly known in any object,
except
in it we have previously seen and known
God
himself.
In the first place he is called "Being
itself," because he offers himself
to
the understanding as an object of knowledge.
But all beings, both visible and invisible,
corporeal and incorporeal, proclaim
aloud
that they have derived the beginning
of their
essence and condition from some other
than
themselves, and that they have not
their
own proper existence till they have
it from
another. All of them utter speech,
according
to the saying of the Royal Prophet:
"The heavens declare the glory
of God,
and the firmament showeth his handy-work."
(Psalm xix. 1.) That is, the firmament
sounds
aloud as with a trumpet, and proclaims,
that
it is "the work of the right hand
of
the Most High." Among created
objects,
you may discover many tokens indicating
"that
they derive from some other source
whatever
they themselves possess," mere
strongly
than "that they have an existence
in
the number and scale of beings."
Nor
is this matter of wonder, since they
are
always nearer to nothing than to their
Creator,
from whom they are removed to a distance
that is infinite, and separated by
infinite
space: while, by properties that are
only
finite, they are distinguished from
nothing,
the primeval womb from whence they
sprung,
and into which they may fall back again;
but they can never be raised to a divine
equality with God their maker. Therefore,
it was rightly spoken by the ancient
heathens,
"Of Jove all things are full."
3. He alone can completely fill the
mind,
and satisfy its (otherwise) insatiable
desires.
For he is infinite in his essence,
his wisdom,
power, and goodness. He is the first
and
chief verity, and truth itself in the
abstract.
But the human mind is finite in nature,
the
substance of which it is formed; and
only
in this view is it a partaker of infinity—because
it apprehends Infinite Being and the
Chief
Truth, although it is incapable of
comprehending
them. David, therefore, in an exclamation
of joyful self-gratulation, openly
confesses,
that he was content with the possession
of
God alone, who by means of knowledge
and
love is possessed by his creatures.
These
are his words: "Whom have I in
heaven
but thee? and there is none upon earth
that
I desire beside thee." (Psalm
lxxiii.
25.)
If thou be acquainted with all other
things,
and yet remain in a state of ignorance
with
regard to him alone, thou art always
wandering
beyond the proper point, and thy restless
love of knowledge increases in the
proportion
in which knowledge itself is increased.
The
man who knows only God, and who is
ignorant
of all things else, remains in peace
and
tranquillity, and, (like one that has
found
"a pearl of great price,"
although
in the purchase of it he may have expended
the whole of his substance,) he congratulates
himself and greatly triumphs. This
luster
or brightness of the object is the
cause
why an investigation into it, or an
inquiry
after it, is never instituted without
obtaining
it; and, (such is its fullness,) when
it
has once been found, the discovery
of it
is always attended with abundant profit.
But we must consider this object more
strictly;
for we treat of it in reference to
its being
the object of our theology, according
to
which we have a knowledge of God in
this
life. We must therefore clothe it in
a certain
mode, and invest it in a formal manner,
as
the logical phrase is; and thus place
it
as a foundation to our knowledge.
Three Considerations of this matter
offer
themselves to our notice: The First
is, that
we cannot receive this object in the
infinity
of its nature; our necessity, therefore,
requires it to be proposed in a manner
that
is accommodated to our capacity. The
Second
is, that it is not proper, in the first
moment
of revelation, for such a large measure
to
be disclosed and manifested by the
light
of grace, as may be received into the
human
mind when it is illuminated by the
light
of glory, and, (by that process,) enlarged
to a greater capacity: for by a right
use
of the knowledge of grace, we must
proceed
upwards, (by the rule of divine righteousness,)
to the more sublime knowledge of glory,
according
to that saying, "To him that hath
shall
be given." The Third is, that
this object
is not laid before our theology merely
to
be known, but, when known, to be worshipped.
For the Theology which belongs to this
world,
is Practical and through Faith:
Theoretical Theology belongs to the
other
world, and consists of pure and unclouded
vision, according to the expression
of the
apostle, "We walk by faith, and
not
by sight;" (2 Cor. v. 7,) and
that of
another apostle, "Then shall we
be like
him, for we shall see him as he is."
(1 John iii. 2.) For this reason, we
must
clothe the object of our theology in
such
a manner as may enable it to incline
us to
worship God, and fully to persuade
and win
us over to that practice.
This last design is the line and rule
of
this formal relation according to which
God
becomes the subject of our Theology.
But that man may be induced, by a willing
obedience and humble submission of
the mind,
to worship God, it is necessary for
him to
believe, from a certain persuasion
of the
heart: (1.) That it is the will of
God to
be worshipped, and that worship is
due to
him. (2.) That the worship of him will
not
be in vain, but will be recompensed
with
an exceedingly great reward. (3.) That
a
mode of worship must be instituted
according
to his command. To these three particulars
ought to be added, a knowledge of the
mode
prescribed.
Our Theology, then, delivers three
things
concerning this object, as necessary
and
sufficient to be known in relation
to the
preceding subjects of belief. The First
is
concerning the nature of God. The Second
concerning his actions. And the Third
concerning
his will.
(1.) Concerning his nature; that it
is worthy
to receive adoration, on account of
its justice;
that it is qualified to form a right
judgment
of that worship, on account of its
wisdom;
and that it is prompt and able to bestow
rewards, on account of its goodness
and the
perfection of its own blessedness.
(2.) Two actions have been ascribed
to God
for the same purpose; they are Creation
and
Providence. (i.) The Creation of all
things,
and especially of man after God’s own
image;
upon which is founded his sovereign
authority
over man, and from which is deduced
the right
of requiring worship from man and enjoining
obedience upon him, according to that
very
just complaint of God by Malachi, "If
then I be a father, where is mine honour?
and if I be a master, were is my fear,"
(i, 6.) (ii.) That Providence is to
be ascribed
to God by which he governs all things,
and
according to which he exercises a holy,
just,
and wise care and oversight over man
himself
and those things which relate to him,
but
chiefly over the worship and obedience
which
he is bound to render to his God.
(3.) Lastly, it treats of the will
of God
expressed in a certain covenant into
which
he has entered with man, and which
consists
of two parts: (i.) The one, by which
he declares
it to be his pleasure to receive adoration
from man, and at the same time prescribes
the mode of performing that worship;
for
it is his will to be worshipped from
obedience,
and not at the option or discretion
of man.
(ii.) The other, by which God promises
that
he will abundantly compensate man for
the
worship which he performs; requiring
not
only adoration for the benefits already
conferred
upon man, as a trial of his gratitude;
but
likewise that He may communicate to
man infinitely
greater things to the consummation
of his
felicity. For as he occupied the first
place
in conferring blessings and doing good,
because
that high station was his due, since
man
was about to be called into existence
among
the number of creatures; so likewise
it is
his desire that the last place in doing
good
be reserved for him, according to the
infinite
perfection of his goodness and blessedness,
who is the fountain of good and the
extreme
boundary of happiness, the Creator
and at
the same time the Glorifier of his
worshippers.
It is according to this last action
of his,
that he is called by some persons "the
Object of Theology," and that
not improperly,
because in this last are included all
the
preceding.
In the way which has been thus compendiously
pointed out, the infinite disputes
of the
schoolmen, concerning the formal relation
by which God is the Object of Theology,
may,
in my opinion, be adjusted and decided.
But
as I think it a culpable deed to abuse
your
patience, I shall decline to say any
more
on this part of the subject.
Our sacred Theology, therefore, is
chiefly
occupied in ascribing to the One True
God,
to whom alone they really belong, those
attributes
of which we have already spoken, his
nature,
actions, and will. For it is not sufficient
to know, that there is some kind of
a NATURE,
simple, infinite, wise, good, just,
omnipotent,
happy in itself, the Maker and Governor
of
all things, that is worthy to receive
adoration,
whose will it is to be worshipped,
and that
is able to make its worshippers happy.
To
this general kind of knowledge there
ought
to be added, a sure and settled conception,
fixed on that Deity, and strictly bound
to
the single object of religious worship
to
which alone those qualities appertain.
The
necessity of entertaining fixed and
determinate
ideas on this subject, is very frequently
inculcated in the sacred page: "I
am
the Lord thy God."
(Exod. xx. 2.) "I am the Lord
and there
is none else." (Isa. xlv. 5.)
Elijah
also says, "If the Lord be God,
follow
him; but if Baal, then follow him."
(1 Kings xviii. 21.) This duty is the
more
sedulously inculcated in scripture,
as man
is more inclined to depart from the
true
idea of Deity. For whatever clear and
proper
conception of the Divine Being the
minds
the Heathens had formed, the first
stumbling-block
over which they fell appears to have
been
this, they did not attribute that just
conception
to him to whom it ought to have been
given;
but they ascribed it either, (1.) to
some
vague and uncertain individual, as
in the
expression of the Roman poet, "O
Jupiter,
whether thou be heaven, or air, or
earth!"
Or, (2) some imaginary and fabulous
Deity,
whether it be among created things,
or a
mere idol of the brain, neither partaking
of the Divine nature nor any other,
which
the Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to
the Romans
and to the Corinthians, produces as
a matter
of reproach to the Gentiles. (Rom.
1, and
1 Corinthians 8.) Or (3,) lastly, they
ascribed
it to the unknown God; the title of
Unknown
being given to their Deity by the very
persons
who were his worshippers. The Apostle
relates
this crime as one of which the Athenians
were guilty: But it is equally true
when
applied to all those who err and wander
from
the true object of adoration, and yet
worship
a Deity of some description. To such
persons
that sentence justly belongs which
Christ
uttered in conversation with the woman
of
Samaria: "Ye worship YE KNOW NOT
WHAT."
(John iv.
22.)
Although those persons are guilty of
a grievous
error who transgress in this point,
so as
to be deservedly termed Atheists, in
Scripture
aqeoi "men without God;"
yet they
are by far more intolerably insane,
who,
having passed the extreme line of impiety,
are not restrained by the consciousness
of
any Deity. The ancient heathens considered
such men as peculiarly worthy of being
called
Atheists. On the other hand, those
who have
a consciousness of their own ignorance
occupy
the step that is nearest to sanity.
For it
is necessary to be careful only about
one
thing; and that is, when we communicate
information
to them, we must teach them to discard
the
falsehood which they had imbibed, and
must
instruct them in the truth alone. When
this
truth is pointed out to them, they
will seize
it with the greater avidity, in proportion
to the deeper sorrow which they feel
at the
thought that they have been surrounded
for
a long series of years by a most pernicious
error.
But Theology, as it appears to me,
principally
effects four things in fixing our conceptions,
which we have just mentioned, on that
Deity
who is true, and in drawing them away
from
the invention and formation of false
Deities.
First. It explains, in an elegant and
copious
manner, the relation in which the Deity
stands,
lest we should ascribe to his nature
any
thing that is foreign to it, or should
take
away from it any one of its properties.
In
reference to this, it is said, "Ye.
heard the voice, but saw no similitude;
take
ye therefore good heed unto yourselves,
lest
you make you a graven image."
(Deut.
iv. 15, 16.) -Secondly. It describes
both
the universal and the particular actions
of the only true God, that by them
it may
distinguish the true Deity from those
which
are fabulous. On this account it is
said,
"The gods that have not made the
heavens
and the earth, shall perish from the
earth,
and under these heavens." (Jer.
x. 11.)
Jonah also said, "I fear the Lord,
the
God of heaven, who hath made the sea
and
the dry land." (i, 9.) And the
Apostle
declares, "Forasmuch then as we
are
the offspring of God, we ought not
to think
that the Godhead is like unto gold,
or silver,
or stone, graven by art and by man’s
device:"
(Acts xvii. 29.) In another passage
it is
recorded, "I am the Lord thy God
which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt;"
(Deut. v. 6.) "I am the God that
appeared
to thee in Bethel." (Gen. xxvi.
13.)
And, "Behold the days come, saith
the
Lord, that they shall no more say,
The Lord
liveth, which brought up the children
of
Israel out of the land of Egypt, but,
The
Lord liveth which brought up and which
led
the seed of the house of Israel out
of the
North Country," &c. (Jer.
xxiii.
7, 8.) Thirdly. It makes frequent mention
of the covenant into which the true
Deity
has entered with his worshippers, that
by
the recollection of it the mind of
man may
be stayed upon that God with whom the
covenant
was concluded. In reference to this
it is
said, "Thus shalt thou say unto
the
Children of Israel, the Lord God of
your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me
unto you:
this is my name for ever, and this
is. my
memorial unto all generations",
(Exod.
iii. 15.) Thus Jacob, when about to
conclude
a compact with Laban his father-in-law,
swears
"by the fear of his father Isaac."
(Gen. xxxi. 53.) And when Abraham’s
servant
was seeking a wife for his master’s
son,
he thus invoked God, "O Lord God
of
my master Abraham!" (Gen. xxiv.
12.)
Fourthly. It distinguishes and points
out
the true Deity, even by a most appropriate,
particular, and individual mark, when
it
introduces the mention of the persons
who
are partakers of the same Divinity;
thus
it gives a right direction to the mind
of
the worshipper, and fixes it upon that
God
who is THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST.
This was manifested with some degree
of obscurity
in the Old Testament, but with the
utmost
clearness in the New. Hence the Apostle
says,
"I bow my knee unto the Father
of our
Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephes. iii.
14.)
All these remarks are comprehended
and summed
up by Divines, in this brief sentence,
"That
God must be invoked who has manifested
himself
in his own word." But the preceding
observations concerning the Object
of Theology,
properly respect Legal Theology, which
was
accommodated to man’s primeval state.
For
when man in his original integrity
acted
under the protecting favour and benevolence
of a good and just God, he was able
to render
to God that worship which had been
prescribed
according to the law of legal righteousness,
that says, "This do, and thou
shalt
live" he was able to "love
with
all his heart and soul" that Good
and
Just Being; he was able, from a consciousness
of his integrity, to repose confidence
in
that Good and Just One; and he was
able to
evince towards him, as such, a filial
fear,
and to pay him the honour which was
pleasing
and due to him, as from a servant to
his
Lord. God also, on his part, without
the
least injury to his justice, was able
to
act towards man, while in that state,
according
to the proscript of legal righteousness,
to reward his worship according to
justice,
and, through the terms of the legal
covenant,
and consequently "of debt,"
to
confer life upon him. This God could
do,
consistency with his goodness, which
required
the fulfillment of the promise. There
was
no call for any other property of his
nature,
which might contribute by its agency
to accomplish
this purpose: No further progress of
Divine
goodness was necessary than that which
might
repay good for good, the good of perfect
felicity, for the good of entire obedience:
No other action was required, except
that
of creation, (which had then been performed,)
and that of a preserving and governing
providence,
in conformity with the condition with
which
man was placed: No other volition of
God
was needed, than that by which he might
both
require the perfect obedience of the
law
and might repay that obedience with
life
eternal. In that state of human affairs,
therefore, the knowledge of the nature
described
in those properties, the knowledge
of those
actions, and of that will, to which
may be
added the knowledge of the Deity to
whom
they really pertained, was necessary
for
the performance of worship to God,
and was
of itself amply sufficient.
But when man had fallen from his primeval
integrity through disobedience to the
law,
and had rendered himself "a child
of
wrath" and had become devoted
to condemnations,
this goodness mingled with legal justice
could not be sufficient for the salvation
of man. Neither could this act of creation
and providence, nor this will suffice;
and
therefore this legal Theology was itself
insufficient. For sin was to be condemned
if men were absolved; and, as the Apostle
says, (in the eighth chapter of his
Epistle
to the Romans,) "it could not
be condemned
by the law." Man was to be justified:
but he could not be justified by the
law,
which, while it is the strength of
sin, makes
discovery of it to us, and is the procurer
of wrath.
This Theology, therefore, could serve
for
no salutary purpose, at that time:
such was
its dreadful efficacy in convincing
man of
sin and consigning him to certain death.
This unhappy change, this unfavourable
vicissitude
of affairs was introduced by the fault
and
the infection of sin; which was likewise
the cause why "the law which was
ordained
to life and honour," (Rom. vii.
10,)
became fatal and destructive to our
race,
and the procurer of eternal ignominy.
(1.)
Other properties, therefore, of the
Divine
Nature were to be called into action;
every
one of God’s benefits was to be unfolded
and explained; mercy, long suffering,
gentleness,
patience, and clemency were to be brought
forth out of the repository of his
primitive
goodness, and their services were to
be engaged,
if it was proper for offending man
to be
reconciled to God and reinstated in
his favour.
(2.) Other actions were to be exhibited:
"Anew creation" was to be
effected;
"a new providence," accommodated
in every respect to this new creation,
was
to be instituted and put in force;
"the
work of redemption" was to be
performed;
"remission of sins" was to
be obtained;
"the loss of righteousness"
was
to be repaired; "the Spirit of
grace"
was to be asked and obtained; and a
"lost
salvation" restored. (3.) Another
decree
was likewise to be framed concerning
the
salvation of man; and another covenant,
a
new one," was to be made with
him, "not
according to that former one, because
those"
who were parties on one side "had
not
continued in that covenant:" (Heb.
viii.
11,) but, by another and a gracious
will,
they "were to be sanctified"
who
might be "consecrated to enter
into
the Holiest by a new and living way."
(Heb. x. 20.) All these things were
to be
prepared and laid down as foundations
to
the new manifestation.
Another revelation, therefore, and
a different
species of Theology, were necessary
to make
known those properties of the Divine
Nature,
which we have described, and which
were most
wisely employed in repairing our salvation;
to proclaim the actions which were
exhibited;
and to occupy themselves in explaining
that
decree and new covenant which we have
mentioned.
But since God, the punisher and most
righteous
avenger of sinners, was either unwilling,
or, (through the opposition made by
the justice
and truth which had been originally
manifested
in the law,) was unable to unfold those
properties
of his nature, to produce those actions,
or to make that decree, except by the
intervention
of a Mediator, in whom, without the
least
injury to his justice and truth, he
might
unfold those properties, perform those
actions,
might through them produce those necessary
benefits, and might conclude that most
gracious
decree; on this account a Mediator
was to
be ordained, who, by his blood, might
atone
for sinners, by his death might expiate
the
sin of mankind, might reconcile the
wicked
to God, and might save them from his
impending
anger; who might set forth and display
the
mercy, long suffering and patience
of God,
might provide eternal redemption, obtain
remission of sin, bring in an everlasting
righteousness, procure the Spirit of
grace,
confirm the decree of gracious mercy,
ratify
the new covenant by his blood, recover
eternal
salvation, and who might bring to God
those
that were to be ultimately saved.
A just and merciful God, therefore,
did appoint
as Mediator, his beloved Son, Jesus
Christ.
He obediently undertook that office
which
was imposed on him by the Father, and
courageously
executed it; nay, he is even now engaged
in executing it. He was, therefore,
ordained
by God as the Redeemer, the saviour,
the
King, and, (under God,) the Head of
the heirs
of salvation. It would have been neither
just nor reasonable, that he who had
undergone
such vast labours, and endured such
great
sorrows, who had performed so many
miracles,
and who had obtained through his merits
so
many benefits for us, should ingloriously
remain among us in meanness and obscurity,
and should be dismissed by us without
honour.
It was most equitable, that he should
in
return be acknowledged, worshipped,
and invoked,
and that he should receive those grateful
thanks which are due to him for his
benefits.
But how shall we be able to adore,
worship
and invoke him, unless "we believe
on
him? How can we believe in him, unless
we
hear of him? And how can we hear concerning
him," except he be revealed to
us by
the word? (Rom. x. 14.) From this cause,
then, arose the necessity of making
a revelation
concerning Jesus Christ; and on this
account
two objects, (that is, God and his
Christ,)
are to be placed as a foundation to
that
Theology which will sufficiently contribute
towards the salvation of sinners, according
to the saying of our saviour Christ:
"And
this is life eternal, that they might
know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ,
whom than hast sent." (John xvii.
3.)
Indeed, these two objects are not of
such
a nature as that the one may be separated
from the other, or that the one may
be collaterally
joined to the other; but the-latter
of them
is, in a proper and suitable manner,
subordinate
to the former. Here then we have a
Theology,
which, from Christ, its object, is
most rightfully
and deservedly termed Christian, which
is
manifested not by the Law, but in the
earliest
ages by promise, and in these latter
days
by the Gospel, which is called that
"of
Jesus Christ," although the words
(Christian
and Legal) are sometimes confounded.
But
let us consider the union and the subordination
of both these objects.
I. Since we have God and his Christ
for the
object of our Christian Theology, the
manner
in which Legal Theology explains God
unto
us, is undoubtedly much amplified by
this
addition, and our Theology is thus
infinitely
ennobled above that which is legal.
For God has unfolded in Christ all
his own
goodness. "For it pleased the
Father,
that in him should all fullness dwell;"
(Col. i. 19,) and that the "fullness
of the Godhead should dwell in him,"
not by adumbration or according to
the shadow,
but "bodily:" For this reason
he
is called "the image of the invisible
God;" (Col. i. 15,) "the
brightness
of his Father’s glory, and the express
image
of his person," (Heb. i. 3,) in
whom
the Father condescends to afford to
us his
infinite majesty, his immeasurable
goodness,
mercy and philanthropy, to be contemplated,
beheld, and to be touched and felt;
even
as Christ himself says to Philip, "He
that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."
(John xiv. 9.) For those things which
lay
hidden and indiscernible within the
Father,
like the fine and deep traces in an
engraved
seal, stand out, become prominent,
and may
be most clearly and distinctly seen
in Christ,
as in an exact and protuberant impression,
formed by the application of a deeply
engraved
seal on the substance to be impressed.
1. In this Theology God truly appears,
in
the highest degree, the best and the
greatest
of Beings: (1.) The Best, cause he
is not
only willing, as in the former Theology,
to communicate himself (for the happiness
of men,) to those who correctly discharge
their duty, but to receive into his
favour
and to reconcile to himself those who
are
sinners, wicked, unfruitful, and declared
enemies, and to bestow eternal life
on them
when they repent. (2.) The Greatest,
because
he has not only produced all things
from
nothing, through the annihilation of
the
latter, and the creation of the former,
but
because he has also effected a triumph
over
sin, (which is far more noxious than
nothing,
and conquered with greater difficulty,)
by
graciously pardoning it, and powerfully
putting
it away;" and because he has "brought
in everlasting righteousness,"
by means
of a second creation, and a regeneration
which far exceeded the capacity of
"the
law that acted as schoolmaster."
(Gal.
iii. 24.) For this cause Christ is
called
"the wisdom and the power of God,"
(1 Cor. i. 24,) far more illustrious
than
the wisdom and the power which were
originally
displayed in the creation of the universe.
(3.) In this Theology, God is described
to
us as in every respect immutable, not
only
in regard to his nature but also to
his will,
which, as it has been manifested in
the gospel,
is peremptory and conclusive, and,
being
the last of all, is not to be corrected
by
another will. For "Jesus Christ
is the
same, yesterday, today, and forever";
(Heb. xiii. 8,) by whom God hath in
these
last days spoken unto us." (Heb.
i.
2.) Under the law, the state of this
matter
was very different, and that greatly
to our
ultimate advantage. For if the will
of God
unfolded in the law had been fatal
to us,
as well as the last expression of it,
we,
of all men most miserable, should have
been
banished forever from God himself on
account
of that declaration of his will; and
our
doom would have been in a state of
exile
from our salvation. I would not seem
in this
argument to ascribe any mutability
to the
will of God. I only place such a termination
and boundary to his will, or rather
to something
willed by him, as was by himself before
affixed
to it and predetermined by an eternal
and
peremptory decree, that thus a vacancy
might
be made for a "better covenant
established
on better promises" (Heb. vii.
22; viii,
6.)
2. This Theology offers God in Christ
as
an object of our sight and knowledge,
with
such clearness, splendour and plainness,
that we with open face, beholding as
in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory
even
as by the Spirit of the Lord."
(1 Cor.
iii. 18.) In comparison with this brightness
and glory, which was so pre-eminent
and surpassing,
the law itself is said not to have
been either
bright or glorious: For it "had
no glory
in this respect, by reason of the glory
that
excelleth." (2 Cor. iii. 8.) This
was
indeed "the wisdom of God which
was
kept secret since the world began :"
(1 Cor. ii. 7; Rom. xvi. 25.) Great
and inscrutable
is this mystery; yet it is exhibited
in Christ
Jesus, and "made manifest"
with
such luminous clearness, that God is
said
to have been "manifest in the
flesh"
(1 Tim. iii. 16,) in no other sense
than
as though it would never have been
possible
for him to be manifested without the
flesh;
for the express purpose "that
the eternal
life which was with the Father, and
the Word
of life which was from the beginning
with
God, might be heard with our ears,
seen with
our eyes, and handled with our hands."
(1 John i. 1, 2.)
3. The Object of our Theology being
clothed
in this manner, so abundantly fills
the mind
and satisfies the desire, that the
apostle
openly declares, he was determined
"to
know nothing among the Corinthians
save Jesus
Christ, and him crucified." (1
Cor.
ii. 2.) To the Phillipians he says,
that
he "counted all things but lost
for
the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ
Jesus; for whom he had suffered the
loss
of all things, and he counted them
but dung
that he might know Christ, and the
power
of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of
his sufferings." (Phil. iii. 8,
10.)
Nay, in the knowledge of the object
of our
theology, modified in this manner,
all true
glorying and just boasting consist,
as the
passage which we before quoted from
Jeremiah,
and the purpose to which St. Paul has
accommodated
it, most plainly evince. This is the
manner
in which it is expressed: "Let
him.
that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord
which
exercise lovingkindness, judgment and
righteousness
in the earth." (Jer. ix. 24.)
When you
hear any mention of mercy, your thoughts
ought necessarily to revert to Christ,
out
of whom "God is a consuming fire"
to destroy the sinners of the earth.
(Deut. iv. 24; Heb. xii. 29) The way
in which
St. Paul has accommodated it, is this:
"Christ Jesus is made unto us
by God,
wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption; that, according as
it is
written, He that glorieth, let him
glory
in the Lord!"(1 Cor. i. 30, 31.)
Nor
is it wonderful, that the mind should
desire
to "know nothing save Jesus Christ,"
or that its otherwise insatiable desire
of
knowledge should repose itself in him,
since
in him and in his gospel "are
hidden
all the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge."
(Col. ii. 3, 9.)
II. Having finished that part of our
subject
which related to this Union, let us
now proceed
to the Subordination which subsists
between
these two objects. We will first inspect
the nature of this subordination, and
then
its necessity:
First. Its nature consists in this,
that
every saving communication which God
has
with us, or which we have with God,
is performed
by means of the intervention of Christ.
1. The communication which God holds
with
us is (i.) either in his benevolent
affection
towards us, or, (ii.) in his gracious
decree
concerning us, or, (iii.) in his saving
efficacy
in us. In all these particulars, Christ
comes
in as a middle man between the parties.
For
(i.) when God is willing to communicate
to
us the affection of his goodness and
mercy,
he looks upon his Anointed One, in
whom,
as "his beloved, he makes us accepted,
to the praise of the glory of his grace."
(Ephes. i. 6.) (ii.) When he is pleased
to
make some gracious decree of his goodness
and mercy, he interposes Christ between
the
purpose and the accomplishment, to
announce
his pleasure; for "by Jesus Christ
he
predestinates us to the adoption of
children."
(Ephes. i. 5.) (iii.) When he is willing
out of this abundant affection to impart
to us some blessing, according to his
gracious
decree, it is through the intervention
of
the same Divine person. For in Christ
as
our Head, the Father has laid up all
these
treasures and blessings; and they do
not
descend to us, except through him,
or rather
by him, as the Father’s substitute,
who administers
them with authority, and distributes
them
according to his own pleasure.
2. But the communication which we have
with
God, is also made by the intervention
of
Christ. It consists of three degrees
-access
to God, cleaving to him, and the enjoyment
of him.
These three particulars become the
objects
of our present consideration, as it
is possible
for them to be brought into action
in this
state of human existence, and as they
may
execute their functions by means of
faith,
hope, and that charity which is the
offspring
of faith.
(1.) Three things are necessary to
this access;
(i.) that God be in a place to which
we may
approach; (ii.) that the path by which
we
may come to him be a high-way and a
safe
one; and (iii.) that liberty be granted
to
us and boldness of access. All these
facilities
have been procured for us by the mediation
of Christ. (i.) For the Father dwelleth
in
light inaccessible, and sits at a distance
beyond Christ on a throne of rigid
justice,
which is an object much too formidable
in
appearance for the gaze of sinners;
yet he
hath appointed Christ to be "apropitiation.
through faith in his blood ;"
(Rom.
iii. 25,) by whom the covering of the
ark,
and the accusing, convincing, and condemning
power of the law which was contained
in that
ark, are taken away and removed as
a kind
of veil from before the eyes of the
Divine
Majesty; and a throne of grace has
been established,
on which God is seated, "with
whom in
Christ we have to do." Thus has
the
Father in the Son been made euwrositov
"easy
of access to us." (ii.) It is
the same
Lord Jesus Christ who "hath not
only
through his flesh consecrated for us
a new
and living way," by which we may
go
to the Father, (Heb. x. 20,) but who
is likewise
"himself the way" which leads
in
a direct and unerring manner to the
Father.
(John xiv. 6.) (iii.) "By the
blood
of Jesus" we have liberty of access,
nay we are permitted "to enter
into
the holiest," and even "within
the veil whither Christ, as a High
Priest
presiding over the house of God and
our fore
runner, is entered for us,." (Heb.
v.
20,) that "we may draw near with
a true
heart, in the sacred and full assurance
of
faith, (x, 22,) and may with great
confidence
of mind "come boldly unto the
throne
of grace." (iv, 16.) Have we therefore
prayers to offer to God? Christ is
the High
Priest who displays them before the
Father.
He is also the altar from which, after
being
placed on it, they will ascend as incense
of a grateful odour to God our Father.
Are
sacrifices of thanksgiving to be offered
to God? They must be offered through
Christ,
otherwise "God will not accept
them
at our hands." (Mal. i. 10.) Are
good
works to be performed? We must do them
through
the Spirit of Christ, that they may
obtain
the recommendation of him as their
author;
and they must be sprinkled with his
blood,
that they may not be rejected by the
Father
on account of their deficiency.
(2.) But it is not sufficient for us
only
to approach to God; it is likewise
good for
us to cleave to him. To confirm this
act
of cleaving and to give it perpetuity,
it
ought to depend upon a communion of
nature.
But with God we have no such communion.
Christ,
however, possesses it, and we are made
possessors
of it with Christ, "who partook
of our
flesh and blood." (Heb. ii. 14.)
Being
constituted our head, he imparts unto
us
of his Spirit, that we, (being constituted
his members, and cleaving to him as
"flesh
of his flesh and bone of his bone,")
may be one with him, and through him
with
the Father, and with both may become
"one
Spirit."
(3.) The enjoyment remains to be considered.
It is a true, solid and durable taste
of
the Divine goodness and sweetness in
this
life, not only perceived by the mind
and
understanding, but likewise by the
heart,
which is the seat of all the affections.
Neither does this become ours, except
in
Christ, by whose Spirit dwelling in
us that
most divine testimony is pronounced
in our
hearts, that "we are the children
of
God, and heirs of eternal life."
(Rom.
viii. 16.) On hearing this internal
testimony,
we conceive joy ineffable, "possess
our souls in hope and patience,"
and
in all our straits and difficulties
we call
upon God and cry, Abba Father, with
an earnest
expectation of our final access to
God, of
the consummation of our abiding in
him and
our cleaving to him, (by which we shall
have
"all in all,") and of the
most
blessed fruition, which will consist
of the
clear and unclouded vision of God himself.
But the third division of our present
subject,
will be the proper place to treat more
fully
on these topics.
Secondly. Having seen the subordination
of
both the objects of Christian Theology,
let
us in a few words advert to its Necessity.
This derives its origin from the comparison
of our contagion and vicious depravity,
with
the sanctity of God that is incapable
of
defilement, and with the inflexible
rigor
of his justice, which completely separates
us from him by a gulf so great as to
render
it impossible for us to be united together
while at such a vast distance, or for
a passage
to be made from us to him—unless Christ
had
trodden the wine press of the wrath
of God,
and by the streams of his most precious
blood,
plentifully flowing from the pressed,
broken,
and disparted veins of his body, had
filled
up that otherwise impassable gulf,
"and
had purged our consciences, sprinkled
with
his own blood, from all dead works
;"
(Heb. ix. 14, 22,) that, being thus
sanctified,
we might approach to "the living
God
and might serve him without fear, in
holiness
and righteousness before him, all the
days
of our life." (Luke i. 75.)
But such is the great Necessity of
this subordination,
that, unless our faith be in Christ,
it cannot
be in God: The Apostle Peter says,
"By
him we believe in God, that raised
him from
the dead, and gave him glory; that
your faith
and hope might be in God." (1
Pet.,
i, 21.) On this account the faith also
which
we have in God, was prescribed, not
by the
law, but by the gospel of the grace
of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which is properly
"the
word of faith" and "the word
of
promise."
The consideration of this necessity
is of
infinite utility, (i.) both in producing
confidence in the consciences of believers,
trembling at the sight of their sins,
as
appears most evidently from our preceding
observations; (ii.) and in establishing
the
necessity of the Christian Religion.
I account
it necessary to make a few remarks
on this
latter topic, because they are required
by
the nature of our present purpose and
of
the Christian Religion itself.
I observe, therefore, that not only
is the
intervention of Christ necessary to
obtain
salvation from God, and to impart it
unto
men, but the faith of Christ is also
necessary
to qualify men for receiving this salvation
at his hands; not that faith in Christ
by
which he may be apprehended under the
general
notion of the wisdom, power, goodness
and
mercy of God, but that faith which
was announced
by the Apostles and recorded in their
writings,
and in such a saviour as was preached
by
those primitive heralds of salvation.
I am not in the least influenced by
the argument
by which some persons profess themselves
induced to adopt the opinion, "that
a faith in Christ thus particular and
restricted,
which is required from all that become
the
subjects of salvation, agrees neither
with
the amplitude of God’s mercy, nor with
the
conditions of his justice, since many
thousands
of men depart out of this life, before
even
the sound of the Gospel of Christ has
reached
their ears." For the reasons and
terms
of Divine Justice and Mercy are not
to be
determined by the limited and shallow
measure
of our capacities or feelings; but
we must
leave with God the free administration
and
just defense of these his own attributes.
The result, however, will invariably
prove
to be the same, in what manner soever
he
may be pleased to administer those
divine
properties—for, "he will always
overcome
when he is judged." (Rom. iii.
4.) Out
of his word we must acquire our wisdom
and
information. In primary, and certain
secondary
matters this word describes—the Necessity
of faith in Christ, according to the
appointment
of the just mercy and the merciful
justice
of God. "He that believeth on
the Son,
hath everlasting life; and he that
believeth
not the Son, shall not see life; but
the
wrath of God abideth on him."
(John
iii. 36.) This is not an account of
the first
kindling of the wrath of God against
this
willful unbeliever; for he had then
deserved
the most severe expressions of that
wrath
by the sins which he had previously
committed
against the law; and this wrath "abides
upon him," on account of his continued
unbelief, because he had been favoured
with
the opportunity as well as the power
of being
delivered from it, through faith in
the Son
of God. Again: If ye believe not that
I am
he, ye shall die in your sins."
(John
viii. 24.) And, in another passage,
Christ
declares, "This is life eternal,
that
they might know thee the only true
God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."
(John
xvii, 3.) The Apostle says, "It
pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching
to save
them that believe." That preaching
thus
described is the doctrine of the cross,
"to
the Jews a stumbling block and unto
the Greeks
foolishness:
But unto them which are called both
Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God
and the
wisdom of God:" (1 Cor. i. 21,
23, 24.)
This wisdom and this power are not
those
attributes which God employed when
he formed
the world, for Christ is here plainly
distinguished
from them; but they are the wisdom
and the
power revealed in that gospel which
is eminently
"the power of God unto salvation
to
every one that believeth." (Rom.
i.
16.) Not only, therefore, is the cross
of
Christ necessary to solicit and procure
redemption,
but the faith of the cross is also
necessary
in order to obtain possession of it.
The necessity of faith in the cross
does
not arise from the circumstance of
the doctrine
of the cross being preached and propounded
to men; but, since faith in Christ
is necessary
according to the decree of God, the
doctrine
of the cross is preached, that those
who
believe in it may be saved. Not only
on account
of the decree of God is faith in Christ
necessary,
but it is also necessary on account
of the
promise made unto Christ by the Father,
and
according to the Covenant which was
ratified
between both of them. This is the word
of
that promise: "Ask of me, and
I will
give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance."
(Psalm ii. 8.) But the inheritance
of Christ
is the multitude of the faithful; "the
people, who, in the days of his power
shall
willingly come to him, in the beauties
of
holiness." (Psalm cx. 3.) "in
thee
shall all nations be blessed; so then
they
which be of faith are blessed with
faithful
Abraham." (Gal. iii. 8, 9 In Isaiah
it is likewise declared, "When
thou
shalt make his soul an offering for
sin,
he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his
days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall
prosper in his hands. He shall see
of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
by the knowledge of himself [which
is faith
in him] shall my righteous servant
justify
many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
(Isa. liii. 10, 11.) Christ adduces
the covenant
which has been concluded with the Father,
and founds a plea upon it when he says,
"Father
glorify thy Son; that thy Son also
may glorify
thee: as thou hast given him power
over all
flesh, that he should give eternal
life to
as many as thou hast given him. And
this
is life eternal," &c., &c.
(John
xvii. 1, 2, 3, 4.) Christ therefore
by the
decree, the promise and the covenant
of the
Father, has been constituted the saviour
of all that believe on him, according
to
the declaration of the Apostle: "And
being made perfect he became the author
of
eternal salvation, to all them that
obey
him." (Heb. v. 9.) This is the
reason
why the Gentiles without Christ are
said
to be "alien from the commonwealth
of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without
God
in the world." Yet through faith
"those
who some time were thus afar off and
in darkness"
are said to be made nigh, and "are
now
light in the Lord." (Ephes. ii.
12,
13, and v, 8.) It is requisite, therefore,
earnestly to contend for the Necessity
of
the Christian religion, as for the
altar
and the anchor of our salvation, lest,
after
we have suffered the Son to be taken
away
from us and from our Faith, we should
also
be deprived of the Father:
"For whosoever denieth the Son,
the
same hath not the Father." (1
John ii.
23.) But if we in the slightest degree
connive
at the diminution or limitation of
this Necessity,
Christ himself will be brought into
contempt
among Christians, his own professing
people;
and will at length be totally denied
and
universally renounced. For it is not
an affair
of difficulty to take away the merit
of salvation,
and the power to save from Him to whom
we
are not compelled by any necessity
to offer
our oaths of allegiance. Who believes,
that
it is not necessary to return thanks
to him
who has conferred a benefit? Nay, who
will
not openly and confidently profess,
that
he is not the Author of salvation whom
it
is not necessary to acknowledge in
that capacity.
The union, therefore, of both the objects,
God and Christ, must be strongly urged
and
enforced in our Christian Theology;
nor is
it to be endured that under any pretext
they
be totally detached and removed from
each
other, unless we wish Christ himself
to be
separated and withdrawn from us, and
for
us to be deprived at once of him and
of our
own salvation.
The present subject would require us
briefly
to present to your sight all and each
of
those parts of which the consideration
of
this object ought to consist, and the
order
in which they should be placed before
our
eyes; but I am unwilling to detain
this most
famous and crowded auditory by a more
prolix
oration.
Since, therefore, thus wonderfully
great
are the dignity, majesty, splendour
and plenitude
of Theology, and especially of our
Christian
Theology, by reason of its double object
which is God and Christ, it is just
and proper
that all those who glory in the title
of
"men formed in the image of God,"
or in the far more august title of
"Christians"
and "men regenerated after the
image
of God and Christ, should most seriously
and with ardent desire apply themselves
to
the knowledge of this Theology; and
that
they should think no object more worthy,
pleasant, or useful than this, to engage
their labourious attention or to awaken
their
energies. For what is more worthy of
man,
who is the image of God, than to be
perpetually
reflecting itself on its great archetype?
What can be more pleasant, than to
be continually
irradiated and enlightened by the salutary
beams of his Divine Pattern? What is
more
useful than, by such illumination,
to be
assimilated yet more and more to the
heavenly
Original? Indeed there is not any thing
the
knowledge of which can be more useful
than
this is, in the very search for it;
or, when
discovered, can be more profitable
to the
possessor. What employment is more
becoming
and honourable in a creature, a servant,
and a son than to spend whole days
and nights
in obtaining a knowledge of God his
Creator,
his Lord, and his Father? What can
be more
decorous and comely in those who are
redeemed
by the blood of Christ, and who are
sanctified
by his Spirit, than diligently and
constantly
to meditate upon Christ, and always
to carry
him about in their minds, and hearts,
and
also on their tongues?
I am fully aware that this animal life
requires
the discharge of various functions;
that
the superintendence of them must be
entrusted
to those persons who will execute each
of
them to the common advantage of the
republic;
and that the knowledge necessary for
the
right management of all such duties,
can
only be acquired by continued study
and much
labour. But if the very persons to
whom the
management of these concerns has been
officially
committed, will acknowledge the important
principle—that in preference to all
others,
those things should be sought which
appertain
to the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
(Matt. vi. 33,) they will confess that
their
ease and leisure, their meditations
and cares,
should yield the precedence to this
momentous
study. Though David himself was the
king
of a numerous people, and entangled
in various
wars, yet he never ceased to cultivate
and
pursue this study in preference to
all others.
To the benefit which he had derived
from
such a judicious practice, he attributes
the portion of wisdom which he had
obtained,
and which was "greater than that
of
his enemies." (Psalm cxix. 98,)
and
by it also "he had more understanding
than all his teachers." (99.)
The three
most noble treatises which Solomon
composed,
are to the present day read by the
Church
with admiration and thanksgiving; and
they
testify the great advantage which the
royal
author obtained from a knowledge of
Divine
things, while he was the chief magistrate
of the same people on the throne of
his Father.
But since, according to the opinion
of a
Roman Emperor, "nothing is more
difficult
than to govern well" what just
cause
will any one be able to offer for the
neglect
of a study, to which even kings could
devote
their time and attention. Nor is it
wonderful
that they acted thus; for they addicted
themselves
to this profitable and pleasant study
by
the command of God; and the same Divine
command
has been imposed upon all and each
of us,
and is equally binding. It is one of
Plato’s
observations, that "commonwealths
would
at length enjoy happiness and prosperity,
either when their princes and ministers
of
state become philosophers, or when
philosophers
were chosen as ministers of state and
conducted
the affairs of government." We
may transfer
this sentiment with far greater justice
to
Theology, which is the true and only
wisdom
in relation to things Divine.
But these our admonitions more particularly
concern you, most excellent and learned
youths,
who, by the wish of your parents or
patrons,
and at your own express desire, have
been
devoted, set apart, and consecrated
to this
study; not to cultivate it merely with
diligence,
for the sake of promoting your own
salvation,
but that you may at some future period
be
qualified to engage in the eligible
occupation,
(which is most pleasing to God,) of
teaching,
instructing, and edifying the Church
of the
saints—"which is the body of Christ,
and the fullness of him that filleth
all
in all." (Ephes. i. 23.) Let the
extent
and the majesty of the object, which
by a
deserved right engages all our powers,
be
constantly placed before your eyes;
and suffer
nothing to be accounted more glorious
than
to spend whole days and nights in acquiring
a knowledge of God and his Christ,
since
true and allowable glories consists
in this
Divine knowledge. Reflect what great
concerns
those must be into which angels desire
to
look. Consider, likewise, that you
are now
forming an entrance for yourselves
into a
communion, at least of name, with these
heavenly
beings, and that God will in a little
time
call you to the employment for which
you
are preparing, which is one great object
of my hopes and wishes concerning you.
Propose to yourselves for imitation
that
chosen instrument of Christ, the Apostle
Paul, whom you with the greater willingness
acknowledge as your teacher, and who
professes
himself to be inflamed with such an
intense
desire of knowing Christ, that he not
only
held every worldly thing in small estimation
when put in competition with this knowledge,
but also "suffered the loss of
all things,
that he might win the knowledge of
Christ."
(Phil. iii. 8.) Look at Timothy, his
disciple,
whom he felicitates on this account—"that
from a child he had known the holy
scriptures."
(2 Tim. iii. 15.) You have already
attained
to a share of the same blessedness;
and you
will make further advances in it, if
you
determine to receive the admonitions,
and
to execute the charge, which that great
teacher
of the Gentiles addresses to his Timothy.
But this study requires not only diligence,
but holiness, and a sincere desire
to please
God. For the object which you handle,
into
which you are looking, and which you
wish
to know, is sacred—nay, it is the holy
of
holies. To pollute sacred things, is
highly
indecent; it is desirable that the
persons
by whom such things are administered,
should
communicate to them no taint of defilement.
The ancient Gentiles when about to
offer
sacrifice were accustomed to exclaim,
"Far, far from hence, let the
profane
depart!"
This caution should be re-iterated
by you,
for a more solid and lawful reason
when you
proceed to offer sacrifices to God
Most High,
and to his Christ, before whom also
the holy
choir of angels repeat aloud that thrice-hallowed
song, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty!"
While you are engaged in this study,
do not
suffer your minds to be enticed away
by other
pursuits and to different objects.
Exercise
yourselves, continue to exercise yourselves
in this, with a mind intent upon what
has
been proposed to you according to the
design
of this discourse. If you do this,
in the
course of a short time you will not
repent
of your labour; but you will make such
progress
in the way of the knowledge of the
Lord,
as will render you useful to others.
For
"the secret of the Lord, is with
them
that fear him." (Psalm xxv. 14)
Nay,
from the very circumstance of this
unremitting
attention, you will be enabled to declare,
that you "have chosen the good
part
which alone shall not be taken away
from
you," (Luke x. 42) but which will
daily
receive fresh increase. Your minds
will be
so expanded by the knowledge of God
and of
his Christ, that they will hereafter
become
a most ample habitation for God and
Christ
through the Spirit. I have finished.
ORATION II
ORATION II THE AUTHOR AND THE END OF
THEOLOGY
They who are conversant with the demonstrative
species of oratory, and choose for
themselves
any subject of praise or blame, must
generally
be engaged in removing from themselves,
what
very readily assails the minds of their
auditors,
a suspicion that they are impelled
to speak
by some immoderate feeling of love
or hatred;
and in showing that they are influenced
rather
by an approved judgment of the mind;
and
that they have not followed the ardent
flame
of their will, but the clear light
of their
understanding, which accords with the
nature
of the subject which they are discussing.
But to me such a course is not necessary.
For that which I have chosen for the
subject
of my commendation, easily removes
from me
all ground for such a suspicion.
I do not deny, that here indeed I yield
to
the feeling of love; but it is on a
matter
which if any one does not love, he
hates
himself, and perfidiously prostitutes
the
life of his soul. Sacred Theology is
the
subject whose excellence and dignity
I now
celebrate in this brief and unadorned
Oration;
and which, I am convinced, is to all
of you
an object of the greatest regard. Nevertheless,
I wish to raise it, if possible, still
higher
in your esteem. This, indeed, its own
merit
demands; this the nature of my office
requires.
Nor is it any part of my study to amplify
its dignity by ornaments borrowed from
other
objects; for to the perfection of its
beauty
can be added nothing extraneous that
would
not tend to its degradation and loss
of its
comeliness. I only display such ornaments
as are, of themselves, its best recommendation.
These are, its Object, its Author,
its End
and its Certainty. Concerning the Object,
we have already declared whatever the
Lord
had imparted; and we will now speak
of its
Author and its End. God grant that
I may
,follow the guidance of this Theology
in
all respects, and may advance nothing
except
what agrees with its nature, is worthy
of
God and useful to you, to the glory
of his
name, and to the uniting of all of
us together
in the Lord. I pray and beseech you
also,
my most excellent and courteous hearers,
that you will listen to me, now when
I am
beginning to speak on the Author, and
the
End of Theology, with the same degree
of
kindness and attention as that which
you
evinced when you heard my preceding
discourse
on its Object.
Being about to treat of the Author,
I will
not collect together the lengthened
reports
of his well merited praises, for with
you
this is unnecessary. I will only declare
(1.) Who the Author is; (2.) In what
respect
he is to be considered; (3.) Which
of his
properties were employed by him in
the revelation
of Theology; and (4.) In what manner
he has
made it know.
I. We have considered the Object of
Theology
in regard to two particulars. And that
each
part of our subject may properly and
exactly
answer to the other, we may also consider
its Author in a two-fold respect—that
of
Legal and of Evangelical Theology.
In both
cases, the same person is the Author
and
the Object, and the person who reveals
the
doctrine is likewise its matter and
argument.
This is a peculiarity that belongs
to no
other of the numerous sciences. For
although
all of them may boast of God, as their
Author,
because he a God of knowledge; yet,
as we
have seen, they have some other object
than
God, which something is indeed derived
from
him and of his production. But they
do not
partake of God as their efficient cause,
in an equal manner with this doctrine,
which,
for a particular reason, and one entirely
distinct from that of the other sciences,
lays claim to God , its Author. God,
therefore,
is the author of Legal Theology; God
and
his Christ, or God in and through Christ,
is the Author of that which is evangelical.
For to this the scripture bears witness,
and thus the very nature of the object
requires,
both of which we will separately demonstrate.
1. Scripture describes to us the Author
of
legal theology before the fall in these
words:
"And the Lord God commanded the
man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou
mayest freely eat; but of the tree
of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not
eat of it:" (Gen. ii. 16, 17.)
A threat
was added in express words, in case
the man
should transgress, and a promise, in
the
type of the tree of life, if he complied
with the command. But there are two
things,
which, as they preceded this act of
legislation,
should have been previously known by
man:
(1.) The nature of God, which is wise,
good,
just, and powerful; (2.) The authority
by
which he issues his commands, the right
of
which rests on the act of creation.
Of both
these, man had a previous knowledge,
from
the manifestation of God, who familiarly
conversed with him, and held communication
with his own image through that Spirit
by
whose inspiration he said, "This
is
now bone of my bones, and flesh of
my flesh."
(Gen. ii. 23.) The apostle has attributed
the knowledge of both these things
to faith,
and, therefore, to the manifestation
of God.
He speaks of the former in these words:
"For
he that cometh to God must have believed
[so I read it,] that he is, and that
he is
a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him."
(Heb. xi. 6.) If a rewarder, therefore,
he
is a wise, good, just, powerful, and
provident
guardian of human affairs. Of the latter,
he speaks thus: "Through faith
we understand
that the world was framed by the word
of
God, so that things which are seen
were not
made of things which do appear."
(Heb.
xi. 3.) And although that is not expressly
and particularly stated of the moral
law,
in the primeval state of man; yet when
it
is affirmed of the typical and ceremonial
law, it must be also understood in
reference
to the moral law. For the typical and
ceremonial
law was an experiment of obedience
to the
moral law, that was to be tried on
man, and
the acknowledgement of his obligation
to
obey the moral law. This appears still
more
evidently in the repetition of the
moral
law by Moses after the fall, which
was specially
made known to the people of Israel
in these
words: "And God spake all these
words
:" (Exod. xx. 1,) and "What
nation
is there so great that hath statutes
and
judgments so righteous as all this
law, which
I set before you this day," (Deut.
iv.
8.) But Moses set it before them according
to the manifestation of God to him,
and in
obedience to his command, as he says:
"The
secret things belong unto the Lord
our God;
but those things which are revealed
belong
unto us and to our children forever,
that
we may do all the words of this law."
(Deut. xxix. 29.) And according to
Paul,
"That which may be known of God,
is
manifest in them; for God hath shewed
it
unto them." (Rom. i. 19.)
2. The same thing is evinced by the
nature
of the object. For since God is the
Author
of the universe, (and that, not by
a natural
and internal operation, but by one
that is
voluntary and external, and that imparts
to the work as much as he chooses of
his
own, and as much as the nothing, from
which
it is produced, will permit,) his excellence
and dignity must necessarily far exceed
the
capacity of the universe, and, for
the same
reason, that of man. On this account,
he
is said in scripture, "to dwell
in the
light unto which no man can approach,"
(1 Tim. vi. 16,) which strains even
the most
acute sight of any creature, by a brightness
so great and dazzling, that the eye
is blunted
and overpowered, and would soon be
blinded
unless God, by some admirable process
of
attempering that blaze of light, should
offer
himself to the view of his creatures:
This
is the very manifestation before which
darkness
is said to have fixed its habitation.
Nor is he himself alone inaccessible,
but,
as the heavens are higher than the
earth,
so are his ways higher than our ways,
and
his thoughts than our thoughts."
(Isa.
lv. 9.) The actions of God are called
"the
ways of God," and the creation
especially
is called "the beginning of the
way
of God," (Prov. 8,) by which God
began,
as it were, to arise and to go forth
from
the throne of his majesty. Those actions,
therefore, could not have been made
known
and understood, in the manner in which
it
is allowable to know and understand
them,
except by the revelation of God. This
was
also indicated before, in the term
"faith"
which the apostle employed. But the
thoughts
of God, and his will,
(both that will which he wishes to
be done
by us, and that which he has resolved
to
do concerning us,) are of free disposition,
which is determined by the divine power
and
liberty inherent in himself; and since
he
has, in all this, called in the aid
of no
counselor, those thoughts and that
will are
of necessity "unsearchable and
past
finding out."
(Rom. xi. 33.) Of these, Legal Theology
consists;
and as they could not be known before
the
revelation of them proceeded from God,
it
is evidently proved that God is its
Author.
To this truth all nations and people
assent.
What compelled Radamanthus and Minos,
those
most equitable kings of Crete, to enter
the
dark cave of Jupiter, and pretend that
the
laws which they had promulgated among
their
subjects, were brought from that cave,
at
the inspiration of Deity? It was because
they knew those laws would not meet
with
general reception, unless they were
believed
to have been divinely communicated.
Before
Lycurgus began the work of legislation
for
his Lacedaemonians, imitating the example
of those two kings, he went to Apollo
at
Delphos, that he might, on his return,
confer
on his laws the highest recommendation
by
means of the authority of the Delphic
Oracle.
To induce the ferocious minds of the
Roman
people to submit to religion, Numa
Pompilius
feigned that he had nocturnal conferences
with the goddess Aegeria. These were
positive
and evident testimonies of a notion
which
had preoccupied the minds of men, "that
no religion except one of divine origin,
and deriving its principles from heaven,
deserved to be received." Such
a truth
they considered this, "that no
one could
know God, or any thing concerning God,
except
through God himself."
2. Let us now look at Evangelical Theology.
We have made the Author of it to be
Christ
and God, at the command of the same
scriptures
as those which establish the divine
claims
of Legal Theology, and because the
nature
of the object requires it with the
greater
justice, in proportion as that object
is
the more deeply hidden in the abyss
of the
divine wisdom, and as the human mind
is the
more closely surrounded and enveloped
with
the shades of ignorance.
(1.) Exceedingly numerous are the passages
of scripture which serve to aid and
strengthen
us in this opinion. We will enumerate
a few
of them: First, those which ascribe
the manifestation
of this doctrine to God the Father;
Then,
those which ascribe it to Christ. "But
we" says the apostle, "speak
the
wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the
world
unto our glory. But God hath revealed
it
unto us by his Spirit." (1 Cor.
ii.
7,10.) The same apostle says, "The
gospel
and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according
to the revelation of the mystery, which
was
kept secret since the world began,
but now
is made manifest by the scriptures
of the
prophets, according to the commandment
of
the everlasting God." (Rom. xvi.
25,
26.) When Peter made a correct and
just confession
of Christ, it was said to him by the
saviour,
"Flesh and blood hath not revealed
it
unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven."
(Matt. xvi. 17.) John the Baptist attributed
the same to Christ, saying, "The
only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom
of the
Father, be hath declared God to us."
(John i. 18.) Christ also ascribed
this manifestation
to himself in these words: "No
man knoweth
the Son but the Father; neither knoweth
any
man the Father save the Son, and he
to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." (Matt.
xi.
17.) And, in another place, "I
have
manifested thy name unto the men whom
thou
gavest me out of the world, and they
have
believed that thou didst send me."
(John
xvii. 6, 8.)
(2.) Let us consider the necessity
of this
manifestation from the nature of its
Object.
This is indicated by Christ when speaking
of Evangelical Theology, in these words:
"No man knoweth the Son but the
Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father
save the
Son." (Matt. xi. 27.) Therefore
no man
can reveal the Father or the Son, and
yet
in the knowledge of them are comprised
the
glad tidings of the gospel. The Baptist
is
an assertor of the necessity of this
manifestation
when he declares, that "No man
hath
seen God at any time." (John i.
18.)
It is the wisdom belonging to this
Theology,
which is said by the Apostle to be
"hidden
in a mystery, which none of the princes
of
this world knew, and which eye hath
not seen,
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into
the heart of man." (1 Cor. ii.
7, 8,
9.) It does not come within the cognizance
of the understanding, and is not mixed
up,
as it were, with the first notions
or ideas
impressed on the mind at the period
of its
creation; it is not acquired in conversation
or reasoning; but it is made known
"in
the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth."
To this Theology belongs "that
manifold
wisdom of God which must be made known
by
the Church unto the principalities
and powers
in heavenly places," (Ephes. iii.
10,)
otherwise it would remain unknown even
to
the angels themselves. What! Are the
deep
things of God "which no man knoweth
but the Spirit of God which is in himself,"
explained by this doctrine? Does it
also
unfold "the length and breadth,
and
depth and height" of the wisdom
of God?
As the Apostle speaks in another passage,
in a tone of the most impassioned admiration,
and almost at a loss what words to
employ
in expressing the fullness of this
Theology,
in which are proposed, as objects of
discovery,
"the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge,
and the peace of God which passeth
all understanding."
(Ephes. iii. 18.) From these passages
it
most evidently appears, that the Object
of
Evangelical Theology must have been
revealed
by God and Christ, or it must otherwise
have
remained hidden and surrounded by perpetual
darkness; or, (which is the same thing,)
that Evangelical Theology would not
have
come within the range of our knowledge,
and,
on that account, as a necessary consequence,
there could have been none at all.
If it be an agreeable occupation to
any person,
(and such it must always prove,) to
look
more methodically and distinctly through
each part, let him cast the eyes of
his mind
on those properties of the Divine Nature
which this Theology displays, clothed
in
their own appropriate mode; let him
consider
those action of God which this doctrine
brings
to light, and that will of God which
he has
revealed in his gospel: When he has
done
this, (and of much more than this the
subject
is worthy,) he will more distinctly
understand
the necessity of the Divine manifestation.
If any one would adopt a compendious
method,
let him only contemplate Christ; and
when
he has diligently observed that admirable
union of the Word and Flesh, his investiture
into office and the manner in which
its duties
were executed; when he has at the same
time
reflected, that the whole of these
arrangements
and proceedings are in consequence
of the
voluntary economy, regulation, and
free dispensation
of God; he cannot avoid professing
openly,
that the knowledge of all these things
could
not have been obtained except by means
of
the revelation of God and Christ.
But lest any one should take occasion,
from
the remarks which we have now made,
to entertain
an unjust suspicion or error, as though
God
the Father alone, to the exclusion
of the
Son, were the Author of the legal doctrine,
and the Father through the Son were
the Author
of the Evangelical doctrine—a few observations
shall be added, that may serve to solve
this
difficulty, and further to illustrate
the
matter of our discourse. As God by
his Word,
(which is his own Son,) and by his
Spirit,
created all things, and man according
to
the image of himself, so it is likewise
certain,
that no intercourse can take place
between
him and man, without the agency of
the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. How is this
possible,
since the ad extra works of the Deity
are
indivisible, and when the order of
operation
ad extra is the same as the order of
procession
ad intra? We do not, therefore, by
any means
exclude the Son as the Word of the
Father,
and the Holy Ghost who is "the
Spirit
of Prophecy," from efficiency
in this
revelation.
But there is another consideration
in the
manifestation of the gospel, not indeed
with
respect to the persons testifying,
but in
regard to the manner in which they
come to
be considered. For the Father, the
Son, and
the Holy Spirit, have not only a natural
relation among themselves, but another
likewise
which derives its origin from the will;
yet
the latter entirely agrees with the
natural
relation that subsists among them.
There
is an internal procession in the persons;
and there is an external one, which
is called
in the scriptures and in the writings
of
the Father, by the name of "Mission"
or "sending." To the latter
mode
of procession, special regard must
be had
in this revelation. For the Father
manifests
the Gospel through his Son and Spirit.
(i.)
He manifests it through the Son, as
to his
being, sent for the purpose of performing
the office of Mediator between God
and sinful
men; as to his being the Word made
flesh,
and God manifest in the flesh; and
as to
his having died, and to his being raised
again to life, whether that was done
in reality,
or only in the decree and foreknowledge
of
God. (ii.) He also manifests it through
his
Spirit, as to his being the Spirit
of Christ,
whom he asked of his Father by his
passion
and his death, and whom he obtained
when
he was raised from the dead, and placed
at
the right hand of the Father.
I think you will understand the distinction
which I imagine to be here employed:
I will
afford you an opportunity to examine
and
prove it, by adducing the clearest
passages
of scripture to aid us in confirming
it.
(I.) "All things," said Christ,
"are delivered to me of my Father;
and
no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither
knoweth any man the Father, save the
Son."
(Matt. xi. 27.) They were delivered
by the
Father, to him as the Mediator, "in
whom it was his pleasure that all fullness
should dwell." (Col. i. 19. See
also
ii, 9.) In the same sense must be understood
what Christ says in John: "I have
given
unto them the words which thou gavest
me;"
for it is subjoined, "and they
have
known surely that I came out from thee,
and
they have believed that thou didst
send me."
(xvii, 8.) From hence it appears, that
the
Father had given those words to him
as the
Mediator: on which account he says,
in another
place, "He whom God hath sent,
speaketh
the words of God." (John iii.
34.) With
this the saying of the Baptist agrees,
"The
law was given by Moses, but grace and
truth
came by Jesus Christ." (John i.
17.)
But in reference to his being opposed
to
Moses, who accuses and condemns sinners,
Christ is considered as the Mediator
between
God and sinners. The following passage
tends
to the same point: "No man hath
seen
God at any time: the only begotten
Son which
is in the bosom of the Father,"
[that
is, "admitted," in his capacity
of Mediator, to the intimate and confidential
view and knowledge of his Father’s
secrets,]
"he hath declared him:" (John
i.
18.) "For the Father loveth the
Son,
and hath given all things into his
hand;"
(John iii. 35,) and among the things
thus
given, was the doctrine of the gospel,
which
he was to expound and declare to others,
by the command of God the Father. And
in
every revelation which has been made
to us
through Christ, that expression which
occurs
in the beginning of the Apocalypse
of St.
John holds good and is of the greatest
validity:
"The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which
God gave unto him, to shew unto his
servants."
God has therefore manifested Evangelical
Theology through his Son, in reference
to
his being sent forth by the Father,
to execute
among men, and in his name, the office
of
Mediator.
(ii.) Of the Holy Spirit the same scripture
testifies, that, as the Spirit of Christ
the Mediator, who is the head of his
church,
he has revealed the Gospel. "Christ,
by the Spirit," says Peter, "went
and preached to the spirits in prison."
(1 Pet. iii. 19.) And what did he preach?
Repentance. This therefore, was done
through
his Spirit, in his capacity of Mediator,
For, in this respect alone, the Spirit
of
God exhorts to repentance. This appears
more
clearly from the Same Apostle: "Of
which
salvation the prophets have inquired
and
searched diligently, who prophesied
of the
grace that should come unto you: searching
what, or what manner of time, the Spirit
of Christ which was in them did signify,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings
of Christ, and the glory that should
follow."
And this was the Spirit of Christ in
his
character of Mediator and head of the
Church,
which the very object of the testimony
foretold
by him sufficiently evinces. A succeeding
passage excludes all doubt; for the
gospel
is said in it, to be preached by the
Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven."
(1 Pet.
i. 12.) For he was sent down by Christ
when
he was elevated at the right hand of
God,
as it is mentioned in the second chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles; which
passage
also makes for our purpose, and on
that account
deserves to have its just meaning here
appreciated.
This is its phraseology, "Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted,
and
having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth
this,
which ye now see and hear." (Acts
ii.
33.) For it was by the Spirit that
the Apostles
prophesied and spoke in divers languages.
These passages might suffice; but I
cannot
omit that most noble sentence spoken
by Christ
to console the minds of his disciples,
who
were grieving on account of his departure,
"If I go not away the Comforter
[or
rather, ‘the Advocate, who shall, in
my place,
discharge the vicarious office,’ as
Tertullian
expresses himself;] If I go not away,
the
Comforter will not come unto you; but
if
I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when
he is come he will reprove the world,
&c.
(John xvi. 7, 8.) He shall glorify
me: For
he shall receive of mine, and shall
shew
it unto you." Christ, therefore,
as
Mediator, "will send him,"
and
he "will receive of that which
belongs
to Christ the Mediator. He shall glorify
Christ," as constituted by God
the Mediator
and the Head of the Church; and he
shall
glorify him with that glory, which,
according
to the seventeenth chapter of St. John’s
Gospel , Christ thought it necessary
to ask
of his Father. That passage brings
another
to my recollection, which may be called
its
parallel in merit: John says, "The
Holy
Ghost was not yet given; because that
Jesus
was not yet glorified." (vii,
39.) This
remark was not to be understood of
the person
of the Spirit, but of his gifts, and
especially
that of prophecy. But Christ was glorified
in quality of Mediator: and in that
glorified
capacity he sends the Holy Ghost; therefore,
the Holy Spirit was sent by Christ
as the
Mediator. On this account also, the
Spirit
of Christ the Mediator is the Author
of Evangelical
Prophecy. But the Holy Ghost was sent,
even
before the glorification of Christ,
to reveal
the Gospel. The existing state of the
Church
required it at that period, and the
Holy
Spirit was sent to meet that necessity.
"Christ
is likewise the same yesterday, today
and
forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) He was
also
"slain from the foundation of
the world;"
(Rev. xiii. 8,) and was, therefore,
at that
same time raised again and glorified;
but
this was all in the decree and fore-knowledge
of God. To make it evident, however,
that
God has never sent the Holy Spirit
to the
Church, except through the agency of
Christ
the Mediator, and in regard to him,
God deferred
that plentiful and exuberant effusion
of
his most copious gifts, until Christ,
after
his exaltation to heaven, should send
them
down in a communication of the greatest
abundance.
Thus he testified by a clear and evident
proof, that he had formerly poured
out the
gifts of the Spirit upon the Church,
by the
same person, as he by whom, (when through
his ascension the dense and overcharged
cloud
of water above the heavens had been
disparted,)
he poured down the most plentiful showers
of his graces, inundating and over
spreading
the whole body of the Church.
III. But the revelation of Evangelical
Theology
is attributed to Christ in regard to
his
Mediatorship, and to the Holy Ghost
in regard
to his being the appointed substitute
and
Advocate of Christ the Mediator. This
is
done most consistently and for a very
just
reason, both because Christ, as Mediator,
is placed for the ground-work of this
doctrine,
and because in the duty of mediation
those
actions were to be performed, those
sufferings
endured, and those blessings asked
and obtained,
which complete a goodly portion of
the matters
that are disclosed in the gospel of
Christ.
No wonder, therefore, that Christ in
this
respect, (in which he is himself the
object
of the gospel,) should likewise be
the revealer
of it, and the person who asks and
procures
all evangelical graces, and who is
at once
the Lord of them and the communicator.
And
since the Spirit of Christ, our Mediator
and our head, is the bond of our union
with
Christ, from which we also obtain communion
with Christ, and a participation in
all his
blessings—it is just and reasonable,
that,
in the respect which we have just mentioned,
Christ should reveal to our minds,
and seal
upon our hearts, the evangelical charter
and evidence of that faith by which
he dwelleth
in our hearts. The consideration of
this
matter exhibits to us (1.) the cause
why
it is possible for God to restrain
himself
with such great forbearance, patience,
and
long suffering, until the gospel is
obeyed
by those to whom it is preached; and
(2.)
it affords great consolation to our
ignorance
and infirmities.
I think, my hearers, you perceive that
this
single view adds no small degree of
dignity
to our Evangelical Theology, beside
that
which it possesses from the common
consideration
of its Author. If we may be allowed
further
to consider what wisdom, goodness and
power
God expended when he instituted and
revealed
this Theology, it will give great importance
to our proposition. Indeed, all kinds
of
sciences have their origin in the wisdom
of God, and are communicated to men
by his
goodness and power. But, if it be his
right,
(as it undoubtedly is,) to appoint
gradations
in the external exercise of his divine
properties,
we shall say, that all other sciences
except
this, have arisen from an inferior
wisdom
of God, and have been revealed by a
less
degree of goodness and power. It is
proper
to estimate this matter according to
the
excellence of its object. As the wisdom
of
God, by which he knows himself, is
greater
than that by which he knows other things;
so the wisdom employed by him in the
manifestation
of himself is greater than that employed
in the manifestation of other things.
The
goodness by which he permits himself
to be
known and acknowledged by man as his
Chief
Good, is greater than that by which
he imparts
the knowledge of other things. The
power
also, by which nature is raised to
the knowledge
of supernatural things, is greater
than that
by which it is brought to investigate
things
that are of the same species and origin
with
itself. Therefore, although all the
sciences
may boast of God as their author, yet
in
these particulars, Theology, soaring
above
the whole, leaves them at an immense
distance.
But as this consideration raises the
dignity
of Theology, on the whole far above
all other
sciences, so it likewise demonstrates
that
Evangelical far surpasses Legal Theology;
on which point we may be allowed, with
your
good leave, to dwell a little. The
wisdom,
goodness and power, by which God made
man,
after his own image, to consist of
a rational
soul and a body, are great, and constitute
the claims to precedence on the part
of Legal
Theology. But the wisdom, goodness
and power,
by which "the Word was made flesh,"
(John i. 14,) and God was manifest
in the
flesh," (1 Tim. iii. 16,) and
by which
he "who was in the form of God
took
upon himself the form of a servant,"
(Phil. ii. 7,) are still greater, and
they
are the claims by which Evangelical
Theology
asserts its right to precedence. The
wisdom
and goodness, by the operation of which
the
power of God has been revealed to salvation,
are great; but that by which is revealed
"the power of God to salvation
to every
one that believeth," (Rom. ii.
16,)
far exceeds it. Great indeed are the
wisdom
and goodness by which the righteousness
of
God by the law is made manifest,"
and
by which the justification of the law
was
ascribed of debt to perfect obedience;
but
they are infinitely surpassed by the
wisdom
and goodness through which the righteousness
of God by faith is manifested, and
through
which it is determined that the man
is justified
"that worketh not, but [being
a sinner,]
believeth on him who justifieth the
ungodly,"
according to the most glorious riches
of
his grace. Conspicuous and excellent
were
the wisdom and goodness which appointed
the
manner of union with God in legal righteousness,
performed out of conformity to the
image
of God, after which man was created.
But
a solemn and substantial triumph is
achieved
through faith in Christ’s blood by
the wisdom
and goodness, which, having devised
and executed
the wonderful method of qualifying
justice
and mercy, appoint the manner of union
in
Christ., and in his righteousness,
"who
is the brightness of his Father’s glory
and
the express image of his person."
(Heb.
i. 3.) Lastly, it is the wisdom, goodness
and power, which, out of the thickest
darkness
of ignorance brought forth the marvelous
light of the gospel; which, from an
infinite
multitude of sins, brought in everlasting
righteousness; and wh |
