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 which, from death
and
the depths of hell, "brought life
and
immortality to light." The wisdom,
goodness
and power which have produced these
effects,
exceed those in which the light that
is added
to light, the righteousness that is
rewarded
by a due recompense, and the animal
life
that is regulated according to godliness
by the command of the law, are each
of them
swallowed up and consummated in that
which
is spiritual and eternal.
A deeper consideration of this matter
almost
compels me to adopt a more confident
daring,
and to give to the wisdom, goodness
and power
of God, which are unfolded in Legal
Theology,
the title of Natural," and as
in some
sense the beginning of the going forth
of
God towards his image, which is man,
and
a commencement of Divine intercourse
with
him. The others, which are manifested
in
the gospel, I fearlessly call "Supernatural
wisdom, power and goodness," and
"the
extreme point and the perfect completion
of all revelation;" because in
the manifestation
of the latter, God appears to have
excelled
himself, and to have unfolded every
one of
his blessings. Admirable was the kindness
of God, and most stupendous his condescension
in admitting man to the most intimate
communion
with himself—a privilege full of grace
and
mercy, after his sins had rendered
him unworthy
of having the establishment of such
an intercourse.
But this was required by the unhappy
and
miserable condition of man, who through
his
greater unworthiness had become the
more
indigent, through his deeper blindness
required
illumination by a stronger light, through
his more grievous wickedness demanded
reformation
by means of a more extensive goodness,
and
who, the weaker he had become, needed
a stronger
exertion of power for his restoration
and
establishment. It is also a happy circumstance,
that no aberration of ours can be so
great,
as to prevent God from recalling us
into
the good way; no fall so deep, as to
disable
him from raising us up and causing
us to
stand erect; and no evil of ours can
be of
such magnitude, as to prove a difficult
conquest
to his goodness, provided it be his
pleasure
to put the whole of it in motion; and
this
he will actually do, provided we suffer
our
ignorance and infirmities to be corrected
by his light and power, and our wickedness
to be subdued by his goodness.
IV. We have seen that, (1.) God is
the Author
of Legal Theology; and God and his
Christ,
that of Evangelical Theology. We have
seen
at the same time (2.) in what respect
God
and Christ are to be viewed in making
known
this revelation, and (3.) according
to what
properties of the Divine Nature of
both of
them it has been perfected.
We will now just glance at the Manner.
The
manner of the Divine manifestation
appears
to be threefold, according , the three
instruments
or organs of our capacity. (1.) The
External
Senses, (2.) The Inward Fancy or Imagination,
and (3.) The Mind or Understanding.
God sometimes
reveals himself and his will by an
image
or representation offered to the external
sight, or through an audible speech
or discourse
addressed to the ear. Sometimes he
introduces
himself by the same method to the imagination;
and sometimes he addresses the mind
in a
manner ineffable, which is called Inspiration.
Of all these modes scripture most clearly
supplies us with luminous examples.
But time
will not permit me to be detained in
enumerating
them, lest I should appear to be yet
more
tedious to this most accomplished assembly.
THE END OF THEOLOGY
THE END OF THEOLOGY We have been engaged
in viewing the Author,: let us now
advert
to the End. This is the more eminent
and
divine according to the greater excellence
of that matter of which it is the end.
In
that light, therefore, this science
is far
more illustrious and transcendent than
all
others; because it alone has a relation
to
the life that is spiritual and supernatural,
and has an End beyond the boundaries
of the
present life: while all other sciences
have
respect to this animal life, and each
has
an End proposed to itself, extending
from
the center of this earthly life and
included
within its circumference. Of this science,
then, that may be truly said which
the poet
declared concerning his wise friend,
"For
those things alone he feels any relish,
the
rest like shadows fly." I repeat
it,
"they fly away," unless they
be
referred to this science, and firmly
fix
their foot upon it and be at rest.
But the
same person who is the Author and Object,
is also the End of Theology. The very
proportion
and analogy of these things make such
a connection
requisite. For since the Author is
the First
and the Chief Being, it is of necessity
that
he be the First and Chief Good. He
is, therefore,
the extreme End of all things. And
since
He, the Chief Being and the Chief Good,
subjects,
lowers and spreads himself out, as
an object
to some power or faculty of a rational
creature,
that by its action or motion it may
be employed
and occupied concerning him, nay, that
it
may in a sense be united with him;
it cannot
possibly be, that the creature, after
having
performed its part respecting that
object,
should fly beyond it and extend itself
further
for the sake of acquiring a greater
good.
It is, therefore, of necessity that
it restrain
itself within him, not only as within
a boundary
beyond which it is impossible for it
to pass
on account of the infinitude of the
object
and on account of its own importance,
but
also as within its End and its Good,
beyond
which, because they are both the Chief
in
degree, it neither wishes nor is capable
of desiring anything; provided this
object
be united with it as far as the capacity
of the creature will admit. God is,
therefore,
the End of our Theology, proposed by
God
himself, in the acts prescribed in
it; intended
by man in the performance of those
actions,
and to be bestowed by God, after man
shall
have piously and religiously performed
his
duty. But because the chief good was
not
placed in the promise of it, nor in
the desire
of obtaining it, but in actually receiving
it, the end of Theology may with the
utmost
propriety be called THE UNION OF GOD
WITH
MAN.
But it is not an Essential union, as
if two
essences, (for instance that of God
and man,)
were compacted together or joined into
one,
or as that by which man might himself
be
absorbed into God. The former of these
modes
of union is prohibited by the very
nature
of the things so united, and the latter
is
rejected by the nature of the union.
Neither
is it a formal union, as if God by
that union
might be made in the form of man, like
a
Spirit united to a body imparting to
it life
and motion, and acting upon it at pleasure,
although, by dwelling in the body,
it should
confer on man the gift of life eternal.
But
it is an objective union by which God,
through
the agency of his pre-eminent and most
faithful
faculties and actions, (all of which
he wholly
occupies and completely fills,) gives
such
convincing proofs of himself to man,
that
God may then be said to be "all
in all."
(1 Cor. xv. 21.) This union is immediate,
and without any bond that is different
to
the limits themselves. For God unites
himself
to the understanding and to the will
of his
creature, by means of himself alone,
and
without the intervention of image,
species
or appearance. This is what the nature
of
this last and supreme union requires,
as
being that in which consists the Chief
Good
of a rational creature, which cannot
find
rest except in the greatest union of
itself
with God. But by this union, the understanding
beholds in the clearest vision, and
as if
"face to face," God himself,
and
all his goodness and incomparable beauty.
And because a good of such magnitude
and
known by the clearest vision cannot
fail
of being loved on its own account;
from this
very consideration the will embraces
it with
a more intense love, in proportion
to the
greater degree of knowledge of it which
the
mind has obtained.
But here a double difficulty presents
itself,
which must first be removed, in order
that
our feet may afterwards without stumbling
run along a path that will then appear
smooth
and to have been for some time well
trodden.
(1.) The one is, "How can it be
that
the eye of the human understanding
does not
become dim and beclouded when an object
of
such transcendent light is presented
to it?"
(2.)
The other is, "How can the understanding,
although its eye may not be dim and
blinded,
receive and contain that object in
such great
measure and proportion?" The cause
of
the first is, that the light exhibits
itself
to the understanding not in the infinity
of its own nature, but in a form that
is
qualified and attempered. And to what
is
it thus accommodated? Is it not to
the understanding?
Undoubtedly, to the understanding;
but not
according to the capacity which it
possessed
before the union: otherwise it could
not
receive and contain as much as would
suffice
to fill it and make it happy. But it
is attempered
according to the measure of its extension
and enlargement, to admit of which
the understanding
is exquisitely formed, if it be enlightened
and irradiated by the gracious and
glorious
shining of the light accommodated to
that
expansion. If it be thus enlightened,
the
eye of the understanding will not be
overpowered
and become dim, and it will receive
that
object in such a vast proportion as
will
most abundantly suffice to make man
completely
happy. This is a solution for both
these
difficulties. But an extension of the
understanding
will be followed by an enlargement
of the
will, either from a proper and adequate
object
offered to it, and accommodated to
the same
rule; or, (which I prefer,) from the
native
agreement of the will and understanding,
and the analogy implanted in both of
them,
according to which the understanding
extends
itself to acts of volition, in the
very proportion
of its understanding and knowledge.
In this
act of the mind and will in seeing
a present
God, in loving him, and therefore in
the
enjoyment of him, the salvation of
man and
his perfect happiness consist. To which
is
added , conformation of our body itself
to
this glorious state of soul, which,
whether
it be effected by the immediate action
of
God on the body, or by means of an
agency
resulting from the action of the soul
on
the body, it is neither necessary for
us
here to inquire, nor at this time to
discover.
From hence also arises and shines forth
illustriously
the chief and infinite glory of God,
far
surpassing all other glory, that he
has displayed
in every preceding function which he
administered.
For since that action is truly great
and
glorious which is good, and since goodness
alone obtains the title of "greatness,"
according to that elegant saying, to
eu mega
then indeed the best action of God
is the
greatest and the most glorious. But
that
is the best action by which he unites
himself
immediately to the creature and affords
himself
to be seen, loved and enjoyed in such
an
abundant measure as agrees with the
creature
dilated and expanded to that degree
which
we have mentioned. This is, therefore,
the
most glorious of God’s actions. Wherefore
the end of Theology is the union ,
God with
man, to the salvation of the one and
the
glory of the other; and to the glory
which
he declares by his act, not that glory
which
man ascribes to God when he is united
to
him. Yet it cannot be otherwise, than
that
man should be incited to sing forever
the
high praises of God, when he beholds
and
enjoys such large and overpowering
goodness.
But the observations we have hitherto
made
on the End of Theology, were accommodated
to the manner of that which is legal.
We
must now consider the End as it is
proposed
to Evangelical Theology. The End of
this
is (1.) God and Christ, (2.) the union
of
man with both of them, and (3.) the
sight
and fruition of both, to the glory
of both
Christ and God. On each of these particulars
we have some remarks to make from the
scriptures,
and which most appropriately agree
with,
and are peculiar to, the Evangelical
doctrine.
But before we enter upon these remarks,
we
must shew that the salvation of man,
to the
glory of Christ himself, consists also
in
the love, the sight, and the fruition
of
Christ. There is a passage in the fifteenth
chapter of the first Epistle of the
Apostle
Paul to the Corinthians, which imposes
this
necessity upon us, because it appears
to
exclude Christ from this consideration.
For
in that place the apostle says, "When
Christ shall have delivered up the
kingdom
to God, even the Father, then the Son
also
himself shall be subject unto him,
that God
may be all in all." (1 Cor. xv.
24.)
From this passage three difficulties
are
raised, which must be removed by an
appropriate
explanation. They are these: (1.) "If
Christ ‘shall deliver up the kingdom
to God,
even the Father,’ he will no longer
reign
himself in person." (2.) "If
he
‘shall be subject to the Father,’ he
will
no more preside over his Church:"
and
(3.) "If ‘God shall be all in
all,’
then our salvation is not placed in
the union,
sight and fruition of him." I
will proceed
to give a separate answer to each of
these
objections. The kingdom of Christ embraces
two objects: The Mediatorial function
of
the regal office, and the Regal glory:
The
royal function, will be laid aside,
because
there will then be no necessity or
use for
it, but the royal glory will remain
because
it was obtained by the acts of the
Mediator,
and was conferred on him by the Father
according
to covenant. The same thing is declared
by
the expression "shall be subject,"
which here signifies nothing more than
the
laying aside of the super-eminent power
which
Christ had received from the Father,
and
which he had, as the Father’s Vicegerent,
administered at the pleasure of his
own will:
And yet, when he has laid down this
power,
he will remain, as we shall see, the
head
and the husband of his Church. That
sentence
has a similar tendency in which it
is said,
"God shall be ALL IN ALL."
For
it takes away even the intermediate
and deputed
administration of the creatures which
God
is accustomed to use in the communication
of his benefits; and it indicates that
God
will likewise immediately from himself
communicate
his own good, even himself to his creatures.
Therefore, on the authority of this
passage,
nothing is taken away from Christ which
we
have been wishful to attribute to him
in
this discourse according to the scriptures.
This we will now shew by some plain
and apposite
passages. Christ promises an union
with himself
in these words, "If a man love
me, he
will keep my words; and my Father will
love
him, and we will come unto him, and
make
our abode with him." (John xiv.
23.)
Here is a promise of good: therefore
the
good of the Church is likewise placed
in
union with Christ; and an abode is
promised,
not admitting of termination by the
bounds
of this life, but which will continue
for
ever, and shall at length, when this
short
life is ended, be consummated in heaven.
In reference to this, the Apostle says,
"I
desire to depart and to be with Christ;"
and Christ himself says, "I will
that
they also whom thou hast given me,
be with
me where I am." (John xvii. 24.)
John
says, that the end of his gospel is,
"that
our fellowship may be with the Father
and
the Son;" (1 John i.
3,) in which fellowship eternal life
must
necessarily consist, since in another
place
he explains the same end in these words,
"But these are written, that ye
might
believe that Jesus is the Christ: and
that,
believing, ye might have life through
his
name." (John xx. 31.) But from
the meaning
of the same Apostle, it appears, that
this
fellowship has an union antecedent
to itself.
These are his words, "If that
which
ye have heard from the beginning shall
remain
in you ye also shall continue in the
Son,
and in the Father." (1 John ii.
24.)
What! Shall the union between Christ
and
his Church cease at a period when he
shall
place before his glorious sight his
spouse
sanctified to himself by his own blood?
Far
be the idea from us! For the union,
which
had commenced here on earth, will then
at
length be consummated and perfected.
If any one entertain doubts concerning
the
vision of Christ, let him listen to
Christ
in this declaration: "He that
loveth
me shall be loved of my Father; and
I will
love him, and will manifest myself
to him."
(John xiv. 21.) Will he thus disclose
himself
in this world only? Let us again hear
Christ
when he intercedes with the Father
for the
faithful: "Father, I will that
they
also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me
where I am; that they may behold my
glory,
which thou hast given me: for thou
lovedst
me before the foundation of the world."
(John xvii. 34) Christ, therefore,
promises
to his followers the sight of his glory,
as something salutary to them; and
his Father
is intreated to grant this favour.
The same
truth is confirmed by John when he
says,
"Then we shall see him as he is."
(1 John iii. 2.) This passage may without
any impropriety be understood of Christ,
and yet not to the exclusion of God
the Father.
But what do we more distinctly desire
than
that Christ may become, what it is
said he
will be, "the light" that
shall
enlighten the celestial city, and in
whose
light "the nations shall walk?"
(Rev. xxi. 23, 24.)
Although the fruition of Christ is
sufficiently
established by the same passages as
those
by which the sight of him is confirmed,
yet
we will ratify it by two or three others.
Since eternal felicity is called by
the name
of "the supper of the lamb,"
and
is emphatically described by this term,
"the
marriage of the Lamb," I think
it is
taught with adequate clearness in these
expressions,
that happiness consists in the fruition
or
enjoyment of the Lamb. But the apostle,
in
his apocalypse, has ascribed both these
epithets
to Christ, by saying, "Let us
be glad
and rejoice, and give honour to him,
for
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and
his
wife hath made herself ready :"
(Rev.
xix. 7,) and a little afterwards, he
says,
"Blessed are they which are called
to
the marriage-supper of the Lamb."
(verse
9.) It remains for us to treat on the
glory
of Christ, which is inculcated in these
numerous
passages of Scripture in which it is
stated
that "he sits with the Father
on his
throne," and is adored and glorified
both by angels and by men in heaven.
Having finished the proof of those
expressions,
the truth of which we engaged to demonstrate,
we will now proceed to fulfill our
promise
of explanation, and to show that all
and
each of these benefits descend to us
in a
peculiar and more excellent manner,
from
Evangelical Theology, than they could
have
done from that which is Legal, if by
it we
could really have been made alive.
2. And, that we may, in the first place,
dispatch the subject of Union, let
the brief
remarks respecting marriage which we
have
just made, be brought again to our
remembrance.
For that word more appropriately honours
this union, and adorns it with a double
and
remarkable privilege; one part of which
consists
of a deeper combination, the other
of a more
glorious title. The Scripture speaks
thus
of the deeper combination; "And
the
two shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery:
but I speak concerning Christ and the
church!"
(Ephes. v. 31, 32.) It will therefore
be
a connubial tie that will unite Christ
with
the church. The espousals of the church
on
earth are contracted by the agency
of the
brides-men of Christ, who are the prophets,
the apostles, and their successors,
and particularly
the Holy Ghost, who is in this affair
a mediator
and arbitrator. The consummation will
then
follow, when Christ will introduce
his spouse
into his bride-chamber. From such an
union
as this, there arises, not only a communion
of blessings, but a previous communion
of
the persons themselves; from which
the possession
of blessings is likewise assigned,
by a more
glorious title, to her who is united
in the
bonds of marriage. The church comes
into
a participation not only of the blessings
of Christ, but also of his title. For,
being
the wife of the King, she enjoys it
as a
right due to her to be called QUEEN;
which
dignified appellation the scripture
does
not withhold from her. "Upon thy
right
hand stands the Queen in gold of Ophir:"
(Psalm xlv. 9.) "There are three-score
queens, and four-score concubines,
and virgins
without number. "My dove, my undefiled,
is but one; she is the only one of
her mother,
she is the choice one of her that bare
her.
The daughter saw her, and blessed her;
yea,
the queens and the concubines; and
they praised
her." (Song of Sol. vi. 8,
9.) The church could not have been
eligible
to the high honour of such an union,
unless
Christ has been made her beloved, her
brother,
sucking the breasts of the same mother."
(Cant. 8.) But there would have been
no necessity
for this union, "if righteousness
and
salvation had come to us by the law."
That was, therefore, a happy necessity,
which,
out of compassion to the emergency
of our
wretched condition, the divine condescension
improved to our benefit, and filled
with
such a plenitude of dignity! But the
manner
of this our union with Christ is no
small
addition to that union which is about
to
take place between us and God the Father.
This will be evident to any one who
considers
what and how great is the bond of mutual
union between Christ and the Father.
3. If we turn our attention to sight
or vision,
we shall meet with two remarkable characters
which are peculiar to Evangelical Theology.
(1.) In the first place, the glory
of God,
as if accumulated and concentrated
together
into one body, will be presented to
our view
in Christ Jesus; which glory would
otherwise
have been dispersed throughout the
most spacious
courts of a "heaven immense;"
much
in the same manner as the light, which
had
been created on the first day, and
equally
spread through the whole hemisphere,
was
on the fourth day collected, united
and compacted
together into one body, and offered
to the
eyes as a most conspicuous and shining
object.
In reference to this, it is said in
the Apocalypse,
that the heavenly Jerusalem "had
no
need of the sun, neither of the moon;
for
the glory of God did lighten it, and
the
Lamb will be the future light thereof,"
(Rev. xxi. 23,) as a vehicle by which
this
most delightful glory may diffuse itself
into immensity.
(2.) We shall then not only contemplate,
in God himself, the most excellent
properties
of his nature, but shall also perceive
that
all of them have been employed in and
devoted
to the procuring of this good for us,
which
we now possess in hope, but which we
shall
in reality then possess by means of
this
union and open vision.
The excellence, therefore, of this
vision
far exceeds that which could have been
by
the law; and from this source arises
a fruition
of greater abundance and more delicious
sweetness.
For, as the light in the sun is brighter
than that in the stars, so is the sight
of
the sun, when the human eye is capable
of
bearing it, more grateful and acceptable,
and the enjoyment of it is far more
pleasant.
From such a view of the Divine attributes,
the most delicious sweetness of fruition
will seem to be doubled. For the first
delight
will arise from the contemplation of
properties
so excellent; the other from the consideration
of that immeasurable condescension
by which
it has pleased God to unfold all those
his
properties, and the whole of those
blessings
which he possesses in the exhaustless
and
immeasurable treasury of his riches,
and
to give this explanation, that he may
procure
salvation for man and may impart it
to his
most miserable creature. This will
then be
seen in as strong a light, as if the
whole
of that which is essentially God appeared
to exist for the sake of man alone,
and for
his solo benefit. There is also the
addition
of this peculiarity concerning it:
"Jesus
Christ shall change our vile body,
[the body
of our humiliation,] that it may be
fashioned
like unto his glorious body: (Phil.
iii.
21,) and as we have borne the image
of the
earthy [Adam], we shall also bear the
image
of the heavenly." (1 Cor. xv.
49.) Hence
it is, that all things are said to
be made
new in Christ Jesus; (2 Cor. v. 17,)
and
we are described in the scriptures
as "looking,
according to his promise, for new heavens
and a new earth, (2 Pet. iii. 13,)
and a
new name written on a white stone,
(Rev.
ii. 17,) the new name of my God, and
the
name of the city of my God, which is
the
new Jerusalem, (Rev. iii. 12.) and
they shall
sing a new song to God and his Christ
forever."
(Rev. v. 9.)
Who does not now see, how greatly the
felicity
prepared for us by Christ, and offered
to
us through Evangelical Theology excels
that
which would have come to us by "the
righteousness of the law," if
indeed
it had been possible for us to fulfill
it?
We should in that case have been similar
to the elect angels; but now we shall
be
their superiors, if I be permitted
to make
such a declaration, to the praise of
Christ
and our God, in this celebrated Hall,
and
before an assembly among whom we have
some
of those most blessed spirits themselves
as spectators. They now enjoy union
with
God and Christ, and will probably be
more
closely united to both of them at the
time
of the "restitution of all things."
But there will be nothing between the
two
parties similar to that Conjugal Bond
which
unites us, and in which we may be permitted
to glory.
They will behold God himself "face
to
face," and will contemplate the
most
eminent properties of his nature; but
they
will see some among those properties
devoted
to the purpose of man’s salvation,
which
God has not unfolded for their benefit,
because
that was not necessary; and which he
would
not have unfolded, even if it had been
necessary.
These things they will see, but they
will
not be moved by envy; it will rather
be a
subject of admiration and wonder to
them,
that God, the Creator of both orders,
conferred
on man, (who was inferior to them in
nature,)
that dignity which he had of old denied
to
the spirits that partook with themselves
of the same nature. They will behold
Christ,
that most brilliant and shining light
of
the city of the living God, of which
they
also are inhabitants: and, from this
very
circumstance their happiness will be
rendered
more illustrious through Christ. Christ
"took
not on him the nature of angels, but
the
seed of Abraham;" (Heb. ii, 16,)
to
whom also, in that assumed nature,
they will
present adoration and honour, at the
command
of God, when he introduces his First
begotten
into the world to come. Of that future
world,
and of its blessings, they also will
be partakers:
but "it is not put in subjection
to
them," (Heb. ii. 5,) but to Christ
and
his Brethren, who are partakers of
the same
nature, and are sanctified by himself.
A
malignant spirit, yet of the same order
as
the angels, had hurled against God
the crimes
of falsehood and envy. But we see how
signally
God in Christ and in the salvation
procured
by him, has repelled both these accusations
from himself. The falsehood intimated
an
unwillingness on the part of God that
man
should be reconciled to him, except
by the
intervention of the death of his Son.
His
envy was excited, because God had raised
man, not only to the angelical happiness,
(to which even that impure one would
have
attained had "he kept his first
estate,)
but to a state of blessedness far superior
to that of angels.
That I may not be yet more prolix,
I leave
it as a subject of reflection to the
devoted
piety of your private meditations,
most accomplished
auditors, to estimate the vast and
amazing
greatness of the glory of God which
has here
manifested itself, and to calculate
the glory
due from us to him for such transcendent
goodness.
In the mean time, let all of us, however
great our number, consider with a devout
and attentive mind, what duty is required
of us by this doctrine, which having
received
its manifestation from God and Christ,
plainly
and fully announces to us such a great
salvation,
and to the participation of which we
are
most graciously invited. It requires
to be
received, understood, believed, and
fulfilled,
in deed and in reality. It is worthy
of all
acceptation, on account of its Author;
and
necessary to be received on account
of its
End.
1. Being delivered by so great an Author,
it is worthy to be received with a
humble
and submissive mind; to have much diligence
and care bestowed on a knowledge and
perception
of it; and not to be laid aside from
the
hand, the mind, or the heart, until
we shall
have "obtained the End of it—THE
SALVATION
OF OUR SOULS." Why should this
be done?
Shall the Holy God open his mouth,
and our
ears remain stopped? Shall our Heavenly
Master
be willing to communicate instruction,
and
we refuse to learn? Shall he desire
to inspire
our hearts with the knowledge of his
Divine
truth, and we, by closing the entrance
to
our hearts, exclude the most evident
and
mild breathings of his Spirit? Does
Christ,
who is the Father’s Wisdom, announce
to us
that gospel which he has brought from
the
bosom of the Father, and shall we disdain
to hide it in the inmost recesses of
our
heart? And shall we act thus, especially
when we have received this binding
command
of the Father, which says, "Hear
ye
him!" (Matt. xvii. 5,) to which
he has
added a threat, that "if we hear
him
not, our souls shall be destroyed from
among
the people; (Acts iii. 23,) that is,
from
the commonwealth of Israel? Let none
of us
fall into the commission of such a
heinous
offense! "For if the word spoken
by
angels was steadfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompense
of reward; how shall we escape if we
neglect
so great salvation, which at the first
began
to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard him ,"
(Heb. ii. 2, 3.)
2. To all the preceding considerations,
let
the End of this doctrine be added,
and it
will be of the greatest utility in
enforcing
this the work of persuasion on minds
that
are not prodigal of their own proper
and
Chief Good—an employment in which its
potency
and excellence are most apparent. Let
us
reflect, for what cause God has brought
us
out of darkness into this marvelous
light;
has furnished us with a mind, understanding,
and reason; and has adorned us with
his image.
Let this question be revolved in our
minds,
"For what purpose or End has God
restored
the fallen to their pristine state
of integrity,
reconciled sinners to himself, and
received
enemies into favour," and we shall
plainly
discover all this to have been done,
that
we might be made partakers of eternal
salvation,
and might sing praises to him forever.
But
we shall not be able to aspire after
this
End, much less to attain it, except
in the
way which is pointed out by that Theological
Doctrine which has been the topic of
our
discourse. If we wander from this End,
our
wanderings from it extend, not only
beyond
the whole earth and sea, but beyond
heaven
itself—that city of which nevertheless
it
is essentially necessary for us to
be made
free men, and to have our names enrolled
among the living. This doctrine is
"the
gate of heaven," and the door
of paradise;
the ladder of Jacob, by which Christ
descends
to us, and we shall in turn ascend
to him;
and the golden chain, which connects
heaven
with earth. Let us enter into this
gate;
let us ascend this ladder; and let
us cling
to this chain. Ample and wide is the
opening
of the gate, and it will easily admit
believers;
the position of the ladder is movable,
and
will not suffer those who ascend it
to be
shaken or moved; the joining which
unites
one link of the chain with another
is indissoluble,
and will not permit those to fall down
who
cling to it, until we come to "him
that
liveth forever and ever," and
are raised
to the throne of the Most High; till
we be
united to the living God, and Jesus
Christ
our Lord, "the Son of the Highest."
But on you, O chosen youths, this care
is
a duty peculiarly incumbent; for God
has
destined you to become "workers
together
with him," in the manifestation
of the
gospel, and instruments to administer
to
the salvation of others. Let the Majesty
of the Holy Author of your studies,
and the
necessity of the End, be always placed
before
your eyes.
(1.) On attentively viewing the Author,
let
the words of the Prophet Amos recur
to your
remembrance and rest on your mind:
"The
lion hath roared, who will not fear?
The
Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?"
(Amos ii. 8.) But you cannot prophesy,
unless
you be instructed by the Spirit of
Prophesy.
In our days he addresses no one in
that manner,
except in the Scriptures; he inspires
no
one, except by means of the Scriptures,
which
are divinely inspired. (2.) In contemplating
the End, you will discover, that it
is not
possible to confer on any one, in his
intercourse
with mankind, an office of greater
dignity
and utility, or an office that is more
salutary
in its consequences, than this, by
which
he may conduct them from error into
the way
of truth, from wickedness to righteousness,
from the deepest misery to the highest
felicity;
and by which he may contribute much
towards
their everlasting salvation. But this
truth
is taught by Theology alone; there
is nothing
except this heavenly science that prescribes
the true righteousness; and by it alone
is
this felicity disclosed, and our salvation
made known and revealed. Let the sacred
Scriptures
therefore be your models:
"Night and day read them, read
them
day and night. Colman.
If you thus peruse them, "they
will
make you that you shall not be barren
nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus
Christ; (2 Pet. i. 8,) but you will
become
good ministers of Jesus Christ, nourished
up in the words of faith and of good
doctrine;
(1 Tim. iv. 6,) and ready to every
good work;
(Tit. iii. 1,) workmen who need not
to be
ashamed;" (2 Tim. ii. 15,) sowing
the
gospel with diligence and patience;
and returning
to your Lord with rejoicing, bringing
with
you an ample harvest, through the blessing
of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ:
to whom be praise and glory from this
time,
even forever more! Amen !
ORATION III
ORATION III THE CERTAINTY OF SACRED
THEOLOGY
Although the observations which I have
already
offered in explanation of the Object,
the
Author and the End of sacred Theology,
and
other remarks which might have been
made,
if they had fallen into the hands of
a competent
interpreter, although all of them contain
admirable commendations of this Theology,
and convince us that it is altogether
divine,
since it is occupied concerning God,
is derived
from God, and leads to God; yet they
will
not be able to excite within the mind
of
any person a sincere desire of entering
upon
such a study, unless he be at the same
time
encouraged by the bright rays of an
assured
hope of arriving at a knowledge of
the desirable
Object, and of obtaining the blessed
End.
For since the perfection of motion
is rest,
vain and useless will that motion be
which
is not able to attain rest, the limit
of
its perfection. But no prudent person
will
desire to subject himself to vain and
useless
labour. All our hope, then, of attaining
to this knowledge is placed in Divine
revelation.
For the anticipation of this very just
conception
has engaged the minds of men, "that
God cannot be known except through
himself,
to whom also there can be no approach
but
through himself." On this account
it
becomes necessary to make it evident
to man,
that a revelation has been made by
God; that
the revelation which has been given
is fortified
and defended by such sure and approved
arguments,
as will cause it to be considered and
acknowledged
as divine; and that there is a method,
by
which a man may understand the meanings
declared
in the word, and may apprehend them
by a
firm and assured faith. To the elucidation
of the last proposition, this third
part
of our labour must be devoted. God
grant
that I may in this discourse again
follow
the guidance of his word as it is revealed
in the scriptures, and may bring forth
and
offer to your notice such things as
may contribute
to establish our faith, and to promote
the
glory of God, to the uniting together
of
all of us in the Lord. I pray and beseech
you also, my very famous and most accomplished
hearers, not to disdain to favour me
with
a benevolent and patient hearing, while
I
deliver this feeble oration in your
presence.
As we are now entering upon a consideration
of the Certainty of Sacred Theology,
it is
not necessary that we should contemplate
it under the aspect of Legal and Evangelical;
for in both of them there is the same
measure
of the truth, and therefore, the same
measure
of knowledge, and that is certainty.
We will
treat on this subject, then, in a general
manner, without any particular reference
or application.
But that our oration may proceed in
an orderly
course, it will be requisite in the
first
place briefly to describe Certainty
in general;
and then to treat at greater length
on the
Certainty Of Theology.
I. Certainty, then, is a property of
the
mind or understanding, and a mode of
knowledge
according to which the mind knows an
object
as it is, and is certain that it knows
that
object as it is. It is distinct from
Opinion;
because it is possible for opinion
to know
a matter as it is, but its knowledge
is accompanied
by a suspicion of the opposite falsity.
Two
things, therefore, are required, to
constitute
certainty. (1.) The truth of the thing
itself,
and (2.) such an apprehension of it
in our
minds as we have just described. This
very
apprehension, considered as being formed
from the truth of the thing itself,
and fashioned
according to such truth, is also called
Truth
on account of the similitude; even
as the
thing itself is certain, on account
of the
action of the mind which apprehends
it in
that manner. Thus do those two things,
(certainty
and truth,) because of their admirable
union,
make a mutual transfer of their names,
the
one to the other.
But truth may in reality be viewed
in two
aspects—one simple, and the other compound.
(1.) The former, in relation to a thing
as
being in the number of entities; (2.)
the
latter, in reference to something inherng
in a thing, being present with it or
one
of its circumstantials—or in reference
to
a thing as producing something else,
or as
being
produced by some other—and if there
be any
other affections and relations of things
among themselves. The process of truth
in
the mind is after the same manner.
Its action
is of two kinds. (1.) On a simple being
or
entity which is called "a simple
apprehension;"
and (2.) on a complex being, which
is termed
composition." The mode of truth
is likewise,
in reality, two-fold—necessary and
contingent;
according to which, a thing, whether
it be
simple or complex, is called "necessary"
or "contingent." The necessity
of a simple thing is the necessary
existence
of the thing itself, whether it obtain
the
place of a subject or that of an attribute.
The necessity of a complex thing is
the unavoidable
and essential disposition and habitude
that
subsists between the subject and the
attribute.
That necessity which, as we have just
stated,
is to be considered in simple things,
exists
in nothing except in God and in those
things
which, although they agree with him
in their
nature, are yet distinguished from
him by
our mode of considering them. All other
things,
whatever may be their qualities, are
contingent,
from the circumstance of their being
brought
into action by power; neither are they
contingent
only by reason of their beginning,
but also
of their continued duration. Thus the
existence
of God, is a matter of necessity; his
life,
wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, will
and
power, likewise have a necessary existence.
But the existence and preservation
of the
creatures are not of necessity. Thus
also
creation, preservation, government,
and whatever
other acts are attributed to God in
respect
of his creatures, are not of necessity.
The
foundation of necessity is the nature
of
God; the principle of contingency is
the
free will of the Deity. The more durable
it has pleased God to create anything,
the
nearer is its approach to necessity,
and
the farther it recedes from contingency;
although it never pass beyond the boundaries
of contingency, and never reach the
inaccessible
abode of necessity.
Complex necessity exists not only in
God,
but also in the things of his creation.
It
exists in God, partly on account of
the foundation
of his nature, and partly on account
of the
principle of his free-will. But its
existence
in the creatures is only from the free
will
of God, who at once resolved that this
should
be the relation and habitude between
two
created objects. Thus "God lives,
understands,
and loves," is a necessary truth
from
his very nature as God. "God is
the
Creator," "Jesus Christ is
the
saviour," "An angel is a
created
spirit endowed with intelligence and
will,"
and "A man is a rational creature,"
are all necessary truths from the free
will
of God.
From this statement it appears, that
degrees
may be constituted in the necessity
of a
complex truth; that the highest may
be attributed
to that truth which rests upon the
nature
of God as its foundation; that the
rest,
which proceed from the will of God,
may be
excelled by that which (by means of
a greater
affection of his will,) God has willed
to
invest with such right of precedence;
and
that it may be followed by that which
God
has willed by a less affection of his
will.
The motion of the sun is necessary
from the
very nature of that luminary; but it
is more
necessary that the children of Israel
be
preserved and avenged on their enemies;
the
sun is therefore commanded to stand
still
in the midst of the heavens. (Josh.
x. 13.)
It is necessary that the sun be borne
along
from the east to the west, by the diurnal
motion of the heavens. But it is more
necessary
that Hezekiah receive, by a sure sign,
a
confirmation of the prolongation of
his life;
the sun, therefore, when commanded,
returns
ten degrees backward; (Isa. xxxviii.
8,)
and thus it is proper, that the less
necessity
should yield to the greater, and that
from
the free will of God, which has imposed
a
law on both of them. As this kind of
necessity
actually exists in things, the mind,
by observing
the same gradations, apprehends and
knows
it, if such a mode of cognition can
truly
deserve the name of "knowledge."
But the causes of this Certainty are
three.
For it is produced on the mind, either
by
the senses, by reasoning and discourse,
or
by revelation. The first is called
the certainty
of experience; the second, that of
knowledge;
and the last, that of faith. The first
is
the certainty of particular objects
which
come within the range and under the
observation
of the senses; the second is that of
general
conclusions deduced from known principles;
and the last is that of things remote
from
the cognizance both of the senses and
reason.
II. Let these observations now be applied
to our present purpose. The Object
of our
Theology is God, and Christ in reference
to his being God and Man. God is a
true Being,
and the only necessary one, on account
of
the necessity of his and he is also
a necessary
Being, because he will endure to all
eternity.
The things which are attributed to
God in
our Theology: partly belong to his
nature,
and partly agree with it by his own
free
will. By his nature, life, wisdom,
goodness,
justice, mercy, will and power belong
to
him, by a natural and absolute necessity.
By his free will, all his volitions
and actions
concerning the creatures agree with
his nature,
and that immutably; because he willed
at
the same time, that they should not
be retracted
or repealed. All those things which
are attributed
to Christ, belong to him by the free
will
of God, but on this condition, that
"Christ
be the same yesterday, and to-day,
and forever,"
(Heb. xiii. 8,) entirely exempt from
any
future change, whether it be that of
a subject
or its attributes, or of the affection
which
exists between the two. All other things,
which are found in the whole superior
and
inferior nature of things, (whether
they
be considered simply in themselves,
or as
they are mutually affected among themselves,)
do not extend to any degree of this
necessity.
The truth and necessity of our Theology,
therefore, far exceed the necessity
of all
other sciences, in as much as both
these
[the truth and necessity,] are situated
in
the things themselves. The certainty
of the
mind, while it is engaged in the act
of apprehending
and knowing things, cannot exceed the
Truth
and Necessity of the thing’s themselves;
on the contrary, it very often may
not reach
them, [the truth and necessity,] through
some defect in its capacity. For the
eyes
of our mind are in the same condition
with
respect to the pure truth of things,
as are
the eyes of owls with respect to the
light
of the sun. On this account, therefore,
it
is of necessity, that the object of
no science
can be known with greater certainty
than
that of Theology; but it follows rather,
that a knowledge of this object may
be obtained
with the greatest degree of certainty,
if
it be presented in a qualified and
proper
manner to the inspection of the understanding
according to its capacity. For this
object
is not of such a nature and condition
as
to be presented to the external senses;
nor
can its attributes, properties, affections,
actions and passions be known by means
of
the observation and experience of the
external
senses. It is too sublime for them;
and the
attributes, properties, affections,
actions
and passions, which agree with it,
are so
high that the mind, even when assisted
by
reason and discourse, can neither know
it,
investigate its attributes, nor demonstrate
that they agree with the subject, whatever
the principles may be which it has
applied,
and to whatever causes it may have
had recourse,
whether they be such as arise from
the object
itself, from its attributes, or from
the
agreement which subsists between them.
The
Object is known to itself alone; and
the
whole truth and necessity are properly
and
immediately known to Him to whom they
belong;
to God in the first place and in an
adequate
degree; to Christ, in the second place,
through
the communication of God. To itself,
in an
adequate manner, in reference to the
knowledge
which it has of itself; in an inferior
degree
to God, in reference to his knowledge
of
him, [Christ.] Revelation is therefore
necessary
by which God may exhibit himself and
his
Christ as an object of sight and knowledge
to our understanding; and this exhibition
to be made in such a manner as to unfold
at once all their attributes, properties,
affections, actions and passions, as
far
as it is permitted for them to be known,
concerning God and his Christ, to our
salvation
and to their glory; and that God may
thus
disclose all and every portion of those
theorems
in which both the subjects themselves
and
all their attending attributes are
comprehended.
Revelation is necessary, if it be true
that
God and his Christ ought to be known,
and
both of them be worthy to receive Divine
honours and worship. But both of them
ought
to be known and worshipped; the revelation,
therefore, of both of them is necessary;
and because it is thus necessary, it
has
been made by God. For if nature, as
a partaker
and communicator of a good that is
only partial,
is not deficient in the things that
are necessary;
how much less ought we even to suspect
such
a deficiency in God, the Author and
Artificer
of nature, who is also the Chief Good?
But to inspect this subject a little
more
deeply and particularly, will amply
repay
our trouble; for it is similar to the
foundation
on which must rest the weight of the
structure—the
other doctrines which follow. For unless
it should appear certain and evident,
that
a revelation has been made, it will
be in
vain to inquire and dispute about the
word
in which that revelation has been made
and
is contained. In the first place, then,
the
very nature of God most clearly evinces
that
a revelation has been made of himself
and
Christ. His nature is good, beneficent,
and
communicative of his blessedness, whether
it be that which proceeds from it by
creation,
or that which is God himself. But there
is
no communication made of Divine good,
unless
God be made known to the understanding,
and
be desired by the affections and the
will.
But he cannot become an object of knowledge
except by revelation. A revelation,
therefore,
is made, as a necessary instrument
of communication.
2. The necessity of this revelation
may in
various ways be inferred and taught
from
the nature and condition of man. First.
By
nature, man possesses a mind and understanding.
But it is just that the mind and understanding
should be turned towards their Creator;
this,
however, cannot be done without a knowledge
of the Creator, and such knowledge
cannot
be obtained except by revelation; a
revelation
has, therefore, been made. Secondly.
God
himself formed the nature of man capable
of Divine Good. But in vain would it
have
had such a capacity, if it might not
at some
time partake of this Divine Good; but
of
this the nature of man cannot be made
a partaker
except by the knowledge of it; the
knowledge
of this Divine Good has therefore been
manifested.
Thirdly. It is not possible, that the
desire
which God has implanted within man
should
be vain and fruitless. That desire
is for
the enjoyment of an Infinite Good,
which
is God; but that Infinite Good cannot
be
enjoyed, except it be known; a revelation,
therefore, has been made, by which
it may
be known.
3. Let that relation be brought forward
which
subsists between God and man, and the
revelation
that has been made will immediately
become
manifest. God, the Creator of man,
has deserved
it as his due, to receive worship and
honour
from the workmanship of his hands,
on account
of the benefit which he conferred by
the
act of creation. Religion and piety
are due
to God, from man his creature; and
this obligation
is coeval with the very birth of man,
as
the bond which contains this requisition
was given on the very day in which
he was
created. But religion could not be
a human
invention. For it is the will of God
to receive
worship according to the rule and appointment
of his own will. A revelation was therefore
made, which exacts from man the religion
due to God, and prescribes that worship
which
is in accordance with his pleasure
and his
honour.
4. If we turn our attention towards
Christ,
it is amazing how great the necessity
of
a manifestation appears, and how many
arguments
immediately present themselves in behalf
of a revelation being communicated.
Wisdom
wishes to be acknowledged as the deviser
of the wonderful attempering and qualifying
of justice and mercy. Goodness and
gracious
mercy, as the administrators of such
an immense
benefit sought to be worshipped and
honoured.
And power, as the hand-maid of such
stupendous
wisdom and goodness, and as the executrix
of the decree made by both of them,
deserved
to receive adoration. But the different
acts
of service which were due to each of
them,
could not be rendered to them without
revelation.
The wisdom, mercy and power of God,
have,
therefore, been revealed and displayed
most
copiously in Christ Jesus. He performed
a
multitude of most wonderful works,
by which
we might obtain the salvation that
we had
lost; he endured most horrid torments
and
inexpressible distress, which, when
pleaded
in our favour, served to obtain this
salvation
for us; and by the gift of the Father
he
was possessed of an abundance of graces,
and, at the Divine command, he became
the
distributor of them. Having, therefore,
sustained
all these offices for us, it is his
pleasure
to receive those acknowledgments, and
those
acts of Divine honour and worship,
which
are due to him on account of his extraordinary
merits. But in vain will he expect
the performance
of these acts from man, unless he be
himself
revealed. A revelation of Christ has,
therefore,
been made. Consult actual experience,
and
that will supply you with numberless
instances
of this manifestation. The devil himself,
who is the rival of Christ, has imitated
these instances of gracious manifestation,
has held converse with men under the
name
and semblance of the true God, has
demanded
acts of devotion from them, and prescribed
to them a mode of religious worship.
We have,
therefore, the truth and the necessity
of
our Theology agreeing together in the
highest
degree; we have an adequate notion
of it
in the mind of God and Christ, according
to the word which is called emfutov
"engrafted."
(James i. 21.) We have a revelation
of this
Theology made to men by the word preached;
which revelation agrees both with the
things
themselves and with the notion which
we have
mentioned, but in a way that is attempered
and suited to the human capacity. And
as
all these are preliminaries to the
certainty
which we entertain concerning this
Theology,
it was necessary to notice them in
these
introductory remarks.
Let us now consider this Certainty
itself.
But since a revelation has been made
in the
word which has been published, and
since
the whole of it is contained in that
word,
(so that This Word is itself our Theology,)
we can determine nothing concerning
the certainty
of Theology in any other way than by
offering
some explanation concerning our certain
apprehension
of that word. We will assume it as
a fact
which is allowed and confirmed, that
this
word is to be found in no other place
than
in the sacred books of the Old and
New Testament;
and we shall on this account confine
this
certain apprehension of our mind to
that
word. But in fulfilling this design,
three
things demand our attentive consideration:
First. The Certainty, and the kind
of certainty
which God requires from us, and by
which
it is his pleasure that this word should
be received and apprehended by us as
the
Chief Certainty. Secondly. The reasons
and
arguments by which the truth of that
word,
which is its divinity, may be proved.
Thirdly.
How a persuasion of that divinity may
be
wrought in our minds, and this Certainty
may be impressed on our hearts.
I. The Certainty "with which God
wishes
this word to be received, is that of
faith;
and it therefore depends on the veracity
of him who utters it." By this
Certainty
"it is received," not only
as true,
but as divine; and it is not of that
involved
and mixed kind "of faith"
by which
any one, without understanding the
meanings
expressed by the word as by a sign,
believes
that those books which are contained
in the
Bible, are divine: for not only is
a doubtful
opinion opposed to faith, but an obscure
and perplexed conception is equally
inimical.
Neither is it that species "of
historical
faith" which believes the word
to be
divine that it comprehends only by
a theoretical
understanding. But God demands that
faith
to be given to his word, by which the
meanings
expressed in this word may be understood,
as far as it is necessary for the salvation
of men and the glory of God; and may
be so
assuredly known to be divine, that
they may
be believed to embrace not only the
Chief
Truth, but also the Chief Good of man.
This
faith not only believes that God and
Christ
exist, it not only gives credence to
them
when they make declarations of any
kind,
but it believes in God and Christ when
they
affirm such things concerning themselves,
as, being apprehended by faith, create
a
belief in God as our Father, and in
Christ
as our saviour. This we consider to
be the
office of an understanding that is
not merely
theoretical, but of one that is practical.
For this cause not only is asfaleia
(certainty,)
attributed in the Scriptures to true
and
living faith, but to it are likewise
ascribed
both wlhroforia (a full assurance,
Heb. vi.
2,) and wewoiqhsiv (trust or confidence,
2 Cor. iii. 4,) and it is God who requires
and demands such a species of certainty
and
of faith.
II. We may now be permitted to proceed
by
degrees from this point, to a consideration
of those arguments which prove to us
the
divinity of the word; and to the manner
in
which the required certainty and faith
are
produced in our minds. To constitute
natural
vision we know that, (beside an object
capable
of being seen,) not only is an external
light
necessary to shine upon it and to render
it visible, but an internal strength
of eye
is also required, which may receive
within
itself the form and appearance of the
object
which has been illuminated by the external
light, and may thus be enabled actually
to
behold it. The same accompaniments
are necessary
to constitute spiritual vision; for,
beside
this external light of arguments and
reasoning,
an internal light of the mind and soul
is
necessary to perfect this vision of
faith.
But infinite is the number of arguments
on
which this world builds and establishes
its
divinity. We will select and briefly
notice
a few of those which are more usual,
lest
by too great a prolixity we become
too troublesome
and disagreeable to our auditory.
1. THE DIVINITY OF SCRIPTURE
1. THE DIVINITY OF SCRIPTURE Let scripture
itself come forward, and perform the
chief
part in asserting its own Divinity.
Let us
inspect its substance and its matter.
It
is all concerning God and his Christ,
and
is occupied in declaring the nature
of both
of them, in further explaining the
love,
the benevolence, and the benefits which
have
been conferred by both of them on the
human
race, or which have yet to be conferred;
and prescribing, in return, the duties
of
men towards their Divine Benefactors.
The
scripture, therefore, is divine in
its object.
(2.) But how is it occupied in treating
on
these subjects? It explains the nature
of
God in such a way as to attribute nothing
extraneous to it, and nothing that
does not
perfectly agree with it. It describes
the
person of Christ in such a manner,
that the
human mind, on beholding the description,
ought to acknowledge, that "such
a person
could not have been invented or devised
by
any created intellect," and that
it
is described with such aptitude, suitableness
and sublimnity, as far to exceed the
largest
capacity of a created understanding.
In the
same manner the scripture is employed
in
relating the love of God and Christ
towards
us, and in giving an account of the
benefits
which we receive. Thus the Apostle
Paul,
when he wrote to the Ephesians on these
subjects,
says, that from his former writings,
the
extent of "his knowledge of the
mystery
of Christ" might be manifest to
them;
(Ephes. iii. 4.) that is, it was divine,
and derived solely from the revelation
of
God. Let us contemplate the law in
which
is comprehended the duty of men towards
God.
What shall we find, in all the laws
of every
nation, that is at all similar to this,
or
(omitting all mention of "equality,")
that may be placed in comparison with
those
ten short sentences? Yet even those
commandments,
most brief and comprehensive as they
are,
have been still further reduced to
two chief
heads—the love of God, and the love
of our
neighbour. This law appears in reality
to
have been sketched and written by the
right
hand of God. That this was actually
the case,
Moses shews in these words, 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.)
Moses likewise says, that so great
and manifest
is the divinity which is inherent in
this
law, that it compelled the heathen
nations,
after they had heard it, to declare
in ecstatic
admiration of it. "Surely this
great
nation is a wise and understanding
people?"
(Deut. iv. 6.) The scripture, therefore,
is completely divine, from the manner
in
which it treats on those matters which
are
its subjects.
(3.) If we consider the End, it will
as clearly
point out to us the divinity of this
doctrine.
That End is entirely divine, being
nothing
less than the glory of God and man’s
eternal
salvation. What can be more equitable
than
that all things should be referred
to him
from whom they have derived their origin?
What can be more consonant to the wisdom,
goodness, and power of God, than that
he
should restore, to his original integrity,
man who had been created by him, but
who
had by his own fault destroyed himself;
and
that he should make him a partaker
of his
own Divine blessedness? If by means
of any
word God had wished to manifest himself
to
man, what end of manifestation ought
he to
have proposed that would have been
more honourable
to himself and more salutary to man?
That
the word, therefore, was divinely revealed,
could not be discerned by any mark
which
was better or more legible, than that
of
its showing to man the way of salvation,
taking him as by the hand and leading
him
into that way, and not ceasing to accompany
him until it introduced him to the
full enjoyment
of salvation: In such a consummation
as this,
the glory of God most abundantly shines
forth
and displays itself. He who may wish
to contemplate
what we are declaring concerning this
End,
in a small but noble part of this word,
should
place "the Lord’s Prayer"
before
the eyes of his mind; he should look
most
intently upon it; and, as far as that
is
possible for human eyes, he should
thoroughly
investigate all its parts and beauties.
After
he has done this, unless he confess,
that
in it this double end is proposed in
a manner
that is at once so nervous, brief,
and accurate,
as to be above the strength and capacity
of every created intelligence, and
unless
he acknowledge, that this form of prayer
is purely divine, he must of necessity
have
a mind surrounded and enclosed by more
than
Egyptian darkness.
2. THE AGREEMENT OF THIS DOCTRINE IN
ITS
PARTS
2. THE AGREEMENT OF THIS DOCTRINE IN
ITS
PARTS Let us compare the parts of this
doctrine
together, and we shall discover in
all of
them an agreement and harmony, even
in points
the most minute, that it is so great
and
evident as to cause us to believe that
it
could not be manifested by men, but
ought
to have implicit credence placed in
it as
having certainly proceeded from God.
Let the Predictions alone, that have
been
promulgated concerning Christ in different
ages, be compared together. For the
consolation
of the first parents of our race, God
said
to the serpent, "The seed of the
woman
shall bruise thy head." (Gen.
iii. 15.)
The same promise was repeated by God,
and
was specially made to Abraham: "In
thy
seed shall all the nations be blessed."
(Gen. xxii. 18.) The patriarch Jacob,
when
at the point of death, foretold that
this
seed should come forth from the lineage
and
family of Judah, in these words: "The
scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor
a lawgiver from between his feet, until
Shiloh
come; and unto him shall the gathering
of
the people be." (Gen. xlix. 10.)
Let
the alien prophet also be brought forward,
and to these predictions he will add
that
oracular declaration which he pronounced
by the inspiration and at the command
of
the God of Israel, in these words:
Balaam
said, "There shall come a star
out of
Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out
of Israel,
and shall smite the corners of Moab,
and
destroy all the children of Sheth."
(Num. xxiv. 17.) This blessed seed
was afterwards
promised to David, by Nathan, in these
words:
"I will set up thy seed after
thee,
which shall proceed out of thy bowels,
and
I will establish his kingdom."
(2 Sam.
vii. 12.) On this account Isaiah says,
"There
shall come forth a rod out of the stem
of
Jesse, and a branch shall grow out
of his
roots." (xi, 1.) And, by way of
intimating
that a virgin would be his mother,
the same
prophet says, "Behold a virgin
shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall
call
his name Immanuel!" (Isa. vii.
14.)
It would be tedious to repeat every
declaration
that occurs in the psalms and in the
other
Prophets, and that agrees most appropriately
with this subject. When these prophecies
are compared with those occurrences
that
have been described in the New Testament
concerning their fulfillment, it will
be
evident from the complete harmony of
the
whole, that they were all spoken and
written
by the impulse of one Divine Spirit.
If some
things in those sacred books seem to
be contradictions,
they are easily reconciled by means
of a
right interpretation. I add, that not
only
do all the parts of this doctrine agree
among
themselves, but they also harmonize
with
that Universal Truth which has been
spread
through the whole of Philosophy; so
that
nothing can be discovered in Philosophy,
which does not correspond with this
doctrine.
If any thing appear not to possess
such an
exact correspondence, it may be clearly
confuted
by means of true Philosophy and right
reason.
Let the Style and Character of the
scriptures
be produced, and, in that instant,
a most
brilliant and refulgent mirror of the
majesty
which is luminously reflected in it,
will
display itself to our view in a manner
the
most divine. It relates things that
are placed
at a great distance beyond the range
of the
human imagination—things which far
surpass
the capacities of men. And it simply
relates
these things without employing any
mode of
argumentation, or the usual apparatus
of
persuasion: yet its obvious wish is
to be
understood and believed. But what confidence
or reason has it for expecting to obtain
the realization of this its desire?
It possesses
none at all, except that it depends
purely
upon its own unmixed authority, which
is
divine. It publishes its commands and
its
interdicts, its enactments and its
prohibitions
to all persons alike; to kings and
subjects,
to nobles and plebians, to the learned
and
the ignorant, to those that "require
a sign" and those that "seek
after
wisdom," to the old and the young;
over
all these, the rule which it bears,
and the
power which it exercises, are equal.
It places
its sole reliance, therefore, on its
own
potency, which is able in a manner
the most
efficacious to restrain and compel
all those
who are refractory, and to reward those
who
are obedient.
Let the Rewards and Punishments be
examined,
by which the precepts are sanctioned,
and
there are seen both a promise of life
eternal
and a denunciation of eternal punishments.
He who makes such a commencement as
this,
may calculate upon his becoming an
object
of ridicule, except he possess an inward
consciousness both of his own right
and power;
and except he know, that, to subdue
the wills
of mortals, is a matter equally easy
of accomplishment
with him, as to execute his menaces
and to
fulfill his premises. To the scriptures
themselves
let him have recourse who may be desirous
to prove with the greatest certainty
its
majesty, from the kind of diction which
it
adopts: Let him read the charming swan-like
Song of Moses described in the concluding
chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy:
Let
him with his mental eyes diligently
survey
the beginning of Isaiah’s prophecy:
Let him
in a devout spirit consider the hundred
and
fourth Psalm. Then, with these, let
him compare
whatever choice specimens of poetry
and eloquence
the Greeks and the Romans can produce
in
the most eminent manner from their
archives;
and he will be convinced by the most
demonstrative
evidence, that the latter are productions
of the human spirit, and that the former
could proceed from none other than
the Divine
Spirit. Let a man of the greatest genius,
and, in erudition, experience, and
eloquence,
the most accomplished of his race—let
such
a well instructed mortal enter the
lists
and attempt to finish a composition
at all
similar to these writings, and he will
find
himself at a loss and utterly disconcerted,
and his attempt will terminate in discomfiture.
That man will then confess, that what
St.
Paul declared concerning his own manner
of
speech, and that of his fellow-labourers,
may be truly applied to the whole scripture:
"Which things also we speak, not
in
the words which man’s wisdom teacheth,
but
which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual."
(1
Cor. ii. 13.)
3. THE PROPHECIES
3. THE PROPHECIES Let us next inspect
the
prophecies scattered through the whole
body
of the doctrine; some of which belong
to
the substance of the doctrine, and
others
contribute towards procuring authority
to
the doctrine and to its instruments.
It should
be particularly observed, with what
eloquence
and distinctness they foretell the
greatest
and most important matters, which are
far
removed from the scrutinizing research
of
every human and angelical mind, and
which
could not possibly be performed except
by
power Divine: Let it be noticed at
the same
time with what precision the predictions
are answered by the periods that intervene
between them, and by all their concomitant
circumstances; and the whole world
will be
compelled to confess, that such things
could
not have been foreseen and foretold,
except
by an omniscient Deity. I need not
here adduce
examples; for they are obvious to any
one
that opens the Divine volume. I will
produce
one or two passages, only, in which
this
precise agreement of the prediction
and its
fulfillment is described. When speaking
of
the children of Israel under the Egyptian
bondage, and their deliverance from
it according
to the prediction which God had communicated
to Abraham in a dream, Moses says,
"And
it came to pass at the end of the four
hundred
and thirty years, even the self-same
day
it came to pass, that all the hosts
of the
Lord went out from the land of Egypt:"
(Exod. xii. 41.) Ezra speaks thus concerning
the liberation from the Babylonish
captivity,
which event, Jeremiah foretold, should
occur
within seventy years: "Now in
the first
year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that
the word
of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah
might
be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the
spirit
of Cyrus, king of Persia," &c.
(Ezra
i. 1.) But God himself declares by
Isaiah,
that the divinity of the scripture
may be
proved, and ought to be concluded,
from this
kind of prophecies. These are his words:
"Shew the things that are to come
hereafter,
that we may know that ye are Gods."
(Isa. xli. 23.)
4. MIRACLES
4. MIRACLES An illustrious evidence
of the
same divinity is afforded in the miracles,
which God has performed by the stewards
of
his word, his prophets and apostles,
and
by Christ himself, for the confirmation
of
his doctrine and for the establishment
of
their authority. For these miracles
are of
such a description as infinitely to
exceed
the united powers of all the creatures
and
all the powers of nature itself, when
their
energies are combined. But the God
of truth,
burning with zeal for his own glory,
could
never have afforded such strong testimonies
as these to false prophets and their
false
doctrine: nor could he have borne such
witness
to any doctrine even when it was true,
provided
it was not his, that is, provided it
was
not divine. Christ, therefore, said,
"If
I do not the works of my Father, believe
me not; but if I do, though you believe
not
me, believe the works."
(John x. 37, 38.) It was the same cause
also,
which induced the widow of Sarepta
to say,
on receiving from the hands of Elijah
her
son, who, after his death, had been
raised
to life by the prophet: "Now by
this
I know that thou art a man of God,
and that
the word of the Lord in thy mouth is
truth."
(1 Kings xvii. 24.) That expression
of Nicodemus
has the same bearing: "Rabbi,
we know
that thou art a teacher come from God;
for
no man can do these miracles that thou
doest,
except God be with him." (John
iii.
2.) And it was for a similar reason
that
the apostle said, "The signs of
an apostle
were wrought among you in all patience,
in
signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."
(2 Cor. xii. 12.) There are indeed
miracles
on record that were wrought among the
gentiles,
and under the auspices of the gods
whom they
invoked: It is also predicted, concerning
False Prophets, and Antichrist himself,
that
they will exhibit many signs and wonders:
(Rev. xix. 20.) But neither in number,
nor
in magnitude, are they equal to those
which
the true God has wrought before all
Israel,
and in the view of the whole world.
Neither
were those feats of their real miracles,
but only astonishing operations performed
by the agency and power of Satan and
his
instruments, by means of natural causes,
which are concealed from the human
understanding,
and escape the cognizance of men. But
to
deny the existence of those great and
admirable
miracles which are related to have
really
happened, when they have also the testimony
of both Jews and gentiles, who were
the enemies
of the true doctrine—is an evident
token
of bare-faced impudence and execrable
stupidity.
5. THE ANTIQUITY OF THE DOCTRINE
5. THE ANTIQUITY OF THE DOCTRINE Let
the
antiquity, the propagation, the preservation,
and the truly admirable defense of
this doctrine
be added—and they will afford a bright
and
perspicuous testimony of its divinity.
If
that which is of the highest antiquity
possesses
the greatest portion of truth,"
as Tertullian
most wisely and justly observes, then
this
doctrine is one of the greatest truth,
because
it can trace its origin to the highest
antiquity.
It is likewise Divine, because it was
manifested
at a time when it could not have been
devised
by any other mind; for it had its commencement
at the very period when man was brought
into
existence. An apostate angel would
not then
have proposed any of his doctrines
to man,
unless God had previously revealed
himself
to the intelligent creature whom he
had recently
formed: That is, God hindered the fallen
angel, and there was then no cause
in existence
by which he might be impelled to engage
in
such an enterprise. For God would not
suffer
man, who had been created after his
own image,
to be tempted by his enemy by means
of false
doctrine, until, after being abundantly
instructed
in that which was true, he was enabled
to
know that which was false and to reject
it.
Neither could any odious feeling of
envy
against man have tormented Satan, except
God had considered him worthy of the
communication
of his word, and had deigned, through
that
communication, to make him a partaker
of
eternal. felicity, from which Satan
had at
that period unhappily fallen.
The Propagation, Preservation, and
Defense
of this doctrine, most admirable when
separately
considered, will all be found divine,
if,
in the first place, we attentively
fix our
eyes upon those men among whom it is
propagated;
then on the foes and adversaries of
this
doctrine; and, lastly, on the manner
in which
its propagation, preservation and defense
have hitherto been and still are conducted.
(1.) If we consider those men among
whom
this sacred doctrine flourishes, we
shall
discover that their nature, on account
of
its corruption, rejects this doctrine
for
a two-fold reason; (i.) The first is,
because
in one of its parts it is so entirely
contrary
to human and worldly wisdom, as to
subject
itself to the accusation of Folly from
men
of corrupt minds. (ii.) The second
reason
is, because in another of its parts
it is
decidedly hostile and inimical to worldly
lusts and carnal desires. It is, therefore,
rejected by the human understanding
and refused
by the will, which are the two chief
faculties
in man; for it is according to their
orders
and commands that the other faculties
are
either put in motion or remain at rest.
Yet,
notwithstanding all this natural repugnance,
it has been received and believed.
The human
mind, therefore, has been conquered,
and
the subdued will has been gained, by
Him
who is the author of both. (2.)
This doctrine has some most powerful
and
bitter enemies: Satan, the prince of
this
world, with all his angels, and the
world
his ally: These are foes with whom
there
can be no reconciliation. If the subtlety,
the power, the malice, the audacity,
the
impudence, the perseverance, and the
diligence
of these enemies, be placed in opposition
to the simplicity, the inexperience,
the
weakness, the fear, the inconstancy,
and
the slothfulness of the greater part
of those
who give their assent to this heavenly
doctrine;
then will the greatest wonder be excited,
how this doctrine, when attacked by
so many
enemies, and defended by such sorry
champions,
can stand and remain safe and unmoved.
If
this wonder and admiration be succeeded
by
a supernatural and divine investigation
of
its cause, then will God himself be
discovered
as the propagator, preserver, and defender
of this doctrine. (3.) The manner also
in
which its propagation, preservation
and defense
are conducted, indicates divinity by
many
irrefragible tokens. This doctrine
is carried
into effect, without bow or sword—without
horses chariots, or horsemen; yet it
proceeds
prosperously along, stands in an erect
posture,
and remains unconquered, in the name
of the
Lord of Hosts: While its adversaries,
though
supported by such apparently able auxiliaries
and relying on such powerful aid, are
overthrown,
fall down together, and perish. It
is accomplished,
not by holding out alluring promises
of riches,
glory, and earthly pleasures, but by
a previous
statement of the dreaded cross, and
by the
prescription of such patience and forbearance
as far exceed all human strength and
ability.
"He is a chosen vessel unto me,
to bear
my name before the gentiles, and kings,
and
the children of Israel; for I will
shew him
How Great Things he must suffer for
my name’s
sake." (Acts ix. 15, 16.) "Behold,
I send you forth as sheep in the midst
of
wolves." (Matt. x. 16)
Its completion is not effected by the
counsels
of men, but in opposition to all human
counsels—whether
they be those of the professors of
this doctrine,
or those of its adversaries. For it
often
happens, that the counsels and machinations
which have been devised for the destruction
of this doctrine, contribute greatly
towards
its propagation, while the princes
of darkness
fret and vex themselves in vain, and
are
astonished and confounded, at an issue
so
contrary to the expectations which
they had
formed from their most crafty and subtle
counsels.
St. Luke says, "Saul made havoc
of the
church, entering into every house,
and, haling
men and women, committed them to prison.
Therefore they that were scattered
abroad,
went every where preaching the word."
(Acts vii. 3, 4.) And by this means
Samaria
received the word of God. In reference
to
this subject St. Paul also says, "But
I would ye should understand, brethren,
that
the things which happened unto me have
fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of
the gospel;
so that my bonds are manifest in all
the
palace, and in all other places."
(Phil.
i. 12, 13.) For the same cause that
common
observation has acquired all its just
celebrity:
"The blood of the martyrs is the
seed
of the church." What shall we
say to
these things? "The stone which
the builders
refused, is become the head stone of
the
corner: This is the Lord’s doing; it
is marvelous
in our eyes." (Psalm cxviii. 22,
23.)
Subjoin to these the tremendous judgments
of God on the persecutors of this doctrine,
and the miserable death of the tyrants.
One
of these, at the very moment when he
was
breathing out his polluted and unhappy
spirit,
was inwardly constrained publicly to
proclaim,
though in a frantic and outrageous
tone,
the divinity of this doctrine in these
remarkable
words: "Thou Hast Conquered, O
Galilean!"
Who is there, now, that, with eyes
freed
from all prejudice, will look upon
such clear
proofs of the divinity of Scripture,
and
that will not instantly confess: the
Apostle
Paul had the best reasons for exclaiming,
"If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to
them that are lost; in whom the God
of this
world hath blinded the minds of them
which
believe not; lest the light of the
glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God,
should shine unto them." (2 Cor.
iv.
3, 4) As if he had said, "This
is not
human darkness; neither is it drawn
as a
thick veil over the mind by man himself;
but it is diabolical darkness, and
spread
by the devil, the prince of darkness,
upon
the mind of man, over whom, by the
just judgment
of God, he exercises at his pleasure
the
most absolute tyranny. If this were
not the
case, it would be impossible for this
darkness
to remain; but, how great soever its
density
might be, it would be dispersed by
this light
which shines with such overpowering
brilliancy."
6. THE SANCTITY OF THOSE BY WHOM IT
HAS BEEN
ADMINISTERED
6. THE SANCTITY OF THOSE BY WHOM IT
HAS BEEN
ADMINISTERED The sanctity of those
by whom
the word was first announced to men
and by
whom it was committed to writing, conduces
to the same purpose—to prove its Divinity.
For since it appears that those who
were
entrusted with the discharge of this
duty,
had divested themselves of the wisdom
of
the world, and of the feelings and
affections
of the flesh, entirely putting off
the old
man—and that they were completely eaten
up
and consumed by their zeal for the
glory
of God and the salvation of men—it
is manifest
that such great sanctity as this had
been
inspired and infused into them, by
Him alone
who is the Holiest of the holy.
Let Moses be the first that is introduced:
He was treated in a very injurious
manner
by a most ungrateful people, and was
frequently
marked out for destruction; yet was
he prepared
to purchase their salvation by his
own banishment.
He said, when pleading with God, "Yet
now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin;
and
if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy
book which thou hast written."
(Exod.
xxxii. 32.) Behold his zeal for the
salvation
of the people entrusted to his charge—a
zeal
for the glory of God! Would you see
another
reason for this wish to be devoted
to destruction?
Read what he had previously said: "Wherefore
should the Egyptians speak and say?
For mischief
did the Lord bring them out to slay
them
in the mountains," (Exod. xxxii.
12,)
"because he was not able to bring
them
out unto the land which he swear unto
their
Fathers." (Num. xiv. 16.) We observe
the same zeal in Paul, when he wishes
that
himself "were accursed from Christ
for
his brethren the Jews, his kinsmen
according
to the flesh," (Rom. 9) from whom
he
had suffered many and great indignities.
David was not ashamed publicly to confess
his heavy and enormous crimes, and
to commit
them to writing as an eternal memorial
to
posterity. Samuel did not shrink from
marking
in the records of perpetuity the detestable
conduct of his sons; and Moses did
not hesitate
to bear a public testimony against
the iniquity
and the madness of his ancestors. If
even
the least desire of a little glory
had possessed
their minds, they might certainly have
been
able to indulge in taciturnity, and
to conceal
in silence these circumstances of disgrace.
Those of them who were engaged in describing
the deeds and achievements of other
people,
were unacquainted with the art of offering
adulation to great men and nobles,
and of
wrongfully attributing to their enemies
any
unworthy deed or motive. With a regard
to
truth alone, in promoting the glory
of God,
they placed all persons on an equality;
and
made no other distinction between them
than
that which God himself has commanded
to be
made between piety and wickedness.
On receiving
from the hand of God their appointment
to
this office, they at once and altogether
bade farewell to all the world, and
to all
the desires which are in it. "Each
of
them said unto his father and to his
mother,
I have not seen him; neither did he
acknowledge
his brethren; for they observed the
word
of God, and kept his covenant."
(Deut.
xxxiii. 9.)
7. THE CONSTANCY OF ITS PROFESSORS
AND MARTYRS
7. THE CONSTANCY OF ITS PROFESSORS
AND MARTYRS
But what shall we say respecting the
constancy
of the professors and martyrs, which
they
displayed in the torments that they
endured
for the truth of this doctrine? Indeed,
if
we subject this constancy to the view
of
the most inflexible enemies of the
doctrine,
we shall extort from unwilling judges
a confession
of its Divinity. But, that the strength
of
this argument may be placed in a clearer
light, the mind must be directed to
four
particulars: the multitude of the martyrs,
and their condition; the torments which
their
enemies inflicted on them, and the
patience
which they evinced in enduring them.
(1.) If we direct our inquiries to
the multitude
of them, it is innumerable, far exceeding
thousands of thousands; on this account
it
is out of the power of any one to say,
that,
because it was the choice of but a
few persons,
it ought to be imputed to frenzy or
to weariness
of a life that was full of trouble.
(2.) If we inquire into their condition,
we shall find nobles and peasants,
those
in authority and their subjects, the
learned
and the unlearned, the rich and the
poor,
the old and the young; persons of both
sexes,
men and women, the married and the
unmarried,
men of a hardy constitution and inured
to
dangers, and girls of tender habits
who had
been delicately educated, and whose
feet
had scarcely ever before stumbled against
the smallest pebble that arose above
the
surface of their smooth and level path.
Many
of the early martyrs were honourable
persons
of this description, that no one might
think
them to be inflamed by a desire of
glory,
or endeavouring to gain applause by
the perseverance
and magnanimity that they had evinced
in
the maintenance of the sentiments which
they
had embraced.
(3.) Some of the torments inflicted
on such
a multitude of persons and of such
various
circumstances in life, were of a common
sort,
and others unusual, some of them quick
in
their operation and others of them
slow.
Part of the unoffending victims were
nailed
to crosses and part of them were decapitated;
some were drowned in rivers, whilst
others
were roasted before a slow fire. Several
were ground to powder by the teeth
of wild
beasts, or were torn in pieces by their
fangs;
many were sawn asunder, while others
were
stoned; and not a few of them were
subjected
to punishments which cannot be expressed,
but which are accounted most disgraceful
and infamous, on account of their extreme
turpitude and indelicacy. No species
of savage
cruelty was omitted which either the
ingenuity
of human malignity could invent, which
rage
the most conspicuous and furious could
excite,
or which even the infernal labouratory
of
the court of hell could supply.
(4.) And yet, that we may come at once
to
the patience of these holy confessors,
they
bore all these tortures with constancy
and
equanimity; nay, they endured them
with such
a glad heart and cheerful countenance,
as
to fatigue even the restless fury of
their
persecutors, which has often been compelled,
when wearied out, to yield to the unconquerable
strength of their patience, and to
confess
itself completely vanquished. And what
was
the cause of all this endurance? It
consisted
in their unwillingness to recede in
the least
point from that religion, the denial
of which
was the only circumstance that might
enable
them to escape danger, and, in many
instances,
to acquire glory. What then was the
reason
of the great patience which they shewed
under
their acute sufferings? It was because
they
believed, that when this short life
was ended,
and after the pains and distresses
which
they were called to endure on earth,
they
would obtain a blessed immortality.
In this
particular the combat which God has
maintained
with Satan, appears to have resembled
a duel;
and the result of it has been, that
the Divinity
of God’s word has been raised as a
superstructure
out of the infamy and ruin of Satan.
8. THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH
8. THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH The
divine
Omnipotence and Wisdom have principally
employed
these arguments, to prove the Divinity
of
this blessed word. But, that the Church
might
not defile herself by that basest vice,
ingratitude
of heart, and that she might perform
a supplementary
service in aid of God her Author and
of Christ
her Head, she also by her testimony
adds
to the Divinity of this word. But it
is only
an addition; she does not impart Divinity
to it; her province is merely an indication
of the Divine nature of this word,
but she
does not communicate to it the impress
of
Divinity. For unless this word had
been Divine
when there was no Church in existence,
it
would not have been possible for her
members
"to be born of this word, as of
incorruptible
seed," (1 Pet. i. 23,) to become
the
sons of God, and, through faith in
this word,
"to be made partakers of the Divine
Nature." (2 Pet. i.
4.) The very name of "authority"
takes away from the Church the power
of conferring
Divinity on this doctrine. For Authority
is derived from an Author: But the
Church
is not the Author, she is only the
nursling
of this word, being posterior to it
in cause,
origin, and time. We do not listen
to those
who raise this objection: "The
Church
is of greater antiquity than the scripture,
because at the time when that word
had not
been consigned to writing, the Church
had
even then an existence." To trifle
in
a serious matter with such cavils as
this,
is highly unbecoming in Christians,
unless
they have changed their former godly
manners
and are transformed into Jesuits. The
Church
is not more ancient than this saying:
"The
seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent’s
head ;" (Gen. iii. 15,) although
she
had an existence before this sentence
was
recorded by Moses in Scripture. For
it was
by the faith which they exercised on
this
saying, that Adam and Eve became the
Church
of God; since, prior to that, they
were traitors,
deserters and the kingdom of Satan—that
grand
deserter and apostate. The Church is
indeed
the pillar of the truth, (1 Tim. iii.
15,)
but it is built upon that truth as
upon a
foundation, and thus directs to the
truth,
and brings it forward into the sight
of men.
In this way the Church performs the
part
of a director and a witness to this
truth,
and its guardian, herald, and interpreter.
But in her acts of interpretation,
the Church
is confined to the sense of the word
itself,
and is tied down to the expressions
of Scripture:
for, according to the prohibition of
St.
Paul, it neither becomes her to be
wise above
that which is written;" (1 Cor.
iv.
6,) nor is it possible for her to be
so,
since she is hindered both by her own
imbecility,
and the depth of things divine.
But it will reward our labour, if in
a few
words we examine the efficacy of this
testimony,
since such is the pleasure of the Papists,
who constitute "the authority
of the
Church" the commencement and the
termination
of our certainty, when she bears witness
to the scripture that it is the word
of God.
In the first place, the efficacy of
the testimony
does not exceed the veracity of the
witness.
The veracity of the Church is the veracity
of men. But the veracity of men is
imperfect
and inconstant, and is always such
as to
give occasion to this the remark of
truth,
"All men are liars." Neither
is
the veracity of him that speaks, sufficient
to obtain credit to his testimony,
unless
the veracity of him who bears witness
concerning
the truth appear plain and evident
to him
to whom he makes the declaration. But
in
what manner will it be possible to
make the
veracity of the Church plain and evident?
This must be done, either by a notion
conceived
, long time before, or by an impression
recently
made on the minds of the hearers. But
men
possess no such innate notion of the
veracity
of the Church as is tantamount to that
which
declares, "God is true and cannot
lie."
(Tit. i. 2.) It is necessary, therefore,
that it be impressed by some recent
action;
such impression being made either from
within
or from without. But the Church is
not able
to make any inward impression, for
she bears
her testimony by external instruments
alone,
and does not extend to the inmost parts
of
the soul. The impression, therefore,
will
be external; which can be no other
than a
display and indication of her knowledge
and
probity, as well as testimony, often
truly
so called. But all these things can
produce
nothing more than an opinion in the
minds
of those to whom they are offered.
Opinion,
therefore, and not knowledge, is the
supreme
effect of this efficacy.
But the Papists retort, "that
Christ
himself established the authority of
his
Church by this saying, "He that
heareth
you, heareth me." (Luke x. 16.)
When
these unhappy reasoners speak thus,
they
seem not to be aware that they are
establishing
the authority of Scripture before that
of
the Church. For it is necessary that
credence
should be given to that expression
as it
was pronounced by Christ, before any
authority
can, on its account, be conceded to
the Church.
But the same reason will be as tenable
in
respect to the whole Scripture as to
this
expression. Let the Church then be
content
with that honour which Christ conferred
on
her when he made her the guardian of
his
word, and appointed her to be the director
and witness to it, the herald and the
interpreter.
III. Yet since the arguments arising
from
all those observations which we have
hitherto
adduced, and from any others which
are calculated
to prove the Divinity of the scriptures,
can neither disclose to us a right
understanding
of the scriptures, nor seal on our
minds
those meanings which we have understood,
(although the certainty of faith which
God
demands from us, and requires us to
exercise
in his word, consists of these meanings,)
it is a necessary consequence, that
to all
these things ought to be added something
else, by the efficacy of which that
certainty
may be produced in our minds. And this
is
the very subject on which we are not
prepared
to treat in this the third part of
our discourse
9. THE INTERNAL WITNESS OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT
9. THE INTERNAL WITNESS OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT
We declare, therefore, and we continue
to
repeat the declaration, till the gates
of
hell re-echo the sound, "that
the Holy
Spirit, by whose inspiration holy men
of
God have spoken this word, and by whose
impulse
and guidance they have, as his amanuenses,
consigned it to writing; that this
Holy Spirit
is the author of that light by the
aid of
which we obtain a perception and an
understanding
of the divine meanings of the word,
and is
the Effector of that Certainty by which
we
believe those meaning to be truly divine;
and that He is the necessary Author,
the
all sufficient Effector." (1.)
Scripture
demonstrates that He is the necessary
Author,
when it says, "The things of God
knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. (1 Cor.
ii.
11.) No man can say that Jesus is the
Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost." (1 Cor.
xii.
3.) (2.) But the Scripture introduced
him
as the sufficient and the more than
sufficient
Effector, when it declares, "The
wisdom
which God ordained before the world
unto
our glory, he hath revealed unto us
by his
Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all
things,
yea, the deep things of God."
(1 Cor.
ii. 7, 10.) The sufficiency, therefore,
of
the Spirit proceeds from the plenitude
of
his knowledge of the secrets of God,
and
from the very efficacious revelation
which
he makes of them. This sufficiency
of the
Spirit cannot be more highly extolled
than
it is in a subsequent passage, in which
the
same apostle most amply commends it,
by declaring,
"he that is spiritual [a partaker
of
this revelation,] judgeth all things,"
(verse 15,) as having the mind of Christ
through his Spirit, which he has received.
Of the same sufficiency the Apostle
St. John
is the most illustrious herald. In
his general
Epistle he writes these words: "But
the anointing which ye have received
of Him,
abideth in you; and ye need not that
any
man teach you; but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is
truth,
and is no lie, and even as it hath
taught
you, ye shall abide in Him." (1
John
ii. 27.) "He that believeth on
the Son
of God, hath the witness in himself."
(1 John v. 10.) To the Thessalonians
another
apostle writes thus: "Our Gospel
came
not unto you in word only, but also
in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance.
(1 Thess. i. 3.) In this passage he
openly
attributes to the power of the Holy
Ghost
the Certainty by which the faithful
receive
the word of the gospel. The Papists
reply,
"Many persons boast of the revelation
of the Spirit, who, nevertheless, are
destitute
of such a revelation. It is impossible,
therefore,
for the faithful safely to rest in
it."
Are these fair words? Away with such
blasphemy!
If the Jews glory in their Talmud and
their
Cabala, and the Mahometans in their
Alcoran,
and if both of these boast themselves
that
they are Churches, cannot credence
therefore
be given with sufficient safety to
the scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments, when
they
affirm their Divine Origin? Will the
true
Church be any less a Church because
the sons
of the stranger arrogate that title
to themselves?
This is the distinction between opinion
and
knowledge. It is their opinion, that
they
know that of which they are really
ignorant.
But they who do know it, have an assured
perception of their knowledge. "It
is
the Spirit that beareth witness that
the
Spirit is truth" (1 John v. 8,)
that
is, the doctrine and the meanings comprehended
in that doctrine, are truth."
"But that attesting witness of
the Spirit
which is revealed in us, cannot convince
others of the truth of the Divine word."
What then? It will convince them when
it
has also breathed on them: it will
breathe
its Divine afflatus on them, if they
be the
sons of the church, all of whom shall
be
taught of God: every man of them will
hear
and learn of the Father, and will come
unto
Christ." (John vi. 45.) Neither
can
the testimony of any Church convince
all
men of the truth and divinity of the
sacred
writings. The Papists, who arrogate
to themselves
exclusively the title of "the
Church,"
experience the small degree of credit
which
is given to their testimonies, by those
who
have not received an afflatus from
the spirit
of the Roman See.
"But it is necessary that there
should
be a testimony in the Church of such
a high
character as to render it imperative
on all
men to pay it due deference."
True.
It was the incumbent duty of the Jews
to
pay deference to the testimony of Christ
when he was speaking to them; the Pharisees
ought not to have contradicted Stephen
in
the midst of his discourse; and Jews
and
Gentiles, without any exception, were
bound
to yield credence to the preaching
of the
apostles, confirmed as it was by so
many
and such astonishing miracles. But
the duties
here recited, were disregarded by all
these
parties. What was the reason of this
their
neglect? The voluntary hardening of
their
hearts, and that blindness of their
minds,
which was introduced by the Devil.
If the Papists still contend, that
"such
a testimony as this ought to exist
in the
Church, against which no one shall
actually
offer any contradiction," we deny
the
assertion. And experience testifies,
that
a testimony of this kind never yet
had an
existence, that it does not now exist,
and
(if we may form our judgment from the
scriptures,)
we certainly think that it never will
exist.
"But perhaps the Holy Ghost, who
is
the Author and Effector of this testimony,
has entered into an engagement with
the Church,
not to inspire and seal on the minds
of men
this certainty, except through her,
and by
the intervention of her authority."
The Holy Ghost does, undoubtedly, according
to the good pleasure of his own will,
make
use of some organ or instrument in
performing
these his offices. But this instrument
is
the word of God, which is comprehended
in
the sacred books of scripture; an instrument
produced and brought forward by Himself,
and instructed in his truth. The Apostle
to the Hebrews in a most excellent
manner
describes the efficacy which is impressed
on this instrument by the Holy Spirit,
in
these words: "For the word of
God is
quick and powerful, and sharper than
any
two edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts
and intents of the heart." (Heb.
iv,
10.) Its effect is called "Faith,"
by the Apostle. "Faith cometh
by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God."
(Rom.
x. 7.) If any act of the Church occurs
in
this place, it is that by which she
is occupied
in the sincere preaching of this word,
and
by which she sedulously exercises herself
in promoting its publication. But even
this
is not so properly the occupation of
the
Church, as of "the Apostles, Prophets,
Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers,"
whom Christ has constituted his labourers
"for the edifying of his body,
which
is the Church.’" (Ephes. iv. 11.)
But
we must in this place deduce an observation
from the very nature of things in genera],
as well as of this thing in particular;
it
is, that the First Cause can extend
much
farther by its own action, than it
is possible
for an instrumental cause to do; and
that
the Holy Ghost gives to the word all
that
force which he afterwards employs,
such being
the great efficacy with which it is
endued
and applied, that whomsoever he only
counsels
by his word he himself persuades by
imparting
Divine meanings to the word, by enlightening
the mind as with a lamp, and by inspiring
and sealing it by his own immediate
action.
The Papists pretend, that certain acts
are
necessary to the production of true
faith;
and they say that those acts cannot
be performed
except by the judgment and testimony
of the
Church—such as to believe that any
book is
the production of Matthew or Luke—to
discern
between a Canonical and an Apocryphal
verse,
and to distinguish between this or
that reading,
according to the variation in different
copies.
But, since there is a controversy concerning
the weight and necessity of those acts,
and
since the dispute is no less than how
far
they may be performed by the Church—
lest
I should fatigue my most illustrious
auditory
by two great prolixity, I will omit
at present
any further mention of these topics;
and
will by Divine assistance explain them
at
some future opportunity.
My most illustrious and accomplished
hearers,
we have already perceived, that both
the
pages of our sacred Theology are full
of
God and Christ, and of the Spirit of
both
of them. If any inquiry be made for
the Object,
God and Christ by the Spirit are pointed
out to us. If we search for the Author,
God
and Christ by the operation of the
Spirit
spontaneously occur. If we consider
the End
proposed, our union with God and Christ
offers
itself—an end not to be obtained except
through
the communication of the Spirit. If
we inquire
concerning the Truth and Certainty
of the
doctrine; God in Christ, by means of
the
efficacy of the Holy Ghost, most clearly
convinces our minds of the Truth, and
in
a very powerful manner seals the Certainty
on our hearts.
All the glory, therefore, of this revelation
is deservedly due to God and Christ
in the
Holy Spirit: and most deservedly are
thanks
due from us to them, and must be given
to
them, through the Holy Ghost, for such
an
august and necessary benefit as this
which
they have conferred on us. But we can
present
to our God and Christ in the Holy Spirit
no gratitude more grateful, and can
ascribe
no glory more glorious, than this,
the application
of our minds to an assiduous contemplation
and a devout meditation on the knowledge
of such a noble object. But in our
meditations
upon it, (to prevent us from straying
into
the paths of error,) let us betake
ourselves
to the revelation which has been made
of
this doctrine. From the word of this
revelation
alone, let us learn the wisdom of endeavouring,
by an ardent desire and in an unwearied
course,
to attain unto that ultimate design
which
ought to be our constant aim—that most
blessed
end of our union with God and Christ.
Let
us never indulge in any doubts concerning
the truth of this revelation; but,
"the
full assurance of faith being impressed
upon
our minds and hearts by the inspiration
and
sealing of the Holy Spirit, let us
adhere
to this word, "till[at length]
we all
come in the unity of the faith and
of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature
of the
fullness of Christ." (Ephes. iv.
13.) I most humbly supplicate and intreat
God our merciful Father, that he would
be
pleased to grant this great blessing
to us,
through the Son of his love, and by
the communication
of his Holy Spirit. And to him be ascribed
all praise, and honour, and glory,
forever
and ever. Amen.
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