University of Virginia Library
x een tee
Essays on faith, religion, and

iil UY

0 331rs
i
H
‘
i
5 ;
' a

+
,
5 3 Ps
ae
a
5 S
Ef
4 j
ra
: FI
a i
. i

Ss By
oe
"
c 4
.
H i
A -
i
+ A
oe

\

:
’
5 :
S ¥ t
4
os
.
|
-*
My
.
¢
a
a

tt tet ee ee

ne ee ee ee ee

MW Wk LBR |

From D. I AS’? ~ ®

Cheap New ana Dan
*& hand BOOK STORE.

ke No. 250 N. Seeond Street®&
Above Callowhill, Philad.&
MARA KARAFARAHESs
if
aa
ar
e
a
bl
ff

eesSS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIK
ane Maxsames
ST

QS
1
XS

 

 

, UJ
cry
pacemeneseoee
poeeeraenase esate
oat 1. 2
£ — Ee
i 4 \
a __ ee
eS Semler
at Fi YX —
ys) ——
</ *
Sin
, ~ 3 =
a oa
t ao 7c
- ‘
\
%,
j {
Alpe
1
ih
ma
b Te
i et =
r fy
'y! Vis
i.
ish yi &,
f \ ?
yey 4 Kid
: ft
aySa

:
.
4ei rae

ele or ae le

ai Rath that ne eet ee ee

Ce ee

ae
,
Ce
1
4
at
MN
_
tke,
| aoe
aa
ae
ae
ee
aa
iH |
ee |

aint hit hai en re

yrs

seer etree es
 ipaiieaaiel
gt
<-

ariaeer ee Sat hy

Poe trt hs

ay)

i
|
i
H

en eee oe ee oe

oS

peenoesy

Sr LeSARE ey Se Seen case semen gare or Foe

eee

Peale ie ee ne te a

oy

ee eae

fi
A

u

a
a.
5
4

bs

See ee aD

coe ert Cero

Fate

ee ee eeESSAYS

 
 

FAITH, RELIGION,

AND

FREENESS OF THE

GOSPEL.

B
é

BY

THOMAS ERSKINE, Esa.

HARTFORD:

Printed for the Bookseiler.—

ee

eee

iPREFACE

TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

Tue alterations which appear in this Edition
of the Essay on Farru, affect chiefly the ar-
rangement. J am sensible that it was very
deficient in this respect before; and to this cir-

-Cumstance I am inclined to refer, in a great
measure, the misapprehensions which in some
instances have been entertained with regard
to its meaning. I have also retrenched some
superfluities and repetitions, and expanded
some views which appeared obscure from their
brevity. I plead guilty also to the charge of

occasional want of precision in the expressions

which I have used; but this was almost inten- -

tional, as I was particularly anxious to rest my
argument upon the reason of the thing, and a

9
vu

ae

raed

x
Maen eI tS ieeePREFACE,

generally admitted ground of common sense,
rather than any thing like a logical accuracy
of terms.

Ss ae ee

ceed

I have endeavoured to profit by the observa-

tions which have been made upon my work ;

and I return my grateful acknowledgements to

those who have made them.

baat ek age eee ns a ecient pierce er
— -: ’ <

a

ea ee

en
ee

ee a ea
Roe

    

Oe

Dain ae inne ait ah koe ok cian eed te Jae de Semen,AN

ESSAY ON FAITH.

 

 

We read in the Scriptures, “that a man is justified
by faith, without the deeds of the law,” Rom. iii, 13—
that “by grace are ye saved, through faith,” Eph. ii. 8—
that the glory of the Gospel consists in this, that “God’s
method of justification by faith is revealed in it,” Rom.
1. 17—and “that he that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life,” St. John iii. 36. And these texts do not
appear as insulated observations, nor are they liable to
be explained away as figurative expressions, or strong
language; they constitute most important parts in the
reasoning of the sacred writers; and the general tone
of the context is that of sober and unimpassioned argu-
ment. We ought not then to wonder, that there should
be a very lively and inquisitive interest excited in the
minds of those who receive the Scriptures as the in-
spired word of God, about the precise meaning of the
term faith. Neither ought we to wonder that many
different meanings have been assigned to it. For as
faith on the one hand, and unbelief on the other, de-
scribe states of mind, which appear often to be abso-
lutely involuntary, being the admission of evidence
which it is impossible to reject, or the rejection of evi-

dence which it is impossible to admit; men have found
A2 o

 

i

roe

eat teat tedee =a
ee

b AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

it difficult to reconcile their minds to the association of
eternal happiness with the one, and of eternal misery
with the other, as their just and equitable consequences.
T’o lessen this difficulty, or to remove it, some have
supposed that faith was a symbolical expression for the
whole regenerate character, or all virtues ; and that
unbelief was a symbolical expression for the unrege-
nerate character, or all vices. Others have supposed
that faith is one of two necessary conditions of pardon,
the other condition being obedience, the absence of
either of which made the other nugatory, and effectu-
ally excluded from the Divine favour. Others, clearly
perceiving that these views could not be reconciled,
either with the general tenor of the Bible, or with many
most decided and unequivocal texts, have talked dis-
paragingly of holiness and obedience, and have treated
of faith as if it were the channel of justification, merely
in virtue of an arbitrary appointment of God, and with-
out any reference to its moral effect on the human
character.

In the course of the following observations, I shall
endeavour to remove these difficulties and to explain
the rank which faith holds in the Christian system, by
showing its natural relation to the human faculties, and
its natural influence on the human character.SECTION [.

Some of the Sources of the many Errors which have
prevailed on the Subject of Faith.

Tere is a fallacy in the idea, that. the belief of facts
is always independent of the will or the moral state of
the mind, and therefore out of the reach of praise 01
blame. When a fact stands closely connected with a
general principle, our view of the fact must always be
affected by our view of the principle. It is only in this
way that we can account for the extraordinary diversity
of belief amongst men, on the subject of all political
facts, such as plots and conspiracies against the govern
ment, and the characters of all political men who have
filled high situations. There is a diversity of belief
not less remarkable on the subject of many moral facts
Some persons seem almost incapable of believing in
examples of great generosity and disinterestedness. ]
can hardly conceive it possible that Nero could believe
in a history like that of Codrus, however well supported
by evidence. His habits of selfish cruelty must have
rendered him impenetrable to such a fact; he could not
have comprehended it. And even could it have been
demonstrated to him, he would not have believed in its
nobleness, but would have laughed at it as an instance
of folly or insanity. In many such cases we can predict,
with tolerable confidence, the reception that the recital

of certain facts will meet with from certain persons ;
and we approve or condemn their belief on these occa
sions, in the same way, and on the same grounds, as

we approve or condemn the ‘principles which lead to
78 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

the belief. ‘The belief in any one of these mstances
may be at the moment involuntary, that 1s, it may be
the inevitable consequence of a character already form-
ed, but then that character has arisen out of, and been
confirmed by, a series of voluntary actions ; and, on this
account, we do not feel ourselves to be unjust, when
we in certain circumstances attach moral praise or
blame to a mere belief.

The facts recorded in the Bible are closely connected
with important moral principles, and therefore it 1s to
be expected that their general reception or belief will
be affected by the estimation in which these principles
are held. ‘Those who admit the principles, will be dis-
posed to believe the facts; and those who reject the
principles, will be disposed : to disbelieve the facts.
But our estimation of moral or spiritual principles is
not a thing of indifference—it is that which constitutes
the character—it is that on account of which we ap-
prove or condemn others, and on account of which we
expect to be approved or condemned ourselves. Our
belief, then, on such matters, is really a part of our
moral characters, and liable to moral approbation or
disapprobation. We need not wonder, then, that the
Bible should speak of faith in its doctrines as a duty,
and of unbelief as a sin.

He who knew what was in man, after declaring,
that “he who believeth on the Son is not condemned ;
but he that believeth not is condemned already,” adds
immediately, ‘and this is the condemnation, that light
is come into the world, and men have loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil;” thus
most explicitly referring belief and unbelief to the state
of the heart and affections. But though the sin of the
heart is the root of all errors in religion, yet it is of
importance to consider those errors separately, that weAN ESSAY ON FAITH. y

may know them, and be prepared for them; for it is by
blinding our understandings that the deceitfulness of
the heart operates.

In the Bible, Christianity is given us asa whole; but
men are apt to take confined and partial views of it.
Faith is connected in Scripture, both with the pardon
of'sin and with the deliverance from the power of sin;
or, in other words, with justification and sanctification.
In its connexion with justification, it is opposed to
merit, and desert, and work of every description; “It
was by faith that it might be by grace, or gratuitous,
or for nothing,” Rom. iv. 16. Some exclusively take
this view, which in itself is correct, but which does not
embrace the whole truth. Faith, as connected with
sanctification, “purifieth the heart,” “worketh by
love,” and “overcometh the world,” and produces
every thing which is excellent and holy, as may be
seen in that bright roll which is given in Heb, xi.
Some again are so engrossed with this view of the sub-
ject, that they lose sight of the former. This isa fruit
ful source of error. In order to understand thoroughly
the separate parts of a whole, we must understand their
connexion with the other parts, and their specific pur-
pose in relation to the whole.

The first of the two classes that have been described,
call the other /egalists, or persons who depend on their
own performances for acceptance with God. And they
are perhaps right in this accusation ;—but they are not
aware that they are very possibly guilty of the same
offence. They are almost unconsciously very apt to
think, that they have paid faith as the price of God’s
favour. The man who considers faith merely as the
channel by which the Divine testimony concerning
pardon through the blood of the Lamb is conveyed to
his understandine, and operates on his heart, cannotnail prattantiemree 2k at eco eae ater tes pte oe ee

Ss Pn ta ara be ey te ed oe eee re

Dae het eee al ae a ata ae tee ee aps:

  

10 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

look on faith as a work, because he views it merely as
the inlet by which spiritual light enters his soul.
Whilst he who considers the declaration, “he that be-
lieveth shall be saved,” as expressing the arbitrary
condition on which pardon will be bestowed, without
referring to its natural effects on the character, requires
to be very much on his guard indeed against a depen-
dence on his faith as a meritorious act. He will not,
to be sure, speak of it in this way; but he runs great
risk of feeling about it in this way. And it is not un-
worthy of observation, that. those, whose statements in
this respect have been the highest, have often, in their
controversies, assumed towards their opponents a tone
of bitterness and contempt, most unbecoming the
Christian character. This looks like self-righteousness,
and seems to mark that they are trusting rather in their
own faith, which elevates them, than in the cross of
Christ, which would humble them.

In like manner, the second of these classes charge
the other with antinomianism, though they themselves
are liable to the same charge. They hate the name of
antinomianism, and they wish to escape from it, as far
as possible, but they mistake the way. They are so
much occupied with the Christian character, that they
forget the doctrine of free grace, by the influence of
which doctrine alone, that character can be formed:
They endeavour to become holy by sheer effort. Now
this isimpossible. They can never love God by merely
trying to love him, nor can they hate sin by merely
trying to hate it. The belief of the love of God to
sinners—and of the evil of sin—as manifested in the
cross of Christ, can alone accomplish this change within
them. ‘Those who substitute effort for the Gospel,
preach antinomianism; because they preach a doctrineAN ESSAY ON FAITH. ll

which can never, in the nature of things, lead to the
fulfilment of the law.

Another great source of error on this subject has
been, the idea that the importance of faith consists
rather in the act of belief than in the object believed.
Those who entertain this idea, look on faith merely as
one part of that manifold obedience which they owe to
God; they consider it simply as an act of homage to
him, or as a prostration of their reason before his au-
thority; and they think that they fulfil their duty on
this point, when they entertain no doubts as to the in-
spiration of the Bible, and when they do not presume
to question any thing contained in it, however little
they may comprehend its meaning. There cannot be
any greater delusion than this—that merit may consist
in the renunciation of reason, or that the intelligent
and gracious Being “who teacheth man knowledge,”
should require of him, as an act of obedience, that he
should profess his belief in something he knows not
what, and he knows not why. There are two radical
mistakes in this view of the subject. The first is, the
idea that faith can be exercised without the concurrence
of the understanding, when it is evidently through the
medium of the understanding alone, that we can know
either what we believe or what we disbelieve; the
second is, the idea that pardon is given as a reward for
our believing or for our doing any thing else. Pardon
is a free gift to man, conveyed and proclaimed through
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. What then, it may be
asked, is the use of faith at all, in relation to pardon?
The answer is easy. A great part of the punishment
of sin consists in the disorder of the thoughts and feel-
ings produced by sin; and, therefore, the pardon, to be
effectual, must reach the thoughts and feelings, that is
to say, it must be understood and felt; or in other words,

ad

Peoeere rl

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
  
 
 

et teeee ee eS ee . nae De ; F ; 5
Setar i cece ts detach ig ath ee Oe “
< ‘ a ieee ee

Ce eee eer ee

 

12

believed. A good deal of this evil is to be attributed
to the technical language in which this subject has been
discussed.

Theological writers have distinguished and described
different kinds of faith, as speculative and practical,—
historical, saving and realizing faith. It would be of
little consequence what names we gave to faith, or to
any thing else, provided these names did not interfere
with the distinctness of our ideas of the things to which
they are attached; but as we must be sensible that they
do very much interfere with these ideas, we ought to
be on our guard against any false impressions which
may be received from an incorrect use of them. Is it
not evident that this way of speaking has a natural
tendency to draw the attention away from the thing to
be believed, and to engage it in a fruitless examination
of the mental operation of believing ? And, accordingly,
is it not true, that we see and hear of more anxiety
amongst religious people, about their faith being of the
right kind, than about their believing the right things?
A sincere man, who has never questioned the Divine
authority of the Scripture, and who can converse and
reason well on its doctrines, yet finds perhaps that the
state of his mind and the tenor of his life do not agree
with the Scripture rule. He is very sensible that there
is an error somewhere, but instead of suspecting that
there is something in the very essentials of Christian
doctrine which he has never yet understood thoroughly,
the probability is, that he, and his advisers, if he ask
advice, come to the conclusion that his faith is of a
wrong kind, that it is speculative or historical, and not
true saving faith. Of course this conclusion sends him
not to the study of the Bible, but to the investigation
of his own feelings, or rather of the laws of his own
mind. He leaves that truth which God has revealed

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.AN ESSAY ON FAITH. o

&

ind blessed as the medicine of our natures, and bewilders
himself in a metaphysical labyrinth.

he Bible is throughout a practical book, and never,
in all the multitude of cases which it sets before us for
ur Instruction, does it suppose it possible for a man to
be ignorant, or in doubt, whether he really believes or
not. It speaks indeed of faith unfeigned, in opposition
to a hypocritical pretence—and it speaks of a dead faith
when it denies the existence of faith altogether. We
deny the existence of benevolence, argues the Apostle,
when fair words are given instead of good offices; even
so we may deny the existence of faith when it produces
no fruit, and merely vents itself in professions,—in
such a case faith is departed, it is no more, it is dead—
there is a carcass to be sure to be seen, but the spirit is
gone. In the place to which Iam now referring, viz.
in the second chapter of James, the writer gives another
account of dead faith, which is very important; it occurs
in the 19th verse. This faith he calls dead, because it
relates to an object which, when taken alone, can pro-
duce no effect upon our minds: “Thou believest that
there is one God, thou dost well, the devils also believe
and tremble.” Now the mere belief of the unity of
the godhead, however important when connected with
other truths, cannot of itself make a man either better
or happier. What feeling or act is there which springs
directly from a belief of the unity of the godhead?
When connected with other things, it does produce
effects; thus the devils connect it with a belief in the
avenging justice of God, and hence they tremble,
because there is no other God, no other power to appeal
to. Christians connect it with a belief in the love of
God through the Redeemer, and hence they have good
hope, for none can pluck them out of His hands. But
the abstract belief that there is one God, leadsto nothing

>

B

eal

    
    
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 

beret to att. torre eerhAN ESSAY ON FAITH.

LH It is the belief which we have of the moral character
of God which can alone influence our characters.
After having learned the doctrine of His unity, the
great questions still remain, ‘‘ How do we stand in rela-
tion to thisone great Being? How does he regard us?
What does he love, and what does he condemn? These
are the great questions in religion; and the Trinitarian
who does not find their answer in the doctrine of the
Trinity, is certainly little benefited by his professed
belief on this point.

It is not an easy, because it is not a natural exercise
of the mind, to look into itself, and to examine its
various susceptibilities, and the mode or law according
to which these are excited by external objects; and
whilst we are engaged in this manner, we must neces-
sarily remain to a great degree unaffected by those
external objects, which we are using merely as parts
of the apparatus required for making the experiment
on our own faculties. We must endeavour to be in
some degree affected by them, in order that we may
i} observe the mode in which they affect us; but that de-

gree will necessarily be very inconsiderable, in conse-

quence of our attention being chiefly directed towards

our own feelings. If Iam intent on examining and

investigating the pleasing emotion which is produced in

the mind by the contemplation of the beauties of nature,

1 it is impossible that I can feel much of that pleasure.
|

se cement ee

I may be surrounded by all that is sublime and all that
is lovely in creation, but I remain unmoved, if, instead
of being occupied with the scene before me, I am
engaged in a metaphysical examination of my own
emotions. The delightful feeling is produced by con-
templating the external object; not by observing nor
by knowing how we enjoy it. The more thoroughly
we are occupied by the object, the more thoroughlywill our pleasurable susceptibilites be excited: and the
more interrupted and distracted our contemplation 9f
the object is, the more inconsiderable will be the grati-
fication arising from it. We cannot excite the pleasing
emotion by mere effort, without the real or imagined
presence of its natural exciting object, and whilst we
attempt to analyse the origin and progress of the emo-
tion, the object fades from our view, and the sensation
dies along with it. Our minds are, in this respect, like
mirrors, and the impressions made on them resemble
the images reflected by mirrors. No effort of ours can
produce an image in the mirror, independent of its
proper corresponding object. When that object is
placed before it, the image appears, and when it is
withdrawn, the image disappears. And if, in the
minuteness of our examination of the image, we look
too narrowly into the mirror, we may find that we have
interposed ourselves between the mirror and the object;
and that, instead of the image which we expected, our
own face is all that we can discover. I beg the reader
to bear in mind, that these observations do not at all
interfere with the Christian duty of self-examination,
which relates not to the philosophy of the human mind,
but to the actual state of the human heart.

The science of the human mind requires this reflex
exertion, because its object is to examine and discover
the laws according to which the mind acts, or is acted
upon; but Christianity requires no such act, because
its object is not to discover the laws according to which
the mind is impressed, but actually to make impressions
on the mind, by presenting to it objects fitted and
destined for this purpose by Him who made the mind,
and fixed its laws. The objects of religion were not
revealed to us, to sharpen our faculties by observing
how they were fitted to impress the mind, but that our

AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 15

eat ESN tet wearerSee Pee ATT:

ee

 

  

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

minds might really be impressed by them with the cha-
racters of happiness and holiness. ‘These characters
are the subjects of self-examination, and they are all
contained in the Divine precepts. Do we love God and
our neighbour, and do we give proof of the reality of
our love by corresponding action? ‘This is a very dif-
ferent process from that to which I am referring. My
object is, to point out the folly of attempting or expect-
ing to make any impressions on our minds by mere
effort, instead of bringing them into contact with those
objects which God has made known to usin the Gospel
as the proper means of producing these impressions—
and especially to warn against that particular species
of this general error, which consists in considering
rather how we believe than what we believe.

From this metaphysical habit of considering and
attending to the mind itself} and the mode in which if
is impressed, rather than to the objects which make the
impression, arose the division of faith into different
kinds ; and thus the feelings of men were substituted
in the place of the tangible word of revelation.

A true faith does not properly refer to the mode of
believing, but to the object believed. It means the
belief of a true thing. Asa correct memory does not
refer to the process by which the impression is made,
but to the accurate representation of the fact remem-
bered. It means the remembrance of a thing as it
happened. When, after hearing a person relate incor-
rectly any history with which we are acquainted, we
say, “he has a bad memory,” we mean merely that he
has not remembered what happened. So when we say
that a man has a wrong belief of a thing, we ought to
mean merely that he does not believe the thing which
really happened. The way to correct the memory is
not to work with the faculty itself independently of itsAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 17

object, but to attend more minutely and carefully to
that object.. And this is the only way of correcting
the belief too. Were a man, when endeavouring to
recollect some circumstance which had escaped him,
to direct his attention to the act of Soi rather
than to the thing to be remembered, he would infal-
libly fail in his purpose. In like manner, if he wishes
to believe any thing, there can be no more successful
way of thwarting his own wish, than by directing his
attention to the mental age of believing, instead
of considering the thing to be believed, and the evi-
dence of its truth,

But is there no such thing as a wrong or false w ay
of believing what is true? Are not the most important
truths often believed without producing the slightest
effect on the character?~ Do we not sometimes find
men who are even willing to die as martyrs to the
truth of a doctrine which never influenced a feeling of
their hearts? Let us select two of our acquaintances,
and let us question them separately as to their religious
belief, concerning God and eternity, and their own
duties and their own hopes; the answers which they give
are in substance the same, and yet their paths in life are
diametrically opposite ; the life of the one is in harmony
with the belief which he professes, the other’s is not.
They are both incapable of deceit; how then are we to
account for this difference, except by supposing that
there is a right and a wrong way of believing the same
thing? ‘This is certainly a very important question, and
it seems to me capable of a very satisfactory solution.
Although these two persons use similar language, and
appear to believe the same things, yet in reality they
differ essentially in the subject matter of their belief.
But this requires farther illustration. Weare so much
B 2

re pete hep veer eed)

——_AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

   
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
    
  
 
 
   
  
  
 
 
  
   
 
  
 
 

accustomed to satisfy ourselves with vague ideas on
the subject of religion, that we are easily deceived by
a general resemblance of statements with regard to it;
and the word faith has been so much withdrawn from
common use, and so much devoted to religious purposes,
that it has very much lost its real import. ‘To have
faith in a thing, to believe a thing, and to understand a
thing as a truth, are expressions of the same import.
No man can be properly said to believe any thing which
is addressed to his thinking faculty, if he does not
understand it.

Let us suppose a Chinese, who can speak no lancuage
but his own, brought before an English jury as a wit-
ness. Let him bring with him certificates and testi
monials of character which place his truth and intecrity
above all suspicion. There is not a doubt entertained
of him. But he gives his evidence in his own language
I ask, does any one juryman believe him? Certainly
not—it is absolutely impossible—nobody understands 2
word that he utters. If, during the course of the evi-
dence, the jury were asked whether or not they believed
what he was telling them, would they not smile at th
question? And yet they know that it is truth. They
understand that the witness is an honest man, and thi:
they believe, but they can believe no farther. An inter
preter is brought—he translates the evidence; now the
jury understand it, and their belief accompanies their
understanding. If one of the jury had understood
Chinese, the difference between his belief and that of
the rest would have been accurately measured, by the
difference of their understandings. They all heard the
same sounds, and saw the same motions, but there was
only one of them, to whom these symbols conveyed any
meaning. Now the meaning was the thine of import-AN ESSAY ON FAITH 19

ance to be believed—nand the proof of the man’s in
tegrity was of consequence merely on account of the
authority which it gave to his meaning.

Let us take another example. Several merchants
receive from their correspondent at a distance, letters
recommending them. to follow a particular course in
their trade, in order to escape a threatened loss, and to
insure a considerable profit. And this advice is ac-
companied by the information and reasons on which it
is founded. The speculation requires a good deal of
hardihood, and a most implicit confidence in the in
formation communicated. One of the merchants, on
reading his letter, cannot believe it is the handwriting
of his correspondent ; he therefore declares the letter a
forgery, and throws it into the fire. Another knows
the handwriting too well to doubt of its really coming
from the person whose name it bears; but he does not
beli eve its contents, and therefore does not act accord
ing to its instructions. A third reads his letter as =
essay on mercantile affairs in general, without obser
ing the application of it to his own immediate circum

stances, or the call that it makes on him for instant:

neous action; and therefore he also is unmoved by i
A fourth acknowledges the signature and the authority
of the information, but reads the letter carelessly, and
takes ne a wrong idea of the course recommended, and
sets about a speculation before he has made himself ac
quainted with his correspondent’s plan; and consequently
receives as little benefit from the communication as
any of the former. Now, it is quite clear that not one
of the four believed the information of their corres-
pondent. ‘Their unbelief was of different kinds, but the
result was the same in all. A letter is merely the
vehicle ofa meaning, and if that meaning is not believed,
the letter itself is not believed. ‘The first two under

io”
1

I

 

 

atl

Pep cee sy tes oper seatanew z

TLS

 

 

  
 
 

eA AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

stood the meaning of the letter, and rejected it openly
and professedly on its own merits; the last two openly
and professedly assented to it, but they believed their
own interpretation of it, and not the meaning of the
writer. It is an absolute absurdity to say that a mean-
ing can be believed without being understood—and
therefore nothing which has a meaning can be fully
believed until the meaning is understood. .When a
thing is said or done of which we don’t perceive the
meaning, we say, we don’t understand that. We are
sure that the word has been spoken or the action per-
formed, but we don’t apprehend its import. Can we
possibly then believe that import? In such cases,
understanding is absolutely necessary to belief.

T'o those who, with regard to religion, are in cir-
cumstances parallel to the first merchant, that is to say,
who do not recognise the Bible to be the inspired word
of God, I do not at present address myself, although I
request of them a candid consideration of the argument.
And there cannot be any religious cases similar to that
of the second merchant. No man can believe that the
Bible was actually dictated by God, and at the same
time openly profess to disbelieve its contents. But
there are many nominal Christians in situations very
closely resembling that of the jurymen above mentioned,
and of the third and fourth merchants. Are there not
many who would be astonished and hurt if their Chris-
tianity were doubted, who evidently attach as little
meaning to the words Judgment, Eternity, and Justifi-
cation by faith in Christ, as those men did to the
Chinese vocables? Can these be said to believe 2 Are
there not many who can speak and reason orthodoxly
and. logically on the doctrines of the Gospel, and yet
do not understand the urgency of these doctrines in
application to their own souls? These do not believeAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 91

 

the meaning of the Gospel surely. And are there not
many who, mistaking the whole scope of the Bible,
find in it, what is not there, a plan of justification, in
which man performs some part, if not the whole; or
see in it merely a list and a description of duties, by
the performance of which, a man may recommend him-
self to the favour of God? Those who believe this,
believe their own vain imagination, and not the Gospel.
A man who is honest in his belief of that which he pro-
fesses to believe, is certainly free from the charge of
deceit and hypocrisy; but his honesty will not convert
an error into a truth: it cannot make that good news,
which is not good news; it cannot change the import
of the Bible or the will of God. “ Understandest thou
what thou readest?” was Philip’s question to the
Funuch ; and it is a question which each reader of the
Bible should put most jealously to himself; for, as it is
said in the parable of the sower, “‘ when any one heareth
the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not,
then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that
which was sown in his heart.”

The Jews believed in the Divine authority and in-
spiration by which Moses spoke—they had much more
reverence for his name and honour than the great bulk
of professing Christians have for the name and honour
of the Saviour—and yet He who knew the thoughts of
the heart, declared that they did not believe Moses;
“for,” says Jesus Christ, “had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed me, for he wrote of me; but if ye
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my
words?” He does not mean here to question their
belief that God had indeed spoken by Moses; but to
deny their belief of Moses’ meaning. They did not
understand Moses, and therefore they could not believe

epee et ts pe eee tetas

Caeetlme acre
{RSS A

22 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

him—they believed their own interpretation of his law,
not his meaning in it.

I may understand many things which I do not believe ;
but I. cannot believe any thing which I do not under-
stand, unless it be something addressed merely to my
senses, and not to my thinking faculty. A man may
with great propriety say, I understand the Cartesian
system of vortices, though I don’t believe in it. But it
is absolutely impossible for him to believe in that system
without knowing what it is. He may believe in the
ability of the maker of a system without understanding
it; but he cannot believe in the system itself; without
understanding it.

By understanding, in this argument, I do not mean
the being able to account for all the facts or principles
which are assumed in a system, but merely the being
able to discern the connexion between the facts or
principles which are thus'assumed, and the conclusions
which are drawn from them. Thus, I should consider
myself to understand the system of Des Cartes, if I
understood how the vortices, according to his theory,
produced the effects which he attributed to them, al-
though I could not at all explain how the vortices them-
selves originated. But if I did not understand this
connexion, I certainly could not with any propriety be
said to believe his system at all, however strenuously I
might be disposed to maintain his name and party.
This is all that I mean when I speak of understanding
the facts and principles of revelation. I do not dream
of understanding them in the abstract, and when sepa-
rated from their object ; I speak merely of understanding
their connexion with their object, and with the con-
clusions which are deduced from them. I speak of
perceiving the moral-and spiritual truth which isAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 2S

declared by them: I must beg the reader’s particular
attention here, that he may not mistake my meaning.

{ do not set human reason above divine revelation, but

[ consider that divine revelation is intelligibly and
practically addressed to human reason and human feel-
ing; and that man is therefore bound, as a matter of
duty, and even of respect, to bring his reason and feel-
ings into contact with it. I believe that revelation was
given for the purpose of exhibiting the character of
God, and of thus influencing the character of man; and
when I see a distinct connexion between this object
and the doctrines of revelation, I conceive that I under-
stand them as they were intended to be understood,
although I may be unable to account for all the facts
and principles which are assumed in them.

Thus, when I say that I understand the doctrine of
the atonement, I do not at all mean that I can explain
how God and man were united in Christ, nor even that
I can account for the necessity of an expiation. I mean
merely, that I can see that this fact and this principle,
when admitted, exhibit, in a wonderful manner, the
infinite compassion, and the infinite holiness of God,
and have a most powerful natural tendency to humble,
and purify, and elevate the human heart. If I did not
discern this moral meaning in the atonement—if J did
not see that it threw light on the character of God, and
tended to sanctify the character of man—if I perceived
nothing in it but the fact of the divme and human
natures being united in one person, and this person suf-
fering death, as the victim of a justice which he had
never offended—if this were all that I could discover
in it, I should say, I have good reason, from other cir-
cumstances, to believe that this book is the word of God,
which He has graciously given me for my instruction ;
and therefore I believe that there is some instructive

¢

ad

   
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   

aT SENS tb eae eetSSSR ERS TES

iF

Ee hoa od

ai

 
 
 
   
  
  
  
   
 
  
  
  
 
    
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

meaning, and some important truth, contamed m thi:
extraordinary fact; but what that meaning is I cannot
say ; When | know it I am prepared to believe it. Ld
not question the authority either of the book or of the
passase, but certainly | do not know what the meaning
s; and I therefore cannot presume to say that [believe
that meaning: and what is the doctrine but the mean-
ing? In like manner, I conceive that I understand the
loctrine of the Trinity, although I cannot explain the
fact of the distinction m the divine nature; because |
see that this fact, when assumed, serves as a scaffolding
or substruction for the doctrine of the atonement by
Christ, and of sanctification through, the Spirit; and
thus I see how it is connected with the plan of the
moral manifestation of God, and the regeneration of
man. If I did not perceive this connexion, I might
admit the fact, but certainly I should consider myself
perfectly ignorant of the doctrine. I might profess
myself a Trinitarian, but my belief would be a mere
respect for God’s authority without any regard to His
meaning. And if the meaning constitutes the doc-
trie, (as it assuredly does,) I could not be said to
believe in the doctrine.

We are not called on to believe the Bible merely
that we may give a proof of our willingness to submit
in all things to God’s authority, but that we may be
influenced by the objects of our belief. When the
Apostle of the Gentiles gives a reason why he is not
ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, he does not say be-
cause it is a message from the King of kings; he does
not found its importance simply on the authority of the
promulgator of it, but in a great measure on its own
intrinsic and intelligible value—< For it is the power
of God unto salvation to every one who believeth,”
Rom. i. 16. Salvation here signifies healing or deliver-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. QD

ance, not from the condemnation, but from the influence
of sin. His reason for not being ashamed of this Gos-
pel then was, because it was the mighty instrument
which God had prepared for healing the spiritual dis-
eases of men. ‘The great importance of the object ‘to
be attained by the publication of the Gospel. invested it
with its high dignity. But he does not leave his Ro-
man disciples here: he explains to them how this great
object is attained ; he tells them what it is in the Gos-
pel which produces this effect—* for,” continues he, in
the 17th verse, “herein is revealed God’s plan of jus
tification by faith.”* He is afterwards at much pains
to demonstrate to them that the belief of this mercy
has, from the very nature of man, that healing influence
which he had ascribed to it.. I may remark here, that
the passage of Malachi, in which the Messiah is pre-
dicted under the figure of the Sun of Righteousness, o1
forgiving mercy, bears a striking resemblance in mean-
ing to the verses which have been quoted from the
Epistle to the Romans. The apostle represents justi-
fication, or the remission of sins, as the prominent fea-
ture and characteristic of the Gospel, and to this he as-
cribes the whole of its healing or salutary power,—and
the prophet’s eye, in like manner, is caught by the ab-
sorbing glory and brilliancy of the same plan of justi-
fication. He sees from afar a new manifestation of the
Divine character rising on the dark world—many and
diversified are the high attributes of that character ;
but as white is the one result of the different rays of
natural light when combined, so mercy is the one and
the bright result of the many rays of that spiritual light,
and gives 1ts own blessed name to the sun from which

* Righteousness, through this Epistle, almost without excep-
tion, signifies the mercy of God manifested in pardoning sinners

for the sake of the atonement of Christ
C

sea

Pet Pe) tape Seer eee26 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

they emanate. It is the sun of mercy, the sun of par-
don. He has risen upon the world; and all are invited
to walk and rejoice in His light.

SECTION II.

The Nature of Faith in general, and of Christian
Faith in particular.

What is the difference between knowledge or un-
derstanding, and faith? Our understanding of a thing
means the conception which we have formed of it, or the
umpression which it has made on our mind, without any
reference to its being a reality, in nature independent
of our thought, or a mere fiction of the imagination ;
and faith is a persuasion, that the object which produced
the impression is a-reality in nature, independent of our
thought or perception. It will be observed that by the
term zmpression I do not mean to express the moral in-
fluence of an object on the character, which is some-
times its meaning ; but simply the idea which we form
of an object, whether moral or not. And it becomes a
matter of faith, when a persuasion of the independent
reality of the object is attached to it. This per-
suasion of reality accompanies all the different modes
in which our knowledge is acquired, as well as the tes
timony of others. When an object is presented to
my eye, the impression which it makes upon me is ac
companied by the persuasion that the object which pro-
duced it is truly described by the impression which it
has made, and that it is a reality independent of my-
self’ When a proposition in mathematics is demon-
strated to me, a persuasion accompanies my under-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. ai

standing of it, that these relations of quantities are fixed
and unalterable, and altogether independent of my rea-
soning. When the generous or kind conduct of a
friend meets my difficulties, my impression of the fact
is accompanied by a persuasion of the reality of that
generosity or kindness, as qualities existing In my
friend’s heart altogether independent of my thought or
feeling on the subject. When I hear, through a chan-
nel which appears to me authentic, of some melancholy
or some joyful event, there is an accompanying persua-
sion that there is a real cause for joy or sorrow.

Faith, then, is just an appendage to those faculties
of the mind by which we receive impressions from ex-
ternal objects, whether they be material or immaterial.
It stands at the entrance of the mind, as it were, and
passes sentence on the authenticity of all information
which goes in. Now, as faith is merely an append-
age to other faculties, is it not evident that its existence
and exercise, with regard to any particular object, must
depend on the existence and exercise of that faculty to
which the object is addressed? A man born blind has
no impressions from light, and therefore he can have
no faith with regard to such impressions. He has not
the slightest conception of what is meant by a coloured
body, and therefore he cannot believe in a coloured
body. He may believe that bodies have a quality which
he is incapable of perceiving, but what that quality is he
does not know, and therefore cannot believe in it. Faith
is the persuasion that the impression on the mind is pro-
duced by a real object. But if no impression is made
upon the mind, what room is there for the exercise of
belief? If he, like another blind man, has formed an
idea that red is like the sound of a trumpet, the im-
pression is a false one; and the belief appended to it is
also false, that is, it is appended to a false impression:

—_

    
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

ieee see tah te eer weests rarely:
EE ia ay

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

for faith must always derive its character from the im-
pression to which it is appended. If the impression is
correct, the faith is correct; and if the impression is in-
correct, the faith is incorrect.

A man altogether destitute of the faculty of discern-
ing the relation of numbers and quantities, could not
understand how two and two make four ;—there could
be therefore no impression on his mind corresponding
to this truth, and therefore there could be no faith in it.
There are many persons whose minds have been so
little exercised in this way, that though they may not
by nature be incapable of receiving such impressions,
it would yet be absolutely impossible to make them
comprehend a mathematical process of any intricacy.
These persons may believe certain abstract truths on
the authority of others; but they never can believe in
the processes by which they are demonstrated, because
there are no impressions on their minds corresponding
to these processes.

The same reasoning holds good with regard to our
knowledge and belief on subjects which address our
moral faculties, and other internal sensations. We
may with our eyes and ears be the witnesses of an ac-
tion, and yet we may receive a false impression of it,
and of course form a wrong belief with regard to it.
The action consists of more than mere motion and
sound. There is a moral meaning in it. It represents
joy, or grief, or benevolence, or selfishness; and these
qualities cannot be discerned by the eye or the ear.
As we have outward senses to receive impressions from
the outward qualities of things, so we have inward senses
to receive impressions from their inward qualities, their
spirit and meaning. And one sense cannot do the duty
of another. However good the eye may be, it cannot
give us an idea of sounds or of odours. So the externa!AN ESSAY ON FAITH 29

senses cannot fill the place of the imternal; they can
not receive impressions of intellectual or moral truth—
of beauty or sublimity. In order to receive such im-
pressions, our internal faculties must be themselves ex-
ercised. Ifthey are not exercised at all, there will be
no impression at all, and of course no belief; and if they
be ina state of weakness or disorder, the impression
and belief will correspond to that state. It cannot be
otherwise. We must have impressions made on our
minds corresponding to mora! qualities, or to the
conditions which address our sensitive nature, before
we can believe in those qualities, or in the meaning of
those events and conditions. How, for instance, do we
become acquainted with the idea of danger, but by an
impression of fear produced in our minds? Can we be-
come acquainted with it by any other way? Impossible ;
for the only meaning of danger is, that it is something
fitted to excite fear. How do we become acquainted
with the meaning of generous worth and excellence,
but by the love, esteem, and admiration which they
excite in us? To a man whose heart is utterly dead to
kindness, what meaning could kindness convey? Where
there are no moral impressions on the mind, there can
be no belief on moral subjects; and according to the
decree of the impression is the measure of the belief.
In illustration of this, let us suppose two men travel-
ling together, whose minds are differently constituted.
One has the ordinary degree of alarm at the idea of
death ; the other is entirely devoid of any such feeling.
They come into a situation in which their lives are en-
dangered. A stranger passing by, interposes between
them and the danger, and saves their lives, but at the
expense of his own. Our two travellers have both of
them the use of their eyes and their ears; they have both
of them seen and heard precisely the same things, and
c2eI

sash emmmeet str emai

== ne

SY every?

rh H tod be aby 4. a eh at i
pists et ee vei eta ati 1 bi ep ;
SAM a ae oe Se eet

  

30 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

when they tell their story, their two narratives agree
most minutely; and yet they believe two essentially
different things. The one believes that the disinterest-
ed and heroic generosity ofa stranger has saved them
from what he cannot but consider as a dark and awful
fate. In consequence of this he rejoices in his safety
as far as his sorrow for his noble benefactor will per-
mit—he feels himself laid under the most sacred obliga~
tion to reverence the memory of this benefactor, and to
repay to his surviving friends or family that debt of
eratitude which he owes for his deliverance. The
other understands nothing, and consequently believes
nothing of all this—he saw no evil in the death with
which they were threatened, and of course no generosity
in him who rescued them from it by encountering it him-
self—he neither feels joy, nor sorrow, nor gratitude
excited by any part of the history. These two men do
not believe the same thing in two different ways; they,
in fact, believe two different things. Examine the two
impressions. They may be compared to the traces
left by the same intaglio on two different substances—
the one substance too solid to yield to the pressure, or
receive the mould of the sculpture, exhibits nothing per-
haps but the oval outline of the stone—whilst the other,
possessing the right consistency, and coming in contact
with every portion of the substance, receives and retains
its perfect image, and exhibits, it may be, lineaments which
express all that mind can grasp in thought, or feel in ten-
derness. The mind of the one traveller has come in con-
tact with every part of the action, and bears away ac-
cordingly the impression of the whole; the mind of the
other was incapable of coming in contact with the whole,
and of course has received a most imperfect and partial
impression. We can only know the qualities of things
by corresponding susceptibilities in our own minds.AN ESSAY ON FAITH 31

The absence of the susceptibility of fear absolutely in-
capacitated our traveller for understanding danger, and
consequently for comprehending the generosity of the
stranger’s interference, or for perceiving that there was
any thing joyful in his own deliverance. The actions
of men are not to be considered as mere external shells,
or dead carcases—they in so far resemble those who act
them, that they have a spirit and internal life, as well
as an outward form—and this spirit constitutes their
character. Of course then, we do not understand nor
believe a moral action, whilst we do not enter into its
spirit and meaning: and we can only enter into the
quality of its spirit, through the excitement of the cor-
responding susceptibilities of our own minds. In morals
we really know only what we feel. We may talk
about feelings which we never experienced, and
perhaps even correctly enough; but it is just asa blind
philosopher may talk about colours.

[ have here put the extreme case of the total destitution
of a particular susceptibility, and im such a case there
can be no doubt of the result. But it is ‘no less clear,
that, even when the destitution is only partial, there
must always be a relative proportion between the de-
sree of susceptibility possessed by the mind, and the
. capacity for understanding and believing in facts which
address these susceptibilities.

We see, then, that the impression which any object
makes on our minds, whatever that impression may be,
sums up and defines our knowledge and belief of. that
object. We ought then to guard against being de-
ceived by names. A number of men may receive
impressions from the same object, and all these im-
pressions may be different, and yet each of them will
give to his own impression, the common name of the
object which produced it. An indifferent hearer may,

   

PsEcy tat tbe ree tated

——yah
1 :

| vy F et Hi iH eos i a
G Hi i of vary i nate In abe ibes Heeveatcta latte 4 erehns is A re
a pas pi eetiaaat { zt : Reel
S Sad emailing aaa See SS ne a en ee a Me es

    
  
  
   
    
  
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

oe AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

when he listens to their story, suppose that they all
know and believe the same thing; but a judicious and
curious questioner might discover from their own
. mouths, that amongst the whole there are not two im-
i pressions alike. Compare, by way of a broad instance,
ee the belief of a moss-rose entertained by a blind man—a
man without the sense of smell—and a man in the full
exercise of his external senses. There are evidently
three different impressions made on these three minds ;
that is, there are three different beliefs; and yet there
is but one name given to the three, and that is, the
name of the object to which they all refer.

Every object is composed of many parts and quali-
ties, but all these subdivisions are summed up in the
name given to the object which is their aggregate, and
| he who uses the general name is presumed to imply all

the parts belonging to it. ‘Thus, a pillar of a hundred

feet in height is talked of as if it were one and indi-

visible, whereas it consists of an infinite number of

parts, the existence of each of which may be a distinct

subject of knowledge and belief. A blind man who

runs against it, knows and believes in a few square

feet of it; but he does not believe in the remaining

feet, for he has received no impression from them.

After he is informed of the dimensions of the pillar,

he believes in a quite different thing from what he did

before ; or rather, perhaps, to speak more correctly, he

believes in a number of things which he could not be-

lieve in before, because his mind had not come in con-
tact with them.

f In the same way, actions which combine a variety of

parts are commonly talked of as indivisible unities, al-

though each motive may be a distinct subject of know-

ledge and belief, and by its presence or absence make an

te on cre

po ee eeeAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 33

important change in the general impression. The name
remains the same, but the ideas are very different.

Let us now apply these general observations on faith
to Christian faith in particular. The objects set be-
fore us in the Gospel for our belief, are a series of facts
exhibiting the character of God, in elation to man. In
order, therefore, to believe them, we must receive on
our internal senses, impressions corresponding to this
moral meaning ; otherwise, although we may believe in
their external for m, we do not, and cannot believe in
their meaning, which constitutes their whole value and
importance to us as a revelation. Thus, if a fact is re-
vealed as an exhibition of divine love, and if I hear it
without perceiving this meaning, the fact is really lost
on me. Jf cannot be said to believe in it; for I have re-
ceived no impression corresponding to its real import,
on which I might pass a judgment either of belief or
disbelief.

The death of Christ, in which all the facts of the
Gospel meet as their centre, is described as an atone-
ment for the sins of the world, required by infinite
holiness, provided by infinite love. ‘ He, by the grace
of God, tasted death for every man.” ‘ He, the one,
bare the sins of the many.” ‘This marks God’s judg-
ment of human guilt. The punishment inflicted on the
representative, measures the deservings of those whose
place he filled. It was an act of justice. ‘Christ died
under the sentence of sin.” This is an address to the
conscience, to the sense of right and wrong; and it is
only through the information of the conscience that we
can comprehend it. It was an act of generous love, of
self-sacrifice. ‘ Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the pro-
pitiation for our sins.” It is not a mere picture, nor is
it a dictionary which can explain this to us, To un-Mee Fae

  

34 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

derstand it, our souls must come in contract with the
state of alienation and ruin from which the atonement
delivers, and with the compassion which planned it.
It is an easy matter to repeat words, and to repeat them
without any thought of denying their truth; and it is
no difficult matter to imagine the outward circum-
stances of that scene which was acted on Calvary,
without even the shadow of a doubt with regard to
them crossing the mind. But all the highest faculties
of the soul must be called forth in order even to forma
conception of the meaning of that declaration, “God
50 loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life.” Here the moral monitor within
us must recognise the nature of sin, and its evil desert.
The affections must strain themselves to comprehend
something of that wondrous love, with whith He so
loved us—our imagination must catch a glimpse of
eternity, and our prudential judgment must weigh the
two alternatives of perishing and everlasting life.
These principles are the great objects of faith, on ac-
count of which the facts are revealed, and without
which they would be mere matters of astonishment.

If we see these meanings in the facts, and if our
convictions embrace them in their true nature, we un-
derstand and believe the Gospel. Our Lord, in his
prayer for his disciples says, “this is life eternal to
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent ;” that is, the secret of eternal hfe, and
holiness and happiness, is to be found in these princi-
ples of the divine character, which have been mani-
fested in the work of Christ. The unmeasured love
which provided the Lamb for the burnt offering ; the
pure and awful holiness which required the atonement ;
the eternal imdentity of a departure from God, and aAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 30

departure from happiness; of a return to God, and a
return to happiness—this is the lesson of the cross.
Here we see the realization of Malachi’s e'lorious
vision; for here we see the splendour of the divine
character, the spiritual sun; and though it has many
rays, yet their combined light is love.

These truths constitute the Gospel, and they must
be understood in order to be believed, and felt in order
to be understood. A man without conscience, and
without affections, could not understand them, because
he could not fee] them ; and, if these faculties are un-
exercised, it comes much to the same thine.

A belief of the Gospel, then, comprehends not onl y
the impressions corresponding to the external facts of
the history, but also the impressions which correspond
to all the moral qualities and conditions therein attri-
buted to God and man. If the Gospel was made known
to us, that it might conform our characters to the
image of that God who is manifested in it, the perfec-
tion of our characters will depend on the perfection of
the impression which we receive from the Gospel.
And the perfection of that impression will depend on
our coming in contact with every part of the Gospel ;
and we only come in full contact with it, when those
affections which are addressed by it, are really excited
by it.

 

SECTION UL

On the Hinderances to Faith, and on the Mode in which
it is called into action by the Gospel.

A POLLUTED Conscience cannot receive a correct im-
pression of holy duty, and disordered affections cannot
receive a correct impression of holy love. A mind,

 

rt PSN to pw oeeee ee

ood36 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

therefore, in this state, cannot fully believe the Gospel.
This is the grand obstacle to faith in divine truth.
Were this obstacle once removed, other difficulties
would soon vanish.

This observation applies equally to those who were
eye witnesses of the events of the Saviour’s life, and to
those who have since heard or read the report of them.
{ am not speaking of the evidence on which the Gospel
is believed, but of belief itself We are too much ac-
customed, in a loose way, to oppose faith and sight to
each other, without considering what it is which is seen,
and what it is which is believed. Our eyes cannot see
a moral principle, although they may see the action in
which it is embodied. ‘The disciples and companions
of Christ, when upon earth, were called upon to ex
ercise faith, just as we are in the present time—and
the same causes which hindered their faith, hinder ours.
Their faith was exercised in receiving the interpreta-
tion of the events and actions which they witnessed.
That interpretation consisted in the delineation of the
moral government and character of God, and his judg-
ment on the character of man. This was evidently ad-
dressed to their moral feelings; and the accuracy of
the impression on their minds, and consequently of thei:
belief, depended entirely on the state of these feelings.
If they had no such feelings at all, they could not believe
at all. And in proportion to the strength and soundness
of these moral feelings, would be the correctness of their
understanding and their faith on the subject. It will
thus appear, that their situation with regard to the re-
ception of the Gospel, did not differ much from our own.
In both cases, that reception will be found to bear a cer-
tain proportion to the direction and the strength of the
moral feelings.

There is much of ignorance and self-deception in theAN ESSAY ON FAITH. ol

wonder so often expressed at the infidelity of the Jews,
which demands our serious consideration. They be-
lieved what they saw—they could not disbelieve it.
They said, “ this man doeth many miracles,”—but they
did not believe the spirit and meaning of what the Sa-
viour did, and that was the chief point. It may be thus
and it is thus with many now. Suppose that the outward
senses of a man were made capable of receiving, and
should actually receive an impression of that fact in the
divine nature, which is called the doctrine of the Trinity
—that man might be in reality a Socinian with this
impression fresh upon him, as readily as before it. The
meaning and spirit of the doctrine, is, that energy of
holy love which restores a ruined world by the atone-
ment of Christ, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Where
this meaning is not perceived and felt, it matters little
What name is taken. Socinianism may be virtually
taught, where its name is denounced, and Trinitarianism
may be most orthodoxly defended, where its spirit is
unknown or unloved.

No, it is not the bare unexplained fact which is the
object of Christian faith; nor is it any impression
which can be made on the eye alone, that can bring us
into communion with God. The inner faculties of our
soul must receive the impression; and in order to fit
them for this, they must be in some measure purified.
Jesus saw in the vain-glorious feelings of the Jews, a
bar to their belief of his doctrines; “How can ye be-
lieve,” says he, ** who receive honour one of another,
and seek not the honour which cometh from God only ?”’
John v. 44.

How often, in our intercourse with the world, do we
hear it said, “that such a man cannot estimate the cha-
racter of such another; that he cannot comprehend his
feelings?” And it is so. There is great diversity in

DEsco Se eee Ree

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

human characters and capacities. ‘There is a fervour
in the feelings of some, which colder spirits cannot
conceive, and therefore cannot believe. Oh! what
then shall we say of the highest impression which man
can have of the character of God? What heart can
conceive the fervour of that love wherewith he so loved
the world, as to give for it his only-begotten Son?
What notions of sin, or of justice, have we, that can
enable us to receive an adequate impression of the ne-
cessity of the sacrifice of Christ, in order that the par-
don of man might be reconciled with the honour of
God? No created mind can receive a full impression of
the Divine character,—the highest archangel cannot
look on the cross of Christ, as God looks on it,—how
much less can man, who isa worm! Perfect faith in a
history of high moral excellence, supposes moral fa-
culties in a hich state of power and exercise; for no
faculties except in that state are capable of receiving
such an impression,

A holy spirit is disposed to receive holy impressions,
and an unholy spirit is disposed to reject them, or rather
is incapable of receiving them.

Thus let us suppose that an angel had been kept ig-
norant of the work of atonement until now, and that
the Gospel were for the first time declared to him and
to a hardened sinner together. Oh, what a difference
would there be in their reception of it, and feelings
from it! With what humble and grateful rapture would
that holy being welcome and embrace this new and
glorious manifestation of his Father’s character! As he
dwelt and fed upon it, he would sensibly grow in love,
and holiness, and happiness. He would feel no diffi-
culty, no doubt on the subject; he would delight in God
with exceeding joy. And why would he be thus ready
to receive it as soon as he heard it? Because his af-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 39

fections had already been exercised by, and formed
upon, other manifestations of the Divine character;
and though this last work excelled them in clory, yet it
only carried into brighter display, principles which had
already been adored and loved by the heavenly hosts.
The same affections with which, from his creation, he
had regarded God, and which had been strengthened
by continual exercise, are addressed by the Gospel;
they are only called into more intense action ; they are
‘already tuned to this new song, only their pitch is lower.
But what reception does the sinner give it? Let each
of our hearts answer, how often, how obstinately we
have rejected it. The angel was happy before; this
new discovery only makes an addition to a happiness
which was already great; but we who were miserable,
or at least continually liable to misery,—we who if our
own deserts or strength were considered, had no other
prospect than misery—we, whose only hope of happiness
lay in this Gospel, we hear it with carlessness and in-
difference, perhaps with scorn and indignation ;—and
even if it has pleased God, of his abundant compassion
to force upon us some sense of its excellency, oh how
indolent have we been in the enjoyment of it! how
cold and forgetful in the expressions of our gratitude for
it! And why does this happen? What is the explana-
tion of this miserable and pitiable folly ? Our affections
have been so habitually directed to objects different from
and opposed to the character and will of God, that they
scarcely feel the attraction of their proper objects when
presented to them.

The affections of the angel’s mind have been so ha-
bituated to excitement from their proper objects—the
character of God, and his works and ways, as inter-
preted by Himself,—that they would feel no movement
from the presence of an improper object. His heart is40 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

so full of God, that it rejects every thing opposed to
him; whilst the hardened sinner’s heart is scarcely
stirred at all by the presence of a proper object for the
affections, and is so full of self and sin, that it requires
the hand of Omnipotence to force upon it the objects of
eternity. ‘The human mind is indeed so far like a mir-
ror, that impressions can only be made upon it by cor-
responding objects,—and that no effort of ours, with-
out the instrumentality of these objects, can make the
impressions; but in this respect it differs from a mir-
ror, that, by habit, it becomes increasingly susceptible
of impressions from any class of objects, and at last re-
fuses to receive any other. Observe the growth of ava-
rice, of ambition, and of sensual indulgence. Minds
long habituated to receive impressions from the objects
of these disordered affections, seem at last to yield
themselves entirely to them, and to refuse all other ex-
citement. The view of this law of our moral being
has something very striking and awful in it. Every
thought, every wish, every action, is making us more
accessible either to the invitations of heaven, or the
temptations of hell. 'The movements of our minds may
be forgotten by us, but they have left traces behind
them which may affect our eternal destiny. They do
not terminate in themselves—in their own rectitude, or
their own sin; they have strengthened some principle,
and weakened its opposite. Think whether that princi-
ple formsa part of the character of heaven or the charac-
ter of hell. If it be a part of the character of heaven,
an advance has been made in overcoming the enmity
of the heart; and if it be a part of the character of hell,
unbelief is more confirmed, because the mind is less
open to impressions from the truth. The affections,
when habitually misdirected, clothe the soul as with
impenetrable armour against all assaults of the truthAN ESSAY ON FAITH. Al

it is this armour which Isaiah describes, when he pre-
dicts the rejection of Christ by the Jews: “ Make the
heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and convert, and be healed,” Isaiah vi.
10. This passage is quoted in the New Testament by
St. John, who attributes the unbelief of the people to
the state of mind here described, John xii. 39, 40.
What then? Is faith the result of character, instead
of being the cause and the former of character? It is
both. The objects of faith do not create faculties in the
mind, which had no previous existence there; but they
call mto action, and direct and strengthen hose which
they find there. The greatest variety of colours pre-
sented to a blind man cannot give him sight; but if
they are presented to a man who sees, they will exer-
cise his sight, and give him a power of discriminating
their varieties, which is inconceivable to those who have
not been trained to it. Soalso an estimable object pre-
sented to a mind destitute of moral feelings, cannot
create esteem or love; but if the faculty be there,
though in a weak and languid state from want of exer-
cise, its proper object will in some measure excite and
call it forth, and by exercise strengthen it. This isthe
only way of correcting and strengthening our faculties,
either intellectual or moral. If they have been allowed to
lie dormant, their exciting causes must be presented to
them—if they have been active, but directed to wrong
objects, ee must be brought in contact with their pro-
per and legitimate objects. The impression made by
these objects, may be at first very weak and imperfect,
and such of necessity will also be the belief of them ; but
by exercise the faculties will gain their proper bent,
and will increase in strength, a ma the faith which is at-
tached to their impressions will keep pace with them.
pz

od

Fer yee ot te ce oreee teraAN ESSAY ON FAITH.

How can a feeling which has a wrong direction be
turned into its proper channel, except by having a pro-
per exciting object presented to it? The superior
attraction of this object may not at first be felt, but
it will produce some efiect; it will act at least asa
disturbing force ; it will shake the supremacy of the
former object, and prepare the way for its own more
cordial reception upon the next occasion.— Where we
cannot use mechanical force, the only way that we have
of operating upon steel filings is by a magnet—and
if they are detained by magnetic attraction in the
place from which we wish to remove them, all that we
can do, is to find out and apply a stronger magnet.
The filings cannot be addressed in any other way. So
we cannot, as it were, lay hands upon our feelings,
and force them in what directions we think fit ; they do
not feel any coercion of this kind; we must use mag-
netic influence ; we must apply a more proper and a
stronger exciting cause. The understanding of the
true excellence of this new object increases by degrees
as it is exercised, and faith alone with it. Thusit was
that “* Abraham’s faith wrought with his works, and by
works was faith made perfect.” James ii. 22. Abra-
ham’s faith in the character of God was different at last
from what it was at first. Every view which had been
given him of the Divine perfections, had tended to ex-
pand his capacities, to correct and strengthen his moral
feelings, and thus to fit him for more true and more live-
ly impressions of that character in future. Ashe grew
in holiness, he could better understand the meaning and
excellence of the Divine holiness; and as he grew in
love, he could form more adequate conceptions of the
Divine love. And thus would his faith be as the shin-
ing light, which shineth more and more unto the per-
tect day.AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 43

The holy love of God is the attribute most glorified
in the atonement. This is the crown; this gives its
character to the whole work. The more polluted and
depraved therefore a mind is, the less capable is it of
understanding and believing the Gospel.

And yet the Gospel was sent into the world that the
polluted and depraved might be saved by the faith of it,
both from the condemnation and the power of sin.
And well is it fitted for their case. Even in the most
polluted and the most depraved, there are feelings still
remaining which, in the hour of sorrow or fear, may
melt to the voice of kindness and compassion. ‘There
are in the store-house of Providence, events which will
bring the stoutest heart to a stand, and force it to feel
its weakness—and then the charge of guilt may refuse
any longer to be despised, and the gracious invitations
of an Almighty Father may not be disregarded.

The Gospel is sent to our whole race, and therefore
it is addressed to every variety of character. Every
man has some accessible point in his heart, and to every
such paint is there a special message sent from heaven
in the Gospel. 'The moral faculties are no doubt dis-
eased to a great degree ; but though diseased they are
not eradicated ; and though generally directed to ob-
jects beneath them, and hurtful to them, they are not
entirely dead to their true objects. There are great dif-
ferences amongst men in this respect, as well from ori-
ginal constitution as from habit. Some spirits are so
finely strung, that they seem instinctively to vibrate to
every highand generous tone, whilst others seem ut-
terly destitute of any such sensations. In some, the
conscience has suffered the greatest degradation, and
in others the affections. All are turned from God, but
they are turned in different degrees and in different
ways. Now the Gospel is just suited to this diversity.

ad

  
   
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
 

web clesens et!44 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

And as in external nature, if the sense of smell is gone,
the rose may still be presented to the eye—and if that
also is gone, its structure and form may be learned by
the touch—so in the spiritual system, if the imposing
voice of holiness, bringing the charge of guilt against the
sinner, fails to awaken his sleeping conscience, his un-
derstanding may still be accessible to the reasonable-
ness of the system, or his affections to its kindness. I
do not mean to say that one of these impressions will
supply the want of the others—that an impression of
the reasonableness of Christianity will fill the place of
an impression of its love or its holiness, but simply
that it may prepare the way for them. by bringing the
whole subject into near consideration. The great mat-
ter is, that the mind, with all its faculties, should come
within the touch and excitement of the Gospel, and it
is of small importance where its influence commences,
or in what order it advances. We have seen that it
addresses the higher faculties; but it often happens that
these are so blunted and obstinately misdirected, that
they scarcely stir to the warning or inviting vojce. It
is therefore well becoming the wisdom and the compas-
sion of God, to fit the address also to other principles
which are less liable to disease or decay. He has ac-
cordingly, directed it to the very elements of our na-
ture—to that instinct, which, though misdirected, con-
tinues always strong and sensitive. I mean the prin-
ciple of self-preservation and the desire of happiness.
This principle is a most powerful one. Joy and sor-
row are mere expressions of self-love, and these are
our ruling feelings, and maintain their sway most uni-
versally and constantly. They are intimately con-
nected with the sources of our love and hatred, our
hope and fear. We love and hope for that in which
we find joy; we dislike, and avoid, and fear, that inAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 45

which we find sorrow. These feelings exist, and are
in exercise, in every mind; and the character depends
on the objects by which they are excited.

The form in which the Gospel was announced by the
angel to the shepherds of Bethlehem, marks its distin-
guishing characteristic to be joy, and points to these
natural instincts as the feelings to which it is addressed.
‘“ Behold,” said the heavenly messenger, “I bring you
eood tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;
for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Sa-
viour, who is Christ the Lord.” That promised seed
had appeared who was destined to roll back the dark
tide of human things, to bruise the serpent’s head, and
to break that reign of sin, and sorrow, and death, under
which the whole creation had so long groaned—He had
come who was to retrieve a hundredfold the loss of
that first paradise, bringing good out of evil, and life
out of death, and who was to Jay the foundations of
a kingdom which shall never be removed, but shall grow
and expand through unending ages. ‘The promise was
most general ; it was given when sin and sorrow were
first known on earth, and it was held forth as a remedy
for both. And now the fulfilment had commenced. It
was indeed a message of great joy. There may be,
and assuredly are, many dark souls that could see no
triumph in a deliverance from sin; but where is that
being of our blood who could rofeain from joy at the
prospect of seeing sorrow, and pain, and death, abolished
for ever? The message then, although it speaks high
things to a spiritual intelligence, addresses also the na-
tural feelings.

Behold these feelings, and then contemplate the glo-
rious character of God ; and Jet us join in praise to Him
who hath condescended, through such obscure avenues,
to introduce the light of that character into the soul of

Sd

>»

Past tr eatee tee46 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

man. If the Gospel addressed merely our generous
feelings, our love of what is right and excellent, our
sense of what is beautiful and lovely, it would be a very
different thing from what it is; it would be suited to
another order of beings, and with regard to us, would
scarcely be deserving the name of glad tidings. But
blessed be the name of our God—He hath addressed us
in that character which cleaves closest to us—He hath
spoken to us as base and polluted, but above all, as sel-
fish beings. He meets the natural cry of misery, and
the weary and undefined cravings of the unsatisfied
spirit. His loudest and most general invitations, both
in the Old and New Testaments, are addressed, not to
the moral, but. to the natural feelings; to the sense of
misery, and the desire of happiness. « Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,” Isaiah ly. 1.
Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest,” Matt. xi. 28. “ Whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely,” Rey.
xxu. 17. At this despised door of nature the Saviour
knocks, and through it He deigns to enter. He came
to bind up the broken heart, and to comfort all that
mourn. And many come, as it seems, led by the mere
instinctive longing after enjoyment, and try the Gos-
pel as a last and forlorn experiment, after the failure
of every other attempt to obtain happiness. And oh,
what an unlooked-for discovery do they make! he who
had found no resting-place in the world, and who had
wandered through it in quest of some object, however
insignificant, that might interest him, and for a mo-
ment at least remove the sense of that hopeless languor
which lay dead upon his heart, finds now an object
which his widest desires cannot grasp, even filial
munion with God
through a magni

com-
here, and the full enjoyment of Him

ficent eternity, on the very thresholdAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 47

of which he already stands. He who has felt. himself
too weak to resist the storms and roughness of life,
learns to lean with confidence on Omnipotence. He
whose conscience of sin has made life a burden to him,
and at the same time has taught him to look with a
vazue horror to futurity, applies to that fountain which
was opened in the house of David for sin and for un-
cleanness, and he has peace with God, through faith in
Jesus Christ.

The joy of the Gospel, though it may be at first
sought and embraced in gratification of natural instinct,
contains in it the principles of the Christian character.
At first it may appear mere deliverance from misery,
and in this view it attracts the miserable; but as the
means by which this deliverance was effected are seen,
its moral power develops itself, and that Spirit whose
unfelt influence led them here for comfort, opens the
eyes of their understandings to discern the truth, and
prepares their affections to receive it in the love of it.

Joy precedes love. We must take delight in an ob-
ject before we can love it. We must take delight in
God’s gifts before we can know them to be benefits, or
feel grateful for them. We must take delight in his
character before we can love Him. But when we
perceive that the safety and happiness of our souls for
eyer rest upon the character of God as manifested in the
cross of Christ, we must take delight in that manifes-
tation, and in the character so manifested; and thus
we learn to love them. And when we see the faithful-
ness and justice of God, formerly so alarming to our
guilty consciences, now not merely smiling on us, but
actually becoming the foundation of assured hope
through the satisfaction of the Saviour’s blood, we must
delight in them, and this delight will teach us love.
This love and this delight will grow more and more48 AN ESSAY ON@FAITH.

disinterested. ‘The glory of God will be contemplated
with a rapture unmixed with selfish thoughts. “Thy
loving kindness is better than life,” says David, in the
generous spirit of a child of God. Thy gifts are good
and worthy of thyself, but still that love which bestowed
them is far dearer to my heart than they—without that
love even thy gifts would appear poor to me. The love
of God produces likeness to God, and thus the joy of the
Lord is the strength of his people.

All the parts of Divine truth are linked together, so
that if one part is received, there is a preparation of
heart for the rest. They are not united merely
parts of an intellectual system, though they have this
union—they are united also by a sympathy between the
feelings excited by the objects which the truth presents.
Thus, if I believe that the sufferings and death of the
incarnate Deity were required to expiate sin, and that
he submitted to this for our sakes, my reason is prepared
for the conclusion, no doubt, that sin is a very hateful
and fearful thing ; and this is the connexion of the two
doctrines as parts of an intellectual system. But there
is still a far more important connexion between the
feelings produced by the two doctrines. If my mind is
impressed by the love of Christ in dying for me, the
sense of his overwhelming kindness and compassion
will not only call forth my gratitude, which is its direct
consequence, but it will also fit me for receiving im-
pressions from other congenial objects, such as the ho-
liness of God, my own unworthiness s, the claims of my
fellow-creatures on my benevolence, and the spiritual
happiness of heaven. Even so also joy in the atone-
ment, merely as the means of escape from misery, is
blessed by the spirit of God, to bring forth the fruit of
holy love, to the praise of the elory of his ee in the
hardest and the foulest heart. The joy of a free de-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 49

liverance softens and expands the heart. It is thus
prepared to look at the blood which was its ransom,
with tenderness and gratitude—and thus it is led to re-
joice in the love of Him whose blood was shed. There
are many entrances through which the Spirit intro-
duces his powerful weapon, some of them, to human
reason, more likely than others; but where he works,
there is success; and without his influence, the most
probable means fail. We only know so much concern-
ing the nature of that influence, as may humble us, and
keep us in a continual state of dependence on Divine
aid. We see thus far, however, concerning the mode
in which it is applied, that God works upon our minds
by the operation of the truth on those natural faculties
which he has bestowed on us.

The man who is continually exercising his faith in
those truths which he knows, is daily becoming fitter

to receive other truths; whilst the man whose affec-.,

tions are directed to wrong objects, is daily becoming
less susceptible of impressions from right objects, and is
thus becoming more and more hardened in unbelief.

SECTION IV.

The Mutual Dependence of Faith and Sanctification
on each other for Growth.

Ir appears, then, that the belief of any one moral or
spiritual truth operating on the mind, prepares it for
the readier reception of any other, because it exercises
the same class of affections, and thus increases their
susceptibility of impressions from a farther revelation.
It was to be expected, therefore, that those Jews who

E
1
A4

——_

     
 
  
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
    
 
  
 
   

Pept te eer ts50 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

had received the truth communicated through their
own dispensation, would welcome the doctrine of
Christ; and that those who did not believe in the
spiritual sense of their own Scriptures, would reject the
true Messiah when he appeared. Thus Simeon and
Anna, and those to whom she spoke, and John the Bap-
tist, and all who understood and believed the spiritual
nature of the Messiah’s kingdom, believed in Jesus
Christ—whilst those whose affections had been unex-
ercised by the spiritual character of God, and occupied
by worldly expectations, were prepared to reject him.
Our Lord seems to refer to this distinction in the
tenth chapter of John. Those whose affections had
been rightly exercised by the truth already revealed,
knew the voice of Christ whenever they heard it.
They were his sheep. They were prepared to re-
ceive him, not merely by their belief in the prophe-
cies relating to him, but by having the temper of
their minds harmonized to the spirit of his doctrine.
In the 16th verse of the chapter, he may either allude
to those in the Gentile world, who had, by the teaching
of the Spirit, received that truth which is revealed in
the works and ways of God, in the testimony of con-
science, and had thus been prepared for greater light ;
or to those in general beyond the Jewish boundary,
whose hearts should afterwards be opened to attend to
the Gospel. In Acts xiii. 48, there appears to be a re-
ference made to the distinction above mentioned. The
translation does not give the meaning of the original.
We surely are not to suppose that all the Gentiles in
that place, who ever were to embrace the Gospel did
so at that time, and that their number was then sum-
med and shut up. The spirit of the passage would re-
quire some such phrase as ‘instructed in,” or “ pre-
pared for” eternal life, substituted in place of “ordain-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 51]

ed.” The meaning seems to be this: Those of the
Gentiles who, by attending the Jewish synagogue, had
learned the doctrine of eternal life through an atone-
ment, or who, without this advantage, had been con-
vinced that they were sinners, and must be saved, if
saved at all, by free grace, embraced the Gospel when-
ever they heard it, as the development, and fulfilment,
and harmonizing explanation of those truths which they
had already partially received.

This view of the subject does not at allunterfere with
that most precious truth, that the work of Christ is a
foundation of hope broad enough and strong enough for
the chief of sinners, and that the spiritual medicine of
the Gospel is adequate to the cure of the most desperate
moral maladies. We daily see instances of the Gospel
being pertinaciously rejected by those whose amiable
affections would lead us to anticipate for it a very dif-
ferent reception; as we often find it embraced by those
whose tone of mind seemed most averse to it. And we
are hence taught to look to the great Disposer of hearts.
But still there is a certain fitness in some minds for the
reception of the Gospel, beyond what there is in others.
Thus a conviction of sin naturally prepares the way to
receive, with eagerness, the good news of forgiveness.
A conviction of the insufficiency of this world to give
permanent happiness, is certainly a preparation of mind
for entertaining a higher hope. The explanation of this
fact is that in all such cases the truth has been partially
received already ; and the affections exercised even bya
fragment of the Divine will, are prepared to receive im-
pressions from other manifestations of it. We may,
with humble confidence, trust to the Divine promise,
“that those who seek shall find, as an encouragement
to us in our search after more spiritual light: and we
may have this confidence confirmed, when we considerae AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

the provision which has been made in the constitution
of our minds for its fulfilment.

The man who walks faithfully under the influence
of one moral truth, becomes necessarily more qualified
for receiving a farther measure of truth. Jor it is the
will and appointment of God, that by faithful action,
and the steady exercise of the affections, under the in-
fluence of known truth, or capacity for moral know-
ledge, and consequently for believing moral truth,
should be expanded. No one is justified in sitting still
until he knows more. Let present duty be influenced
by the truth which is at present known. But then it
must be a truth; for otherwise the principles opposed
to the Gospel are exercised and strengthened by it. A
man who performs the external duties of life strictly,
who is a liberal contributor to the necessities of others,
and who attends divine ordinances regularly, with the
expectation expressed or understood of thus creating to
himself a claim on the favour of God, and a plea for the
pardon of past sins, is hourly strengthening a principle
in the most direct opposition to the cross of Christ, and
is hourly becoming more inaccessible to the glad tidings
of salvation. It is quite absurd to recommend to such a
man to go on in his course, with the hope that his faith-
ful walking will be rewarded by farther light. The
farther he advances on that road, so much the deeper
is he involyed in condemnation and darkness, and the
more unlikely is it that he will ever return.

The truths which must be received, with respect to
man, are his guilt and helplessness; and, with respect
to God, are his holiness and his mercy. ‘The man who
believes in these truths, perhaps, has not the joy of the
Gospel, but he believes in the elements of the Gospel ;
and when his affections are exercised by them, they are
exercised in conformity with the spirit of the Gospel.AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 53

But the Gospel itself is as intelligible as these its ele-
ments, and as intelligible also as any precept in the
moral law. Its address to our natural principle of self-
preservation is surely simpler than any moral exhorta-
tion can be—and the manifestation of the love of God,
and of his abhorrence of sin, in the cross of Christ, is
surely as intelligible as the commandment to love God,
or the declaration that “cursed is every one who con-
tinueth not in all things that are written in the words
of the law to do them.” Why then may not the Gos-
pel be preached, as well as the law, upon any occasion ?
And why is it generally thought more advisable to
teach children, and the weak, and the ignorant, rather
to know their duties out of the law, than to love their
duties out of the Gospel? There is something very in-
consistent with reason in supposing, that abstract pre-
ceptive moral truths can be more intelligible, or more
easily received, than the same moral truths, when ex-
emplified in the Gospel history. The same faculties
qualify us for receiving impressions from both. There is,
however, a difference in the impressions made in these
two ways. ‘The impression received from the precept
is necessarily a cold, and joyless, and lifeless impression,
because its object addresses merely the sense of duty.
Whilst the Gospel not only addresses the sense of duty,
but makes an irresistible appeal to every feeling of self-
love, and every principle of gratitude and generosity.
It is very possible that a man may be in a state of
confirmed hardness, and darkness, and unbelief, and yet
have what may appear to himself and his friends very
clear views of the Gospel. It has been already fre-
quently repeated, that although moral actions are truly
understood and believed only when there is an impres-
sion on the mind significant of the moral principle con-
tained in them, yet their external form can be believed,
E254 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

and talked about, when their principle is not at all per-
ceived. ‘Thus, the outward form of the facts of the
Christian history may be believed implicitly; and
yet if the love of God is nct perceived, and the free-
ness and undeservedness of the redemption through his
Son,-—the Gospel is not believed. But if actions are
liable in this way to misinterpretation, words are even
more so. A man may say, that he believes the history
of the Saviour, and that he receives it as a manifesta-
tion of the love of God, without being in the slightest
degree hypocritical, and yet he may not be a believer.
Love is a word symbolical of a particular state of feel-
ing. A meaning, therefore, must be attached to it by
every individual corresponding to his own state of feel-
ing. If his state of feeling is disordered, of course the
meaning attached to this word will be a wrong one.
But it often happens that we do not attach to our words
even such meanings as our minds are capable of attach-
ing to them. The meaning is perhaps a complex idea,
and we cannot allow ourselves time to receive a full
impression of it; whereas the word is short and conve-
nient, and perfectly answers all purposes of conversa-
tion or reasoning. We accordingly use the word, and
leave the meaning for another occasion. Now, the
Gospel is addressed, not to our conversational or argu-
mentative powers, but to our moral principles and na-
tural feelings; and therefore it is not really received,
unless the impression of its moral meaning is actually
made on the mind. And let each one think for him-
self, how often this blessed truth has passed over his
mind, and has left behind it no more trace of holi-
ness, than the foot of Christ did on the ground of
Judea. Oh! the waters that proceed from this foun-
tain are deadly waters, and many there are who drink
thereat! Philosophical thinking minds are very apt, un-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 55

consciously, to fall into this error, especially such as
fill the office of religious teachers, and most difficult it
is to escape from its paralyzing habit and influence.

Who is there, even amongst serious thinkers, that
does not often feel horrified at the lightness and un-
movedness with which he can speak or write that name
which represents the eternal Majesty of heaven, in con-
versation called religious, or in private study called
theological! Could indifference, or improper warmth,
or a vain desire of victory, find place in a mind, to
which the idea of such an object as God was really
present? Impossible! And yet how often are such
feelings in the mind, when that word is in the mouth!
It is evident in such a case, that the great thing is not
believed at the time. What is the impression on the
mind? None corresponding to the mighty object as-
suredly ; the word only has impressed the mind as a
logical datum. It is no doubt-most convenient for the
intercourse of life, and for the purposes of conversation
and reasoning, to have such symbolical abbreviations
to represent our ideas; but it is a dearly bought con-
venience, if it cheats us out of the reality of heaven, by
enabling us to converse about it, without thinking ‘or
feeling what it is.

Let the reader pause here and ask himself, how
much of his religion is of this kind—how far his faith
is conversant with words, and how far with things—
how far it rests in mere symbols, and how far it em-
braces the spirit and meaning. A poor, ignorant,
naked savage, who knows and feels so much as this,
that he is a sinner, that God hates sin and yet has
mercy on the sinner, knows and believes more of the Gos-
pel, that the mostacute and most orthodox theologian,
whose heart has never been touched by the love of God.
The purest heart has the most correct faith, because it56 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

is susceptible of the truest impressions from holy love.
It knows best what holy love means, and therefore it
can believe best. Clear views of the Gospel do not
consist in having our logical lines all drawn accurately
from premises to conclusion, but in having distinct and
vivid impressions of the moral facts of the Gospel, in
all their meaning, and all their importance.

There is an aphorism quoted by that holy and hea-
venly-minded man Archbishop Leighton, but from what
author I do not recollect, which, under the form of pa-
radox, contains most sober and valuable counsel: “ If
you would have much faith, love much: and if you
would have much love, believe much.” We cannot
love unless we discern amiableness, and this we can
only do by the light of love. ‘There isno puzzle in this.
Every day we see cases analogous to it in common
life. A man whose stomach has been ruined by artifi-
cial and highly exciting food, has no appetite for plain
wholesome nourishment, and yet the only way to re-
cover his appetite, is to take this plain nourishment.
This food has a natural suitableness to his appetite, and
his appetite has a natural desire after such food, al-
though that desire, from habitual misdirection, feels
little excitement from it. As he takes the food, however,
his appetite gets better, and as his appetite gets better,
he takes more food. Thus the food and the appetite
act and react upon each other, till the man’s health is
restored. ven so a diseased soul has no appetite for
the truths of the Gospel, and yet nothing but that truth
can restore it to health. As the soul improves in health,
its desire after its proper food increases; that medici-
nal food gives additional health to the spiritual system,
and this additional health is accompanied by an increase
of desire after the truth.

Clear views of the character of God can exist onlyAN ESSAY ON BAITH. Od

in minds whose affections are pure and strong, and
properly directed; and in perfect consistency with
this, and as deeply rooted in the necessity of things, is
the fact, that the affections can only be purified and
strengthened, and rightly directed, by being brought
in contact with clear views of the character of God.
Thus, perfect faith supposes perfect sanctification, and
perfect sanctification supposes perfect faith. What
else is the meaning of a holy mind, than that it de-
lights in and feeds on holy things? They are wrong
who suppose, that the sanctification of a soul consists
simply in the truth’s abiding in it—and they also are
wrong who suppose that a soul can be sanctified by any
other means. An unholy soul has little susceptibility
of impressions from holy objects; and although they
have a natural suitableness to its affections, yet it is
scarcely moved or stirred, when in contact with them;
and when absent from them, feels no desire after them.
Whereas a holy soul, in their absence, longs after them,
and in their presence is increasingly susceptible of
impressions from them; and is at the same time in-
creasingly unsusceptible of impressions from their op-
posites.

This sanctification of the heart js evidently a pro-
gressive work; but the progress may be more or less
rapid in different persons. One may advance more in
an hour than another in a long life. An indolent appli-
cation to the truth can produce but little sanctification,
and so faith cannot increase. An admission of impres-
sions from improper objects, deadens the affections to-
wards the truth, and so faith retrogrades. Wilful sin
blinds the understanding, and confirms the affections in
their wrong bent, and in their insensibility to the Gos-
pel, and so faith seems to die. The mercy of God, by8 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

the visitations of providence and the strivings of the
Spirit, may keep the spark from utter extinction ;
but there is little progress made, little conformity to
the will of God, and little enjoyment of his presence
and favour. But when a man feels his danger, and
perceives the necessity of salvation in its full urgency,
he is prepared to yield to the Gospel mould ; he is con-
vinced that his eternal all rests on his truth; he there-
fore clings to it; and the closeness of his grasp insures
the depth and truth of the impression on his heart.
We may believe that the spirit of an infant early re-
moved from this world, a trophy of the cross, and car-
ried to heaven, will be at once impressed by the beau-
ties and glories of the Divine character, and conformed
to the same image by the knowledge of Him who is
the spirit and meaning of the Gospel. But even in
heaven there must be a progressive advancement.
Greater knowledge of God will produce greater resem-
blance to him, and greater resemblance to him will
increase the capacity of knowing him. It is the same
on earth. A free and general pardon is proclaimed
from heaven to the sinful children of men; through the
blood of atonement, a channel which displays all the
perfections of God. ‘The heart of man is naturally
opposed to the holiness of the Divine character ; and
therefore, until that character is seen to be in truth
our only safety, our only sure happiness for time and
eternity, we reject the proclamation. As soon, how-
ever, as we feel our danger and misery, and see the
safety and happiness guaranteed in the Divine charac-
ter, as displayed in the cross of Christ, we listen to the
proclamation with joy, and we come at the same time
under the shade of its protection, and under the opera-
tion of its sanctifying power. And then the work ofAN ESSAY ON FAITH. o9 | |

grace advances, just in proportion to the earnestness
and constancy with which we cleave to and abide in i
the truth. i.
We see, then, that as the mind dwells on this great
theme, and as the affections are more exercised by its
wonders, there will be a gradual dilatation of the whole
moral system—that lighter and feebler impressions
will give place to deeper and stronger—that the exter-
nal symbols of words and actions will become more and
more identified with the mighty realities of God and
eternity—that religion, instead of being an interrupted
seeking after God, will become an unbroken commu-
nion with him, a conformity to his image, and a parti-
cipation of his joy. The lower orders of intelligent
beings will thus be gradually pressing upwards in the
scale of spiritual excellence, and fillmge the places
which have been just left by the higher—and the
whole family of God, led by this glorious light, will,
through eternity, be advancing nearer to their Father.

 

SECTION V. |
The same Subject continued.

We shalJl be saved from much perplexity and error
in our inquiries into the nature and exercise of faith,
by keeping in mind what is its design or end. Weare
not commanded to believe merely for the sake of be-
lieving, or to show our ready submission to the will of
God ; but because the objects which are revealed to us
for our belief; have a natural tendency to produce a |
most important and blessed change on our happiness and
our characters. Every object which is believed by us,
operates on our characters according to its own nature.60 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

If, therefore, we have taken a wrong view of revelation,
that wrong view will operate upon us, and produce a
bad effect on our characters. This shows the import-
ance of a correct knowledge of the truth contained in
revelation.

A man’s character is formed by his habitual impres-
sions or prevalent objects of thought and feeling. Let
us suppose a person of good dataral affections to have his
mind occupied continually by the history of an injurious
fraud which he believes to have been practised against
him on some occasion. It is impossible that he can escape
being miserable, and becoming morally depraved. His
bad passions, by bemg constantly excited, must grow
in strength and in susceptibility of similar impressions,
and his happier affections, by being unexercised, must

fade and die. Let us again suppose a man with less
amiable natural qualities, whose life or fortune had
been at one time saved by the self-sacrificing generosity
ofa friend. If this event makes such an impression on
him, as to be more present to his thoughts than any
other, it cannot fail of softening and improving his cha-
racter, and increasing his happiness. His good affec-
tions are thus continually exercised, and must, there-
fore be continually gaining strength, whilst bad passions
are at the same time displaced. Of those who have
acquired the character of misanthropes, probably nine
out of ten have, like Timon, been men of generous
dispositions, who, having been deceived in friendship,
have ever after looked on fair professions as the sym-
bols of dishonest intentions. ‘Their feelings of con-
tempt and hatred, and wounded pride, being thus con-
tinually exercised by this unfortunate belief, the whole
frame of their character has been rumed, and their
peace of mind destroyed. And it is possible that, if we
could look into the hearts of men, and trace their history,AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 61

ve might find some of the brightest examples of bene-
volence amongst those whose natural dispositions were
most opposite to it, but who had allowed the history of
the Redeemer’s love so to abide in them, that it had
softened and changed their hearts, and healed their dis-
eased affections. If, then, the importance of the Gos-
pel is perceived, it will occupy the mind much; and if it
does so, it will give the faculties a right direction, and
keep them in healthful exercise.

There are many who consider the atonement by
Christ merely as a means of procuring the pardon of
sin. But this is a very limited and erroneous view of
the subject. Its relation to holiness and obedience, is
as near as its relation to pardon. It contains a medi-
cine for the mind, and a direct, and fitting, and salutary
object for all its faculties. What poor shrunken
things the minds of men in general are! our noblest
powers are, for the most part, either left altogether
without an object, or directed to wrong ones. Far from
being kept in ennobling and worthy employment, to the
stretching and unfolding of their high capacities, and
the fulfilment of the glorious destinies for which they
were bestowed, they are forced to contract and narrow
themselves, in order to approach and embrace the pal-
try objects to which they are most unequally mated.
The conscience, by being directed merely to external
duties and social ceremonies, becomes blind to the ex-
cellence of spiritual truth ; the affections, by being at-
tached solely to created things, become polluted, and in-
troduce tumult and disorder into the mind, because
they can find no fitting rest; and the principle of pru-
dence is degraded down to ambition, and avarice, and
every meanness, because it is not taught to look to God
as the source of all real happiness. This disordered
state of the mind constitutes its misery, and assuredly
F2 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

also constitutes much of the punishment of sin. A
pardon, which left this disorder unremedied, would
leave our punishment unremoved. External and
judicial inflictions might be withdrawn or remitted,
but the mind would still continue to be its own tor-
mentor, its own hell. The pardon, to be adequate to
our wants, should heal this spiritual disorder. ‘The dis-
order consists in the misdirection of the faculties to
improper and hurtful objects; the cure, therefore, must
consist in leading them back, and fixing them on their
true objects. This is the great design of the Gospel.
In the history of the atonement, the character of God
is set before us, as the healthful, and satisfying, and
expanding object of all our faculties. ‘The conscience
is enlightened, as it contemplates the majestic specta-
cle of the Deity, veiling as it were His omnipotence
before the claims of duty, and merging his high prero-
gative of sovereignty in the qualities of justice and
mercy. I may be permitted to speak the language of
human feeling on this subject, so that I speak humbly.
The revelation is addressed to human thought and hu-
man feeling; and a superstitious dread of approaching
it or scrutinizing it, though not so impious as a light
familiarity, is still a sin against its purpose and its use.

To speak, then, in the language of men; God, as far
as our thoughts can carry, could have pardoned sin
without an atonement; His right of sovereignty and
his mercy were both infinite. But it was the Holy
God who was acting, and his actions are parts of His
character—emanations of His nature. He cannot but
express himself in them. And, as he hates sin, even
when he pardons the sinner, so His action expressed
this union of sentiments; and the same fact which pro-
claimed mercy condemned sin. There is a glory and
a sublimity of moral worth in this character, which,AN ESSAY ON FAITH, 63

When contemplated, must vivify the conscience, and
raise its tone, and give edge and weight to its approba-
tion of right and its condemnation of wrong. And
what shall we say of this wondrous theme, as an object
for the affections. We can go no farther than to quote
the apostle, ‘ Herein is love.” And when the affections
are attracted, think what it is which attractsthem. It
is not a kindness merely; it is a high and holy kind-
ness—it is a wise kindness—it is an eternal kindness.
{t is the perfection of moral beauty, and uncreated love-
liness, which, whilst it expands the affections purifies
and tranquillizes them. In like manner, self-love, or the
prudential principle, finds its object and its repose in
the atonement. For there is revealed in it an unas-
sailable security under the shadow of the Almighty,
and an eternity of unexpressed joy in the heavenly city
promised under the seal of the blood of Christ. And
what has the world to offer in rivalry with these things,
even in the judgment of the most calculating selfish-
ness?

Thus it is that the mind is healed by faith in the
atonement. Our reason comes in contact with the
wisdom of God—our hopes with His promises—our de-
sires with His perfections, and the mysterious imagin-
ings of our hearts with His infinity. And virtue goes
out of Him, and heals those who touch Him. The
Gospel then ought not to be considered as a matter of
veneration too sacred to be touched, not as a mere history
of miraculous occurrences, not as a subject-of curious
speculation, but as a repository of the great principles
of eternity which God has revealed to us, that upon
them and in them we may stretch, and mould, and im-
bue the faculties of our being. These principles are
high existences which have been always, and will al-
ways be. The facts in which they haye been embodied64 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

and manifested passed in time; they were great and
wonderful, but they have passed—they have passed,
but the principles which they represented remain as
young and vigorous as in the morning of creation.
They know no age; they are the thoughts of Him
whose thoughts are from everlasting. Whilst we con-
verse with them we converse with Him; we escape
from the narrow and dark reign of time and of decay ;
we cross the limit which divides the things which
perish from the things which endure; we are present
with all the past and with all the future—we mingle
with eternity. It is by contact and converse with these
imperishable and incorruptible essences, that the soul
is purified, and invigorated, and regenerated, through
all her powers. It is this contact alone which can do
it, and therefore any faculty which does not share in
this communion remains unhealed and unblessed.

But this intercourse with the truth, in order to pro-
duce its proper effect, must be constant and zealous.
Unless it is much present to our affections, unless it
abides in us, it cannot influence our characters. And
unless we feel its importance, it will not abide in us.
That Christianity is not worthy of the name, which just
chooses a particular day in the week, or a particular
hour in the day, for itself, and leaves the rest of the
time and the duties of life to the influence of other
principles. It ought to be in us as a well of water
springing up unto eternal life; its joy, its hopes, its
love, should be ever cheering the heart, purifying the
affections, and stimulating the conduct. It ought to
be the root from which the duties of life, in all their
branches, should derive their life and vigour. The
great truths of revelation should be ever present. with
us, that we may be assimilated to their principles, and
preserved from opposite impressions. We are invitedAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 65

to walk with God; to walk in the light of his counte-
nance ; to take him for our portion, and hiding-place, and
exceeding joy; and under the shadow of his wings
to make our refuge until all calamities be overpast.
He has been pleased to illustrate his relation to us by
all the most endearing ties of nature, that we may
more easily and constantly realize his presence. He
has presented ‘himself even to our senses, clothed in
our nature, walking and conversing as a man amongst
men, fulfilling all the offices and suffering all the sor-
rows of life, that we might think of him not only with-
out terror and strangeness, but even with respectful
confidence and intimacy. In the work of atonement,
he has given a tangible form to the high attributes of
Deity ; he has made them there stand forth before our
eyes in the substantial reality of living action, and at
the same time in all their grandeur and loveliness;
he has rendered them intelligible to our understand-
ings, without lowering their dignity: he has fitted
them to address the feelings of human nature, whilst
they call forth the praise and the rapture of angels
who surround the throne. And in the language of
his word, in its rich and beautiful variety of parables,
and allegories, and poetical allusions, what is the object
in nature which has not been employed to explain and
illustrate his truth? He has thus, so to speak, written
his name upon every thing that surrounds us. And are
they not all his works? Ought they not to declare his
glory? God hath thus enveloped us with his glory ; he
hath made himself our dwelling-place ; and all this, that
our thoughts and our affections may rest upon Him, that
we may feed upon his love, that we may be conform-
ed to his likeness, and that we may enter into his joy.
And is it possible for us, in such circumstances, to for-
get God? He even embitters other things, that we may
F266 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

be drawn fo himself; he takes away an earthly friend,
that we may be led to a Friend from whom nothing
can separate us; our hopes are blasted here, that we
may learn to plant them in a soil where nothing dies;
he arms sin with remorse, that we may be persuaded
that it is a bitter thing to depart from God.

The apostle Peter, accordingly, in his second epistle
stirs up the pure minds of Christians by way of re-
membrance, and presses upon their attention truths
with which he knew they were acquainted. In the
9th verse of the Ist chapter, he ascribes the deficiency
in Christian virtues and graces to a forgetfulness of the
atonement, that great work in the belief of which they
had before found deliverance from guilt. ‘He that
lacks these things is blind, shutting his eyes, and for-
getting that by which he was formerly washed from his
sins.” The knowledge of the atonement it was which
first produced these qualities in the heart; and it is the
continued remembrance of the atonement which alone
can keep them in life, and strengthen and expand them.
All things pertaining to life and godliness, he says, are
given to 1s in the knowledge of him who hath called
us to elory and virtue. And hence, when we forget
him, we lose the things which pertain to life and godli-
ness.

It may be proper here to give a more extended illus-
tration from scripture of the sanctifying influence of
the truth, as the end and desion of faith. According
to the scriptures, moral obedience is produced not by a
knowledge of the law, but by faith in the Gospel. And
for this end has the Gospel been revealed, and faith in
it been required. In the Epistle to Titus, ii. 11, it is
said, that ‘the grace or forgiving mercy of God, that
bringeth salvation, or @ cure, hath appeared unto all
men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldlyAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 67

lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in
this present world.” Now, the forgiving mercy of God
1s not a precept; it does not produce these effects by
authority ; but by its natural influence it moulds the cha-
racter into this form. In the next chapter of the same
Epistle, Paul exhorts Titus to inculcate upon the
Cretans an attention to the relative duties of life; and
then, as if to remove his despondency of success, he
reminds him, that they themselves, and all the most
advanced Christians, had been but a short time before
in a state of enmity to God and man, and that they had
been delivered from this state only by the knowledge
of the kindness and love of God our Saviour. Then,
in the 8th verse, “This is a faithful saying,” and these
doctrines (of free grace, contained in the four preceding
verses) “ I will that thou affirm constantly, in order
that they who have believed God in this matter, may be
careful to maintain good works ;” or, in order that the
same good effects which have been produced in us by
the belief of this Gospel, may also be produced in them.
“These doctrines are good and profitable in their ef-
fects on the characters of men. But avoid doctrines of
a different description ; foolish questions and genealo-
gies, and contentions and strivings about the law; for
they are unprofitable and vain; they can have no salu-
tary effect upon the character.” In our English trans-
lation, “these things,” in the last clause of the 8th
verse, seem to refer to the good works mentioned im-
mediately before ; but this.sense is not consistent with
the context. The “good and profitable” things of the
8th verse, are evidently opposed to the “ unprofitable and
vain” things of the following verse. And what are these
unprofitable and vain things? Not bad works, which
they must have been, had the other been good works ;
but foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions,

PTE IS to pe opere pee

edAN ESSAY ON FAITH.

and strivings about the law—all of them disputes about
doctrine ; which indicates that the other things are doc-
trines also, but differing from them in their tendency
and importance. Besides, the tenor of the Apostle’s
reasoning through the chapter requires this interpreta-
tion. ‘Titus was appointed to labour among a people
in whom there were many things to be reprehended
and “rebuked sharply.” But in the midst of these dis-
couragements, Paul cheers him by displaying the power
and efficacy of that Gospel which he was commisisoned
to teach. He reminds him of their own former state
and character, and of the change which had been pro-
duced in them, by the knowledge of the free grace of
God through Christ Jesus. “ Knowing then and feeling
that it was this great truth alone which made you a
friend and a servant of God, from being his enemy,
cease not continually to inculcate it upon the Cretans,
and be assured that wherever it is received it will pro-
duce the same effects. It is the confidence which 1
have in its salutary tendency, which makes me prize it,
and preach it, and urge others to preach it. And it is
the conviction that disputes about the observance of
Jewish rites, and speculative and unpractical arguments
upon religious subjects, cannot, in the nature of things,
produce any good effects upon the character, which
makes me avoid them myself, and desirous that you
should do sotoo. If I thought that such questions could
purify the heart, I should propose them in every assem-
bly ; but their tendency is to irritate and darken, and
not, like the doctrine of the cross, to enlighten, and
purify, and tranquillize.”AN ESSAY ON FAITH,

SECTION VI.

The Design of Fuith considered as a Test of the
Correctness of Faith.

We have thus a simple scriptual test, by which we
may try all the views and interpretations of Christian
doctrine ?—are they good and profitable in their influ-
ence on the heart and conduct? If they have not this
tendency, if the impressions naturally made by them
are not of this description, we may he assured that we
have mistaken the doctrine.

Thus if the view which we take of the doctrine of
election, or a particular providence, be such a one as
leads us to be negligent in our callings, or to consider

ourselves free from moral responsibility, we may be ~

sure that this is a wrong view, because it cannot be
good or profitable to the characters ‘of men.

The doctrine of election is just another name for the
doctrine of free grace. It teaches that all men are
under deserved condemnation, and therefore can have
no claim on God for pardon; and that this, and all
other mercies, are the gifts of his own free bounty and
choice. It thus teaches us humility and gratitude,
by impressing us with the conviction that we are
debtors to God’s unmerited bounty, not only for the
gift of Christ and the knowledge of it, but also for the
influence of the Spirit, which inclines our hearts to ac-
cept it.

The doctrine of a particular providence teaches, that
the same God who gave his Son to save us, orders
every event in our lot. The belief of this will dispel
worldly fears and anxieties, and inspire confidence,
and impress with a continued sense of the divine pre-

sd

for ea Lbe

SSa ta tetas ofAN ESSAY ON FAITH.

sence ; and, far from producing carelessness or reckless-
ness with regard to the duties and the circumstances
of life, it will draw forth the most attentive, and sensi-
tive, and humble vigilance; for it discovers to us the
finger of God in every thing, small or great, sorrowful
or joyful.

It is possible that the doctrine of the perseverance
of the saints should be so perverted by the corruption
of human nature, as to lead to indolent security and
unwatchful habits. But this is not the doctrine as
stated in the Bible. ‘The true doctrine is, that, as it
was God who first opened the eyes of sinners to the
clory of the truth, so their continuance in the truth re-
quires and receives the same almighty support to main-
tain it. It is not in their title to heaven, as distinct
from the path to heaven, that they are maintained, and
persevere. No; they ‘tare kept by the power of God,
through faith unto salvation.” ‘This doctrine then
really leads to humble dependence on God, as the only
support of our weakness; and to vigilance, from the
knowledge that, when we are not actually living by
faith, we are out of that way in which believers are
kept by the power of God unto salvation. The reality
of our faith is proved only by our perseverance; if we
do not persevere, we are not saints.

Any one of the doctrines of the atonement which can
make us fearless or careless of sinning, must be a wrong
view, because it is not good nor profitable tomen. That
blessed doctrine declares sin pardoned, not because it is
overlooked or winked at, but because the weight of its
condemnation has been sustained on our behalf by our
elder Brother and Representative. This makes sin
hateful, by connecting it with the blood of our best
Friend.

There are many persons who may be said rather toAN ESSAY ON FAITH. tt

believe in an ecclesiastica] polity, than in the doctrines
of the Bible. In such cases, the impression must be
similar to that which is produced by political partizan-
ship in the governments of this world. And there are
some; whose faith extends to higher things, who yet
attach too much weight to externals.

Any view of subjects, that may be believed or disbe-
lieved without affecting our faith in the atonement,
which can produce a coldness or unkindness between
those who rest on the atonement, and live by the faith
of it, must be a wrong view, because it mars that cha-
racter of love which Christ declares to be the badge of
his people. Such a view interferes with the doctrine
of the atonement. Love to Christ, as the exclusive
hope, and the compassionate all-suflicient friend of lost
sinners, is the life-blood of the Christian family ; and
wherever it flows, it carries along with it relationship
to Christ, and a claim on the affection of those who cal]
themselves his. What is a name or a sect, that it
should divide those who are to live together in heaven
through eternity, and who here love the same Lord,
and who have been washed in the same blood, and
drink of the same river of the water of life, and have
access through the same Mediator, by the same Spirit,
unto the Father! ‘This is a very serious consideration.
[t touches on that final sentence which shall be pro-
nounced on the sheep and the goats: “Come, ye bless-
ed :” why blessed? ‘Inasmuch as ye did it to one of
the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.”
“ Depart, ye cursed:” and why cursed? “Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it
not to me.” It is not a general benevolence that is
talked of here ; no, it is love to Christ exerting itself
in kindness, and acts of kindness, to his brethren, for
his sake. This isthe grand and pre-eminently blessed

TET NT peo ye ence

_ ee72 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

feature of the Christian character. Its presence is the
seal of heaven on the soul; its absence is the exclusion
from heaven. We should take heed to ourselves; for
any flaw in this respect marks a corresponding flaw in
our Christian faith. The importance of the blood of
Christ is not rightly perceived, if it does not quench
these petty animosities. God is love, and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. An
undue importance attached to inferior points is surely
not good or profitable to men.

We take a wrong view of the Gospel if we suppose
that any previous good desert on our part is necessary,
in order to entitle us to take hold of the hope set before
usin Christ. The ground on which pardon is proclaim-
ed isa thing independent altogether of our believing in
it, because it is firm and sufficient in itself, whether we
believe in it or not. The sentence has been already
executed on the Surety, and the prison door has been
thrown open; but if we refuse to come out, we exclude
ourselves from the benefit of it. The Sun of mercy is
risen with healing in his beams; but if we will not open
our eyes, we may not know that he is risen, and thus
we may exclude ourselves from the light of life. As
soon, however, as we open our eyes, we know that it is
light; and as soon as we understand and believe the
Gospel we know that we are pardoned: I mean, when
the truth is clearly understood, and firmly believed,
and when its native influence is not prevented by bodily
disease, or the perplexing influence of human systems.
The first scriptural consolation received by the be-
liever, arises not from the discovery of any good with-
out himself, but from a belief that the history of the
atonement, and of the love revealed in itis true; and
the measure of his comfort corresponds with the strength
and steadiness of his faith. Such is the nature of thisAN ESSAY ON FAITH. Go

revelation, that he who is taught its true glory must be
convinced that God would neither have proclaimed it
to the world, nor have done the great thing that is
made known in it, had he not designed to save all who
come to the knowledge of it. The declaration of hea-
ven, that he who believes shall be saved, confirms this
view of the grand object of the work of the Saviour; but,
even without such a declaration, the man who, conscious
of'sin and misery, really believed that God had become
man, and had suffered sorrow and death that the sinful
and miserable might be saved, could not doubt of the
abundant mercy of God, nor of his own salvation. After
such an act of love, the wonder is, that any should be
lost, and not that the unworthy should be saved.

Many clog the freeness of the Gospel from the fear
of antinomianism; but this is itself a most dangerous
Spirit of antinomianism. The law of God is written in
the heart by no other instrument but the free mercy of
the Gospel. The pardon has been proclaimed simply,
in order that the power and influence of sin may be
overcome; we are therefore falsifying the record, and
undoing its purpose, if we teach men to cast off their
sins asa preparatory work previous to believing, and in
order that they may accept of the pardon. The com-
mand to “repent and believe,” means nothing more than
that we should change our former views for those which
the Gospel presents to us. Repentance means a change
of mind, and therefore it necessarily accompanies a new
belief. When we take new views, we must make a
change, we must leave our old ones. We may say,
‘Arise and depart,” though we know that the person
cannot depart without arising. But the real sorrow of
the heart, on account of sin, can spring only from the
sense of the amazing contrast between the subduing
and overwhelming mercy of God and our unworthiness.
G

ot TS

     
   
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
   
  
 
 
 
  
     
  
 
  
 
 

etre eer st74 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

It is when we look on him whom we have pierced,
that we mourn truly; and itis when we know that God
is pacified towards us, for all that we have done, that we
remember and are confounded. Zech. xii. 10; Ezek. xvi.
63. When the Lord said to Peter, ‘ Lovest thou me?”
he could answer that he did; and could appeal to his
knowledge of the secrets of the heart for the truth of
what he said; and it was this love which made him
weep bitterly, when his master’s eye caught his, after
he had denied him. We may, without faith in Christ,
regard the consequences of sin with dislike and appre-
hension; and we may even feel it to be a pollution to
the dionity of our nature; but our hearts can never
loathe it for its own sake, until we see it connected with
the blood of Him who loved us, and gave himself for
us. [tis not health, but disease, that we carry to the
physician; and it is not any moral good, but sin and
sOrr¢ hat we must carry to the Saviour. IJt seems to
have been the ere of God, in adapting the first ap-
peai of the Gospel to the mere natural sense of "misery,

and the ae craving after happiness, to make it
impossible to attach any merit to faith, eto what is
attached to the des; sire a child feeis for his mother’s smilk.

c

The absolute freeness of grace must be pre saltici
order to make the Gospel wood and profitable to men.
If man is required to bring any thing to the Saviour, he
is not utterly lost; he has something to bring’; or, in other
words, sin is not so very sinful, and man bs Ww stiarebe
to glory even before God. The more freely grace is pro-
claimed, the more deeply sin is condemned ; and it is the
belief of having much forgiven, that compels the heart
to love much. Love, therefore, which is the fulfilling
of the law, has its source in free grace. Oh the pre-
sumptuous vanity of men, who would dream of inventing

a defence for the interests of holiness, better and se-AN ESSAY ON FAITH. 4
gurer than that which God himself has appointed ! That
very parable which ! have quoted from the conclusion
of the 7th chapter of Luke, is answer sufficient to all
objections against the doctrine of grace, in point both
of fact and of argument. This is a position which can-
not be pressed too much. It is no less strong in reason
than in revelation, and its wisdom is as demonstrable
on the acknowledged principles of the human mind, as
the fact of its existence in the Bible isdemonstrable on
the acknowledged principles of fair interpretation.

It is possible to believe, not only in the facts, but also
in the system of Christianity as a philosophical theory,
and yet be destitute of faith in the truth. There is
something very striking in the relative suitableness
which exists between the 2 susceptibility of the human
mind to receive certain impressions, and the power of
Ceusien truth to make an impression; and it is con-

eivable that a man may be captivated by t this intellec-
tual and moral harmony, and take much pleasure in
tracing it through all its detail, and yet derive no
more profit from it, than from the examination of any

rious piece of material mechanism. This can be
easily explained. The object of his belief is not the
Gospel itself, but the adaptation of the Gospel to its
purpose. This is the shape whic ch the idea of the
Gospel assumes in his mind, and from this he derives
his impression of it. He avows his belief of the facts
contained in the sacred history, and he distinctly per-
ceives the moral qualities manifested in them; but he
does not consider them as things existin: r by themselves,
and independent of all human reasoning upon them.
He is occupied by the metaphysics of religion, as the
formalist is occupied by the ceremonies. He ¢ considerz
the facts and principles of revelation simply in their
jhilosophical relation to those feelings w hich they ad-

p
} J: - me
sa. Gea oy ET a ee aes
J micah ye gc TY oe 5 re Sh

  

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

dress in human nature; he is therefore impressed,

not with the condescending goodness of God, but with

the skill which appears in the adaptation of the mani-

festation of that goodness to the moral defects of man.

A philosophical critic would have had much delight

in remarking the skill with which Demosthenes se-

lected his topics and arguments, so as to excite those
feelings in his audience which were favourable to his
own cause; but this philosophical delight left his pas-
sions unmoved, and his conduct uninfluenced. It was
the orator’s wish to gain his cause, and this he could
only do by moving the affections and convincing the
judgment of the Athenians. But the affections could
not be moved, nor the judgment convinced, unless his
statements and arguments were received as substantial
truth in themselves, altogether independent of philoso-
phical relation and harmony. Had he delivered a cri-
tical analysis of his famous oration for the crown, in-
stead of the oration itself, it is probable that he, and not
Eschines, would have been exiled.’ It is proper that
this beautiful relation should be seen and admired ; but
if it comes to be the. prominent object of belief, the
great truth of Christianity is not believed. A teacher
of religion who should fill his discourses with the deline-
ation of this relation, might be a very entertaining and
interesting preacher, but it is probable that he would not
make many converts to Christianity. Our affections are
excited by having corresponding objects presented to
them, not by observing that there does exist such a rela-
tion between the affections and their objects. A man
under the sentence of death may well and naturally re-
joice when he hears that he is pardoned; but it will be
no consolation to him to be informed, that there is a na-
tural connexion between receiving a pardon in such
circumstances, and rejoicing. As the blood flowed noAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 77

better through Harvey’s veins than it does through the
veins of many who never heard of the theory of circu-
lation; so an acquaintance with the relation which sub-
sists between moral impressions and their exciting
causes does not give the philosopher any ence
in point of moral susceptibility, over the peasant w ‘hp
never heard of such a relation.
As it is possible to believe in the philosophy of the
Bible, without believine in its substantial truth, it is

also possible to believe in its poetry, without any
saving consequences. ‘There is rauch hi eh poetry in
the Bible. There is a sublime in ‘ip God set forth

a7

in it, altogether unrivalled; there is a strange and
beautiful combination of overw a ming omnipotence,
and the sweetest tenderness; there is an intimacy of
union and endearment spoken of hobinn een this God
end his creatures, which, when stripped of all that is
ensive to nature, may take a strong hold of the ima-
bec faculties, and give a high species of enjoy-
ment to the mind. But one most important part of ré
ligion in relation to sinners is not poetical, and that is
its necessity. os 1e Gospel has not been revealed tha
6 '.

he pleasure of expressing fine sentiments,

i

re
but that we i be saved. Peter knew this well,

when,. in reply to his Master’s question, “ will ye also
go away?” he said, ‘‘ Lord, to whom can we go? thou
hast the words of eternal life.’ lie makes no expres-

sions of generous devotedness—lhe knows that he is
paying no compliment—no, it was absolu ’
that bound him to his Saviour. Yet it was no degrad-
ing necessity ; it was a necessity of conscience and of
love still more than of safety.

The taste may receive the impression of th
and sublimity of the Bible, and the nervous system may

©. RECesslt
Jew

have received the impression of the tenderness of its
)
qa 2aR

A

ib

rie 1%

Bat

i

“P

Bk

;

Hae)

‘ at

et

‘4

k Se

ee ae
:

it

Lee
}

ke
SY

Se it

‘

ph

Ge

ve

i?

a

7

+.

:

:

i

eoe

4

 

eee

  

73 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

tone; and yet its meaning, its deliverance, its mystery
of holy love, may remain unknown. Alas! that a
pleasing reverie should be mistaken for the counterpart
of the divine character in the heart of man! The per-
son whom I am supposing, believes in the simplicity,
and beauty, and awful magnificence of the revealed
system of religion, and in the touching propriety of the
form under which it has been communicated. But he
does not understand it as a thing on which the alternative
of his own happiness or misery through eternity de-
pends. He does not understand it as exhibitmg to him
the character of that Being who deals out to him every
breath that he draws, and appoints for him every event
which he meets in the race of his existence ; who sur-
rounds him continually, and from whose enveloping pre-
sence he can never retire himself for an instant through
eternity ; who marks every passing thought and dawn-
ing desire, and who will for all these bring him one
day into judgment; he does not understand the Gospel
as a message from heaven, inviting him, through the
atonement of Christ, to approach this great Being as a
gracious Father, from whose love nothing but his own
obstinate apostacy can separate him; who has promised
to make all things work together for good to his chil-
dren; and who, by this message of mercy has convert-
ed the appalling attributes of his infinite nature into
reasons of filial confidence. Unless the history of the
past facts of the Christian system be connected with its
present importance; unless the work finished on Cal-
vary be perceived in its relation to the personal fears
and hopes of ourselves as individuals; we do not un-
derstand, and therefore cannot believe the Gospel.
There is a belief in Christianity as a subject of con-
troversy, which deserves a severer censure than merely
that it is incapable of doing any moral good. TheAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 79 |

great facts of revelation are not the object of which this
belief is the impression. The real object of faith in a
believer of this order is, that his view is right, and that
of his opponent wrong. The impression from this object
isnaturally approbation of himself and contemptof others.

A man who forms a judgment upon any subject on
reasonable grounds, cannot but believe that an opposite
judgment is wrong; if he does not believe this, he has
formed no judgment on the matter. But this ought not
to be the prominent object of belief. If it be, the cha-
racter is ruined. There is not in the world a more
hateful thing, than to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ
converted into a piece of ambitious scholarship, or of
angry contention; an angel of light and peace trans-
formed into the demon of pride, of darkness and discord.
But the person who falls into this sinful calamity, does
not believe the Gospel ; he believes in his own superi-
ority and intelligence, and in another’s inferiority and
ionorance. ‘These are his objects, and fatal must their
impression be. ‘The object presented to our faith in the
Gospel, is the character of God manifested in Jesus
Christ, as the just God and yet the Saviour. It is the
remission of sins through the blood of atonement shed
for us by love unutterable. It is God in our nature
standing on our behalf as our elder brother and repre-
sentative, bearing the punishment which we had de-
served, satisfying the law which we had broken, and,
on the ground of this finished work, proclaiming sin
forgiven, and inviting the chief and the most wretched
of sinners to become a happy child of God for ever and
ever. This object is presented to our belief, not as a
theme of polemical discussion, but that it may stamp on
our souls its own image, the likeness of God.

The precepts of Scripture describe accurately the
effect which this faith will produce on the character.Fh Stas

 
 

ee Sici= Tag Se 2 Zz mw I .
Tp nite leon oe Dec AAO cise GA LOB

 

mine,

 

:

Se i

ne

Fi: |

F

Pea

re
& ft
wiud ta
© met it ie
Pete op
ee
ia an
bie Eh Ae
Bt ri as
(fe te Se ep
ehee
{ %
ies

    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
    
   
   
 
   

80 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

Weare thus taught to refer the defects in our cha-
racter to corresponding defects in our faith. The doc-
trine of the atonement is the great spiritual mould
from which the living form of the Christian character
is to derive its features. Did we but fully and tho-
roughly yield ourselves to this mould, though we had
never heard of the precepts, our hearts would present
an exact tally or counterpart to them. But as our de-
ceitful hearts are prone to leave this true mould of ho-
Jiness and happiness, and to receive opposite impres-
sions from the perishing things about us, it has pleased
God to describe to us what we ought to be, as well in
duty to Him as for our own peace; that, by daily com-
paring ourselves with his law, we may daily see not
only how greatly we need the blood which cleanseth
from sin, but also. how far our moral features are
from the form of the Gospel mould, and how unsteady
and unfrequent our view must have been of the truth
which sanctifieth.

Let then the discovery of our spiritual deficiences
teach us to study the truth as it is in Jesus more atten-
tively, and to cleave more closely to it; and let it alse
constrain us to be instant in prayer for the aid of the
Holy Spirit, whose office and prerogative it is to show
the truth to the hearts of men. For without his pre-
cious ald the truth cannot be perceived nor felt, and
therefore cannot be believed. The attempt to cleave
to the truth independently of divine aid, is as fruitless
as the attempt to obey the precepts without a knowledge
of the truth. This assistance is promised in answer to
prayer; and the first fruit of its operation on the heart,
is the perception of the truth.

We are standing on the brink of eternity; in a few
days we shall be launched into it. Let us look over the
precipice before we make the awful plunge. It is aAN ESSAY ON PAITH. 8]

dark and untried region. Do you see any light, or will
you commit yourself to chance? Oh! in the midst of
that obscurity, there shines a bright Star, which, even
whilst we gaze on it, sends its own blessed light into the
heart, and expels thence all doubts and anxieties! The
King of that country is he who died here for sinners.
He loved us, and gave himself for us. And he hath
gone to prepare a place for his people. If you belone
to him, you are safe, and you may belong to him to-day.
When he becomes your hope, you will have a joyful
hope—a hope that maketh not ashamed. But till then,
there is no hope for you. With him is the fountain of
life, that is, of happiness; and we deceive ourselves
when we look for true happiness elsewhere. When
our hearts wander from him, they wander from life and
joy. Abide in me, he says, and I will abide in you.
What are all the promises which the world can make
in comparison of this?

SECTION VII.
Conclusion.

I can conceive a reader, when he has arrived at this
point, stopping for a moment to consider the ground that
he has gone over, and to question with himself as to
the agreement which he has found between the state-
ments which have been presented to him, and the
feelings of his own mind; and I can conceive him, after
reflection, addressing himself to me in such terms as
the following :—“ TI have long felt in my soul the neces-
sity of something higher than mere moral principles or
philosophical speculations, either to form the character,x

ana a AAT J A oa a ti

 

 

ne
i
nf
Fie
erke }
: Hy
pie #
4
‘he .
epee
Poke
eee
rau ae
ete ey
if ne
bai ae
Be a
i} ie ee
i ia |
Ve
‘ fh
n M4
‘4
}
‘
i by
}
{
4 }
Lae ii
14

  
  
 
  
  
   
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
  
   
  
 
 
 
   
 
 
  
 
  
  
   

&2 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

r to give happiness. J am conscious © of a void which
i have never yet been able to fill; and I have an inti-
mate conviction that it never can be filled except by
Bebe se I have examined Christianity, and I am
satisfied that it is true. Its nice adaptation to the wants
and cravings of the human mind ; the immense mass of
outward proof which it unites in its favour ; together
with the consolation, and strength, and happiness which
I have known in some instances derived from it, carry
irresistible conviction to my mind, that it is, in fact, a

revelation from heaven. But with all this conviction,
and with all this admiration, I have never felt my heart
moved or gladdened by it. I was attracted by the title
of your book. I hoped to meet with something that
would assist me. I was sensible that there was some-
Gospel ;

tla
i

thing wrong in my manner of considering the
and I thought that the fault was in my faith. I have
read over the book, and I am satisfied in general with

its views. But I remain much as I was. Views are

not enough; I want feelings, | want spiritual holiness,

I want spiritual sitet I see that if I could really
bring my heart into what you call contact with the
hieh things of God and eternity, all would be well.
But this I cannot do. I think of them, I admit their
importance, but I do not feel them. They are the oc-
eupation of my dens mart and my fancy, but not
the nourishment and delight of my heart. Som is
at hand, and I am afraid of deluding myself. You
have described to me the moral mechanism of conver-
sion ; show me how the ee can be put in motion.”
My brother, I am not a stranger to your difficulties ;

a ein Learn Sona nhan « x — L4H ae
but you have reacned that poin t where human assist-

mn

ance is nothing. I cannot put life int
either for myself or for you. I see it before me, and J
admire it, and reverence it, but I often see it, untouched,

to this machinery
;AN ESSAY ON FAITH. &
untortified, yet J cannot put life into it; but
{ nectie who can; and so dovyou, my brother. Contact
vith God, and Wai the things of God, is only another
name for prayer. We can approach Him in no other
Wiel can converse with His attributes in no other
way. Prayer is a high and mysterious privilege,—it is
in Sickel the name for the only true relation between God

and man,—it is thie communication of the infinite and
ed

the finite. It does not consist in distinct and isola

acts, 7 is @ manner of existence—it is that life w fich
Enoch led;:—it is explained in those words of. the
ys Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place.”
But this life of prayer has its infancy. It has al ready

sommenced in the soul which knows that it may speak
to God, and that he will assuredly hear. Sorrowful
you are, your soul knows this—and this is itself the
gift of God—this is life. The Gospel explains to us our
own necessities and vague desires, and points to God as

> Cy . 7 , 7

their end and their fulfilment,—it sets before us
unspeakable cute e of Christ as the way of approach
to God in prayer, and as the pledge that nothing will
be refused to prayer. Let us ask then the gift of the
Floly Spirit, my brother, and let us ask until we re-
ceive. Let us live with the eyes of our souls fixed on
the face of the Redeemer, in daily and hourly expecta-
tion of an answer in peace. Let the expectation be
renewed and strengthened by every day that passes over
our heads; for every day most assuredly brings nearer
the Bpepe pas ent of that faithful promise, “They
that seek the Lord shall find him.” There can be no
doubt of the ultimate fulfilment. He is faithful who
has promised. He is not a man that He should lie.
Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Hath He spoken
and shall He not make it good? Be secimsd that it is He
that has implanted these lon ngings in your heart to bind

Yen
CD
D
=
coat
}
eat)pa ea lin =
oo s

  

AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

you to Himself; be assured that the hour is not distant
when the abundance of the Saviour’s heart will be
poured out upon you, and when He will say to you, as
he said to that Syrophenician woman, whom he had
seemed even to repulse,—“ Be it unto thee even as
thou wilt.” ‘Even as thou wilt! Do you put any li-
mits to your desires?—None. Neither will there be
any limits to the accomplishment. It is the infinite
blessing of the infinite God.”

There is something inexpressibly consoling in the
promise of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of the diffi-
culties of the Christian course, when we seem to our-
selves to be standing still, or even to be falling back;
when the conviction comes home to our hearts with
deepest emphasis, that our own independent efforts af-
ter holiness are absolutely inefficient; it is indeed inex-
pressibly consoling to listen to these words of our Lord,
‘Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to
them who ask it.” The belief of this doctrine is an
element essential to the Christian character. It keeps
the soul waiting upon God, and nourishes the sentiment
of humble and affectionate dependence. It preserves
to the announcements, and exhortations, and consola-
tions of the Bible, the same freshness as if they came
new every moment from the mouth of God. We may
have hitherto read them perhaps with little movement
or profit; but we know that if God grants His spirit to
accompany them, they will assume at once the living
importance of a direct address to us from his own lips:
and, as such, will exercise a commanding influence over
the thoughts and feelings of our hearts, and the hopes
of our eternity. And this spirit is given to those who
ask it. Shall we not then ask it? Shall we not ask,
and seek, and knock, seeing we are assured that our
labour is not in vain? Is there not a great multitudeAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 85

that no man can number, of all peoples, and kindreds,
and tongues, who can set to their seals that God is true
and faithful to his promise 2

Prayer is the great weapon in the Christian warfare ;
it is that with which the Apostle concludes and sums up
his description of the whole armour of God; it draws
down the help of Omnipotence. If we would grow in
holiness, and spiritual strength and joy, we should be fer-
vent in prayer; we should pray without ceasing: that
is, we should live in a perpetual sense of our depend-
ence on God, in a continued longing after a nearer and
higher communion with Him.

I shall now conclude by briefly stating the connex-
ion between faith and justification. How, and why, are
these two things connected? What is the meaning of
such a sentence as this, “‘A man is justified by faith
without works?” Jn such affirmations, the expression
‘by faith” means simply the gratuitousness of the gift
of pardon. Paul says, “Therefore it is of faith, that it
might be by grace,” or free mercy, Rom. iv. 16. Faith
is here directly contrasted with works of merit, as it
is also in all passages where justification is the sub-
ject. We have frequent examples in the Bible, of the
Gospel being stated without any mention of faith:
“It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all aceeptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”
1 Tim. i. 15; as also 1 John v. 11; Luke xix, 19,
These texts point to the will of God alone as the source
of mercy, without making the slightest reference to
any quality in man except his need. Faith then does
not create nor produce pardon, nor does it receive par-
don as a premium; and yet faith and justification are
inseparable. What is the reason of this! we may, or
rather we ought to ask this question, for the Bible in-
vites and encourages serious and humble discussion
Heen. SI Sim
anne 0

 

86 AN ESSAY ON FAITH.

The reason is evident. The pardon, from its own na-
ture, and from the nature of the evil which it is des-
tined to remedy, can only be of use when it is believed.
[t is then called justification, which seems in Scripture,
for the most part, to signify the particular application
of the general amnesty. And that this particular appli-
cation can only be made by faith is most apparent.
Faith, as it looks to God, as it is the recipient of the
glad tidings, marks the freeness of grace; for what act
can be more void of merit, or of moral qualifications in
general, than the mere belief of good news? Faith, as
it looks to man, as it brings the Gospel to act on the
mind, is the instrument of sanctification. Pardon could
not be enjoyed by those whose characters are unre-
newed; and faith is the only instrument by which a
spiritual change can be effected. Pardon is bestowed on
sinners, because Christ hath suffered the punishment
which they deserved, and hath magnified the law which
they had dishonoured—and not on account of any good
thing in themselves. And it is the enlightened belief
of this pardon which heals, and purifies, and elevates
the faculties by bringing them into contact with the at-
tributes of God, of which it is an intelligible and ener-
getic manifestation. It is quite reasonable, then, surely,
ina moral point of view, that justification should be con-
nected with faith in the divine testimony, seeing that
faith is intelligibly connected, by the very constitution
of nature, with a restoration to that spiritual character,
which can alone fit for communion with God, or the hap-
piness of heaven.

The pardon of sin rests on the work of Christ; but
the happiness of each individual must depend on the
degree of his personal sanctification ; for happiness and
holiness are but one thing. Hence we are told that in
the heavenly world there are great varieties of gloryAN ESSAY ON FAITH. 87

and happiness. The lowest seat in that kingdom, into
which neither sin nor sorrow enters, is surely far be-
yond the brightest conceptions of our earthly minds,
and, oh! how opposite to our deserts! but yet we are
encouraged to aim high, and to cultivate a holy ambi-
tion to be near and like our Lord. The way to this at-
tainment is to walk by faith whilst we are here; to
have the cross and the glory of the Saviour ever pre-
sent to the heart, as the springs of holy love and holy
hope ; to receive the events and duties of life as the
wholesome exercises by which he tries and strengthens
the faith of his people; to look to him continually for
abundant supplies of his comforting and quickening Spi-
rit; to consider ourselves as the blood-bought children
of our Father, whose eye is ever upon us, whose ear is
ever open to us, whose arm ever supports us, whose love
cehangeth not; and to be in longing and watchful ex-
pectation of the hour, when he will call us hence to the
full enjoyment of our inheritance ; to feel that our eter-
nity has already begun, that our final choice is irrevo-
cably made; and that, in this world and out of this
world, and in all possible circumstances of existence,
Christ is and must be our only full and satisfying por-
tion for ever.

My object in this Essay has not been to represent
faith as a difficult or perplexed operation, but to with-
draw the attention from the act of believing, and to fix
it on the object of belief, by showing that we cannot
believe any moral fact without entering into its spirit,
and meaning, and importance. Even had there been
no mention of faith made through the whole Bible, it is
yet evident to common sense that its communications
could be profitable to none but to those who believed
them; and it is no less evident that, unless these com-
munications are understood, they cannot be believed inat

het eg

ipa

ee

ci

ity

Bn

4h

py

Ph

‘a , }

ie
Poe,

ae

% fe

ee
a eee

  

AN ESSAY ON PAITH.

their true meaning. Our business then is to understand
the meaning of these communications, and to receive
them as substantial realities, altogether independent of
our admission or rejection. Certain facts have taken
place, and certain principles exist in the government of
the universe, whether we believe them or not. Our
disbelief of them neither destroys their existence, nor
takes from their importance ; ; they continue the same,
and will continue to exercise an unlimited and uncon-
trollable influence over our destinies for ever. These
facts and principles declare the character of God, and
it is life eternal to know them. To reject them, is to
clash with Omnipotence ; and to be ignorant of them,
is to be in moral darkness.

We must prosecute our inquiries on this subject, not
as critics, or judges, or scholars, but as sinners. It is
not an interesting exercise for our faculties, but a par-
don for our sins, and a cure for our spiritual diseases,
that we must seek after. If we scek we shall find, and
we shall find them in Jesus Christ. But the discovery,
though it will gladden, will not elate. The creat end
for which we are called on to believe the Gospel is, that
we may be conformed by it to the likeness of Him who
was meek and lowly in heart. . Our obedience to the

law of God is thus the measure of our faith in the
Gospel.

In conclusion, I would caution the reader vy I de-
sire to take the caution to my own heart) against enter-

ing on the consideration of these things in his own
strength. There is an agent ne essary in this matter,
whase operation is wonderful, whose high and gracious
office it is, to take of the thingsthat are Christ’s, and
show them to the souls of sinners, and without whom
no son of man has ever believed unto everlasting life.
An absolute, and child-like dependence on the HolyAN ESSAY ON FAITH. &G

Spirit for light, and strengsth, and comfort, is a consti-
tuent part of the Christian character. The work of
restoration, in all its parts, and in all its glory, is God’s.
The deepest humility is thus necessarily connected
with the highest confidence. He who knows that the
Almighty hath entered the field in this cause, and that
on his arm the cause rests, will, while he feels his own
utter insignificance, yet confidently anticipate the re-
sult. That anticipation must be weakened by what-
ever confidence he may place in himself. The assistance
of this agent is one of the gifts which Christ now
reigns to bestow. It is given to those who ask it, and
those who receive it live with God for ever. Oh, what
will one day be the feelings of those who have not asked
it and therefore have not received it!

a,tic a in, a

Seen eS

Se eeREMARKS, &c.

 

 

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER:

Tuer: is a principle in our nature which makes us
dissatisfied with unexplained and unconnected facts ;
which leads us to theorize all the particulars of our
knowledge, or to form in our minds some system of
causes sufficient to explain or produce the effects which
we see; and which teaches us to believe or disbelieve
in the truth of any system which may be presented to
us, just as it 2ppears adequate or inadequate to afford
that explanation of which we are in pursuit. We
have an intuitive perception that the appearances of
Nature are connected by the relation of cause and ef-
fect ; and we have also an instinctive desire to classify
and arrange the seemingly confused mass of facts with
which we are surrounded, according to this distin-
guishing relationship. From these principles have
proceeded all the theories which were ever formed by
man. But these principles alone can never make a true
theory: they teach us to theorize; but experience is
necessary in order to theorize justly. We must be ac-
quainted with the ordinary operation of causes, before
we can combine them into a theory which will satisfy
the mind. But when we are convinced of the real ex-
istence of a cause in Nature, and when we find thata
elass of physical facts is explained by the supposition of

re
omrs

eee

ate ee

4 INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF

this cause, and tallies exactly with its ordmary opera-
tion, we resist both reason and instinct when we resist
the conviction that this class of facts does result from this
cause. On this process of reasoning is grounded our con-
viction, that the various phenomena of the heavenly bo-
dies are results from the principle or law of gravitation.
That great master of theories, Adam Smith, has given
a most appropriate and beautiful illustration of this pro-
cess, in his “History of Astronomy.” He has there
shown, how the speculative system was always accom-
modated to the phenomena which had been observed ;
and how, on each new discovery in point of fact, a cor-
responding change necessarily took place in the form
of the system.

There is another process of reasoning, differing some-
what from that which has been described, yet closely
allied to it; by which, instead of ascending from effects
to a cause, we descend from a cause to effects. When
we are once convinced of the existence of a cause, and
are acquainted with its ordinary mode of operation, we
are prepared to give a certain degree of credit to a
history of other effects attributed to it, provided we can
trace the connexion between them. As an illustration
of this, I shall suppose, that the steam-engine, and the
application of it to the movement of vessels, was
known in China in the days of Archimedes; and that
a foolish lying traveller had found his way from Sicily
to China, and had there seen an exhibition of a steam-
boat, and had been admitted to examine the mechani-
cal apparatus of it,—and, upon his return home, had,
amongst many palpable fables, related the true particu-
lars of this exhibition,—what feeling would this relation
have probably excited in his audience? The fact itself
was a strange one, and different in appearance from
any thing with which they were acquainted: it wasREVEALED RELIGION. 5

also associated with other stories that seemed to have
falsehood stamped on the very face of them. What
means, then had the hearers of distinguishing the true
from the false? Some of the rabble might probably
give a stupid and wondering kind of credit to the
whole; whilst the judicious but unscientific hearers
would reject the whole. Now, supposing that the re-
lation had come to the ears of Archimedes, and that he
had sent for the man, and interrogated him; and, from
his inorderly and unscientific, but accurate specification
of boilers, and cylinders, and pipes, and furnaces, and
wheels, had drawn out the mechanical theory of the
steam-boat,—he might have told his friends, ‘The
traveller may be a liar; but this isa truth. I have a
stronger evidence {for it than his testimony, or the tes-
mony of any man: it is a truth in the nature of things.
The effect which the man has described is the legiti-
mate and certain result of the apparatus which he has
described. Ifhe has fabricated this account, he must
be a great philosopher. At all events, his narration is
founded on an unquestionable general truth.” Had the
traveller committed an error in his specification, that
defect would have operated as an obstacle to the con-
viction of Archimedes; because, where the facts which
are testified constitute the parts of a system, they must,
in order to produce conviction, be viewed in their rela-
tion to one another, and in their combined bearing on
the general result. Unless they are thus viewed, they
are not seen as they really exist,—they do not hold
their proper ground. <A single detached pipe or boiler
er valve could not produce the effects of the steam-
engine ; and a man who knows no more about it than
that it contains such a detached part, may very well
laugh at the effects related of the whole machine ; but, in
truth, the fault lies in his own ignorance of the subject.
azINTERNAL EVIDENCE

But these two processes of reasoning which have
been described, are not exclusively applied to physical
causes and effects. We reason precisely in the same
way with regard to men and their actious. When the
history of a man’s life is presented to us, we naturally
theorize upon it ; and, from a comparison of the different
facts contained in it, we arrive at a conviction that he
was actuated by ambition, avarice, benevolence, or
some other principle. We know that these principles
exist, and we know also, their ordinary mode of opera-
tion. When, therefore, we see the operation, we refer
it to the cause which best explains it. In this manner
we arrange the characters with which we are ac-
quainted, under certain classes; and we anticipate the
conduct of our friends when they come to be placed in
certain circumstances. And when we are at a distance
from any of them, and receive an account of their con-
duct upon some particular occasion, we give our un-
hesitating belief at once, if the account coincides with
that abstract view which we have taken of their cha-
racters; but if it varies very considerably from, or is
directly opposed to that view, we refuse our immediate
belief, and wait for further evidence. Thus, if we hear
that a friend, in whose integrity we have perfect con-
fidence, has committed a dishonest action, we place our
former knowledge of our friend in opposition to the tes-
timony of our informer, and we anxiously look for an
explanation. Before our minds are easy on the subject,
we must either discover some circumstance in the action
which may bring it under the general principle which
we have’ formed with regard to his character; or else
we must form to ourselves some new general principle
which will explain it.

We reason in the same way of the intelligence of
actions as we do of their morality. When we see an ob-OF REVEALED RELIGION.

ject obtained by means of a plan evidently adapted for its |
accomplishment, we refer the formation of the plan to ty
design. We reason in this case also from the cause to
the effect ; and we conclude, that a strong intelligence,
when combined with a desire after a particular object,
will form and execute some plan adapted to the accom-
plishment of that particular object. |
of talents will, we are sure, fix his desires on some par- |
ticular situation of eminence, and will form
scheme fitted for its attainment.
judicious friend of Julius Cesar had retired to some
distant corner of the world, before the commencement
of the political career of that wonderful man, and had
there received an accurate history of every circum-
stance of his conduct, how would he have received it ?
He would certainly have believed it; and not merely
because he knew that Cesar was ambitious, but also
because he could discern that every step of his progress,
as recorded in the history, was adapted with admirable
intelligence to accomplish the object of his ambition. His
belief of the history, therefore, would rest on two consi-
derations—first, that the object attributed by it to Cesar,
corresponded with the general principle under which he
had classed the moral character of Cesar; and, secondly,
that there was evidence, through the course of the his-
tory, of a perfect adaptation of means to an end.
would have believed, just onthe same principle that
compelled Archimedes to believe the history of the

steam-boat.

In all these processes of reasoning, we have exam-
ples of conviction, upon an evidence which is, most
strictly speaking, internal,—an evidence altogether in- |
dependent of our confidence in the veracity of the nar- ii

rator of the facts.

An ambitious man

}
some |
If an mtimate and |

He

Surely, then, in a system which purports to be a re-
I

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 

my YA 1
é | : 4INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

velation from heaven, and to contain a history of God’s
dealings with men, and to develop truths with regard to
the moral government of the universe, the knowledge
and belief of which will lead to happiness here and
hereafter, we may expect to find (if its pretentions are
well founded) an evidence for its truth, which shall be
independent of all external testimony. ‘But what are
the precise principles on which the internal evidence
for or against a Divine revelation of religion must
rest ? We cannot have any internal evidence on asub-
ject which is, in all its parts and bearings and relations,
entirely new to us; because, in truth, the internal evi-
dence depends solely on our knowledge that certain
causes are followed by certain effects. Therefore, if a
new train of causes and effects perfectly different from
any thing which we have before known, be presented
to us, all our notions of probability, all our anticipations
of results, and all our references to causes, by which
we are accustomed to judge of theories and histories,
become utterly useless. In the-hypothetical case of
Archimedes deciding on the story of the steam-boat, the
judgment which he may be supposed to have given,
was grounded on his belief that similar causes would
produce similar effects; and on his experience that the
causes which the traveller specified, were actually fol-
lowed in nature by the effects which he specified. The
philosopher had never seen this particular combination
of causes; but he knew each distinct cause with its
distinct train of consequents; and thus he anticipated
the general result of the combination.

So also the credit attached to the narrative of Cesar’s
exploits, by his distant friend, was grounded on the con-
viction that ambition would lead Cesar to aim at em-
pire, and on the knowledge that this object could not
be attained except by that course which Cesar pursuedOF REVEALED RELIGION. 9

Although the circumstances were new, he could almost
have predicted, from analogy, that, whether the design
proved finally successful or not, Cesar would certainly
form the design, and construct some such plan for its
accomplishment.

Our acquaintance, then, with certain causes as ne-
cessarily connected with certain effects; and our intui-
tive conviction that this same connexion will always
subsist between these causes and effects, form the basis
of all our just anticipations for the future, and of all our
notions of probability and internal evidence, with regard
to the systems or histories, both physical and moral,
which may be presented to us.

If, then, the subject-matter of Divine revelation be
entirely new to us, we cannot possibly have any ground
on which we may rest our judgment as to its probabili-
ty. But is this the case with that system of religion
which is called Christianity? Is the object which it has
in view an entirely new object? Is the moral mechan-
ism which it employs for the accomplishment of that
object, different in kind from that moral mechanism
which we ourselves set to work every day upon our
fellow-creatures whose conduct we wish to influence in
some particular direction, or from that by which we feel
ourselves to be led in the ordinary course of providence ?
Is the character of the Great Being to whose inspira-
tion this system is ascribed, and whose actions are re-
corded by it, entirely unknown to us, except through the
medium of this revelation? Far from it. Like Archi-
medes in the case which I have supposed, we have
never before seen this particular combination of causes
brought to bear on this particular combination of results;
but we are acquainted with each particular cause, and
we can trace its distinct train of consequents; and thus
we can understand the relation between the whole ofSTITT SORE

—— CR
alaiiaataiieaienienins
Sere

INTERNAL EVIDENCE

the combined causes, and the whole of the combined
results.

The first faint outlines of Christianity present to us
a view of God operating on the characters of men,
through a manifestation of his own character; in order
that, by leading them to participate, in some measure
of his moral likeness, they may also in some measure
participate of his happiness. Every man who believes
in the existence of a Supreme Moral Governor, and has
considered the relations in which this belief places him,
must have formed to himself some scheme of religion
analogous to that which I have described. The  indi-
cations of the divine character, in nature, and provi-
dence, and conscience, were surely given to direct and
instruct us in our relations to God and his creatures.
The indications of his kindness have a tendency to
attract our gratitude, and the indications of his disap-
probation to check and alarm us. We infer that his
own character truly embodies all those qualities which
he approves, and is perfectly free from all which he con-
demns. The man who adopts this scheme of natural
religion, which, though deficient in point of practical
influence over'the human mind, as shall be afterwards
explained, is yet true,—and who has learned from expe-
rience to.refer actions to their moral causes,—is in pos-
session of al] the elementary principles which qualify
him to judge of the mternal evidence of Christianity.
fle can judge of Christianity, as the rude ship-car-
penter of a barbarous age could judge of a British
ship of the line; or as the scientific anatomist of the
eye could’ judge of a telescope which lie had never seen
before.

He who holds this scheme of natural religion, will
believe in its truth, (and I conceive justly,) because it
arges him to what is good, deters him from what is evil,OF REVEALED RELIGION. 1}

and coincides generally with all that he feels and ob-
serves; and this very belief which he holds on these

grounds, will naturally lead him to believe in the truth of

another scheme which tends directly to the same moral
object, but much more specifically and powerfully, and
coincides much more minutely with his feelings and
observations.

The perfect moral tendency of its doctrines is a
ground on which the Bible often rests its plea of au-
thenticity and importance. Whatever principle of be-
lief tends to promote real moral perfection, possesses, in
some degree, the quality of truth. By moral perfection,
I mean the perception of what is right, followed by the
love of it, and the doing of it. This quality, therefore,
necessarily implies a true view of the relations in which
we stand to all the beings with whom we are connect-
ed. In this sense, Pope’s famous line is perfectly just,
—“His [faith] can’t be wrong, whose life is in the
right.” But it is evident, that a man may be a very
useful member of this world’s society, without ever
thinking of the true relation in which he stands to the
beings about him. Prudence, honourable feelings, and
instinctive good-nature, may insure to any man, in or-
dinary times, an excellent reputation. But the scene
of our present contemplation lies in the spiritual uni-
verse of God, and the character that we must speak of,
must be adapted to that society. We cannot but be-
lieve that true moral perfection contains the elements
of happiness in that higher state; and therefore we
cannot but believe that that view of our moral relations,
and of the beings to whom we are so related, which
leads to this moral perfection, must be the true view.
But if the attainment of this character be the important
object, why lay so much stress upon any particular
view? The eee is obvious. We cannot, according
12INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF

to the constitution of our nature, induce upon our minds
any particular state of moral feeling without an ade-
quate cause. We cannot feel anger, or love, or hatred,
or fear, by simply endeavouring so to feel. In order
to have the feeling, we must have some object present
to our minds which will naturally excite the feeling.
Therefore, as moral perfection consists of a combination
of moral feelings, leading to correspondent action, it
can only have place in a mind which is under the im-
pression, or has a present view of those objects which
naturally produce that combination of feelings.

The object of this Dissertation is to analyse the com-
ponent parts of the Christian scheme of doctrine, with
reference to its bearings both on the character of God,
and on the character of man; and to demonstrate, that
its facts not only present an expressive exhibition of all
the moral qualities which can be conceived to reside in
the Divine mind, but also contain all those objects
which have a natural tendency to excite and suggest
in the human mind that combination of moral feelings
which has been termed moral perfection. We shall
thus arrive at a conclusion with regard to the facts of
revelation, analogous to that at which Archimedes ar-
rived with regard to the narrative of the traveller,—
viz. a conviction that they contain a general truth in
relation to the character both of God and of man; and
that therefore the Apostles must either have witnessed
them, as they assert, or they must have been the most
marvellous philosophers that the world eversaw. Their
system is true in the nature of things, even were they
proved to be impostors.

When God, through his prophet Jeremiah, refutes
the pretensions of the false teachers of that day, he
says,— If they had stood in my counsel, and had caused
my people to hear my words, then they should haveREVEALED RELIGION. 13

turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of
their doings.” This moral tendency of its doctrines,
then, is the evidence which the book itself appeals to
for the proof of its authenticity : and surely it is no more
than justice, that this evidence should be candidly ex-
amined. This is an evidence, also, on which the apos-
tle Paul frequently rests the whole weight of the gospel.

According to this theory of the mode in which a ra-
tional judgment of the truth and excellence of a re-
ligion may be formed, it is not enough to show, in proof
of its authenticity, that the facts which it affirms con-
cerning the dealings of God with his creatures, do ex-
hibit his moral perfections in the highest degree; it
must also be shown, that these facts, when present to
the mind of man, do naturally, according to the consti-
tution of his being, tend to excite and suggest that com-
bination of feelings which constitutes his moral perfec-
tion. But when we read a history which authoritatively
claims to be an exhibition of the character of God in
his dealinos with men,—if we find in it that which fills
and overflows our most dilated conceptions of moral
worth and loveliness in the supreme Being, and at the
same time feel that it is triumphant in every appeal that
it makes to our consciences, in its statements of the obli-
quity and corruption of our own hearts,—and if our reason
farther discovers a system of powerful moral stimulants
embodied in the facts of this history, which necessarily
tend to produce in the mind a resemblance to that high
character which is there portrayed,—if we discern
that the spirit of this history gives peace to the con-
science by the very exhibition which quickens its sen-
sibility—that it dispels the terrors of guilt, by the very
fact which associates sin with the full loathing of the
heart—that it combines in one wondrous and consistent

whole our most fearful forebodings, and our most splen-

*INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

did anticipations for futurity—that it inspires a pure
and elevated and joyful hope for eternity, by those very
declarations which attach a deeper and more interest-
ing obligation to the discharge of the minutest part of
human duty,—if we see that the object of all its ten-
dencies'is the perfection of moral happiness, and that
these tendencies are naturally connected with the be-
lief of its narration,—if we see all this in the gospel,
we may then say that our own eyes have seen its truth,
and that we need no other testimony; we may then
well believe that God has been pleased, in pity to our
wretchedness, and in condescension to our feebleness,
to clothe the eternal laws which regulate his spiritual
government, in such a form as may be palpable to our
conceptions, and adapted to the urgency of our neces-
sities.

This theory of internal evidence, though founded on
: analogy, is yet essentially different in almost all re-
aa spects from that view of the subject which Bishop But-
Aut | ler has given, in his most valuable and philosophical
Hi work on the analogy of natural and revealed religion.
\ His design was to answer objections against revealed
religion, arising out of the difficulties connected with
ee many of its doctrines, by showing that precisely the

pan

ee ra

Sb RYT TR ET SRN ae TTT

CT shat

 

Pear same difficulties occur in natural re ligion and in the
ida ordinary course of providence. This ar gument converts
(eh even the difficulties of revelation into evidences of its

genuineness ; because it employs them to establish the

identity of the Author of Revelation and the Author
i) of Nature. My object is quite different. I mean to show
that there is an intelligible and necessary connexion
between the doctrinal facts of revelation and the cha-
bs racter of God, (as deduced from natural religion, ) in the
ae same way as there is an intelligible and neces sary con-
if Ne nexion between the character of a man and his mostOF REVEALED RELIGION. 15

characteristic actions; and farther, that the belief of
these doctrinal facts has an intelligible and necessary
tendency to produce the Christian character, in the
same way that the belief of danger has an intelligible
and necessary tendency to produce fear.

Perhaps it may appear to some minds, that although
all this should be admitted, little or no weight has been
added to the evidence for the truth of revelation. These
persons have been in the habit of thinking that the mi-
raculous inspiration of the Scriptures is the sole point
of importance: whereas the inspiration, when demon-
strated, is no more than an evidence for the truth of
that system which is communicated through this chan-
nel. If the christian system be true, it would have
been so although it had never been miraculously re-
vealed to men. This principle, at least, is completely
recognized with regard to the moral precepts. The
duties of justice and benevolence are acknowledged to
be realities altogether independent of the enforcements
of any inspired revelation. The character of God is
just as immutable, and as independent of any inspired
revelation, as thect duties; and so also are the acts of
government proceeding from this character. We can-
not have stronger evidence for any truth whatever,
than that which we have for the reality of moral obli-
gations. Upon this basis has been reared the system of
natural religion as far as relates to the moral character
of God, by simply clothing the Supreme Being with all
the moral excellences of. human nature in an infinite
degree. A system of religion which 1s opposed to
these moral obligations, 1s opposed also to right reason.
This sense of moral obligation then, which is the stand-
ard to which reason instructs man to adjust his system
of natural religion, continues to be the test by w hich
he ought to try all pretensions to divine revelation. HfINTERNAL EVIDENCE

the actions ascribed to God by any system of religion
present a view of the divine character which is at
variance with the idea of moral perfection, we have no
reason to believe that these are really the actions of
God. But if, on the contrary, they have a strong and
distinct tendency to eleyate and dilate our notions of
goodness, and are in perfect harmony with these notions,
we have reason to believe that they may be the actions
of God; because they are intimately connected with
those moral convictions which form the first principles
of all our reasonings on this subject. This, then, is the
first reasonable test of the truth of a religion—that it
should coincide with the moral constitution of the hu-
man mind. But, secondly, we know, that, independently
of all moral reasoning or consideration, our minds by
their natural constitution, are liable to receive certain
impressions from certain objects when present to them.
Thus without any exercise of the moral judgment, they
are liable to the impressions of love and hatred, and fear
and hope, when certain corresponding objects are pre-
sented to them. And it is evident that the moral cha-
racter is determined by the habitual direction which is
given to these affections. Now if the actions attributed
to God by any system of religion be really such objects
as, when present tothe mind, do not stir the affections at
all, that religion cannot influence the character, and is
therefore utterly useless: if they be such as do indeed
rouse the affections, but at the same time give them a
wrong direction, that religion is worse than useless—it
is pernicious. But if they can be shown to be such as
have anecessary tendency to excite these natural emo-
tions on the behalf of goodness, and to draw the current
of our affections and wills into this moral channel, we
are entitled to draw another argument, from this circum-
stance, in favour of the truth of that religion; because weOF REVEALED RELIGION. i7
may presume that God would suit his communications to
the capacities and instincts of his creatures. The second
test, then, of the truth of a religion, is—that it should co-
incide with the physical constitution of the human mind.
But, farther, there is much moral evil and much misery in
the world. There are many bad passions in the mind :
and there is a series of events continually going for-
ward, which tend to excite a great variety of feelings
Now, a religion has one of the characters of truth, when
it is accommodated to all these cireumstances,—when it
offers pardon without lowering the standard of moral
duty; when its principles convert the varied events
into opportunities of growing in conformity to God, and
of acquiring the character of happiness; and when it
tempers the elevation of prosperity, and the depression
of adversity. ‘The third test, then, of the truth of a
religion, is,—that it should coincide with the circwm-
stances in which man is found in this world. It may
be said that a religion in which these three conditions
meet, rests upon the most. indisputable axioms of the
science of human nature. All these conditions can be
proved to meet in the religion of the Bible; and the
wide divergence from them which is so palpable in all
other religious systems, philosophical as well as popular,
which have come to our knowledge, is a very strong
argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible, espe-
cially when the artless simplicity of its manner, and the
circumstances of the country in which it was written,
are taken into consideration.

Jt may be proper to remark, that the acts attributed
to the Divine government are usually termed “ doc-
trines,” to distinguish them from the moral precepts of a
religion.

When I make use of the terms “ manifestation” and
‘exhibition,” which I shall have frequentoccasion to de

9
J &INTERNAL EVIDENCE

in the course of the following observations, I am very
far from meaning any thing like a mere semblance of ac-
tion without the substance. In fact, nothing can be a
true manifestation of the Divine character, which is
not, at the same time, a direct and necessary result of
the Divine principles, and a true narration of the Di-
vine conduct. But these terms suit best with the leading
idea which I wish to explain,—viz. that the facts of re-
velation are developments of the moral principles of
the Deity, and carry an influential address to the feel-
ings of man. The whole of their importance, indeed,
hinges upon their being a reality ; and it is the truth
of this reality which is demonstrated by their holy con-
sistency with the character of their Author, and their
sanctifying applicability to the hearts of his creatures.
T may observe also, that, in the illustrations which are
introduced, I have aimed rather at a broad and general
7 resemblance than at a minute coincidence in all parti-
HT culars, which is perhaps not attainable in any compari-
ae son between earthly things and heavenly.

 

 

aa I. As it isa matter of the very highest importance
i in the study of religion, to be fully satisfied that there
HA is a real connexion between happiness and the know-
‘ att ledge and love of God, | have commenced these remarks

rae by explaining the nature of this connexion. I have

here endeavoured to show, that the object of a true re-

licion must be to present to the minds of men such a

view of the character of their great Governor, as may

he not only enable them to comprehend the principles of

F his government, but may also attract their affections
i into a conformity with them.

Il. IT have made some observations on the mode in
it which natural religion exhibits the Divine character,
hb and in which it appeals to the human understanding and
bons feelings. And here I have remarked the great ad-OF REVEALED RELIGION 19

vantage which a general principle of morality possesses
in its appeals to minds constituted like ours, when it
comes forth to us in the shape of an intelligible and
palpable action, beyond what it possesses in its abstract
form.

iif. I have attempted to show that Christianity pos-
sesses this advantage in the highest degree; that its
facts are nothing more than the abstract principles of
natural religion, embodied in perspicuity and efficien-
cy;* and that these facts not only give a lively repre-
sentation of the perfect character of God, but also con-
tain in themselves the strength of the most irresistible

* This last proposition, which appeared, as it now stands, in
former editions of this work, has been subjected to considerable
censure, and not without justice as it has been understood. Had
{ meant by this, that the facts of Christianity could have been
anticipated by any one who was acquainted with the principles
of natural religion—or that no new information was communi-
cated by the gospel, I should have been opposing the claim, and
giving up the importance of revelation. Man never could have
discovered the plan of salvation; but after it is revealed, he can
perceive its agreement with those principles whieh had been
previously acknowledged. ‘That God must always act in con-
sistency with both justice and mercy, the natural religionist
believes; but how these attributes can be brought into harmo-
nious contact in the restoration of the guilty, he knows not
When, however, the doctrine of the cross of Christ is understood
by him, he immediately recognizes in it the full maturity and
development of principles which he had known in their ele-
mentary seeds. The information of the gospel is new, but not
strange. ‘l'wo recognised attributes of the Deity are manifest-
ed ina new connexion, but no new attribute is introduced. |]
should now prefer that the proposition had been expressed dif-
ferently, as thus, “That its facts do embody in perspicuity and
efficiency the abstract principles of natural religion.” I am
aware also that there is a considerable vagueness in the term
“natural religion ;” but there is no other word for it; and meta
physical accuracy is not of much moment here

Ke20 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

moral arguments that one man could address to another
on any human interests.

IV. I have endeavoured to analyse some of the causes
of the general indifference to or rejection of real Chris-
tianity, and to point out the sources of the multiplied
mistakes which are made with regard to its nature. I
have here made some observations on the indisposition
of the human mind to attend to an argument which op-
poses any favourite inclination; on the opposition of
Christianity to the prevailing current of the human
character; and on the bad effects arising from the com-
mon practice of deriving our notions of religion rather
from the compositions of men than from the Bible. In-
fidels are not in general acquainted, through the Bible
itself, with the system of revelation; and therefore they
are inaccessible to that evidence for it which arises out
of the discovery that its doctrinal facts all tally exactly
with the character which its precepts inculcate. I
have here also illustrated this coincidence between the
doctrines and the precepts of the Bible in several par-
ticulars. Ifthe Christian character is the character of
true and immortal happiness, the system must be true
which necessarily leads to that character.

V. I have endeavoured to show the need that men
have for some system of spiritual renovation; and I
have inferred from the preceding argument, that no
such system could be really efficient, unless it resem-
bled Christianity in its structure and mode of enforce-
ment.

VI. I have shown the connexion between the exter-
nal and internal evidence for revelation.OF REVEALED RELIGION.

SECTION I.

WHEN it is said that happiness is necessarily and ex-
clusively connected with a resemblance to the Divine
character, it is evident that the word “happiness” must
be understood in a restricted sense. It cannot be de-
nied, that many vicious men enjoy much gratification
through life; nor can it even be denied, that this gra-
tification is derived in a great measure from their very
vices. This fact is, no doubt, very perplexing, as
every question must be which is connected with the
origin of evil. But still, it isno more perplexing than
the origin of evil, or than the hypothesis that our present
life is a state of trial and discipline. Temptation to evil,
evidently implies a sense of gratification proceeding
from evil; and evil could not have existed without this
sense of eratification connected with it. So, also, this
life could not be a state of trial and discipline in good,
unless there were some inducement or temptation to
evil,—that is, unless there were some sense of gratifi-
cation attending evil. It probably does not lie within
the compass of human faculties to give a completely
satisfactory answer to these questions; whilst yet it
may be rationally maintained, that if there is a pro-
priety in this life being a state of discipline, there must
also be a propriety in sin being connected with a sense
of gratification. But then, may not this vicious gratifi-
cation be extended through eternity, as well as through
a year or an hour? I cannot see any direct impossibility
in this supposition, on natural principles; and yet I feel
that the assertion of it sounds very much like the con-
tradiction of an intuitive truth.

There is a great difference between the happiness

a

eabetns c Pea

  
   
 
  
 
 
   
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
    
  
 
 
 

©2 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

enjoyed with the approbation of conscience, and that
4

which is felt without it or against it. When the con-
science is very sensitive, the gratification arising from
vice cannot be very great: the natural process, there-
fore, by which such gratification is obtained or height-
ened, is by lulling or deadening the conscience. This
is accomplished by habitually turning the attention from
the distinction of good and evil, and directing it to the
circumstances which constitute vicious gratification.
The testimony of conscience is that verdict which
every man returns for or against himself upon the ques-
tion, whether his moral character has kept pace with
his moral judgment? This verdict will therefore be, in
relation to absolute moral truth, correct or incorrect, in
proportion to the degree of illumination possessed by
the moral judgment; and the feeling.of remorse will
be more or less painful according to the inequality which
subsists between the judgment and the character.
When a man, therefore, by dint of perseverance, has
brought his judgment down to the level of his character,
and has trained his reason to call evil good, and good
evil, he has gained a victory over conscience, and ex-
pelled remorse. If he could maintain this advantage
through his whole existence, his conduct would admit
of a most rational justification. But then, his peace
is built solely on the darkness of his moral judgment ;
and therefore, all that is necessary in order to make him
miserable, and to stir up a civil war within his breast,
would be to throw such a strong and indubious light on
the perfect character of goodness, as might extort from
him an acknowledgement of its excellency, and force
him to contrast with it his own past history and present
condition. Whilst his mental eye is held in fascination
by this glorious vision, he cannot but feel the anguish
of remorse ; he cannot but feel that he is at fearful strifeOF REVEALED RELIGION, 28

with some mighty and mysterious being, whose power
has compelled even his own heart to execute vengeance
on him; nor can he hide from himself the loathsomeness
‘and pollution of that spiritual pestilence, which has
poisoned every organof his moral constitution. He can
hope to escape from this wretchedness, only by with-
drawing his gaze from the appalling brightness; and,
in this world, such an attempt can generally be made
with success. But suppose him to be placed in such
circumstances that there should be no retreat—no di-
versity of objects which might divert or divide his at-
tention—and that, wherever he turned, he was met and
fairly confronted by this threatening Spirit of Good-
ness,—it is impossible that he could have any respite
from misery, except ina respite from existence. If this
should be the state of things in the next world, we may
form some conception of the union there between vice
and misery.

Whilst we stand at a distance from a furnace, the
effect of the heat on our bodies gives us little uneasi-
ness; but as we approach it, the natural opposition
manifests itself, and the pain is increased by every step
that we advance. ‘The complicated system of this
world’s businesS and events, forms, as it were, a veil
before our eyes, and interposes a kind of moral distance
between us and our God, through which the radiance of
his character shines but indistinctly, so that we can
withhold our attention from it if we will. ‘The opposi-
tion which exists between his perfect holiness and our
corrupt propensities, does not force itself upon us at
every step: his views and purposes may run contrary
to ours; but as they donot often meet us in the form
of a direct and personal encounter, we contrive to ward
off the conviction that we are at hostility with the Lord
of the Universe, and think that we may enjoy ourselves

ry oD
K«

itt Sheet eeoe RE RETR baap

 

 

“| ¥
tats

3h tf

ae

rf = |

itm be

 

24. INTERNAL EVIDENCE

in the intervals of these much dreaded visitations, withi-
out feeling the necessity of bringing our habits into a
perfect conformity with his. But when death removes
this veil, by dissolving our connexion with this world
and its works, we may be brought into a closer and
more perceptible contact with Him who is of purer
eyes than to behold iniquity. In that spiritual world,
we may suppose that each event, even the minutest part
of the whole system of government, will bear such an
unequivocal stamp of the Divine character, that an in-
tellicent being, of opposite views and feelings, will at
every moment feel itself galled and thwarted and borne
down by the direct and overwhelming encounter of this
all-pervading and almighty mind. And here it should
be remembered, that the Divine government does not,
like human authority, skim the surface, nor content it-
self with an unresisting exterior and professions of sub-
mission; but comes close to the thoughts, and carries
its summons to the affections and the will, and pene-
trates to those recesses of the soul, where, whilst we are
in this world, we often take a pride and a pleasure in
fostering the unyielding sentiments of hatred and con-
tempt, even towards-that superiority of force which has
subdued and.fettered and silenced us.

The man who believes in revelation, will, of course,
receive this view as the truth of God: and even the
unbeliever in revelation, if he admits the existence of
an Almighty Being of a perfect moral character, and if
he see no unlikelihood in the supposition that the mix-
ture of good and evil, and the process of moral disci-
pline connected with it, are to cease with this stage of
our being, even he cannot but feel that there is a strong
probability in favour of such an anticipation.

We see, then, how vicious men may be happy to a
certain degree in this world, and yet be miserable inOF REVEALED RELIGION. 25

the next, without supposing any very great alteration
in the general system of God’s government, and with-
out taking into account any thing like positive infliction
as the cause of their misery. And it may be observed,
that this wiew gives to vice a form, and an extent, and a
power, very different from what is generally ascribed to
it amongst men. Wearehere conversant chiefly about
externals ; and therefore the name of vice is more com-
monly applied to external conduct than to internal cha-
racter. But, in the world of spirits, itisnotso. There,
a dissonance in principle and object from the Father of
Spirits constitutes vice, and is identified with unhappi-
ness. So that a man who has here passed a useful and
dignified life, upon principles different from those of the
Divine character, must, when under the direct action
of that character, feel a want of adjustment and an op-
position which cannot but mar or exclude. happiness.
Thus, also, the effects of pride, of vanity, or of selfish-
ness, when combined with prudence, may often be most
beneficial in the world; and yet, if these principles ate
in opposition to God’s character, they must disqualify
the minds in which they reign, for participating in the
joys of heaven. The joys of heaven are described in
Scripture to consist ina resembiance to God, or in a
cheerful and sympathising submission to his will; and
as man naturally follows the impulse of his own
propensities, without reference’ to the will of God, it is
evident that a radical change of principle is necessary,
in order to capacitatehim for that happiness.

It was to produce this necessary and salutary change,
that the gospel was sent from heaven. It bears upon
it the character of God. It is not, therefore, to be
wondered at, that those whose principles are opposed
to that character, should also be opposed to the gospel.
Christianity thus anticipates the discoveries of death; itStee

  

26 INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

removes the veil which hides God from our sight; it
brings the system of the spiritual world to act upon our
consciences; it presents us with a specimen of God’s
higher and interior government; it gives us a nearer
view of his character in its true proportionsy and thus
marks out to us the points in which we differ from him ;
it condemns with his authority; it smiles and invites
with his uncompromising purity. The man who dis-
likes all this, will reject Christianity, and replace the
veil, and endeavour to forget the awful secrets which it
conceals: and may perhaps be only at last roused from
his delusion, by finding himself face to face before the
God whose warnings he had neglected, and whose offers
of friendship he had disregarded,—offers which, had
they been accepted, would have brought his will into
concord with that sovereign will which rules the uni-
verse, and fitted him to take a joyful and sympathizing
interest in every part of the Divine administration.

Of the attractive and overcoming loveliness of the
character of God, as revealed in his word, and of the
invitations which he makes to sinners, I shall speak af-
terwards; but in the mean time, I would draw the at-
tention of the reader to the serious consideration of the
fact, that a dissonance in principle from the Ruler of
the Universe cannot but be connected with some de-
gree of unhappiness. Although I believe that few
minds will feel much difficulty in acquiescinge in some
measure in the truth of this remark, and although there
is no intricacy in the reasoning connected with it, yet
as distinct conceptions on this subject are of prime im-
portance in all views of religion, I shall illustrate it by
an analogy drawn from the more palpable and better
understood affairs of this material world, with which
we are surrounded. We may find strikmg examples
to this purpose in a period of English history, whichOF REVEALED RELIGION. 27

was distinguished above all others for the remarkable
contrasts which it exhibited in public sentiment and
principle amongst the different classes of the nation,
and is therefore peculiarly fitted for elucidating the
effects produced on happiness, by an opposition in prin-
ciple between the ruling power anda part of its sub-
jects.

It is easy to imagine the stern and composed satisfac-
tion with which a thorough partisan of Cromwell would
contemplate the rigid and formal solemnity which over-
spread the Government and the people of England du-
ring the Protectorship. But whence did this satisfac-
tion arise? Certainly from that concord which subsisted
between his own habits and those of the ruling power.
His views and inclinations coincided at all points with
those of the Government; and therefore every measure
of administration was a source of gratification to him,
because it was in fact an expression of his own will.
He was thus in a state of political happiness; and had
there been no higher government than the Common-
wealth, through the universe or through eternity, he
must have been perfectly and permanently happy.
Now, let us carry forward this same individual to the
days of Charles the Second, and place him in the near
neighbourhood of that gay and dissolute court. We
can in this situation suppose him moving about with a
double measure of gloom in his countenance, and with
a heart embittered by the general mirth, and irritated
by the continual encounter of character and opinions
and habits directly opposed to his own. He retires to
a distance from the seat of Government, and endeavours
to hide himself from these painful conflicts in the bosom
of his family. ‘There the arrangements are all con-
ducted according to his own principles, and his own
taste, and he enjoys a tolerable state of happiness, though28 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

liable to occasional interruptions from public news,
from whispers that he is to be apprehended on suspicion
of treason, from the intrusion of Government officers,
and from a want of thorough sympathy on political sub-
jects, even perhaps in the members of his own domestic
cirele. All at once his quiet is destroyed by an order
from court to leave his seclusion, and reside in the me-
tropolis, that he may be more immediately under the
eye of Government. Here again he is brought face to
face with all that he hates and despises. His aversion
is increased by a sense of his inability to resist: and
he learns even to cherish the feeling and habit of misery
as the only testimony that his soul is unsubdued. He
is politically miserable.—I have given this sketch as
an illustration of those natural laws which make our
happiness dependent on our sympathy with a power
which overrules us; and also as an example of the
form and the precariousness of that process by which
we can in some circumstances contract our horizon, as
it were, and shut out from our view those things which
give us pain, and withdraw ourselves from the encoun-
ter of those principles which are in opposition to our
own. In the field of this world, there are many divi-
sions and subdivisions, separated by strong barriers from
each other, and acknowledging different authorities, or
the same authority perhaps in different degrees. These
are so many shelters to which men may betake them-
selves, when pursued by the justice or injustice of their
fellow-creatures: but whilst we continue within the
scope of one authority, although we may find a tempo-
rary asylum against its enmity in a narrower circle or
more private society, we are continually liable to be
confronted by it, and dragged from our hiding-place ;
and must therefore, from the nature of things, be in
some measure dependent on it for our happiness.OF REVEALED RELIGION. 29

Whenever the material world and its concerns are
made use of to illustrate the concerns of the mind and
of the invisible world, it is of great importance to pre-
serve in lively recollection the essential difference
which separates the two subjects. ‘The one embraces
outward actions exclusively ; whilst the prominent fea-
ture in the other is the principle from which the actions
spring. Thus, in the example which has just been
given, we can easily suppose that Cromwell’s followers
were actuated by a great variety of motives, and that
the solemnity of the Commonwealth might captivate
different minds on very different principles. Some
pious people might have liked it, from having associated
it in their minds with true religion; some from the
fanatical idea, that this outward form would atone for
more secret sins; some from its mixture with republi-
can sturdiness; and some, from a hatred of Popery or
of the Stuart family. Now, these principles are all
very different in their nature, although their external
results might in some particulars resemble each other ;
and therefore the happiness of the citizens did not pro-
ceed from an actual sympathy of principle with the
Government, but from a coincidence in the effects of
their principles: and if the Government had had cog-
nizance and control of the mind as well as the body,
then those alone could have been happy, or could have
been considered as good citizens, who liked that solemn
system of things precisely on the same principles with
the Government; and the collision of opposite principle
would in this case have been as violent as the collision
of external conduct actually was. In morals, an action
does not mean an effect simply, but a principle carried
into exercise ; and therefore, in a government of minds,
any effect produced by pride, for instance, however
beneficial to the public, would get the name of a proud

Cc J30 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

action, and would be condemned by a judge who disap-
proved of pride. Man cannot see into the heart; and
therefore he is obliged to conjecture or guess at principles
by their effects; but yet his judgment is always deter-
mined by the nature of the principle to which he as-
cribes the effects. Supposing, then, that we were un-
der such a supernaturally gifted government, and that
this government was so strong that the idea of resisting
or escaping it involved an absurdity,—it would evi-
dently become a matter of the very highest importance,
to make ourselves accurately acquainted with its prin-
ciples, and to accommodate our own to them; because
till this were accomplished, we could never enjoy tran-
quillity, but must continually suffer the uneasiness of
being reluctantly borne down by the current of a will
more powerful than our own. ‘This object, however,
would be attended by considerable difficulty. In the
first place, it could not be very easy to discover the
precise principles of the administration: almost any
sinele act might proceed from a great variety of princi-
ples; and it would therefore require a long observation
and induction of facts, in order to arrive at a satisfac-
tory conclusion. And in the second place, after we
had discovered these principles, we might chance to
find that they were in direct opposition to our own.

In these circumstances, it would be most desirable
that the Government should, for the information of the
people, embody in one interesting train of action the
whole of the principles of its administration ; so that
an unequivocal and distinct idea of these principles
might be conveyed, by the narrative, to any one who
would carefully consider its purport. After Government
had done this, it would evidently be the interest and the
duty of all the subjects to dwell much upon the history
thus communicated to them, in order that they mightOF REVEALED RELIGION. 3l

m this way familiarize their minds to the principles de-
veloped in it, and teach their own thoughts to run in
the same channel, and interest their affections and feel-
ings in it as much as possible. The people would en-
gage in this with greater or less earnestness, according
to the strength or weakness of the conviction which
each one had as to the reality of the connexion which
subsisted between happiness and the accomplishment of
this object, and also in proportion to their persuasion
that this history was a true representation of the cha-
racter of the Government. Approbation and affection
could alone constitute the necessary adjustment. Fear
might urge to the prosecution of the object, but the
complete harmony of the will is the result of a more
generous principle. If we suppose, farther, that this
complete harmony of sentiment is one of the great ob-
jects of Government, then a coincidence on the part of
the subjects, unless connected with a distinct intention
to coincide, could not contain in itself the elements of
a complete harmony, because it did not embrace this
great object of the Government.

 

SECTION II.

{ Have made these remarks for the purpose of illus-
trating the object of the Christian revelation, and of ex-
plaming the necessity of believing its announcement,
in order to the full accomplishment of that object in
each individual case. The object of Christianity is. to
bring the character of man into harmony with that of
God. ‘To this end, it is evidently necessary that a just
idea of the Divine character should be formed. The
works of creation, the arrangements of providence, and

Lre INTERNAL EVIDENCE

the testimony of conscience, are, if thoroughly weighed.
sufficient to give this idea: but men are in general so
much occupied by the works, that they forget their
great Author; and their characters are so opposed to
his, that they turn away their eyes from the contempla-
tion of that purity which condemns them. And even
in the most favourable cases, the moral efficiency of
the idea presented by these natural lights is much hin-
dered and weakened by the abstractness and vagueness
of its form.

When we look into creation or providence, for the
indication of God’s character, we are struck with the
mixture of appearances which present themselves. We
see on one side, life, health, happiness ; and on the other,
death, disease, pain, misery. The first class furnishes
us with arguments for the goodness of God; but what
are we to make of the opposite facts? ‘TThe theory on
this subject which is attended with fewest difficulties,
is founded on two suppositions,—first, That moral good
is necessary to permanent happiness; and second, That
misery is the result of moral evil, and was appointed
by the Author of Nature as its check and punishment.
This theory throws some light on the character both of
God andof man. It represents God not merely as ge-
nerally solicitous for the happiness of men, but as soli-
citous to lead them to happiness through, the medium
of a certain moral character, which is the object of his
exclusive approbation ; and it represents man as very
sinful, by holding forth the mass of natural evil in the
world as a sort of measure of his moral deficiency; and
suggests that the disease must be indeed virulent, when
so strong a medicine is necessary. The fact, however,
that the greatest natural evil does not always fall where
moral evil is most conspicuous, whilst it gives rise to
the idea of a future state, does nevertheless obscure, insome degree, our ideas of the divine character. Out
notion of the goodness of God, according to natural re-
ligion, does. not then arise so much from the know-
ledge of any one distinct unequivocal manifestation of
that quality, as from a general comparison of many
facts, which, when combined, lead to this conclusion.
This remark applies also to our notion of the divine ho-
liness, or God’s exclusive approbation of one particular
character; though not to the same extent,—because
conscience comes much more directly to the point here
than reason does in the other case. The excitements
and motives, arising out of such a comparison as has
been described, cannot be nearly so vivid or influential
as those which spring from the belief of a simple and
unequivocal fact which recurs to us without effort, and
unfolds its instruction without obscurity, and which
holds out to us an unvarying standard, by which we
may at all times judge of the thoughts and intentions
of God in his dealings with men. Natural theology,
therefore, becomes almost necessarily rather a subject
of metaphysical speculation than a system of practical
principles. It marks the distinctions of right and
wrong; but it does not efficiently attach our love to
what is right, nor our abhorrence to what is wrong.
We may frequently observe real serious devotedness,
even amongst the professors of the most absurd super-
stitions; but it would be difficult to find a devoted na-
tural religionist. The reason is, that these superstitions,
though they have no relation to the true character of
God, have yet some applicability to the natural consti-
tution of man. Natural religion possesses the former
qualification in much greater perfection than the latter.
Under an impression of guilt, a man who has no other
religious knowledge than that which unassisted reason
affords, must feel much perplexity and embarrassment.

OF REVEALED RELIGION. 3334 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

He believes that God is gracious ; but, the wounds which
he feels in his own conscience, and the misery which
he sees around him, demonstrate also that God is of a
most uncompromising purity. He knows not what to
think; and he is tempted either to despair, or to turn
his thoughts away entirely from so alarming a subject.
All these conditions of mind—despair, thoughtlessness,
and perplexity—are equally adverse to the moral
health of the soul, and are equally opposed to that zeal-
ous and cheerful obedience which springs from grati-
tude for mercy, and esteem for holy and generous
worth. In such circumstances, the mind would natu-
rally, in self-defence, contrive to lower its standard of
moral duty down to the level of its own performances ;
or would settle into a gloomy hostility to a lawgiver
who requires more from it than it is disposed to render.
It is in this form of weakness and perversion that we
generally see natural religion ; and we need not won-
der at this melancholy phenomenon, when we consider
that its principles consist in abstract conclusions of the
intellect, which make no powerful appeal to the heart.
A single definite and intelligible action gives a vi-
vidness and power to the idea of that moral character
which it exhibits, beyond what could be conveyed by a
multitude of abstract descriptions. Thus the abstract
ideas of patriotism and integrity make but an uninter-
esting appearance, when contrasted with the high spec-
tacle of heroic worth which was exhibited in the con-
duct of Regulus, when, in the senate of his country,
he raised his solitary voice against those humbling pro-
positions of Carthage, which, if acquiesced in, would
have restored him to liberty, and which, for that single
reason, had almost gained an acquiescence; and then,
unsubdued alike by the frantic entreaties of his family,
the weeping solicitations of the admiring citizens, andOF REVEALED RELIGION. oo
the appalling terrors of his threatened fate, he returned
to Africa, rather than violate his duty to Rome and the
sacredness of truth.

{n the. same way, the abstract views of the Divine
character, drawn from the observation of nature, are in
general rather visions of the intellect than efficient
moral principles in the heart and conduct: and how-
ever true they may be, are uninteresting and unex-
citing, when compared with the vivid exhibition of
them in a history of definite and intelligible action.

To assist our weakness, therefore, and to accommo-
date his instructions to the principles of our nature,
God has been pleased to present to us a most interest-
ing series of actions, in which his moral character, as
far as we are concerned, is fully and perspicuously em-
bodied. In this narration, the most condescending and
affecting and entreating kindness, is so wonderfully
combined with the most spotless holiness, and the natural
appeals which emanate from every part of it, to our es-
teem, our gratitude, our shame, and our interest, are so
urgent and constraining, that he who carries about with
him the conviction of the truth and reality of this his-
tory, possesses in it a principle of mighty efficiency,
which must subdue and harmonize his mind to the will
of that Great Being whose character is there depicted.

The delineation of the character of an overruling
authority, whatever that character may be, makes a
strong appeal to the subjects, on the score of their in-
terest: it calls upon them, as they value their happi-
ness, to bring their own views into conformity with it.
The appeal becomes more forcible and effectual, if the
character which they are thus called on to contemplate
be such a one as would naturally excite esteem and af-
fection in an uninterested observer. But the weight
of the appeal is infinitely increased, when this powerful
i 236 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

and amiable Being is represented to them in the atti-
tude of a benefactor, exerting this power and putting
forth this character on their own peculiar behalf.

It is thus that the character of God is represented in
the New Testament; and it is on these grounds that
we are called on to love, to cbey, and to imitate him.
If God’s character be in fact such as is there described,
then those who reject the history in which this charac-
ter is developed, shut themselves out from the oppor-
tunity of familiarizing their minds to the Divine go-
vernment, and of bringing their affections and their
views to harmonize with it.

There is a divine beauty and wisdom in the form in
which God has chosen to communicate the knowledge
of his character, which, when duly considered, can
scarcely fail of exciting gratitude and admiration. The
object of the gospel is to bring man into harmony with
God; the subject of its operations, therefore, is the
human heart in all its various conditions. It addresses.
the learned and the unlearned, the Savage and the
civilized, the decent and the profligate; and to all it
speaks precisely the same language. What then is this
universal language? It cannot be the language of
metaphysical discussion, or what is called abstract moral
reasoning; for this could be intelligible to few, and
it could influence the characters of fewer. The prin-
ciples which it addresses, ought evidently to be such as
are in a great measure independent of the extremes
of cultivation and barbarism; and, in point of fact, they
are so. ‘They are indeed the very principles which
Mr. Hume designates to be, “a Species of natural in-
stincts, which no reasoning or process of the thought or
understanding is able either to produce or to prevent.”
—(Inquiry into Human Understanding, sect. v. part 1.)
Its argument consists in a relation of facts: if these areOF REVEALED RELIGION. oT

really believed, the effect on the character necessarily
follows. It presents a history of wondrous love, in or-
der to excite gratitude; of high and holy worth, to at-
tract veneration and esteem: it presents a view of
danger, to produce alarm; of refuge, to confer peace
and joy; and of eternal glory, to animate hope.

 

SECTION If.

Tn reasonableness of a réligion seems to me to con-
sist in there being a direct and natural connexion be-
tween a believing of the doctrines which it inculcates,
and a being formed by these to the character which it
recommends. If the belief of the doctrines has no ten-
dency to train a disciple in a more exact and more
willing discharge of its moral obligations, there is evi-
dently a very strong probability against the truth of
that religion. In other words, the doctrines ought to
tally with the precepts, and to contain in their very
substance some urgent motives for the performance of
them; because, if they are not of this description, they
are of no use, What is the history of another world
to me, unless it have some intelligible relation to my
duties or happiness? If we apply this standard to the
various religions which different nations have framed
fr themselves, we shall find very little matter for ap-
probation, and a great deal for pity and astonishment.
The very states which have chiefly excelled in arts and
literature and civil government, have failed here most
lamentably. Their moral precepts might be very
good; but then these precepts had as much connexion
with the history of astronomy as with the doctrines of
their religion. Which of the adventures of Jupiter, or

d38 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

Brama, or Osiris, could be urged as a powerful motive
to excite a high moral feeling, or to produce a hich
moral action? The force of the moral precepts was
rather lessened than increased by the facts of their my-
thology. In the religion of Mahomet there are many
excellent precepts; but it contains no illustration of
the character of God, which has any particular tenden-
cy beyond or even equal to that of natural religion to
enforce these precepts. Indeed one of the most im-
portant doctrines which he taught,—viz. a future life
beyond the grave,—from the shape which he gave to
it, tended to counteract*his moral precepts. He de-
scribed it as a state of indulgence in sensual oratifica-
tions, which never cloyed the appetite; and yet he
preached temperance and self-denial. It is evident
that any self-restraint which is produced by the belief
of this doctrine, must be merely external; for the real
principle of temperance could not be cherished by the
hope of indulgence at a future period. The philoso-
phical systems of theology are no less liable to the
charge of absurdity than the pepular superstitions. No
one can read Cicero’s work on the nature of the gods,
without acknowledging the justice of the Apostle’s sen-
tence upon that class of reasoners,—‘« professing them-
selves to be wise, they became fools.”

As the principles and the feelings of our nature,
which are addressed in religion, are precisely the same
with those which are continually exercised in the affairs
of this world, we may expect to find a resemblance be-
tween the doctrines of a true religion and the means
and arguments by which a virtuous man acquires an
influence over the characters and conduct of his fellow-
creatures. When a man desires another to do any
thing, that is the precept; when he enforces it by any
mode of persuasion, that is the doctrine. When theOF REVEALED RELIGION. 39

Athenians were at war with the Heraclide, it was de-
clared by the Oracle, that the nation whose king died
first, should be victorious in the contest. As soon as
this was known, Codrus disguised himself, went over
to the camp of the enemy, and exposed himself there
to a quarrel with a soldier, who killed him without
knowing who he was. ‘The Athenians sent to demand
the body of their king; which so alarmed the Heracli-
de, from the recollection of the Oracle, that they fled in
disorder.. Now, let us suppose that Codrus wished to
inculcate the principle of patriotism in his countrymen.
If he had merely issued a proclamation, commanding
every citizen to prefer the interest of his country to
his own life, he would have been giving them a moral

precept, but without a corresponding doctrine. If he >

had joined to this proclamation, the promise of honour
and wealth as the rewardsof obedience, he would have
been adding a very powerful doctrine, yet nevertheless
such a doctrine as must have led much more directly to
patriotic conduct than to patriotic feeling and principle.
Vanity and avarice, without patriotism, might have
gained those rewards. But if he wished to excite or
to cherish the principle of patriotism in the hearts of
his people, he chose the most eloquent and prevailing
argument, when he sacrificed his life for them, and thus
attracted their admiration and gratitude to that spirit
which animated his breast, and their love to that coun-
try, of which he was at once the representative and the
ransom.

It is indeed astriking and yet an undeniable fact, that
we are comparatively little affected by abstract truths
in morality. The cry of a child will produce a greater
movement, in almost any mind, than twenty pages of
unanswerable reasoning. An instinctive acquaintance
with this fact guides us in our dealings with our fellow-

Peete st tej eer eaeINTERNAL EVIDENCE

creatures; and He who.formed the heart of man, has
attested his revealed word, by showing his acquaint-
ance with the channel through which persuasion and
instruction might be most effectually communicated.
[t may therefore be useful to illustrate, at greater
length, the analogy which exists between the persua-
sions of the gospel, and those which might be fixed on as
the most powerful arguments capable of being address-
ed to any human feelings on the subject of human in-
terests.

Let us, then, present to ourselves a company of men
travelling along the sea-shore. One of them, better
acquainted with the ground than the rest, warns them
of quick-sands, and points out to thema landmark which
indicated the position of a dangerous pass. They how-
ever see no great reason for apprehension; they are
anxious to get forwards, and cannot resolve upon making
a considerable circuit in order to avoid what appears
to them an imaginary evil; they reject his coun-
sel, and proceed onwards. In these circumstances,
what argument ought he to use? What mode of
persuasion can we imagine fitted to fasten on their
minds a strong conviction of the reality of their danger,
and the disinterested benevolence of their adviser?
His words have been ineffectual; he must try some
other method ; he mustact. And he does so ; for, seeing’
no other way of prevailing on them, he desires them to
wait only a single moment, till they see the truth of
his warning confirmed by his fate. He goes before
them: he puts his foot on the seemingly firm sand, and
sinks to death. This eloquence is irresistible. He
was the most active and vigorous among them; if any
one could have extricated himself from the difficulty, it
was he; they are persuaded; they make the necessary
circuit, bitterly accusing themselves ‘of the death ofOF REVEALED RELIGION. Al

thelr generous companion; and during their progress,
as often as these landmarks occur, his nobleness and
their own danger rise to their minds, and secure their
safety. Rashness is now not perilous merely,—it is
ungrateful; it is making void the death of their de-
liverer.

To walk without God in the world, is to walk in sin;
and sin is the way of danger. Men had been told this
by their own consciences, and they had even partially
and occasionally believed it; but still they walked on.
Common arguments had failed; the manifestations of
the Divine character in creation and providence, and
the testimony of conscience, had been in a great mea-
sure disregarded: It thus seemed necessary that a
stronger appeal should be made to their understanding
and their feelings. The danger of sin must be more
strikingly and unequivocally demonstrated: and the
alarm excited by this demonstration must be connected
with a more kindly and generous principle, which may
bind their affections to that God from whom they have
wandered. But how is this to be done? What more
prevailing appeal can be made? Must the Almighty
Warner demonstrate the evil of sin, by undergoing its
effects? Must he prove the danger of sin, by exhibiting
himself as a sufferer under its consequences? Must he
who knew no sin suffer as a sinner, that he might per-
suade men that sin is indeed an evil !—It was even so.
God became man, and dwelt amongst us. He himself
encountered the terrors of guilt, and bore its punish-
ment; and called on his careless creatures to consider
and understand the evil of sin, by contemplating even
its undeserved effects on a being of perfect purity, who
was over all, God blessed for ever. Could they hope
to sustain that weight which had crushed the Son of
God? Could they rush into that guilt and that dangen
f *)FRE EBB eS - ;

Set Toe
eae renee

Loreal
amy,

42 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

against which he had so pathetically warned them?
Could they refuse their hearts and their obedience to
him who had proved himself so worthy of their confi-
dence 1—especially when we consider that this great
Benefactor is ever present, and sees the acceptance
which this history of his compassion meets with in
every breast, rejoicing in those whose Spirits are puri-
fied by it, and still holding out the warning of his ex-
ample to the most regardless,
Ancient history tells us of a certain king who made
a law against adultery, in which it was enacted that
the offender should be punished by the loss of both eyes.
The very first offender was his own son. ‘The case
was most distressing ; for the kino was an affectionate
father, as well as a just magistrate. After much de-
liberation and inward struggle, he finally commanded
one of his own eyes to be pulled out, and one of his son’s.
It is easier to conceive than to describe what must have
been the feelings of the son in these most affecting cir-
cumstances. His offence would appear to him in a
new light; it would appear to him not simply as con-
nected with painful consequences to himself, but as the
cause of a father’s sufferings, and as an injury to a fa-
ther’s love. If the king had passed over the law alto-
gether, in his son’s favour, he would have exhibited no
regard for justice, and he would have given a very in-
ferior proof of affection. We measure affection by the
sacrifice which it is prepared to make, and by the re-
sistance which it overcomes. If the sacrifice had been
made, and the resistance overcome secretly in the heart
of the king, there could have been but little evidence
of the real existence either of principle or of affection ;
and the son might perhaps have had reason to think, that
his pardon was as much the effect of his father’s disre-
gard of the law, as of his affection to him: and at anyOF REVEALED RELIGION, 43

rate, even if he had given the fullest credit to the ab-
stract justice and kindness which were combined in his
acquittal, it is impossible that this theoretical character
of his father could have wrought on his heart any im-
pression half so energetic, or interesting, or overwhelm-
ing, as that which must have been produced by the
simple and unequivocal and practical exhibition of worth
which has been recorded. If we suppose that the hap-
piness of the young man’s life depended on the eradica-
tion of this criminal propensity, it is not easy to ima-
gine how the king could more wisely or more effectu-
ally have promoted this benevolent object. The action
was not simply a correct representation of the king’s
character,—it also contained in itself an appeal most
correctly adapted to the feelings of the criminal. It
justified the king in the exercise of clemency ; it tran-
quillized the son’s mind, as being a pledge of the reality
and sincerity of his father’s gracious purposes towards
him; and it identified the object of his esteem with the
object of his gratitude. Mere gratitude, unattracted by
an object of moral worth, could never have stamped an
impression of moral worth on his character; which was
his father’s ultimate design. We might suppose the
existence of this same character without its producing
such an action; we might suppose a conflict of con-
tending feelings to be carried on in the mind without
evidencing, in the conduct flowing from it, the full ve-
hemence of the conflict, or defining the adjustment of
the contending feelings; but we cannot suppose any
mode of conduct so admirably fitted to impress the stamp
of the father’s character on the mind of the son, or to
associate the love of right and the abhorrence of wrong
with the most powerful instincts of the heart. The old
man not only wished to act in perfect consistency with
his own views of duty, but also to produce a salutary
MINTERNAL EVIDENCE

effect on the mind of his son; and it is the full and ef-
fectual union of these two objects which forms the most
beautiful and striking part of this remarkable history.

There is a singular resemblance between this moral
exhibition and the communication which God has been
pleased to make of himself in the gospel. We cannot
but love and admire the character of this excellent
prince, although we ourselves have no direct interest
in it; and shall we refuse our love and admiration to
the King and Father of the human race, who, with a
kindness and condescension unutterable, has, in calling
his wandering children to return to duty and to happi-
ness, presented to each of usa like aspect of tender-
ness and purity, and made use of an argument which
makes the most direct and irresistible appeal to the
most familiar, and at the same time the most’ powerful
principles in the heart of man?

In the gospel, God is represented in the combined
character of a gracious parent and a just judge. His
guilty children are arraigned before him and condemned.
They have not only forfeited all claim to his favour, by
the breach of that fundamental law which binds all in-
telligent creatures to love and resemble their Creator ;
but they have also by the same means contracted the
disease of sin, and lost that mental health which can
alone capacitate for spiritual enjoyment. 'Thus, the
consistency of their Judge, and their own diseased con-
dition, seemed equally to cover their futurity with a
pall of the deepest mourning. This disease constituted
their punishment. Pardon, whilst this disease remain-
ed, was a mere name. Mercy, therefore, if at all com-
municated, must be communicated in’such a way as
to heal this disease—in such a way as to associate
sin with the abhorrence of the heart, and duty with
the love of the heart. The exhibition of the DivineOF REVEALED RELIGION,

character in this dispensation of mercy must not
only be consistent with its own excellence, but also
suited to make an impression on the reason and the
feelings of the guilty. And it isso. The Judge him-
self bore the punishment of transgression, whilst he
published an amnesty to the guilty, and thus asserted
the authority and importance and worth of the law, by
that very act which beamed forth love unspeakable, and
displayed a compassion which knew no obstacle but the
unwillingness of the criminals to accept it. The eter-
nal Word became flesh; and exhibited, in sufferings
and in death, that combination of holiness and mercy,
which, believed, must excite love; and if loved, must
produce resemblance.

A pardon without sacrifice could have made’ but a
weak and obscure appeal to the understanding or the
heart. It could not have demonstrated the evil of
sin; it could not have demonstrated the graciousness
of God; and, therefore, it could not have led man either
to hate sin or to love God. If the punishment as well
as the criminality of sin consists in an opposition to the
character of God, the fullest pardon must be perfectly
useless, whilst this opposition remains in the heart ; and
the substantial usefulness of the pardon will depend
upon its being connected with such circumstances as
may have a natural and powerful tendency to remove
this opposition, and create a resemblance. ‘The pardon
of the gospel is connected with such circumstances,
for the-sacrifice of Christ has associated sin with the
blood of a benefactor, as well as with our own per-
sonal sufferings,—and obedience with the dying en-
treaty of a friend breathing out a tortured life for us,
as well as with our own unending glory in his blessed
society. ‘This aet, like that in the preceding illustra-
tion, justifies God as a lawgiver in dispensing mercy=“ A a
eoetsasserteesyi gs tig 7) :

 

 

  

46 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

to the guilty; it gives a pledge of the sincerity and re-
ality of that mercy; and, by associating principle with
mercy, it identifies the object of gratitude with the ob-
ject of esteem, in the heart of the sinner. It may
also here be observed, that the resurrection and ascen-
sion of Christ, as the representative of our race, not
only demonstrate the Divine complacency in the work
of the Saviour, but exhibit to us also the indissolu-
ble connexion which subsists between immortal glory
and an entire, unreserved acquiescence in the will of
God; and thus the christian hope is not directed to an
undefined ease and enjoyment in heaven, but to a de-
fined and intelligible happiness springing from the
more perfect exercise of those very principles of love
to God and man, which formed the character of their
Master, and still constitute his joy.

The distinction of persons in the Divine nature, we
cannot comprehend ; but we can easily comprehend the
high and engaging morality of that character of God
which is developed in the history of the New Testa-
ment. God gave his. equal and well-beloved Son, to
suffer in the stead of an apostate world; and through
this exhibition of awful justice, he publishes the fullest
and freest pardon. He thus teaches us, that it forms no
part of his scheme of mercy to dissolve the eternal con-
nexion between sin and misery. No; this connexion
stands sure; and one of the chief objects of Divine re-
velation is to convince men of this truth. And Justice
does the work of mercy, when it alarms us to a sense of
danger, and stimulates us to flee from a continually in-
creasing wo. But the cross of Christ does not merely
show the danger of sin; it demonstrates an unwearied
compassion,—a love unutterable, which extends its in-
vitations and entreaties of reconciliation as wide as the
ravages of gin, in order that by such an instance of self-OF REVEALED RELIGION. AT

sacrificing solicitude on the part of God for their wel-
fare, men might be allured to the love of Him who had
so loved them; and that their grateful admiration hay-
ing for its object the full perfections of the Divine cha-
racter, might gradually carry them forward to an en-
tire resemblance of it.

Most men will have no hesitation to admit the gene-
ral proposition, that the moral character of God suppo-
ses the union of justice and mercy in an infinite degree.
Now, the gospel history simply gives an individuality
and a life to this general idea, in the same way that the
old king’s conduct towards his son gave an individuality
and a life to the general idea of paternal affection in
union with a regard for the laws. Most men will also
admit, that the conduct of this good prince was suited
not only to give a distinct view of his own principles,
but also to stamp the character of these principles on
the heart of his son. But the same causes operate in
fitting the conduct of God, as declared in the gospel,
for stamping the character of its principles on the hearts
of those who believe it. The old king was sensible,
that the abstract idea of his justice and affection would
have had but very little influence on his son’s charac-
ter; and, therefore, it was the part of a wise and be-
nevolent man to embody this abstract idea in a palpable
action, which might make an intelligible and powerful
appeal to his understanding and his heart. The abstract
idea of God’s character has still less influence on our
minds; because the invisible infinity of his essence adds
incalculably to the natural vagueness and inefficiency
of such impressions. It was therefore the part of a wise
and benevolent Being to embody his attributes in a
train of palpable and intelligible action, which might
carry a distinct and influential appeal to our capacities
and feelings. If the ultimate object of God’s dealings
M 248 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

with men had been to pardon their sins, this might have
been done without giving them any information on the
subject until they stood before the judgment seat: but
if his gracious object was, as the Bible represents it, to
make men partakers of his own happiness, by commu-
nicating to them his own moral likeness, it was neces-
sary that such an exhibition of his moral character
should be made to them, as might convey to their un-
derstandings a distinct idea of it, and might address to
their feelings of gratitude and esteem and interest, such
appropriate excitements and persuasives as might lead
to a full resemblance of it.

SECTION IV.

Bur many who admit the abstract character of God,
feel, notwithstanding, a disposition to reject the gospel
history ; although its whole tenor is in perfect conform-
ity with the general idea to which they have professed
their consent: This is natural, though unreasonable.
It is probable that the old king’s son was very much as-
tonished when he learned the final determination as to
the mode of executing the law in his case; yet, if he
had been asked before, what his opinion of his father’s
character was, it is likely that he would have answered
with confidence, that he knew him to be a just prince
and an affectionate father. Why, then, was he as-
tonished? Did not the fact agree with his previous
judgment? The only explanation is, that he did not
comprehend the full meaning of his own expressions ;
and when he saw the general idea which he had formed
of his father’s character embodied in an action, he didOF REVEALED RELIGION. 49

not recognize it to be in fact the same thing. Many of
those who reason on the character of God fall into a
similar mistake. They admit his absolute moral perfec-
tions; but when the abstract idea which they have
formed of Him takes life before their eyes, and assumes
the body of an action, they start from it as if it were an
utter stranger. And why?—The only reason which
can be given is, that the abstract idea which they talk
about, is so vague and indeterminate, as to make no
distinct impression on their minds.

If a man really admitted, in truth and in intelligence,
that abstract idea of God which he admits in words, he
would find his reason compelled to believe a fact which
is only an exemplification of that idea, nay the exist-
ence of which seems in some degree indispensible to
the consistency of that idea. The admission of this
abstract idea, and the rejection of the corresponding
fact, are as inconsistent as to be convinced of the tho-
rough liberality of a friend’s character, and at thesame
time to reject as absurd and fanciful the history of a
liberal action said to have been performed by him when
the occasion seemed actually to require it.

There is another quality belonging to abstract ideas,
arising from the vagueness of the impressions made by
them, which recommends them to many minds; and
that is, their inoffensiveness. A corrupt politician, for
instance, can speculate on and applaud the abstract idea
of integrity ; but when this abstract idea takes the form
of a man, and a course of action, it ceases to be that
harmless and welcome visiter it used to be, and draws on
itself the decided enmity of its former apparent friend.
The fact is, that the man never really loved the abstract
idea of integrity, else he must have loved every exem-
plification of it. We have thus an unequivocal test of
a man’s principles. Bring the eloquent eulogist of mag:
é50 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

nanimity into a situation where he may be tried,—bring
him in difficult circumstances into contact with a per-
son of real magnanimity,—and we shall see whether it
was the thing or the name which he loved.

In the same way, many men will admit the abstract
‘idea of a God of infinite holiness and goodness; and
will even take delight in exercising their reason or
their taste in speculating on the subject of his being and
attributes; yet these same persons will shrink with dis-
like and alarm from the living energy which this ab-
stract idea assumes inthe Bible. It isthere nolongera
harmless generality: it is a living Being, asserting one
spiritual character, and one class of principles in har-
mony with his own, disapproving and condemning every
other, and casting the weight of omnipotence into his
scale, to prove the vanity of all resistance. Those
who feel oppressed by the vigilance and strictness of
this ever-present witness, without being convinced of
the importance of his friendship, are glad to retreat
and to shroud themselves under the vagueness of an
abstract idea. But in truth they do not believe nor
love this abstract idea of God, else they would also be-
lieve and love the living character which corresponds
to it. The real conviction of the truth of the abstract
idea would necessarily contain in it the conviction of
the corresponding fact.

These remarks may serve to illustrate the grounds
on which a charge of moral guilt is brought by the
Scriptures against unbelief. If a man cannot refuse
his assent and approbation to an abstract principle in
morals, why does he reject it when it loses its abstract-
ness, and comes in a form of power and efficiency *
The principle continues the same; it has only assumed
a more active attitude. In truth, he now rejects it be-
cause it is active, and because it strenuously opposes

?a att A ae ee Ce pide oe epee 0m

OF REVEALED RELIGION. 51

many of his favourite inclinations. He does not wish
to be guided by what he knows to be right, but by what
he feels to be agreeable. ‘He does not wish to retain
God in his knowledge.” He does not wish, at any risk,
or with any sacrifice, to do the will of God ; and there-
fore “he doth not know of the doctrine whether it be of
God.” Such an ignorance as this is criminal; because
it arises from a wilful stifling of conviction, and an
aversion to admitted truths.
It thus appears, that, by the help of abstract ideas
and general terms, a man may appear to have made
great progress in morals, whilst in fact he has learned
nothing. Things operate on our minds exactly accord-
ing to our apprehension of them, and not according to
their own intrinsic value. Our apprehensions of abstract
truths in morality is so vague, that they hardly operate
on our characters at all. Does it not, then, approach
almost to a demonstration, that if God really intended
to improve the happiness and characters of men, by in-
structing them in the excellence of his own character,
he would communicate this instruction, not in the form
of abstract propositions and general terms, which are,
by the construction of the human mind, incapable of
producing any real and lasting effect upon us, but by
that way which coincides with our faculties of appre-
hension,—that is, by the way of living and palpable ac-
tions, which may add the weight and distinctness of
their own substance to those truths which they are in-
tended to develop? That men stand in need of such
an improvement, is certain; that a gracious Being
should intend it, is surely not improbable ; and if he
had such an intention, that some such scheme as Chris-
tianity should have been adopted, seems necessary to
its success.
At first sight, it may seem strange that a ayatem evi-oa

  

D2 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

   
   
  
    
   
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
  
    
   
  

dently flowing from so much goodness, tending to so
much happiness, and constructed with so much wisdom,
should in general be either rejected, or admitted with
an inattentive and therefore useless assent; but there
are circumstances in the case which abundantly ac-
count for this. The great author of Christianity anti-
cipated this rejection, and forewarned his disciples of it.
His knowledge of the heart of man made him well ac-
quainted with many causes which would operate against
the reception of his doctrine. When Agis attempted
to regenerate the diseased government of Sparta, he
stirred up and armed against himself all the abuses and
aay | corruptions of the state. It would have been strange
1 eT if this had not happened ; and it would also be strange,
| if a doctrine which tends to regenerate human nature,
and to eradicate the deep-seated and yet favourite dis-
eases of the heart, should not arm against itself all
those moral evils which it threatens to destroy.
ns A man finds no difficulty in giving his acquiescence
Hae i to any proposition which does not carry along with it
a | an obligation on him to something which he dislikes.
pe The great bulk of the population of this country, for
a instance, acquiesce in the Copernican system of as-
eh tronomy, although they may possess little or no know-
ledge of the mathematical or physical truths on which
this system is reared. But let us make the supposition
ee! for a moment, that an acquiescence in this theory some-
rh how or other involved in it a moral obligation on every
believer of it to walk round the world, we cannot doubt
but that the party of Ptolemy, or some other less impe-
Li rious philosopher, would, in these circumstances, very
Ri soon carry almost every voice.
a The religion of Jesus Christ involves in it a great
? variety of obligations; and it was indeed principally
ey for the purpose of elucidating and enforcing these obli-OF REVEALED RELIGION. 53

gations, that God was pleased to make it known to
inankind. And many of these obligations are so dis-
tasteful to the natural selfishness or indolence of our
hearts, that we feel unwilling to embrace a conviction
which involves in it so complete a derangement of our
plans, and a thwarting of our habitual inclinations.
Were the beautiful lineaments of the Christian cha-
racter to be portrayed in a theory which should disclaim
all interferences with the consciences and duties of the
world, it would infallibly attract much intellectual and
sentimental admiration: and were the high and holy
character of God, and its universally pervading influence
to be painted in glowing colours,—and were that un-
bounded liberty to be described, in which those spirits
that are perfectly conformed to His will, must expatiate
through all the vastness of creation and eternity,—
were all this to be couched in the terms of a lofty ima-
gination, without any appeal to the conscience, and
without attempting to bring in this splendid vision to
haunt our hours of carelessness or of crime,—who can
doubt that taste, and fancy, and eloquence, would pour
in their converted disciples within the engaging circle
of such a religion? And yet we find, that taste, and
fancy, and eloquence, and high intellect, and fine senti-
ment, often reject Christianity : and the reason seems
to be, because it is not a science merely, but a prac-
tical art, in which every part of knowledge is con-
nected with a corresponding duty. It does not pre-
sent to us a beautiful picture merely,—it commands
us to copy it: it does not merely hold forth to us the
image of perfect virtue,—it declares to us also our
own guilt, and denounces our condemnation: it does
not merely exhibit to us the sublime idea of a spiritual
and universal sovereign,—it also calls upon us, by this
very exhibition, under the most awful sanctions of
2D

oS54 INFERNAL EVIDENCE

hope and fear, to humble ourselves before Him, and to
look to Him as the rightful proprietor of our thoughts
and words and actions. There is something in all
this very harassing and unpleasing to our nature;
and the fact that it is so, may account for the real
rejection that it generally meets with even amongst
its nominal friends, and may also operate as a warn-
ing against ascribng too much weight to that con-
tempt or aversion which it sometimes receives from
those whose talents, when directed to other objects, we
have been accustomed to follow with our admiration
and gratitude. The proud man does not like to give
up the triumph of superiority ; the vain man does not
like to give up the real or fancied applause of the cir-
cle in which he moves; the careless or worldly or sen-
sual man does not like to have himself continually
watched and scrutinized by a witness who never sleeps,
and who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Now,
as great talents are often to be found in men of such
characters, we need not wonder that they employ these
talents in defending the foundation on which their
chief enjoyment is built, rather than in pursuit of a
truth which, they are conscious, would level the whole
fabric with the ground. Men do not look very diligent-
ly for that which they would be sorry to find.

It is difficult to persuade a careless profligate to live
a life of temperate and useful exertion; because it is
difficult to obtain from him a candid hearing on the
subject. He thinks exclusively of the gratifications
which he is called upon to renounce, and never allows
his mind to rest calmly on the motives which would
induce him todo so. Whilst he apprehends fully and
distinctly the pleasures connected with his own habits,
he has a very vague idea of the evils resulting from
them, or of the advantages of an opposite course. IfOF REVEALED RELIGION. oO

the latter apprehension were as vivid as the former, the
man’s character would change. And there are argu-
ments, and those of a mere worldly nature, which have
often produced this effect. All that is necessary to ac-
complish it, is a candid attention on his part to the
whole truth of the case. There is in his mind, indeed,
a natural opposition to the argument; but there is also
in the argument a natural destructiveness of his faults;
and if it be vividly apprehended and retained, it will
gain the victory, and cast out its enemy. The argu-
ment then, must, in the first place, be a sufficient one
in itself; that is to say, it must show, that, in reason,
the advantage gained by complying with it exceeds the
advantage of rejecting it. And, in the second place,
this sufficient argument must be distinctly and fully ap-
prehended. The best argument in the world is of no
use, unless it be properly understood, and the motives
which it holds forth be vividly apprehended. To a
mind that does not distinctly comprehend the subject, a
good argument will appear bad, and a bad one may ap-
pear good. We account, in this way, for the different
success which the same argument meets with when it
is addressed to a number of individuals. Some are
moved by it—others are not: that is to say, some fully
apprehend it—others do not. And this may arise either
from their misunderstanding the terms of the argument,
or from their unwillingness to admit a principle which
interferes with their own inclinations.

Thus it fares often with human arguments; nor do
the arguments of God escape a similar fate. We have
already seen how the spirituality of the Christian re-
quirements naturally excites an unwillingness to admit
its principles. This unwillingness can only be over-
come by a full view of its glorious inducements. But,
unfortunately, this view is often intercepted and ob-

N56 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

scured by various causes, and by none more than the
usual way in which religion is studied.

Most people in this country, and probably even the
majority of the population in Europe, think that they
understand Christianity ; and yet a very small propor-
tion of them have read the Bible with that degree of
ordinary attention which they bestow on the common
concerns of life. Their ideas on this subject are derived
almost entirely from creeds and church articles, or hu-
man compositions of some kind. The evil consequences
arising from this are most grievous. ‘T'’o convince our-
selves that they are indeed so to a high degree, we
have only to compare the two methods.

In the Bible, we uniformly find the doctrines—even
those that are generally considered most abstruse—
pressed upon us as demonstrations or evidences of some
important moral feature of the Divine mind, and as mo-
tives tending to produce in us some corresponding dis-
position in relation to God or man. This is perfectly
reasonable. Our characters cannot but be in some de-
gree affected by what we believe to be the conduct and
the will of the Almighty towards ourselves and the rest
of our species. The history of this conduct, and this
will, constitutes what are called the Christian doctrines.
If, then, the disposition, or character which we are
urged to acquire, recommend itself to our reasons and
consciences as right and agreeable to the will of God,
we cannot but approve that precept as morally true;
and if the doctrine by which it is enforced, carries in
it a distinct and natural tendency to produce this dispo-
sition or character, then we feel ourselves compelled to
admit that there is at least a moral truth in this doctrine.
And if we find that the doctrine has not only this
purely moral tendency, but that it is also most singu-
larly adapted to assert and acquire a powerful influenceOF REVEALED RELIGION. 57

over those principles in our nature to which it directs
its appeal, then we must also pronounce that there is a
natural truth in the doctrine,—or, in other words, that
however contradictory it may be to human practice, it
has, however, a natural consistency with the regulating
principles of the human mind. And further, if the
doctrine be not only true in morals and in its natural
adaptation to the mind of man, but if the fact which. it
records, coincides also and harmonizes with that ge-
neral idea of the Divine character which reason forms
from the suggestions of conscience, and from an observ-
ation of the works and ways of God in the external
world, then we are bound to acknowledge that this doc-
trine appears to be true in its relation to God. In the
Bible, the Christian doctrines are always stated in this
connexion : they stand as indications of the character
of God, and as the exciting motives of a corresponding
character in man. Forming thus the connecting link
between the character of the Creator and the creature,
they possess a majesty which it is impossible to despise,
and exhibit a form of consistency and truth which it is
difficult to disbelieve. Such isChristianity in the Bible;
but in creeds, and church articles it is far otherwise.
These tests and summaries originated from the in-
troduction of doctrinal errors and metaphysical specu-
lations into religion: and, in consequence of this, they
are not so much intended to be the repositories of truth,
as barriers against the encroachment of erroneous opi-
nions. The doctrines contained in them, therefore, are
not stated with any reference to their great object in
the Bible,—the regeneration of the human heart, by
the knowledge of the Divine character. They appear
as detached propositions, indicating no moral cause, and
pointing to no moral effect. They do not look to God,
on the one hand, as their source; nor to man, on thenn nant

ge ee "

  

58 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

other, as the object of their moral urgency. ‘They ap-
pear like links severed from the chain to which they
belonged ; and thus they lose all that evidence which
arises from their consistency, and all that dignity which
is connected with their high design. I do not talk of
the propriety or impropriety of having church articles,
but the evils which spring from receiving impressions
of religion exclusively or chiefly from this source.

I may instance the ordinary statement of the doc-
trine of the Trinity, as an illustration of what I mean.
It seems difficult to conceive that any man should read
through the New Testament candidly and attentively,
without being convinced that this doctrine is essential
to and implied in every part of the system: but it is
not so difficult to conceive, that although his mind is
perfectly satisfied on this point, he may yet, if his reli-
gious knowledge is exclusively derived from the Bible,
feel a little surprised and staggered, when he for the
first time reads the terms in which it is announced in
the articles and confessions of all Protestant churches.
In these summaries, the doctrine in question is stated
by itself, divested of all its scriptural accompaniments ;
and is made to bear simply on the nature of the Divine
essence, and the mysterious fact of the existence of
Three in One. It is evident that this fact, taken by it-
self, cannot in the smallest degree tend to develop the
Divine character, and therefore cannot make any mo-
ral impression on our minds.

In the Bible, it assumes quite a different shape; it is
there subservient to the manifestation of the moral cha-
racter of God. The doctrine of God’s combined justice
and mercy in the redemption of sinners, and of his
continued spiritual watchfulness over the progress of
truth through the world, and in each particular heart,
could not have been communicated without it, so as toOF REVEALED RELIGION. 59

have been distinctly and vividly apprehended: but it is
never mentioned except in connexion with these objects;
nor is it ever’ taught as a separate subject of belief.
There is a great and important difference between these
two modes of statement. In the first, the doctrine
stands as an isolated fact of a’strange and unintelligible
nature, and is apt even to suggest the idea that Chris-
tianity holds out a premium for believing improbabili-
ties. In the other, it stands indissolubly united with
an act of Divine holiness and compassion, which radiates
to the heart an appeal of tenderness most intelligible
in its nature and object, and most constraining in its
influence.

The abstract fact that there is a plurality in the unity
of the Godhead, really makes no address either to our
understandings, or our feelings, or our consciences.
But the obscurity of the doctrine, as far as moral pur-
poses are concerned, is dispelled, when it comes in
such a form as this,—‘*God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Or. this,—‘* But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things.” Our metaphysical ignorance of the
Divine essence is not indeed in the slightest degree re-
moved by this mode of stating the subject; but our
moral ignorance of the Divine character is enlightened ;
and that is the thing with which we have todo. We
love or hate our fellow-creatures—we are attracted to
or repelled from them—in consequence of our acquaint-
ance with their moral characters; and we do not find
ourselves barred from the exercise of these feelings,
because the anatomical structure of their frames is un-
known to-us, or because the mysterious link which
binds the soul to the body has baftled all investigation.
*)ed pia ere)

  

60 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

The knowledge communicated by revelation is a moral
knowledge, and it has been communicated in order to
produce a moral effect upon our characters; and a
knowledge of the Divine essence would have as little
bearing upon this object, as far as we can see, asa
knowledge of the elementary essence of matter.

I shall give one example more of the mode in which
the truth of God has been perverted by passing through
the hands of men. The doctrine of the atonement
through Jesus Christ, which is the corner-stone of
Christianity, and to which all the other doctrines of re-
velation are subservient, has had to encounter the mis-
apprehension of the understanding as well as the pride
of the heart. This pride is natural to man, and can
only be overcome by the power of the truth; but the
misapprehension might be removed by the simple pro-
cess of reading the Bible with attention; because it
has arisen from neglecting the record itself, and taking
our information from the discourses or the systems of
men who have engrafted the metaphysical! subtleties of
the schools upon the unperplexed statement of the word
of God. In order to understand the facts of revelation,
we must forma system to ourselves; but if any subtlety
of which the application is unintelligible to common
sense, or uninfluential on conduct, enters into our sys-
tem, we may be sure that it is a wrong one. The
common-sense system of a religion consists in two con-
nexions,—first, the connexion between the doctrines and
the character of God which they exhibit; and secondly,
the connexion between these same doctrines and the cha-
racter which they are intended to impress on the mind
of man. When, therefore, we are considering a reli-
gious doctrine, our questions ought to be, first, What
view does this doctrine give of the character of God, in
relation tosinners? And secondly, What influence is theOF REVEALED RELIGION. 61

belief of it calculated to exercise on the character of
man? Though I state the questions separately, my ob-
servations on them cannot properly be kept entirely dis-
tinct. The first of these questions leads us to consider
the atonement as an act necessarily resulting from and
simply developing principles in the Divine mind, alto-
wether independent of its effects on the hearts of those
who are interested in it. The second leads us to consi-
der the adaptation of the history of the atonement, when
believed, to the moral wants and capacities of the hu-
man mind. This last consideration really embraces the
former; because it is only by the impressions produced
on our minds by any being whatever, that we can judge
of the qualities of that being. And the impressions pro-
duced by the atonement are referable to its adaptation
to the human mind. There is something very striking
and wonderful in this adaptation; and the deeper we
search into it, the stronger reasons shall we discover
for admiration and gratitude, and the more thoroughly
shall we be convinced that it is not a lucky coincidence,
nor an adjustment contrived by the precarious and tem-
porizing wisdom of this world, but that it isstamped with
the uncounterfeited seal of the universal Ruler, and
carries on it the traces of that same mighty will, which
has connected the sun with his planetary train, and
fixed the great relations in nature, appointing to each
atom its bound that it cannot pass. Yet it must be
remembered that this adaptation is only an evidence
for the truth of the gospel, but that it does not consti-
tute the gospel. The gospel consists in the proclama-
tion of mercy through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
This is the only true source of sanctity and peace and
hope; and if, instead of drinking from this fountain, we
busy ourselves in tracing the course of the streams that
flow from it, and in admiring the beauty and fertility
f62 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

of the country through which they run, we may indeed
havea tasteful and sentimental relish for the organization
of Christianity, but it will not be in us a well of water
springing up into everlasting life. Before we admit
the truth of a doctrine like the atonement, it is proper
to contemplate it in all its consequences: but after
we have admitted it, we ought to give the first place
in our thoughts to the doctrine itself, because our minds
are usefully operated on, not by the thought of the con-
sequences, but by the contemplation of the doctrine.
When an act of kindness has been done to us, our gra-
titude is excited by contemplating the kindness itself,
not by investigating that law in our nature by which
gratitude naturally is produced by kindness. It is of
creat importance to remember this. We do not and
cannot become Christians by thinking of the Christian
character, nor even by thinking of the adaptation of the
Christian doctrines to produce that character, but: by
having our hearts impressed and imbued by the doc-
trines themselves. The doctrines are constituent parts
of God’s character and government, and they are re-
vealed to us that we may be renewed in the spirit. of
our minds by the knowledge of them.

The doctrine of the atonement is the great subject
of revelation. God is represented as delighting in it,
as being glorified by it, and as being most fully mani-
fested by it. All the other doctrines radiate from this
as their centre. In subservience to it, the distinction
in the unity of the Godhead has been revealed. It is
described as the everlasting theme of praise and song
amongst the blessed who surround the throne of God.
[t is represented in language suitable to our capacities,
as calling forth all the energies of omnipotence. And
indeed, when we come to consider what this creat
work was, we shall not wonder that even the inspiredOF REVEALED RELIGION. 63

heralds of salvation faultered in the utterance of it.
The human race had fallen off from their allegiance,
they had turned away from God, their hearts chose
what God abhorred, and despised what God honoured :
they were the enemies of God, they had broken his
law, which their own conscience acknowledged to be
holy, just, and gracious, and had thus most righteously
incurred the penalty denounced against sin. Man had
thus ruined himself, and the faithfulness of God seemed
bound to make this ruin irretrievable.

The design of the atonement was to make mercy
towards this offcast race consistent with the honour
and the holiness of the Divine government. To ac-
complish this gracious purpose, the Eternal Word,
who was God, took on himself the nature of man, and
as the elder brother and representative and champion
of the guilty family, he solemnly acknowledged the
justice of the sentence pronounced against sin, and
submitted himself to its full weight of wo, in the stead
of his adopted kindred. God’s justice found rest here ;
his law was magnified and made honourable. The
human nature of the Saviour gave him a brother’s
right and interest in the human race, whilst his divine
nature made his sacrifice available, and invested the
law, under which he had bowed himself, with a glory
beyond what could have accrued to it from the penal
extinction of a universe. ‘The two books of the Bible
in which this subject is most minutely and methodically
argued, viz. the epistles to the Romans and the He-
brews, commence with asserting most emphatically
both the perfect divinity and the perfect humanity of
Jesus Christ. On this basis the reasoning is founded
which demonstrates the universal sufficiency and the
suitableness of the death of Christ as an atonement for
the sins of men, or as a vindication of the justice of theres EA

a ane

ere
ar Re Ree

Hes

64. INTERNAL EVIDENCE

Divine government in dispensing mercy to the guilty.
What a wonderful, and awful, and enlivening subject
of contemplation this is! God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever beliey-
eth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life.
And the same God, that he might declare his abhor-
rence of sin in the very form and substance of his plan
of mercy, sent forth this Son to make a propitiation
through his blood. This is the God with whom we
have to do. This is his character, the Just God and
yet the Saviour. There is an augustnessand a tender-
ness about this act, a depth and heighth and breadth
and length of moral worth and sanctity, which defies
equally the full grasp of thought and of language; but
we can understand something of it, and therefore has
it been revealed to us. But does it not mark in most
fearful contrasts, the difference which exists between
the mind of God and the mind of man? Whilst man
is making a mock at sin, God descends from the throne
of glory, and takes on him the frailty of a creature, and
dies as a creature the representative of sinners, before
his holy nature can pronounce sin forgiven. It was to
remove this difference that these glad tidings have been
preached ; and he that believes this history of God, shall
be like him, for in it he sees God as he is. In this
wonderful transaction, mercy and truth meet together,
righteousness and peace embrace each other. It was
planned and executed, in order that God might be just
whilst he justified the believer in Jesus. It proclaims
glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good-
will to man. The new and divinely constituted Head
of the human family has been raised from the dead, his
sacrifice has been judicially accepted, and he has been
crowned with immortality in his representative charac-
ter. This is the foundation on which sinners are in-

   
  
   
  
   
   
 
 
    
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
   

¢OF REVEALED RELIGION. 65

vited to rest the interests of their souls for eternity.
It is held up for their most scrutinizing inspection, and
they are urged to draw near and examine whether it
be sufficient to bear their weight. They are asked, as
it were, if they can discover a flaw in the fulness and
sincerity and efficacy of that love which could prompt
God to veil his majesty, and ally himself with our pol-
luted race; and assume an elder brother’s interest in
our welfare, and magnify the law which we had broken,
by suffering its penalty in our room, and thus connect
the Divine glory with the salvation of sinners. They
are assured on the authority of God, that the blood of
Christ cleanseth from all sin, and that there is no con-
demnation to those who believe on him. They have
thus the declaration of God, and the act of God, still
more impressive and persuasive than his declaration, to
engage their confidence, and to banish all doubts
and suspicions from their breasts. As the Saviour ex-
pired on the cross, he said, “It is finished.” ‘The work
of expiation was then accomplished ; and the history of
that work comes forth in the form of a general address
to the sons of men, “ Return unto me, for I have re-
deemed you,” “Be ye reconciled to God.” This is the
fountain of the river of life, and over it are these words
written, “ Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters.” It proclaims pardon for sin; it is therefore
quite suited for smners. Jesus came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance ; he came to seek
and to save that which was lost. He said this himself,
and he said it whilst every possible variety and aggrava-
tion of guilt stood full in the view of his omniscience.
He said it whilst he was contemplating that cup of bitter-
ness and amazement and death which he had engaged
to drink, and which was mixed for him to this very end,

that the chief of sinners might be welcomed to the
rp

ts!66 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

water of life. What is that weight of guilt which can
exclude from mercy? The very thought is degrading
to the dignity of the sacrifice, and injurious to the holy
love which appointed it, and to the unstained truth
which has pronounced its all-sufficiency. Can we
wonder, then, at the high-toned triumph which filled
the soul of the Apostle Paul as he gazed on this glori-
ous object, and saw in it the pledge that his sins, which
were many, were forgiven him, and that the heart of
his often outraged Master yearned upon him, and that
his own lot for eternity was bound up with the glorious
eternity of his God? ‘ Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
But if the virtue and sufficiency of the atonement
be thus universal, why are not the benefits of it univer-
sally enjoyed? Had the mere removal of an impend-
ing penalty, in consistency with justice, constituted the
whole and the ultimate object of God in this great
work, there would probably have been no difference
nor individual peculiarity with respect to these benefits,
nor should we have had such admonitions addressed to
us as the following: ‘ Many are called, but few are
chosen ;” ‘ work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling ;” “do all diligence to make your calling and
election sure.” But Christ gave himself for us, not
only to redeem us from the punishment due to iniquity,
but also that he might purify to himself a peculiar peo-
ple zealous of good works. The subjects of his king-
dom were to be those in whose hearts the truth dwelt,
the great truth relating to the character of God. This
truth was developed and exhibited in the atonement,—
its bright rays were concentrated there; and thereforeOi

 

OF REVEALED RELIGION.

the intelligent belief of the atonement was the most
proper channel, through which this divine light might
enter the soul of man. It is this light alone which can
chase away the shades of moral darkness, and restore
life and spiritual vigour to the numbed and bewildered
faculties. And therefore the benefits of the atonement
are connected with a belief of the atonement. “He
that believeth shall be saved: he that believeth not
shall be condemned.” When the identity of unhappi-
ness and moral darkness in an intelligent subject of
God’s government is fully understood, this connexion
between belief and salvation will appear to be not the
appointment ofa new enactment, but merely the re-
newed declaration of an established and necessary con-
stitution. The truth concerning God’s character is an
immortal and glorious principle, developed and laid up
in Jesus Christ ; and God imparts its immortality and
slory to the spirits in which it dwells. This truth
cannot dwell in us, except in so far as the work of
Christ remains as a reality in our minds. We cannot
enjoy the spiritual life and peace of the atonement,
separated from the believing remembrance of the atone-
ment, as we cannot enjoy the light of the sun separated
from the presence of the sun. It would be a foolish
madness to think of locking in the lght by shuttmg
our casements; and it is no less foolish to dream of ap-
propriating the peace of the Gospel, whilst the great
truth of the Gospel is not in the eye of faith. In the
Epistle to the Galatians, vth, 25th, St. Paul says, if
ye have your life from the Gospel, (here called the
Spirit,) see that you walk in, 2. e. keep close to, the
Gospel. When our hearts stray from the truth, we
stray from that life which is contamed’ in the truth.
We cannot long continue to retain any moral impres-

Oeal

  

68 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

sion on our minds\separate from the object which is
fitted to produce the impression.

The man who sees in the atonement a deliverance
from ruin, and a pledge of immortal bliss, will rejoice
in it, and in all the principles which it developes.
“ Let not the wise man,” says the prophet, “ glory or
rejoice in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man re-
joice in his might, let not the rich man rejoice in his
riches; but let him that rejoiceth, rejoice in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord
which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righ-
teousness in the earth; for in these things I delight,
saith the Lord.” He, therefore, who rejoices in the
atonement, rejoices in that which delights the heart of
God ; for here have his loving kindness, and his judg-
ment, and his righteousness, been most fully and most
sloriously exercised. It is thus that the believer has
communion with God through Jesus Christ, and it is
thus that he becomes conformed to his moral likeness.
The same truth which gives peace, produces also holi-
ness. What a view does the cross of Christ give of
the depravity of man, and of the guilt of sin! and must
not the abhorrence of it be increased tenfold, by the
consideration that it has been committed against the
God of all grace and of all consolation? A sense of
our interest would keep us close to that Saviour, in
whom our life is treasured up, if we needed sucha motive
to bind us to a benefactor who chose to bear the wrath
of Omnipotence rather than that we should bear it.
Shall we frustrate the designs of love by our own un-
doing, and trample on that sacred blood which was
shed for ust No; if we believe in the atonement, we
must love him who made the atonement; and if we
love him, we shall enter into his views, we shall feelOF REVEALED RELIGION. 69

for the honour of God, we shall feel for the souls of
men, we shall loathe sin especially in our own hearts,
we shall look forward with an earnestness of expecta-
tion to the period when the mystery of God shall be
finished, and the spiritual temple completed, and the
Redeemer’s triumph fulfilled. This hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast; it is fixed
within the veil; it looks to the atonement; and what-
ever be the afflictions or the trials of life, it can still
rejoice in that voice which whispers from the inner
sanctuary, ‘‘ Be of good cheer, it is J, be not afraid ;”
it can still feel the force of that reasoning, “He that
spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us al] things?”
This hope maketh not ashamed, it will not and can-
not disappoint, because it is founded on the character
of that God who changeth not.

It is thus that the faith of the Gospel produces that
revolution in the mind, which is called in Scripture
conversion, or the new birth. A man naturally trusts
to something within himself, to his prudence, or te his
good fortune, or to his worth, or to his acquirements, or
to what he has done well, or to his unfeigned sorrow for
what he has done ill ; self; in one form or other, more or
less amiable, is the foundation of his hope, and by ne-
cessary consequence, self is ever present to his view,
and becomes the ultimate object of his conduct, and
the director and the former of his character. But when
he believes and understands the truth of God as mani-
fested in the atonement, to be the only foundation on
which he can rest with safety, the only refuge from
that ruin into which he has been Jed by the guidance
of self, he will cast from him these perishing and fluc-
tuating delusions, and he will repose his interests for
time and for eternity on the love of him who bled for70 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

him, and on the faithfulness of him who is not a man
that he should le, nor the son of man that he should
repent; and resting thus on the character of God as
the exclusive ground of his confidence, he will con-
template it as his ultimate object, he will cleave to it
as his counsellor and his guide, and will thus be gra-
dually moulded into its likeness. This foundation of
hope continues the same through every stage of the
Christian’s progress. Though his growth in personal
sanctity be the grand and blessed result of his faith,
yet that sanctity can never become the ground of his
confidence without throwing him back upon self, and
separating him from God, and cutting off his supply
from the living fountain of holiness, and thus unsanc-
tifying him. But although personal sanctity can never
become the foundation of hope, yet it will much
strengthen our confidence in that foundation; just as
returning health strengthens the confidence of the pa-
tient in that medicine which he feels restoring him.

It is a law of our moral constitution, that the found-
ation of our confidence becomes necessarily the mould
of our characters. ‘The principles developed in the
atonement are an assemblage of all that is lovely and
noble and admirable in spiritual excellence. He, then,
that traly and exclusively rests his hope on the atone-
ment, becomes a partaker of the character of God.
The great argument for the truth of Christianity lies
in the sanctifying influence of its doctrines; and alas!
the great argument against it lies in the unsanctified
lives of its professors. A false exhibition of Christi-
anity is thus more pernicious and more hateful than
professed infidelity. But false pretences are not con-
fined to religion; and that man is indeed a fool who
throws away his soul because another man is a hypo-

erite. The Gospel claims and deserves an examinationOF REVEALED RELIGION.

on its own merits, and well will it repay the candid ex-
aminer. It warns of a danger, the reality of which is
inseparably connected with the admitted holiness of
God, and the admitted sinfulness of man; it discovers
a refuge from this danger, which most beautifully har-
monizes with all the Divine perfections; and when
that refuge is narrowly considered, it is found not only
to be a place of safety, but to be the entrance into a
holy and blessed and glorious immortality. Like the
Upas tree, it invites the weary and heavy-laden to its
shelter; but unlike the Upas tree, it dispels their lan-
guor, and restores their fainting spirits, and gives a new
and a vigorous and an enlivening impulse to every or-
van of their debilitated frames ; its leaves are for the
healing of the nations, and its frit is the bread of life.
Let us now return to the questions with which we
commenced these observations; viz. What view does
this doctrine give of the character of God? and what
‘nfluence is the belief of it fitted to exercise on the
character of man? and let us, from the statement
which has been given, draw out the answers. Love
surpassing thought is certainly the prominent feature
of that glorious character which is exhibited to us m
the atonement ;—but it is a love in perfect consistency
with a holiness which cannot look upon iniquity,—it
‘s the love of the almighty God, who has not exerted
his omnipotence in silencing or overstepping the claims
of justice, but in meeting them and fulfilling them. It
‘3 a love—which sits enthroned on that mercy-seat
which rests on eternal truth,—and whose very nature
‘t is to hate all evil. The effect upon the character of
man, produced by the belief of it, will be to love Him
who first loved us, and to put the fullest confidence in
his goodness and willingness to forgive—to associate
sin with the ideas both of the deepest misery and the

a2VY INTERNAL EVIDENCE

basest ingratitude—to admire the unsearchable wisdom
and the > high principle which have combined the full-
est mercy with the most uncompromising justice—and
to love all our fellow-creatures from the consideration
that our common Father has taken such an interest in
their welfare ; and from the hs ught, that as we have
been all shipwrecked in the same sea, by the same
wide-wasting tempest, so we are all invited by the
same gracious voice to take refuge in the same haven
of eternal rest.
it might seem scarcely possible that this simple doc-
trie should be misapprehended ; and yet, from the un-
accountable and most unfortunate propensity to look for
religious information anywhere rather than in the Bi-
ble, it has been perverted in a a of ways, accord-
ing to the tempers of those who have speculated on it.
It ‘the been sometimes so incautiously stated, as to give
ground to cavillers for the char ge, that the Christian
scheme represents God’s attribute of justice as utterly
at variance with every moral principle. The allega-
tion has assumed a form somewhat resembling this
“that according to Christianity, God indeed apportions
to every instance and degree of transgression its pro-
per punishment; but that, while he rigidly exacts this
punishment, he is not much concerned whether the per-
son who pays it be the real criminal or an innocent
being, prov ided only that it is a full equivalent; nay,
that ‘he is under a strange necessity to cites cuilt,
whenever this equivalent of punishment is tendered to
him by whatever hand. This perversion has arisen
from the habit amongst some writers on religion, of
pressing’ too far the analosy between a crime and a pe-
cuniary debt. It is not surprising, that any one who
entertains such a view of the subject, should reject
Christianity as a revelation of the God of holiness andOF REVEALED RELIGION. re}

goodness. But this is not the view given in the Bible.
The account which the Bible gives of the matter is
this, “‘ Herein is Jove,—not that we-loved God, but that
God loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for
our sins;” and God set forth Jesus Christ, “to declare
his righteousness.” Any view of the doctrine which
is inconsistent with this account, is a perversion of
Scripture, for which the perverters are themselves re-
sponsible, and not the Bible. The error consists in
separating the actions of God from the intention mani-
fested in them towards men. Were-sucha view, how-
ever, of the Divine Being, as that which has been just
mentioned, actually and fully believed by any man of
an ordinary construction of mind, it would assuredly
produce very strange and very melancholy results. He
would learn from it to consider the connexion between
sin and misery, not as a necessary connexion, but as an
arbitrary one, which might be dissolved, and had been
dissolved by the authority of mere power. Thus he
could not identify in his thoughts and feelings, misery
with sin,—which is one of the prominent lessons of the
Bible. He could see nothing in the character of God
either venerable or lovely. And even the restraint of
fear would be removed by the idea, that a penalty had
been already paid of greater price than any debt of
crime which he had contracted, or could contract. His
heart could find in this doctrine no constraining power
urging him to the fulfilment of the great command-
ments of love to God and man. In fact, this doctrine
undermines the divinity of Christ as much as Socinian-
ism; inasmuch as it makes a separation between the
views and character of the Father and those of the
Son.

There is another view of this doctrine, which, though
less revolting to the feelings than that which 1 have

iF
ronFae

74. INTERNAL EVIDENCE

just stated, is quite as inconsistent with reason. Ac-
cording to it, the atonement is a scheme by which God
has mitigated the strict purity of his law; so that those
who live under the gospel are merely required to yield
an imperfect but sincere obedience, instead of that per-
fect obedience to which they were bound before they
professed the faith of Christ. Now, let it be remem-
bered that the love of God with all the heart consti-
tutes the substance of the law which we are called on
to obey ; and let it also be remembered, that the sacri-
fice of Christ was made not only as a vindication of
God’s justice in proclaiming pardon to the guilty, but
also for the purpose of presenting to the human heart
an object most worthy and most admirably fitted to at-
tract all its love: and then it will appear, that those
who give this interpretation of the doctrine, do in fact
maintain, that God dispenses with our giving him our
full love, on condition that we are convinced that he de-
serves this full love at our hands. 'The whole end and
scope of religion is lost sight of in this mterpretation.
Christ gave himself for us, to redeem us from all ini-
quity, and to purify to himself a peculiar people zeal-
ous of good works. <A perfect conformity to the will
of God, is not only perfect obedience—it is also perfect
happiness; and that gracious Father who calls on his
creatures to be holy as he is holy, calls on them by the
very same exhortation, to be happy as he is happy. To
dispense with our obedience, is not mercy to us; for it
is in truth to dispense with our happiness. We are
not received into the favour of God at all on the ground
of our own deservings, but on the ground of the satis-
faction made to Divine justice by the death of Christ
as the representative of sinners; and the belief of this
mercy, by its natural operation, gradually subdues the
heart to the love and the obedience of God. Perfect obe-
eOF REVEALED RELIGION. 75
dience, then, thouch it is required, and though it is indis-
pensable to perfect happiness, is not the foundation of
our hope for eternity. It is the object of our hope,
not the foundation of it. We must be trained up to it
by the faith of the gospel. It is never attained here
in its blessed fulness; and, therefore, perfect happiness
is never attained. But the seed of it may be attained,
and may take root in the heart; and it has an eternity
before it, to grow and flourish in. An imperfect but
sincere obedience will almost always mean, in the human
judgment, that degree of obedience, which it is conve-
nient to pay ;—and this degree is paid by all men. The
real glory of Christianity is thus extinguished, because
the standard of moral duty is lowered. ‘True humility
can have no place in this system, because we limit
our duty by our performance. And gratitude for un-
deserved mercy is excluded, except that base gratitude
which thanks God for permitting us to be unholy.
God’s mercy is a holy mercy: it pardons, but never
sanctions imperfection.

There is another view of this subject, certainly not
very uncommon among those who call themselves
Christians, which is as subversive of the principle and
efficiency of the gospel as either of those mentioned
above. According to this scheme, it is supposed that
our hope before God rests on a ground made up partly
of our own obedience, and partly of the atoning efficacy
of Christ’s sacrifice. The work of the Saviour is thus
made a supplement to the deficiencies of human merit ;
and this supplement is conceived to be added as a sort
of reward for diligent obedience. The decent and or-
derly, and well-behaved member of society, is thus con-
sidered to have a just, though an undefined, claim to a
participation in the benefits of the Redeemer’s death,
whilst the utterly abandoned and profligate is con-Saereeb eee

  

76 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

sidered unworthy, in his present state, of approaching
the cross of Christ; and is, therefore, recommended to
reform, that he may bring himself into a condition
which may entitle him to do this with a reasonable
hope of acceptance. There is a looseness and a vague-
ness generally attached to the ideas of that class of
nominal believers to which I refer, that makes it diff-
cult to meet or to answer their theories; but I am sure
that I may confidently appeal to many, whether the
statement which has been given, does not bear a very
near resemblance to some views of the doctrine of the
atonement with which they are well acquainted.

The proper answer to these views, when held by one
who really assents to the inspiration of the Bible, 1s,
that they are at direct variance with the Bible. Paul
says that justification is declared to be of faith, for this
very reason, that it might be gratuitous, and that all
boasting on the part of man might be excluded, &c. ;
‘not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but of his mercy he saved us.” And when the Jews,
who seemed to have prejudices closely allied to those
which we are examining, reproached Christ as the
friend of publicans and sinners, he answered them,
that his business was with sinners; “that the whole
needed not a physician, but they that were sick,” and
“that he came to seek and to save that which was
lost.”

According to the revealed record, then, that combina-
nation of justice and of mercy which was manifested on
the cross, is the exclusive ground of hope before God,
and on this ground every one is invited to rest, in the
character of a lost sinner, without delay, and without
any fruitless and presumptuous attempts to attain a pre-
vious worthiness.

It may appear to some, that this is a question ratherOF REVEALED RELIGION.

about words than things; but, in fact, it goes to the
very root of the Christian character. Is it not evident
that upon this system there can be no true humility?
because, as we know that that portion of our hope which
rests upon Christ is already fixed, and therefore not
liable to change, our attention is naturally and neces-
sarily drawn almost entirely to the remaining portion,
which is to be made out by ourselves, and which is
therefore liable to be changed. Our own doings and
deservings become thus the chief objects of our thought.
And, let me ask, what are the moral impressions which
such objects are fitted to make on the character? If
falsely viewed as really worthy titles to the favour of
God, they can produce no impressions but those of self-
conceit and self-confidence ; and if rightly and truly
appreciated, they can produce nothing but apprehension
or despair. The beauty of the Christian revelation
consists in this, that the same object which gives peace
to the conscience, produces contrition of heart, and is
also the most powerful stimulant to holy and grateful
obedience. The work of Christ is the sole ground of
hope, and is therefore the chief object of thought; and
the impressions emanating from this object sum up the
Christian character. If I might venture, on such a
subject, to allude to the profane mythology of Greece,
I think that an illustration of this might be drawn from
the fabled contest between Hercules and Anteeus.
Anteus was the son of the earth, and whenever he
touched the earth, fresh vigour was communicated to
him. Those blows therefore which he sustained from
his adversary, and which in other circumstances would
have destroyed him, were to him the means of increas-
ing his strength, because they brought him into nearer
contact with the earth, which was the source of his
strength. The ground on which he rested was the

g 27a INTERNAL EVIDENCE

stimulus of his exertions. When the christian has appre-
hensions for his safety, he looks to the ground of his
hope, and there he finds not only peace but vigour.

But the whole of this erroneous view of the “doctrine
rests on a false notion with regard to the purpose of the
gospel. The gospel addresses men as rebels diseased
by sin, and already condemned. The salvation which it
offers is most strikingly explained by the prophet Jere-
miah, chap. x xxxi. 81, and thes following verses. It
consists in a spiritual character; “I will put ray, law
in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;” and
the mighty instrument by which this effect is to be ac-
cpravehid is pointed out in the end of the 34th verse,

“ for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more.”’ That is; the circumstances and the
manner in which this pardon is to be proclaimed, shall
attract the hearts of men to the love and the obedience
of God. Salvation, then, means the holy love of God,—
a holy obedience of heart, arising from a belief of that
ane which is proclaimed in the gospel. Salvation

and obedience mean precisely the same thing; and it
is as absurd to say that a man is saved iy obedience, as
to say, that a man is restored to health by getting well.
We are not called on to obey, in order to obtain par-
don; but we are called on to believe the proclamation of
pardon, in order that we may obey. ‘The gospel is said
to be “the power of God unto salvation to every one

that believeth;” and why? Because God’s method of

justification is revealed in it to me by faith. Rom. i.

16, 17. Ido believe that many preach a different doc-
erin, from a notion that the true gospel offer of free
unconditional pardon is unfavourable to practical obe-
dience and holiness. But, in fact, there is nothing ac-
knowledged by the Bible to be obedience or holiness
which does not spring from the belief of this free, unOF REVEALED RELIGION.

deserved mercy. The attempt at obedience without
this, is a most thankless Jabour,—it is never successful
and even were it successful, it would be the obedi-
ence of the hand and not of the heart. It is as if we
chose to move the index of a clock with the finger, in-
stead of winding it up. The language of the gospel
is, “ You shall be ashamed and confounded, because I
am pacified towards you for all your iniquities.” ‘This
plan of pacification wrought out by God himself, is the
great subject of the Bible ; and the proclamation of this
free pardon is the preaching of the gospel; and he who,
in his system of teaching, does not hold this up in its
proper pre-eminence, is not a preacher of the gospel of
Christ. He lays aside that weapon of ethereal temper
which God has choSen out of the armoury of heaven,
and which he blessed and sanctified for the destruction
of moral evil, and goes forth to encounter the powers
of darkness without a single well-grounded hope of
success. And I am confident—that this same doctrine
of free grace, if it could be candidly viewed as a mere
abstract question in moral science, would compel the
approbation of a true philosopher,—and that the com-
promise or mutilation of it (which is less uncommon
than the value of souls would lead us to desire) is not
more opposed to the authority of the word of God, than
it is to the principles of sound reason.

This subject has been already illustrated by examples
drawn from human life. I shall now therefore vary the
view of it, by considering it in connexion with the rite
of sacrifice.

The same truth with regard to the character of God
and the condition of man, which is so fully developed
in the New Testament, is exhibited also in the Old
through an obscurer medium,—a medium of types and
shadows and prophecy. When the Messiah was pro-
p80 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

mised to our First Parents, the memory and the princi-
ple of the promise were embodied in the institution of
sacrifice. Sensible objects were necessary in order to
recal to the thoughts, and to explain to the under-
standing of man, the spiritual declarations of God. Un-
der the Jewish enconomy, this institution was enlarged
and diversified; but still it pointed to the same fact, and
illustrated the same principle. The fact was, the
death of Christ for the sins of the world; the principle .
was, that God is at once just and merciful, and that
these attributes of his nature are in joint and harmoni-
ous operation. Multitudes, probably both of the Jews
and of those who lived before the Mosaic system, re-
cognized in their sacrifices that future salvation w!.ich
was to be wrought out by the promised seed; but a far
greater number must be supposed to have stopped short
at the rite, thfough want of spiritual discernment.
When the prefigured fact was thus forgotten, let us
I consider whether the moral principle exhibited in the
. ceremony, might not still im some measure be under-
Arte stood, and affect the character of the devout worshipper.
i The full vindication of God’s holiness, and of the
a truth of his denunciations against sin, could indeed
| rest only on the sacrifice of the Divine Saviour ;
at but although those who saw this great thing through
: the types which partially obscured whilst they re-
hed presented it, could alone receive the full benefits of
| the institution, shall we think that those who did not
enter into the spirit of prophecy, were entirely ex-
i cluded from the operation of its principle, and saw
Beaty nothing of the Divine character manifested in it? As
the prosecution of this inquiry may tend to throw
greater light on some views which have been already
piu given, I shall here consider the subject of sacrifice apart
a altogether from its prophetic import. ‘This view of theOF REVEALED RELIGION. 81

matter simply regards those particulars which rendered
the rite of sacrifice a fit emblem of the atonement of
Christ. When God teaches by emblems, he chooses such
emblenis as are naturally calculated to impress the prin-
ciple of the antitype upon our minds. There is then a
suitableness in animal sacrifices, to give some idea of
that great truth which was so gloriously developed in
the work of the Saviour when the fulness of time had
arrived. Let us consider, then, wherein consists this
suitableness. What is the meaning of a sacrifice?
What is the purpose of killing a poor animal, because
a man has sinned? Can it be supposed that a wise and
good God will in reality make a transference of the
guilt of the man to the head of the beast Impossible :
and it is equally impossible to conceive that God should
command his creatures to do a thing which they could
not understand, and by which, therefore, their charac-
ters could not be benefited. The institution contained
a great truth, exhibiting God’s character, and affecting
man’s. ‘The suppliant who came with his sacrifice be-
fore God, virtually said, “‘ Thou hast appointed this rite
as the form through which thy mercy is declared to
sinners: and it is indeed in thy mercy alone that I can
hope, for I have deserved this death which I now in-
flict, as the just reward of my transgressions.” Thus
the mercy and the holiness of God were both kept in
view by this rite; and gratitude and penitence would
be impressed, to a certain degree, on the characters of
those whose hearts accompanied their hands in the ser-
vice. This is just an exhibition of the principle in
natural religion, that God is gracious, and worthy of
our highest love; and that sin deserves punishment, and
is connected with misery. Our gratitude, however,
for forgiveness would be just in proportion to our ap-
prehensions of the demerit of sin and the danger con-

ae =i =
i an82 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

nected with it, and also to our idea of the interest which
God took in our welfare. The death of an animal was
the only measure of the guilt and danger of sin, which
these sacrifices exhibited; and forgiveness, which
seems an easy thing where there is nothing to fear
from the power of the offender, was the only measure
of the interest which God had taken in our welfare.
Thus, these sacrifices rather inculcated on the wor-
shippers the danger and demerit of sin, (and this in no
very high degree,) than the goodness of God. The
animal which was slain was the property of the suppli-
ant; and he might feel the loss of it to be a species of
atoning penalty, as well as a typical representation of
the guilt of sm, which would very much diminish his
idea both of God’s free mercy, and of the guilt of sin
which could ‘be so easily atoned. The sacrifice of a
man would have furnished a greater measure of guilt;
but it could not have impressed on the mind any
stronger conviction of the graciousness of God. If we
ascend the scale of being, and suppose an incarnate
angel to become the victim, the measure by which we
may estimate the guilt of sin increases, to be sure, in a
very high degree ; but still, there is nothing in such a
sacrifice which speaks in unequivocal language of the
exceeding goodness of God. Although the sufferings
of the angel were considered to be perfectly voluntary,
it would not alter the view of God’s character: our
gratitude would indeed be called forth by the goodness
of the angel; but forgiveness still would seem a cheap
and easy thing on the part of God, whose creative fiat
could call mto existence millions of brighter spirits.
That God in human nature should himself become the
victim, is a scheme which indeed outstrips all antici-
pation, and baffles the utmost stretch of our minds when
we labour to form an idea of perfect benevolence andOF REVEALED RELIGION. 83

perfect holiness; but yet it is the only scheme which
can fully meet the double object of strongly attracting
our love to God, and at the same time of deeply con-
vincing us of the danger and baseness and ingratitude
of sin. This gives us a measure by which we may es-
timate both the Divine goodness and our own guilt. It
is indeed an exhibition of “love which passeth know-
ledge.” But yet, when the conscience comes to be
fully enlightened, nothing short of this marvellous ex-
hibition can produce peace. When a man is once tho-
roughly convinced that sin consists in a choice of the
heart different from the will of God, even although that
choice does not vent itself in an external action, he
must feel that hr has accumulated, through the past
days of his life, and that he is still daily accumulating,
a most fearful weight of guilt. A day of retribution
approaches, and he must meet God face to face. A
simple declaration of forgiveness on the part of God,
would certainly, in these circumstances, be most com-
forting to him; but still it would be difficult to per-
suade him, that the Holy One who inhabiteth eternity,
could look with kindness on a being so polluted and so
opposite in every respect to himself in moral character.
Until this persuasion takes hold of his mind, he can
neither enjoy real peace, nor be animated with that
srateful love which can alone lead to a more perfect
obedience. The surpassing kindness and tenderness
demonstrated in the cross of Christ, and the full satis-
faction there rendered to his violated law, when under-
stood and believed, must sweep away all doubts and
fears with regard to God’s disposition towards him, and
must awaken in his heart that sentiment of grateful
and reverential attachment which is the spiritual seed
of the heavenly inheritance. ‘If, when we were ene-
mies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his
PZS4 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by
his living love.”

It seems to me, that the scriptural statement of this
doctrine is in itself the best answer that can be made
to Socinians. If Christ was only an inspired teacher,
his death is of very small importance to us; because it
gives no demonstration of the kindness of God, and
therefore can neither give peace to a troubled con-
science, nor excite grateful affection: and also, because
it gives no high measure of the guilt and danger of sin,
and therefore cannot impress us strongly with a sense
of its inherent malignity. We thus lose the whole
benefit of Christianity as a palpable exhibition of the
Divine character, and are thrown back again on the
inefficiency and vagueness of abstract principles. In
this view likewise, all those passages of Scripture in
which our gratitude, our reverential esteem, and our
filial confidence, are so triumphantly challenged on the
ground of the death of Christ, become empty unmean-
ino words: for if Christ was not God, there is no ne-
cessary or natural connexion between the belief of his
death and the excitement of such sentiments in our
hearts towards God; while, on the supposition that he
was God, the connexion is most distinct and unavoida-
ble. . In fact, if Jesus Christ was merely a man, the
oreatest part of the Bible is mere bombast. ‘To a man
who disbelieves the inspiration of the Bible, this of
course is no argument. But surely he ought not, ina
matter of such unspeakable importance, to reject a doc-
trme which may be true, without examining it in all
its bearings. He ought not to take the account of it
upon trust, when he has the record itself to apply to.
He is right to reject an absurd statement; but he is
wrong to decide without investigation that this absurd
statement is contained in the Bible. Let him consultOF REVEALED RELIGION. R85
the Bible,—let him consider what this doctrine de-
elares of the character of God, let him trace the natu-
ral effects of its belief on the character of man,—let
him understand that it expands our ideas of the Divine
holiness by the very demonstration which attracts our
love, that it quickens the sensitiveness of conscience
by the very demonstration which gives peace to the
conscience,—and he may continue to reject it; but he
will not deny that there is a reasonableness in it—that
it contains all the elements of a perfect doctrine—that
it is most glorifying to God and most suitable to man.
To sum up my observations on this subject: the doc-
trine of the atonement, by the incarnation and death of
Christ, is illustrative of the Divine mercy, and indica-
tive of the Divine holiness; it is a foundation of hope
before God, amply sufficient for the most guilty of men ;
and it is fitted to implant in the vilest heart which will
receive it, the principles of true penitence and true
cratitude, of ardent attachment to the holy character of
God, and of a cordial devotion to his will.

The hallowed purpose of restoring men to the lost
image of their Creator, is, in fact, the very soul and
spirit of the Bible; and whenever this object does not
distinctly appear, the whole system becomes dead and
useless. In creeds and confessions this great purpose
is not made to stand forth with its real prominency ;
‘ts intimate connexion with the different articles of
faith is not adverted to; the point of the whole argu-
ment is thus lost, and Christianity is misapprehended
to be a mere list of mysterious facts. One who under-
stands the Bible may read them with profit, because his
own mind may fill up the deficiencies; and when their
statements are correct, they may assist inquirers in cer-
tain stages, by bringing under their eye a concentrated
view of all the points of Christian doctrine, and they
h86 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

may serve, according to their contents, either as public
invitations to their communion, or as public warnings
against it, and they may stand as doctrinal landmarks;
but they are not calculated to impress on the mind of a
learner, a vivid and useful apprehension of Christianity.
The object in them is not to teach religion, but to de-
fend it; and whilst they keep, their own place, they
are beneficial. But any person who draws his know-
ledge of the Christian doctrines exclusively or princi-
pally from such sources, must run considerable risk of
losing the benefit of them, by overlooking their moral
objects; and, in so doing, he may be tempted to reject
them altogether, because he will be blind to the strong-
est evidence, which consists in their perfect adaptation
to these objects. The Bible is the only perfectly pure
source of Divine knowledge; and the man who is un-
acquainted with it, is in fact ignorant of the doctrines
of Christianity, however well read he may be in the
schemes and systems and controversies which have been
written on the subject.

The habit of viewing the Christian doctrines and the
Christian character as two separate things, has a most
pernicious tendency. A man who, in his scheme of
Christianity, says, ‘here are so many things to be be-
lieved, and here are so many to be done,” has already
made a fundamental mistake. The doctrines are the
principles which must excite and animate the perform-
ance. ‘They are the points from which the lines of
conduct flow : and as lines may be supposed to be form-
ed by the progress of their points, or to be drawn out
of their substance, so the line of Christian conduct is
only formed by the progressive action of Christian prin-
ciple, or is drawn out of its substance.

The doctrines of revelation form a great spiritual
mould, fitted by Divine wisdom for impressing theOF REVEALED RELIGION. 87
stamp of the Christian character on the minds that re-
ceive them. TI shall here mention some of the leading
features of that character, as connected with the cor-
responding doctrines.

The love of God is the radical principle of the Chris-
tian character; and to implant this principle, is the
grand object, and the distinct tendency of the Christian
doctrines. And it may be proper here to repeat an
observation which has been already much insisted on,—
that this love is not a vague affection for an ill-defined
object, but a sentiment of approbation and attachment
to a distinctly-defined character. The Bible calls us to
the exercise of this affection, by setting before us a
history of the unspeakable mercy of God towards man.
At first sight, it might seem impossible to conceive any
way in which the mercy of God could be very strik-
ingly or affectingly manifested towards his creatures.
His omnipotence and unbounded sovereignty make
every imaginable gift cheap and easy to him. The
pardon of the sins committed by such feeble worms,
seems no great stretch of compassion in so great and
so unassailable a Monarch. God knew the heart of
man. He knew that such would be his reasonings:
and he prepared a work of mercy, which might in all
points meet these conceptions. God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son for its salvation.
His was not the benevolence which gives an unmissed
mite out of a boundless store,—it was a selfsacrificing
benevolence, which is but meagerly shadowed forth by
any earthly comparison. We admire Codrus sacrificing
his life for his country ; we admire the guide plunging
into the quicksand to warn and save his companions ;
we admire the father suffermg the sentence of his
own law in the stead of his son; we admire Regulus
submitting to voluntary torture for the olory of Rome;88 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

but the goodness of God, in becoming man, and suffer-
ing the just for the unjust, that he might demonstrate
to them the evil of sin,—that he might attract their
affections to his own character, and thus induce them
to follow him in the way of happiness,—was a good-
ness as much superior to any human goodness, as God
is above man, or as the eternal happiness of the soul is
above this fleeting existence ; and, if believed, must ex-
cite a proportionate degree of admiration and gratitude.
The active and cordial love of our fellow-creatures
is the second Christian duty. And can this sentiment
be more powerfully impressed upon us, than by the
fact, that Christ’s blood was shed for them as well as
for ourselves; and by the consideration that this blood
reproaches us with the basest ingratitude, when we feel
or act maliciously, or even slightingly, towards those
in whom our heavenly Benefactor took so deep an in-
terest? Under the sense of our Lord’s continual pre-
sence, we shall endeavour to promote even their tempo-
ral welfare; but, above all, we shall be earnest for the
good of their souls, which he died to redeem.
Christians are commanded to mortify the earthly and
selfish passions of ambition and avarice and sensuality.
Our Lord died that he might redeem us from such base
thraldom, and allure us to the pure liberty of the sons
of God. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and
the pride of life, were in fact his murderers. If we
love him, we must hate them: if we love our own
peace, we must hate them: for they separate the soul
from the Prince of Peace. The happiness of eternity
consists in a conformity to the God of holiness; and
shall we spend our few days in confirming ourselves
in habits directly opposed to him?—No; rather let us
begin heaven below, by beginning to be holy.
The gospel exhorts us to humility ; and deep humilityOF REVEALED RELIGION. R9

indeed, must be the result of a true acquiescence in the
judgment which God passed upon us when he condemn-
ed his Son as the representative of our race. And
when we think of what our Almighty Father hath done
for us, our hearts must often convict us of the strange
contrast which is exhibited betwixt our dealings with
him and his dealings with us.

We are commanded to be diligent in the duties of
life, and to be patient under its sufferings. And to en-
force this precept, we are instructed that the minutest
event of life is ordered by him who loved us and gave
himself for us: and that all these events, how trifling
or how calamitous soever they may appear, are yet
necessary parts of a great plan of spiritual education,
by which he trains his people to his own likeness, and
fits them for their heavenly mmheritance. He walked
himself by the same road; only it was rougher; and
he hath shown us, by his example, that the cross is a
step to glory.

The Scriptures teach, that the sentence of death
falls upon all mankind, in consequence of the trans-
gression of the first individual ; and that eternal life is
bestowed on account of the perfect obedience of Jesus
Christ. ‘The grand moral purpose for which this doc-
trine is introduced, is to impress upon our minds a
sense of the punishment due to transgression,—of the
exceeding opposition which exists between sin and
happiness, and of the exceeding harmony which sub-
sists between perfect holiness and eternal giory. The
death of a single individual could give no adequate
manifestation of the pernicious nature of sin. Death
appears sometimes rather as a blessing than an evil;
and in general no moral lesson is received from it, ex-
cept the vanity of earthly things. But when a single
offence is presented to us, and there is appended to it
h2pr a Ca RS "
ETT ns,

 

90) INTERNAL EVIDENCE

the extinction of a whole race as its legitimate conse-
quence, we cannot evade the conviction of its inherent
malignity. As the value of this lesson, if really re-
ceived, infinitely overbalances, in the accounts of eter-
nity, the loss of this brief mode of our existence, there
can be no just ground of complaint against the great
Disposer of all things.

In the same way, the hope of eternal life through
the obedience of Christ, suggests to us the idea of the
strong love and approbation which God feels for moral
perfection, and the indissoluble connexion in the nature
of things between happiness and holiness.

The Divine government in this respect is just a vivid
expression of the great moral attribute of God, ‘ that
he loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity.” A sim-
ple pardon, bestowed without any accompanying cir-
cumstances, must have drawn some degree of gratitude
from the criminal, if he knew his danger; and this
would have been all: but when he views the perfect
and holy obedience of a great benefactor as the ground
of his pardon, he is induced to ]ook with love and ad-
miration towards that obedience which gained the Di-
vine favour, as well as towards the friend who paid it.
A feeling of humble and affectionate dependence on
the Saviour, a dread and hatred of sin, and a desire
after holiness, are the natural fruits of the belief of
this doctrine.

That plan of the Divine government by which God
deals with men through a representative, occupies an
important place in revealed religion. In the observa-
tions which I have here made on this subject, as well
as through the whole course of the Treatise, | have in
a great measure confined my remarks to the direct
connexion which subsists between the doctrines of the
Bible, and the character which the belief of them isOF REVEALED RELIGION. 91

fitted to produce in the mind of man: and with this
view, I have called the attention of the reader princi-
pally to the superiority in real efficiency, which palpa-
ble facts, as illustrative of moral principles, possess over
a statement of the same principles when in an unem-
bodied and abstract form. But I should be doing a real
injury to the cause which I wish to advocate, were I
to be the means of conducting any one to the conclu-
sion, that Christianity is nothing more than a beautiful
piece of moral mechanism, or that its doctrines are
mere typical emblems of the moral principles in the
Divine mind, well adapted to the understandings and
feelings of men. Supposing the history of Codrus to
be true, he was under a moral necessity to act as he
did, independently of any intention to infuse the spirit
of patriotism into his countrymen: and, supposing the
Bible to be true, God was under the moral necessity of
his own character, to act as he is there represented to
have done. ‘The acts there ascribed to him are real
acts, not parabolical pictures. They were not only
fitted and intended to impress the minds of his crea-
tures—they were also the necessary result and the true
vindications of his own character. This belief is in-
separably connected with a belief of the reality of
Christ’s sufferings; and if Christ’s suffermgs were not
real, we may give up the Bible. These sufferings are
the foundation of a Christian’s hope before God, not
only because he sees in them a most marvellous proof
of the Divine love, but also because he sees in them the
sufferings of the representative of sinners. He sees
the denunciations of the law fulfilled, and the bitter
cup of indignation allotted to apostacy drained to the
very dregs; and he thus perceives that God is just even
when justifying the guilty. The identity of the Judge
and of the victim dispels the misty ideas of blind vindic-

Q972 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

tiveness with which this scheme may sometimes have
been perversely enveloped; and he approaches God
with the humble yet confident assurance that he will
favourably receive all who come to him in the name
of Christ. Whilst he continues in this world, he will
remember that the link which binds heaven ana earth
together is unbroken, and that his great Representative
does not in the midst of glory forget what he felt when
he was a man of sorrows below. This relation to the
Saviour will spiritualize the affections of the believer,
and raise him above the afflictions of mortality ; and
will produce in him a conformity to the character of
Christ, which is another name for the happiness of
heaven.

{ have hitherto been considering the Christian doc-
trines chiefly as facts embodying the principles of the
Divine character; but this spiritual union with the Sa-
viour, as the head and representative of his people,
gives to his religion a deeper interest and a sublimer
and a more unearthly character than could be excited
or expressed by the highest views of holy and gracious
worth, even in its more glorious and most lovely opera-
tion. We know something of what his official employ-
ment is in the sanctuary above; we know something
of his glory and of his joy: and shall we not, even in
this vale of tears, endeavour to enter into his holy de-
sires, and sympathize with his affections, and triumph
in his universal dominion ‘—He once suffered for us—
He now reigns for us. His people were once repre-
sented on the cross at Calvary, and they are now repre-
sented on the throne of heaven.

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is also connected
with most important moral consequences. He is repre-
sented as dictating originally the revealed word, and
as still watching and assisting its progress. He isOF REVEALED RELIGION. 93

where the truth is, and he dwells in the hearts where
it operates. ‘I'he general idea of the omnipresence of
God is chiefly connected with the belief of his provi-
dence and protection, his approving or condemning ;
but the doctrine of the Spirit is connected, in the minds
of Christians, simply with a belief of his accompanying
and giving weight and authority to revealed truth.
The truth becomes thus closely associated in their
minds, with a sense of the presence and the gracious
solicitude of God.

With regard to the mode of the operation of the Holy
Spirit on the human mind, the Bible says nothing ;—
it simply testifies the fact. To this divine agent we
are directed to apply, for the enlightening of the eyes
of our understanding, for strength in the inner man,
and for all the Christian qualities. These effects are
in other places of Scripture referred to the influence of
revealed truth itself. We are also told, that the Spirit
takes of the things relating to Christ, and presents them
to the soul. We may gather from this, that the Spirit
never acts, except through the medium of the doctrines
of the Bible. He uses them as instruments naturally
fitted for the work. He does not produce the love of
God, except by the instrumentality of that divine truth
which testifies of the moral excellency and kindness of
God. He does not produce humility, but through the
medium of that truth which declares the extent and
spirituality of the requirements of God’s law. This
doctrine, then, does not in the slightest degree invali-
date the argument in favour of revelation, which has
been deduced from the natural connexion between be-
lieving its doctrines and obeying its precepts. These
doctrines would of themselves persuade and sanctify a
spirit which was not by inclination opposed to theirRaa ei Ree nero PaaS
Loo Speer gr en aes, SR

SACRE ETS

SS ee ear

GA INTERNAL EVIDENCE

tendency. This divine agent does not excite feelings
or emotions in the mind, independent of reason or an
intelligible cause. The whole matter of the Bible is
addressed to the reason, and its doctrines are intelligible
causes of certain moral effects on the characters of those
who believe them. The spirit of God brings these
causes to act upon the mind with their natural innate
power. This influence, then, is quite different from
that inspiration by which prophets were enabled to de-
clare future events. It is an influence which probably
ean never be distinguished, in our consciousness, from
the innate influence of argument or motive. A firm-
minded man, unused to the melting mood, may on a
particular occasion be moved and excited by a tale of
woe, far beyond his common state of feeling : his friends
may wonder at an agitation so unusual; they may ask
him how this story has affected him more than other
stories of a similar nature; but he will not be able to
give any other reason than what is contained in the
distressing facts to which he had been listening. His
greater susceptibility in this instance, might have
originated from some change in his bodily tempera-
ment, or from certain trains of thought which had pre-
viously been passing through his mind: but these cir-
cumstances did not make the impression; they only
made him more fit to receive the impression from an
object which was naturally calculated to make it. The
impression was entirely made by the story,—just as
the impression upon wax is entirely made by the seal,
although heat may be required to fit it for receiving
the impression.

I have used this illustration to show that the influ-
ence of the Spirit does not necessarily destroy, and is
not necessarily independent of, that natural relation ofOF REVEALED RELIGION. 95

cause and effect which subsists between the doctrines
taught, and the moral character recommended by the
Bible. he
When the prophet Elisha was surrounded in Dothan
by the Syrian army, he felt no fear, because he placed
full confidence in the protection of God. But his ser-
vant was terrified by the appearance of inevitable ruin.
It pleased God, however, to deliver him at once from
his agitation and perplexity, even before he thought
fit to remove the appearance of the danger. And how
was this effected? God opened the young man’s eyes,
and he saw and beheld the mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire round about Elisha. God here in-
terposed miraculously, in order to calm the man’s
spirit. But mark the nature of the interposition ; God
dealt with the man as a reasonable being,—he gave
him ocular demonstration of his safety. He did not
work in his mind an unaccountable intrepidity in the
face of danger, which he could not have explained ; but
discovered to him a fact, which, from the nature of the
human mind, could not fail of dispelling his fearful
apprehensions. Had he given full credit to the assu-
rances of his master, his mind would have been at
peace without the interposition of. this supernatural
revelation. But although he acknowledged his master
to be a prophet, yet he did not place that implicit reli-
ance on his testimony which was sufficient to overcome
the violent excitement produced in his mind by the
visible objects of terror which surrounded him. When
his eyes were opened, he saw and believed ; and this
belief brought peace. It was not the miraculous inter-
position abstractly, which produced this effect; it was |
the glorious army of guardian angels, miraculously un- i
veiled to his eye, which inspired him with confidence, i
and enabled him to despise the Syrian power. If, in-
Q 296 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

stead of these friendly hosts, he had seen the ange!
whom David saw with a sword drawn over Jerusalem,
the sight would only have increased his alarm. It is
then the object believed, from whatever source the be-
lief proceeds, whether from seemg or hearing, which
operates on the mind.

That the belief of the gospel is, in every instance,
the work of the Holy Spirit, no one who believes in
the Bible can doubt; and indeed this doctrine is the
ground of the Christian’s confidence that he shall con-
tinue steadfast unto the end. But still it must be re-
membered, that it isnot the supernatural agency itself
abstractly, which gives Christian peace and Christian
strength to the mind, but the history of the Saviour’s
work, which, through this medium, is spiritually re-
vealed to it. The Lord opened the heart.of Lydia to
attend to the things spoken by Paul. If our notions of
divine influence lead us away from attending to the
things contained in the gospel, we are deluding our-
selves. And on the other hand, if our mode of study-
ing the Bible does not cultivate in us a conviction of
our own weakness, and an habitual dependence on the
operations of the Holy Spirit, we certainly do not be-
long to that society who are said to be ‘all taught of
God,” and we have no spiritual discernment of the
truth. When we study the doctrines of revelation, we
ought to study them in that connexion in which they
stand in the Bible itself. 'They are not given to us for
the purpose of exercising our faculties in speculative
discussion, but :for practical usefulness. The obsery-
ance of this rule will] save us from much perplexity,
and many a thorny and agitating question. In the
Bible, this doctrine of Divine imfluence which we are
now considering, is uniformly connected with the most
explicit declarations, that man is*free to act, and re-OF REVEALED RELIGION. Q7

sponsible for his actions. Man’s inability to obey God
consists absolutely in his unwillingness, and is but ae
another name for the greatest degree of this. ‘There he
is nothing to prevent him from embracing the gospel,
and walking in the ways of holiness, but his own oppo-
site inclinations. “This is the condemnation, that
light has come into the world, and men have loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds are
evil.” John iii. 19. It is worthy of remark, that our
Lord makes this statement in that very conversation
in which he insists on the necessity under which every
individual lies of being spiritually born again, before
he can enter the kingdom of God. In the gospel, sin-
ners are called upon, not to be supernaturally influ-
enced, but to believe the Divine testimony. And the
question at last will be, not by what influence or argu-
ments were you led to the Saviour, but, did you em-
brace his offered salvation? It is not very uncommon
to hear religious persons speak of faith and holiness
merely as evidences of a Divine operation on the heart,
and as valuable simply on this account. But such lan-
cuage is not borrowed from the Scriptures. Here we
find faith and holiness considered as qualities valuable
in themselves, and as duties imperative on all to whom
the message is published. “Repent @. e. change your
principles) and believe the gospel,” is the substance of
the first discourse preached, after the ascension of our
Lord, to his very murderers. And this same exhorta-
tion is thrown loose upon the world ; and when rejected,
is rejected wilfully and at the peril of the rejecters.
The evidences for the gospel, both external and inter-
nal, are suited to the human faculties ; and so too is the
substance of its contents. A sinner who admits its |
evidence, and who reads it with the attention which
such an admission demands, and who finds in it peace
i98 INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

to his conscience and good hope for eternity, through
the great atonement, will assuredly, if he has indeed
made this happy discovery, acknowledge with humility
and gratitude, the kindness of God in leading him out
of darkness into this marvellous light; and he will con-
tinue to look to that divine and unseen influence,
which first stopped him in his downward course, for
support and encouragement during the remainder of
his pilgrimage. And he who is condemned for reject-
ing the gospel, will be condemned on this ground, viz.
that he might, as well as ought to have done otherwise ;
and that he has resisted the conviction both of his reason
and conscience, which had testified against him. It is
our duty and our privilege to look to the free offer of
salvation, and the sufficiency of the atonement ; and we
are wandering from the Bible, and from peace, and from
piety, when we occupy our thoughts with such diffi-
culties.

But why was this doctrine revealed, and what benefit
is to be derived from believing it? What effect is the
belief of it calculated to produce on our characters ;
and what light does it throw on the character of God,
or on the condition of man? As the work of the Spirit
is to enlighten the eyes of our understanding with
regard to divine truth, and to take of the things of
Christ and show them to us, the belief of this doctrine
of course includes the conviction, that we stand in need
of this light, and that the inclination of our hearts na-
turally leads us from the things of Christ. ‘This con-
viction, if real, will humble us before God, and excite
us to a jealous vigilance over every motion of our minds.
In this doctrine, also, God gives a manifestation of his
own character. He presents himself to his weak and
ignorant creatures, as ready to meet all their wants,
and supply all their deficiencies; and thus condescendsOF REVEALED RELIGION. 99
to solicit their confidence. He promises his Spirit to
those who ask; and thus invites and stimulates them
to hold frequent intercourse with himself by prayer.
He declares his holy anxiety for the advancement of
the truth; and thus attracts their attention and regard
to if.

When the arguments of the gospel alarm or confirm
or comfort the mind, the Holy Spirit is present; and
the belief of this will unspeakably enforce the argu-
ment,—just as we often find that the presence and
voice of a friend will give weight to reasons which
would be disregarded in his absence. If God thus of-
fers us his spiritual presence and support through the
medium of his truth, ought not we ever to carry about
with us the remembrance and the love of the truth,
that we may enjoy much of his presence and support!
If he is so watchful over the progress of Christian princi-
ple in the hearts of men, ought not we also to be watch-
ful, lest we grieve him, and lest we losg the precious
benefits of his instructions? As the gospel confines the
influence of the Spirit to the truth contained in the
written word, there is nothing to fear from fanaticism.
The Holy Spirit does not now reveal any thing new,
but impresses what is already revealed.

SECTION V.

[r thus appears that the gospel is a great storehouse
of medicines for the moral diseases of the human mind.
It contains arguments most correctly fitted to act pow-
erfully on our reason and on our feelings; and these

arcuments are in themselves naturally destructive of160 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

moral evil. They give a life and a reality to the sha-
dowy traits of natural religion; they exhibit, ina history
of facts, the abstract idea of the Divine character ; and
thus they render that character intelligible to the com-
prehension, and impressive on the heart of man. And
is there no need for this medicine? If it be admitted
that wickedness and misery reign in this world to a
frightful extent, and that nothing is more common than
a strange carelessness about our Creator, and a decided
spirit of hostility to the holiness of his character ;—if it
be admitted that there prevails through the hearts of
our species, a proud selfishness of disposition which
looks with indifference on the happiness or misery of
others, unless where interest or vanity makes the ex-
ception,—and that whilst we profess to believe in a fu-
ture state, we yet think and act as if our expectations
and desires never stretched beyond this scene of transi-
tory existence ;—if all this be admitted, surely it must
also be admitted that some remedy is most desirable.
And when we consider that the root of all these evils
is in the heart,—that the very first principles of our
moral nature are corrupted,—that the current of our
wills is different from that of God’s,—-and that whilst
this difference continues, we must be unhappy, or at
best, most insecure of our enjoyment, in whatever ‘re-
gion our lot of existence is cast,—the necessity of some
powerful health-restoring antidote will appear still
more imperious. And can we think it improbable, that
a gracious God would meet this necessity, and reveal
this antidote? We have advanced a considerable step
when we have admitted this probability. And when
we see a system such as Christianity, asserting to itself
a divine original—tending most distinctly to the era-
dication of moral evil—harmonizing so beautifully with
the most enlightened views of the character of God, andOF REVEALED RELIGION. 101

adapted so wonderfully to the capacities of man,—does
not the probability amount to an assurance that God has
indeed made a movement towards man, and that such
an antidote is indeed contained in the truth of the
gospel ?

There are few minds darkened or hardened to such
a degree, that they cannot discern between moral good
and evil. Hence it happens that the pure morality of
the gospel is generally talked of with praise; and this
is all; they admire the dial-plate and the time-piece,
and the accurate divisions of its circle; whilst they
altovether pass over that nice adjustment of springs and
weights which give its regulated movement to the in-
dex: they see not the Divine wisdom of the doctrines,
which can alone embody that pure morality in the cha-
racters of those who receive them.

Exactly from the same inadvertence, it is some-
times asked, “ Why so urgent with these abstruse and
mysterious doctrines? It is, to be sure, very decent
and proper to believe them: but the character is the
great point; and if that be reformed, we need not
care much about the means.” ‘These persons do not
consider, that though it may be comparatively easy to
restrain the more violent eruptions of those dispositions
which are mischievous to society, it is no easy matter
to plant in the heart the love of God, which is the first
and greatest moral precept of Christianity. They do
not consider that the character is in the mind; and that
this character must receive its denomination of good or
bad, according as it capacitates its possessor for happi-
ness or misery, when in direct contact with the cha-
racter of God. ‘The obedience of the will and of the
heart is required; and this implies in it a love for those
holy principles in which the rule of duty is founded. A

mere knowledge of duty, even when joined with a de-

12<a aoe BES Sig aet oca
8 BEE IEE SO ORE ,
Sor) are ees Se ci é A

 

 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

102 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

sire to fulfil it, can never inspire this love. We can-
not love any thing by simply endeavouring to love i:
in order to this, we must see somewhat in it which na-
turally attracts our affections. Whatever this some-
what may be, it constitutes the doctrine which forms
our characters on that particular subject. This law
holds in all such operations of the mind ; but most con-
spicuously does it hold where the natural bent of the
inclination takes an opposite course,—as in the case of
Christian duty. Duty must be presented to our minds,
as associated with circumstances which will call forth
our love, as associated with the impulses of esteem,
of gratitude, and interest,—else we can never love it.
These circumstances constitute the Christian doctrines ;
and the reasonableness of continually and closely urg-
ing them is founded on that law of the human mind
which has been alluded to. It is not easy to cast out
pride and self-conceit from the heart, nor to look upon
the distresses of life with a cheerful acquiescence in
that sovereign will which appoints them. It is not
easy for a mind which has been much engrossed by its
outward relations to the visible system with which it is
connected, to receive and retain a practical impression
that there is, throughout the universe, one great spirit-
ual and invisible dominion, to which all these lesser
systems are subservient, and in which they are em-
braced; and that these are but schools and training
seminaries in which immortal spirits are placed, that
they may learn to know and to do the will of God. It
is not a mere knowledge of duty which will enable us
to resist the noxious impressions which are continually
emanating from the objects of our senses, and from the
relations of life—to disregard the pressing temptations
of ambition or indolence, of avarice or sensuality—to
expel those worldly anxieties which correde the soulOF REVEALED RELIGION. 108

—and to run the way of God’s commandments, through
difficulties and dangers, through evil report and good
report. These things require a more energetic prin-
ciple than the knowledge, even when conjoined with
the approbation of what is right. The love of Gaod must
be rooted in the heart ; and this can only be accomplished
by habitually viewing him in all the amiableness of lis
love and of his holiness. We must acquaint ourselves
with God; for it is the knowledge of his high cha-
racter alone which can humble the pride of man, or
throw light on the obscurities of his condition here, or
call forth that sentiment of devoted love which will
stamp the Divine image on his heart; and it is a con-
formity to that character alone which can make us
freemen of the universe, and secure to us tranquillity
and joy in every region of creation; because this con-
formity of character is the living principle of union
which pervades and binds together the whole family of
God, and capacitates the meanest of its members for
partaking in the blessedness of their common Father.
It should be observed, that when conformity to the
Divine character is mentioned as the result of a belief
of the Christian doctrine, it is very far from being
meant that the conformity will be perfect, or that the
character will be free from failmgs, or even considera-
ble faults: all that is meant is, that the principle which
will produce a perfect conformity is there. ‘Thus we
may say that achild has a conformity to his father’s will,
if he is strongly attached to him, and is sincerely
anxious to please him, although levity or passion may
occasionally carry him off from his duty. This is only
the budding-time of Christianity ; eternity is the clime
in which the flower blows. If it were perfected here,
there would be no occasion for death,—this world would
be heaven,104 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

When we talk of love towards an invisible being, we
evidently mean love to the principles of his character.
Love to God, therefore, implies a knowledge of his cha-
racter; and thus, if in our idea of God, we exclude his ho-
liness and justice and purity, and then give our affection
to the remaining fragments of his character, we do not
in fact love God, but a creature of our own imagination.
It is a love of the whole, which can alone produce a re-
semblance of the whole; and nothing short of this love
can produce such aresemblance. If this world bounded
our existence, there would be little occasion for these
heavenly views; because the order of society can in
general be tolerably preserved by human laws, and the
restraint of human opinion; and for the few years
which we have to pass here, this is sufficient; but if
we are placed here to become fitted for eternity, we
must know God, and love him, in order that we may
have pleasure in his presence, and in the manifestations
of his will.

There is an important part of the subject still un-
touched, which is intimately connected with the prin-
ciple of the preceding argument, and is most deserv-
ing of a full and minute consideration: I mean the har-
mony which subsists between the views of the Bible,
and that system of events which is moving on around
us. On this point, however, I shall only make a very
few general observations.

If we Jook on this world as a school in which the
principles of the Bible are inculcated and exercised,
we shall find that the whole apparatus is admirably
fitted for the purpose. As adventures of danger are
adapted to exercise and confirm the principle of  intre-
pidity, so the varied events of life are adapted to exer-
cise and confirm the principles of the Christian charac-
ter. The history of the world, and our own experienceOF REVEALED RELIGION. 105

of it, present, to us as it were, a scene of shifting sand,
without a single point on which we may reasonably
rest the full weight of our hopes with perfect confi-
dence. The gospel presents to us, on the other hand,
the unchangeable character of God, and invites us to
rest there. The object of our hope becomes the mould
of our characters; and happiness consists in a character
conformed to that of God. But there is a constant
tendency in our minds to occupy themselves with the
uncertain and unsatisfactory things which are seen, to
the exclusion of that secure good which is unseen.
Pain, disappointment, and death, are therefore sent to
awaken us to reflection,—to warn us against reposing
on a shadow, which will stamp on us its own corrupti-
ble and fleeting likeness,—and to invite us to fix our
feet on that substantial rock which cannot fail. The
happiness which God intends for men (according to
the Bible) consists in a particular form of character ;
and that character can only be wrought out by trials,
and difficulties, and afflictions. If this were practically
remembered, it would associate in our minds the sor-
rows of life with solid happiness and future glory.
Every event, of whatever description it be, would ap-
pear to us an opportunity of exercising and strength-
ening some principle which contains in itself the
elements of happiness. This consideration would swal-
low up, or at least very much abate, the dejection or
exultation which the external form of the event is
calculated to excite, and produce cheerful and com-
posed acquiescence in the appointments of Providence.
“Tn every thing give thanks; for this (event, whether
prosperous or adverse) is the will of God in Jesus
Christ towards you.” It forms a part of that system
of wisdom and love, of which the gift of Christ is the
prominent feature and the great specimen. Christ wasLOS INTERNAL EVIDENCE

given to bring men near to God, and every part of the
system of Providence is ordered with the same design.
The Captain of our salvation was ‘a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with griefs ;” and whilst his wisdom ap-
points the medicinal sorrow, his heart sympathizes with
the sufferer. His sufferings were not only endured in
satisfaction of Divine justice,—they also serve as a
pattern of the way by which God leads those real sin-
ners whom the sinless Saviour represented, unto holi-
ness. When two of his disciples asked him for the
chief places in his kingdom, the nature of which they
had much mistaken, he answered them, “Can ve drink
of the cup which I drink of, and can ye be baptized
with the baptism which I am baptized with?”—thus
teaching, that as his own way to glory lay through
sorrows, so theirs did also. His road and his glory
were the patterns of theirs. Not that happiness and
glory are given as an arbitrary premium for having
suffered, but that the character which has been most
exercised and refined by affliction, contains a greater
proportion of the constituent elements of happiness and
glory. Neither are we to suppose that afflictions
necessarily produce this character: indeed, the effect,
in many cases, is the very reverse. But afflictions are
important opportunities of acquiring and growing in
this character; which, as they cannot be neglected
without danger, so they cannot be improved according
to the directions of the gospel without leading to a
blessed result. -The continual presence of God watch-
ing over the progress of his own work, and observing
the spirit in which his creatures receive their appointed
trials, is a great truth, which, if believed and remem-
bered, would both excite to cheerful and grateful action,
and would comfort under any sorrow.
Every event affords opportunities of exercising loveOF REVEALED RELIGION. 107

to God or men, humility, or heavenly-mindedness ; and
thus every event may be made a step towards heaven :
so that, if we were asked what sort of a theatre the
principles of the gospel required for its effectual opera-
tion on a being like man, it would be impossible to de-
vise any which would appear even to our reason so
suitable as the world which we see around us. Were
the gospel different, or were men different, another
theatre might be better; but whilst the human heart
remains as it is, we require just such a process
as that which is ‘carried on here, for working the
principles of the gospel into our moral constitutions.
We know, besides, that the Christian character is
adapted to the events of life; because it would produce
happiness under those events, whatever they might be.
Thus it appears, that the heart of man, the Bible, and
the course of Providence, have a mutual adaptation to
each other; and hence we may conclude, that they pro-
ceed from the same source,—we may conclude, that
the same God who made man, and encompassed him
with the trials of life, gave the Bible to instruct him
how these trials might be made subservient to his eter-
nal happiness.

The world then is a theatre for exercising and
strencthening principles. Its events operate on the
moral seeds in the human mind, as the elements of na-
ture, heat, moisture, and air, do on vegetable seeds. They
develop their qualities, they foster them into life and
energy, they bring forth into full display all their ca-
pacities of evil and good—but they do the same office
to poisonous and useless seeds as to the most excellent.
How careful then ought we to be that the moral prin-
ciples of our minds should be of the right kind! Poi-
sonous plants are native to the soil, whilst the immortal
seed of divine truth is an exotic, from a more genial
R<INTERNAL EVIDENCE

clime. But if this course of discipline be so necessary
for the growth and conformation of the truth in. the
heart, then the gospel may appear to be exclusively
addressed to those who have a series of years and ex-
ercises before them. In what form can it approach
a death-bed? What has the Bible to say to a man
within an hour of eternity, who has either never heard,
or never attended, to the message of peace? In fact,
it speaks the same language to him, that it does to the
youth just entering on the career of life—the same glad
tidings are proclaimed to sinners of all ages—of all
conditions, and in all circumstances: ‘ ‘This is the tes-
timony, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son.’’—-Although happiness is necessarily
connected with, or more properly is identical with, that
holiness which the belief of the truth induces; yet par-
don and acceptance are not the consequences of a
change of character; they are the free gift of God,
through Jesus Christ; and that they are so, enters into
the very substance of that record which we are called
on to believe, as the testimony of God.

The judicial sentence against sin has been executed,
and the honour of the divine law has been vindicated,
by a deed of unutterable love, which claims from men
the most gratefuland reposing confidence in the reality
of that mercy, and the inviolableness of that truth which,
amidst the agonies of death, declared the work of re-
conciliation accomplished. The belief of this transac-
tion, if full and perfect, would at once, and instantane-
ously, change the heart into a conformity with the will
of God, which is the character of heaven, without which
heaven could be no place of happiness. It is the weak-
ness, the deficiency, and unsettledness of this belief,
which makes the transformation of the heart, in general,
so tardy a process, The tardiness does not, however,Gi sis peatlteee ath ith ols a acento

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

OF REVEALED RELIGION. 109

belong to the nature of the truth, but to the mode of its
reception. And that Spirit, which is mighty in opera-
tion, can open the spiritual eye at the last moment, to
perceive the excellency of the Saviour, and thus cause
the young germ of glory to burst forth at once into full
and vigorous life.

Very sudden and unexpected changes of character
do sometimes take place in the history of this world’s
moralities; and it may perhaps assist our conception,
to adduce an example of this kind in illustration of that
higher and more important change which we are at
present considering. Mr. Foster, in his “Essay on
Decision of Character,” gives an account of a man
who, from being a perfect prodigal, became all at once
a most beggarly miser. Whilst yet a boy, he had
come to the possession of a large fortune, and before he
was of age he contrived to get rid of it by a course of
the most profligate extravagance. After his last shil-
ling was gone, his spirits fell, and he went out with a
thought of putting an end to his life. Providence di-
rected him to the top of an eminence, from which he
could survey every acre which he had so foolishly
squandered. Here he sat down, and in bitterness of
heart contrasted his former splendour with his present
wretchedness. As he viewed his past life, the ab-
surdity of his conduct appeared to him so glaring, and
want appeared so frightful, that he was filled with a
loathing for every thing like expense. He instantly
formed the resolution of retracing his steps, and re-
covering his possessions. He descended the hill a tho-
rough miser, and continued so to his death. The prin-
ciple of penurious and greedy saving had expelled its
opposite, and taken firm hold of his soul; his character
was entirely changed, and his future life was only a
development of the feeling acquired in that moment.

kL110 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

Now, though the change from one mode of selfishness
to.another, as in this instance, is a very different thing
from the conversion of the heart to God; yet as the
change of character in both cases arises from a real
change in the conviction of the mind as to what is truly
good, (from whatever sources of influence these convic-
tions may proceed, whether earthly, as in the one case,
or heavenly, as in the other,) I consider myself entitled
to use this analogy as an argument against those who
either ridicule sudden conversions as absurd fables, or
who confine such events to the miraculous period of
Christianity. Is it rational to suppose, that a conviction
of the.love of God—of the vastness of eternity—of the
glory of heaven—of the misery of hell, should be insuf-
ficient to produce an instantaneous change of no light
nature, when we see so striking a change produced by
the comparative prospect of wealth or poverty for a few
uncertain years? Shall we suppose that the Spirit of God
hath less power than the spirit of Mammon? or, does it
belong only to things which pass away, to exert a sove-
reignty over the springs of the mind? And are things
which abide for ever to be alone considered as powerless
and ineflicient? Could we imagine such a thing as a
paradise for misers under the government of aGod, who
giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, we might
safely say, that if the young man, whose history we have
been contemplating, had dropped down dead as he de-
scended from the eminence which had witnessed his reso-
lution, he would have been fit for a situation there. Nor
would his former conduct have debarred him from the full
enjoyment of its delights. So when the pardoning mercy
of God is perceived in its glory and its beauty, it capa-
citates the mind immediately, however dark and vile
before, for that bliss which it so freely bestows, and
girds and prepares the parting traveller for that ever-Fe ite UL de woe ee ae

       
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
  
  
   
  
 
 
  
   
 

OF REVEALED RELIGION. 111

lasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, an entrance
into which it so abundantly ministers, even though this
may be the first look he has ever cast towards that hap-
py land, and the last-look he takes of aught until the
body returns to the dust, and the spirit to him who
gave it.

The Bible never shuts out hope ; and in the example
of the thief on the cross, it invites the dying sinner to
look, that he may live for ever. But the Bible never
encourages the negligent, nor the presumptuous—it
warns of the uncertainty of life and opportunity, and it
exhibits the difficulty of overcoming settled habits of
sin, under the similitude of the leopard changing his
spots, or the Ethiopian his skin. In truth, every hour
of delay makes this change more difficult and improba-
ble,—because every hour is giving growth and strength
to principles of an opposite description ; he is grieving
and despising the Holy Spirit, and is making a dark
league with hell, which is gaining validity and ratifica-
tion by every act in accordance with it.

SECTION VI.

I wave already explained two causes why spiritual]
Christianity is so much opposed, and so rarely received
with true cordiality amongst men. The first is, that
its uncompromising holiness of principle arms against
it all the corruptions of our nature ; the second 1s, that
it rarely gains an attentive and full consideration, so as
to be apprehended in all its bearings, both in relation
to the character of God, and its influence on the heart
of man.112 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

I shall now mention another circumstance, nearly
connected with the second of these causes, which often
opposes the progress of true religion.

Many persons, in their speculations on Christianity, ne-
ver get farther than the miracles which were wrought
in confirmation of its divine authority. Those who re-
ject them are called infidels, and those who admit them
are called believers; and yet, after all, there may be
very little difference between them. A belief of the
miracles narrated in the New Testament does not con-
stitute the faith of a Christian. These miracles merely
attest the authority of the messenger,—they are not
themselves the message: they are like the patentee’s
name on a patent medicine, which only attests its gen-
uineness, and refers to the character of its inventor,
but does not add to its virtue. Now, if we had sucha
scientific acquaintance with the general properties of
drugs, that from examining them we could predict their
effects, then we should, in forming our judgment of a
medicine, trust to our own analysis of its component
parts, as well as to the inventor’s name on the outside;
and if the physician whose name it bore was a man of
acknowledged eminence in his profession, we should be
confirmed in our belief that it was really his invention,
and not the imposture of an empiric, by observing that
the skill displayed in its composition was worthy of the
character of its assigned author, and that it was well
suited to the cases which it was proposed to remedy.
And even though the name should be somewhat soiled,
so as to be with difficulty deciphered, yet if the skill
were distinctly legible, we should not hesitate to attri-
bute it toa man of science, nor should we scruple to use
it ourselves, on its own evidence, if our circumstances
required such an application.

If Alexander the Great could, by his own skill, haveOF REVEALED RELIGION 118

discovered, in the cup presented to him by Philip, cer-
tain natural causes restorative of health, his confidence
in the fidelity of his physician would have had a power-
ful auxiliary in his own knowledge of the subject. The
conviction of his friend’s integrity was, in his case,
however, sufficient by itself to overcome the suspicions
of Parmenio. But if, by his own knowledge, he had
detected any thing in the cup which appeared to him
decidedly noxious, his confidence in his friend would
have only led him to the conclusion, that this cup was
really not prepared by him, but that some traitor, unob-
served by him, had infused a poisonous ingredient in it.

In like manner, if we discern that harmony in the
Christian revelation which is the stamp of God upon it,
we shall find little difficulty in admitting that external
evidence by which he attested it to the world. And
even though our opportunities or acquirements do not
qualify us for following the argument in support of
miracles, yet if we are convinced that the remedia!
virtue of its doctrines suits the necessities and diseases
of our nature, we will not hesitate to assign it to the
Great Physician of souls as its author, nor will we scru-
ple to use it for our own spiritual health.

No one who knows what God is, will refuse to re-
ceive a system of doctrines which he really believes

was communicated by God: but then, no one in the ,

right exercise of his reason, can, by any evidence, be
brought to believe that what appears to him an absolute
absurdity, did ever in truth come from God. At this
point, the importance of the internal evidence of reve-
lation appears most conspicuous. If any intelligent
man has, from hasty views of the subject, received the
impression that Christianity is an absurdity, or contains
absurdities, he is in a condition to examine the most
verfect chain of evidence in its support, with the sim
kk 2

 

-"114 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

ple feeling of astonishment at the ingenuity and the |
fallibility of the human understanding. Ona man in
this state of mind, all arguments drawn from external
evidence are thrown away. The thing which he wants
is to know that the subject is worth a demonstration ;
and this can only be learned by the study of the Bible
itself. Let him but give his unprejudiced attention to
this book, and he will discover that there is contained
in it the development of a mighty scheme, admirably
fitted for the accomplishment of a mighty purpose: he
will discover that this purpose is no less than to impart
to man the happiness of God, by conforming him to the
character of God : and he will observe with delight and
with astcnishment, that the grand and simple scheme
by which this is accomplished, exhibits a system of
moral mechanism, which, by the laws of our mental
constitution, has a tendency to produce that character,
as directly and necessarily as the belief of danger has
to produce alarm, the belief of kindness to produce gra-
titude, or the belief of worth to produce esteem. He
will discern, that this moral mechanism bears no mark
of imposture or delusion, but consists simply in a mani-
festation of the moral character of God, accommodated
to the understandings and hearts of men. And lastly,
he will perceive that this manifestation only gives life
and palpability to that vague, though sublime idea of
the Supreme Being, which is suggested by enlightened
reason and conscience.

When a man sees all this in the Bible, his sentiment
will be, “I shall examine the evidence in support of the
miraculous history of this book; and I cannot but hope
to find it convincing: but even should I be left unsatis-
fied as to the continuity of the chain of evidence, yet
of one thing I am persuaded,—it has probed the disease
of the human heart to the bottom; it has laid bare theOF REVEALED RELIGION. 115

source of its aberration from moral good and true hap-
piness ; and it has propounded a remedy which carries
in itself the proof of its efficiency. The cause seems
worthy of the interposition of God: he did once cer-
tainly display his own direct and immediate agency in
the creation of the world; and shall I deem it incon-
sistent with his gracious character, that he has made
another immediate manifestation of himself in a work
which had for its object the restoration of innumerable
immortal spirits to that eternal happiness, from which,
by their moral depravation, they had excluded them-
selves ?”

The external evidence is strong enough, if duly con-
sidered, to convince any man of any fact which he has
not in the first place shut out from the common privi-
lege of proof, by pronouncing it to be an impossibility.
This idea of impossibility, when attached to the gospel,
arises generally, as was before observed, from some mis-
taken notion respecting the matter contained init. A very
few remarks may be sufficient to show that this is the
case. ‘Those who hold this opinion do not say absolutely
that it is impossible to suppose, in consistency with rea-
son, that God ever would make a direct manifestation of
hisown immediate agency inany case whatever; because
this would be in the very face of their own general ac-
knowledgments with regard to the creation of the world.
They must therefore be understood to mean no more
than that, considermg the object and structure of Chris-
tianity, it is unreasonable to suppose that it could be
the subject of a direct interposition from Heaven. We
are thus brought precisely to the argument which it has
been the intention of this Essay to illustrate.

Now, if we suppose that it was one of the objects of the
Creator, in the formation of the world, to impress upon
his intelligent creatures an idea of his moral character,
S116 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

—or, in other words, to teach them natural religion, (and
that it was one of his objects, we may presume, from its
having in some measure had this effect,)—it follows,
that a direct and immediate agency on the part of God,
is closely connected with the design of manifesting his
moral character to man; and we may expect to meet
these two things linked together in the system of God’s
government. If, therefore, the gospel contains a most
vivid and impressive view of the Divine character, har-
monizing with the revelation of nature, but far exceed-
ing it in fulness and in power, are we to be surprised
at an interposition in its behalf of the same agency
which was once before exhibited for a similar purpose?
Thus, the object of the gospel, and its adaptation to
that object, become the great arguments for its truth;
and those who have not studied it-in this relation, are
not competent judges of the question. Indeed, if we
take the truth of the gospel for granted, we must infer
that this distinct and beautiful adaptation of its means to
its end, was intended by its Divine Author as its chief
evidence; since he must have foreseen that not one out
of a hundred who should ever hear of it, could either
have leisure or learning to weigh its external evidence,
And this will explain a great deal of infidelity; for
freethinkers in general are not acquainted with the
substance of revelation; and thus they neglect that
very point in it on which God himself rested its proba-
bility, and by which he invites belief.

There may be also, for any thing that the reasoners
of this world know, cycles in the moral world as well
as in the natural; there may be certain moral conjunc-
tures, which, by the divine appointment, call for a
manifestation of direct agency from the great First
Cause; and in this view, a miraculous imterposition,
though posterior to the creation, cannot be consideredOF REVEALED RELIGION. 117

a8 an infringement of the original scheme of things but
as a part, and an essential part of it. When the world
was less advanced in natural science than it is at pre-
sent, a comet was considered an infringement on the
original plan. And the period may arrive, when the
spirits of just men made perfect shall discern as neces-
sary a connexion between the character of God and all
the obscurities of his moral government in our world,
as the philosopher now discerns between the properties
of matter and the movements of the various bodies be-
longing to our planetary system.

If the gospel really was a communication from hea-
ven, it was to be expected that it would be ushered into
the world by a miraculous attestation. It might have
been considered as giving a faithful delineation of the
Divine character, although it had not been so attested ;
but it could never have impressed so deep a conviction,
nor have drawn such reverence from the minds of men,
had it not been sanctioned by credentials which could
come from none other than the King of kings. As
this conviction and this reverence were necessary to
the accomplishment of its moral object, the miracles
which produced them were also necessary. Under the
name of miraculous attestations, | mean merely those
miracles which were extrinsic to the gospel, and did
not form an essential part of it; for the greatest mira-
cles of all—namely, the conception, resurrection, and
ascension of our Lord—constitute the very substance
of the Divine communication, and are essential to the
development of that Divine character which gives to
the gospel its whole importance.

The belief of the miraculous attestation of the gosnel,
then, is just so far useful as it excites our reverence
for, and fixes our attention on the truth contained in
the gospel. All the promises of the gospel are to faith118 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

in the gospel, and to those moral qualities which faith
produces ; and we cannot believe that which we do not
understand. We may believe that there is more in a
thing than we can understand ; or we may believe a
fact, the causes or modes of which we do not under-
stand ; but our actual belief is necessarily limited by
our actual understanding. Thus, we understand what
we say when we profess our belief that God became
man, although we do not understand how. This how,
therefore, is not the subject of belief; because it is not
the subject of understanding. We, however, under-
stand why,—namely, that sinners might be saved, and
the Divine character made level to our capacities; and
therefore this is a subject of belief. In fact, we can as
easily remember a thing which we never knew, as be-
lieve a thing that we do not understand. In order, then,
to believe the gospel, we must understand it; and in
order to understand it, we must give it our serious
consideration. An admission of the truth of its mira-
culous attestation, unaccompanied with a knowledge of
its principles, serves no other purpose than to give a most
mournful example of the extreme levity of the human
mind. It is an acknowledgment that the Almighty
took such a fatherly interest in the affairs of men, that
he made a direct manifestation of himself in this world
for their instruction; and yet they feel no concern
upon the subject of this instruction. Nevertheless, they
say, and perhaps think, that they believe the gospel.
One of the miraculous appearances connected with our
Saviour’s ministry, places this matter in a very clear
light. When on the mount of transfiguration, he for a
short time anticipated the celestial glory in the presence
of three of his disciples, a voice came from Heaven
saying, “'This my beloved Son; hear ye him.” Hewas
sent to tell men something which they did not knowOF REVEALED RELIGION. 119

Those, therefore, who believed the reality of this mira-
culous appearance, and yet did not listen to what he
taught, rejected him on the very ground on which it
was of prime importance that they should receive him.

The regeneration of the character is the grand ob-
ject; and this can only be effected by the pressure of
the truth upon the mind. Our knowledge of this truth
must be accurate, in order that the image impressed
upon the heart may be correct; but we must also know
it in all the awfulness of its authority, in order that the
impression may be deep and lasting. Its motives must
be ever operating on us—its representations ever re-
curring to us—its hopes ever animating us. This will
not relax, but rather increase our diligence in the bu-
siness of life. When we are engaged in the service
of a friend, do we find that the thought of that friend
and of his kindness retards our exertions!—No. And
when we consider all the business of life as work ap-
pointed to us by our Father, we shall be diligent in it
for his sake. In fact, however clearly we may be able
to state the subject, and however strenuous we may be
in all the orthodoxy of its defence, there must be some
flaw in our view of it, if it remains only a casual or an
uninfluential visitor of our hearts. Its interests are con-
tinually pressing: eternity is every moment coming
nearer; and our characters are hourly assuming a form
more decidedly connected with the extreme of happi-
ness or misery. In such circumstances, trifling is mad-
ness. The professed infidel is a reasonable man in
comparison with him who admits the Divine inspiration
of the gospel, and yet makes it a secondary object of his
solicitude.

The Monarch of the Universe has proclaimed a
general amnesty of rebellion, whether we give or with-
hold our belief or our attention; and if an amnesty were
s2120 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

all that we needed, our belief or our attention would
probably never have been required. Our notions of
pardon and punishment are taken from our experience
of human laws. We are in the habit of considering
punishment and transgression as two distinct and se-
parate things, which have been joined together by au-
thority, and pardon as nothing more than the dissolu-
tion of this arbitrary connexion. And so it is amongst
men; but so it is not in the world of spirits. Sin and
punishment there are one thing. Sin is a disease of the
mind which necessarily occasions misery ; and, there-
fore, the pardon of sin, unless it be accompanied with
some remedy for this disease, cannot relieve from misery.
This remedy, as I have endeavoured to explain, con-
sists in the attractive and sanctifying influence of the
Divine character manifested in Jesus Christ. Pardon
is preached through him, and those who really believe
are healed; for this belief implants in the heart the
love of God and the love of man, which is only another
name for spiritual health. Carelessness, then, comes
to the same thing asa decided infidelity. It matters
little in what particular way, or on what particular
grounds, we put the gospel from us. If we do put it
from us either by inattention or rejection, we lose all
the benefits which it is fitted to bestow ; whilst, on the
other hand, he who does receive it, receives along with
it all those benefits, whether his belief has originated
from the external evidence, or simply from the convic-
tion of guilt and the desire of pardon, and the discovery
that the gospel meets his necessities as a weak and
sinful creature,—just as a voyager gains all the advan-
tage of the information contained in his chart, whatever
the evidence may have been, on which he at first re-
ceived it.
This last illustration may explain to us why GodOF REVEALED RELIGION:

should have declared faith to be the channel of all his
mercies to his intelligent creatures. ‘The chart is use-
less to the voyager, unless he believes that it is really
a description of the ocean which he has to pass, with
all its boundaries and rocks and shoals and currents;
and the gospel is useless to man, unless he believes it
to be a description of the character and will of that
Great Being on whom his eternal interests depend.
Besides, the nature of the gospel required such a re-
ception in another point of view: it was necessary to
its very object that its blessings should be distinctly mark-
ed out to be of free and unmerited bounty. When we
speak of benefits freely bestowed, we say of them, “ You
may have them by asking for them,”—-distinguishing them
by this mode of expression as gifts, from those things for
which we must give a price. Precisely the same idea is
conveyed by the gospel declaration, “ Believe and ye shall
be saved.” When it is asked, How am to obtain God’s
mercy? the gospel answers, that “ God has already de-
clared himself reconciled through Jesus Christ; so you
may have it by believing it.’ Faith, therefore, accord-
ing to the gospel scheme, both marks the freeness of
God’s mercy, and is the channel through which that
mercy operates on the character.

It has been my object, throughout this Essay, to draw
the attention of the reader to the internal structure of
the religion of the Bible,—first, because I am convinced
that no man in the unfettered exercise of his under-
standing, can fully and cordially acquiesce in its pre-
tensions to Divine inspiration, until he sees in its sub-
stance that which accords both with the character of
God, and with the wants of man; and, secondly, be-
cause any admission of its Divine original, if unaccom-
panied with a knowledge of its principles, is absolutely

useless.
l122 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

We generally find, that the objections whieh are
urged by sceptics against the inspiration of the Bible,
are founded on some apparent improbability in the de-
tached parts of the system. ‘These objections are often
repelled by the defenders of Christianity as irrelevant ;
and the objectors are referred to the unbroken and
well-supported line of testimony in confirmation of its
miraculous history. This may be a silencing argument,
but it will not be a convincing one. ‘The true way of
answering such objections, when seriously and honestly
made, seems to me to consist in showing the relation
which these detached parts bear to the other parts, and
then in explaining the harmony and efficiency of the
whole system. When a man sees the fulness and
beauty of this harmony, he will believe that the system
of Christianity is in truth the plan of the Divine govern-
ment, whether it has actually been revealed in a mira-
culous way or not; and if he finds that the fact of its
being inspired really enters into the substance of the
system, and is necessary to it, he will be disposed to be-
lieve that too.

Let us suppose a man brought from the heart of Af
rica, perfectly ignorant of the discoveries of Europe,
but of excellent parts: let him be fully instructed in all
the mathematical and physical knowledge connected
with the Newtonian philosophy, but without having the
system of astronomy communicated to him; and then
let us suppose that his instructor should announce to
lim that most perfect and most beautiful of human dis-
coveries under the name of a direct revelation from
Heaven. The simplicity and the grandeur of the the-
ory would fill his imagination, and fasten his attention;
and as he advanced in the more minute consideration
of all its bearings, the full and accurate agreement of
its principles with all the phenomena of the heavenlyOF REVEALED RELIGION. 123

bodies, would force on his mind a con viction of its truth.
He may then be supposed to say to his instructor, “ I
believe that you have unfolded to me the true system
of the material universe, whether you are really under
the influence of inspiration or not. Indeed, the most
thorough belief in your pretensions could scarce add an
iota to my conviction of the truth of your demonstration.
I see a consistency in the thing itself, which excludes
doubting.”

We judge of the probability or improbability of a new
idea, by comparing it with those things which we are
already acquainted with, and observing how it fits in
with them. ‘The complete fitting-in of the astronomi-
cal system with facts already observed, is the ground
of our belief in its truth. ‘The materials of the system
lje around us in the appearances of nature ; and we are
delighted to find an intelligible principle which will
connect them all. Ifa person has paid no attention to
these appearances, he will feel proportionally little in-
terest in the discovery of a connecting principle ; be-
cause he has not felt that uneasiness of mind which is
produced by the observation of unexplained facts. A
certain degree of education is necessary to excite this
uneasy curiosity; and therefore both its pains and its
pleasures are confined to a very limited number. But
when the facts to be explained are connected with a
deep and universal moral interest, and when the most
ordinary powers of thinking are equal to the intellect-
yal exertion which is required, there can be no limita-
tion either of the number of the students or of the in-
tensity of the excitement, except in consequence of the
most lamentable carelessness.

The materials of the Christian system lie thick about
us. They consist in the feelings of our own hearts, in
the history of ourselves and of our species, and in the121 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

intimations which we have of God from his works and
ways, and the judgments and anticipations of conscience.
We feel that we are not unconcerned spectators of
these things. We are sure, that if there be a principle
which can explain and connect them all together, it
must be a most important one for us; it must determine
our everlasting destiny. It is evident that this master-
principle can exist nowhere but in the character of God.
He is the universal Ruler, and he rules according to
the principles of his own character. ‘The Christian
system accordingly consists in a development of the
Divine character; and as the object of this development
ig a practical and moral one, it does not linger longer
to gratify a speculative curiosity, but hastens forward
to answer that most interesting of all inquiries, “« What
is the road to permanent happiness?” This question
holds the same rank in moral questions, and enters as
deeply into the mystery of God’s spiritual government,
as the corresponding question, “ What law regulates
and retains a planet in its orbit?” does in the natural
world. |
Ifa planet had a soul and a power of choice, and if,

by wandering from its bright path, it incurred the same

perplexities and difficulties and dangers that man does
when he strays from God,—and if the laws which di-

rected its motions were addressed to its mind, and not,

as impulses, on its material substance,—its inquiry, af-

ter it had left its course, would also be, “* How shall I

regain my orbit of peace and of glory?” The answer

to this question would evidently contain in it the whole

philosophy of astronomy, as far as the order of its sys-

tem was concerned. In like manner, the answer to the

inquiry after spiritual and permanent happiness, em-
braces all the principles of the Divine government as

far as man is concerned.OF REVEALED RELIGION. 125

The answer to the planet would contain a description
of its proper curve: but this is not enough, the method
of regaining it and continuing in it must be also ex-
plained. We rnay suppose it to be thus addressed,—
“Keep your eye and your thoughts fixed on that bright
luminary, to whose generous influences you owe 50
many blessings. Your order, your splendour, your fer-
tility, all proceed from your relation to him. When
that relation is infringed, these blessings disappear.
Your experience tells you this. Retrace, then, your
steps, by recalling to your grateful remembrance his
rich and liberal kindness. This grateful] and dependent
affection is the golden chain which binds you to your
orbit of peace and of glory.”

Tio man’s inquiry after permanent happiness, an an-
swer is given to the same purpose. The path of duty
and of happiness is marked out in such precepts as the
following: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and
thy neighbour as thyself;” ‘“ Glorify God in your bodies
and your spirits, which are God’s;” “Be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your minds, that ye may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.” But this is not
enough. Man has wandered from this good path, and
in wandering from it, he has come under the influence
of base attractions, which draw away his will in oppo-
sition to the testimony of his conscience, and the ac-
knowledgments of his understanding. To overcome
these misleading influences, the gospel introduces an
attracting principle, most holy in its nature, and most
constraining in its power. It reveals to him the full
danger of his wanderings, but it reveals also to him the
full mercy and loveliness of his God. It declares that
God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten
(2126 INTERNAL EVIDENCE

Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life—and that Christ hath re-
deemed us from the condemnation of the law, having
endured that condemnation in our stead—and that, on
as many as receive Him, he confers the privilege of
being the sons of God. This is the great truth, for
the manifestation and development of which this world
was created, and is preserved—and this it is, which
when perceived in all its vast reality by the light of the
i Holy Spirit, transforms the slave of sin into a child of
th God, and an heir of immortal glory. And any one who

| humbly and candidly considers the Divine character of
love and of holiness which is developed in the history
of Jesus Christ, will discover in it the true centre of
moral gravitation—the Sun of Righteousness, set in the
heavens to drive darkness and chaos from our spiritual
system, and by its sweet and powerful influence to at-
SSI i tract the wandering affections of man into an orbit, ap-

a eh B pointed by the will and illumined by the favour of God.

 

 

tha : ‘ . a
HO dd According to this system, a grateful and humble affec-
be tion towards God, founded on a knowledge of his true
character, is the principle of order and of happiness in

the moral world. The confusion and the restlessness
| which we see in the world, and which we often expe-
ae | rience in our own breasts, give abundant testimony to
eae | the truth of this proposition in its negative form. Ig-
norance and indifference about the character of God
generally prevail; we love the creature more than the
Bera | a creator—the gifts more than the giver—our own incli-

| ui nations more than his will. The wind is sown, and
leek | can we wonder that the the whirlwind is reaped? And
ee is it not evident to reason, that an entire conformity to
Hath | the Ruling Will of the universe is only another name
i a for order and happiness? and can this conformity be
produced by any rational being, except by a knowledgeOF REVEALED RELIGION. 127

and a love of that will? The character of God is mani-

fested in the history of Jesus Christ, for our knowledge

and for our love. This manifestation harmonizes with

the suggestions of reason and conscience on the sub-

ject: nay more, it gathers them up, as they lie before
the wind in detached fragments; it supplies their de-
ficiencies, and unites them all in one glorious fabric of
perfect symmetry and beauty. It meets the heart of

man in all its capacities and affections: its appeal is
exactly shaped for the elementary principles of our na-
ture. The glorious truth which it reveals is adapted
to every mind; it is intelligible to a child, and yet will
dilate the understanding of an angel. As the under-
standing enlarges, this truth still grows upon it, and
must for ever grow upon it, because it is the image of
the infinite God. Yet, great as it is, it is fitted to pro-
duce its effect, wherever it is received, however limited
the capacity into which it enters. The principle of the
wedge operates as fully at the first stroke as at any
subsequent one, although the effect is not so apparent.

Ihave endeavoured, in the course of these remarks, to
give an idea of the mode which seems to me best fitted
for illustrating the harmony which subsists between the
Christian system and the mass of moral facts which lie
without us and within us. f have endeavoured to ex-
plain the greatness of its object, and its natural fitness
for the accomplishment of that object. He who has
not given his earnest attention to these things, may
call himself an infidel, or a believer, but he has yet to
learn what that doctrine is which he rejects or admits.

There is nothing new in this cursory sketch of Chris-
tian doctrines. Indeed, I should conceive a proof of
novelty on such a subject as tantamount to a proof of er-
ror. But I think that the view here taken has not beeni238 INTERNAL EVIDENCE, XC.

sufficiently pressed as an argument in favour of the |
credibility of revelation; for although an indirect kind
of evidence in itself, it seems well fitted for preparing
and disposing an unbeliever to examine with candour
the more direct proof which arises from historical tes-
timony. And it may also perform the no less important
office of infusing into a nominal Christian, a doubt as
to his sincerity in the profession of a faith which has
perhaps neither made a distinct impression on his un-
derstanding, nor touched his heart, nor affected his
character,

 

 

THE END.CONTENTS.

ESSAY I.+
4
7ESSAY I.

I pevieve that there are many persons who oppose
the doctrine of justification by faith, from the honest
conviction that it opposes the interests of practical
holiness, or Christian morals. Such persons deserve
at least the respect of those who value holiness. They
acknowledge the excellency and the obligation of the
precepts which describe the Christian character—
they are persuaded that any view of Christian doc-
trine which does not agree with the tendency of
these precepts must be incorrect ; and as they do not
perceive that the doctrine of justification by faith
without works has this agreement, they conceive
themselves warranted to reject it, as a misrepresenta-
tion of the language of Scripture. Now, I do not
think that this class of objectors have been often
either kindly or fairly answered. Their case cer-
tainly at first sight appears a strong one, and they
are at all events entitled to have their statement of
it candidly received and discussed. Let us endea-
vour to do so.

ist, In the first place, say they, by making par-
don a free gift irrespective of character, you take
away a powerful motive to obedience ; and you give
the strange and pernicious impression, that God is
indifferent to right and wrong in his intelligent crea-

tures.
Ae‘UNCONDITIONAL *FREENESS

2dly, We object, they continue, to the propriety
of the title which you give to your system. You
cal] it a system of free salvation, and you say that
it attributes all to God; and yet it is in fact as much
embarrassed with conditions, and contains as much
of human effort as ourown. Faith is in your sys-
tem what obedience is in ours—and they are both of
them acts of the human mind. You blame us for
resting our hopes on the obedience which we can
discover in our lives, whilst, at the same time, you
avowedly rest your hopes on the faith which you
can discover in your hearts. But you defend your-
selves by saying, that faith is the gift of God.
Well, we also say that obedience is the oift of God.
In point of gratuitousness, then, the two systems
are thus nearly on a par; that is to say, neither of
them is gratuitous except in name. And, in point
of moral influence, we would ask, whether a Sys-
tem which rests salvation on the belief of any facts
whatsoever, can be compared with one which rests
it on faithful exerticn and holy obedience 2

3dly, You depreciate practical holiness by all
possible means; for,even when you are compelled
to admit, that, ‘* without holiness no man shall see
the Lord,’ you do what you can to weaken the
force of the admission, by Saying that the value of
holiness arises simply from its being an evidence of
the reality of faith, and not from any intrinsic
quality of its own.

4th, You do not seem at all agreed as to whatis
the meaning of faith. Sometimes you make it to
consist in trust and confidence in Christ, sometimes
in an intelligent assent to the propositions -of Chris-
tian doctrines, and sometimes in a mere prostration
of reason before divine authority, or a guiping downOF THE GOSPEL.

of unintelligible obscurities. Now, really you ought
to make out to our fullest satisfaction what faith is,
before you call us to rest on it any thing so impor-
tant as our eternal interests. But, whichever of
these various kinds of faith you prefer, and we
give you your choice, it must be allowed to be but
a meagre substitute for universal obedience. If you
take the first definition, and make faith to consist
in trust in Christ, we acknowledge that it is a
most necessary feature of the Christian character ;
but it cannot fill the place of all duties. It is one
duty ; and we do not exclude it from our system:
on the contrary, we inculcate it as a part of that
universal obedience of which we consider salvation
to be the recompense. As for the other deserip-
tiuns of faith, we really think that a man might as
reasonably rest his hopes before God on his mathe-
matical science, or on his stupid credulity.

5thly, Although we acknowledge that there are pas-
sages of scripture which appear to support your view
of the question, yet we maintain that there are also
many most unequivocally on our side, and that the
general tendency of the whole Bible, as well as the
common sense and the common feeling of man, is
decidedly with us; and we therefore think that we
do not speak without good reason, when we say that
your system is founded on misconstruction or mis-
interpretation of the language of Scripture.

These are some of the objections which are usually
made to the doctrine of justification by faith. And
I cannot help thinking that they are borne out to a
considerable extent by the way in which that doc-
trine is very commonly stated.

It is true that faith is often spoken of, by those
who profess this doctrine, as if it were the substituteLeas tae he iad SY

8 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

of universal obedience ; and thus the gratuitousness
of the gospel is as much infringed on as by the
avowed system of justification by works: whilst, at
the same time, the importance of obedience, which
is at least nominally maintained by this latter system,
is undervalued by the former.

It is true, also, that holiness is sometimes depre-
ciated into a mere evidence of the reality of faith ;
and thus reason is given for the conclusion that it
might be dispensed with, if other evidence could be
procured.

It is true, also, that we differ considerably in our
descriptions of faith, which makes it appear as if
we were clinging much more to a word than to a
thing.

When we tell a man that salvation is perfectly
gratuitous, whilst, at the same time, we tell him,
that unless he believes the gospel he cannot be saved,
we appear to him to be saying free and unfree with
one breath. And we increase his difficulties ex-
tremely when we add, ‘‘ except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The gratu-
itousness of the salvation seems altogether to vanish
in the presence of these high and weighty conditions.
And yet, if faith and holiness are not appended as
conditions of salvation, where is their place in the
Christian system ? If Christian doctrine is not. be-
lieved, it can be of no use; and if Christian faith
does not produce Christian holiness, it can be of no
use either. Are not faith and holiness then con-
ditions of salvation? Andif there are any conditions
of salvation, where is its gratuitousness 2

Again, if we are saved by faith, what need is there
of works !—and if holiness is necessary, what is the
meaning of salvation by faith alone?OF THE GOSPEL. 9

These propositions do not hang well together—
there is at least a seeming contradiction in them
which ought not to be.

I am well aware that there are many Christians
who do not perceive these difficulties at all, and who
of course are not disquieted by them. ‘The object of
their contemplation is not a theological system, but
the great Being whose nature and relation to us form
the theme of theology—and their delight is not in
the logical coherence of their theory, but in spirit-
ual communion with Him. Such persons are indeed
blessed—and instead of presuming to teach them, I
desire to learn from them. But there are persons
of a very different description. ‘There are many
who are kept at a distance from Christianity alto-
gether by these apparent contradictions ; and there
are even many real Christians who have suffered
much perplexity from them. To such believers and
unbelievers, I humbly offer the solution which has
satisfied myself.

I think that much of the theoretical difficulty on
this matter has arisen from the habit of considering
heaven merely as a reward, and hell merely as a
punishment—and pardon as the deliverance from
hell, and the introduction into heaven. Now the
Bible tells us that the kingdom of heavenis ‘ right-
eousness, and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost,”’
and it describes the future happiness as consisting
in likeness to Christ; ‘* we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is.’? We are told that it shall
be said on the last day to those on the right hand,
‘s Enter into the joy of your Lord.’’ ‘This shows
that their joy is to be of the same nature as their
Lord’s. His joy on earth was to do the will of his
Father—it was his meat, as he himself expresses10 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

it ;—and, now in heaven, his satisfaction consists
in **seeing of the travail of his soul,”’ thet is, in
seeing the advancement and accomplishment of the
objects for which he suffered below—the salvation
of sinners,’and the increase of holiness and happiness
through the universe, by the knowledge of the divine
character manifested in his own work. ‘Those who
enter into this joy must also enter into the Saviour’s
likeness—for only holy and loving beings could
enjoy this joy. Heaven then is the name for a cha-
racter conformed to the will of God—and hell is the
name for a character opposed to the will of God,
The idea, therefore, of having heaven, without ho-
liness, is like the idea of having health without being
well—it is a contradiction in terms.

Christianity may be considered as a divinely re-
vealed system of medical treatment for diseased
spirits. Heaven is the name for health in the soul,
and hell is the name for disease ; and the design of
Christianity is to produce heaven, and to destroy
hell.

But what is the meaning of pardon, unless there
are rewards and punishments? The very idea of
pardon supposes the existence of law and condem-
nation. Yes, to be sure, it does. Christianity is
a remedial system engrafted on a system of law.
When man was originally created, the alternatives
of life and death were set before him, as the con-
sequences of obedience and disobedience to the di-
vine command,—that is to say, he was placed un-
der asystem of law. He disobeyed, and incurred
the penalty. But this was not all, for he found
that the principle of self-gratification which had
overcome the love of God in his heart, and had
thus produced the act of disobedience, was, inOF THE GOSPEL. 11

itself, a most tremendous and incurable disease, the
fruitful souree of innumerable ills. It was then
that the mercy of God proclaimed the gospel,—a
gracious dispensation which had respect both to
the external or judicial penalty which had been in-
curred, and to the spiritual disease from which
the offence had proceeded; for the view of the di-
vine character, which it gives in the plan adopted
for the deliverance from the external penalty, be-
comes the spiritual remedy, which, when truly re-
ceived, works the cure of the spiritual disease, and
produces heaven in the soul.

Pardon, then, is not heaven—any more than a
medicine is health. Pardon is proclaimed freely
and universally—it is perfectly gratuitous—it is un-
conditional and unlimited—but heaven is limited to
those who are sanctified by the belief of the pardon.

Those, therefore, who maintain the gratuitous-
ness of pardon, do not at all suppose that God is
indifferent to right and wrong in his creatures—he-
cause they also maintain that pardon is the spiritual
medicine for the removal of sin, and that heaven,
or spiritual happiness, is necessarily limited to
those whose hearts are healed, and sanctified, and
conformed to the will of God, by the belief of the
pardon. When Adam fell, he was expelled from
Eden, the type of the favourable presence of God ;
and be¢ame subject to death, with all its dark reti-
nue of wants and pains. This was a heavy sen-
tence—to be excluded from that favour which is
better than life, from that smile which gladdens
creation—to bear about with us a weight of sorrows,
along the dreary path of our sickly existence—and
then to have our connection with all things to which
we may have attached ourselves, as green spots ina TEER EEDA LG ne, abonote tear Sones

12 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

the desert, broken off by an unseen power, which
forces us away into a dark and unknown abyss.

But, suppose that man was relieved from these
judicial inflictions, whilst in other respects he re-
mained unchanged—would he be happy? Does the
misery of man, at this hour, arise simply from
death, and pain, and absence from Eden? Would a
healthy immortality, in a beautiful garden, make
him happy ? Would the presence of God make him
happy? Alas, life itself, even abstracted from pain
or sickness, is often a heavy burden—and the pre-
sence of the holy God, far from being sought as a
blessing, would be shunned as a curse, by unholy
man.

The misery of man, then, does not arise entirely
from positive infliction—and could not be relieved
by the mere removal of judicial penalties.

What is the misery of man? His mind is diseas-
ed. He was made to regard and enjoy God, as his
chief object; and his faculties will not work health-
fully in the absence of this object. But he has left
God, and he wearies himself in seeking good from
created things. The sentiment of the love of God
is to his mind, what the key-stone is to the arch,
when it falls from its place, ruin is the consequence.
And thus, we now see that his reason bewilders him,
and his conscience harasses him—his imagination de-

ceives and disquiets him—his passions and. affec-
tions agitate and torture him. He has a misery

wrought into the very elements of his being, inde-

pendent altogether of positive infliction. This mi-

Sery is rarely felt in all its force here; and some-

times it is scarcely felt at all, in consequence of
the occupation and distraction which the mind finds

in external things—but when these things are re-OF THE GOSPEL. 138

moved, the unhappiness is felt. Hence, the horror
of solitary confinement, without the means of oc-
cupation. Thus, also, the misery of the spirit is
sometimes even alleviated by external inflictions,
because they draw its attention from itself.

When I can lay the blame of my misery on any
thing external to me, I have hope of a deliverance,
I can distinguish between myself and my sorrow.
But it is a terrific discovery to make, that | am my-
self my own misery. I had hoped that the source of
the evil was somewhere else, and I retreated, as I
thought, within myself. ButI found that the more
I retreated in that direction, the more intense and
intolerable the heat became. My own mind was
the furnace. This is indeed appalling, for how
am I to escape from myself? Yes, we carry hell
within us, and were we to walk through Eden, we
should blast its sweetest flowers. But we dare not
walk there, we are afraid of the presence of the ho-
ly one,—and conscience, like the flaming sword of
the cherubim, keeps the soul from God.

Well, how is pardon to cure this misery? We
can understand how a pardon may remove an €%-
ternal infliction, but how is it to remove this i-
ternal disease ?

The great cause of the disorder and misery that
distract the human mind, 1s averseness or indifference
to God. The love of God, the key-stone of the arch,
is fallen from its place, and all has, in consequence,
gone to wreck. ‘The sense of sin continually in-
ereases this averseness of the heart from God, be-
cause pollution hates and fears holiness, and an ac-
cusing conscience dreads avenging justice. The
only medicine which can cure this dreadful and wide-
spreading disorder, must be something which will

BATS

 

cea eT

 

mip.’
j

   

=

iF
*
if
F
By

 

 

‘

a
a
|

 

 

 

 

  

14 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

replace the key-stone in the arch—something which
will rekindle love towards God, which will do away
fear, and inspire confidence.

Now, the manifestation of the character of God
contained in the circumstance of the pardon, is ex-
actly fitted for this purpose. It is not merely a de-
liverance from penalties that we see there. Indeed
the penalties are not cancelled—death still remains,
and man toils and sweats still on the outside of
Eden. The pardon in the gospel meets the penalties
of the law, not by cancelling them, but by associating
them with gifts and promises which disarm them of
their terrors. Death remains, but there is a promise
of a new and endless life beyond the grave. Eden
is still barred, and man still eats his bread at the
price of labour; but the access into the real pre-
sence of God is thrown open, all are invited and
urged to come in that they may ask and receive
every blessing which God can grant. But these
gifts and promises, though great, do not constitute
the most striking or characteristic feature of the
gospel. The love of God is better than these vifts——
He hath loved us, and given Himself for us. The
medicinal virtue of the gospel—the virtue which
heals the disease of the soul—which destroys enmity,
and enkindles holy love—which does away the fear
of punishment, and at the same time plants and
Strengthens the fear of sinning, the medicinal virtue
which effects this, lies in the manifestation of that
love of God which passeth knowledge, that holy love
with which God so loved the world as to give his
only begotten Son as an atonement for its sins.

Holy love is the great principle developed in the
gospel. Itis the union of an infinite abhorrence
towards sin, and’an infinite love towards the sinner.OF THE GOSPEL. 15

This mysterious history is the mighty instrument
with which the Spirit of God breaks the power of
sin in the heart, and establishes holy gratitude and
filial dependence. The belief that the Deity took
upon himself the nature, and the penal obligations
of the sinner, that he might, consistently with jus-
tice, restore his forfeited life, and remove the bar-
rier which the offended law had placed between
him and the throne of grace—the belief of this must
give a new view of the malignity of sin, and of its
fearful contrariety to the holy character and govern-
ment of God; and must farther give a most touching
and overpowering view of the compassion of God.
It must break the hard heart, to think of having re-
belled against such a God and such a Father.

The distinction which I have remarked between
the judicial penalty attached to sin, and the spiritual
disease produced in the mind by sin, on the one side,
and between the removal of the judicial penalty and
the healing of the spirtual disease, on the other side,
appears to me of very great importance in the
scheme of Christianty. The perpetual controversy
between faith and works has arisen, in a great
measure, from the neglect of this distinction. I beg
the reader’s particular attention, whilst I endeavour
to explain this. Those who oppose the doctrine of
justification by faith without works, suppose that
pardon, or heaven, which they conceive, according
to that doctrine, to be the same thing as pardon, is
given as a premium for believing the gospel, or even
perhaps as a premium for surrendering their own rea-
son to the authority of the divine revelation. I ask
whether this is not the common notion of those who
oppose the doctrine of justification by faith ? I am
persuaded that it is—and 1 can at the same timeeine pe

A RAT eo

  

1§ UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

affirm, that there is not the slightest foundation for
such a notion, in any scriptural statement of the
doctrine. Christianity holds out no premium for faith
at all, which is not consistent with the common
sense, and the common experience of mankind. If I
find a mother weeping over the account of the death
of her first-born, which I know to be a false report,
am I to be considered as a very adventurous prophet,
or extravagant promiser, if, when I lay before her
the proof of his being in perfect health, I make the
declaration before hand, that if she believes my news,
she will be saved from her sorrow, and that her heart
will rejoice t Why, this is no more than what every
reasonable beino must regard as the necessary con-
Sequence of such a belief. Yet it is true, that she
is saved from her anguish by faith in my story. But
her joy is not a premium bestowed on her to reward
her belief; it flows naturally out of her belief. Her
grief for the supposed death of her child, and her
belief that he is alive and well, cannot exist in her
mind together. Such a faith necessarily heals such
a sorrow. Her faith does not restore her son to life
—he is alive whether she believes it or not—but his
life is no joy to her, unlesss he believes it. With-
out faith in my story, she could not be saved from
her distress. Take another example. A son out-
rages in a most atrocious manner the feelings of his
father. The father banishes him from his house,
after pronouncing a malediction on him. The son
hears of his death soon after, and feels his spirit
burdened with the curse; he cannot shake himself
free of it—he is a miserable wretch. A friend of
his father comes to him and tells him, that he had
seen his father a few hours before his death, and
that he had heard him express the warmest affectionOF THE GOSPEL. LT

for him, and the deepest regret for what had taken
place between them: and that he had received from
him a charge to tell him, that he had withdrawn his
curse, and had prayed a blessing on him. The son
receives the intellisence with grateful joy, and his
burden drops from him. Hezs saved by faith. His
mind is healed by believing the information which
has beengiven him. His father’s forgiveness is not
given him as a reward of his believing this history
—but unless he believes it, the forgiveness is quite
useless to him---he will continue to feel his father’s
curse clinging to him.

But let me now here suppose for a moment, that
the friend, instead of simply relating to him the fact
of his father’s forgiveness, had put the whole history
into the form under which the gospel is very often
preached :---Suppose he had said to him, your father
has forgiven you, if you believe in my testimony
of his forgiveness ; but if you cannot do this, there
isno forgiveness for you. One can easily imagine
the perplexity into which the son would be thrown
by such an announcement. It would appear to him
as if the truth of a past fact depended on the state
of his feeling with regard to it. It would be im-
possible for him, in such circumstances, to believe,
because his informant actually told him that his
belief of the pardon must precede the existence of
the pardon.

I have not here supposed the existence of any
penalty or positive infliction attending the curse
which might be removed by the forgiveness. Ihave
considered it only as the means of relieving a men-
tal distress. In this latter view, it is quite evident
to common sense, that faith in the forgiveness is ne-
cessary in order to give it any efficacy. But. if there

B 2SSO ee ng aacne vam =

eg) FS

—

18 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

be positive inflictions or penalties to be removed by
the pardon, this effect may be produced altogether.
independently of faith in the pardon. Thus, had
the father disinherited his son, and then cancelled
the deed—the son’s right of succession would not
have been at all affected by his belief or unbelief
of his father’s forgiveness.

In like manner had the evils under which man
labours, consisted merely in external penalties and
judicial inflictions, his faith in the forgiveness
which removed them would never have been requir-
ed, because his faith gives no efficacy to the pardon
in this respect. Butif a great part of the misery
of sin consists in the diseased condition of the mind
produced by it—if it consists mainly in the state
of the thoughts and feelings, then a pardon which
would deliver from this misery, must address and
enter the thoughts and feelings ; that is to Say, it
must be understood and felt—and how ean it be SO,
unless it is believed 2

The'use of faith, then, is not to remove the pe-
nalty, or to make the pardon better—for the penalty
is removed, and the pardon is proclaimed, whether
we believe it or not—but'to cive the pardon a moral
influence, by which it may heal the spiritual dis-
eases of the heart,—which influence it cannothavein
the nature of things, unless it is believed. When
a messenger from heaven made known to the shep-
herds of Bethlehem, that the Saviour was born, and
that through him peace was proclaimed on earth,
and goodwill from God to man—the truth of the
fact, and the sincerity of that goodwill which the
Creator thus manifested towards his creatures, did
not depend at all on the faith of the shepherds;
but their own spiritual healing, as far as it wasOF THE GOSPEL. | 19

connected with joy, and gratitude, and hope, de-
pended entirely on their belief of the message.

Men are not, according to the gospel system, par-
doned on account of their belief of the pardon ;
but they are sanctified by a belief of the pardon.
And unless the belief of it produces this effect,
neither the pardon nor the belief are of any use.
The use of a medicine is to restore health; if it
does not accomplish this, it is useless. The pardon
of the gospel is a spiritual medicine—faith 1s no-
thing more than the taking of that medicine; and
if spiritual health or sanctification is not produced,
neither the spiritual medicine nor the taking of the
medicine are of any avail ;. they have failed in their
object.

The cratuitousness of the gospel, then, consists
in the unrestricted freeness of the pardon which it
proclaims. Its terms are without condition and
without exception. ‘The form of its announcement
is, ‘peace on earth and goodwill towards men.”
It proceeded from that love with which God so
loved the world, as to give his only begotten son
for it. And the dispenser of the pardon said, that
he came to seek and save the /ost. IJtis to sinners,
as sinners, that it is addressed, not to believing sin-
ners, nor repenting sinners, nor amending sinners,
but to sinners. But pardon is not heaven—heaven
is not proclaimed to sinners; it belongs only to
those who hate sin. Heaven is the joy of Goa,
and we cannot enter into the joy of God without
entering into the character of God.

But it may be said, why is not the pardon re-
served as a reward and an excitement of meritori-
ous exertion, instead of being lavished upon the
mass of the guilty without any discrimination? The20 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

answer to this objection is, that Christian obedi-
ence does not consist in doing certain actions and
abstaining from others, without regard to the mo-
tive from which this conduct proceeds—Christian
obedience consists in holy love to God in habitual
exercise. Now it is quite evident that no hope of
reward whatever could produce this obedience. The
heart cannot be bribed to love, by any thing except
by the real or apparent amiableness of the object.
A man, to be sure, might do or suffer many thing's
to obtain pardon of sin; but this is not the obedi-
ence which the law of God requires ; it requires
the heart, it requires a generous disinterested love,
which longs to express itself in every possible act
of devotedness, and then counts all little and vile
in comparison of the worthiness of Him whom it
desires to please. The obedience which God asks
is the free obedience of a child, not a mercenary
negotiation for a deliverance from punishment.
True obedience can only be paid by a spirit which
rejoices that God requires its love, both because it
recognises in this demand a Father’s heart, and be-
cause it feels that, amidst all its failures and allits
weaknesses, it yet has love to give. It is impos-
sible that such a love as this can exist in a heart
that feels the weight of unpardoned sin, and that
regards God as an offended governor and condemn-
ing judge. An assurance of forgiveness must pre-
cede confidence; and what love can there be with-
out confidence? It is reasonable then, to think that
he who demands the love of the heart, should be-
gin by removing that fear of punishment which
would prevent love.

But the gospel is much more than a pardon.
What is the gospel? It is nothing and can be no-OF THE GOSPEL. 21

thing else, than a manifestation of God in relation
to sinners. If our hearts’ were attracted to any
thing else than God, even though it were a pardon,
we should still be out of our place in the spiritual
system. For God is the centre of that system, and
nothing but God. The pardon of the gospel, then,
is just a manifestation of the character of God in
relation to sinners. And that character is holy
compassion. In relation to his sinless and happy
creatures, his character is holy complacency ; but,
in relation to those who are sinful, and weak, and
miserable, it is holy compassion. ‘This is at least
the prominent ‘feature in the manifestation, but it
contains all. It is God in ‘Christ reconciling the
world unto himself. This pardon, then, is an un-
changeable thing, like God himself. Man neither
makes it, nor: merits it. God reveals it, or rather
reveals himself in it. God manifest in the flesh,
becomes the representative of sinners. He takes upon
himself their nature and the consequences of their
rebellion; that he might show himself just, even
when justifying the ungodly ; and that he might
show himself gracious, even when punishing sin.
His sufferings and death give the solemn and ap-
palling measure of the divine condemnation of sin,
and of the divine compassion for the sinner.

When the Spirit of God reveals this to the heart,
all self-pleasing thoughts of personal merit are eX-
tincuished. What have we done to him, or for him
who hath done this for us? We have paid him by
preferring the least of his gifts before himself,—
by turning a deaf ear to his condescending invita-
tions of fatherly kindness, and by offering him the
base and reluctant service of our hands, and cere-

monial of our tongues, as an adequate return forSE

ares

 

 

 

 

oe

SOM

  
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
  
   
   
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
  
  

OrLayeReke
* =

 

 

 

  

22 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

his heart’s love. If we know this love, we shall
feel annihilated by it,—we have nothing to give in
return, which is not despicable, when considered,
as a payment.—But he asks no payment.—He asks
but the love of the spirit which he hath made,—as
that in which he delights,—and as that in which
the good and the happiness of the creature con-
sist. He hath dearly earned our gratitude and our
confidence,—and these feelings, when wrought into
the heart, put us in our proper place towards God,—
affectionate dependence. Affectionate dependence
on the Creator, is the spiritual health of the crea-
ture,—as averseness and independence are the spi-
ritual disease of the creature.

Men are very apt to consider sin as consisting
merely in this or that particular action. The old
philosophers taught that virtue is the mean between
two extremes,—thus the virtue of generosity is the
mean between prodigality and avarice,—courage is
the mean between rashness and timidity, and so of
the rest. On this system, the difference between
virtue and vice lies merely in the degree, not in the
kind. But the word of God teaches another sort of
morals. According to it, sin consists in the ab-
sence of the love of God from the heart, as the do-
minant principle. So sin is not so much an action
aS a manner of existence. It is not necessary to
go to the expense of an action in order to sin,—the
habitual state of most minds,—of all minds indeed,
naturally,—even in their most quiet form,—is sin,—
that is to say, the love of God is not dominant in
them. The centripetal force consitutes an element
in every line which the planet moves in its orbit.
Were the influence of this force to be suspended,
we should not think of reckoning the number ofOF THE GOSPEL. 23

abberrations which the planet might make in its
ungoverned career, we should say that its whole
manner of being, severed from the solar influence,
was a continued and radical aberration. In like
manner, the soul ought to feel the love of God as
a govertiing element along the whole course of its
existence,—every movement of thought, and feeling,
and desire, ought to contain it, as an essential part
of its nature. And when this principle is want-
ing, we need not count the moral aberrations which
the spirit makes; its whole existence is an aberra-
tion, it is an outlaw from the spiritual system of
the universe, it has lost its gravitation.

In such a state of things, it is evident that a par-
don which did not bring back the wanderer, and
restore his lost gravitation, would be of no use to
him, until his gravitation is recovered, he is a blot
on the creation. Love to God is the gravitation of
the soul, and it is restored by the operation of the
Spirit, who takes of the things of Christ and shows
them to the soul. Faith is the receiving of the
Spirit’s instruction. A faith which does not re-
store spiritual gravitation is useless; and that only
is true gravitation, which keeps the soul in its
orbit.

The movement of the soul along the path of duty,
under the influence of holy love to God, constitutes
what are called good works. Good works are works
which proceed from good principles. The external
form of an action cannot alone determine whether it
be agood work ornot. Its usefulness to others may be
determined by its external form, but its moral worth
depends on the moral spring from which it flows.
Good works, then, are properly healthy works, or
works of a healthy mind. Healthy bodily actionsa ee

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

24 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

can only proceed from healthy bodily principles;
and healthy spiritual actions can proceed only from
healthy spiritual principles. A man who has lost
his health, does not recover itagain by the perform-
ance of healthy bodily actions, for of these his bad
health renders him incapable, and in that incapa-
city, indeed, his bad health consists: but by the
use of Some remedial system, and as health returns,
its proper and natural actions return alone with it.
His health is not produced by these actions, but it
is followed by them, and strengthened by them.
The enjoyment of the body consists in these
healthful’ actions, they are the spontaneous lan-
guage of health. They constitute the music, as it
were, which results from the organs being well tun-
ed. Itis the same thing with the actions of the
soul. Spiritual health is not acquired by good ac-
tions, it is followed by them, and strengthened by
them. They are also music, sweet music. And oh,
were these spirits of ours, with their. thousand
strings, but rightly tuned, what a swell of high and
lovely song would issue from them—a song of holy

joy and praise, coimmencing even here, and still ris-

ing upwards, until it mixed with the full harmony
of that choir which surrounds the throne of God.
Good works, then, are not undervalued by thase

7

who hold the doctrine of unconditional pardo:

2 in its
highest sense. On the contrary, they have a more
elevated place in their system, than in the system
of those who regard them as the price paid for par-
don. For, according to the unconditional system,
sood works are the perfection and expression of
holy principles, the very end and object of all re-
ligion, the very substance of happiness, the very ele-
ment of heaven. Whereas, on the conditional system,OF THE GOSPEL. 25

they are only the way to happiness, or rather the
price paid for it. There is surely more honour
paid to them, in making them the end than the
means, the building than the scaffolding—and in at
tributing to them an intrinsic than a conventional
value.

Good works are holiness in action—and this is a
chief element of heaven. Some moralists have
thought that the hope of heaven taints the purity
of virtue by destroying its disinterestedness. But
they do not know what heaven is. It is the sense
of his spiritual corruption, rather than the sense
of sorrow, which makes the Christian long after
heaven. ‘The holiness of heaven is still more at-
tractive to him thanits happiness. In heaven, also,
the affections meet, and are for ever united to their
proper object. They are filled and satisfied with
the presence of God. It is this that they thirst
after. ‘They desire his favourable presence as their
chief good. It is an interest, undoubtedly—-the
highest interest. Butisit a selfish interest ? Shall
the desire of a son, to behold once more the face of
his father, after a few years of absence, be esteemed
a pure and generous desire; and shall the desire of
a spirit, long exiled from its native sphere, to re-
turn to its Father and its God, the centre of its
being, the fountain of light, and life, and love, be
called a selfish or interested desire? No, it is a
pure desire which is sent down into the spirit from
the heart of God, and which remains unsatisfied,
until it has again mingled with its source. No, it |
is a noble desire, and speaks a noble origin. And |
the fear connected with the idea of missing this ob- |
ject, is nota base fear—it is the horror which a pure
spirit feels at the thought of mixing with poilution,

Cghee ge lo pe ot oe a ee

  

26 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

and of being tainted by it. The desire of doing that
which is right for its own sake, isin truth a part of
the Christian’s desire after heaven.

—HFrB © CA

ESSAY if.

My Dear Frienp:

Turn, if you please, to the Epistle to the Ro-
mans, 6th chapter, Ist verse. I venture to think,
that the meaning of the apostle has been very gene-
rally mistaken by translators and commentators.
Our version (and all the others agree with it) sup-
poses him to be meeting an objection which might
naturally be made to the moral tendency of his
doctrine. He had just given a most magnificent
view of the riches of divine grace, and he supposes
that some one may say, ‘‘ But does not this system
lead to indulgence in sin? If our own deservings
have nothing to do with our pardon, why not go on
in our own way, relying on the treasury of merit that
isin Christ?’’ Doubtless, thisisa most important point
in the Christian scheme ; but if we look attentively
at the answer which is contained in the six follow-
ing verses, we shall, I think, come to the conclusion,
that the apostle had some other meaning in the first
verse than our version has attributed to him. The
moral tendency of the doctrine of grace would have
been his theme, if he had intended to answer such
an objection as that which is supposed. But, instead
of this, we find in these verses only a most directsii -acipeaiaiiees Sie dai sid ste: as aan eae

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

OF THE GOSPEL. 27

and explicit assertion of the substitution of Christ
in the place of the guilty, and of their virtual par-
ticipation (in consequence of this substitution) in all
that he has done or is doing as their representative.
Allow me to give here a translation, perhaps a little
free, but such as I am sure could be well defended,
of the following verses: ‘* Not so: how shall we
who have already died under the condemnation of
sin, continue under it, now that we are restored to
life? (And we have in truth virtually both suffered
death, and been restored to life,) for, do you not
know, that as many of us as were baptized into the
doctrine of Christ Jesus, were baptized into the
doctrine that he died as the representative of sin-
ners? We were thus virtually buried with him ac-
cording to our baptismal acknowledgment of the
nature of his death ; and then, as Christ was raised
from the dead by the power of the Father, we also
walk ina life newly bestowed. For if we have
been connected with him by being ranked under his
death, (or by virtual participation in his death,) we
shall also be ranked under his resurrection. Know-
ing this, that our old man was crucified in him as
our representative, so that that part of us which
was subject to condemnation, has already suffered
it, and thus we continue no longer under condemna-
tion, for he who has suffered the penalty of death,
has exhausted the condemnation.”
Now, I would ask any candid man whether these
verses contain the most distant solution of the dif-
ficulty supposed to be stated in the first verse.
Their single object is to show that condemnation is |
perfectly exhausted and finished by the representa-
tive sacrifice of Christ. One would be led to infer
from this, that the question in the first verse refers$8 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

not to the principle of sin, but to the continuing in
a state of condemnation, which gives to auagrm the
same Signification in this passage, which it evidently
bears through the preceding chapter. And this, I
am very much persuaded, is the truth. ‘*Shall we
continue,’’ not in sin, but ** in a state of condemna-
tion ?’’ But how is this to be reconciled with the
last clause in the interrogation, ‘‘ that grace may
abound ?’’ I think that both clauses have been
wrong translated. Observe that the word here
translated ‘‘ abound”’ is raev2gw, not meeiscew. This
is of importance, as I hope to prove to you. In the
preceding chapter, the Apostle had been explaining
the nature of the analogy which subsisted be-
tween Christ and Adam as the representative heads
of their respective families. He had been speak-
ing of the universality of the sentence of death
which has fallen upon the descendants of Adam, in
consequence of their federal connexion with him, as
illustrative of the aniversal restoration that is derived
through Christ. Here, then, was one great restora-
tion, opposed to one great forfeiture, both of them
being perfectly independent of the deservings of
those who were the subjects of them. But then, in
the 20th verse, he says, that a change was produced
on this state of things by the introduction of the
principle of Jaw into the world. When men learned
that they were bound tothe fulfilment of certain duties
which were attached to the various relations in
which they stood towards God and towards man,
and when they found that they sinned against these
duties, their consciences told them that they had in-
curred a forfeiture by their own deserving, inde-
pendent altogether of that original forfeiture which
lay upon the whole race in consequence of Adam’sOF THE GOSPEL. 29

sin. Thus, by the introduction of law, instead of
there heing but one forfeiture extending over all,
there resulted as many forfeitures as there were indivi-
duals who had broken the law. Every man had a for-
feiture peculiar to himself, distinct from that great
forfeiture under which he lay in common with all
the species. This increase of the number of for-
feitures is expressed by the word saswagm, not meegic-
zevw both which words, though used antithetically in
the original, are translated by the same term,
‘¢abound,’’ in our version. ‘* But law entered to
the effect of increasing the number of forfeitures,
but where the condemnation was thus multiplied,
grace abounded over them all,’? as oil. out of one
cask covers a pond nourished by a hundred springs.
Tazvaéw relates to number and variety ; 7r7%o relates
to quantity and extension. In this 20th verse,
xetscww is the word used to express the extension of
grace—it is one great grace extending over many
forfeitures. Well, now look at the Ist verse of 6th
chapter, and apply these remarks. The original
vord here translated abound, is not 7eicewm but rAe-
yzéw. It ought, therefore, according to this theory,
to be translated *“‘ multiplied.”’ It refers to an m-
crease of the number of acts of grace, and not to the
extension of the one great act over all forfeitures. I
think that the meaning is this: The Apostle seems
to have considered it as admitted by his disciples,
that the one great restoration through Christ, met
and remedied the one great forfeiture through Adam.
But after he had spoken of the personal forfeiture
that each individual has incurred for himself, he
apprehended that they might think, that some per-
sonal manifestation of pardon, something, in short,
over and above that one great and general restoration,
c2ent etna

ye ST eae chee

30 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

was necessary for each individual, before he was
warranted to look to or approach God, as a propi-
tiated God. Well, says the Apostle, What shall
we say? The one great forfeiture is no doubt re-
medied by the one great atonement, but will this
one general restoration meet and remedy also the
multiplied and varied forfeitures of individual
deserving ? As long as there was but one forfeiture,
it seemed reasonable that one restoration should
suffice ; but now that the forfeitures have been mul-
tiplied, may we not expect that there will be mani-
fested a corresponding increase or multiplication
of the acts of atonement ? ‘¢ Shall we continue un-
der condemnation until grace be also multiplied,
until the acts of atonement equal the number of the
forfeitures ? Not so; how shall we, who have
already died under the sentence of sin, yet continue
under it, now that we are restored to life? The
fact, then, that we have already died under sin and
now live, if proved, demonstrates that the sentence
is exhausted, and of course is no longer in force
against us. He then gives an exposition of the re-
presentative character of Christ in relation to men,
as a proof of the fact. They acknowledged, when
they professed themselves Christians at baptism,
that his death was for theirs, and that his resurrec-
tion involved theirs. He takes their own baptis-
mal acknowledgement of the vicarious death and re-
surrection of Christ, as a proof to them that the
one atonement was as mucha remedy for the mul-
tiplied personal forfeitures, as for the one general
forfeiture, All had already been done, in the way
of atonement, that ever was to be done, or that ever
needed to be done. ‘The access to God propitiated
was open. The blood that had been shed cleansedseis 5 si eles lhe eae | tte Leet aaala meat

   
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
   
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
   
 
  
     

OF THE GOSPEL.

from all sin. To every individual of the apostate

family was it said, ‘‘Return unto me, for I have

redeemed thee.” The pardon was universal and

unconditional as far as it went; for the proclama-

tion was, ‘* peace on earth and goodwill towards

men’’——and it revealed ‘* God in Christ reconciling

the world unto himself, not imputing unto them their

trespasses ;’’ and it bore that “* the Son of God had

been made a propitiation for the sins of the whole

world.’? The pardon of the gospel, then, is in ef-
fect a declaration on the part of God, to every in-
dividual sinner in the whole world, that his holy
compassion embraces him, and that the blood of
Jesus Christ has atoned for his sins. This 1s the
declaration of God, and he makes it the ground of
his urgent invitation to sinners to return to him and
walk with him. This return to God, and walk-
ing with God, constitute the well-being of a crea-
ture, and without this, the declarations of God’s
love are useless to the creature. God so loved the
world, (the whole world—all the race of Adam,) as
to give his only begotten Son for them ;---but those
only who believe this love, who receive it into
their hearts, are saved by it. The love of God
abiding in the heart, and governing the will of the
creature, 1s its salvation,---there is no other salva-
tion than this, and therefore whilst the pardon,
which is the proclamation of God’s love, remains
on the outside of the heart, whilst it does not en-
ter in, it produces no salvation. The pardon there-
fore is notso much a particular act, asa manifesta-
tion of God opening the inviting arms of his love
to perishing sinners, and urging them to come to
him, that they may have life. There is no more exclu-
sion; all are urged to come, and those who do come®

32 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

are transformed by the light of the glory of God,
and by his powerful Spirit, which is given to those
who come, into his likeness; and in his likeness
the holiness and happiness, the heaven and eternal
life of the creature consist. ‘The validity of the
pardon does not depend on man’s believing or
not. The pardon remains always the same—the
access always remains open. The invitation is ale
Ways urgent; but those who do not come in are
not transformed.

This passage of Scripture, taken in the sense
which I have attributed to it, appears to me most
valuable. It lays the axe to the root of the whole
system of supererogation, whether called works or
faith. It condemns that theological edifice in which
faith as an act of man’s mind occupies the place
which the atonement of Christ holds in the Bible
edifice. According to the common method of re-
ligious instruction amongst many truly serious per-
sons, pardon is represented as so dependent on faith,
that it is apt to be mistaken for its reward ; and then,
as these teachers fear that this Inay appear to offer
heaven on too easy terms, they attach to their de-
finition of faith, the whole Christian character, in
order, as it would seem, to make it more worthy of
such a reward. Ifthey would only distinguish, in
their systems, between pardon and salvation, the one
being the spiritual medicine, the other the spiritual
cure, they would find themselves much more unem-
barrassed, both in declaring the freeness of the g0S-
pel, and the necessity of conformity tothelaw. For
what is the freeness of the gospel, upon their system,
but substituting faith as the ground ofa sinner’s hope
in the place of obedience, which is called the legal
System ? When a man looks into his own mind, toote Soa Meaat ee Eee 7

   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
   

OF THE GOSPEL. 33

discover faith there, as a ground of his hope before
God, he is just wandering as wide from the gospel,
as the man who is counting his alms deeds, for the
same purpose: and he is wandering, perhaps still
more widely from present peace, because the man
who counts his alms deeds, has substantial matter to
rest on, such as it is; but faith is a state of mind,
which is not susceptible of definite proof, and when
the spirit is depressed, and is most anxious to find
it, it will often seem to vanish. Sanctification is
the true meaning of salvation, and it is produced by
faith in the atonement; but the atonement is itself
the pardon, and is unaffected by man’s belief, or
unbelief. Some theologians have endeavoured to
eet quit of difficulties by supposing that the gospel
consists of a testimony and a promise—a testimony
that Christ died for sin, and a promise that those
who believe in this testimony shall be pardoned.
But this is still making pardon the recompense of
faith. It appears to me that the testimony of the
Bible is, that sinners are pardoned for Christ’s sake,
and that the promise is, that those who through this
newly slain and living way approach to God, will be
sanctified, and conformed in the spirit of their minds,
to the will of God ; and thisis heaven and salvation.
The natural effect of sin, was exclusion from the
favourable presence of God ; and the gospel cancels
this ex¢lusion by declaring peace on earth, and good-
will towards men. On the great day of atonement
‘1 the Jewish Church, previous to the sprinkling of
the blood, the doors of the tabernacle were shut, and
the people excluded, from the emblems of the divine
presence, in representation of the desert of sinners.
As soon, however, as the blood of the victim was
sprinkled, the doors were opened, and the people34 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

invited to enter ;---the exclusion ceased. A Jew
might, even after the opening of the doors, have
remained without ; and he would thus have missed
those favours, which God has promised to those
who seek his face ; but his exclusion was not judi-
cial, it was voluntary ; it was a sore evil to his soul,
but nota punishment. The transforming of his mind,
according to the will of God, depended on his spirit-
ual communion with God; and he excluded himself,
from the appointed way of obtaining this communion.
But his refusal to enter did not shut the door, did
not cancel the invitation, did not reverse the pardon.
A pardon which did not bring him into the presence
of God, and subject him to the sanctifying influence
of that presence, was of no use to him---but it did
not cease, on that account, to be a pardon. He made
no use of it, but he might have made use of it. He
was pardoned, but not saved.

His entrance into the tabernacle, the type of spirit-
ual communion with God, was the object with regard
to him, for which the blood was sprinkled, and the
doors opened---but he had slighted the privilege,
and had thus strengthened his own dislike, to the
purity of the divine presence. He was spiritually in
a worse condition than he was before, but still the
door was open, and the blood retained its power, and
the pardon continued in force.

Nothing but Spiritual communion with God, as
the God of holy love, can sanctify the soul. And
nothing but a conviction of God’s kindly disposition
towards sinners, will ever lead a sinner into the
presence of God. Whilst concience declares con-
demnation, she acts the part of the cherubim, who
kept back man from the tree of life, she forbids that
spiritual communion, which is the only remedy forOF THE GOSPEL. oo

fallen nature. The Apostle, therefore, is most ml-
nute and explicit, as well as most urgent, in declaring
this most precious truth---that all is already done in
the way of atonement, which guilt on the one side,
can possibly require, or unlimited mercy, on the other
side, can devise. No obstacle whatever, remains
between God and man; the blood of the everlasting
covenant---that blood, which cleanseth from all sin,
has been shed and sprinkled ; the doors which barred
the favourable presence of God, from the guilty, have
been thrown wide. God is there seated on a throne
of mercy, waiting to hear and answer prayer ; inviting
us to come in, and to go no more out, to hold spirit-
val communion with him, and to be his sons and
daughters. What is our warrant to accept of this
invitation ? Can it be any thing else than the invita-
tion itself? nothing surely. Our belief of the in-
vitation is no warrant. If the invitation is a good
and true invitation, our belief of it cannot make it
better or truer. And if it is a false invitation, our
belief of it cannot make it good or true. The Bible
says that the door is open, let us then enter.

There are many, however, who are perplexed and
injured exceedingly in their spiritual interests, by
this very doubt. They say, we fear that we have not
that faith in Christ, which warrants us to go con-
fidently to God, in his name. I would answer these
persons, in the words of the Apostle: ‘* Shall we
continue under the sentence of exclusion from the
divine presence, until a special atonement has been
made for each of us 2”” Is the one great atonement
insufficient 2 What do you wait for? There remain-
eth no farther sacrifice for sin. When you read,
that men are saved by faith, it does not mean that
they are pardoned on account of their faith, or by7 =o niaenernemmecrentiettiemtatinn iemomrinsrart

    
 
 
 
 
  
   
 
   
  
    
 
  
    
 
   
 
   
 

86 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

their faith ; no, its meaning is far different; it means
that they are pardoned already, before they thought
of it; that the sentence of exclusion has been re-
versed ; and that the belief of this kindness will
and ought to carry them directly in gratitude, and
in hope, into the presence of that kind Father, who
is waiting to be gracious to them, and to treat them
as his children.

The reversal of the sentence of exclusion, which
I here consider to be pardon, is universal. Those
who do not feel the preciousness of this restoration,
and who are not touched by the holy love, which
planned and executed it, remain of course unbenefited
by it. Their spiritual corruption is their great evil,
andthe goodnews of a propitiation was made known
to them, simply for the purpose of healing this cor-
ruption---but they have neglected the remedy, and
therefore, the cure is not performed. They are still
diseased and miserable enemies to God, and to their
own Souls. But yet, in spite of all this, the door
continues open forthem, and the invitation continues
urgent, and the spiritual medicine which is proffered
to them in the pardon, still retains all its healing
virtue. They will not come that they may be
healed.

I have sometimes been led to think, that justifi-
cation often is used to signify, not pardon, but a sense
of pardon and that therefore, it is so much connected
with faith. ‘ Being justified by faith, we have
peace with God.’’ It is not a pardon simply, but
a pardon known and believed, that will give peace.
But then, though our belief of the pardon gives us
peace, yet it does not make the pardon one iota bet-
ter than it was before. This sense of pardon,
however, is the only thing which can lead us intoOF- THE GOSPEL. 37

the presence of God, with childlike confidence; it
is the only thing which can enable us to look at the
justice and holiness of God without dislike and fear.
[tis the only thing that can produce holy gratitude ;
and the greatness of the gratitude, will be in pro-
portion to the sense entertained of the greatness of

A ee

the pardon.

rH }

he two debtors mentioned in the con-
cluding passage of the 7th chap. of Luke, were
both forgiven, but the one had the sense of a great
forgiveness, the other of a small one, and their gra-
titude was in direct proportion to their sense of for-
siveness. Letus suppose that both owed five hun-
dred pence, and that both were freely forgiven ; but
that one knew the amount of his debt, whilst the
other did not know that he was a debtor at all; the
one would feel gratitude for his forgiveness, the other
would have no sense of forgiveness at all, and, there-
fore, no gratitude. I conceive all men to be in this
state, that all are forgiven---but that those only who
know somewhat of the amount of their debt, and
the value of that ransom by which they were
redeemed, love him, who hath thus loved them ;---
the rest, those who are ignorant that they have
incurred a condemnation, cannot appreciate the love
of him that pitied them, and therefore they love
him not. But heaven and happiness, and salvation,
are all summed up in Holy Love---and it was to
produce Holy Love, that the atonement of Christ
was proclaimed. If the proclamation has not
produced Holy Love, it has produced neither hea-
ven nor happiness, nor salvation. Hence arises
the necessity of the knowledge of duty in all its
extent, in order to appreciate the value of redemp-
tion; we cannot love much, until we know that we
are forgiven much, and we cannot know that we are
D38 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

forgiven much until we know what the law of God
requires from us. ,

{t may appear to some, at first sight, that this
system is calculated to give false peace, and to set
the whole world at their ease; but this is an un-
founded apprehension. The prominent part of the
system is, that the two great commandments de-
scribe heaven as well as duty, and that an opposi-
tion tothem in the heart is fell, as well as dis-
obedience. On these two commandments hang all
the law and the prophets, and the gospel too. The
law and the prophets and the sospel, have been sent
for the purpose of writing these two commandments
in the heart. And until they are written there,
heaven is not there, nor salvation.. Do we love God2
Do our thoughts, our desires, our_words, our actions,
refer to him, andtend to him 2? Do we love our neigh-
bour for the sake of him, who hath made him, and
redeemed him, and commanded us to love him? If
we do, we are in possession of salvation: and if
we do not, conscience must declare that we are
not in possession of it. Oh! what a continual
call is here to the blood of sprinkling, both to sa-
tisfy the conscience, and to excite the heart---to
calm agitations, and passions, and apprehensions,
and to give renewed confidence in the willingness
aud faithfulness of God to bestow his living Spirit,
to sanetify us, and to do for us exceedingly above
all that we can ask or think.

The gospel explains that great commandment,
and contains the dynamics by which its behests may
be obeyed. Who, it may be asked, is this God
whom we are called on thus to love? It is that
God who hath so hated sin, and so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son to the death, toOF THE GOSPEL. 39

condemn sin afd to save the world. This is the A
God whom we are called on thus to love. That |
blood branded sin---it removed every obstacle that
barred the approach of the sinner to God, or of God
to the sinner, and it gave a pledge and a specimen
richness and the holiness of divine love.

of the
This revelation is the

Spirit of God writes the law upon the heart in ful-
filment of the promise made through Jeremiah xxxi.
It was given that men might see God as he
is, and learn to love him as he ought to be loved.

An unholy God may be approached familiarly,

33.

and even, perhaps, in

impenitent sinner: but the God who so loved the
world as to give his Son to expiate sin, is a holy
God. He hath no pleasure in wickedness. Those
only can love him who love purity.

The law is thus preached in perfect harmony
with the unconditional freeness of the gospel.
The fulfilment of the law is not the way to hea-
ven: it is itself heaven. ‘* God is love, and he
who dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in
him.’ It is not a condition of salvation, it is itself
salvation. ‘The law contains the description of
spiritual health: it is the description of that
character which is alone capable of spiritual enjoy-
ment. This character must be obtained before
heaven is obtained in its true meaning. The his-
tory of God’s holy love, manifested in Christ,
when received into the heart, is the seed of this
character. It must be sown by the Spirit, and |

watered by the Spirit.

He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
And all are warranted and invited to ask. And

shall we delay to ask ?

instrument by which the

some degree, loved by an

What shall we say to this ?ee te ee Te ee

 

 

 

en

  

40 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

When eternity is before us, and near us, shall
we wait for any better warrant than the blood of
Christ, or any Stronger assurance than the promise
of God? Shall we continue under the sentence of
exclusion from his presence until some change be
wrought on our own mind in addition to the atone-
ment of Christ? No: all the satisfaction for sin
that the justice of God requires has been made
already. The way is open, and the voice of God
assures all who come that they shall in nowise be
cast out. And as for the change to be wrought on
our minds, that must follow our taking the medicine,
it cannot precede it.

It may be objected to this view, thatit is opposed
to all the scriptural examples of prayer which con-
tain a petition for the pardon of sin. If sin is
already pardoned, what is the use or meaning of
continuing to ask pardon day by day, or indeed

T ed at
all? I think that the nana which is asked isa
sense of pardon, a sense of the divine nearness and
love, and not a repeal of the sentence of exclusion,

which I conceive to be contained in the primary
and universal proclamation of Christ to the world.
Is it conceivable that a spirit which ventures to
address God by the appellation “ Our Father,’’ can
really be asking the repeal of a sentence of ever-
lasting banishm ent? The asking and the bestowing
of pardon form a most inte resting part of that a.
dearing reciprocation of kindness which belongs to
the relation of parent and child. ‘*And if we
know that he heareth us, we know that we have
the petitions which we ask,’? says the beloved
disciple. Those prayers are the expressions of
humility, and compunction, and confidence, not the
deprecations of wrath. And though a man hasOF THE GOSPEL. 4]

hitherto known nothing of this high and blessed
relationship, yet the ‘moment that he understands
that God so loved sinners as to give his Son for
them to take away their condemnation, he must
and will have confidence that now there is no con-
demnation, no exclusion, and he will approach
God with confidence. But though he does ap-
proach with confidence, he will yet confess Sin,
and ask pardon for sin, and he will do so with
the very feeling which filled the poor prodigal’s
heart when he made his confession with his father’s
arms around him, and his words of peace and wel-
come sounding in his ears.

The natural effect of every sin is to banish man
from the presence of God: the sense of exclusion,
more or less strong, must accompany every sin.
The only remedy here, the only answer to con-
science is, the testimony of God that a victim has
been slain whose blood cleanseth from all sin.
This is the only remedy, but it is quite sufficient ;
that testimony contains abundant assurance that the
returning sinner shall be well received. The sense
of pardon, however, is necessarily connected with
a present conviction of the truth of that testimony 5
and when the heart is wandering from God, it is
wandering also from that testimony ; and thus the
sentiment of exclusion accompanies the sense of
sin, and the renewed sense of pardon is accompani-
ed with renewed convictions of the holiness and.
the mercy of God, which counteract the danger of
false peace.

Shall we then consider ourselves either honouring
God, or caring for our own spiritual progress,
whilst we continue without the gate of the taber-
nacle, doubting the sincerity of God’s most uncon-
D2

bic jenieabiRh Sees43 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

fined and unconditional invitations to all to come
in, and waiting for some special act of grace in our
own favour? Not so. How shall we, who have
in the person of our representative paid the penalty,
yet continue under it? How shall we, who are
partakers in the life of that great one over whom
death hath no longer dominion, yet lie under the
terror of condemnation? No: let us rather join in
that song which Isaiah’s heaven-touched ear heard,
though far away, ‘ Oh Lord, I will praise thee:
though thou wast angry with me, thine anger 1s
turned away, and thou hast comforted me.’’

A universal amnesty is the subject of the Divine
testimony ; a sense of pardon, or justification, be-
longs to those who believe the testimony ; and the
use of this sense of pardon, is to write the love
and law of God upon the heart. If it does not effect
this, it has failed, for that love, and that law, are
Salvation. Pardon is entirely irrespective of all the
varieties of human character, it belonzs to man as a
sinner, fleaven, on the contrary, consists in character.
This appears to me to be the Scripture doctrine of
justification by faith, and up to this point all is
intelligible. A sinner is by judicial sentence ex-
cluded from the favourable presence of God, and
he is spiritually diseased, in consequence of his
distance from God. The universal repeal of the
Sentence of exclusion, on the ground of the death
of Christ as the substitute of sinners, is the mes-
Sage conveyed from God to man through the gos-
pel. But although the exclusion is done away,
man will yet keep at a distance from God, until he
knows who God is, and what need he has of God,
and that he will be made welcome by God; and
Whilst he continues at a distance from God, heOF THE GOSPEL.

ontinues unsaved. It is faith in the atonement,
and in what it signifies, that heals the spiritual
disease, that saves the soul. The limitation then
is not in the pardon, but in the belief of the) par-
don. All are pardoned, but believers are a little
flock. Why is this? This is the great mystery in
religion. Here we pass into the infinite, and are
lost. .One is taken, and another left. -One heart
is made to hear the voice of God, and learns
from that teaching voice, what flesh and blood
cannot reveal—another reads the Bible, and hears
sermons, and goes through the forms of prayer,
and seems even to wish and intend tobe religipus ;
and yet continues a stranger to spiritual commu-
nion with God. What is the meaning of this?
God is the Great King in all the earth—He doth
what seemeth him good. But he has promised
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. And yet
the very disposition to ask is his own gift. But
the language of the Bible, in inviting (sinners to
God, is so free, that we must either suppose that
there is a deception in the Bible, or we must sup-
pose that every man has the power of coming. to
God if he chooses. Let us bow before him, whose
thoughts, although above our thoughts, and whose
ways, although above our ways, are yet thoughts
and ways of everlasting love towards our fallen
race. We are of yesterday and know nothing.
Let us look unto him and he will save us. The
way is open.

erences ee Eee CE CTE ET TOTOUNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

ESSAY IIT.

Iris impossible to look into the Bible, with the
most ordinary attention, without feeling that we
have got into a moral atmosphere, quite different
from that which we breathe in the world, and in
which the world lives. In the Bible, God is re-
presented as doing every thing, and as being the
cause, and the end of every thing. And man ap-
pears merely as he stands related to God, as 2 re-
volted creature, or the subject of divine grace.
Whereas in the world, and in the books which
contain the history of the world, according to the
world’s judgment, man appears to do every thing,
and there is as little reference made to God, as if
there were no such Being in the universe. ‘The
fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; we’ll have
none. Our lips are our own; we are they that
ought to speak; who is Lord over us? There
seems to be a general agreement to shut God out of
the world which he has made, and to suppress all
reports of his claims and rights and sovereign power.
The old serpent deceived our race, and poisoned it
in its root, by that well chosen temptation ad-
dressed to our first parents, ‘¢ ye shall be as gods.”
He seems to have spoken the word into their veryOF THE GOSPEL.

continues unsaved. It is faith in the a.peihe, a
and in what it signifies, that heals the Sitled £4
disease, that saves the soul. The limitation\ yen
is not in the pardon, but in the belief of the| pug
don. All are pardoned, but believers are a little
flock. Why is this? This is the great mystery in
religion. Here we pass into the infinite, and are
lost. One is taken, and another left. -One heart
is made to hear the voice of God, and learns
from that teaching voice, what flesh and blood
cannot reveal—another reads the Bible, and hears
sermons, and goes through the forms of prayer,
and seems even to wish and intend tobe religipus ;
and yet continues a stranger to spiritual commu-
nion with God. What is the meaning of this?
God is the Great King in all the earth—He doth
what seemeth him good. But he has promised
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. And yet
the very disposition to ask is his own gift. But
the language of the Bible, in inviting sinners to
God, is so free, that we must either suppose that
there is a deception in the Bible, or we must sup-
pose that every man has the power of coming. to
God if he chooses. Let us bow before him, whose
thoughts, although above our thoughts, and whose
ways, although above our ways, are yet thoughts
and ways of everlasting love towards our fallen
race. We are of yesterday and know nothing.
Let us look unto him and he will save us. The
way is open.46 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

than the principle of separate individuality ; he
is more amember of God’s family than an indivi-
dua]; and, as this principle uniting him to God,
is stronger than the principle of his own indivi-
duaity, he sees and judges, and feels things in
the light of God, and as they relate to him,
rather than in his own light, or as they relate
to\ himself individually. He is a sharer in
the) common light, and common interest of the
family ; there is not a holy feeling in the universe,
which does not vibrate to his heart; he enters
injo the joy of his Lord, and that embraces all
joys.

We look at this picture from a distance, and
wonder at the madness of man, which banished
him ‘rom so fair a scene—but we need go no far-
ther shan our own hearts to see the cause of this
sad’ banishment. The spirit of dependence is
warting—that open door by which God enters
theheart. The spirit of independence is the spirit
of this world. Itis that which the world che-
righes and admires, and it is that which shuts the
hpart against God, and cuts off its supply from the
Fountain of Life. ‘Openthy mouth wide and I
wil fill it, says our God—is not his yoke indeed
eay, and his burden light!—the yoke and burden
ofa boundless beneficence—but my people would
not hear my voice, Israel would none of me.’
“hey refused to receive their God. Oh what a
nass of misery was before the mind of our God
vhen he uttered these words, they are few and
‘imple, but they describe a madness, and an iniqui-
ty, and a sorrow, passing utterance—but they
also breathe compassion, and in that lies our hope,
for it is the compassion of God. As the approv-EERE LIP OL I BE Se

    
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

OF THE GOSPEL,

ing love of God is the light, and air, and joy of his
unfallen family, so his tender mercies, his long-
suffering, his holy compassion, manifested in Christ
Jesus, are the only hope of return to those who are
fallen. But as his approving love enters the hearts
of his happy children, by no other avenue but at
the open door of their dependence, even so must
his holy compassion enter our hearts. It can enter
at no other door. This is the gate of the Lord,
the Porta Santa through which alone he enters.
We may have much knowledge of religion without
the spirit of dependence, but we can have none
of the thing itself. And it is, perhaps, one of the
chief snares and deceptions of our day to mistake
the knowledge of religion for religion itself, and to
receive the doctrines of Christianity without re-
ceiving the God revealed in the doctrines. We
may pride ourselves on our knowledge of religion
as upon any other knowledge, and thus we may be
strengthening the spirit of independence, and so
barring the door of our hearts more securely against
God, whilst we are fondly flattering ourselves, that
We are opening to receive him. Oh, Lord, teach
us thy truth, lead us in thy ways.

Humility is another name for the spirit of depen-
dence. It is the feeling of our true condition be-
fore God, and of our relation to him. The world does
not know what humility means—the world’s hu-
mility is mere diffidence, or fear, or affectation—
but real humility is truth and confidence and as-
sured hope; for thetruly humble heart recognises it-
self as a mere receiver, and feels that it is not its
duty only, but its high privilege to be a receiver;
it hears its Lord’s voice saying open thy mouth
wide and I will fill it—it opens and receives the(«
AC

|
alness of the blessing. ‘‘ For thus saith the High

ind Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, 1 dwell in
he high and holy place, with him also that is of <«

1umble and contrite heart, to revive the spirit of ~
humble, and to. revive se heart of the contrite
pnes,”” Humility is another name for spiritual or-
fler. It teaches the branch to abide in the vine,
and to open its veins to receive the sap of the root.
It subordinates the principle of private individu-
ality to that pring ali le which unites the creature to
God, and thu restores the disordered hierarchy
in the a by replacing God upon his throne
there. Humility is nothing but truth—and inde-

UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

 

pendence jis nothing but a lie, for it honours the
branch above the vine, and the member above
the body, and the creature above the Creator—it
calls a stream a fountain, and a planet a sun.

It is impossible that the creature can perform a
single spiritual act, whilst it continues in the spirit
of independence. ‘The branch torn from the tree
ceases to/have its vegetable life, and is no longer
capable of performing the functions of that life,
because the sap of the root no longer circulates
through it. And man torn from the spiritual sys-
tem loses his spiritual life, and his capacity of
spiritual actions; for the life-blood of that system,
even the Holy Spirit, no longer animates him. But
still, as if Bibelled by the uneradicated instincts of
his original nature formed for the exercise and en-

joyment of spiritual life, he often desires and at-

tempts to perform the finetione of that life, not
considering that he has separated himself from the
source which alone supplies life and strength for
the performance of these functions. No one won-
ders that a hand separated from the strength of theOF THE GOSPEL. 49

body by dislocation or fracture should be incapa-
ble of doing any service to the body. All the efforts
of a hand, in these circumstances, are useless: the
only reasonable hope lies in using means for cnr-
ing the dislocation or fracture. Even so the only
hope for man hes in re-union with God, by being
grafted on the true vine through the spirit of depend-
ence. Nothing done by his own independent efforts
can have the nature of a spiritual action: it is out
of the spiritual order.. And therefore it is that the
Bible relates more to what God has done for graft-
ing man again into the vine, than to what he re-
quires from man as duty. ~ “*I will run the way of
thy commandments, when Thou hast enlarged my
heart,’’—when Thou hast delivered me from the
narrowness of my own selfish individuality, and
crafted me ‘on the root of thine own infinite love,

and quickened me by thy free Spirit, and expanded
7

my heart to embrace thy boundless will.

Man, assuredly, even in his fallen state, retains
those capacities which were originally given him
for communion with the spiritual system, but whilst
he: remains unrenewed by the Spirit of God, they
remain unexercised, or at least unexercised in their
right direction. They were originally destined to
convey the water of life to his soul, but other wa-
ters have been sought out, and this pure, heavenly
stream has been rejected, and the noble aqueduct
has fallen into decay. ‘Their use was to connect
him with the universality of the spiritual system,

; '

1 , . , e Gee
and thev constitut tne aominan part OL HIS Na-

LLv

Meath 7T Lalat thaw x00 : 17
tuTe. VV tllist CLLIt VY ©} 1h)

Lada til se aa es
althful exercise, he
1: . 1 bi 3 tg C 1S wean ‘ 1
saw things in the broard light of God’s will, and in
their relation to the whole spiritual system. But

Wu
A

now that he seeks to be independent, and that those

7
4
|50 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS
capacities which connected him with the universal
system are unexercised, his selfishness has taken
the place of God in his heart, and he sees things in
the light of his own will, and in their relation to
his own individuality. The ae of this pri-
vate will is the spirit of independence: it is this
which bars the eat against God and heaven, and
makes each man the centre ofhis own system. And
thus it is, that when the natural man thinks of God,
he regards him merely in relation to his own per-
sonal. and private interest. He remains still the
centre of his own system, and it is a matter of in-
terested consideration with him, how much he
should sacrifice to the will of God, in order to se-
cure himself from the consequences of his. displea-
sure. This negotiation has nothing of religion in
it; there is nothing in common between such feel-
ings and the generous, uncalculating devotedness of
a child of God. It is from taking this view of re-
ligion, that many philosophers have regarded it as a
mere variety of the selfish system of morals ; they
consider heaven and hell as the great motives in
Christianity, and these they regard only as rewards
and punishments addressed to the interested feel-
ings of selfish hope and fear. But this has nothing
to do with religion: selfish hope or fear may drivea
man to seek after religion, but religion itself is ano-
ther thing,—it is the displacing of this selfish in-
dividuality from its supremacy in the heart, and
restoring that supremacy to him whose right it is.
The moral reformations which men make on them-
selves, uninfluenced by the Spirit of God, are all the
results of a wise and refined selfishness. They
give up certain gratifications, because they perceive
that tl re pain of them verb ileaeds their pleasure in

‘
eaot
i’

OF THE GOSPEL.

this world, or will overbalance it in the next.
They do not wish to lose either’ their own good opi-
nion, or the good opinion of their fellow creatures,
or they submit.to necessity. And thus the doctrine
of self-denial, is foolishness to. them. They say,
show us that certain privations are good for our
health, or our reputation, or our safety, and we
shall feel it to be our wisdom to deny ourselves.
But the idea of putting down self, as self, is unin-
telligible.. Yet the fall of man consists in self hay-
ing taken the place of God in the heart, and the
object of the Christian duty of self-denial, is not
merely to pay homage to God, but to weaken this
usurper in our hearts, and to unbar that door which
shuts God out.

This will teach us to form a true view of God’s
purpose in making the life of man so full of sor-
tow. The greatest blessing which man can recelve,
is to have his private individual will subordinated
to the sentiment of his relation with God. And yet
his continual business in this world, is to strength-
en this individual will, which opposes the entrance
of God into his heart. He seeks its gratification in
all things, and is ever guarding against any thing
which may crossit. He thus blindly loves and feeds
his disease, and resists all the attempts of divine
love to cureit. This is man’s way, and it 1s a way
which leads down to death. God’s way is to cross
man’s way, that he may be turned from it, and live.
He crosses him in his good opinion of himself, in his
confidence in his own strength, and in his own wis-
dom. He crosses him in his favourite schemes of
happiness. He sends affliction after affliction. He
pours bitterness into his soul. He sends disease
and death into the circle of his friends. He giveseniensenceennteiec 6221

 

 

waht
cE
oH}
|
j
5
i }
} }
j ;
| i
ie
| i
; ;
o i
i t
} ; oF
Patt '
vat :
Se Ge }
eS)
< t
;
i
+
one
Hes
Ey
eae!
i
Fe |
WX
\
t
\
j
1}

  

52 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

him up to the idolatry of the creature, and then
tears his idol from him, or makes it a curse to him.
He lays him on a bed of sickness, and trres him
with pain, and restlessness, and brings him‘to the
boundary which separates time from eternity, and
makes him look backwards into past time, and
forwards into the future eternity, and shows him
that he was made to dwell with God through eter-
nity, and yet that all his past days have been spent
in unfitting himself for this state; and he says te
him, ‘** how can *thy heart endure or thy hands be
Strong on the day that I plead with thee,’’ turn unto
me, the only strength of the creature. ‘This is the
way of God towards man, of that God whose name
is love, and this is the way that he expresses his
love. It is thus that he shakes the bulwarks of in-
dependence, which guard the entrance of the soul
against God. It is thus that he convinces man. of
his guilt, and weakness, and ionorance, and misery,
and persuades him to open the door of his heart ‘to
God, and to take shelter under his compassionate
omnipotence. Blessed are they who are persuaded,
blessed are they in whose hearts God makes a place
for himself, though it is by casting out all other joys.

But sorrow itself cannot break the selfishness of
the heart. Sorrow is as selfish as joy. Its lan-
guage sounds more like religion than that of joy,
but in spirit they are not much unlike. Sorrow
looks at the future, because the present is painful;
it looks to heaven because earth is painful; and
it wishes that God, or any other being who
can, would deliver it from its pain. This is still
self—it is Pharaoh trembling under the rod of Mo-
ses—it is still man growing out of his own root,
and seeing things in his own light. And so weOF THE GOSPEL. 53

often find that when the pain is removed the reli-
gion is removed along withit. ‘* When he smote
them, they sought him—but within a while, they
forgat his works, and would none of his counsel.”
When Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he
hardened his heart. Sorrow cannot take man off his
own root, and graft him onthe true vine. This is
work for him who made us. But there is a great
use in sorrow. It gives pause to the soul, 1t shows
us that we are not able of ourselves to help our-
selves, and that the creature cannot satisfy us.
It acquaints us with the fact, that God’s way is
different from our way, and presses us to inquire
into the cause of this difference; and above all, it
gives the thought of prayer, because it gives the
feeling of want, and thus by the divine blessing, it
often becomes the instrument of drawing wander-
ing, perishing sinners back to God.

I have sometimes been Jed to think that in our
modern systems of religion, the relation between
the Creator and the creature, is too little regarded,
and too much merged in the particular doctrines
of Christianity. No doubt it may be answered,
that this relation is supposed and taken for granted
in all religions—but this is not enough. ‘The crea-
tive and sovereign, and personal omnipotence of God
is, to our minds, the subjective basis of deity ; and
the sentiment of creaturely dependence on him,
which rises out of it, and corresponds to it, is the
basis of religion in the creature. All the doctrines
of Christianity are but the expressions of the cha-
racter of the omnipotent Creator.—They are his
modes of acting, but he himself is the great thing.
Without the sense of his living reality, and the sen~
timent of relation to him, there is no religion, and
E 2K oy hh ‘ r\ rr A wy 1. 14
O4 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

Christianity becomes a mere set of notions. ‘There
can be no doubt that a great deal of the Christianity
of the world is of this spurious kind, or at least has
a mixture of it. And there are times in which God,
by his dealings with us, sends a fearful conviction
of it into the heart. He brings a genuine reality,
such as death, and sets it before us, and makes us
feel how mere notions melt into nothing at its pre-
sence, and how utterly vain and valueless a religion
is, which does not unite us to God, by a bond as
real as death is real. The living personality of
God, if I may use the expression, must animate and
fill out the Christian doctrines—otherwise they
only tend to add a fatal security to the sleep of the
soul. They may be subjects of talk to us, as the
suds of gold and silver furnished talk to Belshazzar
and his lords, until some providence surprise us, as
the hand-writing on the wall. surprised them, and
make us feel and know, what it is to be in the pre-
sence of the real God, whom we. have not glorified.

I feel persuaded, that no idea of a power external
to us, however great, can ever produce the senti-
ment of creaturely dependence in the heart, there
must be the sense of God within us, as the root and
basis of our being, as the continual supplier of
strength for thought and action, as the fountain from
the which our current runs, or else dries up. The
Bible is full of this ideaand feeling of God, subjec-
tive as well as objective. He is there not only the
licht which the eye sees, but he is the power of the
eye to see the licht.

It is a truth which ought to produce much watch-
fulness and self-distrust, that practical atheisna

may enter into the profession of religion, and may
7m AKheanma a }

et zealous partizan of orthodox Chris-or
Or

OF THE GOSPEL.

tianity. It is the God who is revealed and contain-
ed in the doctrines that alarms.and assails the in-
dependence of the natural man. When they are
separated from him and his omnipotence, when they
become mere syllogisms or emblazonments, they
can take their place under the dark shadow of the
atheism of the heart as well as the syllogisms or
emblazonments of any other science. How dif-
ferent are these forms from the overawing reality
with which the doctrines are animated in the
Bible. And oh, how different is the effect produc-
ed by them on the hearts of their partizans, from
those cries and breathings of the creature after the
Creator, which are embalmed in the sacred record,
and which still seem to ascend to heaven like in-
cense from an altar. As the heart panteth after
the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O
God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God; when shall I come and appear before God ?”
‘‘Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me 5
give me understanding, that I may keep thy com-
mandments.”? ‘*I-will abide in thy tabernacle for
ever, I will trust in the covert of thy wings.” I
am thine, Oh save me.”? Happy spirit, thou hast
found thy fountain, thy cry enters with acceptance
‘nto the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ‘¢ When thou
saidst unto me, seek my face, my heart said unto
thee, thy face Lord will I seek.” Surely this sweet
communion between heaven and earth is true reli-
gion. Oh for the putting forth of that power which
made the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, that
such sounds might enter our hearts, and draw forth
such answers. ‘To a spirit thus bound by a real
bond to the real God, life and death are equal, for
it finds the will of God in either, and his will isayes

tea tone menereaes

REN RNEROS: SEGRE

¥

 

  

56 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

its delight. It finds God in every thing, and God
is its portion. When Jesus says, behold I come
quickly, it answers, even so come, Lord Jesus.
This is to walk with God.

There is something inexpressibly mysterious and
solemn in the relation of the creature to the Creator.
There is no parallel to it in the universe. When
I think of it, T am overwhelmed by it. I cannot
conceive how I have the consciousness of a separate
existence distinct from my Creator. It seems to
me that Iam inregard to him asa ray of light to
the sun, proceeding continually out of his sub-
stance, and having no individuality of my own.
We are apt to lower our idea of this relation, by
comparing it to the relation between men and their
works. The potter forms the clay into a vessel,
and that vessel, is then completely indepen-
dent of him,—it does not require his thought
or power to uphold its existence. And so we are
prone to think of God and his works as if they
could exist-independently of him. But there is a
vast difference. The potter takes advantage of the
laws of nature, which are in continual action indepen-
dently of him—they uphold his work after it is
finished, as it was by the application of their power
that he fashioned it. Thus, in fact, the potter does
nothing as a creator, he only changes the position of
the clay. But the laws of nature are the continual
actings of God. There is no power in the universe
but his, and where his power is, there is he. He
made the clay, it and sustains with its qualities,
and in whatever form it may be—and the. cessation
of his wll that it should exist, would be the cessa-
tion of its existence. The uninterrupted actings of
that will are the laws of nature; and in every oneOF THE GOSPEL. 57

ef these actings is the entire Godhead. The course
of nature, the elements, the order of events, the ex-
istence and movement of all matter, are-the direct
actings of God. And are not the existence and
movement of mind, too, his actings? Surely it is
so, and must be so, but yet I feel that my will
works contrary to his. My will is the sustained

eature of his wi// from moment to moment, inca-
pable of a single act without power communicated
from him—and yet I am conscious that it works
contrary to him, and is morally responsible for so
doing. This is too wonderful forme, 1 cannot at-
tain untoit. Thou hast beset me behind and be-
fore, and laid thine hand upon me.

With what feelings ought I to regard him, to
whose infinite mind my individual existence, with
every particular of my history through the future
eternity, has been from all past eternity a distinet
and familar idea? It was a birth of his mind from
all eternity. At length he realized it, by calling
me into life and giving mea substantial existence---
and he has ever since sustained this life, by his
continually pervading presence in every part of my
soul and body. I have never been a einale moment
separated from him. It is impossible that I should
be separated from him without ce asing to exist. |
have never been alone—and I know that through
eternity I shall never be alone.

I am sure thatI have never formed a thought,
nor uttered a word, nor done a deed, to which he
has not been most intimately present, and in which
he has not been himself the acting power, enabling
me to think and speak and do. And here is the

great marvel. I am conscious that these thoughts,

and words, and deeds, have been full of sin, andro
IO

 

UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

a es Ee pry Baie

yet my conscience acquits him, and lays the un-
divided blame upon myself. Who can solve this
difficulty ?

What an unspeakable relation is this! And what
an infinite possibility of enjoyment rises out of this
perpetually pervading presence, secing it is a pre-
sence of infinite holiness, and love, and beauty, and
wisdom! But it seems as if he were toonear me to #®'
see him, as the eye sees not itself. Yet I feel as-

sured that until 1 see him and feel him in his per-
petually pervading presence of infinite holiness, and
love, and beauty, and wisdom, I cannot have that
| yt good for which I was created. This presence is
me my real home and my real portion, and until I be-
zh come sensible of it, I am without a home and with-
out a portion in the universe

Itis appalling to know that there is a Being so
near me, surrounding me, and inhabiting me, and

 

eT

i ae iy | yet that he should remain unseen and unknown by
hss o me; and is it not still more dreadful to know that
di Pye in this Being and his relation with me, is treasured
Pa | up a possibility of good beyond utterance and be-

ni yond conception, and yet that I should have no part
! in it? Alas! that I should have a sense which in-
pan forms me of the Parsons of material light, and
ew | makes it a pleasant thing for me to behold ‘the sun,
| and that I should have no sense to inform me of the
presence of the Light.of Life, and to give-me joy in
ae conversing with his brightness.
Bah} At first sight it appears remarkable, that the Bi-
ble should at the same moment ch hapa men with
a the guilt of idolatry, and of atheism. It would
ae | seem impossible that the same individual should be
fa iy guilty of both. Atheism consists in having no
bi L God; and idolatry seems to consist in havingOF THE GOSPEL. 59

too many. But, in fact} there is no God in idol-
atry any more than in atheism. The notion of va-
rious independent powers, which is the spirit of
idolatry, is also the spirit of atheism. God is the
one power, and the one Fountain, which does all
things, and from which all things flow. ‘The
course of nature, the course of providence, the
course of life and being, are the actings of that
power, and the streams from that Fountain. The
spirit of religion goes directly to this first cause,
and sees it, and acknowledges it, and feels it, in all
things; it regards second causes, whether they be
the elements of nature or the actions of men, as
mere channels through which this first and only
cause operates ; it stops not at them; it regards
life as a holy thing flowing out of this Fountain,
and returning thither; it lives, and moves, and has
its being in God by the spirit of its will, as well as
by the necessity of its nature. Atheism and idolatry
both stop at second causes; they see independent
powers in every thing, and they are themselves in-
dependent. They acknowledge that there are pow-
ers superior to thelr own, aS one man is stronger
than another. But they regard their existence as
their own property, though liable to be invaded and
affected by superior powers, and on this property
they can stand and parley, and make conditions
with these powers, whatever they may be. The
spirit of dependence is the spirit of religion, and
the spirit of independence is the spirit of atheism
and of idolatry.

This atheism of the heart, then, this insensibility
to God, this blindness to his direct actings, this
spirit of independence, under the influence of which
we live surrounded by God, and sustained by him,60 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

and yet cntirely unconnected with him in spirit and
desire—this being the evil to be remedied by Chris-
tianity, does it not seem most reasonable to expect,
that there should be in the remedy an especial put-
ting forth of the direct agency of God, and that he
should reveal, himself through it, in such a way
that the soul may know and feel that it is God of a
truth that worketh, and none other than he? The
branch separated from the vine cannot graft itself
on again; if it could, the order of nature would be
subverted. And man separated from God cannot,
according to the order of a higher nature, again
unite himself to God. Indeed this appears to me
so full of the highest reason and evidence, that I
should consider the great purpose of Christianity
absolutely defeated, were it possible for man to
become a Christian by his own unassisted efforts,
or without a conviction of the necessity of divine
assistance. Nay, it would. be an absurdity, it
would be teaching the spirit of dependence, by an
argument for independence, it would be leading
man to repose his all on God, by showing him that
he could do without God. ‘The true. state of the
creature is a state of absolute dependence on the
Creator, and when he has left his true state, he can
only be brought back to it, by a way of absolute
dependence. All the messages of God to man have
related to this way of return, and have been filled
with the most urgent calls to come back by it, and
the most solemn warnings against refusing the voice
of him who speaketh from heaven. All these mes-
sages have been messages of love. And man needs
a message of love from God, for his conscience
testifies against him, and tells him of his sin, and

of God’s just displeasure at sin, and thus forbidsOF THE GOSPEL.

the spirit of confidence at the same time that it
commands the spirit of dependence. To such an
one the gospel is indeed a welcome message; for
it tells him of the love of God to sinners, and of
his having provided an atonement for sin, and of
his open arms ready to embrace all who come to
him through this atonement, and thus the know-
ledge of the grace of God through Jesus Christ
converts his dependence of necessity into a depen-
dence of love, and grafts him into the true vine.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two command-
ments hang all the law, and the prophets, and the
gospel. ‘I'hey describe the perfection of man’s
spiritual state. ‘They describe his confiding, de-
voted dependence on the great root of the spiritual
family, and his fraternal sympathy with all the
branches. When the love of the Creator is the
dominant principal in the creature’s heart, it keeps
all the other principles, and faculties, and relations
of the soul, in their proper place. It is the true
key-stone of the arch which gives strength by
maintaining order. It is the principle which con-
nects the creature with the spiritual system, and
which receives of the fulness of the Creator. The
fall of this key-stone from its place in man’s heart
was, and is, the fall of man from his place in the
family of God. Self and the creature took the
place, and each man became an independent indivi-
dual—loving and desiring, and approving things,
according as they affected himself, without regard
to the will of God, or the sympathies of the univer-

-

    
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
 
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

 

See at

ret

ie62 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

sal family. This is the fall, and the sin, and the
misery of man—that the first and paramount relation
has not the first and paramount place in his heart—
and that self—the principle of individuality—has
usurped that place, has thus cut off the blessed com-
munication between God and man, which had been,
and could only be, maintained through the channel
of a supreme affection. And as this is the fal] of
man, so the restoration of man can be nothing else
than the restoration of the Jove of God in the heart
as the paramount principle in it, and the due su-
bordination of self and the creature under it. Any
remedy which falls below this restoration falls
below man’s need. No pardon which leaves this
undone is of any value to him. He needs no in-
fliction from without to make him miserable—and
it is not the removal of any outward infliction that
can give him happiness. He must love God su-
premely. He must know that God is better than
happiness, and that sin is worse than sorrow. Itis
not the desire of happiness, but the love of God
which is the true key-stone of the arch. ‘‘ He that
will save his life shall lose it, and he that will
lose his life for my sake shall find it;’’ but if he
loses his life not for Christ’s sake, but with the
hope of saving it, he is out of the order of the
blessing.

The remedy which God has given to man is the
gospel. Its object is to displace self and the crea-
ture from the heart, to restore the love of God to
the supremacy which is its due, and thus to restore
man tg his place in the happy family of God. The
value of the Gospel consists in its being a true re-
presentation of the gracious character of God in
relation to his rebellious creatures. Jesus ChristOF THE GOSPEL. 63

is the subject of the gospel, for he is God in rela-
tion to sinners. The gospel tells us how full
of love he is towards sinners, in all his feelings,
and in all his actions. It tells us of a love beyond
utterance and conception, of his humbling himself
even to the death of the cross for them, of his suf-
fering for them on earth, and of his reigning for
them in heaven. It tells us that this is our God,
the God who made us, and with whom we have to
do, that this is he, from whom we have been turn-
ing away with fear, or hatred, or disgust, or indif-
ference, and who yet hath all along been thus lov-
ing us, and hath been putting forth his love to us
continually, in every breath which we draw, and in
all the care, and protection, and support which we
experience; and it tells us all this that we may be
constrained to love him supremely, and to choose
him for our portion, and to depend on him, with an
absolute confidence, and thus to have our individual
will subordinated to his will. Before Christ came
into the world, God had promised that he should
come; for no sooner had man fallen, than he re-
ceived an intimation of God’s purpose of restoring
him. There is something very striking in the form
in which this first intimation of the Deliverer was
given; and it appears to me that much instruction
as to the nature of the gospel, may be obtained by
examining the characteristic features of it.

This intimation, as appears from the record in
the third chapter of Genesis, was not addressed to
our first parents themselves, but formed a part of
the sentence pronounced in their hearing, against
the serpent who had deceived them. ‘I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed, and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and64 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

thou shalt bruise his heel.’”? The most prominent
feature in this sentence is, that the serpent’s head
was to be bruised by a descendant of the woman.
This intimated to the human pair, that it was the
purpose of God toraise up a champion of their race,
who should avenge their quarrel with the serpent,
and undo what he had done, at the expense of a
comparatively slight hurt to himself. Now, as the
work of the serpent had been to draw them away
from the love of God, so the undoing of that work
was to draw them back to the love of God—as the
serpent’s work had been to introduce sin and its
consequences into the world, so the undoing of that
work was to destroy sin and its consequences. And
as this restoring work was to be done by a cham-
pion of the woman’s seed, it would give to the hu-
man pair an assurance that their interests would be
well regarded.

This sentence was pronounced on the serpent be-
fore Adam and Eve received their own sentence.
They had endeavoured to hide themselves from the
presence of God. ‘They had feared the worst. But
they were now compelled to stand before him, and
answer for themselves. They must have felt the
vanity of any excuses, and anticipated the execution
of the penalty denounced against disobedience. As
they stood trembling before their Judge, they heard
the sentence pronounced against their deceiver, in
which his final defeat, and the subversion of his
plans by one of their owa descendants were pre-
dicted. And, although this prediction was in the
form of a threatening against their adversary,
rather than of.a promise of good to themselves, yet
they could not but fee] that it did contain a stron
consolation for them. How could the serpent’

oO
5
SOF THE GOSPEL. 65

head be said to be crushed, whilst they continued
the victims of his plots? The more they consider-
ed it, the more it would appear to them a prediction
of their restoration. And after hearing this predic-
tion, they would listen with greater calmness to
their own sentence; and they would receive the dif-
ferent sorrows denounced on them, supported by the
hope of the coming restoration.

It is evident that this prediction did more than
merely open up to Adam and Eve a distant pros-
pect of the future retrieval of their ruined state.
They must have found their feelings towards God
and their relation to him much altered byit. They
saw that God had not abandoned them, and that his
thoughts towards them were thoughts of compas-
sion, even whilst he was pronouncing sentence upon
them. They saw that, although they were to be
sent forth from Paradise into the wilderness of the
world, and although they were to be taught the evil
of sinning against God, by a life of suffering, yet the
mind of God was even then planning their return,
and that his love was even then preparing the means
of accomplishing it. Would they not feel relieved
by this discovery? They had feared the wrath of
God—they knew that they had deserved it—and
their consciences spoke terror to them. But they
found that he pitied them, and that although they
were to suffer, yet his love watched over them.
Would they not feel, that that which they had
chiefly feared as the sting of suffering, even the
wrath of God, was taken away, and that the thought
of his compassionate care of them might well sweet-
en that cup of sorrow, which their own hands had
mixed, and their own deservings had earned? Would
they not say, nay, let Paradise go since our God
F2En eRe

 

 

  

66 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

speaks to us in peace? Would they not read in the
kindness which gave this consolation an assurance
that God had forgiven them? They had before been
hiding themselves amongst the trees of the garden
from his face, but now his face would be to them a
refuge, and a protection, and a sun, and a shield.
They would wish him to remain always with them,
for thus the wilderness would become paradise.
They knew that he was the only power in the uni-
verse, and they knew that he had compassion on
them—for they could not doubt,but that the consol-
ing promise which he had put into their hearts pro-
ceeded from compassion. In whatever way the pro-
mise might be accomplished, its chief value lay in
this, that it was a demonstration and a pledge of
God's love. They had felt themselves. to be ban-
ished from his family, and to be no longer his chil-
dren; but this compassion of God proved to them
that he was still their Father, even when he chas-
tised them, and that they were still his children even
under chastisement. And thus the promise of the
Saviour did for our first parents, in a measure, that
which the Saviour himself, when he came in the
flesh, did for all who received the testimony con-
cerning him. ‘* As many as received him to them
gave he the privilege of being the sons of God.”
It gave them the feelings and the privileges of chil-
dren. It changed their dependence of necessity
into a dependence of delighted choice. It taught
them what to pray for and how to pray ; for they
knew that it was their Father’s good pleasure and
purpose, that sin, and sorrow, and death should one
day be abolished, and, therefore, they would pray
for the coming of that day, and for the advancement
of the means necessary to its coming. And they2

OF THE GOSPEL. 67

would pray with confidence, knowing their Father’s
love, and knowing that their petition was according
to his will.

I think that Ihave not attributed to this first intima-
tion of the Saviour, any effect on the minds and feel-
ings of Adam and Eve, beyond what is conceivable
and probable in their circumstances. And now I
shall endeavour to explain the use which I wish to
make of this case. I have supposed that Adam and
Eve would immediately infer from the promise of
the seed, that God pitied them, and had a gracious
purpose of restoring them. And I have also sup-
posed that this judgment which they formed of the
compassionate feelings of God towards them, would
necessarily inspire them with confidence towards
him, and would make them regard him as a father
who had forgiven them in his heart, though he still
protracted their suffering. And yet there was not
a single word spoken by God on that occasion di-
rectly pronouncing a present pardon, or promising
a future pardon. And threfore their sense of par-
don could only arise from a conviction, that the
promise of the Deliverer was a proof of a love to-
wards them which necessarily included forgiveness
in it. The belief of the existence of a benevolent
feeling towards them in the mind of God, could not
but inspire them with some degree of confidence in
him; and when they knew that this benevolent
feeling was actually occupied with a plan for undo-
ing’ the evil which their fall had introduced, that
confidence would rise nearer to assurance. Love
seems to include pardon necessarily, and therefore
the proof of the existence of love infers pardon as 2,
necessary consequence, If they had not heard this
intimation of a deliverance, or if they had heard itSs
UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

without understanding that it was a promise of good
to them, they would have had none of those feel-
ings of confidence; and, instead of exercising the
privileges of the sons of God in speaking to their
father, and leaning on his omnipotent love, they
would have shunned his presence, and feared him
as their enemy. And yet the mind of God, and
the purposes of God towards them, would have
been precisely such as they now apprehended them
to be ;—that is to say, their forgiveness in the heart
of God would have been as much a matter of fact
as they now saw it to be. The difference between
their receiving the testimony, and their not receiv-
ing it, therefore, was a difference affecting their
own minds, it did not change the truth of the mat-
ter testified.

Hitherto God had never spoken to man on the
necessity of faith in his testimony. He had never
held out any promise to faith, and there was no ap-
parent need that he should do so; for if the testi-
mony was believed, it would necessarily do its own
work, and if it was not believed, the work as
necessarily remained undone. Faith, according to
its degree, did for Adam and Eve all that it ever
did or could do. The knowledge of the holy love
of God entered into their hearts by faith. They
saw, though perhaps dimly, that it was the holy
purpose of God to destroy sin, and yet that it was
his gracious purpose to save the sinner. And they
had peace through this conviction, that is to say,
they were justified by faith. And here I would ask
the reader if he thinks it possible that God gave
them any premium on account of their believing the
intimation ? or that he pardoned them because they
believed it? Surely not; or that he pardoned themOF THE GOSPEL. 69

in believing it, as it is sometimes expressed, that
is to say, that he bestowed on them belief and par-
don at the same time? Doubtless all good things
come from him, but certainly this does not seem to
me to be the true idea. The expression, * they
Were justifie d by faith,’? when applied to them
would seem to me to signify simply this—that be-
lieving the reality of the love of God as expressed
in the benevolent purpose which he had intimated
to them respecting the future Deliverer, they took
their forgiveness as included in it, and looked with
confidence towards God. This, I believe, was their
justification, if they were indeed justified, and this
I believe to have been the justification of every
child of God from that honr to this; for I do not
feel persuaded that any man ever receives or receiv-
ed any thing in consequence of his belief of a truth,
other than the natural effect of that truth upon his
mind.

It will appear to many a strange sort of pardon
which allowed the punishment to remain ; for para-
dise remained barred, and the sentence of sorrow
and of death remained unreversed. But God had
spoken in their hearing of his gracious purposes re=
specting them, and that was forgiveness—the for-
gsiveness which they y needed—the forgiveness of
their Father’s heart, though his hand might still for
a season be heavy onthem. And when we recol-
lect the object of the gospel, and the evil which it
was intended to remedy, we shall feel that this was
precisely the sort ot forgiveness which was requlr-
od. The hearts of the offenders were to be drawn
yack to the love of God for his own sake, and not
for his gifts. And it was part of the purpose of
teach them to seek satisfaction in himself

€
1
3

God toVerneeewer sete ag a r

 

 

UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS
by stripping them of his gifts, and by making them feel
their own insufficiency, and thus leading them back
to a child-like dependence on himself. For it was
not the penalty of the sentence, which had cut them
off from God’s family, it was their own spirit of in-
dependence. It was that which had extinguished
in them the principle of spiritual life, and had cast
them down from heaven, by shutting God out from
their hearts. And therefore a pardon which did not
restore the spirit of dependence, would still have
left them miserable outcasts.

They had fallen by following their own selfish,
individual will, rather than the universal will] of the
great Father of the spiritual family. And now God
made them feel the bitterness of their own will, and
of theirown root. He surrounded them with dark-
ness and hopelessness, and then he presented to them
his own holy will as the only Jight in the midst of
the darkness, and as the only refuge in the midst of
the hopelessness, and thus he invited their depend-
ence, and urged them to return; and he taught them
even by the terms of the promise to regard his holy
abhorrence of sin as the only foundation of their hope :
For the promise was, that the serpent’s head should
be bruised, that is to say, that sin, self-will, and in-
dependence, as well as their consequences, should
be rooted out. As long, therefore, as these evil prin-
ciples continued to be the chosen counsellors of their
hearts, such a promise could give them no comfort.
But when they learned to look on sin as the enemy
which had ruined them, then they would regard with
delight God’s avowed determination to exterminate
it; and thus the holiness of God, and his abhorrence
of evil, would be to them the pledges of their future
deliverance. It is not the leastimportant or striking

    

ee

——OF THE GOSPEL. 71
feature in this first intimation of the gospel, that it
is thus expressed rather in the form of a threatening
against sin, than of kindness to the sinner. This was
to show that there was no real kindness to the sin-
ner which had not the effect of destroying sin; that
the'love of God was essentially a consuming fire to
Sin; and that, in the dealings of God with regard to
man, the restoration of happiness was less thought
of than the restoration of holiness.

No pardon could be worthy of God, or could pos-
sibly proceed from God, which did not agree with
and strengthen the sanctions of holiness. But this
is not all. There can be no peace for a moral being
which does not rest on the foundations of moral truth.
If Adam had felt his own moral feelings compromis-
ed by his pardon, that pardon could never have glv-
en him peace; it could not even have given him the
feeling of personal security;—there would have re-
mained a restless misgiving in his soul, that all was
not well, for that the God of holiness must hate sin.
There could be no way of giving true peace to the
sinner, except by making God’s abhorrence of sin
the very ground of the sinner’s hope.

For the agony of Adam’s mind could not have
arisen merely from the fear of consequences. His
conscience must have witnessed against him, that
through his offence, right and truth and holiness had
been trampled on in the face of the universe, and
must have told him that, until they were redressed,
there was a stain on the moral government of God.
But now from the sentence on the serpent, he under-
stood that evil was to be destroyed, and right was to
triumph. He saw that whatever might be the nature
of God’s purposes, the palliation of the guilt of sin
did not enter into them, as the head of the rebellionorineientwepeeniens 83251. te

 

   

72, UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

was tobe crushed. He thus felt assured that God
made no compromise of truth when he spoke hope
to the sinner.

The serpent’s promised pardon was a mere im-
punity in sin—-* Ye shall not surely die :”’ its object
was to encourage sin. God’s pardon embracedgthe
destruction of sin, and its object was to restore to
holiness. We have need to beware of mistaking
the serpent’s hiss for the grace of God. ‘The hope
of impunity given by the serpent, encouraged Adam
to yield to the promptings of his earthly desires.
And the holy forgiveness of God encouraged and al-
lured him to return back to God, not so much asa
refuge from punishment, for that seemed fixed—the
wrath was past, and the suffering remained—but as
a refuge from sin, and from weakness, and from
earthly desires, and from the assaults of that spiri-
tual enemy who had stolen his jewel from him.
And although the word of God is sparing of infor-
mation with regard to the effect of the promise upon
him, yet it is not inconsistent with the tenor of that
information to hope and believe, that he who was
the first offender, was also the first monument of
saving grace, and that with the promise he received
the spirit of the promise, and the consolation of the
promise into his soul. For surely never since, has
there been a created being that has stood in such
need of a strong consolation. He had breathed the
air of Eden, and had been cast out of it—who has
ever made such a shipwreck ? He felt himself to be
the author of a foul stain on the universe of God.
He felt that his act was irretrievable, that he had
opened a flood-gate, which he could not again shut,
and through which a dark tide rolled in overwhelm-
ing all the destinies which had been committed toOF THE GOSPEL. 13

his keeping. He saw this tide rolling in—he felt
that it was his work, and he could not stop it.
Verily he had need of a strong consolation. Who
ever but he had his conscience burdened with the
ruin of a world—the murder of an innumerable race
of his own children. He knew somewhat of the
value of the light of God’s countenance—and he
knew somewhat of the horror of its loss—he had
tasted the good and the evil—and he felt that his
heart and fAzs hand had done the deed which had
Severed unborn numbers past numbering from the
tree of life, and had banished them from pleasant Pa-
radise, their destined place, and had made them out-
casts from God, and wanderers through a homeless
wilderness. .And whereas he had been intrusted
by God, for their behoof, with the pearl of eternal
life, he had cast it from him, and instead of it had
bequeathed to them the bitter cup of sorrow, and
death, and a proneness to every crime, and an ex-
posure to every misery. What a blow must Cain’s
murder have given to his heart, and what a fearful
sense must it have given him of the living, and
gtowing, and spreading reality of that curse which
he himself had brought upon his offspring ; and as
his prophetic spirit went down that troubled stream
of human life which was to issue from him, would
not each drop lift up in the ear of his conscience an
accusing voice against him—and as the various
forms of outrage and calamity succeeded each other,
would not his heart wither with the thought * this
is my work ?”’

But the gospel was sent to comfort all that
mourn—and surely it comforted this father of
mourners. It revealed to him the love of God.
‘This was the rest wherein his wearied spirit

o™

Ga TR ek Cs

“gett stan ia a ner Saar ate
~ a at Se

T4 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

found rest, and this was the refreshing.’’ This
love was the love of him who was, and is, and shall
be—the infinite in power and wisdom; of him who
can make darkness light, and crooked things
straight: and he had pledged his faithful word that
he would undo this evil which had entered into the
world. Adam had ruined his race, and dishonour-
ed his God—earth had no portion, no comfort, for
him—but he looked forward to the day of the De-
liverer, and he rejoiced to think that on that day
God was to be glorified, and man restored.

When once he had learned this, he was in pos-
session of the secret of the Lord—the secret of
peace—for he would see the God of love in every
thing. He would see in every event a preparation
for the coming of the Deliverer.. In every affliction
he would recognise the plan of restoration. He
would feel how well his present sorrows suited
with his spiritual needs. He had fallen by seek-
ing good, not in God, but in the creature. God*s
gifts had hid God from his soul, instead of being
used as channels of communion with him. And he
was now Stript of these gifts; but he was stript of
them that he might learn that the Giver was better
than the gift; and that as it.was God who gave to
Eden the whole:-of its charm, so even on the out-
side of Eden, and in the absence of all gifts, God
was himself an overflowing fulness, satiating every
weary soul, and replenishing every sorrowful soul.
God’s best gifts are no portion for man. He is
himself the portion of the soul—and so long as he
is sought only for his gifts, he'is himself unknown
and unprized.

There is another feature in this first intimation
of the gospel which merits consideration—and thatOF THE GOSPEL. 75

is its generality. It strikes at the selfishness and
narrow individuality of will which had taken pos-
session of that place in man’s heart which ought to
be filled by the wide will of God, and by sympathy
with the whole spiritual family. Its consolation is
not a selfish consolation. It calls men to share in
higher and more extended interests than his own
personal safety. It makes personal safety a mere
inference from the vindication of God’s honour, and
the restoration of the race. ‘This strikes me very
much. We are led to infer our own pardon, and
interest in God’s favour, not from any special de-
claration to ourselves, but from a manifestation of
the holy love of God directed against: sin, and in
behalf of sinners.

When I consider this important feature of the
first promise, | cannot help thinking that the mo-
dern commentators on prophecy have reason, when
they say, that the expectation of the restitution of all
things occupies a much less space in the common
announcements of the gospel, or in the thoughts of
Christians, than it ought todo. It is the chief fea-
ture of that gospel which was preached to Adam,
and it is bequeathed to the church in the last words
of inspiration as an enduring consolation and ex-
pectation—*‘ behold I come quickly.” The general
statements of the gospel in our days relate too ex-
elusively to what is already past, and to the indivi-
dual salvation of each believer. Of course, it is im-
possible altogether to separate the doctrine of Christ’s
sacrifice from its general and future results; but
these results seem to me not brought forward by
preachers as they are in the Bible. I do not speak
of the detail of these results, nor of the particular
fulfilment of the prophecies which relate to the lastBi det titel Absa

fa
&

ie
Ey

 

 

  

76 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

times, because I do not feel myself qualified to speak
on these subjects, but I speak of a fixed and longing
expectation, of the sure and fast approaching ac-
complishment of those promises which announce
the final triumph of the Messiah, the establishment
of his reign upon earth, the manifestation of the
sons of God, and the full development of all those
high privileges which arise out of their union with
their divine Head. This doctrine appears to me
now in a very different light from what it once did.
If the selfishness of individuality be really one of
the chief elements in the fall of man, it might be
expected that the divinely bestowed medicine for
sick souls should contain an ingredient specially
fitted to counteract and remove it. And such an
ingredient I find in the universality of the declara-
tion and purpose of the gospel, which must neces-
sarily impress its own character on the hope of every
one who rests upon it—for the first hope which any
man can arrive at with regard to his own personal
acceptance with God, must be drawn from the great
general manifestationo f divine love directed to the
destruction of evil, and the restoration of the ruined
race. ‘The individual drops are thus merged in the
ocean, and self is lost in the ‘ liberty, the univer-
Sality, the impartiality of heaven.”

What Adam was thus taught to expect, we yet
look forward to. The champion has appeared, but evil
is still spread over the earth, and the serpent’s crested
and uncrushed head still towers above it. But doubt-
less the work is going on, which will accomplish
the great prediction, on which the destiny of our
race hangs. We know that the government of the
world is in the hand of God—and, therefore, we may
rest assured, that there is not a single link in theOF THE GOSPEL. 1?

apparently perplexed chain of human things which
does not connect with, and guide to the coming glo-
ry—we may rest assured not only that all the histo-
ries of the kingdoms of this world, are under the
influence of an unfelt but irresistible control, pre-
paring the way for that kingdom which never can
be moved, but also, that personal events as well as
national, private as well as public, are all under the
Same mandate, commissioned to lead on to the same
great consummation. This truth gives a serious-
ness and a dignity to every thing. It banishes
littleness from life, because it connects all with the
glory of God and the eradication of evil, and it
seems to conduct us under the shadow of everlast-
ing and omnipotent love, where we may rest in
peace until all calamities be overpast.

When the eye of the spirit is thus opened to see
God working in every thing, and by every thing, to
bring on the reign of righteousness, the heart
will feel itself invited to the blessed privilege of
entering into the purposes of God, of sympathising
with the everlasting counsels of his grace, of rejoic-
ing in their assured success, and of being a fellow-
worker withhim in every action of life. These ac-
tions may appear smal] and insignificant in the
world’s judgment, but the believer knows that it is
not in vain that the Ruler of the universe has call-
ed him to do all things to the glory of God. These
are animating thoughts for poor wanderers in the
wilderness, who have listened to the Saviour’s
voice. For them, the fall, with all its sin, and mi-
sery, and darkness, will soon pass away, having
served under the control of him who bringeth good
out of evil to glorify the divine attributes, and to
introduce a high, and holy, and happy order of
G2Se ee
<1 Tg

78 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

things—higher, and holier, and happier than that
which Adam lost; because founded on a nearer re-
lation with God, and a fuller manifestation of his
character. ‘The gate of Eden will once again be
unbarred, and the banished ones brought back ; and,
in the mean time, though their path lie through the
desert, yet that path is the way of holiness, and in
it he will be with them, whose presence can make
the wilderness to be glad, and the desert to rejoice
and blossom like the rose.

I have remarked, that if Adam actually had
a sense of his personal acceptance with God,
it must have been an inference which his heart
naturally drew from the manifestation which had
been made in this first promise of God’s compas-
sion for the offenders, and of his purpose to destroy
the evil which the serpent had introduced. And
now I would say, that I am persuaded that every
descendant of Adam, who has really understood that
manifestation in any of its gradual developments,
and especially in its last fall development in the
death and resurrection of Christ, must have had the
Same sense of his own personal acceptance with
God. For only consider—the gospel reveals to us
the existence of a fund of divine love, containing in
it @ propttiation for all sin, and a promise to destroy
all the works of the devil—the sin—the misery—the
death, which he has introduced;—and this fund is
general to the whole race—every individual has a
property in it, of the same kind that he has in the
common air and light of this world, which he ap-
propriates and uses simply by opening his: mouth
orhis eyes. Isit not clear, that as soon as any one
really knows that such a fund exists, and that it is,
indeed, the gift of God to the world, and the com-OF THE GOSPEL. 79

mon property of all the individuals in the world, just
as the natural air or light is, he will immediately
infer his own particular interests in it, and enter
into the enjoyment of it, and he will make that
blessed discovery which no tongue can rightly de-
scribe, and no mere intelligence can rightly con-
celve, even that he himself has a possession, an un-
alienable, an everlasting possession in the heart of
God.

If I had offended a friend, and if I found that,
even before I had made up my mind to ask his forgive-
ness, he had risked his life for my sake, J] might go
immediately to confess my fault, but assuredly I
should ask his pardon rather as acknowledging my
offence, than as expressing any doubt of his having
already forgiven me. The risk of his life proved
the gift of his love, and I should conclude, that the
greater gift of love included, necessarily, the lesser
gift of forgiveness, and I should feel that I was do-
ing wrong to that love, if I even harboured a sus-
picion that he had an unforgiving thought of me.
And this is precisely God’s argument against the
fears and suspicions of man. God commendeth his
love to us, in that whilst we were enemies, he gave
his Son for us. Is not this just to meet the very
need of our hearts? What more could be even im-
agined ? And he gave his Son to the world, not
only as a pledge of his love, and an exposition of
the nature of his love, but also as a treasury in which
all things are actually contained that man can need
or God bestow. When the vine gives itself to the
branch, of course the support and the sap of the
vine are included in the gift. And as the giving
of the vine to the branch includes all that the vine
has to give, so the giving of Emanuel to the world80 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

includes all that God has to give. When we know
this, we are justified hat is to say, we as-
sume our God’s forgiveness as included in the gift
of himself. He neither loves nor pardons us onac-
count of our belief in his testimony, for it was
whilst we were yet enemies and unbelievers that
Christ died for us, but the belief of his love, and of
the gift which his love has bestowed, will give a
confidence that we are dearly welcome to him—that
werare his accepted ones—his adopted children. And
whilst we do not know thi: S, or remain insensible to
it, we are not justified—that is, we do not and can-
not look to the holy God, without distrust or ter-
ror—we have nothing but his condemnation, for con-
demnation consists in the absence of his pardoning
love, and that love is allowed to lie at our unopened
door.

 

             

I know that justification is ge ne erally considered
to mean pardon, or the imputation of Christ’s right-
eousness, and | believe that sometimes it may have
this meaning in the Bible. But ae I am persuad-
ed, by reasons which I shall afterwards explain,
that it chiefly bears the meaning which I am now
attributing to it, namely, a sense of pardon, or of ac-
ceptance, or having the conscience purged of guilt—
and that justification by faith always means a sense
of acceptance and safety arising from a belief of that
accepted propitiation which has been made for the sins
of the whole world.

The terms in which the gospel has all along been
proclaimed, from the frau bikateh given to Adank
down to the’ publication of it by the angels to the
shepherds of Bethlehem, and afterwards by our
Lord himself, and his inspired messe engers, to the
Jewish nation and to the world at large, seem to meOF THE GOSPEL. 81

to involve necessarily a universal and unconditional
forgiveness of sin, of the benefits of which man is
susceptible during the period of his life on earth,
which, on that account, is called the acceptable
time, and the day of salvation ;—that is to say, they
reveal God as the God of holy compassion—as the
God who forgiveth iniquity, transgression, and sin,
through a propitiation made for the sins of the
whole world—as the God who has anointed his only
begotten Son to destroy the works of the devil, and
to introduce a new life—as the God who says to all
the ends of the earth, ** Look unto me, and be ye
saved.”? The reader may consult the following
scriptures: Exodus xxxiv. 6,7; Psalm cili. 3—
10; Psalm cxxx. 4: I[satah ‘xlv. 22 ‘Isaiah v. O53
Jeremiah ix. 23, 24; Ezek. xxxitii. 113 Luke i.
9—14; Acts xiii. 38; Romans v. 6—8; 1 Tim. 1.
15,’ and ii. 4°5°2 Cor. v. 19°31 John i1:'2;. In*tshong
I am led to regard the pardon of the gospel as
another name for holy compassion, that divine at-
tribute for the manifestation of which I believe this
world was created, and thus as a part of the un-
changeable character of God, rather than a par-
ticular act. It is asmall thing to consider this par-
don as a mere separate act removing penalties. And
as it is a contracted view, so also it is a false view,
for in fact it does not remove the form of those pe-
nalties which were specially denounced against sin.
Sorrow and death remain. The pardon of the gos-
pel is not an impunity. Nothing in truth is more
opposite to its nature. It is the spiritual medicine
for the eradication of sin from the heart. It is the
seed of the woman who is to bruise the serpent’s
head. And thus, far from being a palliative of sin,
it is the condemnation of sin, and the assurance of

a a0

€

1 UNCONDITIONAL FREBENESS

“

its destruction. For it is contained in that holy
love of Christ, which was manifested in his sacri-
fice to be a consuming fire to sin. Itis a part of
that holy love, and a part which cannot be disjoin-
ed from the whole. Christ is himself the unspeak-
able gift of God to the world, and in him all other
gifts are contained. He is the gift which is laid
down at each door—he is the sin-offering of which
God spake when he said to Cain “If thou doest
not well, a sin-offering lieth at the door,’—
he is the new life not subject to death—and there-
fore if we would have pardon and eternal life, we
must have Christ; for these gifts are, in reality,
not separable from him—they are modifications of
him—they are the ways in which he meets and sup-
plies the wants of the sinner. If we receive not
him, we receive not them.

The pardon of the gospel is the form and body in
which God reveals himself to the sinner, and by
which he invites the sinner’s heart to receive him-
self. It is ‘“‘God in Christ reconciling the world
to himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses.”’
This is the pardon given to the whole world, and
the belief of it pacifies the conscience of the be-
liever, and enables him to draw near to the true
God with confidence ; that is, the belief of this re-
presentation which God has given of himself, jus-
tifies the soul which believes in it. The pardon is
the general manifestation of God to the world; jus-
tification is the belief of that manifestation, and this
is the true entrance into the church of Christ. God
willeth not the death of a sinner, and hath provided
an atonement for sin, but those only who believe in
it are saved by it.

The reader may perhaps wonder at my anxiety toOF THE -GOSFEL. 83

establish a distinction between pardon and justifi-
catlon—a distinction he may think, of absolute in-
significance ; but I think that it will appear to him
of some considerable importance, after weighing the
following reasons. If pardon and justification be
the same thing, or similar things, then we may
substitute the one for the other, and as the Secrip-
tures are quite clear on the point that sinners are
justified by faith, it must be also true, that they are
pardoned by faith. Now, what meaning is to be
attached to such an expression as pardoned by faith.
I can only conceive two meanings—the one is, par-
doned on account of faith, 7. e. actually receiving
forgiveness asa mark of God’s approbation of faith:
the other is, taking pardon for granted, or believing
that we are pardoned. In the first of these meanings,
pardon is really forgiveness; in the second, it is a
sense of forgiveness which is exactly what I under-
stand by the term justification. In the first mean-
ing, pardon is consequent on the faith, and earned
by it: in the second, the pardon exists before the
faith, and only becomes a matter of personal feeling
in consequence of being believed. In the first case,
there is a change on the sentence of the Judge pro-
duced by the faith of the crimnal; in the second,
there is a change produced by it only on the feeling
of the criminal himself.

Now, if a man really looks to his faith in any
thing as the ground of his pardon or hope before
God, he is as much nourishing the spirit of inde-
pendence, and as much walking in that spirit, as if
he trusted in hisobedience. Self is in the one case,
as well as in the other, the axis on which the man
turns, and the root out of which he grows. And
he can scarcely avoid falling into this error in some

ere!

ieee84 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

measure, if he thinks there is no pardon for him
until he believes. For if the pardon does not exist
until he believes, and immediately exists when he
believes, surely his belief has something to do in
making it. It is in vain to tell him, that faith does
not make it, but only receives it. For he may ask,
Where is it then before faith receives it? If my
faith only receives it, it must have been in existence
before my faith. The only idea that I can attach
to the expression, receiving the pardon by faith, is
that of believing in the pardon; but in order to this,
the pardon must have been a real pardon before. If
the gospel, as it stands in the Bible, actually in-
cludes my pardon, then it is clear, that when I be-
lieve the gospel, I shall also believe my pardon as
a part of it, and thus my faith will receive the par-
don. But if the gospel does not in itself contain
my pardon, how can my belief of the gospel be a
receiving of pardon? The declaration of the gospel
is, that the Son of God ‘‘is a propitiation for the
Sins of the whole world,’’ and that ** through him
is preached unto men the remission of sins.”” When
I believe this, I must infer that he is a propitiation
for my sins, and that remission of sins is proclaim-
ed through him to me, because I am one of the
whole world. It is also written that ‘* God so lov-
ed the world as to give his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him might not perish but
have everlasting life.” Now, it is evident, from
the first clause of this sentence, that the love of God
does not flow from the sacrifice of Christ, but is the
source from which it flowed; and it is also clear,
that this love to the world is prior to, and indepen-
dent of their belief of it, or of any of its effects upon
them. Iam entitled, therefore, to take this love toOF THE GOSPEL. 85

myself, as being one of the world, and to take the
second clause of the sentence, not as any restriction
or limitation of this love, which, according to the
record, is as wide as the world, but only as a so-
lemn warning of the great guilt and danger that are
incurred by allowing this love of God to lie on the
outside of my heart, and not receiving it into my
heart as its best treasure, even asthe well of water
springing up into everlasting life. According to
this view, no one can possibly suppose, that the
love of God, or the pardon of sin, are the rewards
of his faith, or regard them in any other light than
free gifts, which he may either receive or reject on
his own responsibility. ‘The love and the pardon
are there, whether he admits them or not. His faith
merely receives them.

When the account reached me, that the friend:
whom I had offended, had risked his life for me, I
read his forgiveness in this act of his love. I con-
sidered his forgiveness to be included in it, and
therefore when I believed it, or in other words,
when my faith received it, my faith at the same
time received pardon as a partof it. Butif the ac-
count had been, that my friend had risked his life
for some other person, such a fact argued no love
for me, and therefore I could not infer my own for-
siveness from it, and thus, though I believed it, my
faith would receive no pardon in it. My pardon
was not contained in the act, and therefore my be-
lief of the act could give me no sense of pardon.
In like manner, if the gospel were, that God
onlv loved those who should believe in Christ, and
that Christ died only for those who should believe
in his sacrifice, it is clear that such a gospel does
not embrace my pardon, nor the assurance of God’s

HSele br ie a oo eT eet ai

  

88 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

love to me, unless [ am a believer; and, therefore,
that my belief in such a gospel can give me no com-
fort, nor peace, until I first ascertain that I believe
in Christ. And thus my belief in ki is made
something distinct from a belief in th gospel, and
is only a pre-requisite condition in nee e my
drawing comfort from the gospel; and thus also
pardon and the love of God are made rewards of
faith in Christ. But this is not the gospel of the
Bible, nor the view of faith contained in the Bible,
as every attentive ee of that blessed book must
know.

The reader who is much accustomed to the ordi-
nary technical language of theology will perhaps start
at the idea of a universal and unconditional pardon,
alike independent of faith and obedience, as if it
were a removing of the landmarks of the church of
Christ, and a preaching of false peace to a world
dead in trespasses and sins.» But there is no such
danger as he imagines. For this pardon is neither
happiness nor heaven. Happiness and heaven con-
sist in holiness; and pardon is only so far profitable
to us, as it produces holiness. It is contained in
the gift of Christ, and in him; it is laid down at
the ace: of each heart; but it cannot enter Separate
from him, and until it enters it does nothing. When
it enters, it then becomes justification, ‘and siVves
man enniebs nce before the holy God. The deelara-
tion of pardon through Christ belongs to the whole
world—but those only who believe this declaration
have peace with God through it—that is, they only
are justified—they only belong to the church of
Christ.

This view of the subject is really the same with
that which is given by the church of EnglandOF THE GOSPEL.
in her catechism. In answer to the question,
‘¢ What dost thou chiefly learn by these articles of
thy belief ?’’ it is said, ‘* First, I learn to believe in
God the Father who made me, and all. the world—
secondly, in God the Son who hath redeemed me and
all mankind—thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who
sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.’ I
mean no more by a universal pardon than what is
expressed here. The redemption is universal—the
limitation lies in the reception or application of it.

It is also the same view, in reality, with that
which is often preached under the title of a free offer
of pardon, for what is a free offer of pardon, but a
»ardon, laid down at our door?

In the life of Luther, written by Erasmus Mid-
dleton, which is prefixed to the commentary on the
Epistle to the Fran, it is mentioned, that in the
Augustine Monastery at Erfurt, where Luther made
his profession, he had many conferences with an old
monk on the article of remission of sins. ‘This
article was explained by the old monk to Luther to
signify ‘* that it was de express commandment of
God that every man should believe his sins to be
forgiven him in Christ.”?. Luther then perceived
the meaning of St. Paul, when he repeats, ‘s We
are justified by faith.” This is precisely the doc-
trine which I have been stating, for it makes jus-
tification to consist in a belief that the remission of
our sins is contained in Christ’s propitiation. Jus-
tification changes nothing. with regard to pardon, 1 it
is only the belief of a pardon which existed before,
but which until it enters the heart is useless.

A very common idea of the object of the gospel iS,
that-it is to show how men may obtain pardon ;
whereas, in truth, its object is to show. how pardon88 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
  
    
 
  
   
    
    
  
    
   
  
  
     
 
   

for men has been obtained, or rather to show how God
has taken occasion, by the entrance of sin into the
world, to manifest the unsearchable riches of holy
compassion. And it is to presel nt this most impor-
tant truth (as I cannot but consider it) to some who
may not have thought of it before, that I have pub-
lished this book—and it is for this same reason that
I have chosen to depart from the common phraseo-
logy on the subject—because I have found the com-
mon phraseology liable to misinterpretation. Thus
I have observed, that even the phrase free offer of
pardon is so interpreted, that the very existence of
the pardon is made to depend on the acceptance of

Hi el the offer. The beriefit of the pardon does most as-

H : suredly depend on its being accepted, but the par-

don itself is laid up in Christ Jesus, and depends

on nothing but the unchangeable character of God.

. This view of the doctrine is also distinctly stated

i a) by Luther in a passage on the nature of justifica-

| iH tion, which occurs in the argument prefixed to his

ra Bhd commentary on the Epistle to the ene It is

MR Bye as follows :—* This is perfect justification, to know

and believe this only—that Christ is gone to the

bee | | Father, and is. not now seen—-that he sitteth in hea-

a ven at the right hand of the Father, not as a judge,

but made unto us of God, wisdom and righteous-

ness, holiness, and rede mption—briefly that he is

i our High Priest, intreating for us and r igning over

a us and in us by erace.”? It is obvious, that the be-

aay, lief of these facts necessarily includes the belief of

bai pardon. When this belief fades from the mind,

Hi justification fades along with it—as Luther coes on
a tosay, ‘If there be any fear or grief of conscience,

he

it is a token that this justification is withdrawn, that
grace is hidden, and that Christ is darkened and outOF THE GOSPEL. 89

of sight.”” Luther evidently thought that any one
who understood the work of Christ understood his
own pardon to be contained in it—and he also con-
sidered righteousness or justification to be a confi-
dence of acceptance, necessarily connected with, and
inseparable from, a present sense of the value of
Christ’s propitiation, and not a judicial act of God
pardoning or acquitting the sinner ; otherwise he
would never have spoken ofa fear of conscience being
equivalent toa withdrawing of justification. He
seems to me decidedly to regard justification and
assurance as one and the self-same thing.

This same dcctrine seems to me also to be con-
tained in two articles of the Confession of Faith of
the French Protestant Churches, which are remark-
ably perspicuous on the subject of justification by
faith.

‘¢ Nous croyons que toute notre justice est fondée
en la rémission de nos péchés, comme aussi c’est
notre seule félicité, comme dit David. C’est pour-
quoi nous rejetons tous autres moyens de nous
pouvoir justifier devant Dieu; et sans presumer de
nulles vertus ni mérites, nous nous tenons simple-
ment 4 l’obéissance de Jésus Christ, laquelle nous
est allouée, tant pour couvrir toutes nos fautes que
pour nous faire trouver grace et faveur devant Dieu.
Et de fait, nous croyons qu’en déclinant de ce fonde-
ment, tant peu que ce soit, nous ne pourrions trouver
ailleurs aucun repos, mais serions toujours agités
d’inquiétudes : d’autant que jamais nous ne sommes
paisibles avec Dieu, jusqu’a ce que nous soyons
bien ‘résolus d’étre aimés en Jesus Christ, vu que
nous sommes digne d’étre hars en nous mémes.”’

“¢ Nous croyons que nous sommes faits participans
de cette justice par la seule foi, comme il est dit,

H 290 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

quil a souftert pour nous acquérir le salut, afin que
quiconque croira en lui ne périsse point. Et que
cela se fait, d’autant que les promesses de vie qui
nous sont données en lui, sont appropri€es a notre
usage; et en sentons l’effet quand nous les ac-
ceptons, ne doutant point qu’étant assurés par la
bouche de Dieu, nous ne serons point frustrés,
Ainsi, lajustice que nous obtenons par la foi dépend
des promesses gratuites par lesquelles Dieu nous
déclare et testifie qu’il nous aime.”

I subjoin a literal translation, for the sakeof those
who do not understand the language.

“* We believe that all our justificationis founded in
the remission of our sins,as it also is of our blessedness,
as says David. We therefore reject all other means
of justifying ourselves before God; and without
presuming on any virtues or merits of our own, we
hoid simply by the obedience of Jesus Christ, which
is imputed to us, to the end that our sins may be
covered, and that we may find mercy and favour be-
fore God. And we believe that when we decline
from this foundation, however little, we can no
where else find repose, but must be always agitat-
ed by apprehensions ; inasmuch as we néver are at
ease with God until we are well assured o being lov-
ed in Jesus Christ, Seeing that we are worthy of be-
ing hated in ourselves.”

‘We believe that-we are made partakers of
Christ’s righteousness (2. €. that we are justified)
solely by the belief that he has suffered for our sal-
vation, to the end that whosoever believeth in him
Should not perish. And we believe that this jus-
tification takes place, in as far as the promises of life
which are given to us in him ure appropriated to our
use; and we feel the effect of them when we acceptOF THE GOSPEL. 91

them, not doubting that being assured by the mouth
of God we shall not be disappointed. Thus that jus-
tification which we obtain by faith hangs on the gra-
tuitous promises by which God declares and testifies
to us that he loves us.”’

It is clearly supposed in both these articles, that
the love of God, manifested in the gift of Jesus
Christ as a propitiation for the sins of the world,
really embraces the forgiveness of the sins of every
individual, and it is therefore supposed that every
one who believes this creat truth finds in it an as-
surance of God’s love and favour to himself per-
sonally. And it is also supposed that this asswrance

nd the same thing; and
therefore that justification is a fruit of the Spirit
arising out of faith in the remission of sins through
Christ’s love, just like peace and joy with which
it is associated in that description of the kingdom

and justification are one a

of heaven which is given in the epistle to the Ro-
mans xiv. 17, ‘* The kingdom of heaven is not meat
and drink, but justification, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost.”’

Were some great convulsion of nature to destroy
all the human race but a single individual, the B1-
ble, with all its contents, would belong to that sin-
ole individual. It is addressed to Adam/’s race, and
he would be the sole représentative of the race;
but we all and each of us belong to and represent
Adam/’s race as much as such an individual, and we
have therefore the same rightin the contents or the
Bible that he could have.

I am persuaded that faith in the cospel is always
and must be always an appropriating faith, and that
there is no true faith in the gospel which is not an ap-
propriating faith. When aman opens his eyes upon

TG a

esbe i ts pe 7 ome eee eae

et ees

  

92 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

the sun, he necessarily appropriates his share of its
light, and he cannot look upon the sun without mak-
ing this appropriation. In like manner, no man can

look upon the sun of righteousness, which is the

i

—

love of God_manifested in the making and the ac-
cepting of a propitiation for the sins of the world,
without appropriating his own share of its blessed
light. He that believes really in the love of God
to the world, cannot but believe in the love of God
to himself. The general belief and the appropriating
belief are not two beliefs, but one—just as the ge-
neral receiving the light of the sun and the par-
ticular receiving our own share are not two receiv-
igs, but one. God tells me in his word that he is
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and
not imputing unto them their trespasses.”” When
this message comes to me, can I put any other in-
terpretation on it than that God is reconciling me,
and not imputing my trespasses to me? I think that
any person who understands the meaning of these
words, and believes them to be the true words of
God, must believe himself pardoned.

I shall here transcribe a passage from a very in-
teresting account of the conversion of a young man
who died at St. Helena, as the most Satisfactory com-
ment on the doctrine which | have been endeavour-
ing to explain. ‘* His faith seemed to have no mix-
ture of imperfection in it, for -he simply and sin-
cerely took for granted all that God said in his
word, and was astonished to hear any of us express
our want of assurance of faith, or of a constant and
abiding sense of our personal interest in Christ.
This to him was a mystery we could.never explain,
and which happily for himself he died in entire ig-
norance of.’’ Surely of such is the kingdom of hea-OF THE GOSPEL. 93

ven. Happy man!—he had opened his mouth and
God had filled it. We need go no further than this
to understand the nature of the assurance of faith.
A present sense of the full value of the atonement,
and cf the love of God revealed in it, will always
give assurance, or in other words, justification; and
when that sense decays, the assurance must decay,
if it is not a mere fiction of the imagination. It ap-
pears to me quite clear and decided, that justifica-
tion is described by St. Paul, as proceeding from or
rising out of faith. Wf therefore, justification be a
judicial act oe rod, then that act ariginates in and
from man’s faith. Is it not more accordant with the te-
nor of Scripture to interpret it as Luther and the
French divines do above?

Let no one think this point a mere curious and
speculative question of abstract theology, for it is,
in truth, a question of real practical religion—7t ts @
yuestion whether man will consent to be a recevver—
a mere receiver—or not. He is naturally unwilling
to be a receiver, for the fall of man consists in the
spirit of independence,—in the setting up of self in
the place of God—in an averseness to be a receiver.
Nor can there be any thing so subversive of the
principle of independence in him—so humbling to
self—and so well fitted to restore to him the charac-
ter of a mere receiver—as the knowledge of the fact,
that he can positively do nothing towards his own
deliverance, and that his only escape from absolute
ruin, his only hope for time and for eternity, les in
a free, unsolicited, unthought of, and most costly,
gift of love laid down at his door by that God whom
he has been neglecting, and despising, and resist-
ing from his youth up until now.

It is a principle of common sense

 

as it is a prin-

a a Ta NEON EFC PEERED94 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

ciple always taken for granted in the Bible, that the
ground of a man’s hope, and expectation, and de-
pendence, must command his will, and mould
his character. As long as he depends on himself,
or has hope of delivering himself by his own ex-
ertions, so long will he hold and maintain the in-
dependence of his own will. He may wish to do
many things that are right, and he may do many
things that are honourable to himself, and useful to
others, and yet all the while it is not the will of
God, but his own will, that he follows. Nothing
short of an absolute despair of ' delivering himself,
or helping himself at all, can cut the roots of his
self-will. And nothing short of an absolute depen-
dence on God s unmerited crace for every thing, can
graft him on the root vf God’s will. And thus no-
thing but a true sense of the absolute unconditional
gratuitousness of the gospel can write the law of
God on the heart of man. And yet this doctrine of
gratultousness is opposed as if it were antinomian.
But the true reason of the opposition is, that it
Opposes the pride of man. - He therefore op poses tt.
There is.indeed something very striking in the per-
verse Ingenuity with which he endeavours to dilute
the medicinal virtue of the gospel. He must have self
to lean on, and so when he is obliged to surrender his
own works, he betakes himself to his own faith as
his prop. But this is still se/f; and in whate rer
form it appears, as long as it is the ground of hope,
it must command the will. And su rely this is the
chief reason why the gospel contains so many evi-
dent declarations on the part of God, that beside
him there is no Saviour, and that man is absolutely
incapable of doing any thing in the work of his own
redemption, and that his interference only spoils it.OF THE GOSPEL. 95

Any thing of man’s own must be bad—because the
growing out of his own rootis itself the original of-
fence and disorder ;—he ought to to be a branch and
nota separate plant. I am quite satisfied that sedf is
the great antinomian, because it is the great anti-
christ—and that where se/f acts in this matter, and
tries to establish a claim to the benefits of Christ’s
death, either by faith or by works, it incapacitates
us for spiritual obedience, by cutting us off from the
true source of spiritual life.

Thus we may 72 some measure t nderstand, how the
very gratuitousness of the gospel may lead to its re-
jection, because this very gratuitousness is, la fact, a
declaration on the part of “God, that man can do no-
thing for himself, and thus it is an offence to his
pride. But it is not pride only, but every thing which
is unholy in the pun heart that is offended by the
gospe i, For the deliverer revealed in it, is the pro-
mised champion eh is to destroy the works of the
devil. . Those, therefore, who cleave to evil cannot
heat the gospel, for they cannot rejoice that evil
is to destroyed. Its destruction is their destruc-
tion, ae destruction of their joy and occupation;
and though they may desire impunity, they cannot
embrace that as good news, which tears their idol
from them. Evil is the strong man armed, who
liolds their hearts, and wills, and thoughts, and de-
sires ; and they cannot bear to hear of that stronger
than he, ns under the form of a pardon, wine
take his armour from him, and cast him out of his
usurped hold in the heart. They take part with the

strony man against the stronger, and they feel his
defeat and ruin to be their own. And they will find
it so—thev will find themselves involved inhis fate,

RT AE a een a em6 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

if they adhere to his party. And that fate is to
be crushed.

In the meantime, however, the pardon stands at
the door, and the deliverer is in it, and knocks for
admittance. The pardon is universal; and still it
may with perfect propriety and consistency be
said that until man receives it into his heart, e
is under condemnation. For he is excluded, or ex-
eludes himself from the only good and joy in the
umiverse ;—he is away from the God of love, and
thus he is full of wrath, and encompassed with
wrath; he is away from the God of light, and thus
he is in outer darkness; and this is, and must be
his inheritance, until ke admits the gospel into his
heart. It is quite evident, th en, that a man may be
thoroughly and for ever miserable, although he has
this pardon ; ; and that he can derive no possible be-
nefit from it, except by belie Ving it.

But when a poor sinner comes to know, that God
is his true friend, who hath lo yeu him, and evil his
true enemy, that hath ruined him—that God has a
right to all his heart, ame to ss the first and the last
in all his ends and <

        

and that evil isa usurper,
whose reign over him is a reign of injustice, and
darkness, and h opelessness; oh! this knowle 2dge is
the powerful persuasion of the Spirit within him,
and he opens the door of his bonis and he wel-
comes in the pardon, chiefly because with it and in
it there comes that Stronger than the strong man,
who will cast out the usurper, and chase away his

darkness, and wrath, and injustice, and lies, and

oe si = die Podrs: 2 sa0k? led eea a. y :
bring in a relon of righteousness.

And he expects no reward for admitting the deli-
verer into his heart, other than the delight of hav-
ing this new and better reign within him. It isOF THE GOSPEL. 97

Fe ne obs nr trAera a bes ; : 1 ‘
God’s holy love that. he ae and it is the en-

joyment of that holy love that he enters into by be-
lieving it, and into that ¢ nls Te
When aman says, “I believe the gospel, and

therefore | am warranted to expect par ‘ign and eter-
nal life,’? I cannot but have dauhes whether he un-
deseuada the gospel. oe if he did understand it,
I do not think that he would look farther than the
ospel itself as the reward of his faith. Jet me
ippose the case of a mother, whose only child has
been stolen from her in infancy, and whose heart
still bears the fresh and unclosed wound of her loss,
and ieee aeagina fee is continually haunted with
dark and busy thoughts as to what the present con-

cy
o
Sl

dition and future fate of her child may be. I disco-
ver the child, and ibe it all that a mother could
wish or love, I come to her, and say to her, that I
have news for her, a a that she will be richly re-
waraed if she believes them. I then tell her my
news. Oh, reader! do you think that she would
ask«me, what. reward I meant to give her for
believing ?

The good which we receive from believing in the
love of God, manifested in Christ Jesus, is analo-
gous to that which we receive from believing in the
worth and kindness of a human friend—only that
the one is as nothing in comparison with the other.
It is nothing else than the enjoyment of God in
himself and in his creatures. itis not any thing
that we get on account of our loving him, but it is
the rae of loving him, and knowing ourselves
to be loved by him. It is a dwelling on and in his
high perfect ions. It is giving him our perfect sym-
pathy, and receiving his. It is knowing him as the
infinite God, and yet as an affectionate father, as a

I'

Q
{
{
:.
}
¥

   
   
   
   
   
 
  
 
 
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
    

ARLE EE EC EE :

 

arene

 

98 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

friend, that sticketh closer than a brother. It is the
assurance which the heart draws, from his love in
giving his Son, and perhaps from some more spe-
cial and personal tokeus of that love, that he will
never leave us nor forsake us, that he will never
vease to love us, with a love which will be, and

must be, our satisfying, and filling, and delighting

y0rtion through all eternity. It is the joyful and
2 a oe ea

¢

i é
of God shall be accomplish d, and the olory of the

Lord shall be revealed, and when the children of
God shall be glad, and rejoice forever in the new
heavens, and the new earth, which their Father shall
create. It is the discovering, that all the works of

> . : } :
neat Yr 2 ranta 44, 2] CeNnaro tar txr 5}
creatlon—all ey ents -tLiille and sDace-——e¢ LErNnIty and

: E er A RL ies amt a! 1 Aes qo eed
Inhnity---evel yout pesne, PS EULI7O0L- that ( Od who loved

us, and cave himself + ; and who in giving us
Rn lt bes 7, miwae ky eke BS ial ce TT Li; tc

himself, freely gives us all things. This is the

good a soul gets by believing the gospels; and is it

not enough, or shall we ask, whether we are war-

ranted to expect pardon and eternal life, because we

r) 1

believe the gospel? Does not such a question in-
dicate a radical mistake as to the meaning of the
gospel? Is it not the question of a man who sees no-
thing in the gospel itself to satisfy him, and there-
fore supposes that there must surely be something
else to accompany it, in order to make it that desi-
rable thing which it is said tobe? Is it not the ques-
tion of aman who considers his belief of the gospel
nothing else than a meritorious submission of his
reason to the authority of God---a submission which
is to be rewarded by some mark of his approbation 2

And now, I ask the candid reader, whether this
expectation of receiving some. reward for believing
the gospel is not very like the common view of ‘theOF THE GOSPEL,

doctrine of justification by faith ? If justification be
pardon, or a dca act of God, imputing Christ’s
righteousness to a sinner—and if this act has no ex-
istence, until he believes the gospel, then justifica-
tion is not received by faith, but bestowed on ac-
count of faith. It is a recompense for believing ;
and men are not blessed iv the gospel itself but on
account of their belief of it. W 1ereas if justifica-
tion means a sense of pardon th rougha propitiation,
or, as it is called in the Epist tle to the Hebrews Ste.
9—14, the being made perfect as pertaining to the con-
science, Ak having the conscience sure fone dead
works, then all is simple; for we can have no diffi-
culty in seeing that a sense of otr own personal par-
don and acceptance must arise out of a belief, thata
propitiation has been made, by the holy love of God,

%
Vi

for the sinsof the whole world. This justification is
truly and intell yly by en for it 7s a state of
mind which necess rily and-naturally resulis from @
belief of the love of God, reve ie in the great atone-
men ; | by the obedience of Jesus Oia un=

to death for the sins of the world. If we. understand
and believe ‘that the atonement of Christ was in-
deed an atonement for the sins of the whole world,
we 1nust see ourown personal acceptance contained in
it—that 1s to say, we must be justified by this faith,
and we shall also be sanctified by t it. Buti we
do not understand the atonement of ‘Christa we
do not see in it such an expression of forgiving love,
and such a satisfaction to justi ACs 4k nay engage our
confid
lief in the atonement can do us no good—it does not
justify us, it does not comfort nor strengthen us,
it is a well to us without water. And in this way,
when no comfort is derived from the atonement itself

snee, and purge our consciences—then our be-

NNT SE eae Ps LLL ES ODPoni terieyerteeied es a1, “Y

 

 

  

100 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

an endeavour is made to draw comfort from the
behef of the atonement as an act to which God is
supposed to have promised acceptance, and a spe-
cial blessing. rece” no such promise in the Bible.
There are exceeding precious promises to those who
trust in God, and wait on God; but the promise of
pardon, as the reward of faith in any thing, seems
to me a mere human invention, in direct opposition
to the whole tenor of the gospel.

It is evident, from Rom. y. 1, that justification
is necessarily connected with peace of conscience—
‘‘ being justified by faith, we have peace with God,”’
—but pardon, unknown or unbelieved, will not, and
cannot give peace of conscience. Justification, then,
is not pardon simply, but pardon known and believ-
ed—pardon implied in and inferred from a gift great-
er than pardon. mele i. 20, By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.’?? The knowledge of sin, or
the sense of sin, is placed in direct antithesis to jus-
tification, which therefore ought to mean @ know-
ledge of pardon, or a sense of wardon. The deeds of
the law in this passace appear to me expiatory and
purifying rites of the law. And when the Apostle
says of them that no flesh shall be justified by them,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin, he means to
express precisely the same idea which is more fully
explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. ix.
and x., viz. that these rites were intended rather to
keep up a sense of sin than to give a sense of par-
don. ‘They removed ceremonial pollution, but they
could give no peace to the conscience, except by refer-
ring the worshipper to that great sacrifice of which
they were only shadows. ‘The law, in its addresses
to those who are under © always supposes them toOF THE GOSPEL. 101

be sinners, 7%. e. under condemnation. It knows no-
thing and teaches nothing about that new life which
is communicated by Christ to those who come to
him, and which zs not under condemnation. ‘The
law supposes men always to be crowing out of a
root which is under the condemnation of death. The
gospel reveals a fountain of new life, even the life of
God in Christ Jesus, which cannot fall under comdem-
nation, because it is the life of God—and this is the
fountain to which all are invited.

This same idea is expressed by Paul in the Epis-
tle to the Galatians, chap. ii. where he gives his
reasons for condemning Peter’s conduct at Antioch.
If I seek to quiet my conscience (he argues) by the
rites of the law, do I not deny the sufficiency of
Christ to atone for my guilt and to clear my con-
science ? ‘* But if, whilst we seek peace of con-
cience through Christ, we yet be found to have our
conscience laden with a sense of condemnation, do
we not falsely represent Christ as a dispenser of
condemnation, instead of a dispenser of pardon,
which he really is?’ Ifthe knowledge of Christ
Jeaves my conscience still burdened by a sense of
guilt, then either Christ is not the dispenser of the
divine mercy, or my knowledge of him is miserably
defective. 1 refer chiefly to the 17th and 18th
verses of the 2d chapter. ‘* But if, while we
seek to be justified (to have our ‘conscience purged
of the sense of guilt) by Christ, we ourselves also
are found sinners (still labouring under a sense of
condemnation,) is therefore Christ the minister of
sin (the dispenser of condemnation ?) Far be it.
For if I build again the things which I destroyed
(the necessity of the Jewish ceremonial which
12

DP

aUNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

   

AoE bide ged tt ce tone ee i

, Peter had been going into,) I make myself a
| transgressor.”

I quote also the passages from the epistle to the

. Hebrews. Heb. ix. 9. ‘+ Which was a figure for

tk the time then present, in which were offe red both

‘ gifts and sacrifices, that could not oe him that

did the service perfect as pertaining to the con-

, Science.”’ Verse 14. ‘*How much more shall

the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit

offered himself without spot to God, purge your

conscience from dead works to serve the living

God?” Chap. x. 2. ‘* For then would they not

| have ceased to be offered, because that the wor-
mer! shippers once purged should have had no more
Briel ae conscience of sins?’ Verse 22. ‘** Let us draw
oh near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith,
ae having our hearts 3 sprint kled from an evil conscience,

LAE a and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Hi | From these passages I am led to infer, that the
Te faith of the gospel attaches to and takes hold of the
RT propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, as including and

Wap e implying in it the pardon of sin, and thus deli ivers
ae | the conscience from the sense of unpardoned sin.
ae | And I am also led to infer, that this deliverance
Ph from the sense of unpardoned sin, by the know-
ae ledge that a propitiatory sacrifice has been made, is
Hira just another expression for justification by faith,
4 because ating effects are ascribed to them both,
ea viz. ‘peace with God,’’? and * boldness” and
At) ‘¢full assurance’? before him. Man, in order to
| his well-being, and right-being must walk with God,

| and must depend on him; but he cannot and dare
ee =) not do this, whilst he feels the weight of unpardon-
aii ta | ed sin on his conscience. -But when his soul hears

the good news, that a propitiation for sin has beenOF THE GOSPEL. 108
made and accepted, he can look on God as his
father, and dares to depend on him, and to expect
great things from him. ‘* He may then draw near
with a true heart and full assurance of faith,’ and

those who are really taught of
remselves dabibte to his mercy
alone, whatever their theory may be. But even
igh their true feeling may save
the} m from Awe full effect of their erroneous theories,
may be much perplexed and hindered by them.
And assuredly there are many who do really con-
sider their faith as the fulfilment of a condition by
which they are entitled to pardon and eternal life.
T'hey conceive pardon and eternal life to be re-
wards bestowed on those who believe, as marks of
God’s approbation of faith. Of course, then, when
they wish toconfirm their assurance of their salvation,
they will look to the accuracy, or to the unques-

{ their peas they will
endeavour to persu ante themselves, that, seeing
they believe oe and niheeiaunee surely

»

>

tlionina submission, o
>

God will give then eten al life. They will repeat,
‘+ Believe on the Lord Jesus Giese and thou shalt
be saved,’’—and they will say we believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ—therefore, we shall be saved.
And if they find misgiving in their minds, they will
endeavour to take comfort and encouragement from
the reflection, that as they have not doubted the
Shristian doctrines, so they must ae within the pale
of that covenant which promises all things to faith.
I am confident, that su ch reasonings as these never
can give pears to a really awakened conscience.
The moral feelings refuse such comfort. It cannot
but appear strange to a moral and thinking being

ee eeee: h Py Sverrnenrep teeing es AF

    
   
   
     
 
   
   
    
    
  
      
    
      
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
    
  
 

 

104

that God should pardon him. beca

something. It gives si
unedifying idea of the

     
     

UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

ause he believes
ich an unintellioil ble and
divine character—an idea

which never can impress the mind with holy feel-

ines, or affections, or
hour of weakness and

I feel myself onthe brin

am I then to draw
*‘ that I have

my

cor

1° }
believed

not likely that I may the

my faith been of

surely if it had been so, it would ha

sanctifying influence on

and would

m

now impart to me a

desires.. And then w hen the
apprehension comes—when

k of the unseen eternity—

ifort from this dry cistern

certain facts ??’—and is it
anxiously inquire, has

the oi kind ?—and I may think,

had a more
y conduct through life,
greater peace. I

ye

can conceive nothing in this world more melancho-

ly than the situation of
bed, who has before his
of the gospel, but does ni
himself with them. He
mises of God’s everlastin

eternal life—but he does not see them as his

and he asks what and

unites a sinner to these unutterable blessings T

a man,

ot see |
SeES 1

=

where

lying on his death
mind all the rich treasures

1OW

n the

is

he is to connect

the

Bible
o love, and of

the pro-
the gift of
own—
which
Oh,

link

itis an inquiry full of agony when death is evi ident:
ly not many hours distant! If he is told that faith
is the link which unites the sinner to the promises,
he looks into himself to see whether his faith is
right—and he cannot tell whether it is or is not,
and his perplexity rises above his
endurance, and his agitation makes it impossible

strength, or his

x

for him to know or examine what the state of his

belief

is.

that soul to tell him that Christ died,

lievers, but for the world,
a deliverer before there was one penitent or believ-

Would it not be a blessed message to

not for be-

that he was promised asOF THE GOSPEL, 105

ing thought in any human breast, and that when
he did appear on earth, he said of himself, that he
came ‘‘ to seek and to-save that which was lost,’’
and his invitation was, ‘* come into me all ye that
are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.’’. God revealed these joyful truths to men,
not that they might be rewarded for believing
them, but that ana migcht eee much peace in
resting on them, and that their hearts might be
filled with much Cibee and gratitude in thinking of
and feeding on the kindness of that God who has
had mercy on them.

Would it not be good tidings of great joy to him
to tell him, that Christ had been given as a pe
tion for the sins of the whole world ; and ** that in
him God was reconciling the world unto himéslé not
imputing unto them chats trespasses ;”’ that thus the
full pardon was already given to him before he had
thought of asking it; and that what now remained

(
for him was to bless God for his uns speakable oift,
and to ask for that Spirit which might open his un-
derstanding and his affections to appreciate and to
fee! the value and the love of the gift? When the
poor man believed this, he would be justified by
part lon and ac-
d speak to him as
1 iS OWN Ailat ren. Before
he believed this, he was one of that world which
God so' loved as to give his Son to be a propitiation
for its sins; but whilst he remained ignorant of that
love, and unbelieving, he was not justified by it, his
conscience remained unpurged—he neither knew his

sin nor his pardon—he had no child-like confidence

faith—he would have the sense of
> 7
ceptance petore Wod Ld

in God—he had no share in ne life.
It is possible that some of my readers, influenced

 

    
   
   
 
 
    
  
    
  
    
  
 
 
 
   
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
   
 
  
   
  
 
   
  
  

PS a pe a1 F

106 UNCONDITIONAL FREENEsSS

by the deeply-rooted habit of regarding pardon as
shackled by conditions, and of looking fat evidences
of thelr own pardon, in the fulfilment of these con-
ditions—it is possib ble that some of them ney here
say to me—you make the matter much more difficult
than it was betas upon our old sven faith in
God’s oe concerning Christ was the condi-
tion on which our pardon was suspended—if we be-
lieved that testimony, we knew that God would par-
don and justify us; and although we could not al-

wal v

ways be very sure whether we were real believers
or not, yet we could have a tolerable hope that we
really did believe, and on that hope we could rest
with some confidence ; but you say, that justifica-

tlon iS a@ sense of pardon and aCcCE} lance, and that
there is no true hope for us, unless we have this
sense of pardon. Alas! however difficult it was to
command our belief, it was much easier than to com-
mand our feelings. . We could submit our reason to
God’s authority, but we cannot create comfort in

our minds—and unless we ecan‘do this. you say that

there is no ho ror us. i trust that there are not
eee ie a wort PN ha - 1 : Z
many of my re aders Vi ith whom | nave succeeded So

il] in attempting tO €xpidaln my mean Ings 5; DUT IN

1. FO a 2 . = < eS iL i a . j
there should be some who have so far misu nderstood

me, Iw ould maxe this answer to them. My dear

brethren, I do not desire von to have a sense of nar-
- r . a - } 7 i‘ . te is

don and comfort, in order that you may Ll ardoned

or that you may have an evidence of your being par-

doned, but beca USE there 7s 00d CUIQENCE thai YOu

( are
TA ET, anYrynnnD ] . . eo a. ; =
already pardoned. I donot desire vou to excite in

yourself a sense of God’s acceptance and favour, in
order that you may have his accent and favour,
but because he hath himself said that he hath loved

you, and given his Son for you, and because theOF THE GOSPEL. 107

testimony or record which he hath given us is this—
that he hath given unto us eternal ufe, and this life is
wn his ee The holy Spirit has affixed a most so-
jemn seal to this record—* he that believeth not God
hath nie him a liar, because he believeth not the

es ee plea dee CON IS 2 Gui: 99 ~ 4

record that God Gave Of DIS seen. Let him who
reads ponder and understand. ' God had not de-
iy we y | | ‘x7 (hte

Ciared taat he has given Christ to me Bs should not

!

A
Rvs aaviek tea a ; : ’ 7 Cee ae Pa esd
be making him a liar, by disbelievin

eo em CE 7

; g And the
Stara oer Be +e. es End : ety a pera’ 2 / ps ; ? .
#700) that he has dectaread it, tna that he has GcOrRe iL,
: intarned on this: thot aren >

tS CON MCU U7 LHS, CiLAL aC rang to the judgment O}.

the f1oly Guost L make God a liar, tf I do not believe
A KES Thiele nl see oe =

Ll. And to eve! Vy inalvidual it is the same thing.
‘ ee oe Be pias oe a . ee ee e

Ss there any presumption In belleving that God

speaks truth ! is there any. humility in disbelieving
ee yee eS oe ee ees So Se ae oars
Him : Vn there is a deceltiuilnes and malionity in the

> oe
1 tack 4 »

c . Count ; ‘x rs 4 : ina Tew Ios As 7a
Slik Of UnvelLEr, wWolen that neart Oily KNOWS, which
1at God is love and that the blood of Christ
cleanseth from all sin.
ry} :

KNOWS

there 1s something very delightful and very sa-

isfying in this way of drawing hope and encourage-

ment for the future, from past acts, or >XpresSions
}

of love. And it is connected very intimately with

the sp 7 of dependence. It is a style of thought
and feeling which seems to me to run through all
the Bil ‘ble, and to be its peculiar characteristic. I

cannot refrain from giving some examples of it,
eo oh it may appear to some of my readers a de-
from the dit ect line of argument.
hen our Lord asked water from the woman of
Sychar at ee 5 well, Be reminded him of the
dissensions. between the Jews and the Samaritans
as a reason which ought to have prevented him from
making such a request,—he answered her, §* If thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that sayethFPR eA ORL ETE FT i ee GOED LM TEI -

 

a a it

   

 

    

oT

UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

7 Lae . TOA New \f
thou wouldst have asked of

A i i
is free and boundless love, which giveth unto all
men liberally and upbraideth not. thou hadst known
P }
the fulness of that love, how disposed to give, and
]

ro a a oa i So ia eae Sa {
other use of this interview with him, and instead ol

: iss ae ee Bi te EY tact : £Ts a :
speaking of the q ri ° or men. thou Wouldst have
7 _ 1 27 : hy Z } 1 . = 1
Narn - THO ry ft iY) ¢Y f | , “xT F171 + HnaxtTa
asked ror tne i sage rOd—tnou WOULGSL-E Nave
anal ‘ ; iL oes 7 | . ee — ] ‘ : 39
askea, and he would have given th living Water.

A knowledge of God's love, and of his past cuit of

i

ae } » . > {5 ) / ( ’
Ove, i the true l Or conndaline ¢ ( ence and
y . rn » tha 1 t177 ry] ) thing
ussured hope ior thi future nere is mMmetnine
i 5

Lew an : 4] 4 oe wy
uns La 1 \ LO 110 Ln bil t Siti pit CA CT SSlOnN.
4

( en ] 1 } } J ‘3 Bie oe

_" thou VV uldst nave aSked, and AC WOUIA } ave DIVen

*s T ote 4 ea al ) » . ' is 4 es a
thee.’? He seems to regard his giving as the natural

has already given the gift, and the creature’s asking
is the mere opening of the heart to admit a love
been waiting at the door. And he
gave her the living water.

olive it to her: he hae

on purpose that she might know the gift of God,—
and he did not leave her until she knew that
the $ pirit of God wa Spirit of @ivingness, and
he did not leave her until she had asked and ‘e-

awaken in her a sense of need and a desire of sup-

ply, and to make her acquainted with the greatOF THE GOSPEL. 109

Giver and the great gift ;—her heart opened and the
blessing entered. As soon as she knew the love of
God in the gift of the Saviour toa sinful world,
she was justified by faith, she took her pardon and
acceptance as included in the gift, and she asked for
the bread and the water of life without fear of a re-
fusal ; she asked and he gave.

This argument for present confidence and future
hope, drawn from past kindness, pervades the Old
Testament as well as the New. I may mention
one beautiful example of it in the 5Ist chapter of
Isaiah. As the prophet is contemplating the fallen
state of Israel, he thus draws encouragement from
the former dealings of God in their behalf---** Awake,
awake, O arm of the Lord! Art thou not it which
hath cut Rahab (Egypt) and wounded the dragon ?
Art thou not it which hath dried up the fountains of
the great deep, and made a way through the sea for
the ransomed to pass over; therefore the redeemed
of the Lord shall return, and shall come with sing-
ing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon
their heads; they shall ebtain gladness and joy, and
sorrow and mourning shall flee away.’’? With what
confidence does he draw his conclusion! he passes
from the past deliverance to the future, as if the one
necessarily grew out of the other. This is an ar-
gument worth athousand syllogisms, for it speaks
to the heart; and the only argument in religion that
is worth any thing, is that which does speak to the
heart. I cannot but transcribe the words which
follow those which I have last quoted. They are
words which some sorrowful heart may be glad to
read; for they are the words of him who made the
heart, and sends it sorrow, and can make sorrow a
greater blessing to it than joy. ‘I, even I, am he

Kpattostaeneiateseett et eanate cea ater tee eee a

gy Se eee

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

110 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

that comforteth you.’? Who need remain uncom-
forted, when there is such a comforter? Oh! taste
and see that the Lord is gracious; blessed is the
man that putteth his trust in him.

This is the manner of the Bible; it tells us of
the streams, that it may allure us to the fountain ;
it tells of the past acts of God’s faithful love, that
we may be led to set our hope on God, and to feel
assured that he who hath helped will help, and that
he who hath loved will love unto the end. ‘* God
hath so loved the world, as to give his only begotten
Son for it;”? ‘and will he not with him freely give
us all things ?’’? It is impossible to doubt it.—
That great gift includes all other gifts, for it is God
himself. It is not a stream from the fountain, but
the fountain itself; the unsparing and inexhausti-
ble fountain of eternal love. And it is given to the
world. And therefore, as each and every Israelite
might take to himself encouragement and consola-
tion from the past interpositions of God in behalf of
his nation, su each and every child of man may draw
rich and abundant encouragement and consolation
from this past act of God’s holy love in behalf of
the world. And it is indeed a full fountain. It
contains all other gifts, and is contained in them
all—it is their very spirit and life—it gives them all
their value, and all their sweetness—and without it
they are empty husks. But the selfish grossness
of man’s evil heart greedily seizes on these lower
gifts, whilst it rejects the love of God contained in
them, which is their very soul. And thus they be-
come husks—the husks on which the poor prodigals
of the world are feeding. The bread of our Father’s
house is the love of God in Christ Jesus, and there
is enough of it, and to spare—and we might find itOF THE GOSPEL. 1li

even enclosed in these very husks, if the mouth
of our spirit were opened as the mouth of our sense
is; if the desire of our heart were after God, in-
stead of being after self-gratification. Does it not
seem Strange, that such a Father should have so ma-
ny prodigals, and that the swine and the husks
in this far country should be so much preferred to
the society and the bread of our Father’s house?
Yet it is not, that the swine and the husks satisfy
any one; they areseen by many in their true loath-
someness and emptiness, but se/f can live amongst
them,—that is the secret,—whereas a man must re-
nounce self before he says in earnest, ‘*] will arise
and go to my father.’? Zs is the only bar which
separates man from God, for God’s arms are open.
It appears to me farther, that the invitation to prayer
is itself an act of forgiveness. And the invita
tion to prayer is universal ; whoever will make use
of it, may make use of it, There is no limit but in
the will of man. The proof of this contained in the
denunciation of Peter on Simon, Acts vill. 20---24,
is very strong. He tells him that he is in the gall
of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and yet he de-
sires him to pray. And never has there been a
prayer lost. Some of my readers may recollectan
anecdote told of Buonaparte which, whether it be
founded on fact or not, in some degree illustrates
my meaning. When the Duc d’Enghien was ap-
prehended, it is said that he begeved much for a

er

personal interview with Buonaparte. his, how-
ever, Buonaparte decidedly refused; and being af-
terwards asked his reason for doing so, he replied,
‘¢T should have been obliged to pardon him if I had
admitted him, and I had resolved that he should
die.”? Hear what this unjust judge saith---he would112 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

have considered the reluctantly granted admission
of his victim into his presence as inferring a par-
don---surely then he would have considered his own
pressing invitation to him to come into his presence,
as still more strongly inferring a pardon. If that
hard man felt thus, what shall we conclude from
the invitations which the God of love makes to all ?
What shall we conclude from the invitations of him
who willeth not the death of the sinner, but that
all should turn and live? of him who said, Come
unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and
I will give you rest? It may be said, that it is only
the prayer of faith which is heard. This ‘is true;
but every prayer to God is a prayer of faith. It is
not, and cannot be a prayer at all, without the be-
lief that “*God is, and that he is the rewarder of
them that diligently seek him.”” We may pray for
faith; we may pray for the spirit of prayer; we
may pray for the waiting eye, kd the hungering

and thirsting after righteousness; we may pray for
the first elements of Christian li ht ind feeling, just
as well as for the communications of heave! nly joy,and
the greatest advancements in the divine life. But
the first breathing or ery of the heart after these
things, implies faith in God. And such prayers, if
real, are prayers in the name of Christ, beeause
they are prayers for the accomplishment of that
work which Christ came from heaven to do. The
name of God, is not the word God, but the revealed
character of God; and the name of Christ is the
character of God revealed in Christ---the character
of holy lov e---consuming sin, and Saving the sinner.

He came to destroy the works of the devil---this is
his name---and a prayer against the works of the
devil is a prayer in his name, being according to

~OF THE GOSPEL. 113

the will and counsel of God revealedinhim. This
seems to be the meaning of that frequently recurring
expression, ‘‘in the name of Christ.’?> When the
heart goes along with the declared purpose of God,
to eradicate evil, and bring in the reign of right-
eousness—it prays in the name of Christ—it lives
and moves, and has its being in the name of Christ.

Prayer seems to suppose an open ear, and a for-
giving heart; and when God commands it, he
seems to manifest himself as the hearer of prayer
and the forgiver of sins.

It appears to me that this view of pardon, as be-
ing a manifestation of the divine character in Christ
Jesus, altogether independent of man’s belief or unbe-
lief, is a view much fitted to draw the soul from
self to Gad, and thus to sanctify it, at the same
time that it gives it peace; because it presents to
it a ground of hope, entirely out of itself, which re-
mains unchanged and unaffected by the fiuctuating
feelings of man’s heart; and because that ground 1s
the holy God. It is nota pardon distinct from God,
but it is the holy God manifesting himself in a par-
don. ‘This view also represents the holy love of
God as the one fountain, out of which all comfort
and strength, all hope and all holiness ate to be
drawn ; and it represents this fountain as perfectly
and absolutely open and accessible to all the chil-
dren of men at all times. Whereas when a man
thinks that he is not pardoned until he believes, he
is almost necessarily drawn to self, and to seek
comfort in the actings of his own mind ; and as he
does not conceive himself entitled to draw water
out of that fountain of holy love, until he has satis-
factorily answered to himself the question, ‘‘ dol be-
K 2ee Ce ee Coco ane

 

 

  

114 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

lieve ornot ;’’ so, after he thinks that he has satisfac-
torily answered that question, he considers the wa-
ter to be the.reward of his belief.

There is another advantage attending this way of
stating the subject, which appears of importance to
me. Whilst pardon is conceived to depend upon
faith, and whilst it is confounded with eternal life,
it is very difficult to press the warnings, and pre-
cepts, and exhortations of the Bible, as the Bible
itself presses them. If pardon and eternal life are
by faith alone, what is the use of obedience? And
how can the preacher urge it as absolutely necessa-
ry, without some inconsistency in his plan of in-
struction ! The usual way of escaping from the dif-
ficulty is to urge holy obedience as an evidence of
the reality of faith; as if the value of holy obedi-
ence consisted not in itself, not in its own confor-
mity to the will of God, but in its being an evi-
dence of the existence of faith in our minds. Ac-
cording to this system, a preacher might exhort his
hearers, ‘‘ to love the Lord their God with all their
hearts,’ upon the ground, that if they did not, they
would want an important evidence of the reality of
their faith. Is this a worthy argument for urging
men to the exercise of that high duty and high
privilege, on which hang all the law, all the pro-
phets, all the gospel ? And must not there be a ra-
dical error in that system which leads many a
faithful servant of God to use such an argument?
The whole use of the gospel is that the holy love of
God may be introduced into man’s heart, and work
there its own likeness. But the gospel cannot enter
the heart without being believed, and here is the
whole use of faith. The duty of the creature to love
the Creator, and the other creatures of that CreatorOF THE GOSPEL:

for his sake, ought to be pressed as the most posi-
tive obligation resulting from our relation to him
and his goodness to us,—as constituting the height
of moral and spiritual perfection,—and as being the
very substance out of which all true happiness is
composed. The end of the conmandment is love
out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and
faith unfeigned. It is more befitting that faith in
the gospel should be pressed and prized as produc-
ing holy love in the heart and life, than that holy
love should be pressed as an evidence of faith.

There is a third reason which seems to me of
great weight for giving this view of pardon. Ac-
cording to the common system, pardon is sought
as an end, and not as a means to an end. This
gives a contracted and mercenary tone to the
mind. The right feeling is—‘‘ what reward shall
I give unto the Lord for ali the benefits which he
hath conferred upon me? I will receive the cup
of salvation, and will call upon the name of the
Lord.’”? ‘I will receive the blessing—I cannot
do without it, nor with less—and of his own will
I give unto my Lord.’’ Pardon is the bread from
heaven, rained round all our habitations; it is the
daily bread on which. the soul must feed, to
strénethen itself for the daily work. As long as
we look on pardon as the ultimate object in re-
licgion, and not asa thing already possessed, it is
impossible that we can thus feed on it; and unless
we feed on it, we neither can have peace nor
strength. The pardon truly is Jesus Christ; and
he hath himself told us, ‘¢ Except ye eat my flesh,
and drink my blood, ye have no life in you.”’

But are there not many passages in the Scrip-
ture which seem decidedly to teach that forgive-

BR earn eae as116 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

ness is not a general but a particular gift, be-
stowed only on those who believe in Jesus Christ ?
We shall examine some of these. passages; but
before doing this, I would beg the reader to con-
sider attentively the expressions contained in 2
Cor. v. 19, 20, 21. God is there set forth as * in
Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not im-
puting unto them their trespasses.”” I ought to
observe that the word reconcile has a sense in
the New Testament somewhat different from what
is usually attached to it in ordinary language.
The Bible never speaks of God being reconciled but
only as reconciling: to reconcile is the act of an
injured party who forgives; to be reconciled is
the condition of one who has committed an of-
fence, and has obtained forgiveness. See Mat. v.
23,24. ‘If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and
there remember that thy brother hath ought against
thee (hath ground of complaint against thee,) leave
there thy gift before the altar and go thy way;
first be reconciled to thy brother (obtain his for-
giveness,) then come and offer thy gift.”

God is in this passage represented as forgiving
the world, as breathing out forgiveness generally
through an atonement. Immediately after the fall,
he had made known his purpose of restoring the
lost race through the instrumentality of a descend-
ant of the woman, who should accomplish his
object at the cost of a temporary suffering to him-
self. In the fulness of time, the Deliverer came
forth, and he was declared to be no less than the
only begotten of the Father, and the manifestation
and expression of his nature, full of grace and
truth. By the appointment of the Father, he be-
came a sin-offering for the sins of the world. HeOF THE GOSPEL. 117

is thus not only the proof and pledge of divine
love, but also a most appropriate organ through
which that love may be dispensed to sinners, in
perfect accordance with the holiness of the divine
government. God manifested in Christ, therefore,
means God» as the holy and gracious forgiver of
sins. This is his attitude. All who see him in
this attitude must know and feel that they are par-
doned. But sin hides the forgiving character of
God from us, and the accusation of conscience
raises a cloud between God and the sinner. The
forgiving love of God being manifested through an
atonement, declares itself to be a consuming fire
to evil, and thus no heart which does not sympa-
thize with the threatened destruction of evil, can
possibly embrae > cordially, or enjoy fully, the
forgiveness of ha gospel; and, therefore, as long
as a man chooses to keep his sin, so long@he can-
not see, por will not receive the forgiving love of
God. In such circumstances, although God re-
mains the same, although he is still the God of
holy pardon, yet the creature can have no real
peace, no true sense of forgiving love—and if it
continues in this state through all eternity, it must
through all eternity be a child of wrath and outer
darkness. And therefore, when it pleases God to
open the eye of the soul to see the light of his re-
conciling countenance shining through these vails,
and clouds, and obstacles, although the pardon
has been always the same, yet the man may be
said to be then first pardoned, because he then /jirst
admits, or accepts, or feels the pardon. When one
man loves another, that other is loved, whether he
accepts the love which is bestowed on him or net.
And in like manner, when God in Christ forgives the118 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

world, the world is forgiven, whether it accepts the par-
don or not. And as in the first case, the refuser
of human kindness receives no joy and no benefit
from it, though it has been bestowed, so in the
second case, those who understand not, and see
not, and feel not God’s pardon, receive no joy, no
benefit from it, though it also has been bestowed.
So, when the Saviour came into the world, it is
said of him that ** he came unto his own, but his
own received him not; but as many as received
him, to them gave he the privilege of becoming
sons of God, even to them who believed in his
name.’’? He came to the world, and pardon was
and is contained in him. Those who receive him
receive pardon in him; those who do not receive
him, do not receive pardon.

Let us now proceed to examine some of the texts
which appear to represent pardon as a gift bestow-
ed upom believing, or upon being baptised. We
may take the Acts of the Apostles, and look over
the chapters. Acts ii. 33. ‘* Then Peter said, re-
pent and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Christ for the remission of sins,’? &c. I think,
that any person acquainted with the original will
agree with me in translating this verse differently.
It ought to be Repent, or rather change your
minds, and let every one of you be baptized into
the doctrine of forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake.
To be baptized into a doctrine is the ordinary phrase
of the New Testament. The commission given
to the Apostles in the end of St. Mathew’s. gospel,
ought to be rendered ‘* baptizing them (notin, but
anto the name of the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost; that is, introducing them into that
manifestation of the divine character (for that isOF THE GOSPEL.

always the meaning of name) in which God re-
veals himself as the restorer of fallen man, through
the atonement of the Son, and the qaielenine ‘of
the Spirit. Soin Rom. vi. 3. ‘As many of us
as were baneecd into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death,” that is, were baptized into the
doctrine that he died for sinners. I do not indeed
think that the passage which has been quoted from
the Acts can, with justice, be made to bear any
other sense than that which I have now given
it, viz. ‘* Let every one of you be baptized into
that doctrine which teaches the forgiveness of sins,
in the name or through the work of Christ ;’’ that
as into a truth as unchangeable as God, but in
these latter days manifested in Jesus Christ. The
Greek preposition (g,) which belongs to ‘* the for-
giveness of sins,’’ and not that one (1) which pre-
cedes ‘the name of Jesus Christ,” is the pre-
position which, in the Greek Testament, usually
indicates the direct object of baptism, and thus
even attention to grammatical accuracy will con-
duct us to the conclusion that the true rendering
is *‘ baptized into the forgiveness of sins, for the
sake of Christ,’’? and not ‘“‘in the name of Christ,
for the forgiveness of sins.”’

Acts ili. 19. ‘* Repent ye therefore, and be con-
verted, that your sins may be blotted out—when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of
the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which be-
fore was preached unto you,’’ &c. Leave, there-
fore, your false notions of God, and be converted to
that true view of his character which blots out sin
and assures of the forgiveness of sin—(as for the re-
maining part of the passage, Schleusner’s interpre-
tation seems to be very satisfactory, )—‘ especiallya

      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
  
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

ny 120 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

now that the times of refreshing have come from the

presence of the Lord, and that he hath sent Jesus

Christ, who was before promised by the prophets.”

That this interpretation of the latter clause 1s cor-

rect, appears to me quite evident, from the fact, that

it is the first and not the second coming of our Lord

which is here referred to—for his second coming is

separately mentioned in the 21st verse. But the

first coming was past when this was spoken. ‘The

times of refreshing here spoken of, therefore, were

. the gospel times merely, or the times intervening

between the first and second coming of Christ; and

the forgiveness of sin, or the sense of forgiveness,

Bie belongs to these times, and is not deferred till the

erie a next dispensation, as our translation seems to indl-
| cate. Forgiveness is surely not a future thing.

0

Acts x. 48. ‘To him give all the prophets wif-
Vai ness, that whosoever believeth on him sl
|

ral], through
| *? The word
Trent Red el receive here has the same sense that it has in John

his name, receive the remission of sins:

Se neces

hea i. 12. which has been already quoted, ‘* He came
ee to his own, and his own received him not,’’ or ac-
ae cepted him not. He had come to them whether

eit they received him or not, and so had the remission

| of sin; but those only who believed in his true cha-

i hat racter, viz. that he had come as a destroyer of the

> works of the devil, and a propitiation for the sins of

Pa & the world, would in that very character of him read

and receive their own forgiveness.

Bl | The next passage which I quote is still more dis-
ia: | dinct on the point. Acts xill. 38, 39. ‘* Be it
| known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that

ee a through this man is preached unto you the forgive-

Cal ee tt ness of sins; and by him all that believe are jus-

ee tified from all things from which you could not beOF THE GOSPEL. 121

justified by the law of Moses.’ Here the forgive-
ness is declared to be universal, but the justifica-
tion is limited to those who believe. ‘he pardon
is given to all, it is laid down at every door; but
those only who receive it, those only who believe
in the unspeakable gift are justified—they only
have their consciences purged of cuilt, are deliver-
ed from the burden of unpardoned sin.

And I cannot but think that Abraham’s justifica-
tion was nothing else than a sense of acceptance,
arising out of a belief in the general promises of
God. In the 12th chapter of Genesis, we read that
God had said to Abraham ‘Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee;
and I will make of thee a creat nation; and in thee
shall all the families of the earth be blessed.??

| before this time that a
deliverer had been promised to the lost race of
Adam, whether it had made any impression on his
heart or not; and he would now understand that
this deliverer was to be his own descendant aceord-
ing to the flesh. Induced by this promise, Abra-
ham went forth as a stranger and pilgrim on the

\braham had surely hear¢

eerie} yut still his mind does not seem to have been
quite satisfied that the promise was to be fulfilled ;
for we find that when God appeared to him some
13
jh

, Pics fe Pe
time after, and said to

um, ‘| am thy shield and
oecnios great reward,’’ he expressed a general
distrust. ‘And Abraham said, Behold to me thou
hast given no seed, and lo! one born in mine house
is mine heir.’? Upon this God renews his promise,
‘And he brought him forth abroad, and said. look
now towards heaven, and tell the stars if thou be
able te number them; and he said unto him so shall
T

a4ey
LG 122 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

thy seed be.’’ And then it is added, *“‘ And he be-
lieved in the Lord, and he counted it to him for right-
Wye eousness.”?” Now, if we suppose that God reward-

eters

ee ed the greatness of Abraham’s confidence in him by
te accepting him and freeing him from guilt, then we

4}

ul
must also suppose that pardon is no more of grace
but of debt. And if we decline this interpretation

as being

what other explanation can we adopt but that which

contrary to the whole tenor of the gospel,

 

o hipaa ‘ } er Wass AL, el Lm nr y XX >

has been suggested, viz., that from the greatness ol
32 = : SA at las ae 4 sana 7 j

God’s kindness, manifested in his promises to him,

/ nn he tine | in‘ . We. aganantanne avait} Im
Abraham Was led to ENT] nis 2et eptant @ WI1tn him,

and to look to him with filial confidence. It was

 

 

. | not by the belief of any direct promise or declara-

a tion of pardon to himself personally that he was

. thus justified, but by the belief of a promise evi-

LES al dently renewing and confirming a form promise,

4 \ which bore that in him all the families of the earth

Meat i ia should be blessed, or that the expected deliverer,
i | :

iit bas 8 in whom the world was to be blest, should descend
Niiah t B 2 from him. All that he had indistinctly heard or
a understood of the promised bruiser of the serpent

ay seemed now explained to him and realized by him.

‘ :
We | He looked forward to the day of the deliverer, and
as that deliverer himself said of him, he saw it and
| Pe Be, was glad.
\t th a i A} ] shoal | ¢}

<7 | . dierent 7 . — . ~
Abraham beilevx in Lord, in the purpos-

i i
te ~ eo Purneee Lf pe Ee eae asa . vn ] a a 7 i ae
| ed mercy ot the mOTd, and eounted 1t to him to}
Le rlo 0 Lac Ey tT Sa sige } 7
rishteousness. He reasoned tt into him—v“e taugit

f f AT

bbe dt him to argue fromit his own acceptance. Now it was
ae | not written for his sake only that this inference was
reasoned into him, but for our sakes also; that we

may know from God’s own word that it was a fully
ber ie warranted inference which he thus drew from the
4 1

ie deliverer, and that we are

 

general promise of 1OF THE GOSPEL. 128

warranted to draw the same inference from the re-
vealed fact that the Father hath given the Son to
the death as a propitiation for our sins, and hath
raised him again in proof that the propitiation was
accepted. Being therefore justified by this belief—
having our consciences freed from the weight of
unpardoned sin by the belief of this accepted atone-
ment—we have peace with God, through our Lord
Jesus Christ. See Gen. xii. and xv. and Rom. iv.
and v. I do not see in what other way this trans-
action, and the passages referring to it, can be ex-
plained, unless we have recourse to the unscriptural
idea of faith being rewarded, as a meritorious work,
by acceptance with God.

The reader may apply the principles of explanation
which have been now given, to any other passages
of the same character.

We shall now consider some passages of another
character—such as, ** believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved;’’ and ** he that be-
lieveth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting
life.” With regard to such passages, I have to

 

observe at the outset, that salvation and eternal life
are things quite diflerent from pardon, just as a me-
dicine is different from the health which is produc-
ed by its application. Salvation is the heating of
the spiritual diseases of the soul, ‘and eternal life is
the communication of the life of God to the soul.
These things are done for and in the soul of man,
by the knowledge of God entering into him, and
abiding in him, and civinge him a participation in
This saving knowledge is con-
tained in the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins
through the atonement of Christ, and this knowledge

can only enter into him by being believed. This

the divine nature.ft rh
Hh, be ait h
eh es ¥

SIE TITERS
eee

SPR

 

 

eaten tet teeta ert

Cisaces

 

 

124 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

doctrine, then, of the forgiveness of sins througii
Jesus Christ, is the medicine and nourishment of
the soul—faith is taking this medicine, and feeding
on this nourishment,—salvation, and sanctification,
and heaven, and eternal life, are different names for
spiritual health, and strength, and enjoyment, which
are the blessed effects of this spiritual medicine and
this spiritual nourishment. So, ‘*believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” 1s not
a nostrum nor a magical amulet, but a description
of the way to spiritual health. The Philippian

jailer had been arrested by the voice of Paul, when

in the very act of plunging into eternity. He now
looked back on what had happened with the feel-
ings of a man who in the morning contemplates the
full extent of a danger through which he had pass-
ed unconsciously during the night—he lived the
danger over again and felt the fear. His arm had
been stopped and his life saved by the voice of oné
of two men whom he had thrust into the inner pri-
son. He must havé known that it was for preaching a
new religion that these prisoners, after having had
many stripes laid upon them, had been committed

1vistrates, with a special charge of
safe custody, and he knew that he had not softened
his charge in the execution of it. It was a remark-
able night. Nature, or the God of Nature, seemed
to take part with the prisoners, and to protest
against the wrong done to them; there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken—all the doors were opened, and every
one’s bands were loosed: he was awakened by the

to him by the m:

commotion, and when he was about to kill himself,
supposing that the prisoners were fled, he was saved

by the voice of one of these same individuals, as-125

S agitated
mind hastily contemplated and compared these strik-

ing things, he seems to have been led to connect
them all with the new God, whose claims and au-

a

~d »

suring him that none hadeseaped. Ash

I
thority these men had been asserting. And surely
the Spirit of that God had spoken in the agony of
ed to him the solitary helpless-
ness and emptiness of his heart, and had thus awaken-

his soul and in his felt-nearness to the unseen eter-
nity, and had reveal!

ed his desire after a satisfying good not under the
dominion of

1 ] 1

hange and death, and had thus caused
him to open his mouth wide that it might be filled.
Under these impressions he came trembling and fell
before Paul and Silas, and said sirs, what must I

do to be saved? and they said, ‘‘ believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”?? And
then it immediately follows that Ǥ they spake unto
1 Cc 1 r } 995 I : 1

him the word of the Lord :’’ that is. they explain-

th eteak Sts eal 5: tld: deca cal
ed to him the gospel—they told him who Jesus
‘ . ! , } ] A | wel aces
Christ was, and what he had done for the salvation
: ry. ; } ] ‘ ley r oO {AQ YT vA 1a
of men. i his Was apnsolutely necesss ry—tor these
words, ** believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
: 99 d ae 1] RS a
shalt be saved,’’ however full of meanine to one
=} e S Sane coe 1 “ame ] Tot +f innk 1? al; VA an l
Wino know S tne ZOspel, VEE Af Spo Ke Nn. aLone ane

vithout a commentary, must have been absolutely
unintelligible to a Macedonian jailer, who knew
nothing at all about Jesus C

hrist. Pressed by his
fears, he might have answered to such an address,
* [ will believe any thinge,’? but would this have
been receiving the messace of him who teacheth man
knowledge; or could he have been enlightened or
benefited in any way by such a faith, or rather such
a superstitious credulity ? Paul must have told him
that the God of heaven and-earth, the Holy One,
who cannot look upon iniquity, yet looketh with a
9

Lae eee ee eee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
   
  
 
    
  
 
  
  
  
     

126 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

father’s love on this lost world--yea, that he hath
so loved them as to give his Son as a propitiation
for their sins—-that Jesus Christ is this Son—the
image of the invisible God, the manifestation of his
holy love; and through his atonement a full and free
forgiveness is proclaimed to every man, and the ac-
cess to God as to a loving father and a hearer of
prayer is laid open to every man. We may sup-
pose the jailer then asking, ‘* butis there any thing
that I have todo in order to entitle me toa | participa-
tion. in these privileges and blessings?”? And Paul
answers, ** No, nothing; all that you have to do is
immediately to use them and enjoy them; if you be-
lieve this history of God’s love in providing so cost-
ly an atonement for the sins of the whole world, you
will not doubt of his forgiveness to yourself—you
will know that wherever you are, you have an Al-
mighty friend who will never leave you and never
forsake you-—you will ask of him and he will give

you living water which will bathe your heart with
aoe and a ae even as he is pure; ‘be-
Lieve on the Lord. Christ, and thou shalt be

saveds:??
Perhaps some of my readers may think that the
no to make is fri-

>)

observation which | am now go
volous or overfine, but | am myself persuaded that
it is deeply important, and I beg their attention to
it. Ithink that much obscurity has arisen from
considering these words, ** believe in the Lord Je-
sus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’’ as a state-
ment of the gospel. Ifthe gospel really consists in
this proclamation, ‘believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved,’’ then to helieve
the gospel ‘*is to believe that those who believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.’? Well, then,OF THE GOSPEL. 127

‘** T believe that those who belive in the Lord Je-
sus Christ shall be saved,’’—the question then comes
to be, ‘do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ myself?
lf I[do, Iam saved: if I do not, I am not saved.”
Then comes a doubt, ** Have Iany evidence of the
Sincerity of my faith? Surely I have been very
unfaithful to my light.’? It is quite clear, that the
mind cannot find firm footing in this way. It is an
unravellable perplexity. But suppose the inquirer
says, ‘* Yes, [ am sure that I believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ ;’’ I only observe, that ifhe draws his
hope from this fact of his believing, he is as far from
the spirit of the gospel, as the man who rests his
hope on his alms-deeds. Whenever my own faith
is the source of my comfort [ am sure that I have
an empty cistern todraw from. It isnot in the na-
ture of things that I should be able to draw peace,
or streneth, or holinesss, from knowing that I be-
lieve a fact, however true and important that fact
may be. The fact itself may be a comfort to me;
but my knowing that I believe the fact, cannot bea
comfort to me. The gospel is not ** he that believ-
eth shall be saved,’’ but it ws ** God gave his Son
to be a propitiation for the. sins of the whole world.”
Let the reader leisurely compare these .two state-
ments, and judge between them according to the
word of God. If the first statement be the true
gospel, then the gospel consists simply ina pro-
mise to faith. If the second: be the true gospel, then
the gospel consists in the manifestation of the un-
utterable love of God to sinners of mankind. The
belief of the first, is the belief that a promise has
been made to faith, and therefore none can draw
eomfort from it, except those who are sure that
they have the true faith. The belief of the second128

 

a”

8 UNCONDITIONAL

    

FREENESS

J

is a belief that God forgiveth sinners for the sake of

Christ, and this v

knows

my meaning clear

ing seems to me
of disquietude.

seeking for peace,

ed 2’ than ** hath

for the sins

unchane
ness of God, and

or low spirits of a
his Son to beapropitiation for thes

world ;’’ and throu

out transgre Ssion,

This is his name for

name will put the
eth them that see
strong tower into

safe.

by a voice which
2 m2. .
say: Inhis nig
Oh, my
given

brother !

his Son -.

sins. He hath sai

Come unto me ai
from which these
kindness flow, is

flee into it? And

heart of unbelief will not

ery to him
make it, and ask
to open thine ey:

vill give

that he is a sinner.

Are there not many

of the whole
is the question; blessed be
able answer, rest

ir trust

Oh, reader
How wouldst thoi

id I will cive thee rest.

s . 4] —
who made thy heart,

=

comfort to any one who
I hope that I have made
; for the error which [am oppos-
general and a great source
when
inquire rather ‘‘ have I believ-
God indeed made a Sikes.
world 2”? Yet surely this
God, the answer Is an

=

VEEV
W h O,

inc on the unchangeable-
vacillating

y

according to the high
‘6 God ee civen

weak 1 nort tal.

ins of the whole
h that pr

pitiation, ** he le cides
39

and no longer rememberino® sin.
ever; **and they who know his

im him, for he never fail-

It him.’’ This name of God is the

whieh the riohteous fleeth and is
! thou in this strona tower t
1 feel, if it were now said to thee,
thou couldst not mistake nor gain-

4 } 1 = BS 1 c
ht thy soul shall be required of thee 7

hath
thee, to be a propitiation for thy
saved—
The love
cifts, and promises, and words of
the strone tower. Wilt thou not
if thine evil
llow thee—wilt thou not

|
i
thy God loveth thee, and

| Re Me eas
id, LOOK unto me and be

not—if

and who can new-

him to rebuke thine unbelief, and

5, and to lead thee into the strongOF THE GOSPEL. 129

tower? For, oh! it is the one thing needful: that
tower is the secret place of the Host High, the sha-
dow of the Almighty; if thou art there, although
thou hast no earthly friend, nor refuge, nor comfort,
yet thou art rich, for nothing shall separate thee
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus;
and if thou art not there, thou art an outcast and a
beggar, although all the crowns of the earth were
at thy foot. Cry, then, unto him, and take no rest
until he conduct thee in thither—though thou hast
hitherto received the orace of God in vain, that
grace is still lying at thy door, and begging for ad-
mittance. Fear not, therefore, to ask, and slack
not; open thy mouth wide, and he will fill it. And
let no one be alarmed by the description of those
who flee into this tower; they are called the “ right-
eous ;’’ but this means no more than what is said
of them in the other passare—*‘ they that know thy
name—these are the righteous—they will put their
trust in thee.”” They that know that the name of
God is “ merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity,
transgression, and sin,’’? through the atonement of
Christ; they that know that this is his name, will
put their trust in him; they will flee into this name
as their refuge, and hiding-place, and strong tow-
er; they are the righteous ; they are justified, or
delivered from fear and distrust of God on account
of unpardoned sin, by their knowledge of this name
of God; according to that word in Isaiah, ** By the
knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant
justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.’’—
He lets them know that he hag borne their iniqui-
ties, and thus they are justified. And thus is the
spirit of childlike dependence revived in them, and
sustained in them. This is the manna which is dat-130 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

ly rained round all our habitations. This is the feast
of fat things to which we are all bidden. Qh, rea-
der! lift. up thy heart unto the Lord,: and say,
‘¢ Blessed be thy glorious name for ever, and let the
whole earth be filled with thy glory—Amen and
Amen.’’ And oh! take heed to thyself that thou
neglect not this great salvation; and beware, lest
thou convert the blessing into a curse, by slighting
it or refusing it. It is not a vain thing, it is thy
life. If thou wouldst grow for heaven, thou must
live upon this food—nothing else will do.
‘‘’This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.?”?—
Eternal life is not given as a premium for knowing
God; the knowledge of God-as revealed in Christ
is eternal life. God is light, and the knowledge of
Godisa ray of that light; it is an emanation of God ;
and the soul into which it enters, becomes a partak-
er of the divine nature. We may have an atheisti-
cal knowledge of God and of Christianity, as I have
before observed—that is, we may receive the doc-
trines, without receiving the God of.the doctrines
—just as the philosophers of this world receive the
doctrines of natural science, without thinking of or
receiving the God o

nature—or aS men are continu-
ally receiving the events of life, without receiving
God who manifests himself in them. And therefore
it is most necessary to bear continually on our minds
that itis God that we have to do with, and nota
science. The most important truth with regard to
the doctrines of revelation is, that they are the mani-
festations of that ever-present Almighty God, in
s, and whose are all our
ways. ‘These doctrines are lights merely to gude

}

whose hand our br@ath is

us to Gi and if they serve not this purpose, theyOF THE GOSPEL. 131

serve no purpase; they are channels through which
that spirit ought to be received into the heart, which
is the life of the heart; and if they bring not this
ee they a nothine.

hristianity has two fields; the one is the infi-

nite and Pb edhe character of God—the other
is the heart of man; the first is all light—origi-

poem
—
©
A
r

> second in itself is all dark-

ness—but it is created with a capacity of recelving

nal, uncreatec

oe oa = object of Christianity is, to dis-
. moan Af tha Ann 1 Cfald “7 7 7 ,AINnNge
pel the “ness of the second field, by introducing

into it ae aa of the first.
Man may know that there is licht in God’s field,

and he may know somethino of the colour and the
qualities of the rays of that light, and yet he may be

unvisited by asincle ray. He may know about it,

as aman naturally blind may know about material

light. And all the while, though he reasons about
it, he has it not—he is in darkness. But why is the
heart of man dark? surely it was not so when

God pronounced it good. No, it was then light;
but it was light merely and solely because it was
Open to receive the light of God. The creature is
all darkness when separated from the Creator—
when shut against him; and man has separated
Sets from ¢ 1is lioht—and never
can he have light again, until he opens his heart to
receive the light of God. As easily may the eye
rendent of the sun, as the
soul of man create lig or itself independent of
God. There is no light for a soul but in God; if
he is ‘not in thee, the licht that is in thee is dark-

den?

fom J

Yel

2
eo)

r

cee

>

-

create lixht for itself inde
.
I

ness.
The natural sun entering upon the polar regions,

which have been locked up in the death, and frost,

        
 
  
      
    
  
 
   
 
 
  
  
 
  
  
   
  
 
  
 
 
   
  
  
 
 
  
   
    
    

Pere ety tN Peeoe eta er ee SP eee

2g

 

 

 

 

 

2 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

and darkness of their long winter, and filling all
things with light, and life, and warmth, is but a
feeble emblem of the entrance of the sun of right-
eousness on the cold, and dead, and dark regions of
the human heart; it-is a land of darkness, as
darkness itself, inhabited by les and vain ima-
ginations, and lying under the shadow of death;
it is a chaos and a terror to itself, whenever it
ean look upon itself. But no sooner does that sun
enter—no sooner does the dead heart drink. his
quickening beams, but it revives; it finds that the
light is life—the darkness, and the fear, and the
frozen death are past ;—there is a new principle of
life imparted; the cold and torpid heart begins to
open its rigid and shrunken veins to receive the life
blood and the quickening spirits which fiow from
him who is the heart and the head of the spiritual
universe ; it finds that that light is love, and that
that uncreated, and embracing, and omnipotent love
is its joyful and satisfying portion through all eter-
nity. ‘*Surely the light is sweet, and a pleasant
thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.”

Each revealed perfection of God, as it enters the
heart of man, goes to form a part of the Christian
character, and is necessary to the filling up of that
character. The full character is a cordial, and de-
lighted, and intelligent sympathy with the whole
will of God. But we must know God, in order
thus to sympathise with him; for we cannot sym-
pathise with what we know not, and believe not.—
We may know and believe many things, without
sympathising with them; but no man can know or
believe in God, without sympathising with him.—
For he that does not know God as the light, and the
life, and the portion of his soul, knows not God;OF THE GOSPEL. 133

 

and he that knows this cannot but sympathise with
him. This full syn npathy, then, is the full recelvlng
of the revealed will, and th ughts, and purposes of
God; it is the castino out of self to make room fer
God ; itis the being cut off from our own root, and
the being crafted on the root of God; itis the spirit
of afit tle Onate dependence.

‘¢ This is life eternal to know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent,’’--that
is, to know God as revealed in. Christ---to know him
ia lis relation to sinners. It is: to. know his
purpose of destroying the works of the devil through
the work of the Re fer; itis toknow the tender-
ness of his love, and the freeness of it: it isto know
him as the prodigal knew his father, when he felt his

arms about she ; and it is at the same time ie ae
that the grand
of evil.

And ‘* this is life eternal,’? saith the faithful and
true witness; itis a living principle ae and nota
mere notion ; it is a participation of the life of God;
it is an indwelling of the Spirit of one He is
the fonntain of eternal lif fe, and there is no other
fountain, The Saviour complained, *« Y e will not
come unto me, that ye might have life.’? There was
but one life, and one dispenser of that life in the
whole universe, yet they would not come to him for
it. Oh! if they had known the gift of God, and
who it was that offered it to them, ies Ww auld have
asked, and he would have given them eternal life.

object of this love is the eradication

Life eternal does not consist in knowing that there
is a God and that there is a Saviour, butin knowing
God and in knowing the Saviour, asa child knows
his father, as a frien d knows his friend. When man
discovers that his Creator, the fountain of eternity,

Meect

 

 

 

ARS + Ree R Ty

¥e

ag

   
 
  
 
    
 
   
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
   
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
   
      

134 NCONDITIONAL FREENESS

eS

the fountain of his being and of all being, in whom
and by whom he = and thinks, and feels---who

pervades, and sustains his soul and his body in all
their parts---w ot

present in every faculty and capacity of his nature,
without whom nothing lives, nothing eee no-
thing is done through all worlds---in whom, as in

their one rvot, all the varieties of things are united,

10 ever is and must be essen tae

and from whom, as from their one root, they all
grow---when he discovers that this great one, this
mystery which contains and binds in and animates
the universe, has a love for him passing thought as
well as utterance; alove that led him to take on
himself the human nature, that he might suffer and
groan and die for him,---when he discovers that he
did this that he-mieht live for ever in the know-
ledge and fellowship -of his holy love, dwelt. in
by him, and animated by his Spirit, and filled with
his fulness, with his light, and love, and joy---Oh!
then the darkness is past and the true licht 1s come.
He hath found the pearl of eternity, the pearl of
great price; he knows the meaning of that word,
‘¢he that hath the Son hath life;’’ he hath found the
pearl, and for joy thereof he goeth and selleth all
that he hath and buyeth it.

But he must ‘sell all that he has in order to
possess this pearl. Nothing less than all will
serve. And yet the pearl is a free gift. What
then is meant by saying that the merchantman
who had found it went and sold all that he had
and bought it? The meaning is, that there is no
room for it in a heart which is occupied by other
things—and he who would possess it, must make
room for it. It is not and cannot,be enjoyed

>

unless it fill the heart. It must be the first andOF THE GOSPEL.

 

135

the last—the object of the thoughts and the affee-
tions and the desires. The pearl of great price is
eternal life—it is the love of God reigning in the
heart—it is the being grafted on the true vine.
Now eternal life has no fellowship with a sensual,
selfish, worldly life, and the love of God cannot

reign in the heart whilst se/f still reigns there, dis-
posing of the affections according to its own will;
and the soul cannot be grafted on the true vine un-
less it be first cut off from its own root. All,
therefore, that we have to sell is self, and this
must be sold before we can possess the pearl.
Whilst self continues to be the dominant principle
with us, we may hear of God by the hearing of
the ear—we may read and reason and talk about
him—we may have our feelines and imaginations
strongly excited by the ideas which we have form-
ed of him—but he is not our God, he is not the
portion of our souls. There is no room for him
there, as there was no room for him in the inn
when he was born into our nature and our world.
Yet let no one think that his business is first to
cast out self, and then to look for this pearl; the
cnowledge of the value of the pearl is the ins
strument in the hand of God by which self, the
Strong man armed, is cast out, and it is the only
instrument. They that know the name of God
will put their trust in him—and they who know

iulue of the pearl will sell all that they have
uy it. But they that know not the name of
God cannot trust in him, and they that know not

beet

and

the value of the pearl cannot part with any thing
so dear as sé//, in order to make room for it. They
keep self, and in keeping self, they refuse the
pearl. Is self then, yet reigning in us? Let us not

    
 
  
  
 
 
   
   
 
     
  
  
 
  
  
   
  
    
     
  
 
 
   
  
  
  
  
 
 
   
 
 
 

ee ae

Seeem AE Sp REL A meme -

    
  
  
  
 
   
 
 
  
  
   
   
   
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
   
  
  
   
  
   
 
  

136 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

deceive ourselves by vain words. We have yet
neither part nor lot in the matter, and our religion

a 4

I
s nothing else than Simon’s trafic, who would

i

lave purchased tne Holv Ghost, to flatter and
pamper self, Whilst we continue thus we are
straugers to the covenant of promise—we are with-

out home, or hope, or God in the world. But the

ove of God is still lying at our door, and the ear
of God is still open to our cry, and the sighing of
the prisoner comes before him: he waiteth to be
gracious, and he delicliteth in mercy. Yetis the
danger imminent, for every hour of delay strength-
ens self, and confirms the opposition of the heart
against God. Let us consider how we shall es-
timate the pearl when w come to die, and how we
shall estimate self—Oh! we know well that at
that hour ae shall be ready to give ten thousand
times ten thousand worlds, if we had them, for one
smile of the face of God, fur one cood hope of
eternal life And if such a sinile and such a hope

be worth so much at that hour, why should they
be less worth at this hour? Af this hour, reader—
for canst thou say what an hour may bring forth ?
Canst thou assure thyself that thou hast an hour

to live? There are thousands at this moment within

an h f ¢ f these there are many who
have no more thought of it than thou hast. And

certainly thine hour is> not far off—and then
comes eternity. Oh! then 1s there any madness
equal to the inadness of nevlecting the soul, and
the favour of God, and spending thy Ais bet, Sneha
; hyself regrets and
fears against the hour of death, and misery for
ee to come? Is it not madness in an immortal

‘to leave eternity entirely out of his accountOF THE GOSPEL 137

of existence, when, in truth, it is the only thing
in his existence which is worth thinking of ? Ne-
glect not the pearl, for it is a pearl of great price—
it is the immortal life, and health, and hepe of the
soul; and what shall a man vlve in exchange for
his soul? We must have such a religion as will
Stand by us at the hour of death, and prepare us
for our Lord’s summuns, else we may be as well
without a religion. We must have a religion
which will cast out self, and which will make us
hasten unto the day of Christ, and long for his
appearing, and. conform us to his likeness. Such
a religion, and such a religion alone, is the pearl of
great price—the one thine needful for a sinner.
Oh! that we felt its value and the freeness and
the fulness of the love which presses it on our ace
ceptance, and that our hearts would open to re-
ceive it! But even when all this is in some degree
felt, the evil is, that the heart tries to make it its
own Wwork—it does not like to be a mere receiver,

and this introduction of self shuts the door. Hence

1

it is that°many are called, but few chosen 3
many hear the message, and are glad to hear of a
deliverance from pain, and sorrow, and death, but
when they find that self must be cast out before
this deliverance can come in. by and bye they are
offended. ‘The happiness of se/f and the happiness
of God are two siructures that cannot stand together,
for there are materials in the heart only for one,
and therefore, to build the one, the other must be
pulled down. This is what the natural man cannot
receive. This is work for him who made us; and
before God gives the pearl to any man, he lets
him feel well that the acquisition of it is not his
own work. He shuts in all under unbelief, that
M 2

oP

rer eS ct to ee

    
   
 
 
 
  
    
  
   
   
  
 
 
  
   
  
   
 
  
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
   
 
   
  
 
 
  
   
  
 
 
 
  
 

ae ears tn Pee

SereeKE eS aedt Tn ne eee ee eee

 

 

SS

:
BR
ier sd Bi
i in}
eH ES Bt
Bie
Rite tins

icon —- 7

     
  
  
    
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
   
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
     

188 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

all may feel themselves mere dependents upon mer
cy—sovereigon mercy.

We know that God is love, and that his thoughts

towards man have been thoughts of love from ever-

lastine. But his dispensations in the mean time are
:

far above, out of our sight.« How is it that one is
made a partaker of eternal life, and that another goes
on in wilful blindness to the grave ? He giveta not
an account of his doings. Let us humble ourselves
in the dust before him—we are of yesterday and
1 the earth will do

3

know nothing. The Judge of
right. But this we can understand, that at each
door he has laid down the gift of his Son, and in
him the gift of all things; to each creature he has
given the privilege of prayer, and the promise of the
Spirit to those who ask him, of that Spirit who will
open the heart to recelve and understand the gift of

the Saviour, and thus restore the prodigal to his

[he appeals that God makes to every man
through the occasional misgivings of conscience
and the appointments of providence, and especially
throuch that sense of the weariness and unsatisfac-
toriness and hopelessness of life which forces itself
upon him when he is not under the immediate ex-
citing influence of some particular object, are all
urgent invitations to prayer, and to seek that good
from the Creator which has in vain been sought
from the creature. Why is the world such ascene
as it is? Why is life such a scene? Think for a
momentof the loathsome sinand the loathsome misery
which cover the crowded population of our cities,

]
1

ce

and overspread, in many Instances, Immense re-
gions of the earth. It is a festering and putrifying
evil, which defies all human skill, and power, andOF THE GOSPEL. 139

benevolence to cure it. And think of the better re«
gulated sin and the better diseuised rae which

2:1

the more dece ii OY the more refined a portions

poison

of t i" r root of all this is that
self has taken th place of God in man’s heart.—
And thus there is no common centre by which men
might be united to each other, for. all follow, each
man his own se/f,.and there are as many centres as
there are individuals. And there is no true order
in the individual any more than in the mass, for the
key-stone of the mind is gone. For the only com-

mon centre of men is God, and love to him is
the any common principle which can unite them
to each other. And as God is the common centre
of the whole moral world, so he is the key-stone of
the arch in each ‘uiaatauel mind. And thus the
‘* fool who hath said in his heart there is no God,”
hath chosen as his portion a restless misery within
and a tumultuous strife without. Is not this man’s
state in the world ? Whither can we turn for hope

tid consolation in such circumstances but unto our
Oe acs Our revolt from hiin is the very spring
and source of the evil, and our cure lies only in our
return to him. Oh! that each heart might hear
and answer to that voice, ** Return unto me, for I
have redeemed you.’’ Look unto me, and be ye
saved all the ends ofthe earth.’? We must look. we
must believe, we must receive the truth of God,
else we cannot be saved. Not that looking at, or
believing, or receiving any thing, is rewarded by
salvation, but because God is truth, and in order to
receive God into our souls, we must receive the
truth. God knocks at our door under the form of
truth. He comes near us in the manifestations of
his love and the proclamation of a pardon. Buta

lf
ae
U

Ct ns a eee

        
   
  
      
   
 
   
    
  
  
 
  
    
  
 
 
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
 
   
  
  
 
  
   
 
 
  
  
 
   
 

Soe LS tte eee ea

aoa

tata it74e

peneened tet nd aoa ete et ee eee

 

 

 

  

140 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

pardon unreceived can no more save the soul than a
medicine unreceived can cure the body. The light
may shine without, but if the eyes be shut against
it, all within is darkness, Salvation does not cune
sist in the removal of a penalty or punishment, but
in dying unto self and living unto God—in bein
made one with the Father and the Son—in havin:
one mind, one will, one spirit with God. Salvati
is the truth of God, abiding richly and efficier
the soul, and how ean truth enter the heart, but
being believed ? Salvation is thus by faith, and by
faith alone, that is, it is the effect produced on the
heart, by the truth of God believed.

Sanctification and salvation are all one, and the
great High Priest prays thus—Sanctify them through
thy truth ; thy word is truth. Knowledge is truth
in the understanding, sanctification is truth in the

te GQ

i
~
ane
em

will and the affections: it 1s choosing, aud estimat-
ing, and loving things according to truth; and it
ean enter the will and the affections on ily through

c

the understanding. Fherefore itis that sonls are

sanctified only through truth. And Christianity is
just truth, for there is nothing arbitrary in Chris-
tianity. We are notcalled upon to believe any thing
merely for the sake of believing it, or merely in
obedience to the commmand of a Be ing more pow-

(

erful than ourselves, and on, whose will our happi-
ness depends. Christianity explains on true rela-
tion between the Creator and the creature—it as-
eribes the evil that is in the world to the breach of
that relation on the part of the creature, and it de-
elares the means by which God purposes to heal
the breach, and to bring out of this foul stain a
higher manifestation of his own character, and a
higher holiness and happiness to the restored race,OF THE GOSPEL. 14}

Las to all the rest of the spiritual family.—
The intelligent belief of these things is the way by

eva <x7 6 ia <r aiiite aes ere eeriven od h er rat} 1
whicn we m y enter 1nto Sympathy witn the mind,
and Witl, and purposes | tf God, and thus it 1s that

faith is the natural and necessary way by which
Inan is to be reunited to God, for re-union with God
and a renewed sympathy with his will and purposes

are one and the same thing,

The great High Priest says—* Sanctify them
through. thy truth; thy word is truth.’??. The truth
is the instrument, but it is the God of the truth who

works. In fact, the ** word’’ is not truth to our
souls unless God be perceived in it. Whilstitlies
In our minds as a mere knowledge or system of the-
y, itis of no profit to us—it is a body without
a soul; not that it is so in itself, but it is so to us,
so long as we do not make it a channel of commu-
nion with God. If we would have our souls really
-d by the word, we must get it fresh from the
mouth of God himself, and we must get it daily,

oO

We must receive it in the spirit of dependence, we
must ask for it till he gives it—we must open our
mouths wide till fills them.

**Sanctify them through thy truth ;”’ thus our
High Priest prayed and prays without ceasing; and
it is sweet, when the soul is dry and comfortless,
: ‘annot pray with any fervour of feeling, to sift
down at his feet, and say amen to his prayer. And
oh! what hich things will the soul hear that sits
here, and with what high things will its amen min-
ele? Hear some of them,—-** Neither pray I for
liese alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word, that they all may be one,
Father, art in me, and |] in thee; that they

99

EE PME EE ON) Sy ee a a ge a ea

   
  
  
   
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
  
    
    
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
    
      
  
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
  
 

Pee pats en eaeSeeetes eet ett

 

 

 

Heme PY mE PE as

142 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

also may be one in us. And the glory vere thou
gavest me, I have given them, 1

even as we are one. I in them, and an ak me ;
that they may be made perfect in one.’’ ‘* Father, I
will that they also Shin thou hast given me be
with me where I am, that they may behold my glo-

ry,’’ and * that the love wherewith thou hast loved
me may bein them and 1 inthem.’’ He who prayeth
thus is he whom the Father heareth alway—it is he
whoisthe head overall thingstohis church. Will not
the soul that hears this say with David, ** who am
I, and what is my house? and what can I say more
unto thee? yet now, O Lord God, thou art that
God, and thy words are
ed this goodness unto thy servant, and how, O Lord
God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy
servant, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast
sald.

It is very profitable and delightful to read t
psalms in this same Spirit, recarding them as ‘the

i = <

4

true, and thou hast promis-

confessions, and prayers, and praises,. and hopes,

and assurances which the great High Priest pre-
Z Bh hee a ae oa i ry

sents to the Fath er in the name of his chureh. The

soul tha 1t joins in this worship 01 the upper sanctua-

ry must pray with confidence,—it cannot doubt of
an answer,—it knows that it has the petitions which
it asks, because it asks according to the will of
God, and through the mouth of the all-prevailing
interce SS OT, This is inde¢ d profitable for the soul.
for thus it learns a holy familiarity with heaven,—
it becomes one of that great multitude which no
man can number,—and as it. sees and fer
the privilege of being united to Christ and to hi
body, it learns more and more to loath the contracted-
ness and littieness of self and individuality, and teOF THE GOSPEL. 143

pant after a full participation in that free Spirit,
which is the Spirit of God, and the quickening
breath of the universal family.
terhaps some of my readers, as they look back
laying before them,
may refer me at once to this ve ry 17th chapter of
John, from which I have been making these most
comforting quotations, as a con nplete refutation of
iniversality of the love
of God, and of the pardon through the sacrifice of
Christ. Forin that prayer, our Lord only prays
for such as either were then, or should afterwards
become believers, but there is no inconsistency
here. The circumstances of the disciples at ‘the
time, and the character of the prayer itself fully ex-
plain the limitations in it. The disciples were at
that moment without knowing it, on the very brink
of a most tremenduous’ event, which was to shake
all their high hcpes of their master’s success, and
Which was at first sight to appear the couplete tri-
umph of the world over his cause. He had all]
alone been for ‘warning them of this event, and par-
ticularly as it came near its accomplishment; but
their eyes were holden that they should not see the
truth, yet still he continued to prepare them forit; heat
last distinctly told them, that he was to suffer at
the feast which was just about to be celebrated, and
now tha hearts dejected by the intelli-
gence, he has recourse to another mode of encou-
ragement and consolation; he prays in their hear-

—

—e

ct

enaaney

is

paees O
e

TD

: ot
ne Sees thei!

ing for them to the Father,—and in his prayer he
Speaks as the high priest over the house of God
ab OVE, and thus he draws their thoughts and expect-

ations past the present sorrow, and fixes them on
that future triumph and glory which should be the

eet

Se144 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

consequence of his sufferings, and which should be
for a praise, and a rest, and a joy, to his people for
ever and ever. ‘They were soon to stand in need
of a very special anc

very strong consolation, anc

|
A
1
i

so he gave it them; he let them know that he bore
their individual names on his heart,before his Father.
They were soon to see him curcified by the world,

and thence learn to dread the world as their own

enemy; he therefore prayed for them, -as distinct
from the world, and that they might be kept from
the evil that isin the world. They had heard, that
he had come to seek and to save the Jest; but they

needed, in this, their extremity, something more
precise, more exclusive, more directly applicable to

themselves, and to none else, and he did not with-
hold it from then He there for began his inter-

cession with a cee for them individwally ; but he
did not end it so; he beaeeadak as high priest, to

embrace all who should afterwards believe onshim
through their word; and by doing this he gave to

c
his then little flock an encouraging assurance that
their numbers should be increased, at the same time
that he bequeathed an enduring consolation to all
who, at any period of the world, saould put their
trust in him, He does not then appear in this
prayer as the Saviour of sinners, or as the propitia-
tion for the sins of the whole world; but as the
elder brother of his aisciples, and as 2 read and
high priest over the church of God All are invit-
ed to come into the temple, nae the access is open
to all, but the hich priest intercedes only for those
whoenter. The names and titles of Christ are all
relative. He is the shepherd of his sheep: he is the
head of his body : he is the high priest of his church ¢
he is the Saviour of sinners: he is the propitiationOF THE GOSPEL. 145

for the sins of the world. Te came to seek and to
save the lost; he came not to call the righteous but
Sitners to repentance. He invites all to come into the
temple; but those who listen not to his eall, remain
without, lost in the death of sin. “They enter not
into the church of Christ. He is neither their head
nor high a est. They have no part in his interces-
sion. Whilst fitdsd who do listen to him, and whose
hearts are opened to receives his message of love, do
in that very message receive a new life ; that love
becomes their life, they become members of his
body, and partakers of that divine life, of which
the fountain isin him. He is their head and re-
presentative with the Father; and as he is their
righteousness, so heis their intercessor. He is not
the righteousness of those who do not believe in
him,—and this not from his unwillingness, but be-
cause it is impossible,—for he cannot be the confi-
dence of those who do not confide in him, as he cannot
be the nourishment of those who do not feed on him.
So also he is not the high priest of those who are
not his people, who are not the members of his
church and of his body ; because he cannot be the or-
gan of those who are not partakers of his life; he
cannot present the prayers of those who do not pray,
nor the offerings of those who offer nothing. As

the Saviour of sinners, he says, ** Come unto me all
ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.’ And as the Saviour also, he prays, ** Fa-
ther, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
But, as the high priest, he says, **I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou
hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are
thine, and thine are mine, and Iam slorified in them.”
He is their organ of communication with the Father ;serach echt pb ee eet i es at oe a ee a

rec a aes

 

 

 

 

146 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

they are one with him; their life is wholly derived
fromhim; their prayers are the breathings of his
Spirit within them, and he presents them with accept-
ance before the Father. Let us not then Jose the
comfort or enjoyment of this prayer, by supposing
that it marks ahy limitation of the Saviour’s love ;
it does not belong to him, as the seeker and saver
of the lost, but as the organ of those who are par-
takers of his life, and the members of his body. Let
the believer read it with great joy, for it is now mak-
ing in his behalf, and it is always heard ana always
answered; and let the unbeliever, as he reads it,
compare his own hopes for time and for eternity,
with the hopes of the least of those who are prayed
for in it; and let him be urged to flee from wrath,
and to take refuge in this ark of the covenant of love
—this true temple of the living God; and let him
know that he has but to admit that love of God,
which has been long knocking at the door of his
heart, in order to his being himself admitted within
this sacred inclosure.

This sacred inclosure is the true ark, the true Zoar,
the true city of refuge, and its gates stand open con-
tinually to admitall who will be persuaded to come
in, and there is no safety out of it. This is the strong
habitation whereunto we may continually resort.
Reader, ponder the Jast words of the prayer—** O
righteous Father, the world hath not known thee,
but I have known thee, and these have known that
thou hast sent me; and I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love where-
with thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in
them.”’ Yow see that the great end andabject of God’s
doings, and Christ’s sufferings for man, is that the
love of God, even that very love with which the FatherOF THE GOSPEL. 147

éoveth the Son may bein man, and abide in him, and
unite him to God for ever and ever. It was for this
that Jesus Christ hath declared, doth declare, and
wiil declare—the name of God—the holy love of
God—the unwearied compassion of God. He de-
clares this name of God, that it may become a new
life in man—a life unsubject to sin, or sorrow, oT
death—a life which is nothing else than a stream
flowing from, and continually supplied from that
eternal fountain of holy love which is in God. He
does not declare this name, that men may amuse
themselves by talking about it, or reasoning about
it, but that they may be one with the Father and
the Son. It is not by philosophy or speculation
that we can know God, but by the desire of the
heart after him, by the opening of the heart to re-
ceive him, by the spirit of prayer. Except ye re-
ceive the kingdom of heaven as a little child, ye
shall in no wise enter therein. There is no truere-
ligion, except the holy love:of God abiding in the
heart ; and there is no heresy so great as the want
of it. God can only be known by love, according to
what the beloved disciple saith, ‘* he that loveth not,
knoweth not God, for God is love.’’

It is a question which I have often heard asked—
‘“‘do you think that the belief of such or such a
doctrine, or of such or such a view of a doctrine, is
essential tosalvation 2” ‘IRs question always seems
to me to indicate a mistake in the mind of the asker,
as to the nature of salvation. The heart which truly
loves God as its good and its portion, has got sal-
vation; for salvation is the love of the heart for
God. Any belief which produces this love, is con-
sistent with salvation ; and any belief which does
not and cannot produce this love, is inconsistent

elena i

    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
  
 

Sere eee eee taied tS ere

 

 

148 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

with salvation. But let noonemistake. Itis quite
possible to love a God, who after all may not be the
true God, but a mere idol of the imagination. God
has told us himself in his word what he is, and
what he has done, so that we may know him and
Jove him in his true character. If we love God for
something that he is not—as, for example, for a
good natured indifference whether his creatures are
holy or not—we do not love God, but a lie. A true
knowledge of God ts necessary to a true love of
God, as it is only a true love of God which can pro-
duce conformity to the true will of God in the heart
of the creature. The evil, then, of taking up a
wrong doctrine, or a wrong view of a doctrine, does
not lie in this—that God punishes a man for not be-
Jieving one thing more than another; but in this—
that it interferes with the great purpose of religion,
viz. that the love of God, and the Christ of God,
may abide in the heart of man, conforming his mind
and will to the mind and will of God.

“The world hath not known thee, but I have
known thee.’’ Oh, infinite knowledge, the know-
ledge of the Father by the Son! But we may have
our share in this wondrous knowledge. ‘* No man
knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth
any man the Father save the Son, and he to whom-
soever the Son will reveal him.’? And the Son of
God has declared his Father’s name, and will de-
clare it; he is standing and knocking at the door;
we have not to ascend into heaven, nor to descend
into the deep to find him; he is very nigh thee, and
he longs to reveal the Father to thee, and to give
thee that knowledge which is life eternal.

And it is through the Bible, read in the spirit of
nraver, that he chiefly communicates this know-OF THE GOSPEL. 149

ledge. ‘ Thy word is truth.” This is our Urim
and Thummim, which will tell us what is the mind
of God in all things. We need not be ignorant of
God’s will or counsel, whilst we have a Bible to
consult. We often place much importance on hav-
ing the advice of particular persons in whose judg-
ment and friendship we have confidence, and wehave
great pleasure in asking and hearing their opinions.
Alas! what can they tell ust What can they do
for us? Why should we not go to God, and consult
him rather? Reader, do you believe that the Bible
is the word of God? and that God spoke it for this
very purpose, that by it he might direct, and support,
and comfort man in his journey through time to
eternity ? And do you not need direction, or sup-
port, or comfort? And if you do, will you not go to
the Bible toseek it? Where else can you expect it?
We are so accustomed to the sight of a Bible, that
it ceases to be a miracle to us. It is printed just
like other books, and so we are apt to forget that it
is not just like other books. But there is nothing
in the world like it, orcomparable to it. The sunin
the firmament is nothing to it, if it be really—what
it assumes to be—an actual, direct communication
from God to man. ‘T'ake up your Bible with this
idea, and look at it, and wonder at it. Itis a trea-
sure of unspeakable value to you, for it contains a
special message of love and tender mercy from God
to yoursoul. Do you wish to converse with God?
Open it and read. And, at the same time, look to
him who speaks to you init, and ask him to give
you an understanding heart, that you may not read
in vain, but that the word may be in you, as good
seed in good ground bringing forth fruit unto eter-
nal life. Only take care not to separate God from the
N2150 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

Bible. Read it in the secret of God’s presence, and
receive it from his lips, and feed upon it, and it will
beto you as it was tc Jeremiah, the joy and rejoic-
ing of your heart. The best advice which any one
friend can give to another, is that he should consult
God; and the best turn that any book can do to its
reader, is to refer him to the Bible.

Tet us seek to know more of the Bible; but, in
doing so, let us remember, that however much we
may add by study to our knowledge of the book, we
have just so much true knowledge of God as we have
love of him, and no more. Out continual prayer
ought to be, that our true notions may become
true feelings, and thatour orthodoxy and theology
may become holy love and holy obedience. This
is the religion of eternity; and the religion of
eternity’is the only religion for us—for yet a few
days, and we shall be in eternity.

Men are apt to think, that religion is just one of
the many duties of life, and that it ought to haveits
own time and its own place like the others—-and
they set apart for it churches, and Sundays, and cer-
tain other occasions—-and having done so much for
it, they seem to consider it an intruder, if it < appears
out of these limits. Thus we know, that although
the authority of God, and the inspiration of the Bi-
ble are nominally acknowledged in this country, yet
any one who, in the great deliberative assemblies of
the nation, for instance, should quote the Bible asa
reason for giving his vote one way or another, would
be generally regarded either as a fanatic or a hypo-
crite. The introduction of such a book, or such an
authority, would be considered almost as creat an
impropriety, as the introduction of a band of music.
Wav, religion is not just one of the many duties ofOF THE GOSPEL. 151

life; itis itself alife; itis the taking a man off
from his own root, and grafting him on God, as the
new ront of all his thoughts, and desires, and doings.
And as the sap of the root circulates through every
branch, and twig, and leaf of the tree—so the love of
God, which is the sap of this new spiritual root,
ought to circulate through every thought, and desire,
and action of theman. Ifa man were ‘truly religious,
he would judge of every thing by the light of God’s
wilk; and this will of God would be given as the
reason of his judgment, whenever he was asked for
hisreason. And amongst those who, not nominally,
but really, acknowledeed the authority of God, such
a reason would be considered as the only good rea-
son which could be given. Godisnotreally acknow-
ledged in any country where his authority cannot be
appealed to as a ground of judgment or of action,
without exciting astonishment. I mention this, as
a striking feature in the public character of the na-
tion. ‘The same men who would scout the mention
of the Bible in one place, would have no objection to
itin another ; they go to church, and even to Bible
and Missionary Societies, perhaps. All that they in-
sist on is, that religion should keep its own place.
They know it only as a decency ; they do not know
it as the great truth,—the paramount relation of their
being,—as that which, according as it is present or
absent, determines the character of every thought,
word, and action, to be either right or wrong essen-
tially.

It is a small thing to me, says the Apostle of the
Gentiles, to be judged of you, or of man’s day.—
The expression is remarkable—man’s day. This is
man’s day; man looks now at things, and judges
of them by the light of his own self-will, and his

eee Te a © Weare rn eae

    
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ae eee

Ce tee era

etree eteeee eee eet eee

ae

ite nss «2 asetar nw.

 

 

  

152 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

judgment passes current, and is little questioned.—
It was by man’s day that the Just One, the anoint-
ed of the Father, was rejected and condemned—and
those who judge according to man’s day, do still
continue to reject and condemn him. But there is
another day coming—the day of the Lord,—and by
the light of that day all the judgments of man’s day
shall be judged. Man’s judgments shall pass away
with man’s day; but the judgment of the Lord shall
stand, for the dav of the Lord is eternity. A man
may live even here in the light of God’s day, for ma-
ny rays of that light are sent down into this world:
there is much of it in the conscience; the Bible is
full of it, and God answers prayer by the communir
cations of it. And that light shows things as they
are, for it shows them as God sees them, and it shows
things as they always will be, for it is the light of
eternity. ‘That light shows God to be the only sa-
tisfying portion of the soul, and he who lives in that
light chooses God for his portion. The light of
man’s day shows nothing but the perishing things of
time as a portion, and he who lives in that light can
choose no other portion. Now, judge of these two
men, as death approaches them; the one feels that
in leaving this world he is leaving his portion, and
all that he knows or dreams of good for ever; the
other knows that he is going to the full enjoyment of
his portion—of that portion which he has chosen here,
and tasted to be good, but which he cannot fully en-
joy, whilst he is encompassed with the body of his
humiliation. ‘To the one, all his thoughts are about
to perish ; to the other, all his thoughts are about to
be accomplished.

So life and death are set before every man. God
makes a general proclamation of love and compassionOF THE GOSPEL. 153

to the whole race ; and they who hear it rejoice for
the consolation. He declares that Jesus Christ has
been made a propitiation for the sins of the whole
world, and he commands all men to believe that their
Sins are atoned for by that propitiation; for John
Says that they who do not believe this make God a
liar. God proclaims over the whole world, * return
unto me ye backsliding children ;” and every one
who hears his voice answers, ‘1 will arise and 20
to my Father.’’ This love of God, this forgiveness,
this invitation is universal, and altogether independ-
ent of man’s belief or unbelief, but it does man no
good, unless it enters into his heart, and becomes
the principle of a new life within him; and that it
cannot do, except itis believed. This proclamation
of free, unconditional mercy, manifested in the gift
of Christ to be:a propitiation for the sins of the
whole world, is the blessed gospel of the grace of
God—and it hath ‘appeared unto all men, teaching
us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we

should live soberly, and righteously, and godly in
this present evil world, looking unto the blessed hope
and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour,
Jesus Christ.”

The gospel is a message of most free and unbound-
ed love, and yet no message ever came to man which
required him to make such sacrifices. But this is
in the very nature of the thing. The receiver ofa
free and generous kindness cannot but feel himself
required to answer it by the sacrifice of self, and he
will refuse the kindness, if he cannot make up his
mind to the sacrifice. ‘The heart which deliberately
clings to self cannot for its very life receive or admit
a generons and disinterested kindness. If it does,
it hecomes itself generous—it must cast out self, in

ee

eee see Pate ht od
<4 BY ws

ee es Pate i eee ee en oo154 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

order to admit the kindness. Its very baseness may
enable it to receive an act of kindness, a donation,
an alms, but it cannot receive the kindness without
being changed into the same image. And so when
the pardon of the gospel is viewed as a mere removal
of penalties, and as a deliverance from torments, a
man may catch at the pardon and keep his selfish-
ness ; but when the pardon is seen to be a gift of in-
finite love, of holy, disinterested, self-sacrificing love
on the part of God, laid down at the door of man’s
heart, and waiting there with a patience which is
grieved, but not exhausted by the madly pertinacious
rejection which it meets with,—when it is seen to be
the gift of God’s heart, the gift of himself to his poor
prodigals, his apostate children—no man will catch
at it, no man will receive it, or can receive it, until
he is prepared to sell all and buy it, until he is pre-
pared to surrender himself and cast all out besides,
that he may make room for the reception of such an
overwhelming, annihilating, unrepayable kindness.
Such a-love would be a perfect torture in the heart
of any man who did not submit himself to it with a
grateful humility, who did not recognise God as the
only, and necessary, and perpetual giver, and him-
self as nothing but a receiver.

The great practical difficulty is to realise these
things. This iove of God, this eternal embrace of
the Father of our Spirits, appears so glorious, so
subduing, so attractive, that, until by bitter experi-
ence we learn the deceitfulness of our own hearts,
we can scarcely conceive the possibility of our ever
forgetting God for a moment. But deep humiliation
is the lesson which man has to learn in this world.
He is to be taught his own weakness, and his inca-
pacity to produce or maintain in himself the feelingOF THE GOSPEL.

of common gratitude to God, without the continued
supply of divine grace. He is to learn, that he ean
be nothing but a receiver; that his strength consists
in the streneth of God, communicated to him from
moment to moment; that he has nothing of his own
which is good, and never will have; and that his
spiritual perfection and blessedness consist in his be-
ing a receiver of God—of God’s life, and love, and
light—in his being a branch on the true vine, and
not a plant on his own root. Let him live in the
spirit of dependence, and the spirit of prayer, and
listen to that word, ‘* Abide in me.”’

The Apostle James says, ** Count it all joy when
you fall into divers trials, for the trial of your faith
giveth it endurance;”’ that is, works the divine
principle into the very substance of the mind. This
surely is the great purpose of providence in the ap-
pointment of events with regard to individuals.—
Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without God,
and not an event happens without a particular refer-
ence to the state and character of the person to whom
it happens. We have thus every day of our lives
many direct and special messages. from God to our
souls. They are messages from God, and surely
we show him small respect, if we treat his mes-
sages as trifling things. ‘I'‘hey are full of importance,
they are opportunities given to us of dying unto
self, and living unto God, and holding communion
with him. In every one of them God says to us,
‘* seek ye my face,’’ and we ought to be ever ready
with our answer, ‘‘ thy face, Lord, will we seek.’’--
With what an awakenedness of attention should we
live, if we really believed that every event is a voice
from God, and an opportunity of dying unto self,
which cannot be neglected without great guilt, and

~~

ROD es Ne ia il alana ay gt LS EI OPES AE Fg SI

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
   

Soe et eat een Pee eee ee re osNaeet gor Stet et) te ee 5 "

 

 

 

Dre teats rec oe ae ee

 

156 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

great loss to our souls. My dear reader, allow me
to repeat this to you. Every event that happens to
us strengthens either the love of God or the princi-
ple of self within us, because on every event we ex-
ercise our judgment or our feelings, and this we
must do either according to the will of God, or ae-
cording to our own will.

Thus we can never stand still for a moment—
there is no rest from the conflict---we are continual-
ly taking part either with God or against God.—
There are but two ways in which man can walk to-
wards eternity—the narrow way which leads to life,
and the broad way which leads to destruction. The
first is the way of self-forgetting and God-pleasing—
the second is the way of self-pleasing and God-for-
getting. In one or other of these ways every man is
walking. He is either resisting self or not. He may
be doing nothing decidedly wrong, according to the
world’s estimate of duty, but unless he is systemati-
cally denying himself, and taking up his cross daily,
he cannot be Christ’s disciple ; for there is no room for
Christ’s love in a heart which refuses to give up
self. Oh! if we felt as we ought that that only is
good which draws us near to God, and that selfis
indeed the great bar which divides us from God and
keeps us at a distance from him; how easily should
we be reconciled to those events which cross and
thwart the principle of self, seeing that they weak-
en the bar which separates us from God, our only
real good—we should then know that there is no
evil but sin, and that every thing else must bea
blessing, if it is received in the spirit of prayer.—
We are apt to lay our own faults upon events, and
to think that if our circumstances had been moré
favourable, as we call it, we should have been moreOF THE GOSPEL. 157

teligious, or more peaceful, or more spiritually-mind-
ed. The Apostle James meets all such complaints
in this way. ‘* Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own
lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved breth-
ren in this matter—every appointment is gracious in
its attention, and divinely fitted for its purpose, and
cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom
there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’’*

*Tt seems to me quite clear, that the Apostle doth not
mean to say, as translators in general have supposed, that
every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. No-
body is disposed to question this—and besides, it makes
nothing at all for the argument which is holding. He
had said, that we ought to count it all joy, when we fall
into divers trials, because the trial of our faith increased
its strength. Then he supposes some one objecting: Yes,
but there are events, which, by leading us into sin, weak-
en instead of strenethening our faith. It evidently would
be no answer to such an objection to say, ‘‘ every good
gift, and every perfect gift is from above ; for the object-
or might reply, ‘I have no doubt of that—but the bad
gifts—the events which lead me to sin—come from
above also, or at least are not prevented from coming, by
the power above; and it is of these bad gifts that | am
speaking at present, and not ofthe good ones. The true
interpretation of the Apostle’s words precisely meets
this objection. There are no bad gifts--no bad events--“ eve-
Ty appointment is gracious in its design, and divinely fitted
for that design. All events are fitted for exercising and
strengthening the faith of those to whom they are sent,
and they have been selected by infinite love and infinite
wisdom for this object. Man may neglect or misuse them ;
but let him not presume to say, I am tempted of God ;”
he is himself to blame ; he may have cast away an oppor-a

 

ee aegis peeE ENE,
See ee
sty te

a vet -

 
    

 

 

se can PSE

 

 

STAR TET esa
ssa Nene, StS Fe

      
     
  
     
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

   
 
 
   

158 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

Practical religion consists in seeing God the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ in every thing, and in ex-
pecting a blessing from him in every thing, and in.
being more concerned as to the spiritual improve-
ment which we may draw from every event which
befals us, than as to the nature of the event itself
being either agreeable or disagreeable to us; or, in
other words, it consists in the spirit of dependence
and of prayer.

Affliction is a great realizer in religion, or rather
a great detector of the want of reality in religion.—
We, perhaps, thought ourselves Christians, and that
we were founded on the rock; and now an affliction
comes and we shake like aspen leaves. Could this

tunity of growing for heaven—he may have converted a
blessing intoa curse, but the appointment itself was wise
and gracious. The natural sun sends forth wholesome
warmth in his beams; but the diseased state of the object
on which his beams light, may convert that wholesome
warmth into fever or putrefaction. Yet still in itself it is
a wholesome warmth. Even so the beams of the Son of
righteousness may be turned to evil by the diseased heart
of man, and yet there is nothing but love in God.

Tlace door ayatn xs ray dwenpen Tersioy

ayaley err

Tacx dootcerrt ay2bn x2 ray dwenprr tort avabey Tertiov.

Every giving is gracious, and every gift is from above
fitted for its purpose, or perfected Accu, giving, seems to
relate to the attention of the giver—it is good or kind—
daenuz, gift, is the event or appointment itself—it is perfect
or perfected from above, or divinely, t. e. fitted for that pur-
pose, which in the third verse of the same chapter, is said
to be the purpose of trials in general. The ambiguity
of the passage has arisen from the position of the two
words, ayaSey erat, at the end of the clause—which position
is explained by the hypothesis, that the preceding words
form an hexameter line, which is quoted entire by the
Apostle.OF THE GOSPEL. 159

be, if we were really on the rock ? We thought fond-
ly that God was the chosen portion of oursouls, and
that though all created things were taken from us,
we had enough when we had him; and yet when
he crosses some desire of our hearts, or removes some
of his own gifts—a friend, perhaps, or even a little
of the world’s trash—we seem as if we had lost our
all, and cry after it, as that Danite did after his
idols, and thus we learn the fact, that our comfort
before did not, as we idly supposed, flow from the
eternal fountain (for that still remains to us,) but had
been drawn from perishing cisterns: and therefore,
now that they are broken, we die of thirst. 'Thisis
an important discovery, and it was to make this dis-
covery to us that God sent the affliction. Let us
then receive it in deep humility—let us receive it
as a call from God to leave the creature behind us,
and go directly into his own more immediate pre-
sence, into his inner chamber. Reader, will you al-
low me to speak a word to you on this matter. Be-
ware of occupying your mind as to how the af-
fliction happened, or how it might have been pre-
vented. Think not of the oversight, or folly, or
malice which may appear to you to have been the
immediate occasion of it. God did it; and you must
bid away all second causes from your thought, and
carry the affliction to his throne of grace, and cast it
and yourself before him: and ask him to save your
soul, and to deliver you from resting on any created
portion, and pray him to become himself your real,
and true, and everlasting portion. Take care that
this affliction be not lost. Abide in his presence,
and be jealous of receiving comfort from any other
source. You may lose your affliction if you de.—
And oh! remember that holiness is of more impor-pe etree ad fe hg i eg Pea fee gat nh a be eT eT ee

 

 

  

160 UNCONDITIONAL FREENESS

tance than comfort. Be still more anxious for pro-
fit from your affliction, than for support under it.—
You are an immortal creature, and eternity is your
great concern. Holiness is eternal happiness—com-
fort may be the affair of an howr. And God sends
affliction that we may become partakers of his holi-
ness.

Let me conclude by saying that all is to be look-
ed for and received from God. ‘* Open thy mouth
wide and [ will fill it.”’ Itis the soul that re-
eeives all from God, which alone can feel itself to
be the property of God—his property to guide and
to command—his property to bless and to keep—his
highly-prized property, purchased at no less a cost
than the death of Christ, for this very end, that he
might sanctify it in time, and glorify it in eternity.
The soul that feels this has peace; it does not
make haste, for it knows how secure it is. It pos-
sesses the secret of the Lord, that secret which does
for all circumstances and contingencies—which does
for life, for death, for duty, for suffering—which
gives the spirit of a pilgrim, and yet a willing ser-
vant—which gives the foretaste of the joy of heaven
as it is the commencement of the character of
heaven.

Reader, farewell—I believe that what I have
written is according to the word of God ; and as faras
it is so, I may look up to him for a blessing on it.
It would be an unspeakable joy to me to have any
reason to think, that it has been really honoured by
him to be the bearer of a message to your soul. At
all events, I trust it may not do you the injury of ex-
citing the spirit of controversy in you. If you don’t
agree with it, lay it down and go to the Bible; and
if vou do agree with it, in like manner lay it downOF THE GOSPEL. 161

and go to the Bible, and go in the spirit of prayer
to him whose word the Bible is, and ask of him,

and he will lead you into all truth—he will give
you living water.

THE END

 

é
a

SEs eta tebe cist erat.

4
i
if
5
F
&
H
7
er. 3
a
"4
;
r
¢
;et toe ee

 

 

 

ere

ah
ny
i
My
H
i.
ui

porta

ge pete

oSited daa Tee

oo eee pmnnreme re: eo fers

ql

 

eee eS

aere

t
4teeseeep recsre
mM
Mm
i
Lm)
ra
ru
CS
CS
><
VU

poner peed

Rasa