LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. BV 1590 .L362 1884 Lamb, Andrew Simon. The gospel and the child )X55 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. MORRISON AND GIBB, KUINBUKnil, rHINTEUS TO HEIl MAJESTY'S STATIONEUV OFFICE THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. :\^ 0^ r Wu BY / (* MAr> 3 1022 ANDREW SIMON LAMB, SCOTCH ADVOCATi:, OF TIIK INNEIt TEMI'LE, BAURISTEa-AT-i^W. ' I Speak as to wise men ; jud^e ye what I say.' LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 1884. All Rights reserved. PREFACE. TTlOrt years the writer Jias laboured luuler the -*- sad but settled conviction that much of what passes for Christian upbringing, though fairly enough entitled to the designation of religious, cannot be justly denominated gospel. Under the name of Christian there seems not unfrequently employed a system of instruction, which so conceals the doctrines of the Cross beneath an ostentatious regard to the professed vindication of the Law, that such training might be well described as legal rather than evangelical. The Gospel is indeed acknowledged and extolled, but it is treated withal rather as a remedy to be explained and accepted by and by, after a fitting period of preparation or probation, than employed and most truly honoured as a present and readily available 6 PREFACE. salvation — for time as for eternity — for childliood as for old age. If however the reception of the gospel in all its simplicity and fulness, is the only mean for intro- ducing into the heart the constraining love of Christ, and it is in the presence of that love as a motive power that we have alone a sure and sufficient guarantee for the just and truly adequate use of life, if that gospel is kept back, on any pretence whatever, it is vain to hope that its place can be supplied by any extraneous or moral coercion, however well systematized or even ap- parently sanctioned by, or professedly founded on the very law itself. It is futile to hope that by any other means than the acceptance of the gospel, the human can be brought into that submission to, and acquiescence with, the divine will which is indispensable to the right appreciation and employment of the oppor- tunities and advantages of life. There seems a widespread tendency, not indeed avowed, but all the same practical (a tendency against which, moreover, the loudest professions of regard for the doctrines of the resuscitated faith of the Eeformation, may not unfrequently fail to PREFACE. 7 afford any real or absolute security), to virtually substitute in the upbringing of the young, law for gospel, or ratlier perhaps to employ, as a temporary expedient for the years of childhood, what might be perhaps not untruly described as an attempted combination of law with gospel, in which the former is allowed to predominate, to the almost practical subversion of the latter. Consideration of the necessary and natural con- sequences of the adoption of such a course, not only affords ready and reasonable explanation for much of the gen.eral, spiritual and moral, inefficiency of the ordinary religious instruction of the school, but also supplies a very reasonable solution of the so common difficulty suggested by the downright, manifest, and sometimes appalling failures of the children of most religious parents, or of the pupils of strictest and sternest preceptors. May He Who was so loving and merciful to the writer through a long protracted career of folly, profligacy, and sin, and has now vouchsafed prosperity, blessing, and comfort in the preparation of this volume, employ its unworthy tribute to the absolute indispensability, not only of His purchased pardon, but of His finished righteousness, from one PKEFACIi. wlio trusts however feebly in both, for Cod's glory, through the good of man, especially of the yonng, as may be in accordance with His holy will. To His name be all the praise. 1 Paper BuTLniNos, Templb. 1884. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAOE I. EEMEF, ..... 11 II. UPBRINGING, ..... 24 III. THE BIBLE, ..... 33 IV. MEANS, ...... 47 V. HUMAN- NATURE, .... r.7 vr. THE END OF EXISTENCE, 73 VII. THE G05?rEL, ..... 84 viir. SUPaiOUNDINGS, .... lOG IX. APrLl CATION, ..... 120 X. OBJECT AND MOTIVE, .... 137 XI. GOSPEL INSTRUCTION, .... 148 XII. JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION, 174 xiir. ADVANTAGES, ..... 20G XIV. GETTING OX, ..... 226 XV. CONCLUSION, ..... 241 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. CHAPTEE I. BELIEF. A BELIEVER in anything is one who in his plans or actions takes its existence into account whenever in his judgment it affects or may possibly affect such plans or actions. He is one who makes allowance for it as a real factor in life, whether to endeavour to neutrahzo its effects or to take advantage of its assistance as circumstances may permit and the case may demand. Belief is not the mere mental or expressed assent to the truth of a statement, or the profession of acquiescence in the correctness of a definition, or approbation of the accuracy of a description, but the practical effect produced on the behaviour 12 THE GOSPEL AND THE CIIILlh resultant from and consistent with tlie giving of sucli assent or acquiescence or approbation. Belief is not the acknowledgment of the worthi- ness of any principle of action to be accepted as true, and adopted as a rule of life, but the line of conduct and action subsequent to, based on, and consistent with such an acceptance, and evidencing such an adoption. It is, in short, not the mental or oral avowal of acceptance of a rule, but the conformity in action to its requirements. To say this, is not to attach any fanciful or strained import to, much less to suggest or manu- facture a forced or false signification for, a common word, but simply to call attention to its original and true meaning. The words to hclicvc, really mean neither more or less than just to live as making allowance for. However much in the course of successive generations, and in consequence of perhaps many and varied influences, the original and absolutely correct force of the nowadays seemingly so gene- rally misunderstood, at all events so frequently apparently misapplied, expression to Idkvc has been lost sight of, wrested, or perverted, it is still BELIEF. ij as clearly as ever nuuiifust to any \v]u> will seek its meanini^' in its curt and simple derivation and composition. The prefix ' be,' and the old Saxon verb llfaTi, to make allowance for, combine to form our well- known word ' belief.' To how many minds the use of the word, even on some stray occasion, much less habitually, sug- gests any such meaning, is a question which may safely be left to the reader. It is not taking up a false or perilous, though to many perchance it may appear a somewhat bold, not to say untenable position, to assert and boldly maintain that to the majority of minds the expres- sion serves but to suggest or describe that mental action which recognizes any statement or descrip- tion as true. Upon the causes which may have led, or con- tributed, from time to time to the maintenance, adoption, and propagation of this error, it is not intended here at least to dilate. It may be that one, if not the chief, reason is to be found in that tribute of common sense to the utility of truth, which would wish, for the credit of the human judgment, so indissolubly to associate 14 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. the possession of knowledge with its beneficiivl employment as to willingly accept the admission, or profession, of having it as synonymous with a guarantee for its exercise. It may also be that the displacing, for the pur- poses of religious worship, of the Saxon by the lioman tongue may have contributed in some de- gree to the subsequent misapplication of the term belief, as tending to associate it in the popular mind rather with a public declaration of opinion than a course and habit of life. But whatever the causes, the result is patent enough. It is a sufficiently obvious truth that, to the generality of minds, the employment of the word belief is not suggestive of that life of action to which it pointed in the minds of those who called it into existence. Still the force that is latent has not departed. It is still there, and may be employed as of yore and as a word capable, in the strength of this its original and true meaning, of expressing, as no other word in the language does or can equally well, the reception of doctrine combined with its appropria- tion for the purposes of guidance, and its exhibition, and it may be development, in practice, we would BELIEF. 15 employ it in its native fulness and strength as the grand classifying characteristic of mankind. Each individual member of the human race is, with regard to every subject within the ken of his knowledge, a believer or an unbeliever. The fact of knowledge involves either belief or unbelief, wherever and whenever such knowledge is at all applicable to the requirements or circum- stances of the use of life. With regard to every subject within the ken of his knowledge, he either accepts it as an existence, ^vith all its to him known j)roperties, and frames his actions over which it can, in Ms judgment, possibly exert any influence, direct or indirect, accordingly, and so is a believer ; or he does not so accept it or take account of its power, and is an unbeliever. It is true he may be but a dubious and hesitat- ing, it may even be a sceptical recipient of knov/- ledge, and but a timid and halting follower of its precepts ; still, if he be but a follower of its precepts in the actions of life, he is as truly a believer as his more robust comrade who, a ready and un- doubting disciple in the school of wisdom, goes forth a steady, manly, even it may be, if need de- i6 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. luand, an heroic exeniplitier in practice of what he has there heard inculcated. Such is a believer. On the other hand, the man who, whilst admit- ting, perhaps even professing, the truth of princij)les, by his neglect of their guidance slights the advantage to be derived from putting them in practice, or defies the danger consequent on their disregard, is, on every occasion on which he so acts, just as truly an unbeliever as he who openly and avowedly demurs to the truth, or admitting the truth doubts the efficacy, or granting both the truth and efficacy, despises and rejects the aid of some proffered en- lightenment. In either case the man is an unbeliever. There is of course a difference betwixt these classes of unbelief, but it is one rather of character than of degree. The one may be characterized as an illogical, the other as a logical unbelief. The man who professes to accept knowledge as true, is manifestly illogical in his unbelief. He who refuses to accept it as true is at least logical in refusing to act upon it. But if the former is the illogical, it is at the same time, in some sense at least, the more hopeful of the two classes, as it is undoubtedly by far the BELIEF. 17 more numerous. It may well be said that there is more liojie of the illogical unbeliever abjuring his unbelief, from the mere fact of his being already in the position of admitted, perhaps even of boasted, possession of that groundwork upon which all belief, no matter what its subject, must of necessity lie built, namely knowledge. He has a vantage ground upon which to erect the temple of consistency, and so far at least may be said to be nearer the possession of belief. But he who denies absolutely, from whatever cause, or on whatever ground, the truth, or even theoretical value, of that information whencesoever it may be derived which nmst precede action, and which must afford the basis for belief, is manifestly not even as yet capable if he could be supposed willing to believe. He must accept and admit principles in order to be in a position to produce practice. Until he accepts and admits, he has nothing to put in prac- tice, and it is an absolute impossibility for him to believe, which is simply a putting in practice of certain knowledge. It may perhaps not be altogether out of place, or perhaps unnecessary, to recall to mind that l8 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. belief may at times, from the very nature of its functions, appear on the surface, hardly at all an active operation. Believing in its full and absolutely, perfect action must of necessity and in reality consist in the maintenance of trustful quiet, the absence of per- sonal exertion, the passive, so to speak, but perfectly satisfied and calculating dependence on work having been, or being at the time, accomplished by another, when the acceptance of facts and the consistent allowance for their existence and influence involve or require the absence of personal interference or demand the repose of such confidence. Belief in full swing is often of necessity trust in representation. It may often perforce consist in the quiet con- fidence of implicit dependence on work being accomplished by another. Many are the instances of this which might be cited from everyday life occurrences. Life is full of them. The shipmaster in the dark and troubled night, whilst, by the dim light of the uneasy lamp, he pores with anxious eye over the outspread chart, must all the while, in his calculations for safety, reckon BELIEF. 19 npon the liclinsnian whom he has left at his post. The assumption that he is then steering as directed, is as important a factor in the planned escape from reefs and breakers as the pilot's know- ledge or the captain's skill. Belief may often be but a course of quiet wait- ing. It must needs be whenever quiet waiting is the line of conduct demanded by due and consistent allowance for the power and influence of facts. Nowhere is this species of belief more clearly exemplified than in the commencement of a Christian career. There the beginning is found in the resting in the acceptance of a pardon and peace to be enjoyed only for the sake of the already long- since accomplished and once for ever finished all-sufficient sacrifice and labours of another. Then the doing anything but accepting of that finished and perfect atoning sacrifice, as made for oneself, is sheer and absolute unbelief, because not acting in accordance v/ith God's announcement of what is a matter of historical fact. In that case the work of belief is to accept 20 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. that work as what it purports to be, complete in itself, and it is as much an act of belief to accept it as such and rest upon it for pardon, acceptance, and peace, as it is to per- form any of those; works of Christian love and charity which are at once its fruits, and the duties, as well as ornaments, of the subsequent life of faith. And here it may be remarked, that as there is no field where the effects of error are of necessity more disastrous and appalling than in that of religion, so is there apparently no sphere of action where the misappreciation of the true force of the term, and misuse of the word belief has been more productive of disadvantage and in- justice to the cause which above all others it ougiit to serve. It may well be that much if not all of the acrimony of dispute which has from time to time arisen as to the true relative position of faith and works, might, at least in modern times, to a very large extent have been avoided, if not rendered impossible, because manifestly unnecessary, by a due attention and regard to the actual import of the word belief. BELIEF. 21 Many centuries ago the name Christian was given to those who not only accepted but believed the doctrines of apostolic teaching. Those who then bore it were but few in number, now they are many, but it could hardly be said that at the present day all who boast the de- signation are, so far at least as apparent consist- ency of life is concerned, entitled to its possession equally with those to whom it was first appro- priated. Still, good, bad, or indifferent soldier of the cross, as each modern professor of Christianity may be, and separated by so many centuries from the veterans in the fight, the rules of warfare are identically the same for the modern Christian as for the primitive convert. These rules are either stated absolutely and em- bodied in precise terms in the pages of Holy Writ, or if transmitted through any other medium, as derived from the same divine source, must be clearly logically reconcilable with the doctrines and teachings of the inspired page. One of those, foremost, clear, and indispensable, is implicit reliance on the absolute infallibility of God's Word. 22 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. Now by the possession of absolute knowledge of the true and correct on any subject, we are in a position justly to detect as false, and stigmatize as erroneous, that which is clearly and diametrically opposed thereto. In other words, if it is imj^ossible to reconcile two principles or courses of action, and the one is known on indisputable authority to be undoubtedly and absolutely true, the other may safely be assumed to be as certainly false. Now if it be found that there are certain prin- ciples with regard to the science and art of the upbringing of the young, either explicitly laid down or by fair and honest deduction clearly derivable from the sacred volume, it must follow that any pursuance of that science and art, in vogue in every- day practice, so far as repugnant to or irreconcilable with such principles, must be, no matter by whom followed, or by what specious pretensions of expediency, utility, or even apparent necessity it may be supported or defended, defective, unsound, false, and mischievous. It need hardly be added that it must of necessity be the duty of every professing philanthropist, but above all of the Christian, the best because the only BELIEF. 23 real and true, to express his dissent from any such, to oppose and hinder its carrying out, to reject its guidance for himself, and to prevent its accept- ance, maintenance, and employment on the part of others to the utmost of his power. 24 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. CHAPTEE II. UPBEINGING. TN every investigation which is to be conducted through the medium of language it is mani- festly highly desirable, if not absolutely imperative, that strict attention should be paid to the accuracy of the language employed, and that, even when views are sought to be presented in what is known as a popular form, no affectation of simplicity of style should be allowed to operate, or be brought forward, as a pretext or excuse for inaccuracy of diction. It seems therefore advisable, though even at perhaps very imminent risk of incurring the charge of pedantry, to adopt a perhaps rather unfrequently employed term as representative of the combined science and art to which our attention is to be directed. Whilst doing so, too, it may not perhaps UPBRINGING. 25 be altogether out of place to state the reasons which have led to its adoption in preference to others more generally employed to designate the subject of our consideration. The two words Instruction and Education, are very commonly employed as if they were synonymous. They are used indifferently, to all appearance, to express that combined employment of the imparta- tion of knowledge, of systematized direction and superintended exercise of the natural gifts and powers, and of that discipline of the moral faculties which all together are directed, as they are con- sidered requisite, to the befitment and preparation of the young for their share in the business of life. They would seem from their accepted promiscuous employment to convey to the minds of very many, if not of the majority, of those who so use them the same meaning. Whether this is so, and if it is so whether it arises from want of due consideration or from ignorance of their true respective signifi- cations, is of comparatively little moment. Their apparently indiscriminate use is an incontrovertible fact. Now that their adoption as equivalent terms is 26 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. not strictly speaking justifiable, will readily appear on a reference to their respective derivations and true meanings. It must then appear manifest to the unbiassed mind that whatever use or misuse may be made of them, in popular converse, they actually point to, and ought to be employed to designate totally distinct, though at the same time most intimately connected, in fact it might truly be said in the ordinary run of cases inseparable, operations in one and the same great work. They are, and must undoubtedly always be, joint factors in the training of mankind. But still they are not, correctly speaking, designative of the same thing, and ought not to be employed as if they were. The operations which they each denote are in their respective natures and immediate objects totally distinct, and ought not to be confounded. Instruction, whatever its source, whether divine revelation, personal observation, inclusive of course of the fruits of experience, or that store of knowledge, whencesoever derived, already in the possession of others is an imparting of information. Education is the development of power. The drawing out of that latent force which without the possession of knowledge would be unavailable. UPBRINGING. 27 That there should have arisen a laxity or con- fusion in their use is perhaps no very great wonder, when regard is had to the fact of their almost universal apparent inseparability. Education is in fact almost an impossibility except as a result of the intervention of instruction. Of course it need hardly be added that it is scarcely possible to impart instruction without some amount of education being the result, unless in cases where the condition of the recipient is utterly and irre- trievably abnormal. This being so, it is easy to understand how education has come to be suggestive of precedent instruction, and instruction to seemingly involve as a matter of course, and necessary result, education. The truth most probably is that when in the course of ordinary conversation either term is used, it actually calls up to the mind of the speaker, and is intended to convey to that of the hearer, a something combining both. At all events, if such is not the intended effect of its employment, it is very frequently, perhaps almost invariably, the actual result of its use. Whichever of the two words is employed, it serves to suggest the whole process of school train- 28 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. ing inclusive as well of that imparting of knowledge, necessary to render available tlie natural powers and capabilities of the individual, which is instruc- tion proper, as that supplying, so far as may be, of those external circumstances of habit, direction, and discipline, most favourable to the successful develop- ment, fostered growth, and beneficial employment of the powers and capacities thus fitted for action and called into play. Cultivation is a word which would seem under its figurative guise well and beautifully to represent the combined operation of instruction with educa- tion, which is so inadequately and improperly attempted by the use of either term alone. By it we have truly and well depicted before the mind's eye the human soul, with all its latent powers and capacities, as a fair domain of virgin soil rich but as yet improductive. By it we behold the utilizing seeds of knowledge buried beneath its surface. By it is suggested the nur- turing care which watches over and tends the grow- ing produce from the delicate green of the bursting germ till the full rich golden ear of harvest crowns and rewards the skill and industry and assiduous care of the satisfied and delighted husbandman. UPBRINGING. 29 And as the skill which wins its reward from tho nurture of nature need not be conliued in its exercise to the care of the bread-yielding harvest, but may find opportunity for its fostering solicitude, in the beauteous flowers or the luscious fruit, or may tend the handsome shrul), or rear the stately monarch of the dale, so this image of husbandry may ])e extended to represent the culture not only of the necessary and useful but of the superfluous and ornamental, and may with equal propriety be taken to depict the training which fits for the laborious handicraft as that which prepares for the senate or the field. Yet it might be that its very comprehensiveness as a symbolic word should, in certain instances, operate as an objection to its employment ; for as the tree, long after it has attained the age of fruit- fulness and has contributed to the enrichment and gratification of man must still, in order to prolonged productiveness, remain the object of the husband- man's care, it must, in that instance at least, l)e regarded as hardly a faultless symbol of the care which is, strictly speaking, directly and purely pre- paratiAe for life, and which has discharged its proper functions and yields its charge as the object 30 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. of its solicitude steps down, all begirt for independent action, into the sounding arena of active life. But if this consideration, of the comparatively brief period to which the task of preparing the young for entering upon the struggle of life must be confined, detracts from the absolute suitability of the figure of cultivation, as exactly suggestive of such work, it may also very well serve to point to the incorrectness of employing either of the terms instruction or education. Although the preparation of youth must bo sought as the result of a combination of what is strictly expressed by each of those terms, yet the time for their continued employment is limited to a certain number of years at a certain period of life, whilst the operation represented by either of these terms may be, in fact is, lifelong. The whole earthly career of man, from the first dawn of infant intelligence to the eclipsing hour of death, is one prolonged course of instruction and education. To describe lifetime as one long term of schooling, were but to repeat a trite but common- place aphorism. It is indeed true that life is a school and life- time a prolonged course of training, but as, in the UPBRINGING. 31 juvenile growth of the individual, the simple toacli- iug of the infant school is the manifestly natural prelude to the higher erudition of the academy, and as without the elementary preparation of the former the elaborate culture and finish of the latter were, if not absolutely unattainable, at least not to be very reasonably expected, so is it with regard to the training of the youthful in relation to the ex- perimental acquisition of wisdom in riper years. It is not, however, with the lessons of mature man- hood or ripe old age that we have to do, directly at least, in the course of the present considerations, but with that training of the youthful mind which is to prepare for the advantageous self-appropriation of such lessons. To well describe such an undertaking, the simple word Teaching is certainly better adapted than instruction or education, employed separately, as serving to embrace both. It is superior to the figurative expression cultiva- tion as presenting in reaUty much of which the other is after all but a symbol. But to best and most comprehensively, with at the same time a due regard to the efficacy and aid of the figurative, describe that process, in every 32 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. particular adapted to its end, another term suggests itself. The instruction which is indispensable, the education which is requisite, the love that nurtures, the discipline that curbs, the sympathy which encourages and cheers, and all else that may be supposed capable of contributing to beiit the human unit for its place in the true and active economy of human life, appear most admirably comprehended and most amply expressed in the term Upbringing. THE BIBLE. 33 CHArTEE III. THE BIBLE. T71VERY believer in Christ must of course accept the Bible as the enunciation of absolute truth. The fact that it has directly, or by implication, the pledge of His veracity as a guarantee for its trustworthiness, is sufficient ground for such an one to regard its teachings as infallible. To do otherwise seems so manifestly irreconcilable with a trust in His truthfulness as to lay any one, who so acts, open to a charge of want of confidence in his Master, which would be glaringly incon- sistent enough in the case of the disciple of any teacher. What Christ Himself accepted and referred to as true, and what His duly commissioned and inspired apostles taught or acknowledged as siicli, must 34 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. surely be entitled to acceptance by every one who professes Him for Saviour and Lord. The only question which could possibly arise to disturb the mind of such an one would be regarding the right of what passed current as the record or transcription of such truth to a place within the sacred volume. Of course what might have unworthily found place amongst the writings of the inspired volume could not demand implicit obedience, though it might be entitled to a large amount of reverence and respect. Once however fairly determined, through the medium of able and just criticism, as being, as it purported to be, duly entitled to a place amidst writings furnishing beyond a doubt the correct expression of the truth, it only remains to accept, acknowledge, and believe. It could scarcely be unprofitable, and would perhaps be interesting, to review some of the rea- sons for the determination and acceptance of our popularly received canon of Scripture ; but upon the liistorical or critical grounds for the absolute and unhesitating recognition of the claims to validity of that authority, to the judgment of which it is THE BIBLE. 35 intended to submit the system in practice in too many cases of upbringing, it is not proposed to dilate. To do so, although not inconsistent with, would certainly be unnecessary for our purpose. Com- posed as it is in part of those ancient scriptures which, handed down through successive generations, with reverential and devoted care, were in the course of time ratified by the personal authority, and sanctioned by the public use of Him to whom they bore witness ; and in part of that collection of biography, history, doctrine, injunction, and pro- phecy which the almost unanimous decision of the Christian Church has from earliest centuries acknowledged and professed to accept as inspired, the canon of Holy Writ as adopted by the Ee- formed Protestant Churches of this country is that authority in faith, and instructor in morals, to the arbitrament of which we would appeal. Assuming that the Bible must, as it does, furnisli, cither directly or indirectly, all instruction necessary for the government and direction of mankind in the discharge of every duty which can under any possible set of circumstances become incumbent, as it will in the fulfilment of even the most minute 36 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. and varied relations arising in the most delicate and complex exigencies of the most refined civiliza- tion, it may of course be expected to provide ample guidance in the carrying out of that most momentous of undertakings, the uj)bringing of the young, that course of instruction and education and loving discipline whereby the body, soul, and spirit of the young human being is to be gradually fitted and prepared to take part in the conduct and business of life. That it does so is as a matter of fact well enough known. Many passages refer explicitly and directly ta the training of youth. Many other incidentally afford insight with regard to, or indirectly proffer guidance on the subject. Nor is there wanting abundance of that teaching by example of effects which is, in a sense, with some perhaps even more suggestive and efficacious than the instruction of precept. The historical and biographical portions of Holy Writ furnish this most plentifully. The personal histories of the leading actors in successive generations, whether prominent for good or evil, depict in the beatific sheen of heaven's own THE BIBLE. 37 ai)proval, or display, illumined l)y the awful gleams of rigliteous judgment, or in the lurid dimness of despair, the good or ill effects which have followed the adoption of the true or the false in the ethics of early nurture. More potent and momentous still, though only on account of their magnitude, the destinies of races and the fates of nations attest no less loudly, though to some perchance it may ajipear less manifestly, the dire effects of erroneous upbringing. The weary servitude of Jacob, the tears of the poet king over a lost Absalom, the wail of breaking hearts from 'neath the willows by the far-off streams of Babylon, each tells a like tale. But it is not with the examples, whether of success or failure, that we would have to do. It is, alas ! indeed not necessary to turn to the pages of Holy Writ for testimony to the prolific qualities in sorrow and suffering of bad or even indiscreet upbringing. We have but to look around, thrice happy those who cannot find in their own circle ; we have but to recall to mind instances which have from time to time come within our own observation, or been furnished by the annals of misery and crime to supply ourselves with saddest, and at the same 38 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. time most palpable, evidence to a like effect, evidence of the appalling evils which may result from even incorrect, or injudicious, early training. But we must not digress. Upon the regions of the historical and biographical we would not enter, save it may be from time to time to cull an illustration. It is with the doctrinal, the dogmatic, and the preceptive portions of Scripture that we must mainly have to do. And yet, in the elimination from the pages of Holy Writ of a truly Christian scheme, theoretical and practical, of juvenile culture, attention is not of necessity, in truth cannot be, coniined to the consideration of such passages as ostensibly point directly and specifically to the subject of our thoughts. The Bible to be accepted as an authority and employed for the purposes of this investigation must be taken as a homogeneous, perfectly self-consistent, inter-dependent, and inter- elucidating declaration of what God would have mankind accept as the truth with regard to Himself, man, and existence. It informs us of the attributes of God, of the origin, nature, characteristics, capacities, and destiny. THE BIBLE. 39 actual or potential, so far as wc arc concerned to know, of man, of the end or purpose of tlic creation, not only of our world and race but of the universe, and how alone we can fulfil our part of contributing towards such end consistently with the enjoyment of absolute safety and true happiness, and it tells of the character, natural tendencies, influences, and powers at work in the world of morals, the real scene of our actions and the true field of our labours. The Bible is the revelation of the salvation of our race. It is the exponent of the story of the Cross. The one great Sacrifice, its cause, its completion, its consequences, and its effects are its theme. The Bible is too apt to be treated as a mere code of morality, open, so to speak, to the appropriation and obedience of all-comers. It is not to be taken as such if morality is to l)e employed in the restricted sense in which it is commonly used. That the Bible does furnish us with a system of morality, even in that narrow application of the word which is employed to signify conformity to those rules of, so to speak, moral police, the 40 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. observance of which to some extent at least is absolutely necessary to render life comfortable, or even endurable, in the relations of man to man, and obedience to which is as necessary to personal comfort and temporal advantage as regard to the requirements of those physical laws which affect our corporeal wellbeing, is of course undeniable. The Bible does indeed provide man with a code of rules for the government of his daily life in his transactions with his fellows, but not that it should be sought, as is too often the case, to extract such portions as bear upon the discharge of the relations of domestic and public life, and with them to endeavour to create a system, which is, as seems not unfrequently the case, to serve for the entire religion of life. The morality of the Bible, using the word in its ordinary acceptation, was given to those in covenant with God. We must not attempt to separate biblical morality from the cross of Christ. The Cross is to be the injiuencing canse of our morality, just as without it we cannot attain to the highest morality, or rather it should be said to true, or absolutely perfect, morality. 7'llE BIBLE. 41 The morality of tlie Bible is for us the morality of the Christian, and its acceptance the outcome and the fruit, or rather it should be said a portion, of our belief of the gospel, that is, in other words, of our framing our life in accordance with its tenets and requirements. It cannot be too much borne in mind that the morality of the Bible, whether as regards the enactments of the Mosaic law or the injunctions of the gospel dispensation, were addressed to those already in covenant with God. Nor ought it, as a C(jnse(|uence, to be forgotten that its recjuirements are to be viewed as directed to sanctitication and not to justification, to the purifying and keeping pure, so far as the use of means is concerned in tliis world of sin and temptation, of the living temple of the consecrated being, or it may be further for its embellishment with such charms of grace, and truth, and purity, and loA'eliness, that those around may recognize, and acknowledge, and glorify the work of God. It might be highly advantageous were the term morality generally employed in a far broader and more comprehensive sense, than as bearing merely upon an upright behaviour in the relations of this 42 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD, life. As under the moral law as applied to the tables of the Decalogue are comprehended all the duties of man to his Creator as well as to his fellow-creatures, it might well be employed as embracing reference to every duty consequent upon our position, not only in this world but the universe. With beautiful and perfect consistency the term might then be employed to stand for all the varied operations of the life of faith, and serve to depict not only the penitent and gladsome acceptance of the sole way of reconciliation with our God and Father, but all that subsequent life of Christian charity, the natural and ever, in some degree, inseparable resultant therefrom, which feeble and imperfect as it must needs often be, even in the case of the most gifted and favoured of believers, is yet for Christ's sake pleasing to heaven and beneficial to earth. But even in adopting the usual and more restricted signification of the word which confines its application to the discharge of the varied duties and obligations of our race in the relationships of man to his fellows, we must ever guard against the fatal error of making, or even seeming to make, common cause with those who would attempt to THE BIBLE. 43 separate the morality of the Bible from its connec- tion witli the cross of Christ. We must ever avoid even the appearance of participating in that so fashionable, though not on that account needs it be said less flagrant, dishonesty which would strive to filch, to use no stronger expression, from the gospel the just and sole credit of those dogmas of purest and highest philanthropy, the origin of which, if not manifestly apparent in its direct teachings, is at least, on fair and candid consideration, easily traceable to them as its celestial source. And in the use of Scripture for the purposes of our present investigation it is moreover never to be forgotten, as in fact it ought not to be overlooked in any reference to it for any purpose whatsoever, that those portions of the New Testament, the Apostolic Epistles directed to instruct the reader and student in the conformation of his life to the divine model and standard, were originally and primarily addressed to Christians. They were not addressed to the world at large, but to communities or to individuals who had already, ostensibly at least, accepted and appropriated the message of pardon and peace. 44 THE GOSFEL AND THE CHILD. The Epistles were letters of counsel and comfort to those who had already professedly fled for refuge to ' the hope set before them in the gospel.' ' All scripture is/ we full well know, ' given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for reproof and for instruction in righteousness,' and the believer is entitled so to use it ; but still it is true that this very declaration of the all-pervading efficacy of the scriptures of the Old Testament is to be found set forth in an epistle to an early convert to Christianity. It may doubtless appear to some that it is a work of supererogation to call attention to such matters as these, and that all the more especially considering the class of readers for whom these remarks are avowedly intended. Yet, after all, placed as professing believers are in the midst of a country in the hands of an enemy, in a climate the very purest natural ex- hilarations of which are fraught with danger to the most careful of sojourners, surrounded by an atmosphere in which the pestilential miasmas of liberalism of indifference are too apt to be mistaken for the gentle zephyrs of heaven-born charity, and ever exposed to the insidious attacks of an infidelity no less decided, and no less dangerous, because it THE BIBLE, 45 conceals its leprosy l)eneatli the cloak of a con- siderate philanthropy, and professes acceptance of all that is kindly and benevolent in Holy Writ, thongh scornfully renouncing all allegiance to Him who gave it, there need after all be no great wonder if a few sentences should be devoted, even in a treatise addressed to tlicm on a consideration of how the Bible ought to be viewed and employed. It is truly neither sought nor wished by any of these remarks to even seem to arrogate the presumptuous or blasphemous position of attempting to define the possible extent of influence, or to ascribe any limit to the power, of a single word of Holy Writ. For one the touching pathos and heart-felt appropriate- ness of the Psalms, for another some rousing and soul-stirring denunciation of a Prophet, for another the graphic narrative of a Gospel, perchance the very words of our Blessed Lord and Saviour, for another the strong overwhelming logic of a Pauline Epistle, or for another the affectionate admonitions and encouragements of the loving Apostle may be the, humanly speaking, casual and fortuitous means employed by the Holy Spirit to awaken, or to strengthen, the spiritual life. All that is sought is merely that a like due 46 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. attention to the circumstances and oljjects of its composition which ought, in the employment of all lawful means for its right and just comprehension, to be applied to any merely human composition, should be paid in the consideration of the Book of books. It can never be that the obedience of a believer to the injunction to be ' diligent in busi- ness' should be wrong, and to no employment could it by any possibility be more appropriately, or needfully, applied than in the perusal for in- struction and guidance of the Word of God. Such a diligent use of means is all that is herein besought. MEANS. 47 CHAPTEll IV. MEANS. TTOWEVErt unsatisfactory and unprofitable, though interesting and curious, as may always be any attempts to explain the phenomena of those conjunctions of successive events known in popular language under the denominations of causes and effects, the almost constant, if not perpetual, recurrence of their apparent connection affords sufficient justification for their anticipated relationship being treated as one of the grand agencies whereby the government of the world is carried on. And just as the realized connection between cause and effect is indelibly impressed upon the human mind, so also is the conviction that in order to the attainment of any end it is necessary to employ means. 48 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. The employment of means to ends may be truly described as the most generally acknowledged principle for the government in their actions known to our race. And if the necessity for the employment of means be universally accepted and believed, so does there, also, exist the kindred impression, a knowledge strong and ready as instinct itself, that the means, in order to be of use, must be appropriate, and that in proportion to their adequacy will be the degrees of success to be anti- cipated as the result of their employment. Whether the means are in the nature of language or of mechanism, whether the end in view be to rouse the enthusiasm of assembled thousands, or to pierce a pathway through the adamantine rock, it matters not, the mean must be suitable to the end. The instrument must be adapted to do the work. Nay, further, it must not only be suitable for such work in general, but, in each individual instance, regard must be had to that species of such work which has to be undertaken, to the peculiar exigencies and special difficulties of the position. The skiff which would be perfectly well enough adapted for the placid waters of the lake would be MEANS. 49 lint ill suited for the open sea, and utterly unfit for ocean, when tlie tempest liurst upon its breast. The principles upon which the suitability of an instrument is ever to be calculated nmst include considerations of its appropriateness for the work, together with due regard to any special difficulties which may be entailed, througli the jieculiar circum- stances, if any, under whicli tlie labour has to be carried on. Appropriateness for the work, together with a due regard to any special difficulties which may have to be encountered in its execution, wdiether they arise from the nature of the material to be operated upon, or from the peculiar circumstances under which the labour has to be carried on, must always be the test of the fitness of any instrument. So any system of upbringing, to be truly efficacious in any degree, must Ijc proportionately adapted to the situation, capacity, and requirements of the subject of its care as thrij really arc. That method which is intended to be truly efficacious to the utmost possible extent, must Ije fully adapted to the nature and requirements of man as they really are. Any plan by which it should be proposed to treat man as different to 50 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. what he is, or as existing under circumstances other than those amidst which he is in reality placed, must needs be erroneous ; and its inadequacy will of necessity just be proportioned to the extent to which it ignores his true nature and capacities, or disregards the real facts of his position. If, for instance, it openly and utterly denied the existence of the unseen world, or avowedly repudi- ated man's relations therewith, so as to ignore the possibility, not to say certainty, of his future exist- once being affected by his actions in the present life, no matter how advantageous, if such a thing were possible, such a system of upbringing might prove with regard to the affairs of time it would be inefficient, because inadequate, as not providing for more than the mere outset of a never-ending- career. Such a system, of course, would bear upon its face so manifestly the stigma of error that for those who were, in any sense, believers in the Christianity of the Bible it could be suggested but to be rejected. For those to whom these remarks are avowedly addressed the witting adoption of such a system of upbringing would seem almost impossible. MEANS. 51 Yet altliough ready enough to rei^udiate, and that too with generous warmth, the possibility of looking favourably upon, much less of adopting, any school which ignored a due regard to the endless future, it is possible from the force of surrounding circum- stances, of political association, of that inlluencc ofttimes most insidious when least suspected, the consequence of evil example, or of unhallowed alliance, and last not least of the plausible plead- ings of self-satisfying expediency, to seem, at least, not altogether unaffected by the varied sophistries with which it is sought to support a purely secular system of public instruction. Moreover, whilst manifestly, not to say pro- fessedly, atheistical schemes ai'c not to be supposed capable of consideration, much less of approval or adoption, there is still after all a possibility, through the iKvrtial or improper application of biblical prin- ciples and injunctions, of pursuing, it may be so to speak unconsciously, a course which, whilst not perhaps absolutely incompatible with true, at the same time falls far short of full and consistent, belief of the gospel teaching. To truly and correctly gauge the fitness of any instrument, it is necessary to be in the possession of 52 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. accurate and sufficient knowledge of the nature and properties of the matter to be operated upon, of the cliaracter and oltject of the work to be performed, of any circumstances calculated to affect favourably or detrimentally the progress of the undertaking, and also of the capabilities of the instrument itself to operate upon such material, in such a case, for such an end, to a successful issue. Now, applying this principle to the subject of upbringing, it follows, in order to our being able to form a right judgment as to the true possible efficacy of any proposed system, that we must be in possession of accurate knowledge as to the nature, properties, tendencies, and capabilities of young humanity, of the real, ultimate, and supreme object of the work to be performed upon it, of the nature of the surroundings amidst which such work is to be carried on, and of the ability of the proffered mode of procedure so to accomplish such an under- taking. "With regard to every one of these particulars it is of course to the Bible that we must turn for sufficient, and absolutely reliable information and judgment. We shall find all we seek in these respects, nor that alone. JIE.LVS. S3 Nut only shall wo be enabled to discern, and that beyond a doubt, if any on the subject could ever have existed in our minds, that the only scheme, by any possibility appropriate to our reipiirements, must be one which can justly come under the denomination of a religious course of uj)- l)ringing, but, beyond that, we shall be furnished with the details of the on/// system which actually exists suflficient for all the exigencies of our posi- tion, and, furthermore, we shall find ample instruc- tions for our guidance in its application and employment. It might appear to many cj^uite unnecessary to occupy time liy more than a mere passing reference to the familiar Evangelical doctrines as to the nature of man, the end of his being, and the cha- racter of his moral surroundings ; and so it would be were the credence of Divine Eevelation which characterizes all who may peruse these pages in the case of each individual equally full and un- qualified. But belief wdiere actually present, and that to such an extent as to avail its possessor for the purpose of accepting all that is necessary for the pnjoyment of personal salvation, may be in further 54 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. respects of such various degrees of fulness, and so affected by a variety of influences, internal and external, that there may be many true Christians, whose views, with regard to each of these very subjects of faith, may be erroneous to an unthought of and alarmingly dangerous extent. Nor can such deficient or incorrect views with regard to such matters of doctrine be, in every case, truly described as either involuntary mis- apprehension, or error of judgment, though spring- ing perhaps most frequently, if not always, from the same source as the latter, so called, class of mistakes generally does. Errors of judgment, as they are popularly styled, are probably most frequently, if not almost invari- ably, the result of inadequate knowledge rather than of the mistaken, though honest, application of sufficient information, A man, for instance, is said to have misjudged his distance from the target or the shore; he has in fact, been too careless or too self-confident to use the recognized means at his disposal to measure it with certainty and accuracy, and the failure to win a prize, or the loss of a ship, is the conse- quence. MEANS. 55 The true cause is ignorance, and that, moreover, culpable, because avoidable. So is it probably in the majority of the cases above alluded to. The knowledge of the spiritual is to be obtained through the teaching and under the guidance of revelation, and a failure to accept and follow those views which it affords of man, and his concern- ments in reference thereto, is probably in the majority of cases of error on the part of professing Christians really attributable to the neglect of the study of what Scripture says on the subject. That there may exist in the carrying out of the details of Christian life, room for great variety of opinion, and as it may appear quite fair occasion for much diversity in action, is of course undoubted, noi may such difference of opinion or in behaviour be after all of any very great practical moment or, on the whole, otherwise than beneficial. But it is far different with regard to the accept- ance and belief of matters of such fundamental im- portance as the right and just conception of man's natural sinfulness and inability for any good, the perpetual recognition of the true end of his, as of all, created existence, and of the necessarily hostile 56 THE GOSFEL AND THE CHILD. influences of the world and its belongings, no matter how apparently modified in the semi-consecration of a nominally Christian civilization. Necessary to a just appreciation of the benefits of the gospel, and advantageously borne in mind in the practical application of its truths and prin- ciples of action to the upbringing of the young, as the full acceptance of the absolute and infallible utterances of the Word of God on these subjects must needs ever be, it is manifestly very advisable that for the purposes of these considerations our views with regard to such utterances should l)e brightened and our memories refreshed by some direct reference to the clear and explicit language of Scripture. Such a course it is now intended presently to follow. HUM A N NA TURE. 57 CHAPTEK V. II U iM AN N A T U K E. TN a reference to those words of Holy Writ which describe that nature, with all its in- herent properties, tendencies, and capabilities, in the possession of which man is nshered upon his never-ending existence, and which, however sub- sequently aflected by the miraculous operation of the second birth, still to the end of this present life ne^■er fails to exercise a more or less potent influence upon its possessor, it is very natural that our opening quest should lead us to those portions of Scripture which detail or elucidate the early history of our race. Of the sad day whereon the leafy groves and pleasant glades of Eden beheld that act of dis- obedience, by which the parents of mankind in- volved their ofispring in all the weary troubles, 58 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. and direful consequences, of the fall, it is unneces- sary to speak at length. The warning disregarded, the commandment disobeyed, the covenant broken, simultaneously with the triumph of unbelief, commenced the reign of spiritual and corporeal death. Man's history was thenceforth to be one long testimony to the existence, presence, and power of evil. If in those early antediluvian days, as in later centuries, there were those who, in the pride of their hearts, were prone to doubt the full weight and true force of the calamity which had befallen our race, and to question if man were altogether so fallen and so vile as the voice of faith declared, it was not very long ere the testimony of Heaven was supported by the evidence of manifested facts. Not bereft, whatever else had been lost or im- paired, of an ample measure of energy and power, these were thenceforth to be, alas ! too frequently grievously misapplied, and as each succeeding generation advanced in experience and attainments, so also was there a growth in wickedness ever more and more regardless and atrocious. ISTot many had come and gone, ere at the Divine command, the sole prophet of faith, the believing HUMAN NA TURE. 59 Koah, prepared that ark which was to receive hiiu and his charge amid the overwhehning devastation of the deluge, and we find recorded in the Mosaic narrative that : — ' God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually ' (Gen. vi. 5). But God's promise must stand, and the gift of faith fitted the chosen instrument to j)reserv6 creation's being through the otherwise universal destruction. 'Mid tempest and desolation the ark rode in safety on the waters. Forth from their long seclusion, those twelve months' discipline of hope and expectation, came the rejoicing patriarch and his household, and the altar had been reared, and the sweet savour of the sacrifice had ascended, and God's blessing once more came down upon the rejuvenescent earth when we read : ' The Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the earth any more for man's sake ; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth' (Gen. viii. 21). How soon was a sad evidence of the presence of 6o THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. sin to be furnished in the domestic history of that very family wliich had been so lately and so won- derfully preserved ! Years had elapsed since the bow of promise had girt the Eastern sky, and in distant Edom as the most patient of men be- moaned in theophilosophic plaint the infirmity and transiency of earthly life, there falls upon the ear his sad but true testimony to the secret of human woe : ' AVho can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? IvTot one ' (Job xiv. 4). And kindred in nature was the response of his not too kind, or just, or sympathetic comforter, as the Temanite replied with the equally sad and true inquiry : ' What is man, that he should be clean ? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous ? ' (Job xv. 1 4). Pass next to that home of bitter sorrow, the palace of David. The inherent evil that had Irin hid in germ in that very breast, which strong in faith had so dauntlessly and so oft defied the armies of the aliens, and which, so rich in piety and adoration, had hymned so many a song of lo\ing praise and HUM A N NA TURE. 6 1 burning devotion, in an nnguarded mouient lias asserted its power, and the hands of Judah's king- have been imbrued in the blood of his faithful adherent. And now, in the hallowed atmosphere of a soul- chastening penitence, as the forgiven but humbled spirit can look in sorrow, but in calmness, upon the awful and bitter past, what a testimony to our natural depravity are these familiar words in that Psalm, the comfort in successive centuries of so many a sin-weeping soul ! ' Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me' (Ps. li. 5). Shall we consult the inspired wisdom of the sagest of men ? it is but to read : ' Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ? ' (Pro v. xx. 9). Passing on to the era of the greater prophets, in the days of Josiah, amidst the warnings of Jeremiah against the backslidings and idolatries of his erring countrymen, we find the declaration of the inl)oi-n evil of our nature in that all-comprehensive aiid universally-applicable passage : ' The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : who can know it ? ' (Jer. xvii. 9). 62 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. Out of the clays of types and shadows, of pro- phecies since more or less completely fulfilled, from chronicles of past history, and from soul experiences of departed saints, come we now to the declaration of Him ' who spake as never man spake.' Follow- ing hard upon denunciation of those vain traditions wherewith Pharisaic hypocrisy had overlaid, con- cealed, and nullified the spirit of the law, and affording explanation to the inquiring disciples of that warning parable that had just fallen upon the ears of the gathered throng, He, who knoweth all things, thus declared the heart of man the prolific source of every form of evil. ' From within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lascivious- ness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness ' (Mark vii. 21, 22). The great sacrifice once for ever accomplished, and the atonement complete, what testimony to the natural vileness of humanity is supplied by those apostolic writings which demonstrate the necessity for, elucidate the systematic structure, and explain the operation of the gospel remedy ? Let us take the Epistle to the Komans, where with HUMAN NATURE. 63 nil the overwhelming force of an irrefutable logic the necessity for, as well as the manner of tlu; operation of our salvation, together with the method of its appropriation by the individual is set forth. In the list of transgressions into the commission of which mankind are described as having fallen, consequently upon their having been given up to vile affections as a result of their unbelief in the Creator's eternal power and Godhead, may be found nmple illustration of the corruption of our nature, with its inherent debasing tendencies and capa- bilities for evil. Superadded to uncleanness and vile affections, we find the human soul described as under the guidance of a reprobate mind : ' Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornica- tion, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful ' (Eom. i. 29, 30, and 31). Nor does the particularization of wickedness stop here, for a little further on, after the Jew despite 64 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. the hereditary advantages, spiritual and moral, in- volved in or attached to his position as the chosen guardian of the oracles of God has been proved under sin together with the Gentile, as if the above referred to category of evil had not been sufficiently comprehensive, the denunciation of the sinfulness common to both goes on to declare : ' There is none righteous, no, not one : There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketli after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre ; witli their tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips : Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : Their feet are swift to shed blood : destruction and misery are in their ways : And the way of peace have they not known : There is no fear of God before their eyes' (Rom. iii. 10-18). Then after the glorious announcement of that righteousness of God, which is freely given as the sole and sufficient ground of justification for those whose spiritvial taint and impotency must for ever preclude any other mode of satisfaction, we find the sad and solemn truth as to the universal con- HUM A N NA rURE. 65 dition of man by nature, since the fall, tlius ail- comprehensively summed up : 'All have sinned' (Eom. iii. 23), Passing on to that chapter of peace and hope and comfort, wherein, starting from the previously fully demonstrated conclusion that it is through justification by faith that we have peace with God, the Apostle goes on to show how if reconciled whilst enemies, much more being reconciled we shall be saved as friends, and so sheds the golden radiance of a heaven-given hope down into the dreary glooms and yawning chasms and appalling depths of the valley of tribulation, we find the whole doctrine of original sin explicitly laid down : 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned' (Eom. v. 12). And, before we have thus far advanced in the chapter whence this last quotation is derived, we have passed the verse which tells it was : ' When we were yet without strength,' that, ' in due time Christ died for the ungodly ' (Eom. v, 6). See too, when describing the attitude of opposition on the part of the carnal mind, an opposition how utterly invincible by merely human strength it 66 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. needs hardly be said, against the renewed will of the regenerated and struggling spiritual nature, with what evidence as to the utter helplessness for good of poor fallen humanity are we furnished in the declaration : 'For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good I find not' (Eom. vii. 18). Nor is this opposition an occasional outbreak, or rarely occurring act of rebellion ; it is a condition of hostility so uniform and abiding as to be denomi- nated a law : ' I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me' (Eom. vii. 21). This the product of ' sin that dwelleth in me ' (Eom. vii. 20). Then again, as to the mind which some in all the arrogant presumption of a blinded and intoxi- cating intellectual pride would have mankind regard as supremely qualified to be the unerring judge of the very essentials and qualities of virtue itself; how very different the judgment of Divine truth when the attitude of this self-same mind is described in such words as these : HUMAN NA TUKE. 67 ' The carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ' (Eom. viii. 7). Such the evidence derivable from the Epistle to the Eomans, and similar in tenour is that adducible from any other of the succeeding letters to the Church. Take for example the message to that church which the great Apostle of the Gentiles had founded in the luxurious capital of Achaia. It is to those citizens of the busy Corinth that the declaration, so obnoxious, in the incomprehen- sibility of the truth which it contains, to the native pride of the human intellect, is addressed. ' The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned' (1 Cor. ii. 14). The Galatians are told that ' The Scripture hath concluded all under sin ' (Gal. iii. 22). They are moreover also reminded of that strong animosity and rebellious struggling of the flesh against the spirit, to which such clear and pointed reference has been already met with in the Epistle to the Eomans : 68 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. 'The flesh lusteth against the spmt ' (Gal. v. 17). And then when in subsequent verses the works of the flesh are particularized, is the enumeration less humbling in its broad-stretching comprehen- siveness, than any that has been already elsewhere given ? ' Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasci- viousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like' (Gal. V. 19, 20, and 21). If testimony, peculiarly striking on account of the literal correspondence of the very language, wherein it delineates the state of the unconverted, with the absolute terms of the dire predicted con- sequences of the fall, is required, it may be found in that passage of the Epistle to the Ephesians wherein the quickened erst-time worshippers of the goddess Diana are addressed as those ' "Who were dead in trespasses and sin ' (Eph. ii. 1). How, too, the sin-degraded understanding, and the innate spiritual ignorance of our race is pointed to iu the subsequent passages where those same, HUMAN NA TURE. 69 once votaries of idolatry, now enfranchised children of the light, are admonished that they ' Henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds ; having the under- standing darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart' (Eph. iv. 18). ' That ye put off concerning the former conversa- tion the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts ; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind' (Eph. iv, 22 and 23). ' For ye were sometimes darkness ' (Eph. v. 8). In the fond and uncensuring Epistle of the imprisoned Apostle to his beloved Philippians, those first-fruits of liis European labours, amidst all that is so commendatory of the steadfast zeal and overflowing love of those whom he addresses, even there we must needs find a reference to ' our vile body' (riiil. iii. 21). In the Epistle to the church at Colosse we read : ' Giving thanks unto the Father . . . who hath delivered us from the power of darkness ' (Col. i. 12 and 13). ' And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works ' (Col. i. 21). 70 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. ' And you, being dead in your sins and tlic imcircumcision of your flesh ' (Col. ii. 13). ' Mortify therefore your members which are upon the eartli ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry ' (Col. iii. 5). That passage in one of the Epistles to Timothy wherein his father in Christ foretells : ' That in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof ' (2 Tim. iii. 1 to 5), may at first sight appear somewhat inappropriate as a proof of the capacities and potentialities for evil of our fallen nature, as having been, when originally penned, prophetic of the future, not descriptive of the past. But the inspiration which imparts to the revealed word of Him, who is ' the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,' that intrinsic and essential HUMAN NA 1 UKE. 7 1 quality of absolute truth, which the mere accident of time cannot affect, and which renders the visions of prophecy as reliable as the records of accom- plished fact can amply justify its employment. Nor, if it might be added in all lowliest rever- ence and sincerest charity, if such a reason were wanting, could the evidence of our own senses as to the already sufficiently marked realization of its alarming and saddening enough picture, in the public and private condition of these our own times, fail to afford sufficient grounds for its acceptance. Amid the words of counsel addressed to Titus when entrusted with the rule of the Cretan Church, we read : ' Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled' (Tit. i. 15). All that poor, fallen, weak, unheaveu-taught human nature has as monitor of good and e\'il, as arbiter of right and wrong, as judge of virtue and vice, itself impure and defiled. It is surely unnecessary to adduce any further testimony from Scripture upon these points. The above-cited passages may well suffice to show how 72 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. absolutely the Word of God testifies to the fallen nature, sinful properties, corrupt tendencies, and perverted capacities of our race. There has been supplied, as it appears, ample evidence of the existence and influence of that natural depravity, and impotency for good, which, demanding as it does the superhuman and miraculous resources of the gospel remedy, can always point to the very absoluteness of the necessity for such a salvation, as the strongest and most conclusive testimony to the natural character and exigencies of poor, fallen, lost humanity. THE END OF EXISTENCE, 73 CHAPTEE Vr. THE END OF EXISTENCE. TTAVING obtained, from the unemng page of Scripture, knowledge so specific and absolute, and evidence so incontrovertible as to the nature, properties, tendencies, and capabilities of that spirit and soul, which though acting but indirectly in relation to the external world, through the medium of a material body, and at the same time affected and influenced in a way and to a degree which to our finite comprehensions, and limited knowledge, is simply absolutely incomprehensible, by their connection with this same in itself so wondrous organic structure, are themselves, after all, the real and actual human unit, the immortal being, for which even eternal perdition brings no cessation of existence, it next remains to consider the true, ultimate, and supreme object of all the work to be 74 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. performed upon them in the carrymg out of the undertaking of the upbringing of the young. Manifestly the immediate object of spiritual and mental instruction, education, nurture, and disci- pline, together with all else that may be deemed necessary to the right and successful conduct of this undertaking, must be so far analogous with the direct ostensible purpose of a merely physical uprearing, that it must be directed to the utiliza- tion, perchance development, of ability and power. Such utilization or development, as the case may be, must again, in turn, be intended to enable, fit, or better qualify for the fulfilment or discharge of some real or imaginary accepted and recognized purpose of existence. If then we can arrive with absolute certainty at the knowledge of the crown- ing purpose of man's creation, we shall have therein presented to us that supreme object towards the fulfilment of which all life's labour ought in reason to be directed, and towards which by necessary implication all measures necessary or calculated to qualify for, or facilitate in the prosecution of, such labours should be made not only subservient to, but, so far as may be, convergent. Now we do know the purpose of man's creation. THE END OF EXISTENCE. 75 The all-inclusive object for which he was called into being, and for which lie is sustained in existence, is the glory of God. He may labour in love, or he may toil in hate, but for this he exists. He may be a devoted servant, or a proud and defiant rebel, but whether in grateful obedience or in despiteful contempt, by submission or in re- bellion, he must glorify his Creator. That prayer which from thousands of worshipping assemblies in cloistered minster, or grey old church, or floating temple on the heaving breast of ocean, rises in common supplication on the solemn stillness of each returning Christian Sabbath, and in which it is besought that the godly, righteous, and sober life may be to . the glory of God's holy name, full well embodies in its language of suppliant reconsecration the true supreme and all - embracing object of human existence. So too that most methodical compendium of doctrinal and practical Christianity, the clear strong teachings of which may well have trained full many a martyr for his lonely slumber by the dark tarn or on the silent moor, and which, though penned by English Puritans, has become indissolubly associated 76 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. with the foster land of its ncloption, and to the influence of which, direct and indirect, the sons of Scotland owe an untold debt, commences its pre- eminently well systematized course of instruction with the announcement of the chief end of man as the glorifying of God. By such chief end must needs be understood what has been above described as the supreme, paramount, and all-embracing purpose of our being, for it may not be suggested that man could exist for other ends or objects independent of, or apart from, that of God's glory. To that all the ends and aims incident to the necessities or conditions of his existence, all his labours, all his sorrows, all his joys, his little achievements of the passing hour, bringing it may be in their train comfort and satisfaction to him- self, and happiness to others, in short, all his intermeddlings with and share in the conduct of the affairs of time, must be subordinate and contributory. And subordinate and contributory they are and shall ever be, irrespective of whether they are the outcomes and accompaniments of the life of willing service of the throuah "race devoted bondsmen of THE END OF EXISTENCE. 77 Divine Love, or the enforced or unconscious or hateful tribute to overj)owering necessity, of those whom no reconciliation by the blood of the cross has brought into that relationship to their Almighty Father, which must needs precede the production of the fruits of acceptable worship. Yet for those to whom these remarks are especi- ally addressed, it is neither necessary, or perhaps otherwise worth while, to dilate upon the position of the unbelieving world in these matters, or of the subordination of evil to the purposes of almighty power. The service which is to be consistent with the profession of belief, must needs be the willing adoration, characteristic of a consecrated life. If those who profess to be believers fail to at least strive, according to the grace given them, to fulfil to the utmost the true supreme end of their being, it must be the result of weakness, sloth, inadvertence, or ignorance. For those professing to acknowledge in all things the authority of their Creator and Picdeemer, the dicta of divine truth, the inspired expression of heavenly wisdom, is in itself sufficient, at least ouglit to be, without pausing to reason further of 7S THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. the incontestable right of the Deity and Creator to the perpetual and entire services of those whom He has called into being and maintains in existence, or turning aside to consider the manifestly necessary logical sequences, in such respects, of the accept- ance of the comparatively vague and indistinct shadowings of even the most philosophical develop- ment of any so-called natural theology. For the professing believer it should be sufficient to recall to mind that ' The Lord hath made all tilings for Himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil.' Accepting then God's glory as the end of man's existence, embracing everything therein involved, and acknowledging it as the absolutely certain and necessary result of the accomplishment of the earthly career of every descendant of Adam, whether it has been a life of faith or of unbelief, it follows that for the avowed believer in Christ it is not only an incumbent, because commanded, duty, but the natural outcome of the exercise of sanctified and enlightened common sense, that in the course of belief there should be employed every lawful means available for the most thorough attainable development of all the capabilities of life, as THE END OF EXISTENCE. 79 subordinate and directed to that end, in the acceptance of the gospel. In other words, the process of upbringing of the young, being intended for their beneficial and most truly advantageous employment of the occasions and opportunities of life, should be directed to their utilization of such occasions and opportunities for the glory of God, and that in the character of willing instruments. Accepting the apostolic injunction to the Corinthian Church as the correct epitome of aim for the Christian life, the true ethical ideal of the regenerated existence is briefly announced : ' Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' To get the child, a born enemy of and rebel against the God of his fathers, converted into a loving and obedient subject of his Saviour and King, and thereafter so to train his early years and guide his growing powers as to prepare for and aid in the gradually advancing development of a life of faithful service, is in short, whether so recognized or not, for the Christian parent the supreme, and ever to be steadily regarded object of all upbringing. It is not of course for a moment hereby suggested So THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. that any mere human agency, however earnest, well intentioned, or well directed may be its endeavours, can take the place of, or in any degree operate as a substitute for that direct and miracle- working operation of the Almighty Spirit, without whose quickening, regenerating, sustaining, and directing influence the most sincere, hearty, and zealous endeavours, and the most patient and assiduous toil may be lavishly expended with no apparent result, much less be rewarded with any meed of manifest success. Attention is only hereby called to that line of action which the believing parent or guardian of youth, as the honoured worker together with God, is not only permitted but called upon to pursue. It is for such an one to use the means, available for and proper to the work in hand, in prayerful and firm dependence on the Divine faithfulness and promised blessing. Now all this merely goes to show that the exigencies of the case demand that the first subject of instruction for the young should be with regard to God and the things of the unseen world ; in other words, that the imparting of religious know- ledge should precede all secular instruction. THE END OF EXISTENCE. 8i This may seem, taken in its aljsolutc, and, intentionally so expressed, uncompromising entirety, a very strong, perhaps even imiiracticable position to take up. Such it may at first sight appear, yet neither its untoward strength nor apparent impracticability can alter the truth wliich underlies, or diminish the absoluteness of the necessity which supports it. Before human life can be made what it ouglit to be, in accordance with the requirements of Chris- tianity, one prolonged course of acceptable service, the worshipper must be accepted and consecrated for the work. Xow the one cardinal doctrine of the cross which lies at, and is, in fact, the foundation of the gospel, and which is so to speak the very reason and necessity for its being, is that there is but one way of acceptance with our Creator and God, that namely, through the one finished sacrifice of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Calvary as our substitute. So that the knowledge of the gospel salvation must, in accordance with the reasonable exercise of enlightened common sense, be of absolute necessity the first knowledge proper to be imparted to the youthful mind, in the 82 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. reasonable employment of the only means capable of fitting its possessor for even commencing the Christian career, Now there are it is to be apprehended many, perhaps very many, amongst professing believers, vs^ho, whilst willing enough to agree with the absolute necessity of religious instruction being made the foundation for all other, would hardly go so far as to be ready to accede to the demand that such instruction should consist of neither more nor less than the opening up to the youthful mind of the gospel plan of salvation hy substitution. Many would candidly enough doubt the feasibility of such a course. Many others would seriously and honestly call in question its propriety. The dubiousness of the former would seem to arise from insufficient appreciation of the simplicity of the gospel. The hesitation of the latter from inadequate realization of the absolute necessity for its accept- ance in all its fulness at first and at once. The bare possibility of either attitude being maintained by any professing believer, whether attributable to unsound teaching or to deficiency in personal experience of the action of the know- rilE END OF EXISTENCE. 83 10(1^0 of the truth as it is in Jesus, miglit well alforcl sufficient excuse for the otherwise seeming import iiience of presuming to call attention to a l)rief consideration of what the gospel remedy truly is in regard to some of its details. But when to a sense of the undeniable possibility is superadded, as the result of observation and experience, the deeply rooted conviction of the widespread entertaining of such views, ample justification may be pleaded for the adoption of such a course. THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. CHAPTEE VII. THE GOSPEL. TTTHEN in the darkness of the Philippian dungeon the terrified keeper, restrained from the suicide of despair by the reassuring voice of the imprisoned Apostle, came trembhng and hewiklered to seek on bended knees the knowledge of safety, he was told, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.' The same remedy which was applicable then to the requirements of that jailer is still, and must ever remain till the end of time, the only specific for the spiritual necessities of our race. Now, what is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? Bearing in mind the true force and signiiication of the word believe, it may be described as to accept of what is told us in Scripture of the Lord THE GOSPEL. 85 Jesus Christ, and so to act as to make allowance for it as really true, in its relations to and bear- ings on the exigencies of one's own individual case. Of all the passages of Scripture which might occur to the student of Holy Writ as aptly suggestive in few words of the ultimate object of that mission of love which brought down our blessed Lord and Saviour to toil, suffer, and die for the children of men, perhaps none could be selected as more succinctly setting forth and embodying it than that portion of the Epistle to the Eomans, wherein attention is directed to the ' gift of God ' as being ' eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.' The knowledge that eternal life h the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, is in truth the burden of the gospel message, just as the conferring it upon those who will accept it is the object of the gospel remedy in its application and operation. It is in the acceptance as true and the appropriation to each individual case of the provisions of that remedy that we exercise and manifest our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. The history of the original promise of this gift, and the facts relative to the provisions of its 86 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. manifestation, acceptance, and enjoyment may be briefly summed up and recounted as follows. All mankind through the disobedience of their first parents Adam and Eve, have been, are, or will be born in a fallen, guilty, ruined, and so far as regards any innate capability or self-attainable power of extricating themselves utterly and irretrievably lost condition. God their Heavenly Father, the Almighty Creator of all things, who ' delighteth in mercy,' but ' is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,' and who ' cannot look upon sin but with abhorrence,' and who though ' the Father of mercies ' can ' by no means clear the guilty,' of His amazing love promised a way of salvation, whereby whilst every demand of Divine justice could be fully and absolutely satisfied, pardon, and peace, and His Divine favour might Ije enjoyed by His poor fallen and helpless creatures ' withoiit,' so far as they in their own persons should be concerned, ' money ' or ' price,' through and solely on account of the labours and sufferings of an appointed and accepted Substitute. The accomplishment of this wondrous plan of salvation has been brought about through the gift THE GOSPEL. 87 and agency of His only-begotten Son, the same by whom the worhl had been created. He having stooped to assume, for the purpose of substitution, a perfect and real human nature of true, but sinless flesh and blood, wrought out through an earthly career of humility, toil, anguish, and suffering, a spotless, perfect, and meritorious righteousness for all who should be willing to accept it, a righteousness far more than ample in its Divine superabundancy to satisfy every exaction of the highest and most inexorable demands of the Divine justice. He concluded this life of substitutionary suffer- ing, service, and meritorious action by offering up of Himself a full and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and thus became the author of eternal salvation to all them that ' believe on Him.' Consigned to an earthly tomb, in the fulfilment of the predictions of prophecy. He was raised again by the Almighty Father in token of the acceptance of His finished work of suffering representation. The great propitiation completed and its ac- ceptance manifested, He ascended to the skies, possessor of all power in heaven and on earth, and now reigns at the right hand of power, Pro- 83 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. tector, Mediator, Pailer, and rtepresentative of all that come to God through Him, that put their trust in Him as their Saviour and their God. Exalted on high, He now vouchsafes the wondrous gift of His Almighty Spirit to awaken, and draw to Himself and then, leading in the footsteps of His example, to fit the pardoned, and justified, and consecrated sinner for a service of love and devotion on earth, and an ahode in the realms of eternal glory hereafter. Nor would any synopsis, however brief, of the glorious gospel of the grace of God be complete without directing the thoughts to that grand consummation, the triumphant reappearing of our Lord and Redeemer when, returning in the awful solemnity of the last great day, He shall come again in the clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead, to justify before men and angels those whom He long ago purchased with His most precious blood, and kept, led, and sanctified by His eternal Spirit. Now in this mighty and most wondrous scheme the all-predominant characteristic is freeness, and the all-pervading principle is substitution. All the benefits of the gospel are the results of substitution. THE GOSPEL. 89 This is true no less of the indirect effects of its reception than of the direct. It is the case with regard to the enjoyment of tlie covenant blessings, which are conferred upon the believer in the course of his life of imperfect but filial obedience and consecrated service, as much as with reference to those more striking benefits, which are the accompaniments, or rather simul- taneous adjuncts of his first repentance, approach to, and reconciliation with his Heavenly Eather. This principle of free substitution most mani- festly pervades, or rather, more correctly speaking, is in its very self the essence of the great prime cardinal operation of the gospel, namely justification. The two component parts of justification which are pardon of sin and imputation of righteousness are each of course an absolutely free gift. Both are given of free grace, and both exist only through the operation of the principle of substitution. They are the results of our substitute's sacrifice and sufferings, the purchase and fruits of His merits and obedience. With regard to the pardon of sin, it is so manifestly the doctrine of Scripture, so clearly go THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. expressed and so imperatively demanded through- out the whole scope of Bible teaching, with reference to the satisfaction requisite for sin, that it is obtainable solely as the result of and only on account of the one great sacrifice, that even error itself may furnish evidence, if needs were, to this effect and midst the many false views which haA'o been, and are, entertained with regard to the necessity for seeking the preparation of some personal fitness as a necessary condition precedent to the participation in the benefits of pardon, perhaps by far the most commonly prevailing form of error may be accepted as that which professes, in all the spurious humility of self- righteous though perhaps undreamt of pride, rather to endeavour after some personal befitment for the enjoyment of that which has been con- fessedly so dearly, and undoubtedly already long since bought by another, than with presumptuous audacity to openly attempt to share in its purchase. There is present under such circumstances a deeply rooted and influencing conviction, that however the personal endeavours of the suppliant may be requisite to move God to pitifully and merci- THE GOSPEL. 91 fully bestow a right to its enjoyment, the original purchase is itself a thing that man ' must leave alone for ever, for it cost more to redeem his soul.' Of course the idea of any preparatory fitness, save that of necessity, l^eing required as a title to the acceptance of the gospel is erroneous and sinful, but there, even in the midst of misappre- hension or denial of God's word, may be found a tacit testimony to the substitutionary character of the atoning sacrifice. But better far to cite the very words of Scripture than appeal to any indirect corroboration, however manifest or striking. Take that familiar chapter in Isaiah, the overheard perusal of a portion of which afforded the Evangelist an opportunity for preaching Jesus to the Ethiopian treasurer, where it is written, 'He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities ' (Isa. liii. 3). Shall we listen to the testimony of John the Baptist when in Bethabara beyond Jordan he saw Jesus approaching and said, ' Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away (beareth) the sin of the world' (John i. 29)? Shall we take the very words of Christ Him- 92 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. self at that strangely solemn inter^'ie^v, when, in the stillness of night, the mysteries of the kingdom \Yere expounded to the wonderhig Nicodenms, and the grand old historic picture of the arid wilderness, and the viper-stung Israelites, and the brazen serpent was recalled to mind to point to the then present antitype, ' For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son' (John iii. 16)? Or shall we visit the upper chamber, when just before going forth to dark Gethsemanc, at the institution of the memorial feast, our Blessed Saviour said, ' This is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins' (Matt. xxvi. 28)? In that Epistle which is, so to speak, pre- eminently devoted to the enunciation of justification through faith we find, 'Whom (Christ Jesus) God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faitli in His blood' (Kom. iii. 25). ' He was delivered for our offences ' (Rom. iv. 25). ' Christ died for the ungodly ' (Piom. v. 6). ' While w(i were yet sinners Christ died for us ' (Eom. V. S). THE GOSPEL. 93 * God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin (by a sacrifice for sin) condemned sin in the flesh' (Rom. viii. .'3). ' Ke that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all' (Ivom. viii. 32). Equally abundant in specific reference to the reality of substitution is the Epistle to the Hebrews. There, amidst the abounding allusion to the services and sacrifices of the tabernacle and temple, are to be found of necessity testimonies to the substitutionary character of that one great for ever complete offering of which all these were hut types and shadows : ' He hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ' (Heb. ix. 2G). ' Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many' (Heb. ix. 28). 'Neither by the blood of goats and calves l)ut by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ' (Heb. ix. 12, 1,3). ' By the which will we are sanctified through 94 THE GOSFEL AND THE CHILD. the offering of tlie blood of Jesus Christ once for all' (Heb. x. 10). ' Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate ' (Heb. xiii. 12). In the First Epistle of Peter we read : ' Foras- much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible thmgs, but with the precious blood of Christ' (1 Pet. i. 18, 19). ' His own self bear our own sin in His own body on the tree' (1 Pet. ii. 24). * Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust' (1 Pet. iii. 18). ' Christ hath once suffered for us in the flesh ' (1 Pet. iv. 1). The Christians at Corinth are told : ' Christ died for our sins ' (1 Cor. xv. 3). 'He died for all' (2 Cor. v. 15). The Colossians are addressed : ' And you hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death '(Col. i. 22, 23). Such c^uotations may surely sufiice, nor will further testimony be here adduced, save the declaration of the beloved disciple : ' He is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only. THE GOSPEL. 95 but also for the sins of tlio whole world ' (1 John ii. 3). If the teaching of Scripture is thus clear, explicit, and absolute with regard to the way in which satisfaction for sin has been made, it is no less so in reference to the origin and nature of that perfect righteousness in which the believer must be arrayed, and perpetually clad, in order to be and appear justified in the sight of God. It too is the work of Another. It too is the work of Christ. It is not partly of ourselves, as pardoned sinners, and partly of Christ as a helper in our salvation, but solely and entirely of Christ. It is as much and truly so as the propitiatory sacrifice. There is moreover no other righteousness which can avail us in the sight of God. We have this or we have none. It is only in respect of this righteousness, the result of Christ's obedience imputed to us and received through faith, that we can be just in the sight of God or live the life of the just. Before proceeding to the selection of passages from the New Testament Scriptures, attention may be well directed to two or three references in the pages of the Old, 96 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. This course may all the more advantageously be pursued, since from the little prominence given to it, more truly speaking the almost utter absence of even the barest mention of it, by certain schools of modern theology, this doctrine of imputed righteous- ness may be thought of by some, perhaps many, as almost a strange novelty in doctrine or unpractical and unnecessary refinement of an over-strained metaphysical scholastic divinity. That it is not either, any more than it was a principle of the life of faith operating for the first time in the early Christian Church, and in con- sequence of apostolic teachings, is proved by the words of St. Paul ; for, though he speaks of it as ' now manifested,' he also describes it as ' witnessed by the law and the prophets.' So that, though undoubtedly it was reserved till after the ' fulness of the time ' to be set forth ' that he who runs may read,' it had in prophetic days been, as part of the great principle of justification by faith, the hope of righteousness to the true worshipper of old. Take then those passages in the Psalms : ' Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered \ THE GOSPEL. 97 ' Blessed is llio man to whom the Lord will not impute sin' (Ps, xxxii. 1). ' I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only' (Ps. Ixxi. 16). ' Thou shalt answer for me, 0 God.' ' Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound : they shall walk, 0 Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. ' In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day : and in Thy righteousness shall they he exalted' (Ps. Ixxxix. 15 and 16). The testimony of the prophet Isaiah to the imputed nature of the believer's justifying righteous- ness, when showing of the glorious privileges, recompensing comforts, sure defence, and royal heritage of the redeemed servants, is : ' Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord ' (Isa. liv. 17). Jeremiah, when foretelling the reign of the pro- mised Messiah, the raising ' unto David a righteous branch, and a king ' that should ' reign and prosper and execute judgment and justice in the earth,' goes on to say : ' In his days Judali shall he saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name wherehy lie 98 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness ' (Jer. xxiii. 6). Passing now to a review of ISTew Testament declarations as to this wondrous and, be it ever borne in mind, indispensable gift. In the Epistle to the Eomans we find the great Apostle of the Gentiles saying : Tor I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; ' For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith : as it is written, The just shall live by faith' (Eom. i. 16, 17). ' By the deeds of the law there shall no liesh be justified in his sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ' But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; ' Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that beheve' (Eom. iii. 20, 21, 22). ' To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. THE GOSPEL. 99 'Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God impiiteth righteousness without works ' (Eoni. iv. 5, 6). Eeferring to the example of Abraham, ' strong in faith, giving glory to God f ' fully persuaded that what He had promised. He was able also to perform,' he goes on to say : ' It was imputed to him for righteousness.' ' Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him ; ' But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead' (Eom. iv. 22, 2o, 24). Again we lind : ' For if by one man's offence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 'For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous' (Eom. v. 17, 18, 19). loo THE COS TEL AND THE CHILD. ' "WHiat shall we say then ? That the Gentih^s, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. ' But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law' (Kom. ix. 30, 31, 32). And then, by and by, we come to that mag- nificent outburst of most ennobled patriotism, inten- sified and sanctified by that burning and devoted love which permeated and inspired the heart's life of the devoted writer, so enthusiastic a regard for his countrymen as could elsewhere break forth in expressions of readiness to be himself accursed if they might thereby live. ' Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. ' For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. ' For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteous- ness, have not submitted themselves to the righti eousness of God. THE GOSPEL. loi * For Christ is the end of the law for righteous- ness to every one that believeth ' (Iiom. x. 1,2, 3, 4). The Corinthian Church are told : ' Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption' (1 Cor. i. 30). The Galatians have the solemn truth brought before them in few but how meaning words : ' If righteousness come Ijy the law, then Christ is dead in vain ' (Gal. ii. 21). The great tragedy of Calvary worthless, and of no avail ! No wonder that one who knew that this was so, who felt in all its overpowering force, its full appal- ling significance, as a stern and unconquerable reality, as indeed the very truth, should, after the summing up of all that had gone to form a religious life, strict, praiseworthy, faultless, hardly approached by the ordinary mortal, willingly and gladly renounce and trample upon all, that stript of every figment of human make he might be able to say: ' And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith ' (Phil. iii. 9). 102 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. Now these passages, above quoted, prove con- clusively and clearly that pardon has been bought, and a justifying righteousness long since wrought out, each as truly and as perfectly as the other, through the finished substitutionary work of our Lord and Saviour. As a consequence the one may be as fully treated as a reality as the other, and, supposing that either could be used apart from the otlier, it might be so employed with equal justice, and equal certainty of its efficacy. But seeing that they together form the ground of that justification through faith which is the only justification in the sight of God, and that so they cannot be separated in their action, or as gifts be accepted and enjoyed apart from one another, neither ought they to be so treated in Christian teaching as if they were. The inculcation of the acceptance of and depend- ence on the one is as much demanded, in the true preaching of the gospel, as the acceptance of and dependence on the other, for they together make up the substitutionary work of our Lord and Saviour. It is as true ' that Christ is the end of the law THE GOSPEL. 103 for righteousness to every one that believeth,' as tliat ' Ho is the propitiation for our sins.' To withhold the setting forth of the former, whilst announcing the latter, is to present an imperfect gospel, and so to practically misrepresent what God has done for man. To tell of pardon without telling also of the imputed righteousness, which is its accompaniment, is to preach but part of the gospel ; and where that is done there need be little, or rather no wonder, if there be uncertain peace and little if any real joy, and results altogether very different to those which followed that complete declaration of the truth as it is in Jesus, which proved the really good news of apostolic days. The withholding of the announcement of the entire fulfilment of the law (as a means of justify- ing righteousness in the sight of God) on behalf of and for every believer, the most feeble as well as the strongest in faith, is a withholding of essential gospel truth, and a bearing false witness to the work of Christ. Glory be to God, 'though we believe not yet He remaineth faithful. He cannot deny Himself ; ' and when the sinner has obtained pardon and acceptance as a believer he has also 104 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. obtained the imputed rigliteousness which is at- tained through faith. But then, like the heir of rich inheritance, toiling in ignorance of his wealth in a foreign land, in reality rich but practically needy, the helpless possessor of mighty power, he who is treading with heavy, because uncertain, heart the weary path of a semi-emancipated life, the possessor of privileges as a means of comfort and encouragement and strength, unenjoyed because unknown, is manifestly not in that condition of existence where we could naturally or reasonably expect that bright and cheerful obedience which is only to be found where and when the knowledge of the truth has made free. If there be any advantage whatever to be antici- pated from the training up of children ' in the way in which they should go,' surely such advantage must be proportionate to the acquaintance with, and regard to, the nature of the way which is manifested and turned to account by those who profess to direct them. The way is the way of holiness to the Lord. None can enter upon that way but the justified. None can traverse it with altogether wilhng and ready feet, and perfectly peaceful, not to say THE GOSPEL. 105 absolutely joyous, heart, but sucli as has not only heard of and laved in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, but is also consciously clad in the consecrated and all-covering robes of the lledeemer's righteousness. io6 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. CHAT TEE YIII. SUREOUNDINGS. rriHEEE may be some, possibly not a few, who whilst quite ready to accept to the full the testimony of Scripture as to the natural and inherent depravity and impotency for good of each indi^ddual, and equally willing to admit the absolute necessity of the regenerating and sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost, are not so apt to acknowledge and recognize, or at all events sufficiently appreciate, the forces of antagonism and hindrance to the application and enjoyment of the gospel remedy, in its various stages, which are presented by the circumstances of human life. And yet the moral atmosphere amidst which the gospel is to be taught, accepted, and obeyed, has nmch to do with creating and increasing the diffi- culties of the life of faith. SURROUNDINGS. 107 The suvroundings, even in the most favoured of lots, are not altogether friendly, whilst in the majority, perhaps even in the ordinary run, of cases they are most undeniably, as they are very often manifestly, opposed and more or less inimical to spiritual health and progress. The work of in- struction in the truth as it is in Jesus is to be undertaken, and carried on in the midst of many difficulties and in the face of many and powerful foes. In addition to the resistance from within, spring- ing from that natural and inherent depravity to which reference has l^een already so fully made, there are the various external hindrances on the part of human fellow-creatures, either as indi- viduals or as members of confederations, domestic, social, political, or religious. These, whether assuming the character of active incentives to or direct encouragements in evil, or confined to the less ostentatious but not necessarily less effective influences of tacit suggestion and bad example, are of fearful efficacy either to confirm the wrong or undermine the right. Nor ought there to be overlooked the pernicious effects of bad example on the part of those who, lo8 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. although restrained by the blessed power of heavenly grace from contaminating their fellows by the wilful, greedy, and imdisguised pursuit of the pleasures of profligacy and sin, through the inconsistency of their behaviour whilst professing children of light ofttimes grievously hinder and harm the cause they at heart truly love. These the well-known, and more or less clearly apparent, are not all the difficulties that obstruct, or the only foes that assail. There is the fearful opposition of the malignant personal powers of spiritual darkness, with their beguiling, ensnaring, perplexing, and deceiving suggestions, and their malicious designs, backed by superhuman influence and power. All these together go to form an aggregate of circumstances, which nothing but the miracle- working power of the Deity can successfully combat and vanquish. It should be hardly necessary to adduce quota- tions from Scripture for the purpose of describing the moral atmosphere or delineating the character of this present evil world, or to show how opposed the motives, desires, and developments of thought, not only in regard to material interests but in SURROUNDINGS. 109 relation to the unseen, whenever cognizance is taken of its existence, which actuate and characterize its policy, and bear sway over the domain of intellect and heart and soul, are to the mind and will of God as declared in the Bible. The spirit of the Bible so testifies to the opposi- tion of the spirit of the world to the kingdom of heaven, that it should seem impossible to rise from a candid, though even very superficial, perusal of the inspired Word, without the conviction that there exists an absolutely irreconcilable difference, or rather an implacable animosity, between the spirit of the world and the spirit of the gospel. The world is ever looked upon, and referred to, as not only unfriendly but altogether actively antagon- istic to the Christian's welfare. This is not of course to say that it is impossible that the enjoyment of an overflowing meed of temporal prosperity should, in modern as in patriarchal days, when the heaven- determined lot of any special believer, serve to testify that, now as then, godliness hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come ; or even to wish to appear to deny that in the faithful use of the advantages and opportunities afibrded by the enjoyment of love-empowering affluence the no THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. gracious and all-swaying inliuence of the Divine Spirit may not be, or often is, rendered more conspicuously prominent. Wealth may be employed aright. This world, in the sense of material advantages and prosperity, when such fall to the lot of the believer, is to be pressed into the service of Him who is its rightful Lord, ' The Father of all mercies.' ' The Giver of every good and every perfect gift,' ' whose is the silver and the gold,' The enjoined duty of the Christian is to use this world ' as not abusing it,' and the sanctified posses- sion of wealth, power, and tlieir attendant inliuences, though accompanied with a fearfidiy enlarged re- sponsibility, gives at the same time immensely increased potentialities for glorifying God through and in the display of love to man. Wealth may be, in truth fre(|uently is, employed aright. The rules, however, wdiich govern such employment and use are as little of the world as the spirit and frame of mind which prompts obedi- ence to them. They are not the outcome of that ' wisdom of the world ' which ' is foolishness with God.' What is in Scripture for moral and £j)iritual SURROUNDINGS. 1 1 1 purposes designated as the world, is manifestly not so much that realm of nature, the mantling garb of the material globe, with its glorious panoramas of peak, and wood, and ocean, rich plains, broad streams, sweet vales, and placid lakes. iSTor so much, unless it be by implication when they are referred to as the enlisted or enslaved allies of sin and evil, the various heaven-ordained and necessary adjuncts, and in their natures innocent requirements, of our corporeal mundane existence. The term ' world ' would seem rather to refer, if not explicitly to be attached, to that domain of the lust of the flesh, of the lust of the eye, and of the pride of life, which together embrace all that is in that invisible but ever busy realm of mind, and motive, and aim, the course of which is according to the behests of ' the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now w^orketh in the children of disobedience.' And just as the kingdom of God is invisible and internal, so do these hold unseen court within the human breast, and rule, and reign, and show their presence by the overt life. The term ' world,' save when manifestly referring 113 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. to the work of material creation, serves in Scripture to denominate an atmosphere of thought, taste, aim, purpose, and pursuit, not only uncongenial and unfavourable, but absolutely noxious to the spiritual life, animated in policy and characterized in action by principles and aims diametrically opposed to the dogmas and maxims of gospel teaching, and of course, as a necessary consequence, at total and absolute variance in aim and object with the life of faith. Now the evil influence and blasting presence of the world, as thus understood, extend far beyond the region of the openly and admittedly flagitious and immoral. This very world has its code of morality, and in some respects the compliance with its out- w^ard demands closely approximates, and in other absolutely agrees with, the external ethics of Christianity. To the eye of the average observer, that behaviour and course of action which may win the plaudits of the approving or admiring multitude, whether on account of the manifest natural and essential justice by which it is characterized, or by reason of the directly resulting practical benefits which SUICROUNDINCS. 113 sccni likely to accrue therefrom, is to all appear- ance similar whether met with in the conduct of a declared and approved believer or of a professing infidel. And yet there is a difference, and that a most fundamental one. In the one case it is the out- come and fruit of faitli ; in the other it is, however Leneficial to mankind, absolutely sin, for ' whatso- ever is not of faith is sin.' In the midst of our modern civilization, mani- festly affected as it has so long been by the more or less direct influence of the gospel, if it is not in truth in every predominant and distinctive feature absolutely the result of its presence and teachings, it is perhaps not unfrequently next to, if not absolutely, impossible, and that none the less so owing to the necessary similarity in opera- tion which pervades all such works, to know whether to regard full many a highly vaunted and eulogized philanthropic midertaking as justly entitled to honour as a work of Christian love. Pretensions of nomenclature in the cases of public institutions are not, any more than reputa- tions for sanctity in those of private individuals or corporate bodies, either always, or altogether. 114 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. reliable guarantees as to true character, and the prmciples on which, no less than the modes in which, much undeniable practical benevolence may be applied, whether for relief of pecuniary distress, or the alleviation of physical suffering, or the pro- motion of social welfare, or the ensuring of domestic comfort, may be after all but outcomes and de- velopments of some form or otlier of lust or pride. Even mere worldly policy may suggest the advisability of a kind and liberal consideration for the wants of the poor and needy ; for that spurious philanthropy which takes its rise either in the love of gratitude or of applause, or perhaps springs in truth from a judicious dread of future violence or reprisal, is after all but a sordid outcome and development of pure selfishness. Indeed, as has been very well suggested by a modern philosopher, much that is referred to as admirable, and lovable, in the behaviour of mankind may really, after all, be but the operation of blind and irresistible impulse or instinct ; and when traced to its true source, even the maternal love which would perish of exposure in the wintry blast, to save the helpless babe, may be found wondrously akin to that fond attachment of the .S- UKK 0 UNDINGS. 1 1 5 1)east of prey which would urge the tigrcs.s upon certain destruction, to seek the safety of her little cubs. Then, too, there may be that practical tribute to the efficacy and advantage of virtue that can and may, though perhaps at the cost of considerable self-sacrifice, adopt the insignia of the Christian graces. The practice of the great temporally ad- vantageous principles of truth in business transac- tions, honesty in dealings, purity in overt act, and the discharge generally of the kindly and endearing offices of friendship, may be, as bringing each its own immediate and tangible reward, very well often accepted as rules of conduct by even tlic most worldly-minded of mankind. Lines of conduct apparently similar to those which should characterize believers in the Gospel are thus to be seen pursued, and that by no means unfrequently, in relation to the practice of those virtues which are susceptible in exercise of ostentatious display. From one cause or another even the gospel virtues of love to enemies, kindness to the un- grateful, the returning of good for evil, and even the practice of painful self-denial for the sake of 116 THE GOSPEL AND THE CHILD. others, may at times be, very doubtless not iin- frequently are, present in effective and beneficent operation in the behaviour of avowed sceptics of the only way of salvation. Nor is it to be denied that these coincidences with the manifested results of the acceptance of the Gospel ofttimes partake of the character of devotion, and are in fact the religious exercises of an unscriptural system of will- worship, the display of an earth-born and world-constructed religion, perhaps as worthless and displeasing in the siu,ht of heaven as the hideous rites of heathendom, though practised in the midst of a nominally Christian civilization. The morality of utility or of self-righteousness, credentialed as it may be by the wisdom of ex- perience, and approved as it may be by the dictates of mundane sagacity, and coinciding as it may in external particulars with the morality of the gospel, is still, as the offspring of unbelief and the foster child of pride, inimical to the true interests of the human race ; and the light which it can throw upon the path of life is at best but much akin to the delusive meteor of the pestilential marsh, or the wrecker's fire upon the rock-bound shore. SURROUNDhVGS. 1 1 7 Xor is it in tlie fields of secular enterprise alone that there is danger. These same factors of evil, the hist of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are to be found even within the consecrated precincts of the very sanctuary of the Most Hi