SYNOPSIS OF wm& vah, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine ene- mies thy footstool?" Psalm ex. 1. Heb. i. 8, 10, and Psalm xlv. 6. To the Son, the Father saith, « thy throne, God, is forever and ever," — " and, Thou, Je- hovah, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth." 1 Tim. iii. 16. "God was manifest in the flesh." Titus ii. 10, 13. " God our Saviour." 1 John v. 20. "The Son of God is come — and we are in him. This is the true God and eternal life." Isa. ix. 6. " Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, — and his name shall be called — the mighty God." Philip, i. 2. Eph. i. 2. Read Granville Sharpe, and JMiddleton, on the Greek Article. 2. The Son of God is immutable. Heb. xiii. 8. " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day and forever." Heb. i. 10, 12. "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remain- est; — but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." 3. The Son of God is everlasting. John i. 1. "In the beginning was the Word." Micah. v. 2. " Whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting." Matt, ii. 6. Prov. viii. 22. " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways." Rev. i. 8. He is " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending." 4. Christ is infinite in wisdom. Prov. viii. 14. — " Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am under- standing; I have strength." 5. Christ is omniscient. John xxi. 17. " Lord, thou knowest all things." John ii. 25. He " needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in 56 REVEALED THEOLOGY. man." Rev. ii. 25. He " searcheth the heart and the reins." Mark ii. 8. " Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves." 6. He is omnipotent. Rev. i. 8. " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Jeho- vah, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Rev. xv. 3. To the Lamb of God, the inhabitants of heaven sing, " Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of Saints.'' 7. He is the proper object of worship. Heb. i. 6. — The Father saith, " Let all the angels of God worship him." Psalm ii. 11, 12. " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry: — Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Psalm lxxii. 11. "All kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him." Isa. xi. 10. " There shall be a Root of Jesse, to it shall the Gentiles [the na- tions] seek; and his rest shall be glorious." John xiv. 1. " Ye believe in God, believe, [or ye believe] also in me." This believing is an act of worship, which im- plies the highest confidence. Acts vii. 59, 60. " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Baptism is administered, and the apostolical bene' diction pronounced in the name of the Son as well as of the Father and Spirit; and these are peculiar acts of worship. Psalm xlv. 11, and John v. 23. "All men should honour the Son, as they honour the Father." 8. Christ is omnipresent. Matt, xviii. 20. " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there REVEALED THEOLOGY. 57 am I in the midst of them." Matt, xxviii. 20. " Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." John iii. 13. " The Son of man which is in heaven." John i. 48 — 50. " When thou wast under the fig tree I saw thee: — Rabbi, thou art the Son of God." Sec. II. The Son of God is the only Mediator be- tween God and men; to which office he was appointed in the eternal counsels of the Godhead. 1 Tim. ii. 5 # " One Mediator between God and man." The name Christ denotes one anointed, or appointed to office. Who appointed him, and when he was appoint- ed, may be learned from Chap. III. Sec. 3. and Chap. IV. Sec. 4, of Part II. of this work. Gal. iii. 20. « Now a Mediator is not of one." Heb. viii. 6. Christ " is the Mediator of a better covenant." Heb. ix. 15. u He is the Mediator of the New Testament." Heb. xii. 24. " Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." Heb. v. 4, 5. " No one taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called of God: — Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee." Prov. viii. 23. "I was set up from everlasting." Sec. III. The Son of God, in his official character of Mediator, is (l.)Lord of all creatures; (2.) Head over all things to his church; (3.) the Creator of all worlds; and (4.) the Sovereign Disposer, by his providence, of all events. 1. Acts x. 36. " Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all." Acts. ii. 36. u Let all the house of Israel know assur- edly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Philip, ii. 9, 10, 11. "Whereiore God also hath highly exalted him, 6 55 REVEALED THEOLOGY and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." 1 Tim. vi. 15, and Rev. xvii. 14, and xix. 16. Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. Luke ii. 11. " A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." Of course he reigns as king, and ought to be obeyed as universal so- vereign. 2. Eph. i. 20—23. |The Father hath set Christ u at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Heb. ii. 7, 8. Thou * didst set him over the work of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. He left nothing that is not put under him." 3. By the will of Christ as Mediator, and for him in this character all things were created, according to the decree of the Father, and by the energy of the Holy Spirit. John i. 3. u All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Coios. i. 16, 17. " By him," not only in his essential nature as of the divine essence, but by him as Mediator, w were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things." Hcb. i. 2, "By whom also he made the worlds" REVEALED THEOLOGY. $$ 4. Of Christ as the Lord of providence in his medi- atorial character ivc read, Colos. i. 17. " By him all things consist." Feb. i. 3. "Upholding all things by the word of his power." Matt, xxviii. 18. Jesus said, 11 All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Tsa. ix. 6, 7. " And the government shall be upon his shoulders:— of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, to or- der it, and to establish it with judgment and with jus- lice from henceforth even forever." In his government of men, it was the Son who appear- ed in the form of a man to Abraham, on the plains of Mamre, and foretold the destruction of Sodom, which, he subsequently effected. Gen. xviii. 1, 2, 17. He is call- ed Jehovah; and " Jehovah rained upon Sodom and up- on Gomorrah, brimstone and tire from Jehovah out of hea- ven." Gen. xix. 24. It was Christ, or the Jehovah sent, the Jlngel Jehovah, [for angel signifies one sent, or a messenger,] who conducted the people of Israel through the Red Sea, and the wilderness. Exod. xiii. 21. " And the Lord, [Jehovah] went before them by day in a pil- lar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire." Exod. xiv. 19, 24* 30, 31. "And the Angel of God," the God sent, " which went before the camp of Israel, [and was Jehovah, as we have just learn- ed] removed and went behind them; — and it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord, [Jehovah] looked i :to the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyp- tians." This Jehovah " saved Israel that day, and the people feared the Jehovah, and believed the Jehovah." Judges ii. 1—5. " And the Angel-Jehovah came up from 60 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Gilgal to Bocbim, and said, I made you to go up out oi Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you." Hence we learn that God in the character of the Son and Mediator, or of the God sent, was the disposer of all events in relation to Israel, and the Jehovah who covenanted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well then might Jesus say, " Before Abra- ham was, I AM." Sec. IV. In the time appointed by the decree of the Father, and foretold by the prophets of the Old Testa- ment, the Son of God became man; and from the mo- ment of his incarnation was, and will be, God and man, in one Mediator, forever. A body and human soul were prepared for him, by the decree of the Father, and the efficiency of the Holy Ghost; " and the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Hence he is called w the man Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. ii. 5. 1 Cor. xv. 47. " The second man is the Lord from heaven." Acts xvii. 31. " That man which he hath ordained." Gal. iv. 4. " When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Rom. ix. 5. " Of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God, blessed for- ever." Rom. i. 3, 4. " Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh." This humanity was requisite in a Redeemer of men. Heb. ii. 17. " It behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God; to make recon- ciliation for the sins of the people." Heb. iv. 15, REVEALED THEOLOGY. 61 Sec. V. The only Mediator, possessed of divine and human nature, is the eternal, only begotten Son of God. The Son eternally proceeds from the Father, in his Mediatorial office, and in relation to this he may be said to be eternally begotten. The Son is " appointed heir of all things," in the decree of the Father, Heb. i. 3, and hence the Father says, " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." And again, " I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son." " God, thy God, hath anointed thee," to this Sonship. Heb. i. 5, 9. John i. 14, 18. " We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." " The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Psalm ii. 7. "I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Here we see that Christ was begotten to his office by a decree that he should officiate as the Son and elected servant of God, in the work of salvation. Acts xiii. 33, is a quotation of the last passage. John iii. 1 6. u God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." We have the same title of " the only begotten Son of God," given to Christ again in John iii. 18, and in 1 John v. 1 , it is written " every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him." In what sense the Father begat the Son eternally, must be gathered from these passages; it should be remembered, however, that the human body and soul of Christ, were begotten of the Father by the Spirit, in such a peculiar manner, that this alone might cause him to be styled the only begotten Son of God; and that in the office of Saviour he acts as a Son in God's spiritual 6* 62 REVEALED THE0L0GV. house, the church. We are firmly persuaded that the scriptures teach nothing about any procession or genera- tion of the divine nature, essence, or personality of the Son* Sec. VI. When the Mediator was in our world, he exhibited, in his character and conduct, the attributes of the Deity; so that he was the express image of the Father; and one who saw Jesus Christ, by seeing his true character, saw the Father also. Heb. i. 3. " Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." John xii. 45. " He that seeth me seeth him that sent me." John xiv. 7 — 9. " If ye bad known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him: — he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father;" or, has seen an exhibition of his essential attributes, and especially of his moral character; for the essence of the Father " no man hath seen." We hold it to be a scriptural assertion, that the uncreated, invisi- ble mind of the Deity, always was, and will be$ just such a holy, good, wise, kind, compassionate, merciful, righteous, omnipotent, omniscient being, as Jesus Christ proved himself to be, while he was in our world, for he is "the image of the invisible God." Colos. i. 15. Would we see something of God, as a being of creative energy; we behold in Christ's turning water into wine, giving sight to the blind, healing the sick by a word, silencing the winds, and raising the dead, all which * Head OstenvarUPs Theology, translated by M'Mains, p. 117, and Dr, Wilson's edition of Midgely, vol. 1. 259—293, in which the text and notes give us the two sides of the controversy about_the GENERATION OF TUB SON. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 63 finite beings in this world can comprehend of the work of creation. In the same manner we contemplate the infinite knowledge of the Father in Christ's knowing, by a divine intuition, what was in the minds men, before their mental operations were formed, or conceived of by themselves. In the pity which Christ manifested towards the afflicted, and even the devoted city of Je- rusalem, we behold the pity of the Father for fallen men; and can see, too, how this emotion is compatible with strict justice in the punishment of those who are the objects of divine commiseration, even while they are not regarded with pardoning and saving love. John xv. 23. " He that hateth me hateth my Father also." John v. 23. " He that honoureth not the Son, hqnouretb not the Father." Sec. VII. In his mediatorial character and office the Son of God is inferior to the Father, and dependent on him for all his official functions. He would not have been, as Mediator, Lord of all, if the counsels of the Godhead and the decree of the Father had not made him so: and hence he says, John xiv. 28, " my Father is greater than I." John xiv. 24. " The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." John xv. 10, 15. "1 have kept my Father's commandments." " All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." John xvii. throughout. " As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." " I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do: I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou 64 REVEALED THEOLOGY. gavest them me: — I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me: — and the glory which thou gavest me 1 have given them." John v. 19, 20, 30. " The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for whafc things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Sec. VIII. While the Mediator was in the world, be rendered a perfect active obedience to the moral law, as the expanded covenant of works, in the room and stead of all those persons whom the Father gave him to be redeemed; and this righteousness is reckoned to all believers for their justification and adoption by the Father, as the legal, perfect, and meritorious cause of the same. Rom. v. 19. " By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Isa. xlv. 21, 24, 25. " There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: — in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." Isa. li. 1,4,5. "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness; — a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth." Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. " The Lord God — will by no means clear the guilty." Rom. iii . 19 — 30. "Now the righteousness of God — is mani- fested, — even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, — and upon all them that believe: REVEALED THEOLOGY. 66 being justified freely by his grace, through the redemp- tion that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to de- clare his righteousness, that he might be ju9t, and the justifierof him which believeth in Jesus." Gal. ii. 16 — 21. " A man is not justified by the works of the law, &c. 1 through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; — but Christ liveth in me: — for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." 1 Cor. i. 30. God makes Christ righteousness unto us. Eph. i. 6. " He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Col. ii. 10. " Ye are complete in him." Philip, iii. 9. " 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." Rom. v. 21. " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Psalm Ixxxv. 10. " Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Sec. IX. While the Mediator was in our world, he endured in his sufferings even unto death, the penalty of the violated law, in the place of all who were given to him by the Father to be redeemed; so that all the sins of believers, past, present, and to come, were legally punished in him, to the full satisfaction of divine justice: and this passive obedience of Christ is the sole ground of the remission of sins, by the Father. Daniel ix. 24 — 27. " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people — to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to 66 REVEALED THEOLOGY. bring in everlasting righteousness. — And after three- score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." Isa. liii. 6—12. " The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all:— he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many," 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. " Ye were not redeemed with corrupt^ ble things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." 2 Cor. v. 21. " He hath made him to be sin for us, — that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 1 John i. 7, 9. " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. — He is faith- ful and just to forgive us our sins." Heb. ix. 22. " With- out shedding of blood there is no remission." John x. 15. "I lay down my life for the sheep." John x. 26 — 29. u Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep: — my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any one pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all." Rom. iii. 25. " To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins which are past." 1 Cor. xv. 3. " Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." Eph. v. 25. " Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. " God— hath recon- ciled us to himself by Jesus Christ: — God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them." Sec. X. By his active and passive obedience, which together constitute the mt'Jialorial righteousness of the Son of God, lie has merited as a reward to himself, in his mediatorial character and office, the justification, pardon, and glorification of all redeemed by him; and to REVEALED THEOLOGY. 67 apply these benefits, has obtained the right of sending the Holy Ghost into their minds, for their regeneration and sanctification. Acts xx. 28. " The Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Rom. iv. 4. " Now to him that worketh," and Christ worked for the redemption of his people, in obedience to the law, " is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." Philip, ii. 6 — 11. "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted hjm, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, &c." Col. i. 18, 19. " He is the Head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." Isa, liii. 10 — 12, " He shall see his seed, — he shall see of the travail of his soul; by his knowledge shall my righte- ous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniqui- ties: therefore will 1 divide him a portion with the great; and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death." Psalm Ixviii. 18. u Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the re- bellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." Heb. vii. 25. " He is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him." Eph. v. 23. u He is the Saviour of the body." Sec. XI. The Mediator having died under the curse QS REVEALED THEOLOGY. of the law, arose again from the dead on the third day, thereby evincing the Father's acceptance of his Media- torial work; and subsequently ascended into heaven, where he ever liveth to make intercession for his peo- ple. 1 Cor. xv. 4 — 20. " He rose again the third day ac- cording to the scriptures: — now is Christ risen from the dead." Rom. iv. 25. " Who was delivered for our of- fences, and raised again for our justification." Rom. xiv. 9. " For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." Acts i. 2, 3. u He was taken up." Luke xxiv. 51. " While he blessed them he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." Heb. vi. 20. " Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." Psalm xvi. 10. " Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." Heb. ix. 24. " Christ is entered — into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." 1 Johnii. 1. 4t We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Rom. viii. 34. " Christ that died — is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Heb. vii. 25. " He ever liveth to make intercession for us." Acts xvii. 31. u Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Sec XII. Jesus Christ has established a visible Church in the world, by an ecclesiastical covenant, made with Abraham and his seed; and in this church has or- dained the ministry of reconciliation, in which he him- self officiated for a time; and has appointed the means of salvation, which are to be employed, directly or indi- rectly, by the Holy Ghost. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 69 Col. i. 18. " He is the head of the body, the Church." Eph. v. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32. « Christ is the head of the Church:" — " the church is subject unto Christ;" — " Christ also loved the church, and gave him- self for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" — and he " nourisheth and cherisheth it." Col. i. 18. Eph. i. 22. Matt, xxiii. 10. " One is your Master, even Christ." Matt. xvi. 18. " On this Rock I will build my church." Gen. xvii. 1 — 14. On this text, read the Numbers ' On the Church* in the Christian's Magazine, written by Dr. John M. Mason. Eph. iv. 11 — 13. u He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pas- tors and teachers," &c. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them," &c. Luke xxii. 19. "This do in remembrance of me." Matt. xvi. 19. " And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c. 1 Cor. xi. 23. " I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you," &c. Matt. iv. 17. " Jesus began to preach." Matt. xi. 1. u When Jesus had made an end of commanding his disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities." Luke iv. 43, 44. " I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities; for therefore am I sent," &c. Acts x. 42. " He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify, that it is he which was or- dained of God to be the judge of quick and dead." Sec. XIII. The Mediator is divinely appointed the Judge of angels and men; in which character, he calls every human spirit to a particular judgment so soon as 7 70 REVEALED THEOLOGY. death- occurs; and in which he will come to our world again, in the last day, and raise the dead, for the pur- pose of holding a general judgment before the assem- bled universe; that he may bless his holy angels and saints collectively, and take them to heaven; while he sentences bad men and devils, in one wretched crew, to depart accursed, into the endless torments of hell. John v. 22, 27. "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: — and hath given him authority to execute judgment also." Acts xvii. 31 "He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained." Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." Luke xxiii. 43. u To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Eccle. xii. 7. " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Heb. xii. 23. "The spirits of just men made per- fect." Luke xvi. 22,23. "The beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments." Philip, i. 23. " To depart, and to be with Christ is far better." Acts xxiv. 15. " There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." John v. 28, 29. " All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damna- tion." 2 Cor. v 10. " We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Jude ver. 6. " The angels REVEALED THEOLOGY. 71 which kept not their first estate, but left their own habi- tation, he hith reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. ii. 4. " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." Acts i. 11. " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Matt. xxv. 31 — 46. " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy an- gels with him, &c. And these shall go away into ever- lasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." 1 Thess. i. 7, 8. " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, tak- ing vengeance on them that know not God." 2 Thess. i. 9. " Who shall be punished with everlasting destruc- tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." Isa. lxvi. 24. " Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." 1 Thess. iv. 17. " Then we — shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord." Sec. XIV. Jesus Christ, as head over all things to his Church, the sovereign Lord of providence, and the judge of men, grants to sinners, upon whom sentence was passed in Adam, a temporary reprieve from the full execution of the sentence, that all may have a day of grace, and space for repentance; and that his elect may be effectually called by the Holy Ghost. In this way, many who will not be saved, are in this life made par- takers of some incidental benefits which flow from Christ's death 72 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Rom. ix. 22—24. " What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to de- struction: that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before pre- pared unto glory, even us whom he hath called," &c. 2 Cor. iv. 15. " All things are for your sakes." Ezra ix. 8. " And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes." Rev. ii. 21. " And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not." Rom. x. 21. u All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." 2 Cor, vi. 2. " I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of sal- vation." 1 Pet. ii. 12. " They may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visi- tation." John xii. 36. " While ye have light, believe in the Light, that ye may be children of light." Isa. xxvii. 5. " Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." Isa. xlv. 1 — 4. " Thus saith the Lord — to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden; — for Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me." Matt. xxiv. 22. " Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Gen. xxxix. 5. " The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he REVEALED THEOLOGY. 73 had." Matt. v. 13, 14. "Ye are the salt of the earth,— the light of the world."" Gen. xviii. 25. "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the plain for their sakes." Matt. xiii. 24 — 30. " Lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them; let both grow together until the harvest." CHAPTER VI. Of the Attributes of the Holy Ghost. Sec. I. The Holy Ghost is God, and possesses all the inherent attributes of the Deity. We prove the Holy Ghost, or Spirit, to be God, in the very same way that we evince the Deity of the Fa- ther and the Son. He is called God. Acts v. 3, 4. " Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost? — Thou hast not lied unto man, but unto God." Baptism is to be administered, and the apostolical bene- diction pronounced in the name of the Spirit, equally with that of the Father. Matt, xxviii. 19, and 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 1 Cor. ii. 10. "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. — The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." Heb. ix. 14. " The eternal Spirit." Psalm, cxxxix. 7. " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" Sec. II. The Holy Ghost, in his official character and work, is subordinate to the Father and the Son, and in- ferior to both. Gal. iv. 6, 26. " God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." John xiv. 16, 17- 7* 74 REVEALED THEOLOGY. " I \\\\\ pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, — even the Spirit of truth." " The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name." John xv. 26. " When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testily of me." This procession is not a procession of nature or es- sence; but of the Spirit in his agency in the work of salvation. John xvi. 7. " I will send him unto you." All the peculiar works of the Spirit are performed by him in the character of the Spirit of Christ, sent by him from the Father, to execute the decrees of the Father, in subordination to the mediatorial character of the Son, This should be remembered as applicable to each of the following sections of this chapter. Sec. III. The Holy Ghost was the great efficient in forming the world, with its inhabitants, and the human nature of the Mediator himself. Gen. i. 2. " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.'' Psalm civ. 30. "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth." Job. xxxiii. 4. "The Spirit of God hath made me." Job. xxxiv. 14. u If he gather unto himself his Spirit and his breath, all flesh should perish together." Rev. xi. 11. fc< The Spirit of life from God entered into them " Job xxvi. 13. u By his Spirit he hath garnished" the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." Luke i. 35. u The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore, also, that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." REVEALED THEOLOGY. 75 Matt. i. 18, 20. " She was found with child by the Holy Ghost." " That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Sec. IV. The Holy Ghost strives, in their day of grace, with all actual sinners, so as to convince them in some measure of sin, restrain them in the course of their ini- quities; and render them more inexcusable and crimi* nal than they would otherwise be, for their impeni- tence.* Rom. i. 1 9, 20. " That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse." Gen. xx. 6. " I also withheld thee from sinning against me." 1 Sam. xxv. 32—34." "Blessed be the Lord God— which hath kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand," &c. Gen. vi. 3. " My Spirit shall not always strive with man." Psalm xcv. 10. " Forty years long was I grieved with this generation." Acts xiii. 18. " About the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness." Rom. ii. 4, 5. " Despisest thou the — long suffering — of God," — &c. John xv. 22. " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin." Acts vii. 51. u Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." Psalm Ixxviii. 40. " How oft did they — grieve him in the desert." Eph. iv. 30. " Grieve not the Holy * Read Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, and Jllein's Marm. 76 REVEALED THEOLOGI". Spirit of God." Heb. iii. 7—19. "To day if ye will bear his voice," &c. Sec. V. The Holy Ghost effectually calls, or exerts a regenerating influence on, the elect, in the time ap- pointed by the Father; in consequence of which they are converted, partake of the divine nature, have new hearts, become new creatures, are born again, and com- mence a new, spiritual life.* In the regeneration of a sinner, the Spirit takes pos- session of the soul for his residence, enlightens the eye of the understanding, which is the faculty of concep- tion, and gives it new conceptions of spiritual things; convinces the judgment of sin, and brings it to the ex- ercise of faith in the divine testimony; quickens the conscience and memory; corrects false reasonings; gives the heart, which is the faculty of feeling, new and holy emotions; rectifies the will, in its moral operations; and produces a deep and lasting change in the whole mo- ral conduct. 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. " Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." Psalm ex. 3. " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." 1 Pet. iv. 14. " The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." Eph. ii. 18, 22. u For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father: — in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Rom. viii. 2. * Head Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Sou!; Runyan's Holy War,- and Bunyan's history of the Pilgrim's Pro- gress, edited by Burder. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 77 * : The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." 1 Cor. ii. 12 — 14. " We have received — the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given us of God," &c. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. " A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you." Titus iii. 5, 6, 7. " According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." John iii. 3- — 9. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God: — except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he can- not enter the kingdom of God: — that which is born of the Spirit is spirit: — ye must be born again. — The wind bloweth where it Iisteth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John xvi. 7—15. The Holy Ghost, the comforter, shall reprove, or rather, convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. " When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all truth: — he shall take of mine, and show it unto you." Solo- mon's Song, i. 4. " Draw me, we will run after thee." Deut. xxx. 6. " The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Eph. ii. 1 — 10. " You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; — even when we were dead in trespasses and sins; hath quickened us together with Christ. — Ye are his work- 78 REVEALED THEOLOGY. manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." Eph. iv. 18, 20—24. " Having the un- derstanding darkened." — " Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." 2 Cor. iv. 6. " God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shifted in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Rom. viii. 9 u Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his." Sec. VI. The Holy Ghost utterly withdraws his gra- cious influences from some sinners, who have repeated- ly grieved, quenched, and resisted him, and have har- dened themselves against all the means of grace which God designs to use with them; so that they are judicial- ly blinded, hardened, and given over to certain perdi- tion. Although every unrenewed sinner, so long as he re- fuses to regard the counsels of the Lord, has reason to fear this judicial dereliction, (which many certainly ex- perience in this life,) still no one, who is out of hell, can know that he is the accursed subject of it without a special revelation from heaven. Jer. vi. 8. " Be thou instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee." Isa. lvii. 17. "I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart." Rom. i. 24, 26, 2S. " Wherefore God also gave them up," — " for this cause God gave them up;" — u and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." Rom. ix. 18. " Whom he will he hardeneth." Exodus REVEALED THEOLOGY. 79 vii. 3, 14, 22, 23, and viii. 15, 19. Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and God judicially hardened Pharaoh's heart. Hosea iv. 17. " Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." Deut. ii. 30. " But Sihon, king of Hesh- bon, would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day." Prov. i. 24 — S3. " Because I have called and ye refused," &c. Rev. xxii. 11. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still." Heb. vi. 4—8. " For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, [and have fallen aivay, it reads in the original,] to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to them- selves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God; but that which beareth thorns and briars is re- jected, and is nigh unto cursing; w r hose end is to be burned." Heb. x. 23 — 31. " Let us hold fast the pro- fession of our faith without wavering, &c. for if We sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery in- dignation, which shall destroy the adversaries," &c. John xii. 40. u He hath blinded their eyes, and harden- ed their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I 80 REVEALED THEOLOGY. should heal them." Rom. xi. 9, 8. " The election hath ebtained it, and the rest were blinded, (according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day." Rom. xi. 9, 10. 2 Cor. iii. 14. 1 Cor. ii. 14. " 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 spi- ritually discerned." Lev. xxvi. 23, 24, 25. " If ye will not be reformed by me, by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins, and I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant." Isa. lxvi. 3, 4. " Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear. Hosea ix. 15. " For the wickedness of their do- ings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more." Jer. xii. 7. " I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies." Deut xxix. 29. " Secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed )elong unto us and te our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." Sec. VII. The Holy Ghost, when he begins the work of sanctification, by regeneration, is pleased, invariably, to make that work of sanctification progressive upon the whole, until the converted soul is made perfect in heaven. REVEALED THEOJLOGY. 31 Philip, i. 6. " Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it [or carry it on,] until the day of Jesus Christ." Prov. iv. 18. " The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 1 Cor. xiii. 9 - 12. " We know in part— but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child I spake as a child; I understood as a child; I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in part, but then, shall I know even as I am known." 1 John ii. 19, 20. " They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 1 Pet. i. 5. "Who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation." Rom. viii. 38, 39. " For I am per- suaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin- cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Je- sus our Lord." Jer. xxxii. 40. " And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Heb. x. 14. " By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Heb. x. 39. " We are not of them who draw back unto perdition." Phil. iii. 13 — 15. " I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing 8 82 REVEALED THEOLOGY. I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Psalm lxxxix. 30 — S3. " If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." 1 Pet. ii. 9. " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you." 2 Cor. iv. 16. " The in- ward man is renewed day by day." Sec. VIII. Although no Christian in the present life is, in any one moment, free from all moral depravity, yet the Holy Ghost gives many of these imperfect saints an assurance of their own personal salvation; and it is the fault of all converted persons, that they have not such an assurance constantly. Eccles. vii. 20. " There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." Job was in the mat- ter of justification perfect, and he was comparatively per- fect; and yet he says, of his own moral character, chap, ix. 20. " If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall con- demn me: if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." This same could say, chap. xix. 25. " I know that my Redeemer liveth." Philip, iii. 10. "Not as though I were already perfect." Heb. vi. 1. " Let us go on to perfection." Isa. lxiv. 6. " All our righteous- nesses are as filthy rags." Rom. viii. 1, 11, 13 — 16. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 3J u There is, therefore, now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." " But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. — If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." 2 Pet. i. 10. " Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." 2 Cor. i. 21,22. " Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also called us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Eph. i. 13, 14. " In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our in- heritance, until the redemption of the purchased posses- sion." 1 John ii. 3. " Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John y» 13. " These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." 1 John iii. 14, 19. " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." " Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." Verse 24. " We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Heb. vi. 11, 19, 20. " We 84 REVEALED THEOLOGY. desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. — Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead- fast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whi- ther the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." Eph. iv. 30. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." 1 John iii. 2. M Now are we the sons of God; and — we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him." 2 Cor. xiii. 5. " Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves: know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be repro- bates?" Sec. IX. The Holy Ghost, in all his operations on the minds of men, whether it be in judicially blinding them, or in converting, sanctifying, and assuring them, acts upon their mental faculties, in a way suited to their nature, and without infringing in the least upon the liberty of their moral actions. Jer. xxxvi. 3. " It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." 2 Kings viii. 10. " And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die." Acts xxvii. 22—24, and 31 . " There shall be no loss of any man's life among you, — for there stood by me this night the angel of God, — saying, — God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. — Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." Gen. xlv. 5 — 8. " Yc sold me hither: for God did send me before you to pre- REVEALED THEOLOGY. 85 serve life. It was not you that sent me hither, but God." Gen. 1. 20. " As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good." Jer. vii. 8 — 10. " Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely — and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations?" Jonah ii. 9, 10. " Who can tell if God will turn and repent from his fierce an- ger, that we perish not? And God saw their works; that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he said he would do unto them, and he did it not." Ezek. xviii. throughout. " What mean ye, that ye use this proverb, — The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? Make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye." James i. 13. " Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man," &c. John xix. 11. " Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." Philip, ii. 12, 13. " Work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure." Luke xii. 12. " The Holy Ghost shall teach you." Rom. viii. 16. u The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit." John. xiv. 26. " The Holy Ghost, — he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance.^ Jer. xxxi. 3. " With 8* S6 REVEALED THEOLOGT. loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Heb. vi. 11, " Show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope." 2 Pet. i. 4 — II. " Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge, &c. — that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Deut. xxx. 19. "I have set before you life and death, bless- ing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." 1 Cor. xii. 7. u But the ma- nisfestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." 1 Sam. ii. 30. " Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saitb, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." Sec. X. The Holy Ghost inspired the writings of the Old and New Testament, that by the truth con- tained in them, he might call, renew, sanctify, and ultimately glorify the redeemed sinners of our race.* 1 Pet. i. 23. c< Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which * Read the Sum of Saving Kno-wledge, published in the Scotch Confession of Faith; and sometimes as a Tract. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 87 Jiveth and abideth forever." 2 Pet. i. 21. " Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Tim. iii. 16. u All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly finished unto all good works.'" Acts xxviii. 25. u Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias the prophet, unto our fathers." James i. 18. "Of his own will begat he us, with the word of truth." John xvii. 17. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," John xx. 31. " These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." Eph. v. 25 — 27. " Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the w r ord, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Sec. XI. Through the benign influences of the Holy Ghost, the knowledge of the Lord will soon be made to fill the whole habitable earth, and introduce the Mil- lennium, or a period of a thousand years, when all nations, and their governments, shall be truly christian; when all false religions shall be abolished; when the whole mass of mankind, with few exceptions, shall be pious; when believers generally shall be eminent in godliness, and live to a good old age; when wars shall cense; and the condition of the earth and its irrational inhabitants shall be greatly meliorated, and correspond 88 REVEALED THEOLOGY. with the improved state of the human race, in arts, science, government, and religion.* 1. Concerning the period of a thousand years, we read in Rev. xx. 1 — 7, " And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season," &c. 2. Of the universal spread of the knowledge of the Lord, and of its effects, we read thus: Isa. xi. 6 — 9. " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; and their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for THE EARTH SHALL BE FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Luke ii. 10. u Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, * Read Dr. Bog-tie's Sermons on the Millennium, which is the best treatise I have seen on the subject; Lectures on the Millen- nium by the Rev. Joseph Emerson, Schmucker's 2 vols, on the Ref- lation, Dr. Hopkins's Treatise or. the Millennium, published at the end of his System; Dr. M'Leocl on the Revelation; and Nevrtonon the Prophecies. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 89 which shall be to all people." Habak. ii. 14. u The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Dan. xii. 4. u Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." 3. Of new ecclesiastical and civil governments, and of universal peace, we read thus : Isa. lxv. 17. " For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Rev. xxi. 1 . u And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there w r as no more sea," no more anarchy, revolution and confusion, for the mass of man- kind shall be no more like the sea. Isa. ix. 7. u Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his king- dom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever." Isa. xiix. 22, 23. " Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers." Isa. ii. 2 — 5. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the 90 REVEAEED THEOLOGY. law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." 4. Of the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the church, during the Millennium, we read thus: Isa. lxv. 18 — 25. " Be ye glad, and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a re- joicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days; nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old," or " he that dieth at an hundred years, shall die a boy;" "but the sinner being an hundred vears old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall lfbt build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree," (which lives two or three centuries,) u are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, [neither shall they generate a short-lived race;] for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like REVEALED THEOLOGY. 91 the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my mountain, saith the Lord." Zech. ii. 10, 11. " Sing, and rejoice, O daugh- ter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people : and I will dwell in the midst of thee." Zech. xiv. 20, 21. "In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness ujs t to the Lord." — " In that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." MaL i. 1 1. " From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Isa. xxi. 7. "In that day every man shall castaway his idols." Jer. iii. 17. "Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart." Jer. x. 11. "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens." Gen. xii. 3, " In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Psalm ii. 8. "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Psalm xxii. 27, 28. " All the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he is the governor among the nations." Ps. Ixvii. 4, 7. " Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and go- vern the nations upon earth. — God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." John xii. 32. 92 KEVEALED THEOLOGY. ; ' And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Ps. lxxxvi. 9. " All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, Lord; and shall glorify thy name." 5. Before the Millennium shall be fully come, the Jews will be converted to Christ, will repossess Je- rusalem, and will be greatly instrumental in the conver- sion of other nations. Rom. xi. 15, 23—27. u If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? — And they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graffthem in again. For if thou wertcut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? — Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written. There shall come out of Zionthe deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Zech. viii. 22, 23. u Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." Zech. x. 6—10. " I will bring them again, to place them; fori have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: — I will hiss for them and gather them; for I have KEVEALED THEOLOGY. 93 redeemed them: — I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and ga- ther them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon." See also Deut. xxx. 1—10. Isa. xi. 10—16. Jer. xxiii. 3—8. Jer. iii. 14—19. Jer. xxx. 7—10, and xxxi. 31—34. Sec. XII. To apply the truth to the minds of men for their conviction, conversion, edification in holiness, and complete salvation, the Holy Ghost employs at dif- ferent times, and in various ways, all the means of grace which Christ as head of the church has instituted. This will be evinced by an exhibition of these means in the following chapter. Isa. xxxiii. 6. " Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation." CHAPTER VII. Of the Means of Grace employed by the Holy Spirit* Sec. I. Jesus Christ has instituted one visible church in the world, consisting of all those throughout the world, that profess the true religion, together with their chil- dren; and the Holy Spirit employs this catholic visible church as a means of grace. * On the means of grace, Read Dwight's Theology, from Ser- mon 135th to 162d inclusive. 9 94 REVEALE1* THEOLOGY 1 Cor. xii. 12—27. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many, — yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you." Acts ii. 39. " For the promise is unto you and to your children." Matt. xix. 14. " Suffer little chil- dren to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Psal. 1. 2. u Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." 1 Cor. vii. 14. " For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." Rom. xi. 26. " And if the root be holy, so are the branches." Psal. lxxxvii. 5, 6. " Of Zion it shall be said, This and that man were born in her," &c. Micah iv. 1,2. " The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it: and many nations shall come, and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Isa. ii. 2, 3. Isa. xlvi. 13. U I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off; and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory." John iv. 22. " Salvation is of the Jews." REVEALED THEOLOGY. !*i> J. The visible churth is a great instrument in the hand of the Spirit, of dispensing grace, because she is the depository of the Bible, which she shall send to all people; because she supports by her temporal wealth and by her prayers the ministers, which are given to her, and the ordinances of public worship* because she shall send the Gospel Ministry to every nation, by her exer- tions; because her children shall be nurtured in the fear of the Lord, through her example, precepts, and care; because her Redeemer has been born of her according to the flesh, and has come to her with his almighty pow- er to save; and because the Holy God has chosen her for his residence, his rest, and his glory. Psal. cxxxii. 13 — 18. "The Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for 1 have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy," &c. Rom. iii. 1, 2. " What profit is there of circumcision? Much everyway: chiefly be- cause unto them were committed the oracles of God." 2. For the building up of the visible church, out of which the invisible is to be raised, God instituted mar- riage, and consecrated the matrimonial relation. Mala- chi ii. 14 — 16. "Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 96 KEVEALED THEOLOGY. For the Lord, the God of Israel saith, that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his gar- ment, saith the Lord of hosts; therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously." Sec. If. Before the Christian dispensation of the co- venant of peace commenced in the Church, the Holy Spirit employed as the principal means of grace to man- kind, (1.) the observance of the sabbath; (2.) the rite of sacrifice; (3.) parental and patriarchal instruction and government; (4.) special manifestations of the di- vine presence, and revelations of the divine will; (5.) the ministration of angels; (6.) the sacrament of cir- cumcision; (7.) the paschal supper; (8.) the public proclamation of the moral law from Sinai; (9) the or- dinances contained in the ceremonial law; (10.) the worship of the synagogue; (11.) the inspired counsels, visions, and miraculous works of the prophets; and (12.) the peculiar dispensations of providence to the people of Israel and the nations around them. 1 Cor. xii. 4 — 7. " Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are di- versities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." A few passages will be cited in reference to each of the foregoing items. 1. Gen. ii. 2, 3. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made: and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; [i, e. set it apart] because that in it he had rested from REVEALED THEOLOGY. 97 all his work which God created and made." Exod. xvi. 23, 25, 26. " To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, &c. Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days shall ye gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in It there shall be none." 2. Gen. iii. 21. " Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Gen. iv. 4. " And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering." Gen. viii. 20, 21. "Noah builded an altar ur to the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar: and the Lord God smelled a sweet savour." Gen.xxii.2 — 13. "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of," &c. In this case a ram was sacrificed, however, in the place of Isaac; and thus God prefigured the offering up of his only be- gotten Son, the Lamb of God, for sinful men. 3. Gen. xviii. 18, 19. "Abraham shall surely be- come a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him: for I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Gen. xxxv. 2, 3. " Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods 9* 98 REVEALED THEOLOGif. that arc among you, and be clean, and change your garments: and let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God." 2 Sam. vi. 20. " Then David returned to bless his household." 1 Sam. iii. 13. "I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, aneHie restrained them not." 4. Gen. iii. 8 — 21. " And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden," &c. Gen. vi. 13. "And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me;" &c. Gen. xii. 1 — 3, 7. " Now the Lord God had said unto Abraham," &c. " And the Lord appeared unto Abraham," &c. Gen. xv. " The Lord came unto Abraham in a vision," &c. Gen. xvii. 1 — 22. " The Lord appeared to Abraham, and said unto him," &c. " And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham." Gen. xx. vi. 2. God appeared to Isaac. Gen. xxviii. 13. The Lord appeared to Jacob. Gen. xxxvi. 24 — 30. Jacob wrestled with a man, and said, " I have seen God face to face." Exodus iii. throughout. " The angel of the Lord," or the angel Jehovah, " appeared unto him in a flame of fire" — and said, u I am the God of thy fa- ther, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." — "And God said unto Moses, I am that I am;" &c. Exod. iv. 1 — IT, and vi. 2. 3. Ex- od. xiii. 21, 22. " And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:" &c. Exod. xxiv. 16, 17. "And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he call- REVEALED THEOLOGY. 99 eel unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight ot (he glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel." Exod. xxxiii. 9 — 1 J. " And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tal , the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses, And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." Exod. xxxiv. 5 — 8. " And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him," &c. Exod. xl. 34 — 38. " Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle," &c. Lev. ix. 24. u And there came fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat; which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces." Lev. xvi. 2, 3. " Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not; for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat," &c. Numb. vii. 89. " And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from of! the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims." Numb, xxvii. 21. " He shall stand before Elcazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children 100 REVEALED THEOLOGV. of Israel with him, even all the congregation." Exod. xxviii. 30. Levit. viii. 8. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6. 2 Chron. vii. 1 — 3. a Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consum- ed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled all the house," &c. Josh. v. 13—15, and vi. 2. '-When Joshua was by Jericho — there stood a man over against him, with his sword drawn in his hand, — and he said, — as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? — And the Lord [the Jehovah] said unto Joshua, See I have given into thy hand Jericho." For an account of the manifestation of Jehovah by those symbols of the three-fold essence of the deity, the cherubim, see 2 Sam- xxii. 11. Ezek. i. 4 — 28. iii. 23, viii. 4, and x. throughout. Cherubim are not intel- ligent beings that now exist; but they were hierogly- phics of the divine subsistence. Dan. iii. 25. " Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God " This was the captain who appeared to Joshua, and whose parti- cipation of the divine essence was symbolized by the head of a man joined to the head of the lion in the che- rubim. 5. Jehovah Jesus often appeared as the angel of the Lord. Gen. xxii. 11. "The angel of the Lord call- ed unto him out of heaven, and said Abraham, Abra- ham:" &c. In the form of an angel Christ appeared to Abraham, in company with two angels; Gen. xviii. 1 — REVEALED THEOLOGY. 101 3, 13, 14, 23— 33:— to Hagar; Gen. xvi. 7:— to Ba- laam; Numb. xxii. 22 — 35: — to Israel at Bochim; Judges ii. 1 — 5: — to Gideon; Judges vi. 11 — 24: — to Manoah; Judges xiii.: — and to many others. Inferior angels have frequently appeared; as for instance, two to Lot in Sodom. Gen. xix. 1. Several to Jacob on the ladder. Gen. xxviii. 2. One to David, and others. 2 Sam. xxiv. 15—17. Zech. i. 9. Dan. iii. 28. Dan. ix. 21 — 23. Gabriel came in the form of a man, to Daniel: and to Zecharias, and to Mary. Luke i. 19, 26. Luke ii. 10, 13. 6. Gen. xvii. 9 — 14. " Thou shalt keep my cove- nant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their ge- nerations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised," &c. Deut. x. 16. " Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart." Acts vii. 8. " He gave Abraham the cove- nant of circumcision." Rom. iii. 1, 2. " What profit is there of circumcision? Much every way." By this ordi- nance, which assured Abraham of the coming of the Saviour from his loins, the gospel was preached to him. Gal. iii. 8. " The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed." 7. Exod. xii. 3—28, and xiii. 3—16. 1 Cor. v. 7. " Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Heb. xi. 28. " Through faith he kept the passover." 8. Exod. xix. and xx. throughout. James ii. 9, 10. " Ye commit sin, and are convinced of [by] the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, 102 REVEALED THEOLOGY. and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For the law said, Do not commit adultery," &c. Gal. iii. 24. " The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Gal. iii. 17 — 26. " Wherefore then serveth the law? It was add- ed because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made." 9. The ceremonial law, which appointed various rites, was a law of " a carnal commandment, designed to be a shadow of good things to come." Heb. vii. 11, 16, and x. 1. This " law made nothing perfect." Heb. vii. 19. This " law of commandments concerning ordi- nances," Christ abolished by his death, and thereby broke down " the middle wall of partition" between Jews and Gentiles; (Eph. ii. 14, 15.) but not until it had accomplished the object for which it was given.* 10. Acts xv. 21. u For Moses of old time hath in eve- ry city them that preach him, being read in the syna- gogue every sabbath day."f Psalm lxxiv. 8, proves, that there were synagogues in the days of Asaph. 11. Moses was an eminent prophet of God, and of his instructions we read every where in his five books of the Old Testament. All the books of the Old Testa- ment were written by prophets, and contain records of their visions, counsels, and miraculous works. It is enough to mention the names of Elijah, Elisha, Ezra, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. 12. Exod. vii. 5. "The Egyptians shall know that I * Read JW-Ewen on the Types. j- Read Godwin's Muses and Anron> and Buxtorf on the Hebreu Synagogue, in Latin. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 103 am the Lord. 1 ' Exod. xiv. 4, 18, 31. " I will be hon- oured upon Pharaoh and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." — " And Is- rael saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord." Numb. xvi. 5. " And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to-morrow the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him." Ba- laam said of Israel, Numb. xxiv. 5, 8, " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel." — " God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the na- tions his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows." Lev. xx. 23 — 26. " Ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations, which I cast out) before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. But I have said unto you, ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and ho- ney: I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people. — And ye shall be holy unto me: for 1 the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." Judges ii. 1, 3, 14—23. Sec. III. The Holy Spirit employed the special min- istry and baptism of John, the Baptizer, as a means of grace, when he came as the last of the prophets, and the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ, to close the Le- 164 REVEALED THEOLOGY. vitical, and introduce the Christian dispensation, of the covenant of Redemption.* 1. Malachi iv. 5, 6. " Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fa- thers to the children, and the heart of the children ta their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Luke i. 15, 16, 17,76—79. " He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spi- rit and power of Elias, [Elijah,] to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. — And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of sins," &c. Luke iii. 3 — 18. " He came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;" &c. Luke vii. 24—30. " This is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justi- fied God, being baptized with the baptism of John," &c. Matt. iii. throughout. Acts xix. 1 — 5. Some who had been baptized with John's baptism, were subsequently * Read the Rev. Robert Hall, a baptist, on Communion. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 105 baptized with the Christian baptism. John iii. 23, " And John also was baptizing in iEnon near Salim, because there was much Water there," or literally, be- cause there were many waters^ or streams, there; " and they came and were baptized." Luke vii. 29. " Being baptized with the baptism of John." Acts xiii. 24, and xviii. 25. "The baptism of repentance." "Knowing only the baptism of John." 2. The disciples of Christ, before his resurrection, dispensed John's baptism. John iv. 1,2. u The Pha- risees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.") John iii. 26. 3. John baptized Christ with a baptism introductory to his entrance on his priestly office. Matt. iii. 13 — 17. Exod. xxix. 4 — 9. " And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- tion, and shalt wash," that is, baptize " them with wa- ter: — and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons;" by this sacerdotal baptism. Sec. IV. Since the introduction of the Christian dis- pensation, the Holy Ghost has employed, as means of grace, First, the special ministry of divinely inspired Apostles and Evangelists, who preached the gospel, re- corded the revelations of the New Testament, and left us injunctions and examples of permanent obligation in the church of God. Eph. iv. 11 — 15. " And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pas- tors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of 10 106 REVEALED THEOLOGY. the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect mail, unto the measure of the stature ofthefialnessof Christ:" &c. 1 Cor. xii. 28—30. u And God hath set some in the church, first, apostles," &c. 1 Cor. ix. 1. u Am I not an apostle?— Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" Luke vi. 13. " He called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apos- tles." 2 Cor. xii. 12. " Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." To constitute an apostle, it was requisite that one should have seen Christ personally; that he should be commissioned by Christ himself; that he should be di- vinely inspired to teach, and write; and that he should have the gift of working miracles. Matt. xii. 1, 19, 20. "And when he had called unto him his twelve disci- ples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. — It shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Acts ii. 43. a Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles." Acts v. 12. u By the hands of the Apos- tles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people." Eph. iii. 4, 5. " The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit." 2 Pet. iii. 2. "Be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the Holy Pro- phets, and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour." To the Apostles Jesus said, Luke xxii. 29, 30, " I appoint unto you a kingdom, as REVEALED THEOLOGY. 10*7 my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. xvi. 18, 19. " Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give un- to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and what- soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in hea- ven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 1 Thes. i. 5 — 7. u Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye be- came followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe." Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. u Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Heb. ii. 3, 4. " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great sal- vation; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs, and won- ders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost." The writers of the gospels by Mark and Luke, and of the Acts of the Apostles, were Evangelists, and not Apostles. Sec. V. Since the introduction of the Christian dis- pensation, the Holy Spirit has employed as his principal means of grace, Secondly, the ordinary ministry of re- 108 REVEALED THEOLOGF. conciliation; in which work, Pastors, and Missionary Teachers are successors to the Apostles in their minis- terial, but not in their apostolical office, in the church; the Apostleship having expired with those who saw Christ and were personally commissioned by him; but the ordinary ministry being perpetual. EpL iv. 11. "And he gave some — pastors and teachers." Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them, &c. — and lo, I am With you alway, even to the end of the world." Acts xv. 15, 16. " Nevertheless, brethren, 1 have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gen- tiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." Eph. vi. 21. "Tychieus, a beloved bro- ther and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things." In Col. iv. 7. Tychicus is styled a " faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord." Col. i. 7. " Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ," Timothy is spoken of, (1 Tim. iv. 6. and 1 Thes. iii. 2.) as u a good minister of Christ, and a minister of God." Acts i. 17. Judas " was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this minis- try." Acts i. 22, 25. Matthias was called by the Spirit to a take part of this ministry and apostleship." Luke i. 2. il "Which from the beginning were — ministers of the word." 1 Cor. 17, 18, 21,23,24. " Christ sent me— - to preach the Gospel:- for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are sav REVEALED THEOLOGY. 1011 cd it is the power of God." " It pleased God by the fool- ishness of preaching to save them that believe." " But we preach Christ crucified," &c. 1 Cor. ii. 4, 13. " My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power." " Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Ho- ly Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spi- ritual." 1 Cor. iii. 5, 9. " Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos^ but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" " We are labourers to- gether with God." 1 Cor. iv. 1. u Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mys- teries of God." 2 Cor. iii. 3 — -6. <; Ye arc manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart;" &c. 2 Cor. v. 18—20. a All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him- self, not imputing their trespasses to them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Tim. i. 10,11. « Jesus Christ— hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immor- tality to light through the gospel: whereunto I am ap- pointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gen- tiles." 1 Tim. i. 11, 12. u The glorious gospel of the blessed God,— was committed to my trust." " And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he 10* ' 110 REVEALED THEOLOGY. counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." 1 Tim. ii. 7. "I am ordained a preacher and an apostle." 2 Tim. ii. 2. "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 1 Cor. xiii. 8. " Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, [of a miraculous kind,] it shall vanish away." 1 Cor. iv. 1 5. " Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fa- thers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." Philem. ver. 10. " Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds." 1 Tim. i. 2. " Timothy, my own son in the faith."* Sec. VI. Since the introduction of the christian dispensation, the Holy Ghost has employed as a means of grace, Thirdly, the exercise of government and dis- cipline in his church, in which private Christians; a single Elder, or Bishop; and a plurality of Elders as- sembled in Presbytery or in council, may severally par- ticipate, according as they have divinely inspired in- structions or examples in the Bible. 1 Cor. xii. 28. " And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teach- ers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." 2 Pet. ii. 9, 10. •• The Lord knoweth how — to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and ♦Read Lectures on the Nature and End of the Sacred Office, by John Smith D. I), of Cambleton: and Baxter's Reformed Pastor. Abridged by Palmer :— two excellent books. REVEALED THEOLOGY". lit despise government." Rom. xiii. 1. " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers," whether of church or state, " for there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." 1 Thess. v. 12. " And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you." 1. The part which private -christians may take in the exercise of government and discipline may be gathered from the following passages. Acts i. 15, 23. The dis- ciples, one hundred and twenty in number, " appointed two" candidates for the apostleship, in the place of Judas. Actsvi. 1 — 6. " The multitude of the disciples" looked out among themselves seven men whom they chore for Deacons. Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. u If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be establish- ed. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." When an offender has been excommunicated by the proper authority, private christians are to enforce disci- pline by keeping no company with him. 2 Thess. iii. G, 14, 15. " Now w r e command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw your- selves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." " And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be 112 REVEALED THEOLOGY. ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but ad- monish him as a brother." 1 Cor. v. 11. " I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; rvith such an one, no, not to eat." When such an one is restored by the proper authority, private brethren should confirm their love towards him. 2 Cor. ii. 8. " Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him." Lev. xix. 17. " Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." 2. A single Elder, called from the Greek a Pres- byter or Bishop, may, when opportunity presents, and when circumstances require it, preach the word, dispense the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, organize particular churches, exercise discipline, and ordain suitable persons to the offices of Bishops and Deacons. Luke xxiv. 27. "He expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself." 2 Tim. iv. 2. " Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffer- ing and doctrine." 2 Tim. i. 14, and ii. 2. " That good thing, which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." " The same commit thou to faithful men." 1 Tim. v. 22. u Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure." 1 Tim. i. 3. u I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightcst charge some that they teach no other doctrine." REVEALED THEOLOGY. 1 1 o 1 Tim. iii. informs Timothy whom he should ordain Bishops and Deacons, and whom he should not: — u not a novice," but men of " good report," who had been first proved. M These things write I unto thee — that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God." Titus i. 5. " For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are want- ing, and ordain Eiders in every city, as I had appointed thee." Titus iii. 10. " A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject." 1 Tim. i. 20. " Hymenius and Alexander — I have delivered unto Satan." The epistles to Timothy and Titus are principally devoted to the delineation of the character of Bishops, and of the duties which devolve, under certain circum- stances, on every scriptural Elder or Bishop. 1 Tim. v. 20. " Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." Acts xiii. 5. u And they had also John to their minister." 3. A plurality of Elders, consisting of two or more, assembled in Presbytery, may exercise all the functions which belong to the office of an Elder; and it is expe- dient that such a Presbytery should, ordinarily, contain some Elders who do not labour in public preaching. 1 Tim. v. 17. a Let the Elders that rule well* * " Let the Elders who preside well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching." Macknight's Translation. These Ruling Elders were the Presidents or Moderators of their several Presbyteries; but they were not in all cases habitually employed in preachicg and catechising. 114 REVEALED THEOLOGY. be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine," or in preaching, and in teaching pupils. 1 Tim. iv. 14. " Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by pro- phecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Pres- bytery." Acts. xx. 17, IS, 28. " And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the Elders of the church. And when they were come he said to them, — Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you over- seers, [Bishops,] to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts xiv. 23. Of Paul and Barnabas it is written, u And when they had ordained them ELDERS in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they com- mended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." Acts. xiii. 13. " Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Bar- nabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they minister- ed to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Sepa- rate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." 2 Cor. ii. 6 — 8. " Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted by many. So that contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him, and com- fort him, lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you, that ve w r ould confirm vour love towards him." 1 Cor. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 116 v. 4, 5, 7, 13. " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, to deliver such an one to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. — Purge out therefore the old leaven. — Put away from yourselves that wicked per- son." 4. When the Eldership or Presbytery of a particu- lar church, or section of the church, like the Presbyte- ry of Ephesus or Antioch, cannot satisfactorily decide any matter, the subject should be referred to a council of Elders representing the whole church. Acts xv. 36. " When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissention and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." Of such references the church should defray the ex- pense. Verse 3. " And being brought on their way by the church." In this grand council at Jerusalem the parties were first heard, (ver. 4.) and then the Apostles and Elders, representing the whole church, freely discussed the subject of reference. Verse 6. " And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter." During the debate, the parties were called in, and heard more fully in explanation. Verse 12. " Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Bar- nabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." After this explanation, the council resumed the dis- cussion of the subject referred to them, (ver. 13.) and 116 REVEALED THEOLOGY. when they came to a decision, a record was made oi it; (ver. 23.) and a deputation sent with it to the church from which the reference came. Verse 22. " Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch." This deputation convened the congregation at Anti- ech, and delivered the written decision; (ver. 30.) and when the public preachers belonging to this special commission had preached on the subject of reference, all but Paul, Silas, and Barnabas, returned to the Apos- tles, no doubt to report their proceedings, and the state of the church. Verse 32—35. " And Judas and Silas being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them. And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles," &c. 5. To prevent impostors from abusing the ordinances of God's house, and the confidence of his people, per- sons who are in good standing in the church, either as private Christians or public officers, and wish to travel, or change the place of their residence, ought to be fur- nished with letters of recommendation from one or more of their Elders. 1 Cor. xvi. 3. " Whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality to Jerusalem." 2 Cor. iii. 1 "Need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commen- dation from )ou?"* * Read Letters and a Continuation of Letters concerning the Con- stitution and Order of the Christian Ministry, by Samuel Miller, D. I), and Essays on Episcopacy, by John M. Mason, D. D. con- tained in the Christian's Magazine. REVEALED THEOLOGY. Ill Sec. VII. Since the introduction of the Christian dis- pensation, the Holy Gho'st has employed, Fourthly, the ministry of Deacons and Deaconesses, for the pro- motion of his gracious purposes. Acts vi. 1 — 6. " And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were ne- glected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve oalled the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business," of serving tables, and attending to the wants of the widows of the church. " But we will give our- selves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Frochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch: whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." Philip, i. 1. " To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons. 1 ' 1 Tim. iii. 8 — 13. %t Likewise must the Deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then Jet them use the office of a Deacon, being found blameless. Let the Deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their houses well. For they that have used the office of a Deacon well purchase to themselves 11 118 REVEALED THEOLOGY. a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." Rom. xvi. 1 . " I commend unto you Phebe, our sister, which is a servant," Jiukgvov, a deaconess, u of the church which is at Cenchrea."* 1 Tim. v. 3 — 12. 11 Honour widows," by supporting them as deaconesses, " who are widows indeed. Let not a widow be taken into the number under three-score years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work:" because, if she has done these things when able to support herself, she will be likely to perform the same kind offices when honoured as a deaconess. " But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ," or when they cannot endure Christ's rein, " they will marry; having damnation," or rather, incurring censure, " because they have cast off their first faith;" their first fidelity as deaconesses, which they manifested when they undertook the office, and pledged themselves to be devoted to the church in this service. It was the duty of these deaconesses to instruct and watch over the poor orphan children of the church, to visit sick females, and pray with them; and to board itinerant evangelists, and to perform other charitable offices, as the almoners of the congregations to which they belonged. * Read Marknight's Commentary and Note on this verse, and :nt Tim. V. 3— 12. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 119 Our pious female friends, who are zealously engaged in sabbath schools, (although they are generally young persons,) come nearer to the description of a scriptural deaconess than any other members of the church in the present day. It is to be hoped they will continue their work until they shall be more than " three-score vears old." Sec. VIII. Since the introduction of the Christian dispensation, the Holy Ghost has employed, Fifthly, as a means of grace, the ordinance of Christian Bap- tism, which was authorized by Christ's commission to his ministers after his resurrection; and which ought to be dispensed only by their successors in the ministerial office, to adults who make a credible profession of faith in Christ, and to the children and other members of their households, who are under their spiritual care. , The rite of baptism consists in the solemn application of water, by a minister of Christ, to the person of a pro- per subject, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. This application may be made by sprinkling,, affusion, immersion, or in any other convenient way; because the quantity of water to be used, and the precise mode of applying it, are not prescribed in the Bible. 1. Matt, xxviii. 16 — 20. " Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus appointed them. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, — Go ye, therefore, and teach," make disciples of " all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you*: 120 EEV£ALKD THEOLOGY. and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the World." 2. Acts ii. 38, 39, 41. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shali receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar oft', even as many as the Lord our God shall call." " Then they that gladly received his word we.re bap- tized." Acts viii. 12, 13. " When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." "And Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done." Acts viii. 16, 36 — 39. " They were bap- tized in the name of the Lord Jesus." " And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou ma} est. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up cut of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. Acts ix. 13. " And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." Acts x. 47, 48. " Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the REVEALED THEOLOGY. 121 name of the Lord." Acts xvi. 14, 15. " A certain wo- man named Lydia — whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul — was baptized and her household." Acts xvi. 30 — 34- " Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Be- lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized," probably out of the same vessel in which he brought water to wash their stripes, " he and ail his straight- way. And when he had brought them into his house* he set meat before them, and rejoiced, [he] believing in God, with all his house." Acts xviii. 8. " Many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized." Acts xxii. 16. "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." 1 Cor. i. 13 — 17. " Were ye bap- tized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you," Corinthians, " but Crispus and Gaius; lest any should say that I baptized in mine own name. And 1 baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me, not [chiefly] to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. " All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Isa. lii. 15. " So shall he sprinkle many nations." Rev. vii. 3. " Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads." 3. Baptism is a symbolical exhibition of the applica- tion of the blood of Christ to all believers, and of the in- fluences of the Spirit in regenerating and sanctifying the 11* 122 REVEALED THEOLOC r. soul; so that all who witness the administration of this ordinance are taught, by an expressive emblem, the need in which every sinner stands of pardon through the death of Christ, and sanctification by his Spirit. Hence, be- cause baptism is administered by sprinkling and pouring, it is written, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 20. " Then will I sprin- kle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you." Heb. x. 22. " Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Prov. i. 23. " I will pour out my spirit unto you." Isa. xliv. 3. " I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upcn thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Joel ii. 28, 29. t; It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," &c. Heb. xii. 22, 24. " Ye are come — to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and, to the blood of sprinkling." 1 Pet. i. 2. " Eleet — through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprink- ling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. " Eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us, (not the put- ting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Eph. iv. 4, 5. M There is one body, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism." 4. Because we are united to Christ so as to have a saving interest in his death, and in his mystical body, the church, through the agency of the Spirit; and because REVEALED THEOLOGY. 123 the gift of the spirit is symbolized by baptism, we are said to be baptized unto Christ's death, buried with him by baptism, and planted together in the likeness of his death and of his resurrection. Rom. vi. 3 — 6. u Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into his death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resur- rection: knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence- forth we should not serve sin." Col. ii. 10 — 12. " Yc are complete in him, which is the head of all principa- lity and power: in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting oil the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; [being] buried with him in baptism [into his death,] wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Gal. iii. 26—29. " Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." 5. Because baptism symbolizes the gift of the Holy Spirit, in his miraculous influences, the descent of clo- ven tongues ofrire upon the Apostles is called a baptism. Matt. iii. II. " 1 indeed baptize you with water unto 124 REVEALED THE0L0&T. repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: lie shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Mark i. 8. Luke iii. 16. and John i. 26, compared with Luke xxiv. 49. Acts i. 8. Acts ii 3—5, 17—20, 33. "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of (ire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance," &c. 6. Baptism with water being an external, visible sign of consecration to God, the consecration of Christ as our atonement, by his sufferings unto death, is called a bap- tism: and in like manner the consecration of the Apos- tles unto God by their sufferings is called a baptism. Mark x. 38 — 40. " But Jesus said unto them, ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that 1 am baptized with- al shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but to whom it is prepar- ed."* Sec. IX. Since the introduction of the Christian dis- pensation, the Holy Ghost has employed, Sixthly, as a means of grace, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, in which all persons who have knowledge to discern the ♦Thisisihe correct rendering of this last clause; for the words, it shall be given to them, are an interpola f ion by the English trans- lators. On Baptism, read Extracts from C. Taylor in the Quarterly Theological Revietv, Vol. II. p. 185. The Pamphleteer No. I. by Dr. Rice; Peter Ed-wards on Baptism; Jane-way's Letters; and Wall on Infant Baptism. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 125' Lord's body, and faith to feed upon him, ought solemnly in communion with their fellow Christians, to eat bread and drink wine, with a design to remember Christ and thankfully commemorate his death, whenever providence affords them opportunity. All who make a credible profession of saving faith, to the officers a particular church, or are known by them to be communicants in good standing with what they deem an acknowledged portion of the visible church of Christ, ought to be admitted to the Lord's table. 1. Matt. xxvi. 26—30. "Jesus took bread, and blessed [God] and brake, and gave to his disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. — And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of olives." Mark xiv. 22 — 26. Luke xxii. 19, 20. " This is my body, which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." Acts xx. 7. " Upon the first day of the week — the disciples came together to break bread." Acts ii. 42. " And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayers." 1 Cor. xi. 20 — 34. u When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper," &c. 2. Of the communion of Christians in the Lord's sup- per we read thus: 1 Cor. x. 16, 17, 21. *' The cup of blessing Vhich we bless, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? F©r we being man* are one bread 126 REVEALED THEOLOGY. [loaf,] and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." " Ye cannot irink of the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and the table of devils." 1 Cor. xi. 33. u Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another." 1 John i. 3. " That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellow- ship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." Philip, iii. 10. " The fellowship of his sufferings." 1 Cor. xii. 12 — 14. " As the body is one, and hath ma- ny members."* 3. The Lord's supper symbolizes the exercise of faith in Christ, and is a seal of the covenant of re- demption which secures eternal life to all who spiritually partake of, and appropriate, the great sacrifice for sin. John vi. 33, 35, 48, 50, 51, 53—58, 63. " For the bread of God is he which cometh down from hea- ven, and giveth life unto the world." " I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." " I am that bread of life." " This is the bread that cometh down from heaven; that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for- ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." " Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drink- * Read Rev. Robert Hall on Communion, and A l J Ua for Sacra- snntal Communion, by J. J\2, Mc.san, D, D. ftRYEALED THEOLOGY. 127 eth my blood, hath eternal life: and 1 will raise him up at the last day. For my ilesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. u It is the spirit which quickeneth; the flesh profiteth no- thing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." Sec. X Since the introduction of the Christian dis- pensation, the Holy Ghost has employed, Seventhly, as a means of grace, the observance of the first day of the week as the Christian sabbath, or the Lord's day; for which observance we have the example of inspired apostles, whom we are bound to follow, by a holy rest- ing from all worldly employments and recreations, ex- cepting those of necessity and mercy; and by devoting the whole time to acts of private or public worship. The nature and obligation of the sabbath are the same from the beginning of the world to the end; but after the resurrection of Christ the lime of observing it was changed from the last to the first day of the week. Rev. i. 10. " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Acts xx. 7. " Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preach- ed to them, ready to depart on the morrow." 1 Cor. xvi. 1,2. u Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Gala- tia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath pros- pered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." John xx. 19,26. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of 12$ REVEALED THEOLOGY. the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst." " And after eight days again his disciples were with him," &c. Matt, xxviii. 1 " In the end oJ the sabbath, as it be- gan to dawn toward the first day of the week;" or lite- rally, " Now in the end of sabbaths., as it began to dawn toward the first of sabbaths." The end of sabbaths I take to mean the close of the seventh-day sabbath; and they no sooner terminated than the first ot the Christian sabbaths commenced. Mark xvi. 1,55. " And when the sabbath was passed," &c. " And very early, in the morning of the first of sabbaths, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun." There is no good reason why o one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took liis journey," &c. Rom. ii. 14, 15. " For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." Rom. iii. 19. " Now we know that what things soever the law sailh, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may he stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Sec. III. Some laws of God to man have expired by their own limitation. Such was the command of God to Abraham to offer up Isaac. After the patriarch had once attempted it, and was told to desist, it was his duty to make the attempt no more. Such was the command to Jonah, to preach to Nineveh, that the city should be destroyed. Such were the ceremonial laws, which were types of Christ, and expired when the anti- type was come. Such were also some of the civil laws of the Jewish nation, which were applicable to that nation alone, and ceased when the Jews ceased to exist in a distinct national capacity, in the land of Judea. Sec IV. Some of the laws of God are equally bind- ing upon all people, of all nations, who know them; and under all circumstances. These laws of universal and unceasing obligation, are called the moral law; of which we have a summary in the ten commandments. The whole moral law was not revealed to mankind at once, bnt was gradually developed in its different provi- sions from the first expression of God's will to Adam, 164 REVEALED THEOLOGY. to the completion of the sacred volume. The soul of the whole law, however, is required, when love to God and man is demanded; because, one who should per- fectly love God and man, would perfectly keep the whole moral law, so far as it should be known by him. Hence we read, 1 John ii. 5, " Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected." Rom. xiii. 10. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 1 John iv. 16. " God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwell- ed in God, and God in him." Matt. xxii. 36—40. " Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, aud with all thy soui, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Sec. V. To the first exhibition of the moral law to man God attached a promise of life, on condition of obedience, and a threatening of death, on condition of disobedience; and so rendered it a covenant of works. The law was violated and the penalty incurred by Adam as the federal head of all his posterity; so that no man since Adam's fall ought to expect, desire, or aim at, justification before God on account of his own personal obedience to the moral law as a covenant of works. Still, the scriptures incidentally remark, that if any man of our race were found perfectly obedient to the moral law, he should be justified, and live for- ever. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 165 See the texts cited in Part II, Chap. Ill, Section 2. Consider also the following passages: Ezek. xviii. 4 — 9. "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, — hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God." Ver. 19, 20. " Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, [if such a person can be found,] he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Rom. x. 5. " Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them." Nevertheless, " all have sinned;" and James ii. 10. " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." Wherefore, let it not be said of us, that " they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. x. 3, 4. Sec. VI. When any law of God requires any single operation of the mind, or of the complex being man, consisting of body and mind, every thing essentially pre-requisite to that operation is also required: and 15 166 REVEALED THEOLOGY. when God's law forbids any operation, it equally for- bids any thing which will naturally produce or occasion that forbidden operation. These are principles of common sense, which need not be proved until they are disputed: but they may be illustrated thus: God requires love: but the concep- tion of some lovely object, and the judgment that it is lovely, are essential to the exercise of love; and there- fore these mental acts are required, when we are com- manded to love. The command, that we should be- lieve on the Lord Jesus, is equally a command to do every thing which is essential to the operation of the mind in believing. We must attend to and consider the testimony concerning Jesus, which is to be the object of faith; and we must employ our minds also on the sub- ject of the competency and veracity of him who gives the testimony. Again, when God forbids lustful feel- ings, he equally forbids, though by implication only, all those perceptions and conceptions which are known to be incitements to libidinous sensations and motions. When, therefore, God requires love as the fulfilling of the law, he demands every thing which is requisite to the existence and continued operation of such feelings of love, as will induce him who loves God and man perfectly, to keep the whole law. Deut. iv. 9. " Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life." 1 Thess. v. 22. " Abstain from all appearance of evil." Matt. xii. 7. " If ye had known what this meaneth ? I will have mercy and not sacrifice^ ye would not have condemned the innocent." Here right knowledge REVEALED THEOLOGY. 167 would have prevented a wrong action. Prov. iv. 23, 26. " Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. — Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways he established." Sec. VII. There are certain operations of man, which the constitution, given him by God, renders natural to him, and which, being neither required nor forbidden by any law of God, are in themselves neither morally good, nor morally evil; but they are nevertheless natu- rally good or naturally evil for mankind. For in- stance, God has neither forbidden nor required man to have certain perceptions of light through his eyes, and yet it is a pleasant thing to behold any beautiful, lumi- nous object; but a protracted view of the sun is painful. To hear melodious sounds which reach our ears, to perceive fragrant odours from effluvia wafted to us from the flowers of the garden, and the new-mown hay, are naturally good mental operations; while to hear hoarse croaking discords, and to smell the scent of carrion, are naturally evil perceptions. None of these perceptions are the subjects of divine legislation. We may say the same of the sensations of cold and heat from the state of the atmosphere; of jeeling hunger and thirst; of many conceptions of natural objects; of acts of consciousness; of our constitutional judgments; and of involuntary re- membrance. All instinctive operations, and the perform- ance of the involuntary animal functions of our nature come under the same law. Sec. VIII. All the duties now required of men, which are enjoined in the holy scriptures, may be ranked under one or the other of the ten commandments, contained in the twentieth chapter of Exodus; and may be shown 168 REVEALED THEOLOGY. to be comprehended in that summary. It should not be forgotten, however, that more of the length, breadth, spirituality, usefulness and excellence of this summary may now be known by men, than could have been known before the New Testament was written. Each of the Commandments will require a distinct chapter. CHAPTER IX. Of the First Commandment. Sec. I. " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Exod. xx. 3. The fact is worthy of notice, that God has not commanded men, saying, " Thou shalt have a God;" but the first commandment takes it for granted that every man will have a god of some sort, without any requisition on the subject. God has so constituted all accountable moral agents, that they are in their own nature religious beings, and a religion of some kind they will have. Besides, whether they know, acknow- ledge, and choose him or not, he is their God by right, and by might. " I am the Lord thy God." That object which any one supremely regards, on which he depends, and to which he looks for happiness, is, for the time, his god; and man from the very constitution of his nature, will have some such object, or a plurality of them; and will love and serve them. Man is a dependant being, and will therefore depend on something for his comfort and felicity. He will have some lord and master to rule over him: he will serve God or mammon. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 169 Sec. II. The first commandment implies, moreover, that the (alien men to whom it is addressed will be na- turally inclined to polytheism, and will have a plurality of gods, if they are not prevented by the authority of the only living and true God. Had men been predisposed to have only one god, and a false one, we might have expected the command to read thus: Thouslialt have no other god before me. The implication here stated is fully verified by the history of mankind in every age, for they have always had gods many, and lords many. Even the professed Atheist makes universal nature his god; and the refined deist has the god of his imagination. Sec III. The words " before me," in the first com- mandment imply, that the God who gives the command- ment is every where present, so that all the false gods which men have in any place, they must have in his presence, and as it were before his eyes. Jer. xxiii. 23, 24. " Am I God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord " Psal. x!iv. 20, 21. ;c If we have forgotten the name of our God; or stretch- ed out our hands to a strange god; shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. 1 ' Sec IV. The God who gives this commandment, and declares his omniscience in it, is the God who com- missioned Moses, who covenanted with Abraham, who is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, revealed in the bible; and he positively commands us to have no other god than himself. Of course, we may not, 1, Give that regard, reverence, honour, confidence. 15* 170 REVEALED THEOLOGY. to parents, friends, children, relatives, ourselves; or to any earthly thing, or finite good, which is due to Jeho- vah, for it is idolatry. Col. iii. 5. " Covetousness — is idolatry." Jer. xvii. 5. " Cursed be man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart de- parteth from the Lord." Prov. xxviii. 26. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Prov. iii. 5, 6. " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknow- ledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." 1 John v. 21. " Little children, keep yourselves from idols." 2. We may not have for our God any angel, or de- parted spirit of the human race. 3. We may not have for our God the bring who is imagined by the Deist to exist, without subsisting as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and without having in- spired the Holy Scriptures. 4. We may not have for our God, the imaginary gods of those persons who deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit. The god whom Jews, Arians, and Socinians conceive of, has no real existence. Jer. x. 10, 11. " The Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King. — The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens." Rom. i. 25. " Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature, [it may be of the hand, or of the imagination of man, as well as of God's power,] more than the Creator, who is blessed forever." Sec. V. Since all men will have some god, and since they are forbidden to have any other god than the Fa- REVEALED THEOLOGY. 171 ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Jehovah of the Bible, who is their God by creation and providence, it is im- plied, that it is the duty of all men to have this true God for their God. Matt. iv. 1 0. " Thou sbalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." lsa. xliv. 6. " Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts; I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God." Deut. xi. I. li Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway." The duty of having the one only living and true God for our God, includes all those duties which are im- plied in, or essential to the performance of it. Hence, Sec. VI. The first commandment requires ail men to employ their faculties of perception, conception, memo- ry, judgment, reasoning, consciousness, and conscience, in relation to the creatures of God and their operations, in such a way as to obtain a knowledge of the true God; for men cannot have him for their God without having some true knowledge of him. Rom. i. 1 9 — 21 . " Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them: for God hath showed it un- to them;" if they will but see it. "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen," by them who look on them aright, " being under- stood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darken- ViZ REVEALED THEOLOGY. cd." In short, whatever may be known of God from his works, by any one, he ought to know; but alas! fallen man, in his native estate, neither loves, nor desires, nor wills, nor exerts himself to know, what he might know of God from the works of creation, and the light of reason. Sec. VII. The first commandment makes it the duty of all men to know what God has revealed to them, and to believe every portion of God's testimony. Job. xxii. 21 . " Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." Of coarse, every natural man, as well as every renewed man, is bound to employ his faculties on the subject of divine revela- tion, to ascertain what is revealed, and to judge that all the divine statements are true. He must believe that God is, and is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him: he ought to believe that God is infinitely wise and true; and to assent to every proposition, coming from God to him, as true, upon this previous judgment, that God cannot lie. And since the belief of revealed truth is necessarily dependant on some previous concep- tion of it, and that conception on some antecedent act of the mind; all men, who have the opportunity, ought to /tear, to read, and meditate upon the testimony of God; " for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God;" and u without faith it is impossible to please God." 1. The right use of all the means by which we may become acquainted with the being, perfections, and reve- lations of the true God; and with the person and work of the Mediator in particular, is required in the first commandment. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 173 2. It is true, that this commandment, which requires faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, does not promise pardon and eternal life to believers; but the gospel of God, or his revelation, which we are bound to believe, concern- ing the way of salvation, does exhibit this promise: so that the God in whom we are now required to exercise faith, is God in Christ, the just God and Saviour.* 3. There is nothing in the nature of faith in Christ which merits pardon and acceptance with God; but the connexion between the first exercise of saving faith and these blessings is wholly a covenant one, establish- ed by the gracious act of God, who of his mercifulness will show mercy freely, and in his own way, on his own terms. 4. Before a man believes with the heart unto right- eousness, it is his duty to perform all those mental ope- rations which are pre-requisites to justifying faith. He must believe that God exists, before he can savingly believe, that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life: and he must con- ceive of God and of existence, before he can practically believe in the being of God. 5. Holy faith always has for its object some proposi- tion which is a matter of divine testimony. Holy faith is any act of the judgment, that some pro- position of God's testimony is true, which is exercised in consequence of our regard to the character of God, who delivers the testimony. We are brought to exer- cise this faith by the gracious influence of the Holy * Read Ten Sermons on Faith } by the author of this volume. 174 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Spirit in governing our minds: and the effects of it will always be such feelings, volitions, and conduct as correspond with the testimony believed. 6. Every natural man ought sincerely to desire and ask for those influences of the Holy Ghost which will bring him to the exercise of acts of holy faith; and he may, while unrenewed, have many naturally, though no morally good motives, for willing to pray for such a bless- ing. Such prayers, we have before shown, may be, and often are, answered by the God of all grace. 7. Saving or justifying faith is but a species of holy faith, which has for its object some testimony of God concerning the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ. Noah had holy faith in the testimony of God concern- ing the universal deluge; but when Saul of Tarsus be- lieved M the faithful saying and worthy of all accepta- tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin- ners," he had holy, saving faith. 8. Any person who exercises any species of holy faith, has or will have saving faith, whenever God re- veals to him any testimony concerning the way of sal- vation. 9. The first commandment made it the duty of the prophets and apostles to have the faith of miracles, whenever God revealed to them that he would work a miracle in conformity to their prayer or commandment; and should God now testify to any one of us his plea- sure to counteract or suspend any of the laws of nature, it would then be our duty also to him as God, to have the same kind of faith. 10. The faith of miracles was not, in all instances, we have reason to think, a holy operation of the mind. HEVEALED THEOLOGY. 175 Judas and Balaam had it, without possessing one spark of saving grace. Sec. VIII. The first commandment makes it the duty of all men who are sinners, to exercise- repentance towards God, and be thoroughly converted in all their moral conduct, because they cannot otherwise have the only, living, and true God for their God. Since their moral conduct towards the true God is wholly wrong, this command requires it to be changed and become altogether right. John, the baptizer, and Christ, preached, saying, MeravogiTS, " Repent ye;" or literally, " change your minds." The repentance here required as due to God, does not consist in, although it includes, godly sorrow. 1 . Sinners, who have not had just conceptions of God, are required to conceive of him as he has revealed him- self. Jer. iv. 22. " My people is foolish, they have not known me." Psal. 1. 21. "Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself." 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. " Know thou the God of thy father." 1 Cor. xv. 34. " Some have not the knowledge of God." Rom. i. 28. " They did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Deut. iv. 35, 36. " Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else besides him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might, instruct thee: and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire." 2. Sinners who have false notions of Christ, or are ignorant of his character and work, must come to just apprehensions of the truth concerning him. Jer. ix. 3. " They are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for 176 REVEALED THEOLOGY. they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord." Matt. xvi. 15. " But whom say ye that I am?" Matt. xxii. 42. "What think ye of Christ?" 1 John v. 20. " And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him ihat is true, even in his son J« j sus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." 2 Pet. iii. 18. " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Pet. I, 2, 3, 5. " Grace and pe;ice be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. — Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue [for- titude,] knowledge." Philip, iii. 8, iO. "Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:-— that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection." Eph. iv. 13. " Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature ot Christ." Luke i. 76 — 79. " Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visit- ed us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." 1 Tim. ii. 3, 4. " This is good and accept- able in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have [commands] all men to be saved, and to come unto the REVEALED THEOLOGY. ITi knowledge of the truth." Hosea iv. 6. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." 3. Sinners who have false notions concerning the Holy Spirit and his work, concerning the nature and extent of the law, concerning their own depravity, guilt, misery and necessities; and in short, concerning spirit- ual things generally, must be so converted in the ope- rations of their minds, as to have scriptural conceptions and judgments, on all subjects of divine revelation. Colos. iii. 10. " Put on the new man, which is re- newed in knowledge after the image of him that crea- ted him." Colos. i. 9, 10. We " desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." 1 Cor. ii. 10 — 15. " God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spi- rit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spirit- ual. But 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. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things." 16 178 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Prov. xxix. 18. " Where there is no vision the people perish." 4. Sinners who have employed their perception about temporal things in such a way as to.promote their lusts, or at best merelj to gratify their natural feelings, must be so converted as to hear the words of life, search the scriptures, look upon the seals of the covenant of grace, and have all their bodily organs exercised about tempo- ral and spiritual things in such a way as to glorify God. The five senses must be inlets of divine truth, and fur- nish us with occasions for holy conceptions, emotions, intentions and actions. 1 John i. 1,3. " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; — that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." Heb. v. 14, " Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." 5. Sinners who have employed their memory about worldly things exclusively, and have forgotten their obli- gations to God, his dealings with them, the truth they have heard, and even the promises and vows which they have made, must be so converted as to remember their Creator habitually, and employ their memory in recollecting whatsoever things are honest, just, lovely, of good fame, and truly virtuous. By exercising this facul- ty aright, they must give perpetuity to all the divine REVEALED THEOLOGY. 179 knowledge and experience of which they have ever been the subjects. Isa. xvii. 10. " Thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength." Jer. ii. 32. " My people have forgotten me days without number." Hosea iv. 6. " Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee; — seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also for- get thy children." Ileb. xii. 5. " Ye have forgotten the exhortation, which speaketh unto you as unto children." 2 Pet. i. 9. " He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purg- ed from his old sins." Num. xv. 39. " And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and re- member all the commandments of the Lord and do them." Deut. viii. 2. " Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness." Deut. ix. 7. " Remember, and for- get not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath." 1 Chron. xvi. 12. "Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth." Eccle. xii. 1. " Remember now thy Crea- tor in the days of thy youth." Luke xvii. 32. " Remember Lot's wife." Acts. xx. 35. u Ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more biessed to give than to receive." Jude 17. " Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ." 6. Those who have judged erroneously, and reasoned falsely, should judge and reason correctly, so as to cor- respond with the mind of the Lord. Those acts of judgment, which come under the denomination of believ- ing, were considered in the seventh section of this chap- 180 REVEALED THEOLOGY. ter. Our constitutional judgments are not the subjects of divine legislation, because God has regulated them by the constitution of our minds. Our acquired judgments, which depend on testimony and experience, are required to be right. If we would have the true God for our God, and honour and obey him as such, we must judge righ- teous judgments, and infer right conclusions from them. The judgment must be exercised aright about spiritual, as well as natural things. Luke xii. 54 — 57. " And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; [this is your judgment;] and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass." These are judgments formed by expe- rience and analogical reasoning. " Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right." Lev. xix. J 5. " Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." John vii. 24. M Judge not ac- cording to the appearance, but judge righteous judg- ment." John viii. 15. " Ye judge after the flesh." Acts iv. 19. "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." 1 Cor. x. 15. "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say." 1 Cor. xi. 13, 31. "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?" "If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged." Job xv. 3. " Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?" Acts xvii. 2. " Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them ? REVEALED THEOLOGV. 181 and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.'' Acts xviii. 4. " And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts xxiv. 25. " He reasoned of righteousness, temper- ance, and judgment to come." Matt. xvi. 7, 8. "And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?" Our Saviour then proceeds to show, that from what they knew of his miraculous power, they ought to have rea- soned differently about his caution to " beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." 7. Sinners, whose consciences have been perverted and scared, should have their consciences rectified and quick- ened, so as to approve or disapprove of moral laws and conduct, in conformity to the will of God. That con- science may be right in its operations, the judgment and understanding must be previously rectified. Phil. i. 9, 10. " I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may ap- prove things that are excellent; that ye may be sin- cere and without offence." It is conscience which either approves or disapproves; and the apostle desired that from love to God the Phillippians might abound in right operations of the understanding and judgment, in order that their conscience should approve of all suitable objects, of all excellent things. Rom. ii. 15. "Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the 16* 182 REVEALED THEOLOGY. meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2. "Some shall depart from the faith, giv- ing head to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." Heb. ix. 14. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb. x. 22. " Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." Heb. xiii. 18. "We trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly." 1 Pet. ii. 19. "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience towards God endure grief, suffering wrong- fully." 8. Sinners, whose moral emotions have been wrong, are required to have right affections and passions, and to regulate in a proper manner their sensations, especially their appttites. Their hearts have been hard; they must become and continue soft, if they would have Jehovah tor their God. (1/ They have hated God; they have hated know- ledge and spiritually good things in general, and their hatred and enmity must be exchanged for love. This love towards God must be supreme; towards themselves subordinate; towards their fellow men, like that which they feel tor themselves; and towards all other lovely objects, proportionate to what they know of their love- liness. John xv. 24, 25. " Now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." " They hated me without a cause." Prov, i. 29. " They hated know- ledge." Luke xix. 14. " His citizens hated him» and REVEALED THEOLOGY. 183 sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." Rom. i. 30. " Haters of God." Psalm Ixxxi. 15. " The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him." Tit. iii. 3. " We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." John iii. 20. " Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." James iv. 4. " The friendship of the world is enmity with God." Rom. viii. 7. u The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Matt. xxii. 37, 39. u Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thymind." M Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Psalm iv. 2. "How long will ye love vanity?" Micah iii. 2, "Who hate the good and love the evil." Amos v. 15. " Hate the evil and love the good." Zech. viii. 17, 19. " Love no false oaths," — " love the truth and peace." Matt. v. 44. "Love your enemies." 1 Pet. ii. 17. "Love the brotherhood." 1 John ii. i5. " Love not the world," lying in sin and governed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, " neither the things that are in the world." John xv. 12. "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." (2.) They who have had no fear of God before their eyes, (Rom. iii. 18.) must be found, " perfecting holi- ness in the fear of God," 2 Cor. vii. 1. This filial fear must take the place of a slavish dread of God. Holy fear is so influeiitial over our moral conduct, that 184 REVEALED THEOLOGY. the whole of practical piety is frequently comprehended under this term. Levit. xxv. 17. ** Thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God." Isa. xxxiii. 6. " The fear of the Lord is his treasure." Prov. xxiii. 17. u Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." Neh. v. 9. " Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God." Luke xii. 5. " I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him." (3.) They who have desired only natural good, must be so converted as supremely and habitually to desire pardon, holiness, the favour of God, and all spiritually good things, of which they have any conceptions. Job xxi. 14. " They say unto God; Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Acts iii. 14. " Ye desired the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you," in preference to the Saviour. Psalm x. 3. " The wicked boasteth of his heart? s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." Eph. ii. 3. "We all had our conversa- tion in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 2 Sam. xxxiii. " This is all my salvation and all my desire." 2 Chron. xv. 15. "They had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire." Hag. ii. 7. " The Desire of all nations shall come." 1 Cor. xiv. 1. " Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy," or publicly preach. Rom. x. 1. " My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." Philip, i. 23. " Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ." Heb. xi. 16. "Now REVEALED THEOLOGY. 185 they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." 1 Pet. ii. 2. M As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." Psalm xxxvii. 4. " Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." (4.) They who have esteemed many evil things, and nothing better than things naturally good, must exercise esteem for spiritually excellent objects. Luke xvi. 15. " That which is highly esteemed among men is abomina- tion in the sight of God." Deut. xxxii. 15. "Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." Isa. jiii. 3. " He was despised; and we esteemed him not." Psalm cxix. 128. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right." Heb. xi. 26. " Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Jobxxiii. 12. "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." (5.) They who have delighted, joyed, rejoiced, trust- cd, hoped, rested, and confided in improper objects, or in things naturally good alone, must exercise these af- fections towards suitable spiritual objects. Psalm xxxvii. 3—17. " Trust in the Lord: — Might thyself also in the Lord: — trust also in him: — rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." John xv. 11, " These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." 1 Pet. i. S. " Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Rom. v. 11. " We also joy in 186 REVEALED THEOLOGY. God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. xii. 12, 15. " Rejoicing in hope" — "Rejoice with them that do rejoice." Psalm xxxiii. 21. u Our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name." Psalm cxlvii. 11. " The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." Philip, iii. 3. " Have no confidence in the flesh." Prov. iii. 26. " The Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." (6.) Sinners must cease from exercising shame, sor- row, grief, regret, indignation, sadness, anger, and wrath in relation to improper objects; and fee! these passions only in such circumstances as God approves. Ezek. xvi. 52. " Bear thine own shame, for thy sins that thou hast committed." Mark viii. 38. " Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." Rom. i. 16. " I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." 2 Cor. vii. 9 — 11. "Now I rejoice, not that ye were sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." 1 Pet. ii. 19. " This is thankworthy, if a man for con- REVEALED THEOLOGY, 187 science toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." John xxi. 1 7. " Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?" Mark iii. 5. " And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand." Mark x. 22 " He was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." Ezek. xiii. 22. " With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad." Eph. iv. 26. " Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath." (7.) They who have felt pride and ingratitude, must exercise humility and thankfulness; the unmerciful and cruel must be merciful; the impatient must become pa- tient; the fretful must be meek; and envy, malice, despair, cruelty, and lust, must be entirely discarded. 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. " Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart." Jam. iv. 6. " God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." Rom. i. 21. " When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful." Psal. c. 4. " Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless Ins name." James ii. 13. " He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judg- ment." Prov. xi. 17. " The merciful man doethgood to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh." Luke vi. 36. u Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Eccles. vii. 8, 9. u The pa- tient in spirit is better than the proud »n spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry." 1 Thess. v. 14. " Be patient toward all men." Psal. xl. 1. " I waited pa- tiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard 188 REVEALED THEOLOGY. my cry." Heb. x. 36. " Ye have need of patience." Psal. xxxvii. 1,8. " Fret not thyself because of evil- doers: — -fret not thyself in any wise to do evil." 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. " The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." Matt. v. 5. " Blessed are the meek; for they shall in- herit the earth." 1 Pet. ii. 1. "Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies." 2 Cor. iv. 8. 14 We are perplexed, but not in despair." Gal. v. 16, 17, 24. " Ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit." " And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (8.) The appetites of sinners which have been un- bridled, must be brought into subjection, and governed by judgment and conscience. Have sensations of hunger, thirst, &.c, we shall, from our nature; but we may eat or not eat, drink or not drink, according as we shall choose. 1 Cor. viii. 13. " Wherefore, if meat make my bro- ther to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand- eth." 1 Cor. x. 31. " Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the giory of God." 1 Cor. ix. 27. u I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." (9.) It is our duty to exercise all proper emotions in such a manner lhat we may be said to have zeal, or be zealous. If we love, hope, desire, &c, but not with ardour and vehemence, we w&utzeal. Gal. iv. 18. "It is good to be zealously ajjected always in h good thing." Tit. ii. 14. "A peculiar people, zealous of good works." % REVEALED THEOLOGY. 189 Cor. vii. 11. " Yea, what vehement desire." Rev. iii. 15, 16. u I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." John ii. 17. " The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 9. Sinners, whose will has been devoted to sin, must choose, intend, purpose, determine, design, and resolve, from right motives, to follow the Lord wholly, and do whatsoever he commands them. From natural motives they may have chosen naturally good things; but now they must choose something better, something spiritually good. Deut. xxx. 15, 17, 18, 19. " See, I have set be- fore thee this day life and good, and death and evil: but if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt [that is, wiliest] not hear, — ye shall surely perish. — Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Josh. xxiv. 15. " Choose ye this day whom ye will serve: — but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." Prov. i. 29. w They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord." Prov. iii. 31. " Envy not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways." John v. 40. " Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." Ezek. xviii. 31. " Cast away from you all your trans- gressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" 1 Cor. ii. 2. " For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 10. Sinners, whose voluntary agency has been opposed to the law of God, must exert themselves to govern their own minds in all their operations, and to regulate all 17 19U REVEALED THEOLOGY, their external conduct by the laws of God. The first commandment requires that all our moral actions should be holy, whether they be simple or complex; whether they require the operation of mental faculties alone, or the faculties of the mind and body together. If our voli- tions are holy, the agency which is the result of them will be holy also. We must practise self- government, so as to prevent the exercise of wrong mental operations; keeping our hearts with all diligence, and keeping ourselves in the love of God. We must grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We must practise self-denial, by choosing and acting, not from wrong feelings, as motives, but from judgment and conscience, enlightened by the word of God, in di- rect opposition to our hearts, when exercising criminal emotions. We must acknowledge God by an open profession to be our God, as well as voluntarily covenant to be his; pray to him in secret and in public; sing his praise; read his word; preach the gospel if called to this work; hear the preachingof the word with teachable, honest, good minds; swear solemnly by his name on proper occasions; celebrate the sacraments of the New Testament; and perform all those required actions which the Holy Spirit is pleased to employ as means of grace. On these subjects, it is sufficient to refer to the passages of scripture which have been quoted in the seventh chapter of this work. In short, this first commandment binds us to the perfect observance not only of this, but of every other com- mandment of the moral law; for we are not of God un- less we hear his words, and walk in all his ordinances. John viii. 47. " He that is of God heareth God's words.'' REVEALED THEOLOGY. 191 1 John iii. 24. "He that kecpeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him." Psal. cxix. G. " Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments." Col. i. 10. "Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." 11. We are bound to employ our consciousness, so as to know that we perform the holy exercises of which we are the subjects; and our judgment in comparing them with the mental operations required by the moral law, and attributed to the saints: and our reason, so as to in- fer our conversion from the performance of those holy actions of which we are conscious; that thus we may as- sure ourselves of knowing God to the salvation of our souls. Rom. viii. 13 — 17. " If ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." 2 Cor. xiii. 5. " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" For other texts on tiXs sub- ject, the reader is referred to Chapter vi. Section viii. 12. We are bound to promote right mental disposi- tions, and to form holy habits of moral agency; that in- stead of being prone to evil, we may by a new nature be inclined to good. Psal. 1. 23. " To him that ordereth," or as it is in 192 REVEALED THEOLOGY. the margin, disposeth " his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God." Prov. xvi. 1. " The pre- parations," or disposings " of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, are from the Lord." Jer. xiii. 23. " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leo- pard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are ac- fAistomed to do evil." Josh. xxiv. 23. Incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel." Psal. cxix. 36, 112. " Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness." " I have inclined mine heart to per- form thy statutes ahvay, even unto the end. Habits are formed by the frequent repetition of any operation; and in acquiring right dispositions, inclina- tions and habits, w r e must diligently and resolutely exert ourselves, while we humbly depend on God for his gracious assistance, bestowed in answer to prayer. CHAPTER X. Of the Second Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 4— 6. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing tjy#t is in heaven above, or that is in the earth be- neath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy REVEALED THEOLOGT. 193 unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my com- mandments." As thcj?rs* commandment implies that all men will have some supreme object of regard, some god or other; so the second takes it for granted that all men will worship their deity in some way. The first com- mandment forbids men to have any other god than the true God, and the second forbids us to worship the true God in any other than the divinely appointed mode. Sec. II. The first commandment, as has been already shown, makes it our duty to worship God agreeebly to his appointments, because we cannot otherwise have him for our God to the exclusion of all false gods. It is the first, and not the second commandment, therefore, which binds us to search the scriptures, pray, give thanks; and employ all those means 01 grace which consist in hu- man operations, and which are required of men, even while the efficacy of them to promote holiness is entire- ly dependant on the efficiency of the Holy Spirit. Sec. III. We may not worship any image, picture, or similitude of any thing, however made, by God, or man, as the object of our regard, lor this would be having other gods before Jehovah, and so would violate the first command of the decalogue. Hence if any persons real- ly worship the relics of saints, the saints themselves, the virgin Mary, the sacramental bread and wine, carved images, or other representations of Christ, or any other visible or tangible form, of which they may con- ceive, they are as truly chargeable with idolatry, as the pagans who adore wood, gold, stone, clay, serpents, riv- ers, crocodiles, and twenty thousand divinities. Praying to the virgin Mary, and to any of the spirits 17* 194 REVEALED THEOLOGY. of departed saints, is idolatrous worship, and supposes them to be possessed of the attributes of omniscience and omnipresence, which belong to Jehovah alone. Deut. iv. 23, 24. "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath for- bidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Sec. IV. It is a violation of the second commandment to pretend to worship the only living and true God, through the instrumentality of images, pictures, cruci- fixes, the virgin Mary, saints, angels, or any human in- vention, of any description, whether it be a substance fashioned, an image conceived of, or a mode of acting prescribed by man. Deut. iv. 15 — 19. " Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." Exod. xxxii. 8. u They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I com- ftEVEALED THEOLOGY. 195 manded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt." Matt. xv. 9. " But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Colos. ii. 16, 18, 20—23. " Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a festival, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days;" for God alone has a right to judge, rw/e, or regulate men in these matters. Or course it is a sin for any human beings to require, authoritatively, fasting on any day, the keeping of lent, the eating of fish on Friday in preference to other flesh, the observ- ance of Christmas and good Friday, and the celebra- tion of penticost, or of the birth and martyrdom of saints. Fasts and feasts of a religious nature may be recommended to others by those who think it proper themselves to devote some special season to them; but they should not be commanded by Church or State. " Let no man beguile you of your reward in a volun- tary humility" that is, by a self-willed humilia- tion, " and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." Thus are forbidden all consecrations of water, wafers, bread, wine, churches, bells, robes, and utensils used in worship; all reiterations of baptism, extreme unction; all counting of beads, with the use of prescribed crossings and genuflexions in prayer; all pre- scriptions of penance by priests; and all attempts to obtain pardon and eternal life by any or all of these things. " Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world; why, as though living in 196 REVEALED THE0L0GS". the world, arc ye subject to ordinances," such as, " (Touch not, taste not, handle not, any of those things which tend to destruction of life in the using,) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have, indeed, a show of wisdom in will-worship and humiliation, and neglecting the body, not in any provi- sion for satisfying the flesh." If men think to please God by abstinence from all animal food, and by celibacy, when his providence does not require these things; by shutting themselves up in convents; by adding cream, oil, and spittle to water used in baptism; by offering up the host as a sacrifice; by burning tapers for other purposes than that of giving light; by binding wafers to the dying; by confessing secret sins to their fellow men; by giving and receiving absolution from men; or by doing any other thing as an act of religious worship, which God has not required in his word, they err, not knowing the scriptures, and violate the second article in the decalogue. Sec. V. The reasons by which obedience to this commandment is enforced in the decalogue, are, First, the inherent attributes of God considered as the Lord, or Jehovah; Secondly, the covenant relation which sub* sists between God and men; expressed by the Lord thy God; and Thirdly, the jealousy of God for his own honour, which induces him to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him; and to show mercy unto thousands of generations of them that love him and keep his commandments. Deut. vii. 9. " Know, there- fore, that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that REVEALED THEOLOGY. 197 love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." He will make the wicked, who worship him not agreeably to his will, experience punishment through the antecedent wickedness of their ancestry of two or three generations; and yet, (Ezek. xviii 14 — 17,) " if he beget a son that seeth his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doth not such like, — he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live." On the contrary, however, so great is the mercy, goodness, and faithfulness of God, that if ances- tors and descendants, for thousands of generations, should worship God in sincerity, according to his ap- pointment, the piety and prayers of the first, should prove a blessing to the last in this line of godly persons, through the gracious interposition of heaven. Exod. xxxiv. 14. " Thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." CHAPTER XI. Of the Third Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 7. " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." The name of God is any thing by which he makes himself known; for names are given to distinguish objects. Hence, the titles, attributes, revelations, works, ordinances, counsels, providence, doctrines, covenants, 2 98 REVEALED THEOLOGY. and appointments of Jehovah, are all included under the name of the Lord. Sec. II. The third commandment takes it for grant- ed, that men will make use of the name of the Lord in some manner; and forbids them to employ it in a vain, improper, unprofitable, profane way. Lev. xviii. 21. "Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God." 1. We are forbidden to take God's name in vain, by praying inconsiderately, insincerely, without meaning what we say, without solemnity, submission, and love; or for such things as God has forbidden us to desire. Those persons who cry, " God bless you," " God bless me," " Good Lord," " Lord," " Lord have mercy," in common conversation, and do not intend seriously to pray, take God's name in vain. The same is true, in a degree, of those serious persons, who in prayer use some of the names of God to rest upon, and keep up the sound of their voice, until they can think of something else to offer. We should never cry out, " Lord," unless we design solemnly to address God, and present cither adoration, confession, petition, or thanksgiving. Imprecations of evil against our fellow men, and all denunciation of curses, excepting such as God has au- thorized, are also violations of this sacred precept. To utter or countenance the mock prayers, vows and oaths of the stage is a horrible violation of this com- mand. 2. We may neither think, speak, nor read of any of the names of God, without believing that he exists, knows our conduct, and is a rewarder of them who dili- gently seek him. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 199 3. We may not read or hear the word of God in a careless, negligent manner; without having a desire to know the mind of the Spirit and do his will. 4. We violate the third commandment if we admin- ister the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper in an unscriptural manner; or if we receive them, being adults, with superstitious regard, in ignorance of their nature and design, or from any unholy motives. Mala. i. 12. " Ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible." 5. We are forbidden to sing sacred songs, without singing with the spirit and the understanding also; or to engage in any act of public or private worship, without a desire, and a design, to get good, do good, and glorify God. 6. It is a violation of the third commandment to make vows lightly, on trifling subjects, or to do things unlawful; and equally so, to break lawful vows and covenants. 7. To swear by any of the names of God, in a light, and trifling, or angry manner; to swear insincerely, or falsely; to swear by the bible, the cross, or any thing else than the true God; to refuse to answer under oath, when properly called on so to do; and to encourage any of these sins; are things forbidden by this part of the decalogue. 2 Chron. xv. 12 — 15. "And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And 200 REVEALED THEOLOGY. they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judab rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about." Matt. v. 33—37. " Ye have heard that it hath been said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. Moreover I say unto you, swear not at all; nei- ther by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king: neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black: but let your communication be, yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these," in your com- mon conversation, " cometh of evil." For other pas- sages of scripture on this and the other subdivisions of this section, consult Part II. Chapter VII. Sec. 16, 17. 8. All attempts to predict future events from any signs, which God has not given by revelation, or by a pretended intercourse with the devil or any other spirit; and all pretences of effecting any thing by charms, be- long to the sin of witchcraft, and are forbidden by this commandment. By soothsaying and fortune-telling men disparage divine revelations; and by pretended charms, the providence of God. This was the reason that w it ches and wizards, or men and women pretending to the power of prediction and miracles, were not suffered to live un- der the Theocratical government of the Hebrews. As for the real power of foretelling future events and work- ing miracles, not the magicians of Egypt, nor the witch of Endor, possessed a particle of it. Deut. xix. 39. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 201 "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Exod. xxii. 18. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Gal. v. 1 9, 20. " Now the works of the flesh are — idolatry, witchcraft," &c. Deut. xviii. 10 14. " There shall not be found among you any one that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an en- chanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. — For these na- tions — hearkened unto observers of times, and unto di- Tiners: but as lor thee, the Lord thy God hath not suf- fered thee so to do." 9. The casting of lo(s in every way, is an appeal to God's providence; and to employ them without intend- ing to seek the divine decision in the case, or on light, trifling, and improper occasions, is taking the name of God in vain. On this principle, all games of chance, all public and private lotteries for the distribution or dis- posal of property, which might be made by human wis- dom and discretion, and all frivolous drawing of cuts, are forbidden by God. The lot should be used onlv as an intentional appeal to the Almighty, in such cases as he has authorized. That may be solemnly and religious- ly decided by lot, which cannot be equitably and satis- factorily decided by human judgment and agreement. Prov. xvi. 33. " The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Prov. xviii. 18. " The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth be* 18 202 REYEALED THEOLOGY. tvveen the mighty." 1 Sam. xiv. 41, 42. " Therefore Saul said unto the Lord God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped. And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken." Num. xxxiii. 54. " And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families." Acts i. 26. " And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." This decision by lot was introduced by prayer: verse 24. " They prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen." Luke i. 9. " His lot was to burn in- cense."* 10. All evil speaking, or blasphemy against the name of God, as explained above; and especially all blas- phemy against the Holy Ghost, is forbidden by the third commandment. Of course, we may not oppose or mis- represent the doctrines of the bible; we may not deny the providence and purposes of God; nor may we attri- bute to God's efficiency the sinful agency of man. To speak openly and wilfully against the Holy Ghost, and his work, and especially to ascribe his operations to the Devil; in direct opposition to our own knowledge and conscience, with a view to frustrate his gracious influences, is the unpardonable sin. 2 Kings xix. 22. " Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lift up thine eyes on high? even against the * Read Considerations on Lots, in the Christian's Magazine. Vol. I. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 20l> holy One of Israel." John i. 5. " God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." James i. 13, 14. a Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot he tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." Isa. xxxiL G. u For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul oi the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail." Jer. vii. 8 — 10. " Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by nr. name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abomi- nations?" Thus are condemned all fatalists; all who im- pute their sins to divine decrees as if they produced them; all who excuse themselves for crimes by pleading that natural propensities are irresistible; all who assert that nothing is theocratically wrong; and all who deny the necessity of atonement, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, or so pervert these doctrines that they are neither bread to the hungry, nor water to the thirsty. Habak. ii. 13. " Behold, it is not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the peo- ple shall weary themselves for very vanity." This 1 take to be an assertion and not an interrogation, as in our translation. 1 Tim. vi. 1. " That the name of God and his doc- trine be not blasphemed." Rom. ii. 24. " For the name ^04 REVEALED THEOLOGY. of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you." Tit. ii. 5. " That the word of God be not blasphemed." Mark iii. 28—30. a All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: because they said, he hath an un- clean spirit." Matt. xii. 24, 31,* 32. "But when the pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. — Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blas- phemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghosst, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Those blas- phemers against the Holy Ghost who occasioned Christ's discourse concerning the unpardonable sin, openly and maliciously, contrary to their own judgment and con- science, spake against the Holy Ghost, imputing his work to the devil.* J 1. Next to perjury and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, the worst violation of the third commandment, consists in professing to be a minister of the gospel with- out supreme love to Christ; in teaching under pretence of proclaiming his gospel, another gospel; in opposing publicly the fundamental doctrines of revelation; and in administering baptism and the Lord's supper without *On the unpardonable sin, read the xviith Sermon in Dr. Em- mons's volume on some of die First Principles and Doctrines of True- Religion. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 205 the warrant given to the successors of the apostles in the work of reconciliation. Persons whom we know to be such teachers, we may neither acknowledge nor hear, as the heralds of the gospel of Jesus; but are bound to bear testimony against their usurpation of the ministry, and their damnable heresies. 1 Tim. vi. 3 — 5. " If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is accord- ing to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but do- ting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, sup- posing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thy- self." 1 Cor. xvi. 22. " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maran-atha." 2 Pet. iii. 16. " In which are some things hard to be under- stood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own de- struction." Ezek. xiii. 22. u With lies ye have made the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." 2 John 9 — 11. "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Fa- ther and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds " 2 Cor. iv. 2, 3, 5. We " have renounced the hidden things of dis- honesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the 16* 206 REVEALED THEOLOGT. word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost," or rather to them that destroy themselves: — a For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake." For other passages of scripture on this subject, consult Part II. Ch. vii. Sec. 6. 12. Any one, however sincere and orthodox, who has taken upon himself ordination vows inconsiderately, and without reasonable preparation for the ministerial office; or who, having become officially an ambassador for Christ, neglects his work needlessly, or performs it unfaithfully, is chargeable with the crime of profaning the name of the Lord. Prov. xx. 25. " It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after tows to make inquiry." 1 Cor. ix. 16, 17. "Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, wo is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if 1 do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me." Philip i. 15, 16, 17. " Some, indeed, preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely; — but the other of love." Psalm 1. 16, 17. a Cut unto the wicked, God saith, What hast to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee." Rom. x. 15. " How shall they preach except they be sent?" Ezek iii 17—19. " Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: REVEALED THEOLOGY. 20? therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul." 13. Any person who has received the sacrament of baptism, or of the Lord's supper, and having come to discretion, does not live in holy obedience to all the commandments of God, is chargeable with profaning the name of Jehovah. Heb. x. 38, 39. " If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition." Heb. xii. 16, 17. u Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance," in his father Isaac, u though he sought it carefully with tears." 2 Tim. ii. 19. u Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Deut. xxvi. 17, 18. " Thou hast, avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments." Sec. III. The considerations by which obedier.ee to 208 REVEALED THEOLOGY. the third commandment is enforced in the decalogue, are two: First, The Lord reveals himself as the covenant God to every one who is forbidden to take his name in vain. M Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thv God in vain." The only living and true God subsists as a God in covenant for man's salvation: as such he reveals himself; and we ought to be moved by regard, not only to the inherent attributes of the Deity, but by the relation which he sustains to us as the just God and Saviour, to keep all his commandments. We should not profane his name because he is in his nature perfect; and in the revelation of his counsels, the God of all grace, whom we are bound to love, as a Father, and a Friend. Secondly, The Lord his God will not hold him guilt- less that taketh his name in vain; or, which is the same thing, will hold him guilty, will hold him liable to suffer the punishment due to his sins. No profane per- son shall be considered by God as free from condemna- tion. Men may hold him guiltless, but Jehovah will not. The offender may think lightly of his crime, and allege that he intends no harm; but Jehovah will con- sider him as deserving everlasting damnation. Probably there is no one sin which God has so sig- nally, so quickly, and almost miraculously punished, in the present life, as profane swearing and cursing. REVEALED THEOLOGY 309 CHAPTER XII. Of the Fourth Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 8—11. u Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; tor in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sab- bath-day, and hallowed it." The sabbath is a positive institution, and this part of the decalogue enjoins the due observance of it. The person who gave this law had a right to modify it in any way to please himself; and he has been pleased to exercise that right by changing the time on which the sabbath is to be observed, from the seventh to the first day of the week. On this point, consult Part II, Chap. VII, Sec. 2, and 10. Sec II. It is our duty frequently to exercise our me- mory about the divine appointment and design of the sabbath, that we may realise our obligation to keep it, and make suitable preparations for spending it in a be- coming manner, whenever it shall recur. " Remember the sabbath day." Had it not been previously insti- tuted, as it was at the creation, men would not have been required from Sinai to remember it, as already io being. 210 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Sec. III. The sabbath is to be commenced and ter- minated when the first day of the week commences and terminates, according to the ordinary reckoning of the people of any land. The Hebrews reckoned each of their days from even- ing to evening; and so they were commanded to observe the sabbath from evening to evening. Lev. xxiii. 32. 'From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sab- bath." But the Bible has in no place required other nations to reckon their days in the same manner; or in any par- ticular way. It is simply demanded of them to keep the first day in every week as a sabbath. It must be manifest, let the sabbath day be commen- ced when it may, whether at sun-set, midnight, or sun- rise, that there must be the difference of twelve hours between every different set of antipodes; for when it is midnight to us, it must be noon-day to those who inha- bit the same meridian on the opposite hemisphere; and when the sun rises here it sets there; so that it would be impossible for all the people of the globe to observe the sabbath on the same hours, according to any established diurnal measurement. Sec. IV. It is our duty to attend faithfully and indus- triously to that secular business which is incumbent on us, during the six last days of the week, and not to in- stitute or observe sabbaths of human invention; that we may be prepared for the sanctification of the Lord's sabbath. ,c Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work" Gal. iv. 10, 11. " Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you. lest I have bestowed labour upon you in vain." UtVEALEl) THEOLOGY. ,i\i It is the duty of all men, who arc capable of doing it, to labour industriously in some lawful calling. Not even immense wealth, nor the most exalted hon- ours, and intellectual attainments will excuse any man to his God for wasting time and other talents in a lazy, idle life. The sabbath is rendered more sweet, and profitable by the labours of the week. It is lawful and proper to assemble for public wor- ship on week days, or out of stated season, if our in- cumbent secular business does not forbid; but if any one cannot pay his honest debts, and decently support himself and family otherwise, he ought to labour six whole days in the week, if his strength will allow, and he can find any profitable, lawful employment. On these points the following texts will suffice. Rom. xii. 11. Be " not slothful in business;*' but " fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.'" Prov. xxvii. 23. " Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds." Prov. xiii. 4. u The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat." Prov. x. 4, " The hand of the diligent maketh rich." Prov. xix. 15. a Sloth- fulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." Eccle. ix. 10. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Matt. xxi. 28. " Son, go work in my vineyard to day." 1 Thess. iv. 10 — 12. " We beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; that ye may walk honestly to- wards them that are without, and that ye may have lack 212 REVEALED THEOLOGt. of nothing." 2 Thess. iii. 10—12. " This we com- manded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy- bodies. Now them that are such we command and ex- hort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Eccle. v. 12. "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet." Eph. iv. 28. "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." To walk hon- estly towards men, to have lack of nothing ourselves, and to be able to give to every one that needeth our pe- cuniary assistance, either for the welfare of his body or soul, should be the great objects for which every man, in the fear of God, and with a desire to glorify him, should labour to become as rich as he lawfully can. And this is perfectly consistent with the injunction, (John vi. 27.) " Labour not for the meat which perish- cth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you:" for this is a Hebrew mode of comparison, and means, " Labour not so much for the meat which perisheth, as for that which endureth:" labour not so much for temporal as for spiritual sustenance and wealth. 1 Tim. v. 8. " But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." Sec. V. That we may keep the sabbath holy, it is our duty to rest on that day from every kind of worldly business, except that which is essential to works of ne- cessity or mercy; and if we are heads of families, (who REVEALED THEOLOGY. 213 V have beasts of labour, and who entertain strangers,) to restrain our children, our servants, our cattle, and even our guests, so far as possible, from violating this cessa- tion from worldly labour. We may not travel on the sabbath, unless from ne- cessity, or to show mercy; for this is labour for man and beasts; nor may we suffer others to do it, if we have parental authority, or friendly influence, to prevent them. It is a work of mercy to visit the sick and afflicted for the purpose of relieving or comforting them; and it is lawful to defend, feed, clothe, warm, refresh, and shel- ter ourselves, our families, our neighbours, and our cat- tle. We may save the lives of animals exposed to die; and take measures to preserve our property on the sab- bath, which would inevitably be lost, so far as we can judge, if neglected until the ensuing day. To preserve life, to quench fires, to resist or escape floods, to travel to and from the house of God, to labour in teaching and preaching the good news of salvation, are works of ne- cessity or mercy. " The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Neh. xiii. 15 — 18. "In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bring- ing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day; and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought 19 814 REVEALED THEOLOGY. fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Jiidah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Juclah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sab- bath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath." Matt. xii. 1 — 13. " At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn," the heads of wheat or rye, " and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disci- ples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that w T ere with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the show-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not," or, rather than u sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the. Sabbath day. And when he was de- parted thence, he went info their synagogue: and, be- hold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said onto them, What man shall there be among you, that REVEALED THEOLOGY, 215 shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sab- bath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Where- fore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. Then said he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other." Luke xiii. 15. "Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?" The man in the wilderness, who gathered sticks, (Num. xv. 32 — 37.) was stoned by divine command- ment, not for preparing necessary daily food on the Sab- bath; but for doing a presumptuous deed, in direct op- position to the word and providence of God, which had provided on the sixth day manna for two days. See Exod. xvi. 22—26. Sec. VI. In addition to abstinence from all needless labour, the Sabbath is to be kept holy, by devoting the whole time, not occupied in suitable refreshments by sleep and food, or works of humanity and necessity to- wards man and beast, to religious meditation, reading, prayer, conversation, instruction, praise, or other acts of public and private worship. The Sabbath was instituted principally for promoting the glory of God in the religious improvement of man- kind; and on this day, especially, men ought to make- use, so far as in them lies, of all the means of grace. Of course the Sabbath affords no time for idleness, wordly visits, sports, and recreations. All parties of pleasure, reading of books not religious, writing of let- ters of business or amusement, riding out for health £16 REVEALED THEOLOGY. except in cases of sickness, games, and theatrical amusements, are utterly inconsistent with the sanctifica- tion of the Lord's day. Isa. Iviii. 13, 14. " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father." Isa. Ixvi. 23. In the Millennium, " from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." Eccles. v. 1 . u Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God." Luke iv. 16. " As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Acts xx. 7. " Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them." Acts xvi. 13, 14. "On the Sabbath day we went out of the city by a river-side, where prayer was wont to be made. And Lydia, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things spoken of Paul." Heb. x. 25. " Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another." Lev. xxiii. 3, 8. "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convo- cation; ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all vour dwellings." In the seventh dav REVEALED THEOLOGY. 217 is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein." Sec. VII. The reasons by which the religious ob- servance of the Sabbath is enforced in the decalogue, are these: first, God rested on the Sabbath from his work of creation and redemption, thereby giving us his own example for imitation; secondly, God has hallowed, or rendered holy, the Sabbath by his positive devotion of it to religious purposes; and thirdly, God has blessed the sabbatical institution. " For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day;" not the seventh clay, but the Sab- bath day, whenever men may be directed to keep it; '-' and hollowed it." In conformity with this sentence of God, his provi- dence has ever rendered the Sabbath a peculiar bless- ing to all nations and individuals who have regarded it in a becoming manner. CHAPTER XIII. Of the Fifth Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 12. "Honour thy father and mother: that thy days maybe long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This command primarily respects the duties of children towards their parents; but since God is no respecter of persons, and is perfectlv just, it may be 19* 218 REVEALED THEOLOGY. correctly inferred, that Jehovah demands of ail persons the discharge of those duties which result from their several stations and relations to each other, as well as towards himself. If children must treat their parents in a proper manner, then parents must treat their children in a proper manner also; and the same is true of equals; of superiors and inferiors; of masters and servants, of partners, of ministers and people, of rulers and subjects. In this manner all the relative duties, which men owe their fellow men, are required either expressly or by implication in this precept of the deca- logue. The sum of these duties consists in loving our neighbour as ourselves. Matt. xxii. 39, 49. Sec. II. Of the relative duties of equals. 1 Cor. x. 24. " Let no man seek his own" wealth only, "but every man another's wealth" also. Heb. x. 24. " Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works." Eph. iv. 31, 32. « Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Rom. xii. 10, 13, 15, 16, 18. « Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour prefering one another; — given to hospitality." " Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. — If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." 1 Pet. iii. 8. " Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous." 1 Thess. v. 13, 14, 15. " Be at peace among yourselves — Be patient towards all men. — See that none render evil for evil REVEALED THEOLOGY. 219 unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men." 1 Thess. v. 11. " Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 1 ' Philip, iv. 5. " Let your moderation be known unto all men." Heb. xiii. 1,2. " Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers." 1 Pet. ii. 17. " Honour all men: love the brotherhood." Gal. vi 10. u As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." 1 Pet. i. 22. u See that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently." John xv. 12. " This is my commandment, that ye love one another." Rom. xiii. 8. " Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." Rom. xv. 2. " Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification." Sec. III. Of the relative duties of husbands and wives. Ephes. v. 25, 28, 29, 31. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. — So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth him- self. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church." " For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7. " Like- wise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear." — "Being in subjection unto their own husbands; even 22$ REVEALED THEOLOGY. as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. — Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together oi'the grace of hie; that your prayers be not hindered," Eph. v. 22, 23, 24, 33. " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." " Let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that siie reverence her husband." Titus ii. 4, 5. " Teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to iove their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own hus- bands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." 1 Cor. vii. oo^ 34. "He that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife — She that is married careth for the thugs of the world, how she may please her husband." Prov. v. 18 — 21. "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished ahvays with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings." Gen. ii. 18. " And the Lord said, it is not good that man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him." Prov. xxxi. 11 — 27. "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. — she will do him good and not evil all the clays of her life. — She looketh well to the ways of her REVEALED THEOLOGY. 221 household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Prov. xix. 13. "The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping." Coios. iii. 18, 19. "Wives, submit your- selves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them" Mala. ii. 14. "The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." 1 Cor, vii. 2 — 6. " Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, Jet every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. De- fraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. But I speak this by [as a] permis- sion; and not of [as a] commandment;" concerning ma- trimonial abstinence for the purpose of special fasting and prayer. Sec. 111. Of the relative duties of superiors and in- feriors, in general, whether the difference is made by temporal, or spiritual, possessions and acquirements. Rom. xv. 1 . " We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." Luke xiv. 8 — 11. " Sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him, come and say to thee, give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take 222 REVEALED THEOLOGY. the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee eometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou b^ve worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth him- self shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Rom. xiv. 3. " Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not." 1 Pet. v. 5. "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of vou be subject one to another, and be clothed with hu- mility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." Lev. xix. 32. " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face 0; the old man, and fear thy God." 1 Tim. vi. 17 — 19. " Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in un- certain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." Prov. xxviii. 27. u He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse." Deut. xv. 11. u For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I com- mand thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy, in thy land." Sec. V. Of the relative duties of parents and chil- dren. Isa. xlix. 15. " Can a woman forget her sucking- child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" 2 Cor. xii. 14. " For the children REVEALED TMEOLOGV. 223 ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children." 1 Tim. v. S. " If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." Luke ii. 51. "And he wend down with them, and was subject unto them." Prov. xxii. 6. " Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov. xix. 18. u Chasten thy son whilst there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." Mai. i. 6. wt A son honoureth his fa- ther." Prov. iv. 1. " Hear, ye children, the instruc- tion of a father, and attend to know understanding." Lev. xix. 3. u Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father: I am the Lord your God." Prov. v. 1. " My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding." Job. i. 5. " Job sent and sanctified them, [his children,] and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, according to the number of them all." Eph. vi. 1 — 4. " Children obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Hon- our thy father and mother; which is the first command- ment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fa- thers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring* them up in the nurture, and admonition of the Lord." Col. iii. 20, 21. " Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fa- thers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Prov. xv. 32. " He that heareth re- proof, getteth understanding." Prov. xxi'n. 22. u De- spise not thy mother when she is old." Ruth iv. 15. - % He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a 224 REVEALEB THEOLOGY. iiourisher of thine old age." Gen. xlvii. 12. "And Joseph nourished his father with bread." Prov. xxxi. 28. " Her children arise up, and call her blessed." 1 Kings ii. 19. " The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand." Heb. xii. 9. " We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." 1 Cor. vii. 36—38." " If any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin [daughter,] if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not, [by giving h«r in mar- riage to her suitor;] let them marry. Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin [daughter,] doeth well. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage do- eth better," in these times of persecution; for, not to marry " is good for the present distress." Verse 26. Rom. i. 31. " Without natural affection." Deut. xxvii. 16. " Cursed be he that setteth light by his father, or his mother." Prov. xx. 20. " Wnoso curseth his fa- ther or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness." Prov. xxx. 1*7. u The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ra- vens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." Prov. xix. 26. " He that wast- etb his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach." Sec. VI. Of the relative duties of masters and ser- vants. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 226 Eph. vi. 5 — 9. " Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth,the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing [or rather moderating] threatenings: knowing that your Master also is in heaven: neither is there respect of persons with him." Col. iii. 22 — 25, and iv. 1 . " Servants, obey in all things your mas- ters according to the flesh; not with eye-service as men- pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall re- ceive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no re- spect of persons. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a master in heaven." Deut. xxiv. 14, 15. "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant. At his day thou shalt give him his hire; for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doc- trine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are 20 226 REVEALED THEOLOGY. faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit." Tit. ii. 9, 10. " Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not an- swering again; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." 1 Pet. ii. 18—20. " Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God en- dure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye are buffeted for your faults, ye take it pa- tiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." 1 Cor. vii. 20 — 22. " Let every man abide in the same call- ing wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise, he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant." Gen. xxiv. 15. Abraham "will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of the Lord." Joshua xxiv. 15. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Prov. xix. 19. "A servant will not be corrected by words," in all cases; " for though he understand, he will not answer." Psal. ci. 7. " He thatworketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." James v. 4. " Behold, the hire of the labour- ers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." REVEALED THEOLOGY. 227 Sec. VII. Of the relative duties of ministers of the gospel, and the people of their charge. 2 Tim. iv. 2 — 5. u Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; aud they shall turn away their cars from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make lull proof of thy ministry." 1 Pet. v. 2 — 4. " Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but will- ingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Thess. ii. 7 — 13. " We were gentle among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children: so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and un- blameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: as ye know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye re-* '228 REVEALED THEOLOGF. ceived the word of God which ye heard of us, ye re- ceived it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, /.he word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Eph. i. 15, 16. "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." 1 Thess. ii. 3, 4. " For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleas- ing men, but God, which trieth our hearts." 1 Thess. v. 12, 13, 25. "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for +heir work's sake. — Brethren, pray for us." Luke x. 16. "He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me." James i. 21. " Receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls." Rom. xv. 30. " Now I be- seech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." Gal. vi. 6. " Let him that is taught in the word com- municate unto him that teacheth in all good things." 1 Cor. ix. 7 — 15. " Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Siiy I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn:" or, thou shalt not deny the labouring ox his suitable food. " Doth God REVEALED THEOLOGY. 229 (ake care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope: and that he that threshuth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they who minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are par- takers with the gospel? Even so hath the Lord or- dained THAT THEY WHICH PREACH THE GOSPEL SHOULD live of the gospel. But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me." 2 Cor. xii. 14, 15. "I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours but you: — and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." Gal. iv. 13 — 20. " Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an augel of God, even as Christ Jrsus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They [false teach- ers] zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you" from us the apostles, or, tkey would exclude us, as some manuscripts read, " that ye migh* aifect 20* 230 REVEALED THEOLOGY. them. — My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be pre- sent with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you." 1 Kings xxii. 14, 8. "And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. — And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehosbaphat said, Let not the king say so." Heb. xiii. 17. " Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls." 2 Cor. ii. 17. " For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." 2 Cor. iii. 12. "We use great plainness of speech." 2 Cor. iv. 1,2. " Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by mani- festation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Isa. lvi. 10, 11. " His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter." 1 Tim. iv. 13 — 16. " Give attendance to reading, to ex- hortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the lay- REVEALED THEOLOGY. J'Jf ing on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy pro- fiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shait both save thyself, and them that bear thee." Tit. ii. 7, 8. " In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in dooirine showing uncorruptness, gra- vity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be asha.ned, having no evil thing to say of you." 1 Tim. iv. 12. " Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an exam- ple of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Sec. VIII. Of the relative duties of rulers and sub- jects; or of civil Representatives and their constituents. Consult the texts cited in Part II. Chap. ii. Sec. 15, in connexion with the following: 2 Chron. xix. 5 — 7. " And he set judges in the land throughout all the ic need cities of Judab, city by city, and said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Where- fore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." 1 Tim. ii. 1,2. " I exhort therefore, that — prayers — be made for — all that are in authority." Ex. xxii. 28. " Thou shalt not revile the gods," the civil rulers, " nor curse the ruler of thy people." Prov. xxviii. I5 y 16. u As a roaring lion, and a raging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he thathateth covetousness shall prolong his days," 2 Pet, 232 REVEALED THEOLOGY, ii. 9, 10. "The Lord knoweth how to — reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of un- cleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are tbey, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." Prov. xii. 8. " The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted." Jer. xxx. 21. " And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their go- vernor shall proceed from the midst of them." Psal. ii. 10 — 12. " Be wise now therefore, ye Kings: be in- structed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Tit. iii. I. " Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey ma- gistrates, to be ready to every good work." Ezra. vii. 25, 26. a And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may jndge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment." Sec. IX. The argument by which obedience to the fifth commandment is specially enforced is a promise of long life and piosperity on the earth: — " that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God givelh thee." Deut. v. 16. " Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well REVEALED THEOLOGi. 26o with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This, saith Paul, is the first commandment with promise. Eph vi. 2. u Honour thy father and thy mo- ther, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." CHAPTER XIV. Of the Sixth Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 13. "Thou shalt not kill." This commandment is a general rule, which forbids all in- tentional killing of any thing which has life; and were there no exceptions given in the word of God, which are of equal force with the law itself, we should hold it to be unlawful designedly to take away the life of any creature. Let us search the scriptures, therefore, to ascertain the meaning of this portion of the decalogue, and the extent of human duty imposed by it. Sec. II It is lawful for man to kill those animals, in- ferior to the human species, which are noxious to him; and such as he may require for food, or any other law- ful use. His right to kill any of God's creatures, under these circumstances, is derived from special grant from the Supreme Proprietor. Gen. i. 2G, 28, 29. " And God said,— Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. — Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 234 REVEALED THEOLOGY. over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Gen. ii. 16. u Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Gen. ix. 1 — 4. u And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth* and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the rishes of the sea; into your hands are they delivered. Every moving thing that iiveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh, with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." The whole animal frame is depend- ent on the blood for vitality; and to teach mankind a due regard to human life, they are forbidden to eat any animal without first having shed his blood. This was not a ceremonial law originally given to the Jews; but a law binding on all men who have descended from Noah, and have been made acquainted with this revelation of the divine will. Moses, however, inculcated on the people of Israel their duty of observing this law. Deut. xii. 15, 16, 23, 24, 25. u Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck 3 and as of the hart. Only REVEALED THEOLOGY. 235 yc shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water — Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou may est not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water. Thou shalt not eat of it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. 7 ' The same command- ment is reiterated in Deut. xvi. 22, 23. Sec. II. When one man has wilfully killed another, he is a murderer; and it is the duty of mankind to put the murderer to death. The executioner of a murderer obeys, instead of violating, the sixth commandment; because the capital punishment of such offenders is a lawful means of preserving human life. Gen. ix. 5, 6. "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." This was a law given to Noah as the head of the human family after the deluge; and through him to his whole posterity: and not being a peculiar part of the civil policy of the Jews, or any part of the ceremonial law, it has never been abolished or repealed by Jehovah. Prov. xxviii. 17. li A man that doth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him." This universal law, requiring of all mankind the punishment of the murderer by death, was afterwards specially enjoined upon the Hebrew nation, as a part of their penal code; and wise regulations were enacted to preserve men from capital punishment as murderers. 236 REVEALED THEOLOGY. who might have been chargeable with nothing more than justifiable, or unintentional homicide. It is the in- dispensable duty of all governments to punish the mur- derer with death; and it would be wise in all to imitate the theocratical policy of the Jews, so far as to allow every accused person a fair trial before disinterested judges. Num. xxxv. 30 — 34, " Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, [for manslaughter,] that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there- in, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not, therefore, the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel." Ver. 11, 12. " Ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment." Ver. 21. "He is a murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the mur- derer, when he meeteth him." Exod. xxi. 12 — 14. " He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a REVEALED THEOLOGY. 231 place whither he shall flee. But if a man come pre- sumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die." Rom. xiii, 4. " He is the minister of God to thee for good, — he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is — a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Sec. III. Civil governments may, when they deem it requisite, take away the lives of men for committing any of the crimes which were capitally punished by the divinely given civil laws of the Hebrew nation. The reason for this assertion is obvious: for the Deity autho- rized under the theocratical government of the Jews no punishment which it was morally wrong to inflict; and no law which he did not deem wise to be enacted by other nations under similar circumstances, for the pro- motion of the public welfare. It is true, that he has made it the positive duty of all mankind to inflict the penalty of death in the case of murder only; but it is lawful and wise in some other cases, to punish offenders as they would have been dealt with according to the civil polity of Infinite Wisdom. Exod. xxi. 16. u He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." Lev. xx. 10 — 16, provides for capitally punishing adultery, incest, and beastiality. Deut. xxii. 23 — 27, authorizes the punishment of rope with death. Deut. xxi. 18 — 21. "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his fa- ther, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then 21 X3b REVEALED THEOLOGY. shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you." These crimes are of the same odious nature in every land; and I see not any reason which rendered it more necessary to punish them with death in Judea than in any other country. Sec. IV. It was the special duty of the Jews to make war against the idolatrous inhabitants of Canaan and destroy them, that thereby God might execute his righte- ous vengeance upon them. It was also their duty to punish idolaters among themselves, and those who tempt- ed their fellow citizens to idolatry, with death. With- out a special and positive commission to wage these wars of extermination, in the name of Almighty God, they would have been in the people of Israel the most cruel and abominable murders: but he who said, as a general law, Thou shalt not kill, had a right to say, and did say, to his chosen people, called to be the ministers of his holy indignation, " thou shalt smite them, and ut- terly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. The Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed." Deut. vii. 2, 16,23. The reason of REVEALED THEOLOGV. 239 this severe but just dispensation of God is clearly slated in Deut. ix. 3 — 6. " Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shall thou drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these na- tions the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people." That he might make himself known as the only living and true God, and the author of divine revelations, by which mankind should be governed, the Jews were re- quired to put witches and wizards to death, for their impious attempts at prophecy; and dreamers, who gave signs to authenticate their commission for leading people to idolatry; as well as the people who should follow their wicked devices. Exod. xxii. 18. "Thou shalt not sutler a witch to live." Lev. xx. 27. " A wizard shall surely be put to death." Deut. xiii. "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder," &c. Deut. xvii. 2 — 5. " If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the 240 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; then shalt thou bring forth that man or that wo- man, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die." Sec. V. Men may wage defensive war without vio- lating, and even in obeying the sixth commandment. Prov. xx. 18. " With good advice make war." Prov. xxiv. 6. u By wise counsel thou shalt make thy war." 1 Chron. v. 19, 20, 22. "And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab. And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated of them; because they put their trust in him. — There fell down many slain, because the war was of God." Abraham waged war in defence of his kinsman Lot, and seems to have met with divine approbation in so doing. Gen. xiv. 14 — 20. " When Abraham heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained ser- vants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the REVEALED THEOLOGY. 211 goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. — And Mel- chizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him, and he said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine ene- mies into thine hand." This Melchizedek is celebrated as a peculiar type of Christ, and he evidently blessed Abram for his bold exploit in defending his kinsman, Lot, against his captors. It does not appear that Abra- ham was guided in this warfare by any special revela- tion and commission; but he seems to have acted on the principle that it was his duty to defend himself, and family, and kindred, from the effects of offensive war by force of arms. Had this warfare on the part of Abraham been considered as murder by Jehovah, it is incredible that he should not have been divinely cen- sured in those records which make frequent mention of this patriarch, and present him as the example for believers. Under similar circumstances we ought to say with Joab to our fellows, (2 Sam. x. 12.) " Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our peo- ple, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good." When soldiers applied to John the Baptizer, to know their duty, he did not forbid them to bear arms; but im- plied that they might do it, with good conscience. Luke iii. 14. "And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do, And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." 21* 242 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Self-defence may be lawfully carried so far as to take away the life of one who commits burglary in the night Exod. ii. 2, 3. " if a thief be found breaking up, and he be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution." Not to be chargeable with indirectly killing ourselves or others in an unlawful manner, we must resist force with force, and even disarm by death those who lift up deadly weapons against us.* Neh. iv. 14. " Fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." Sec. VI. Suicide, whether it be perpetrated directly or indirectly, is a violaton of the sixth commandment; because it is a mode of killing which God has not ex- cepted from the general rule, not to kill. Acts. xvi. 27, 28. " And the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed him- self, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. And Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm." Job ii. 9. 10. u Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"f That we may not indirectly commit suicide, we must * Read A Scriptural View of the Character, Causes, and Ends of the Present War, by Alexander M Leod, D. D. f Read Two Discourses on Oie guilt, foihr, and sources of Suicide, bv Samuel Milieu D. D. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 243 1. Nourish and refresh our bodies in a suitable man- ner, so far as we have opportunity, by food, drink, clothing, shelter from the weather in convenient houses, and slumber. Deut. xiv. 26. u And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lustcth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household." Eph. v. 29. " No man hateth his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it." 1 Tim. v. 23. " Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach sake, and thine often infirmities." Eccle. v. 12. " The sleep of a labouring man is sweet " John xr. 12. " If he sleep he shall do well." Prov. xxxi. 13, 21, 22. "Sheseeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willing- ly with her hands. — She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple." Jer. xxix. 5. " Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens and cat the fruit of them." 2. We must avoid gluttony, drunkenness, idleness, inor- dinate feelings, and all excessive study, or exertion of any description, which has a known tendency to destroy our life. Prov. xxiii. 29, 21. kt Be not among wine bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." Prov. xxiv. 27. "Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thy self in the field; and afterwards build thine house." Luke xxi. 34. " Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with sur- feiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life." Prov. 24-1 REVEALED THEOLOGY. xvii. 22. " A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drietb the bones." Prov. xvili. 30. "A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones." 3. We must employ suitable exercise, recreation, and medicine when required by sickness. Matt. ix. 12. u They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Prov. xxxi. 5, 7. " Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." Eccle. xii. 12. " Much study is a weariness of the flesh." Sec. VII. Duelling is a complicated violation of the sixth commandment, which ordinarily implies the guilt of both suicide and murder: for in such a rencontre each party wickedly endangers both his own life and that of his family.* Sec. VIII. It is a violation of the sixth command- ment to indulge any such feelings, or utter any such words, or perform any such actions as have a tendency to take away the life of our neighbour unjustly: and it is equally criminal to neglect to do any thing in our power which might lawfully preserve the lives of others. 1 John iii. 15. " Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." Matt. v. 21, 22. "Whosoever is angry with his brother, without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire," because according to our Saviour he violates the commandment, u Thou shalt not * Read President Dwight'a Sermon on the Folly, Guilt, and Mischiefs of Dudling; and President Nott's Sermon on the death of Gen. Hamilton, REVEALED THEOLOGY. 245 kill." Gal. v. 15. " If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." Prov. xii. 18. " There is that speaketh like the pierc- ings of a sword." Col. iii. 13. " Forgive one another, if any man have a quarrel against any." Psal. lxxxii. 3, 4. " Defend the poor and fatherless. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wick- ed." Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not: doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" James ii. 15, 16. a If i brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food; and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?" This, however, does not make it any person's duty to feed those who might work, but will not; for " this we com- manded you, that if any would not work neither should he eat." 2 Thess. iii." 10. CHAPTER XV. Of the Seventh Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 4. " Thou shalt not commit adultery." The original ^xJn nS forbids not on!y the crime of adultery according to the present techni- cal use of that word; but every species of illicit com- 2iG REVEALED THEOLOGY merce between the male and female sexes. Professor Schultens and Mr. Parkhurst, think the word *]«}, the root, is derived from the Arabic, and signifies, to satiate one's thirst by drinking. And as the lawful enjoyment of a man's own wife is expressed, Prov. v. 15 — 18, by drinking xcaters out of his own cistern, (compare Cant, iv. 12, 14.) and adulterous loves by stolen waters, Prov. ix. 17. so the learned writers, just named, think the word rendered adultery in the decalogue forbids all u unlawful venereal gratifications."* Our Saviour evi- dently took the commandment in this extended sense; for he says, (Matt. v. 28), " That whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." If woman here signi- fied a wife exclusively, then the crime would be adul- tery in the legal and restricted sense of that word; but Schleusner's Lexicon shows that TTNH, a woman, signifies any female of the human race, without re- spect to age, state, or condition. He says, " Opponitur ra ANHP. Sic legitur in N. T. Acts v. 14. ttA^ av^cov rs kcc! yvvociKcov. multitude) et virorum ct foe- minarum," a multitude both of males and females, or of men and women. If a man then, shall look upon any female, whether married or single, so as to desire illicit commerce with her, that desire is a violation of the seventh commandment; he hath committed the sin of lewdness in his heart. Any intercourse between the sexes, excepting such as God has authorized; and every thing which is calculated to tempt persons to such in- tercourse, is strictly forbidden. * Parkhtiratfs Hebrew and English Lexicon REVEALED THEOLOGY. 247 Sec. II. That we may ascertain what is, and what is not, a violation of this part of the decalogue, we must inquire what intercourse the Deity has authorized be- tween males and females: and we shall find that God has instituted marriage, which is a covenant state of re- lation between one man and one woman, voluntarily en- tered into by competent persons; which cannot, with- out the crime of one or both parties, be dissolved but by death. 1. Although there is a natural propensity in the sexes to intercourse, yet marriage is a positive institution, which God has changed, from time to time, by special revelations on the subject; and which he might still change, did he deem it expedient. The first of marriages took place between Adam, and a being formed out of one of his ribs, whom his Maker brought to him that she might be his wife. On this oc- casion God was the sole administrator of the marriage ceremony. The next marriages were between brothers and sis- ters, the children of Adam and Eve. This intercourse was not then forbidden to any, and was not incestuous. Subsequently cousins, and then more remote relatives became matrimonial partners. Until it was otherwise ordered, any male and female, not already espoused, might, on mutual agreement, be- come husband and wife. Gen. ii. 18, 21—24. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. — And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made 215 REVEALED THEOLOGY. he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." 2. Although God originally made one man and one woman for each other, and hereby intimated, that it was undesirable that a man should have more wives than one, at the same time, yet polygamy was not for- bidden by him to the patriarchs; and they in general had a plurality of partners, called concubines, who were inferior, and subject to the wife first married. Malachi ii. 14, 15. " Yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit," and could have made for every man a thousand wives as easily as one, had he thought it best. " And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed." Nevertheless, u Lamech took unto him two wives:" (Gen. iv. 19,) and Abra- ham had Sarah and Hagar; and Jacob Rachel and Leah: and Solomon, alas! alas! u had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." 1 Kings xi. 3. Dent. xxi. 15 — 17. %t If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the fust-born son be her's that was hated; then it shall be, when he maluth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he iii;m not make the son of the beloved fiist-born before the sou of the hated, which is indeed the first- born; but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated REVEALED THEOLOGY. 249 for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his." 3. When the Hebrews became a distinct nation, God instituted several civil laws concerning marriage for their regulation; and so far as the circumstances of other nations are similar to those of the Jews, when under a theocracy, it is wise and morally right for them to adopt the same regulations. (1.) With a view to keep the twelve tribes, and the inheritance of each distinct, it was ordained, if a father had daughters, but no sons, that his daughters should inherit his estate, but should not marry any persons not of their own tribe. Num. xxvii. 1 — 3, and xxxvi. 6 — 8. " Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe ot their father shall they marry. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel re- move from tribe to tribe:" &c. (2.) The children of Israel were forbidden to unite in marriage with any open idolater of the Gentiles. Deut. vii. 3. " Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." (3.) A brother was required to marry a deceased brother's widow, in case of his dying childless. Deut. xxv. 5, 6. " If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which 22 250 REVEALED THEOLOGY. is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel." Matt, xxii. 24. " Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother." Against this institution, par- ticularly, Onan transgressed, and was slain by the Lord. Gen. xxxviii. 9, 10. (4.) None of the Israelites might marry any person within certain specified degrees of consanguinity and affinity. Lev. xviii. 6 — 20. " None of you shall ap* proach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness:" &c. A man of Israel might not marry his mother; nor his father's wife, if she was not his own mother; nor his step-sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother; nor his son's daughter; nor his daughter's daughter; nor his sister; nor his father's sister; nor his mother's sister; nor the wife of his father's brother; nor his daughter-in-law; nor his brother's wife, except she was left childless; nor his own daughter; nor the daughter of his wife, by another husband; nor a wife's mother; nor the daughter of the son of his wife; nor the daughter of the daughter of his wife; nor his wife's sister during the lifetime of his wife;* nor the wife of any other man, during the life- time of her husband, unless she has been previously divorced from him on account of his incontinence. Now, since it was evidently unlawful for a woman to marry a man who might not lawfully marry her, it 4 Polygamy was not forbidden at this time to the Jews; but if a man chose to have two wives, he might not " take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her lifetime." Lev. xviii. 18. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 2oi will follow, that a Hebrew woman might not marry her son; nor her husband's son; nor her step-brother, the son of her father, or of her mother; nor her father's father; nor her mother's father; nor her brother; nor her brother's son; nor her sister's son; nor the son of her husband's brother; nor her father-in-law; nor her deceased husband's brother, unless she was a childless widow; nor her father; nor her step- father; nor her son-in-law; nor her father's step-father; nor her mo- ther's step-father; nor her sister's husband during the lifetime of her sister; nor any other man than her hus- band, while he is living, and not lawfully divorced for his incontinence. Moreover, a woman was forbidden, ver. 14, to marry her father's brother; for neither male nor female might " uncover the nakedness of a father's brother." These were a part of the civil laws of the Jews; and they are just as binding upon other nations as their laws concerning idolatry, self defence, and rape: that is, just so far as they are of a moral nature, and are re- commended by the same reasons in all lands. We are under no higher obligations to adopt these. laws of mar- riage given expressly to the Jews, by the Levitical law, than all the other laws of the divine Jewish polity, which are equally as desirable for us, as they were for them. That these laws are binding on all Christians under similar circumstances, seems fairly deducible from 1 Cor. v. 1. " It is reported commonly that there is for- nication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." But why might not a Christian have his father's wife, a step-mother, or even his own ^52 REVEALED THEOLOGY. mother, for bis wife, after his father's death ? God had given the law forbidding such a connexion to the He- brews; and if we are not bound to obey the civil laws given them, so far as the same reasons for them exist in Christian lands, then there is no law of God which forbids a man to marry his mother, his step-mother, his sister, his daughter, his aunt, or his niece. It will follow, that if Christians of the Gentiles are under obligations to obey the laws of marriage given to the Hebrews, they are, as individuals, equally bound to obey, so far as they have opportunity, those laws which respect capital punishments for crimes which were no worse in Judea than in America; and that all those civil regulations of the Israelites which, in their own nature, are as applicable and as useful to one nation as another, ought to be enacted by every christian government. Sec. III. For any one to have sexual intercourse with a person or animal, whom he or she may not law- fully marry, or with any person before marriage; or to do any thing which tends to promote any such inter- course, is a violation of the seventh commandment. Of course all lascivious attire, dances, company, thoughts, feelings, words, gestures, writings, theatrical exhibitions, paintings, exposures of the body, and all other obscene actions, are deemed by God to be adultery. Any con- duct in a husband or wife, which is calculated to tempt a partner to forsake the nuptial bed, and seek illicit fountains, is an offence of the same nature. Of the same kind too, are the crimes of self-pollution, buggery, sodo- my, whoredom, and celibacy in those who burn, but will not marry, when their age and circumstances would permit. UEVEALED THEOLOGY. 253 i Thess. iv. 3, 4, 5. " This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornica- tion: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel [to hold his body] in sanctification and hon- our; not in the lust of concupiscence, as the Gentiles which know not God." Eph. iv. 29. " Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." Eph. v. 3, 5. " Fornication and all uncleanness, let it not be once named amongst you, as becometh saints; neither filthi- ness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not con- venient, [not becoming:] but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person — hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Lev. xviii. 22 — 25. " Thou shalt not lie with man- kind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: and the land is de- filed: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." Lev. xviii. 20. " Thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her." Gal. v. 19. " Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness." 1 Cor. vi. 13 -20. " Now the body is not for fornica- tion, but for the Lord: and the Lord for the body. — Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then tike the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot ? God forbid. What, know ye 22* 254 REVEALED THEOLOGY. not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. — Flee fornication: — he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. — Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you: — therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Isa. iii. 16. "The daughters of Zion walk with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes, walking, and mincing as they go." Prov. vii. 6 — 23. u At the window of my house I looked through my casement, and heiield among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: and, behold, there met him a woman with the at- tire of an harlot, and subtile of heart. (She is loud, and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: now is she without, now in the streets, and iieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an in; pi) dent face said unto him, I have peace-offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore come I forth to meet thee, diligently to eeek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinna- mon. Come, let us take our fiil of love until the morn- ing: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the good man is not at home, be is gone a long journey: he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much lair speech she caused him to yield, with tin flattering of her lips she forced him. lie goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to tiie slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of REVEALED THEOLOGY. 255 the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and kuovveth not that it is for his life.'' Prov. vii. 26. " She hath cast down many wound- ed; yea, many strong men have been slain by her." Prov. vi. 26, 32. " The adultress will hunt for the pre- cious life." '* Whoso committeth adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth hit own soul." 1 Cor. vii. 2 — 9. " To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath rot power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. — If they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." Hosea iv. 11. " Whoredom and wine take away the heart." Jer. v. 8. Cl They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.- ,J Gen. xxxix. 7 — 9, "His master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she raid, Lie with me: but he refused; and said, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God." Job xxxi. 1. " I made a covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon a maid?" Heb. xiii. 4. " Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whore- mongers and adulterers God will judge " Sec. IV. Polygamy under the Christian dispensation, and the granting, procuring, or receiving of a divorce, 256 REVEALED THEOLOGi'. except for the cause of adultery, are violations of the seventh commandment. 1 Cor. vii. 2. " Let every man have his own wife" not wives. Rom. vii. 2, 3. " The woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband," (and by parity of reasoning, the husband to his wife,) " so long as he liveth: but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband liveth she be married to another man, she shall be called an adultress, though she be married to another man." Matt. v. 32. " Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication [meaning here any kind of actual lewdness] causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery," because she is by right still the wife of another man. Luke xvi. 18. 41 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth ano- ther, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adulte- ry." Mark x. 4 — 12, and Matt. xix. 3—12. " The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and say- ing, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every [any] cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the begin- ning, made them male and female; and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and (hey twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses, because of the REYEALED THEOLOGY. 257 hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and whoso marrieth "her which is put away doth commit adultery. His disciples say unto him, If die case of the man be so with his wife," that he can- not put her away but for the crime of actual lewdness, " it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given; because they are eunuchs; which were so born from their mother's womb; or are eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men; or are eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." Any of these eunuchs might say that it is not good for them to marry; and so might receive your sen- timent. " He that is able to receive it, let him receive it;" but as for others, let them agree with their Maker, that " it is not good for man to be alone," and bless him for the benign institution of marriage; and guard it sacredly against the abounding iniquities of adultery and divorce. CHAPTER XVI. Of the Eighth Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 15. "Thou shalt not steal." This commandment implies two things; first, that individuals have exclusive rights to property of various descriptions; 258 REVEALED THEOLOGY. and secondly, that there is a disposition in natural men to deprive each other of their rights unjustly, that they may appropriate to themselves their neighbour's posses- sions. If men had no exclusive rights to any species of temporal wealth, there would be no propriety in the commandment, not to steal; and it would have been useless, on the supposition that mankind are habitually- predisposed to respect each other's immunities. The experience and history of every age would prove, that mankind are prone to injustice, fraud, plunder, robbery, over-reaching, infidelity to trusts, criminal bankruptcies, nominal assignments, smuggling, and every species of stealing: and the eighth command- ment forbids all these crimes. Stealing is any unrigh- teous despoiling our neighbour of his property, whether it be done openly with violence, or secretly by deceit, trick, flattery, exaggeration, decrying of a thing, or stealth. " Thou shalt not steal in any way." Sec. II. This part of the decalogue is violated by children, when without the known pleasure, or habitual indulgence of their parents, they take and use the mo- ney or other goods of their father or mother. Theft fre- quently begins here,- which is consummated in highway robbery, and ignominiously punished on the gallows. Prov. xxviii. 24. "Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer." This crime parents should use every proper method of correc'ing, lest they connive at stealing, and become partakers of the guilt. It will be expedient for first of- fences, to reprove and admonish them privately, that they may learn the evil of their conduct; and not dis- REVEALED THEOLOGY. 259 grace them at once before their companions. Many have been beaten into the practice of lying and thieving, when they might have been reformed by tender treat- ment, and by exciting their fear and shame. When no- thing else but corporal punishment will deter them from repealing this offence, if you spare the rod, or ap- ply it but lightly, or use it in passion, you commonly spoil the child. Sec. III. Servants think it no harm, to take now and then something belonging to their masters; but it is stealing, if they could not take the same with permis- sion. Would you lay your hand upon the thing, were the eyes of your employer upon you? Withdraw it, then, for if conscience makes your hand tremble, touch not, taste not; it is theft. " But it is of no great value; and our masters will not miss it." Is it worth taking? Then it is valuable: you know not what are their designs, or what may be its consequence, under particular circum- stances. Ask for it: if they are willing to spare it, you will gain lawful possession: for otherwise you are as guilty, for taking the value of three cents, as of three hundred dollars. " Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity." Tit. ii. 9, 10. Sec. IV. Stewards, executors of wills, civil offi- cers, and agents generally, who knowingly misuse, waste, or keep back the property of others, violate the eighth commandment. 1 Cor. iv. 2. " It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." " A certain rich man had a steward: and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods:" (Luke xvi. 1.) the charge was verified; and he was a thief. 260 REYEALED THEOLOGY. A certain executor retained the property of some orphan children in his own hands, to the detriment of their estate; he did not, when able, refund the sums he had received, with lawful interest; the heirs were satis- fied, because they supposed they had received their due; when in tact they were cheated: that executor was a thief, an oppressor of the fatherless. A certain civil officer took, by virtue of attachment, the property of his neighbour, but to favour himself, or a friend, did not dispose of it to the best of his ability: he was a thief. A certain judge promoted his own interest to the dis- advantage ot another, when the forms of law gave him a veil to cover the deception; and was found guilty; — not by a jury ot his countrymen; but by his own con- science, — ot wilfully injuring another, in his estate. A consignee received the property of one in distressed circumstances, and because the owner of the goods could not fully investigate the matter, cheated him out of a part, by informing him they sold for less than they actually did. This man was a thief. Another agent did not make accurate returns, esti- mated goods at a higher price than he actually paid out of his employer's money: took pay for his labour, and in addition, secretly, profit upon the articles purchased. This is stealing. Children sometimes commence this wicked practice, by defrauding their parents or masters, when sent to purchase some article, to which they affix a higher price than they gave, and keep their gains of dishonesty for private expenditures. Sec. V. To conceal and devote to private use, any REVEALED THEOLOGY. 261 public property, is stealing. In many instances public money must be left in the care of individuals, and there are many ways of embezzlement. It is as unjust secretly to take the property of the community, as of any indi- vidual; and the only difference is this; in private theft you injure one; in taking public treasure, you injure many. Should you designedly keep back duties, which have been receivtd upon certain taxable articles, it is stealing from the state treasury; and it would be no greater crime privately to unlock the iron chest, and carry away that which has been paid into the funds, than to be silent, and retain what is justly due to the commu- nity. u Render, therefore, to all their dues; tribute, to whom tribute is due; custom, to whom custom." Our Lord and Saviour, who never wrought a miracle for unimportant ends, performed one to pay a public tax. " Render unto Caasar the things that are Cae- sar's; and unto God, the things that are God's." Many public expenses will accrue, of which each man ought to bear his proportion, in some manner agreeable to the public body. We are indebted one to another: we are commanded to " owe no man anything," when able to satisfy his equitable demands: and one might as well put his hand into his neighbour's pocket, and take a dollar, as retain dues, or pay taxes by idleness, when professing to discharge them by labour. If you design- edly cheat one or many persons, the manner cannot alter the crime, or diminish the turpitude. It is direct theft. Because a man was blind, would you pay him five dollars, and take his acquittance for fifty? Or because the public cannot always exact justice, would you pro- fess to pay all, and pocket a part? 23 2G2 REVEALED THEOLOGY. Fraudulently to alienate or take away any thing de- voted to the church, is called sacrilege, which is parti- cularly reprobated in the word of God. u Thou that ab- horrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?" " It is a snare to a man to devour that which is holy;" or consecrated to religious purposes. M Will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me: but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation." Tithes and offerings were demanded by God for the sup- port of his ministers, and the sacrifices in the temple. To withhold from pastors a competent support, when the flock is able to give it, is robbery of God. Sec. VI. Forcibly to carry away a man's children, his money, or goods, or person, except by a righteous civil process, is high handed stealing. W T hat can any one steal of more value than our persons and friends? Yet there are stealers of men, even in this our enlighten- ed country. u The law is not made for a righteous man;" who is influenced to duty by love; " but for the lawless and disobedient, for murderers, for man-slayers, for whoremongers, for men-stealers, for liars, for per- jured persons." " He that stealeth a man and selleth him, shall surely be put to death." The men of Shechem concealed themselves in the mountains and robbed all that came along by them: Barrabas was a robber: but this is the curse which goeth forth over the face of the whole earth; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off; and the curse shall enter into the house of the thief. " As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches^ and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his REVEALED THEOLOGY. 263 days, and at his end shall be a fool." u Go to now, ye rich men," who have obtained your substance unlaw- fully, u weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you: ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." Sec. VII. All forgeries, which are designed to de- fraud a man of property, are theft. If his name he af- fixed to bonds of any description contrary to his know- ledge and consent, either he, or the person receiving such forgery, is liable to suffer. How often are tales of woe peddled from door to door by a vagrant crew, for no other reason but to work upon the pity of the industrious, and filch from them support for the lazy, intemperate straggler! Memoirs of ragged, idle, drinking personages, are often handed about, setting forth their distresses, and good character, for no other purpose but that of pilfering. It is difficult to tell who is most guilty; the person who hands about the recom- mendation, which perhaps he cannot read; or the writer of the imposing piece. Indeed so common are such modes of stealing, that it seems best to feed begging strangers if hungery, and send them on their journey; for if they really wish to reach any assignable place, there are compassionate persons enough in our land who will afford them the same relief. If they will not work, and travel for the gratification of a restless curi- osity, they surely deserve not enough to keep them from starving; for the scriptures say that they should not eat. Sec. VIII. To retain and use lost property, without seeking the lawful owner, is theft: for all the profit thus derived, belongs to another, and who is wilfully deprived of it. " Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep 264 REVEALED THEOLOGY. go astray, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in any case bring them again to thy brother. In like manner shalt thou do with his raiment, and with all lost things of thy brother's which thou hast found." " Stop in the beginning of evil," is a wise maxim, and therefore I [eel it a duty to revert to sins of youth, to the commence- ment of iniquity, that children may be warned against breaking the commandments of a great and holy God. Children, the future hope of society, should never keep anything secretly which belongs to a companion. Many who have concealed some play-thing found at school or elsewhere, and used as if it were their own, have afterwards become more daring thieves. From the concealing of a pen-knife, which has peculiar charms for children, they have gone to the robbing of a pear- tree; from pilfering out of gardens the tempting melons, to the plundering of a cornfield, a cellar, or store-house; and from house-breaking to murder and the scaffold. Sec. IX. To conceal theft in others, or share the fruit of their iniquity, is another species of this odious vice. u Cast in thy lot among us," is the language of pilferers; " let us all have one purse." " When thou sawest a thief thou consentedst with him," but "whoso is partner with a thief, hateth his own soul." Whoever can willingly see his neighbour defrauded, or does not desire, by all lawful means, to detect rogues, is not far from plundering with his own hand. Purchase no article which you suspect to be stolen, however cheap it may be, for this encourages evil practices; and may put the real owner to expense in redeeming it. Our pawnbrokers' offices are, in many instances, the most public encouragements to stealing. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 265 Sec. X. More property is stolen under the pretence of trade, than in every other manner. The merchant too often bows obsequiously, has the best of every thing, tells you none of his neighbours will deal so fairly by you as himself; and asserts that every thing you may please to fancy is the very best in his collection of mer- chandize. Prov. xx. 14. " It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth." To a man of good sense all this is folly, but the design is on one side to obtain more than the articles are really worth, and on the other to give less. Lev. xxv. 14. " If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another." God commands " that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter; because the Lord is the avenger of all such." Whatever a man in his right mind, seriously thinks it will be profitable for him to give, I may lawfully receive; if he misjudges, I know not his circumstances; it is not my fault: but if I in- toxicate him with vanity, or wine, that I may overreach; if I tell him lies to get away his substance, call me a robber, and hunt me from the society of men. Trade is often mutually profitable, but designedly to make a hard bargain, is a very artful mode of stealing under the protection of the law. Deut. xxv. 13, 15. " Thou shalt not have in thy bag- divers weights, a great and small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have." Prov. xi. 1. " A false balance is an abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is his de- light." Micah vi. 10, 11. "Are there yet the treasures 23* 266 REVEALED THEOLOGY. of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure which is abominable? Shall I count them pure with wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?" Lev. xix. 11. " Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another." " Let your conversation be without covetousness." Make no uncommon pretensions to friendship in trade, for there is knavery in such kindness. Any one who purchases without an intention of paying, or without seeing pro- bable means of satisfying just demands upon him, is really no better than a person who should come in the night and drive your oxen from their stalls. Yet it is the maxim of some, " if you must sink, sink in deep water;" or in other words, if you must break and cannot pay all your debts, make as many more, and cheat as many persons as possible. Be as much a knave as possible! These principles of iniquity have become very fashion- able, in some well-dressed thieves, that strut at large, and tell you, by their daily expenses, that they closed their business to retire from the bustle of the world and live lik^ gentlemen of pleasure. Under the solemnity of an oath, in the name of God, what are these persons? Thieves and robbers! For knowingly to involve an in- nocent man under the pretence of trade, is carrying away, contrary to his consent and knowledge, his hard earned interest, to support our extravagance. To procure bondsmen, when \oui own credit is not good, when you know they must advance the money, is stealing from the man who desires kindly to assist you: this is a mixture of ingratitude and theft! To practise fraud in procuring a policy of insurance; or to destroy REVEALED THEOLOGY. 267 privately the articles insured is theft; plain, shameful theft. To take undue advantage of a person's distress, is a very heinous, but common mode of pilfering. " Rob not the poor, because he is poor; neither oppress the afflicted," — for the Lord will plead his cause. u Hear this, ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail; falsifying the balances by de- ceit, to buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works." Sec. XI. Unnecessary delay in the settlement of accounts, and in the payment of debts, often takes away, contrary to his consent, our neighbour's property. Punctuality is not only the life of business, but honesty; for one negligent man may derange a great many pay- ments, and put numbers to needless expense. Hired servants are most likely to suffer from this source, for there are many esteemed " a good sort of people," who think it no part of honesty to be just to servants. I have known domestics, who have made themselves slaves for years, without being able to bring their employers to a settlement, or to find themselves convenient apparel for public worship. What could they do? they are helpless, they have kept no book account; and are unable to em- ploy an attorney and purchase justice: they must suffer, or their employers must be just men, rendering to every one what is due. " The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again." " The wages of him that is hired, shall not abide with thee all night until the morning," was a 208 REVEALED THEOLOGY. general rule for the Jews, that the day-labourer's family might not suffer hunger. Sec. XII. Unlawful arts for getting the money of the ignorant; unlawful contracts, particularly simony, and bribery, are violations of this commandment. Many which used curious arts, such as fortune-telling, astro- logy and the like deceptions, when converted by the apostles, brought their books together, and burnt them openly. a Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought tiiat the gift of God may be purchased with money." Hence, the purchasing of ecclesiastical preferment, and the selling of pardons for sin, are called simony, from Simon, who would have given money for miraculous power. To a judge it is said, " thou shalt take no gilt; for the gift blindeth the wise;" and those who love gilts judge not the fatherless; neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. To withhold justice is to take away property unlawfully. Sec. XII. To remove land-marks, to alter deeds, wills, or any conveyances; to suffer one's servants, chil- dren or cattle, to injure the possessions of another; or in any manner, knowingly to diminish his estate, un- less to obtain by lawful means what is due, is theft. u Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even the same to them." Sec XIV. That we may observe the eighth com- mandment habitually, we should avoid all temptations to dishonesty. Of course we ought to be diligent in some suitable worldly business, that we may have a competence of worldly good, and " provide things hon- est in the si^ht of all men." Rom. xii. 17. We ought to be prudent and frugal. Prov. ii. 11. " Discretion REVEALED THEOLOGY. 269 shall preserve thee, and understanding shall keep thee." Prov. xiii. 11. u Wealth gotten by vanity shall be di- minished; but he that gathereth by labour shall in- crease." Prov. x. 22. " The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Eph. iv. 28. " Let him that stole, steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." Prov. xxx. 7 — 9. " Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of God in vain." Prov. xxiii. 21. " The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty." Prov. xxviii. 19, 22. " He that follow- eth after vain persons shall have poverty enough." He that hasteth to be rich, hath an evil eye, and consi- dered! not that poverty shall come upon him." Prov. xxiii. 21. " Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." Finally, if men would keep clear of strong temptations to dishonesty, let them moderate their desires after wealth, and keep clear of the ruinous system of endorse- ments, and of credit without confidence. 1 Cor. vii. 32. " I would have you without carefulness," or anx- ious solicitude. Prov. xxii. 26, 27. " Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?" J<0 REVEALED THEOLOGV. CHAPTER XVII. Of the Ninth Commandment. Sec. I. Exod. xx. 16. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." This commandment presupposes men to be sociable beings, and to be inclined to speak of each other. It implies also the truth, that all men love themselves, and will regard their own reputation amongst those whom they esteem, so that ordinarily they are in no danger of slandering themselves. It is moreover grounded on the fact, that fallen men are all naturally inclined to bear false witness against each other. Were mankind not depraved in heart, and prone to injurious speech, this commandment would be useless. One of the best me- thods of guarding against the violation of this part of the decaiogue, is to realize and lament, that " the tongue is afire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea; is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." James iii. 6—8. Sec. II. Any statement contrary to truth, made by any one, in any manner, if it is calculated or designed to do injury to another, h false-witness against our neigh- hour. The propositions uttered need not respect any one's character to constitute them false-witness; for REVEALED THEOLOGY. 271 false maxims of morality, or doctrines of religion, may be as truly a violation of this command, as any misre- presentations of moral conduct: they may be against him who hears, or who reads them, and may drown his soul in perdition. We must of course condemn all fictions which are of an injurious tendency; but professedly fictitious histories, which neither deceive, nor have a tendency to vitiate the mind, may be innocent, may be useful. Instruction may be communicated with propriety by fables, allegories, and irony; for these modes of speaking do not necessarily imply deception, or any thing against our neighbour. Language, which is not literally true, may convey just ideas; and hence the holy Scriptures abound in parables, and figures. They sometimes also justify ironical statements, such as the exhortation to the priests of Baal, (1 Kings xviii. 27.) " Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." Sec. III. While we are always bound never to speak any thing false to the prejudice of any one; we are nevertheless not required at all times to disclose all that we know; or to correct all the erroneous opinions, which may be formed from our silence, or by our revealing only a part of the truth. There are many private con- cerns of an individual, with which his neighbour has no right to become acquainted. " No corrupt communica- tion" should " proceed out of your mouth;" but ye may be, with Christ's approbation, " wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." John xxi. 22^ 23. " Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is 212 REVEALED THEOLOGV. that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" It is only when we are under some promise, oath, or other obligation, to tell the whole truth, that we are bound to disclose all that we know on any particular subject. Sec. IV. A person may utter a falsehood, that is, a false proposition, while he judges it to be true, without being chargeable with lying, or any violation of the ninth commandment: but any one who writes, speaks, or insinuates any false statement, with a design to de- ceive, is a liar; and continuing impenitent, he shall have his part in the lake which burneth with fire and brim- stone." Rev. xxi. 8. Col. iii. 9. "Lie not one to ano- ther." Zech. viii. 16. " Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour:" (Eph. iv. 25.) u putting away all lying." Sec. V. To originate, or circulate, or countenance a false report, against the character of any one, with a desire to injure him in the esteem of others, or with a willingness to occasion in him painful feelings, is a di- rect violation of this commandment. If any person chooses to render himself odious or ridiculous in the opinion of those whose favourable sen- timents concerning himself he disregards, he has no right to treat his neighbour with the same familiarity. Misrepresentations of real circumstances are more per- nicious than assertions utterly without foundation, be- cause the former are most easily credited, and with the greater difficulty removed. REVEALED THEOLOGY. 273 It will not excuse any slanderer to be enabled to say, with truth, that he did not invent the evil report to Which he gives currency; or that he could not tell whence it originated. Whoever will not take pains to contradict or discredit a slanderous report, when he knows it to be such, is himself a slanderer. Silence often speaks louder than words; especially when it seems to be designed. When any thing is asserted in our presence concerning an ac- quaintance, and we attend to it, we are supposed to as- sent or dissent, or declare our ignorance of the matter in question. This we do either explicitly or tacitly; and we may not, by a desire to please the slanderer, hear his false-witness, and countenance it by a smile, a wink, a nod, or silence, any more than by our speech. Lev. xix. 16. u Tiiou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people." Exod. xxiii. 1 . " Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." Psalm xv. 1—3. " Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that— • speaketh the truth in his heart: — he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." Sec. VI. We may violate the spirit of this ninth commandment, which would defend our neighbour from all harm, by propagating the truth concerning him to his disadvantage, when we have no sufficient reason for exposing his defects. Christ has commanded us to deal privately with an offending brother, that we may not give unprofitable and painful knowledge of scandal. If we expose offenders, or if we cause them to be prose- cuted and punished, it should be with love to their souls, U 274 REVEALED THEOLOGY. and compassion towards their persons still in exercise: it should be with a desire to reclaim them, and to warn others against similar crimes. Noah was indeed drunken; but his son, who, instead of covering his nakedness, with an unholy spirit exposed the patriarch, was accursed. u Charity shall cover the multitude of sins." " Joseph be- ing a just man, and not willing to make her a pub- lic example, was minded to put her away privily." " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meek- ness." Much more good is likely to be done by telling one his fault privately, than by publishing it to the world, bringing upon him the uneasy apprehension of his own ignominy, and making him despair of gaining his for- mer respectability. Were all the real feelings of man- kind exposed, this world would be rendered much more miserable than it now is, and thousands of young offen- ders, who are now reclaimed, would become hardened in iniquity. Sec. VII. One of the most aggravated offences against the ninth commandment is denominated perjury; and consists in uttering under solemn oath, statements which are known or believed by the witness to be false; or in keeping back what is known to be relevant truth, when sworn to tell the whole known truth in the case. Zech. viii. 17. "Love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord." Prov. xix. 5. "A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that speaketh lies shall not escape." James i. 26. " If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not hii tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's re- REVEALED THEOLOGY. 275 ligion is vain." Ephe. iv 29. "Let no corrupt com- munication proceed out of your mouth." CHAPTER XVIII. Of the Tenth Commandment. Sec. I. Exodus xx. 17. " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." This last commandment is more extensive than any other of the second table; for it forbids any inordinate emotion towards our neighbour, or any of his possessions. Obey this, and you will perform your whole duty to- wards your fellow men; for without coveting the honour, authority and liberty of parents, none would dishonour them: without coveting a man's life, none would un- lawfully take it away; and without coveting his neigh- bour's wife, estate, or character, no man would practise adultery, theft, or false witness. Covetovsness is any unlawful regard of the mind for any thing which in fact, or of right, belongs to another. It is a species of idolatry, for it sets up some object of desire in the place of God. Luke xii. 15. " Take heed and beware of covetous- ness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things he possesseth." It is covetousness, or an unlawful desire after the wealth, good name, or prosperity of others, which ex- 276 REVEALED THEOLOGY. cites envy, unfounded jealousy of superiors, dissatisfaction with the success of our neighbours in lawful undertak- ings, a disposition to decry or detract from their good estate; and reluctance to acknowledge their merits. Sad instances of this sin we have in Judas, who be- trayed his Master for thirty pieces of silver; in Ahab, who " came into his house, heavy and displeased; and he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread," because Naboth would not part with his father's vineyard; (1 Kings xxi. 3, 4.) and in Haman, (Esth. v. 11, 130 whose " glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him," availed him nothing, so long as Mordecai the Jew sat in the king's gate and would not reverence him. Sec. II. Since we may not be covetous, it is our duty to guard against this sin, by considering its hei- nousness, and by exercising all such emotions as are calculated to prevent it. The most effectual way to do this, is to love God supremely: set our affections on things above; and be contented with all the allotments of divine providence. Psal. Ixii. 10. "If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." Psal. xvi. 5, 6. " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage." Psal. cxix. 75. " I know, Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." Gal. v. 26. "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." Philip, iv. 11 — 13. "I have' learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be con- REVEALED THEOLOGY. 277 tent. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where, and in all things I am in- structed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do," or endure "all things through Christ which strengthened me." Rom. viii. 28. " All things work together for good to them that love God," Rom. viii. 13. " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." CHAPTER XIX. Of the use of New Obedience to Believers .* Sec. I. " Let ours also learn to maintain good works for m cessary uses." Tit. iii. 14. These words imply that there are some unnecessary uses for which the chil- dren of men may think to render obedience to the mo- ral law. No fallen man should endeavour to kd; and others, that nothing but matter exists; and that this universal matter is the Deity. Leaving our own speculations for a time, we shall resume our author's thread of reasoning. He says, " I may also take it for granted, that I am an intelligent being. Of this I am as sure as that I exist. (Max. 2.) "u~l denied it, I might be confuted in the same way, as if 1 denied my own exist- ence: for the more ingeniously I reasoned, the more intelligence should I display. Now, it is manifest, that no being can commu- nicate greater power or excellence than it posseses. (Max. 6.) As we conclude, that nonentity could not give birth to any thing, we may, by parity of reasoning, presume, that lifeless matter can- not produce life, nor an unintelligent being originate intelligence. Some intelligent being must, therefore, have existed from eter- nity. " Again, I am a moral being, susceptible of moral impressions, capable of forming" rrToral opinions and judgments. Now this faculty of discerning between right and wrong, is unquestionably an excellence. Of the existence of it within myself, 1 have the evidence of consciousness. (Max. 2.) This, or a superior faculty must, consequently, have resided in some being from eternity. (Max. 6.) " 1 am also conscious of a power over my own thoughts and limbs. If any one were to question the existence of this power in himself, the very question would be its own answer, as far as the intellect is concerned; since it could not be asked without some command over his ideas, and the very motion of his tongue would prove his power over his organs. There must, therefore, have existed from eternity, a being endowed with power over matter and mind. (Max. 5.) NOTES. 285 " The Eternal must also be self existent, because there was no 'being before him to give him life, ff he hud not existence in him- self, he must have derived it from some other being. (Max. 5.) This cause must have existed before its effl-ct. (Max. 4.) The effect, of course, could not be eternal, contrary to the hypothesis. p. 28—30. "Further, the Eternal can neither acquire nor resign any es- sential property of his nature; for nothing that can be acquired, or lost, is essential. It is essential to God to be self-existent: it would, therefore, be incompatible with his essence to cease to be, or to change any of his essential properties. To add to his essence, would be a degree of self-creation; to detract from it, a species of self-annihilation. To add to his essence, would be to become a new species of being: and if he could divest himself of a part, he might deprive himself of the whole, since the whole consists of its parts, and thus become a nonentity, which is absurd. He is therefore, immutable with respect to his existence and his essen- tial qualities. "His whole nature must continue as it was from the beginning. " Lastly, this Eternal Being is not matter. The fundamental principle of natural philosophy is, that matter is inert, that is, in- capable of voluntary motion, and indifferent to motion or rest; yet there is not a particle of matter in the universe absolutely at rest. Whence then does motion arise? It is no part of the essence of matter; otherwise it could never cease. Extension is essen- tial to body; and, accordingly, we cannot separate them, even in thought: but we can suppose matter to be either in motion or quiescent. Motion, therefore, is not its essence: it is action or change. Now there can be no action or change without a cause. (Max. 5 ) This cause is not in matter, because it is inert. It must be some agent different from matter. To say that motion is eter- nal in matter, and requires no cause, is to contradict the funda- mental principle of natural philosophy; and though it were eternal, it would still be action, and would require an eternal agent. Nay, though the agent were eternal, motion could not be eternal; for the agent must precede the action; the mover must be prior to the motion. If by motion be meant a voluntary power of moving, this is contrary to its nature. If it mean an involuntary propensity to move, this must operate either in ever}- direction which would occasion rest, or in one direction only. Diversified motion implies a voluntary mover. If, therefore, matter be inert, eternal motion is a contradiction, and matter cannot be the first cause. " In all this, we proceed on the same principles with the natu- ral philosopher, and from them we have ascertained another at- tribute of the Eternal: namely, immateriality or spirituality." p. 31 — 33. Dr. Bruce concludes his proof of the being of a God with a " Metaphysical argument," which he considers auxiliary to the one just given from his pages. It takes for granted, however, 25 286 NOTES, that we are not eternal, but come into being. Had lie first demon- strated this truth, his argument would have been complete. He commences with the axiom, That whatever is contingent, or might possibly have been otherwise than it is, had some cause which deter- mined it to be what it is. " There was a time, when it was a mere contingency, whether I should ever come into being, and what kind of creature I should be. There was no necessity for my creation or birth. Now, if this was a matter of indifference in the nature of things, it must have remained so, had not some agent interfered. There must have been some cause which determined that one side of the al- ternative should take place, rather than the other; and this cause must have been either necessary or contingent. If necessary, the question is decided: this is the being which we are in quest of; if contingent, it must also have had a cause; and that, another, till we arrive at some necessary, self-existent First Cause, not liable to any contingencies. This First Cause must be not only eternal, but also immortal or everlasting; for his extinction would be a contingency to which a necessary being cannot be obnoxious. His extinction is an event that might, or might not happen; and, therefore, there must be some cause to make it take place, rather than not. It is a change, and must have a cause; (Max. 5.) but there can be no cause prior to the first. Since every thing con- tingent had a cause, that which had no cause is not contingent, but necessary. The existence of the First Cause is, therefore, a necessary truth." p. 57. Our readers now have possession of the most valuable part of the book under review. Our author's subsequent chapters, which are designed to present "illustrations of the divine nature," a treatise " on providence and the origin of evil," and "proofs and illustrations from revelation," contain many things ingenious and true, and not a few which are false. With his doctrines of a Liberty of Indifference; (p. 52 and 118.) of an Universal Conscience which is the standard of virtue; (p. 68.) of a Messiah vouchsafed to some other globe than this; (p. 74.) of Mediators in other worlds, (p. 180 ) and of the salvation of all mankind, through Christ's propitiation for their sins, whether they believe or not, we have no fellowship. The book before us contains, in an appendix, an excellent dis- sertation " on the immateriality of the soul." Matter he defines as including " every thing that is discernible by our senses; every substance that is made the subject of experiment by the chemist or natural philosopher. Its essential properties are extension, solidity and inertness. By extension is meant, that it consists of parts, lly solidity, we understand that one body cannot occupy the place of another, till that other be removed. The inertness of matter signifies that it is destitute of spontaneous motion." " Mat- er is equally passive and inert, whether in motion or at rest." NOTES. 2S7 " If there be any substance different from matter, that we de- nominate spirit, and if there be any qualities that do not pertain to matter, these we assign to spirit. The points then to be proved are, that there are properties which do not belong to body; that these are inherent in the human soul; and consequently, that the soul is not corporeal, but spiritual." He then proceeds to show, that we have knowledge of a variety of operations, such as "sen- sation and thought, memory, imagination, and reason," and of several attributes, such as " virtue, vice, and conscience, and their various modifications;" which neither natural philosophy norcom- raon sense has ever discovered to be properties of matter. Of the essence of matter ami mind, we conceive, when we speak of it, but of the occult nature of it we know nothing. We are ac- quainted, however, with the attributes of that essence which we call matter, and equally with the attributes of that essence which we call mind. "If essence is nothing but an aggregate of qualities, then mat- ter and spirit are essentially distinct, because their qualities are so. If it be some unknown substance, in which these properties inhere, these substances cannot be the same, because all their prop-Tties are different. An inert lump cannot be essentially ac- tive: the most active of all things cannot be essentially inert. It cannot be the nature of body to have fancy and genius; nor of spirit to have, colour, taste, or odour, to be fusible and malleable. If a chemist were to discover a new gas, different in all its quali- ties and effects from another, what would he say to the person who should assert that they were the same? Suppose it to be in- visible, but powerful in its effects, would he allow another to say that there was no such tiling, because he could not see it? Shall I, on the other hand, allow the chemist to say that the most ac- tive an 1 powerful principle in nature, spirit, is nothing, because he cannot examine it by chemical analysis? Or shall I, on the other hand, confess his artificial air to be spirit because it is in- visible? No, for though it eludes the sight, it affects the other. It may be measured, weighed, decanted, and bottled up, like any other liquid; but to say this of intellect, or thought, wisdom or wit, benevolence or friendship, would be unspeakably absurd. Spirit is, therefore, no more a creature of the imagination than the elementary principles of the material world, than the mag- netic flukl, latent heat or dormant electricity." p. 202. In reply to those who admit " that matter is not essentially ac- tive," but assert " that it may become so by arrangement and organization of parts," Dr. Bruce proceeds to show, that " an atom essentially inactive, and destitute of feeling or thought," cannot become active and sentitive in consequence of the accu- mulation or juxta-position of other similar atoms. " Some are content to maintain," he remarks, " that the Almighty may endow matter with intellectual powers: but when this concession is ex- ^S8r NOTES. 'imined, it will apper to be a dereliction of the argument. Matter. ia essential!) inert and unintelligent; therefore, what is active and intelligent cannot be matter. If its essence be changed, it becomes another substance. While it retains its essential properties it cannot partake of others that are contradictory to them. It can- not be what it is, and what it is not. It cannot be essentially ac- tive and inert, intelligent and insensible, at the same time." p. 207. Of the brain, our author judiciously remarks, "that its organi- sation is less distinct, and apparently less curious than that of other organs. It is evidently the origin or the termination of the nerves." u It appears to be no more than a subordinate organ, and in some cases not essential to animation." "There is nothing in the appearance or structure of this organ to give it a pre-emi- nence above its fellows. The spinal marrow, and even the smallest nerve in the body, shares with it in its most distinguished func- tions. Besides, it is still material, and liable to all the objections against the intelligence of matter." p. 209. To show that the thinking principle in man, is something distinct from that organi- sation of matter denominated the brain, he says in a note, "Cases are of almost daily occurrence, in which large portions of the brain are destroyed by wounds or suppuration; and in a large proportion of these cases, both sens-ition and mind remain unimpaired. It would not, indeed, be difficult to prove from the records of medicine, that there is not one portion of the brain that has not, in some instances or another, been destroyed without any accompanying or subsequent diminution of the thinking powers. "This has been observed, where an entire hemisphere of the cerebellum (the largest division of the brain) was dissolved by suppuration, — in cases of tumours, (various in kind and size) which have been found in almost every part of the brain, — where the rupture of vessels had formed caverns or cells fidl of blood in its most central parts, — when a ball had passed through the head, and large portions of the brain were evacuated at the wounds, — when a ball had been received in the substance of the brain, and the man died a year afterwards, from a different cause, — when the blade of a knife, in one instance, and the end of a stiletto in another, had remained for years impacted in the brain, — and where thecer< -bellum has been wounded or destroyed by tumours. But it would be endless to advert to all the in- stances of loss or destruction of parts of the brain, which have been unattended with diminished energy of the mental powers, though even if the occurrence of such cases were rare, we should have no difficulty in admitting their truth; since we know that sensation and intellect exist under much more extraordinary cir- cumstances. The brain has been found entirely wanting, and yet under this privation, all the powers of body and mind remained perfect. " There is a case in Dr. Quin's Treatise on Dropsy, of the brain of a child, which died suddenly when eighteen months old; it had NOTES. 289 laboured under hydrocephalus from birth, and when the head was opened, it was found to contain five quarts of water; but there was no vestige of brain, except a little medulla-like matter oppo- site the orbit and meatus aiiditorins: yet this child could both see and hear well, grew fat, and was strong upon his limbs. « A similar case is related by Dr. Heysham, and another by Sir Everard Home. Kerckringius also states one of this kind, of a child five months old. "There is, in the 277th number of the Philosophical Transac- tions, a case more important, perhaps, than any of these, as it occurred in an adult. It is the case of a Mr. Kay, who had a can- cerous ulcer on the cheek, which eat its way through the orbit of the eye, the bone of the forehead and dura mater, and then at- tacked the brain itself. In this condition he lived until the entire brain was consumed. After his death there was nothing found in the skull but a spoonful of black putrid matter. Yet this man never lost the use of his senses, nor of voluntary motion, while la- bouring under this dreadful disease. " A case or two are on record, where the spinal marrow was cut through, without any subsequent loss of sensibility, or volun- tary motion, below the part injured." p. 211. We should be glad to extract the whole of this appendix for the instruction of our readers, but it would occupy too many of our pages. We shall confine our attention, during the remainder of this article, to the single point of the being of God. Such a Being, as is described under the name of Jehovah, in the Bible, exists, without beginning and without end. Of this we have no doubt: but can his fundamental truth of all religion be, strictly speaking, demonstrated? While in our judgment Dr. Bruce has not given us a perfect demonstration of the being of the only, living, and true. God, yet we must do him the justice of allowing, that he has come as near one, as any writer with whom we are acquainted. A metaphysical, a philosophical demonstration of a truth, consists in making that truth result from certain axioms and in- contestable definitions, by a process of reasoning in which each proposition is either self-evident or a necessary induction from such self-evident propositions, definitions, or previously es- tablished inductions. The self-evident truths upon which b de- monstration rests, neither require nor admit of demonstration. Were it, therefore, self-evident that God exists, there woul. curtain a soft and harmonious instrument, should we believe ttiat chance, without the help of any human hand, could have formed such an instru- ment?" Could any one judge, that the music was made without design, or existed without an adequate cause? Again, he sup- pos. s one should find in a desert island, a fine statue of marble. Would he not instantly judge that some men must have formerly- been there? The same argument he corroborates from the con- sideration of a picture of the Israelites passing the Red Sea. It is possible, he admits, that the foam at the mouth of a horse in such a picture might have been formed by the stroke of a pencil, thrown in a pet by a painter, as the story goes; " but at least, the painter must beforehand have, with design, chosen the most pro- per colours to represent that foam." The pencil too, must have touched the canvass, and deposited on a particular spot a portion of the colouring with which it was charged, or the representation of foam had not been produced. 1'enelon gives us also, the case of a watch, which, by supposi- tion, is to have an internal machinery for producing watches like itself. Upon this watch, Archdeacon Paley supposes one to stumble, and so commences his celebrated work on " Natural Theology." Dr. Paley has proved ust the same things that Fenelon has done; and they pursue nearly the same course; with this difference, that the former had more correct knowledge of anatomy and of mental and natural philosophy than the latter. Fenelon believed in animal spirits flowing in the nerves; in images of things remembered, registered on the brain; in the pictures of our thoughts formed in the mind, so that we perceive 292 NOTES. the ideas of objects, and not those objects themselves; together with a few other similar fooleries, which constituted the founda- tions of mental science, until Dr. Lieid banished them from moral philosophy. Paley's Natural Theology contains juster views of the animal and mental economy of man than the treatise of the eminent French bishop; but not more evidences of design in the general structure of the universe; in the peculiar frame of the earth, with its plants and animals; in the mechanism of the human body; and in the wonderful soul; nor stronger proof that all must have been produced by the great First Cause. Both are calcu- lated to expand our views of the wisdom of God in the formation and government of the universe; and to deepen our full convic- tion, that there is an ail-wise, omnipresent God, who minds the affairs of men. Should an} one inquire, however, whether either of these writers has demonstrated the existence of the only, living and true God; we must frankly confess, that neither of them has done it. They have not made out so much of a demonstration, on this point, as Dr. Bruce has done. As a dernier resort, then, let us have recourse to Dr. Samuel Clark for" a demonstration of the being and attributes of God." This he professes to give; and for more than a century his work, bearing the above title, has been recommended to literary per- sons, who have demanded a strict demonstration ofgthe fundament- al proposition of natural theology. He is certainly a learned writer of a very metaphysical cast; and if we can find in his vol- ume what is loudly required by many acute thinkers, our labour will not be lost. He pfbsentsUs with the following propositions: 1st That Something has existed from ail eternity. This he demonstrates thus: " Since something now is; 'tis manifest that something always was; otherwise the things that now are, must have risen out of nothing, absolutely and without cause: which is a flat contradiction in terms. For to say a thing is produced, and yet that there is no cause at all of that production, is to say that something is effected, when it is effected by nothing; that is, at the same time when it is not effected at all. Whatever exists has a cause of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature; and then it must have been of itself eternal: or in the will of some other being; and then that other being must, at least in the order of nature and causality, have existed before it." With diffidence we ask, is 'his a strict demonstration, even that something always existed? Dr. Clark assumes without poving it, that there are created substances in existence; that something has been pro- duced, caused, or effected. " Something now is," indeed, but why should it be granted, that this very something has not al- ways existed? Why should it have been caused at all? Cer- tainly the great First Cause was never caused to exist, unless there could have been a caufe< prior to the first. By a cause of existence in the nature of the self-existing being, Dr. Clar'x must have intended something different from any thing which pro- NOTES. 293 duces effects, or is the origin of causation. He must have in- tended to say, that there is something in the divine nature which is the true reason of the existence of this something which has always existed. Still, it is strictly demonstrable, that something has existed from all eternity. Dr. Bruce, as we have shown, has demonstrated it. 2d. There has existed from eternity some one unchangeable and independent Being. Now for his proof. " For since something must needs have been from eternity, — either there has always existed some one unchangeable and independent Being, from which all other beings that are or ever were in the universe, have received their original; or else there has been infinite succes- sion of changeable and dependent beings, produced one from another in an endless progression, without any original cause at all." This latter supposition he shows to be absurd, and con- cluding that there are but these two alternatives, he infers that the first one, which is his second proposition must be true. We might say, however, <; you have not proved, learned sir, that there is any succession of beings in the universe; you have not demon- strated thatjany thing ever began to exist: for aught you know, every substance which now exists always existed, however many may be the changes in its form and other circumstances. Some one thing always existed, and other things either always existed with it, or else they began to exist; or some several tilings co- existed, and all which did not co-exist from eternity, subsequently began to exist. Besides, how do you prove, that some one thing in its own nature given to interminable changes has not always existed, instead of being essentially unchangeable? We call for demonstration, from those who professto furnish it;on this momen- tous topic." Such an objection as this would have rendered Ur. Clark's refutation of the doctrine of an endless succession of de- pendent and yet originally uncaused beings useless, so far as it was designed to support the other hypothesis, which he has stated as the only other one possible in this argument. His second pro- position, therefore, we are constrained to think, has not been de- monstrated by him to be true; and until the existence of some- thing, which has ever existed without being itself caused to exist by any thing, is established, the ten subsequent propositions of Dr. Clark must remain without any foundation on which they can be supported. NOTE B. REFERRED TO OX PAGE 41. On the Introduction of Evil into our world, Predestination, Ori- ginal Sin and Human Depravity, the reader's attention is re- quested to the following pages, which were first published, by the present author, in a work, inlitled, "The Fathers, the lie- formers, and the Ft blic Formularies of the Church of En o Iand, in harmony with Galvin," .394 NOTES. The friends of " the doctrines of the Reformation" must ue" sire that their opinions should be known and thoroughly sifted' and they are confident that the more men study the philosophy of the human mind, the system of Calvinistic doctrine, and the word of God, the stronger will be their conviction that all three perfectly harmonise. Indeed, it is impossible that the truth con- cerning the mind of man, and the doctrines contained in the Bible, should be at variance, unless two constitutions of the Su- prerne Being may contradict each other: and it is no small argu- ment in favour of Calvinism, that all the new discoveries in me- taphysics which have been made from accurate observations of the phenomena of mind, but evince more clearly its complete agreement with the "testimony of Jesus." To eradicate, if possible, some prejudices injurious to truth, which are excited at the sight of a few Calvinistic words, it may not be improper to state, that Predestination, when attributed to the Deity, is nothing more than a previous purpose concerning his o-wn actions. Before Jehovah performs any work, he determined to perform it. Ue has predestinated all his oivn actions. Who that has any wisdom acts without some previous purpose to act? AYho of our race is not a predestinarian, so far as he has knowledge, and conceives that he has power? A man who should act without previous purpose, would be deemed irrational, if not an idiot. Who, then, can wish to conceive of his God as acting without the predestination of his own actions? From eternity, moreover, the Calvinistic system teaches, that the Deity predestinated his own operations to be suited to the natures of the things on which they were to terminate; so that whatever work he de- termined to perform on the mind of man is performed in such a manner as is consistent with the nature of an intelligent, sensi- tive, voluntary, active creature. He determined to govern matter by certain laws adapted to an unfeeling, inactive, involuntary be- ing; and mind by such laws as originate, and continue, freedom of agency. He determined to constitute man, and to govern him, when made, as a man, and not as a vegetable or mineral. The Lord foreknew what man would do in every state; which state should exist in consequence of the performance of his own predestinated actions; and in full view of all that should result from the free agency of man in such a state, resolved to execute his determinations, and either permit the sinful actions of the accountable, free, but circumscribed creature; or excite him by a positive, unmerited influence, to that which is good; so that in this way he also "foreordains whatsoever comes to pass." He predestinates his own actions, and foreordains all events, even such as are inseparably connected with free human agency. A previous ordaining of circumstances, by Jehovah, is consequent upon bis predestination of lh&t foreordination. In the Calvinistic system these distinctions maybe thus ap- plied. God determined to make a complex being, consisting of a material body; an animal soul, which is the seat of animal fac NOTES. 295 uities; and an immortal spirit; which should be so connected as to constitute one person, called man. He determined to locate him, when made in a slate which he had foreordained for him; and he executed his predeterminate counsel in these particulars. Tne state in which man was first placed was one in which all nature smiled around him, in which he had an innocent, intelli- gent, affectionate partner, and in which the Deity so regulated his spirit as to secure the right operation of all his faculties. For a time the divine foreordination of the circumstances of the first man was such, that he was not tempted, that he knew his duty, and performed it. The primeval holiness of Adam consisted in the operations of an intelligent, voluntary, sensitive, active mind; but innocent as he was when he came from the hand of his Maker, the praise of his holiness was ascribable to the divine predestination and foreordination. For wise purposes, this state in which he was preserved in innocence, and excited to positive virtue, was changed for a second, a state of trial. To do that which should produce this state, Jehovah had determined; and the state existed in consequence of Jehovah's withdrawing his positive influence to holiness, and permitting (according to his predestination) an unholy being to tell a falsehood to the inno- cent. The lie was assented to as truth; the testimony of his Maker in the case was not remembered, the contemplated ac- tion of eating the interdicted fruit seemed desirable; and thus, " bkixg left to the freedom of his own -will" he chose to trans- gress, and performed what he chose. A divine interference, or prevention, in the case, was not predestinated, and of course, no circumstances effectually to preclude the apostacy in a free agent were foreordained. The state of probation- having been ordained, and Adam having been placed in it, the laws which the Creator had established in the empire of mind were conti- tinued; nor can any one prove that the attributes of the Most High required him to change them, any more than the laws of matter; so that Adam should not perform the act which he chose, or not choose to perform the act which seemed agreeable to him, or not perceive the meaning of the proposition, ye shall not surely die, or remember at that moment the declaration of his Maker, in the day thou eatest thereof thou slialt surety die, or not judge that the serpent uttered the truth, or not feel such love for Eve as should be the motive for choosing a participation with her in disobedience. By the predestination of Heaven, the laws according to which the faculties of the mind operate, were the same before the state of trial commenced, and at the moment of temptation, that now are deducible from consciousness and observation. One of these laws of mind is, that the will shall never operate except in consequence of some motive- That which we truly assign as the reason of any act of the will, (of any volition, or choice,) is the motive to that act. Motives to volition are always some pre- vious operation of the mind; such as a conception of something 29C NOTES. desirable, a judgment that the contemplated action will afford pleasure, or is a duty; a feeling; or the remembrance of some former sensation, or emotion, or determination. Of an insulated operation of the will, which depended not upon any previous act of some other faculty of the mind, no one was ever con- scious; and should any such volitions spring up in the mind, the man, as an intelligent moral agent, would not be accountable for them. It is a law of mind, to which there are not so many excep- tions as to the physical law of gravitation, that the will shall al- ways be dependent on, and regulated by, some one or more of the other faculties of the spirit. This philosophy of the human mind will explain (he Calvinistic doctrine concerning the will of man since the apostacy. Neither the holy nor unholy intelligent creature has ability, or is free to choose, or determine, or purpose, or [in otht-r words, which express the whole] to will, independently of such motives as are suggested by his understanding and his feelings. After Adam transgressed, the same faculties of mind which before subsisted, first in a state of holiness, and then of trial, had their being in a state of guilt, and such consequent misery as was the infliction, in part, of the punishment merited by sin. The misery of this state consisted, in a great degree, in the want of such po- sitive gracious influences of Jehovah, and of such communica- tions of light to the understanding as were the divine sources of man's original righteousness. In the same state into which Adam fell, all men are born; and in the same state they continue, until God brings them into a state of saving illumination by his word and spirit. While the natural man sees nothing lovely in Jesus Christ, it would be as contrary to the universal laws of mind for him to choose Jesus Christ as one altogether lovely, for his Sa- viour, as it would be contrary to the laws of matter for the stones on the surface of the earth to ascend, unmoved, to the moon: and without the counteraction or suspension of the laws of God, one event would be as impossible, yea, as naturally impossible, as the other. Until a fallen man has some right operation of the un- derstanding, or some right feelings, in relation to that which the divine law pronounces good, he is no more free in choosing that which is good in the estimation of the same law, than he has liberty, if he should think it possible and will it, to cease from thought, or fly away in empty space. Yet so long as his under- standing is darkness in relation to divine things, and so long as his feelings are sinful, he is free to choose that which seems good to him, but which is real I v evil. This doctrine of Calvinism is as philosophical as it is scriptural. The statement of another law of mind may be of service to the reader of this volume; which is this, that our feelings, whether pleasant or painful, whether they be sensations or emotions, and •whether they be passions or ajf'ections, are alltonsequent upon sovie prior operation oj some other faculty than that of feeling, l he consciousness of all men of observation wjI I evince this; and with one voice they will declare, NOTES. 291 that they never love or hate, except in consequence of the per- ception or conception of something which to them appeared lovely or hateful. When we see a beautiful lawn, hear melodious symphonies, smell the fragrance of new mown hay, taste an orange, or touch the soft vestment of the timid hare, the plea- sant feeling which we have in each case, is dependent on the preceding perception of the mind through one of the five bodily senses; and without the act of seeing, hearing, smelling, tast- ing, or touching, the feeling 1 -would not be experienced. This is the true reason why it is naturally impossible, without the introduc- tion of some other laws of mind, or a miraculous counteraction of those which exist, (which we think is never wrought) that the sinner whose native condition is one of blindness to divine things, should love the true God and Jesus Christ, before he is brought into a state of gracious illumination by the Holy Spirit. To those who examine these laws it will be manifest, that the faculty of leehng, sometimes called the heart, is, in the natural or- der of mental operations, which our Maker has established, de- pendent on the understanding, which includes those constituent pans of the spirit, called the consciousness, the perception, the conception, the judgment, the conscience, the reason, and the memory: thai the will \n ading is dependent on the understanding and the heart; and that the finite efficiency which man has, called by the Editors of Reid's works the faculty of age?icy, is imme- diately dependent on the will, and through it, ultimately on the heart and understanding. In the last the moral destruction of man commenced; for Adam had no unholy choice or feeling, until he had a wrong judgment concerning Satan's proposition: and in the understanding must the rectification and regeneration also of man commence; or he will never become an intellectual, holy, moral agent, under the regimen of that God who is li.^ht. Mextal Power, or ability to do any action, implies not only the existence of the requisite faculty, but every thing else winch is essential to the performance of that action, in conjunction with that faculty. Liberty may exist where mental power is not. This may be illustrated. A man is at liberty to read if he choose to read; but he has no power to read, before he actually chooses, unless reading 0e an involuntary act. And since the volition to read is requisite to constitute power in this case, every thing essential to that volition is also included in the power of reading. Indeed, a sufficient motive apprehended, a volition to perform some contemplated action, and the faculty of efficiency depend- ent on that volition, always enter into the true notion o f power to perform a voluntary action. Again, the mind is so constituted that man lias liberty to -will if he sees cause, or has a motive present to him; but he has no power to will without the actual presentation of a competent motive. It will be obvious to every reader that the Liberty and Power of which the human mind is the subject are always finite, Man may will many things, which G*»d has not given him power to 26 ^08 NOTES. perform. He may resolve to act, and not find his faculty of agency in motion. The way is now prepared to enter into an investigation of the apostacy and its consequences. Adam was a moral agent, and so is every one who has the faculties and liberty requisite for act- ing in an intelligent, voluntary, conscientious manner, in relation to alaxv of conduct, to which he has been subjected by his Maker. He is accountable so far as he is the subject of liberty. Ail inani- mate beings are subject to the laws which Providence has pre- scribed for them; and their operations, excepting in case of some supernatural interference, are conformable to those laws. All the conformity of physical operations to physical laws is, to the Di- vine Mind, certain arid szckssaut. Moral agents obey, or disobey, the law imposed for the regulation of their conduct, according to their volitions; and to the Divine Mind, all their actions are certain and tolustjlKT. The Lord "declareth the end from the begin- ning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done," sc that there can be no uncertainty, or imperfect knowledge of fu- turity, with him. He gave Adam all the faculties, and all that liberty, which were requisite for a moral agent. For a time his state was such, that no delusive objects were present to his senses, no false report sounded in his ears, and his mind was graciously kept from conceiving folly and mischief. His under- standing was occupied by the instructions of his divine teacher; and his feelings were continually exercised about worthy objects. Every thought, every sensation, every emotion, every volition was right, in the Lord's sight, and he always obeyed the determinations of his will. His activity was all consistent with his own good and his Father's glory. His state, however, was not immutable; nor did his nature exalt him above the possibility of being tempted. In one fatal moment he transgressed the commandment of his So- vereign; and he transgressed as freely as he had before obeyed. The question occurs, How came Adam, in the first instance of disobedience, to exert his finite efficiency, or agenc)-, contrary to the divine law? I answer; that he -willed to eat of the forbidden fruit; and God still affording him liberty, or supporting in their due relation to each other his faculties of volition and agency, he performed what he willed to perform. Action followed volition according to the established laws of human mind, which Jehovah did not deem it expedient to suspend. In the full view of all consequences, and from the united influence of all his perfections, Clod determined in this case not to snap the chain of mental cause and effect, and thus destroy the moral agent. He might in- deed have separated Adam's faculty of agency from that of will- ing, but had he done it he would have suspended those laws by which he had resolved to govern the empire of mind; and would have degraded the lord of this lower world from the rank at first given him, while the trial intended would not have been piade. If then Adam exerted his efficiency against the divine com- NOTES. 199 mandment from choice, the question arise?, " how came he to choose to perform an act of disobedience?" We reject the unphi- losophical and horrible doctrine of some who wish to be thought Calvinisls, that God created in him, or produced by a physical efficiency exerted upon his will, an independent, insulated, un- holy volition. We have so learned neither Calvin nor his Di- vine Master. The will of man, it has been already remarked, never acts, except in consequence of some prior operation ol the mind. I may be conscious, or may remember, or may conceive, without being- able to account for these acts in any other way, than by saying, that God has given me the requisite constitution of mind for doing these things; but if I -will, choose, or determine, it is to be accounted for, by saying, "it seemed good to me to determine; I perceived something, or remembered, or con- ceived, or felt something, which proved a sufficient motive for my choice; or I thought it would be desirable for me to will the performance of some action." Adam chose to eat of the forbid- den fruit because of some motive. Perhaps he conceived that it would render him wise; or had such a perception of the fruit as was followed by a pleasing sensation; or judged that he should not die, since Eve did not appear to have suffered the threatened curse; or imagined that he had misunderstood the declaration of his Creator; or desired to please his partner; or perhaps all these constituted a complex motive for his choice, and therefore he chose to eat, and risk the consequences. At any rate, we know, whatever the temptation was, that it appeared to be good to him, at the time, to w/V/ what he did will. Some of his thoughts or feel- ings were such as to prove the occasion of a criminal operation of the will. Since, however, all the mental operations of our first parents were, for a time, perfectly right, how came any of them to be wrong? In attempting to give a satisfactory reply, we state, that there were evil angels in existence, who were voluntary, mali- cious beings, possessing a circumscribed liberty. One of these, called the old Serpent, desired to deceive and destroy man. Ik- was permitted to make an effort, and for this purpose to asMime a suitable form. Satan's will to lie was not dissevered in this case from his faculty of doing what he ivilted. Having power and liberty, he stated a false proposition to our first mother, saying, " ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Our mother had never heard a lie before, and pos- sibly did not know that there was any such being as a liar, crthe Devil, in existence. She gave credit to the voice of the Tempter, when she should have accounted his speech to be false, because it was contrary to the declaration of her Creator, whom she had no reason to (list rust She sinned in that very moment in which she first began to doubt the veracity of God, and to desire fruit which he had interdicted. To this sin of thought, desire, and choice, she added that of touching and tasting the forbidden ■jOO notes. fruit. In that very moment, God made her acquainted with good lost and evil acquired; for it was an immediate punishment to be left under a delusion which induced her to present the fruit to her husband. Hitherto he had never known the wiles of the de- ceiver, and was as unconscious of the actual temptations of the Devil upon his mind, as we are. But he listened to the proposals of Eve, through whom Satan now spoke, with some desire to partake with her in the illicit acquisition of dreadful knowledge; and sin being once conceived in his heart began to multiply sin- ful thoughts, like a race of vipers. The lie being told in his hearing, "ye shall not surely die," he conceived the meaning of the proposition, and finally believed it to be true. Jehovah did not think it proper to cut off the connexion between his exter- nal organs of hearing and the mental faculty of perception: nei- ther did he now exert any gracious influence over him, to bring to his remembrance his former convictions of his Maker's truth, It was the will of God to place Adam in this very state of proba- tion. So long as he continued innocent and good, he was a free moral agent under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit, who regulated, in a way suited to his faculties, all the operations of his mind. His goodness before the apostacy was not the result of his oivn immediate efficiency, but of the Spirit's ultimate, moral government; for there is no being, except God, who is independ- ently holy. While thus under the propitious government of God, hi -was not put to the proof. His holiness was a proof of God's suf- ficiency to make a creature holy and happy; but no evidence that even an innocent creature is able to preserve himself in a state of purity and felicity. God determined, for wise reasons, to prove his creature, man; and he put him therefore into a state of trial, which is called a state of probation, because in it he was to be proved, and receive either approbation or disapprobation. The state of probation was constituted by God's ceasing to exert a positive influence on man's mind, so as to prevent all erroneous perceptions, notions, judgments and feelings which might be the motive to a wrong volition, and lead to a sinful action; while at the same time the Devil in Eve's case, and Eve in Adam's case, were permitted to present a false statement to the mind. In this state, which was calculated to try our first father, -was proof made of the creature man; and he exhibited how imperfect an innocent creature is, and how dependent upon the gracious government of God; for "our first parents, BEING LEFT to the freedom of their oivn loill, through the temptation of Satan, trans- gressed the commandment of God, in eating the forbidden fruit, and therebv fell from the estate of innocency wherein they were created." Having made man capable of action, and having given him a finile liberty, the Deity was under no obligation, even to iiis own Attributes, to exert a positive influence over him, to make him always remember his duty and act aright, h was not inconsistent with the perfections of his nature to leave a crea- iure, possessing a finite and dependent efficiency, in such cir- NOTES. 301 cumstances a9 would manifest that even a holy creature must de- pend on some higher being than himself for his continuance in holiness; and that all goodness in others is derived from the Godhead. He did leave man to himself, and to the influence of Satan's suggestions; and he fell. While all the faculties of the mind of Adam were kept under the immediate influence of the Divine Mind, every mental operation was such as pleased God; because it was intelligent, conscientious, and voluntary con- formity to his law. But when God, to prove man, brought the same faculties into a state of probation, such mental operations were performed as incurred his righteous displeasure. When the positive influence of the Deity was not afforded, then, as in the absence of the Sun, thick darkness pervaded the moral world. If this representation be true, then " God is light, and m him is no darkness at all:" and then, God is no more the author of sin, than the Sun is the efficient cause of the blackness of midnight. In the moment of rebellion the state of probation was changed for one of sin and misery. In this state our first parents continued until by the mercy of God they were brought into a state of sal- vation by a Redeemer, and thence translated into the state of glory. In the state which was immediately consequent upon the fall, are all the children of Adam born: and in the same, like him, do they continue, until the word and Spirit bring them life, from the dead. In the language of the holy Scriptures, every thing in a moral agent, which is displeasing to God, defective in the estimation of the law, and opposed to the divine nature, is sinful. Some are pleased to define sinfulness, in such a manner as to exclude every thing but actual transgressions. Others make it consist wholly in a wrong act of the will. We have no objection to their definition but this, that it is not consonant to the lan- guage of the Bible. If they choose to affirm that nothing shall be called sinful, but an actual volition which is contrary to the law of God, we affirm, that many things are offensive to God and de- structive to the souls of men, which they do not allow to be sin- ful. " The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord." Prov. xv. 26. We affirm that sin " is any transgression of the law," and it is also " any want of conformity unto" the re- vealed will of Heaven. A moral defect, a neglect of duty, an in- nate depravity, an injurious thought, we denominate sinful. Any thing in the nature of a moral agent which separates him from the holy God, any action which is forbidden, any moral impurity, or deficiency, is represented by the same general word. Sin is taken in this extensive sense for all sinfulness in the declaration that " by one man sin entered into the world;" for the apostle did not intend to convey merely the truth, that positive crimes have entered into the world by one man; but that through Adam every moral evil had entered; and especially that depravity of man which is the cause of actual transgression. At any rate, we have as good a right to define the meaning of the words 26* 302 NOTES. which we use as other teachers, and we wish to be understood to assert that by one man entered into the world all the moral evil, and its consequences; which subsist in the family of Adam. David sa) s, "in sin did my mother conceive me;" in which place the word sin is applied to a fallen state, and not to a moral action. Ps. li. 5. Solomon says, «* the thought of foolishness is sin." Prov. xxiv. 9. Not to perform a vow, which is lawful in itself; and not to believe in Jesus Christ, is sin. Dent, xxiii. 21. and John xvi. 9. Indeed the neglect of any duty is as much sin, as the violation of any positive precept; and all wickedness, impurity of thought, irregularity of desire, is as much sin as a rebellous ope- ration of the will. That estate of mind too, in which man acts and is treated like a sinner, is called a state of sin. Such a state as this was produced by Adam's conduct in departing from God. After he had sinned, such was his situation in relation to God, that it was natural for him to perceive indications of God's anger; to conceive of his Maker as his enemy; io judge that his own case was hopeless; to infer from several considerations that all attempts at future obe- dience would be useless; to renumber his transgression with selfish regret; to reason against the divine goodness; to hate the Divine Providence which brought him into a state of trial: to feel some resentment against his partner; and to justify himself, while he chose to escape from the presence of the Lord. Had he been left in this state, without any exhibition of the gospel; he would as naturally have hated, dreaded, feared and condemned the Lord, as do the devils, to whom hope never came. The change of character which had taken place was in Adam; and un- less Jehovah had changed too, so as to favour iniquity and have fellowship with transgressors, it was impossible that Adam should not have felt opposition to his Maker, so long as he conceived himself to be an object of disapprobation and punishment. It would have been natural for all beings possessing his faculties, and existing in the state in which he did, after they should have transgressed, to have thought, felt, willed, and acted as he did, and thus to have experienced a change of their mental nature; ao as to become " by nature, children of wrath." From the apostacy of our first parents resulted immediately the most unhappy effects in relation to themselves. The Lord is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He will not be contemned, nor mocked, with impunity. When some of the angels sinned, he thrust them from his presence ami confined them in chains, under darkness, against the judgment of the great day. God is a holy God, and this is his honour among all celestial beings. Shall he then in favour of man, suffer his character to be abused, and Lis government subverted? " He scrupled not to eat, "Against his better knowledge; not deceived, 'But fondly overcome with female charm. NOTES, 303 "Earth trembled from her entrails, as again u In pangs: and Nature gave a second groan; " Sky lour'd, and muttering thunder some sad drops "Wept, at completing of the mortal sin " Original." No sooner had the first pair become sinners, than God began to inflict the punishment which they merited. He withdrew his kind and gracious presence, so that he was no longer in their hearts the God of love. No longer would he hold friendly com- munion with them, and afford them heavenly knowledge. From the moment of the fall he began to treat them as a Father, angry with his children. He caused their consciences to accuse them, and filled their minds with the painful emotions of fear and shame. Immediately upon eating the forbidden fruit, by which they contemned the first external ordinance of religion, our guilty progenitors died a spiritual death. They were separated from God; the divine life in them ceased, and they were de- prived of the true knowledge, and love of God. They died also in a legal sense, for they were no longer alive to the blessings of perfect Obedience. They came under sentence of condemna- tion, and their well founded hopes of eternal life by the law were all extinguished. Indeed, all possibility of life by the law was now at end for ever; and any other way of life was unknown, till God revealed it. As a further testimony of his displeasure, God caused their bodies to become the abode of diseases and pain: so that they began to die, in the most literal sense. They were made mortal from the first moment of transgression; and the ground, the irrational creatures, and even the material hea- vens were cursed on account of rebel man. Now the earth began to produce thorns, briers, and vegetable poisons: the animals, harmless before, began to prey upon one another, and thunders, storms, and tempests occupied the atmosphere. All the disorders of the animal and material world are designed to afflict man, in testimony of Jehovah's displeasure against all sin. But alas! the effects of the apostacy were not confined to our ancestors and the inferior works of God. One sin ruined the world. We feel its effects; we groan under its curse: for The apostacy of Adam has introduced sin into all the genera- tions and individuals of his posterity. By one man sin entered into the -world of mankind; and death by sin,' and so death passed upon all men; for that all have sinned. All men might have become sin- ners, as our first parents did, by a personal fall, and would have done so, had they all been created in a state of innocence, and had they entered on a state of probation, under the same liabi- lity to temptation. But they become sinners in a different way, and without ever having personally known a state of innocence and probation. From the moment of the general apostasy, God concluded* the whole human family in unbelief: or he shut up all, * Kom. xi. 32. 304 NOTES. as rebels who need to be pardoned; and who, if saved at all, must be saved by grace. That all men are made sinners through Adam, need not be proved, since the Holy Spirit testifies in the plainest, and most positive language, that " by one man's dis- obedience many were made sinners," that " by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation," and in an- other place,* that "in Adam all die;" but it is requisite that the fact should be explained, and the doctrine defended against the objections of unbelievers. In explanation we allege, 1. That the Creator has established such an order among all his productive creatures, that the offspring resembles the pa- rent. This we find to be a law in the vegetable and animal king- doms. Poisonous seeds produce poisonous trees and fruits, in- stead of esculent roots. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Each kind of grain bears the same, so that you do. not expect tares from wheat, nor wheat from tares. In like man- ner the fishes, birds, and quadrupeds, all that live in the earth, air, or sea, procreate an offspring like their parents; and of Adam after his fall, we read, that he "begat a son in his own likeness." It was according to the established course of God's government, and the nature of things, that Adam's children should be neither saints, nor angels, nor devils, but men in a de- graded condition, men who enter at birth into a state of sin and misery. If any one complains of this as unjust, he might with as much propriety blame his Maker, for not causing the lioness to bring forth a lamb. It is notorious that God has established a con- nexion between all kinds of parents and their posterity; and if any one is wiser or more just than the great God, let him call his Maker into judgment; and ascertain whose counsel shall stand. «« Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.f What is man that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?* That which is born of the flesh is flesh. "§ That which proceeds from degraded, de- praved human nature, possesses no higher character than that of its original. From the analogy which subsists between God's works, it mitfht have been expected, that if the first man fell into a state of sin and misery, all his children would have been born in that same fallen condition. Had Adam been produced in heaven, and afterwards sent to this world to reside, on account of sin. it would have been expected that all his children should have been born in this world and not in the celestial rt-gions. Hence, after he became earthly and sensual, his offspring be- came earthly and s< usual too. The fall of the whole human race, tlu ■■•( fore, with their progenitor, was according to the established course of nature. Wc allege, ♦ICor. xv. 22. fJobxiv.4. *Jobxv.l4. $ John hi. 6. NOTES. 305 2. That many of God's creatures suffer through the misconduct of others. We know this to be a fact, which frequently occurs under the providential government of God. It is not unrighteous in him to Buffer such results to take place; for there is no un- righteousness with God. Who does not know, that when the merciless man abuses his beast, the irrational creature of God experiences pain through the rational? This poor beast of burden is under the care of God, who is not insensible to the happiness even of the ravens and young liens; and yet he suffers, for the present, the injurious master to abuse one of Jehovah's sensitive charge. Under the same all-wise providence, if a wicked man should smite the good, or slander them, they might feel pain, which no man can prove that justice or goodness requires the Lord to prevent. Should an agent squander his employer's estate, or shoidd servants, or representatives prove unfaithful, the injured would suffer through the injurious. Should one, without any negligence or fault on his part, become connected with a partner who should prove worse than Job's wife, he would suffer; and should parents neglect their duty, their children might feel the miserable effects of their misconduct through life. Every body knows that under the government of the Supreme Being, the natural defects, and diseases of parents may be entailed on their posterity. But who for all this dare accuse his God of maladmi- nistration? If it is not unjust in God to have cursed the ground, and to have afflicted the brute creation for man's sake; if it is not unholy in Providence to suffer a man to injure his horse, or a parent his child, or a man his neighbour, who can prove that it is unjust in God to implicate the whole human race in Adam's transgression? We may dispute, but we had better be wise. What would our remonstrances effect? The fact that all men suf- fer, and all men die, is sufficient to prove that God imputed the sin of Adam to his whole race. He determined that on account of the sin of the progenitor of the human race, he would treat them all like sinners, that he would hold them all liable to pu- nishment, as a suitable indication of his hatred of every sin. The Lord imputes Adam's sin to all men, just as he imputes Christ's righte onsness to all believers. He neither believes nor affirms, that a renewed person has himself rendered that obedience to the Law which Christ rendered; but he determines to treat the renewed person as if Christ's actions and sufferings had been his own; endured and performed by himself. In like manner, the Lord neither believes nor affirms, that all of Adam's children per- formed the action which Adam did, except by him as their re- presentative; but he determined to treat them all as if they had actually apostatised. He does treat them in this manner; for they Were in him as all the branches of a tr<=e were in the root; and as all the grain which is ever to spring from a kernel of corn, may he said to be in that kernel, We proceed to allege, as au answer to all objections, 306 NOTES. 3. That since Adam apostatised, the imputation of his sin is favourable to mankind. The fall of man is a matter of deep la- mentation; for had Adam obeyed during all his state of probation, as the public head of the whole family) all would have been con- firmed in knowledge, righteousness and true holiness: and thus would have been saved through the righteousness of the first Adam. Since, however, Adam did not prove the occasion of our being entitled by covenant right to eternal life, the imputa- tion of his sin is so far from being prejudicial, that it is advan- tageous to us. That all may understand this proposition, let us suppose it were yet to be decided, whether the individuals of our race were to fall or not. It would then remain to be decided, concerning each one, whether a Saviour should be provided for him or not. This being uncertain, every man would need, after transgression, the provision of a Saviour in particular for himself, and a" revelation to acquaint him with that provision. Suppose that children; who were to stand or fall for themselves, had been exposed to such temptations as our first parents experienced, and, in addition, to the pernicious example of fallen Adam and Eve; is it not certain, that every child of Adam's race would have been more likely to apostatise than his progenitors Had we come into the world without the imputation of Adam's transgression, we should have been under the covenant of works, and then every man, with more disadvantages than the perfect first man, would have obtained eternal life only by sinless obedi- ence. Had he sinned he would have been for ever excluded from the hope of everlasting bliss, because the new covenant which offers salvation by grace, could not have existed, could not have been proposed upon any other supposition than this, that the whole world was guilty before God, and therefore in need of grace. It is only the imputation of Adam's sin to the whole world whch prepares the way for this introduction of the gospel of the new covenant to the whole world. If men existed here, in the same state in which Adam did before the fall, the Lord would say to them " be perfectly obedient and live." It would be improper that they should hear one word of a Saviour until they had fallen, for should they hear of a Saviour conditionally provided, their state of probation could not be a complete one, since they woidd know in innocence that sin was not without remedy; and then would they not have so many motives to perseverance in holi- ness as Adam, who knew nol before the fall, that there was any possibility of pardoning transgression. Since, then, no man, after Adam's offence, could have been certain of heav< n by his own perseverance for ever in the performance of duty, I repeat it, that the imputation of Adam's sin to all men isfa\ourable t<» them, because it introduced them a1 once to " a better covenant.*" The old covenant^ the wv\ ol salvation hv law, made nothing per- fect; no, not the first pair: but the bringing in oj a belter covtnaiit f NOTES. 807 winch secures to sinners salvation through Jesus Christ, did se- cure perfection to all who are included in it. The law could not save one, who h.;d the fairest opportunity, and the most reasona- ble probation; but the gospel will save a great company, which no man can number. Thanks be unto God, then, that he resolv- ed to treat us Amen who might be saved by believing on the all- sufficient Jesus, and not as beings ignorant of any way of eternal life but that of sinless perfection. Instead of requiring us to enter into a state of probation as Adam, the Lord graciously declares, that he will consider the probation of our father as the trial of all men; and will now freely bestow on them right- eousness through a Redeemer. He no longer says, -work for eternal life, but receive it, in my Son, who has merited it for you. The Lord's judgment is according to truth; and he judges that one transgression is such an accursed evil, that it ought to blast all the fair prospects of a race of men, if their natural head and representative is guilty of it. So great and glorious is our Lod, and so horrible all disobedience to him, that he displays his in- dignation against one transgression in relation to an external or- dinance of worship, by inflicting pain not only on men in general, but upon all the sensitive beings which belong to man's dominion. Because God gave the brutes for a possession to Adam, he was pleased to make them, with the earth, and air, manifrst the di- vine displeasure against rebellion. Yes, cursed is the very ground, because of sin. Thorns and thistles it must bring forth, until tlie restitution of all things. How great then should be our indignation against every thing which is displeasing to our Maker? What sorrow should we feel that any of our race should have merited the wrath of God! It is no thanks to us, that one of our sins does not ruin a world; for had the covenant of works been made witii us, as it was with Adam, this would have been the re- sult. No human being can foresee, or imagine, what mischief might spring from one case of iniquity, were not the justice and the grace of God to prevent it from taking its natural course. Well, then, may we repent and humble ourselves before the Lord; for if he should exec ute full vengence on each transgressor, who would not be damned? We cannot repent for Adam's sin, but we may hate it; and in like manner may hate every object which is offensive to God, and which separates us from the perfect enjoyment of him. Any thing in my body or soul which inclines, or tempts me, to per- form actual sin, is latent sin, is innate or acquired depravity of nature. Any thing in man's state, or condition, which seduces him from God is hateful; and is a testimony of the divine hatred of iniquity. Job repented of his own sinful a ctions; but of himself, yea, of himself considered as a polluted moral being, he said, " I abhor myself." Our " first father hath sinned; " wherefore the Lord hath " profaned the princes of the sanctuary;"* as a mani- Isa. xliii. 27 y 28. 303 NOTES. festalion of his displeasure: but in mercy he says, " I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake." Let us then come before the Lord, saying, " behold, tv e were shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive us We acknow- ledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us for thy name sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, break not thy covenant with us:" and thine shall be the glory for ever. END OF THE NOTES.