•" C)^ ;»'.i» 
 
 JON 37 !9m ') 
 
 BX 9178 .Al S67 1840 
 
 The Spruce Street lectures 
 
THE 
 
 ^ 
 
 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES: 
 
 BY SEVERAL CLERGYMEN. 
 
 DELIVERED DURING THE YEARS 1831-32. 
 
 TO WHJCU IS ADDED 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS, 
 
 y 
 
 BY SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 
 
 Pi-of. of Eccltsiastical History and Church Government in Theol. Sem. Princeton, N. J. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
 
 WILLIAM S. MARTIEN, PUBLISHING AGENT. 
 
 1840. 
 
THE ELDERS 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 To the Members of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 This course of Lectures was founded in prayer. 
 The design was to furnish the members and families of the 
 Presbyterian Chuj^ch, with a Manual containing interesting 
 and popular discussions of some of the most important 
 subjects, both doctrinal and ecclesiastical, taught in the 
 "Confession of Faith." 
 
 When doubts are entertained in regard to any point of 
 faith, taught by our holy religion and our venerable stand- 
 ards, it is important that the members of the Church 
 should be furnished with a calm and able defence of those 
 truths which are called in question. 
 
 The well known character of the gentlemen engaged in 
 this course, will be regarded as a sufficient recommenda- 
 tion of the volume. 
 
 Although the work is especially dedicated to the Elders 
 of the Presbyterian Church, yet it is commended to the 
 patronage of all its members. And that the Spirit of God 
 may attend this defence and inculcation of the truth 
 which He inspired, is the prayer of your brother in the 
 Gospel, 
 
 SAMUEL G. WINCHESTER, 
 
 Philadelphia, January, 1833. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page- 
 
 Preface, . . ^'^ . • v 
 
 Introduction. By Rev. Dr. Green, . . ix 
 
 Lecture I. — The Inability of Sinners considered. 
 
 By Rev. Dr. fisk, . . 9 
 
 Lecture II. — The Fall of Man^-and its effects. 
 
 By Rev. Dr. Uaneway, . 41 
 
 Lecture III. — The Use of the Means of Grace. 
 
 By Rev. Dr.^ow, . 69 
 
 Lecture IV. — On Church Discipline. By Rev. 
 
 Mr. M'Farlane, . .105 
 
 Lecture VI. — On the Nature of the Atonement. 
 
 By Rev. Professor Hodge, 143 
 
 Lecture VII. — On Ecclesiastical Polity. By Rev. 
 
 Dr. "Miller, . . 171 
 
 Lecture VIII. — On Regeneration. By Rev. Dr. 
 
 'Martin, . . .215 
 
 Lecture IX. — On Justification. By Rev. Dr. 
 
 "Neill, . . . 239 
 
 Lecture X. — On Christian Missions. By Rev. 
 
 John Breckinridge, . . 255 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 Lecturfe on Creeds and Confessions. By Rev. Dr. 
 
 Miller, . . . . . 299 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 10, line 7 from top, /or declation read declaration. 
 
 " 12, "14 " for divide read describe. 
 
 " 37, " 1 " for planned read placed. 
 
 " 74, " 5 " for And the read Another. 
 
 " 92, " 2 " strike out must. 
 
 " 173, " 5 " for sustain read restrain. 
 
 " 210, " 8 " for ask read act. 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 BY REV. ASHBEL GREEN, D. D. OF PHILADELPHIA 
 
 The framers of the Constitution of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States, introduced their Form of 
 Church Government by specifying certain ''preliminary 
 principles," or fundamental truths, as the basis on which 
 the whole superstructure had been erected, or by which, 
 as they express it, ''they were governed in the formation 
 of the plan. " In this statement of radical or elementary 
 principles, the fourth section is as follows: "That truth is 
 in order to goodness; and the great touchstone of truth, its 
 tendency to promote holiness; according to our Saviour's 
 rule, 'by their fruits ' ye shall know them.' And that no 
 opinion can be either more pernicious or more absurd, than 
 that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level, and 
 represents it of no consequence what a man's opinions are. 
 On the contrary, they are persuaded that there is an insepa- 
 rable connexion between faith and practice, truth and duty. 
 Otherwise it would be of no consequence either to discover 
 truth or to embrace it" 
 
 "The innocence of error," was a favourite dogma of in- 
 fidel writers and loose moralists, of the last age; and it was 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 against this, that the foregoing statement was intended to 
 he more immediately directed. But this mischievous sen- 
 timent was, it is believed, never so openly avowed and 
 formally defended, as in the present age; for it is only a 
 modification of the principle, while the essence is retained, 
 which we find now advocated by some of the most distin- 
 guished literary men of Europe, in the position ''that a 
 man is not responsible for his belief or opinions." To de- 
 monstrate the falsehood of this baleful doctrine, which goes 
 to the subversion of all moral obligation, and all religious 
 faith and practice, is now the task of the able and erudite 
 friends of revealed truth and Christian duty, both in the 
 old world and the new. 
 
 But many reject (it may be with honest abhorrence) 
 the error we contemplate, when broadly stated and viewed 
 in its extreme, who, nevertheless, tolerate it, and even plead 
 for it, in some of its degrees and modifications. What 
 but this is virtually advocated, when a strict and strenu- 
 ous adherence to sound doctrine and a jealous fear of its 
 violation, are made the subject of undisguised reproach, 
 or represented as the indication of a narrow and bigot- 
 ted mind; and when active exertions for the promotion 
 of visible religion are extolled, as marking not only great- 
 er liberality of mind, but more of genuine piety, than is to 
 be expected among those who are tenacious of an orthodox 
 creed? This we often hear; and does it not imply that 
 truth, or just principle, is not necessary to the best action ? 
 is not always /aiJowrai/e to it? or, maybe even lessfa- 
 
 ^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 vourable than principles received with little examination, 
 and partaking of a mixture of error? Now the very oppo- 
 site of this is held, and it is believed must be held, by all 
 who understand and honestly profess an attachment to the 
 standards of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 It is readily admitted that there may be a zealous contention 
 for abstract principles of truth, or for sound and orthodox doc- 
 trine, without activity in promoting the cause of God in the 
 world; yea, with the destitution of all vital and practical god- 
 liness. The truth may be held in unrighteousness. Let this, 
 whenever apparent, be unsparingly censured and pointedly 
 condemned. Let it be shown, as it easily may be shown, 
 that there is a glaring inconsistency between what they pro- 
 fess, and what they do, or what they refuse to do, in all who 
 maintain with ardour the truth as it is in Jesus, and yet vio- 
 late his precepts themselves, by withholding their best 
 energies for the extension of his cause and kingdom, and 
 the salvation of perishing sinners. But let it not be inti- 
 mated or implied, that there is any other safe and firm 
 basis for right action, than truth or sound doctrine; far less, 
 that without this, there may be a better practical system 
 than with it. If such, for a time, seem to be the fact in 
 any given instance — as it is conceded that it may — the result 
 will assuredly prove, that when the mixed system of truth 
 and error becomes fully developed, and is seen in its fruits, 
 effects and consequences, the want of strict adherence to 
 sound doctrine will be strikingly and lamentably apparent, 
 in practical evils of a very pernicious character. In a word, 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 let it be remembered, that as there is an icy orthodoxy, 
 so there is also a fanatical heat, and that both are to be 
 carefully avoided; that the truth is to be strenuously main- 
 tained, and to be fully carried out into practice; and that 
 that practice or course of action will be the most correct, 
 the most exemplary, and the most firm and efficient, which 
 rests for its foundation on the greatest measure of truth, held 
 in its greatest purity. So says, and truly says, our Consti- 
 tution, as already quoted, "Truth is in order to goodness — 
 there is an inseparable connexion between faith and prac- 
 tice, truth and duty; the great touchstone of truth is its 
 tendency to promote holiness." 
 
 The fact is too palpable to be denied, that in the Presby- 
 terian Church, at the present time, doctrines not in accord- 
 ance with our public standards, are freely promulgated, both 
 from the pulpit and the press; that it is a favourite topic 
 with many of the advocates and propagators of these doc- 
 trines, to represent them as better adapted to the awakening 
 of careless sinners, producing revivals of religion, and mul- 
 tiplying converts, than those contained in our Confession of 
 Faith and Catechisms — understood as these formularies cer- 
 tainly were understood, by those who formed them, and as 
 they are still held and taught, by those who adhere to them in 
 their genuine import. Those who think that they ought to 
 disregard or violate our doctrinal creed, do not act consistently 
 in retaining their connexion with a Church whose standards 
 they consider as impeding and restraining the best and most 
 efficient action for the good of mankind, and the glory of the 
 
INTRODUCTION, xiii 
 
 Redeemer: and while they remain, it is reasonable to think 
 that they will embrace any favourable opportunity to effect 
 such changes in the doctrinal system of the Presbyterian 
 Church, as shall render it more in conformity with their own 
 opinions — unless, indeed, the example of Geneva shall be 
 preferred and followed, where the doctrinal standards, framed 
 under the auspices of Calvin and Beza, have remained un- 
 touched, while all the leading doctrines they embrace are 
 renounced and ridiculed, and their adherents reviled and 
 persecuted. 
 
 Believing that the doctrines of the Confession of Faith and 
 Catechisms of the Presbyterian Church, are those of the reve- 
 lation of God, most accurately systematized and correctly 
 stated; and consequently that they must be more favourable 
 than any other to the advancement of genuine Christianity, 
 and the eternal salvation of the souls of men; believing also 
 that they admit of a fair and effectual defence, on the princi- 
 ples of sound reason and philosophy, as well as of sacred 
 Scripture; and believing, in fine, that such a defence was 
 loudly called for, when these doctrines were impugned, muti- 
 lated, disparaged, or disfigured, even by writers and speakers 
 who had adopted them solemnly and formally — those who 
 planned the Spruce Street Lectures, determined to solicit 
 from some of their brethren, whose talents and opinions were 
 known to qualify them eminently for such a service, the 
 discussion of certain leading and fundamental points of our 
 doctrinal standards, in a series of Lectures, of which each 
 speaker should deliver one. It is greatly regretted that the 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 series is less complete than it would have been, if several 
 of the brethren to whom application was made, and all of 
 whom approved the plan proposed, had not found it incom- 
 patible with their health, or with previous engagements, to 
 contribute their aid. 
 
 But notwithstanding every deficiency, there are still so 
 many cardinal points of doctrinal and practical theology 
 discussed in this volume, and in a manner so clear and im- 
 pressive, that it is confidently believed that every candid 
 and attentive reader will receive sensible benefit from its 
 perusal — the well informed, by the revival in their minds of 
 a distinct view of truths which have long been most precious 
 in their estimation; and those who need instruction and 
 the removal of doubts and difficulties, by finding the infor- 
 mation, explanations and illustrations, which their circum- 
 stances require. 
 
 The method of communicating instruction and defend- 
 ing truth, by courses of lectures professedly prepared and 
 delivered for the purpose, is well known not to be novel. 
 In the country from which we derive our origin, lectures of 
 this character have long been in use; and in our own coun- 
 try there have been a few instances, in which something of 
 the same kind has heretofore been attempted. That 
 they will hereafter be frequent, is not improbable; as this 
 mode of conveying to the public the opinions and rea- 
 sonings of men of learning, piety and talents, is recom- 
 mended by many considerations. The preparation of a 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 single discourse is not onerous; and when but one is de- 
 manded, and its occasion and connexion are considered, it is 
 not likely to be a hasty or careless production; and the 
 concentration of the talents of able men, each discussing 
 an important point in a single lecture, may be expected to 
 prepare for the public volumes of much value. The Lime 
 Street and Bury Street Lectures, contain some of the most 
 able, useful, and pious disquisitions of the English dissent- 
 ing divines. The Spruce Street Lectures accord entirely in 
 doctrine and spirit with those admirable discourses; and 
 without claiming to equal them, it is humbly hoped that the 
 same blessing from the Spirit of grace and truth, which is 
 known to have attended the former, may also be vouchsafed 
 lo the latter. 
 
PRIHCETOIT 
 
 y I 
 
 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 2d November, 1831, hy the 
 Rev. Ezra Fisk, D.D. of Goshen, N. Y. 
 
 THE INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 
 
 " No man can come unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, 
 draw him." — John vi. 44. 
 
 It has pleased God to reveal, not only his existence but 
 his personality, in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In the 
 glorious economy of redemption, the Father sends the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the 
 Son. The agency of the Holy Spirit is ascribed to both, 
 sometimes to one person and sometimes to the other. 
 When Christ said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
 draw all men unto me," he ascribed the influence of the 
 Spirit to the Son: in my text, he tells us, the Father draws 
 by the same agency. 
 
 On this fundamental doctrine of the Holy Spirit's official 
 influence, executing the commission of the Father and the 
 Son, rests the propriety of ascribing his agency to either 
 or both. The recognition of this doctrine seemed necessary, 
 to understand definitely the meaning of the exception in 
 2 
 
10 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 my text. I consider it as referring to the agency of the 
 Holy Ghost, in bringing men to Christ. With this influ- 
 ence, men can come and do come to him ; without it, they 
 do not and cannot come. This is the plain and only mean- 
 ing of the passage. With the agency intended in the ex- 
 ception, men are capable of doing all that God requires of 
 them. Leave out the exception, and modify the decla- 
 tion so as to include the agency, it would read thus, "every 
 man can come unto me, if the Father, who hath sent me, 
 draw him." This is a precious and encouraging truth to 
 all who preach the gospel of Christ. The whole economy 
 of grace illustrates this great fact; all Christian experience 
 proves it; and the great day will reveal its glory in the 
 redeemed millions, brought home to Christ in heaven. But 
 leaving out this agency, the whole is reversed — man is only 
 taught his helplessness and made to feel his misery. The 
 declaration in our text, as it fell from the lips of Jesus 
 Christ, expresses an important fact, which should be well 
 understood. 
 
 Before I proceed to consider the inability asserted, 
 which is the principal object of this discussion, there is an 
 important inquiry to be answered: — What is coming to 
 Christ? 
 
 I answer the question, and discuss the assertion. 
 
 I. The question is of great importance, and the illustra- 
 tion of its answer might profitably occupy the whole of this 
 hour. But it admits of a brief solution, which is all that is 
 necessary for my present discussion. 
 
 Coming to Christ, in these days, is altogether a mental 
 process. In the days of our Saviour's pilgrimage in the flesh, 
 some might have understood it otherwise. When he tra- 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. H 
 
 versed the regions of Palestine, the people flocked to the 
 places of his instruction, and, doubtless, many thought of 
 nothing else. On the mountain, in the plain, by the sea 
 side, and in the wilderness, he stood before them in tangi- 
 ble human form. Their eyes saw him, and looked on his 
 miracles; their ears heard the gracious words as they pro- 
 ceeded from his lips. But since his bodily presence is 
 withdrawn and enthroned in glory, he is to be approached 
 by us only in mind. Mind alone can now penetrate the 
 heavens, and contemplate the Saviour where the beloved 
 and exiled disciple saw him, exalted in purity and splen- 
 dour, with the rainbow of Jehovah's merciful covenant 
 reflecting his delightful radiance. 
 
 We recognize, it is true, the grand and glorious principle 
 of his spiritual divine existence, one attribute of which is 
 his omnipresence : and we know, that in reference to this 
 attribute, "he is not far from every one of us." But we 
 speak of a moral approach to Christ, as the Redeemer and 
 Saviour. 
 
 A brief sketch of this mental process may be comprised 
 in spiritual apprehension, gracious feeling, and holy 
 action. Nothing is more certain than the fact, that the 
 pure, spiritual, holy and gracious character of Jesus Christ, 
 as the only and all-sufficient Saviour, is not apprehended at 
 all, or misapprehended, by men who are "far from him." 
 Coming to Christ, must include some apprehension of his 
 character as found in the gospel, of his divine existence and 
 glory, of his holiness and compassion, of his grace and love- 
 liness, and of his suitedness to the case of lost sinners. In 
 this spiritual apprehension is included faith in his offices of 
 prophet, priest and king, in his atoning sacrifice and inter- 
 cession ; at least, so much of faith is included as belongs 
 
12 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 to the exercise of intellect. I am aware that something; 
 more than a mere apprehension of character, or accrediting 
 a matter of testimony, is included in that faith which the 
 gospel demands. There is a reliance upon the merits of 
 the Redeemer's sacrifice, an affection of the soul, resting on 
 the loveliness which is spiritually apprehended ; but in 
 the intellectual exercise there is a spiritual discernment, 
 which the unbeliever has not, and which fallen spirits, who 
 tremble before the majesty of the Son of God, never pos- 
 sess. It is a discernment of the excellence, glory and 
 loveliness of Christ, and an appropriation of his rich and 
 gracious promises to the soul. There may be degrees of 
 clearness and strength in this spiritual apprehension, but 
 , pC the characteristics are essential. They dijydejts nature, by 
 which, rather than the degree, the estimation is to be made. 
 Gracious affection is an essential part of the mental 
 process, in coming to Christ. Penitence, humility, grati- 
 tude, love, and faith, are connected with that spiritual appre- 
 hension just named. These are feelings of the heart, with- 
 out which there can be no Christian grace. Sorrow for sin, 
 hatred of its intrinsic loathsomeness and opposition to God, 
 humility under a sense of unworthiness, and forsaking the 
 servitude of Satan, are indispensable, in a sinner's approach 
 to Christ. Gratitude for such a Saviour and such a privilege, 
 must be called into exercise in this transaction. But love 
 to Christ is the most direct and important exercise in the 
 process. It is love by which faith works; in fact, it is 
 an essential part of that faith which relies on the great 
 atoning sacrifice, and unites the soul to Jesus Christ. 
 
 By holy action, I mean, not only a living exercise of 
 gracious affections, but a subjection of the will to the obe- 
 dience of Christ. I mean directing all the faculties of the 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 13 
 
 mind in the service of him "who gave himself for us, and 
 called us with an holy calling:" I speak now of mental, not 
 external action, profession, or observance of religious duties. 
 These all have their importance in their proper place, but 
 they are the result of coming to Christ, and necessary evi- 
 dences of the fact. The man who spiritually apprehends, 
 trusts, and loves Christ, comes to him, and none others 
 come. All this is often expressed in the gospel by a single 
 comprehensive term, faith, love. Sometimes faith ex- 
 presses the whole transaction; it <'is the substance of things 
 hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Sometimes 
 love is used in the same comprehensive sense — "love is 
 the fulfilling of the law." The reasons why these graces 
 are used for the whole process, are very obvious, because 
 faith and love are so prominent and vital in the transaction; 
 and because either of these graces implies the whole. It 
 may, perhaps, be asked, whether the "coming to Christ," 
 mentioned in the text, intend union to him, or merely an 
 approach, to ask some blessing ? To this, I answer, the 
 former, beyond peradventure. It is coming to him for sal- 
 vation — into covenant union with him, perpetual in its glo- 
 rious results. But while the text is thus interpreted, the 
 exercise of these graces should be cultivated in all ap- 
 proaches to Jesus Christ. 
 
 II. The assertion of the text, that without the agency of 
 the Holy Spirit no man can come to Christ, demands care- 
 ful attention. Taking the obvious scriptural interpretation 
 of this coming, and its form may be thus stated: without the 
 Spirit's agency, no man can love Christ, or believe on him. 
 
 I am aware that this doctrine is denied, and the whole 
 agency of the Holy Ghost rejected. His divine existence is 
 
14 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 also denied, and the doctrine is propagated that man needs 
 no aid to his reason, except what instruction he gains from 
 nature and some moral maxims found in what we call reve- 
 lation, to love God and fulfil all the obligations of his being. 
 But this doctrine I need not refute. It necessarily includes 
 a denial of God's plain declarations, and sets aside the whole 
 gospel of Christ. Few in this land, it is to be hoped, have 
 the hardihood unequivocally to espouse an opinion so di- 
 rectly in the face of divine revelation. 
 
 But there is much speculation on the inability intended 
 in this declaration of Jesus Christj and there is certainly 
 great importance attached to the inquiry into its meaning. 
 The importance, however, arises not so much from any 
 inherent difficulty in the investigation, or any liability of an 
 honest mind to err, in the interpretation of the text, or in its 
 practical application, but from the multiplied speculations 
 and bad philosophy of the age. It is undeniably true that 
 no man ever did come to Christ without the agency of the 
 Holy Spirit; no believer of the gospel can suppose that any 
 man ever will come without it ; and the Saviour asserted 
 that none can come, except by this agency. What more 
 is necessary then, to admit that the inability is entire, a 
 complete preventive? 
 
 Apart from the meddlesome philosophy which has in- 
 truded its blindness to obscure the light, I perceive only 
 one reason for pursuing the inquiry another step. That is, 
 to show the consistency of this announcement with God's 
 commands, which bind us to love him and believe on Christ. 
 On this subject, the facts, as stated in the Scriptures, are 
 entirely satisfactory to my mind. There can be no doubt 
 that God's commands are peremptory and binding on all 
 individuals of the human family, to whom the word of his 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 15 
 
 revelation is sent. Nor can there be any doubt that men 
 are unable to come without the agency of the Holy Ghost. 
 Here are two facts, revealed with equal plainness, and each 
 positively asserted. Are they consistent with each other? 
 This is the question. If they are not, there is inconsistency 
 and inequality with God, because he has asserted both, and 
 applied them to the same persons. We come, therefore, to 
 this examination, with the assurance of their entire con- 
 sistency in fact; and if we cannot perceive it, we may be 
 certain the defect is in us, and not in the divine administra- 
 tion. It is a case in which we are not at liberty to hold to 
 one and reject the other. Both are facts, and must be 
 consistent. 
 
 Whether such commands would have been given to us if 
 there had been no mission of the Holy Spirit, perhaps we 
 are not competent to say; but we know that they are not 
 given without it. I speak not now of the providential 
 agency which God exercises over and in his creatures, but 
 of that mission of the Spirit whose object is, by an unseen 
 influence, to "reprove the world of sin, and of righteous- 
 ness, and of judgment," to take of the things of Christ, 
 and show them unto his people. This influence constitutes 
 an essential part of God's administration, and he is ever 
 ready to "give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." 
 
 The character and efiect of this inability to come to 
 Christ, is a proper subject of inquiry, and should, in these 
 days, be well understood. The subject embraces much, 
 and can only receive a brief examination at this time. 
 Here let me say, that the circumstances under which I 
 address you, and the occasion, together with the false phi- 
 losophy so often mingled in the discussion of this subject, 
 must be my apology for detaining you with a philosophical 
 
16 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 investigation. Some apology seems necessary, for I have 
 not forgotten the Apostle Paul's caution to "avoid opposi- 
 tions of science falsely so called." But since this subject 
 has been so involved, I may be permitted to recollect ano- 
 ther caution by the same Apostle: "beware, lest any man 
 spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit." I hope to 
 regard these cautions, and show how philosophy has obscur- 
 ed this subject. 
 
 The terms which indicate power, are used more vaguely 
 and more variously than almost any others in the English 
 language. The reason is obvious. We know not what is 
 power. No man has ever defined it. We know how we 
 get the idea, but the thing itself is beyond our cognizance. 
 We perceive the relation between cause and effect, and call 
 that power which constitutes this relation. What it is, we 
 do not know, and it is useless to attempt its definition. But 
 if we take that relation which suggests the idea of power, in 
 the place of its definition, we shall not err in any of its 
 important applications or uses. The relation between voli- 
 tion and the effect which follows, may be used for a defini- 
 tion of man's power. Yet the will is not power, nor is 
 volition ability, nor is the effect power, nor is it true that 
 the connexion is ability; but that on which the connexion 
 rests is precisely what we call power. Nothing else can 
 be properly so called, which belongs to man. Now if we 
 substitute this connexion for that which constitutes it, I 
 can see no error in any of its applications in argument or 
 illustration. 
 
 Perhaps some may be disposed to ask here, why I would 
 substitute any definition for ability, which, in itself, is unde- 
 finable? I answer, because it is desirable to divest it of the 
 perplexity and vagueness to which usage and speculation 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 17 
 
 have subjected the term. This is reason sufficient. To 
 illustrate my meaning, take the case before us, coming to 
 Christ. Is there a connexion between volition and spi- 
 ritual discernment — between volition and love — or be- 
 tween volition and the appropriate holy exercise of all the 
 mind's faculties? If there be such a connexion as between 
 cause and effect, a dependence of this discernment and love 
 on volition, then, certainly, men have the power of coming 
 to Christ, without the agency of the Holy Ghost; and there 
 is no addition of ability in the conferring of divine grace. 
 If there be no such connexion, men have not the power. 
 But here it will be said by some, that this description of 
 ability is of that which is physical or natural. Be it so; it is 
 asserted by many that men have natural power, but lack moral 
 ability, to obey the command — "come to Christ." What 
 is moral ability? Is it not that which connects moral 
 effects with volition? Is volition a moral act? — whether it 
 is so or not, love to God is a moral act. And if the latter 
 be the effect of the former, that which so connects them is 
 moral power. Call it physical, natural, or moral — let it be 
 remembered — it is all the same; that which connects the 
 event with volition, is ability, and nothing else can be pro- 
 perly so called. I know there are other notions of power, 
 which will presently be examined; but let not this view 
 be yet forgotten. Now, if men have this ability of any 
 kind — I care not what it may be called — without the draw- 
 ing of the Father, to come to Christ, or to love God, it must 
 have been ascertained by the fact having, at some time, taken 
 place. No other evidence can be admissible, in opposition 
 to the positive declarations of Jesus Christ. Show me 
 such a fact, and I will admit the ability in that case. But 
 such a fact has never occurred, and is utterly impossible. 
 3 
 
18 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 If Christ had said, it is impossible for any man to come 
 unto me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him, 
 it would not have varied the meaning of the text. What, 
 then, becomes of the distinction between natural and 
 moral ability and inability? It is set aside as useless, so 
 far as its application to this case Is concerned. 
 
 Ability always indicates a connexion between cause and 
 effect; and if I have not greatly mistaken the meaning of 
 those who contend for man's natural ability to love God, they 
 consider it as something which is connected with volition, 
 or that belongs to the will . They represent the whole process 
 of coming to Christ as depending on a man's choice ; and 
 this is because men have natural power to come, if they 
 choose. — Whenever they choose to exert that power, they 
 come. All that is necessary, therefore, is, that they should 
 be induced to choose to love God, and then they will 
 actually love him. Now if all this were true, it would 
 indeed be a fact, that men have natural power to love God. 
 But is it so? Let us examine the case. The volition does 
 not govern the understanding. It does not depend upon a 
 man's will whether he discern spiritual things, or whether 
 his intellect possess spiritual illumination. I think the 
 mere statement of this fact, is sufficient. "The natural 
 man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they 
 are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, be- 
 cause they are spiritually discerned." 
 
 The volition moreover does not govern the heart. It does 
 not depend upon a man's will, whether he love God or hate 
 him; "because the carnal mind is enmity against God; 
 for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
 be." The truth is, by an irreversible law of mental ope- 
 rations, the will is governed by the affections, and they 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 19 
 
 must be changed, before there can be any love to God. If it 
 were so that the affections followed and depended on voli- 
 tion, every sinner, alarmed at the prospect of the everlast- 
 ing wrath which awaits him, and accrediting the fact that 
 love to Christ would deliver him from going down to the pit, 
 would certainly love him. On this supposition, there could be 
 no danger of self-deception; no need of so much anxiety 
 among Christians to know their state; no need of a warfare 
 with the lusts of the flesh; no danger of being brought into 
 captivity to the law of sin which is in their members. It 
 cannot be true, that the will governs the affections. I can 
 just as easily conceive that a man's volitions may govern 
 his appetite for food, as his taste for moral truth. A sick 
 man might as well transform, by the influence of volition, 
 his aversion to a medicine which he chooses to take, as the 
 sinner change, by the same influence, his aversion to holi- 
 ness: — both are impossible. If natural ability, therefore, be 
 indicated by a connexion between volition, or will, as the 
 cause, and loving God as the effect, men have not natural 
 power to love God. 
 
 But some use the phrase natural ability, to indicate 
 merely the possession of faculties, which, rightly employed, 
 do love God, and perform Christian duty. That men have 
 faculties which constitute them free, moral, and responsi- 
 ble agents, is true, and of great importance to be recollected. 
 As I am not disposed to contend for words, I will examine 
 this meaning of ability. The understanding perceives; it 
 is proper, therefore, in this sense, to say, that it, or man, 
 has ability to perceive. But has it the ability of spiritual 
 discernment, without divine illumination? Certainly not. 
 The heart loves; in the same sense it is proper to say, the 
 heart has ability to love. But has it ability to love holi- 
 
20 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 ness? Nay, it is enmity against God, and cannot be sub- 
 ject to the law of God, which enjoins holy love. The will 
 chooses; it, therefore, has ability to choose. But here are 
 two questions to be answered — has the will ability to 
 choose independently ? — and can the choice control the 
 affections of the heart? 
 
 To the first question, I answer, that man's will has no 
 self-determihing power, but is always governed by the 
 pleasure of the heart; that is, by the prevailing affection. 
 This is a principle so well settled in mental philosophy, 
 that I consider it unnecessary, at tliis time, to investigate 
 the proof. 
 
 Although the will cannot act independently, it may 
 choose subordinately, and ultimately. The ultimate choice 
 always terminates on the object most agreeable to the heart. 
 A subordinate choice terminates on some object, not always 
 for its own sake, or because it is in itself agreeable, but for 
 the sake of something with which it is connected that is 
 agreeable. Now, I conceive that an awakened sinner may 
 have such a sense of his danger, and be so fully convinced 
 that away from the Saviour he must perish, that he may 
 really choose to" come to Christ for the sake of escaping 
 hell; not because he discerns any beauty in Christ, or has 
 any love to him. He may choose subordinately, as the 
 sick man chooses medicine, for the sake of his health. 
 This is not only conceivable, but is matter of frequent 
 occurrence. It is, obviously, the usual course with sinners, 
 when they begin to seek the Lord. You cannot convince 
 them that they do not choose to come to Christ; you may 
 convince them that their choice is of no avail while the 
 heart does not love him; but their own consciousness of 
 choice is paramount to all argument. Tell them that it 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 21 
 
 depends on their choice, and that if they chose to come, they 
 certainly would do it; they will say, as in such cases many 
 have said, it seems to us we do choose to come, but we know 
 that we have not come; and we suppose therefore we do not 
 choose it, because those who have a right to know tell us 
 it depends on our choice. Such is generally the case with 
 not a few, who are taught to believe that coming to Christ 
 depends on their own will. Man's own consciousness, in 
 such a case, is more likely to accord with fact, than are the 
 inferences from speculative theories. 
 
 If the will can thus choose subordinately, the second 
 question — can the choice control the affection? — is easily 
 answered in the negative. It is perfectly evident that the 
 highest affection is placed on the ultimate object, which, 
 ih the case just now mentioned, is safety from impending 
 wrath; coming to Christ is, therefore, chosen subordinately, 
 and has no tendency to change the affection. It should 
 here be observed, that the Spirit of God often convinces 
 men of their sin and danger, and the necessity of loving- 
 Christ, long before they do love him. _With these thoughts 
 distinctly before his mind, the awakened sinner tries the 
 process of subjecting his heart to his will, for days, or even 
 weeks, before he learns that he must despair of accomplish- 
 ing the object, and must rely on the Spirit's influence. The 
 more he tries to love God in this way, the more hard his 
 heart seems, and the farther he goes from the object which 
 he seeks. The truth must be realized, "it is not of him 
 that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 showeth mercy." 
 
 Let me here state, briefly, the doctrine of the will's 
 government and freedom, in accordance, as I conceive, with 
 the Scriptures and with fact. The will always obeys the 
 
22 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 pleasure of the heart, and in this consists both its govern- 
 ment and freedom. To present the whole operation in its 
 philosophical form, it is thus — the heart, or faculty which 
 feels, is the spring or source of action — the ultimate object 
 is the excitement to action — and pleasure is the motive 
 which the will always obeys. Thus, the choice of the will 
 is entirely governed by the pleasure of the heart; and this 
 is the highest kind of freedom conceivable. Can the will 
 be more free than to choose as is most agreeable? Can any 
 man desire any other liberty of will than to choose just as 
 he pleases? If he had liberty to choose what is disagreea- 
 ble, he never would use it. Such choosing could not be 
 freedom, except in cases already referred to, where disa- 
 greeable objects are chosen subordinately for the sake of 
 the ultimate, which is always agreeable. 
 
 We have heard of a dogma which teaches, that men may 
 choose to be damned for the glory of God, from which, 
 although it be most lovely in itself, they expect no enjoy- 
 ment, nor to see any loveliness. This, verily, looks like 
 another kind of freedom — choosing without any motive 
 except pain. But this figment of the last century is gene- 
 rally laid aside, and disowned by those who are willing to 
 bear the name of its author. It is well that so monstrous 
 an absurdity should die; and it would be still better, if the 
 two remaining absurdities, which constituted the peculiari- 
 ties of the system to which it belonged, were as generally 
 exploded. One of these dogmas I have occasion to examine 
 in a single aspect, viz. that all holiness and sin consist, 
 exclusively^ in free voluntary exercises. The other, 
 which is, God's efficiency in producing sin, although it 
 belongs to the same philosophical speculation, fulls not 
 immediately within the range of my subject. 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 23 
 
 Since, according to this dogma, all holiness and sin con- 
 sist exclusively in voluntary exercise, all the moral excel- 
 lence included in coming to Christ is volition only: and since 
 the will is not governed by any good or evil principle, it 
 is just as easy to choose right as wrong; men, therefore, 
 have as much power to love God as to hate him. It is 
 furthermore inferred, that regeneration is only a new and 
 right choice, which all men are naturally able to exercise. 
 This, I believe, is a fair representation of the doctrine. 
 Now, if this were true, I would think it a waste of time 
 and breath to pray for the Holy Spirit's influence to renew 
 and sanctify men. But is it true? I admit that volitions are 
 sinful; but I maintain that feelings are sinful, and that the 
 principle or propensity from which they proceed is also 
 sinful. "Out of the heart (not volition) proceed evil 
 thoughts." I am aware, however, that some use, though 
 inaccurately, voluntary exercises to include all the feelings 
 of the heart. On that principle, I ask, what feels — what 
 chooses — has it no character? I ask for the appositeness 
 of many of our Lord's parables, such as of the tree, leaven, 
 and mustard seed. What connects the exercises with the 
 man? What is punishable? But I cannot pursue the many 
 absurdities to which the principle leads. 
 
 The way is now prepared to examine the real character 
 of that inability which keeps the sinner away from Christ. 
 It is sin. It is not want of faculties, which are capable, 
 under the Holy Spirit's influence, of all that is implied in 
 coming to Christ, but without that influence, men cannot so 
 employ them. The inability is recognized in three aspects 
 — blindness of the understanding — hardness of the heart — ■ 
 and perversion of the will. These qualities are again 
 expressed, by ignorance, deadness, and obstinacy. Is it 
 
24 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 right to call this sin, moral inability? Or shall it be called 
 natural inability? The truth is, the whole use of this dis- 
 tinctive phraseology is out of place, and worse than useless, 
 in the explanation of this subject. Men are depraved in 
 the heart, that seat of the affection and source of action; and 
 this is evinced by blindness and perverseness. . However 
 we may describe this depravity, and whatever we may call 
 it, this is the only impediment in the way of sinners coming 
 to Christ. In order that any man should love God, repent 
 of sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or what includes 
 them all, come to Christ, his heart must be regenerated. 
 There must be a new propensity or preparation of heart to 
 love holiness and hate sin, and the understanding must be 
 enlightened to discern the spiritual excellence and loveli- 
 ness of Christ. The impenitent man has neither of these; and 
 without them, coming to Christ is impossible. Should it 
 here be said that the development and propensity is com- 
 ing to Christ, and that the inquiry respects the fact, whe- 
 ther he has or has not the ability for their production and 
 exercise; and what is the nature of that ability or inability — 
 I answer in several particulars. It is admitted on all hands, 
 that the impenitent sinner has not this discernment or pro- 
 pensity ;■ he cannot, therefore, develope what he has not. 
 That he has not power to enligliten his own understanding, 
 or to originate a propensity to love holiness, I have already 
 shown. As. to the character of tliat inability, I have 
 already said it consists in a jnnnciple of sin, affecting all 
 the mental faculties, and having its primary seat in the 
 heart. 
 
 Now, what the nature of that inability is which ren- 
 ders man incapable of regenerating his own heart — for the 
 whole inquiry may concentrate here — it matters very little 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 25 
 
 to define. Let us examine more carefully the philosophi- 
 cal definitions of the day. If we call \i physical, it is phi- 
 losophically true; but is an improper use of the term, 
 therefore calculated to mislead. Physical ability, though 
 ever so great, could not produce the moral change called 
 regeneration. If a sinner had ten times as much physical 
 power as a fallen angel, it would be just as impossible as it 
 is now for him to renew his heart. Physical power never 
 originates moral results in responsible agents. All their 
 physical ability is employed for physical purposes, except 
 as it is used instrumentally, by the governing principle of 
 the heart. The principle which moves and controls all 
 physical action, is to be the subject of change. It cannot 
 be changed by that which only acts under its direction and 
 control. Thus, the truth of the assertion is evident; but 
 such are the associations and uses of the term physical, that 
 it is improper to employ it here, and is calculated to mis- 
 lead. The more common and familiar uses of the phrase- 
 ology, connects it with volition and external action. Thus, 
 a man chooses to walk, and the effect follows; but his limbs 
 become palsied, and then he is physically unable to walk. 
 A child cannot perform the operations of a man. But 
 illustrations need not be multiplied; they are familiar to 
 all. Such want of power is evidently excusable; and from 
 this fixed and warrantable use of the phrase, if we say sin- 
 ners are physically unable to love God, it is liable to mis- 
 lead them to the inference that they are excusable. If 
 we call any thing else, except that which connects the 
 effect with volition, physical power, it makes confusion, 
 and obscures the subject to which it is applied. 
 
 If we call it natural inability, the terms are liable to a 
 similar abuse. It is nevertheless true, that man's inability 
 4 
 
26 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 is by nature, because it is his depravity which the Scrip- 
 tures represent to be natural to him. But if we use 
 natural^ in distinction from morale it means the same as 
 physical, and ought not to be employed in theological dis- 
 cussions of this kind. If, however, natural inability mean 
 a want of the requisite faculties to constitute man a respon- 
 sible agent, it is not true that men are naturally unable to 
 love God. They do possess all the requisite faculties; but 
 very few men have so disciplined their minds to technical 
 distinctions and theorising, as to carry along with the 
 terms and their use this meaning. It ought not, for these 
 reasons, to be used. In its technical and differently ex- 
 plained meanings, it is true, or it is false; but in its common 
 appropriate meaning and use, it is altogether inapplicable 
 to this case. 
 
 Now, if we say it is moral inability, the terms are quite 
 as objectionable as the former. If I understand the term 
 moral, it indicates something which is either holy or sin- 
 ful, right or wrong. The inquiry should, therefore, be 
 made in this place, what belongs to man of a moral nature, 
 and why is it moral? Any thing which belongs to man, 
 that is either sinful or holy, is moral, and nothing else, 
 whether it be faculty, principle, or conduct. I would say 
 the primary seat and source of all that is moral belonging 
 to man, is in his heart. What, then, is moral power to 
 love God? Several answers are given to this inquiry, 
 besides the one which I have before given. Take one 
 that some use, it is a heart prepared to love God and holi- 
 ness; sinners have not this. But take another meaning, 
 the possession of a faculty or faculties which are moral; and 
 sinners surely have moral power to love God. I am unable 
 to perceive why it is not just as proper to say that they 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 27 
 
 have mora], as natural ability, to change their hearts. It 
 is said, in one case, if men have not natural faculties or 
 power, they cannot be obliged to keep God's law — so it 
 may, with equal propriety, be said, if men have not a moral 
 faculty or power, they cannot be obliged to obey the moral 
 statute. But I am aware, that moral ability is often under- 
 stood to mean willingness; and great wisdom is affected in 
 using the distinctive terms in question. On this supposi- 
 tion, I ask, why that, which, in the estimation of those 
 who use the distinction, is considered the essence of obe- 
 dience, should be called power of any kind, and in any 
 sense? No good reason can be given. The truth seems to 
 me, that those men who use the distinction of natural and 
 moral in explaining the inability of sinners, are deceived, 
 by transferring an association which belongs to external 
 actions, and is true where it belongs, to mental affections, 
 where it is not true; a transfer which will, therefore, 
 always mislead. 
 
 It will now be asked, how can a sinner be blamed for 
 not loving God? The answer to this question, will lead to 
 a more definite view of the inability under discussion. Men 
 are to blame for nothing except sin, and for tiiat always. 
 Now, whether sin be in action or principle, in the temper of 
 the heart or in volition, it is the object of God's displeasure, 
 and for it men arc criminal. It is a specimen of the bad 
 philosophy which is becoming prevalent in this age, that no 
 being can act wrong unless he has ability to do right; and 
 none can act right, unless he has ability to do wrong; all this 
 is applied to mental operations as well as to external actions. 
 But is not God always right and good, although he cannot 
 err? Is not Satan sinful and blameable, although he cannot 
 love holiness? Certainly. But if this principle may not 
 
28 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 be applied to men, will not the guilt of the damned be 
 greatly diminished, the moment they are placed beyond the 
 impassable gulf? Are those of whom the prophet speaks, 
 less criminal than others, because their habits of sin are as 
 difficult to change as the Ethiopian's skin, and fixed as the 
 leopard's spot ? Are those comparatively innocent of 
 whom the Apostle declares, " it is impossible to renew 
 them again to repentance?" 
 
 The true account of the case is, the source of all human 
 agency and ability is sinful, and must be changed by divine 
 grace, or God will forever hate it, and punish men for its 
 character and agency. Is it asked, how man can be blamed 
 for sin, if he has not power to change that principle from 
 which all his criminal agency proceeds? If I understand 
 this question, it is precisely of the character of one pro- 
 posed to Paul, '< why doth he [God] yet find fault? for who 
 hath resisted his will?" Although connected with the 
 subject in a different aspect, it is the same inquiry. I 
 might give the Apostle's rebuke with great propriety, 
 "nay, but, man, who art thou that repliest against God?" 
 Here it would be proper to leave the inquiry, were it not 
 that modern philosophy laughs at all authority, though it 
 be divine, by which a question is settled without explana- 
 tion. Let it be remembered then, that it is not the province of 
 philosophy to explain how God's law reaches the heart and 
 binds, but every man's conscience can testify the fact, and 
 reproach him for his malice. If the question be, how man 
 became thus sinful? let those who ask it, read the history of 
 man's fall, in the third chapter of the book of Genesis, and 
 Paul's account of the covenant relation and imputation, in 
 his epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, for a solution of 
 this question; and there we leave the inquirers. 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 29 
 
 Take another method of solving the difficulty. God has 
 constituted his own perfections, which are holy, the stand- 
 ard of right and moral obligation. Every intelligent, free, 
 responsible agent, tried by this standard, and found opposed 
 to it, is an enemy of God. The rule shows him to be such, 
 no matter what his power. His power is not estimated by 
 this standard, but simply his moral character. Ability is 
 not the basis or measure of responsibility in this case, but 
 the faculties which constitute man a free, moral agent. I 
 repeat again, to prevent all mistake, that I am now speak- 
 ing of obligation to love God, not of external actions, 
 where physical or natural power is employed, and for 
 which a man is responsible, according to that which he 
 has, and not according to that he has not. Man does not 
 love God with his physical ability. He is responsible to 
 God for the exercise of all his faculties; if they are wrongly 
 employed, it proves the source of action is wrong; and the 
 more depraved is that source of human agency, the worse 
 is the character — the more criminal. 
 
 I recur now to the question, whether this doctrine is con- 
 sistent with God's commands — or, in more explicit terms, 
 has God a right to command men to love him, if they have 
 not the ability to obey? I answer yes, most undoubtedly. 
 Be it remembered that this refers not to external conduct, 
 where physical power is employed, and concerning which 
 it would not be true. A man who has no hand or foot 
 cannot be rightfully commanded to use them. An idiot 
 cannot be rightfully ordered to solve a mathematical pro- 
 blem, or an infant to calculate an eclipse. But what has all 
 such ability to do with loving God? I speak now of God's 
 command over the heart, and man's inability by nature 
 to turn the affections to God. Let me here repeat, that 
 
30 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 God does command men to love him, and at the same time 
 says they cannot love him. Moreover it is right; because 
 the only impediment in the way of their obedience is that 
 sinful principle, which God condemns, and for which he 
 will punish men. This fact and this reason of the righte- 
 ousness in the command, show the character of the inability 
 to be sin. Further we need not speculate. 
 
 The great question now recurs, what saith the Holy 
 Ghost? After all the speculations on this subject, to ex- 
 plain its philosophy, the simple and very plain language of 
 the Holy Scriptures is incomparably more satisfactory than 
 all that philosophy ever can teach. Love to God is a fruit 
 of the Spirit, so are all the Christian graces. "The fruit of 
 the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Salvation is all 
 of grace, in its plan, developement and completion, "not of 
 works — for we are his workmanship, created in Christ 
 Jesus unto good works." Regeneration is by the agency 
 of the Holy Spirit — "according to his mercy he saved us, 
 by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost — born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor 
 of the will of man, but of God — born from above — trans- 
 formed by renewing of the mind." Christians are thus 
 challenged — "who maketh thee to differ from another? 
 and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" Christ said 
 to his disciples, "without me ye can do nothing." Said 
 the Apostle, "not that we are sufficient of ourselves to 
 think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of 
 God." What language, plain or figurative, could more 
 explicitly declare man's inability without the Holy Spirit, 
 than the Scriptures use again and again? It is twice stated 
 in the chapter of my text — Elsewhere sinners are repre- 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 31 
 
 sented as "alienated from the life of God"— having a ''car- 
 nal mind,", which -'is enmity against God, for it is not 
 subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" — under 
 the power of Satan — and of sin — dead in trespasses and 
 sins — their hearts fully set in them to do evil." Man's 
 deliverance from this spiritual death and servitude to sin 
 and Satan, ''is not of him that willeth nor of him that 
 runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." But quotations 
 need not be further continued. Take all those very numer- 
 ous passages of Scripture which ascribe to the Holy Spirit, 
 as his fruits, the graces of piety — all those which ascribe 
 regeneration to the same agency — all those which represent 
 this change as a new creation — all those which represent 
 the character and state of fallen men as dead in sin, under 
 its dominion, lost, blind, enemies to God and helpless — all 
 those prophecies, in which the figures of dry bones, steril- 
 ity and the curse, are found — all those records of history, 
 which describe the progress of the gospel and the conver- 
 sion of men to God — and all those supplications, directions, 
 facts, and promises, which indicate a reliance on Christ and 
 the Holy Spirit for sanctification and salvation : then tell 
 me if there can remain a doubt of man's inability and 
 crime. 
 
 What now are the uses to be made of this doctrine ? 
 
 One very important use is to humble man before God. 
 If men are so sinful that they cannot deliver themselves, 
 either from its curse or from its dominion, they have reason 
 to be humble. They have reason to be humbled under a 
 sense of their sinfulness and their impotence. There are 
 few things of which men are more inclined to be proud than 
 of power. Children early discover a disposition to glory 
 in their strength, or their capacity to accomplish what they 
 
32 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 consider important. Men are naturally fond of power in 
 all its relations and influence, and are prone to become vain 
 in their imaginations, forgetting their sin and weakness 
 before God. But when once they are taught this doctrine 
 by the Holy Spirit, they are prostrated in the dust, and feel 
 themselves at the disposal of sovereign mercy. The pride 
 of man needs to be humbled for his own benefit ; and God 
 will have sinners humbled, that his own power may be 
 manifested in them. " Whoso exalteth himself shall • be 
 abased." 
 
 Another use of the doctrine is to convince men of sin. 
 So long as sinners perceive no danger, and feel confident in 
 their ability to turn themselves to God at any time, they 
 will not listen to the invitations of mercy, or care for the 
 representations of their danger. No sinner will be likely 
 to feel much anxiety for the salvation of his soul, while 
 he considers it as depending on his own choice or ability. 
 There is no truth, which the Holy Ghost more frequently 
 and efficiently uses, to convince men of their sin and dan- 
 ger, than their lost, helpless condition by nature. The 
 publican felt this when he cried, " God be merciful to me 
 a sinner. " So fully does the Spirit convince men of their 
 helplessness, when he draws them to Christ, that their cry 
 is, "Lord save, or we perish;" and ever after they live and 
 walk by faith, looking to Christ, in whom is their strength, 
 and depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance. 
 
 The Spirit often teaches sinners their danger before he 
 teaches them their helplessness ; they look more at the sin 
 of their conduct than the sin of their hearts. In such cases 
 they commence an effort to make themselves better. They 
 try expedient after expedient, confident that they can turn 
 themselves to God. But under the teaching of the Spirit 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 33 
 
 they learn that they make themselves worse instead of bet- 
 ter. Let a sinner perceive that he deserves endless misery 
 and is in imminent danger of his soul— if he has, or think he 
 has power, he will make exertion for his safety. But let 
 him perceive that he is ready to sink into everlasting perdi- 
 tion, and feel that his sin renders him helpless, an agony of 
 distress will fill his soul; and if Christ had not sent the Holy 
 Spirit, despair would drink up his own spirit. Then he 
 trusts in Christ, and is thus drawn by the blessed agency of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 But here it may possibly be asked, if this doctrine be not 
 calculated to discourage sinners from seeking the Lord ? I 
 suppose it is possible for cavillers to pervert the truth, and 
 even wrest it to their own destruction; but that it is calcu- 
 lated to discourage men from trusting in Christ and accept- 
 ing salvation, as it is freely offered to them, I cannot admit. 
 I know that some have said the doctrine is calculated to 
 lead men to sit down quietly and wait God's time to eave 
 them, alleging, that if he do not save them, the fault will 
 be in the Saviour, and not in themselves. This cavil never 
 came from a sinner, deeply anxious for his soul's salvation. 
 But if the objection were founded in fact, the influence 
 would not be to quiet the feelings. Suppose a case, which, 
 I think, may illustrate the influence of the sentiments in- 
 tended in the objection. Were it announced to us, that the 
 flames are encroaching upon this house, and that if we re- 
 main in it a few moments longer we must inevitably be 
 consumed, and that we are unable to get out of the house : 
 would we lie down and sleep ? No, every bosom would 
 be filled with wakeful agony. But to make the case some- 
 what parallel to the real situation of the sinner, we must 
 suppose two things more — that our sinfulness alone disables 
 5 
 
34 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 us from escaping, and that God is entreating us to accept 
 his efficient and certain relief. Then if we should perish 
 in the flame to night, would there not be crime as well as 
 helplessness in our case ? Would there not be a striking 
 analogy in the feeling, likely to be excited in such a case, 
 to the conviction of sinners taught of God ? To my mind 
 the analogy is easily traced. 
 
 It is again objected that this doctrine sets aside the use of 
 means with impenitent sinners. To this I reply, in un- 
 qualified terms, that exactly the reverse is true. If the 
 excellency of the power were of men, every thing would 
 be confused, uncertain, and discouragiog. But since it is 
 of God, and not of men, we may hope for success, relying 
 on his ability, which is<constant and efficient to connect the 
 means with the end. This is too plain to need further 
 illustration. 
 
 It is further objected, that it is inconsistent and useless 
 to e^chort sinners to repent or perform any Christian duty, 
 if this doctrine be true. I know it sounds very singular to 
 some ears to hear such addresses to sinners as "look ye 
 blind — hear, ye deaf — awake thou that sleepest and arise 
 from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." I doubt 
 not many think such exhortations useless. But so it is, 
 men are thus described and thus exhorted in the gospel of 
 Christ ; and who will undertake to say they are inconsis- 
 tent? God has ordered us in the gospel commission to 
 announce most distinctly the guilt, helplessness, and misery 
 of sinners; and at the same time to exhort, entreat, and 
 command them to repent. Our warrant is plain, and our 
 prospect of success, in these announcements, rests on the 
 mission of the Holy Spirit. When the voice of the Spirit 
 accompanies the exhortation, sinners hear and come to 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 35 
 
 Christ. I have already shown the consistency of the doc- 
 trine with God's commands, and this rests on the same 
 principle. But 1 must not longer dwell on this topic: let 
 me say once for all, the human heart and human ingenuity 
 have employed their utmost efforts to multiply and propa- 
 gate objections and cavils against this doctrine. Here let a 
 very strong fact be distinctly marked — one fixed and intel- 
 ligent look within, upon the character of the heart as dis- 
 closed by the light and teaching of the Holy Ghost, dis- 
 arms every objection, and prostrates the sinner in deep 
 self-abasement, and covers him with shame, crying, "wo is 
 me, for I am undone." No cavil or objection can stand 
 before a conscience enlightened by the Spirit of God. 
 
 A vei*y important use of this doctrine is to lead Chris- 
 tians and ministers of the gospel to cultivate a sense of 
 dependence on the special influence of the Holy Spirit, and 
 pray for his agency. No matter how great man's physical 
 power may be considered by others, Christians must feel 
 their entire dependence on the Spirit's blessed agency, 
 which alone can bring men to Christ, enlighten their minds 
 and sanctify them for his service and "glory. The more 
 sensible men are of their helplessness and real necessity, 
 the more they will pray for the grace of God. The doc- 
 trine tends to induce in Christians a more constant sense of 
 responsibility under the gospel administration, where the 
 Holy Ghost is sent to humble, enlighten, sanctify, and 
 guide them in the knowledge of his will, and discharge of 
 Christian duty. Dependence on the Spirit and responsi- 
 bility go together. The whole gospel urges upon us this 
 sense of dependence on the Holy Ghost. He takes of the 
 things of Christ, and shows them unto us ; and we cannot 
 be too thoroughly impressed with the importance of relying 
 
36 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 on this influence. Christians do not pray enough for this 
 blessed agency; and too often they attempt the perform- 
 ance of duty with little or no sense of their dependence. 
 This explains their frequent failure and the meagreness of 
 their graces. While Paul recognized, fully, the truth of 
 Christ's declaration, "without me ye can do nothing," his 
 humble and confident reliance on the influence of the Holy 
 Ghost, enabled him to say, "I can do all things through 
 Christ, who strengthens me." It is not a sense of inability, 
 which prevents Christians from growing in grace and ful- 
 filling their obligations, but leaning upon their own under- 
 standing, and relying on their own strength. 
 
 Under the influence of this sentiment of dependence, and 
 a view of the helpless condition of sinners, ministers of the 
 gospel will be more likely to rely on the Spirit's influence, 
 and pray for his agency to accompany their ministrations. 
 They will keep the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's agency 
 distinctly in their own and the view of others. It was a 
 judicious remark of a sensible elder in the Church, "if 
 ministers of the gospel would honour the Holy Ghost 
 more in their preaching, the Holy Ghost would honour 
 them." 
 
 One direct object of preaching the gospel is, to convince 
 men of sin — of their lost, disabled, perilous condition under 
 its influence — of the direct and certain consequence of sin, 
 everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and 
 from the glory of his power. Another important object is, 
 to convince or teach them of the righteousness, not only of 
 the law which condemns them, but of Christ, by which 
 alone they can be justified — to explain the scheme of salva- 
 tion by Christ, and the principles of the administration 
 
INABILITY OF SINNERS CONSIDERED. 37 
 
 under which they are plahQed. This is to be done, " not 
 in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the 
 Holy Ghost teaches." how necessary that ministers of 
 Christ should be deeply impressed with the sense of their 
 dependence on this heavenly instruction and influence! 
 They should go from their closet to the pulpit, to the 
 family, and every parochial service. They should carry 
 the case of sinners before the mercy seat, unite the convic- 
 tion and conversion of their souls to the intercession of 
 Jesus Christ, which alone can prevail, to send down the 
 answer of peace. 
 
 One important practical question must close this pro- 
 tracted discussion. I propose it to every individual in this 
 assembly. Is the agency of the Holy Spirit drawing you? 
 If you feel inclined to seek the Lord, be sure the Spirit 
 is striving with you. That some such inclinations are 
 awakened here, I doubt not. Be cautious that you resist 
 not the Holy Ghost. Recollect that you live under an 
 administration in which this is the last agency employed 
 for your salvation; resist this, and you must perish forever. 
 Recollect that you live in a time greatly distinguished for 
 the outpouring of this blessed influence. You take upon 
 yourselves a fearful responsibility, if you resist the gracious 
 influence. You may, for aught I know, have come very 
 near to that point, when it shall be said of you as of 
 Ephraim, "let him alone." How tremendous the pros- 
 pect! How urgently should this caution be pressed upon 
 your excited attention ! And ye careless ones, remember 
 that your carelessness costs you no small efibrts to resist 
 the Holy Spirit; and wo be to you, when you shall have 
 succeeded effectually in quenching the Spirit. 
 
 j^' 
 
38 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 Christian brethren! take heed that you grieve not the 
 Holy Spirit of promise. Cherish his influence; live under 
 his guidance; pray for his agency to convince and convert 
 perishing sinners. May the Lord hear, answer, forgive 
 bless, and save us all in Christ Jesus. Amen. 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 27th November, 1831, by the 
 Rev. Jacob J. Janeway, D. D. of New York. 
 
 THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 Rom. v. 12. 
 
 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
 sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." 
 
 The subject assigned for discussion this evening, is, 
 " the fall of man and its effects." The passage just read 
 will bring both parts of the subject distinctly to view. 
 
 The inspired writer's chief design in this epistle is, to 
 illustrate and establish that fundamental article of our holy- 
 religion, justification by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 The necessity of this free and gracious method of justifica- 
 tion, is founded on the sinful and guilty state of the human 
 race. Having proved all mankind, Jews as well as Gen- 
 tiles, to be in such a state, and under the curse of God's 
 violated law, the Apostle deduces from his premises, this 
 incontrovertible conclusion: ''Therefore, by the deeds of 
 the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by 
 6 
 
42 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the law is the knowledge of sin."* He then proceeds 
 immediately to exhibit the plan of infinite wisdom for 
 delivering us from our fallen and helpless condition ; show- 
 ing how believers are "justified freely" by divine "grace, 
 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;" or, in 
 other words, "how God imputeth righteousness without 
 works — to him that worketh not, but believeth on him 
 that justifieth the ungodly, "t 
 
 To remove the prejudices of the Jews, and to reconcile 
 them to the truth, he evinces that Abraham, their illus- 
 trious father, in whom they gloried, was justified, or made 
 righteous, in this way; that he was thus justified while 
 uncircumcised; that circumcision was designed for the 
 purpose, not of introducing a new method of justification, 
 but of confirming that by faith, and transmitting this inesti- 
 mable blessing to every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, 
 throught he operation of that gracious covenant, in which 
 Abraham was constituted father of the faithful, under 
 Christian as well as under the Jewish dispensation. J 
 
 Pursuing his design, the Apostle begins in the text the 
 parallel he runs between Christ and Adam; and by show- 
 ing that as all mankind fell, by the offence of their common 
 progenitor, into a state of sin, guilt, and condemnation, so 
 all who believe are restored, by the obedience of Christ, to 
 a state of righteousness, peace, and acceptance with God; 
 and then he establishes the adaptation of this gracious plan 
 to the case of all men; and, consequently, proves the Jews 
 to need its relief as really as the uncircumcised Gentiles. 
 
 The text contemplates the fall of the first man, and the 
 fall of his posterity. Both parts of our subject are included 
 
 » Rom. iii. 20. t Rom. iv. 5, 6. t Rom. iv. 9, 17. 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS 43 
 
 in its terms, and to both I invite your serious and unpreju- 
 diced attention. 
 
 I. The fall of the first man. 
 
 Adam, it is well known, was created in a holy and 
 happy state. As his body was brought into existence in a 
 mature condition, capable of performing all the operations 
 of a full grown man; so his soul was created in a corres- 
 ponding state of maturity, with all its noble faculties fully 
 developed, and fitted for all the diversified acts of intellect, 
 volition, and afiection. The knowledge he displayed of 
 the marriage relation, the facility with which he imposed 
 appropriate names on all the animals brought to him for the 
 purpose, and the intelligent intercourse he enjoyed with 
 his Creator, furnish clear proofs of his having been created 
 in a state of mental maturity. 
 
 Besides, we are distinctly informed by the sacred histo- 
 rian, that Adam was created "in the image of God, after 
 his likeness-,^'* and by an inspired Apostle, we are taught 
 that the image of God denotes especially knowledge, 
 righteousness, and true holiness.! "Lo, this only have I 
 found, that God made man (Adam) upright; but they have 
 sought out many inventions. J 
 
 That our first parent possessed as distinct a knowledge of 
 God, of himself, of his relations, and of his duties, as his 
 state of probation required, is clear. His heart was as pure 
 as his mind was enlightened. The volitions of his hoi}"- 
 will accorded entirely with the dictates of his perfect 
 judgment. He loved his Creator as fervently as duty 
 demanded; and he was fully inclined to render all the acts 
 
 * Gen. i, 26, 27. t Col. iii. 10. Eph. iv. 24. X Eccles. vii. 29. 
 
44 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of homage and obedience prescribed by the law. In a 
 word, he was entirely free from every moral defect, and 
 was what his Maker required him to be. 
 
 Created in this state of intelligence, purity, and holiness, 
 Adam was perfectly happy, enjoying not only the plea- 
 sures of that delightful garden in which he was placed, and 
 intercourse with that rational and unequalled female com- 
 panion whom the bounty of his Creator had given him; 
 but also, and chiefly, the smiles and communion of his 
 Maker. In his garden he walked, the admiration of 
 angels and the envy of devils, lord of this, and heir to a 
 better world. 
 
 With this highly gifted creature, the Most High conde- 
 scended to enter into a covenant, in which life was pro- 
 mised as the reward of obedience, and death threatened as 
 the penalty of disobedience. It is worthy of remark, that 
 in every age, God has regulated his dealings with men by 
 covenant engagements. He established a covenant with 
 Noah and his descendants; with Abraham and his seed; 
 with David and his ofispring; with Phineas and his chil- 
 drenj and ought any to be surprised, when it is affirmed 
 that God made a covenant with the parent of our race? In 
 the brief history given of him by Moses, we discern all 
 that belongs to a covenant; the parties, the stipulations, 
 the promise, the threatening, the seal, and the assent. 
 And when it is recollected, that a covenant was established 
 with Christ, the head of the new creation, the second 
 Adam, can it be doubted that a covenant was established 
 with him who was his type, the head of the old creation, 
 the first Adam? Reproving his ancient people, the Lord 
 says, by his prophet Hosea, "They, like men," {Adam 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 45 
 
 in the original) "they, like Jidam, have transgressed the 
 covenant."* 
 
 This covenant was not only just and equitable, but also 
 gracious. Adam was endowed with ample powers to 
 perform its condition, and thus secure the promised 
 reward. By the positive precept annexed to the moral 
 law, his obedience seems to have been so concentrated to 
 one point, that here alone danger of failing was to be appre- 
 hended; and had he duly guarded himself in this quarter, 
 he would probably have been safe in every other point. 
 Besides, his trial, which, without this covenant arrange- 
 ment, would have been indefinitely extended as to time, 
 was reduced to a very brief term, that would not probably 
 have lasted longer than the fruit he was forbidden to eat. 
 
 But this noble creature, adorned as he was with the 
 moral image of God, honoured with his smiles and com- 
 munion, and aspiring after a higher state of being, fell 
 from that holy and happy condition, in which he had been 
 placed by the munificence of his Creator. The circum- 
 stances of this most deplorable apostacy are briefly stated 
 by the inspired penman. Through the agency of Eve, 
 whom, when alone, he had previously and successfully 
 tempted, Satan, the great enemy both of God and man, 
 prevailed with our common parent to violate the covenant 
 made with him, by eating the forbidden fruit.t 
 
 How sin could gain admission into the minds of our first 
 parents, who had been created perfectly holy, or how it 
 gained an entrance into the holy minds of angels, and 
 converted them into fiends of darkness, I do not under- 
 take to explain. It is a deep, unfathomable mystery, 
 
 * Hosea, vi. 7. t Gen. iii. 1, 6. 
 
46 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 which God has not revealed. I content myself with stating 
 the fact, and the circumstances that are revealed. 
 
 Dreadful were the effects of the first man's apostacy. 
 Conviction of guilt made him sensible of his nakedness, 
 and filled him with shame. Conscious of ill-desert, that 
 voice, which was before music to his ear, and awakened in 
 his breast no emotions but those of delight, now inspired 
 him with terror, that prompted the vain attempt of hiding 
 himself from an omnipresent and omniscient Being, among 
 the trees of the garden. At the comnand of his Judge, 
 the culprit is compelled to appear. Convicted of having 
 violated the covenant, sentence is pronounced on him. 
 The ground is cursed with barrenness on his account. He 
 is doomed to labour and toil, and to eat his bread in the 
 sweat of his brow, and in sorrow of heart. Sentence of 
 death was passed on him: *'Dust thou art, and unto dust 
 shalt thou return." Deprived of that divine image in 
 which he was created, he became totally depraved, dead in 
 trespasses and sin, and alienated from the life of God; and 
 had it not been for the wonderful interposition of divine 
 grace in his favour, through the promised seed, the calami- 
 ties of his earthly life would have been succeeded by the 
 bitter pangs of eternal death. Our great progenitor, stained 
 most deeply as he was with the guilt of a ruined world, 
 was, we hope, selected to be the first triumph of that rich 
 grace, of which it is recorded, "That where sin abounded, 
 grace might much more abound." 
 
 II. Having contemplated the fall of the first manf 
 let us now contemplate the fall of his posterity. 
 
 The connexion between the apostacy of Adam and the 
 apostacy of his children, is a subject worthy of our serious 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 47 
 
 and devout investigation; a subject that has been frequently 
 discussed, and in their views of which Christian divines 
 differ widely. 
 
 Some boldly affirm, we have nothing to do with Adam's 
 first sin. It was his, not ours. We are not at all responsi- 
 ble for it. We did not eat the forbidden fruit; we had no 
 existence when our common father fell. The imputation 
 of his sin is a novel doctrine, a mere fable.* 
 
 *In the first number of tlie 2d vol. of " the Biblical Repertory and Theologi- 
 cal Review," edited at Princeton, N. J. p. 77, will be found a valuable paper, 
 entitled " The early History of Pelagianism." In that paper, the writer 
 traces up the belief of the imputation of Adain's sin to the days of Augustin, 
 who flourished in the fifth century, and shows that it was then regarded 
 as a doctrine that had always been commonly received in the Church. 
 
 That the Jews were familiar with the doctrine 0? imputed sin, is perfectly 
 manifest from the sacrificial system, in which it was daily held up to their 
 view, and especially on the great day of atonement. " And Aaron shall 
 lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all 
 the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all 
 their sin, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away 
 by a fit man into the wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all 
 THEIR iNiauiTiEs unto a land not inhabited." Lev. xvi. 21, 22. 
 
 In the conclusion of Edwards^ discourse on original sin, will be found a 
 number of extracts to show, that " there is a great deal of reason, from the 
 ancient Jewish writers, to suppose, that the doctrine of original sin had even 
 been allowed in the open profession of that people." In that taken from 2 Esd. 
 iii. 21, who wrote before the Saviour's birth, are contained these remarka- 
 ble words, which looks very like an acquaintance with the doctrine of impu- 
 tation : " O thou Adam, what hast thou done! For though it was thou that 
 sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee." Still more to 
 our point is the language of another ancient Jevnsh writer, who lived after 
 Christ's appearing : " It is no wonder that the sin of Adam and Eve is writ- 
 ten and sealed with the king's ring, and to be propagated to all following 
 generations; because on the day that Adam was created, all things were 
 finished, so that he stood forth the perfection and completion of the whole 
 
48 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 It is perfectly easy to make such assertions; but they 
 are reconcileable neither with the language of Moses, nor 
 with the language of those theologians who utter them. 
 How obvious is it to any one who attentively examines 
 the inspired history of the fall, that the Judge of all the 
 earth had, in passing sentence on the offending pair, respect 
 to all their descendants? That all mothers participate in 
 the peculiar sorrows of their mother Eve, is undeniable; 
 and alike incontestable is it, that all men are doomed to the 
 toil and sorrow to which Adam was sentenced. If we had 
 nothing to do with the first sin of Adam, why are we 
 included in the sentence pronounced on account of it? 
 Why was the entire constitution of nature changed for its 
 punishment? And why did the curse of barrenness de- 
 scend, not only on Eden, Adam's residence, but on the 
 whole earth? 
 
 Equally irreconcileable are these assertions with the 
 language used by those Christian divines who utter them, 
 when speaking on the subject. That "Adam was our 
 federal head and representative," and that he "was not on 
 trial for himself alone," is admitted by them. They also 
 teach " that by a divine constitution, all his descendants 
 were to have, in their natural state, the same character and 
 condition with their progenitor;" and that "the universality 
 and certainty of sin, therefore, are not the result of imita- 
 
 workmanship of the world; so that when he sinned, the whole world sinned; 
 whose sin we bear and suffer. But the matter is not thus with respect to 
 the sins of his posterity." How clear and decided this language ! 
 
 From this, we may learn how valuable are the recent discoveries in theo- 
 logical science. A doctrine that has been taught in the Christian Church 
 in every age, and in the Jewish Church before the advent of our blessed 
 Lord, has, in this age of discovery, been found out to be a novel doctrine 1 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 49 
 
 tion or accidental circumstances, but of a divine constitu- 
 tion." Who can reconcile such conflicting statements? 
 
 We have nothing to do with Adam's sin; and yet we 
 are, in consequence of it, born under a divine constitution 
 that renders the sinning of every one of his natural 
 descendants certain and inevitable! We are not at all 
 responsible for Adam's sin: and yet, on account of it, we 
 are delivered up to the certainty of sinning ! Is not this 
 a terrible punishment? If these opposite statements can be 
 reconciled, I confess it to be above my comprehension. 
 
 The fall of the first man, and the fall of his posterity, we 
 believe to be inseparably connected. To the scriptural 
 statement of your Shorter Catechism, we cordially sub- 
 scribe: *'The covenant being made with Jldam, not only 
 for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind descending 
 from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell 
 with him, in his first transgression." By this is not meant 
 that we, with our own hands, actually plucked the for- 
 bidden fruit from the tree, and eat it with our own mouths; 
 nor that we had, at the time of Adam's fall, a real existence 
 so as to be capable of personally sinning; nor that we 
 constituted with our first parent one natural person, so 
 that his sin was one actual and personal sin. Nothing of 
 this kind is intended. Our brethren know it, or ought to 
 know it. 
 
 But we mean, that as Adam was, by the supreme Lord 
 of heaven and earth, in that covenant he condescended to 
 make with him, appointed our federal head and represen- 
 tative, his act was, in this sense, regarded as our act; and 
 we are justly viewed as having sinned in him, our repre- 
 sentative, and as being rendered guilty in the sight of God, 
 by his first transgression. His sin is imputed to us, not on 
 7 
 
50 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the ground of our relation to Adam as our common father, 
 but on the ground of the relation we sustain to him as 
 our covenant representative. The former relation consti- 
 tuted indeed a proper foundation on which to establish the 
 latter relation; but it by no means follows, that we are 
 justly chargeable with the offence of Adam, because we are 
 his children; for then all his sins ought to be imputed to 
 us, contrary to the doctrine of Scripture, which plainly 
 teaches us, that we are held responsible for his first sin 
 alone. 
 
 The principle of imputation is interwoven with the 
 very texture of human affairs. Remove it, and the wheels 
 of civil government would cease to revolve, confusion 
 would prostrate the fair edifice of civil society. '^Qui 
 facit per alium, facit per se,"" is a Latin maxim familiar to 
 every student of law, which may be- rendered in English 
 thus: "he who does any thing by another person, is justly 
 considered as having done it himself." Who does not know 
 that the act of an attorney is the act of his principal; that 
 the act of an agent is the act of his employer; that the act 
 of a representative is the act of his constituents; and that 
 the act of an ambassador is the act of his government? In 
 this State, the people make all their own laws, not by a 
 personal attendance at the seat of goverment, but by 
 sending thither a few individuals chosen by them, and 
 invested with power to deliberate and act in their name. 
 
 Now, in all these cases, the principle of imputation is 
 applied, so that the personal acts of certain individuals are, 
 for particular purposes, and to a definite extent, reported 
 to be the acts of other individuals by whom they are not 
 personally done. 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 51 
 
 Precisely similar is our meaning, when we affirm that all 
 mankind sinned in Adam. We do not say they sinned 
 personally or actually, but virtually, federally, repre- 
 sentatively. Jehovah, who determined to try the whole 
 race of men in their first parent, and who, for this purpose, 
 was pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to appoint him their 
 federal head and representative to act for them, justly 
 imputes his first sin, by which the covenant was violated, 
 to them, as if it had been committed by them, holds them 
 responsible for it, and subjects them to its threatened pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 This is our meaning, this the doctrine of your Church, 
 and this is the doctrine of the Bible. But it is contested, 
 and must be proved. 
 
 My hearers, if it can be proved, from clear scriptural 
 testimonies, that all the natural descendants of Adam are 
 condemned on account of his first sin — that they are all 
 subject to its threatened penalty, and would have to endure 
 it, in its whole extent, were it not for the interposition of 
 divine grace — that infants are condemned and actually die 
 for this sin — that all men receive from Adam a depraved 
 nature — and that the inspired writer tells us, almost in so 
 many words, that all men sinned in Adam; if all these 
 arguments can be fairly made out, then, surely, the great 
 truth we wish to prove will be fully and firmly estab- 
 lished. 
 
 It will be seen that in this argument I do not address 
 infidels, who reject the authority of the Holy Scriptures. 
 The truth under consideration is matter of pure revelation, 
 and, of course, the arguments to prove it. must be drawn 
 from the Scriptures, -and they will have weight only with 
 those who are willing to submit their faith to the testimony 
 
52 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of God speaking in his word. Such I address; and, while 
 urging my proofs, I could wish my hearers had their 
 Bibles in their hands, and were looking carefully at the 
 latter part of the chapter containing my text. That por- 
 tion of divine revelation will, in connexion with a few 
 other passages elsewhere recorded, furnish ample and deci- 
 sive evidence of the important truth to be established by 
 the arguments which have just been stated, and which we 
 now proceed to illustrate and urge. 
 
 1. All the natural descendants of Adam are condemned 
 on account of his first sin. 
 
 With so much plainness is this fact taught, that it seems 
 surprising how any professing Christians can deny it. In 
 the 15th V. we read these words: "for if through the 
 offence of one many be dead;" that is legally, by a sen- 
 tence of death passed upon them: in the 16th v. "for the 
 judgment was by one to condemnation:" and in the 18th 
 V. "by the offence of one judgment came upon all to 
 CONDEMNATION." Plainer language than this could not be 
 used to teach us, that we are judicially condemned on 
 account of Adam's first sin. Were you to enter a court of 
 justice, and hear a judge solemnly pronounce sentence of 
 death on a human being for some crime, you would imme- 
 diately conclude he was guilty, and deserved to die : and 
 when, led by sacred Scripture, you enter the court of heaven, 
 and hear the Judge of all the earth solemnly pronounce 
 sentence of death on all men for Adam's first sin, can you 
 hesitate to believe, that they are guilty; that they are justly 
 chargeable with it ; and that in some way they have com- 
 mitted it, or, in other words, have sinned in Adam, their 
 great representative? Surely a just and holy God would 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 53 
 
 not lay this sin so to their charge, as to condemn them for 
 it, if it were not theirs in a just and legal sense. 
 
 2. All men are actually subject to the penalty due to 
 Adam's sin, and would have to endure it, in all its extent, 
 were it not for the merciful interposition of divine grace in 
 favour of some. 
 
 This follows as an indisputable inference from the argu- 
 ment just closed ; for if men are condemned for Adam's 
 sin, they must certainly be subject to its penalty; because 
 sentence of condemnation always expresses the punishment 
 due to the transgression. "And so death," affirms the 
 Apostle in the text, "passed upon all men; for that all have 
 sinned." Again, in the 14th v. he says, "Nevertheless 
 death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them 
 that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans- 
 gression." Death has reigned from the days of Moses to 
 the present time; and death, "the wages of sin ^^ will con- 
 tinue to reign over unborn generations, as they shall come 
 successively into existence, till the end of time. And 
 death, in its more terrible forms, will reign over millions 
 of our race, and would thus reign over every son and 
 daughter of our fallen parents, were it not for that rich 
 "grace which reigns through righteousness unto eternal 
 life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. " 
 
 Contemplate, my hearers, this universal reign of death; 
 look at the immeasurable triumph he has gained in this 
 fallen world ; behold the desolations he has made in the 
 earth, the generations he has trodden in the dust: and 
 when you reflect that he received his commission thus to 
 reign and triumph over men, on account of the sin of 
 Adam, can you doubt that we have a deep interest in that 
 sin? If it were not justly imputed to us, why should the 
 
64 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 penalty be inflicted on us ; and that too in execution of a 
 formal sentence of condemnation passed oii us, by the 
 righteous Judge, for this very sin? We might suffer much 
 in consequence of the sins of others, and yet be entirely 
 free from the guilt of them: but it is not possible, that we 
 should be condemned for Adam's sin by the Almighty, 
 and endure the penalty, and yet be entirely free from its 
 guilt. 
 
 3. Infants are condemned, and actually die, for Adam's 
 
 SIN. 
 
 Their case is worthy of attentive consideration. Con- 
 template the manner in which they enter this fallen world. 
 How are they born ? Not in ease and pleasure ; not amid 
 smiles and joy ; but in pain and sorrow. They come cry- 
 ing into the world j and often perish on the very threshold 
 of life. How is this to be accounted for? Pain and sor- 
 row are the penal consequences of sin; but why are infants, 
 before they are chargeable with any actual sin, subject to 
 these penal evils? Why does a good and righteous God 
 treat them as si?iners, if they are in no sense sinners? 
 Why are they brought to the grave by severe pains and 
 convulsive agonies? What multitudes of infants perished 
 in the general deluge? How many suffered in the confla- 
 grations of Sodom and Gomorrah, those wicked cities 
 which an angry God consumed with fire and brimstone? 
 What immense numbers have, in successive generations of 
 men, perished by disease and different calamities? 
 
 If infants are not fallen creatures; if they are in no sense 
 sinners; this procedure of divine providence cannot be 
 explained and vindicated. But admit that they are fallen 
 creatures, who have sinned in Adam, their federal head 
 and representative, and, therefore, justly subject to the 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 55 
 
 penal consequences of sin; and then the question is solved; 
 the difficulty pressing on this fact of God's moral govern- 
 ment over the world, is removed. We see the reason 
 why infants, whose mental powers are not sufficiently 
 developed to make them moral agents, are treated as sin- 
 ners, and subjected often to great pain and agony. 
 
 Speaking of infants, the Apostle says, in the 14th v. that 
 they "have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
 transgression ;" but he does not assert that they have not 
 sinned at all ; for his argument is designed to prove, that, 
 although they have not sinned personally, yet they have 
 sinned in their covenant-head; because, if this were not the 
 fact, divine providence would not mark them out as sin- 
 ners, by subjecting them to the dominion of death, the 
 penalty of sin. "-Sy one mail's disobedience,^^ he tells 
 us in the 19th v., '■'■many were made sinners." 
 
 4. All men derive from Adam a corrupt moral na- 
 ture. 
 
 How depravity is transmitted from the parent of our 
 race, through each successive generation of men, I shall 
 not undertake to explain. Sacred Scripture is silent on 
 this point ; and it were pretending to be wise above what 
 is written, to attempt an explanation. The particular 
 mode appears to be beyond the reach of human intellect. 
 But the fact is revealed, and ought to be believed. 
 
 That all men are sinners; that no man, save Jesus Christ, 
 our immaculate Lord, was ever perfectly free from sin, 
 since our first parent's apostacy; might be very easily 
 evinced. Scripture, history, and observation, furnish in- 
 contestible evidence. Our race is universally depraved; 
 and how is this universal depravity of mankind to be 
 accounted for? Neither education, nor imitation will ex- 
 
56 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 plain the awful fact ; for we see this depravity corrupting 
 minds that, from infancy, have been blest with the influ- 
 ence of the best education, and watched over with the 
 greatest care that parental affection and anxiety could 
 afford; and sometimes breaking down, in its mad career, 
 the strongest barriers raised for the purpose of restraining 
 and checking its ruinous progress: and we see it displaying 
 its hateful aspect in children, before they are capable of 
 being influenced by example. 
 
 This wide spreading flood of iniquity, which bears along 
 the whole human race, must be traced to some common 
 source. Depravity first polluted Adam; and it has ever 
 since come down from father to son, as a sad inheritance. 
 The language of our Saviour proves this: "That which is 
 born of the flesh is flesh;"* corrupt, depraved, sinful. 
 "Except a man be born again;" receive, by spiritual birth, 
 a new and holy nature, as he received a depraved nature 
 from his first and natural birth ; "he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God."t The lamentation of David proves this: 
 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my 
 mother conceive me."| Other testimonies of inspiration 
 prove this: "And God saw that the wickedness of man 
 was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his 
 thoughts was only evil continually. ^^^ Speaking of Seth, 
 Moses says, "Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after 
 his image;" II not in the image of God, which was im- 
 pressed on his soul when first created; but in that deformed 
 likeness to fallen spirits, which he contracted by his disobe- 
 dience to his Creator. His posterity, like himself, are 
 
 • John viii. 6. t Job iii. 3. i Ps. li. 5. 
 
 § Gen. vi. 5- II Gen. v. 3. 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 57 
 
 deprived of original righteousness; despoiled of those splen- 
 did endowments of a holy nature, with which he was 
 adorned by his Maker; abandoned to the dominion of a 
 corrupt heart, and dead in trespasses and sin. 
 
 But if we have nothing to do with Adam's sin, why are 
 we born with a corrupt nature ? To be thus degraded ; 
 thus deprived of the divine image; thus alienated from the 
 life of God ; is surely a severe punishment. But for what 
 but the imputed sin of Adam can this punishment be in- 
 flicted? Were we free from the guilt of this sin, surely 
 we should enter this world in a very different way, and be 
 born with a very different nature ; we should come forth 
 robed, as our first parents were, with the glorious image 
 of God, and exhibit, as they did, holy desires and obedient 
 acts in the commencement of our moral agency. But how 
 different is this from the fact! Our very first desires are 
 sinful, and our first acts disobedient. The manner in 
 which we are born, and the nature we bring with us into 
 the world, can be accounted for, only by admitting that we 
 are guilty of Adam's sin. The belief of this revealed truth 
 sheds light upon the conduct of divine providence; and it 
 explains to us why inspiration affirms, "we are by nature 
 (mark the expression) by nature the children of wrath;^^'^ 
 born under the righteous displeasure of the Almighty. 
 The reason is, all the children of Adam have become sin- 
 ners through his fall. Jehovah views all who descend 
 naturally from his loins, as such; and, therefore, justly 
 withholds from them those original gifts of his bounty 
 with which he had beautified his nature, and abandons 
 them to that wretched servitude to sin which they have 
 wickedly chosen, t 
 
 * Ephes. ii. 3. 
 
 t A recent writer, in his "views of theology," insists that Calvinistic 
 
 8 
 
58 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 5. The Scriptures teach us, almost in so many words, 
 that all have sinned in Adam. 
 
 These identical terms, in this precise arrangement, are 
 not, we acknowledge, to be found in Scripture ; but the 
 language of the Apostle is, in our opinion, entirely equiv- 
 alent, and a near approximation to them. 
 
 "By one man," says the inspired writer, ''sin entered 
 into the world." That by the term world we are to under- 
 stand its inhabitants, and not the earth itself, will hardly be 
 disputed ; and consequently it must be admitted, that the 
 Apostle affirms that sin entered among the inhabitants of 
 this earth by one man. To ascertain the meaning of this 
 affirmation it will be necessary to determine the sin of 
 which the inspired penman is speaking. The context 
 defines it to be "the offence by which many are dead;" 
 the offence by which "judgment was by one to condem- 
 
 authors teach the doctrine o? physical de|)ravity; that is, that it belongs to 
 the essence of the soul. He knows, and admits, that they disclaim the doc- 
 trine ; yet he will have it that they do in reality teach it. But after all the 
 extracts he gives in proof of his assertion, and all his reasoning, it amounts 
 to no more than the inference he chooses to draw from their language. By 
 the same process it might be proved, that the inspired writers themselves 
 tea.ch physical depravity; for they use, on this subject, language as strong 
 as that of the Calvinistic writers he cites, and as liable to a perverted con- 
 struction. Indeed, if he were to write a treatise on the nature and faculties 
 of the soul, it would be no difficult thing to prove, by the same process of 
 reasoning, that he taught the doctrine of materiality; because, in speak- 
 ing of the soul, he would necessarily use terms that primarily belonged to 
 material things. 
 
 Both holiness and depravity are separable from the soul. Man was holy, 
 and he is now depraved. Man is now depraved, and, by divine grace, he 
 may become perfectly holy. What is thus separable from the soul, cannot 
 belong to its essence; because the soul is a spiritual indivisible substance. 
 Consequently there can be no such thing as physical depravity, or physical 
 holiness, in the sense in which this writer uses these terms. 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 59 
 
 nation;" the <'one man's offence," by which death 
 reigned; "the offence of one," by which "judgment came 
 upon all men to condemnation."* 
 
 Now, the sin thus characterized cannot be merely 
 Adam's personal sin ; because this, although it brought on 
 him judgment and death, did not affect his descendants, but 
 terminated, in its penal effects, on himself. It must be a 
 sin, which, in some sense, is their sin; for it is not possi- 
 ble the world should be subject to the penal consequences of 
 a sin in which they had no concern, and from the guilt of 
 which they were entirely free. Yet the Apostle tells us 
 expressly it was the sin of one man, Adam. But how 
 could his sin be the sin of his descendants, in any other 
 way than by its being imputed to them, because com- 
 mitted by their representative? Such Adam was; and 
 consequently it was just in God to subject them to con- 
 demnation and death, for the sin of one by whom they 
 were to stand or fall. 
 
 The distinction made between Adam's personal sin and 
 the sin committed by him as his children's representative, 
 in reference to one and the same act, may be thus illus- 
 trated. Suppose a parent, by his last will and testament, 
 bequeathes to a son a portion of his estate in fee simple^ 
 and bequeaths the other portions, intended for the use of 
 his other children, to this son as trustee. In reference to 
 the estate, such a man would act in a twofold capacity ; by 
 personal act, and in a representative character. By a 
 personal act he would bind his own interest in the estate ; 
 and by his act as trustee he would bind the interest of his 
 relatives. Or, by one and the same act, by signing his 
 name to a paper drawn up for the purpose, he might bind 
 
 * Rom. V. 15—18. 
 
60 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 both his own interest and that of those whom he repre- 
 sented. In this case, one act would be viewed in a twofold 
 light, as a personal act, and as the act of a trustee, or the 
 act of his relatives. So it was with Adam. In the cove- 
 nant he acted both for himself and for his posterity whom 
 he represented; and, consequently, the sin by which he vio- 
 lated the covenant was both 2l personal sin and the sin of a 
 representative. As personal it affected only himself; but 
 as representative it affected all his natural descendants, 
 and was, by a legal imputation, their sin. 
 
 Now, I ask, if we are taught all this by the Apostle, is 
 it not equivalent to his saying that all men have sinned 
 in Adam? 
 
 But in the close of the text, we find a nearer approxi- 
 mation to this phrase ; for there these words are written : 
 "for that all have sinned." What is the meaning of this 
 declaration? In the Apostle's argument we shall find it. 
 He had afiirmed that "by one man sin entered into the 
 world, and death by sin;" and he subjoins this declaration, 
 as a proof that the sentence of death passed on all men 
 was just. Does he mean, then, to tell us that all men 
 haye committed actual sin, and therefore deserve to die. 
 We apprehend not; because this would render his argu- 
 ment illogical and inconclusive. He had spoken of Adam's 
 sin, and the declaration under consideration is brought as 
 a proof of the justice of a sentence of death passed on all 
 men for that sin. But, if it refer to their actual sins, 
 while it would be a proper reason to assign for a sentence 
 of death on their account, it would furnish no proof at all 
 of the justice of the sentence of death passed on them for 
 Adam's sin. 
 
 If then this meaning be excluded ; if it do not refer to 
 man's actual sin ; to what can it refer, but to their sin in 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 61 
 
 Adam as their representative ? His meaning then is, that 
 *'all have sinned" in the "one man by whom sin entered 
 into the world." This makes his argument perfectly logi- 
 cal and conclusive ; for if all have sinned in Adam, then 
 all deserve to die for his first sin. 
 
 That this interpretation is correct, will further appear, 
 from considering that infants mus the included in the uni- 
 versal term all in the declaration: for undoubtedly when 
 the Apostle assigns the fact, that "all have sinned," in 
 justification of the sentence of death passed upon all men, 
 he must refer to infants, as well as adults; because the 
 sentence is passed upon them also, and "death reigns 
 over" them. Infants, then, have sinned. But how? Not 
 personally ; for they are not capable of moral action : yet 
 an inspired Apostle affirms infants have sinned. This can 
 be true only by their sinning in Adam, their representa- 
 tive. 
 
 I am aware that some interpret the declaration to which 
 we have endeavoured to assign a true and consistent mean- 
 ing, as referring to native depravity. But to this interpre- 
 tation the same insuperable objection will apply, that was 
 urged against referring it to man's actual sins. It renders 
 the Apostle's argument illogical and unworthy of the pen 
 of an inspired writer; because the native depravity of 
 infants and adults cannot, with any propriety, be ofiered 
 as a proof of the justice of a sentence of death passed upon 
 all men for Adam^s sin. No proof can sustain it but that 
 which the Apostle presents — the fact that "all," both 
 infants and adults, "have sinned," in their covenant 
 representative. 
 
 Let it be further remarked, that the phrase translated, 
 "for that all have sinned," may be rendered, "In whom 
 all have sinned." This translation is contended for by 
 
6-2 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES, 
 
 good Greek scholars ; and they bring sufficient proof that 
 thfe two original terms may properly be so rendered as to 
 establish this translation. 
 
 In view of all that has been said under this argument, 
 I leave it with my hearers to decide, whether the Apostle 
 does not teach, nearly in so many words, that all men 
 
 HAVE SINNED IN AdAM ? 
 
 Review, my hearers, the arguments which have been 
 illustrated and urged. All the natural descendants of 
 Adam are condemned for his first sin : — All are subject to 
 its penalty, and w^ould have to endure it, in all its extent, 
 were it not for the merciful interposition of divine grace in 
 favour of some : — Infants are condemned, and actually die 
 for this sin: — All men derive from Adam a corrupt moral 
 nature: — And Scripture teaches us, nearly in so many 
 words, that all men have sinned in Adam. Can more 
 proof be required? Is not this enough to satisfy us, that 
 Jehovah has revealed the fact, that he does impute to us 
 the guilt of Jidarn's first sin; and that he regards us as 
 having fallen and sinned in him, our great represen- 
 tative ? 
 
 Two objections to this doctrine merit notice : and, in 
 opposition to them, I shall endeavour to show, that the 
 covenant-arrangement of infinite wisdom, which has result- 
 ed in an event so calamitous, was both just and good. 
 
 Its justice is strongly contested. Where, it is demand- 
 ed, where is the justice of a procedure that holds us res- 
 ponsible for a sin we did not commit ; and that appointed 
 Adam to be our representative, before we had existence to 
 consent to such an arrangement? 
 
 The latter part of this objection is based on the supposi- 
 tion, that our con^en/ was necessary to bring us under the 
 operation of the covenant. But $uch a supposition is 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 63 
 
 incompatible with the supreme authority of God Almighty. 
 An earthly parent can impose duties on a child, and sub- 
 ject him to the authority of a teacher with whom he cove- 
 nants for his instruction, not only without his consent, but 
 in opposition to his inclination. Can it then be believed, 
 that it was necessary for our Creator to ask our consent, 
 before he could include us in that covenant which he con- 
 descended to make with Adam? He did not ask our con- 
 sent to be created. In the full exercise of his adorable 
 sovereignty, he selected the time for giving us existence, 
 determined the place and circumstances of our birth, and 
 designed the parents from whom we should descend, 
 without deigning to consult us, or to ask our consent; and 
 could not the same sovereign Lord of all comprehend us in 
 a covenant aflfecting our- interests, without stooping so low 
 as to ask us whether we were willing to abide by such an 
 arrangement of infinite wisdom? The seal of his covenant 
 was impressed on many of you who compose this audience, 
 when, in obedience to his will, your parents presented you 
 in baptism. You were then incapable of understanding the 
 meaning of the Christian rite, or of yielding your consent; 
 yet, by the surrender of your parents, you were bound, when 
 arrived at an age to understand the subject, to accede to the 
 terms of the covenant, and to devote yourselves personally 
 to the adorable Three, in whose name you were baptized. 
 If, then, Jehovah had a right to bring you, without your 
 consent, within the Christian covenant, and to impose its 
 obligation on you — a transaction which may, through your 
 unbelief, result in fatal conseqiiences — can it be doubted 
 that He^ the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, had a 
 right to make all whom he determined should descend 
 naturally from the first pair of human beings, parties in 
 that gracious covenant, which his infinite wisdom deemed 
 
64 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 proper to establish between himself and our common 
 parent? 
 
 When God proposed the covenant to Adam, it is plain 
 he could not refuse to accede to it without sin. The per- 
 fections of his Creator were a sufficient pledge that the 
 proposal was just, equitable, and good; and the dependance 
 of man on him, and his infinite obligations to him for his 
 existence and faculties, made it his duty instantly and 
 without inquiry, to embrace the ofier with adoring grati- 
 tude. The proofs, then, that the covenant was just, are 
 to be found, not in the fact that Adam acceded to it, but in 
 its very nature, and in the infinite rectitude of the Supreme 
 Being who devised it. And to the same sources are we to 
 look for proofs of the justice of the covenant transaction, in 
 reference to his posterity. The justice and equity of the 
 covenant did not depend on the consent of the first man. 
 It was inherently just and equitable, before his consent was 
 obtained. Nor did the justice and equity of it depend at 
 all upon the consent of his offspring. So just and equitable 
 was it in its provisions, requirements, responsibilities, pro- 
 mises, and threatenings, that had we all been in existence 
 at the time, and it had been proposed to us by our Creator, 
 to entrust our vital interests in the hands of our first parent 
 to act as our representative, we could not have declined the 
 proposal, without dishonouring his infinite wisdom, and 
 opposing his sovereign and righteous will. 
 
 As the justice, so the goodness, of this dispensation of 
 divine providence, is questioned and denied. 
 
 Had the result of Adam's trial been different; had he, 
 by his obedience, merited for himself and his posterity 
 eternal life, none would have complained; all would have 
 rejoiced in the benefits secured to them. But the result 
 was unfortunate and calamitous. Adam fell by transgres- 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 65 
 
 ii 
 
 sion, and involved all his children in the wide-spreading 
 ruin; and now, many of them murmur and complain about 
 the consequences. 
 
 How unreasonable such conduct! The goodness of God 
 in this transaction, is not to be determined by the result of 
 man's trial, but by the nature of the covenant, and by the 
 endowments of his new made creature. Had man full 
 ability to perform the required obedience ? Was the 
 threatening just, and the promised reward glorious? These 
 are the questions to be asked, in relation to the goodness of 
 God in this most interesting transaction. And who that 
 understands the subject, can hesitate a moment, in giving 
 an affirmative answer to the inquiries? 
 
 The covenant, then, was good, before the apostacy of 
 man; and if it was good then, its goodness could not be 
 affected by the unreasonable and inexcusable conduct of 
 Adam, in violating its precepts, and thus ruining himself 
 and his unborn race. How extravagant would it be in a 
 criminal, suffering justly the penalty due to his offence, to 
 complain of the severity of an administration that would 
 have rejoiced to protect and favour him, if he had been 
 obedient to the laws. If, then, the goodness of this 
 covenant transaction, in reference to Adam, was not 
 affected by the fatal result of his trial, the goodness of it 
 in reference to his posterity, could not be affected by the 
 same unhappy event. That the covenant, in its application 
 to our first father, was good, has been shown; and none, it 
 is presumed, will venture to deny it. This being admitted, 
 it can never be proved to be otherwise than good, in its 
 application to his offspring; because the same reasons that 
 establish the one, can, with equal force, be urged to prove 
 the other. • 
 
 9 
 
66 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 Besides, it ought to be considered, that this covenant 
 dispensation was peculiarly kind in respect to Adam's chil- 
 dren. He, in the mature state of his mental faculties, and 
 with his glorious endowments, was unquestionably far better 
 qualified for the trial, than any of his children could have 
 been, who are brought into existence in an infantile state, 
 and who must live some years before their faculties can be 
 developed and matured. He had stronger motives to bind 
 him to obedience than any other man could have had; for 
 he knew that he was constituted the acting representative 
 of all his posterity, and that their highest interests, as well 
 as his own, depended on his compliance with the divine 
 will. Had we all been in existence when God established 
 his covenant with our common parent, we would, most 
 cordially, have consented to his appointment as our federal 
 head and covenant representative, and would have believed 
 our interests to be more secure in his hands than they 
 would have been in our own. The covenant therefore 
 was '.'holy, just, and good." 
 
 Several appropriate reflections might be subjoined to this 
 discussion. But neither our time, nor your patience will 
 grant the necessary indulgence. I forbear to trespass. Yet 
 one reflection must not be omitted. It is this: how grate- 
 ful should we be to God for the gracious and glorious 
 provision which his infinite wisdom and mercy have made, 
 for our recovery from a state of sin, guilt, and misery ! 
 
 By the first Adam we fell; by the second Adam we rise. 
 The same principle, which, in the covenant of works, 
 resulted in our ruin, applied to the covenant of grace, 
 affects our salvation. Adam, our representative in the 
 former, sinned, and thus destroyed the hopes of the world ; 
 but Christ, the Lord of glory, the representative of his 
 
THE FALL OF MAN AND ITS EFFECTS. 67 
 
 people, in the latter, by yielding the required satisfaction 
 for sin, and by performing most perfectly the demanded 
 obedience, saves from sin, and death, and hell, and leads 
 to everlasting happiness and glory, all the millions of our 
 fallen race, who believe in him. Our first parent was 
 overcome by Satan in a garden of delights j but Christ, our 
 Lord, foiled him in a wilderness, combatted him amidst 
 poverty, sorrow, and persecution, and finally triumphed 
 over him on his cross. 
 
 The intelligent reader of our chapter cannot fail to notice 
 the parallel which the inspired writer runs between Christ 
 and Adam, and how he shows that, as by the disobedience 
 of the latter we were made sinners, so, by the obedience of 
 the former, we may be made righteous; and that the grace 
 of God, through his Son, triumphs, not only over the first 
 sin of Adam imputed to us, but over our numberless and 
 aggravated personal transgressions, and secures to us eternal 
 life. And this parallel might be urged, as an additional 
 proof of the truth contended for this evening. 
 
 Believe it then, my dear hearers; it is' not, as some 
 imagine and represent it, an unimportant doctrine. On 
 the contrary, . it is highly important, particularly in its 
 bearing upon another doctrine of deep and vital interest in 
 the Christian system. Deny the imputation of Adam's 
 sin, and then, to be consistent, you must discard from your 
 creed the imputation of Chris fs righteousness to believ- 
 ers, for their justification before God ; a doctrine which, in 
 the opinion of the great reformer Luther, was of para- 
 mount importance in the religion of sinners. Indeed, it is 
 vital; for although a man may, through prejudice of educa- 
 tion, disbelieve this doctrine, and be saved, yet it is true, 
 that no sinner ever was or will be conducted from this 
 
68 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 fallen world to heaven, without the imputed righteousness 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Believing, then, our fall in Adam, confess before God, 
 that for his first transgression, as well as for your personal 
 sins, you are justly condemned. Both classes of ofifence, 
 original as well as actual, should be regarded as proper 
 causes for shame and humiliation in the presence of infinite 
 purity. Bewail, therefore, at the throne of grace, your 
 fall in Adam, and that deeper ruin into which you have 
 plunged yourselves, by your numberless and aggravated 
 personal transgressions. But despair not; mercy reigns 
 and triumphs. In the second Adam, there is life for the 
 dead. "I am the resurrection and the life," said Jesus to 
 Martha; "he that believeth in me, though he were dead, 
 yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in 
 me, shall never die." Delightful truth! Joyful news! Let 
 us bless ^nd praise God for the wonderful provisions of his 
 infinite wisdom and mercy, by which the ruins of man's 
 apostacy are repaired, the lost recovered, rebels pardoned, 
 the guilty justified, sinners saved, . hell-deserving wretches 
 glorified, and the prisoners of justice exalted from the pri- 
 son house to thrones in heaven, and changed into com- 
 panions for angels, who never fell, but always retained 
 their first and holy estate. "God so loved the world that 
 he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 him should not perish, but have eternal life." "Then 
 cometh the end, Avhen he shall have delivered up the king- 
 dom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put 
 down all rule, and all authority and power; for he must 
 reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last 
 enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Amen. 
 
 * John, iii. 16. 1 Cor. xv. 24—26. 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 25th December, 1831, by the 
 Rev. Samuel B. Howe, D. D. of Carlisle. 
 
 THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." — Luke xiii. 24. 
 
 The importance of genuine piety, and the difficulty of 
 its attainment and cultivation, are frequently pressed on our 
 attention in the sacred pages. — The salvation of our souls de- 
 pends on our possessing it, and yet, in our efforts to obtain 
 it, innumerable foes oppose us, and innumerable obstacles 
 must be surmounted. To encourage us, however, to meet 
 every foe, and to bear every evil with unshrinking con- 
 stancy, we are addressed with most urgent exhortations and 
 alluring promises; assistance from on high is offered us in 
 the conflict, and to him who overcometh it ''shall be given 
 to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the para- 
 dise of God." 
 
 In the passage before us, and in a similar passage in the 
 
 gospel of Matthew, the design of our Lord is to show the 
 
 necessity of directing our attention to secure the salvation 
 
 of our souls, from a consideration of the difficulties which we 
 
 10 
 
70 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 must encounter in so doing, and from the ease with which 
 we may mistake and perish. He represents us as travel- 
 lers, journeying to unchanging abodes of bliss or wo, and 
 assures us that our final destiny will depend on our present 
 conduct. ''Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that 
 leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in there- 
 at." — While "strait is the gate, and narrow is the waiy 
 which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." 
 It becomes us, therefore, carefully to seek to enter in, 
 since, if we mistake and fail, the consequences will be 
 tremendously fearful. The expo.sition of the passage is 
 easy. A gate usually stands at the head of a way, and 
 through it we are admitted into the way, — the term way, 
 when applied to the actions and condition of men, means 
 their habitual temper and conduct; and the narrow way, of 
 which our Lord speaks, means that temper and conduct 
 which are necessary for our admittance into heaven. We 
 enter on this way only by a thorough conversion from sin 
 to holiness, evidenced by unfeigned repentance and failh; 
 and, until we have experienced this conversion, we have not 
 taken one step in the pathway to bliss. This gate is called 
 strait, because of the anguish of mind which usually ac- 
 companies the commencement of a religious life. Into 
 this gate our Lord commands us to strive to enter. In the 
 original, the word which is translated strive, is very forcible. 
 It signifies, to make a violent efibrt; to contend as in com- 
 bat; to labour against opposition with the utmost endeav- 
 our, both of body and of mind. This command is evidently 
 addressed to the unconverted; to those who have not enter- 
 ed the narrow way, who are outside of the gate, who are 
 living impenitent in sin. Such are commanded "to strive 
 to enter in at the strait gate" — that is, to seek for the con- 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 71 
 
 version of their souls, that in the exercise of repentance and 
 faith, they may enter on and lead a new life of holy obedi- 
 ence. We need not fear to imitate our Lord Jesus; and 
 here is a direct exhortation to the unregenerate to seek for 
 repentance and faith. But how are they to be sought, since 
 they are the fruits of the Spirit, the gift of God, and with- 
 out his grace we never shall attain to them? We reply, 
 they must be sought in the diligent use of those means of 
 grace which God has appointed, and which are usually ac- 
 companied with the influences of the Holy Spirit. To illus- 
 trate, confirm, and enforce this truth, is the object of the en- 
 suing Discourse; and may the Holy Spirit bless to our edifi- 
 cation what shall be spoken. 
 
 Two propositions invite our attention. 
 
 I. There are means of grace; and in the use of these 
 means divine influences are usually received, both for the 
 conversion of sinners and the edification of believers. 
 
 II. It is the duty of all men diligently to use these means. 
 Having discussed these two propositions we shall, 
 
 III. Notice some objections which have been urged against 
 the doctrine which we advocate, and then, 
 
 IV. Conclude with the practical improvement of our 
 subject. 
 
 I. There are means of grace. 
 
 By a mean, is intended that which, as an instrument, con- 
 duces to the attainment of an end; and by means of grace, 
 are meant all those institutions of God in the use of which 
 man seeks and usually obtains divine grace. All these 
 means are adapted to the rational nature of man, and are 
 fitted to inform his mind, to touch his conscience, and to 
 awaken his affections. 
 
 It pleases God for the illustration of his wisdom, his 
 
72 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 goodness, and his power, to administer his government by 
 the intervention of means. Were it his pleasure to do so, 
 he could, hy a direct and immediate act of his own, bestow on 
 us all that we need, preserve our existence, give health to our 
 bodies, and knowledge to our minds; or he could rain down 
 manna from heaven; or, without the toil of the husbandman, 
 he could cause the harvest to spring up in rich abundance 
 from the earth. Such, however, is not the method which 
 his infinite wisdom has seen tit to adopt. His blessings 
 flow to us through the intervention of means; we can obtain 
 them only when we seek them by the use of proper means. 
 
 If we would preserve life, we must use food ; if we would 
 enjoy health, we must practice temperance and prudence; 
 if the scholar would acquire rich stores of various know- 
 ledge, he must give his days and his nights to unremitted 
 study; and if the husbandmen would rejoice in the abun- 
 dance of his crops, he must submit to the toil of breaking up 
 the ground, and of casting into it the precious seed. The 
 success of these efforts depends on the blessing of God, and 
 without that, they will be wholly ineffectual. We are com- 
 manded, therefore, to put them forth in humble dependence 
 on his assistance and blessing, and thus we are taught tore- 
 cognise him as the author of all good, and carefully to no- 
 tice and admire his perfections as exhibited in his works. 
 
 The same system is established in the kingdom of Grace 
 as that which prevails in the kingdom of Providence. They 
 who ask, receive; they who seek, find. He who "watches 
 daily at Wisdom's gates, waiting at the posts of her doors, 
 shall find her," and, along with her, life and blessedness. 
 
 The means of grace become such only in consequence of 
 the appointment of God. It is of the utmost importance to 
 keep this truth steadily in view, for there is a sinful pro- 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 73 
 
 pensity in men to substitute their own inventions in place of 
 the divine appointments. This propensity God frowns upon 
 and rebukes. <'In vain do ye worship me teaching for doc- 
 trines the commandments of men." Our warrant for using 
 any ordinance, is derived from his appointment of it, while 
 our encouragement to observe it, arises from his promise of 
 accepting and blessing us in so doing. Whatever appear- 
 ances of zeal, or of devotion, or of success, may be exhibited, 
 awful delusion must attend the pursuit of any measures 
 which God has not ordained. 
 
 Among the means which are designed for the conversion 
 of sinners, and the edification of believers, the three princi- 
 pal are, the preaching of the Gospel; the written Word of 
 God; and fervent prayer. 
 
 One of the chief means of grace, both for the conversion 
 of sinners, and the edification of believers, is the preaching 
 of the Gospel. " It hath pleased God by the foolishness of 
 preaching to save them who believe." "How," asks the 
 apostle, "shall they call on him in whom they have not be- 
 lieved? and how shall they believe on him of whom they 
 have not heard? and how shall they hear without a 
 preacher?" 
 
 The ministry of reconciliation was appointed by the Re- 
 deemer, just before his ascension to glory, when he com- 
 manded his disciples to "go into all the world and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." After Paul had been called 
 by his grace, he was sent as a messenger of mercy " to the 
 Gentiles, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness 
 to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." The di- 
 vine blessing has accompanied the ministers of the word 
 from the days of the apostles to the present time. On the 
 day of Pentecost, thousands were converted by the preaching 
 
h 
 
 74 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of Peter; the Lord opened Lydia's heart to attend to the 
 things which were spoken by Paul; and in every succeed- 
 ing age the preaching of the Gospel has been to thousands 
 " the power of God unto salvation." 
 Ivf f/^y Aftd-4li£L principal instrument employed by the Holy 
 Spirit in the work of regeneration and sanctification of our 
 souls, is the written Word. The apostle Peter reminds his 
 other brethren that " they were born again, not of cor- 
 ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God 
 which liveth and abideth forever." "The law of the 
 Lord," says the Psalmist ''is perfect, converting the soul." 
 
 The special design of God in giving to us his Word, is 
 to lead us into the knowledge of himself, and in the paths 
 of life. " All scripture," says the apostle, "is given by 
 inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for re- 
 proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that 
 the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto 
 all good works." It has guided through life, up to the 
 third heavens, myriads of the redeemed who are now walk- 
 ing in the presence of God, and we shall do well to take 
 heed to it "as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until 
 the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts." Any 
 attempt to sink the value of the living ministry, or of the 
 written Word, is injurious to the highest interests of man- 
 kind. The Word without the ministry would be neglected, 
 and the ministry without the Word, would run into error, 
 and introduce woful delusion. The word and the ministry 
 united, are the great bulwarks of religion, and the instru- 
 ments which God designs for the conversion, not merely of 
 individuals, but of the world. 
 
 To the ministry and the Word, we add fervent prayer. 
 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 75 
 
 knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Prayer is the 
 great medium of the intercourse which man holds with 
 God, in which he opens the most secret desires of his soul, 
 and confesses and deplores his sins, and makes known his 
 wants. " The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man 
 availeth much." "If ye, being evil, know how to give 
 good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your 
 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
 Him." 
 
 Besides the means of grace already mentioned, there are 
 others which are highly important in themselves, and in 
 the use of which, God has promised to bestow on us his 
 grace. Among the chief of these we place the religious 
 education of children. "Train up a child in the way he 
 should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
 The neglect of this duty is a principal reason of the awful 
 amount of irreligion which every where prevails; for the 
 surest method to banish religion from the world, is to banish 
 it from families. The pious Baxter has given it as his 
 opinion, that if every parent would faithfully discharge his 
 duty in bringing up his children in the nurture and admo- 
 nition of the Lord, it would almost render unnecessary the 
 living ministry. Certain it is, that the neglect of it brings 
 deep guilt on the parent, and shows an awful unconcern in 
 relation to the highest interests of his child, by leaving him 
 exposed to the pernicious influence of false sentiment and vi- 
 cious example, without any fixed principles to save him from 
 their contagion. The consequences on the part of the child 
 are, generally, such as might be expected — an irreligious 
 life, and an unhappy death. From the lips of pious and 
 faithful parents, especially from the lips of a pious mother, 
 the child generally receives his earliest, his best, and his 
 
76 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 most lasting impressions. To her it belongs to direct hia 
 first thoughts, to mould his temper; to give an impulse to 
 all his feelings and desires; and her instructions, and warn- 
 ings, and prayers, and tears, are the things which, amid all 
 the waywardness and folly of mankind, are last forgotten by 
 her child; which exert over his heart a most salutary in- 
 fluence, and are often recalled with fond remembrance and 
 gratitude. Should he be so unhappy as to be enticed by 
 ungodly companions, and to fall into dissolute habits, the re- 
 membrance of his mother's instructions and prayers will 
 haunt his gayest hours, and check his mad career; and 
 though he may have run deep in sinful excesses, will pro- 
 bably bring him back a humble penitent to God — blessed 
 reward for the anxieties, and sorrows, and instruction, and 
 prayers, of maternal love, thus to have trained a child for 
 holiness, and heaven, and God! Precious is the memory 
 of such a parent to her offspring, for "her children rise up 
 after her and call her blessed."* 
 
 * A striking instance of the correctness of the above remarks occurred to 
 the author immediately after he had preached this discourse. On his return 
 home from Philadelphia, there was in the stage with him, as a fellow-passen- 
 ger, a respected brother in the ministry, who resides in one of the western 
 States. In the course of conversation, he gave to the author a short account 
 of his religious history. He is the son of pious parents, who had devoted him 
 in early life to God, and carefully instructed him in the principles of religion. 
 When he had attained a sufficient age, he studied medicine, and, if I mistake 
 not, attended the medical lectures at Philadelphia. Unfortunately, by perusing 
 the works of some infidel writers, and by the influence of ungodly companions, 
 his mind was corrupted, and he became a sceptic. He remarked, however, 
 that he never could entirely embrace the sentiments of sceptical writers, 
 owing to his having read so extensively in ancient history, which enabled 
 him to detect the falsehood of many of their statements. He afterwards com- 
 menced the practice of physic, and his irreligion and scepticism were fre- 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 77 
 
 Without enlarging on the other means of grace, we shall 
 content ourselves with siniply mentioning them. Tliey 
 are the followins;: — 
 
 Serious meditation. "I thought on my way," says the 
 Psalmist, "and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." 
 
 Self-examination. <' Examine yourselves whether ye 
 be in the faith; prove your own selves; know ye not your 
 own selves, except ye be reprobates." 
 
 The company of pious men. "He that walketh with 
 wise men shall be wise ; but a company of fools shall be 
 destroyed." 
 
 The sacraments, which are especially designed to edify 
 believers. 
 
 It is by the dih'gent and conscientious use of these means, 
 that men are commanded to seek for spiritual blessings, and 
 
 quently noticed by others, and caused great grief to his pious parents. One day 
 an infidel neighbour began conversing of his irreligious conduct before a com- 
 pany, one of which was his motiier, and with a view, it was tliought, of w^ound- 
 ing her feelings. He scoffingly said that there is no trutli in the old saying, 
 " train up a child in the way he should go, and wlien he is old he will not de- 
 part from it;" that those children who were brought up religiously always 
 turned out more wicked than others, and noticed him as an instance. His 
 mother, a pious Scotch lady, was indignant at the impiety of the declaration 
 and afterwards said, that, at the time, she felt more anxious that God would 
 vindicate the truth of his declarations than even for the salvation of her son. 
 She had been anxiously praying for his conversion, but now she prayed that 
 God would exhibit his glory by proving the truth of his word. About this 
 time her son was led to read the Scriptures with Scott's notes; deep impres- 
 sions were produced on his mind; he was led to a salutary concern for the 
 salvation of his soul, and became, we trust, a sincere believer in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He is now a minister of the Gospel, and nobly exerting him- 
 self to bestow on others those blessings which the Gospel alone conveys. He 
 considered his conversion as an answer to the prayers of his parents, and 
 said to me, " I was saved because I am a child of the covenant." 
 
 11 
 
78 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 when they thus use them, these blessings are usually re- 
 ceived. God will have his own appointments honoured, 
 nor have we any right to expect his blessing while we ne- 
 glect his institutions, or violate his commandments. The 
 most diligent use of these means, however, does not lay 
 him under any obligation to bestow on us his grace; for if 
 so, God would be our debtor, and bound in justice to save 
 us. But, in the same individual, grace and merit cannot 
 co-exist; nor can any unregenerate man perform good 
 works acceptable to God. "Not by works of righteous- 
 ness which we have done, but according to his mercy he 
 saved us." 
 
 Considered simply in themselves, these means have no 
 efficacy to convert the soul; but all their efficacy is derived 
 from the accompanying influences of the Holy Spirit. They 
 are, indeed, adapted to our rational nature, and suited alike 
 to inform the mind and to affect the heart. In effecting the 
 work of regeneration, God deals with man as a rational 
 creature, by placing before him motives; by addreissng to 
 him commands, promises, warnings, threatenings, and invi- 
 tations; and by appealing to every passion and desire of the 
 soul — to the affections, the reason, and the conscience. In 
 the preaching and reading of the Word, truth comes to us 
 clothed with the authority and majesty of God; our atten- 
 tion is called to subjects the most sublime, interesting, so- 
 lemn, and affecting. The worth of the soul, the solemni- 
 ties of death, the terrors of the judgment, and the glories 
 and horrors of eternity, are placed before us to rouse us 
 from the slumbers of sin. The indignation of the Lord is 
 denounnced against the hardened trangressor, and he is 
 warned of that awful perdition which awaits him; while 
 the sweet message of mercy is addressed to the humbled 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 79 
 
 penitent, and he is pointed to the cross of the Redeemer, 
 and assured that there is forgiveness for the chief of sinners. 
 In prayer we approach into the immediate presence of the 
 eternal God ; we contemplate his infinite majesty, his spot- 
 less purity, his boundless power, and his amazing compas- 
 sion; we confess our depravity, our un worthiness, our guilt, 
 and our dependence on his grace; we offer our thanksgivings 
 for mercies, and we humbly ask his pardoning and sancti- 
 fying grace. Every thing in prayer is calculated to pro- 
 duce deep impressions on the heart, and to awaken its best 
 affections. Still, without the influences of the Holy Spirit, 
 all will be in vain. The new heart is the gift of God. 
 Even the eloquence of an Apostle will be of no avail for the 
 conversion of the soul, without the accompany influences of 
 the Holy Spirit. "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, 
 but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave 
 to every man." ''I have planted, Apollos watered, but 
 God gave the increase." Any success that may attend our 
 efforts should be ascribed to the power and goodness of 
 God. ''The weapons of our warfare," says the apostle, 
 "are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling 
 down of strong holds ; casting down imaginations and every 
 high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, 
 and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience 
 of Christ." 
 
 Having thus exhibited the nature and design of the means 
 of grace, we proceed to consider, 
 
 II. Our second head of discourse, which is to show, 
 That it is the duty of all men to use with diligence these 
 means. 
 
 We are not aware that any have denied that it is tiie duty 
 
80 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of sincere believers in Christ to use them, but it has been 
 questioned whether the unregenerate should be exhorted to 
 the use of them. Much of the difficulty on this point will, 
 we think, be removed by a clear apprehension of their na- 
 ture and design. They may be considered under three 
 aspects : as duties, arising out of the relation which exists 
 between man and God; as means, in the use of which sin- 
 ners usually receive divine grace ; and as means of edifica- 
 tion to believers. 
 
 1. The means which we have specified may be considered 
 as duties arising from the command of God, and the relation 
 which exists between him and man. The Gospel message 
 and the written Word are addressed to every creature, and 
 every man is bound to listen when God speaks. Prayer is 
 an humble acknowledgment of God as our Creator, Ruler, 
 Preserver, and Judge. No man on earth has authority to 
 say to another, that it is not his duty to listen to the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel, or to read the Scriptures, or to offer 
 prayer. These are solemn acts of worship, in which we 
 acknowledge God as our God, and therefore no man is at 
 liberty to neglect them. 
 
 It is in vain to reply, that since unregenerate men do not 
 perform these duties from holy principles, they will not be 
 pleasing to God, and therefore the observance of them ought 
 not to be enjoined ; for the same objection will apply to 
 every act of the unregenerate, and, if pushed to its utmost, 
 will reduce them to a state of complete inactivity. We 
 are commanded '''whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or 
 whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." But must 
 we forbid sinners to eat or drink, because they are not in- 
 fluenced by holy principles? Our obligation to obey God 
 arises not from the possession of holy principles of action, 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 81 
 
 but from the relation which we bear to him as his rational 
 creatures, endowed with faculties which render us capable of 
 knowing, loving, and obeying him. As the most glorious 
 Being in the universe, and infinitely perfect, he is worthy of 
 our supreme affection ; and, as he is our Creator, Pre- 
 server, Ruler, and Judge, we are under the strongest pos- 
 sible obligations to love and obey him. We are bound to 
 believe all that he says, to perform all that he commands, 
 to submit to all that he appoints, and to consecrate to his 
 service and glory all the powers which we possess. It is 
 therefore, the duty of every man to hear, and believe, and 
 receive the message which God addresses to him in his holy 
 Word; and by humble prayer, and supplication, and thanks- 
 giving, to acknowledge and worship him as God over all; 
 and nothing can release him from these duties. 
 
 Moreover, since our Lord Jesus Christ has commanded 
 his ministers to preach the Gospel to every creature, it is 
 the duty of every creature to hear; and not merely to hear, 
 but to remember, to meditate upon, to lay to heart, and to 
 pray over, what he hears; to examine it by the light of the 
 Scriptures, and to compare with it his own temper and con- 
 duct. It will not, we imagine, be asserted that all they of 
 Berea, who are spoken of. Acts xvii. 11, were truly con- 
 verted, and yet, they are commended, because they re- 
 ceived the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched 
 the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so; there- 
 fore, it is added, "many of them believed." 
 
 The numerous, and strong commands which are given to 
 the unregenerate, to seek for the divine favour, in our opin- 
 ion, decisively settles the question. "Strive to enter in at 
 the strait gait." "Seek ye the Lord while he may be 
 found, call ye upon him while he is near." " Stand ye in 
 
82 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the 
 good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your 
 souls." " Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. 
 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching at my gates, 
 waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me, 
 findeth life, and shall obtain favour'of the Lord." These, 
 and a multitude of similar, commands, are addressed to all 
 men alike, urging them to the use of the means through 
 which divine mercy is obtained. 
 
 2. Another consideration which establishes our doctrine 
 is, that, on the use of these means, sinners usually receive 
 the renewing influences of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 When we look back on the history of the Church, and of 
 the world, we find, that true religion has prevailed among 
 those nations who enjoyed these means, and, generally, in 
 the same degree as they were enjoyed in purity and abun- 
 dance. The condition of the heathen nations who were 
 destitute of them was truly gloomy. It was among 
 the descendants of Abraham, who were blessed with the 
 priesthood, the Word, and the ordinances of the House of 
 God, that the great body of the pious who lived before the 
 coming of Christ were found. Since that event, true piety 
 has prevailed, almost exclusively, in the Christian Church. 
 It has been preserved by means of the various institutions 
 which God has appointed ; and if these institutions were 
 once abolished, or neglected, impiety would universally 
 prevail. 
 
 When we turn from nations and communities, to con- 
 template individuals, we still find the divine blessing ac- 
 companying the use of these means. We pretend not to 
 limit the Holy One of Israel; nor, do we deny extraordinary 
 instances of conversion; but we find, in fact, that God puts 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 83 
 
 honour on his own institutions; that the Gospel has most 
 success among those who, from infancy, are instructed in 
 its truths, and in the strict observance, of its ordinances. 
 Thousands have been brought to saving faith in Christ, 
 through the divine blessing accompanying the preaching 
 and reading of the Word, when attended on with devout 
 meditation and prayer. In one of the most admirable un- 
 inspired representations of the rise and progress of reli- 
 gion in the soul, with which the world has ever been 
 blessed, the awakened sinner, oppressed with the burden of 
 his sins, is represented as seeking for retirement, there to 
 read, and pray, and meditate, till Evangelist meets him, 
 and directs him to the narrow gate, and to Christ, for salva- 
 tion. The excellent Dr. Scott, in his "Force of Truth," 
 has given us the history of his own conversion, and it 
 clearly shows, that they have reason to expect the divine 
 blessing, who seek it by a devout perusal of the Scriptures, 
 with meditation and prayer. In one word, divine grace 
 has flowed forth in this way, to the myriads of the re- 
 deemed. While they were seeking God in the use of the 
 means, his Spirit came upon them with his renewing in- 
 fluences, and wrought in them unfeigned repentance and 
 faith. 
 
 3. A third argument in favour of the sentiment which 
 we are advocating, is, that those who live in the wilful and 
 habitual neglect of these means, have no right to expect the 
 salvation of their souls. If the divine blessing usually ac- 
 companies them, then, to neglect them, is to guard against 
 the reception of this blessing, is to put ourselves as far as 
 we can out of the reach of mercy, and deliberately to choose 
 the paths of death. Whoever acts thus, will, hereafter, in 
 the bitterness of his soul, repent of his folly. By so doing 
 
84 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 he incurs the displeasure of God. An awful denunciation 
 is pronounced by the Redeemer himself, on those cities 
 which rejected his preaching. "Wo unto thee, Chorazin! 
 wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which 
 were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they 
 would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Im- 
 penitent sinner, it is no speculation, it is solemn truth, that 
 if the Gospel message is rejected by thee, if it does not lead 
 thee to offer fervent supplication for the renewing influences 
 of the Spirit of God, and if it is not cordially received with 
 penitence and faith, thy condemnation is certain and terri- 
 ble; more terrible than that of Sodom and Gomorrha. To 
 thee, the Gospel message is now addressed; to thee, pardon, 
 purchased by a Saviour's blood, is freely offered ; to thee, 
 the hour of mercy is announced, and thou art pointed to the 
 throne of grace, and a compassionate Saviour, that thou 
 mayest obtain salvation. Reject not the message, refuse 
 not the mercy, lest, peradventure, throughout eternity 
 thou mayest curse thy folly and thy sin. 
 
 4. But finally, the question of the propriety and impor- 
 tance of a diligent use of the means of grace, is settled, in 
 .fact, by the conduct of every awakened sinner and every 
 pious parent. When the arrows of conviction have pierced 
 the sinner's breast, you cannot prevent him from praying, 
 from reading, from hearing the Gospel preached. He 
 sees that he is a guilty and ruined man; he feels himself to 
 be sinking amid the billows of wrath; and fears lest the 
 shadows of everlasting death are coming over his soul. Oh, 
 how vain is every effort now to deter him from asking for 
 mercy from his God ! His cries pierce the heavens — 
 "What shall I do to be saved?" — " God be merciful to me 
 a sinner." How precious to him now, is his once slighted 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 85 
 
 Bible, and with what intense anxiety does he listen to the 
 minister of Jesus, hoping for some message of mercy, some 
 glad tidings of peace, some promise of salvation, that may 
 soothe the anguish of his wounded spirit. Helpless and 
 ruined, he casts himself at the feet of the Redeemer, resolved 
 that if he perishes, he will perish with the cry for mercy, 
 as the last sound that is uttered by his lips. 
 
 Again: Does the pious parent, because he fears that his 
 child is unconverted, hesitate to place liim under the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel; or to teach him to read the Scriptures; 
 or to offer his prayers to God? How strange, how utterly 
 absurd would it sound, to hear a pious parent plead, as an 
 excuse for the neglect of these things, that he has no reason 
 to believe that his child is regenerate. No! he knows that 
 the most important duty which he owes to his child is to 
 "bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
 He therefore devotes him, as Samuel was devoted, to the 
 Lord; he teaches him, as Timothy was taught, "from a child 
 to know the Holy Scriptures;" he accustoms him to the use 
 of the means of grace, because he knows that in this way 
 divine grace is usually received, and he asks, with fervent 
 supplication, that the divine blessing may accompany his 
 efforts. 
 
 Such, then, are our reasons for asserting, that a diligent 
 use of the means of grace is the duty of every man. There 
 is not a sinner on earth to whom we dare say, ' you must 
 not attend the preaching of the Gospel; you must not read 
 the word of God; you must not pray, or attend to any 
 religious duty.' It would be as absurd to do this, as it would 
 be to forbid a beggar, who is dying with hunger, to ask for 
 food; or to debar a sick man from the use of medicine for 
 the recovery of health. It would be to exclude men from 
 12 
 
86 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the remedy which God has provided for their healing; from 
 the very means which he has instituted for their recovery 
 from sin and death, and in the use of which only, we can 
 hope to receive those influences of the Holy Spirit which 
 prepare us for heaven. But, 
 
 III. Objections have been raised against the doctrine 
 which we are advocating, and it is proper that they should 
 be considered. We shall notice but two, since they are the 
 most common and important. 
 
 1. The first is, the decree of God renders the use of 
 means unavailingj that, if God has predestinated us to sal- 
 vation, we shall be saved whether we use or neglect these 
 means. To this objection our reply shall be short. It pro- 
 ceeds on a misrepresentation and mistake of the nature of 
 the divine decrees. The Bible speaks of no absolute, un- 
 conditional decree, but always represents the means as de- 
 creed in connexion with the end. The divine decree ex- 
 tends to every event and to all concerns; but they who 
 raise this objection apply it exclusively to our religious con- 
 cerns; whereas, to be consistent, they should carry it through- 
 out all their affairs, and use no means for the attainment of 
 any end; if sick, they should take no medicine; if poor, they 
 should use no efforts to obtain wealth; for, on their own 
 principles, if God has decreed that they shall recover health, 
 or obtain riches, these events will happen as certainly with- 
 out as with effort. Every one sees the absurdity of this 
 sentiment when applied to the common affairs of life, and it 
 is just as absurd when applied to religious subjects. 
 
 2. A second objection, which has been very strongly urg- 
 ed against the truth we are advocating is, that it is unscrip- 
 tural and dangerous to exhort sinners to use the means of 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 87 
 
 grace, since, to do so, has a tendency to lead them to rest 
 in the means, without exercising saving repentance and faith. 
 It is contended, that sinners should be exhorted to imme- 
 diate submission to God; to immediate repentance and faith; 
 and that it is at our peril, if we exhort them to any thing 
 short of these, or which does not include them. To render 
 this objection plainer, we state the following case: A sin- 
 ner, awakened to a sense of his guilt and danger, anxiously 
 inquires "what shall I do to be saved?" He is told "be- 
 lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He 
 replies, my mind is so blind, my affections are so depraved, 
 there is so much hardness and corruption in my heart, that 
 I cannot believe, I cannot repent. I am as helpless as I am 
 guilty; all my resolutions and efforts are ineffectual, and, 
 unless I receive mercy from God, I am forever lost. What 
 shall we say to him in reply? Shall we direct him to ask, 
 by importunate prayer, for the influences of the Holy Spirit 
 to enable him to repent and believe ? Shall we exhort him 
 to break off from every sinful practice; to read, meditate 
 upon, and pray over the word of God; to attend on the 
 preaching of the Gospel, and seek the company and conver- 
 sation of the pious, that thus he may obtain the blessing of 
 God? No, say some, this would be to give dangerous, 
 soul-destroying advice, and to be accessary to the sinner's 
 perdition. Immediate submission to God must be enjoined 
 on him, and he must be warned, that if he does not imme- 
 diately repent and believe, his damnation may be sudden 
 and awful. 
 
 There are two classes of theologians who maintain this 
 last sentiment. One class holds it in connexion with the 
 belief of the moral inability of the sinner to change his 
 heart, and that repentance and faith are the gift of God: — 
 
S8 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the other maintain, that it is as easy to repent and believe as 
 it is to perform any bodily action; that there is no other 
 divine influence necessary or bestowed in our religious con- 
 cerns than is exerted in the preservation of our lives, and 
 the performance of our common daily actions; and that 
 man is universally, necessarily, and absolutely active in 
 regeneration. 
 
 We are constrained to observe in relation to this last senti- 
 ment, namely, that man is active in regeneration, that we con- 
 sider it a fearful departure from fundamental Gospel truth. 
 The most eminent and successful divines of former days con- 
 sidered it a matter of the first importance, that a sinner should 
 be convinced of his entire inability to pei'form good works 
 acceptable to God, or to recover himself from a state of sin 
 and misery; that being thus convinced, he might be brought, 
 as a depraved, guilty, and helpless creature, to renounce all 
 dependence on his own strength, and cast himself entirely 
 on the mercy of God through Christ. Even within our 
 own recollection, a remarkable difference has taken place in 
 the theology and mode of preaching, of a large class of di- 
 vines in our Church. The distinction between a natural 
 and a moral inability was formerly much insisted on, and it 
 was considered of great importance to represent the ina- 
 bility of the sinner as of a moral kind. This was then 
 represented as a new and important improvement in the- 
 ology, though the distinction had been made long before, 
 in the writings of some of the soundest Calvinistic divines, 
 and when properly explained, is wholly unobjectionable. 
 Now, however, the ability of the sinner to repent and be- 
 lieve, and his activity in regeneration, are earnestly incul- 
 cated as most important improvements in theology, and 
 intimately connected with the prevalence of revivals of 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. gg 
 
 religion. Tiie sinner is called on to repent and believe in- 
 stantaneously, and is assured, that it is as easy for him to 
 do so as to raise an arm, or to perform any bodily motion; 
 and they who exhort him to use the means of grace are 
 frowned on, as though they would delude, or mislead him. 
 In relation to this sentiment, several remarks present 
 themselves to our minds. 
 
 1. If sinners have power to believe and repent instanta- 
 neously, then, they must, necessarily, have ability to use 
 the means of grace aright. Surely it will not be asserted, 
 that a sinner has power to regenerate himself, — to believe, 
 and repent — and yet, that he has not power to hear, or read 
 the Word of God, and pray aright. There can, therefore, 
 be no possible reason for discouraging him, any more than 
 for discouraging the truly pious from the use of these 
 means. The objection carries along with it its own refuta- 
 tion, and we think, that we might rest the subject here, 
 were it not too serious to be thus dismissed. 
 
 2. To discourage a sinner from using the means of grace, 
 under the pretence that he has ability, in himself, to be- 
 lieve and repent, is alike delusive and dangerous. We 
 retort the charge, and say, that it is at our peril, if we do 
 not exhort men to hear, and read the Word of God with 
 prayer. The opinion, that they are able at any time to re- 
 pent and believe, is precisely the grand delusion which 
 keeps impenitent men careless in sin. Every unrenewed 
 man, whatever may be his speculative opinion, trusts, in 
 fact, in himself, in confidence of his power to perform all 
 duty. Here, all impenitent sinners are agreed with that 
 class of divines who maintain human ability, and it is no 
 wonder that the doctrine has many advocates, for it entirely 
 accords with the feelings of the unrenewed heart. But it 
 
90 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 is somewhat remarkable, that the grand blunder of which 
 man has been guilty in every age, since the apostacy of 
 Adam — the error to which he clings with the fondest at- 
 tachment, and the last which he relinquishes in accepting of 
 Christ, — that this error is now represented as a great improve- 
 ment in theology; as evidencing the march of mind, and the 
 possession of superior light; and that they who do not assent 
 to it are often assailed as unfriendly to revivals, as behind 
 the improvements of the day, and as lukewarm formalists. 
 Gospel truth is, however, too precious to be lightly aban- 
 doned, and it is our duty at every cost to defend it. We 
 do not hesitate, therefore, to declare, that we consider the 
 representations which are frequently made in relation to 
 human ability, as directly at variance with the Word of God, 
 and the experience of every real believer in Christ. Do 
 the Scriptures speak of the condition of men while unre- 
 generate? They are then represented as dead in trespasses 
 and sins; as without strength; as alienated from God; and 
 the carnal mind is declared to be enmity against God, so 
 that they who are in the flesh cannot please God. Is the 
 deliverance of men from this state of spiritual bondage and 
 death described? Then God is uniformly declared to be 
 the author of this deliverance, and the strongest terms which 
 language can supply are used, to express the greatness of 
 the work, and the power which is exerted in its accom- 
 plishment. It is a resurrection from the dead — a new crea- 
 tion — a victory gained over enmity and opposition. Let 
 it not be objected, that these representations are figurative. 
 True, they are; but the figures are strong and expressive. 
 What is a resurrection but the infusion of new life into a 
 dead body, into an inactive and inert corpse? Yet, the 
 apostle asserts, that such is the change which is efiected in 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 91 
 
 regeneration. "You hath he quickened, who were dead 
 in trespasses and sins." What is the work of creation but 
 bringing into being that which did not previously exist? 
 Yet, to denote the absence of all holy principles and quali- 
 ties in men, previous to regeneration, and their first produc- 
 tion in the soul by the Holy Spirit, when he efiects this 
 work, the apostle calls it a new creation. " If any man be 
 in Christ he is a new creature;" and again, "We are his 
 workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works." Nay 
 more, to show that men neither concur in, nor favour the 
 work of regeneration, that it is in no respect theirs, it is de- 
 clared, to be the overcoming of enmity and opposition. 
 *'You that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your 
 mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." Let 
 it be remembered, that such are the representations of this 
 work which the Holy Ghost has made in the volume of 
 Inspiration, and though the argument derived from them, 
 may be dismissed with a cavil, and a subterfuge, we are sa- 
 tisfied, that it cannot be fairly refuted. To represent the 
 sinner as having full ability to repent and believe, in oppo- 
 sition to such plain, and strong declarations of Scripture, is 
 equally erroneous and dangerous. It encourages him to 
 trust in himself; it prevents a suitable conviction of his sin- 
 fulness, and weakness, and danger, and thereby interposes 
 a serious obstacle in the way of an immediate application ta 
 Christ, and an entire dependence on him. 
 
 3. We remark, still further, that the manner in which 
 sinners are exhorted to immediate submission to a sovereign 
 God, has excited both surprise and alarm. No truths are 
 more clearly, strongly, and repeatedly taught in Scripture 
 than these two: that we are reconciled to God through 
 Christ; and that we are renewed and prepared for heavenj, 
 
03 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 only by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the cen- 
 tre in which all the lines of Jhe Gospel fl^igtjneet; the only 
 medium of access to the Father; the only source of forgive- 
 ness and peace to the sinner; and yet, we sometimes hear 
 addresses to unregenerate men, exhorting them to imme- 
 diate submission to a sovereign God, to be disposed of ac- 
 cording to his will, irrespective of Christ, and losing sight 
 of him as the only source of salvation. We believe that 
 this mode of address arises from peculiar views of the nature 
 of the atonement, as a mere exhibition of divine displeasure at 
 sin, and from not considering Christ, in his mediatorial cha- 
 racters, as the Covenant Head, Substitute, Surety, and High 
 Priest of his people. But, from whatever source it may 
 arise, we cannot but think that it derogates from the honour 
 of the Redeemer, and that it jeopardizes the salvation of 
 the sinner, by not calling his attention with sufficient clear- 
 ness to Christ, as the only source of eternal life. 
 
 The work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating men, is an- 
 other fundamental part of the Gospel scheme. " We are 
 saved by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost." He sheds celestial light into the darkened 
 mind; he elevates, and purifies the debased affections; and 
 revealing to the sinner his guilt, and helplessness, and 
 misery, enables him by his grace to receive, and rest on 
 Christ for salvation. What then are we to think of those 
 exhortations, which lose sight of these important Gospel 
 truths; which would persuade the sinner of his ability to 
 repent and believe, and which do not direct him to the Holy 
 Spirit, who alone can renew and purify his heart? 
 
 They may be boastingly proclaimed as improvements in 
 theology, and as evidencing the march of mind, and the in- 
 crease of light; but they really divest the Gospel of its most 
 
 ^- 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 93 
 
 peculiar and lovely features. Those exhortations, which, 
 instead of directing the sinner to Christ that he may glorify 
 the Father, by believing in the Son, through the assistance 
 of the Holy Spirit, direct him to submit to God, to be 
 saved or damned according to his sovereign will, by with- 
 drawing his attention from Christ as the only Saviour, do 
 practically, though we hope unintentionally, withhold from 
 both the Redeemer and Holy Spirit that honour which 
 the Scriptures ascribe to them, in the deliverance of our 
 souls from spiritual death. 
 
 4. Our last remark under this head is, that usually a 
 work of conviction precedes a work of true conversion. 
 Sudden or instantaneous conversions, such as happened on 
 the days of Pentecost, sometimes occur; but they should be 
 considered as remarkable occurrences; and special care is 
 necessary, to be satisfied that they are true conversions. 
 The events of the day of Pentecost were for the special 
 purpose of attesting the divine commission of the apos- 
 tles, at the commencement of their ministry; and though the 
 same divine influences are now exerted in the conversion 
 of sinners, it yet appears to us to be an erroneous procedure, 
 to hold up the immediate conversions of that day, as a model 
 of what we are now to expect to be of frequent occurrence. 
 I am aware that I am touching a delicate point, and that I 
 shall, probably, be denounced by some, as an enemy to re- 
 vivals of religion. The accusation I indignantly repel as a 
 slander. A real revival of religion is the greatest blessing 
 which God bestows on apostate man. But the danger of 
 self-deception in religion is great; and it is an awful thing 
 to be accessary to leading men into spiritual delusion. 
 Hence we find the most skilful practical writers, carefully 
 distinguishing between mere conviction of sin and real 
 13 
 
94 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 conversion; laynig down marks from the Scriptures by 
 which we may judge whether we have, indeed, experienced 
 a change of heart; guarding against a too hasty conclusion 
 in our own favour, and exhorting us to make sure work for 
 eternity. Now, frequently, we hear of sudden and almost 
 instantaneous conversions — and these conversions are spo- 
 ken of with the utmost confidence, as though it were crimi- 
 nal to doubt their reality, and the number of converts is 
 sometimes, we fear, ostentatiously proclaimed to the world. 
 Caution and reverence are never more necessary than when 
 we speak of the work of the Spirit of God; and wo to the 
 man who reviles or opposes that work ! But there are some 
 points on which we may speak without fear. The present 
 age is remarkable for a fondness for innovation and novelty, 
 and for contempt for what belongs to other times. But 
 the old precious truths of the Gospel, which were preached 
 by apostles, and martyrs, and reformers, are those only 
 which the Holy Spirit will make effectual for the conversion 
 of sinners. It is the old Gospel which Paul, and Augus- 
 tine, and Luther, and Owen, and Whitefield, and Davies, 
 and Edwards, and Witherspoon preached, that the Holy 
 Spirit always has, and always will bless, and we dare preach 
 no other Gospel, we dare embrace no mere modern refine- 
 ments or innovations, lest, haply, the apostolic malediction 
 should fall upon us *'if any man preach any other Gospel 
 unto you than that which you have received, let him be ac- 
 cursed." Magnifying the ability of the sinner; diminish- 
 ing a sense of our indebtedness to the grace of the Re- 
 deemer and the Holy Spirit; confidently pronouncing on 
 the reality of what are represented as immediate conver- 
 sions; undervaluing the attainments and graces of aged 
 Christians, and determined denunciation of those who do 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 95 
 
 assent to these things, as though they must be cold hearted 
 formalists, and enemies to revivals of religion — these, we 
 are confident, are not the fruits of the Spirit of God. In- 
 deed, there is reason to fear, that dark days in relation 
 to real religion are before us. While we bless God for the 
 revivals w^ith which different parts of our land are favoured, 
 there are yet many things to awaken serious apprehensions, 
 that the benefits which would otherwise be derived from 
 them, will be greatly diminished. A fondness for new 
 measures in action, and for new metaphysical speculations 
 in theology, as though that which is old must therefore be 
 wrong, — the assumption of arbitrary principles in philoso- 
 phy, and bringing these principles to the explanation of 
 Scripture, instead of implicit submission to its plain declara- 
 tions — opposition to creeds and confessions, and denuncia- 
 tions of them, as though they were hostile to freedom of in- 
 quiry, and the various attempts which are made to force 
 innovations on the Church, with the distractions which 
 these attempts cause — will, we greatly fear, produce in the 
 minds of many a heartless indifference to religion, or open 
 infidelity. The advocates of error have always laid claim 
 to superior sanctity, zeal, and benevolence; they have al- 
 ways been loud in proclaiming their own superior wisdom, 
 and piety, and success; but they have also always been dis- 
 tinguished for undervaluing the importance of sound doc- 
 trine, for a bitter and crafty disingenuousness, which, under 
 the pretence of liberality, denounces, as bigotted and narrow 
 minded, all those who contend for the importance of the 
 truth which is according to godliness, and who oppose with 
 firmness the inroads of error; and if ever that time comes, 
 when mere conviction of sin shall be generally mistaken 
 for a thorough conversion to God, and when multitudes, 
 
96 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 under a transient excitement, shall be hurried, in an uncon- 
 verted state, into the communion of the Church, and when 
 in addition to these things. Gospel truth shall be under- 
 valued, and error on fundamental points shall be exten- 
 sively preached, then will the glory have departed from our 
 Church, and the paralysing chills of spiritual death pierce its 
 vitals. 
 
 The plainness of these remarks, will, no doubt, be cen- 
 sured by many, who are for treating with gentleness the in- 
 roads of error, and would cast the mantle of charity over 
 the defects of those who are its advovates. To such we 
 would reply, that the most effectual aid which they can lend 
 to the cause of error, is to palliate, excuse, or defend the 
 conduct of its advocates, and represent them as holy, de- 
 voted, and zealous above others, while they censure those 
 who oppose their errors as exhibiting a rash and mistaken 
 zeal. Truth is not thus to be sacrificed, nor is its cause to 
 be thus defended ; and we remember who has condemned 
 the prophet and the priest of ancient Israel, for having 
 "healed the hurt of the daughter of his people slightly, 
 saying peace, peace, when there is no peace." 
 
 We remarked, that there is a second class of divines 
 who, while they assert the inability of the sinner to change 
 his own heart, yet maintain, that it is perilous to exhort 
 him to any thing short of immediate repentance and faith. 
 One of the most distinguished advocates of this sentiment 
 is the late excellent Andrew Fuller, who contends not only 
 that a sinner is unable to change his heart, but that a 
 conviction of our being utterly lost must precede an appli- 
 cation to the Saviour. <' So long" says he, "as a sinner 
 can find any "hope, or any help in himself, he will never fall 
 at the feet of Christ as utterly undone." 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 97 
 
 To this class of divines we reply, 
 
 1. Their objections would be valid, if we exhorted sin- 
 ners to rest in the mere use of the means; for it is at our 
 peril, if we exhort them to rest any where but in Christ. 
 This however is not the question before us. The only 
 point of inquiry is, whether there are not means, in the dili- 
 gent use of which, a sinner may hope to receive those in- 
 fluences of the Holy Spirit, which are necessary to enable 
 him to rest on Christ by faith. If any exhort sinners, as it 
 has been asserted that some do, to lay at the pool of ordi- 
 nance waiting, and satisfied with their waiting, till God 
 shall bestow on them his grace, they greatly err. Such, 
 however, was not the' practice of sound Calvinistic divines 
 of former days, neither is it the practice of their admirers 
 in the present day. From the multitude of passages which 
 can be selected with ease, from the writings of the old di- 
 vines, we take but one, which however is a fair exhibition 
 of their sentiments as a body. The quotation is from Al- 
 liene's Alarm, and is as follows: "Settle it," says he, ad- 
 dressing the unconverted sinner, "Settle it upon tliy heart, 
 that thou art under everlasting inability ever to recover 
 thyself. Never think thy praying, reading, hearing, con- 
 fessing, amending, will work the cure; these must be attended 
 to, but thou art undone if thou restest in them. Rom. x. 3. 
 Thou art a lost man, if thou hopest to escape drowning on 
 any other plank but Jesus Christ. Jicts iv. 12. Thou 
 must unlearn thyself, and renounce thy own wisdom, thy 
 own righteousness, thy own strength, and throw thyself 
 wholly upon Christ, as a man that swims casts himself upon 
 the water, or else thou canst not escape. While men trust 
 in themselves, and establish their own righteousness, and 
 have confidence in the flesh, they will not come savingly ta 
 
98 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES 
 
 Christ. Luke xviii. 9. Phil. iii. 3. Thou must know 
 thyself to be but loss and dung, thy strength but weakness, 
 thy righteousness rags and rottenness, before there will be 
 an effectual closure between Christ and thee. Phil. iii. 7, 
 8, 9. 2 Cor. iii. 5. ha. Ixiv. 6. Can the lifeless carcase 
 shake off its graves clothes, and loose the bands of death? 
 Then mayest thou recover thyself, who art dead in tres- 
 passes and sins. Therefore, when thou goest to pray, or 
 meditate, or do any of the duties to which thou art here 
 directed, go out of thyself, and call in the help of the 
 Spirit, as despairing to do any thing pleasing to God in 
 thy own strength. Yet neglect not thy duty, but be at 
 the pool, and wait in the way of the Spirit. While 
 the eunuch was reading, then the Holy Ghost did send 
 Philip to him. *dcts viii. 28, 29. When the disciples 
 were praying, when Cornelius and his friends were hear- 
 ing, then the Holy Ghost fell upon them and filled them 
 all. Strive to give up thyself to Christ; strive to pray; 
 strive to meditate; strive an hundred and an hundred times; 
 strive to do as well as thou canst, and while thou art en- 
 deavouring in the way of thy duty, the Spirit of the Lord 
 will come upon thee, and help thee to do what of thyself 
 thou art utterly unable to perform." 
 
 2. We reply again, that the objection would be valid if 
 sinners were exhorted to use the means from sinful motives, 
 or in a sinful way. It is agreed that the works of unre- 
 generate men are all sinful — but some actions are vastly 
 more sinful than others. It is absurd, and dangerous to 
 maintain that all the actions of the unregenerate are equally 
 sinful; that they are equally guilty, whether they pray or 
 whether tliey swear; whether they speak truth or utter 
 falsehood; since, if this is true, there can be no reason for 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 99 
 
 choosing a virtuous, rather than a vicious life, and they 
 would be emboldened to commit every crime. It is better 
 that they should attend on, than that they should neglect 
 the means; and they should be warned of the sinfulness of 
 formality and lukewarmness in religion; that thereby a 
 conviction of the deceitfulness and wickedness of their 
 hearts may be fastened on their consciences. 
 
 There is, moreover, a great difference in the religious 
 performances of unregenerate men. Some aim only to pro- 
 mote their reputation, or interest, or wealth, and thus make 
 these performances subservient to their worldly interest. 
 Of such, it is said, that *' the sacrifice of the wicked is an 
 abomination." Others are sincere in their desires and ef- 
 forts to be saved, and though these desires and efforts arise 
 not from faith and love, but from the fear of deserved wrath, 
 yet they are more acceptable to God, than the heartless per- 
 formances of the former. These desires and efforts which 
 arise from conviction of sin, and fear of perishing, are often 
 preparatory to saving repentance and faith; and hence it 
 has been said, that "religion begins in fear, is carried on by 
 hope, and ends in love." How far the cry of nature, apart 
 from grace, avails for the procuring of blessings, we pretend 
 not to decide. God hears the young ravens when they cry; 
 because Ahab humbled himself before the Lord, the evil 
 which had been threatened to him and his posterity, was 
 averted during his days; and Nineveh was spared from des- 
 truction, because its king and people fasted, and prayed, 
 and forsook their evil ways; and how far the cries for 
 mercy of an awakened sinner avail with God, we shall not 
 pretend to determine. Besides, no one can tell when the 
 renewing influences of the Holy Spirit are first communi- 
 
100 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 cated, or what actions of an awakened sinner proceed 
 from nature, or from grace. 
 
 3. We observe still further, that, when men seriously at- 
 tempt to use the means of grace, that they become acquaint- 
 ed with their real character and condition ; with their de- 
 pravity and helplessness; and thus their self-confidence is 
 destroyed. The chief reason that is offered against exhort- 
 ing the unregenerate to use the means of grace is, lest they 
 should rest in them; and that by urging them to immediate 
 repentance and faith, they will be kept from trusting in any 
 thing which they can perform. But to address a sinner, 
 who is distressed with the perplexity and anguish of an 
 awakened conscience, in the language only of denunciation, 
 and tell him he must instantly believe or perish, and that you 
 have nothing further to say to him, appears to us to be a 
 treatment, as unskilful as it is unkind. We are told of the 
 blessed Redeemer, that ''the bruised reed he did not break, 
 and the smoking flax he did not quench," and that "he spake 
 a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray and not 
 to faint." The preacher of the Gospel is commissioned to 
 proclaim a message of mercy, and should sympathize with 
 those who are alarmed at their guilt and danger, in all their 
 doubts, and discouragements, and temptations, and should 
 cheerfully afford them the instruction and encouragement 
 which they need. 
 
 Besides, as it has been already observed, it is only when 
 sinners are awakened to a sense of their danger of perishing, 
 and make an effort to save themselves, that they feel their 
 utter inability to repent, or believe, or do any thing which 
 is spiritually good. Then first, when they attempt to put 
 forth strength, do they learn their weakness. When first 
 they seriously attempt, in sincerity, to use the means; to 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 101 
 
 hear the preached word that they may learn and live; to 
 read, and meditate, and pray, it is then that they become 
 sensible of the impenitence and depravity of their hearts, of 
 the blindness of their minds, and of their alienation from 
 all good. They are often filled with surprise and dismay, 
 when they contemplate the sin that attaches to all their re- 
 ligious performances; the coldness and formality of their 
 prayers; their weakness, and failure in the fulfilment of 
 their resolutions, their many omissions of duty, and their 
 backwardness to hold communion with God. It is after sad 
 experience has taught them their weakness, and they are 
 compelled to cry ''help. Lord! we perish without thine aid," 
 that grace is bestowed, and the Holy Spirit enables them to 
 believe in Christ, that they may be saved. Thus, while 
 they are striving to enter in at the strait gate by the use 
 of means, God meets them in mercy, and places them in the 
 way to life. 
 
 IV. A few remarks designed for ihe practical improve- 
 ment of our subject, shall close our discourse. 
 
 1. Let those who are anxious for the salvation of their 
 souls, be encouraged fervently and perseveringly to seek 
 the mercy of the Lord. ''The kingdom of heaven sufTereth 
 violence, and the violent take it by force." Let no obsta- 
 cles discourage, no difiiculties afiright, or weary you . "What 
 shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose 
 his own soul?" The present is the season of conflict, hea- 
 ven is the abode of perfect bliss. "Strive to enter in at the 
 strait gate." Prize the Sabbath, and the ordinances of the 
 House of God, and take his Word for your counsellor and 
 guide. " Search the Scriptures. " Read them frequently, 
 devoutly, and with deep meditation. By daily and impor- 
 14 
 
102 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 tunate prayer, ask that your sins may be forgiven, and your 
 hearts be renewed. Repair to the merciful Redeemer, and 
 commit your souls to him; live in dependence on his grace, 
 and he will keep you from falling, and present you faultless 
 before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. 
 
 2. While we exhort impenitent sinners to use the means, 
 we also solemnly remind them, that repentance and faith are 
 their immediate duty; that impenitence and unbelief are hate- 
 ful to God, and will ruin their souls. Unbelief in Christ is, 
 emphaticall}^, the great soul destroying sin. It will be of 
 no avail to plead in excuse your inability to repent and 
 believe, for that inability arises from, and is a proof of the 
 corruption of 3 our natures. The carnal mind is enmity 
 against God; and are you content to live at enmity with 
 God, and under his displeasure. Will you say, " Lord, 
 such is my aversion to thee, that I cannot mourn over 
 my offences against thee— such is my delight in sin, 
 that I prefer it, even before thy approbation?" "As ambas- 
 sadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we 
 pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Is 
 the enmity of your hearts against the divine government 
 and laws so strong that you cannot subdue it; do you find 
 that no efforts, no promises, no resolutions, no vows can 
 avail to deliver you from the debasing influence, that sin 
 sheds over your souls? — go, then, to the mercy seat, and con- 
 fess before God your depravity and weakness, and ask that 
 he would give his Spirit to renew your souls. Suffer me, 
 however, to remind you that you are now in an awful state 
 of sin and spiritual death; that you are neglecting your 
 most important concerns, and becoming more hardened in 
 irreligion under the very means which are designed to pro- 
 mote your salvation. Remember the many privileges which 
 
THE USE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. 103 
 
 you have abused; the many sabbaths which you have pro- 
 faned; the many prayerless days which you have spent; 
 the many admonitions which you have slighted; how much 
 your Bible has been neglected, and how often the voice of 
 conscience has been stifled, instruction despised, and re- 
 proof hated. Think you that it will be a light thing to 
 stand convicted of all these sins, before the throne of your 
 awful and incensed Judge. You may now jest with these 
 things, and in scenes of riot and mirth with your sinful 
 companions, you may scoff at the sacred institutions of reli- 
 gion, but you will stand confounded in the presence of Al- 
 mighty God. When the heavens shall pass away with a 
 great noise, and the earth be burnt up, and the elements 
 melt with fervent heat, and assembled worlds stand before 
 Christ to be judged by him, jesting and scoffs will cease. 
 Can your heart endure, or your hands be strong before the 
 consuming fire of the Almighty's wrath? Be entreated 
 then to become wise in time. As yet you have lived in 
 vain. Immersed in worldly pursuits, you have forgotten 
 the heavenly inheritance, and have been posting with rapid 
 strides to ruin. But there is yet hope concerning you. 
 To you the voice of mercy calls, inviting you to return to 
 your God that you may live. " Seek ye the Lord while 
 he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the 
 wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
 thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will 
 have mercy upon him, and to our God for he will abun- 
 dantly pardon." 
 
 3. Finally. In the use of the means of grace we should 
 endeavour to hold communion with God, and to make ad- 
 vances in knowledge and holiness. Through these means 
 we hold intercourse with God, we express our reverence 
 
104 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 and love, and implore his grace; and through them he be- 
 stows on us heavenly blessings. Let us guard against rest- 
 ing in the mere lifeless formal use of them, or imagining 
 that by such a use we have fulfilled our duty. In all our 
 attempts to worship, we should remember the declaration of 
 the Redeemer, " God is a Spirit, and they who worship him 
 must worship him in spirit and in truth." Whenever we 
 have attended on the means, we should press on our con- 
 sciences the inquiry, "what spiritual benefits have I re- 
 ceived? what good resolutions have I formed? what ad- 
 vances have I made in wisdom and purity?" Thus shall 
 we become more meet to be partakers of the inheritance 
 of the saints in light; and when death shall remove us from 
 this region of shadows, of conflict, and of sin, we shall be 
 admitted into the immediate presence of God, and unite 
 with the whole company of the redeemed in the exalted 
 worship of heaven. 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 22d January, 1832, by the 
 Rev. Alexander M'-Farlane, of Carlisle. 
 
 OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. — 
 1 Cor. V. 13. 
 
 A man that is an heretic, after tlie first and second admonition, reject. — 
 Tit. iii. 10. 
 
 The Church of God is a regularly constituted society, 
 possessing laws and government, adapted to secure her purity 
 and permanence, and to manifest and vindicate the honour 
 of her Lord. The glorious Mediator, being exalted to the 
 right hand of the Majesty on high, and having received all 
 power in heaven and on earth, promulgates laws and in- 
 stitutes ordinances, establishes government in his Church, 
 and appoints officers for its administration. "And he gave 
 some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; 
 and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the 
 saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the 
 body of Christ." The language of the Lord Jesus, ad- 
 dressed at first to his apostles, applies in a subordinate 
 sense to all the ministers and rulers of the Church; " What- 
 15 
 
106 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES, 
 
 soever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven: 
 and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in 
 heaven." The pastors and elders were authorized and re- 
 quired, by divine institution, to teach and to rule in the 
 Churches. "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves," says 
 the apostle Paul to the elders of Ephesus, <'and to all the 
 flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you over- 
 seers.'^ "The elders which are among you I exhort," says 
 the apostle Peter, "feed the flock of God which is among 
 you, taking the oversight thereof." On the other hand, 
 the people were required to render obedience and honour, 
 to those appointed to rule over them. " Obey them that 
 have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." "Let 
 the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double hon- 
 our, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." 
 In every society, government of some kind is indispens- 
 able. No community can exist among men without laws, 
 and an adequate power to put them in execution. What 
 would become of the family circle, sacred to order and 
 harmony, if the parental authority were prostrated ? How 
 could public tranquillity, or private security, be maintained, 
 if none were empowered to assert the majesty of the laws? 
 The Church is distinguished from other societies, not by 
 being without law and government, but by possessing them 
 from divine appointment. The Lord Jesus has ordained 
 officers in his Church, whose duty it is to teach and to rule; 
 to make known the laws of his kingdom, and to secure 
 their observance by all its subjects. The government of 
 the Church, therefore, is established by the wisdom and 
 authority of her glorious head; and whatever acts are done 
 according to the instructions which he has given, receive 
 his sanction and ratification. 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 107 
 
 But here perhaps it may be inquired, is there no uncer- 
 tainty about the laws of Scripture? Do not different de- 
 nominations of Christians understand the doctrines and in- 
 stitutions of revelation very differently? Does not this 
 fact prove our liability to mistake in this matter? Is it not 
 possible, that whilst we are claiming to be administering the 
 laws of Christ, we are in reality enforcing nothing better 
 than the inventions of men? 
 
 To these inquiries we reply, the Holy Scriptures give no 
 intimation that the laws of God are ambiguous or uncer- 
 tain. If they were so, the Church would be left without 
 laws; for law^s that are doubtful or incomprehensible, are 
 of no validity where righteousness directs the administra- 
 tion. On the contrary, it is invariably assumed, that the 
 doctrines and ordinances of the Bible are, to the humble 
 and teachable, easy of comprehension, and remote from all 
 uncertainty. It is true. Christians differ in their intrepreta- 
 tion of Scripture; but where is the denomination of Chris- 
 tians who will impute this diversity, in matters of import- 
 ance, to the ambiguity or uncertainty of the sacred record, 
 or will admit that there is no fault in those who differ from 
 their interpretation? We are not entitled to the name of 
 Christians, if we be not prepared to affirm the perfect plain- 
 ness of Scripture, in all things essential to faith and godli- 
 ness; and the obligation resting upon all, to understand 
 aright its doctrines and precepts, its commands and institu- 
 tions. No man can be innocent, whilst pretending to de- 
 duce from the inspired volume a system of error; or whilst 
 maintaining opinions in opposition to the pure doctrines of 
 Divine revelation. It is absurd to object that the Bible is 
 a communication from heaven, and yet unintelligible; that 
 the laws of God are so obscure or ambiguous, that they 
 
108 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 may be misunderstood or disregarded with impunity. We 
 therefore consider ourselves as chargeable with neither pre- 
 sumption nor usurpation, whilst interpreting the doctrines 
 and institutions of the Gospel, and applying them for the 
 perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of 
 Christ. 
 
 The officers appointed by the Lord Jesus in his Church, 
 are invested with authority to prevent the entrance of the 
 unworthy; to exercise salutary discipline upon offending 
 members; and to exclude the contumacious and impenitent. 
 
 I. It belongs to the offfcers of the Church, to prevent the 
 admission of unworthy persons to her fellowship. 
 
 We cheerfully and readily recognize the obligation of our 
 Saviour's command, ''Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of 
 all nations." We acknowledge it to be the sacred duty of 
 the Christian ministry to preach the Gospel to all, to incul- 
 cate upon men universally, the duty of believing in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and to make known to them the encour- 
 aging and gracious promise, " He that believeth and is bap- 
 tized shall be saved." We rejoice in the new and animating 
 prospects furnished by the favour of Providence, for the 
 promulgation of the glad tidings of salvation, to the remote 
 and destitute. We rejoice to hear of multitudes, who hav- 
 ing received Christian instruction, and having given credi- 
 ble evidence of faith and piety, are admitted into the bosom 
 of the Church. We take pleasure in believing that exer- 
 tions to evangelize the world will not cease, or be relaxed, 
 whilst any portion of the human family remains estranged 
 from the household of God. It is our joyful anticipation, 
 as it is our constant prayer, that the righteous and benignant 
 reign of Immanuel will soon extend over the whole earth, 
 bless all the nations, and continue to the end of time. 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 109 
 
 It is lamentable, however, to observe how many, to whom 
 the Gospel is published, remain unqualified for membership 
 in the Church. Look upon the population of our cities, 
 towns, and country at large; you will find immense num- 
 bers, who think so little of Christ and his salvation, that 
 they have never been baptized in his name. They give 
 no evidence that the message of heavenly grace has ever 
 engaged their serious attention. They hear the Gospel, 
 at least occasionally, and witness the solemnities of our 
 holy religion; yet they show an utter aversion to the sa- 
 cred obligations and duti^^s of the Christian profession. We 
 deeply deplore, whilst we state, the melancholy fact. We 
 lament the insensibility, and criminal apathy, of so many 
 who hear the Gospel: and we pray that the Holy Spirit, by 
 his efficacious influence, may incline the hearts of men uni- 
 versally to hear, believe, and obey the words of eternal life. 
 
 But are the doors of the Church to be opened wide for 
 the reception of all who, for any reason, may seek to enter? 
 Is every restriction, upon the indiscriminate and unlimited 
 admission of members, to be removed? Most assuredly not. 
 In every age, and in every condition of the Church, some 
 corrupt and vicious men have been willing to assume the 
 name and profession of Christianity; and even to undertake 
 the sacred functions of the Christian ministry. To the 
 officers of Christ's kingdom it belongs to judge of the quali- 
 fications of applicants for admission; and fidelity to their 
 Lord requires them to prevent the entrance of the ignorant, 
 the profane and licentious. To admit the wicked and irre- 
 ligious to the privileges of Church membership, would be 
 a grievous violation of the command of Christ, " Give not 
 that which is holy unto the dogs." '^ Except a man be 
 born again he cannot see the kingdom of God:" he cannot 
 16 
 
110 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 understand the nature, perform the duties^ or participate in 
 the enjoyments, of the kingdom of grace upon earth, or of 
 the kingdom of glory in heaven. " For the kingdom of God 
 is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and 
 joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that in these things serveth 
 Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men." Un- 
 der every dispensation of the Church, God commands his 
 ministers to "put a difference between holy and unholy, 
 between unclean and clean." 
 
 The existence and purity of the Church require this dis- 
 crimination. The promiscuous introduction of men of 
 every character would destroy its essential and appropriate 
 nature. Of whom does the Church consist? of them cer- 
 tainly who know and believe the truth; who give evidence 
 of repentance for sin, union to Christ, and conformity to 
 his image; who, being delivered from the delusions and 
 corruptions of this world, manifest by a life of holiness that 
 they are partakers of the divine nature, and of the righte- 
 ousness of our Lord Jesus; who, by a diligent obedience to 
 the commands and institutions of Christ, and by the sanc- 
 tifying operations of his Spirit, are made meet for the in- 
 heritance of the saints in glory. Are the ignorant and er- 
 roneous, the profligate and profane, to be received into such 
 a society as this? Nothing so incongruous would be toler- 
 ated in any other case. Would you aamit tne declared 
 enemies of your country, and of all tne iioeral and equit- 
 able institutions, to the rights and privileges of citizens? 
 Would any society receive to its fellowship men whose 
 opinions and conduct are in manifest hostility to its pri- 
 mary design and fundamental principles? It surely re- 
 quires no labour to prove, that the unholy and profane are 
 not qualified for membership in a community whose grand 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. Ill 
 
 characteristic is holiness to the Lord; that the enemies of 
 truth and righteousness ought not to be admitted into the 
 Church, to dishonour the doctrine of Christ, and the pro- 
 fession of his name. 
 
 The officers of the Church are required to guard with as- 
 siduous care against the admission of the ignorant and un- 
 sanctified. From the desire prevalent, in most Christian 
 communities, to increase their numbers, to extend their in- 
 fluence, and to gratify those who evince a prepossession in 
 their favour, there is reason to fear that sufficient caution 
 will not be employed to exclude the unworthy; and espe- 
 cially to prevent the sacred ministry from being profaned, 
 by the conceited novice, the corrupt worldling, and the 
 equivocating heretic. Hence the danger of filling the 
 Church with men who neither know nor obey the truth, 
 and of admitting to the sacred office those who have never 
 learned the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity. There 
 is cause for apprehension, where large numbers are hurried 
 into the Church, upon the feeling and impulse of a mo- 
 ment; and many are added to its ministry, who are not at 
 the pains of concealing their hostility to its peculiar and ac- 
 knowledged principles. 
 
 It is undeniable, that within a few years a great change 
 has taken place in the theological opinions of many of the 
 teachers of our denomination. Are we expected to find, 
 in every Presbyterian minister, a lover and defender of the 
 venerable standards of our Church; one who zealously in- 
 culcates upon the people the doctrines which they contain, 
 and which we believe to be faithfully derived from the 
 Holy Scriptures. Now it has become no uncommon thing 
 to hear of Presbyterian ministers sneering at the Confession 
 and Catechisms of the Presbyterian Church; pronouncing 
 
112 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the very idea of a creed an absurdity; and, as might be* 
 expected, industriously setting forth a system of opinions- 
 as different from that of our standards as darkness from 
 day. This state of things the revered fathers of our 
 Church could scarcely have anticipated. The language of 
 the standards which they adopted, is remarkable for pre- 
 cision and perspicuity. It is not possible to mistake the 
 system of doctrine which they were designed to teacb. 
 Could it be thought, therefore, that any would seek a con- 
 nexion with a Church, without believing her articles of 
 faith? Might it not have been supposed, that every feeling 
 of candour, honour, and uprightness, would deter men 
 from solemnly professing to receive and adopt a system of 
 doctrine which they do not believe, and which they con- 
 sider themselves required to contradict and repudiate? 
 
 Our Presbyteries are bound to watch, with vigilance and 
 fidelity, against the entrance of unsound men into the min- 
 istry. Whatever might have been anticipated, the history 
 of the Church abundantly shows, that the matter cannot be 
 safely left to the honour and conscience of the applicants 
 themselves. If permitted, every kind and degree of error 
 will gain admission into the Church. The doctrines of 
 our standards will be forgotten, or calumniated; and puri- 
 ty and peace will be estranged from our borders. A tide 
 of innovation and error, will sweep away all the landmarks 
 of truth and order, erected in the early and purer times of 
 (the Church. As watchmen on the walls of Zion, it belongs 
 to us to see that no enemy, whatever disguise he may put 
 on, be permitted to enter our gates; as constituted guar- 
 dians of the public welfare, we must beware of committing 
 the direction of affairs to men who are hostile to our best 
 ^otejrests. A man who is not cordially and thoroughly at- 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 113 
 
 tached to our system, ought not to obtrude himself upon 
 us; and if he should attempt it, the Presbytery must abhor 
 the thought of participating in the guilt of his prevarication 
 and falsehood. 
 
 The present distracted state of the Presbyterian Church 
 is owing, in a great degree, to the facility with which men 
 of almost every shade of opinion have been admitted to 
 preach among us. Some Presbyteries, it is said, have dis- 
 pensed with the Constitutional questions required to be 
 proposed to every candidate at his ordination; and others 
 have not considered opinions, the most remote from our 
 standards, a sufficient cause for rejection. Perhaps I may 
 say with truth, that none have been duly alert in guarding 
 the entrance to the holy ministry. We are now suffering 
 the deplorable consequences of such unconstitutional and 
 culpable remissness. 
 
 Some departures from truth are far more pernicious in 
 their nature and tendency than others: against such it be- 
 comes us to guard with special care and diligence. An er- 
 ror may be of such a nature, and lead to such consequences, 
 as to be incompatible with a sound and scriptural system of 
 divinity. Any material error in respect to the all impor- 
 tant doctrine of atonement, is of this character. Such an 
 error, we hesitate not to say, is committed, whenever the 
 atonement of Christ is represented as indefinite, in regard 
 to its objects; and as not insuring the salvation of those for 
 whom it was made. Indeed it is nothing better than 
 an abuse of language, to denominate any thing an atone- 
 ment, which does not make an effectual satisfaction for the 
 offences of him or them, in behalf of whom it is offered; 
 and insure, as its consequence, the reconciliation of the 
 parties previously at variance. The inconceivable suffer- 
 
1 14 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES, 
 
 ings of our Lord Jesus Christ may be called an exhibition^ 
 or a display, or a symbolical representation, or whatever 
 else you please, except aji atonement; but an atonement 
 they can with no propriety be denominated, if they did not 
 fully satisfy the divine justice for the sins of men, and 
 make certain the reconciliation with God, of all those for 
 whom the atoning Redeemer became the substitute and 
 surety. 
 
 An error here never remains solitary; it will soon be 
 found in company with a denial of the doctrine of original 
 sin, of the vicarious nature, altogether, of the sufferings of 
 Christ, of the imputation of his righteousness to believers 
 for justification, and of the necessity and reality of the 
 Spirit's operations, in regenerating and sanctifying the soul. 
 Did time permit, it would be easy to show how all these 
 pernicious errors are naturally, and almost unavoidably, con- 
 nected with each other; but it is enough to know that in 
 fact they are usually seen associated. How extremely haz- 
 ardous is it then, to admit any man who holds one of them, 
 to be a teacher in the Presbyterian Church? One of these 
 errors admitted, we must expect to find a host of others 
 following in its train. 
 
 Let those, then, who are appointed to guard the avenues 
 to Church membership, and to the ofiice of the ministry, 
 justly appreciate the high and responsible trust reposed in 
 them. Let them' beware of receiving into the Church of 
 Christ the ignorant, the scandalous and irreligious; let them 
 beware of admitting to the office of teaching and ruling in 
 the Church, men who, they have reason to believe, do not 
 accord in judgment or practice with its authorized princi- 
 ples. An increase of numbers will be a poor compensation 
 for the introduction of unsoundness and irreligion into the 
 Church. 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 115 
 
 2. The officers of the Church are required to exercise 
 discipline upon offending members. In every society, 
 whose members are imperfect, discipline is necessary. If 
 one of your children do wrong, you admonish, reprove, or 
 chasten him, as the case may require. In seats of learning, 
 from the village school to the dignified university, the dis- 
 orderly are reclaimed, and a healthful state of the institu- 
 tion maintained, by the application of suitable discipline. 
 The Lord Jesus has appointed discipline as the means of 
 restoring his erring children, and of promoting the purity 
 and welfare of his Church. Warnings, admonitions, re- 
 bukes, and even separation from the communion of the 
 saints, are to be employed for these purposes. 
 
 In the reception of members to the Church, the ministers 
 and elders are not exempt from mistake. Notwithstanding 
 the utmost caution, some unworthy persons gain admission; 
 and even the real disciples of Christ are imperfect, and lia- 
 ble to error and transgression. In what manner then shall 
 the honour of Christ, and the authority of his laws, be vin- 
 dicated? How shall the erring disciple be restored, and 
 the Church preserved from the contamination of the wick- 
 ed? The Scriptures point out discipline as the proper 
 means. No discredit can be incurred by the Church from 
 the misconduct of its members, if the salutary rules of dis- 
 cipline be promptly applied. No encouragement is given 
 to transgress, if there be reason to expect that transgression 
 will be followed by adequate correction. 
 
 3. The rules of the Church possess the power to exclude 
 the contumacious and impenitent. If every means em- 
 ployed to reclaim an offending member be found insuffi- 
 cient, he must be separated from the communion of the 
 Church. The Scriptures prefixed to this discourse leave 
 
116 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 no room for doubt on this subject: "Put away from among 
 yourselves that wicked person." '< A man that is an here- 
 tic after the first and second adhionition reject." Other 
 quotations might be made to the same purpose. "If he 
 neglect to hear the Church, says our Saviour, let him be 
 unto thee as a heathen man and a publican;" an apostle 
 commands the Thessalonians to ''withdraw themselves from 
 every brother that walketh disorderly." Every society 
 must possess power to exclude those whose membership is 
 found incompatible with the chief design of the institution. 
 The Church can be no exception to this. Its members asso- 
 ciate upon the basis of certain recognized principles, and 
 for the attainment of certain important ends. If the con- 
 nexion of any one be found to infringe these principles, 
 and to frustrate these ends, it is within the province of the 
 constituted authorities of the Church to declare him to be 
 no longer in its fellowship. The exercise of this power, 
 when a proper occasion calls for it, is an indispensable and 
 very important duty. However unpleasant to our feelings, 
 a due regard to the command and glory of God, to the puri- 
 ty, peace and welfare of the Church, requires that we 
 should not shrink from the performance of it. 
 
 But here the question will arise, by whom is the disci- 
 pline of the church to be administered? Who are author- 
 ized to judge of the qualifications of members, to apply the 
 laws of Christ for the correction of what is wrong in them, 
 and to exclude the scandalous and contumacious offender.'' 
 I have no disposition to enter into an argument in relation 
 to ecclesiastical polity; whether the government of the 
 Church belongs, by divine right, to pastors in conjunction 
 with ruling elders, or to the congregation at large. You 
 are satisfied with the doctrine and practice of the Presby- 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 117 
 
 lerian Church on this subject. You have no disposition to 
 renounce the system approved by Calvin and Knox, and 
 by the able and pious founders of our religious community. 
 The Waldenses, those famous witnesses for God and truth, 
 retained the simple and scriptural form of Presbyterianism, 
 when all the world was corrupted by the abominations of 
 the Romish hierarchy. Under the influence of this sys- 
 tem, the most glorious triumphs of the Reformation were 
 achieved. When strictly maintained, it has ever been 
 found most effectual in checking the aberrations of heretics; 
 in purifying the Church from error and licentiousness ; 
 and in promoting sound doctrine and pure religion. 
 
 Shall the degenerate Church of Geneva, the corrupted 
 Presbyterian Churches of England, or even the present 
 condition of our own Church, be adduced to prove that 
 Presbyterianism is not adequate to prevent the entrance of 
 baneful error, or the prevalence of pernicious practices? 
 We deeply lament the degeneracy of churches planted and 
 watered by the labours of Calvin, and Beza, and Turretin. 
 We are grieved to learn that places of worship, dedicated 
 to the honour of the Son of God, by the pious and ortho- 
 dox Presbyterians of England, are polluted by the blas- 
 phemies of Socinianism. And we are no less grieved to 
 learn that, in our own beloved community, opinions have 
 gained a currency, which are more in harmony with the 
 creed of Pelagius, than with that of the excellent men who 
 founded our Church, or framed its standards. 
 
 Whilst we admit and lament these departures from the 
 purity of the Gospel, we are far from conceding that they 
 can be fairly imputed to any defect in the Presbyterian form 
 of church government: or that the rules and discipline of 
 Presbyterianism, if faithfully applied, would have been 
 17 
 
118 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 found Insufficient to prevent them. The noblest ship 
 that ever floated on the bosom of the deep, must have 
 her efficient commander, her able and faithful crew; if these 
 be wanting, the ill-fated vessel will soon run upon the 
 shoals, or be dashed against the rocks. The constitution 
 and laws of the country may be wise and excellent; but if 
 the administration become corrupt, and the execution of 
 the laws be neglected, it is preposterous to suppose that the 
 commonwealth can escape detriment. 
 
 If the discipline of the Church be relaxed, or wholly ne- 
 glected; if no pains be taken to prevent the entrance of men 
 whose adverse propensities and foreign attachments are no- 
 torious; if public teachers be permitted to declare them- 
 selves in opposition to the acknowledged doctrine and or- 
 der of the Church, whilst the appointed guardians of her 
 purity and peace make no effiart to repress their presump- 
 tion, and punish their treachery; ought it to be looked 
 upon as a matter of astonishment, that the floodgates of 
 error and delusion should be opened upon us, that ortho- 
 doxy should become a term of reproach, and a strict ad- 
 herence to our standards be branded as illiberal and secta- 
 rian? If the majority of pastors and elders become corrupt 
 or remiss, it cannot be expected that care will be taken to 
 preserve inviolate the pure and scriptural doctrines of the 
 Church, or to inflict deserved censure upon treachery 
 and licentiousness. In such a state of things, corruption 
 and error of every kind will not be slow in making their 
 appearance. 
 
 But if, whilst the Church is substantially sound, whilst 
 the pure doctrines of the Gospel are venerated, and the du- 
 ties it enjoins generally practised, heresy and immorality 
 show their hated front, there is no system of government 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 119 
 
 which possesses superior facilities for checking and extir- 
 pating them. A church session can act with incomparably- 
 greater promptness, decision, and energy, than the entire 
 body of the congregation. Its members are, in general, 
 more exempt from the influence of passions and prejudices, 
 adverse to the right discharge of duty; they are less likely 
 to be deceived by the wily arts of heresy, or the imposing 
 pretensions of specious iniquity; and from their superior 
 intelligence, and deeper sense of responsibleness, they are 
 better qualified, as well as more anxious, to do what is just 
 and right. 
 
 The advantages of the Presbyterian organization for the 
 support and defence of truth, and for the suppression of 
 error, are great and obvious. The members of the Pres- 
 bytery, after full examination, judge of the qualifications of 
 the candidate for the ministry, and if they find him defi- 
 cient in ability, soundness, or piety, they have the power, 
 as it is their duty, to reject him. The avenue to the sacred 
 office is, by this arrangement, guarded in the best possible 
 manner. 
 
 To the Presbytery it also belongs to watch with solici- 
 tude over the reputation and conduct of all its members; 
 to arrest those who abandon the safe course marked out by 
 our standards, and launch into the sea of novelty and error; 
 and to preserve the churches under their care from the con- 
 tagion of wickedness and false doctrine. The happiest ef- 
 fects, it may be expected, will follow from a faithful ad- 
 herence to our ecclesiastical standards, and a firm determi- 
 nation to assert their authority. It will be found that a 
 decided movement in condemnation of erroneous opinions, 
 will operate effectually to cool the ardour of heretical en- 
 thusiasts, and to check their presumptuous career into the 
 wild regions of delusion and fanaticism. 
 
120 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 To the higher judicatories, to our Synods and General 
 Assembly, it pertains, to superintend the concerns of the 
 Church more at large, to correct what is amiss in the lower 
 courts, to defend the sacred cause of evangelical truth and 
 piety, to guard the churches against the approaches of pesti- 
 lent error and to devise and execute measures, for the more 
 general prevalence of truth and holiness in the world. 
 
 Here, then, is a system of ecclesiastical government, 
 harmonious, compact, energetic. According to it, the 
 united wisdom and piety of the Church may be exerted for 
 the correction of what is wrong in any part; and on the other 
 hand, whatever is judged useful can, in an orderly and 
 authoritative manner, be established for the common benefit 
 of the whole. Whether we contemplate this system in 
 theory or practice, or in regard to scriptural evidence 
 and authority, we can see no reason why it may not com- 
 pare to advantage with any other. 
 
 When the Lord Jesus organized his Church, he imparted 
 the keys of the kingdom, not to all the people, but to the 
 apostles whom he had chosen. And the apostles, acting by 
 the authority of their Master, committed the power of gov- 
 erhment and discipline to the elders, whom they ordained 
 in every city. The people having exercised their right of 
 choosing, in the case of the seven deacons, were afterwards 
 to obey, not to rule. The administration of ecclesiastical 
 authority by the people at large, is an assumption, not coun- 
 tenanced in the New Testament. 
 
 The uses of discipline are various and important. 
 
 1. It is necessary to prevent the anger of God from 
 resting on his Church; which must be the case, if sin be al- 
 lowed in its members. The ancient Church were com- 
 manded to put a difference between the clean and unclean. 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 121 
 
 between the holy and unholy; and to remove far from 
 them every cause of pollution and guilt. When they ne- 
 glected to do so, they were soon visited with the manifes- 
 tations of God's displeasure. The same obligation rests 
 upon the New Testament Church. '<Be ye holy; for I am 
 holy." Sin, at all times, and wherever found, is offensive 
 to the Divine Majesty. The wicked he reserves to the 
 day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. He will 
 then make it evident, that his forbearance is by no means in- 
 consistent with the strongest disapprobation of sin, and an 
 unchangeable determination to punish it. His chosen and 
 redeemed people are, indeed, delivered from condemna- 
 tion and the wrath to come. Yet, whilst in this life, they 
 are liable to faults and imperfections. If, therefore, sin be 
 allowed in them without admonition or correction, Christ 
 will rebuke and chasten them; and if corrupt doctrines and 
 practices be tolerated in the Church, he will come and fight 
 against it, and remove its candlestick out of his place, ex- 
 cept they repent. To avoid, therefore,, or remove the Di- 
 vine displeasure, discipline must be faithfully applied. The 
 faults of God's children must be corrected, and the hereti- 
 cal and abominable must be excluded from the communion 
 of the faithful. 
 
 2. Discipline is necessary to promote the sanctification 
 of believers, and to reclaim them from what is offensive and 
 sinful. For these important purposes, the ordinary dispen- 
 sation of the word and ordinances are of great and indis- 
 pensable utility. The ambassador of Christ must show unto 
 the people their transgressions and sins; and by a faithful 
 exhibition of the admonitions and reproofs of the Divine 
 word, as well as by the sweet accents of the Gospel, he 
 must call them to repentance and amendment. But if an 
 
128 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 offending member be not reclaimed by the common minis- 
 trations of the Gospel, and if the private means enjoined by 
 our Saviour have been used without effect, the Church 
 must have recourse to discipline, properly so called. Pub- 
 lic admonition, rebuke, suspension, or separation, must be 
 employed as the case may require. If milder remedies be 
 found insufficient, we must not neglect the use of the more 
 severe. There is hope that the erring brother will be 
 brought to wise reflection, and humble penitence. "In the 
 name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered to- 
 gether, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruc- 
 tion of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the 
 day of the Lord Jesus." "And if any man obey not our 
 word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company 
 with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as 
 an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." Discipline, 
 among its other uses, ought to be regarded as a means, 
 appointed by our Lord for the recovery of his straying 
 children. When, therefore, the conduct of any of the 
 members requires the salutary correction of discipline, the 
 rulers of the Church ought not to permit an ill-judged ten- 
 derness to lead them to withhold it. 
 
 3. Discipline is necessary to preserve the purity and 
 peace of the Church. The greatest defections which have 
 taken place, from the purity and simplicity of the Gospel, 
 have proceeded from small beginnings; from deviations, 
 slight at first, from the authorized language and approved 
 customs of the Church. These, under the notion of iynprove- 
 ments, the young and unstable are too often ready to adopt. 
 If permitted to pass without animadversion, or rebuke, 
 something more decisive, and still more dangerous, will 
 soon follow. The standard doctrines of the Church will be 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 123 
 
 assailed; pernicious errors will be embraced and propagated; 
 and licentiousness, and every enormity, will come in like a 
 flood. Look at the degenerate Churches of the old and the 
 new world ; you will find that such has been the progress of 
 things among them. No sound community becomes wholly 
 corrupt at once. From slight beginnings, and by little and 
 little, the most dreadful and ruinous apostacies have been 
 brought about. We ought not, therefore, to account any de- 
 parture from sound doctrine and evangelical practice, as void 
 of danger. Some may, perhaps, in judging from the supposed 
 greater light of the present age, and from the apparent piety 
 of those who are given to change, consider our Church se- 
 cure from the catastrophe which has befallen others. To 
 such I would say, in the language of the apostle, ''Your 
 glorying is not good. Know ye not, that a little leaven 
 leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old 
 leaven, that ye may be a new lump." 
 
 The peace of the Church will be endangered and destroy- 
 ed, if discipline be neglected. Unless unscriptural innova- 
 tions be discountenanced and suppressed by the judicial acts 
 of the Church, disputes and distractions must be perpetual; 
 at least, as long as there remains in the community any re- 
 gard to truth and piety. Are we charged with disturbing 
 the peace of the Church ? There is no good reason why 
 we should be discomposed under such an accusation. The 
 charge applies with much more propriety to those who 
 have given us sufficient cause to sound the alarm of dan- 
 ger; who have brought into jeopardy the doctrines and in- 
 stitutions which we are under the most solemn obligations to 
 cherish and defend. Disturbers of the peace of the Church ! 
 Sweet peace ! heavenly peace ! much as we love thee, we 
 are willing to dispense with thy presence, whilst a hostile 
 banner waves over our Zion, and her bulwarks are assailed by 
 
124 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 an invading foe. Whilst opinions and practices, unknown to 
 our standards, and abhorrent to the judgment of the Church 
 in every age, possess credit and currency within our eccle- 
 siastical limits, we neither expect nor desire peace. Changes 
 cannot be introduced into any religious community without 
 producing disturbances and contentions. The evil, if these 
 changes be unscriptural, must be charged upon those who 
 attempt to introduce them. Opposition to them is matter 
 of praise, not of censure. To preserve the tranquillity of the 
 Church, therefore, and to promote its highest permanent 
 welfare, the correction of errors and abuses by discipline is 
 often indispensable. 
 
 4. Discipline is necessary to vindicate the honour of 
 Christ and of religion, by separating from the Church what- 
 ever is offensive and scandalous. "Now, I beseech you, 
 brethren, mark them which cause divisions and oflfences, 
 contrary to the doctrines which ye have learned, and avoid 
 them." " Now, we command you brethren, in the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from 
 every brother that walkelh disorderly. " What will become 
 of the honour of Christ, the sacredness of the Christian pro- 
 fession, and the veneration due to the holy institutions of 
 the Gospel, if the ignorant and heretical, the vicious and 
 profane, be allowed to participate in the sacramental solem- 
 nities, and still more, in the functions of the sacred minis- 
 try? Before the world, the Church must put a difference 
 between truth and error, between holiness and sin. By the 
 authority of Christ, for the glory of his name, for the repu- 
 tation of religion in the world, the licentious and disorderly, 
 the blasphemer and the heretic, must be excluded from the 
 fellowship of the saints. 
 
 Discipline, to accomplish its purposes, must be exercised 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 125 
 
 with tenderness, impartiality, and solemnity; and, when 
 the case demands it, with promptness and vigour. The 
 rules laid down in the constitution of the Church, in con- 
 formity with Scripture, must be scrupulously followed. 
 There must be no appearance of personal hostility, or pri- 
 vate revenge, or a disposition to seek an occasion for discip- 
 line. It must be evident that the officers of the Church, 
 are influenced by upright intentions, and conscientious 
 motives; by a solemn regard to the authority of Christ, 
 and a sincere desire to promote the welfare of the Church, 
 and of the offender himself. If the case be otherwise, if 
 there be a manifest exhibition of passion and prejudice, of 
 partiality and injustice, it would be vain to expect that dis- 
 cipline should produce a favourable impression upon the 
 Church, or upon the world. 
 
 In this age of affected liberality, but of real licentiousness 
 in religious belief, the ordinance of discipline is divested of 
 much of the weight and solemnity which it ought to pos- 
 sess. It is not unfrequently contemned and set at de- 
 fiance, by men who justly incur its inflictions. Tiiis can- 
 not be done, however, without extreme peril. He that 
 despises the discipline of the Church, despises the institu- 
 tion and authority of the Son of God. The impenitent and 
 presumptuous offender, will find the sentence of the Church 
 confirmed by the Supreme Judge, at the day of final ac- 
 count. "Whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." 
 The man who has fallen under the righteous censures of 
 the Church, is bound to practise submission, humiliation, 
 repentance, and amendment. If lie do not, his abuse 
 and contempt of this Divine institution, will aggravate his 
 condemnation and punishment, when Christ shall judge the 
 world. 
 
 18 
 
126 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 It is not possible, perhaps, nor is it of importance, to 
 mention every occasion upon which the exercise of disci- 
 pline is proper and necessary. Whatever is proved to be 
 wrong by the sacred Scriptures, and by the authorized 
 standards of the Church, may, in certain circumstances, re- 
 quire the correction which discipline alone can furnish. It 
 is the intention of discipline to encourage and promote 
 every thing that is pure, and lovel}'^, and of good report; 
 to remove every stain and imperfection from the Christian 
 character; and to banish from the Church every cause of 
 offence, dishonour, and guilt. If any professor of religion 
 be guilty of neglecting the worship of God, of profaneness, 
 or Sabbath breaking; if he be grossly deficient in the per- 
 formance of relative duties, if he be chargeable with fraud, 
 falsehood, covetousness, malignity, or licentiousness; if he 
 be intemperate, or a promoter of intemperance in others; he 
 is certainly a proper subject for discipline. The private 
 means for reclaiming offenders having been found insuffi- 
 cient, the Church must resort to public censure, or excom- 
 munication. The command and honour of God, the purity 
 and tranquillity of the Church, the welfare of the offender 
 himself, render the employment of discipline, in such cases, 
 an imperative duty. 
 
 The discipline of the Church must be used, when oc- 
 casion requires, to maintain and vindicate the truths of the 
 Gospel, and to suppress heretical innovations. 
 
 The maintenance of evangelical doctrine, is of the highest 
 possible importance. It is by the manifestation of the 
 truth that God is glorified, the Church preserved and ex-' 
 tended, sinners converted, and believers prepared for celes- 
 tial blessedness. On the contrary, false doctrine tends ne- 
 cessarily to dishonour the divine perfections, to corrupt the 
 
 I 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 137 
 
 Church, and to ruin the souls of men. It is possible that 
 error may be employed successfully in catching the atten- 
 tion and exciting the feelings of the ignorant; but after all, 
 a counterfeit Gospel can produce nothing better than a 
 counterfeit religion. We must be able to furnish more 
 authentic proofs of the correctness of our opinions, than that 
 they are adapted to arrest the attention, to alarm the fears, 
 and to agitate the passions of the hearers. *'To the law 
 and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this 
 word, it is because there is no light in them." The trans- 
 cendent value of truth will be in some measure appreci- 
 ated, if we remember that it is only in connexion with it 
 that God is pleased to exert his power, for the conversion, 
 sanctification, and salvation of men. Beyond the limits of 
 Christian instruction, there is no indication of divine influ- 
 ence descending to renew the nature of man, and to quali- 
 fy him for the holiness of heaven. The history of the 
 Church also shows, that a perversion or abandonment of the 
 truth, is soon followed by an interruption of the refreshing 
 showers of heavenly mercy. Surely, then, the Churches 
 redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, have the highest 
 interest in the preservation of the truths of the blessed 
 Gospel; and no zeal, however ardent, no exertions, however 
 strenuous, directed to this object, can be considered dispro- 
 portionate to its importance. 
 
 It might perhaps have been thought that the exercise of 
 discipline would, on no occasion, be necessary for the de- 
 fence of the truth; that no man would seek to obtrude him- 
 self upon a community, whose religious faith was not in 
 harmony with his own; and that no minister, of any de- 
 nomination, would venture to contradict the established 
 .principles of the Society of which he is a member. But 
 
128 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 these anticipations, liowever reasonable, are contradicted 
 by ample experience, both of the past and the present. 
 Too often has the Church been surprised and outraged, by 
 finding her ministers acting in direct contravention to the 
 obligations they assumed, and the professions which they 
 made, at the time of their ordination. 
 
 Most of the communities into which the Church of God 
 is divided, have published to the vvorld a Confession of 
 Faith, exhibiting the doctrines believed, and the rules 
 practised among them. The design of this exhibition is to 
 give information to all whom it may concern, of the princi- 
 ples upon which any particular association of professed 
 Christians is founded; and to provide a common ground of 
 agreement among the members of the same society. This 
 conduct is frank, upright, and honourable. The world has 
 a right to know the principles upon which any religious 
 society is constituted. Concealment is disingenuous, illibe- 
 ral, and a just ground of suspicion. How indeed can any 
 thing deserving the name of a society exist, unless there be 
 some basis of agreement, some principles which are recog- 
 nized by all as true and important? In this there is no en- 
 croachment upon the rights of others. We have unques- 
 tionably the right of choosing our associates; of settling the 
 rules of our intercourse, aiid the terms upon which we are 
 willing to admit others to our fellow'ship. 
 
 Some professed Christians have indeed opposed all creeds 
 and confessions of human composition. The Bible, say 
 they, is our creed: and they speak, in no measured terms, 
 of the presumption, folly, and danger, of introducing any 
 other creed into the Church. The plan which they propose 
 would answer every purpose, if all who profess to believe 
 the Scriptures concurred in the same interpretation of 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 129 
 
 them. The profession of faith in the Bible would then se- 
 cure an agreement, about the truths contained in the Bible. 
 But this is so far from being the case, that we find every 
 shade and variety of opinion, among men who equally pro- 
 fess to believe the Bible — from the pure doctrines of salva- 
 tion, down to the rejection of all that is peculiar and essen- 
 tial to revealed religion. It is evident therefore, that this 
 profession alone cannot secure sound doctnne in any 
 Church, nor exclude the most destructive errors; that 
 there can be no agreement, no harmony, among men dif- 
 fering so widely as they do, who are equally ready to make 
 this profession. 
 
 In fact, every religious denomination have some standard 
 of belief among them, besides the Bible; some creed, avow- 
 ed or understood, which expresses their judgment respect- 
 ing the chief articles of faith. Perceiving this to be the 
 case, some object, not so much to a creed or confession, as 
 to one so extended and particular as those are, which the 
 churches have thought proper to adopt. The creed of the 
 Church, say they, ought to be confined to a few simple 
 principles, in which all Christians can unite. But here it 
 is obvious to inquire, who shall ascertain these few simple 
 principles, in which all Christians can unite? or rather how 
 shall we settle the preliminary question, Who are Chris- 
 tians? Is there no difficulty in answering these inquiries, 
 to the satisfaction of all who may be interested in them? 
 
 What remains, then, but that men, agreeing about the 
 chief principles of religion, form themselves into a society 
 upon the basis of this agreement, upon the profession of 
 their common faith; and that they commit their principles 
 to writing, for the information and satisfaction of all con- 
 cerned. Heretical departures from the truths of the Gos- 
 pel, gave occasion to the formation of creeds and confes- 
 
130 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 sions; and the number of articles to which they are extend- 
 ed is regulated, in a great measure, by the number of er- 
 rors to which men are exposed. 
 
 A few simple principles, however, do in reality deter- 
 mine the whole extent of the theological creed of every 
 denomination of Christians. The details which fill up the 
 volume, are either held in common by all, or are logically 
 deduced from the cardinal principles of the system. The 
 opposers of our Confession of Faith object, not so much to 
 its details, as to its fundamental doctrines. They may pro- 
 fess to find fault with it as too minute, too particular, too 
 far extended; but when they come to explain themselves, 
 it is soon discovered that their hostility is directed against 
 lis principal doctrines, its e^^ewifm/ characteristics. This 
 will be apparent from an enumeration of some of the 
 grand principles of our theological standards. 
 
 These venerable instruments teach the doctrines of di- 
 vine predestination and eternal decrees, that "God hath 
 foreordained whatsoever comes to pass," and in particular, 
 that "some men and angels are predestinated unto ever- 
 lasting life, and others fore-ordained to everlasting death." 
 " Yet, so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is 
 violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the 
 liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but 
 rather established." See Confession of Faith, chap. iii. 
 sec. i. iii. vii. Larg. Cat. 12. 
 
 They teach the complete representative character of 
 Adam, " that the covenant being made with Adam, not 
 only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind de- 
 scending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in 
 him and fell with him, in his first transgression;" that in 
 consequence of the imputation of Adam's sin, all men are 
 
^ 
 
 OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 131 
 
 by nature in a state of condemnation, depravity, and help- 
 lessness, "utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite 
 unto all that is spiritually good: so that having wholly lost 
 all ability of will to any spiritual good, and being dead 
 in sin, man is not able by his own strength to convert 
 himself." 
 
 They teach that " the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God, 
 was made the Substitute and Surety of his people; that by 
 his vicarious obedience and sufferings, he hath fully satis- 
 fied the justice of his Father, and purchased not only re- 
 conciliation, but an everlasting inheritance, for all those 
 whom the leather hath given unto him. Neither are 
 any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, 
 adopted, sanctified and saved, but the elect only." 
 
 They teach that believers are justified on account of the 
 satisfaction and righteousness of Christ, imputed to them, 
 and received by faith alone. 
 
 They instruct us to believe that effectual calling, or re- 
 generation, is the work of God's almighty power and grace, 
 in which man is altogether passive; and that by the imme- 
 diate, internal, and effectual operations of the Holy Spirit, 
 believers are enlightened, sanctified, and sealed, to eternal 
 redemption. 
 
 They show that holiness and good works are the proper 
 fruit and evidence of eternal election, and that without 
 them there can be no well-founded hope of everlasting life. 
 
 They instruct us, that all who are brought into a state of 
 acceptance and sanctification shall, from the unchangeable 
 love of God, the efficacy of the death and intercession of 
 Christ, and the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit, certainly 
 persevere to the end and be eternally saved. 
 
 These are some of the essential and characteristic princi- 
 
132 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 pies of our religious system. If any man believe them, 
 there is no danger of his quarrelling with our Confession of 
 Faith; of his objecting to its extent, or the minuteness 
 of its details. It is against what we deem the essential 
 truths of Divine revelation, the very basis of our religious 
 system, that the enemies of our Confession take exception. 
 Before satisfaction could be given to them, we must cast 
 away what we consider the chief excellence and glory of 
 scriptural Divinity; we must change our system to a form 
 as remote from pure Christianity, as the wanderings of the 
 human imagination are from the infallible dictates of Divine 
 inspiration. 
 
 In framing the standards of the Church, every reason- 
 able allowance ought to be made for the weakness of the 
 human understanding; and for the diversities of opinion 
 which are unavoidable among men of independent minds. 
 A determination ought not to be attempted of questions of 
 no importance, or of doubtful disputation, concerning 
 which there may be a difference among men who agree 
 in the main points of Christianty. It is highly expedient, 
 however, that every religious society should furnish an ex- 
 hibition of the principal articles of their faith, and of the 
 rules and practices prevalent among them. By these sym- 
 bols of the Church, a bond of association, a basis of agree- 
 ment and communion, is provided among the members; 
 a fair and liberal disclosure is made to the world; and use- 
 ful aids are furnished in subserviency to the Scriptures, 
 for the instruction of believers and of their children. 
 
 But the most important ends of a Confession of Faith are 
 not to be attained, unless it be strictly regarded by the 
 community in which it is adopted. Will the creed of a 
 Church indicate to the world the opinions of its members^ 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 133 
 
 if every man allow himself an unlimited license in the re- 
 ception and interpretation of theological doctrines? Can 
 any harmony of judgment or sentiment exist in such a com- 
 munity? Is not the bond of union and fellowship virtually 
 and necessarily broken, by such unwarrantable liberties? 
 
 We have often heard of such a state of things in the secu- 
 larized Church establishments of Europe; of men embrac- 
 ing every opportunity to impugn the very doctrines which 
 the standards of their Church pronounced true and sacred : and 
 we have heard of it with amazement. We never considered 
 it short of insincerity and treachery of the most malignant 
 kind. What judgment, then, shall we form of the same 
 conduct when found among ourselves? Shall we pronounce 
 it a flagrant breach of faith, a scandalous dishonesty in the 
 Churches of Europe, but quite innocent and reputable in 
 the Presbyterian Church of America? It is not to be de- 
 nied, that there are among us men who have embraced a 
 scheme subversive of the known and established profession 
 of the community to which they belong; who do not hesi- 
 tate to use the language of disapprobation and contempt, 
 when speaking of the doctrines, which, at their ordination, 
 they solemnly declared to be agreeable to the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, However this conduct may appear to others, to 
 me, it seems an outrage upon the rights and feelings of their 
 fellow members, a violation of the fundamental principle 
 of the association, and a gross imposition upon the world. 
 
 It may indeed be alleged by these men, that the system 
 of doctrine which they once professed to believe, has fallen 
 far behind the improvements of the age; that new light has 
 lately burst upon their astonished minds; and that it is un- 
 reasonable and impossible to cramp the expansive energies 
 19 
 
134 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of Iheir original and powerful genius, by the framework of 
 creeds and confessions. 
 
 If it be true, that the new light, of which they boast, has 
 enabled them to detect the errors of all former times, and 
 to make improvements in divinity far beyond the attain- 
 ments of their fathers; if it be admitted, that their masterly 
 intellects have proved the old system to be essentially erro- 
 neous, and that some new scheme is alone worthy of their 
 high approbation, what is the consequence? What course 
 of conduct would a due regard to sincerity and integrity 
 dictate? A continuance in the Church, to contradict and vilify 
 its acknowledged doctrines? Certainly not. Every manly 
 and honourable sentiment, every principle of consistency 
 and duty, requires them to withdraw from a community 
 whose doctrines they think proper to repudiate, and at- 
 tempt to bring into reproach. They may advance high 
 pretensions to new light, and an improved system of theo- 
 logy; but these claims cannot be made whilst they retain 
 their connexion with the Church, whose doctrines they 
 reject, except at the expense of every title to fairness and 
 honesty. We admire the ingenuousness of a man who, at 
 every hazard, separates himself from a community, when 
 dissatisfied with its principles; we detest the baseness 
 which can convert office and standing, in any society, to the 
 destruction of its vital interests. Such a course deserves 
 the indignant rebuke of an offended community, and the 
 severe disapprobation of all honourable men. Every reli- 
 gious denomination has an interest in. stamping the mark 
 of condemnation upon a procedure so remote from all fair 
 and honourable dealing. The common sentiments of man- 
 kind pronounce it uncandid, offensive, and wrong. If any 
 man disapprove the constitution of his Church, let him, be- 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 135 
 
 fore he permits himself to impugn it, renounce a profession 
 which he knows to be neither cordial nor sincere. 
 
 It is well known that opinions are entertained in some 
 portions of our Church, very different from what we are 
 taught in our sound and scriptural standards. These dif- 
 ferences are neither few nor unimportant. If adopted, they 
 would be fatal to the venerable system of truth, which we 
 have received from our fathers, and which we believe to be 
 founded on the word of God. The covenant made with 
 Adam, is exploded. The doctrines of redemption and justi- 
 fication are moulded into a form, in which we can discern 
 scarcely a lineament of their former perfection and glory. 
 The ability of fallen, sinful man, is maintained to be ample 
 and universal; whilst the agency of the Holy Spirit is 
 limited to the presentation of truth to the mind, by the ex- 
 ternal instrumentalities of the Gospel. These are some of 
 the changes, which are so zealously recommended to our 
 acceptance, and which are so confidently pronounced im- 
 provements in theology. When such innovations are at- 
 tempted, the duty of all who know and love the truth, can- 
 not be a matter of uncertainty. Has the Lord Jesus made 
 us acquainted with the glorious and precious doctrines of 
 his word? and can we be indifferent about their reception 
 and success in the world? Shall we have no zeal for the sup- 
 pression of baleful error? Shall we do nothing to discoun- 
 tenance a presumptuous and dishonest departure from the 
 acknowledged doctrines of the Church to which we belong, 
 by those, who, above all others, are bound to be faithful? 
 
 The attachment of the Presbyterian Churches of Scot- 
 land and Ireland to the genuine doctrines of their eccle- 
 siastical standards, has proved to be powerful and most 
 salutary. It has done much to purify these communities 
 
136 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 from the pestilent influence of heresy. The former un- 
 soundness of some of their ministers is well known: and 
 nothing has contributed more to preserve those churches 
 from total corruption and apostacy, than their firm adher- 
 ence to their excellent and scriptural standards. A deter- 
 mination has been evinced, to assert the authority of the 
 doctrines of the Church, and to compel the patrons of dif- 
 ferent schemes to seek their sphere of action elsewhere. 
 
 American Presbyterians! Here are examples worthy of 
 your imitation. It is becoming and right to emulate the 
 commendable fidelity and zeal of othei's, in behalf of the 
 truth 5 and the happy success which has crowned the efibrts 
 of your transatlantic brethren, may well serve to stimulate 
 your exertions. It is animating, it is delightful, to behold 
 the noble stand taken by some of the British churches, in 
 defence of truth, and in opposition to error and delusion. 
 May we not hope, that at length the same spirit will be 
 awakened in our Church; that a determination will be 
 manifested to preserve inviolate the pure doctrines of Scrip- 
 ture and of our Confession; and that a state of things will 
 soon exist, in which heresies, whether old or new, can no 
 longer be avowed and propagated with impunity by men, 
 who, to the sin of disseminating false doctrine, superadd 
 that of contradicting their profession, and -infringing their 
 solemn engagements. 
 
 Nothing operates more powerfully to destroy the peace 
 and prosperity of the Church, and to excite wrath, and 
 strife, and every evil work, than heretical departure from 
 the truths of the Gospel. Would it not be strange, if the 
 guardians of the purity and welfare of the Church had no 
 authority to arrest an evil so formidable and ruinous? The 
 Scriptures recognize this authority; and not only so, they 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 137 
 
 enjoin its exercise as an indispensable duty. We are com- 
 manded to avoid, to reject, to cut off, those who corrupt 
 and trouble the Church, by the propagation of false doctrine. 
 We are not permitted to bestow upon them the least coun- 
 tenance, much less to receive them to our fellowship, or to 
 retain them in it. "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." 
 
 In the infliction of discipline, on account of error, the 
 judicatories of the Church must be regulated by her estab- 
 lished standards. We maintain, indeed, that the Scrip- 
 tures are the supreme and ultimate rule of truth and duty, 
 and that the subordinate standards of the Church ought to 
 be framed in >1;rict accordance with the suggestions of In- 
 spiration. If they be not, they ought to be thrown aside, 
 or corrected. But whilst the Confession of Faith retains 
 its authority, no member of our community is permitted to 
 appeal from its decision. It is the proper and immediate 
 criterion of truth and error, in the Presbyterian Church. 
 No man has a right to complain, if he be judged by the 
 law under which he has placed himself. If he become dis- 
 satisfied with it, he is at perfect liberty to withdraw beyond 
 the reach of its jurisdiction. We must pronounce that to 
 be truth which accords with our standards, and that to be 
 error which contradicts them. 
 
 The most consummate address has always been em- 
 ployed by the advocates of error, to cover their advance, 
 and to screen themselves from deserved rebuke. At 
 one time, you will find them attempting to bring for- 
 ward their new divinity, during the heat and tumult of a 
 religious awakening; at another time, they are seen 
 
138 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 labouring to recommend it, by subtle argument and meta- 
 physical reasoning. If one of these men be called to an ac- 
 count for his heretical opinions, he is found ready to de- 
 fend himself with a world of explanations. He positively 
 asserts, that he differs from you only in words, or in points 
 not essential. He declares that he believes the same doc- 
 trines which otliers believe, and that he differs only in his 
 explanation of them: although it is evident, that what he calls 
 his explanation, is a flat contradiction of the doctrine. 
 Much is heard of the spirit and improvements of the 
 age, of new light, and more liberal ideas in religion; of 
 the importance of being divested of prejudice and a servile 
 dependence upon authority. It is enough to excite our 
 amazement, if not our indignation, to see a youth whose 
 attention has been directed to religious subjects only a few 
 years, perhaps months, undertaking to depreciate the at- 
 tainments of the Church in all former times; and to set 
 himself in advance of the most learned and able divines 
 which the world has ever known. But surely to talk about 
 the improvements of the age, will not cover the arrogance 
 and absurdity of such pretensions. Improvements of the age ! 
 Improvements in divinity! Has any new revelation been 
 received from heaven? Can any important truth be named, 
 to which the Church, in former ages, has been a stranger? 
 Nothing of the kind. In what, then, consist the boasted im- 
 provements in divinity, of which we hear so much? I an- 
 swer, in the revival of old and exploded errors, upon which 
 the Church has long since, and repeatedly, placed the mark 
 of reprobation. Our modern discoveries are derived, not 
 from the lively oracles, but from the graves of Pelagius, 
 Socinus, and other heretics. 
 
 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon all 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. jgg 
 
 the members of our Church, deeply and solemnly to con- 
 sider the present state of things among us. At no time in 
 the history of our community, has the aspect of affliirs ap- 
 peared so dark and appalling. The tide of delusion and 
 innovation has been advancing upon vis with portentous im- 
 petuosity, threatening to sweep away all that we venerate 
 as excellent, and lovely, and scriptural, in our doctrines and 
 institutions. We beseech every Presbyterian, therefore, to 
 awake to the dangers which threaten the purity, the peace, 
 and the highest welfare of our denomination; and to repel 
 every attempt which may be made, to set aside,, or mutilate, 
 the genuine and approved system which we at present enjoy. 
 We ought to, and I hope we do, love and revere the establish- 
 ed principles of our standards. We know that under their 
 influence, our society has greatly prospered; and it should be 
 our ardent wish, that they may be transmitted unimpaired to 
 our children. How then can any be unconcerned, whilst 
 many among us are labouring to bring them into disrepute, 
 and to substitute another, and, in many essential respects, an 
 opposite system, in their place? We entreat you, then, for 
 your own sakes, for the sake of your children, for the regard 
 you have for the honour of Christ, the advancement of truth, 
 and the prosperity of the Church, tobewareof giving encour- 
 agement, in any way, to the promulgation of notions unknown 
 to our orthodox and scriptural Confession of Faith. The 
 indignant rebukes of the churches, ought to meet every at- 
 tempt to introduce another Gospel, in the place of that 
 which you have learned from the revelation of Jesus Christ. 
 We call upon the ruling elders, the guardians of the pu- 
 rity and welfare of our churches, duly to reflect upon the 
 high obligations which devolve upon them at this eventful 
 juncture. Beloved brethren, it is your province and duty 
 
140 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 to see that the people under your care be instructed in the 
 pure doctrines of the word of God, and that the acknow- 
 ledged prhiciples of our Church be respected and maintain- 
 ed. It belongs to you to prevent, so far as your authority 
 extends, the propagation of a system of opinions unknown 
 to our standards, disowned by the Church of God in all past 
 ages, essentially repugnant to the Holy Scriptures, and de- 
 structive to all true and scriptural religion. Much is expected 
 from your firmness, your soundness in the faith, and your just 
 sense of the duties which belong to your station. We look 
 to you as most likely, under God, to sustain the cause of 
 evangelical truth, and to arrest the tide of novelty and de- 
 lusion, which, for some time past, has been advancing within 
 our limits. 
 
 Ministers of the everlasting Gospel, we call upon you to 
 exert the authority, which you have received from the 
 Lord Jesus, in defence of the truth, and for the prevention 
 of error, delusion, and discord, in the Churches. To you, 
 especially, it pertains to provide that the people be fed with 
 knowledge and understanding; and to see that the poison of 
 heresy be not administered to them, instead of the bread of 
 life. When men corrupt the Gospel, and distract the 
 Church by their pernicious innovations, you are under ob- 
 ligation to stay the plague, and to restore the body to a 
 sound state, by the use of discipline, the remedy which Di- 
 vine wisdom has appointed. In the discharge of this high 
 obligation, you are required, it is true, to act in the ex- 
 ercise of Christian meekness, forbearance, and kindness: 
 but you must not permit a feeling of tenderness, or a dread 
 of opposition and censure, to deter you from the perform- 
 ance of an indispensable, although an unpleasant duty. 
 You may expect to incur odium, suspicion and reproach. 
 
OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 141 
 
 But, being actuated by a pure regard to the honour and 
 command of God, the glorious truths of the Gospel, and the 
 best interests of the Church, you can well endure them. 
 To the sincerity and uprightness of your intentions, you 
 will have a witness in your own hearts — you will have a 
 witness in heaven. May the great Head of the Church give 
 you light and direction in all things; and enable you, with 
 fidelity and firmness, to stand for God and truth; and to 
 resist the progress of unscriptural novelties, and the en- 
 croachment of mischievous errors. 
 
 And let us all, my beloved hearers, be assured that we 
 possess a spiritual discernment of the excellence and glory 
 of divine truth; and that the truth has made us free from 
 the predominance of corrupt desires and affections. Unless 
 we have come to Christ, in consequence of our having heard 
 and learned of the Father; unless we are sanctified by the 
 Holy Spirit through the truth, a mere speculative under- 
 standing of the doctrines of religion will not accomplish our 
 salvation. Let us endeavour, by a life and conversation 
 becoming the Gospel, to adorn the doctrine of God our 
 Saviour in all things, that when he shall appear, we may 
 also appear with him in glory. 
 
 20 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 5th February, 1832, by the 
 Rev. Charles Hodge, of Princeton, N. J. 
 
 NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 "When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of 
 his Son." — Rom. v. 10. 
 
 The truth that man is a moral, and consequently an ac- 
 countable being, is the foundation of all religion. It is 
 necessarily involved in this truth, that our happiness de- 
 pends on the favour of God, and that this favour is forfeit- 
 ed by sin. Just so far, and so clearly, therefore, as men 
 are conscious of sin, are they convinced that they are the 
 objects of the divine displeasure. As the consciousness of 
 sin is universal, so also is the apprehension of God's anger. 
 The question, therefore, forces itself on the attention of 
 every considerate human being, with an energy and impor- 
 tunity which cannot be resisted. How is the favour of God 
 to be regained ? The answer to this question decides the 
 religious character and the destiny of him who gives it. 
 For, if he is mistaken here, if he adopts a wrong method of 
 securing this object, he is, on his own principles, undone. 
 21 
 
144 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 Here, then, more immediately than any where else, are we 
 in contact with the vital principle of religion. For as there 
 can be no real happiness, so there can be no holiness except 
 in the enjoyment of God's favour, {Born. vi. 14), and con- 
 sequently there can be no true religion where the method 
 of securing his favour, whatever that may be, is denied or 
 neglected. Such being confessedly the importance of this 
 question, it need hardly be remarked, that this of all others 
 is the subject on which mere speculation and theorizing 
 should be forborne. When a man is seeking for himself a 
 footing on which he can stand alone in the presence of his 
 God, or on which he is willing to assume the responsibility 
 of exhorting others to stand, he needs, if ever, the rock of 
 the divine testimony beneath his feet. 
 
 Happily we are not left in uncertainty on this subject. 
 There is no one doctrine of the Bible more frequently as- 
 serted, more variously implied, more intimately interwoven 
 with all the rest, than that which teaches the method of re- 
 gaining the forfeited favour of God. The declaration is so 
 explicit, and so frequently repeated, that we are reconciled 
 unto God by the death of his Son, that no class of men, 
 professing to recognize the authority of the Scriptures, ven- 
 ture to deny that it is in some way through the death of 
 Christ this result is secured. But the question here arises, 
 what is the nature of this con#e^ion — how is it that the 
 sufferings of the Son of God secure the remission of sins? 
 It must be admitted that therd'is no little diversity of opi- 
 nion as to the answer which should be given to this ques- 
 tion. But why need the question be agitated ? Why not 
 be contented with the general statement, we are saved by 
 the death of Christ, without perplexing ourselves or others 
 by inquiring how these events are related ? We should be 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 145 
 
 at a loss for an answer to these interrogations, and feel ready- 
 to admit that all such inquiries are worse than useless, if 
 the Bible was silent on the subject. Did the Scriptures 
 teach us the fact only, that the death of Christ is connected 
 with the pardon of sin, without explaining the nature or 
 mode of that connexion, then indeed'would inquiry on the 
 subject be vain, if not impious. But this is not the case. 
 The manner in which the sufferings of the Redeemer are 
 connected with our salvation, is as much revealed as the 
 object of our faith and ground of our hope, as the fact itself. 
 Besides, this question is most intimately connected with all 
 true piety. If the death of Christ has no other connexion 
 with the remission of sins, than as it confirms his doctrines, 
 then must our views of the divine character, of the ground 
 of a sinner's confidence towards God, of the nature of faith, 
 and mode of salvation, all be changed ; then have we ano- 
 ther Gospel ; and all those exercises of piety, which sup- 
 pose a different view of this subject, are fanatical delusions. 
 We are not, therefore, travelling beyond the limits of re- 
 vealed truth, nor instituting an inquiry unconnected with 
 practical religion, when we ask. How it is that the death of 
 Christ secures the remission of sins ? Various as are the 
 opinions entertained on this subject, they may all, it is be- 
 lieved, be reduced to these three general views. 
 
 The first is that which represents the death of Christ, not 
 as the immediate or proximate ground of pardon, but as 
 securing this result only so far as it is instrumental in pro- 
 ducing a change of character in the sinner himself. Its 
 tendency to effect this change is ascribed either to the con- 
 firmation which it gives to the Gospel in the general, or to 
 some one truth in particular; to the exhibition which it 
 makes of the divine mercy, or the excellence of the Re- 
 
146 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 deemer ; or to some more mysterious and undefinable 
 influence. The effect, however, in what ever way it may 
 be produced, is on the sinner himself, and it is in virtue of 
 this effect that pardon is secured. According to this view, 
 every constituent idea of the doctrine of Atonement is re- 
 jected, and Christianity is either a modified system of natu- 
 ral religion, or of mystical philosophy. 
 
 The second general view proceeds on the assumption, 
 that as the end of punishment is the prevention of crime, 
 if this end can be otherwise attained, the obstacle to the 
 exercise of mercy would be removed. The death of Christ 
 is designed to accomplish this object, by making an im- 
 pression on the intelligent universe at least as efficacious 
 in deterring from sin, as the punishment of the actual of- 
 fender would have produced. Such being the object of the 
 Atonement, it consists in sufferings not of a penal character, 
 nor inflicted in the execution of the law, but endured under 
 circumstances adapted to produce the desired impression. 
 Its effect is to remove a governmental difficulty to the dis- 
 pensation of pardons. 
 
 The third view proceeds on the principle, that the neces- 
 sity of punishment does not arise merely out of the necessity 
 of making an impression on the universe, and on the sinner 
 himself, adapted to deter from sin, but also and primarily 
 out of the inherent ill-desert of sin itself, and thq infinite 
 rectitude of the divine character, in which the idea of dis- 
 tributive justice is included. Consequently, while the 
 Atonement is designed and adapted to produce the deepest 
 impression of the holiness and justice of God on all intelli- 
 gent beings, its primary object is to answer the demands of 
 divine justice. It is, therefore, of the nature of a satisfac- 
 tion, consisting in vicarious punishment, or in the infliction 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 147 
 
 of the penalty of the law on Jesus Christ as the substitute 
 of the sinner. And its effect is to secure reconciliation on 
 the condition of faith and repentance. 
 
 It is the object of this discourse to endeavour to show 
 that the third of these views is the form in which the doc- 
 trine is presented in the word of God. Before entering on 
 the subject, it may be necessary to state the sense in which 
 the terms here employed are used. When it is said, the 
 sufferings of Christ were of the nature of punishment, the 
 word punishment is used in its ordinary acceptation, for suf- 
 fering judicially inflicted, or sufferings imposed in execu- 
 tion of a legal sentence. The idea, of course, is not in- 
 cluded, that the sufferer himself must be chargeable with 
 sin in a moral sense. This would be no less abhorrent 
 to the feelings of those who use this expression, than in- 
 consistent with the plainest declarations of Scripture. 
 Again, when it is said that the penalty of the law was exe- 
 cuted on the Redeemer, it is not intended that his suffer- 
 ings were, either in nature or degree, any more than in 
 duration, the same as would have come on the sinner him- 
 self. Such an idea is not necessarily, nor properly, con- 
 veyed by the expression. The penalty of the law is not 
 any specific degree or character of pain which the law 
 imposes, but it is any and all pain, which sustains to the 
 law the relation of a sanction. Thus, the word death, 
 according to its scriptural use, does not import any one 
 definite form or amount of suffering, but all evil, however 
 varied in nature or intensity, by which sin is punished. 
 Even with regard to human laws, the penalty never in- 
 volves precisely the same kind and degree of pain in its 
 execution. The terms may remain the same, but the 
 character and amount of suffering are modified by ten 
 
148 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 thousand circumstances in the moral character, natural 
 temperament, and physical constitution of the individual. 
 A youth of tender feelings, susceptible conscience, alive to 
 the good opinion of society, with fair prospects and many 
 friends, suffers unspeakably more and differently under the 
 same sentence, than a hardened offender differently cir- 
 cumstanced in all these respects. It is, therefore, of all 
 objections, the least worthy of notice, that Christ's suffer- 
 ings were not penal, because they were not the same in 
 character as those which the actual sinner would have ex- 
 perienced. There may be even an entire commutation 
 of the punishment, without the penal character of the in- 
 fliction being lost. 
 
 We cling to these expressions, not from any fondness for 
 terms, but because those which we are urged to substitute 
 for them do not express the idea we mean to convey. It 
 is, therefore, in the sense just stated, we maintain, in ac- 
 cordance with the language of the Scriptures, that Christ 
 suffered the penalty of the law. The law threatened death 
 — and Christ suffered death — in the proper scriptural mean- 
 ing of the term; that is, misery or pain judicially inflicted 
 in support of the claims of the law. 
 
 The definition of the phrase vicarious punishment, we 
 give in the words of a modern Lutheran divine.* "It is 
 suffering judicially inflicted on condition of the exemption 
 of the actual offender." It derives its character from its 
 being judicially substituted for the punishment of the real 
 transgressor, with a view to his pardon. The correctness 
 of this definition is evident from the nature of the transac- 
 tion, and from all the examples and illustrations of vicarious 
 
 * Storr, Object of the Deatli of Christ. 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 149 
 
 sufferings recorded in the Scriptures. It is true, the ex- 
 emption of the offender need not be, and in the case before 
 us, is not, absolute and immediate, but may be suspended 
 on any condition the judge and substitute have pleased to 
 determine. 
 
 Christ, then, saves us from the penalty of the law by 
 vicariously suffering that penalty in his own person. That 
 this is the doctrine of the Word of God, on this subject, 
 we think can easily be shown, if the two following princi- 
 ples of interpretation be admitted, and faithfully applied. 
 The first is, that as the sacred writers unquestionably meant 
 to be understood by the persons to whom the;,, wrote, they 
 must have employed the terms which they use in the sense 
 which they knew would be attached to them by their readers 
 or hearers, and, consequently, that the business of an inter- 
 preter is to ascertain the sense in which the cotemporaries 
 of the sacred writers employed the terms these writers used, 
 and the mode in which they would naturally conceive the 
 doctrines which they presented. In doing this, he ascer- 
 tains the mode in which the inspired penmen meant to be 
 understood; and the mode in which we are bound to re- 
 ceive their meaning. This simple rule lies at the founda- 
 tion of all certainty in the interpretation of written docu- 
 ments, ancient or modern. 
 
 The other principle is, that although it is not only proper 
 in itself, but absolutely necessary in a teacher to accommo- 
 date himself to the capacity, the modes of thinking and 
 speaking of his hearers, it is not consistent with fidelity 
 or honesty to employ such a mode of instruction as would 
 naturally lead them into error; or, by adopting their false 
 opinions, to confirm and sanction them. Much less would 
 such a course be consistent with the character of inspired 
 
150 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 teachers, and least of all when teaching the plan of salvation. 
 We are, therefore, never at liberty to assume that the sa- 
 cred writers really meant something different from the ob- 
 vious import of their language, on the ground of their having 
 accommodated themselves to the opinions of those to whom 
 they wrote. To attempt to draw a distinction between 
 what is exegetically true, and what is doctrinally correct, is 
 at once and entirely to destroy the authority of the Scrip- 
 tures as a rule of faith. The Scriptures become a mere set 
 of cabbalistic signs for every man to interpret as he pleases. 
 Nothing more is necessary than this principle to enable any 
 one, not only to explain away every doctrine of the Bible, 
 but to make the Scriptures teach any conceivable system of 
 opinions. And in point of fact, they have thus been made 
 to contain every form of doctrine, from icy deism to ideal 
 pantheism ; and the Apostles alternately presented as hea- 
 then moralists, and mystic philosophers. It is clearly im- 
 possible to prove any thing from Scripture, to the satisfac- 
 tion of those, who either avowedly, or practically, adopt 
 such a principle of interpretation. If we are not to take 
 the simple exegetical meaning of the Bible for its true mean- 
 ing, then we can never know what its meaning is. Let us, 
 under the guidance of the simple rule of construction, that 
 the sacred writers say what they mean, and mean what 
 they knew their readers would understand them to say, in- 
 quire in what way they teach the doctrine of Atonement. 
 That they represent the death of Christ as a vicarious 
 punishment of our sins, we think clear from the following 
 considerations : 
 
 I. This doctrine is taught in all those passages in which 
 Christ is said " to bear our sins." Thus, repeatedly, in the 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 1^1 
 
 fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. ''The Lord hath laid on him 
 the iniquity of us all." ''He was numbered with the trans- 
 gressors: and he bare the sins of many." "By his know- 
 ledge shall m}'^ righteous servant justify many, for he shall 
 bear their iniquities." It is our duty simply to inquire, 
 what was the import of this phrase among the ancient He- 
 brews; what idea did they attach to the expression, "to 
 bear sin," for this must be the idea which the sacred wri- 
 ter meant to convey. This point is easily decided, as the 
 phrase is one of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures. 
 Thus, in Levit. v. 1, it is said of the man who gives false 
 testimony, "he shall bear his iniquity." As an equiva- 
 lent expression in the next verse, it is said of him who 
 touches any thing unclean, "he also shall be guilty." In 
 V. 17, he who violates the law, though he does it ignorant- 
 ly> "yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity." In 
 chap. vii. IS, he thateateth of a peace-offering on the third 
 day, "shall bear his iniquity." So, xvii. 16, he that does 
 not wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh after eating any 
 thing torn by a wild beast, "shall bear his iniquity." 
 Numb. ix. 13, he that does not partake of the passover "shall 
 be cut off from among his people — he shall bear his sins." 
 This expression is sometimes interchanged (and thereby 
 explained) with the phrase "he shall die," "he shall be cut 
 off from among the people," {Numb. xix. Ifl.) or, "he 
 shall be guilty." In all the numerous passages, therefore, 
 in which these words occur in reference to men, the mean- 
 ing is obvious and uniform, for a man to bear his sins, is to 
 bear the blame of them, to be punished for them. And, 
 accordingly, to bear the sins of another, is to bear the 
 blame of them — to be punished for them. So, in Num,b. 
 xiv. 33, Jeremiah's Lam,, y. 7, and Ezek. xviii. 19, 20, 
 22 
 
X52 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither 
 shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, but the soul that 
 sinneth it shall die." Where the sense is too obvious to be 
 at all questionable. That this is the meaning of the phrase 
 as applied to Christ, by the prophet, is not only evident 
 from the constant usage of the Bible, but from the pro- 
 phet's own explanation, "to bear our sins," is to bear our 
 sorrows, stripes, sickness, chastisement; that is, our punish- 
 ment. It is to be afflicted, wounded, smitten, and that of 
 God, for our sins. It is plain, too, from its use in the sacri- 
 ficial services. After the imposition of hands, and confes- 
 sion, i. e. after the act of substitution, and the symbolical 
 transfer of sin, the dying victim was said to bear the sins of 
 the offerer. And, finally, the same thing is evident from 
 the admitted opinions of ancient nations in reference to this 
 subject. The case, indeed, is so plain, that the interpreta- 
 tion just given has secured the assent of all impartial com- 
 mentators, oi'thodox or infidel. One of the most distin- 
 guished of the latter class, remarks on this phrase, "If we 
 wish to understand such expressions, we must revert to the 
 opinion of all early nations, and especially of the Hebrews, 
 that all calamities, particularly those of more than ordinary 
 severity, were punishments inflicted immediately by God, 
 and that they could only be removed by an innocent victim 
 undergoing the punishment as a substitute, and thus stilling 
 the anger of the offended Deity."* Another of the same 
 class, sa3'S, in reference to representations contained in this 
 chapter, [ha. liii.) "The majority of Hebrew readers, 
 having their minds filled with the ideas of sacrifice and sub- 
 stitution, must, of necessity, have so understood these pas- 
 
 * Martini on Isaiah, liii. 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONExMENT. 153 
 
 sages ; and it is not to be doubted, that the mode in which 
 the apostles presented the atoning death of Christ, rests 
 mainly on this ground."* It is, therefore, with the fullest 
 authority of scriptural usage, Grotius asserts, that, "To 
 bear sins by suffering, that others may be pardoned, can 
 mean nothing else than to bear the punishment of those 
 sins."t And Archbishop Magee, though he is willing, 
 for the sake of peace, to give up the word punishment, says, 
 " But it is evident, that it (the suffering of Christ) is, not- 
 withstanding, a judicial infliction;":): the very idea which 
 the word is intended to express. 
 
 Although, therefore, the expression, "to bear sin," may 
 to our ears, mean either, 1st, to remove it; 2d, to suffer on 
 the occasion of it; or, 3d, to suffer its punishment; to the Jews, 
 it could in such connexions, convey only the last idea, and 
 consequently, to substitute for this either of the two former, 
 is to make it express a sense, which, as we have shown, is 
 contrary to Scripture usage, the opinions of the people to 
 whom the prophet wrote, and therefore contrary to the ob- 
 vious intention of the sacred writer, and mind of the Spirit. 
 
 It is in this sense, too, the New Testament writers, in ad- 
 dressing those "whose minds were filled with the ideas of 
 sacrifice and substitution," who were imbued with the ideas 
 and language of the Old Testament, assert that Christ "was 
 offered to bear the sins of many," Hebrews ix. 2S, that 
 he "bare our sins in his own body on the tree." 1 Peter 
 ii. 24. So in John i. 29, " Behold the Lamb of God which 
 beareth the sin of the world," (according to the reading of 
 the margin), and 1 John iii. 6, "He was manifested to bear 
 our sins." 
 
 * Gesenius on Isaiah liii. 
 
 + Grotii Opera Theologia, vol. iv. p. 300. 
 
 \ On the Atonement, vol. i. p. 347. See also p. 348. 
 
154 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 II. Precisely the same idea is clearly expressed by the apos- 
 tle in Gal. iii, 13. In this chapter the apostle is engaged in 
 proving, that faith in Christ is the only means by which we 
 can attain the favour of God. One of his arguments is the 
 following: "As many as are of the works of the law, are 
 under the curse ; for it is written, cursed is every one who 
 continueth not in all things written in the book of the law 
 to do them." But " Christ has redeemed us from the curse 
 of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, 
 cursed is every one wlio hangeth on a tree." It will of 
 course be admitted that " the curse of the law," is its pe- 
 nalty, and that to be under this curse, and to be 'a curse ' 
 mean the same thing, the apostle himself teaches, as he 
 substitutes for both expressions, the word "cursed." We 
 are ''under the curse," because it is written, "cursed," &c. 
 and Christ was "made a curse," for it is written "cursed, &c. 
 There can be no doubt, therefore, that the literal meaning 
 of this passage is, 'no one can be saved by obedience to the 
 law, because, as the law demands perfect obedience, he who 
 violates the least commandment is exposed to its penalty; 
 but Christ has redeemed us from this penalty by bearing it 
 in our stead.' It hardly seems possible to interpret the 
 apostle's language in any other way. That Christ was pro- 
 perly considered as suffering a penalty, the apostle confirms 
 by appealing to a declaration of the law, that every one ju- 
 dicially condemned was accounted accursed of God, (as the 
 expression is in the passage quoted, Deut. xxi. 23,) i. e. ex- 
 posed as an object of divine displeasure; one on whom, by 
 the divine law, a penalty has fallen. So far, therefore, is 
 this reference to the Old Testament from explaining away 
 the previous assertion, that it is intended to confirm 
 it. According to the doctrine of the apostle, then, 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 155 
 
 we are saved from the penalty of the law, by Christ 
 bearing it in our stead. And this seems to be the ground 
 of his arguing so often that Christ's death is tantamount to 
 our death, and that it is not by the relaxation of the law, 
 as to its penalty, but by its execution that we arc saved, 
 "Fori, by the law, am dead to the law," Gal. ii. 19. i. e. 
 free from its demands, so that there is now no condemna- 
 tion to me, nor to any who are in Christ Jesus. 
 
 III. liom. viii. 3. The same course of reasoning occurs 
 in Rom. viii. 3. ''The salvation which men in vain look 
 for through the law, God has secured in another way. For 
 as the law was insufficient, God having sent his Son in a 
 nature the same with our own, and as a sin offering punished 
 sin in him, that thus the demands of the law might be satis- 
 fied by us." This seems to be the view of the passage best 
 suited to the context, and the peculiar expressions which 
 the apostle here employs. In this passage God is said to 
 have sent his Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh," and it 
 was in this flesh, (or nature) "that he punished or con- 
 demned sin," not in our flesh, for this the context will not 
 allow, but in the flesh in which his Son appeared, i. e. in 
 his person, and the object of this vicarious condemnation is 
 our exemption. 
 
 IV. The same representation is found in 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 The apostle had stated "that God was reconciling the world 
 unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;" 
 and then states how it is that pardon was thus secured; 
 "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in him." He 
 treated the Redeemer as though he were the sinner — that 
 
156 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 we might be treated as though we were righteous." As, 
 *'to be made the righteousness of God," means to be justi- 
 fied, so, "to be made sin," is to be condemned or made 
 subject to the penalty of the law. As we are not consti- 
 tuted morally righteous, by the death of Christ, so is it infi- 
 nitely far from the apostle's intention to say, that Christ 
 was made, morally, a sinner. Both expressions are ob- 
 viously used in their usual forensic sense. 
 
 V. We may now refer to those numerous passages in 
 which Christ is said, ''to die for us," "to sufier the just 
 for the unjust," &c. These texts all prove the doctrine of 
 substitution, i. e. that Christ died in our stead. It is true 
 that taken by itself this expression might mean nothing 
 more than that Christ suffered for our benefit, but the fol- 
 lowing reasons seem sufficient to prove that this is not all 
 the sacred writers mean by it. 1. One of the prepositions 
 [avtt,) thus translated, seldom has any other meaning than, 
 '*in the place of." 2. In some connexions this sense is 
 required, as when it is said, "he gave his life a ransom for 
 many," where the force of the word ransom, requires the 
 last words to be rendered, 'in the place of many.' 3. In 
 liom. V. 7, it is said "scarcely for a righteous man will one 
 die," which seems clearly to mean, in the place of a righteous 
 man; and, therefore, when it is said, "but when we were 
 yet sinners Christ died for us," it must mean, in our place. 
 4. The very expression, to die for a man, who is exposed 
 to death, that he may live, seems with sufficient clearness 
 to express the idea of dying in his stead. 5. The manner 
 in which the death of Christ is said to benefit us, requires 
 this interpretation — it is by bearing our sins — being made 
 a curse for us, i. e. enduring the punishment we had in- 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 157 
 
 curred. 6. Finally: If the sacred writers clearly else- 
 where teach, as we have seen they do, the doctrine of 
 legal substitution, then, as their meaning is ascertained as 
 to this point by passages which are obvious as to their im- 
 port, it can be no longer doubtful what they intended when 
 they declare that Christ ''died for us." 
 
 VI. Another important class of text is that in which 
 Christ is called a ransom, and his work a redemption. It 
 is freely admitted that the words "to redeem" and "re- 
 demption" are often used when merely the general idea of 
 deliverance is meant to be conveyed. As when God is 
 said to have redeemed his people out of Egypt. Their pri- 
 mary and proper meaning, however, as is on all hands ad- 
 mitted, is to deliver by the payment of a ransom. That it 
 is in this, and not in the more general sense of mere deli- 
 verance, they are used in reference to the work of Christ, is 
 evident from the simple consideration that the ransom, or 
 price paid for our deliverance, is expressly stated. Thus in 
 Eph. i. 7, " In whom we have redemption through his 
 blood." 1 Cor. vi. 20.- "Ye are bought with a price." 
 1 Peter i. IS, 19. "Ye are not redeemed with corruptible 
 things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of 
 Christ, as of a lamb without spot or blemish." Gal. iii. 13. 
 "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having 
 been made a curse for us." In all these cases, it is not 
 mere deliverance that is asserted, but deliverance by a spe- 
 cific method; by a ransom, by the payment of a price. It 
 is true these and all similar representations are figurative, but 
 figurative language is often as intelligible as literal, and some- 
 times more so. The simple question is, what idea would 
 this language naturally excite in the minds of men accus- 
 
158 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 tomed to regard their sacrifices as ransoms, and familiar 
 with the mode of deliverance which these expressions pro- 
 perly describe? It is impossible that this mode of repre- 
 sentation should fail of exciting the idea of deliverance on 
 the o-round of a satisfaction. This Christ and his Apostles 
 knew; and this idea, therefore, they must have intended to 
 convey. 
 
 VII. We may appeal to the frequently recurring passages 
 in which Christ is said to propitiate God, or to make recon- 
 ciliation for the sins of the people; or to be himself a pro- 
 pitiation, which all imply that the object of the atonement 
 is to satisfy divine justice. God is represented as angry 
 with the wicked, and the death of Christ, as the means by 
 which he is propitiated. As anger among men is common- 
 ly a modification and expression of malice, we know that 
 from association these expressions are apt to excite ideas 
 derogatory to the divine perfection, and furnish an easy 
 topic of declamatory misrepresentation. But it should be 
 remembered, that these are scriptural expressions, expres- 
 sions intended to convey important truth, and to represent 
 ideas, which, so far from being inconsistent with divine ex- 
 cellence, necessarily enter into the conception of infinite 
 perfection. The anger of God is the expression of his dis- 
 approbation of sin; the exhibition of his holiness in view 
 of moral evil; or, in other words, the manifestation of his 
 justice. It is to turn off from us this anger, by rendering 
 our pardon consistent with the justice of the divine Being, 
 that Christ died. And this is expressed in the terms just 
 mentioned. For when God is said to reconcile the world 
 unto himself, or we to be reconciled to him, (in such 
 connexions,) the idea is not that we are led to lay aside our 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 159 
 
 enmity towards him, but that this favour is propitiated for 
 us, as the word means, 'to restore to the favour of any one.' 
 It is thus used, in the command of our Saviour, "If thou 
 bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy 
 brother hath ought against thee, first go and be reconciled to 
 thy brother," i. e. first go and satisfy him and regain his 
 favour. And in Rom. v. 10. " In whom we have obtained 
 reconciliation," i. e. restoration to the the divine favour. 
 In the phrase "making reconciliation for sin," Ileb. ii. 17, 
 it, of course, caif have no other meaning. That this is the 
 sense of these expressions is further evident from the means 
 by which this reconciliation is effected, it is "by the death 
 of his Son," by his cross, by Christ being made sin for us. 
 
 VIII. The only other class of texts to which our limits 
 will permit us to refer, is perhaps the largest and most im- 
 portant of all. The work of Christ is at least more fully 
 illustrated, if not more frequently expressed, by a reference 
 to the sacrifices of the Old Testament than in any other 
 way. He is called the Lamb of God, John i. 19, a propi- 
 tiation, or propitiatory sacrifice, Rom. iii. 24, a sin offering 
 Rom. viii. 5, an acceptable sacrifice, Eph. v. 2. He is de- 
 clared and proved to be a Priest, Heb. v. and all the duties 
 of the office are ascribed to him, the sacrifice, which he of- 
 fered, was himself. " He offered himself without spot unto 
 God," Heb. ix. 12. ''He was once offered to bear the sins 
 of man)'," Heb. ix. 28. He offered a sacrifice for sin, "once 
 when he offered up himself," Heb. vii. 27. The effects of 
 his sufferings are in like manner described in terms bor- 
 rowed from the sacrificial services. " Having by himself 
 purged our sins," Heb. i. 3. If the blood of bulls and of 
 goats was of any avail, " how much more shall the blood 
 23 
 
160 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of Christ purge your consciences for dead works," Heb. ix. 
 14. " He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
 himself," Heb. ix. 2Q. "We are sanctified through the of- 
 fering of the body of Christ," Heb. x. 10. "The blood 
 of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin," 1 John i. 7. All 
 these expressions refer, not to moral purification, but to 
 the removal of the guilt of sin, by atonement. So also the 
 mode of application of the benefits of his death is express- 
 ed, by sprinkling his blood on the conscience, to indicate 
 its pardoning efficacy; or on the throne of God, as expres- 
 sive of its influence in propitiating the divine favour. Is 
 it conceivable that such representations, made not casual- 
 ly, or by allusion, but dwelt upon, urged, defended and ar- 
 gued, could fail to produce in the minds of those, who from 
 their youth had been familiar with sacrificial rites, the con- 
 viction that the sacred writers meant to teach, that Christ 
 was really a sacrifice in their sense of the term, that his 
 death saves us from the penalty of the law in the same way 
 as the sacrifices of the old dispensation saved the Jews from 
 the consequences of the transgression of the law of Moses? 
 If this be admitted, then must we adm.it, that the sacred wri- 
 ters intended to produce this conviction. For who will 
 maintain they designedly led their readers into error; that 
 inspired men were intentional deceivers while propounding 
 the method of salvation. 
 
 In what light, then, are the sacrifices of the Old Testament 
 presented in the Scriptures? We are clearly taught that 
 they sustained a two-fold relation; the one to the theocratical 
 polity of the Jewish state, and the other to the great truths 
 which were afterwards to be revealed. In the former reS' 
 pect, we learn, in the first place, that they were concerned 
 about God, designed to propitiate his favour, and thus securie 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 161 
 
 the pardon of sin; and in the second that this was eflfected 
 through the medium cf vicarious-^nishment. Both of 
 these points seem evident froni the language, rites, and 
 opinions of the ancient Hebrews, and the ancient world in 
 general. The design of these services, is, indeed, clear- 
 ly indicated by the expressions to propitiate, make recon- 
 ciliation for, and others of similar import, as already re- 
 marked; and the nature of the observance shows how this 
 was to be accomplished. When a man had violated any of 
 the laws of Moses, the penalty was excision from among 
 the people. The method prescribed by the judge and 
 head of the Jewish state for averting this evil, was to pre- 
 sent a victim to suffer in his place. But suffering, judicially 
 imposed on one with the view to the exemption of another, 
 is the definition of vicarious punishment. This idea of sub- 
 stitution and transfer of sin, was clearly expressed by the 
 imposition of hands and confession of sin over the head of 
 the sacrifice. And hence, after this ceremony, the victim 
 was said to bear the sins of the offender, i. e. to bear the 
 blame or guilt of them, and being thus laden, was considered 
 unclean, and, at times, burnt without the camp, and all who 
 touched it were regarded as defiled. All this to be sure is 
 figurative, but these figures are designed to teach something, 
 to teach that pardon was to be obtained only through the me- 
 dium of vicarious punishment. This is the essential, formal 
 idea of a sin-offering. In the language of Grotius, "They 
 secured pardon, by inducing God to forgive, on the ground 
 of a satisfaction." p. 330. Such being the obvious nature 
 and import of those rites in relation to the Mosaic cere- 
 mony, their connexion with the Christian dispensation is 
 not less clear, and far more important. As typical institu- 
 tions, they were designed to teach by significant actions, 
 
162 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 by prefiguring, to predict and explain the method of salva- 
 tion through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was to 
 bear the sins of the world. Their own efficacy, in securing 
 pardon, did not extend beyond the mere ceremonial and 
 civil penalties of the old dispensation. As it was impossible 
 that the blood of bulls or of goats could take away sin, they 
 had no bearing on the relation of the offender to God as 
 Judge and moral governor of the universe. But if, as the 
 Apostle reasons, they availed to the purifying of the flesh, 
 to the removal of mere external disabilities, how much 
 more shall the blood of Christ, who, possessed of an eternal 
 spirit, i. e. a divine nature, offered himself unto God, avail 
 to the pardon of sin. In the comparisons so frequently in- 
 stituted between Christ and the ancient sacrifices, it is to 
 be remarked that it is not the result or effect merely that 
 is taken into view. He is called a sacrifice, not merely be- 
 cause he secures pardon, but the mode in which this is done 
 is the very point of the comparison; he is a sacrifice, be- 
 cause he takes our place, bears our sins, is made a curse for 
 us, and thus propitiates God in our behalf. All the ideas, 
 therefore, of substitution, legal transfer of sin, vicarious pu- 
 nishment, and propitiation, which enter into the Jewish 
 idea of a sacrifice are, over and over, asserted to meet 
 in the great atonement by Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, 
 in the Jewish sense of the term, that he is called a sacrifice 
 for sin. 
 
 It is easy, indeed, to get over all this, by simply substi- 
 tuting for the ancient view of sacrifices, our own idea of what 
 they were, or ought to have been. To assert that they 
 were merely symbols, or signs of God's disapprobation of 
 sin, designed to exhibit and impress that truth on the minds 
 of all concerned; and thence infer that in this sense, and to 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 163 
 
 this extent, Christ was a sacrifice. Or, as others have done, 
 maintain that they were only intended to make the sinner 
 feel his guilt, and assure him of pardon, and then limit the 
 death of Christ to the same objects. This, however, is in- 
 terpreting Scripture not according to the views of its wri- 
 ters, but according to our own views of the nature and fit- 
 ness of things. It is not taking; the sense of the Bible as 
 we find it, but interposing a sense of our own. It is obvi- 
 ous if we once abandon the rule of interpretation so often 
 referred to, if we do not understand the Bible in the way 
 in which the inspired writers knew they would be under- 
 stood by their readers; then are we far and hopelessly at 
 sea, without a star to guide us. One man has as good a 
 right to interpose his sense of the terms of Scripture as 
 another; one may as well say, a sacrifice was designed to 
 impress the offerer, as another it was intended to impress 
 spectators. Which is right, or whether either, is a matter to 
 be debated at the bar of reason; and the plan of salvation is 
 made to await the decision. Our only hope of any solid 
 foundation for faith, or of any security for truth, is to receive 
 the Scriptures in the sense which they were designed and 
 adapted to convey to the minds of their original readers.* 
 
 When, Christian Brethren, we remember that the repre- 
 sentations just given, are not casual or incidental, but that 
 they pervade the sacred volume, are insisted upon, illustrated, 
 established and defended, made the grounds of doctrinal and 
 practical inferences; when we remember, that Christ is said 
 to have borne the punishment of our sins, in the plainest 
 terms the language of the Old Testament admits of; that he 
 
 * The limitations to which this principle is subject, do not affect the 
 view here given. 
 
164 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 was made sin, or treated as a sinner in our place; that he 
 bore the curse of the law; that he died in our stead; that he 
 gave his life as our ransom; bought us with his blood; that 
 he propitiated God on our behalf, and saved us as a sacri- 
 fice; can we hesitate to admit that the very constituent idea 
 of atonement is vicarious punishment. 
 
 This doctrine, thus clearly taught in the word of God, 
 has an advocate even in natural conscience; for this is the 
 light in which sacrificial rites have been viewed in all ages, 
 and among all people, Gentiles as well as Jews. No mat- 
 ter how various the offerings, nor how diversified the cere- 
 monies, the object of such rites was the satisfaction of di- 
 vine justice, and the means, vicarious punishment. And 
 it may be assumed that this is the form in which the doc- 
 trine presents itself to every pious unsophisticated reader 
 of the Bible. When oppressed with a sense of sin, he 
 feels that some atonement must be made to God. The at- 
 tribute which leads Him to punish, the convinced sinner 
 sees to be perfectly lovely and excellent, and it is not until 
 he discovers some method by which the exercise of mercy 
 can be reconciled with justice, that pardon appears possible. 
 Such a method he finds revealed in the cross of Christ. 
 There he sees that the penalty of the broken law has been 
 endured in his stead. It is this that reconciles him so cordi- 
 ally to the Gospel, and enables him to embrace, without any 
 misgivings, the offers of mercy there presented. It is not un- 
 til he has been taught by others, what is called, the philoso- 
 phy of the subject, that he is led to imagine all this is a de- 
 lusion, that the atonement, instead of being designed as a 
 satisfaction or propitiation to God, is intended either to im- 
 press his own heart, or to symbolize a general truth for 
 the instruction of the universe. And even when thus in- 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 165 
 
 structed, he reverts in his ordinary exercises of faith and 
 devotion to the scriptural representations of the subject. 
 This too, let me add, is the form in which the doctrine 
 has been held in the Christian Church from first to last. 
 For although during the ages in which the Scriptures 
 were buried, many absurd ideas were entertained on this 
 subject; yet when the Reformation brought them again to 
 light; this was the doctrine which burst with redeeming 
 brightness from the sacred pages. Much and bitterly as 
 the men of that day disputed about other points, in this 
 they were agreed. Lutherans and Calvinists, the Hugo- 
 nots of France and the Reformed of Holland, the Scotch 
 Presbyterians and English Reformers, all conspired to re- 
 present this as the cardinal doctrine of the Gospel, the article 
 of a rising or a falling Church. 
 
 The Atonement, then, Christian Brethren, as exhibiting 
 the mode of the sinner's salvation, is the characteristic doc- 
 trine of the Gospel. Its direct object is the reconciliation 
 of men to God. To secure pardon of sin, the sanctification 
 of their nature, and eternal life. In this light, who can 
 comprehend the importance of the work of Christ! Let 
 any one endeavour to estimate the value of these results in 
 the case of any one individual. Let him ask, what it is for 
 one soul to be delivered from hell and raised to heaven; to 
 be freed from eternal degradation and misery, and raised to 
 eternal purity and happiness; let him strain his powers to 
 the utmost to take in the full blessedness of such a redemp- 
 tion. And when he finds how vain is the effort, let him 
 ask himself what he ought to think and feel in view of the 
 ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
 sands redeemed out of every nation, and kindred, and tonguq 
 under the whole heaven, a multitude which no man can 
 
16G SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 number, whose robes have been made white in the blood of 
 the Lamb. 
 
 Inconceivably great as is the amount of blessedness thus 
 effected, its accomplishment is not the sole object of the 
 death of Christ. The rays from the cross are cast far on- 
 ward to the utmost verge of the universe of God. Where- 
 ever there are immortal minds to see or learn the exhibi- 
 tion here made of the divine character, there do the effects 
 of the atonement reach. So far from supposing that the 
 view of the subject, which we have endeavoured to present, 
 excludes the idea of a moral impression on the world of 
 intelligent spirits, we consider that the Atonement derives 
 its adaptedness to produce this impression, from the fact of 
 its being a satisfaction to divine justice. When that most 
 wonderful of all commands was heard in heaven, *' Awake 
 sword, against the man that is mine equal, saith the Lord," 
 then was it seen and felt, that though heaven and earth 
 should perish, the law of God must stand; that sin was in- 
 deed an evil so enormous that to pass it with impunity was 
 impossible. Only so far as the atonement involves an ex- 
 ercise of justice, is it a manifestation of justice. Viewed in 
 the light, not of setting aside the penalty of the law, but as 
 involving its execution, it is better adapted to seal the con- 
 viction on all minds of the immutability of the law, and of 
 the certainty of sin being punished, than the eternal con- 
 demnation of ten thousand worlds. It is, as the Apostle 
 informs us, the fact that Christ was possessed of an eternal 
 spirit, or divine nature, Heh. ix. 14, and thus was equal 
 with God, Phil. ii. 8, which gives the Atonement its effi- 
 cacy. It is this that fills the wondering universe with awe, 
 and constitutes the most effective of all exhibitions of the 
 divine holiness and justice. Whatever moral impression, 
 
?^r 
 
 NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 167 
 
 therefore, the exhibition of divine justice can produce, is 
 thus most effectually made, and whatever benefit, in deter- 
 ing from sin, this impression can effect, is thus secured. 
 The law is sustained and vindicated, by being executed; or 
 its transgression, with impunity, by man or seraph, is felt 
 through all worlds to be impossible. 
 
 This truth is made to bear with all its force upon the sin- 
 ner. "If these things be done in the green tree, what shall 
 be done in the dry," — if it was not possible that the cup of 
 wrath should pass from the Saviour's lips, from whose lips 
 shall it pass? Where is the man who believes the doctrine 
 of Atonement, who does not feel that his destruction is just 
 and inevitable, if he neglect the salvation of the Gospel? 
 Who does not feel that it is the utmost limits of infatuation 
 to believe that the sinner can escape, if God spared not his 
 own Son? 
 
 The ill desert of sin, and the certainty of its punishment, 
 are, however, not the only truths exhibited in the death of 
 Christ. God commendeth his love towards us, in that 
 while we were yet enemies Christ died for us, God so 
 loved the world that he sent his Son. It is this attribute 
 which is most conspicuously displayed in the cross of 
 Christ. It is this, therefore, which is the constant theme 
 of praise with the sacred writers; a love whose height, and 
 depth, and length, and breadth, are beyond our knowledge. 
 As it is by the exhibition of .truth, and especially of the 
 character of God, that holiness is sustained and exercised 
 in all created minds; so does the Atonement become of all 
 means perhaps the most effective in promoting holiness 
 throughout the whole universe. It is the exhibition here 
 made, which commonly leads men to repentance. It is 
 here they see the evil of sin; the holiness and love of God; 
 24 
 
168 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the wonderful grace of their Redeemer. It is here they 
 learn the vileness and ingratitude of their conduct; it is 
 when they look on Him whom they have pierced, that they 
 mourn and turn unto God with contrition and penitence. 
 It is from the cross, too, that the Christian derives his most 
 active impulses to duty and self-denial. Constrained by the 
 love of Christ, Paul laboured and suffered with constancy 
 and alacrity. And it is the same influence which now re- 
 strains from sin, and urges on to duty, all faitliful followers 
 of the Redeemer. Nor is the effect confined to our 
 world. If, when God spread these garnished heavens, and 
 called these countless worlds, with their endless variety of 
 happy inhabitants into being, a shout of rapture was heard 
 in heaven, at this display of his wisdom, power, and good- 
 ness; we need not wonder that the sons of God regard with 
 interest the work of Redemption. It is into the deeper 
 wonders and brighter, glories of this new creation, they 
 desire to look; and thence they derive their chief materials 
 of praise. As a means of promoting holiness and happi- 
 ness, therefore, among all orders of intelligent beings, and 
 throughout all eternity, the cross of Christ is perhaps of all 
 others the most effective. 
 
 The effect which the consideration of this doctrine ought 
 to have on Christians, time does not permit us to indicate. 
 Paul tells us, that having such a high Priest, we should 
 hold fast our profession, never be tempted to give up either 
 the faith or hope of the Gospel; that we should come with 
 boldness to the throne of grace; that we should live for 
 Him, who died for us; that, having experienced tlie un- 
 searchable riches of Christ, we should esteem it the chief 
 business and honour of our lives, to endeavour to bring 
 others to the enjoyment of its blessing; that we should fix 
 
NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 169 
 
 no limits to our desire for the extension of the knowledge 
 of the Saviour, until it covers the earth as the waters do 
 the great deep. We should esteem all sacrifices and all 
 efforts slight for the attainment of this object. Do what 
 we will, suffer what we may, for the salvation of others, 
 it will all be little, compared with what Christ has done and 
 suffered for us. And it will all appear little in our own 
 eyes when we enter in the eternal world. 
 
 Though this doctrine has always proved a stumbling 
 block in the way of some, and foolishness in the eyes of 
 others; it is nevertheless the wisdom of God unto salva- 
 tion. Presenting the plan which infinite wisdom has de- 
 vised for the redemption of men, it teaches most clearly 
 to those who refuse to accede to its terms, that they make 
 their own destruction sure. The refuges of lies to which 
 they betake themselves will not stand a moment before the 
 coming storm of divine wrath. Their prayers or penances; 
 their deeds of charity or honesty, will avail nothing in 
 averting the sword of divine justice. Rejecting the offer- 
 ing of Christ, there remains no other sacrifice for sin; re- 
 fusing this Saviour, there is no other name given under 
 heaven whereby they can be saved. The obvious impera- 
 tive duty of all such, is an immediate return to God through 
 Jesus Christ, a sincere and penitent acquiescence in the 
 plan of salvation proposed in the Gospel. Hear, then, and 
 obey the voice of the dying Saviour from the cross, "Look 
 unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved." 
 
 And now, unto him who loved us and gave himself for 
 us, be blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, even un- 
 to him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb for 
 ever and ever. Amen. 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the l3iA February, 1832, hy the 
 Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D. of Princeton, N. J. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 
 
 " The Elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an Elder, and a 
 witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that 
 shall be revealed : Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the 
 oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but 
 of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being 
 examples to the flock." — 1 Peter v. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 The Bible knows nothing of a solitary religion. The 
 spirit and duties of Christianity are, characteristically, 
 social. Man, in his state of primitive rectitude, was made 
 a social creature; and redeemed and restored man, when 
 he shall reach that holy heaven which is in reserve for 
 him hereafter, will find it to be a state of perfect and most 
 blessed society. It is true, the Christian, in the course of 
 the spiritual life, is required, and finds it to be as profitable 
 as it is delightful, to be often alone with his God. But 
 the object of this retirement is, like that of Moses in as- 
 cending the mount, — not that he may remain there; but 
 25 
 
172 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 that he may come down with his face shining; his heart 
 expanding with holy love; and all his graces refined and 
 invigorated, and thus prepared the better to act his part in 
 those interesting relations which he sustains to his fellow 
 men. Accordingly, the visible Church, with which we 
 are all bound to be connected, and which is the means of 
 so many blessings to its members and to the world, is a 
 social body. It is called in our text a <'flock," under the 
 care of the great "Shepherd and Bishop of souls," and 
 under the immediate superintendence of the under-shep- 
 herds, commissioned and sent for this purpose. "The 
 elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, 
 and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Feed the flock 
 of God which is among you." The word here translated 
 "feed," literally signifies to perform the work of a shep- 
 herd; — to guard and govern^ as well as to dispense food 
 to the flock. And, accordingly, this rendering is confirm- 
 ed, not only by many other Scriptures, but also by the 
 charge which immediately follows: — <' Taking the over- 
 sight thereof; — not as lord's over God's heritage, but as 
 examples to the flock." We have here presented, then, 
 very distinctly, the idea of the Church, or the "flock" 
 of God, being under government. It is represented as 
 being placed, by its great Head and Lord, under superin- 
 tendence and regulation. In all society there must 
 be government, from a family to a nation. There was 
 government in the garden of Eden, where human nature 
 was perfect; and there is now, and ever will be, govern- 
 ment in Heaven, where ihe happy inhabitants, redeemed 
 from all the remains of sin, shall be made perfectly blessed 
 in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity. 
 There have been, indeed, enthusiasts and fanatics, in 
 
E(XLESIASTICAL POLITY. 173 
 
 ancient as well as modern times, who taught that, in the 
 true Church there can be no need or place for govern- 
 ment; ''because," said they, "the members of the Church 
 being all holy persons, cannoi be ^ supposed to require 
 either law or authority to''3Hstain*mem; nothing but the 
 evangelical law of love, by which they are all sponta- 
 neously and, of course, regulated." But the advocates of 
 this delusive theory forgot that the members of the visible 
 Church are not all truly sanctified persons ; and that even 
 those of their number who are the sincere friends of 
 Christ, are sanctified only in part, and, therefore, need the 
 salutary application of discipline. They forgot, too, that 
 in almost every page, the New Testament recognizes, 
 either directly or indirectly, the necessity and the actual 
 existence of rule and authority in all the apostolic churches, 
 even in their simplest and purest form. Nor must we 
 forget that the vain theory of these fanatical teachers has 
 been invariably found as worthless, and even mischievous 
 in practice, as it was contrary, at once, to the principles of 
 human nature, and to the instructions of holy Scripture. 
 It has always resulted in disorder, licentiousness, and 
 every evil work. 
 
 Quite as erroneous and no less pernicious in its conse- 
 quences, was the doctrine of Erastus, the learned and in- 
 genious contemporary of the Reformers.* He taught that 
 the Church, as such, can possess no power, and ought not 
 to be allowed to exercise any authority or discipline; upon 
 the alleged principle, that "a government within a gov- 
 ernment" is a practical absurdity, and by no means admis- 
 sible. His theory, of course, was, that all lawful authority 
 
 * See his work, De Excommunieatione Ecclesiaetica, 
 
174 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 resides only in the civil government ; that the ministers of 
 the Church may instruct, persuade and exhort, but nothing 
 more ; and that when crimes against religion occur, the 
 offenders can be reached and punished only by the civil 
 magistrate. In short, his doctrine was, that the civil gov- 
 ernment alone can exercise authority in any community; 
 and, consequently, tliat no man, as a professor of religion, 
 can incur any penalty, for the most serious delinquency, 
 with regard either to faith or pi'actice, unless he be prose- 
 cuted and convicted before the tribunal of the State. A 
 theory more weak and fanciful, could scarcely have been 
 proposed. It contradicts the most abundant scriptural tes- 
 timony in favour of ecclesiastical government, as distinct 
 from the civil, hereafter to be produced: and it is practi- 
 cally refuted by the experience of every day. The au- 
 thority and discipline exercised in every family, and in 
 every seminary of learning, plainly show that the funda- 
 mental principle on which the whole theory rests is alto- 
 gether delusive; that there may be ten thousand govern- 
 ments within a government, without the least collision or 
 interference. 
 
 Accordingly, in whatever direction we turn our eyes 
 among the ajjostolic churches ;— whether to Jerusalem or 
 Antioch, to Ephesus or Crete.) to Corinth or Rome, we find 
 the corruption of human nature disclosing itself in various 
 forms; we find the outbreaking of pride, ambition, heresy, 
 and moral irregularity, disturbing the peace of the Church, 
 and calling for the application of its wise and wholesome 
 discipline; in other words, for the exercise of its govern- 
 ment. Now, if such were the case in the days of inspira- 
 tion and miracle, under the eyes of the apostles themselves, 
 and when the spirit of love might be said pre-eminently to 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 175 
 
 reign in the Church; what is to be expected when these 
 extraordinary aids are taken away, and the covenanted 
 family of Christ left to the ordinary power of the means 
 which he has appointed for its edification ? 
 
 It is evident, then, that there is, and, from the very na- 
 ture of the case, must be, ecclesiastical government; that 
 the Church of Christ, as such, has essentially vested in her 
 a certain kind and degree of authority, which she is bound, 
 in fidelity to her Lord and Master, to exercise for the 
 great purposes which she was founded to accomplish. 
 
 The principal questions in relation to this subject which 
 demand an answer, are the three following: What is the 
 NATURE of this government? What are its limits? And 
 what is its legitimate and scriptural end? Let me request 
 your serious and candid attention to some remarks intended 
 to furnish a brief answer to each of these questions. 
 
 I. Let us begin with inquiring into the nature of that 
 ecclesiastical government which the Word of God appears 
 to warrant. 
 
 And in order to ascertain this with any degree of certainty 
 and clearness, it will be necessary previously to determine 
 what are \he purposes for which the Church was founded: 
 because it is manifest that all that power which is really 
 indispensable to the attainment of these purposes, must, of 
 course, be considered as vested in the Church; and she, as 
 not only at liberty, but as bound to exercise. 
 
 We are taught, then, in Scripture that the visible Church 
 is a body, called out of the world, and established under the 
 authority of her divine Head and Lord, that she may be a 
 faithful depository of Gospel truth, worship, and order; that 
 she may carefully maintain, and diligently propagate the genu- 
 26 
 
176 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 inedoctrines of our holy religion, in opposition to all heresy; 
 that she may preserve in their simplicity and purity the or- 
 dmances which the Master has appointed, hearing testimony 
 against all superstition and will-worship; that she may pro- 
 mote holy living among all her members, in the midst of a 
 world lying in wickedness; and that she may thus be a nur- 
 sery to train Immortal souls for the kingdom of heaven. 
 All this is so evident from Scripture that formal proof is 
 unnecessary. And if this representation be correct, then 
 it follows, ■ 
 
 1. In the first place, that in all legitimate ecclesiastical 
 government, the Lord Jesus Christ is the sole Fountain of 
 power. By his authority the Church is instituted. He is 
 her divine King and Head. His word is her statute-book; 
 her only infallible rule of faith and practice. She has no 
 power to institute other rites or ceremonies than those 
 which he has appointed; no right to enjoin any thing which 
 is not found in Scripture, or which cannot "by good and 
 necessary consequence," be established by Scripture. "All 
 power in heaven, and on earth is given to him. He is the 
 head over all things for the Church. Call no man master, for 
 one is your Master even Christ." All the authority, then, 
 of ecclesiastical rulers is derived. They can exercise no 
 power but that which is delegated to them by Him in whose 
 name they come, and by whose commission they act. 
 
 2. The authorized government of the Church is wholly 
 moral or spiritual in its nature. That is, it has a respect, 
 exclusively, io moral objects, and is to be carried on, exclu- 
 sively, by moral means. "My kingdom," said the Sa- 
 viour, " is not of this world ;" by which he meant to say, 
 that it is wholly separate from, and independent of, all earth- 
 ly governments. It is not conducted on worldly principles. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 177 
 
 It is not maintained by ''carnal weapons." Its laws, its 
 sanctions, and its end are all spiritual. It has nothing to do 
 with corporeal penalties, or secular coercion. No means, 
 in a word, but those which are moral, that is, those which 
 are addressed to the understanding, the conscience, and the 
 heart, can be lawfully employed in that kingdom which " is 
 not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy 
 in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 3. Further; in laying down the nature of ecclesiastical 
 authority, it is plain, from the design of the Church, that 
 she must be considered as invested with power to iiiain- 
 tain, within her sacred precincts, the pure doctrines of 
 the Gospel. If these doctrines were delivered to her, that 
 she might be their keeper and guardian, then, surely, she 
 not only has the right, but. is bound to adhere to them; — to 
 maintain them against all opposition; — and to publish her 
 testimony in their favour, from time to time, in the form 
 of creeds, confessions, and other formularies, as the state of 
 the Church and the world may demand. The Church, in- 
 deed, has no right to compel any one to receive her doc- 
 trines; no right to impose her creed or confession on the 
 conscience of any human being. But she must, obviously, 
 have power to do that which her Master has commanded 
 her to do, viz. to "hold fast," for herself, "the form of 
 sound words once delivered to the saints; " and to prevent 
 any, within her bosom, from denying or dishonouring it. 
 Even if the Church were a mere voluntary association, she 
 would, of course, have the power, which all voluntary as- 
 sociations have, of declining to receive as members those 
 who are hostile to her essential design; and also of exclud- 
 ing those who are found, after admission, to entertain and 
 publish opinions subversive of her vital interests as a body. 
 
178 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 But the Church is more than a mere voluntary association. 
 She is a body organized under the authority of her divine 
 Head and Lord; and must, of course, be vested with power 
 to decline all fellowship with those who reject that system of 
 holy doctrine which she is required to maintain. It is per- 
 fectly manifest that the exercise of this power is neither in- 
 consistent with the acknowledged supremacy of Christ in his 
 Church, nor hostile to the most perfect enjoyment of Chris- 
 tian liberty. It cannot be deemed inconsistent with the su- 
 preme authority of Christ; because the Church, in forming, 
 publishing, and maintaining her creed, professes to receive 
 no other doctrines than those which Christ has revealed; 
 and to receive them as being, and because they are taught 
 in his Word; and to warn all her members against oppo- 
 site doctrines, for this very reason, that they are opposed 
 to the will of Christ. Nor is the exercise of the power in 
 question in the least degree hostile to the enjoyment of 
 Christian liberty. Because the Church compels no one to 
 enter her communion; she only states what she considers 
 her divine Master as requiring her to believe, and to prac- 
 tice; and practically declares, that those who reject any of 
 the important doctrines, which go to make up the substance 
 of that Gospel which he has committed to her to keep and 
 to propagate, cannot be admitted to her fellowship. Is 
 this an invasion of Christian liberty ? Nay, is it not rather 
 one of the indispensable means oi protecting liberty of con- 
 science? Surely a body of professing Christians have a 
 right to decide, and to profess what doctrines they consider 
 as agreeable to the Word of God, and as represented by 
 that Word as essential to the Gospel. And they have, quite 
 as evidently, a further right of agreeing among themselves 
 that none can be admitted to the number of their members, 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 179 
 
 and especially of their public teachers and rulers, who avow 
 opinions adapted, in their view, to destroy their purity and 
 peace. If they have not this right, there is an end of all re- 
 ligious liberty. If an individual, who entertains materially 
 different views of Gospel truth and order from those re- 
 ceived by such an associated body of Christians, can force 
 himself, contrary to the wishes of the body, into the ranks 
 of their instructors and guides; on whose part, I ask, are 
 the rights of conscience in this case, invaded? Surely the 
 individual who thus intrudes is the invader, and the Church 
 which he enters becomes oppressed. If the rights of con- 
 science either mean or are worth any thing, they are 7nu- 
 tual; and, of course, a body of professing Christians who 
 think alike^ have as good a right to enjoy them in undis- 
 turbed peace, as any individual who differs from them, and 
 yet wishes to join their body, can possibly have to enjoy 
 without molestation his opinions. If so, every attempt on 
 the part of the latter to intrude himself among the teachers 
 of the former, is an invasion of that "liberty wherewith 
 Christ came to make his people free." 
 
 4. Again; it is manifest, from the purpose for which the 
 Church was founded, that she must be, and is vested with the 
 power to exclude from her fellowship those who violate the 
 laws of practical holiness. To den}" the Church this power, 
 would be to deny her that which is indispensable to herobey- 
 ing the Master's command, to "■ have no fellowshij) with the 
 unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them." 
 She is said to be "the light of the world;" to be " the salt 
 of the earth; " to be a "witness" of the holiness as well 
 as of the truth of God, in the midst of a rebellious and un- 
 believing world. She is commanded to " withdraw her- 
 self from every brother that walketh disorderly," and to 
 
180 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 " keep herself unspotted from the world." But how are 
 these characteristics to be realized; how are these com- 
 mands to be obeyed, without the possession, and the exer- 
 cise of a power to exclude from the Christian society those 
 who are found to bear a character inconsistent with the 
 honour of religion and the edification of the sacred family ? 
 Without this power to rebuke, to censure, and ultimately, 
 if need be, to banish from the fellowship of the professing 
 people of God, the Church can present no visible, effective 
 testimony in favour of Gospel holiness; there can be no 
 real separation between the precious and the vile; no 
 sacred fence, inclosing the "garden of the Lord" from the 
 world. And, without such an inclosure, there may be a 
 CONGREGATION, but I will venture to say, there can be no 
 Church. Of course, one of the most important purposes 
 which a visible, professing people of God were intended to 
 answer, would be, in this case, virtually abandoned. 
 
 5. It is further manifest, that the nature of ecclesiastical 
 government must be such as will enable the Church to 
 regulate, agreeably to the laws of Christ, the choice and 
 
 INVESTITURE OF ALL HER OFFICERS. If the Church WCrC, 
 
 in this respect, powerless ; if all that pleased, however 
 ignorant, erroneous in doctrine, or profligate in practice, 
 might thrust themselves into the number of her teachers 
 and rulers, contrary to her wishes and the command of her 
 Master, she would be destitute of the means of self- 
 defence, and self-preservation. Corruption, dishonour, 
 and eventual destruction must inevitably ensue. No soci- 
 ety could exist in peace and order for a year together, 
 without the power of regulating the choice and induction 
 of her own officers. Accordingly, the New Testament 
 abounds with directions in reference to this important 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 181 
 
 point of ecclesiastical order. It every where represents 
 the Church as authorised and required to exercise a sove- 
 reign power in this matter; to examine and make trial of 
 those who are candidates for sacred office; and to commit 
 the great work of instruction and rule in the house of God 
 to none but those whose knowledge, soundness in the faith, 
 fidelity and zeal, are adapted to promote her edification. 
 
 6. It is clear also, from the nature and design of the 
 Church, that her government, if it be of any value, must 
 be of such a nature as will enable her to settle within 
 herself all the ordinary controversies and difficulties 
 which arise within her bosom. The members of the 
 visible Church, even when sincere in their religious pro- 
 fession, are sanctified, as was before remarked, only in 
 part. Of course, -they are compassed about with many 
 infirmities ; and hence difierences of opinion, variance, 
 conflicting claims, and multiplied forms of offence and 
 complaint often arise — between the private members of the 
 same Church: between ministers, and the people of their re- 
 spective charges; between the pastors of different churches; 
 and between different churches of the same denomination. 
 Now, when these complaints and controversies arise, the 
 Church ought to be prepared to meet them; and when she 
 is obliged, from the want of appropriate and adequate 
 provision in her form of government, to resort, for set- 
 tling them, to foreign arbitration, and even to civil courts; 
 she undoubtedly labours under a serious defect in her 
 ecclesiastical organization. It cannot be such an organiza- 
 tion as the Master has appointed. The inspired Apostle 
 expressly reprobates the practice of Christians going out of 
 the Church to reconcile differences, and to adjust matters 
 in controversy. He evidently teaches that the Church 
 
183 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 ought to have tribunals of her own, by which all questions 
 and difficulties, of an ecclesiastical kind, may be authorita- 
 tively decided. And that Church which is destitute of 
 such tribunals — however richly and happily furnished in 
 other- respects — will undoubtedly find herself unable to 
 carry into effect some very important provisions exhibited 
 in the New Testament for maintaining Christian order and 
 edification. 
 
 7. Another characteristic of ecclesiastical polity, indis- 
 pensable to the attainment of the great purposes for which 
 it was instituted is, that it be such as loill bind all the 
 parts of the Church together in one homogeneous body ; 
 and enable all these parts to act together with authority 
 and efficiency, for the benefit of the whole. 
 
 There is a visible Church catholic, comprising all those 
 of every denomination, who profess the true religion, 
 together with their children. These, though divided from 
 each other by oceans and continents, as well as by names 
 and forms, are all one Church, "one body in Christ, and 
 every one members one of another." They do not, nay, 
 they cannot, all worship together. Prejudices and misap- 
 prehensions, as well as local separation and numbers, 
 prevent them from all assembling in the same edifice. 
 But still, as they are all united to the same divine Head, 
 so, it is delightful to remember, whether they acknow- 
 ledge it or not, that, in a very important sense, they are 
 one covenanted people, and are bound to recognize each 
 other as such, as far as circumstances will admit. But if 
 this be so, much more ought those Churches which bear 
 the same name, profess the same faith, and are so situated 
 as to admit of their being ecclesiastically connected, to 
 make a point of sustaining this connexion with each other 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 183 
 
 in reality, as well as nominally. Now, I say, that such a 
 Church cannot be so united as to answer all the purposes 
 which her divine Head, as well as her own peace and 
 edification require, without a form of polity which will 
 enable all the several parts of the body, to meet together, 
 by their representatives, in appropriate judicatories ; to 
 plan, consult, and decide for the benefit of the whole body; 
 and that not merely by way of advice, but by authorita- 
 tive acts, to correct abuses, redress grievances, obviate the 
 approach of error, heal schismatic contention, promote the 
 unity, purity, and co-operation of the whole body; and 
 employ this co-operation in spreading the glorious Gospel 
 for the conversion of the world. If the Church is com- 
 manded to maintain this unity; if she is required, in all 
 her several branches, to ''walk by the same rule," and to 
 *' speak the same thing;" and if she is commanded, as a 
 Church, to be active in sending the Gospel "to every 
 creature;" — then, surely her Master has not withheld 
 from her the means which are indispensable to the attain- 
 ment of the end. If this principle be admitted, then the 
 system of our Independent Brethren, who reject all au- 
 thoritative Synods ; all courts of review and control ; 
 labours under a defect of the most serious kind. It makes 
 no provision for the Churches of the same denomination 
 acting with harmony and authority as one body. And so 
 far as Congregationalism is chargeable with the same de- 
 ficiency, as it undoubtedly is in some parts of our country, 
 as well as in Great Britain, it is altogether powerless in 
 respect to many of those things in which the Church is 
 called to act as a united body. 
 
 8. A farther and very important feature- of that go- 
 vernment which the Church is warranted in exercising, 
 27 
 
184 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES, 
 
 is, that it be of such a nature as that it may be car- 
 ried into execution in all parts of the world, and under 
 any and every form of civil government. As Christ's 
 kingdom "is not of this world;" in other words, as 
 the government of the Church has no necessary connex- 
 ion, and ought never to be in fact connected, with the 
 government of the State ; it can, of course, operate 
 without obstruction, and accomplish all its legitimate 
 objects, without the aid, and even in spite of the enmity 
 of the civil government, whatever may be its form. Of 
 this we need no stronger evidence than i\\e.fact, that the 
 Christian Church, for nearly three centuries, did exist, and 
 did exercise all the power for which wo contend, while it 
 had no connexion with the State ; nay, while the State 
 frowned and persecuted, and did all in its power to destroy 
 the Church. Amidst all this hostility from the world, the 
 rulers of the Church went forward, without turning to the 
 right hand or the left, carrying the Gospel of the grace of 
 God wherever they were permitted ; instructing the peo- 
 ple; baptizing and receiving to the fellowship of the 
 Church those whom they thought worthy ; exercising a 
 sacred moral inspection over all their members ; admonish- 
 ing and censuring the disorderly; excluding those who 
 were incorrigibly offensive, with regard either to faith or 
 practice; and, in a word, exercising, for all moral purpo- 
 ses, that authority which the King of Zion had committed 
 to them for the edification of his sacred family. Here was 
 an undoubted example — notwithstanding the dream of 
 Erastus to the contrary — of a government within a go- 
 vernment, and each proceeding without interference ; be- 
 cause, as long as each kept in its proper place, they could 
 not possibly come in collision with each other. In like 
 
e(x;lesiastical polity. 185 
 
 manner, the Church of Christ, in all ages, as long as she 
 adheres to the spirit of that government which alone the 
 Saviour has warranted, may carry it into plenary execution 
 in any land, in any state of society, and under any form 
 of civil government; nay, though all the governments of 
 the world should again be, as they once were, firmly 
 leagued against her. 
 
 9. The last characteristic which I shall mention of that 
 government which the Church is warranted by Scripture 
 to exercise, is, that it be not, in any of its features, adapt- 
 ed to promote ambition, to excite a lordly and as- 
 piring spirit in the Church. "Neither," says the Apos- 
 tle, "as LORDS OVER God's HERITAGE, but as examples 
 to the flock." A love of pre-eminence and of power 
 is natural to man. It is one of the earliest, strongest, and 
 most universal principles of our nature. It reigns without 
 control in wicked men; and has more influence than it 
 ought to have in the minds of the most pious. And when 
 we recollect to what complicated and deplorable mischiefs 
 this spirit has given rise in the Church of God, — corrupt- 
 ing her doctrines, alienating her members and ministers, 
 disturbing her peace, and breaking her unity; — it is surely 
 desirable that every thing in the form of ecclesiastical 
 polity should be, as far as possible, adapted to obviate and 
 repress the spirit of which we speak. Accordingly, our 
 blessed Saviour, not only while he was on earth, frowned 
 with severity upon every thing which looked like aspiring 
 and ambition among his followers, declaring that the ques- 
 tion, "which shall be the greatest?" ought to have no 
 place in his kingdom; for that all his ministers were fel- 
 low-servants, and that none of them should seek to be 
 called "master," or "rabbi:" — but he also, as we confi- 
 
186 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 dently believe, after his resurrection, appointed a form ol 
 ecclesiastical order, which placed all pastors upon an equal- 
 ity, and precluded the possibility of any one ''lording it" 
 over another in virtue of any official pre-eminence. When, 
 therefore, I find the inspired Apostle saying to his son 
 Timothy,'^ *'If a man desire the office of a bishop, he 
 desireth a good work" — I had almost said that if there 
 were no other text in the Bible declaring against Prelacy, 
 this alone would convince me that it was contrary to the 
 mind of Christ. For, if we interpret the word, "bishop" 
 in this place to mean, what Presbyterians say it means, 
 the pastoral or ministerial office; — an office of great labour 
 and self-denial; then the whole passage conveys an idea, 
 the seasonableness and importance of which is obvious to 
 every one, and the consistency of which with the rest of 
 the Epistle, and with the spirit of the New Testament, is 
 equally obvious. But if, by this title, we are to understand 
 an office of pre-eminent rank and authority, above that of 
 the ordinary authorized dispensers of the Word and Sacra- 
 ments ; no gloss, it appears to me, can prevent our mak- 
 ing the Apostle Paul a favourer of ambition and aspiring 
 in the holy ministry. He surely meant to encourage a 
 "desire" for the office of a "bishop;" nay, an earnest and 
 eager desire, as the original word undoubtedly signifiesj 
 a desire like that of a hungry person to obtain food. But 
 if this be an office of pre-eminent ecclesiastical rank, as our 
 Prelatical brethren say it is, then, undoubtedly, Paul, 
 upon this construction, encourages every Presbyter eagerly 
 to covet the place of his diocesan. On this supposition the 
 inspired Apostle is set at variance with himself, in many 
 other parts of his Epistles ; at variance with his brother 
 
 * 1 Timothy iii. 1. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 187 
 
 Apostle, John^ who strongly censures one who "loved to 
 have the pre-eminence" in the Church; at variance with 
 his Master, who, on so many occasions, reprobated all 
 aspiring after mastership, or priority of place among his 
 ministers; and, indeed, at variance with the whole spirit of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 It is by no means contended that the exercise of indivi- 
 dual ambition is either necessarily, or in fact, precluded by 
 the adoption of Presbyterian parity in the holy ministry. 
 This spirit is found, in a greater or less degree, wherever 
 there are men. But, as the constitution of our truly primi- 
 tive and apostolic Church, precludes all official inequality 
 of rank among pastors, their ambition can only take the 
 turn of aspiring to be more learned, more pious, more dili- 
 gent, and more conspicuously and extensively useful in the 
 same office. An ambition which, in many cases, may be, 
 no doubt, sadly unhallowed; but which is, surely, less dis- 
 honourable and corrupting in its influence, than that which 
 exhausts itself in canvassing for titles, chief seats, and emo- 
 luments; and which is tempted, of course, to be most intent 
 on the culture of those personal qualities which are most 
 favourable to the attainment of official precedence. 
 
 Having endeavoured to show the real nature of that 
 ecclesiastical polity which the Scriptures warrant, by point- 
 ing out, in detail, its essential features, and the specific 
 purposes which it ought to be, and must be intended, and 
 adequate to answer ; let us now see whether we do not 
 find the apostolic churches actually exercising their eccle- 
 siastical power, in the very cases and for the very pur- 
 poses which have been specified. If so, the testimony is 
 irresistible, that we have not misapprehended or misapplied 
 the foregoing principles. 
 
188 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 We find ministers of the sanctuary, then, in various 
 parts of the New Testament, distinguished by titles which 
 plainly imply that they were invested with authority for 
 the benefit of the Church, which they were bound to exer- 
 cise in the fear of God, and under a deep sense of account- 
 ability to the great "Shepherd and Bishop of souls." They 
 are called "rulers" in the house of God; "shepherds over 
 the flock;" "stewards of the mysteries of God;" "over- 
 seers;" "ambassadors of Christ;" * — all implying office in 
 the Church; — all implying a delegated power, to be exer- 
 cised for the edification of that spiritual body of which He 
 who "sits as King upon the holy hill of Zion''' is the sov- 
 ereign Head. Further : the Apostles, again and again, 
 exhort the churches to which they wrote to "obey them 
 that had the rule over them, and to submit themselves," re- 
 membering that those rulers "watched for their souls as 
 they that must give account."! Our blessed Saviour him- 
 self, in giving direction to his disciples respecting offences, 
 evidently authorizes the Church, by her proper officers, 
 after due inquiry and evidence, to pass a judicial sentence 
 against incorrisrible offenders, cutting them off" from the 
 fellowship and privileges of the Christian body. J In con- 
 formity with this direction, the actual exercise of ecclesias- 
 tical power in the excision of the heretical and the immoral 
 from the Apostolic Church, is expressly and repeatedly 
 recorded. In several cases the Apostles enjoin that those 
 who denied the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, so as 
 to preach "another gospel," should be refused admission 
 to the Church; or, if already admitted, excluded from its 
 
 * Rom. xii. 8. 1 Tim. iii. 4. 1 FtUr v. 1—3. 1 Cor. iv. 1. 1 Peter 
 iv. 10. Acts XX. 28. 2 Cor. v. 20. 
 
 t Hth. xiii. 17. 1 Thtas. v. 12. 1 Matt, xviii. 15—19. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 189 
 
 privileges. " The man that is an heretic, after the first and 
 second admonition, reject." "Now I beseech you, bre- 
 thren, mark them which cause divisions and offences, con- 
 trary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid 
 them." ''If any man preach any other Gospel unto you 
 than that ye have received, let him be accursed." "Who- 
 soever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of 
 Christ, hath not God. 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."* Equally undoubted 
 are the examples of judicial censure and exclusion from the 
 Church on account of corruption in practice. In the 
 Church of Corinth, the rulers are directed to assemble, 
 and authoritatively to cast out of their communion a man 
 who had fallen into gross immorality. "Wherefore put 
 away from among yourselves," says the inspired Apostle, 
 "that wicked person." And again, in writing to the Thes- 
 salonians, the same Apostle directs — "If any man obey 
 not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no 
 company with him, that he may be ashamed."* The 
 New Testament, moreover, abounds with directions con- 
 cerning the proper character, the choice, and the ordina- 
 tion of Church officers ; prescribing those qualifications 
 without which they ought not to be admitted to office; and 
 committing to the rulers of the Ciiurch the arduous duty of 
 judging of these qualifications, rejecting the unworthy, and 
 presiding over the choice and investure of those whom 
 they approved. And, to crown all, we have an example 
 in the Apostolic Church of a Synodical Assembly, brought 
 
 * Titus iii. 10. Rom. xvi. 17. Gal. i. 9. 2 John 9, 10, 11. 
 1 1 Cor. V. 1—15. 2 Tkess. iii. 14. 
 
190 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 together, not by the civil government, but by ecclesiastical 
 men, for deciding matters of great importance, in the 
 name, and for the benefit of the whole Church. I refer to 
 the Synod of Jeriisahm,* formed by "the Apostles and 
 Elders," convened in that place, who decided the ques- 
 tion concerning Jewish observances, so interesting at that 
 time, which had been sent up for consideration from Jin- 
 tioch. And, what is no less remarkable, having authorita- 
 tively decided, they transmitted their judgment, under the 
 name of ^^decrees,'' to be recorded and observed by all the 
 Churches. In a word, ecclesiastical rulers are represented, 
 throughout the New Testament, as entrusted with "the 
 keys of the kingdom of God," that is, with authority in 
 the visible Church; with the power of <' binding and loos- 
 ing," in the name of the King of Zion; with the power of 
 superintending all the affairs of the Church, as such; of 
 judicially directing what appears to be for edification; and 
 seeing that all things be done decently and in order." 
 
 Such is the nature of that spiritual government which 
 the Church is authorized to maintain. Our next inquiry is, 
 
 II. What are the limits of that authority which belongs 
 to the Church? 
 
 And in determining these, we shall be aided essentially 
 by keeping in mind that nature and design of this autho- 
 rity which we have already endeavoured to ascertain. For 
 we may rest assured that the Church has no superfluous 
 power ; no power beyond what is absolutely necessary for 
 the attainment of those great moral purposes for which she 
 was formed by her divine Master. And, 
 
 1. The Church can have no authority over any but her. 
 
 * Acta XV. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 191 
 
 own members. There have been periods indeed, in which 
 an encroaching, tyrannical Church claimed universal do- 
 minion; when she arrogated to herself the power to set up 
 and put down whom she would; when she undertook to 
 dispose of crowns and kingdoms at pleasure; and to make 
 kings and emperors bow before her with ignoble homage. 
 I need not say, that this was most presumptuous usurpa- 
 tion; contrary to reason and Scripture; and adapted to des- 
 troy the Church of God in her appropriate character. 
 It follows, from the very nature and design of the Church, 
 that she can have no authority beyond her own pale. And 
 it was, no doubt, because she so frequently transgressed 
 this rule, in former times, that so many adopted, without 
 due examination, the principle before noticed, that <'a 
 government cannot exist within a government." If the 
 Church had not so often transcended her proper limits, this 
 principle would never have occurred to a thinking mind. 
 Be it remembered, then, that she can judge only those 
 who are "within" her bosom. To those who are <' with- 
 out," she may send missionaries. She may instruct, invite, 
 and persuade them to come in, and accept of her privileges; 
 but until they comply with her invitation, and become her 
 members, she has no right to extend to them her appropri- 
 ate authority. 
 
 2. Again; the Church has no power to control, even her 
 own members, iii any other concerns than those which 
 relate to their moral and spiritual interests. She has 
 no right to interfere with their political opinions; with 
 their domestic relations; or with any department of their 
 secular pursuits. As long as they infringe no law of 
 Christ's kingdom, it is no part of her sacred trust to call in 
 question or censure their course. It cannot be too fre- 
 28 
 
192 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 quently repeated, or too constantly remembered, that 
 Christ's "kingdom is not of this world," and can never 
 authorize its rulers to be "judges and dividers" in the tem- 
 poral concerns of men. Yet if a member of the Christian 
 Church, in the course of his political conflicts, or his pro- 
 fessional avocations, be visibly and palpably chargeable 
 vvrith a departure from purity, either in faith or practice, it 
 is incumbent on the Church to call him to an account; not 
 for his political partialities, or his secular employments, 
 but solely for his moral delinquency. 
 
 3. Further; the Church has no power to hold in a state 
 of inspection and discipline, even her own members any 
 longer than they choose to submit to her authority. 
 I am not now speaking of the right of these members in 
 the sight of the divine and heart-searching Head of the 
 Church. No doubt, all who depart from the body of his 
 professing people, and refuse to submit to the just and scrip- 
 tural authority of his sacred household, commit sin against 
 him ; and, however lightly they may think of it, will be held 
 accountable at his bar for their disobedience. But still the 
 Church has no means, and ought not to claim the power, 
 of compelling any to remain under her "oversight" and 
 authority an hour longer than their judgment and their 
 conscience dispose them to remain. He that will depart, 
 must be allowed to depart. The Church can only follow 
 him with her tears, her prayers, and her parental censure. 
 
 4. Closely allied to this, or rather involved in this, is 
 another limit to the power of the Church; and that is, that 
 the highest penalty she can inflict upon any one, however 
 aggravated his offence, is exclusion from her co7nmu- 
 nion. She can'exact no pecuniary fine. She can inflict no 
 corporeal pains or penalties. She cannot confiscate the 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 193 
 
 property, or incarcerate the person, or touch a hair of the 
 head, of the most obstinate offender. When she has shut 
 him out from her fellowship, in other words, disowned him 
 as a Christian brother, she has done the utmost that she has 
 a right to do. Her power is exhausted. 
 
 5. Intunately connected with the foregoing, is the last 
 principle of limitation which I shall mention, which is, that 
 the power of ecclesiastical rulers is strictly ministerial: 
 that is, they have only the power, as servants, of commu- 
 nicating ivhat the Master has taught them, and of do- 
 ing what the Master has commanded them. They de- 
 rive their power, not from the people whom they serve, 
 and whom they represent, but from Christ, the King and 
 Head of the Church. In his name they come. By his 
 authority they speak and act. Their commission is " Teach 
 them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
 you." ''Preach the preaching that I bid thee." "Hear 
 the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me." 
 Their office is "is ^ministry, not a dominion.'' Teachers 
 and rulers have, of course, no right to prescribe terms of 
 communion which the Bible does not warrant ; no right to 
 denounce or condemn any thing which the Bible does not 
 condemn; no right to enjoin that which the Bible does not 
 enjoin. Like ambassadors at a foreign court, they cannot 
 go one jot or tittle beyond their instructions. I am not 
 ignorant, indeed, that ecclesiastical bodies, calling them- 
 selves Churches of Christ, have often set up other standards, 
 both of faith and practice. Tradition, the Fathers, general 
 Councils, and the judgment of the Church, have all 
 been prescribed as authoritative guides both to truth and 
 order. Every thing of this kind is an invasion of Christ's 
 supremacy in his Church, and a practical denial of the suffi- 
 
194 SPRUCE STREET I-ECTURES. 
 
 ciency of the Scriptures as the great code of laws of his 
 kingdom. It is not maintained, indeed, that there must 
 necessarily be a direct scriptural warrant for every minor 
 detail of ecclesiastical polity. But it is maintained, that 
 for every leading, governing feature in the system, there 
 must be the warrant of either scriptural precept, or scrip- 
 tural example. And, above all, it is maintained, as a radi- 
 cal principle on this subject, that nothing can ever be law- 
 fully made a term of communion for which a warrant 
 from the Word of God cannot be produced. It remains that 
 we consider 
 
 III. The legitimate and scriptural End of Church 
 government. 
 
 The great end of all good government is the benefit of 
 the community over which it is exercised. For this pur- 
 pose it was instituted at first by the Governor of the world; 
 and to this end ought its whole administration, in all cases, 
 to be supremely directed. Tyrants in the state, indeed, 
 have taught, and acted upon the principle, that the great 
 end of all civil government is the aggrandizement of a few 
 at the expense of the many. Of course, they supposed 
 that the grand design was most successfully accomplished, 
 when the rulers were most enriched and honoured, and the 
 ruled kept in the most abject and unresisting subjection. 
 And it is deeply to be deplored that the same principle 
 has been too often adopted, if not avowedly, yet really, by 
 bodies calling themselves Churches of Christ. Hence the 
 ecclesiastical exactions and edicts to which hood-winked 
 and infatuated millions have so often, in past ages, and so 
 long submitted. Hence the haughty Papal " bulls" and 
 « interdicts," by which kings, and even kingdoms have 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 195 
 
 been frequently made to tremble. Nothing can be more 
 opposite than these things to the spirit and law of the Re- 
 deemer. The "authority" which the inspired Apostle 
 claims for the rulers of the Church, he represents as "given 
 for edification and not for destruction."* Not for the pur- 
 pose of creating and pampering classes of privileged orders, 
 to "Lord it over God's heritage;" not to build up a sys- 
 tem of polity which may minister to the pride, the cupidi- 
 ty, or the voluptuousness of an ambitious priesthood; not 
 to form a body under the title of clergy^ with separate in- 
 terests from the laity, and making the latter mere ma- 
 chines and submissive instruments of the former. All this 
 is as wicked at it is unreasonable. No office, no power is 
 authorized by Jesus Christ in his Church, but that which is 
 necessary to the instruction, the purity, the edification, and 
 the happiness of the whole body. All legitimate govern- 
 ment, here, as well as elsewhere, is to be considered as a 
 means, not an end: not as instituted for the purpose of 
 acquiring dominion over the bodies, the minds, or the 
 property of men; but for promoting their temporal and 
 eternal welfare: and as no further resting on divine autho- 
 rity than as it is adapted to propagate and maintain the 
 truth, to restrain vice, to secure the order and well-being 
 of society, and to build up the great family of those who 
 profess the true religion, in knowledge, peace, and holi- 
 ness, unto salvation. 
 
 Accordingly, the divine Founder of our religion him- 
 self tells us that he "came not to be ministered unto, but 
 to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many;" not 
 to gratify himself, but to obey, and suffer, and die, that he 
 
 * 2 Cor. X. 8. 
 
106 SPRUCE* STREET LECTURES. 
 
 might "seek and save that which was lost."* And, in 
 conformity with this declaration, the inspired Apostle, who 
 had drunk deep into the spirit of his Master, declares, 
 *'We preach, not ourselves, but Ciirist Jesus the Lord, 
 and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake. " And again : 
 ^'Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are 
 helpers of your joy." And again: "All things," says the 
 same Apostle, addressing himself to the body of a Chris- 
 tian Church — " all things are yours, whether Paul., ovJipol- 
 los, or Cephas, all are yours." And again : "Who is Paul 
 and who is Jlpollos, but ministers by whom ye believ- 
 ed, as the Lord gave to every man ?" Accordingly, 
 the same inspired man reminds his son Timothy, and com- 
 mands him to teach, that " the servants of the Lord must 
 not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 
 in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves, if, 
 peradventure, God will give them repentance to the ac- 
 knowledging of the truth." Accordingly, in pleading be- 
 fore king Agrippa, he declares that the great design of the 
 Saviour in sending gospel ministers to the children of men, 
 is, to " open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to 
 lio-ht, and from the power of Satan to God, that they might 
 receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them 
 which are sanctified, by faith in Jesus Christ." And when 
 he tells the Ephesian Church for what purpose apostles, 
 evangelists, pastors and teachers were sent forth, he de- 
 clares it was not for any purpose of self-aggrandizement, but 
 "for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the 
 body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
 
 * Matt. XX. 28. Luie. xix. 10. 
 
^ ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 197 
 
 man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ."* 
 
 This subject, my friends, however dry and speculative it 
 may have appeared to some of my hearers, is all practical. 
 It enters more deeply into the daily walk and duties of the 
 Christian life, than is commonly supposed. Suffer me, 
 then, to trespass a little longer on your patience by 
 stating, and recommending to your attention some of the 
 many practical inferences which may be naturally drawn 
 from the subject. And, 
 
 1. From what has been said, it is evident that Church 
 government is a very important m,eans of grace. To 
 many, I know, this whole subject appears unimportant, 
 if not repulsive. They are apt to consider and represent 
 all exercise of ecclesiastical authority, and especially the 
 discipline of the Church, which is nothing more than the 
 application of the Church's authority, as an officious and 
 offensive intermeddling with Christian liberty. But I need 
 not say to those who take their views of ecclesiastical polity 
 from the Bible, and from the best experience, that it is not 
 only important, but absolutely essential to the purity and 
 edification of the body of Christ. It ought, undoubtedly, 
 to be regarded as one of the most precious means of grace, 
 by which offenders are humbled, softened, and brought to 
 repentance; by which the Church is purged of unworthy 
 members; offences removed; the honour of religion pro- 
 moted; the office of the Chrisian ministry regulated and 
 "magnified;" real Christians stimulated and guided in 
 their spiritual course, faithful testimony borne against error 
 
 * 2 Cor. iv. 5. i. 24. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 1 Cor. iii. 5. 2 Tim. ii. 24. 25. 
 Acts xxvi. 18. Ephes. iv. 2. 
 
1>98 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 and crime; and the professing family of Christ rescmed 
 from disgrace, and made to appear orderly and beautiful in 
 the view of the world. The truth is, the faithful mainte- 
 nance of Church discipline; in other words, the exercise 
 of a faithful watch and care among Christians, over the pu- 
 rity of each other, in doctrine, worship and life, is so im- 
 portant a part of the purpose for which the Church was 
 founded, that we may say with confidence, she cannot 
 flourish, as to her best interests, without it. It may be 
 safely affirmed, that a large part of all that is holy in the 
 Church, at the present day, either in faith or practice, may 
 be ascribed, under God, as really to sound ecclesiastical 
 discipline, as to the faithful preaching of the Gospel. No 
 matter how many precious plants may be introduced into 
 "the garden of the Lord," or how much time and labour 
 may be expended in endeavouring to fertilize the soil, and 
 to apply to it the most skilful and diligent culture: if there 
 be no fence kept up to defend the whole from intruders, 
 all culture will be vain; every beast of the field will devour 
 it; and what ought to be a beautiful and productive inclo- 
 sure, will be a barren and dreary common. 
 
 2. If the foregoing representation be correct, then the 
 plenary and constant exercise of ecclesiastical autho- 
 rity is not usurpation, but simple obedience to Christ. 
 There is extreme sensitiveness on this subject in the minds 
 of many, who profess to be zealous for the " rights of con- 
 science." They believe, and sometimes very clamorously 
 assert, that all ecclesiastical censure on any one, for any 
 moral delinquency, and especially for any departure from 
 the true faith, is an interference with the prerogative of 
 God, who alone is ''Lord of the conscience." But if 
 Christ, the divine Head of the Church, has solemnly en- 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 199 
 
 joined on his professing people the exercise of this autho- 
 rity, and the faithful infliction of this censure, there is 
 surely an end of all controversy on the part of those 
 who acknowledge the Scriptures to be the only infallible 
 rule of faith and practice. Suppose the proprietor of a 
 beautiful and valuable garden to have committed it to the 
 entire care of servants, formally chosen and commissioned 
 for that purpose. Suppose the master to have given them 
 a strict and repeated charge, carefully to exclude from it 
 all mischievous intruders, and as soon as possible to banish 
 those who had improperly made their way into the inclo- 
 sure. And suppose, when these servants faithfully obeyed 
 their orders, any one were to denounce them as usurping 
 power, and as presumptuously interfering with the liberty 
 of their neighbours. What would be thought of the 
 charge? Would it not be regarded as the most preposter- 
 ous that could be conceived? Every one must see, in a 
 moment, that if the servants had not done exactly as they 
 did, they would have been liable to the charge of unfaith- 
 fulness and gross disobedience. Precisely so is it in the 
 case before us. The command of Christ, to his commis- 
 sioned servants, to watch over, rule, and guard the Church 
 committed to their care; and to exclude from it all those 
 whose principles or practice are manifestly hostile to its 
 great design; is plain, repeated, and decisive. Can it 
 be for a moment doubted, then, that when they obey this 
 command, they are so far from usurping power, that a fail- 
 ure to obey it, strictly and faithfully, would be an act of 
 direct rebellion against Him who is '' Head over all things 
 for the Church?" 
 
 3. From what has been said, it is plain, that every de- 
 parture from the essential principles of Gospel order, 
 29 
 
200 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 will be likely to exert an unhappy influence on the best 
 interests of the Church, and may be productive of the 
 most iiijurious effects. It is the habit of many to speak 
 of the established rules of ecclesiastical order, with sneer 
 and contempt, as if they were cold and spiritless forms, the 
 observance of which is rather adapted to repress and. hin- 
 der, than to promote the real life, the spiritual prosperity 
 of the Church. Unless the preacher is greatly deceived, a 
 more erroneous estimate was never made. There is no 
 doubt, indeed, that there may be much pompous and rigid 
 adherence to ecclesiastical form, where there is little or no 
 life. And there is as little doubt that the rigour of Church 
 order may be maintained at the expense of more vital inter- 
 ests. But the question is, — will the garden of the Lord 
 be likely to flourish when its fences are broken down; 
 when not only old, but important landmarks are disregard- 
 ed; when rules of order, as wise as they have been long 
 established, are set at nought? Can there be a moments' 
 doubt what answer ought to be given to this question? 
 "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace and order 
 in all the Churches." Let no one imagine, then, that he 
 will be likely to render God service, or permanently to build 
 up the Redeemer's kingdom, by violating the order of his 
 house; for example, by giving encouragement to "lay-preach- 
 ing;" by favouring the introduction into the ministry of men 
 with talents adapted to dazzle as meteors, but destitute of 
 sound principles, and other prescribed qualifications; by vio- 
 lating wholesome scriptural rules, for the purpose of either 
 favouring a friend, or opposing an adversary; by giving 
 countenance to proceedings manifestly disorderly, for the 
 purpose of carrying a point, or with the hope of gaining 
 some temporary advantage; or by adopting measures in the 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 201 
 
 public service of the sanctuary, better fitted to inflate or 
 intoxicate, than to enlighten the understanding, convince 
 the conscience, or impress the heart. It is in ecclesiastical 
 affairs, as all wise men acknowledge it to be in civil life, 
 a single departure from some important principle of regu- 
 larity, may lead, directly or indirectly, to mischievous 
 consequences, of which a whole generation may not see the 
 end. Such deviations may appear to do good for a while; 
 but the appearance is delusive. Like the excitement of 
 strong drink, they may stimulate, and even appear to 
 strengthen, for a short time; but they only prepare the 
 way for increased weakness and disease in the issue. It 
 were unwise, indeed, to insist on adhering to form at the 
 expense of substance; but it were equally unwise to cherish 
 the hope, that the substance will long be retained, when 
 form is abandoned. The instructions of history on this 
 subject are most ample and decisive. 
 
 4. A further inference from what has been said is obvi- 
 ous and irresistible, viz : that the Presbyterian form 
 of ecclesiastical polity is manifestly, and by far, best 
 adapted to strengthen, purify, and build up the Church 
 of Christ. If uniformity of faith, order, and worship, 
 among all the Churches which bear the same denomination, 
 and profess to walk by the same rules, be of real impor- 
 tance; if the maintenance of enlightened and faithful dis- 
 cipline, be essential to the purity and genuine health of the 
 body of Christ ; and if that ecclesiastical polity which 
 shall be adapted to answer the great purposes for which 
 the Church was founded, must be such as will authoritatively 
 bind all the Churches which profess to receive it, in one com- 
 pact and homogeneous body; then it is manifest that no 
 other form than the Presbyterian is adapted to attain all 
 
''i^- 
 
 202 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the purposes, and secure all the advantages which the gov- 
 ernment of the Church was intended by the Master to pro- 
 mote. In saying this, I have no desire to denounce, or 
 even to depreciate, the forms of government preferred by 
 other denominations of our fellow Christians. With the 
 utmost cordiality can I adopt as my own the language of 
 the framers of our excellent ecclesiastical Constitution, 
 when they say, "We embrace in the spirit of charity 
 those Christians who differ from us, in opinion or in prac- 
 tice, on these subjects." This, however, is perfectly re- 
 concileable with the conviction, that one form of ecclesias- 
 tical government is more scriptural, and better adapted to 
 promote good order, purity, and edification than another. 
 On the one hand, to speak with frankness, we have no 
 doubt that a Church formed on the plan of our Episcopal 
 brethren, may be a true Church of Christ, and may be, and 
 has been blessed to the evei-lasting welfare of many souls. 
 Yet we are persuaded, that the peculiar features of that 
 system, besides having no foundation in the word of God, 
 are by no means adapted to the maintenance of a scriptural 
 discipline in the Church, and, indeed, scarcely compatible 
 with it. On the other hand, we are as perfectly confident 
 that the plan of our Independent brethren, and, to a con- 
 siderable extent, that of our Congregational brethren, is no 
 less materially defective as a means of promoting the unity, 
 and the efficient and authoritative co-operation of all the 
 Churches of the same nominal communion. It obviously 
 leaves them entirely powerless in regard to many points, 
 which it would seem no friend of ecclesiastical order can 
 deem of small importance. In both these respects, as well 
 as in many others which might be specified, the Presbyte- 
 rian system is, at once, liberal and efficient; in the highest 
 
 ¥■ 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 203 
 
 degree friendly to the claims of Christian liberty; and yet 
 adapted to maintain the purest discipline, and the most en- 
 tire harmony and energetic co-operation of the whole body. 
 Much depends, it must be acknowledged, on the spirit 
 with which this system is borne forward. For, although 
 I am not prepared to adopt, in all its extent, in reference to 
 ecclesiastical government, the sentiment which is so often 
 repeated as an admitted maxim, that "that which is best 
 administered is best," yet I am free to acknowledge, that 
 the Presbyterian form of government and discipline may be 
 administered with so little of the spirit of charity, and of zeal 
 for the glory of God, and the extension of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom, as to make it little more than a course of vexa- 
 tious and unedifying litigation. But this is only saying, 
 that the infirmity and corruption of man may sometimes 
 mar the beauty, and invalidate the efiicacy of the best pro- 
 visions of a benevolent God. Some adequate and adapted 
 impelling power is necessary to set the most perfect ma- 
 chine in motion. And when the vital spirit of the religion 
 of Christ is present and active, here is the noblest plan of 
 machinery in the world with which it can operate. Where 
 this spirit habitually governs, there is no other plan of ec- 
 clesiastical polity so well adapted as the Presbyterian to se- 
 cure order; to promote peace; to accomplish every thing 
 with fraternal counsel and deliberation; to maintain impar- 
 tial and equitable discipline, at once over ministers and 
 private members; to secure the rights of the people; to 
 protect pastors from injury and oppression; to guard, on 
 the one hand, against the intrusions of laymen into the 
 functions of the clergy, and, on the other, against the en- 
 croachments of clerical ambition; to promote uniformity 
 of doctrine and worship; to afibrd redress in every species 
 
204 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of difficulty; to bring the state and proceedings of every 
 part of the Church under the distinct and official review of 
 the whole; and to enable the whole to act together as one 
 body, under the authority and guidance of a common head. 
 Are these things desirable? are they really important to 
 the greatest strength and purity of the body? If so, I will 
 be bold to say, they can be fully attained only by that form 
 of ecclesiastical polity under which ive are so happy as to 
 live. 
 
 5. From the view which has been given of this subject, 
 it is plain that diversity informs of Church government 
 ought not to interfere with the com,munion of saints. 
 As ''Christ is not divided;" as there is but "one Christ;" 
 so all who are really united by faith to Him who is "the 
 Head of all principality and power," are "one body in 
 Him, and every one members one of another." We all 
 grant, that among individual Christians there may be "di- 
 versities of operation," that is great variety in the order, 
 intensity, and aspect of those exercises which mark the 
 entrance as well as the progress of the divine life; — and yet 
 that "it is the same spirit which worketh in all." Why 
 may there not be a similar variety in the modes of organi- 
 zation adopted by ecclesiastical bodies, without destroying 
 their ecclesiastical character? While, therefore, the great im- 
 portance of the subject of ecclesiastical polity is maintained; 
 and while we may safely assert, that no material departure 
 from the scriptural order of the Church can ever occur with- 
 out subjecting those who are guilty of it to a serious disadvan- 
 tage; let us guard against the mistake of those who place it 
 among ihe fundamentals of our holy religion. This, it is ap- 
 prehended, is an entire and mischievous mistake. The holy 
 Scriptures manifestly do not, like some ecclesiastical men, of 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 205 
 
 narrow views, and of more zeal than knowledge, cut off from 
 the "covenanted mercies of God" those who reject a certain 
 favourite form of church government; — but only those 
 who reject the Gospel of Christ. We undoubtedly sin 
 against the great Head of the Church, when we consider 
 and treat as a matter of indifference that which he has ap- 
 pointed ; but we may be considered as equally sinning 
 against Him, and against "the generation of the righteous," 
 when we attempt to place the external order of the Church 
 among those things on which its vital character depends; 
 on which the exercise of Jehovah's mercy is suspended. 
 
 6. If what has been said be correct, it is evident that an 
 honest attachment to a particular form of ecclesiastical 
 order, does not, necessarily, deserve the nam,e of high- 
 church and sectarian bigotry. There is a strong tenden- 
 cy, at the present day, to stigmatize with these epithets 
 every thing that indicates a marked preference to any one 
 denomination of Christians. If a book be written, or a plan 
 formed for recommending any particular portion of the 
 Christian community, as, in the estimation of the author, 
 more conformed to Scripture, and more worthy of adoption 
 than others, it is immediately denounced, as a "high- 
 church" book; as an illiberal, "sectarian" plan. Nor are 
 any more disposed to utter, and clamorously to urge this 
 denunciation, than those who, under the pretence of a most 
 expanded "charity," are far more exclusive and intolerant 
 in contending for some opposite peculiarity. None are 
 more severe on bigots and bigotry, than the most intensely 
 bigoted. But can any thing be more unreasonable and 
 unjust? If the visible Church exist at all, it must be organ- 
 ized in some particular form: and it is manifest that all 
 forms of Church order cannot be equally agreeable to Scrip- 
 
206 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 ture. Some one is, of course, nearer to the primitive 
 model than the rest. And if any one honestly believes this 
 to be the case, with the form with which he is particularly 
 connected, and prefers, and endeavours to recommend this 
 form accordingly; provided he do it without uncharitable- 
 ness, and with due respect to the opinions of others, who 
 has a right to complain? Surely to censure him for this 
 course, is to abridge, instead of maintaining, Christian 
 liberty. The truth is, the sincere and intelligent inquirer 
 must prefer one form of faith and order to others. If he 
 proclaim this preference with bitterness and rancour ; if he 
 assail those who cannot agree with him with unsparing de- 
 nunciation; if he exhibit himself as a " fiery, controversial 
 zealot, who can see no evil in his own party, and no good 
 out of it;" let the terms "high-churchman," "bigot," 
 "sectarian," be heaped upon him without reserve. He 
 richly deserves them all. But, if he meekly and humbly 
 obey those convictions of duty which he considers the 
 Bible as warranting ; if he lay no more stress upon modes 
 of faith, and forms of order than the Bible lays upon them; 
 if he, not merely in words, but practically, allow to others 
 the same liberty which he claims for himself; and if he 
 look with unfeigned and equal affection upon all who bear 
 the image of Christ, whether they belong to his own de- 
 nomination or not; — such an one, whatever opprobrious 
 epithets the latitudinarian, or he who is " fierce for mode- 
 ration" may heap upon him, has little reason to fear the 
 abuse of men. Those who would call such an one "bigot," 
 or " sectarian," would, undoubtedly, if they had lived in the 
 first century, have applied the same appellation to the Sa- 
 viour himself and his inspired Apostles. 
 
 7. From the foregoing discussion it is manifest, that all 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 207 
 
 alliance between the Church and the civil government, 
 is unscriptural, and replete with mischief of the most 
 serious kind. It is unscriptural ; contrary alike to the 
 letter and the spirit of the New Testament; and, therefore, 
 solemnly forbidden. It is unhallowed in its origin, the 
 offspring of priestcraft, or statecraft, or both, and, of 
 course, entitled to no countenance from the real friends of 
 the Church of Christ. And its tendency and effects are in 
 all cases injurious; necessarily and universally injurious. 
 All civil establishments of religion, then, ought to be op- 
 posed to the utmost by those who wish well to the cause of 
 Zion. Whatever may be their form, or the degree of their 
 rigour ; whether they are intended to operate by force, 
 by fear, or by bribery; whether we consider them as "a 
 tax on error," or as "a bounty on faith;" as a legal pro- 
 vision for instructing the people in what the civil magis- 
 trate, (who may be an infidel or a gross heretic) chooses to 
 say is truth; or as a convenient engine in the hands of gov- 
 ernment for reaching and controlling the popular mind; 
 in all cases they are corrupt in their principles, and perni- 
 cious in their influence ; and adapted to generate and en- 
 courage hypocrisy ; to degrade the Christian ministry ; to 
 make the care of souls an affair of secular merchandize; 
 and to prostrate the Church of God, with all its officers and 
 ordinances, at the feet of worldly politicians. Such have 
 bee?! the effects of religious establishments from the days of 
 Constantine to the present hour ; and such will be their 
 effects as long as human nature remains what it now is. 
 Every friend of Christ, then, ought to recoil with instinc- 
 tive dread and horror from every attempt to support reli- 
 gion, in any form, by law. Nay, they ought to recoil 
 from every attempt, on the part of the civil government, 
 30 
 
208 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 to interpose in the least degree in the affairs of the Church, 
 even to help her. All experience has shown that it is less, 
 far less, injurious lo the Church to be persecuted by the 
 State, than to be pampered by her caresses, and laden with 
 her treasures. 
 
 8. A further practical inference from our subject is, that 
 the trust committed to Church rulers is in the highest 
 degree weighty and solemn. To conduct the momentous 
 affairs of the Christian Society, in which so many interests, 
 divine and human, temporal and eternal, are involved ; to sit 
 in judgment in cases in which doctrine and order, Christian 
 character and Christian peace and edification are all deeply 
 concerned} toadminister the laws of Christ with fidelity, and 
 yet with prudence; with proper zeal for Gospel purity, and 
 at the same time with a sacred regard to the Church's peace; 
 surely requires all the wisdom, and all the grace that mor- 
 tals can exercise. The trust committed to civil rulers is, 
 no doubt, in a high degree important and arduous; and will 
 be felt to be so by every thinking man. But to the eccle- 
 siastical ruler are committed interests unspeakably more 
 momentous; which put in requisition all the sagacity, discre- 
 tion, meekness, benevolence, and zeal for the honour of 
 Zion's King, which belong to the most intelligent and de- 
 voted Christian; and in the view of which, he who sus- 
 tains the trust, ought, with unceasing solicitude, to implore 
 divine aid and guidance. Into this sacred inclosure, preju- 
 dice, passion, partiality, rashness, or unhallowed feelings of 
 any kind, ought never to be permitted to enter. The 
 grand, and only leading question to be asked, as a guide to 
 duty, is, not what course will tend most effectually to build 
 up this party, or to defeat that adversary ; but what course 
 will be most likely to promote the purity, the harmony, 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 209 
 
 and the edification of tlie Church of God? This is a camp 
 in which every banner that is raised, save that of the Re- 
 deemer's glory, ought to be held in the deepest abhorrence. 
 Here, if ever, the tribunal of conscience ought to be con- 
 sulted with the most sacred vigilance, and the Slatiie Book 
 of the Master's kingdom studied with unceasinsf diligence. 
 9. Another plain inference from all that has been said, 
 is, that it is incumbent 07i professing Christians to make 
 themselves acquainted ivit h the subject of Church govern- 
 ment. Is every professing Christian a member of that 
 body called the Visible Church ? Does he bear, of course, 
 intimate and most important relations to that body? And 
 has he, consequently, important duties to that body every 
 day devolving upon him ? Can it be necessary, then, to 
 demonstrate, that he ought to know something of the na- 
 ture and structure of this body; to understand, in some 
 good measure, the constitution and laws under which it 
 is not only authorized, but required to act; and the various 
 obligations resting upon its officers and its members ? 
 It were an insult, my friends, to your understandings, to 
 attempt to reason on a point so perfectly self-evident. As 
 well might I consider it as necessary formally to demon- 
 strate, that a member of civil society ought to understand 
 enousih of the government under which he lives, to enable 
 
 CO ' 
 
 him intelligently to discharge the duties of a good citizen, 
 and to avoid violating the law of the land? I have no 
 doubt, indeed, that a man may be a real Christian, who 
 is in a great measure ignorant of the subject on which I have 
 been addressing you this evening. But a tvise and intelligent 
 Christian he cannot be. A Christian ready to j)^'^ceivc, to 
 appreciate, and to discharge the various duties which he 
 owes to his Master in heaven, to his brethren of the Church, 
 
210 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 and to his own best edification, he cannot be. And the 
 only wonder is, that so many professing Christians who 
 would be ashamed of ignorance on a thousand other subjects, 
 of far less importance, are willing, on this subject, to remain 
 profoundly ignorant. Such persons, however sincere and 
 devout, ought to know thatt hey are in^danger every hour, 
 when they undertake to speak or*a^' in reference to this 
 subject, of giving a touch to the Ark of God, the character 
 and effect of which, if they understood the subject, they 
 would deprecate in their inmost souls. Many a real Chris- 
 tian, from ignorance of the very elementary principles of 
 this subject, has spoken and acted in such a way as to in- 
 flict wounds on the Church of God which no subsequent 
 regret or tears could ever heal. 
 
 10. Thelast inference with which I shall tax your patience, 
 is one which, in closing, I must respectfully and affection- 
 ately beg all my hearers to remember and lay to heart. It 
 is, that a man may be j)erfectly sound on the subject 
 of Church government, and yet be utterly defective as 
 to the essentials of Christian character. There has been 
 a tendency among those who called themselves Christians, 
 in every age, to attempt a kind of commutation with God 
 for that which his word requires; to substitute rites and 
 forms for the religion of the heart; to cry out with confi- 
 dence, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord 
 are we," while their hearts were going forth after covetous- 
 ness or sensuality. Hence that fury of zeal for an ecclesiasti- 
 cal name and connexion on which many appear to rely as a 
 passport to heaven. Against this fatal mistake, my beloved 
 friends, I desire to warn you. It is a mistake not confined 
 to any particular denomination; and a mistake as insidious 
 and dangerous as it is prevalent. It is more than possible 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 211 
 
 that a caution, in connexion with the subject which we are 
 now considering, may be neither unseasonable, nor useless. 
 Be entreated, then, my friends, to lay no stress whatever, 
 as to the great question of your acceptance with God, on the 
 correctness of your opinions and practice as to Church gov- 
 ernment. In the religion of Jesus Christ, as in other mat- 
 ters, there are outworks, and there are vital parts. Real 
 Christianity may exist without the former, but not without 
 the latter. With respect to the former, you may be per- 
 fectly fair and faultless ; while, in respect to the latter, you 
 may be as " whited sepulchres. " It is my earnest desire to 
 see you well informed, intelligent, thorough Pesbyteriansj 
 because I verily believe, as before stated, that this form of 
 ecclesiastical government is more closely conformed to the 
 Apostolic model than any other ; and better fitted, by far, 
 than any other, to promote all the great ends of government 
 in the Church of Christ. But I beseech you to remember, 
 that you may be zealous Presbyterians, and yet 7iot real 
 Christians. You may contend strenuously and ably for 
 those outward forms which Christ has established in his 
 Church, and retain every one of them with scrupulous 
 exactness; and yet be strangers to that "Spirit without 
 which we "are none of his." Let no one, then, who de- 
 sires to see the face of God in peace, rest in forms of eccle- 
 siastical order, however scriptural. They are important 
 in their place; but they are not that "holiness without 
 which no man shall see the Lord." They are useful as 
 means, but they are not the foundation of that "hope which 
 maketh not ashamed." While, therefore, we neglect no- 
 thing which Christ has revealed; let our first and highest 
 attention be directed to that regeneration of the heart, by 
 which alone we can be " made meet for the inheritance of 
 
212 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the saints in light;" and to that vital union by faith and 
 love to the blessed Saviour, which alone can give us an in- 
 terest in his atoning blood, and a title to eternal life. With- 
 out the sanctifying and justifying power of that blood, no 
 man is a Christian. To this great foundation of Gospel 
 hope, then, be entreated, every one of you, my beloved 
 brethren, first of all, and above all, to turn your eyes and 
 your hearts. Here rest. Here live. Here rejoice, in 
 holy hope of "the glory that shall be revealed." And to 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, our God, and our father's 
 God, be glory forever! Amen! 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 20th May, 1832, by the Rev. 
 Samuel Martin, D. D. of Chanceford, Pa. 
 
 ON REGENERATION. 
 
 Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are 
 passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. v. 17. 
 
 Paul and his fellow apostles, as the Master whom they 
 served, were constantly exposed to the reproach and hatred 
 of the enemies of the cross. Their zeal was regarded as 
 fanatic, their eloquence as pompous display, to attract no- 
 tice and procure applause. Their success excited suspi- 
 cion, and exposed them to unspeakable malice. The pu- 
 rity of their lives, their disinterested labours, and their ex- 
 tensive charity, instead of procuring esteem, heated public 
 resentment. To whatever quarter they turned their eyes, 
 causes of trouble and perplexity arose before them; deaths 
 and dangers stared upon them. Did these things move 
 them? Did they retard their motion, or drive them from 
 their course? Instead of this, they rejoiced "that they 
 were counted worthy to suffer shame for the sake of Christ." 
 The entreaties of friends enforced with tears, and the ter- 
 rors of death in joint array, could not stay the progress of 
 Paul on his journey to Jerusalem, though he well knew that 
 31 
 
216 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 " bonds and imprisonment awaited him." "What mean ye," 
 says he, *« to weep and to break my heart ? for I am ready, 
 not be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name 
 of the Lord Jesus." Nor were these the vauntings of a 
 desperado, nor the ebullitions of an overheated imagination; 
 but the composed and well digested resolutions of a soul 
 devoted to the will of Christ, and "strong to do ex- 
 ploits," in his service. But this fortitude, this devotion to 
 Christ, did not spring from any resources common to man. 
 They were not the attainments of native greatness, improved 
 and cherished in the most favoured schools of science or 
 experience. They arose out of a depression of all these, 
 and the possession of a spirit akin to that which pertained es- 
 sentially to the Master whom they served. Their pure, and 
 sublime addresses, their self-denying and heavenly conver- 
 sation, clearly proved that they were born from above. He 
 that had created them at first, had created them anew. 
 They were in Christ Jesus. They were new creatures! 
 New creatures, in a new world. "Old things were passed 
 away, behold all things were become new." Nor was this 
 peculiar to Paul and his fellow apostles : " For, if any man 
 be in Christ, he is a new creature." 
 
 To be in Christ, involves every thing, immediately or 
 remotely, that is or can be important to man. 
 
 It implies an interest in his vicarious righteousness, 
 through a cordial acceptance of it for all the purposes for 
 which he fulfilled it, and for all the ends of its imputation. 
 
 To be in Christ, supposes union with Christ, by which 
 union the sinner is made one with Christ in reckoning: of 
 law, and so, by the obedience of Christ his Surety, account- 
 ed his, he is delivered from condemnation. "For there is no 
 condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus j for the law 
 
ON REGENERATION. 217 
 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made them free 
 from the law of sin and death." 
 
 To be in Christ, implies the possession of the Spirit of 
 Christ; of whom the Saviour says to his disciples, "that 
 he dwelleth with you, and- shall be in you." For this, be- 
 lievers are called 'Uemples of God." "Know ye not that 
 ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwell- 
 eth in you." 
 
 To be in Christ, implies an alliance to Christ so inti- 
 mate, that all the supplies of the spiritual life are derived 
 from him, and that this life is entirely dependent upon him 
 for its maintenance. " Because I live," said the Saviour to 
 his disciples, "ye shall live also." And this view is in ex- 
 act accordance with Paul's experience. "1 live, yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me." And does light dwell with dark- 
 ness? Does love enclasp enmity in its bosom? Does holiness 
 entwine herself around the filthy, deformed, and loathsome 
 monster sin ? Not at all: "If any man be in Christ, he is a 
 new creature." The God of grace prepares the human heart 
 for his reception. He builds for himself a new temple. He 
 sweeps and garnishes it, and takes possession. 
 
 The regeneration or new creation of the sinner, is at once 
 a mysterious and an almighty work. It is exclusively the 
 work of God. Speaking of Christ, John states as follows : 
 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to be- 
 come the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; 
 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
 norof the willof man, but of God." John'i. 12, 13. Speak- 
 ing of himself and his fellow Christians, Paul says "we 
 are his, that is, God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, 
 created unto good works." The creation of all things was 
 by the word of God's power, without the supposed pre- 
 existence of any materials. And the spiritual creation, is 
 
218 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 the exertion of ''the exceeding greatness of his power;" 
 a power compared by the apostle to that which "he 
 wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and 
 set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. " The 
 above passages, to which many might be added, directly as- 
 cribe to God the regeneration of the sinner. But besides this 
 direct testimony, the form of expression furnishes an argu- 
 ment equally forcible with the positive declaration. They 
 are created ; to create is exclusively the prerogative of the 
 Almighty, When the Saviour said to the man sick of the 
 palsy, "thy sins be forgiven thee," the Scribes, kindling 
 into rage at the apprehended blasphemy, exclaimed, " Who 
 can forgive sins but God ?" The conviction from which this 
 proceeded was just. With equal justness we all exclaim, 
 Who can create but God ? In one of the above passages, it 
 is said, concerning those that are brought to Christ, "He," 
 that is God, "gave them power to become the sons of 
 God," and he describes them as "born not of blood, nor of 
 the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
 Why, I ask, was Christ called the Son of God ? because he 
 was begotten of the Father. " Thou art my Son, this day 
 have I begotten thee." Peter ascribes to God, in behalf of 
 the regenerated, special praise, in that "God the Father had 
 begotten them again to a lively hope through the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ from the dead." The full grown man, 
 or woman, is begotten again by God the Father, and is born 
 again. Surprise may force the exclamation from a carnal 
 heart, ' Can a man be born when he is old ?' No ; if re- 
 ference be had to created power — No. But if the case be 
 taken as it is; if a spiritual truth be the thing intended; if 
 God be the agent, the answer is. Yes. It is God that work- 
 eth in them to change them from carnal, sensual, and devil- 
 ish, to spiritual, holy, and heavenly. If the phrases ' begot- 
 
ON REGENERATION. 219 
 
 ten again,' 'born again,' ' created anew,' mean any thing, 
 they must mean something above human conception, some- 
 thing beyond the reach of human agency. We infer, then, 
 that regeneration is a glorious work of God. 
 
 Again : If the estate of man be such as the Scriptures re- 
 present, regeneration must be a supernatural work. Two 
 appellations fully describe the whole human race; the right- 
 eous and the wicked. The term, righteous, includes all, who, 
 being united to Christ, have, by divine appointment and 
 reckoning, his righteousness as theirs. They are renewed 
 after the image of Him who created them; and have the 
 Holy Ghost within them, to perfect what he has begun. 
 Of these two descriptions of men, the apostle speaks as fol- 
 lows: "We know, that whosoever is born of God sinneth 
 not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and 
 that wicked one toucheth him not ; and we know that 
 we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wicked- 
 ness" — All except the justified. The word translated lieth, 
 is often used by Homer, to denote one who lieth slain. 
 The whole world lieth slain in wickedness. " Out of the 
 heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, 
 murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceits, lascivious- 
 ness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." ''The 
 heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, 
 who can know it.'"' "The Lord looked down from heaven, 
 upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did 
 understand and seek after God." And what is the report 
 which he brings? "They are all gone aside, they are alto- 
 gether become filthy, there is none that doeth good ; no, 
 not one." And Paul's quotation and paraphrase upon this 
 Psalm, presents this picture in shadesof still deeper darkness. 
 
 "All that is in theworld, the lust ofthe flesh, the lust of the 
 eye, and the pride of life" — such is the description, which 
 
2-30 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 He, who well knows what is in the hearts of men, gives of 
 our race, out of which many are to be so transformed as to 
 be like angels ; yea, like to God. And v/ho in earth or 
 in heaven, but God, can effect the wondrous change? Can 
 any heal themselves? Can any turn their hatred of God 
 and holiness into love and delight? Then "can the Ethio- 
 pian change his skin ;" then "can the leopard change his 
 spots." Can any produce the required change upon his 
 fellow man? Recourse has been had to human justice to 
 stay the progress of wickedness. The experiment has been 
 fully made, through a series of years, reaching back to the 
 youth of time, now become old and hoary. All the while, the 
 protection of law, and the immunities of organized govern- 
 ments, have joined their influence with the fear of hell and 
 the hope of heaven, to prompt men to the practice of virtue. 
 Penalties, graduated by the enormity of crime, have been 
 threatened and inflicted. Justice has dealt out its severi- 
 ties. And what has been effected ? Avarice has put forth 
 its greatest strength, in laying schemes too deep for the 
 discernment of justice, or too intricate to be scanned by man. 
 The assassin has been taught more covertly to aim his 
 deadly thrust ; the debauchee to look for thicker dark- 
 ness; and the voluptuary, still more devoted, to abide 
 steady at his stall. Philosophers, and wise men, and pro- 
 phets, and teachers have spent their skill and power upon 
 our race, and all in vain. Parents, to instructions, have 
 added watchfulness, and correction, and entreaties, and 
 prayers. And where is the proselyte? Let the panyge- 
 rists of human nature point him out ? Sportive nature 
 might produce a white crow or a black swan; but in the pro- 
 duction of man, a field of operation far more splendid, na- 
 ture is utterly impotent; her ofispring are all of a spot — all 
 guilty, all polluted. The enemy occupies the citadel, all 
 
ON REGENERATION. 221 
 
 the springs of human action are poisoned ; every power 
 of soul and body partakes of vileness. And as wise phy- 
 sicians sometimes say of chronic diseases, " it were easier 
 to make a new man than cure them." So in this case, the 
 only cure for man is new creation. And who, but God, 
 can create ? 
 
 Bear with me, while I place before you another class of 
 Scripture testimony on this gloomy view of human nature ; 
 and be assured, I should not call upon you to look so long 
 upon the melancholy scene, did I not believe that a long 
 and attentive look might prove the means of exciting you to 
 flee from the grasp of death, now binding many of you fast, 
 to the arms of Christ your deliverer. The Scriptures we 
 shall produce specify the extent of sin's dominion over the 
 powers and faculties of man. "God saw that the wicked- 
 ness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagi- 
 nation of the thoughts of his heart was only evil contin- 
 ually." Rom. viii. 7. "The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
 can be." "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. " The 
 Apostle describes the heathen, as "having their under- 
 standings darkened, being alienated from the life of God, 
 through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blind- 
 ness of their hearts." Over Israel and Judea God lamented: 
 "My people is foolish ; they have not known me; they 
 are sottish children, and they have none understanding, 
 they are wise to do evil ; but to do good they have no 
 knowledge." Paul speaks of Christians as alive from the 
 dead, and as quickened or brought to life from an estate of 
 death. These are a few, out of many passages, which show 
 the reign of sin over all that pertains to man. Over his 
 
222 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 intellectual powers, — "every thought of the imagination of 
 the heart" is affected. "The carnal mind," or the mind of 
 the flesh, 'is enmity against God.' Here the understanding, 
 together with the will and affections, are included, as sub- 
 ject to the ' enmity.' The other passages are equally com- 
 prehensive: while, in some, our ruined and helpless estate 
 is signified by a term, whose import duly felt, depresses the 
 human spirits and inclines to melancholy. ^^ Dead in tres- 
 passes and sins." Deplorable condition! — and desperate too ; 
 were it not that a life giving-spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is 
 promised to raise men from the dead. Knowledge, which 
 once ruled the whole man, and so spread the image of God 
 before the soul as to engage all its powers in cheerful har- 
 mony and delightful unison, in the praise and enjoyment 
 of Him who is alone lovely and who alone can bless, is sup- 
 planted by ignorance : its seat is become the abode of dark- 
 ness. Without knowledge, man in paradise had not been man. 
 Until the understanding is restored to its rightful dominion, 
 man will still be far below himself. None of our powers 
 are whole. Sin has universal possession, and universal do- 
 minion. Our bodies are vile, nor can they be refined till 
 they turn to dust, and are raised and fashioned anew. 
 What a wreck is the nature of man ! The shattered frame- 
 work around a ruined soul, reminds us of what it once con- 
 tained ; but when we ask what is now within, we are told 
 that it is a vile, polluted, deformed thing, which, ere long, 
 is to be torn from its insecure moorings, to be engulphed 
 in a Charybdis that casts out none of its dead. 
 
 But I have said that the work is mysterious as well as 
 almio^hty. Who can trace and develope the operations of 
 Jehovah in the creation of the world ? Who can tell by 
 what process rude and undigested chaos, from nothing, was 
 brought into being? Who can explain the way of the 
 
ON REGENERATION. 223 
 
 Lord, in reducing the jumbled materials into order ? Who 
 can illustrate the manner of balancing and adjusting the 
 worlds, so that each maintains its destined place, and moves 
 under laws eternal as its existence? "The morning stars 
 sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for jo)'," 
 when they gazed with astonishment on the finished and 
 stupendous system. Its mystery and magnificence in- 
 spired their song, and gave elevation to their praise. 
 When one sinner repenteth, or is new created, there is joy 
 in heaven. '^I say unto you, there is joy in the presence 
 of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." 
 Luke XV. 10. This is a part of the work of man's redemp- 
 tion into which ''the angels desire to look;" and where 
 they adore the author, whose way to them is hid. Though * 
 in lower strains, the glorified saints join the heavenly choir, 
 in notes like these, "To Him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
 and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and do- 
 minion forever and ever, amen." The people of God, who 
 witness the happy change in others, look on with devout 
 admiration, and as they see the babe in Christ growing to 
 maturity, their anticipations of the crowning scene, when 
 they shall put on immortality, how transporting ! 
 
 Though the way of God in operating on the nature of 
 man in regeneration be thus mysterious ; yet he has gracious- 
 ly revealed the means which he employs, while he has en- 
 joined on us the duty of seeking to become partakers of it. 
 When we speak of means as employed by God, and as 
 enjoined on us, we do not mean to intimate that God can- 
 not, or does not, renew sinners without the use of external 
 means. For ought that we can discern, our salvation was 
 conferred by Christ on one of his fellow-sufferers on the 
 82 
 
224 SPRUCE STREET LECTUHES. 
 
 cross, who, until on the cross, was ignorant of him. One 
 of the Evangelists testifies, that "they, that were crucified 
 with him, reviled him." Yet to one of these, the Saviour 
 declared, ''This day shalt thou he with me in paradise." 
 What we affirm on this subject is, that means go into the 
 general plan of God in the regeneration of sinners. 
 
 Allow me here to say, that men are to be regarded, ordi- 
 narily, as possessing all the faculties and powers proper to 
 man ; this I presume will be called in question by none. 
 As little, surely, ought any to doubt that all these, of what- 
 ever name, are so perverted and polluted, that, until re- 
 newed by grace, the exercise of them in every case is 
 sinful. We are men, but men fallen ! We are men, but 
 • men dead, as to holy or spiritual action. We are men, but 
 men in ruin, and exposed to the wrath to come. Now, that 
 men may be prepared for heaven, which is at least the secon- 
 dary end of the Gospel dispensation, it is obvious, that they 
 must undergo a thorough reform. Every power and faculty 
 of their nature must become the opposite of what it was. 
 The mental faculties, which especially distinguish man 
 from the inferior creatures, and which are the light which 
 ought to guide, and the power which ought to impel 
 all the rest, must, in the order of nature, as well as of 
 grace, first be acted upon. Hence the grand means which 
 God uses for the conversion of sinners, is his Word. Be- 
 lievers are said to be *'born again, not of corruptible seed, 
 but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and 
 abideth forever." The word of God is addressed to the un- 
 derstandings of men, whether in the reading or preaching 
 of it: and if the heart is to believe unto righteousness, it 
 must be reached through the intellectual faculties. In proof 
 of this, I refer you to the manner of the divine Saviour, in 
 his Sermon on the Mount. What does it contain that is not 
 
ON REGENERATION. 225 
 
 directed to the understandings and consciences of men?. 
 By what other avenue does he seek to approach their 
 hearts? The sermon of Peter, so justly celebrated for its 
 power and success, had plainly for its aim the conviction 
 of the consciences of his hearers. The burden of his 
 preaching was, the proof that he whom they had lately 
 crucified, was constituted both Lord and Christ. The eflfect 
 was, their convinced consciences compelled the inquiry ad- 
 dressed to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, "Men and 
 brethren, what shall we do?" Agreeably to the promise of 
 Christ, the Holy Ghost prepared their hearts to receive the 
 truth, and wrought through its means the proper effects. 
 Vainly do men address the feelings of the human heart, in 
 the hope of changing it. Let any show me an instance 
 wherein Christ or his Apostles endeavoured to back sin- 
 ners into a religious course, by direct addresses to feelings 
 and dispositions, and I will consent that they preach to 
 these, "till sides and benches fail." Faith is the grace 
 that savingly unites the sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 but "how can the sinner believe in him of whom he has 
 not heard, and how shall he hear without a preacher." So 
 ^' faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
 God." The word of God, I admit, addressed to the human 
 mind with all ihe native force of truth, and adorned and 
 softened with all the persuasion of human eloquence, if there 
 be nothing more, will leave the human heart a stone un^ 
 broken. Yet if the same word come to the ear by the utter- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit, though it come as a still small voice, 
 and even lisp its whisper, it will reach the heart. Its power 
 will be felt, and the heart will, as He pleases, either melt 
 or break. When He bears home the truth upon the heart, 
 or rather when He prepares the heart to receive it, and willa 
 its renovation, the designed issue may be confidently ex- 
 
226 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 pected. When chaos lumbered in impenetrable darkness, 
 God said, "Let there be light :" and light shone all around : 
 and this same God "who commanded the light to shine out 
 of darkness," says the Apostle, "hath shined into our hearts, 
 to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
 face of Jesus Christ." The Gospel preached, <'not with the 
 enticing words of man's wisdom," but in demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power, is the grand means to give to the 
 cross of Christ full effect. "The prophet that hath a dream, 
 let him tell his dream," but let him that hath God's word, 
 speak it faithfully; for, says God, "what is the chaff to the 
 wheat ? Is not my word like as a fire, and like a hammer 
 that breaketh the rock in pieces?" Jer. xxiii. 27. "It is 
 quick and powerful, sharper than a two edged sword, pierc- 
 ing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and 
 of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts 
 and intents of the heart." Heh. iv. 12. When the Lord 
 speaks, will not all nature hear? On one occasion, while 
 the Saviour slept, the winds and waves had combined their 
 forces, and his disciples felt that their ship must sink. 
 The Saviour arose and rebuked the winds, and commanded 
 the swollen billows, "Peace, be still, and there was a great 
 calm." "Lazarus, come forth," exclaimed Jesus, and the 
 man of Bethany, already four days dead, comes forth alive. 
 Unclean spirits depart at his rebuke. Diseases, the most 
 inveterate, are healed by his word. And cannot Christ by 
 his Spirit and his Word, quicken into life the dead in sin, 
 and lead them forth to follow him ? Ignorance of our 
 natural condition, and mistaken views of the plan laid for 
 our salvation, may, and often do give occasion to devise 
 plans, and form purposes, to turn to Christ; and these 
 purposes are often accompanied with strong expectations 
 of success. How hollow, how airy, are such hopes ! A 
 
ON REGENERATION. 227 
 
 scribe, a man skilled in the law, comes to Christ, and de- 
 clares his purpose in terms most liberal, most unreserved: 
 <'Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." 
 Christ treats his proposal with respect, and tells him 
 plainly what he might look for. "The foxes have holes, 
 and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath 
 not where to lay his head." This was enough. His ex- 
 pectations were all cut off. He slips out of view; you 
 hear no more of him. Again ; the Lord Jesus fixes his 
 eyes on one, and addresses him saying, "Follow me." He 
 entreats a delay until he should perform the last offices of 
 filial piety to a deceased father. "Let the dead bury their 
 dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." Here, 
 there is no further objection. This, indeed, was a call to 
 a special end, but then it was a call to an arduous office, to 
 greater danger and more self-denial, than ordinarily falls to 
 the lot of the private Christian. 
 
 Here it is proper to remark, that Christ, while he pre- 
 sents divine truth before the mind in the execution of his 
 prophetical office, exerts his power as a king upon the 
 human heart ; as a prophet or teacher, he speaks as never 
 man spake. The brightness of truth shines upon the mind 
 with a lustre unknown before, when he comes to show the 
 way of life. Though the truths exhibited, are none other 
 than those contained in the Scriptures, the light is withal 
 supernatural. It comes home upon the mind, accompanied 
 with evidences of truth that constrain conviction ; — while, 
 as a king, he exerts his mighty power upon the soul to give 
 it efficacy. As a king, new powers of perception, of appre- 
 hension, judging, and choice are given. While truth is ex- 
 hibited to the mind, so that the word is with power, the 
 soul, being at the same time convinced, persuaded, and ena- 
 bled, accepts the offered salvation. As a prophet, Christ 
 
228 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 acts immediately by the word, at the same time that he 
 acts immediately ami directly upon the soul as a king, in its 
 renovation. Thus far we have ventured to speak of the 
 manner of this mysterious work of God. In this light the 
 Apostle seems to our view to exhibit it. "We all, with 
 open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of God, are 
 changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as 
 by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii. 10. Analagous 
 to this is the instance of the cure performed on the man 
 whose hand was withered. Christ commanded him, 
 "Stretch forth thine hand; and he stretched it out, and 
 his hand was restored whole as the other." Here the 
 communication of health to the motionless and diseased 
 member, was plainly at the time when the command ope- 
 rated on the mind. While Paul talked with a little group 
 of women assembled at Philippi, the Lord opened the 
 heart of Lydia. In common with others, she listened to 
 Paul's instructions; but she had listened in vain, unless the 
 Spirit had turned her heart to the truth, or prepared her 
 heart to receive it. 
 
 If what I have said be scriptural ; and for one I be- 
 lieve it is ; then we may boldly affirm, that all shall 
 be regenerated that were given to Christ in the eternal 
 purpose of God ; the means shall never be withdrawn, nor 
 the operations of grace suspended, until all that are bought 
 with the blood of Christ shall be cleansed and brought home 
 to heaven. "For, saith God, as the rain that cometh down 
 and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but 
 watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that 
 it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall 
 my word be, that goeth out of my mouth ; it shall not re- 
 turn to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, 
 and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." 
 
ON REGENERATION. 229 
 
 In the past discussion on the importance of the word of 
 God as a means of salvation, as used by the author of rege- 
 neration to produce it, I have necessarily exhibited its use- 
 fulness as employed by man in seeking salvation; and 
 shall now trouble you farther but with a few remarks. It 
 will be admitted, that in the use of the word, as read and 
 preached, there is a fitness for the accomplishment of the 
 end intended. It reveals all that is necessary to be known, 
 or believed, or done by men. It presents to our view all 
 that God hath done, and all that he hath promised to do, to 
 effect it. We are enjoined -to hear the word ; to meditate 
 upon it; to believe and obey it. It is recommended under 
 prospects of unspeakable benefit. ''It is able to make wise 
 unto salvation, through faith that is in Jesus Christ. All 
 Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit- 
 able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
 in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, 
 thoroughly furnished to every good work." The Scrip- 
 tures "convert the soul; they make wise the simple." 
 As the word is the important means by which God ap- 
 proaches the sinner, so that the sinner may be found in the 
 various uses of it, which it recommends, must be a matter 
 of much concern. While the Eunuch read the Scriptures, 
 the Spirit told Philip to draw near and instruct him; and 
 the effect was, that he that read believed. "While Paul 
 reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
 come, Felix trembled." 
 
 The sacraments, considered as means of grace, are mainly 
 concerned with real Christians. They are employed as 
 seals, to renew and confirm their covenant engagements ; 
 and in general, to promote the growth of the life already 
 given. Attention to these is not, therefore, necessary in 
 the present discussion ; in which we are singly concerned 
 
230 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 with the instrumentality employed, in procuring and con- 
 stituting the new, the heavenly life. 
 
 Let us turn our attention to prayer as a duty, which the 
 Holy Ghost may bless to our souls, as instrumental in their 
 regeneration. Of this our Saviour says, that " men ought 
 always to pray and not to faint." Paul, in addressing the ido- 
 latrous Athenians, states to them, as reasons which ought to 
 bend them to the worship of the true God, that all nations 
 are made of one blood ; that they are all dependent on God 
 their Creator, whose extended providence embraces the 
 most minute concerns and relations of their lives, and that 
 he does this, that they may be excited *' to seek the Lord, if 
 haply they might feel after him and find him." »dcts xvii. 
 27. This seeking is here held up to view as reasonable, 
 and not [altogether hopeless to the heathen. " thou that 
 hearest prayer," says the Psalmist, "unto thee all flesh shall 
 come.'' Psalm Ixv. 2. Peter, who says of Simon, "Thou 
 art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," 
 yet commands him "Repent of this thy wickedness, and 
 pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be 
 forgiven thee !" *^cis vii. 22. That prayer is the duty of 
 all men, whether regenerate or the contrary, the above 
 passages seem to prove. And I have never yet ascer- 
 tained upon what grounds, prayer has been forbidden 
 to the worst of men. If the purity of the heart, and the 
 perfection of the performance, constitute the reasons of 
 the command, then the command were vain ; all would 
 fail of acceptance, for none could so pray. Were they ca- 
 pable of performing it perfectly, then were it unnecessary. 
 There could be no reason for prayer to Adam in paradise; 
 he possessed all that he could wish or enjoy. Abundant 
 indeed was his reason for praise. We never hear that 
 
ON REGENERATION. 231 
 
 angels pray, nor the spirits of the just made perfect. For 
 praise they have ample reason. It will be noticed here, 
 that we use the word prayer, singly to signify petition. 
 We offer then, as one reason of preferring requests to 
 God, or of the duty of prayer, our forlorn and necessitous 
 condition. The Gospel is addressed to us as sinners, under, 
 and liable to all the consequences of sin ; and our duty is, 
 to come to God as we really are, encouraged by his gra- 
 cious promises. This duty again, we say, is founded on 
 the fulness of blessing treasured up in Christ, in behalf of 
 sinners. " When he ascended up on high he received gifts 
 for men," even for the rebellious. These he holds in pos- 
 session. Another reason on which is founded the duty, and 
 I will add, the encouragement to pray, is, that all the ful- 
 ness of Christ, as mediator, is in Him, by the gift of God the 
 Father, for the specific end of bestowing it on those that 
 were chosen in Him to eternal life; and, therefore. He that is 
 thus full of blessing is willing to give. Who is there 
 among you, whose conscience condemns him as guilty? 
 What will you be told that you must do, to escape punish- 
 ment? The modern theology commands, repent. Can you 
 repent? No : it is only obtained by the gift of God. But if 
 you could repent — could you by that means cancel the ac- 
 count that stands against you? Impossible; what course then 
 can be left for the sinner, but to ask forgiveness? and why 
 not with prayer? when inspiration tells you, that ''with the 
 Lord there is forgiveness, with the Lord there is mercy, 
 and with him is plenteous redemption." 
 
 I say again, that the earnestness, ardour, sincerity, or even 
 
 the faith of the suppliant, cannot be the reason why God 
 
 accepts his prayer or his person. The unregenerate sinner 
 
 is acted upon by the Spirit of Christ, as a prophet and as a 
 
 33 
 
232 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES, 
 
 king, in regeneration. The sinner is passive, he is a mere 
 recipient. Christ finds him dead ; he gives him life. The 
 Father finds him guilty, and reckons to him his Son's righ- 
 teousness; he forgives him, and adopts him as his son. 
 For what reason, or on what account ? For none other 
 surely, but the sacrifice and intercession of Christ. Now 
 that he is become a new creature, how does he live, and 
 by what means does he grow? He lives, " by Christ liv- 
 ing in him." He grows by him, who, while he is "the 
 author, is also the finisher of faith." He now works, but 
 it is by God that worketh in him to will and do of his 
 good pleasure. If God, then, accept and bless even a real 
 Christian, he cannot be moved so to do, either by what 
 he does, or by his manner of doing it; but because he is 
 in Christ, because the fulness of Christ is his. He belongs 
 to Christ's fold, and the great Shepherd of the sheep is 
 bound by covenant engagement to feed him. For Christ's 
 sake, and for his sake alone, good men receive a gracious 
 answer to their prayers ; and they all, with one accord, do 
 ask, that the spirit of prayer may be given them ; they all do 
 thank God when they receive it; while they jointly ex- 
 claim, "Thou, Lord, hast wrought all our works in us." 
 Should any one declare the contrary, and affirm that his ar- 
 dour and importunity had melted the heart of Jehovah to 
 pity, and rendered him propitious, ye all would say to such 
 a one, "Thou hast a lie in thy right hand." Were you 
 to suppose that God would weigh the prayers of the righte- 
 ous in a scale of equity, having separated what is pure from 
 what is vile, the latter would still preponderate, and the 
 side of purity would kick the beam : — but this purity, of 
 whatever amount, has been communicated to them ; and to 
 God be the praise. The elect of God in Christ Jesus are, 
 in common with others, the subjects of sin, and charged 
 
ON REGENERATION. 233 
 
 with guilt while in their natural condition ; and as they 
 are not yet united to Christ, nor dealt with as those that are 
 in him, their prayers, cannot be approved by a Holy God, 
 Yet I contend that there is unspeakable importance in 
 prayer to them. 
 
 1st. Because they are chosen in Christ, that they should 
 be holy, and so Christ is concerned to make them so. For 
 this end the great High Priest above intercedes for them. 
 "I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for those 
 which thou hast given me out of the world, for they are 
 thine." Here he intercedes for his disciples, as being given 
 him by actual calling. But again he says, "Neither pray I 
 for these alone, but for them also, who shall believe on me 
 through their word." In this you behold the Saviour 
 looking forward to generations rising into existence in or- 
 derly succession to the end of time, as embraced in the 
 travail of his soul, as objects of his intercession, as to be 
 made the subjects of his grace. To all quarters, too, is his 
 attention turned. "Other sheep I have, that are not of this 
 fold ; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, 
 and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." How will 
 this shepherd gather his flock together? Hewill send his word 
 to the places where they wander and address them; he will 
 turn their hearts to prayer by speaking through his Spirit to 
 them, and compel them to come. Now what man that 
 prays, can tell when the Spirit of God may inspire him, 
 or that he will always pray in vain. If he be one for whom 
 Christ intercedes, there surely will be a time when means 
 will encompass him, and when the power that raised up 
 Jesus from the dead, will give elevation to his soul, and lift it 
 up to heaven. The opposition made to Paul's ministry at 
 Corinth, had discouraged him, and had tempted him to turn 
 away ; at which crisis the Lord spoke to Paul in the night 
 
234 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 by a vision, saying, " Be not afraid, but speak and hold 
 not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no one shall set on 
 thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city." 
 Thus does he, to whom the kingdom belongs, provide that 
 all things shall conspire, whether preaching or praying, 
 reading or hearing, with the Almighty power which he 
 waits to employ at the proper moment appointed in the 
 eternal decree, for calling the elect from darkness to light, 
 for creating them anew. 
 
 If I have succeeded in showing that regeneration is ex- 
 clusively the work of God, all the powers and faculties of 
 men being deeply depraved, and incapable of any right ex- 
 ercise or employment towards God ; then it will be 
 asked, why does God command what no man is able to 
 perform? and why does he punish them for not obeying? 
 1 know not a better answer than the old one given b}' our 
 fathers, who have long since fallen asleep in Christ. — That 
 God's right to obedience cannot be dissolved by the disO' 
 bedience of his subjects; and that the lower we are sunk in 
 a spirit of rebellion, the greater is our guilt. But I enter my 
 solemn protest against all the reasoning of men on the subject 
 of ability, as concerned with the question whether God is 
 justified in requiring what we are unable to perform. To 
 those who labour to defend the Divine plan in this particu- 
 lar, I seem to hear God asking, who hath required this 
 at your hand ? Sure I am, that the discussion of this sub- 
 ject, has brought forth sentiments near akin to blasphemy. 
 To theories of men on this subject I pay no attention. I 
 shall sim.ply lay before you what I believe the Scriptures 
 teach. I trust none of you will condemn me, when I say 
 that all men, in an estate of nature, are under the curse of 
 the law ? I care not, in this case, whether you regard 
 original sin, or depravity, or both united, as the cause, if 
 
ON REGENERATION. 235 
 
 you admit that all the world stands guilty before God. It 
 will surely be admitted, that from this damnation none 
 can deliver themselves. If any could, then hath Christ 
 died in vain. That God hath interposed for our deliver- 
 ance, is matter of unspeakable joy and praise. What then 
 is the plan which God hath laid, and which he is executing? 
 He hath appointed his Son, and sent him to obey the law 
 in our room and stead. In his life he has fulfilled the right- 
 eousness of the law, or the obedience which it required of 
 us, as our substitute. In his death he has offered himself 
 a sacrifice, and made an atonement for the sins of his peo- 
 ple By these means God has opened a channel of inter- 
 course between himself and sinners. Through Christ as 
 the way, God comes down with blessings to men. Through 
 Christ the intercessor, men appear before the mercy seat 
 above. All fulness dwells in Christ, as mediator — as the 
 fruit of his purchase — to be bestowed on men. On this ac- 
 count, all the promises are said to be "in him yea, and in 
 him Amen, to the glory of God." This accomplished, God 
 calls sinners to come to Christ, to believe in Christ — surely 
 not because he knows they are able and ready to comply ; 
 for their inability and aversion are most fully known to 
 him; but he does so, because he has amply provided through 
 his Son, whatever exertion of power on his part may be 
 needful, and whatever gift to be bestowed for fulfilling his 
 merciful design. If any contend that they have power to 
 believe — I care not whether they call it natural or moral 
 power — they are aside of the Gospel plan of salvation, which 
 proposes faith, and every thing else needful to the sinner, as 
 matter of gift. Such, seeking to be justified by the deeds 
 of the law, or deeds of their own, " are fallen from grace." 
 If a man is able to believe, why is he not able to love ? If 
 he is able to repent, why is he not able to avoid sin and 
 
236 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 render repentance unnecessary ? The truth is, that the Gos- 
 pel scheme contemplates man as guilty, as condemned, as 
 utterly impotent, as lifeless in a spiritual sense. And the 
 grace of God takes man as it finds him. The sinner does 
 not hear the voice, (so deaf is he to the things that ought to 
 alarm him,) which tells him, '<the soul that sinneth it 
 shall die" — until the Spirit open his ears to hear it, and 
 stir up in his soul the fear of death. What shall I do? 
 says the guilty rebel ; what shall I do to escape hell and 
 secure heaven ? Believe in the name of the only begotten 
 Son of God, is the order. Alas ! says the sinner, I cannot 
 apply the remedy. Unbelief reigns, enmity rages, I cannot 
 believe. But let the sinner recollect, that if God demands 
 faith of an unbelieving man, he bestows it too, for Christ's 
 sake, who hath purchased faith for him. "By grace are ye sav- 
 ed, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of 
 God." Faithisthegiftof Godjtoallthat haveit. Thesinner's 
 duty, under these circumstances, clearly is, diligent attention 
 to all the outward means ordained of God for men in seek- 
 ing; and in this, through the grace of God, his hope rests. 
 
 Sinners, you are commanded to repent. Repent and be 
 converted. "God commandeth all men every where to re- 
 pent." Ye exclaim — "Impossible. — My heart refuses to 
 look back upon my sins, it will not glance at my vileness, it 
 cannot bear the purity, nor look upon the spirituality of 
 God's law. Oh, that I could feel as I ought to feel, as a 
 bold offender against God : and fear, as I ought to fear, his 
 hot displeasure." While your heart is sore, because of its 
 hardness, think of this, and see if it will not apply to your 
 case. — God says concerning his Son, that he has "exalted 
 him a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel 
 and the forgiveness of sins." Turn your whole attention 
 hither, and seek relief. Ask what God offers. 
 
ON REGENERATION. 2S7 
 
 Again. You are commanded, "Wash ye, make ye clean ; 
 put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes^ 
 cease to do evil, learn to do well." You are commanded 
 to regenerate yourselves. I cannot, you exclaim, and so 
 indeed it is. As well might you undertake to pull down 
 your clayey tabernacles, and build them up again. As well 
 might you attempt to extinguish the immortal spark that is 
 within you, and kindle it again. Regenerate myself! An- 
 gels could not. None but the Almighty can. Sinner, 
 hear again the welcome voice of mercy. "I will sprinkle 
 clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your 
 filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." 
 Here you discern the promise of God covers the whole 
 ground of the command. 
 
 Again. God commands you, '<Cast away all your trans- 
 gressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a 
 new heart and a new spirit, for why will you die :" Hear 
 again the grace provided and ready. "A new heart will 
 I give you, a new spirit will I put within you. I will take 
 away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you 
 an heart of flesh." Here again the promise and the provi- 
 sion made, cover the whole ground of the command. 
 
 Do not the above promises address men in their natural 
 condition ? and when the condition of any is described in a 
 promise, is it not to be regarded as specially directed to 
 them, and more especially, when the promise contains the 
 very blessings which they feel that they need? If I can 
 affirm that any thing is the duty of a man in any case, I 
 can affirm, that when a man sees and feels himself painted 
 in the description annexed to a promise, it is his duty to 
 plead it: not to plead it, is wilful unbelief. ''Come unto 
 me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 
238 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES, 
 
 you rest." Now I assert, that he that is toiled and oppressed 
 with the burden of sin, is a wilful unbeliever, if he does not 
 plead "Lord sprinkle me with the blood of reconciliation, 
 and grant me peace of conscience and peace with thee." 
 So it is with all the promises, as addressed to the various 
 conditions and necessities of the people of God. 
 
 The same is true with respect to unregenerate men. 
 Their duty is to plead promises that describe them. They 
 have hearts of stone ; they have sins, many and aggrava- 
 ted. Can they regard God as a God, keeping covenant and 
 mercy, if they fail to plead, '<Lord sprinkle clean water 
 upon me, and I shall be clean, from all my filthiness and 
 from all my idols, do thou cleanse me." Sinners, be exhort- 
 ed to wait on God, in an attendance on all His ordinances. 
 Seek an acquaintance with your own hearts ; keep the pro- 
 mises of a faithful God upon your minds; wrestle with 
 God in prayer, and cease not to strive till ye receive the 
 blessing. May the God of grace and peace grant you peace. 
 If I have spoken the truth, may the Lord bless it to you all. 
 If I have erred from the truth, Oh, Lord, forgive ; and do 
 thou show me wherein I have mistaken thy holy will. 
 Amen. 
 
 In conclusion. I ask any one to tell me why God pro- 
 mises to do for men the very things which he requires 
 them to do, in order to their salvation, if he contemplates 
 men as in any sense able of themselves to do what he re- 
 quires ? 
 
 Again, I ask, that with the substitution of Christ in our 
 room and stead, how it can consist with this substitution, 
 that man himself should be the performer? 
 
 Again. The demand is not, do and live, but believe 
 and be saved. To talk of doing, is to reject substitution, 
 and to risk the natural plan. 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the 6th November, 1832, by the 
 Rev. William Neill, D. D. of Germantown. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH 
 
 Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds 
 of the law. — Rom. iii. 28. 
 
 This conclusion is the result of argument. The question 
 is, concerning the ground, on which a sinner is acquitted, 
 accepted, and saved. A momentous question, indeed. It 
 is shown, in the preceding context, that all mankind, Jevvs 
 and Gentiles, have sinned, and failed to promote the glory 
 of God; and, of course, are liable to be punished. The 
 law, under which they are placed is holy, just, and good; 
 every way suited to secure the honour of the Lawgiver, 
 and the happiness of the subject. It cannot, therefore, be 
 mitigated in its rigour, without a reflection on the wisdom 
 and goodness of the Creator; and to give up its claims to 
 obedience, altogether, would be to open the flood-gates of 
 profligacy, and encourage universal anarchy and confusion. 
 To expect a perfect obedience from a creature who has, 
 
 even in a single instance, violated the rule of duty, would 
 34 
 
240 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 be to expect an impossibility; and to talk of God's accept- 
 ing sincere endeavours to honour him and do his will, in- 
 stead of entire conformity to his law, as the ground of ac- 
 ceptance with him, is to talk at random, — darkening coun- 
 sel by words without knowledge. If then the sinner is 
 to be justified at all, it seems plain, that it must be by vir- 
 tue of something done for him by another, whose interpo- 
 sition is recognized by the law, and accepted by the Law- 
 giver, as answering all the purposes contemplated in the 
 administration of a holy and righteous government. The 
 apostle's doctrine, therefore, "That a man is justified by 
 faith, without the deeds of the law," is, from the nature of 
 the case, at least plausible. 
 
 The text might be rendered rather more literally, thus: 
 We conclude, then, that man is justified hy faith without 
 icorks of law. That is, mankind are justified by faith, 
 without regard to works, performed by them in obedience 
 to any law, natural, ritual, or moral; which, though of vast 
 importance in other respects, are of no account whatever in 
 the matter of justification. This doctrine of justification by 
 faith in Jesus Christ, stands out, in bold relief, in the Gospel 
 plan of salvation. It occupied a high and warm place, in 
 the estimation of Paul the apostle; as is evident from the 
 pains which he has taken, particularly in his epistle to the 
 Romans, to state and defend it; Luther pronounced it, em- 
 phatically "The article of a standing or a falling church." 
 And all the reformed churches, of Protestant Christendom, 
 regard it as a fundamental and essential article of religious 
 belief, as appears in their respective creeds. 
 
 To exhibit and illustrate the doctrine by a series of re- 
 marks, and by the induction of several passages of sacred 
 Scripture, bearing on the subject, is the simple and sole de- 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 241 
 
 sign of this lecture. And as the discussion is to be mainly- 
 doctrinal, it may be proper to advert, here, to what is 
 taught on the subject in the doctrinal standards of the 
 Presbyterian Church. See "Confession of Faith;" chap. 
 XI. sections 1, 2, 3. "Those whom God effectually call- 
 eth, he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness 
 into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting 
 and accepting their persons as righteous ; not for any 
 thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's 
 sake alone: not by imputing faith itself, the act of believ- 
 ing, or any other act of evangelical obedience to them, as 
 their righteousness ; but by imputing the obedience and sat- 
 isfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting 
 on him and his righteousness by faith; which faith they 
 have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Faith, thus 
 receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the 
 alone instrument of justification; yet is it not alone in the 
 person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other 
 saving graces, and is no dead faith; but worketh by love. 
 Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the 
 debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a pro- 
 per, real, and full satisfaction to his Father's justice in their 
 behalf. Yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for 
 them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their 
 stead, and both freely, not for any thing in them, their jus- 
 tification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice, 
 and rich grace of God, might be glorified in the justification 
 of sinners." 
 
 See also, "Larger Catechism," answers to questions 70, 
 71, 72, and 73. 
 
 "Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, 
 in which he pardoneth all their sin, accepteth and account- 
 
242 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 eth their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing 
 wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the per- 
 fect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God im- 
 puted to them, and received by faith alone. Although 
 Christ by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, 
 and full satisfaction to God's justice in the behalf of them 
 that are justified: yet, inasmuch as God accepteth the sat- 
 isfaction of a surety, which he might have demanded of 
 themj and did provide this surety, his only Son, imputing 
 his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them 
 for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their 
 justification is to them of free grace. Justifying faith is a 
 saving grace wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit 
 and word of God; whereby he, being convinced of his sin 
 and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other 
 creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only 
 assenteth to the truth of the promise of the Gospel, but re- 
 ceiveth and resteth upon Christ, and his righteousness 
 therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting 
 and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God 
 for salvation. Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, 
 not because of the other graces which do always accom- 
 pany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it; nor as if 
 the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him 
 for his justification; but only as it is an instrument, by 
 which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his righteous- 
 ness." 
 
 These views, it will be seen by a reference to the proof 
 texts, are well supported by Holy Scripture; and, while 
 we claim for them, no inspired authority, and are far from 
 placing them on a footing with the ''lively oracles," vi^e 
 must, as consistent Presbyterians, be allowed to regard 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 243 
 
 them, as of weighty import, and in good keeping with the 
 whole analogy of the Christian religion. 
 
 I. On the negative branch of the apostle's general conclu- 
 sion, we need spend but little time: "Without works of 
 law." The holiest and best meant works of righteousness, 
 that can be performed by a frail, fallen creature, must be 
 but as filthy rags, in the eye of that rule of moral rectitude 
 which detects and denounces the thefts, the adulteries, the 
 murders of the heart, before they are disclosed to human 
 view. "The commandment is exceeding broad," cover- 
 ing the whole system of man's motives, ends and aims, no 
 less than his overt acts and professed principles. "Cursed is 
 every one that continueth not in all things, that are written 
 in the book of the law to do them." "He that faileth in 
 one point is guilty of all." Of what avail, then, can our 
 best works be, in procuring, for us, forgiveness of sins and 
 a title to eternal life? All that the law can do for us, in 
 our present ruined condition, is to show us the extent of 
 our malady, the malignity of sin, the justice of our condem- 
 nation, and thus act upon us, "as a schoolmaster to bring 
 us to Christ." It is true, that the Christian delights in the 
 law of the Lord, after the inner man, regarding it, as for- 
 ever the rule of duty, the high and holy standard of mo- 
 ral rectitude, in heaven and earth, to which it would be his 
 glory and his happiness to be perfectly conformed. But 
 with the holy apostle, he finds another law in his members, 
 warring against the law of his mind, aiming continually, 
 to bring him into captivity to the law of sin. Good works, 
 i. e. works, good as to the matter of them, are, and ought 
 to be maintained, "for necessary uses." They are useful 
 to our fellow-sinners; and they are important, too, as evi- 
 
244 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 dences of a divine principle in the heart, that works by 
 love; but as to their constituting, either in whole or in 
 part, the ground of our acquittal before God, or of our hope 
 of everlasting life, it is a thing not named or known, in the 
 revealed plan of redeeming love. In regard to what the 
 apostle James says of works, in the business of justifica- 
 tion, we have only to observe, that the scope of his epistle; 
 the examples he adduces; the illustrations he employs, 
 when expounded by the application of the acknowledged 
 principles of sound biblical interpretation, make it evident 
 to our minds, that his design is to show that good works, 
 where opportunity offers, are necessary to satisfy ourselves 
 and others, that we really possess that faith, by which it is 
 affirmed, in the text, that man is justified, in the sight of 
 God. Let those who put a different meaning on his lan- 
 guage, reconcile him if they can, to the apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles. 
 
 II. To justify, in its primary import, is to acquit; to ab- 
 solve from a charge of criminality; to declare one, who has 
 been put on trial, righteous, according to law, and entitled 
 to all the privileges of that community to wlrich he belongs. 
 It is a term taken from the practice of courts of justice, ex- 
 pressive of an official act of a judge, quite different from, 
 and indeed inconsistent with, the idea of pardon. If a 
 man is arraigned before a human tribunal, he is, upon due 
 investigation, either acquitted or condemned. If con- 
 demned, he may h& pardoned, on certain conditions; but if 
 acqiiiitedf he cannot be pardoned; in this case he needs no 
 pardon; the law has nothing against him; the charge has 
 not been substantiated; and he is therefore pronounced le- 
 gally just, or justified. When applied to religious sub- 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 245 
 
 jects, these ievms, justify dXidi justification, are commonly 
 used with some variation of meaning from their original 
 import; though we do not see the necessity, and have 
 some doubts as to the wisdom and expediency of the 
 change. It is true that every one who is justified, in a 
 theological sense, is also pardoned. But is he not likewise 
 regenerated, adopted, and invested with the privileges of 
 the sons of God ? These acts of Divine favour take place, we 
 suppose, simultaneously; but they are distinct acts; and, in 
 our apprehension, the terms that denote them, ought not to 
 be used interchangeably, as if nearly or quite synonymous. 
 Those who are in the habit of regarding justification, and 
 the forgiveness of sin, as one and the same thing substan- 
 tially, will be very likely to overlook the ground, the rea- 
 son, or the meritorious cause of the sinner's acquittal and 
 warranted hope of Heaven. This thought is respectfully 
 submitted to those beloved fellow-servants, whose official 
 duty and business it is, to preach the Gospel and expound 
 the Scriptures, ^^ rightly dividing the word of truth.^^ 
 
 III. The faith by which it is said in our text, that man 
 is justified, is evangelical faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 That faith which credits the divine testimony, concerning 
 the Son of God, the only Redeemer; which apprehends 
 him, and confides in him, as "the Lord our righteousness, 
 and the propitiation for our sins;" as, by divine constitu- 
 tion, possessed of all fulness, and "able to save, to the ut- 
 termost, all that come unto God by him." This is so ob- 
 viously involved in the whole process of the apostle's rea- 
 soning, in the context, that any attempt on the present oc- 
 casion, to make it more plain, would be deemed an ill- 
 judged use of our limited time. 
 
246 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 But how does faith justify? Wherein consists its pecu- 
 liar efficacy, in the article of a sinner's justification? To 
 believe, considered merely as a mental exercise, is the crea- 
 tures own act; and does not seem to require more self-de- 
 nial, or to possess more merit than many other intellectual 
 operations. Nayj the human mind is so constituted, that 
 it believes truth, which is accompanied by sufficient evi- 
 dence, and which does not interfere with predominant pas- 
 sions, very readily; and in some cases, instinctively, or by 
 a kind of qualified necessity; so that, in this species of 
 faith, there would seem to be no special merit. And as 
 to saving faith, as it is sometimes and very fitly denomi- 
 nated, it is the gift of God; i. e. it is the result of a divine 
 influence on the heart; and how can any credit be due to 
 us, for the possession of that which we cannot originate or 
 command, and for which we are indebted to the special 
 grace of God? How, then, — the question returns upon 
 us — does faith justify a sinful man? 
 
 The solution of this problem is the main point in this dis- 
 cussion. And we solve it by saying, in the spirit, if not 
 in the very words of the Holy Scripture, — That saving 
 faith has for its object, the merits, or, which is the same 
 thing, the righteousness of Christ; an object of infinite va- 
 lue in itself, and intimately related to the law of God; an 
 object, in which the law finds its uncompromising claims 
 answered; its majesty maintained; its authority vindicated, 
 and its great end and design accomplished. Hence Christ 
 is said to be "the end of the law, for righteousness, to every 
 one that believeth." Bom. x. 4. The righteousness of 
 Christ, then, and not the sinner^ s act of believing, is the 
 ground, — the reason, — or the meritorious cause of justifica- 
 tion. By the Redeemer's righteousness, we mean his ac- 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 247 
 
 tive and passive obedience; or that perfect obedience which 
 he rendered to the moral law, as well in its penalty, as in 
 its precepts, in the room and stead of his people. And, 
 thus, by his voluntary and wonderful mediation, grace 
 reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, in all them 
 that are saved, of our fallen race, from the beginning to the 
 end of the world. 
 
 The righteousness of Christ having been wrought out ex- 
 pressly for his people, is imputable, or capable of being ac- 
 counted to them, and is actually imputed to them, or set to 
 their account, in the divine act of justification. It is repre- 
 sented, in the chapter from which our text is taken, as a 
 robe, that is put on believers: what else does Paul mean 
 when he says: ''But now the righteousness of God, with- 
 out the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and 
 the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by 
 faith of Jesus, unto and upon all them that believe." 
 Rom. iii. 21, 22. 
 
 This righteousness, moreover, is available, for the justifi- 
 cation of as many os the Lord our God sees fit to call to a 
 participation in its merits, because of the glorious excellency 
 of the Redeemer's person; Immanuel, God-with-us, bone 
 of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, and, yet, God over all, 
 and blessed forever; wearing our nature, and embodying 
 the fulness of the Godhead; angels, and principalities, and 
 powers being subject unto him. 
 
 It is very properly said, in our Shorter Catechism, that, 
 << Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he par- 
 doneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his 
 sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, 
 and received by faith alone." 
 
 On this part of the subject we would remark very briefly : 
 35 
 
248 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 1. That this, like all God's acts, is without repentance, 
 and must take full effect: "Whom he calls, them he also 
 justifies; and whom he justifies, them he also glorifies." 
 Those who are justified, are not furnished with their title 
 to heaven, and left to themselves. They are sanctified 
 progressively, in soul, body, and spirit; and "kept by the 
 power of God, through faith, unto salvation." 2. It is 
 "an act of God's free grace" undoubtedly to the redeemed 
 sinner, as are all the expressions of divine favour, which 
 he receives; while to the redeeming Substitute, it is an 
 act of Justice. He has a fair claim to "see of the travail 
 of his soul, and be satisfied." 3. "Our sins are pardoned" 
 too; I. e. they are remitted to us; but the penalty of the 
 violated law, due to us, on account of our transgressions, 
 was exacted at the hands of Christ, when he "bore our sins 
 in his own body on the tree:" and when " by his stripes 
 we were healed." Sin is never connived at, or allowed to 
 pass unpunished, in the kingdom of Jehovah. "God is 
 love;" but he is, also, "a consuming fire," "a just God, 
 and a Saviour." Let all the earth fear before him. 
 
 Having thus presented the subject in a summary, but, we 
 trust, in an intelligible form, we have only further to in- 
 vite your attention, for a few moments, to a few passages 
 of Scripture, confirmatory of the doctrine, that "man is jus- 
 tified by faith, without works of law." 
 
 The first is, Isaiah liii. 11, latter clause: "By his know- 
 ledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall 
 bear their iniquities." Christ is the righteous servant here 
 spoken of, in the capacity of Mediator. It is said he shall 
 justify many by his knowledge, i. e. by the knowledge of 
 himself, with which he acquaints them by his word and 
 Spirit: "for," or because "he shall bear their iniquities." 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 249 
 
 Now, how shall he justify them, or declare them legally 
 righteous, in consequence of bearing their iniquities, ex- 
 cept by giving them an interest in that righteousness, which 
 the law demands, and which he alone fulfilled ? "Who, of 
 God is made unto us righteousness." Another passage is, 
 Jeremiah xxiii. 5, 6. "Behold the days come, saith the 
 Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and 
 a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judg- 
 ment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be 
 saved and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name, 
 whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteous- 
 ness." This is a prophecy concerning Christ. And to 
 represent the intimate relation between his righteousness 
 and his people's salvation, and, as it would seem, to per- 
 petuate the knowledge and secure the acknowledgment 
 of the precious doctrine, that all who shall cordially re- 
 ceive and own him, as their Lord, are authorized to regard 
 his perfect obedience as theirs, for justification, it is decla- 
 red that he shall be called, and known, and honoured 
 by this singularly compounded title. The Lord, — our 
 Righteousness, " 
 
 A third passage is, 2 Cor. v. 21: "For he hath made 
 him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in him." Now, how can 
 we be made, or constituted so righteous that God can look 
 upon us with approbation ? or, in other words, how can we, 
 in any intelligible sense, be said to be righteousness of God 
 in Christ, except by his obedience being reckoned, or 
 placed to our account, in the eye of the divine law, upon 
 our faith in him, and acceptance of him, as "The Lord — 
 OUR Righteousness ? 
 
 The last text that we adduce, is in the epistle to the 
 
250 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 Phillippians, iii. 8, 9: where the apostle tells us that he 
 had suffered the loss of all things, and accounted them but 
 dung that he might win Christ, "and be found in him," 
 says he, "not having mine own righteousness, which is of 
 the law, but that which is through faith of Christ, the right- 
 eousness which is of God by faith." There is an allusion 
 in this passage to a mariner, when shipwrecked. He would 
 cast away, and disencumber himself of any thing, and 
 every thing, that might interfere with his rescue from a 
 watery grave: So, Paul would renounce, utterly abandon, 
 as, not only useless, but detrimental to his own safety, and 
 derogatory to his Saviour's honour, all his self-righteous- 
 ness, and cling to that which is by faith in Jesus Christ, as 
 the only plank on which he could float safely, amid the 
 wreck of fallen nature, into the haven of eternal bliss. 
 
 If these passages, taken, as they are, from both Testa- 
 ments, (and many others might be cited, of like import) 
 do not tend, strongly, to confirm the conclusion, in our 
 text, "That man is justified by faith without works of 
 law," then, we have yet to learn how to interpret and ap- 
 ply the holy oracles, by comparing Scripture with Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 1. Salvation is of God. The method of saving sinners, 
 by the merits of Christ, is a matter of divine and eternal 
 purpose; and this purpose is carried into effect, by a gra- 
 cious influence on the hearts of men, through the efficient 
 agency of the Holy Spirit, and, ordinarily, by the instru- 
 mentality of revealed truth. The entire scheme, in its ori- 
 gin, its progress, and its consummation, is such as to secure 
 the glory of God, and the most perfect safety and happiness 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 251 
 
 to his people. The Lord Jesus, our legal Substitute and 
 redeeming Saviour, is the gift of God; the Holy Spirit, in 
 a way suited to our moral and accountable character, makes 
 us willing in a day of his power, to be saved by grace; and 
 the sacred Scriptures give us all needful instruction in 
 righteousness, and all desirable encouragement, in the good 
 word of promise, while we pursue the race that is set be- 
 fore us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our 
 faith. I^et there, therefore, be no attempt to divide the 
 honours of eternal redemption between works of law, done 
 by fallen, guilty man, and the perfect,, finished, and ac- 
 cepted work of Him, "Who, of God, is made unto us, 
 wisdonij and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp- 
 tion: that, according as it is written. He that glorieth let 
 him glory in the Lord.''^ 
 
 2. Those who believe this doctrine of justification, by faith 
 in the imputed righteousness of Christ, should be very care- 
 ful to demonstrate the holy tendency of the doctrine, by a 
 life of piety, charity, and active benevolence. The most 
 plausible objection to it is, its supposed liableness to abuse, 
 as if it superseded the necessity of personal holiness, or that 
 love of righteousness, which is, confessedly, the basis of 
 moral virtue. This cavil ought to be refuted and put to 
 silence by the holy temper and upright deportment of pro- 
 fessing Christians; and the doctrine should be so exhibited 
 by preachers and writers, as to show that, while justification 
 takes place solely on the ground of Christ's righteousness 
 accepted by faith, the believer's personal righteousness, or 
 santification, is secured by the bestowment of a new heart 
 and right spirit, and by the Lord's blessing on Gospel truth, 
 Gospel ordinances, and all instituted means of perfecting 
 holiness in the fear of God. 
 
252 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 3. Let Christians act up to their professed belief, that 
 Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer. Vast multitudes of 
 mankind are setting in heathenish darkness, living and 
 dying, and passing to the final judgment, ignorant of the 
 true God, and his published way of saving lost men. We 
 profess to believe that no human being can be saved, 
 but through the merits of the Son of God; who teaches us, 
 that his Gospel is the chosen instrument for the illumina- 
 tion and recovery of mankind from the ruins of the com- 
 mon apostacy. We know, too, that it is a part of his re- 
 deeming plan, to employ the efforts of those whom he has 
 called and justified, in making known to the world the 
 riches and efficacy of his truth and grace; and we hear 
 him, in tones of commingling authority and mercy, say- 
 ing: "Go, preach the Gospel to every creature: he that 
 believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that be- 
 lieveth not shall be damned." How can we, dear Chris- 
 tian brethren, in the honest and cordial belief of these 
 truths be lukewarm, inactive, or indifferent in the cause of 
 God, and the millions of souls, that are perishing for lack 
 of vision ? Oh, when will Christendom feel her responsi- 
 bility in this matter, and, awakening to righteousness, pour 
 forth her joint supplications, and make exertions propor- 
 tionate to the sublime magnitude and benevolence of the 
 object, for the conversion of the world to the faith and fel- 
 lowship of the Gospel ! Come, thou blessed Spirit of Mis- 
 sions; warm the hearts, increase and crown the efibrts 
 of thy people, with divine favour, till it shall be felt on 
 earth, and celebrated in heaven, that the prophecy is ful- 
 filled, that the kingdom of God is fully come, that truth 
 and grace have gloriously triumphed over ignorance and 
 sin, and that Jesus, the Christ, is acknowledged as Lord, 
 
ON JUSTIFICATION. 253 
 
 to the glory of God, the father, "from sea to sea, and from 
 the river to the ends of the earth!!" 
 
 4. There is an obvious use, which every reader should 
 make of this subject for himself. If you are a believer, you 
 have been justified, graciously, through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus; and justification is, in God's unchanging 
 purpose, connected with holiness and heavenly bliss. 
 Surely, then, you will feel that you are not your own; 
 but that you are the Lord's, and that he has an indubi- 
 table right to assign you any service, or subject you to 
 any tribulation, in this life, which he shall see fit and 
 proper. See to it, that you resign yourself wholly to 
 God, actively and passively, living and dying. You can 
 afibrd to deny yourself, and be reproached, if need be, for 
 your firm adherence to Christ; for you are interested in 
 his victory, and intercession. Because he lives you shall 
 live also: your life is hid with Christ, in God. Death is 
 yours. Heaven and eternal life are yours. But if you 
 are yet in your sins, not having believed on the Son of 
 God, you are in a state of condemnation, with the wrath 
 of God abiding on you; and, in this state, you cannot see 
 life. Should this be your case, be entreated to lay hold, 
 straightway, on the hope set before you in the Gospel. 
 Your works of law will never justify you. God has re- 
 vealed but one method of saving sinners, of our guilty race; 
 and that is by the blood and righteousness of his only be- 
 gotten Son. If you reject this, you embrace death. In 
 any other way, all your best works, seconded by the deep- 
 est repentance, and the most painful self-imposed penances 
 will not — cannot save you, "Now, then, we are ambas- 
 sadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you, by us; 
 we pray you, in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God: for 
 
w 
 
 254 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 he hath made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that 
 we might be made the righteousness of God in him." In 
 the religion of a sinner, "Christ is all." "Neither is 
 there salvation in any other." 
 
SPRUCE STREET LECTURES 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 Delivered on the Evening of the iSth May, 1832, by the Rev. 
 John Breckinridge, of Philadelphia. 
 
 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise. 
 — Isaiah xliii. 21. 
 
 That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the 
 house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground 
 of the truth. — 1 Tim. iii. 15. 
 
 And ye became 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 in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the 
 word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place 
 your faith to God-ward is spread abroad ; so that we need not to speak any 
 thing.— 1 Thess. i. 6—8. 
 
 Ir the Church of Christ had been in any adequate measure 
 pure in her spirit, and faithful to her trust, as the depository 
 of the Gospel for mankind, then the history of the Church 
 would have been the history of missions.* 
 
 But on the contrary, the history of the Church is often, 
 
 * Some of the views advanced in this Lecture were published by the au- 
 thor in the Biblical Repertory, October, 1830. 
 
 36 
 
256 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 in a principal degree, the record of its corruptions in doc- 
 trine and life ; and when we would trace from its rise to 
 the present time, the pure stream of Christianity, instead 
 of" the river of God," we find in many ages only a scanty 
 brook, well nigh lost amid the rubbish and delapidations 
 through which it wends its weary way. 
 
 The Apostles of Christ, in a qualified sense, may be said 
 to have defined with their own hands the present frontier- 
 line of foreign missions; and what has since been done for 
 the conversion of the world, has been the result more of 
 natural causes, than of the spirit of missions. What they 
 achieved in a few years, under divine influence, by heroic 
 enterprise, was ignobly left by after ages, to a great extent, 
 to the work of time, and to the indirect influences only of 
 Christianity. 
 
 Indeed, for several centuries before the days of Luther, 
 the Church itself was missionary ground. The religion 
 of Christ lay expiring on its own altar, the victim of its 
 professed votaries and friends. And when at the ever me- 
 morable reformation, "the spirit of life from God entered 
 into her, and she again stood upon her feet," the servants 
 of Christ found Paganism within the very recesses of the 
 sanctuary. They had but little leisure for the cultivation of 
 a foreign field, who were absorved in purging out abomina- 
 tions from the very temple of God itself. Their hands were 
 busied in breaking down the idols from the holy places, in 
 casting out those that made merchandise of the truth, in 
 overturning the tables of the money-changers, and in restor- 
 ing to its purity the worship of God. And then, alas! al- 
 most before the work of reform had been sufficiently extend- 
 ed to give numbers and strength to Christianity, the spirit 
 of contention and of schism arose ; the progress of the holy 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 257 
 
 cause was arrested by the fatal divisions of its friends ; and 
 the Reformed Church 
 
 " To party gave up, what was meant for mankind." 
 
 The revival in latter days of the spirit of missions in Pro- 
 testant Christendom, is a great epoch in the history of the 
 Church and of the world. We have no doubt that future 
 generations, passing by the fading glories of this world, will 
 regard this as the most brilliant characteristic of the age in 
 which we live: and if we are faithful to God and man, it 
 may become the first in a series of progressive movements, 
 which, with the divine blessing, shall issue in the conver- 
 sion of the world. 
 
 But if we would take the proper impression of the sub- 
 ject, and gird ourselves fully for the great and solemn ser- 
 vice we have to perform, then must we esteem the work of 
 missions for the conversion of the world as but just begun. 
 For though, compared with the spirit and labours of some 
 other ages, much is doing now for this noblest of causes, 
 yet, compared with the vast extent of unreclaimed heathen- 
 ism, with the bountiful compass of the divine command, or 
 with what we can and ought to do, our achievements are 
 matter much more of humiliation than of mutual congratu- 
 lation. 
 
 The subject of Christian Missions having, in the order of 
 discussion, been assigned to us, we proceed this evening to 
 present some hints in relation to it, which we trust will not 
 be found unprofitable. 
 
 The passages selected from the word of God are intended 
 to form rather the basis than matter of discussion; and may 
 be considered more a continued motto, or running caption, 
 than as a text for regular analysis. The first named passage 
 
258 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 exhibits the divinely derived character, and appropriate in- 
 fluence of the people of God. " This people have J formed 
 for myself : they shall show forth my praise.'^ This is 
 expanded as follows by the Apostle Peter: " Ye are a 
 chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy natio7i, a 
 peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of 
 Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvel- 
 lous light."* The next portion refers to this peculiar and 
 chosen people, organized into a church, furnished from on 
 high, as the house of God, with the means of extending 
 "the truth" through the earth, and put by its great Head 
 under requisition for this labour of love. " The house of 
 God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar 
 and ground of the truth." Not that the Church is that 
 on which the truth rests, for the truth rests on God ; and it 
 is the action of the truth by the power of God which called 
 the Church into being, organized it into form, and furnished 
 it with beauty and the means of doing good. Hence it is 
 the effect of the truth, and, of course, can never be that on 
 which the truth depends, to be what it is. But it is that, 
 without which, according to the divine arrangement, the 
 truth of God will never be adequately extended in the 
 world. " It is the ground of the truth," as God's chosen 
 seat on earth; where ' his truth is stationed, supported, and 
 upheld,' — the pillar on which the truth is continually held 
 to view, as a public proclamation of mercy to a lost world. 
 The last passage represents to us this Church in successful 
 action — in the work of faith and the labour of love. " From 
 you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Ma- 
 cedonia and Jlchaia, but in every place; so that ye be- 
 came ensamples to all that believe." 
 
 * 1 Peter ii. 9. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 259 
 
 It is taken for granted in this discussion, that the glory 
 of God is the great end of all his works. In his dealings 
 with our world, he has made his supreme glory to depend 
 upon the influence and final triumph of Christianity. " He 
 has magnified his lijorc? above all his name."* The plan 
 of redemption subordinates to itself all beings and all things 
 in our own, and, so far as we know, in all other worlds. 
 " The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 
 hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far 
 above all principality, and power, and might, and domi- 
 nion, 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, to the intent that now unto the prin- 
 cipalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known 
 by the Church the manifold wisdom of God."t In the 
 economy of redemption, man is regarded at once as an 
 object and an agent; as an object, it proposes his eternal 
 salvation; as an agent, he is to be occupied in extending 
 the knowledge of this salvation to his fellow men, in all 
 the world. By the comprehensive and general terms of 
 the subject, "Christian Missions," J we are to under- 
 stand the nature, obligations, importance, &c. of that work 
 in which we are required to engage as agents or instru- 
 ments in the hands of God, for publishing the Gospel to 
 every creature. 
 
 In examining this important subject, we remark: 
 
 I. That the Christian man is, in the very constitution 
 
 * Psalm cxxxviii. 2. t Ephes. i. 17, 20—23, and iii. 10. 
 
 t A series of subjects, of which this is one, had been previously selected, 
 and assigned to the several speakers. 
 
260 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 of his character, a missionary; or, in other words, that 
 which makes him a Christian, endows him in the same 
 degree with the missionary spirit and influence. 
 
 The Christian character and spirit, properly so called, are 
 peculiar, original, and from God. In the new and divine 
 constitution of this character, the Christian differs in many 
 essential respects from his fellow men, who are not Chris- 
 tian, and from his former self A profession of religion is 
 a declaration of this difference — the life of a Christian is its 
 continued exhibition, or it is embodied Christianity. Our 
 first proposition is, that this spirit and character are intrin- 
 sically fitted in themselves, and designed by God, to ex- 
 tend the influence of the Christian religion. In order to 
 establish this, let us for a moment look at some of the dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics of a Christian. 
 
 The Christian is distinguished by a supreme regard 
 for divine truth, and lives under its controlling influ- 
 ence. Divine truth exhibits God as he is, and man as he 
 is, and all things in their true light and just proportions. 
 It gives him right views of time and of eternity, of sin, and 
 of the soul, of the law of God, of the plan of redemption 
 and its glorious author; in a word, it gives right principles 
 of action, sets a true value on all things, gives the just ex- 
 pression to all his relations, and by reducing his knowledge 
 into practical use, under the divine Spirit, makes the be- 
 liever, in some degree, feel, and think, and act like him 
 " who has left us an example that we should follow his 
 steps."* 
 
 Personal holiness is an essential characteristic of a 
 Christian. " Without holiness no man shall see the 
 Lord." '' Ye are a holy nation." " If any man be in 
 
 *1 Peter ii. 21. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 261 
 
 Christ, he is a new creature." He is renewed by the 
 Spirit of God, "being his workmanship," "created after the 
 image of God in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which 
 God hath before ordained that he should walk in them."* 
 By a holy man, we mean one cleansed from the pollution 
 and delivered from the curse of sin, and having been made 
 so, is kept so by the power of God. Holiness also includes 
 the idea of dedication to God, being God's temple, inha- 
 bited by his Spirit, and set apart for his service. This is 
 that 'beauty of the Lord our God upon his people,' which is 
 seen of all men, by which the world take knowledge of 
 them that have been with Jesus, and glorify God on their 
 behalf. This characteristic will necessarily lead a man to 
 hate sin for its own evil nature, for the indignity it offers 
 to a holy God, and for the unbounded ruin which it occa- 
 sions; and will impel him to seek its extinction every 
 where. 
 
 Holy love is a leading characteristic of the Chris- 
 tian, We can, of course, do no more than allude to 
 these qualities, while forming an argument out of their 
 united force. But supreme love to God, and a disin- 
 terested love to his fellow men, is a summary expression of 
 the spirit and duty of a Christian. " Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with 
 all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour 
 as thyself. This is the great commandment."! And this love 
 God-ward is not a vague and heartless theism, but a supreme, 
 intelligent, commanding, and practical affection for the 
 God of the Bible — God in Christ. And this love of man 
 is not a vain sentiment, or a wild spirit of religious knight 
 errantry; but a wise, dutiful, and disinterested love which 
 
 * Ephes, ii. 10, and Colos. iii. 10. t Luke x. 27. Math. xxii. 37. 
 
262 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 seeks to do good unto all men. It is a faint, but real copy 
 of the spirit of Him who so loved the world, that though he 
 was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, and gave himself 
 up unto death, even the death of the cross, that we might 
 not perish, but have everlasting life. This spirit necessarily 
 leads its possessor to make every sacrifice which is clearly 
 required, for God and his fellow man. 
 
 The Christian inan is characterized by holy obe- 
 dience to God's commands. ^^ If ye love me, keep 
 m,y commandment s,'' is the great test of Christian cha- 
 racter. " I esteem all thy precepts cojicerning all things 
 to be right, and I hate every false way." As sin is the 
 transgression of the law, so he cannot be a holy man, a 
 Christian, who permits himself to live in disobedience to, 
 or any known transgression of, any law of God. Now 
 he who commands us in the decalogue to keep holy 
 the Sabbath day, and says " thou shalt not kill," has also 
 said, ''do good unto all men as ye have opportunity."* 
 "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." " Go teach 
 all nations" the Gospel of the Son of God. He who re- 
 quires us, under pain of eternal death, to obey the first table 
 of the law as to the duties especially owed to God, under 
 the same pain, requires us to obey the second table, which 
 defines the sum of our love and duty to our neighbour, and 
 especially to his soul; and a neglect of these is, by emi- 
 nence, offensive to God, because it kills the soul, beyond 
 the tomb! ^' If thoic forbear to deliver them that are 
 drawn unto death, and them that are ready to be slain; 
 if thou sayest behold we knew it not, doth not he that 
 pondereth the heart consider it ? And he that keepeth 
 
 * Galatians vi. 10. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 263 
 
 thy soul, doth not he know it ? And shall not he ren- 
 der to every man according to his work?"* 
 
 Once more: It is a distinguishing characteristic of the 
 Christian, that he intends to glorify God in all his 
 actions. It is one great law of the kingdom, "Whether 
 ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of 
 God." "Glorify God with your bodies and your spirits, 
 which are his." But the chief glory of God results from 
 the triumph of the Gospel. This ''is glory to God in the 
 highest, because it brings peace to earth, and good will 
 to men.^^ To the accomplishment, therefore, of this great 
 end, the desires, labours, sacrifices, prayers of the believer 
 are directed, in a degree that is supreme and controlling, 
 even in his darkest and coldest hours. All things and all 
 beings glorify God in some shape; but it may be reluctant, 
 extorted, and unknown. " The wrath of man praises him." 
 If not, "he restrains it." But it is the purpose and the 
 effort of the Christian to give glory to God, and especially 
 by the universal diffusion of the religion of Christ. Now 
 this is the very spirit and work of missions. 
 
 There are other characteristics which distinguish the Chris- 
 tian, as the spirit of prayer, self-denial, &c. But these just 
 named may suffice for the present use. Now our argument 
 is, that these qualities do, in their own nature, constitute a 
 missionary spirit, and fit their possessor with the divine 
 blessing, to extend the influence of Christianity in the 
 world . For, in the first place, the very presence of such 
 a being in such a world as ours, is honourable to our holy 
 religion, and useful to his fellow men. Such a man is the 
 representative of an unseen Saviour; he is a specimen of 
 the religion which he professes; a practical proof of its 
 
 * Proverbs xxiv. 11-12. 
 
 37 
 
264 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 truth, value, and divine power. '* He shows forth the 
 praises of him who hath called him out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light. ^' ^^ He is an epistle of Christ 
 known and read of all rneii.''* Sometimes such a man, 
 like lot in Sodom, stands the solitary, but yet expressive 
 earnest of the divine presence among a guilty people; a 
 living witness for the God of heaven; at once their honour, 
 their reproof, and their security; " /Ae salt of the earth, 
 the light of the world." But the influence of such a man 
 is not merely the result of proper character. He is, in the 
 next place, intentionally and actively useful. His views of 
 divine truth lead him to set a proper price on 7nan. He has 
 an impression of the true value and importance of the soul, 
 infinitely more just and elevated than ever entered the cold 
 and narrow calculations of infidel philosophy. He mea- 
 sures it by the word of God, in the scale of an eternal 
 existence; he sees his ruin by sin; he beholds a great salva- 
 tion provided for him; he^ takes truth's view of all things, 
 and is properly afiected by them. His holiness makes him 
 hate sin, the common foe of God and man, while his love 
 for both will impel him to seek the honour of the one, and 
 the eternal salvation of the other. His obedience to the 
 law of God — the law of love, will forbid him to stand still, 
 when the great command sounds forth " Go ye unto all the 
 world, and teach all nations;" "let him that heareth say 
 come." His nature is an active nature; his afiections are 
 strong affections, and eminently social. The influence of 
 religion will give to them intensity, refinement, and ele- 
 vation. He will labour where labour can avail. Where he 
 cannot go in person, he will give of his substance, and give 
 on a scale which shows the greatness of his holy pity to a 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. 3. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 265 
 
 ruined world, and the supremacy of his love, with the en- 
 tireness of his dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
 will not give grudgingly, or by measure, unto that beloved 
 Lord who poured out his soul unto death for him. And 
 having influence in heaven by his prayers, he will send 
 out his alms, directed by his supplications, and by steady 
 and fervent intercession, press the throne of grace with the 
 wants of a ruined world. Oh! brethren, is this no more 
 than a lovely vision — a fair, but impracticable theory! 
 When we read the history of the Church in past ages, or 
 even look around upon its professing millions now, in 
 search of such examples, we may well tremble while we 
 see the truth still indicated, that only a ^^ remnant shall he 
 saved.^' But yet the character is not ideal. God requires 
 this very spirit at our hands. It is that, and that alone, 
 with which we can enter heaven. 
 
 It is then apparent, that the very constitution of the 
 Christian character, is missionary in its nature, and that 
 what makes a man a Christian, endows him in the same 
 measure with the spirit and influence of missions. 
 
 II. We remark that the Church of God is essentially , 
 in its organization, and in the purpose of God, a Mis- 
 sionary institution. 
 
 We speak, of course, of the visible Church catholic, pro- 
 perly so called. The Church of God was established, in 
 order to keep alive and extend the true religion in the 
 world, and thus to glorify God in the salvation of men. 
 It has been essentially the same institution during the seve- 
 ral dispensations through which it has passed; and every 
 successive development of its scheme of mercy to mankind, 
 has added new sanctions and helps to its missionary consti- 
 tution. 
 
266 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 If, as we have shown, the individual Christian who truly 
 possesses, anJ properly displays the spirit of his religion, 
 is a missionary man; when united into a society, with the 
 accession of power, under God, peculiar to combined action, 
 and when invested from on high with corporate rights, and 
 qualifications for the work of missions, the body thus orga- 
 nized must be, in the highest form, a missionary institution. 
 
 The Church is a social institution. "A chosen genera- 
 tion, a holy nation, a peculiar people, called out of dark- 
 ness into God's marvellous light." Each living member, 
 of course, brings into the body, if we may speak so, in 
 his person an accession to the common stock of mis- 
 sionary influence. Thus united to Christ, the common 
 head, and being all members one of another, " the whole 
 body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which 
 every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working 
 in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the hody, 
 unto the edifying of itself in love:"* and in the same de- 
 gree is it fitted for harmonious and efficient action, in the 
 work of faith and the labour of love. 
 
 But, besides the relation of society, or the collective ef- 
 fects of numbers, " the house of God, which is the Church 
 of the living God," is eminently a missionary institu- 
 tion in its furniture. For this " peculiar people" are en- 
 dowed by their sovereign for the work of missions. It is in the 
 sense already explained, that the Church is " the pillar and 
 ground of the truth." To her " are committed the oracles of 
 God, "and that not for her own manifold "advantage" alone,* 
 but as a depository of the matchless blessings therein revealed, 
 for all the world. " The truth by which she is sanctified," 
 
 * Ephes. iv. 5. t Roms. iii. 2. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 267 
 
 is the sword of the Spirit for cleaving the closed hearts of 
 men, and thus opening their darkened understandings to the 
 light of an eternal day. And in order to give to this people 
 the standing means to "show forth God's praise," his public 
 worship is established, and sustained by his authority. The 
 ordinances of his house are observed, and its sacred rites 
 performed in public, with direct reference to the pre- 
 sence and the good of men. And with infinite wisdom and 
 mercy, a day, originally set apart to celebrate God's praise, 
 and keep alive the knowledge of Him in the world, is 
 turned to the peculiar use of publishing the salvation of the 
 Gospel. It is in an emphatic and peculiar sense, the Lord's 
 day; and returning, in the measured and rapid revolutions 
 of each succeeding week, renews to the listening earth the 
 evidences of his resurrection, and the incessant calls of his 
 mercy. 
 
 In addition to all this, there is an order of men, given 
 hy God to the Church, set apart for the special purpose 
 of ministering in his house, and of preaching to all men 
 the Gospel of his Son. The ministers of reconcilia- 
 tion, if truly called of God, go forth, furnished for 
 their work by his holy Spirit, as well as commission- 
 ed by his authority. This is his chosen method of mis- 
 sionary effort; it has been selected by his wisdom, and 
 is made successful by his Almighty power. Now this great 
 mean of evangelizing the nations of the earth, is commit- 
 ted, if we may say so, to the fostering care of the Church 
 of God. She is, under God, the mother of her ministering 
 sons. The Head of the Church gives them unto her for 
 the work of the ministry. <' Wheyi he ascended on high 
 he gave gifts to men: he gave some apostles, and some 
 prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and 
 
268 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 teachers, for the works of the ministry.^'* And God is 
 prepared to give them in sufficient numbers, and in heavenly 
 fitness, for the perfecting of the saints, and for the conver- 
 sion of the world, whenever the Church truly asks them at 
 his hands, and is really prepared to make the necessary sa- 
 crifices, in order to train them, and send them forth under 
 the great commission, to preach the Gospel to every creature. 
 
 But the Church of God is attended by the Spirit of 
 God, to give direction and effect to her missionary ac- 
 tion. Each believer, as such, is " a temple of God,^' that 
 is, a spiritual man sanctified by the Spirit, led by the Spi- 
 rit, his graces the gifts and adornings of the Spirit: and each 
 minister, who is truly such, is personally and officially at- 
 tended by the Spirit: and the collective body of Christians 
 has the Spirit of God in the midst of it. Even to 
 two, and to three, is this Spirit promised by the gracious 
 Head of the Church; and He dwells perpetually in the 
 Church, as the divine representative of Jesus, as her 
 Holy Paraclete and Guide ; and goes forth, <^ without mea- 
 sure," amidst the administrations of the Gospel to convince 
 men of sin, and to convert them unto God. It is the glory 
 of the Gospel, that it is the ministration of the Spirit; and 
 that the Church is inhabited and attended by His perpetual 
 presence. Thus " all the body fitly framed together, grow- 
 eth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom his peo- 
 ple are builded together for an habitation of God 
 through the Spirit. "t 
 
 And while the Spirit of Truth is thus vouchsafed to the 
 Church, as an abiding gift, there "are seasons of refreshing 
 from the presence of the Lord," in which this greatest of 
 blessings is dispensed with peculiar plenitude and power; 
 
 * Ephes. iv. 8. 11—12. t Ephes. ii. 21—22. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 269 
 
 when the Holy Spirit, by a simultaneous and diffusive work 
 of grace, gives new impulse to his people in the divine 
 life, and converts great numbers of sinners unto God. 
 These special and illustrious occasions hasten, in an especial 
 degree, the conversion of the world. They outrun the or- 
 dinary means of grace j they transcend all the resistance of 
 men and devils, and divinely furnish a faithful and revived 
 Church from on high, for spreading to all lands the saving 
 knowledge of the Son of God. 
 
 We might add, that the Church is a self-perpetuat- 
 ing institution, and thus, under the divine blessing, is fitted 
 to extend her influence from generation to generation. And 
 it is equally true, that success from God is promised to the 
 proper action of the Church in sending abroad the Gospel of 
 Christ. But we have dwelt sufficiently on these suggestions, 
 to answer the end in view, which is to show that the Church 
 is furnished for the successful prosecution of the great work 
 of missions, by her glorious Head. She has numbers and 
 union; she has the truth and its preachers; the social ordi- 
 nances of religion, and the time, and the opportunities, for 
 their public, ever-returning and successful administration; 
 and the Eternal Spirit attends his truth, and gives divine 
 effect to the calls and labours of the Church. 
 
 What then is wanting, (to say no more,) towards a mis- 
 sionary institution ? And how apparent is the intention of its 
 divine Author in its entire constitution ? Is it not the very 
 husbandry (plantation, or nursery) of God, from which every 
 wind that blows should waft its odours abroad; and carry 
 forth its winged-seeds to every forest, and to every field ! 
 
 But it is time that we pass, in the third place, to consi- 
 der the direct comm,ands of the Lord Jesus Christ, as to 
 the work of missions. What we infer from the organiza- 
 
270 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 tion and furniture of the Church, we learn explicitly from 
 the standing laws of Christ, that the work of missions is 
 commanded duty of the Church. "Duty," (as has been 
 admirably said by a modern missionary, now in the field)* 
 " resulting from the command of Christ — obligation 
 founded on the authority of Christ, is the great argument 
 in behalf of missions. ' ' 
 
 * William Swan, Missionary in Siberia. Tlie following remarks are so 
 apposite and forcible, that we cannot forbear to give them a place here : — 
 
 " Suppose an order issued fi'om the highest authority in the kingdom, re- 
 quiring certain faithful subjects to perform a specific service in the character 
 of soldiers, and commanding all faithful subjects generally to be aiding to the 
 utmost of their power in the execution of the will of their sovereign. In urg- 
 ing the people to obedience, what would be the most obvious, and we might 
 almost say, exclusive topic that could present itself in the way of argument? 
 unquestionably the authority of the command. It must not be resisted. It 
 must not be neglected. It is at the peril of the sovereign's displeasure and 
 the loss of character — and, it may be, under the pain of condign punishment, 
 if it be not fiilfilled. It would be self-evident that no one could justly retain 
 the character of a loyal subject if he disobeyed ; and he must forfeit the es- 
 teem and confidence of his better aflFeeted brethren if he not merely should 
 refuse obedience, but should attempt to justify his conduct." 
 
 " I feel that this illustration, as indeed every illustration taken from earthly 
 and sensible objects, must fall short of the paramount authority of the com- 
 mand of the King and Head of the Church, in reference to the extension of 
 his kingdom and the subjection of all nations to Him. An earthly king is a 
 mortal man, and he may err through ignorance or passion. His commands 
 may be the dictates of cruelty, or imbecility, or ambition, or a wanton exer- 
 cise of power ; but even allowing his will to be in all respects accordant to 
 the principles of the strictest justice and highest honour and universal bene- 
 volence — his subjects can never be under such obligations to obey him, as 
 Christians are to " bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of 
 Christ." And if any one should disregard his authority, I would not endea- 
 vour to work upon that man's mind by any other consideration. I allow 
 other arguments a place, but that place is a lower one than the authority of 
 Christ." 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 271 
 
 The ultimate appeal is to the authority of God. What 
 then does He command. ^^ Jlnd Jesus came and spake 
 unto them, saying, *B.ll power is given unto me in hea- 
 ven and in earth. Go ye, 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, and lo ! I am with 
 you always, even unto the end of the world." " Go ye 
 into all the world and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
 ture; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he 
 that believeth not shall be dam,ned." " ^^nd he said un- 
 to them, thus it is ivritten, and thus it behoved Christ to 
 suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that 
 repentance and remission of sins should be j^f cached in 
 his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem; 
 and ye are witnesses of these things."'* Such is the lan- 
 guage of standing, sovereign law. It was addressed, it is 
 true, to but a little band; but it was to the Church, and for 
 the Church, and the entire Church. It extends to all who 
 have an interest in Christ, and to all who ever heard of 
 Christ; and he who would excuse himself from its obliga- 
 tion, shuts himself out from the blessings it announces. It 
 runs to the last day — and the last man. It is the great law 
 of the Lord: it comprehends all the rest. Though the di- 
 rect and official work of " preaching the Gospel" regards 
 especially the ministers of Christ, yet the ministers must 
 spring from the Church; they must be sent forth by the 
 Church; and the only choice of every one in the Church, is 
 between going or sending; between preaching the Gospel, 
 or causing it to be preached. It is under law, the royal law, 
 
 * Matt, xxviii. 18—20. Mark xvi. 15—16. Luke xxiv. 46—48. 
 
 38 
 
273 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 that the Church of God is required to do this. " For who- 
 soever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 
 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not 
 believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they 
 have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 
 And how shall they preach, except they be seniV^ 
 
 Now the whole duty comprehends all the parts essential 
 to its constituent character, and the end includes the means 
 necessary to its accomplishment. Therefore, as they can- 
 not hear without a preacher, nor preach except they be 
 sent, so they cannot be sent, except they be trained. If 
 others may train them, the Church must do it, or sin 
 against the fundamental law of the kingdom. If others 
 may train them, she alone, in her official character, can 
 ordain them for the work of the ministry; and she cannot 
 divest herself any more of the duty to send them forth, 
 than she can alienate, or delegate to another, her ordaining 
 rights, or her love and duty to her risen Lord. 
 
 While all the people of God agree that the Church of 
 Christ is thus bound to send forth the Gospel, they differ 
 as to the ybrm of doing it. Some prefer the action of the 
 Church, as such, in her ecclesiastical organization; while 
 others choose an association, (unhappily denominated volun- 
 tary, since the ecclesiastical is voluntary too,) not officially 
 the Church, nor the ordaining body, nor directly consti- 
 tuted by it, or responsible to it; but formed for the same 
 great end. The most important part is to do the work, 
 AND TO DO IT AT ONCE; and none but God's people ever 
 will do it. But surely it is also important, that it be pro- 
 perly done, since on it will, in a great measure, depend 
 both the speed and the efficiency of the service. It will 
 not be denied, that the Church, as such, ought to do what 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 273 
 
 she can in this cause; and we suppose it will be allowed, 
 that if her ecclesiastical action be equally good, it ought to 
 be preferred to any other form. And as the preliminary 
 acts, such as receiving the candidate for the ministry into 
 her communion, ordaining him for the work of the minis- 
 try, &c. are peculiar to the Church, so there would seem to 
 be a special fitness and unity in her carrying forward the 
 entire work, from first to last. And as the Church, as such, 
 is, without a question, responsible to God for the universal 
 publication of the Gospel, it would seem to be proper, re- 
 quisite, and even obligatory, to subordinate to her ultimate 
 direction, the agents and the operations by which it is 
 accomplished. If the organization of any Church necessa- 
 rily unfits it for the work of missions, in its proper person, 
 then we should think it time to question the authority of 
 that Church, and its conformity to the principles of Gospel 
 constitution and order. Not that mere adaptation to mis- 
 sionary action is an evidence of this conformity; but to be 
 without it, seems incompatible with the very genius of an 
 institution, which has been organized and commissioned for 
 the conversion of the world. 
 
 To convince us that the organized Church can do the 
 work, we need not look beyond the very striking spe- 
 cimens afforded to the world in the Methodist Episcopal 
 circuit system at home, *or that of the United Brethren 
 abroad. While we consider neither of these schemes a 
 perfect model, yet they stand forth to the view of reproved 
 and admiring Christendom, illustrious examples of what 
 the Church, in her organized form can do, to save the 
 world. Especially do we admire, while we gaze upon it, the 
 unparalleled self-devotion and attendant success of the 
 labours of our Moravian brethren. They pitched their 
 
274 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 tents in the open plain, like two little flocks of kids, before an 
 enemy that well nigh filled the world.* But God was with 
 them, and they have sent through all the earth the praises of 
 Him in whose name they have prevailed. May they never 
 loose that godly simplicity, that supreme faith, that disin- 
 terested self-denial and holy love, which have made the 
 page that records their labours, the most brilliant in the 
 history of missions! 
 
 In regard to our own institutions, we freely acknowledge 
 that we have been far from realizing our hopes or our duty 
 in doing good. But the defect has been in us, not in our 
 system. The organization of the Presbyterian Church fits 
 it, in no ordinary measure, for combined and efficient action, 
 to an unlimited extent. The gradation of its various eccle- 
 siastical bodies, through the whole line of which the great 
 principle of representation runs, renders it next to impossi- 
 ble to usurp power, and entirely so to hold it long: and the 
 continued responsibility of its peculiar institutions to the 
 whole Church, gives unity, without consolidation, and 
 secures supervision, without impairing efficiency. 
 
 One reason why we are so earnestly desirous that our 
 Church should be occupied in her ecclesiastical character 
 in the conversion of the world is, the happy influence it 
 must exert upon its various official bodies, as well as on the 
 spirit of the people at large. The very name by which we 
 are accustomed to define them, " Church-courts," indicates 
 that they have been too exclusively devoted to conducting 
 business and directing discipline, in contradistinction to the 
 specific work of missions. ■ 
 
 Again; if others feed, and clothe, and train, and establish 
 
 * 1 Kings XX. 27. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 275 
 
 our children, and leave to us only the duty of government 
 and of the rod, our children may give to our authority a 
 cold assent, but their hearts will flow out after their bene- 
 factors. The parent's sweetest privilege, w^hich blesses him 
 in blessing them, is to give to his children. In its place, 
 discipline also is a duty. But these are relative and insepa- 
 rable; they are wisely and mercifully blended in the same 
 person; and are necessary to the right support of the respec- 
 tive relations of parent and child. And so it is with the 
 ecclesiastical relations. For the sake of our candidates for the 
 ministry, and of our official bodies, as well as for the sake of 
 the people, these great duties, joined together by God, ought 
 never to be put asunder by man. The bodies who act in these 
 benevolent institutions, both directly and in general supervi- 
 sion, if properly engaged in them, would find it their most 
 pleasant, honoured, and useful occupation; and it would bind 
 our youth and the people in love and confidence to the judi- 
 catures of the Church, while it would make every eccle- 
 siastical body an apostolical assembly for doing good.* 
 
 * It is due to ourselves, and the noble institutions of our age and land, 
 which have arisen in aid of the various benevolent operations of the day, 
 here explicitly to declare, that we do most cordially approve them ; that we 
 think them highly necessary, as well as greatly useful, and that tliey can no 
 more be dispensed witli by the several great families of the Church of God, 
 than each family can dispense with its peculiar institutions and ecclesiastical 
 order. Without interference with the proper action of the Church, as such, 
 they sustain the union, and extend the influence of the people of God, and 
 afford a fine moral demonstration of the truth of Christianity ; " that they 
 all may be one, as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may 
 be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." John 
 xvii. 17. And we are equally far from intending to assail those valuable 
 sister institutions, which are now carrying forward in our own Church, by 
 voluntary associations, the work of missions, either foreign or domestic, or 
 of education for the ministry. Their existence is called for by the present cir- 
 
276 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 But however this question may be settled, as to the 
 form of the service, (in the discussion of which we have 
 already been too long engaged,) the work must be done by 
 the Church of the living God. Nothing can be more clear 
 or urgent, than the divine command respecting this duty; 
 and we need rather to be incited, with all speed to obey it, 
 than to be reasoned with in evidence of its obligation. Is 
 it borne in mind by the people of God, that obedience to 
 this standing law is a discriminating test of our fidelity and 
 devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ ? If ye love me, keep 
 my commandments, is his own affecting standard of Chris- 
 tian character. And how can we love him, and yet forget 
 or violate his great, his last command? To this, he set the 
 seal of his own blood in death. To this, he added the sanc- 
 tion of divine authority and power, when he arose from 
 the dead. In this, all other commands centre. The ser- 
 vice it enjoins is in the direct line of the operation of provi- 
 dence, the work of redemption, and the glory of God. To 
 this is appended, the overwhelming condition of heaven or 
 hell, the decisive alternative of redemption or ruin; and 
 when he ascended on high, he appointed obedience to this 
 command, not only as the test of his people's love, but as 
 the supreme method of doing honour to Him, and good to 
 man. In a word, however our patient and injured Lord 
 may have borne with the ignorance and lethargy of other 
 ages, now that channels for missionary charity and effort 
 
 cumstances of the Church ; their continuance is necessary to call out its 
 entire resources ; and peace will be best secured, by the spirit of an'enlarged 
 and mutual toleration. But yet we insist that the organizations of the 
 Church are binding on her and her people ; that they are peculiarly adapted 
 to the end intended ; and without them the Presbyterian Church cannot long 
 exist in its present form. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 277 
 
 are opened to our very doors, from the most distant Hea- 
 then lands — all disregard of this great law, is to he esteemed 
 a deliberate and continued sin; and as the effect of disobe- 
 dience is to prevent Christ's kingdom from being set up in 
 the world, it is no less than high treason against the Son of 
 God. 
 
 While the authority of God is the supreme reason for 
 missionary effort, yet there are other and most affecting 
 considerations, which cannot properly be omitted in such 
 an inquiry as this. 
 
 Consider, then, in the fourth place, 
 The spiritual state and prospects of the Heathen, 
 without the Gospel. 
 
 We here waive a discussion of the state of those who 
 have heard the Gospel, and rejected its merciful provisions, 
 taking it for granted, that there can be no difference among 
 Christians as to their guilt and exposure to eternal death. 
 
 In our attempts to assert the claims of foreign missions, 
 we have too commonly taken for granted, that the great 
 body of professed Christians was correctly informed as to 
 the spiritual condition and prospects of those who have 
 never heard the Gospel. We forget that the objects of their 
 compassion are out of their sight. They seldom hear of 
 them. They seldom think of them. When they do, there 
 is nothing definite or palpable before the mind as to their 
 religious state. They feel a vague pity for distant and 
 endangered nations, whose condition they would gladly 
 better. But they hardly apprehend their exposure to eter- 
 nal ruin: they scarcely believe it. And while they thus 
 think and feel, perhaps the teachers of religion among them 
 shrink with a false and fatal sensibility from the proper 
 exhibition of the awful subject: or if they are faithful, the 
 
278 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 people too often view it with suspicion as a romantic cause, 
 partaking of the nature of a religious crusade, and wasting 
 without profit the treasures of the Church, 
 
 But what is in fact the divine testimony on this question? 
 The following propositions no Christian can, we think, 
 consistently reject, viz: 
 
 1. That in all ages since the fall, the natural state of every 
 man has been a sinful, and therefore a lost, one. 
 
 2. Hence no man in any age or country can reach the 
 kingdom of God, without the interposition of Jesus Christ 
 in his behalf. 
 
 3. God may interpose for the salvation of sinners, as he 
 does in the case of those saved in infancy, and of those who 
 received immediate revelations, before the written word 
 was given. 
 
 4. But the decided intimations of the Bible are, that as a 
 great fact, Jesus Christ is revealed to adult men, through 
 the ordinary means of grace alone. ^' For whosoever shall 
 call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then 
 shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? 
 And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
 heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And 
 how shall they preach except they be sent? So then, faith 
 Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."* 
 And that this is the clear import of this passage, none can 
 doubt who will look at its connexion. According to the 
 second proposition, all are lost who are not saved by Jesus 
 Christ. And then the prospect of salvation to those who 
 have not the Gospel, is in proportion to the probability that 
 Jesus Christ will save them by direct interposition. 
 
 *Rom.x. 13,14, 15. 17. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 279 
 
 5. A holy* man has never been found on earth, so far as 
 we know, since a written revelation was given, who had 
 not been made so by the power of the Gospel. No apostle, 
 no foreign missionary, has ever reported a single case of this 
 character. And yet they have traversed every sea, ex- 
 plored every country, and in some age and form, offered 
 the Saviour to almost every nation under heaven. Now 
 allowing that men are made holy in heathen lands, without 
 the instrumentality of the Gospel, yet when that Gospel is 
 made known to them, would not such persons instantly re- 
 ceive it, and with spiritual relish adopt it for their own, as 
 kindred sunbeams mingle into one? But no such persons have 
 ever been found, since a written revelation was given, unless 
 indeed Cornelius, the centurion, be considered an example. 
 Allowing him to be such, how sadly solitary is the speci- 
 men! But the apostle distinctly declares in his- sermon on 
 that memorable occasion, that Cornelius and his household 
 were already acquainted with God's written revelation to 
 the Jews; with the doctrine and baptism of John; and with 
 the work and ministry of the Son of God.t 
 
 The inhabitants of the Sandwich islands made perhaps 
 the nearest approach to this. They abolished idolatry, 
 though ignorant of Christianity. But when Christian mis- 
 sionaries arrived, they found them unholy and degraded men, 
 having no taste for a spiritual religion, and like all other 
 sinners, needing the renovating grace of God to fit them 
 for heaven: and any previous changes had been little more 
 than the wearing out of an obsolete, impure, and idolatrous 
 
 * We use this word, of course, in the Gospel sense ; not to mean perfect, 
 but religiously dedicated to God, and delivered from the dominion of sin. 
 t Acts X. 36 — 39. 
 
 39 
 
280 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 religion, which had been outgrown by their wants, and 
 made no response to their cry for succour. 
 
 Again; if such cases of salvation without the Gospel 
 were numerous enough to justify the pleasing hope of an 
 extensive redemption, surely out of hundreds of millions of 
 men, and through a series of ages, multitudes would be 
 found exhibiting the evidences of having felt its influence. 
 Such cases as Job, and Jethro, and Lot, and Melchisedec, 
 and Abraham, might be looked for in every land. But no 
 missionary or apostle, as far as we know, has been ever 
 cheered by the discovery of a single case. While then the 
 hope still trembles in our breasts, that some may be redeem- 
 ed by the direct interposition of God through Christ, yet 
 who that loves the Saviour, or the souls of men, would make 
 this the exclusive ground, or in any degree the ground, on 
 which to rest the salvation of the heathen? Or who that 
 believes the word of God, would suspend his own eternal 
 life upon such a condition? With these overwhelming facts 
 full in view, we are in some measure prepared to under- 
 stand and feel the urgency of those motives which press us 
 to send forth the Gospel, as <'on the wings of the morning," 
 to the uttermost parts of the earth. Here we may know 
 the meaning of our Master when he tells us, that he will 
 require their blood at our hands, if we neglect our moment- 
 ous duty to them. Here, with the map of the world before 
 us, we may survey whole continents immersed in Pagan 
 darkness, and count the innumerable millions of heathen 
 population; and looking up into heaven and down into hell, 
 may calculate the worth of all their souls by the value we 
 set on our own. He who can look unmoved at such a 
 spectacle, cannot be a Christian, and is devoid of the sym- 
 pathies common to all the race. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 281 
 
 In fine, there is one view, in which all Christians can 
 meet, and which directly transfers this awful subject from 
 our sympathies, to our consciences, and identifies our perso- 
 nal interests, in some degree, with the state and prospects of 
 the heathen world. It is this, that however we settle in our 
 own minds the question of their condition in a future world, 
 our own will, in a degree, depends upon the way we feel and 
 act and give for their salvation: and God has declared, that 
 when we withhold the Gospel from them. He will treat us 
 precisely as if they were lost; and lost by our disobedience. 
 
 Consider, in the fifth place, in affecting contrast with 
 the last view, the very limited extent of Christianity in 
 the world. It is not now our place to inquire into the cause 
 of this, but into the fact. It may be proper, however, in 
 passing, to remark, that the cause is chiefly to be sought in 
 the inefficiency of the Christian Church. But that such is 
 the fact, no one can doubt, who is at all acquainted with the 
 history and present state of the world. After the many ages 
 which have elapsed since the command was given to make 
 Christianity universally known, how little has been done to- 
 wards this result! The Church has always been kept alive 
 in the world: and millions, without number, have been 
 saved from eternal ruin, by her instrumentality. But the 
 great mass of men, in the successive generations which have 
 passed into eternity since the death of Christ, have been 
 strangers to his religion. And even in this age of the world, 
 not one-fourth part of the population of the earth have even 
 heard of the Saviour of sinners. Look at the whole conti- 
 nent of Africa, lying under the thick darkness of Mahome- 
 dan delusion, or of pagan superstition: converted by Chris- 
 tian America and Christian Europe into a field of blood, 
 a market, where men are bought and sold! Look at India, 
 
282 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 and China, and the Islands of the Sea. What has been done 
 toward giving them the Gospel? Thewholeforceof our mis- 
 sionaries abroad, if distributively disposed, would scarcely af- 
 ford a pastor for a nation; and the points of their impres- 
 sion, on a world in ruins, break at distant intervals on the 
 view, 
 
 " Like sunny islets, in a stormy sea, 
 Like specks of azure, in a cloudy sky." 
 
 At this moment, the race as such may be said to be still a 
 revolted, lost race; and at the present speed of our efforts 
 for its recovery, though greatly accelerated in latter years, 
 the world will never be saved! 
 
 VI. Our next suggestion is, that the best interests of the 
 Church of Christ at home require her to be actively en- 
 gaged in the work of missions. 
 
 What we mean to say is, that the Church, as well as the 
 world, gains by this service; and that it is even as necessary 
 to the healthful action of the Church, as it is to the salvation 
 of the world. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary facts in the history of the 
 present age is, that a grave attempt had been made, in the 
 name of religion, to prove that the Church and the domestic 
 field are in danger from an excessive issue of foreign mis- 
 sionaries. We regret that we cannot present in a tabular 
 view, the number of evangelical ministers in the world who 
 are labouring in what is called the domestic field, with the 
 amount of their hearers on the one hand, and on the other 
 the number of evangelical missionaries, with the amount of 
 heathen population in the world. 
 
 In such a view, the disparity would be made to appear 
 : unspeakably great and awful. By the scale it afforded us, 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 283 
 
 more millions would be assigned to each foreign missionary, 
 than the same number of thousands to each pastor at home. 
 It would be found that the ministers of Christ were crowded 
 into a few corners of the earth, while the wide field of pagan 
 desolations was surrendered to the holy daring and generous 
 self-devotion of a little band of foreign missionaries.* At 
 the present time, therefore, there is no ground for the fear 
 that we shall feel too much interest in the foreign field, or 
 send so many ministers abroad as to damage the domestic 
 
 * The following remarks, ftom the pen of the lamented and extraordinary 
 youth, John Urquhart, are so admirable and appropriate, that we cannot for- 
 bear their insertion here in a note. 
 
 " Let us imagine, that instead of the world, a single country had been 
 pointed out by our Lord as the field of action. And since we are most fami- 
 liar with our own land, let us just suppose, that the particular country speci- 
 fied was the island of Great Britain : and that, instead of the command to go 
 forth to all nations, and preach the Gospel to every creature, the order had 
 been to go through all the counties of this island, and preach the Gospel to 
 every inhabitant. I find that on a scale which would make the population of 
 Great Britain represent that of the world, the population of Mid Lothian 
 might be taken as a sufficiently accurate representation of the population of 
 our own land. 
 
 "In order, then, to have a just picture of the present state of the world, 
 only conceive that all who had received the above commission, some how or 
 other, had contrived to gather themselves together within the limits of this 
 single county. Imagine to yourselves all the other divisions of Scotland and 
 England immersed in heathen darkness ; and that by these Christians who 
 had so unaccountably happened to settle down together in one little spot, no 
 effort was made to evangelize the rest of the land, except by collecting a little 
 money, and sending forth two or three itinerants, to walk single handed 
 through the length and breadth of the country. 
 
 " I shall be told, however, that illustration is not argument ; and so distorted 
 have our views been on this subject, that you will be disposed to think this a 
 perfect caricature of the matter. But I deny that this is an illustration at all. 
 It is merely a representation on a reduced scale ; and I believe you will find 
 : it to be a correct representation of the state of the world." 
 
284 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 work. The wonder only is, that any one acquainted with 
 the history of missions, should apprehend such a result even 
 in a distant futurity. A blush of shame would seem a much 
 more appropriate concomitant of such a history than idle 
 and ill-omened auguries about the danger of excess in our 
 eflforts for the heathen. 
 
 It is one of the most striking and merciful features in the 
 constitution of Christian character, that duty and our best in- 
 terests are inseparably blended. '( Do thyself no harm," 
 " do good unto all men," meet in the result, " give and it 
 shall be given unto you." We do ourselves harm, when we 
 refuse to do others good, and wisdom unites with love and 
 duty, in prompting us to seek the salvation of our fellow- 
 men. It is the great law of moral action in the kingdom of 
 grace, " that it it more blessed to give than to receive." 
 It is promised alike to individuals, and to communities of 
 Christians, ''they that water, shall be watered also." To 
 be good, is to do good: and to do good is to get good more 
 abundantly. As well might the husbandman in time of 
 spring withhold his seed from the fallowed earth, to rescue 
 it from waste, as for us to look for injuries to the Church 
 from the sending forth of foreign missionaries. " If we sow 
 sparingly, we shall reap sparingly." If we save the seed, 
 we shall lose the harvest! 
 
 Did not the Jews lose their birthright in the Church of 
 Christ by refusing to give their religion to the Gentiles? 
 " I say, then, have they stumbled that they might fall? God 
 forbid; but rather through their fall, salvation is come to 
 the Gentiles."* 
 
 It is a memorable fact, that the corruptions of the primi- 
 
 *Rom. xi. 11. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 285 
 
 tive church increased in proportion to the decay of mission- 
 ary enterprise. Nor is it less true, that, in our day, the 
 revival of religion at home, appeared and grew in perfect 
 harmony, and even exact degree, with the spirit and work 
 of foreign missions. It is not necessary to determine whe- 
 ther this spirit be the cause or the effect of reviving religion 
 among the people. If it be the uniform effect, then its ab- 
 sence denotes religious decay; if it be the uniform cause, 
 then is it a blessing to the Church. The truth is, it is at 
 once the cause and the effect. As Christians awake to an 
 increased regard for God, and for their own souls, they ac- 
 quire also an increased regard for the well-being of other 
 men : they feel a more tender and holy pity for the perish- 
 ing heathen. An increased interest in their welfare pro- 
 duces increased efforts for their salvation; and every prayer 
 they offer, every gift they bestow, every effort they 
 make, returns into their own bosoms. Thus, every im- 
 pression made abroad is felt with electric force at home, 
 as Scipio raised the siege of Rome at the gates of Car- 
 thage: and thus a repercussive influence is constantly 
 exchanged. Let those, therefore, who shelter their con- 
 sciences against the claims of foreign missions, under the 
 idle and fallacious adage "that we have heathen enough at 
 home," henceforth remember that the Church cannot afford 
 to do without the foreign field; that the best way to carry 
 on missions at home is to carry on missions abroad; and that 
 all neglect of this great cause not only violates the last com- 
 mand of Jesus Christ, and endangers the souls of innume- 
 rable millions of our fellow-men, but impairs the vital ener- 
 gies of the Church itself. 
 
 VII. We remark again, that the toorld never will he 
 
286 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 converted to God, without the active and intentional 
 agency of the Church of Christ. 
 
 It is evident from the word of God, and the past history 
 of Missions, that the world never will be saved without 
 the instrumentality of the people of God. Not that this is 
 necessary on God's part; but it has pleased Him that it 
 should be so. In this way God puts eternal shame upon 
 Satan, and eternal honour on his Son, by using so frail an 
 agency to destroy the kingdom of darkness; and at the 
 same time, as we have already seen, the instrument which 
 he uses to break the oppressor's power, and rescue the 
 oppressed, is prepared for heaven by the service which he 
 performs. This plan of operation is not only determined 
 on, but if we may speak so, the divine veracity is pledged, 
 and the divine honour committed, on the principle that 
 men, Christian men, are to take the Gospel to their fellow 
 men. The divine influence must of course attend and bless 
 human exertion and Gospel means. But human agency is 
 inseperable from the success of the arrangement. " Go ye 
 into all the world, d^wA preach the Gospel to every creature; 
 and Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
 world!" 
 
 In all ages, since the apostles closed their illustrious 
 labours, the grand difficulty has been to induce men to do 
 their part in this great work. In the propagation of the 
 Gospel by his holy providence, it may almost be said of the 
 Redeemer, that of " the people, there is none with him."* 
 If we subtract from the sum of what has been effected for 
 Christianity, all that the course of human affairs overruled by 
 God has done; all that natural generation has done; all that 
 
 * Foster. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 287 
 
 emigration and colonizing (with Christian population) heathen 
 lands, have done; all that the bringing of the heathen to the 
 Gospel has done; all that wars and revolutions, inventions 
 and discoveries, and human enterprise have unintention- 
 ally done; in a word, if we subtract all the indirect in- 
 fluences of Christianity, and all the overruled events of the 
 world, from what has been done for the cause of Jesus, then 
 how much will remain? 
 
 Now by all these agencies, and indeed by the whole uni- 
 verse of agencies, is the great Head of the Church carrying 
 on the work of Redemption. But the tide of providence, 
 which steadily sets in with the final conversion of the 
 world, is only the stream on which the " tall and goodly 
 vessel" of the Gospel floats: and to reach its desired haven, 
 the navigator man must take the helm, as well as the Spirit 
 of Jesus fill the sail. Heretofore, if we may so speak, the 
 work of the Lord has been carrying forward the Church; 
 but the Church is required to carry forward the work of 
 the Lord. God demands of us that we give not only an 
 overruled and indirect assistance (for that he extorts even 
 from his foes,) but that we should co-operate loith him in 
 a positive, direct, and intentional instrumentality . 
 
 VHL We proceed to remark, that a crisis appears now 
 to have been arrived at, in the history of the ivorld, in 
 which it is peculiarly important for the Christian 
 Church to bear with all her resources on the conversion 
 of the heathen. In a somewhat inverted application of 
 the apocalyptic symbol, a "voice" seems to "come forth 
 from the temple of God, saying, thrust in the sickle and 
 reap, for the time to reap has come; for the harvest of the 
 earth is ripe. " The spirit of the age is ripe for action, for 
 40 
 
288 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 it is a spirit of extraordinary enterprise. It is a public 
 spirit also, and is ripe, if well directed, not only for action, 
 but for co77ibined action, on a scale of noble daring and sub- 
 lime extent, hitherto unknown on earth. It is an age of 
 revolution; and it is ripe not only for change, but for im- 
 provement too. While the God of providence is shak- 
 ing all nations, the desire of nations must be at hand. 
 " While he removes diadem after diadem, and takes off 
 crown after crown,"* He must be near whose right it is 
 to rule. 
 
 And then our facilities for the universal difiusion of the 
 Gospel, are great and manifold, to a most surprising extent. 
 By all the power of the press, by all the commerce of the 
 nations, by arts, by arms, by the progress of improvement, 
 by the spirit and growth of liberty, by the decay of the 
 great rival systems of religion, and by the general state of 
 the heathen world, as well as by all the provisions of the 
 Gospel, is the way of the Lord prepared before us, and our 
 long delay reproved. 
 
 And again, every step we take seems to be divinely se- 
 conded and sustained. Success beyond our faith, above 
 our hopes, has attended our efforts, and beckoned us on to 
 a more devoted and extended work of missions. That 
 which seemed a rock has sent forth gushing waters, when 
 smitten by the rod of the Gospel herald, in the Redeemer's 
 name. Nations have thrown away their idols to receive 
 us, or have given them up at our bidding; while other na- 
 tions are inviting us to come, and weep when a Christian 
 sail appears, bringing no Bibles and no missionaries. And 
 a reproving providence, opening a way for the Gospel to 
 
 * Haggoi iii. 7. Ezckiel xxi. 27. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 289 
 
 mankind, seems to say, in the voice of all its operations, 
 "go forward, go forward," to the lingering, hesitating 
 Church. 
 
 IX. The next suggestion has reference to our own coun- 
 try. It is this: that the genius of our institutions, and 
 the concomitant spirit of the people, fit them in a pecu- 
 liar manner to receive with favour appeals in behalf of 
 missions. There exists in the bosom of the people a con- 
 stitutional sympathy for oppressed nations, and a fervid 
 desire to impart to others the blessings which we enjoy. 
 It is, in this respect, a nation of philanthropists; a deposi- 
 tory of civil and religious liberty for the population of the 
 earth. Here, then, we may successfully approach them as 
 the guardians of the Bible for other lands. Here we have 
 a national highway to the hearts of the people. The 
 transition, though delicate, is not difficult, to a more 
 elevated freedom; to mOre pure and enduring blessings. 
 We may say to them with a force which it will not be 
 easy to resist, you, the people of this happy land, who, in 
 the noble disinterestedness of freemen and of brethren, 
 exult in the political independence of Spanish America, in 
 the emancipation of injured Greece, and the rising liberties 
 of France; you who welcome with enthusiastic hospitality 
 the arrival on your shores of the oppressed Irishman and 
 the persecuted Pole; you who pant and pray for universal 
 ^freedom, and delight to impart the blessings of your na- 
 tional republican institutions to an admiring world; will 
 you stifle the convictions which rise up in your breasts to 
 plead for the rights of man? Can you withhold from 
 heathen nations the covenant of their spiritual peace, and 
 bury in your rusting coffers their heavenly citizenship and 
 
290 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 their eternal freedom? And if such is the feeling of freemen 
 and the spirit of American citizens, what ought we not to 
 look for from the Christians of America, upon whose 
 hearts have been superinduced the unearthly influences and 
 resistless appeals of eternal truth and holy love! 
 
 X. Finally; it is a missionary spirit which we need in 
 the Church of God, in order to give her the proper effi- 
 ciency in the ivork of missions. By this we mean a spirit 
 of supreme devotion to the divine Redeemer; a spirit in 
 unison with the end for which the Saviour died; a spirit 
 which properly estimates the value of the soul; a spirit of 
 enlarged and generous love to man, and of holy pity to the 
 perishing heathen. In a word, we mean the spirit of true 
 religion, and of Jesus Christ. This is the spirit of Chris- 
 tian enterprise, which is attributed in ancient prophecy to 
 a Christian people. "The people that know the Lord shall 
 be strong, and shall do exploits." It is this which burnt 
 with holy and consuming ardour in the great apostle's 
 breast, when he declared, '' I am ready not to be bound 
 only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus." " I 
 have strived to preach among the Gentiles, where Jesus 
 was not named, the unsearchable riches of Christ."* Under 
 the influence of such a spirit as this, a new order of men 
 and of movements would arise, altogether above the tame 
 and long tolerated standard of the Christian Church. Such 
 men as Paul, and Luther, and Whitfield would re-appear. 
 The sons of thunder would again fulminate upon the na- 
 tions, and the sons of consolation again pour into the weary 
 and heavy laden hearts of pagan men, the oil of Gospel joy 
 
 * Acts xxi. 13. Romans xv. 20. Ephesians iii. S. 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 291 
 
 and gladness. The heroic heralds of the cross, clad in the 
 might of God, and fired with the spirit of missions, would 
 transcend all human calculations; impatient of delay, they 
 would outstrip the tedious and timid expedients of human 
 policy; they would hasten with the Gospel to the dying 
 nations, and fly through the earth as avant couriers of the 
 approaching King of Kings.* A few such men as these at 
 home and abroad, would kindle the whole Church of Christ 
 into one broad blaze of light; would call out into action 
 every spiritual energy, and every temporal resource; and 
 cause a resistless enginery of Gospel means, to bear upon 
 the entire destruction of heathenism. 
 
 It has been the uniform fate of all great enterprises to meet 
 in their origin with resistance and even with ridicule from 
 the weak, the selfish, and the over cautious. The ancients 
 called profane, and even mad, the first brave mariner who 
 ventured out to sea: Columbus was for almost an age an un- 
 heeded suppliant at the feet of European princes, though he 
 asked at their hands the permission to present them with a 
 NEW world! Our own glorious revolution was, at its dawn- 
 ing, the wonder of one half mankind, and the derision of 
 the other. So it has been with the missionary enterprise. 
 Even at the present day, it is the by-word of '' the wise and 
 prudent" of this world; and a great number of professed 
 Christians, preferring ease to self-denial, and thinking the 
 state of the heathen so good, and the value of the Gospel to 
 them so small, regard every such attempt as in the last de- 
 gree extravagant and wild. 
 
 We are aware that this spirit, like e,werY other, is liabje 
 
 * "Aut inveniam viam aut faciam," is tlie true missionary principle, when 
 sanctified by divine grace. 
 
292 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 to abuse. We remember the crusades of one age, and the 
 fanatical zeal of several others. We are no friends to reli- 
 gious knight-errants, or crazy cosmopolites, who travel 
 through the world ''without wisdom to direct" in quest of 
 adventures. It may be worthy of remark, however, that 
 the very attention which such counterfeits excite, shows 
 the fine impression that the true missionary character is 
 fitted to make, when embodied in the persons of such 
 men as Whitfield, Buchanan and Martyn. But we are 
 no advocates of extremes on either side. The extreme 
 of indifierence or of cowardice is criminal in itself; is more 
 common, and perhaps more hurtful, than that of fana- 
 tical rashness. The extreme of mere worldly expedien- 
 cy and secular policy in missions is as evil as presumptu- 
 ous enterprise. The system of the Jesuits was as fatal as 
 the spirit of the crusaders to true religion. The author of 
 the work, entitled " For Missionaries after the Apostolical 
 School," is on one extreme. He would storm the world, 
 and spurn all helps, and outfits, and means, save only the 
 vagrant and unfurnished missionary. This is quite exces- 
 sive, and is destined to live only in the fervours of his own 
 warm but wild fancy. The work, on the contrary, entitled 
 <' Hints on Missions," is quite as extreme on the other side. 
 The plan of operation which it suggests would be more dis- 
 astrous in its consequences, because not speculative and im- 
 practicable like the other, but mainly secular, and requiring 
 only secular men to promote it. The author would civilize 
 and colonize the world into Christianity; he would make a 
 mere business-matter of giving Christianity to heathen na- 
 tions; in a word, he would so adjust things, that the world 
 should grow up into Christianity. 
 
 Now, the medium between these extremes is the true Gos- 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 293 
 
 pel plan. No scheme abounds so much in practical wisdom, 
 and powerful means, directly adapted to produce the in- 
 tended end, as the Gospel method of converting the world. 
 And the spirit of missionary enterprise of which we speak, 
 is that divine influence by which man is at once qualified 
 and impelled to spread this salvation. 
 
 The great agents must be the ministers of reconciliation, 
 sent out into all the world, under the supreme dominion of 
 this spirit: the people of the Lord, who cannot, and ought 
 not to go, yet if they possess this spirit will help them in 
 heaven by their intercessions, and in heathen lands by their 
 manifold and abounding charities. On such a spirit God 
 will " shed his selectest influences;" a resistless power will 
 attend every effort directed by this spirit; and to universal 
 effort would succeed universal impression. Thus the pro- 
 mises of the Gospel would travail in the birth of nations, 
 and soon a renovated world would people the Church, and 
 a glorified Church would people heaven. 
 
 We have pursued these suggestions so farj that little room 
 is left for the application which we had intended of this dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 It may seem in strong contrast to some of our remarks, yet 
 it is in perfect consistency with them, to say, that prophecy, 
 by general consent, represents the conversion of the world 
 as near at hand. When the Apostle Paul assured the crew 
 who were about to flee out of the ship, " except ye abide in 
 the ship ye cannot be saved," he did not forget or disparage 
 the revelation of the Angel of God, who had said unto him, 
 <' There shall be no loss of any man's life among you; not 
 a hair shall fall from the head of any of you."* And so the 
 
 * Acts xxviii. 
 
294 SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 world must soon be converted to God; but this must be 
 done by the agency of man. The means are no less neces- 
 sary and certain than the end; and as in order of time, they 
 must precede, and by divine appointment bring it about, so 
 nothing ever can nor ever will be done without their proper 
 use. When " Daniel understood by the books" of divine 
 prophecy, that a time was set for the restoration of Israel, 
 he at once, and for that reason, betook himself to the work 
 of intercession for the predicted deliverance. If it were 
 not that the conversion of the world is a predicted and pro- 
 mised event, who could believe that it ever will occur! But 
 God has said it, therefore it is true; and we expect it at his 
 word, not only certainly, but soon. In order to this, how- 
 ever. Christians must begin to feel, and pray, and labour, 
 and give and make sacrifices, in far another style; and great 
 events must succeed each other, with a celerity and effect 
 heretofore unknown on earth. The last forty years, com- 
 pared with the centuries past, have been distinguished by 
 many such events; and may be a type of the years to come. 
 But in these few years just before us, the world and the 
 Church must live very fast. The friends of God must be 
 multiplied like the dew of the morning; and they must grow 
 in stature, as they augment in numbers. The irreconcileable 
 enemies of God may expect to perish with accelerated speed, 
 and great terror. As it is written, "one woe is past, and 
 behold, there come two woes more hereafter; and, behold 
 the third woe cometh quickly J^ 
 
 One most cheering characteristic of the present crisis is, 
 the increasing union of the people of God. Another is the 
 spirit of enlargement that now possesses and distinguishes 
 many of our national benevolent institutions. Begin- 
 ning, perhaps, with only a very distant regard to so 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 295 
 
 great a work, they have imperceptibly, and even rapidly, 
 been led on by the finger of God, until now the Bible, and 
 the Tract, and the Sunday-school, and the Temperance, and 
 the Mariner's Societies have, in succession, passed the limits 
 of our own country, and taken the world for their theatre 
 of action. It is a heavenly token too, that God is pouring 
 out his Spirit upon our missionary labours and institu- 
 tions abroad; thus setting his approving seal to the work, 
 and, by divine interposition, giving evidence of his being 
 the God of the Bible, and the God of the race. And still 
 the most important of all the tokens for good is this, that 
 God's method of converting the world, viz. the preaching 
 of the Gospel, has begun to take its true place in the re- 
 gards of the Church of God; a great number of devoted 
 youth have dedicated themselves to the honoured work, at 
 home and abroad; and the earth seems preparing to hear the 
 word of the Lord. Who, then, will dare to slumber at such 
 a time as this? Who will dare to shut up his bowels of com- 
 passion now? Who will hoard God's treasure, when the 
 life of souls may be in it ? Who will refuse, when God 
 calls him from on high, to come up to his help ? Who will 
 refuse to say, " here am I, send me?'' Did Christ Jesus 
 pour out his soul unto death for us, and shall we now re- 
 fuse to give our substance or ourselves unto Him? To 
 every hesitating heart I seem to hear an injured Saviour 
 speaking from heaven, '<//" thou altogether holdest thy 
 peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and de- 
 liverance arise from another place; but thou shalt he 
 destroyed."* 
 
 The organization, the numbers, the character, and the in- 
 fluence of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 
 
 * Esther iv. 14. 
 
 41 
 
29G SPRUCE STREET LECTURES. 
 
 have justified the expectation of a noble effort by her in 
 the cause of foreign missions. She has not met this 
 reasonable hope. She has not acted on this subject in a 
 way worthy of her avowed allegiance to God, of her pro- 
 fessed love to man, and of her pure and powerful witness 
 to the truth at home. Her disregard of foreign missions 
 has been in singular contrariety to the promptitude and ef- 
 fect with which she has sustained each great domestic enter- 
 prise in behalf of Christianity, as they have in succession 
 presented themselves before her. At this moment every 
 Presbytery in the Church (and they amount to more than 
 one hundred) ought, on a general average, to provide 
 one foreign missionary, and then to sustain him in the 
 field of his labours. Whether our lethargy on this subject 
 result from the want of missionary organization in the 
 bosom of the Church, or from the still more distressing and 
 criminal want of a missionary spirit, we have all a great 
 public sin to confess and to forsake. The Church has sin- 
 ned; and we her ministers have sinned still more. It is 
 high time that we had all repented of this sin, and evin- 
 ced the soundness of our repentance by a due and deep re- 
 form. Then let every minister awake, and let every mem- 
 ber awake, at the call of the divine Redeemer, to regard 
 the claims of the dying Heathen? 
 
 To the youth of our Church who are preparing to preach 
 the Gospel we especially look for that Christian enterprise, 
 which, under God, shall rouse the energies of the Church; 
 shall rescue her venerated name from reproach among men; 
 and bear her heavenly charities to heathen lands. To these 
 young brothers in the Lord, who are standing on the 
 threshold of the most elevated and most awful of human 
 trusts, we would most affectionately say — take not your 
 
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 297 
 
 standard of action from your fathers and elder brethren in 
 the ministry. Shame covers our faces when we turn them 
 towards the continents, where darkness and death eternal 
 reign. Pause before you select a field of future labourj 
 and survey these wide and awful desolations of many gene- 
 rations! Listen to the groans of dying millions as they as- 
 cend to heaven! Count not your own lives dear to you, 
 in comparison of their eternal good! Come forth from 
 your sacred shades of study and devotion to kindle our 
 hearts anew in this great service! Come! not only to point 
 us, but lead us to that field to which the finger of God di- 
 rects you, and the wail of perishing nations calls you ! 
 
 Finally. In associating ourselves with the empire of God, 
 as agents in this great work, it is a most affecting considera- 
 tion, that we are a spectacle to men and angels: that we live 
 in a public world, which has been selected by God, as a 
 theatre for the display of the most sublime and awful events 
 in the history of the universe. We allude more especially 
 to the entrance of sin into it, with all its train of death, and 
 ruin, on the one hand — and the method of its destruction on 
 the other, by the death of the Son of God. In the contest 
 which is going forward, all creatures may have a jto^rt; in 
 its issue all beings have an interest. Our world, which 
 is now its field, is appointed of God, to be the tomb of sin, 
 and the trophy of Divine Redemption. And are we actors 
 on such a stage ? Oh distinction full of terror! "Seeing 
 
 THEN, THAT AVE ARE COMPASSED ABOUT WITH SO GREAT A CLOUD 
 OF WITNESSES, LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, AND THE SIN 
 THAT DOTH MOST EASILY BESET US, AND LET US RUN WITH PA- 
 TIENCE THE RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US, LOOKING UNTO 
 
 JESUS." 
 
ADDENDUM 
 
 42 
 
Dr. Miller's celebrated Lecture on "TAe utility a7id importance of Creeds 
 and Confessions" has been out of print for a considerable time. Frequent 
 reference is made to it, and, especially of late, it has been much sought af- 
 ter. As it falls in so happily with the general scope of the " Spruce Street 
 Lectures," it has been deemed advisable to supply the demand, by giving it 
 a place, as an addendum, in this volume ; with a view to which, the author 
 has carefully revised, and somewhat enlarged it, and also added the "Appen- 
 dix." This Lecture unquestionably adds much to the worth and utility of the 
 volume. Ed. 
 
UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE OF CREEDS AND 
 CONFESSIONS .- 
 
 AN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 
 
 AT THE OPENING OP THE SUMMER SESSION OF THE THEOLOGICAL 
 SEMINARY OP THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. JULY 2, 1824. 
 
 BY SAMUEL MILLER, D.D. 
 
 Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Govcrnnient in said Seminary. 
 
 "In necessariis unitas, in non necessariis libertas, in omnibus charitas." 
 
 Jiiigusfin, 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED BY THE AaTHOR FOR THIS WORK. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY RUSSELL & M ARTIE N, 
 
 9 GEORGE STREET. 
 
 1833. 
 
AN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, &c. 
 
 BELOVED CANDIDATES FOR THE HOLY MINISTRY, 
 
 The character and situatioa of one who is preparing for 
 the Sacred Office, are interesting beyond the power of lan- 
 guage to express. Such an one, like the Master whom he 
 professes to love and serve, is "set for the fall and rising 
 again of many in Israel." In all that he is, and in all that 
 he does, the temporal and eternal welfare, not only of him- 
 self, but of thousands, may be involved. On every side he 
 is beset with perils. Whatever may be his talents and 
 learning, if he have not genuine piety, he will probably be 
 a curse instead of a blessing to the Church. But this is 
 not the only danger to which he is exposed. He may have 
 unfeigned piety, as well as talents and learning; and yet, 
 from habitual indiscretion; from a defect in that sobriety of 
 mind, which is so precious to all men, but especially to 
 every one who occupies a public station; from a fondness 
 for novelty and innovation, or from that love of distinction 
 which is so natural to men; — after all, instead of edifying 
 the "body of Christ," he may become a disturber of its 
 peace, and a corrupter of its purity; so that we might al- 
 most say, whatever may be the result with respect to him- 
 self, — "it had been good for the Church if he had never 
 been born." 
 
 Hence it is, that every part of the character of him who 
 is coming forward to the holy ministry; his opinions; his 
 temper; his attainments; his infirmities; and above all, his 
 43 
 
304 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 character as a practical Christian; — are of inestimable im- 
 portance to the ecclesiastical community of which he is 
 destined to be a minister. Nothing that pertains to him is 
 uninteresting. If it were possible for him, strictly speak- 
 ing, to "live to himself," or to "die to himself," the 
 case would be different. But it is not possible. His de- 
 fects as well as his excellencies; his gifts and graces, as well 
 as the weak points of his character, must and will all have 
 their appropriate effect on every thing that he touches. 
 Can you wonder, then, that, employed to conduct the edu- 
 cation of candidates for this high and holy office, we feel 
 ourselves placed under a solemn, nay, an awful responsi- 
 bility? Can you wonder that, having advanced a little be- 
 fore you in our experience in relation to this office, we che- 
 rish the deepest solicitude at every step you take? Can 
 you wonder, that we daily exhort you to "take heed to 
 yourselves and your doctrine;" and that we cease not to 
 entreat you, and to pray for you, that you give all diligence 
 to approve yourselves to God and his Church able and 
 faithful servants? Independently of all official obligation, 
 did we not feel and act thus, we should manifest an insensi- 
 bility to the interests of the Church, as well as to your true 
 welfare, equally inexcusable and degrading. 
 
 It is in consequence of this deep solicitude for your im- 
 provement in every kind of ministerial furniture, that we 
 not only endeavour to conduct the regular course of your 
 instruction in such a manner as we think best adapted to 
 promote the great end of all your studies; but that we also 
 seize the opportunity which the general Lecture, introduc- 
 tory to each session affords us, of calling your attention to 
 a series of subjects, which do not fall within the ordinary 
 course of our instruction. 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 305 
 
 A subject of this nature will engage our attention on the 
 present occasion: namely, the importance op Creeds 
 AND Confessions for maintaining the unity and pu- 
 RiTy OF the visible Church. 
 
 This is a subject, which, though it properly belongs to the 
 department of Church Government, has always been, for 
 want of time, omitted in the Lectures usually delivered on 
 that division of our studies. And I am induced now to 
 call your attention to it, because, as I said, it properly be- 
 longs to the department committed to me; because it is in 
 itself a subject highly interesting and important; because it 
 has been for a number of years past, and still is, the object 
 of much severe animadversion, on the part of latitudina- 
 rians and heretics; and because, though abundantly justified 
 by reason, Scripture, and universal experience, the sponta- 
 neous feelings of many, especially under the free govern- 
 ment which it is our happiness to enjoy, rise up in arms 
 against what they deem, and are sometimes pleased to call, 
 the excessive ^^rigour,'' and even ^^ tyranny, '^ of exacting 
 subscription to Articles of Faith. 
 
 It is my design, first, to offer some remarks on the 
 utility and importance of written Creeds; and ^e- 
 condly, to obviate some of the more common and plausible 
 objections which have been urged against them by their 
 adversaries. 
 
 I. By a Creed, or Confession of Faith, I mean, an 
 exhibition, in human language, of those great doctrines 
 which are believed by the fraraers of it to be taught in the 
 Holy Scriptures; and which are drawn out in regular or- 
 der, for the purpose of ascertaining how far those who wish 
 to unite in church fellowship are really agreed in the funda- 
 mental principles of Christianity. Creeds and Confessions 
 
306 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 do not claim to be in themselves laws of Christ's house, or 
 legislative enactments, by which any set of opinions are 
 constituted truths, and which require, on that account, to 
 be received as truths among the members of his family. 
 They only profess to be summaries, extracted from the 
 Scriptures, of a few of those great Gospel doctrines, which 
 are taught by Christ himself; and which those who make 
 the summary in each particular case, concur in deeming im- 
 portant, and agree to make the test of their religious union. 
 They have no idea that, in forming this summary, they 
 make any thing truth, that was not truth before; or that 
 they thereby contract an obligation to believe, what they 
 were not bound by the authority of Christ to believe be- 
 fore. But they simply consider it as a list of the leading 
 truths which the Bible teaches, which, of course, all men 
 ought to believe, because the Bible does teach them; and 
 which a certain portion of the visible church catholic agree 
 in considering as a formula by means of which they may 
 know and understand one another. 
 
 Now, I affirm, that the adoption of such a Creed is not only 
 lawful and expedient, but also indispensably necessary to 
 the harmony and purity of the visible Church. For the 
 establishment of this position, let me request your atten- 
 tion to the following considerations. 
 
 1. Without a Creed explicitly adopted, it is not easy to 
 see how the ministers and members of any particular 
 
 CHURCH, and more ESPECIALLY A LARGE DENOMINATION 
 
 OP Christians, can maintain unity among themselves. 
 If every Christian were a mere insulated individual, who 
 inquired, felt, and acted for himself alone, no Creed of hu- 
 man formation would be necessary for his advancement in 
 knowledge, comfort, or holiness. With the Bible in his 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 307 
 
 closet, and with his eyes opened to see the "wondrous 
 things" which it contains, he would have all that was need- 
 ful for his edification. But the case is far otherwise. The 
 Church is a society; a society which, however extended, is 
 "one body in Christ," and all who compose it, "members 
 one of another." Nor is this society merely required to 
 be one in name, or to recognize a mere theoretical union; 
 but also carefully to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in 
 the bond of peace." They are exhorted to " stand fast in 
 one spirit with one mind." They are commanded all to 
 "speak the same thing," and to be "of one accord, of one 
 mind." And this "unity of spirit" is as essential to the 
 comfort and edification of those who are joined together in 
 church fellowship, as it is to a compliance with the com- 
 mand of their Master. "How can any walk together un- 
 less they be agreed?" Can a body of worshippers, com- 
 posed of Calvinists, Arminians, Pelagians, Arians, and So- 
 cinians, all pray, and preach, and commune together profit- 
 ably and comfortably, each retaining the sentiments, feel- 
 ings, and language appropriate to his denomination? This 
 would indeed make the house of God a miserable Babel. 
 What! can those who believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be 
 God, equal with the Father, and worship him accordingly; 
 
 and those who consider all such worship as abominable 
 
 idolatry: — Those who cordially renounce all dependence on 
 their own works or merit for justification before God, rely- 
 ing entirely on his rich grace, "through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus;" — and those who pronounce all such re- 
 liance fanatical, and man's own righteousness the sole ground 
 of hope:— Can persons who cherish these irreconcilably op- 
 posite sentiments and feelings on the most important of all 
 subjects, unite with edification in the same prayers, listen 
 
308 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath to the same instructions, and sit 
 together in comfort at the same sacramental table? As well 
 might Jews and Christians worship together in the same 
 temple. They must either be perfectly indifferent to the 
 great subjects on which they are thus divided, or all their 
 intercourse must be productive of jarring and distress. Such 
 a discordant assembly might talk about church fellowship; 
 but that they should really enjoy that fellowship which the 
 Bible describes as so precious, and which the pious so much 
 delight to cultivate, is impossible; — just as impossible as 
 "that righteousness should have fellowship with unright- 
 eousness," or « light hold communion with darkness, or 
 Christ maintain concord with Belial." 
 
 Holding these things to be self-evident, how, I ask, is 
 any church to guard itself from that baleful discord, that 
 perpetual strife of feeling, if not of words and conduct, 
 which must ensue, when it is made up of such heteroge- 
 neous materials? Nay, how is a Church to avoid the guilt 
 of harbouring in its bosom, and oY countenancing by its fel- 
 lowship, the worst heresies that ever disgraced the Christian 
 name? It is not enough for attaining this object, that all 
 who are admitted profess to agree in receiving the Bible; 
 for many who call themselves Christians, and profess to 
 take the Bible for their guide, hold opinions, and speak a 
 language as foreign, nay, as opposite, to the opinions and 
 language of many others, who equally claim to be Chris- 
 tians, and equally profess to receive the Bible, as the east 
 is to the west. Of those who agree in this general pro- 
 fession, the greater part acknowledge as of divine authority 
 the whole sacred canon, as we receive it; while others 
 would throw out whole chapters, and some a number of en- 
 tire books from the volume of God's revealed will. The 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 309 
 
 orthodox maintain the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures; 
 while some who insist that they are Christians, deny their 
 inspiration altogether. In short, there are multitudes who, 
 professing to believe the Bible, and to take it for their 
 guide, reject every fundamental doctrine which it contains. 
 So it was in the beginning as well as now. An inspired 
 Apostle declares, that some in this day, who not only pro- 
 fessed to believe the Scriptures, but even to "preach Christ," 
 did really preach <' another Gospel," the teachers of which 
 he charges those to whom he wrote to hold "accursed;" 
 and he assures them that there are some "heresies" so 
 deep and radical that they are to be accounted "damnable." 
 Surely those who maintain the true Gospel, cannot "walk 
 together" in "church fellowship" with those who are "ac- 
 cursed" for preaching "another Gospel," and who espouse 
 "damnable heresies," the advocates of which the disci- 
 ples of Christ are not permitted even to " receive into their 
 houses," or to " bid God speed!" How, then, I ask again, 
 are the members of a Church, to take care that they be, 
 according to the divine command, "of one mind," and "of 
 one way?" They may require all who enter their commu- 
 nion to profess a belief in the Bible; nay, they may require 
 this profession to be repeated every day, and yet may be 
 corrupted and divided by every form of the grossest error. 
 Such a profession, it is manifest, ascertains no agreement; 
 is a bond of no real union; a pledge of no spiritual fellow- 
 ship. It leaves every thing within the range of nominal 
 Christianity, as perfectly undefined, and as much exposed 
 to total discord as before. 
 
 But perhaps it will be proposed as a more efficient reme- 
 dy, that there be 2. private understandings vigilantly act- 
 ed upon, that no ministers or members be admitted, but 
 
310 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 those who are known, by private conversation with them, 
 substantially to agree with the original body, with regard 
 both to doctrine and order. In this way, some allege, dis- 
 cord may be banished, and a church kept pure and peaceful, 
 without an odious array of Creeds and Confessions. To 
 this proposal, I answer, in the first place, it is, to all intents 
 and purposes, exhibiting a Creed, and requiring subscrip- 
 tion to it, while the contrary is insinuated and professed. 
 It is making use of a religious test, in the most rigorous 
 manner, without having the honesty or the manliness to 
 avow it. For what matter is it, as to the real spirit of the pro- 
 ceeding, whether the Creed be reduced to writing, or be 
 registered only in the minds of the church members, and 
 applied by them as a body, if it equally exclude applicants 
 
 who are not approved ? But to this proposed remedy, I 
 
 answer, in the second place, the question, what is sound- 
 ness in the faith? however explicitly agreed upon by the 
 members of the church among themselves, cannot be safely 
 left to the understanding and recollection of each indi- 
 vidual belonging to the body in question. As well might 
 the civil constitution of a State, instead of being commit- 
 ted to writing, be left to the vague and ever varying 
 impressions of the individual citizens who live under 
 it. In such a constitution, every one sees there could 
 be neither certainty nor stability. Scarcely any two re- 
 tailers of its articles would perfectly agree ; and the same 
 persons would expound it differently at different times, as 
 their interests or their passions might happen to bear sway. 
 Quite as unreasonable and unsafe, to say the least, would it 
 be to leave the instrument of a church's fellowship on a simi-* 
 lar footing. Such a nuncupative creed, when most needed 
 as a means of quieting disturbances, or of excluding corrup- 
 tion, would be rendered doubtful, and, of course, useless. 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. sn 
 
 by having its most important provisions called in question 
 on every side. A case in which, if it were made operative 
 at all, it would be far more likely to be perverted into an 
 instrument of popular oppression, than to be employed as a 
 means of sober and wholesome government. 
 
 The inference then plainly is, that no church can hope 
 to maintain a homogeneous character; — no church can be 
 secure either of purity or peace, for a single year; nay, no 
 church can effectually guard against the highest degrees of 
 corruption and strife, without some test of truth, explicitly 
 agreed upon, and adopted by her, in her ecclesiastical capa- 
 city ; something recorded ; something publicly known; 
 something capable of being referred to when most needed ; 
 which not merely this or that private member sujjposes to 
 to have been received ; but to which the church as such has 
 agreed to adhere, as a bond of union. In other words, 
 a church, in order to maintain "the unity of the Spirit in 
 the bond of peace and love," must have a Creed — a writ- 
 ten Creed — to which she has formally given her assent, 
 and to a conformity to which her ministrations are pledged. 
 As long as such a test is faithfully applied, she cannot fail 
 of being in some good degree united and harmonious; and 
 when nothing of the kind is employed, I see not how she 
 can be expected, without a miracle, to escape all the evils of 
 discord and corruption. 
 
 2. The necessity and importance of Creeds and Confes- 
 sions appear from the consideration, that one great design of 
 establishing a Church in our world was, that she might be in 
 all ages, a depository, a guardian, and a witness of 
 
 THE TRUTH. 
 
 Christians, collectively as well as individually, are repre- 
 sented in Scripture as witnesses for God. They are com- 
 44 
 
312 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 manded to maintain his truth, and to ''hold forth the word 
 of life," in all its purity and lustre before a perverse gene- 
 ration, that others may be enlightened and converted. They 
 are exhorted to " buy the truth, and not to sell it;" — to 
 "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the 
 saints ;" — to "hold fast the form of sound words which they 
 have received ;" — and to " strive together for the faith of 
 the Gospel." These, and many other commands, of simi- 
 lar import, plainly make it the duty of every Christian 
 church to detect and expose prevailing heresies; to exclude 
 all such as embrace radical heresy from their communion ; 
 and to " lift up a standard" for truth, whenever " the enemy 
 comes in like a flood." 
 
 But does not all this imply taking effectual measures to 
 distinguish between truth and error? Does not all this ne- 
 cessarily infer the duty of drawing, and publicly mani- 
 festing, a line between those who, while they profess, in 
 general, to believe the Bible, really deny all its essential 
 doctrines ; and those who simply and humbly receive "the 
 truth as it is in Jesus?" But how is this distinction to be 
 made, seeing those who embrace the essential doctrines of 
 the Gospel, equally profess to receive the Bible ? It can 
 only be done by carefully ascertaining and explicitly de- 
 claring how the church herself, and how those v/hom she 
 suspects of being in error, understand and interpret the 
 Bible ; that is, by oxtracting certain articles of faith from 
 the Scriptures, according to her understanding of them, and 
 comparing these articles with the professed belief of those 
 whom she supposes to be heretics. And what is this but ex- 
 tracting from the Scriptures a Confession of Faith — a 
 Creed, and applying it as a test of sound principles ? 
 It does really appear to me that those orthodox brethren, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 313 
 
 who admit that the church is bound to raise her voice 
 against error, and to <' contend earnestly" for the truth; 
 and yet denounce Creeds and Confessions, are, in the high- 
 est degree inconsistent with themselves. They acknow- 
 ledge the obligation and importance of a great duty ; and 
 yet reject the only means by which it can be performed. 
 Quite as unreasonable, I am constrained to say, as the 
 ^' task masters of Egypf," they require work to be done, 
 without allowing the materials necessary to its accomplish- 
 ment. Before the church, as such, can detect heretics, and 
 cast them out from her bosom : before she can raise her 
 voice, in " a day of rebuke and of blasphemy," against pre- 
 vailing errors, her governors and members must be agreed 
 what is truth ; and, unless they would give themselves up, 
 in their official judgments, to all the caprice and feverish ef- 
 fervescence of occasional feeling, they must have some ac- 
 credited, permanent document, exhibiting what they have 
 agreed to consider as truth. There is really no feasible al- 
 ternative. They must either have such "a form of sound 
 words," which they have voluntarily adopted, and pledged 
 themselves to one another to " hold fast ;" or they can have 
 no security that any two or more successive decisions con- 
 cerning soundness in the faith will be alike. In other 
 words, they cannot attain, in any thing like a steady, uni- 
 form, consistent manner, one of the great purposes for 
 which the visible church was established. 
 
 It surely will not be said, by any considerate person, that 
 the church, or any of her individual members, can suffi- 
 ciently fulfil the duty in question, by simply proclaiming 
 from time to time, in the midst of surrounding error, her 
 adherence and her attachment to the Bible. Every one 
 must see that this would be, in fact, doing nothing as 
 
314 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 " witnesses of the truth ;" because it would be doing 
 nothing peculiar ; nothing distinguishing; nothing which 
 every heretic in Christendom is not ready to do, or rather is 
 not daily doing, as loudly, and as frequently as the most or- 
 thodox Church. The very idea of "bearing testimony to 
 the truth," and of separating from those who are so corrupt 
 that Christian communion cannot be maintained with them, 
 necessarily implies some public discriminating act, in which 
 the church agrees upon, and expresses her belief in, the 
 great doctrines of Christianity, in contradistinction from 
 those who believe erroneously. Now to suppose that any 
 thing of this kind can be accomplished, by making a pro- 
 fession, the very same, in every respect, with that which 
 the worst heretics make, is too palpably absurd to satisfy 
 any sober inquirer. 
 
 Of what value, let me ask, had the Waldenses and Albi- 
 genses been, as witnesses of the truth — as lights in 
 THE WORLD, amidst the darkness of surrounding corrup- 
 tion ; — especially of what value had they been to the church 
 in succeeding times, and to us at the present day, if they 
 had not formed, and transmitted to posterity those celebra- 
 ted Confessions of Faith, as precious as they are memo- 
 rable, which we read in their history, and which stand as so 
 many monumental testimonies to the true " Gospel of the 
 grace of God?" Without these, how should we ever have 
 known in what manner they interpreted the Bible ; or 
 wherein they differed from the grossest heretics, who lived 
 at the same time, and professed to receive the same Bible ? 
 Without these, how should we ever have seen so clearly 
 and satisfactorily as we do, that they maintained the truth 
 and the order of Christ's house, amidst all the wasting deso- 
 lations of the " man of sin j" and thus fulfilled his promise, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 315 
 
 that there shall always be " a seed to serve him, who shall 
 be accounted to the Lord for a generation?" 
 
 3. The adoption and publication of a Creed, is a tribute 
 TO TRUTH AND CANDOUR, which every Christian church 
 
 OWES TO THE OTHER CHURCHES, AND TO THE WORLD 
 AROUND HER. 
 
 Every wise man will wish to be united in religious 
 duty and privilege, with those who most nearly agree 
 with himself in their views of doctrine and order ; with 
 those in intercourse with whom he can be most happy, 
 and best edified. Of course, he will be desirous, before 
 he joins any church, to know something of its faith, 
 government, and general character. I will suppose a 
 pious and ingenuous individual about to form his religious 
 connections for life. He looks round on the churches to 
 which he has most access, and is desirous of deciding with 
 which of them he can be most comfortable. I will suppose 
 that, in this survey, he turns his eyes towards the truly 
 scriptural and primitive church to which it is our happiness 
 to belong. He is anxious to know the doctrine as well as 
 the order which he may expect to find in connection with 
 our body. How is he to know this ? Certainly not by 
 going from church to church throughout our whole bounds, 
 and learning the creed of every individual minister from his 
 own lips. This would be physically impossible, without 
 bestowing on the task a degree of time and toil, which 
 scarcely any man could afford. He could not actually hear 
 for himself the doctrines taught in a twentieth part of our 
 pulpits. And if he could, he would still be unable to de- 
 cide, from this source alone, how far what he heard might 
 be regarded as the uniform and universal, and especially as 
 the permanent character of the church ; and not rather as 
 
316 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 an accidental exhibition. But when such an inquirer finds 
 that we have a published creed, declaring how we under- 
 stand the Scriptures, and explicitly stating in detail the 
 great truths which we have agreed to unite in maintaining; 
 he can ascertain in a few hours, and without leaving his own 
 dwelling, what we profess to believe and to practice, and 
 how far he may hope to be at home in our communion. 
 And while he is enabled thus to understand the system to 
 which we profess to adhere, he enables us to understand 
 Ms views, by ascertaining how far they accord with our 
 published creed. 
 
 Further ; what is thus due to ingenuous individuals, who 
 wish to know the real character of our church, is also due 
 to neighbouring churches, who may have no less desire to 
 ascertain the principles which we embrace. It is delight- 
 ful for ecclesiastical communities, who approach near to 
 each other in faith and order, to manifest their affection for 
 one another, by cherishing some degree of Christian inter- 
 course. But what church, which valued the preservation 
 of its own purity and peace, would venture on such inter- 
 course with a body which had no defined system, either of 
 doctrine or government, to which it stood pledged ; and 
 which might, therefore, prove a source of pollution and dis- 
 order to every other church with which it had the smallest 
 interchange of services? One of the ministers of such a 
 denomination, when invited into the pulpit of an orthodox 
 brother, might give entire satisfaction ; while the very 
 next to whom a similar mark of Christian affection and 
 confidence was shown, might preach the most corrupt 
 heresy. Creeds and Confessions, then, so far from having a 
 tendency to "alienate" and "embitter" those Christian 
 denominations, which think nearly alike, and ought to 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 317 
 
 maintain fraternal intercourse, really tend to make them 
 acquainted with each other ; to lay a foundation for regular 
 and cordial intercourse ; to beget mutual confidence ; and 
 thus to promote the harmony of the church of God. 
 
 I scruple not, therefore, to affirm, that, as every indivi- 
 dual minister owes to all around him a frank avowal of his 
 Christian faith, when any desire to know it ; so every 
 church owes it to her sister churches, to be equally frank 
 and explicit in publicly declaring her principles. She, no 
 doubt, believes those principles to be purely scriptural. In 
 publicly avowing them, therefore, she performs the double 
 duty of bearing testimony to the truth, and of endeavouring 
 to draw from less pure denominations, and from the sur- 
 rounding world, new support to what she conscientiously 
 believes to be more correct sentiments than theirs. She 
 may be erroneous in this estimate ; but still she does what 
 she can, and what she unfeignedly believes to be right; and 
 what, of course, as long as this conviction continues, she is 
 bound to perform. And I have no hesitation in further 
 maintaining, that, in all ages, those Christian churches 
 which have been most honourably distinguished for their 
 piety; their zeal, and their adherence to the simplicity of 
 the gospel, have been, not only most remarkable for their 
 care in forming, but also for their frankness in avowing, 
 their doctrinal creed ; and their disposition to let all around 
 them distinctly understand what they professed to regard as 
 the fundamental doctrines of our holy religion. 
 
 4. Another argument in favour of Creeds publicly adop- 
 ted and maintained, is that thet are friendly to the 
 
 STUDY OP CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, AND OF COURSE, TO THE 
 PREVALENCE OP CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 It is the general principle of the enemies of Creeds, that 
 
318 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 all who profess to believe the Bible, ought, without further 
 inquiry, to unite ; to maintain ecclesiastical communion ; 
 and to live together in peace. But is it not manifest, that 
 the only way in which those who essentially differ from 
 each other concerning the fundamental doctrines of the 
 gospel, can live together in perfectly harmonious ecclesias- 
 tical fellowship, is by becoming indifferent to truth ; in 
 other words, by becoming persuaded that modes of faith 
 are of little or no practical importance to the Church, and 
 are, therefore, not worth contending for; that clear and dis- 
 criminating views of Christian doctrine are wholly unneces- 
 sary, and of little use in the formation of Christian charac- 
 ter ? But in proportion as professing Christians are indif- 
 ferent to truth, will they not be apt to neglect the study of 
 it? And if the study of it be generally neglected, will not 
 gross and deplorable ignorance of it eventually and generally 
 prevail? The fact is, when men love gospel truth well 
 enough to study it with care, they will soon learn to esti- 
 mate its value ; they will soon be disposed to " contend 
 for it," against its enemies, who are numerous in every 
 age ; and this will inevitably lead them to adopt and defend 
 that '' form of sound words" which they think they find in 
 the sacred Scriptures. On the other hand, let any man im- 
 bibe the notion that Creeds and Confessions are unscriptural, 
 and of course unlawful, and he will naturally and speedily 
 pass to the conclusion, that all contending for doctrines is 
 useless, and even criminal. From this the transition is easy 
 to the abandonment of the study of doctrine, or, at least, the 
 zealous and diligent study of it. Thus it is, that laying aside 
 all Creeds, naturally tends to make professing Christians in- 
 different to the study of Christian truth ; comparatively un- 
 interested in the attainment of religious knowledge ; and, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 319 
 
 finally, regardless, and, of course, ignorant of "the faith 
 once delivered to the saints." 
 
 I would by no means, indeed, be understood to assert, that 
 no heretics have ever been zealous in publishing and defend- 
 ing their corrupt opinions. The pages of ecclesiastical his- 
 tory abundantly show, that many of the advocates of error, 
 both in ancient and modern times, have contended not only 
 pertinaciously, but even fiercely, for their peculiar doctrines. 
 But my position is, that the enemies of all Creeds and Con- 
 fessions usually assume a principle, which, if carried out to 
 its legitimate consequences, would discourage all zeal in 
 maintaining the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel; that if all 
 zeal in maintaining peculiar doctrines were laid aside, all 
 ardour and diligence in shidying them would be likely to 
 be laid aside also ; and that, if this were the case, a state of 
 things more unfriendly to the growth and prevalence of 
 Christian knowledge could scarcely be imagined. Look at 
 the loose, vague, undecisive character of the preaching 
 heard in nine-tenths of the Unitarian, and other latitudina- 
 rian pulpits in the United States, and, as I suppose, through- 
 out Christendom. If the occupants of those pulpits had it 
 for their distinct and main object to render their hearers in- 
 different about understanding, and, of course, indifferent 
 about studying, the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, 
 they could scarcely adopt a plan more directly calculated to 
 attain their end, than that which they actually pursue. 
 Their incesssant cry is, " matters of opinion are between 
 God and a man's own conscience. No one else has a right 
 to meddle with them." Hence, in pursuance of this 
 maxim, they do, indeed, take care to meddle very little with 
 the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel. We conjecture 
 what their doctrinal opinions are, in general, not so much 
 45 
 
320 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 from what they say, as from what they do not say. And 
 the truth is, that if this character of preaching was to be- 
 come universal, all discriminating views of gospel-truth 
 would, in thirty years, be banished from the church. 
 
 If the friends of orthodoxy and piety, then, really desire 
 to cherish and maintain a love for the discriminating study 
 of Christian doctrine ; a taste for religious knowledge ; 
 a spirit of zeal for the truth, in opposition to that miserable 
 indifference to articles of faith, which is so replete with 
 mischief to every Christian community in which it is found ; 
 — then let them be careful to present, and diligently to keep 
 before the eyes of one another, and the eye of the public, 
 that "good confession" which they are commanded to 
 "profess before many witnesses." If they fail to do this; 
 if, under the guise of adherence to that great Protestant 
 maxim, that the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith 
 and manners, — (a precious all-important truth; which, pro- 
 perly understood, cannot be too often repeated) — they 
 speak and act as if all who profess to receive the Bible were 
 standing upon equally solid and safe ground; if, in a 
 word, they consider it as unnecessary, and even criminal, to 
 select from the mass of Scriptural truth, and to defend, as 
 such, the fundamental doctrines of the gospel ; — then, 
 nothing short of miracle can prevent them from sinking 
 into that coldness and sloth with respect to the study of 
 doctrine, and finally into that deplorable " lack of know- 
 ledge" by which millions are constantly "destroyed." 
 
 5. It is an argument of no small weight in favour of 
 Creeds, that the experience of all ages has pound 
 
 THEM indispensably NECESSARY. 
 
 Even in the days of the Apostles, when all their inspira- 
 tion and all their miraculous powers, were insuificient to de- 
 ter heretics from spreading their poison; — men, calling 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 321 
 
 themselves Christians, and professing to preach the religion 
 of Christ, perverted his truth, and brought "another gos- 
 pel," which He had not taught. In this exigency, how- 
 did the churches proceed? An inspired apostle directed 
 them not to be contented with a general profession of belief 
 in the religion of Christ on the part of those who came to 
 them as Christian teachers; but to examine and try them, 
 and to ascertain whether their teaching were agreeable to 
 the "form of sound words" which they had been taught by 
 him: and he adds with awful solemnity — "If any man 
 bring any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, 
 let him be accursed." Here was, in effect, an instance, 
 and that by Divine warrant, of employing a Creed as a 
 test of orthodoxy: that is, men making a general profes- 
 sion of Christianity, are expressly directed by an inspir- 
 ed apostle, to be brought to the test, in what sense 
 THEY understood THAT GOSPEL, of which, in general 
 terms, they declared their reception ; and how they ex- 
 plained its leading doctrines. It would seem, indeed, that 
 the Confession of Faith then required was very short and 
 simple. This, the peculiar circumstances of the times, and 
 the no less peculiar administration of the Church, rendered 
 entirely sufficient. Still, whether the Confession were long 
 or short ; whether it consisted of three articles or of thirty, 
 the principle was the same. 
 
 In the second century, in the writings of Irenseus ; and, 
 in the third, in the writings of TertuUian, Origen, Cy- 
 prian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Lucian,ihe martyr, 
 we find a number of Creeds and Confessions, more formal- 
 ly drawn out, more minute, and more extensive than those 
 of earlier date. They were intended to bear testimony 
 against the various forms of error which had arisen ; and 
 
322 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 plainly show that, as the arts and corruptions of heretics in- 
 creased, the orthodox church found more attention to the 
 adoption and maintenance of these formularies indispensa- 
 bly necessary. 
 
 In {he fourth century, when the church was still more 
 agitated by the prevalence of heresy, there was a still louder 
 demand for accredited tests, by which the heretics were to 
 be tried and detected. Of this demand there never was a 
 more striking instance than in the Council of Nice, when 
 the heresy of Arius was under the consideration of 
 that far-famed assembly. When the Council entered on 
 the examination of the subject, it was found extremely diffi- 
 cult to obtain from Arius any satisfactory explanation of 
 his views. He was not only as ready as the most orthodox 
 divine present, to professs that he believed the Bible ; but 
 he also declared himself willing to adopt, as his own, all 
 the language of the Scriptures, in detail, concerning the per- 
 son and character of the blessed Redeemer. But when the 
 members of the Council wished to ascertain in what sense 
 HE understood THIS LANGUAGE, he discovered a dispo- 
 sition to evade and equivocate, and actually, for a considera- 
 ble time, baffled the attempts of the most ingenious of the 
 orthodox to specify his errors, and to bring them to light. 
 He declared that he was perfectly willing to employ the po- 
 pular language on the subject in controversy; and wished to 
 have it believed that he differed very little from the body 
 of the church. Accordingly the orthodox went over the 
 various titles of Christ plainly expressive of Divinity, — such 
 as "God" — "the true God" — the "express image of 
 God," &c. — to every one of which t/2nw.sand his followers 
 most readily subscribed ; — claiming a right, however, to 
 put THEIR OWN CONSTRUCTION on the scriptural titles in 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 323 
 
 question. After employing much time and ingenuity in 
 vain, in endeavouring to drag this artful chief from his lurk- 
 ing places, and to obtain from him an explanation of his 
 views, the Council found it would be impossible to accom- 
 plish their object as long as they permitted him to intrench 
 himself behind a mere general profession of belief in the 
 Bible. They therefore, did, what common sense, as well 
 as the word of God, had taught the church to do in all pre- 
 ceding times, and what alone can enable her to detect the 
 artful advocate of error. They expressed, in their own 
 language, what they supposed to be the doctrine of Scrip- 
 ture concerning the Divinity of the Saviour ; in other 
 words, they drew up a Confession of Faith on this sub- 
 ject, which they called upon ,drius and his disciples to sub- 
 scribe. This the heretics refused ; and were thus virtually 
 brought to the acknowledgment that they did not under- 
 stand tie Scriptures as the rest of the Council understood 
 them, and, of course, that the charge against them was cor- 
 rect. 
 
 The same course was taken by all the pious witnesses 
 OF THE TRUTH in the dark ages, when, amidst the surround- 
 ing corruption and desolation, they found themselves called 
 upon to bear ''witness to the truth." They all professed 
 their belief in the Bible, and their love to it; they con- 
 stantly appealed to it, as the only infallible rule of faith and 
 practice; and they studied it with incomparably more vene- 
 ration and diligence than any of the errorists around them. 
 This all history plainly evinces. But at the same time, 
 they saw the futility of doing nothing more than proclaim 
 in general, their adherence to the Sacred Volume. This 
 would have been no distinction, and, of course, no testi- 
 mony at all. It would have been nothing more than the 
 
324 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 bitterest enemies of the truth were proclaiming busily, and 
 even clamourously, every day. They, therefore, did what 
 the friends of orthodoxy had been in the habit of doing 
 from the earliest ages. They framed creeds, from time 
 to time, as the exigencies of the Church demanded, by 
 means of which they were enabled to bear their testimony 
 for God; to vindicate his truth; and to transmit the memo- 
 rials of their fidelity to distant generations. And finally, 
 at the glorious Reformation from Popery, by which the 
 great Head of the Church may be said again to have "set 
 his people free," and the memory of which shall never die; 
 — in drawing the line between "the precious and the vile," 
 the friends of truth followed the same course. They, with 
 one accord, formed their Creeds and Confessions, which 
 served, at once, as a plea for the truth, and a barrier against 
 heresy. And it is not, perhaps, too much to say- that the 
 volume which contains the collection of these C5'eeds, is 
 one of the most precious and imperishable monuments of 
 the piety, wisdom, and zeal of the sixteenth century. 
 
 What, now, is the inference from all this experience of 
 the Church of God, so universal and so uniform? It cannot 
 be misunderstood. It speaks volumes. When the friends 
 of truth in all ages and situations, even those who were 
 most tenacious of the rights of private judgment, and most 
 happy in the enjoyment of Christian liberty, have invariably 
 found it necessary to resort to the adoption of Creeds, in or- 
 der to ascertain for themselves, as a social body, and to 
 communicate to others, for their benefit, their sense op 
 THE HOLY scriptures; — WO are naturally led to conclude, 
 not only that the resort is neither so '< unreasonable" nor 
 so "baneful" as many would persuade us to believe; but 
 that there is really no other practicable method of main- 
 taining unity and purity in the Church of Christ. 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 325 
 
 6. A further argument in favour of Creeds and Confes- 
 sions, may be drawn from the remarkable fact, that their 
 
 MOST ZEALOUS OPPOSERS HAVE GENERALLY BEEN LATITU- 
 DINARIANS AND HERETICS. 
 
 I do not affirm that the use of Creeds has never been op- 
 posed by individuals substantially orthodox, and even by 
 orthodox churches: for it is believed that a few rare cases 
 of this anomaly have occurred, under the influence of 
 strong prejudice, or very peculiar circumstances. Yet, so 
 far as I can recollect, we have no example of it among the 
 ancients. Such cases are the growth of very modern times. 
 Nor, on the other hand, is it my purpose to deny that 
 heretics have sometimes been extremely zealous in forming 
 and maintaining the most corrupt Creeds. For of this the 
 early history of the Church abounds with examples, and its 
 later periods have not been wholly without them. But 
 what I venture to assert is, that, as a general fact, the most 
 ardent and noisy opponents of Creeds have been those who 
 held corrupt opinions; that none, calling themselves Chris- 
 tians, have been so bitter in reviling them, in modern times, 
 as the friends of Unitarianism, and those who were leaning 
 toward that awful gulph; and that the most consistent and 
 zealous advocates of truth have been, every where, and at all 
 times, distinguished by their friendship to such formularies. 
 Nor has this been by any means a fortuitous occurrence; but 
 precisely what might have been calculated, on principle, as 
 likely to be realized. It is an invariable characteristic of 
 the orthodox that they lay great stress on the knowledge 
 and reception of truth; that they consider it as necessary 
 to holiness; that they deem an essential part of fidelity to 
 their Master in heaven, to consist in contending for it, and 
 maintaining it in opposition to all the forms of error. On 
 
326 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 the contrary, it is almost as invariable a characteristic of 
 modern heretics, and more especially of those who fall un- 
 der the general denomination of Unitarians, that they 
 profess lightly to esteem modes of faith; that they manifest 
 a marked inditference to truth; that they, for the most part, 
 maintain, in so many words, the innocence of error; and 
 hence very naturally reprobate, and even villify, all faithful 
 attempts to oppose heresy, and to separate heretics from the 
 Church. From those, then, who have eitheryar departed, 
 or at least begun to depart, form "the faith once delivered 
 to the saints," almost exclusively, do we hear of the "op- 
 pression," and the "mischief" of Creeds and Confessions. 
 And is it any marvel that those who maintain the inno- 
 cence of error, should be unwilling to raise fences for keep- 
 ing it out of the Church ? Is it any marvel that the Jirian, 
 the Socinian, the Pelagian, and such as are verging to- 
 ward those fatal errors, should exceedingly dislike all the 
 evangelical formularies, which tend to make visible the 
 line of distinction between the friends and the enemies of 
 the Redeemer? No; — men, as has been often well observ- 
 ed, "men are seldom opposed to Creeds, until Creeds have 
 become opposed to them." That Mey should dislike and 
 oppose them, in these circumstances, is just as natural as 
 that a culprit arraigned before a civil tribunal, should equally 
 dislike the law, its officer, and its sanction. 
 
 Accordingly, if we look a little into the interior of Church 
 history, especially within the last century, we shall find 
 these remarks often and strikingly exemplified. We shall 
 find, with few exceptions, that whenever a group of men 
 began to slide, with respect to orthodoxy, they generally 
 attempted to break, if not to conceal, their fall, by de- 
 claiming against Creeds and Confessions. They have sel- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 327 
 
 dom failed, indeed, to protest in the beginning, that they 
 had no objections to the doctrines themselves of the Con- 
 fession which they had subscribed, but to the principle of 
 subscribing Confessions at all. Soon, however, was the 
 melancholy fact gradually unfolded, that disaffection to the 
 doctrines which they once appeared to love, had more in- 
 fluence in directing their course, than even they themselves 
 imagined, and that they were receding further and further 
 from the ''good way" in which they formerly seemed to 
 rejoice. Truly that cause is of a most suspicious character 
 to which latitudinarians and heretics, at least in modern 
 times, almost as a matter of course, yield their support; 
 and which they defend with a zeal, in general, strictly 
 proportioned to their hatred of orthodoxy! 
 
 7. The only further argument in support of Creeds on 
 which I shall dwell, is, that their most zealous opposers 
 
 DO THEMSELVES VIRTUALLY EMPLOY THEM IN ALL ECCLE- 
 SIASTICAL PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 The favourite maxim, with the opposers of Creeds, that 
 all who acknowledge the Bible, ought, without hesitation, 
 to be received, not only to Christian, but also to ministe- 
 rial communion, is invariably abandoned by those who 
 urge it, the moment a case turns up which really brings it 
 to the test. Did any one ever hear of a Unitarian con- 
 gregation engaging as their pastor a preacher of Calvinism, 
 knowing him to be such? But why not, on the principle 
 adopted, or at least professed, by Unitarians? The Cal- 
 vinist surely comes with his Bible in his hand, and pro- 
 fesses to believe it as cordially as they. Why is not that 
 enough ? Yet we know that, in fact, it is not enough for 
 these advocates of unbounded liberality. Before they will 
 46 
 
328 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 consent to receive him as their spiritual guide, they must 
 be explicitly informed, how he interprets the Bible; 
 in other words, what is his particular Creed; whether 
 it is substantially the same with their own or not: and if 
 they are not satisfied that this is the case, all other profes- 
 sions and protestations will be in vain. He will be inexo- 
 rably rejected. Here, then, we have, in all its extent, the 
 principle of demanding subscription to a Creed; and a 
 principle carried out into practice as rigorously as ever it 
 was by the most high-toned advocate of orthodoxy. 
 
 We have before seen, that the friends of truth, in all 
 ages, have found, in their sad experience, that a general 
 profession of belief in the Bible, was altogether insufficient, 
 either as a bond of union, or as a fence against the inroads 
 of error. And here we find the warmest advocates of a 
 contrary doctrine, and with a contrary language in their 
 mouths, when they come to act, pursuing precisely the 
 
 SAME course with THE FRIENDS OF CREEDS, with Only 
 
 this diflference, that the Creed which they apply as a test, 
 instead of being a written and tangible document, is hidden 
 in the bosoms of those who expound and employ it, and, of 
 course, may be applied in the most capricious as well as ty- 
 rannical manner, without appeal; and further, that, while 
 they really act upon this principle, they disavow it, and 
 would persuade the world that they proceed upon an en- 
 tirely different plan. 
 
 Can there be a more conclusive fact than this? The 
 enemies of Creeds themselves cannot get along a day with- 
 out them. It is in vain to say, that in their case no Creed 
 is imposed, but that all is voluntary, and left entirely to 
 the choice of the parties concerned. It will be seen here- 
 after that the same may be with equal truth asserted, in all 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 329 
 
 those cases of subscription to articles, for which I contend, 
 without any exception. No less vain is it to say, again, 
 that in their case the articles insisted on are few and simple, 
 and by no means so liable to exception as the long and de- 
 tailed Creeds which some churches have adopted. It is the 
 principle of subscription to Creeds which is now under 
 consideration. If the lawfulness and even the necessity 
 of acting upon this principle can be established, our cause 
 is gained. The extent to which we ought to go in multi- 
 plying articles, is a secondary question, the answer to which 
 must depend on the exigencies of the church framing the 
 Creed. Now the adversaries of Creeds, while they totally 
 reject the expediency, and even the lawfulness, of the gene- 
 ral principle, yet show that they cannot proceed a step with- 
 out adopting it in practice. This is enough. Their con- 
 duct is sounder than their reasoning. And no wonder. 
 Their conduct is dictated by good sense and practical ex- 
 perience, nay imposed upon them by the evident necessity 
 of the case: while their reasoning is a theory, derived, as 
 I must believe, from a source far less enlightened, and less 
 safe. 
 
 Several other arguments might be urged in favour of 
 written Creeds, did not the limits to which I am confined 
 in this Lecture, forbid me further to enlarge. 
 
 It were easy to show that Confessions of Faith, judiciously 
 drawn, and solemnly adopted by particular churches, are 
 not only invaluable as bonds of union, and fences against 
 error; but that they also serve an important purpose, as ac- 
 credited manuals of Christian doctrine, well fitted for the 
 instruction of those private members of churches, who have 
 neither leisure nor habits of thinking sufficiently close, to 
 draw from the sacred writings themselves a consistent syS- 
 
330 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 tern of truth. It is of incalculable use to the individual who 
 has but little time for reading, and but little acquaintance 
 with books, to be furnished with a clear and well arranged, 
 compend of doctrine, which he is authorized to regard, not 
 as the work of a single, enlightened, and pious divine; but 
 as drawn out and adopted by the collected wisdom of the 
 Church to which he belongs. There is often a satisfaction, 
 to plain, unsophisticated mind, not to be described, in going 
 over such a compend, article by article; examining the 
 proofs adduced from the word of God in support of each; 
 and ^'searching the Scriptures daily to see whether the 
 things which it teaches are so or not.'^ 
 
 It might also be further shown, that sound and scriptural 
 Confessions of Faith, are of great value for transmitting to 
 posterity a knowledge of what is done by the Church, at 
 particular times, in behalf of the truth. Every such Con- 
 fession that is formed or adopted by the followers of Christ 
 in one age, is a precious legacy transmitted to their chil- 
 dren, and to all that may come after them, in a succeeding 
 age, not only bearing their testimony in support of the true 
 doctrines of Jesus Christ, but also pouring more or less 
 light on those doctrines, for the instruction of all to whom 
 that testimony may come. 
 
 But while we attend to the principal arguments \n favour 
 of written Creeds, justice to the subject requires that we 
 
 II. Examine some of the principal objections which 
 have been made to Creeds by their adversaries. 
 
 1. And the first which I shall mention is, that forming 
 a Creed, and requiring subscription to it as a religious test, 
 
 is SUPERSEDING THE BIBLE, AND MAKING A HUMAN COMPO- 
 SITION INSTEAD OP IT A STANDARD OF FAITH. ^'The Bi- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 331 
 
 ble," say those who urge this objection, "is the only in- 
 fallible rule of faith and practice. It is so complete, that 
 it needs no human addition, and so easily understood, that 
 it requires no human explanation. Why, then, should we 
 desire any other ecclesiastical standard? Why subscribe 
 ourselves, or call upon others to subscribe, any other 
 Creed than this plain, inspired, and perfect one ? Every 
 time we do this we offer a public indignity to the sacred 
 volume, as we virtually declare, either that it is not infalli- 
 ble, or not sufficient." 
 
 This objection is the most specious one in the whole 
 catalogue. And although it is believed that a sufficient an- 
 swer has been furnished by some principles already laid 
 down; yet the confidence with which it is every day re- 
 peated, renders a formal attention to it expedient; more 
 especially as it bears, at first view, so much the appearance 
 of peculiar veneration for the Scriptures, that many are 
 captivated by its plausible aspect, and consider it as deci- 
 sive. 
 
 The whole argument which this objection presents, is 
 founded on a false assumption. No Protestant ever pro- 
 fessed to regard his Creed, considered as a human composi- 
 tion, as of equal authority with the Scriptures, and far less 
 of paramount authority. Every principle of this kind is, 
 with one voice, disclaimed, by all the Creeds, and defences 
 of Creeds, that I have ever read. And whether, notwith- 
 standing this, the constant repetition of the charge, ought 
 to be considered as fair argument, or gross calumny, the 
 impartial will judge. A church Creed professes to be, as 
 was before observed, merely an epitome, or summary ex- 
 hibition OF WHAT THE SCRIPTURES TEACH. It profeSSeS 
 
 to be deduced from the Scriptures, and to refer to the Scrip- 
 
332 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 tures for the whole of its authority. Of course, when any- 
 one subscribes it, he is so far from dishonouring the Bi- 
 ble, that he does public homage to it. He simply declares, 
 by a solemn act, how he understands the Bible; in other 
 words, what doctrines he considers it as containing. In 
 short, the language of an orthodox believer, in subscribing 
 his ecclesiastical Creed, is simply of the following import; 
 — ''While the Socinian professes to believe the Bible, 
 and to understand it as teaching the mere humanity of 
 Christ: — while the Avian professes to receive the same 
 Bible, and to find in it the Saviour represented as the most 
 exalted of all creatures, but still a creature: — While the Pe- 
 lagian and Semi-Pelagian make a similar profession of 
 their general belief in the Scriptures, and interpret them as 
 teaching a doctrine, far more favourable to human nature, 
 and far less honourable to the grace of God, than they ap- 
 pear to me really to teach; — I beg the privilege of declar- 
 ing, FOR MYSELF, that, while I believe, with all my heart, 
 that the Bible is the word of God, the only perfect rule of 
 faith and manners, and the only ultimate test in all con- 
 troversies — it plainly teaches, as I read and believe — the 
 deplorable and total depravity of human nature — the essen- 
 tial Divinity of the Saviour — a Trinity of persons in the 
 Godhead — justification by the imputed righteousness of 
 Christ — and regeneration and sanctification by the Holy 
 Spirit, as indispensable to prepare the soul for heaven. 
 These I believe to be the radical truths which God hath re- 
 vealed in his word; and while they are denied by some, 
 and frittered away or perverted by others, who profess to 
 believe that blessed word, I am verily pursuaded they are 
 the fundamental principles of the plan of salvation." 
 
 Now, I ask, is there in all this language, any thing dis- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 333 
 
 honourable to the Bible? Any thing that tends to super- 
 sede its authority; or to introduce a rule, or a tribunal of 
 paramount authority? Is there not, on the contrary, in 
 the whole language and spirit of such a declaration, an ac- 
 knowledgment of God's word as of ultimate and supreme 
 authority; and an expression of belief in certain doctrines, 
 SIMPLY and ONLY BECAUSE they are believed to be re- 
 vealed IN THAT WORD? Truly, if this be dishonouring 
 the Scriptures, or setting up a standard above them, there 
 is an end of all meaning either of words or actions. 
 
 But still it is asked— "Where is the need of any defini- 
 tive declaration of what we understand the Scriptures to 
 teach? Are they not intelligible enough in themselves? 
 Can we make them plainer than their Author has done? 
 Why hold a candle to the sun? Why make an attempt 
 to frame a more explicit test than He who gave the Bible 
 has thought proper to frame:— an attempt, as vain as it is 
 presumptuous?" To this plea it is sufficient to answer, 
 that, although the Scriptures are undoubtedly simple and 
 plain; so plain that ''he who runs may read;" yet it is 
 equally certain that thousands do, in fact, mistake and mis- 
 interpret them. This cannot possibly be denied; because 
 thousands interpret them, and that on points confessedly 
 fundamental, not only in different, but in directly opposite 
 ways. Of course all cannot be equally right. Can it be 
 wrong, then, for a pious and orthodox man — or for a pious 
 church, to exhibit, and endeavour to recommend to others, 
 their mode of interpreting the sacred volume ? As the 
 world is acknowledged, on all hands, to be, in fact, full of 
 mistake and error as to the true meaning of Holy Scrip- 
 tures, can it be thought a superfluous task for those who 
 have more light, and more correct opinions, to hold them 
 
334 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 up to view, as a testimony to the truth, and as a guide to 
 such as may be in error? Surely it cannot. Yet this is 
 neither more nor less than precisely that formation and 
 maintenance of a scriptural Confession of Faith for which I 
 am pleading. 
 
 Still, however, it may be asked, whdit right has any man, 
 or set of men to interpose their authority, and undertake to 
 deal out the sense of Scripture for others? Is it not both 
 impious in itself, and an improper assumption over the 
 minds of our fellow men? I answer, this reasoning would 
 prove too much, and therefore proves nothing. For, if ad- 
 mitted, it would prove that all preaching of the gospel 
 is presumptuous and criminal; because preaching always 
 consists in explaining and enforcing Scripture, and that, 
 for the most part, in the words of the preacher himself In- 
 deed, if the objection before us were valid, it would prove 
 that all the pious writings of the most eminent divines, in 
 all ages, who have had for their object to elucidate and ap- 
 ply the word of God, were profane and arrogant attempts 
 to mend his revelation, and make it better fitted than it is 
 to promote its great design. Nay, further; upon the prin- 
 ciple of this objection, it not only follows, that no minister 
 of the Gospel ought ever do more in the pulpit than simply 
 
 to READ OR REPEAT THE VERY WORDS OP SCRIPTURE; but 
 
 it is equally evident, that he must read or repeat Scripture 
 to his hearers, only in the languages in which they 
 WERE given to THE CHURCH. For, as has been often ob- 
 served, it cannot be said, that the words of any translation 
 of the Bible are the very words of the Holy Spirit. They 
 are only the words which uninspired men have chosen, in 
 which to express, as nearly as they were able, the sense of 
 the original. If, therefore, the objection before us be ad- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 335 
 
 mitted, no man is at liberty to teach the great truths of re- 
 velation in any other way than by literally repeating the 
 Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the 
 New, in the hearing of the people. So extreme is the ab- 
 surdity to which an erroneous principle will not fail to lead 
 those who are weak enough, or bold enough, to follow it to 
 its legitimate consequences! 
 
 But, after all, what language do facts speak on this 
 subject? Are those individuals or churches, who have 
 been most distinguished for their attachment and adherence 
 to Creeds, more regardless of the Bible than other profess- 
 ing Christians? Do they appear to esteem the Bible less? 
 Do they read it less? Do they appeal to it less frequently, 
 as their grand and ultimate authority? Do they quote it 
 more rarely, or with less respect in their preaching? Where 
 they once refer to their Creeds or Catechisms, for either 
 authority or illustration, in the pulpit, do they not, noto- 
 riously, refer to the Bible a thousand times? Do they take 
 less pains than others to impress the contents of the sacred 
 volume on the minds of their children, and to hold it forth 
 as the unceasing object of study to all ? Look at the re- 
 formed churches of Scotland and Holland, of France and 
 Geneva, in their best state, when their Confessions of 
 Faith were most venerated, and had most power; and then 
 say, whether any churches, since the days of the Apos- 
 tles, ever discovered more reverence for the Scriptures, or 
 treated them with more devout regard, as the only perfect 
 standard of faith and practice, than they ? Nay, am I not 
 warranted in making a similar appeal with respect to those 
 churches in our land, which have been most distinguished 
 for their attachment to Creeds? Are not their ministers, 
 in general, quite as remarkable for very rarely quoting 
 47 
 
336 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 their own ecclesiastical formularies, for either proof or il- 
 lustration, as they are for their constant and abundant quo- 
 tations from Scripture for both purposes? Can the same 
 incessant and devout recurrence to the sacred oracles be as- 
 cribed with equal truth to the great body of the opposers of 
 Creeds, in ancient or modern times? I will not press this 
 comparison into further detail; but have no apprehension 
 that even the bitterest enemy of Creeds, who has a tolerable 
 acquaintance with facts, and the smallest portion of candour, 
 will venture to say that the result fairly deduced, is in fa- 
 vour of his cause. 
 
 2. Another objection frequently made to church Creeds 
 is, that they INTERFERE with the rights op conscience, 
 
 AND NATURALLY LEAD TO OPPRESSION. <'What right," 
 
 say those who urge this objection, <'has any church, or 
 body of churches, to impose a Creed on me, or dictate to 
 me what I shall believe? To attempt such dictation is ty- 
 ranny; to submit to it, is to surrender the right of private 
 judgment." 
 
 There would be some ground for this objection, if a Creed 
 were, in any case, imposed by the civil government, or by 
 an established Church; if any were obliged to receive it, 
 under heavy pains and disabilities, whether they approved 
 it or not. But as such a case does not, and, happily, can- 
 not exist in our favoured country, the objection is surely as 
 illegitimate in reasoning, as it is false in fact. One is tempt- 
 ed to suspect that those who urge such an objection among 
 uSf have found it manufactured to their hands, by persons 
 living under civil governments and ecclesiastical establish- 
 ments of an oppressive character ; and viewing it as a wea- 
 pon which might be wielded with much popular effect, 
 they have taken it into their service, and thenceforward re- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 337 
 
 fused to abandon it; though proved a thousand times to have 
 no more application to any Creed or church in the United 
 States, than to the inhabitants of another planet. 
 
 It will not, surely, be denied by any one, that a body of 
 Christians have a right, in every free country, to associate 
 and walk together upon such principles as they may choose 
 to agree upon, not inconsistent with public order. They 
 have a right to agree and declare how they understand the 
 Scriptures; what articles found in Scripture they concur 
 in considering as fundamental; and in what manner they 
 will have their public preaching and polity conducted, for 
 the edification of themselves and their children. They 
 have no right, indeed, to decide or to judge ybr others, nor 
 can they compel any man to join them. But it is surely 
 their privilege to judge for themselves; to agree upon the 
 plan of their own association; to determine upon what 
 principles they will receive other members into their bro- 
 therhood; and to form a set of rules which will exclude 
 from their body those with whom they cannot walk in har- 
 mony. The question is, not whether they make in all 
 eases, a wise and scriptural use of this right to follow the 
 dictates of conscience — but whether they possess the right 
 at all? They are, indeed, accountable for the use which 
 they make of it, and solemnly accountable, to their Master 
 in heaven; but to man they surely cannot, and ought not, 
 to be compelled to give any account. It is their own con- 
 cern. Their fellow-men have nothing to do with it, as 
 long as they commit no offence against the public peace. 
 To decide otherwise, would indeed be an outrage on the 
 right of private judgment. If the principles of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, generally prevalent in our happy country, 
 be correct, demonstration itself cannot be more incontro- 
 vertible than these positions. 
 
338 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 But if a body of professing Christians have a natural right 
 thus to associate, to extract their own Creed from the Scrip- 
 tures, and to agree upon the principles by which others may 
 afterwards be admitted into their number ; is it not equally 
 manifest that they have the same right to refuse admittance 
 to those with whom, they believe, they cannot be comfort- 
 ably connected? 
 
 Let us suppose a church to be actually associated upon 
 the principle laid down; its Creed and other articles adopt- 
 ed, and published for the information of all who may wish 
 to be informed ; and its members walking together in har- 
 mony and love. Suppose, while things are in this situation, 
 a person comes to them, and addresses them thus — "1 
 demand admittance into your body, though I can neither 
 believe the doctrines which you profess to embrace, nor 
 consent to be governed by the rules which you have agreed 
 to adopt." What answer would they be apt to give him? 
 They would certainly reply — " Your demand is very un- 
 reasonable. Our union is a voluntary one, for our mutual 
 spiritual benefit. We have not solicited you to join us ; and 
 you cannot possibly have a right io force yourself into our 
 body. The whole world is before you. Go where you 
 please. We cannot agree to receive you, unless you are 
 willing to walk with us upon our own principles." Such 
 an answer would undoubtedly be deemed a proper one by 
 every reasonable person. Suppose, however, this applicant 
 were still to urge his demand ; to claim admission as a 
 right ; and, upon being finally refused, to complain, that 
 the society had " persecuted" and <' injured" him ? Would 
 any one think him possessed of common sense ? Nay, 
 would not the society in question, if they could be compel- 
 led to receive such an applicant, instead of being oppressors 
 of others, cease to be free themselves ? 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 339 
 
 The same principle would still more strongly apply, in 
 case of a clergyman offering himself to such a church, as a 
 candidate for the station of pastor among them. Suppose, 
 when he appeared to make a tender of his services, they 
 were to present him with a copy of that Creed, and of that 
 form of government and of worship which they had unani- 
 mously adopted, and to say— "This is what we believe. 
 We pretend not to prescribe to others ; ' but so we have 
 learned Christ;' so we understand the Scriptures ; and thus 
 we wish ourselves, our children, and all who look up to us 
 for guidance, to be instructed. Can you subscribe to these 
 formularies ? Are you willing to come among us upon 
 these principles, and, as our pastor, thus to break to us, 
 and our little ones what we deem 'the bread of life?'" 
 Could the candidate complain of such a demand ? Many 
 speak as if the church, in putting him to this test, under- 
 took to "judge for him." But nothing can be more re- 
 mote from the truth. They only undertake to judge for 
 themselves. If the candidate cannot, or will not, accept of 
 the test, he will be, of course, rejected. But, in this case, 
 no judgment is passed on his state toward God; no ecclesi- 
 astical censure, not even the smallest, is inflicted upon him. 
 The church only claim a right to be served in the ministe- 
 rial office by a man who is of the same religion with them- 
 selves. And is this an unreasonable demand ? Are not 
 the rights of conscience reciprocal ? Or do they demand, 
 that, while a church shall be prohibited from " oppressing" 
 an individual, an individual shall be allowed to <' oppress" a 
 church ? Surely it caf.not be necessary to wait for an an- 
 swer. 
 
 Accordingly, the transactions of secular life, furnish 
 every day a practical refutation of the objection which I am 
 
340 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 now considering. Does the head of a family, when a per- 
 son applies to be received as a resident under his roof, ever 
 doubt that he has a right to inquire whether the applicant be 
 willing to conform to the rules of his family or not ; and if 
 he decline this conformity, to refuse him admission ? And 
 even after he has been received and tried, for a while, if he 
 prove an uncomfortable inmate, does not every one consi- 
 der the master of the family as at liberty to exclude him? 
 Has not every parent, and, of course, every voluntary asso- 
 ciation of parents, an acknowledged right to determine 
 what qualifications they will require in a preceptor for their 
 children ; and, if so, to bring all candidates to the test 
 agreed on, and to reject those who do not correspond with 
 it ? And if a candidate who fell totally short of the qualifi- 
 cations required, and who, of course, was rejected, should 
 make a great outcry, that he was " wantonly" and " tyran- 
 nically" deprived of the place to which he aspired, would 
 not every one think him insane, or worse than insane ? 
 The same principle applies to every voluntary association, 
 for moral, literary, or other lawful purposes. If the mem- 
 bers have not a right to agree on what principles they will 
 associate, and to refuse membership to those who are known 
 to be entirely hostile to the great object of the association, 
 there is an end of all liberty. Of the self-evident truth of 
 all this, no one doubts. But where is the essential difier- 
 ence between any one of these rights, and the right of any 
 community of professing Christians to agree upon what they 
 deem the scriptural principles of their own union : and to 
 refuse admission into their body of those whom they con- 
 sider as unfriendly to the great purposes of truth and edifi- 
 cation, for the promotion of which they associated? To 
 deny them this right, would be to make them slaves indeed ! 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 341 
 
 It will probably, however, be alleged, that a church 
 cannot, properly speaking, be considered as a voluntary 
 association ; that it is a community instituted by the au- 
 thority of Christ ; that its laws are given by Him, as its 
 sovereign Head and Lord ; and that its rulers are in fact 
 only stewards, bound to conform themselves in all that they 
 do to his will ; that, if the church were their own, they 
 would have a right to shut out from it whom they pleased ; 
 but as it is Christ's, they must find some other rule of pro- 
 ceeding than their own volitions. This is, doubtless, all 
 true. The church of Christ certainly cannot be regarded 
 as a mere voluntary association, in the same sense in which 
 many other societies are so called. It is the property of 
 Christ. His will is the basis and the law of its establish- 
 ment, and, of course, none can be either admitted or excluded 
 but upon principles which his own word prescribes. This, 
 however, it is conceived, does not alter <' one jot or tittle," 
 the spirit of the foregoing reasoning. The union of Christians 
 in a church state, must, still, from the nature of things, be a 
 voluntary act ; for if it were not so, it would not be a mo- 
 ral act at all. But if the union be voluntary, then those 
 who form it, must certainly be supposed to have a right to 
 follow their own convictions as to what their Divine Mas- 
 ter has revealed and enjoined respecting the laws of their 
 union. If they are not to judge in this matter, who, I ask, 
 is to judge for them ? Has the Head of the Church, then, 
 prescribed any qualifications as necessary for private mem- 
 bership, or for admission to the ministerial ofiice, in his 
 church ? If so, what are they ? Will any degree of depar- 
 ture from the purity of faith or practice, be sufficient to ex- 
 clude a man ? If it will, to whom has our Lord committed 
 the task of applying his law, and judging in any particular 
 
342 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 case ? to the applicants or delinquents themselves ; or to the 
 church in which membership is desired? If to the latter, 
 on what principle is she bound to proceed? As her mem- 
 bers have voluntarily associated for their mutual instruction 
 and edification in spiritual things, have they not a right to 
 be satisfied that the individual who applies to be received 
 among them, either as a private member or minister, enter- 
 tains opinions, and bears a character, which will be consistent 
 with the great object which they seek? Can any such indi- 
 vidual reasonably refuse to satisfy them as to the accordance 
 of his religious sentiments with theirs, if they think that 
 both the law of Christ, and the nature of the case, render 
 such accordance necessary to Christian fellowship ? If 
 he could not reasonably refuse to give satisfaction ver- 
 bally on this subject; could he, with any more reason, 
 refuse to state his own sentiments in wriling, and subscribe 
 his name to that written statement? Surely to decline this 
 while he consented to give a verbal exhibition of his Creed, 
 would wear the appearance of singular caprice or perverse- 
 ness. But if no rational objection could be made to his 
 subscribing a declaration, drawn up with his own hand, 
 would it not be exactly the same thing, as to the spirit of 
 the transaction, if, with a view, simply, to ascertain the 
 
 FACT OF HIS BELIEF, NOT TO DICTATE LAWS TO HIS 
 
 CONSCIENCE, a statement, previously drawn up by the 
 church herself, should be presented for his voluntary signa- 
 ture ? What is required of an individual in such case is, not 
 that he shall believe what the church believes; but simply 
 that he shall declare, as a matter of fact, whether he does 
 possess that belief, which, from his voluntary application to 
 be received into Christian fellowship with that church, he 
 may be fairly presumed to possess. Again, I ask, is it pos- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 343 
 
 sible to deny a church this right, without striking at the 
 root of all that is sacred in the convictions of conscience, 
 and of all that is precious in the enjoyment of Christian 
 communion ? I fully grant, indeed, that, as her authority 
 rests entirely on the declared will of Christ, she has no 
 right, in the sight of God, to propose to a candidate, any 
 other than a sound orthodox Creed. She cannot possibly 
 be considered as having a right, on this principle, to require 
 his assent to anti-scriptural principles. Still, however, as 
 the rights of conscience are unalienable ; and as every 
 church must be considered, of course, as verily believing 
 that she is acting according to her Master's will, we must 
 concede to her the plenary right, in the sight of man, to re- 
 quire from those who would join her, a solemn assent to 
 her formularies. 
 
 But perhaps, it will be asked, when a man has already 
 become a member, or minister of a church, in virtue of a 
 voluntary and honest subscription to her articles, and after- 
 wards alters his mind ; — if he be excluded from her commu- 
 nion as a private member, or deposed from office as a min- 
 ister, is not here '• oppression V Is it not inflicting on a 
 man a "heavy penalty" for his "opinions ;" "punishing" 
 him for his " sincere, conscientious convictions ?" I an- 
 swer, if the Lord Jesus Christ has not only authorized, but 
 solemnly commanded his church to cast the heretical, as 
 well as immoral, out of her communion, and wholly to with- 
 draw her countenance from those who preach "another 
 gospel ;" — then it is manifest, that the church in acting on 
 this authority, does no one any injury. In excluding a pri- 
 vate member from the communion of a church, or deposing 
 a minister from office, in the regular and scriptural exercise 
 of discipline, she deprives neither of any natural right. It 
 48 
 
344 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 is only withdrawing that which was voluntarily asked, and 
 voluntarily bestowed, and which might have been, without 
 injustice, withheld. It is only practically saying — "You can 
 no longer, consistently with our views, either of obedience to 
 Christ, or of Christian edification, be a minister or a mem- 
 ber with us. You may be as happy and as useful as you 
 can in any other connection ; but we must take away that 
 authority and those privileges which we once gave you, and 
 of which your further exercise among us would be subver- 
 sive of those principles which we are solemnly pledged to 
 support." Is this language unreasonable? Is the measure 
 which it contemplates oppressive ? Would it be more just 
 in itself, or more favourable to the rights of conscience, if 
 any individual fow/fi? retain his place as a teacher and guide 
 in a church, contrary to its wishes ; to the subversion of its 
 faith ; to the disturbance of its peace ; and finally to the en- 
 dangering of its existence ; and all this contrary to his own 
 solemn engagements, and to the distinct understanding of 
 its members, when he joined them ? Surely every friend 
 of religious liberty would indignantly answer. No ! Such 
 a church would be the oppressed party, and such a member, 
 the tyrant. 
 
 The conclusion, then, is, that when a church makes use of 
 a Creed in the manner that has been described ; as a bond 
 of union ; as a barrier against what it deems heresy ; and 
 in conformity with what it conscientiously believes to be the 
 will of Christ ; it is so far from encroaching on the " rights" 
 of others ; so far from being chargeable with " oppres- 
 sion ;" — that it is really, in the most enlightened manner, 
 and on the largest scale, maintaining the rights op 
 conscience; and that for such a church, instead of doing 
 this, to give up its own testiniony to the truth and order of 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 345 
 
 God's house ; to surrender its own comfort, peace and edifi- 
 cation, for the sake of complying with the unreasonable de- 
 mands of a corrupt individual, would be to subject itself to 
 the worst of slavery. What is the subjugation of the many, 
 with all their interests, rights, and happiness to the dictation 
 of one, or a few, but the essence of tyranny ? 
 
 3. A third objection often urged against subscription to 
 Creeds and Confessions is, that it is unfriendly to free 
 INQUIRY. "When a man," say the enemies of Creeds, 
 "has once subscribed a public formulary, and taken his ec- 
 clesiastical stand with a church which requires it, he must 
 continue so to believe to the end of life or resign his place; 
 new light in abundance may offer itself to his view; but he 
 must close his eyes against it. Now, can it be right," say 
 they, "for any one voluntarily to place himself in circum- 
 stances of so much temptation; willingly to place himself 
 within the reach of strong inducements to tamper with 
 conscience, and to resist conviction?" 
 
 In answer to this objection, my first remark is, that 
 when a man takes on himself the solemn and highly re- 
 sponsible office of a public instructor of others, we must 
 presume that he has examined the most important of the 
 various Creeds, called Christian, with all the deliberation, 
 sincerity, and prayer, of which he is capable, and that he 
 has made up his mind with respect to the leading doctrines 
 of Scripture. To suppose any one capable of entering on 
 the duties of the ministerial office while he is wavering and 
 unsettled, and liable to be "carried about by every wind 
 of doctrine," is to suppose him both weak and criminal to 
 a very great degree. I know, indeed, that some ardent 
 opposers of Creeds, consider a state of entire indecision 
 with regard even to leading theological doctrines, as the 
 
346 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 most laudable and desirable state of mind. They wish 
 every man, not only to feel himself a learner to the end of 
 life, which is undoubtedly right; but, also, if possible, to 
 keep himself in that equilibrium of mind with respect to 
 the most important doctrinal opinions, which shall amount 
 to perfect indifference whether he retains or relinquishes 
 his present sentiments. This they eulogize, as "openness 
 to conviction," "freedom from prejudice," &c. Without 
 stopping to combat this sentiment at large, I hesitate not to 
 pronounce it unreasonable in itself; contrary to Scripture; 
 and an enemy to all Christian stability and comfort. We 
 know what is said in the word of God, of those who are 
 "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge 
 of the truth." I repeat it, we must suppose him who un- 
 dertakes to be a teacher of others, to be himself, as the 
 apostle expresses it, "grounded and settled in the faith." 
 We ought to be considered, then, as having all the security 
 that the nature of the case admits, that he who comes for- 
 ward as one of the lights and leaders of a religious commu- 
 nity, is firm in the principles which he has professed, and 
 will not be very apt, essentially, to alter his Creed. 
 
 But further; the same objection might be urged, with 
 quite as much force, against a man's making any public 
 DECLARATION OF HIS SENTIMENTS, either by preaching, or 
 by writing, and printing; lest he should afterwards obtain 
 more light, and yet be tempted to adhere, contrary to his 
 conscience, to what he had before so publicly espoused. 
 But does any honest minister of the Gospel think it his duty 
 to forbear to preach, or otherwise to express his opinions, 
 because it is possible he may afterwards change them ? We 
 know that if the preacher of a Unitarian congregation should 
 alter his views, and become orthodox, he must quit his 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 347 
 
 place, give up his salary, and seek employment among his 
 new connections. The same thing would happen, if a 
 change the converse of this were to occur, and an orthodox 
 preacher become a Unitarian. What then? Because an 
 honest man, when he changes his mind on the subject of 
 religion, will always hold himself in readiness to change his 
 situation, and to make every necessary sacrifice, shall he, 
 therefore, never venture to take any public station, lest he 
 should not always think as he does at present? 
 
 Nay, this objection, if it prove any thing, will be found to 
 prove by far too much even for our opponents themselves. 
 The adversaries of Creeds acknowledge, with one consent, 
 that every one ought to be ready to profess his belief in the 
 Bible. But is not even this profession just as liable to the 
 charge of being ''unfriendly to free inquiry" as any other? 
 Suppose any one, after solemnly declaring his belief in the 
 Bible, should cease to believe it? Would he be bound to 
 consider his old subscription as still binding, and as pre- 
 cluding further examination? Or would it be reasonable in 
 any man to decline any profession of belief in the Bible, 
 lest he should, one day, alter his mind, and feel himself 
 embarrassed by his profession? 
 
 There can be no doubt, that every public act, by which 
 a man pledges himself, even as a private member, to any 
 particular denomination of Christians, interposes some obsta- 
 cle in the way of his afterwards deserting that denomination, 
 and uniting himself with another. And, perhaps, it may be 
 said, the more delicate and honourable his mind, the more re- 
 luctant and slow he will be to abandon his old connections, 
 and choose new ones. So that such an one will really labour 
 under a temptation to resist light, and remain where he is. 
 But because this is so, shall a man, therefore, never join 
 
348 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 any Church; never take any step that will, directly or in- 
 directly, pledge his religious Creed or character, lest he 
 should afterwards alter his mind, and be constrained to 
 transfer his relation to a different body, and thus be liable to 
 find himself embarrassed by his former steps? Upon this 
 principle, we must go further, and adopt the doctrine equally 
 absurd and heathenish, that no parent ought ever to instruct 
 his child in what he deems the most precious truths of the 
 Gospel, lest he should fill his mind with prejudices, and 
 present an obstacle to free and unshackled inquiry after- 
 wards. For there can be no doubt that early parental in- 
 struction does present more or less obstacle, in the way of 
 a subsequent change of opinion, on those subjects which 
 that instruction embraced. Yet our Father in heaven has 
 expressly commanded us to instruct our children, and to 
 endeavour to pre-occupy their minds with every thing that 
 is excellent both in principle and practice. In short, if the 
 objection before us be valid, then no one ought ever to go 
 forward in the discharge of any duty; for he may one day 
 cease to think it a duty; in other words, he ought habitu- 
 ally, and upon principle, to disobey some of the plainest 
 commands of God, lest he should afterwards entertain 
 different views of those commands, from those which 
 he at present entertains. Nay, if this be so, then every 
 book a man reads, and every careful, deep inquiry he makes 
 concerning the subject of it, must be considered as tending 
 to influence the mind, and to interfere with perfect impar- 
 tiality in any subsequent inquiry on the same subject; 
 and, therefore, ought to be forborne! 
 
 Surely no man in his senses judges or acts thus. Espe- 
 cially, no Christian allows himself thus to reason or act. 
 In the path of what appears to be j}resent duty, he feels 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 349 
 
 bound to go forward, leaving future things with God. If 
 subscription to a correct Creed be really agreeable to the 
 will of God ; if it be necessary, both to the purity and har- 
 mony of the Church; and, therefore, in itself a duty; then 
 no man ought any more to hesitate about discharging this 
 duty, than about discharging any of those duties which 
 have been mentioned, or any others which may be sup- 
 posed. There is no station in life in which its occupant 
 does not find some peculiar temptation. But if he be 
 a man of a right spirit, he will meet it with Christian integ- 
 rity, and overcome it with Christian courage. If he be 
 a truly honest man, he will be faithful to his God, and faith- 
 ful to his own conscience, at all hazards; and if he be not 
 honest, he will not be very likely to benefit the Church by 
 his discoveries and speculations. Accordingly, the voice of 
 history confirms this reasoning. On the one hand, how 
 many thousand instances have the last two centuries afibrd- 
 ed, of men who were willing to incur, not only obloquy 
 and reproach, but also beggary, imprisonment, and even 
 death itself, in their most frightful forms, rather than aban- 
 don the truthj and subscribe to formularies which they could 
 not conscientiously adopt! On the other hand, how many 
 instances have occurred, within tne last fifty years, of un- 
 principled men, after solemnly subscribing orthodox Creeds, 
 disregarding their vows, and opposing the spirit of those 
 Creeds, and still retaining their ecclesiastical stations, with- 
 out reserve! It is plain, then, that this whole objection, 
 though specious, has not the least solidity. Truly upright 
 and pious men will always follow their convictions; while, 
 with regard to those of an 'opposite character, their light, 
 whether they remain or depart, will be found to be of no 
 value, either to themselves, or the Church of God. 
 
350 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 4. A fourth objection frequently brought against Creeds 
 is, that they have altogether failed of answering 
 
 THE purpose professed TO BE INTENDED BY THEM. 
 
 "Churches," it is said, "which have Creeds the most care- 
 fully drawn, and of the most rigid character, are as far from 
 being united in doctrinal opinions, as some which either 
 have never had any Creeds at all, or have long since pro- 
 fessedly omitted to enforce subscription to them. To men- 
 tion only two examples: the Church of England, for near- 
 ly three centuries, has had a set of Articles decisvely Cal- 
 vinistic, to which all her candidates for the ministry are 
 required to subscribe; but we know that more than a hun- 
 dred and fifty years have passed away, since Pelagian and 
 Semi-Pelagian tenets began to pollute that important branch 
 of the reformed Church; and that within the last seventy- 
 five or eighty years, almost every form of heresy has lurked 
 under subscription to her orthodox Articles. And even 
 the Church of Scotland, which has had, for nearly two cen- 
 turies, the most rigidly and minutely orthodox Confession 
 on earth, is generally supposed, at this hour, to have a min- 
 istry far from being unanimous in loving and honouring her 
 public standards. Now, if Creeds have not in fact, been 
 productive of the great benefit intended by them, even in 
 some of the most favourable cases that can be produced, 
 why be perplexed and burdened with them at all?" 
 
 This objection evidently proceeds on the principle, that a 
 remedy which does not accomplish every thing, is worth 
 nothing. Because Creeds have not completely banished 
 dissension and discord from the churches which have adopt- 
 ed them, therefore they have been of no use. But is this 
 sound reasoning? Does it accord even with common sense, 
 or with the dictates of experience in any walk of life ? Be- 
 cause the Constitution of the United States has not com- 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 351 
 
 pletely defended our country from all political animosity 
 and strife; is it, therefore, worthless? Or should we have 
 been more united and harmonious without any constitu- 
 tional provisions at all ? Because the system of public law 
 does not annihilate all crime, should we, of course, be as 
 well without it? No one will say this. Nay, may not the 
 objection be retorted on those who urge it? They contend 
 that Creeds are unnecessary; that the Bible is amply suf- 
 ficient for all purposes, as a test of truth. But has the Bible 
 banished dissension and discord from the Church? No one 
 will pretend that it has. Yet why not? Surely not on ac- 
 count of any error or defect in itself; but on account of the 
 folly and perverseness of depraved man, who, amidst all 
 the provisions of infinite wisdom and goodness, is continu- 
 ally warring against the peace of the world. 
 
 But I go further, and maintain that the history of the 
 practical influence of Creeds, is strongly in their favour. 
 Though they have not done every thing that could have been 
 desired, they have done much; and much in those very 
 churches which have been most frequently selected as ex- 
 amples of their entire want of efficacy. The Calvinistic ar- 
 ticles of the Church of England were the means of keep- 
 ing her doctrinally pure, to a very remarkable degree, for 
 the greater part of a hundred years. In the reign of 
 James I., very few opponents of Calvinism dared publicly 
 to avow their opinions; and of those who did avow them, 
 numbers were severely disciplined, and others saved them- 
 selves from similar treatment, by subsequent silence and 
 discretion. The inroads of error, therefore, were very 
 powerfully checked, and its triumph greatly retarded by 
 those public standards. In fact, the great body of the 
 bishops and clergy professed to be doctrinal Calvinists, until 
 49 
 
352 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 a number of years after the Synod of Bort, when, chiefly 
 by the influence of Archbishop Laud, and his creatures, 
 Arminianism was gradually and guardedly brought in, in 
 consequence of which the faithful application of the thirty- 
 nine articles, as a test of orthodoxy, and of admission to the 
 ministry, was discontinued. The articles continued to speak 
 as before, and to be solemnly subscribed; but the spirit of 
 the administration under them was no longer the same. It 
 became predominantly Arminian. We may truly say, 
 then, that the Creed of the Church of England continued 
 to operate effectually as a bond of union, and a barrier 
 against the encroachments of heresy, as long as it is con- 
 tinued to be faithfully applied, agreeably to its known 
 original purport. When it ceased to be thus applied, it 
 ceased to produce its wonted effect. But can this be rea- 
 sonably wondered at? As well might we wonder that a 
 medicine, when its use was laid aside, should no longer heal. 
 The very same representation, in substance, may be made 
 concerning the church of Scotland. Her pre-eminently 
 excellent Creed was the means, under God, of keeping her 
 united and pure, as long as that Creed continued to be hon- 
 estly employed as a test, according to its true intent and 
 spirit. When this ceased to be the case, it would have been 
 strange, indeed, if the state of things had remained as be- 
 fore. It did not so remain. With lax and dishonest sub- 
 scription, heresy came in : — at first, with reserve and cau- 
 tion, but afterwards more openly. But even to the present 
 day, as all know who are acquainted with the state of that 
 church, the movements of heresy within her bosom, are 
 held in most salutary check ; and her condition is incom- 
 parably more favourable than it could have been, had her 
 public standards been long ago abolished. 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 353 
 
 Nor have the Creeds of those national churches of Great 
 Britain yet accomplished all the benefits to the cause of 
 truth and righteousness which they are destined to confer. 
 Though their genuine spirit has been long since forgotten 
 by many ; this is by no means the case with all. There 
 has constantly been, in both those churches, a body of faith- 
 ful witnesses to the truth. This body, thanks to the Al- 
 mighty and all-gracious King of Zion ! is increasing. Their 
 " good Confessions" form a rallying point, around which 
 numbers are now gathering ;— and those far-famed formu- 
 laries, the favourable influence of which has been supposed 
 by many to be long since exhausted, and more than ex- 
 hausted, will again become, there is every reason to believe, 
 an "ensign to the people," to which there shall be a flock- 
 ing of those who love the <' simplicity that is in Christ," 
 more extensive and more glorious than ever before. 
 
 Nor are we without significant attestations to the efficacy 
 of Creeds, and to the mischief of being without them, in 
 our own country. Of W\e former, the Presbyterian church 
 in the United States, is one of the most signal examples. 
 Conflicts she has, indeed, had ; but they have been such as 
 were incident to every community, ecclesiastical or civil, 
 administered by the counsels of imperfect men. Amidst 
 them all, she has, by the favour of her Divine Head, held 
 on her way, substantially true to her system of doctrine and 
 order; and though constituted, originally, by members 
 from different countries, and of different habits, she has re- 
 mained united to a degree, considering all things, truly 
 wonderful. Of the latter, the Congregational churches of 
 Massachusetts, furnish a melancholy memorial. Though 
 originally formed by a people, far more homogeneous in 
 their character and habits, and far more united in their 
 
354 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 opinions ; yet, being destitute of any efficient bond of 
 union, and equally destitute of the means of maintaining it, 
 if it had been possessed, they have fallen a prey to dissen- 
 sion and error, to a degree, equally instructive and mourn- 
 ful. 
 
 5. The last objection which I shall consider is, that sub- 
 scription to Creeds, has not only failed entirely of producing 
 the benefits contemplated by their friends; but has rather 
 been found to produce the opposite evils; — to gene- 
 rate DISCORD AND STRIFE. " Creeds," say some, " instead 
 of tending to compose differences, and to bind the members 
 of churches more closely together, have rather proved a bone 
 of contention, and a means of exciting mutual charges of 
 heresy, and a thousand ill feelings, among those who might 
 have been otherwise pefectly harmonious." 
 
 In reply to this objection, my first remark is, that the al- 
 leged fact, which it takes for granted, is utterly denied. It 
 is not true that Creeds have generated contention and strife 
 in the bosom of those churches which have adopted them. 
 On the contrary, it would be easy to show, by an extended 
 induction of facts, that in those churches in which Creeds 
 and Confessions have been most esteemed and most regard- 
 ed, there union and peace have most remarkably reigned. 
 In truth, it has ever been the want of faithful regard to 
 such formularies, that has led to division and strife in the 
 church of Christ. I doubt whether any denomination of 
 Christians ever existed, for half a century together, destitute 
 of a public Creed, however united and harmonious it might 
 have been, at the commencement of this period ; without 
 exhibiting, before the end of it, either that stillness of death, 
 which is the result of cold indifference to the truth ; or that 
 miserable scene of discord, in which "parting asunder" 
 was the only means of escaping from open violence. 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 355 
 
 My next remark is, that, even if it were shown, that or- 
 thodox public Creeds are often indirectly connected with 
 conflict and contention in the church ; it would form no 
 solid argument against them. Ardent attachment to what 
 they dedmed truth, is the principle, in all ages, which has 
 led Christian communities to adopt Creeds and Confessions 
 of Faith. The same attachment to truth will naturally lead 
 them to watch with care against every thing that is hostile 
 to it; and to " contend earnestly" in its defence, when it is 
 attacked. In this case, a Creed, supposing it to be a sound 
 and scriptural one — is no more the cause of conflict and di- 
 vision, than a wholesome medicine is the cause of that dis- 
 ease which it is intended to cure. The word of God com- 
 mands us to «' contend," and to "contend earnestly, for 
 the faith once delivered to the saints," and to hold him 
 "accursed" who preaches "another gospel" than that 
 which the Scriptures reveal. But when such " contention" 
 becomes necessary, who is to blame for it ? Surely not 
 truth, or its advocates ; but those who patronise error, and 
 thus endeavour to corrupt the body of Christ; and, of course 
 render contention for the truth a duty. It is granted, in- 
 deed, that, in this conflict, much unhallowed temper may 
 be manifested. Not only on the part of the advocates of 
 error ; but also, in some degree, on the part of the friends 
 of truth. They may contend even for the truth, with 
 bigotry and bitterness. Still, this does not render the truth 
 itself less precious; or the duty of contending for it less im- 
 perative; or those summaries of it which Christians have 
 been led to form, less valuable, as testimonies for God. 
 
 Before Christianity was preached in the Roman empire, 
 the different classes of Pagans lived together in peace. 
 The foundation of this peace was the opinion, that error 
 
356 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 was innocent ; and that all classes of religionists were equal- 
 ly safe. But when the religion of Jesus Christ was preach- 
 ed ; when his ministers proclaimed that there was no other 
 system either true or safe; that there was no other founda- 
 tion of hope; that all false religions were not only highly 
 criminal, but also eternally destructive ; and that the follow- 
 ers of Christ could not possibly countenance any of them ; — 
 then a scene of the most shocking persecution and violence, 
 on the part of the Pagans, commenced. But on what, or 
 on whom, are we to throw the blame, for these scenes of 
 violence? No one, surely, will say, on Christianity. We 
 are rather to impute it to the corruption of human nature, 
 and to the blindness and violence of Pagan malice. If the 
 primitive Christians had been willing to give up the pre- 
 cious truth committed to them, and to act upon the principle, 
 that all modes of faith were equally safe; they might have 
 escaped much, if not the whole, of the dreadful persecution 
 which they were called to endure. 
 
 The only additional remark, therefore, which I have to 
 make on the objection before us, is, that it can have no 
 force, excepting upon the principle, that error ought to be 
 left unassailed, and that contention for the truth is not a 
 duty : — for all defence of the truth, against its active oppo- 
 sers — all "contending for the truth," must, of course, dis- 
 turb that cold and death-like tranquillity which indifference 
 to the purity of faith tends to introduce. We are command- 
 ed, "if it be possible, as much as lieth in us, to live peace- 
 ably with all men." But it is not " possible" to be at peace 
 with some men. We must not be at peace with error or 
 wickedness. The Divine authority makes it our duty to 
 oppose them to the utmost, at our peril. And if, in the dis- 
 charge of this duty, the peace of the church is, for a time, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 357 
 
 disturbed, the sin lies at the door of those who rendered the 
 conflict necessary. Those summaries of truth, which par- 
 ticular occasions make it important to embody and to pub- 
 lish, are no more to blame for the struggle, than the wise 
 and wholesome law of the land is to blame for that agita- 
 tion which necessarily attends the seizure, the trial, and the 
 execution of a malefactor. 
 
 But admitting Creeds to be lawful and necessary, it has 
 often been asked by some who profess to be their friends, 
 whether they ought ever to contain any other articles than 
 those few which are strictly fundamental; — in other 
 words, whether we ought ever to insert among the members 
 of a Creed intended to be subscribed by all candidates for 
 oflSce in a church, any more than some half a dozen articles, 
 the reception of which is generally considered as absolutely 
 essential to Christian character ? This is a question of 
 real importance, which certainly deserves grave considera- 
 tion, and a candid answer. And for one, I have no hesita- 
 tion in saying, that, in my opinion, church Creeds not only 
 lawfully may, but always ought, io contain a number of ar- 
 ticles besides those which are fundamental. And to estab- 
 lish this, as it appears to me, no other proof is necessary than 
 simply to remark, that there are many points confessedly 
 not fundamental, concerning which, nevertheless, it is of the 
 utmost importance to Christian peace and edification, that 
 the members, and especially the ministers of every church 
 should be harmonious in their views and practice. As long 
 as the visible church of Christ continues to be divided into 
 different sections or denominations, the several Creeds 
 which they employ, if they are to answer any effectual pur- 
 pose at all, must be so constructed as to exclude from each 
 
358 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 those teachers whom it conscientiously believes to be 
 unscriptural and corrupt; and whom, as long as it re- 
 tains this belief, it ought to exclude. 
 
 To exemplify my meaning. The Presbyterian church, 
 and most other denominations, who have a regular system 
 of government, believe that the Christian ministry is a di- 
 vine ordinance, and that none but those who have been re- 
 gularly authorized to discharge its functions, ought, by 
 any means, to attempt to preach the Gospel, or administer 
 the Sacraments of the church. Yet there are very pious, 
 excellent men, who have adopted the sentiments of some 
 high-toned Independents, who verily think that every 
 " gifted brother," whether ordained or not, has as good a 
 right to preach as any man ; and, if invited by the church 
 to do it, to administer the Sacraments. Now, no sober 
 minded Presbyterian will consider this as a fundamental 
 question. Fundamental, indeed, it is, to ecclesiastical or- 
 der; but to the existence of Christian character, it is not. 
 Men may differ entirely on this point, and yet be equally 
 united to Christ by faith, and, of course equally safe as to 
 their eternal prospects. But would any real, consistent 
 Presbyterian be willing to connect himself with a church, 
 calling itself by that name, in which, while one portion 
 considered none but a regular minister as competent to the 
 discharge of the functions alluded to ; as many of the other 
 portion as chose, claimed and actually exercised the right, 
 to rise in the congregation, and preach, baptize, and dis- 
 pense the Lord's Supper, when and how each might think 
 proper ; and not only so, but when the ordained ministers 
 occupying the pulpit, in succession, differed no less entirely 
 among themselves in reference to the disputed question ; 
 some encouraging, and others repressing, the efforts of these 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 359 
 
 " gifted brethren?" I do not ask whether such a church 
 could be tranquil or comfortable; but whether it could pos- 
 sibly exist in a state of coherence, for twelve months to- 
 gether? 
 
 Take another example. No man in his senses will con- 
 sider the question which divides the Pedobaptists and the An- 
 tipedobaptists as a fundamental one. Though I have no 
 doubt that infant baptism isa doctrine of the Bible, and an ex- 
 ceedingly important doctrine; and that the rejection of it is 
 a mischievous error; yet I have quite as little doubt that 
 some eminently pious men have been of a different opinion. 
 But what would be the situation of a church equally divided, 
 or nearly so, on this point; ministers as well private mem- 
 bers constantly differing among themselves ; members of 
 each party conscientiously persuaded that the others were 
 wrong; each laying great stress on the point of difference, as 
 one concerning which there could be no compromise, or ac- 
 commodation; all claiming and endeavouring to exercise 
 the right not only to reason, but to act, according to their 
 respective convictions; and every one zealously endeavourr 
 ing to make proselytes to his own principles and practice? 
 Which would such a church most resemble — the builders of 
 Babel, when their speech was confounded; or a holy and 
 united family, " walking togetherin the fear of the Lord, and 
 in the consolations of the Holy Ghost, and edifying one ano- 
 ther in love?" 
 
 Let me offer one illustration more. The question be- 
 tween Presbyterians and Prelatisls is generally acknow- 
 ledged not to be fundamental. I do not mean that this is 
 acknowledged by such of our Episcopal brethren as coolly 
 consign to what they are pleased to call the " uncovenanted 
 mercy of God," all those denominations who have not a 
 50 
 
360 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 ministry episcopally ordained; and who, on account of this 
 exclusive sentiment are styled by Bishop Jindrews, "iron 
 hearted," and by Archbishop Wake, " madmen :" but my 
 meaning is, that all Presbyterians, without exception; a 
 great majority of the best Prelatists themselves ; and all mo- 
 derate, sober-minded Protestants, of every country, ac- 
 knowledge that this point of controversy is one which does 
 by no means affect Christian character or hope. Still is it 
 not plain, that a body of ministers entirely differing among 
 themselves as to this point; though they might love, and 
 comm.une vi^ith, each other, as Christians; could not possi- 
 bly act harmoniously together in the important rite of ordi- 
 nation ; whatever they might do in other religious con- 
 cerns ? 
 
 In all these cases, it is evident there is nothing funda- 
 mental to the existence of vital piety. Yet it is equally 
 evident, that those who differ entirely and zealously con- 
 cerning the points supposed, cannot be comfortable in 
 the same ecclesiastical communion. But how is their 
 coming together, and the consequent discord and strife, 
 which would be inevitable, to be prevented ? I know of no 
 method but so constructing their Confessions of Faith as to 
 form different families or denominations, and to shut out 
 from each those who are hostile to its distinguishing princi- 
 ples of order. 
 
 It is plain, then, that unless Confessions of Faith contain 
 articles, not, strictly speaking, fundamental, they cannot 
 possibly answer one principal purpose for which they are 
 formed, viz. guarding churches which receive the pure order 
 and discipline, as well as truth, of Scripture, from the intru- 
 sion of teachers, who, though they may be pious, yet could 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 361 
 
 not fail to disturb the peace, and mar the edification of the 
 more correct, and sound part of the body. 
 
 But for further details on this subject, both for and agaifist 
 the doctrine which I maintain, I must refer you to those 
 works which have been devoted to its more extended dis- 
 cussion : more particularly to what is said by the judicious 
 and excellent M7\ Dunlop, in the able Preface to his 
 " Collection of Confessio7is :'' to " The Confessional,^^ 
 by Mr. Blackburn, one of the most zealous and formidable 
 opposers of Creeds ; which will prepare you for perusing 
 some of the best of the many valuable Answers to that far- 
 famed work : to " Walker'' s Vindication of the Churchof 
 Scotland," &c: and, finally, to Mr. Dt/er^s ^^ Inquiry 
 into the Nature of Subscription to Articles of Religion." 
 
 The subject, beloved Pupils, on which I have been ad- 
 dressing you, is eminently a practical one. It enters deeply 
 into many questions of personal and official duty. I shall, 
 therefore, detain you a few moments longer, by calling 
 your attention to some of those practical inferences 
 from the foregoing principles and reasonings, which appear 
 to me to deserve your serious regard — and 
 
 1 . From the representation which has been given, we 
 may see how little reason any have to be afraid 
 
 OF CREEDS AS INSTRUMENTS OF OPPRESSION. 
 
 There is something so perfectly visionary and unreason- 
 able in the very thought of " tyranny," or " oppression," 
 as connected with subscription to Creeds, in this country, 
 that the only wonder is, how it can be admitted, for a mo- 
 ment, into any sober mind. Who does or can impose a 
 Creed upon any one, or ever attempt to do it ? Is any man 
 
362 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 in the United States obliged to profess any belief; to 
 subscribe any Creed; or to join any church whatever? 
 Every man, indeed, is bound by the law of God, to believe 
 correctly, and to connect himself with a pure church. He 
 is not and cannot be at liberty, in the sight of Jehovah, to 
 neglect either. But is any man bound by human law, ec- 
 clesiastical or civil, to do any of these things? Is any man 
 in the United States, after he has subscribed a Creed, and 
 joined a church, obliged, by any human authority, to ad- 
 here to either a single day longer than he pleases? Is 
 he not at perfect liberty to withdraw, at any moment, and 
 that with or without giving a reason for his conduct, as he 
 thinks proper ? Everlasting thanks to Him who gives us 
 this freedom! May it be perpetual and universal ! Now, 
 one would think, this is liberty enough to satisfy any rea- 
 sonable man. But it seems there are really those who wish 
 for more. They demand, in eifect, that the church should 
 be willing to take all manner of heresy, as well as orthodoxy, 
 to her bosom, and to act as if she regarded both with an 
 equal eye. Nay, they ask that heretics be freely allowed 
 to IMPOSE THEMSELVES upou HER, whether she be willing 
 or not — not to unite and edify her members, but to divide 
 and distract them ; — that they be at liberty to come into 
 the Redeemer's family, and there, without any regard to its 
 scriptural rules, or its happy harmony, to propagate such 
 discordant sentiments, and to establish such new principles 
 of order, or disorder, as the intruders may choose to adopt. 
 But is this Christian liberty? Is this a kind of liberty which 
 any benevolent, or even honest man would wish to possess ? 
 It is liberty, truly of the most extraordinary kind, to the 
 individual who intrudes ; but what becomes of the liberty 
 of the ecclesiastical body which he thus enters, contrary to 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 363 
 
 its wishes and comfort, and to its real injury? It is, evi- 
 dently, the same sort of privilege in the church, as the privi- 
 lege of invading the retreat of private families, or disturb- 
 ing the peace of civil society, at pleasure, and with impuni- 
 ty, would be regarded by the inhabitants of any free country. 
 2. We may see from what has been said, that subscribing 
 a Church Creed, is not a mere formality; but a very so- 
 lemn TRANSACTION, WHICH MEANS MUCH, AND INFERS 
 
 THE MOST SERIOUS OBLIGATIONS. It is Certainly a transac- 
 tion which ought to be entered upon with much deep delibe- 
 ration and humble prayer; and in which, if a man be bound 
 to be sincere in any thing, he is bound to be honest to his 
 God, honest to himself, and honest to the Church which he 
 joins. For myself, I know of no transaction, in which insin- 
 cerity is more justly chargeable with the dreadful sin of "ly- 
 ing to the Holy Ghost," than in this. It is truly humiliating 
 and distressing to know, that in some churches it has gradu- 
 ally become customary, to consider Articles of Faith as mere- 
 ly Articles of peace; in other words, as articles which he 
 who subscribes, is not considered as professing to believe; 
 but as merely engaging not to oppose — at least in any pub- 
 lic or offensive manner. Whether we bring this principle 
 to the test of reason, of Scripture, of the original design of 
 Creeds, or of the ordinary import of language among hon- 
 ourable men; — it seems equally liabl(5; to the severest repro- 
 bation, as disreputable and criminal in a very high degree. 
 Nor does it appear to me to be any alleviation, either of the 
 disgrace or the sin, that many of the governors of the churches 
 referred to, as well as of those who subscribe, publicly avow 
 their adoption of this principle; admit the correctness of it; 
 keep each other in countenance; and thus escape, as they 
 imagine, the charge of hypocrisy. What would be thought 
 
364 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 of a similar principle, if generally adopted and avowed, 
 with respect to the administration of oaths in civil courts? 
 Suppose both jurors and witnesses, feeling it a grievance to 
 be bound by their oaths to speak the truth, were to agree 
 among themselves, and openly to give out, that they did not 
 mean, when they swore, to take on themselves any such obli- 
 gation; that they did not so understand the import of their 
 oaths, and did not Intend to recognize any such meaning? 
 And suppose the judges were freely to admit them to their 
 oaths with a similar understanding? Would a witness or a 
 juror, in such a case be exempt from the charge of perjury, 
 or the judge from the guilt of subornation of perjury? 
 I presume not, in the estimation of any sober-minded man. 
 If it were otherwise, then bad men, who form a majority 
 of every community, might, by combining, violate all the 
 principles of virtue and order, not only with impunity, but 
 also without sin. 
 
 Set it down, then, as a first principle of common honesty, 
 as well as of Christian truth, that subscription to Articles of 
 Faith, is a weighty transaction, which really means what it 
 professes to mean; that no man is ever at liberty to sub- 
 scribe articles which he does not truly and fully believe; 
 and that, in subscribing, he brings himself under a solemn, 
 covenant engagement to the church which he enters, to 
 walk with it "in the unity of faith," and "in the bond of 
 peace and love," If he cannot do this honestly, let him 
 not profess to do it at all. I see not but that here, insin- 
 cerit}'", concealment, double dealing, and mental reserva- 
 tions, are, to say the least, quite as mean and base as they 
 can be in the transactions of social and civil life. 
 
 You will, perhaps, ask me, what shall be done by a man 
 who loves the Presbyterian Church; who considers it as 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 365 
 
 approaching nearer to the scriptural model than any other 
 with which he is acquainted; who regards its Confession of 
 Faith as by far the best, in its great outlines, and in all its 
 fundamental articles, that he knows; and who yet, in some 
 of its minor details cannot entirely concur? Can such an 
 one honestly subscribe, without any previous explanation 
 of his views? I answer — by no means. Ought he, then, 
 you will ask, to abandon all thoughts of uniting himself 
 w^ith our Church, when he is in cordial harmony with it in 
 all fundamental principles, and nearer to it, in all respects, 
 than to any other Church on earth ? I again answer — by no 
 means. I know of no other mode of proceeding in such a 
 case as this, which Christian candour, and a pure conscience 
 will justify, than the following: Let the candidate for ad- 
 mission unfold to the Presbytery before which he presents 
 himself, all his doubts and scruples, with perfect frankness; 
 — opening his whole heart, as if on oath; and neither soft- 
 ening nor concealing any thing. Let him cause them dis- 
 tinctly to understand, that if he subscribe the Confession of 
 Faith, he must be understood to do it in consistency with 
 the exceptions and explanations which he specifies. If the 
 Presbytery, after this fair understanding, should be of the 
 opinion, that the excepted points were of little or no impor- 
 tance, and interfered with no article of faith, and should be 
 willing to receive his subscription in the usual way, he may 
 proceed. Such a method of proceeding will best accord 
 with every principle of truth and honour; and will remove 
 all ground of either self-reproach, or of reproach on the 
 part of others, afterwards. 
 
 3. From the view which has been presented of this sub- 
 ject, we may decide how an honest man ought to act, 
 AFTER subscribing TO A PUBLIC CREED. He will feel it to 
 
366 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 be his duty to adhere sincerely and faithfully to that Creed, 
 in public and in private; and to make it his study to pro- 
 mote, by all means in his power, the peace and purity of 
 the body with which he has connected himself. And if he 
 should, at any time, alter his views concerning any part of 
 the Creed or order of the Church in question, it will be in- 
 cumbent on him to inquire, whether the points, concerning 
 which he has altered his mind, are of such a nature as that 
 he can conscientiously be silent concerning them, and 
 "give no offence" to the body to which he belongs. If he 
 can reconcile this with an enlightened sense of duty, he 
 may remain in peace. But, if the points concerning 
 which his views have undergone a change, are of so much 
 importmice in his estimation, as that he cannot be silent, 
 but must feel himself bound to publish, and endeavour to 
 propagate them; then let him peaceably withdraw, 
 and join some other branch of the visible Church, with 
 which he can walk harmoniously. Such he may find al- 
 most every where, unless his views be singularly eccentric. 
 But, at any rate, he has no more right to insist on remain- 
 ing, and being permitted publicly to oppose, what he has 
 solemnly vowed to receive and support; than a member of 
 any voluntary association, which he entered under certain 
 engagements, but with which he no longer agrees, has a 
 right obstinately to retain his connection with it, and to avail 
 himself of the influence which his connection gives him, 
 to endeavour to tear it in pieces. 
 
 It is no solid objection to this view of the subject, to al- 
 lege, that every man is under obligations to obey the great 
 Head of the Church, altogether paramount to those which 
 bind him, in virtue of any ecclesiastical engagements, to 
 obey the Church herself. This is most readily granted. 
 
or CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 367 
 
 No man can lawfully bind himself to disobey Christ, in any 
 case whatever. But this principle, it is conceived, has no 
 thing to do with the point under consideration. Though a 
 man cannot properly bind himself always to believe as he 
 now believes; nor always to remain in connection with 
 the ecclesiastical body which he now joins; yet he may 
 safely promise that he will be a regular and orderly member 
 of the body, as long as he does remain in connection with 
 it. When he ceases to be able to do this, without sinning 
 against God, he will, if he be an honest man, immediately 
 withdraw. If he remain, and suffer himself habitually to 
 violate his engagement, under the pretence of benefiting 
 the body to which he has vowed allegiance, he will be 
 chargeable with the sin of treacherously and basely "doing 
 evil that good may come." 
 
 To Illustrate my meaning by a familiar example. Every 
 student of this Seminary has, at his entrance, made a solemn 
 promise, that "as long as he shall continue a member of it, 
 he will conscientiously and vigilantly observe all the rules 
 and regulations specified in the plan for its instruction and 
 government, so far as the same relate to the students; and 
 further, that he will obey all the lawful requisitions of the 
 Professors and Directors," &c. As this engagement was 
 voluntarily made, no honest man will doubt that you are 
 all bound to act in conformity with it, to the utmost tittle, 
 as far as you have ability. Suppose, however, that one of 
 your number should become persuaded, that some of the 
 "regulations specified in the plan" of the Seminary, are 
 not only unwiso, and inconvenient, but also immoral; what 
 ought he to do? Ought he to remain in the institution, 
 and habitually violate the regulations to which he excepted, 
 pleading that he could not conscientiously obey them, be- 
 51 
 
368 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 cause, though he had solemnly engaged to do so, he felt him- 
 self under a prior and paramount obligation to "obey God 
 rather than man?" This, surely, no Christian would approve, 
 nor any faithful government tolerate. No ; every prin- 
 ciple of honour and integrity would dictate, that he should 
 immediately withdraw from the Seminary; and if, after 
 withdrawing, he should be able to convince the General 
 Assembly of our Church, that his exceptions were just, and 
 should prevail with that body to alter the offensive rules; 
 then, and not till then, he might, with a good conscience, 
 resume his place in the institution. 
 
 4. We are led to reflect, from the representation which 
 has been given, how easy it is for a single imprudent or 
 
 UNSOUND MINISfTER TO DO EXTENSIVE AND IRREPARABLE 
 
 MISCHIEF IN THE CHURCH. Such an One, especially if he 
 be a man of talents and influence, by setting himself, either 
 openly or covertly, against the public standards of his 
 Church; by addressing popular feeling, and availing him- 
 self of popular prejudice; may do more, in a short time, to 
 prepare the way for fatal error, than all his usefulness, though 
 multiplied a hundred fold, would be able to countervail. 
 Ministers, my young friends, may be said to hold in their 
 hands the interests of the Church, to a degree which no 
 other class of men do; and which ought to make them 
 tremble under a sense of their responsibility! Such as is 
 the character of the ministry of any particular Church, will 
 be, generally speaking, the character of the church itself. 
 On the one hand, if the ministers of religion be generally 
 enlightened, orthodox, holy, diligent, and faithful men, 
 the Church to which they belong, will never fail to display 
 the influence of this character in happy results. On the 
 other hand, never was the Church, in any country or age, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 369 
 
 corrupted, divided, and ruined, but the mischief was 
 DONE BY ITS MINISTERS. However humiliating or painful 
 this assertion may be, it is undoubtedly confirmed by all 
 Scripture, and all experience. And as the general influence 
 of the clerical character is so vital; so it is not easy to mea- 
 sure the mischief that may be done by one unsound, grace- 
 less, imprudent, turbulent minister. If, in every walk of 
 society, "one sinner destroyeth much good," how much 
 more wide-spread, deplorable, and fatal is the mischief, 
 when the criminal individual is a minister! B)'- erroneous 
 opinions; by corrupt habits; by a love of innovation; by 
 embracing himself, and extensively imparting to others, 
 pernicious delusions; — he may do more in five or ten years, 
 to agitate, divide, corrupt, and weaken the Church, than, per- 
 haps, a score of the most faithful ministers in the land, can 
 do, humanly speaking, for promoting its purity and peace, in 
 half a century. The influence of two or three individuals, 
 of popular talents, in Massachusetts, more than fifty years 
 ago, in gradually undermining orthodoxy, and in reconcil- 
 ing the public mind to heretical opinions, is as well known, 
 as it is deeply deplored, by many who are acquainted with 
 the ecclesiastical history of New England. The authors 
 of this mischief have long since gone to their account; but 
 their works have survived them; and of their awful ravages, 
 no one can estimate the extent, or see the end. 
 
 Beloved Pupils! be it your study, at all times, to cherish 
 a deep sense of your solemn responsibility to God and his 
 Church. In a little while, you will be among those to 
 whom the most weighty interests that can be committed to 
 man, will be entrusted. Be faithful to your high trust. 
 Guard, with the utmost vigilance, the Church's orthodoxy. 
 Nothing can be truly right, where her doctrinal principles 
 
370 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 are essentially wrong. But, 0, think not that mere frigid 
 orthodoxy, however perfect, is all that is needed. Labour 
 to diffuse, in every direction, the holy and benign influence 
 of truth. If "the household of faith" be corrupted by 
 heresy, or torn by schism, or agitated by unhallowed inno- 
 vation, or become cold through want of ministerial faithful- 
 ness — see to it, that none of you be found among the work- 
 ers of the mischief. See to it that you seek unceasingly, 
 not ''your own things" — your own aggrandizement — your 
 own honour — your own fancies — or your own specu- 
 lations — but "the things which are Jesus Christ's." If 
 you cannot benefit the Church, (and no man has a right 
 to say that he cannot, if he have a heart for the purpose) at 
 least, do not lend your influence to the unhallowed work of 
 corrupting and dividing it. And if you should ever be 
 brought into circumstances in which you can do nothing 
 else, see that you be found, like the "ministers of the Lord" 
 of old — "weeping between the porch and the altar, and 
 saying, spare thy people, 0, Lord, and give not thine heri- 
 tage to reproach; save them, and lift them up forever!" 
 
 5. We may infer, from what has been said, the duty and 
 importance of all the members, and especially the minis- 
 ters, of the Presbyterian Church, exerting themselves to 
 
 SPREAD A KNOWLEDGE OF HER PUBLIC STANDARDS. I Say, 
 
 her '■^public standards," notwithstanding all the sneer and 
 censure which have been cast on this language. For every 
 intelligent and candid man in the community knows that 
 we employ it to designate, — not formularies which we place 
 above the Bible; but simply those which ascertain and 
 set forth how we interpret the Bible. These formularies — 
 if they be really an epitome of the word of God — and sure- 
 ly we think them so — every minister is bound to circulate, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 871 
 
 with unwearied assiduity, among the people of his charge. 
 This is so far, in general, from being faithfully done, that I 
 seriously doubt whether there be a Protestant Church in 
 Christendom, in which there is so striking a defect as to 
 the discharge of this duty, especially in some parts of the 
 country, as in the Presbyterian Church. Our Episcopal 
 brethren exercise a most laudable diligence in placing the 
 volume which contains their articles, forms, and offices, in 
 every family within their reach, which belongs to their 
 communion, or can be considered as tending towards it. 
 Our Methodist and Baptist brethren, with no less diligence, 
 do the same, with respect to those books which exhibit the 
 doctrines and order of their respective denominations. All 
 this is as it should be. It bespeaks men sincere in their 
 belief, and earnest in the dissemination of what they deem 
 correct principles? Why is it that so many ministers of 
 the Presbyterian Church, with a Confession of Faith, and 
 Catechisms, which, I verily believe, and which the most 
 of them readily acknowledge, are by far the best that were 
 ever framed by uninspired wisdom: and with a form of 
 Government and Discipline more consentaneous with apos- 
 tolical practice than that of any other Church on earth; are 
 yet so negligent, not to say so indifferent, as to the circula- 
 tion of these formularies ? They, perhaps, do not take the 
 trouble even to inquire whether there be a copy of the vol- 
 ume which contains them, in every family, or even in every 
 neighbourhood, of their respective charges. How are we 
 to account for the peculiar frequency of this negligence in 
 the ministry of our Church? It would be far from being 
 true, I trust, to say, that our clergy are more unfaithful in 
 the general discharge of their duties, than those of any other 
 communion. May we not rather ascribe the fact in ques- 
 
372 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 tion to another fact, from which it might be expected natu- 
 rally to arise? The fact to which I allude is, that, in the 
 Presbyterian Church, at the present day, and in this coun- 
 try — whatever may have been the case in former times — • 
 there is less of sectarian feeling; less of what is called, the 
 esprit du corps, than in any other ecclesiastical body among 
 us. We are in truth, if I do not mistake, so excessively 
 free from it, as to be hardly ready to defend ourselves when 
 attacked. We are so ready to fraternize with all evangeli- 
 cal denominations, that we almost forget that we have a de- 
 nomination of our own, to which we are peculiarly attached. 
 Now, this general spirit is undoubtedly excellent; worthy 
 of constant culture, and the highest praise. But may it 
 not be carried to an extreme? Universal, active benevo- 
 lence, is a Christian duty; but when the head of a family, 
 in the ardour of its exercise, feels no more concern or re- 
 sponsibility respecting his own household, than he does 
 about the households of others, he acts an unreasonable 
 part, and, what is worse, disobeys the command of God. 
 Something analogous to this, I apprehend, is the mistake of 
 that Christian, or that minister, who, in the fervour of his 
 Catholicism, loses sight of the fact, that God, in his provi- 
 dence, has connected him with a particular branch of the 
 visible Church, the welfare and edification of which he is 
 peculiarly bound to seek. If his own branch of the Church 
 have any thing of peculiar excellence in his estimation, on 
 account of which he prefers it, — which is always to be sup- 
 posed — can it be wrong for him to desire that others should 
 view it in the same light? And if he be justifiable in re- 
 commending these peculiarities from the pulpit — as all 
 allow — is he not equally justifiable in recommending them 
 from the press, especially by means of accredited publica- 
 tions ? 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 373 
 
 Happy will it be for our Church, then, if her future min- 
 istry shall be more attentive to the duty in question, than 
 many of those who have gone before them. To you, be- 
 loved Candidates for the sacred office, let me recommend 
 a sacred regard to this duty. Resist, always, to the utmost 
 of your power, the littleness of sectarian bigotry, and strive 
 to banish it from the Church. But, at the same time, che- 
 rish among her members an enlightened attachment to that 
 particular branch of the family of Christ in which their lot 
 is cast. For this purpose, strive to promote among them a 
 general and intimate acquaintance with our Confession of 
 Faith, and form of Government and Discipline, as well as 
 our Catechisms, which latter, I fain would hope, are not en- 
 tirely neglected in any part of the Church. Never advise 
 the people to take the contents of these public formularies 
 entrust; but diligently to compare, every part of them with 
 SCRIPTURE, and see how far they agree with the unerring 
 standard. Thus will you be likely to become instrumental 
 in forming solid, intelligent Christians. Thus may you 
 hope to become the spiritual fathers of multitudes, ''whose 
 faith shall stand, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power 
 of God." 
 
 6. Once more; if the foregoing principles be just, then 
 how unhappy is the mistake of those who imagine, that by 
 
 ABANDONING ALL CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS, THEY ARE 
 ABOUT TO RENDER THE CHURCH AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE; tO 
 
 build her up more extensively and gloriously than ever! 
 There are those who imagine that a new order of things is 
 about to open on the Church, amounting to as great a change 
 of dispensation as ever marked the progress of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom, in any preceding age. In this new and 
 undefined prospect, they seem to themselves to see the ap- 
 
374 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE 
 
 preaching prostration of most of those fences, and the dis- 
 solution of most of those ties, which have heretofore been 
 regarded as indispensable to the maintenance of unity and 
 harmony in the family of Christ. I shall only say, that it 
 will be time enough to provide for this new order of things 
 when it shall arrive; and that, in the mean while, in the 
 present state of the world, I should as soon think of extend- 
 ing and edifying the Church, by laying aside all the means 
 of grace; as of promoting its purity and peace, by abandon- 
 ing those methods of binding its members together, which 
 have been found necessary ever since the days of the Apos- 
 tles. 
 
 The apostle Peter thus exhorted the Christians in his 
 day — "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the 
 Devil, as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may 
 devour." And another .Apostle, reminded those to whom 
 he wrote, that this adversary oftentimes " transformed him- 
 self into an angel of light." So it was eighteen centuries 
 ago; and so it is at this hour. The very blessings of the 
 Church, as they have been in all ages, so they are now, 
 converted into means of deception. The progressive har- 
 mony of the different evangelical denominations; their 
 increasing zeal for the spread of the Gospel; their grow- 
 ing disposition to sacrifice many smaller difTerences on 
 the altar of our common Christianity; — have so fired 
 the imaginations of some ardent, sanguine spirits, that 
 they have allowed themselves to be hurried on to the un- 
 warranted conclusion, that all former rules were about to be 
 laid aside, and all former barriers to be broken down. But 
 remember, my young friends, that a similar notion has 
 been entertained, and afterwards abandoned, in almost 
 every century since the incarnation of Christ. Remember, 
 
OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 375 
 
 too, that even when the Millennium shall arrive, human 
 nature will still be depraved, and will still stand in need 
 of law and regulation, not, perhaps, as much, but as really 
 as now. And, finally, remember that before that blessed 
 day shall actually dawn upon our world, we shall probably 
 have many a sore conflict with the enemies of truth, and 
 stand in need of all those methods of distinguishing and 
 binding together its friends, to which the word of God, 
 and uniform experience have so long given their sanction. 
 
 While I exhort you, then, to hail with delight the spirit 
 of harmony, of union, and of active co-operation, which is 
 among the most precious and animating "signs of the times" 
 in which we live; and while I earnestly hope that no stu- 
 dent of this Seminary will ever stand afar off, or turn away 
 with an evil eye, when the true standard of Christ is raised 
 by any denomination; let me, at the same time, entreat you 
 always to temper your zeal with soberness. I say sober- 
 ness; for this is a quality, not always found associated even 
 with great vigour of talent, and great warmth of piety. 
 Many a man of admirable endowments in other respects; 
 endowments which qualified him, if they had been happily 
 directed, to adorn and bless the Church; has been either so 
 transported by the visions of a heated fancy; or so deceived 
 by keeping his eye fixed on a single point only of the vast 
 scene before him ; or so impelled by the approaches of others, 
 as anomalous as himself; that, like the comet of the infidel 
 philosopher, he has only been able to strike off a few wan- 
 dering stars from the parent luminary, while he himself, 
 given up to an orbit more and more eccentric, never re- 
 turned, either to regularity or usefulness. 
 
 The Church is still "in the wilderness;" and every age 
 has its appropriate trials. Among those of the present day, 
 52 
 
576 UTILITY AND IMPORTANCE, &c. 
 
 is a spirit of restless innovation; a disposition to consider 
 every thing that is new as of course an improvement. Hap- 
 py are they, who, taking the word of God for they guide, 
 and walking in ''the footsteps of the flock," continually 
 seek the purity, the peace, and the edification of the Mas- 
 ter's family: — Who, listening with more respect to the un- 
 erring Oracle, and to the sober lessons of Christian expe- 
 rience, than to the delusions of fashionable error; hold on 
 their way, ''turning neither to the right hand nor the left," 
 and considering it as their highest honour and happiness to 
 be employed as humble, peaceful instruments in building 
 up that "kingdom which is not meat and drink, but right- 
 eousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!" May 
 God grant to each of us this best of all honours! And to 
 his Name be the praise, forever! Amen! 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 [The following remarks on Creeds, in the form of a Letter from Paulinus 
 to Scripturista,* are from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Bellamy, whose 
 vigorous talents and ardent piety are so extensively known, and whose memo- 
 ry is cherished with so much veneration both in and out of New England. 
 They are annexed to the foregoing Lecture, for the purpose of showing to its 
 readers the views of a man of powerful mind, and who had no Presbyterian 
 ties or prejudices, on the important subject of which it treats. And although 
 the good Doctor has been dead more than forty years, it will not escape no- 
 tice how strikingly some of his remarks apply to present times and tenden- 
 cies.]* 
 
 A LETTER TO SCRIPTURISTA. 
 
 Sir, — From the first settling of New England, it has 
 been the constant practice of all our Congregational 
 churches, to require a public assent to the chief articles of 
 the Christian faith, as a term of communion in special or- 
 dinances. Nor is there to this day, one such church, or, 
 to be sure, not above one, that ever I heard of, but what 
 insists upon such a public assent, as that, without which 
 they will not admit any to sealing ordinances. Our 
 churches have formulas, which they call the doctrines of 
 faith, or the articles of the Christian faith. The minis- 
 
 * Bellamy's Works, vol. iii. p, 371 — 387. 
 
37S BELLAMY ON 
 
 ter publicly reads them to such as are to be taken into full 
 communion; and they give their assent to them before all 
 the congregation. For our churches believe, (and act upon 
 it,) that none ought to be admitted to full communion, 
 but such as are sound in the faith; and that the church has 
 a right to judge of their soundness in the faith: and they 
 do judge those to be sound in the faith who publicly profess, 
 (acting, to a judgment of charity, under standingly and 
 honestly,) their assent to the articles of the Christian faith, 
 which they have agreed to, and drawn up to be used in the 
 admission of members: as they are persuaded said articles 
 do express the true sense of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 Were they convinced, that any of their articles were 
 contrary to Scripture, I know not of one, or to be sure not 
 above one, of all our churches, but would immediately alter 
 their articles. For we all profess, that the Bible is the 
 only standard by which our religious sentiments are to be 
 formed; and we mean, by our Creeds and Confessions, only 
 to express our seiise of Scripture: not to make a new Bi- 
 ble; but only to express how we understand the Bible that 
 God has already made. And this to the end that others 
 may know our principles, and we know theirs. 
 
 When therefore a number of ministers, and of private 
 gentlemen, who belong to our churches, have in late years 
 appeared so very zealous against Creeds and Confessions, 
 as tests of orthodoxy, I was at a loss to know what they 
 meant, and what they designed, and what alteration they 
 would have in our customs and practices, if they could new 
 model things just to their minds. Would they have men 
 admitted into the church, and appointed public instructers, 
 loithout any regard to their religious principles? 
 Or, do they not like it, that our articles should be writ 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 379 
 
 down? Or, would they have new creeds drawn up, con- 
 trary to our present, and imposed on our churches, and 
 our churches not alloioed to judge for themselves! Or, 
 what do they mean ? And what would they have ? 
 
 Thus stood the case in my view, when, two or three 
 years ago, hearing that something new was about to be pub- 
 lished against Creeds and Confessions, by a certain inge- 
 nious gentleman, I sent the following lines to the printer of 
 the Connecticut Gazette, which he was so good as to give 
 place in his paper. No. 149. 
 
 '■To the Printer,^ &c. 
 
 ^As several pieces of late have been published against 
 Creeds and Confessions of human composure being used as 
 tests of orthodoxy, which are thought not fully to reach the 
 merits of the cause: it is desired, that in the next piece of 
 that nature the following questions may be answered. 
 
 Quest. I. Is it of any importance what men's principles 
 be, if their lives are but good ? For if it is not, then not 
 their religious principles, but only their external conduct, 
 need be inquired into; and they may be admitted to sealing 
 ordinances in the Church of Christ, or be licensed to preach, 
 and ordained to the work of the ministry, or be employed 
 as president, fellows, and tutors, to take care of the educa- 
 tion of our youth, whether they are orthodox or not. And 
 so there will be no need of any tests of orthodoxy, human 
 or divine. 
 
 ' But if it be of importance that they should be sound in 
 the faith, and if their religious principles must be inquired 
 into: then it is inquired, 
 
 ^ Quest. II. Whether particular Christian communities, 
 as well as particular persons, have not a right to judge for 
 themselves, what is the true sense of Scripture, and what 
 
380 BELLAMY ON 
 
 principles are necessary, according to the Holy Scriptures, 
 to be believed and professed, in order to an admission to 
 sealing ordinances, or to be employed as public instructers? 
 
 *For if particular communities have not a right to judge 
 for themselves, they ought no longer to claim it But if 
 they may not judge for themselves, who shall judge for 
 them? Shall all the various sects among Protestants go 
 back to the Pope to be set right? But, if it be granted that 
 particular communities have a right to judge for themselves, 
 it is inquired, 
 
 ^ Quest. III. Why they may not manifest what is their 
 sense of Scripture, in writing, as well as by word of mouth? 
 i. e. why they may not compose a written Confession 
 of Faith to be used a test of orthodoxy.* 
 
 'Till a good answer to these questions can be given, it is 
 not to be expected that the use of Creeds and Confessions 
 should be laid aside. And they are proposed to the public, 
 with a desire that they may be answered, with that serious- 
 ness and good nature, with which all religious controversies 
 ought to be managed. And such an answer shall be at- 
 tended to with an honest desire to know the truth, by 
 
 i Decern. 24, 1757. PAULINUS.' 
 
 * A test is that by which we try something to discover what it is. The 
 Bible is the test by which we try doctrines to discover whether they be di- 
 vine truths. A Confession of Faith is a test by which we try those who offer 
 to be of our communion, &c. to discover whether they are orthodox, i. e. 
 whether they believe those doctrines which we judge true and necessary to 
 be professed, in order to be admitted to communion, &c. In this latter sense 
 only is it, that the Christian Church ever maintained, that confessions of 
 human composure might be used as texts of orthodoxy. See Professor Dun- 
 lop, an Creeds and Confessions. 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 381 
 
 And now, after about two years, to consider of the mat- 
 ter, you, my good friend Scripturista, have been so kind 
 as to give a public answer to my three questions. For 
 which, (although you have misunderstood me in a very 
 material point,) I return you my public thanks. And if 
 you speak not only your own sense, but the sense of your 
 whole party, I humbly conceive we are not so far apart in 
 this particular controversy, but that it may pretty easily be 
 settled to the satisfaction of all concerned. For if I under- 
 stand you right, you have granted the whole I designed; 
 and disputed against a point which no denomination of 
 Christians ever maintained. Be sure, none in New England. 
 
 I. You not only grant, but contend earnestly for what we 
 all lay down as our first principle, and fundamental maxim, 
 viz. That not Creeds, nor Confessions, but the Scriptures 
 of the Old and New Testament j are the only rule of faith; 
 by which we are, each one for ourselves, to be determined 
 what to believe in matters of religion; and to which the 
 final appeal is to be made by all denominations of Chris- 
 tians, and by which they ought to decide all their religious 
 controversies. Our Creeds are to express nothing but what 
 we verily believe to be the true sense of Scripture. And 
 if any think we .mistake the true sense of Scripture, the 
 dispute is to be decided, not by our Creeds, but by the 
 Scripture; comparing Scripture with Scripture. So saith 
 our platform; and this we are fully agreed in. 'The small- 
 est grain of an inspired testimony,^ says Professor Dunlop, 
 in his piece on Creeds and Confessions, 'is momentous 
 enough, in a just balance, to weigh down a cart load of hu- 
 man canons and confessions. ' Edit. 2. p. 78. 
 
 II. You grant, < that some of the principles of religion are 
 
382 BELLAMY ON 
 
 SO important, that none ought to be admitted to sealing ordi- 
 nances, or to be employed as public instructers, who do not 
 profess to believe them.' (p. 3.) Yea, you grant that if they 
 do at first profess to believe them; yet if afterwards it appears 
 they do not, 'ministers ought to be silenced;' (p. 13.) and 
 by parity of reason, church members censured. You grant 
 this, I say; and therefore, to silence and excommunicate such 
 if they continue obstinate, provided it be done with a Chris- 
 tian temper, is so far from being persecution, that you look 
 upon it a Christian duty; according to Tit. iii. 10. 
 
 And thus far you agree with the Church of Christ in all 
 ages of the world. 
 
 III. And you also grant fully, just as fully as I would 
 have you, 'that particular Christian communities, as well as 
 particulaar persons, have aright,' not had a right once, ten 
 or twenty years ago, but every day of their lives; 'have a 
 right to judge for themselves, what is the true sense of 
 Scripture; and what principles are necessary, according to 
 the Holy Scriptures, to be believed and professed, in order 
 to an admission to sealing ordinances, or to be employed as 
 public intructers.' (p- 4.) 
 
 And if they have a right to judge for themselves, you must 
 grant, that it is their duty to exercise this, right, and not re- 
 main in suspense; but come to a judgment; not to be ever 
 learning, and never come to the knowledge of the truth, 
 like the condemned by the apostle; 2 Tim. iii, 7. but rather 
 to believe loith all the heart, anci to continue in the 
 things they have learned, and been assured of. Ver. 14. 
 
 Yea, how can a Christian church admit any to communion, 
 or settle a minister, until first they are agreed what princi- 
 ples are orthodox and necessary. If they put off coming to 
 a judgment, and agree upon nothing as a rule for themselves 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 383 
 
 to act by, in the admission of members, or settlement of a 
 minister, 'to be of any force till they are dead;' (p. 11,) 
 then they must admit no members, and settle no ministers, 
 till they get into the next world: or else must admit mem- 
 bers and settle ministers on this maxim, 'that it is no mat- 
 ter what men's principles be, if their lives are but good.' 
 Which still you will not allow. There is an absolute ne- 
 cessity, therefore, upon your own principles, that Christian 
 communities settle these points, and agree what principles 
 are necessary even at their first formation. 
 
 And, surely, a right to judge for themselves does by no 
 means imply, that they must never come to a judgment; 
 never he grounded and settled in a firm belief of all the 
 great and important doctrines of the Gospel; but always 
 be as unsteady children, tost to and fro, and carried 
 about like leaves in autumn, loith every wind of doctrine, 
 hy the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby 
 they lay in wait to deceive: for this is expressly contrary 
 to the word of God, (Col. i. 23. Eph. iv. 14.) And 
 equally contrary to common sense. For a right to judge 
 for ourselves is so far from being inconsistent with our 
 coming to a judgment, that it can be of no use to us but 
 as it is improved to this end. 
 
 But you say, 'we must alter our belief, if afterwards we 
 see just cause for it.' p. 5. 11. 19, True; and so we must 
 give up the Bible itself if we see just cause for it. And 
 cease any longer to believe that two and two make four; if 
 we see just cause for it. And what then ? Must we 
 therefore never come to a judgment about the plainest and 
 most evident matters? Or, do you think that the great 
 truths of the Gospel cannot be clearly determined from the 
 Bible? I hope that believing the great doctrines of the 
 53 
 
384 BELLAMY ON 
 
 Gospel with all the heart, with a full assurance of faith; 
 yea, with all the riches of the full assurance of under- 
 standing, in the manner true Christians did in the apos- 
 tolic age, (Acts viii. 37. Col. ii. 2. 1 Thess. i. 5. Heb. 
 X. 22.) does not appear in your eyes like a groundless con- 
 fidence, a fciith built on no solid, rational, lasting evidence. 
 I hope you would not have the minds of Christians always 
 fluctuating and unsettled in their belief, like a wave of the 
 sea, and so in consequence hereof, they be unstable in all 
 their ways, like those condemned in James i. 6, 7,8. Nor 
 can I persuade myself, that you think that a firm and per- 
 severing belief of Christianity is inconsistent with the im- 
 partiality of an honest man, who is a free inquirer after 
 truth. And that there is no way to be a strong believer, 
 but by being a great bigot. If indeed you are thus far gone 
 into scepticism, and feci yourself thus at a total loss what to 
 believe, and what to disbelieve; I wonder not you should 
 be for delaying to draw up a Creed for yourself, lest you 
 should soon alter your mind, and get into another scheme 
 of religion, a scheme condemned by your former Creed. 
 But methinks, to put off" 'till after death,' is too long, if you 
 intend to be saved at last by Christianity. But if it is no 
 matter what men's principles be, if their lives are but good; 
 all is well, whether you ever get settled in your principles 
 in this world, or in the world to come. 
 
 But why need I thus reason with you ? For whatever 
 sound some of your words may seem to have, and how- 
 ever some of your readers may understand you; yet you 
 cannot really mean that Christians, or Christian communi- 
 ties, should delay and put off their being settled, fully set- 
 tled in the belief of the great doctrines of the Gospel. For 
 you do expressly grant, that it is of so great importance 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 385 
 
 that men be sound in the faith, that they must not be ad- 
 mitted to communion, or ordained to the work of the min- 
 istry without it. Which supposes that the great truths of 
 the Gospel are so plain and evident, that they may and 
 ought to be known and believed; and Christian communi- 
 ties to be well settled in these things, even at their first 
 foundation. 
 
 IV. You grant, 'that particular Christian communities 
 may manifest their sense of Scripture in writing, as well 
 as byword of mouth.' p. 5. i. e. they may compose creeds. 
 For a creed, (which comes from credo, to believe,) consists 
 of a number of articles, whicli / believe to be taught in 
 the Holy Scriptures. And what particular use is to be 
 made of their Creed by Christian communities, you have 
 already virtually granted, For 
 
 V. Although this clause, 'A written Confession of Faith 
 to be used as a test of orthodoxy,' does 'really surprise you, 
 (p. 6.) taken in the frightful sense you have put upon it; 
 yet, taken in the sense I designed the words, it seems you 
 fully approve the thing. The name, 'a test of orthodoxy,' 
 frights you, and no wonder, considering the frightful idea 
 you put to the words. But the thing designed by that name 
 seems quite familiar to your mind. For there are some re- 
 ligious principles which appear to you of so great importance 
 that you would neither admit to sealing ordinances, nor to 
 the office of a public instructor, those who would not pro- 
 fess them. And these principles you fully believe are 
 taught in the Holy Scriptures. So that, in the sense I use 
 words, they are your creed, and your test of orthodoxy. 
 For you believe them, and insist upon the profession of them 
 as a term of communion. And possibly their evidence 
 appears to you so clear and full, that you are persuaded 
 
386 BELLAMY ON 
 
 you state a question absolutely of your own making, and 
 never shall, and in fact you never will, alter your belief, as 
 to them. And yet you are no bigot. But rather you pro- 
 fess to stand ready to alter your belief, 'when you see just 
 cause for it. ' However, till then you would enjoin to silence, 
 and excommunicate a minister who should be proved guilty 
 of gross heresy, according to your notions of heresy, i. e. ac- 
 cording to your Creed, used as a test of orthodoxy, (p. 1 3.) 
 Yea, it is plain you have no notion of any possible way 
 for you to judge of your neighbour's belief, whether it be 
 what you call orthodox or not, but by comparing it with 
 your Creed, i. e. with what you believe to be the true 
 sense of Scripture. For, as you say, (p. 20.) 'having set- 
 tled your principles according to your understanding of 
 Scripture, you do necessarily judge of particular cases ac- 
 cording to them, or agreeable to your own judgment of the 
 true meaning of the Scriptures.' Nor indeed, sir, has any 
 body else any other way of judging. For there can be no 
 other. And in fact, all parties, however they differ in their 
 disputes, yet agree to a tittle in their conduct. They all 
 have but one and the same way to judge of their neighbour's 
 orthodoxy, viz. by comparing their neighbour's profession, 
 with what they themselves believe to be the true meaning 
 of Scripture, i. e. with their own Creed. For we must 
 judge by what we believe to be the true sense of Scripture, 
 or not to make the Scripture our rule of judgment, in any 
 respect at all.* 
 
 * The admirers of Dr. Taylor look upon those as orthodox, who understand 
 the Scripture as he has explained it. For they esteem his writings, ' as being' 
 a just exposition of the word of God in those doctrines or articles which are 
 contained in them.' Nor would they choose a man to instruct their children 
 in divinity, who did noi judge of truth, and error, as Dr. Taylor does. And 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 387 
 
 So that it is plain, that all the great zeal, loud outcries, 
 and hot disputes against Creeds and Confessions, being used 
 as a test of orthodoxy, must have arisen from some mis- 
 understanding of the case; or else men have not been 
 honest; but rather disputed against Creeds in general, 
 merely because they hate and want to get rid of the estab- 
 lished Creed of their country. Had it not been for this cir- 
 cumstance, they might have been as great friends to Creeds 
 and Confessions as any of their neighbours. Now which 
 of these, my friend, is the case with you ? Do you hate 
 Calvinism? Do you dispute against Creeds, because you 
 disbelieve our Confession of Faith, and want to get rid of 
 it? No, you say; the man is 'guilty of scandal who im- 
 putes any such corrupt design to you.' (p. 28.) Very well, 
 sir; it reuflains therefore, that your dislike of Creeds, as tests 
 of orthodoxy, must be founded on some mistaken notion of 
 the thing. Which mistaken notion, were it removed, all 
 the dislike of so orthodox and so honest a man, would im- 
 mediately cease. And accordingly it is observable, that 
 having in your letter granted the whole I designed, by my 
 thr&e questions, to lead gentlemen on your side to feel 
 they must grant; or turn sceptics, on the one hand; or de- 
 prive particular Christian communities of the right to judge 
 for themselves, and act according to their own consciences, 
 on the other; I say, having granted the whole I designed, 
 you set yourself to dispute against a point no denomination 
 
 why should they condemn that in others, which they approve of in them- 
 selves ? Or why should they desire to misrepresent it to the world, when at 
 the same time, rightly understood, they and all the world must agree to jus- 
 tify it ? Let them confute, if they can, what we mean to maintain. Or if 
 they know they cannot, let them own it ; and not try to blacken, by misrep- 
 resentations, what they dare not but justify, rightly represented. 
 
388 BELLAMY ON 
 
 of Christians ever professed to maintain. To be sure, it ap- 
 pears to me so very absurd, that instead of its being es- 
 poused by almost all Christians since the reign of Constan- 
 tine the Great, as you imagine, I very much doubt whether 
 there ever was in any age, so much as one man of tolerable 
 sense that meant to hold it. You indeed insinuate that a 
 certain gentleman maintains it. But I dare say you can 
 no sooner get him to believe it, than you can to believe that 
 the same thing may be, and not be, in the same sense, and 
 at the same time. And it is not fair to put a meaning to a 
 man's words he never intended. 
 
 VI. The question you dispute against, is this, 'whether 
 particular Christian communities, having drawn up in writ- 
 ing a Confession of Faith, agreeable to their present judg- 
 ment of the true sense of Scripture, have not just«right and 
 authority to impose it on themselves, and all their mem- 
 bers, as a test of orthodoxy, and term of communion; and 
 for the future use it as such?' (p. 6.) By the word 'im- 
 pose,' you afterwards explain yourself to mean, "they ob- 
 lige themselves to use it as a test of orthodoxy as long as 
 they live; even although they are in fact afterwards con- 
 vinced that it is not orthodox." Or, in other words, 
 "they bind themselves to believe, profess, and practice ac- 
 cording to it, and not to alter in the least, although *they 
 see just cause for' alteration." (p. 11 — 19.) 
 
 Strange notion! Bind themselves not to alter their 
 belief, although afterwards '■they see just reason for 
 it!'' But if I do, in fact, see just reason to alter my be- 
 lief, i. e. what appears to me to be just reason, I cannot 
 but alter my belief. It is not in my power to believe a 
 doctrine to be taught in Scripture, while at the same time I 
 am fully convinced it is not taught there. And no man 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 389 
 
 living ever meant to oblige himself to this. Indeed, it 
 would be to oblige himself to an absolute contradiction; to 
 believe a thing to be, and not to be, in the same sense, and 
 at the same time. For, as I before said, ' a creed consists 
 of a number of articles, which / believe are taught in the 
 Sacred Scriptures. And therefore said articles are not 
 my Creed, if / do not believe that they are taught in 
 Scripture. But to believe they are taught in Scripture, 
 and to believe that they are not taught in Scripture, at the 
 same time, is to believe a thing to be and not to be; which 
 is what you must be sensible, on the least reflection, no 
 man ever meant to do. If the Church of Rome is vain 
 enough to believe herself infallible; yet she never was so 
 absurd as professedly to oblige herself to persevere in her 
 belief of her own infallibility, although in time to come she 
 should be fully convinced of her mistake. 
 
 'They may not alter their principles,' (you say, p. 11.) 
 'or at least their profession afterwards, though on further 
 inquiry they should think they had mistaken the sense of 
 Scripture at first;' i. e. they are obliged to proceed to si- 
 lence a minister, or censure a private Christian, as an here- 
 tic, directly against the light of their own consciences, 
 when they are fully pers.uaded they are sound in the faith, 
 the error not being in them, but in their own Creeds. To 
 set which notion in all its horrors, you tell a long story of a 
 church trial carried on upon this scheme, and conclude with 
 saying, 'That if the church have a right to make a contrary 
 judgment, if they see just reason for it,' then tests of ortho- 
 doxy must be given up. (p. 19.) So that this is the pre- 
 cise notion of tests of orthodoxy with which you are so ter- 
 ribly frighted, and against which you dispute so zealously, as 
 having in all ages of the Church been the grand source of 
 
390 BELLAMY ON 
 
 all imposition, tyranny, and persecution. Although at the 
 same time it does not appear that this notion of a test of 
 orthodoxy, was ever embraced by any Christian church in 
 the world. 
 
 Among all the reformed churches, none are more zealous 
 for Creeds and Confessions, as tests of orthodoxy, than the 
 Church of Scotland. And Mr. Dunlop, professor of Divin- 
 ity in the University of Edinburgh, in his preface to their 
 Confession, who wrote to show the justice, reasonableness, 
 and necessity of it, as a public standard of orthodoxy, 
 may be supposed to speak the common sense of that Church. 
 But he expressly saith, edit. 2. p. 143: 'According to the 
 principles of our Confession, every man would search after 
 the truth with the utmost impartiality; attend to the voice 
 of divine revelation, though it may sound very differently 
 in his ears from the public standard of any fallible church. 
 It is base and inglorious, for any person to dissemble the 
 truth when he discovers it, or neglect any proper means of 
 spreading it in the world, because he may thereby disoblige 
 the majority and lose their favours,' Again, p. 147. 'As 
 good men will never subscribe a Confession but when per- 
 suaded in their consciences of the conformity of its articles 
 to divine revelation; so they will with courage oppose them- 
 selves to it, when convinced of their error; they will not 
 be afraid openly to abandon it, and will prove as zealous in 
 promoting what they now see to be the mind of God in the 
 Scripture, as if there never had been such a thing as a 
 human Creed in the world.' Thus far this author, cele- 
 brated by all the friends of Creeds and Confessions, as one 
 who has written genteelly and unanswerably. Read him, 
 my good Scripturista, and answer him fairly, and we will 
 all come over to your side. For we all maintain, that we 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 391 
 
 have a right to change our sentiments, 'when we see just 
 reason for it." 
 
 But till then, we ought to persevere in the truth, how 
 much misrepresented soever it is; yea, although dressed up 
 as absurd in itself, and the native source of almost all evil. 
 
 But since you are so orthodox and so honest a man, and 
 apparently a man of sense, pray let me stand and wonder a 
 little, and in my turn be 'really surprised,* how you ever 
 came to think the Christian Church in all ages meant to 
 espouse tests of orthodoxy in the sense you have charged 
 upon them. Can you produce any history to prove that 
 this was the case in the primitive times, or in later ages? 
 Does Eusebius say so, or the celebrated Du Pin? Does 
 Sleidan, or Burnet, or Neal, or Bowers, or any other histo- 
 rian of credit? To be sure, so honest a man as you, would 
 not charge so black and absurd an opinion upon the Chris- 
 tian Church in all ages, out of pure wilful malice, on pur- 
 pose to bring an odium upon all the friends of Creeds. 
 And how a man of your good sense, could possibly be 
 guilty of so gross a mistake, is very hard to say. To attri- 
 bute it to wilful malice, I cannot; to attribute it to your ig- 
 norance, I do not know how to do it. And on the whole, 
 I am 'really surprised.' You don't pretend to quote but 
 one author, and it is not only plain from his jo?'ece, but he 
 expressly tells me by word of mouth, that he never meant 
 any such thing: but if he did, how does this prove that the 
 Christian Church in all ages have been in this scheme? Or 
 what warrant had you to raise such an evil report against 
 the Church of Christ? 
 
 As to the questions, you state, p. 6, 7, 8. &c. The an- 
 swer is short. — 'Who have right to make such tests of 
 orthodoxy?' No body. — 'What principles should be put 
 54 
 
392 BELLAMY ON 
 
 into such tests?' None at all. — 'And who should be bound 
 by them?' None in this world, or in the next. 
 
 But you have said so much ahoutimposiHon and persecu- 
 Hon, (p. 21 — 28) that we must stop here a few minutes, 
 lest ignorant people should be imposed on. You do not 
 mean to charge your own scheme, my good friend, with 
 being a persecuting scheme. Nor do you think it neces- 
 sary that our churches should give up their right to judge 
 for themselves, and become indifferent to all principles, as 
 willing to receive an Arminian or Socinian to communion, 
 as an orthodox Christian; and particularly declare that it is 
 no matter what men's principles be, if their lives are but 
 good; and so commence Pagans,* in order to avoid the 
 dreadful guilt of imposition and persecution. Pray, my 
 good Scripturista, do tell me who acts the manly honest 
 part, and who the part of an imposer and persecutor ? 
 
 Aristocles was educated in a Socinian church at Siena. 
 One article of their faith was, that Jesus Christ is a mere 
 creature, who never had any existence before he was 
 born of the Virgiii Mary. And they professed to under- 
 stand all those texts of Scripture which speak of his divini- 
 ty, to imply no more than that he was God by office. Aris- 
 tocles, at the age of sixteen, joined in full communion with 
 the church, and publicly gave his assent to their creed. At 
 the age of twenty-four, the former minister being dead, 
 Aristocles was chosen his successor, and put into possession 
 
 * The Pagans in the apostohc age exceedingly cried out agaiflst the Chris- 
 tian sect, for damning all parties but their own, i. c. for preaching as their Mas- 
 ter had bid them, he that believeth not shall he damned, Mark xvi. 16. Now 
 all the various tribes of heathen idolaters, with all their different gods, were in 
 full charity with one another: and so they all joined to look upon the Chris- 
 tian sect, as unsocial and inimical to the human kind. See Warburton''s 
 Div. Leg. 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 393 
 
 of all their parsonage lands for life, on condition he should 
 continue to preach the doctrines embraced by tliat particular 
 church. Which, not having studied the controversy, he 
 inadvertently engaged to do, being by the influence of edu- 
 cation full in the Socinian scheme. However, within two 
 years after his ordination, having carefully searched the 
 Scriptures, Aristocles was fully convinced of his error, and 
 became a sound believer and a good man. And having 
 counted the cost, he came to a full resolution, at the risk 
 of all his outward comforts, honestly to inform his church 
 and congregation of the change of his sentiments ; and to 
 preach up the divinity and satisfaction of Christ, and 
 endeavour to set these points in the clearest light from 
 the holy Scriptures. And at the same time honestly to 
 acknowledge to his people, that he had hj^oken the cove- 
 nant, which in the times of his ignorance he had made 
 with them; and so forfeited all claim to the church's par- 
 sonage lands, which accordingly he resigned. 'And now,' 
 says he, ' if you will choose me for your minister as I am, 
 I am willing to serve you ; but 1 claim no right to impose 
 a Calvinist minister upon a Socinian church.' And pray, 
 sir, did not this man act an honest part?* 
 
 * Did I therefore alter my notions as to articles of faith, which I had once 
 subscribed, and came to perceive the falsehood of them, I would think myself 
 obliged to follow the dictates of my own conscience, and would endeavour also 
 by all due means to persuade the church to which I belonged to change their 
 faith also. But if I were not able, it would be extremely foolish to fancy 
 that they would act directly contrary to their own principles, in continuing 
 .me their minister, and endowing me with that salary, which they had allot- 
 ted to a pastor that should teach them doctrines which I had found myself 
 obliged to abandon. It were absurd to imagine that though those who serve 
 the altar should like the altar, that yet I should live by an altar which I had 
 abandoned, and set up one in opposition to, and indeed endeavoured to over» 
 throw.' Eells on Creeds, p, Dl. 
 
394 BELLAMY ON 
 
 *duthades, in another part of the Christian world, where 
 Calvinism was the only established religion, in his youth, 
 joined with the church where he lived ; and publicly gave 
 his assent, according to custom, to the articles of the Chris- 
 tian faith, as contained in their formulas which were strictly 
 Calvinistical, although the church was grown very lax in 
 examinations, without which, formulas, though never so 
 good, will not answer the end. He did not believe their 
 articles at the time, but it was for his credit to be a church- 
 member ; therefore he kept his infidelity to himself, and 
 made a public profession. At length the minister, a good 
 old Calvinist, died. The church and congregation invited 
 Authades to be his successor. All the time he was on pro- 
 bation, his chief study was to conceal himself. For by this 
 time, he began to be full in the Socinian scheme. He gene- 
 rally preached on moral subjects, as these gave him the 
 largest scope for popular declamation, and the best advan- 
 tages to hide his principles. If at any time he preached on 
 original sin, regeneration, justification, the satisfaction 
 of Christ, or the influences of the Holy Spirit, as he was 
 obliged sometimes to do, to prevent their suspicions, he 
 took the greatest care to express himself so, as that his se- 
 cret sentiments should not be discovered by the people. 
 However, some of the more judicious sort suspected him, 
 and feared he meant to act a part. Nevertheless, a great 
 majority invite him to settle, and he is ordained. He ex- 
 pressly covenants to preach to them according to their Cal- 
 vinistic articles of faith ; and on this condition, they engage 
 to pay him 100/. per annum. He knew they would not 
 settle him, if he did not delude them. And he still knows 
 he cannot keep possession of the 100/. per annum, unless he 
 can keep them deluded. Therefore he uses all his art to 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 395 
 
 conceal himself from the congregation in general ; and in the 
 mean time, is usually cunning to make proselytes to the So- 
 cinian scheme, in a secret under-handed way. At length, 
 having made a party he begins to take courage ; and slily 
 dresses up Calvinists as bigots, and vital piety, as enthu- 
 siasm; and more openly declaims against creeds and confes- 
 sions, as impositions, and engines of persecution, the result 
 o£aproud and domineering spirit; and in a word, the fatal 
 source of all mischief For so they feel to him. For as he 
 that doth evil hateth the light; so he that is an heretic hates 
 orthodox creeds and confessions. Poor Authades! he knows 
 very well, that if his church and congregation would strip off 
 his false colours, and get legal proof of his true character, 
 he must lose his 100/. per annum. He thinks it no roguery 
 for him to impose upon his church, and cheat them out of 
 their money, and out of their principles; but he thinks it 
 would be a piece of the greatest tyranny, and the most cruel 
 and barbarous persecution, if they should find him out, and 
 prove him to be a Socinian, and, as such, have him silenced, 
 and take away his 100/. per annum. Thus every man 
 lives, and thus he dies; and to be sure, you will, candid 
 Scripturista, join with me to look upon and abhor him, as a 
 thorough practised knave. 
 
 For you grant, the Calvinistic church had 'a right to 
 judge for themselves, what was the true sense of Scripture, 
 and what principles were necessary, according to the holy 
 Scriptures, to be believed and professed, in order to be ad- 
 mitted to sealing ordinances, or to be employed as a public 
 instructor.' And if they had a right to do so, their doing so 
 was an imposition upon Authades ; but Authades was the 
 only man worthy of imposition. He imposed upon the 
 Church when he joined with it at first ; he still in a higher 
 
396 BELLAMY ON 
 
 degree imposed upon the church and congregation too, when 
 he settled in the work of the ministry among them. He 
 wanted their money. He obtained it first by dissimulation, 
 and kept it through his whole life by one series of deceit. 
 
 And if Calvinistic churches in the Christian world, in this 
 corrupt age, have reason to fear that there are too many of 
 Authades' character, the very wolves i7i sheeps'' clothing 
 our Saviour warned us to beivare of, [Matt. vii. 15.) can 
 you desire that instead of obeying the divine counsel, they 
 should tamely resign their 'right to judge for themselves,' 
 and admit to sealing ordinances and to the work of the min- 
 istry, any that offer, without any regard to their principles? 
 And to suffer themselves to be imposed upon in the highest 
 degree, to the great injury of themselves, and of their pos- 
 terity, only to avoid the bitter resentments of such men as 
 Authades, who will cry out. Imposition! hnposition! 
 Persecution ! persecution ! if you only insist on your right 
 as Christians, to know the articles of their belief, and re- 
 fuse to admit them to communion and into the ministry, 
 unless they appear to be sound in the faith. No sir, you can, 
 consistent with your own avowed principles, desire no such 
 thing. But rather, as Christ has made it the indispensable 
 duty of all his followers, openly to profess the doctrines of 
 his holy religion, (Mat. x. 22. 32, 33.) charged them to be- 
 ware of false projjhets, (Mat. vii. 15.) and commended 
 them for trying and detecting false pretenders, (Rev. ii. 2.) 
 and as even common sense teaches, that the disciples of 
 Christ have a natural right to know, and judge of the reli- 
 gious sentiments of those who claim to be their felloiv-disci- 
 ples, and expect to be treated as such ; so instead of discoun- 
 tenancing the little concern of Calvinistic churches in the 
 present day, to be consistent with yourself, you, who can- 
 
 # 
 
CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. 397 
 
 not bear to be thought not a Calvinist, ought rather to blame 
 their too great indifference, and call upon them to awake, 
 stand upon their guard, and watch, lest cunning deceitful 
 men slily creep in, and before we are aware, bring another 
 gospel into our pulpits, and the utmost confusion and dis- 
 cord into our churches. For how can we walk together 
 except we be agreed? {A7nos\u. 3.) Or keep the unity 
 of the spirit in the bond of peace, except we have one 
 faith, one Lord, one baptism? {Eph. iv. 3, 4, 5. ) 
 
 But perhaps you will say, ' The Calvinists are too suspi- 
 cious already. There are no Arminians, no Arians, no So- 
 cinians, &c. among us. The cry is raised by designing men 
 merely to answer political ends.' Oh, my good Scripturis- 
 ta! 0, that this were indeed the case! 0, that our fears were 
 quite groundless! How soon would I believe it, if you 
 could help me to ' see just reason for it.' But how would 
 the party through New-England laugh at our credulity in 
 Connecticut, if their friends among us could make us be- 
 lieve all to be safe till they could carry their points here, as 
 they have elsewhere. In New-Hampshire province, this 
 party have actually, three years ago, got things so ripe, that 
 they have ventured to new model our shorter catechism ; 
 to alter, or entirely leave out, the doctrines of the Trinity, 
 of the decrees, of our first parents being created holy, of 
 original sin, Christ satisfying divine justice, effectual 
 calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, assurance 
 of God's love, perseverance in grace, SfC. and to adjust the 
 whole to Dr. Taylor's scheme. And in their preface to 
 this new catechism, they tell the world, that ' The snarling 
 of party bigots will be little regarded.' i. e. if all the Calvin- 
 ists in the country are disobliged, to see their whole scheme 
 given up, they do not care. They look upon us all, as 
 
398 BELLAMY ON, &c. 
 
 snarlifig bigots, not to be regarded. This is honest : now 
 they speak their hearts; and tell the world how they feel! 
 Come from New-Hampshire along to Boston, and see there 
 a celebrated D. D. the head of a large party! He boldly 
 ridicules the doctrine of the Trinity, and denies the doctrine 
 oi justification by faith alone, in the sight of all the coun- 
 try, in his book of sermons: come nearer home, come to 
 Wallingford: see there a young gentleman, bold to settle in 
 the ministry, although opposed as an heretic by near half 
 the town. Observe, and see how he conducts. How back- 
 ward to let his people know his religious sentiments, while 
 on probation! How resolved, never to be examined by 
 the consociation, let it cost what it would, though charged 
 with heresy, and cited to appear before them! Yea, 
 although his opposers offer to accept him for their minister, 
 if upon examination he should appear to be sound in the 
 faith! And yet under these, even under these circumstan- 
 ces, he could find ministers to ordain him! 
 
 Sir, your already very much obliged and very humble 
 servant, 
 
 PAULINUS. 
 
 \ 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 '"*"*^-^nii.^,^ 
 
 •WW 
 
 
 
 '?ffW 1 n 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 / 5^1-ijiucmjiLmii- 
 
 >l!i#*** 
 
 /'■'i 
 
 
 
 ivrrr 
 
 issr 
 
 
 
 fi ^ ri\ f -t 
 
 :^ .--i 
 
 
 
 hlKi 1 
 
 »«^ 
 
 
 
 W^ 1 .: 
 
 -^M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAVLORO 
 
 
 
 PIINTCDIN U S.A