LIBRARY OF THE Theological Seminary. PRINCETON, N. J. Cd SI .Bt BX 7616 . G96 E6 1833 Gurney, Joseph John, 1788- 1847 . Essays on the evidences, flnrtr i noc _ nranf- i ral * 1 f ESSAYS OX THE EVIDENCES, DOCTRINES, AND PRACTICAL OPERATION, . OF C&rfetfamtp ; BY JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY. EN TOTTOI2 1201. l Tim. iv, IS. FIFTH EDITION. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE, AND L. B. SEELEY AND SONS, FLEET STREET; JOHN AND ARTHUR ARCH, CORNHILL ; AND WILKIN AND FLETCHER, NORWICH. 1833 : • ; : < ; > .1 ' uv;a ' ; a; • t , :; v : ' . . * >'i y.’ ' : ! " ■ ‘ *’* ? 1 r 1 - ' ’ '"*■ ' ’ • ' ■ . y : ( U >><<• '• : ■ • *> -i \J 1 .. 'A 4& t. ■■ / •>/' •»-' W! ' . •HI . ' . . O C i /. O J - 4 • t . Af YJ « a NORWICH: rKINTED BY WILXIN AND FLETCHER, UTTER HAYMARKET. PREFACE. T he subject of Christianity — a subject of infinite interest and importance — appears to admit of a natural division into three parts : first, the evidences on which is established the divine authority both of our religion itself and of those sacred writings in which it is re¬ corded : secondly , the doctrines revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and constituting the great system of di¬ vine truth ; thirdly , the practical principles, through the operation of which, in the soul, the Gospel of Jesus Christ produces for mankind its legitimate re¬ sults — righteousness here,, and eternal happiness here¬ after. Such is the order in which the subject is treated, in the volume now presented to the attention of the public. The first four Essays of the work will be found to contain a brief, elementary, statement of the principal evidences, which prove the fundamental proposition, a 2 that Christianity is the religion of God. My argu¬ ment, under this head, relates, frst, to the genuine¬ ness of the New Testament ; secondly , to its truth or authenticity ; thirdly to the miracles of Jesus Christ and his apostles, considered as a divine attestation of the revelation which they accompanied; fourthly , to the prophecies by which that revelation is also attest¬ ed; and fifthly , to the internal evidences of Chris¬ tianity, and to its actual moral effects. The proposition, that Christianity is the religion of God, may be established on the ground of the genuineness and authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, independently of the fact, that they were given by inspiration. But, since we cannot avail ourselves, with a sufficient degree of confidence, of the truths re¬ vealed to us in Scripture, unless we are convinced that the Bible itself is also of divine origin, I have devot¬ ed a fifth Essay to an argument in proof of that point. When we have satisfied ourselves of the divine origin both of Christianity itself and of the Christian Scriptures, we are in possession of a clear ground for the examination and reception of the declarations of Holy Writ respecting those various doctrines which may be described as forming the essential frame-work of our holy religion. These relate to the Supreme Being and his natural and moral attributes — to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who constitute the vn mysterious union of the godhead — to the spiritual ad¬ versary — to the constitution, character, condition, re¬ sponsibilities, and prospects, of man — to the Lord Jesus, in his character and office of Messiah — and lastly, to our redemption, through the blood and right¬ eousness of Christ, and through the influence and operation of the Holy Spirit. These doctrines form the respective subjects of six distinct Essays. In discussing them, I have studi¬ ously endeavoured to avoid all assumption of a wisdom “ above that which is written .” My only object has been to adduce the declarations of Scripture on each particular doctrine, in such a manner, and in such an order, as might be best calculated to leave on the mind of the reader a clear and satisfactory impression. Although the six Essays now alluded to are, in the main, purely doctrinal, it has been far indeed from my intention to insist on a religion of mere notions . Per¬ suaded as I am of the vast importance of a right creed, I am, nevertheless, well aware that the whole scheme of Christianity is directed to practical ends ; and that, as far as we are concerned, it is utterly unavailing, unless those ends are accomplished. In treating, therefore, of the several doctrines of our religion, it has often been my endeavour to show in what manner they are calculated to affect our hearts and to influence our practice; and, above all, I have desired to pro- Vlll mote, in the reader of these doctrinal disquisitions, a real love for our God and Saviour — in whom centre all the wisdom and knowledge, all the righteousness and strength, all the joy and hope, of the true Christian.* The twelfth Essay, however, which consists of two parts, more particularly explains the practical operation of Christianity, through the medium of faith and obe¬ dience — those principles of action in the human mind, without the exertion of which it is impossible for us to secure either our present regeneration or our future and eternal bliss. Lastly, in the Conclusion , I have laid before the reader a rapid, general, summary of the whole argu¬ ment of the volume, and I have ventured to add the word of exhortation — that none may rest satisfied with viewing the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of men, at a dis¬ tance, and through the medium of cold, unprofitable, speculation ; but that all may really come to him as to their all-sufficient Redeemer, and thus experience for themselves that the Gospel of Christ is the power OF GOD UNTO SALVATION ! * The tenth Essay, which relates to the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, contains, in a concentrated form, the substance of a work, in which, as many of my friends are aware, I have been more or less engaged for several years. Believing that the Essay in question is quite as likely to be useful as its more elaborate and diffuse original, I have now no view of publishing any thing farther on this great subject, except a volume, already in part composed, of Critical Dissertations. IX Now, as the several successive parts of my subject are thus closely connected — as, indeed, a completely fair estimate of any one of these Essays cannot be formed without a survey of them all — I venture to prefer to my readers a very earnest request, that they would so far do me justice, as to bestow an attentive perusal on the whole of the work, and on each Essay in its order. Throughout the present volume, I have endeavour¬ ed to avoid the discussion of any of those points in religion, which can with any reason be regarded as peculiar or sectarian. I have considered it to be, on the present occasion, my sole duty to arrange and unfold the testimonies borne in Scripture to those primary religious principles which the generality of the Christian world unite, not merely in believing to be true, but in regarding as of essential importance to their present and everlasting welfare. I must also beg leave to remark, that, as there is nothing which can be deemed sectarian in the subjects here brought forward, so I have not, in this volume, been writing as the representative of any particular class or denomination of Christians ; but only explain¬ ing, as a member (I trust) of the Church of Christ, the result of my own investigations, and the course of my own deliberate religious convictions. Although I am much indebted to several of my friends, who have X kindly examined and corrected this work, no one is responsible for any part of its contents, except myself. I am aware that, in not a few respects, the execu¬ tion of my design in these Essays may justly he con¬ sidered defective. But, amidst numerous avocations of a different nature, I have pursued the object with nearly as much assiduity as circumstances would allow; and I am no longer satisfied in withholding from others the result of my labours. Should those la¬ bours be, in any degree, blessed, to the farther diffu¬ sion among men of pure, evangelical, truth, I shall have abundant cause of satisfaction and thankfulness. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ESSAY 1. — On the probability of a divine revelation to MANKIND, AND ON THE GENUINENESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT . 1 Essay 2. — On the credibility of the new testament, and ON THE EVIDENCE OF MIRACLES . . IS Essay 3 _ On the evidence of prophecy . . . . . 43 Essay 4. — On the internal evidences of Christianity .... G2 Essay 5 _ On the divine authority of the holy scrip¬ tures . . •». . 82 Essay G. — On the scriptural account of the supreme BEING 112 Essay 7 _ On the union and distinction in the divine nature . 139 Essay 8 _ On the scriptural account of the spiritual ADVERSARY . 156 Essay 9 _ On the scriptural account of man- 172 Xll PACK Essay 10. — On the scriptural account of jesus ciirist . . 214 Part 1 — On christ in his preexistence .... 215 2. - On CHRIST DURING HIS ABODE ON EARTH . . 252 3 - On CHRIST IN HIS REIGN . 308 Essay 11 — On the redemption of mankind . 371 Part 1. — On the scripture doctrine of atone¬ ment . 377 2. — On the merits and advocacy .of ciirist . 423 3. — On the scripture doctrine of the spirit . 432 Essay 12 _ On faith and obedience . . 470 Part 1 _ On faith . 470 2 _ On obedience . 458 Conclusion . . . 519 ESSAYS, Sfc. ESSAY I. ON THE PROBABILITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION TO MANKIND, AND ON THE GENUINENESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE antecedent probability, that, during the course of his government over the world, God would bestow upon mankind a clear outward revelation respecting their nature, responsibility, and future prospects, and respecting that part of his own will and designs, with which they are particularly connected — or rather that • he would renew that original revelation which we may suppose to have taken place when man was first created — is a point which will be disputed by no per¬ son of reflection, who takes a just view of the attri¬ butes of God, on the one hand, and of the spiritual wants of man, on the other. Since God is omnipo¬ tent, since he is also holy and benevolent , — lessons which we plainly learn from natural religion, — we may, in the first place, rest assured that he is able to reveal his truth to mankind ; and, secondly, we may reason¬ ably believe that he would actually do so, if, on a careful examination of the condition of man, we dis¬ cover that such a revelation was necessary, in order to our being wise, virtuous, and happy. B 2 Antecedent Probability [Ess. I. Now, let any person of common sense and com¬ petent knowledge take a broad, general, view of this question, and decide upon it according to facts. Let him reflect on the moral and religious state of the ancient heathen nations. Let him examine the re¬ cords of their absurd idolatry, and of their gross, yet allowed, vices. Let him mark the steady contin¬ uance of this extreme degradation, in the midst of an astonishing progress, among some of them, in art, literature, and science. Let him trace, in the writ¬ ings of the wisest of their philosophers themselves, a palpable ignorance of many important sentiments, — chiefly respecting the Deity — which modern infi¬ dels have borrowed from Christianity, and fear not to avow as their own. Let him then turn his atten¬ tion to the heathenism of our own days, and be¬ stow a few moments’ thought on the excessive folly, the disgusting lasciviousness, and the insatiable thirst for blood, which are its principal features; and he will no longer deny the practical necessity, and there¬ fore the strong antecedent probability, of a divine revelation. And yet, on a fair examination of the analogy of the known course of God’s providence, he would be ready to allow that this antecedent pro¬ bability by no means demanded such a sudden and irresistible effulgence of light as should preclude the exercise of inquiry and faith, or at once evangelize our whole species ; but, rather, the simple introduc¬ tion, into the world, of divinely authorized know¬ ledge, which, although it might be partial in its com¬ mencement, and slow in its progress, should never¬ theless operate in a sure, steady, and uniform man¬ ner — just like the little leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. Such precisely are the pretensions of Christianity. 3 Ess. i.] of Christianity. During the reign of Tiberius over the Roman em¬ pire, and while Pontius Pilate was Procurator of Ju¬ dea — a period when the Jews were, from the coinci¬ dence of various signs, led to expect a messenger from heaven — there arose in that country a person of great wisdom, who was called Jesus Christ, or Jesus the anointed one. He was the founder of a system of re¬ ligion, and professed to be commissioned by his hea¬ venly Father, to promulgate a revelation of divine truth. He was followed by several disciples, and was put to death by his enemies ; and, after his decease, his followers were extensively, and very successfully, engaged in propagating his religion, both among the Jews and in the world at large. These are facts which the infidel is not accustomed to deny. Nor can they be disputed with the least appearance of reason, since they are tacitly recognized, incidentally alluded to, or expressly declared, not only by Christians, but by se¬ veral heathen winters, and are, moreover, in the most substantial manner, confirmed by a long course of re¬ markable events, to which they have given rise. The history of this wonderful individual — of his birth, life, preaching, death, resurrection, and ascen¬ sion — together with the whole doctrinal and moral system which he inculcated and established, are re¬ corded in a single volume — the New Testament. This single volume, however, consists of the separate works of several independent authors ; for it contains four distinct histories of the life of Jesus ; a narrative of the proceedings of his followers, after his death ; a considerable number of Epistles, in which the prin¬ ciples of Christianity are clearly unfolded ; and, lastly, a book of Revelation, replete with prophetical descrip¬ tions of events which were to affect the church of Christ, during her great career, through much oppo¬ sition and many sufferings, to victory, glory, and per- 4 Genuineness of the New Testament [Ess. i. fection. These works have, through a long series of ages, been attributed to Matthew, John, Peter, Paul, James, and Jude, apostles of Jesus Christ; and to Mark and Luke, companions of the apostles in the work of the ministry. Now, it must, I think, be allowed by every impar¬ tial and reflecting person, who has studied the Newr Testament, that it is a book of great intrinsic weight and excellence ; and one that, from the very nature of its contents, is calculated to attract our regard and attention. It is distinguished (as its greatest enemies must allow) first, by a full, and apparently authori¬ tative, republication of the great truths of natural religion : secondly, by a clear statement of several additional doctrines, novel and extraordinary indeed, but, if true, of infinite importance to the human race ; and, thirdly, by the purest code of practical morality ever known to have been ushered into the world. Such a book demands of every person of good sense and adequate information, a serious examination of those grounds on which rests its claim, first, to au¬ thenticity, and secondly, to divine authority. Before, however, we can attempt to prove that the history con¬ tained in the New Testament is, in all its particulars, true, and that the doctrines taught in it ai’e divine, it is necessary to state the evidences upon which may be established the proposition, that these sacred books are genuine — that they are not forgeries — that they were really written in the apostolic age, and by the persons whose names they severally bear. In briefly treating on this branch of our subject, I may, in the first place, adduce the testimony of Euse¬ bius, a Christian writer of great learning and author¬ ity, who flourished at Caesarea in Palestine, (a.d. 315.) In a well known passage of his Ecclesiastical History, he presents us with a list of the Writings contained 5 Ess. i.] Universally Confessed, A.D . 315. in the New Testament, and declares that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul, and the first Epistles of John and Peter, were universally confessed to be genuine.1 At the period when Eusebius made this declaration, these sacred books were very widely cir¬ culated ; they were read by ecclesiastics and laymen, by philosophers and peasants, in public assemblies and in private houses ; and copies of them were mul¬ tiplied throughout Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Lesser Asia, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Gaul. Since they were thus generally known and disseminated, and freely subjected to the examination of both friends and enemies, and that at a period when the sources of accurate information respecting their true origin were at once numerous and easily accessible ; and since they were, nevertheless, universally confessed to he genuine ; their actual genuineness is, in fact, indisputable. To forge, not only a single book, but a set of writings bearing severally their distinct charac¬ teristics, and to palm that forgery on so diversified a multitude of inquirers, in such a manner as to convince them all that these fictitious productions were genu¬ ine, and had always been regarded as such since the date at which they were considered to have been composed, would be a moral impossibility. It is true that Eusebius excludes from the list of sacred books, thus universally received, the Epistles of James and Jude, the second and third Epistles of John, the second Epistle of Peter, and the Apocalypse. He acknowledges that the origin of these works was doubted by some persons: — a fact which plainly evinces that a real discrimination was exercised on the subject, and that the genuineness of the bulk of 1 b'/jtikoywf'va.. Eueeb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii, cap. 25. 6 Exceptions Explained. [Ess. I. the New Testament rested on clear and incontrovert¬ ible evidences. At the same time, it ought to he observed, that the doubts entertained by some per¬ sons, in the days of Eusebius, respecting the writings which he thus excepts, were not of long continuance. These books were soon afterwards received by the general consent of Christians into the canon of Scrip¬ ture; and modern investigation, (conducted principally by the indefatigable Lardner) and, still more, the irresistible excellence of the works themselves, have confirmed the propriety of this decision. Having remarked the extravagant absurdity which, under the circumstances now mentioned, attaches to the notion that the New Testament is a forgery, I may proceed to advert, somewhat more explicitly, to the evidences of which we are still in possession, and which positively evince its genuineness, — it being un¬ derstood that these evidences, although extensively applicable to the disputed books, and particularly to the Apocalypse, bear, with a preeminent degree of force, on the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the thirteen Epistles of Paul,2 and the first Epistles of John and Peter. I. We have, in the first place, allusions to the con¬ tents of these sacred books, or actual quotations from them, in the works of a multitude of ecclesiastical writers, who flourished during the first four centuries of the Christian era. Of the works of the apostolical fathers, who wrote before the first century was elaps¬ ed, but very scanty remains have come dowrn to us in the present day. Nevertheless, a considerable num- 2 The apostolic date of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is often enumerated as Paul’s fourteenth epistle, is ascertained beyond the sha¬ dow of a doubt: whether Paul was its author, or not, is still a subject of controversy ; but the arguments in favour of the affirmative of the question are generally considered conclusive. Ess. i.] Quotations in the Works of the Fathers. 7 ber of allusions to the contents of the New Testament, especially to those of the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, are to be discovered in the writings still extant of Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hernias, Ignatius, and Polycarp. Several of these allusions are of a nature very precise and definite. When, for example, we read in the Epistle attributed to Barnabas, (a treatise which, almost beyond question, was composed during the first century) — “It is written, There are many called , but few chosen ” — we cannot refuse to allow, that such a passage affords a very pointed evidence of the genuineness of the Gospel of Matthew : comp. Matt, xxii, 14. When, again, we find Clement (a.d. 96) exhorting the Corinthians to take in their hands “ the Epistle of the blessed Paid the apostle ,” and to mark his admonition “ respecting himself, and Cephas , and Apollos,” we cannot, with any reason, doubt the genuineness of the Epistle which Paul had previously addressed to the same church : comp. 1 Cor. i, 12. In the second century, our evidences gradually become larger and clearer. To select a few of the principal of them : we are informed by Eusebius, that Papias, an Asiatic Bishop, (a.d. 116) referred in his writings to several distinct parts of the New Testament.3 Jus¬ tin Martyr (a.d. 147) has alluded to many of the Epistles of Paul, and has quoted extensively (though somewhat loosely and inaccurately) from the four Gospels, which he denominates the memoirs of Christ, or the memoirs of the apostles and their companions. In the remaining works of Irenagus, Bishop of Lyons, (a.d. 170) we find large extracts from the New Tes¬ tament ; and we are in possession of his testimony to the authority of nearly all the writings contained in it. Tertullian of Carthage and Clement of Alexan¬ dria (a.d. 200) have each of them transcribed, in vari- 3 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii, cap. 39. 8 Catalogues, Commentaries, fyc. [Ess. i. ous parts of their theological treatises, a very large proportion of the whole New Testament : and Lard- ner justly observes, that the quotations from it, ad¬ duced by Tertullian alone, may be deemed greatly to exceed in number those made from the works of Cicero, by all the writers combined, who have ever cited him. The same may, with equal propriety, be said of Origen, (a.d. 230) whose citations from the various parts of the New Testament are exceedingly abundant : and, after him, we have a host of writers in all the departments, of the multiplied and extended church, whom it would be tedious to name, and by whom the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation, are quoted to the same extent, and with the same variety, as by modern theologians: see Lard- ners Cred., 4to ed., vols. i, ii. But the testimonies borne by Christian writers, during the first four centuries, to the genuineness of the New Testament are by no means confined to the quotation of particular passages. Many of them, like Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, and Cyril, have given catalogues or canons of the books of the New Testa¬ ment ; a measure which was also taken by the council of ecclesiastics, held at Laodicea, (a.d. 363). Others, like Titian, (a.d. 170) 4 composed harmonies of the four Gospels : and many more wrote commentaries on the several constituent parts of this sacred volume. Now, as the evidences thus afforded by Christian writers, during the first four centuries, are very abun¬ dant, and various in form and manner, so it is to be remembered that this vast company of witnesses con¬ sisted of individuals, who lived at different times, were scattered over widely separated countries, occupied 4 “ Tatian,” says Eusebius, "composed I know not what harmony and collection of the four Gospels, which he called Dia Tessaron, and which is still in the hands of some.” Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv, cap. 29. Versions. 9 Ess. i.] very different stations in the church and in the world, and were, in general, totally independent one of ano¬ ther. But, diversified as they were in almost every respect, yet, in the testimony which they bear to the genuineness and authority of the New Testament, there is an entire and uninterrupted harmony. What can account for such a harmony, but truth ? II. During the first few centuries of the Christian era, while revealed religion was gradually spreading in the world, many versions of the New Testament were made into the vernacular dialects of those na¬ tions among whom a knowledge of divine truth was disseminated. The old Syriac version contains the whole of the New Testament, except the Revelation and four of the Catholic Epistles, viz. the second of Peter, the first and second of John, and the Epistle of Jude. It is remarkably accurate and faithful, and was probably -written during the second century. The same period is supposed to have given birth to those numerous Latin versions, and especially the Vetus Itala, mentioned by Augustine, which formed the basis of the Vulgate of Jerome. The existing translation of the New Testament into Saliidic, the language of Upper Egypt, is traced by the learned Woide to the same ancient date. The Ethiopic and Coptic versions also are of great and allowed antiquity. Now, these versions could not have been made, if the original of the New Testament had not existed previously ; and it is [quite obvious that they would not have been made, if that volume had not in those early ages been generally received as truly the work of the apostles and evangelists. III. The genuineness of the books of the New Testament was allowed by the enemies of Christi¬ anity, as well as by its friends. Among the early here¬ tics, who fell away from the truths of the Gospel into 10 Testimony of Enemies. [Ess. i. the most absurd and unscriptural errors, there were many who rejected the divine authority of those parts of the New Testaments which did not comport with their own creeds. But, that its contents were the real productions of their supposed authors, seems to have been a point generally admitted by these bewildered disputants, as Michaelis shows to have been the case, in reference to particular parts of the New Testament, with the Ebionites, with Cerinthus, and with Marcion : Introd. to New Test., vol. i, ch. ii, § 7, by Marsh. Still more important is the testimony of the heathen enemies of Christianity. From the works of Origen we learn that his opponent, the acute and bitter Celsus, quoted largely from the New Testament, and argued against Christianity on the allowed principle, that the Gospels and Epistles were actually written by the apostles and their companions : and the same ob¬ servation applies to those still more powerful enemies of our religion, Porphyry and Julian : Michaelis, vol. i, ch. ii, § 8. It is a triumphant argument in favour of the New Testament, that, during the first three cen¬ turies and a half after the Christian era, almost the whole of it was admitted to be genuine by the opposers, as well as by the defenders, of Christianity ; and that the first person of whom we read, as venturing to ad¬ vance a contrary sentiment, was Faustus, an illiterate Manichasan, who lived at the close of the fourth century. IV. The strong and satisfactory testimonies to which we have now adverted are confirmed by a variety of internal evidences of a very convincing character. The first of them is the dialect in which the whole New Testament is written. Greek was the language more generally spoken than any other in those various coun¬ tries (considered as a whole) where the Gospel was first propagated. Since, therefore, it was the inten¬ tion of the apostles and evangelists to be as exten- 11 Ess. I.] Correspondence with Josephus , fyc. sively useful as possible, it was to be expected that they should write their histories and epistles in Greek. But the Greek, in which the New Testament is com¬ posed, is not classical Greek ; it is the Greek which comes from the pen of Hebrews — with a very large infusion of their national phraseology. From this circumstance we derive a strong confirmatory evi¬ dence, that the New Testament was truly the work of the apostles and their companions. Certainly it could not have been written in those later periods ot the church, when there were no longer to be found any Hebrew Christians. The Christian fathers of the second, third, and fourth, centuries, were utterly in¬ capable of writing in any such dialect. Y. Another plain internal indication of the genuine¬ ness of the New Testament may be found in the very numerous allusions, contained in its several parts, to the habits and condition of the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, at the time when it is considered to have been written, as well as to many minor historical circumstances which happened during the life, or soon after the death, of Jesus Christ. The variety and particularity of these allusions are such as would never have been ventured on by a forger in an after age ; and their correctness and freedom from anachronism, as evinced by the correspondent testimonies of Jo¬ sephus and other authors, plainly prove that the New Testament was composed by individuals who were per¬ sonally conversant with the subjects on which they wrote. To point out a few particulars : a very considerable intricacy attaches to the history of the family of Herod : in the works of Josephus and other historians, we read of Herod the great, whom the senate of Rome, at the instigation of Marcus Antonius, appointed to be king of Judea — of his three sons Archelaus, Philip, 12 Correspondence ivith Josephus, fyc. [Ess. i. and Herod Antipas, who severally ruled over distinct provinces, viz. Judea, Galilee, and Trachonitis — of Herod Agrippa the elder, (grandson of Herod the great) under whose dominion these provinces were again combined, and who, on a public occasion, was smitten with a fatal disease at Caesarea — and, lastly, of Herod Agrippa the younger, and of his sisters Mariamne, Bernice, and Drusilla, the last of wThom was the wife of the Roman Governor, Felix. Now, in the New Testament most of the principal members of this fa¬ mily are mentioned, and a variety of allusions are made to their history, character, and circumstances : and, although some of these details are of a subordinate nature, yet all of them, on examination, turn out to be correct; they are the faithful, natural, references of cotemporary writers to facts which are known to have taken place in their day. Precisely the same may be said of the account, given in the New Testament, of the various Roman governors in Judea and else¬ where ; of the titles and dignities which they bore ; of the authority which they assumed ; and of the practices to which they and their people were accus¬ tomed. All is natural — all is evinced, by other well- authorized evidences, to be correct and real. With re¬ gard to the Jews themselves, the ai’gument now stated is much enhanced in value by the consideration that, after the taking and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, (a. d. 72 ) the customs and general condition of that extraordinary people underwent, in various respects, a total change. When we find the evangelists, who profess to relate the events of their own time, describ¬ ing, incidentally indeed, but truly and accurately , the very peculiar circumstances of the Jewish polity under the government of Rome — the course of the priest¬ hood — the councils — the synagogue worship — the sects, and their opinions — and the general habits and Ess. i.] Harmony of its Several Parts. 13 character which, at that remarkable period, are known to have attached to the Jews, we may rest fully as¬ sured that the Gospels are no forgeries — that they are the genuine production of the apostolic age, and of the authors whose names they bear. For tlie par¬ ticulars appertaining to this part of the subject, see Fardners Cred,, book i, part i. VI. Lastly, One part of the New Testament will often be found to afford a powerful confirmation of the genuineness of another. For example, the Gospel of John bears strong marks of having been written in order to complete the account of the life and dis¬ courses of Jesus, as delivered by Matthew, Mark, and Luke ; and thus, the positive evidences adduced in favour of his Gospel are reflected on those of his pre¬ decessors. Again, the numerous undesigned and almost latent accordances which subsist between the state¬ ments made 'by Luke in “ the Acts,” and by Paul in his Epistles, afford an ample moral demonstration that the Book of Acts was really composed, as it professes to be, by one of Paul’s companions, and that the Epistles attributed to Paul were actually the work of that highly-gifted person, whose labours and ministry are so graphically represented in the Book of Acts. So also a striking uniformity of style may, in general, be observed between those different works in the New Testament, which are attributed to the same author. On this ground, if we prove the genuine origin of the Gospel of John, (as we may do by a reference to in¬ numerable quotations), that of his first Epistle is, on critical grounds, easily established. If, from histori¬ cal evidences, we are satisfied that the Acts of the apostles were written by Luke, we cannot reasonably dispute the genuineness of his Gospel. If the testimo¬ nies of many early fathers compel us to admit that the Epistle to the Romans was really the work of Paul, we 14 Recapitulation. [Ess. i. may be sure that he was the author also of the other twelve Epistles inscribed with his name ; since they are all written in the same inimitable manner ; all display the same extraordinary mind ; and, with respect to the mode of thought, of argument, and of practical appli¬ cation, are generally cast in the same peculiar mould . On a reference to the principal points adverted to in the present Essay, it will be observed : first , that, from a fair view of the attributes of God and of the condition of man, there arises a strong antecedent probability of such an especial revelation of divine truth as Christianity professes to be. Secondly , that the introduction of the Christian revelation into the world is a matter of undisputed history, and that the substance of it is contained in the New Testament. Thirdly , that this volume, deserving as it is of the regard and attention of all men, from its intrinsic ex¬ cellence, professes to have been written by six of the apostles of Jesus Christ, and two of their companions. Fourthly, that, in the early part of the fourth century, at a time when the New Testament was very largely disseminated in the church of Christ, the bulk of it was “ confessed by all to be genuine,” and that the same character was soon afterwards, with equal una¬ nimity, attributed to its remaining parts. Fifthly, that its genuineness is amply evinced by a variety of both external and internal evidences, viz : — innumerable quotations in the writings of the early fathers ; cata¬ logues, harmonies, and commentaries ; early versions into foreign dialects ; the testimony of heretics and of heathen enemies ; the peculiarity of the language in which it is written ; the correct allusions contained in it to the customs which prevailed, and to the events which occurred, during the age of Christ and his apo¬ stles; and, lastly, the reciprocal accordances of its several parts. Ess. i.] Spurious Gospels, §c. 15 Now, I conceive that, the more we examine these evidences, and make them the subject of our reflection, the more ready shall we be to adopt the opinion of Paley and other authors, that, in point of number, extent, variety, and harmony, they are far superior to those which can be brought to bear on any ancient classical book whatsoever. If, then, we entertain no doubt that the Cyropasdia is the work of Xenophon ; the ^Eneid, of Virgil; the Tusculan Disputations, of Cicero ; and the Gallic Commentaries, of Cmsar ; much less have we any reason to hesitate in receiving the New Testament, as the production of the evan¬ gelists and apostles. Here, perhaps, the inquiry may be suggested, what appearance of evidence is it probable could have been produced in favor of the books of the New Testa¬ ment, had they b c cu r c (illij spurious ? This inquiry may be answered by an appeal to facts. We are actually in possession of spurious Gospels, spurious acts of Paul, and spurious Epistles, purporting to be written by Christ or his followers. It is probable that these wretched forgeries were produced during the second, third, and fourth, centuries of the Christian era ; and the first production of some of them is mat¬ ter of history. Now, they are not once alluded to by the fathers of the first century. By those of the three next centuries they are seldom cited : when cited, they are never adduced as Scripture, and are some¬ times expressly declared to be destitute of all authority. They were the subjects of no commentaries. They were uniformly excluded from the canons of sacred books. They were written in a style totally differing from that of the New Testament, though unskilfully copied from it in parts : and lastly, they abound in absurdities, contradictions, anachronisms, trifling ridi¬ culous details, and narrations even of an immoral ten- 16 Text of New Testament. [Ess. i. dency. While, therefore, these spurious productions afford a proof of the antecedent existence of those books which they so irreverently mimic, the inherent and extrinsic circumstances appertaining to their cha¬ racter and history may serve to show us how matters would have stood with the New Testament, had it also been spurious ; and the absolute genuineness of that pure and unsophisticated volume is rendered more than ever manifest by the contrast : see Hornes Intr., vol. i, p. 717. Jones on the Canon.5 Finally, while it is thus abundantly evident that the New Testament is the genuine work of the evangelists and apostles, we have every reason to believe that its text , as we have long been accustomed to read it, is substantially correct and uncorrupted. The early multiplication of copies among persons of so many different characters and situations, and, in process of time, of such various religious persuasions, while it would naturally give rise to a vast number of unim¬ portant various readings, afforded a sure check against the corruption or wilful alteration of the sacred text. The copies thus early made and disseminated may be 5 The aprocryphal Gospels and Epistles, now extant, form but a small proportion of that mass of absurd and irreligious forgery which was poured forth by the wilder sects of heretics during the second, third, and- fourth, centuries. The very fact, that almost the whole of these productions have long since been lost and forgotten, while the canonical books have, in all ages of the Christian church, been received and carefully preserved, af¬ fords, in itself, a sufficient evidence of the spuriousness of the former, and of the genuineness of the latter. The ancient fathers were accustomed to cite these spurious works, for the purpose of showing that, in point of learning, they were on a par with their opponents. When speaking of the forged Gospels, Origen, after distinguishing them from the four genu¬ ine ones, writes as follows : — “ Legimus ne quid ignorare videremur, propter eos qui se putant aliquid scire, si ista cognoverint Horn, in Luc. i, 1. So also Ambrose, “ Legimus ne legantur (ab aliis ;) legimus ne ignoremus; legimus non ut teneamus, sed ut repudiemus, et ut sciamus qualia sint in quibus magnifici isti cor exultant suum Com. in Luc. i, 1. Jones on the Canon , vol. i, 129. 17 Ess. i.] Text of New Testament. regarded as the precursors and prototypes of those very numerous manuscripts of the New Testament which are still preserved. These therefore form one proper criterion for the final settlement of its text. Other criteria, of no less efficacy and importance, are found in the ancient versions of that volume, and in the multitudinous extracts from it, transfused into the pages of the early fathers. Now, the whole of these criteria have been applied by a succession of modern critics, with astonishing industry and great discrimi¬ nation ; and the result of their labors is this — that the Greek Testament, as it was read by the earliest reformers, and translated by the authors of our com¬ mon English version, continues unimpaired , and, with very few exceptions of any moment, unaltered. It has not been deprived of a single doctrinal truth, of a single historical narration, of a single moral precept. ESSAY II. ON TIIE CREDIBILITY OF TIIE NEW TESTAMENT, AND ON THE EVIDENCE OF MIRACLES. Haying considered the evidences which prove with so much clearness that the New Testament is the genuine work of some of the apostles and their com¬ panions, we may proceed to the examination, and I trust, to the proof, of two additional propositions — namely, first, that the history related in it is true, and there¬ fore, secondly, that Christianity is of divine origin. When we read the history of past transactions, as they have been recorded by Thucydides, Livy, or Tacitus, we do not hesitate in receiving such history as authentic, because we have no reason to doubt the general veracity and accuracy of these authors, and because the events which they relate are for the most part such as frequently take place, and are in them¬ selves easily credible. Neither should we feel any difficulty in receiving the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, respecting the circumstances which form the subjects of their several narratives, had not many of those circumstances been of a directly mira¬ culous nature, and therefore at variance with the com¬ mon course of our experience. The question imme¬ diately arises, whether the veracity of the sacred his¬ torians is so far confirmed by collateral considerations, as to overcome, in the mind of the candid reasoner, Ess. ii.] Probability of the Christian Miracles. 19 the difficulty of which he is sensible, in admitting the truth of a miraculous history ? Before, however, we proceed to discuss this ques¬ tion, it may be proper to observe, that the improba¬ bility of the Christian miracles may, by the superficial observer, be very easily overrated. Though miracu¬ lous interruptions of the regular order of nature must ever of necessity differ, in one point of view, from usual experience — as such events would otherwise be no longer miracles — it is nevertheless consistent with all experience — writh the whole known course of na¬ ture and providence — that God should adapt his means to his end. If then we allow that one great end which God, in the whole of his moral dispensa¬ tions, has in view, is the virtue and happiness of his creatures ; if, further, when we reflect on the gross moral darkness which overspread the world before the coming of Christ, we cannot but admit that, in order to this end, a clear external revelation of the divine will was desirable and even necessary ; and if, lastly, we confess that miracles were a fit and proper test (beyond any other indeed which we are able to conceive) by which the divine authority of such reve¬ lation might be tried and determined ; — we cannot refuse to acknowledge that, under these particular circumstances, the miraculous events recorded in the New Testament were far from being really improba¬ ble ; that, on the contrary, they truly coincided with the analogy of God’s moral government, and, there¬ fore, with the experience of mankind, in the most com¬ prehensive sense of those expressions. Having considered this point, we shall be the more ready to listen to the evidences which may be brought forward, to prove the absolute credibility of the apos¬ tles and evangelists ; and, if we find these evidences strong, various, and harmonious, and therefore satis- 20 The Evangelists Eye-witnesses, fyc. [ess. ii. factory , our natural reluctance against the belief of supernatural events will, I trust, (as far as relates to the present case) be entirely subdued, and will yield to a full and settled persuasion, that the history of the New Testament is true. I may now proceed con¬ cisely to state those evidences, in the order which strikes me as the most clear and natural. I. “ That which was from the beginning,” says the apostle John, “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life .... that which we have seen and heard , declare we unto you: ” 1 John i, 1, 3. The doctrines which the apostles pro¬ mulgated had been imparted to them by the very lips of their divine Master, and of the wonderful events which they commemorated, in their preaching or in their writing, they had themselves been eye-witnesses. Among the writers of the historical parts of the New Testament, Matthew and John were actually present when the greater part occurred of those circum¬ stances which form the subject of their narrations ; and Luke writes as an eye- and ear-witness in that simple, yet highly descriptive, history — the book of Acts. This circumstance invests their testimony with a peculiar efficacy and value, and gives rise to a feel¬ ing of satisfaction respecting the authenticity of their narratives, similar to that which must ever attach (for example) to the perusal of Xenophon’s Anabasis, of Caesar’s Commentaries, and of Lord Clarendon’s Me¬ moirs. Nor is it a much lower degree of confidence which we may justly feel in perusing the Gospels of Mark and Luke, since it was from apostles and eye¬ witnesses that these authors derived that “ perfect understanding of all things from the very first,” by which they were so well prepared for the office of evangelists: see Luke i, 1 — 4. Ess. ii.] Their Testimony Harmonious, 21 II. In the Gospels we possess, in the second place, the harmonious testimony of four cotemporary, yet independent, historians to the same facts. Numerous indeed are the circumstances connected with the birth, life, discourses, death, and resurrection, of Jesus, of which we find corresponding details in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The greater part of these cir¬ cumstances are also narrated by Mark ; and John, who wrote some time after the other evangelists, while he furnishes the addition of some facts and of many large discourses, explicitly confirms the general his¬ tory, as well as many of the minor particulars, related by his predecessors. Between the Gospel of John and the three preceding Gospels, there may, more¬ over, be observed a variety of incidental accordances, which afford a conclusive evidence of the veracity of the respective historians. To mention a single exam¬ ple, among the many instances so ably stated by Pa- ley ; the first three evangelists, in describing our Lord’s prayer and agony in the garden, advert to his earnest supplication, that “ this cup might pass” from him ; and Matthew adds his words, “ O my Father, if this cup may npt pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done ch. xxvi, 42. John is silent on this point of the history ; but in describing the scene which immediately followed, he relates in perfect, though apparently undesigned , analogy with the ac¬ count given by the other evangelists of the preceding circumstances, that, when Peter would have defended Jesus on the approach of his enemies, our Lord (whose mind must have continued to dwell on the same pious sentiment) expressed himself as follows : Put up thy sword into the sheath : the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?” ch. xviii, 1 1 : see Pa- ley s Ev., vol. ii, ch. 4. But, accordant and harmonious as are the testimo- 22 Yet Independent ; [Ess. n. nies borne by the four evangelists to the facts of the Gospel history, they proceed from separate and inde-» pendent witnesses, as is satisfactorily evinced by the apparent differences which exist among their several narrations of certain minor circumstances. These dif¬ ferences are just such as would naturally arise in the true relations made by four credible persons, of the same series of facts ; and, while they may be gene¬ rally accounted for, on the principle that the different parts of the same scene were impressed with different degrees of force on the respective witnesses — that some things were uppermost in the mind of one wit¬ ness, and others in that of another — they afford an incontrovertible evidence that the narrators did not borrow their statements from one another, but that every one told his tale according to his own apprehen¬ sion of the circumstances which he related. Thus, then, is the authenticity of the four Gospel histories manifested by a striking, natural, and characteristic, variety, in the midst of a very comprehensive har¬ mony. I have already found occasion to notice, as afford¬ ing an evidence of the genuineness of the Epistles of Paul, and of the book of Acts, the coincidences sub¬ sisting between the history and the letters. These coincidences are largely unfolded by Paley, in his ad¬ mirable work, entitled the Horae Paulinae. They are numerous and diversified, and, however latent to the superficial reader, when once observed, are singularly pertinent and striking. It may now be remarked that this obviously undesigned, yet curious and perfect, adaptation between these respective parts of the New Testament, affords a conclusive evidence, not only of the genuineness of those writings, but of the fidelity of that sacred historian, who has detailed with so much vigour and simplicity the proceedings of the infant Ess. ii.] Simple, 23 church of Christ, and more particularly the life and travels of the apostle Paul.6 III. Although, from the harmony of the historians of the New Testament, considered in connexion with them singly , we shall find that they severally contain 6 Between the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul there subsists a number of coincidences, of a marked and obvious character. Those, however, which form the principal subject of the Horen Paulina; are, in general, so latent and oblique, that they could not have been de¬ signed, and are to be regarded as the natural consequence, and therefore, the sure indications, of the genuineness and independence of these writings, and of the truth of the statements which they contain. The following examples will elucidate my meaning : In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle thus expresses himself: “ We are come as far as you also in preaching the Gospel of Cllrist : . having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you, according to our rule, abundantly to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond you:'’ x, 14 — 16. In this passage it is plainly, yet very indirectly, indicated, that Corinth was the extremity of the apostle’s European travels hitherto. Now, this oblique hint, aris¬ ing so naturally in the course of Paul’s epistolary communication with the Corinthians, is in perfect accordance with the history contained in the Acts of the Apostles, of the only journey which he had made into Eu¬ rope, previously to the writing of this Epistle : for, in describing that journey, the author of the Acts informs us that, after passing through Philippi, Tliessalonica, Berea, and Athens, the apostle finally arrived at Corinth, where he stopped ; and from whence, after a residence of a year and a half, he sailed back into Syria : see Acts xvi, xvii, xviii. In the ninth chapter of the Acts we read, that Paul was suddenly converted, when on his way to Damascus, The whole description must be familiar to the reader, and need not here be quoted. Now, in his Epistle to the Galatians, we find him thus adverting to this remarkable event : “ When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen ; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them that were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus:” i, 15 — 17. “In this quotation from the Epistle,” says Paley, “I desire it to be remarked, how incidentally it appears, that the affair passed at Damascus. In what may be called the direct part of the account, no mention is made of the place of his conversion at all : a casual expression at the end, and an expression brought in for a different purpose, alone fixes it to have been at Damascus : ‘ I returned again to 24 Natural, [Ess. n. their distinctness and independence, we derive one principal evidence of their veracity, yet, if we take up the four Gospels and the book of Acts, and consider Damascus.’ Nothing can be more like simplicity and undesignedness than this:” Hor. Paul. p. 147. In Acts xv, 3G — 41, we read of a dispute which arose between Paul and Barnabas, in consequence of the determination of the latter (con¬ trary to the desire and judgment of his companion) “ to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.” Nothing is said by Paul, in his Epis¬ tles, on this subject; but, in Col. iv, 10, we are indirectly informed of a circumstance, which is evidently explanatory of the conduct of Barnabas — namely, that Mark was one of his near relatives. “ Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marais, sister’s son to Barnabas.” In Acts xvi, 1, we are told that Paul “ came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a cer¬ tain woman which was a Jewess and believed; but his father was a Greek.” In 2 Tim. i, 5, the apostle writes to Timothy, thus : “ Greatly desiring to see thee . when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice ; and 1 am persuaded that in thee also.” “ Here,” re¬ marks our author, “ we have a fair unforced example of coincidence. In the history Timothy was the * son of a Jewess that believed:’ in the Epistle, St. Paul applauds ‘ the faith which dwelt in his mother Eunice 7/or. Paul. p. 309. Again, the fact, that the mother of Timothy was “ a Jewess,” is virtu¬ ally, though in a manner evidently undesigned, indicated by the apostle, when he says to Timothy, “ from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures 2 Tim. iii, 15. By the “ Holy Scriptures,” the apostle un¬ doubtedly intended the Old Testament ; and in what manner could Timothy have known, “ from a child,” the Jewish Scriptures, had he not been born on one side, or on both, of Jewish parentage? “ Perhaps,” observes Paley, “ he was not less likely to be carefully instructed in them, for that his mother alone professed that religion.” Hor. Paul. p. 311. On some similar examples of concurrence, Paley, in another passage of his work, reasons as follows: “ To us who have been long conversant in the Christian history, as contained in the Acts of the Apostles, these points (mentioned in the epistles) are obvious and familiar ; nor do we readily apprehend any greater difficulty in making them appear in a let¬ ter purporting to have been written by St. Paul, than there is in intro¬ ducing them into a modern sermon. But, to judge correctly of the argument before us, we must discharge this knowledge from our thoughts. We must propose to ourselves the situation of an author, who sat down to the writing of the epistle without having seen the history ; and, then, 25 Ess. i1.] and Candid. a powerful internal evidence of truth. The various narrations presented to us in those books are distin¬ guished by a circumstantiality and naturalness which the most practised writer of fiction would be at a loss to imitate, and which the comparatively illiterate authors of the New Testament must have been utterly incapable of assuming, in the propagation of falsehood. Let the candid and unbiassed inquirer carefully pe¬ ruse the history of the cure of the palsied man, in Matt, ix ; of the Baptist’s communication with Jesus, in Matt, xi; of Peter’s walking on the sea, in Matt, xiv ; of the conversation between Jesus and the rich young man, in Mark x ; of Simeon and Anna, and of the early life of Jesus, in Luke ii ; of the sinful woman in the house of Simon, in Luke vii ; of Martha and Mary, in Luke x ; of Zacchseus, in Luke xix ; of the man born blind, in John ix; of the death and raising of Lazarus, in John xi; of the first meeting of the early church, in Acts i ; of the cure of the lame man in the temple by Peter and John, and of their subse¬ quent arraignment before the magistrates, in Acts iii and iv ; of the scene between Peter and Cornelius, in Acts x ; of the proceedings of Paul at Athens, in Acts xvii ; of his interview with the elders of the Ephesian the concurrences we have deduced will be deemed of importance. They will, at least, be taken for separate confirmations of the several facts, and not only of these particular facts, but, of the general truth of THE HISTORY. “ For, what is the rule with respect to corroborative testimony which prevails in courts of justice, and which prevails only because experience has proved that it is a useful guide to truth ? A principal witness in a cause delivers his account: his narrative, in certain parts of it, is con¬ firmed by witnesses who are called afterwards. The credit derived from their testimony belongs not only to the particular circumstances in which the auxiliary witnesses agree with the principal witness, but in some measure to the whole of his evidence ; because it is improbable that acci¬ dent or fiction should draw a line which touched upon truth in so many points Hor. Paul pp. 151, 152. C 26 Traits of Character. [Ess. n. church, in Acts xx ; of the voyage of that apostle to Rome, in Acts xxvii and xxviii: — and he will find in these several narratives, as well as in a multitude of others not here noticed, the simple and strong, yet al¬ most inimitable, characteristics of unadorned reality. The internal evidences of truth to be observed in the several historical books of the New Testament, as they are singly considered, are however by no means confined to the circumstantiality and naturalness of the narrative. The fidelity of the historians is, if possible, yet more plainly established by the evident honesty and candour with which they tell their tale, and promulgate their religion. Not a single instance can be discovered, in the works of these writers, of forced attempts to complete or bolster up a particular system — of apologies for apparent difficulties — of rail¬ ing against their enemies, or of commendation of themselves. On the other hand, they bring for¬ ward with the utmost simplicity, and with that total absence of reserve which nothing but integrity can produce, the humiliating circumstances of their Divine Master’s parentage, birth, life, and death — and the various moral deficiencies — the fearfulness, impatience, unbelief, and foolish pride — which were, on particular occasions, so remarkable in their own conduct. IV. Closely connected with the points of evidence mentioned in the two last sections are the consenta¬ neous traits of character , which mark the history, given in the New Testament, of several individuals. What, for instance, can be in more perfect accordance than the behaviour of Martha and Mary, as described by Luke, with their conduct on other occasions, as represented by John? see Luke x, 38 — 42; John xi,xii. The very singular character of the zealous and fer¬ vent, yet fearful, Peter, displays itself in various parts of the Gospel history with all the consistency of truth. Ess. ii.) Traits of Character . 27 In him, who walked forth on the surface of the stormy sea to meet his Lord, and then, from want of courage and faith, sank in the waves, how plainly do we recog¬ nize the individual who so rashly made use of the sword in defence of Jesus, and immediately afterwards forsook him and fled ; who was the foremost in a pro¬ fession of belief in the Son of God, and in the hour of personal danger denied him thrice ; who was the first to promulgate the Gospel to the Gentiles, and was afterwards afraid to eat with them, in the presence of the Jews ! In the once zealous and determined advocate of the Jewish law, and eager persecutor of the unoffend¬ ing Nazarines, we cannot fail to trace the character¬ istic temperament of that great apostle who, under the transforming power of divine grace, became the most ardent, resolute, and indefatigable, of the servants of Christ. But, of all the characters thus naturally depicted in the New Testament, by far the most singular and, at the same time, the most particularized, is that of Jesus himself. His lowliness and meekness, the tenderness of his compassion, the firmness with which he resisted temptation, his forbearance, his mercy towards his enemies, his subjection to the will of the Father, his devotional spirit, his unwillingnes to be made public, his boldness in reproving hypocrisy, his patience and fortitude, his custom of converting every occurring circumstance into a channel for doctrine and instruc¬ tion, his paternal love for his disciples, his perfect gentleness, yet irresistible authority , with many other traits of grace and virtue, constitute, as a whole, a cha¬ racter which has no parallel— original and perfect. X Now*, in a circumstantial statement of the conduct and behaviour of a fictitious personage, it would be very difficult for a single author to sustain the de- 28 Correct Allusions [Ess. ii. scrip tion of such a character in all its peculiarity and in all its perfection. But, when we see a chai’acter, thus peculiar and thus perfect, unfolded with the most beautiful precision, and presented to us in all its parts without any real deviation or inconsistency, by four distinct and independent writers, we are compelled to confess that, for such a result, nothing whatever can Y account, but actual and unvarnished truth. V. The numerous correct allusions made in the New Testament to the manners and customs prevail¬ ing among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, at the time when the books contained in it were written, have already been adduced in evidence of the genuineness of those books. Such allusions may also be fairly pleaded in proof of the authenticity of the narrative — of the veracity and accuracy of the narrators. Very important, in the same point of view, are the confirm¬ ations of various parts of the Gospel history, derived from the pages of Jewish, Greek, and Roman histo¬ rians. That Christ was not an imaginary person, that he really lived, and that he was the founder of the Christian religion, are facts, as has been already hinted, which rest on the testimony, not only of the evangelists and apostles, but of heathen authors; more particularly of Lucian, Suetonius, and Tacitus. By the last of these writers are expressly, though inciden¬ tally, recorded, the country of Jesus, the era in which he lived, the government to which he was subject, the extensive diffusion of the principles which he pro¬ mulgated, and his ignominious and violent death : Annal. lib. xv, cap. 44.7 There are other circum- 7 “ Ergo abolendo rumore Nero subdidit reos, et qusesitissimis pcenis affecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Chrislianos appellabat- Auctor nominis ejus Christos, Tiherio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat. Repressaque in prsesens exitiabilis super- stitio rursus erumpebat, non modo per Judceam originem ejus malt, sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt.” 29 Bss. H-] to History, fyc. stances, of minor importance, in which an exact coin¬ cidence has been- observed between the New Testa¬ ment and the records of profane history. To mention a single instance— the address of the apostle Paul to the Athenians was occasioned, as we read in the book of Acts, by his having observed in their city an altar inscribed to the unknown God, ^"ow, the existence of altars at Athens, dedicated to unknown Gods, is ex¬ pressly mentioned by Pausanias and Philostratus, A curious story is moreover related by Diogenes Laertius respecting the lustration of the city by Epimenides, on the occasion of a great pestilence which occurred some hundred years before the Christian era. Victims were then slain in various parts of the Areopagus ; and, over the same places, anonymous altars were erected to the several propitious, but unknown, deities, by whom the plague was stayed : In Epimenide, lib. i, cap. x, § 3. Between Luke, the largest writer of narrative in the New Testament, and Josephus, the great historian of the Jews, who wrote during the first century, there have been discovered two or three apparent discrepan¬ cies of statement, which, were they irreconcilable, might be accounted for by the supposition of a slight degree of inaccuracy on the part of either historian ; but which the indefatigable Lardner has, in fact, suc- ceded in reconciling. On the other hand, the accord¬ ances between the history of Josephus and those of Luke and the other evangelists, in relation more “ For the purpose, therefore, of putting an end to the report (of his having caused the conflagration of Rome,) Nero falsely accused, and most cruelly punished, a class of persons hated for their crimes, who were eommonly called Christians. Christ, the author of that name, was put to death as a malefactor by the Procurator Pontius Pilate, during the reign of Tiberius. But this injurious superstition, although repressed for a short time, again broke out, not only in Judea, where the evil ori¬ ginated, but also in Rome, whither there is a conflux, from every part of the world, of all atrocious or shameful things.” 30 Heathen and Jewish Testimonies [Ess. ir. especially to the various Jewish and Roman gover¬ nors, whether princes, priests, or procurators, who lived in Palestine during the age of Christ and his apostles, are (as we have already observed) numerous, peculiar, and precise : see Lardners Credibility , vol. r, part i. If it be urged that the circumstances related in the Gospel history, which have thus received confirma¬ tion from Jewish and heathen authors, were not the miracles of Christ and his apostles — it ought to be observed, that the accounts of those miracles in the New Testament are in so perfectly natural a manner wrought up with the rest of the narrative, and the events, miraculous and not miraculous, so intimately interwoven, that on receiving a sufficient evidence of the truth of one part of the history, we cannot easily refuse to allow the authenticity of the whole. The collateral testimonies of Jews and Gentiles to the miracles of Christianity are, however, neither scanty nor obscure. Josephus, in a passage of his Jewish Antiquities, of which the genuineness, although doubted by some persons, is supported by numerous critical evidences, has expressly mentioned the mira¬ cles and resurrection, as well as the life and death of Jesus : lib. xvm, ch. iii, § 3.8 Pontius Pilate recorded 8 Yivirut bz Kara rovrov rov ygovov IrfioZg, tsofog uvrie, zryz «v$g a aur'ov Xzyuv r\v yug vaeabo^uv zgyuv mj/jr^g, btbda- xaXog uv^guvruv ruv rjdovfi raXjjb?) biyofizvur xai rroXkoug fiev Ioy datovg, noKkovg be xai too EXXjjv/jcou s-xriyuysro. 6 Xyarbg ouTog rjv. xai civrbv svdei^n ruv nguruv avdguv rrag (fravgfi iKireTi/Jiqxorog Il/Xarou, oyx zwuvaavro ol yz vgurov ay ttw dya~rr ffuvrsg. ifxivi] yue abrolg re/rtjv zyuv rjfzgav wuXiv ^uv} ruv Seiwv Too;jcor«v. tig zn vvv ruv Xytsnavuv u j?re rb pv\ov. “ At that time there arose Jesus, a wise man, if, indeed, he ought to be called a man ; for he was a worker of miracles, and a teacher of 31 Ess. ii.] to the Christian Miracles. the miracles of Christ in that journal of his govern¬ ment which, in conformity with a well-known practice of the Romans, he appears to have transmitted to the metropolis, to be enrolled in the archives of the empire. These Acta Pilati are mentioned by Ter.tul* lian and Eusebius, and were expressly appealed to, as affording a proof of the truth of the Christian miracles, by Justin Martyr, in his public apology, addressed to the emperor Antoninus and his senate : Euseb. Hist. Ecdes. lib. ii, cap. 2. Tertull. Apol. cap. 21. Justin. Apol. i, pp. 65, 72, Ed. Ben. That the miracles of Christ and his apostles actually took place was, also, more or less directly allowed by Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian, who, unable to refute the evidences of their reality, contented themselves with attributing these wonderful works to the power of magic ; and a somewhat similar admission is made by those Jewish enemies of Christianity — the authors of the Talmud : see Lardner, 4to edit., vol. iii, 557, vol. iv, 113—149, 209—250, 311—348. VI. In the preceding sections, our attention has been almost exclusively directed to the credibility of the four historical writers of the New Testament— Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These writers, those persons who gave a willing ear to the truth ; and he was followed by many persons, both Jews and Greeks. He was (or was called) Christ. And when Pilate, at the instigation of our leading men, had caused his crucifixion, those who had formerly loved him still persevered in their attachment. For, on the third day, he again appeared to them, alive — the inspired prophets having declared these and a multitude of other wonderful things respecting him. Up to the present day, the people who from him have derived the name of Christians continue to subsist.” This passage is found in all the copies of the works of Josephus now extant, whether printed or manuscript, and also in certain ancient trans¬ lations of them : and it is quoted by Eusebius and many other fathers, in the fourth century. The objections to its genuineness are ably answered hi Horne’s Introd., vol. n. p. i, chap. 7. 32 The Christian Witnesses Numerous. [Ess.n. however, were far indeed from being the only Chris¬ tian witnesses of the truth of that miraculous history which is recorded in their Gospels. All the twelve apostles (Matthias having been substituted for Judas) and others of the earliest followers of Christ, persons who had heard his doctrine and beheld his actions, were engaged in the same work. They proclaimed the principles of Christianity, and adduced the miracles of Christ, as well as their own, in proof of the divine origin of the religion which they taught : see Acts x, 39, &c. That preeminent miracle, the spontaneous resurrection of their Divine Master from the dead, was more especially a fact to which they all appealed, and with the truth of which (according to their own account of the matter) they were all personally ac¬ quainted : for the apostle Paul assures us that the risen Jesus had appeared first to Peter, then to all the apostles together, and afterwards “ to five hun¬ dred brethren at once:” 1 Cor. xv, 6. Now, the numerous individuals who were thus engaged in beai*- ing their testimony to the miraculous history of the Gospel went forth as preachers of Christianity into every part of those very countries where the miracles of Christ are said to have taken place, and at a period when the whole circumstances of the case were fresh in the recollection of their hearers : and, although they were surrounded by a host of inveterate enemies, were carried before many formidable tribunals, and were subjected to the most severe examinations, ( see for example, Acts iv, xxiv, xxv, xxvi ;) no want of consistency appears to have been discovered in their testimony; nor is there the slightest ground to suppose that their story met with any refutation. To consider this branch of the subject with some¬ what more of precision, it is plain that these earliest propagators of the Gospel, in their capacity of wit- 33 ess. ii.] Neither Deceived nor Deceivers. nesses of the miracles and resurrection of Christ were neither deceived nor deceivers. That they were not deceived, appears from two con¬ siderations. First, that the apostles-the principal persons thus engaged, and who had been present with Jesus during the whole course of his ministry— were rio enthusiasts ov fanatics : for the four Gospels, (con¬ sidered as genuine and generally credible histories) afford abundant evidence that they were simple, sober, and unsophisticated, persons ; that, so far from bein<^ distinguished by eager credulity, they were full of fears, prone to distrust, and peculiarly slow and cau¬ tious in the reception of Christian truth. Secondly, that the very numerous miracles, to the performance of which they bore testimony, are described as bavin o- been subjected to their frequent yet cool and deliberate observation, and as being at the same time of far too decided a character to admit of any mistake or delu¬ sion. When, for example, the Lord Jesus, after he had publicly expired on the cross, and had been as publicly watched in his grave, repeatedly appeared alive in the midst of their company, conversed with them, ate with them, and shewed them his wounds _ when they saw him, heard him, and handled him,— it is certain that they could not be deluded, when they admitted the fact of his resurrection. That the apostles were not deceivers, is a point equally susceptible of moral demonstration. The entire can¬ dour and honesty manifested by two of their number in recording the humiliation of their master, as well as their own faults and those of their brethren, have already been noticed ; nor can any thing be more evi¬ dent than the simplicity and godly sincerity which dis¬ tinguish the Epistles of Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John. Jesus himself was denominated the Truth; and from various passages of the New Testament it is 34 They Appealed to their own Miracles. [Ess. u. manifest, that a deep sense of the importance of truth was one principal characteristic of his followers. The personal virtue of the apostles is indeed indisputable ; they were engaged in propagating the strictest code of morality which had ever been heard of in the world ; and they were thus engaged, under sanctions and motives of unspeakable weight and moment. More especially, it was a doctrine explicitly recognized among them, that Satan was the father of lies, and that liars were exposed to eternal punishment in the world to come : see John viii, 44: Rev. xxii, 15. The veracity of the apostles may also be justly measured by their disinterestedness. They sought no temporal advantages; they pursued no outward emoluments ; they fctigaged in a career fraught with inconveniences, dangers, labours, and sorrows ; they gave up all that wasrpaturally dear to them, and sacri¬ ficed their pleasures, their comforts, and their worldly hopes, to the welfare of mankind and to the service of a crucified Redeemer. Their cause was the cause of righteousness, and in the support of that holy cause they exposed themselves, without reserve, to " cruel mockings and scourgings,” to “ the spoiling of their goods,” to “ bonds and imprisonments,” and, finally, to the violent infliction of death itself. Since, then, the original witnesses of the Christian miracles were of so sober and cautious a character, and were placed under such circumstances, with re¬ spect to the miracles, that they could not be deceived: and since their acknowledged virtue and disinterested¬ ness afford the most satisfactory evidence that they could not be deceivers , I know not how the impartial inquirer can escape from the conclusion, that the story which they told is true. VII. The earliest preachers of the Gospel were enabled, through divine assistance, to confirm their [Ess. ir. Early Diffusion of Christianity . 35 declarations respecting Christ by the miracles which they wrought themselves. “They went forth,’ ’"says t e evangelist Mark, “and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word, with signs following .” ch. xvi, 20. The numerous instances which confirm this declaration, and which are recorded in the book of Acts, cannot be here adduced with propriety, since the credibility of that book is in part the subject of our discussion; but we may safely call in the testimony of the apostle Paul, who, m his second Epistle to the Corinthians, expressly appeals to "the signs of an apostle ,” "the signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds? which he had wrought m the presence of the very persons whom he was then addressing : 2 Cor. xii, 12. On another occasion, he gives the Corinthian Christians directions respecting the right use of that miraculous gift of tongues which they themselves enjoyed: 1 Cor. xiv. Had Paul spoken to the Corinthians only of the miracles which he had wrought among the Ephesians, we might have hesi¬ tated m admitting his testimony ; but, when we find lm appealing to the Corinthians as eye-witnesses of his works ; when we observe him, moreover, familiarly adverting, in his written communications with them, to their own supernatural endowments, and when we take into account that this apostle was neither a fool nor a madman— we cannot with any reason deny the position, that the earliest propagators of Christianity were gifted with miraculous powers. VIII. Lastly, let us notice the astonishing propa¬ gation and prevalence of early Christianity. Absolutely opposed as it was to the prejudices of the Jews, and to the systems and habits of the Gentiles ; offering, in the history of a crucified Redeemer, to the former a sore offence, and to the latter a tale of foolishness ; and involving all who embraced it in the loss of tern- 36 Early Diffusion of Christianity . [Ess. n. poral advantage, and in a path of almost unexampled mortification, self-denial, and suffering ; the religion of Christ and his apostles extended itself, in primitive times, with irresistible rapidity and force. Thousands were converted by the preaching of Peter, on the day of Pentecost. Soon afterwards, multitudes were added to the church, of both men and women : Acts v, 14. From Jerusalem the new religion spread through Samaria and Syria, and churches wrere presently ga¬ thered in numerous parts of Lesser Asia and Greece. In the reign of Nero, (a.d. 65) “great multitudes” of Christians (as we are expressly informed by Tacitus) were discovered at Rome ; and Pliny, when writing to Trajan, (a.d. 107) from his government in Bitliynia, describes “ the contagion of this superstition” as seiz¬ ing the lesser towns as well as the cities ; as spreading among persons of both sexes, of all ages, and of every rank : and as producing the neglect of the temples, and the intermission of the ceremonies of idolatry.9 9 The celebrated letter of Pliny the Younger to Trajan, on the subject of the Christians in Bithynia is as follows : — “ Health. — It is my usual custom, Sir, to refer all things, of which I harbour any doubts, to you. For who can better direct my judgment in its hesitation, or instruct my understanding in its ignorance? I never had the fortune to be present at any examination of Christians, before I came into this province. I am therefore at a loss to determine what is the usual object either of inquiry or of punishment, and to what length either of them is to be carried. It has also been with me a question very problematical, — whether any dis¬ tinction should be made between the young and the old, the tender and the robust ; — whether any room should be given for repentance, or the guilt of Christianity once incurred is not to be expiated by the most un¬ equivocal retraction ; whether the name itself, abstracted from any flagitiousness of conduct, or the crimes connected with the name, be the object of punishment. In the mean time this has been my method, with respect to those who were brought before me as Christians. I asked them, whether they were Christians : if they pleaded guilty, I interro¬ gated them twice afresh, with a menace of capital punishment. In case of obstinate perseverance, I ordered them to be executed. For of this I had no doubt, whatever wa3 the nature of their religion, that a sullen 37 Ess. ii.] Early Diffusion of Christianity . Africa, Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Britain, gradually fell under the influence of revealed truth ; and at last, at an early period of the fourth century, Christianity was become the generally-adopted and established religion of the whole Roman Empire. and obstinate inflexibility called for the vengeance of the magistrates. Some were infected with the same madness, whom, on account of their privilege of citizenship, I reserved to be sent to Rome, to be referred to your tribunal. In the course of this business, informations pouring in, as is usual when they are encouraged, more cases occurred. An anonymous libel was exhibited, with a catalogue of names of persons, who yet de¬ clared, that they were not Christians then, nor ever had been ; and they repeated after me an invocation of the gods and of your image, which, for this purpose, I had ordered to be brought with the images of the deities : They performed sacred rites with wine and frankincense, and execrated Christ, — none of which things, I am told, a real Christian can ever be compelled to do. On this account I dismissed them. Others, named by an informer, first affirmed, and then denied, the charge of Christianity ; declaring that they had been Christians, but had ceased to be so, some three years ago, others still longer, some even twenty years ago. All of them worshipped your image, and the statues of the gods, and also execrated Christ. And this was the account which they gave of the nature of the religion they once had professed, whether it deserves the name of crime or error, — namely — that they were accustomed on a stated day to meet before daylight, and to repeat among themselves a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath, with an obligation of not committing any wickedness; — but, on the contrary, of abstaining from thefts, robberies, and adulteries ; — also, of not violating their promise, or denying a pledge ; — after which it was their custom to separate, and to meet again at a promiscuous harmless meal, from which last practice they however desisted, after the publication of my edict, in which, agreeably to your orders, I forbade any societies of that sort. On which account I judged it the more necessary to inquire, by torture, from two females, who were said to be deaconesses, what is the real truth. But nothing could I collect, except a depraved and excessive superstition. Deferring therefore any further investigation, I determined to consult you. For the number of culprits is so great, as to call for serious con¬ sultation. Many persons are informed against, of every age and of both sexes ; and more still will be in the same situation. The contagion of the superstition hath spread not only through cities, but even through villages and the country. Not that I think it impossible to check and to correct it. The success of my endeavours hitherto forbids such desponding thoughts : for the temples, once almost desolate, begin to be frequented, 38 Recapitulation, [Ess. n. Now, these undisputed facts afford a highly satis¬ factory confirmation of the whole preceding series of evidences. It must, I think, be plain to every candid and reflecting mind, that so ready and extensive a reception of Christianity, at a period of time when all the circumstances of the life and death of Jesus were recent, and in the face of natural and moral difficulties apparently insurmountable, could by no means have taken place, had not the history on which the religion was founded been true — had not the miracles of Christ and his apostles been real. Thus numerous and satisfactory are the evidences which established the fidelity of the apostles and evan¬ gelists, and which prove that the miraculous history of the New Testament is a true history. On a review of our whole argument, we may observe, first, that the apparent improbability of the Christian miracles is in great measure removed by the consideration of their perfect suitableness to a highly probable end ; and, secondly, that we may confidently believe in their reality, for the following reasons — because two of the historians, by whom they were narrated, were eye¬ witnesses of the facts, and the two others, compani¬ ons of eye-witnesses — because the Gospels contain the harmonious testimony of four cotemporary, yet independent , writers ; the history detailed in the book of Acts being also verified by its undesigned coinci¬ dence with the Epistles of Paul — because the histories contained in the New Testament severally display, in the circumstantiality and naturalness of the narrative, and in the many candid statements made by their au- and the sacred solemnities, which had long been intermitted, are now at¬ tended afresh j and the sacrificial victims are now sold every where, which once could scarcely find a purchaser. Whence I conclude, that many might be reclaimed, were the hope of impunity, on repentance, absolutely confirmed ; ” lib. x, ep. 97. Ess. ii.] Argument from Miracles. 39 thors, the unquestionable marks of truth — because the accounts given in the New Testament, of a multitude of civil and historical circumstances, are confirmed by the testimony of Josephus, and of heathen writers — because the miraculous part of its history was (proba¬ bly) stated by Josephus, was recorded in the Acta Pilati, and was even allowed to be true by the Jewish heathen enemies of our religion — because the many original witnesses of the Christian miracles (par¬ ticularly the apostles) were no enthusiasts, and could not be deceived respecting such plain and palpable facts — because their known sentiments on the subject of lying, their established moral character, and their disinterested devotion to the cause of righteousness, (evinced by their willing sufferings, and sealed by their deaths) plainly show that they could not be de¬ ceivers — because, while they bore testimony to the miracles of Christ, the apostles were enabled to work miracles themselves, as is evinced by the appeal of Paul to the Corinthians — and because, lastly, unless we admit the truth of the Gospel history, we cannot account for the very extensive diffusion (in the face of powerful obstructions, and in opposition to all preva¬ lent systems and habits) of early Christianity. Having thus offered to the reader a slight sketch of the evidences on which Christians build their con¬ fidence, that the miraculous history recorded in the New Testament is true, I shall detain him but a very short time longer, while I consider our second propo¬ sition, viz., that Christianity is, therefore, to be re¬ ceived as a religion of divine origin. We acknowledge that God created all things, and that he established those general laws, by which the order of nature is regulated and maintained. Miracles are supernatural infractions of those gene¬ ral laws and changes in that order ; and, since no crea- 40 Argument from Miracles. [Ess. u. ture can justly be deemed to possess any inherent independent power of controverting the design, and of interrupting the harmonious arrangements, of an omnipotent God, miracles are, when real and ascer¬ tained, to be regarded as the especial work of God himself. Now, we have already had occasion to notice that the miracles of Chris Band his apostles were of a plain and palpable description. Let it, however, be yet more particularly remarked, that they were conspicu¬ ous and very great ; performed in the presence of many witnesses, and often in the midst of large pub¬ lic assemblies ; exceedingly numerous, and, in their character and nature, greatly diversified ; sudden and immediate in their operation ; and, in general, totally incapable of being accounted for by any subordinate or secondary cause. When Jesus Christ made the storm a calm — when the boisterous winds and long agitated waves obeyed him in an instant — when he. walked on the surface of the deep — when he restored sudden health and strength to the withered, the crip-* pled, and the impotent, and even limbs to the maimed — when he bestowed on the man who was born blind a perfect power of vision — when he multiplied the five barley loaves, so that they became the sufficient food of many thousands of persons — when he raised to life Lazarus, who had been buried four days, and was then putrifying in the grave — when he burst asun¬ der the bands of his own mortality, and presented himself to his followers alive from the dead — when, through the instrumentality of Peter and John, the lame man in the temple suddenly and publicly walked and leaped for joy — when the prayers of the former apostle were the means of restoring life to the deceased Tabitha — the most cautious and scrutinizing observer must have been compelled to allow, that these were Ess. ii.] Objections Answered. 41 no conjuror’s contrivances, but real miracles, actual and indubitable infractions of the established laws of nature. Such a conclusion respecting the miracles of Jesus Christ and his followers derives a further confirmation from the comparison of them with those signs and wonders so idly pleaded by Hume and other infidel writers, in opposition to Christianity. While the evi¬ dences which prove that the Christian miracles really took place are both numerous and clear, and while those miracles were of so plain and decisive a charac¬ ter as to preclude the possibility of delusion, the pro¬ digies advanced on the other side of the question are either such as might readily be accounted for by se¬ condary causes, or such as are not to be believed, be¬ cause we are in possession of no solid or sufficient evidence that they ever happened. The former of these characteristics attaches to the cures said to be wrought at the tomb of the Abbe de Paris ; the lat¬ ter, to the wonders of Pythagoras, Vespasian, and Appollonius : see Paley's Ev., vol. i, p. 349. To the conclusion, however, that the miracles re¬ corded in the New Testament could be the work of God only, an objection is sometimes urged, which it may be desirable concisely to notice. It is remarked that the Egyptian magicians, who were employed by Pharoah in opposition to Moses, and who were there¬ fore on the side of the Lord’s enemies, were enabled, by the power of evil spirits, to work miracles. Many able biblical critics explain the wonders of these magicians as the mere contrivance of expert jug¬ glers. If, however, it be allowed that, on some pecu¬ liar occasions, and under especial control and limita¬ tion, God permits evil spirits to exercise a certain degree of miraculous power over the order of nature, such an admission will by no means affect the divine 42 Objections Answered. [Ess. n. origin and authority of the Christian miracles. When we consider the benevolence of those miracles, as well as their number , variety , and greatness, it seems im¬ possible for us to refuse to attribute them to a merci¬ ful and omnipotent Being. That they were not produced by the power of evil spirits, we may moreover rest satisfied, for two addi¬ tional reasons — first, because they were wrought in direct attestation of that which professed to be a re¬ velation of the divine will, for the guidance and in¬ struction of mankind ; for it is morally impossible that the God of alb truth should permit his enemies to affix to a fictitious revelation of his will the seal of miracles — of numerous, stupendous, undoubted mira¬ cles — and thus consign his reasonable creatures to inevitable and irremediable error ; secondly, because they were wrought in support of a religious system, which was directed in all its parts 4&H righteous ends; which was therefore entirely opposed, on the one hand, to the dominion of the powers of darkness, and perfectly conformed, on the other, to the moral attri¬ butes of God. Thus, then, there appears to be nothing which can interruptsour conclusion, that God alone was the au¬ thor of the Christian miracles. And, since God alone was the author, Christianity, which was attested by them, is the religion of God. ESSAY III. ON THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY. THE evidence of the divine origin of Christianity af¬ forded by the miracles of Jesus Christ and his apostles, although substantial and satisfactory, is not to be con¬ sidered as standing alone ; for it forms only one divi¬ sion of a cumulative proof. Such has been the pro¬ vidential care exercised by our heavenly Father over the spiritual interests of men, that he has been pleased to furnish them with a variety of correspondent and harmonious f&igns, that the religion, by means of which their salvation is to be effected, proceeds from himself. In the present essay, I propose to take a concise, yet comprehensive, view of the sign of Prophecy. Of those future events which are connected with the established order of nature — such as the rising and setting of the sun on the morrow ; the growth of a plant from the seed sown in the earth ; the death of mortal creatures now living — analogical rea¬ soning enables us to form a correct apprehension. Sometimes also the intelligent observers of moral and political causes are enabled, by a somewhat more dif¬ ficult application of the same species of reasoning, to form successful conjectures respecting future circum¬ stances, appertaining not so much to the order of nature as to the scheme of Providence. But, ready as we may be to allow these positions, we cannot con- 44 God only foreknows. [Ess. hi. ceal from ourselves that an actual knowledge of the future is one of the characteristic and peculiar attri¬ butes of the Supreme Being. Every one who believes in the existence, unity, and omniscience of God, will probably be willing to confess that He has no coun¬ sellor — that it is He alone who conducts the opera¬ tions of nature, and regulates the course of events — that a knowledge of the future is the knowledge of his secret designs , — and, therefore, that such a know¬ ledge can be communicated to mankind only by di¬ vine revelation. From these premises it follows, that all prophecies which, by the exactness of their fulfilment, as well as by the complex or singular nature of the circum¬ stances to which they relate, are proved to have pro¬ ceeded, not from mere human conjecture, but from a real foreknowledge, must have been dictated by the Almighty himself ; and further, that a religion which is attested hy such prophecies is a divinely authorized religion. That any system of religion, except that of the Scriptures, has ever been thus attested, no enlightened inquirer will presume to assert. The folly and vanity, mixed up as they were with art and delusion, which distinguished the omens, the auspices, and the oracles, of the ancient Greeks and Romans, are now univers¬ ally acknowledged. And, with respect to Mahometan¬ ism, it does not even pretend to establish its authority either by miracles or by prophecy. Mahomet could direct his hearers to no existing prophecies of which he was the subject, and he was far too prudent, and far too sensible of his own fallibility and imposture, to venture upon any tangible prediction himself : see Proteus's Ev., ch. viii. Rees's Cyclop ., Art. Maho- metantism. How then does this matter stand with Christianity ? 45 Ess. hi.] Prophecies of Jesus. Every reader of the Bible must be aware that our leligion professes to be attested by prophecies. Do the prophecies, by which it is attested, relate to circum¬ stances of such a nature, and is the accomplishment ot such of them as have been fulfilled so complete and accurate, as to lead us to a sound conclusion that they were inspired by the Almighty, and therefore that the religion which they attest is his religion ? A little investigation will enable us to give a satisfactory answer to this interesting inquiry. Jesus Christ himself was a prophet. He did not hesitate to foretel future occurrences of a very extra¬ ordinary and complicated nature; and many of his predictions have been already verified by events. In our Lord’s being betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and scribes, by Judas Iscariot; in his being by them delivered to the Gentiles ; in his beino- mocked, scourged, spitted on, and crucified ; and iS his rising from the dead after three days ; there was much that was singular, complicated, and not to be easily calculated on beforehand. Yet we find, from the harmonious testimony of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that Jesus, during the course of his ministry, predicted all these circumstances in the most explicit terms : Matt, xvi, 21 ; xx, 18 ; Mark x, 33 ; Luke xviii, 31 ; John xvi, 32, &c. It was a circumstance placed far out of the reach of any piobable conjecture, that the zealous Peter should not only deny his Lord, but deny him three times, before the code crew. Yet this circumstance was predicted by our Saviour with a perfect exactness, while he and his disciples were still in a condition of apparent safety, and immediately after a hearty pro¬ fession of fidelity on the part of Peter: Matt, xxvi 33, 34. The effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples 46 Prophecies of Jesus. [Ess. nr. of our Lord, after his ascension, was one of the most striking, and, according to mere natural observation, one of the most improbable events which ever hap¬ pened. This event also was plainly foretold by Jesus : see John xiv, 16 ; xvi, 7 ; Acts i, 5, 8. But, among the prophecies uttered by our Saviour, there is no one so much detailed, or clothed in such impressive language, as that which relates to the fall and desolation of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, the dispersion of the Jews, and finally the end of the world. This remarkable prediction is related by Matthew (ch. xxiv,) Mark (ch. xiii,) and Luke (ch. xxi,) and is in accordance with the affecting expressions addressed by our Lord to Jerusalem or its inhabitants, on two other occasions : see Matt, xxiii, 37, 38; Luke xxiii, 27 — 31. We read that, when the disciples of Jesus pointed out to him the magnificence and extensive structure of the temple, Jesus declared the days to be coming, when that splendid edifice should be utterly destroyed, and not even one stone be left upon another. This declaration gave birth to an inquiry when these things shoulcfibe, and what should he the signs of his coming, and of the end of the world ? In his answer to the question thus addressed to him, our Lord has plainly mentioned some of the principal circumstances which were to precede or accompany the two periods alluded to by his disciplfes — periods which they might probably confuse in their own minds, but which were in fact to be separated by a very long interval. At the first of these periods, the temple and city of Jerusalem were to be destroyed, and the power and coming of the Son of Man to be made manifest, in the punish¬ ment of the rebellious Jews ; and all these things were to take place before the passing away of that very generation. On the arrival of the second period, Ess. hi.] Destruction of J crusalem. 47 the Son of Man was to appear in glory, as the judge of all flesh ; and “ of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,” but God only : Matt, xxiv, 34 — 36. Now, although the consideration of these awful and still future events, which are to take place at the latter of these periods, is obviously placed beyond the scope of our argument, it is enough for our present purpose that the former branch of the prophecy has long since received its exact fulfilment. The various signs which were to precede the de¬ struction of Jerusalem ; viz., the rising up of false Messiahs — the sore persecution and dismay of the Christians — the; wars and rumours of wars among the various factions and petty nations into which Judea and the neighbouring countries were then divided _ the famines, and the earthquakes, and other portents of nature — the preaching of the Gospel in every part of the Roman empire— all these things are declared in the prophecy : and we learn, from Josephus and other authors, that they all took place during that period of forty years which elapsed between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem : vide Gill, on Matt. xxiv. Then came the end ; when the holy city was encompassed with armies, and “ the abomination of desolation” was found “ standing in the holy place” — when that intense suffering was experi¬ enced by the wicked and obstinate Jews, to which the annals of history afford no parallel— when the city was utterly demolished, and not one stone of the temple left upon another— and when, lastly, such of the Jews as fell not by the sword were reduced to a condition of bondage and degradation, and were gradually dispers¬ ed among all nations — the whole of these circumstan¬ ces being in precise and punctual accordance with the same prophetic record. Here, then, was such a pre- 48 Julian. [Ess. hi. diction of a remarkable, complex, and wholly unex¬ pected, series of events, as could arise out of no other source than the foreknowledge of God. It is expressly declared by Jesus, that the days when all these calamities should overtake the Jews were to be the “ days of vengeance.” The calamities in ques¬ tion were appointed in the counsels of divine just¬ ice, as a punishment for that long course of rebellion against their Lord which had marked the history of the Jewish people, and especially for that most aggra¬ vated of their national sins, the rejection, persecution, and crucifixion^of their Messiah. Another purpose, to which this remarkable dispensation appears to have been directed (in conformity with a correspondent pro¬ phecy uttered by our Lord, respecting the approach¬ ing cessation of the Jewish and Samaritan worship, John iv, 21), was, to establish the superiority of the Gospel over the law, by forcing to its termination that ritual system, on which the Jews were placing so dan¬ gerous and untimely a dependence. Under these cir¬ cumstances, it is plain that the rebuilding of the tem¬ ple, which had been thus levelled with the ground, and the restoration of the Jews to their ancient cus¬ toms and privileges, would have been in direct op¬ position to the whole bearing and spirit of the remark¬ able prophecy now under consideration. It was, in all probability, for the very purpose of con¬ tradicting this prophecy (as well as others of the like import) and of thus throwing discredit on the religion of Christ, that the apostate Julian assembled the Jews in their own land, and committed to them, under the command and protection of his favorite Alypius, the task of rebuilding their magnificent temple. That task was eagerly undertaken ; vast sums were set apart for the purpose, and multitudes of persons Were zeal¬ ously engaged in the prosecution of the work. But Ess. hi.] Julian. 49 the work was constantly impeded, and was finally relinquished in despair, in consequence of vehement and lepeated eruptions of fire from the once conse¬ crated mountain of Moriah. This fact is recorded by Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Gregory Nazianzen, three cotemporary Christian writers, whom Gibbon himself allows to be “ respectable witnesses and it is fully confirmed by the explicit and perfectly-unexception- able testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus, an historian Of acknowledged learning and veracity, a cool philoso¬ pher, a personal friend of Julian, and a pagan: lib. xxiii, cap. 1. See Wuvbuvtons Julian — • Gibbon's Rom. Emp. ch. xxiii. Thus was the site of the an¬ cient temple of God, notwithstanding the most power¬ ful human efforts, left to its appointed desolation. Now, whether the phenomenon which then occurred can be justly traced to any second or physical cause, or whether (under circumstances which rendered a miracle highly probable) it is to be regarded as en¬ tirely supernatural, it is in either case impossible not to perceive in this well authenticated fact, a wonder¬ ful display of the wisdom and power of the Deity _ in support of the revealed designs of his own provi¬ dence, and in confirmation of the predictions of the greatest of prophets. 1 “ Et liedt accidentium varietatem sollicita mente praecipiens ; mul- tiplicatos expedition^ apparatus flagranti studio perurgeret : diligentiam tamen ubique dividens, [Julianus] imperiique sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare, ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam templum, quod post multa et interneciva certamina obsiderjte Vespasiano posteaque Tito asgre est expugnatum, instaurare sumptibus cogitabat im- modicis : negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Britannias curaverat pro Prsefectis. Cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius juvardtque provincial rector, metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris assuitibus erumpentes, fecere locum exustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum : h deque modo elemento destinatiiis repellente, cessavit inceptum,” D 50 Hebrew Scriptures. [Ess. nr. Having thus considered some of the most remark¬ able predictions uttered by Jesus Christ, it will be desirable for us, in the second place, to take a viewr of those still more ancient prophecies, which are re¬ corded in the Old Testament — in the sacred books of the Hebrews. Before, howrever, we can properly enter on this branch of our subject, I must premise a few general observations on that important part of Holy Writ. When Ezra had returned with the people from captivity, and had settled with them in their own land, he employed himself, as is generally supposed, in arranging and determining the canon of Scripture ; and the few books which were afterwards written are considered to have been added to the canon by Simon the Just, one of his divinely-authorized successors. Whether, however, the work be rightly attributed to these individuals or not, it is certain that the canon of Hebrew Scripture was formed long before the coming of Christ, and that the sacred books, thus collected together, were classed by the ancient Jews in three divisions — the law, the prophets, and the psalms, or hagiographa. “ The Law ” consisted of the first five books of the Bible, which contain the history of the creation, and of the Lord’s servants for the first 2500 years after it, as well as a detailed account of the whole Mosaic institution ; and which, during the suc¬ cessive ages of the Jewish church, appear to have been uniformly attributed to Moses himself. “ The Prophets ” embraced the book of Job and all the more ancient historical books, as well as those writings which bear the names of these inspired penmen ; for the whole of the works now mentioned were ascribed by the Jews to the Prophets who rose up in succes¬ sion during the several stages of the Israelitish his¬ tory. “ The Psalms lastly, was the general name Ess. in.] Hebrew Scriptures, given to the sacred songs of David, Asaph and others and to the Proverbs, the Ecclesiastes, and the canticles ol Solomon : and to these were added by the Jews un der the general name of Cetubhn, or holy writings,’ the Books of Ruth, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Chronicles • see Pndeaux Conn., fol. edit.vol.i, pp.26I, 262, 452’ Now that these various books of Hebrew Scripture are really of the antiquity which is usually attributed to them, and that those of them which are not ano¬ nymous were written by the rulers and prophets whose names they bear, we may safely conclude, fora variety of reasons. For, in the first place, they were universally esteemed as sacred, and of course also as genuine, by the Jews, at the Christian era ; as we learn from very many passages of the New Testament and from the express testimony of Josephus and Philo • Joseph contra Apion. lib. i, cap. 8 ; Philo. , passim. Secondly, both the historical and prophetical parts of the Jewish Scriptures are largely quoted by both these authors, and also by the Talmudic writers, as well as by Christ and his apostles. Thirdly, they were translated, as a complete canon, into Greek nearly 300 years before the Christian era, and of this version (the well-known Septuagint) we are still in possession. Fourthly, the book of the law was de¬ posited in the archives of the tabernacle and temple from the days of its author, and was on many occa¬ sions publicly read to the people ; and to this sacred deposit appear to have been added, in succession, the writings of David, of Solomon, and of the prophets- see Gray's Key to the Old Test, p. 4. Fifthly, after the captivity, copies of the whole Hebrew Scriptures were multiplied, and both the law and the prophets were regularly read in the Jewish synagogues. And lastly, in the language, in the circumstantiality of the narrative, in the reciprocal adaptation of its several 52 Their Genuineness. [Ess. in. parts, and in various other particulars, we find, in the Old as well as in the New Testament, plain internal indications of a genuine origin ; see Horne's Introd. to the New Test., vol. i, chap, ii, sect. 1. Nor have we any reason to doubt the general cor¬ rectness of the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, as it has come down to us in the present day. On the contra¬ ry, we have sufficient warrants for that correctness, in the careful preservation of these divine writings by the Jews, before the Christian era; and afterwards in the labors of the textual doctors or Masorites, who ela¬ borately employed themselves in ascertaining the read¬ ings, and even in numbering the letters of the several books, see Prideaux Con., vol. i, p. 278 ; in the anci¬ ent translations and paraphrases of the Old Testa¬ ment ; in the early multiplication of copies ; and in the guard which the opposing sects of the Jews, before the coming of Christ, and the Jews and Christians after that era, must have reciprocally maintained, so as to prevent any wilful alteration of the common record. Since the Hebrew Scriptures are thus indisputably genuine, and since, through a long series of ages, they have been so carefully preserved, we may proceed without further hesitation in making our appeal to their contents. Now, there is nothing which more dis¬ tinguishes them, and more clearly indicates their sa¬ cred character, than the comprehensive and varied line of prophecy which runs in a rich vein through all their principal parts. In his dealings with Abraham and his descendants, (directed as those dealings were to the ultimate advantage of mankind in general,) God was pleased to make himself manifest, not merely by the operation of his grace, but by the two undoubted and especial signs of miracles and prophecy ; and it was by these extraordinary means that, notwithstanding the remarkable proneness of the Israelites to rebellion 53 Ess. hi.] Prophecies respecting the Israelites, Sfc. and idolatry, and the powerful opposition of the ene¬ mies of God, revealed religion was maintained in its appointed course, until the time arrived for its diffu¬ sion over the world at large. In the promises of God addressed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their seed should be multiplied as the stars of heaven, and should inherit the land of Palestine, Gen. xxii, 17, &e. &c. — and in those ad¬ dressed to Moses and Joshua, respecting the success of Israel in war, and the expulsion of the Canaanitish nations, Exod. xxiii, 28, & c.- — in the communications made by the dying Jacob to his twelve sons, respect- ing the future condition of the several tribes of which they were the- fathers, Gen. xlix— in the predictions of many singular events which were afterwards to distinguish the history of God’s chosen people ; such as the destruction of Baal’s altar at Bethel, by Josiah, 1 Kings xiii, 2— the invasion of Judea by the Chal¬ deans, Hab. i, &c. &c. — the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xxi, xxxii, 28, &c. — the capti¬ vity of the Jews in Babylon, Jer. xvii, 4, &c.— the cruel treatment, yet peaceable death, of Zedekiah, Jer. xxxiv, 2 5 ; Ezek. xii, 18 — the continuance of a small gleaning or remnant in the land, Isa. xxiv, 13, 14— the deliverance of the Jews from their bondage after seventy years, Jer. xxv, 12— and the building of the city and temple under the auspices of Cyrus, Isa. xliv, 28 in the ancient curse pronounced against Canaan, Gen. ix, 25— in the threats of punishment and destruction issued many years, and sometimes even centuiies, beforehand, against the idolatrous states which surrounded and oppressed the Israelites — in Daniel’s description of the succession of the four great monarchies in all these and many other propecies, and in the gradual yet exact fulfilment of them, the ancient Hebrews were furnished with so many distinct 54 Respecting the Messiah. [Ess. in. evidences that God was the author of their religion, and the conductor of that great scheme of love and providence, of which they were themselves the imme¬ diate objects. As events have continued to unfold themselves, however, these evidences have received a variety of important additions. When we reflect on the still wild and unsocial condition of the wandering children of Ishmael, Gen. xvi, 12; on the testimony of modern travellers, that the site of ancient Tyre is, in the pre¬ sent day, a rock on which the fishermen spread their nets , Ezek. xxvi, 3 — 5; on the curious fact that Babylon, in the fourth century, was converted by the Persians into a park for wild beasts, and that its un¬ certain remains are still traced amidst the habitations of venomous reptiles, Jer. 1, li ; Isa. xiii; on the gra¬ dual sinking down of Egypt into “ the basest of king¬ doms,” Ezek. xxix, 15; and, above all, on the ruin and dispersion of the Jews themselves, who to this very hour are an “ astonishment , a proverb , and a by-word , among all nations ,” Deut. xxviii, — we must confess that we are favoured with accumulated proof of the divine origin of that ancient system of religion, of which Christianity is the crown and consummation. But there are prophecies in the Old Testament of a still higher importance than those to which I have now alluded, and still more properly applicable to the subject of the present Essay, because they afford a direct attestation to the divine origin of Christianity itself. These are the prophecies, of which Jesus Christ, the long-expected Messiah of the Jews, was either the sole or the principal subject. “ Search the Scriptures,” said our Lord to the unbelieving Jews, “ for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me ,” John v, 39; and on another occasion, in reference to that well-known Ess. hi.] Respecting the Messiah. 55 classification of the Old Testament already mentioned, he spoke of the things which were written concerning him in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms: Luke xxiv, 4*4. Accordingly we find that the leading object of that series of prophecies which pervades these several parts of the sacred writ¬ ings of the Hebrews was to reveal to the people of God a great moral or spiritual deliverer , who was to arise in the Lord’s appointed time, not only for their salvation, but for that of the whole world. That such was to be his character, and such the object of his mission— that Christ was to be made manifest for the benefit of mankind in general, and in order to “ destroy the works of the devil,”— was indicated in obscure and general terms by the very first prophecy recorded in Scripture; a prophecy which was delivered immediately after the fall of our first parents, and which declared that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head , Gen. iii, 15 ; and we soon afterwards read of the corresponding promise of God to Abraham, that in his seed, “ all the nations of the earth" should be “ blessed" Gen. xxii, 18. Ihe stock from which the Messiah was to spring was pointed out with a further restriction, and the extensive influence of his scheme of mercy was again adverted to in the prediction of Jacob, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh should come, and that to him should be the gathering of the people, or, as in the Hebrew, of the nations: Gen. xlix, 10. Moses, who was a mediator, a lawgiver, a shepherd of the people, and the meekest of men, predicted of this future ruler of Israel, that he should be like unto himself: Deut. xviii, 15—18. Job spake of Christ under the name of Redeemer, and prophesied that he should stand in the latter days upon the earth : Job xix, 23—2 7. 56 Respecting the Messiah. [Ess. in. This general outline is filled up in the book of Psalms, and in those of both the major and minor prophets, by a great variety of yet more definite de¬ clarations respecting the filiation, the history, the na¬ ture and the offices of the Messiah. In various parts of those sacred writings it is foretold, that this long- expected deliverer should come forth out of the root of Jesse, Isa. xi, 1 ; and out of the family of David, Jer. xxiii, 5 — that his coming should be preceded by the mission of another messenger, who is denomin¬ ated Elijah the prophet, Mai. iii, 1 ; iv, 5, 6 — that he should arise during the continuance of the second tem¬ ple, Hag. ii, 6 — 9 ; and seventy weeks, or four hun¬ dred and ninety years, from a fixed historical period, Dan. ix, 25 — 27 — that he should be born miraculously of a virgin, Isa. vii, 14; and in the town of Bethlehem, Mic. v, 2 — that his condition in life should be one of a very humble description, Isa. liii, 2 — that he should be anointed of the Spirit, and engaged in proclaiming glad tidings, and in comforting the distressed, Isa. xlii, 1 ; lxi, 1 — 4 — that his character should be remarkable for gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, and all-righte¬ ousness, Isa. xi, 1 ; xlii, 1 — 3 — that, on his coming, there should take place miraculous cures of the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the dumb, Isa. xxxv, 3 — 6; nevertheless, that the Jews would refuse to believe in him, Isa. liii, 1 — that he should be despised, rejected, and persecuted of men, Isa. liii, 3, 4 ; Ps. qxviii, 22, 23 — that the rulers should take counsel together against him, Ps. ii, 2 — that he should be betrayed by one of his familiar friends, Ps. xli, 9 — that his flock should be scattered, Zech. xiii, 7 — that he should be led as a Iamb to the slaughter, and be as a sheep, dumb before his shearers, Isa. liii, 7 — that his hands and his feet should be pierced, Ps. xxii, 16 — that he should be cut off, yet not for himself, Dan. ix, 26 — that his Ess. hi.] Connected with Types. 57 body should not see corruption, nor his life be left in the grave, Ps. xvi, 10 2 — that he should ascend into heaven, Ps. lxviii, 18 ; sit at the right hand of the F ather, and be a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek, Ps. cx, 1— 4-^-that he should be the ob¬ ject of faith and allegiance to the Gentiles, Isa. xi, 10. xlii, 1, 7 — and finally, that he should be the good and gracious Shepherd of his people, Ezek. xxxiv, 23 ; and exercise a peaceable and never-ending govern¬ ment over the children of men : Ps. Ixxii ; Isa. ix, 7 ; Dan. vii, 14, &c. In addition to these numerous and principal circum¬ stances, there are predicted in the Old Testament several minor particulars respecting the life, suffer¬ ings, death, and burial, of the Messiah, see Ps. xxii, b 8> 18, Ixix, 21 ; Isa. liii, 9; Zech. ix, 9; and, to crown the whole of their wonderful statement, the pro¬ phets, while they so exactly depict the circumstances of his human nature, and especially his humiliating sufferings and violent death, frequently describe him, nevertheless, as one possessing the name, and exer¬ cising the attributes of Jehovah himself: see Isa. vii, 14, ix, 6, /, xxxv, 1 — 6, xl, 3, 10, 11 ; Jer. xxiii, 5, 6; Zech. ii, 10—13; Mai. iii, 1—3, &c. On the series of predictions now cited, I beg leave to offer two general observations. In the first place, it may be remarked that, in the religion of the ancient Hebrews, the system of pro¬ phecy was very closely connected with the system of types. Not only did many of the ceremonies pre¬ scribed by the Jewish law represent, in a very striking manner, the principal features of the Christian dis- The words in Ps. xvi, 10, rendered “ Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell," may with more propriety be rendered, “ Thou shalt not leave my life, or person, in the grave.’’ 58 Double Application. [Ess. in*- pensation ; but, several of the individuals, whose lives and characters distinguish the page of Jewish history, and especially Moses, David, and Solomon, may justly be regarded as having been, in some respects, perso¬ nal types of the Messiah. There are various passa¬ ges in the New as well as in the Old Testament, which appear to countenance this idea, and from which we may gather, that it was currently received among the Jews; and the probability of its correctness is amply evinced by the correlative points to be observed in the comparison between the types and the antitype. Such being the case, it is by no means surprising, that a few of the prophecies now cited as relating to the Messiah are partially capable of a subordinate ap¬ plication to some typifying person. This is the case more particularly with certain passages in the Psalms, in which David describes the circumstances of his di¬ vine descendant, under the figure or shadow of his own : see, for example , Ps. xvi, xxii, xl, xli, comp. Isa. vii, 14 — 16. It is, however, a very curious and con¬ firming circumstance, that we may almost uniformly observe, in prophecies which are thus capable, to a certain extent, of a double application, particular parts which are totally unsuitable to the type, and which can be explained solely of the antitype. Nor is it to be forgotten, that a considerable proportion of the evangelical prophecies contained in the Old Testa¬ ment are susceptible only of a direct and exclusive ap¬ plication to the Messiah himself. These numerous prophecies, secondly, were uttered by persons who lived in very different ages, occupied a variety of stations, manifested a great diversity of character, and had in general no connexion with one another. Among the prophets whom I have now cited, are to be observed the names of Jacob, Moses, Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Hag- 59 Ess. hi.] Fulfilment of these Prophecies. gai, Zechariah, and Malachi ; and to these several others might he added. And it is worthy of observa¬ tion, that, while they display a general accordance in their descriptions of the Messiah, they severally con¬ tribute to the common stock of information some par¬ ticular circumstances, which serve to distinguish their own predictions from those of others. Thus, for ex¬ ample, Moses mentions the resemblance of the Mes¬ siah to himself; Jacob, his tribe; David, his resur¬ rection; Jeremiah, his family; Isaiah, his virgin mo¬ ther; Ezekiel, his pastoral character; Malachi and Haggai, his appearance in the second temple ; Daniel, the year of his birth ; and Micah, his native city. The prophecies of Christ, recorded in the Old Tes- ment, may be described as so many rays of divine instruction, bearing severally their distinct character¬ istics, passing through a vast diversity of channels, sent forth from their great original at many different periods of time, yet harmonizing and converging in the progress of their course, and in the end meeting to display the fulness of their light in a single focus. During the continuance of the second temple, be¬ fore the sceptre had departed from Judah, at the pre¬ cise tifne predicted by Daniel, — JEsu^was born, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David, at Bethlehem, of a virgin. We find him preceded by a prophet comparable to Elijah — living in a very humble outward condition — anointed of the Holy Ghost — engaged in preaching the Gospel to the poor, in comforting the mourners, and in relieving every species of bodily and mental distress — perform¬ ing nggraculous cures of the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the dumb — meek, gentle, benevolent, faithful, and fulfilling all righteousness — not believed in by the Jews — despised, rejectedj and persecuted of men — betray¬ ed by his familiar friend — forsaken, in the hour of trial, 60 Lock and Key. [Ess. in. by all his followers — led as a lamb to the slaughter — dumb in the presence of his persecutors —nailed by his hands and feet to the cross — cut off, but not for himself — rising from the dead — ascending into heaven, sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high — the object of faith and allegiance to the Gentiles, and gathering the nations unto himself — exercising a spi¬ ritual dominion over the souls of men — fulfilling, in his own circumstances, a variety of minor particulars — and all these things in precise conformity with the predictions of the Old Testament . More especially, in the midst of his humiliations and distresses, and not¬ withstanding the lowliness of his human character, we find him in full agreement with the record, claiming the attributes and honors, displaying the powrers, re¬ ceiving the homage, and denominated by the titles, which appertain only to Jehovah : see Matt, xii, 6 — 8, xviii, 20; John v, 21 — 23, x, 28 — 30, xiv, 9, 23, xvi, 7 ; Rev. ii, 23 . Matt, viii, 3, 8 — 13, comp. Acts, ix, 34; Luke viii, 24; Matt, xii, 25 ; John ii, 24, 25, xvi, 19, 30 ; comp. Rev. ii, 23 ; John xx, 22 . Matt. xiv, 33 ; John ix, 38, xx, 28, 29 . Luke i, 76 ; John i, 1, xx, 28 ; Rom. ix, 5; Rev. xix, 16, xxii, 13. When a lock and key precisely correspond, a pre¬ sumption arises, even when they are of a simple form¬ ation, that they were intended for each other. When, instead of being formed in a simple manner, they are respectively of a curious and complex structure, and nevertheless correspond ; such a presumption is ex¬ ceedingly strengthened. But, when the lock is not Only of a curious and complex structure, but contains such a wonderful combination of parts, that it is abso¬ lutely sui generis, and without parallel — when, among all the keys existing in the world, none present even any slight approach to a correspondent conformation, except one ; and by that one the lock is easily and Ess. nr.] Recapitulation and Conclusion. 61 exactly fitted— then is all doubt on the subject dis¬ carded, and it becomes a moral certainty that the lock and the key proceeded from the same master-hand, and really appertain to each other. N ow this is a fami¬ liar, but precise, representation of the proof afforded by a comparison between the Old and New Testaments, that the predictions respecting Christ, which we have now been considering, were true prophecies — that God himself was the author of these prophecies, as well as of the dispensation by which they were fulfilled. Let us, then, briefly sum up our whole argument. Correct inferences respecting future events are often drawn from analogy by men ; but there is every rea¬ son to believe that the future is actually known only by that Being who has no counsellor, and who orders the course of events according to his own will. Prophecies, which, by the nature of the circum¬ stances to which they relate, as well as by their fufil- ment, are proved to have arisen from foreknowledge, must therefore be traced to God as their Author. Several prophecies, to which this description per¬ fectly applies, were uttered by Jesus Christ. A great many more, of the same character, are contained in those genuine ancient books which compose the Old Testament. All these prophecies, therefore, have originated with God ; and, since those among them, of which Jesus Christ was the subject, as well as those which he ut¬ tered himself, are plainly to be regarded as so many direct attestations of the Christian revelation, we are again brought to the conclusion, that Christianity is THE RELIGION OF GOD. ESSAY IV. ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. Since a knowledge of history and a certain degree of general literary attainment are necessary, in order to our forming a complete view of the external evi¬ dences of Christianity, and since such knowledge and attainment are necessarily placed out of the reach of a considerable portion of society, we ought to be very thankful that there are other evidences of the divine origin of our religion, which, to the sincere inquirer, in every condition of life, are matter of observation, and, to all true Christians, matter of experience. These are usually denominated, the internal evidences of Christianity. Simple as the Christian religion is found to be in its operation, and easily understood as it is (so far as relates to its practical purposes) by persons of very limited mental cultivation, it is, in fact, a complex system, a scheme made up of numerous parts. He, therefore, who would unfold the internal evidences of our religion in all their interesting detail, must exa¬ mine every essential article which it proposes to our faith, every distinct feature of its law of practice, every single motive which it supplies to action, and every particular channel through which it influences the heart : and he must endeavour to show that all the several parts of this one great system are worthy Ess. iv.] Moral Effects of our Religion . 63 of the wisdom of God, and adapted to the spiritual wants of weak and degenerate man. Since, however, it would be impossible to comprise within the proper limits of one of these Essays so extensive a discussion, I shall attempt little more, on the present occasion, than to survey some of the principal moral effects pro¬ duced by Christianity as a whole . For, although the divine origin of this scheme of religion may be traced, either in the unrivalled excellence of its moral code, or in the strength and harmony of its doctrines, and in their analogy with the known provisions of nature and providence, it is always to be remembered, that the moral effects of Christianity are, through, the me¬ dium of faith and obedience, the result of its doc¬ trines and precepts combined . Before, however, we enter into the consideration of these effects, it ought to be clearly understood, that mere pretenders to Christianity have little or no con¬ nexion with our argument — that our views must be directed exclusively to those persons who have re¬ ceived revealed truth with cordiality, and who, with¬ out making reserves in favour of their own perverse inclinations, have really submitted their hearts to its sanctifying and saving influence. Such persons were the primitive Christians, whose firm faith and devot¬ ed and innocent lives have been declared and recorded, even by their enemies : vid. Plinii Epist. lib x, ep. 97. And such also, whatsoever be their peculiar denomi¬ nation, and notwithstanding their many infirmities, are the humble, peaceable, and unobtrusive, folio v/ers of a crucified Redeemer, even in the present day. That it is at once fair and necessary to premise this distinction, a very slight degree of reflection may con¬ vince us. If the wheels of my watch are clogged with dust— if an untutored workman, in his Hi-directed at¬ tempts to repair it, has added to it some fresh spring 64 As a Whole and Unimpaired. [Ess. iv. or pivot, foreign to the true principles of its structure, and has thus destroyed the order and beauty of the machine, and prevented the useful regularity of its movements — in such case, the effects produced by the instrument will afford a very imperfect proof, or no proof at all, of the skill of its original fabricator. But let the wheels be cleansed from the dust, and let all extraneous additions be removed, and the nice preci¬ sion with which it will now indicate the progress of time will imifiediately afford an ample and unanswer¬ able evidence, that he was indeed skilful. And thus it is also with Christianity. Like every other moral or civil institution, this great scheme of righteousness is liable, in the hands of man, to very considerable abuse. If we are to look at its effects where it has a merely nominal operation, or where it is obstructed with prejudice, loaded with superstition, or perverted by selfishness and passion, there can be no probability of our being able to trace in those effects any thing more than very partial indications of the wisdom from which it originated. Much less shall we form any just apprehension of that wisdom, if we follow the ex¬ ample of Gibbon and other modern infidels, who ap¬ pear to try Christianity, not by the consequences of its genuine principles, but solely by the fruits of many depraved affections and superstitions, which, although they may have found a place among the professors of our religion, are in fact totally opposed to those prin¬ ciples, and are known to have no other origin than the folly and wickedness of the human heart. Bub if "re consider the Christian system in its genuine purity, and in its native and unimpeded operation — if we re¬ flect on its principles, as they stand recorded in the unsophisticated volume of Scripture, and trace the effects of them where they are really received into the heart — then indeed we shall find abundant cause to Godliness. 65 Ess. iv.] believe, that Christianity lias proceeded from a Being of perfect benevolence and skill. Let us then proceed to examine a few of the prin¬ cipal particulars which appertain to this branch of evidence. I. Christianity is the instrument by which mankind are brought into the exercise of those dis¬ positions and duties which reason teaches us to be especially required towards the Almighty himself. It is generally allowed by such persons as confess the existence and unity of God (whether they are believers in the Christian revelation or otherwise,) that he is a Being not only of infinite knowledge, wisdom, and power, but of the highest moral perfec¬ tions. A comprehensive view even of merely natural religion leads to an easy admission of the declarations of Scripture, that God is just, holy, true, benevolent, and bounteous. Justice is, in many respects, legibly imprinted on the course of providence, as are benevo¬ lence and bounty on the contrivances of nature ; and the truth and holiness of the Deity are powerfully evinced (even where the knowledge of an outward re¬ velation has never penetrated) by the internal opera¬ tions of that universal principle, which condemns man for iniquity, and is found to be a true and swift wit¬ ness for God, in the souls of his reasonable creatures. Certain it is, however, that these moral attributes of the Creator and Governor of men may be traced in some of the declarations of ancient heathen philoso¬ phy, as well as in the frequent confessions of the champions of modern infidelity. Such, then, being the acknowledged characteristics of our heavenly Father, it is unquestionably our reason¬ able service to trust in his goodness, to live in his fear, to love him with the whole heart, to worship him with true devotion of spirit, to obey his law, and to seek to promote his glory : and yet it is a fact, to 66 Godliness. [Ess. iv. which the history of past ages and present observation bear alike the most decisive testimony, that by man¬ kind, in their unregerterate condition, this reasonable service is, to a very great extent, set aside and neg¬ lected. We are prone to depend upon many a broken reed — but in an omnipresent and merciful Deity we place no real confidence. We are surrounded by numerous objects of our fear ; but among these objects a very subordinate place is occupied by Him who searches the hearts and the reins, and who punishes for iniquity. Our affections towards the creatures of God are fervent and often inordinate, but towards the munificent Creator, from whom all beauty and loveli¬ ness spring, our feelings are very generally those of cold and careless indifference. We may be so civilized as to be delivered from the senselesafiadoration of images of wood and stone ; but we still find idols to worship, on which are fixed the covetousness, pride, evil con¬ cupiscence, and other depraved passions of our own hearts. Finally, in the eager pursuit after our own glory (as we fondly imagine it to be), we are accustomed to forget that infinite Being, from whom we have received all our talents — from whom all true glory emanates, and in wdiom alone it must ever centre. Such are the dispositions, and such is the conduct of unregenerate man towards Him, in whom he lives and moves, and has his being. But Christianity, considered as a sys¬ tem consisting of both doctrines and precepts, and applied by faith to the heart — that is to say, compre¬ hensive and vital Christftnty — is the means of so trans¬ forming him, that, in the frame of his soul, as well as in the regulation of his conduct, he is brought to “ render unto God the things that are God's" Let us briefly examine, in this point of view, the character and deportment of the devout yet unpre¬ tending Christian. Not only is his understanding Godliness. 67 Ess. iv.] convinced that God exists, and that he is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” but he lives in habit¬ ual dependence of soul upon the fidelity, the care, and the mercy, of his Heavenly Father. It is by faith that he draws near to God, and receives all the benefits of a divinely-authorized religion ; and on the other hand, the more that religion operates upon him, the more is his faith in God enlarged and confirmed ; the more entirely is he prepared to obey the exhortation of the prophet, “ Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength.” The man who is brought by the operation of vital religion to a just apprehension of the purity and just¬ ice of the Deity, as well as of his own sinfulness, is prepared to offer to the Lord the acceptable sacrifice of a humble and penitent spirit. While he is pre¬ served in this condition of sensibility and humiliation, there is nothing which he so much dreads as to offend against the law, and to expose himself to the judg¬ ments of the God of holiness. Thus is he brought to walk with vigilance in the fear of the Lord, which is described by the sacred writers, as “clean,” as “ the beginning of wisdom,” and as “ a fountain of life.” Yet, this fear is accompanied by an ardent love towards the Supreme Being. “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.'* Such was the first and greatest commandment pro¬ mulgated by the law, and confirmed by the Gospel — a commandment which, in itself, forms one of the most glorious and distinguishing features of the reli¬ gion of the Bible — and to this commandment the true Christian is enabled to render a ready and effec¬ tive obedience. When he becomes impressed, through the medium of revealed religion, with a sense of the intrinsic perfections and absolute loveliness of the divine 68 Godliness. [Ess. iv. character, the natural consequence is, that he loves God. But, how is our love for the Deity inflamed and strengthened, how is it invested with the holy ardour of gratitude, when Christianity has taught us the lesson, that “God hath first loved us” — that innumerable blessings are showered down upon us from the Author of all good, and that the Son of God himself condescended to assume our nature, and die on the cross, in order that we might live ? The faith, fear, and love, of which we have spoken, are the true preparation for the duties of worship. The Christian who is brought under the influence of these dispositions towards his Creator will ever be found to worship God in spirit and in truth. While he is careful not to neglect those outward duties of •worship, which he may consider to be prescribed, he is no longer satisfied either with the bare performance of appointed ceremony, or with the services of the lip which have no corresponding feelings in the heart. He communes with God in spirit. He offers himself a living sacrifice to his Lord. He withholds not the heart-felt tribute of thanksgiving and praise, and, above all, he lives the life of prayer. Nor is the spiritual worship of the true Christian confined to those acts of devotion, in which he now experiences a delight, and exercises a diligence, foreign from all Lis former habits and dispositions. For such acts are but one connected part of that steady and practical allegiancei^Sjjffards God, which now distinguishes his whole life and conversation. Under a sense of the providential goodness of the Deity he is taught, even in the most painful circumstances, to submit with pious resignation to the will of God. And in the settled conviction that he is not his own, but “ bought with a price,” he devotes himself with simple and dili¬ gent obedience to the service of his divine Master. Ess. iv. Personal and Social Virtue. 69 Finally, while he is fully aware that to himself belong shame and confusion of face, the true Christian heartily desires and earnestly promotes that good and great end, for which he was created — the glory of God. IE Chi istianity is the instrument by which mankind are brought into a conformity with the moral attributes of God. Whatsoever plausible theories may be formed among men, respecting the virtue and excellence of their own nature, the sober voice both of history and of experience declares, with a clearness which to the impartial mind can scarcely fail to be convincing, that man without divine grace is, to a very considerable degree, an immoral being. While he neglects those duties which are more immediately required towards God himself, he is lamentably prone to be unjust, untrue, impure, oi unmerciful. In the fall of our first parents from that moral-image of God, in which they were created, the Scriptures reveal to us the cause of this general depravation ; but, without any further consideration, at present, of the source of the evil, let it be remem¬ bered that Christianity— unsullied and vital Christi¬ anity— is the means by which that evil is remedied, and the moral image of God restored to mankind. A full acknowledgment of the infinite disparity between God and man—- of the perfection of the for¬ mer, and of the innumerable infirmities of the latter- must indeed form a feature in every sound system of ethics and theology; but moral qualities will ever be found to maintain their own unvarying tendencies. Holiness, justice, truth, and benevolence, whether they are regarded as the essential attributes of the Creator, 01 as the borrowed excellences of the creature, are Still the same in their nature. As, then, the face of a man is seen reflected in the mirror, so are the moral attributes of the Deity seen reflected in the conduct 70 After the Pattern of Christ. [Ess. iv. and deportment of the real Christian. Unworthy and fallible as he is, and liable as he knows himself to be to fall into some of the many snares which are placed around him by his spiritual enemy, he has, nevertheless, submitted with sincerity to the operation of that Gospel, which is, “the power of God unto salvation.” And now, noth withstanding his remaining corruptions, the general effect produced in him by the work of religion is this — that, in the purity of his heart, in the holiness of his life and conversation, in the integrity of his words and actions, in the activity of his benevolence, in his gentleness, kindness, long- suffering and forbearance, in his love towards the whole family of man — he presents to our view a real and beautiful conformity with the moral characteristics of that omnipresent Deity, whom he fears, loves, and serves. It must indeed be acknowledged that a cloud is too often cast over the two propositions which I have now ventured to state, by the lamentable imperfections even of sincere Christians. So easily do we yield to the temptations with which we are surrounded, and so prone are we to be superficial in the pursuit of our re¬ ligious duties, that the pure light of truth, which ought to shine in our works, to the glory of our heavenly Father, is very liable to become obscured and tarnish¬ ed. Nevertheless, our argument will still be found to rest on a solid basis ; for these imperfections, like those grosser defects and perversions already alluded to, are obviously to be traced, not to Christianity, but to the lingering corruptions of the human heart, which have not yet been subjected to its sanative influence. Chris¬ tianity itself is always the same, and its tendency to¬ wards the production of those admirable consequences which I have endeavoured to describe, is perpetual — invariable. Here it will be seasonable to notice one of 71 Ess. iv.] Happiness. the most glorious features of the Christian system, and one of the strongest internal evidences which it pre¬ sents to us of a divine origin ; namely, that, in the life and character of Jesus Christ himself, as recorded in the New Testament, we have a perfect pattern of those moral effects which Christianity is intended and calcu¬ lated to produce. In Him there was no spot or blem¬ ish whatsoever; no sin either in intention or action- but a perfect piety, purity, and charity ; a plenary exl erase of those dispositions, and an absolutely fault¬ less performance of those duties which are required in Christians towards God, towards themselves, and to¬ wards their fellow-men. Christ is denominated, by way of supereminence, the image of God ; and’the more we are subjected to the influence of his holy re¬ ligion, the more completely is that image transfused into ourselves- the greater is our ability to obey that wonderful precept of our divine lawgiver : “ Be ye therefore perfect , even as your Father which is in hea¬ ven is perfect." III. Christianity is the instrument by which mankind are introduced to real happiness. Men, in their natural condition, are not only ungod¬ ly and vicious, but, in various respects, unhappy. The moral disorders which abound in the heart, and which are perpetually displaying themselves in the transact¬ ions of men, seldom fail, even in this life, to be produc¬ tive, in some form or other, of an equivalent measure of suffering and misery. It is probable, indeed, that whatever of pain, perplexity, and affliction, is endured by our species, may all be traced, either directly or indiiectly to these moral disorders. Now, since Chris¬ tianity is the means by which such disorders are re¬ medied, so it is also the means of procuring for man¬ kind a real and substantial happiness. That this position is true of genuine Christianity, 72 Happiness. [Ess. iv. the impartial observer will readily admit. The real Christian is a centre of happiness in the communty to which he belongs. His benevolence, his forbearance, his love, his absence of selfishness, all tend to the peace and comfort of those who surround him ; and, were the principles which actuate his life and conversation really diffused through the whole society of mankind, the causes of mutual disquietude, of oppression, rob¬ bery, confusion, and bloodshed, would entirely cease. Even where Christianity is very imperfectly practised* its effect in augmenting the social happiness of men is open to the most common observation. In the allevi¬ ations of the hospital, in the mitigations of the method of war, in the place given in the scale of society to fe¬ males, in the general decency of manners, and in the sacred character of the connubial tie — advantages which were comparatively little known even to the most civilized nations of heathen antiquity — we per¬ ceive so many proofs of the tendency of Christianity to augment the happiness of men — a tendency which would unquestionably be carried forward to comple¬ tion, did we yield to the religion of our Redeemer its full and legitimate sway. But, the happiness produced by Christianity be¬ comes still more conspicuous, when we consider its operation on individuals who are really subjected to the influence of the Gospel. That Christians are to live, during their present state of existence, without a great deal of suffering, it cannot of course be my in¬ tention to assert. They are, like other men, exposed to bodily pains and temporal afflictions ; they have of¬ ten to mourn over their own transgressions, and over the iniquities which prevail in the world around them ; and it cannot be expected that they should be able to deny themselves, to take up their daily cross, and to mortify every vain and ungodly desire, without under- Ess. iv.] Joys of Heaven. 73 going a considerable degree of mental uneasiness and conflict. Nevertheless, the true Christian has many sources of substantial happiness, which are all his own. Aware as he is of his entire unworthiness, and of his many sins, he has cast his burthen on the Lord, and can often rejoice in the humble confidence that his ini¬ quity is pardoned, his guilt cleansed away in the blood of Christ ; and thus he enjoys a true peace with God. Unable in liis own strength to resist the temptations which surround him, or to walk in the path of virtue and religion, he has the happiness to know that the grace of Jesus Christ is “ sufficient” for him— that the strength of his Redeemer is made perfect in weakness. Exposed as he may be to tribulation, persecution, or mental conflict, he still finds rest and satisfaction in submission to the divine will; and he is comforted by the settled conviction that all these sufferings are the appointed means of his further purification, and are ^intended to work out for him an incomparably greater joy. And to this conviction is not unfrequently added that lively sense of the love of God, which spreads a delightful calm over his mind, and constitutes in itself the purest of pleasures. Lastly, for him even death is depiived of much of its bitterness and terror; for he is in possession of satisfying reasons for regarding it as the termination of every pain and sorrow, and as the sure introduction to never-ending peace. The happiness of the true Christian, therefore, even in the present life, is of a very solid character. It is such as results from having his sins forgiven, his spi¬ ritual wants supplied, his moral diseases cured, his pains alleviated, his doubts and fears removed, his soul brought into peaceful communion with God, and his hopes, at times, full of immortality. But our view of the happiness procured for individuals through the E 74 Christianity Originally Perfect, [Ess. iv. medium of vital Christianity would be short and ina¬ dequate indeed, did we exclude from it that eternal fe¬ licity, which is represented to us in the Scriptures as “the gift of God through Jesus Christ,” and in com¬ parison with which both the sorrows and the joys of this period of our probation sink into an almost total insignificance. We cannot, indeed, make a full use of this branch of the subject, in the present argument, because our assurance of the reality of this eternal future depends on the truth of Christianity ; and the truth of Christi¬ anity is that which we are endeavouring to prove. Nevertheless, it is a powerful internal evidence of the divine origin of our religion, that the heavenly state of being, of which it offers us the prospect, is no ely- sium of sensual delights, such as superstition has pro¬ posed, and such as it is perfectly natural for man to imagine ; but a condition of absolute purity and spiri¬ tuality, which may be described as the 'proper element of the refined and renovated soul, and into which the soundest reason must convince us that nothing defiled can ever enter. Such then are the effects produced on mankind by vital Christianity ; but before I venture on an inference from these premises, I must request the reader’s atten¬ tion to a few general observations, which have an im¬ portant connexion with our course of reasoning. It is, in the first place, a very striking and con¬ firming circumstance, that, since its promulgation by Jesus Christ and his apostles, that efficacious moral system which we have now been contemplating has continued absolutely unimproved. Sciences which ori¬ ginate in the exertion of human intellect, although pro¬ bably never brought to perfection, are for the most part distinguished by a perpetual series of progressive changes. As the powers of man are enlarged by Ess. iv.] Novel , and Extraordinary . 75 advancing cultivation, new discoveries are added to those of former days, and every succeeding generation finds, in the recorded acquirements of its predecessor, a vantage ground, by standing on which it is the better prepared for yet farther extending the boundaries of knowledge. But Christianity, regarded as a moral science, was promulgated by its divine author and his disciples, in a condition of perfection. To all the ends which it proposes, it is so exactly adapted, as to be capable (as far as appears to our limited compre¬ hension) of no amelioration ; and, although probably there is no subject in the world which has engaged the thoughts of so great a multitude of wise and serious persons, including many gifted with the highest intellectual powers, this science alone, of all those which have claimed the attention of mankind, has con¬ tinued entirely stationary. I am aware that the rude hand of man has, at various times, either disfigured the sacred fabric of divine truth by unsightly and in¬ congruous ornaments, or has endeavoured to deprive it of some of those fundamental parts which are essential to its maintenance ; but, to that pure and unsophisti¬ cated system of religion and morals which was taught to mankind by the Son of God and his apostles, the profoundest reflections of a thousand uninspired theo¬ logians have added no improvement. Perfect as original Christianity appears to be, con¬ sidered as a system directed to the production of moral consequences, its perfection, in the second place, is the more indicative of a divine origin, because many of the parts of which it consists are extraordinary, novel, and such as human philosophy could never have imagined. This observation applies with irresistible force to the whole doctrine of the redemption of man¬ kind, through the incarnation, sufferings, death, resur¬ rection, ascension, and intercession of the Son of God; 76 Universally Applicable [Ess. iv. as well as to the application of that doctrine to prac¬ tice, through the medium of faith working by love. These very leading points in our religion are placed far beyond the compass of mere human invention ; and yet they are the very points on which, above all others, depends the practical and moral efficacy of the whole system. Let it be observed, in the third place, that the Christian religion is of universal applicability to man- liind. The conditions, characters, and circumstances of men present to our view an almost infinite diversi¬ ty ; but to the spiritual wants of them all our religion is perfectly suited. Whatever station we may occupy, whatever natural character we may possess, and in whatever circumstances we may be placed, true Chris¬ tianity will ever be effectual in bringing us to a real peace with God, and to a just performance of all our personal and relative duties. If it he objected that even nominal Christianity is at present spread over a very limited portion of the globe, the reply is obvious — that this fact is to be at¬ tributed, not to any want of suitableness in the Chris¬ tian system to those who receive it, but to extrinsic causes, which have hitherto prevented or opposed its diffusion. And if it be further objected, that even in those parts of the world which are denominated Chris¬ tian, the vital influence of our religion is manifested in comparatively few persons ; we may remark again, that this fact is plainly to be ascribed, not to any defect either in the love of God or in the plan which he has instituted for our salvation, but to the depravity and perverseness of men, who are prone to cleave to their diseased condition, and who prefer darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Were there discovered a medicine, which, when taken, would cure every species of bodily disease in men of every pos- Ess. iv.] to Mankind. 77 sible description, it is evident that this remedy might justly be described as of universal applicability to mankind, although it might be known only to a few, and although it might be heartily received and carried into use by fewer still. Such a panacea for every species of spiritual disease, and for all sorts of men, is the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour ; and, although we may mourn over the obstructions which impede its dissemination, and counteract its influence, yet, if we reason aright on the subject, we cannot refuse to al¬ low that it is free from all exclusive tendencies — -that, in its scope, purpose, and practical operation, it is en¬ tirely and equally adapted to the whole human race. As it is true, in the last place, that the practical consequences detailed in the present Essay never fail to be the result of genuine Christianity, so it is also true, to a very great extent, that they are the result Chiistianity alone. Evident it must be, to every candid and serious observer, that neither heathenism, nor Mahometanism can pretend, with the least colour of truth, to the production of these admirable effects; for the former has been very generally accompanied by the grossest absurdities and corruptions ; and the latter is so far from being morally curative in its ten¬ dency, that, under particular circumstances, it openly fans both the violent and the voluptuous passions of our fallen nature. Neither can we perceive in the comparatively pure religion of the Jews (now they have rejected their own Messiah) the practical opera¬ tion of those powerful principles, by which many of them were once enabled to glorify the God of their fathers, and to exalt among men the standard of true piety and virtue. In reference to that remarkable people, whatever allowance we may be disposed to make for them, it is impossible not to perceive that the stream of vital religion has left its old channel dry , 78 Christianity Unrivalled. [Ess. iv. and has now diffused itself among the many Gentile nations, which have received the Gospel of their Re¬ deemer. It is by no means my intention to assert that, in the various moral and religious systems with which I am now comparing Christianity, there is to be found no portion of truth or rectitude. It is to he remembered, that mankind enjoyed an original revelation from God, of which faint traces are stilhsrery generally to be ob¬ served — that the spirit of the Lord, by which his law is written on the hearts of his creatures, is not con¬ fined in its operations, and may communicate light to the souls of men, independently of any external revelation — and lastly, that where Christianity is not received, it may still have obtained an indirect influ¬ ence, and may be the real source of many correct and useful sentiments. On these several grounds, therefore, we are not to he surprised when we trace, among some uncivilized heathen tribes, a plain recognition of the existence and unity of the Deity ; nor when, among the most corrupt idolators, we mark an acknowledgment of sin, and a pervading sense of their need of an atonement ; nor when, in the pages of ancient Greek and Roman phi¬ losophy, we meet with some true theology, and with many moral principles which Christians approve as their own ; nor when we find modern infidels pro¬ claiming a pure theism, and Mahomet and his follow¬ ers teaching the unity of God, and the doctrine of future retribution. In all these cases, the actual moral effect produced will be found to hear an analogy to the proportions of truth and error, of good and evil, of which the several systems in question are composed. In the purest of them, such as those of the ancient Platonic philosophers, and of the untutored American Indians, [Ess. iv. Recapitulation. 79 there may, in my opinion, be observed no unambigu¬ ous traces of a certain measure of divine illumination; but still there is a total absence of the grand peculi¬ arities of the Gospel, and a corresponding incomplete¬ ness in the moral result. In Mahometanism and in modern infidelity, as well as in Judaism, as it is now maintained, there is an intentional and determined omission of those grand peculiarities ; and the moral result appears to be this — that, notwithstanding the profession of a belief in one God, the heart is not mended, but generally continues in its original condi¬ tion of barrenness, hardness, and corruption. Lastly, with respect to the gross and varied idolatry which pievails over so large a portion of the globe, it appears to be productive of no other moral consequence than that of a deep and almost universal degradation. Now, this is the strength and perfection of Christi- anity, that it omits every thing to be found in other moral and religious systems, which has any evil tend¬ ency ; recognizes, embodies, and completes, all that is really good; and adds certain vast particulars of truth, absolutely peculiar to itself, by means of which it operates with a force altogether new on the souls of men, and obtains a moral efficacy for the production of piety, virtue, and happiness, which is impeded by no intrinsic counteraction— -which is at once unrivalled and unalloyed. In reverting to the heads of the present Essay, we are to recollect that we have been considering the effects produced in real believers by pure Christianity, considered as a whole, consisting of both preceptive and doctrinal parts. These effects are as follows that unregenerate man, who is ever prone to be un¬ godly and immoral, and is therefore ever liable to be miserable ; is so transformed, that he is brought into the pious exercise of those dispositions and duties 80 Recapitulation and [Essr iv. which are required towards the Almighty — that, in his personal character, and in his conduct towards his fellow-creatures, he becomes conformed to the image of his Creator, in imitation of the perfect pattern presented to him in Christ — and lastly, that he is introduced to substantial happiness, and to the hope of such a heavenly inheritance, as consists with the purity and perfection of God. We have, moreover, found occasion to remark that Christianity, regarded as a moral science, was revealed by our Lord and his apostles, in so perfect a state, as never to have re¬ ceived, since that period, the slightest improvement — that its characteristic features are, in various respects, novel, and such as human philosophy could not have imagined — that, however opposed and obstructed by circumstances, it is of universal applicability to man¬ kind — and finally, that, on a fair comparison with other schemes of religion, it is found to contain all which they have of good, to reject all which they have of evil, and, in point of moral efficacy, to stand unequalled and alone. Now, what is the inference which the candid and serious reasoner must deduce from these premises ? In my opinion, it is clearly this : that so extraordinary, so efficacious, so incomparable, a system — a system which, in its practical operation, is found to be entirely worthy of God, and exactly adapted to men, cannot be of earthly origin — that to suppose it to have been invented by a few illiterate fishermen, is to insinuate a proposition than which nothing more monstrous has ever been palmed on human credulity — that, in point of fact, like the beautiful and perfect works of nature, it can justly be ascribed only to the power, the wisdom, and the love, of the Deity himself. Thus do we once more arrive at the sound conclu¬ sion, that Christianity is the religion of God. And Conclusion. 81 Ess. iv.] since it is impossible that the God of all truth, in effecting the moral reformation, as well as the happi¬ ness, of his reasonable creatures, should employ a mere illusion, we may rest unalterably assured that Christianity, although it may contain some mysteries which we have no capacities to fathom, is true — that its doctrines are real, its hopes substantial, its promises sure, its joys unfading and eternal. ESSAY V. ON THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. Satisfied, as I trust we now are, of the divine origin of that holy religion, of which the Law was the introduction, and the Gospel the perfect revelation, it still remains for us to examine a very important ques¬ tion ; namely, whether the record of our religion, con¬ tained in the Old and New Testaments is also to be regarded as of divine origin — in other words, whether the Holy Scriptures were given by inspiration of God? It is much to be regretted that some persons, who acknowledge the truth of Christianity, nevertheless appear to entertain unsatisfactory views, or are at least perplexed with considerable doubt and obscurity, in reference to this subject. For my own part, I have long been persuaded that the important question now proposed may safely be answered, as the generality of Christian theologians have long been accustomed to answer it, with a clear affirmative. The grounds of that persuasion I shall endeavour concisely to unfold in the present Essay. We are, in the first place, in possession of a strong antecedent probability of the divine authority of the Scriptures. The principal object of the revelations acknowledged by Christians was to unfold certain doctrines, and to promulgate certain moral principles. These doctrines and principles were, for the most part, Ess. v.] Antecedent Probability. 83 intended for permanent and general use among men ; and Scripture is the principal means appointed, in the providence of God, by which they are handed down from generation to generation, and by which a know¬ ledge of them is diffused over the world at large. Now, had the writers on whom it devolved to com¬ pose the various parts of this Sacred Volume been left to the unassisted exercise of their natural powers, and to the frailty of mere human memory, the revelations themselves, however certainly divine in their origin, would have become comparatively useless : the mes¬ sage of God could not fail to have been obscured and impaired by the infirmity and ignorance of those who delivered it ; nor could we, under such circumstances, have been required to yield to it (especially in its deep¬ er and more mysterious parts) that implicit belief and obedience, without which no one can participate in the blessings and privileges of true religion. Since, then, in order to the accomplishment of those ends to which revelation declares itself to be directed, the in¬ spiration of the record, as one link in the chain, ap¬ pears, on very obvious principles, to have been abso¬ lutely indispensable, and since, in the works of the Deity, there is no shortness and inconsistency, it must evidently be deemed in a very high degree probable, a priori , that the record was really inspired. In considering the positive evidences, by which this antecedent probability is confirmed, and by which the divine authority of the Bible is, in my opinion, ascer¬ tained, I shall commence with the Old Testament. I. We have already found occasion to remark, that, before the coming of the Messiah, the Hebrew Scrip¬ tures had been formed into a canon, were carefully preserved in the archives of the temple, and were pub¬ licly read in the synagogues of the Jews. Now, it is certain that the Sacred Volume, which was the object 84 Old Testament. [Ess. v. of so much care and attention among that people, was universally considered by them to be of divine origin and authority. The reverence with which the early Jews regarded the Hebrew Scriptures was evinced, not only by the titles which they applied to them, such as “ the books of holiness,” “ the holy thing of the Lord,” but also by certain practices of a ceremonial nature. It was their custom to kiss the Bible on opening and shutting it, and ever to place it at the top of all other books ; nor was it considered lawful to have recourse to it with unwashen hands : see Leusden, Philol. Hebr., diss. i, sect. 1. Philo, the Jewish philosopher, who was cotemporary with Christ, and was deeply versed in the books of the Old Testament, styles them, in va¬ rious parts of his works, the sacred writings, the ora¬ cle of God; and in his numerous quotations from both the historical and prophetical parts of the Bible, he very generally notices the divine authority of that which he cites. Josephus also, in his work against Apion, has written on this important subject, in very decisive terms : “ These writings,” he says, in speak¬ ing of the Hebrew Scriptures, “contain an account of all time, and are justly held to be divine. It is proved, by experience, in what degree we have faith in the writings which belong to us ; for, although so long a period has now elapsed since they were composed, no one has been so daring as to add any thing to them, or to take any thing away from them. But, it is a common principle, imbibed by all the Jews from their very birth, to consider them as the doctrines of God, to abide by them, and, if need be, willingly to die for them : ” lib. i, cap. 8. That the sentiments thus prevalent among the early Jews respecting the divine authority of the Old Testament were correct, appears from the testimony of Jesus Christ and his apostles — a testimony which Ess. v.] Testimony of Jesus Christ. 85 relates to so plain a subject, which is so worked into the Gospel narrative, and which is so frequently and variously given, that its validity cannot be reasonably disputed by any persons who have already admitted that the New Testament is genuine and authentic, and that Christianity is the religion of God. The declarations of Jesus Christ, in reference to such a point, must he fully admitted to be true by all who acknowledge his divine mission ; and, with regard to the apostles, without any consideration, in the present stage of our argument, of the fact of their inspira¬ tion, it is only reasonable to conclude, that they de¬ rived their doctrine on the subject from that celestial teacher, to whose service they were entirely devoted. Our Lord, in his discourses, and the evangelists and apostles, in their writings, have made frequent mention of the Scriptures ; and it must be evident, to every attentive reader of the New Testament, that, when they employed this term, they did not refer to writings in general, but solely to that particular collec¬ tion of writings which was held sacred by the Jews, and which, by way of pre-eminence, was so denominated. Now, from the manner in which they quoted from the Scriptures, it is easy to perceive that Jesus and his disciples fully coincided with the Jews, to whom, for the most part, they addressed themselves, respect¬ ing the divine authority of these sacred books. On various occasions, and more especially when his own person, character, and history, were the subjects of discussion, the Lord Jesus was accustomed to appeal to the contents of the Old Testament, as affording an unquestionable evidence of the truth. It was the Scriptures, he declared, which testified of himself : John v, 39. “ These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,” said he to his disciples, “that all things must be fulfilled which were 86 Testimony of Jesus Christ [Ess. v. written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scrip¬ tures : ” Luke xxiv, 44, 45 ; see also Matt, xxi, 4 2. xxvi, 54, & c. Not only, indeed, did our Lord eluci¬ date, by the declarations of the Old Testament, the events which were then occurring, but sometimes he described the events themselves, as happening for the very purpose that the Scriptures might be fulfilled : see John xv, 25, xvii, 12; comp. Matt, viii, 17, &c. Nor was it merely to the statements of the Old Test¬ ament, respecting himself, that Jesus appealed as pro¬ phetically true, and therefore of divine origin. There were occasions on which he cited Scripture, as the decisive authority, in reference to other points of doc¬ trinal or practical importance. Thus, when discours¬ ing with the Sadducees on the subject of a future life, he traced their error of opinion to their ignorance of Scripture, and then confuted them by citing a passage from the book of Exodus : Matt, xxii, 32. Again, when the Jews accused him of blasphemy, because he said he was the Son of God, he silenced their cavils by an appeal to the Sacred Volume, and added an emphatic and most important declaration: “ The Scrip¬ ture cannot be broken:" John x, 34, 35; see also Mark xi, 17 ; Luke x, 26. The apostles and evangelists, in their method of citing from the Old Testament, have closely followed the example of their divine Master. Thus, when writ¬ ing on the nature and importance of faith, Paul thus rests his argument on the authority of Holy Writ : “For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness ; ” Rom. iv, 3. So the apostle Peter, after enforcing the necessity of coming to Jesus Christ, as to a living stone, adds, “ Wherefore also is it contained in the 87 Ess. v.] and his Apostles. Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone,” &c., 1 Pet. ii, 6; and James, when describing the origin of wars and fightings — the lusts or evil passions of men — confirms his proposition by similar evidence: “ Do ye think the Scripture saith in vain, ‘ The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy : iv, 5 ; comp. Acts xviii, 28; Rom. ix, 17, xi, 8, &c. Upon all these and many other similar passages in the Gospels and Epistles, it is necessary to make two observations. First, that, in thus quoting from the Old Testament, Jesus Christ and his apostles made no invidious distinctions respecting the particular books of which it was composed. The historical and the prophetical parts of the Bible were alike the ob¬ ject of their deference, the standard of their doctrine ; and although, in most of the instances in which they made mention of the Scriptures, they had in their view particular passages of the Bible, there is reason to believe that they adduced, these passages as deci¬ sive, not because they flowed from the pen of any particular author, but because they formed a part of that class of writings — that sacred and unalterable collection — to which, by way of distinction, was ap¬ plied the name of “Scripture.” Secondly, we can scarcely fail to remark, that, like Christians in the present day, they appealed to the Scriptures as to a source of certain information, a paramount indisputa¬ ble authority, on all subjects connected with religious truth ; nor could su®h an appeal have arisen from any thing short of a full admission that these holy books were really of divine origin, or given by inspiration of God. That such was, in fact, the impression under which their appeal was made, is confirmed by apostolic tes¬ timony, of a yet more positive nature. When speak¬ ing of the prophets who wrote the Old Testament, 88 Declaration of Paul. [Ess. v. Peter declares that it was the Spirit of Christ within them which testified of the future coming of our Lord : 1 Pet. i, 11 ; and again he says, that “ these holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost: ” 2 Pet. i, 21. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the words of David and Jeremiah are cited, without any express reference to those writers, simply as the words of the Holy Ghost: chap iii, 7, x, 15. But it is the second Epistle of Paul to Timothy which presents to us the most important passage, in reference to the present subject — a passage luminous in itself, and, when con¬ sidered in connexion with the collateral evidence al¬ ready stated, completely convincing on the point in question. “But continue thou,” says the apostle to his son in truth, “ in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them ; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture [is] given by inspira¬ tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God maybe perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works : ” 2 Tim. iii, 14 — 17. It has been observed, that the latter part of this passage is capable of being otherwise rendered, “ Every writing, given by inspiration of God, is also profitable,” &c. Now, if we adopt this translation, (which I would submit does not so properly represent the Greek as the version commonly received) the pas¬ sage will still afford a clear evidence of the divine origin of Scripture. It is surely undeniable that, by “evei’y writing given by inspiration of God,” (if such can be deemed the right version of his words) the apos¬ tle intended to express all those writings which, in the preceding verse, he denominated the Holy Scrip- New Testament. 89 Ess. v.] tures ; and it is equally certain that, by these latter ex¬ pressions, he described the canon of writings received as divine by the Jews; that is to say, the Old Testa¬ ment. Whether, therefore, we understand the apo¬ stle as making a direct assertion, or only as elucidating by an epithet his notion of Scripture, we plainly learn from him that the Old Testament was given by inspira¬ tion of God. II. Let us now proceed to consider the question before us, as it relates to the New Testament. Since every divine revelation, intended for perma¬ nent utility among men, so obviously requires a divine Scripture, and since it actually pleased God, as is proved by the testimony of Jesus Christ and his apo¬ stles, to substantiate the revelations recorded in the Old Testament, by placing the stamp of his own au¬ thority on the writings which compose it, little doubt can reasonably be entertained that the final and more important revelation was attended by the same advan¬ tage. If the dispensations of God, revealed to man¬ kind under the law, which were chiefly of an introduc¬ tory nature, required a Scripture, through which the account of them might be handed down from genera¬ tion to generation, on the authority of God himself; how much more did the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which developed the completion of those dispensations, de¬ mand a similar security ? Can we for a moment ima¬ gine that, in the one case, a divine Scripture would be granted, and, in the other, denied to mankind ; or that the full discovery of divine truth would be expo¬ sed, in its delivery to the world, to that fatal admix¬ ture of human error and infirmity, from which the pre¬ paratory revelations were so effectually protected ? The conclusion to which we are led by this obvious argument from analogy, respecting the divine autho¬ rity of the New Testament, is confirmed by the posi- 90 Argument from Analogy. [Ess. v. tive evidence afforded us in its authentic narrative, that the apostles of Jesus Christ, who were the authors of the greater part of the volume, were directly inspired. When, during his own life and ministry, Jesus sent forth his apostles to preach and to work miracles in his name, he taught them that the spirit of their Fa¬ ther was to speak in them. “ And ye shall be brought before governors and kings,” said the Saviour to them, “ for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak ; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you :” Matt, x, 18 — 20. The pro¬ mises of that divine influence, which was to form so distinguishing a feature of the Christian dispensation, were personally addressed to these highly-favoured servants of the Lord ; and were unquestionably appli¬ cable to them, with an especial degree of force. “ The comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you:” John xiv, 26. “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high :” Luke xxiv, 49. Lastly, the event to which the expectation of the apostles was thus directed is so exactly described in the Book of Acts, that, even were we in possession of no collateral evidence of their inspiration, we could reasonably en¬ tertain no doubts on the subject. We read, that when they were assembled together on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost descended, and rested upon them in the likeness of cloven tongues of fire. Immediately they were endued, in a plenary manner, with superna¬ tural gifts : they spake in foreign languages, of which Ess. v.] Inspiration of the Apostles ; 91 they had till then been ignorant; and, with unparal¬ leled success, they unfolded to the multitude the truths of the Gospel, under the positive and professed influ¬ ence of direct inspiration: Acts ii, 1 — 11. Now, it is evident that the apostles were thus in¬ spired in order to the dissemination of religious truth : and it will be admitted that, for this purpose, their writings were of an importance at least equal to that of their preaching. Their preaching answered the great purposes of the day, and served for the intro¬ duction of Christianity into the world. Their writings were equally essential to its maintenance, and were the appointed means of conveying divine instruction to a long series of successive generations. It is certain, therefore, that the supernatural effusion of the Spirit was required for their writing still more, if possible, than for their preaching ; and the declarations of the New testament, that it was actually directed to the latter object, afford a sufficient evidence (when the purpose of the gift is considered) that it was extended also to the former. It was evidently on this ground that Paul and Peter commenced their Epistles, by declaring their apostle- ship — a declaration which the former was accustomed to strengthen by very emphatic additions : — “ Called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God Rom. i, 1. “An apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God 2 Cor. i, 1. “Not of men , neither by man, but by Jesus Christ , and God the Father, who raised him from the dead:" Gal. i, 1. The obvious intention of the apostle, in making use of these expressions, was to magnify his office, and to evince that the doctrine which he was about to promulgate rested not upon his own authority, but upon that of the divine Master whom he served. Accordingly we find him, in other parts of his Epistles, declaring not merely that his 92 Its Plenary Nature [Ess. v. preaching was “ in demonstration of the Spirit and power,” but that his writings also were of divine origin. “ If any man,” said he, “ think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord 1 Cor. xiv, 37. Nor was the authority thus claimed by Paul, as at¬ taching to the contents of his Epistles, higher than that which was attributed to them by his brethren. “ Account that the long-suffering of our Lord,” said the apostle Peter, “ is salvation ; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are un¬ learned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction:” 2 Pet. iii, 15, 16. From this passage we again learn that Paul wrote not according to his own mind, but according to the wisdom given to him; and further, that his Epistles formed a part of those sacred writings which w'ere allowed to be of divine origin, and which, by way of preeminence, were denominated then, as they are now, the Scriptures. As it was with Paul, so un¬ questionably must it have been with the other apostles. Immediate inspiration was common to them all ; and the sacred influence under which they wrote, as well as preached, was such as imparted to their genuine compositions an undoubted claim to be reckoned w ith “ the other Scriptures .” The inspiration of the apostles, it is to be remem¬ bered, was of no subordinate or secondary description. That it w'as high in its degree, and plenary in its ope¬ ration, may be concluded from a fact, of which we have already noticed the credibility, and which by Christians is universally admitted to be true — namely, Ess. v.] Evinced by their Miracles. 93 that they were endued with the power of working mi¬ racles. “ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them,” (the apostles), says the evangelist Mark, “ he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them , and con¬ firming the word with signs following ch. xvi, 19,20; copip. Heb. ii, 3, 4. Miracles wrought by a teacher of religion are allowed to be an unquestionable sign that the doctrine which he promulgates in connection with them is of divine authority. The Lord Jesus ap¬ pealed to his own miracles, in proof that he was sent of his Father; and Christians are still unanimous in receiving them as a conclusive evidence of the same truth. Thus it was also with the apostles : the work of God confirmed the word of God ; the signs and wonders which the Lord wrought by them afforded a sufficient and satisfactory proof that it was he also who inspired their doctrine, in whatsoever form that doctrine was communicated to mankind. Thus far we have adverted solely to that major part of the New Testament which was written by the apostles. Does the same character of inspiration, it may be asked, attach to the remaining part of that volume; namely, to the writings of Mark and Luke? From the testimony of Eusebius, who describes the Gospel of Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles, as two divinely-inspired books,”— from that of the Council of Laodicea (a.d. 365), which included them, together with the Gospel of Mark, in the canon of Scripture, — and from some other documents of yet greater antiquity,— we learn, that these writings were received by the early Christian church as of an au¬ thority not inferior to that of the rest of the New Testament: Euseb. Hist. Eccles., lib.iii,4; Lardner , 4to. ed. vol. ii, p. 414 ; Iren. adv. Hcer. lib. iii, cap. 1 . 94 Inspiration of Mark and Luke. [Ess. v. Accordingly, the evidence adduced to prove that the rest of the New Testament was given by inspiration, although of most certain application to the writings of the apostles, are by no means inapplicable to those of Mark and Luke. The high and extraordinary endowments of the Spirit, during the earliest periods of Christianity, were by no means confined to the apostles of Jesus Christ. Our Lord sent forth his seventy disciples, as well as his twelve apostles, en¬ dued with the power of working miracles. The dea¬ cons were men full of the Holy Ghost ; and Stephen, in particular, was gifted, in a very eminent degree, with supernatural powers : Acts vi, 8. On the day of Pentecost there were no less than one hundred and twenty persons assembled together; “and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them ut¬ terance Acts ii, 4. It is evident, therefore, that, on the first introduction of Christianity, many persons, besides the apostles, possessed those supernatural en¬ dowments which rendered them fit instruments for the peculiar work of establishing a new religion in the world ; nor were there, we may presume, any in¬ dividuals more likely to enjoy those endowments than Mark and Luke; the one the beloved companion of Peter (1 Pet. v, 13); the other, the intimate and cele¬ brated associate of Paul: 2 Cor. viii, 18.3 3 A minute investigation of the subject will, I believe, go far towards satisfying every impartial inquirer, that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul. It is probably to -that Epistle particularly that the apos¬ tle Peter referred, when he classed the writings of Paul with the other Scriptures; and, if Paul was its author, its canonical authority is, of course, unquestionable. On the less probable supposition, however, that Paul was not its author, there is still good reason to believe that this Epistle was given by inspiration. Addressed, as it was, during the apostolic age, to the parent church at Jerusalem, it is distinguished by an exalted tone of authority, and even of rebuke, upon which, it may be presumed, no 95 Ess. v.] Universal Consent of the Church. In support of our position, that the New Testament was given by inspiration, there remains to be adduced another external evidence of no inconsiderable im¬ portance ; namely, the universal consent of the Chris¬ tian church ; for, respecting the divine authority of all the acknowledged writings of the evangelists and apostles, there appears, to have prevailed among Christians in ancient times, the same clearness and general accordance of sentiment as in the present day. The judgment of the early church, on this sub¬ ject, may be collected from a variety of sources : viz. from direct declarations in the works of the fathers — from canons of Holy Scripture , published both by individuals and by general councils — from the usage established so early as the second century, of reading the New as well as the Old Testament in their public assemblies for worship — and lastly, from the practice, so universally prevalent among the fathers, even at a very early date, of quoting passages from the New Tes¬ tament, as of decisive and divine authority, for the set¬ tlement of all questions connected with religious truth.4 one in those favoured days would have ventured, who was not known to have enjoyed especial inspiration : and this inference is satisfactorily con¬ firmed by the doctrinal importance and remarkable practical weight of the treatise itself. 4 From the commencement of the third century, the testimonies of the church to the divine authority of the New Testament extend and multiply in every direction ; but it is of particular importance to observe, that even during the first and second centuries the same principle was plainly re¬ cognized. A few instances will elucidate and justify the assertion. The author of that very ancient Epistle which is supposed by many persons to be the genuine production of Barnabas, prefaces his citation of Matt, xx, 16, by the words, “as it is written,” — words which, throughout the New Testament itself, designate quotation from the inspired writings : Lardner, 4to. vol. i, 285. Clement of Rome, (a.d. 96) in addressing the Corinthi¬ ans, appeals to the authority of “ the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul,” who he says, wrote to them “by the Spirit:” ch. xlvii. Lardner, i, 293. Polycarp, (a.d. 108) in his Epistle to the Philippians, thus refers to 96 Universal Consent of the Church. [Ess. v. Now this general consent of the Christian church, during the several periods of its history, to the doc¬ trine that the writings of the apostles and evangelists (like those of the patriarchs and prophets) are Holy Scripture , — that is, that they were given by inspiration of God, — affords a strong presumption that the evi¬ dences on which that doctrine was originally establish¬ ed were plain, reasonable, and convincing: nor can any thing appear to the mind of the Christian much more improbable than that a sentiment so universally ad¬ mitted by his fellow-believers in all ages, and so clearly held by them all to be essential to the fabric of their faith, should have no other foundation than error. III. Such are some of the external evidences (de¬ rived principally from the Gospels and Epistles, con¬ sidered only as genuine and authentic works) which lead to the conclusion that both the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God. And Ephes. iv, 26: “ For I trust ye are well exercised in the Sacred Writ¬ ings ; for in those Scriptures it is said * Be ye angry, and sin not ; let not the sun go down upon your wrath ch. xii, Lardner, i, 327. He- gesippus (a.d. 173) quotes Matt, xiii, 16, as from the divine Scriptures : Photii Biblioth., 893 ; Lardner, i, 358. Theophilus of Antioch(A.D. 181) quotes John i, 1, and Rom. xiii, 7, 8, as from the Holy Scriptures and the divine Word : Lardner, i, 385, 3S6. Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 194) abounds in citations from almost all the books of the New Testament, and he expressly denominates those books, Scripture, divine Scripture, divine¬ ly-inspired Scripture, the Scriptures of the Lord, the true evangelical canon : I.ardner, i, 405. Lastly, we may adduce the testimony of Ire- nseus, (a.d. 178) that most eminent of the early fathers of the western church, who is not only abundant in his quotations from the New Testa¬ ment, but asserts that the evangelists and apostles, after having preached the Gospel, “ handed it down to us, by the will of God, in their writings, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith : Adv. Hcer. lib. iii, cap. 1, Lardner, i, 365. It is evident that the writings thus handed down could be regarded by Irenaeus as the foundation and pillar of our faith only on the principle that their authors were actually inspired. Accordingly, that writer adds, “ lie who refuses his assent to them, (the apostles and evan¬ gelists) despises not only those who knew the mind of the Lord, but the Lord Christ himself, and the Father.” Ess. v.] Nature of Inspiration ; its Variations. 97 now, before we proceed to consider some additional proofs of a different description, it may be desirable to offer a few remarks respecting the nature of that in¬ spiration which the sacred writers enjoyed. Much discussion has arisen among theologians, respecting the degree in which it was imparted, and the mode in which it operated; and the distinctions which have been formed on the subject are at once refined and numerous. Inspiration, I would submit, is the communication to the minds of men of a divine light and influence, by which they are either miraculously informed of matters before unknown to them, or by which ideas already acquired through natural means are presented to their memory, and impressed on their feelings, with an ex¬ traordinary degree of clearness and force; and by which, further, they are often led to promulgate to others, either in speaking or in writing, that which has been thus imparted to themselves. Such being a ge¬ neral definition of inspiration, it must evidently vary in degree, and in the method of its operation, accord¬ ing to the circumstances under which it acts, and the subjects to which it is applied. When the ideas communicated to the inspired per¬ son, and by the inspired person to others, were alto¬ gether new, and his knowledge of them obtained only through an immediate and supernatural discovery, it seems probable that the very words in which those ideas were communicated to others must also have been suggested by the Holy Spirit. Such I conceive to have been the case with the prophets, when they found themselves constrained to predict events which were not only concealed in the bosom of futurity, but were of so singular a nature, that they were probably very little understood by those who predicted them : see, for example, Isa, vii, 14 ; ix. 6 ; liii. Such also may F 98 Exceptions in the Epistles of Paul. [Ess. v. probably have been the case with Moses when he de¬ scribed the creation of the world, and with the apostles when they communicated to their desciples those doc¬ trinal mysteries, of which their knowledge was derived exclusively or principally from immediate revelation. But, as far as relates to the more simple didactic parts of Scripture, as well as to the greater part of its his¬ torical narrative, we may presume that the sentiments and facts impressed upon the minds of the writers were promulgated by them in their own words, under the especial and extraordinary superintendence of that divine Remembrancer, who by no means superseded their natural talents and acquired knowledge, but en¬ larged, strengthened, protected, and applied them.5 Now, although the inspiration, under which the seve¬ ral parts of Scripture were written, may have been differently modified, according to their respective cha¬ racteristics, yet, if these premises aire correct, we may safely deduce from them the general inference, that the whole contents of the Bible are of divine authority. Some little exception, however, attaches to this ge¬ neral inference, as it relates to the Epistles of Paul, which were all of them addressed either to particular churches, or to individuals. Since, notwithstanding his inspiration, the natural situation of the apostle con¬ tinued unaltered, he was undoubtedly at liberty to re¬ ply to the inquiries of his friends, to the best of his 5 It is obvious that the inspiration of the sacred writers did not prevent their making use both of the dialects, and of the styles, to which they were severally accustomed. In the case of the inspiration of superin¬ tendence, this was to be expected. And even in that of actual verbal inspiration, it can be no matter of just surprise, that the divine commu¬ nication should be made to the inspired person, under that form which was the most familiar and intelligible to himself. The object of inspira¬ tion is not the improvement of language, or the perfecting of eloquence ; but the promulgation of divine truth. And yet, what writers are more eloquent than some of the prophets and apostles ? 99 Ess. v.] Exceptions in the Epistles of Paul. ability, even on points respecting which he had re¬ ceived no direct illumination from his divine Master. Accordingly, in part of his reply to certain practical questions addressed to him by his disciples at Corinth, we find him expressly declaring, that he delivers not the commandments of the Lord, but the conclusions of his own judgment : 1 Cor. vii. On this subject it needs only be remarked, that the care which the apo¬ stle has displayed in marking those particulars of his answer, in which it was not the Lord who spake, but himself, affords a powerful confirmation of other more positive evidences that, in the rest of his religious com¬ munications, it was not he that spake, hut the Lord. But there are other passages in Paul’s Epistles, respecting which the apostle has made no such dis¬ tinction but for which, since they relate to matters of a circumstantial and subordinate description — such as the salutation of many individuals, the course of his intended journeys, and commissions to be executed — it is supposed that inspiration was wholly needless. Since, however, there is nothing in these passages inconsistent with truth, there is nothing in them which proves that the apostle, when he wrote them was not inspired ; and, since even these parts of his Epistles are by no means destitute of practical importance, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they were actually written under a divine influence proportioned to the occasion. There are few or none of them from which we may not derive some lesson of Christian kindness, courtesy, and frendship ; and, inferior as they may be considered, when compared with other more essential parts of the apostle’s writings, they nevertheless fall in with the harmony of divine truth, and help to constitute that perfect whole, which every impartial observer must trace to the hand of God. It is, in the second place, urged as an objection 100 Objections Answered. [Ess. v. against the universal inspiration of Scripture, that a considerable diversity of statement, and sometimes an appearance of actual contradiction, is to be observed in reference to several minor particulars, in the histo¬ rical narratives of the four evangelists. On the sub¬ ject of this objection, the limits of the present work preclude my entering at large. I would remark, how¬ ever, that the inspiration of the evangelists by no means prevented the use of their natural observation and acquired information — that hence, in the selection of their subjects, and in their mode of narration, consi¬ derable variety would necessarily arise — that the same scene might be presented to different witnesses in different points of view ; and that the several parts of that scene would of course be impressed on them re¬ spectively, with different degrees of force — that most of the apparent contradictions referred to in the ob¬ jection have been satisfactorily reconciled on critical grounds — and that the few which cannot now be so readily explained would probably be found, were all the circumstances precisely known, to involve no real error. On the whole, therefore, we may safely accede to the sentiments of Archbishop Newcome, who, in the preface to his harmony of the Greek Testament, expresses himself as follows : “ The result of my thoughts and inquiries is, that every genuine proposi¬ tion in Scripture, whether doctrinal or historical, con¬ tains a truth, when it is rightly understood ; that the evangelists conceived alike of the facts related by them, but sometimes place them in different lights, and make a selection of different circumstances accompanying them ; and that their seeming variations would instantly vanish, were the history known to us in its precise order, and in all its circumstances.”6 6 It has been remarked, in a former Essay, that the apparent differences in the narratives of the four evangelist4 have served an invaluable purpose Ess. v. Objections Answered. 101 Now, if there be nothing trivial in the Epistles of Paul, and nothing really erroneous in the Gospels, the objections made on the opposite supposition, to the divine origin of the whole Scriptures, will fall to the ground at once. Let us, however, take up that oppo¬ site suppositition, and grant, for a moment, that one or more of the evangelists have actually fallen into mistake, in their statement of some minor circum¬ stances, and that certain parts of Paul’s Epistles are so absolutely destitute of weight, that they could not have been given by inspiration. Such facts, if facts they were, could not be pleaded against the divine authority of the Bible in general. W e are in posses¬ sion of positive evidence, of a highly satisfactory na¬ ture, that the writers of the Scriptures were inspired, and inspired for the 'purpose of promulgating reli¬ gious truth ; and this evidence is by no means coun¬ teracted by the supposed circumstance, that, in the composition of certain small parts of their works con¬ sidered to be non-essential in reference to that object , they were left to the unassisted exercise of their na¬ tural powers. As far as the great practical purposes of Scripture are concerned, it appears from our premises to be unquestionable that these sacred authors wrote under the immediate and extraordinary influence of the Holy Ghost. These purposes are, “doctrine, in promoting the cause of Christianity ; for they afford a decisive evidence that the four Gospels, (plainly coincident as they are with respect to all matters of importance) have proceeded from witnesses essentially inde¬ pendent of one another, and that, therefore, the history which they con¬ tain is credible and true. Might not this be the very reason why such apparent differences were permitted to exist, and why the inspiration of the evangelists was not so directed as to prevent them ? A similar in¬ quiry applies to those familiar parts of Paul’s Epistles which are deemed by some persons below the mark of inspiration; for the comparison of some of these very passages with others in the book of Acts has estab¬ lished, on the clearest grounds, the credibility of that important history, as well as the genuiness of the apostle’s letters. 102 Internal Evidences. [Ess. v. reproof, correction, and instruction, in righteousness.” Every thing, therefore, in the Bible, whether histori¬ cal or didactic, essentially connected with the promul¬ gation of religious truth ; every thing which has a practical bearing ; every thing which is important for doctrine, reproof, correction, or instruction in right¬ eousness ; every thing which affects those questions in morals and divinity, which Christians are accus¬ tomed to submit to the decision of Scripture ; remains unalterably stamped with the seal of divine inspiration. IV. We may now proceed briefly to consider some of the principal internal evidences of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. The precision, in the first place, with which so many of the prophecies contained in the Bible have been fulfilled, not only affords a proof that the religion which these prophecies attest is divine, but may also be considered as strongly indicating, that the very words in which they have been handed down by Scripture, from generation to generation, proceeded from the Spirit of God. On a similar ground, in the second place, the ar¬ guments employed to prove the divine origin of Christianity, from the wisdom of its moral law, and from the weight of its doctrines, evince, with no less clearness, that of the Christian Scriptures. We be¬ lieve that the Bible was given by inspiration, because, in the Bible only are originally recorded that pure and perfect law, those exalted principles of piety and devotion, and that Gospel placed far beyond the scope of human discovery, and yet entirely adapted to the wants of mankind, which are in themselves — from their own peculiar and intrinsic excellence — sufficient to satisfy every serious inquirer, that our religion has proceeded from God. Here, more especially, it ought to be remarked, that the Holy Scriptures are distin- 103 Ess. v.] Harmony of Scripture. guished from all other writings, by the wonderfully comprehensive information which they impart to us respecting the true character of the Supreme Being himself. Although some important traces of that cha¬ racter may be found, as has already been remarked, in the pages of ancient heathen philosophy, it is in the Bible only that the Deity is pourtrayed, with any thing like an adequate degree of clearness, in all his glorious attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, holiness, justice, wisdom, and love. And hence we derive a specific and very substantial evidence, that, of this Sacred Volume, God himself was the author. Another evidence that the Scriptures were given by inspiration arises from that unbroken spiritual harmo¬ ny which prevails among the sacred writers — a har¬ mony the more astonishing, because those writers were numerous, lived at many and distant periods, and were often very little connected with one another. One sacred tone of sentiment pervades the whole volume of the Bible ; and if there are any statements in it, on points of doctrine, apparently contradictory, (such as those of the apostles Paul and James, on the subject of justification) they are found, on closer investigation, to make up together a perfect whole, and to rest on the same unalterable principles. It forms no real ex¬ ception to the observation now offered, that divine truth was progressive , and that more abundant light, on both moral and doctrinal points, was enjoyed by the writers of the New than by those of the Old Tes¬ tament. The progress of divine truth may, indeed, be regarded as one of the principal characteristics of the harmony of Scripture. How perfect, for exam¬ ple, is the adaptation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is revealed in the New Testament, to the injunc¬ tions of the law, and to the declarations of the pro¬ phets ! In such an adaptation, and in the substantial 104 Variety of Scripture. [Ess. v. accordance subsisting amongst all the component parts of the Bible, what Christian does not perceive a con¬ clusive evidence, that the writers of that sacred volume, distinguished as they were from one another by dif¬ ferences of talent, character, and circumstance, were all instructed by the same Heavenly Guide to promul¬ gate, in its several successive stages, the same essential and efficacious system of vital religion ? The harmony of Scripture is the more admirable, because it accompanies an almost endless diversity of subject. In the history which the Bible presents to us of events connected with religion, and of the peo¬ ple of God, from the beginning of the world — in its account of the moral government of the Deity, com¬ mencing in this life, and completed in the life to come — in its representations of a multitude of characters, some intended for example, and others for warning- in its descriptions of religious experience — in its exer¬ cises of devotion, its prayers, praises, and thanksgivings — in its types, prophecies, and doctrines — in its holy and heavenly law — in its luminous statements respect¬ ing the attributes of the Almighty — in its manifold delineations of that Saviour, of whom the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles, unite in testifying — we are furnished with an inexhaustible variety of di¬ vine instruction, with which the spiritual mind is con¬ tinually refreshed and nourished, but never satiated. In accordance with this observation, it only remains for me to adduce, in evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures, the practical effect which ( under the influence of the Spirit ) they actually produce : name¬ ly, the conversion of sinners, and the sanctification and edification of believers. As these effects are to be attributed primarily to God, as their author, and secondarily to Christianity, as the religious system which he has adapted to these ends, so are they found, 105 Ess. v.] Effect of Scripture. in a multitude of instances, to arise immediately out of the use of that holy book, in which Christianity is embodied. The Scriptures are able to make wise un¬ to salvation, “ through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Such is the declaration of an apostle, and such is the fact. Now, the believer who experiences this effect to be produced in his mind, and is able to trace it to the Bible as the instrumental cause , enjoys an evi¬ dence- that the Sacred Volume has proceeded from God, which is entirely satisfactory to himself, and of which the most ingenious arguments and cavils will never be able to dispossess him. He finds in that volume a mine of wisdom, from which he is constant¬ ly deriving instruction, consolation, and spiritual im¬ provement. He resorts to it as to his daily food ; he reverts again and again to the same passages, without any wearisome sense of sameness, and seldom without deriving from them important practical lessons, with which he was before less perfectly acquainted. Thus is he encouraged and strengthened to pursue his Christian course ; and the more his knowledge of divine things, and the limits of his own religious experience, are extended — the more fully is he per¬ suaded that the contents of Scripture are no cunningly devised fables, but celestial truths. He finds in him¬ self a witness of their reality. It may indeed be observed, that the evidence of the divine origin of Scripture, which the Christian derives from the source now mentioned, is, in some measure, confined to himself : because he obtains it chiefly by watching the condition and progress of his own mind. But this is not the case altogether ; for the tree is known by its fruits. It is matter of external observa¬ tion, when the sinner is turned from the error of his ways, the proud man humbled, and the Christian cha¬ racter formed. It cannot be concealed from others, 106 Effect of Scripture. [Ess. v. when the designed effect of an acquaintance with Scripture is actually produced in the individual ; when “ the man of God is perfect, thoroughly furnished un¬ to all good works:” nor can any one who entertains a just notion of the moral attributes of the Supreme Being refuse, under such circumstances, to confess that the writings, from the use of which these con¬ sequences result, have originated in the power, the wisdom, and the love, of God. Religious instruction is, indeed, communicated through a variety of channels besides the Scriptures ; such as the more modern writings of pious Christians, and especially the ministry of the Gospel. But the good effect produced by these means affords additional strength to the argument now stated ; because they are found by experience to be efficacious for the purposes of conversion and edification, only inasmuch as they present to the mind the truths already revealed to us in the Bible. It is no inconclusive evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures, that in them we find both the foundation and the boundaries of all second¬ ary means of religious improvement. That the min¬ istry of the Gospel ought to be exercised under the immediate direction of the great Head of the Church, is a principle which will probably be allowed by many pious Christians ; yet we are not to forget that, when that ministry is most spiritual in its origin, it is still found to dwell on the declarations of Scripture. The purest gifts of the Spirit, as they are now administered, are almost exclusively directed to the application of those materials which originated in a higher and more plenary operation of the same divine influence. Thus, also, the sentiments which chiefly edify in the writings of modern Christians are precisely those sen¬ timents which, in their original form, have been ex¬ pressed by prophets and apostles. It is divine truth, Ess. v.] Recapitulation. 107 as applied to the heart of man by the Spirit of God, which converts, sanctifies, and edifies ; and of this divine truth the only authorized record — a record at once original and complete — is the bible. Let us now briefly recapitulate the argument of the present Essay. It being an established point, that Christianity is the religion of God, we are in possession of a strong- antecedent probability that the books, by means of which that religion was appointed to be handed down from generation to generation, are of divine authority. That the Old Testament was given by inspiration, we learn from the testimonies whether more or less direct, of Jesus Christ and his apostles. That the New Testament was also of divine origin, we may therefore conclude, from analogy. This conclusion is confirmed by the positive evi¬ dences which the authentic narrative of the New Tostament affords, that the apostles who wrote the greater part of it were inspired ; and that their inspira¬ tion was of a very exalted kind, we infer from the ac¬ knowledged fact that they wrought miracles. It is highly probable, and under all circumstances nearly certain, that similar endowments were enjoyed by Mark and Luke, the only writers of the New Tes¬ tament who were not apostles. Inspiration was bestowed on the writers of Scrip¬ ture in various measures according to circumstances — yet in such a manner, that the whole contents of the Bible (exclusive of a few passages in his writings, expressly excepted by the apostle Paul) are to be re¬ garded as of divine authority. If however it be supposed, that, in the composition of certain subordinate parts of their works, some of the sacred writers were left to the unassisted exercise of their natural powers, every thing in the Scriptures 108 Propositions on the authority , [Ess. v. essentially connected with religious truth (for the pro¬ mulgation of which its authors were inspired) is never¬ theless unquestionably of divine origin. Lastly, that the Bible was given by inspiration, is plainly indicated by the exact fulfilment of its prophecies ; by the purity of its law, and the wisdom of its doctrines ; by its wonderful moral harmony, in the midst of almost end¬ less variety; and by its practical effects, as the divinely- appointed means of conversion and religious edification. Having thus considered some of the principal evi¬ dences which evince that the Christian Scriptures have the same divine origin as the revelations which they record, we may henceforth consider the Bible as identified with those revelations ; and, in searching for that which has been revealed, we need no longer hesitate in directing our attention to that which is written. I cannot, however, satisfactorily conclude the present disquisition, without offering to the reader’s attention, by way of corollary to my argument, a few general propositions. 1. Since the authority of divine revelation is, on the subject to which it relates, paramount to all other authority, and since the subject of the Christian reve¬ lation is religious truth, it follows that, on all questions connected with religious truth, the clear decisions of Scripture are not only sufficient, but final. 2. It is evident that the Scriptures, like every other book, must be interpreted according to the received rules of criticism and philology ; but, since they are a divine source of information on all points connected with Christian doctrine, and since the de¬ clarations of God are unspeakably superior, in point of validity, to the imaginations of the mind of man, it is equally evident, that we cannot justly apply to the interpretation of Holy Writ, any preconceived and unauthorized opinions of our own on such points. Ess. v.] Interpretation, 109 Nothing can be mere unreasonable, and nothing more dangerous, than to speculate for ourselves on matters of doctrine, which we have no faculties to discover, and then to sit in judgment on the words of the Almighty himself with the result of our speculations. 3. The doctrines of which we find an account in the Bible, principally relate to the character and de¬ signs of God: and therefore it forms no objection against the credibility of any of them, that they are above our comprehension. On the contrary, that they should he so, might, from the nature of the case, be reasonably expected. God is an infinite Being ; the mode of his existence is unsearchable; and the designs of his providence form an endless chain, of which a very few links only are made subject to human observ¬ ation. How confined, on the other hand, is our under¬ standing! how narrow are the limits of our knowledge ! Although our reasoning powers are indeed of high use and importance, when directed to objects within their proper scope, in how great a degree do they fail us, when we attempt to speculate on the “ depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! ” Since, therefore, it has pleased the Supreme Being to communicate to us by revelation certain truths re¬ specting his own character, nature, and designs — while, by the most sacred obligations, we are bound to believe that these things are, it is in no degree sur¬ prising that the mode in which they are should be placed beyond the reach of our knowledge and com¬ prehension. If, moreover, we are told that there are many parts of the Bible which even the learned cannot under¬ stand, and some, perhaps, which the wicked have per¬ verted to evil purposes, wre may observe, in reply, that in this respect there is an obvious analogy between the written word and the works of God ; for there is 110 and Right Use , [Ess. v. much also in the science of nature itself which the wise are unable to fathom, and which the vicious have misapplied to evil. Nor can it be denied that the difficulties presented to us in Scripture are calculated to serve an excellent purpose. They are useful trials of our faith ; useful evidences of our own ignorance. While they teach us that now we see “ through a glass darkly,” and know but “ in part,” they may often be the means of exciting us to press forward, with greater diligence, towards that better state of being, in which we shall “ see face to face,” and “ know even as we are known'' 4. Lastly, let it he remembered, that the truths recorded in the Holy Scriptures were communicated to mankind, neither to gratify their curiosity, nor to encourage them in useless speculations on their own metaphysics, or on the nature and designs of God, but to teach them how to live in this world, and to pre¬ pare them for the next. Now, as far as relates to these great practical purposes, the Bible, by the simple- hearted and devotional reader, is found to be clear and explicit. While the law of God is so accordant with the conclusions of profound reasoning, that the most enlightened philosophers have yielded to it their wil¬ ing homage, it is also so plain, that “ the wayfaring man, though a fool, shall not err therein.” Nor ought we ever to forget that the Spirit of the Lord, by which alone the doctrines taught in the Scriptures are rightly opened to the understanding , and effectually applied to the hearty is freely bestowed on all who diligently seek it. If, then, we would participate in the benefits of di¬ vine truth, nothing is so desirable as to approach the volume of inspiration with a humble and teachable mind, and with earnest prayer that its contents may be blessed to the work of our soul’s salvation ; no- Ill Ess. v.] of Scripture. thing so reasonable as a conformity with the apostolic injunction, “ As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word , that ye may grow thereby Were this the disposition with which professing Christians never failed to enter into the examination of revealed truth, how soon would the pride of a false philosophy be extinguished among them, and the angry spirit of polemics subside into a calm ! How certainly would be verified, in their experience, the promise of the Lord Jesus, that, if any man do the Father’s will, he shall know of the doctrine of Christ whether it be of God! ESSAY YI. ON THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE SUPREME BEING. Haying, in the preceding Essays, taken a brief survey of the evidences from which it may be safely deduced that Christianity is true, and that the Scrip¬ tures contain a divinely-authorized record of all its truths, let us now endeavour to make a diligent use of the written word of God, and let us examine the de¬ clarations which it contains respecting the fundamen¬ tal articles of the Christian faith. What, it may be inquired, in the first place, is the account given by the inspired writers, of the nature and attributes of the Supreme Being? The comprehensive character of that account has already been pleaded as affording one evidence, among many, of the divine origin of the Sacred Volume. Certain it is, that the information respecting the Deity, which we derive from the harmonious works of nature, from the course of providence, and from that sense of his own existence and authority, which (however, in numberless instances, it may be depraved and perverted) he appears to have impressed univers¬ ally on the minds of men, is in a marvellous manner augmented, and for all present practical purposes, ap¬ pears to be completed , in the records of revelation. I, The first principle which it is desirable for us to notice, as unfolded and declared in Scripture, in 113 Ess. vi.] Unity and Eternity of God. relation to the present subject is this : that God is one ; that there is no other God hid Jehovah ; that, as he is infinitely superior in point of wisdom, authority, and power, to all other beings, so he is the only right object of spiritual adoration. “ Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord : ” Deut. vi, 4. “ For though there be that are called Gods, whether in hea¬ ven or in earth (as there be gods many and lords many) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him 1 Cor. viii, 5, 6. “ Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve,” was the fundamental principle, not only of the Jewish institution, but of the law of Christ : Matt, iv, 10. “ Thus saitli the Lord, that created the heavens . I am the Lord, and there is none else . They have no know¬ ledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save .... There is no God else beside me ; a just God and a Saviour ; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else;” Isa. xlv, 18 — 22. II. This Supreme Being — this only proper object of worship and spiritual allegiance — is described, in the Holy Scriptures, as eternal and unchangeable. “ Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, ‘ I am the first , and I am the last : ’ ” Isa. xliv, 6. “I am Alpha and Omega , the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come : the Al¬ mighty : ” Rev. i, 8. “ Lord, thou hast been our dwell¬ ing-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world ; even from everlasting to ever¬ lasting thou art God: ” Ps. xc, 1, 2. “ Of old hast 114 His Omnipotence and Wisdom, [Ess. vi. thou laid the foundation of the earth ; and the hea¬ vens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure ; yea all of them shall wax old like a garment ; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed ; but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end ; ” Ps. cii, 25 — 27 . With “ the Father of lights there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning : ” James i, 17. This pri¬ mary attribute of the Supreme Being is not only de¬ clared in these and other passages of Scripture, but is plainly expressed in that distinguishing name of God, which the Jews were accustomed to regard as too sacred to pronounce — Jehovah; for this title is derived from a verb signifying to be, and denotes the Eternal — him who ever has been, is, and ever shall be — him who exists simply, absolutely, and independ¬ ently. “ And God said unto Moses, ( I am that I am, (in Hebrew, the verb from which the name Jehovah is derived,) thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you : ’ ” Exod. iii, 14. Again — “ And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, ‘I am Jehovah : ’ ” Exod. vi, 2. III. Jehovah, the Being who has alone existed from all eternity, is ever described in the Scriptures (in ac¬ cordance with the unvarying dictates of true philo¬ sophy) as the First Cause of all other things — the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and whatsoever they contain. The Bible opens with the declaration, that “ in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth:” Gen. i, 1. “ By the word of the Lord wrere the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth . for he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast : ” Ps. xxxiii, 6 — 9. “ God, that made the world, and all things therein,” said the apostle Paul to the Athenians, (( giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, and 115 Ess., vi.] displayed in Creation and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth . for in him we live and move and have our being:” Acts xvii, 24—28. « Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and compre¬ hended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ? ” Isa. xl, 12. “I form the light and create darkness .... I, the Lord, do all these things : ” Isa. xlv, 7. “ Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him all his angels ; praise ye him all his hosts ; praise ye him sun and moon ; praise him all ye stars of light. Praise him ye heavens of hea¬ vens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord ; for he commanded, and they were created : ” Ps. cxlviii, 1—5. When the Lord had condescended to describe to his servant Job the wonders of the creation, Job answered, and said, “ I Jcnow that thou canst do every thing : ” ch. xlii, 2. “ Ah, Lord God,” exclaimed the prophet Jeremiah, “ behold thou hast made the hea¬ ven and the earth by thy great power and stretched- out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee .*” Jer- xxxii, 17. “ The invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under¬ stood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead : ” Rom. i, 20. Thus is the doc¬ trine of the omnipotence of God derived by the sacred writers from the acknowledged fact that he was the Creator of all things ; nor is it possible for us to con¬ ceive a greater degree of power than that which was displayed by the Eternal, when he gave to all his creatures their first existence ; when he produced an incomprehensibly extensive universe — an universe consisting of organized substances, living creatures, ' rational, intelligent, beings — out of nothing. How 116 in the Maintenance of Nature. [Ess. vi. often do the Scriptures testify that God alone was the Creator, not only of the earth, but of the heavens also, with all their starry host ! When we examine these inspired declarations of unquestionable truth in the light of modern astronomy — when we reflect on God as the sole author of innumerable worlds and systems — when we carry forward our ideas (as analogy affords us sound reasons for doing) to the infinite variety of substance, life, and being, which those worlds, those systems, probably contain, we may indeed with reve¬ rence acknowledge that he is, in the strictest sense of the terms, what Scripture declares him to be — almighty. Nor can we fail to arrive at the same conclusion, when we examine nature with a microscopic eye, and dwell on the marvellous efficacy displayed by an ever-acting Deity in the production of a muscle or a nerve — in the formation of an insect, a feather, or a leaf! But the works of nature, according to the doc¬ trine of Scripture, as well as the conclusions of reason, afford evidences not only of the power but also of the wisdom of God. “ He hath made the earth by his power ; he hath established the world by his wisdom ; and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion Jer. x, \2. “The Lord possessed me in the begin¬ ning of his way,” criesWisdom in the Book of Proverbs, “ before his works of old . When he prepared the heavens, I was there ; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth ; when he established the clouds above ; when he strengthened the fountains of the deep ; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment ; when he appointed the foundation of the earth; then/ims by 1dm , as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him : ch. viii, 22 — 30. IV. As the original creation of all things is ever ascribed in the Scriptures to Jehovah, so do we learn Ess. vi.] His Sovereignty . 117 from them that by him alone all nature is maintained in its appointed order, and in its wonderful course of perpetual reproduction . “ He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field : the wild asses quench their thirst . He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man : that he may bring forth food out of the earth ; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart . O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all! the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee : that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled : thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Thou sendeth forth thy Spirit, they are created ; and thou renewest the face of the earth . The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever : the Lord shall rejoice in his works:” Ps. civ, 10 — 31 • comp, cxlvii, 15 — 20, &c. Infinite and unsearchable as is our Heavenly Father, every minute part of his creation is the object of his unfailing care. He clothes with radiance and beauty the “ lilies of the field ” — the grass which “ to¬ day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven :” Matt, vi, 29, 30. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?” said Jesus to his disciples, “ and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father : ” Matt, x, 29. V. Closely connected with the divine attribute of omnipotence is the unqualified and irresistible sove¬ reignty which God exercises over all other beings, 118 His Providence. [Ess. vi. Paul has sublimely described the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,” as “ the blessed and only poten¬ tate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can see — to whom be honor and power everlasting:” 1 Tim. vi, 15, 16. “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all : ” Ps. ciii, 19. “I beheld,” says Daniel, when relating his visions, “ till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool ; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him : thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him /” vii, 9, 10. “ O come, let us sing unto the Lord : let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation .... for the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all Gods .*” Ps. xcv, 1 — 3. “ The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice:” Ps. xcvii, 1. Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance : behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing:” Isa. xl, 15. “ O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen ? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee ? ” 2 Chron. xx, 6. Nor is the wisdom of the Almighty to be discover¬ ed only in the works of creation ; for, although his councils are often incomprehensible to our limited understanding, we are assured in the Scriptures that this divine attribute is the sure regulator of the course of events — of the order of providence. “ Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever ; for wisdom and 119 Ess. vi.] God is a Spirit, might are his ; and he changeth the times and the seasons : he removeth kings and setteth up kings : he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding : he revealeth the deep and secret things ; he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him : ” Dan. ii, 20 — 22; comp. Job xxxvi, 4, 5, 6, 7. In the dispensation of Christianity, more especially, the wisdom of our Al¬ mighty Governor is conspicuously displayed. Paul describes him as the “ only wise God our Saviour ,” and speaks of “ the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom a.n& prudence” Eph. i, 7, 8. “ O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been his counsellor ? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever : ” Rom. xi, 33 — 36. VI. The Creator and Ruler of the universe is a spiritual and invisible Being. “ God is a spirit : ” John iv, 24. He is “ the King eternal, immortal, invisible 1 Tim. i, 17. “No man hath seen God at anytime:” John i, 18. “ Behold,” said Job, “ I go forward, but he is not there ; and backward, but I cannot perceive him ; on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him : he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him : ” ch. xxiii, 8, 9. But, spiritual as he is in his nature, and imper¬ ceptible to mortal vision, God is every where. “ Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him ? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth , saith the Lord ?” Jer. xxiii, 23, 24. “ O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me; thou 120 Omnipotent and Omniscient. [Ess. vi. knowest my down-sitting, and mine lip-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all . my ways : for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there ! If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; but the night shineth as the day : the darkness and the light are both alike to thee Ps. cxxxix, 1 — 12. VII. We may observe that, in this sublime effusion of piety and truth, the Psalmist sets before us the omnipresence of the Deity, in immediate connexion with his omniscience. It is indeed a doctrine clearly declared and very frequently adverted to, in Scripture, that God “knoweth all things,” 1 John iii, 20 — that “ known unto God are all his works, from the begin¬ ning of the world,” Acts xv, 18 — that “his under¬ standing is infinite,” Ps. cxlvii, 5 — that “ secret things belong unto the Lord our God,” Deut. xxix, 29 — that there is no creature which “is not manifest in his sight,” but that “ all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do,” Heb. iv, 13— that “ the Lord weigheth the spirits,” Prov. xvi, 2 , “and knoweth and trieth the hearts and reins,” Luke xvi, 15 ; Ps. vii, 9 — that the future, as well as the past and the present, is ever open to his view : His Holiness. 121 Ess. vi.] Isa. xlv, 20, 21. God “ discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death:” Job xii, 22. “He setteth an end to dark¬ ness, and searcheth out all perfection : ” Job xxviii, 3. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all!” 1 John i, 5. Having thus briefly noticed the unity, the eternity, the omnipotence, the wisdom, the spirituality, the omnipresence, and the omniscience, of God, we may proceed to examine some of the declarations of Holy Writ, on another branch of our subject, viz. the moral attributes of the Deity. I. When Jehovah condescended to display his glory to Isaiah in the temple, the seraphim were heard by the prophet to cry one unto another, 11 Holy, holy, holy , is the Lord of Hosts : the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isa. vi, 1 — 3. And of some of those celestial beings who surround the throne of God in heaven, we read, in the Apocalypse, that “ they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come Rev. iv, 8. Fre¬ quently is the Supreme Being described as “ the Holy One of Israel.” He is, in this point of view, exalted far above all creatures. “ There is none holy as the Lord : ” 1 Sam. ii, 2. “ The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works :” Ps. cxlv, 17. Nor is there any one of the divine attributes which more loudly demands the blessings and praises of the saints. “ Sing unto the Lord O ye saints of his ! and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness :” Ps. xxx, 4. “ Glory ye in his holy name ; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord ; . bring an offering and come before him : worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!” 1 Chron. xvi, 10, 29. God is described as holy, partly because he is a sacred Being — the only proper object of divine ho- G 122 He Permits the Existence of Sin; [Ess. vi. nour, reverence, and worship — but, more especially, because his nature is absolutely pure, and because in him there dwells the perfection of all moral excellence. That this is a true definition of the holiness of God, we learn from the divine precept addressed to our¬ selves : “ Be ye holy, for I am holy,” 1 Pet. i, 16 ; and also from the recorded character of that law, which is given to us for the regulation of our own conduct, and which is ever described as emanating from God himself. “ The law is holy,” says the apostle, “ and the commandment holy, and just, and good:” Rom. vii, 12. “ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple : the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes : the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever !” Ps. xix, 7 — 9. Absolutely pure as is the Supreme Being, and infi¬ nitely glorious in the perfection of those moral quali¬ ties which his own law prescribes, it is a fact, which admits of no doubt or denial, that in some of the crea¬ tures of God moral evil exists and abounds. When we remember the omnipotence of Jehovah — when we call to mind that “ from him, and through him, and unto him, are all things ” — we may with reverence acknowledge that this fact presents to our narrow and inadequate understandings a mystery which we are utterly incapable of penetrating or explaining. The ways of an infinite God are indeed unsearchable ; and all that we can safely say on the subject is this — that moral evil is permitted to exist, for some wise, though to us incomprehensible, purpose ; and that all things will unquestionably be found, in the end, to have been working together for the glory of God, and for the welfare of them that fear him. But, no sooner do we take a single step farther ; no sooner do we entertain 123 Ess. vi.] yet Abhors it, and Punishes it, the idea that God, in the common sense of the expres¬ sions, is the author of iniquity — that he actually ap¬ points it as a means of greater good — that he not only permits, but approves it — that he attaches misery to it, not because it deserves to be punished, but because the suffering, as well as the sin, is one link in the chain, which is always to end in the good and happiness of the sinner — no sooner do these preposterous doctrines obtain a place in our minds, than we involve ourselves in the most dangerous of all practical errors. Then is our standard of right and wrong destroyed ; and while it is impossible for us, with any colour of justice, any longer to assert that God is holy, we naturally sink down into the conclusion, that virtue and vice are mat¬ ters of indifference, and, in fact, exist only in imagi¬ nation. Happily, however, the Scriptures afford the clearest contradiction to all such fatal delusions. In those sa¬ cred writings, sin is ever represented as essentially evil ; unalterably offensive and abominable in the sight of God; separating those over whom it has dominion from his presence and favour ; and exposing them to the righteous indignation of the Holy One, not only dur¬ ing the present life, but in the eternal world to come. God is of “ purer eyes than to behold evil Hab. i, 13. “The Lord is far from the wicked Prov. xv, 29. “Behold,” saith Isaiah to a nation of transgress¬ ors, “ the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear ; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear Isa. lix, 1, 2. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight ! Woe g 2 124 Temporally and Eternally . [Ess. vi. unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, which justify the wick¬ ed for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him ! Therefore , as the fire devour- eth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the holy one of Israel! ” Isa. v, 20 — 24. “All that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the Lord thy God:” Deut. xxv, 16. “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Prov. xv, 9. “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die Ezekiel xviii, 4. “ For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inherit¬ ance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, Let no man deceive you with vain words ; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience:” Eph. v, 5, 6. “Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile Rom. ii, 8, 9. “ The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God :” Ps. ix, 17. Under the patriarchal and legal dispensations, many signal instances were given of temporal calamity as a punishment for sin. In the deluge, from the destruc¬ tive violence of which eight persons alone, from among all the inhabitants of the earth, were saved ; in the utter ruin of Sodom and Gomorrah ; in the ex¬ tirpation of the Canaanitish idolatrous nations by the sword of Israel ; in the captivity and sore afflictions of the Jews themselves — God displayed the unequivocal marks of the holiness of his nature — of his absolute abhorrence of all sin. But, how much more fearfully will the same divine attribute be manifested in that awful day, when the wrath of an offended Deity shall His Justice. 125 Ess. vi.] be finally poured on the ungodly — when the vision of the apostle shall be fulfilled — when all impenitent transgressors “ shall be cast into the lake of fire !” Rev. xx, 15. If there be any thing which can heighten the view thus afforded us of the dreadful offensiveness of sin in the sight of God, it is yet another truth revealed in the Scriptures — that God yielded up his only-begotten Son, who dwells in his bosom, and participates in his god¬ head, and sent even him into the world, to suffer in our suffering nature, and to atone for our transgressions, on the cross, that “ God might he just, and the justi- fier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. iii, 26. II. The word Just in this passage appears to include the idea of the inherest righteousness of God ; and, truly, the method which he has appointed for our justi¬ fication, through the blood of Christ, clearly displays his righteousness ; because, while it is the channel of his unmerited mercy to the sinner, it sets the stamp of the most astonishing of all events on the eternal malignity of sin in his holy sight. The justice of God, however, in the more restricted meaning of the words, is mani¬ fested in the punishment of iniquity, and in the remu¬ neration of moral excellence — in the fact so often de¬ clared in Scripture, that pain and misery are the ulti¬ mate and inevitable consequences of vice, and happi¬ ness the sure result of obedience and virtue. “ If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted ? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door Gen. iv, 7. “ Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him ; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him ; for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa. iii, 10, 11. “ Be not deceived, God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption : but he 126 Hidden from us for a Time ; but sure. [Ess. vi. that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting:” Gal. vi, 7,8. “And these (the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal:” Matt, xxv, 46. During the period of those preparatory dispensa¬ tions, under which the realities of an eternal future were far less clearly revealed than they are at present, the faith of the servants of God appears to have been very often tried by the temporal prosperity of the wicked. “ Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper ? ” cried the mournful Jeremiah ; “ wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” xii, 1. So also David, when he contrasted his own wretched¬ ness with the riches and power of the Lord’s enemies, exclaimed, “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me:" Ps. lxxiii, 16. Yet, when he went “ into the sanctuary of God ” — when he humbled him¬ self before the righteous Judge of all flesh — he under¬ stood the end of the wicked. “ When the wicked spring as the grass,” said he, on another occasion, “ and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever,” Ps. xcii, 7 — a truth which, in the New Testament, our Saviour has elucidated and confirmed in the most awful and expli¬ cit terms : see Matt, xxv, 46 : John v, 29, &c. III. In the administration of that retributive system which constitutes the moral government of God — a system which, in the present world, is incipient, and, in the world to come, will be completed — the Deity displays a perfect equity. “ Without respect of per¬ sons, he judgeth according to every man’s works :” 1 Pet. i, 17. He “ accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor ; for they are all the work of his hand :” Job xxxiv, 19. “ Whatsoever good thing any man doetb, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or 127 Ess. vi.] His Equity. free Eph. vi, 8. “ God is no respecter of persons ; but, in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him Acts x, 34, 35. “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. . Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel ! Is not my way equal ? Are not your ways unequal?” Ezekiel xviii, 20, 29. The ignorance and rashness of men are manifested in nothing more clearly than in those unmeasured judg¬ ments which they are so prone to form one of another; but God, who is absolutely free from partiality, con¬ demns or acquits, punishes or rewards, his creatures, on a perfectly comprehensive view of all those cir¬ cumstances by which their guilt is either aggravated or diminished. The more numerous the gifts bestow¬ ed, the greater the responsibility incurred : the more abundant the light communicated, the more complete the obedience required. In the history of the poor widow, who threw her last mite into the Lord’s trea¬ sury, we are furnished with a beautiful exemplification of the apostle’s doctrine, that “ if there be first a will¬ ing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. viii, 12. Nor can we doubt that the very same equitable princi¬ ple is maintained by the Judge of all flesh, in reference to matters of the highest moment. The man who makes a right use of his single talent is, in the most important point of view, on a par with his neighbour, by whom the five talents are improved. Both shall be made rulers over more —both shall enter into “ the joy of their Lord.” When Jesus was conversing with the disciples on the subject of divine retribution, he elucidated his doctrine in the following memorable 128 His Goodness and Compassion, [Ess. vi. words — words which may teach us at once to tremble for ourselves, and to abstain from any sweeping con¬ demnation of others, to whom the law of God is less fully revealed — “ And that servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did ac¬ cording to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much re¬ quired Luke xii, 47, 48. IV. That God is good — abounding in kindness towards his creatures — our bounteous Protector and Father — is a truth to which the Scriptures bear an unequivocal testimony. “ The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works Ps. cxlv, 9. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Ps. xxxiii, 5. “We also are men of like pas¬ sions with you,” cried Paul to the deluded inhabitants of Lystra, “ and preach unto you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein ; who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that hedid^ood, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness:” Acts xiv, 15 — 17. “ He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un¬ just :” Matt, v, 45. “ God giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not . Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights James i, 5, 17. It is matter of great consolation, that the destitute and afflicted amongst men are, in a peculiar manner, the object of divine tenderness and regard. “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God Ess. vi.] Especially towards his People. 129 in his holy habitation Ps. lxviii, 5. (He) “execut- eth judgment for the oppressed ; (He) giveth food to the hungry ; the Lord looseth the prisoners ; the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind ; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down . the Lord preserveth the strangers : he relieveth the fatherless and widow:” Ps. cxlvi, 7 — 9. “ They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way : they found no city to dwell in : hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble ; and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men !” Ps. cvii, 4 — 8. While, however, the benevolence of God is in many ways exerted towards the whole family of mankind, we are never to forget that it is those who fear the Lord, those who are devoted to his service, those who really belong to his church on earth, who are, in an especial and preeminent manner, the objects of his care and favour. “ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress ; my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust : his truth shall be thy shield and buckler:” xci, 1 — 4. “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good ?” 1 Pet. iii, 13. “ But thou, Israel, art my servant, the seed of Abraham my friend. Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee : yea, I will help thee : yea, I will up¬ hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness :” 130 Pain and Affliction [Ess. vi. Isa. xli, 8, 10. “ Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom Luke xii, 32. The rewards bestowed upon the righteous form one essential part of that retributive system which I have already noticed as evincing the justice of the Deity. Here, however, it ought to be observed, that, although the wicked deserve the wrath of the Lord, the most righteous among men are far indeed from having any claim, in themselves, on the happiness which he con¬ descends to bestow upon them. It is his own good¬ ness which follows them ; and of that goodness they are utterly unworthy. After they have done all which he commands them, they are “ unprofitable servants;” for “who hath first given” unto the Lord that it should “ be recompensed unto him again?” Let us observe the distinction — “The wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord :” Rom. vi, 23. Such are the descriptions presented to us in Holy Writ of the benevolence and bounty of the Deity. Now, we know that the creatures of God are many of them endued with exquisite sensibility — that, while their frame is adapted to delightful and pleasurable sensations, it is also liable to pain. Bodily pain and a certain degree, we may presume, of mental suffering are often endured, even by the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; and, with respect to man, his capacity of suffering pain is large in proportion to his other powers. He is the child, not only of pleasure and joy, but of perplexity, affliction, and tribulation. He is “born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward !” Job v, 7. This subject, like that of the existence of moral evil, is not without its mysteriousness ; but, that, between the pains suffered under particular circumstances by 131 Ess. vi.] Permitted or Ordained, the creatures, and the benevoleuce of the Creator, there is no real inconsistency, a scriptural view of the case will presently convince us. With respect, in the first place, to the inferior animals, the sacred writers occasionally advert to their frail and perishing nature, Ps. xlix, 12 : hut they are far more frequently occupied in contemplating their strength, their beauty, and their happiness: Job xxxix — xli: Ps. civ. On this branch of the subject, then, it may suffice to observe, that the sensitiveness of these animals is productive of so vast a quantity of pleasure, and of so little pain in the compa¬ rison, as to afford an almost unmixed evidence of the benevolence of their maker ; and, unquestionably, the pain which such perishing creatures sometimes endure, although calculated to excite compassion in the feeling mind, is permitted for some wise and gracious, though unknown, purpose. With respect to the more intelligent creatures of God, all the suffering which they endure may reason¬ ably be regarded, as I have found occasion to remark in a former Essay, as the direct or indirect conse¬ quences of sin. That such, more especially, is the fact, as it relates to death, that most powerful afflicter of humanity, we may learn from the apostle Paul ; for it is generally allowed that he spoke of natural as well as spiritual death, when he said, “ By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned Rom. 5, 12. Now, it is a singular proof of the good¬ ness, as well as the wisdom, of God, that the pains and afflictions of mortals, the direct or indirect conse¬ quences of sin, are so overruled for good, that they are often the means of curing that every evil out of which they originate. We learn from the Scriptures, that they are directed by an all-wise and beneficent Deity to the great and good purpose of moral proba- 132 for Wise Purposes. [Ess. vi. tion and discipline — that they are powerful instru¬ ments in his holy hands, for the reformation and re¬ storation of his wandering children. Affliction, in its varied forms, is calculated, above almost every other means, to humble the pride and to soften the hard¬ ness of the heart of man. It is affliction by which our faith is tried, and in the end confirmed. It is affliction which calls into exercise our patience, our forbearance, our submission, and our fortitude. “Be¬ fore I was afflicted,” exclaimed David, “I went astray ; but now have I kept thy word Ps. cxix, 67. “ My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him ; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? . Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits, and live ; for they verily, for a few days, chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness ? Now, no chas¬ tening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but griev¬ ous ; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Prov. iii, 11 : Heb. xii, 5 — 1 1. The righteous, who are the especial objects of the divine benevolence, are taught of their Heavenly Father, that it is “ through much tribulation ” they “ enter the kingdom but theirs is the privilege of receiving, on every trying occasion, strength and con¬ solation proportioned to their day. “ But now, saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name : thou art mine. 133 Ess. vi.] Harmony of the Divine Attributes. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee ; for I am the Lord thy God — the Holy One of Israel — thy Saviour Isa. xliii, 1 — 3. The purpose and effect of their sufferings, also, are plainly set before them, for their help and encouragement. “The trial of” their “ faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,” is found “unto praise and honour , and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” 1 Pet. i, 7. “For which cause we faint not, but, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day ; for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:” 2 Cor. iv, 16, 17. Too many indeed there are, among men, to whom the moral discipline of pain and sorrow, as well as every other administration of divine wisdom, is applied in vain — who, unmoved alike by kindness and by chastisement, continue in their state of sinfulness— hard, stubborn, and impenitent. If the sufferings of such persons are unmitigated — if they find no valid consolation under them— it is not because there is any inadequacy in the goodness of God, but because they are separated from that goodness by their sins. And, if they continue to despise the long suffering, and to reject the proffered grace, of a perfectly benevolent Deity, till the time of their visitation, the period of their probation, shall have passed away for ever, and thus expose themselves to the outpouring of his wrath in the world of future retribution, the goodness of God is still unimpeachable — their blood is upon their own heads. In the moral attributes of the Deity, there is to be observed the harmony of a perfect adjustment. Every one of those 134 The Mercy of God. [Ess. vi, attributes occupies its own province, and fulfils its own end ; and, while they operate in different directions, there exists among them an entire congruity. God is benevolent : he is also holy : and his benevolence is incapable of being ever so exerted as to interrupt or annul his holiness. It can never be applied in such a manner as to confound the distinction between right and wrong, to destroy the standard of virtue, or to subvert that unalterable principle — that the wages of unrepented sin is death. V. Let it be remembered, however, that the holi¬ ness and benevolence of God meet in his attribute of mercy. When the Lord condescended to display his glory to Moses, he descended in the cloud, and pro¬ claimed the name of the Lord : “ The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abun¬ dant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou¬ sands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin Exod. xxxiv, 6, 7. Of all the attributes of the Deity indeed, there is none more largely unfolded in Scripture than his mercy — his gracious and unfailing disposition to pardon the iniquities of his children, on their for¬ saking their sins, on their turning back again to the God of their salvation, on their offering to him the ac¬ ceptable sacrifice of a contrite heart. “ If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity,” said David, “ O Lord, who shall stand ? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Let Israel hope in the Lord ; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plen¬ teous redemption Ps. cxxx, 4, 7. “ It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his com¬ passions fail not Lam. iii, 22. “ Have I any plea¬ sure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live ?” Ezek. xviii, 23. “ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let 135 Ess. vi.] His Love in Christ. him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon . Isa. Iv, 7. Nothing can be conceived more tender and exquisite than the compassions of Jehovah. He follows his un¬ worthy children in all their wanderings ; he visits and revisits them with his Holy Spirit ; he suffers their rebellion long ; he pleads with them as a father ; he says, “ How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel ? How shall I make thee as Ad¬ mail ? How shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me ; my repentings are kindled toge¬ ther Hosea xi, 8. The prodigal son, humbled under the miserable consequences of his dissolute life, returns with a penitent heart to his paternal home. His father beholds him while yet he is a great way off— runs to¬ wards him— falls on his neck and kisses him— puts on him his best robe — kills the fatted calf for his enter¬ tainment — and fondly rejoices over him, because he “ was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found : Luke xv. But it is in the scheme of redemption, as revealed to mankind in the Gospel of Jesus Christ— in that wonderful truth, that the Father gave the Son to be the Sacrifice for sin, and the Saviour of sinners— that the mercy of God towards his corrupted and degraded children is displayed in all its brightness, and in all its consistency with the holiness of his nature. “ God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us : Rom. v, 8. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love where¬ with he loved us, even when we were „dead in sms, hath quickened us together with Christ : Eph. ii, 4, 5. “ Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 John iv, 10. When we contemplate this 136 His Truth and Faithfulness. [Ess. vi. amazing scene, and are humbled in the view of it; when we hear the Spirit say, Come, and the bride say, Come, and, in compliance with the invitation, draw near to the “fountain opened for sin and for unclean¬ ness when we wash our robes, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, and “ take the water of life freely — then are we prepared to confess of a truth the perfect holiness of Jehovah — then also can we enter into the strength and spirit of the apostle’s declaration, that “God is love:” 1 John iv, 16. VI. Lastly, let it be observed, that God is true and faithful. “The word of the Lord is right, and alibis works are done in truth Ps. xxxiii, 4. “The works of his hands are verity and judgment — all his com¬ mandments are sure ; they stand fast for ever and ever ; and are done in truth and uprightness Ps. cxi, 7, 8. The truth, no less than the mercy, of God, called forth the praises of his inspired servants. “ I will worship toward the holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness, and for thy truth ; for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name Ps. cxxxviii, 2. “ The Lord is good ; his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations Ps. c, 5. “Also the strength of Israel will not lie 1 Sam. xv, 29. “ If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful ; he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. ii, 13. The divine quality so plainly declared in these and numerous other passages of Holy Writ is of unutter¬ able importance, because it affords a pledge of that eternal stability in the operation of all his other moral attributes, upon which his dependent creatures may place a perfect reliance. The word of the Lord is sure. His law is unalterable. His judgments are certain. His promises cannot fail. Let the wicked tremble before him, in the certain assurance that his threats will be executed — that the day of his wrath Ess. vi.] Recapitulation. 137 will come in its season. Let the righteous rejoice, because they have a faithful Creator, to whom, with absolute security, they may commit the keeping of their souls, 1 Pet. iv, 19 ; because “ he which hath begun a good work in them, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” Phil, i, 6; because they have an hope “ which entereth into that within the vail,” as “an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,” He¬ brews vi, 19 ; because “ he is faithful that promised,” Heb. x, 23 ; because God, who “ sent redemption unto his people hath commandeth his covenant for ever : ” Ps. cxi, 9. Such is a feeble sketch of the account presented to us in the Scripture, of the nature and character of God. In the recollection of the principal features of our subject, we are once more to observe, that there is no other God but Jehovah ; that this one God is from eternity to eternity; that he gave existence to all other beings, and is alone the Creator of the hea¬ vens and the earth ; that, in the work of Creation, he displayed an absolute omnipotence and perfect wis¬ dom; that he manifests the same attributes in the perpetual maintenance of the laws of nature ; that he is the absolute sovereign of the universe, and orders the whole course of events by his providence ; that he is invisible, yet omnipresent, filling his own works ; that he is omniscient, penetrating the inmost recesses of the hearts of his children ; that he is ab¬ solutely holy, the Fountain of purity, abhorring sin, rejecting and condemning all iniquity ; that he is just, conducting his moral government on a system of righteous retribution, in which it is well with the good and ill with the wicked ; that, in the application of this retributive system, he maintains a perfect equi¬ ty : that he is good, abounding in benevolence towards all his sensitive creatures, protecting the injured and 138 Conclusion. [Ess. vi. oppressed, and, in an especial manner, extending his fostering care to those who fear and serve him ; that, although he leaves the impenitent sinner, to suffer, yet he comforts and supports every contrite mourner, and overrules the afflictions of the righteous to their eter¬ nal advantage ; that he is willing to forgive, and rich in mercy towards the whole degraded family of man¬ kind ; that, in the scheme of man’s redemption, above all, it is made abundantly manifest, that God is love. Finally, that, in his truth and faithfulness, we have an unfailing warrant that his judgments will be executed, his mercies perfected, and all his promises found to he yea and amen for ever. In retiring from the consideration of this awful subject, must we not exclaim with the Psalmist, “ When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fin¬ gers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordain¬ ed, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him ! ” Must we not be humbled in the dust under a sense of the incompre¬ hensible condescension of God, who is pleased to dwell in us, and to invite us, as a father, to dwell in Him? And ought we not to press with holy dili¬ gence after that better state of being, in which we shall know God, “even as we are known” — in which we shall find eternity not too long for contemplating the attributes, performing the will, and declaring the praises of JEHOVAH? ESSAY VII. ON THE UNION AND DISTINCTION IN THE DIVINE NATURE. THE contents of the preceding Essay afford abundant evidence that the doctrine of the unity of God is not only explicitly declared by the inspired writers, but lies at the very foundation of their system of religion, and pervades it in every part. Whether they were led to write of his power, his omniscience, and his wisdom, or to expatiate on his moral attributes, it never failed to be on the allowed and declared prin¬ ciple, that there is no other God but Jehovah, the Creator and Governor of all things, the only piopei object of spiritual allegiance and adoration. While, however, this primary truth must ever be held sacred on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, it is on the same authority that we admit another doctrine,— namely, that, in his revealed operations, and more especially in the appointment and application of the scheme of man’s redemption, God has manifested himself to us as the father, the son, and the holy spirit. In order to the elucidation of this subject — a sub¬ ject which ought never to be approached without a feeling of profound humility and reverence we may now advert to some of those scriptural declarations, from which we learn that the Father is God ; that the Son is God; and that the Holy Spirit is God. 140 The Father is God: the Son is God. [Ess. vn. 1. That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent his only-begotten Son into the world, is God, is universally admitted by Christians ; and, on the pre¬ sent occasion, nothing can be needful but to adduce two or three of those numerous texts of Scripture, in which he is at once distinguished as the Father , and described as the Deity. “ God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through him might be saved : ” John iii, 17. “ God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellow¬ ship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. i, 9. " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ : ” 1 Pet. i, 3. Such and similar are the terms in which the sacred writers invariably express them¬ selves respecting the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever, indeed, Jesus is described as the Son of God, there the Deity of the Father, as he is distin¬ guished from the Son, is recognized and declared. 2. The divine nature and character of Jesus Christ, the Word or Son of God, will form the principal sub¬ ject of a subsequent Essay. In the mean time, there¬ fore, we may confine ourselves, in reference to this interesting topic, to the citation of that comprehen¬ sive and emphatic declaration, in which, at the very commencement of his Gospel, the apostle John has adverted to the preexistence of the Messiah, and has attributed to him, at once, both the name and the works of Deity. “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him : and without him teas not any thing made that was made. In him was life ; and the life was the light of men John i, 1 — 4. 3. With respect to the Holy Spirit, we must in the first place, direct our attention to those passages of Scripture, in which he is described, not merely in his Personal Character 141 Ess. vn.] influence and’operation, but in his personal character. Such was the point of view in which the Holy Spirit was held up to the attention of the earliest Christians by the Lord Jesus. “ But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he7 shall teach you ail things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you John xiv, 26. “ But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he7 shall testify of me xv, 26. “ It is expedient for you, that I go away ; for if I go not away, the Com¬ forter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him8 unto you. And when he9 is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment John xvi, 7, 8. On another occasion, our Saviour made mention of the Holy Ghost, as of One against whom the sin of blasphemy could never be committed with impunity. “ All manner of sin and blasphemy,” said he, “ shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come:” Matt, xii, 31, 32. The very pointed allusions thus made by our Saviour to the personality of the Holy Spirit are in exact ac¬ cordance with the mode of expression which was often adopted, in relati: n to the same subject, by his inspired disciples. From various passages in the Book of Acts, and the Epistles, we can scarcely do otherwise than deduce the inference, that these servants of the Lord regarded the Holy Spirit as one possessing a personal authority, exercising personal powers, and requiring 7 ext/vog. 8 aMv. 9 sxsTvog. 142 of the Holy Spirit. [Ess. vn. a personal allegiance. When Ananias and Sapphira kept back part of the price of their land, it was the Holy Spirit to whom they lied , and whom they con¬ spired to tempt : Acts v, 3, 9. When the church at Antioch was engaged in ministering to the Lord with fasting, it was the Holy Spirit who said unto them, “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul, for the work where- unto I have called them;” and it was he by whom these evangelists were sent forth , when they departed unto Seleucia : Acts xiii, 2, 4. It was the Holy Spirit who directed the course of the apostle Paul’s journeys; who forbade him to preach the word in Asia ; who suffered him not to go into Bythinia : Acts xvi, 6, 7. It was the Holy Spirit, as well as the apostles and their breth¬ ren, to whom it “ seemed good ” to refrain from im¬ posing on the Gentiles the burden of the Jewish ritual: Acts xv, 28. It was he who constituted the overseers of the churches : Acts xx, 28. It was he who inspired the apostles ; who spake and testified by the prophets ; Mark xiii, 11 ; Acts xxviii, 25 ; Heb. iii, 7 ; ix, 8 ; x, 15. “ Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,” said Paul to the Ephesians, “ whereby (or by whom) ye are seal¬ ed unto the day of redemption,” Ephes. iv, 30 ; and to the Corinthians, “ Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?” 1 Cor. vi, 19. Lastly, in describing the diversified, yet harmonious, operation of spiritual gifts, the same apostle says, “ For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit, &c. &c . But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, divid¬ ing to every man severally , as lie will .*” 1 Cor. xii, 8—11. Now, if the inquiry be addressed to us, Who is he, of whom Christ and his apostles thus bear witness ; who teaches and consoles the disciples of Jesus ; who Ess. vii.] The Holy Spirit is God. 143 reproves the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; whom it is unpardonable to blaspheme, wicked and dangerous to tempt and to grieve ; who finds his temple in the hearts of the righteous ; who inspires the apostle ; speaks by the prophet ; appoints the oveiseer ; calls forth, anoints, and directs the evangelist ; who distributes to his people, according to his own will, those manifold gifts and graces, by which the church is edified, and the cause of truth promoted ? — the fundamental principles of our religion, and the whole analogy of Scripture, will assuredly ad¬ mit but of one answer — He is God. God is a spirit. Invisible, and spiritual in his na¬ ture, he fills his own works : he exercises over them an unseen and powerful influence : he dwells and ope¬ rates in the hearts of men. Nor can we deny the truth of the converse of such a proposition — namely, that the Spirit who fills the works of deity, who ex¬ ercises over them an unseen, yet powerful, influence, who dwells and operates in the hearts of men, is God. “Now, THE LORD is that spirit,” saith the apostle Paul ; “ and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. iii, 17, 18. II. Such is the scriptural evidence of which we are in possession, that the Father is God, that the Son is God, that the Holy Spirit is God. Having consider¬ ed this evidence, we may now proceed to take a view of some additional passages in the New Testament, in which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whose deity is thus distinctively and separately indi¬ cated, are presented to our attention as the united sources of the Christian’s help and consolation, the united objects of the Christian’s belief and obedience. 144 The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, [Ess. vn. This description is indeed applicable to the passages already cited from the Gospel of John, in relation to the personality of the Holy Ghost : vide xiv, 26 ; xv, 26] xvi, 7, 8. To these passages, however, others of a similar import must be now added. “ Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come,” said the Son of God to his immediate followers, “ he will guide you into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself ; hut whatsoevor he shall hear , that shall he speak ; and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me ; for he shall receive of mine , and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine ; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shew it unto you :” John xvi, 13, 14. If, then, I am asked, Who is to guide the people of God into all truth ? I answer, on the authority of this lu¬ minous declaration, The Spirit of Truth. If I am asked again, Whose wisdom and grace does the Spi¬ rit of Truth administer ? it is on the same authority that I reply, The wisdom and grace of the Son of God. And if, lastly, the inquiry be addressed to me, On what principle can we say that it is the wisdom and grace of the Son which the Spirit administers ? this enquiry also is fully met by the information con¬ tained in our text — namely, that all wisdom and grace are from the Father, and that whatsoever the Father hath is the Sons. From whom, then, does the Chris¬ tian derive the strength of his spiritual life, and the hope of his soul’s salvation? From the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And to whom does he owe the tribute of gratitude and praise, and the return of a faithful and unhesitating obedience? To the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Such was the doctrine inculcated by the apostle Paul, on more than one occasion. “ There is one body, and one Spirit,” said he to the Ephesians, Ess. vii.] the Common Sources of Salvation, and the 145 “ even as ye are called in one hope of your calling — one Lord, one faith, one baptism — one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all Eph. iv, 4, 6. To the Corinthians he ad¬ dressed himself in very similar terms: “Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit ; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord ; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all 1 Cor. xii, 4—6. Again, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen 2 Cor. xiii, 14. Here we may observe, that the name God is appropriated to the Father, as is the title Lord to the Son ; but the various passages previously cited afford abundant proof that the Spirit and the Son are no more excluded from the Godhead of the Father than the Father is excluded from the Lordship of the Son, or from the administrative authority of the Spirit; and from these explicit declarations it is evident that, in the covenant of light and life which God conde¬ scends to make with his fallen creatures, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, display a perfect harmony and unity of operation. Of this harmony and unity of operation, in institut¬ ing and conducting the scheme of the Gospel, a very striking indication is afforded us in the narratives given, by the evangelists Matthew and Luke, of one of the most interesting circumstances which distinguished the life of Jesus. When Jesus, in order “to fulfil all righteousness,” submitted himself to the baptism of John, we read that “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him ; and a voice came from heaven, which said. Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased Luke iii, 21, 22; comp. Matt, iii, 15 — 17. H 146 Common Objects of Faith and Allegiance . [Ess. vii. And now it only remains for us to advert to that memorable injunction respecting evangelizing and baptizing the nations, which appears to have formed the conclusion of our Lord’s last conversation with his disciples on earth : “ Go ye therefore and teach (or make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in (or unto) 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 alway, even unto the end of the world Matt, xxviii, 19, 20. On this passage it is necessary to observe that, to baptize in the name of a person, is to baptize by the authority of that person ; but that, to baptize unto the name of a person, (and the prepo¬ sition here used signifies not in, but unto) is to baptize unto the faith and service of which such person is the object. Now, in whatever manner we may here inter¬ pret the participle baptizing — whether we understand it as denoting merely the sign of conversion, or the act of converting itself— there is one point of the doc¬ trine contained in this passage which does not appear liable to any reasonable doubt or dispute; namely, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, being the common sources of the Christian’s hope and salvation, are also the common objects of his faith and spiritual allegiance. The converts who were about to be made, through the ministry of the apostles, among all nations, were to be turned away from dumb idols unto the living God. No longer were they to place their de¬ pendence on devils, or on the mere creatures of human imagination : they were henceforth to serve, honour, worship, and obey, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Clear, however, as this general doctrine appears to be, the consideration of this branch of our subject can¬ not be safely quitted without the addition of some fur- 147 Ess. vii.] Their Order and Distinct Offices. ther observations. When we assert, on the authority of Scripture, that the Father the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are the common objects of the Christian’s al¬ legiance — when we recognize the principle promulgat¬ ed by our Saviour himself, that all men are called upon to “ honour the Son, even as they honour the Father,” John v, 23 : and when, from other inspired declarations, we conclude that this principle is to be yet farther ex¬ tended, and that all men are called upon also to honour the Holy Spirit, even as they honour the Father and the Son — we are always to remember that the equality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is an equal¬ ity in point of nature; for in their nature, they are God, and God is one. In order to obtain a just and com¬ prehensive view of the whole subject, (as far as it is revealed to us) it is necessary also to advert to the order of that relation in which they are ever represented as standing one towards another. The Father is the first : the Son is the second: the Holy Spirit is the third. The Son is subordinate to the Father, because he is of the Father — the only-begotten Son of God. The Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and the Son, because he is the Father’s and the Son’s : see Matt, iii, 16 : Rom. viii, 9. The Father sends the Son, The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit: John xv, 26. Again — while, we gratefully confess that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are the common sources of our hope and salvation, we are never to forget the distinct offices which they are respectively described as bearing, in the glorious economy of the divine dispen¬ sations. With the Father rests the unsearchable de¬ sign — the hidden and eternal purpose — out of which arises the whole course of circumstances and events, and more especially the scheme of Christianity, and the sal¬ vation of man: see John iii, 16: Eph. i, 1 — 10, &c. 148 Their Order and Distinct Offices. [Ess. vn. Ft om him are all things, and of all things his glory is the ultimate result. His will is law. His love is the fountain of grace and immortality. The Son is the Way , by whom are all things, and “ we by him.” He is the image of the invisible God, in whom the Father is made manifest. He propitiates, he advocates, he reigns over the heritage of God : he conducts the whole system appointed for our recovery and salvation. The Holy Spirit is the operative Power, through whom the Father and the Son carry on their work of mercy, and exercise their dominion over the souls of men. It is he who enlightens, converts, renews, con¬ soles, and purifies, the heirs of salvation. The Father is, in the deepest and most comprehensive sense of the expressions, the Creator — the Son, the Redeemer — the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. The Father origin¬ ates, the Son mediates, the Holy Spirit consummates. In order to complete our views of the scriptural evidences which bear upon the present subject, I have now to observe, that, although this three-fold distinc¬ tion in the divine nature is the most clearly revealed to us in the New Testament, yet there are also vari¬ ous passages in the sacred writings of the ancient Hebrews, which appear to indicate a plurality in the one God. It is a circumstance which cannot, I would submit, be satisfactorily explained on any merely gram¬ matical principle, that Jehovah is sometimes describ¬ ed in the Old Testament, as the “ living ones,” 1 and the “holy ones:”2 see Jer. xxiii, 36: Prov. ix, 10; xxx, 3 : comp. Ecc. xii, 1, &c. Hebrew text. The Father is the Creator of the universe. He made all things by his Son : nor are we to forget, that when the “ earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters:” Gen. i, 2. i cm 2 DWp Ess. vii.] Testimony borne in 149 We may therefore conclude, that Jehovah was nei¬ ther honouring himself, like the potentates of the earth, with the assumption of an unmeaning plurality, (as the Jews pretend) nor making the angels his coun¬ sellors, (as some Christian commentators have irreve¬ rently imagined) but speaking in his true and appro¬ priate character, when he was pleased to express him¬ self as follows, “ Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” Gen. i, 26. Again, “Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil : iii, 22. When Isaiah beheld the vision of Jehovah in the temple, the glory of God was displayed to his mental perception ; yet, that it was the Son of God whose glory appeared to him, and through whom therefore the Father was manifested, is indirectly asserted by an inspired evangelist : John xii, 41. And that it was the Holy Ghost, from whom the prophet then receiv¬ ed his commission, we may learn from the express declaration of the apostle Paul : Acts xxviii, 25. Can we not therefore discern, in the theology of Scripture, a substantial reason why the Seraphim, who then sur¬ rounded their Lord, cried, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts !” and why Jehovah him¬ self was afterwards heard to say, “ Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ?” Isaiah vi, 3, 8. In conclusion, I would invite the reader’s attention to the very remarkable and interesting fact, that, through¬ out the greater part of the old Testament, (that is to say, in upwards of two thousand instances) God is de¬ scribed by a plural substantive, elohim. This plural substantive is very usually connected with the name Jehovah; and its other adjuncts also, whether they are verbs, adjectives, or pronouns, are almost univer¬ sally placed in the singular number. Thus, in the first verse of the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew tei ms 150 the Hebrew Scriptures, [Ess. vn. rendered, “God created,” might be literally represent¬ ed, in the Latin tongue, by Dii creavit.3 This ano¬ malous mode of expression, which is to be observed (as I understand) in none of the Eastern languages, except the Hebrew, and which is in fact peculiar (as far as its original use is concerned) to the oracles of God, consigned by his own providence to that ancient language, has been the subject of many and large discussions. Some writers have regarded it as indirectly de¬ rived from the heathen, and as maintained by the Hebrews, for the purpose of showing, that in Je¬ hovah alone centred the whole of that power and authority which other nations were accustomed to attribute to their numerous and false deities. When, however, we consider that the oneness of their God was the most distinguishing characteristic of the reli¬ gion of the Hebrews, and that they were forbidden every the slightest approach, either in word or deed, to the corrupt manners and customs of idolaters, we can hardly conceive it possible that Moses and the prophets should have given their countenance to so needless and even dangerous a relic of heathenism. Nor can we feel much more satisfaction in the decision of certain critics, that this use of the term Elohim is to be explained by a rule of Hebrew grammar ; namely, that nouns expressive of magnitude and power, and relating to an individual, may be sometimes re¬ cited in the plural number ; for, the instances adduced in elucidation of the rule thus stated are few in num¬ ber, dissimilar in various respects from the example now in question, and, for the most part, capable of being otherwise explained.4 On the whole, therefore, 3 .D'rf7K *ra 4 The rule above alluded to appears rather to have been invented by grammarians for the purpose of explaining the use of the plural name 151 Ess. vii.] to the Doctrine I cannot avoid entertaining the opinion, that this striking, yet very prevalent, anomaly appertained to the religion of the Hebrews, and was intended to convey some information respecting the Deity whom Elohim than to have been formed on the basis of any solid evidence that so anomalous a mode of speech really appertains to the genius of the Hebrew language. The instances adduced of the application of plural nouns to individuals, in order to express magnitude or authority , are far from sufficient, according to my apprehension of the subject, to justify the establishment of such a rule. Besides, the word Elohim, the plural form of which may be so properly explained on a totally different principle, the only examples given of the supposed rule, which have even the ap¬ pearance of being in point, are a dragon JTlQrQ Behemoth, ^2 master, D'OIK* ^rd. __ On these examples I may venture to offer a few remarks. 1. as used by Ezekiel (xxxii, 2,) to describe a crocodile or water serpent, is evidently to be distinguished from the plural substantive which as employed by Isaiah (xxxiv, 13,) and Jeremiah (ix, 11,) &c. denotes a species of animals dwelling in desert and desolate places probably the canes feri, or jackals. The of Ezekiel is in all probability a noun in the singular number, synonymous with a dragon. 23 of Ken- nicott’s MSS. in Ezekiel xxxii, 2, read vl^e Fococh on Mic. i, S. 2. Behemoth in Job xl, 15, supposed by some persons to be a plural substantive, denoting a single large animal, may signify, as in various other passages of Scripture, the plural Beasts. “ Behold now Behemoth (the beasts) which I have made with thee— He eateth grass as an ox, &c.” Here the work of creation, as displayed in the formation of the beasts of the earth, is at first adverted to it in general terms ; and then follows a specification of some particular animal (probably the Ele¬ phant) whose name has either been lost from the text, as (Michaelis supposes, Sup. ad. lex. Heb. in voc.) or was not mentioned at all by the poet. If we do not adopt this obviously probable explanation of the word JTlQrO' we must construe it with the masculine singular verb in which case we can no longer imagine it to be a feminine plural noun, and must adopt the opinion of Bochart, the Scriptural naturalist, who considers Behemoth to be a foreign (probably an Egyptian) name a name which he explains as denoting the Hippopotamus : Hieroz. p. il, lib. v, cap. 14. • 3. The nouns (Baal) master, and (Adon) Lord, .when in statu constructo, sometimes, but not universally, assume a final . This, however, is a circumstance by no means peculiar to these substantives, but is often to be observed, as in the examples thy servant, 152 of a Plurality in the One God. [Ess. vn. they worshipped. Of the nature of that information (if this is the true state of the case) it is by no means difficult to form a judgment ; for, of all those phrases in which the plural Elohim is connected with the Tim tliy word, &c. &c. Even the prepositions "U?> *78. by 9 are sometimes written with a final *1 ; which, in the whole of the cases now cited, may fairly be regarded, not as marking the plural number, but as* added for the sake of a smooth and easy sound. says Aben Ezra, upon Genesis i, 1 ; and so the words “ yh&T'iy*” vide Gussetii Comm. p. 57. The Hebrew Scriptures afford no example of the plural D'fyn employed to denote an individual. The plural S'*™ is supposed to relate to a single person, in 1 Kings xxii, 17, and in the parallel passage, 2 Chron. xviii, 16; also in Isa. xix, 4; but in each of these passages the reader will find, on a reference to them, that may be rendered as plural without violence to the sense of the text. So the Targum in 1 Kings xxii, 17, the Vulgate in 2 Chron. xviii, 16, and the Sept. Syr. and Vulg. in Isaiah xix, 4. In Malachi i, 6, the plural, D\nK, like the plural DVftK. unquestionably represents an individual; but that individual is Jehovah. With respect to other nouns indicative of authority, such as K'tW princeps, vi'hti} dux, rex, &c. &c., it is on all hands allowed, that, when they relate to an individual, they are never recited in the plural number. Even, therefore, if it be allowed that the substantive pm Lord, in a very few instances presents such an anomaly, (which appears to me very doubtful, though I by no means intend to assert the contrary) I would suggest that a single example, and one so very limited, cannot justify the formation of the grammatical rule now under discussion ; or afford any reasonable philological explanation of that extraordinary use of a plural name to denote the One God, which may be described as one of the most prevalent and most distinguishing characteristics of the Hebrew Scriptures. As an objection to the commonly received theological explanation of the plural Elohim, when used to represent Jehovah, it is sometimes re¬ marked that this term is occasionally employed to describe an individual false God ; and further, that there are passages in the Old Testament, in which it especially represents the Son. Now, since Elohim, according to the general and almost universal usage of the term, denotes the true God, we may conclude that this alone is its proper meaning ; and that, in the few passages of Scripture in which this name is given to any false God, it is used (to adopt a grammatical phrase) improprie. I conceive that Chemosli is styled the Elohim of the Moabites, Milcom the Elohim of Ess. vii.] Recapitulation. 153 name Jehovah, or with other adjuncts in the singular number, the obvious import — X might almost say the literal translation — is plurality in unity. Now, if we are led to inquire what is that plurality which subsists in the one indivisible Jehovah? the New Testament answers in explicit terms, “ the father, and the son, and the holy ghost.” On reverting to the heads of the present Essay, the reader will recollect, First, that there are a variety of passages in the New Testament, from which we learn that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and that the Holy Ghost is God— Secondly, that in other parts of the Gospels and Epistles, the doctrine is plainly un¬ folded, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whose deity is thus separately declared, are the united sources of our regeneration, redemption, sanctifica¬ tion, and salvation ; the common and equal objects of our belief and devotion ; yet so that they are first, second, and third, in order, and are revealed to us as severally fulfilling distinct offices in the divine econo¬ my ; the Father as originating, the Son as mediating, the Holy Spirit as completing. Thirdly, that, in the Hebrew Scriptures, also, there is much which accords with this doctrine, and which appears to indicate, in no ambiguous manner, a plurality in the divine essence — in the only true god. the Ammonites, and Baal Zobeb, the Elohim of the Ekronites, not because any one of these idols was, in any proper sense of the term, Elohim; but because they were severally to their respective followers that which Elohim was to the Hebrews— i. e. the god whom they worT shipped : see 1 Kings xi, 33. That there are passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, in which this plural name has an especial relation to the Son of God, cannot be reasonably disputed : see Isa. xxxv, 4 ; xl, 3 : Ps. xlv, 6. But this fact may surely be explained without any subversion of the doctrine that Elohim denotes a plurality in the divine essence ; for in that divine essence there is also a perfect unity; and wherever the Son of God is manifested, there is manifested the Elohim. “ He that hath seen me,” said Jesus, “hath seen the Father.” H 3 154 Conclusion. Ess. vn.] And now I would finish this Essay, as I began it, with a full declaration of my full reliance on that essential and unalterable principle of Christianity, that God is One — that there is no other God but Jeho¬ vah. That principle is, indeed, weakened and contra¬ dicted by those religionists, (if such are still to be found,) who hold that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not God — but g-ocfo „• objects of faith, worship, and spiritual allegiance ; and yet created beings, of a na¬ ture inferior to that of the Father. Such a sentiment is utterly at variance with the scope and tenor of the Bible, and is, in no slight degree, assimilated to the corrupt and degraded heathenism of ancient Greece and Rome. But, in the doctrine, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are God — the true God — Jehovah — the Supreme Being — the Maker and Go¬ vernor of the universe ; or, in other words, that God has been pleased to manifest himself to us, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — there is nothing which really contravenes his unity : nothing which can, in any degree, involve our partaking in the errors and sins of an idolatrous system. God is an infinite and unsearchable Being. The mode of that union, and of that distinction, which, as Christians, we believe to subsist in Him, is placed far beyond the utmost reach of our limited compre¬ hension : it is concealed alike from the uneducated peasant and from the profound and enlightened philo¬ sopher ; and it can never be a fit subject, either for the speculation, or for the definition, of men. But the doctrine, that there is such a union, and that there is such a distinction, will not cease to be regarded as of inexpressible value, by those persons who bow with reverence before the divine authority of the sacred records, and who are, from their own experience, aware of its practical influence and operation. May Conclusion. 1 55 Ess. vii.] the writer and the readers of this Essay never become so infatuated as to contradict the absolute unity of the unchangeable Jehovah ! and may they also, through the grace of God, be ever preserved from denying the eternal divinity of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ! ESSAY VIII. ON THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE SPIRITUAL ADVERSARY. When we take a calm view of the moral degrada¬ tion which marks the history and character of man ; when we endeavour to trace the multiform appear¬ ances of sin, and observe the force with which it rages and spreads in the world ; and when we call to mind the consequence which it is calculated to produce, in the absolute ruin of our immortal part — we can scarce¬ ly continue insensible of a strong impression, that there exists some powerful, active, personal, agent, who rules over and conducts the kingdom of darkness ; and who, in a proper sense of the expressions, is the AUTHOR OF EVIL. If the inquiry be suggested, why the weight of this impression is not more fully acknowledged, and why some persons, who exult in the exercise of their rea¬ soning powers, are found rashly rejecting the doctrine of a Satanic influence, as absurd and imaginary — a sa¬ tisfactory answer to such an inquiry is afforded us in the lamentable fact, that this doctrine has been made the vehicle of so many foolish imaginations, and of so many idle tales — tales impressed on our minds and me¬ mories even from early youth — that the views of men on the subject have been very generally corrupted. Thus, that effort of the human mind, which is employ¬ ed to sweep away the absurd and ridiculous phantom, is too often found to extend itself, until, in reference Ess. viii,] Fall of Satan and his Angels* 157 to the present awful subject, we have also discarded the sober dictates of good sense, probability, and ti uth. In order, then, to form a just view of the doctrine in question — a view which shall be free at once fiom credulity and from scepticism — let us lay aside both our imaginations and our prejudices, and let us, with a humble spirit, examine the testimony given on the subject, in the records of divine revelation. For, as the Scriptures plainly declare that the Supreme Being is absolutely opposed to all moral evil— that his light condemns it, that his power subdues it, and that his judgments will, in the end, assuredly overtake it— so they also teach us, in a very explicit manner, that there exist powerful spirits, and one eminent above the rest, in whom all manner of moral evil dwells, and to whose agency it may be directly traced. We read that the beings now alluded to were once numbered among the angels of God; and we may therefore conclude, without a question, that they were created holy. In what manner they became sinful, the Scriptures do not reveal, and it is impossible for us to conceive; but certain it is, that these childien of light became the “ Rulers of the darkness of this world ’’—that they lost the character of saints, and with it the joys and privileges of heaven. The apo¬ stle Jude describes them as the angels which “ kept not their first estate , but left their own habitation,” ver. 6 ; and, respecting Satan, their governor and leader, (Eph. ii, %,) our Saviour himself expressly asserts that he “ abode not in the truth John viii, 44. Again, on another occasion, when the disciples were astonished to find that “ even the devils were made subject to them,” Jesus explained the fact by a refer¬ ence, as appears most probable, to the original fall of his mighty adversary. “ I beheld Satan,” said he, “ as lightning fall from heaven:” Luke x, 18. 158 Satan tempted Eve , [Ess. vm. The next point in the history of Satan, revealed to us in the Bible, is one of mournful interest, because it has been fraught with the most destructive conse¬ quences to ourselves ; I mean the seduction of our first parents into the commission of that sin of infidelity and disobedience, which resulted in the moral ruin of mankind. That the serpent who tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge was the devil — or that the devil spake and acted in the serpent — is generally allowed and understood by Christians ; and is amply evinced to be true, partly by the whole analogy of the character of Satan, as the deceiver and destroyer of men, and partly by the obvious bearing of particular passages in the New Testament. It was plainly in allusion to his appearance in the temptation of Eve, that the devil is described in the Revelation of John, as “ that old serpent . which deceiveth the whole world,” Rev. xii, 9 ; and the same doctrine may be elicited from the declaration of Jesus, that Satan was “ a murderer from the beginning John viii, 44. Cain, whose crime was one of the first conspicuous consequences of the fall of his parents, is described as being “of that wicked one,” 1 John iii, 12 ; and that he, whom the early Christians were taught to consider as their spiritual tempter, was the very same being who beguiled Eve, appears to be with sufficient plain¬ ness indicated by the apostle Paul : “ But, I fear,” said he to his Corinthian converts, “ lest, by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his sub- tilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ:” 2 Cor. xi, 3. In the subsequent parts of the Old Testament, there are but few allusions to the character of Satan ; yet was he recognized, on more than one occasion, by its inspired writers, as a personal agent employed in re¬ sisting good and in actively promoting evil. It was, 159 Ess. viii.] Afflicted Job, Sfc. in all probability, no subordinate adversary, but the “ Prince of the power of the air,” who, under the name of Satan, is described, in the book of Job, as “ going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it,” i, 7 ; and as laying the hand of sore af¬ fliction upon that righteous man, in order that he might be induced to rebel against God and die. It was Satan who is declared to have provoked David, at a moment of self-exaltation, into the sin of number¬ ing the people : 1 Chron. xxi, 1. It was Satan, who, in the book of the prophecies of Zechariah, is de¬ scribed as standing at the right hand of the angel, to resist Joshua, the faithful servant and high-priest of the Lord: Zech. iii, 1, 2\ comp. Ps. cix, 6. On that memorable occasion, when Jehovah pro¬ nounced the sentence of condemnation on Eve, her husband, and the serpent, it was predicted that this wily enemy of God and man should bruise the heel of the seed of the woman ; that is, of him who was “ made of a woman ” — the Messiah of Israel ; and, on a reference to the New Testament, we perceive at once in what manner the events, thus obscurely indicated, were accomplished. Satan was the spiritual and pow¬ erful agent who tempted, buffeted, and persecuted, even unto death, the holy and suffering Jesus. Of all the circumstances recorded in the Gospels, there is no one more extraordinary, and no one at the same time more positively described as having actually taken place, than the temptation of Jesus by the devil: see Matt, iv, 1— 1 1 : Mark i, 12, IS. It appears to have been necessary to the completion of that comprehen¬ sive scheme which was appointed for mans ledemp- tion, that the author and minister of our faith should be subjected, in various ways, to the baptism of suf¬ fering, and, though incapable of sin, should be “ tempt¬ ed like as we are.” Accordingly, we find that, pre- 160 Bruised the Heel of the Messiah. [Ess. vin. viously to the commencement of his ministry, he was led of the Spirit into the wilderness, where, during forty days of fasting, he was exposed to the insidious aggressions of his enemy ; and, however mysterious this part of the history of Jesus may be in some points of view, one thing is indisputable — that the whole scene displays, in clear colours, the restlessness, artful¬ ness, perseverance, and malignity of Satan. After that scene had been brought to its close, we read that Satan “ departed from Jesus,” — but only “for a season .*” Luke iv, 13. All the circumstances of the case are such as lead us to the conclusion, that his attacks upon the Messiah were renewed from time to time ; and that, probaby, in a rougher and more distressing form. When the Holy One of Israel was rejected, despised, spitted on, scourged, and insulted — when he endured the contradiction of sinners — when he wandered in desolate places, and had “ not where to l^y his head” — when, on the view of his ap¬ proaching crucifixion, he passed through his agony in the garden of Gethsemane — we have every reason to believe, that the Serpent was bruising the heel of the Seed of the woman. Finally, that it was the same spiritual adversary who procured the consummation of the suffei’ings of Jesus — his shameful and cruel death — we may conclude from our Lord’s address to his Jewish persecutors, “Ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you . ye do that which ye have seen with your father ” — that is with the devil : John viii, 37, 38 : comp. 44. Again, it is expressly declared by the apostle John, that it was Satan who entered into Iscariot “after the sop,” and who put it into the heart of the apostate to betray his Lord : John xiii, 2, 27. That, during the whole course of the life and mi¬ nistry of Jesus, there was a very extensive and pro- Ess. viii.] The Adversary of God, Christ, and Man. 161 bably unusual manifestation of Satanic influence, we may indeed collect, not only from the passages which have now been cited, and which describe some of the operations of Beelzebub himself, but from the very numerous accounts, contained in the tour Gospels, of persons who were possessed and tormented by his sub¬ ordinate agents. These persons appear, in an espe¬ cial manner, to have excited the compassion, and to have claimed the miraculous aid, of him who came to destroy all the ivories of the devil. Now, when we reflect on the exactness with which these circumstances are described— when we recollect the conversations which sometimes took place between Jesus and the evil spirits, and the manner in which they were com¬ pelled to confess that he was the Christ, the Son of God— when we call to mind, for example, the instance in which the legion of devils were expelled from the maniac, and permitted, on their earnest entreaty, to enter into the herd of swine— and when, moreover, we remember that the evangelists were no writers of figures and allegories, but plain, accurate, and inspired historians— it seems impossible to reject the literal in¬ terpretation of these narrations, or to refuse to allow that, at that most important period of the world’s his¬ tory, the spirits of darkness were permitted, in a very remarkable manner, to display their malignity, their activity, and their power. The Hebrew word Satan signifies an adversary, and is, by way of eminence, applied as a name to the devil, because he is, of all adversaries, the principal— the most powerful, and the most malicious. He is the adversary of God, against whom he has rebelled, whose will he still resists, whose rule he endeavours to disturb. He is the adversary of Christ, whom he was at one time permitted to tempt, afflict, and persecute, and whose spiritual dominion over men it is still his 162 Author of Physical Suffering ; [Ess. viii. constant endeavour to interrupt and impede. Between the Messiah of God, and Belial, the prince of darkness, diametrically opposed to each other as they are, in all their attributes, in all their operations, and in all their ends, there can indeed be no “ concord : ” 2 Cor. vi, 15. More especially, Satan is the adversary of man, whose loss, both physical and moral, he has so successfully compassed, and is still for ever labouring to aggravate and confirm. With respect to the former point, our physical loss, we are to remember that sickness, and death, and all their sorrowful train, are the indirect consequences of the moral fall into which man was betrayed by Satan. On 'particular occasions, moreover, the sufferings of mortality, whether bodily or mental, are traced imme¬ diately, by the inspired writers, to the operation of the adversary. It was by his instrumentality that Job was afflicted in body, family, and estate. The woman who for eighteen years had been “bowed together and could in no wise lift herself,” is declared by our Saviour to have been bound by Satan : ” Luke xiii, 11. 16. The maimed, the halt, the withered, the blind, and the lunatic, who were the objects of the miracu¬ lous interposition of our Lord’s compassion, are all described as persons “ oppressed of the devil : ” Acts x, 38. And when, in the primitive and apostolic church, the transgressor was to be punished by some temporal disease or other affliction, he was for this purpose de¬ livered for a season to the power of the devil 1 Cor. v, 5 ; 1 Tim. i, 20. The malice of our spiritual enemy, however, has, in this point of view, been often directed with especial force against the followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus ; because, in hindering, buffeting, and persecut¬ ing them , he interrupts the progress of that word of truth, which it is their privilege to disseminate, and by Ess. vm.] of moral Evil ; and, of Ignorance. 163 which, in the end, his own kingdom must be subverted. “Simon, Simon,” said Jesus to the apostle Peter, “ behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat : ” Luke xxii, 3 1 . When Paul would have visited some of his beloved disciples in the work of the Gospel of Christ, it was Satan who “ hindered ” him: 1 Thess. ii, 18. The thorn in his flesh, by which that apostle was impeded and distressed in the exercise of his ministry, was the “messenger of Satan to buffet him 2Cor.xii,7. It was the devil who cast the pious Christians of Smyrna into prison, Rev. ii, 10 ; and we read that Antipas became the faithful martyr of Jesus, in a place which the prevalence of a persecut¬ ing spirit proclaimed to be the seat of Satan : v, 13. But the opposition of Satan to the true interest of men, as well as his enmity against God and Christ, is above all manifested in that main point, alluded to at the outset of the present discussion, that he is the im¬ mediate author of moral evil. To his artifice and in¬ fluence, as we have already observed, the Scriptures attribute the commission of that first transgression by which Adam and Eve fell from their innocence, and in consequence of which, therefore, the whole family of their descendants have degenerated into a race of sinners. Equally clear is the doctrine of inspiration, that, while we continue in this degenerate, transgress¬ ing nature, we are under the dominion of our soul’s enemy. “ And you hath he quickened,” says Paul to the Ephesian converts, “ who were dead in trespasses and sins : wherein in time past ye walked, according to the course of this world, according to the 'prince of the power of the air ; the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Ephesians ii, 1, The sinful and idolatrous Gentiles, whom this apostle was sent to evangelize, are elsewhere represented as under “the power of Satan: ” Acts xxvi, 18. It is 164 Our Deceiver, [Ess. vm Satan, according to the doctrine of Jesus himself, who sows “ the tares” in the field of the world — and “ the tares are the children of the wicked one : ” Matt, xiii, 38, 39. The vicious and contentious members of the church are described as persons “ taken captive by the devil at his will : ” 2 Timothy ii, 26 ; comp. 1 Timothy v, 15. It was Satan who filled the heart of Ananias to lie : Acts v, 3. The sorcerer Elymas was “ the child of the devil : ” Acts xiii, 10. Wicked and persecuting Jews constituted the “ synagogue of Satan : ” Rev. ii, 9. It is by their sins that the chil¬ dren of the devil are made manifest. “ He that com- mitteth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning:” 1 John iii, 8, 10. Nor ought we to forget, that in order to promote and aggravate that moral evil, of which he is thus declared to be the author, he spreads over the fallen children of Adam the vail of gross and perilous ignorance. With all his “ principalities and powers,” he stands opposed to the progress of divine light. The dominion of Satan is the “ power of darkness Col. i, 13. Evil spirits are the “rulers of the darkness of this world : ” Epli. vi, 12. Their chief is “ the God of this world,” who “ hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them : ” 2 Cor. iv, 4. As Satan is ever represented as the tempter of man, the being who invites, allures, entices, him into trans¬ gressions, so, in order to this end, he is full of wiles and devices: Eph. vi, 11 ; 2 Cor ii, 11. While he rejoices in the ignorance of men, it is his policy to involve them more and more deeply in the mazes of error ; and, prince as he is of darkness, he knows how to transform himself even “ into an angel of light,” for the seduction of those who are the objects of his 165 Ess. viii.] Accuser, and Destroyer. malice : 2 Cor. xi, 14. It is his province to pervert and misapply our reasoning faculties ; to raise in us the pride of a false philosophy, and to cheat us with a lie; to impart to virtue the aspect of dreariness and difficulty, and to array vice in a garment of love¬ liness. “ Ye are of your father, the devil,” said Jesus to some of the wicked unbelievers, by whom he was surrounded, “ and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own ; for he is a liar , and the father of -it John viii, 44. The same powerful being who thus deceives, de¬ grades, and enslaves, mankind, and who often betrays into transgression even those who are justly numbered among the Lord’s servants, is also described as our accuser before God. Such is the principal meaning of that Greek term, applied to the great adversary in so many passages, both of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, from which our own word devil is derived.5 It was as an accuser that Satan (in conformity with the forensic customs of the Jews) is represented as standing at the right hand of the angel, (who is acting as the Judge) in order to resist Joshua the Priests, Zech. iii, 1 ; and in the book of Revelation this malevolent power is expressly described in the same particular character. “ And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night Rev. xii, 1 0. Finally, in his temptations — in his wiles — in his accusations — the adversary of mankind has still the same object in view ; namely, the destruction of our 5 diufioXog. 166 His End. [Ess. viii. immortal souls. It is in this respect, above all others, that Satan is to be regarded as a “ murderer.” The apostle declares that he has “ the power of death” — not only, we may presume, of the death of the body, but of that spiritual death, by which man may be for ever separated from the light of God’s countenance, and from the joys of the kingdom of heaven : Heb. ii, 14. Whether he assumes the aspect of the wind¬ ing serpent, or of the roaring lion — whether it is by fraud or by violence that he oppresses our fallen race, and tempts and sifts the children of the Lord — Satan is still seeking whom he may devour , (1 Pet. v, 8) — whom he may destroy — whom he may plunge into that fathomless ruin which he knows to be his own portion. And now, in order to complete this scriptural view of the personal operations and history of the spirits of evil, and especially of that powerful being who is chief amongst them in opposing the cause of truth, piety and virtue, it only remains for us to open the prophetic page, which declares that “ everlasting fire” is “ prepared for the devil and his angels Matt, xxv, 41. “ And I saw an angel,” says the apostle John, in describing one of the concluding scenes of his won¬ derful vision, “ come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thou¬ sand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fullfilled : and after that, he must be loosed a little season . And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather Ess. viii.] Recapitulation. 167 them together to battle : the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city : and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone , where the beast and the false prophet are , and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever Rev. xx, 1 — 10. In reverting, then, to the statements cited in the present Essay, we are to recollect that the principali¬ ties and powers, whose character and history we have now been considering, were created holy and happy — that they abode not in the truth, and fell from their high estate, and thus became the rulers of the king¬ dom of evil — that their chief or leader, the devil, was the being who procured the fall of our first parents ; who afflicted Job ; who provoked David to sin against the Lord ; and who resisted the righteous Joshua — that, in tempting, buffeting, and persecuting, the Mes¬ siah, even unto death, the devil bruised the heel of the seed of the woman — that, at the same period, his sub¬ ordinate agents displayed, in a remarkable manner, their activity and. malignity — that he is denominated Satan, because he is the adversary of God, of Christ, and more especially of mankind — that he is sometimes described as the instrument of the temporal afflictions of men, and especially of those impediments and suf¬ ferings by which the servants of God are tried and sifted — that he is ever represented as the author of moral evil, as the ruler of the wicked, as the prince of darkness, as our tempter, deceiver, accuser, and de¬ stroyer — lastly, that, although the devil and his angels may rage and prevail for a season, the end which as¬ suredly awaits them is absolute defeat and everlasting punishment. 168 Personality of Satan , [Ess. viii. And now I may venture, in conclusion, to offer to the reader’s candid attention a few plain observations on the subject of the present Essay. When, in the first place, we reflect, with any degree of care, on those scriptural declarations to which we have now adverted, we can scarcely fail to be asto¬ nished that any persons who regard the Scriptures as divine, and who pretend to the character of fair inter¬ preters of the Sacred Volume, should deny to the great adversary of souls a personal existence ; or should venture to insinuate, that the Satan of the, Old and New Testaments is nothing more than a personi¬ fication of evil — the vain and unsubstantial creature of poetry, allegory, and fiction. It ought ever to be remembered, that the Holy Spirit can neither err nor feign ; and although there is to be found in the Bible much of poetry, and something perhaps of allegory, yet, as a guide to practise and to doctrine, it can be regarded only as a code of principles, and a record of realities. Besides, the descriptions of Satan are to be found principally in those parts of Scripture which are not poetical, but either historical or simply didactic. Never were there plainer or more unsophisticated his¬ torians — historians less disposed to indulge in fanciful imagery, or oriental exaggeration — than Moses and the four evangelists, who have severally, in the course of their histories , presented to our attention the personal character and operations of Satan. To these are to be added Paul, Peter, James, and Jude — those home¬ ly, yet luminous, didactic writers, who as well as our blessed Lord himself, have all made mention of the devil — not as an allegorical figure, but as a powerful, insidious, malicious being. To imagine that he who reasoned with Eve, and persuaded her to sin ; who appeared with the sons of God before the throne of heaven, after walking to 169 Ess. viii.] a Motive to Watchfulness. and fro on the earth, and obtained permission to try the faith of Job; who tempted Jesus, assailed him with subtle arguments, and said to him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship Me who taught Judas to betray his master; who sent the thorn in the flesh, to buffet the apostle Paul; who transforms himself into an angel of light; who is expressedly declared by our Lord to be a mur¬ derer, a liar, and the father of lies ; who accuses the brethren day and night before the throne of God ; — to imagine that such a one is not a person, and has never existed at all , is to set at nought the plainest testimonies of Scripture, and to involve ourselves in a heartless, hopeless, nugatory, pyrrhonism. If we would maintain the faith once delivered to the saints, we must uphold the doctrines of Scripture in their genuine simplicity and purity; and among those doc¬ trines, none, I would submit, can be more explicit than that which proclaims the personal character, and powerful operations, of Satan. In the second place, it may be remarked, that this doctrine of Scripture is not more clear than it is im¬ portant. It must, surely, be one of the favorite de¬ vices of the prince of darkness, to persuade us that he has no existence ; for, if he has no existence, there can be no occasion to “ resist ” him; no need for us to stand on our guard, that we may not fall into the snares which he lays around us. On the other hand, a due sense of the existence and character of our enemy must ever be the means of stimulating the believer to watch, and strive, and pray, against him. On this point, indeed, the voice of Scripture is again decisive. Are we commanded to be sober and vigilant? it is not only because the flesh is weak, but because our “ adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1 Pet. v, 8. i 170 His Power Limited. [Ess. vm. Are we exhorted to put on the whole armour of God, to take unto us the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit ? it is that we may be able to “stand against the wiles of the devil:” it is because “ we wrestle not against flesh and blood (alone), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places:” Eph. vi, 11, 12. The denial of the personality and power of our spiritual adversary, I conceive to be very closely con¬ nected with a low and inadequate view of the malig¬ nity, the depth, and the danger of sin. Those per¬ sons who are weighed down under the burthen of their transgressions — who are well acquainted with the plague of their own hearts — who know what it is to tremble because of the power of temptation, and because of the secret influence of their besetting ini¬ quity — will be little disposed to deny that they have a restless and powerful enemy, against whose aggres¬ sions it is absolutely necessary for them earnestly to strive. But, oppressed as the awakened children of God may sometimes find themselves to be, under a sense of the power of Satan, it can never become them to yield to unprofitable discouragement ; for they are assured, that he who is on their side is infinitely wiser and greater than he who is against them. Their ad¬ versary, however powerful, is neither omnipresent, nor omniscient, nor omnipotent; but all these cha¬ racteristics belong to their Saviour, and their God. Though the influence of Satan may be permitted to spread for a time to an alarming and deplorable ex¬ tent, the Scriptures afford abundant evidence, that God will vindicate his own cause, and in due season will establish and complete the dominion of his Christ, over the souls of mankind. In the mean time, he will not fail to arise, in every needful hour, for the help Conclusion. 171 Ess. viii.] and preservation of those who love and follow their Redeemer. He will scatter all their enemies. He will bestow upon them the happy and glorious victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. ESSAY IX. ON THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF MAN. IN attempting a discussion of the nature, history, and character, of Man, as they are unfolded in the Holy Scriptures, I am very sensible of the complicated na¬ ture of this comprehensive subject ; and I shall there¬ fore invite the reader’s attention only to those features of it which appear to be most important, because most essentially connected with the system of religious truth. These are, first, the creation and mortality of man ; secondly, the immortality of his soul; thirdly, his re¬ surrection ; fourthly, his moral agency and responsi¬ bility ; fifthly, the eternity of his future happiness or misery ; and lastly, his fall from original righteousness, and his actual depravity. Section I. On the Creation and Mortality of Man. On the sixth and last day of the creation, after the world had been supplied with every description of in¬ ferior animal, we read that God spake as follows: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creep- eth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and 173 Ess. ix.] Creation of Man. replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth Gen. i, 26 — 28. Again, we read, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul ii, 7. The Hebrew word, here rendered “ soul,” 6 is one of very extensive and sometimes uncertain meaning. Although it is frequently employed to denote the seat of the affections and thoughts — that part in man which loves, hates, fears, meditates, and worships — yet, at other times it signifies merely the natural life , or the creature by which that natural life is enjoyed. The last appears to be the meaning of the expression in the passage before us. A living soul is a living creature ; as we may learn from the fact that the same expres¬ sions (in the original text) are here employed to de¬ scribe the bird of the air, the fish of the sea, and the beast and reptile of the earth : chap, i, 20, 21, 22, 24<.7 “ The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground;' and the Hebrew word Adam , which, though applied by way of eminence to the first man, is used in that language as the generic name of the race, simply de¬ notes our eartlihj origin. Like the birds, the fishes, the beasts, and the reptiles, man was formed of tan¬ gible matter ; like them, when Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, he became a living crea¬ ture ; and, like them also, when God takes away his breath, he dies, and returns to the dust. Although we may conclude, from some of the doc¬ trinal parts of Scripture, that if Adam and Eve had not sinned, they would not have died ( see Rom. v, 12), it is plain, from their history, that they were created 6 7 rpnt&toa 174 His Mortality. [Ess. ix. liable to mortality ; and, after their sin had been com¬ mitted, their mortality was determined and ascertained. “ In the sweat of thy face slialt thou eat bread,” said Jehovah to his fallen child, “ till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return:” Gen. iii, 19. There is, indeed, no volume in the world, which abounds with so many vivid descriptions of the short¬ ness of human life, and of the certainty of that death to which we are all hastening, as the volume of Scrip¬ ture. “Behold thou hast made my days as an hand- breadth,” said David, “and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity :” Ps. xxxix, 5; comp, xc, 9, 10. “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field : the grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it : surely the people is grass :” Isa. xl, 6, 7. “ Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not:” Job xiv, 1, 2. And as the life of a man is but as “ a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away,” James iv, 14; so also those outward objects, which here occasion him pleasure and pain, which occupy so much of his attention, and excite so much of his sensibility, are all invariably marked with the same character of brevity and change. “ But this I say, brethren, the time is short : it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none ; and they that weep, as though they wept not ; and they that buy, as though they possessed not ; and they that use this world, as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world passeth away : 1 Cor. vii, 29 — 31. “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities ; all is vanity :” Eccl. i, 2. 175 Ess. ix.] His Eternity. Section II. On the Immortality of the Soul. In the history of the creation, the distinction between man and the inferior animals is marked, not by his receiving from the Lord the breath of life, not by his becoming (to adopt the words of our translators) a living soul — but by his being formed in the image, and after the likeness , of the Most High God. That he was so formed in a moral point of view — that he was “created after God in righteousness and true holiness” — we shall presently find occasion to observe. But these comprehensive expressions probably in¬ clude the notion of all those characteristics of human¬ ity which elevate us far above all the lower animals, and from which we derive a faint resemblance to the Author of our being. Among these characteristics are obviously to be reckoned our faculties of thought, reflection, and reason, by which we are enabled to enjoy communion with our Creator, and, in pursu¬ ance of his own edict, to exercise dominion over all inferior living creatures: see Gen. i, 26; comp. Ps. viii, 6. Yet the declaration, that man was formed in the image of God, has, in all probability, a yet more especial reference to an eternity of existence — to the doctrine that we are endowed with a spiritual sub¬ stance, which survives the dissolution of its earthly tenement, and lives for ever. “ For God created man to be immortal,” says the ancient, though probably un¬ inspired, author of the Book of Wisdom, “ and made him to be an image of his own eternity ch. ii, 23. 8 This higher part of man, which perishes not with his outward frame, and of which his intellectual facul¬ ties (though exercised through the instrumentality of 8 Such is the explanation given of the image of God in man by Ter- tullian. “ Habent illas ubique lineas Dei, qua immortalis anima, qua libera et sui arbitrii, qua praescia plerumque, qua rationalis, capax intel- lectus et scientiae.” Contra Marcion. lib. ii, cap. 9. 176 His Soul, or Spirit, [Ess. ix. bodily organs) may be regarded as an essential pro¬ perty, appears to be very distinctly alluded to in seve¬ ral passages of Scripture, and is by the sacred writers denominated sometimes the spirit, and sometimes the soul. It is generally supposed, that Solomon was speak¬ ing of the never-dying soul, as it is distinguished from the mere instinctive spirit of beasts, when, in his preaching, he cried, saying, « Whoknoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” Eccl. iii, 21. So again, in describing the death of man, he says, “ Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it: ” xii, 7. When Isaiah wrote, “ Hear, and your soul shall live — Ezekiel, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die:” — Micah, “ Shall I give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Isa. lv, 3; Ezek. xviii, 20; Mic. vi, 7 ; it is by no means improbable that these prophets seve¬ rally attached to the word “soul ” the meaning in which we are ourselves accustomed to employ it — that of the essential and responsible part of man. In the New Testament there are various passages to the same effect. Thus it must surely be allowed, that Stephen was speaking, not of his material breath, but of his immortal soul, when, in the view of immediate death, he lifted up the voice of supplication, saying, “ Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts vii, 59. When the apostles wrote of the salvation of the soul, the purifi¬ cation of the soul, and the confidence of the sold in its Redeemer, see James i, 21 ; v, 20 ; 1 Pet. i, 9, 22; Heb. vi, 19; we may reasonably conclude, that by the soul they intended to express the never-dying spirit within us. Again, in the book of Revelation, we read that the apostle John, in his vision, beheld under the altar, “ the souls of them that were slain for the word 177 Ess. ix.] Exists after Death, of God,” vi, 9, — “ the souls of them that were behead¬ ed for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God xx, 4. Lastly, our Lord himself appears to have em¬ ployed the word “ soul” in this peculiar sense, when he said to his disciples, “Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Matt, x, 28. When Jesus thus exhorted his followers, he plainly promulgated the doctrine, that, although men are able to destroy the bodies of one another, they have no power to annihilate the soul — that, in other words, the annihilation of the soul is not effected by the death or destruction of the body — that when the body dies, therefore, the soul continues to exist. The body, which is justly described, by two inspiried apostles, as the “ tabernacle” — the tent in which the soul resides for a season — is laid aside in death, and is presently resolved into its original dust, see 2 Cor. v, 1 ; 2 Pet. i, 13; but the higher and more essential part of man, although invisible to mortal eye, preserves its identity, and is introduced to a new sphere of existence and action — a new scene either of pain or of pleasure. That, during the interval which takes place between the death of the body and the resurrection of the dead, man is not in a state of absolute insensibility or an¬ nihilation, as some persons have vainly imagined, but in a condition either of suffering or of rejoicing, the New Testament contains a variety of evidence, which, although in some degree indirect, is nevertheless clear and satisfactory. First, with respect to the impenitent wicked, their lot, during the separate state of existence, is described as one of pain and punishment, or, in language more or less metaphorical (and in what degree it is meta¬ phorical no man can pretend to decide), as one of fire 178 in Misery, Ess. ix.] and imprisonment. Although our Lord’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus probably presents to our view a fictitious history, yet we have every reason to allow that the doctrines which it so clearly conveys to our understanding are the doctrines of absolute truth. The rich man, who refused to exercise the offices of Christian charity towards his afflicted neighbour dies : and, while his body is mouldering in the grave — while his relations are continuing to live on the earth — he is himself described as being in hell, a victim to the devouring flames : Luke xvi, 23. Again, we read, in a passage of the First Epistle of Peter, that Jesus Christ was “ put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit ; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; which sometime were dis¬ obedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah ” 1 Pet. iii, 18 — 20. Although this passage is in some respects of doubtful interpret¬ ation, it will, I believe, be found to be explicit as far as relates to the point now before us. For, whether we understand it as declaratory of the doctrine, that Jesus, after his crucifixion, “ descended into hell,” or as conveying the far more probable idea, that, in his preexistence and divine nature, he preached to the antediluvians by his prophet Noah, — it is evident that the apostle speaks of the spirits of that ancient race of sinners, as being, at the time when he wrote “ in prison .” 9 Secondly, with respect to the righteous, we are again and again instructed that they live after the death of the body, and live in happiness. When Lazarus, in the parable, escaped from those shackles of mortality 9 Vide Schleusner. Lex. voc. rrviufia, No. 4. “De defunctorum animis mtuf/jV, quoque legitur, Heb. xiii, 23; 1 Pet. iii, 19; ubi, per ra h puXaxjj Wivfiara, animae flagitiosorum, Noachi coaevorum, corpore exules, intelligend® sunt.” 179 Ess. ix.] or in Happiness. in which he so greatly suffered, he is represented as finding his refuge and consolation in the bosom of Abraham : Luke xvi, 22. Nor can we forget the me¬ morable expressions employed by our Saviour, when he was conversing with the Sadducees respecting the doctrine of a future life, and respecting that first re¬ surrection of which we are now speaking : “ Ye do err, not knowing the Scripture, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the ressurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead , but of the living Matt, xxii, 29—32. When, therefore, God spake these words to Moses out of the burning bush, it is certain that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had long since paid the debt of nature, were nevertheless living. So also in the history of our Lord’s transfiguration, it is recorded that Moses and Elias appeared and talked with him : and the disciples would have erected three taberna¬ cles — one for Jesus, and one for each of these his an¬ cient and glorified servants : Matt, xvii, 3, 4. When the penitent and converted thief, who was the companion of our Lord in his crucifixion, suppli¬ cated for his mercy, and cried out, “ Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,” Jesus an¬ swered him (in words which may well be deemed completely decisive of the question now under discus¬ sion)— « Verily I say unto thee, To-datj shalt thou be with me in paradise : Luke xxiii, 42, 43. 1 1 A^v Xsyw dot, grjfJji^ov [ur ifiou edri h ru ‘rrugahuoy. “ Pes- sime fecerunt qui hanc vocem aut cum dico conjunxerunt (quod aperte improbat Syrus) aut interpretati sunt Gri/Mgov hodie, post resur- 180 Celestial Glory of Spirits made Perfect. [Ess. ix. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christians are ex¬ horted to be diligent in their religious course, after the example of the saints already glorified — to be “ fol¬ lowers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit (that is, as in the Greek, are inheriting'*) the promises,” vi, 12 ; and, in reference to the same subject, it is declared, in a following chapter of this Epistle, that we are not “ come unto the mount that might be touched, &c. ; but unto Mount Zion . and to an innumerable company of angels : to the general as- semby and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven . and to the spirits of just men made perfect : 0 xii, 18 23. But it is in his Second Epis¬ tle to the Corinthins, that the apostle Paul has most clearly indicated the truth, that, when they are deli¬ vered from the confinement of their earthly tabernacle, the servants of Christ are alive in heaven — alive with their Lord. “ For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. . . .Therefore, we are always confident, know- ing, that whilst we are at home in the body , we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight) : we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body , and to be present with the Lord : 2 Cor. v, 1 — 8. So, again, to the Philippians, he says, “ For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you : i, 23. Lastly, it was long previously rectioneru. Christus plus promittit, quam erat rogatus. Rogas, inquit, ul olim tui sim memnr cum Regni possessionem accepero : ego tain diu non diffcram tuavota: sed partem et primitias speratee felicitatis tibi intra hunc ipsum diem reprcesentabo : morere securus ; a morte statim te divina solatia expectant Grotii. Com. in loc. 3 xkn^vojioiivTUv. 3 Vide Schleusner. Lex. voc. Uvsu/xa. 181 Ess. ix.] Resurrection of the Dead, to his vision of the resurrection, and of the day of final retribution, that the apostle John, in the Revela¬ tion, was permitted to hear the elders, in a state of glory, singing their new song, in honour of him who “ had redeemed them to God by his blood f v, 9 ; and, on a subsequent occasion, to behold “ a great multi¬ tude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” who “ stood be¬ fore the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” — persons, who had already passed through all their tribula¬ tions, and had entered into unspeakable joy, because they had “ washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb:” vii, 9 — 14. Section III. On the Resurrection of the Dead. While the passages of Scripture, which thus unfold to us some of the hidden mysteries of the separate state of existence, afford an ample evidence that there is in us a living substance, by which our identity is preserved, and which cannot die, there is yet another point of view in which man is represented, by the in¬ spired writers, as the heir of an endless futurity. In an awful day to come, his mortal part shall put on immortality ; his corruptible shall be clothed with in¬ corruption ; the man who sleeps in the dust of the earth shall be quickened— shall be raised from a state of death — shall stand alive before the judgment-seat of the Almighty. This doctrine, though, fully revealed in its several majestic particulars only under the dispensation of the Gospel, was by no means entirely unknown to the ancient Israelitish church. It cannot with reason be denied, the Job spake of his resurrection from the dead when, with so much emphasis, he declared his faith in that Redeemer by whom this wonderful change will be effected : “ I know that my Redeemer livetli, 182 a Doctrine of the Old Testament, [Ess. ix. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another ; though my reins be consumed within me Job xix, 15 — 27. The same subject must have been opened to the view of David, when primarily, in re¬ ference to the Messiah, and, secondarily, in relation to himself he used the following expressions : “ For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (or rather, my life or person in the grave) ; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou shalt shew me the path of life ; in thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy right, hand there are pleasures for evermore Ps. xvi, 1 0, 1 1 . And again, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness : I shall be satisfied, when I awalce, with thy likenes Ps. xvii, 15. Lastly, in the Book of Daniel, we have a yet clearer exhibition of the doctrine in question : “ And at that time,” said the angel to the prophet, “ shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people . And many of them (or the multitude of them) that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake ; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever¬ lasting contempt xii, 1, 2.i 4 Heb* ■fcTpnay TlftTN D'3T). The plural adjec¬ tive DMT) is often used to denote of mXko) — the many, or the multi¬ tude: vide Exod. xxiii, 2 ; Ps. xcvii, 1 ; cix, 30 ; Ezek. xxxi, 5 ; comp. Rom. v, 19. Or this word may be the plural of the substantive multitude; in which case the Hebrew ought to be rendered, “ et mul- titudines ex iis qui dormiunt, &c.” — a version which would imply the distinction, afterwards more clearly enunciated, between the multitude of the good and the multitude of the wicked ; and such a sense of the pas¬ sage the Jews appear to have indicated by a distinctive accent. Some critics, and amongst others that ancient enemy of Christianity, Porphyry, have explained this passage as relating to the liberation of the Jews, by the hands of Judas Maccabaeus, from the yoke of Antiochus. But if the 183 Ess. ix.] of Jesus, and his Apostles. In the passage now cited from the prophecies of Daniel, the doctrine of resurrection is brought forward in immediate connection with that of retribution; and we are assured by him of the truth, that both the good and the wicked shall rise from the dead. That truth was afterwards declared, in terms which appear to be too clear to admit of any misconception, by Jesus Christ himself : “ The hour is coming,” said he to the Jews, “ in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice (the voice of the Son of God), and shall come forth : they that have done good , unto the resur¬ rection of life , and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation John v, 28, 29. I cannot perceive that these pointed and plain expressions are capable of being explained in any merely metaphorical sense ; and accordingly it may be observed, that the apostles of our Lord (who, either by verbal communi¬ cation or by spiritual illumination, derived from him their whole doctrinal system) uphold the same expec¬ tation of the actual raising up of the dead, both of the good and of the wicked, in order to their being re¬ warded according to their works. When Paul was making his apology before Felix, he said, “ But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God, of my fathers . and have hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust Acts xxiv, 14, 15. “ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it,” says John in the Revelation, in evident allusion to the very same doctrine . and I saw the dead, prophecy has any subordinate reference to that event, which seems very improbable, yet, the explicit and awfully descriptive terms in which it is couched appear to afford an almost irresistible evidence, that its principal subject is the general resurrection of the dead : vide Poli Syn. and espe¬ cially Grotii Com. in loc. 184 Glorious Resurrection [Ess. ix. small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were judged, out of those things which were written in the books, accord¬ ing to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it : and death and hell ( or the grave) delivered up the dead which were in them : and they were judged every man according to their works:'" Rev. xx, 11, 13. In these several passages, no distinction is pointed out between the manner of the resurrection of the good, and the manner of the resurrection of the wick¬ ed. Both descriptions of men are simply represented as rising, and rising in order to be judged. But the resurrection of the righteous will nevertheless be un¬ questionably distinguished by glorious circumstances, altogether peculiar to themselves. Often is it de¬ scribed as connected with a scene of unmixed joy and happiness — as the consummating event by which Christians are to be introduced to their crown of glory — as a privilege, which, when viewed in all its parts, is exclusively their own. “ And this is the will of him that sent me,” said the Lord Jesus, “ that every one which seeth the Son , and helieveth on him, may have everlasting life ; and I will raise him up at the last day John vi, 40. “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and 1 will raise him up at the last day " ver. 54. The Epistles of Paul, more especially, abound in declarations respect¬ ing the final resurrection of the righteous : and so deeply was this subject engraven on his mind; so present was the prospect in his view ; so much was he accustomed to regard this future event as the means appointed for the completion of the Christian’s hope and consolation ; that, when he speaks of the glorious expectations of the saints in the church 185 Ess. ix.] of the Righteous, militant, it is often their resurrection from the dead, rather than the immortality of their souls, upon which he dwells and expatiates. “God,” he says, “hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power:” 1 Cor. vi, 14. “He which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you :” 2 Cor. iv, 14. “ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, con¬ cerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him . for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God j and the dead in Christ shall rise hi st. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words : 1 Thess. iv, 13 — 18. The apostle Peter declares that God “hath begot¬ ten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ ;” and he assures us, that the eternal and undefiled inheritance which is enjoyed by the risen Saviour is reserved for us also, “who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, s *H fids hi oi Zfnsg, \syuv, ov tfeg/ eaurov ffav (obhs y«g <%< Tfc £5jv) a/J.a rods OTffrous \sysr 3/S ffgorf&jwr, o/ KigiXsiKOfimi tig rfjv vagouaiav rov Kug/ou. Ev yag rw savroo tfgoffuiTrcfj tfavras rovs rore sugsOriffo/Atvovs Zfvrag drjXoT. << When he says “we which are alive” he does not speak of himself, for he was not to 'live (i.e. in the body) until the resurrection, but of the believers in general; as appears by his addition “ and remain unto the coming of the Lord” For, by the first person he expresses all (the believers) who shall at that time be found alive Theoplnjlact after Chrysostom, in loc. 186 in the Likeness of Christ. [Ess. xx. ready to be revealed in the last time 1 Pet. i, 3—5. This particular view of the subject is largely explain¬ ed by Paul, in bis Epistle to the Corinthians. Christ rose from the dead through the power of the Father ; and his resurrection is not only the prototype or pat¬ tern, but the sure and certain pledge of ours. “ But now,” says the apostle, “is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resur¬ rection of the dead ; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order : Christ, the first fruits : afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming:” 1 Cor. xv, 20 — 23. Jesus Christ, the Captain of our Salvation, is “the first-born from the dead ; and when that day shall arrive which is appointed for the termination of his mediatorial reign, and for the consummation of the whole Christian economy, he will complete the gracious designs of the Father Almighty, by raising his follow¬ ers from death, and by changing those amongst them who shall be still alive, that all may be thenceforth con¬ formed to his image in glory. Now, if there he still introduced the question which the apostle, in his ar¬ gument on the subject, supposes to he addressed to him by his opponent, “ How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?” — we may answer, in the first place, as the apostle answered, “ Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; nei¬ ther doth corruption inherit incorrupt ion,” ver. 50; and, in the second place, we may adduce the clear doctrine of Scripture, that the body which, in that glorious day, will be bestowed upon the saints, is a spiritual body, resembling the body of Christ himself. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God,” said the apostle John to the primitive Christians ; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that 187 Ess. ix.] Victory of Christ over Death. when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is:” 1 John iii, 2. “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man, Adam, was made a living soul: the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly :” 1 Cor. xv, 44—49 ; comp. Phil, iii, 20, 21. “ For our conversation as in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, accord¬ ing to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Thus it is that the Redeemer of mankind will complete his career of victory over every opposing power, by destroying that last enemy —death. “ Behold,” says the apostle, “ I show you a mystery : we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorrup¬ tion, and this mortal must put on immortality : then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written : DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY:” 1 Cor. XV, 51—54. Such, then, are the principles on which the Scrip¬ tures teach us that the child of Adam, however vain and transitory in one point of view, is nevertheless born for eternity. He has within him a never-dying spirit ; and even that part of him which is destined to 188 Moral Agency of Man. [Ess. ix. moulder in the grave shall, in the end, be found the seed of a spiritual body, and shall be clothed with incorruption and immortality. If he is wicked and disobedient — after his death, he is reserved, in pain and darkness, for the righteous judgment of God : after his resurrection, that judgment will be consum¬ mated. If he is righteous — when he dies, his disem¬ bodied soul ascends into regions of bliss : when he is raised from the dead, the whole man will be re¬ novated, and will enter into the fulness of the glory of Christ. Section IV. On the Moral agency of Man. — The view which has now been taken of that future state of existence, to which we are all hastening, naturally leads to the consideration of the next point of our subject — the moral agency of man. The broad line of distinction which subsists between our species and all inferior animals is formed not only by our reason¬ ing and intellectual powers, but by our capacity for this moral agency. Man alone, of all creatures of God upon earth, is capable of being virtuous or vicious, righteous or sinful ; and therefore Man alone, of all those creatures, is the proper subject of that retribu¬ tive system which constitutes the most important part of the moral government of the Deity. In reference to this branch of our subject, it is to be observed, in the first place, that the standard of righteousness, is ever represented in Scripture to be simply and exclusively the will of the Supreme Being. In the view of prophets and apostles, righteousness is no creature of human philosophy, formed on a princi¬ ple of worldly and social expediency, but a real con¬ formity with the moral law of God. And that law, whether regarded in its outward form, as revealed and detailed in the Bible, or in its more extensive internal operation, as written by the finger of God on the 189 Ess. ix.] His Freedom of Choice. heart, is nothing more or less than the expression of so much of the divine will as is manifested for our guidance as moral agents. On the other hand, sin consists in disobedience to the will of God, because “sin is the transgression of the law:” 1 John iii, 4. And here we ought, in passing, to observe, that the more we are made acquainted with the absolute purity of the supreme Being, the more we shall comprehend the extent and exactness of the requisitions of his law, and the more clearly shall we discern the malignity, and detect the various appearances, of moral evil. As man is capable of righteousness or of sin, of obe¬ dience or disobedience to the revealed will of God, so, in the second place, he is free to choose between tbe one and the other. I shall not attempt, on the pre¬ sent occasion, to argue those abstruse questions of phi¬ losophical necessity , and divine degrees, in the discus¬ sion of which the pride of men’s reason has often betrayed them into dangerous errors— into conclusions which have been at once false in principle and fatal in operation. That there are difficulties connected with these questions, no man can reasonably deny ; and these difficulties may, according to my apprehen¬ sion, be safely left among “ the hidden things” of God. But, whatever be our opinions on the nature and ex¬ tent of divine predestination, it suffices for our present purpose— and it will, I trust, be allowed by Christians of every name— that, under the dispensations revealed to us in the Scriptures, and in a practical point of view, man is ever treated and dealt with by his Su¬ preme Lord and Governor as a free agent ; as one who can obey or disobey ; as one who can be virtuous or vicious ; as one who can choose either the evil or the good. Every thing that is preceptive and horta¬ tive in Scripture; all the tender invitations, all the fervent persuasions to virtue, with which it abounds ; 190 His Responsibility [Ess. ix. all its terrifying menaces, and all its exhibitions of the prize of our high calling in Christ,— are obviously founded on this great principle. Cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek good, and eschew evil: pursue righteousness, and depart from iniquity, — is the voice of the whole Bible ; and it is a voice addressed to man, not as a blind and senseless instrument, hut as a reasonable, a free, an unfettered, moral, agent. i( See, said the Lord to Israel, “i have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil . I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing : therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live Deut. xxx, 15, 19. Placed as he is in this transitory scene of existence, with good and evil, life and death, set before him, man nevertheless is not his own master. In conform¬ ity with the plain dictates of natural religion, he is ever represented in Scripture as responsible to the Supreme Being. God is our Creator. He is the es¬ sential and original source from which we derive our being and all our possessions, physical and mental, temporal and spiritual. His, and his alone, are all that we have, and all that we are. Not only, there¬ fore, are we subject to his sovereign disposal, but, as creatures formed for a purpose of his glory, and en¬ dowed for a time with the tenure of his property, we are stewards; and it is in precise conformity with the unalterable principles of justice that, in a future day, we shall be called upon to render unto our Lord the account of our stewardship. Now, as virtue consists in a conformity with the will of God, as it is revealed in his moral law, so it is only by a life of virtue— by the application of vir¬ tuous principles to the circumstances and occasions of life — that we can make that profitable use which the 191 Ess. ix.] and Stewardship. Lord requires at our hands of all his precious gifts — of our bodies and souls, of our physical and intellec¬ tual powers, of our temporal happiness, of our times and opportunities, of our spiritual callings and endow¬ ments. And, on the other hand, as sin is the infrac¬ tion of that divine law which thus teaches us to be faithful in his service, so a life of sin will ever be found to consist in the continued disuse or misappli¬ cation of the gifts of our Almighty Creator. Never was this subject unfolded to mankind with so much force and clearness as by our Saviour, in his memora¬ ble parable of the talents. While we learn from that parable, that God will regulate his account of our stewardship with a perfect equity, and that every man’s profiting will be tried according to that which he hath, and not according to that which he hath not; and, while it affords some reason to believe that, in the world to come, there will be various degrees of glory or suffering, according to the degrees of our virtue or our vice, it nevertheless plainly inculcates the lesson, that, whatever may be the situation and condition of man upon earth, he must answer for the use of what¬ ever talents he has received, at the bar of the God of all flesh. It is to the good steward alone that the gracious sentence will be addressed : “ Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faith¬ ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” “ The unprofitable servant ” will be cast “ into outer darkness — there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matt, xxv, 21, 30. Lastly, therefore, it appears, that, since man is capa¬ ble either of righteousness or of sin — since he is made free to choose between the evil and the good — and since in all his thoughts, words, and actions, he is responsible to his Creator, he is also properly liable to 192 The Judgment to come. [Ess. ix. the judgment of God. In this world, all men are placed in a state of trial ; and here the moral government of the Deity is carried into effect only in part : in the world to come it will be completed ; and the lot of all men will be fixed by the eternal Son of God, (to whom all judgment is committed) according to their works . And this judgment is uniformly described by the sacred writers as resulting in the life and happiness of the righteous — the reward of virtue ; in the misery and destruction of the wicked — the punishmeut of sin. “We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ Rom. xiv, 10. God “ hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained Acts xvii, 31. God “ will render to every man according to his deeds : to them who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality — eternal life ; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath ; tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, — of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good— to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile Rom. ii, 6 — 10. “ As, there¬ fore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father Matt, xiii, 40 — 43. Section V. On the Eternity of Future Rewards and Punishments. — The reward of righteousness, and the punishment of iniquity, in the world to come, are both, by inspired writers, described as everlasting. 193 Ess. ix.] Eternal Rewards and Punishments. “ Eternal glory,” “ eternal salvation,” “ eternal life,” — these are the terms (especially the last of them) which, in very numerous passages of the New Testa¬ ment, represent the condition of never-ending felicity, reserved for all who fear God, believe in Jesus, and work righteousness. On the other hand, it is express¬ ly declared of those who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and generally of all persons who continue subject, in their life and conversation, to the world, the flesh, and the devil, that they “ shall he punished with everlasting destruction from the pre¬ sence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power :” 2 Thess. i, 9. Very explicit is the declaration made of this doctrine, in both its parts, by the Son of God himself — by him in whom (be it remembered) are hid all the treasurers, not only of wisdom and knowledge, but of mercy, compassion, and love. “ When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him shall be gathered all nations : and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand (those who are soon afterwards described as * the righteous,’) Come, ye blessed of my Father : inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the found¬ ation of the world . Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand (the selfish and the wicked, who are here described as neglecting their duty to God and man,) Depart from me ye cursed, into ever¬ lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment , hut the righteous into life eternal:' Matt, xxv, 31 — 46. Thus it appears, that the very same record from which, if we are faithful and obedient, we derive our K 194 Meaning of the Word 11 Eternal,” [Ess. ix. hopes of the incorruptible, immortal, crown of righte¬ ousness, declares to us, in terms equally emphatic, that the punishment of a life of sin is never-ending misery. It has indeed been remarked, that the Greek ad¬ jective, rendered in this passage “ eternal ” and “ ever¬ lasting” (for it is the same word in both instances6), is one of indefinite meaning, and sometimes expresses a duration of great and uncertain length, yet short of a real eternity. This observation is well founded ; for neither the Greek nor the Hebrew language sup¬ plies any single word which unequivocally and uni¬ formly denotes a proper eternity. “ Eternal life,” in its literal interpretation, is the “life of ages,” and “ everlasting punishment,” the “ punishment of ages.” Readily, however, as this allowance may be made, there are many strong reasons — reasons which, on the whole appear to be quite irresistible — for our acced¬ ing to the commonly-received interpretation of this aw¬ ful term in both parts of the passage before us. These reasons may now be briefly stated. 1. Although the adjective here used is in its nature indefinite, and sometimes expresses a duration which will end, yet it ought to be remembered, that it is very usually employed to express an absolute eternity. Thus, out of the seventy-one instances of its occur¬ rence in the New Testament, there are only four in which it is supposed, by the generality of biblical cri¬ tics, to bear a less comprehensive signification ; and even in these four instances the word is capable, I would submit, of being understood in its highest sense : see Rom. xvi, 25 : 2 Tim. i, 9 : Tit. i, 2 : Philem. 15: vide Schleusner. Lex. in loc. 2. A sound judgment may generally be formed re¬ specting the extent of the meaning of this and similar 6 a/wwo;. 195 Ess. ix.] as thus Applied, terms, from a consideration of the acknowledged na¬ ture of the persons, beings, or substances, to which it is applied. If for example, we read that a human dynasty is to endure for ever, we naturally understand the expression “for ever,” as relating only to a long and indefinite duration ; but if we find it declared that the reign of God or of Christ is everlasting, we of course receive the term “everlasting” in its fullest sense. Now, I presume it will be allowed, that our Lord is here speaking of mankind, not as dying creatures, but with reference to their immortal nature : for the doc¬ trine on which this passage, and all similar passages of Scripture, are grounded — a doctrine understood and received by the plurality of those persons amongst whom our Lord exercised his ministry — was this : that “God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity .*” fVisd. Sol. ii, 23; comp. Joseph, de Bell. Jud. lib. n, cap. viii, § 14. The never-dying man may be lost, or he may be saved : in either case he exists for ever ; and it is to his ever¬ lasting existence that the Scriptures plainly annex either happiness or misery. We feel no difficulty in applying the principle of interpretation now stated to everlasting life, and to all the glorious privileges which are to be enjoyed, dur¬ ing a boundless future, by the servants and children of God. We know that man is, in one point of view, by nature immortal; and, therefore, when we read of his enjoying eternal happiness, peace, and glory (and all these notions are included in the word life ), we conclude, at once, that of this happiness, peace, and glory, there will be no end ; nor does it appear that any critic has ever denied that a real eternity is in all these examples, denoted by the word “ eternal.” It is not that happiness, peace, and glory, are in them¬ selves necessarily eternal, for they may often be be- 196 Critically proved [Ess. ix. stowed only for a season : it is that they are described as appertaining to an immortal being, in reference to his immortality. Now, the same principle obviously applies to the interpretation of those passages in Scrip¬ ture which declare the eternal sufferings of the wicked. Pain and sorrow are often indeed inflicted for a time ; but when the future pain and sorrow of the wicked are mentioned, we conclude that they can never end, because they are equally described as eternal , and equally represented as attaching to a being who can¬ not die, in reference to his immortality . Besides, the two branches of the doctrine are in this passage placed in opposition to one another. Since, then, we here understand the word “ eternal,” when it relates to the happiness of the righteous, in its fullest sense, it would certainly be an unwarrantable departure from the laws of a just and sound philology, did we refuse to receive the same term, used in the same sentence, and applied to the same immortal being, in its fullest sense also, when the opposite and corresponding branch of the doctrine is brought forward, and when the term relates to the misery of the wicked. 3. One of the criteria, by which we may be the most assisted in determining the meaning of any doc¬ trinal passage of the New Testament, will often be found in the known theological opinions of the Jews, at the Christian era. Now, it is certain that the doc¬ trine of future rewards and punishments was then commonly received amongst that people, and upheld in a very zealous manner, more especially by those orthodox sects (as they were generally reputed) the Essenes and the Pharisees. And, since we are in possession of evidence, in the works of Josephus, that the punishments inflicted on the wicked, in a future world, were considered by the Essenes and the Pha¬ risees to be unceasing and ever-enduring , we may rea- to be Full 197 Ess. ix.] sonably conclude that this was the only sense in which our Lord’s expressions could be understood by his hearers : the only sense, therefore, in which they can rightly be interpreted in the present day.7 4*. Our Lord declares, that the “ everlasting fire,” to which the wicked are to be consigned, is prepared for “ the devil and his angels.” The wicked, there¬ fore, are to participate in the same punishment as is the lot of the higher powers of darkness. Now, the punishment of these evil spirits is elsewhere described as eternal, in still more powerful and unequivocal language than is employed in the passage before us. We are told that it must continue “ day and night for ever and ever Rev. xx, 10. The punishments of the wicked — the children of Satan — are indeed set before us in another passage of the Revelation, in the very same terms. “ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever : and they have no 7 Speaking of tbe opinions of the Essenes, respecting the misery of the souls of the wicked after death, Josephus says, rcug 5s (pttb'kciig, d/j xa! veifsgiov apopl^ovrat ftw/ov, yeytovra rifioi^iuv udiaXetorwv. “ But to wicked souls they allot a dark and wintry abyss, full of punish¬ ments, which cease not.” The doctrine of the Pharisees he states as follows : ds vatfav fih atpdaerov, /usraffaiveiv di slg srsgov ouiwa rriv ru v ayaSuv fAOVYjV, rrjv ds tuiv ipauXuv, ai'diuj ti/moio, 7to\d^id6cir “ That every soul is immortal ; that the soul of the righteous only enters into another body ; but that the soul of the wicked is consigned to ever- enduring punishment.” De Bell. Jud. lib. n, cap. viii, sect. 11, 14. It may, indeed, be remarked, that the terms dhiaku-itrog and dtdiog, like the term aiuiviog, do not necessarily express an absolutely eternity. Nevertheless, since we find the doctrine of eternal punishments described by writers nearly cotemporary, with so considerable a variety of language — since the terms used are uniformly such as may be most properly con¬ strued in the sense of a real eternity— and since none of these writers af¬ ford the least hint that any thing short of it was intended to be expres¬ sed by them — we may safely conclude, that the doctrine in question was held by the Jews and Christians of that date, in the same sense, and with the same force, as in the present day. 198 and Absolute. [Ess. ix. rest day nor night , who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name xvi, 1 1* 5. The positive declaration pronounced by Jesus Christ, respecting the eternity of the happiness and life of the righteous, and of the punishment of the wicked, corresponds with other passages in his dis¬ courses, in which the same doctrine is promulgated in a negative form : “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying he shall never see death John viii, 51. “ Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die John xi, 26. So, on the other hand, of the “ fire” and the “ worm” which represent the future sufferings of the wicked, our Lord has left on record, that the one is unquenchable, and the other immortal. “ If thy hand offend thee,” said he, “ cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than, having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched : where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched .*” Mark ix, 43, 44. Since, then, the word rendered everlasting, in Matt, xxv, 46, is so generally employed, in the New Testa¬ ment, to denote an absolute eternity ; since, in that passage, its meaning is fixed by its application to man¬ kind in reference to their immortality, and by the fact, that eternal happiness and eternal punishment are there placed in opposition to each other ; since future rewards and punishments were understood to be ever- enduring, by the Jews who were cotemporary with Christ ; since the punishment of sinful men is repre¬ sented as the same with that which is allotted to the evil spirits ; and since the sufferings of the wicked in another world are elsewhere negatively described as everlasting — it seems impossible to deny, that the doctrine of the infinite duration of punishment is a doctrine of Scripture. I cannot, however, conclude Ess. ix.] Misery , the Natural Result of Sin. 199 these remarks, without briefly considering this branch of our subject on a somewhat different, though per¬ fectly accordant, principle. Although the sufferings of the wicked in a future world, occasioned as they are by a separation from that Being who is the only real source of happiness, are rightly represented to us as a punishment, they may also be regarded as the natural and necessary result of a life of sin. If we inquire what it is which principally constitutes the joys of heaven, theie are many passages of Scripture from which we learn, that it is the immediate and glorious presence of our God and Saviour. Into that presence nothing that is de¬ filed can ever enter : it is the habitation of the angels of God, and of redeemed and purified spirits ; and these alone are capable of the chaste and holy enjoy¬ ments of paradise and heaven. On the other hand, the impenitent sinner is separ¬ ated from God, even here ; he cannot endure the light of the divine countenance ; he flees and hides himself from the Lord, as from his greatest enemy . and, if this be the condition in which the change from life to eter¬ nity overtakes him, it is unquestionable that he will find his proper element, not in the pure atmosphere of the celestial regions, not in the society of saints and angels, not in the immediate and glorious presence of God and of the Lamb ; but in outer darkness— in the mansions of death and dismay in the company of those fallen powers and principalities to whose de¬ structive sway he has hitherto been subject. Now, as these positions are evidently consistent both with the declarations of Scripture and with the dictates of a sound moral philosophy; so it is equally clear, from the tenor of true religion, both natural and revealed, that the present life is the only time appointed for our probation, and for that recoveiy 200 The Present Life [Ess. ix. from a condition of moral degradation by which we may be fitted for the pure and never-ending joys of the just made perfect. When we reflect on the af¬ flictions of the righteous, and on the frequent prospe¬ rity of the wicked on the innumerable circumstances which are here permitted to interrupt the yet evident tendency of the divine government to a perfect system of reward and punishment— we are insensibly led (in¬ dependently of revelation) not only to confess the high probability of a future state, but also to affix to the present world the character of trial, and to the world to come that of ascertained and settled retribution. And certainly we cannot take the Scriptures for our guide without being confirmed as to the soundness of these apprehensions. For, while the inspired writers never make mention of our future state of being, other¬ wise than as one of happiness or misery, of reward or punishment, they describe the present life alone as the period in which, “ with fear and trembling,” we may “ work out” our “ own salvation.” That this only is the accepted time and the day of salvation ; that the day’s work is to be done now, and that “ the night cometh wherein no man worketh ;” that, after the bridegroom has once entered into the marriage-cham¬ ber, the door is shut, and cannot again be opened _ these are principles which are plainly recorded, and which, in every scriptural exhortation to timely faith, repentance, and obedience — in every injunction to di¬ ligence, watchfulness, and readiness, for the Lord’s coming are as plainly implied . Nor have we any reason whatever to imagine that, when the opportu¬ nity thus bestowed upon mankind shall have passed away, there can ever be found, in the society of devils, and in that confirmed condition of darkness, degrada¬ tion, and separation from God, which will be the lot of impenitent sinners in the world of future retribution, 201 Ess. ix.] The only time of Probation. any thing of a curative or redeeming tendency any thing which can be the means of preparing us for a holy and heavenly inheritance. If, then, these things are true — if hell is indeed the natural element of the wicked — if this life is indeed the only time (as all Scripture plainly leads us to be¬ lieve) appointed for our probation and moral recovery — then it assuredly follows, that those who die in their sins are for ever excluded from those pleasures which are at the right hand of God. “ A e shall die in your sins,” said Jesus to the unbelieving Jews ; ** whither I go, ye cannot come John viii, 21. And if it is true that man, who was formed after the image of an eternal God, will never cease to be , we must also conclude that the sufferings entailed on the wicked, by this exclusion from the divine presence, will have no termination.8 On the whole, then, the doctrine of eternal rewards and punishments is far too clearly promulgated in the 8 This view of the subject, like the preceeding one, was familiar to the early Jews. In a rabbinical work, entiled Midrash fy Cohaleth, (fol. 74, 2, 3), there is to be found a curious commentary upon the following words : “ That which is perverted, no man can rectify.” “ In this world,” says the commentator, “ those things which are perverted can be rectified, and those things which fail can be numbered ; but in that future state, that which is perverted cannot be rectified, and that which fails cannot be num¬ bered.” This Jewish doctor then proceeds to exemplify his doctrine by a parable respecting two men who had been engaged in a life of sin toge¬ ther. The one is cut off in his sins. The other takes warning from the event, repents, and is converted. In the world of retribution, the former is found in a state of torment; the latter with the just in heaven. When the punished sinner pretends that he and his friend, who had sinned to¬ gether, ought together to have reaped the fruits of their iniquity, and when he entreats that he also may now be allowed an opportunity for re¬ pentance, it is answered, “ Thou fool ! knowest thou not that this world (of retribution) is like the sabbath ; but the world from which thou hast come, like the evening-preparation for the sabbath ? If a man prepares nothing on the evening before the sabbath, what shall he have to eat during the sabbath day?” See Sclioetgen. in Hor. Heb. Matt, xxv, 46. K 3 202 Fall of Man. [Ess. ix. Sacred Volume to be denied by the consistent Chris¬ tian. That which Scripture declares clearly, decisively, frequently, must, on our parts be received with silent and willing submission ; and, however deeply mysteri¬ ous this doctrine may be to our limited and inadequate comprehension, our true wisdom will be found, not in restless attemps to explain away the declarations of Divine Truth, but in sincere and earnest endeavours to lay hold, ere it be too late, of the salvation of God, and to flee from the wrath to come. Section VI. On the Fall and Depravity of Man. In order that we may form a just view of our whole subject, we ought, in conclusion, to consider the testi¬ monies of inspiration on one remaining point — namely, the actual moral character of mankind. I have already observed, that when Adam was en¬ dowed with intellectual powers, with supreme autho¬ rity over inferior animals, and with an immortal spirit, he was made “ in the image, and after the likeness, of God.” But, there was still another particular, in which that image and likeness were imparted to him. He was created holy ; and, being thus a partaker in the moral attributes of his heavenly Father, he lived for a time in his original paradise, without sin. Yet was he liable to temptation, and free to choose between the evil and the good ; and when, through the power of the spiritual adversary, he was betrayed into a direct transgression of the revealed will of God, he fell from his pristine state of innocence and happiness, became prone to sin, and instead of being any longer by nature the heir of immortal happiness, was subjected to the sentence of eternal death, “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die Ezek. xviii, 20. Now, the Scriptures teach us, that the fall of our first parent, from a condition of natural righteousness to one of natural sinfulness, — from a condition, in 203 Ess. ix.] Effects of the Fall of Man. which he was the heir of the blessing, to one, in which he was the subject of the curse, was the immediate cause of a moral degeneracy, and therefore of a punishable guilt, in the whole family of his de¬ scendants. The apostle expressly states the doctrine, that “ by one man sin entered into the word, and death by sin : and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”— that “ through the offence of one many are dead” — that “ the judgment was by one to condemnation” — that “ by one man s offence death reigned by one” — that (( by one mans disobedience many were made sinners ” — that “ in Adam all die : Rom. v, 12—19: 1 Cor. xv, 22. As the Scriptures alone trace the moral degradation of our species to the event out of which it arose, so are they distinguished by the peculiar force and preci¬ sion with which they describe that moral degradation, and uphold it to view as a characteristic of the human race. For the whole system of scriptural religion is grounded on a truth which never found a place in moral philosophy of human origin — that man is by nature fallen and depraved, and can be saved from the consequences of sin only by divine mercy , and from its power only by divine grace. Often, indeed, do the sacred writers expatiate on the character of the righteous ; and these are they who have renounced all dependance on themselves, and who are “ kept by the power of God , through faith unto salvation : but the question now to be considered is this : What is the account given to us in the Sacred V olume of man without grace — of man in his natural and unregene¬ rate condition ? I. In answer to this inquiry, it may be remarked, in the first place, that the sacred writers declare the heart of man to be evil in itself, or, in other words, to be so deeply infected with an evil principle, as naturally to 204 Corruption of the Heart. [Ess. ix. produce the fruit of sin. Soon after the prophet Je¬ remiah had described the “sin of Judah,” as “written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond,” he was led to point out the true source of the trans¬ gressions which he thus lamented ; and that source was to be found, not in the peculiar circumstances of that favoured people, but in the nature of the whole species to which they belonged. « The heart,” says the prophet, “ is deceitful above all things, and despe¬ rately wicked (or, as in the Hebrew, desperately dis¬ eased?) ; who can know it?” xvii, 1, 9. “Yea, also,” says Solomon, in perfect accordance with the testimony of Jeremiah, “ the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead Eccl. ix, 3. When David prayed God to create in him “ a clean heart;” when he cried out, “ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow”— he was sensible, not only of his actual transgressions, but of the natural corruption from which they spring. “ Behold,” said he, « I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me !” Ps. h, 5, 7, &c. Nor can it be denied, that this na- tuial corruption of our inward part was indirectly adverted to by our Saviour himself, when he promul¬ gated the doctrine, that a man is defiled, not by that which « goeth into the mouth,” but by that which cometh out of the mouth ;” because “ out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, for¬ nications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies Matt, xv, 11, 19. The struggles of our evil nature, which continue to be felt even after we have been awakened to a sense of divine truth, are described by the apostle Paul S Vid. Job xxxiv, G ; Jer. xxx, 12, 15 ; and Taylor's Cone, in voc. 205 Ess. ix.] Spiritual Darkness and Ignorance. in the language of painful experience : “ I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man ; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?” Rom. vii, 21 — 24. Soon afterwards, he describes the disposition of man to evil as the “ carnal mind" which “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” viii, 7 ; and the diseased nature, in which this disposition dwells, he elsewhere denominates “ the flesh" “ For the flesh,” says he, “ lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other:” Gal. v, 17 ; comp, v, 19 — 21. 2. Man, in his natural condition of degradation from original virtue, is, in the second place, often represented by the sacred writers as the child of ignorance, misled by his own false notions of wisdom, and utterly inca¬ pable in himself of rightly apprehending divine truth. “ The light sliineth in darkness,” says the apostle John, “and the darkness comprehended it not," John i, 5 ; a doctrine which corresponds with the declara¬ tion of Paul, that “ the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned:” 1 Cor. ii, 14. On the other hand, although we may construct many plausible sys¬ tems of morality, gratifying to our pride, yet the “wis¬ dom of this world" is “foolishness with God :” 1 Cor. iii, 18—20. “ There is a way which seemeth right unto a man ; but the end thereof are the ways of death :” Prov. xiv, 12. In short, unregenerate men are “ dark¬ ness :” they are sitting “in darkness, and in the sha¬ dow of death,” Luke i, 79; they are under the 206 Universal Sinfulness [Ess. ix. “ power of darkness Col. i, 13. “ The rulers of the darkness of this world,” Eph. vi, 12, are their gover¬ nors. Their king is the “ prince of the power of the ail*) ” Eph. ii, 2 ; and the god of this world has “ blind¬ ed ” their eyes, “ lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them 2 Cor. iv, 4. 3. Being thus prone to evil, and destitute of a right apprehension of divine things, mankind in their fallen nature are “dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph. ii, 1 ; they are universally sinners. “ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us:” 1 John i, 8. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God Rom. iii, 23. “ God made man upright,” says Solomon, “ but they have sought out many inventions :” Eccles. vii, 29. And if we would understand the moral character of these inventions, we may consult the apostle Paul, who thus describes, in glowing and comprehensive language, “ the whole world,” which “ lieth in wickedness .” 1 John v, 19. “ What, then, are we (the Jews) better than they (the Gentiles ?) No, in no wise ; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin, as it is written : There is none righteous, no not one ; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God : they are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable : there is none that doeth good, no not one : their throat is an open sepulchre : with their tongues they have used deceit : the poison of asps is under their lips : whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : their feet are swift to shed blood : destruction and misery are in their ways : and the way of peace have they not known : there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saitli, it saith to them who are under the law : that every mouth may be stopped, Ess. ix.] Proved from History. 207 and all the world may become guilty before god:” Rom. iii, 9 — 19. The doctrine of Scripture respecting the wickedness of mankind is powerfully confirmed by the records con¬ tained in it of their history— a history which affords astonishing evidences of a strong, determined, natural, bent towards moral evil. What was the character of the antediluvians, to whom was communicated the ori¬ ginal revelation of the divine will ? We read, that God beheld them, and “ saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,” and that “ every imagination of the thoughts of his heart” was “ only evil continu¬ ally :” Gen. vi» 5. With the exception of a single fa¬ mily, the whole of one generation of mankind was de¬ stroyed by the deluge ; and the earth was again peo¬ pled by a new race, of which the sons of Noah were the progenitors. But the bias of human nature was unaltered. The descendants of Noah sunk by degrees into almost universal idolatory and sin. The Canaan- itish nations, more especially, were so full of iniquity, that they became the conspicuous subjects of the di¬ vine vengeance ; and God selected a peculiar people, to whom he had condescended to reveal his will, and to commit the keeping of his divine oracles, to be the instruments of his wrath. That people was favoured above all the nations of the earth by the Supreme Being, and instructed by the frequent miraculous dis¬ plays of his love and power. Yet, even in them we perceive an almost unvarying propensity to rebellion and transgression. “ Ah ! sinful nation,” cried their prophet Isaiah, “ a people laden with iniquity ; a seed of evil doers; children that are corrupters ; they have forsaken the Lord ; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger ; they are gone away backward. . “ From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it ; but wounds, and bruises, 208 Remnant of Virtue in Man. [Ess. ix. and putrifying sores : they have not been closed, nei¬ ther bound up, neither mollified with ointment Isa. i, 4—6. Thus degraded and corrupted, the Israelites were themselves chastised by severe temporal calami¬ ties, and were at length carried captive into the land of their enemies. At an appointed period, however, a certain proportion of them were permitted to return into the country of their fathers, and to rebuild their city and temple, under the renewed and especial mani¬ festations of divine love. Yet a depraved nature soon again displayed itself in this favoured race. Although they abstained from idolatry, it is evident, from various passages in the New Testament, that they became ex¬ ceedingly vicious, and at length they consummated their national criminality by crucifying their Messiah. That modern history affords abundant lessons to the same effect, and that the knowledge which we have of the lasciviousness, pride, covetousness, and cruelty, still so prevalent in the world— not to mention the secret “ plague ” of our own hearts — amply confirms these lessons, will scarcely be denied by any person who reflects on the subject with calmness : who takes a just view, on the one hand, of the requisitions of the divine law, and, on the other, of the innumerable ini¬ quities by which it is infringed. True indeed it is, that, with the evil abounding in the world, there is still to be found, in almost every class of mankind, a considerable mixture of good. Ruined as man is by nature, it may readily be acknow¬ ledged, that he retains some few traces of his original excellence : and that, although ever prone to sin, he is not solely, entirely, exclusively, sinful. Such an al¬ lowance, however, requires to be carefully guarded ; nor can I venture to make it, without observing, first, that much of the virtue sometimes apparent in persons who have little serious sense of religion ought proba- 209 Ess. ix.] His Guilt and Condemnation. bly to be attributed, not to their own diseased and de¬ graded nature, but either to the indirect operation of Christianity, as it is outwardly revealed, or to the se¬ cret visitations of a divine influence ; for we have sure¬ ly strong reasons to believe, that such an influence is given to all men, to be their cure ; often strives with them from infancy to advanced age ; is seldom, per¬ haps, during the course of their lives, entirely with¬ drawn from them ; and, if fully submitted to, would extend and complete that work of righteousness which is now inadequate, partial, and defective. Secondly, the real virtue of actions, apparently good, depends upon the motives out of which they spring ; and God, who searches the heart, may frequently condemn in us those very works which satisfy our own self-righte¬ ousness, and which are warmly applauded by our fel¬ low creatures. Thirdly, although the moral disease inherent in our fallen nature does not display itself in every individual of the species in the same particular form, there is, nevertheless, not a man upon earth in whom it has not been manifested in some form or other; not one who is not guilty of sin ; not one who is free from a natural propensity to some besetting iniquity. 4. In conclusion, therefore, let us notice the com¬ prehensive nature of that curse, which is declared in the Scriptures to be the consequence of sin. While they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abra¬ ham, as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse : for it is written, “ Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them:” Gal. iii, 9, 10; comp. Deut. xxvii, 26. As these words were applied by Moses to the whole Jewish legal institution, so are they applicable, with an especial degree of force, to that moral law of God which formed its most essen¬ tial feature. Accordingly, we are taught by the apos- 210 Recapitulation. [Egg, Ix> tie James, that “ whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all: for he. that said do not commit adultery, said also. Do not kill. Now,” adds the apostle, “ if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a trans¬ gressor of the law James ii, 10, 1 1. Whatsoever, therefore, may be our besetting ini¬ quity— whatsoever the particular respect in which we have forsaken the path of duty— it is plain that we are justly exposed to divine condemnation both here and hereafter. Since all the world “ lieth in wicked¬ ness ; all the world is become “ guilty before God.” We have all infringed the law of God : therefore we are all exposed to the curse pronounced on its in¬ fringement. We are all “by nature the children of corruption;” therefore we are all “by nature the children of wrath :” Eph. ii, 3. “All have sinned 3” therefore (were the voice of the law alone to be heard) “all” must die. I may now proceed to recapitulate the principal truths which have formed the subject of the present Essay. It may be recollected, first, that man was formed like other animals, out of the dust of the ground, to be a living creature : that he was created liable to mortality: that, after he had sinned, he re¬ ceived the sentence of natural death : “ Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return and further, that as he is himself mortal, so those earthly objects which here occupy his attention, and engage his affections, are all of a transitory nature, and are invariably in¬ scribed with the mark of “ vanity of vanities.” Secondly, that man is nevertheless the child of eternity, because being made in the image of God, he possesses a never-dying soul ; that the existence of a soul as well as a body in man is plainly recognized by the inspired writers ; and that there are many clear EsSi ix.] Recapitulation. 211 passages of Holy Writ, from which we learn that after death, and before the resurrection, the souls of the righteous are with Christ in blessedness, and the souls of the wicked reserved, in a condition of suffer¬ ing, for judgment. Thirdly, that man is the child of eternity in an¬ other respect also, because, at an appointed time to come, there will be a resurrection from death, both of the just and of the unjust, when even our mortal part will be clothed with immortality : and that the resur¬ rection of the righteous, more especially, will be at¬ tended with circumstances unspeakably joyful and glorious, and will constitute the victory of the Mes¬ siah over the last enemy — death. Fourhly, that man is a moral agent, capable either of righteousness or of sin ; the standard of the former being the will or law of a perfectly holy God — and the latter being the infraction of that will or law — that we are made free to choose either good or evil, either life or death — that we are in every particular of our life and conversation, responsible to God, from whom alone we derive all things which we possess, and to whom we must individually, in a future world, render the account of our stewardship — and that, when this account has been given, we shall be judged by the Son of God, and punished or rewarded individu¬ ally, after a rule of perfect justice and equity, accord¬ ing to our works. Fifthly, that the future rewards and punishments of men are declared by the apostles, and by our Lord himself, to be everlasting; and that for many plain critical reasons, the term everlasting , as it is applied to future punishment, cannot be fairly construed other¬ wise than in its highest sense. That this conclusion is confirmed by a very plain consideration ; namely, that the present life alone is the period of our probation ; 212 Practical Observations. [Ess. ix. the world to come being ever represented in Scripture (conformably with the dictates of natural religion) to be one of fixed and permanent retribution. Sixthly, that Adam and Eve fell from their origi¬ nal righteousness and became sinners — that, in conse¬ quence of this mournful change, the whole race of their descendants inherit a sinful nature — that the heart or inward disposition of the natural man is infected with sin, and ever prone to evil — that unregenerate men are in a condition of darkness, alienated from the life of God by the ignorance which is in them, and incapable of understanding Divine Truth by their own wisdom — that they are under the dominion of Satan — that they are dead in trespasses and sins, and universally sinners, as is amply proved by the historical, as well as the didactic, parts of Scripture — and finally, that, being sinners, they are all guilty before God, and just¬ ly liable to the curse of the law. What, then, are the practical conclusions to which these premises are calculated to conduct the awaken¬ ed sinner? He must surely be convinced, that, if he continues under the influence of his fallen nature, misery and destruction are his certain allotment. He beholds his deep moral degradation: he confesses that his enemy has triumphed over him : he knows that he is utterly unable, by any strength or wisdom of his own, to escape from the dominion of Satan, and from the bitter pains of eternal death. Stricken with the sight of his iniquities, he trembles under a sense of the divine displeasure, and in the awful expectation of judgment to come ; and he is sensible that he can entertain no hope of his soul’s salvation, except in the spontaneous, unrestricted, unmerited, mercy of God. Yet, while an indistinct view of that mercy may cast some gleams of consolation over his path of darkness, he perceives not how it can be reconciled with the Conclusion. 213 Ess. ix.] divine justice : he remembers the corruption and de¬ filement of his own heart, and the perfect holiness of his Creator ; and he still shrinks from the all-search¬ ing eye, from the pure and penetrating presence, of the Judge of all flesh. While such is his mental con¬ dition, he is prepared to pour forth his sorrows in the language of Job: “If I wash myself in snow-water, and make myself never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. (God) is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment ; neither is there any day’s-man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both!” Job ix, 30 — 33. He prays for a clean heart : he hungers and thirsts after righteous¬ ness ; but he is inwardly persuaded, nevertheless, that he stands in need of some powerful and perfect Me¬ diator, who can bear the weight of his iniquity, and perform for him the work of reconciliation. In the bitterness of his soul he exclaims, A Saviour , or I die — A Redeemer , or I perish for ever ! With how much eagerness and delight will he then receive the well-authenticated tidings, that such a Mediator has been appointed — that such a Saviour and Redeemer has been freely bestowed — that now “ mercy and truth have met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other ” — that God has given “his only-begotten son,” and that “ whoso¬ ever believeth ” in Christ “ shall not perish, but have everlasting life !” ESSAY X. ON THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF JESUS CHRIST. Haying considered the lamentable condition of man, in his fallen and unregenerate nature, and hav¬ ing briefly adverted to the fact, which forms the cen¬ tre and spring of the whole dispensation of the Gospel — that God sent his Son into the world to save sinners — it is natural for us to press forward, with no slight degree of eagerness, to the examination of those pas¬ sages of Scripture which unfold to our view the per¬ son and nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. Diversified and numerous as those passages are, and relating to a variety of different points, they wiil, nevertheless, he found very remarkably to harmonize together — to elu¬ cidate and confirm one another ; and it will now be my endeavour to arrange a selection of them, in such a manner, as will, it may be hoped, produce on the mind of the reader a clear and useful impression of the whole subject. The clue which I propose to follow, in making this attempt, is the history of the Son of God, as it is re¬ vealed to us in the Bible ; for I apprehend that the order of his history is the natural order of the subject before us ; and the more closely we follow the natu¬ ral order of any subject we may be investigating, the more satisfactorily and explicitly will that subject be opened to our understanding. Now, the revealed his- Christ in his Preexistence. 215 Ess. x.] tory of the Son of God admits of being divided into three principal parts — his preexistence — his abode upon earth — and his reign in glory ; and, while I hope not to forget the circumstances and results of our Lord’s humanity , it will be my principal object to ad¬ duce, in connexion with each of these successive di¬ visions, the testimonies borne by the sacred writers to the great doctrine of his deity. PART. I. ON CHRIST IN HIS PREEXISTENCE. When we open the New Testament, and peruse the various statements contained in the four Gospels re¬ specting the qualities and powers, the discourses and actions, of the Founder of our religion, we cannot fail to perceive that he was an extraordinary and wonder¬ ful being ; and it is with irresistible force that the in¬ quiry presents itself to our minds, Who was he, and what was his nature ? The narrations of the four evangelists afford abundant evidence that he was born, lived, and died — that he was endowed with those phy¬ sical and intellectual properties which we ourselves possess — that his body was a human body, and his mind a human mind ; and therefore we cannot with any reason refuse to allow, that he was really and ab¬ solutely man. But did he possess any other nature besides the nature of man ? Were his conception and birth the commencement of his being ; or did he ex¬ ist in some higher character and condition than those which appertain to mankind, before his conception and birth took place ? To these inquiries we shall have little difficulty in returning an affirmative answer, when we have calmly 216 He came forth from God. [Ess. x. reflected on the declarations of the Sacred Volume, that Jesus 'proceeded forth from God — that, in other words, he was the “Lord from heaven:' 1 Cor. xv, 47. “I proceeded forth,” said our Saviour to the Jews, “ and came from God ” (or more literally, I pro¬ ceeded forth from out of God and am come1;) “nei ther came I of myself, but he sent me John viii, 4 2. “ No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from ( or from out of) heaven ,2 even the Son of man which is in heaven:” John iii, 13. “For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me:” vi, 38 ; comp. 41, 51, &c. It cannot, with any colour of probability, be pre¬ tended that these expressions were applied by our Lord to his own circumstances, on the mere principle, that he was the messenger of God, and was invested (however eminently) with the prophetical office; for no such expressions are ever employed in Scripture to describe the mission either of the prophets or of the apostles. Among the inspired servants of the Lord, an exalted place was unquestionably held by John the Baptist, who was a burning and “a shining light,” and “ more than prophet ,” and yet the distinction between John and Jesus Christ was this ; that John was of the earth, earthly — Jesus Christ from above, from heaven, “He must increase,” cried the Baptist, “but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: j he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth : he that cometh from heaven is above all John iii, 30, 31. The expressions in question, there¬ fore, must be interpreted (as far as the nature of the subject will allow) according to their literal and appa¬ rent sense — namely, as importing that Jesus Christ, at a certain appointed period, came forth from that im- 1 ’Eyu ydg ex roZ QeoZ e^Xdov, xui yxu. 2 |x roZ ovguvoZ xaraZccg. 217 Ess. x.] He came down from Heaven. mediate presence of God, which the apostle emphati¬ cally describes as ‘‘the bosom of the Father,” John i, 18, and from that high and holy place, where, after a peculiar manner, he dwelt in glory, and that he then descended into this lower world. That this is a just view of the subject is moreover evident, because the Scriptures teach us to estimate the reality of our Lord’s descent from heaven by that of his ascent into heaven. It is a truth plainly declar¬ ed in the New Testament, and universally allowed by Christians, that, at the close of his abode upon earth, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, and went to his Father; and in certain passages of our Lord’s dis¬ courses, his descent from, heaven, and his ascent or re¬ turn to heaven, are mentioned as parallel and corre¬ sponding circumstances. “ This is that bread,” said he to the Jews, “ which came down from heaven . • Doth this offend you ? What, and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before ?” John vi, 58 — 62. Again, to his disciples he said, “ I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father John xvi, 28. If the inquiry be suggested, At what particular pe¬ riod did our Lord thus proceed forth from the Father, and descend from heaven ? we may answer,’ on the authority of the passage last cited, and on that of others of a similar import, When he came into the world; and if again the question be asked, When did he come into the world ? we may reply, At his incarnation or birth ; for, to come into the world, and to be born, were, according to the customary phraseo¬ logy of the Jews, synonymous terms.3 Such appears 3 Vide Lightfoot Hor. Heb. in John i, 9. So also Schleusner, Lex. in voc. xoSfi 0£, No. 4. “ Hue etiam pertinet formula t^tsdai tig rfa L 218 He Preexisted with the Father, [Ess. x. to have been the doctrine of the apostle Paul. “ When the fulness of the time was come,” said he, “ God sent forth his Son, made (or born) of a woman Gal. iv, 4. It was when Jesus Christ was born of a woman , there¬ fore, that God sent forth his Son; and, in a very re- maikable passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the coming and incarnation of the Son of God are men¬ tioned as identical, or at least as coincident. “Where¬ fore, when he (the Son of God) cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me : in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure,: then said I, Lo ! I come , (in the volume of the Book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God Heb. x, 5 — 7. Since, therefore, when Jesus was born — when a body was prepared for him — when he was made incar¬ nate of a woman, and thus came into the world — he proceeded forth from God, and descended from hea¬ ven, it follows, that, before his birth , before his incar¬ nation, he was with God, and in heaven. As the doctrine, that Jesus Christ, preexisted in glory with the Father, is thus plainly to be deduced from the declarations of Scripture, so are there other passages of the Sacred Volume (perfectly accordant with these declarations) from which we may derive much information respecting the antecedent extent of his preexistence. We learn from the Gospel of Luke, that John the Baptist was about six months older than the Son of Ma¬ ry* b <2^, ; nevertheless, it is recorded in very expli¬ cit terms, that Jesus existed before John ; “John bare xodfiov, h. e. yimac&ai, nasci, John xi, 27. 6 tig rbv ko xaSdoreg dlaxog mifZrifLfievog, (qu. eV ft yiyoviv, — not one thing wan made, that wan made. In the Soptunglnt version of Oen il, iyiviro represent* tlio Hebrew ermtun ml. ‘Ilhly. Because tho »ame doctrine Is repeuted in verse 10 :i verso, In which no reasonable critic would venture to impose on iyiviro uny other signification than lliut of coming into existence, or being created. “ lie was In tho world, ml ft tddfioi di avrou iyiviro — and the world wan made h;/ him." a Hah. I, 2. fti oli ml roof a/wvaf iw/irjinv. The substantive a/wvif Is again employed to signify tho worldn or the unit) erne, in oh. xli, •!, mid elsewhere by tho apostle Pauli vide 1 Tim. I, 17 i I Cor. II, 7. I Ins »p* plleuliou of tho word is considered to he a Hebraism [ for tho Ralddus 236 Described as the Medium, [Ess. x. But, in whichsoever sense we understand the pre¬ position “ by,” in John i, 3, 10, the fact thus recorded, that the Son was himself the Maher of all things— that he actually wrought out the whole creation of God — affords (according to my apprehension of the subject) a satisfactory and decisive evidence that he was not himself a creature — that, on the contrary, he really participated in the nature of the Father. It is by the visible works of the creation, as the apostle Paul has declared, that “the eternal power and Godhead” ot Jehovah are demonstrated to our understanding ; (Rom, i, 20;) and nothing, I would submit, can be more improbable in natural theology, or more at vari¬ ance with revelation, than the notion that God first created a particular being, and then employed that being as the Creator of the rest of the universe. “ I am Jehovah,” saith God by his prophet Isaiah, “ that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by himself . I am Jehovah, and there is none else :” Is. xliv, 24 ; xlv, 1 8 : comp. Gen. i, 1 . In conformity with the tenor of these remarks, the apostle, in addressing the Hebrews, has no sooner spoken of the Son of God, as the person by whom the Father made the words, than he proceeds to ex¬ patiate on his divine character ; and presently adduces one of the Psalms, in which the Son is addressed, not merely as the medium, but as the author, of the cre¬ ation. “ But unto the Son 4 he saith . Thou, Lord, make a precisely similar use of the corresponding expression, D'loVlJ/- God is described, by these writers as D'tfripn 73 pm that is, as Lord of all the worlds : see Gill, Com. in loc. * wglg rbv v/ov, x. r. y. Some critics have observed, that ‘irgbg, in this passage, ought to be rendered concerning, and not unto — a re¬ mark suggested by the use of this preposition in the preceding verse. — II gbg fliV roiig ayyiXovg Xsyst, x. r. X. “ Unto (or concerning) the 237 Ess. x.] and as the Author, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth , and the heavens are the work of thy hands : Ps. cii, 25; Heb.i, 8—10. And now, in order to complete the present division of my argument, I have only to advert to that sublime passage of the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, in which the Son of God, the First-born5 of the universe, is presented to our attention as the Former of the most powerful intelligent creatures, the Creator of the ma¬ terial and immaterial world, the object as well as the medium or author of all things. “ God,” says this in- angels he saitli, Who maketh his angels spirits,” &c. It is undeniable, however, that the proper force of orgbg is “unto,” and it is surely very questionable whether it can ever be otherwise rightly rendered, when it introduces (as in this passage) a form of address : (see a multitude of simi¬ lar examples in Schmidii Cone. N. T.j. Whether, however, we render trgh$ in Heb- i, 8, unto, or concerning, the argument of the apostle is, in substance, precisely the same. As the divine Person, addressed in the passage cited from Psalm cii, is the only person mentioned, or in any, even the slightest, manner alluded to, in that passage, it follows, that, if the passage was written concerning the Son, the Son is the person there addressed. 5 n^roro-m «d$.—“ The First-born (or First-begotten) of the whole creation.” This title affords no support to the unscriptural notion, that the Son of God was himself a creature; for there is a mark¬ ed distinction between TOMS, the derivative of rhtroj gigno, and xr/07£, the derivative of creo. And since vrfirog or Vgurov is sometimes followed by a genitive case, and thus assumes the force of ertfr^og or ir^rggov, as in Johni, 15, 30; xv, 18 ; 1 Tim. ii, 1 ; we may conclude with Casaubon, that irgcorSroxog tfdtfrig xridsug is grammatically equiva- jent to Tiyjilg rrj) erda/jg xrlaswg ante ullam rem createm genitus— be¬ gotten before any thing was made. While, however, the priority of the Son, in point of time, before all creatures, is plainly expressed in this phrase, it is most probable, that the title ergwroroxog also includes the idea of lordship and preeminence — a notion which sometimes attaches to the corresponding Hebrew term TD2> vide Deut. xxxiii, 17 ; Job xviii, 13 ; Isa. xiv, 30 ; Jer. xxxi, 9 ; so Schleusner , after Drusius, Cameron, Whitby, Madcnight, and others, interprets Vguroroxog as signifying prin- ceps, et dominus omnium rerum creatarum 238 Of Creation. [Ess. x. spired writer, “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of every creature, (or of the whole cre¬ ation) : for by him were all things created,6 that are in 6 Some critics conceive that the creation attributed to the Son of God, in Col. i, 13 — 17, is the spiritual or new creation: and were this the true meaning of the passage, the deity of Christ would still be a necessary in¬ ference from the apostle’s doctrine. “ Omnia Christus fecit nova,” says Grotius in Eph. iii, 9, et divinior haec creatio quam prior ilia.”, That it is the original, and not the new creation, which is here attributed to the Son, appears, however, to be certain, for the following reasons : 1st, Because the verb creo, in the great majority of the passages in which it occurs in the Greek Scriptures, (viz. the Septuagint, the Apo¬ crypha, and the New Testament) denotes an actual, physical, formation. 2. Because all things in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, and especially those angelic beings who are here described as Thrones, Prin¬ cipalities, &c. were the subjects of the original , but were not the subjects of the new , creation: comp. Eph. i, 20, 21 ; iii, 10, &c. 3. Because the doctrine, that God physically created all things by his Word or Son, is elsewhere declared in Scripture, John i, 3 ; Heb. i, 2 ; and (as has been already stated) formed a leading feature in the theology of the Jews, at or near the Christian era. 4. Because the titles here given by the apostle to the Son — orouToroxog vrafftj? xr/tfE wg, the First-begotten of the whole creation, and shtov roZ QeoZ, the Image of God, were immedi¬ ately connected with that Jewish theological opinion to which I have now alluded. Thus Philo declares that the Father first raised up (avSTS/Xe) the First-begotten (vrgwroyovov) ; and that he, being begotten, formed spe¬ cies of beings {i(MOO