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 THE 
 
 THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION; 
 
 OR, 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF MANY OLD WRITINGS AND WRITERS 
 ON THAT SUBJECT. 
 
Memorandum, 
 Wxi ^hcologij of (Hottsolation ; 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF MANV OLD WRITINGS AND WRITERS ON THAT 
 
 SUBJECT 
 
 By Rev. DAVID C. A. AGNEW, Senior Minister 
 Of Wigtown Free Church. 
 
 Edinburgh, 1880. 
 
 The Author of the " Theology of Consolation " requests his 
 Subscribers and other friends to correct, in their several copies, 
 the following 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page Line For Read 
 
 235 29 Primitive Punitive. 
 
 310 7 Become Became. 
 
 331 41 leach Them Teach Them Nothing. 
 
 385 15 Contempting Testimony Contemptuous Testing. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The above-named handsome Volume is suitable for a present to 
 Ministers, Teachers, Students, and Enquirers. 
 
 It can still be had at the Subscription price 
 
 Ten Shillings and Sixpence 
 
 From Rev. 1). C. A. Agnew, 22 Gilmore Place, Edinburgh; 
 or Mr. William Hunter, 28 Queen Street, Edinburgh, who will 
 send it carriage paid. 
 
 * # * Possessors of the Book are requested to promote the sale 
 of the remaining copies by recommending it to their Friends and 
 Relatives. 
 
THE 
 
 THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION; 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF MANY OLD WRITINGS AND WRITERS 
 ON THAT SUBJECT. 
 
 ny 
 
 REV. DAVID C. A. AGNEW, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "PROTESTANT EXILES FROM FRANCE." 
 
 " God is paid when man receives ; 
 To enjoy is to obey." 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 
 188 0. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://archive.org/details/thconsolOOagne 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 On thu Teachings of Scripture concerning Consolation, . . 1 
 
 I'VfiK 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 WRITINGS.— PART I. 
 
 Consolation as the First Aspect of the Gospel. 
 Prefatory Quotations from Luther, ...... 25 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Heidelberg Catechism, . . . . . . .31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 " Christ Alone Exalted" — by Rev. Dr Crisp, Rector of Brinkworth, . . 42 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 " The Marrow," Part First — by Edward Fisher, Graduate of Oxford, . GO 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " The Marrow," Part Second — by the same Author ; also, Extracts from 
 
 various Authors on the Origin of Christian Obedience, . . .70 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, by Rev. Walter Marshall, Vicar of 
 Hursley in the Seventeenth Century ; also, Writings of the Eighteenth 
 Century in harmony therewith, . . . . . .81 
 
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Various Writings and Discussions of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Cen- 
 turies IN HARMONY WITH " THE MaRROW," . . ... .91 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Guyse's Coward Lecture on Preaching Christ ; also, Allusions in various 
 
 "Writings to such Preaching, or to the Neglect of it, . . .114 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Hints on Christian Experience," by Rev. Charles Watson, Minister of 
 
 Burntisland, ........ 127 
 
 WRITINGS.— PART II. 
 
 Consolation Revived and Confirmed. 
 Preliminary Explanation, . . . . . . 1 33 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Denial of an Assertion that all a Believer's Consolation is Delayed until 
 
 after his Consciousness of Sanctification, . . . .134 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 On Self-Examination and Consolation, . . . . .139 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 On Holiness and Comfort, . . . . . . .143 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the Promises to him that Overcometh, . . . . . 1G3 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 On Love to God, Christian Love, and Forgiveness of Injuries, . .170 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 On the Enjoyment of God's Presence in Ordinances, . . . .179 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii 
 
 I-AGE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 On Growth in Grace, . . . . . . . .184 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 On Love for Christ's Appearing, . . . . . .189 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 WEITEES. 
 
 Preliminary Explanation, . . . . . . .197 
 
 Dictionary of Writers on Consolation, illustrative of Book First, . .199 
 
 ADDITIONAL MEMOIRS, ... ... 395 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 I. Texts of Scripture, ........ 407 
 
 II. Writers Memorialised, . . . . . . . .411 
 
 III. Writers Quoted, . . . . . . . .412 
 
 IV. Surnames for Students or Genealogists, . . . . .412 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 ON THE TEACHINGS OF SCRIPTURE CONCERNING CONSOLATION. 
 
 Consolation has been defined by the venerable John Brown of Haddington to 
 be that refreshful pleasure of the soul, which ariseth from the consideration of 
 what God in Christ is to us, and of what He has done for, and infallibly 
 promised to us. It describes both what God as the Saviour has prepared and 
 prescribed, in order to create a " great calm " in the human soul, and also 
 the great calm itself, the heavenly tranquillity, which arises from reconciliation 
 with God through the forgiveness of sins. This Essay, it should be understood, 
 does not treat of consolation provided for the alleviation of temporal sorrows. 
 The idea, that no consolation is required unless there be worldly adversity and 
 bodily distress, is too common ; and it ought, in the true interests of mankind, to 
 be discountenanced. It ought to be known that every man who wishes to be 
 saved must become a mourner, and that God offers to him comfort, which is the 
 mourner's desideratum. For the sake of distinction, it is usual to give the name 
 of spiritual consolation to the comfort provided for souls in spiritual distress. 
 " Happy are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." 
 
 The work, prefaced by this Essay, has been undertaken, because of the essayist's 
 belief that consolation does not form a separate topic in modern systems of 
 theology — that, looking to the scriptural statements on the subject, he finds that 
 some of those statements have not their proper place, and that others have no 
 place, in those theological systems. 
 
 There is, however, an old literature on this branch of truth to which it is 
 his object to introduce the inquiring reader. Those authors who have put the 
 neglected portion of the subject in its right place, shall be introduced first. 
 Then we can cull, from many other authors, instructive sentences as to that other 
 part of the subject, to which our theologians have given a large amount of 
 attention. 
 
 What is usually overlooked by professional theologians is, that consolation is 
 the first aspect of the Christian system as presented in the Scriptures to 
 inquirers. Salvation is offered to me as a sinner, and God offers Himself as a 
 Saviour. Christianity, as distinguished from religious teaching in general, is a 
 motive-power, named after the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is lifted up to attract 
 
4 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 man — Christ, as the Lamb of God, both the atoning sacrifice and the priest. 
 This is the first aspect in which Christ is introduced to the sinner. 
 
 Although our blessed Lord is a teacher of practical religion in the end, He 
 is first a Redeemer and a ransom. His teaching says, I will give you rest as 
 soon as you come to Me. And then it adds, " Take My yoke upon you and 
 learn of Me." 
 
 " We who have believed," says the Apostle, " do enter into rest." 1 It is the 
 first step, and not the last, that is decisive of our reconciliation with God, and of 
 our consolation in Christ. The characteristic of the Christian hope is not that 
 all is well that ends well, but that all is well at the beginning, and that all may 
 begin well to-day, however long it may have been of beginning. To retain the 
 consolation with which our Christian life began, and to retain it upon exactly the 
 same foundation, is what is required ; or (to use the above-quoted Apostle's lan- 
 guage) what is required is to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto 
 the end 2 — to hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto 
 the end. 3 It is evident, therefore, that consolation is possible from the first, and 
 that it may be presented to sinners as the first aspect of that Divine Biblical 
 Gospel which offers to save their souls. 
 
 Consolation, as it is usually treated by theologians (this is the other depart- 
 ment at which I have already hinted), is a lively hope founded upon our progress 
 in practical religion — a hope that because our affections, our character, and our 
 works are becoming holy, therefore God is preparing us for His habitation of holi- 
 ness and glory, and will not shut us out, but does indeed intend us to dwell there 
 for ever. We are consoled by such evidence that He has taught us to love and 
 to praise Him, and that He will not abandon us to spend our eternity among 
 those who hate and blaspheme Him. The consolatory reasoning is something 
 like this — he who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ fears God and loves God : I 
 fear God, therefore I believe in Christ; I love God, therefore I know Him. Such 
 consolation begins at an onward stage of life, and reaches its perfection at the end. 
 The right verdict as to this, the only theological, consolation seems to be, that 
 there is nothing to be objected to it, if it be regarded as one of the elements of 
 scriptural consolation. A sinful man who has found rest in Christ is more troubled 
 about his sins than he ever was, and finds them a heavy burden, and a great dis- 
 couragement in the school and service of Christ. His Christian experience may 
 rightly prompt and enable him to thank God, and to take courage, especially at 
 an advanced stage of life, and as the end draws nigh. But we ought to object to 
 this theology as radically defective, if it debars the comer to Christ from consola- 
 tion at the beginning-, and tells him to wait for consolation till an advanced stage, 
 or till the end. How can the beginning of a scriptural confidence be held 
 through life, and to the end, if, sciipturally, there is no such confidence until the 
 
 1 Heb. iv. 3. 2 Heb iii. 14. 3 Heb. iii. 6. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 5 
 
 end ? How can we, at the beginning, or at the early stages of our true Chris- 
 tianity, hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, if there be no such 
 confidence or rejoicing permitted at the beginning? 
 
 The scriptural statements as to consolation are of two classes : first, those 
 which point to consolation as the first aspect of the Gospel of salvation ; second, 
 those which respect consolation as revived and strengthened by the experience of 
 holy and heavenly life upon earth. Modern theology has confined itself to the 
 second series of scriptural teachings, and whenever it successfully reproduces 
 scriptural teaching, it is true and useful. But it errs in neglecting the first 
 series. Theology errs as to the right position of consolation, if it reserves it for 
 the end, or for a place near the end. Its scriptural place is at the beginning of 
 those topics which are seasonable for sinners inquiring for a Divine Saviour, and 
 for salvation according to His word. 
 
 But, at this point, an interruption (by no means impertinent) may be occa- 
 sioned by some reader protesting that there is now from many pulpits a preach- 
 ing of consolation for the sinner who believes in Christ — an immediate consolation, 
 grounded upon Christ and His Gospel, before the lapse of sufficient time for the 
 acquisition of Christian experience. 
 
 Yes, but it is preaching in defiance of theology. The theologian may 
 tolerate it ; the theologian, as a man, may say nothing against it ; but he leaves 
 his theology on the shelf, or keeps it buttoned up in his pocket. His theology is 
 good as a part of the truth, but it has not the fulness of the Scriptures. There- 
 fore, though a theologian, he is also a Bible Christian ; and whatever theology 
 may utter as to the delay of consolation, he will not refuse to tell his child of the 
 present consolation that is in Christ, nor, in recommending Christ to a fellow- 
 sinner, whose death is, or may be, as near as was the death of the thief on the 
 cross, will he insist that there can be no felt consolation before many years. 
 
 The question is, Is it advisable that such preaching, as cannot be spoken 
 against in Christian converse, should receive from theology antagonistic sentences, 
 or at best a silent toleration ? Could not the consolation, which is at the begin- 
 ning of a believer's course, be introduced into our theological teaching, to bless 
 our future teachers and successive generations of hearers of the word ? 
 
 I. 
 
 Reverting to the two grand heads of scriptural consolation, we may, under 
 the first head, search the Scriptures for proof that consolation is the first aspect 
 of the Gospel of salvation as offered to sinners. 
 
 The first principle of Christianity is that there is consolation in Christ. 1 
 The sinner, in the full light of Gospel day, receives this direction : " Acquaint 
 
 ] Luke i. 77-79 ; ii. 25 ; Phil. ii. 1. 
 
6 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 now thyself with Him, and be at peace : thereby good shall come unto thee. 
 Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in thy 
 heart." * Here peace, at the very beginning of acquaintance, is evidently declared. 
 Theology would have kept it back till the end of the sentence. 
 
 No sinners could be worse than the Corinthians. Yet to the Christian con- 
 verts, natives of Corinth, the Apostle Paul mentions what their own memory could 
 recal — •" I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 
 Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that He was buried, and 
 that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." 2 We are here 
 informed about that special and peculiar department of the Apostle's teaching 
 called " the Gospel," or the glad tidings. It finds in the inquirer some degree 
 of self-accusation and self-condemnation ; the Apostle says, " for our sins," i.e., 
 for my sins and for your sins. Here is the conviction of our own sinfulness which 
 makes the fact of an expiation both desirable and welcome. And yet the Messiah 
 and His apostles did not come on a mission of condemnation. No such mission 
 was required while mankind had consciences. Mankind, without Christ's teaching, 
 is pictured as a race of beings employed either in accusing or in excusing one 
 another. The Messiah Himself said, " God sent not His Son into the world to 
 condemn the world ; but that the world through Him might be saved." 3 The first 
 aspect of this mission from heaven is salvation ; or (in other words) consolation 
 for sinners who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. The 
 first aspect is hope; and we are saved by hope. 
 
 To all this it is a fair objection that the Apostle Paul was requested by 
 Felix, the Roman governor, to expound " the faith in Christ," and that it appears 
 that he had got no further than an introductory exposition of "justice, temper- 
 ance, and judgment to come," when he was stopped. The reply is that he cer- 
 tainly was stopped when reasoning concerning morality and immorality, and 
 responsibility and retribution, but that we need not admit that it was the very 
 first part of the exposition. The narrative is quite consistent with the conjecture 
 that what he declared first of all to Felix, was similiar to his historical introduc- 
 tion to his Corinthian sermons. Thus, the moral appeals and denunciations would 
 follow, as throwing convincing light upon the Roman ruler's need of Christ for 
 his own salvation. It is one thing to have a conscience suggesting or corroborat- 
 ing the accusation of sinfulness ; it is another thing to believe that we need a 
 Saviour, and cannot be saved without Him. It is the work of God the Holy 
 Spirit to create this conclusive conviction, and to shut up the sinner to accept the 
 only Saviour. And yet while, in one point of view, it is the first work of the 
 Holy Ghost to convince us of sin, we should carefully observe that He acts in this 
 work consistently with His office as " the Comforter " — the Comforter sent from 
 the Father of mercies by the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has said, The Comforter 
 
 1 Job xxii. 21, 22. 2 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4. 3 John iii. 17. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 7 
 
 " will reprove [or convince] the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment : 
 of sin, because they believe not on Me." 1 As inquirers, we see, not only that 
 there is a refuge for us in Christ, but also that we ought to have taken refuge in 
 Him long ago — that this was not only a permission, but a commandment. "This 
 is His commandment," says the Apostle John, " that we should believe in the 
 name of His Son Jesus Christ." 2 And when the Jews asked of Christ, " What 
 shall we do, that we might work the works of God ? " His own answer was, 
 " This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." 3 
 
 The difficulty may, perhaps, be got over thus. As a general rule, a sinner 
 is dealt with by the Comforter, who is God the Holy Ghost, in the following 
 manner : — First, his interest is excited as to his salvation, both as to its necessity 
 and its possibility. And next, the serious business is begun of securing Christ as 
 his Saviour, and the sinner's motto is, " I will not let Thee go except Thou bless 
 me." As to the serious business, it is the Holy Spirit's first work to convince of 
 sin ; for how can I feel that I need the Saviour of sinners if I do not feel that I 
 myself am a sinner ? But, as to the beginning of interest, or even of curiosity, 
 regarding the Gospel, the first aspect, according to the Scriptures, is an aspect of 
 consolation. There is hope, therefore I will inquire. If there were no hope, I 
 should only disquiet myself in vain. Jesus came to save His people from their 
 sins ; and if the result of His coming were not to be the promotion of the fear of 
 God, salvation and the Saviour would never have been offered — would never have 
 been heard of. The object is, not that the sinner may continue in sin with im- 
 punity, but that the sinner may be won over from sin. The first object of the 
 Gospel is attractive, if there appear no more than possibilities rising as a vision 
 across the sinner's future — a contrast to the sin and misery of the past. This is 
 the Psalmist's ideal. " If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, who 
 shall stand ? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." 4 
 The first aspect is the possibility of forgiveness. And this, among inquirers 
 from Christian families or congregations, includes the scriptural information as to 
 the actual provision and purchase of forgiveness. This is the first thing that is 
 seen ; the life of Godly fear is second. This is the door of Hope — the entrance 
 into the way of holiness. 
 
 If consolation is the last thing that the inquirer ought to dream of, and 
 not the first, what interpretation are we to give to this array of Biblical informa- 
 tion ? And how are we to interpret the following exhortation ? " Having 
 therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 
 by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the 
 veil, that is to say, His flesh ; and having an high priest over the House of God ; 
 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." 5 Without examining 
 
 1 John xvi. 8, 9. 2 1 John iii. 23. 3 John vi. 28, 29. 
 
 4 Ps. cxxx. 3, 4. 6 Heb. x. 19-22. 
 
8 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 any of the vast and deep literature regarding what our theologians mean by" assur- 
 ance," it is enough to regard it as a scriptural term, and as practically synonymous 
 with the phrases, "a strong consolation," 1 and " everlasting consolation." 2 And 
 it is plain that, as wedded with the invitation, " Let us draw near," it implies 
 consolation at the very beginning of the life of faith. The consolation so freely 
 offered, is grounded, not on self-examination — not on any autobiography, or long 
 experience of the Christian life — but entirely on the facts concerning Christ 
 Himself, and His finished work as our substitute and mediator. It has been 
 sometimes said that the apostle Paul could describe his experience of assured 
 consolation for, probably, the first time when he wrote the Second Epistle to 
 Timothy, and that then he was an aged man. But in that account of his spirit- 
 ual sensations there is nothing which even hints that his experience was different 
 from " the beginning of his confidence," especially as the grounds of his consola- 
 tion are, not his own attainments in religion, but the old and only grounds of the 
 person of Christ, and the power of Christ to save — " I am not ashamed, for I 
 know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which 
 I have committed unto Him against that day." 8 
 
 Owing to the loose and inaccurate style of our table-talk, there is often a 
 blundering separation between belief or trust, and assurance or certainty, in 
 men's thoughts regarding scriptural statements. I allude to passing remarks, 
 such as — " I do not know, but I believe so ;" " I am not sure, but I trust so." 
 And this conversational style creeps into popular theology, so that it is supposed, 
 as a matter of course, that a believer has hold of probabilities only, and not of 
 certainties ; and that " we believe " is essentially different from " we are sure." 
 I find no such difference in the language of Scripture — no such limitation of the 
 word " to believe." For instance, the Apostle Peter, as the spokesman of his col- 
 leagues, said, "We believe and are sure ;"* and when the disciples, on another occa- 
 sion, exclaimed, "Now we are sure," Jesus replied, "Do ye now believe ? '' 5 At 
 present I am not expounding the scope of texts ; I am speaking only as a dic- 
 tionary-maker might speak. Unless there is an adverb, or a similar graft upon 
 the verb (as when the Apostle says, " I partly believe it"), " to believe" includes 
 the idea of "being sure." 6 Illustrative texts are John viii. 46, xix. 35 ; Acts 
 xxvii. 25 ; Rom. iv. 20, 21. 
 
 The conversational curtailment of the meaning of the word " hope " is also 
 misleading We often say, and hear our neighbours say, " I hope so," and apply 
 
 1 Heb. vi. 18. 2 2 Thes. ii. 16. 3 2 Tim. i. 12. 4 John vi. 69. 5 John xvi. 31. 
 
 6 The mixture of hesitation in the meaning popularly attached to the verb " to believe " may 
 be explained thus : — In table-talk or letter-writing, I say " I believe " when I mention a prob- 
 able fact, but have neither the time nor the means of immediately ascertaining its certainty. 
 But, in the question of salvation according to the Scriptures, I have the means, and am com- 
 manded to take the time, for ascertaining the certainty of the promise. As to any alleged fact, 
 if I apply to the person who is the first authority in connection with it, he himself being an 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 9 
 
 the phrase to what is prohable or barely possible, but neither sure nor certain. 
 Preachers will sometimes quote a text beginning with the words " we know," and 
 they proceed to direct us to cogitate that the inspired writer says more than 
 " we hope " — does not say only " we hope." But the scriptural meaning of the 
 word " hope " in connection with " the things that are most surely believed among 
 us," is a confident expectation as to future good — a strong confidence, bringing 
 before the mind an almost pictorial representation and realization. " We KNOW," 
 writes the Apostle John, " that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we 
 shall see Him as He is." And what does he call this assured knowledge ? — - 
 " this hope." 1 The Apostle Paul amplifies his account of " everlasting consola- 
 tion " by calling it " good hope through grace." Are we to suppose that he is 
 abridging, rather than enlarging ? — that " good hope " means only a fair proba- 
 bility, or a plausible likelihood ? Certainly not. In this inspired declaration, 
 " hope " means " certainty "• — the adjective " good " points to the quality of the 
 bliss hoped for, and not to the phenomena of the believer's sentiment or sensa- 
 tion. Illustrative texts are Acts xxiv. 15 ; Titus i. 2 ; Heb. vi. 19. 
 
 Another difficulty as to apprehending the possibility of consolation at the 
 outset of the Christian cause is the twofold meaning of the word " forgiveness." 
 It is sometimes said that although we have the promise of the forgiveness of sins, yet 
 no sin can actually be forgiven until it has been committed ; therefore our future 
 sins are not yet forgiven, for, until our last sin has been committed, i.e., until 
 our last moments of earthly existence, we cannot be completely and finally for- 
 given. Assured consolation (it is therefore said) must be delayed until our last 
 moments. 
 
 There is something in this difficulty which may be expressed thus : — 
 "Actual forgiveness extends only to sins that are past;" and it is strengthened 
 by the biblical sound of the phrases, "sins that are past," 2 and " former iniqui- 
 ties." 3 The difficulty can be at once removed as far as these phrases are con- 
 cerned, because they do not apply to any individual case. They concern Old 
 Testament believers as a body, or nations in the mass. The prayer, "Remember 
 not against us former iniquities," means " Remember not against us the iniquities 
 of those who lived before us." And the Apostle Paul's statement as to " the 
 forgiveness of sins that are past, refers to the forgiveness provided for believers 
 in the promised Messiah who were not alive at that present time, having died 
 before the actual coming of Christ. 
 
 If we apprehend the twofold meaning of the word " pardon," or " pardoned," 
 
 undoubtedly truthful man, I hear what he tells me, and I say " I believe you, and I believe the 
 iuformation which you have given me." Here the verb " to believe " includes assurance. This 
 fairly illustrates the scriptural phrases, " the hearing of faith " i^Gal. iii. 2), and " Lord, I believe " 
 (John ix. 38). 
 
 1 1 John iii. 3. 2 Eom. iii. 25. 3 Ps. lxxix. 8. 
 
 B 
 
10 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 we shall see that a complete forgiveness, according to the Gospel propositions, is 
 not delayed. The sovereign of a nation gives a free pardon to a condemned 
 criminal : the man was in law a dead man ; but now he lives, for he is a par- 
 doned man. In his new lease of life, as an imperfect being, he will often give 
 offence, and will as often be in need of pardon for his offences ; but the grant of 
 life, which his sovereign gave him, will be as valid as ever ; the only question 
 now is as to his living in the lisflit of the king's countenance. This twofold 
 pardon, and need of pardon, is essentially the same in the matter of the soul's 
 salvation. 
 
 When God forgives us for Christ's sake, upon our faith and our willingness to 
 be pardoned on His terms, He gives us eternal life, and we shall never perish. 
 We were condemned already ; but we have received the King's free pardon — so 
 much so, that God justifies us. We are justified, we are declared to be righteous 
 in His sight. The decision of the judgment-day is already given and published. 
 " Who shall lay anything to our charge \ It is God that justifieth." " There is 
 therefore now no condemnation." 1 [" Now," that is, at the beginning of the life 
 of faith]. Believers are like a family of adopted children, to whom has been 
 given an eternal home — who were not cast out when they came, and who shall 
 never be cast out. These children are ignorant, and have to add knowledge to their 
 faith ; the home of the Father is the school of Christ. These children were 
 rebels, and have to be trained to obedience. Like children, they give continual 
 provocation, and receive continual forgiveness. But their need of such forgive- 
 ness does not raise a question as to their reception into the home, and as to their 
 remaining there. On their first admission they may feel an immortal consola- 
 tion. " Christ is a Son over His own house ; whose house are we, if we hold fast 
 the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." 2 
 
 So much as to the words, " believing," " hoping," " forgive," as now used 
 in conversation. But besides a confusion in the present-day use of words, there 
 is a confusion arising from the usages of conversation in the days of " the high 
 and mighty prince, James." The translators who worked under his royal patron- 
 age produced a Bible in conversational English, on the grand and heaven-born 
 principle implied in such statements as, "to the poor the Gospel is preached," 
 and, " the common people heard Him gladly." And in most cases the pure and 
 simple English tongue has helped to make our Bible all the more easily under- 
 stood. Only in a few cases has an ancient and practically forgotten style of 
 speech produced confusion in men's thoughts. 
 
 One, however, of the latter class of cases is the use of the word " accepted." 
 In the original Greek there are three definite ideas, distinctly expressed by differ- 
 ent words, for which our translators furnish us with one word only, namely, 
 " accepted." 
 
 1 Eom. viii. 1, 34. 2 Heb. iii. G. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 11 
 
 The first of the three ideas is expressed by the word dektos. " No prophet 
 is accepted [dektos] in his own country j" 1 that is, the neighbours who knew him 
 as a boy do not feel drawn to him as a prophet, and are not inclined to listen 
 favourably to him. In this first and preliminary meaning of the word, some 
 individuals are accepted with God — such as, the infant children of believers, and 
 moral and devout persons who have not yet had an opportunity for hearing the 
 way of salvation through Christ. Not by virtue of their baptism, but in conse- 
 quence of their birth or pedigree, the children of any believing parent are 
 regarded as standing apart from other children, and favourably regarded. 2 And 
 yet the children are not actually saved until they have been effectually called by 
 God. 3 In the beginning of the Apostle Peter's sermon to Cornelius, there is a 
 statement to the point — " Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons : 
 but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
 [dektos] with Him." 4 Cornelius had already been dektos; but he could not 
 become a saved man until Christ was preached to him and believed by him. 
 As the Apostle said, " Cornelius shewed us how he had seen an angel in his 
 house, who stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, 
 whose surname is Peter ; who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy 
 house shall be saved." 5 
 
 The second idea is founded on the phrase, "accepted in the beloved." 6 
 This corresponds with the inspired prayer, " Take away [cancel] all iniquity [all 
 accusations against us as guilty men], and receive us graciously. 7 It is the 
 beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has earned this justification and reconciliation 
 for us. In Him — on the legal footing of His merits — we who believe are 
 accepted, justified, and reconciled, now and for ever. 
 
 But there is a third idea expressed by the word eu-Arestos (well-pleasing, or 
 acceptable). This distinct topic is suggested in 2 Corinthians, chapter v., verses 
 8 and 9 — " We are willing rather to be absent from the body and present with 
 the Lord ; wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be 
 accepted [eu-arestoi] of Him." The second and third ideas of acceptance illustrate 
 what has already been said as to the twofold idea of forgiveness. At first and 
 at once, as a pardoned criminal, I have a free pardon and am perfectly safe ; but 
 as a servant or adopted son of Him who forgave me, I offend and often require 
 paternal forgiveness for the healthful welfare and serviceable activity of my new 
 and endless life. Thus, as a believer, I am accepted for eternity, and there can 
 be no change in this covenant arrangement ; but as a living, immortal, spiritual 
 being, I require daily supplies of " grace, whereby I may serve God acceptably 
 with reverence and godly fear." 8 Without any doubt as to my "acceptance in 
 
 1 Luke iv. 24. 2 Acts ii. 39 ; 1 Cor. vii. 14. 3 Acts ii. 39. 
 
 4 Acts x. 34, 35. 6 Acts xi. 13, 14. 6 Eph. i. 6, 7. 
 
 7 Hosea xiv. 2. 8 Heb. xii. 28. 
 
12 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 the Beloved," I am anxious that my services may be acceptable — well-pleasing 
 to my Father and Redeemer. And this anxiety will, by God's grace, be more or 
 less gratified here until my last moments ; and in heaven itself it will be His 
 grace that shall enable me to continue to serve Him acceptably. 
 
 According to the third idea, therefore, the believer's expectation is, that he 
 will be accepted at the end of his course. And only through a confusion of the 
 second and third ideas can it ever be argued, that the assurance of an acceptance 
 in the Beloved is impossible at the beginning of the life of faith, and must 
 necessarily be delayed until the end. We hope to be found serving God in a 
 course of well-pleasing at the end ; but that is quite consistent with our being 
 certainly and for ever "accepted" at the beginning. 
 
 In the writings of theologians we find such statements as the following : — 
 " Let us consider all good works as acceptable through the merits of Christ, and 
 remind our hearers that, could we do all, we were but unprofitable servants; and 
 that we must seek to be found at last, not having our own righteousness, but that 
 which is of God by faith." [Jennings on Preaching Christ (1723), quoted in 
 "Williams' Christian Preacher" (1800)]. 
 
 This statement is partly wrong, if it means that there is no assurance of a 
 sinner's final acceptance until the last. It cannot be a right and safe statement 
 unless it means that, as far as a confirmatory and reviving hope is concerned, our 
 good works are helpful and encouraging to us through life, but that at the end 
 we fall back, absolutely and entirely, upon the beginning of our confidence, and 
 upon the rejoicing of the hope which began at that beginning. If, however, the 
 statement really intends us to believe that we are not accepted finally and for 
 eternity until the end of our time, it is misleading ; even although some one may 
 say that it is a repetition of the Apostolic saying, " We believe that through the 
 grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved." 1 We are bound to regard 
 that saying as quite consistent with another which is also Apostolic, " God hath 
 saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but 
 according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus 
 before the world began." 2 In the discourses of Christ there is no such post- 
 ponement of assurance. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on 
 Me hath everlasting life." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My 
 word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not 
 come into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto life.'" Let the inquir- 
 ing reader therefore remember that, for practical purposes, the Bible word 
 " accepted" is not one word but three ; and that whatever kind of acceptance is 
 necessarily delayed to a future period, it is not the believer's acceptance in the 
 Beloved, which is secured to Him at once and once for all. 4 
 
 1 Acts xv. 11. 2 2 Tim. i. 9. 3 John vi. 47 ; v. 24. 
 
 4 The quotation from Jennings calls the reader's attention to the Apostle Paul's celebrated 
 declaration to the Philippians concerning "counting all things but loss for Christ" (Phil, iii.) 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 13 
 
 II. 
 
 To the above views regarding consolation as the first aspect of the Gospel 
 invitation and system, a few observations should be added as to the subsequent 
 confirmation and revival of consolation in the new life of the believer. 
 
 And we should begiu with the thought of the frequent necessity for the 
 revival and confirmation of a scriptural confidence, reposing upon the Saviour, 
 upon His finished work, and upon His written word. What the prophet said 
 about a nation and national deliverances has a large application to the believer 
 in Christ, and to a conscious joy of salvation. " Behold, 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." 1 
 
 The terminus of the course that began with " the confidence and the 
 rejoicing of the hope," is deliverance from sin — the cure of our sinfulness. " Thou 
 shalt call His name Jesus : for He shall save His people from their sins." 2 When 
 we awake to a remorseful consciousness of having fallen into sin, we see that our 
 desire to be delivered from sin has been temporarily suspended and non-existent. 
 And remembering that a believer not only believes the Promiser and His words 
 of promise, but also desires the things promised, we feel more or less misgiving 
 as to the reality of our belief in the truth and our reliance upon the Saviour. 
 When the Apostle Peter enumerates " fortitude, knowledge, temperance, patience, 
 godliness, brotherly kindness, charity," as things requiring faith as their necessary 
 foundation, and arising from faith as commanded additions, he goes on to say, 
 " He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten 
 that he was purged from his old sins." 3 
 
 In such circumstances we feel, not only that we have been neglecting or 
 stifling holy affection, but also that we have been offending God as God and as 
 the Saviour. For such disgraceful behaviour, we feel that we cannot forgive our- 
 
 j fo* 
 
 Certainly the clause " that I may win Christ and be found in Him " does point to the future, and 
 yet not exclusively to the future. The Apostle describes himself as one of those " who rejoice in 
 Christ Jesus" at present, and whose rejoicing dates from the past — "What things were gain to 
 me, those I counted loss for Christ." Therefore the assurance that he had actually won Christ, 
 and was found in Him, was not reserved for the future . As to the expression, " to be found in 
 Him," he by it simply acknowledges the duty of abiding in Christ, along with the privilege of 
 being accepted in Christ. As to the verb " to win," applied to a superior, it means to gain his 
 friendship ; the Apostle, as one who had acquainted himself with the Lord, and had become at 
 peace with Him, did also desire to live continually in the sunshine of His friendship. Is not, 
 then, the whole declaration just another way of describing the holding fast the beginning of our 
 confidence and rejoicing? 
 
 1 Isa. lix. 1, 2. 2 Matt. i. 21. 3 2 Pet. i. 9. 
 
14 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 selves ; and this leads us to fear that God cannot forgive and has never forgiven 
 ns. Such thoughts, however, are a part of the Holy Spirit's merciful discipline. 
 Perhaps our faith as to our being forgiven by God has had some support from our 
 being too ready to forgive ourselves, in forgetfulness of the truth that the happy 
 man is not the man who can forgive himself, or can get his polite neighbours to 
 forgive him, but that the only happy man is " the man to whom the Lord 
 imputeth not iniquity," 1 — whom the Lord forgives, because He is well pleased 
 with the righteousness of Jesus, the Divine substitute. Our prayer for forgive- 
 ness at first was, or ought to have been, "Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great ;" 
 the greatness of our iniquity can be no argument against the fulfilment of the 
 promised forgiveness, "for Thy name's sake, O Lord." 2 
 
 That in us, considered as " of ourselves," or having only ourselves to depend 
 on, "there dwelleth no good thing," 3 is also a lesson learnt in addition to our 
 faith, and learnt in the school of Christ as our Redeemer, who teacheth us to 
 profit. " The beginning of our confidence " was truly our own, and yet not 
 entirely our own : " No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy 
 Ghost." 4 Yet as our confidence was truly our own, we may not have sufficiently 
 considered that it was the result of the creating power of God and of the leadings 
 of the Holy Spirit. That we should continue as we began is a good thing ; but 
 our confidence must be, not only that we began, but primarily that God began, 
 as the Apostle said, intending the Philippian Christians to shape their own con- 
 fidence accordingly — " Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun 
 a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 5 Our sins of 
 heart and life, detected after the beginning of our life of faith, may be overruled 
 for good, in enabling us to observe and remember that " every good gift and every 
 perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." 6 
 
 Our confidence often requires revival and consolidation. And it stands in 
 need of confirmation for another reason, namely, that we have an adversary the 
 Devil, and that his temptations, although only by sufferance, are sometimes per- 
 mitted to assail our confidence. Far more than the law the Gospel of the sinner's 
 salvation is dreaded and abhorred by Satan ; and he directs his efforts, not so 
 much against our earnest strivings and elaborate projects for holiness, as against 
 our holding on by the simplicity that is in Christ, and standing fast in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath made us free. He tempts believers to sin, not only that 
 they may sin, but that after sinning they may doubt and despair. 
 
 Sometimes the tempter may be permitted to try our faith and principles 
 when we are not in a backsliding state, but only to the praise of the glory of 
 God's grace and of the glorious Gospel of the grace of God — as, for instance, he 
 was permitted to tempt Job. And in the time of affliction, if a weak body 
 
 1 Ps. xxxii. 2. 2 Ps. xxv. 11. 3 2 Cor. iii. 5. ; Eom. vii. 18. 
 
 4 1 Cor. xii. 3. 5 Phil. i. 6. 6 James i. 17. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 15 
 
 somewhat enfeebles the mind, and if both are out of tune and out of sweet 
 working order, the tempter takes a vile and violent advantage of our infirmities. 
 We become overwhelmed by realizing the Almighty power of God and the vast 
 expanse of eternity as we never realized them before, and we imagine that we 
 never had any true feeling of spiritual realities. Through the power of tempta- 
 tion we feel special difficulty in grasping consolatory realities — the realities of 
 divine mercy and salvation. Now we have to fall back upon the beginning of 
 our confidence and (above all) upon God as the beginner of the good work which 
 He cannot abandon. But now, also, we have materials for thankfulness, not only 
 in consolation as the first and essential aspect of the Gospel, but also in the 
 means for confirming and reviving our own consolation through the continued and 
 progressive working of Him who intends to answer the prayer which he prompts 
 us to address to Him, " Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me 
 with Thy free spirit." 1 
 
 Such confirmation and revival being seen to be necessary, we search for and 
 collect the scriptural evidence that has been provided. 
 
 The Apostle Paul is our first witness, speaking as he was moved by the 
 Holy Ghost. He says, " Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access by faith into this grace 
 wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but 
 we glory in tribulations also : knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and 
 patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because 
 the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 
 unto us." 2 Here we have presented to view both the immediate consolation 
 and the subsequent confirmatory or reviving consolation. There is the joy of 
 hope arising simply from what faith hears ; but there is also a confirmatory hope 
 arising from Christian experience. That experience is Christian experience which 
 produces a scriptural joy and love towards God through Jesus Christ in a 
 Christian's heart. Hell is the abode of hatred and blasphemy ; heaven is the 
 abode of love and praise. Love and praise are the atmosphere and breezes 
 of heaven. 
 
 " Of such a man let this just praise be given, 
 Heaven was in him, before he was in heaven." 
 
 Such confirmatory hope is also acquired by diligence. At this stage we 
 begin by referring to the Epistle to the Hebrews (vi. 11, 12). "We desire that 
 every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto 
 the end : that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and 
 patience inherit the promises." This statement is usually expounded as signifying 
 that in the end of your life alone can the full assurance of hope be obtained, and 
 that, as the result of diligence as opposed to slothfulness. A distinction may be 
 
 1 Ps. li. 12. 2 Rom. v. 1-5. 
 
10 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 made between " the full assurance of faith " and " the full assurance of hope," — 
 the former, resting upon the sure truthfulness of our Divine Teacher and 
 Redeemer, and therefore attainable at the very first ; the latter, describing the 
 actual expectation and realizing anticipations of the believer personally, and not 
 attainable until the end, or nearly the end, of his course. Without dogmatically 
 contradicting this interpretation, we can see that the words are capable of a larger 
 signification — an interpretation quite consistent with the expressions in the former 
 part of the epistle as to the stedfast holding of the beginning of our confidence, 
 which is the same as the fast and firm holding of the confidence and the rejoicing 
 of the hope. The phrase "uuto the end" is quite different from "at the end," or 
 " not till the end ; " it means " until the end." The precept is, " Until the end 
 give diligence in the direction of the full assurance of hope — the same diligence 
 as formerly: diligence in works of faith and labours of love which you began in the 
 childhood of Christian life." He who has Christian hope desires that it may be 
 increased and enlarged — as Christian life grows older, labours and consolations 
 together may abound more and more. No apostle has declared that labours are 
 for the young Christian, and assured consolations for the old or dying Christian 
 only. Long before the end of the life of faith — in the childhood and prime of 
 Christian life, as described by the Apostle Paul — the characteristic of " rejoicing 
 in hope" may go side by side with such characteristics as "not slothful in 
 business," " fervent in spirit," " serving the Lord," " patient in tribulation," 
 " continuing instant in prayer." 1 Far from denouncing assurance as dangerous 
 at the beginning, the Apostle John is forward to declare: "I write unto you, little 
 children, because your sins are forgiven j'ou for His name's sake ; " 2 while at the 
 same time he urges that by love and obedience, in deed and in truth, they should 
 assure their hearts in God's felt presence. Diligence in the Christian life is fitted 
 to revive and confirm the hope of the pardoned sinner. 
 
 This truth is fully stated by the Apostle Peter. His words are, " Give 
 diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye shall 
 never fall : for so an entrance shall be ministered uuto you abundantly into the 
 everlastinsf kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 3 Here we have the 
 phrase " give diligence," which is a fair translation of the verb in the original. 
 But more to the point is the clause, " if ye do these things," or rather, " doing 
 these things, ye shall never fall." Walking in the narrow way, you keep out of 
 the broad way. Living in a state of salvation, you cannot be in a state of dam- 
 nation. The object " to make your calling and election sure " means, to make 
 sure in your own consciousness that you have been called and elected by God 
 the Saviour. 
 
 From the Scriptures we obtain genuine metal to coin such words as " con- 
 version" and " effectual calling." These terms are synonymous ; and the latter is 
 1 Rom. xu, 11, 12. 2 1 John ii. 12; iii. 18, 19. 3 2 Pet. i. 10, 11. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 17 
 
 derived from the miraculous power of the Redeemer to call the dead out of their 
 graves and into life. Mourning friends call, but call ineffectually; and why? — 
 because a corpse will not arise at their call. The Saviour, as in the case of 
 Lazarus, calls, and calls effectually ; and why ? — because the dead man came at 
 His call. The evidence of a believer having been effectually called is, that he has 
 come to Christ — that whereas he was blind, now he sees — that whereas he was 
 dead, he is spiritually alive — that whereas be was unforgiven, now he accepts 
 forgiveness on the gospel terms — that whereas he was impenitent and rebellious, 
 now he is repentant and obedient. Thus our actions are proofs of our state of salva- 
 tion — proofs of our having been effectually called, or of "our calling." And if we 
 have been "called " in time, then we were ''elected" to this new and everlasting 
 life from all eternity. It is at this stage of our experience that the consolations 
 arising from God's electing love come into the mind calmly, reverentially, joyfully, 
 and profitably. Thus, by our dutiful scriptural activity, we make our calling and 
 election sure — we have a feeling of the certainty of what our belief held to be 
 certain before. 1 This is a confirmatory hope and consolation. As to the remain- 
 ing phraseology in the quotation from the Apostle, we ought to observe that as 
 " ye shall never fall " applies to the life of faith in its course, and not only at its 
 end, so the promise "so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into 
 the everlasting kingdom " applies to the kingdom of grace that is within us upon 
 earth, and not only to the kingdom of glory. 
 
 " Thee in Thy glorious realms they praise, and bow before Thy throne ; 
 We — in the kingdom of Thy grace — the kingdoms are but one. 
 The holy to the holiest leads — from thence our spirits rise : 
 And he who in Thy statutes treads shall meet Thee in the skies." 
 
 As the Apostle Paul fastens attention on the love of God shed abroad in the 
 heart, so the Apostles Peter and John are memorably urgent as to love to the 
 brotherhood, for so their Master had said in most affecting circumstances : " A 
 new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved 
 you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my 
 disciples, if ye have love one to another." 2 The Apostle John gives a harmoniz- 
 ing statement, "This commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God 
 love his brother also." 3 And as to a confirmatory hope, he thus expresses 
 himself, " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love 
 the brethren." 4 And he also furnishes the practical exhortation, "My little 
 children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth. 
 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before 
 
 1 Or, according to Dr Gill's interpretation, thus may the men of the world be certified and 
 assured, by the best evidence that they are capable of receiving or we of giving, that we are 
 what we profess to be. 
 
 2 John xiii. 34, 35. 3 1 John iv. 21. 4 1 John iii. 14. 
 
 C 
 
18 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Him ; for if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth 
 all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence 
 toward God." 1 
 
 An additional means for the confirmation and revival of consolation is the 
 act and habit of prayer to God. " We assure our hearts before Him/' said the 
 Apostle, "and whatever we ask we receive of Him;" 2 and, again, " These things 
 have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye 
 may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the 
 Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask 
 anything according to His will, He heareth us : And if we know that He hear us, 
 whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of 
 Him." 3 Prayer and its answers are eminent workers in the working out of 
 " experience" that "worketh hope." There is the word of promise for immediate 
 consolation, " As thy days so shall thy strength be." 4 And there is an operative 
 experience for confirmatory and reviving consolation, expressed thus — " In the 
 day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in 
 my soul." " I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplica- 
 tions." 5 
 
 The spiritual condition of a Christian, when he sadly feels the need of 
 confirmatory and reviving consolation, is not a penance worthily submitted to or 
 meritoriously self-inflicted. The true specimen case is not that of a soul refusing 
 all comfort, conscious of all the desolation of an unconverted condition, and 
 recanting all his professions as to having begun a scriptural confidence in Christ. 
 And, more than this — the true specimen case is not that of an utterly disconsolate 
 man abstaining from all " looking unto Jesus," and from all study of doctrines, 
 and confining himself to self-inspection, watching for some good workings of the 
 heart and life on which to build his individual consolation. There is the grand 
 old counsel of the Holy Spirit to a Christian " that walketh in darkness and hath 
 no light ; " the remedy is not to produce some good works of his own to revive 
 him — but "let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." 6 So 
 even in the alarming words of the Apostle John as to our hearts, either condemn- 
 ing us or condemning us not, we are pointed back to a beginning of confidence : 
 " Whatever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and 
 do those things that are pleasing in His sight : And this is His commandment, 
 That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, 
 as He gave us commandment." 7 
 
 Finally, the Apostle Paul, in stating the theory of Christian good works, 
 points us, both to consolation at the beginning of the life of faith, and to equally 
 
 1 1 John iii. 18-21. 2 1 John iii. 22. 3 1 John v. 13-15. 
 
 4 Deut. xxxiii. 25. 6 Ps. cxxxviii. 3; cxvi 1. 6 Isa. 1. 10. 
 
 7 1 John iii. 22, 23. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 
 
 unbought consolation at any stage of the life of faith, as the source and origin and 
 only manufactory of good words and works. " Now our Lord Jesus Christ Him- 
 self, and God, even our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting 
 consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in 
 every good word and work." 1 
 
 Notes on the Relation of the above Statements to the Westminster 
 
 Standards. 
 
 Note A. — On Assurance. 
 
 Many students of the Holy Scriptures feel a hesitation as to declaring that 
 " everlasting consolation " is appropriate to the very beginning of the life of faith, 
 because of the apprehension that they would come into collision with the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith. A number of orthodox ministers in friendly conference 
 are told by the first speaker on the subject that we must always remember that, as 
 believers in the Westminster Standards, we hold that assurance is not of the essence 
 of saving faith. A second says that he is constrained to admit the force of this 
 caveat and inference ; and in this concur a third and fourth ; and so as to all the 
 company. But in order to quiet an inquirer's apprehension, it is sufficient to allow 
 the Confession of Faith to speak for itself. This is the sentence which is often 
 imperfectly reproduced by the memory : — " This infallible assurance doth not so 
 belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict 
 with many difficulties before he be partaker of it " (chap, xviii. sec. 3.) 2 
 
 Although assurance is not exactly the subject of my essay, yet I may here 
 add my reminiscences of some hints from the preaching of the late Principal 
 Candlish in the earlier years of his ministry. His view was, that the three ex- 
 pressions, " full assurance of faith," " full assurance of hope," " full assurance of 
 understanding," are more than expressions, and are the definite and distinct 
 designations of different stages of experience. The full assurance of "faith" 
 relies upon the truth of the Gospel as the testimony of God, and upon the value 
 of Christ's finished work, and upon the facts as to that complete work of redemp- 
 tion, as to all which a full assurance is appropriate at the very beginning of 
 Christian life. The full assurance of " hope " is a realizing expectation and 
 anticipation of heaven — a picturing of ourselves as in possession of the things 
 
 1 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17. 
 
 2 The Larger Catechism may seem (in Q. 81) to be more decided ; but the Confession of 
 Faith is the best interpreter of the personal opinions of the "Westminster Divines. 
 
20 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 promised (hope having peculiarly to do with things promised, as faith with words 
 of promise) ; this stage of full assurance presupposes some experience in the 
 Christian life, and is not to be expected at the beginning. Then the full assur- 
 ance of " understanding " arises from the study of God's word in the light of 
 inward experience, resulting in our growth in knowledge ; it has to do with the 
 revealed methods of salvation, both of salvation from wrath and of salvation 
 from sin, and it also has to do with any glimpses which the Scriptures give of 
 electing love. 
 
 Whether Dr Candlish's printed works include discourses to the above effect 
 I am not informed ; but I have before me a tract 1 by an English evangelical 
 divine, Dr John Stevenson, which distinguishes " the three full assurances " 
 thus : — " The glad tidings of a Saviour and His finished work are called in one 
 word the gospel." 
 
 "By faith we look unto it trustfully," Hebrews x. 22 ; Isaiah xlv. 22. 
 
 "By understanding we look into it intelligently," Col. ii. 2; Eph. i. 17-23. 
 
 "By hope we look through it expectantly," Hebrews vi. 2 ; 1 Peter i. 13. 
 
 "Each prepares for its successor, and all aid each other. We first believe, 
 then we feel or realize." 
 
 " By ' faith ' we come to ' understanding,' and by these two we attain to a 
 clear and lively 'hope.' The term 'full assurance' refers to their degree, 
 which, from the lowest to the highest, is the alone work of the Divine Spirit." 
 
 This note may be usefully concluded by the following extracts from 
 " Aphorisms concerning the Assurance of Faith," by the Rev. William Cudworth 
 of Norwich : — 
 
 " 8. Justifying Faith is such an appropriation of, and trusting on, Christ, as 
 that therein we assure ourselves of present and eternal salvation by Him ; and 
 that, not from any previous external or internal evidence that we shall be saved 
 by Him, but as warranted by the Word of God, Isa. Ii. 1-5 ; John iii. 1 6 ; Rev. 
 xxii. 17 — bound by the command of God, 1 John iii. 23; 2 Cor. v. 14, 19, 20; 
 and led by the Spirit of God, John vi. 44, 45, 63 (comp. 65), John xvii. 9, — 
 thus to assure ourselves ; and encouraged by His promise that we shall not be 
 deceived or confounded in so doing, John vi. 37, iii 15 ; Rom. ix. 33, x. 11 ; 
 but that according to our faith, so shall it be to us. It is therefore an assuring 
 of our souls of salvation by Christ, that we may be saved according to His pro- 
 mise ; and is the soul's echo or obedience to the voice of God in such Scriptures as 
 these: 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved' (Acts xvi. 31); 
 ' Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ' (Isa. xlv. 22.) " 
 
 " 20. Self-examination, with a secondary assurance thereby, is not dis- 
 carded " 
 
 1 " The Three Full Assurances of Holy Scripture," by the Rev. John Stevenson, D.D., author 
 of " Expositions of Psalms xxii., xxiii., and ciii." Edinburgh: J. Taylor. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21 
 
 Note B. — On Divine Decrees. 
 
 In describing the redemption of sinners the Westminster Standards begin 
 with the Decrees of God, because these are first in order if the subject is to be 
 treated historically. It is, perhaps, to be regretted that any such history was 
 undertaken by man. " The secret things belong unto the Lord our God ; but 
 those things which are revealed belong unto us" (Deut. xxix. 29). What God has 
 revealed concerning His decrees does not afford materials for a history. 1 He has 
 been pleased to lift the veil, and to allow us no more than two glimpses into what 
 has been decreed concerning individuals of mankind. 
 
 1st. — In order to give strong consolation to those who have fled for refuge 
 to lay hold on the hope set before us, He has given us a glimpse which may 
 assure each believer of God's love to himself, or herself, individually, from all 
 eternity. 
 
 2dly. — In order to warn the rebellious that no decision or opposition on their 
 part defeats any decree or purpose of the Almighty, He has, as in the case of 
 Pharaoh, given them a glimpse through which He practically protests to them 
 that in every case what is done has been decreed by the Most High. 
 
 Such glimpses were not intended to be filled up so as, along with our 
 inferences, to swell into a book of history. And as to the additional consolation 
 to the believer in Christ, the assurance of being an object of electing love belongs 
 not to the beginning of faith, but to a later stage. 
 
 Such is the order observed in the Epistle to the Romans. And Dr 
 Chalmers, following out this apostolic order, arranged his course of revealed theo- 
 logy, thus : — 
 
 J . The Disease for which the Gospel Remedy is provided. 
 
 2. The Nature of the Gospel Remedy. 
 
 3. The Extent of the Gospel Remedy. 
 
 Both the inspired Apostle and the Bible-loving professor of theology intro- 
 duce the Divine Decrees in what may be called an appendix. And as to the first 
 section of such a system, it is not inconsistent with the idea that consolation is 
 the first aspect of the Gospel. It proceeds upon the belief that because there is 
 a Divine remedy, therefore we are to inquire concerning the disease not 
 despondently, but hopefully. 
 
 Such a method of study, or rather of practical inquiry, has been happily 
 sketched in the following sentences of Sir Henry Moncreiff : 2 — - 
 
 1 Wollebius states the history as the Salutis catena: " Deus ordinavit; Verbum promittit; 
 Christus meruit ; Sacramenta obsignant ; fides recipit ; osfatetur; opera testantur." 
 
 2 " The Old Temptation in its Modern Forms." A Sermon preached at the opening of the 
 General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland on 19th May 1870. By Sir Henry Wellwood 
 Moncreiff, Bart., D.D. 
 
22 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Let me bow before the majesty of the unseen ruler over all. I cannot 
 account for the Devil and his works. Let me not dare to think or act as if I 
 could. I am instructed what to make of moral evil, though not to know its 
 origin. I am encouraged by the revelation of what God makes of it, so far as 
 concerns my own position and that of my fellows. I have His love manifested 
 to me in the Gospel of His Son, as a message of peace and deliverance addressed 
 to all sinners. I see myself invited to come and fight against the Devil and all 
 his works, through the strength of a conquering Captain of salvation. I see the 
 heart of God reflected in the heart of the man Christ Jesus, and urging with 
 loving entreaty the most abandoned transgressors to come and enjoy pardon and 
 peace through faith in the blood of the Lamb. Turn ye, turn ye, says the voice 
 of God, for why should ye die ? Christ has died : ' His blood cleanseth from all 
 sin ;' ' Look unto Him and be ye saved.' I see here no hard counsels, no 
 ungenerous arrangements, no embarrassing limitations in my way. I see an open 
 door of entrance into everlasting life, through the free and gracious invitation of 
 the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. The door is open. 
 I welcome my opportunity. No dark thought concerning God — no profane 
 meddling with what I cannot understand in His ways — no distrust of His pro- 
 mises — keeps me back. But I humbly and cordially accept of what His love 
 has tendered to my soul. That love has brought home to me a fountain of joy, 
 and I delight in its waters as the waters of eternal life. 
 
 " But when I have thus believed in Jesus, when I have entered thoroughly 
 into His fellowship, and when by faith I have realized the value both of His 
 invitations and of His promises — then I behold with reverence and adoration the 
 heights and depths of the Divine sovereignty and the Divine love. Then I see 
 Jesus, the substitute of a chosen people. Then I see the sure efficacy of His 
 death." 
 
 PLAN OF THE WORK. 
 
 BOOK FIRST.— WRITINGS. 
 Part 1. Consolation as the First Aspect of the Gospel. 
 Part 2. Consolation Revived and Confirmed. 
 
 BOOK SECOND.— WRITERS. 
 
THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 BOOK FIRST.— WEITINGS. 
 Part I. Consolation as the First Aspect of the Gospel. 
 
 PREFATORY QUOTATIONS FROM LUTHER. 
 
 It is unnecessary, and it would be impossible within the limits of my plan, to 
 give a memoir of the writings of an author so copious and so famous as Martin 
 Luther. It is, however, important to note that Luther's discourses and exposi- 
 tions of Scripture struck the key-note of the theology of consolation. 
 
 Luther's Table-Talk — a volume which, however mysterious in its origin a3 
 a formal compilation, bears internal evidence of a virtual genuineness — suggests 
 an explanation of the usual omission of consolation from the topics of theological 
 systems. The Reformer is quoted as having said, that hope, if viewed separately 
 from faith, belongs to the department of admonition or exhortation, rather than 
 to that of doctrine. The following is the paragraph : — 
 
 " 297. Faith and hope are variously distinguishable. And, first, in regard 
 of the subject wherein everything subsists : faith consists in a person's under- 
 standing, hope in the will ; these two cannot be separated — they are like the two 
 cherubims over the mercy seat. 
 
 " Secondly, In regard of the office : faith indites, distinguishes, and teaches, 
 and is the knowledge and acknowledgment ; hope admonishes, awakens, hears, 
 expects, and suffers. 
 
 " Thirdly, In regard to the object : faith looks to the word or promise, 
 which is truth ; but hope to that which the Word promises, which is the good or 
 benefit. 
 
 " Fourthly, In regard of order and degree : faith is first, and before all 
 adversities and troubles, and is the beginning of life, Heb. xi. But hope follows 
 after, and springs up in trouble, Rom. v. 
 
 D 
 
26 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Fifthly, By reason of the contrariety : faith fights against errors and 
 heresies ; it proves and judges spirits and doctrines. But hope strives against 
 troubles and vexations, and among the evil it expects good. 
 
 " In divinity, faith is the wisdom and providence, and belongs to doctrine ; 
 but hope is the courage and joyfulness, and pertains to admonition. Faith is the 
 dicdectica, for it is altogether prudence and wisdom ; hope is the rhetorica, an 
 elevation of the heart and mind. As wisdom without courage is futile, even so 
 faith without hope is nothing worth ; for hope endures and overcomes misfortune 
 and evil. And as a joyous valour without understanding is but rashness, so hope 
 without faith is spiritual presumption. Faith is the key to the sacred Scriptures, 
 the right cabala or exposition. . . . Faith is not a quality as the schoolmen say, 
 but a gift of God." 1 
 
 Another paragraph of the same singular repository calls attention to con- 
 solation as the first aspect of the Gospel, or glad tidings : — 
 
 "791. Luther, at Wittenberg, seeing a very melancholy man, said to him : 
 Ah ! human creature, what dost thou ? Hast thou nothing else in hand but to 
 think of thy sins, on death and damnation ? Turn thine eyes quickly away, and 
 look hither to this man Christ, of whom it is written, He was conceived of the 
 Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, died, buried, descended into 
 hell, and ascended up into heaven, &c. Dost think all this was done to no end ? 
 Comfort thyself against death and sin ; be not afraid nor faint; for thou hast no 
 cause ; Christ suffered death for thee, and prevailed for thy comfort and defence, 
 and for that cause He sits at the right hand of God, His heavenly Father, to 
 deliver thee." 
 
 Luther's " Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians" is a manual of con- 
 solatory doctrines. As the English translation expresses it, it is addressed " to 
 all afflicted consciences which groan for salvation." Bishop Sandys, in licensing 
 it to be printed, takes the opportunity " to commend it to the reader, as a treatise 
 most comfortable to all afflicted consciences in the school of Christ." The Bishop 
 adds, " The author felt what he spake, and had experience of what he wrote, and 
 was therefore able more lively to express both the assaults and the salving, the order 
 of the battle and the means of the victory. Satan is the enemy ; the victory is 
 only by faith in Christ, as John recordeth. If Christ justify, who can condemn ? 
 saith St Paul. This most necessary doctrine the author hath most substantially 
 cleared in this his Commentary." 
 
 A specimen of Luther's exposition of " this most necessary doctrine," we 
 take from the comments on chap. i. ver. 4, clause 1 — " Who gave Himself for 
 our sins." 
 
 " Paul in every word handleth the argument of this epistle. He hath 
 
 1 "Luther's Table-Talk ;" Hazlitt's translation. [The above paragraph is the substance of 
 an essay appended to Luther's comment on verse 5 of chapter v. of Galatians.] 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 27 
 
 nothing in his mouth but Christ, and therefore in every word there is a fervency 
 of spirit and life. Weigh diligently every word of Paul, and specially mark well 
 this pronoun, OUR; for the effect altogether consisteth in the well applying of the 
 pronoun which we find very often in the Scriptures, wherein also there is ever 
 some vehemency and power. Thou wilt easily say and believe that Christ the 
 Son of God was given for the sins of Peter, of Paul, and of other saints, whom 
 we account to have been worthy of this grace ; but it is a very hard thing that 
 thou, which judgest thyself unworthy of this grace, shouldst from thy heart say 
 and believe that Christ was given for thine invincible, infinite, and horrible sins. 
 Therefore, generally, and without the pronoun, it is an easy matter to magnify 
 and amplify the benefit of Christ, namely, that Christ was given for sins, but for 
 other men's sins, who are worthy. But when it cometh to the putting to of this 
 pronoun, our, there our weak nature and reason starteth back, and dare not come 
 nigh unto God, nor promise to herself that so great a treasure shall be freely 
 given unto her, and therefore she will not have to do with God, except first, she 
 be pure and without sin ; wherefore, although she read or hear this sentence, 
 which gave Himself for our sins, or such like, yet doth she not apply this pro- 
 noun, our, unto herself, but unto others which are worthy and holy ; and as for 
 herself, she will tarry till she be made worthy by her own works. This, then, is 
 nothing else but that man's reason fain would that sin were of no greater force 
 and power than she herself dreameth it to be. Hereof it cometh that the 
 hypocrites, being ignorant of Christ, though they feel the remorse of sin, do think, 
 notwithstanding, that they shall be able easily to put it away by their good works 
 and merits ; and secretly in their hearts they wish that these words, which gave 
 Himself fur our sins, were but as words spoken in humility, aud would have 
 their sins not to be true and very sins indeed, but light and small matters. 
 Herein consisteth the effect of eternal salvation, namely, in taking these words to 
 be effectual, true, and of great importance. I say not this for nought, for I have 
 oftentimes proved by experience, and I daily find, what a hard matter it is to 
 believe (especially in the conflict of conscience) that Christ was given not for the 
 holy, righteous, worthy, and such as were his friends ; but for wicked sinners, for 
 the unworthy, and for his enemies, which have deserved God's wrath and ever- 
 lasting death. 
 
 " Let us therefore arm ourselves with these and such like sentences of the 
 holy Scripture, that we may be able to answer the devil (accusing us and saying, 
 Thou art a sinner, and therefore thou art damned) in this sort, Because thou 
 sayest I am a sinner, therefore I will be righteous and saved. Na.y, saith the 
 devil, thou shalt be damned. No (say I), for I fly unto Christ, who hath given 
 Himself for my sins. Therefore, Satan, thou shalt not prevail against me, in 
 that thou goest about to terrify me in setting forth the greatness of my sins, and 
 so to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt, and blasphem- 
 
28 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 ing of God. Yea, rather, in that thou sayest I am a sinner, thou givest me 
 armour and weapons against thyself, that with thine own sword I may cut thy 
 throat and tread thee under my feet ; for Christ died for sinners. Moreover, thou 
 thyself preachest unto me the glory of God ; for thou puttest me in mind of God's 
 fatherly love towards me, wretched and damned sinner. God so loved the world, 
 that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not 
 perish, but have everlasting life (John iii. 16). And as often as thou objectest 
 that I am a sinner, so often thou callest me to remembrance of the benefit of 
 Christ my Redeemer, upon whose shoulders, and not upon mine, lie all my sins ; 
 for the Lord hath laid all our iniquity upon Him (Isaiah liii. 6) ; for the trans- 
 gressions of His people was He smitten (Isaiah liii. 8). Wherefore, when thou 
 sayest I am a sinner thou dost not terrify me, but comfortest me above measure. 
 
 " And this is the cause why I do so earnestly call upon you to learn the true 
 and proper definition of Christ out of these words of Paul, which gave Himself 
 for our sins. If He gave Himself to death for our sins, then undoubtedly He 
 is no tyrant or judge which will condemn us for our sins. He is no caster-down 
 of the afflicted, but a raiser-up of those that are fallen, a merciful reliever and 
 comforter of the heavy and broken-hearted. Else should Paul lie in saying, 
 Which gave Himself for our sins. If I define Christ thus, I define Him rightly, 
 and take hold of the true Christ, and possess Him indeed. And here I let pass 
 all curious speculations concerning the Divine Majesty, and stay myself in the 
 humanity of Christ, and so I learn truly to know the will of God. Here there 
 is no fear, but altogether sweetness, joy, peace of conscience, and such like." 
 
 In the year 1523, Luther issued a summary of Gospel doctrine in the 
 German language for popular use ; its title was a " Preface to the Epistle to the 
 Romans." His definition of doctrinal terms have been of use to all subsequent 
 writers and preachers. Take one or two specimens — 
 
 " Law. — The word lav) must not be understood in the sense which man 
 usually attaches to it, namely, a rule teaching us what actions must be done, or 
 left undone. The law of man is satisfied with the outward actions, though the 
 heart does not harmonize with them. Where there is not a cheerful delight in 
 well-doing, the heart obeys not the law of God. The works of the law are all 
 that man does, or can do, of his own will, and in his own strength ; but because, 
 under and along with such works, there remains in the heart enmity and hatred 
 to the law, such works are altogether lost and of no use." 
 
 " Grace. — Grace differs from gift. Grace properly signifies the mercy or 
 favour which God of His own accord bears to us. The grace of God does not 
 divide or distribute itself by degrees, but accepts us at once and completely, 
 through the mercy that is in Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer ; and on this 
 account the sifts are begun to be wrought in us." 
 
 " Faith. — Faith is not the human conceit and dream, which some take it 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 29 
 
 to be — namely, such hearers of the Gospel as imagine that in their own strength 
 they can say, I believe. This they take to be true faith, but it is only a fiction 
 and imagination of man ; it acts not, and no improvement of life or good works 
 follow. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is a living, all-venturing confidence in 
 the grace of God ; so firm that it would brave a thousand deaths. Such confidence 
 in, and perception of, the mercy of God imparts joy and peace, and love towards 
 God and all His creatures. These are the fruits of faith through the operation of 
 the Holy Ghost. The result of this is, that man without constraint becomes 
 willing and desirous to do good to all — to be of service to all — to suffer all — for 
 the love and the glory of that God who has shown such mercy to him. Oh ! 
 faith is a living, active, efficacious, powerful thing ; it is impossible that it should 
 not bring forth good works without ceasing. It asks not if good works should 
 be done, but, before that question, it has done them, and it is ever doing them." 
 
 In the year 1527, Luther, who was a poet and musical composer of un- 
 doubted genius, published the first edition of his Hymn Book. His hymns are 
 here alluded to, because they were instructive hymns. He says in the Preface, 
 " The blessed patriarchs and prophets of the old times composed and sang hymns, 
 in which, like ourselves, they praise God's mercies rather than men's works." 
 And " St Paul, in his Epistles to the Corinthians and to the Colossians, delivers 
 it as a commandment, that from the heart we should sing to the Lord psalms and 
 hymns, and spiritual songs, that the Word of God and the doctrines of Christi- 
 anity may in every possible manner be published and practised. Therefore have 
 I, along with some others, and in order to serve as a beginning, and an encour- 
 agement to those who are able to do better things than myself, brought together 
 some hymns to extend the holy Gospel, which, through the mercy of God, has 
 again appeared in the world." 
 
 After the publication in several centuries of many editions of Luther's Spirit- 
 ual Songs, down to the year 1817, the work fell into temporary neglect until the 
 year 18 44, when a new edition appeared in Germany. This was the occasion of 
 their first introduction to the British public by the Rev. John Anderson, minister 
 of the Free Church of Scotland in Helensburgh, who published a translation in 
 1846. One of the hymns on mercy is a practical illustration of the use of the 
 personal pronoun, as to the importance of which we have already heard the great 
 Reformer discoursing. The following rendering of it in the English language is 
 taken almost entirely from Mr Anderson's version : — 
 
 " Christians all with me rejoice, I was lost in sin, and dead ; 
 
 Come and sing with cheerful voice ; Lawful captive, night and day, 
 
 What the Lord has done for me More and more I went astray ; 
 
 I will tell you joyfully. Mercies slighted — grace withstood — 
 
 Captive once by Satan led, There was in me nothing good. 
 
to 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " If I strove to break my chain 
 All my striving was in vain ; 
 Poor and wretched, blind and proud, 
 Free-will hates the will of God. 
 Thus I liv'd, in trespass dead, 
 Yet my heart with anguish bled, 
 Standing on hell's fiery brink, 
 Dreading hourly there to sink ; 
 Then did God, in mercy great, 
 Look upon my lost estate. 
 
 " ' Go !' (said God to His dear Son), 
 ' Go, My heart-beloved One, 
 Save that child of guilt and wrath, 
 Turn him from his sinful path. 
 Save him by Thy mighty hand, 
 From the burning pluck the brand, 
 From his bondage set him free, 
 Let him My salvation see.' 
 Cheerfully the Son obey'd, 
 Earthward, as my Brother, sped. 
 
 " Virgin-born, He dwelt with man, 
 Told His gracious, glorious plan. 
 ' Look (He said), look thou to Me, 
 Captive, I will set thee free ; 
 Surety I for thee will stand, 
 
 None shall pluck thee from My hand ; 
 I am thine, and thou shalt be 
 Conqueror of hell through Me. 
 Falling in the fearful strife, 
 I for thee will give My life. 
 
 ' Blood of Mine, on Calvary spilt, 
 Cancel shall thy bond of guilt. 
 Dying, I'm the death of Death, 
 Gladdening the eye of faith. 
 When for thine My life I've giv'n, 
 I will then ascend to heav'n, 
 There thy Lord and Leader be, 
 And My Spirit pour on thee : 
 He will comfort thee and guide, 
 And till death with thee abide. 
 
 What I've taught and done for thee, 
 Go and let thy brethren see. 
 Go, My love and truth commend, 
 And My kingdom wide extend. 
 Guard against each worldly lure, 
 Keep thy heart and actions pure. 
 Jewel, bought with blood of Mine, 
 Stain not thou the heav'nly shine. 
 Keep this counsel carefully, 
 Tis thy Saviour's legacy.' ' 
 
 As the first of the writings, about to be described, proceeded from what 
 has since been called an Evangelical or Reformed Church, as distinguished from, 
 and as somewhat opposed to, the Lutheran, a brief explanation may be required 
 after the above testimony of an agreement with Luther himself. 
 
 In the first place, then, the division of Protestant Churches into Lutheran 
 and Reformed was not the doing of the latter Church, neither did the latter 
 Church arrogate anything to itself by the name whereby it was popularly known. 
 
 In the second place, neither Luther nor Melancthon founded a separate 
 Church with the title of Lutheran. It was not until both those noble reformers 
 were dead that a separation was contemplated. 
 
 In the third place, at the date of the separation, which may be regarded 
 either as 15 69 or 1577, there were English, French, Swiss, Belgic, &c, as well 
 as German, Reformed Churches. And the new Church, which assumed the name 
 of Lutheran, was a separation from the Foreign Reformed Churches on the part 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 31 
 
 of some Germans. All German Protestants who remained in union with their 
 brethren of other nations retained their own name of the Reformed Church. 
 And this was the occasion of the separatists calling themselves Lutherans. 
 
 On the whole, those who differed most from the Lutherans agreed best with 
 Luther, as to the justification of the sinner by the grace of God through faith 
 alone, both as to the truth of that doctrine, and as to its supreme importance. 
 The first characteristic Catechism of the Reformed was issued before either of the 
 above-stated dates in the history of (what was more correctly styled) Neo- 
 Lutheranism. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 The first book in order of time, and the most deeply interesting in itself, in which 
 consolation is put forward as the first aspect of the Gospel, is the Heidelberg 
 Catechism. Heidelberg, as the seat of a far-famed Reformed College, was the 
 residence of great Protestant theologians and literati ; and, as the city surrounding 
 the palace of the Elector-Palatine, it was the capital of Evangelical Christendom. 
 The Catechism, named after this city, was issued in 1563, under the sanction of 
 the Elector Frederick III., being the work of Ursinus and Olevianus, two of the 
 theological professors in the University. 
 
 This Catechism beautifully exhibits the manner in which the Gospel, coming 
 with the message of consolation, leads the believer onward into practical Chris- 
 tianity. I shall transcribe enough to illustrate this. 
 
 Id collections of church formularies it is usual to print this Catechism in 
 Latin. While, however, the Latin edition is authoritative as a generally faithful 
 version, a greater authority belongs to the German original. The English and 
 German 1 are therefore given here in parallel columns. 
 
 1. What is thy only consolation in 1. Was ist dein einiger Trost 2 im 
 
 life and in death ? Leben und im Sterben ? 
 
 That both in soul and body, whether Dass ich mit Leib und Seele, beides 
 
 I live or die, I am not mine own, but im Leben und im Sterben, nicht mein, 
 
 belong unto my faithful Saviour, Jesus sondern meines getreuen Heilandes, Jesu 
 
 1 In the English I have obtained much assistance from the translation so carefully and suc- 
 cessfully edited by the Rev. A. Thelwall in 1850. The German is the modern text, compared 
 with the first edition as reprinted in facsimile in 1864, under the editorship of Albrecht Wolters, 
 pastor at Bonn. 
 
 2 In case the English reader should think that the primary meaning of trost is trust, it may 
 be as well to note that Vertrauen is the German for "trust," and that Trosi means " consolation." 
 
THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Christ, who, by His precious blood, hath 
 fully satisfied for all my sins, and hath 
 redeemed me from all the power of the 
 devil, and hath also certified that, with- 
 out the will of my Father in Heaven, 
 not a hair can fall from my head, yea, 
 even that all things must be serviceable 
 to me for my salvation. Wherefore He 
 also, through His Holy Spirit, assureth 
 me of everlasting life, and maketh me 
 willing and prepared henceforth from 
 the heart to live unto Him. 
 
 2. How many things are necessary 
 for thee to know, that thou, enjoying 
 this consolation, mayest live and die 
 happily ? 
 
 Three things. The first, What is the 
 greatness of my sin and misery. The 
 second, How I am redeemed from all my 
 sin and misery. And the third, What 
 thanks I owe unto God for this redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 3. Whence knowest thou thy misery ? 
 Out of the law of God. 
 
 4. What then doth the Divine Law 
 require of us ? 
 
 This, in a summary, Christ teacheth 
 us in the 2 2d chapter of Matthew. 
 
 Thou shalt love God thy Lord with 
 all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all 
 thy mind, and with all thy strength. 
 This is the first and greatest command- 
 ment. And the second is like to this : 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
 self. On these two commandments 
 hang the whole law and the prophets. 
 
 5. Art thou able to keep all these 
 things perfectly ? 
 
 No ; for by nature I am prone to the 
 hatred of God and of my neighbour. 
 
 Christi eigen bin,der mit seinem theuern 
 Blut fur alle meinen Sunden vollkomm- 
 lich bezahlet, und mich aus aller Ge- 
 walt des Teufels erloset hat, und also 
 bewahret dass ohne den Willen meines 
 Vaters im Himmel kein Haar von 
 meinem Haupt kann fallen, ja auch mir 
 alles zu meiner Seligkeit dienen muss. 
 Darum er mich auch durch seinen keili- 
 gen Geist des ewigen Lebens versichert, 
 und ihm forthin zu leben von Herzen 
 willig und bereit macht. 
 
 2. Wie viel Stiicke sind dir nothig 
 zu wissen, dass du, in diesem Trost, 
 seliglich leben und sterben mogest ? 
 
 Drei Stiicke. Erstlich, Wie gross 
 meine Siinde und Elend sei. Zum 
 andern, Wie ich von alleu meinen Siin- 
 den und Elend erloset werde. Und 
 zum dritten, Wie ich Gott fur solche 
 Erlosung soil dankbar sein. 
 
 3. Woher erkennest du dein Elend ? 
 Aus dem Gesetz Gottes. 
 
 4. Was erfordert denn das gottliche 
 Gesetz von uns ? 
 
 Dies lehret uns Christus in einer 
 Summa, Matth. am 22 Capitel. 
 
 Du sollst lieben Gott, deinen Herrn, 
 von ganzem Herzen, von ganzer Seele, 
 von ganzem Gemuth, und alien Kraften. 
 Dies ist das vornehmste und grosste 
 Gebot. Das andere aber ist dem gleich : 
 Du sollst deinen Nachsten lieben als die 
 selbst. In diesen zweien Geboten hanget 
 das gauze Gesetz und die Propheten. 
 
 5. Kannst du dies alles vollkomlich 
 halten 1 
 
 Nein ; denn ich bin von Natur 
 geneigt Gott und meinen Nachsten zu 
 hassen. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 33 
 
 6. Did God then create man so 
 wicked and 'perverse ? 
 
 No ; but God created man good and 
 after His own image, that is, in true 
 righteousness and holiness, in order that 
 he might rightly know God his Creator, 
 and from the heart love Him, and in 
 everlasting happiness live with Him, to 
 praise Him, and to glorify Him. 
 
 7. Whence then ariseih this corrupt 
 nature of man ? 
 
 From the Fall and disobedience of our 
 first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise ; 
 hence is our nature become so corrupt, 
 that we are all conceived and born in 
 sins. 
 
 8. But are we so corrupt, that we 
 are altogether unfit to any good and 
 prone to all evil ? 
 
 Yes, except we be regenerated by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 9. Doth not Ood then do injustice 
 to man, in that He in His law requireth 
 of him ivhat he is not able to perform ? 
 
 No. For God hath created man such 
 a one that he was able to perform it ; 
 but man, at the instigation of the devil, 
 and by his own wanton disobedience, 
 hath bereaved himself and all his pos- 
 terity of those Divine graces. 
 
 10. Will Ood leave such disobedience 
 and apostacy unpunished? 
 
 By no means; on the contrary, He is 
 angry in the most dreadful manner, both 
 on account of inborn and of actual sins, 
 and in most just judgment punisheth 
 them with temporal and everlasting 
 
 6. Hat denn Gott den Menschen also 
 bos und verkehrt erschaffen ? 
 
 Nein ; sondern Gott hat den Men- 
 schen gut und nach-seinem Ebenbild 
 erschaffen, das ist, in wahrhaftiger 
 Gerechtigkeit und Heiligkeit, auf dass 
 er Gott seinen Schopfer recht erkennte, 
 und von Herzen liebte, und in ewiger 
 Seligkeit mit ihm lebte, ihn zu loben 
 und zu preisen. 
 
 7. Woher kommt denn solche ver- 
 derbte Art des Menschen ? 
 
 Aus dem Fall und Ungehorsam un- 
 serer ersten Eltern, Adam und Eva, im 
 Paradies ; da unsere Natur also vergiftet 
 worden, dass wir alle in Sunden empf- 
 angen und geboren worden. 
 
 8. Bind wir aber dermassen verderbt, 
 dass wir gam und gar untiichtig sind 
 zu einigem Guten und geneigt zu allem 
 Bosen ? 
 
 Ja ; es sei denn, dass wir durch den 
 Geist Gottes wiedergeboren werden. 
 
 9. Thut denn Gott dem Menschen 
 nicht unrecht, dass er in seinem Gesetz 
 von ihm fordert wass er nicht thun 
 kann 1 
 
 Nein. Denn Gott hat den Menschen 
 also erschaffen dass er's konnte thun; der 
 Mensch, aber hat sich und alle seine 
 Nachkommen, aus Anstiftung des Teu- 
 fels, durch muthwilligen Ungehorsam 
 derselbigen Gaben beraubet. 
 
 10. Will Gott solchen Ungehorsam 
 und Abfall ungestraft lassen hin- 
 gehen % 
 
 Mit nichten : sondern er ziirnet 
 schrecklich, beides iiber angeborne und 
 wirkliche Sunden, und will sie aus 
 gerechtem Urtheil zeitlich und ewig 
 strafen, wie er gesprochen hat : Vcrflucho 
 
34 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 punishments, even as He hath spoken : 
 " Cursed be every one that continueth 
 not in all things written in the book of 
 the law to do them." 
 
 11. Is not God then also merciful? 
 
 Truly God is merciful, but He is also 
 just. Wherefore His justice requireth 
 that the sin which is committed against 
 the Most High Majesty of God should 
 also be punished with the highest, that 
 is, everlasting punishments both of body 
 and soul. 
 
 1 2. Seeing then that, according to 
 the just judgment of God, we have 
 merited both temporal and eternal 
 punishments ; how might it be possible 
 for us to escape these punishments, and 
 again to come into favour ? 
 
 It is the will of God that His justice 
 should be satisfied ; therefore it is neces- 
 sary that we satisfy, either by ourselves, 
 or by another. 
 
 1 3. But are we able to satisfy for 
 ourselves ? 
 
 By no means ; but we even make 
 our guilt daily greater. 
 
 14. But is there any one, who is a 
 mere creature, able to satisfy for us ? 
 
 None ; for, first, God will punish no 
 other creature for the sin which man 
 hath committed. Secondly, No mere 
 creature is able to sustain the weight of 
 the eternal wrath of God against sin, 
 and to redeem others from it. 
 
 15. What manner of Mediator and 
 Redeemer must we seek for, then ? 
 
 Such a one, who is a real and a just 
 man, and yet in power above all crea- 
 tures, that is, who at the same time 
 also is the true God. 
 
 sei Jedermann der nicht bleibet in 
 allem dem, das geschrieben stehet in 
 dem Buch des Gesetzes, dass er's (hue. 
 
 11. 1st denn Gott nicht auch barm- 
 hertzig ? 
 
 Gott ist wohl barmhertzig, er ist aber 
 auch gerecht. Derhalben seine Gerech- 
 tigkeit erfordert dass die Sunde, welche 
 wider die allerhochste Majestat Gottes 
 begangen ist, auch mit der hdchsten, 
 das ist, der ewigen Strafe an Leib und 
 Seele gestraft werde. 
 
 12. Dieweil wir denn nach dem 
 gerechten Urtheil Gottes zeitliche und 
 ewige Strafe verdient haben : wie moch- 
 ten wir dieser Strafe entgehen, und 
 wiederum zu Gnaden kommen ? 
 
 Gott will, dass seiner Gerechtigkeit 
 genug geschehe : desswegen miissen wir 
 derselben entweder durch uns selbst, 
 oder durch einen Andern vollkommene 
 Bezahlung thun. 
 
 13. Konnen wir aber durch uns 
 selbst Bezahlung thun ? 
 
 Mit nichten : sondern wir machen 
 auch die Schuld noch taglich grosser. 
 
 14. Kann aber irgend eine blosse 
 Kreatur fur uns bezahlen 1 
 
 Keine : denn erstlich, will Gott an 
 keiner andern kreatur strafen was der 
 Mensch verschuldet hat. Zum andern, 
 so kann auch keine blosse kreatur die 
 Last des ewigen Zornes Gottes wider die 
 Siinde ertragenundanderedavonerlosen. 
 
 1 5 . Was miissen wir denn fur einen 
 Mittler und Erloser suchen ? 
 
 Einen solchen, der ein wahrer und 
 gerechter Mensch, und doch starker 
 denn alle Kreaturen, das ist, zugleich 
 wahrer Gott sei. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 35 
 
 16. Wherefore is it necessary that 
 he should be a real and a just man ? 
 
 Because the justice of God requireth 
 that the same human nature which 
 hath sinned should satisfy for sin. But 
 one that was a sinner himself could not 
 satisfy for others. 
 
 17. Wherefore is it necessary that 
 he at the same time also should be the 
 true God 1 
 
 That he might by the power of his 
 Godhead sustain in his human nature 
 the burden of God's wrath, and might 
 earn and restore to us (the) righteous- 
 ness and (the) life. 
 
 18. But who is this Mediator who 
 is at the same time the true God and 
 a real and a just man ? 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is given 
 unto us for complete redemption and 
 righteousness. 
 
 19. Whence knowest thou that ? 
 Out of the Holy Gospel which God 
 
 Himself first made known in Paradise, 
 and afterwards did spread abroad by 
 the holy patriarchs and prophets, fore- 
 shadowed it by the offerings and other 
 ceremonies of the law, but lastly accom- 
 plished by His beloved and only Son. 
 
 20. Shall then all men be again 
 happy through Christ, just as through 
 Adam they became lost ? 
 
 No ; but only those who by true 
 faith are engrafted [incorporated] into 
 Him, and who accept all His benefits. 
 
 21. What is true faith ? 
 
 It is not only a sure knowledge 
 whereby I firmly hold as true all things 
 
 16. Warum muss er ein wahrer 
 und gerechter Mensch sein ? 
 
 Darum, dass die Gerechtigkeit Gottes 
 erfordert, dass die Menschliche Natur, 
 die gesiindigt hat, fiir die Sunde 
 bezahle. Aber einer, der selbst ein 
 Sunder ware, nicht kdnnte fiir andere 
 bezahlen. 
 
 1 7. Warum muss er zugleich wahrer 
 Gott sein ? 
 
 Dass er aus Kraft seiner Gottheit die 
 Last des Zornes Gottes an seiner Men- 
 schheit ertragen, und uns die Gerech- 
 tigkeit und das Leben erwerben und 
 wieder geben mochte. 
 
 18. Wer ist aber derselbige Mittler, 
 der zugleich wahrer Gott und ein 
 wahrer gerechter Mensch sei ? 
 
 TJnser Herr Jesus Christus der uns 
 zur vollkommenen Erldsung und Ger- 
 echtigkeit geschenket ist. 
 
 19. Woher lueisst du das ? 
 
 Aus dem heiligen Evangelio, welches 
 Gott selbst anfanglich im Paradies hat 
 geoffenbaret ; folgends durch die heili- 
 gen Erzvater und Propheten lassen 
 verkundigen, und durch die Opfer und 
 andere Ceremonien des Gesetzes vor- 
 gebildet ; endlich aber durch seinen 
 eingeliebten Sohn erfullet. 
 
 20. Werden denn alle Menschen 
 wiederum durch Christum selig, wie 
 sie durch Adam sind verloren wordenl 
 
 Nein : sondern allein diejenigen, die 
 durch wahren Glauben ihm werden 
 einverleibt, und alle seine Wohlthaten 
 annehmen. 
 
 21. Was ist wahrer Glaube ? 
 
 Es ist nicht allein eine gewisse Er- 
 kenntniss dadurch ich alles fiir wahr 
 
30 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 which God hath revealed unto us in 
 His Word, hut also a hearty trust which 
 the Holy Ghost worketh in me through 
 the Gospel — that the forgiveness of 
 sins, everlasting life and salvation, are 
 bestowed by God out of mere grace, 
 and on account of the merit of Christ, 
 not upon others only, but even upon 
 me. 
 
 [Questions 22 to 85 are occupied 
 
 with an exposition of the 
 
 Apostles' Creed, Baptism, the 
 
 Lord's Supper, Preaching and 
 
 Ecclesiastical Discipline.] 
 
 86. Since then we are redeemed out 
 
 of our misery, entirely without merit 
 
 of our own, because of the grace of God 
 
 through Christ, for what cause are we 
 
 to do good works ? 
 
 Because Christ, after He hath bought 
 us with His blood, reneweth us by His 
 Holy Spirit to His own image, that we 
 all our life-time may manifest ourselves 
 thankful to God for His benefits, and 
 that through us He may be glorified. 
 Thereafter also, that we severally may 
 be assured of our faith by its fruits, and 
 that by our godly course of life we may 
 also win our neighbours unto Christ. 
 
 87. Can those then not be in a state 
 of salvation who do not turn unto God 
 from their unthankful and impenitent 
 course of life ? 
 
 They cannot; for as the Scripture saith, 
 No unchaste person, no idolator,no adul- 
 terer, no thief, no covetous person, no 
 drunkard, no reviler, no robber, nor the 
 like, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 
 
 88. In how many parts consisteth 
 
 halte was uns Gott in seinem Wort hat 
 geoffenbaret, sondern auch ein herz- 
 liches Vertrauen welches der heilige 
 Geist durchs Evangelium in mir wirket, 
 dass nicht allein andern, sondern auch 
 mir Vergebung der Sunden, ewige Ger- 
 echtigkeit und Seligkeit von Gott 
 geschenket sei, aus lauter Gnaden, 
 allein um des Verdienstes Christi willen. 
 
 86. Dieweil wir denn aus unser 
 Elend, ohne all unser Verdienst, aus 
 Gnaden clurch Christum erloset sind, 
 warum sollen wir gute -WerJce thun ? 
 
 Darum, dass Christus, nachdem er 
 uns mit seinem Blut erkauft hat, uns 
 auch durch seinem heiligen Geist er- 
 neuert zu seinem Ebenbild, dass wir mit 
 unserm gauzen Leben uns dankbar ge- 
 gen Gott fur seine Wohlthaten erzeigen, 
 und er durch uns gepriesen werde. 
 Darnach auch, dass wir bei uns selbst 
 unsers Glaubens aus seinen Fruchten 
 gewiss seien, und mit unsern gottseli- 
 gen Wandel unsern Nachsten auch 
 Christo gewinnen. 
 
 87. Konnen denn die nicht selig 
 werden, die sich von ihrem undank- 
 baren, unbussfertigen Wandel zu Gott 
 nicht bekehren ? 
 
 Keineswegs ; denn wie die Schrift 
 sagt, Kein Unkeuscher, Abgottischer,Eh- 
 ebrecher, Dieb, Geiziger, Trunkenbold, 
 Lasterer, Rauber, und dergleichen, wird 
 das Reich Gottes ererben. 
 
 88. In wie viel Stiicken besteht die 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 37 
 
 the true Penitence or Conversion of 
 man % 
 
 In two parts : In the mortification 
 of the old man, and the quickening 
 [resurrection] of the new man. 
 
 89. What is the Mortification of the 
 old man ? 
 
 From the heart to cherish grief on 
 account of sin, and to hate and shun it 
 ever more and more. 
 
 90. What is the Quickening [resur- 
 rection] of the new man ? 
 
 To have heartfelt joy in God through 
 Christ, and affectionate desire to live 
 in all good works according to the will 
 of God. 
 
 91. But what are good works 1 
 Only those that proceed from a true 
 
 faith, according to the law of God to 
 His glory, and not such as are grounded 
 upon our own notions of what is good, 
 or upon human institutions. 
 
 [Questions 92 to 115 contain an 
 explanation of the Ten Com- 
 mandments. Questions 116 
 to 129 are concerning prayer, 
 including a paraphrase of the 
 several petitions of the Lord's 
 Prayer.] 
 
 wahrhaftige Busse oder Bekehrung des 
 Menschen ? 
 
 In zwei Stiicken : In Absterbung 
 des alten, und Auferstehung des neuen 
 Menschen. 
 
 89. Was ist die Absterbung des al- 
 ten Menschen ? 
 
 Sich die Siinde von Herzen lassen 
 leid sein, und dieselbe je langer je 
 mehr hassen und fliehen. 
 
 90. Was ist die Auferstehung des 
 neuen Menschen ? 
 
 Herzliche Freude in Gott durch 
 Christum und Lust und Liebe haben, 
 nach dem Willen Gottes in alien guten 
 Werken zu leben. 
 
 9 1 . Welches sind aber gute Werke ? 
 Allein die aus wahrem Glauben, 
 
 nach dem Gesetz Gottes, ihm zu Ehren 
 geschehen, und nicht die auf unser 
 Gutdunken oder Menschensatzung ge- 
 griindet sind. 
 
 The general arrangement of this Catechism might suggest to readers, who are 
 acquainted with the Westminster Catechisms of the following century, that there is 
 a remarkable family likeness between them. But the fact is that, in the Christian 
 Church, catechetical instruction originally required the committing to memory of 
 the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. Christian 
 teachers gave conversational explanations for the enlightenment of their scholars. 
 Long experience would enable a teacher to transfer these viva voce explanations 
 into lucid questions and answers. Thus catechisms, as we now have them, would 
 at length be put into circulation. An introduction would to a practical man 
 seem to be desirable ; the ingenuity of the author of a catechism would be taxed 
 to compose prefatory questions and answers. The Catechism of Calvin started 
 
38 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 with the summum bonum. The Heidelberg Catechism found a characteristic 
 gospel starting-point in Divine consolation. The authors of the Westminster 
 Catechisms thought that a preface more suitable to the grand themes of eternal 
 salvation and new obedience was the glory of God, but almost in the same breath 
 they put forward the happiness of man. 1 De Witte, in his catechetical commen- 
 tary on the Heidelberg Catechism, combines the prefaces. His first head is, 
 " Of man's chief comfort ; " and his first question and answer are : — 
 
 " What is that which a Christian ought most of all to wish and to desire? — 
 In respect of God, the promoting of His glory as the uttermost end of all things. 
 In respect of himself, the enjoyment of the chiefest good, His salvation, His com- 
 fort, both in life and in death." 
 
 An esteemed critic (Thomas M'Crie, secundus, D.D., LL.D.) would at once 
 dismiss the Heidelberg Catechism from use, because it suggests to a pupil that as 
 soon as he can repeat the first answer he is in actual possession of consolation for 
 eternity. But such an off-hand decision is not worthy of the judge. Personal 
 acquaintance with pupils would soon dispose of the alleged danger as imaginary. 
 The compendious Commentary of Pastor Mohn of Dierdorf gives the evident mean- 
 ing of the answer to the first question, namely, " Christianity offers consolation to 
 man who is in misery." And any parent or teacher using the catechism might 
 (if necessary) modify the question thus : — " What doth the Gospel offer to thee as 
 thy only consolation in life and in death ?" — Or, "What is the consolation which 
 God in the Gospel doth put within thy reach as thy only consolation in life and 
 in death ? " 
 
 The Heidelberg Catechism acquired and retained great reputation, being 
 adopted by the Evangelical German and Dutch Churches, and being extensively 
 read and studied by Protestants of other nations. It was celebrated under various 
 names. Through the Latin translation it was known as the " Catechism of the 
 Palatinate and the Belgic Catechism." 2 In the English translation of the first 
 commentary upon it, in 1587, it was called "The Catechisme authorised by the 
 noble Prince Frederieke throughout his dominions." The English phrase Elector- 
 Palatine is a translation of the German title Churfiirstlicher Pfalz. Usually 
 this prince was simply called the Pfalz, which our ancestors translated into Pfaltz- 
 grave, or Palsgrave ; and hence the first English translation, which was bequeathed 
 to us in lob' 8 by the learned Dr Turner, has been briefly styled The Palsgrave's 
 
 1 " Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him for ever." — West- 
 minster Larger Catechism. 
 
 " Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever." — Westminster Lesser {or 
 Shorter) Catechism. 
 
 2 The Catechism was translated into Greek by Fridericus Sylburgius, aud, along with the 
 Eelgic Confession, printed by Elzevir, 1635. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 39 
 
 Catechism. Thomas Boston calls it Ursin's Catechism, after Ursinus, its principal 
 author and the first commentator. 
 
 Throughout Germany, and notably in Holland, a regular system of catechis- 
 ing resulted in the publication of many commentaries on the Heidelberg Catechism. 
 It is not only divided into questions, but also into sections, one for each Lord's 
 day of the year. There was an accredited staff of catechists whom it was the duty 
 of the pastors to train for their functions; and hence it was incumbent upon pro- 
 fessors of theology to give a similar training to candidates for the Gospel ministry. 
 In Book Second of this publication I propose to give some account of the com- 
 mentators. There does not appear to be much quotable matter concerning con- 
 solation in their works ; but there is an evident agreement on one point, namely, 
 that the fact that consolation is the first aspect of a scriptural gospel is specially 
 proved by one favourite apostolical statement, " Whatsoever things were written 
 aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of 
 the Scriptures, might have hope" (Romans xv. 4). 
 
 In this place I must single out Dr Henry Alting, author of Three Volumes 
 of Heidelbergensian Theological Writings (Scripta Theologica Heidelbergensia) in 
 and after 1613. On question 9 0, concerning the vivification of the new man, he 
 declares this quickening, or spiritual resurrection, to manifest itself in three ways, 
 namely, " (1) a man's joy in God through Christ arising from a sense of the 
 gratuitous forgiveness of his sins ; (2) the love of piety ; (3) the serious and 
 most unfeigned pursuit of piety." Among the questions which he undertakes to 
 answer are these : — " Question. Is true joy in God through Christ a part of 
 vivification, or is is not rather a result following the work of the Holy Ghost ? — 
 Answer. It is both, though from different points of view. It is a part — inas- 
 much as rejoicing in God, reconciled to me through Jesus Christ, is an agent in 
 vivification. It is also a result, as an effect wrought by the life-giving Spirit, 
 because it is kiudled within me by the Spirit of adoption." 
 
 " Question. Does not true joy in God, which the catechism places first in 
 order, rather follow the desire and pursuit of obedience to the will of God ? 
 Ought not such desire and pursuit to be placed first in order ? — Answer. These 
 as to time are simultaneous, but in the order of nature or causation, joy is first, 
 and the pursuit of good works follows. Joy animates men to the pursuit of good 
 works (Luke xix. 6, 8 ; 2 Cor. v. 14), and joy arises from justification ; for being 
 justified by faith we have peace together with joy and exhilaration of heart 
 (Romans, v. 1, &c). But the pursuit of good works arises from sanctifijcation 
 (Colossians iii. 1, 2, &c. ; Titus ii. 14). Thus the order of the causes being known, 
 the effects are correctly described in the same order (Rom. viii. 30; 1 Cor. i. 30). 
 At the same time by the pursuit of good works, as a most sure evidence of true 
 faith, and as a living testimony of the hope of the heavenly inheritance, joy is 
 nourished, increased, and confirmed." 
 
40 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 My attention has just been called to Professor Schaff 's * panegyric on this 
 Catechism, which he had already called " an acknowledged masterpiece." " The 
 genius of the catechism (he remarks) is brought out at once in the first question, 
 which contains the central idea and strikes the key-note. It is unsurpassed for 
 depth, comfort, and beauty ; and, once committed to memory, can never be for- 
 gotten. It represents Christianity in its evangelical, practical, cheering aspect, 
 not as a commanding law, not as an intellectual scheme, not as a system of out- 
 ward observances ; but as the best gift of God to man, as a source of peace and 
 comfort in life and in death. What can be more comforting — what at the same 
 time more honouring and stimulating to a holy life — than the assurance of being 
 owned wholly by Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour, who sacrificed His only 
 spotless life for us on the cross ? The first question and answer of the Heidel- 
 berg Catechism is the whole Gospel in a nutshell. 
 
 " The Catechism is a work of religious enthusiasm, based on solid theological 
 learning, and directed by excellent judgment. It is baptized with the pente- 
 costal fire of the great Reformation, yet remarkably free from the polemic zeal 
 and intolerance which characterised that wonderfully excited period — by far the 
 richest and deepest in church history next to the age of Christ and His inspired 
 apostles. It is the product of the heart as well as of the head, full of faith and 
 unction from above. It is fresh, lively, glowing, yet clear, sober, self-sustained. 
 The ideas are Biblical and orthodox, and well fortified by apt scriptural proofs. 
 The language is dignified, terse, nervous, popular, and often truly eloquent. It is 
 the language of devotion as well as instruction. Altogether the Heidelberg Cate- 
 chism is more than a book ; it is an institution, and will live as long as the 
 Reformed Church." 
 
 The affectionate and grateful veneration felt for this Catechism was usefully 
 and widely extended in the year 1863, which was observed as the Tercentary of 
 the Heidelberg Catechism. The preparation for spoken orations and written 
 papers, worthy of the occasion, in Germany, Holland, and America, resulted in 
 new light thrown upon the history of the Catechism, and in greater accuracy in 
 copies put into circulation for the use of schools and churches. Another result 
 was the discovery of one copy of the original edition ; this unique relic has been 
 printed in facsimile. At Elberfeld a collection of sermons, in honour of the Tercen- 
 tary, was published with the title, Der einzige Trost im Leben und Sterben 
 [the only consolation in life and in death.] 2 
 
 1 "A History of the Creeds of Christendom," with translations. By Philip Schaff, D.D., 
 LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York, U.S.A. 
 London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1877. 
 
 2 Schaff. I expect to be largely indebted to this distinguished author in Book Second of this 
 work. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 41 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In this chapter, when I arrived at the Creed, I had to be content with 
 simply referring to the questions and answers in which it is expounded. But 
 there are two remarkable questions and answers for which I must find room 
 here. There appears to an English reader a singularity arising from the circum- 
 stance that in German " Christus " is the word for " Christ," and " ein Christ " 
 means " a Christian." 
 
 31. Warum ist er Christus, das ist, 
 ein Gesalbter, genannt ? 
 
 Dass Er von Gott dem Vater ver- 
 ordnet und mit dem heiligen Geist 
 gesalbet ist, zu unserm obersten Pro- 
 pheten und Lehrer, der uns den heim- 
 lichen Rath und Widen Gottes von 
 uuserer Erlosung vollkommen offenbaret 
 — und zu unserm einigen Hohenpriester 
 der uns mit demeinigen Opfer seines 
 Leibes erloset hat und immerdar mit 
 seiner Furbitte vor dem Vater vertritt 
 — und zu unserm ewigen Konig der 
 uns mit seinem Wort und Geist regiert 
 und bei der erworbenen Erlosung 
 schiitzet und erhalt. 
 
 32. Warum wirst du aber ein Christ 
 genannt ? 
 
 Dass ich durch den Glauben ein 
 Glied Christi und also seiner Salbung 
 theilhaftig bin, auf dass auch ich seinen 
 Namen bekenne, mich ihm zu einem 
 lebendigen Dankopfer darstelle, und mit 
 freiem Gewissen in diesem Leben wider 
 die Siinde und Teufel streite, und her- 
 nach in Ewigkeit mit ihm iiber alle 
 Kreaturen herrsche. 
 
 31. Why is He called Christ, that 
 is, Anointed One ? 
 
 Because He was ordained by God the 
 Father, and anointed with the Holy 
 Ghost, to be our chief Prophet and 
 Teacher, who hath fully revealed unto 
 us the secret counsel and will of God 
 concerning our redemption— and to be 
 our only High Priest, who with the one 
 only offering of His body hath redeemed 
 us, and doth continually appear before 
 the Father with His intercession — and to 
 be our eternal King, who ruleth us with 
 His Word and Spirit, and who defendeth 
 and maintaineth the redemption which 
 He hath earned. 
 
 32. But why art thou called a Chris- 
 tian ? 
 
 Because through faith I am a mem- 
 ber of Christ and am also a partaker of 
 His anointing [unction], in order that I 
 may own His name, may dedicate my- 
 self to Him as a living thank-offering, 
 and may, in this life, with a free 1 con- 
 science, fight against sin and the devil, 
 and may hereafter in eternity reign with 
 Him over all creatures. 
 
 1 The Latin version says libera et bona [free and good.] 
 
42 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Christ alone Exalted." 
 By the Rev. Dr Crisp, Rector of Brinkworth. 
 
 " Christ alone exalted" was the peculiarly appropriate motto for the sermons of 
 the admirable English rector, Dr Tobias Crisp. These sermons were printed 
 and published after his death, at the age of forty-two, so that the title-page was 
 not dictated by himself; but it informs us that the sermons were "taken from 
 his own mouth in shortwriting, whereof severall copies were diligently compared 
 together and with his owne notes." One volume was published in 1643, con- 
 taining Sermons on Christ the Only Way, and similar subjects. Another volume 
 appeared in 1G44, 1 and its chief contents were fourteen sermons on Isaiah liii. G. 
 A third volume, containing, among others, seven sermons on 1 John ii. 1, 2, was 
 published in 164G; it was entitled, "Christ Alone Exalted in the perfection and 
 encouragements of the saints notwithstanding sins and trialls." In 1690 all 
 the above were republished by the author's son, Samuel, who added ten sermons 
 from his father's manuscripts, including four upon Free Grace exhibited as the 
 Teacher of Good Works (Titus ii. 11, 12). The modern editions, the first of 
 which was issued in 1755, were under the editorship of the Rev. Dr Gill, who 
 declared that his " sole view in republishing" them was the same as Dr Crisp's in 
 preaching them, " namely, the relief of distressed minds and consciences burdened 
 with a sense of sin and seeking deliverance from it." 
 
 The fundamental doctrines of Dr Crisp are simple and safe — for instance, 
 " Christ is our way, so that there is no coming to the Father but by Him." 
 " Christ gives a free welcome to all comers." " Only Christ's righteousness dis- 
 chargeth the sinner." " The righteousness which obtains the discharge of the 
 believer's sin, and wins his cause, is Christ's righteousness, and not the believer's 
 act of believing'." " Wheresoever the grace of God brings salvation, it is not 
 bestowed in vain, but inclines a man's heart to new obedience, and makes him 
 fruitful in his life in all well-pleasingness." 
 
 There have been frequent censures of these sermons as unsafe. But any 
 censures that were at all warrantable, were directed against strong expressions 
 and discursive remarks, which the author might have softened or pruned down 
 if he had lived to superintend the printing of his sermons. The learned and 
 orthodox Witsius undertook to review the sermons along with the books of other 
 writers, with whom Dr Crisp had no connection ; and he wrote an Irenicum, 
 
 1 In the copies before me, vol. i. is dated 1644; and vol. ii., 1643 — so that perhaps they were 
 issued together. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 43 
 
 which (as far as the Doctor is concerned, for Witsius mentions no author by 
 name) may be fairly said to absolve him from all accusations, except as to what 
 were called some paradoxical assertions concerning the utility of holiness and 
 good works, which (says the Irenicum) "appear with quite another face when 
 the hideous vizard of the most rugged phrases is torn off." 
 
 "Rugged phrases" roused the attention of hearers who had been put to 
 sleep by academical homilies on Christian morals ; but there is another observa- 
 tion that must be made, namely, that no faithful preacher of the Word of God 
 will undertake to construct a scheme of salvation that will not, from some point 
 of view, appear dangerous to morality. Pretentiously safe schemes have been 
 attempted, but they differ from the Scriptures in this, that they are schemes to 
 save saints and not to save sinners. They are schemes which date our first 
 sensation of consolation from the perception of reformation in ourselves, not from 
 the reception of a free pardon from God. They are schemes which leave out of 
 consideration such facts as this one, that the promise of justification is to the 
 sinner " who worketh not, but believeth in Him that justifieth the ungodly 
 (justificat impium)." If any preacher's scheme be like the scheme of the 
 Apostle Paul, it will raise the objection that by preaching faith he makes void 
 the law of God and encourages men to continue in sin that mercy may abound. 
 
 To call men's attention to the old evangelical truth, that there is forgiveness 
 with God that a sinner may fear Him, the Apostle Paul used startling expressions, 
 and he, being inspired, said all things well. Dr Crisp, as an uninspired teacher, 
 could not say all things perfectly ; but he is not censurable where he follows out 
 the Apostle's principles, motives, and temper. In the present day our esteemed 
 authors use, without giving offence, a greater latitude in their expressions than 
 Dr Crisp's critics could tolerate. And in all generations some allowances ought 
 to be made for one or two imperfections in a valuable posthumous publication. 
 The following extracts from "Christ Alone Exalted" have much of the style and 
 tone of our soundest modern authorship. 
 
 Crispiana. 1 
 
 The whole strain of the Gospel runs continually thus : " Christ came to 
 save the lost ; He died for the ungodly ; while we were sinners, Christ died for 
 us ; He received gifts for the rebellious that the Lord might dwell among them," 
 and such like, are the terms of the Gospel upon which Christ is tendered to our 
 souls. Now, then, I say to every afflicted soul, Art thou rebellious, an enemj', 
 ungodly, a harlot, lost ? . . . Christ came for thee while thus, though no better 
 
 1 The extracts were made by me from Dr Gill's edition, hut I have now collated them with 
 the first edition, 1643-1646. 
 
44. THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 than thus ; He comes to tender Himself unto thee to take Him whilst thou art 
 thus, before thou art any better. — Sermon IV. 
 
 What doth Christ mean by coming unto Him ? In [John vi.] verse 35, 
 Christ will give you His mind Himself — ■" He that comes unto Me shall not 
 hunger, and he that believes in Me shall not thirst." Mark it well, beloved, he 
 makes " coming" and " believing," in sense, all one ; for if you observe it, such 
 as Christ deals with are unsatisfied and empty ones : now He satisfies the empty, 
 and whose emptiness will He fill ? — even of those that believe in Him, that come 
 to Him. Believing and coming are therefore all one, so that to come to Christ 
 is to believe in Christ. But you will say, We are as far to seek as we were ; 
 what is that believing on Christ? In John i. 12, you shall see what it is to 
 believe on Him — " As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become 
 the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." Here He makes 
 receiving and believing all one, as before He made coming and believing. The 
 sum in brief is this — the coming to Christ is no more but the receiving of Him 
 for shelter and succour. A man is said to come to a stronghold when he enters 
 into it for his security and safety ; he doth not stand hacking and hammering — 
 shall I ? or shall I not ? — but danger forces him, and in he gets (the door being 
 open), and comes to his stronghold. So a person comes to Christ ; Christ open- 
 ing, he slips in, and ventures himself with Him, and casts himself into His arms, 
 and He will sink or swim with him. Beloved, whoever you are, that can but 
 come to Him, to venture yourselves upon the rock Christ ; to sink or to swim, as 
 Christ will support or sink under you ; counting Him a refuge, to have Him for 
 your succour — in no wise will He cast you out. — Sermon XIV. 
 
 Peradventure, though the text seem to be clear, yet you will say, " Surely 
 the grace of God is not so large as you seem to express it ; there must be some- 
 thing expected and considered in the person coming, or there will be no receiving 
 and entertaining by Christ." 
 
 Beloved, it Avere an easy thing (if time would give leave) to show that, 
 through the whole Scriptures, the Lord Christ hath such a purpose, to set forth 
 the glory of the grace of His Father, as that He will have men know, that all the 
 fitness of persons to communicate or participate of Christ is their desperate sin- 
 fulness. I say, nothing but sinfulness is that which is the fitness that Christ 
 looks for in persons. — Sermon XIV. 
 
 Mark well this passage, " I will in no wise cast him out." Our Saviour 
 cloth plainly import that there neither is nor can be devised — no, not by God 
 Himself — any one consideration whatsoever which might occasion Him to put 
 off or say nay to any person that doth come. No consideration in the world, I 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 45 
 
 say, can so aggravate a man's condition, could he make it as bad as the devils 
 themselves, yet, if there be a coming to Christ, there can be no consideration in 
 the highest pitch of sinfulness for Christ to reject, or put by, a person coming to 
 Him. For you must know, beloved, Christ is well acquainted with all the 
 objections the heart of man (nay, the devil) can object against the freeness of His 
 grace and life by Him. To save labour, therefore, in this one passage (/ will in 
 no wise cast out), Christ at once answers all the objections that could be made. 
 And I dare be bold to maintain, in the name and stead of Christ, let a person 
 but say and lay down this for granted, that come he would — that he would 
 have Christ rather than his life, — let this be granted for a truth, I will be bold 
 with Christ out of this passage to answer ten thousand objections, even fully to 
 the silencing of every objection that can be made; " [ will in no wise cast him 
 out ;" 1 will in no wise, that is, I will upon no consideration that can be ima- 
 gined and conceived. — Sermon XIV. 
 
 If this be truth that you say, that such and such filthiness stands between 
 Christ and you ; that though you come there could be no entertainment with 
 Christ for you ; — supposing this to be true, this that Christ speaks is most certainly 
 false. For, saith Christ, / will in no wise cast you off, that is, upon no con- 
 sideration will I cast you off; you say, upon this consideration I am so abominably 
 vile there will be casting off. If this you say be true, that which Christ saith 
 must be false. There is a point blank contradiction between these two, and there- 
 fore either Christ must call in these words again thus generally delivered, and 
 must put in this exception that you put in, or else Christ's word and yours 
 cannot agree. 
 
 You say, upon such considerations there is no admittance, and upon such- 
 and-such considerations there is admittance. Christ saith, " I will in no wise 
 cast you out ;" notwithstanding this consideration I will receive you. Be what 
 you will, do but come ; and, for all that, you shall be welcome. — Sermon XIV. 
 
 It is a common doctrine among the rigid troublers of the Israel of God, that 
 men must have many legal preparations, and that they must sensibly find these 
 wrought in themselves, before they may dare to apply Christ by faith for justifi- 
 cation, otherwise their faith is mere presumption. As, for instance — suppose a 
 sinner hath lived in all manner of licentiousness (as Mary Magdalen), then, 
 before he may believe that Christ hath justified him, he must forsake, and by 
 reflecting on himself that he hath forsaken, all his former evil ways, and must be 
 stricken with inward terror, and feel the pangs of the new birth, and be, I know 
 not how much or how long (for their expressions intimate a strange depth), under 
 the bondage of a kind of hellish conscience tormenting and racking him ; nay, 
 more, he must be changed too, and find a delight in the law of the Lord, and a 
 
46 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 ready cheerfulness in obedience thereunto, and that not by a fit, but constantly. 
 Till he finds all this, and much more of a like nature, his time of believing in 
 Christ is not come. Before this his faith is but a dream, and skinning over the 
 sore. All this occasions so much fear, as keeps many poor souls in bondage all 
 their lives long, suspecting still that the humiliation is not deep enough. 
 
 Is not this to put the cart before the horse ? — or rather, to set the cart 
 agoing, and the horse must come after ? — to have men sanctified before 
 they can be justified ? If men must be thus qualified before they can believe 
 to justification, how can Christ be said to justify the ungodly ? By this rule He 
 rather justifies the godly.— Sermon L1I. 
 
 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man 
 cometh unto the Father but by ME." . . . Christ is our way, so that there is no 
 coming to the Father but by Him. . . . Every way, highway, or pathway, 
 necessarily imports two terms, From whence, and W hereunto. When a man 
 enters into a way, he leaves the place where he was, and goes to the place where 
 he was not. . . . 
 
 The state, from which Christ is our way to the Father, is twofold — first, a 
 state of sin ; and, secondly, a state of wrath. The state, whereunto Christ is the 
 way, is indeed expressed here to be to the Father ; the meaning is, To the grace 
 of the Father and to the glory of the Father. The sum is this, Christ is so our 
 way from a state of sin and wrath to a state of grace and glory, that there is no 
 coming from the one to the other but by Christ. — Sermon I. 
 
 Grace (in Scripture) admits of a double acceptation, proper and improper. 
 We usually take grace for that which is improperly grace ; for we commonly call 
 " grace" those divine qualities and virtues, and holy conditions and actions, 
 wherewith we are possessed, by which we do improve and employ ourselves in 
 the world ; this we usually call grace, and in some sense it is grace. But that 
 which is most properly grace is nothing else but merely favour and bounty, and 
 loving-kindness itself; and so, consequently, all sanctification is not so properly 
 grace itself as the fruit of grace. God first casts His favour and loving-kindness 
 upon a person, then out of His favour flow the several fruits of loving-kindness ; and 
 the fruits are those " Fruits of the Spirit " frequently mentioned by the Apostle. 
 Now Christ is a way to grace in both these respects. Christ is a way to favour 
 and loving-kindness in God ; Christ is a way to all fruits, or graces (as you call 
 them). — Sermon II. 
 
 " He hath mercy upon whom He will have mercy." Christ becomes unto 
 them a way, not out of their will, not out of their disposition, not out of their 
 holy walkings — but out of that mercy that proceeds out of the mere will of God ; 
 His own good pleasure is the only fountain and spring of it. Beloved, I beseech 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 47 
 
 you, seriously ponder and consider, that the gospel is therefore called the gospel 
 because it is glad tidings unto men ; and so the angel interpreted it, " Behold, I 
 bring glad tidings." Why glad tidings ? In this regard, glad ; the poor sinner, 
 he is a broken creature ; nay, more, he is a dead creature — " ye who were dead in 
 trespasses and sins." Life is reached out unto such a person, that is, a dead 
 person ; herein it is plain, that there comes forth grace from the Lord, so that a 
 creature, being dead, who can act nothing towards life, yet he shall receive life. 
 " The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son 
 of God : and they that hear it shall live " (John v. 25). How come they by life ? 
 Is there any action of theirs towards life ? They are dead ; it is the voice of 
 the Son of God puts life into their dead souls. And it is glad tidings, that 
 though the creature can do nothing, yet Christ brings enough with Him from 
 the fountain of the Father to bestow upon them, to bring them to Him. — 
 Sermon III. 
 
 Christ is delivered over unto men to be their way unto the Father, of mere 
 gift— of free gift. What is freer than a gift? That Christ is delivered over to 
 be a way to the Father by a mere and absolute gift is most plainly expressed in 
 Isaiah xlii. 0, " I will give Thee to be a covenant to the people." In matter of 
 gift, what is there in the richest man in the world more than in the veriest beggar 
 to partake of it, supposing the thing that comes to him is a gift ? A beggar can 
 take a gift as well as the richest man. — Sermon III. 
 
 Christ is a free way for all comers to enter into, without any cause of fear 
 that they shall trespass by entering. He is a free way, I say, — a way that costs 
 nothing, a way barred up to no person whatsoever, a way whose gates are cast 
 off from the hinges, — nay, rather, a way that hath no gates at all unto it — a 
 cheap way to us — a costly way, indeed, unto the Father, and to Christ too. . . . 
 
 If we look upon God and Christ as making a way for men, it is not a free 
 way, it is not a cheap way. But looking upon ourselves, that have received the 
 benefit of this way and this Christ, it is a free way indeed ; free for man, without 
 any cost or charge — free, as He is a way to all sorts of men, none excepted, none 
 prohibited. "Whosoever will" may set footing in Christ. There is nothing can 
 bar one person more than another from entering into Christ as a way. I know, 
 beloved, this seems harsh to the ears of some people, that there is no difference 
 to be made among men, not only poor as well as rich, but that the wicked as 
 well as the godly are admitted ; that is strange. But let me tell you, beloved, 
 Christ is a free way for a drunkard, for a harlot, an enemy to Christ ; I say, 
 Christ is as free a way for such a person to enter into Him as for the most godly 
 person in the world. But do not mistake me. I dare not say, Christ is a free 
 
43 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 way to walk in Him, and yet to continue in such a condition. Christ will never 
 leave a person in such a filthiness, to whom He hath given to enter into Himself. 
 But for entrance into Him Christ is as free a way for the vilest sort of sinners as 
 for any person under heaven. If Christ has given a heart to a sinner to set foot- 
 ing into Himsef, that is, to receive, to take Him for his Christ — if Christ hath 
 given him a heart to take Him for his Christ in reality, to take Him truly and 
 unfeignedly — Christ is a way for such a person to the Father, though he be the 
 vilest person under heaven. — Sermon III. 
 
 Christ is the way, and the absolute and complete way, to rid every soul that 
 comes to God by Him from all filthiness ; so that the person to whom Christ is 
 the way stands in the sight of God as having no fault at all in Him. Beloved, 
 these two are contradictions, for a person to be reckoned a faulty person, yet that 
 person to be reckoned a just or an innocent person : if he be faulty he is not 
 innocent ; if he be innocent he is not faulty. Now, it is the main stream of the 
 whole Gospel that Christ justifies the ungodly ; if Christ justifies him, there is no 
 fault to be cast upon him. Mark it well, consider it, as that wherein consists your 
 honey, the life of your soul, and the joy of your spirits ; I say, it holds forth the 
 Lord Christ as freely tendering Himself to people, considering people only as 
 ungodly persons receiving Him. You have no sooner received Him but you are 
 instantly justified by Him ; and in this justification you are discharged from all 
 the faults that may be laid to your charge. There is not one sin you commit 
 after you receive Christ that God can charge upon your person. — Sermon I. 
 
 Here is the sum of this part of this free grace of God, " the blotting out of 
 transgression." You know, beloved, the use of writing debts in a book, namely, 
 that a creditor may turn over at pleasure or leisure to them ; and so, when he 
 looks there, he may find what every person oweth, and, at discretion, may take 
 the groundwork of his action that he lays against a person ; and, upon this action, 
 may arrest him, and lay him up in prison till he pays the debt. And, likewise, 
 you know what the end of this " blotting out," too, is ; namely, that when men 
 come to look over their books, they may overlook and skip over what was written ; 
 and when the book is looked over, no notice shall be taken of such a person's 
 name, who, though he was entered in the book, yet all is blotted out again ; 
 which imports to us this much as to the thing in hand, namely, that though the 
 Lord, according to the usual manner of taking notice of actions against men, hath 
 His time when He will take notice of these debts, when He enters the debtor, 
 when He will arrest and clap him up for them ; yet, when He shall look over His 
 book, He shall take no notice of such persons of His whose parcels are crossed 
 out. Therefore, in Jeremiah 1. 20, see how the prophet alludes to this expres- 
 sion, and how he explains the words, blotting out of transgression. " In those 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 49 
 
 days, and at that time, saith the Lord, shall the iniquities of Israel be sought for, 
 and there shall be none ; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found : 
 for I will pardon them whom I reserve." Here the prophet seems to represent 
 the Lord as one that begins to look over His books, to see what debts are 
 owing unto Him, as if He were making a search. Well, saith the Holy Ghost, 
 though at such a time the sins of this people be sought for, yet there shall be 
 none. It is true they were all entered into the knowledge of God from all eter- 
 nity, yet there shall be none ; that is, though they were entered, they are blotted 
 out again. Therefore, as it is in a debt-book, though there be never so many 
 parcels entered — though entered ever so truly there — yet when once that which 
 was entered is blotted out again, there is no more debt than if there never had 
 been any ; for all that was ever in is blotted out. So, though the Lord be privy 
 to what they do, and hath recorded them in His own thoughts, yet He Himself 
 
 draws a blot upon them, and makes them to be nothing 
 
 And this He doth, not simply in respect of forgiveness. In regard of us, 
 it is true, it is a forgiveness. Yet, in respect of Him, it is not merely forgive- 
 ness. For the reason and ground of blotting out of iniquity is, there is a second 
 Head to which these debts are translated, that shall pay them better than those 
 whose debts first they were ; so that, the debt being paid, God loseth nothing, 
 forasmuch as another hath paid all. — Sermon XI. 
 
 When the text saith, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all," the 
 meaning is, that Christ Himself becomes the transgressor in the room and stead 
 of the person that had transgressed ; so that, in respect of the reality of being a 
 transgressor, Christ is as really the transgressor as the person that did commit it 
 was a transgressor before Christ took this transgression upon Him. Beloved, mis- 
 take me not ; I say not that ever Christ was, or that He ever could be, the actor or 
 committer of any transgression, for He never committed any sin Himself. But 
 the Lord laid iniquity upon Christ ; and this act of God's laying it upon Him 
 makes Christ as really a transgressor as if He Himself had actually committed 
 transgression. — Sermon XVII. [Vol. II., Sermon 3.] 
 
 God gives the person of Christ to men. God gives Christ to stand in the 
 room of men, and men stand in His room. So that, in the giving of Christ, God 
 is pleased (as it were) to make a change [an exchange] ; Christ represents our 
 persons to the Father, we represent the person of Christ to Him. All the loveli- 
 ness the person of Christ hath is put upon us, and we are lovely with the Father 
 even as the Son Himself. On the other part, all that hatefulness and loathsome- 
 ness in our nature is put upon Christ ; He stands, as it were, the abhorred of the 
 Father for the time, even the forsaken of the Father, as He represented our per- 
 sons, bare our blame, sustained our wrath, and drank the dregs of our cup. Here 
 
 G 
 
50 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 is the gift of the person — that which is Christ's is ours ; that which is ours is His. 
 There is an admirable expression in 2 Cor. v. 21, " He was made sin for us who 
 knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." It is 
 plainly manifested that that which we were Christ became (" sin for us ") ; then 
 that which Christ was we became (" the righteousness of God ") : for we are made 
 the righteousness of God in Him, saith the Apostle. — Sermon XII. 
 
 The Apostle [Paul], in his time, found that the preaching of this free grace 
 unto men as they are sinners, raised the very objection that is on foot to this day, 
 and (I believe) will be to the end of the world. He had ended a great discourse, 
 and laid down his foundation and ground, " That a man is justified by faith with- 
 out the works of the law;" and the objection comes in, " Do we make void the 
 
 law through faith ? " Why, say some, this gives liberty to all 
 
 uncleanness, for a man to know that notwithstanding his wicked estate he shall 
 be justified freely, and he shall be saved ; it is impossible he should miscarry. 
 Who will not take liberty to sin when he knows that, though he doth sin, though 
 his sins be ever so great, all shall be done away — he shall not receive any hurt at 
 all by them ? Is not this to make void the law ? you will say. 
 
 Mark the Apostle's answer, " God forbid ; nay, rather, we establish the law ;" 
 that is, the preaching of this doctrine to you that are believers, little children, 
 that have fellowship with the Father and the Son, will not make void the law ; 
 you cannot take liberty from this free grace revealed. The preaching and publish- 
 ing of this free grace of God more effectually wins believers to obedience, and to 
 forbearance from sin, than any other course in the world that can be taken. This, 
 saith the Apostle, is a doctrine that doth establish the law, and not make it 
 void ; that is, it doth establish men in obedience to the will of God, and brings 
 them nearer in conformity to the law, and doth not set them loose to the break- 
 ing and violating and frustrating of the law, and to profaneness. — Sermon XXXIV. 
 [Vol. III., Sermon 3.] 
 
 The advocateship of Christ consists in pleading the discharge of His people 
 on the principle of right and justice. 
 
 Whereas it is objected, and, indeed, seems a thing irreconcilable, that this 
 discharge from sin goes all along under the notion of grace, and free grace, and 
 pardon ; how can this be, if it be merely an act of justice for God to forgive 
 sins ? 
 
 This may easily be reconciled, with a distinction. Discharge from sin, in 
 respect of us, or of what we can bring by way of recompense [compensation] for 
 the sin committed, is merely free grace — we can bring nothing at all ; also in 
 respect of Christ, as He is allowed to stand in our room, it is grace too. But, 
 Christ being allowed and admitted, and the Lord having taken the full payment 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 51 
 
 He could ask at the hands of Christ, and acknowledging satisfaction upon such 
 payment, this act of Christ makes it an act of justice and right that God should 
 forgive sins. And, therefore, the Apostle, in 1 John i. 7, tells us, that " The 
 hlood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all sin;" and, therefore, he 
 concludes that " He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." — Sermon XXXVI. 
 \_Vol. III., Sermon 5.] 
 
 This advocateship of Christ is a plea founded or grounded upon justice. 
 Christ doth not appeal in His plea to mere mercy ; but His client shall stand or 
 fall as justice itself shall pronounce the sentence. Christ doth exercise this 
 office in heaven rather virtually than vocally ; He speaks as His blood doth speak. 
 We are come to the blood of sprinkling (saith the Apostle in Heb. xii. 24) that 
 speaks better things than the blood of Abel. 
 
 Whose cause is it that Christ doth maintain and plead ? The cause of all 
 believers — the cause of little children, even when they have sinned without limi- 
 tation of the sin they commit : for He expresses Himself in general terms, it is 
 the cause of those that sin, " If any man sin " (1 John ii. 1) ; yea, the cause not 
 only of present believers, but also of all the elect — believers or unbelievers — if 
 they be elected. It is true, they shall believe in time ; but yet I say, Christ is 
 an advocate of them, while unbelievers, if they be elected. There is not a sin in 
 the world, but as it is damnable in its own nature in the rigour of justice, so it 
 doth not allow of any forbearance. It is only Christ that makes the forbearance, 
 even until they are called. — Sermon XXXVII. 
 
 What is that righteousness which has efficacy and prevalency with the 
 Father for the discharge of a member of Christ when he sins ? 
 
 There is not any righteousness of a believer which he acts, which can possibly 
 have any force in plea with the Father for the discharge of a person that 
 hath committed a sin. I mention that righteousness " which he acts," because 
 the very righteousness of Christ Himself is indeed the righteousnesss of a believer, 
 fcr He is " The Lord our Righteousness." As He was made sin for us, and 
 became our sin by imputation, so we are made the righteousness of God in Him ; 
 that is, Christ's righteousness is as much become our own righteousness, as our 
 sins became Christ's sins. And as Christ bore the whole fruit of our sins by 
 being made sin for us, so we enjoy the whole fruit of Christ's righteousness by 
 being made righteous in Him. Therefore I say, not simply no righteousness of 
 a believer, but none which he himself doth act, hath the least force in plea to 
 prevail for the discharge of sin. 
 
 I must tell you, there is no divine rhetoric — there is no omnipotent excel- 
 lency — in any righteousness whatsoever which a believer can put up unto God. It 
 is not your turning from your evil ways ; it is not your repentance, though never 
 
52 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 so cordial and large ; it is not your departing from iniquity; it is not your doing 
 good — hath the least force or power of plea with the Father to prevail with Him, 
 for your righteousness, for your discharge, or to move Him to give the sentence 
 upon you that you are discharged. No righteousness, I say, whatsoever you can 
 do ; for the best righteousness that ever man did perform, Christ only excepted, 
 hath more in it to make against the person that did it, than it hath to make for 
 him to obtain a sentence of discharge. And my reason is this. In the best 
 righteousness of man, in turning from sin, or in repenting or mourning, or what- 
 ever else there is to be thought of, there is abundance of sin even in the very 
 best actions that are performed ; and where there is sinfulness, there is a plea 
 against the person. — Sermon XXXVI I. 
 
 The righteousness which obtains the discharge of a believer's sin is no righte- 
 ousness of our own ; no, not so much as the righteousness of faith as it is our act 
 of believing 
 
 There are some things to be considered even about our believing, as it hath 
 a stroke in the discharge from sin, or in the pardon of sin. The truth is, beloved, 
 some hand faith hath in this business; but it is not any righteousness in the act of 
 believing that carries any stroke in it. If you will consider it well, you shall 
 easily see there is no more righteousness in our believing, as we do act believing, 
 than there is in any other gracious act whatsoever that we do — than is in our love 
 to God. Nay, more, there is as much sinfulness in our act of believing as in our 
 acting of other gifts. There is no man under heaven hath attained unto that 
 height of believing, or that strength of faith, but there is still something wanting, 
 some imperfection and sinfulness in it ; and as there is weakness and imperfec- 
 tion in believing, so it is not possible that this should give forth such a righteous- 
 ness as to constitute a person, who is unrighteous in himself, to be righteous 
 before God. That which cannot set itself complete and righteous before God, 
 can never set another righteous before God. Faith must be first just itself, 
 or else it is not possible it should be imagined it can ever, by the righteousness 
 of its own act, justify another. 
 
 Beloved, whatever the Scriptures speak concerning faith justifying, it must, 
 of necessity, be understood either objectively or declaratively. Either, faith is 
 said to be our righteousness, in respect of Christ only, who is believed on ; and 
 so it is not the righteousness of our own act of believing, but the righteousness 
 of Him that is apprehended by the act of believing. Or else, you must under- 
 stand it declaratively; that is, whereas all our righteousness, and all our discharge 
 from sin, flowing from the righteousness of Christ alone, is a hidden thing — that 
 which in itself is hid to men becomes evident by believing : and as faith doth 
 make the righteousness of Christ evident to the believer, so it is said to justify by 
 its own act declaratively, and no otherwise. — Sermon XXXVIII. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 53 
 
 The new covenant is without any conditions whatsoever on man's part. . . . 
 
 But, you will say, there are many conditions mentioned in this covenant ; it 
 is said, that there must be " a law put in the mind, and written in their heart," 
 with many other such things. 
 
 I answer, It is true God saith, " I will put My law in their inward parts, 
 and write it in their hearts," &c. But do you find in this, or in any other 
 mention of the covenant, that this is the condition to be performed as man's part. 
 There is no such thing in the text. 
 
 But you will say, conditions — or, no conditions : a man must have his 
 heart in this manner. 
 
 I answer, It is true, by way of consequence, that after we are in covenant 
 with God, He will bestow these things upon us as fruits and effects of that cove- 
 nant. But it is not true, by way of antecedence, that God doth require these 
 things at our hands, before we shall be partakers of the covenant 
 
 The covenant, in the actual substance of it, is made good to a person before 
 he can do anything. The main thing in the covenant is God being the God of 
 a people ; and the model and draft of that is God's love. The covenant is nothing 
 but God's love to man — God's love to give Himself to man ; God's love to take 
 man to Himself. — Sermon VI. 
 
 Sanctification of life is an inseparable companion with the justification of a 
 person by the free grace of Christ. But withal I must tell you, that all this sancti- 
 fication of life is not a jot the way of that justified person unto heaven. It is the 
 business of a person that he hath to do in his way — Christ ; but it is not the way 
 itself to heaven. If there be no more to clear it but this very text, it is enough ; 
 Christ here saith, " I am the way ; no man cometh to the Father but by Me." 
 Now I ask this question, Are our works of sanctification Christ Himself, or are 
 they not ? If they be Christ Himself, then there are thousands of Christs in the 
 world. If they be not Christ, then there is no coming to the Father by them ; 
 because the coming to the Father is by Christ alone, and by Him as He is the 
 sole way. — Sermon IV 
 
 Christ comes and brings justification, loving-kindness, and salvation ; He lays 
 them down, presents them, delivers them to the heart. When we are ungodly 
 He enters into covenant, that we should become His. What needs, then, all 
 this travel for life and salvation, seeing it is here alread} 7, ? 
 
 Objection. — But seeing we get nothing by it, this is a discouragement for 
 men to work, may some say. 
 
 Answer. — It is true, it is a discouragement to all selfish men to work ; and 
 whether a man work, or work not at all, it is all one, if he be but for himself. If 
 a man work never so much — if he be wholly selfish for himself, God rejects it. 
 
5 4 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 But when a man will work for Christ, for a man that hath a touch of the lovino-- 
 kindness of Christ, and therefore stands ready to speak for the praise of the glory 
 of His grace that hath so freely saved him — for such a man to work is as welcome 
 to Him for Christ's sake as if he were to work for his own salvation. You have 
 many ingenuous spirits in the world, who will be more free to serve a friend that 
 hath already raised them, than others will be to serve a master that they may be 
 raised. There is a service of thankfulness which is usually more cordial, more 
 sedulous, than all mercenary services that are forced. This is the true service of 
 a believer in serving Christ. His eye is to the glory of Christ, in regard of what 
 Christ hath already done for him ; and not in expectation of anything Christ 
 hath to do, which He hath not yet done. He looks upon all as perfectly done 
 for him in the hand of Christ, and ready to be delivered out into his hand as 
 several occasions require. Being thus completed by Christ, not to be mended by 
 the creature, having nothing now to do for himself — all he doth, he doth for 
 Christ. — Sermon III. 
 
 Let Christ be the Alpha and Omega. In all things begin in Christ, end 
 
 in Christ. Do all in Christ ; get all by Christ Assure yourselves, while 
 
 you look to get by what you do, you will get but a knock, because of so much 
 sinfulness in the duty. But if you will have any good, you must get it by 
 Christ. — Sermon V. 
 
 I. Our righteousness serves as a real way to manifest our thankfulness to 
 God for what we have already received of God. Mark well, I pray, in the 103rd 
 Psalm, all that is within us must be praise, and nothing but praise. And the 
 ground is this, God doth pardon our sins, heal our infirmities, and supply all our 
 wants. In consideration of this, all that is within us should continually express 
 His praise. 
 
 II. Again, there is this usefulness in our righteousness, namely, that we 
 may serve our generation. The Apostle gives this charge, that men study to 
 maintain good works, because, saith he, these things are profitable to men. As 
 we therefore may do good to men, so, according to our ability and talent received, 
 we must employ ourselves to the utmost for that end and purpose. The heathen 
 men could say, They were not made for themselves, but for others. There is, 
 therefore this usefulness in our righteousness, that others may receive benefit by it. 
 Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify 
 your Father which is in heaven. That men may be drawn on to glorify God, we 
 must shine before men in a godly conversation. 
 
 III. Our righteousness is useful, as it is the ordinance of God, wherein the 
 Lord hath appointed us to meet with Him, and wherein He will make good 
 those things which before He hath promised. — Sermon IX. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 55 
 
 The end and ground of our fasting, and prayer, and mourning, in our exi- 
 gents and extremities, is not that these duties do at all prevail with God, or at 
 all move Him. It is God that doth move these services ; and all the spiritualness 
 in us, in these services, He moves in us. When we are moved by His Spirit and 
 come forth to meet Him, according to His will, where He doth appoint, there He 
 will pour out Himself in grace and love, according to His promise, not according 
 to our performances. Thus, the great objection may be answered easily, Why do 
 we fast and pray and mourn in adversity, if they do us no good ? 
 
 " I say, though they do us no good yet we fast and pray, because the Lord 
 saith, Come to Me, meet Me in this ordinance and in that ordinance, and I will 
 come with My hands full. Then and there I will pour out that which My own 
 freeness hath engaged Me to do for you. Is it not injustice not to meet Him 
 then ? We do confess our sins to Him ; but what is the ground of forgive- 
 ness ? — Not our confession of sins — not our fastings, and prayers, and mournings, 
 and tears — but, 7", even I, am He that blotteth out thine iniquities for My own 
 name's sake, and will remember thy sins no more. — Sermon. IX. 
 
 All afflictions to believers are to keep them from sin, rather than 
 
 punishment unto them for sin For my own part, I cannot see how a 
 
 man can say Christ bore all the punishment of sin, if we bear any of it ourselves. 
 And if Christ did not bear it all, I cannot see how Christ can be a sufficient 
 Saviour, without some other to help Him out, in that which He Himself did not 
 bear. I speak all this, beloved, the rather because when poor believers are 
 crossed and afflicted in any kind, they are presently ready to suspect God hath 
 cast them off for their sins, and is angry with them for sinning against Him. I 
 say, in respect of sin he hath committed, though he thus suspects, there is not 
 the least drop of the displeasure of God ; the fruit of such displeasure comes not 
 near him. But " every son whom I love I rebuke and chasten," saith the Lord. 
 God seeth that afflictions will purge, therefore He gives them. 
 
 The father gives not his child a purge to make him sick, but to take away 
 some bad humours that made him sick, and for the prevention of diseases, or for 
 the removal of some disease ; that is the father's end in purging the child. And 
 this is the end why God afflicts His people — not for their sins, but to take them 
 away ; that is, to prevent the hastiness and inconsiderateness of a believer, that 
 he may not be so rash, running headstrong in his own ways, but may be more 
 considerate for the time to come. It is most certainly true, beloved, that as 
 soon as ever a person is a believer, he is so ingratiated into God, and with Him, 
 that there is nothing in the world from that instant unto a believer but mercy — 
 God managing His mercy in His own way for the best to His, sometimes by the 
 rod as well as by sweatmeats ; but still He runs in a way of mercy. 
 
 " All things shall work together for good ; " this is God's way to believers. 
 
5 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 And if this could but be received by them — and that even then, when they are as 
 gold cast into the fire, God all the time they are in the fire (as the prophet Malachi 
 speaks) " sits as a refiner" — then they would be more quiet in the expectation of 
 that purity, in which they shall come forth, when the time of their coming forth 
 is. When you see the refiner cast his gold into the furnace do you think he is 
 angry with the gold, and means to cast it away ? No, he sits as a refiner, that 
 is, he stands warily over the fire, and over the gold, and looks into it that not 
 one grain be lost ; and when the dross is severed, he will out with it presently ; 
 
 it shall no longer be there. Even so doth Christ sit as a refiner But 
 
 still I say, as a fruit of wrath God never doth punish or afflict or chastise His 
 child. — Sermon II. 
 
 I have not said, God is not offended with the sins that believers commit ; 
 but God stands not offended with the persons of believers, for the sins committed 
 by them. He hath that everlasting indignation against sin as ever. And as 
 there is the same contrariety in sin against His nature, so there is the same con- 
 trariety in God's nature unto sin. All contrarieties have a mutual contrariety 
 against each other : as water is contrary to fire, so fire is contrary to water ; as 
 sin is contrary to the nature of God, so the nature of God is contrary to sin. 
 There is an abhorrence of God to that sinfulness, but not an offence in God to the 
 person that commits that sin ; because the offence of God for that sin hath spent 
 itself on the person of Christ 
 
 Yet there is none of God's indignation against sin lost in all this, because 
 He is not offended at all with the believer. For He hath satisfied His own 
 offence in His Son more fully than He would have satisfied it in our own per- 
 sons ; we must have been everlastingly suffering before God would have been 
 fully satisfied. Now, therefore, as the payment of a great sum all at one pay- 
 ment, and at a day, is a better payment than by a penny a-year, till a thousand 
 years be out — so Christ's satisfying the Father at once, by one sacrifice of Himself, 
 is a better satisfying of Him than if we should have been infinite days in paying 
 that which His justice requires, and His indignation to sin doth expect. — 
 Sermon II. 
 
 Christ is the way from wrath, not only in respect of the present, but also 
 in respect of the future ; I mean, a way from everlasting damnation. Give me 
 a believer that hath set his footing truly in Christ, and you blaspheme Christ if 
 you dare serve a writ of damnation upon that person. Suppose a believer to be 
 overtaken in a gross sin, it is a desperate thing in any man so much as to serve 
 a writ of damnation upon this believer ; it is absolutely to frustrate the medi- 
 atorship and saviourship of Christ, to say that any believer (though he be fallen 
 by infirmity) is in the estate of damnation. And I say unto thee, thyself, who- 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 57 
 
 ever thou art, thou that art ready to charge damnation upon thyself when thou 
 art overtaken — thou doest the greatest injury to the Lord Jesus Christ that can 
 he ; for in it thou directly overthrowest the fulness of the grace of Christ, and 
 the fulness of the satisfaction of Christ to the Father. — Sermon II. 
 
 It is but a sordid and gross conceit in the heart of men to think that there 
 can be no humiliation for sin except they be in despair. I say, beloved, that 
 when Christ doth reveal Himself to your spirits, you shall find your hearts more 
 wrought upon with sweet meltings and relentings of heart, and breakings of spirit, 
 when you see your sins pardoned, than in the most despairing condition you can 
 be in. It hath been often taken notice of, of many malefactors, that though 
 when they have come to the place of execution, their hearts have been so hard 
 that they could not shed a tear ; yet, when they have heard their pardon read, 
 and see themselves out of danger, their hearts, that were so hard before, have 
 melted into floods of tears. And so, I say, that heart that could not relent to 
 see the filthy loathsomeness of sin while he did not see his pardon ; yet, after 
 the knowledge of the pardon thereof, doth melt into tears, and hath such relent- 
 ing that none in the world can have but he that knoweth it. The grace of God, 
 which brings salvation, having appeared unto men, doth more teach them to live 
 soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, than all arguments besides 
 can persuade men — for the glory of their God, the manifestation of their thank- 
 fulness to Him, and the being fruitful unto others. We are to walk in every 
 way that God hath chalked out unto us ; but if we think our righteousness and 
 our deep humiliation, and large relents of spirit, and sorrow for sin, and our con- 
 fession thereof, must make our way to the bowels of Christ, take heed lest ye set 
 up a false Christ. When you bring anything to Christ, you deprive Him of that 
 which is His greatest prerogative, and give it to your fastings and humiliation. 
 It is the prerogative of Christ alone to bring you to Himself. — Sermon XI V. 
 
 Why must not hell and damnation be a bridle to keep men in, will you 
 say? 
 
 I answer, mark what the Psalmist speaks, Psalm ex. 3, " Thy people shall 
 be a willing people." Here you see how tame the people of Christ are. Thy 
 people are a willing people. How so ? by fear of damnation ? No such thing ; 
 but " in the day of Thy power," " in the beauty of holiness," they shall be a 
 willing people. First, the power of Christ comes over a person ; this frames his 
 spirit to a willingness and aptness. Then comes the beauty of holiness, that 
 wins, persuades, allures, and draws them to willingness. And where there is a 
 willing spirit to walk with Christ, there is no danger of taking liberty. 
 
 The philosophers observe a rule, that the will is not compelled ; a man 
 cannot constrain his will. Let the will of a person but be to the pleasure of 
 
 H 
 
58 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Christ, nothing can constrain him to go beyond Christ ; he may happily be over- 
 reached and be overtaken, but he will never break loose — he will never run away, 
 though the gate stand open on every side. The grass and pasture is so sweet 
 that Christ hath put a believer into, that though there be no bounds to keep in 
 such a soul, yet it will never go out of this fat pasture to feed in a barren 
 common. Therefore, in answer to the objectors who naturally think there is a 
 way opened to licentiousness by taking away all wrath from a believer, and that, 
 therefore, he will break forth into all manner of excess, I tell you, the power of 
 Christ restrains him. — Sermon II. 
 
 Beloved, there is no better way to know your portion in Christ, than, upon 
 the general tender of the Gospel, to conclude absolutely He is yours ; and so, 
 without any more ado, to take Him, as tendered to you, on His word. This 
 taking of Him, upon a general tender, is the greatest security in the world that 
 Christ is your Christ. Say unto your soul (and let not this be contradicted, 
 seeing Christ hath reached Himself out to sinners as sinners), My part is as 
 good as any man's. Set down thy rest here ; question it not, but believe it ; it 
 is as good security as God can make thee ; He hath promised, venture thy soul 
 upon it without seeking for further security. But some will say, He doth not 
 belong to me. Why not to thee % He belongs to sinners as sinners ; and if 
 there be no worse than sinfulness, rebellion, and enmity in thee, He belongs to 
 thee as well as to any in the world. There is nothing at all can give thee a 
 certainty He is thine, but receiving [welcoming] Him on these terms. " He 
 came to His own, and His own received Him not ; but to as many as received 
 Him (mark that) He gave power to become the sons of God." — Sermon VII. 
 
 I do not determine peremptorily that a man cannot, by way of evidence, 
 receive any comfort from his sanctification. I will give you somewhat for the 
 clearing of my judgment, which I know is according to truth. 
 
 The Spirit of the Lord must first reveal the gracious mind of the Lord to 
 our spirits, and give us faith to receive that testimony of the Spirit, and to sit 
 down as satisfied with His testimony, before ever any work of sanctification can 
 possibly give any evidence. But when the testimony of the Spirit of the Lord is 
 received by faith, and the soul sits down satisfied with that testimony of the 
 Lord, then also all the gifts of God's Spirit do bear witness, together with the 
 Spirit of the Lord and with the faith of a believer. — Sermon XXXI. 
 
 The consideration of Christ, as a free way to all comers, is the only way to 
 build men up in a more enlarged course of holiness and righteousness than all the 
 devices in the world can raise them to. — Sermon IV. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 59 
 
 For my own part, whatever others may think, I abhor nothing in the world 
 so much as this, namely, a licentious undertaking to continue in any sin, because 
 that such fulness of grace hath abounded. And I hope assuredly that the God 
 of grace and mercy will keep by His power to salvation all those persons He doth 
 deliver ; and that He will so sow the seed of grace in their hearts that they may 
 not sin, that is, may not presumingly break out of purpose in hope of pardon 
 beforehand. And I hope also God will meet such as are disturbers of the truth 
 of Christ and peace of the Gospel by their base and vile conversation [conduct]. 
 And I shall recommend to them (if there be any such here) the reading of the 
 Epistle of Jude, where they may see the fearful wrath of God upon such persons 
 as abuse the grace of God to sin ; because God freely pardons it, therefore they 
 will sin and presume to do that which is never so filthy. beloved, let not the 
 love of the Lord God in Jesus Christ, thus manifested, be so basely requited at 
 your hands; seeing He hath so freely loved you and given Christ to you, that 
 you might be to the praise of the glory of His grace, in a godly and Christian 
 conversation whereunto you are ordained ; " for you are God's workmanship, 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works, that you should walk in them " (Eph. 
 ii. 10). And I beseech you always to remember, that you cannot answer the free 
 love of God towards you any other way, but by showing it in a fruitful conversa- 
 tion in the world, and considering that one end, for which the Lord did redeem 
 you, was, that you might be a peculiar people to Himself, zealous of good works. 
 — Sermon XXXI. 
 
 According to the plan of this work, I reserve all notices of the opponents of 
 Dr Crisp's sermons for the second or biographical part. But I may allude here 
 to one critic, the Rev. Mr Warner, a Wiltshire clergyman and a neighbour, who 
 suspected that Dr Crisp did not teach the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, 
 and to whom the Doctor wrote in explanation. My collection of Cvispiana 
 proves that Dr Crisp did acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. 
 The real difference between the correspondents was not as to the precedency 
 of Christ or the Holy Spirit ; but it was as to the question, whether Christ 
 Himself or some good qualities in the sinner be the first and grand source of 
 consolation. " I never said," writes Dr Crisp to Mr Warner, " that men should 
 not be troubled on account of sin, or labour to get a broken heart. I said that 
 men begin at the wrong end of the bottom, who think to wind any graces from 
 God first, and then to seek Christ. This I called pumping at a dry pit. 1 Who- 
 ever will go smoothly on must begin with getting Christ first, if ever they mean 
 
 1 " Whither do men run ? — they run to their inherent righteousness, to their qualifications, 
 to their prayers, to their tears, to their humiliations and sorrows, universal obedience, and the 
 like. But is this to run to free grace and free mercy in Christ 1 Nay, Christ, alas, He is never 
 thought of. Christ is clean forgotten and wholly neglected, and not considered all this while. 
 
00 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 to be one jot better than corrupt nature can make them." Dr Crisp was con- 
 tending against the notion of the unfitness for Christ of a person who is impure 
 and unholy, and accordingly he urged, " I pray you, consider the end of Christ's 
 coming ; was it for the whole and righteous, or for the sick and sinners ? Suppose 
 men pure and holy, what need is there of Christ ? If anything could rid the 
 sink of man's filthy heart and life but Christ Himself, His coming were but vain — 
 you make the death of Christ of none effect. You know that Christ died for the 
 ungodly (Romans v. G) ; by Himself He purged our sins (Heb. i. 3). But, you 
 say, there can be no communion between purity and impurity. I answer, No 
 more will there be, though Christ come to a filthy sinner. I say, no communion, 
 because Christ makes clean as He goes ; after He is come, He presently perfumes 
 all the rooms of the heart, as soon as He comes with the odours of His own sweet- 
 ness. He that shall stay for Christ till he be pure, holy, and fit for Him before 
 God will give Him, he shall stay long enough." 
 
 " Christ Alone Exalted " was discovered by Dr Crisp's hearers to be his 
 grand aim. He himself had as a watchword a rhyming translation of a well- 
 known Latin refrain : — 
 
 If Christ thou know, it will suffice, 
 
 Though else thou knowest nought ; 
 If Christ be hid, thou art not wise, 
 
 Though all else thou be taught. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Marrow, Part First. 1645. 
 By Edward Fisher, Graduate of Oxford University. 
 
 Readers of religious biography have been puzzled by meeting with the phrases, 
 " The Marrow," " Marrowmen," and " Anti-Marrowmen." These phrases arose 
 from an unpretending but celeb rated book, called " The Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity." 
 
 Again, as these party names were first coined about the year 1720, it has 
 
 Beloved, here is ploughing with a wooden plough. Here is a working upon a dead horse, or 
 
 rather with a dead horse Run to Christ ; so shall you prosper in everything you take in 
 
 hand Let this be your everlasting cry and song, None but Christ, None but Christ; or 
 
 rather (in the language of the Apostle) / desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him 
 crucified." — Dr Crisp, Sermon VII. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. Gl 
 
 been supposed that the doctrines of that book were new, and that the opposition 
 to the book was a defensive war against the introduction of novelties. But the 
 commotion was occasioned by the republication of an old book. As one of its 
 editors remarked, " This book has outlived the fitness of its title. The divinity 
 therein taught is now no longer the modern but the ancient divinity." Its 
 theology is the theology of the Protestant Reformers — the grand Reformation 
 theology. 
 
 Neither was the book of Scottish origin. It was a compilation by a graduate 
 of Oxford, a layman who had been a gentleman-commoner in that University. 
 The author was Edward Fisher, described by Anthony a- Wood as the eldest son 
 of a knight, a royalist, and " a noted person among the learned for his great 
 reading in Ecclesiastical History and in the Fathers, and for his admirable skill 
 in the Greek and Hebrew languages." 
 
 The design of the " Marrow," however, was not to epitomize all the topics 
 of theology, like many a Latin work of the 17th century, also styled "Medulla." 
 What this little book was occupied with was what our own title-page describes 
 as the theology of consolation. I copy its full and descriptive title from the 
 second edition (the imprimatur of the first edition is dated 1 May 1645) : — 
 
 "The Marrow of Modern Divinity, touching both the covenant of works and 
 the covenant of grace, with their use and end both in the time of the Old 
 Testament and in the time of the New. Wherein every one may clearly see how 
 far forth he bringeth the law into the case of justification, and so deserveth the 
 name of Legalist ; and how far forth he rejecteth the law in the case of sanctifica- 
 tion, and so deserveth the name of Antinomist. 
 
 With the middle path between them both, which by Jesus Christ leadeth 
 to eternall life. 
 
 In a dialogue betwixt Evangelista, a minister of the Gospel ; Nomista, a 
 Legalist ; Antinomista, an Antinomian ; and Neo'phytus, a young Christian. 
 
 The second edition, corrected, amended, and much enlarged by the author, 
 E. F. London : 1646." 
 
 Before going into details as to " The Marrow," I should say a word as to 
 the opposition to it. The opposition in the following century arose from the 
 circumstance that this First Part (which was the only part printed in Scotland at 
 first) dealt chiefly with the foundation of Christian hope, the Pauline doctrine of 
 the justification of the ungodly man by the grace of God and through faith 
 alone. It was (as I have said) a compilation. It contained many of the bold 
 utterances of Luther ; and it was against these utterances that the criticisms of 
 a more or less lukewarm churchism were chiefly directed. At the time of its 
 original publication, it was ushered into the world under the sanction of Joseph 
 Caryl, W. Strong, and other sound preachers. Coming in the wake of Crisp's 
 " Christ Alone Exalted," it was valued as a temperate work, agreeing with the 
 
62 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 ardent Doctor in essentials, and yet avoiding any statements which had or 
 seemed to have an air of extravagance. 
 
 I shall endeavour to give the substance of the doctrine of the First Part of 
 " The Marrow" in a very few paragraphs. 
 
 The "Marrow" was intended to throw light upon questions concerning con- 
 solation to the individual sinner through his personal faith in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Faith (it should be remembered) not only believes a doctrine but 
 welcomes a person, a personal deliverer or saviour. It takes Christ, who is 
 actually offering Himself in the Gospel to every sinner who has ears to hear. A 
 believer cleaves to Christ as his living Saviour, brother, and friend ; and all this, 
 through his private personal dealing with the Saviour, not through a notion of 
 the safety of the company of believers and of himself as one of them. " The 
 life that I live in the flesh," said Paul, " I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
 who loved me and gave Himself for me." Therefore, the most scriptural 
 theologians tell us, that in the nature of true faith there is an actual appropria- 
 tion. And (says a modern writer) " The Marrowmen wanted to bring back the 
 appropriating persuasion, still more strongly put by many Reformation Theo- 
 logians." 1 
 
 The "Marrow" proceeds generally upon the circumstance that the anxious 
 inquirer finds his way to consolation obstructed by difficulties in the language of 
 Scripture, and specially upon the fact that these obstructions practically disappear 
 when the language of Scripture is understood. One of the difficult words is 
 " law." 
 
 The word " law" is scripturally explained to involve two separate ideas in 
 connection with one code of commandments ; the one idea being to bargain (or 
 to enter into covenant) for eternal life, and the other idea simply being to obey 
 dutifully. Thus, "the law of works" is censured, although it is occupied with 
 God's good and perfect commandments, while " the law of faith," otherwise 
 called " the law of Christ," is approved, although occupied with the very same 
 commandments. But this seeming inconsistency is explained by a difference in 
 the plans and motives of men. And the men who are condemned under "the 
 law of works" may be defined to be every man who sees a meritorious value in 
 his works of righteousness, and who imagines that he can bargain (or enter into 
 covenant) with God to receive eternal life in exchange for them. On the other 
 hand, the men who are saved may be described as every man who through 
 faith looks to Christ alone for eternal life, of which life he has a foretaste in 
 dutiful obedience to God his Saviour. And thus the same commandments are 
 to the one class of men the law of works, and to the other class the law of faith 
 and the law of Christ. The former class are described theologically as being 
 under the covenant of works, and the other under the covenant of grace. 
 1 "The Cunningham Lecture for 1870-71," by James Walker, D.D., page 54. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 3 
 
 But it would be a mistake to say that the covenant of works reigned in Old 
 Testament times, and that the covenant of grace did not begin to reign till New 
 Testament times. On the contrary, the covenant of grace was put within Adam's 
 reach when the triumphs of the promised Saviour were prophetically made known. 
 Faith in Old Testament prophecy then was equivalent to faith in New Testament 
 history now — both including confidence in God, and reliance upon what God 
 says. 
 
 To save space, I have been compelled to express in my own words the 
 above summary of Marrow doctrine. On looking over it, I find that I have not 
 stated that there is an entire chapter 1 on " the law of faith," and another on 
 " the law of Christ." And yet I have correctly represented the author's opinions 
 by saying " the law of faith, otherwise the law of Christ," because in the believer's 
 life the two are really one, that is, one seen from two points of view ; — the first, 
 refusing good works, whether past, present, or future, as the purchase-money of 
 the sinner's salvation ; the second, appointing good works as the business of the 
 new life of the saved sinner. 
 
 I shall now quote some specimens of the author's style. After showing the 
 additional prophetic views of Christ given to Abraham and to believers after him up 
 to the era of the coming of Christ, he thus describes the mental condition of the 
 Jews at that era : — 
 
 " The Scripture seems to hold forth that there were three several sorts of 
 people [among the Jews] who endeavoured to keep the law of God, and they did 
 all of them differ in their ends. 
 
 " The first sort of them were true believers who, according to the measure 
 of their faith, did believe the resurrection of their bodies after death, and eternal 
 life in glory, and that it was to be obtained not by their own works, but by faith 
 in the Messiah or promised seed. And answerably as they believed this, answer- 
 ably they yielded obedience to the law freely, without fear of punishment or hope 
 of reward ; but, alas, the spirit of faith was very weak in the most of them, and 
 the spirit of bondage very strong ; and therefore they stood in need to be induced 
 and constrained to obedience for fear of punishment and hope of reward. 
 
 " The second sort of them were the Sadducees and their sect ; and these did 
 not believe that there was any resurrection, nor any life but the life of this world. 
 And yet they endeavoured to keep the law, that God might bless them here, and 
 that it might go well with them in this present life. 
 
 "The third sort, and indeed the greatest number of them in the future ages 
 after Moses, were the Scribes and Pharisees and their sects ; and they held and 
 maintained that there was a resurrection to be looked for, and an eternal life 
 after death ; and therefore they endeavoured to keep the law, not only to obtain 
 
 1 The headings of the chapters, and the scheme of division into chapters, are by Boston, I 
 suppose ; they are not in the author's editions. 
 
Gt THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 temporal happiness but eternal also. For though it had pleased the Lord to make 
 known unto His people, by the ministry of Moses, that the law was given not to 
 retain men in the confidence of their own works, but to drive them out of them- 
 selves, and lead them to Christ the promised seed ; yet after that time the Priests 
 and the Levites, who were the expounders of the law, and whom the Scribes and 
 Pharisees did succeed, did so conceive and teach of God's intention, in giving the 
 law, as though it had been that they, by their obedience to it, should ohtain 
 righteousness and eternal life. And this opinion was so confidently maintained 
 and so generally embraced amongst them, that in their book Mechilta they say 
 and affirm that there is no other covenant but the law; and so in very deed 
 they conceived that there was no other way to eternal life than the covenant of 
 works " (page 70). 
 
 In the dialogue the above statement is by Evangelista, who is the oracular 
 speaker. In other quotations I shall give his statements in ordinary type, and 
 the remarks of his auditory in italics, without specifying, as to the latter, whether 
 the speaker was Nomista, Antinomista, or Neophytus. 1 
 
 " Well, sir, now I do perceive there was little difference betwixt the Jews' 
 covenant of grace and ours. 
 
 " Truly the opposition betwixt the Jews' covenant of grace and ours was 
 chiefly of their own making. They should have been driven to Christ by the law ; 
 but they expected life in obedience to it, and this was their great error and mistake. 
 
 " And truly, sir, it is no great marvel though they in this jioint did so 
 much err and mistake, who had the covenant of grace made known to them so 
 darkly ; when many amongst us, who have it more clearly manifest, do the like. 
 
 " And truly it is no marvel though all men naturally do so. For man 
 naturally doth apprehend God to be the great Master of heaven, and himself to 
 be His servant ; and that therefore he must do his work before he can have his 
 wages, and the more work he doth, the greater wages he shall have. And hence 
 it was that, when Aristotle came to speak of blessedness, and to pitch upon the 
 next means to that end, he said it was operation and working ; with whom also 
 agreeth Pythagoras, when he saith, It is man's felicity to be like unto God (as 
 how ?) by becoming righteous and holy. 
 
 " And let us not marvel that these men did so err who never heard of 
 Christ nor of the covenant of grace, when those to whom it was made known by 
 the apostles of Christ did the like — witness those to whom the Apostle Paul wrote 
 
 1 Boston, in his Notes, mentions an edition of " The Marrow " with some interwoven addition*, 
 namely, the Ninth Edition, London, 1699 ; but the additions at that date cannot be by Edward 
 Fisher. Whether Boston used that edition to any extent in preparing the text of Lis annotated 
 edition, I am not informed. If any quotations, now presented to my readers, are not to be 
 found, word for word, in Boston's edition, the reason is, that it is more satisfactory to make use 
 of the author's (second) edition. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. G5 
 
 his epistles, and especially the Galatians, for although he had, by his preaching, 
 when he was present with them, made known unto them the doctrine of the 
 covenant of grace, yet after his departure, through the seducement of false 
 teachers, they were soon turned to the covenant of works, and sought to be justi- 
 fied either in whole or in part by it. Nay, what saith Luther ? — -' It is (saith 
 he) the general opinion of man's reason throughout the whole world, that 
 righteousness is gotten by the works of the law. And the reason is, because the 
 covenant of works was engendered in the minds of men in the very creation, so 
 that man naturally can judge no otherwise of the law than as a covenant of works 
 which was given to make righteous, and to give life and salvation.' ' This 
 pernicious opinion of the law, that it justifieth and maketh righteous before God 
 (saith Luther again), is so deeply rooted in man's reason, and all mankind are so 
 wrapped in it, that they can hardly get out.' ' Yea, I myself (saith he) have 
 now preached the Gospel almost twenty years, and have been exercised in the 
 same daily by reading and writing, so that I may well seem to be rid of this 
 wicked opinion ; yet, notwithstanding, I now and then feel this old filth cleave to 
 my heart, whereby it cometh to pass that I would willingly so have to do with 
 God that I would bring something with myself, because of which He should give 
 me His grace ' " (page 89). 
 
 What is considered peculiar to " The Marrow " is the phrase, " The deed of 
 gift ; " therefore I quote the passage which contains and explains this phrase. 
 [I have before me Boston's edition of 1726, as reprinted in 1828 ; and I find that 
 the paragraphs in this passage are arranged quite differently from the author's second 
 edition, with variations in the connecting clauses and sentences. Being without 
 the means of information whether these alterations were (or were not) editorial, I 
 follow the author's own second edition, beginning at the foot of page 118.] 
 
 " The covenant for life and salvation, since the Fall, is not that covenant of 
 tvorks that was betwixt God and Christ. For none of Christ's have anything to 
 do with that, but Christ only. 
 
 " But the covenant of life and salvation is that covenant of grace which is 
 betwixt Christ and His [John xvii. 6]. And in that covenant there is not any 
 condition or law to be performed, on man's part, by himself. No ; there is no 
 more for him to do, but only to know and believe that Christ hath done all for 
 him. Wherefore, my dear neighbour Neophytus, I beseech you, be persuaded 
 that here you are to work nothing, here you are to do nothing, here you are to 
 render nothing unto God, but only to receive the treasure, which is Jesus Christ, 
 and apprehend Him in your heart by faith, although you be never so great a 
 sinner ; and so shall you obtain forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal 
 happiness, not as an agent but as a patient, not by doing but by receiving. 
 Nothing here cometh betwixt, but faith only, apprehending Christ in the promise. 
 This then is perfect righteousness, to hear nothing, to know nothing, to do 
 
 I 
 
66 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 nothing of the law or works — but only to know and believe that Jesus Christ is 
 now gone to the Father, and sitteth at His right hand, not as a judge, but 'is made 
 unto you of God wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption ' ; where- 
 fore saith the Apostle, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 saved.' 
 
 " But, sir, hath such a one as I any Warrant to believe in Christ 1 
 " I beseech you, consider that God the Father, as He is in His Son Jesus Christ, 
 moved with nothing but His free love to mankind lost, hath made A deed OF GIFT 
 and grant unto them all, that whosoever, of them all, shall believe in this His 
 Son, shall not perish but have eternal life. And hence it was that Jesus Christ 
 Himself said unto His disciples, ' Go and preach the Gospel to every creature 
 under heaven,' that is, go and tell every man without exception that here is good 
 news for him, Christ is dead for him ; and if he will take Him, and accept of His 
 righteousness, he shall have HlM. Therefore (saith a godly Writer) forasmuch as 
 the Holy Scripture speaketh to all in general, none of its ought to distrust him- 
 self, but believe that it doth belong particularly to himself. 
 
 " Do not you say {i.e., do not say), It may be I am not elected, and therefore 
 I will not believe in Christ. But rather say, I do believe in Christ, and therefore 
 I am sure I am elected. And check your own heart for meddling with God's 
 secrets, and prying into His hidden counsel ; and go no more beyond your bounds, 
 as you have done in this point. For election and reprobation is a secret, and the 
 Scripture tells Us that " secret things belong unto God, but those things that 
 are revealed belong unto us.' NoW this is God's revealed will, for indeed it is 
 His express command, that you should believe on the name of His Son ; and it is 
 His promise, that if you believe you shall not perish, but have everlasting life. 
 Wherefore you, having so good a warrant as God's command, and so good an 
 encouragement as His promise, do your duty ; and by the doing thereof you may 
 put it out of question, and be sure that you are one of God's elect. 
 
 " Say then, I beseech you, with a firm faith. The righteousness of Jesus 
 Christ belongs to all that believe, but I believe, therefore it belongs to me. Yea, 
 and say with Paul, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave 
 Himself for me. He saw in me (saith Luther on the text, Galatians ii. 20) 
 nothing but wickedness, going astray, and flying from Him ; yet this good Lord 
 had mercy on me, and of His mere mercy He loved me ; yea, He so loved me 
 that He gave Himself for me. Who is this me ? Even I, wretched and damnable 
 sinner, was so dearly beloved of the Son of God, that he gave Himself for me. O 
 print this word in your heart, and apply it to your own self ; not doubting but 
 you are one of those to whom this me belongeth. 
 
 " But may such a vile and sinful wretch as 1 am be persuaded that God 
 commands me to believe, and that He hath made a promise to me ? 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 07 
 
 " Why do you make a question where there is none to be made ? Go (saith 
 Christ) and preach the Gospel to every creature under heaven, that is, go tell 
 every man, without exception, whatsoever his sins be — go and tell him these glad 
 tidings, that if he will come in, I will accept of him, his sins shall be forgiven 
 him, and he shall be saved." 
 
 Having undertaken to give my readers a description of " The Marrow," I must 
 here mention that although Evangelista speaks in this assuring manner when he 
 gives God's good news to his well-beloved Neophytus, yet for the sake of having 
 a good hit at Antinomista, he elsewhere brings forth the following statement : — 
 " True faith is produced by the secret power of God by little and little, so that 
 sometimes a true believer himself neither k n °ws the time when, nor the manner 
 how, it was wrought ; so that we may perceive that true faith is not ordinarily 
 begun, increased, and finished all in a moment, as it seems yours was, but groweth 
 by degrees according to that of the Apostle, Rom. i. 17, ' The righteousness of 
 God is revealed from faith to faith,' that is, from one degree of faith to another, 
 from a weak faith to a strong faith, or from faith of adherence to faith of assur- 
 ance ; but so was not yours. And, again, true faith according to the measure of 
 it produceth holiness of life, but it seems yours doth not so " (page 110). 
 
 The last clause of this quotation is excellent — the clause concerning faith as 
 the producer of holiness. But it belongs to the departrnent of self-examination, 
 to which we come afterwards. 
 
 But as to the laudation of hearers, who, in spite of the counsel scripturally 
 given to them as well as to Neophytus, refuse to draw near to the Saviour with 
 full assurance of faith — such laudation should not have been indulged in, even 
 for the sake of having a good hit at Antinomista. It is no part of the duty of a 
 Gospel minister to fabricate good hits against any sinner whatsoever. If any 
 hits are truly good, they are to be found in God's Word : these as a messenger 
 he may repeat with a wise and loving discretion. But the above-quoted hit is 
 not in the Scriptures, and therefore is neither good nor right, 
 
 The author does quote Scripture, but not to the point ; and therefore his 
 foundation is not scriptural. The interpretation of Romans i. 1 7 is unsatisfactory. 
 The text of his paragraph is our Lord's parable (Mark iv. 26); but that refers to 
 the gradual growth of the kingdom of Christ in the world, and to the gradual 
 sanctification of individuals ; and what may be truly said in biography or history, 
 is not always appropriate to Gospel preaching. In uninspired biographies we 
 sometimes read of believers who are said to have had no consolation at the early 
 stages of the life of faith. But perhaps we ought also to have been informed that 
 theologians warned those persons that sensations of joy and consolation are 
 irregular and unbecoming in a new convert. Such a warning being unscriptural, 
 any experience, occasioned by subjection to it, is unworthy of commendation or 
 imitation. 
 
G8 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 When, in a later portion of the dialogue, Evangelista proceeds to recommend 
 self-examination, he is on scriptural ground, and his remarks are worthy of 
 universal attention. In answer to Antinomista's suggestion — " If an unbeliever 
 may have a resemblance of every grace that is wrought in a believer, then it must 
 needs be a hard matter to find out the difference ; and therefore I conceive it is 
 best for a man not to trouble himself at all with marks and signs "• — Evangelista 
 replies, " Give me leave to deal plainly with you in telling you that although ive 
 cannot say, every one that hath a form of godliness hath also the power of godli- 
 ness ; yet we may truly say, that he who hath not the form of godliness hath 
 not the power of godliness. For though all be not gold that glistereth, yet all 
 gold doth glister. And therefore I tell you truly, if you have no regard to make 
 the law of Christ your rule, by endeavouring to do what is required in the ten 
 commandments, and to avoid what is there forbidden, it is a very evil sign, and 
 therefore, 1 pray you, consider of it" (page 168). 
 
 A conversation with a young believer, concerning 2 Cor. xiii. 5, G, is recorded, 
 a part of which I quote : — 
 
 " Truly, sir, I ivas thinking of that place of Scripture, where the Apostle 
 exhorts us to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith or no. ... I would 
 gladly hear how 1 may be sure that I am in the faith. 
 
 " I would not have you to make any question of it, since you have grounded 
 your faith upon such a firm foundation as will never fail you. . . . 
 
 " . . . I would fain know how I may be assured that I have done so. 
 
 " Well, now I understand you what you mean. It seems you do not want 
 a ground for your believing [in Christ], but for your believing that you have be- 
 lieved Look back and reflect upon your own heart, and consider what 
 
 actions have passed through there ; for, indeed, this is the benefit that a reason- 
 able soul hath, that it is able to return upon itself to see what it has done, which 
 the soul of a beast cannot do. Consider then, I pray you, whether the free and 
 full promise of God in Christ hath not been so cleared unto you that you had 
 nothing to object why it did not belong particularly to you — and whether you 
 have not seen a readiness and willingness in Christ to receive and embrace you as 
 His beloved spouse — and whether you have not thereupon consented, and resolved 
 to take Christ and to give up yourself to Him — and whether you have not, since 
 that, found in your heart a love to Christ and His law, and a readiness and will- 
 ingness to do your duty to God as a child to his father, freely, without fear of 
 hell or hope of heaven. 
 
 " / desire to hear how a man may know that Jesus Christ is in him. 
 " Why, if Christ be in a man, He lives in him, as saith the Apostle, ' I live 
 not, but Christ liveth in me.' 
 
 " But how then shall a man know that Christ lives in him ? 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. G9 
 
 " Why, in what man soever Christ liveth, according to the measure of his 
 faith, He executes His threefold office in him, namely, His Prophetical, Priestly, 
 and Kingly office" (page 213). 
 
 In Boston's edition of " The Marrow," there is interwoven with the dialogue 
 a lengthened essay, endeavouring to explain, with greater accuracy and caution 
 than Dr Crisp, some doctrinal statements intended for the consolation of believers. 
 Because, however, I cannot find this essay in the author's own (second) edition, I 
 content myself with quoting nothing except the statements themselves, and the 
 judicious verdict of the Essayist. 
 
 THE STATEMENTS. 
 
 " 1. That a believer is not under the law, but it is altogether delivered 
 from it. 
 
 " 2. That a believer does not commit sin. 
 
 " 3. That the Lord can see no sin in a believer. 
 
 " 4. That the Lord is not angry with a believer for his sins. 
 
 " 5. That the Lord doth not chastise a believer for his sins. 
 
 "6. That a believer hath no cause, neither to confess his sins nor to crave 
 pardon at the hand of God for them, neither yet to fast, nor mourn, nor humble 
 himself before the Lord for them." 
 
 THE VERDICT. 
 
 " These points which you have now mentioned have occasioned many needless 
 and fruitless disputes, and that because men have either not understood what 
 they have said, or else not declared whereof they have affirmed. For, in one 
 sense, they may all of them be truly affirmed ; and, in another sense, they may 
 all of them be truly denied." 1 
 
 The Gospel theory that the moral law is the rule of life to believers, is more 
 fully treated in the Second Part of " The Marrow." But, in the First Part, that 
 fundamental truth finds its place. In former quotations this has sufficiently 
 appeared. To the same effect are the following sentiments quoted from Luther :• — 
 
 "Do you say, If the law do not justify, then it is vain, and of none effect; 
 if faith be only and alone sufficient unto righteousness, we may go play then, and 
 work no working at all ? 
 
 " Will you say, Money doth not justify or make a man righteous, therefore 
 it is unprofitable — the eyes do not justify, therefore they must be plucked out — ■ 
 the hands make not a man righteous, therefore they must be cut off? 
 
 1 See chapter VI. of tin's part of my work. 
 
70 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " This also is naught, that the law doth not justify, therefore it is unpro- 
 fitable, 
 
 " We do not, therefore, destroy and condemn the law because we say it 
 doth not justify. But we say with Paul, the law is good if a man do rightly use 
 it ; and that this is a faithful saying, that they which have believed in God might 
 be careful to maintain good works : these things are good and profitable unto 
 men." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Marrow, Part Second. 1648. 
 
 By Edward Fisher, Graduate of Oxford University. 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 Extracts from various Authors on the Origin of Christian Obedience. 
 
 " The Marrow," as originally compiled, was not intended to be regarded other- 
 wise than as a complete book. However, in the course of three years, the author 
 issued a Second Part, and thus gave his final answer to all the adversaries of his 
 scriptural faith who had misrepresented it as if it made void the law of God. 
 This work is fully described in its title-page : — 
 
 " The Second Part of the Marrow of Modern Divinity. Touching the most 
 plain, pithy, and spiritual Exposition of the Ten Commandments ; the examina- 
 tion of the heart and life by them; the reason why the Lord gave them ; and the 
 use that both unbelievers and believers are to make of them. 
 
 " Profitable for any man who either desires to be driven out of himself to 
 Christ, or so to walk as that he may please Christ. 
 
 " In a dialogue betwixt Evangelista, a minister of the Gospel ; Nomologista, 
 a prattler about the law ; and Neophytus, a young Christian. 
 
 " By E. F., Author of the First Part. 
 
 " 1 Tim. i. 8. We know the law is good, if a man use it lavjfully." 
 
 Comparing the speakers in this second dialogue with those in the first, we 
 find that the scene is changed. Antinomista has been satisfactorily silenced in 
 the first dialogue, where also Nomista has renounced the hope of establishing a 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 71 
 
 righteousness of his own. Now, in the Second Part, Neophytus both asks for 
 more instruction for himself, and also introduces another friend named Nomo- 
 logista, who has not Nomista's high standard, but " is persuaded that he goes very- 
 near the perfect fulfilling of the law of God ; " and this " prattler of the law " 
 acknowledges the truth of his neighbour's allegation concerning him. 
 
 With the twofold view of instructing Neophytus in everyday duty, and of 
 convincing Nomologista of his need of the Saviour of sinners, Evangelista occupies 
 the most of this volume in expounding the Ten Commandments, according to a 
 system that brings out their grand spirit and their extensive application. 
 
 For the awakening of religionists of the Nomista type, he makes the follow- 
 ing allusion to the manner in which our Saviour was pleased to " deal with that 
 young expounder of the law (Matt. xix. 16), who, it seems, was sick of the same 
 disease." " Good Master," saith he, " what shall I do that I may inherit eternal 
 life. He doth not (saith Calvin) simply ask, which way or by what means he 
 should come to eternal life, but what good he should do to get it. Whereby it 
 appears that he was a proud justiciary — one that swelled in fleshly opinion that 
 he could keep the law and be saved by it. Therefore he is worthily sent to the 
 law to work himself weary, and to see his need to come to Christ for remedy." 
 
 To Nomologista the reverend Evangelista appropriately speaks in a some- 
 what different strain. The following is a part of the dialogue : — 
 
 " Truly, neighbour Nomologista, if I may speak it without offence, I fear 
 me you are still of the works of the law, and therefore still under the curse. 
 
 " Why, sir, I pray you what is it to be of the works of the law ? 
 
 " To be of the works of the law is for a man to look for, or hope, to be 
 justified or accepted in the sight of God for his own obedience to the law. 
 
 " But surely, sir, I never did so. For though, by reason of my being 
 ignorant of what is required and forbidden in every commandment? 1 had a 
 conceit that I came very near the perfect fulfilling of the law, yet I never 
 thought I did do all things that are contained therein ; and therefore I never 
 looked for, nor hoped, that God would accept me for my own obedience without 
 Christ's being joined with it. 
 
 " Then it seemeth that you did conceive that your obedience and Christ's 
 obedience must be joined together, and so God would accept you for that. 
 
 " Yea indeed, sir, there hath been my hopes, and indeed there is still 
 my hopes. 
 
 " Aye, but neighbour Nomologista, as I told my neighbour Neophytus and 
 others not long since, so I tell you now, that as the justice of God requires a 
 perfect obedience, so doth it require that this perfect obedience be a personal 
 obedience, namely, it must be the obedience of one person only. The obedience 
 
 1 Nomologista had listened attentively to the whole of Evangelista's exposition of the Ten 
 Commandments. 
 
72 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of two must not be put together to make up a perfect obedience. And indeed, 
 to say as the thing is, God will have none to have a hand in the justification and 
 salvation of any man, but Christ only ; for, saith the Apostle Peter, Acts iv. ] 2, 
 Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under 
 heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Believe it, then, I beseech 
 you, that Christ Jesus will either be a whole Saviour or no Saviour ; He will 
 either save you alone, or not save you at all." 
 
 Although Nomologista is ultimately convinced, yet, in the process of skir- 
 mishing, the following objection and its answer occur : — 
 
 Objection. — " Why then, sir, it should seem that not only natural men, but 
 regenerate men also are under the curse of the law. For if every one that 
 keepeth not the law perfectly be concluded under the curse, and if regenerate 
 men do not keep the law perfectly, then they also must needs be under the 
 curse." 
 
 Answer. — " The conclusion of your argument is not true. For, if by re- 
 generate men you mean true believers, then they have fulfilled the law perfectly 
 in Christ, or rather Christ hath perfectly fulfilled the law in them, and was made 
 a curse for them, and so hath redeemed them from the curse of the law, as you 
 may see (Gal. iii. 13.)" 
 
 The true doctrine of the necessity of everyday obedience in a believer's life 
 appears, when you accurately observe the difference between being delivered from 
 the curse of the law, and being set free from obedience to it. Perhaps some 
 non-theological readers have misapprehended the meaning of the words, " the 
 curse of the law," and may have thought that they implied the irreligious senti- 
 ment that the law is " a curse," or, in everyday language, that it is " a nuisance" 
 — -"a great bother" — "an unbearable tax or exaction." Such, of course, is not 
 the meaning. In the Scriptures, the meaning of " a curse " is a sentence of 
 condemnation ; " the curse of the law" is the law's curse, or the lawgiver's curse, 
 the sentence pronounced by God the lawgiver against the lawless and disobedient. 
 A man suffering the execution of a legal sentence is also said to be " cursed," or to 
 be " made a curse." The Divine Redeemer came forward and suffered the exe- 
 cution of the sentence of God's law in the stead of all those sinners who became 
 believers in Him ; and thus He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, hav- 
 ing been made a curse instead of us. We who believe in Christ are delivered 
 from eternal punishment, but not from the eternal obligation to keep God's com- 
 mandments. In fact, we receive a new and special charge to keep them ; this 
 is well put in the Second Part of " The Marrow," and may be here quoted as 
 defining the origin of Christian obedience. 
 
 " So soon as any man doth truly believe, and so is justified in the sight of 
 God, then (as the Holy Ghost from the testimony of holy writ doth warrant us 
 to conceive), Jesus Christ, or, which is all one, God in Christ, doth deliver unto 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 73 
 
 him whatsoever is required and forbidden in the Ten Commandments, saying, 
 This handwriting, even this law of commandments, which was against thee, and 
 contrary unto thee, . . . My Father hath delivered it into Mine hands, and I 
 have blotted out the curse or penalty, so that one letter or tittle remains not for 
 thee to see. Yea, I have taken it out of thy way, and fastened it to My cross, 
 yea, and torn it in pieces with the nails of My cross ; so that it is altogether 
 frustrate, and hath no force at all against thee. 
 
 " Yet, notwithstanding, the matter contained in this law, even those pre- 
 cepts and prohibitions which I have now delivered unto thee, being the mind 
 and will of My Father, and the eternal and unchangeable rule of righteousness, 
 and that which is in My heart (Psalm xl. 8) — yea, and that which I have pro- 
 mised to write in the hearts of all those that are Mine (Jeremiah xxxi. 33) — ■ 
 yea, and that which I have promised to make them yield willing obedience unto 
 (Psalm ex. 3) — I and My Father do commend it unto thee as that rule of obedi- 
 ence whereby thou art to express thy love and thankfulness unto us for what we 
 have done for thee. And, therefore, I say no more unto thee but this, If thou 
 love Me, keep My commandments (John xiv. 15), and thou art My friend if thou 
 do whatsoever I command thee (John xv. 14)." 
 
 Here, also, is an eloquent passage which gives a summary of the motives 
 and principles of Christian obedience : — 
 
 " Though faith in the blood of Christ hath made your peace with God as a 
 Judge, yet obedience must keep your peace with Him as a Father. Yea, the 
 more your conscience witnesseth that you do that which pleaseth God, the more 
 encouragement you will have, and the more confidently you will approach towards 
 God in prayer. Beloved, saith the loving Apostle, if our hearts condemn us not, 
 then have we boldness towards God. Furthermore you are to know, that the 
 more obedience you yield unto the Ten Commandments, the more temporal bless- 
 ings, outward prosperity, and comfort of this life (in the ordinary course of God's 
 dealing) you shall have. 0, saith the Lord, that My people had hearkened unto Me, 
 and Israel had walked in My ways, He should soon have fed them with the finest 
 of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. Besides, 
 the more obedience you yield unto the Ten Commandments, the more glory you 
 will bring to God, according to that of our Saviour, John xv. 8, ' Herein is My 
 Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.' To conclude, the more obedience you 
 yield unto the Ten Commandments, the more good you will do unto others, accord- 
 ing to that of the Apostle, Titus iii. 8, This is a faithful saying, and these things 
 I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in Christ might 
 be careful to maintain good works ; these things are good and profitable unto men." 
 
 With regard to the exposition of the Ten Commandments, a curious literary 
 story might be told. Edward Fisher's preface was dated 21st September 1648. 
 During the interval between 1645 and 1648, the Westminster Assembly of 
 
 K 
 
74 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Divines had been engaged in the preparation and publication of their famous 
 catechisms. Both their larger and lesser catechisms were presented to the House 
 of Commons in the latter part of 1647 (they were adopted by the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1648). Fisher seems to have been greatly 
 impressed by their catechetical commentary on the Ten Commandments ; yet, 
 apart from treatises, the only catechism to which he refers as an authority is the 
 Heidelberg Catechism, and the expositions of it by Ursinus and Bastingius. Being 
 a royalist, and intimately associated with cavalier comrades, he evidently felt that 
 any recognition of catechisms issued by the Assembly of Divines would hinder 
 them from reading his own book, and shut them out from any religious edification 
 which otherwise they might consent to receive from him. His plan being to 
 place at the beginning of the book a summary of rules for interpreting the com- 
 mandments, he produces six admirable rules, but takes no notice of the West- 
 minster Larger Catechism, to which he is substantially indebted. Much of the 
 language, however, is his own, and, therefore, it may be interesting to read his 
 version of the rules. 
 
 " He that would truly understand and expound the Commandments must do 
 it according to these six rules : — 
 
 " First, He must consider that every commandment hath both a negative 
 and an affirmative part contained in it ; that is to say, where any evil is forbidden, 
 the contrary good is commanded; and where any good is commanded, the contrary 
 evil is forbidden : for, saith Ursinus's Catechism, the Lawgiver doth in an affirm- 
 ative commandment comprehend the negative, and, contrarywise, in a negative 
 he comprehendeth the affirmative. 
 
 " Secondly, He must consider that, under one good action commanded, or 
 one evil action forbidden, all of the same kind or nature are comprehended ; yea, 
 all occasions and means leading thereunto, according to the saying of judicious 
 Virel, The Lord minding to forbid divers evils of the same kind, He comprehendeth 
 them under the name of the greatest. 
 
 " Thirdly, He must consider that the law of God is spiritual, reaching to 
 the very heart or soul, and all the powers thereof. For it chargeth the under- 
 standing to know the will of God ; it chargeth the memory to retain ; and the 
 will to choose the better and to leave the worse. It chargeth the affections to 
 love the things that are to be loved, and hate the things that are to be hated; and 
 so bindeth all the powers of the soul to obedience, as well as the words, thoughts, 
 and gestures. 
 
 " Fourthly, He must consider that the law of God must not only be the 
 rule of our obedience, but it must also be the reason of it. We must not only 
 do that which is there commanded, and avoid that which is there forbidden ; but 
 we must also do the good because the Lord requireth it, and avoid the evil 
 because the Lord forbiddeth it ; yea, and we must do all that is delivered and 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 75 
 
 prescribed in the law for the love we bear to God. The love of God must be 
 the fountain, the impulsive and efficient cause, of all our obedience to the law. 
 
 " Fifthly, He must consider that as our obedience to the law must arise from 
 a right fountain, so it must be directed to a right end, and that is, that God alone 
 may be glorified by us; for otherwise it is not the worship of God but hypocrisy, 
 saith Ursinus's Catechism. So that, according to the saying of another godly 
 writer (Mr Whatley), the final cause, or end, of all our obedience must be God's 
 glory, or (which is all one) that we may please Him ; for in seeking to please God 
 we glorify Him, and these two things are always coincident. 
 
 " Sixthly, He must consider that the Lord doth not only take notice what 
 we do in obedience to His law, but also after what manner we do it. And, there- 
 fore, we must be careful to do all our actions after a right manner, namely, 
 humbly, reverently, willingly, and zealously." 
 
 Some peculiarly consolatory matter as to the origin of Christian obedience is 
 to be found in the Westminster Exposition of the Preface to the Ten Command- 
 ments. While quoting this, I shall include those questions and answers in the 
 Larger Catechism which explain the distinct uses of the law to the un regenerate, 
 and to the regenerate — which explanations coincide with " Marrow " doctrine. 
 
 The Larger Catechism. 
 
 " 9 i. Is there any use of the moral law to man since the fall ? 
 
 " Although no man, since the fall, can attain to righteousness of life by the 
 moral law; yet there is great use thereof, as well common to all men, as peculiar 
 either to the unregenerate or the regenerate. 
 
 " 95. Of what use is the moral laiv to all men? 
 
 " The moral law is of use to all men, to inform them of the holy nature and 
 will of God, and of their duty binding them to walk accordingly ; to convince 
 them of their disability to keep it, and of the sinful pollution of their nature, 
 hearts, and lives ; to humble them in the sense of their sin and misery, and 
 thereby help them to a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and of the 
 perfection of His obedience. 
 
 "9 6. What 'particular use is there of the moral law to unrcgenerate 
 men ? 
 
 " The moral law is of use to unregenerate men to awaken their consciences 
 to flee from w T rath to come, and to drive them to Christ ; or upon their continu- 
 ance in the estate and way of sin to leave them inexcusable and under the curse 
 thereof. 
 
 "97. What special use is there of the moral law to the regenerate? 
 
 " Although they that are regenerate and believe in Christ be delivered from 
 
76 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 the moral law as a covenant of works, so as thereby they are neither justified nor 
 condemned ; yet, besides the general uses thereof common to them with all men, 
 it is of special use to show them how much they are bound to Christ for fulfilling 
 it, and enduring the curse thereof in their stead and for their good, and thereby 
 to provoke them to more thankfulness, and to express the same in their greater 
 care to conform themselves thereunto as the rule of their obedience. 
 " 101. What is the preface to the ten commandments'} 
 " The preface to the ten commandments is contained in these words, ' / am 
 the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the 
 house of bondage.' Wherein God manifesteth His sovereignty as being Jehovah, 
 the eternal, immutable, and Almighty God, having His being in and of Himself, 
 and giving being to all His words and works ; and that He is a God in covenant, 
 as with Israel of old, so with all His people, who, as He brought them out of 
 their bondage in Eg}'pt, so He delivereth us from our spiritual thraldom ; and 
 that, therefore, we are bound to take Him for our God alone, and to keep all His 
 commandments." 
 
 The Lesser Catechism. 
 (Now called The Shorter Catechism). 
 
 " 44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us ? 
 
 " The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, that because God is the 
 Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all His com- 
 mandments." 
 
 When we consult the commentators, we find Dr Ridgley observing that 
 " some think that this is a part of the first commandment, .... or else 
 they suppose it to be a reason annexed to this commandment in particular. But 
 (says Dr R.) it seems most probable that it is a preface to all the commandments, 
 and, accordingly, to be applied as a motive to enforce obedience to every one of 
 them." " As to what respects God's having brought Israel out of the land of 
 Egypt, out of the house of bondage, — this is to be extended farther than that 
 particular providence which was fresh in their memories. And, therefore, it 
 denotes all the deliverances which God is pleased to vouchsafe to His people, 
 whether temporal or spiritual ; and, in particular, that which was procured for us 
 by Christ from the bondage and thraldom of sin and satan, the condemnation and 
 sentence of the law, together with that salvation which is inseparably connected 
 with it ; which is to be improved by us as an inducement to yield universal 
 obedience to all God's commandments." The moral law, addressing itself to the 
 regenerate, " is said [in the Catechism] to show them how much they are bound 
 to Christ for fulfilling it, and enduring the curse thereof in their stead, and for 
 their good. In Romans x. 4, Christ is said to be the end of the law for right- 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 77 
 
 eousness; that is, He has answered the end and demand of the law by performing 
 that obedience which it requires, and thereby procuring a justifying righteousness, 
 which is applied to every one that believes. This lays them under a superadded 
 obligation to obedience, peculiar to them as believers ; so that they are not only 
 engaged to the practice of universal holiness from the consideration of the 
 sovereignty of God commanding, in common with all others, but from the love of 
 Christ which does (as it were) constrain them hereunto. And hereby they are 
 provoked to more thankfulness, as they have greater inducements hereunto than 
 any others ; and this gratitude cannot be better expressed than by the utmost 
 care to approve themselves to Him in all things. Therefore the grace of God is 
 so far from leading to licentiousness, that all who have experienced it are hereby 
 put upon the exercise of that obedience which they owe to God as their right- 
 ful Lord and Sovereign, and to Christ as their gracious Redeemer, whom they love 
 entirely, and therefore keep His commandments." 
 
 In his Exposition of the Shorter Catechism, Flavel has the following ques- 
 tions and answers: — 
 
 What is the third argument unto obedience ? The benefits of redemption 
 that they receive from God. Benefits persuade to duty ; and " the goodness of 
 God leads to i - epentance " (Rom. ii. 4). 
 
 How can deliverance out of Egypt be an argument to them that never were 
 in Egypt ? As that deliverance was a type of our deliverance, so 'tis an argument 
 to us, and [as] an argument from the less to the greater so it obligeth us more than 
 them, Luke i. 74, 75, "That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered 
 out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and 
 righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." 
 
 What is the deliverance we have 1 and hoiv doth it oblige us to obedience ? 
 Our deliverance is not from Egypt but from hell, " Who hath delivered us from 
 the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son" 
 (Col. i. 1 3). And our persons are bought by the Redeemer to glorify God, 1 Cor. 
 vi. 19, 20, " What ? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost 
 which is in you ? for ye are bought with a price : wherefore glorify God in your 
 body, and in your spirits, which are God's." 
 
 Is it not mercenary to serve God upon the account of benefits received or 
 to be received ? He that makes religious duties mediums to attain carnal advan- 
 tages only, is of a worse than mercenary spirit. But to be quickened by mercy 
 to duty is not mercenary but evangelical. Hosea iii. 5, " They shall fear the 
 Lord and His goodness." 
 
 Similar sentiments are more amply expressed in Boston's " Body of 
 Divinity " : — 
 
 " All true obedience to the ten commandments now must run in the channel 
 of the covenant of grace, being directed to God as our God in that covenant." 
 
78 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " This obedience is performed not for righteousness, but to testify our love 
 to the Lord our Righteousness; not in our own strength, but in that of our Lord 
 God and Redeemer ; not be accepted for its own worth, but for the sake of a 
 Redeemer's merits ; not out of fear of hell, or hope to purchase heaven, but out 
 of love and gratitude to Him who has delivered us from hell, and purchased 
 heaven and everlasting happiness for us." 
 
 " The true way to attain to the obedience of these commandments is first to 
 believe that God is our God in Christ, and then to set about the performance of 
 them ; first to believe, and then to do. The attempting it the contrary way, 
 placing obedience first before faith, is entirely contrary to the Lord's method. 
 Thus to believe strengthens the soul for obedience." 
 
 "Benefits received are most powerful engagements to duty, and the greatest 
 benefits are the strongest engagements." 
 
 " Can we reflect on the great salvation wrought for us by Jesus Christ, by 
 which we were saved from all the sorrows of sin and hell, rescued from the power 
 of satan, and delivered from the present evil world, and the pollutions thereof — 
 can we reflect on these great and glorious benefits which afford astonishment to 
 men and angels — and our hearts not glow with the warmest fire of love and grati- 
 tude to Him who hath done such excellent things for us ? Can we hesitate a 
 moment to say, Good is Thy will, God ; just and holy are Thy laws ; and we 
 will cheerfully obey what Thou commandest us ? " 
 
 It should be remembered that the above comments do not necessarily open 
 a door for historical criticism. They answer the question, What doth the preface 
 to the Ten Commandments teach us ? The teachings which have been just 
 quoted are good, whether the text be appropriate or not. Dr Ridgley says that 
 it is probably a suitable text. To readers who dissent even from this probability, 
 we suggest another text, Psalm cxxx. 4, " There is forgiveness with Thee, that 
 Thou mayest be feared." 
 
 On that text the eminent Dr Bates writes, " 'Tis both the duty and dispo- 
 sition of those who have received the pardon of their sins, to fear the Lord and 
 His goodness. There is no principle more clearly natural and sensible than this 
 — dependence includes observance; the receiving of benefits obliges a person to 
 the benefactor. Accordingly, the Psalmist expresses the affections of the human 
 and the holy nature, What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits ? and 
 breaks out in an ecstasy of thankfulness, Lord, truly I am Thy servant ; I am 
 Thy servant, Thou hast broken my bands. The repenting believer receives pardon 
 from God with joyful admiration, that fastens his mind in the contemplation of 
 His glorious mercy. The serious thought of it kindles a sacred fire in the breast, 
 as 'tis said of Mary Magdalene, Much was forgiven her (for she loved much). 
 Love to God that results from His pardoning love to us is singular and supreme, 
 and necessarily produces an ardent desire to please and glorify Him, and an 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 79 
 
 ingenuous grateful fear of offending Him. The soul that has felt the terrors of 
 the Lord as the holy and righteous Judge of the world, and afterward has been 
 revived by the light of His countenance, and has tasted how good the Lord is — how 
 is it possible to resist such dear and immense obligations ? How prodigious to 
 turn the strongest and sweetest engagement to reverence and obedience into an 
 encouragement to do that which is odious and offensive in His sight ! To sin 
 against light heightens sin into rebellion, but to sin against revealed love makes 
 it above measure sinful. This is so contrary to natural conscience and supernatural 
 grace, that 'tis the leprosy of the wicked, not the spot of God's children. Do 
 ye thus requite the Lord, foolish people andtcnivise? — the upbraiding reduces 
 them to a defenceless silence, and covers them in black confusion. When divine 
 grace pardons our past sins, it cures our depraved inclination to future sins. 
 
 " The clearest discovery of the heart is by reflections on God's mercy. The 
 fear of God's justice is natural, the reverent regard of His goodness is a spiritual 
 affection. There is a great difference between filial fear of the divine goodness 
 (that is so becoming the breast of a Christian and so congruous to our present 
 state) and servile fear (that is the proper character of one in the bondage of 
 sin). 
 
 " The filial fear of God is an ingenuous voluntary affection flowing from love, 
 and freely exercised, and esteemed the treasure of the soul. It makes us more 
 circumspect but not less comfortable. It opposes security, but establishes the 
 assurance of faith. The fear of the Lord and hope in His mercy are united 
 graces. Filial fear keeps the soul close to God, makes it solicitous lest any sin 
 should intercept the light of His countenance, and obstruct communion with Him 
 which is the paradise of a saint." 
 
 President Witherspoon has an equally able and instructive discourse on the 
 same text. He says — 
 
 " If we takj the fear of God in the text to signify the whole of that duty 
 and obedience we owe to Him, their connection between forgiveness with God and 
 His being feared appears from the following considerations. 
 
 " A discovery of the mercy of God is absolutely necessary to His being loved 
 and served by those who have once been sinners. Despair of mercy drives the 
 sinner from God, presents Him only as the object of terror and aversion, and 
 (instead of having the least influence in bringing us to obedience) confirms the 
 guilty in his rebellious opposition to his Maker. This must be manifest to every 
 hearer. There can be no religion at all, either in inclination or performance, if 
 there be no forgiveness with God. How should any so much as attempt what 
 they believe to be an unprofitable labour ? 
 
 " As a discovery of the mercy of God is absolutely necessary to our serving 
 Him at all, so it is perhaps of all others the most powerful motive to induce us 
 to serve Him in sincerity. Nothing whatever more illustrates the divine glory. 
 
80 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 It presents Him as the proper object of worship, of confidence, and of love. 
 When a sinner is once burdened with a sense of guilt, sees the demerit of His 
 transgressions, and feels the justice of his own sentence, what an inconceivable 
 relief must it give him to see the divine mercy ! and how infinitely amiable 
 must the God of mercy appear in his eyes ! Others may reason at ease upon 
 the subject ; he is transported with unspeakable joy on the prospect. His heart 
 is immediately taken captive ; he feels His constraining power, and yields himself 
 willing to every demand of duty and gratitude. 
 
 " From what hath been said, you may see of how much moment it is to the 
 Christian to keep clear views of the mercy of God, as well as of his own interest 
 in it. The moment he loses the comfortable sense of peace with God, his chariot- 
 wheels are troubled, and he drives heavily. It makes his duty burdensome, and 
 his trials unsupportable. . . . Hear what your Saviour says, John xvi. 33, 
 ' These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the 
 world.'" 
 
 Dr Gill's comments will fittingly conclude this chapter : — 
 
 " There is forgiveness with Thee ; or, there is a propitiation with Thee, as 
 the septuagint and vulgate Latin versions render it. God had found out Christ 
 to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin and the ransom of His people, and set Him 
 forth in His purposes and decrees for that end, which was made known by the 
 sacrifices of the law typical of it. And in the fulness of time He sent Him to be 
 the propitiation for sin ; and He is become so, and has made reconciliation for 
 sin, and reconciled His people to God by the sufferings of death, and reconciled 
 all the divine perfections of justice and holiness, grace and mercy, together, in 
 the salvation of men ; and is now an advocate with the Father for them, pleading 
 the propitiatory sacrifice of Himself before Him. 
 
 " That Thou mayest be feared. Were it not for pardon and the hope of it, 
 men would be desperate, and, having no hope, would resolve upon taking their 
 swing of sin, and be entirely negligent of the worship and service of God. Was 
 there no forgiveness of sin, there would be no more fear of God among men than 
 there is among devils for whom there is no forgiveness ; there might be dread 
 and trembling as among them, but no godly fear. Yea, if God was strictly to 
 mark iniquity and not pardon it, there would be none to fear Him ; all must be 
 condemned and cut off by Him. But, in order to secure and preserve His fear 
 among men, He has taken the step He has, to pardon sin through the propitiatory 
 sacrifice of His Son. And a discovery, and an application, of His grace teaches 
 men to fear to offend Him, influences them to serve Him acceptably with rever- 
 ence and godly fear, and engages them to fear Him and His goodness, and Him 
 for His goodness' sake." 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification. 
 
 By Rev. Walter Marshall, 31. A., Vicar of Hursley in the Seventeenth Century; 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 Writings of the Eighteenth Century in harmony therewith. 
 
 Although the republication of "The Marrow" in Scotland in the eighteenth 
 century might seem to be the topic next in order, and therefore most suitable for 
 this chapter, yet the good influences of the seventeenth century upon the 
 eighteenth cannot be understood without some acquaintance with Marshall on 
 Sanctification, a book which elucidated "The Marrow" in its scriptural theory 
 of the origin of Christian obedience. 
 
 The author, the Rev. Walter Marshall, Fellow of New College, Oxford 
 (afterwards Fellow of the College at Winchester), was Vicar of Hursley until the 
 passing of the Black Bartholomew Act. He died in 1680, and it was in the 
 twelfth year after his death that his celebrated book was published. Its title 
 was : " The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification opened in sundry practical 
 directions, suited especially to the case of those who labour under the guilt and 
 power of indwelling sin. To which is added a Sermon of [on] Justification — 1 Cor. i. 
 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 : God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound 
 the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the 
 things which are mighty ; And base things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things xvhich are not, to bring to nought 
 things that are : That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are 
 ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, t ighteousness, sancti- 
 fication, and redemption : That, according as it is tvritten, He that glorieth, 
 let him glory in the Lord. By Mr Walter Marshall, late Preacher of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 " London : Printed for T. Parkhurst, at the Bible and Three Crowns in 
 Cheapside, near Mercers Chappel. 1692." 
 
 The word " sanctification" in the title-page means the purification of a 
 believer's heart and life. The phrase, " the gospel mystery of sanctification," 
 reminds us that sanctification is the work of God the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, and therefore mysterious ; also that it is a Gospel energy, and therefore 
 mysterious to the self-righteous and to the profane, but not to them alone. The 
 
 L 
 
82 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 earnest inquirer and striver after a new life finds, in his infant experience, how 
 mysterious his own failures are — - 
 
 How long beneath the law I lay in bondage and distress ; 
 I toiled the precept to obey, but toiled without success ; 
 
 and there is a great mystery in the truth as it dawns upon him, that the path- 
 way to good works is entered upon by ceasing to work, and by believing in Him 
 that justifieth the ungodly. 
 
 The sentiments of Marshall are fully summed up in a series of directions, 
 and these directions are expounded in a corresponding number of chapters. 
 Before copying these directions, I extract a few statements which occur here and 
 there throughout the book, and which serve the purpose of an introduction. 
 
 His main doctrine is, that "the true practice of holiness cannot be secure 
 except the persuasion of our justification and reconciliation with God be first 
 obtained without works of the law." He says, " This is a great mystery (contrary 
 to the apprehensions, not only of the vulgar, but of some learned divines) that 
 we must be reconciled to God, and justified by the remission of our sins and 
 imputation of righteousness, before any sincere obedience to the law, that we 
 may be enabled for the practice of it. They account that this doctrine tendeth 
 to the subversion of a holy practice, . . . and that the only way to establish 
 sincere obedience is to make it rather a condition, to be performed before our 
 actual justification and reconciliation with God. Therefore some late divines 
 have thought fit to bring the doctrine of former Protestants concerning justifica- 
 tion to their anvil, and to hammer it into another form." (Chapter II.) 
 
 In reply to such misleading divines, our author concisely says, "The differ- 
 ence between the law and the Gospel doth not at all consist in this, that the 
 one requireth perfect doing — the other, only sincere doing — but in this, that the 
 one requireth doing — the other, no doing, but believing — for life and salvation." 
 (Chapter VI.) 
 
 The following paragraph I cannot omit, it being perhaps the best known as 
 well as the best abused portion of the book. (Chapter X., Fourthly) : — 
 
 " Let it be well observed, that the reason why we are to assure ourselves in 
 our faith, that God freely giveth Christ and His salvation to us particularly, is 
 not because it is a truth before we believe it, but because it becometh a certain 
 truth when we believe it, and because it will never be true except we do in 
 some measure persuade and assure ourselves that it is so. We have no absolute 
 promise or declaration in Scripture that God certainly will or doth give Christ 
 and His salvation to any one of us in particular, neither do we know it to be 
 true already by Scripture, or sense, or reason, before we assure ourselves absolutely 
 of it ; yea, we are without Christ's salvation at present, in a state of sin and 
 misery, under the curse and wrath of God. Only I shall prove that we are 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. S3 
 
 bound, by the command of God, thus to assure ourselves ; and' the Scripture doth 
 sufficiently warrant us, that we shall not deceive ourselves in believing a lie, but 
 according to our faith so shall it be to us (Matt. ix. 29). This is a strange kind 
 of assurance, far different from other ordinary kinds ; and therefore no wonder if 
 it be found weak and imperfect, and difficult to be obtained, and assaulted with 
 many doubtings. We are constrained to believe other things on the clear 
 evidence we have that they are true, and would remain true whether we believe 
 them or no ; so that we cannot deny our assent without rebelling against the 
 light of our senses, reason, or conscience. But here our assurance is not impressed 
 on our thoughts by any evidence of the thing ; but we must work it out in our- 
 selves by the assistance of the Spirit of God : and thereby we bring our own 
 thoughts in captivity to the obedience of Christ. None but God can justly 
 require of us this kind of assurance, because He only calleth those things that 
 are not as though they were (Rom. iv. 1 7). He only can give existence to the 
 things that yet are not, and make a thing true upon our believing it that was 
 not true before. He only can make good that promise, What things soever ye 
 desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them 
 (Mark xi. 24)." 
 
 All that I need say at present as to this celebrated passage is, that it was 
 quite easy for a logician like the Rev. Dr Joseph Bellamy of Connecticut (born 
 1719, died 1790) to appeal to a miscellaneous audience to condemn the absence 
 of human reason and logic. But an intelligent inquirer will not be so easily con- 
 vinced that this pious graduate of Oxford had forgotten the logic which he 
 had learned in that celebrated university, and by which he had earned a Fellowship. 
 In fact, the following simple morsel of reasoning refuted by anticipation all JJr 
 Bellamy's dialectical display : — " If an honest rich man say to a poor woman, I 
 promise to be thy husband, if thou wilt have me — say but the word and I am 
 thine ; may not she presently answer confidently, Then thou art my husband, and 
 I claim thee for my husband ? And should she not rather say so, than say, 1 
 believe not what thou sayest ?" {ibid). This is a good illustration of what was 
 ironically called believing a thing which was not true until you believed it. 
 
 Taking into consideration that many disconsolate hours in many believers' lives 
 seem to throw suspicion on the truth that a feeling of consolation is right at the very 
 first in a believer's experience, we may here note that there are two extremes of 
 opinion in reference to this matter. One extreme is, that a man is not a true believer 
 unless he is full of joy and consolation ; the other and the common extreme is, 
 that such joy and consolation at the beginning of the life of faith is presumptuous 
 and dangerous, and that to be without joy is Christian self-denial. According to 
 the one extreme, any doubts as to our eternal safety convict us of being uncon- 
 verted and unbelieving ; according to the other extreme, a young convert should 
 not aspire to joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, because in the meantime such aspira- 
 
84 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 tions are neither suitable nor desirable for him. A thoughtful paragraph by 
 Marshall is a valuable contribution to the solution of this question. He says : — 
 
 " A great reason why many Protestants have receded from the doctrine of 
 their ancestors on this point is, because they think there can be no true assurance 
 of salvation in any that are troubled with doubtings, as they find many be, whom 
 they cannot but own as true believers and precious saints of God. True, indeed, 
 this assurance must be contrary to doubtings in the nature of it ; and so, if it 
 were perfect in the highest degree, it would exclude all doubting out of the soul, 
 and it doth now exclude it in some degree. But is there not flesh as well as 
 spirit in the best saints on earth ? — Is there not a law in their members warring 
 against the law of their minds ? May not one that truly believeth say, Lord, help 
 my unbelief? Can any one on earth say they have received any grace in the highest 
 degree, and that they are wholly free from the contrary corruption ? Why then 
 should we think that assurance cannot be true except it be perfect, and free the 
 soul from all doubtings ? The Apostle accounts it a great blessing to the 
 Thessalonians that they had much assurance — intimating that some true assur- 
 ance might be in a less degree It is strange if the flesh and the devil 
 
 should never oppose a true assurance and assault it with doubtings. A believer 
 may be sometimes so overwhelmed with doubtings, that he may not be able to 
 perceive an assurance in himself. .... Yet if at that time he can blame his 
 soul for doubting, Why art thou cast down, my soul ? and why art thou dis- 
 quieted within me ? hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him — if he can 
 condemn his doubting as sinful, and say with himself, This is mine infirmity ; 
 these doubtings are of the flesh and of the devil .... such an one hath some 
 true assurance, though he must strive to grow to a higher degree .... Do but 
 grant that it is the nature of saving faith, thus to resist and struggle with slavish 
 fears of wrath, and doubting of our own salvation ; and you grant, in effect, that 
 there is and must be something of assurance of our salvation in saving faith 
 whereby it resisteth doubtings." (Chapter X). 
 
 Our author holds to the truth that consolation is the first aspect of the 
 Gospel. Viewing the Gospel as a doctrine according to godliness, he shows how 
 consolation is the door of hope into the way of holiness. 
 
 " The usual method of Gospel doctrine, as it is delivered to us in the Holy 
 Scriptures, is, first to comfort our hearts, and thereby to establish us in every good 
 word and work." (Chapter IX). 
 
 " The nature of the duties of the law require th a comfortable state of the 
 soul for the performance of them." (Ibid.) 
 
 " Both Scripture and experience show that this is the method whereby God 
 bringeth His people from sin to holiness. Though some of them are brought 
 under terrors for a while, that sin may be the more embittered, and the salvation 
 of Christ rendered more precious and acceptable to them ; yet such are again 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 85 
 
 delivered from their terrors by the comfort of God's salvation that they may be 
 fitted for holiness. And generally a holy life beginneth with comfort and is 
 maintained by it. God gave to Adam at His first creation the comfort of His 
 love and favour, and the happiness of paradise, to encourage him to obedience ; 
 and when he had lost these comforts by the Fall, he was no longer able to obey, 
 
 until he was restored by new comfort of the promised seed David telleth 
 
 us for our instruction how he was brought to an holy conversation : ' Thy loving 
 kindness [is] before my eyes, and I have walked in Thy truth. Lord, I have 
 hoped for Thy salvation, and done Thy commandments.' .... What comfortless 
 religion do those make that allow people no comfort beforehand to strengthen 
 them for holy performances that are very cross, displeasing, and grievous to their 
 natural inclinations (as the plucking out of a right eye — cutting off a right 
 hand) ; but would have them first do such things with love and delight, under all 
 their present fears, despondencies, and corrupt inclinations." (Ibid.) 
 
 Before copying out Mr Marshall's directions, I introduce the name of the Rev. 
 James Hervey, the distinguished English rector of the eighteenth century, who 
 agreed both with the Marrow divines and with Marshall as to the justification of the 
 ungodly and the sanctification of believers. Hervey intended to take up Marshall's 
 theme in a fourth volume of Theron and Aspasio, but he felt that the state of his 
 health would in all probability prevent him from writing more. He therefore en- 
 couraged a bookseller to reprint The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, saying humor- 
 ously, "I do, by those presents, nominate and depute Mr Marshall to supply my lack 
 of service." In his letter, dated 5th November 1756, Hervey said that if his health 
 would enable him to write his fourth volume — his subject being, " A dissertation on 
 practical holiness or evangelical obedience," — "justification, free justification 
 through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, is the sacred fleece from which he 
 [the writer] would spin his thread and weave his garment, agreeably to that im- 
 portant text, Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God." 
 
 Hervey was willing to give due consideration to all objections that might be 
 made to Marshall's phraseology. A paper was accordingly drawn up by him, 
 probably with the assistance of Cudworth, containing Fourteen Assertions con- 
 cerning sanctification, which were Marshall's Directions revised. All worthy 
 attempts at the improvement of standard books of human authorship must be 
 interesting to students and inquirers ; the Directions and Assertions shall there- 
 fore be presented in parallel columns. 
 
 Marshall's Directions. Hervey s Assertions. 
 
 1. That we may acceptably perform 1. That practice and manner of life 
 
 the duties of holiness and righteousness which the Scripture calls holiness, 
 
 required in the law, our first work is, to righteousness, or godliness, obedience, 
 
 learn the powerful and effectual means true religion, is not attained by our 
 
8G 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 whereby we may attend to so great an 
 end. 
 
 2. Several endowments and qualifi- 
 cations are necessary to enable us for 
 the immediate practice of the law. 
 Particularly we must! have an inclina- 
 tion and propensity of our hearts there- 
 unto ; and therefore we must be well 
 persuaded of our reconciliation with 
 God, and of our future enjoy ment'of the 
 everlasting heavenly happiness, and of 
 sufficient strength both to will and 
 perform all duties acceptably, until we 
 come to the enjoyment of that happi- 
 ness. 
 
 3. The way to get holy endowments 
 and qualifications necessary to frame 
 and enable us for the immediate practice 
 of the law is, to receive them out of the 
 fulness of Christ and fellowship with 
 Him ; and that we may have this 
 fellowship we must be in Christ, and 
 have Christ Himself in us, by a mystical 
 union with Him. 
 
 4. The means or instruments where- 
 by the Spirit of God accomplisheth our 
 union with Christ, and our fellowship 
 with Him in all holiness, are the Gospel 
 — whereby Christ entereth into our 
 hearts to work faith in us — and faith, 
 whereby we actually receive Christ Him- 
 self with all His fulness into our hearts. 
 And this faith is a grace of the Spirit, 
 whereby we heartily believe the Gospel, 
 and also believe on Christ, as He is 
 revealed and freely promised to us 
 therein, for all His salvation. 
 
 5. We cannot attain to the practice 
 of true holiness by any of our endea- 
 vours, while we continue in our natural 
 
 most resolved endeavours, but is given 
 through the knowledge of Him that has 
 called us to" glory and virtue. 
 
 2. No man can love God till he 
 knows Him, nor till he knows Him to 
 be his everlasting friend. Therefore 
 the spring of true holiness is a well- 
 grounded persuasion of our reconcilia- 
 tion with God, and of our future enjoy- 
 ment of the everlasting heavenly happi- 
 ness, and of sufficient strength given in 
 Him for all He calls us unto. 
 
 3. These endowments, so necessary 
 to the obedience of love, are contained 
 in the fulness of Christ, and are enjoyed 
 only by union and fellowship with 
 Him. 
 
 4. The mean or instrument whereby 
 the Spirit of God accomplisheth our 
 union with Christ, and our fellowship 
 with Him in all holiness, is the Gospel, 
 whereby Christ entereth into our hearts, 
 begetting us to the faith, whereby we 
 actually receive Christ Himself, with all 
 His fulness, unto the hope of eternal 
 life by Him. And then by the influ- 
 ence of the Spirit of truth we unfeignedly 
 believe the Gospel, and also believe on 
 Christ as He is revealed and promised 
 to us therein, for all His salvation. 
 
 5. The practice of true holiness is 
 not attained by any endeavours of our 
 natural state, but is a blessing of that 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 8 7 
 
 state, and are not partakers of a new 
 state by union and fellowship with 
 Christ through faith. 
 
 G. Those that endeavour to perform 
 sincere obedience to all the commands 
 of Christ, as the condition whereby 
 they are to procure for themselves a 
 right and title to salvation, and a good 
 ground to trust on Him for the same, 
 do seek their salvation by the works of 
 the law, and not by the faith of Christ 
 as He is revealed in the Gospel ; and 
 they shall never be able to perform 
 sincerely any true holy obedience by all 
 such endeavours. 
 
 7. We are not to imagine that our 
 hearts and lives must be changed from 
 sin to holiness, in any measure, before 
 we may safely venture to trust on Christ 
 for the sure enjoyment of Himself and 
 His salvation. 
 
 8. Be sure to seek for holiness of 
 heart and life, only in its due order 
 where God hath placed it, after union 
 with Christ, justification, and the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost; and in that order seek 
 it earnestly by faith, as a very necessary 
 part of your salvation. 
 
 9. We must first receive the comforts 
 of the Gospel, that we may be able to 
 perform sincerely the duties of the law. 
 
 10. That we may be prepared by 
 the comforts of the Gospel to perform 
 sincerely the duties of the law, we must 
 get some assurance of our salvation, in 
 that very faith by which Christ Him- 
 self is received into our hearts ; there- 
 fore, we must endeavour to believe on 
 Christ confidently, persuading and as- 
 suring ourselves, in the act of believing, 
 
 new state given in Jesus Christ, and 
 partaken of by union and fellowship 
 with Christ through faith. 
 
 6. Those that endeavour to perform 
 sincere obedience to all the commands 
 of Christ, as the condition whereby 
 they are to procure for themselves a 
 right and title to salvation, and a good 
 ground to trust on Him for the same, do 
 seek their salvation by the works of the 
 law, and not by the faith of Christ as 
 He is revealed in the Gospel ; and they 
 shall never be able to perform sincerely 
 any true holy obedience by all such 
 endeavours. 
 
 7. We are not to imagine that our 
 hearts and lives must be changed from 
 sin to holiness, in any measure, before 
 w r e may safely venture to trust in Christ 
 for the sure eujoyment of Himself and 
 His salvation. 
 
 8. True holiness of heart and life 
 hath its due order where God hath 
 placed it, that is, after union with 
 Christ, justification, and the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost. It is not, therefore, to be 
 expected but in that order, as what 
 accompanies salvation. 
 
 9. It is only by the comforts of the 
 Gospel revealing a just God and a 
 Saviour that God works in us to will 
 and to do of His good pleasure. 
 
 1 0. The comforts of the Gospel ne- 
 cessary to Christian obedience contain 
 sufficient grounds of assurance of our 
 salvation, not because we believe, but 
 in a way of immediate trust and con- 
 fidence. Therefore, instead of seeking 
 other methods of peace and holiness, we 
 must endeavour to believe or trust in 
 Christ confidently, persuading and as- 
 
88 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 that God freely giveth to us an interest 
 in Christ and His salvation, according 
 to His gracious promise. 
 
 1 1. Endeavour diligently to perform 
 the great work of believing on Christ 
 in a right manner without any delay, 
 and then also to continue and increase 
 in your most holy faith, that so your 
 enjoyment of Christ, union and fellow- 
 ship with Him, and all holiness by Him, 
 may be begun, continued, and increased 
 in you. 
 
 12. Make diligent use of your most 
 holy faith for the immediate perform- 
 ance of the duties of the law, by 
 walking no longer according to your 
 old natural state, or any principles or 
 means of practice that belong unto it, 
 but only according to that new state 
 which you receive by faith, and the 
 principles and means of practice 
 that properly belong thereunto, and 
 strive to continue and increase in such 
 manner of practice. This is the only 
 way to attain to an acceptable perform- 
 ance of those holy and righteous duties, 
 as far as it is possible in this present life. 
 
 1 3. Endeavour diligently to make 
 the right use of all means appointed in 
 the Word of God for the obtaining and 
 practising holiness, only in this way of 
 believing in Christ, and walking in 
 Him according to your new state by 
 faith. 
 
 1 4. That you may seek holiness and 
 righteousness only by believing in 
 Christ, and walking in Him by faith, 
 according to the former directions, take 
 encouragement from the great advan- 
 tages of this way and the excellent pro- 
 perties of it. 
 
 suring ourselves, according to the Divine 
 declarations, that God freely gives to us 
 an interest in Christ and His salvation, 
 according to His gracious promise. 
 
 11. It is therefore belonging to the 
 practical part of the Christian life to 
 maintain the same immediate trust and 
 confidence, in dependence on the Di- 
 vine faithfulness not to suffer us to be 
 confounded, that so our enjoyment of 
 Christ, union and fellowship with Him, 
 and all holiness by Him, may be con- 
 tinued and increased in us. 
 
 12. The Scripture calls upon Chris- 
 tians to walk no longer according to 
 the principles or means of practice that 
 belong unto the natural or original 
 state of man, but only according to that 
 new state given in Christ which we re- 
 ceive by faith, and the principles and 
 means of practice that properly belong 
 thereunto ; and to strive to continue 
 and increase in such a manner of prac- 
 tice. 
 
 1 3. All ordinances of Divine appoint- 
 ment, for the establishment and in- 
 crease of our faith and love, are to be 
 considered only in this way of believing 
 in Christ, and walking in Him accord- 
 ing to this new state given in Him. 
 
 14. That we may be confirmed in 
 holiness only by believing in Christ, and 
 walking in Him by faith, according to 
 the former assertions, we may take en- 
 couragement from the great advantages 
 of this way and the excellent properties 
 of it. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 89 
 
 The Rev. John Brown of Haddington, the eminent Scotch Theologian and 
 Commentator, Professor of Divinity to the Associate Synod, followed in the same 
 track as Marshall and Hervey. His " Compendious View of Natural and Re- 
 vealed Religion" (published in 1782), under the head of " Sanctification," for- 
 mulates the Gospel Rules thus : — 
 
 1. The true nature of sanctification and its manifold ingredients must be 
 learned with the utmost care and attention. 
 
 2. The proper methods of attaining true holiness of nature and practice 
 must be learned with the utmost accuracy and diligence. 
 
 3. There can be no proper study of true holiness without being, first in 
 order, furnished with an inward inclination to it — a real persuasion of our recon- 
 ciliation with God through the imputed righteousness of Christ — a well-grounded 
 hope of eternal life through his obedience and death — and a cordial belief that 
 God will, by His grace, enable us to perform our duty in an acceptable manner. 
 
 4. All our furniture for the study of Gospel holiness must be received from 
 the fulness of Christ, by spiritual union to, and fellowship with Him. 
 
 5. As God's justification of our persons, and renovation of our nature, must 
 necessarily precede all our study of holiness, we must receive Christ in all His 
 offices as offered in the Gospel, in order to our beginning and carrying it on. 
 
 6. To promote the study of true holiness, we (depending on no change of our 
 nature or practice, as our warrant or ground of right), as sinful and wretched 
 men, must unite with Jesus Christ, as made of God to us. in the Gospel offer, 
 wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 
 
 7. Gospel holiness must be earnestly sought after, by faith, as a necessary 
 and principal part of our salvation, enjoyed in consequence of our union with 
 Christ, justification by His blood, and reception of His Spirit. 
 
 8. Not only at first, but as long as we live on earth, we must always receive 
 the comforts of the Gospel, in order to qualify us for obeying the law as a rule 
 of life. 
 
 9. In order to promote our study of true holiness, we must receive these 
 comforts of the Gospel, in Christ, by an assured faith in the declarations and 
 promises of it as offering and giving Him and all His blessings of salvation in 
 Him to us in particular. 
 
 10. In order that our fellowship with Christ in His comforts and grace, 
 and our study of Gospel holiness by means of it, may be begun, continued, and 
 more and more increased, we ought, with great diligence, to exercise this assured 
 faith in a right manner, and to abound in it more and more. 
 
 11. We must act this assured faith only in a manner suited to our state of 
 union with Christ, in order to promote holiness according to it, and not at all 
 according to our legal or natural state. 
 
 12. We must diligently attend upon and improve every Gospel ordinance 
 
 M 
 
90 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 answerable to our condition, agreeably to our new covenant state, that we may 
 therein have fellowship with Christ in His blood and Spirit for the sanctification 
 of our nature and life. 
 
 1 3. For our excitement to such earnest and evangelical study of holiness, 
 we ought carefully to consider and thoroughly to understand the peculiar excel- 
 lency and advantage of this method. 
 
 Brown was the editor of a reprint of one century of Meditations [" Devout 
 Breathings of a Pious Soul "], and the author of a second century. The latter 
 he prefaced with the following sentence : — 
 
 " Never do I read Kempis's ' Imitation of Christ,' Sale's ' Devotions,' 
 Scougal's ' Life of God in the Soul of Man,' without lamenting that so many pre- 
 cious thoughts should be thrown away to erect a castle in the air — a practical 
 religion not founded on, or cemented by, Jesus' imputed righteousness, or by His 
 indwelling Spirit and grace." 
 
 His own meditations are good examples of Gospel teaching as to the duty 
 and privilege of holiness ; for instance — 
 
 " 19. In order to our leading a religious life, we must be united to Christ, 
 who is so full of grace and truth, as made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and redemption. We must, by His indwelling Spirit, have our 
 heart renewed, and all its powers filled with His grace. We must be daily con- 
 strained by His love, and receive out of His fulness grace for grace. While His 
 Word is our only rule, He and His Spirit must perform all our work in and for 
 us. Under His influence we must sincerely purpose and earnestly endeavour to 
 stand fast in the faith, and walk worthy of the Lord unto all well -pleasing. We 
 must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly 
 in the present world, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. In the faith of our future judgment, we must frequently call 
 ourselves to an account, always live under God's eye, and as if every day were 
 our last." 
 
 "74. If I wish to gain much ground in religion, I must live, always forsak- 
 ing and fleeing from myself to God in Christ — in fleeing from my guilt to His 
 pardoning grace — from my pollution to His cleansing grace — from my wisdom to 
 His instruction — from my will to His law and good pleasures — from my wants to 
 His fulness. My resignation of myself to Him must be hearty, steadfast, com- 
 plete, and often renewed. The more it be so, the greater shall be the inward 
 peace, purity, and order of my heart. The more I die to myself and other crea- 
 tures, the more delightfully shall I for ever live to God." 
 
 " 87. Let me never commit myself to God but as my Father in Christ. To 
 Him as my gracious Father let me give up all my guilt to be pardoned, all my 
 wants to be supplied, all my plagues to be healed. To Him as my righteous 
 Father let me apply for all the blessings that my Saviour purchased for me, and 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 91 
 
 which Himself hath promised to me, and that He would avenge me of all the 
 injuries which my spiritual enemies have done me. To Him as my holy Father let 
 me look for all sanctifying grace and glory, for all freedom from sin, and growth 
 in grace. To Him as my wise Father let me look for all necessary instruction 
 and direction. And to Him as my tender and compassionate Father let me kindly 
 submit in all the corrections and troubles I meet with." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Various Writings and Discussions of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth 
 Centuries in Affinity with "The Marrow." 
 
 As we have seen, the principal writings of the seventeenth century in harmony 
 with "The Marrow," were Crisp's Christ Alone Exalted, and Marshall's Gospel 
 Mystery of Scmctification. 
 
 At the time when the latter work was published, discourses and disputations 
 contradicting and crushing out the consolations of the Gospel, and yet assuming 
 the name of Gospel truth, were much in vogue. The consequence was, that a son 
 of the long ago deceased Dr Crisp reprinted his father's sermons. However 
 welcome this republication was in friendly circles, the effect on the so-called 
 Christian public was not pacifying. The stern and dogmatic disputers turned 
 all their artillery against Dr Crisp. They were reinforced by an able, useful, 
 and honoured divine of the Church of England, Dr John Edwards, of Cambridge, 
 who thought it his duty to write a severe book, entitled, " Crispianism Unmasked." 
 Dr Daniel Williams, the great Presbyterian divine, in his celebrated treatise, 
 entitled, " Gospel-Truth stated and vindicated," composed in his own language a 
 series of errors, which he said were necessary inferences from Dr Crisp's phrase- 
 ology, and were, therefore, Dr Crisp's errors. The accusations against the 
 preachers of consolation, viewed as the first aspect of the Gospel, were summed 
 up in the one portentous word, Antinomianisni. 
 
 As I have often had occasion to say, if all that those divines alleged was 
 correct, then the Apostle Paul was an Antinomian. But as to the offensive word 
 in its association with the end of the seventeenth century, two remarks may 
 make the state of the question plain. 
 
 1. It is not denied that there is such a deplorable error in opinion and in 
 action as Antinomianisni. 
 
 Antinomianism means opposition to the law of God. 
 
92 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Antinomianism, as an opinion, is the assertion that a believer in Jesus 
 Christ — a sinner who accepts salvation from Jesus Christ on the footing of the 
 only Saviour's merits and atoning sacrifice — that such a believer is set free from 
 all necessity to keep God's moral law as summed up in the ten commandments, 
 that he is under no obligation except love towards God and free choice as to 
 himself. 
 
 Antinomianism, as a manner of life, is a career of transgression against the 
 moral law, carried on under a profession of relying upon Christ alone for salva- 
 tion, and not upon the works of the law. 
 
 While it is admitted that there is such a thing as Antinomianism, it is 
 denied that because the everlasting consolation, which comes from Christ alone, 
 may, when very briefly stated, seem to overthrow the authority of the moral law, 
 therefore I must refuse and disown such consolation, or else accept the name of 
 Antinomian. The good John Flavel goes rather too far in his tract, " A blow at 
 the root," and seems occasionally to strike a blow at the grace of God, on the 
 ground that some men turn that grace into licentiousness. 
 
 2. Admitting that that man is an Antinomian, who, on the plea of his 
 reliance on Christ alone, systematically transgresses the old and eternal principles 
 concerning right and wrong as set down in God's moral law, I cannot plead 
 guilty to the accusation, when the law which I do not acknowledge is a new law 
 compiled by Dr Williams and his committee. 
 
 The Apostle Paul was no Antinomian when he said, " By the works of the 
 law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." And his saying has been proved 
 to be even more weighty than our English Bible represents, because it really says, 
 that "by works of law" shall no flesh be justified. This Pauline principle is, 
 however, ignored by Dr Williams, who says, that the law, which is not to be 
 resorted to for the purchase-money of the heavenly inheritance, is the law of the 
 ten commandments ; but that there is a new law which requires repentance, 
 faith, and godly dispositions and virtues, from which law our justification must 
 proceed. 
 
 Let us suppose that we see Samuel Crisp and Dr Williams pleading before 
 us. It is admitted that Crisp is a Christian of moral principles and of moral 
 life, who has no wish that God's moral law should be removed from the entire 
 direction of his conduct. Does Williams say that such a man is an Antinomian ? 
 A denial is given by Crisp's well-known practice and principles, in which he was 
 the worthy son of a worthy father. He says, I am for the old law as the rule of 
 my life, while like Paul, I glory in nothing but in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. But he adds, turning to Williams, You preach a new law ; you are 
 therefore a Neonomian. I am no Antinomian in being against a new law. 
 
 Those who are anxious to understand the doctrinal differences of those 
 times, should remember that the men who were most loudly and publicly called 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 03 
 
 Antinomians were not lawless, licentious men. They were called Antinomians 
 because they were not Neonomians. And Neouomians were theoretically wrong, 
 because by works of law shall no flesh be justified, and that man is accepted who 
 worketh not, but believeth on Him who justifieth the ungodly. 
 
 But as the plan of this work is to give an account of writings, my readers' 
 attention is now directed to a brochure by the Rev. Robert Trail, of London, 
 entitled, " A Vindication of the Protestant Doctrine concerning Justification, and 
 of its Preachers and Professors, from the Unjust Charge of Antinomianism. In 
 a Letter from the Author to a minister in the country." This letter is dated 
 London, Sept. 1, 1092. In introducing this author, we enter upon the substance 
 of this chapter, namely, the correspondence between England and Scotland as to 
 (what may be called) Marrow Doctrines. 
 
 Trail was a Scotch minister settled in London, a son of a father of the same 
 name, who was minister of the Greyfriars' Church of Edinburgh, and a sufferer 
 for Christ's crown and covenant. The son had also suffered in the covenanting 
 times, and had been a prisoner on the Bass Rock. The friend to whom he 
 wrote was probably his brother, a parish minister; and if so, then " the country" 
 of his friend was Scotland. 
 
 In his letter, Trail declares his sentiments regarding the scriptural doctrine 
 of Gospel consolation. He says, " Dr Owen's excellent book of Justification, and 
 Mr Marshall's book of the Mystery of Sanctification by Faith in Jesus Christ, are 
 vindications and confirmations of the Protestant doctrine against which I fear no 
 effectual opposition." As to Marshall's book, he adds, " Its excellency is, that it 
 leads the serious reader directly to Jesus Christ, and cuts the sinews, and over- 
 turns the foundation of the new divinity, by the same argument of Gospel holi- 
 ness by which many attempt to overturn the old." As to Dr Crisp, he protests, 
 " Let not Dr Crisp's book be looked upon as the standard of our doctrine. There 
 are many good things in it, and also many expressions in it that we generally 
 dislike." Again he says, " Let us take and cleave to the test of the Assembly's 
 Confession of Faith and Catechisms. More we own not ourselves, more we crave 
 not of our brethren ; and because we deal fairly and openly, I shall set it down 
 verbatim. ' Conf, Chap. XL, Of Justification. — "Art. 1. Those whom God 
 effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth — not by infusing righteousness into 
 them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons 
 as righteous in his sight — not for any thing wrought in them or done by them, 
 but for Christ's sake alone — not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or 
 any other evangelical obedience, to them as their righteousness, but by imputing 
 the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on 
 Him and His righteousness by faith : which faith they have not of themselves — 
 it is the gift of God.'" 
 
 " ' Larger Catechism. " Q. 73. How doth faith justify a sinner in the sight 
 
94 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of God 1 Ans. Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those 
 other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits 
 of it — -nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to Him for 
 His justification — but only as it is an instrument by which He receiveth and 
 applieth Christ and His righteousness." ' 
 
 " Let these weighty words be but heartily assented to in their plain and 
 native sense, and we are one in this great point of justification. But can any 
 considering man think that the new scheme of a real change, repentance, and 
 sincere obedience, as necessary to be found in a man that may lawfully come to 
 Christ for justification — of faith's justifying, as it is the spring of sincere obedi- 
 ence — of a man's being justified by, and upon, his coining up to the terms of the 
 nexv law of grace (a new word, but of an old and ill-meaning) — can any man 
 think that this scheme and the sound words of the Reverend Assembly do 
 agree V 
 
 With regard to the storm of controversy which I lately described, he says, 
 " Some think that the reprinting of Dr Crisp's book gave the first rise to it. 
 But we must look farther back for its true spring. It is well known, but little 
 considered, what a great progress Arminianism had made in this nation before 
 the beginning of the civil war. And surely it hath lost little since it ended. . . . 
 But that which concerneth our case is, that the middle way betwixt the Armin- 
 ians and the Orthodox had been espoused and strenuously defended and pro- 
 moted by some Nonconformists of great note for piety and parts ; and usually 
 such men that are for middle ways in points of doctrine, have a greater kindness 
 for that extreme they go half-way to, than for that which they go half-way from." 
 
 In order to describe this interesting tract a little further, I shall quote some 
 passages which are of use for all times : — 
 
 " As to the party suspected of Antinomianism and Libertinism in this city, 
 it is plain that the churches, wherein they are concerned, are more strict and 
 exact, in trying them that offer themselves unto their communion, as to their 
 faith and holiness, before their admitting them ; in the engagements laid on 
 them to a Gospel-walking at their admission ; and in their inspection over them 
 afterwards. As to their conversations, they are generally of the more regular 
 and exact frame ; and the fruits of holiness in their lives, to the praise of God 
 and honour of the Gospel, cannot with modesty be denied. Is it not unaccount- 
 able to charge [such] a people with licentiousness ? 
 
 " What shall we do for peace with our brethren ? ... Is it desired that 
 we should forbear to make a free offer of God's grace in Christ to the worst of 
 sinners ? This cannot be granted by us, for this is the Gospel faithful saying 
 and worthy of all acceptation (and therefore worthy of all our preaching of it) 
 that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and the chief of them 
 (1 Tim. i. 15). This was the Apostolic practice according to their Lord's com- 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 95 
 
 mand. They began at Jerusalem, where the Lord of life was wickedly slain by 
 them ; and yet life in and through His blood was offered to, and accepted and 
 obtained, by many of them. Every believer's experience witnesseth to this, that 
 every one that believes on Jesus Christ acts that faith as the chief of sinners. 
 Every man, that seeth himself rightly, thinks so of himself, and therein thinks 
 not amiss. God only knoweth who is truly the greatest sinner, and every 
 humbled sinner will think that he is the man. 
 
 " Shall we tell men, that unless they be holy, they must not believe on 
 Jesus Christ ? and that they must not venture on Christ for salvation till they be 
 qualified and fit to be received and welcomed by Him ? This were to forbear 
 preaching the Gospel at all, or to forbid all men to believe on Christ. For never 
 was any sinner qualified for Christ. He is well qualified for us ; but a sinner 
 out of Christ hath no qualification for Christ but sin and misery. Whence should 
 we have any better, but in and from Christ ? Nay, suppose an impossibility, 
 that a man was qualified for Christ, I boldly assert that such a man would not, 
 nor could ever believe on Christ — for faith is a lost, helpless, condemned sinner's 
 casting himself on Christ for salvation, and the qualified man is no such person. 
 
 " Shall we warn people that they should not believe on Christ too soon ? 
 It is impossible that they should do it too soon. Can a man obey the great 
 Gospel command too soon ? (1 John iii. 23); or do the great work of God too soon? 
 (John vi. 28, 29)." 
 
 Trail's numerous printed sermons were most acceptable to the " Marrow- 
 men" of Scotland, and have been often reprinted in Edinburgh and Glasgow. But 
 the tract before us contains a sufficient number of sentences, which may be quoted 
 as good specimens of his style. 
 
 " As to the new rational method of divinity, rational is a fitter commenda- 
 tion of a philosopher than of a divine. Yet it is somewhat better applied to a 
 divine than to divinity ; for true divinity hath a higher and nobler original than 
 man's reason, even divine revelation ; and it can never be rightly learned by 
 them that have no higher principle in them than reason, even the teaching of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 " If men's hearts were seen by themselves ; if sin were felt ; if men's con- 
 sciences were enlivened ; if God's holy law were known in its exactness and 
 severity, and the glory and majesty of the lawgiver shining before men's eyes ; if 
 men were living as leaving time and launching forth into eternity; — the Gospel- 
 salvation by Jesus Christ would be more regarded. 
 
 " The poor wearied sinner can never believe on Jesus Christ till he finds he 
 can do nothing for himself; and in his first believing doth always apply himself 
 to Christ for salvation, as a man hopeless and helpless in himself. 
 
 " The doctrine of free justification by faith alone hath this advantage, that 
 it suits all men's spirits and frames in their serious approaches to God in worship. 
 
96 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Men may think and talk boldly of inherent righteousness and of its worth and 
 value — of good works, and frames, and dispositions ; but when men present them- 
 selves before the Lord, and have any discoveries of His glory, all things in them- 
 selves will disappear and be looked upon as nothing. 
 
 " Sincere obedience is as impossible to a dead unrenewed sinner, as perfect 
 obedience is. 
 
 " God justifieth the ungodly, neither by making him godly before He 
 justify him, nor leaving him ungodly after He hath justified him ; but the same 
 grace that justifies him doth immediately sanctify him. 
 
 "Do not some abuse the grace of the Gospel, and turn it into wantonness? 
 Yes, some do, ever did, and still will do so. But it is only the ill-understood 
 and not believed doctrine of grace that they abuse. The grace itself no man can 
 abuse, for its power prevents its abuse. Let us see how Paul, that blessed herald 
 of this grace (as he was an eminent instance of it), dealeth with this objection 
 (Rom. vi.) What doth he to prevent this abuse ? Is it by extenuating what 
 he had said, that grace abounds much more where sin had abounded ? Is it 
 by mincing grace smaller, that men may not choke upon it, or surfeit by it ? Is 
 it by mixing something of the law with it, to make it more wholesome ? No ; 
 but only by plain asserting the power and influence of this grace wherever 
 it really is. 
 
 " The plain old Protestant doctrine is, that the place of faith in justification 
 is only that of a hand or instrument, receiving the righteousness of Christ for 
 which only we are justified. 
 
 "A direct act of saving faith is that by which a lost sinner goes out of 
 himself to Christ for help, relying upon Him only for salvation. A reflex act 
 ariseth from the sense that faith gives of its own inward act upon a serious 
 review — the truth and sincerity of which is further cleared up to the conscience 
 by the genuine fruits of an unfeigned faith, appearing to all men in our good 
 lives and holy conversation. But for as plain as these things be, yet we find we 
 are frequently mistaken by others, and we wonder at the mistake ; for we dare 
 not ascribe to some learned and good men the principles of ignorance or wilful- 
 ness, from whence mistakes in plain cases usually proceed. When we do press 
 sinners to come to Christ b} r a direct act of faith consisting in a humble reliance 
 on Him for mercy and pardon, they will understand us (whether we will or not) 
 of a reflex act of faith by which a man knows and believes that his sins are 
 pardoned, and that Christ is his (when they might easily know that we mean no 
 such thing). Mr Walter Marshall, in his excellent book lately published, hath 
 largely opened this, and the true controversy of the day, though it be eight or 
 nine years since he died." 
 
 From Robert Trail's discourse we pass to the introduction of the " Marrow 
 of Modern Divinity " into Scotland. That minute but eventful circumstance 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 97 
 
 arose from the conflicts of the old civil war. A soldier had brought from 
 England the copy which fell into the hands of Thomas Boston of Ettrick. 
 Boston read every word of it with the most thrilling interest and delight, and 
 took every opportunity of speaking about it. The consequence was, that stray 
 copies, as they came into the book market, were picked up by his friends. Thus 
 a copy came into the hands of the Rev. James Hog of Carnock, who put it into 
 the hands of a printer. This eventful reprint was issued at a time when a good 
 fight against the opponents of free grace was being fought in Scotland. The 
 truth which was most offensive to the majority of those opponents was, that sinners 
 ought to fly for refuge to Christ just as they are. The self-styled orthodox met 
 this by saying that a man must forsake his sins before he can come to Christ, 
 thus using the sound, but abusing or confounding the sense, of a text in the 
 Bible. Mr Hog was struck with the doctrine of "The Marrow" on this point : — 
 
 " Nomista. Truly, sir, I do now plainly see that I have been deceived, and 
 have gone a wrong way to work ; for I verily thought that holiness of life must 
 go before faith, and so be the ground of it, and produce and bring it forth ; 
 whereas I do now plainly see that faith must go before, and so produce and bring 
 forth holiness of life. 
 
 " Evangelista. I remember, a man, who was much enlightened in the knowledge 
 of the Gospel, saith, There be many that think that as a man chooseth to serve a 
 Prince, so men choose to serve God ; so likewise they think that as those who do 
 best service obtain most favour of their Lord — and as those who have lost it, the 
 more they humble themselves the sooner they recover it — even so they think the 
 case stands betwixt God and them. Whereas (saith he) it is not so, but clean 
 contrary ; for He Himself saith, Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, 
 and not for that we repent and humble ourselves and do good works. He giveth 
 us His grace, therefore we humble ourselves, do good works, and become holy. 
 The good thief on the cross was not illuminated because he did confess Christ, 
 but he did confess Christ because he was illuminated. For, saith Luther, the 
 tree must first be and then the fruit, for the apples make not the tree, but the 
 tree maketh the apples; so faith first maketh the person which afterwards bringeth 
 forth works. Therefore to do the law, without faith, is to make the apples of 
 wood and earth without the tree — which is not to make apples, but mere 
 fantacies. Wherefore, neighbour Nomista, let me entreat you, that whereas before 
 you have reformed your life that you might believe, why not believe that you 
 may reform your life ; and do not any longer work to get an interest in Christ, 
 but believe your interest in Christ that so you may work. . 
 
 " Antinomista. Sir, what think you of a preacher that in my hearing said, 
 he durst not exhort nor persuade sinners to believe their sins were pardoned 
 before he saw their lives reformed, for fear they should take more liberty to 
 sin ? 
 
 N 
 
98 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Evangelista. Why, what should I say, but that I think that preacher was 
 ignorant of the mystery of faith " (" The Marrow," Part I., 2d edition, p. 186). 
 
 Against all this, the text already hinted at may be quoted : — " Let the 
 wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return 
 unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He will 
 abundantly pardon " (Isa. lv. 7). But this text speaks of the affections of the 
 heart, as with a repentant faith it looks to Jesus for mercy and pardon. God 
 does not here demand a certificate of a long course of reformation — evidence of 
 years of apprenticeship in the new life, and of a long campaign in the war against 
 our own sins. The phrase " forsaking " implies a divorce between our affections 
 and our sins, a declaration of war against sin — sin being viewed not only as our 
 transgression of the law, but also as our unbelief and neglect of the Gospel and of 
 the Saviour. 1 This declaration of war and our dedication of our souls to the 
 Saviour are so truly simultaneous, that here we have not two things but one. 
 The faith of the sinner that hastens to Christ for salvation, according to the 
 Gospel, is a repentant faith. 
 
 Several divines of the Church of Scotland were striving to impress and 
 enforce upon candidates for the ministry that a preacher of the Gospel ought 
 to invite sinners to come to Christ just as they are ; and to beware of what had 
 been set up as a contrary dogma, namely, that a sinner must forsake his sins in 
 order to be qualified to come to Christ, i.e., must come as godly not as ungodly, 
 as a saint not as a sinner — " the forsaking of sin " being unscripturally interpreted 
 
 1 The following is Dr Gill's exposition of the duty of forsaking : — 
 
 Let the wicked forsake his way.~] His evil way, as the Targum paraphrases it, his wicked 
 course of life — which is his own way, of his own choosing, and in which he delights ; and a very 
 dangerous one it is, and yet he is bent upon it, and nothing can turn him from it but efficacious 
 grace ; nor will he ever forsake it, till he sees the evil, danger, and loathsomeness of it ; and 
 when he does forsake it, it is so as not to make sin the course of his life, though he does not and 
 cannot live without sin. The word for wicked signifies restless, troublesome, and ungodly, and is 
 expressive of the pollution and guilt of sin all men are under. Some are notoriously wicked, 
 and all men are wicked in the account of God, though they may think otherwise themselves ; 
 and they become so in their own apprehensions, when they are thoroughly awakened and con- 
 vinced of sin, and of the evil of their ways, and are enabled to forsake them. 
 
 Though this may also be understood of his own way of saving himself, which is by works of 
 righteousness he has done, in opposition to God's way of saving men by Jesus Christ ; which way 
 of his own must be relinquished, and Christ alone must be applied unto, and laid hold on, for 
 salvation. 
 
 And the unrighteous man his thoughts.^ Not his natural thoughts, but his sinful ones — his 
 wrong thoughts of religion, righteousness, and salvation — particularly his thoughts of being 
 justified by his own righteousness — which thoughts are to be forsaken, as being contrary to God's 
 way of justifying sinners. And as all men are unrighteous — are destitute of righteousness and 
 full of unrighteousness — so is the self-righteous person ; and he must be divested of all thoughts 
 of his own righteousness, and acknowledge himself an unrighteous man, ere he receives mercy, 
 forgiveness, righteousness, and salvation at the hands of the Lord. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 99 
 
 to imply an apprenticeship or period of probation or course of preparation. This 
 contrary dogma was, however, the one which the leaders of the church espoused. 
 In these circumstances Mr Hog reprinted the First Part of the " Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity," of which he wrote a preface, dated 3d December 1 7 1 7. 
 
 In May of that year the General Assembly had taken into consideration a 
 proposition enforced in the examination of divinity students by the Presbytery of 
 Auchterarder, " That it is not sound and orthodox to teach that we must forsake 
 sin in order to our cominsr to Christ, and instating us in covenant with God." 
 The decision of the Assembly was, that that proposition is " unsound and detest- 
 able." Christians were grieved that the Church of Scotland should thus deny 
 " the immediate access to Christ which the Gospel gives to a sinner." 1 Mr Hog, 
 in his preface to "The Marrow," declared, " The wounds of Antichrist are cured, and 
 he receives new strength and spirits through a darkening of the glorious Gospel 
 and perversion thereof. . . . This renders the essays for a further diffusion of 
 evangelical light the more necessary and seasonable." 
 
 Mr Hog's Preface may be regarded as the first of the writings in Scotland 
 that were occasioned by "The Marrow." To give a bibliographical account of these 
 writings is not the plan of this chapter. When that stage in my labours has 
 been reached, I shall have to give my readers some biographies of authors 
 regarding consolation, and then a considerable number of these writings will be 
 noticed. 
 
 The documents which issued frum, or were presented to, the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland are quite a large bundle of theological litera- 
 ture — not condensed like ordinary ecclesiastical enactments. These, with a 
 varied and useful mass of biographical and doctrinal lore, are to be found in a 
 modern volume, entitled, " Gospel Truth accurately stated and enforced," by Rev. 
 John Brown, minister at Whitburn, son of Rev. John Brown of Haddington. 
 
 The General Assembly of 1720 issued a Paper filled with quotations of sen- 
 tences in " The Marrow," marked as having an unorthodox sound. This "Act " 
 is described by the biographer of Ebenezer Erskine to have been " severely con- 
 demnatory of that little book as heretical and dangerous," and also as " enjoining 
 all ministers of the church, not in any way to recommend that book, but to warn 
 their people against perusing it or receiving its doctrine." 
 
 The next document was a Petition to the General Assembly of 1721, drawn 
 up by Rev. Thomas Boston, and finally revised by Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, praying 
 for the repeal of the Act against " The Marrow." The petitioners also complained 
 of an Act of the same Assembly containing directions for preaching catechetical 
 doctrine, which gave countenance to " the erroneous doctrine of justification for 
 something wrought in, or done by, the sinner as his righteousness, or keeping of 
 the new or Gospel law." This petition was signed by twelve ministers — Hog, 
 1 Fraser's "Life of Ebenezer Erskine," p. -23-i. 
 
100 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Boston, Ebenezer and Ralph Erskiue, &c. One of them was Rev. John William- 
 son, who had reprinted the Second Part of " The Marrow," so that both parts 
 seem to have been before the General Assembly. 
 
 Although there were only twelve signatures, yet there was a considerable 
 party of sympathizers in the church courts, and in the country. 
 
 In the discussions that followed, it must be understood that if the contro- 
 versy had been only between parties who earnestly differed as to the most scrip- 
 tural terms in which the Gospel should be preached, there would have been no 
 majority in favour of a severe condemnation. The majority was occasioned by 
 the crowd of careless ministers who had found their way into the pulpits of Scot- 
 land. This voting crowd allowed a few learned theologians to make speeches, 
 and to frame documents. And these leading theologians had departed from the 
 simplicity of the Gospel, and disliked the endeavour to revive the fresh and fervid 
 toues of the old Reformers' sermons. There were also some good evangelical 
 ministers, whose fears were excited by the bold phraseology of Martin Luther, 
 and of the'' early English Puritans with which, as we have already seen, " The 
 Marrow " was mainly filled. Such men gave an appearance of seriousness to 
 the doings of the majority. 
 
 But the real question at stake was, the warrant of sinners to take comfort 
 from the Gospel of Christ, and the warrant of preachers to offer the Gospel to 
 every sinner— the " Marrow-men " taking the same side as Robert Trail, who 
 held that the Lord Jesus is to be offered to, and believed by men in the plight 
 the first Adam brought them to and left them in — in the plight the law finds 
 them and leaves them in — guilty, filthy, condemned. 1 
 
 The above remarks are designed as my apology for not discussing the de- 
 tailed statements on theology which the Anti-Marrow leaders amused them- 
 selves (and still more amused their worldly followers) by uttering — all which 
 statements were intended only to distract attention from the main questions of 
 Gospel consolation, and Gospel sanctification. 
 
 The petition for the repeal of the Act of 1720 was referred by the General 
 Assembly to its Commission. A committee of management set to work to pre- 
 pare written questions to be put to the petitioners, or (as they were called) 
 representors. After a few testing questions had been agreed to, it was resolved 
 that the twelve representors must have one question a-piece. After much 
 ingenious toil, the committee succeeded in producing twelve questions, which 
 were adopted and formally issued by the November Commission. 
 
 The answers to these questions were very full, and contained a long appendix 
 
 1 Trail's language being a little obscure, the above is somewhat of a paraphrase for the 
 benefit of modern readers. His exact words were : — " We call men to believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ — in that case the first Adam brought them to and left them in — in that case that the law 
 finds and leaves them in — guilty, filthy, condemned ; out of which case they can be only delivered 
 by Christ and by believing on Him." 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 101 
 
 of quotations from the most esteemed divines of the preceding two centuries. 
 This valuable paper was drawn up by Ebenezer Erskine, and revised and com- 
 pleted by Rev. Gabriel Wilson, who was the possessor of an extensive library. It 
 was discussed in the General Assembly of 1722 ; and the result was, an explan- 
 atory Act, modifying some of the terms of the one petitioned against, but virtu- 
 ally confirming it. The contest went on in provincial Synods, but was at last 
 allowed to slumber, the winding up of the controversy being the publication in 
 the year 1726 of the standard Scottish edition of " The Marrow," with Preface 
 and Notes by Boston. 
 
 The most useful document for the information of modern readers is an Act 
 issued to their congregations by those ministerial admirers of " The Marrow," who 
 seceded from the Church. Between the years 17 17 and 1733, we speak of the 
 Erskines as ministers of the Establishment, with an evident national prestige. 
 But such was the perverse course of one General Assembly after another, on every 
 subject, and in every case, where the best traditions of the Church came into view 
 and claimed practical recognition, only to be slighted by a tyrant majority, that 
 four ministers, headed by Ebenezer Erskine, seceded in 1733, and were joined in 
 1737 by other four, including Ralph Erskine, thus swelling the number of ministers 
 into eight, of what was called " The Associate Presbytery ;" or, " Some ministers 
 associate together for the exercise of Church government and discipline in a pres- 
 byterial capacity." Notwithstanding their secession, these ministers never lost 
 their national prestige. We accept the testimony and acknowledge the excellence 
 of the Erskines in their state of secession, just as if they had continued united to 
 all their friends, not only in spiritual fellowship, but also in ecclesiastical organ- 
 ization. The serviceable document, to which I call attention, is the Act of the 
 Associate Presbytery concerning the Doctrine of Grace (Edinburgh, 21st October 
 1742). 
 
 The chief subject of this Act is the General Assembly's censure of " The 
 Marrow " in 1720 and 1722. The Associate Presbytery's opinion of the book 
 is thus expressed : — " The difference between the law and the Gospel, and between 
 the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, as also the true way of attain- 
 ing Gospel holiness, are set forth in a very clear light in that book entitled ' The 
 Marrow of Modem Divinity.' ' The " Act " goes on to discuss the principal 
 heads of doctrine, giving full statements of the arguments pro and con, and con- 
 cluding each head with a verdict or decision. These decisions I quote, placing 
 in parallel columns the truths defined, and the errors condemned. 
 
 I. — The Deed of Gift to Mankind. 
 
 " The Presbytery hereby do acknow- " The Presbytery hereby reject and 
 
 ledge, declare, and assert, that God the condemn the following tenets and 
 Father, moved by nothing but His free opinions : — 
 
102 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 love to mankind lost, hath made a deed 
 of gift and grant of His Son Jesus 
 Christ unto mankind in the Word, that 
 whosoever of them all shall receive this 
 gift, by a true and lively faith, shall 
 not perish, but have everlasting life. 
 Or (which is the same thing) that there 
 is a revelation of the Divine will in the 
 Word, affording a warrant to offer 
 Christ unto all mankind without ex- 
 ception, and a warrant to all freely to 
 receive Him, however great sinners 
 they are or have been ; and that this 
 gift is made to mankind only, and not 
 to fallen angels." 
 
 " (1.) That the free, unlimited, and 
 universal offer of Christ in the Gospel, 
 to sinners of mankind as such, is incon- 
 sistent with particular redemption ; or, 
 that God the Father — His making a 
 deed of gift unto all mankind, that 
 whosoever of them shall believe on His 
 Son shall not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing life — -infers a universal atonement, 
 or redemption as to purchase. 
 
 " (2.) That this grant or offer is 
 made only to the elect, or to such who 
 have previous qualifications commend- 
 ing - them above others." 
 
 II. — Saving Faith. 
 
 " The Presbytery do hereby acknow- 
 ledge, declare, and assert, that in justi- 
 fying faith there is a real persuasion in 
 the heart of a sinner, that Christ is his 
 — that he shall have life and salvation 
 by Him — and that whatever Christ did 
 for the redemption of mankind, He did 
 it for him ; upon the foundation and 
 ground of the gift, or promise of Christ 
 in the Gospel that is made to sinners of 
 Adam's family as such ; and so there is 
 in it a resting upon Him alone for the 
 whole of his salvation." 
 
 " The Presbytery do hereby reject 
 and condemn the following doctrines: — 
 
 " (1.) That saving and justifying faith 
 is NOT a persuasion in the heart, that 
 Christ is ours — that we shall have life 
 and salvation by Him- — and that what- 
 ever Christ did for the redemption of 
 mankind He did it for us. 
 
 " (2.) That all the persuasion in jus- 
 tifying faith is only a belief and per- 
 suasion of the mercy of God in Christ, 
 and of Christ's ability and willingness 
 to save all that come to Him — this 
 being such a faith as Papists and Ar- 
 minians can subscribe unto, in a con- 
 sistency with their other errors and 
 heresies. 
 
 " (3.) That one must first come to 
 Christ and be a true believer, before he 
 appropriates Christ and the whole of 
 His salvation to himself, upon Scripture 
 ground and warrant." 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 10 3 
 
 III. — The Justifying Righteousness. 
 
 " The Presbytery do hereby declare 
 and assert — 
 
 " (1.) That the Gospel, properly and 
 strictly taken, as contradistinct from 
 the law, is a promise containing glad 
 tidings of a Saviour — with grace, mercy, 
 and salvation, in Him — to lost sinners 
 of Adam's family ; and consequently all 
 precepts (those of faith and repentance 
 not excepted) do in a strict and proper 
 sense belong to the law. 
 
 " (2.) That as the suffering of Jesus 
 Christ, our Surety, is the believer's only 
 plea in answer to the law's demand of 
 satisfaction to justice ; so the complete 
 and perfect conformity of the Surety to 
 law, both in nature and life, is the be- 
 liever's only plea, in answer to the law's 
 demand of perfect obedience." 
 
 " The Presbytery hereby do condemn 
 the following tenets and opinions: — 
 
 " (1 .) That the Gospel, strictly taken, 
 is a new, proper, and preceptive law 
 with sanction — binding to faith, repent- 
 ance, and the other duties which are 
 consequential to the revelation of the 
 grace of God. 
 
 " (2.) That though the righteousness 
 of Christ, only, founds our title to 
 eternal glory, yet it is our personal holi- 
 ness, or our own obedience to the new 
 law, upon which we obtain the posses- 
 sion thereof. 
 
 " (3.) That our personal holiness or 
 good works have a causal influence upon 
 our eternal salvation, and are a federal 
 condition and mean thereof; (in ivhich 
 sense the Assembly's directing ministers 
 to preach the necessity of a holy life, in 
 order to the obtaining of everlasting 
 happiness, is of very dangerous conse- 
 quence to the doctrine of free grace)." 
 
 IV. — Fear of Punishment and Hope of Reward. 
 
 " The Presbytery hereby do assert, 
 maintain, and declare — 
 
 " (1.) That it is a precious Gospel 
 truth that believers, being heirs of the 
 heavenly inheritance, and having it, not 
 by the law, but by free promise, through 
 Jesus Christ, ought not to be influenced 
 
 " The Presbytery do condemn the 
 following positions as dangerous, un- 
 sound, and erroneous : — 
 
 "(1.) That there is a legal connec- 
 tion instituted between the obedience of 
 believers and their enjoying rewards, 
 with escaping punishments, temporal and 
 eternal ; or that the law deals with 
 
104 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 in their obedience by the hopes of ob- 
 taining the possession and enjoyment of 
 the inheritance by any works of righte- 
 ousness or obedience done by them. 
 
 " (2.) That, as they should be moved 
 to obedience from the consideration of 
 the excellency of the heavenly inherit- 
 ance — even God in Christ as their in- 
 heritance and exceeding great reward — 
 and by many other motives ; so, parti- 
 cularly, they are to be influenced by 
 this motive, that they have got the be- 
 gun possession of this inheritance, and 
 have the full possession thereof secured, 
 by rich grace and free promise through 
 Jesus Christ, being made heirs of God 
 and joint-heirs with Christ. 
 
 " (3.) That though the believer ought 
 to entertain a holy awe and dread of the 
 majesty of God, and of the awfulness 
 of His threatenings and judgments, both 
 temporal and eternal, against sin aud 
 sinners, and to consider from them what 
 even his sins in themselves deserve ; yet 
 he is not called to be moved or excited 
 to obedience to the precepts of the law 
 (either as it is a covenant of works, or 
 as it is a rule of life) by the fear of his 
 falling into hell for omitting duty or 
 committing sin ; but he is called fully 
 to believe his infallible security from 
 going down into that pit through the ran- 
 som which God has found out ; so as, 
 through the firm and lively faith of this 
 his safety in a state of favour Avith God, 
 to have his heart more and more filled 
 with that love which casteth out tor- 
 menting fear, and will be natively exer- 
 cised in a cheerful Gospel obedience to 
 all the Lord's commandments. 
 
 them in this manner upon law terms ; 
 and that their hopes of enjoying the one, 
 and escaping the other, are to rise and 
 fall according to the measure of their 
 obedience. 
 
 " (2.) That a person's being moved 
 to obedience by the hope of heaven can- 
 not be said to be mercenary in any other 
 sense than that of a hope of obtaining 
 a right to heaven by his own works ; and 
 that the believer ought to be moved to 
 obedience, or to eschew evil and do good, 
 by the hopes of his enjoying heaven, or 
 any good temporal or eternal, by his 
 own obedience as the federal, conditional 
 means and cause thereof." 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 105 
 
 " (4.) That, though believers should 
 remember and seriously consider that 
 there is discipline in their Father's 
 family, and believe that they may ex- 
 pect it when they transgress His law 
 and keep not His commandineats ; yet 
 as this discipline is instituted on 
 account of remaining corruption in them, 
 so the consideration thereof ought to 
 excite them more and more to improve 
 [make vse of] the blood of Jesus Christ, 
 by faith, for draining and mortifying this 
 corruption, and, particularly, subduing 
 and mortifying the legal bias and dis- 
 position, which is the strength of sin in 
 them, that thus they may be more and 
 more made to serve in newness of 
 spirit, and not in the oldness of the 
 letter." 
 
 V. — The Rule of Life. 
 
 " The Presbytery do acknowledge, 
 assert, and declare — 
 
 " (1.) That — whatever the law, as a 
 covenant of works, promiseth or threat- 
 ens in itself, and as to them that are 
 under it — yet the law, as to the be- 
 liever, is really divested of the promise of 
 life and threatening of death ; and that 
 the believer holds his legal right and 
 claim to eternal life, only by the perfect 
 obedience of Christ to the law in his 
 room, and his legal security from eternal 
 death, only by the complete satisfaction 
 of Christ to the justice of God in the 
 threatening of the law — and not by any 
 law having promise of life to his own 
 obedience, or threatening of death to his 
 disobedience ; for, where sin abounded, 
 grace did much more abound ; that as 
 
 " The Presbytery do condemn these 
 following positions : — 
 
 "(1.) That the doctrine, of the be- 
 liever being freed from the law as a 
 covenant of works, whether in its com- 
 manding or condemning power, is a 
 doctrine of licentiousness, tending any 
 way to free the believer from obligation 
 to the law as it is a rule of life. (Do 
 we make void the law through faith ? 
 God forbid ; yea, we establish the law.) 
 
10G 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 sin hath reigned unto death, even so 
 might grace reign through righteousness 
 unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. (Rom. v. 20, 21.) 
 
 " (2.) That, as the moral law doth 
 for ever bind all, as well justified per- 
 sons as others, to the obedience thereof; 
 so to assert that the moral law, 
 strictly and properly considered as a 
 covenant of works, is what the believer 
 is wholly and altogether set free from, 
 will never prove against the asserter 
 thereof, that he maintains the believer 
 is not under the law as a rule of life. 
 And to the same purpose the Presbytery 
 maintain that, as the law is a covenant 
 of works, believers are wholly and alto- 
 gether set free from it- - set free both 
 from the commanding and condemn- 
 ing power thereof ; or, as our Larger 
 Catechism expresses it, delivered 
 from the moral law as a covenant of 
 works, so as thereby they are neither 
 justified nor condemned ; and that, from 
 the maintaining of this truth it will no 
 ways follow that the believer is not under 
 the law as a rule of life. 
 
 " (3.) That though it be the duty of 
 all who hear the Gospel to seek after life 
 and justification by the obedience of 
 Christ, and not by their own — ^yet, 
 while through unbelief they do not so, 
 they remain under the law as a cove- 
 nant of works both in its commanding 
 and condemning power ; and that it is 
 the peculiar privilege of believers in 
 Christ to be free therefrom. 
 
 " (4.) That though all unbelievers 
 do remain under the law as a covenant 
 of works, both in its commanding and 
 condemning power, yet none of them 
 
 " (2.) That the believer, his not 
 being under the law, and, his not being 
 obliged to seek life by his oven obe- 
 dience, are propositions of the same 
 import ; as if unbelievers, under a Gos- 
 pel dispensation, were equally free from 
 the commanding power of the law, as a 
 covenant of works, with believers (since 
 they are not obliged to seek justifica- 
 tion by their own works any more than 
 believers). The Presbytery, therefore, 
 condemn this doctrine as highly pre- 
 judicial to the truth, relating both to 
 the Law and the Gospel, and [highly 
 prejudicial] to the distinguishing privi- 
 lege of the believer in Christ, his being 
 not under the law but under grace. 
 
 " (3.) That the law as to believers is 
 vested with a promise of life and threat- 
 ening of death ; so as their obedience 
 is properly a federal or conditional 
 means, in order to their obtaining eter- 
 nal glory. 
 
 " (4.) That unbelievers, in their 
 being under the law as a covenant of 
 works, are obliged to seek justification 
 by their own obedience." 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 107 
 
 are obliged to seek justification by their 
 own obedience ; but, 011 the contrary, it 
 is the great duty of all hearers of the 
 Gospel, and also their inestimable privi- 
 lege, to seek justification only through 
 the obedience and satisfaction of Christ." 
 
 VI. The Six Antinomian Paradoxes, 
 
 As the General Assembly falsely called them. 
 
 [These are the doctrinal statements for the consolation of believers to which 
 I have referred in the chapter describing the First Part of " The Marrow." They 
 are not by Edward Fisher. At least, I have already hinted at a conjecture that 
 the}' were first inserted in an edition printed after his death, perhaps in the ninth 
 edition, published in 1099. As it is certain that they were in the reprint which 
 was examined by the General Assembly, we are glad to hear what the good 
 ministers of Scotland had to say about them.] 
 
 " In order to clear and maintain the 
 foundations of Gospel obedience, and the 
 springs of the believer's consolation, the 
 Presbytery do acknowledge, assert, and 
 declare — - 
 
 (1.) That the distinction, as explained 
 in " The Marrow," is good and scriptural, 
 viz., That there is a wide difference 
 between the law as a covenant of works 
 and the law as a rule of holy obedience. 
 
 (2.) That a believer in Christ is 
 neither under the commanding nor con- 
 demning power of the law as a covenant 
 of works ; although he is still under the 
 law as a rule of obedience in the hand 
 of a Mediator. 
 
 (3.) That God seeth not iniquity in 
 Jacob or in true believers, as it is a 
 transgression of the covenant of works ; 
 but only as it is the transgression of the 
 law in the hand of Christ who bore our 
 sins in His own body on the tree. 
 
 " The Presbytery do condemn and 
 
 reject the following erroneous and 
 
 dangerous positions taught by the 
 General Assembly : — ■ 
 
 (1.) That believers are under the 
 law, and not altogether freed from it, 
 as a covenant of works. 
 
 (2.) That when a believer sins he 
 sins against the law of works, and 
 therefore must be liable to the penalty 
 thereof. 
 
 (3.) That God seeth iniquity in be- 
 lievers — that it is a violation of the old 
 covenant of works made with Adam 
 in innocency — and consequently that 
 he sees it with an eye of vindictive 
 justice, notwithstanding of the satisfac- 
 
108 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 (4.) That, though the elect be by 
 nature the children of wrath even as 
 others ; yet, through the death and satis- 
 faction of Christ, the Lord's vindictive 
 anger is turned away from them. Fury 
 is not in Him against any soul that is 
 come to the blood of sprinkling. And 
 yet He may and will be angry with His 
 dear children so as to visit their iniquity 
 with the rod and their transgressions 
 with stripes; but because He will not take 
 His love from Christ, nor break His 
 covenant with Him, therefore not with 
 them who are His seed. 
 
 (5.) That when a believer fasts, 
 mourns for, and confesseth his sins, he 
 ought not to do it in a legal way, as 
 one standing under a covenant of works, 
 either as to its precept or penalty ; 
 but he ought to do it with the hand of 
 faith upon the head of the great sacri- 
 fice and atonement, as one whose per- 
 son and duties are accepted in the 
 Beloved. And thus he ought to fast, 
 mourn for, and confess his sins before 
 his reconciled God and Father, believ- 
 ing that God, according to His promise, 
 is merciful to his unrighteousness, and 
 will remember his sins no more." 
 
 tion of Christ, and their being under 
 the covert of His law - magnifying 
 righteousness. 
 
 (4.) That when God is angry with 
 believers for their sins, He pursues 
 them upon the footing of the law of 
 works — or, which is the same thing, 
 with the same anger wherewith He 
 pursued the Surety when He was made 
 a curse for them. 
 
 (5.) That when God corrects His 
 children, He does it in His vindictive 
 or revenging wrath, and not in a way 
 of fatherly chastisement. 
 
 (6.) That when a believer fasts, 
 mourns for, confesseth, and seeks par- 
 don of sin, he is to view himself as 
 guilty of the violation of the law of 
 works, notwithstanding of his being dead 
 to the law through faith in Jesus Christ." 
 
 The whole narrative of the Marrow controversy, contained in the Associate 
 Presbytery's Act, is an intelligent and leisurely theological review, well worthy of 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 109 
 
 study. A letter written by Ebenezer Erskine, while he was still a minister of 
 the Established Church, summarizes the essential truths involved in the contro- 
 versy. 1 I quote a few sentences : — 
 
 " 1. Believers are freed from the law as the covenant of works, freed both 
 from the commanding and condemning power of that covenant. 
 
 " 2. There is and ought to be a difference put betwixt the law as the law of 
 works, and the law as the law of Christ, or the law as a rule of obedience in the 
 hands of a Mediator. 
 
 " This distinction goes upon a scriptural foundation, though declared 
 groundless by the Act of Assembly — which [Act] has a manifest tendency to 
 confound the two covenants, and to stop some of the principal sources of the 
 believer's comfort. 
 
 " 3. When the law, as a covenant of works, comes upon the believer with 
 the demand of perfect obedience as a condition of life and salvation, his only 
 relief in this case is to plead the perfect obedience and complete righteousness of 
 his ever-blessed Surety. 
 
 " This plea is so far from weakening his study of holiness, that it is one of 
 the principal springs thereof. 
 
 " 4. There is a fiducial act or appropriating persuasion in the very nature 
 of justifying and saving faith. 
 
 " To exclude this from the nature of faith is to abandon and condemn our 
 Reformers, and all our polemic writers who have been ever since the Reformation 
 contending, as pro arts et focis, against Papists, for this fiducial act under the 
 name of the assurance of faith (which toto ccelo differs from the assurance of faith 
 of which our Westminster Confession speaks, when it excludes assurance from 
 the nature of faith). We are afraid lest our quitting of this act of faith be a 
 receding from our National Covenant, where the general and cloubtsome faith 
 of Papists is abjured. 
 
 " 5. There is a deed of gift or grant made by the Father to all the hearers 
 of the Gospel, affording warrant to ministers to offer Christ unto all, and a 
 warrant unto all to receive Him." 
 
 The most popular writing in this consolatory strain is the elaborate work 
 known as Hervey s Theron and Aspasio, a series of Dialogues and Letters by 
 Rev. James Hervey, Rector of Weston-Favell, whose preface was dated 6th 
 January 1755. It was in a later month of that very year that Hervey first read 
 The Marrow, with Boston's Notes. But he was mainly indebted for his bright 
 and clear views of faith to Ebenezer Erskine. 
 
 It is quite unnecessary to make quotations from Hervey 's well-known work. 
 His American opponent, Dr Bellamy, gives, within inverted commas, a Herveian 
 definition of faith : — 
 
 1 Fraser's "Life of Erskiue," Appendix, No. X. 
 
110 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Justifying faith bath for the special object of it the forgiveness of sins. 
 A man doth not believe that hiss ins are forgiven him already before the act of 
 believing, but that he shall have forgiveness of sins. In the very act of justifi- 
 cation he believes his sins are forgiven him, and so receives forgiveness. Faith 
 is a real persuasion that the blessed Jesus hath shed His blood for me — fulfilled 
 all righteousness in my stead — that through His great atonement and glorious 
 obedience He has purchased, even for my sinful soul, reconciliation with God, 
 sanctifying grace, and all spiritual blessings. The language of faith is this, Pardon 
 is mine, grace is mine, Christ and all spiritual blessings are mine. God has 
 freely loved me ; Christ has graciously died for me ; and the Holy Ghost will 
 assuredly sanctify me in the belief — the appropriating belief — of these precious 
 truths." 
 
 It should be known that these sentences were not flung out in this abrupt 
 and dogmatical manner. They are brought together by an adverse critic from vari- 
 ous parts of Hervey's book, where they may be found separately, and always 
 interwoven with an abundant mass of modest, candid, and patient thought 
 and argument. 
 
 Erskine and Hervey being really one, a sufficient discussion of objections 
 may be founded upon some strictures by Dr Dick, the greatest Divinity Professor 
 of the Associate Synod (a large and influential church which sprang from the 
 evangelical root of the Associate Presbytery). It is singular that from the lips of 
 an ecclesiastical son of such ancestry it should be our lot to quote an " Anti- 
 Marrow " argumentation, as follows : — 
 
 " In opposition to Papists, who made faith consist in an assent to the truth 
 of the Scriptures in general, and denied that any man could be certain of his 
 final salvation, the Reformers represented it as a firm persuasion that Christ died 
 for us in particular, and that our sins are forgiven. The founders of our religious 
 society adopted this notion ; and in one of their public deeds have defined 
 faith to be a persuasion on the part of the sinner that Christ is his, that what 
 He did and suffered He did and suffered for him, and that he shall have life and 
 salvation by Him. {Act of Associate Presbytery, 21st Oct. 17-12.) 
 
 " It may be questioned whether, in avoiding one extreme, they have not 
 run into another, or (at least) have not employed language which must be ex- 
 plained and qualified, in order to make it accord with the truth. 
 
 " A sinner cannot say, in the first instance, Christ is mine in possession ; 
 because this becomes true only when he has believed, and cannot belong- 
 to the nature of faith, as it is a consequence of it. If the words mean only, 
 that Christ is his in the offers of the Gospel, or is offered to him in par- 
 ticular, we allow it, but have a right to complain that a fact, about which there 
 is no dispute, should be expressed in terms which are apt to suggest a quite dif- 
 ferent sense. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. Ill 
 
 " The sinner cannot say till be have believed that Christ died for him, un- 
 less He died for all men without exception ; but, consistently with the doctrine 
 of particular redemption, no man can be assured that he was one of the objects of 
 the sacrifice of the cross, unless he have first obtained an interest in it by faith. 
 Neither can every sinner say, in the first moment of faith, that he shall certainly 
 have eternal salvation. He desires salvation, no doubt, and his faith implies an 
 expectation of it ; but how many believers have been harassed with doubts at 
 first, and during the whole course of their lives, and have rarely been able to use 
 the language of confidence ! This the advocates of this definition are compelled 
 to admit ; and it is curious to observe how, in attempting to reconcile it with 
 their system, they shift and shuffle and almost retract, and involve themselves in 
 perplexity and contradiction, as those must do who are labouring to prove that, 
 although it is a fact that many believers are not assured of their salvation, j 7 et 
 assurance is of the essence of faith. It is manifest that, if assurance is of the 
 essence of faith, it can never be separated from it. 
 
 " The exercise of faith is regulated by the Word of God, and its object is 
 there defined. But it is nowhere revealed in the Scriptures that Christ died for 
 any particular person, and that his sins are forgiven. How, then, can assurance 
 of these things belong to the nature of faith 1 How can it be our duty to believe 
 what is not in the testimony ? 
 
 "It is an objection against this definition, that it makes faith consist rather 
 in the belief of something regarding ourselves, than in the belief of the testimony 
 of God ; in the belief of the goodness of our state, rather than of the all-sufficiency 
 and willingness of Christ. 
 
 " It may be farther objected that it confounds the inferences from faith with 
 faith itself — nothing being plainer than that these propositions, Christ died for 
 'me, my sins are forgiven, are conclusions to which the mind comes from the pre- 
 vious belief of the doctrines and promises of the Gospel. 
 
 " Farther, it is chargeable with this error, that it defines faith in its highest 
 and most perfect state, and excludes the lower degrees of it ; and thus lays a 
 stumbling-block before thousands of the people of God, who, not finding in them- 
 selves this assurance, are distressed with the melancholy thought that they are 
 unbelievers." 
 
 In humbly replying to Professor Dick, I would remark — 
 
 1. That his climax is directed against an extreme strength of phraseolog} 7 , 
 and does not apply to the language used by the Associate Presbytery in its Act. 
 There is nothing in that Act which is inconsistent with Dr Dick's own definition 
 of faith. " Faith is not a doubting hesitating assent, but the substance of things 
 hoped for — the evidence of things not seen. The Christian is firmly persuaded 
 of every doctrine and fact which God has attested, and of every promise which He 
 has made. He believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Saviour of sinners 
 
112 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 — that His death was an atonement for guilt — that there is redemption through 
 His blood, even the forgiveness of sins — that He is freely offered to him and 
 others in the Gospel — and that every man who trusts in Him shall be saved." x 
 In consistency with that definition, we say what the " Marrow-men " say concern- 
 ing the Gospel offer, that although a man's name is not there, his portrait is there. 
 And there is in the written Gospel what serves the purpose of a blank space in 
 which he may, and ought to, insert his own name ; a phrase such as " whosoever," 
 " any man," " him that cometh," &c, being a blank in which any name may be 
 inserted. 
 
 2. As Dr Dick's own definition omits the doctrine of particular redemption, 
 we are agreed that the comer to Christ is not at his stage of experience to be 
 burdened with such questions. The question whether the atonement is limited 
 or universal belongs to the department of Divine Decrees, and therefore it is not 
 a question to be forced upon the attention of inquirers after salvation. It be- 
 longs neither to the preface nor to the first chapter of the life of faith, but to 
 the appeudix, as in my Introductory Essay I have already stated, and as was 
 stated long ago in the quaint aphorism, " No man should go to the university of 
 predestination, till he be well trained up in the Grammar School of faith and 
 repentance." The sinner as a sinner should fly to Christ for pardon, determined 
 to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that He is able to save 
 them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. The " Anti-Marrow-men " 
 insisted that inquirers should be reined in and curbed by the doctrine of a limited 
 atonement. The Marrow-men believed the doctrine, but denied that it was " the 
 present truth " for the anxious sinner, or that as scriptural food it was milk for 
 babes. 
 
 3. The assertion that the things promised cannot be ours until after we 
 have believed the words of promise, takes the question out of the field of action 
 into the cloisters of mere speculation. It is to immediate action that the sinner 
 is called, both by his own fears and necessities, and also by God's promises and 
 invitations. When the Gospel says to me, Whosoever will, let him take the water 
 of life, I may say, The xvatev of life is mine, as soon as I run in order to take it. 
 If a candid friend were to say, by way of objection, " The water is not yours until 
 you have actually swallowed it," he would talk nonsense. Some such objection 
 would be reasonable if I were to say, " The water is mine because it is offered to 
 me, and because I am at liberty to take it if I will, and when I will, although I 
 mean to wait a little." But it is not reasonable, if, as a famishing sufferer, I 
 actually run to take it. In this view, the words, " Christ is mine, pardon is 
 mine," &c, declared by Hervey to be essentially characteristic of faith, are 
 thoroughly scriptural and defensible. We have a warrantable assurance, on the 
 
 1 Dick's " Lectures cm Theology," Lecture 68 ; the longer quotation is from that Lecture 
 also. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 113 
 
 ground of faith in the promise, and at the foot of the throne of grace, without 
 having to serve any previous apprenticeship in the experience of possession. 
 
 4. To undertake to infer what is the accurate preaching of the Gospel- 
 salvation from the common or frequent experience of believers, is to lead inquirers 
 off from the genuine source of all valuable and real information. Dr Dick 
 informs us that " Marrow-men" " are compelled to admit," that " many believers 
 have been harassed with doubts at first, and during the whole course of their 
 lives." But going further back, we must say, that " Anti-Marrow-men" compel 
 and force conversation into the channel of human experience. The question to 
 be answered, and from the pursuit of which we ought not to be diverted, is, 
 What is the doctrine of Scripture on the subject ? If, from human experience, a 
 doctrine is framed and submitted to our inspection, asserting that it is inconsistent 
 with genuine faith to have strong consolation in the infancy of the Christian life, 
 and that it is a sign of genuine faith to be harassed with doubts, we reply that 
 there is no such doctrine in the Scriptures ; but that according to Scripture there 
 ought to be at the " beginning" what an apostle called " the confidence and the 
 rejoicing of the hope." It is strange that Professor Dick should characterize our 
 believing in Him tvho justifieth the ungodly as a " belief in the goodness of our 
 state." It is quite the opposite; and the charge would be more plausible against 
 the opposite teaching, which suspends our personal consolation until we have 
 evidence of our personal godliness. The essential danger is, that we should 
 mistake our doubts for virtues. Let us know them to be defects ; while we also 
 know that for all our defects, both as to believing and as to doing, there is 
 forgiveness with God that He may be feared. 
 
 The consolatory system of the " Marrow-men," and of Hervey, and of John 
 Brown of Haddington, includes the risen Saviour's precept that the Gospel is to 
 be preached to every creature. Give them the Gospel — not mere scriptural 
 reproof, advice, and instruction in righteousness — but the offer of mercy through 
 the Saviour. As to this, it will be sufficient to quote John Brown, whom we 
 find engaged in answering objections : — 
 
 " Objection. Only the thirsty, the willing, the heavy-laden labourers are 
 invited to receive Christ and His salvation (Isa. lv. 1 ; John vii. 37 ; Rev. xxii. 
 17; Matt. xi. 28). 
 
 "Answer. The thirsty (in Isa. lv. 1) cannot mean only those who earnestly 
 desire Christ and His righteousness and blessings ; for, in verse 2, they are said 
 to be spending money for that which is not bread, and labouring for that which 
 satisfieth not ; but must mean such as desire happiness in any form. 
 
 " Whosoever will (in Rev. xxii. 1 7) denotes the universality of the invitation, 
 not the qualification of the persons invited (John vi. 37, and vii. 37). 
 
 " The heavy-laden labourers (in Matt. xi. 28) include such as have fatigued 
 themselves in sinful courses, and are laden with the guilt and enslaving power of sin. 
 
 p 
 
114 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Objection. It would be infinitely unbecoming for men, xuho had just 
 been wallowing in their wickedness, to approach to or receive the Holy Jesus 
 before some change be made upon them. 
 
 "Answer — 1. God must indeed make them new creatures, before they be 
 able to receive Him ; but it is not as new men but as sinful men that they are 
 warranted and required to receive Him for their salvation (Matt. ix. 13, and 
 xviii. 11 ; 1 Tim. i. 15). 
 
 " 2. How is it unbecoming for the dangerously diseased to approach to or 
 admit the all-skilful physician, before they be almost cured ? for the unclean to 
 apply the purifying water, before they be partially cleansed ? for the starving to 
 take any wholesome provision till they be almost satisfied ? (Exod. xv. 6 ; Hos. 
 xiv. 4 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Zech. xiii. 1 ; Isa. i. 18 ; Acts iii. 26 ; Eom. xi. 26, 
 27; Prov. ix. 5 ; Isa. lv. 1-3, 7; Rev. xxii. 17). How is it unbecoming for 
 ignorant men to come directly to the only effectual Teacher ? unbecoming for 
 guilty men to receive the Lord their righteousness, who is made of God unto them 
 righteousness ? unbecoming for lost men to come to the only — the divinely 
 appointed — Saviour of men ? (Isa. xlviii. 17, and xlv. 17, 22, 24 ; Luke xix. 10; 
 Hos. xiii. 9). 
 
 " 3. It is impossible for men to attain to any true sincerity, humility, or 
 reformation of heart, before they receive Christ (Job xiv. 4 ; Prov. xx. 9 ; Ps. 
 li. 5 ; Eph. ii. 1-3, 10 ; Rom. viii. 7, 8, 2 ; John xv. 5 ; Jer. xvii. 9, and xiii. 
 23 ; Titus i. ] 5, and iii. 3-7). 
 
 " 4. In receiving Jesus Christ, as made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and redemption, we cannot continue cleaving to our sin, as we 
 receive Him in order to purge away and destroy it." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Guyse's Coward Lecture on Preaching Christ ; also, Allusions in 
 Various Writings to such Preaching or to the Neglect of it. 
 
 Mr Coward was an aged gentleman, a layman in communion with the English 
 Dissenters in the eighteenth century, whose name is associated with a lectureship 
 instituted by him for the special purpose of reminding and stimulating Christian 
 ministers to preach Christ. The Coward Lecture was founded in 1725. It pro- 
 vided preachers, but it did not contemplate the priuting of an annual volume. 
 It appears that only one volume was printed, which contained the discourses for 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 115 
 
 172S and 1729, and was edited by the Rev. John Hubbard of Stepney. The 
 title was " Christ's Loveliness and Glory in His personal and relative characters 
 and gracious offers to sinners — consider'd in twelve sermons, preach'd at Mr 
 Coward's Lecture. By several ministers. London, 1729." 
 
 The public attention accorded to this excellent volume arose chiefly from 
 the two sermons by the Rev. John Guyse, preached at St Hellen's, in April 1729, 
 with the heading, " Christ, the Son of God, the great subject of a Gospel 
 ministry." 
 
 A young minister, who was afterwards a celebrated D.D., the Rev. Samuel 
 Chandler, bitterly attacked these sermons. To this attack we owe a valuable 
 pamphlet, dated 1 Dec. 1729, "The Scripture-notion of preaching Christ further 
 clear'd and vindicated, in a Letter to the Reverend Mr Samuel Chandler, in 
 answer to one from him to the author — in which Mr Chandler's charitable temper, 
 his treatment of sacred things, his misrepresentations, his notion of preaching 
 Christ, and his charge of uncharitableness. &c, are considered. By John Guyse. 
 London, 1730." 
 
 The grievance which drew forth the Coward Lecture, was not exactly the 
 same as that which suggested Dr Crisp's Christ Alone Exalted and The 
 Marroiu. The older grievance was, as we have seen, a diseased anxiety lest the 
 preaching of free unconditional mercy should encourage an inquiring sinner to be 
 licentious or careless. The later grievance was a style of preaching which seemed 
 to deny that there are any sinners in a Christian congregation ; and which 
 asserted that because Christianity is the parent and nurse of the actual morality 
 of each individual Christian, therefore to preach morality is to preach Christianity, 
 and further, that to preach such Christianity is what is meant by preaching 
 Christ. 
 
 Mr Coward's preachers held, that though a congregation is a Christian 
 auditory, yet the true Christians in the congregation are sinners who depend upon 
 Christ, while the larger proportion, being merely nominal Christians, are sinners 
 who have not yet accepted the offer of their own personal salvation through 
 Christ. Thus, however numerous the true Christians may be among such an 
 audience, it is solemnly necessary and dutiful that the preacher should announce 
 and insist upon it as a mutual understanding that the audience consists of two 
 classes, unbelievers and believers. As to this Dr Isaac Watts had said, " Have 
 we not been too often tempted to follow the modish way, and speak to our 
 hearers in general terms, as though they were all converted already, and suffi- 
 ciently made Christians by a national profession?" 1 
 
 While this was the special grievance against which the Coward Lecture con- 
 tended, the preachers did not lose sight of the older grievance. The Rev. James 
 Wood preached, on 29th November and 13th December 1728, from the text, 
 
 1 Watts' preface to Rev. John Jennings' discourses of " Preaching Christ." 
 
116 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man 
 thirst, let him come to Me and drink " (John vii. 37) ; and he thus stated the 
 universal offer of Christ in the Gospel. 
 
 " The invitation extends to all sinners of whatever tribe, nation, kindred, or 
 language, that should hear the joyful sound, and will justify me in saying to the 
 oldest offender in this assembly, Be of good cheer, He calleth thee. Paul was a 
 famous instance of the riches of Christ's pardoning mercy, the freeness and fulness 
 
 of it to the chief of sinners What we read in his remarkable case 
 
 was written for our instruction, that we, through patience and comfort of the 
 Scriptures, might have hope. He tells us so when he said, For this cause I 
 obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering 
 for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. 
 See in me, as if he had said, that Christ is no respecter of persons, that He 
 scatters His pardons alike to Jew and Gentile, among the circumcision and the 
 uncircumcision ; that no circumstances, by which sin is aggravated and rendered 
 more heinous, should discourage their applications to Him, who can as easily forgive 
 ten thousand talents as a few pence." 
 
 Mr Wood also defended this universal offer against a misapplied mention of 
 Divine decrees ; the language of his defence has a good " Marrow " ring. 
 
 " Our Lord did well know that but few were chosen, though many were 
 called ; and that such only would believe as were ordained to eternal life. Yet 
 His invitations were general, and none were excluded by Him who did not shut 
 out themselves. The apostles set out upon the same principles, yet had they no 
 cramp upon their spirits when preaching the Gospel to every creature. They left 
 secret things to God — had no discriminating marks of elect or reprobate to guide 
 them in the exercise of their ministry." 
 
 With regard also to perils to morality, enlarged upon by Anti-Pauline 
 objectors, Mr Guyse quotes, with approbation, a rejoinder of his esteemed prede- 
 cessor in the same field, Mr Jennings : — 
 
 " Why should not we introduce the peculiarities of the Gospel on all occasions 
 — as frequently as the apostles did ? If our schemes of theology will not allow 
 us, we have reason to suspect that we are in a different scheme from the apostles. 
 Are we afraid men will make perverse use of such doctrines as the apostles used 
 for motives ? The apostles chose to venture it, and why should not we ? If we 
 will not dare to preach such a Gospel as may be perverted by men of corrupt 
 minds to their own injury, we must not expect to be instruments of any good. 
 If we'll be the savour of life to some, we must expect to be the savour of death 
 to others, or not preach at all." 
 
 The chief business of this chapter is with the later grievance, which 
 demanded and drew forth Christian words of scriptural philanthropy in Mr 
 Coward's days. To be informed of Mr Guyse's own principles as to preaching 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 117 
 
 Christ is what my readers are entitled to ask. No more, therefore, need be said 
 regarding Mr Chandler than this, that the task which he, as the champion of too 
 many similar preachers, imposed upon Mr Guyse, was to refute some such theorem 
 as the following : — " To preach upon any doctrine or precept contained in the 
 Christian religion — to preach against any vices condemned by it, or upon any- 
 thing virtuous and praiseworthy inculcated in it, because they are become part of 
 Christ's religion enjoined by His authority, and the text is taken out of the Bible, 
 and now and then Scripture is brought to confirm what is preached — is as directly 
 and immediately preaching Christ, as preaching the doctrines of His sufferings, 
 death, atonement, righteousness, exaltation, and advocacy, or anything else that 
 is most peculiar to Him." 1 Mr Chandler also ridiculed the endeavour to preach 
 about the person of Christ as a theme distinct from the principles and require- 
 ments of Christianity. 
 
 Mr Guyse preached the person of Christ, the finished ivork of Christ, and 
 Christian morals. 
 
 As to the person of Christ, revealed in the Scriptures as a distinct theme 
 for preachers, his sentiments are summed up in his allusions to the assertion that 
 there could be no such separate topic. " What ! (he says) Is there no glory in 
 His character as the Son of God, and His being the only proper person pitched 
 upon by the eternal Father for the redemption of the Church ? or in His own 
 free and gracious willingness, in His acceptance of that trust, and engagement in 
 eternal transactions with the Father about it, and coming in the fulness of time 
 to discharge it ? Is there no glory to be seen or spoken of, in the wonderful con- 
 stitution of His person God-man, in His condescension as God therein to man, 
 and in the honour He therein put upon man ? Is no personal glory to be seen 
 in all the infinite perfections of His Divine nature, and in all the matchless purity 
 and lovely qualities of His human nature, as they are united in Him? Are there 
 no glories of God to be seen in His person, who is the representative image of 
 God to us, the brightness of the Fathers glory, and the express image of His 
 person ? Is there no glory in His visible appearances as the Jehovah of Israel 
 under the Old Testament ? no glory in His fitnesses and capacities for His office- 
 work, as a Person divinely qualified for it in Himself, and enriched with the 
 unction of the Holy Spirit ? no glory in the infinite dignity that His person gives 
 to His sacrifice, and the sure efficacy that it gives to all His offices and adminis- 
 trations ? no glory in His person as the object, on account of His own Divine 
 perfections, of all the adoration, worship, faith, love, and obedience of men and 
 angels, and as designed to be made to appear glorious in Himself by the whole of 
 the Gospel dispensation ? And is there no glory in the illustrious exalted state of 
 His person at the Father's right hand, where crowds of angels surround Him with 
 prostrate reverence ? and no glory redounding to His person in the whole of our 
 
 1 Guyse's Pamphlet, p. 75. 
 
118 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 redemption arid salvation by Him, or in the execution of His offices now and 
 when He shall come to judge the world at the last day ? Are all these things 
 (and more than I am able to sum up) so worthless, so contemptible and mean, as 
 to be left out, or to be but now and then, at most, slightly touched upon, in our 
 preaching Christ ? Are not these sufficiently revealed, and made so far plain in 
 the Gospel, as to bear a part in our holy ministrations concerning Him, and to 
 open a theme for our solemn admiration, and even for our thoughts to expatiate 
 upon Him ? 
 
 " Did not God design a personal glory to His eternal Son in the whole of 
 the mediatorial scheme ? And is not the advancement of Christ's personal gloiy, 
 and of the glory of the Father in Him, the ultimate end of a Gospel ministry ? 
 The Lord keep me from overlooking or neglecting these glories. I cannot think 
 that Christ is preached as He ought to be, if all or most of these things concern- 
 ing His person are suppressed." 
 
 With regard to Mr Guyse's preaching of the work of Christ, a few sentences 
 may be culled from his Coward Lecture : — 
 
 " According to the Apostle Paul's method of preaching Christ, He is to be 
 proposed and recommended to sinners and to believers. 
 
 " 1. To sinners Christ is set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His 
 blood (Rom. iii. 25). He is to be preached to all sorts and degrees of sinners as 
 such. He is to be recommended to them as chosen, appointed, and accepted of 
 God to be a Saviour ; as having, in His great love to sinners, freely taken upon 
 Him a saving office ; and as having gone through a humble state of obedience, 
 sufferings, and death, in their nature, and in their room and stead, that He might 
 effectually save them. He is to be recommended to them as living in heaven to 
 employ Himself in His saving office. He is to be preached as the free gift of God 
 to sinners, and as a Saviour that hath grace enough in His heart not only to 
 invite them to Himself, but likewise to enable them to come at His invitation and 
 call, and to receive all that come to Him. This preaching of Christ is to be 
 directed in the ministerial way to all people where the Gospel comes. They are 
 the objects of it ; they are nearly concerned in it ; and it hath to do with them 
 promiscuously and indefinitely, none knowing who are God's elect among them 
 till the event declares it. They are to be treated, not like brutes or machines, 
 but like men of rational faculties, capable of attending to, and considering what is 
 proposed to them, and capable of being wrought upon by the Spirit of God in a 
 way suitable to their reasonable natures, and of being drawn under His gracious 
 influence with, cords of a man, with bands of love. The stupid, careless minds 
 of sinners are to be roused by proper considerations for convincing them of their 
 need of Christ. They are to be expostulated with, entreated and persuaded, in 
 the bowels of compassion, to embrace Him as He is freely offered to them in the 
 Gospel. They are to be dealt with by all the arguments of authority and grace, 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 119 
 
 of duty and interest, of danger and safety, of gain and loss, of honour and disgrace, 
 of pleasure and pain, of eternal happiness in receiving Him, and of eternal misery 
 for rejecting Him. All arguments are to be used with them suited and appointed 
 by God to work upon their judgments and consciences, their understandings, wills, 
 and affections — suited to their desires and aversions, joys and sorrows, hopes and 
 fears. They are to be warned hereby to flee from the wrath to come, and 
 encouraged, under a sense of their guilt and danger, to flee for refuge, to lay hold 
 on the hope that in Christ is set before them. 
 
 " 2. [As] to believers — they are to be helped who have believed through 
 grace (Acts xviii. 27). Christ is to be preached to them for their farther accept- 
 ance of Him and devotedness to Him. They are to be exhorted to cleave with 
 purpose of heart to the Lord ; and as they have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
 so to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith as 
 they have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving (Col. ii. 6, 7). 
 And He is to be recommended to them that they may have fellowship with Him, 
 and with the Father through Him, and that their joy may be full (1 John i. 3, 
 4). We have no dominion over their faith, but are to be helpers of their jo}'- 
 (2 Cor. i. 24). All His glories, as far as we can discover them, are to be opened 
 up before them — what He is in His wondrous person, office, and love — what He 
 has undertaken and engaged on their behalf from eternity, and performed in time 
 — what He has done and suffered for them on earth, and is doing for them in 
 heaven, and will do for them at the last day and for ever afterwards — what He 
 has purchased, provided, and secured in Himself for them — what He has already 
 bestowed on them and promised to them — and what He expects and demands 
 from them ; in a word, all that He is in Himself and is to them, and all that 
 they are made to be in and by Him, and are obliged to be to Him. All this 
 should be proposed to them, to encourage their continual and increasing faith, 
 love, hope, and joy, admiration, worship, obedience, gratitude, and praise. All 
 this should be attempted and enforced upon them in the name of Christ, and 
 with an expectation of His presence and blessing, that they may know their 
 privileges in Him and their duty toward Him ; and that their hearts may be 
 comforted, strengthened, and animated in His ways, till the whole design of His 
 grace toward them shall be perfected in their endless glory." 
 
 It may be mentioned that the text of Mr Guyse's Lecture is Acts ix. 20. 
 His heads are — I. The Subject — " Christ, that He is the Son of God." II. The 
 Apostle Paul's acts — " He preached." The acts be states as having been three — 
 
 (1.) To publish or declare these things concerning Christ. 
 
 (2.) To confirm and defend what is published concerning Him. 
 
 (3.) To propose and recommend Him to the acceptance of those to whom 
 He is preached. 
 
 As to the third, he says, " The verb in our text carries such a sense of 
 
120 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 preachiug as consists in proclaiming public edicts and commands, and in inviting 
 slaves aud captives to come in to a deliverer for their liberty, and in ordering 
 things to be disposed of to the people. We may consider it as transferred to the 
 use of preaching the Gospel, in which the ministers of Christ go forth in His 
 name, proclaiming Him to the people, proposing liberty to the captives, and 
 inviting sinners to come in to Him for all salvation. Their business is, among 
 other things, to declare that this is the command of God, that they should believe 
 on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and to propose Him to their acceptance, 
 that they, by Divine grace, may be brought to believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God, and that, believing, they may have life through His name. 
 Thus our Apostle preached Christ, saying, in an address to the Jews, To you is 
 the word of this salvation sent. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and 
 brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and 
 by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be 
 justified by the law of Moses." 
 
 In answer to a doubt whether the Apostle Paul ever preached Christ as the 
 Saviour of sinners, except when the main subject of discourse was the enforcing 
 of Christian morals, Mr Guyse produced the following instances, among many 
 others : — 
 
 " He tells the Corinthians that he determined not to know (or to preach as 
 if he did not know) anything among them, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 
 This, he declared, had been and should be the grand subject of his ministry 
 amongst them. Or, as good Mr Flavel descants upon it, ' It is as if he should 
 say, It is my stated settled judgment — the produce and issue of my most serious 
 and exquisite inquiries — that all other knowledge (how profitable, how pleasant 
 soever) is not worthy to be named the same day as the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 
 This, therefore, I resolve to make the scope and end of my ministry, and the end 
 regulates the means. Christ shall be the centre to which all the lines of my 
 ministry shall be drawn — Christ above all other subjects — Christ crucified above 
 all things in Christ.'" 
 
 " Acts xvii. 2, 3. Paul, as his manner was, went in unto the Jews, and 
 three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, &c. 
 
 " This is an account of his usual manner, of his stated and customary way, 
 zaTa to sludbs — which may relate not only to his preaching first to the Jews, but 
 to the way or manner of his preaching to them. And so it is a good clue to 
 guide our thoughts about the manner of his preaching Christ to the Jews, 
 wherever it is spoken of. And what did he preach ? Was it not concerning 
 Christ, opening and alleging, explaining and proving to them, the necessity and 
 reality of His sufferings and resurrection, with the nature, design, and truth of 
 His Messiahship, that He is indeed the Christ, whom God anointed to the office 
 of a Saviour, and whom their ancient prophets had foretold and described 1 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 121 
 
 Was not Christ the principal subject of this preaching ? The consequence of it 
 ■was, that some believed, and others cried out against him and Silas, saying, 
 ' These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also.' What 
 could he preach, to be the means of faith in some, and of all this rage in others 
 of the Jews, but the doctrines peculiar to Christ, or concerning Him ? Mr 
 Henry's 1 note on this place is, ' Gospel ministers should preach Jesus ; that must 
 be their principal subject; their business is to bring people acquainted with 
 Him.' And on another occasion, in his address to Mr Samuel Clark (page 77) 
 about the method of preaching, he says, ' Manage it as an ordinance of Christ, 
 instituted for the advancing of His honour and interest ; and therefore preach not 
 yourself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, as one that hath determined to know nothing 
 but Christ, and Him crucified, and desires to acquaint others with Him. Preach 
 Christ, brother (said an aged minister to one that asked his advice) ; whatever 
 you do, preach Christ.'" 
 
 Mr Guyse did not condemn, but both approved and practised, the preaching 
 of Christian morals, while he denied that such preaching is all that is meant by 
 the phrase and commission, "to preach Christ." His statements on this depart- 
 ment were the following : — 
 
 " Preaching Christ (in a latitude of the expression) takes in the whole 
 compass of Christian religion considered in its reference to Christ. It extends to 
 all its noble improvements of natural light and principles, and to all its glorious 
 peculiarities of the supernatural and incomprehensible kind, as each of these may, 
 one way or other, be referred to Him. In this sense there is no doctrine, institu- 
 tion, precept, or promise — no grace, privilege, or duty toward God and man — no 
 instance of faith, love, repentance, worship, or obedience, suited to the Gospel 
 state and to the design and obligations of the Christian religion — that don't belong 
 to preaching Christ. 
 
 " But to bring all these with any propriety under this denomination, they 
 must be considered, according to their respective natures or kinds, in their refer- 
 ence to Christ, that He may be interwoven with them and appear to be concerned 
 in them. They must be preached, not with the air of a heathen moralist or 
 Platonic philosopher, but with the spirit of a minister of Christ, referring them 
 up to Him, as revealed or enjoined or purchased by Him — as shining in their 
 brightest lustres and triumphing in all their glories through Him — jis built upon 
 Him and animated by Him — as lodged in His hands who is head over all things 
 to the church — as standing in the connections, uses, and designs in which He 
 hath placed them — as known, enjoyed, or practised by light and grace derived 
 from Him — as to be accounted for to Him — as acceptable to God, and advan- 
 tageous to our salvation, alone through Him, by faith in Him — as enforced upon 
 
 1 " Rev. Matthew Henry's Commentary." 
 Q 
 
122 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 us by motives and obligations taken from Him — and as tending to His glory and 
 the glory of God in Him. 
 
 "Whatever is the immediate subject of the discourse, it may be called 
 preaching Christ, if it is managed in such a manner as shows His concern in it, 
 and leads our thoughts either to the glory of His person and offices, or to His 
 kingdom of providence and grace — as all things were created by Him and for Him 
 — as He is before all things, and by Him all things consist — as He is the head 
 of the body the Church, the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in 
 all things He might have the pre-eminence — and as it pleased the Father that 
 in Him all fulness should dwell. In this sense the apostles preached the riches 
 of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles, which was Christ in them the 
 hope of glory ; warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that 
 they might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto, says our 
 Apostle, I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me 
 mightily (Colossians i. 16-19, 27-29). They gave an evangelical turn to moral 
 duties, and enforced them with a reference to Christ and by considerations taken 
 from Him. 
 
 " 'Twould be to transcribe a great part of the apostolic writings to give you 
 a full view of this strain of preaching Christ ; how they intermingled the doc- 
 trines that peculiarly relate to Him, as enforcing and evangelizing the duties that 
 have a foundation in natural light. In this latitude of the expression, all their 
 sermons and epistles were full of Christ. And after their example, Christ should 
 triumph in all our discourses. His name should throw life and lustre upon all 
 our holy ministrations." 
 
 In his pamphlet the lecturer enforces these views by quotations from influ- 
 ential English authors. The following is one from Dr Bates : — 
 
 " He [Dr Jacomb] preached Christ crucified, our only wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and redemption. His design was to convince sinners of their 
 absolute want of Christ ; that with flaming affections they might come to Him, 
 and from His fulness receive divine grace. This is to water the tree at the root, 
 whereby it becomes flourishing and fruitful ; whereas the laying down of moral 
 rules for the exercise of virtue and the subduing of vicious affections, without 
 directing men to derive spiritual strength, by prayer, and in the use of divine 
 ordinances, from the Mediator, the fountain of all grace — and without represent- 
 ing His love as the most powerful motive and obligation to obedience — is but 
 pure philosophy, and the highest effect of it but unregenerate morality." 
 
 Mr Guyse could not but complain, with much feeling and force of language, 
 of many professedly Christian ministers' neglect to preach Christ. Such lamenta- 
 tions by him, and by other truly philanthropic Christians, have been made, not for 
 the sake of attacking any preacher, but in order to call attention to Christ, and 
 to the preaching of the person and work of Christ as the grand desideratum for 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 123 
 
 the salvation of men, and for the success of ministers. It is as suggesting views of 
 the consolation that is in Christ that I present the reader with the following 
 collection of testimonies as to this prevalent neglect. Among them Mr Guyse's 
 own testimony appears in its place in the chronological arrangement : — 
 
 John Owen, CD. — " It is evident to me, who have some advantage to 
 consider things, as much as ordinary men, that the apostacy, the cursed apostacy 
 that spreads itself over the nation, and whose fruits are in all ungodliness and 
 uncleanness, consists in an apostacy from and forsaking the person of Christ. 
 Some write of how little use the person of Christ is in religion — none, but to 
 declare the doctrine of the Gospel to us. Consider the preaching and talk of 
 men. You have much preaching and discourse about virtue and vice (so it was 
 among the philosophers of old), but Jesus Christ is laid aside quite as a thing 
 forgotten, as if He was of no use — no consideration in religion ; as if men knew 
 not at all how to make use of Him, as to living to God. This being the general 
 plague, as is evident, of the apostacy of the day wherein we live, if we are wise 
 we shall consider very carefully, whether we ourselves are not influenced, more or 
 less, with it." 
 
 Rev. Increase Mather, 1689. — "It was a wise reproof which a grave 
 divine administered to a young preacher who entertained his auditory with an 
 elaborate discourse. After he had commended his parts and pains, There was 
 (said he) one thing wanting in the sermon — / could not perceive that the Spirit 
 of God was in it. Though morality is good and necessary to be taught and 
 practised, yet it is much to be lamented that many preachers in these days have 
 hardly any other discourses in their pulpits than what we may find in Seneca, 
 Epictetus, Plutarch, or some such heathen moralists. Christ, the Holy Spirit, 
 and (in a word) the Gospel is not in their sermons." 
 
 Bishop Gibson (Bp. of London), 1724. 1 — " It must be always remembered, 
 in the first place, that we are Christian preachers, not barely preachers of moral- 
 ity. The several branches of what we may call the Mediatorial Scheme, with 
 the several duties annexed to it resulting from each branch, are, without doubt, the 
 main ingredients of the Gospel state— these by which Christianity stands distin- 
 guished from all other religions, and Christians are raised to far higher hopes, 
 and far greater degrees of purity and perfection — in which views it would seem 
 strange if a Christian preacher were to dwell only upon such duties as are com- 
 mon to Jews, heathens, and Christians, and were not more especially obliged to 
 
 1 " Directions given to the clergy of the Diocese of London in the year 1724, to which are 
 now added Directions given to the Masters and Mistresses of the Charity Schools." By Edmund, 
 Lord Bishop of London. Second edition. (London, 1727), p. 13. 
 
124- THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 dwell on, and inculcate those principles and doctrines which are the distinguish- 
 ing excellence of the Christian religion. But yet so it is, that these subjects are 
 too much forgotten amongst young preachers, who, being better acquainted with 
 morality than divinity, fall naturally into the choice of moral rather than divine 
 subjects, and will, of course, do so till the two subjects are better considered and 
 understood." 
 
 Rev. John Guyse, 1729. * — "There are but few in our days that preach 
 Christ, and but few that regard Him. The greatest number of preachers and 
 hearers seem contented to lay Him aside ; and too many there are among us who 
 set themselves against Him. His name is seldom heard of in conversation, unless 
 in a way of strife and debate, or (which is infinitely worse) in a way of contempt, 
 reproach, and blasphemy. 
 
 " The present modish turn of religion looks as if we began to think that we 
 have no need of a Mediator, but that all our concerns were to be managed with 
 God as an absolute God. The religion of nature makes up the darling topics of 
 our age ; and the religion of Jesus is valued only for the sake of that, and only 
 so far as it carries on the light of nature, and is a bare improvement of that kind 
 of light. All that is restrictively Christian, or that is peculiar to Christ — every- 
 thing concerning Him that has not its apparent foundation in natural light, or 
 that goes beyond its principles — is waived, and banished, and despised. And even 
 moral duties themselves, which are essential to the very being of Christianity, are 
 usually harangued upon without any evangelical turn or reference to Christ as 
 fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of God by Him. They are placed 
 in the room of Christ, are set up independent of Him, and are urged upon prin- 
 ciples, and with views ineffectual to secure their practice, and more suited to the 
 sentiments and temper of a heathen than of those that take the whole of their 
 religion from Christ. 
 
 " How many sermons may one hear that leave out Christ, both name and 
 thing, and that pay no more regard to Him than if we had nothing to do with 
 Him ! What a melancholy symptom — what a threatening omen is this ! Do 
 we not already feel its dismal effects in the growth of infidelity, in the rare 
 instances of conversion-work, and in the cold, low, and withering state of religion 
 among the professors of it beyond what has been known in some former days ? 
 May not these things be chargeable in great measure on a prevailing disuse of 
 preaching Christ ? and where will they end if the disuse goes on, and little or 
 nothing concerning Him is to be heard among us ? How should all the ministers 
 of Christ that heartily love Him, that are concerned for His honour, and for the 
 honour of religion as Christians, be affected at these thoughts ! And how should 
 
 1 He became D.D. in 1732. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 125 
 
 they be excited, by the too general neglect of others, to be so much the more fre- 
 quent, earnest, and explicit in preaching Christ themselves ! " 
 
 Rev. John Currie, 1732. — -"It is regretted, and I wish it be not on 
 too just grounds, especially concerning our younger ministers and preachers, who 
 are said often and ordinarily to entertain their hearers with bare harangues of 
 morality ; their discourses having little, and sometimes no moi*e in them but what 
 might have been said by such as never saw a Bible, having nothing but what the 
 light of nature doth suggest, so that a stranger, at hearing, might doubt whether 
 the preacher was a Christian or a Deist." 
 
 Sermon before the Synod of Fife, 26th Sept. 1732. — [The above sentence 
 suggested the title of a small tract printed at Glasgow in 1746 : — -" A Short 
 Essay to prevent the dangerous consequences of the Moral Harangues now so 
 common in Scotland, especially to prevent the dangerous consequences of Mr 
 Leechman's Sermon on Prayer, being a collection of some of the sentiments of 
 several judicious divines in opposition to these moral harangues," &c] 
 
 Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D., 1753. — [The prevalence of mere philoso- 
 phizing and moralizing in the pulpit, as well as the opposition of such clergymen 
 to preachers of Christ, occasioned the publication of an energetic protest by Dr 
 Witherspoon. In order that it might be read in quarters to which access was 
 almost impossible, the author adopted the style of burlesque, and entitled his 
 pamphlet, " Ecclesiastical Characteristics ; or, The Arcana of Church Policy — being 
 an humble attempt to open up the Mystery of Moderation, wherein is shown a 
 plain and easy way of attaining to the character of a Moderate Man, as at present 
 in repute in the Church of Scotland." A Moderate Man is supposed to enunciate 
 a number of Maxims — one of which is the following : — ] 
 
 " Maxim IV. — A good preacher must not only have all the above and sub- 
 sequent principles of Moderation in him as the source of everything that is good, 
 but must, over and above, have the following special marks and signs of a talent 
 for preaching: — ]. His subjects must be confined to social duties. 2. He must 
 recommend them only from rational considerations, viz., the beauty and comely 
 proportions of virtue, and its advantages in the present life, without any regard 
 to a future state of more extended self-interest. 3. His authorities must be 
 drawn from heathen writers — none (or as few as possible) from Scripture. 4. He 
 must be very unacceptable to the common people." 
 
 William Cowper, 1783. 
 
 " All truth is from the sempiternal source 
 Of light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome 
 Drew from the stream below. 
 
120 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Their rules of life, 
 Defective and unsanctioned, proved too weak 
 To bind the roving appetite, and lead 
 Blind Nature to a God not yet revealed. 
 'Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts, 
 Explains all mysteries except her own, 
 And so illuminates the path of life 
 That fools discover it, and stray no more. 
 
 " Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir, 
 My man of morals, nurtured in the shades 
 Of Academus, is this false or true ? — - 
 Is Christ the abler teacher, or the schools ? 
 If Christ, then why resort at every turn 
 To Athens or to Rome, for wisdom short 
 Of man's occasions, when in Him reside 
 Grace, knowledge, comfort, an unfathomed store ? 
 How oft, when Paul has served us with a text, 
 Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preached ! " — The Time-Piece. 
 
 Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., 1861. — " Some of us can remember 
 the time when sermons were nothing more than moral essays, setting forth some 
 duty or some grace of the Christian character, with little or no reference 
 to those evangelical motives from which alone an acceptable obedience can 
 spring, and no suggestions of any value as to the method in which the particular 
 grace recommended might be obtained. You were told that humility and self- 
 denial and contentment were excellent things, and worthy of being pursued by 
 all men ; but as to the considerations which alone can move to the pursuit, and 
 as to any practical method of maintaining them under difficulties, you were left 
 in ignorance. But when it pleased God to quicken the dry bones of the Church 
 with new life, men began to see that to divorce the moral code of Christ from 
 His constraining love, which alone can enable us to keep it, was an unhallowed 
 act, upon which God's blessing can never rest, and the exhortations of the 
 Christian preacher should be something warmer and more genial and more 
 persuasive than the moralizings of Seneca." — Thoughts on Personal Religion, 
 Chap. I. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 127 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Hints on Christian Experience." 
 
 By Rev. Charles Watson, Minister of Burntisland. 
 
 Second Edition, 1833. 
 
 HAVING had occasion to remind my readers, that narratives of human experience 
 are not the materials out of which the Gospel offer is constructed, I thiuk that 
 they will be both pleased and profited by hearing Dr Watson's able and accurate 
 observations bearing npon this matter. If his book is not one of the " old 
 writings," it contains the " old wine " which the grapes of the written Gospel 
 supply. 
 
 In the preface to his little work, entitled, " Hints on Christian Experience 
 and the Christian's duty with respect to it," he says : — 
 
 " The distinction between Christian Experience and The Experience of the 
 Christian appears to afford the only general principle by which, in ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, Christians can determine the extent to which it is their duty to 
 proceed [in conversing] on the subject of Christian experience. It is not 
 intended to limit the communications of one Christian friend with another. In 
 the intercourse warranted by long-tried intimacy, many things may form the 
 subject of communication which will not bear to be repeated in more general 
 society." 
 
 In the body of the work, after some cautions against " an indiscriminate 
 disclosure of facts," the author proceeds thus : — 
 
 " These remarks apply with particular force to that species of experience 
 commonly denominated Christian, but of which we may be permitted to doubt, 
 whether (strictly speaking) it deserves to be considered Christian experience. 
 The reference here is to those conflicting and painful exercises — occasioned by 
 the resistance of a depraved nature and evil habits to the energy of divine grace 
 — and to that state of dejection and melancholy into which the mind is often, in 
 consequence, thrown. Unfortunately it happens that more of this experience 
 than of any other has been brought before the public ; and to this circumstance 
 must doubtless be traced most of the objections that have at any time been urged 
 against the communication of religious experience in general. 
 
 " Now, Christian experience is really a very different thing from what too 
 many seem disposed to consider it. Its source and its test are the divine word ; 
 and its nature and characteristics are defined by the nature and characteristics of 
 the truths which that word contains. It is neither more nor less than divine 
 
128 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 truth embodied in a living example. This is Christian experience. It is not 
 everything that may be associated with a man's feelings while believing, but 
 everything that enters essentially and properly into the act of believing, or that 
 follows naturally as a consequence of believing. And if this be a correct view of 
 the nature of Christian experience, then, in order to distinguish it from its coun- 
 terfeits and accidental concomitants, we have only to consider what both Scrip- 
 ture and reason tell us must be the effects of cordially and fully believing the 
 various testimonies of God in their due order and connection. On this principle, 
 one cannot help seeing, that however gloomy and depressed, however unstable 
 and unhappy some Christians may be, the experience tha.t legitimately claims the 
 appellation of Christian, must partake largely of righteousness and peace, and joy 
 in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " It may be true that, in consequence of the peculiar circumstances of a 
 fallen creature, ever} 7 act of believing the truths of the Gospel may be attended, 
 more or less, with internal commotions and struggles ; but who does not perceive 
 that these are owing not to the Gospel, which has a directly opposite tendency, but 
 to the deranged and debilitated constitution of the mind resisting the native 
 influence of the Gospel ? So far from being the natural and proper effects of a 
 reception of the Gospel, or of a suitable experience of its power, these struggles 
 and internal conflicts are to be regarded and deplored as so many efforts of the 
 mind to thwart and resist it. When, therefore, we hear a man complaining of 
 his weakness and corruptions, of his doubts and fears, we may allow, from our 
 knowledge of his general character, that this may be the experience of a Christian ; 
 but if we call such experience by the name of Christian, we do unintentional 
 injustice to the Gospel, which has no tendency in itself to produce these effects. 
 In fact, to dignify an experience, which a firmer faith in the doctrines and pro- 
 mises of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God is intended and exactly fitted to 
 remove, with the title Christian, is not only to confound two things which, 
 happily for us, are essentially distinct, but to foster in the Christian the erroneous 
 and mischievous conception, that that — which he ought to regard as a proof of 
 languid faith, and defective grace — is a healthful symptom of his spiritual state. 
 
 " While on the subject of this distinction, it may not be out of place to 
 remark, that nothing can be of greater importance to a Christian than a firm 
 conviction that the tendency of the Gospel, and its assured effect if he will not 
 hinder the effect by unbelief, are to make him triumphant and happy. In its first 
 effect on a sinner's conscience and heart it may, indeed, operate with the power of 
 the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire, but it is sure to act upon him at last 
 with the gentle influence of a still small voice that speaketh peace. All its dis- 
 coveries point to this result ; and the glorious object — a crucified Saviour, whom 
 it enjoins us as our first duty to keep continually in view — tends immediately to 
 produce it. 
 
CONSOLATION AS THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE GOSPEL. 129 
 
 " A man cannot be a believer, to tbe full extent to which it is his duty to 
 be a believer, without experiencing a satisfaction, a serenity, and a joy, above any 
 feeling of the sort that takes its rise in worldly causes. If any Christian who is 
 of a different opinion will but make the experiment, and ask himself when 
 dejected and sorrowful, ' Why am I thus ? — Am I believing God, appropriating 
 His promises, and exercising a suitable trust in that gracious Saviour who died 
 for me, and who is now alive to protect and enrich me ? ' — he will be sensible of 
 the truth of what is now affirmed ; he will be sensible that his want of comfort 
 is owing to his want of faith — to the defective exercise of that grace which is 
 peculiarly Christian. We may conceive that his circumstances are calculated, in 
 a remarkable degree, to produce dejection ; — we may conceive him beset by all 
 the trials, whether of an external or spiritual nature, that can enter into the lot 
 of any human being; — but while faith in the word and promises of God is in his 
 power, we cannot conceive him destitute of resources. 
 
 " The saddest feature in outward trials or spiritual conflicts is their tendency 
 to weaken faith ; and of this the Christian, in order to the preservation of his 
 comfort, or the recovery of it if lost, ought to be aware. The thing to be depre- 
 cated is not their immediate tendency to make him unhappy — for this they cannot 
 immediately do. On some Christians they have the very opposite effect; and the 
 reason is obvious — these Christians meet them in the exercise of faith. They 
 oppose the blood of the cross to the accusations of conscience. They resist temp- 
 tation in the strength of Him who has said, My grace is sufficient for thee. 
 They look at afflictions through the medium of promises; and, while the world 
 fails them, they cling only closer to their portion and their treasure, God. 
 
 " Why trials and conflicts should not have the same effect, in every case, is 
 owing not to any peculiarity in them, but solely to the state of mind of him who 
 is the subject of them. In almost every case their first effect is to absorb and 
 occupy the mind, — to leave room for nothing but an absorbing sense of helpless- 
 ness and misfortune ; and so long as this effect is yielded to, it is obvious that the 
 mind must droop and suffer. In such a case the Christian's duty is to prevent 
 this tendency of spiritual or temporal evils to occupy his mind — to turn his 
 thoughts to the hopes and promises of the Gospel — to apply himself to those parts 
 of Divine truth that bear a more immediate reference to his situation — and to 
 keep in mind that what he reads in his Bible is the word of an immutable, an 
 omnipotent, and gracious Being, who never says more than He means His 
 creatures to believe, and who never requires them to believe what He is not both 
 competent and willing to perform. The sooner this is done the better for the 
 Christian ; and he who displays most aptitude and facility in doing it, is the 
 farthest advanced in Christian duty and Christian attainment. 
 
 " A man can never be said to be destitute of the means of comfort — what- 
 ever his circumstances may be — so long as the views, the objects, and the exercises 
 
 R 
 
130 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of faith are left him for a resource. Let him only set his heart on bringing faith 
 into lively exercise on every occasion ; let him commune with conscience in the 
 language of faith — oppose to his spiritual enemies the shield of faith — contem- 
 plate vexations and crosses with the eye of faith ; and he will learn by experience, 
 what it is a pity he should ever have doubted or forgotten, that according to his 
 faith so it is unto him, and that a believing must always be a rejoicing Christian. 
 
 " The distinction that has given rise to these remarks, viz., that between 
 the experience of a Christian and Christian experience, goes a great way (if the 
 writer is not mistaken) to obviate some of the difficulties connected with the 
 inquiry, how far it is the duty of Christians to communicate their experience to 
 others. If the distinction be correct, it may convince us that there are many 
 details, connected with the experience of almost eveiy Christian, on which it were 
 better for him to be silent." 
 
 Note A. of the Appendix contains the author's views on the Gospel founda- 
 tion of Christian experience. The following is an extract from it : — 
 
 " It is unnecessary to multiply words on a point so plain, as the connection 
 
 between the exercise of faith and the enjoyment of spiritual comfort 
 
 From the nature or quality of the objects of faith, it is manifest that faith involves 
 the enjoyment of peace, on the same principle that opening the eye on sunshine 
 involves the perception of light, or accepting a treasure the possession of wealth. 
 
 " Yet how important at the same time is the lesson which such passages as 
 the following teach us with respect to the dependence of the Christian, even while 
 engaged in exercises which have the closest natural connection with privilege, on 
 the great efficient source of all spiritual blessings. ' Thou wilt keep him in per- 
 fect peace, whose mind is staid on Thee : because he trusteth in Thee ' (Isaiah 
 xxvi. 3). ' Now the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, 
 that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost ' (Rom. xv. 13). 
 
 " While the God of hope is to be regarded as the primary fountain whence 
 all geniune enjoyment issues, He is also to be considered as directing the stream 
 in the channel of His word, and as calling upon men, by the lively and habitual 
 exercise of faith, to drink of the water of life freely. By presenting the blessings 
 of the Gospel as gratuities, which any of the children of Adam may lawfully 
 appropriate, He has removed the only obstruction that could have prevented a sinful 
 creature, who is willing to believe, from participating in the Saviour's legacy of peace. 
 
 " When the Holy Spirit is described in His office as the Comforter, what is 
 He represented as doing ? He shall teach you all things (said our Lord), and 
 bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said vnto you. He shall 
 glorify Me : for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you (John xiv. 
 26 ; xvi. 14). In other words, He sheds light upon the objects of faith, and 
 excites to exercise the principle of faith. This is the appointed ordinary course 
 of His procedure, in promoting both the sanctification and comfort of the indivi- 
 duals committed to His care." 
 
THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 BOOK FIRST.— PAKT SECOND. 
 
BOOK FIRST.— WRITINGS. 
 Part II. Consolation Revived and Confirmed. 
 
 PRELIMINARY EXPLANATION. 
 
 I HAVE not met with any special book devoted to the second branch of the sub- 
 ject of Gospel consolation. Instead, therefore, of a review of separate books, a 
 number of classified extracts from books must now pass in review before my 
 readers. 1 In these extracts the authors speak in their own language entirely ; 
 though sometimes their long passages and chapters are reduced to paragraphs. 
 
 This is the plan intimated in the Introductory Essay ; namely, first (as has 
 been done), to describe books in which consolation is put in the front as the first 
 aspect of the Gospel ; and, secondly (as I shall now do), to cull from many authors 
 instructive sentences as to the revival and confirmation of the consolation of indi- 
 vidual believers. 
 
 There are many authors who are, more or less, committed to the opinion 
 that consolation has no place within a sinner, either in theory or in experience, 
 except after a feeling of conscious sanctification. Yet, many of their scriptural 
 expositions are quite consistent with the view that the consolation, which follows 
 sanctification, is a revival and confirmation of consolation rather than the begin- 
 ning of it. 
 
 In the First Chapter of this Part, I shall give the substance of Boston's Com- 
 mentaries on those questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which throw 
 light on this matter. The exact theoretical difference between the last-mentioned 
 authors, and other authors whose views seem to be the most evangelical, will 
 thus appear. 
 
 Except, perhaps, in the first chapter, all authors who, as servants of Christ, 
 are really one in sentiment, although they may sometimes differ in statement or 
 in phraseology, may walk together, as those who are agreed, in this Second Part 
 of the First Book of the Theology of Consolation. 
 
 1 Colqulioun on " Spiritual Comfort " might have been reviewed ; but more profit may, per- 
 haps, be obtained from detached extracts from that truly evangelical and genial book. 
 
13+ THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 A Denial of an Assertion that all a Believer's Consolation is delayed 
 
 UNTIL AFTER HIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 This chapter proceeds upon the circumstance that many theologians affirm what 
 we deny, namely, that a believer's consolation is all delayed until he is conscious 
 of his sanctification. We now discuss that affirmation in the form of an inquiry 
 as to what is taught on this subject in several questions of the Westminster 
 Shorter Catechism. 
 
 31. What is " effectual calling " [conversion] ? 
 
 Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our 
 sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing 
 our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered 
 to us in the Gospel. 
 
 32. What benefits do they that are "effectually called" [converted] partake 
 of in this life ? 
 
 They that are effectually called, do in this life partake of justification, 
 adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either 
 accompany or flow from them. 
 
 33. What is justification ? 
 
 Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our 
 sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ 
 imputed to us, and received by faith alone. 
 
 34. What is adoption ? 
 
 Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the 
 number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. 
 
 35. What is sanctification 2 . 
 
 Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in 
 the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die 
 unto sin, and live unto righteousness. 
 
 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from 
 justification, addition, and sanctificaiion ? 
 
 The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, 
 adoption, and sanctification, are assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy 
 in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. 
 
 The reader may now observe what interpretation is given to No. 36 by 
 those who believe in no consolation at first — all delayed to the last. A sinner 
 knows Christ enough to embrace or accept Him as the offered Saviour ; (no 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 135 
 
 consolation.) God accepts him as righteous in His sight ; (no consolation, only a 
 consciousness of sin and misery.) God adopts him as a son with divine and 
 eternal privileges ; (no consolation yet.) God begins to sanctify him, he is con- 
 scious of purification of heart and of life ; (now consolation begins). That is one 
 interpretation of the teaching of the catechism founded upon the circumstance 
 that the answer has no such sound as " assurance of God's love," until all the 
 three words, "justification, adoption, and sanctification," have been uttered — 
 until the sound of sanctification is heard, there is no place for the assurance of 
 God's love. 
 
 This is an interpretation which seems to have a very slender support of its 
 own ; and it overlooks the fact that the catechism claims no more than to be an 
 interpreter of Scripture. The Scripture says (Rom. v. 1, 2), " Being justified by 
 faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we 
 have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the 
 glory of God." Interpreting the catechism in the light of this text, Thomas 
 Boston of Ettrick gives the better interpretation. There are two commentaries 
 upon this portion of the catechism by Boston, one included in a series of sermons 
 on the whole catechism known as his Body of Divinity, and the other in An 
 Explication of the First Part of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. From these 
 commentaries I make a few extracts. 
 
 Boston's doctrine is, " Assurance, spiritual peace and joy, are benefits flowing 
 from a state of justification." And " the justification of a sinner before God is of 
 free grace, through the satisfaction of Christ." 
 
 " Pardon cuts the knot, whereby guilt ties sin and wrath together, cancels 
 the bond obliging the sinner to pay his debt, reverses the sentence of condemna- 
 tion, and puts him out of the law's reach. 
 
 "God justifying a sinner does not only pardon his sin, but accepts and 
 accounts his person righteous in His sight. 
 
 " (1.) The bar in the way of abounding mercy is taken away, so that the 
 rivers of compassion may flow to the believer (Rom. v. 1, &c). The believer 
 being accepted as righteous, the law's mouth is stopped — justice and truth have 
 nothing to object against mercy flowing to him. 
 
 " (2.) The person is by this means adjudged to eternal life, even agreeably 
 to the constitution of the law. Life was promised in the first covenant, upon the 
 fulfilling of the law. Now the law, having all it can demand of the believer, is 
 very agreeable thereto, that he be adjudged to eternal life. Thus, what sets 
 salvation far from unbelievers contributes to the believer's security. 
 
 " (3.) The accusations of Satan and the clamours of an evil conscience are 
 hereby to be stilled. See how the Apostle triumphs over and bids a defiance to 
 all the believer's accusers (Rom. viii. 33, 34), ' Who shall lay anything to the 
 charge of God's elect 1 It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? 
 
13G THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right 
 hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.' 
 
 " Sanctification follows. [By justification] that has been removed which 
 was the stop of sanctifying influences. A communication is opened betwixt 
 heaven and the soul again, upon its reconciliation with God. 
 
 " Faith is the great means of communication between Christ and us. It 
 empties the soul of all confidence in self for sanctification, and relies upon Him 
 for it according to His word. 
 
 " When God in the depths of infinite wisdom laid His measures for the 
 salvation of sinners, He had their sanctification in His eye, to bring it about by 
 the death of His own Son. 
 
 " Ye may do what ye can to reform — ye may bind yourselves with vows 
 to be holy, watch against sin, and press your hearts with the most affecting con- 
 siderations of heaven, hell, &c. ; but ye shall as soon bring water out of the flinty 
 rock, as holiness out of all these, until ye believe and unite with Christ. 
 
 " Wherefore, be persuaded of your utter inability to sanctify yourselves, and 
 receive Christ for sanctification as He is offered to you ; and thus alone shall you 
 attain to holiness both in heart and life. 
 
 " True spiritual joy is sanctifying. It makes one forward in the duties of 
 universal obedience ; ' I will run the way of Thy commandments when Thou 
 shalt enlarge my heart' (Ps. cxix. 32). 
 
 " It is not God's allowance for His children to harden themselves in sorrow 
 and refuse to be comforted. ' Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, 
 Rejoice' (Phil. iv. 4). As it is uncomfortable to themselves, it is dishonouring 
 to God, and is the fruit of unbelief. 
 
 " Doubts and fears are no friends to holiness of heart and life. It is little 
 faith that breeds them in the hearts of the people of God. And little faith will 
 always make little holiness." 
 
 The doctrine of Boston therefore is, that there is consolation from justifica- 
 tion ; and that such consolation fosters sanctification — that sanctification flows 
 from justification, but does not bid consolation wait behind, and only appear after 
 it. He therefore may be quoted as denying that all a believer's consolation is 
 delayed until after his consciousness of sanctification. 
 
 But there is an additional doctrine of consolation arising from sanctification 
 (Rom. v. 3, 4, 5) which Boston largely expounds. I quote two or three 
 sentences : — 
 
 " The Spirit shines on His own work of grace in the heart, and the believer 
 discerns it. The Spirit of God clears up to the man the truth of grace in him 
 — lets him see, for instance, that he loves God. And (says the Spirit) this is 
 My work. The Spirit of the Lord sometimes gives a joint testimony with the 
 spirit of the saints, to the truth to the conclusion that they are the children of God. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 137 
 
 "It is the office of the Spirit of God to assure believers of this. He has 
 given us the word for this end. He is given to lead His people into all truth, 
 particularly to discover the grace of God to them and in them (1 Cor. ii. 1, 2) — 
 to witness with their Spirits to their adoption (Rom. viii. 1 6) — to be a seal, 
 which is properly to ensure an evidence (Eph. iv. 30) — to be an earnest, i.e., a 
 part of the price and pledge of the whole (2 Cor. v. 5). 
 
 " Christians may thank themselves for the uncomfortable lives they lead. 
 What sovereignty may do, we know not ; but surely it is sloth and unbelief that 
 the want of assurance is ordinarily owing to. Stir up yourselves then to seek 
 it. Be frequent in self-examination ; cry to the Lord for the witness of the 
 Spirit. Believe the word and be habitually tender in your walk, if ever ye would 
 have assurance." 
 
 The above extracts are from Boston's " Body of Divinity.'' I quote a sketch 
 of the two departments of consolation from the brief " Explication" of the same 
 author. 
 
 " There is some assurance in justifying faith itself. 
 
 " 1 Thess. i. 5, ' Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in 
 power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.' Heb. x. 22, 'Let us 
 draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled 
 from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.' Jer. iii. 19, 
 ' But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant 
 land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations ? and I said, Thou shalt call Me, 
 My Father ; and shalt not turn away from Me.' Hosea ii. 23, 'And I will say to 
 them which were not My people, Thou art My people ; and they shall say, Thou 
 art my God.' 
 
 " The assurance which is in justifying faith itself is that whereby, in 
 believing on Christ for salvation, the party is persuaded, in greater or lesser 
 measure, of God's good-will to him, and that Christ will save him from sin and 
 wrath. 1 John iv. 14, 16, 'And we have seen and do testify that the Father 
 sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. And we have known and believed the 
 love that God hath toward us.' Chap. v. 10, 11, 'He that believeth on the Son 
 of God hath the witness in himself : he that believeth not God hath made Him 
 a liar ; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this 
 is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.' 
 Acts xv. 11, 'We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we 
 shall be saved, even as they.' James i. 6, 7, ' But let him ask in faith, nothing 
 wavering ; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind 
 and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.' 
 
 s 
 
138 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " The ground from whence this assurance is raised is the Word of God 
 allenarly [only], demonstrated hy the Spirit in the work of saving illumination. 
 
 " 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5, ' And my speech and my preaching was not with entic- 
 ing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power : that 
 your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.' 
 
 " There may be doubting of God's will and of salvation, where this assur- 
 ance of them hath place. These are contraries capable of various degrees, the 
 one weakened as the other gathers strength. 
 
 " Matt. xiv. 31, ' And immediately Jesus said unto Peter, thou of little 
 faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?' Mark ix. 24?, 'And straightway the father 
 of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine 
 unbelief.' 
 
 " But where doubts are reigning, to the barring of any assurance of these 
 things at all, true faith is barred too. (Jas. i. 6, 7 ; Isa. 1. 10 ; 1 John v. 10, 11)." 
 
 n. 
 
 " The assurance of God's love, which proceeds from the evidence of grace, 
 is, That whereby a true believer is certainly assured of God's love and compla- 
 cency in him, and that he is in the state of grace, and shall persevere therein. 
 
 " Rom. v. 4, 5, ' Experience worketh hope, and hope maketh not ashamed ; 
 because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is 
 given unto us.' John xiv. 21, 'He that hath My commandments, and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, 
 and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.' 
 
 " A believer may attain unto this assurance, in the use of ordinary means, 
 without extraordinary revelation. And the special means for that end are close 
 walking with God, self-examination, and the right use of the holy sacraments. 
 
 " The grounds from whence a believer may raise this assurance are the 
 infallible truth of the word of grace to him in the Scriptures, and the evidence 
 of grace in his own heart. And a believer is enabled to discern these grounds 
 of assurance, so as to be assured upon them by the Spirit's shining in his heart, 
 on the word of grace, and on the work of grace there : he sees the one to be the 
 Spirit's infallible word to him, and the other His gracious work in him. 
 
 " 1 Cor. ii. 12, ' Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the 
 Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things which are freely given to 
 us of God.' 
 
 " True assurance distinguishes itself from presumption, by its humbling the 
 soul, making the conscience tender, and the heart heavenly. It is a necessary 
 duty to seek true assurance. The excellency of it in the Christian life is, that it 
 fits men to live most usefully for God, and most comfortably for themselves. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 130 
 
 " But there may be true faith, justification, adoption, and sanctification, 
 without this assurance. 
 
 " 1 John v. 13,' These things have I written unto you that believe on the 
 name of the Son of God ; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that 
 ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.' Isa. 1. 10, ' Who is among 
 you that feareth the Lord ; that obeyeth the voice of His servant ; that walketh 
 in darkness, and hath no light ? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and 
 stay upon his God.' " 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Self-Examination and Consolation. 
 
 It was said by many theologians that there is no personal assurance of salvation 
 arising from " the hearing " of faith ; but that all such assurance must come by 
 reflection. By reflection they meant the testimony of the judgment and con- 
 science, resulting from an inquiry into the state of the feelings with regard to 
 the offered salvation and the offered Saviour. Therefore the saying amounts to 
 this, that all assurance of salvation arises from a favourable report furnished by 
 self-examination. It is (as I have already said) an extreme opinion, and a mis- 
 leading opinion, that there is no strong and everlasting consolation, except what 
 can be obtained from self-examination. 
 
 But there is an opposite extreme. Men are apt to suppose that personal 
 consolation is what they are most prone to, and that it is the province of self-exa- 
 mination to undeceive and disturb them. That self-examination is a duty, every 
 believer in the Scriptures must believe ; and the imagination, that self-examina- 
 tion necessarily refuses to bring consolation to the soul, is therefore to be 
 regretted. For this reason I quote a few extracts from venerable authorities, to 
 show how self-examination is associated with consolation, and may even pave the 
 way for it in discouraging circumstances. 
 
 " If we would wish to discover whether there were any particles of steel in 
 a large quantity of rubbish, it would not be the wisest way to search for them, 
 and especially in the dark, but to hold a large and efficacious magnet over it. 
 This, if it be there, is the way to discover true religion in our souls. The truths 
 and promises of God are, to a principle of religion in the mind, that which the 
 magnet is to the steel. If there be any in us, the proper exhibition of the Gospel 
 will ordinarily draw it forth. If it be a matter of doubt with you whether you be 
 
140 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 truly converted, far be it from me to endeavour to persuade you that you are so. 
 Your doubts may be well founded for aught I can tell; and supposing they should 
 be so, the door of mercy is still open. 
 
 " The consolations I have to recommend are addressed to you not as converted 
 nor as unconverted — not as elect nor as non-elect — but as sinners; and this charac- 
 ter, as I suppose, you have no doubt of sustaining. All the blessings of the Gospel 
 are freely presented for acceptance to sinners. Sinners, whatever may have been 
 their character, have a complete warrant to receive them ; yea, it is their duty 
 to do so, and their great sin if they do not. Nothing but ignorance, unbelief, 
 self-righteous pride, or some such evil state of mind, prevents it. The Gospel 
 supper is provided ; all things are ready ; and the King's servants are commis- 
 sioned to persuade, and, as it were, compel them to come in. 
 
 " If you accept this invitation, all [the consolations] are yours. I ask not 
 whether you be willing to be saved in God's way in order to determine your 
 right to accept spiritual blessings (the message sent you in the Gospel determines 
 this), but in order to ascertain your interest in them. If you cordially believe 
 the Gospel, you have the promises of eternal life. If its blessings suit your 
 desires, they are all your own ; if, for example, it does not offend you, but accords 
 with your very heart, to sue for mercy as the chief of sinners — if you be willing 
 to occupy that place which the Gospel assigns you, which is the dust, and to 
 ascribe to Jesus that which God has assigned to Him, power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing — if you can unreluc- 
 tantly give up all claim to life on the footing of your own worthiness, and desire 
 nothing so much as to be found in Christ, not having your own righteousness — if 
 the salvation you seek be a deliverance from the dominion of sin, as well as from 
 its damning power — finally, if the heaven you desire be that which the Scriptures 
 reveal, a state of pure and holy enjoyment — there can be no just cause to doubt 
 of your interest in these things. 
 
 " To imagine that you believe all that God has revealed concerning His Son 
 (and that, with all your heart, receiving the love of the truth that you may be 
 saved), and yet that something else is wanting to denominate you believers, is to 
 imagine that believing is not believing. 
 
 " Read the Holy Scriptures, pray to the Fountain of light for understanding, 
 attend the preaching of the Word — and all this, not with the immediate view of 
 determining what you are, but what Christ is ; and, if you find in Him that in 
 which your whole soul acquiesces, this, without your searching after it, will deter- 
 mine the question as to your personal interest in Him." — Andrew Fuller, 
 Sermon XII. 
 
 " If the believer would attain increasing tranquillity of mind, he must fre- 
 quently examine his heart and conduct, in order that he may the more clearly 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 141 
 
 discern his evidences of personal interest in spiritual consolation. The more 
 clearly he perceives his personal interest in Christ, and in the covenant of grace, 
 the higher will the degree of his holy comfort usually be. The more diligently he 
 scrutinizes his heart and life, comparing them with the word of God ; and the 
 more frequently and clearly he perceives, in consequence of the witnessing of the 
 Holy Spirit, his evidence of union and communion with Christ — the more will his 
 heart be comforted and encouraged ; the more will he know that he is of the 
 truth, and with the greater confidence will he assure his heart before God. 
 
 " When he has it in view, at any time, to examine himself, let him begin 
 it by renewing his act of trusting in Christ for all his salvation, as well as for 
 the joy of his salvation. For if he begin this inquiry by fearing that the Lord 
 Jesus will not save him, or by yielding to distrust and despondency, he will be 
 afraid to search deeply into his heart, or to know the worst of himself. But if 
 he begin it by an act of humble and direct confidence in Christ Jesus for salva- 
 tion to himself in particular, he will be disposed, as well as encouraged, to deal 
 impartially with himself; he will be willing to find out the worst as well as the 
 best of himself. He will not be afraid to find that his heart, so far as it is un- 
 renewed, is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Besides, by means 
 of that acting of faith, his other graces will be invigorated and excited to lively 
 exercise ; and the more he exercises them, the more easily and the more clearly 
 will he perceive them. Further, let him begin it [the inquiry], also, by praying 
 that the Holy Spirit may shine upon the graces which, he trusts, are implanted 
 in his heart, and so bear witness with his own spirit that he is a child of God. 
 
 " He may then proceed to try his graces ; and he should try them by their 
 nature, rather than by the degree of their strength or liveliness. Let him more 
 especially examine himself whether he be in the faith, and so prove himself. If 
 he do not discern true faith in his heart ; yet, if he is conscious of an earnest 
 desire to believe cordially in Jesus Christ, accompanied by frequent endeavours to 
 do so, he ought to conclude that he hath some measure of that precious faith. 
 
 " An earnest and habitual desire of grace is grace, in the account of God. 
 A man's desire of faith, of love, of hope, and of all the other graces of the Spirit 
 is sincere and earnest when he desires them for their own intrinsic excellence 
 and amiableness, and chiefly for the glory of God in Christ ; and when, though 
 he do not perceive them, he yet feels his need of them, and is conscious that he 
 desires them, and desires even the perfection of them. Let the believer, then, — 
 trusting that the Lord Jesus giveth him grace, and that the Holy Comforter will, 
 in every time of need, shine upon that grace in his soul, and render it apparent to 
 him, — enter frequently upon the trial of his state and conduct ; and if he find 
 but one scriptural evidence of his being in a state of grace, he ought for his com- 
 fort to conclude that he has all the other evidences of being in it, though he 
 cannot at present clearly perceive them. Nevertheless, he should frequently 
 
J 42 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 pursue the important inquiry, till he have the comfort of discerning clearly all 
 his evidences ; for, the more knowledge he has of his personal interest in the 
 blessirjgs of salvation, the more consolation he will enjoy. 
 
 " Moreover, let the believer search daily into his heart and life, in order to 
 find out more of his sins and of his wants ; that, by a deep and affecting sense of 
 them, he may be urged to apply and plead, frequently, the promises of pardon 
 and sanctification. This is a necessary means of walking in the comfort of the 
 Holy Spirit." — Colquhoun on Spiritual Comfort, Chapter VIII. 
 
 " No sooner does a good man arrive at some degree of settled comfort, than 
 Satan (if permitted) will tempt him to look with great intenseness upon his evi- 
 dences for heaven. That enemy of his holy comfort will often suggest to him, 
 You cannot be sure enough that you are not deceiving yourself. [He will suggest 
 this] that, by occupying him continually with laying the foundation, and trying 
 it, he may keep him from diligence in the exercise of grace, and performance of 
 duty. 
 
 " Were the believer to be as diligent in exercising himself to have always a 
 conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men, as in trying his evidences, 
 he would advance more speedily than he does in the assurance of sense. It is 
 indeed the duty of Christians, often to examine their state and their frame, and 
 to see that they are not deceiving themselves, but not to be doing it only and 
 incessantly — not to be occupying themselves with that, when they are called to 
 faith and love, to patience and holy activity for God. 
 
 " Were those of the saints, who are favoured with comfortable discoveries 
 of their evidences of inherent holiness, to take frequent occasion from those evi- 
 dences to think of Christ, and to set their hearts the more on His consummate 
 righteousness as the only ground of their title to holiness and comfort, they would 
 thereby attain more assurance of their personal interest in Him, and more estab- 
 lishment in pure consolation. When the Apostle Paul was assured that Christ 
 already lived in him, he took occasion from that to live the more by faith on the 
 righteousness and fulness of Christ. ' I live (says he), yet not I, but Christ liveth 
 in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of 
 God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.' At the very time on which the same 
 Apostle had his eye fixed upon his having the excellent knowledge of Christ, he 
 had his heart taken up with the Righteousness of Christ. If the believer, then, 
 would maintain solid and stable comfort, let him think more of the Lord Jesus, 
 and delight more in Him and in His righteousness and fulness, than in his own 
 evidences of grace. To pore upon his inherent holiness, more than upon his 
 imputed righteousness, would soon interrupt and lessen his tranquillity of mind. 
 Evidences are, indeed, delightful to an exercised Christian ; but Christ ought to 
 be far more delightful to him." — Colquhoun on Spiritual Comfort, Chapter IX. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 113 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Holiness and Comfort. 
 
 The compound theological term, " holiness and comfort," implies a consolation 
 that follows sanctification. It occurs in the Westminster Shorter Catechism in 
 the answer to Q. 89, " The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the 
 preaching, of the word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, 
 and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation." 
 This paragraph is enlarged in the answer to Q. 155 of the Larger Catechism : — 
 " The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word 
 an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners, of driving 
 them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ, of conforming them to His 
 image, and subduing them to His will, of strengthening them against temptations 
 and corruptions, of building them up in grace, and establishing their heart in holi- 
 ness and comfort through faith unto salvation." 
 
 It is for the sake of a characteristic heading for this chapter that I begin by 
 collecting some observations on a phrase quoted from catechisms, instead of at 
 once quoting illustrative texts of the word of God, and instructive comments upon 
 them. 
 
 The Associate Presbytery, in the middle of last century, appointed the Rev. 
 Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, and James Fisher, to draw up a commentary on the 
 Westminster Shorter Catechism, the explanations being in the form of questions 
 and answers. A few of these may be quoted as describing the relations between 
 holiness and comfort : — 
 
 " Whence ariseth the necessity of holiness or sanctification ? From the holy 
 nature and will of God, for it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy (1 Pet. i. 16), 
 and, This is the will of God, even your sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 1 3) ; and from 
 the death of Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all 
 iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 
 ii. 14). 
 
 " For what good end and use is sanctification necessary ? Not for justifica- 
 tion before God, but for evidencing our justification and faith (James ii. 18). It 
 is necessary for glorifying God (Matt. v. 16), and showing forth His praise (1 Pet. 
 ii. 19), for adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour (Titus ii. 10), for proving 
 our union to Christ (John xv. 5, 6), for promoting inward peace and rejoicing 
 (Psalm cxix. 165; 2 Cor. i. 12), for maintaining fellowship and communion with 
 God (John xiv. 21, 23), for making us meet for heaven, because without holiness 
 no man shall see the Lord (Heb. xii. 14), for making us useful to men on earth 
 
144 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 (Titus iii. 1 8), for stopping the mouth of calumny when we are reproached as 
 evil-doers (1 Pet. iii. 1 6). 
 
 " Why are the saints said to be built up in holiness ? Because the work 
 of sanctification, like a building, is gradually carried on towards perfection at 
 death. 
 
 " How doth the Spirit make the reading and preaching of the word an 
 effectual means of building up the saints in holiness ? By giving them in the 
 glass of the word such clear and repeated discoveries of the glory of Christ, as 
 thereby they are more and more transformed into the same image with Him 
 (2 Cor. iii. 18). 
 
 " How doth He by means of these ordinances build them up in comfort ? 
 By conveying with power unto their souls the great and precious promises which 
 contain all the grounds of real and lasting comfort (Gal. iii. 29 ; iv. 28). 
 
 " Through what instrument is it that the Spirit makes these means effectual 
 for building up the saints in holiness and comfort ? It is through faith (1 Thess. 
 iii. 13). 
 
 " What instrumentality has faith, in the hands of the Spirit, for building up 
 the saints in holiness and comfort ? It rests upon God's faithful word for the pro- 
 moting of both — Psalm cxxxviii. 8, The Lord will perfect that which concerneth 
 me." — James Fisher and Ralph Erskine. 
 
 " What is sanctification ? It is a principle of grace savingly wrought, 
 whereby the heart becomes holy, and is made after God's heart. A sanctified 
 person bears not only God's name but image. 
 
 " How may sanctification be attained to ? Be conversant with the word 
 of God — John xvii. 17, Sanctify them through Thy truth. The word is 
 both a glass to show us the spots of our soul, and a laver to wash them away. 
 Get faith in Christ's blood — Acts xv. 9, Purifying their hearts by faith. Nothing 
 can have a greater force upon the heart to sanctify it than faith ; if I believe 
 Christ and His merits are mine, how can I sin against Him ? Justifying faith 
 doth that in a spiritual sense which miraculous faith does; it removes mountains 
 — the mountains of pride, lust, envy. Faith and the love of sin are inconsistent. 
 Pray for sanctification. Breathe after the Spirit ; it is called (2 Thess. ii. 1 3) 
 the sanctification of the Spirit. Associate with sanctified persons. As the com- 
 munion of saints is in our creed, so it should be in our company. He that 
 walketh with the wise shall be wise (Prov. xiii. 20). Association begets assimi- 
 lation. 
 
 " Are you sanctified ? Heaven is begun in you ; happiness is nothing but 
 the quintessence of holiness." — Thomas Watson. 
 
 " All true solid comfort is fetched out of the word. The leaves of Scripture, 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 145 
 
 like the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. Is it not a 
 comfort to find our evidences for heaven ? and where shall we find them but in 
 the word ? — 1 Thess. i. 4, 5, The word written is a sovereign elixir or comfort 
 in an hour of distress ; Psalm cxix. 50, This is my comfort in my affliction, for 
 Thy word hath quickened me." — Thomas Watson. 
 
 " Heaven is a state in which grace is brought to perfection, which at present 
 is only begun in the soul ; nevertheless, the beginning thereof 'affords ground of 
 hope that it shall be completed. As a curious artist, when he draws the first 
 lines of a picture, does not design to leave it unfinished — or he that lays the foun- 
 dation of a building determines to carry it on gradually, till he has laid the top 
 stone of it — so the work of grace, when begun by the Spirit, is a ground of hope 
 that it shall not be left unfinished. As God would never have brought His 
 people out of Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm, and divided the 
 Red Sea before them, if he had not designed to bring them into the promised 
 land ; so we may conclude that when God has magnified His grace in delivering 
 His people from the dominion of darkness, and translating them into the kingdom 
 of His dear Son — when He has helped them hitherto, and given them a fair and 
 beautiful prospect of the good land to which they are going — He will not leave 
 His work imperfect, nor suffer them to fall and perish in the way to it. Christ 
 in believers is said to be the hope of glory; and the joy which they have in 
 believing is said, not only to be unspeakable, but full of glory — that is, it bears a 
 small resemblance to that joy which they shall be filled with when brought to 
 glory, and therefore may well be styled the earnest or first-fruits of it. (An 
 earnest is a small sum given in part of payment, whereby they who receive it 
 are encouraged hereafter to expect the whole)." — Ridgley. Q. 83. 
 
 Having expounded the theological formula of " holiness and comfort," we 
 come to the direct scriptural teaching concerning it. The fullest instruction is 
 in the second chapter of the Epistle of James ; and it accords with our plan to 
 take Dr Manton as our guide in its interpretation. 
 
 With regard to the imaginary difference of the Apostle James from the 
 Apostle Paul, Dr Manton quotes the orthodox accounts which " do very well suit 
 with the scope of the Apostle," being all " to the same effect, either subordinate 
 to one another, or differing only in expression" : — 
 
 " Paul disputeth of the cause of justification, and so excludeth works ; 
 James of the effects of justification, and so enforceth a presence of them. 
 
 " Paul disputeth how we are justified, and James, how we shall evidence 
 ourselves to be justified ; the one taketh justification for acquittance from sin, 
 the other for acquittance from hypocrisy ; the one for the imputation of righteous- 
 ness, the other for the declaration of righteousness. 
 
 T 
 
146 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 "Paul speaketh of the office of faith, James of the quality of faith ; Paul 
 pleadeth for saving faith, James pleadeth against naked assent ; the one speaketh 
 of the justifying of the person, the other of the justifying of the faith." 
 
 With regard to the difference between consolation viewed as the first aspect 
 of the Gospel, and revived or confirmatory consolation, Dr Manton notes : — 
 " Works are not a ground of confidence, but an evidence ; not the foundations of 
 faith, but the encouragements of assurance. Comfort may be increased by the 
 sight of good works, but is not built upon them. They are seeds of hope, not 
 props of confidence ; sweet evidences of election, not causes ; happy presages and 
 beginnings of glory. In short, they can manifest an interest [in Christ], but not 
 merit it. We have peace with God by the righteousness of Christ, and peace of 
 conscience by the fruits of righteousness in ourselves." 
 
 While therefore we are to know, that " works are the evidence of true 
 faith," and while it is our duty and happiness to "judge ourselves," "to try our 
 graces by their fruits and operations," our motto, as suggested by Dr Manton, 
 must be, " Believers, though they justify their profession, still are monuments of 
 free grace," and our foremost obligation is to "be loyal to Christ." Let us "go 
 to work this way," as Manton counsels us, " Let there be a thorough going out 
 of yourselves. If any might have confidence in the flesh, Paul might ; but he 
 renounceth all, nay, counts it loss, that is, dangerous allurements to hypocrisy 
 and self-confidence. It is good to have such actual and fresh thoughts in our- 
 selves when we proceed to trial, that our souls may be rather carried to, than 
 diverted and taken off from, Christ. Usually assurance is given after a solemn 
 and direct exercise of, faith — Eph. i. 13, After ye believed, ye were sealed by the 
 Holy Spirit of promise. The order of the Spirit's sealing is after believing or 
 going to Christ ; and the quality, under which the Spirit sealeth, is as a Spirit 
 of promise, implying that when our thoughts have been newly and freshly 
 exercised in the consideration of our own unworthiness and God's free grace and 
 promises, then are we fittest to receive the witness and certioration of the [Holy] 
 Spirit. In the very view and comfort of your graces, still keep the heart upon 
 Christ. The most regenerate man durst not adventure his soul upon the 
 heavenliest thought that he ever conceived. In the presence of the greatest 
 evidences, you should see free grace is the surest refuge. In the fairest train of 
 graces, you should still keep Christ in the eye of faith, and let the soul stay upon 
 Him. Or, as in a pair of compasses, one part is fixed in the centre, while the 
 other wandereth about in the circumference; so must the soul stay on Christ — be 
 fixed on Him — while we search after evidences and additional comforts." 
 
 Those who go about the dutiful and profitable search of these " additional 
 comforts," may be interested in reading another representation by Dr Manton 
 about the reconciliation between James and Paul : — " Paul speaketh of the justi- 
 fying of a sinner from the curse of his natural condition, &c., and accepting him 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 147 
 
 into the favour of God, which is of grace and not of debt. James speaketh of 
 the justifying and approbation of that faith, whereby we are thus accepted with 
 God ; God giveth us the comfort of our former justification by the experiences 
 and fruits of faith, for in them we are found faithful." 
 
 So much as to the setting about the work ; now as to the work itself. 
 " Works are an evidence of true faith. This is the evidence by which we must 
 judge ourselves. It is the drift of many Scriptures to lay down evidences taken 
 from sanctification and the holy life ; they were written for the very purpose, as 
 more especially, the 119th Psalm, and the First Epistle of John. Yea, conclu- 
 sions are drawn to our hands ; it is said, Hereby we may know, &c. (see 1 John 
 iii. 14 and 19). In many places promises are given out with descriptions 
 annexed, taken from the meekness, piety, good works of the saints. Good works 
 are the most sensible discovery [information, or disclosure]. All causes are known 
 by their effects. The apples, leaves, and blossoms are evident, when the life and 
 sap is not seen." 
 
 " You had need look to your faith and confidence, that it may be justified 
 — justified by your works ; this is a sensible evidence and most in sight. Some 
 think that, because there are so many shifts, and circuits, and wiles in the heart 
 of man, it is an uncertain, if not an impossible way of trial. I confess, if in trial 
 we were only to go by the light of our conscience and reason, the objection would 
 have some weight in it. The main certainty lieth in the Spirit's witness, without 
 which the witness of water is silent. Graces shine not without this light. God's 
 own interpreter must show a man his righteousness (Job xxxiii.) ; otherwise there 
 will be many shifts in the heart, and we shall still be in the dark. Under the 
 law everything was to be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses ; so 
 here are two witnesses, the Spirit with our spirits (Rom. viii. 1 6), the Spirit 
 with our renewed consciences. It is the Holy Ghost that giveth light, whereby 
 we may discern the truth of grace, imprinteth the feeling and comfort, and, by 
 satisfying the soul, begetteth a serenity and calmness within us." 
 
 " To look after works is the best way to prevent delusion. Fanatic spirits 
 are often deceived by sudden flashes of comfort. Works, being a more sensible 
 and constant pledge of the Spirit, beget a more solid joy. Learn to approve 
 yourselves to God, with all good conscience, in times of trial. When God trieth 
 your faith or obedience with some difficulty, then is the special time to gain 
 assurance by being found faithful." 
 
 The Heidelberg Catechism illustrates the great principle of the Epistle of 
 James. Q. 86. Since then we are redeemed out of our misery, entirely without 
 merit of our own, because of the grace of God through Christ, for what cause are 
 we to do good works ? Because Christ, after He hath bought us with His blood, 
 reneweth us by His Holy Spirit to His own image, that we all our life-time may 
 
148 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 manifest ourselves thankful to God for His benefits, and that through us He may 
 be glorified. Thereafter also, that we severally may be assured of our faith by 
 its fruits, and that by our godly course of life we may also win our neighbours 
 unto Christ. 
 
 The clause " that we severally may be assured of our faith by its fruits," 
 may be explained in the language of Ursinus, edited by Pare'us. 1 
 
 " 1. By our good works we may make testimony of our faith and may be 
 assured thereof. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit (Matt. vii. 1 8) ; 
 Filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory 
 and praise of God (Philipp. i. 11). That faith, which is without works, is dead 
 (James ii. 20). Now, by our works, we must needs know that we have faith, 
 because the effect is not without his cause, and we must know the cause by his 
 proper effect. When as therefore, we find not in ourselves good works or new 
 obedience, we are hypocrites, neither have we faith but an evil conscience. For 
 true faith only (which never wanteth all her fruits) bringeth forth, as a fruitful 
 tree, good works, obedience, and amendment of life ; and these fruits likewise 
 discern and distinguish true faith from historical and temporary faith, and so also 
 from hypocrisy. 
 
 " 2. By our good works we may be assured that we have obtained remission 
 of sins through Christ, and are for Christ's sake justified before God. For 
 justification and sanctification are benefits linked together, which so cleave together 
 (and that necessarily) as they can never be severed or pulled asunder. For Christ 
 obtained both for us at once, namely, both remission of sins and the Holy Ghost, 
 who stirreth up in us by faith the study and desire of good works and new 
 obedience. 
 
 " 3. By our good works we msij be assured of our election and salvation. 
 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure (_ Peter i. 10). These 
 proceed from the cause next going before. For God hath chosen from everlasting 
 of His free mercy those only which are justified for the merit of His Son. Whom 
 He predestinated, them also He called, and them also He justified (Rom. viii. 30). 
 Therefore we are assured of our election through justification ; and that we have 
 received from Christ justification, which is never given unto the elect without 
 sanctification, we know by faith ; and that we have faith, we perceive by the 
 works of faith, true obedience, and true conversion." 
 
 Henry Alting says as to Q. 86, " Although the end on account of which we 
 perform good works be not to merit eternal life, there may be as to this, and as 
 to many other performances, more ends than one. The catechism sets forth three 
 ends in the matter before us, Avhich have respect (1) to God, (2) to ourselves, and 
 (3) to our neighbours. Good works are the fruits of faith, from which each 
 believer can be assured concerning his own faith." 
 
 1 The English translation of " Ursinus and Pareus," Quarto Edition. London, 1617. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 
 
 119 
 
 Dr Manton, quoting 1 John iii. 1 9, " Hereby we know we are of the truth 
 and shall assure our hearts before Him," explains "hereby" as meaning "by real 
 acts of love and charity." We pass to the consideration of this text and its 
 context. 
 
 " The soul's studying conformity to the Divine will does not found peace, 
 yet much peace flows therefrom, for great peace have they that love Thy law 
 (Psalm cxix. 165). Though this be not the cause of their acceptance, yet from 
 this they have the more holy boldness ; if our heart condemn us not, we have 
 confidence toward God (1 John iii. 21). This will be the evidence of a new 
 covenant state, and of the begun accomplishment of the promises thereof, when 
 thou canst show thy faith by thy works. And though thy faith be founded upon 
 a more sure bottom, yet thy hands are strengthened hereby in believing. We 
 have this comfortable evidence of being the sons of God when [we are] in the way 
 of holiness, led by the Spirit of God. This is an ornament to Christianity. This 
 is useful to others ; when they see thy good works they will glorify thy Father 
 which is in heaven. And upon this doth the sentence of the reward of grace 
 proceed (Matt. xxv. 85, 36) — all which may induce us to the study of holiness." 
 — Brisbane, 1718. 
 
 1 John iii. 
 
 18. My little children, 
 let us not love in word, 
 neither in tongue ; 
 
 but in 
 
 deed and in truth. 
 
 1 9. And hereby we know 
 that we are of the truth, 
 
 and shall 
 assure our hearts before 
 Him. 
 
 Extracts from Gill's Notes. 
 
 This, though it holds good of love to God and to 
 Jesus Christ, is here to be understood of love to the 
 brethren, as the context shows. We should not 
 love in this manner only. It is very lawful and 
 right to express our love to one another and to all 
 men in words — to give good words and use 
 courteous language — to speak in a kind, tender, and 
 affectionate manner, and especially to persons in 
 distress; but this should not be all. 
 
 True love is a laborious and operative grace — 
 actual love, love in fact, apparent and evident — love 
 in reality, and not in show only— the work and 
 labour of love, cordially and heartily done, with 
 cheerfulness and without grudging. 
 
 True, sincere, and upright persons, true believers 
 in Christ, whose faith works by love, and who are 
 real lovers of Him and His. 
 
 We shall arrive to a full assurance of faith, hope 
 and understanding, that we are of the truth, do 
 belong to God, are loved by Him with an everlast- 
 
150 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 20. For if our 
 condemn us, 
 
 heart 
 
 God is greater than our 
 hearts, and knoweth all 
 things. 
 
 21. Beloved, if our heart 
 condemn us not, 
 
 ing love, are chosen by Him unto salvation, and are 
 His adopted and regenerated ones, having passed 
 from death to life. 
 
 Some render the words, shall pacify — shall make 
 our hearts tranquil, or quiet. This only the blood 
 of Christ can do. It is true, indeed, that one that 
 loves his brother, heartily and sincerely, has peace 
 of mind in it, though not for it. 
 
 Or this passage may refer to that holy confidence 
 before God, which true believers in Christ, and 
 cordial lovers of the brethren have — both now at 
 the throne of grace, where they can come with 
 boldness, intrepidity, and freedom to ask for what 
 they want, and confidently believe they shall receive 
 what is proper and needful for them ; and also 
 hereafter at the throne of judgment, and in the day 
 of judgment, when they shall have boldness and not 
 be ashamed before the Judge at His coming, who 
 will particularly take notice of their love in feeding, 
 clothing, and visiting the least of His brethren, 
 which He takes as done to Himself. 
 
 The conscience, which is here meant by the 
 heart, is accuser, witness, and judge, as to want of 
 love to the brethren, and hypocrisy in it, as well as 
 any other sin. 
 
 God is a swifter witness than conscience, and a 
 superior Judge to it. He knoweth all things that 
 are in the heart, the principles of actions, all the 
 actions of men, all the sinfulness in them and the 
 aggravations of them ; as He knows them more per- 
 fectly, He judges of them more exactly. It is a 
 fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
 God. 
 
 This does not designate such a purity of heart 
 and life in believers, as that their hearts do not 
 smite, reproach, or condemn them for sin at any 
 time (for such a state of perfection is not to be 
 attained to and expected in this life). It is best 
 to confine it to the case of brotherly love — if our 
 heart condemn us not of the want of brotherly love 
 and sincerity. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 
 
 151 
 
 then have we 
 confidence toward God ; 
 
 22. And whatsoever we 
 ask, we receive of Him, 
 
 because we 
 keep His commandments, 
 
 and do 
 those things that are pleas- 
 ing in His sight ; 
 
 21. And this is His 
 commandment, That we 
 should believe on the 
 name of His Son Jesus 
 Christ, and love one 
 another, as He gave us 
 commandment. 
 
 " toward God," rather " with God," at the throne 
 of His grace. Cain's heart condemned him, his 
 conscience smote him, and he went from the 
 presence of the Lord — and this applies to such as 
 hate the brethren. But those that love the 
 brethren have confidence of their relation to God — 
 can draw nigh to God as their Father, and call Him 
 so. 
 
 Whatever is asked according to the will of God 
 — in the name of Christ and for His sake — and in 
 faith, nothing wavering, but believing in God, in 
 His covenant and promises. 
 
 Keeping the commands of God is a necessary 
 adjunct, or what necessarily belongs unto and 
 enters into the character of those who are heard 
 and answered by God. 
 
 So the keeping of His commandments is — not 
 that these things ingratiate into the love and favour 
 of God, or are the causes and condition of it, for the 
 love of God is prior to anything of this kind ; nor 
 are they the causes of men's acceptance with God, for 
 the acceptance both of persons and services is only 
 in Christ the Beloved. But these things are what 
 God approves of, when done in faith, from a prin- 
 ciple of love, and with a view to His glory. Here, 
 therefore, is a reason strengthening their confidence 
 in Him, who hears such persons as are worshippers 
 of Him and do His will. 
 
 Having mentioned the keeping of the command- 
 ments of God, the Apostle proceeds to show what 
 they are — that they are faith in Christ, and love 
 to one another — which two are reduced to one 
 because they are inseparable ; where the one is, the 
 other is ; faith works by love. To believe is called 
 a commandment, and comes under the notion of 
 one, not that it is properly a law, or belongs to the 
 law of works. It is to go forth in special and 
 spiritual acts upon Jesus Christ, such as — looking 
 at Him, coming to Him, venturing on Him, trusting 
 in Him for life and salvation, committing all into 
 His hands, and expecting all from Him. 
 
152 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Another method of describing confirmatory consolation is to be found in the 
 first Epistle of John also, namely, in chapter iii. 24, " Hereby we know that He 
 abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us;" and in chapter iv. 13, 
 " Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given 
 us of His Spirit." The interpretation of such statements may be found in com- 
 ments upon parallel passages in Romans viii., (1.) "They that are in Christ Jesus 
 walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit ; (2.) they that are after the Spirit 
 mind the things of the Spirit ; (3.) if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he 
 is none of His ; (4.) as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
 of God." 
 
 I quote the comments of a very old divine of the Church of England : — 
 "(1.) V. 1. What profit comes there of these things ? First, it reproves such as 
 boast that they are in Christ, and yet show the contrary by their walking after 
 the flesh. Secondly, it assureth them that walk after the Spirit that they are 
 the very members of Christ. Finally, it teacheth all men that sanctification of 
 the Spirit is an inseparable companion and fruit of our justification by faith ; 
 moisture and water, heat and fire, light and sun, are not more firmly united than 
 faith and holiness. 
 
 " (2.) V. 5. First, it teacheth that all believing justified persons must exer- 
 cise themselves in such works as are commanded of God ; for, justification by 
 faith — wheresoever it is, it hath always annexed with it sanctification, or study 
 of an holy life, which can no more be separated from it than a living man can be 
 separated from the soul. Secondly, here is a special comfort for such as endea- 
 vour to do good things pleasing to God, with love and delight in them ; because 
 such have the Spirit of Christ, and therefore are certainly justified, free from sin 
 and death, and shall never be condemned, but eternally saved in heaven. 
 
 " (3.) V. 9. This reproves such as use to excuse their sins by saying they are 
 flesh and blood, and not spiritual ; which is as much as to say that they are no 
 Christians ; for if they be of the body of Christ, they must of necessity have His 
 Spirit and be spiritual. Also, this reproves such as say, we must always doubt 
 whether we have the Spirit of Christ or no — which we ought no more to doubt 
 of, than whether we be Christians or no. 
 
 " Aye, but many pretend themselves to be one with Christ and to have His 
 Spirit, and so to be good Christians, which yet are not. How, then, shall we be 
 sure of these things ? 
 
 " We shall surely know it, by the effects of our spiritual union, to wit, justifi- 
 cation and the fruits thereof as they are laid down, Rom. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11 ; 
 also by the effects of our sanctification, as they are laid forth, Rom. vii. 16-20 ; 
 2 Pet. i. 6, 7 ; Ps. xv. 
 
 " (4.) V. 14. To be led by the Spirit is a word borrowed from the blind that 
 cannot see their way, but must have one to lead them — or from the lame that 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 153 
 
 cannot go, but must have one to help them — or from infants and young children, 
 which can very hardly go without another to lead them. 
 
 " This leading is, First, information or instruction outwardly given by the 
 word, concerning things agreeable to God's will. Secondly, an illumination from 
 the Spirit to see and know such instructions to be from God Himself. Thirdly, 
 inclination and bowing of the will, voluntarily to will and readily to obey such 
 divine instructions. 
 
 " As the Spirit doth not enlighten us but by the word expounded and opened, 
 so it is in vain to know what we should do by the light of the Spirit and word, 
 unless will and strength be given us to do it ; and it were not enough to have 
 will and strength given us to do it, if we want [lack] knowledge of that which 
 we are to do. Therefore unto ' leading,' these three things be necessary, first, 
 to be instructed by the word — secondly, to be enlightened by the Spirit in our 
 minds — and thirdly, to be mightily strengthened in our wills and affections, that 
 we will well effect what we do soundly affect." — Rev. Thomas Wilson, 1614. 
 
 "Hebrews v. 9. Christ became the author of eternal salvation unto all them 
 that obey Him. Christ is the sole author of eternal salvation, and all the glory 
 of it should be given to Him. Those to whom He is the author of salvation are 
 such as hearken to the voice of His Gospel and obey Him in His ordinances. 
 Christ is not the author of salvation to all men ; all men do not obey Him. All 
 those whom Christ saves He brings to an obedience to Himself ; for His obedi- 
 ence for them does not exempt them from obedience to Him, though their obedi- 
 ence is no cause of their salvation — Christ Himself is the alone author of that." — 
 Gill's Commentary. 
 
 " Titus ii. 14. Christ gave Himself for us, that He might . . . purify unto 
 Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These people for whom 
 Christ has given Himself, and whom He has redeemed and purified, are a pecu- 
 liar people, for whom Christ has a peculiar love, in whom He takes a peculiar 
 delight, and to whom He grants peculiar nearness to Himself, and bestows pecu- 
 liar blessings on them, and makes peculiar provisions for them, both for time 
 and eternity. These are Christ's own — His possession — His substance — what 
 He has a peculiar right to by His Father's gift, His own purchase, and the con- 
 quest of His grace. They are a distinct and separate people from all others in 
 election, redemption, effectual vocation, and in Christ's intercession, and will be 
 so in the resurrection morn, at the day of judgment, and to all eternity. They 
 are, as the word also signifies, an excellent and valuable people ; they are Christ's 
 portion and inheritance; they are His peculiar treasure, His jewels, whom as such 
 He values and takes cares of ; the Syriac version renders it, a new people. 
 
 They who are redeemed and purified by Christ, through the power of His 
 
 u 
 
154 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 grace upon them, become zealous of good works, not in order to their justifica- 
 tion and salvation, but in obedience to the will of God, and to testify their sub- 
 jection and gratitude to Him, for His honour and glory, for the credit of religion 
 and the good of men. They not only perform them, but perform them from 
 principles of truth and love — with a zeal for the glory of God and honour of 
 His Gospel — and with an holy emulation of one another, striving to go before 
 and excel each other in the performance of them." — Gill's Commentary. 
 
 Hebrews xiii. 
 
 J 5. By Him 
 
 therefore 
 
 let us offer 
 
 the sacrifice of prai j e 
 to God continually, 
 
 that is, the fruit of our 
 
 lips 
 
 giving thanks 
 
 Extracts from Gill's Notes. 
 
 By His assistance — for Him, and blessings in 
 Him — on Him, as the altar which sanctifies the 
 gift — through Him, as the High Priest and Medi- 
 ator. 
 
 On account of temporal and spiritual mercies, 
 particularly for sanctification, and the expiation of 
 sin by the blood of Christ, and for heaven, the 
 continuing city that is to come. 
 
 It is the reasonable service of us who believe in 
 Christ. For being made by Him priests to God, and 
 having faith in Him, such are capable of offering 
 aright. 
 
 The Apostle, having shown that all legal sacri- 
 fices were superseded and abolished by the sacri- 
 fice of Christ, points out what sacrifices believers 
 should offer up to God under the Gospel dis- 
 pensation. The Jews themselves say, that in 
 future time (i.e., in the days of the Messiah) all 
 sacrifices shall cease, but the sacrifice of praise 
 shall not cease. 
 
 The sacrifice of praise is so called in allusion to 
 the offering of the first fruits under the law, — see 
 Hosea xiv. 3, the calves of our lips ; Isaiah lvii. 19, 
 the fruit of the lips. 
 
 We are to praise God with our lips — to do which 
 we are under the greatest obligations ; since He is 
 always bestowing mercies upon us, of one kind or 
 another, and therefore should be continually praised, 
 even in times of adversity, affliction, and tempta- 
 tion, in the midst of reproach and persecution, even 
 when unsettled in mind, body, and estate; since 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 
 
 155 
 
 to Bis name. 
 
 16. But to do good and 
 to communicate 
 
 forget not 
 
 for with such sacrifices 
 God is well pleased. 
 
 there is a continuing city to come ; nor can a be- 
 liever be in any state of life but he has something 
 to be thankful for. The word giving thanks sig- 
 nifies a speaking together, and may design not only 
 the conjunction of the heart and tongue in praise, 
 but a social giving thanks to God by the saints as 
 a body together. 
 
 To the glory of His name — to the honour of His 
 Divine perfections — as the Creator and Preserver of 
 us in our beings — -as the Father of mercies— as the 
 Father of Christ, and as our Covenant God and 
 Father in Him. 
 
 — which is to be understood, not of doing good 
 works in general, but of acts of beneficence, or com- 
 municating to the poor, as the Syriac version ren- 
 ders it. Besides the fruit of the lips, another sort 
 of sacrifice continues under the Gospel dispensation, 
 and that is alms. Alms should be given, or bene- 
 ficence be exercised, to all men in need, even to our 
 enemies as well as to our friends and relations, and 
 especially to poor saints and ministers of the Gos- 
 pel. 
 
 This believers should not forget — which shows 
 that it is a duty of importance, and that men are 
 too apt to neglect it, and should be stirred upon 
 unto it. 
 
 — not that they are meritorious of the favour of 
 God, and of eternal life — for what a man gives in a 
 way of charity, is but what God has given him, and 
 cannot be profitable to God though it is to a fellow- 
 creature — nor is there any proportion between what 
 is given, and grace and glory which the saints re- 
 ceive. Yet doing good in this way- — when it is 
 done in faith, springs from love, and is directed to 
 the glory of God — is well-pleasing to Him. Yea, 
 these sacrifices are preferred by Him to legal ones 
 (Hosea vi. 6) ; and the Jews also say that greater is 
 he that does alms than if he offered all sacrifices. 
 
 " If the believer would attain established consolation, he should endeavour 
 diligently, according to the opportunities afforded him, to promote the extension 
 
156 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 and establishment of the Redeemer's spiritual kingdom. This is a sure means of 
 his arriving at solid and durable comfort. ' Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they 
 shall prosper that love thee ' (Ps. cxxii. 6). ' Let them shout for joy, and be glad, 
 that favour my righteous cause : yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be 
 magnified, who taketh pleasure in the prosperity of His servant ' (Ps. xxxv. 27). 
 ' Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her : rejoice 
 for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her : that ye may suck, and be satisfied 
 with the breasts of her consolations ; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with 
 the abundance of her glory' (Isa. lxvi. 10, 11). When the Apostle Paul had 
 reviewed the success of his ministrations among them, he addressed them thus : 
 ' Great is my glorying over you : I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful 
 in all our tribulation ' (2 Cor. vii. 4). 
 
 " The constant and earnest endeavours of the saints to promote and exteud, 
 according to the law of Christ's kingdom, the interests of His church-militant, do 
 not indeed entitle them to stable comfort ; but they are usually connected with 
 it. The glorious King of Zion hath decreed that they who by His grace are 
 habitually disposed to contribute, by their prayers, their labours, and their sub- 
 stance, to promote so great and so glorious a design, shall, even in this valley of 
 tears, participate with Him of that ineffable joy wherewith He always rejoiceth 
 over His Church (Zephaniah iii. 16, 17, 18). 
 
 " If a Christian, instead of being of a liberal and a public spirit, is contracted 
 in his views, and concerned mainly for his own welfare, and that of a particular 
 party, he is not qualified for strong and durable consolation. Established com- 
 fort, like fame, will elude the grasp of him who pursues it, merely or chiefly, for 
 himself and for its own sake. 
 
 " One reason, perhaps, why some believers at this day have little spiritual 
 and lasting comfort is, that in comparison of it they care little for anything else. 
 If they were more employed in seeking the glory of Christ, the success of His 
 blessed Gospel, and the extension of His spiritual kingdom, both at home and 
 abroad, than in seeking ease and comfort for themselves, they should find that 
 holy and lasting consolation would come, as it were, of its own accord, and flow 
 freely into their souls. Were they to seek first the kingdom of God and His 
 righteousness, they should experience more frequently, and in a higher degree, 
 that righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, of which His kingdom 
 consisteth (Rom. xiv. 17)." — Colquhoun, Chapter IX. 
 
 2 Peter i. 10. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure : 
 for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. This is the last text which I quote 
 here to illustrate the theory of confirmatory consolation. The following comments 
 are from "The Saint Indeed," by Rev. John Flavel, 1667 (though his actual 
 text is Prov. iv. 23, Keep thy heart with all diligence), and from the marvellous 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 157 
 
 commentary on the Second Epistle of Peter, by Rev. Thomas Adams, 1633 ; in 
 extracts from the latter, Latin quotations are removed to the margin. 
 
 " The comfort of our souls doth much depend on the keeping of our hearts ; 
 for he that is negligent in attending his own heart is (ordinarily) a great stranger 
 to assurance and the sweet comforts flowing from it. It is the work and office 
 of the [Holy] Spirit to assure you ; yet, if ever you attain assurance in the 
 ordinary way wherein God dispenses it, you must take pains with your own hearts. 
 You may expect your comforts upon easier terms, but I am mistaken if you ever 
 enjoy them upon any other ; Give all diligence — Prove your own selves — this is 
 the Scripture way. . . . 
 
 " The Spirit of God dwelling in us is a mark of our adoption. The Spirit 
 cannot be discerned in His essence, but in His operations ; to discern these is to 
 discern the Spirit. And how these should be discerned without serious searching 
 and diligent watching of the heart, I cannot imagine. . . . 
 
 " A neglected heart is so confused and dark that the little grace, which is 
 in it, is not ordinarily discernible. The most accurate and laborious Christians, 
 that take most pains and spend most time about their hearts, do yet find it very 
 difficult to discover the pure and genuine workings of the Spirit there, how then 
 shall the Christian, who is comparatively negligent and remiss about heart-work, 
 be able to discover it ? Sincerity, which is the qucesitum — the thing sought for — 
 lies in the heart like a small piece of gold in the bottom of a river ; he that will 
 find it must stay till the water is clear and settled, and then he shall see it 
 sparkling at the bottom. And that the heart may be clear and settled, — how 
 much pains and watching-— care and diligence — will it cost ! 
 
 "God doth not usually indulge lazy and negligent souls with the comforts 
 of assurance. . . . His command hath united care and comfort together. . . . 
 Suppose it possible for a careless Christian to attain assurance, yet it is impossible 
 he should long retain it. For — as for these hearts that are filled with the joys 
 of assurance — -if extraordinary care be not used, it is a thousand to one if ever 
 they long enjoy it. A little pride, vanity, carelessness, will dash to pieces all 
 that for which they have been labouring a long time, in many a weary duty. 
 Since then the joy of our life, the comfort of our souls, rises and falls with our 
 diligence in this work, keep your heart with all diligence." — Flavel. 
 
 2 Peter i. 10. 
 The mercy of God in our salvation requires our 
 actual obedience ; we must do these things. All 
 the bells of Aaron ring this peal (Deut. iv. l), 
 " Hearken unto the statutes and judgments which 
 I teach you for to do them." (Gal. iii. 10), " Cursed 
 is every one that continueth not in all things written 
 
158 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 1 Summa religionis 
 imitari quern colis. 
 
 est 
 
 2 Omnes ad Deurn ire 
 volunt, post Deum pauci. — 
 A ugustin. 
 
 3 Qui habet in memoria 
 et servat in vita — qui habet 
 in sermonibus et servat in 
 moribus — qui habet audi- 
 endo et servat obediendo. 
 Or, qui habet faciendo et 
 servat perseverando — qui 
 habet lectione et servat 
 dilectione. — Augustin. 
 
 in the law to do them" — not sufficient to know 
 them, but to do them ; (Rom. ii. 1 3) " not the 
 hearers of the law are just before God, but the 
 doers of the law shall be justified." There was a 
 woman (Luke xi. 27) that blessed the womb which 
 bare Christ. But He replied, " Yea, rather, blessed 
 are they that hear the word of God and keep it" — 
 yea, that thou sayest is true, she is blessed indeed, 
 and all generations shall call her blessed ; but there 
 are others also blessed, even as many as hear the 
 truth and do it. Blessedness is desired of all, but 
 few will go to the price of it. (Ps. cvi. 3), " Blessed 
 are they that keep judgment and do righteousness" 
 — that keep within the bounds of the one and live 
 in the practice of the other — the one being as it 
 were their ore [oar ?] and the other their compass. 
 (Eph. v. 1), "Be ye followers of God as dear 
 children" — the abstract of religion is to imitate 
 Him whom thou dost worship. 1 Such a one hath 
 done me insufferable wrong, how can I forgive him ? 
 God would. Another is gotten into my debt and 
 abuseth my patience, how can I forbear him ? God 
 would. Be then a follower of God in grace, that 
 thou mayest ascend to His glory. A man is travel- 
 ling to this city — at least in his own opinion, he 
 thinks so, and tells all he meets that he is going to 
 London — yet still he keeps his back upon it and 
 bends his course the contrary way. So ridiculous 
 a thing is it for men to profess that they are going 
 to heaven, when their whole life is directly forward- 
 ing themselves to hell. All men would come to 
 God, but few will be persuaded to follow after God. 2 
 " Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, 
 shall enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. vii. 21), 
 for many call Christ their Lord, yet serve the devil. 
 " He that hath My commandments, and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth Me" (John xiv. 21); we 
 must have the Gospel in our hearts and keep it in 
 our lives — have it in hearing, keep it in obeying — 
 our understanding must contain it, our actions 
 express it. 3 Let us endeavour to turn the scriptural 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 
 
 159 
 
 1 Scripturarum cupimus 
 verba in opera vertere, et 
 non modo dicere sancta sed 
 facere. — Hieron. 
 
 2 Frustra Scriptura lecta 
 nisi intellecta, frustra in- 
 tellecta nisi prsestita. 
 
 3 Noluit intelligere ut 
 bene ageret. 
 
 4 De virtute loqui mini- 
 mum, virtutibus uti, Hie 
 labor, boc opus est. — Per- 
 sius. 
 
 5 Magna dicere Golise 
 sonus est — magna facere 
 Sampsonis opus est. — Ter- 
 tullian. 
 
 6 When the one doth 
 proponere quid agendum, 
 the other exponere quid 
 propositum. 
 
 words into works, and not only to speak holy things 
 but to do them. 1 For in vain we read the Scrip- 
 ture if we understand it not; in vain we understand 
 it if we obey it not. 2 (James i. 22), " Be ye doers 
 of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your 
 own selves." We must first be hearers, for David 
 hath branded the wicked man with this mark, he 
 tvould not hear nor understand that he might do 
 voell? A man may know the will of God and not 
 do it, but he cannot do it unless he know it. Then, 
 not hearers only, but doers — and that without any 
 plea or excuse, or fear of danger by holy obedience. 
 The dove will not leave her flight, because there are 
 some ravens in the air, so the good Christian will 
 always keep obedience upon the wing. (Psalm 
 xxxiv. 14), "Depart from evil" (what, and speak 
 good only ? no, but) " do good." To speak of virtue 
 is nothing — the labour is to show the power of it 
 in virtuous actions. 4 To speak bravely, this is but 
 the sound of a swelling giant— but to do heroically 
 this is the work of a valiant champion. 5 . . . No 
 man can work unless he believes ; no man can 
 believe unless he works. Christian religion is more 
 practicall than theoricall — rather an occupation than 
 a mere profession — dwelling, like the artisan's wit, 
 at the fingers' ends." 
 
 " Idleness never had the testimony of God's 
 acceptance ; it is a vice that damns itself. The 
 idle person seems to be God's outlawry — out of the 
 compass of His protection. Art and nature bring 
 forth nothing suddenly ; there must be growing 
 degrees in the one, and intervenient labours in the 
 other. (Matt. xx. 8), the penny had never been 
 theirs, if they had stood in the market idle till 
 sunset. . . . Nothing better pleaseth God than the 
 sweet composition of a man's hand with his heart ; 
 when the heart doth direct what the hand should 
 do, and the hand doth do what the heart directs. 6 
 For the hand is the best commentary of the heart ; 
 what a man does I am sure he thinks, not always 
 what he speaks. We must serve God (as one said 
 he would marry), pro amove, for love. 
 
1G0 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Now there are four things comprehended in that word, and they are found 
 by cutting off the first letter — amore, with love (as life in the body, so devotion 
 in the sold, begins at the heart) — MORE, with the conversation (practical obedience, 
 doing that which is good) — ore, with the mouth (setting forth God's praise) — 
 re, with the estate (when we do not offer sacrifice to the Lord, of that which 
 costs us nothing). There must be hearty love, lively practice, kindly thanks, 
 costly service." 
 
 " Ye shall never fall. Falling is twofold — of infirmity and of apostacy ; the 
 one is a falling into sin, the other a falling into the state of damnation ; there is 
 weakness in the one, there is presumption or obstinateness in the other. The 
 former of these falls may befal the faithful, but not the latter ; for there is no 
 damnation to them that are in Jesus Christ (Rom. viii. 1). Indeed, he may fall 
 into divers sins, but not into that sinning sin ; they be slips not foils ; or if foils, 
 not falls ; or if falls, yet falling forward to repentance, not backward from mercy. 
 The faithful shall not fall into apostacy from the Lord ; the reason is, because God 
 establisheth his goings (Psalm xl. 2), the Lord will preserve him and keep him 
 up. If that were understood of sin that Solomon speaks, The just man falleth 
 seven times a day, yet it implies his repentance ; for he could not properly be 
 said to fall seven times unless he had rose six times. He doth not more often 
 fall by sinning, than he riseth again by repenting. 1 Thus he may fall into 
 infirmity, but shall never fall into apostacy. And this is a sweet comfort, that 
 those which are upheld by God's power shall never fall away from Jesus Christ. 
 Whosoever is in Christ shall never fall. Indeed, he may fall into 
 
 affliction, but not into destruction Death may trip down his body, 
 
 Satan cannot get down his soul ; in abyssum non cadet. His name is written in 
 heaven ; and until that name fall, which will not be though heaven fall, himself 
 shall never fall. Though he wrestles with giants — against principalities and 
 powers, and wicked spirits, in high places — yet he shall stand. Though death 
 lay his body in the dust, yet it hath no power to touch his soul; he shall 
 stand." 
 
 " They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be 
 removed, but abideth for ever. The dove makes moan, to her fellow birds, of the 
 tyranny of the hawk. One counsels her to fly aloft, but the hawk can mount as 
 high as she. Another adviseth her to keep below, but the hawk can stoop for 
 his prey. Another, to shroud herself in the woods, there she shall be sure ; but, 
 alas, that was the hawk's manor, the place where he kept his court. Another 
 bids her keep the town, there she was sure from the hawk ; but so she became a 
 prey to man, and had her eyes put out to make the hawk sport. At last one 
 bids her nest herself in the hole of a rock, there she should be safe ; violence 
 
 itself could not surprise her. The dove is man's soul There is no 
 
 1 Toties resurgit poeuitendo, (juoties cecidit jieccaudo. 
 
CONSOLATION EEVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 161 
 
 sureness in thy lands, none in thy money, none in thy honours, none in thy 
 pleasures. Neither court, nor city, nor country, neither castles nor forts, can save 
 thee ; yet there is a rock for this dove, O my dove that art in the clefts of the 
 rock (Cant. ii. 14). The clefts of this rock are the wounds of Jesus Christ; 
 fly thither, my. soul, and be safe. Psalm lv. 6, O^that I had wings like a 
 dove ! then would I fly away, and be at rest. The wings are faith and prayer ; 
 hie thee to this rock, there only thou art sure. All the devils in hell shall not 
 pluck thee from the merciful arms of Christ (John x. 28). How are we sure that 
 we are in His hand ? — if His Spirit be in our heart. It was a good argument of 
 Manoah's wife (Judg. xiii. 23), If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would never 
 have accepted of our sacrifice. So conclude thy own conscience, If the Lord were 
 pleased to reject me, He would never have given me His Spirit. If I were a 
 vessel of wrath, such a Comforter would never have come into my soul. Psalm 
 xli. 11. By this I know that Thou favourest me, because my enemy doth not 
 triumph against me. If Satan prevailed not, sure then I am in favour, and the 
 Lord Jesus hath reserved me to His eternal kingdom." 
 
 '"But, alas, (saith the humbled soul), my godliness is so small, that I despair 
 of assurance.' Be comforted ; strive against thy corruptions, and by the Spirit of 
 Jesus Christ thou shalt overcome. Paul was a sanctified man ; yet he complains 
 (Rom. vii. 1 5), What I would, that I do not ; but what I hate, I do. O wretched 
 man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? Albeit he 
 groaned under the weight of his infirmities, and felt the buffets of Satan, yet he 
 knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ. Thou 
 canst will that which is good (velle bonurti) ; then hear God speak comfort — 2 Cor. 
 viii. 1 2, If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man 
 hath, and not according to that it hath not. Indeed, where this want of grace 
 is, content in that want, love of that content, indulgence to all these — there is 
 neither ornament of sanctification nor argument of salvation. But dost thou feel 
 thy wants ? — hath that feeling bred sorrow ? — that sorrow, desire ? — that desire, 
 prayer ? — that prayer, increased faith ? Faith shall bring down mercy. In thee 
 there is the sense of infirmity; in the other is the infirmity of sense. The feeling 
 of sin doth not annihilate the assurance of salvation. We feel the ache of a 
 finger more sensibly than the health of the whole body ; yet is the health of the 
 whole bod} r far more than the ache of a finger. Sanctification is itself, though 
 joined with some imperfection." 
 
 " To conclude — let me now characterize to you the man in whose heart there 
 is this assurance. He stands like an impregnable fort, upon whom misery and 
 malice would spend all their shot; much they do to their own shame, to his glory. 
 Sin, like a flattering neighbour, hath often knocked at his door, and would have 
 come in, but found cold welcome ; and, if it was importunate, was sent away, not 
 without repulse and blows. Perhaps it lurks about his outhouses, and (spite of 
 
 x 
 
162 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 him) will be his tenant, but shall never be his landlord. He hath some faults, but 
 God will not see them. He meets at every turn with his railing and accusing 
 adversary, Satan ; but he stops his throat with a pardon sealed in the blood of 
 Jesus Christ. He is never out of war, never without victory. Those roaring 
 fiends set upon him proudly, and he bears them down triumphantly. The shield 
 he always bears with him was never pierced — faith. He hath been often tripped, 
 once or twice foiled, was never vanquished. His hand hath been scratched, his 
 heart is whole. Tyranny bends on him a stern brow, but could never dash him 
 out of countenance. Is he threatened with the surgery of the sword ? — he sees Esay 
 under the saw, John in Patmos cutting [being cut] in pieces. Is he threatened 
 drowning? — he sees Jonas diving into that inextricable gulf; burning? — he sees 
 those three servants in their fiery walk, and the Son of God amongst them. Is 
 he threatened devouring? — he sees Daniel in that sealed den of terrible lions; 
 stoning ? — he sees that protomartyr of the Gospel sleeping in peace under so 
 many gravestones; heading? — he sees the Baptist's neck bleeding in Herodias's 
 platter. He is sure that the God, which gave them such strength, is not weak in 
 him ; what could they suffer without God ? — what cannot he suffer with God ? 
 If he must endure their pain, he looks for their faith, their patience, their 
 strength, their glory. The terrors of death amaze him not ; for, first, he knows 
 Avhom he hath trusted, and, then, whither death shall lead him. He is not more 
 sure to die than to live again, and outfaceth death with his assured resurrection. 
 Like Enoch he walks every day with God, and confers familiarly with his Maker. 
 When he goes in, humbly to converse with Him in meditation and prayer, he puts 
 off his own clothes, and takes a rich suit out of the wardrobe of his Redeemer ; 
 then confidently he entereth the presence-chamber, and faithfully challengeth a 
 blessing. He hath clean hands and a white soul, fit to give lodging to the Holy 
 Ghost ; not a room is reserved for the enemy ; He that gave all finds all returned 
 to Himself. He is so certain of his eternal election and present justifica- 
 tion, that he can call God Father, His Saviour Brother, the Holy Ghost his 
 Comforter — the devil his slave, earth his footstool, heaven his patrimony, and 
 everlasting life his inheritance. Those celestial spirits do not scorn his company, 
 nor refuse to do him service. His heart is so devoted to Christ, that if misery, 
 if death, if torments stood in his way on the right hand, he would disdain all 
 obstacles, and break through all difficulties, to come unto Him whom his soul 
 loveth. He fixeth his spiritual eye upon the eternal things that are not seen ; 
 others see that [which] is present, He that [which] is to come. He walks upon 
 earth as a stranger, his heart is at home. He hath laid up a sure treasure in 
 heaven' — a portion that shall never be taken away. He vexeth not himself with 
 cares ; he knows that he lives not at his own cost. Without omitting good means, 
 he rests on a Providebit Deus, the Lord's providence. Without the warrant of 
 God he dares do nothing — with it, anything. Nor is his faith more valiant than 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 163 
 
 his bowels are compassionate. He hath his tears plenty, both for his own sins and 
 others' sufferings. He is no niggard of these showers on earth ; he is sure never 
 to weep hereafter. When he departs this life, his body sleeps in a peaceful grave ; 
 and those glorious angels bear his soul with triumphant songs to the glorified 
 saints, where it is married to the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, for ever." — Adams. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the Promises to Him that Overcometh. 
 
 Readers of the Apocalypse must have been struck with the abundant promises 
 " to him that overcometh," recommended to the earnest attention of all the 
 members of the seven Christian churches in Asia Minor. All these are summed 
 up in a general promise (chapter xxi. 7), " He that overcometh shall inherit all 
 things ; and I will be his God and he shall be My son." 
 
 I cannot quote any concise and instructive comments upon these promises, 
 as my search has been in vain. The plan of my work has been to speak for 
 myself only in the Introductory Essay to this volume, and thereafter to collect an 
 apparatus of doctrine on the theology of consolation from old and valued authors. 
 Not being able to find in Dr Gill's Commentary on the Book of Revelation the 
 explanations which inquirers after consolation desire, I begin this chapter by 
 collecting from his comments on other Scriptures the principles on which his 
 desired article would have been framed, if he had not been quite absorbed by the 
 glorious future to the neglect of the anxious present. All of my own, that I pre- 
 sent to the readers of this chapter, shall be one or two preliminary sentences to the 
 effect that man's achievement, called " overcoming," does not begin his " consola- 
 tion in Christ," but confirms or revives it, after it has begun. It does not unite 
 him to God in Christ ; but after his union it may be the occasion of his "thank- 
 ing God and taking courage." It comes in the course of obedience to the pre- 
 cepts, " Fight the good fight of faith ; lay hold on eternal life." This fight is 
 fought not in order to earn a right to eternal life (this none but the Lord our 
 righteousness can earn), but in order to take possession of eternal life, which 
 begins on this side of heaven. So the psalmist built all his hope of occupying 
 the Land of Promise on the Lord's own "holy promise;" "God has spoken in His 
 holiness (he said) and therefore I will rejoice." Then, triumphing in the Lord's 
 word only, he proceeded to take possession of the land (Psalms lx. and cviii.). 
 Thus he might be described both as " he that believeth " and as " he that over- 
 cometh," — the former, characteristically ; and the latter, incidentally. 
 
164 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Before quoting Dr Gill's comments on other Scriptures, I extract two remarks 
 bearing upon our subject in his comments on Revelation, chapters xiv. and xvii. 
 
 xvii. 1 4. " The Lamb shall overcome ; for He is Lord of lords and King of 
 kings, and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." "The Lamb 
 shall overcome, partly through the constancy of His people, who will not love 
 their lives to the death, but freely lay them down for Him ; nor can anything 
 separate them from the love of Christ, or prevail upon them to desert Him, His 
 truths and ordinances, cause and interest. They are more than conquerors 
 through Him, and so He overcomes in them." 
 
 xiv. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord .... their works do 
 follow them," — " they don't go before them to prepare heaven and happiness 
 for them ; nor do these persons take them along with them and use them as 
 pleas for their admission into the heavenly glory ; but they will follow them, and 
 will be found to praise and honour and glory, and will be taken notice of by 
 Christ, and graciously rewarded by Him at His appearing and kingdom." 
 
 The other illustrative comments from Dr Gill are founded on James i. 25 ; 
 1 John ii. 17; and Psalm xix. 1 ] . 
 
 " This man shall be blessed in his deed." He shall be blessed, doing, and 
 whilst he is doing ; not that he is blessed for what he does, but in what he does. 
 He has, in hearing the word and looking into it, &c, the presence of God, the 
 discoveries of His love, communion with Christ, and communication of grace from 
 Him by the Spirit. So that wisdom's ways become ways of pleasantness, and 
 all her paths are peace." — Gill on James i. 25. 
 
 II. 
 
 " He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." He abideth in the love 
 of God (which will never depart from him nor shall he be separated from that), 
 and in the hands and arms of Christ (out of which none can pluck him), and in 
 the family and household of God (where he as a son abides for ever and shall 
 never be cast out), and in a state of justification (he shall never enter into con- 
 demnation), and in a state of grace and holiness (from which he shall never fall 
 totally and finally). The reason of this his abiding is not his doing the will of 
 God, which is only descriptive of him manifestatively, and not the cause of his 
 perpetuity and immovableness " GlLL on 1 John ii. 17. 
 
 III. 
 
 " In keeping of them there is great reward." This is to be understood not 
 of keeping the law of Moses .... but of observing the word of God — by diligent 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 165 
 
 searching into it, reading and learning it, and meditating on it, to get and obtain 
 knowledge of divine things — which carries its own reward with it, and is better 
 tban thousands of gold and silver. Laying up the word of God and the truths of 
 the Gospel, and keeping them in mind and memory, is very profitable and 
 
 serviceable to promote spiritual peace and comfort, and to preserve from sin " 
 
 Gill on Psalm xix. 1 1 . 
 
 On such principles, then, the promises to him that overcometh suggest to 
 believers that they are henceforth enlisted into the service of God, as God and as 
 the Saviour, that it is their duty and privilege and honour to be on the Lord's 
 side, and to contend joyfully and constantly — to fight the good fight of faith, 
 content with nothing less than victory. 
 
 1 John ii. 14. The word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the 
 wicked one. The Scripture is a magazine out of which we may fetch our spiritual 
 artillery to fight against Satan. When the devil tempted our Saviour he fetched 
 armour and weapons from Scripture, it is written. . . . Contend for Scripture. 
 Though we should not be contentious, yet we ought to contend for the word of 
 God. The Scripture is beset with enemies, heretics fight against it ; we must 
 therefore contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). The 
 Scriptures is our book of evidences for heaven ; and shall we part with our 
 evidences ? — Thomas Watson, QQ. 2 and 89. 
 
 " Moses, when he prayed for Israel when engaged in battle with Amalek, 
 represented a praying saint in his conflict with spiritual enemies. A stone was 
 put under him, on which he sat while lifting up his hands— an emblem of Christ, 
 the Eben-Ezer, the stone of help in time of need. Aaron and Hur, the one on 
 one side and the other on the other, held up his hands and stayed them. Aaron, 
 who could speak well, was a type of Christ, the advocate and spokesman of His 
 people, by whose mediation they are encouraged and supported in prayer. Hur 
 is a name which has the signification of liberty, and may point to the Spirit of 
 God who is a free Spirit, and, as such, supports the saints in the exercise of grace 
 and discharge of duty. 
 
 " Prayer is the speech of the soul to God — though we whisper, not opening 
 our lips, but pray in silence, cry inwardly, God incessantly hears that inward 
 discourse (said Clement of Alexandria). Prayer is one part of the saints' spiritual 
 armour, and a principal one, though mentioned last in the sixth chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians. Satan has often felt the force of this weapon. Resist 
 the devil, by faith in prayer, and he will flee from you. When the Apostle Paul 
 was buffeted and distressed by him, he besought the Lord thrice that the tempta- 
 tion might pass from him, and had for answer, My grace is sufficient for thee. 
 
166 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Jacob had the name of Israel given him, because as a Prince he had power with 
 God and prevailed — prevailed by prayer and supplication. 
 
 " Mental prayer may be performed without the motion of the lips, and is 
 what we call an ejaculatory prayer, from the suddenness and swiftness of its being 
 put up to God, like a dart shot from the bow. But there is vocal prayer in 
 language to be heard and understood by men as well as by God, and to this kind 
 of prayer the church is directed by the Lord Himself (Hosea xiv. 2)." — Gill, 
 Body of Divinity, Vol. III., Book iii., Chap. 5. 
 
 " The Christian has a good cause in which he is engaged ; he wars a good 
 warfare, and fights the good fight of faith ; he has a good Captain, under whose 
 banner he fights — the great Captain of salvation. Saints have good weapons 
 wherewith they are acccoutred — the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and 
 the sword of the Spirit ; which weapons are not carnal but spiritual, and mighty 
 through God, and are such as are proved, and may with confidence be made use 
 of. They are sure of victory beforehand, for all their enemies are conquered, sin 
 is made an end of — Satan, who had the power of death, is destroyed — the world 
 is overcome by Christ. The warfare is accomplished, and believers are made 
 more than conquerors through Him that loved them, and therefore may be sure 
 of the crown of life, righteousness and glory, laid up for all that love the appear- 
 ing of Christ. 
 
 " Though saints are to be humble, self-denying, submissive to the will of 
 God, and patient towards all men, and in all things ; yet they are not to give way 
 to pusillanimity and to a meanness of spirit, but to show firmness of mind, re- 
 solution, an undaunted courage and fortitude. 2 Tim. i. 7, ' For God hath not 
 given us the spirit of fear ; but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.' 1 Cor. 
 xvi. 13, ' Quit you like men, be strong ' — which respects not strength of body, but 
 fortitude of mind. 
 
 " One of Christian fortitude will strive against sin, be an antagonist to it, 
 and act the manly part against it. Those young men, who are strong, and in 
 whom the word of God dwells, overcome the Wicked One. The world also, with 
 its flattering lusts and frowning fury, is overcome by the saints in the exercise 
 of faith (1 John v. 4, 5). Not only ministers of the Word, but all professors of 
 religion, and members of the churches of Christ, should stand fast in one spirit, 
 striving together for the faith of the Gospel, and should contend earnestly for the 
 faith once delivered to the saints — strong in the Lord and in the grace that is in 
 Christ Jesus — strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." — Gill, 
 Body of Divinity, Vol. III., Book i., Chap. 18. 
 
 " Ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome 
 the wicked one. — 1 John ii. 14. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 167 
 
 " They overcome him by the strength of their faith ; they hold fast their 
 confidence in the Lord's promised strength, and He fights for them. That mighty 
 arm which bruised the serpent's head brings them victory. 
 
 " They overcame the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the Lamb, and 
 by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death 
 (Rev. xii. 11). 
 
 " Through faith in His blood they were pardoned and justified freely, and 
 they knew that in Him they had righteousness and strength ; therefore they were 
 at peace with God, and the accuser of the brethren could not lay anything to 
 their charge. Thus they were delivered from his power, and translated into the 
 kingdom of God's dear Son ; and they testified this by adhering to the Word of 
 Truth. They believed that whatever Christ had therein promised, He would 
 fulfil to them, and they bore their testimony to their being safe in depending on 
 His Word in the most trying circumstances. They would not give it up what- 
 ever they lost by trusting to it ; nay, they stuck stedfastly to its truth, although 
 it cost them their lives for maintaining their testimony. They loved the truth 
 more than life ; they were not afraid publicly to own that their trust and con- 
 fidence was in the blood of the Lamb ; and they believed they should be infinite 
 and everlasting gainers by holding fast the word of their testimony unto death." 
 — Romaine on the Life of Faith. Edition of 1793. 
 
 "Such were the heroes of Christianity. They fought the Lord's battles, and 
 in the power of His might they subdued sin ; they obtained dominion over it 
 through faith in Jesus. 
 
 " And the same faith in the same Jesus is still mighty through Him to ob- 
 tain as great victories. The truth of His promise, the faithfulness of the promiser, 
 the strength of His arm to fulfil His promise — these did not fail Moses nor Paul, 
 never did — never can — fail any believer. Thus speaketh the Lord unto them, 
 Sin shall not have dominion over you. Having pardoned it by My blood, I will 
 subdue it by My Spirit. Trust Me, you shall find strong faith an overmatch for 
 strong sin ; because it fights in the strength of Jesus to whom all things are pos- 
 sible, and who must reign till He hath put all His enemies under His feet ; and 
 sin and death shall be no more. Say, is it a besetting sin ? This only gives 
 more employment for faith, and for the power of Jesus. It may be a sin of con- 
 stitution, breaking out into wrath and passion, that the man has no government 
 of himself ; but the Spirit of Christ can make him a new creature, and can enable 
 him to put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man, which, after 
 God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It may be a long habit of sin ; 
 but is anything too hard for the Lord ? Has He not promised, A new heart will 
 I give you, and I will put My Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in 
 My statutes, and ye shall keep My commandments and practise them. 
 
 " Wherever grace reigns, this scripture is fulfilled. The armies of the Lord 
 
168 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of Hosts fight under His banner, and no weapon formed against them can prosper. 
 Kept by His mighty power, they are daily more than conquerors, marching on 
 triumphant over all opposition ; for He enables them to hold fast the confidence 
 and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end. Thus they were commanded to 
 pray, Order my steps, O Lord, according to Thy "Word, and let not any iniquity 
 have dominion over me. And the power of Christ resting upon them, they were 
 kept in this spirit of prayer. They looked to His Word and to His arm for the 
 right ordering of their steps, believing that He would keep the feet of His saints, 
 and sin should not have dominion over them, now they were no longer under the 
 law, but under the kingdom of His grace. The victory, which He had promised, 
 they expected ; and He did put forth His power, according to that good word 
 wherein He had caused them to place their trust. They found His grace suffi- 
 cient to subdue the tyranny of iniquity ; yea, where sin had abounded, grace did 
 much more abound in daily victory over its wiles and assaults. 
 
 " thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen me mightily 
 by Thy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith, and 
 I may have His strength to set against the power of my sins and mine enemies." 
 ■ — Romaine on the Triumph of Faith, Chapter VI. 
 
 " Drawn by that power, without which none can come unto Him, their 
 hearts are broken, their wills are renewed, and all the powers and faculties of 
 their souls are inclined to subscribe to the government of Christ, as King of saints. 
 They solemnly withdraw themselves from — renounce and testify their abhorrence 
 of — those to whom they have formerly been in subjection, whose interest is con- 
 trary to, and subversive of, Christ's government. These they count to be their 
 greatest, yea, their only enemies, and proclaim open war against them, and that 
 with a fixed resolution, by the grace of God, to pursue it to the utmost. 
 
 " The courageous soldier, having drawn his sword, throws away the scabbard, 
 as one that will not leave off fighting till he has gained a complete victory ; and 
 this resolution is increased by that hatred which he entertains against sin, and is 
 exercised in proportion to it. The enemies against whom he engages are the 
 world, the flesh, and the devil. The motives that induce him thereunto, are that 
 they are enemies to Christ, and stand in the way of his salvation. That he may 
 manage this warfare with success, he takes to himself the whole armour of God 
 (Eph. vi. 11-] 7), which is both offensive and defensive. He also considers him- 
 self obliged to shun all treaties or proposals made by them to turn him aside from 
 Christ, and all correspondence with them, and to avoid everything that may prove 
 a snare or temptation to him, or tend to Christ's dishonour. Also, he hath a due 
 sense of his obligation to endeavour to deliver others from their servitude to sin 
 and Satan, and to encourage those who are almost persuaded to submit to 
 Christ." — Ridgley, Q. 45. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 169 
 
 If we had time to go into full details in the description of a true believer 
 in Christ as one that overcometh, we might enlarge on the habit of self-denial. 
 Self-denial may be called a victory over self, and such a definition is suggested 
 by the book of Proverbs (xvi. 32), where the sentence occurs, "He that ruleth 
 his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." This sentiment has been thus 
 expounded : — 
 
 " One that has the command of his temper — that can govern himself and 
 not suffer bis passions to exceed due bounds — is superior in strength to him that 
 can storm a castle or take a fortified city. It is easier to do the one than the 
 other ; courage of mind, joined with wisdom and assisted by a proper number of 
 persons, may do the one ; but it requires the grace of God, the assistance of His 
 Spirit, thoroughly to do the other. Cicero says (Epistles xv. 4), In all ages fewer 
 men are found who conquer their own lusts, than that overcome the armies of 
 enemies." — Gill's Commentary. 
 
 The above note refers to the inner man of the heart ; the Apostle James 
 expatiates on "the bridling of the tongue" (James i. 26 ; iii. 2) — on the un- 
 comfortable inconsistency of a professedly religious man, who with one and the 
 same tongue both blesses God, even the Father, and curses men who are made 
 after the similitude of God (James iii. 9, 10). Self-denial in this department 
 consists (as Dr Manton expresses it) in " abstaining from the evils of the tongue, 
 such as, railing, reviling, censuring, and detracting." " Speak only a known 
 truth, and that seasonably, charitably, without vanity or folly, or obscenity or 
 rash oaths, as Gregory Nyssen fully expoundeth it." " To be able to bridle the 
 tongue (says Manton) is an argument of some growth and happy progress in 
 grace. ... As we must avoid the evil of the tongue, so we must commune one 
 with another more fruitfully, quickening one another to a sweet apprehension of 
 the benefits of God." 
 
 For the purpose in hand, I may here repeat a note already quoted from 
 Manton, " Learn to approve yourselves to God, with all good conscience, in times 
 of trial. When God trieth your faith or obedience with some difficulty, then is 
 the special time to gain assurance by being found faithful." The meaning of 
 this is elucidated in the following additional notes : — 
 
 James ii. 21, He [Abraham] had offered up Isaac his son upon the altar. 
 The great trial of faith is in acts of self-denial. Such was Abraham's. A man 
 is not discovered, when God's way and his own lie together. Your great inquiry 
 should be. Wherein have I denied myself for God ? thwarted any lust ? hazarded 
 any concernment ? No trial like that, when we can part with some conveniency 
 in sense, upon the proper and sole encouragements of faith. 
 
 Rahab's faith, how weak soever, yielded some self-denying act or fruit. She 
 
 Y 
 
170 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 incurred present danger, and the tortures which the rage of her citizens would 
 inflict upon her for harbouring spies. 
 
 Those who would have Abraham's privileges, must look to it that they have 
 Abraham's faith. You claim kin of him as believers. How was it with 
 Abraham ? Wbo would not stick at those commands wherewith Abraham was 
 exercised and tried ? God calleth every believer, more or less, to deny something 
 that is near and dear to him. Can you give up all that is near and dear to you ? 
 Public duties, if well done, are usually against carnal interests — private duties, 
 against carnal affections. Can you offer up your Isaac — your ease and pleasure 
 for private duties — your interests for public ? Every action is not a trial of 
 faith, but such as engageth to self-denial. 
 
 He was called the friend of God. " Ye are my friends [saith Christ] if ye 
 do whatsoever I command you." Here is comfort to the righteous — to those 
 that have found any friend-like affection in themselves towards God — any care 
 to please Him. this is your comfort, that delight in His presence — that walk 
 in His ways as much as you can, though not as much as you should. — Manton 
 on James. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 On Love to God, Christian Love, and Forgiveness of Injuries. 
 
 This partnership of Christian graces, residing in the heart of the believer, 
 ministers to his personal consolation. I quote instructive illustrations from 
 various old writers. 
 
 " After faith and hope, follows love ; for in this order they stand (1 Cor. 
 xiii. 13). Faith is of more use to the believer himself, and such things are 
 ascribed to it as cannot be ascribed to love ; but love is more diffusive of its 
 benefits to others, and is of longer duration. Love, in order of nature, follows 
 faith and hope, as the effect [follows] its own cause, as Dr Ames observed ; for 
 because by faith and hope we taste how good the Lord is, therefore we love Him. 
 Faith spies eternal life in the promise, and hope rejoices in it ; and both attract 
 the affections to God the giver of it. 
 
 " Love to God manifests itself in a desire to be like Him. One that loves 
 another endeavours to imitate him ; and such as love God are followers of Him 
 as dear children — beloved ones — and walk in love, and are obedient ones, and 
 desirous of being holy, as He is holy in all manner of conversation ; nor can they 
 be thoroughly satisfied and contented until they awake in His likeness. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 171 
 
 " Such as love the Lord are loved by Him, not that their love is the cause 
 of the love of God to them. His love is prior to theirs, and is the cause of that. 
 But greater manifestations of His love are made to them, and more instances of 
 it shown. 
 
 " If any man love God, the same is known of Him (1 Cor. viii. 3) ; he is 
 taken notice of by Him — owned and acknowledged as His. To him God makes 
 Himself known, uses him familiarly, and favours him with communion with 
 Himself, knows his soul in adversity, supports him in it, and delivers him out of 
 it ; the knowledge He has of him is special, peculiar, and distinct, and is joined 
 with love and affection to him. The Lord knoweth them that are His (2 Tim. 
 ii. 19). 
 
 " Benefits bestowed are not in quality the chief motives to love God ; yet 
 they are in order first, and chiefly strike the affections and stir them up towards 
 the Lord. We cannot come at a view of the Divine perfections but by these 
 means ; yet hereby we are led into a view of His nature and perfections, and to 
 love Him for the sake of Himself. Such love, though it is not first in order, is 
 chief and ultimate, and comes nearest to the love which the Divine Persons bear 
 to each other, and nearest to the love with which God loves His people, which 
 arises not from any goodness shown to Him or received by Him. 
 
 " 1 John iv. 7, The Apostle John expressly says, Love is of God — that is, 
 from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It stands, in the first place, among 
 the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22.) It is wrought in the soul in regeneration, 
 and is an evidence of it, for every one that loveth is born of God. There can be 
 no love to God where there is no knowledge of Him (according to that phrase, 
 ignoti nulla cupido). Where there is knowledge of Him — especially of Him in 
 Christ, as gracious and merciful — there will be love to Him. The seat of love is 
 the heart of a regenerate man ; and true love to God is a love of Him with all 
 the heart, soul, and strength. — Gill, Body of Divinity, Vol. III., Book i., 
 Chap. 9. 
 
 James ii. 8. If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well ; ye do that which is right and which is 
 a man's duty to do. This, when done from right principles and to a right end, 
 is a good work, and is doing a good work well. The law of love to men, without 
 distinction of rich and poor, high and low, bond and free, is called the royal law, 
 because it is the law of the King of kings ; hence the Syriac version renders it, 
 the law of God. It is the law of Christ, who is King of saints. As love to God 
 is the sum of the first and great commandment in the law, and may be called the 
 king of laws, so love to the neighbour is the second and next unto it, and may 
 very well bear the name of queen of laws, and so has royalty in it ; and indeed 
 this last is said to be the fulfilling of the law (Rom. xiii. 8, 9, 10 ; Gal. iii. 14). 
 
172 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 It is also submitted to and obeyed by those who are made kings and priests 
 to God — and that, in a royal manner, with a princely spirit, willingly and with all 
 readiness. In the Hebrew language the same word signifies " princes," and " to 
 be willing." — Gill's Commentary. 
 
 There seems to be a difference between the nature of Christian charity and 
 that love which is required in the second great command. The latter is love to 
 our neighbour, the former is love to a Christian ; the latter is love for his own 
 sake, the former is love for Christ's sake ; the latter is pure benevolence, the 
 former includes complacency. The Scriptures denominate Christian charity to be 
 a brotherly love, or a love to Christians as brethren. " Be ye kindly affectioned 
 one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another (Rom. xii. 
 10); "Let brotherly love continue" (Heb. xiii. 1). According to this the 
 object of Christian love must be one who is esteemed a Christian brother ; but 
 the object of the second great command extends to all mankind, irrespective of their 
 moral qualities. 
 
 Christian love is by our Lord called " a new commandment." Speaking to 
 His disciples, He says, " A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one 
 another " (John xiii. 34-). Some indeed have supposed that it is so called on 
 account of its being revived by our Lord, after having been neglected by the Jews, 
 and discountenanced by their teachers ; others have thought that it so called by 
 way of excellence. But the peculiar phraseology of the passage is not satisfactorily 
 accounted for by either of these suppositions. It rather seems that Christian 
 charity or love is called " a new commandment," because of its being a love to 
 Christians as such, which, though virtually contained in the second great command, 
 was not specifically required by it. The church of God was now no longer to be 
 national, but should be formed of Christians individually, amongst whom there 
 should be no other bond of union but that of pure Christianity. Hence it is that 
 this "new commandment" is suited to a new dispensation. — Andrew Fuller. 
 
 Christ says, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another 
 — which yet (as the Apostle John says) is both old and new (1 John ii. 7, 8) — 
 an old commandment, being founded upon the original law of God — a new 
 commandment, being a new edition under the Gospel dispensation. Being 
 given out anew by Christ, the law-giver in His house, it is called the law of 
 Christ ; the law of love, with a new pattern and exemplar, a new motive and 
 argument, mentioned by Christ Himself, As I have loved you, that ye also love 
 one another. 
 
 The comfort and joy of ministers should be an argument with saints to 
 mutual love ; with the greater pleasure they pursue their studies and labour in 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 173 
 
 their ministrations for the good of souls. Yea, when it is otherwise, the com- 
 fort of the saints themselves and their edification are greatly hurt. Where- 
 fore, the Apostle exhorts to love and unity, and that brotherly love continue ; for 
 the love of God and Christ continues ; nothing can separate from it; they love to 
 the end. — Gill, Body of Divinity, Vol. III., Book i., Chap. 9. 
 
 They are poor men and you may do your pleasure with them, but if God be 
 in them, take heed, " touch not Mine anointed " (Ps. cv. 1 5). If it be " the 
 Divine nature " (2 Pet. i. 4) that is in them, be never so unnatural and ungracious 
 as to hate, despise, or oppose it. But, on the contrary, let us own, love, and 
 honour it wherever we find it. Let us own God and His image in His poorest 
 servants. Let it be evident to us that we ourselves are 'partakers of the Divine 
 nature, when even naturally, and from a Divine natural instinct and sympathy, 
 we close and clasp with it ; love, honour, and cherish it in others — both it, and 
 them for it — how mean and abject and despised soever they may be otherwise. 
 That the dunghill cock should prefer the barley corn before the gem — that a 
 stranger should ask the spouse what is her Beloved above another beloved — is no 
 wonder ; no more is it for an ignorant carnal worldling, who knoweth not the 
 spiritual worth of the things of God, to undervalue the children of God, and to 
 count them the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things. But for pro- 
 fessed Christians to think goodly of him that hath a gold ring on and gay 
 apparel, and meanwhile to tread under their footstool a saint rich in faith, as a 
 child of God, partaker of the Divine nature and heir of the kingdom, because of 
 his poor raiment and mean outside, is most unworthy. 
 
 Let me ever value a diamond, though in the dirt, above a pebble or clot of 
 earth though set in gold — a poor Christian "all glorious within," though clad with 
 sheep skins and goat skins, above all the satins and velvets and ruffling gaieties 
 of other bug men who have little or nothing of God in them. Any appearance 
 of God is glorious ; but this of saving grace in His saints (which rendereth them 
 most precious and honourable), next after that which appeared in Christ, is most 
 glorious. As Christ [said] of John the Baptist, What went you out to see — a 
 man clothed in soft raiment — or a prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, more than a 
 prophet — more than a bare man — one that hath much of God in him, a Theo- 
 phoros, as Ignatius explained it to Trajan. 
 
 Though the godly be partakers of the Divine nature, yet they may not be of 
 divine worship. But yet, upon this account, there is due to them — 
 
 1. Great honour and reverence — for if we ought so to reverence the image 
 of God, looking out in magistrates and superiors (who are therefore called " gods," 
 Psalm lxxxii. 6), in regard of their greatness, is there none due to the saints who 
 resemble Him in His holiness and goodness? The hollow of a Paphnutius eye, 
 put out for Christ's sake, is worthy of the kiss of an emperor. 
 
174 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 2. Singular and transcendent love — and this in the fruits and effects of it, 
 in bounty if they need ; for if they be partakers of the Divine nature, what we 
 give to them we lend to the Lord; however, in most ardent affection, let this 
 Divine nature kindle this Divine flame, and more to them than to other men, and 
 to them most in whom most of God appears. 
 
 Good is to be done unto all, but " especially unto them which are of the 
 household of faith" (Gal. vi. 10). "Be reconciled (as your phrase is) to the 
 whole creation," and let your love be as universal as it can to all mankind ; "to 
 brotherly kindness " we must " add love " (2 Pet. i. 7). Be we not so prodigal 
 of our love to the saints that we prove so niggardly that we have none for others; 
 but yet, on the contrary, though our love should be universal, yet it should not be 
 equal — extended to all, but yet so as more intensely set on such whom He bestows 
 His peculiar love upon ; and ours should imitate His, be discriminant as His. 
 " Honour all men," but especially "Love the brotherhood " (1 Pet. ii. 17). Let, 
 at least, humanity prevail with us to esteem and love all that partake with us of 
 human nature, for so far we love ourselves — but so as to put more abundant hon- 
 our on them who are made partakers of the Divine nature, for so we shall love 
 God in them. — Tuckney, 1657. 
 
 " Love is not an empt} 7 thing, the voice and sound of love is not an uncer- 
 tain sound or an empty voice, for saith the Apostle (1 Cor. xiii. l), ' Though I 
 speak with the tongue of men and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass 
 or a tinkling cymbal.' A man's heart may be purged from grosser sins, and he 
 may be garnished with parts and gifts, and yet his soul left empty for Satan to 
 return in again (as you read in Matt. xii.). But grace and love is a filling thing, 
 yea, saith the Apostle (ver. 8), Love never fails, but it continues ; it is that garment 
 that never waxeth old ; but gifts do, and are soon threadbare. Though these 
 gifts are fine sweet flowers, yet, therewithal, the mower filleth not the hand. A 
 gracious heart cannot be satisfied with gifts alone; gifts alone are not able to 
 satisfy; love and grace doth. But wherein doth love work beyond gifts ? 
 
 "Saith the Apostle here, 1 will tell you. Love suffereth long ; better read 
 thus, Love is slow to anger, parts and gifts are not so. But a man may be slow to 
 anger, and yet not kind and bountiful. True, but love is kind, or bountiful ; gifts 
 are not so. The Apostle speaks of the effects of love, in opposition to parts and 
 gifts, all along. Love, saith he, is slow to anger, and is kind, or bountiful. 
 
 " Aye, but though a man be kind or bountiful, yet, notwithstanding, he may 
 envy at the good of others. True, if he have parts and gifts only; but love, true 
 love — that envies not. Aye, but though a man do not envy at the good of others, 
 yet he may not consider the wants of others. True, but love will ; for in the next 
 words, Charity or love vaunteth not — rather, according to the Greek, love is not 
 light or inconsiderate, but considers, and weigheth all things. Aye, but though 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 175 
 
 you do all this, yet, notwithstanding, a man may be proud when he hath done. 
 True, if he have gifts alone ; but love is not puffed up — is not swelled or blown, 
 and filled with wind as bellows are. 
 
 " At the 5th verse, saith he, Love doth not behave itself unseemly. This 
 may be understood two ways, saith Peter Martyr. Love will do no unseemly 
 thing — or, love counts nothing unseemly for the person loved. Our Saviour 
 washed His disciples' feet ; one would think it an unseemly thing for the Lord 
 and Master to do this for the servants, but He loved them, and counts nothing 
 unseemly for the person loved. Judas comes and betrays his Master with a kiss ; 
 this was an unseemly thing. Judas had parts and gifts, but he had not love, and 
 therefore he did an unseemly thing. Love doth not behave itself unseemly, that 
 is, it doth no unseemly thing, and yet counts nothing unseemly for the person 
 loved. It seeks not her own — but the good of the person loved ; is not easily 
 provoked — rather, is not easily embittered, or is not sharp, doth not speak bitter 
 language ; gifts and parts will. 
 
 " Love thinks no evil — verse 6, it rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in 
 the truth. It rejoiceth not in injustice, but rejoiceth with the truth — so the 
 words are to be read, and it is thus. If a man be oppressed, love cannot rejoice in 
 his oppression; but if a man be freed and delivered from his oppression, and the 
 truth heard and known, love rejoiceth with such a man when the truth is dis- 
 covered ; it rejoiceth not in injustice, but rejoiceth with the truth when that comes 
 to light. Well, but suppose all this, yet, notwithstanding, a man may labour 
 under some sinful infirmities, what will love do then? 
 
 "Verse 7. Love covereth all things; though men have many infirmities, yet true 
 love will cover them all ; and it believeth all things : though a man may have done 
 that which is evil in itself, yet love believes he had a good intention in the doing 
 it ; J and though a man may go very far in sin, yet if another have love, he hopeth 
 that God will bring him back again, for love hopeth all things ; and if another 
 do me wrong, if I have love I shall bear that too, for love endureth all things. 
 But now will gifts and parts do these things ? Surely no ; gifts and parts will 
 not cover all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things. Aye, 
 but love doth and love will. 
 
 " Now, if you look into 1 Cor. viii., you will find that it is said concerning 
 love, that it edifies. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity or love edifieth. Know- 
 ledge, that is, the gift of knowledge, doth puff us up. The end of gifts is edifi- 
 cation ; it is the proper work of gifts to edify ; yet, saith the Apostle, love edifies. 
 Comparing love and gifts together, he shows that love edifies rather than gifts. 
 
 \} A Christian has within him a court of justice, called to settle the claims of his neighbours 
 upon his good opinion. There are several commissioners on the bench, such as, conscience, 
 good information, &c, and one commissioner is love, which is always inclined to believe all things, 
 especially in favour of a Christian brother or sister. — D. C. A. Agnew.] 
 
170 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Now, I say, if love do thus outshoot gifts in their own bow, then certainly there 
 is a great deal more excellency in love than in all gifts, though they be never so 
 great." — W. Bridge, Sermon before the Lord Mayor, 1649. 
 
 The Shorter Catechism, in expounding the Lord's Prayer, says, " In the fifth 
 petition (which is, And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors) we pray, 
 That God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins — which we are the 
 rather encouraged to ask, because by His grace we are enable from the heart to 
 forgive others." 
 
 The Larger Catechism's exposition is, " In the fifth petition f which is, For- 
 give us our debts as we forgive our debtors), acknowledging that we and all others 
 are guilty both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the 
 justice of God, and that neither we nor any other creature can make the least 
 satisfaction for that debt — we pray for ourselves and others, that God of His free 
 grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ apprehended and 
 applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin, accept us 
 in His Beloved, continue His favour and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and 
 fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgive- 
 ness — which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, 
 when we have this testimony in ourselves that we from the heart forgive others 
 their offences." 
 
 With regard to the requisite state of the petitioner's heart, the Heidelberg 
 Catechism uses very happy and instructive phraseology. According to a frequent 
 popular understanding of the Lord's Prayer, some persons have represented an 
 acceptable petitioner's language as amounting to this, We have always forgiven, or 
 we have in past times forgiven. And, according to this interpretation, all peti- 
 tioners who have been hitherto unforgiving, are finally and for ever forbidden to 
 say, Forgive us our debts as we forgive men their trespasses against us. 
 
 The truth nevertheless is, that whenever a forgiving spirit dawns within us, 
 — even if it be felt for the first time after we have knelt down to pray, — we may 
 say that we forgive — that we do now forgive, however unforgiving we have 
 hitherto been. We forgive, when the feeling and the resolution begins, before 
 there has been time for a public manifestation or personal declaration to him who 
 is, or whom we think to be, an offender against us. What we declare to the Hearer 
 of Prayer is a firm purpose, or resolve — firmum propositum, as Conrad Mylius 
 expresses it; or, as the Latin version of the Catechism has it, "firmiter nobis pro- 
 positum habemus." 
 
 126. Was ist die fiinfte Bitte t 126. What is the fifth petition t 
 
 Vergieb uns unsere Schulden, wie Forgive us our debts as we forgive 
 
 auch wir vergeben unsern Schuldigern ; our debtors, that is, may it please thee 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 177 
 
 das ist, du wollest uns armen Siindern for the blood of Christ, not to impute 
 
 unsere Missethat, auch das Rose so uns to us poor sinners our misdeeds — also 
 
 noch immerdar anbanget, um des Rlutes the evil which still adheres to us — 
 
 Christi willen nicht zurechnen, wie auch even as also we find this evidence of 
 
 wir dies Zeugniss deine Gnade in uns Thy grace in us, that it is our full 
 
 befinden, dass unser ganzer Vorsatz ist resolution to pardon our neighbours 
 
 unserm Nachsten von ganzem Herzen from the whole heart, 
 zu verzeihen. 
 
 The following is a portion of Roston's Discourse, illustrating the answers in 
 the Westminster Catechisms : — 
 
 When we find that we, who are such evil and malignant creatures — so hate- 
 ful and ready to hate one another — are by the power of God's grace enabled to 
 forgive those who have injured us, we have ground to hope that the most gracious 
 God will forgive the injury against Himself. From our disposition to forgive we 
 may confirm our confidence in God as our God, and firmly believe that our feet 
 shall be washed, where the whole body has been washed before. The petition, 
 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to tis, denotes 
 our forgiving to go before the forgiveness here asked of God for ourselves. And 
 this is a demonstrative proof that the forgiveness the saints here ask for them- 
 selves is only the pardon of the guilt of fatherly anger, 1 and the manifestation of 
 pardon — and not the pardon of the guilt of eternal wrath, 2 which concerns their 
 state. For till this last be obtained one cannot sincerely forgive others. No 
 man can sincerely forgive his brother who does not love him ; and none can love 
 his brother but he who loves God ; and none loves God but he who is forgiven of 
 God — Luke vii. 47, "I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; 
 for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little."- — ■ 
 
 ROSTON. 
 
 " We may observe a variation of expression in Matthew and Luke. In the 
 former it is said, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors ; and in the 
 latter, Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. 
 There is a little difficulty in the sense of the particles AS and for. 
 
 " In Matthew the particle A.S is not a note of equality but of similitude ; 
 and accordingly it signifies that we are to forgive others even as God, for Christ's 
 sake, has forgiven us ; or, as we hope to obtain forgiveness from Him. Though, 
 if we compare those two together, there is an infinite disproportion between 
 them, as to the injuries forgiven and other circumstances that attend the 
 action. 
 
 1 " Of fatherly anger," means "implying the fatherly anger of God." 
 
 2 " Of eternal wrath," means " implying the eternal wrath of God." 
 
178 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " In Luke the particle for is not causal but demonstrative, and therefore 
 we are not to understand it as though our forgiving others were the ground or 
 reason of God forgiving us (since that would be to put it in the room of Christ's 
 righteousness) ; but the meaning is, that we are encouraged to hope that He will 
 forgive us, from the demonstrative evidence that He has given us that grace which 
 inclines and disposes us to forgive others.. 
 
 " Our forgiving injuries is an evidence of our having obtained forgiveness 
 when — 
 
 " 1. We do it out of a humble sense of the many crimes that we have 
 committed against God. It is joined with and flows from the grace of 
 repentance. 
 
 " 2. It also contains in it several acts of faith ; as hereby we do, in effect, 
 acknowledge that all we have is in God's hand, who has a right to take it away 
 when He pleases ; if He suffers us to be deprived of our reputation and usefulness 
 in the world, or of our wealth and outward estate therein, by the injurious treat- 
 ment we meet with from those who without cause are our enemies — we are 
 sensible that this could not be done without His permissive providence, which we 
 entirely acquiesce in, hoping and trusting that He will overrule this and all other 
 afflictive providences for our good. 
 
 " 3. We forgive those that have injured us, with an earnest desire 
 that God would give them repentance ; that thereby His name may be glorified 
 and His interest promoted, whatever becomes of our name and usefulness in the 
 world." — Ridgley, Q. 195. 
 
 " Aye, but suppose that a man doth me wrong, stirs and provokes me, and 
 that he hath first made the breach, should I love him then ? 
 
 " Yes, else there were no labour of love. God is not unmindful to forget 
 your labour of love. That faith is a faith worthy of God that steps over diffi- 
 culties ; and that love is a love worthy of God that steps over provocations. You 
 see how it is with a glass that hath sweet liquor in it : the more you stir that 
 glass the more savoury sweet smell it sends forth. Art thou provoked, and art 
 thou stirred?" — William Bridge, 1G49. 
 
 "This great duty of forgiving others is a crossing the stream; 'tis contrary 
 to flesh and blood. Men forget kindnesses but remember injuries. But it is an 
 indispensable duty to forgive ; we are not bound to trust an enemy, but we are 
 bound to forgive him. We are naturally prone to revenge. Revenge (says 
 Homer) is sweet as dropping honey. The heathen philosophers held revenge 
 lawful ; ulcisci te lacessitus potes (Cicero). But we learn better things out of the 
 oracles of Scripture ; Mark xi. 25, When ye stand praying, forgive ; Col. iii. 13, 
 If a man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so do ye. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 179 
 
 " Lay up a stock of faith; Luke xvii. 4, 'If thy brother trespass against thee 
 seven times in a day, and seven times a day turn again unto thee and say, I repent, 
 thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith,' — as if 
 they had said, We can never do this without a great deal of faith ; Lord, increase 
 our faith. Believe that God hath pardoned you and you will pardon others. 
 Only faith can throw dust upon injuries, and bury them in the grave of for- 
 getfulness. 
 
 " To forgive is one of the highest evidences of grace. As the sun draws up 
 many thick noxious vapours from the earth, and returns them in sweet showers ; 
 so a gracious heart returns the unkindnesses of others, with the sweet influences 
 of love and mercifulness ; Ps. xxxv. 1 2, They rewarded me evil for good ; but as 
 for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth : I humbled my soul with 
 fasting. 
 
 " Forgiving others is a sign of God's forgiving us ; it is not a cause of God's 
 forgiving, but a sign. We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our 
 sins are forgiven ; let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. 
 Then we need not doubt but God hath forgiven us. Our loving others is nothing 
 but the reflection of God's love to us." — Thomas Watson. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Of the Enjoyment of God's Presence in Ordinances. 
 
 " The sweet enjoyment of ordinances together 1 is a great help to our love. 
 Swelling gifts despise ordinances, and neglect love. Gifts thrive best when they 
 live under grace, and grace thrives best when it lives under ordinances. Now, 
 the girdle of all the ordinances is the Lord's Day, which doth surround and com- 
 bine all the rest. May it please the magistrate to be a friend to this good day ; 
 Christ will surely be a friend to him in an evil day. You cannot make people 
 sanctify this day, for the hearts of men are not in your hands ; but you may 
 restrain them much from public profaning this day. Job is said to sanctify his 
 sons, because he commanded them to sanctify themselves, used all means for their 
 sanctification, and prayed for them. So, though the magistrate cannot sanctify 
 the people as to the infusion of grace, yet by his prayers and gracious endeavours 
 of love, mixed with some power as just occasion requires, he also may be said to 
 sanctify them." — William Bridge, 1G49. 
 
 1 [Together, that is, in a congregation "assembled and met together."] — See my Book Second, 
 art. Hunter. 
 
180 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Praying with and for others " is a piece of the communion of saints. It is 
 one of the privileges of God's family on earth, that they have the prayers of all 
 the family here. God is a rich Father, who has blessings for all. He is a for- 
 giving God. Why does He teach us to pray for pardon to ourselves and others, 
 but that there is a fulness of mercy for pardon with Him ? 
 
 Use not " Amen " superficially at the end of your prayers, but with earnest- 
 ness and faith. As for those who think it superstition to say " Amen," they are 
 ignorant of the Word of God ; and I would recommend them to consult their 
 Bible and Catechism, in order to cure them of that senseless conceit. 
 
 "Amen" imports two things — (1.) Our desire to be heard = " so be it" 
 — Rev. xxii. 20, " Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." And the believer uses 
 this word properly as a testimony of his desire when by faith he is enabled and 
 emboldened to plead with God, that He would fulfil his requests (2 Chron. xx. 6, 
 1 1). (2.) Our confidence and assurance that we shall be heard = " so certainly 
 it shall be" — Rev. i. 7, " Even so, Amen." And the sincere Christian uses the 
 word with great propriety in the conclusion of his prayers, in testimony of his 
 assurance to be heard, when he is by faith emboldened quietly to rest upon the 
 Lord, that He will fulfil the desires of his heart (2 Chron. xiv. 11). — Boston, 
 Body of Divinity. 
 
 "I went into the sanctuary of God (Psalm lxxiii. 17). The Psalmist went 
 into the tabernacle or house of God, where the word of God was read and 
 explained, and prayer was made, and where fellowship was had with the saints, 
 and communion with God Himself — which, for one hour or moment, is preferable 
 to all the prosperity of the wicked during their whole life. This shows that 
 though he was beset with temptation, it did not so far prevail with him as to 
 cause him to neglect public worship, and relinquish the house of God, and the 
 ordinances of it. It is right, under temptations, doubts, and difficulties, to attend 
 the public ministrations, which is the way and means to have relief under tempta- 
 tion, to have doubts resolved, and difficulties removed." 
 
 " It is the duty of the saints to assemble together for public worship, on the 
 account of God who has appointed it, who approves of it, and whose glory is con- 
 cerned in it ; and on the account of the saints themselves, that they may be 
 delighted, refreshed, comforted, instructed, edified, and perfected ; and on account 
 of others, that they may be convinced, converted, and brought to the knowledge 
 and faith of Christ. They ought not to forsake such an assembling of themselves 
 together (Heb. x. 25); for it is a forsaking God and their own mercies." — Gill's 
 Commentary. 
 
 " In order to his being established in pure consolation, the believer must 
 endeavour, with all diligence, to make a right and profitable use of the holy sacra- 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 181 
 
 merits. These are the seals of the covenant of grace, for they were instituted in 
 order to confirm that holy covenant with true believers. In the hand of the Holy 
 Comforter they are special means of confirming that everlasting covenant with 
 them ; and they confirm it with them not by making it firmer in itself than it is 
 already, but by confirming their faith of it, and by clearing up or confirming to 
 them their personal interest in it, and in all the blessings promised in it." — 
 
 COLQUHOUN. 
 
 " The believer may be called either to present a child for baptism, or to 
 witness the dispensation of baptism to the child of another. Seeing baptism, in the 
 room of circumcision, is a seal, especially of the righteousness of the faith (Rom. 
 iv. 11), he should, in witnessing the dispensation of it, renew his cordial applica- 
 tion of the righteousness of Jesus Christ which, in the Gospel, is revealed from 
 faith to faith. Since the water in baptism represents the cleansing virtue of 
 the blood and Spirit of Christ, he should, when he sees the baptismal water 
 applied to the body, seize the precious opportunity afforded to his soul of apply- 
 ing the justifying blood of Christ to his conscience for cleansing it from the guilt 
 and pollution, and the sanctifying Spirit of Christ to his heart for cleansing it 
 from the power, of sin. Relying on the righteousness or blood of Jesus for a com- 
 plete title to deliverance from the guilt, the power, and the pollution of sin — and 
 trusting in the Lord Jesus Himself for all his salvation — he should then within 
 himself say, As certainly as I have now seen the baptismal water sprinkled upon 
 the body of that infant, — the blood and the Spirit of Christ are mine not only in 
 offer but in possession ; they are mine to justify, sanctify, and comfort me ; Christ 
 Himself is mine, as my Covenant Head ; God is mine as my Covenant God from 
 henceforth and for ever. 
 
 " Seeing that the child is, in its baptism, solemnly dedicated to the Lord, 
 the believer [witnessing the baptism] ought further to say, Lord, I devote 
 myself, and all that I am, to Thee, to be Thine wholly, only, and for ever, to 
 be saved by Thy grace, and to be employed for Thy glory." — Colquhoun, 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 Address at the Lord's Supper. 
 
 There is nothing in this world which true Christians more earnestly desire 
 than to be well assured and satisfied of the love of Jesus Christ to their souls. 
 You are now come to a sealing ordinance, instituted on purpose for this noble 
 end and use. that we could pray and plead for it, as the spouse doth, " Set 
 me as a seal upon thine heart, a seal upon thine arm ; for love is strong as death." 
 — Sol. Song, viii. 6. 
 
 Surely you have now before you the greatest motive in the world to inflame 
 
182 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 your love to Jesus Christ. Behold Him, as He is here represented to you, 
 wounded for your iniquities — yea, sacrificed to the wrath of God, for your peace, 
 pardon, and salvation. O what manner of love is this ! Behold how He loved 
 thee ! If Christ's love draw forth thine, it will so far clear thy interest in His 
 love, as it shall engage thy heart in love to Him. 
 
 The activity of your love will he according to the activity of your faith. 
 Therefore I advise you to make it the main work and business of this hour to 
 exercise your faith upon Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. Realise the sufferings of Christ for you, and behold them here represented 
 in a true glass to the eye of faith. See you that bread broken and that wine 
 poured out ? As sure as this is so, Jesus Christ endured the cross, suffered the 
 wrath of the great and terrible God, in His soul and in His body, upon the 
 cursed tree, for, and in the room of, poor condemned sinners. Your faith for the 
 one hath as much — yea, more — certainty that your sense hath for the other. 
 " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came 
 into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. i. 15). "And, without controversy, 
 Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. iii. 16). 
 
 2. Apply the sufferings of Christ this day to thine own soul ; believe all 
 this to be done and suffered in thy room and for thy sake. He offered not this 
 sacrifice for His own sins, but ours (Isa. liii. 9 ; Heb. vii. 27). He was incarnate for 
 you ; Isa. ix. 6, " For unto us a child is born ; to us a son is given." His death 
 was for you and in your stead — Gal. iii. 13, " He was made a curse for us ; " and 
 when He rose from the dead, "He rose for our justification" (Rom iv. 25). And 
 now He is in glory at the right hand of God, He is there for us ; Heb. vii. 25, 
 "He ever lives to make intercession for us." It was the pride, passion, earthli- 
 ness, and unbelief of thy heart which Jesus groaned, bled, and died to procure a 
 pardon for. 
 
 3. Infer from the sufferings of Christ those conclusions of faith that tend to 
 assurance, as thus — 
 
 Did Christ die for me when I was an enemy ? Then surely, being recon- 
 ciled, I shall be saved by His life (Rom. v. 10). Again, is Christ dead for me? 
 Then I shall never die eternally. Nothing shall separate me from the love of 
 God; it is Christ that died (Rom. viii. 34) . . . . Engage thy soul to Him 
 this day, to be more active, cheerful, and fruitful in His service. — Flavel, 
 Sacramental Meditations, XL 
 
 Praise is a comely mixture in all the parts of Divine worship. It is most 
 directly tending to God's honour ; and it is the piece of worship that will last 
 longest ; when prayers, &c, are laid by in heaven, praise will be there for ever. 
 
 God's mercies are new every morning ; let therefore the sacrifice of praise 
 be a part of the daily sacrifice ye offer unto God. Never bow a knee unto God 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 183 
 
 for supplicating a mercy from Him, without praising Him for what mercies ye 
 enjoy. This is a very promising way of obtaining the requests ye make at the 
 throne of grace in the confidence of faith. 
 
 The Lord's Prayer begins with praise, and ends with it too. For it is 
 necessary in the entrance (that we may have our hearts awed with the Divine 
 glory, that so we may be the fitter to pray on) and in the end, that we may carry 
 away high thoughts of God, for the better regulating of our life in the intervals 
 of duty. — Boston, Body of Divinity. 
 
 " We are to inquire, What have we received from God under His ordi- 
 nances ? — whether we have had any sensible communion with Him, any 
 experiences of His love, or impressions of His power on our hearts — whether we 
 have had fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ — whether as 
 • we have gone from one ordinance to another, we have gone from strength to 
 strength, our faith being more lively, our love to God increased, and our spiritual 
 joy enlarged ? Let us inquire whether we have learned some doctrine from the 
 word which we understood not (or, at least, have been more confirmed therein, 
 after some degree of wavering) or have been affected with some truth which we 
 never saw such a beauty and glory in before — whether we have been melted 
 under the word, if it has been (as the prophet speaks) like fire, or as the 
 hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces, or, as the disciples say one to another, 
 Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and 
 while He opened to us the Scriptures ? We may comfortably conclude that we 
 have received good under the ordinances if we have been brought into a holy and 
 lively frame of spirit — and if, the more we attend on them, the more our hearts 
 are drawn forth to desire and delight in them — and especially, when public duties 
 fit us for private — when, from the advantage that we receive from such oppor- 
 tunities, we are more disposed to walk with God in all the affairs and businesses 
 of life, so that our whole conversation in the world receives a tincture, from the 
 benefit which we gain by that communion which we enjoy with God in His 
 ordinances on His own day." — Ridgley, Q. 117. 
 
 it would be pleasant if our experience in ordinances were such here as 
 that they would fit us for the exercises of heaven — our prayers here, a stretch- 
 ing forth of our desires for the enjoyment of God and of the Lamb — and our 
 
 praises here, a tuning of our hearts for the songs above ! what must 
 
 Christ be in Himself, when it is He that sweetens heaven, sweetens Scriptures, 
 sweetens ordinances, sweetens earth, and even sweetens trials ! O what must 
 Christ be in Himself ! — John Brown of Haddington. 
 
184 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On Gkowth in Grace. 
 
 " If a believer would reach establishment in spiritual comfort, he must study 
 daily to grow in grace. It must be his earnest and continual endeavour, in the 
 faith of God's free favour to him, to grow stronger and stronger in the habit — and 
 to abound more and more in the exercise — of every grace implanted by the Holy 
 Spirit in his soul. By so doing, spiritual declension and the loss of comfort will, 
 under sanctifying and consoling influences, be happily prevented. The Apostle 
 Peter, in order to prevent the believers, to whom he wrote, from being so led 
 away by the error of the wicked as to fall from their own steadfastness, directed 
 them to grow in grace (2 Pet. iii. 18). Believers, holding the Head and 
 having nourishment administered, ought, in point of duty, as well as of privilege, 
 to increase with the increase of God (Col. ii. 19). It is their duty to grow up 
 into Christ who is the Head (Eph. iv. 15), not only in all things, but at all times. 
 Their path should always be as the morning light that shineth more and more 
 unto the perfect day. They ought at all times to grow inwardly, by faith and 
 love, cleaving more firmly to Christ, the head of gracious influences — to grow 
 outwardly, by being more and more fruitful in good works — to grow upward, in 
 heavenly mindedness and joy in God — and to grow downward, in humility and 
 self-denial." — Colquhoun, Chapter XI. 
 
 " In Hosea xiv., compared with Psalm xcii., the Holy Ghost singleth out the 
 choicest trees and flowers in the world, on purpose to express the saints' fruitful- 
 ness, and their growth therein. 
 
 " As, first, to show the sudden springing up of the new creature, as it falls 
 out upon some men's conversion or upon the saints' recovery again after falls, 
 he compares them to the lily, whose stalk, though long hid in the earth, when 
 once it begins to feel the dew, grows up oftentimes in a night. But yet a lily 
 is a flower and soon decays. 
 
 " Therefore, secondly, to show their perpetuity and stability together with 
 their growth, the prophet compares them to the cedar, whose wood rots not (put 
 to express immortality, digna cedro), and which is not only most durable, but of 
 all trees the tallest, and shoots up the highest. 
 
 " But yet, thirdly, suppose the new creature to be kept under and oppressed 
 with temptations and oppositions, yet to show that still it will grow and flourish 
 again, therefore he compareth them to a palm tree which useth to grow the 
 more weight is hung upon it, and sprouts again even when it is cut down to the 
 roots. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 185 
 
 " Fourthly, to show that they grow with all kinds of growth, therefore the 
 prophet expresseth their growth both by the spreading of their root, and also of 
 the branches, and so in a growth both upward and downward. He shall cast 
 forth his roots as Lebanon — that is, grow inwardly in habitual grace in the heart 
 — and then, outwardly, spread forth their branches, and so grow in the outward 
 profession of God's ways and truth, and external holiness in their lives. 
 
 " Neither, fifthly, is it a growth merely in bulk, but also in fruitfulness ; and 
 therefore he compares them to the olive and the vine, which are of all trees the 
 fruitfullest, and most useful to God and man (Judges ix. 9, 13). 
 
 " But yet, sixthly, trees have a flourishing time of it but for some while, 
 during which, although they may be thus green and fruitful, yet, in their age, they 
 wither and rot, and their leaves fall off, and their fruit decays. The Holy Ghost, 
 therefore, as preventing [anticipating] this exception to fall out in the saints' 
 growth, he adds, They bring forth fruit still in their old age. When nature 
 begins to decay, yet grace renews its strength — which, if it be wondered at and 
 how grace should grow and multiply, the soil of our hearts being a stepmother to 
 it, From Me, says Christ, is thy fruit found. It is God that gives the increase, 
 and 7" will he as the dew to Israel." — Goodwin, The tryall of a Christian s 
 growth, Chapter I. 
 
 " When our faith waxeth stronger, our charity hotter, our patience meeker, 
 our obedience more conscionable, our conscience more sincere — this is to grow in 
 grace. And the more we grow in goodness, which is the latter grace, our sancti- 
 fication, the more assured we grow of the former, even the favour of God in Christ, 
 which is our justification. Still the more holy, the more happy. It is true that 
 our justification admits no latitude, we can be no more than just and righteous ; 
 but that grace is without us — no growing in that. But our sanctification admits 
 of degrees and measure, and is within us ; so that we may grow in that. We 
 cannot be more just to-day than we were yesterday in respect of God ; we may 
 be more holy in regard of ourselves. And if we be not more beloved than we 
 were, yet we shall feel ourselves more beloved and blessed than we were. 
 
 " Knowledge is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. No man can say that 
 Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost (l Cor. xii. 3). It is the gracious 
 work of the Holy Spirit to teach us to know Christ. Thus, in knowing Christ 
 to be our Saviour, we know the First Person to be our Father, and the Third 
 Person to be our Comforter. Christ is all in all ; we cannot know the sun, but 
 withal we must know his light that illuminates us, and his heat that cherisheth 
 us. It was Paul's determination not to know anything but what concerned Jesus 
 Christ. This is enough ; we need no more knowledge to the completion of our 
 happiness. Therefore it might well be decreed by the learned of the Christian 
 
 2 A 
 
186 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 world, that none should take their degrees in the school of learning unless they 
 could first read and understand the title of Christ crucified. 
 
 " Grace and knowledge are joined together (2 Peter iii. 18), hecause the one 
 helps to maintain the other. Knowledge is like a star, the darkest part of the 
 orb till it be enlightened by the sun — a mere dark lantern till grace put a light 
 into it. It may see much into nature before, and be cunning in this world; but 
 it is grace that gives it eyes to see into heaven. Thus grace maintains knowledge. 
 Again, the more we know Christ, the better we love Him ; the farther we look 
 into the joys above, the more we are ravished with them ; the comfort we find in 
 the fruits of grace, the more growth we wish to the tree of grace in our own hearts. 
 
 Thus knowledge maintains grace Grace is not kindled by 
 
 knowledge, but by knowledge grace is cherished. Grace directs knowledge how 
 to contemplate, and knowledge stirs up grace to practice. Grace will not suffer 
 knowledge to want illumination, nor will knowledge suffer grace to want operation. 
 
 "In our actions there is a golden mean; and we may either neglect or overdo 
 them. To besiege our patience the devil hath a stupidity as well as impatience. 
 Against our devotion he raiseth diffidence on the one side, and over-boldness on 
 the other. In justice's way there lies rigour and partiality ; for charity, a prodi- 
 gal and pinching hand. Thus for the satisfaction of nature — for the felicity of 
 estate — for order and rule to the actions of our body and passions of our mind — 
 without question, mediocrity is the best. 
 
 " But for the grace of God — for the knowledge of Christ — no mean must 
 content us here. In these we must still be growing like fruitful trees, and never 
 think ourselves high enough till we are in heaven. The state of that soul is 
 doubtful that can satisfy itself with a small measure of holiness. In other things, 
 a mediocrity will serve well enough (best of all), but not in righteousness, not in 
 grace ; no competency to be talked of here — as much measure of this as possibly 
 we can, and all little enough. Not a child in God's family leaves off growing 
 
 in grace till he be grown up into glory Let every judgment 
 
 we see make us wiser in the fear of God, and every mercy we feel wiser in the 
 love of God, and let us depart from every sermon wiser in the grace of God than 
 we came. This is to grow in the knowledge of Christ ; and as He by His know- 
 ledge doth justify many, so we by our knowledge shall get assurance that we are 
 justified by Him. 
 
 " The growth of any plant is improved principally by three helps — the 
 fecundity of the ground wherein it grows — the kindly heat of the sun cheering it 
 up with his influence — the contribution of the clouds towards it with their dews 
 and showers descending upon it. 
 
 " The ground wherein we are planted is the church. And she, like a kind 
 and indulgent mother, accommodates us with all her helps — her doctine to direct 
 us that we may do well — her discipline to correct us when we do amiss — her 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 187 
 
 sacraments which are cordials to our heart, like springs and veins and channels of 
 grace to the root — her prayers to heaven for a blessing upon that she gives. 
 
 " The rain that continually falls upon us, to make us shoot up in goodness, 
 is a frequent distillation of the word preached. If those holy dews do not soak 
 into our hearts, we shall be dwarfs in grace. For this purpose Christ sends 
 apostles, pastors, and teachers ; those be the clouds, and from those clouds come 
 rain and showers ; the effect should be that we may grow up to the stature of 
 Christ (Eph. iv. 11) ; there is our growth by it. 
 
 " The sun that ripens us, and is the principal cause of this accretion, is Christ 
 Himself — that Sun of Righteousness. All our growth is merely beholden to His 
 beams and saving influence. He blesseth the ground that bears us. He filleth 
 and emptieth the clouds upon us. 
 
 " We are not only living but reasonable and holy plants, and must both 
 labour for our own sustenance, and mature and further our own accrescence. The 
 grace that is in us is perfect ; for the least grace is grace, as a spark of fire is fire. 
 If men see but little — so little, that they think themselves blind — yet they do 
 see. But they may be brought to see better. We know there is a double per- 
 fection — of parts, and of degrees. The grace, that is infused into us at first, is 
 perfect in regard of the parts ; as a child is so far a perfect man, because it hath 
 all the parts of a man. But it is not perfect in regard of degrees ; for we may 
 grow up in grace, as a child does in stature. In our conversion, when we first 
 receive this saving grace, we are but infants in Christ ; yet infants may be tall 
 men in time. 
 
 " Faith calls to love, and love to obedience, and obedience to constancy, and 
 one grace foreruns another. Whom God predestinates them He calleth, and whom 
 He calls He justifieth, and whom He justifies He glorifieth. Let us grow up into 
 Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ (Eph. iv. 15). There is no 
 defect on His part ; let there be none on ours. As the rich grow easily richer, 
 so the good grow quickly better." — Adams. 
 
 " David had his one thing (one thing have I desired), and Paul hath his 
 one thing too — one thing for the saints — and that is this, We forget what is past 
 and press on to that which is before (Philipp. iii. 13), labouring to increase and 
 to grow in grace, and perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. vii. 1). 
 
 " And this you shall find to be the end of all those afflictions which we 
 meet withal from God the Father. God the Father is unwilling to afflict His 
 children ; He would not do it unless it were necessary ; why, the end of His 
 affliction we find to be this — John xv. 2, ' Every branch in Me that beareth 
 fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' 
 
 " And this you shall find to be the end of Christ's coming, as you read in 
 John x. 10, 'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it 
 
188 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 more abundantly.' There lies a poor soul (saith Christ) dead in trespasses and 
 sins ; I am not only come to give life unto that soul, spiritual life, but that he 
 may have it in more abundance. So that it is not only our duty to have grace, 
 but we must abound therein more and more (1 Thess. iv. 1) ; we must grow 
 therein. 
 
 " And, my beloved, it is not only the duty of the saints to do so, but they will 
 and they do do this. And if you look into Revelations ii., you will find that this 
 was the commendation of the church of Thyatira, that her works were more at 
 
 the last than at the first Read, I pray, what is said in Prov. iv. 18, But 
 
 the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day — that shineth more and more. Look how it is with the light of the 
 day, so with the grace of God in the hearts of His people ; the light is small and 
 little at the beginning of the day, but it shineth more and more, it grows brighter 
 and brighter 
 
 " Aye, but there is a great deal of danger, through the great opposition that 
 the saints meet withal, that their light should be quite put out ; they are in great 
 danger to lose all, for they meet with much opposition, yea and the rather, because 
 that they do grow. But as the torch by being beaten burns the better, so 
 the saints do by their oppositions grow stronger and stronger — as in Job 
 xvii., ' Upright men shall be astonished at this .... the righteous also shall 
 hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.' 
 His opposition should make him grow more and more. When he is chidden for 
 following Christ and the ordinances and ways of Christ, he will cry so much the 
 more, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. And if you look into 
 Acts ix. you will find that Paul did increase by the opposition he met withal. 
 When he was much opposed by the Jews, it is said (ver. 22), But Saul 
 increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews. God hath a hand 
 upon all the hands of opposition against His children ; and it is so far from 
 putting out their light, that it makes their light to grow brighter and brighter. 
 
 " The saints cannot but grow in grace, for so the promise is, To him that 
 hath shall be given, and he shall have it in more abundance. And so in that 
 place of Isaiah, He that waiteth upon the Lord shall renew his strength, he shall 
 mount up as with eagle's wings ; there shall be an addition of strength unto him, 
 he shall increase and abound yet more and more." — William Bridge. 
 
 " Sanctification is a progressive thing. It is growing. It is compared to 
 seed which grows ; first the blade springs up, then the ear, then the full corn in 
 the ear. Such as are already sanctified may be more sanctified ; justification 
 doth not admit of degrees, a believer cannot be more elected or justified than 
 he is; but he may be more sanctified than he is. Sanctification is still in- 
 creasing, like the morning sun, which grows brighter to the full meridian. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 189 
 
 Knowledge is said to increase (Col. i. 10), and faith to increase (2 Cor. x. lo). 
 A Christian is continually adding a cubit to his spiritual stature. 
 
 " It is not with us, as with Christ who received the Spirit without measure 
 Christ could not be more holy than He was. But we have the Spirit only in 
 measure, and may be still augmenting our grace ; as Apelles when he had drawn 
 a picture, he would be still mending it with his pencil. The image of God is 
 drawn but imperfectly in us, therefore we must be still mending it, and drawing 
 it in more lively colours. Sanctification is progressive ; if it doth not grow, it is 
 because it doth not live. 
 
 " Grace instils peace ; as grace grows, so peace grows. The more we grow 
 in grace, the more will God love us. If you would be growing Christians, be 
 humble Christians. Let Christians be thankful for the least growth ; if you do 
 not grow so much in assurance, bless God if you grow in sincerity ; if you do not 
 grow so much in knowledge, bless God if you grow in humility. If a tree 
 grows in the root, it is a true growth ; if you grow in the root-grace of humility, 
 it is as needful for you as any other growth." — Thomas Watson, QQ. 35, 3G. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 On Love for Christ's Appearing. 
 
 " What a weight — what an eternal weight — what an exceedingly exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory is, by redeeming grace, secured for thee ! Doth not thy 
 heart long ardently for this ? doth it not rejoice and even exult in the cheering 
 prospect of endless felicity, of inconceivable joy ? Doth it not look, beyond all 
 transitory shadows, for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great 
 
 God, even our Saviour, Jesus Christ By frequent meditation on that 
 
 glorious rest which remain eth for the people of God, thou now enterest into 
 rest ; thou enjoyest more and more of holy tranquillity, of heavenly consolation. 
 To rejoice in hope of the glory of God is to experience the sweetest and purest 
 joy — joy which shall enable thee to rise superior to the inordinate love of life 
 
 and to the disquieting fear of death 
 
 " Having already tasted the sweetness of pure consolation, thou shouldst 
 long with ardent and increasing desire for the marriage-supper of the Lamb. 
 He hath, by ten thousand thousand instances of kindness, so endeared Himself to 
 thy heart, that thou shouldst not be fully satisfied until thou have the full 
 enjoyment of His immense and everlasting love — until thou see Him as He is, 
 
190 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 enjoy the unclouded light of His countenance, and be crowned with the unfading 
 brightness of eternal glory." — Colquhoun, Chapter IX. 
 
 " The soul that knows herself redeemed by Christ is never thoroughly 
 contented till either she returns to Christ or Christ returns to her. The spirit 
 returns to Him that gave it. Hope, then, should make us look up ; and desire 
 enfiames us to look for the coming of Jesus Christ." 
 
 " This eye of expectation hath three beams — vigilancy, hope, and patience. 
 Without watchfulness we cannot look — without hope we will not look — without 
 patience we should not look for the coming of the Lord." 
 
 "Evil is the object of fear, and that we suspect ; the object of hope is good, 
 and this we expect. Justi expectant et expetunt. None but the gracious can be 
 said to look for this day; they love His appearing (2 Tim. iv. 8)." 
 
 " To us, if we be true believers, belongs the Promise of His coming 
 (2 Peter iii. 4). Christ's first coming was the expectation of nations — this next 
 is the expectation of Christians. Look up and lift up your heads, for your 
 redemption draweth nigh (Luke xxi. 28). Our eyes are still dropping in this 
 valley of tears ; but we look for the gracious beams of that Sun of mercy that 
 shall dry them up. No woman with child did ever more exactly count her 
 time — no Jew did ever more earnestly wish for the jubilee — no servant so 
 desireth the end of his years — no stranger so longs to be at home — no overladen 
 soul so groaneth for ease — no soldier so heartily contendeth to have his wars 
 determined with conquest — as the saints expect the promise of the coming of Jesus 
 Christ. It is the strength of their hopes, the sweet object of their faiths, in the 
 midst of all sorrows — the comfort of their hearts, the heart of their comforts — 
 the encouragement of their wearied spirits, the life of their encouraged souls — 
 the common clausule, the continual period and shutting up of their prayers, Come, 
 Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen." 
 
 " We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 
 (2 Peter iii. 13). There dwelleth righteousness; that is, holiness, pureness, 
 innocency, and the perfection of goodness. There dwelleth Christ, and He is 
 righteousness, The Lord our Righteousness. Here is the full antithesis of this new 
 world to the old. Righteousness dwells there, unrighteousness here ; here sin 
 and guiltiness, there grace and holiness ; below transgression, sanctification above. 
 This world is the orb of sin which corrupted all ; that new one, the orb of righte- 
 ousness which restoreth all. This is the winter wherein all things wither ; that 
 is the spring which revives them. The world was made good, only sin depraved 
 
 it Good was before evil, before malice charity. Decay entered 
 
 by sin, dishonour by sin, death by sin Sin is a constant incum- 
 bent of the earth, never non-resident, never out of business. No place can be rid 
 of him, no time exclude him, no action escape him. He crept into heaven with 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 191 
 
 an angel, into paradise with a devil, into man's nature with the root of that 
 
 nature. Where can we devise to keep him out ? In God's 
 
 temple sin will not leave us ; at our prayers it will be interrupting us. It insinu- 
 ates itself into every action we do ; even our best is not without some touch of 
 sin, or, at least, some assault of sin. It may get into our beneficence and be vain- 
 glory, into our devotions and be hypocrisy, into our friendship and be flattery, into 
 our hope and make it smell of presumption, into our humility and turn it into 
 base dejection, into our repentance and work it down to desperation, into our best 
 works and there be an opinion of merit which is a blow with the left heel that 
 kicks down all our milk." 
 
 " There dwelleth righteousness — no sin there ; altogether righteousness. 
 Here, indeed, we have some righteousness, but it is blended with sin. In the 
 most regenerate saint on earth there is flesh as well as spirit ; and it is a question 
 sometimes, which of them shall get the predominance. We have a righteousness 
 that is perfect now, but that dwells in heaven — in the Person of Christ, and is 
 only imputed to us ; this is a justifying righteousness, and is absolute, but extra 
 nos, without us. That sanctifying righteousness which is intra nos — inherent to 
 our own persons — is so imperfect that sin is joined tenant with it in our mortal 
 body, and there is a perpetual contention between them which shall have the 
 superiority. They are like the land and sea within us ; the one would keep, the 
 other would gain ; Michael and the Dragon in one heaven — Caesar and Pompey 
 in one empire — Nehemiah and Sanballat in one city — Isaac and Ishmael in one 
 family — Jacob and Esau in one womb — the Ark and Dagon in one temple — 
 grace and corruption in one Christian. Michael against the Dragon, Caesar against 
 Pompey, Nehemiah against Sanballat, Isaac against Ishmael, Jacob against Esau, 
 the Ark against Dagon, Grace against Corruption, shall prevail ; but nondum, not 
 
 yet." 
 
 " We look for a new earth and new heavens ; and those new heavens and 
 
 earth look for new creatures We look for a glorious place, 
 
 wherefore let us be gracious men. Joy and honour is our expectation, wherefore 
 let holiness and innocence take up our conversation. We hope to have an inheri- 
 tance in that world wherein dwelleth righteousness, wherefore righteousness looks 
 to have her habitation in us while we dwell here." — -Adams. 
 
 John xiv. 3. " If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and 
 receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 
 
 The presence of a beloved object is the grand preparative of any place, and 
 that which gives it its principal charm. Such is the preparation of a place in the 
 future world for us. Jesus is there, and that is quite enough. If anything will 
 operate as a magnet to attract us from earth to heaven, it is the consideration of 
 being " where Jesus sitteth at the right hand of God." Think what an accession 
 
19 2 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of joy His triumphant entrance must have occasioned through all the heavenly 
 regions, and what a source of uninterrupted bliss His presence affords. What 
 would some societies be without certain interesting characters, which are in effect 
 the life of them ? And what would heaven be without Christ ? The zest of all 
 its bliss consists in His being there, and this is urged as the grand motive to 
 " setting our affections on tilings above " (Col. iii. 1, 2). 
 
 There, also, He will gather together the whole family of heaven and earth. 
 His redemption brings multitudes to glory out of every kindred and tongue, and 
 people and nation ; and every one that enters adds to the enjoyment. In order 
 to connect us together in the closest bonds of affection, God has so ordained that 
 both in this world and that which is to come our blessedness should be bound up 
 with that of each other, in seeing the good of His chosen, rejoicing in the glad- 
 ness of His nation, and glorifying with His inheritance. Hence it follows that 
 every accession to the heavenly world affords an influx to the enjoyment of its 
 inhabitants. Every one that goes before may be said to contribute to the prepar- 
 ing of the place for them which follow after. The pure river of the water of life 
 has its origin in the throne of God and the Lamb, but in its progress it passes 
 through various mediums, which swell its streams, and render it more and more 
 delectable. From the entrance of righteous Abel into the New Jerusalem to this 
 day it has been rising higher and higher, and will continue to do so till all the 
 nations of the saved are gathered together. 
 
 Christ prepares a place for us in superintending the concerns of the universe, 
 and causing all events to work together, and produce the highest ultimate good. 
 Glory awaits the righteous immediately upon their departure from the body, but 
 a much greater glory is in reserve. Innumerable events in the system of Provi- 
 dence must remain inexplicable till the mystery of God be finished. It is impos- 
 sible for spectators to comprehend the use of all the parts of a complicated 
 machine, till it is constructed and put into motion. And as our Forerunner 
 is now preparing the scenery of this grand exhibition, and hastening it to its 
 desired issue, it is thus that He is preparing a place for us. 
 
 Hence we are encouraged to be looking for, and hastening unto, the coming 
 of the day of God, and directed to consider it as the period when we shall be 
 fully " satisfied." How solemn, and yet how sweet, is the description of it ! 
 " The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the arch- 
 angel, and the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." A " shout," 
 perhaps, denotes the universal joy of heaven, for the arrival of the day when the 
 war is terminated in victory, and the last enemy is destroyed. The blowing of 
 a " trumpet " may probably allude to that of the jubilee, on which the prison 
 doors were thrown open, and the captives set at liberty. — Andrew Fuller, 
 Sermon XLIII. 
 
CONSOLATION REVIVED AND CONFIRMED. 193 
 
 " Christ's appearing at His second coming is to be loved and so looked for 
 by the saints, not only because it will be glorious in itself, in its attendants and 
 consequences, but because it will be of great advantage to the saints. Christ 
 will appear unto salvation to them, and so to their joy ; they will appear with 
 Him in glory, and be like Him, and enjoy the everlasting vision of Him. Such 
 will wear the crown who (as the Ethiopic version renders it) love Him at 
 His coming ; all that love Him now will love Him then." — Gill on 2 Tim. 
 iv. 8. 
 
 End of Book First. 
 
THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 BOOK SECOND.— DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
PRELIMINARY EXPLANATION. 
 
 This Second Book was planned in order to escape from the attempt to inter- 
 weave biographical incidents among reviews of books and papers. 
 
 It has also been considered undesirable to attempt to weld into distinct and 
 complete narratives the biographies which each chapter in the First Book suggests. 
 Such an attempt would demand wearisome endeavours after variety of language ; 
 and it would also forbid the admission of many small details which are useful to 
 investigators. 
 
 The names of the men, whose memoirs are here collected, are therefore 
 produced and memorialized in alphabetical order. The Book is a Biographical 
 Dictionary. Any disadvantages in this arrangement may be obviated by stating 
 here, in reference to the chapters of Book First, what the names in the Dictionary 
 are. 
 
 With regard to the first part of that book, the preliminary matter makes 
 mention of Luther, and of Bishop Sandys, who introduced the reformer's Com- 
 mentary on the Galatians to English readers. 
 
 Chapter I. on the Heidelberg Catechism. The Elector Frederick III. and 
 his dynasty ; Ursinus and Olevianus, the authors of the catechism, and the 
 following commentators, Pareus, Alting, Strackius, Maresius, Bastingius, Mylius, 
 Leydekker, Roell, De Witte and Van Der Kemp ; * Dean Turner, the author of the 
 first English translation ; Bishop Parry, the introducer of Pareus' commentary to 
 English Readers ; Felltham, one of those readers ; Dr Nevin, the great American 
 author ; the following German pastors, Gillet, Mohn, and Wolters. (See also the 
 memoir of Boston.) 
 
 Chapter II. Drs Crisp, Gill, and Witsius. 
 
 Chapters III. and IV. Edward Fisher, Ridgley, Flavel, Bates, and 
 Witherspoon. 
 
 Chapter V. Marshall, Hervey, W. Cudworth, and John Brown of Had- 
 dington. 
 
 1 " A graduate of the University of Oxford," in the preface to his translation of the Heidel- 
 berg Catechism, printed in 1828, mentions other commentators, — Reuter, Guilnomma, Hulsius 
 and Cocceius — also, L'Enfant's " L'innocence du Catechism d'Heidelberg ddniontree contre deux 
 libelles d'un Jesxiite du Palatinat." 
 
198 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Chapter VI. Robert Trail (and his father), Thomas Cole, Walter Cross, 
 and Thomas Goodwin, junior. The Marrow-men of Scotland, viz., Hog, Boston, 
 Bonar, Williamson, Kid, G. Wilson, E. and R Erskine, Ward law, Davidson, 
 Bathgate, and Hunter ; and their friends, Brisbane, two Hamiltons, Riccaltoun, 
 W. Wilson, and J. Fisher. 
 
 Chapter VII. Dr Guyse, J. Hubbard, and W. Coward, Esq. 
 
 Chapter VIII. Charles Watson, D.D. 
 
 With regard to the Second Part of Book First, it contains practical quota- 
 tions from authors who were of various shades of opinion regarding the beginnings 
 of consolation in the soul. These authors I memorialize in this Dictionary ; and 
 I also introduce several other authors for the sake of additional quotations. So 
 that the reader will find some information regarding Calvin, Hooker, Adams, 
 Thomas Wilson, and Ames ; Dr Owen, Dr Goodwin, Reynolds, Tuckney, S. 
 Simpson, Bridge, Manton, and Thomas Watson ; Romaine, Dr Dwight, Andrew 
 Fuller, and Colquhoun. 
 
 After the completion of the alphabet, some additional memoirs are 
 appended, for the use of investigators — viz., Melchior Adam, James and John 
 Anderson, Bannatine, John Brown of Whitburn, Professor Dunlop, Principal 
 Hadow, Maxwell, Morren, and Hew Scott, D.D. 
 
THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 WRITERS. 
 
 REV. THOMAS ADAMS. 
 
 Thomas Adams was a clergyman in the Diocese of London whose first publication 
 was a Sermon preached at Paul's Cross on 29th March 1612, and his last, 
 Two Sermons preached and published in 1653. In October 1612 he styled 
 himself Minister at Willington (in Bedfordshire), and in 1618 Preacher of St 
 Gregory's in London. His folio volume in 1629 was inscribed to the Parishioners 
 of St Bennet's, near to St Paul's Wharf, " my dearly beloved charge." Except 
 his quaint and eloquent writings, and their title pages and dedicatory epistles, 
 which contain more or less suggestive allusions to his benefices and to his per- 
 sonal friends, we possess no materials for a Memoir. Homage has been done to 
 him by three great nonconformists of modern times, the Rev. James Sherman (in 
 1842), President Stowell (in 1847), and Principal Angus (in 1862). President 
 Stowell says of " this rare old preacher and expounder of the Scriptures," : — 
 " Though not a Nonconformist, he was a Puritan ; though a Churchman in the 
 days of Laud, he was a Calvinist ; though unhonoured by the degrees of a 
 university, he abounded in deep and varied learning. When he was born, or 
 when or how he died, we know not. He has left no diary, and found no biographer. 
 His only monument is his works." 
 
 Adams' Workes are a collection of his separately printed sermons, with the 
 addition of Meditations on the Creed, issued in a thick folio volume in the year 
 1629. The favourite piece used to be " The Souls Sicknesse," in which man's 
 spiritual and moral diseases are discussed in medical language ("timber borrowed 
 out of Galen's wood "), with reference to their symptoms, their causes, and their 
 cure. 
 
 Mr Sherman reprinted and edited Adams' greatest work, " A Commentary or 
 Exposition upon the divine Second Epistle Generall written by the blessed Apostle 
 St Peter." It was this editor who introduced into the title page after the 
 
200 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 author's name, " Rector of St Gregory," — an interpolation which has led to un- 
 necessary discussions ; for the original title page had nothing more than " By 
 Thomas Adams," — "London, Printed by Richard Badger, for Jacob Bloome, 
 1G33." (A second title page was inserted before p. 800, to inaugurate "The 
 second Tome," which is said to be " Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Jacob 
 Bloome, 1633." The motto on both title pages is 1 Peter v. 10.) 
 
 Adams' writings are characterised by luxuriant humour, which in his 
 " Workes " is often delightful, although sometimes overdone and silly. But a 
 great improvement appears in his elaborate " Commentary," in which his great 
 object evidently was to give a conscientious exposition of the text of the second 
 Epistle of Peter, — its words, its scope, and its application ; and the humour was 
 quite subsidiary, and also more pointed and happy. It is of this commentary 
 only, and the author's own edition of it, that I have made use in my First Book. 
 A few references may now be made to his other writings, which are reprinted 
 among Nichol's Standard Divines. 
 
 Although a mild man compared with many of his Laudean brethren, his 
 high-churchism occasions the only real fault in his writings. Volleys of poisoned 
 arrows against nonconformists startle the reader in unexpected places. It is 
 enough to say that his own real principles contradict high-churchism. Principal 
 Angus quotes the following sentences (see Memoir in Nichol's Divines, p. xxv.) : 
 — " They [Romanists] plead antiquity, as a homicide may derive his murder from 
 Cain. They plead unity, as Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians combined against 
 Christ. They plead universality ; yet of the ten lepers but one was thankful. 
 When many join in the truth, there is the church, not for the many's sake, but 
 for the truth's. The vulgar stream will bring no vessel to the land of peace." 
 
 Adams might have preached to himself the following running commentary 
 which concludes his " Three Divine Sisters " ; — 
 
 " Philippians ii. 1. If there be any consolation in Christ (and there is con- 
 solation in Him when the whole world cannot afford it), if any comfort of love 
 (and he that knows not the comforts of love knows no difference betwixt man and 
 beast), if any fellowship of the Spirit (by whom we are all knit into one com- 
 munion and enriched with the same treasures of grace), if any bowels and mercy 
 (if uncharitableness and avarice have not turned our entrails into stone and iron), 
 fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, and have the same love. Fulfil the 
 Apostle's joy only ? No, the joy of the Bride and Bridegroom — of the church 
 on earth, of the saints in heaven ; the joy of the blessed angels ; the joy of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and last of all, the joy of your own hearts, that 
 ye love one another. Forget not that trite but true saying, 
 
 ' They shall not want prosperity 
 Tliat keep faith, hope, and charity.' " 
 
 With regard to Adams' sentiments on consolation as the first aspect of the 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 201 
 
 Gospel, it is in his case, as in the case of many preachers, difficult to compile a 
 consistent system from his writings, much depending on variable sentiments as to 
 what is good and safe for individual hearers, and on varying sensations in the 
 preacher's own soul, inclining him at one time to be more soothing, and at 
 another time more stern. 
 
 The following are the concluding sentences of his Folio of 1629 : — 
 
 " The prophet's servant seeing the Syrian troops, cried, Alas, master, how 
 shall we do ? (2 Kings vi. 15). He looked round about. His eyes were directed 
 upwards ; there he saw relief. While we look upward to Him that hath bidden 
 us believe, there is no point of faith so hard but it shall go easily down with us. 
 When we shall subject all the powers of our reason and will to the word of our 
 Maker, this is the noble proof of faith. Lord, Thou hast charged us to believe 
 our own salvation by Christ. Be it unto us according to Thy word. All the 
 doubt is in our believing, not in the performing ; give us to believe what Thou 
 hast promised. We need not ask Thee to perform Thy promises ; for in Jesus 
 Christ all Thy promises are Yea and Amen." 
 
 And here is the conclusion of his last printed sermon written in that period 
 of his life which he calls " my necessitous and decrepit old age." 
 
 " Psalm xciv. 13. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts 
 delight my soul. As there be no comforts like those of God, so there is nothing 
 to which comforts are so welcome as to the soul. The pleasure which the body 
 takes is but the body (yea, scarce the very shadow) of pleasure. The soul of 
 pleasure is the pleasure of the soul. There be many things pleasing to the body 
 wherein the sanctified soul takes no delight, especially in the day of trouble. In 
 calamity, good nourishments are comfortable, good words are comfortable, the 
 physician is comfortable, a good spouse specially comfortable ; but in respect of 
 these comforts, which do nevertheless pass all understanding, we may say of them, 
 as Job did to his visitant friends, Miserable comforters are ye all. But blessed are 
 the souls upon whom this Sun of comfort shineth ; and happy are those showers 
 of tears and sorrows that shall be dried up with such beams of comfort ; and 
 blessed [is] God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God 
 of all comfort (2 Cor. i. 3), to whom, with the Son and Holy Ghost, be all praise 
 and glory for ever and ever ! Amen." 
 
 PROFESSOR HENRICUS ALTING, D.D. 
 
 Henry Alting was a member of a family which was of great influence in Holland 
 for many generations. His father, Menso Alting, was a patriotic Protestant 
 pastor. Henry was born at Embden, 17th February 1583, and was a successful 
 
 2 c 
 
202 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 student at Groningen and Herborn. Frederick V., the Electoral Prince Palatine 
 (afterwards King of Bohemia), was a student at Sedan in 1605, and to that 
 university Alting went at the close of his own education, in order to be the tutor 
 of three young noblemen, who were companions of the prince. In 1606 civil 
 commotions in France drove the young men to Heidelberg, where they continued 
 their studies under Alting, who became the tutor of the Elector himself in 1608, 
 and returned with him to Sedan. This charge terminated in 1610; but in 
 1612 Alting was one of the train who accompanied his Highness into England 
 and remained till the royal marriage in 1613. 
 
 The founder of the college of Heidelberg had given to it the peculiar name 
 of the College of Wisdom. In this college Alting received the degree of D.D., 
 and the chair of theology. He and his renowned colleague, Abraham Scultet, 
 were the representatives of the college at the Synod of Dort in 1619 ; and both 
 acquitted themselves with marked distinction. When the Elector was made King 
 of Bohemia, and the tutor of his youth had risen to European celebrity, prosperity 
 seemed to be their lot. But the Romish and Imperial party soon brought about 
 the well-known reverse. On a day in the month of September 1622 Alting was 
 in his study at Heidelberg, and a messenger hurriedly told him that the enemy 
 had taken the town, and that the soldiery had already been let loose upon the 
 inhabitants. The professor bolted his door and betook himself to prayer. But 
 a friend, accompanied by two soldiers, urged him to retire by his back-door to the 
 chancellor's house, which, for the sake of the official papers, was under the pro- 
 tection of the conquerors. The lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of Hohenzollern 
 was standing at the door of the protected mansion when Alting approached ; and 
 the rough soldier began to say, "With the battle-axe which I hold in my hand I 
 have to-day killed ten men, and Dr Alting would be the eleventh in no time if I 
 knew where to find him." Then, observing the studious man before him, he said 
 in the same breath, " Who are you ? " Alting quietly replied, " I was a regent 
 in the College of Wisdom." The quaint designation of the college, which was 
 unknown to the officer, seems to have amused his fancy, and he took the 
 collegian under his protection. The Jesuits took possession of the house on the 
 following day, and the colonel withdrew without remembering to speak a word for 
 the refugee. But having succeeded in hiding himself in a garret, Dr Alting was 
 recognised by a man-cook of the Elector's household, whose services Count Tilly 
 had secured. By the favour of the cook he paid a melancholy farewell visit to his 
 study ; and the Count, in the course of three days, gave him a pass which enabled 
 him to leave Heidelberg, and to join his family at Schorndorf in Wurtemberg. 
 
 In 1623 he returned to his native town, Embden, and having gone to the 
 Hague to see his exiled master, he was persuaded to become tutor to his 
 children. In 1627 he became professor of theology at Groningen, and there 
 remained till his death, 25th August 1644. He continued devoted to the titular 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 203 
 
 King of Bohemia, visiting his royal children every year, and holding himself always 
 in readiness to return to Heidelberg should fortune smile upon the old family. A 
 gleam of hope appeared during the weary Thirty Years War in the year 1634 ; 
 and on the invitation of Louis Philippe, who was then acting as administrator of 
 the Palatinate, he in that year actually travelled as far as Frankfort in order to re- 
 open the College of Heidelberg. But the victory of the Imperialists at Nordlingen put 
 an end to the project, and he retraced his dangerous road to Groningen. Amidst 
 wars and disputations Henry Alting was a peaceable divine, who fought with 
 heavenly weapons ; he ended his holy and honourable earthly warfare at the age 
 of sixty-one. He had published in 1618 a small controversial work. His three 
 volumes of Scripta Theologica Heidelbergensia were published in 1646. One of 
 his sons became law professor at Deventer. The other was James (bom 1618, 
 died 1679), who as Jacobus Altingius, the author of five folio volumes, theological, 
 philosophical, and epistolary, is well known in the old booksellers' catalogues. 
 (The above article is compiled from " Bayle's Dictionary "). 
 
 Henry Alting's exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism is quite in the spirit 
 of that glowing evangelical manual ; and, being characteristic of its framers, it 
 is more valuable than the Commentary compiled by Pareus from the dry notes 
 which he had jotted down when he attended the lectures of Ursinus. Alting 
 calls special attention to the necessity of studying the original German as being 
 the only authoritative and genuine form of the catechism. In addition to didactic 
 exposition, he has appended to each section controversial questions and answers, 
 one set being against Socinianism, and the other against Arminians, whom he calls 
 the Innovators (Novatores). 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM AMES, D.D. 
 
 The incomparable Amesius, author of " Bellarminus enervatus," " Medulla ss. 
 theologiae," " An analytical exposition of both the Epistles of the Apostle Peter," 
 &c, &c, was professor of theology at Franeker in Friesland, and a star of the first 
 magnitude among Dutch theologians. But he was an Englishman, a native of 
 Norfolk, born in 1576, educated at Cambridge under Dr William Perkins, and 
 Fellow of Christ College in that University. Being opposed to priestly vest- 
 ments in the church, he was persecuted by Bishop Bancroft and other leaders, 
 and retired to the Hague in 1610. He never returned to England ; and being a 
 martyr to asthma he was on the point of emigrating to New England, when death 
 overtook him at Rotterdam, 14th November 1633. (His widow and family sailed 
 to the new world, from whence his son, the second William Ames, came to 
 England, and was one of the good ministers ejected in 1662.) 
 
 The first William Ames is mentioned here on account of his book on cate- 
 
204- 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 chetical doctrine, highly praised by Maresius. He seems to have occupied him- 
 self in his exile, in the first place, by translating "Bradshaw's English Puritanism" 
 into Latin, for the information of Dutch Protestants. His attention, probably, in 
 the next place, was attracted by the system of public catechizing in Holland, and 
 by the two catechisms in use — the Heidelberg Catechism, and Calvin's Catechism, 
 alias, the Catechism of Geneva. He drew up a book suggesting a scheme of 
 catechetical doctrine, entitled — -"The chiefe heads of divinitie, briefly and orderly 
 set down, in forme of catechizing by question and ansvvere," Dordrecht, 1612. As 
 a professor he seems to have taught and lectured on this system; and after his 
 death his notes were collected and published in Latin (dated Amsterdam, 1st 
 January 1635), with the title, " Christiana? Catecheseos Sciagraphia." 
 
 It is interesting to observe the opening of the Sciagraphia, which combines 
 the Heidelberg only consolation with the Calvinian summum bonum. The 
 orderly procession of scriptural texts is also remarkable (I quote from the Latin). 
 
 Texts. 
 
 First Lord's Day. 
 
 Psalm iv. 6. There be many that 
 
 say, Who will shew us any good ? 
 
 Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy 
 
 countenance upon us. 
 
 Rom. 
 
 Second Lord's Day. 
 vii. 7. What shall we then 
 
 say 
 
 ? — Is the law sin ? — Far from it ! 
 
 Nay, I had not known sin, but by the 
 
 law ; for I had not known lust, except 
 
 the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 
 
 Third Lord's Day. 
 
 Rom. v. 1 2. By one man sin entered 
 
 Some of the Notes. 
 
 1. The chief good is what we ought to 
 regard and to seek above all other 
 things during; our whole life. 
 
 2. The chief good of man cannot be 
 found in the good things of this life. 
 
 3. Our true and chief good consists 
 in the union and communion which we 
 have with God. 
 
 4. That joy, which believers take 
 possession of from the communion which 
 believers have with God, excels all 
 human delights and joys in its sweet- 
 ness. 
 
 5. That joy and that consolation 
 bring a certain holy security to the con- 
 sciences of believers. 
 
 By nature men are so blind that, 
 though evidently plunged in sin and 
 death, they of themselves do not know 
 this. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 205 
 
 into the world, and death by sin ; and so 
 death has passed upon all men, for that 
 all have sinned. 
 
 Fourth Lord's Day. 
 
 Eph. v. 6. Let no man deceive you 
 with vain words : for because of these 
 things the wrath of God cometh upon 
 the children of disobedience. 
 Fifth Lord's Day. 
 
 Rom. viii. 3. For what the law could 
 not do, in that it was weak through the 
 flesh, God, sending His own Son in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con- 
 demned sin in the flesh. 
 
 Sixth Lord's Day. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 16. Without controversy 
 great is the mystery of godliness : God 
 was manifest in the flesh, justified in 
 the Spirit, seen by angels, preached to 
 the nations, believed on in the world, 
 received up into glory. 
 
 Seventh Lord's Day. 
 
 Acts xvi. 31. And they said, Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved, and thy house. 
 
 1. It is the will of God that miser- 
 able men be freed from their misery and 
 restored to life eternal. 
 
 2. The law is not able to free miser- 
 able men from their misery. 
 
 3. No sinner is able to free himself 
 from this misery. 
 
 4. No mere creature, existent in 
 heaven or earth, is able to free miserable 
 men from sin and death. 
 
 All true godliness depends on faith 
 in this mystery, so that without this 
 faith there is no true and solid godli- 
 ness, nor can this faith be true and 
 solid unless it have godliness coupled 
 to it. 
 
 1. All are not saved by Christ, but 
 only those who are united or ingrafted 
 into Christ. 
 
 2. That bond, by which we are first 
 united and ingrafted into Christ, is faith. 
 
 3. The adequate object of faith, as 
 justifying, is Jesus Christ, or the mercy 
 of God in Jesus Christ. 
 
 4. Justifying and saving faith pro- 
 perly consists, not in a kind of know- 
 ledge, but in a solid and sure trust. 
 
 5. Those who truly believe in Christ 
 can, and ought to, be sure of their sal- 
 vation. 
 
206 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 PROFESSOR JEREMIAS BASTING. 
 
 The Bastings were a French Protestant family who had fled to the Netherlands. At 
 the date of the birth of Jeremie Basting (better known as Bastingius), 1554, his 
 parents were in France as refugees from the Netherlands. He was born in 
 Calais ; but through his immediate ancestry, although a steadfast Protestant, he 
 had ceased to be French. He studied at Bremen, Geneva, and Heidelberg, and 
 became an eminent classical and Hebrew scholar. He was installed as a Protes- 
 tant pastor at Antwerp, but his residence there was not of long duration. The 
 military successes of the Duke of Parma drove off and scattered himself and all 
 the Protestant ministers and people. Thus in the year 1585 he became an exile, 
 and retired to Dort. It does not appear whether he settled there or set out upon 
 travels. He employed much of his time in preparing for the press his expository 
 discourses on the Heidelberg Catechism. The exact date of publication I have 
 not ascertained. The book is dedicated, " To my most beloved brethren, fellow- 
 priests, and presbyters, and remaining believers from the dispersion of the 
 Reformed Church of Antwerp, and also to all ministers of the Word in Holland 
 and the Palatinate, who preach in its purity the Gospel of the Eternal Son of 
 God." The second edition was published at Heidelberg in 1590, "revised and 
 enlarged ; " [In Catechesiu Religionis Christianae, quae in Ecclesiis et Scholis turn 
 Palatinatus turn Belgii traditur, Exegemata sive Commentarii.] At that date he 
 is simply styled " a minister of the Word of God." But soon after he was made 
 professor of theology at Leyden — which chair he filled till his too early death, in 
 his forty-fifth year, on 26th October 1598. His only publication was the above- 
 named successful and valued manual — each question is illustrated by one para- 
 graph of exegesis, and by another of falsa doctrina. And to each section of the 
 Catechism are prefixed Argumenta, i.e., Contents. To some of the sections 
 there is added Usus, or practical inferences. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM BATES, D.D. 
 
 William Bates was born in November 1625. He was a graduate of Cambridge 
 University, from which he received the degree of D.D. in 1660. Before that 
 date he was a London minister, and he was vicar of St Dunstan's in the West 
 when he was ejected from the Church of England for non- conformity ; his farewell 
 sermon was preached 1 7th August 1662. Dr Bates was always anxious for a heal- 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 207 
 
 ing measure of union. At the Revolution of 1GS8 he was the acknowledged 
 leader of the Nonconformists, and headed the deputation of congratulation to their 
 majesties, William and Mary. To the king he said, "We humbly desire and 
 hope that your majesty will be pleased by your wisdom and authority to establish 
 a firm union of your Protestant subjects in the matters of religion, by making the 
 rule of Christianity to be the rule of conformity ; " and to the queen, " We hope 
 those reverend persons who conspire with us in the main end — the glory of God and 
 the public good — will consent to terms of union wherein all the reformed churches 
 agree." On the death of Mary, he again headed a deputation to the king ; he 
 also preached a funeral sermon on the lamented queen. He also preached funeral 
 sermons on Drs Man ton and Jacomb, and on the Rev. Richard Baxter, David 
 Clarkson, and Benjamin Ashurst. He spent his last years at Hackney, where he 
 died 14th July 1699, greatly esteemed, admired, and beloved. The immortal 
 John Howe preached his funeral sermon with the motto, "Let us also go and die 
 with him " (John xi. 16). He said of Dr Bates, "I never knew any one more 
 frequent and affectionate in the admiration of Divine grace upon all occasions than 
 he was, as none had a deeper sense of the impotence and depravity of human 
 nature. Into what transports of admiration of the love of God have I seen him 
 break forth, when some things not immediately relating to practical godliness had 
 taken up great part of our time ! How easy a step did he make it from earth to 
 heaven ! " 
 
 The works of Dr Bates were collected in one folio volume, and dedicated by 
 his widow to the king. (The Second Edition is the best.) He also compiled 
 " Vitse selectorum aliquot virorum." 
 
 REV. JAMES BATHGATE. 
 
 Mr Bathgate (who was born in 1684) was schoolmaster of Inverkeithing, but 
 was licensed as a preacher 19th October 1715, and was ordained as minister of 
 Orwell 6th March 1 7 17. He was a co-presbyter of Messrs Hog, R Erskine, and 
 Wardlaw, and sat in the Synod of Fife with them and with Ebenezer Erskine, who 
 said that the special animosity of the Anti-Marrowmen against Mr Bathgate 
 diverted attention from him, during this young minister's career. He was one of 
 the twelve representors. After the Assembly's condemnation of " The Marrow," he 
 continued publicly to recommend this book, and, in consequence, he received a 
 special censure from his synod. He united with Mr Hog in protesting against 
 the appointment of fast-days and thanksgiving- days by the English government, 
 
208 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 not for the deplorable modern reason that such appointments are an interference 
 with religious liberty, but for the reason, thus expressed by Mr Hog, " That it 
 is the right of the Church of Scotland to appoint days for fasting and thanks- 
 giving within her own bounds, according as her case and circumstances (being a 
 distinct church from that of England) do demand." The reasons were printed, 
 with the following note : — " The foresaid reasons being given in, first to the 
 Presbytery of Dunfermline, and by them referred to the Synod of Fife which met 
 at Kirkaldy, April 1724, the Synod, after reading, did, notwithstanding, declare 
 Mr Hog censurable (Mr Bathgate having died before the Synod met) for not ob- 
 serving the thanksgiving." Of " the twelve " the first who died was Mr Bath- 
 gate ; and on his death-bed he gloried in his testimony to the doctrines of grace, 
 exclaiming, " glorious cause ! glorious cause ! I will glorify the Lord in 
 heaven for ever for these precious truths." The day of his death was 30th 
 March 1724 ; he was the father of Rev. James Bathgate, minister of Dalgety. 
 
 REV. JOHN BONAR, M.A. 
 
 John, son of John Bonar, Esq., of Kilgraston, in Perthshire, was born at Kil- 
 graston, lGth January 1671. His father was a bigoted Episcopalian. When 
 John was a student at St Andrews, his father instigated the Principal to threaten 
 him with expulsion from the university unless he took the communion in the alien 
 Episcopal form. The threat was administered, but without success. A brighter 
 day dawned, and old Scottish presbytery was re-established. John Bonar was 
 licensed as a preacher (loth June 1692), and was ordained as minister of Tor- 
 phichen, in the presbytery of Linlithgow, on 2d March 1693. In 1715 he 
 preached on the covenant of grace, as absolutely and unconditionally free to 
 sinners, for which he was attacked by Rev. John Lookup, minister of Mid-Calder. 
 Mr Bonar was one of " the twelve " who signed the representation regarding "the 
 Marrow" in 1721, and was altogether in sympathy with those brethren and 
 their friends. In 1 742, notwithstanding his age and infirmity, he made a journey 
 to Cambuslang to witness the great revival of religion, and to assist at the dis- 
 pensation of the communion to the assembled thousands. In his last years, on 
 Lord's days, he was carried to his church on a chair. He died 7th August 1747. 
 He printed a sermon preached at Whitburn 1719, upon the erection of that part of 
 Livingstone into a new parish; also Letters on the duty and advantage of religious 
 societies (Edin., 1743), containing counsels to prayer meetings. His widow sur- 
 vived him for only five days. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 209 
 
 His descendants in the ministry make up a roll of honoured names. The 
 following is the ecclesiastical pedigree : — 
 
 Rev. John Bonar, M.A., } 
 
 Minister of Torphichen, f = MARGARET Ewan. 
 (bom 1671, died 1747). j I 
 
 Rev. John Bonar, M.A., ] 
 Minister of Fetlar, in Shetland, > = Jean Smith. 
 (born 1696, died 1752). J 
 
 Rev. John Bonar, M.A., 
 
 Minister, 1st of Cockpen, 1 2d of Perth, 
 
 (born 1721, died 1761). 
 
 Christian Currier. 
 
 James Bonar, 
 Solicitor of Excise. 
 
 Rev. Archibald Bonar, 
 Minister of Cramond, 
 (born 1752, died 1816). 
 
 = Anne Bonar. 
 
 Rev. John Bonar, D.D., 
 
 Minister of Larbert, 
 
 latterly Convene^ of the Colonial Committee 
 
 of the Free Church of Scotland, 
 
 (born 1800, died 1863). 
 
 Rev. John James Bonar, Rev. Horatius Bonar, D.D., Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, D.D., 
 Minister at Greenock. Minister, 1st at Kelso, Minister, 1st at Collace, 
 
 2d at Edinburgh. 
 
 2d at Glasgow. 
 
 In 1813, the Rev. Archibald Bonar, minister of Cramond, "whose spiritual 
 worth and saintly character will not soon be forgotten," wrote to the Rev. Dr 
 Colquhoun, author of a " Treatise on Spiritual Comfort," in the following terms : — 
 
 " I am more and more convinced that according to the degree of our spiritual 
 consolation, and the measure of our rejoicing in glorious Immanuel as our all, so 
 will be our steadfastness and progress in all the other graces of the divine life. 
 
 " I have often lamented in secret that even the Lord's own children seem 
 so little impressed with the vast importance of rejoicing in the Lord, in the faith 
 of the Gospel, and in the lively hope of purchased, promised, prepared, approach- 
 ing glory. I rejoice to think that you, dear brother, have been stirred up to set 
 
 1 [" John Bonar at Cockpen, though of the High party, was a man of sense — an excellent 
 preacher ; he was temperate in his opposition." — Alex. Carlyle] 
 
 2 D 
 
210 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 this important subject in a truly evangelical light. Though I trust you will be 
 long spared to labour, with growing comfort and success, in our Lord's vineyard, 
 yet I rejoice to think that when you and I lie mouldering in the dust, genera- 
 tions yet unborn will read your work with tears of gratitude, and will magnify 
 the God of Zion for your book on Spiritual Comfort. — Archibald Bonar." 
 (Quoted in Memoir of Dr Colquhoun, p. 13). 
 
 REV. THOMAS BOSTON, M.A. 
 
 Thomas, youngest son of John Boston and Alison Trotter, was born at Dunse, in 
 Berwickshire, on 17th March 1G76. Through hearing a sermon at Newton of 
 Whitsome, by Rev. Henry Erskine, late of Cornhill, he was brought under 
 religious impressions, when he was eleven years old. This was in the year 1687. 
 He was educated at the grammar school of Dunse, and went to the College of 
 Edinburgh in 1690. His four years' course in Arts cost him altogether £128, 
 15s. 8d. Scots, and at the close of it in 1694 he took the degree of M.A. 
 
 The Heidelberg Catechism seems at an early period of its existence to have 
 found its way into Scotland, and often to have given a characteristically evan- 
 gelical tone to the faith and piety of its readers. The English translation was 
 first reprinted at Edinburgh in 1591. This and other editions were superseded 
 in 1615 by a new edition, containing "arguments" and "uses" extracted from 
 the Commentary of Bastingius. The English version, now in use in the Dutch 
 and Reformed churches of America, was brought from Scotland in the eighteenth 
 century. This Catechism must have exercised a most important influence on 
 young Boston's religious thought. He says, " A minister put into my hand 
 Pareus on Ursin's Catechism ; the which I read three or four times ere I went to 
 the school of divinity." 
 
 He entered the Divinity Hall of the University of Edinburgh about 25th 
 January 1695, where Professor George Campbell taught privately the Theological 
 Compendium by Ryssenius, and publicly that of Essenius. The Presbytery of 
 Dunse and Chirnside licensed him to preach the Gospel on 15th June 1697. 
 He says, " I began my preaching of the word in a rousing strain, and would fain 
 have set fire to the devil's nest. . . . But speaking with Mr John Dysert, 
 minister at Coldinghame, of the strain of preaching I had continued in, he said 
 to me to this purpose, But if you were entered on preaching of Christ, you 
 would find it very 'pleasant" 
 
 In the beginning of 1699, he wrote (but did not print) a "Soliloquy on 
 the Art of Man-Fishing," and on 21st September of that year he was ordained 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 211 
 
 minister of Simpriu. On Wednesday, 17th July 1700, he notes, " I, going on 
 25 years of my age, married Katharine Brown, going on 27, as born February 
 3, 1674, and baptized, the 22d, Providence having seen it meet for me to order 
 the odds to be on her side." The father of this lady was (the then deceased) 
 Robert Brown of Barhill, in the parish of Culross, who " had been a practitioner 
 in physic." " What engaged me to her (says Boston) was her piety, parts, 
 beauty, cheerful disposition fitted to temper mine, and that I reckoned her very 
 fit to see to my health." The last item was suggested by the constant delicacy 
 of his health. 
 
 The frightful abuse of public oaths during the reigns of the Stuarts seems 
 to have impressed a lasting horror on the minds of good men, as appears in Mr 
 Boston's case, who, on being appointed Clerk of the Synod of Merse and Teviot- 
 dale in 1701, declined the oath cle fideli administratione, and the Synod 
 accepted his promise to serve them faithfully and keep their secrets. On the 
 accession to Queen Anne he took the oath of allegiance to her Majesty, but he 
 adds, " Unto this day [1730] I never took another, whether of a public or private 
 nature." 
 
 In Simprin, about the year 1 700, he borrowed an old neglected book, and 
 afterwards bought it ; it was the first part of the " Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity;" it probably "had been brought from England by the master 
 of the house, a soldier in the time of the civil wars." Boston was at that 
 time endeavouring to get scriptural views of the consolation that is in Christ. 
 He had become convinced of the truth of the doctrine, in which The Marrow 
 distinctly concurred, that " the sins of believers in Christ, even when not yet 
 actually repented of, do not make them (being in a state of grace) liable to 
 eternal punishment." In friendly conversation he brought many of his co-pres- 
 byters to the same mind, arguing thus : " If believers are liable to eternal wrath 
 in the case mentioned, they must be so, either by the law and covenant of works, 
 or by the Gospel and covenant of grace. But they are not so by the first, for 
 believers are dead to it ; nor by the second, for it condemns no man." He says 
 that people observed in his sermons " a certain tincture," " though ' The Marrow,' 
 from whence it sprang, continued in utter obscurity : but they were acceptable to 
 the saints, neither did brethren [ministers] show disgust of them." 
 
 Mr Boston on 1st May 1707 obtained the parish and congregation by 
 which he is known to posterity, being inducted as minister of Ettrick. Here he 
 began the study of the Hebrew language, in which he became so eminently pro- 
 ficient. In 1711 he resigned the synod clerkship, as to his discharge of which 
 office he received the distinguished appreciation of Lord Minto. 
 
 In Ettrick Mr Boston was one of a fraternal triumvirate, consisting of 
 himself, and his reverend brethren Messrs Davidson of Galashiels, and W'ilson of 
 Maxton. These are the names which the reader of Boston's Memoirs must bear 
 
212 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 in mind when, he reads of "my two friends and I." And they with Mr Hog of 
 Carnock became more and more associated, when the storm occasioned by the 
 reprinting of "The Marrow" rose and raged. The three friends rode together to 
 Edinburgh frequently during this contest, availing themselves of the quiet and 
 coolness of summer nights, and joining in praises to their Redeemer-God. 
 
 The doctrines of grace had been insidiously and injuriously assailed by Pro- 
 fessor Simson of Glasgow University. And in the General Assembly of 1 7 1 7 
 Mr Boston, being a member of the court, protested against the leniency with 
 which the heresiarch was treated. A second sorrow was the Assembly's con- 
 demnation of the Auchterarder creed. This circumstance brought Mr Boston 
 into conversation with Rev. John Drummond of Crieff, a minister of the Auch- 
 terarder Presbytery. To Mr Drummond he mentioned "The Marrow" and its 
 account of the Gospel offer. Mr Drummond succeeded in buying a copy, which 
 he showed to Mr Webster, who showed it to Mr Hog of Carnock, who prefaced 
 and reprinted it in 1718. 
 
 Mr Boston, having as yet printed nothing, was not called to account. But 
 "The Marrow" having been condemned by the Assembly of 1720, he in 1721 
 drew up a draft of a counter-representation, which was modelled into the famous 
 representation with its twelve signatures. 
 
 Mr Boston at this time specially felt the usefulness of " The Marrow" to 
 himself, when he was dangerously ill. He says: "July 1721. — While in my 
 extremity death stared me in the face, the doctrine of ' The Marrow' concerning 
 the gift and grant, and ] John v. 11, accordingly understood, that God hath 
 given unto mankind sinners (and to me in particular) eternal life, whereby it is 
 lawful for me to take possession of it as my own, was the sweet and comfortable 
 prop of my soul, believing it and claiming it accordingly." 
 
 It was on the suggestion of " my two friends" that Boston began his 
 "Notes" on "The Marrow." "In the beginning of July 1722 I finished the 
 Notes. . . . which afterwards, in the year 1726, were printed with 'The 
 Marrow,' in the which, out of regard to the authority of the church, I took to 
 myself the name of Philalethes IrenaBus, as being my real and sincere design, 
 namely, truth and peace therein. In compiling of these notes I had in view 
 what was extant against ' The Marrow ' in the several prints extant at that 
 time. . . . The unacquaintedness with these prints may occasion posterity's 
 judging several of the notes quite needless ; but at that time many had been at 
 much pains to find knots in a rush." 
 
 He wrote the Preface in the beginning of the year of publication (1726), 
 and issued this standard edition as an instructive monument of "The Marrow' 
 Controversy. As to this good fight for the doctrines of divine grace, he says in 
 his Memoirs : — " Thus ended that weighty affair, by means whereof I received 
 another sensible increase of light into the doctrine of grace, especially as to the 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 213 
 
 gift and grant made of Christ unto sinners of mankind, and as to the nature of 
 faith. In which last my friend Mr Wilson was the most clear and distinct, and 
 my clearness and distinctness therein I owe to him. . . . Moreover, that struggle 
 hath been, through the mercy of God, turned to the great advantage of truth in 
 our church, both among some ministers and people, having obliged both to think 
 of these things and inquire into them more clearly and nicely than before, inas- 
 much that it has been owned that few public differences have had such good 
 effects. Meanwhile it is not to be doubted but others have, on that occasion, 
 been carried farther to the side of legalism than they were before, and that, 
 through the prevalence of their passions and prejudices, the Gospel of Christ is 
 by this time with many, especially of the younger sort of divines, exchanged for 
 rationalism. So that I believe the light and the darkness are both come to a 
 pitch that they were both far from in this church — of which posterity may see a 
 miserable and a glorious issue." 
 
 It would appear that Mr Boston preached for the last time in Ettrick Church 
 on 25th March 1732 on the text, "That there should be time no longer, but the 
 mystery of God should be finished." Unable to go out of doors, he opened a 
 window of the Manse on the 2nd and 9th April, and preached from it to the 
 assembled congregation. These were two short sermons, carefully composed and 
 afterwards printed, on 2 Cor. xiii. 5, " Examine yourselves whether ye be in the 
 faith." He died on Saturday the 20th April, aged fifty-six. His funeral sermon 
 was preached by Rev. Gabriel Wilson, on the 28th, his text being, "He was a burn- 
 ing and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in His light " 
 (John v. 35). His son Thomas (born 3rd April 1713) was at that time a 
 student of divinity ; but the benefice was kept open for him until he was a 
 preacher, and he was ordained at Ettrick 4th April 1733. [See Witsius]. 
 
 The Author of " The Fourfold State" is too well known to require my com- 
 mendation. His works, having been collected, need not be enumerated. Many 
 seem to have been printed by his reverend son, but of these I name but one, 
 from which I have quoted in my Book First, Part Second, Chapter I., as to which 
 I have this note : " With a view to the preservation of the doctrine of grace in 
 the understanding and heart of the inhabitants of Scotland, an explication of the 
 Catechism was projected by Rev. Thomas Boston of Ettrick, Gabriel Wilson of 
 Maxton, and Henry Davidson of Galashiels. Mr Boston wrote his allotted 
 portion and left it in manuscript ; it was printed in 1755." 
 
 The printing and publishing of his "Body of Divinity" in three octavo 
 volumes, in the year 1773, brings us down to another generation, as is manifest 
 by the notice on the back of the title-page : — " JS T .B. As the property of this 
 work is vested in John Reid, printer, and William Darling, bookseller, Edinburgh, 
 and their heirs and assigns, by the Rev. Mr Michael Boston, the author's grand- 
 son, so they have entered it in Stationers' Hall, in terms of the Act of Parlia- 
 
214 THE THEOLOGY OE CONSOLATION. 
 
 merit of the Stli of Queen Anne, and expect that after this public notice none 
 will presume to invade this their property by reprinting this work or any part 
 thereof, as the doing so will subject them to all the pains of the aforementioned 
 Act of Parliament." 
 
 Appended to the imprint of 1755 were sermons on Isa. xxxviii. 19, 
 " The living, the living, he shall praise Thee," &c. (preached in 1727). 
 The following sentences illustrate Boston's own life : — " The mercy of life 
 lies in the business of life, to wit, being serviceable for God in the world. 
 Hezekiah counts that [to be] the great mercy of life. Which speaks (I). A high 
 esteem of God and His service, as men count it a favour to be allowed to serve 
 their prince. (2). An ardent love to Him, as men delight to serve the interests 
 of those they dearly love. This will be to a spiritual man in a spiritual frame 
 the most desirable thing in life — ' according to my earnest expectation and my 
 hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so 
 now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by 
 death ; for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain ' (Philipp. i. 20, 21)." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 I have in my possession an autograph letter from Boston thus ad- 
 dressed : — 
 
 To 
 Mistriss Shiell at her lod<nn£ 
 in the Castlehill 
 
 Edr. 
 
 [This Avidow lady (see Hog) was the sister of Mr Robert Wightman, hard 
 Dean of Guild- of the city of Edinburgh.] 
 
 "Etterick Manse, March 23, 1732. 
 
 " Dear Mrs Shiell, — Understanding by my son safely come home that 
 you are under indisposition, and judging that you are under some one damp or 
 other, it was very natural to me to express by this my concern in your trouble 
 and cordial sympathy with you. 'Tis not strange that upon the back of your un- 
 ordinary toil you had this winter, some such indisposition has seised you. 
 
 " If you are in the depths, as I apprehend you are, you have been there 
 before, and know by experience all is not lost that is in hazard. Your Pilot is to 
 the fore, and still keeps the direction of the tost ship in His own hand ; for 
 what concerns His people He will perfect ; and, their deliverances being chain'd 
 together by the bond of the covenant, the deliverance from six troubles is a 
 pledge of deliverance from seven also, and the seventh a pledge of the eight and 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 215 
 
 so on, till the last link come up in the resurrection of the body at the last day. 
 And what tho' you have neither sun, moon, nor star-light in your tempest (though 
 I hope it is not quite so), yet darkness is as the light to your Pilot. Only trust 
 Him the conducting of you. All the generations of the saints have trusted Him 
 with their whole weight for time and eternity. His Father trusted Him with 
 the work of the reparation of His glory injured by sinners. And will not you 
 trust Him ? If I should trust you no farther than I see, I believe you would 
 think that I thereby payed you out a very sorry regard. I pray you, do not 
 you treat Christ so, when you have His word, (Joh. iii. 16 ; Heb. xiii. 5 ; Psal. 
 ix. 18) (which see), with many others ; and tho' you see nothing else without you, 
 or within you, you have in that word all that faith in its own nature requires. 
 And remember, you have Christ in it (Rom. x. 6, 7, 8), q.d., you need neither go 
 up nor go down for Christ, He is in the word of the Gospel. I would not have 
 you raze foundations you laid in accepting God's covenant of free grace, when you 
 was in better condition ; do not make light of belying the Spirit of God. Go as 
 deep as you please, and make as narrow a scrutiny as you will, in the causes of 
 the Lord's controversy. Take up as nicely as you can what the Lord is pointing 
 at by the rod ; but I say, let alone the foundations, for none but your grand 
 adversary bids you meddle with them in this hour of darkness. I suppose, I did 
 with my utmost application, in my vigor, and full exercise of my faculty, estab- 
 lish myself in a point ; then, I suppose my vigor gone, I'm not able to apply my- 
 self as formerly to trace it, so it loses its light with me that I had in it at that 
 time. But should not I act like a fool, if therefore I should give up with it ? 
 The application is easy. 
 
 " Perhaps this is all out of the way. But I hope it can do no harm. 
 What's not seasonable at one time may be seasonable another time. I hear your 
 brother is gone to Newcastle and, by an acceptable letter I lately had from him, 
 expect him here shortly. 
 
 " I'm in much distress, chastened with pain, confined to the upper rooms, 
 with difficulty going on two stilts, but, Thanks to my kind Father and Master, 
 hitherto getting out to my work on the Sabbath. My wife is come up to the 
 western room bed. What the issue will be I know not ; but matters go on apace 
 in this crazy tabernacle, towards its being laid by for good and all, either in a 
 bed or a grave. I am the Lord's ; other choises I desire not to make, but to 
 refer to Him. My love to your children, particularly Lizie. I'l expect no 
 answer but with great respect, continue D. Mrs. Shiell 
 
 " Yoi\ affectionat humble servt. 
 " & Brother in Christ Jesus 
 
 "T. Boston." 
 
21 G THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM BRIDGE, M.A. 
 
 William Bridge was M.A. of Cambridge and Fellow of Emmanuel College. It 
 is believed that he was a native of that county, and born in the year 1600. He 
 resided at the university from 1618 to 1631, and then removed to Colchester, 
 whence he was soon translated to Norwich, where he was Friday Lecturer of St 
 George's, Tombland, and Rector of St Peter's, Hungate. In 1636 the persecut- 
 ing system of the Bishop of Norwich (Wren) drove him into exile. Archbishop 
 Laud reported to Charles I., " Mr Bridge of Norwich, rather than conform, hath 
 left his lecture and two cures, and retired to Holland"- — to this information the 
 king added the note, " Let him go ; we are well rid of him." The desire seems 
 to have been to get rid of all persons of whom the world was not worthy ; fifty 
 ministers were censured, suspended, or silenced, for resisting the inroads of semi- 
 Romish superstition. Mr Bridge became the pastor of the English Congrega- 
 tionalists at Rotterdam, where many refugees from Norwich joined his church. 
 In 1642 he returned to the county of Norfolk, and laboured for twenty years as 
 minister of a congregation at Great Yarmouth. He was a member of the West- 
 minster Assembly, and associated with the Independents. In addition to his 
 scholarship and pulpit eloquence, he possessed excellent business habits, and 
 assisted the parliament in a scheme for the general augmentation of ministers' 
 salaries. The black Bartholomew Act drove him from Yarmouth, and the closing 
 years of his life were spent at Clapham, where he preached along with Rev. Dr 
 Henry Wilkinson and Rev. Thomas Lye. He died 12th March 1670, aged 
 seventy. 
 
 His works were collected by the Messrs Tegg, and published in London in 
 five volumes in the year 1845, and are well worthy of study. The following is 
 a specimen of his method of preaching : — 
 
 " Ask thine own soul these questions — 
 
 " I. Whether there be any gain by doubting — whether there is any spiritual 
 gain to be made by doubting ? Faith purifies the heart ; but doth doubting 
 purify the heart ? 
 
 " II. Whether there is anything in all the world more pleasing to God 
 than to trust the Lord in and by Jesus Christ, when all comforts are out of view, 
 and when you see nothing but what is contrary to the thing promised ? 
 
 " III. Whether you must not venture upon Christ at the last — and if you 
 must venture upon Christ at the last, why not now, as well as at the last ? 
 
 " When a man comes to go over a river, though he ride once and again into 
 the water, and comes out saying, I fear it is too deep for me ; yet, considering 
 there is no other way for him, he resolves to venture ; for (saith he) the longer I 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 21 7 
 
 stay the higher the waters will rise, and there is no other way for me, and I must 
 through at last, as good at the first as at the last ; and so he doth venture 
 through and is safe. Thus it is here. You must venture upon Christ at the 
 last, there is no other way but by venturing upon Jesus Christ, thou must do it 
 at the last ; and were it not as good for you to do it at the first as at the last ? 
 Surely the longer you stay the harder you will find it to venture, and the more 
 difficulties will arise upon the work of believing. 
 
 " You say now, O but my heart is not humbled, but I am a great sinner; 
 and should 1 venture upon Jesus Christ ? But will thy heart be more humbled 
 by keeping from Christ, and shalt thou be less a sinner by keeping from Him ? 
 No, certainly ; but the longer j t ou stay from Christ, the harder work it will be to 
 venture upon Christ at the last. Wherefore if there be ever a poor, drooping, 
 doubting, fearing, trembling heart in all this congregation, know, that I do here 
 in the name of the Lord call out to you and say, soul, man or woman, venture, 
 venture, venture upon Christ now ; for you must come to this venturing work at 
 the last ; and, if ever, it is true here, Better at the first than at the last." — A 
 lifting up for the downcast. Sermon XIII. 
 
 The following is a specimen of his thoughtfulness and acuteness : — 
 " The more grace one hath, the more he doth see sin ; and the more a man 
 sees his sin, the more his own grace will be hidden from his own eyes. Godly 
 men do often measure themselves by metaphors ; as sometimes we that are 
 preachers of the word — we fall upon a Scripture metaphor, as where Christ is 
 called a sun or shield or bread, and we run the metaphor off its legs, further than 
 the Holy Ghost did intend ; so sometimes we do. So it is with Christians too ; 
 they fall upon a Scripture and they run it and themselves off their legs, beyond what 
 the Holy Ghost doth intend. For example, increase of grace, in Scripture 
 phrase, is called a growth ; now, because a Christian cannot find his own spiritual 
 increase answerable to all outward growth, therefore he thinks that he doth not 
 increase in grace." — Seasonable truths in evil times. Sermon I. 
 
 REV. JAMES BRISBANE. 1 
 
 James Brisbane was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Glasgow, 
 February 23, 1693, and was in the same year ordained minister of Kilmalcolm, 
 in the Presbytery of Greenock, having been called on August 8th, and settled on 
 21st November. He was a member of the General Assembly in 1703, and was 
 sitting beside Mr Boston, minister of Simprin (afterwards famous as Boston of 
 Ettrick), when the Royal Commissioner prematurely dissolved the Assembly as a 
 
 1 Dr. Scott always calls him " Birsbane." 
 2 E 
 
218 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 token of displeasure. Protestations were loudly made by many members, but, 
 says Boston, " Mr James Brisbane pulled me down when offering to join the pro- 
 testers." In December 1703 he removed to Stirling, having been translated to 
 the second charge of that town and parish ; and in the end of 1705 he became 
 minister of the first charge. He had not been a preacher of the free scriptural 
 Gospel before his settlement at Stirling ; but his intercourse with the eminent 
 Mr Hamilton, minister of the adjacent parish of Airth, was the means of his con- 
 version and the beginning of an earnest Gospel ministry. He was not only highly 
 esteemed, but greatly admired. Boston calls him " the learned and pious Mr 
 James Brisbane," and "a very worthy man." Ralph Erskine, in eulogizing Mr 
 Hamilton, said, " Great Brisbane owned himself his happy proselyte." The 
 " solemnities " connected with a communion season in old Scotland gave the 
 ministers many opportunities of sharing each other's pulpits, and also of making 
 the people of each parish acquainted with all the best preachers in the district. 
 Mr Brisbane became by such brotherly services a very popular minister in 
 Stirlingshire. In the autumn of 1718 he assisted at the communion of "an old 
 worthy man," Mr John Watson, minister of Denny — an incident which is impor- 
 tant, as it gave occasion to the publication (against his will) of " A Sermon 
 preached at Denny on Monday the 1 1th of August 1718, being the Thanksgiving- 
 Day after the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there," by Mr 
 James Brisbane, minister of the Gospel at Stirling. 
 
 " The Marrow of Modern Divinity " was not altogether to Mr Brisbane's 
 taste ; and when Mr Hog and other mutual friends reprinted it, he did not join 
 either in recommending or defending the celebrated book. But the simple preach- 
 ing of the free Gospel exposed a minister to suspicion in high quarters ; and his 
 reputation as a Gospel preacher, confirmed by his one printed sermon, led to his 
 being summoned in the year 1720 before the General Assembly's committee for 
 purity of doctrine. No proceedings, however, were taken against him ; and the 
 sermon will repay our examination. It was a practical sermon on the text, " Sin 
 shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace" 
 (Rom. vi. 14). His teaching was that every "convinced sinner, being sensible of 
 his being a slave to sin and Satan, is to go into a full, free, and freely offered 
 grace, without money and without price; to take, possess, and enjoy the grace of 
 the covenant in order to become holy, with a full faith upon the promises relative 
 thereto, for that end : holiness is the fruit of faith ; faith is not the product of 
 their holiness." 
 
 The clauses which I have italicized are very happily expressed, and so is the 
 following description of one danger in a believer's course. Often (he says) "a legal 
 spirit prevails over the real believer, which makes him look more to his own 
 resolutions than to the grace of the covenant, and to lay more weight upon his 
 promises to God to be holy than upon God's promises of making him holy." He 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 219 
 
 refutes antinomianism itself, and the accusation of antinomianistn falsely directed 
 against all Pauline preachers, by an interesting exposition of the context (viz., 
 Romans vi. 2-11) : — "The Apostle unanswerably refutes this cavil — 
 
 " I. By rejecting it with abhorrence. Shall we sin, because grace abounds ? 
 God forbid. 
 
 " II. By demonstrating the inconsistency betwixt justification by faith and 
 this abominable practice, which he does by two arguments — 
 
 " (1.) That Christ died not onby for the justifying the sinner and removing 
 of his guilt, but for the sanctifying the sinner. And so to whom the value of that 
 death is applied for pardon, the virtue of it will be applied for cleansing — these 
 two never being separated. 
 
 " (2.) That the real believer in Christ embraces Him, not only for justifica- 
 tion, but also for sanctification and complete redemption from sin — a sure evidence 
 of the solid believer in Christ ; and consequently, that such will not abuse the 
 doctrine of grace, as the world does. And in a suitableness to this (verse 11) he 
 discovers what these honest souls should (and would gladly) reckon, upon their 
 embracing this doctrine, that they are dead indeed to sin but alive to God through 
 Jesus Christ. Consequently thereupon (vers. 11, 12) he exalts the study of holi- 
 ness — that they would not give sin any peaceable habitation in their souls, that 
 they would not any more yield thereunto — but that they would yield themselves 
 unto the Lord as those that are alive from the dead. The words that I have read 
 seem to be an encouraging motive pressing this exhortation to holiness, answering 
 an objection of a poor, sensible, believing sinner who may say, It is useless to 
 desire me to forbear sin, to yield myself to God and my members as instru- 
 ments of righteousness. Sin is so engrained in my nature, and hath such an 
 ascendant over me, that to me it seems next to an impossibility to obey. No 
 (says the Apostle) ; set about the work, for sin shall not have dominion over you, 
 for ye are not under the law, but under grace." " Go out against every known 
 sin and to the performance of every commanded duty, sensible of your own weak- 
 ness, denied to your own strength and capacity, with faith's entire dependence 
 upon the grace that is in the promises." "Take hold of God's method of grace 
 for holiness, and particularly on Christ as the living Head and quickening Spirit, 
 and in Him the Holy Ghost, as the covenanted Spirit for the application of the 
 virtue of His death and resurrection, for killing the old man and quickening the 
 soul in the way of God." 
 
 The reason why the General Assembly's committee looked askance at Mr 
 Brisbane's sermon may perhaps be found in the following paragraph : — 
 
 " There is a topic that much prevails, viz., That God accepts of sincerity 
 under the Gospel, instead of perfect obedience. This is ordinarily supported by 
 2 Cor. viii. 12, 'If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what 
 a man hath, and not according to what he hath not.' 
 
220 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " I shall not say but in some sense it may be admitted, yet I fear it is very 
 much abused — some making their sincere obedience their righteousness in the 
 sight of God (which is contrary to the Gospel plan) — others thinking the Lord 
 requires no more than what they call sincerity (making the capacity of the crea- 
 ture the rule of his obedience) 
 
 " As to 2 Cor. viii. 12, the Apostle is discoursing of giving alms to the poor, 
 in which case God requires no more than what He has given them faculty in the 
 world to bestow. Hence the Lord reckoned the widow's two mites, thrown into 
 the treasury, equivalent if not preferable unto the greater gifts of the rich." 
 
 Another question which agitated the members of committee was the alleged 
 necessity for an apprenticeship in the forsaking of sin as a qualification for being 
 a comer to Christ and for being welcomed as such. 
 
 Mr Brisbane goes briefly and yet fully into this subject ; he says : — 
 
 " If any say that we are not, and need not, to part with sin in order to our 
 closing with Christ, and consequently may close with Christ and retain idols too, 
 I humbly conceive the case is misstated. 
 
 " For the question is not, If a person may close with Christ and keep his 
 idols, but, If they can part with them, before they embrace Christ and by faith 
 derive virtue from Him for that end. 
 
 " And this the Scripture seems to determine (Acts xv. 9), He purifies the 
 heart by faith. The soul, by the enlightening cast of grace, sees itself not only 
 condemned but depraved and desperately wicked, and that all its essays [efforts] 
 for peace and for growing better are ineffectual. It now sees Christ made 
 righteousness and sanctihcation, for the attaining of which it closes with Him. 
 
 " This does not say that they [believers] keep their idols when they close 
 with Christ, but finding the power of sin an overmatch for them, they embrace 
 Him as God's remedy, that they may be freed from such an enemy. And so it 
 is a coming to Him, labouring and heavy-laden with the sense of guilt and wicked- 
 ness that they may have relief — -which I take to be the import of Isaiah lv. 7, 
 Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts — his 
 ways and thoughts of relief — and in returning to the Lord he will find mercy and 
 pardon " 
 
 The incidental interpretation, which I have italicized, is favourably com- 
 mented on as "The Denny gloss" by Mr Riccaltoun in his " Review of an Essay 
 on Gospel and Legal Preaching," pp. 68 to 79. 
 
 A Stirling minister would be a member of the General Assembly only once 
 in five or six years. Probably, therefore, Mr Brisbane was not a member either 
 in 1718, 1719, 1720 or 1721. He was never an opponent of the Marrow-men, 
 though he took no part in their private conferences. Mr Ralph Erskine says, " I 
 remember a worthy and great divine, Mr James Brisbane, minister of Stirling, 
 when the Act of 1722 was passing, openly asserted that there were not so many 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 221 
 
 errors in that book [The Marrotv] as in their [the General Assembly's] Acts con- 
 demning it." This alludes to the General Assembly of 1722, of which Mr 
 Brisbane was a member, when he probably spoke and certainly voted against an 
 Act explaining and confirming the Act of 1720 condemning " The Marrow." The 
 Act, however, passed by a majority of 134 to 5. Mr Boston says of Mr Brisbane, 
 that he never could go along with the General Assembly in this matter, and 
 ultimately " was obliged to declare himself in favour of truth " (alluding to his 
 vote in 1722). Mr Brisbane lived till June 1725. 
 
 REV. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 John Bkown, son of an intelligent and pious weaver, was born in 1722 at 
 Carpow village, in the parish of Abernethy (Perthshire). During a brief school 
 life he was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic — " one month at school (he 
 informs us) without my parents' allowance, I bestowed upon the Latin." In 1 733, 
 or soon after, he became an orphan and a shepherd-boy, and devoted much of 
 his time to reading good books, and to teaching himself Latin and Greek. The 
 parish minister was Rev. William- Moncrieff, who was one of the founders of the 
 Associate Presbytery, and to his ministry over the seceding congregation John 
 Brown adhered, having found in him a faithful pastor and a kind helper in his 
 studies. When he was nineteen years of age the country people, being informed 
 that this country lad was a good scholar in Latin, in Greek, and in Hebrew, 
 accused him of witchcraft ; and though the law courts had ceased to receive such 
 accusations, he suffered the penalty of adverse and malignant public opinion for a 
 period of five years. The discomforts of his position led him to become a pedlar, 
 and the year 1745 found him in this occupation. He narrowly escaped plunder 
 from the Highland soldiery. Accordingly he deposited his stock-in-trade in the 
 heart of a peat-stack. Crossing the Queen's Ferry, he enlisted in the Fife volun- 
 teers, and did duty with his regiment at Blackness and Edinburgh Castle until 
 the suppression of the Rebellion. He spent all the balance of his pay upon 
 books, except threepence, which enabled him to recross the ferry, and recover his 
 pack. 
 
 In 1747 he opened a school at the village of Gairney Bridge, celebrated as 
 the cradle of the first Associate Presbytery, near Kinross. During the vacations he 
 studied philosophy and divinity under Rev. Ebenezer Erskine and Rev. James 
 Fisher; and in 1751 the presbytery licensed him as a preacher. In June of the 
 same year he became minister at Haddington. This town, according to the 
 custom of his church, became the seat of a Divinity Hall in the year 17G8, when 
 
222 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 he was made Professor of Divinity to the Associate Synod. He was an evan- 
 gelical, pious, and learned professor, who, in addition to the usual learning of a 
 Scottish minister, had a creditable knowledge of Arabic, Syriac, Persic, and 
 Ethiopic, and also of French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and German. He was also 
 familiar with literature in various departments. John Brown of Haddington was 
 a name extensively known, as appears, for instance, from his correspondence with 
 Rev. Charles Simeon of Cambridge, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, and Mr 
 Mason of New York. 
 
 He became an author in 1758, when he published "An Help for the 
 Ignorant, being an Essay towards an easy explication of the Westminster Con- 
 fession of Faith and Catechisms." He is now known as a commentator on the 
 whole Bible, composed on his favourite principle that the Bible is self-interpreting ; 
 and as the author of a " Dictionary of the Holy Bible." His work on systematic 
 theology, from which I have quoted in my First Book, is called "A Compendious 
 View of Natural and Revealed Religion" (1782). His last publication, dated 
 1785, was a pamphlet against the travelling of the mail on the Lord's Day. 
 
 The year 1787 found him almost exhausted by the incessant and excessive 
 labours of his life. He solemnly took leave both of his own congregation and of 
 a miscellaneous evening congregation from his pulpit on February 25th, and died 
 on June 9th. One of his last sayings was, " It is the finished righteousness of 
 Christ which is the only foundation of my hopes ; I have no more dependence 
 on my labours than on my sins." 
 
 His "Essay towards an easy, plain, practical, and extensive explication of the 
 Assembly's Shorter Catechism " was reissued by one of his sons, Rev. Ebenezer 
 Brown of Inverkeithing, "revised and enlarged," in 1830. The following 
 extracts contain his sentiments as to Christian Obedience, and as to a believer's 
 expectation of reward and liability to punishment : — 
 
 " Is our serving of God a requital of His redeeming us ? 
 
 " No. God neither requires, nor can any good works be, any proper requital 
 of such amazing favours ; for when we have done all, we are but unprofitable 
 servants" (Ps. cxvi. 12 ; Luke xvii. 10). 
 
 " Why, then, doth God require obedience because He has redeemed us ? 
 
 " That we may thereby acknowledge our obligation to Him for His redeem- 
 ing grace, and sink deeper in its debt (Ps. cxvi. 12, 13). — Page 198. 
 
 " What is believers' obedience, to the law as a rule, rewarded with ? 
 
 " With much freedom from spiritual plagues, and sweet communion with 
 God here, and additional degrees of glory in heaven (Isa. lxiv. 4, 5). 
 
 " Why call you these fatherly or gracious rewards ? 
 
 " Because, though they are given to obedient believers, yet they are not 
 given for their obedience sake, but flow from God's fatherly grace and love 
 (Rom. v. 21). 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 223 
 
 " If it is not for the sake of their good works that believers are rewarded, 
 how is it that the more holy they are the more happiness they receive ? 
 
 " Because the receiving of much purchased holiness prepares for receiving 
 the more abundant purchased happiness (Dan. xii. 3). 
 
 " Is not holiness itself happiness ? 
 
 " It is the very height of happiness (Ps. xvii. 15). 
 
 " Are more diligent and holy believers less indebted to Christ for their 
 happiness than more slothful believers ? 
 
 " No ; they are the deeper in the debt to God's free grace, being first 
 indebted for more grace, and then for more glory (Luke xxii. [28, 29, 30 ; 
 1 Cor. xv. 10). 
 
 " What mean you by fatherly chastisements ? 
 
 " All those troubles which believers meet with in this world, after their 
 conversion, on account of their sin (Heb. xii.). 
 
 " What are the heaviest of believers' chastisements ? 
 
 " The terrors of God and hiding of His face, with the occasional prevalency 
 of sin and Satan, which are terrible as hell to the saints (Ps. lxxxviii. ; Rom. vii.). 
 
 " Why are these called chastisements and not punishments ? 
 
 " Because they tend not to the hurt but to the advantage of the saints 
 (Heb. xii. 6, 10, 11). 
 
 " Would it not more effectually stir up believers to obedience if it entitled 
 them to eternal life, and their disobedience exposed them to eternal death ? 
 
 " No ; that would disparage the righteousness of Christ, hinder our improve- 
 ment of it as the great motive to obedience, and fill us with so much of the 
 spirit of bondage as to disqualify us for gospel obedience (2 Cor. v. 14)." — Page 40. 
 
 In the year 1831 his Second Century of Meditations was published as a 
 sequel to Devout Breathings of a Pious Soul. 
 
 John Brown of Haddington has been honourably represented in literature 
 by his son, John Brown of Whitburn; by his grandson, John Brown, D.D., of 
 Edinburgh, Professor of Exegetical Theology to the United Presbyterian Synod ; 
 and by his great-grandson, John Brown, M.D., Author of " Rab." 
 
 The following is one of the articles in the " Dictionary of the Holy Bible," 
 by John Brown of Haddington : — 
 
 " Comfort — Consolation — inward pleasure, joy, and cheerfulness, natural 
 or spiritual (Job vi. 10; Ps. cxix. 50, 76). Spiritual comfort is that refreshful 
 pleasure of the soul which ariseth from the consideration of what God in Christ 
 is to us in respect of relation, and of what He has done for and infallibly pro- 
 mised to us (2 Cor. i. 5). The Holy Spirit is the author of it ; the Scriptures 
 are the established ground and means of it ; and ministers and godly companions 
 are the instruments and helpers of it (Job xvi. 7 ; Ps. cxix. 49, 50 ; 2 Cor. i. 5, 
 
224 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 6, 7 ; vii. 6, 7). Christ is the consolation of Israel ; with the prediction of His 
 coming and kingdom did the ancient prophets comfort the Jews ; and in every 
 age His person, righteousness, fulness, and love are the source and substance of 
 His people's comfort against every trouble (Luke ii. 25). Are the consolations 
 of God small with thee ? (Job xv. 11) ; do you contemn our divine advices which 
 we have given you for your direction and comfort ? To comfort is to free one 
 from grief and render him glad and joyful (Gen. v. 29). God comforts the cast 
 down by supporting them under their trouble, and delivering them from it 
 (2 Cor. vii. 6). The Holy Ghost is called the Comforter because, by the applica- 
 tion of Jesus' word, blood, and fulness to our soul, He fills us with joy unspeak- 
 able and full of glory (John xiv. 2 6) ; but the word is by some rendered 
 Advocate." 
 
 The best edition of the Bible Dictionary (Glasgow, 1833) contains a Memoir 
 and some Notes by the author's grandson, Rev. John Brown Patterson, M.A., 
 Minister of Falkirk (born 1804, died 1835). 
 
 JOHN CALVIN. 
 
 Jean Cauvin, latinized Joannes Calvinus, was a scholarly Frenchman, a native 
 of Noyon in Picardy, born in 1509. His embracing of the Reformation obliged 
 him to leave France. In 1535 he published at Basle his famous " Institutes of 
 the Christian Religion," dedicated to the King of France, Francis I. ; this work 
 he afterwards translated into French, Merle D'Aubigne' claims him as the 
 founder of the Reformed Church of France. In 1536 the Swiss Reformers 
 induced him to become Professor of Divinity and Preacher at Geneva, and he 
 established the Reformation in that community with combined persuasion and 
 determination. But his discipline occasioning some disturbances, he was virtually 
 banished to Strasburg, where he wrote his Commentary on the Romans. In 
 September 1541 he re-entered Geneva in triumph, and continued there till his 
 death in May 1564. He lived to see the end of the Council of Trent, whose 
 proceedings he instructively and vigorously criticised. His doctrine was the 
 doctrine of the free and sovereign grace of God, and was substantially innocent 
 of all peculiarities, although his opponents have devised caricatures which they 
 please to call Calvinism. His writings are singularly free from dogmatism and 
 theory. Conscientious students admit the fairness of his numerous commentaries 
 on the Books of Holy Scripture ; they are carefully and copiously explanatory, 
 rather than studiously and sternly argumentative. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 225 
 
 When the successors of Luther organized a Lutheran party, it became a 
 common artifice to call other adherents of the Reformation Calvinists. Thus in 
 Germany and in the Dutch Republic it might be said, Calvin was French by 
 birth, and Swiss by residence ; and if you propagate his opinions here, you are 
 supplanting what is native by what is alien, and preferring a foreigner to your 
 own countrymen. The historian Motley, abandoning his usual research, and in 
 the very abandonment relying upon his reputation for impartial investigation, has 
 stooped to this artifice, wearisomely insisting on describing the evangelical faith 
 of the Dutch States as Calvinistic. Not merely does he leave the reader to 
 infer that such a faith was a foreign invasion, but he actually lauds each Dutch 
 Arminian as a patriot standing up against the foreigner. 
 
 It requires no research to show that whatever may have been known of the 
 name of Calvin, the man, Calvin, had nothing to do with the internal affairs of 
 the Dutch Church in its contest with Arminius. The Belgic Confession was of 
 home growth. The Belgic Catechism, adopted in preference to the one by 
 Calvin, was the Heidelberg Catechism. Arminius, who was by his own con- 
 fession, as well as in ecclesiastical estimation, an innovator (his sect being called 
 Novatores, or Novantes), was only four years of age when Calvin died ; and the 
 great opponent of the House of Orange, who strangely (perhaps through anti- 
 Calvinistic promptings) is Mr Motley's latest hero, John Barneveldt, was in that 
 year (1564) a youth aged seventeen, Prince Maurice being of a generation 
 then unborn. 
 
 I have not made any study of Calvin's voluminous works for the purposes 
 of my present work ; but he was a great authority with the writers whom I 
 have been memorializing. 
 
 Ebenezer Erskine says : " The assurance I speak of — namely, a persuasion 
 of the promise with appropriation (as the judicious Calvin speaks)— can no more 
 be separated from faith than light can be separated from the sun." 
 
 One of the Prefacers of " Wilson's Christian Dictionary" (1611) writes : " It 
 is a special duty of a good teacher to know and deliver the sound and fit sense of 
 the places and texts of Scripture .... In this behalf, how much the Church 
 of God is beholding to that learned, judicious writer, Mr Calvin, all that are 
 learned do well know and willingly confess. For when he meets with a place 
 wherein he seeth men have made scruples, he doth in the end (after sifting the 
 matter) strike the nail full on the head with his resolute sensus est — this is the 
 sense and meaning of the place" 
 
 2 F 
 
226 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. THOMAS COLE, M.A. 
 
 Thomas, son of William Cole of London, gent., was educated at Westminster 
 Public School, and was thence elected student of Christchurch, Oxford, where 
 he graduated, B.A, 6th November 1649 ; M.A, 8th July 1651. In 1656 he 
 became Principal of St Mary's Hall, Oxford ; and losing this dignity in 1660, he 
 founded a private academy at Nettlebed, Oxfordshire. His final residence was 
 in London, where he became minister of a large congregation of nonconformists 
 and a frequent lecturer on Gospel themes. He published — 
 
 1. A Discourse in the Morning Exercise, on Luke iii. 5, 6, How we may 
 steer an even course between presumption and despair. 
 
 2. A Discourse of Regeneration, Faith, and Repentance, preached at the 
 Merchants' Lecture in Broad Street. 1689. 
 
 3. Sermon on Ephesians i. 19, 20 — (in the Morning Exercise). 
 
 4. Funeral Sermon for Mr Edward West. 
 
 5. A Discourse of Christian Religion in Sundry Points, preached at the 
 Merchants' Lecture in Broad Street. 1692. 
 
 (1.) Christ in us the Hope of glory. 
 
 (2.) What it is to know God in Christ. 
 
 (3.) Christ the only Saviour of His people from sin. 
 
 (4.) Christ the great Redeemer of body and soul. 
 
 (5.) Christ the only Mediator of the New Covenant. 
 
 (6.) Christ the Foundation of our Adoption. 
 
 (7.) The necessity of preaching Christ. 
 
 6. The Incomprehensibleness, by human reason, of Imputed Righteousness 
 for justification. 
 
 Mr Cole was a champion of the Gospel of free grace and a powerful comrade 
 of Mr Robert Trail of London. He preached and wrote against " those who 
 make previous conditions performed by themselves the ground of their faith in 
 Christ for pardon." He protested to them and to all, that " the bare offer and 
 tender of grace, made to sinners in the Gospel, is sufficient to give them a title 
 to it who thankfully accept the offer, though they come without money, have no 
 righteousness of their own to make way for them — coming, as they are, in their 
 nakedness and poverty — casting themselves upon Christ for all — looking for 
 acceptance only in the Beloved." 
 
 He was seized with fatal illness in 1697, and died in September of that 
 year. On his death-bed he was visited by Mr Trail. The two friends conversed 
 pleasantly about the imputed righteousness of Christ. Mr Trail said, "Have you 
 then no kind of repenting that you gave occasion for the contention there has 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 227 
 
 been about this doctrine ?" Mr Cole exclaimed, "Repenting? No; I repent 
 I have been no more vigorous in defending those truths in the confidence of 
 which I die. If I desire to live, it is that I may be more serviceable to Christ 
 in defending His name in the pulpit." Mr Trail continued, " We desire, Sir, to 
 know the peace and comfort ye have from those truths as to your eternal state." 
 " They are my only ground of comfort," Mr Cole replied ; " death would be 
 terrible indeed if it were not for the comfortable assurance faith gives me of 
 eternal life in Christ, and were it not for the abundant flowing in of that life — 
 not what I bring to Christ — but what I derive from Him." A long account of 
 his dying conversations both with Mr Trail and with other persons may be 
 studied in Palmer's " Calamy's Nonconformists' Memorial," vol. i., p. 250. 
 
 Referring to the list I have given of his publications, it is refreshing to see 
 such a Christian exposition of Christian Religion in the volume of 1692. 
 From it and from the volume of 1689 I give a very few extracts : — 
 
 " Did we live more by faith in Christ Jesus, we should quickly see how all 
 good works rise out of that faith by which all true believers are already justified. 
 All that antinomianism that the orthodox preachers of free grace are falsely 
 charged with, lies here — because they maintain (and, I hope, ever will maintain) 
 that the first thing a convinced sinner is to eye, in his turning to God, is the 
 free grace and mercy of God in Christ for the pardon of sin. 
 
 " Evangelical conviction leads him to a reliance upon Christ, in some 
 degree of saving faith, for the pardon of all his sins ; and this faith begets in 
 him a secret hope of pardon, and is the spring of all after sanctification — viz., of 
 mortification of sin, of repentance, and of all new obedience. Let this be re- 
 membered as the main thing we contend about — that we begin our religion at 
 the grace of God, and [do] not think to ground our faith in Christ upon any legal 
 preparations or works of our own." — Page 247 (1692.) 
 
 " Brethren, in common acceptation, when we say, Come to me and I will 
 do this and that for you — pray, who is the doer ? — he that comes to have the 
 thing done ? or he that doth it ? 
 
 " Certainly if coming be a service, in this case, it is a service done to a 
 man's self, and can never be urged as a service done to God. 
 
 " But they further say that this is a conditional service. 
 
 "Why? 
 
 "Because God has commanded us to believe that we may be justified. 
 
 " Commanded us to believe ! And, pray, what is that ? I told you before 
 the meaning of an act of faith — even to renounce our own righteousness, to come 
 in our nakedness and poverty to Christ — without money, or without money's 
 worth — that we may be enriched by Him in all things. Is not this the old, 
 honest, plain, down-right notion of believing ? 
 
228 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " And is this the conditional service required ? Why don't you do it then ? 
 Who is against it ? . . . Hath God required us to believe in Jesus ? Let us 
 know what He means, and do it ; nobody is against it. 
 
 " If that be the conditional service, let them lie low before God, and seem 
 more vile in their own eyes, and cast themselves upon Christ for all. Let them 
 learn to come without money. This is the proper obedience of faith — that 
 obedience which the doctrine of the Gospel doth require. And since you will call 
 this a condition, I say, Why don't you perform it ? 
 
 " Is this the performance of such a condition, according to the sense and 
 meaning of believing — to tell the world that Christ is not our only justifying 
 righteousness — that we must seek for something in ourselves to join with Him 
 — if ever we will be saved ? Is this the condition ? Doth God mean this when 
 He bids me believe in Jesus ? 
 
 " Sirs ! let us not read our Bibles backwards — wresting Scripture to our 
 own destruction. It is strange to me that faith, which is all along in Scripture 
 opposed to works in our justification, and is appointed by God to shut all good 
 works out of justification, should be thus made an inlet to bring all good works 
 into justification." — Treatise of Faith, page 65 (1689.) 
 
 " The doctrine of faith and the doctrine of good works are both very sound 
 Christian doctrines, agreeing very well in their proper place and order. As no 
 man can enter into a state of grace by good works, so no man can conclude himself 
 to be in a state of grace without good works. 'Tis one thing to prove that I am 
 already in a state of grace — another thing, to show how a sinner may now enter 
 into a state of grace, and what is first to be done in order thereunto. 'Tis not 
 said, he that worketh, but he that believeth, shall be saved ; and 'tis the work of 
 God that we believe ; and none but God can bring over the heart of a sinner to 
 trust in Christ ; and under such a faith 'tis impossible not to lead a holy life. 
 
 " We had need be clear and distinct in our conceptions of these things, since 
 our salvation depends upon our right understanding this point. I say, we had 
 need consider what we mean and how we express ourselves, lest instead of trusting 
 in Christ we trust in ourselves, and drop the Gospel whilst we seem to maintain 
 it." — Page 395 (1692). 
 
 " There is much preaching and much hearing in this city, but what comes 
 on't ? Truly if faith does not come, nothing comes that will turn of any good account 
 to you. The apostles in the primitive times so spake that many believed (Acts 
 xiv. 1) ; with that evidence and power their words had a special accent in the 
 ears and hearts of those that heard them. God gave a signal testimony to the 
 word of His grace; then fear came upon every soul (Acts ii. 43). Those who 
 were not savingly wrought upon were greatly astonished at the doctrine of the 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 229 
 
 Gospel. 'Tis otherwise now. How little of this astonishment does appear in our 
 assemblies ! Where is this fear that came upon every soul ? 'Twas short of 
 faith ; yet I am persuaded, when faith comes in some open eminent conversion, 
 that the whole assembly is usually struck with some present fear. The Word 
 comes like a mighty rushing wind into the congregation — -shakes all, when 'tis 
 about to convert one. Something like this may be observed in the Acts of the 
 Apostles and other passages in the New Testament. It is fit that grace should 
 be solemnly attended, when it goes forth to the public conversion though but of 
 one soul. If God intends the coming of faith into any of your hearts this day, 
 He '11 come along with His work. He will prepare the way, He '11 bless your 
 hearing, and speak something inwardly to you from Himself, that shall incline 
 your hearts to believe the Gospel. Though God speaks by the ministry of man, 
 yet His voice is distinct from ours, and begins where that ends, carrying the word 
 from the ear to the heart, there leaving it under those mixtures of faith that 
 make it work effectually. Hear, I beseech you, with diligence, lest you obstruct the 
 coming of faith by not attending to what shall be spoken to you in the name of 
 the Lord. ' So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ' 
 (Rom. x. 17)." — Discourse of Faith, page 4 (1689). 
 
 REV. JOHN COLQUHOUN, D.D. 
 
 John Colquhoun, the son of a small farmer in the parish of Luss, was born 1st 
 January 1748. His school education was received in the school at Muirland, 
 belonging to the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland. 
 The master, as a faithful servant of the Society, laboured for the elementary 
 English education and true Christianization of his pupils. It was through his 
 catechetical examinations and personal applications of the answer to the question, 
 " What is effectual calling ? " that John Colquhoun was converted. He also 
 recommended him to read Boston's "Fourfold State," and John walked to Glasgow 
 and back (altogether a journey of fifty miles) and bought the book. A neighbour- 
 ing farmer strongly advised him to study for the ministry. After mastering the 
 rudiments of Latin, John became a student of Glasgow University in the year 
 1768, at the age of twenty. His zeal for a thorough preparation for the sacred 
 office led him to spend ten years in Glasgow, and another year at Edinburgh 
 University. He was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of Glasgow 2nd 
 August 1780. He was ordained on 22nd March 1781 minister of the New 
 
230 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Kirk (afterwards called St John's Church) in Leith. He was by this time a ripe 
 scholar and an experienced man and Christian. His was the life of a diligent 
 and successful minister, a valued friend and correspondent, and a public-spirited 
 citizen. His reputation obtained for him the degree of D.D. from the Marischal 
 College and University of Aberdeen in November 1811. 
 
 It was at the age of sixty-five that Dr Colquhoun became an author, by 
 publishing " A Treatise on Spiritual Comfort," Edin., 1813. The success of this 
 essay led to frequent successive publications, viz. : " A Treatise on the Law and 
 the Gospel," 1st edition, 1816 ; 2nd edition, 1819. "A Treatise on the Cove- 
 nant of Grace," 1818. "A Catechism for the instruction and direction of young 
 communicants," 1821. "A Treatise on the Covenant of Works," 1821. "A 
 view of saving faith from the sacred records," 1824. "A view of evangelical 
 repentance from the sacred records," 1825. "A Collection of the Promises of 
 the Gospel, arranged under their proper heads, with reflections and exhortations 
 deduced from them," 1825. 
 
 In his sermons and writings Dr Colquhoun was a disciple (as he had been 
 in boyhood) of Boston of Ettrick. His most original work was the " Treatise on 
 Spiritual Comfort," 1st edition, 1813 ; 2nd edition, 1814 ; 3rd edition, 1822. 
 
 He preached his last sermon on 18th November 1826, but he survived in 
 feebleness of body, though strong in faith, until 27th November ] 827. He 
 nearly completed his eightieth year. 
 
 In 1836, a very brief memoir, introducing a volume of his sermons, was 
 published. The following is a paragraph from his Sermon on Justification : — 
 
 " Faith does not justify as an act or work ; for in the article of justification 
 it is distinguished from works. But it justifies — 
 
 " (1.) Relatively. A sinner is not said to be justified for faith, but only 
 by faith. Faith justifies in relation to Christ and His righteousness — justifies as 
 it is a bond of that union with Jesus Christ, upon which the believing sinner has 
 communion with Him and His righteousness. 
 
 " (2.) Instrumentally. It, and no other grace, is the instrument 
 appointed in the eternal covenant for applying the righteousness of Christ to the 
 conscience. It is the very office of faith to appropriate and present this glorious 
 righteousness as the only ground of title to justification. As the hand is said to 
 nourish, because it is the instrument of applying food to the body, so faith j ustifies 
 as the hand or instrument of applying the Redeemer's righteousness to the 
 soul. 
 
 " (3.) Objectively. It is not the act but the object — it is not faith it- 
 self, but the righteousness which it appropriates and on which it relies — that 
 justifies. A sinner is justified before God, not by the act of receiving, but by the 
 righteousness received. When we read in Scripture that the faith of the 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 231 
 
 believer is counted to him for x righteousness, the meaning is not that the act, 
 but that the object of faith, is so accounted to him — the righteousness on which 
 it relies is accounted, in law, his righteousness. It is usual in the Scriptures 
 often to put the act of the mind for the object on which it terminates. In 1 Tim. i. 
 4, Christ is called our hope, that is, the object of our hope. In Heb. vi. 18, 
 believers are said to lay hold upon the hope set before them, that is, the object of 
 hope. When believers, then, are said to be justified by faith, the meaning is, by 
 the object of faith ; and faith is said to be counted for righteousness, it is the 
 object of it which is so counted. Add to this — if the believer were counted 
 righteous for the sake of his faith, he might depend on his faith for justification ; 
 and then there would be as many righteousnesses as there would be of persons 
 justified. But the righteousness by which many are justified is the obedience of 
 One (Rom. v. 19). 
 
 "Faith, then, justifies relatively, instrumentally, and objectively. But why 
 is faith, rather than any other spiritual grace, thus said in Scripture to justify ? 
 Faith alone has been selected to be the instrument of justification, that the glory 
 of redeeming grace might the more illustriously shine. ' Therefore it is of faith, 
 that it might be by grace' (Rom. iv. 16). It is of the nature of faith, only to 
 receive, but of the other graces, only to give. It is the property of faith never 
 to present itself as a condition, but to receive the spotless righteousness offered 
 in the Gospel as the only condition of a man's justification." 
 
 WILLIAM COWARD, ESQ. 
 
 In my Book I., Part I., Chapter 7, I have described the Coward Lectureship, and 
 the sermons published in connection with it in the year 1729. The sermons 
 were preached in London at Little St Hellen's, and it was a weekly lecture, 
 " founded and maintained by his sole generosity." It is probable that Mr 
 Coward belonged to a once influential family of the city of Wells in Somerset- 
 shire. This family came from Wiltshire, the first on record in that county being 
 Robert Coward, whose will was made in 1576. His son, John (who died 1590), 
 married Catharine, daughter of Thomas Leigh, Esq., of Wells. 
 
 [} I think that scholars might give a fuller solution of the difficulty regarding the sentence 
 " his faith was counted for righteousness," by observing that the preposition "for " is not anti 
 (instead of), but eis (with a view to). — D. C. A. A.] 
 
232 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 / 1- 1 , , K (l ^ x > = Catharine, daughter of Thomas 
 (died i&ju.) j { Leigh> Esq ^ of WeUs _ 
 
 Thomas Coward = Mary, daughter of William 
 Walkyns, Esq., of Wells. 
 
 I I I 
 
 Thomas Coward William Coward ) _ c ATHARIXE Eev. Chris. Coward, D.D., 
 (born 1600), (born 1601). j - ^,,,, nfWnmn. Rector of Ditcheat. 
 
 unmarried. 
 
 daug. of Thomas 
 Dodington, Esq. 
 
 William Coward, of Wells and 
 of Lincoln's Inn, Esq [Serjeant-at-law, f Bridget, daughter 
 elected, six times, MP for Wells f | of Sir Thomas Hall 
 (born 1635, died 1705). 
 
 William Coward, Esq. 
 (often called Colonel William Coward), ( 
 M.P. for WeUs. 
 
 (born 1666). 
 
 f 
 
 An only child and heiress, 
 Bridget = Hon. George Hamilton, M.P. for Wells, 
 son of the Earl of Abercorn. 
 
 Colonel Coward kept up an establishment in the family mansion at Wells, 
 but resided mostly in London. He probably was the founder of the lectureship. 
 In those days an officer, when unemployed, was considered out of the army, and 
 was addressed by letter, and described in print, as an " Esquire." This " William 
 Coward, Esq.," in the year 1729, must have been sixty-three years old — an age 
 which in this century would not bring him under the definition of "an aged gentle- 
 man;" but the habits of last century were different from the present. The only 
 memorial of the family in Wells is a burial-place in the Parish Church of St 
 Cuthbert's, often called Coward's Chapel. 
 
 REV. TOBIAS CRISP, D.D. 
 
 Dr Crisp and his writings, apart from much later controversies, belong to the 
 Established Church of England. His popularity with nonconformists, and his 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 233 
 
 unpopularity with ungodly cavaliers and their soldiers, both arose from his being 
 one of the noble army of Doctrinal Puritans. His father was Ellis Crisp, Esq., 
 of London. Tobias was the third son, born in London in 1600, and educated 
 at Eton and Cambridge, leaving his college as B.A. In February 1626 he 
 removed to Oxford and was incorporated as B.A. of that University, and as a 
 member of Baliol College; he proceeded to the degree of M.A. in 1627. In 
 that year he was settled over the parish of Brinkworth in Wiltshire, and for 
 fifteen years discharged the duties of rector of that parish, where (says Anthony 
 a Wood) " he was much followed for his edifying way of preaching and for his 
 great hospitality to all persons that resorted to his house." Having a good share 
 of this world's wealth, and being happy in preaching Christ to his congregation, 
 he refused all promotion, except the degree of D.D. (probably from Oxford). 
 That he had sufficient interest to procure ecclesiastical advancement appears from 
 the case of his brother Nicolas, who was knighted by King Charles I., and was 
 created a baronet by Charles II. in 1665. The occasion of Dr Crisp's removal 
 to London in August 1642, was his fears of "the insolencies of the soldiers, 
 especially of the cavaliers." He had preached " the freeness of the grace of God 
 in Christ to poor sinners" at Brinkworth ; and the enthusiastic fervour and 
 vigour of his preaching soon aroused attention in the great metropolis, and the 
 opposition of a great band of theologians. There seems to have been a public 
 disputation where he (according to A. W.) " was baited by fifty-two opponents." 
 His sojourn in the city, though ever memorable, was brief, and reckoned by months 
 only; for he died on the following February 27th, 1642 (old style), but 1643 
 (new style). A. W. says that the excitement of the theological controversy 1 
 occasioned his death. Probably bodily and mental exhaustion made him all the 
 more susceptible of the infection of small-pox, to which disease he succumbed. 
 He died in perfect peace with the Saviour of sinners ; his last words were, 
 " Where are all those that dispute against the free grace of God, and what I have 
 taught thereof? I am now ready to answer them all." 
 
 Although (as has been related) Dr Crisp's preaching, and his sermons 
 posthumously printed, occasioned controversy in his times, yet the great con- 
 troversy with which his name was connected was in the reign of William III. 
 The accusation that he was an Antinomian Divine, or a preacher of the harmony 
 of grace and licentiousness, cannot be maintained by any who have studied either 
 his life or his sermons. The only charge that will hold water is what an 
 excellent writer 2 calls " the fault" of " approaching too near to Antinomianism ;" 
 for, as has been said with evident truth, " that he went into real Antinomianism 
 
 1 1 am not sure that there was a public disputation. Bishop Bull's biographer says, " Most 
 of the pulpits of London were hotly contesting and fighting about the grace of God and the 
 method of man's justification by it," page 161. 
 
 2 Rev. James Anderson, in " The Martyrs of the Bass," page 229. 
 
 2 G 
 
231 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 must be denied ; his sermons upon Free grace the teacher of good works, and 
 The use of the Law, with others, abundantly prove the contrary." 1 
 
 Dr Ridgley complains that Dr Crisp was not more cautious in explaining 
 his sentiments, and in carrying out his alleged design of bearing testimony 
 against Arminianism, which in the days of Laud was propagated in England by 
 persons of great influence. He admits that Dr Crisp's practice was far remote 
 from Antinomianism. As to Antinomian doctrines, as ably and usefully summed 
 up by Dr Ridgley, the only one with which Dr Crisp is chargeable, may seem to 
 occur in such a sentence as the following : — " All his [a believer's] sins shall be 
 done away ; he shall not receive any hurt at all by them." Yet even as to this 
 phrase it can be easily explained that it refers to hurt to the believer's inherit- 
 ance or patrimony, and not to hurt to his character and moral sense. A pro- 
 digal through his father's bountiful provision may have done himself no hurt, in 
 the sense that his inheritance is safe. " The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of 
 God cleanseth us from all sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with 
 the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." [Not to prolong this biographical 
 article, I refer the reader for this and similar discussions to other memoirs in this 
 work. — See Ridgley.] 
 
 The most favourable impression of Dr Crisp is obtained by examining the 
 opinions advocated in opposition to his, and proposed to be substituted for his. 
 The contrast is all in his favour. Some learned arbiters of the Established 
 Church were unable to perceive any difference between the combatants regarding 
 the righteousness and atonement of Christ, and expressed a suspicion as to the 
 controversy that there must be something behind it — some irritating sore not 
 brought to view. There was something behind — namely, the encouragement (by 
 one party) and the discouragement (by the other party) of poor sinners going to 
 Christ just as they are. The opponents of Crisp's sermons could state accurately 
 the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel concerning Christ and Christianity ; but 
 they offered comfort to the godly only and not to the ungodly. Theirs was a 
 course of instructions for Christian congregations regarded as good people ; they 
 had no offers for sinners — no robe for the prodigal — no fountain for the leper. 
 The same question, as old Anthony a Wood had stated it, continued to be 
 agitated in the following generation — namely, the freeness of the grace of God 
 in Christ for poor sinners. And (as a memoir, formerly quoted, 2 truly says) " in 
 opposing the opinions of Dr Crisp, they (the opponents) condemned some important 
 truths of the Gospel as Antinomian." By such condemnation they condemned 
 themselves, and have prepossessed all fair investigators in favour of Dr Crisp. 
 
 An error of mysterious and alarming sound was charged upon Dr Crisp — 
 namely, the permutation of persons, or commutation of persons. If the perplexed 
 
 1 " Life of Crisp " (prefixed to an edition of his sermons), by John Gill, D.D. 
 " The Martyrs of the Bass." 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 2 35 
 
 reader inquires with wonder what this heresy can be, a historian tells him, it is 
 " actually to make a Saviour of the sinner, and a sinner of the Saviour." 1 I 
 have read Dr Crisp's sermons (which this historian and his copyists apparently 
 have not), and there is no declaration in them which is as strong as the following 
 by Luther : " Faith without adulteration must be taught, because by it thou 
 mayest be so cemented with Christ that out of thee and Him there may be made 
 one person that cannot be separated, but eternally coheres ; that with confidence 
 thou mayest be able to say, / am Christ — that is, Christ's righteousness is mine, 
 His victory is mine, His existence is mine, &c. And, conversely, Christ may say, 
 / am that sinner — that is, his sins are Mine, his death is Mine, &c., because he 
 adheres to Me, and I to him. We have been joined by faith into one flesh and 
 bone (Eph. v. 30) — we are members of Christ's body, of His flesh and of His 
 bones. This faith unites me to Christ more closely than a husband is joined to 
 his wife. So this faith is not a trifling quality, but its magnitude is such that it 
 obscures and entirely sweeps away those most senseless dreams of sophistical 
 doctrine concerning the satisfaction (atonement) made by inwrought faith and 
 charity, concerning merits, concerning worth or qualities of our own, &c." 
 (Quoted by Seckendorf, Index III., year 15 35, in a chronological list of Luther's 
 writings.) Crisp's alleged heresy is thus the Apostle's doctrine that " Christ was 
 made sin," and that believers are " the righteousness of God " — the old scriptural 
 doctrine taught by the Reformers, by "judicious Hooker," &c. — [See Hooker.] 
 
 Another alleged heresy was that God the Judge feels no wrath with 
 believers even on account of their sins, and deals out no vengeance upon them. 
 Dr Crisp admitted God's anger agaiust sin, and His fatherly chastisement of 
 believers, so that he said no more than what gospel preachers say now ; some- 
 thing both of his thought and energy of speech may be seen in their printed 
 pages, opened almost at random. Who, for instance, would charge Mr Spurgeon 
 with heresy on account of the following passage ? " For the Christian there is 
 no stroke from God's angry hand — nay, not as much as a single frown of p*Hjni- 
 tive justice. The believer may be chastised by his Father, but God the Judge 
 hath nothing to say to the Christian except I have absolved thee, thou art 
 acquitted. For the Christian there is no penal death in this world, much less 
 any second death." 2 Orthodox doctrine admitted all this before the publication 
 of Dr Crisp's sermons. The Doctor startled mere theorizers by his administra- 
 tion of personal consolation, founded upon the old doctrine, 3 but administered to 
 each individual inquiring sinner with a freeness and a tenderness altogether new. 
 — [As to the old doctrine, see Reynolds.] 
 
 It was charged against Dr Crisp as an error, that he denied that faith is 
 
 1 " History of Dissenters," by Bogue and Bennett, Vol. I., page 408. 
 
 2 Spurgeon's " Evening by Evening," July 27. 
 
 3 Afflictiones temporales fideliuni non sunt poena? peccati proprie dicta?. — Marckius. 
 
236 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 the condition upon which the Lord Jesus Christ accepts a sinner, and that he 
 considered this denial to be essential to the truth that salvation is unconditional. 
 In sermon VI., " The New Covenant of Free Grace," he enlarges upon the axiom, 
 Faith is not the condition of the covenant. To meet the charge of heresy, it is 
 sufficient to say as to gospel preachers, that although some may approve of the 
 word condition, all agree in condemning the thing that Dr Crisp had before his 
 mind. It is only a question of phraseology ; [see Cross]. But if any readers 
 suspect that there is an error, 1 Dr Gill has undertaken Dr Crisp's defence ; 
 [see Gill]. 
 
 The conclusion is that Dr Crisp was bent upon proclaiming the truth, that 
 consolation is the first aspect of Christ's gospel ; and that this gospel is for a 
 sinner, for all comers, " any man," " whosoever will." He had eternal truth on 
 his side ; and, both as a preacher and an author, he had success in his labour. 
 The great Dr Twisse, 2 President of the Westminster Assembly, said to the Rev. 
 Christopher Fowler : " Having read Dr Crisp's sermons, I can see no reason why 
 they have been opposed, except that so many souls were converted by his preach- 
 ing, and so few by ours." 
 
 Dr Crisp once preached by appoiutment " before the honourable House of 
 Commons assembled in Parliament." There he boldly declared the same gospel 
 that he preached at home. It was a fast-day, 3 and his theme was that " men's 
 own righteousness is their grand idol." His text was a portion of the Apostle 
 Paul's animadversions upon his own nation : " They being ignorant of God's 
 righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not 
 submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." He said to the honourable 
 members, " The Jews were not so easily misled, as we are apt to follow them 
 having gone before us ; we are like sheep, leaping without looking, if any leap 
 before us." The righteousness of God, spoken of in his text, Dr Crisp defined to 
 be the righteousness of Christ ; because (he said) " the righteousness that God 
 aims at is a perfect righteousness, a righteousness that reaches to the very end of 
 the law ; your righteousness can never reach to the end of the law, it is Christ's 
 alone that doth." In explaining the special theme of his sermon, the preacher 
 said : " When we put upon our own righteousness that which should have been 
 put upon God's only — when we make our own righteousness the sanctuary and 
 refuge that only God's righteousness should be — then our righteousness is set up 
 as a grand idol. ... If we expect that our own righteousness should bring 
 
 1 " The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in that He freely provideth, and 
 offereth to sinners, a Mediator, and life and salvation by Him, and requiring faith as the condi- 
 tion to interest them in Him." — "Westminster Larger Catechism," Q. 32. 
 
 2 For information regarding Dr Twisse, see Colonel Chester's " Westminster Abbey Regis- 
 ters," page 140. 
 
 3 Sermon IX. in Dr Crisp's " Christ alone Exalted," Vol. I. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 237 
 
 down a gracious answer from God to our spirit — that, when we have done our 
 work, our righteousness must, in effect, be our mediator and messenger from God, 
 and as our righteousness will speak, so shall we either have peace or remain in 
 bitterness of spirit — what can the righteousness of God Himself do more 
 than this ? " 
 
 REV. WALTER CROSS, M.A. 
 
 This venerable and learned divine was a London minister, who presided over the 
 Independent Church of Ropemakers' Alley, Moorfields. I am not informed where 
 he was born or received his education. His scholarship was accurate and exten- 
 sive, and he died at an advanced age in 1 701. 
 
 He published a tract (price sixpence) entitled " A Compend of the Cove- 
 nant of Grace," and also a Discourse on Romans iv. 1. That was before 1694, 
 in which year he produced a quarto volume of 166 pages, entitled, " An Exposi- 
 tion of the Second Verse of the Fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, 
 with an Appendix on Chap, iii., ver. 27 — the former being the sum of Fifteen 
 Sermons, the latter of Five, for further explication of that Great Doctrine of 
 Justification." He also contributed a pamphlet of 66 pages to the controversy 
 connected with Crisp's Sermons, the title-page of which is usefully descriptive : 
 The instrumentality of faith asserted, proved, explained — compared with and pre- 
 ferred to a conditional relation thereof (in order to pardon and happiness) when 
 strictly taken in a legal or fcederal sense." London, 1695. In 1697, April 7, 
 he preached in the chapel in Devonshire Square a Funeral Sermon on Mrs 
 C. Ward (?) of East Smithfield. His great work was published in 1698 — "The 
 Taghmical Art ; " or, The Art of expounding Scripture by the Hebrew Points. 
 
 The conclusion of his volume of 1694 is: "We may say with the old 
 Rabbins, When the Messias comes, He will solve all doubts. His coming in here 
 [in the interpretation of the phrase ' the law of faith '] removes all these diffi- 
 culties [as to boasting being excluded thereby]. For [the fact] that we are not 
 justified by our own righteousness, but [by] His — by a law wrought out, not by 
 us, but by Him, and proposed to our faith — removes all boasting, establishes the 
 law, glorifies God, saves the sinner. And it is considerable, that the first 
 dawning of the gospel entirely placed the equity in the change of 'persons — ' the 
 seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent ' — that He should have 
 His heel or humanity bruised, suffer the curse of the law, and He should bruise 
 and trample on Satan's headship, free us from his sinful drudgery by His royal 
 power. Lord hasten His kingdom of light and love." 
 
 It is on account of his Pamphlet of 1695 that this Memoir of him has been 
 
238 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 written. His text was Hebrews xi. 1. He says : "Faith is an instrument (so 
 Dr Owen and others before him) of substantiating hoped-for things and evidencing 
 things unseen. Others think that the word foundation (or, principle) may be 
 understood. . . . Yet they mean an instrumental foundation, such as planks in 
 sandy or moorish ground. Our hopes are liable to many infirmities, waverings, 
 and doubtings ; but faith is a pillar that underprops. Hopes of heaven without 
 faith to support them are vain. (See Confession of Faith, chap, ii., Larger 
 Catechism.) . . . Article XI. of the Church of England says, ' That we are 
 justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as 
 is more largely expressed in the Homily of Justification.' The which Homily 
 says, ' It's not the act of faith that justifies — that were by some act or virtue 
 that is within ourselves.' "■ — Page 7. 
 
 The author explains his title-page to this effect : — That in the economy of 
 salvation faith bears the part of an instrument is a very discriminating doctrine. 
 Socinians, Arians, and Papists, however they differ about explaining its condition- 
 ality, agree in the thing, that faith is, properly and in a law-sense, a condition. 
 Protestants, on the other hand, say, if condition be taken so largely as to signify 
 connection, priority, or instrumentality, faith may be called a condition, bid not 
 otherwise. — Page 6. 
 
 The Pamphlet shows the obscurity and inconvenience of the word "con- 
 dition " in preaching the Gospel, because it is a word that naturally suggests " a 
 law-sense." He explains faith to be " a luminous instrument " resembling the 
 eye in the human body, and reason as to sublunary matters. 
 
 " Faith is a most excellent telescope ; we can see through all the heaven of 
 heavens by it ; we can see from eternity to eternity by it. Abraham's aged eye 
 
 could see Christ's day afar off, and Moses could see Him who is invisible 
 
 It's the only instrument we can savingly see or know a God by. It may be left 
 among the Problems of Divinity, whether saving faith and heavenly vision differ 
 in kind, or in degree only. The Apostle explains 'Now abideth faith' thus, that 
 when perfection comes, that which is in part perishes. Vision is faith in perfec- 
 tion, they differ as the seed and tree ; faith here is a grain of mustard-seed in 
 comparison of that vast tree as it is in perfection. No grace perishes ; all the 
 good work wrought in the soul is to be perfected, not destroyed ; he that hath 
 begun a good work will perfect it unto the day of Christ. But this is certainly 
 supposed, that there is another way of seeing than by faith, and that there are 
 some means we can see other things by that are not faith's peculiar object ; for 
 it's reckoned faith's excellency to evidence and demonstrate what other means 
 cannot reveal or discover." — Page 24. 
 
 The Pamphlet concludes by showing that any term of art, being more or less 
 metaphysical, must describe divine things more or less obscurely — but maintains 
 that among terms of art, " an instrument " is the most proper term to define faith's 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 239 
 
 influence in the soul's salvation, especially as the Scriptures declare, It is of faith 
 that it might be by grace (Rom. iv. 1G). The general nature of an instrument is 
 a passive fitness to subserve an end — "a Magnifying Glass, or Prospective, has not 
 greater fitness to help onr weak eye, than Faith our weak understanding." — Page 6 2. 
 
 Although offered to controversialists for study, the Pamphlet is not con- 
 troversial. But I find in the volume of 1694 an allusion to the notion that 
 faith is obedience to a new law, and that all who do not acknowledge a new law 
 in the New Testament are Antinomians. Mr Cross turns the tables upon the 
 champions of this notion by showing how it has led men into actual Anti- 
 nomianism : — " This doctrine opens a door to Antinomianism, and history tells us 
 it [Antinomianism] sprung from such a mistake that faith and repentance were 
 taught and commanded by the Gospel, and they contained all [that was] neces- 
 sary to salvation, so the law was needless." — Page 165. 
 
 The Dedication of the Pamphlet is interesting to persons curious in family 
 history. There is the English surname of Thompson which is numerously or in- 
 numerably represented. Scotch families spell the name Thomson, and it is to 
 persons connected with them that the Pamphlet is dedicated : — 
 
 " To the truly honourable and nobly accomplished Sir John Thomson, Kt. 
 Baronet, patriot of his country and chief of his family. 
 
 " To the right honourable lady My Lady Frances Thomson, daughter to the 
 late Earl of Anglesea, a consiliis sacris et sigillo privato Caroli II. Regis. 
 
 To the much respected and renowned William Thomson, Captain, and his 
 beloved consort Katharine Thomson, daughter to the late famous general, Lieu- 
 tenant-General Drummond. 
 
 " To all the honourable and honest families of that numerous, ancient, and 
 honest name of Thomson, especially the branches of the four famous merchants 
 and brothers in the city of London. 
 
 " Grace, Mercy, and Peace." 
 
 A separate paragraph is devoted to each of the first three. The fourth runs 
 thus : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, — There is no name better known to me than yours ; some 
 in Scotland very ancient families, if the antiquaries' rule be true, your name is 
 older than the use of surname — some in the north of England very numerous, in 
 Germany some soldiers of great valour — some Divines of great learning in Scot- 
 land and England — four noted writers at one time— some merchants of great 
 riches as the four famous brothers, Mr Maurice, the Colonel, Sir William, and the 
 Major, who found the stone their father in vain sought long for. But though 
 neither divinity nor morality consist in names, I never observed any name, that 
 uprightness and integrity did accompany with fewer exceptions and generally a 
 love to religion, than the name of Thomson. But as there is a name better 
 than the name of sons and daughters so than this of yours — to be sons of 
 
2 + THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 God, called by His name and callers on it — -that this may be more generally your 
 privilege, and that this small treatise of the feu of heaven, the fee of felicity, 
 the hold of happiness, and tenure of eternity, may contribute to entitle you to 
 this inheritance and give you comfortable evidence of it, is and shall be prayer of 
 Your Minister in Gospel Service, Walter Cross." 
 
 REV. WILLIAM CUDWORTH. 
 
 Mr Cudworth was for many years the pastor of a Congregational Church in 
 Norwich. His little work, entitled " Aphorisms concerning the Assurance of 
 Faith," is valuable, and has been constantly reprinted. Though not at all 
 extreme, he was viewed, and almost disliked, as a Calvinist by Wesley ; but 
 Whitefield was his friend, and visited him at Norwich. His great friend and 
 correspondent was the sainted James Hervey, at whose rectory he was a frequent 
 visitor. Their correspondence began in 1755, "Avhen (says Mr Cudworth) I per- 
 ceived by his first edition of ' Theron and Aspasio ' that he had so publicly 
 espoused the truths for which I had incurred the displeasure of many of his pro- 
 fessed friends and admirers, I wrote him signifying my fellowship with him in the 
 despised truth." Mr Cudworth gave great assistance in revising " Theron and 
 Aspasio " for a new edition. With regard to the " Aphorisms " Hervey wrote to 
 him in 1757 : " If I should be able to publish a fourth volume of 'Dialogues,' I 
 propose to have one conference on the assurance of faith — to state it more clearly 
 and to establish it more strongly. In this I shall be glad to borrow several of 
 your thoughts, and will make my acknowledgments accordingly, declaring at the 
 same time my opinion of the piece which lends me such valuable assistance." 
 Ten days before Mr Hervey's death, he received a line from him: " December 15 
 [1758]. Dear Mr Cudworth, I am so weak I am scarce able to write my name. 
 J. Hervey." During the last years of his life Mr Cudworth was pastor of a 
 chapel in Margaret Street, Oxford Road, London, in which city he died in the year 
 1763, " in the comforts of the doctrines of grace, leaving behind him a 
 character for eminent holiness and integrity " (says Lady Huntingdon's 
 biographer). 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 241 
 
 REV. HENRY DAVIDSON, M.A. 
 
 Henry Davidson, only son of a gardener in the parish of Eckford, near Kelso, 
 was born in 1687. His father, observing his talents and early piety, sent him 
 not only to the parish school but also to the University of Edinburgh. At the 
 close of his literary curriculum he took the degree of M.A., 27th April 1705. 
 Thereafter he pursued his theological studies, and was licensed as a preacher by 
 the Presbytery of Jedburgh 5th March 1712. The congregation of Galashiels 
 gave him a unanimous call on 10th August 1714, and he was ordained over that 
 parish by the Presbytery of Selkirk on 21st December following. He is chiefly 
 known as the intimate friend of Boston of Ettrick and Wilson of Maxton. By 
 the former he is eulogized as " a man of great gravity, piety, and tenderness — 
 learned and judicious — well acquainted with books — a great preacher, delivering iu 
 a taking manner masterly thoughts in an unaffected elevated style — endowed with 
 a gift of prayer in heavenly oratory beyond any man that ever I knew — extremely 
 modest and reserved in his temper, but a kind and affectionate friend." In 1721 
 Mr Davidson signed the representation against the General Assembly's Act of 
 1720 on "The Marrow," and shared in the ecclesiastical persecution. He was a 
 great sufferer from bad health, and he also deeply felt his family bereave- 
 ments, as to which he wrote in 1755 : "I have often known the heart of a 
 mourner by means of the loss of three of my nearest relations, and the removal 
 of several of my most intimate friends." He married, on 23rd February 1727, 
 Katharine Scott, a lady of a very respectable family in the neighbourhood, but 
 she died in child-bed on the Oth day of the February following. On 27th 
 February 1732 he preached a funeral sermon on his mother from the text 
 Daniel xii. 13, " But go thou thy way till the end be : for thou shalt rest, and 
 stand in thy lot at the end of the days." In May of the same year Boston 
 died ; his other special friend, Wilson, survived till 1750. It was in 1732 that 
 the flood of subserviency to lay-patronage and to the domination of the world 
 over the church set in with vehemence. Mr Davidson did not join with Ebenezer 
 Erskine and his section of the Marrow-men, when they formed an Associate 
 Presbytery outside of the Establishment. But the severe measures pursued against 
 the Seceders certainly increased Mr Davidson's irritation against the Presbyterian 
 Church Courts of his clay. And the result was that he, with his friend Wilson, 
 adopted the principles of the Independents, and formed a small Independent 
 congregation at Maxton (numbering twenty-four members), to whom they 
 preached and administered the Lord 's Supper on Sabbath evenings. Mr Davidson 
 offered to resign his parochial charge, but the Presbytery requested him to retain 
 
 2 H 
 
242 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 it ; * the only actual irregularity was that he ceased to administer the Lord's 
 Supper in the parish church. Mr Davidson thus resided and did the other duties 
 of the charge, as far as health would permit, until his death on 24th October 
 1756, aged sixty-nine. He was (said the Scots Magazine) the last liver of the 
 twelve ministers, commonly called the twelve apostles. 
 
 In 1811 there was published a volume of his "Letters to Christian 
 Friends." One of his letters, which is on consolation under bereavement, has 
 the following sentences : — 
 
 " Providence sends afflictions as so many workmen to make the crown 
 more massy and bright ; they work for us (2 Cor. iv. 17)." 
 
 " We know that all things work together for good to them that love God ; 
 we know — we don't guess and conjecture so ; we have an infallible assurance of 
 it (Rom. viii. 28)." 
 
 " Something remains to the saints when they have lost all they can lose. 
 He has more remaining than what he loseth. All created things here are by a 
 lease : we have a lease of relations, friends, and other earthly things for so many 
 years ; and when that time expires, then we must part with them. The mov- 
 ables are gone ; but the inheritance, Christ with His grace and glory, remains for 
 ever to the heirs of heaven : it cannot be taken from them. There is not only 
 an overbalancing fulness, but a direct supply in Jesus Christ for all thy losses, to 
 fill up the blank made by Providence." 
 
 It is generally stated that Mr Davidson left no sermons behind ; but Dr 
 Scott mentions two publications : " The fulness of the Godhead dwelling in 
 Christ," a sermon ; " Dark Providences to be admired, not curiously pried into," 
 two sermons. These I have not seen, and therefore have made the following 
 extracts from the note-book 2 of one of his hearers : — 
 
 " Looking to Christ's sufferings without taking a look of our own sins is 
 no better than looking to a crucifix. — (26 Aug. 1717). 
 
 " Believing communicants, it is possibly midnight with some of you, but 
 even in that case, cast not away your confidence. It is the time of your Friend's 
 coming. He comes at midnight, when all is darkness within and without ; when 
 
 1 Personal respect and weariness of strife may account for the Presbytery's forbearance. 
 But when the Church of Scotland became harsher towards the founders of an opposition Presby- 
 tery, it became lenient towards Congregationalists. The General Assembly of 1739 took off the 
 sentence of deposition pronounced upon Mr John Glas, minister of Tealing in 1730, for holding 
 the principles of Independency, and restored him to the character and exercise of a minister of 
 the Gospel of Christ ; but declared that "he is not to be esteemed a minister of the Established 
 Church of Scotland, or capable to be called and settled therein, until he shall renounce the 
 principles embraced and avowed by him that are inconsistent with the constitution of this 
 Church." — Scots Magazine, Vol. I. 
 
 ' l John Blackhall's MS. Volume, in Edinburgh New College Library. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 243 
 
 candles are put out, then says Christ, ' I'll go [and] visit My child, for it is 
 dark.'— (2nd Oct. 1730.) 
 
 " Here is blood — conscience-and-justice-satisfying blood. Here is blood for 
 the foundation of your peace with God, peace with conscience, peace spoken in 
 the Gospel by the Spirit of God. The natural conscience speaks peace from a 
 false court of a covenant of works. — (2nd Oct. 1730.) 
 
 " It has been often known and felt by Christ's people that it has been better 
 with them when in the class of waiters than in the class of enjoyers ; as it was 
 with David — he flourished more in grace and holiness before he obtained the 
 kingdom when he was kept waiting, than after. — (14th June 1731.) 
 
 "Says our Blessed Lord (John vi. 29), 'This is the great work that ye 
 believe on the Son of God ; ' this is the work of works, preparatory to all good 
 works. — (1st Aug. 1731.) 
 
 " Believe on Him whom He hath sent — that is, give credit to His message, 
 to His word ; and trust in Him that He'll make it good to you, and to you 
 in particular. — (Ibid). 
 
 " For the Lord's sake, beware of resting upon the Father's external sending 
 of Christ to you ; be not satisfied without [unless] Christ be in you. There are 
 some that rest upon the Father's sending the Son into the world, and are at no 
 pains of getting Him in their hearts by the Spirit of faith. — (8th Aug. 1731.) 
 
 " The Lord is calling out of heaven to you, and to every one of you, as He 
 did to the Corinthians, ' Be ye reconciled to God.' By faith embrace the message 
 of reconciliation, give credit to the word of reconciliation ; God is requiring you 
 to trust and place your confidence in Him as reconciling the world to Himself. 
 He is beseeching you — an astonishing word. Herein God stoops low ; He can 
 stoop no lower. Nothing like this was offered to angels, and nothing beyond this 
 can be said to men ; as if He said, ' If ye have no love to your own souls, yet for 
 My sake accept of the message of reconciliation ; I'll remember it as an act of 
 kindness ; and I'll remember it as long as immortality, whose days have no end.' 
 —(4th Oct. 1731.) 
 
 " Believing communicants, will ye return the echo of faith to Heaven's word 
 in the words of institution ? — (3rd Oct. 1731.) 
 
 " All external order and communion laid down by men's invention avails 
 nothing, without [unless] the hearts of believing confessors be united with love to 
 each other. . . . ' A new commandment I write unto you that ye love one 
 another.' Why is it called new ? Because enforced with a new example that 
 was given by Christ to His disciples. Christian love — the communion of saints 
 — is founded upon it ; all the drivings and drawings of men to make a society 
 are but like ropes of sand, and will be of no avail without [unless] this prevail. 
 — (21st Nov. 173].) 
 
 ' ' The two graces — faith and hope — are very much akin to [each] other, yet 
 
244 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 there is a distinction. Faith refers to the promise, and the faithfulness of the 
 promiser ; hope refers to good things in the promise. Many pretend to faith 
 that have no hope — that's certainly presumption ; and many pretend to hope 
 that have no faith — that's certainly delusion. Faith looks on them [good things] 
 as absent and unenjoyed ; but hope contains in it their attainment on the ground 
 of faith trusting. Hope contains a love and valuation of the things promised, 
 otherwise hope could not counterbalance the straits it meets with ; it's compared 
 to the helmet — the hope of salvation. The helmet bears off the weight of the 
 strokes of the head ; so hope bears off the weight of the trials of the believer's 
 heart and mind. — (28th Nov. 1731.) 
 
 " Heb. vi. 11. Ye have here the measure of this hope — the full assurance 
 of hope. Every true Christian will and must press after the perfection and the 
 attainment of the highest measures of every grace. And according to the measure 
 of the Christian's faith, so is his hope that everything will be made out to him. 
 Diligence is laid down as the means for the attainment of the full assurance of 
 hope ; and it is the means by virtue of the Divine appointment ; and it has a 
 natural and proper tendency to it. — (Ibid.) 
 
 " The main causes of sloth in the duties of religion are unbelief and carnal 
 affections. As faith is the spring of the duties of holiness, so unbelief is the 
 chief spring or reason of laying them by ; as faith comes over mountains, so 
 unbelief makes molehills mountains. — (Ibid.) 
 
 " Sin will have its residence in a believer, but there is a mighty odds betwixt 
 sin's dominion and sin's residence (Rom. vi. 14). — (21st Nov. 1731). 
 
 " Would ye be made strong against your corruptions that sin may not have 
 dominion nor recover strength ? Then my advice to you is, Resist sin — what's 
 said to the Christian with respect to the devil, we say to you in respect of your 
 corruptions, Resist them, be steadfast in the faith. The Apostle recommends you 
 to submit yourselves to the Lord (James iv. 7). The word is too soft : the first 
 language reads, Subject yourselves to the Lord ; it imports, Put yourselves — by 
 faith put yourselves — under the power of Christ and His grace, so plead the 
 promise as it's here (Rom. vi. 14), For sin shall not have dominion over you, 
 and the corruption shall fly away. — (Ibid.) 
 
 " It's a monster for one member of the body to be useless. Uselessness in 
 the Christian society is as great a monster. — (9th January 1732). 
 
 " Not by works of righteousness which we have done (says the Apostle) but 
 according to His mercy He saved us (Titus iii. 5). That's no dishonour done to 
 good works. A man is not slighted when undue honours are not paid. An 
 inferior magistrate has no just cause of exception when he is not honoured as the 
 king ; so it's no dishonour done to good works when the crown is set on Christ ; 
 He must have the pre-eminence. — (23rd October 1732). 
 
 " The good man is said to have a good treasure in his heart 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 245 
 
 forts, experiences in religion, the law of God in his heart. There are these three 
 or four things or properties our actions must have, in order to constitute them to 
 be good : — 
 
 (1.) They must flow from a gracious principle, or principle of grace — the 
 
 principle of faith. 
 (2.) They must be according to the rule, the Word of God. There must 
 
 be a conformity in our actions to the Word of God. 
 (3.) They must have a gracious motive, the love of Christ constraining you ; 
 
 and so 
 (4.) A gracious end, the glory and honour of God. — (16th July 1732)." 
 
 PASTOR PETRUS DE WITTE. 
 
 " De Witte's Catechizing upon the Heidelberg Catechism" is one of those 
 standard books which convey no biographical information and no chronology 
 personal to the author. It was compiled for "the A.B.C. clarckes, that is, the 
 children." We conjecture from the title-page and dedicatory epistles that 
 Petrus De Witte was pastor of the Reformed Church, first, at Hoorn in West 
 Friesland ; secondly, at Delft ; and finally, at Leyden. Before publication, the 
 book, which consists of the Heidelberg Catechism with a very full catechetical 
 commentary, was examined and approved by the Classis [the Presbytery] of 
 Hoorn. 
 
 The Synod of Dort in 1618 had recognised three catechisms : — 
 
 1. The articles of faith, the ten commandments, the Lord's Prayer, &c. 
 
 2. A short compend of the Catechism of the Palatinate. 
 
 3. The Catechism of the Palatinate. 
 
 (" The Walloon Netherland Churches, who have so long used the Catechism 
 of Geneva, may retain the same in churches and schools.") 
 
 The different Provincial Synods of Holland urged the duty of public 
 catechizing. De Witte gives the date of many Synods, the last being the Synod 
 of Leyden in 1649. Parenthetically, as if referring to a new book, he mentions 
 " Hoornbeck on Catechizing," published at Leyden 1654. The States of Holland, 
 on a representation from the Synod of South Holland, issued an order to each 
 classis, that provision should be made for public catechizing in church on the 
 afternoon of each Lord's day. This letter from the States concluded thus : — 
 " Reverend, religious, most learned, honest, and discreet Sirs, we commend you 
 unto the protection of God; dated in the Hague, 29th July 1654." 
 
246 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Probably the first edition was in circulation a little before 1654, and a new- 
 edition was sent forth in that year, encouraged by the States. 
 
 The " advertisements" to the English translation are signed, Mauritius 
 Bohemus. The title-page informs us that De Witte's work had already reached 
 a sixtieth edition : — 
 
 " Catechizing upon the Heidelbergh Catechism 
 of the Reformed Christian Religion. 
 
 Published after precedent inspection and approbation of the 
 Rev. Classis of Hoorn 
 
 By Petrus De Witte, Minister of the Word of God at Leyden, 
 and now, after the Sixtieth Impression, 
 
 Translated for the English Reformed Congregation in Amsterdam. 
 
 A. B. C." 
 
 The English Church (De Engelsche Kerk) was a Church provided by the 
 Dutch National Church for the accommodation of English residents and travellers 
 at Amsterdam. And it was by order of the Classis of Amsterdam that this 
 translation of the Catechism was made, it being their principle, as to the children 
 of foreigners as well as of natives, that none should be permitted to grow up un- 
 catechized ; and that, therefore, the catechism, which they deemed the best, and 
 which they had reason to conclude would be acceptable to English Protestants, 
 should be accessible to them by means of a translation. 
 
 The answer to the first question of the catechism is broken up by De Witte 
 into sixty-eight simplified subsidiary questions, so that I cannot quote a specimen 
 of the execution of his performance, not being able to find any sufficiently brief 
 apparatus under any question. I may therefore take the opportunity of intro- 
 ducing some questions for which I could not find room in my chapter on the 
 Heidelberg Catechism. 
 
 [After a full and practical commentary on the creed.] 
 
 59. Was hilft es dir aber nun, wenn 59. But now what profit redoundeth 
 du diess alles glaubest ? thence unto thee that thou believest 
 
 all this ? 
 Dass ich in Christo vor Gott gerecht That I am righteous in Christ before 
 
 und ein Erbe des ewigen Leben bin. God and an heir of eternal life. 
 
 60. Wie bist du gerecht vor Gott? 60. How art thou righteous before 
 
 God? 
 Allein durch wahren Glauben in Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ, 
 
 Jesum Christum. Also, dass ob mich insomuch that if my conscience accuse 
 schon mein Gewissen anklaght, dass ich me, that I have grievously trespassed 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 247 
 
 wider alle Gebote Gottes schwerlich 
 gesiindiget, und derselben keines nie 
 gehalten habe, auch noch immerdar zu 
 alien Bosen geneigt bin, docb Gott ohne 
 all mein Verdienst, aus lauter Gnaden, 
 mir die vollkommene Genugthuung, 
 Gerechtigkeit, und Heiligkeit Christi 
 scbenket und zurecbnet, als hatt' ich 
 nie eine Siinde begangen noch gehabt, 
 und selbst alien den Gehorsam voll- 
 bracht, den Christus fur micb hat 
 geleistet, wenn ich allein solche Wohl- 
 thaten mit glaubigem Herzen annehme. 
 
 against all the commandments of God, 
 nor have kept any one of them, and 
 moreover am still prone to all evil, yet 
 notwithstanding, the full and perfect 
 satisfaction, righteousness, and atone- 
 ment of Christ is imputed and given 
 unto me, without any merit of mine, 
 of the free mercy of God (if I embrace 
 these benefits of Christ with a true 
 confidence of heart), even as if I had 
 never committed any sin, or as if no 
 spot at all did cleave unto me — yea, as 
 if I myself had perfectly performed that 
 obedience which Christ performed for 
 me. 
 
 61. Why affirmest thou, that thou 
 art made righteous by faith only ? 
 
 Not that I please God through the 
 worthiness of my faith, but because 
 only the satisfaction, righteousness, and 
 holiness of Christ is my righteousness 
 before God ; and I cannot take hold of 
 or apply it unto myself any other way 
 than by faith. 
 
 61. Warum sagst du, dass du allein 
 durch den Glauben gerecht seiest? 
 
 Nicht dass ich von wegen derWiirdig- 
 keit meines Glaubens Gott gefalle, 
 sonder darum, dass allein die Genug- 
 thuung, Gerechtigkeit, und Heiligkeit 
 Christi meine Gerechtigeit vor Gott ist, 
 und ich dieselbe nicht anders denn 
 allein durch den Glauben annehmen 
 und mir zueignen kann. 
 
 I quote the conclusion of De Witte's elucidations of Question 1 : — What 
 comfort have the Papists here ? Continual doubting, an unquiet mind, and the 
 wrack of conscience. The Papists say — 
 
 " Three things there are that trouble my mind, 
 The first, that I the grave must find ; 
 The second troubleth me more yet, 
 That I know not the time of it ; 
 The third above all troubleth me, 
 That whither I must, I cannot see." 
 
 What doth a believer set against this ? 
 
 " Three things there are that cheer my mind, 
 First, that in Christ I pardon find j 
 The second cheers me much more yet, 
 That Christ the Lord for me is fit ; 
 The third above all cheereth me, 
 That I my place in heaven see." 
 
248 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Timothy Dwight was the son of an American merchant and landowner, Timothy 
 Dwight, and Mary, his wife, third daughter of President Edwards. He was born in 
 Northampton (Massachusetts) 14th May 1752. He was a distinguished graduate 
 of Yale College (in the city of Elms, at Newhaven) in Connecticut, and for six 
 years a college tutor. He left college on his father's death in 1776, and took the 
 management of the family estate for the benefit of his mother and the other 
 children, discharging the duties of a guardian for five years. During this period 
 he occasionally preached. He entered the ministry as pastor of Greenfield in 
 Connecticut in May 1783. In 1795 he became President of Yale College, which 
 very honourable office he held till his death on 11th January 1817. 
 
 " Dwight' s Theology " is a standard work, which was extensively read and is 
 still consulted. This is not the place to criticise the system of theology; but as an 
 earnest lover of the Gospel, as well as an accomplished scholar, President Dwight 
 has written much that we could quote with profit and admiration. The English 
 language is never more forcible and beautiful than when it flows from some 
 American pens. A few detached extracts, which illustrate my First Book, I 
 shall arrange in the order that suits it. 
 
 " Socrates doubted whether it were possible for God to forgive sin, and, in 
 my view, expressed the real ultimatum of reason on this subject. The sins of 
 men are so causeless, so numerous, and so great, as to leave to a sober man, 
 solemnly considering the subject, little else beside a fearful looking for of judg- 
 ment. To relieve the distress and despondency to which we are thus exposed, the 
 Bible comes to our aid." — Sermon XII. 
 
 " There can be no repentance where there is no hope of acceptance ; despair 
 here is the only predominant emotion, and with despair, repentance cannot, in the 
 physical sense, co-exist." — Sermon XX VII I. 
 
 " God never extends mercy to sinners because of their desert and worth, but 
 because they need His mercy." — Sermon LXXVI. 
 
 " Willingness to suffer perdition is no part of Christian resignation 
 
 The professor, in thus consenting to suffer, consents in the same act to be the 
 eternal enemy of God and of all good." — Sermon XOV. 
 
 " The convinced sinner feels unwilling, like the Publican, even to lift up his 
 eyes towards heaven But he cannot be prevented from praying. His 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 249 
 
 cries for mercy — and those, at times, involuntary and ejaculatory — are forced 
 from him by a sense of his guilt and his fears of perdition. They often break 
 out in his walks, in the course of his daily employments, and iu his occasional 
 joumeyings; they spring from his meditations, they ascend from his pillow. The 
 question, whether a sinner shall be directed to pray, has become nugatory to him, 
 and has been decided not by metaphysical disquisition, but by the controlling 
 anguish of his heart." — Sermon LXXV. 
 
 " The declaration of Solomon, that the prayers of the wicked are an abomi- 
 nation, appears to me, together with others of the like import, to be descriptive 
 of the prayers of wicked men as they are in their general nature, and not as the 
 
 mere cries of a suffering creature for mercy As the whole number of 
 
 regenerated persons is formed of those who have been convinced of sin, and who 
 have been diligently employed in prayer while under conviction, it is plain that 
 their prayers are not abominable in such a sense as to prevent the blessing prayed 
 for from descending upon them, and therefore not in such a sense as rationally to 
 discourage them from praying." — Sermon LXXV I. 
 
 " Christ actually suffered, while yet He was perfectly holy. He therefore 
 suffered either for Himself or for mankind. 
 
 " If He suffered for mankind, the existence of an atonement is admitted. 
 
 " If He suffered for Himself, then the objector must admit that He suffered 
 while He was yet perfectly holy, and of course that God can inflict suffering, not 
 only on holy beings, but for their own sake ; in other words, can retribute punish- 
 ment to obedience. 
 
 " I leave the objector to choose which part of this alternative he pleases." 
 — Sermon LVII. 
 
 " That which is true is not affected by any difficulty whatever, so far as its 
 truth merely is concerned ; and that which is known is not rendered less certain 
 by that which is unknown, whatever connection may exist between them, or 
 whatever embarrassments may arise concerning that which is unknown." — - 
 Sermon XXXII. 
 
 " By the Christian System, I intend the system of doctrines and duties by 
 means of which apostate creatures are restored to obedience and favour. The 
 Christian system is not substantially different in the New Testament from what 
 it is in the Old." — Sermon XL V. 
 
 " 1 Thess. v. 23. As he prays that they may be sanctified wholly, it is 
 evident that they were sanctified in part only at their regeneration, and at the 
 
 2 I 
 
250 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 time also in which this prayer was uttered. It is further evident that they were 
 to be sanctified in a still greater degree, because this event is prayed for by the 
 Apostle under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost." — Sermon LXXXIII. 
 
 " His friends, His disciples, His apostles were selected from tbe poor and 
 lowly Christ descended to these lowly men and these lowly circum- 
 stances, from the tbrone of the heavens. Shall not we then be willing to let 
 ourselves down from the side or even the summit of our mole-hill, to visit our 
 fellow-emmets at the bottom ? " — Sermon XLII. 
 
 " The prevalence of a meek and humble disposition furnishes the mind with 
 
 good reason to believe that it is renewed A humble mind is meek, little 
 
 disposed to feel provocations deeply, uninclined to construe them in the worst 
 
 manner, and still more indisposed to requite them with wrath and revenge 
 
 The propensity to wrath is lessened; and humility and meekness (not insensibility 
 to injuries, but a serene and quiet soul under them) have, like beautiful twin 
 sisters, entered the mind and made it their permanent habitation." — Sermon 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 " Under the influence of evangelical love to mankind, the renewed man does 
 that which is good, just, and sincere because it is so, and because God has 
 required these things in His law, and not from a regard to reputation and con- 
 venience. Now he finds the promotion of happiness to be desirable and delight- 
 ful in itself, and independently of a separate reward — to be done for its own sake 
 and not merely as it is done by publicans and sinners. The great question now 
 becomes, How, when, and where good can be done, and not, What he shall gain 
 by doing it." — Sermon LXXVI. 
 
 " Christ is not only the dispenser of the good enjoyed in heaven, but the 
 very good which is dispensed." — Sermon LIX. 
 
 EEV. EBENEZER ERSKINE, M.A. 1 
 
 During the latter half of the sixteenth century, and the former half of the seven- 
 teenth, there flourished a gentleman descended from the Earls of Mar, named 
 
 1 See Eev. Donald Fraser's "Life of Ebenezer Erskine," Ediu., 1831 ; and an abridged 
 Memoir, by Eev. Dr. Harper, Edin. 1849. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 251 
 
 Mr Ralph Areskine of Shielfield, who had twelve children. The ninth child was 
 the Rev. Henry Areskine, M.A. of Edinburgh, who was born at Dry burgh in 
 1624, and was known as the minister of a chapel at Cornhill, in the parish of 
 Norham, in Northumberland, from which he was ejected for nonconformity in 
 1GG2. In 1G87 he was settled at Whitsome in Berwickshire, and in 1690 was 
 translated to Chirnside (only four miles distant), where he died, 10th August 
 1696. 
 
 Ebenezer Ereskine, or Erskine, was the elder son of the above by his second 
 wife (ne'e Margaret Halcro). He was born 22nd June 1680, and became M.A. 
 of Edinburgh in June 1697. He was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery 
 of Kirkcaldy in February 1703, and in September of the same year he was, by 
 the same Presbytery, ordained minister of Portmoak. His marriage in 1704 to 
 Miss Alison Turpie, daughter of Mr Alexander Turpie, writer, Leven, deserves to 
 be recorded, as to her he ascribed his being brought to a saving acquaintance 
 with the Gospel of our salvation in the year 1708. 
 
 It is well known that Mr Erskine was one of the chiefs of " The Marrow" 
 Divines. The representation and petition addressed by them to the General 
 Assembly of 1721 was revised and perfected by him. At the instigation of 
 Principal Hadow, the Synod of Fife thereafter repeatedly harassed him, and the 
 four other Marrow-men in its membership (Messrs Hog, Bathgate, Wardlaw, and 
 Ralph Erskine). This led him to publish in 1725 his sermon on Revelation iii. 
 15, with an apologetical preface, so that his first appearance as an author was in the 
 forty-fifth year of his age. At one meeting of Synod he listened to many attacks 
 on his Gospel views in silence ; but at length he rose, and with impressive 
 dignity and energy, made this short speech : — " Moderator, Our Lord Jesus says 
 of Himself, My Father giveth you the true Bread from heaven. This He uttered 
 to a promiscuous multitude, and let me see the man who dares to affirm that He 
 said wrong." 
 
 In 1731 a third charge was erected in the town of Stirling, and to it Mr 
 Erskine was translated on the 8th July of the same year. Being a member of 
 the General Assembly of 1732, he protested against the Act anent the method 
 of planting vacant churches. He opened the next Synod of Perth and Stirling 
 by preaching a sermon, which as printed is entitled, " The Stone rejected by the 
 builders exalted as the Head-stone of the Corner." In this concio ad clerum, he 
 reneAved his protest and denounced the Act ; and when censured by the Synod, 
 he appealed to the General Assembly. This ultimately led to " the secession," 
 and to the formation at Gairney Bridge, near Kinross, on 6th December 1733, of 
 The Associate Presbytery, of which he is regarded as the father. In 1746, in 
 the patriotic resistance to the Jacobite Rebellion, the Stirling Seceders served in 
 the field in two companies, headed by their intrepid minister. A new church 
 was built for him in Stirling, where he continued his Gospel labours till his death 
 
25 2 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 on 2nd June 1754, having almost completed his seventy-fourth year. He was 
 Professor of Theology from 1747 to 1749. His works have heen collected ; they 
 are well known and justly valued, as both earnest and instructive. 
 
 I am indebted for the following quotations from Ebenezer Erskine to Brown's 
 " Gospel Truth." 
 
 " The order of doctrine, laid in the dispensation of the Gospel, is first to 
 lead the sinner by faith unto Christ and unto God in Him, and thereupon to 
 inculcate obedience to the law as a rule of duty. This order of doctrine is laid 
 down in our Lesser Catechism by the Westminster Assembly, where, in answer to 
 the third question, we are told that the Scriptures principally teach what man is 
 to believe concerning God, and then what duty God requires of man ; and accord- 
 ing to this order we have first the objects of faith and privileges of believers 
 explained, and then the duties of the moral law inculcated upon that ground. 
 The same method we find the Apostle Paul observes in most of his epistles, so 
 that this is no new scheme, but the good old way." 
 
 "The assurance I speak of, namely, a persuasion of the promise with appro- 
 priation (as the judicious Calvin speaks), can no more be separated from faith 
 than light can be separated from the sun ; it takes home the grace and mercy of 
 God to the soul in particular, which lay before in common [on the common] in 
 the offer of the Gospel. And without this particular application, the offer and 
 promise of the Gospel can stand us in no stead, but is like a price put into the 
 hand of a fool who has no heart to it. Our food set before us will never feed us 
 unless it be applied by eating ; so except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of 
 the Son of man by an applying faith, we have no life in us. . . . Faith will not 
 quit its my's, though all the world should say against it. The marrow of the 
 Gospel, as Luther observes, is in these words, my, and our ; he bids us read 
 these with great emphasis. Says another, Take away property, and you take 
 away God — take away Christ. It is the common dialect of faith in Scripture, 
 to vent itself in words of appropriation ; it has a peculiar pleasure and satisfaction 
 in these words, my, and our, and rolls them in its mouth as a sweet morsel. . . . 
 There is a sufficient ground laid in the Gospel revelation and promise, for a sinner, 
 even in his first approach to God in Christ, to come with full assurance of faith, 
 ... to come with assurance of acceptance and welcome, grounded upon His 
 infallible word of promise, Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 253 
 
 REV. RALPH ERSKINE, M.A. 1 
 
 The younger brother of "The Father of the Secession." was Rev. Ralph Erskine, 
 M.A., of the University of Edinburgh, who was born at Monilaws, in Northum- 
 berland, loth March 1685. In later years he used to record "the Lord's draw- 
 ing out my heart towards Him at my father's death ;" the date of this bereave- 
 ment was 1696, when he was eleven years of age. In February 1700 the 
 Parliament Square in Edinburgh was almost entirely destroyed by fire ; and Ralph 
 with difficulty forced his way through the flames with a number of his books. 
 He was licensed as a preacher at Culross by the Presbytery of Dunfermline, 8th 
 June 1709. He was ordained second minister of Dunfermline on 7th August 
 17 11, his colleague being Rev. Thomas Buchanan. On the death of the latter 
 in 1715, Mr Ralph Erskine was appointed first minister, and on 20th November 
 1718, the Rev. James Wardlaw became his colleague. The colleagues preached 
 every Sabbath, one in the forenoon, and the other in the afternoon, and were 
 most congenial. There was for a time a singular addition to their interchanged 
 services to the church and to each other. There being a feud between the kirk- 
 session and the Marquis of Tweeddale about the right of patronage to the office 
 of precentor — a feud which lasted for more than four years — a specimen of what 
 occurred is thus noted in Mr Erskine's diary : — 
 
 "Sabbath, Dec. 24, 1732. — This day my colleague and I were precentors 
 to ourselves, and raised the Psalm because of the Marquis's decreet which he was 
 insisting upon. Thursday, Dec. 28. — This day I precented for my colleague in 
 the church. Sabbath, Dec. 31. — I precented for my colleague and he for me." 
 
 With regard to " The Marrow" controversy, Mr Ralph Erskine was at one 
 with hia brother, and his cordiality is attested by Boston. The brothers were in 
 different Synods when the preliminary or presbyterial secession took place ; and 
 the younger brother did not join the Associate Presbytery at its formation, 
 although present as a spectator. But in August 1736, at the General Assembly's 
 Commission, Ralph Erskine declared his adherence to the testimony of that 
 Presbytery. Thereafter (in February 1737) he formally joined that Church-court 
 in company with the Rev. Thomas Mair of Orwell, Thomas Nairn of Abbotshall, 
 and James Thomson of Burntisland. The original members were Rev. Ebenezer 
 Erskine of Stirling, William Wilson of Perth, Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy, 
 and James Fisher of Kinclaven. These eight ministers remained in charge of 
 their parishes and congregations. They believed that they were entitled to 
 remain and to draw the national salaries and other emoluments — better entitled 
 
 1 See Eev. Donald Fraser's " Life of Ealpli Erskine." Edin., 1834. [The Eev. John 
 Erskine, D.D., the great evangelical leader at a later date, was of a different family.] 
 
254 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 than other ministers who had been unfaithful to the Gospel, and to the other 
 standards of doctrine lawfully recognised by the State as well as by the Church. 
 It was not till the 12th May 1740 that they were deposed by the General 
 Assembly, and that their churches legally became vacant. 
 
 Such was the esteem in which Mr Ralph Erskine was held, that neither the 
 magistrates nor the people sought to have the law put in force, and the Presby- 
 tery of Dunfermline did not interfere. He continued to preach once a day along 
 with Mr Wardlaw in the parish church ; and he preached from a tent to all 
 comers at the other diet of worship. Sometimes, in the former pulpit, assertions 
 regarding the deposed ministers were made in a forenoon to be contradicted in 
 the afternoon. But the first step towards Mr Erskine's removal from the benefice 
 followed the death of Mr Wardlaw, which sad event happened on 2nd May 1742. 
 On the 2nd June, this minute was engrossed, "The Presbytery, taking into their 
 consideration the melancholy state of the parish of Dunfermline, did, after some 
 reasoning, agree to supply the vacancy occasioned by the deposition of Mr Ralph 
 Erskine, as well as the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr James Wardlaw, 
 and did and hereby do appoint the moderator to preach at Dunfermline next 
 Lord's day both forenoon and afternoon." 
 
 In April 1739 it had been ascertained that £400 would be subscribed to 
 build a Secession Church at Dunfermline, so hearty were the poorer people as well 
 as the more wealthy. A large church, capable of accommodating about 2000 
 people, was built in Queen Anne Street. On leaving the parish church, Mr 
 Erskine preached in the new building, with ever increasing usefulness, till his 
 death on 6th November 1752. He was survived by his venerable brother, who, 
 on receiving the solemn news, expressed himself to this effect, " And is Ralph 
 gone ? he has twice got the start of me : he was first in Christ ; and now he is 
 first in glory." 1 
 
 Although Ebenezer was, in council and in affairs, the greatest man, yet 
 Ralph Erskine is much better known, and as an author has still a world-wide popu- 
 larity. He was more often before the public view than his brother, through his 
 elegies upon deceased ministers, which have been useful to biographers. He also 
 wrote many other sacred verses, which were studied with profit by numerous readers, 
 and which include, among other compositions, Gospel Sonnets, and a Paraphrase 
 on the Song of Solomon. It cannot be denied that he had much poetical taste, 
 yet we can scarcely say that the above-named works are successful efforts. How- 
 ever poetical his diction may have been, he could have expressed his sentiments 
 
 1 The late Robert Chambers, in his " Picture of Scotland," has said that it was a tradition in 
 Dunfermline that when Mr Ralph Erskine heard of his brother's death, he exclaimed, "Ah, 
 Yeben, Yeben ! ye've won to heaven before me ; but I'll no be lang ahint you, lad ! " The very 
 beginning of this anecdote proves it to be apocryphal, because Ralph died more than a year and 
 seven months before his brother, Ebenezer. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 255 
 
 more poetically in prose. The following is a favourable specimen of his versifi- 
 cation : — 
 
 Song of Solomon v. 1 0. "My Beloved (the Lord Jesus Christ) is white and ruddy." 
 
 " Were He not red, but only white — the lily, not the rose — 
 He might suffice the angels' sight ; but I am none of those. 
 Were He not white, but only red — a suff 'rer for His sin — 
 His blood would rest upon His head, nor could I joy therein. 
 But (here's my joy and confidence) both mixt I see by faith, 
 The whiteness of His innocence, the redness of His death." 
 
 It has been observed in many individuals, that a turn for poetical composi- 
 tion has contributed to beautify their prose writing. Certainly Ralph Erskine's 
 prose is beautiful, and seems, as we read it, to fall on the ear like music. For 
 one specimen I refer, almost at random, to his sermon on Zechariah xiv. 7, " It 
 shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." 
 
 OWEN FELLTHAM, ESQ. 
 
 Our English ancestors were fond of soliloquizing, and they often gave their 
 soliloquies to the reading public, in books consisting of detached miscellaneous 
 paragraphs arranged in hundreds or "centuries." Perhaps the earliest publication 
 of this kind was a volume of Three Centuries of " Meditations and Vows, Divine 
 and Moral, serving for directions in Christian and Civil Practice," by Joseph Hall, 
 D.D., afterwards Bishop of Norwich. The example of that eloquent divine was 
 followed by a scholarly layman of the first half of the seventeenth century, who 
 styled himself Owen Felltham, Esq. ; his work comprises Two Centuries of 
 " Resolves, Divine, Moral, Political." One century was written when the grace- 
 ful writer was only eighteen years of age, and all his " Resolves " date originally 
 from his early manhood. It is in their fresh youthful state that they are valued 
 and have been reprinted. His pains at a later period of life to correct the style 
 and to import a tone of maturity were thrown away. 
 
 " Felltham's Resolves " contain internal evidence of the author's acquaintance 
 with the Heidelberg Catechism, at least with Question 2, " How many things 
 are necessary for thee to know that thou, enjoying this consolation, mayest live 
 and die happily ? " and with its Answer, " Three things. The first, What is the 
 greatness of my sin and misery. The second, How I am redeemed from all my 
 sin and misery. And the third, What thanks I owe to God for this redemption." 
 
256 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 I quote from what in the fifth edition was called the "Second Century," but 
 which, in order of composition, was the first. 
 
 " Three things that a Christian should specially know. 
 
 " There are three things especially that a Christian should know — his own 
 misery — God's love — his own thankful obedience : his misery, how just ; God's 
 love, how free, how undeserved ; his own thankfulness, bow due, how necessary. 
 Consideration of one successively begets the apprehension of all : our misery 
 shows us His love ; His love calls for our acknowledgment. Want makes a 
 bounty weightier ; if we think of our needs, we cannot but admire His mercies ; 
 how dull were we, if we should not value the relief of our necessities ! He can- 
 not but esteem the benefit that unexpectedly helps him in his deepest distress. 
 That love is most to be prized whose only motive is goodness. The thought of 
 this will form a disposition grateful ; who can meditate so unbottomed a love, and 
 not study for a thankful demeanour ? His mind is cross to nature, that requites 
 not affection with gratitude. All favours have this success, if they light on good 
 ground they bring forth thanks. Let me first think my misery without my 
 Saviour's mercy — next, His mercy without my merits — and from the meditation 
 of these two, my sincere thanks will spring. Though I cannot conceive of the 
 former as they are — infinite and beyond my thought — yet will I so ponder 
 them as they may enkindle the fire of my unfeigned and zealous thanksgiving. 
 That time is well spent wherein we study thankfulness." 
 
 This delightfully concise article is altogether rewritten in the folio editions, 
 and not at all improved except perhaps in the title, which runs, " Of three things 
 we ought to know " — which are defined to be " our own misery, God's love, and 
 our own thankful obedience." 
 
 Several additional sentences, however, are Avorthy of the writer : — 
 
 " Though as Cato we did tear our self-made wounds to widen death's sad 
 entrance, yet, without our wishes and against our wills, when we lay gasping in 
 the road to ruin, by the mercy of this Great Samaritan we were again bound up 
 for life and for the joy of being. So bats and owls that hate the sun's gay light 
 are yet, by the influence of its gracious beams, from their dark holes, drawn out 
 to fly and live." .... 
 
 " The consideration of God's love will be, as that of God Himself was 
 to Simonides, the more thought on, the less to be comprehended. And this being 
 infinitely above all our apprehensions, we cannot in reason give less than all our 
 gratitude ; and yet of that how small a part is all ! When all we can pay is so 
 simple a little of what we justly owe, we should immeasurably be unjust if we 
 returned not all in our ability. Though we have not to requite, we may have 
 what will please, when we give Him up His own and offer up His offering for 
 us ; when we yet remember what we cannot return. The best repository of a 
 benefit is a mind that will perpetually acknowledge it. We ought to study what 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 257 
 
 will please ; we ought to fly from offence. And when we have done all we can, 
 Ave are still short, alive, of what the dead earth does. That yields our seed with 
 multiplied increase ; but this quick earth of ours does dwindle what is cast in't. 
 So though we meditate our own misery and God's free grace and bounty, yet the 
 great business of our life is gratitude. For that, in all its dimensions and con- 
 comitants, will take up all we can possibly do, and yet, at last of all, will leave 
 us still to wish and pray." 
 
 The second and third editions of Felltham's "Resolves" appeared in 1628 
 (the first edition was without date, a small duodecimo volume, containing one 
 century, which in the fourth [1631] and following editions was issued as the 
 second century). Identical with the fourth were the fifth, sixth, and seventh 
 editions, which were issued between the years 1634 and 1647; all except the 
 first edition were quarto volumes. It was in honour of the Restoration of 
 Charles II. that Mr Felltham issued the first folio edition, containing an epitaph 
 which described himself as willing to die in token of his consummated happiness 
 because his king had come back. Unfortunately he celebrated the political era 
 by taking liberties with the text of his " Resolves," especially those in " the 
 second century," meaning to improve and adorn, but producing the opposite 
 result. This too loyal folio appeared in 1661 ; and it was the last edition in the 
 author's lifetime. It was reprinted in 1670, 1677, and 1696 in folio, and 1709 
 in octavo; as to the edition of 1696 (the eleventh), the title-page adds "with 
 references made to the poetical citations, heretofore much wanted." [Mr Felltham 
 had purposely omitted such references, on the ground, " I do not profess myself 
 a scholar, and for a gentleman, I hold it a little pedantical."] Mr James Cumming, 
 F.S.A., recalled the attention of the world of letters to Felltham's " Resolves" in 
 1806 ; but his reprint was only a modernized abridgment. Mr Pickering pro- 
 duced a real and beautiful reprint in 1840, following the quarto editions. The 
 editor was anonymous ; but he dedicated the book to the Rev. Philip Bliss, D.C.L. 
 of Oxford, the possessor of the only known copy of the first edition. Although 
 the folio editions were justly set aside by Mr Pickering as the source of the text, 
 yet from their interpolated sentences and paragraphs, an appendix of the author's 
 latest " Resolves" might be compiled. The paragraphs which I have quoted from 
 Century II., No. 77, show that the enlarged volume contains some good writing 
 which might usefully be rescued from oblivion. 
 
 With regard to the personal history of Owen Felltham, only a few facts are 
 known, which may be gathered from his Will (first printed by Mr Pickering) and 
 from allusions within the boards of his book. His father was a Suffolk gentle- 
 man by birth, but became possessor of a small property in Cambridgeshire, " an 
 ancient inheritance of his family," namely, Thomas Felltham, Esq. (born 1570, 
 died 1632, N. S.) Owen was the second of three sons, Robert, Owen, and 
 Thomas. Owen's patron was the Earl of Thomoud, who died before 1660, to 
 
 2 K 
 
258 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 whose widow, Mary, Countess-Dowager of Thomond, the Folio of 1 6 G I was 
 dedicated, the author alluding to the contents as "being, most of them, composed 
 under the coverture of your roof, and so born subjects under your dominion." 
 He was dispossessed of the Cambridgeshire estate ; and in his Will, dated 4th 
 May 1667, he styles himself of Great Billing in Northamptonshire, and bequeaths 
 two leasehold properties in Ireland, namely, Cratelagh Keale in the County of 
 Clare, and Catherlogh. He mentions his brother Robert as having children 
 named Owen, Elizabeth, and Frances ; he mentions his brother, Thomas ; also 
 Lucas, (Rev.) Thomas, and Nathaniel, the testator's nephews. His nephew afore- 
 said, Owen Felltham of Gray's Inn, who was his residuary legatee, proved this 
 Will in the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, 22nd April 1668. In all the 
 folio editions of " The Resolves," there is a collection of small pieces called 
 Lusoria, of which No. 8 is headed, " Upon my father's tomb at Babram in 
 Cambridgeshire." 
 
 Memorice posterisque sacrum. 
 
 Ex suffolciae ortus comitatu 
 
 Thomas Felltham, 
 
 vir probus, generosus, sciens, ubique colendus, 
 
 bonis 1 malis ( amicisque 
 adjutor J obstes \ fidelis 
 
 bene vivens, moriens pie - , 
 
 filios tres, totidemque natas, superstites relinquens, 
 
 11 Martii, salutis anno 1631, sed militias suae 62. 
 
 Per natu filium minorem hie in vitam beatiorem ad resurgendum positus. 
 
 It is supposed that in more remote times the head of the family was Thomas 
 Felltham, Esq., of Sculthorpe in Norfolk, who by his wife, Mayant Jackson, left 
 descendants — a younger son being Thomas Felltham of Mutford in Suffolk, father 
 of the Thomas who is memorialized in the above epitaph, written by his second 
 son, Owen Felltham, author of " The Resolves." It is further supposed that 
 Owen's elder brother, Robert, succeeded his kinsmen of the older branches, and 
 became Felltham of Sculthorpe (a Robert Felltham of Sculthorpe, with a son 
 named Owen, being in a contemporary record). The fact of the Earl of Thomond 
 having a mansion at Great Billing, is thought to account for the date of the Will 
 of the author of " The Resolves." Mr Cumming states that the surname of 
 Felltham has survived among the peasantry of Suffolk, and that he himself once 
 conversed at a fair with an Owen Felltham, dealer in gingerbread. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 259 
 
 EDWARD FISHER, B.A. OXON. 
 
 Anthony a Wood tells us, " Edward Fisher, the eldest son of a knight, became 
 a Gentleman-Commoner of Brasen-nose College, Oxford, 25th August 1627, took 
 one Degree in Arts, and soon after left that house. Afterwards being called 
 home by his relations (who were then, as I have been informed, much in debt) 
 he improved that learning which he had obtained in the University so much, that 
 he became a noted person among the learned for his great reading in Ecclesias- 
 tical History and in the Fathers, and for his admirable skill in the Greek and 
 Hebrew languages." "This Edward Fisher was a royalist." This is all the 
 precise information which the Oxford Historian can give regarding Mr Fisher 
 personally, as the eminent scholar fell into poverty and became (as Wood thinks) 
 a schoolmaster. The conjecture that his father was Sir Edward Fisher of Mickle- 
 ton, in Gloucestershire, proves on investigation to be incorrect. A good many 
 gentlemen of the name of Fisher received the honour of knighthood during the 
 same generation; but the father of the author of "The Marrow" has not yet 
 been ascertained, as far as my information has gone. 
 
 Anthony a Wood had no prejudice in favour of the author, or of his evan- 
 gelical sentiments ; and he must have known the common report that Edward 
 Fisher was a London barber, and one of the party of the Independents. If there 
 had been any truth in the rumour, he would not only have mentioned it, but would 
 have readily adopted it. That the rumour has been thus virtually contradicted, 
 I record merely in the interest of biographical truth, without resenting Mr 
 Riccaltoun's saucy anticipation of Robert Burns' maxim, " A man's a man for a' 
 that." Mr Riccaltoun's words were: — "I know this circumstance [that E. F. 
 was a barber] has been publicly contradicted from the Press. But as I look upon 
 that other account of the author, however better vouched, yet never a whit more 
 authentic than this, so I own I value ' The Marrow' more as written by Edward 
 Fisher the barber, than when I consider it as the work of the learned and 
 honourable Edward Fisher." — (Sober Enquiry, page 42). 
 
 Besides "The Marrow of Modern Divinity, part i., 1645 ; part ii., 1648," 
 Mr Fisher wrote " An Appeal to thy conscience, as thou wilt answer it at the 
 great and dreadful day of Jesus Christ." Oxford, 1644. 
 
 "A Christian Caveat to the old and new Sabbatarians," 1 4to, London, 1650; 
 2nd ed. 1652 ; 3rd ed. 1653 ; 4th ed. 1655. To the fourth edition he added, 
 "An Answer to Sixteen Queries touching the rise and observation of Christmas." 
 
 1 The Sabbatarians held that the Sabbath should be observed on Saturday. The best answer 
 to them was from the pen of John Wallis, D.D., Savilian Professor of Geometry in the University 
 of Oxford. 
 
2G0 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Far from "The Marrow" being a contraband article, it was licensed for the 
 Press by the Rev. Joseph Caryl, the great author on the Book of Job, and 
 recommended by Rev. Jeremiah Burroughs and Rev. William Strong, most 
 esteemed authors in their own and all succeeding times. As to the first part, 
 Mr Caryl, " having perused this ensuing dialogue," recommends it as " a Discourse 
 stored with many necessary and seasonable truths, confirmed by Scripture and 
 avowed by many approved writers." As to the second part he writes, "Reader, 
 The marrow of the second bone is, like that of the first, sweet and good. The 
 commandments of God are marrow to the saints as well as the promises. And 
 they shall never taste the marrow of the promises who distaste the command- 
 ments. This little treatise breaketh the bone — the hard part of commandments 
 — by a plain exposition, that so all, even babes in Christ — yea, such as are yet 
 out of Christ — may suck out and feed upon the marrow by suitable meditations. 
 Gth September 1648. Joseph Caryl." 
 
 The title-page gives only the author's initials, E. F. Any doubts, as to 
 Mr Fisher being the author, are removed by the Rev. Samuel Prittie's testi- 
 monial : — 
 
 "Grace and peace to you in Jesus Christ. My loving friend in Christ — I 
 have, according to your desire, read over your book and find it full of evangelical 
 light and life, and I doubt not but the oftener I read it the more true comfort I 
 shall find in the knowledge of Christ thereby. The method is Apostolical wherein 
 the works of love, in the right place, after the life of faith, be effectually required. 
 God hath endewed His Fisher with the net of a trying understanding, and dis- 
 cerning judgment and discretion, whereby, out of the Christaline streams of the 
 well of life, you have taken a mess of the sweetest and wholesomest fish that the 
 whole world can afford, which if I could daily have enough of, I should no more 
 care for the flesh or the works thereof." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 His book being a compilation from, and a compendium of, Protestant 
 Divinity from the Reformation era to 1645, Mr Fisher called it The Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity ; he referred to his authorities in the margin of each page. 
 The following references belong to the paragraphs concerning the deed of gift: — 
 
 "Luther on Galatians," pp. 69, 104. Culverwell's "Treatise of Faith, p. 
 15. Dr Preston " Of Faith," p. 8. A little book called " The Benefit of Christ's 
 Death." Thos. Hooker's " Poore doubting Christian," p. 69. Dr Sibbes' " Soul's 
 Conflict," p. 621. Dr Preston " Of Love," p. 146. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 201 
 
 REV. JAMES FISHER 1 
 
 In 1093, the Rev. Thomas Fisher, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Dum- 
 barton, was ordained minister of Barr in Ayrshire, thence in 1098 he was trans- 
 lated to Auchtergaven, and again in 1099 to Rhynd, both in Perthshire (bom 
 1005, died 1721).' 
 
 His third son, Rev. James Fisher, was born at Barr, 23rd January 1097, 
 and his school education was probably received in Perth. His literary curricu- 
 lum, with a view to the ministry, was spent at the Universities of Glasgow and 
 St Andrews. For the study of divinity he chose Edinburgh, and sat under Pro- 
 fessor William Hamilton for six years. Immediately thereafter, i.e., in 1722, he 
 was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of Perth, and in December 1725 
 he was ordained by the Presbytery of Dunkeld as minister of Kinclaven. 
 
 During the year 1721 young Mr Fisher made the acquaintance of Rev. 
 Ebenezer Erskiue, the minister of Portmoak. Having approved of this eminent 
 minister's stand in the " Marrow " controversy, he attended his ministry in pre- 
 ference to that of the minister of Arngask, in whose parish he was residing tem- 
 porarily with his widowed mother. In 1727 Mr Fisher married Jean, Mr 
 Erskine's eldest daughter. He gave a life-long support to the principles of his 
 venerated father-in-law — principles which had been dear to himself before he 
 knew him personally. 
 
 When the Associate Presbytery was formed by the four ministers, he was 
 chosen to be presbytery-clerk. Although deposed by the General Assembly of 
 1740, Mr Fisher kept possession of the parish church of Kinclaven till 13th 
 August 1741, when the building was seized and closed by the sheriff-officers. 
 He then preached from a tent on Kinclaven braeside. The new parish minister, 
 whom the patron had presented in November 1740, was not inducted till 13th 
 May 1742. 
 
 The forbearance of Mr Fisher's opponents arose from the circumstance that, 
 in the summer of 1740, the seceding people of Glasgow invited him to be their 
 minister. But the parishioners of Kinclaven were so unwilling to part with him, 
 that he hesitated for a year. The resolution of the Established authorities as to 
 Kinclaven, and his own decision as to Glasgow, seem to have mutually hastened 
 one another. For we are informed that, on 8th October 1741, Mr Fisher was 
 inducted " in the open air at Crossbill, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, about 
 a mile to the south, in the parish of Cathcart, where they had been accustomed 
 to worship, and continued to do so till their church was built." The congregation 
 was afterwards known as the congregation of Shuttle Street, and finally of Grey- 
 friars, Glasgow. 
 
 1 See " Memorials of Eev. James Fisher," by John Brown, D.D, Edinburgh, 1849. 
 
262 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 During a part of this interval of time, Mr Fisher and his family lived in 
 Perth. And they did not remove to Glasgow until after the addition of twin 
 children to the family on 31st October. [See William Wilson]. Mr Fisher 
 was Theological Professor, in succession to his father-in-law, from 1749 to 1764. 
 His wife died 1st December 1771. He himself survived till 28th September 
 1775 — the last survivor of the first Associate Presbytery. 
 
 In 1747 the Synod appointed Messrs Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine and Mr 
 Fisher as a committee to prepare an exposition of the Westminster Shorter Cate- 
 chism. On 6th November 1752, Mr Ralph Erskine died, and thus the preface 
 to Part First, dated February 1753, was signed by "Eben. Erskine" and "James 
 Fisher" only. On 2nd June 1754, Mr Ebenezer Erskine died. Mr Fisher, the 
 sole survivor, had the wisdom to proceed leisurely. On 14th January 1765, he 
 issued a third edition of Part First, slightly remodelled, in order to correspond 
 with the first edition of Part Second, the preface to which was signed, " James 
 Fisher," " Glasgow, May 3, 1765." This Catechism was called " The Synod's Cate- 
 chism," but soon obtained the name, which it has ever since retained, of " Fisher's 
 Catechism " — and justly, because " the explanations by way of question and 
 answer," of Questions 1 to 7, 29 to 75, and 96 to 107, were all by him — while 
 Ebenezer Erskine's materials comprise only QQ. 8 to 28, and Ralph's, only QQ. 
 76 to 95. [The quotations in my Book I., Part 2, regarding " building up in 
 holiness and comfort," are therefore by Rev. Ralph Erskine]. 
 
 Mr Fisher's other works of enduring interest are : — 
 
 1. The inestimable value of divine truth, considered in a Sermon from 
 
 Prov. xxiii. 23, " Buy the truth and sell it not." 1739. 
 
 2. Christ Jesus the Lord considered as the inexhaustible matter of Gospel 
 
 Preaching. 1741. 
 
 3. The Character of a Faithful Minister of Christ. 1752. 
 
 ( 4. Christ the Sole and Wonderful Doer in the Work of Man's Redemp- \ 
 < tion. 1745. > 
 
 ( 5. The Doors of the Heart Summoned to open to the King of Glory. 1755. ) 
 He also wrote a biographical preface to Ralph Erskine's Works, in which he 
 alludes to the Marrow Controversy as " the most useful and beneficial to this 
 Church of any other that has been broached since the beginning of this century." 
 Mr Fisher preached the gospel with beautiful simplicity. His sermon, 
 "Christ the sole and wonderful Doer," is from the text Judges xiii. 19 ; and 
 the " doctrine," or thesis, is, " As the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the cove- 
 nant, is the wonderful and only doer in the great work of our redemption, so it 
 is the privilege and duty of mankind sinners to look on. The Angel did won- 
 drously, and Manoah and his wife looked on." 
 
 The conclusion of " The Doors of the Heart summoned " is : — " sirs ! 
 whatever be your difficulties and objections against opening to Christ in a way of 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 263 
 
 believing, yet He is making none at all against His own incoming to your hearts. 
 . . . Have you made Him to serve with your sins and wearied Him with your 
 iniquities ? Yet even in that case He says — I, even I, am He that blotteth out 
 thy transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember thy sins (Isa. xliii. 
 24, 25). Have you gone on frowardly in the way of your own heart ? Yet 
 He is saying to you, as He did to Israel in the like case — I have seen his ways 
 and will heal him (Isa. lvii. 17, 18). Have you been making lies your refuge, 
 and under falsehood hiding yourselves ? Even in this case He declares, that He 
 is the Foundation laid in Zion for you, and that the refuge of lies shall be swept 
 away (Isa. xxviii. 15-17). Have you gone after your lovers and forgotten Me, 
 saith the Lord ? He answers Himself, Therefore, behold, 1 luill allure her 
 and bring her to the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. (Hosea 
 ii. 14)." * 
 
 Mr Fisher's affinity with the Erskines suggests the following Table of Re- 
 presentatives of the Erskine family : — - 
 
 1st Wife, 
 
 (Name unknown). 
 
 =Rev. Henry Erskine = 
 (born 1624, died 1696). 
 
 Jean 
 
 (born 1652, died 1738) 
 
 wife of George Balderston, 
 
 Surgeon, Edinburgh. 
 
 George Balderston, 
 
 grandfather of 
 
 William C. Balderston, W.S., 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 His eldest child was 33 years older 
 
 than his youngest. Query. Did this 
 
 give rise to the legend that his 
 
 father had 33 children ? 
 
 2d Wife, 
 
 Margaret, daughter of 
 
 Hugh Halcro, Isle of Weir, 
 
 Orkney. 
 
 I 
 Rev. Ebenezer Erskine 
 
 (born 1680, died 1754). 
 
 Jean 
 
 (born 1706, died 1771), 
 
 wife of Rev. James Fisher. 
 
 Mary Fisher, 
 
 wife of John Gray, Printer, 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Erskine Gray, 
 
 wife of Rev. Ebenezer Brown, 
 
 Minister, Inverkeithing. 
 
 Margaret Fisher, 
 
 wife of 
 
 Walter Ewing Maclae 
 
 of Cathkin. 
 
 Anne Fisher, 
 
 wife of 
 
 William Wardlaw, 
 
 Merchant. 
 
 Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, 
 D.D., Glasgow. 
 
 Dr John Brown, Fisher's biographer, nephew of Rev. Ebenezer Brown, 
 dedicated the biography to the surviving grandchildren of the Rev. James Fisher 
 — namely, Mrs Jane Crum, Thornliebank ; Humphrey Ewing Maclae, Esq. of 
 Cathkin ; Mrs Margaret Buchan, Braeside, West Canada ; James Ewing, Esq. of 
 Strathleven; Mrs Elizabeth Hyde, Dunoon; Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D.D., S.S.T.R, 
 Glasgow. Dated, 25th May 1849. 
 
264 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 KEV. JOHN FLAVEL, B.A. OXON. 
 
 John, son of Rev. Richard Flavel, parish clergyman of Bromesgrove in Worces- 
 tershire, was born at Bromesgrove in 1627. He was educated at Oxford, in 
 University College. He entered the ministry, and his first charge was at 
 Deptford, where he was settled in 1650, but he was translated to Dartmouth in 
 1656, where he was eminent as an incumbent, and afterwards as a Nonconform- 
 ist minister, so that immediately after his death, Dr Increase Mather, visiting 
 Dartmouth, wrote : — " My heart bleeds to look on this desolate place, and not to 
 see him that, whilst living, was the glory of it. I can truly say (as, sometimes, 
 Beza of Calvin), Now Mr Flavel is dead, life will be less sweet, and death less 
 bitter to me." 
 
 Mr Flavel in the troublous days of the Stuarts suffered many vicissitudes in 
 his own land ; and it would appear that he was once an exile in Holland, where 
 the Earl and Countess of Sutherland prized his society ; he dedicated to the Earl 
 his sermon entitled, " Mount Pisgah, preached at the Public Thanksgiving, 
 February 14, 1688-9, for England's Deliverance from Popery, &c." His joy at 
 the happy Revolution was overflowing ; he preached and published a volume of 
 Sermons entitled, " England's Duty under the present Gospel Liberty ; " and the 
 same spirit appeared in his catechizing, which is described " as carried on in the 
 Lord's Day exercises in Dartmouth, in the First Year of Libert}^, 1688." He 
 died suddenly at Exeter, 26th June 1691, aged sixty-four, and was buried in 
 Dartmouth Church. 
 
 The works of John Flavel are well known, and have been often printed in a 
 collected form. His practical writings are evangelical and useful. Both his 
 learning and his experience made him familiar with controversy, and thus too 
 ready to suspect heresy, especially Antinomianism — an apprehension which 
 sometimes hampered the freeness of his Gospel invitations. He had, however, 
 an eloquence and impressiveness which sprang entirely from the heart ; and his 
 desire was to preach Christ according to the Scriptures. And often he put his 
 learning aside in order to minister, in the simplest style, to husbandmen and 
 seamen. 
 
 In The Seaman's Catechism he has given his best statement of the free 
 Gospel : — 
 
 " Q. 11. What is it to go to Christ ? 
 
 " Ans. To go to Christ is to embrace Him in His person and offices, and to 
 rest entirely and closely upon Him for pardon of sin and eternal life, being deeply 
 sensible of the want and worth of Him (John i. 12, iii. 36 ; 1 Cor. i. 30 ; Acts 
 iv. 12, xiii. 39 ; Isa. xlv. 22 ; Acts ii. 37). 
 
 " Q. 1 2. But will Christ receive me if I go to Him ? 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 2G5 
 
 " Ans. Yes, yes; He is more ready to receive thee than thou art to come 
 to Him. Luke xv. 20, The son doth but go, the father ran; if he had but 
 received him into the house, it had been much, but he fell on his neck and kissed 
 him ; he bespeaks him much after that rate he expressed himself to returning 
 Ephraim, My bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy on him (Jer. 
 xxxi. 20). There is not the least parenthesis, in all the pages of free grace, to 
 exclude a soul that is sincerely willing to come to Christ. 
 
 " Q. ] 3. But how may it appear that He is willing to receive me ? 
 
 "Arts. Make trial of Him thyself. If thou didst but know His heart 
 to poor sinners, you would not question it. Believe what He saith in the 
 Gospel; there thou shalt find that He is a willing Saviour, for therein thou hast — 
 
 ' First, His most serious invitations (Matt. xi. 28 ; Isa. lv. 1). These 
 serious invitations are — 
 
 "Secondly, backed and confirmed with His oath (Ezek. xxxv. 11). 
 
 " Thirdly, amplified with pathetic wishes, sighs, and groans (Luke xix. 42). 
 
 " Fourthly, yea, delivered to them in undissembled tears (Matt, xxiii. 
 37, 38). 
 
 " Fifthly, Nay, He hath shed not only tears, but blood, to convince thee of 
 His willingness. View Him in His dying posture upon the cross, stretching out 
 His dying arms to gather thee, hanging down His blessed head to kiss thee ; 
 every one of His wounds was a mouth opened to convince thee of the abundant 
 willingness of Christ to receive thee. 
 
 '■' Q. 14. But my sins are dyed in grain ; I am a sinner of the blackest 
 hue ; will He receive and pardon such as me ? 
 
 " Ans. Yea, soul, if thou be willing to commit thyself to Him. Isa. i. 18, 
 ' Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, 
 I will make them as snow ; though they be red like crimson, I will make them 
 as wool.' " 
 
 Flavel was considered to be peculiarly felicitous in the illustration of 
 doctrines by anecdotes. It is curious to contrast the modern anecdotal style with 
 his. In modern anecdotes, the speakers in a dialogue speak very precisely and 
 even pathetically — even a boy is made to exhibit profound pathos — for instance, 
 the boy who explained his fearlessness during a storm at sea by saying, " My 
 father is at the helm." This anecdote is only a new edition of one told by Flavel 
 in more homely style, as follows :- — 
 
 " Remember that God, in whose hand all creatures are, is your Father. I 
 have met with an excellent story of a religious young man who, being at sea with 
 many other passengers in a great storm, and they being half dead with fear, he 
 only was observed to be very cheerful, as if he had been little concerned in 
 that danger. One of them demanding a reason, (said he), 'tis because the pilot 
 is my father.'' (See the Index to Flavel's Works). 
 
 2 L 
 
266 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 FREDERICK III., Elector-Palatine. 
 
 The exact title of the exalted personage, briefly called the Elector-Palatine, was 
 Count-Palatine of the Rhine and Elector of the Empire. His dominions were 
 called the Palatinate. The beginnings of the Reformation there were in the 
 year 1546 (the year of the death of Luther). Melancthon, who was a native of 
 the Palatinate, was in that year requested by the Elector Frederick II. to become 
 Professor of Theology at Heidelberg. He declined the chair, but assisted the 
 Elector with his advice, which resulted in the establishment of a moderate 
 Lutheranism, friendly to Calvinism. In 155 6 the Elector, Otto Henry, suc- 
 ceeded Frederick II., and he in 1557 repeated the invitation to Melancthon, 
 who again refused the theological professorship, but gave great assistance in re- 
 organizing the University of Heidelberg on an evangelical basis. The national 
 doctrinal standard was the Augsburg Confession, and the worship was of Zwinglian 
 simplicity. In 15 58, on the recommendation of Melancthon, the Elector un- 
 fortunately gave the theological professorship to Tilemann Heshusius, whose 
 Lutheran bigotry for consubstantiation filled Heidelberg with dissensions, and 
 evoked among the clergy mutual defiance, leading to sentences of excommunica- 
 tion, and even to a fight between the Professor and Deacon Klebitz in the church 
 at the Lord's Table. The controversy had not subsided at the date of the 
 Elector Otto Henry's death in 1559. 
 
 Frederick III. (who was born in 1514) succeeded to the Electorate amidst 
 this fierce commotion. The date is said to be February 15 59. The Elector 
 wrote for counsel to Melancthon. The Reformer's reply was dated 1st November 
 1559. Melancthon recommended the avoidance of extreme dogmas on the Lord's 
 Supper. The letter also drafted and endorsed a eucharistic doctrine, substantially 
 Calvinistie. 
 
 The Elector deposed both Heshusius and Klebitz, and appointed a public 
 disputation to be held in the month of June 1560. The issue was, that 
 Melancthon's suggestion was approved of. Distinguished foreign divines were 
 called to the University of Heidelberg, and from them Olevianus and Ursinus 
 were selected to draw up an evangelical catechism. The Elector took the liveliest 
 interest in its preparation, and revised and corrected it. It was submitted in 
 manuscript to a general synod in December 1562, and was agreed to. 
 
 The first edition of the Heidelberg Catechism was printed in 1563. It 
 had a preface written by the Elector, dated Tuesday, 19th January 1563, in 
 which he thus described himself : — " WlR Friderich, von Gottes Genaden, 
 Pfaltzgrafe bey Rhein, des heiligen Romischen Reichs Ertztruchses und Churfiirst, 
 Herzog in Bayern, &c." The legal title of the Empire was the Holy Roman 
 Empire, although geographically and truly it was the German Empire. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 267 
 
 Both a second and a third edition were published in 1563. The third 
 edition had a note, announcing a new question and answer, "on a matter that had 
 been hitherto omitted by an oversight, but now added by command of His 
 Electoral Grace." The original catechism was simply didactic; instructing in the 
 truth, and not naming the opposite errors and heresies. And such a catechism is 
 the best for the edification of the church. But it is said that the sweeping 
 anathema with which the Council of Trent had just closed its proceedings, 
 aroused the Elector, so that he commanded that a question and answer exposing 
 the Romish Mass should be inserted. It is even said that it was his own com- 
 position. It is the Eightieth Question of the Third Edition (December 1563), 
 and of all subsequent editions : — ■ 
 
 80. Was ist fur ein Unterschied 
 zwischen dem Abendmahl des Herrn 
 und der paptischen Messe ? 
 
 Das Abendmahl bezeuget uns, das wir 
 vollkommene Vergebung aller unserer 
 Siinden haben, durch das einige Opfer 
 Jesu Christi, so er selbst einmal am 
 Kreutz vollbracht hat ; und dass wir 
 durch den heiligen Geist Christo werden 
 eingeleibet, der jetzund mit seinem 
 wahrem Leib in Himmel zur Rechten 
 des Vaters ist, und daselbst will ange- 
 betet werden. Die Messe aber lehret, 
 dass die Lebendigen und die Tod ten 
 nicht durch das Leiden Christi Verge- 
 bung der Siinden haben, es sei denn, 
 dass Christus noch taglich fur sie von 
 den Messpriestern geopfert werde, und 
 dass Christus leidlich unter der Gestalt 
 des Brods und Weins sei, und derhalben 
 darin soil angebetet werden. Und ist 
 also die Messe im Grund nichts anders, 
 denn eine VerlaugTiuncr des einioen 
 Opfers Jesu Christi, und eine verma- 
 leidete Abgbtterei. 
 
 80. What difference is there between 
 the Supper of the Lord and the Popish 
 Mass ? 
 
 The Supper testifieth unto us, that 
 we have the complete forgiveness of all 
 our sins through that only sacrifice of 
 Jesus Christ which He Himself hath once 
 accomplished upon the cross, and that 
 we through the Holy Ghost become 
 incorporated with Christ, who now with 
 His true body is in heaven at the right 
 hand of the Father, and willeth to be 
 worshipped there. But the Mass 
 teacheth that the living and the dead 
 have not the forgiveness of sins through 
 the Passion of Christ, unless Christ 
 shall be daily sacrificed for them by the 
 Mass Priests, and that Christ is bodily 
 under the species of bread and wine, 
 and therefore ought to be worshipped 
 therein. And so the mass upon prin- 
 ciple is nothing else than a denial of 
 the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and is 
 accursed idolatry. 
 
 After the publication of the Catechism, great disputations occurred, chiefly 
 regarding the Eucharist and the imagined ubiquity of the body of Jesus, 
 which imagination was, of course, disbelieved by Frederick and his theolo- 
 
268 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 gians. In April 1564, a colloquy was held at Maulbron. It lasted for six 
 days, the leading divines of Wurtemberg, on behalf of the Lutherans, debating 
 with Olevianus, Ursinus, and Boquin on the part of the Reformed Palatinate. 
 
 On account of his so-called Calvinism, Frederick III. was threatened with 
 exclusion from the benefits of the Augsburg Treaty of Peace. At the diet of 
 Augsburg in 1566 it was proposed that he should be excluded from the Peace of 
 the Empire (Religionsfriede). He met mere threats with a defiant courage, say- 
 ing that he would not renounce the truth although the whole world should forsake 
 him. But he had convincing arguments with which he defended his ecclesiastical 
 administration. He brought forward evidence to prove that he had acted on the 
 advice of Melancthon, and this refuted the charge that he was actuated by 
 hostility to the memory of Luther. As to his Catechism, he represented that it 
 was all taken from the Bible, its definitions being fortified by marginal texts ; 
 and he called upon any member of the diet to present him with a better — that 
 is, a more scriptural — catechism. The motion to exclude him was withdrawn, 
 the Margrave of Baden saying, "Why do ye persecute this man?" and Augustus, 
 the Elector of Saxony and a Lutheran, exclaiming, " Fritz ! thou art more pious 
 than the whole of us." 
 
 Queen Elizabeth of England had in vain sought to form a European Protes- 
 tant Alliance. The German Princes would go no further than to unite among 
 themselves, being suspicious of the orthodoxy of foreign potentates, and all 
 (except the Landgrave of Hesse and a small minority) characterizing England as 
 Zwinglian. The Elector Frederick III. sent an ambassador to Elizabeth ; and she, 
 though without much hope of a practical result, responded by sending her 
 ambassador, Henry Killigrew, to Heidelberg, renewing the proposal of a defensive 
 alliance. Killigrew, along with Dr Christopher Mount, received credentials, 
 dated at Westminster, 12th April 1569, to attend a congress at Frankfort, as a 
 deputation to explain our queen's views. The deputies arrived too late. But 
 the Elector did what he could by withdrawing the word "alliance." He moved 
 " That a Christian agreement with the Queen of England be resolved upon, and 
 that for no other purpose than the protection and safety of the true Christian 
 faith. That the entire support of the alliance should be given to any one state, 
 if threatened with war, or attacked on account of religion. And considering that 
 England is rich in money especially, and that Germany is well supplied with 
 soldiers, that the German Princes shall send an army into the field which England 
 will maintain." This motion was referred to a conference at Erfurt, to which 
 Wilhelm, Landgrave of Hesse, sent this message : " England may be Zwinglian, 
 but the Pope does not care whether a man be Zwinglian or Lutheran, both being 
 alike hated by him. Neither Zwinglians nor Lutherans should care either, as 
 most of their articles of faith are the same." On September 10th (1569) a final 
 answer was sent to the queen, to the following effect : — " We are fully aware of 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 269 
 
 the dangers with which the Protestant princes and nations are threatened ; but, 
 on the one hand, we consider ourselves to be sufficiently protected by existing 
 treaties, and, on the other, we have reason to hope that the Catholic German 
 Princes will never enter into such relations with the Pope as would prejudice the 
 welfare of their country and ours. At the same time, we rejoice to see the Queen 
 of England giving repeated proofs of her great zeal for the cause of the Gospel ; 
 and though the present circumstances of the Empire prevent us from accepting 
 her offer, we express our sincerest thanks for the sympathy she manifests towards 
 the evangelical Christians of Germany." * 
 
 Frederick III. had to establish the Reformation in the Palatinate gradually, 
 as parishes became vacant. The following are specimen incidents : — In 1571 the 
 Church of Schlettenbach being vacant, the Bishop of Spire claimed the nomination 
 on behalf of the corporation of Alfested. But the Elector replied that, by the 
 Peace of Passau, the nominators were bound to present to him, as patron, pastors 
 whose religion he approved. Thus David Pareus was installed as pastor, and the 
 alters and images were demolished. About three years thereafter, the Bishop of 
 Worms dismissed the drunken priest of Hemsbach, but presented a dissolute 
 priest as his successor. The Elector considered that a good time had come to 
 introduce the Reformation there, and translated Pareus to Hemsbach ; and the 
 people at once concurred in removing and burning the images. 
 
 The Elector suppressed the convents in his dominions, and devoted their 
 entire wealth to educational and charitable institutions. He lived in the most 
 simple style, that he might contribute liberally from his private income to religion 
 and learning. On his death-bed he praised God that he had seen such a reforma- 
 tion in the church and in schools, as had brought men back from human tradi- 
 tions to Christ and the written word. Frederick III. died on 26th October 1576. 
 He left a confession of his faith in manuscript, which was published by his son, 
 John Casimir. 
 
 Descendants of the Elector. 
 
 Apart from his high personal merits, the Elector-Palatine Frederick III. 
 deserves recognition as an ancestor of our Royal Family. He had two sons, 
 Louis (born 4th July 1539) and John Casimir. The elder succeeded him as 
 Louis VI., but as a Lutheran he banished the pastors and schoolmasters appointed 
 by his father. He, however, died on 12th October 1583, leaving a son, Frederick, 
 aged only nine. And John Casimir, who became Regent of the Palatinate 
 during his nephew's minority, restored the ecclesiastical state as it was in his 
 father's time. The good regent died in 1592, and the young Elector assumed 
 
 1 Heppe's " Reformers of England and Germany in the sixteenth century — their intercourse 
 and correspondence." English translation. London 1859. 
 
270 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 the government as Frederick IV. (born 5th March 1574, died 9th September 
 1610). He was succeeded by his son, the Elector Frederick V. (born 10th 
 August 1596), who on 14th February 1613 married the Princess Elizabeth, elder 
 daughter of our King James. The delight of his subjects was intense, and 
 " Thomas Beard, Doctor of Divinitie," as their spokesman in England, penned 
 the following glowing eulogy on His Britannic Majesty : — 
 
 " We may here see what cause we have to bless God for the religious care 
 of our dread soveraigne in matching his only daughter, a princess peerless, with 
 a prince of that soundness in religion as the Prince Elector is : thereby discover- 
 ing his singular love to the truth and his upright heart to God : when as neither 
 masses of treasure nor height of honour did so much preponderate in his royal 
 heart, as did true religion, and the advancement of the Gospel and glory of God. 
 What is to marry in the Lord, if this be not ? and what can be a truer token of 
 a religious heart than this is ? Policy counselleth to strengthen states and king- 
 doms by conjoining them together by marriages; and in this respect not only 
 religion is often not regarded, but even nature's law contemned, as experience 
 showeth in many places of Christendom, and especially in the house of Austria. 
 But our religious soveraigne, esteeming it no policy but vanity, which is not 
 grounded upon the fear of God the root of true wisdom, hath preferred true 
 religion above all, and laboured to strengthen himself rather in the Lord than in 
 the world. Albeit there be nevertheless no disparagement in that happy match, 
 either in honour, he being descended from kings and emperors, and the principal 
 Elector Imperial — or in wealth and power, his dominion being both great and 
 large, able to answer his stoutest enemy in the face, if need should require — or 
 in gifts of nature, of which this whole land, and especially Cambridge graced by 
 his Highness' presence, are eye and ear and heart witnesses. Notwithstanding, 
 religion was his Majesty's chief motive ; and so being, it giveth us — all his 
 subjects that fear God — cause both to praise God for his Majesty's happy reign 
 over us, and to lay down our lives and goods at his feet to give him contentment; 
 and to pray to God with earnest devotion for the continuing of his life and reign 
 — as also to hope that as his Majesty hath begun this first happy marriage of his 
 royal issue in the Lord, so he will not swerve from the said rule in the second, 
 of him who is the breath of our nostrils, and the only radiant star of our 
 horizon, 1 [Charles, Prince of Wales.]" 
 
 Before leaving England, the Elector matriculated at Christchurch, Oxford, 
 and added to his signature the prayer, Rege me, Domine, secundum verbum tuum 
 [Govern me, O Lord, according to Thy word]. 
 
 The marriage had been opposed by the Queen Consort of England ; and 
 probably the Elector's anxiety to win her respect, by becoming " a crowned head," 
 
 1 Preface (printed in 1614) to a " Declaration of the faith and ceremonies professed in the 
 dominions of Frederick V., Prince Elector Palatine." 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 271 
 
 contributed to his decision to accept the royal title to which he was elected. He 
 was crowned King of Bohemia, November 1619, proscribed 1621, deposed 1623 
 (died 19th November 1632). His Queen survived the English Civil Wars in 
 which her sons, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, earned their historical reputa- 
 tion. Her son, Charles Louis, conformed to Romanism and became Elector- 
 Palatine (born 22nd December 1617, died 28th August 1680), and his son 
 Charles, who died 16th May 1685, was the last Elector of his house, the senior 
 line, at his death, being represented by his sister, Charlotte Elizabeth, Duchess 
 of Orleans. The youngest son of Frederick V. and Elizabeth, Edward (born 6th 
 October 1625, died 1684), was only Count-Palatine; he and his descendants 
 were Romanists. The Protestant heir for the British throne was therefore found 
 in the person of the youngest daughter of Frederick V. and Elizabeth, the 
 Princess Sophia, who in 1658 was married to Ernest Augustus of Brunswick, 
 afterwards Elector of Hanover. The Electress Sophia might have lived to be our 
 Queen ; but her indignation on receiving a studiously offensive letter from Queen 
 Anne, was the occasion of her sudden death. On the death of Anne a few 
 months afterwards, the Electress Sophia's son became King George I. of Great 
 Britain and Ireland. — (See Anderson's Royal Genealogies, Table cclxx). 
 
 REV. ANDREW FULLER. 
 
 This great man, whose praise is in all the churches, was a native of the County 
 of Cambridge, the son of a farmer at Wicken, near Ely. He was born on the 
 6th February 1754. He received no regular education for the ministry ; but 
 being in his youth interested in Divine truth, and much drawn into theological 
 controversy of a practical tendency, he developed a gift for preaching evangelically 
 and usefully. His parents, although seatholders in a Baptist chapel, do not 
 appear to have been Baptists in theory. But Andrew Fuller embraced this per- 
 suasion, and was immersed, in April 1770. His first charge was in the town of 
 Soham, where he had received his school education, and had lived since 1760 ; 
 the date of his settlement was 1774. But he is celebrated as the Baptist pastor 
 of Kettering in Northamptonshire, where he laboured from October 1782 till his 
 death on 7th May 1815. He was also one of the founders of the Baptist Mission- 
 ary Society and its first secretary, in which office he served unweariedly for twenty 
 years. His voluminous works have been collected, and frequently reprinted. 
 
 It was the lot of Andrew Fuller to live in an atmosphere of controversy. 
 Those among whom he walked and wrestled with a truly pious (but a too 
 pugilistic) zeal, were professed believers in the Gospel, some of whom misrepre- 
 sented it, and some turned the grace of God into licentiousness. He was thus 
 
272 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 constantly provoked to correct other people's mistakes, and was in danger of 
 modifying or narrowing the expansive Pauline doctrine by constructing preten- 
 tiously safe schemes that, unlike the scheme of the Apostle, would make theoreti- 
 cal Antinomianism impossible. This danger Mr Fuller did not always escape 
 from ; and in writing in a strain inconsistent with the unconditional freeness of 
 the Gospel offer (as he sometimes did), he was inconsistent with himself. Such 
 inconsistency need not have come prominently into notice ; but it was his life- 
 long lot that almost everything which he wrote found its way into print ; so that 
 he is continually exhibited as fighting, sometimes with a friend and sometimes 
 with a foe, and in each case equally determined to knock his opponent down. 
 In preaching, he could discourse evangelically on such texts as " To him that 
 worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly," or, " When we 
 were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son ;" but when 
 disputing, he would heap up arguments to prove that a sinner, before he can take 
 refuge in Christ, must have become godly and in subjection to the Father of 
 spirits. A dispute of this kind has the unedifying appearance of setting up 
 one text of Scripture to overthrow another. When we approach such a 
 question, not in order to silence a controversialist, but to speak a word in season 
 to a weary sinner, we can calmly observe that there is no quarrel between the 
 confronted texts, and that the quarrel between confronted Gospel teachers is 
 practically one of mere words — the true question being, not whether a sinner has 
 actually become godly when he takes refuge in Christ, but whether he must know 
 himself to be godly. This is a question not as to actual godliness, but as to con- 
 scious godliness — the fact being, that the sinner in fleeing to Christ can see in 
 himself nothing but ungodliness. 
 
 REV. JOHN GILL, D.D. 
 
 This prince of commentators was a native of Kettering (in Northamptonshire), 
 where he was born in the end of 1697. His education was becnm in the Gram- 
 mar School of Kettering, but after 1708, owing to clerical intolerance, it had to 
 be pursued privately. Such was the success of his studies, that another 
 obstacle arose, and this on the part of the Dissenters, one of their metropolitan 
 collegiate academies refusing him admittance, on the ground that if he should 
 continue to make such marvellous progress, his education would be finished 
 at a time of life when he would be too young to be a preacher. He had 
 given himself to Christ when he was in his thirteenth year ; and he resolved, 
 though assisting his father, Mr Edward Gill, in the woollen trade, to pursue his 
 studies in his home and in the bookseller's shop, with a view to the pastoral 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 273 
 
 office. Thus, by bis own exertions, he became an acknowledged proficient in 
 classical and theological Latin, in Greek, and in Hebrew, as well as in all depart- 
 ments of modern literature. The body of Christians to which his father and 
 himself belonged, were the Particular Baptists, the same as that in which, at 
 a later date, the Rev. Andrew Fuller ministered, their distinctive epithet signi- 
 fying that they were evangelically orthodox. To this congregation at Kettering, 
 Mr John Gill preached his first sermon on 4th November 1716. 
 
 His first charge was at Higham-Ferrers, in his native county, where in 1718 
 he married Miss Elizabeth Negus. In 1719 he was translated to London, as 
 pastor of the Baptist Church at Horsly-down, Fair Street, Southwark. He now 
 embarked on a most laborious and distinguished life as a preacher, a controver- 
 sialist, and an author. For full details the reader must have recourse to his 
 Memoir by Dr Rippon, to which is appended an eulogium by Toplady, who humor- 
 ously remarked, " It would perhaps tiy the constitutions of half the literati in 
 England, only to read with care and attention the whole of what he wrote." 
 
 His first great publication was an " Exposition of the Song of Solomon " — 
 with a translation of the Chaldee paraphrase, or Targum of that book — a folio 
 volume, issued in 1728. In 1735 his extensive acquaintance with the Scrip- 
 tures and the Fathers was serviceably shown in his book, entitled, " The Cause of 
 God and Truth," in reply to a reprint of Dr Whitby's Arminian Discourse on the 
 Five Points. 
 
 Soon after his settlement in London, he had bought a large collection of 
 Hebrew and Rabbinical books, from the library of the late Rev. John Skepp, and 
 used them during his ministry for illustrating the expository discourses which 
 he delivered to his congregation. In 1745 he proposed to throw his 
 expositions into the form of a complete Commentary, and to begin with the New 
 Testament. This " Exposition on the New Testament" was published — vol. 1 in 
 1746, vol. 2 in 1747, vol. 3 in 1748. It was received with wide applause, and 
 was the occasion of the resolution of the Marischal College of Aberdeen to confer 
 on him, unsolicited, the degree of D.D. This success ultimately culminated in 
 his splendid Commentary on the whole Bible. 
 
 Some readers, anxious only for comments suitable to the children and servants 
 in their families, have objected to the constant quotation of Jewish sayings and 
 writings in Dr Gill's notes. This, however, was a principal part of the plan of 
 the author, because Rabbinical literature often suggests how the words of Sacred 
 Scripture would strike the original hearers and readers. In fact, a collection 
 of Dr Gill's Rabbinical and similar quotations would itself form an interesting, 
 a useful, and even a beautiful volume. 
 
 But there is one blemish in this admirable Commentary (as in our own 
 Spurgeon's " Morning by Morning," and " Evening by Evening "), namely, a vein 
 of insinuation against all Christians who practice infant baptism. The insinu- 
 
 2 M 
 
274 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 ation is, that they are unbaptized Gentiles; and that it is because of their half-heart- 
 edness to Christ, and their deliberate conformity to the world, that they shrink 
 from being publicly immersed in an Antipsedobaptistic baptistry. In a Commen- 
 tary, written by a member of the sect of the Baptists, it is quite seemly and 
 honourable to bring forward before the eyes of hearers, not unprepared for the 
 charge, and in connection with all relevant texts of Scripture, a full and reiterated 
 detail of the commentator's baptismal theory and of its practical application. 
 But it is an unseemly and unmanly style of warfare to insinuate it into the 
 exposition of texts which deal quite generally with such topics as the means of 
 grace and the commandments of Christ and Christian courage ; and thus contin- 
 ually to drag that ritualistic theory before the bewildered eyes of devotional 
 inquirers after spiritual and immortal realities. 
 
 In 1757 and 1758 Dr Gill published his "Exposition of the Prophets," in two 
 folio volumes. The books from Genesis "to Solomon's Song had now to be 
 expounded in order to produce a complete Commentary. This object, in God's 
 kind providence, was achieved. Vol. 1 was published in 1763, vol. 2 in 1764, 
 vol. 3 in 1765, vol. 4 in 1766. [But in the midst of this undertaking he was 
 bereaved of his amiable wife who died 10th October 1764.] 
 
 It was with the advantage of a head and heart saturated with the Scriptures 
 that he wrote his "Bod}' of Divinity," of which the doctrinal portion, in two quarto 
 volumes, appeared in 1769, and the third volume, on Practical Divinity, in 1770. 
 He was supported by a long array of subscribers, including the Rev. Henry Venn; 
 Rev. Augustus Toplady ; Rev. Thomas Jones, of St Edmund Hall, Oxon. ; Rev. 
 Timothy Neve, D.D. ; Sir Joseph Mawbey, Bart, ; Richard Hill, Esq. ; and 
 Captain Thomas Hill ; also his late wife's kinsman, Mr Jeremiah Negus ; and his 
 own nephew, Rev. John Gill of St Alban's. This was his last publication, as he 
 died 14th October 1771, having earned the reputation (as Toplady said) of being, 
 " in every respect, a burning and a shining light." 
 
 It was in 1755 that Dr Gill published his Notes on Dr Crisp's Sermons, in 
 a new edition of those sermons, the publication of which he superintended. The 
 note to which I have undertaken (see Crisp) to refer in this Memoir, is on the 
 truth, that a believer's faith is not properly termed a condition of his receiving 
 Christ's salvation, which is essentially unconditional. Dr Gill's Notes on Sermon 
 VI. support Dr Crisp's testimony on behalf of this truth, and contain the two 
 following valuable quotations from the third book of Witsius on the Covenants. 
 
 " The Covenant of grace (or the Gospel, strictly so called, which is the 
 formula of the Covenant) consists in mere promises, and properly prescribes 
 nothing. It requires nothing, it commands nothing — not even, ' believe,' ' trust,' 
 ' hope in the Lord,' and the like." — Chap, i., § 18. 
 
 " That does not seem to be accurately said, that faith is a, condition which 
 the law requires of us, that we may be accounted righteous and guiltless with 
 God. The condition (properly so called) of justification is perfect obedience ; 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 275 
 
 this the law requires. The Gospel does not substitute another condition, but 
 teaches that the law is satisfied by our surety — Christ. Moreover, it is the 
 business of faith to accept of Christ's satisfaction of the law's demand, and, by 
 accepting, to make Christ's satisfaction its own." — Chap. viii. § 5 2. 
 
 Even those who think that to preach the Gospel is to tell a sinner that he 
 is offered salvation if he himself will fulfil the required condition of believing in 
 Christ — even they deny that faith is a condition in the most strict and proper 
 meaning of the word, condition. Mr Riccaltoun represents this denial in a 
 clever species of dialogue. Speaking of his opponent, he says — 
 
 " He owns he is not for a condition, if by condition be meant that which 
 merits anything at the hand of God (no great wonder he rejects this, for even 
 perfect obedience in Adam was not properly meritorious, though it was a federal 
 condition) ; he rejects it also as it founds a title for heaven (I am glad of this ; 
 I hope we shall come pretty near other, on this head, if he hold on) ; he 
 refuses it likewise as practicable in our own strength (very good all, I hope then 
 'tis freely given to us to believe). He advances and adds further, that it is not 
 anything done by us that comes in the room of 'perfect obedience under the first 
 covenant (excellent yet, I'm heartily pleased with all this) ; he concludes, ' it is 
 not anything previous as the condition of the first grace : ' this, he owns, is abso- 
 lutely promised and given (Jer. xxxii. 37, &c, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, &c.) — (all this 
 J frankly own). 
 
 " The author goes on to explain the difference between an interesting and 
 an entitling condition, and owns that it is the righteousness of the surety that 
 comes in place of Adam's perfect righteousness as the entitling condition, and 
 that faith, as the bond of union with Christ, interests us in Him (well, then, I 
 think we will not dispute about faith's being the condition of the covenant of 
 grace in the strict and proper sense of the term ' condition '). 
 
 " The [Westminster] Assembly (Larger Cat., Q. 32) takes the word ' condi- 
 tion ' in a large and improper sense, as the way and mean which God makes use 
 of for making up our union with Christ, and so not properly as the condition of 
 union, but as the very uniting act, or mean of union." — Review of an Essay on 
 Gospel and Legal Preaching, p. 104. 
 
 Ebenezer Erskine states the case thus : " But, say you, is not faith the 
 condition ? I will be loath to condemn that way of speaking, because worthy 
 men have used it, and do use it, in a sound sense. But, sirs, I would have 
 you to remember, that when it is called a condition, all that such learned and 
 worthy men mean by it is only this, That you can have no saving benefit or 
 advantage by Christ, unless He be received [accepted by you, or welcomed'] ; you 
 can have no benefit by God's covenant of promise, unless you believe the promise 
 to be true, and believe it with application to your own souls. Faith is just such 
 a condition as shows the inseparable connection between one thing and another : 
 
276 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 as if you should say to a beggar, There is your alms, on condition you take it ; 
 there is meat, on condition you eat it ; there is a good bond for a sum of money, 
 on condition you trust him that granted it. Now, such a condition of the cove- 
 nant of grace is faith ; it is just a taking what is freely given without money and 
 price ; and, let it be remembered, that itself is one of the blessings promised in 
 this covenant." — Sermon on Rev. iv. 9, published in 1718. 
 
 DR J. F. A. GILLET. 
 
 Dk Gillet was pastor of the congregation of the Court Church of Breslau in and 
 before 1857, in which year he published "The Heidelberg Catechism Dissected 
 for the Use of Schools and Confirmation Classes, and for Self-Instruction, and 
 authenticated from Holy Scripture " [Der Heidelberger Katechismus, zum 
 Gebrauche fur Schulen, Confirmanden-Unterricht, und Selbstunterweisung 
 zergliedert und aus der Heiligen Schrift bewahrt.] 
 
 A more interesting manual was never compiled. The Scripture proofs are 
 arranged in answer to brief simplified questions. Each section is accompanied 
 with a lesson in Bible history; and, with a few exceptions, each question is illus- 
 trated by appropriate hymns. The hymns, if printed separately, would admir- 
 ably carry out Luther's idea, of instructing the pupil systematically by means of 
 sacred songs. 
 
 The proof that the Scripture sanctions the division of the elements of saving 
 
 knowledge into the knowledge of sin, redemption, and practical thankfulness is 
 
 ingenious : — 
 
 c ,, „ Practical Thank- 
 
 Sin and Misery. Redemption. 
 
 fulness. 
 
 Rom. vii. wretched man Who shall deliver me I thank God, through 
 
 24, 25. that I am ! from the body of Jesus Christ our 
 
 this death ? Lord. 
 
 Matt. xi. All ye that labour Come unto Me, and I Take My yoke upon 
 28, 29, and are heavy will give you rest. you and learn of 
 
 30. laden ! Me, for I am meek 
 
 and lowly in heart ; 
 \ and ye shall find 
 
 rest unto your 
 souls ; for My yoke 
 is easy and my 
 burden is Uffht. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 277 
 
 This threefold knowledge is illustrated by three hymns. [I find that although 
 the above are not the proof-texts in the original catechism, they are those of the 
 modern German reprints.] 
 
 REV. THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D. 
 
 Thomas Goodwin was a native of Norfolk, having been born in the village of 
 Rolesby in 1000 (Oct. 5). He was educated at Christchurch in Cambridge, and 
 became Fellow of Katharine Hall, and Bachelor of Divinity. He became also a 
 famous preacher in that University town. It is said that Dr Sibbes remon- 
 strated with him " because his sermons were, for the most part, if not wholly, 
 calculated to produce conviction and terror, to alarm the conscience and wound 
 the heart ; " and gave him this advice, which he thereafter acted upon, to the in- 
 calculable benefit of his own and all following generations : — " Young man, if ever 
 you would do good, you must preach the Gospel and the free grace of God in 
 Christ. Jesus, and the consolations that flow from these important doctrines." He 
 was episcopally ordained, but the tyranny of the Laudean system drove him out. 
 He resigned his preferments, and was a refugee in Holland, and pastor of an 
 Independent congregation at Arnheim. He returned to London about the be- 
 ginning of the Long Parliament, and became a member of the Westminster 
 Assembly. In this relation his congregationalist principles were obstructive, both 
 as to public results and as to his own personal advantage. But his principles 
 recommended him to Cromwell. In 1650 he began his residence in Oxford as 
 President of Magdalen College, and he received the degree of D.D. in 1653. 
 From Oxford he was, of course, removed in 1660, and he retired to London, 
 where he resided, chiefly in the parish of Great St Bartholomew, till his death, 
 in his eightieth year, 23rd Feb. 16S0 (new style). 
 
 The republication of Dr Goodwin's Works by Mr Nichol of Edinburgh 
 renders a list of his writings unnecessary. They occupy twelve volumes, octavo ; 
 as they were formerly known, they consisted of one thick quarto volume and five 
 gigantic folios. The original editions had become very scarce, and their posses- 
 sors were considered fortunate. It was thought that the reprint would be very 
 popular ; and no doubt it has been extensively useful, like the whole of the series 
 of Puritan Authors republished by Mr Nichol. However, the effect of the volu- 
 minous republication has, for the present, been disappointing ; the public appa- 
 rently having been surfeited, and the Puritans' writings being generally neglected. 
 There can be no doubt that modernised spelling often strips those ancient men's 
 sayings of their fatherly and testamentary tone. For instance, to modernise 
 
278 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 such a sentence as the following (extracted from Goodwin's " Child of Light 
 Walking in Darkness ") is to spoil it : — 
 
 " T'lWbt strange fire of their owne righteousnesse, which is from and in nature 
 unchanged, and the hitching fire of outward comforts — these are the two maine 
 hinderances that keepe all wicked men from Christ and justification through 
 Him." 
 
 REV. THOMAS GOODWIN, JUNIOR 
 
 The son and namesake of Dr Goodwin was partly educated in England, but 
 finished his education in Holland. He was, says Calamy, " a person of great 
 and universal literature, and of a most gentle and obliging temper, and who 
 lived usefully upon his estate." During the reign of Charles II., he, with three 
 other young men, carried on an evening lecture, which was supported and 
 attended by some of the first merchants in London. In 1683 he made the 
 tour of Europe with Mr Shower and other gentlemen. In 1685 he became 
 assistant to Rev. Stephen Lob in Fetter Lane, London. He was during the 
 rest of his ministerial life " Pastor of a Church of Christ at Pinnor in Middlesex." 
 He was there in 1695, when he wrote his valuable pamphlet, "A Discourse on 
 the true nature of the Gospel, demonstrating that it is no new law but a pure 
 doctrine of grace. In answer to the Reverend Mr Lorimer's Apology." Mr 
 Lorimer, though a respectable minister, was one of those combatants who con- 
 demn themselves by their condemnation of better and sounder men, and demon- 
 strate the falsity of their own opinions in proposing them as substitutes for a 
 scriptural and evangelical system. Mr Goodwin says, (p. 3), "As for Bradwardine 
 and Dr Owen, on whom Mr Lorimer is pleased to bestow some disadvantageous 
 remarks, they are .... great names .... and above his little reflections." 
 " As for Mr Marshall, that very book, which Mr Lorimer so much vilifies, dis- 
 covers a pious heart, joined with a closeness and consistency of thought." Mr 
 Lorimer's watchword was the word " law," from which he inferred that the 
 Gospel is a new law; but Mr Goodwin (p. 37) agreed with Calvin, that when the 
 Gospel is called a law, only a doctrine of salvation is meant by that word " law." 
 Mr Goodwin shows that Romanists, Socinians, and Arminians have advocated Mr 
 Lorimer's views, as their respective dreams about salvation required them to do. 
 So Luther (on Gal. ii. 5) said, "All justiciaries esteem Christ to be a new legislator. 
 The truth is, that precepts are found in the Gospel. But they are not the Gospel; 
 they are but expositions of the law and appendixes of the Gospel." Mr Good- 
 win's Pamphlet contains a full history of the true and false doctrine on this 
 vital question. It shows him to have been a most capable Theological Professor 
 in the Academy attached to his Church. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 279 
 
 REV. JOHN GUYSE, D.D. 
 
 John Guyse was born in Hertford in 1680. He studied literature and 
 theology at Saffron Waldon, under Rev. John Payne, known as the friend of Dr 
 Owen. He was a congregation alist, and began to preach in 1700 in his native 
 town, as assistant to Mr Haworth, whom he afterwards succeeded in the full 
 charge of the Independent Congregation. His biblical and theological learning was 
 turned to special account when Arminianism threatened the churches. The result 
 of the controversy and of his successful teaching of the truth as it is in Jesus, 
 was the publication of the still celebrated books, "Guyse on the Divinity and Per- 
 son of Christ" (171 9), and "Guyse on the Divinity of the Holy Spirit" (1721). Mr 
 Guyse had frequently been offered promotion, but felt bound by duty to Hert- 
 ford. However, his congregational and literary labours, and the large size of his 
 church and congregation, threatened to end his days. And the advice of Mr 
 Bragge commended itself to him : "A minister may lawfully leave his people when, 
 upon a full trial, his labours are too great for his health. Christ does not call 
 upon His servants to kill themselves in His service ; He is too good a Master to 
 require it, and too great a one to need it." * At the invitation of the infant congre- 
 gation of New Broad Street in London, Mr Guyse became their minister in 1727. 
 The early years of his Loudon ministry were signalised by his preaching the Coward 
 Lecture, and by his controversy with Mr Chandler on its publication. Mr Guyse 
 declared his determination to preach Christ, and urged that true method of preach- 
 ing upon his brethren. Young Chandler's letters were both unevangelical and 
 rude ; so much so, that he demeaned himself by saying, that by preaching Christ 
 Mr Guyse meant preaching well, that is, preaching better than other ministers ; 
 and that he was advertising himself and his church in competition with others. 
 I have already devoted a whole Chapter to this important subject, so that in this 
 Memoir I need only quote the verdict of Bogue and Bennett (to whom I am 
 indebted for the facts in this Memoir). " Mr Guyse had evidently the advan- 
 tage both in argument and temper, and his opponent never appeared to so little 
 advantage as in this dispute." 2 It was in London that Mr Guyse wrote his great 
 work in three quarto volumes, "A Paraphrase on the New Testament." It 
 differs from the similar work of Dr Doddridge in its object, which was to be a 
 safe guide to students as to bihlical interpretation, and consequently in its 
 
 1 [The neglect to distinguish between burnt-offerings and thank-offerings has led some 
 people into an opposite opinion founded on the Apostle's phrase, "a living sacrifice " (Rom. xii. 1). 
 But that phrase justifies Mr Bragge's opinion. What it suggests is a sacrifice of praise with 
 Hezekiah's motto, " The living, the living, he shall praise Thee." It is impossible for a man at 
 one and the same time both to kill himself and to be a living sacrifice. — D. C. A. A.] 
 2 " History of Dissenters," Vol. IV., page 443. 
 
280 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 method, which was to collect the various senses put on the text by orthodox 
 divines. For this task the great scholarship and studious zeal of the author 
 made him well qualified. As a testimony to his profound and accurate know- 
 ledge of theology and biblical criticism, the University of Aberdeen conferred on 
 him the degree of D.D. in the year 1732, to the surprise of himself and the satis- 
 faction of his many friends. His Berry Street Sermons, and others, were collected 
 into one volume in 1756. The age of fourscore found him faithful and diligent, 
 though feeble in body. When his end drew nigh, he said, " Thanks be to God, I 
 have no doubt, no difficulty in my mind, as to my eternal state ; if I had, I could 
 not bear what I now feel. I know whom I have believed, here my faith rests." 
 — " The peculiar doctrines of the Gospel which I have long preached, are now 
 the support of my soul. I live upon them every day, and thence I derive never- 
 failing comfort." — " How gracious is my God to me ; how often has He made 
 good to me that promise, As thy day so shall thy strength be." — " I am not 
 afraid of death ; I am afraid lest I should err on the other side, in being too 
 desirous of it." 
 
 Dr Guyse died on 22nd November 1761, aged eighty-one. His funeral ser- 
 mon was preached by the Rev. John Conder. 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, born in 1662, was a pious youth, reared amidst the 
 troubles of Covenanting times. When a student in the University of Edinburgh, 
 the head of Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling, which had been exposed, ever since 
 his martyrdom, upon a pike affixed to the port at the Netherbow, was pointed 
 out to him ; and he took advantage of the darkness of night to climb up and 
 remove it from the public gaze. He was ordained as minister of Ecclesmachan 
 by the Presbytery of Linlithgow on 29th August 1694, from whence he was 
 translated to Airth, in Stirlingshire, on 23rd April 1700. It is as " Hamilton of 
 Airth " that his memory is embalmed in the memory and in the Church History 
 of Scotland. Principal Hadow, having had a friendly correspondence with him 
 from 1710 to 1712, was aware of his love for the free and full Gospel, and of 
 his disapproval of the orthodoxy of that date, which insisted that the covenant of 
 grace is offered to hearers of the Gospel on certain terms, and that it is " a mutual 
 covenant containing stipulation and re-stipulation." The form of the correspond- 
 ence was an examination of a catechism by Mr Hamilton, which was then in 
 manuscript, but which Dr Scott informs us was printed at Edinburgh in 1714, 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 281 
 
 with the title, " A Short Catechism concerning the Three Special Divine Cove- 
 nants and the Two Gospel Sacraments, with Scripture-proofs." A manuscript 
 copy of the correspondence is in the Edinburgh New College Library, and now 
 lies on the table before me. Not having seen the printed catechism, I copy 
 from one of Mr Hamilton's letters a specimen both of it and of his epistolary 
 vindication of his doctrine. 
 
 " Part III. Concerning the covenant of grace. Q. 3. Is this covenant, 
 then, mutual as containing stipulation and re-stipulation ? 
 
 Answer. In a proper and strict sense it is not — the whole of the grace 
 thereof being lodged in the Lord's own hand, and what actings the poor lost 
 dead sinner has at any time toward Him being the effect of God's grace." 
 
 MS. Vindication. 
 
 " Though it must be granted that God doth not bring any under the bond 
 of the covenant against their will, yet it must be owned that what assent or 
 consent the elect sinner hath at any time toward Him holds entirely of God. 
 Hence saith the Lord, ' I will betroth thee unto Me for ever in righteousness and 
 judgment and in loving-kindness ; I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithful- 
 ness : and thou shalt know the Lord. I will have mercy upon thee that hath 
 not obtained mercy, and I will say unto them, that were not My people, Thou art 
 My people, and they shall say, Thou art my God ' (Hosea ii. 19, 20, 23). Hence, 
 saith Gillespie, in his "Treatise upon the Covenants," Part I., p. 101, 'God's 
 covenant with man is the sole will and pleasure of the one party.' (See also 
 p. 143.) P. 294, he saith expressly, ' God makes the covenant with us, and not 
 we with Him.' And in p. 208, ' It's a covenant that saith, i" will and they shall, 
 and saith not, If he do this I will do that, but / will do this, and they shall do 
 that, I will make them do it,' &c." " Alex. Hamilton." 
 
 Airth, Dec. 1, 1710. 
 
 The seventh question and answer are as follow : — 
 
 " Q. 7. Wherein consists the nature and form of the covenant ? Ans. 
 Properly it consists in gracious promises." 
 
 Principal Hadow, whom Mr Hamilton describes as a mild man in conversa- 
 tion, proved to be stern in action ; and accordingly the author of the above state- 
 ments was summoned to answer for himself before the General Assembly's Com- 
 mittee on Purity of Doctrine, April 1720. He was examined ten or eleven 
 times during eight days. He wrote an account of the affair, in which he says : 
 " I confess, when they were putting some queries to me, which insinuated great 
 suspicions of gross error, and others that (I thought) grated much upon special 
 Gospel truths, my heart grew so great that I could scarce utter a word without a 
 
 2 N 
 
2S2 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 flood of tears." The result was, that the Committee expressed " the greatest 
 affection and brotherly tenderness towards him," and reported favourably. 
 
 In 1725 Mr Brisbane of Stirling died ; Mr Hamilton was inducted as 
 his successor on 2nd February 1726. Mr Ebenezer Erskine became his neighbour 
 in Stirling iu 1731, and he lived in close friendship with him and his brother — 
 a friendship which was not cooled by the secession of the Erskines from the judi- 
 catories of the Establishment. Mr Ralph Erskine said of him : " His sentiments 
 were so much the same with those that are now associate together by themselves 
 that they had a remarkable share iu his daily prayers under the name of The 
 Reforming Society." He died 29th January 1738, in his seventy-sixth year. 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM HAMILTON, D.D. 
 
 WlLLIAM, second son of Gavin Hamilton of Airdrie, a scion of the Hamiltons of 
 Preston, was born about 1669, and, being a child of covenanting parents, " was 
 baptized at a conventicle." 1 On 26th September 1694 he was ordained minister 
 of Corstorphine, where he laboured for fifteen years. In 1709 he was installed 
 as Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. Tn 1732 he became 
 Principal of the University, and exchanged his chair for the collegiate charge of 
 the New North Church in the city. But he is remembered as Professor Hamilton ; 
 for he survived the translation for only three months, dying on 12th November 
 1732, aged about sixty-three. He thus predeceased the Secession ; and it can 
 only be a conjecture how, as an acknowledged leader, he would have encountered 
 the emergency. He was five times Moderator of the General Assembly. He 
 was an excellent theological teacher. Thomas Boston of Ettrick writes in his 
 Memoirs: " 17th May 1729. — I had a conversation with Professor Hamilton, 
 who ingenuously declared to me his satisfaction (and this of his own accord) with 
 what we called the deed of gift, and his conviction that the Gospel could not be 
 preached without it." 
 
 [His children were — Robert Hamilton, D.D., Professor of Theology, Edin- 
 burgh, from 1754 to 1787; and Ann, wife of Rev. John Horsley, M.A., and 
 mother of Right Rev. Samuel Horsley, Bishop of St Asaph. 
 
 Professor Robert Hamilton married Jean, daughter of John Hay, Esq., of 
 Haystoun, Peeblesshire, and had, with other children, a son, James Hamilton, 
 M.D. ; and a daughter, Grizel, wife of Benjamin Bell, surgeon, Edinburgh, 
 author of a great work on " The Principles of Surgery."] 
 
 1 So says Anderson's " Scottish Nation" (Vol. II.. page 424). Mr Anderson makes 1675 the 
 year of W. H.'s birth, but this would represent him as receiving ordination at the age of nine- 
 teen ; I therefore follow Dr Scott. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 283 
 
 REV. JAMES HERVEY, M.A. 
 
 This accomplished English clergyman was, for a long period, well known as the 
 author of " Meditations among the Tombs," " Reflections on a Flower-Garden," 
 and similar elegant pieces. The same poetical prose characterized his dialogues 
 and letters on Gospel privileges, entitled " Theron and Aspasio." {Theron is an 
 inquirer, a gentleman of fortune, and Aspasio is his Christian friend and in- 
 structor). In an unadorned style he wrote a defence of the latter work addressed 
 to the Rev. John Wesley, who at that time repudiated the doctrine of the impu- 
 tation of Christ's righteousness, except as a less felicitous mode of expressing 
 forgiveness through the blood of Christ. Mr Hervey also wrote " Remarks on 
 Lord Bolingbroke." Jarnes Hervey was born at Hardingstone in Northampton- 
 shire, in February 1713, in the house of his father, the Rev. William Hervey, 
 who held two family livings, Weston-Favell and Collingtree. He was educated 
 at Northampton, and at Lincoln College, Oxford. At the University he was a 
 friend and associate of Whitefield and Wesley. On 19th September 1736 he 
 took Deacon's Orders and came home as curate of Collingtree. He served in 
 curacies in Devonshire, first at Stoke Abbey, then at Bideford. In this county 
 his delicate consumptive constitution received little or no benefit. It was in 
 following a ploughman for the sake of generous exhalations from the newly- 
 turned earth, that an often-repeated conversation took place. He said to the 
 pious rustic, What is the hardest thing in religion ? and the man having referred 
 the question back to the reverend questioner, Mr Hervey's answer was, " To deny 
 sinful self." The ploughman admitted that was a hard but not the hardest thing, 
 and said that his own experience would answer the question thus, " To deny 
 righteous self." Mr Hervey felt offended and even indignant ; but his studies 
 having been providentially directed to the writings of Witsius and Boston, and to 
 such books as " Jenks on Submission to the Righteousness of Christ," and Marshall's 
 "Gospel Mystery of Sanctification," he came to see that the poor man was right. 
 And the tidings that the loving and Catholic James Hervey had learned Christ 
 and now preached Christ rejoiced the heart of Whitefield. In 1743 he returned 
 to Collingtree, where he had great leisure for writing. Circumstances connected 
 with his delicate health and attacks of illness led to his long residence in London 
 (from June 1750 to May 1752), where he associated with Whitefield, William 
 Romaine, and Dr Gill. His father died in May 1752 ; and after that, James 
 Hervey resided in his native county as rector of Weston-Favell and Collingtree, 
 until his death, at the early age of forty-four, on 25th December 1758. 1 
 
 As already hinted, he elaborated his compositions with great care ; but he 
 said, " I do not so much as wish to invent any new doctrine, but to dress the 
 1 See Mr Bull's Papers on Hervey in Sunday at Home for 1875. 
 
284 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 good old truths of the Reformation in such drapery of language as to allure men 
 of all conditions." 
 
 His " Theron and Aspasio," as far as it went, was chiefly occupied with 
 explanations and recommendations of the doctrine of justification. It was the 
 entire failure of Mr Hervey's health and strength that hindered him from con- 
 tinuing those dialogues, so as completely to illustrate his religious principles, as 
 often expressed by him in language such as the following: " Cherish faith, and you 
 will of course cultivate obedience ; water the root, and the branches of Gospel 
 godliness will assuredly partake of the beneficial effects." 
 
 All that he wrote in contemplation of the continuation of " Theron and 
 Aspasio" was this draft of a programme of a fourth volume : — 
 
 " Pleasure and happiness of Christ's religion (for I am of the same opinion 
 as Mr Marshall in his treatise on sanctification, namely, that we must partake of 
 the comforts of the Gospel before we can practise the duties of the law). 
 
 " Theron oppressed with fears, on account of his numerous sins. Discouraged 
 with doubts, on account of his imperfect obedience. The cordials of the Gospel 
 readministered, with some additional spirit and strength. Objections to assurance 
 of faith, stated, discussed, answered. 
 
 " Vital holiness, its nature, necessity, excellency. Its grand efficient, the 
 blessed Spirit. Its principal instrument, true faith ; mixed with which, the 
 Scriptures, the Lord's Supper, prayer, the Divine promises, are powerful and 
 effectual means ; disunited from which, they are a dead letter and insignificant 
 ordinances. 
 
 " The evangelical principles of holiness, such as, / beseech you by the mercies 
 of God — ye are bought with a price — ye are the temples of the living God, &c. ; 
 all these privileges, though not hereditary, yet indefeasible ; or the final persever- 
 ance of the saints. 
 
 " Our friends part — renew their correspondence. Theron desires to glorify 
 the God of his salvation, asks advice concerning the best method of family 
 worship, educating children, instructing servants, edifying acquaintance. On 
 each of these particulars Aspasio satisfies his inquiry — enlarges on the subject of 
 education, especially of daughters, as that seems to be most neglected, or the 
 proper way of conducting it least understood. 
 
 " Letter on the covenant of grace, comprising the substance, and being a 
 kind of recapitulation, of the three foregoing volumes. 
 
 " Aspasio seized with a sudden and fatal illness ; his sentiments and 
 behaviour in his last moments." — (Letter 142). 
 
 Although Mr Hervey never wrote the volume, of which the above was the 
 plan, yet his design was not altogether unfulfilled. The Rev. John Brown of 
 Whitburn, in Scotland, was a diligent student of all his writings, and published 
 an interesting Memoir, which was welded out of the printed letters, almost every 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 285 
 
 sentence being made some use of. Having thus become saturated with Hervey, 
 Mr Brown wrote additional Letters to Theron. In the pages of " The Christian 
 Repository" they were printed, and after the author's death they reappeared in a 
 volume, as " Brown's Letters on Sanctification" (1834). The Letters are arranged 
 thus : — 1 . Preliminary. 2. The Connection between Evangelical Holiness and 
 Christ. 3. The Nature of Holiness. 4. The Exercise of Holiness. 5. The 
 Pleasures of Evangelical Holiness. 6. The Law of Holiness. 7. The Dying 
 Saint. 
 
 To render his letters a fitting continuation of Aspasio's Letters to Theron, 
 Mr Brown, whose own style of writing was quite unadorned, secured the aid of 
 his son, who had acquired a more literary style. The father wrote the letters in 
 the style natural to himself, the son rewrote them, and the father revised the 
 embellished draft. (This plan was carried out in every letter, except the sixth). 
 The Letters, thus completed, were sent to the editor of the " Repository," along 
 with the following note : — 
 
 "Sir, It is generally known that it was Mr Hervey's intention to have added 
 another volume to his ' Theron and Aspasio' on the influence of his peculiar 
 views of Gospel doctrine on sanctification. His ill health and premature death 
 prevented the execution of this design. Strongly persuaded that the Gospel as 
 understood by Mr Hervey is 'the doctrine according to godliness' (1 Tim. vi. 3), 
 I have devoted some of my leisure hours to the composition of the enclosed 
 letters, which, if they suit your journal, you are welcome to give to the public. 
 How far they supply the desideratum, others must determine. I have at least 
 this consoling reflection, I have meant well, I have done what I could. 
 
 "J. B., W." 
 
 (See the "Additional Memoirs" at the end of this volume, where a speci- 
 men of the Letters on Sanctification will be given). 
 
 REV. JAMES HOG, M.A. 
 
 The name of Mr Hog, minister of Carnock, will always be dear to worthy Scotch- 
 men, and his memory has long been revered in Great Britain and America. As 
 to his parentage, which was godly and covenanting, I reserve it for a note. James 
 Hog was born in 1658, and studied in the University of Edinburgh, where he 
 took the degree of M.A. in 1677. His father died peacefully and triumphantly 
 about 1680 or 1681, and young Hog went to Holland for his theological studies. 
 We recognise his name in Professor Leydekker's class for the Heidelberg Catechism, 
 
286 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 9th September [1682], where he is called "Jacobus Hoog, Scoto-Brit." During 
 his youuger days he had enjoyed the friendship (though apparently he was no 
 relation) of Rev. Thomas Hog, minister of Kiltearn, whom he visited as a 
 covenanting prisoner in the Edinburgh Tolbooth, and from whom he received one 
 or more letters from the Bass Rock. In Holland they became fast friends as fellow- 
 exiles. [He, in the next century, wrote in the preface to his " Notes about 
 saving illumination" : " If I have attained to any improvement in this and other 
 things pertaining to life and godliness, I owe it much, next unto free mercy, to 
 the instruction and conduct of Mr T[homas] H[og], a burning and shining light, 
 who was honoured to gain many souls in his day, and under whose tender and 
 fatherly care I had the happiness to live for a little while in a foreign country, 
 after some more transient converse before that exile."] 
 
 In his manuscript, which I shall afterwards describe, speaking of himself in 
 the third person, James Hog writes, " It was his happiness often to enjoy a 
 powerful dispensation of Gospel ordinances during the first periods of his sinful 
 and much-tossed life. In those days several choice ministers adventured to preach 
 in the face of cruel laws enacted against them." This manuscript contains his 
 meditatious during his time of anxiety as to the question whether the Gospel of 
 our blessed Saviour was intended for such a sinner as himself. Some of us 
 may have thought that some modern light regarding the Gospel welcome is con- 
 veyed in the lines — 
 
 " Just as I am — and waiting not 
 To rid my soul of one dark blot — 
 To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
 Lamb of God, I come ! " 
 
 But James Hog came to this conclusion in his younger days. He writes, " The 
 Gospel-calls to believe, recorded by the Spirit of God in the word, do plainly 
 point out the sinner's state as that wherein we were left by our sin and fall in our 
 first parents ; and the wretched sinner is invited to come to Christ — [to come] as 
 he is, in these very circumstances of death, darkness, enmity, wickedness, and 
 
 extreme dangers of every sort that attend him The wretched sinner — as 
 
 ungodly (only, wholly, and exceedingly so) — is invited and welcomed to come unto 
 Him who is the Lord our Righteousness." (See Cole and Trail.) 
 
 The last chapter in the manuscript is Chapter XL, "Wherein Philomathes 
 [J. Hog] proposeth to account for the chief wrestlings which relate to his minis- 
 terial work, his preparation for it, entrance upon it, and conduct therein, both as 
 to the incontested matters that belong to the common salvation, and also with 
 respect to sundry things controverted in his time." This chapter informs us that 
 he studied under the best professors in Holland, supporting himself as a college 
 tutor. He returned to Scotland after the abdication of James VII., " chiefly on 
 account of the commands of his only surviving parent." His theological educa- 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 287 
 
 tion was severely tested by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, and he was licensed as 
 a Preacher of the Gospel. In the end of 1690 he received a call to be minister 
 of Dalserf, in the Presbytery of Hamilton, and was ordained 20th January 1690. 
 He sat in the General Assembly as a representative of his Presbytery in May 
 1692. He now got into trouble about oaths to the government. 
 
 I must explain that at that epoch all godly ministers observed, with 
 deepest feeling, how the Stuart rule had demoralized the consciences of the people 
 by a wanton imposition of oaths. The people had been compelled to swear this 
 thing and that thing, and even an undescribed et cetera, not because they believed 
 it, but because it was commanded. Falsehood and perjury were incurred with a 
 light heart and elastic conscience, and a sacred solemnity was rendered contemp- 
 tible and ensnaring. Mr Hog, and those with whom he associated in the 
 ministry, felt it necessary to criticize public oaths very carefully. There could be 
 no objection to a simple oath of allegiance to William and Mary. But there 
 were oaths in existence and in contemplation which seemed to imply the approval 
 of the establishment of episcopacy, &c, in England, and also of the declaration as 
 to England that the Sovereign is the Head of the church, or supreme over all 
 persons, and in all causes, civil and ecclesiastical. The consequence was, that the 
 most earnest ministers, as seeking the public good, refused to swear. To dis- 
 tinguish them from the Episcopal Non-Jurors (who disowned allegiance to 
 William and Mary) they were usually called non-jurants, and the Presbyterian 
 ministers, who were jurors, were regarded as lukewarm servants of their church 
 and country. 
 
 Mr Hog shared in these scruples. But what most offended his conscience 
 was, that an Act of Parliament had declared that men, who would not swear, 
 should not be ministers or preachers. This was the point that brought him to a 
 decision ; " when he saw the Act of Parliament for settling the peace and quiet 
 of the church, and understood from it that a swearing the allegiance and subscrib- 
 ing the assurance were required by law as a necessary qualification, without which 
 none were allowed to be ministers and preachers within the same, this Act 
 appearing to him to be of an Erastian strain, did heighten his reluctancy. 
 Hence, upon these and other grounds for which he hath accounted in another 
 way, he thought it his duty to decline the swearing required." 
 
 This declinature made him liable to severe and ruinous fines ; and he and 
 his brethren were always prepared to submit to the legal penalty. But it being 
 notorious that they were practically the most loyal and exemplary subjects of 
 their Majesties, no prosecution took place. Mr Hog wrote a letter to the Duchess 
 of Hamilton, to be communicated to her noble husband, who was the Royal Com- 
 missioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, declaring in the 
 strongest terms his dutiful and grateful loyalty to their Majesties, and protesting 
 that his declinature was founded on conscientious objections, not to the contents 
 
288 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of the oaths, but " to some concomitants of them." The Duke received the letter 
 kindly, and no prosecution was instituted against him. 
 
 On one Sabbath he was absent from home, and the parishioners of Dalserf, 
 who repaired to the nearest church, had to listen to a sermon assailing the non- 
 jurants. On the next Sabbath Mr Hog explained his conduct from his own pulpit 
 to his flock, which hitherto he had refrained from doing. This led to unpleasant 
 debates in the Presbytery. Apparently to bring the matter to a climax, the 
 Presbytery elected him, against his will, as a member of the General Assembly of 
 1 695. As soon as Mr Hog entered the House, Lord Carmichael, the Royal Com- 
 missioner, sent for him, and, in a private interview, requested him not to take his 
 seat. Next, the Lord Advocate, also privately, but more excitedly, conversed 
 with him, and expressed the same desire. To both he gave the same answer, 
 that he must keep his seat, unless the General Assembly formally resolved other- 
 wise. No such resolution being communicated to him, he both sat and spoke as 
 a member. But for the sake of peace he offered to retire from Dalserf. The 
 General Assembly accepted his resignation, and granted him an Act of transporta- 
 bility, that is, a certificate that he was eligible for any vacancy in the church. Thus 
 he was separated from his parish, and " accepted of no other for some years." 
 And so the manuscript concludes, " At length, a way being most unexpectedly 
 opened to him, with universal consent, to an easy and manageable congregation, 
 he agreed to make a trial, and continueth to labour there to this day." 
 
 The delay in his settlement arose from severe illness ; in fact, his health 
 was precarious during the rest of his life. He had for this reason to resign his 
 deed of election to a charge in the Synod of Moray. The " easy and manageable 
 congregation," over which he was inducted on 23rd August 1699, was Carnock, 
 in the Presbytery of Dunfermline. His first printed book, prefaced by a friend 
 in 1701, states, "the author, being by indisposition laid aside from any other 
 exercise of his ministry, did employ his talent in family Exercises ; they come to 
 thy hand in their native dress." Perhaps the thought, that the yearly college 
 vacation might preserve his life, induced him to be a candidate for the Divinity 
 Chair in Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1711 ; he was, however, defeated. 
 Though in a minority in the Synod of Fife and in the General Assembly, he was 
 recognised as a leader in the religious community. This appears from his being 
 employed in 1714 to write the Preface to the late Professor Halyburton's great 
 work on the " Insufficiency of Natural Religion." Another and more celebrated 
 preface was dated "Carnock, December 3, 1717," introducing to the Scottish 
 public the little book called "The Marrow of Modern Divinity." I have else- 
 where given the history of the Marrow and the Church-courts. Here I need only 
 quote a short narrative by Mr Boston : — " In April 1720, a Committee of the 
 General Assembly examined Rev. James Hog, minister of Carnock ; Alexander 
 Hamilton, minister of Airth ; James Brisbane, minister of Stirling ; and John 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 289 
 
 Warden, minister of Garguunock. They were examined apart. Mr Hog being 
 called, the first query proposed to him was, Whether he owned himself author of 
 the preface to the last edition of " The Marrow of Modern Divinity." To which 
 he answered affirmatively, and moreover told them that that book, whereof he 
 knew nothing before, came most unexpectedly to his hand, and he read it over as 
 soon as he could — that he had no thoughts of the reprinting of it, but complied with 
 the motion thereto, after the project had been laid by others — that at the earnest 
 desire of some who managed the business he wrote the preface — that the Lord 
 had blessed the reading of the book to many excellent persons of divers ranks, and 
 that he knew an eminent divine, now in glory, who left it on record that the reading 
 an old edition thereof was the first notable means blest of the Lord for giving him 
 some clearness of impression concerning the Gospel — and that, for his own part, 
 he owned that he had received more light about some important concerns of the 
 glorious Gospel by perusing that book, than by other human writings which 
 Providence had brought into his hands." 
 
 There is no record of any public appearances by Mr Hog after the cessation 
 of the Marrow debates. He probably was frequently disabled even from preaching, 
 and on 21st January 1730 the Rev. Daniel Hunter was ordained his assistant and 
 successor. Mr Hunter also became his son-in-law by his marriage to Miss Janet 
 Hog. Mr Hog died in Edinburgh, on 14th May 1734, in his seventy-sixth year. 
 
 Mr Hog's publications were numerous, but owing to a scholastic and involved 
 style they have fallen out of notice. As containing the counsels and opinions of 
 one who had a masterly grasp of theology, and who wrote for the good of souls 
 and the glory of God, they might be profitably consulted. Having facilities for 
 giving a more complete list than has yet appeared, I present students with the 
 following catalogue. [Where a full description is given, I have the book or tract 
 on my table. Where Mr Hog's name is not given in my transcript of the title- 
 page of any such book or tract, the publication is anonymous.] 
 
 (1.) In manuscript. Memorial written by Philomathes, and addressed to 
 his surviving friends. 
 
 [Several copies of this manuscript were made, and have been preserved. 
 From one copy partial reprints were taken by Rev. John Brown of Haddington, 
 and by Rev. Archibald Bruce of Whitburn. There is a copy in the Advocates' 
 Library, Edinburgh, from which I gleaned most of my information regarding the 
 period of his life with which it is occupied. This copy of the MS. has been 
 described thus : — " The life of Mr James Hog, sometime minister of the Gospel 
 at Disserf, in Hamilton Presbytery, afterwards at Carnock, in Dunfermline Pres- 
 bytery — written by himself — belonging to John Jamieson, SS.T.S., the gift of the 
 Rev. Mr Adam Gib, minister of the Gospel, Edinburgh. Glasgow, June 20, 1776'."] 
 
 (2.) Remarks concerning the Spirit's Operation, and the difference betwixt 
 the law and the gospel. Being the heads of some Family Exercises upon 
 
 2 o 
 
290 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Galatians, chap. iii. ver. 2 ; Rom. x. 1 4, How shall they believe in Him oj 
 %vhom they have not heard? Rom. iii. 28, Therefore we conclude that a man 
 is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Edinburgh, printed by the 
 heirs and successors of Andrew Anderson, printer to the King's most Excellent 
 Majesty, Anno Dom. 1701. [Preface signed J. C, 3 pp.] 126 pp. 
 
 [The Preface, written by an older divine, is a link between the 17th and 
 18th centuries — the glowing language of the senior contrasting with the complex 
 sentences of the junior. The old man writes both with the beauty and with the 
 occasional (quite innocent) indelicacy of Manton : — " Mistake not the author, as 
 if he brought thee off from the law as a rule, or as a schoolmaster to lead to 
 Christ. As long as Hagar is Sarai's maid, she serves her. But when she goes 
 into Abraham's bed, then cast out the bondwoman and her son."] 
 
 (3.) A Casuistical Essay upon the Lord's Prayer, wherein divers important 
 Cases relative to the several Petitions are succinctly stated and answered. To 
 which is subjoin'd, A Letter to a friend, in answer to Sir Hugh Campbel of Calder, 
 and Monsieur d'Espagne, concerning the use thereof. Edinburgh, printed by 
 John Reid, junior, 1705. xxiv. and 374 pp. 
 
 [For a specimen of this work, see Reynolds.] 
 
 (4.) A letter to a friend containing diverse remarks concerning the Sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper, with some hints at the Scriptural-Rules for adminis- 
 tration of and admission to the same. Edinburgh, printed by James Watson, 
 on the North-side of the Cross, 1706. 100 pp. 
 
 (5.) Some Select Notes towards detecting a covert mixture of the Covenant 
 of Works and of Grace, with the danger of that evil and a few advices for 
 remedying thereof. Contained in a letter to a friend upon the head. Edin- 
 burgh, printed by James Watson, on the North-side of the Cross, in Craig's-Closs, 
 1706. 32 pp. 
 
 ["The Second Edition" was published in 1 718, and signed "Yours, &c, 
 J. H."] 
 
 (6) The Covenants of Redemption and Grace Displayed. 1707. 
 
 (7.) Otia Christiana, or Christian Recreations. Being a conference betwixt 
 Nicon and Philotheus, in which diverse important concerns of the doctrine and 
 practice of religion are fairly and familiarly discoursed. Written by J. H., 
 Minister of the Gospel, while in a frail estate of body and much disabled for 
 greater labours. Divided into several Dialogues. Edinburgh, printed by James 
 Watson, on the North-side of the Cross, 1708. viii. pp., and 220 pp. 
 
 [This Volume was very neatly reprinted, at Aberdeen, by J. Chalmers & 
 Co., 1776.] 
 
 (8.) Notes about the Spirit's Operations, for discovering from the Word 
 their nature and evidence. Together with diverse Remarks for detecting the 
 enthusiastical delusions of the Cevennois, Antonia Bourignon, and others. As 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 291 
 
 also, Some account of the differences betwixt a legal and an evangelical administra- 
 tion. Being the substance of several private discourses on Gal. iii. 2. By James 
 Hog, Minister of the Gospel. Edinburgh, printed by John Moncur, 1709. viii., 
 128, and 56 pp. 
 
 [This is a new edition of the " Remarks" of 1701. It is dedicated to the 
 Right Honourable Major-General Maitland, His Lady, Theodosia Maitland. There 
 was a "James Maitland," who became a Brigadier 1st June 1696, Major- 
 General 1st February 1705, Lieutenant-General 1st January 1709. 
 
 There is a misprint in this second edition, the printer having failed to 
 recognise a Scotch noun. In the first edition (p. 89) Mr Hog characterized an 
 erroneous definition of " faith " as " works with a little gospel faird." In the 
 second edition (part ii., p. 16) the verb " fair'd " is substituted.] 
 
 (9.) Notes about Saving Illumination. To which are subjoined Two Letters, 
 one explaining the Lord's guiding His people by His word, and the other detect- 
 ing the delusions of some of the Cevennois. 
 
 [This tract was reprinted at Aberdeen in 1778, and appended to the reprint 
 of Mr Hog's Discourses on Job xxxvi.] 
 
 (10.) A letter to a gentleman, in which the unlawfulness of imposing Forms 
 of Prayer, and of other Acts of Worship, is plainly demonstrated. By James 
 Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edinburgh, printed by John Moncur, 
 at his Printing-House at the foot of the Bull-Closs, foregainst the Tron, Anno 
 1710. 72 pp. 
 
 (11.) Some Remarks about submission to the soveraign disposure of the 
 God of the spirits of all flesh. 24 pp. 
 
 [" I add no more, but that I remain, Reverend Sir, Yours in the sweetest 
 bonds, J. H."] 
 
 (12.) Preface to Halyburton's Natural Religion insufficient, and Revealed 
 necessary to man's happiness in his present state. 1714. 
 
 (13.) An Abstract of Sundry Discourses on Job xxxvi. 8, 9, 10. And if 
 they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction ; Then He sheiveth 
 them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. He openeih 
 also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity. 
 By James Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edinburgh, printed in the 
 year 1714. Recommendatory Preface (signed Ja. Webster), and iv. pp. 72 pp. 
 
 [These discourses were reprinted at Aberdeen in 1778, but a larger type 
 having been used, the reprint fills 102 pages.] 
 
 (14.) A Letter to a person exercised to godliness about our Natural 
 Enmity — wherein also a singular opinion about the state of the devils and 
 damned in hell is considered and refuted. By James Hog, Minister of the Gos- 
 pel at Carnock. Edinburgh : Printed in the year 1714. 48 pp. 
 
 [This letter begins, " Madam."] 
 
292 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 (15.) Remarks concerning the Rooting, Growth, and Ripeness of a Work 
 of Grace in the Soul, contained in some Queries moved and answered from Mark 
 iv. 26, 27, 28. And Be said, So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should 
 cast seed into the ground, And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the 
 seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth 
 forth fruit of herself ; first the Blade, then the Ear, after that the full Com in 
 the Ear. By James Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edinburgh, 
 printed by the heirs and successors of Andrew Anderson, Anno Dom. 1715. iv. 
 and 38 pp. 
 
 (16.) An Essay to vindicate some Scripture Truths in five separate articles 
 from the danger of being corrupted at this time. In answer of a letter from a 
 gentleman to a minister. Published by a Member of the Church of Scotland. 
 2 Cor. xiii. 8, We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Printed 
 in the year 1716. [Dated, Brittane, Feb. 24, 1716.] 32 pp. 
 
 [" I send you a few animadversions on the R. Professor Simpson's Apologetick 
 Answers to the R. Mr Webster's Libel against him. I think not fit to invade 
 Mr Webster's province in medling with what the Professor denys and referrs to 
 probation ; but only will glance at a few propositions which he expressly owns 
 and asserts."] 
 
 (17.) A Letter to a Gentleman concerning the interest of Reason in Re- 
 ligion. By James Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edinburgh, printed 
 in the year 1716. And to be sold by John Martin, William Brown, and William 
 Dicky, Booksellers there. 20 pp. 
 
 (18.) A Letter to a Gentleman, detecting the gangrene of some errors 
 vented at this time. Gal. i. 6 : / marvel that ye are so soon removed from him 
 that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel. 2 Tim. ii. 17 : 
 And their word will eat as doth a canker. 2 Tim. iii. 13 : Evil men and 
 seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. By James 
 Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edinburgh, printed in the year 1 7 1 G. 
 And to be sold by John Martin, William Brown, and William Dicky, Booksellers 
 there. 50 pp. 
 
 [" Honoured Sir, I remember when we were last together, you were very 
 earnest with me that I should review the Answers of Professor Simpson, &c] 
 
 (19.) Abstract of Discourses on Psalm xli. 4. 1 said, Lord, be merciful unto 
 me : heal my soul ; for I have sinned against Thee. Published at the desire of 
 some of the hearers. By James Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edin- 
 burgh, printed in the year 1716. To be sold by John Martin in the Parliament 
 Closs at the Hand and Bible. 32 pp. 
 
 [The Author quotes the opening words of the Psalm, and as to the phrase, 
 that considereth the poor, he adds, " or (as the Low Dutch render it) who 
 demeaneth himself wisely towards one in adversity."] 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 293 
 
 (20) Three Missives written to a Minister of the Gospel in answer to one from 
 him, Wherein the Author's grounds for remaining in communion with the Church 
 of Scotland, as to its Judicatories and the Ordinances therein dispensed, are inge- 
 nuously and fairly stated. And the chief reasons of our separatists for setting up 
 Ordinances and Judicatories distinct from the National Church and in Opposition 
 to it are impartially considered and repelled, as these Reasons were printed in a 
 late book intituled Protesters Vindicated, &c. Published by a gentleman into 
 whose hands these letters came. Edinburgh, printed in the year 1717. To be sold 
 by John Martin, William Brown, and William Dickie, booksellers there. 64 pp. 
 
 [Three letters, signed J. H., dated Carnock, Feb. 1, March 4, and April 6, 
 1717.] 
 
 (21.) The Right of Church Members to chuse their own Overseers, stated 
 from the Scriptures, being the abstract of a Discourse on Acts i. 21, 22, 23. 
 Therefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord 
 Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the Baptism of John, unto 
 that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a 
 witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called 
 Barsabas, and Matthias. Published at the desire of some of the hearers. By 
 James Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. Edinburgh, printed in the year 
 1717. And to be sold by John Martin, William Brown, and William Dicky, 
 Booksellers there. 20 pp. 
 
 (22.) Preface to the first Scottish edition of the Marrow of Modern Divin- 
 ity. Edin. 1718- 
 
 (23.) Some Missives written to a gentleman which contain the Author's 
 aim at detecting and refuting the Deism (as it is called) or Atheism and Liber- 
 tinism of our time. Edinburgh, printed by John Mossman, William Brown, and 
 Mr James M'Euen, and sold at Mr John Macky bookseller his shop in the 
 Parliament-Closs, 1718. vi. pp. and 130 pp. 
 
 [The epistle " To the candid reader " is signed Ja. Hog ; the book consists 
 of Twelve Letters.] 
 
 (24.) Some Proposals for Peace and Harmony, humbly offered to the con- 
 sideration of the Ministers and members of the Church of Scotland. Contained 
 in a Letter to a gentleman on the head. Edinburgh, printed by John Reid, and sold 
 by Mr John Macky, Book-Seller in the Parliament Closs. Ann. Dom. 1718. 24 pp. 
 
 [This tract is full of Christian love to the people of God in the Church of 
 England and in all Protestant churches. It concludes, " I shall add no more, 
 but that I remain, Sir, Yours, &c, J. H."] 
 
 (25.) A Vindication of the Doctrine of Grace from the charge of Antino- 
 mianism, contained in a Letter to a Minister of the Gospel. Edinburgh, printed 
 by Robert Brown, and are to be sold at Mr John Macky's shop in the Parlia- 
 ment-Closs, 1718. 24 pp. 
 
294 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 [" This with wonted Salutations is all at present from, my very Dear 
 Brother, Yours as before, I. H. September 25, 1718. "J 
 
 (26.) An Explication of Passages excepted against in the Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity, taken from the book itself. Contained in a letter to a Minister of the 
 Gospel. Edinburgh, printed by Robert Brown, and are to be sold at Mr John 
 Macky's shop in the Parliament Closs, 1719. 24 pp. 
 
 [I remain, &c, J. H."] 
 
 (27.) A Conference betwixt Epaphroditus and Epaphras, wherein the very 
 Reverend Principal Hadow's Sermon preached before the Synod of Fife, April 
 7th, 1719, is fairly enquired into, in so far as he findeth fault 
 ( Mr Marshal on Sanctification, 
 
 with < The Marrow of Modern Divinity, 
 
 ( And the Explication of Passages Excepted against in the Marrow. 
 Edinburgh, printed by Robert Brown, and are to be sold at Mr John Macky's 
 shop in the Parliament Closs, 1719. Price 3d. 40 pp. 
 
 [For a quotation from this Dialogue, see Marshall.] 
 
 (28.) Letter to a Gentleman containing a detection of errors in a print 
 entitled, The Snake in the grass, wherein that author giveth his Remarks upon 
 the Marrow of Modern Divinity. 1720 [?] 
 
 [I have copied the title of the above tract from Brown's (of Whitburn) 
 " Gospel Truth." The tract, to which it is an answer, was entitled " The Snake in 
 the Grass, or Remarks upon a book entituled The Marrow of Modern Divinity, 
 touching both the covenant of works and of grace, &c, originally done by E. F. 
 about the year 1645, and lately revised, corrected, and published by the Reverend 
 Mr James Hog, Minister of the Gospel at Carnock. 2 Tim. iii. 6 : For of this 
 sort are they who creep into houses and lead captive silly women, &c. Edin- 
 burgh, printed for the Author, and sold by the Booksellers. Anno Dom. 1719. 
 (Price 4d.) 48 pp.] [To No. 27 Mr Hog had added a P.S., "As to what con- 
 cerns The Snake, &c, it contains nothing of difficulty and which is not cleared in 
 The Explication of Passages excepted against in the Marrow. Nevertheless the 
 Prefacer to the last edition of The Marrow intends to consider that author 
 when he hath more leisure — and the rather, because he doubts not to demonstrate 
 that his Print is not free of gross and dangerous errors."] 
 
 (29.) Reasons of Masters James Hog and James Bathgate, Humbly offered 
 to the Reverend Presbytery of Dunfermline for their not observing the Day of 
 Thanksgiving appointed by the King. Referred to the Synod of Fife, met at 
 Kirkaldy, April 1724. The Synod having censured Mr Hog, on April 8, 1724, 
 he tabled a Representation to the very Reverend the Synod of Fife. 
 
 [The above Reasons and Representation are printed in a tract. As to their 
 substance, see Bathgate]. 
 
 (30.) Letters to a Private Christian on Gospel Holiness. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 295 
 
 [Mentioned in Dr Scott's "Fasti Eccl. Scot.," as also are all the following] : — 
 
 (3 J.) On Covenanting. Edin. 1727. 
 
 (32.) On Professor Campbell's Divinity. Edin. 1731. 
 
 [There is a publication entitled, Answers to Campbell's " Discourse, proving 
 tbat the Apostles were no enthusiasts " — described as a continuation to the 
 above, and ascribed either to Mr Hog, or to his son-in-law and successor, Mr 
 Hunter, or to Messrs Hog and Hunter jointly. Query, Ought it to be in a cata- 
 logue of Mr Hog's Works ?] 
 
 (33.) Preface to Memoirs or Spiritual Exercises of Mrs Ross. Edin. 1735. 
 
 Probable Ancestry of Rev. J. Hog, Minister of Carnock. 
 
 [Dr Scott's " Fasti Eccl. Scot." furnishes me with this information. I use 
 
 the adjective probable, only because Dr Scott speaks of Mr Hog as " son of " the 
 
 minister here represented as his "father," but omits his name from the list of the 
 
 family of the said father ; and the same observation applies to another " Hog" in 
 
 this tree.] 
 
 Rev. Archibald Hog, Min. of Durris, Aberdeenshire, 
 from 1574 to 1594. 
 
 Rev. Patrick Hog, Min. of Fetlar, Shetland, 1607. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Hog, M.A., Min. of South Leith from 1616 to 1618, 
 and of Stobo, Peeblesshire, from 1618 to 1639. 
 
 Rev. John Hog, M.A., Rev. Thomas Hog, M.A., 
 
 Min. of Linton, Peebles, from 1640 to 1646, Minister of Larbert, Stirlingshire, 
 of the Canongate, Edin., from 1646 to 1653, from ] 650 to 1662 
 
 of South Leith from 1653 to 1662 [deprived as a godly covenanter], 
 [deprived as a godly covenanter], married Marjory Murray, 
 
 and of Rotterdam from 1662 to 1689. a descendant of the Philiphaugh family. 
 
 Died 1692. Died at Edinburgh, 1680 or 1681. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Hog, M.A. Min. successively Rev. James Hog, MA., 
 
 at Delft, Campvere, and Rotterdam Min. 1st of Dalserf, 
 
 (born 1655, died 1723). 2d of Carnock, 
 
 [the subject of the preceding memoir]. 
 
 Letter (hitherto unpublished) from Rev. James Hog. 
 
 The following consolatory letter was addressed to Mrs Shiell, of Edinburgh, 
 sister of Boston's friend, Mr Robert Wightman, Lord Dean of Guild : — 
 
 Mistris, — I heard not till ere yesterday of the cup of affliction it hath 
 pleased our sovereign and gracious Lord to put into your hand, by taking your 
 
29 G THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 worthy husband home to himself. The account affected me deeply. And how- 
 soever I be of little or no significancy for anything, yet I would sincerely aim, 
 under divine influences, at somewhat of sympathy. We ought to bear one 
 another's burdens, and so to fulfil the law of Christ (Gal. vi. 2). The trial is 
 indeed great and sharp, and the severing that nearest relation and one so favor- 
 ably stated, so endeared, and useful in the most valuable regards, cannot readily 
 fail to be of a very uneasy digestion, without that the Lord give support, strength 
 and consolation beyond an ordinary rate. But it ought to quiet us that He is 
 the Lord, and assuredly it is lawful for Him to do what He will with His own 
 (Matt. xx. 15). The posture becoming creatures, namely, as clay, to prostrate 
 ourselves at the feet of our merciful and sovereign Lord, is the only situation for 
 rest and quietness. (Rom. ix. 20, 21 ; Isa. xlv. 9, 10 ; Matt. xi. 28, 29 ; Jer. 
 xviii. 1, 2, 3, &c.) But as this is much above our reach, so it is as much contrary 
 to the strong bent of corrupt and haughty nature. That Infinite power, which 
 gave us a being, is yet more gloriously exerted in subjecting us, by faith, to His 
 sovereign and wise disposure. No persuasives by the tongues of men or angels 
 will ever prevail to break the iron sinew, unless that Infinite power be put forth 
 in a way of special mercy and grace. Hereunto is every, even the least, degree 
 of this believing subjection entirely owing. The present cup is bitter indeed, 
 but it may be remembered that you and I have tasted what in sundry regards 
 was yet bitterer. Deliverances out of these deep pits ought never to be forgotten, 
 and ought to allay other afflictions, though, otherways, most penetrating, I am 
 loath to detain you by this weak yet ingenuous essay. It 's sweet to consider 
 that the bitterest cups it pleaseth the Lord to put into the hands of His children, 
 do yet issue from everlasting love, and have nothing of vindictive wrath in them. 
 (Jer. xxxi. 1,2; Ps. lxxxix. 29, 30, 31, &c.) It should stay our reluctance to 
 believe, that, how cross soever they are to the propensions of soft and selfish 
 nature, and how strongly soever it reclaimeth, yet they are necessary, and whole- 
 some medicaments ordered and appointed by the Lord to fit His children for 
 glory and to render it the sweeter. (1 Pet. i. 6, 7, 8 ; Rom. viii. 18 ; 2 Cor. 
 iv. 17, 18 ; Rom viii. 28, and v. 2, 3, 4, &c.) He it is, who prepareth and 
 putteth the medicinal cups into the hands of His people, and from Him only we 
 are to implore and expect the kindly operation by faith and the prayer of faith. 
 (Ps. 1. 15; Jas. v. 1 3 ; Job xxiii. 10, and xxxvi. 6, 7, 8.) Afflictions or chasten- 
 ings for the present are not joyous but grievous, yet afterwards they yield the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby. (Heb. 
 xii. 11.) I add no more but that I remain, 
 
 MlSTRIS, 
 Your sincerely affectionat 
 
 Friend and Servant, 
 Carnock Manse, Deer. 2, 1723. J A. Hog. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 297 
 
 REV. RICHARD HOOKER, MA. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to give a memoir of " Judicious Hooker " (as his 
 epitaph named him). His name is now introduced because of his adherence to 
 the ancient doctrine of Christ's substitution, which some degenerate Presbyterians 
 of London, in the seventeenth century, stigmatized as the heresy of " the per- 
 mutation of persons." 
 
 Richard Hooker was a native of Exeter, in which city he was born, about 
 Easter, in the year 1554 (N. S.). His family was genteel, but poor ; and his 
 University education and Church preferments were obtained through the patron- 
 age of Bishop Jewel and Archbishop Sandys. He was M.A. of Oxford and 
 Fellow of Corpus Christi College in 1577, and Deputy-Professor of Hebrew in 
 1579. He preached his first sermon at St Paul's Cross, London, in 1581 ; and 
 his sojourn as a preacher and invalid in " The Shunammite's House," in the metro- 
 polis, led to his singular marriage. Thus, having to relinquish his Fellowship, 
 he, in course of time, left Oxford ; and in 1584 he became Rector of Drayton- 
 Beauchamp, in Buckinghamshire. Bishop Sandys brought him to London, in 
 1585, to fill the distinguished post of Master of the Temple. The controversial 
 atmosphere, in which he now lived for six years, made him anxious to put his 
 thoughts on Church government into shape ; and having planned a great literary 
 work on Ecclesiastical Polity, he solicited from the Bishop a translation from the 
 city to a country charge. In 1591 Dr Nicholas Balgay was happy to resign, in 
 exchange for the Mastership of the Temple, his stall in Salisbury as Prebendary 
 and Sub-Dean. These preferments Hooker accepted, along with the Rectory of 
 Boscomb in Wiltshire. In 1595 he changed his residence to the Rectory of 
 Bishop-Bourne (near Canterbury), where he died, 2nd November 1600, 
 aged forty-five. 
 
 The quotation from one of Hooker's Sermons, which I have to transcribe, is 
 the following paragraph : — 
 
 " The righteousness wherein we must be found, if we would be justified, is 
 not our own (Philipp. iii. 8, 9) ; therefore we cannot be justified by any inherent 
 quality. Christ hath merited righteousness for as many as are found in Him. 
 In Him God findeth us, if we be faithful ; for by faith we are incorporated into 
 Christ. Then, although in ourselves we be altogether sinful and unrighteous, 
 yet even the man which is impious in himself, full of iniquity, full of sin — him 
 being found in Christ through faith, and having his sin remitted through repent- 
 ance — him God beholdeth with a gracious eye, putteth away his sin by not 
 imputing it, taketh quite away the punishment due thereunto by pardoning it, 
 and accepteth him in Jesus Christ as perfectly righteous, as if he had fulfilled all 
 
 2 P 
 
298 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 that was commanded him in the law — shall I say more perfectly righteous than 
 if himself had fulfilled the whole law ? I must take heed what I say ; but the 
 Apostle saith, God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might 
 be made the righteousness of God in Him. Such we are in the sight of God the 
 Father, as is the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, 
 or fury, whatsoever, it is our comfort and our wisdom ; we care for no knowledge 
 in the world but this — that man hath sinned and God hath suffered ; that God 
 hath made himself the Son of Man, and that men are made the righteousness of 
 God." — Sermon on Justification, § G. 
 
 Beautifully worded as these sentences are, they are neither so beautiful nor 
 so accurate as the statements on the subject by some of the early Christian 
 fathers. Justin Martyr writes : " God gave His own Son a ransom for us, the 
 Holy One for the transgressors, the innocent for the wicked, the righteous for 
 the unrighteous, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the 
 mortal. For what else could cover our sins but His righteousness? In whom else 
 could we the transgressors and ungodly be justified but in the Son of God only ? 
 'n ty)s <y\vxt!a,i aaraXXaySjs, dulcis permutatio, O the sweet exchange ! the 
 unsearchable contrivance ! unexpected benefits ! that the iniquity of many 
 should be hid in one righteous person, and the righteousness of one should justify 
 many transgressors ! " — (Epistle to Diognetus). 
 
 Chrysostom has bequeathed to us the following comment on 2 Cor. v. 21: — 
 " He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God in Him." " What mind can represent these things ? 
 He made the righteous One a sinner, that He might make the sinners righteous. 
 Rather this is not what he says, but something much greater. He says, not that 
 He made Him a sinner, but that He made Him sin, — not only Him who had 
 not sinned, but Him who did not know sin, — that we might be made (not right- 
 eous, but) righteousness, and the righteousness of God. For this is the righteous- 
 ness of God, when we are justified, not by works (for in this case it is necessary 
 that there should be no spot in them) but by grace, in the blotting out of all sin. 
 This does not permit us to be lifted up, for God freely gives us all and teaches 
 us the greatness of the gift ; because the former righteousness is that of the law 
 and of works, but this is the righteousness of God.!' 
 
 REV. JOHN HUBBARD. 
 
 John Hubbard was born in 1692. He was a congregational ist as to Church 
 government, and evangelical in doctrine. His sermons were so full of Christ, 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 299 
 
 that he became prominent in the Coward Lecture, and his sermons, preached on 
 1 Peter i. 8. (on September 27, and October 11, 1728), were printed in the 
 volume already described ; he wrote the dedicatory preface, dated Stepney, 28th 
 May 1729. At that date he was the Independent Pastor at Stepney, having 
 begun his labours there as assistant to Mr Mitchel, whom he succeeded in 
 1721. He also took part in the Berry Street Lectures. Mr Hubbard had much 
 and varied learning, and was well versed in theology, his acquaintance with the 
 Scriptures being so extensive as to supersede the use of a concordance ; he was 
 therefore selected for the Theological chair in 1740 (his predecessor was Abraham 
 Taylor, D D., and his successor was Zephaniah Marryat, D.D.). His career was 
 suddenly closed by an attack of fever ; he suffered much pain, but, " tranquil and 
 rejoicing in spirit," he died on Wednesday, 13th July 1743, at 4.30 p.m., 
 repeating the text of his last sermon, Through Christ we are more than con- 
 querors (Rom. viii. 37). His funeral sermon was preached by Dr Guyse. 
 
 His sermons on love to Christ were, in their matter, useful models for 
 ministers, combining orthodoxy with a reality like the utterances of private friend- 
 ship. Although the style is laboured, it is less laboured than Boston's, being 
 characterized by some of the heaviness of the ancients, and by some of the freedom 
 and flow of the moderns — a connecting link, as it were, between the technical 
 and the literary style. I quote some paragraphs : — 
 
 " Our Lord is truly, every way, so deserving of our tenderest, warmest, and 
 strongest love, for all manner of attractive charms that meet in Him, that nothing 
 (in a manner) should be loved but Himself — nothing (it is certain), in the whole 
 circle of created objects, before Him — nothing like Him — nothing without Him — 
 but all of them should be loved for His sake, and used as scales and steps to 
 mount up our love higher and higher to Him, where only it can attain its proper 
 and complete rest." — Page 15. 
 
 On Christ suffering. — "This work of our Saviour for us is uncommonly 
 divine, as well as infinitely more than human — a work, which equally required 
 the power and dignity of a God to accomplish and render it effectual, and the love 
 and condescending grace of a God to undertake and persevere in it till it was 
 finished. And how can it then but commend Christ to all the love of a Chris- 
 tian, when it does, with such strange and unusual surprise, commend His love to 
 him — a love strong as death — a love which carried Him, great as He was in 
 Himself, to condescend so low to us as to suffer and die for us, nay, to court, to 
 seek, to long for, to embrace suffering and death, with as great readiness and 
 cheerfulness, as we can do life and happiness ? There is no need of bringing 
 any tragical passions and affections to the scenes of trouble and vast distress 
 Christ passed through in our world for us. It is love, it is love, that tender 
 and pleasing affection, which is first and chiefly, under the conduct of faith, 
 to approach them — love to answer and meet His love, which reigns all over this 
 
300 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 field of blood, and is joined with victorious power, to make it produce nothing 
 but the sweetest and most durable fruits for our comfort and happiness — fruits of 
 the most costly, expensive love. For the more He lessened His person, whether 
 in the divine or human nature, lowering and obscuring the beauties and glories 
 belonging to each, the higher He raised His love in the meantime." — Page 76. 
 
 On Christ in glory. — " In regard to Christ's serving us by the greatest 
 sufferings that ever were, He excuses us now, as He did the daughters of Jeru- 
 salem, even when going to be crucified, from weeping at all for Himself (Luke 
 xxiii. 28), and would have our love to Him [to be] all gratitude and joy for the 
 good we reap from His evil, without any intervening grief for His sake, whatever 
 may properly qualify it for our own. And wherefore this ? Why, because His 
 sufferings, however great above the measure of any besides, were all of His own 
 voluntary choice and submitting to, from pure love to His church— were all 
 known beforehand to Him with the certain happy issue of them — were no more 
 than what He was equal, nay, superior to, so that it was not possible for Him to 
 be swallowed up or consumed, no, nor long exercised by them. And they are 
 all now long since past and gone as to the smart He felt under them, though 
 abiding in their virtue, use, and excellent fruits ; and so, consequently, they are 
 all accounted, by and to Him, for trophies of honour — beauties instead of 
 blemishes — and highest matter of glory and triumph. Whence it is that He 
 appears in heaven with the marks of His bleeding wounds, the Lamb as it had 
 been slain, in the midst of the throne. And thus the shame and pain of His 
 cross is entirely alleviated, and it redounds to Him for an ensign of renown and 
 eternal glory — a perpetual memorial of His love, merit, and victory — dear to 
 saints and angels above, and no less precious to saints below. It is His sufferings 
 also that found, and lead on, all the remaining works Christ performs, for the 
 service of His people, in heaven in His exalted state, which are of a different 
 nature from those done on earth, being works of power and authority (whereas 
 the other were works of humiliation), but equally necessary for His people's good, 
 and expressive of His love still pursuing its kind design, though in a new manner, 
 for their happiness and salvation. His love don't change with the change of His 
 state, but it is as warm at His heart as ever. The same love that made Him 
 endure a cross here for His people's sake, abides as firm in Him as ever, now He 
 has a crown on His head, and makes Him use His honours and employ His high 
 authority for their advantage. As His love was proved here by poverty and 
 tribulations, it is now proved by a fulness of glory and power, and it answers to 
 this proof as completely as it did to that. His love was then in labour and 
 distress for us ; now it is enthroned and triumphing, yet still for us also. Then 
 it emptied Himself — now it is filling us out of His immense and perfect fulness." 
 — Page 82. 
 
 On love to Christians. — " If we love our dearest Lord, now He is absent 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 301 
 
 from us, we shall have an hearty esteem and especial love for all the members of 
 His mystical body, nor be wanting in such offices of love to them which our 
 mutual circumstances require and give opportunity for. For they are all of them 
 His friends and favourites — the only ones He has in our world. They are His 
 relations in a spiritual sense, His brethren, His children ; so that if we do indeed 
 love Him that begot, we cannot but love those that are begotten of Him (] John 
 v. 1). They are also to be considered as the living images and epistles of Christ 
 Jesus (2 Cor. iii. 3), having His likeness stamped on them. Other pictures and 
 representations of Christ there are (and can be) none." — Page 136. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM HUNTER, M.A. 
 
 This good minister's name is the twelfth and last of the signatures to the famous 
 Representation in favour of " The Marrow." During the sitting of the General 
 Assembly at Edinburgh in 1721, Mr Boston, in his narrative regarding this repre- 
 sentation, writes : " Mr William Hunter, minister at Lilliesleaf, signed it in the 
 church just before it was presented." Although for this reason he appears last, he 
 was in fact one of the older ministers. His childhood, youth, and early manhood 
 were spent amidst fiery trials, and he was not enrolled as M.A. of the University 
 of Edinburgh until 3rd July 1693, when he was thirty-six years of age. He was 
 licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of Kelso 28th August 1694, and he 
 was ordained by the Presbytery of Selkirk as minister of Lilliesleaf on 2nd May 
 1695, having been called by the parishioners during the month of March pre- 
 ceding. His native place is not recorded, but he acquired the property of Lint- 
 hill. He died 13th November 1736, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, and 
 the forty-second of his ministry. Although he published nothing, yet he was a 
 pleasing and rather striking preacher. In 1727, when he was in his seventieth 
 year, he assisted Mr Boston at a sacrament at Ettrick ; and. that minister, who 
 was suffering from indisposition, wrote : " Mr Hunter preached after Mr Wilson 
 on the words, ' He is faithful that promised.' I was so refreshed by that sermon, 
 that I found my body in good condition when he was over." From an old 
 manuscript x I extract some passages of a sermon preached three years after — 
 i.e., when he was in his seventy-third year : — 
 
 Notes of a Sermon Preached by Mr Hunter at Selkirk on 15th August 1730, 
 
 being a Communion Saturday. 
 
 Psalm xlii. 2. — My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God ; when shall 
 I come and appear before God ? 
 
 1 John Blackball^ MS. 
 
302 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Sometimes the Lord is pleased to dandle His people on the knee of His 
 kind Providence ; at other times it is not so — these are times of distance. 
 Sometimes He smiles, at other times He is pleased to frown. David sometime 
 enjoyed Him in ordinances ; now he is driven to the wilderness of Judah. But 
 the Lord ever knows the case of His people. 
 
 In this Psalm we have David's zeal to serve and enjoy God in His house. 
 .As the hart panteth after the water-brooks — the hart is a creature that is thirsty, 
 because it feeds on dry places, and because of its violent running from other beasts 
 that would devour it. Thirst is more vehement than hunger, so David's zeal is 
 illustrated by thirst. But what is it for that he thirsts ? It is even for God — 
 not after idols, but after God. In the words ye have his frame, even longing 
 after the living God. The main thing that every gracious soul seeks is the 
 fruition and enjoyment of God Himself — as in the 27th Psalm says the Psalmist, 
 " One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek after," &c. ; it is to 
 enjoy the Lord Himself in a life of communion with Him here below in His 
 house, and for ever in His tabernacle above. 
 
 Many there are about the court that come not to the king's presence. 
 Many of us see one another in the house of God, but never see God. may it 
 not be so with any of you ! 
 
 Even believers themselves do not enjoy the like measure of His presence : 
 some are taken up the hill of God in enjoyments ; others are left at the foot of 
 the hill. Neither after the same manner do His people enjoy Him. Sometimes 
 He manifests Himself in such a manner as lays them in the dust ; at other times 
 He is pleased to manifest Himself for their recovery and raising them up. 
 
 (1.) He is pleased to manifest Himself in His glorious perfections and 
 excellences, so as to make the sinner to abhor himself with Job, crying out, " I 
 have often heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear : but now mine eye seeth 
 Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes." He comes in His Word and 
 makes them see His stately magnificence. He comes in His Word and discovers 
 to them His holiness ; this makes them loathe themselves. Isaiah vi. O what 
 influence this had on the prophet, as he cries out, " Woe's me, I am undone, I 
 am a man of unclean lips." 
 
 (2.) When the discovery of the riches of His grace in Jesus Christ appears, 
 then the sinner is ashamed. And when the Word discovers the irresistible 
 power of God, and when he discovers that it is on his side, then he is made to 
 speak big words (Psalm xlvi.). " God is our refuge and strength ; we will not 
 fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the 
 midst of the sea. The Lord of Hosts is with us." The Word discovers the 
 wisdom of God for their walk in this world, and the faithfulness of God, and that 
 there is a good foundation for their faith in this perfection of God ; this is the 
 enjoyment of God that believing souls sometimes meet with in His ordinances. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 303 
 
 There are some who can from their experience set their seal to the truth of 
 this. 
 
 (3.) This enjoyment of God consists in His discovering to them by His 
 Word and Spirit the wretched and miserable state they are in, and in giving them 
 a sight of sin so as to make them mourn for it and turn from it — this is a fruit 
 of the presence of Christ and His sufferings. 
 
 (4.) It consists in the sweet interviews that the soul gets with Christ. 
 Song ii. 14, "0 my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places 
 of the stairs, let me see Thy countenance, let me hear Thy voice ; for sweet is 
 Thy voice, and Thy countenance is comely." What does the gracious soul say ? 
 Psalm xxvii., "Hide not Thy face from me ;" Psalm iv., "Lord lift on me the light 
 of Thy countenance." This is the sweetest food that ever the soul gets ; yea, it's 
 the life of the soul. The believer can no more live without Christ than the body 
 can do without the soul. Will not a sight of angels and ministers satisfy the soul ? 
 No ; John xx. — believers are like Mary; none but Christ could satisfy her. 
 
 (5.) This enjoyment consists in the pleasure and satisfaction the Lord takes 
 in following His word with the power of His Spirit, making it a strengthening 
 and reviving word to them, and them to be fruitful. When thus the influences 
 come down, then the soul starts to its feet and goes nimbly on. 
 
 (6.) When the soul is transformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. iii. 18), 
 as when the discoveries of Christ in the Gospel leave a stamp of Christ on the 
 soul, then it is that the soul may be said to enjoy God. When the man comes 
 to the ordinances polluted and guilty, and goes away clean ; Psalm lxviii., "Though 
 ye have lien among the pots, yet ye shall be as the wings of a dove" — that is, ye 
 have lien rusty and defiled, yet there has been a discovery of the fountain. Isa. 
 i. 1 8, " Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins 
 be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they 
 shall be as wool." 
 
 Why is it that gracious souls are so desirous of enjoying communion with 
 God in ordinances ? 
 
 (1.) The fundamental reason of it is, the great plot of grace — the great 
 design and plot of grace is to bring sinners to Christ. 
 
 (2.) It flows from the experience that they have found formerly in their 
 views of God, which makes them long to be back when they want |7ac/c] it, or to 
 sit still when they enjoy it. 
 
 (3.) Pinching need drives them to it. Whatever others say (says the soul), 
 I know it is good for me to draw near to God. 
 
 Is it so then, that that which the gracious soul longs for and seeks after is 
 the enjoyment and fruition of God in His ordinances ; then let it be all your 
 endeavours to have communion with Him in this ordinance that ye have before 
 you. You can expect no good without this ; for the virtue and efficacy of this 
 
304 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 ordinance depends upon the fruition and enjoyment of God. The enjoyment of 
 God in ordinances is the very beauty of ordinances ; ordinances without God are 
 unsavoury to every gracious soul. It will be an earnest of your fruition of Him 
 in the higher house, if ye enjoy Him in the lower house. Eating and drinking 
 is not above ; but it represents the happiness of the higher house. Labour then 
 after the enjoyment of God while here. 0, sirs, invite Him to the feast. 
 
 REV. JAMES KID. 
 
 James Kid was born in Scotland in troublous times, in the year 1666, and had 
 to be taken to Holland for personal safety, so that his education for the ministry 
 was carried on under the great Dutch professors. He was licensed as a preacher 
 by the Presbytery of Dunfermline, 27th February 1706. On 28th September 
 1710, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Linlithgow as minister of Queens- 
 ferry. Dr Scott reminds us that " he was one of the twelve brethren who gave 
 in a Representation and Petition to the General Assembly, ] 1th May 1721, 
 against an act of the preceding Assembly condemning The Marrow of Modern 
 Divinity, from which they were waggishly styled the twelve apostles." Mr 
 Boston says that Mr Kid was " a man of singular boldness," and was selected to 
 lay the representation before the committee of Assembly. His courage had 
 already been conspicuous at the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, when he was 
 the only minister who protested against a forced settlement of a presentee to the 
 parish of Bathgate, for which protest, and for baptizing the children of Bathgate 
 parishioners who would not acknowledge the intruded minister, he was prosecuted 
 in the Church courts. His only separate publication is " A Letter to a Minister 
 of the Gospel concerning the parish of Bathgate," published in 1720. Being a 
 member of the General Assembly of 1722, which rebuked the representers, he 
 signalized his protest by throwing down upon the clerk's table a guinea, instead 
 of the customary shilling. He took the responsibility of publishing in 1723 the 
 Rev. Gabriel Wilson's impugned sermon, " The Trust," and wrote a preface to it, 
 in which he says : " The Committee of the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale, after 
 they had got the author's papers from him, did drop their calumnious condescend- 
 ence, and drew up a charge consisting of twelve remarks, twelve questions, and 
 twelve slanders, for you must know, by the bye, that the number twelve is what 
 some wanton kirkmen have taken pleasure to sport themselves with of late, 
 though some of them have discovered how ridiculously straitened they have been 
 to find their account" [to make up the number]. 
 
 Mr Kid held communion with the seceding brethren, but did not withdraw 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 305 
 
 from the Established Church. He was an excellent preacher, and popular among 
 lovers of the Gospel. He died on 9th February 1744, in the seventy-eighth 
 year of his age. 
 
 DR MELCHIOR LEYDEKKER. 
 
 Melchior Leydekker was born at Middleburg, in 1642, and was the pastor of 
 more than one charge successively in Zeeland till 1679, when he became Pro- 
 fessor of Theology at Utrecht. He was a Calvinist of the Heidelberg type, and 
 entered with spirit into the exposition of the Belgic or Heidelberg Catechism to 
 his class. The first fruits of this academical exercise he committed to the press 
 in 1683 : — "Professor Leydekker, D.D., Marrow of Practical Divinity, or Medi- 
 tations on the Heidelberg Catechism in which is made manifest the force and 
 efficacy of the Reformed Faith for true piety. [Melchioris Leideckeri, S.S.T.D. 
 and P. Medulla Theologiae Practicse seu Meditationes ad Catechesin Heidelberg- 
 ensem quibus vis et efficacia Reformatae Fidei ad veram pietatem ostenditur]. 
 This publication proceeded as far as Q. 57, and I have not seen the continuation. 
 But he published a complete commentary in 1694, entitled " De veritate fidei 
 Reformatae ejusdemque sanctitate," a quarto volume. In the meantime he had 
 been assiduous in controversy with Cocceius, regarding his view of the three 
 dispensations of the covenant of grace. The controversies in Holland were keen 
 from a dread that the errors of Protestants might occasion the re-establishment 
 of Popery — a keenness which magnified into heresy what were either harmless 
 speculations or only inexpedient changes in phraseology. The Westminster 
 Larger Catechism deals largely with the Divine covenants ; and therefore for a 
 popular refutation of Cocceius, I may refer the reader to Dr Ridgley's exposition 
 (a Body of Divinity, &c.) The theologian may consult Leydekker himself, of 
 whom Herzog's Cyclopedia says, " His method of reducing the reformed system 
 of doctrine to definite and comprehensive principles — as also the elucidation given 
 of the Cocceian theology — will continue to deserve regard." All the controversial 
 works, above referred to, having been published between 1677 and 1690, were 
 prior to his final commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism. In 1695 he 
 published his account of Jansenism (Leidecker de Jansenismo) which contains an 
 engraved portrait of the famous Cornelius Jansen, Bishop of Ypres — whose birth 
 was in Holland, his bishopric in Spain, and his posthumous fame in France, as 
 the author of " Augustinus." Dr Leydekker's greatest work was his treatise on 
 the Hebrew Commonwealth (De Republica Hebraeorum). He died at Utrecht, 
 6 th January 1721. 
 
 2 Q 
 
306 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 DR MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 Martin Luther, son of Hans Luther and Grethe his wife, was born at Eisleben 
 on 10th November 1483 at eleven p.m. He was educated at the school of 
 Eisenach and the University of Erfurth. He entered the monastery of the 
 Augustines at Erfurth on 17th July 1505, and was ordained a priest two years 
 afterwards. In 1508 he was invited by Frederick, Elector of Saxony, to be 
 professor in the University of Wittemberg. Luther was M.A. of Erfurth, but he 
 now studied the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, and obtained the degree of 
 B.D. of Wittemberg in March 1509. In 1516 he gave out certain theses on 
 Grace, but his famous theses against Indulgences were nailed to the door of the 
 Castle of Wittemberg on 31st October 1517 ; he was by this time a doctor of 
 theology. It is unnecessary to detail the career of the great Reformer. He 
 died 17th February 1546, not before the assembling of the Council of Trent, but 
 before it had done anything. His son, Paul Luther, Doctor of Physic, was a 
 distinguished man, and is memorialized in Melchior Adam's Lives. 
 
 Note I. — On some of Luther's writings quoted in Book I. 
 
 With regard to his Commentary on the Galatians, he informs a correspondent 
 on 3d September 1519 that it is now ready; and on the 2 2d he writes jocularly 
 to George Spalatin, " I send you my Foolish Galatians famously salted " (mitto 
 insensatos Galatas meos, multo sale conditos). Merle d'Aubigne says : " Luther, 
 far from retreating, advanced daily. It was at this time that he aimed one of 
 his most violent blows against error in his Commentary on the Epistle to the 
 Galatians. The second commentary is undoubtedly superior to the first ; but in 
 the first he expounded with great power the doctrine of justification by faith . . . 
 He also showed that this salvation transforms man, and makes him abound in 
 good works" (History of the Reformation of the 16th century, vol. ii. book 5, 
 chap. 8). " The second commentary " (according to Seckendorf, who calls it 
 commentarius alter and commentarius repetitus) was published in 1535. It 
 was printed from the notes of the Wittemberg students, revised and prefaced by 
 Luther, who was amazed at the bulk to which it had grown. It was translated 
 into German by Justus Menius. The English translation is evidently from " the 
 second commentary ; " Luther is represented as saying, " I myself have now 
 preached the gospel almost twenty years." [See my Book I., page 65.] 
 
 As to Luther's Spiritual Songs (Geistlicher Gesange), Seckendorf, in his 
 third index, describes an edition dated Erfurt, 1525, containing all the thirty- 
 eight hymns. Mr Richard Massie mentions the modern edition of Wackernagel, 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 307 
 
 as scrupulously adhering to the text of Luther's last edition. I have quoted the 
 second hymn on grace from Rev. John Anderson's translation of 1846. Mr 
 Massie, in 1853, produced and published an excellent translation, preserving the 
 metres, of Luther's Hymns. I quote the first verse of the above-mentioned 
 hymn in its proper metre : — 
 
 Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, 
 
 With exultation springing, 
 And with united heart and voice, 
 
 And holy rapture singing, 
 Proclaim the wonders God hath done, 
 How His right arm the victory won ; 
 
 Right dearly it hath cost Him. 
 
 Note 2. — The harmony of German Reformers with Luther himself. 
 
 That the believers in the Heidelberg Catechism, although they differed from 
 the Lutheran Church, were more in harmony with Luther himself than were the 
 Lutherans, is proved in an old pamphlet entitled " A Full Declaration of the 
 faith and ceremonies professed in the dominions of the most illustrious and noble 
 prince, Frederick V., Prince Elector of Palatine ; published for the benefit and 
 satisfaction of all God's people — according to the original printed in the High 
 Dutch tongue, translated into English by John Rolte, 1614;" the short title 
 was, " A full declaration of the faith and ceremonies of the Pfaltzgrave's churches ;" 
 and there is a recommendatory preface for the English reader by " Thomas 
 Beard, Doctor of Divinitie." I quote from this Declaration what concerns 
 Luther : — 
 
 " Doctor Luther did well and right, that he would not bind himself to 
 any writings of men, but only to the word of God." — Chap. iii. 
 
 " Doctor Luther was a man, and so could fail and err even as well as other 
 men." — Chap. iii. 
 
 " Doctor Luther, of happy memory, both believed and taught of all and 
 every necessary point, even as we believe and teach, that one point of the Holy 
 Supper excepted. And yet differ we not in that same point so much from each 
 other as many men take it. In all sacraments two things are to be considered, 
 first, the tokens, and then the betokened riches, whereon out of all doubt more 
 dependeth many thousand times than on the outward tokens. Doctor Luther 
 taught that the betokened treasure in the holy Supper is not the bodily but 
 the spiritual eating of the body and blood of Christ. Even so teach we also. 
 Only here lies the difference, what the outward tokens be. We say the outward 
 tokens are bread and wine. Doctor Luther understands they are not only bread 
 and wine, but also the body of Christ in bread, and the blood of Christ in wine. 
 And so the difference betwixt our doctrine in the Supper and Doctor Luther 
 
308 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 lieth, not in the ground of salvation, but only in the tokens, which should show 
 us unto the ground of salvation." — Chap. iv. 
 
 " These are the motives, beloved reader, which move, force, and drive us to 
 depart from Doctor Luther's opinion in this, because (1) such an opinion hath 
 not only no ground in God's word, but (2) indeed is clear against the same, and 
 (3) hath no testimony from the old apostolical churches, but (4) was first hatched 
 in the blinded times of Popery, and (5) serves no other end than to underprop 
 the popedom, and to darken the gospel of Jesus Christ." — Chap. v. 
 
 " The first cause were sufficient ; for whatsoever hath not its foundation in 
 the word of God, that shall no man endure to be forced upon him as an article 
 of faith, as Doctor Luther right and truly used to sing and say — 
 
 " And take thou heed of man's device, 
 Thereby consumes the pearl of price, 
 This learn I thee, for the last." — Ibid. 
 
 " We are not contradictory to Doctor Luther in any sort in all the other 
 points which at this day there is so much contention about. Even as Zwinglius 
 also did not disagree with Doctor Luther after the conference at Marpurg in any 
 point but only this, whether Christ is bodily also in the bread and wine of the 
 supper. (3d October 1529) ... It is true, indeed, that there are more points 
 controverted at present betwixt the disciples of Doctor Luther and us. But 
 nothing at all with Doctor Luther himself." — Chap. vi. 
 
 " Christian loving reader, it cannot be uttered what mischief the contention 
 about the Supper hath done, and yet daily doeth, and is to be feared will do 
 more and more in the Protestant churches." — Preface. 
 
 " It is manifest, and it proclaims itself daily more and more in all nations, 
 what blood-thirsty plots the Jesuits propound to themselves against all those who 
 are gone out from the popedom, whether they be called Lutherans or Calvinists. 
 We confess that we fear that there will shortly befall some calamity in Deutch- 
 land except it be prevented in time. And therefore our counsel is to hold peace 
 and unity amongst ourselves, as being the best means to stop the common misery. 
 Will this our counsel yet be acknowledged and accepted ? Well and good. If 
 not, then have we done what appertained to us. And we will not, for all that, 
 despair or renounce the confession of the truth though the whole world should 
 leave us. 1 God being on our side, who can be against us ? . . . And therefore 
 do we sing merrily with Doctor Luther, — 
 
 Though they take our life, 
 
 Goods, name, child, and wife, 
 
 See thou let all go, 
 
 They get naught but woe, 
 
 And we shall have the kingdom." — Conclusion. 
 
 1 [" As Prince Frederick of blessed memory did formerly answer those that thought to 
 daunt him." — John Rolte.~\ 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 309 
 
 Note 3. On Faith. 
 
 We come now to the modern notion that although Luther and his comrades 
 held assurance to be of the essence of faith, yet those divines who have differed 
 from him have made an advance in the knowledge of divine truth. 
 
 The able and learned Riccaltoun dissents [from such an eulogium. He 
 says : — 
 
 " Until one can say with the Apostle, Christ loved me and gave himself 
 for me — that is, until one sees his own interest in Christ, and (as the Apostle 
 John expresses it) knows and believes the love that God hath to him — his faith 
 is defective in a very essential point ; and the spiritual life, if there be any, is at 
 so low an ebb, that both the comfort and the fruit of it are lost. 
 
 " The question has been very warmly disputed, Whether assurance be of 
 the essence of faith? And disputed it has been, until faith itself seems to be 
 disputed away, and little left among Christians but a faint shadow of it, — that 
 answers no manner of purpose but giving those a name to live who are really, 
 and to all intents and purposes, dead. 
 
 " There was a time when it was the received doctrine among all Protestants, 
 that the word of God carried in it such divine light and power as, under the con- 
 duct of the Holy Spirit, approved itself unto the hearts and consciences of men, 
 and made faith of the things there held forth ; and this was then thought agree- 
 able unto the experience of all true Christians. And as the special mercy of 
 God to sinners in Christ, and the love of Christ in giving himself a ransom for 
 them, is the great import of the gospel — to believe this was thought to be the 
 very essence and distinguishing characteristic of true faith. 
 
 " But, in time, when the belief of the Scriptures came to be founded on 
 (what they call) rational evidence, and deductions from (what is called) natural 
 religion — a pretended philosophical knowledge of God — and men took it into 
 their heads to become Christians as they become philosophers or men of learning, 
 there was no such effect felt in their faith. This they reckoned to be an argu- 
 ment from experience, that there was no assurance belonging to faith, but such as 
 was gathered up by rational evidence, and by reflecting on the effects from faith 
 felt in themselves." — Riccaltoun s Collected Works, vol. ii. pp. 468, 472, &c. 
 
 In his "Politick Disputant," Instruction 19, he had said, "Assurance in 
 the nature of faith is what (I may say) all Protestant Divines since the Refor- 
 mation have maintained — if you except some few who, upon the abuse of this 
 way of speaking, chose another which, they thought, expressed the thing as well. 
 What they (what the Marrow, who had it from them) understood by it is no 
 more than such a well-grounded confidence and trust as is necessary to answer 
 [respond to] the faithfulness of God and the all-sufficiency of Christ in the promise, 
 and such a persuasion of one's own interest therein, as necessarily follows upon a 
 persuasion of the honesty and sincerity of the Promiser." 
 
310 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. THOMAS MANTON, D.D. 
 
 Thomas Manton's grandfather and father were ministers. His father was Rev. 
 Thomas Manton of Whimpole in Devonshire. He himself was born in 1620, 
 and was educated at Oxford in Wadham College and Hart Hall. In 1640 he 
 was ordained, receiving Deacons' Orders from the Bishop of Exeter (Hall). He 
 was weekly lecturer at Coylton (then called Culliton) till 1643, when he was 
 settled at Stoke Newington, and in 1650 he became Rector of St Paul's, Covent 
 Garden. As a preacher he was admired and esteemed by all ranks. As a man 
 he was influential with all parties. He preached against the execution of 
 Charles I., and preached the funeral sermon of Rev. Christopher Love, a martyr 
 to the project of giving the crown to Charles II. ; he was chaplain to the Lord 
 Protector ; and he was active in the Restoration of Charles II., who made him 
 one of his chaplains, and all this without bringing the least stain upon his con- 
 science and reputation. In 1654 he was made B.D., and in 1660 D.D. of 
 Oxford. He was ejected from his rectory in 1662. He died at Stoke Newing- 
 ton 18th October 1677. Dr Manton excelled as a Scriptural expositor, as my 
 quotations from his Commentary on James illustrate. As an author he is one of 
 the most voluminous of the Puritans. His works occupied five large folio 
 volumes, which did not include all. His labours allowed him no time to prepare 
 his writings for the press ; most of the publications were therefore posthumous. 
 The student has now the advantage of a complete edition in twenty-two volumes, 
 octavo, published by Messrs James Nisbet & Co. It was as to the first folio 
 volume, containing "A hundred and ninety sermons on the 119th Psalm," that 
 Lord Bolingbroke said, sacrificing accuracy to wit, that a favourite volume be- 
 longing to his venerable grandmother was the work of a Puritan divine who 
 gloried in the feat of having written exactly 119 sermons upon the 119th Psalm. 
 
 PROFESSOR SAMUEL MARESIUS, D.D. 1 
 
 Samuel Des Marets was a French Protestant, son of David Des Marets, Seig- 
 nieur du Feret and his wife, Madeline Vauquet. He was born at Oisemont, 9th 
 August 1599. He was a delicate child, and was fed on milk for twelve years, 
 during which time the Pasteur Esai'e Blanchard taught him Latin and Greek. At 
 the age of thirteen he went to the University of Paris. His theological studies 
 
 1 See " Bayle's Dictionary," and Haag, La France Protestante. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 311 
 
 were carried on at Saumur and Geneva. And in 1 6 1 9 he went to Paris to be 
 taught sacred eloquence. At the Synod of Charenton, in 1620, he was set apart 
 to the ministry, and became Pasteur of Laon, which he quitted in 1G23 after 
 a Jesuit had attempted to answer a pamphlet of his by assassination, and had 
 escaped without punishment. 
 
 In 1625 this learned minister, now known in literature as Maresius, was 
 elected Professor of Hebrew at Sedan, and during a tour before his installation 
 he received the degree of D.D. at Leyden. Having visited London, he returned 
 to his chair. In 1634 he was summoned into Holland as military chaplain to 
 the Due de Bouillon. The result was that in 1643 he became a Theological 
 Professor in Groningen, and for the rest of his life an ornament of a Dutch uni- 
 versity. Here he was colleague to Dr Henry Alting, with whom he was in per- 
 fect accord. He lamented that, after his death, his son, Dr James Alting, who 
 became his junior colleague, was an innovator in theology, and even began and 
 maintained a personal quarrel. Maresius always protested that he wished 
 brotherly love and personal friendship to continue amidst all differences in theo- 
 logical persuasions. 
 
 The only permanent memento of his early delicacy of health was his small- 
 ness of stature, on account of which he was known as " the little preacher." He 
 had no illness during a long life, and was actually preparing for his translation to 
 a chair at Leyden, when his first and fatal sickness set in. On his deathbed he 
 had communications with James Alting, which resulted in personal reconciliation. 
 He died at Groningen 18th May 1673. 
 
 The Messieurs Haag give a list of 10 4 publications by him (Art. Des 
 Marets). But the figure, 105, was reached ; for Maresius wrote two theological 
 systems, only one of which is described by Haag ; or rather, in a professed enu- 
 meration of editions, the two are confusedly rolled into one. 
 
 The omitted one is his Systema Theologicum ; the privilegium, or patent, 
 of the last edition is dated 9th April 1673. The dedication, dated 12th April, 
 and signed by himself, is to William Henry, Prince of Orange. It is a very thick 
 quarto volume, extending to 1057 pages, with 80 pages of appendix. I mention 
 it because the engraved title-page contains a portrait of the learned and venerable 
 author, taken at the age of 73. The other system is compendious, being entitled 
 Collegium Theologicum, sive Systema Breve universal theologian 1st edition, 
 1645 ; 2nd, 1649 ; 3rd, 1656 ; 4th, 1659, &c. ; it is noteworthy, because the 
 last edition was posthumous, and contained a Life of the Author. 
 
 In 1652 Maresius published his Fcederatum Belgium Orthodoxum, being 
 an exposition of the Belgic [or Dutch] Confession, compiled from the notes which 
 he prepared for his class. The Heidelberg Catechism was known as the Belgic 
 Catechism, and it was endeared to him by recollections of Dr Henry Alting, who 
 had bequeathed to him the upholding of the position of the Catechism in the 
 
312 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 churches, colleges, and schools of Holland. He had among his papers, though in 
 some disorder, materials for the Catechism similar to what had been worked 
 up into Fcederatum Belgium Orthodoxum. And these in his old age he revised, 
 arranged, and published in a separate volume, by general request. This little 
 book was entitled : — " Catechesis Publica foederati Belgii, et Samuelis Maresii 
 Porismata Theologica ad singulas illius Dominicas, olim publice disputata nunc 
 vero plurimis flagitantibus recusa ex Authoris recognitione et |emendatione. 
 Groningse, Apud iEmilium Spinniker, 1671." [The Public Belgic Catechism, 
 and Maresius' Theological Materials for each of its weekly portions (or, for the 
 lessons of each Lord's Day in the year)]. 
 
 The neatness of his aphoristic instruction can, with difficulty, be imitated 
 in English ; for instance, the following elucidations of QQ. 31, 32 : — " It was 
 Christ's undertaking, by His prophetical functions to dispel the darkness of the 
 mind — by the priestly, to bear away the guilt of sin — by the kingly, to remove 
 the corruption of the will and affections. Salvation for us, He hath procured as 
 a priest — hath announced as a prophet — bestoweth as a king. The church He 
 (1) hath redeemed — (2) calleth — (3) ruleth. In the sanctuary these three 
 functions were symbolized by the tables of the law — the rod of Aaron — the pot of 
 manna ; in the gifts of the wise men by incense — gold — myrrh. Our salvation 
 and consolation doth depend on this triple office of Christ. We worthily bear His 
 name when, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are always ready (1) to 
 confess God's name, and to minister to our neighbour's instruction and edification 
 — (2) to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Christ, and specially ourselves as 
 living and holy offerings — (3) to govern our affections by submitting them to 
 Christ, and by warring with the flesh, sin, and Satan." 
 
 REV. WALTER MARSHALL. 
 
 The records of New College in Oxford University contain the following interesting 
 information : — 
 
 " John Marshall (son of Rev. Walter Marshall of Husband in Hampshire) 
 of Wearemouth, in the county of Durham, at the age of nineteen was admitted a 
 scholar of New College September 2, 1643, and Fellow in 1645. He was 
 ejected from his Fellowship by the Parliamentary Visitors in 1648, and restored 
 by an order of the King's Commissioners, dated August 17, 1660. In 1661 he 
 was elected Fellow of Winchester College. He was Rector of Morested, Hants, 
 and died August 25, 1670, at the age of forty-seven, and was buried in the 
 cloisters of Winchester College." 
 
 " Walter Marshall, of Wearemouth, in the bishopric of Durham, at the age 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 313 
 
 of ten was admitted Scholar of Winchester, and in 1648 Scholar of New- 
 College, and Fellow two years after. He was elected Fellow of Winchester in 
 1657, and resigned in 1661. He was vicar of Hursley, Hants." 
 
 This information gives us the parentage of Rev. Walter Marshall and his 
 reverend brother. Both were settled in Hampshire, and Hursley was a village near 
 Winchester. From this vicarage he was ejected in 1662, having been "put 
 under the Bartholomew bushel, with nigh 2000 more lights." He set up a small 
 church in an obscure alley in Gosport, " where he shined, though he had not the 
 public oil." He had comfort in his little flock ; and a succession of Gospel 
 preachers had multiplied the congregation fourfold at the centenary of his death. 
 It seems that he had conversed with Richard Baxter and the older evangelical 
 divines, especially in consequence of his troubled state of mind, and his sense of 
 his sins. But at last he was comforted by being told to lay to heart the greatest 
 of all his sins, namely, the sin of not believing on the Lord Jesus for pardon and 
 sanctification. The result was not only his own Christian experience, but also 
 his celebrated book, " The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification," " spun out of his 
 own experiences." This book has been abridged. But I can certify, as to the 
 complete work, that the copies in circulation are exact reprints of the first edition. 
 The only omission is the following paragraph in the anonymous friend's Preface, 
 whose racy phraseology I have just been quoting : — " Sometime since he was 
 translated by death Elijah-like, dropping these sheets as his mantle for succeeding 
 Elisha's to go forth with, for the conversion of sinners and comfort of drooping 
 souls. These Papers are the profound experiences of a studious holy soul, learned 
 of the Father, coming from his very heart, and smell of no party or design but 
 for holiness and happiness ; yet it is to be feared they will scarcely go down with 
 the heady notionalists of this age, who are of the tribe of Reuben wavering with 
 every wind of modish doctrine. But in Judah it will be praised, and we may 
 hope that many shrubs and cedars hereby may advance in knowledge and 
 comfort." 
 
 Mr Marshall died in 1680. His funeral sermon was preached by his 
 neighbour, Rev. Samuel Tomlyns, M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, the ejected 
 Rector of Crawley, his text being 2 Cor. v. 1. The Epistle "to my well-beloved 
 friends, the inhabitants of Gosport in the county of Southampton," is dated August 
 23, 1680, and begins thus: — 
 
 " Christian Friends, It hath seemed good to the Sovereign Lord of heaven 
 and earth to make a breach upon you by snatching away from you a faithful 
 servant of Christ, who fed you with his doctrine and edified you by his example. 
 He wooed for Christ in his preaching, and allured you to Christ by his walking." 
 
 Mr Marshall's book (as I formerly stated) was not printed till 1692. I 
 have already described and reviewed it. I here insert two Notes, criticising his 
 peculiar dictum. 
 
 2 R 
 
314 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 NOTE 1. 
 
 Mr Hog of Carnock discusses it in his " Conference betwixt Epaphroditus 
 and Epaphras," page 1 9 : — 
 
 JEpaphras. What do you think of that expression in Mr Marshall, That the 
 thing we are bound by the command of God to believe (viz., that God freely 
 giveth Christ and salvation to us particularly) is not a truth before ive believe it. 
 
 Epaphroditus. I cannot approve it. The words appear to me harsh and 
 dangerous. Nevertheless I would think that the judicious reader, upon a more 
 full, sedate, and impartial view of the whole context of that eminent author, will 
 not find things so harsh as they appear at first view. And howsoever the 
 expression was offensive to me at first, and I could not but be heartily sorry to find 
 it amongst so many excellent things taught by that author, yet upon further con- 
 sideration I took his meaning to be, That the gift of Christ and salvation in the 
 Gospel offers becometh a gift beneficial to us, only upon our acceptance. 
 
 [Mr Hog then quotes, with approval, Mr Marshall's illustrations, namely, 
 phrases used in everyday life, such as, "Do but take this gift and it is your own ; " 
 " I will forgive your offence and be your friend, if I find that you can believe it 
 and that you take me for a friend ; " "I promise to be tlry husband if thou wilt 
 have me ; say but the word and I am thine." In such instances, the declarations 
 to be believed become true when they are believed ; " that becomes true upon the 
 reception, consent, and acceptance, which yet could not have been said with verity 
 before."] 
 
 NOTE 2. 
 
 Mr Riccaltoun in referring to the objection that to call upon some 
 individuals to believe that God has given to them eternal life, &c, is to call upon 
 them to believe what is not true, says : — 
 
 " To this an answer has been often made, That it is indeed not true that 
 God gives eternal life, and his Son in whom this life is, to any particular per- 
 son until it is believed; but it becomes true when it is believed. This has been 
 thought a very bad sort of assertion ; and some have been bold enough to bestow 
 abundance of wit to expose it. 
 
 " And yet there is nothing more obviously true. God never gave and never 
 promised to give eternal life, or any of the blessings connected with it, to an un- 
 believer. The gift lies in common, without any determinate application to one 
 person more than another, just as Christ Himself, in whom this life lies, is set 
 forth as a common Saviour. And what we call Believing, or Faith, is the 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 315 
 
 established method — the mean — which God has ordained for applying [appro- 
 priating] it. The proclamation is general, Whosoever will, let him come and take. 
 And coming and taking are the application [appropriation] of the general gift ; 
 and these are but other words for believing ; for in no other way can we come 
 and take the waters of life freely. 
 
 " But here it must be remembered, that, however it is that by this applica- 
 tion of [appropriation transacted by our] faith we are received, yet it is still 
 through grace, and not according to any works of righteousness done by us. 
 That very faith, which makes the application [appropriation] is the gift of God, 
 wrought by the Spirit of Christ in the heart and spirit of the believer, and is no 
 more than the first vital act of the new creature This makes a perfect con- 
 sistency in the method of grace. God gives His Son and life in Him. He really 
 gives or imparts life by His Spirit, and — at that very time, not sooner — the man 
 believes He gives it ; and when he does so, he must believe that Christ has 
 loved him and given Himself for him — which was indeed true before, but he 
 could not know it sooner." {Riccaltoun s Collected Works, Vol. II. page 477.) 
 
 PASTOR MOHN. 
 
 Wilibert Mohn, Pastor of Dierdorf, by Neuwied, is here mentioned, on account 
 of his edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, prepared with unusual care, as a 
 result of the attention called to the venerable manual by the Tercentenary. It 
 contains the text, with Scripture-proofs ; also, the questions and answers broken 
 up into a subsidiary catechism. It is intended for schools and confirmation 
 lessons, a help both to teachers and pupils. The preface is dated 12th September 
 1868. [Der Heideberger Katechismus, ein Lehr-und-Lernbuch, &c. Neuwied 
 and Leipzig, 1869.] Price seven silver-groschen, bound. 
 
 PASTOR CONRAD MYLIUS. 
 
 The surname, Mylius, in its apparently Latinized form, is now known both in 
 England and Scotland, so that I assume that it does not require to be translated. 
 Conrad Mylius was a pastor at Neustadt, in the Palatinate, who delivered lectures 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism during the reign of the Elector Frederick V. These 
 
316 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Lectures were printed in Latin, the Epistle Dedicatory bearing the date, May 
 1618. He dates "Ex Musaeo meo Lautreae olim Caesarum, hodie Palatinorum ; " 
 he calls Neustadt, inclyta respublica Neapolitana Nerne'tum, and prayerfully 
 points to heaven as Neapolis Godestis. He indicates his native country by 
 styling himself Middanus ; but I must leave the adjective for a future transla- 
 tor. The exposition of the Catechism is in the form of homilies. It must have 
 been a successful book, as the only edition I am acquainted with was published 
 at Amsterdam more than a quarter of a century after the first appearance of the 
 work, viz., in 1654. This edition is beautifully printed, and encourages the 
 student to consult it ; the study will not disappoint him. [Conradi Mylii, 
 Middani, Meletemata Catechetica, sive in Catechesin Heidelbergensem homilias 
 ad populum Nepolitanum Nemetum habitae, capita religionis Christianae, cum 
 orthodoxe, turn methodice et populariter, secundum theoriam et praxin, propon- 
 entes atque exponentes. Editio nova, diligenter recensita, versuum seu linearum 
 et sectionum collocatione contractor, Testimoniorum vero S. Scripturae indicio 
 subinde auctiora. Amstelodami, sumptibus Johannis Ravensteynii mdcliv.] The 
 vignette on the titlepage represents Elijah fed by ravens. 
 
 The style of Mylius is sententious. In his exposition of QQ. 86 and 87, 
 he says, " It has been most clearly proved that good works are not demanded 
 from us arbitrarily, although apparently it does not affect our salvation whether 
 we do them or omit them — nor are they needless and superfluous — much less 
 are they pernicious, as if they hindered rather than promoted our salvation. 
 Good works are necessary and useful to the justified. I say, to the justified ; I 
 do not say, to men who would be justified. So says Augustin, Bona opera non 
 praecedunt justificandos, sed sequuntur justificatos." Mylius adopts the substauce 
 of Luther's rejoinder to the objection, that we need not work, if we are not 
 justified by works. He varies the phraseology thus ; — " We are not justified 
 by agriculture, nor by any daily toil or trade ; are we therefore discouraged from 
 cultivating our fields and vineyards, or from minding our counters and work- 
 shops ? " 
 
 REV. JOHN W. NEVIN, D.D. 
 
 Dr Nevin is the author of " The History and Genius of the Heidelberg 
 Catechism," published at Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, in 184-8, and appreciated 
 by Dr Schaff as the best work on the Catechism in English. 
 
 The German original of the Catechism made its first appearance on Ameri- 
 can soil in 1609, when it was conveyed from Holland to Manhattan Island by 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 317 
 
 the discoverers of the Hudson. About a hundred years later, the refugees from the 
 Palatinate brought it to Pennsylvania and other States. The English version 
 was brought from Scotland by the Rev. Dr Laidlie, who became minister at 
 Flushing, Long Island, in the eighteenth century ; and this circumstance was the 
 first incident in the history of its adoption by the Synod of the American 
 Reformed Dutch Church in 1771. It has kept its place ever since. It has 
 always been admired by the Presbyterians of America, although they adopt the 
 Westminster Standards with slight Republican modifications. Their General 
 Assembly, in 1870, passed the following Resolutions : — 
 
 1. That the General Assembly recognises in the Heidelberg Catechism a 
 valuable Scriptural compendium of Christian doctrine and duty. 
 
 2. That if any churches desire to employ the Heidelberg Catechism in the 
 instruction of their children, they may do so with the approbation of this 
 Assembly. 
 
 Dr Nevin was prominent, on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the Heidel- 
 berg Catechism in 1863, in preparing and publishing a stately quarto, containing 
 the Catechism in German, Latin, and English. He was the author of the histo- 
 rical introduction to that monumental book. He has been successively Professor 
 of Theology in the Presbyterian Seminary at Alleghany, and in the German Re- 
 formed Seminary at Mercersburg, and President of Franklin and Marshall College, 
 Lancaster, Philadelphia. 
 
 The following are some of Dr Nevin's laudatory sentences on the Heidel- 
 berg Catechism : — " Its widespread and long-continued popularity proclaims its 
 universal significance and worth. It is at once a creed, a catechism, and a con- 
 fession ; and all this in such a manner, at the same time, as to be often a very 
 liturgy also. Its utterances rise at times to a sort of heavenly pathos, and 
 breathe forth almost lyrical strains of devotion. Simple, beautiful, and clear in 
 its logical construction, the symbol moves throughout also in the element of fresh 
 religious feeling. It is full of sensibility, and faith, and joyous childish trust." 
 
 CASPAR OLE VI AN US, LL.D. 
 
 Caspak of Olewig was born at Treves, 10th August 1536. He studied the 
 ancient languages at Paris, Bourges, and Orleans. He took the degree of LL.D. 
 at Paris in 1557, and became known as Olevianus. He was converted to the 
 gospel and joined the Reformed Church at Paris (it is said). Some young noble- 
 men, one of whom was a son of Frederick III., the Elector-Palatine, exposed 
 themselves to the risk of drowning, in spite of the remonstances of Olevianus. 
 
318 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Plunging into the water to save them, he felt himself in danger, and vowed that 
 if he escaped he would study theology. The results were all that could be 
 desired. Both himself and the youths were preserved, and he went into Switzer- 
 land to study theology under Beza. Both Geneva and Zurich are said to have 
 been the scenes of his education for the ministry. He returned to Treves and 
 opened a class for dialectics. But taking occasion to indoctrinate his pupils with 
 the gospel, he was interdicted from teaching and the Canons shut up his school. 
 In some other town (name unknown) he endeavoured to preach the gospel, when 
 a monk gave information, and the authorities cast him into prison. A friend of 
 the Elector-Palatine procured his release and took him to Heidelberg, where 
 Frederick III., who had not forgotten his heroic conduct towards his son, received 
 him cordially. This was in the year 1560. Olevianus was made a Professor of 
 Theology and the Court Preacher, and became the Elector's chief councillor in 
 church affairs. In the composition of the Heidelberg Catechism he was associ- 
 ated with Ursinus, to whom he was inferior in learning, but superior in preach- 
 ing and in administrative ability. In 1576, on the death of Frederick, he was 
 banished. He was settled at Herborn in 1584, preaching the gospel and teach- 
 ing a school ; and there he died in 1587, in most joyful hope. A friend said 
 to him, " My brother, beyond all doubt you are certain of your salvation in 
 Christ Jesus, as you have taught others." He replied, " Most certain." He 
 wrote a catechetical work on the covenant of grace, which is said to contain the 
 germ of the federal system of Cocceius and Lampe. In Heidelberg he laboured 
 for the introduction of Presbyterianism and pure discipline, but was thwarted by 
 Thomas Lieber, Professor of Medicine in Heidelberg, and afterwards of Ethics at 
 Basle, who advocated Cassaro-papism. Lieber was no other than the dread 
 Erastus. 
 
 REV. JOHN OWEN, D.D. 
 
 John, son of Rev. Henry Owen, vicar of Stadham, near Oxford, and a scion of an 
 influential Welsh family, was born at Stadham in 1616. Both his school and 
 college education were received in Oxford ; he became student of Queen's College 
 in 1 628, and M.A. in 1635. He left Oxford in 1637, on account of the super- 
 stitious ceremonials introduced by Laud as Chancellor of the University. He 
 had been admitted to holy orders by Bishop Bancroft, and having filled two 
 domestic chaplaincies, he in course of time came to London. For some years he 
 had been oppressed with anxieties as to his personal salvation. One day he 
 happened to walk to Aldermanbury Chapel to hear the oldest Edmund Calamy ; 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 319 
 
 but an unknown country minister officiated for the great man, and preached a 
 sermon on the text, " Why are ye fearful, ye of little faith ? " (Matt. viii. 26), 
 -which brought " the sunshine of a settled peace " into the soul of John Owen. 
 
 We pass over his life, which, after the quiet pastorates of Fordham and 
 Coggeshall (both in Essex), was an eventful one. On 18th March 1651 he was 
 made Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, in the room of Dr Reynolds, and in the 
 following September he became Vice-Chancellor of the University. On 23rd 
 September 1653 he was made D.D. of Oxford ; "it was conferred on me" (he 
 said) " by the University in my absence, and against my consent, as they have 
 expressed it under their public seal ; " the diploma eulogized him as in palcestrd 
 theologicd exercitatissimus, in concionando assiduus et potens, in disputando 
 strenuus et acutus. 
 
 During Richard Cromwell's rule, Dr Owen was superseded at Oxford, and 
 retired to Stadham. He had for many years been an Independent or Congrega- 
 tionalist by conviction (as many of his writings peaceably testify), so that the 
 National pulpits lost his services at the Restoration, and he has been ever since 
 celebrated as the greatest of Nonconformist preachers and authors. His church 
 and home during those dark ages of the English Church were in London, where 
 he died on 24th August 1683, aged sixty-seven. 
 
 The peculiar value of Dr Owen's works, apart from their distinguished 
 ability and fervent soundness in the faith, is their grasp of the meaning of the 
 Divine Word and of the wants of the human soul, to the exclusion of all the 
 political and personal gossip of his own generation. He deals with definite 
 topics, knowing from the first what he is about, and not beginning with random 
 declamations which (in the language of many authors) " lead him to consider " 
 or to hunt some game that chances to start into view. His collected works are 
 accessible, in their most complete and serviceable form, in the twenty-four 
 volumes of the Rev. Dr Goold's edition. 
 
 Robert Trail and the Scottish Marrow-men always reckoned Dr Owen to be 
 on their side, especially in his Treatise on Justification (1677). In a discourse 
 on faith, Ebenezer Erskine said : " I shall only at present quote the definition of 
 faith given by the great and judicious Dr Owen in his Catechism, where, having 
 moved the 
 
 " Question — What is justifying faith ? 
 
 " His answer is — A gracious resting on the free promises of God in Christ 
 Jesus for mercy, with a firm persuasion of heart that God is a reconciled God to 
 us in the Son of His love." 
 
 On the theme of Gospel Consolation, it is more practical to regard him as a 
 preacher than as an author. Anthony a Wood, as his brief required of him, has 
 set down with animation everything, however calumnious, that was said against 
 him. But even this furious partizan esteemed Dr Owen as a man and as a 
 
320 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 preacher. " What I myself knew of him (says Anthony a Wood), which may, I 
 hope, be mentioned without offence, envy, or flattery, is (let rash and giddy heads 
 say what they please) that he was a person well skilled in the toDgues, Rabbinical 
 learning, Jewish rites and customs — that he had a great command of his English 
 pen, and was one of the most genteel and fairest writers who appeared against 
 the Church of England, as handling his adversaries with far more civil, decent, 
 and temperate language than many of his fiery brethren, and by confining himself 
 wholly to the cause, without the unbecoming mixture of personal slanders and 
 reflection. . . . His personage was proper and comely, and he had a very graceful 
 behaviour in the pulpit, an eloquent elocution, a winning and insinuating deport- 
 ment, and could by the persuasion of his oratory, in conjunction with some other 
 outward advantages, move and wind the affections of his admiring auditory almost 
 as he pleased." Dr Goold says : " The merits of Owen as a preacher have not 
 been sufficiently appreciated . . . From the accounts transmitted to us, whether 
 by his various friends and admirers (such as Clarkson, his colleague and suc- 
 cessor), or by those who were opposed to him in principle and sentiment (such 
 as Anthony Wood), the ability with which Owen could secure and sustain the 
 attention of an audience must have been great. The effects of his preaching in 
 some instances attest his usefulness in this department of his public labours. 
 John Rogers, in his singular work, ' The Heavenly Nymph,' records the cases of 
 two individuals, Dorothy Emett and Major Mainwaring, who ascribed their con- 
 version to the preaching of Owen when he was in Dublin. Mr Orme remarks 
 that the circumstance confutes a saying attributed to Owen, that he never knew 
 an instance of a sinner converted through his instrumentality ; though the saying 
 might so far be true, that he himself might be ignorant of the extent of his own 
 usefulness." 
 
 The second of Owen's two sermons on the text, " He staggered not at the 
 promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God " 
 (Rom. iv. 20), furnishes sufficient evidence as to Dr Owen's harmony with the 
 opinions of theologians represented, at a rather later date, by Robert Trail. 
 
 In that sermon Dr Owen stated the heresy, as to a neiv law, thus : — 
 
 " It hath been said, that faith is the receiving of Christ, as a priest and a 
 lord to be saved by Him and ruled by Him. . . . This sounds well, makes a 
 fair show, and there is, in some regard, truth in what is spoken. But latet 
 anguis in herba [there is a snake in the grass], let men explain themselves, and 
 it is [means] this : The receiving of Christ as a king is the yielding obedience 
 to Him ; but tlvat subjection is not a fruit of the faith whereby we are justified, 
 but an essential part of it ; so that there J,s no difference between faith and 
 works or obedience, both being alike a condition of it." 
 
 Dr Owen's counter-statement was the following : — 
 
 " It is true that faith receives Christ as a lord — as a king — and it is no 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 321 
 
 true faith that will Dot, doth not do so, and put the soul upon all that obedience 
 which He as the Captain of our salvation requires at our hands. But faith, as 
 it justifies (in its concurrence, whatever it be, thereunto), closeth with Christ for 
 righteousness and acceptation with God only. And (give me leave to say) it is, 
 in that act, no less exclusive of good works than of sin." 
 
 Is assured consolation " of the essence of faith ? " Dr Owen defined it as a 
 necessary concomitant of faith. 
 
 His "general description of faith, or believing (as may answer in some 
 measure the proper and metaphorical expressions of it in the Scriptures, where it 
 is termed looking or seeing, hearing, tasting, resting, rolling ourselves, flying for 
 refuge, trusting, and the like)," is given under three heads : — 
 
 " 1st. There must be an assent to the whole truth of the promises of God, 
 upon this ground and bottom, that He is able and faithful to accomplish them." 
 
 " 2nd. Over and above this, faith, in the Scriptures, is expressed (and we 
 find it by experience) to be the will's consent unto, and acceptance of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as mediator — He that accomplished His work as the only way of 
 going to the Father, as the sole and sufficient cause of our acceptation with Him, 
 as our only righteousness before Him." 
 
 " 3rd. Add hereunto, that which I cannot say is absolutely of the nature 
 of faith, but in some degree or other (secret or more known to the soul) a neces- 
 sary concomitant of it, that is, the soul's resting and quieting itself, and satis- 
 fying its affections, in its interest in and enjoyment of a sweet desirable Saviour." 
 
 In the course of this same sermon, Dr Owen expounds Hebrews vi. 17, 18. 
 " The heirs of the promise are said to fly for refuge — they are the fliers with speed. 
 The allusion, say some, is taken from those who run in a race for a prize. This 
 they say, the word that follows, to take fast hold on, doth import ; men that 
 run in a race, when they attain the end, seize on and lay fast hold of the prize. Our 
 translators, by rendering the word flying for refuge, manifest that they had respect to 
 the manslayer's flying to the city of refuge under the Old Testament. And I am 
 inclined to this acceptation of the metaphor upon a double account. 
 
 " (1.) Because I think the apostle would more willingly allude to a Hebrew 
 custom, writing to the Hebrews touching an institution of God, and that, directly 
 typical of the matter he had in hand, than to a custom of the Greeks and Romans 
 in their races, which hath not so much light in it, as to the business in hand, as 
 the other. 
 
 " (2.) Because the design of the place doth evidently hold out a flying from 
 something, as well as a flying to something, in which regard it is said that there 
 is consolation provided for them, namely, in their deliverance from the evil 
 which they feared and fled from. 
 
 " Now in a race there is indeed a prize proposed, but there is no evil 
 avoided. 
 
 2 s 
 
322 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " It was otherwise with him that fled for refuge ; for as he had a city of 
 safety before him, so he had the avenger of blood behind him ; and he fled with 
 speed and diligence to the one that he might avoid the other. Now these cities 
 of refuge were provided for the manslayer, who, having slain a man at unawares, 
 and being thereby surprised with an apprehension of danger (it being lawful for the 
 avenger of blood to slay him), fled with all his strength to one of those cities, 
 where he was to enjoy immunity and safety. Thus, a poor sinner, finding him- 
 self in a condition of guilt, surprised with a sense of it, seeing death and destruc- 
 tion ready to seize upon him, flies with all his strength to the bosom of the Lord 
 Jesus — the only city of refuge from the avenging justice of God and curse of 
 the law. 
 
 " Now this flying to the bosom of Christ (the hope set before us for relief 
 and safety), is believing. It is here called flying by the Holy Ghost, to express 
 the nature of it to the spiritual sense of believers. He hath taken all means 
 possible to shew Himself abundantly willing to receive them. He hath engaged 
 his word and promise, that they may not, in the least, doubt or stagger, but 
 know that he is ready to receive them and give them strong consolation. And 
 what is this consolation ? — whence may it appear to arise ? 
 
 " Whence did consolation arise to him who, having slain a man unawares, 
 should fly to a city of refuge ? Must it not be from hence — the gates of the 
 city would certainly be open to him, that he should find protection there and be 
 safeguarded from the revenger ? Whence then must be our strong consolation, 
 if we thus fly for refuge by believing ? Must it not be from hence, that God is 
 freely ready to receive us — that He will in no wise shut us out, but that we 
 shall be welcome to Him — and with the more speed we come, the more welcome 
 we shall be ? " 
 
 His well-known Exposition of Psalm cxxx. may be referred to as pulpit 
 discourses. We may regard Dr Bates and President Witherspoon (whose exposi- 
 tions of verse 4 are quoted in my Book First, part first, chapter 4), as the pupils 
 of Dr Owen on the great theme of the Origin of Christian Obedience ; and their 
 eloquent paragraphs may be here fortified by the quotation of one or two aphor- 
 isms of their master : — 
 
 " First, to take up mercy, pardon, and forgiveness, absolutely on the account 
 of Christ — and then, to yield all obedience in the strength of Christ, and for the 
 love of Christ — is the life of a believer." 
 
 " Faith of forgiveness is the principle of Gospel obedience. (Titus 
 ii. 11, 12.)" 
 
 " True gospel obedience is the fruit of the faith of forgiveness. Whatever 
 you do without it is but a building without a foundation, *a castle in the air. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 323 
 
 You may see the order of gospel obedience, Eph. ii. 7, 10 ; the foundation must 
 be laid in grace — riches of grace by Christ in the free pardon and forgiveness of 
 sin ; from here must the works of obedience proceed." 
 
 " You perform duties, abstain from sins — but with heaviness, fear, and in 
 bondage. Could you do as well without them as with them — would conscience 
 be quiet, and hope of eternity hold out — you would omit them for ever. This 
 makes all your obedience burdensome. The service of God is only the drudgery 
 of your lives, which you dare not omit, and delight not to perform. From this 
 wretched and cursed frame there is nothing can deliver you, but this closing with 
 forgiveness. This will give you such motives, such encouragements, as will 
 greatly influence your hearts and souls. It will give you freedom, liberty, delight, 
 and cheerfulness, in all duties of Gospel obedience. You will find a constraining 
 power in the love of Christ therein — a freedom from bondage when the Son of 
 God truly hath made you free. Faith and love will work genuinely and naturally 
 in your spirits ; and that which was your greatest burden will become your 
 chiefest joy. Thoughts of the love of God, of the blood of Christ, of the cove- 
 nant of grace, and sense of pardon in them, will enlarge your hearts and sweeten 
 all your duties. You will find a new life, a new pleasure, a new satisfaction, in 
 all that you do." 
 
 " You lose all you do, and all that you hope to do hereafter, if the founda- 
 tion be not laid in the receiving of pardon in the blood of Christ. . - . 
 All that you do is but to compound with God for your sin ; you hope, by what 
 you do for Him and to Him, to buy off what you have done against Him, that 
 you may not fall into the hands of His wrath and vengeance. This makes all 
 you do to be irksome. As a man that labours all his days to pay an old debt 
 and brings in nothing to lay up for himself, how tedious and wearisome is his work 
 and labour to him ! It is odds but that one time or other he will give over and run 
 away from his creditor. So it is in this case ; men, who have secret reserves of 
 recompensing God by their obedience, every day find their debt growing upon 
 them, and have every day less hopes of making a satisfactory payment. This 
 makes them weary, and for the most part they faint under their discouragements, 
 
 and at length they fly wholly from God It is high time to cast 
 
 down all that vain and imaginary fabric which you have been erecting, and to 
 go about the laying of a new foundation which you may safely and cheerfully 
 build upon — a building that will abide for ever." 
 
 " Find you not in yourselves an impotency, a disability unto the duties of 
 obedience, as to their performance unto God in an acceptable manner ? . . . . 
 You are not able in your obedience to answer what you aim at ; you have not 
 
324 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 strength or power for it. Now, it is this faith of forgiveness alone that will 
 furnish you with the ability whereof ye stand in need. Pardon comes not 
 alone, or Christ comes not to the soul with pardon only; it is that which He 
 opens the door and enters by. But He comes with a Spirit of life and power ; 
 and as without Him we can do nothing, so through His enabling us we may 
 do all things." 
 
 That the Marrow-men were pupils of Owen, or that he was their model, may 
 be seen in the following sentences from his printed letter to Du Moulin :— " We 
 are by the death of Christ freed from all sufferings [in as far] as they are purely 
 penal and the effects of the curse, though they spring out of that root ; only, Sir, 
 you and I know full well that we are not freed from pains, afflictions, and death 
 itself, which had never been had they not proceeded from the curse of the law. 
 And so, sir, by the obedience of Christ we are freed from obedience to the law, 
 as to justification by the works thereof ; we are no more obliged to obey the law 
 in order to justification than we are obliged to undergo the penalties of the law 
 to answer its curse." 
 
 DAVID PAREUS, D.D. 
 
 David WANGLEJt was born at Francolstein in Silesia on 30th December 1548. 
 His father was Echevin or Sheriff of Francolstein, and a Lutheran. About 1504 
 David was at the school at Hemsberg under the rector, Christopher Schilling, who 
 persuaded him to abandon Lutheranism and to join the Reformed Church. For 
 this proselytism Schilling was banished. The Elector, Frederick III., invited the 
 homeless rector to reside in the Palatinate, and made him the Principal of the 
 new college of Amberg. Schilling had invested his young pupil with a Latin 
 surname. The noun most resembling Wangler was Wange, a cheek, which in 
 Greek is Paria ; the Greek noun was softened into Pare", and was latinised into 
 Parous ; as it is sometimes printed Paileus, in order to secure the right pronun- 
 ciation. 
 
 Pareus followed the Rector to Amberg in 1566, but left him in the same 
 year, and removed his quarters to Heidelberg, where he was enrolled as a student 
 of the College of Wisdom under Ursinus. In May 1571, having successfnlly 
 completed his education, he became pastor of Schlettenbach, but soon returned to 
 Heidelberg as a college tutor. In 1573 he became pastor of Hemsbach, where, 
 in 1574, he began to edify the people by the moral life of a married clergyman 
 as contrasted with the scandalous immoralities of his Popish predecessor. 
 
 In 1577 Pareus as an exile began a life of six years in John Casimir's ter- 
 ritory. And his patron becoming Regent of the Palatinate in 1583, Pareus in 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 325 
 
 1584 was made Professor of Theology at Heidelberg. In 158G he published a 
 Method of the Ubiquitarian controversy. In 1589 he edited a German Bible 
 with notes. In 1602 he became chief of the Theological Faculty of Heidelberg, 
 having received the degree of D.D. in 1592. In that city he built a house, with 
 splendid accommodation for a library, in the year 1607. Upon this house, called 
 Pareanum, several privileges and immunities were conferred by the Elector. He 
 gave a splendid course of lectures against Cardinal Bellarmine's voluminous theo- 
 logical writings, which began 28th October 1611, and ended 30th November 
 1614. Surely some of our young divines, with a public spirit bent on construc- 
 tion rather than destruction, might enter this spacious garden, and might cull 
 for public use much that is valuable from the six scores of prelections de justiji- 
 catione impii, which are the concluding lectures of that course (Nos. 213 to 
 337). An "Irenicum" by Pareus was published in the last-named year, 1614. 
 In 1617 he published a Commentary on the Romans, known on account of 
 his exposition of the beginning of chapter 13, which our King James I. con- 
 demned as revolutionary, but which others seemed to regard as Erastian. In 
 that year (1617) a Protestant jubilee or centenary was held, which lasted for 
 three days ; Pareus took a leading part in the celebration, and some of his papers 
 were printed. In 1619 he was requested to proceed to Dort as a delegate to 
 the famous synod, but declined on the plea of age and infirmity, having arrived 
 at the stage of " threescore and ten." He, however, wrote a letter, recommend- 
 ing the banishment of Arminian doctrines from the churches and schools of the 
 Dutch provinces. His fame as a professor was widespread, and many students 
 from Hungary and Poland attended him. In 162], foreboding the ruin of the 
 Elector on his ill-advised acceptance of the crown of Bohemia, he set out as an 
 emigrant from the Palatinate ; but feeling his end approaching, he returned to 
 Heidelberg to die. He expired within his beloved Pareanum in the month of 
 June 1622, in his 74th year. 
 
 His son, Philip Parous, showed a laudable care in collecting and editing his 
 works, and also published a work of his own, entitled Anti-Owenus, being a reply 
 to Rev. David Owen, D.D., a Cambridge divine, whose lectures against the (so- 
 called) anti-monarchical views of David Parous (inferred from his comments on 
 Romans xiii.) had been printed in 1632 with the title, Anti-Pareus. 
 
 BISHOP PARRY. 
 
 That the English surname Parry should be associated with the Latin name 
 Pareus, in the title-page of a commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, might 
 
32 G THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 appear significant. But there is no etymological coincidence, Parens being derived 
 from the Greek, and Parry from the Welsh patronymic " ap Harry." In the begin- 
 ning of the sixteenth century William ap Harry was a gentleman residing at Worme- 
 bridge in Herefordshire. He had a son, Henry, father of Henry the future bishop. 
 As to the senior Henry, we may identify him with Henry Parry, one of the influ- 
 ential exiles at Frankfort during the Marian persecution, who returned to take a 
 prominent part under Queen Elizabeth in resettling the Reformed Church of Eng- 
 land. A royal commission for the establishment of religion was appointed on 
 19th July 1559, and its members were William, Earl of Pembroke, John Jewel, 
 S.T.P., Henry Parry, licentiate in laws, and William Lovelace, lawyer. Mr Parry 
 presided as chancellor at Salisbury, at a joint meeting of the Queen's commission- 
 ers and the chapter of the cathedral, to receive her Majesty's message relative to 
 the election of a bishop. The younger Henry was born in Wilts about 20th 
 December 1561, and was educated at Oxford in Corpus Christi College. The 
 known dates of his university career are those of his entrance (13th Nov. 1576) 
 and of his becoming a probationer (23d April 1586); at the latter date he was 
 M.A. 
 
 In 1587 he appeared as the translator of Ursinus on the Heidelberg 
 Catechism. His object was to sj)read the Gospel among the people, out of pity 
 for the " desolation of so many distressed souls, who in so many places of this our 
 land and country have been and are daily pined away and consumed to the bone 
 for lack of God's sustenance, the bread of life, the word of God." And a special 
 motive was the instruction of clergymen, who had not been educated in theology. 
 The young author apologized for " the grenenesse of my age," on the ground that 
 " but a small and short remnant of days is allotted unto every one of us to try 
 the hazard and adventure of this world in Christ's holy merchandise (yet forty 
 years, and the youngest may — the oldest must depart), I being subject to this 
 common case, and most certain uncertain tie of our life, neither knowing, if 
 perhaps at this present my staff standeth next the door." The following is a 
 transcript of the title-page of his octavo : — " The Summe of Christian Religion 
 delivered by Zacharias Ursinus in his Lectures on the Catechism autorized by 
 the noble Prince Frederick throughout his dominions. Wherein are debated 
 and resolved the questions of whatsoever points of moment which have beene or 
 are controversed in Divinitie. Translated into English by Henrie Parrie, out 
 of the last and best Latine editions, together with some supplie of wants out of his 
 Discourses of Divinitie, and with correction of sundrie faults and imperfections 
 which are as yet remaining in the best corrected Latine. At Oxford, Printed 
 by Joseph Barnes and are to bee solde in Paules-Churchyeard at the signe of 
 the Tygres head. 1587." 
 
 Both he and his father enjoyed the patronage of the great Protestant house 
 of Pembroke (or Penbroke, as it was then called). And his book was dedicated 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 327 
 
 " To the Right Honorable Henrie Earl of Penbrooke, Lorde Harbert of Cardiff, 
 Marraion and S. Quintine, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and 
 Lorde President of Wales." 
 
 There appeared in 1591, another edition, or a reissue with a new title-page, 
 in which the translator's name is spelt Henry Parry, and the Prince is Frede- 
 ricks, and autorized is changed into authorized. In 1595 Parry received the 
 degree of D.D., he had been the Greek Reader in his college, and was in great 
 reputation as a scholar and theologian. He was also chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, 
 whom he attended at her last moments, 24th March 1603. 
 
 In 1605 he became Dean of Chester. His preaching was specially admired 
 by King James ; and a sermon which he preached before His Majesty at 
 Rochester in 1606, was rewarded by the gift of "a very rich ring" from the 
 King of Denmark. He became Bishop of Gloucester on 12th July 1607, and 
 Bishop of Worcester in September 1610. None of this eloquent and learned 
 bishop's publications have been reprinted except his translation of Ursinus. In 
 1611 a quarto edition, enlarged by extracts from David Pareus, was brought out 
 by Richard Crosse, "with consent of the former interpreter ;" but his episcopal 
 title was not mentioned. It would seem that it was not then thought that the 
 approbation of an English bishop was required by so eminent a man as Ursinus. 
 Bishop Parry died of palsy at Worcester on 12th December 1616, in his fifty- 
 fifth year. Mr Thelwall begs his brethren to consider that " the doctrines of the 
 Heidelbei'g Catechism come to us with the fullest sanction and commendation 
 of this learned and pious Bishop of our Church." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The evidence that the youthful Henry Parry, who translated Ursinus, is the 
 same person as Henry Parry, Bishop of Worcester, is the uncontradicted state- 
 ment of Anthony a Wood. A collateral proof is the connection of father and son 
 with the Pembroke family. William, first Earl of Pembroke, and his son Henry, 
 Lord Herbert, were influential men at the accession of Elizabeth. The influence 
 of the former made the senior Henry Parry an Ecclesiastical Commissioner in 
 1559. To the latter (who became the second Earl of Pembroke in 1569), the 
 translator of Ursinus wrote in his dedicatory epistle in 1587 : — "your auncient 
 favor and good wil, manifoldly extended to my father who long since departed 
 this mortality, [hath] stretched to me his son." He is called D. Henrie Parry, 
 in the quarto editions of 1611, &c, and in the folio editions of 1633, &c. 
 
328 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 BISHOP REYNOLDS. 
 
 Edward, son of Austin and Bridget Reynolds, was a native of the parish of 
 Holyrood in Southampton, where he was born in November 1599. He was 
 educated in the Grammar School in his native town and at Merton College, 
 Oxford. After a very distinguished career at the University, being a Fellow of 
 his College, and M.A., he entered into Holy Orders and became Rector of Braun- 
 ston in Northamptonshire, and Preacher at Lincoln's Inn. He was (says Anthony 
 a Wood) "a noted preacher, though of a hoarse voice." Amidst the troubles 
 which Charles I. and Laud brought upon the Church, Mr Reynolds became a 
 member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, the author of the Assembly's 
 Annotations on Ecclesiastes, and a visitor of the University of Oxford. With 
 regard to the Vice-Chancellorship of Oxford, it is interesting to note that in 1641 
 the Chancellor, Archbishop Laud, being a prisoner in the Tower, resigned the 
 office and was succeeded by the Earl of Pembroke, who was turned out by the 
 king's command in 1643 but restored in 1648. On April 12, 1648, Lord 
 Pembroke having recommended him for the vice-chancellorship, Edward Reynolds 
 (at that time created a D.D.), was duly installed, and was also made Dean of 
 Christchurch. He had another tie to his University, by his marriage to Mary, 
 daughter of John Harding, D.D., late President of Magdalen, Hebrew Professor, 
 and one of the translators of the Bible. Being opposed to the Engagement pre- 
 sented to him by the Independents for signature, Dr Reynolds retired to Braun- 
 ston in 1650, and soon after he became Vicar of St Lawrence- Jewry, in London, 
 where he was famous for his eloquence and learning. By the favour of Richard 
 Cromwell, he was in 1660 (new style) restored to his Deanery. He lost it again 
 on the Restoration of Charles II., whose return he had promoted, but was offered 
 the bishopric of Norwich which he accepted, and held from 1661 till his death, 
 28th July 1676," a frequent preacher and constant resident." 
 
 As an author, Bishop Reynolds has always been valued by posterity, his 
 Explication of Psalm ex. and Sermons on Hosea, chap, xiv., being still known 
 and admired. Even more valuable is his volume entitled, " Meditations on the 
 Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Last Supper," which was licensed for the press on 
 7th April 1638. It is on account of an Essay embodied in it upon the complete 
 deliverance of believers from God's wrath that I have brought his name before 
 my readers. The greater portion of this Essay I now transcribe ; the first few 
 paragraphs are condensed, and rearranged for the sake of lucidity. 
 
 The Passion of Christ was His death, whereby I understand not only that 
 last act of expiation, but the whole space between that and His nativity, wherein, 
 being subject to the law of death and to all these infirmities which were the 
 harbingers of death, He might in that whole space be as truly called a man of 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 329 
 
 death, as Adam was a dead man in the virtue of the curse that very day (beyond 
 which, notwithstanding, he lived many hundred years), that which we call death 
 being nothing else but the consummation of it. The estate of exaltation is the 
 resurrection of Christ (whereby the efficacy of that merit which on the cross was 
 consummated is publicly declared) and His intercession (wherein it is proposed 
 and presented unto God the Father as an eternal price and prayer on behalf of 
 His Church). 
 
 " The first part of our deliverance respects [has respect or reference to] us as 
 we are in the state of death and enmity ; and it is a double deliverance, negative 
 by removing us out of this estate, and positive by constituting us into another 
 which is an estate of life and reconcilement. 
 
 " The next part of our redemption was from the bondage of corruption unto 
 the liberty of glory, which likewise is by Christ performed for us, which is a 
 deliverance from the consequents of sin. 
 
 " And if it be here demanded how it comes to pass, if all the consequents 
 of sin be removed, that the faithful are still subject to all those temporal evils 
 both in life and death which even in this state of nature they should have under- 
 gone, we answer in general that the faithful die in regard of the state, but not 
 in regard of the sting of death ; they are subject to a dissolution, but it is to 
 obtain a more blessed union, even to be with Christ. 
 
 " Punishment may be considered, improperly and incompletely, as any 
 oppressive evil, which in a reasonable creature doth so draw its origin from sin, 
 as that [we may say] that if there were not a habitation of sin, there would be 
 no room for such an evil — as, in the man that was born blind, though sin were 
 not the cause of the blindness, yet it was that which made room for the blind- 
 ness. If thus we consider punishments as they are dolours and pains, and as 
 they are impressions contrary to the integrity of nature, then [we may say that] 
 the temporal evils of the godly are punishments, because they work the very 
 same manner of natural effects in them which they do in other men. 
 
 " Punishment may be considered properly and perfectly as an evil or 
 pressure of nature proceeding from a Lawgiver just and powerful, and inflicted 
 upon reasonable creatures for their disobedience and breach of His law, whereby 
 there is intended a declaration of wrath, and satisfaction of justice. The temporal 
 evils which do befall the godly are not formally or properly punishments, nor 
 effects of divine malediction or vengeance towards the persons of the godly, who, 
 having obtained in Christ a plenary reconciliation with the Father, can be by Him 
 respected [regarded] with no other affection (however, in manner of appearance, 
 it may seem otherwise) than with an affection of love and free grace. 
 
 " Those evils of nature which do occasionally follow sin, and unto which 
 sin hath originally opened an entrance — which declare how God stands affected 
 towards sin, with a mind purposing the rooting out and destroying of it — such 
 
 2 T 
 
330 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 afflictions of the godly may be called punishments, as God is said to have been 
 exceeding angry with Aaron. But though inflicted on the godly because of 
 their sins — as were the death of the child to David, the tempest to Jonah, and 
 the like — yet they are not evils inflicted for the revenge of sin, which is the 
 right nature of a proper punishment (so saith the Lord, Vengeance is Mine, I 
 will repay) ; but they are evils inflicted by God's wisdom and love towards His 
 saints, for the overthrow of sin, for weakening the violence and abating the 
 outrageousness of our natural corruptions. 
 
 " As then, in the godly, sin may be said to be and not to be, in a diverse 
 sense, even so punishments or consequents of sin may be said to be in the godly, 
 or not to be in them, in a different sense. They are not in them in regard of 
 their sting and curse as they are proper revenges of sin, although they be in 
 them in regard of their state, substance, and painfulness, until such time as they 
 shall put on an eternal triumph over death (the last enemy that must be over- 
 come). 
 
 " Punishment, in the nature of it, is a thing legal, namely, the execution 
 of the law ; for divine law is ever the square and rule of that justice, of which 
 punishment is the effect and work. All those on whom the execution of the law 
 doth take any effect may truly be said to be so far under the law in regard of the 
 sting and curse thereof, for the curse of the law is nothing else but the evil 
 which the law pronounceth to be inflicted, so that every branch and sprig of that 
 evil must needs bear in it some part of the nature of a curse, even as every part 
 of water hath in it the nature of water. But all the godly are wholly delivered 
 from all the sting and malediction of the law. Christ is unto us the End of the 
 law, abolishing the shadows of the ceremonial, the curses of the moral. We are 
 no more under the law, but we are under grace — under the precepts, but not 
 under the covenant — under the obedience, but not under the bondage of the law. 
 Unto the righteous there is no law, that is, there is no condemnation to them 
 that are in Christ. We are dead unto the law by the body of Christ ; it hath 
 not the least power or dominion over us. 
 
 " The most proper nature of punishment is to satisfy an offended justice. 
 But Christ, bearing the iniquity of us all in His own body on the tree, did 
 therein make a most sufficient and ample satisfaction to His Father's wrath, 
 leaving nothing wherein we should make up either the measure or the virtue of 
 His suffering, but did Himself perfectly save us. An infinite person suffering, 
 and the value of the suffering depending on the dignity of the person, it must 
 needs be that the satisfaction made by that suffering must be likewise infinite, 
 and, by consequence, most perfect. 
 
 " If we but consider (as it is, in all matters of consequence, necessary) the 
 author of this evil, we shall find it to be no true and proper punishment. For it 
 is a reconciled Father who chasteneth every son whom He receiveth — who, as 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 331 
 
 He often doth declare His severest wrath by forbearing to punish, doth as often, 
 even out of tenderness and compassion, chastise His children — who hath predes- 
 tinated us unto them [unto chastisements], doth execute His decrees of mercy in 
 them, doth by His providence govern and by His love sanctify them to those 
 that suffer them — in none of which things are there the points of punishment. 
 
 " But if Christ have thus taken away the malignity of all temporal punish- 
 ments, why are they not quite removed ? To what end should the substance of 
 that remain, whose properties are extinguished ? 
 
 " Certainly God is so good as that He would not permit evil to be, if He were 
 not so powerful as to turn it to good. Is there not honey in the bee when the 
 sting is removed ? — sweetness in^ the rose when the prickles are cut off ? — a 
 medicinable virtue in the flesh of vipers when the poison is cast out ? And can 
 man turn serpents into antidotes, and shall not God be able to turn the fiery darts 
 of that old Serpent into instruments for letting out our corruptions, and all his 
 buffets into so many strokes for the better fastening of those graces in us, which 
 before were loose and ready to fall out ? 
 
 " Briefly — these, amongst others, are some ends of the remaining of death 
 and other temporal evils, notwithstanding the death of Christ have taken away 
 the malignity of them all. 
 
 " First — for the trial of our faith and other graces. Our faith in God's 
 Providence is then greatest when we dare cast ourselves on His care even when 
 to outward appearances He seemeth not at all to care for us — when we can so 
 look on our miseries, that we can withal look through them. Admirable is that 
 faith which can with Israel see the Land of Promise through a sea, a persecution, 
 a wilderness, through whole armies of the sons of Anak — which can with 
 Abraham see a posterity like the stars of heaven through a dead womb, a bleed- 
 ing sword, and a sacrificed son — which can with Job see a Redeemer, a Resurrec- 
 tion, a Restitution, through the dunghill and the potsherd, through ulcers and 
 blotches, through the violence of heaven and of men, through the discomforts 
 of friends, the temptations of a wife, and the malice of Satan — which can with 
 Stephen see Christ in heaven through a whole tempest and cloud of stones — 
 which can with that poor Syrophenician woman see Christ's compassion through 
 the odious name of dog — which can in every Egypt see an exodus, in every den 
 of lions a Lion of Judah, in every temptation a door of escape, and in every grave 
 an Arise and sing. 
 
 " Secondly, They are unto us for antidotes against sin, and means of humility 
 and newness of life — by which our faith is exercised and excited, our diseases 
 cured, our security, and slackness in the race set before us, corrected — without 
 which good effects all our afflictions are cast away in vain upon us. He hath 
 lost his affliction that hath not learned to endure it. The evils of the faithful 
 are not to destroy, but to instruct them ; they lose their end if they teach them-, 
 
332 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Thirdly, They make us conformable unto Christ's sufferings. 
 " Fourthly, They show unto us the perfection of God's graces and the 
 sufficiency of His love. 
 
 " Fifthly, They drive us unto God for succour, unto His word for informa- 
 tion, and unto His Son for better hopes. Nothing sooner drives a man out of 
 himself than that which oppresseth and conquereth him ; insomuch that public 
 calamities drove the heathen themselves to prayer and to consult with their 
 Sybil's Oracles, whose author, though ignorant of, yet under false names and 
 idolatrous representations, they laboured (as much as in them lay) to reconcile 
 and propitiate. 
 
 " Sixthly, God is in them glorified, in that He spareth not His own people, 
 and yet doth so punish that He doth withal support and amend them. 
 
 " Lastly, It prepareth us for glory. By these evils convincing the under- 
 standing of the slipperiness and uncertainty of this world's delights, and how 
 happiness cannot grow in that earth which is cursed with thorns and briars ; it 
 teacheth us to groan after the revelation of that life which is hid with Christ, 
 where all tears shall be wiped from our eyes. 
 
 " So that, in all temporal evils, that which is destructive — the sting and 
 malediction of them — is, in the death of Christ, destroyed." — Reynolds on the 
 Lord's Last Supper, Chapter XV. 
 
 In the next century the Rev. James Hog of Carnock [see Hog] stated the 
 same doctrine quite as strongly in his comments on the fifth petition of the 
 Lord's Prayer [Forgive us our debts, &c.]; the following is his preliminary doc- 
 trinal statement : — 
 
 " I. Our Lord Jesus — the Surety of that better testament — by giving 
 Himself a sacrifice, did satisfy justice to the full, and purchased complete remis- 
 sion, which also is and shall be vouchsafed upon every elect person. He paid 
 in the room of each of them that full price which justice required for its entire 
 and thorough satisfaction. 
 
 " II. The humbled soul, having heard and learned of the Father and under 
 His drawings, and having applied in the extremity by faith unto his only 
 Redeemer, is hereby ingrafted into Christ and married to Him. Thus the 
 believer is (may I use the word ?) instated into and entered upon the possession 
 of the before-mentioned full pardon. He may, and ought to, look upon himself 
 as one whose debt is wholly taken off, having been charged upon his glorious 
 Head and Husband, who hath discharged it to the full ; so that he is entirely 
 freed from hell and wrath, and shall never come into condemnation. 
 
 " III. In this blessed estate of the nearest and sweetest relations to Christ 
 which incomparably surpass anything of that kind amongst creatures (for he who 
 is joined to the Lord is one spirit), the believer, as a child of the family of his 
 heavenly Father, standeth under another kind of government than that by which 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 333 
 
 the Lord ruleth reasonable creatures in a more general way. He is now under 
 the tender care and sweet inspection of a Father, yet as strongly and indispensably 
 obliged to obey the law in everything as ever he was in any estate. Be ye 
 therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Do we then 
 make void the law through grace ? Nay, we establish the law. 
 
 " IV. Nevertheless, the believer, by reason of a body of death still cleaving, 
 hath many corrupt springs running in him, which not only carry to more ordi- 
 nary strayings through the sins of more daily incursion, but procure at times 
 greater and more dangerous declinings. 
 
 " V. Every sin is displeasing to the Lord, who is of purer eyes than to 
 behold iniquity. Every sin is therefore grievous to the child of God, both in the 
 poisonous fruits and the hidden roots. And so its greater than ordinary preva- 
 lency bringeth him under so much of discountenance and such penetrating 
 fatherly strokes, as are (though inflicted from everlasting love) necessary for dis- 
 covering sin more clearly to the conscience, and for riveting more deeply a 
 humbling sense thereof — that the heart may be strongly drawn farth towards 
 the only Physician for taking away all iniquity. 
 
 " VI. After the Lord hath discovered [disclosed] His everlasting love, the 
 believer ought strongly to hold fast His encouraging testimony who is the God of 
 truth, whose gifts and callings are without repentance — seeing we have not 
 received the spirit of bondage (may the Lord's children say) again to fear, but 
 the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Notwithstanding, foras- 
 much as they (and even the most established amongst them) offend in many 
 things — while assaulted by enemies without, as also drawn away of their own 
 lusts and enticed — they are liable to the Lord's hiding His face, and chastising 
 them variously with the rods of men, although He will never take His loving- 
 kindness from them, nor suffer His faithfulness to fail. 
 
 " VII. The intrinsic demerit of sin is still the same — viz., death in its full 
 significancy and extent. And the privileges which believers enjoy, and which 
 are peculiar to them, aggravate their guilt so much the more, and on that very 
 account prove matter of deep humiliation, which maketh each of them look upon 
 himself as the chief of sinners. Nevertheless, after a gracious change, and after 
 the Lord speaking peace to their souls, their fears of wrath (attended sometimes 
 with much of confusion and horror, as also with deep and perplexing exercise of 
 mind about it, and with fervent deprecations of the same) are really founded 
 upon darkness and mistake." — Hog's Essay, pp. 210, &c. 
 
334 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. ROBERT RICCALTOUN. 
 
 Robert Riccaltoun was one of the most remarkable men that Scotland has 
 produced. His knowledge of the Scriptures was unsurpassed and almost un- 
 rivalled, the fruit of an enthusiastic study which began when he was five years 
 of age ; "he could read the Bible distinctly before he was five years of age." 
 He was born in 1691, and educated at the Grammar School of Jedburgh and the 
 University of Edinburgh. His academic career was entirely a matter of choice, 
 as he had no plan for his future life except to be a farmer. He formed for him- 
 self a system of Bible divinity, but left college without attending the divinity 
 classes. His learning and abilities, as well as his religious character, so com- 
 mended themselves to the Presbytery of Kelso, that they urged him to become a 
 preacher of the Gospel ; and they actually licensed him as a probationer on 
 March 5, 1717, notwithstanding his never having studied at a divinity hall. 
 His subsequent career entirely justified the Presbytery's exceptional procedure. 
 Though " almost forced upon trials," Mr Riccaltoun was a hearty servant of the 
 Church of Christ ever afterwards. He assisted the Rev. Archibald Deans of 
 Bowden for seven years; and he married Anna Scott in 1724. The parish of 
 Hobkirk (alias Hopekirk), in the Presbytery of Jedburgh, having been vacant 
 for more than a year, the Presbytery exercised the jus devolutum in the autumn 
 of 1725, and presented him to the charge and living. Mr Riccaltoun was 
 ordained as minister of Hobkirk on 24th September 1725. He had thus no 
 official concern with The Marrow controversy ; but as a probationer he had 
 employed his leisure in writing very much and very ably on the side of The Pre- 
 facer (Mr Hog) and the persecuted brethren. (His works, published by himself 
 in his life-time, were all anonymous.) 
 
 His first publication was Dialogue First on the " Marrow controversy ; " 
 the copy before me has no title-page, but I have the authority of the late Prin- 
 cipal Lee for dating it 1721. The following is the title of the second (and last) 
 dialogue : " The Controversie concerning the Marrow of Modern Divinity con- 
 sidered in several familiar dialogues. Dialogue II., Acts xx. 23 : ... Bonds and 
 afflictions abide me, but none of these things move me, &c. Isa. lxvi. 5 : Hear 
 the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word ; your brethren that hated you, 
 that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified. But He 
 shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Printed in the year 
 1722. Price sixpence stitched." 
 
 The speakers in the dialogue were " Gamaliel, a minister, defender of the 
 Assembly Act condemning ' The Marrow,' &c. ; Paul, a minister, a defender of the 
 Representation against that Act ; Philologus, a private Christian, a violent 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 335 
 
 stickler for the Condemnatory Act ; Apelles, a private Christian, a zealous friend 
 of the Representation ; Rufus, a well-meaning private Christian attached to 
 neither side ; Gallio, a careless libertine gentleman, who misimproves these 
 debates to ridicule all true religion." The first dialogue has 158 pages, and the 
 second 132 ; the latter concludes thus: "A particular providence interrupted 
 this conference here. What remains may, as Providence makes it expedient, be 
 considered in other such conferences, or in particular Essays on the subjects 
 themselves." 
 
 His next tract was humorous and satirical, being entitled : " The Politick 
 Disputant ; Choice Instructions for quashing a stubborn adversary. Gathered 
 from and exemplified in the learned Principal Hadow's conduct in his late 
 appearances against The Marrow of Modern Divinity and its friends. 
 
 " Quid immerentes hospites vexas canis, 
 Ignavus adversus lupos 1 — Hor. 
 
 Edinburgh, printed in the year 1722 " — 80 pp. 
 
 This brochure is much in the style afterwards followed by Witherspoon in 
 his Ecclesiastical Characteristics ; the difference being that Riccaltoun's burlesque 
 is confined to the Instructions, while the commentary is serious. The instruc- 
 tions are 30 in number. I copy the first two : — 
 
 " I. Study carefully whatever methods may be most proper to raise your 
 own reputation and sink your adversary's — no matter whether by making him 
 odious, or ridiculous and contemptible ; but your best course will be to carry on 
 both designs at once. 
 
 " II. As you must always hold in view worthy and laudable ends and 
 designs for your own undertaking, so you must take care to provide some frightful 
 and odious name for your adversary — made so, either by being affixed to some 
 abominable heresy, or carrying in it somewhat harsh and shocking to the gener- 
 ality of readers." 
 
 The next year was eventful in Mr Riccaltoun's life, as witnessing two pub- 
 lications from his pen. The first was a volume extending to 446 pages, entitled: 
 " A Sober Enquiry into the Grounds of the present Differences in the Church of 
 Scotland, wherein the matters under debate are fairly stated, the differences 
 adjusted, and Mr Hadow's Detections considered and weighed. Deut. xix. 16, 
 18,19: If a false witness rise up against any man .... the judges 
 shall make diligent inquisition ; and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, 
 and hath testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him, as he had 
 thought to do unto his brother : so shalt thou put away the evil from among you. 
 Printed in the year 1723." 
 
 How competent this young Biblical divine was to discuss the questions 
 may be seen from a passage at which the book happens to open — page 401 : 
 
33G THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " Here is the judicious, learned, and holy Dr Owen, brought in to support a 
 cause which, while he lived, all who know anything at all about him, must know 
 he opposed, with all the earnestness and vigour he was capable of. And what 
 does he say ? Why truly, when all is done that can be to make him serve a 
 turn, he speaks still like himself, That no impenitent sinner, going on in his 
 sins, can have any part in Christ. But what is that to actual believers, or 
 the law-curse seizing upon them ? 
 
 " But though the curse of the law is thus bound up and restrained by the 
 covenant of grace, or rather exhausted by our Lord Jesus Christ, yet some threat- 
 enings there are, consistent with a covenant state ; and thus the law takes hold 
 even of the believer, and shoivs what afflictions in this life they may expect 
 for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law, 1 and thus 
 ' they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit — come to be deprived 
 of some measure of their graces and comforts — have their hearts hardened and 
 their consciences wounded — hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal 
 judgments upon themselves.' 2 But as these, nor any of them, are no part of 
 the law-curse, they are still, notwithstanding all these, delivered from the evil of 
 all afflictions, and the blood of Christ proves a sufficient protection against the 
 law. All these are instituted for quite other ends, that they may be partakers 
 of God's holiness. Until these ends are accomplished, and the means [which] 
 God takes be made effectual to humble the believer and bring him to renew his 
 faith and repentance, he is not to expect to have the light of God's countenance 
 lifted up upon him. 3 
 
 " These sins, then, may be considered either in themselves, and as to their 
 eternal demerit as they stand in the eyes of the just, holy, and righteous law of 
 God — and thus they are fitted to bring upon the soul the curse in its utmost 
 extent, were it not already exhausted upon Christ. 
 
 " But if we consider them as they lie against that rule, which God hath 
 established under the covenant of grace .... they bring on grievous 
 plagues indeed many times, but still so (as all corrections are) to produce amend- 
 ment. For the removal of one's liableness unto these, then, it is not only 
 necessary that one have interest in the blood of Christ, but also that he fall in 
 with God's end therein, and learn that lesson which God is teaching him thereby 
 — which, whenever it is accomplished, we may assure ourselves as He afflicteth 
 not the children of men willingly, these shall be removed and taken off. But 
 still it must be remembered that this is not owing unto the value of our obedience, 
 but unto God's own rich grace in Christ Jesus. 
 
 "If no more than this is meant by the expression which the Reverend 
 Principal adduces from the second part of The Marrow, — That, though faith in 
 
 1 " Westminster Confession," chap, xix., sect. 6. 2 Ibid., chap, xvii., sect. 3. 
 
 3 Ibid., chap, xi., sect. 5. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 337 
 
 Christ's blood takes aivay that guilt which subjected to the legal curse, yet obe- 
 dience must take away that guilt which subjecteth to fatherly displeasure,— -there 
 is nothing so strange in it that one needs to triumph over the author, as I 
 find a great many doing who understand very little of the one guilt or the 
 other. And the Principal himself might have spared the bitter jeer with 
 which he introduces it." 
 
 Mr Riccaltoun's second publication, in 1723, was "A Review of an Essay 
 upon Gospel and Legal Preaching. In several letters to a friend. Gal. i. 7. &c. : 
 There be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. 8. But 
 though %oe, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you, than 
 tliat which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, &c. Edinburgh : 
 Printed and are to be sold by Mr John M'Euen and other booksellers in Edin- 
 burgh and Glasgow. 1723. Price, stitched, 8d." 128 pp. 
 
 The Essayist, to whom this tract is an answer, used a ready pen and 
 superior diction in a sharp onset upon " The Marrow " divines. His professed 
 theme was " Gospel and Legal Preaching." What he practically aimed at was 
 to show that the Marrow-men had not a monopoly of Gospel preaching, but, on 
 the contrary, that their peculiar Gospel was Antinomianism ; while their stigma- 
 tizing other preaching as legal was a misapprehension and a misrepresentation. 
 On this latter topic the Essayist asserted that no preaching is legal, i.e., legalistic 
 or Pharisaical, which is not boldly and unblushingly so, and does not actually 
 teach that a man's salvation is to be obtained entirely by his own good works. 
 Mr Riccaltoun's observations, in reply to this reckless assertion, are valuable, 
 and also impress us favourably with his own faith and piety : — " In stating what 
 legal preaching is, he (the Essayist) tells us several things which indeed are so, 
 yet he takes no notice of criminal omissions .... which may justify 
 the denomination of legal preaching (though the preacher do not directly say 
 that perfect obedience is the condition of life — that man can obey the holy law 
 of God without being regenerated, &c). If some ingredients, absolutely necessary 
 unto a prescribed potion, be left out by the apothecary to whom the care of making 
 it up is committed, may we not say, it is not the potion prescribed? (though all 
 the rest do also belong to the prescription, and though nothing contrary to it be 
 put in). The application is easy. Though a man, in his preaching morality, 
 should say nothing that is directly heterodox ; yet, if he omit these doctrines that 
 are necessary ingredients to make his sermon a truly evangelical discourse, I will 
 not say he is ' nick-named ' a Legal Preacher. 
 
 " Now, sir, I have heard some judicious Christians say, that they have been 
 for a long time under the ministry of some men, and that they seldom heard them 
 insist on any other subject but the pressing of some duty and declaiming against 
 some vice — which they thought indeed to be a legal strain of preaching, not 
 because they said anything contrary unto truth, nor because either their explica- 
 
 2 u 
 
338 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 tions or arguments were, in themselves, wrong ; but because of tbeir habitual 
 neglect of preaching either on the root and spring of vice, Our fall and the cor- 
 ruption of our nature, or on the source and fountain of holiness, Union with 
 Christ, and many other necessary Gospel doctrines." — Pp. 7, 8. 
 
 We have no information as to the public life of Mr Riccaltoun during his 
 forty- four years' ministry at Hobkirk, except that he preached and presided at 
 the ordination of Mr Somervel as minister of Hawick on 29th March 1732. In 
 his pastoral and private life he earned universal esteem and affection. He main- 
 tained his studious habits, and could cogitate deeply and write fluently, even 
 when conversation was resounding around him. He was patient and self-possessed. 
 While he was a probationer, he, by becoming surety for a friend, so involved 
 himself, that his circumstances were straitened for life ; but he always said that 
 it had been so ordered by God for his best interests, " as he thought, if he had 
 not been so borne down, his spirit might have been very haughty and overbear- 
 ing." His recreations were refined and useful. He wrote a poem called " A 
 Winter's Day," which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for May 1740, 
 and which suggested to his young friend, James Thomson, the subject of " Win- 
 ter " — the first written (and the best) of Thomson's Seasons. Riccaltoun's 
 memory would deserve to be cherished, were it only for " the friendship and 
 patronage which he showed to Thomson when young and unknown." In 1764? 
 he lost his wife, to whom he had been married for forty years ; and on 4th De- 
 cember 1765 his son, John, became his assistant and successor. He himself died 
 on Sabbath the 17th September 1769 (aged seventy-eight), having been taken 
 suddenly ill during public worship in his church on the previous Sabbath. The 
 only work which he sent to the press during his ministry was entitled, " A Disser- 
 tation on the conduct of the Jewish Sanhedrim, and the advice offered by Gama- 
 liel in the famous trial of the Apostles (Acts v. 17-41) considered as an argument 
 for the truth of Christianity. Edinburgh, printed for A. Kincaid and J. Bell, 
 and T. Cadell, Loudon, 1769." vi. and 190 pp. 8vo. (Dedicated to the Hon. 
 John Campbell of Calder). His son, the Rev. John Riccaltoun (who had been 
 ordained as his successor in 1765, and lived till 9th April 1800), edited " The 
 Works of the Rev. Robert Riccaltoun," in three volumes, never before printed, 
 1771, 1772, octavo. 
 
 The first volume, beginning with Essays on Human Nature, was perhaps 
 not fitted to attract the reading public; but two-thirds of the volume was occupied 
 with Essays on several Doctrines of Revelation, which are full of life and interest. 
 
 The second volume also has an unpromising opening — namely, Treatise on 
 the General Plan of Revelation ; but more than half the volume contains a 
 series of dissertations (founded upon Galatians ii. 20) on The Christian Life, 
 which are both edifying and readable. And the Notes and Observations on the 
 [whole] Epistle to the Galatians, which compose the third volume, are so emi- 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 339 
 
 nent for their simplicity and comprehensiveness, and exhibit such popular and 
 scholarly endowments, that they are well worthy of being reprinted for general 
 circulation. All his writings have this value, that their theology is drawn from 
 the pure text of Scripture, and that they give an independent support to the 
 system of the Marrow divines as a whole, while reserving liberty to differ in one 
 or two details. 
 
 As an instance we may quote some beautiful sentences from his " Christian 
 Life," which a Marrow divine would hardly approve of: — 
 
 " When the love of Christ, and of the Father in Him, is known and believed, 
 how happy the man ! . . . . 
 
 " But how shall we attain so happy a state ? It is in God's hand ; it is a 
 gift of His grace ; and until He shall be pleased to bestow it, and to give the 
 Spirit of faith which leads into all truth, vain are all the attempts of man 
 
 " He has laid down a way which He has promised to bless, and it is the 
 way of faith ; and he has warranted us to go on in an absolute dependence on, 
 and entire confidence in Him, whatever difficulties and discouragements we may 
 meet with in our way. And, indeed, we may be put to wait long, and even meet 
 with many things that look like absolute refusals, as the woman of Canaan did. 
 But we have this for our encouragement, that never any followed and waited (for 
 faith hath always patience for its companion; they that believe never make haste) 
 — never any, I say, waited but in the end had their errand and more. Himself 
 has said, Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. 
 
 " The only direction then I would give, is that which God gave Moses for 
 the Israelites when they were in the most desperate case men could be in, shut 
 up between the Egyptians and the Red Sea, Speak unto the children of Israel 
 that they go forward." 
 
 The Marrow divines would say, Go forward, by believing the Gospel which 
 is the truth, and the Saviour who is true, while you give the glory of your 
 believing to God the Holy Spirit alone. That a man is not to believe a faithful 
 witness and a true testimony until he is conscious of having received the Holy 
 Spirit, is a misstatement as dangerous as that a man is not to pray until he is 
 conscious of having been favoured with special liberty of access to God. Such 
 an excuse for not freely taking the water of life is often an indolent and sinful 
 apology for delaying to give our souls to Christ. 
 
 And the Marrow divines would say further, that Mr Riccaltoun's apology 
 for delay is contradicted by his own exposition of the text — Gal. ii. 20, " I live 
 by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Both 
 in his Dissertations on that verse, and in his Commentary on the Epistle, he 
 gives a thoughtful and evangelical statement of the lessons which every reader of 
 the Bible should learn from that text. 
 
 In the Dissertations on the Christian Life, speaking of the Son of God 
 
340 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 " who loved me and gave Himself for me," he says: " In whatever view we con- 
 sider the faith of Christ, it will very naturally and even necessarily land us 
 where it did the Apostle, namely, in the particular application of His redeeming 
 love to ourselves." (Vol. ii., p. 480). On this he enlarges in the Commentary: — 
 
 " I was saying, To live to God is to devote ourselves to Him and His work 
 and service. And if any should put the question the Jews put to our Lord 
 (John vi. 28), What shall we do that we may work the works of God? we 
 have His answer to it who certainly best understood it, This is the work of God, 
 that ye believe on Him ivhom He hath sent. This is the only way that man can 
 do anything for God ; and all that the best believers do, or can do, is but giving 
 Him the glory due unto His name and acknowledging His grace. And this is 
 the singular specialty of His service, that all the profit of their labour redounds 
 to themselves ; their Master needs none and can receive none. The Apostle 
 understood his Master's direction ; the life he lived in the flesh was (he says) by 
 the faith of the Son of God; where this is wanting, all that can be done without 
 it is but affronting God in the basest manner ; for what the Apostle [John] 
 says is evident in the nature of the thing : He that believes not His testimony, 
 or record concerning His Son, makes Him « liar, and treats Him as such. 
 
 " Whosoever has so far considered this testimony as to know anything of 
 Christ, cannot miss to find in Him the highest evidence God could give of His 
 love to the world. God has stated it in such a manner that no one person has 
 more or less reason than another to believe it. All who hear are called — are com- 
 manded — to believe in Him whom He hath sent ; and all have equal encourage- 
 ment and assurance of success in this way ; insomuch that, strictly and properly, 
 faith is no more but the application of the general declaration in the testimony 
 to one's self. Thus, we see, the Apostle took it, and sets an example to us. He 
 does not pretend any particular revelation, of the love of God and His ever 
 blessed Son, to himself more than to others ; nor did he need any ; and there- 
 fore pleases himself with a conclusion arising so naturally and necessarily from 
 the truth as it is in Jesus, and concludes with the strongest confidence of faith, 
 ivho loved me and gave Himself for me. . . . 
 
 " I know not how it hath happened that many, even serious people, not 
 only do in fact, but have even been taught to, soothe themselves in the want of 
 this assurance of faith ; as if it were their unhappiness but not their sin. But 
 surely they must be egregiously mistaken who make such a conclusion. For 
 nothing can be more certain, than that so much as there is of abatement of the 
 most perfect confidence of faith, so much there is of unbelief (Rom. iv. 20), and I 
 hope nobody will say that is no sin. It is true, there may be faith where there 
 is much doubting; nay, one may say, there can be no doubting where there is not 
 some faith. But weak faith cannot fail to make a weak Christian. And if the 
 Apostle John's account of the rise and progress of the love of God in the heart of 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 341 
 
 man (which, by the way, is really writing the law of God there) may be credited, — 
 just so far as the love of God to us is known and believed, so far will this law of 
 love be planted and rooted in the heart, for (1 John iv. 19) we love Him because 
 He first loved us." (Vol. iii. p. 135.) 
 
 REV. THOMAS RIDGLEY, D.D. 
 
 Thomas Ridgley was born in London in 1G67, and was educated for the 
 ministry among the Congregationalists at their academy in Trowbridge. His 
 first appointment was to be assistant to Rev. Thomas Gouge at the Three Cranes 
 in Thames Street, in London ; he served under this celebrated divine from 1695 
 till 1700, and then succeeded him in the full pastorate. To this charge there 
 were added in 1712 the labours of Theological Professor in the chair left vacant 
 by Dr Isaac Chauncy of London (the ejected rector of Woodborough, in Wiltshire). 
 The classical and mathematical professor was John Eames, F.R.S. (an associate 
 of Sir Isaac Newton), who ultimately succeeded Ridgley in the theological pro- 
 fessorship. 
 
 Mr Ridgley faithfully resisted the Arian invasion which desolated so many 
 churches. He defended the order for signing the Trinitarian paragraphs, ex- 
 tracted from the Westminster Confession and Catechisms as a test for ministerial 
 communion among the Dissenters, and published his views as to this great 
 theological crisis in the year 1719, in a pamphlet entitled, "The unreasonable- 
 ness of the charge of imposition, exhibited against several dissenting ministers 
 in and about London, considered. And the difference between creed-makiug as 
 practised in former ages, and their late conduct in declaring their faith in the 
 doctrine of the blessed Trinity, stated and argued." 
 
 Although strictly and heartily orthodox, Mr Ridgley was original in many 
 of his statements. He agreed in all the conclusions usually called Calvinistic, 
 but thought that sometimes the steps leading up to those conclusions had not 
 been described as accurately and as simply as they might have been. It was 
 only as to methods of reasoning and processes of proof, and not as to vital doc- 
 trines, that he ever differed from his brethren. This characterised all his writings, 
 but especially his pamphlet entitled, " The Doctrine of Original Sin Considered, 
 being the substance of Two Sermons preached at Pinners Hall, with a postscript 
 explaining, correcting; or vindicating some passages therein," London, 1725. He 
 seems to have virtually held the opinion of Augustine, who, as to the question of 
 the origin of man's sinfulness, said, Sinfulness is not an effect (but a defect), and 
 therefore to inquire into its cause is purposeless. 
 
 As he advanced in years Mr Ridgley had sometimes the affecting duty of 
 
34 2 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 preaching funeral sermons in memory of old friends. Sermons preached by him 
 for Rev. Thomas Tingey (who died 1st November 1729), for Rev. John Hurrion 
 (who died 31st December 1731), and for Rev. John Slade (who died 19th 
 October 1733), were printed. Mr Ridgley received the degree of D.D. in or 
 before 1731. 
 
 Dr Ridgley is still celebrated as the author of a " Body of Divinity," in two 
 volumes folio (several times reprinted), which is the only known Exposition of 
 the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Assembly. Volume first appeared in 
 1731, with a fine portrait engraved by John Vandergucht from the painting by 
 B. Dandrige. It was patronized by six hundred subscribers, among whom were 
 Lady Margaret Dolius, Hon. Mrs Birch of Kensington, Sir Richard Ellys, Bart., 
 and Rev. Philip Doddridge, in England ; and James Earl of Strathmore, the 
 Lord Advocate (Duncan Forbes, Esq.), Rt. Hon. James Erskine of Grainge, one 
 of the Senators of the College of Justice, Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobbs, Bart., 
 Rev. William Wish art, D.D., Rev. Robert Trail of Panbride, Rev. William Trail 
 of Benholm, Mr John Trail of Edinburgh, Rev. John Bruce of Airth, and Rev. 
 Henry Lindsay of Bothkennar, in Scotland. 
 
 The second volume was published in 1733 ; and in a postcript Dr Ridgley 
 declared that he had relaxed none of his pastoral or professorial duties during 
 the production of this great literary performance, and that his health had been 
 much impaired by an attack of fever. He survived but a short time, and died 
 in his sixty-seventh year, on the 21st March 1734. 
 
 Under Question 80, his precise topic being that assurance is attainable in 
 the present life, Dr Ridgley expresses the following consolatory sentiments : — 
 
 " Our Saviour encourages His disciples to expect that, notwithstanding present 
 destitute circumstances as to outward things, yet their Father, who knows that 
 they have need of them, will supply their wants. . . . God, that He may 
 encourage the faith of His people, gives them assurance that no temptation shall 
 befall them but what is common to men — [that is,] that they shall not be pressed 
 down, so as to sink and despair of help from Him under the burdens and 
 difficulties that in the course of his Providence He lays on them. If God is 
 pleased to give such intimations to His people with respect to their condition in 
 this world, may we not conclude from hence that the assurance of those things 
 that concern their everlasting salvation may be attained ? If the promises that 
 respect the one may be depended on, so as to afford relief against all doubts and 
 fears that may arise from our present circumstances in the world, may we not 
 with as good reason suppose that the promises which respect the other afford 
 equal matter of encouragement — that the one is as much to be depended on as 
 the other — so that (as the Apostle says, Heb. vi. 18) they who have fled for 
 refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them, may have strong consolation 
 arising from thence ? 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITEES. 3 43 
 
 " Sometimes the destitute state of believers as to the good things of this 
 life is abundantly compensated by spiritual blessings, . . . while they are denied 
 the lesser, they have the greater blessings instead thereof ; so that their assurance 
 of the accomplishment of the promises of outward blessings must be understood 
 with a limitation. But as to spiritual blessings, which God has promised to 
 His people, there is no foundation for any distinction of their being made good 
 in kind or in value. If the promise of eternal life be not made good according 
 to the letter of it, it cannot be, in any sense, said to be accomplished. 
 
 "That assurance of justification, sanctification, and salvation may be attained 
 in this life is farther evident from the obligations that persons are under to pray 
 for these privileges. . . . The Apostle (1 John v. 14, 15) says, that if we ask 
 anything according to His will, He heareth us. This is said in the following 
 words to be known by us — we know that we have the petitions that we desired of 
 Him ; therefore it follows that we may know, from the exercise of faith, in 
 prayer for the forgiveness of sin, that our iniquities are forgiven. The same may 
 be said of the subject-matter of our prayer for all other blessings that accompany 
 salvation. Consequently, it is possible for us to know, whether God has granted 
 us these blessings or no. 
 
 " We are not only to pray for saving blessings, but to praise God for our 
 experience thereof ; as 'tis said, Whoso offereth praise, glorijieth Me. Now this 
 supposes that we know that God has bestowed upon us the blessings we prayed 
 for. If the Psalmist calls upon his soul to bless the Lord for forgiving him all 
 his iniquities, we must suppose that there was some method by which he attained 
 the assurance of the blessing which he praises God for. 
 
 " Some have attained this privilege, and therefore it is not impossible for 
 others to attain it. That some have been assured of their salvation is evident 
 from the account we have thereof in several Scriptures. Thus the Apostle tells 
 the Church he writes to (1 Thess. v. 9), ' God hath not appointed us to wrath, 
 but to obtain salvation ;' and he sa}'s concerning himself (2 Tim. i. 12), 'I know 
 whom I have believed, and I am persuaded He is able to keep that which I have 
 committed unto Him against that day.'" 
 
 Under Questions 93 to 97, Dr Ridgley alludes to Dr Crisp as having been 
 unguarded in his phraseology ; and he instances an Antinomian phrase, as to 
 believers, that their sins shall not do them any hurt. But the word " hurt" 
 applies to damage done to a patrimony, and not to any injury or wound inflicted 
 upon the soul or conscience. The latter result has to do with a question distinct 
 from the former. As to the stability of the heavenly inheritance, surely bestowed 
 on believers (who are clothed in Christ's righteousness, though, in themselves, 
 they are sinful and liable to sin), there is a pair of phrases, perfectly accurate in 
 their own place, viz., that a believer's sins do him no hurt, 1 and his righteous- 
 
 1 " Such expressions should be disused. I heartily join in the same wish with the excellent 
 Witsius that nothing of this kind might drop from the mouth of a .Reformed divine ; for though 
 
344 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 nesses do him no good. As to the second phrase, it is illustrated by the anecdote 
 of a gentleman's groom who consented to give regular attendance at family- 
 prayers, but hoped that it would be considered in his wages ; now, while his 
 attendance might do him good if regarded as a religious habit and opportunity, 
 it would do him no good in a question as to wages. The sins of a believer 
 represent not only wrongs and transgressions committed by him, but also God's 
 broken law demanding his punishment. The phrase, therefore, that his sins can 
 do him no hurt, is the same as the phrase, that the broken law can do him no 
 hurt. Thus Crisp and Trail are at one, Trail expressing Crisp's sentiments in 
 language which no lover of a free Gospel can object to : — 
 
 " If so be (says Trail) that men will give glory to God, and renounce their 
 own righteousness and all expectations of relief that way, and betake themselves 
 to God's device of salvation by Jesus Christ, and believe on Him — as they can 
 expect no good by the law, so they should fear no hurt by it ; for, as sin hath 
 made it impossible that the law of God should justify us, so the grace of God in 
 Christ hath made it impossible that the law should condemn a believer in Him." 
 
 " Whensoever you come to have any dealings in earnest with God about 
 salvation and your justification and eternal life, always remember these two 
 things, The grace of God, and Christ's death. The law hath nothing to do in 
 this case ; it cannot help you whilst you are under it, but condemn you ; and if 
 you be believers, the law cannot hurt you, for you shall be absolved." — (Conclusion 
 of Sermons on Galatians ii. 21.) 
 
 PROFESSOR HERMAN ALEXANDER ROELL, PH.D., D.D. 
 
 In 1728 a posthumous publication, Explicatio Catecheseos Heidelbergensis, by 
 Dr Roell, was brought out at Utrecht by his son, Dionysius Andrew Roell. It 
 is a handsome quarto volume, extending to 1048 pages, and is a sound and 
 spirited commentary. The son modestly suggests that such a thoroughly satis- 
 factory work proves that there was nothing to be said against the able author as 
 to his personal faith and character, although, on some points, he was in contro- 
 versy with such great and good men as Vitringa and Marckius, and although, in 
 or about the year 1723, a Dutch Synod voted him to be in error. Between 
 1G89 to 1723 he seems to have been busily occupied in studying and stating, 
 and defending his statements. With Vitringa he discussed Be Geboorte des Zoons 
 
 sin cannot do any penal hurt to a believer, yet it may damp his spiritual joy, break his peace, 
 interrupt communion between God and him, dishonour Christ, grieve the Spirit, and cause Him 
 to depart for a season." — Gill's Note. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 345 
 
 and De tijdelijke Doocl der Geloovige, viz., the generation of the Son of God and 
 the temporal death of believers, in Latin, 1689 and 1690, and in the Dutch 
 language in 1691. In 1700 we find him discussing natural theology and innate 
 ideas. In 1723 Marckius, Fabricius, Wesselius, and Van der Honert pronounced 
 their concurrence in a synodical condemnation of some of Dr Roell's opinions. 
 He also published Vol. I. of a Commentary on the Ephesians ; Vol. II. (which 
 included a brief exposition of Colossians) was published posthumously in 1731. — 
 (See the Catalogue of the Library of the New College, Edinburgh). 
 
 REV. WILLIAM ROMAINE, M.A. 
 
 William Romaine, son of a corn merchant, was born at Hartlepool, in the county 
 of Durham, 25th September 1714. He was educated at the Grammar School 
 of Houghton-le-Spring and at the University of Oxford, of which he was a dis- 
 tinguished graduate. I refer my readers for the particulars of the life of this 
 grand old London clergyman to two Memoirs — one by the Hon. and Rev. 
 William Bromley Cadogan, and the other by Rev. Thomas Haweis, LL.B. and 
 M.D., both of whom were respected clergymen of the Establishment. Reference 
 may also be made to " Our Christian Classics," by James Hamilton, D.D., and to 
 Funeral Sermons by Rev. William Goode, Rev. Thomas Wills, and Rev. Charles 
 Edward de Coetlogon. He died on the Lord's Day, 26th July 1795. His 
 works in a collected form have been reprinted frequently. He is chiefly known 
 by three treatises on the Life, the Walk, and the Triumph of Faith, lately 
 republished as one Treatise on Faith. 
 
 In 1876 the Rev. George Townshend Fox, prebendary of Durham, sympa- 
 thizing with his principles and admiring his talents, which were an honour to his 
 native county, erected a tablet to the memory of Romaine in the parish church 
 of Hartlepool. This tablet contains four beautiful and characteristic extracts 
 from his Treatises on Faith ; and I am sure my readers will thank me for the 
 following copy of the complete inscription : — 
 
 2 x 
 
346 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 WILLIAM ROMAINE, 
 
 Eector of St Ann's, Blackfriaes, London. 
 
 Born in Hartlepool, 1714. Died in London, 1795. 
 
 Sprung from the truly noble blood of a Protestant confessor who took 
 
 refuge in this town at the revocation of the edict of n antes, 1685, he early 
 
 embraced, by the grace of god, those principles of scriptural truth for which his 
 
 father sacrificed his property and forsook his native land. 
 
 A Christian of eminent piety, a ripe scholar, and a preacher of peculiar 
 
 gifts, mighty in the scripture, he was honoured of god to become a leading 
 
 instrument in accomplishing that great revival of evangelical religion 
 
 in the Church of England, which took place last century. 
 
 In addition to his unwearied labours as a minister of the Gospel of Christ, and his 
 
 faithful proclamation of the distinctive doctrines of grace, he greatly 
 
 promoted the cause of truth, was the instrument of quickening 
 
 and deepening vital pd3ty in the hearts of thousands, and 
 
 has bequeathed a rich legacy to posterity by his admirable 
 
 Treatise on The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith. 
 
 After a lapse of 80 years, this Tablet is erected by one who reveres his memory, 
 
 loves the scriptural doctrine which he embraced, and regards his name 
 
 as an honour to his native town and county. 
 
 I. 
 
 " I was even as others once, by nature a child of wrath, and an heir of misery. I was 
 going on in the broad way of destruction, careless and secure, and I am quite astonished to 
 see the danger I was in. I tremble to behold the precipice over which I was ready to fall 
 when Jesus opened mine eyes, and, by the light of His Word and Spirit, showed me my 
 guilt and danger, and put it into my heart to flee from the wrath to come ; 
 
 0, what a merciful escape ! " 
 
 II. 
 
 " The believer is reconciled to God, being no longer under the law as a covenant of works 
 but under grace ; he loves the law and walks with God in sweet obedience to it ; he sets out 
 and goes on every step in faith, trusting to the acceptance of his person and his services in 
 the Beloved ; he does not work now in order to be saved, but because he is saved, and he 
 ascribes all he does to the praise of the glory of free grace ; he works from gratitude — the 
 faith of God's elect always does — 
 
 It never fails to show itself by love." 
 
 III. 
 
 " Christ as the believer's surety has taken his sins upon Himself, and the believer takes 
 Cbrist's righteousness, for Christ makes over all that He has to the believer, who by faith 
 looks upon it, and makes use of it as his own, according to that express warrant, All things 
 are yours, and ye are Christ's" 
 
 IV. 
 " Christ with bread and water is worth ten thousand worlds. Christ with pain is better 
 than the highest pleasures of sin. Christ with all outward sufferings is matter of present 
 and eternal joy. 
 
 Surely these are the only happy people ! 
 Reader, art thou one of them 1 " 
 
 — Life, Wall; and Triumph of Faith. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 347 
 
 The Family of Romaine. 
 
 This being a Huguenot refugee family, I refer my readers to my " Pro- 
 testant Exiles from France," vol. ii., p. 279 ; vol. iii., p. 224. To those Memoirs 
 I now add the following particulars : — 
 
 The Rev. G. T. Fox, preaching at Hartlepool in St Hilda's parish church, 
 on 27th February 1876, said : " William Romaine was born in this town in the 
 year 1714 ; the house is still standing within a few yards of the west end of 
 this church in the High Street, south-west corner of St Mary's Street, and is at 
 present used as a butcher's shop." 
 
 Mr Romaine's sister, Mrs Callander, was represented by the late William 
 Romaine Callander, M.P. 
 
 Mr Romaine's son was the Rev. Dr Romaine, who lived for many years at 
 Castle Hill, Reading, He left two daughters, one of whom was the wife of Rev. 
 R. Govett (he was vicar of Staines for forty-nine years). She is represented by 
 three daughters and eight sons. Of the sons, five are in the Christian ministry — 
 Rev. R. Govett, minister of the Baptist Church, Norwich ; Rev. T. Romaine 
 Govett, vicar of Newmarket ; Venerable H. Govett, an archdeacon of the Church 
 of England in New Zealand ; and two others. The second of the eight sons has 
 assumed the additional surname of Romaine, and resides in the neighbourhood 
 of Windsor — namely, W. Govett Romaine, Esq., late Judge- Advocate of the 
 troops in India. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP SANDYS. 1 
 
 Edwin, third son of William Sandes, or Sandys, Esq. of Easthwaite Hall, Lanca- 
 shire, was born in 1519. Born in the profession of Romanism, he was converted 
 to Gospel light and life. It is supposed that his tutor, Mr Bland (afterwards a 
 Protestant martyr) was instrumental in his conversion. St John's College, in 
 Cambridge, was " a house deeply tinctured with the principles of the Reforma- 
 tion," and to it Edwin Sandys was sent in 1533. In 1547 he was Master of 
 Catharine Hall. In 1553 he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cam- 
 bridge ; King Edward VI., who died that year, had made him Prebendary of 
 Peterborough (in 1549) and of Carlisle (in 1552). 
 
 When Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed at Cambridge, Dr Sandys preached 
 
 the sermon before the Royal Commissioners. He was apprehended on Queen 
 
 Mary's star obtaining the ascendant, and was imprisoned in the Tower and the Mar- 
 
 shalsea. But Her Romish Majesty treated him with leniency, and he was a 
 
 1 See "The Sermons of Edwin Sandys, D.D." — Parker Society. 
 
348 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 refugee in Strasburg during her reign. He was very staunch. His keeper in 
 the Marshalsea taunted hirn thus : " You being a young man will stand in 
 your own conceit, and prefer your own knowledge before the judgment of so 
 many worthy prelates, ancient, learned, and grave men." Dr Sandys answered: 
 " I know my years young and my learning small ; it is enough to know Christ 
 crucified." 
 
 On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Dr Sandys was consecrated as Bishop 
 of Worcester 21st December 1559 ; he translated the books of Kings and 
 Chronicles for the Bishops' Bible. In 1570 he became Bishop of London. The 
 English translation of Luther on the Galatians was siibmitted for his approval, and 
 he issued the following Address to the Reader : — 
 
 " This book being brought unto me to peruse and consider of, I thought it 
 my part, not only to allow of it to the print, but also to commend it to the 
 reader as a treatise most comfortable to all afflicted consciences exercised in the 
 school of Christ. The author felt what he spake and had experience of what he 
 wrote, and therefore able more lively to express both the assaults and the salving, 
 the order of the battle and the mean of the victory. Satan is the enemy, the 
 victory is only by faith in Christ, as John recordeth. If Christ justify, who can 
 condemn ? — saith St Paul. This most necessary doctrine the author hath most 
 substantially cleared in this his commentary, which, being written in the Latin 
 tongue, certain learned godly men have most sincerely translated into our lan- 
 guage, to the great benefit of all such as with humbled hearts will diligently 
 read the same. Some began it according to such skill as they had. Others 
 godly affected, not suffering so good a matter in handling to be marred, put to 
 their helping hands for the better framing and furthering of so worthy a work. 
 They refuse to be named, seeking neither their own gain nor glory, but thinking 
 it their happiness if by any means tbey may relieve afflicted minds and do good 
 to the church of Christ, yielding all glory unto God, to whom all glory is due. 
 
 Aprilis 28, 1575. Edwin us London." 
 
 On the following 17 th May he was bereaved of his friend, Dr Matthew 
 Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, and was chief mourner at his funeral. Arch- 
 bishop Grindall of York having succeeded Parker, Bishop Sandys became Arch- 
 bishop of York, 8th March 1576. The lands and moneys belonging to the sees 
 both of London and of York made his life in the archiepiscopal see a troubled one, 
 the only perfectly happy incident being his founding a grammar-school at Hawks- 
 head, in the neighbourhood of his native place. Archbishop Sandys died 10th 
 July 1588. 
 
 His Sermons were published under his own eye in 1585. I cull from them 
 two specimens of English Divinity : — 
 
 " All flesh hath sinned and doth need forgiveness. God is the only for- 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 349 
 
 giver of our sins. Neither doth He forgive them in respect of man's merits, but 
 of His mercy, goodwill, and free mercy. The only means that moved God to be 
 merciful freely to sinful man, was that most acceptable sweet bloody sacrifice which 
 the innocent Son of God offered upon the cross for our sins. All have sinned and 
 are deprived of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. iii. 23, 24). He took our unright- 
 eousness upon Himself, and clothed us with His justice ; and He who knew no 
 sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in 
 Him (2 Cor. v. 21). In Christ and for Christ we receive free remission of 
 sins. There is no other name given us under heaven whereby we may be 
 saved (Acts iv. 1 2). I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh 
 to the Father but by Me, saith Christ (John xiv. 6) — no sin forgiven but through 
 Him ; and through Him all sins are forgiven freely. 
 
 " The mean, whereby we are made partakers of this free remission of sins 
 in the death and resurrection of Christ, is faith in Christ ; for All (saith Peter) 
 that believe in Him shall receive remission of sins through His name (Acts 
 x. 43). God doth freely offer us remission of sin, and peace, in Christ ; the 
 mean and instrument to receive it withal is faith. He that believeth is made 
 partaker of it, and not of it only, but of eternal life also ; for he that believeth 
 on Me hath life eternal, saith our Saviour Christ (John vi. 47). But this 
 faith, this justifying faith, doth work through love and showeth itself by works. 
 The good tree will be fruitful. The believing, justified child of God will fear God 
 and work righteousness." — Page 290. 
 
 " The Gospel preacheth Christ. Christ is our peace and peace-maker. He 
 that hath Christ hath peace with God, and he that believeth in Him hath Him. 
 By this means we have peace of conscience, peace with God." — Page GO. 
 
 REV. SYDRACH SIMPSON, B.D. 
 
 Sydrach Simpson was a graduate of Cambridge University. The date of his 
 birth may be conjectured to be about 1600. In 1635, having been episcopally 
 ordained, he was Curate and Lecturer of St Margaret's Church in Fish Street, 
 London. The intolerance of Laud drove him at that date to Amsterdam. He 
 appears in Westminster in 1643 as a member of the Assembly of Divines, and 
 pastor of a congregation formed by himself in " Abchurch, Canon Street, London." 
 He also appears in print on the title-pages of Sermons preached before the 
 Parliament. In Holland he had become a congregationalist ; and in the West- 
 
350 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 minster Assembly he was one of the leading Independents, prominent along with 
 his fellow-exiles, Goodwin, Burroughs, Nye, and Bridge. He had no difficulties 
 as to ecclesiastical toleration. The tendency to discourage lay -'preaching (as it 
 is now called) he lamented. His sentiments, as recorded by his friend, Philip 
 Nye, are worthy of being quoted : — " We do not despise Ordination, nor those 
 that in the name and authority of Jesus Christ inaugurate persons to the sacred 
 office. It is doubtless an ordinance. But that none may preach but such — this 
 we deny, and distinguish (with Junius) between preaching as done ex officio or as 
 done ex communi jure. That place, Bom. x. (14, 15), evidently implieth that 
 there must be a church or corporation before officers — believers before a church 
 (which is ccetus Jidelium) — the glad tidings of good things must be preached 
 before believing, and preachers sent before any good tidings brought. Now this 
 sending cannot be a putting into church-relation or office (because as yet there is 
 no church), but more common and general, as when one man ex charitate instructs 
 and teaches others, parents their children, governors their families, Christian 
 kings and princes the people under their charges. ... for the begetting of faith 
 and gathering of believers into a church. Our [Presbyterian] brethren (Jus Div. 
 Min., part i., cap. 5) say 'The principal object of preaching is the church. 
 Prophecy is not (i.e., not so much) for them that believe not, but for them that 
 believe (1 Cor. xiv. 22). Hence it is that God hath set His officers in the church 
 (1 Cor. xii. 28) and for the church (Eph. iv. 12).' If there be no preaching 
 without being ordained and in office, then there is no provision made by the Lord 
 for the converting of souls and working faith — that is, none principally, or so 
 much as for edification and the building up of such as are converted. Now it is 
 very hard to imagine, that the converting of souls — a principal end for which 
 Christ came into the world and suffered — should have no provision made for it of 
 primary and principal intention." Mr Simpson became Master of Pembroke 
 Hall, in Cambridge, in 1650. On the day of his death he was visited with 
 melancholy and apprehension ; but brethren and friends in his house so assisted 
 him with their prayers that he took leave of them cheerfully, saying, " I am 
 satisfied ; the gloom which hung over my soul is wholly removed." He died the 
 same evening — this was in the year 1658. In the same year two volumes of 
 his Sermons were printed, each consisting of " Two Books." I have compiled 
 this Memoir in order to call the attention of inquirers and students to these 
 volumes, which discuss the theology of consolation more fully than any others. 
 
 The title-page of the first volume is : — 
 
 " Two Books of Mr Sydrach Simpson, late Master of Pembroke Hall in 
 Cambridge, and Preacher of the Gospel in London, viz. : — 
 
 I. Of Unbelief; or the want of readiness to lay hold on the comfort given 
 by Christ. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 351 
 
 II. Not going to Christ for life and salvation is an exceeding great sin, yet 
 it is pardonable. 
 
 In the First Book is showed (besides 
 many other things) — 
 
 1. What Unbelief it is that is here 
 spoken of. 
 
 2. The best way to deal with Un- 
 belief. 
 
 3. That Unbelief is a sin against al 
 the attributes of God. 
 
 4. That Christ will not bear with 
 this Sin of Unbelief. 
 
 5. That we should be quick and 
 ready to Beleeve. 
 
 6. Motives to indeavor for readiness 
 to Beleeve. 
 
 7. Helps to attain readiness in Be- 
 leeving. 
 
 In the Second Book is showed — 
 
 1 . That Unbelief is a great Sin, and 
 exceeding provoking unto God. 
 
 2. Several arguments provoking us 
 to beleeve the greatness of the Sin of 
 Unbelief. 
 
 3. Many objections answered. 
 
 4. Several sorts of this Sin of Un- 
 belief. 
 
 5. Means to convince us that Un- 
 belief is so great a Sin. 
 
 6. Though the Sin of Unbelief be 
 very great, yet it's pardonable. 
 
 7. God hath pardoned Unbelief, and 
 
 will pardon it. 
 
 London. Printed by Peter Cole, Printer and Book-Seller, at the sign of 
 the Printing-press in Corn-hill, neer the Royall Exchange. 1G58." 
 
 The title-page of the other volume is : — 
 "Two Books, &c, viz. : — 
 
 I. Of Faith, or, That Beleeving is receiving Christ ; And receiving Christ 
 is Believing. 
 
 II. Of Covetousness. 
 
 In the First Book is showed (besides many others things) — 
 
 1. That Persons that are beleevers 
 are Receivers. 
 
 2. That to Receive is the Principal 
 use of Faith. 
 
 3. That nothing should hinder our 
 Receiving — (1.) Not our Sins. (2.) 
 Nor Gods delaies. (3.) Nor the smal- 
 ness of our receipts. (4.) Nor the 
 greatness of our wants. 
 
 4. How Faith receives. 
 
 5. That Faith Receives Christ — (1.) 
 In the understanding. (2.) In the 
 will. 
 
 6. The temper of a man that hath 
 faith. 
 
 7. The necessity of Faith. 
 
 8. Though Faith be smal yet it 
 makes us the Sons of God. 
 
 9. The Nature of True Faith. 
 
 10. There are but few that Receive 
 Christ. 
 
 11. Three sorts that come not to 
 Christ — (1.) Such as Receive Him not 
 as He is. (2.) Such as delay their 
 coming to Him. (3.) Such as give not 
 that place to Christ in their hearts that 
 is fitting for Him. 
 
352 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 In the Treatise of Covetousness is showed — 
 
 1. It is the duty of all as they would ness — (1.) Its hardly avoided. (2). 
 obtaine eternal Life to beware of Covet- Its difficultly cured. 
 
 ousness. 4. You shall have all things needful 
 
 2. The Reasons of the Doctrine — for this life if you wil look after grace. 
 (1.) Its a spiritual Sin. (2.) It over 5. Your Life lies in Grace, not in 
 spreads the whole man. (3.) Its op- Riches. 
 
 posite to the Nature of Godliness and 6. There is more to be feared than 
 
 Religion. (4.) Its the Womb and Seed to be desired in Riches. 
 
 of all Sin. (5.) Its a base Sin. 7. We should Mortifie our desires 
 
 3. The Dangerousness of covetous- after Riches. 
 
 *o v 
 
 London, &c." 
 
 [The Four Books have each a text — (1.) Mark xvi. 14. (2.) 1 Tim. i. 13. 
 (3.) John i. 12. (4.) Luke xii. 15]. 
 
 Here is a specimen of Sydrach Simpson's style : — " Did Christ chide His 
 disciples for their unbelief — for want of clearness and quickness in their faith — 
 for want of snatching at and laying greedily hold on the comforts that He brought 
 them through His resurrection ? Chide thou then thy own self, whenever thou 
 findest any of these in thee. When thou canst not believe, ask thy soul the 
 reason of it — why art thou so disquieted ? why art thou so unbelieving ? If 
 thou canst not find out the cause, yet chide and fall out with thyself, fall upon 
 thy own heart. Christ did so now (Mark xvi. 14), being newly come to His 
 power — to have all power in His hands, both in heaven and earth — He chides. 
 And in this, do you exercise that kingly power which Jesus Christ hath given 
 you. As you are priests to God, and so must offer to Him what He hath 
 appointed, so you are kings to God (Rev. i. 6), and one piece of your dominion 
 lies in this, that you chide and reprove yourselves, and not allow — but condemn 
 and censure and disallow — every evil that is found in you. If you be not very 
 much offended with yourselves because of unbelief, you are very much to blame, 
 because your unbelief is a very great sin. Christians they are wont to foster and 
 nourish unbelief — to lay it (as Michal did David) in the bed upon down pillows. 
 Will you speak peace where God hath spoken war ? Will you defend that which 
 Jesus Christ reproves ? . . . foolish — sluggish — proud heart, that art 
 always twisting and knitting of objections against thyself and the grace of Jesus 
 Christ !" — Book i., chapter 4. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 353 
 
 PASTOR THEODORUS STRACKIUS. 
 
 Of this author I know nothing but what can be gathered from his book which I 
 am about to describe, the Dedicatory Epistle of which, to the Magnates of 
 Guelderland, was written in July 1629. He seems to have been a native of 
 Essen in Westphalia, and to have been a pupil of Brantius and Willichius at 
 Wesel in Cleves. He was in Guelderland an exile on account of his religion, 
 and the pastor of a congregation apud Borcharenses et Hernenses. He had two 
 brothers, John, pastor at Wesel, and Henry, legal notary at Wesel. 
 
 His book arose out of a singular manual, concocted and laid at the feet of 
 the Apostle Peter by a monk, John Andrew Coppenstein, a parish priest in 
 Heidelberg in 1623. The title of this manual was "The Calvino-Heidelbergensian 
 Catechism Uncalvinized. [Coppensteinii Ex-Calvinizata Catechesis Calvino- 
 Heidelbergensis.] It was written in Latin and duly licensed. 
 
 It is remarkable that the Romanizing process began by removing present 
 personal consolation from the first question and answer : — 
 
 Coppenstein. 
 
 I. Quae est unica tua consolatio in I. Quae est unica consolatio in vita 
 
 vita et in morte ? et in morte ? 
 
 Quod animo pariter et corpore, sive Quod animo pariter et corpore, sive 
 
 vivam, sive moriar, non meus, sed fidis- vivam, sive moriar, non meus sed fidis- 
 
 simi Domini et Servatoris mei Jesu simi Domini et Servatoris mei esse 
 
 Christi proprius sum, qui pretioso san- debeam ac possim proprius, qui pre- 
 
 guine suo pro omnibus peccatis meis tioso suo sanguine pro omnibus pec- 
 
 plenissime satisfaciens, me ab omni catis nostris plenissime satisfaciens nos 
 
 potestate Diaboli liberavit, meque ita ab omni potestate Diaboli liberavit, 
 
 conservat ut sine voluntate Patris mei nosque ita conservat ut sine voluntate 
 
 ccelestis ne pilus quidem de meo capite Patris mei coelestis ne pilus quidem de 
 
 possit cadere, immo vero etiam omnia meo capite possit cadere, imo vero 
 
 saluti mea3 servire oporteat. Quo- etiam omnia saluti nostras servire opor- 
 
 circa me quoque Spiritu sancto de teat. Quocirca spem quoque nostram 
 
 vita seterna certum facit ; utque ipsi de vita asterna certain facit, utque ipsi 
 
 deinceps vivam promptum ac paratum deinceps vivamus, promptos ac paratos 
 
 reddit. reddit. 
 
 After this crafty beginning, followed by a virtual adoption of the answers to QQ. 
 2, 3, and 4, Coppenstein became more bold, and denied that by nature we are 
 at enmity with God and with one another. As to the two great commandments, 
 the monk contradicted the Protestant flatly : — - 
 
 2 Y 
 
354 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 V. Num hsec omnia perfecte servare V. Num hsec omnia perfecte servare 
 
 potes ? potes ? 
 
 Minima Natura enim propensus Maxime, cum Deo. Natura enim, 
 
 sum ad odium Dei et proximi. licet vitiata, favente gratia, propensus 
 
 sum ad amorem Dei et proximi. 
 
 Of course also there was a similar contradiction as to Justification by faith 
 (Q. 60), and as to the Sacrifice of the Mass (Q. 80) — iu the latter exsecranda 
 idololatria being changed into sacrosancta doctrina. 
 
 The undertaking of Strackius was, in a commentary upon Coppenstein, to 
 reassert the evangelical doctrine of the Heidelberg Catechism. For scholars 
 who wish to study the book I here copy the title-page : — " Vindiciae Catecheticse 
 tripartitee, pro Catechismi Palatino-Belgici perpetua et constanti orthodoxia, tarn 
 quoad Qusestionum et Responsionum contextum earundemque sententiam, quam 
 quoad S. Scripturse, a Catechiste passim ad Orthodoxse vereque Catholicse fidei 
 confirmationem adductas, authoritates — adversus turn ilhus turn harum deprava- 
 tionem Johannis Andrese Coppensteinii, Mandalensis, Ordinis Prsedicatorum 
 Monachi, ac Heidelbergensis p. t. Parochi. 
 
 " Institutaa opera et studio Theodori Strackii, Essendeniensis, ecclesias, quse 
 Cbristo apud Borcharenses et Hernenses in Geldria colligitur, Pastoris. Arnhemi 
 Geldrorum, Typis Joannis Jansonii. Anno mdcxxx." 
 
 Strackius, of course, denies that the Heidelberg Catechism was written by 
 Calvin, it being an entirely original work by Ursinus and Olevianus, translated 
 into Latin by Lagus and Pitkopasus. As to the accusation that its admirers 
 placed it above the Bible, he describes it as a subordinate standard, the Bible 
 being supreme — supreme not in their judgment only, but in their affections. 
 
 Advocating what some self-sufficient moderns sneer at as Bibliolatry, he 
 quotes with zest a sacred song by Ludovicus Crocius : — 
 
 " Biblia, noster amor, dulcissima Biblia, diva 
 Biblia, delicise lautitiseque mes," &c. 
 
 REV. ROBERT TRAIL, SENIOR. 
 
 The pedigree of this excellent minister will appear from a Note in a subsequent 
 page. He was born at Beley, in the parish of Denino, in 1603, but, his family 
 removing to St Andrews, both his school and college education were received in 
 that university seat. The beginning of the commotions as to religion which sur- 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 355 
 
 rounded him through life was the opposition of many of the students to the 
 introduction of the Prelatic Service-Book in 1622. In 1625, before his divinity 
 studies were quite completed, he visited France on the invitation of his brother 
 James, who was travelling tutor to a young English gentleman. Robert Trail 
 continued his studies at the Protestant College of Saumur, where he acquired 
 the French language. He spent a few years as a teacher in an academy and in 
 private families (one of his pupils being a sister of the great Due de Rohan), 
 and returned to Scotland in 1630. Having obtained license as a preacher he 
 served in several subordinate posts till 1639, when he became minister of Elie, 
 a newly erected parish, where he remained till 1649. He was a laborious 
 pastor and zealous covenanter, his occupations being varied by frequent appoint- 
 ments to attend the Scotch army as a chaplain. During his incumbency there 
 was a collection made for "the commune cause" (1640), which amounted to 
 600 merks ; there was also raised 100 pounds Scots for the distressed poor of 
 Argyle (1647), and 60 pounds Scots for relief of some persons of quality from 
 Ireland. 
 
 In J 6 49 he quitted Fife, having been appointed minister of the Greyfriars 
 Church in Edinburgh. In the following year he came prominently before the 
 public as one of the ministers who visited the Marquis of Montrose in prison, 
 and attended him on the scaffold. Like the covenanters of that period he was 
 a royalist, and welcomed Charles II. to Scotland. He was present at his swear- 
 ing the covenant and at the coronation, preaching before His Majesty on one 
 occasion. He made no submission to Cromwell, who, however, treated him 
 kindly. All his loyalty could not protect him at the time of the Restoration, 
 because he incidentally reminded His Majesty that he had sworn the covenant. 
 Having in August 1660 assembled with other ministers to draw up an Address 
 to the King on ecclesiastical affairs, he was in September imprisoned in Edin- 
 burgh Castle. Although set at liberty by order of the parliament, he was soon 
 apprehended again by order of the Privy Council for expounding the Scriptures 
 in his own house, and he was on 9th November 1662 banished to Holland, 
 and remained there as an exile, separated from wife and children, till 1674. In 
 the last-mentioned year he returned to Scotland in bad health. His death, 
 which was the result of palsy, took place at Edinburgh on the 10th of July 
 1676. His portrait, painted in Holland, was engraved in Smith's " Iconographia 
 Scotica," published 1st January 1798, by Robert Wilkinson, 58 Cornhill, London. 
 The senior Robert Trail published nothing ; but two beautiful letters to his 
 children, written from Holland, have been printed. 
 
356 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 KEV. ROBERT TRAIL, OF LONDON. 
 
 Robert was born at Elie in May 1642, the second son of the Covenanter. He 
 and his elder brother William were successful students both in the literary and 
 divinity classes of the University of Edinburgh, having the invaluable super- 
 intendence of their father at home. At the Restoration he showed his piety and 
 intrepidity by standing by the martyr, James Guthrie, on the scaffold. In the 
 troublous times which followed, Mrs Trail (ne'e Jane Annan of Auchterallan) did 
 not shrink from running risks for the Gospel's sake, and her family shared in her 
 zeal. Meetings for the worship of God were held in her house as frequently as 
 possible. These did not bring down the vengeance of the Privy Council till 
 1666, when a search-warrant was issued in order to detect the conventicles, and 
 especially to find a copy of Brown of Wamphray's " Apologetical Relation," a book 
 the possession of which was illegal. The mother and children, three sons and 
 three daughters, fled and hid themselves. All that can be said about Robert is, 
 that at that time he was much in the society of John Welch, chiefly on the 
 English side of the Border. Through the overthrow of Presbytery he was of no 
 higher position than a student of theology, awaiting the exit examination required 
 by the Church. A proclamation, dated Whitehall, 1st October 1667, declared 
 him to be a Pentland rebel, and excepted him from the act of indemnity. He 
 therefore retreated to Holland, where his exile was alleviated by the society of 
 his father and other worthies from Scotland. Though the royal proclamation 
 had described him as " sometime chaplain to [the laird of] Scotstarvet," he 
 was still a divinity student, and his studies under eminent Dutch professors 
 were carried on to his high advantage. He made himself useful in super- 
 intending the publication at Utrecht of Rutherford's " Examen Arminianismi," 
 which had been brought to light by the widow of the author, the sainted Samuel 
 Rutherford. 
 
 Robert Trail next comes to view in London on Thursday 22nd April 1669, 
 in the pulpit of a Presbyterian congregation on a sacramental fast-day ; he had 
 been licensed as a preacher of the gospel a week or two before that day. He 
 preached several times in London pulpits at this period, and in 1670 he was 
 ordained to the charge of the Presbyterian station at Cranbrook in Kent. 
 
 He was in Edinburgh in the end of May 1677, probably on a visit to his 
 widowed mother and the younger members of the family. Here he transgressed 
 the law by preaching the gospel in private houses. For apprehending him, who 
 was an outlawed Pentland rebel, as well as a holder of conventicles, Major 
 Johnston received a reward of 1000 pounds (Scots) from the Privy Council. 
 At his trial Mr Trail pled guilty of preaching in private houses, but refused to 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 357 
 
 plead on the charge of holding field conventicles, that being a capital charge. 
 For declining to purge himself by oath of such a charge, and for such reasons as 
 that the old letters of intercommuning were still in force against him, and that 
 he had been an associate of John Welch, the Privy Council directed the Marquis 
 of Athol with a party of horse " to transport the person of Mr Robert Trail from 
 the Tolbooth of Edinburgh unto the isle of the Bass, to remain prisoner there." 
 This order was dated Edinburgh, 19th July 1677. 
 
 Thus the younger Robert Trail became one of the martyrs of the Bass, 
 and was immured for more than two months within a cell upon that historic rock 
 in the Firth of Forth. 
 
 On 5th October of the same year a warrant for his liberation was sent to 
 the governor of the Bass, and Mr Trail was set at liberty, undertaking " to live 
 orderly in obedience to law." The circumstance that the regular scene of his 
 orderly life was England, and not Scotland, enabled him to undertake what a 
 Scottish pastor would have declined. He returned to his charge at Cranbrook, 
 and was afterwards translated to a Scotch church in London, where he spent a 
 long and honoured life. He lived unmarried, and died in May 1716, aged 
 seventy-four. This was the same age which his elder brother had attained, who 
 died minister of Borthwick, in 1714. His other brother was Lieutenant James 
 Trail, of the garrison in Stirling Castle. His sisters were Helen, wife of Rev. 
 Thomas Paterson, minister of Borthwick ; Agnes, wife of Sir James Stewart of 
 Goodtrees, Lord Advocate of Scotland ; and Margaret, wife of James Scott of 
 Bristo, writer in Edinburgh. 
 
 In early life Mr Trail addressed the public as one of the editors of the Rev. 
 Andrew Gray's Sermons ; but he made his first appearance as an author at the 
 age of forty, that is, in the year 1682. It was a sermon which (he used to say) 
 had been extorted from him for publication ; but it is a gem of the first water, 
 being a succinct reply to the question — " By what means may ministers best 
 win souls?" Fourteen years afterwards, namely in 1696, he voluntarily pub- 
 lished a volume of sermons, entitled, " Sermons concerning the throne of grace." 
 These were followed in 1705 by "Sermons concerning the Lord's Prayer" — the 
 subject of which was our Lord's Intercessory Prayer contained in John xvii. 
 After his death twenty-one sermons were published, entitled, "The Stedfast 
 adherence to the Profession of our Faith." His letter on the controversy among 
 London ministers was published in his life-time ; but his sermons specially bear- 
 ing on that controversy did not see the light till 1778 (see Ridgley) ; they were 
 on the text, Gal. ii. 21. All the above are included in four volumes, frequently 
 reprinted, a new edition of which was published by the Ogles in 1810, with a 
 motto from Tertullian, " Cui Veritas comperta sine Deo ? — cui Deus cognitus 
 sine Christo ?• — cui Christus exploratus sine Spiritu Sancto ? " 
 
 As an admired minister in London, Mr Trail's services were in such con- 
 
358 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 stant request, that he habitually preached ex tempore; and his printed works, 
 with scarcely an exception, were compiled from the notes of his hearers. Mr 
 Anthony Trail, of Edinburgh, Writer to the Signet, lent to the Free Church of 
 Scotland the manuscript of Robert Trail's earliest sermons ; and thus in one of 
 the volumes of the Free Church Publications several sermons by him are printed, 
 just as they came from his pen. A few sentences, from the fast-day sermon 
 already mentioned, may therefore be quoted here : — 
 
 Hebrews xii. 28, 29. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot 
 be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence 
 and godly fear : for our God is a consuming fire. 
 
 The saints have [become familiar with] some attributes of God to move fear 
 and dread, which others [of mankind] have not. His goodness, love, pardoning 
 and healing mercy, the manifestations of that love and mercy (Hos. iii. 5 ; Ps. 
 cxxx. 4) — unto a considerate soul how ready are these to stir up holy fear and 
 dread ! 
 
 Even God in covenant with His own is a dreadful God (Deut. xxviii. 58). 
 Only such do know Him, and none can know Him but they must fear Him. 
 
 The Lord, though in covenant with His people, is still the same God, and 
 in Him are all those things which move holy fear. It is true that His justice, 
 having received satisfaction from their Surety ; and, upon the account of their 
 covenant relation unto Him ; they may with comfort and delight travel through 
 all the attributes of God, even such as are most terrifying. Yet notwithstanding 
 all this, all those things are still in our covenanted God which are the grounds 
 of fear and reverence. 
 
 And as He is still the same, so we are but very little changed ; and there is 
 little of that removed that lays us open to destruction from this consuming fire. 
 It is true that there is a change in the state of believers in their justification and 
 adoption — which is a begun change in their natures in sanctification — yet still 
 they are creatures ; still there is much unholiness in their hearts and lives, and 
 all sin in itself is equally hateful to God, and contrary to His holy law ; still they 
 are under His holy law and bound to obedience, though not as a covenant of life, 
 yet as the rule of their life ; still they are in hazard of His anger (though not as 
 an unappeased enemy, yet as an offended father) and of the fruits of it upon their 
 breaking of His laws. 
 
 From the doctrine of His majesty rightly understood there is no such fear 
 of God called for, as is in any way legal [legalistic, or Pharisaical] or opposite 
 unto faith and love. It is deep heart-reverence and holy awe that is called for, 
 which, as we find in some measure in the kindly affections of children to their 
 parents, is very well consistent with love, and trusting them with the care of all 
 their movements ; so also is it very well consistent in the Lord's people with faith 
 in and love unto Him. And therefore when we read of the fear and fearers of 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 350 
 
 God in Scripture, we are not to take it as holding forth that passion of fear which 
 is an apprehension of some ill coming, but rather this reverence and holy awe 
 which maj 7 be where there is no fear of wrath as coming. And so here the 
 serving Him acceptably ivith reverence and godly fear, on account of His being 
 a consuming fire — though the exhortation, as it concerns the visible church, 
 ought not to be taken as exclusive of the fear of consuming by Him (since many 
 in the church are enemies to God, and so are commanded to fear that, as a mean 
 to make them submit unto Him) — yet as it is an argument pressing the 
 regenerate to reverent service of God (which is the scope of the Holy Ghost here), 
 it imports no ground of such an unbelieving fear in them who have fled for 
 refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. 
 
 The want of a due impression of the majesty of God is so evident, and 
 bringeth forth such sad fruits, that it is exceediugly of your concernment to en- 
 deavour to have this, — as you tender the welfare of your souls — as you would 
 grow up in His way and bring forth fruit to His praise. 
 
 You must be endued with power from on high. There must be an impress 
 of His own hand upon your heart, to bring out this grace to exercise. Pant 
 therefore for it, and wait on Him ; and He will manifest His glory unto you and 
 stir up this holy fear in you. 
 
 The Family of Tkail. 
 
 This family has been favourably known in Scotland since 1385, when 
 Walter Trail, Bishop of St Andrews, flourished as an ecclesiastic and a statesman. 
 Its original territorial designation was Trail of Blebo, in Fife. 
 
 Two branches of the family acquired property in the Orkneys at an early 
 date, and are still represented. 1 
 
 Another branch, to which the Rev. Robert Trail, senior and junior, belonged, 
 has been so largely represented in the Church, both in Scotland and in Ireland, 
 as to merit a note. 
 
 This branch of the Trails was founded by Colonel Andrew Trail of Beley, 
 in the parish of Denino (Fife), who died 13th February 1608; his wife was 
 Helen, daughter of Thomas Myrton of Cambo, by the Hon. Catherine Lindsay, 
 daughter of John, sixth Lord Lindsay. 
 
 Colonel Andrew Trail had a son, James Trail of Beley {died 1635), who 
 by his first marriage had two sons : — 
 
 1 They spell the surname Traill, for what reason I know not. The booksellers think 
 proper to spell in the same manner the name of the reverend author who has been specially 
 memoi-ialized in this volume. But his own signature, " Ro. Trail," is before me, and that of his 
 brother, « W. Trail." 
 
360 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 1. Lieut. -Colonel James Trail (born 1600, died 1663); lie settled at 
 Tullochin, in the county of Down, Ireland. 
 
 2. Rev. Robert Trail, minister of Greyfriars, Edinburgh (bom 1603, died 
 1676). 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel James Trail had a large family, but the male descent was 
 continued by only one of them, viz., his eighth child, Hans, born 1658. Hans 
 Trail was the father of James, who died in 1743. James was the father of Rev. 
 Hamilton Trail (born 1720, died 1795), whose son, Rev. Archibald Trail (bom 
 1755), was the last male descendant of Lieut.-Colonel James Trail of Tullochin, 
 Ireland. 
 
 Descendants of Rev. Robert Trail, senior. 
 
 (1.) Rev. William Trail (born 1640, died (2.) Rev. Robert Trail, minister 
 1714). He was M.A. of Edinburgh in 1658, of the Scots Church, London — born 
 and was prepared for entering the ministry in 1642, died 1716, unmarried. 
 1661, but was obstructed by the introduction 
 of Episcopacy into Scotland. He was licensed 
 by a Classis of Presbyterian ministers in London 
 in 1671, and in 1673 he went to Ireland, and 
 was ordained as Presbyterian minister of Lifford. 
 Being molested by the Irish Government, he 
 removed to America in 1684, and ministered 
 to a congregation in Maryland. Returning to 
 Scotland in 1690, he became minister of Borth- 
 wick. He had three sons, namely : — 
 
 1. Rev. James Trail, 
 minister of Montrose 
 (born 1681, died 1723). 
 
 2. Rev. William Trail, 
 
 minister of Benholm 
 
 (born 1683, died 1743). 
 
 He had two sons in the 
 
 ministry of the Church of 
 
 Scotland : — 
 
 Rev. William Trail, 
 
 minister, first, of Logie Pert ; 
 
 secondly, of St. Monance 
 
 (born 1712, died 1756); 
 
 and 
 
 Rev. Robert Trail, D.D.,who 
 
 became Professor of Divinity 
 
 in Glasgow University in 
 
 1761 (Moderator of General 
 
 Assembly 1762), having been 
 
 previously minister, 
 
 1st, of Kettins ; 
 
 2dly, of Banff 
 
 (born 1720, died 1775). 
 
 3. Rev. Kobert Trail, 
 
 minister of Panbride 
 
 (born 1687, died 1762). 
 
 He had two clerical sons : — 
 
 Right Rev. James Trail, 
 Bishop of Down and Connor 
 (born 1725, died 1783); 
 and 
 Rev. Robert Trail, 
 minister, 1st, of Rescobie ; 
 2dly, of Panbride 
 (born 1749, died 1798). 
 The latter of these had two 
 sons in the ministry of the 
 Episcopal Church of Ireland, 
 and other two sons in the 
 ministry of the Church of Scot- 
 land, viz. : 
 
 (1) Rev. Robert Trail, Rector 
 of Ballintoy (born 1754); 
 (2) Rev. Anthony Trail, 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 
 
 3G1 
 
 Descendants of Rev. Robert Trail, senior — continued. 
 
 The former of these (minis- 
 ter of St. Monance, Scotland) 
 had a son in the Episcopal 
 Church of Ireland, 
 Rev. William Trail, 
 Rector of Lisburn, and Chan- 
 cellor of the diocese of Connor 
 (bom 1746, died 1831). 
 
 The third son of the minister 
 of St. Monance was James 
 Trail, Esq., M.R in 1802 
 for Orford in Suffolk, Under- 
 Secretary of State for Ireland 
 in 1806, who died at his post 
 in Dublin 18th August 1808. 
 
 Chancellor of Connor (born 
 1755); 
 
 (3) Rev. James Trail, minister 
 of St Cyrus (bom 1757, died 
 
 1816); 
 
 (4) Rev. David Trail, D.D., 
 minister of Panbride (born 
 
 1765, died 1850). 
 Of whom 
 the second (Anthony) was repre- 
 sented by his son, Rev. ROBERT 
 Trail, D.D., Rector of Schull, 
 county of Cork (born 1793, died 
 1847), known as the best trans- 
 lator of Josephus ; 
 and 
 the fourth (David) was the father 
 of Rev. Robert Trail, LL.D., 
 senior minister of the Free 
 Church of Scotland at Boyndie, 
 near Banff, now resident in 
 London. 
 
 REV. ANTHONY TUCKNEY, D.D. 
 
 Anthony, son of Rev. Mr Tuckney, minister of Kirton in Lincolnshire, was born 
 in September 1599. He was educated at Cambridge, and became Fellow 
 of Emmanuel College, Boston, in the vicinity of which his native place was 
 situated, became the scene of his pastoral labours, and he was much beloved as 
 its vicar. In 164-3 he removed to London, where he ministered to the church 
 in Michael-Quern, in Cheapside. In 1645 he became Master of his College in 
 Cambridge, and took up his residence there on his election to the vice-chancellor- 
 ship of the University. 
 
 His grand occupation in London was attendance upon the Westminster 
 Assembly. He was one of the most influential members, especially in the pre- 
 paration of the Catechisms. To him we owe the beautiful exposition of the 
 " Uses of the Law " in the Larger Catechism. [This Catechism, to the extent 
 of 600 copies, was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 25th Oct. 
 1647.1 
 
 In 1653 Dr Tuckney became Master of St John's College, and, in 1655, 
 Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. At the Restoration, the king's 
 
 2 z 
 
362 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 letter, dated Whitehall, June 1, 1661, superseded him in both his offices, and 
 granted him £100 per annum out of the Rectory of Somersham, which was 
 attached to the professorship. He died in London in February 1670. 
 
 His residence in Cambridge had been signalized by a correspondence with 
 his former pupil, Dr Benjamin Whichcote, concerning the use of reason in 
 religion and the reconciliation of sinners to God. Four letters were written on 
 each side, during the months of September and October 1651. It would have 
 been well if Whichcote had met Tuckney's animadversions on his rationalism 
 by cutting down his reply to the dimensions of a single sentence of his own in 
 his first letter (omitting the "if"), " If I have done prejudice to saving grace, by 
 idolizing natural ingenuity, the Lord reprove itt in me, and discover to me tbis 
 sin by any hand whatsoever." Dr Tuckney, in his second letter, has one 
 sentence which will convince every lover of the Gospel that in this encounter 
 he was both a faithful reprover and a triumphant combatant : " Truly, sir, to 
 say that either salvation or reconciliation nascitur e nobis [has its origin from 
 ourselves] is, in my poor judgment, a very dangerous expression — (sure I am) a 
 stranger to Scripture-manner of speaking, which, as all should much heed, so I 
 expect that you will especially, who, before, in contradistinction of the fallible 
 expressions and forms of words of man's making, judged (and that truly) 
 Scripture expressions to be aptest to convey all saving truths to our under- 
 standings." 
 
 Dr Tuckney was one of the many living examples of the sympathy of evangel- 
 ical ministers with learning. It is of him that the anecdote is told, that when the 
 Master of St John's College was urged to favour the godly in the distribution of 
 his academic patronage, his answer was : " I shall always have great regard for 
 the godly, but I will choose none but scholars ; they may deceive me in their 
 godliness, but they cannot in their scholarship." Of his " Forty Sermons " 
 [printed in 1676] twelve are on counting all things loss for Christ (Philipp. iii. 
 5-8). While extolling the knowledge of Christ above all else, he says (page 7): — 
 " Other knowledge and learning indeed there is, which in these schools of the 
 prophets hath long flourished, and long and long yet may and (God grant) more 
 than ever, which we hope Authority will yet countenance and advance, that our 
 wars may not end in barbarism and our sun be turned into darkness whilst our 
 moon is into blood — notwithstanding the mad rage of divers brutish men that 
 decry learning because themselves have none, like the ape in the fable, &c." His 
 great direction is {page 'SB). " We must take heed that we do not overdo in our 
 studies that are lawful — not that I would have you to study them less, but 
 Christ more." 
 
 " Teach that you may learn, but study that you may do both. For — how- 
 ever now-a-days every fool will be babbling — unstudied men are but poor learners 
 and worse teachers." 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 3G3 
 
 " Seek if you would find, and study Christ if you would know Him. View 
 Him as you use to do him whom you would know, and as the stung man did 
 the brazen serpent." 
 
 (See Minutes of the Westminster Assembly, printed from transcripts of the 
 originals, and edited by W. F. Mitchell, D.D., and John Strutters, LL.D. Edin- 
 burgh, W. Blackwood & Sons). 
 
 DEAN TURNER. 1 
 
 William Turner was a native of Morpeth, in Northumberland. Of his career 
 in the University of Cambridge we know that he was a companion of Nicholas 
 Ridley, also a Northumbrian, afterwards the noble bishop and martyr, in Pem- 
 broke College. (Ridley entered the University in 1518, and his first public step 
 in the direction of Protestantism was his signing the decree against the Pope's 
 supremacy in 1534). William Turner studied medicine regularly, but left 
 Cambridge without a degree. The date of his birth was probably 1500, in the 
 days of Henry VII. When he was a young man he was converted to the gospel, 
 or " to the opinions of Luther " (as would then be said). The first ascertained 
 date in his career is 1538, when he translated a tract by Urban Regius, entitled, 
 " A Comparison between the Old Learning and the New." Whether he received 
 priest's orders from the Romish Church is doubtful. But upon his conversion 
 to the gospel of the grace of God, he went (says Anthony a Wood) " through 
 many parts of the nation and preached the word of God, not only in towns and 
 villages, but also in cities." When thus employed he visited Oxford, and finding 
 several Northumbrians there, he took up his residence in that University, culti- 
 vating books and literary society. Here, or somewhere else in England, his 
 gospel-preaching was requited with imprisonment ; "he was kept in durance for 
 a considerable time," and then was banished. He went to Italy, and at Ferrara 
 he was made a Doctor of Physic. During his whole life he served his generation 
 both as a physician and as a clergyman, as a teacher, practitioner, and author. 
 
 Dr Turner visited Basle and Cologne, and probably Heidelberg also, as we 
 conjecture from his translation of the Heidelberg Catechism. His son Peter 
 (born 1 542, died 1614) was Doctor of Physic of Heidelberg, " afterwards incor- 
 porated at Cambridge, where he had his first education," and also at Oxford. 
 Peter married Pascha, sister of Dr Henry Parry, Bishop of Worcester, known in 
 connection with the Heidelberg Catechism. But this is a digression. 
 
 1 See Wood's " Athenae," and the Parker Society's Index-Volume. 
 
364 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 The year 1543 is the date of the publication of Dr "William Turner's cele- 
 brated book, printed at Basle, " The huntyng and fyndyng out of the Romish 
 Fox, which e more than seven yeares hath been hyd among the Byshoppes of 
 England after that the Kyngis Hyghnes had commanded hym to be dryven out 
 of hys Realme." It has been said that Dr Turner had not sufficient confidence 
 in " the King's Highness " to return to England during his reign ; but there is a 
 second book by him, entitled, " The Rescuynge of the Romish Fox — otherwise 
 called The Examination of the Hunter — devysed by Steven Gardiner" — with 
 the colophon, " imprynted at Winchester 1545." 
 
 The reign of Edward VI. was from 28th January 1547 to Gth July 1553. 
 Dr Turner was now incorporated in Oxford as Doctor of Physic ; he also became 
 Physician to Edward, Duke of Somerset. As a clergyman he was made a Pre- 
 bendary of York (stall of Botevant),'Canon of Windsor, and Dean of Wells. His 
 pen was busy both in medicine and in theology. He published in London " A 
 New Dialogue, wherein is contained the examination of the Mass and of that 
 kind of priesthood which is ordained to say Mass and to offer up for remission of 
 sins the body and blood of Christ again." One of the speakers in the Dialogue 
 he named Mistress Missa — a name long remembered. He lectured at Thistle- 
 worth against Pelagianism. One of the auditory having attempted a reply, Dean 
 Turner printed " A Preservative or Triacle against the poyson of Pelagius lately 
 renewed and stirred up again by the furious sect of the Anabaptists." This pub- 
 lication is memorable on account of the Dedication to Bishop Latimer, whom the 
 author had known in Cambridge. There he had listened to that Reformer's 
 sermons, which were instrumental in delivering numbers in the University 
 from " wyl-workes, as pylgrimage and settyng up of candels," and in bringing 
 them " unto the workes that God commaunded expressedly in His holy Scrip- 
 ture and to the reading and study of God's worde, al dreames and unprofit- 
 able gloses of men set a syde and utterly despised." The Dean published the 
 "Triacle" at London in 1551. In the same year he brought out " A New 
 Herbal wherin are conteyned the names of Herbes in Greke, Latin, English, Duch, 
 Frenche, and in the Potecaries and Herbaries Latin, with the properties degrees 
 and naturall places of the same, gathered and made by Wylliam Turner Physscion 
 unto The Duke of Somersettes Grace. Imprinted at London by Steven Mierd- 
 man Anno Domini 1551. Cum privilegio ad impremendum solum. And they 
 are to be sold in Paules Church yarde." 
 
 Dean Turner was an exile in Germany in the reign of Mary. He brought 
 his combined medical and theological learning into play in a book which he pro- 
 duced on the Continent from an unknown printing office, though, according to the 
 title-page, it was printed at " Rome in 1555 " by Marcus Antonius Constantius, 
 otherwise called " Thraso miles gloriosus." Strype (in his " Life of Cranmer," p. 
 357) thus described the book : — " A New Book of Spiritual Physick for divers 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 305 
 
 diseases of the Nobility and Gentlemen of England. Dedicated to divers of the 
 Nobility. It consisted of three parts. In the first he shewed who were noble 
 and gentlemen, and how many works and properties belong nnto such and where- 
 in their office chiefly standeth. In the second part he shewed great diseases 
 were in the nobility and gentry which letted them from doing their office. In 
 the third part he specified what the diseases were, as namely, the whole palsy, 
 the dropsy, the Romish pox and the leprosy — shewing afterwards the remedy 
 against these diseases. For, being a very facetious man, he delivered his reproofs 
 and counsels under witty and pleasant discourse." 
 
 The death of the Romish queen (17th November 1558) brought back the 
 Protestant exiles. In 1559 Dr Turner was re-installed as Dean of Wells on the 
 recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Parker). Although as a preacher 
 and a physician he was well known in London, Wells could not reproach him as 
 non-resident. He was evidently a general favourite because of his varied learning 
 and humour, and his conscientious and courageous fidelity in his sacred office 
 without respect of persons. As an ardent Protestant, he disapproved of the use 
 of the old priestly vestments, by which some of the clergy hoped to entice an 
 ignorant populace into bodily attendance on Protestant worship. His plan was to 
 remove the poor people's ignorance, and to comfort their hearts and minds by 
 pure Gospel teaching. Opposition to the vestments (strange to say) made an 
 honest Englishman liable to persecution. Dean Turner braved that danger; but 
 he underwent no prosecution, such was the general respect and popularity that 
 had been earned by him. 
 
 In 1564 (March 23) the Bishop of Bath and Wells wrote to Mr Secretary 
 Cecil : " I am much encombered with master Dr Turner, Dean of Welles, for his 
 undiscrete behaviour in the pulpitt, where he medleth with all matters, and 
 unsemelie speaketh of all estates, more than is standing with discretion." Cecil 
 took no practical notice of this, nor of a more serious complaint from Archbishop 
 Parker, dated 30th April 1565 : "I was informed yesterday that Turner of Wells 
 hath enjoined a common adulterer to do his open penance in a square priest's 
 cap. If it be true, this is a strange toying with the pi'ince's pleasure and injunctions. 
 You of the council know what ye have to do." The Dean, in a Latin letter to 
 Henry Bullinger, thus characterized the " old clothes " prosecutions : — " Our 
 principal ministers and others, for the sake of an ass's appearance, 1 have thrown 
 into prison many learned and godly pastors, stripped of all their dignities, and 
 have exposed the flock of Christ unarmed to wolves, Papists, Lutherans, 
 Sadducees, and Herodians." He also gave advice to Bullinger, who, as a foreigner, 
 had written in a temporizing vein : — " You should candidly and openly and fear- 
 lessly bear witness in some published tracts, whether you are of opinion that 
 
 1 [Ob asini prospectum — to carry out their determination that an officiating clergyman shall 
 look like an ass] 
 
3 66 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 princes or ecclesiastical prelates — whom you call principal ministers — have 
 authority, without offence to Christian liberty and manifest injury to the Church, 
 to obtrude upon the pastors of churches against their will, under pain of depri- 
 vation and imprisonment, certain prescribed vestments and corresponding cere- 
 monies, whether borrowed from the heathen or transferred from the Levitical 
 law, or invented and approved by the Pope, and destined, and employed, for the 
 furtherance of idolatry." To this letter was added the signature, " William 
 Turner, a physician delighting in the study of sacred literature." The ruling 
 powers escaped from branding him as an ecclesiastical delinquent by regarding 
 him as a beloved physician. 
 
 His publications as an author during this reign, of which I am informed, are 
 connected with the medical faculty. He may be regarded as a father among 
 English botanists. He published " The Seconde Parte of Uulliam Turners 
 Herball wherin are conteyned the names of herbes in Greke, Latin, Duche, 
 Frenche, and in the Apothecaries Latin and somtyme in Italiane, wyth the vertues 
 of the same herbes, wyth diversse confutationes of no small errours that men of 
 no small learning have committed in the intreatinge of herbes of late yeares. 
 Hereunto is ioyned also a booke of the bath of Baeth in Englande and of the 
 vertues of the same witli diversse other bathes most holsum and effectuall both in 
 Almany and Englande, set furth by William Turner Doctor of Physik. 
 Imprinted at Collen by Arnold Birckman In the yeare of our Lorde MDLXii." 
 He also wrote " Notes on Wines used in England," 1568. 
 
 Dean Turner died 7th July 1568, and on the 9th he was buried in the 
 chancel of the Church of St Olave, Hart Street, London. According to Strype 
 there was a monument to him in Crutched-Friars Church. His translation of the 
 Heidelberg Catechism was printed in 1572. Although Mr Thelwall mentions a 
 translation printed in 1570, 1 I reckon Dean Turner's as the first, because he left 
 it in manuscript in 1568. A. Wood catalogues it briefly as The Palsgrave's 
 Catechism ; but the title is : — 
 
 " The Cathechisme 
 or manner to teach Children 
 and others the Christian faith : 
 used in all the landes and dominions that are under the mighty Prince Frederike, 
 the Palsgrave of the Bhene, Elector of the Empyre, &c. 
 
 " Translated out of Latin into Englysh by William Turner, Doctor of Phisicke ; 
 easely to be understanded and read as well of the people of the North cuntry as 
 others. 
 
 " Imprinted at London by Pucharde Iohnes, dwelling in the upper end of 
 Fleet lane. 1572." 
 
 1 " John Harrison the elder, a printer and stationer in London, in 1570, printed ' Frederic 
 Count Palatine his Catechisme, translated out of Latin and Dutch.'"— Thelwall, p. 15. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 367 
 
 " Quest. 1. Which is the anely comforte both in lyfe and in death ? Ans. 
 That both concemyng my soule and my body whether I live or I dye, I am not 
 mine owne, but belong only unto my most faithfull Lord and Saver Jesus Christ, 
 who with His precious blud moste fully makyng amendes for all my siunes, hath 
 delyvered me from the power of the Devyll, and keepeth mee so that without the 
 wyll of my heavenly father ther cannot so much as an heire fall from my head. 
 Yea, and further that all things must serve for my salvation, wherefor he hath 
 made mee sure of everlasting lyfe by His holy Spirite and maketh mee prompt 
 and redy from henceforth to lyve according to His wyll." 
 
 The tract finishes off thus : — 
 
 " Finis. 
 
 " Imprinted at London in y c upper end of Fleet lane by Richard Jones, and 
 ar to be sold at his shop joynyng to the Southwest Dore of St Paules Church." 
 
 The prejudices in favour of Popery, lingering among " the people of the 
 north country [Northumberland] and others," might yield to a Doctor of Physic, 
 when they would hold out against a Dean ; so that he did not put his ecclesias- 
 tical office much forward ; neither did his brother ecclesiastics, when they 
 alluded to him (for a reason which I have already indicated). Bishop Parkhurst 
 wrote to his Zurich correspondents, " Dr William Turner, a good physician and 
 an excellent man, died at London. Lever preached at his funeral." [This was 
 Rev. Thomas Lever, M.A., formerly Master of St John's College, Cambridge.] 
 
 ZACHARIAS URSINUS. 
 
 Zachary Beer was born at Breslau, 18th July 1534. He studied at Wittem- 
 berg under Melancthon from 1550 to 1557. The rough and raging quadruped, 
 whom the English call " bear," has a German name of exactly the same sound, 
 though spelt " Bar." Our student's surname having also the same pronuncia- 
 tion, he as a learned man was called Ursinus. He accompanied Melancthon to 
 the religious conference at Worms, and in his visit to Heidelberg in 1557. 
 Ursinus then went on a literary tour on his own account. ■ He visited France 
 and Switzerland, making the personal acquaintance of Bullinger and Peter 
 Martyr at Zurich, and of Calvin and Beza at Geneva. Calvin presented him 
 with his works "with best wishes." On his return to Wittemberg in 1558 he 
 received a call to the rectorship of the great school at Breslau, called Elizabeth 
 College. The death of Melancthon seems to have been the birth of so-called 
 Lutheran zeal. The consequence was that Ursinus was dismissed from his office, 
 and in October 1560 went to Zurich, intending to settle in that University town. 
 
368 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 But in September 1561, on the invitation of Frederick III., he settled at Heidel- 
 berg as Professor of Theology. The Heidelberg Catechism is known as the 
 Catechism of Ursinus, probably because he was a greater theologian than his 
 colleague Olevianus. But though they finally welded their workmanship together 
 harmoniously and successfully, both Olevianus and Ursinus diligently laboured 
 apart, and several drafts in German and two in Latin 1 were executed. The 
 judgment of Olevianus was well adapted for the work of revisal. On the death 
 of Frederick III. in 1576, the Lutheran Elector Ludvvig (Louis VI.) deposed and 
 banished six hundred reformed ministers and teachers ; of these Ursinus was one, 
 and he did not live to be restored to Heidelberg. He found a refuge at 
 Neustadt an der Hardt in John Casimir's territory, and there he founded a theo- 
 logical seminary, labouring from May 1578 till 6th March 1583, when he died. 
 His Sum of the Christian Religion, in the form of Lectures on his own 
 Heidelberg Catechism, seems not to have been written out and prepared for the 
 press by himself, but to have been compiled from Notes. We miss in the printed 
 discourses the joyous spirit of the first question and answer, which were not a 
 digest of his opinions only, but were the utterances of his heart. He used to 
 say, " I would not take a thousand worlds for the blessed assurance of being- 
 owned by Jesus Christ." His works were collected by his only son and published 
 in 3 vols, folio. The English deputies to the great Synod of Dort, said of the 
 Heidelberg- Catechism, that "neither the English nor the French church have a 
 catechism so suitable and excellent. Those who compiled the Heidelberg Cate- 
 chism were remarkably endowed and assisted by the Spirit of God therein. In 
 several of their works they had excelled other theologians, but in the composition 
 of this Catechism they have outdone themselves. " 
 
 PASTOR JOHANNES VAN DER KEMP. 
 
 Mr Thelwall, in his edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, gives interesting 
 details regarding the work of catechizing as carried on in Holland by pastors, 
 catechists, and Ziekentroosters (comforters of the sick). He also commends 
 Pastor Van Der Kemp's Exposition — a closely printed quarto volume of nearly 
 one thousand pages, published in 1717, and frequently reprinted (18th edition, 
 1773). The Pastor died in 1718. As to the first question he added to the com- 
 mentary an exhortation to self-examination, for the solemn consideration of the 
 
 1 The Latin version, which was printed by the Elector's order, and is the version which has 
 always been reprinted, was not one of those drafts, but was translated from the authorized 
 Catechism by Joshua Lagus and Lambert Ludolph Pithopseus. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 369 
 
 scholar who has declared, as learnt by rote, what is " MY only consolation in life 
 and in death" — lest (says Mr Thelwall) "the learner should be beguiled into 
 taking for granted, that he can adopt and apply to himself such language, as 
 lightly and easily as he might learn and repeat a catechism of mere historical or 
 scientific facts." 
 
 REV. JAMES WARDLAW. 
 
 Mr Wardlaw was born in the parish of Saline in 1673. His father removed 
 to the neighbouring parish of Carnock where his estate was, and he is known as 
 Henry Wardlaw, Esq., of West Luscar. James was brought up in Episcopacy, 
 which he renounced at an early age ; he studied philosophy and divinity at St 
 Andrews along with a brother who died young. While a divinity student he was 
 ordained as an elder by the Rev. James Hog of Carnock, and was transferred to 
 the Kirk-Session of Dunfermline in 1715, he having become in 170.9 a preacher 
 at the same time and place as his future colleague, Mr Ralph Erskine. He was 
 ordained as minister of Cruden, in Aberdeenshire, in 1717, but finding that his 
 parishioners were Episcopal in their leanings, he gladly accepted the offer of the 
 second charge of Dunfermline in 1718. He succeeded to his father's estate, and 
 was thus an heritor of the parish of Carnock, and quite in accord with his 
 colleague and with Mr Hog as to " The Marrow" controversy, and as to the election 
 of ministers by congregations. His life was simply that of an exemplary pastor 
 and gospel preacher, and his name would not have descended to posterity had he 
 not been one of " the twelve " who signed the famous Representation. With his 
 brilliant colleague he lived and acted most harmoniously, and did not refuse the 
 Associate Presbytery the shelter of his hospitable roof. It is not at all to his 
 discredit that, according to the custom of the times, he declared from the pulpit, 
 in his own vindication and as his opinion, that secession was not the true way to 
 cure the corruptions of the Church ; while it is much to his credit that, loyally 
 ignoring the deposition of Mr Erskine as being an unconstitutional and malignant 
 act, he continued to recognize him as his colleague. Nevertheless, it is a fact 
 that Mr Wardlaw's plan was tried, without any success, in the year 1744 by 
 Rev. John Willison of Dundee (born 1680, died 1750), in "A Fair and 
 Impartial Testimony, containing Humble Pleadings with our Mother Church to 
 exert herself to stop defection and promote reformation." 
 
 Mr Wardlaw died on 7th May 1742. He was the maternal grandfather of 
 Dr Samuel Charteris, minister of Wilton. 
 
 3 A 
 
370 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. CHARLES WATSON, D.D. 
 
 Charles Watson, a native of Edinburgh, was a pupil of the High School of that 
 city, and a graduate of its University. He was licensed by the Metropolitan 
 Presbytery in 1817, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Kirkcaldy as assistant 
 and successor to the minister of Burntisland, 30th June 1820. He entered 
 upon the full charge of that church and parish in 1822, but after a few years he 
 had to withdraw from much public duty, owing to feebleness of voice and weak- 
 ness of sight. In 1827 the Rev. John Aikman Wallace was ordained his 
 assistant and successor, and he, on being translated to Hawick, was in 1834 
 succeeded by Rev. David Couper. In 1833 Mr Watson received the degree of 
 D.D. from Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1837 he resigned his charge, and 
 resided in Edinburgh till his death on 11th August 1866. In 1843 Dr Watson 
 became an Emeritus minister of the Free Church of Scotland. In my First Book 
 I have devoted a chapter to his "Hints on Christian Experience" (1st edition, 
 1825; 2nd edition, 1833). He also published " Three Addresses on subjects 
 connected with the Lord's Supper," 1827 ; " Preparation for Death," 1828 ; 
 "Prayers for the use of families," 1831 (several times reprinted) ; "Prayers for 
 young persons," 1831. The diction of his Family Prayers is beautiful. 
 
 REV. THOMAS WATSON. 
 
 Thomas Watson is quite equal to the greatest Nonconformist divines, his books 
 being eminently useful and attractive, written in a sententious style, pithy and 
 sensible, sparkling and musical. But having been a Cambridge man, of Emmanuel 
 College, and having never been connected with the sister University, he has not 
 been memorialized by the industrious Oxford antiquary. His pastoral charge in 
 the Church of England was St Stephen's, Walbrook, in the city of London. 
 From this he was ejected by the Black Bartholomew Act on 24th August 1662. 
 He continued to labour in London for many years ; " but (says Calamy) his 
 strength wearing away, he retired into Essex, and there died suddenly in his 
 closet at prayer." His laborious professional life did not afford materials for a 
 biography ; he escaped not only notice, but ill-will, as he was respected by all 
 parties. (One of his admirers is spoken of by Dr Calamy as Bishop Richardson, 
 probably the Venerable John Richardson, Archdeacon of Derry, who became 
 Bishop of Ardagh, in Ireland, in 1663.) 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 371 
 
 Several quotations from Watson appear in the second part of my First Book. 
 They are all from his " Body of Divinity," which consists of Discourses on the 
 Westminster Shorter Catechism. He also published an " Exposition of the Beati- 
 tudes in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount," which is a small volume, and a gem. 
 His views as to the beginning of consolation in a believer's heart are not very 
 decided, having sometimes more of the spirit of a Saviour's welcome, at other 
 times more that reminds us of a sentinel's warning off. There is in the Discourses 
 on the Lord's Prayer, in his " Body of Divinity," a long and fine passage on the 
 comforts of a pardoned soul, of which I shall quote the heads : — ■ 
 
 " 1. God looks upon a pardoned soul as if he had never sinned. Where sin 
 is remitted, it is as if it had not been committed (Jer. 1. 20). 
 
 " 2. God, having pardoned sin, will pass an act of oblivion. When our 
 sins are laid upon the head of Christ, our scape-goat, they are carried into a land 
 of forgetfulness. 
 
 " 3. The pardoned soul is for ever secured against the wrath of God. From 
 the avenging wrath of God every pardoned soul is freed ; though he may taste of 
 the bitter cup of affliction, yet he shall never drink of the sea of God's wrath. 
 Being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him (Rom. 
 v. 9). Christ's blood quencheth the flames of hell. 
 
 " 4. Sin being pardoned, conscience hath no more authority to accuse. If 
 the creditor discharge the debtor, what hath the serjeant to do to arrest him ? 
 
 " 5. Nothing that befalls a pardoned soul shall hurt him. The best things 
 hurt the wicked, but the worst things which befall a pardoned soul shall do him 
 no hurt — the sting, the poison, the curse is gone. 
 
 "6 To a pardoned soul everything hath a commission to do him good. 
 
 " 7. A pardoned soul is not only exempted from wrath, but invested with 
 dignity. A pardoned soul is made a favourite of heaven. Whom God pardons, 
 He crowns. Whom God absolves, He marries Himself to (Jer iii. 12, 14). 
 
 "8. Sin being pardoned, we may come with holy boldness to God in prayer. 
 
 " 9. Forgiveness of sin makes our services acceptable. God takes all we 
 do in good part. 
 
 " 10. Forgiveness of sin is the sauce which sweetens all the comforts of this 
 life. Pardon of sin gives a sanctified title and a delicious taste to every comfort. 
 As Naaman said to Gehazi, Take two talents (2 Kings v. 23), so God saith to the 
 pardoned soul, Take two talents — take the venison and take a blessing with it — 
 take the oil in the cruse, and take My love with it ; take tivo talents. 
 
 "11. If sin be forgiven, God will never upbraid us with our former 
 sins. Mary Magdalen (a pardoned penitent), — after Christ arose, He appeared first 
 to her (Mark xvi. 9) ; so far was Christ from upbraiding her, that He brings her 
 the first news of His resurrection. 
 
 " 12. Sin being pardoned is a pillar of support in the loss of dear friends. 
 
372 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 God hath taken away thy child — thy husband — but withal He hath taken away 
 thy sins. He hath given thee more than He hath taken away. 
 
 " 13. Where God pardons sin, He bestows righteousness. With remission 
 of sin goes imputation of righteousness. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, He 
 hath covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isa. lxi. 10). If a Christian 
 can take any comfort in his inherent righteousness, which is so stained and mixed 
 with sin, then what comfort may he take in Christ's righteousness, which is 
 a better righteousness than that of Adam ! Adam's righteousness was mutable, 
 but suppose it had been unchangeable, yet it was the righteousness of a man ; 
 but that righteousness which is imputed is the righteousness of Him who is God 
 (2 Cor. v. 21). 
 
 " 14. The pardoned soul needs not fear death. He may look on death 
 with joy who looks on forgiveness with faith. Death will do a pardoned sinner 
 the greatest good turn, therefore it is made a part of the inventory (1 Cor. iii. 22), 
 Death is yours." 
 
 REV. JOHN WILLIAMSON. 
 
 The Rev. David Williamson, the ejected minister of the West Church (alias St 
 Cuthbert's), Edinburgh, a godly covenanter, had a son, John, born in 1679. 
 In the absence of particulars regarding John Williamson's studies, we may 
 say that his call to the Christian ministry was suggested by some things which 
 he himself suggested to a younger minister in an ordination sermon : — " A pro- 
 vidential call to the study of theology either by a continued course of education 
 or some singular providence determining that way — the Lord's blessing and coun- 
 tenancing these studies, so that an observable progress is made therein — a humble 
 inclination and desire (if the Lord should think fit) to serve Him in the Gospel 
 of His Son — a fervent love to souls and tender compassion for poor sinners, and 
 an earnest desire of their salvation — a sweet concurrence and gracious assistance 
 of the Spirit of God in and with meditation and prayer about this design — a 
 shining on the soul with the light of His countenance, even under the exercise of 
 the resolution to follow this work, and a powerful influence of grace drawing forth 
 the soul to a humble dedication thereunto — fervent supplication for the Divine 
 presence and blessing, and a firm dependence on Him for all necessary furniture 
 and assistance — a being hedged in (as it were) by Providence from all other kinds 
 of generation work — a patient waiting for the external call without any disorderly 
 methods to obtain it — a humble submission to the trial [examinations] of Christ's 
 ministers — and a fixed purpose (through grace) of diligence, faithfulness, and 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 373 
 
 constant recourse to the Chief Shepherd upon all occasions, through the whole 
 course of that work." 1 
 
 On 14th January 1702 he was unanimously called by the congregation of 
 Inveresk and Musselburgh, and was ordained as their minister by the Presbytery 
 of Dalkeith on April 30th. During his whole life he was a faithful and popular 
 minister. He came into public notice as one of the twelve representors against 
 the Act condemning "The Marrow of Modern Divinity." In 1718, observing 
 the outcry against the reprint of the First or Doctrinal Part of that book, he 
 reprinted the Second or Practical Part, with a Preface and Appendix. He did 
 not give his name to that publication, and " The Parents' Catechism " by him 
 was also anonymous. He did not assist in drawing up the celebrated Represen- 
 tation. In May 1721 Boston says : " Mr John Williamson of Inveresk made his 
 first appearance amongst us at signing the last draft, but was very useful after, 
 being a man of a clear head, a ready wit, and very forward." The epithet " for- 
 ward " is intended to be complimentary, and to denote alacrity, public spirit, and 
 presence of mind. He took a creditable part before the General Assembly of 1721. 
 
 In Boston's account of this affair he perplexes modern readers by calling 
 the Court The Commission. And therefore I must state that the Commission of 
 the General Assembly has no power except in items of business committed to it 
 by the previous Assembly ; it has regular quarterly meetings. The General As- 
 sembly sits under the eye of a nobleman sent by the Sovereign, and called the 
 Royal Commissioner, who remains during the time supposed to be necessary for 
 an average programme of business. This programme is sketched at first, but may 
 be added to. The Commissioner takes his departure at the usual time ; but if 
 the programme has not been exhausted, the General Assembly continues to sit, 
 under the technical name of " the Commission," but only to finish the business 
 already placed in the programme. In 1721 the Marrow-men's Representation 
 was in the programme of Wednesday's business ; but the Royal Commissioner 
 had left Edinburgh on account of indisposition. The General Assembly was 
 thus dissolved, or rather resolved, into a Commission ; but it was in reality the 
 General Assembly and open to the public — the only effect upon the Marrow affair 
 was that sympathising members, who might have added their signatures to the 
 Representation at any time during the Assembly's sittings, could not sign in the 
 Commission, to which the Representation of twelve ministers had been referred. 
 Having made this explanation, 1 still call the Court by the name of the General 
 Assembly, for the sake of distinctness. 
 
 On Thursday, eleven ministers appeared at the bar of the Assembly. Their 
 
 Representation was read. Mr Boston and Mr Hog were heard in elucidation of 
 
 it. The Moderator then permitted thirteen speeches on the other side to be 
 
 delivered, Mr Hog being put down when he rose to reply to one or other of 
 
 1 " Gospel Method of Conquering Sinners," page 266. 
 
374 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 them. This was for the benefit of the audience. The Moderator then called on Mr 
 Boston to reply, and he made a short speech ; but a member of Assembly made a 
 counter-speech. The parties at the bar were about to be removed, when Mr William- 
 son said : " Moderator, we have heard a multitude of speeches against us — such a 
 multitude, indeed, that it is not possible to remember them, so as to answer them 
 offhand. But if allowed time for recollection, we will answer them afterwards." 
 The Assembly appointed a committee (a sub-committee of the Commission). 
 
 On Friday the Assembly met, and had the representers before them again. 
 A member proposed that the case should go on with closed doors, and said that 
 this was the wish of the representers. Mr Wilson of Maxton strongly asserted 
 that he and his brethren wished the Court to be open. The audience therefore 
 remained, and were greatly impressed in favour of the representers. Mr William- 
 son triumphantly refuted a speech by Mr Allan Logan of Culross ; and, on 
 Principal Hadow's rising to the rescue, he was, in turn, refuted by Mr Boston. 
 The consequence was, that although many appointments were made, no more 
 discussions took place ; but the representers were summoned to the August 
 Commission. In August they were merely informed that the Committee had 
 prepared an overture for the Assembly of May 1722. Next, the November 
 Commission concocted twelve queries for the twelve brethren (nicknamed 
 apostles), and they were allowed till March to answer them. The March Com- 
 mission received the answers. The Act of 21st May 1722 rebuked and 
 admonished the representers. Mr Kid handed in their written protest, " but 
 the Assembly would not read it, and quickly closed the sederunt." 
 
 When the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale were carrying on proceedings 
 against Mr Wilson of Maxton for his sermon, " The Trust," Mr Williamson, along 
 with the Erskines, went to Kelso and sat beside him. 
 
 Mr Williamson was industrious as an author. In 1721 he published with 
 his name a volume of 500 pages, entitled "The Gospel Method of conquering 
 sinners unto Christ, opened and applied in several sermons preached before the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, upon Luke xiv. 23, compared with 2 Cor. x. 
 4, 5." This book was dedicated " Unto the Right Honourable the Society in 
 Scotland for propagating Christian Knowledge." 1 In 1722 he published anony- 
 mously a pamphlet of 148 pages, "The Scope and Substance of the Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity, wherein several passages, excepted against therein, are 
 explained and vindicated. Being an Introductory Essay to a more particular 
 confutation of Principal Hadow's pretended Detection of the Antinomianism of 
 the Marrow." In 1726 he produced a volume of 200 pages, "Gospel Truth 
 
 1 " In several places where their schools are erected, matters are on such a footing that the 
 Popish priests have entirely lost their credit. Barbarity and the Irish language are almost 
 entirely rooted out ; and the children have made considerable progress in the knowledge of 
 Christianity." Page viii. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 375 
 
 and Holiness, considered in their nature and necessity, and in their harmony and 
 influence, in several Sermons before and after the Lord's Supper" (his texts being 
 Ps. xliii. 3, 4, and John xvii. 19) ; and in 1727, another volume of 140 pages, 
 entitled, " Gospel Preaching and Gospel Conversation, considered in several 
 Sermons" (the texts were Mark xvi. 15, and Phil. i. 27). To the last volume 
 was appended a Sermon by Rev. Charles Mastertoun, M.A., of Ireland, on John 
 viii. 32. 
 
 His other pieces, which I have not seen, may be named for biography's 
 sake. " Reasons why several ministers did not read the Act of Parliament 
 relating to the murderers of Captain Porteous," 1737. " Seasonable Testimony," 
 1738, from which Broivn's Gospel Truth quotes this lamentation, "Speaking of 
 Christ — being in Him — drawing strength from union or communion with Him — 
 dependance on His righteousness, and such like, are obsolete, antiquated notions 
 among many of our young divines." His last publication was entitled, " Plain 
 dealing for the conviction of the Seceding Brethren," 1739. He disapproved of 
 secession, though he loved the Seceders. He did not live to protest against the 
 outrageous step of deposing them, for he died on 2nd February 1740, aged 
 sixty. 
 
 Mr Williamson's sermons are not attractive to readers. Hearers, anxious 
 for Gospel teaching, would listen to such sermons with thankfulness. Mrs 
 Balderston, the sister of the Erskines, repeatedly praises him in her Diary. At 
 one time she heard him preach at Edinburgh from the text (Sol. Song i. 5), " I 
 am black but comely," and she notes, "It was a very great sermon, which I felt." 
 At his sacramental services so many strangers from a distance attended that they 
 could not be accommodated with lodgings, and their singing of psalms resounded 
 among the woods in the night-watches. Patient readers of his three volumes of 
 sermons would be rewarded by finding choice sentences. Thus, as to Christian 
 simplicity, he says : " Simplicity imports a readiness to believe in Christ, and 
 to comply with duty — a being void of wiles and cunning to contrive evil. The 
 upright man is harmless, and an even, downright man."--III. 116. 
 
 " The Apostle earnestly presseth the necessary branches of holiness from the 
 consolations that are in Christ (Phil. ii.). And how great these are, who can 
 conceive ? who can express ? Must it not be owned that He, who is expressly 
 called The Consolation of Israel, hath an inexhaustible store of consolations in 
 Him?"— III. 98. 
 
 REV. GABRIEL WILSON, M.A. 
 
 Gabriel Wilson, born about 1679, held a bursary from the Presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, took the degree of M.A. at the University 28th June 1697, and was 
 
376 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 licensed by the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright in 1705. As a preacher he was 
 associated with veteran Presbyterians, being, first, the assistant at Jedburgh of 
 Mr Gabriel Semple (formerly the covenanting minister of Kirkpatrick-Durham in 
 Dumfriesshire), and next, assistant of Mr Robert Edgar, minister of Maxton, in 
 the Presbytery of Selkirk. He was ordained as Mr Edgar's colleague 23rd 
 February 1709, and came into the full charge in December 17 13. In 1721 he 
 comes into notice as one of the twelve representors against the Act of the General 
 Assembly of 1720, which condemned the Marrow. He also printed in 1721 
 " A Letter to a Gentleman at Edinburgh concerning the proceedings of the 
 Assembly, 1720, with reference unto doctrines chiefly." In March 1722 he 
 gave the finishing touches to the answer of the twelve brethren to twelve ques- 
 tions addressed to them by the General Assembly's Commission. Mr Boston 
 described those answers as " begun by Mr Ebenezer Erskine, but much extended 
 and perfected by my friend Mr Wilson, where his vast compass of reading, with 
 his great collection of books, were of singular use and successfully employed." 
 Boston throughout his diary characterizes Mr Wilson as " a plain preacher, but 
 deep in his thoughts," and among all the brethren " the most clear and distinct 
 as to the nature of faith ; zealous and faithful to a pitch, with much of the 
 spirit of the old Presbyterians." On 7th October 1721, as retiring Moderator 
 of the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale, he opened the Synod with a sermon on 
 1 Tim. vi. 20. Mr Kid [see Kid] took the responsibility of printing it in 1723, 
 when it had been referred to the General Assembly's scrutiny, entitling it in 
 accordance with its text " The Trust." His opponents wished to detect Anti- 
 nomianism in it — so that it was under discussion before four meetings of Synod 
 and as many committees, before two Commissions (November 1722 and March 
 1723), and before the General Assembly, May 1723. In the supreme court 
 Boston informs us that " Mr Wilson came off honourably, not one error being 
 fixed on his sermon, notwithstanding all the clamour that had been made against 
 it. For his peculiar zeal and faithfulness his brethren had shot at him particu- 
 larly, but his bow abode in strength. And the truth is, he was never, till that 
 his trial, known to them ; but it set him in a clear light, and exceedingly raised 
 his reputation." 
 
 Mr Wilson did not join the Associate Presbytery, but he protested against 
 the Act which led to its formation in 1733, viz., the suspension of four ministers 
 by the November Commission of the General Assembly. The Act went further 
 than suspension, because it " loosed them from their pastoral charges and declared 
 them no ministers of the Church of Scotland." But in effect it was suspension 
 only, for nothing more was carried out for six years and a half. During that 
 interval of time the whole church virtually adopted the course described in Mr 
 Wilson's protest, and he adhered to it for life. This was the protest : — 
 
 "Edinburgh, November 16, 1733. — I, Mr Gabriel Wilson, minister at 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 377 
 
 Maxton, do hereby, in mine own name, and in name of all those that shall adhere 
 to me, protest against this sentence of the Commission in the case of the four 
 brethren — and that it may be lawful for me to complain of the said sentence, 
 and of the several Acts of Assembly that have occasioned the same, to any sub- 
 sequent Assembly of the Church of Scotland — as also, that it may be lawful for 
 me in a becoming manner, on all proper occasions, to bear testimony against the 
 same, with all other defections and severities of this Church in her sentences — 
 and, finally, that I may in the meantime, as in Providence I shall find oppor- 
 tunity, hold ministerial communion with my said dear brethren, as if no such 
 sentence had been passed against them. Upon all which I take instruments in 
 the clerk's hands. Gabriel Wilson." 
 
 " The above Protest is adhered to by us, 
 
 Ralph Erskine, Minister at Dunfermline. 
 Thomas Mair, Minister at Orwell. 
 John M'Claren, Minister in Edinburgh. 
 John Currie, Minister at Kinglassie. 
 James Wardlaw, Minister at Dunfermline. 
 Thomas Nairn, Minister at Abbotshall." 
 
 The severities of the Church Courts and the dark prospects as to religion 
 led Mr Wilson to found a communion in Maxton on the principles of the Con- 
 gregationalists. To this church he preached on Sabbath evenings, and to it 
 alone he administered the Lord's Supper. Mr Davidson, of Galashiels, joined 
 him [see Davidson]. The Church Courts did not suspend him or even cen- 
 sure him. The only symptom of displeasure appeared in 1742 at Cambus- 
 lang, where, from among the thirty thousand visitors, every minister was called 
 forward to preach to the people or to address communicants, Mr Wilson alone 
 excepted. He died 11th February 1750. His son, Andrew Wilson, M.D., 
 physician in London, attended his surviving friend, Mr Davidson, on his death- 
 bed six years later. 
 
 The noble sermon, " The Trust," was printed from Mr Wilson's notes, which 
 were handed in to the Synod's Committee, although he had not had time to 
 preach so much. The elaborate divisions and subdivisions are almost a discourse 
 by themselves. His Doctrine or thesis was, " Our Lord Jesus Christ is very 
 earnest and importunate with every one of His ministers, that they would faith- 
 fully keep the trust He has committed to them. 'Tis His commission — 'tis 
 His command — 'tis His request to every one of them, that they may do 
 so. Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust (1 Tim. vi. 20)." 
 —Page 20. 
 
 3 B 
 
378 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 I. As to this Trust, with the Committing of it — 
 
 1. (1.) 'Tis a steward's trust. — (2.) 'Tis an ambassador's trust. (3.) 'Tis 
 a workman — a labourer's trust. (4.) 'Tis a watchman's trust. (5.) 'Tis a 
 shepherd's trust. (6.) 'Tis a soldier's— a warrior's trust. 
 
 2. (1.) The mystery of the doctrine of Christ. (2.) The institutions of 
 Christ. (3.) His holy commandments — 1. To bind the holy commands on 
 people in their due order ; 2. To hedge people in both from licentiousness and 
 from legalism ; 3. To bind on Christ's yoke with His own cords — Gospel motives 
 and arguments. 
 
 3. How and by whom is this trust committed ? — (1.) By our Lord Jesus 
 Christ and by the Holy Ghost. (2.) Ministerially and instrumentally by them 
 who ordain. (3.) In and by the Holy Scriptures, as the charter of the office 
 and the record and register of the commission and instructions. (4.) From 
 preceding generations of believers, faithful ministers, and martyrs. 
 
 4. The qualities of the trust. — (1.) 'Tis a divine and heavenly trust. 
 (2.) 'Tis a goodly, great, and precious trust. (3.) 'Tis an honourable trust. 
 (4.) 'Tis a weighty and difficult trust. (5.) 'Tis a sealed trust. 
 
 5. Why is such a trust put into hands weak and unskilful ? — (1.) In con- 
 descension and compassion to sinners. (2.) That the excellency of the power 
 may be of God. (3.) Our Lord will have reprisals made on Satan and his king- 
 dom by means even of the very people whom he had subdued, ruined, and 
 destroyed. (4.) For the security, encouragement, and confidence of sinners. 
 (5.) For the trial of people's faith, love, and obedience. 
 
 II. AS TO THE KEEPING OF THE TRUST. 
 
 Part 1. — The Theory. 
 
 1. In different actings. — (1.) Give all diligence to be apprized and pos- 
 sessed of it. (2.) As stewards, diligently and wisely dispense it. (3.) Let them 
 in their own persons be delivered into the very mould and likeness of that trust. 
 (4.) Maintain and defend it. (5.) Suffering for the adhering to, and maintain- 
 ing it. (6.) Commit it, for its safe transmission to posterity, unto faithful men. 
 
 2. With reference to the subject or the receptacles where it must be kept. — 
 (1.) They must keep it in their heads ; (2.) in their hearts ; (3.) in their lips ; 
 (4.) in the whole of their conversation; (5.) in the world; (6.) in the Holy 
 Scripture, and other approved standards of doctrine. 
 
 3. With reference to its contraries. — Keep it, in opposition (1.) to losing or 
 letting it slip ; (2.) to the fraudulence, deceit, and subtilty of men ; (3.) to main 
 force, violence, and robbery ; (4.) to a voluntary surrender or sale of it ; (5.) to 
 contemptuous rejection and throwing of it away. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 379 
 
 Part 2.- — The Manner of Keeping. 
 
 (1.) With care and diligence; (2.) punctually, critically, and with the 
 utmost exactness ; (3.) with wisdom and prudence ; (4.) without partiality or 
 respect of persons ; (5.) with a single eye ; (6.) with zeal and resolution ; (7.) 
 stedfastly ; (8.) belie vingly and dependently. 
 
 [There are also some more heads as to the earnestness and importunity of 
 Christ in committing this trust to His servant's keeping.] 
 
 While the above summary gives some idea of the excellence of the sermon, 
 it also suggests that there might be much in it to give offence to worldly church- 
 men. Take one paragraph as an example. Referring to our Lord's address to 
 the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt, xxiii. 13), the preacher said : "If one does not 
 preach Christ and life and salvation in Him to the worst of sinners — though he 
 should otherwise (which no doubt a man may do) preach sound doctrine all his 
 days — he takes away the key of knowledge, and shuts the kingdom of heaven 
 against sinners, in the sense of our Lord's words. Yea, not only may a man 
 preach sound doctrine without preaching the Gospel, but he may preach many 
 things well about Christ, yet never preach Christ in the sense of the New Testa- 
 ment. Whosoever then would keep the Trust must mind to set open, and keep 
 open, the door of the kingdom of heaven to the worst of sinners. Upon some, 
 indeed, he must shut the door to Church Privileges, but upon none may he shut 
 the door to Christ and free grace. No ! But, in a diligent and faithful dis- 
 pensation of the word and sacraments, is he plentifully to deal forth and scatter 
 abroad the doctrine of Christ — His Person and Offices — His free grace — and of 
 His exuberant, overflowing, overflowing fulness to all, to be received, believed, 
 and applied every one to himself in particular." — pp. 88, 89. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 If Mr Gabriel Wilson's library had been kept together, we might have 
 perhaps known more about the various editions of the Marrow. In his printed 
 anonymous letter, dated April 1721, he says: "How came your Committee to 
 call upon the Assembly to condemn books, till at least they themselves knew 
 something more about them ? To say nothing of some former editions of the 
 Marrow, that were entirely free of the alleged offensive passages for which they 
 condemned it, the ninth edition, printed at London, 1690, has the passage anent 
 faith, and that anent the law as the covenant of works, with many other seeming 
 asperities (even more than the committee thought fit to single out), all smoothed 
 according to the style of the Westminster Confession. ... I could, I think, be 
 
380 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 bold to chide with Mr James Hog on the single particular, that he did not 
 choose the last edition of the Harrow, against which they could not have found 
 these shows of occasion they have taken hold of in the edition recommended by 
 him. Yet I must own there seemed to be something in the reply one made me 
 when talking to this purpose. ' Why,' said he, ' perhaps Mr Hog has not known 
 there was any later edition of the book than that which fell into his hands. . . . 
 We know not what Providence has to bring out of these proceedings for the 
 behoof of Gospel truth. For as it befel our Lord Himself, so when Gospel truth 
 is undervalued, dropped, and trodden down, many are at length left to bury it, 
 that it may rise more glorious.' . . . Tell Mr Hog I sympathize with him under 
 his reproach and contempt. He needs not, I hope, be put in mind, there is a 
 resurrection of names, and of books too, as well as of persons." 
 
 REV. THOMAS WILSON. 
 
 Diligent readers of the Bible were wont to consult Wilson's Christian Dic- 
 tionary. It is not generally known that the author was one of the very old 
 worthies of the Church of England. Thomas Wilson, when a young man, was 
 befriended by Dr Henry Robinson, Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, who 
 "cherished" him in his college, and sent him to Canterbury in 1584 or 1585 
 to become one of the Six Preachers in the Cathedral. He was chaplain to 
 " Lord Wotton, Baron of Marleigh," Lord-Lieutenant of Kent. When Mr Wilson 
 was accused of nonconformity, Lord Wotton induced Archbishop Abbot to take 
 no notice of the charge. It was probably in 1615 that Mr Wilson became 
 minister of St George's, Canterbury. He was eminent as a preacher, a pastor, 
 and an author during a ministry of thirty-six years. He died in January 1621, 
 leaving the reputation " that not one of a thousand could be found like this 
 worthy servant of Christ." He was a champion on the side of the free Gospel, 
 and against semi-Romish superstitions. His funeral sermon was preached by 
 Mr Swift. 
 
 His celebrated dictionary was his first publication. The Dedication to Lord 
 Wotton was dated December 1611. There was also another epistle to' his first 
 patron, the Bishop of Carlisle (Dr Henry Robinson) ; to his old friend the Bishop 
 of Worcester (Dr Henry Parry) ; and to his colleague, Dr Neville, Dean of Christ- 
 church, Canterbury. As the second edition was more worthy of the author, I 
 copy its title-page : — 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 381 
 
 " A Christian Dictionary 
 
 Opening the signification of the chiefe words dispersed generally throughout Holy 
 
 Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, tending to increase Christian 
 
 knowledge. 
 
 Tir , , • . t t> j • 7 ( For the Revelation of S. John. 
 
 W hereunto is annexed a Particular \ „ L . ~ ,. , ~ „„, 
 
 - j,. . < lor the Canticles or Song or Salomon. 
 
 ( For the Epistle to the Hehrewes. 
 
 The second edition, 
 Augmented by addition of divers thousands of words, phrases and significations, 
 and by explication of Leviticall rites. Also, of most difficult and ambiguous 
 speeches, with farre more profitable Annotations than before. 
 By Thomas Wilson, Minister of the Word at S. Georges in Canterbury. 
 
 y 1 
 
 Galen, lib. 1 de Method, cap. 5. Who- 
 soever is ignorant of words shal 
 never judge well of things. 
 
 Every word of God is 'pure. Prov. " 
 xxx. 5. 
 
 Ye erre because ye know not the Scrip- 
 ture. Mat. xxii. 19. 
 
 Words are notes and markes of things 
 Aristotle. 
 
 IF Ubi plura aut diversa ejusdem vocis significata offeruntur, prima sunt 
 
 propria et genuina, ccetera metaphorica. Mercerus in Pagn. 
 
 Distinctio vocis ambiguce, primum sit in omni rerum consider utione. 
 
 Keckerman System. Log. 
 
 London, 
 Printed by William Jaggard, dwelling in Barbican. 1616." 
 
 The title-page explains the object. Ministers and Christians are apt to 
 string sermonic sentences together, without weighing the exact signification of 
 the words which they are using. He also gave explanatory rhymes. For 
 instance — 
 
 " As stars from heaven much light afford, 
 So do the words we find in Word ; 
 But stars shine not, till they appear, 
 Nor words do teach, till sense we hear." 
 
 A friend who signed himself " R. Rauen," contributed additional explana- 
 tions of the object — 
 
 " Our English tongue from many tongues a snatch and smack hath taken, 
 As English men from foreign men their coats and suits have shapen ; 
 Some words fromFrench and some from Greek, more from the Latins flow, 
 Some new, some old — some dark, some plain — some hard, and strange to know. 
 
382 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Some to some place do give great light — some darken much the text — 
 
 Some, general in the first place — some, special in the next — 
 
 Some, properly found in this clause, improperly in that ; 
 
 What some words sound thou know'st right well ; some sound thou know'st not what." 
 
 I can give only one specimen of the Dictionary : — 
 
 " [Consolation or Comfort]. That inward spiritual refreshing and 
 strengthening of the heart by the consideration and feeling of God's merciful 
 promises in Christ. Ps. cxix. 50, Thy promises have comforted me in my 
 trouble. 2 Cor. i. 4, God comforteth us in all our troubles ; ver. 5, Our con- 
 solation aboundeth through Christ. Rom. i. 11, 12, Where consolation and 
 strengthening are put the one for the other. The Holy Ghost, being the worker 
 of comfort, is therefore called the Comforter, by an excellency. The promises of 
 the Word are the grounds of comfort ; our believing hearts are the seats of com- 
 fort ; Godly ministers and the faithful are the helpers of our comfort. John 
 xvi. 7, I will send the Comforter. 1 Thess. iv. 18, Comfort yourselves one 
 another with these words. 2 Cor. vii. 7." 1 
 
 Mr Wilson's other works were — " A Commentary on Romans," 1614 [2nd 
 edit. 1627; another edit. 1658]; "Christ's Farewell to Jerusalem," 1614; 
 " Theological Rules," 1615 ; " Holy Riddles," 1615 ; "A Dialogue about Justi- 
 fication ; " " A Receipt against Heresie." The following is the title-page of his 
 " Commentary " : — 
 
 " A Commentarie upon the most Divine Epistle of S. Paul to the Romanes. 
 Containing for matter the degeneration of our nature by Adams Fall, and the 
 restauration thereof by the Grace of Christ. Together with the perfection of 
 Faith and the imbecillity of Workes in the cause of Justification of elect sinners 
 before God. 
 
 For forme and / The Coherence and Method, \ 
 
 maner of J The Summe and Scope, [ 
 
 handling, it J The Interpretations and Doctrines, 
 hath v The Reasons and Uses, of most texts. ' 
 
 All which are set downe very familiarly and compendiously in forme of a 
 Dialogue betweene Timotheus and Silas. 
 By Thomas Wilson, one of the six Preachers in the Cathedrall Church of 
 Canterbury. 
 
 ^[ Our beloved Brother Paul, according to the wisedome given him of God, 
 
 1 Wilson's " Christian Dictionary " was enlarged into a folio volume after the author's death. 
 The first editor was Mr John Bagwell, who published the fifth edition in 1647, describing the 
 work as " Begun by that famous and worthy man of God, Mr Thomas Wilson." The Bev. 
 Andrew Symson (as he signs his name, though his title-page has it Sinison) next took it up, and 
 I have read descriptions of the sixth edition, dated 1655, attributed to him, and of the seventh 
 edition, 1661. I have before me the eighth edition, 1678, with a preface by Symson, dated 25th 
 March 1665, and an Epistle to the Reader, by Rev. Edmund Calamy. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 383 
 
 hath written unto you, which the unlearned and unstable pervert to their owne 
 destruction. 2 Pet. iii. 1 5. 
 
 ^[ What Epistle of Paul is not more sweete than Honie ? — August. 
 
 ^j" The sublimity of Paul's minde went beyond the Heavens. — Chrysost. 
 
 ^f This Epistle is a Catechisme for Christians, and a perfect body of Apos- 
 tolical! Doctrine. — Para?us. 
 
 London : Printed by W. Jaggard, dwelling in Barbican. 1G14." 
 
 The idea and execution of his " Christian Dictionary " had shown that 
 Thomas Wilson valued both the truth itself and accuracy in preaching it. A 
 specimen of his " Commentary on the Romans " has been given in Book I., 
 Part 2nd, Chapter 3. I conclude here with some of his comments on chap, 
 xii. 1 : I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, &c. 
 
 " The mercies of God, even His spiritual mercies, are in our text called 
 mercies in the plural number, because they are many — to wit, election of grace, 
 calling to Christ, justification by faith, sanctification by the Spirit. By all these 
 mercies (which are every one of them more worth than a thousand worlds) he 
 beseecheth them to obey God by the mortification of their lusts. 
 
 " The meditation of God's mercies in Christ are a most effectual motion and 
 sharp spur to a godly life. As if a mother should beseech her child to do something 
 by the womb that bare him, the paps which suckt him, the knees which dandled 
 him, and all her entire compassions towards him. How flinty should his heart 
 be not to yield to her ! So we should show ourselves more than stony-hearted 
 if we yield not to God when He, that might condemn, doth beseech, even by those 
 tender mercies whereby He begat us, pardoned us, called us, renewed us, and 
 saved us." 
 
 " Tim. What is the lesson we are to take from hence ? 
 
 Silas. That Christians are to be moved unto duty towards God and man 
 after the doctrine of His grace and love towards them be manifested. For as 
 the eye guides the body, so doctrine governs duty. And what a foundation is 
 unto a house, that the doctrine of grace is unto a holy life — even the ground- 
 work, root, and spring of all good works. 
 
 Tim. What use of this instruction ? 
 
 Silas. It confutes them which hold the doctrine of grace to be an enemy to 
 a good life, and to open a window or gap unto liberty in sinne, from which it 
 recalleth rather. Also it serves to reprove them that teach duties without doc- 
 trine, or do not lead their lives answerable to the doctrine of grace which they 
 do know and profess." 
 
3 8 4, THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM WILSON, M.A. 1 
 
 In the covenanting times in Scotland Mr Gilbert Wilson, a small proprietor, was 
 deprived of his estate in the parish of East Kilbride. He had to fly from his 
 house. For a whole winter he lived on Mearns moor, " unsheltered and alone," 
 provisions being secretly brought to him by a female servant. Thereafter he 
 retired to Holland. He returned home at the Revolution, and lived in Glasgow 
 in expectation of receiving compensation for the loss of his land. At this time 
 he married Isabella Ramsay, niece of the widow of the martyred James Guthi-ie, 
 and daughter of the Laird of Shielhill in Forfarshire, a bigoted Jacobite, who had 
 long ago disowned and disinherited her on account of her religious principles. 
 Their son was born in Glasgow on 19th November 1690, and was named after 
 King William III. (Mr Gilbert Wilson was made Comptroller of Customs at 
 Greenock). 
 
 William Wilson became M.A. of the University of Glasgow, and was Licensed 
 by the Presbytery of Dunfermline 23rd Sept. 1713. The Town Council of 
 Perth in 1715 resolved that a third minister was required by the increasing 
 population. The West Kirk, a wing which had fallen into disuse and disrepair, 
 was therefore fitted up beneath the spacious roofs of St John's cathedral. It was 
 opened in 1716. A call was given to Mr Wilson on the 21st August, and he 
 was ordained on 1st November 1716. 
 
 There is one entry in his Diary concerning " The Marrow of Modern Divi- 
 nity " : — " 6th March 1721. I went to Edinburgh to meet with some ministers 
 who were to consider about some grievances — particularly the affair of the last 
 Assembly concerning ' The Marrow.' We met and discoursed and prayed together. 
 Our meetings continued for several days. We had much sweet satisfaction in so 
 meeting, and in our praying and conversing together. At length it was agreed 
 that a representation to the Assembly should be drawn up and signed, complain- 
 ing of their condemnation of several precious doctrines contained in the book 
 entitled ' The Marrow of Modern Divinity.' " 
 
 Mr Wilson did not take any further charge of this business ; but it is 
 believed that it was at his suggestion that a similar conference took place at 
 Perth in 1731 and 1732. The following is from his Diary : — " November and 
 December 1731. About this time a few ministers met together to consider 
 what might be proper for them to do in the present juncture. Those who first 
 met were Mr Gillespie, Strathmiglo ; Mr Laing, Newburgh ; Mr Lauchlan 
 M'Intosh, Errol ; Mr Fisher, Kinclaven ; Mr Moncrieff, Abernethy. I was with 
 them at all their meetings. After prayer and conference, we agreed to a repre- 
 
 1 See " Memoirs of Eev. Wm. Wilson," by Rev. Andrew Ferrier, 1830 ; and " Life and 
 Times of Rev. Wm. Wilson," by Rev. Dr. Eadie, 1849. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 385 
 
 sentation and petition to the next General Assembly, relating to the grievances the 
 church is at present under. We thought that if the Assembly should not regard 
 it, it would be at least a standing testimony to future generations against the pre- 
 sent courses that have such a visible tendency to ruin the Church of Scotland. A 
 draft of a representation was prepared, and it was agreed to write to some 
 ministers to meet with us at Perth on the 21st day of February 1732, and that 
 copies of the representation should be sent them, that they might give their 
 judgment upon it at meeting, and might be ready to sign it." 
 
 "February 1732. About eighteen ministers having met together from 
 several places, the representation was read over and amended ; and a fair copy 
 being written, it was signed by us all who were present, and afterwards it was 
 signed by several other ministers, together with a commission to some of our num- 
 ber to present it to the ensuing General Assembly." 
 
 The grievances were, connivance at doctrinal heresy, subservience to worldly 
 patrons, and the usurpation of power by ecclesiastical leaders, besides the con- 
 tempt»g testi mony of Presbyterians in the Army and Navy, &c. This repre- 
 sentation was signed by forty-two ministers and three elders (the latter were 
 Alex. Swinton of Strathore, Tho. Trotter, and William Walker). The following 
 were the ministers : — 
 
 Marrow-men. — Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, Ralph Erskine, John Bonar, 
 Gabriel Wilson, Henry Davidson, and James Wardlaw, along with whom may be 
 mentioned their friend, Rev. Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 Ministers who afterwards seceded. — Rev. William Wilson ; James Fisher; 1 
 Alexander Moncrieff, laird of Culfargie, minister of Abernethy in Perthshire 
 (born 1695, died 1761) ; Thomas Mair, minister of Orwell (born 1700, died 
 1768) ; James Thomson, minister of Burntisland (died 1766) ; Thomas Nairne, 
 minister of Abbotshall (died 1764). 
 
 Ministers who died before the deposition of the seceders. — Rev. James 
 Goodsir, minister of Monikie (born 1679, died 1733) ; Robert Gray, minister of 
 Brechin (died 1738) ; William Henderson, minister of Dalgety (born 1690, died 
 1737) ; John Johnston, minister of the second charge of Brechin from 1710 to 
 3rd November 1732 ; John M'Claren, minister of the Tolbooth Church, Edin- 
 burgh (born 1667, died 1734), author of a valuable book exposing Professor 
 Simson's errors ; George Mair, minister of New Deer from 1722 to 1736; 
 Charles Moore, native of Armagh, minister from 1715 to 1736, first of Culross, 
 second of West Church, Stirling, voted against the Anti-Marrow Act of 1722, 
 father of John Moore, M.D., and grandfather of General Sir John Moore, K.C.B. ; 
 James Noble, minister of Eckford (born 1656, died 1739) ; Thomas Thomson, 
 minister of Auchtermuchty (born 1666, died 1st January 1733). 
 
 Other Ministers. — Rev. George Gillespie, minister of Strathmiglo (born 
 
 1 The ministers whom I only name have been memorialized in separate memoirs in this book, 
 
 3 c 
 
386 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 1674, died 1755) ; was a member of the General Assembly of 1740, and dissented 
 from the deposition of the seceders. 
 
 Rev. Robert Coventrie, minister of Kilspindie from 1727 to 1761 ; John 
 Cranstoun, minister of Ancrum (born 1664, died 1748, father of the Church of 
 Scotland); John Currie, minister of Kinglassie (born 1679, died 1765) ; John 
 Drummond, minister of Crieff (born 1676, died 1754); Andrew Eliot, minister of 
 Auchtertool (born 1674, died 1745) ; James Farquhar, minister of Nigg, Aber- 
 deenshire (born 1665, died 1756) ; John Forbes, laird of Pitnacadel, minister of 
 Deer (born 1687, died 1769) ; George Freer, laird of Eassindie, minister of 
 Lethendy from 1698 to 1750 ; John Gib, minister of Cleish (born 1667, died 
 1741) ; John Gow, minister of Cargill (born 1680, died 1742) ; William Haly, 
 minister of Muthill (born 1677, died 1754) ; Walter Hart, minister of Bonkle 
 from 1706 to 1761; James Innes, minister of Merton from 1718 to 1767; 
 James Ker, minister of Dun from 1701 to 1752; Robert Laing, minister of 
 Newburgh (died 1749) ; Lauchlan MTntosh, laird of Dalmunzie and Dalreoch, 
 minister of Errol (born 1690, died 1744), Moderator of the General Assembly 
 of 1736 ; George Meik, minister of Redgorton (born 1678, died 1756) ; John 
 Row, minister of Navar and Lethnot (born 1676, died 1745), signed the Rev. 
 John Willison's "Fair and Impartial Testimony" in 1744; David Stevenson, 
 minister of Glendevon (born 1689, died 1751). Here ends a brief account of 
 the ministers who signed the Representation to the General Assembly of the 
 Church of Scotland in 1732. The Assembly refused even to receive it. 
 
 Some facts concerning his stipend illustrate Mr Wilson's conscientiousness. 
 When the Town Council of Perth founded the Third Charge (or West Church), 
 they took the stipend out of the rent of some hospital lands. This was unknown 
 to Mr Wilson, but as soon as he heard of it he refused to receive the money. 
 The consequence was, that the Town Council surrendered the rents to the hospital, 
 by a decision of the Court of Session, affirmed by the House of Lords. But the 
 judge in the Scotch court, being struck with the disinterestedness of Mr Wilson in 
 being the first objector, suggested a scheme of assessment which was adopted. How- 
 ever, on a vacancy occurring in the Second Charge, the Town Council " presented 
 Mr William Wilson to the second minister's stipend " (Minute dated 22nd October 
 1733). On the 6th December of that year he joined the Associate Presbytery ; 
 but it was not till the first Sabbath after the General Assembly of 1740 that, on 
 the ground that he had been deposed from the ministry, he was banished from 
 the pulpit of the West Church. He had begun to preach in the open air within 
 the Glovers' Yard (by permission of that corporation) in the year 1737 ; he was 
 permitted "to preach the Gosspell there when it is not his turne to preach in the 
 church." To that yard he retired, as his only place of worship, in May 1740, 
 until a church was built for him. He continued, in the service of the people, to 
 be practically "the third minister." A new minister had been appointed to "the 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 387 
 
 second charge" in 1737; but after Mr Wilson's final separation the Town 
 Council of Perth declared that there was no need of a third minister ; and 
 accordingly the Court of Session decided that there was no vacancy with which 
 the Presbytery could concern itself, "the third minister being now suppressed." 
 
 Mr Wilson's exclusion from the Church of Scotland's pulpit, to which he 
 publicly demanded admission, occasioned some official heat and some popular 
 murmurs. An old woman was in his domestic service, the very girl who had 
 conveyed food to his father on the Mearns Moor. Mr Wilson, when leaving his 
 house on that eventful Sabbath forenoon, was thus accosted by her : — "Tak tent, 
 Mr William, tak tent what ye're doing ; for I fear, if things gang on this way, 
 I'll get ye're meat to carry to the muir, as I did ye're guid father's before ye." 
 
 The varied labours of this admirable minister were too much for his bodily 
 strength. His Presbytery having received about seventy applications "for supply 
 of sermon " during the years 1737-8, resolved to form a Divinity Class, and he 
 was elected Professor; and it was necessary, according to academic usage, that he 
 should lecture in Latin. He had also to labour as an author. Preaching in the 
 open air told severely on his health. He died on the 14th November 1741, 1 in 
 his fifty-first year. 
 
 Tradition has called Mr Wilson " the Tongue of the Associate Presbytery;" 
 and some have interpreted this as a testimony to the superiority of his pulpit 
 eloquence, even to that of the Erskines. But his sermons permit no such claim. 
 He was the Tongue, as the author of the standard book on the principles, of his 
 Presbytery. The book was published in 1739, and a continuation in 1741, 
 and is entitled " A Defence of the Reformation Principles of the Church of 
 Scotland." It contains the following paragraph : — " If the acts and deeds of the 
 several assemblies, 1720 and 1722, with respect to some propositions con- 
 tained in the book called ' The Marrow of Modern Divinity,' as also with respect 
 to the representation of twelve ministers, are duly and seriously considered, it may 
 be found that a deep wound has been given by the present Judicatories to the 
 Reformation Testimony — as it has been stated against the Church of Rome — for 
 the doctrine of justification and eternal salvation, by the free grace of God, 
 through the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus" (page 461). Brown of 
 Haddington said that Mr Wilson preached " that marrow of the Gospel, My God." 
 
 Dr Ferrier's Memoir contains a list of Mr Wilson's printed sermons : — 
 
 1. The day of a sinner's believing in Christ — a most remarkable day. A 
 Sermon on Song iii. 11, preached in the New Church of Perth. 
 
 1 Extract from the manuscript Family Eegister of Rev. James Fisher : — " Our two children, 
 Margaret and James, were born in Perth, Saturday, Oct. 31, at three in the morning. They 
 were baptized next day, being Sabbath, November 1, by Mr William Wilson, minister at Perth, 
 which was the last piece of public ministerial work performed by that eminent servant of Jesus 
 Christ. He died Nov. 14, 1741." 
 
388 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 2. The watchman's duty and desire, or the prayer of faithful ministers for 
 the Lord's beauty on His church, and success in their work. On Ps. xc. 17. A 
 Sermon at the opening of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, 1727. 
 
 3. The Father's promise to the Son, a clear bow in the darkest cloud ; or, 
 the spiritual seed of Christ preserved in all ages. Several Sermons on Ps. lxxxix. 
 29, preached at Perth in the years 1729 and 1730. 
 
 4. Steadfastness in the faith recommended. A Sermon on 1 Cor. xvi. 13, 
 preached at Perth, 22nd July 1733. 
 
 5. The blessedness lost in the first Adam, to be found in Christ the second 
 Adam. The substance of some Sermons on Ps. lxxii. 17. 
 
 6. The Church's extremity, Christ's opportunity. On Micah iv. 10, And 
 thou shalt go even to Babylon, there thou shalt be delivered. Preached at 
 Abernethy sacrament, 17th July 1738. 
 
 7. The Lamb's retinue attending Him whithersoever He goeth. The sub- 
 stance of two Sermons on Rev. xiv. 4, preached at Orwell, 6th August 1738. 
 
 Dr Eadie gives the following specimen of Mr Wilson's Gospel preaching. It 
 is from a sermon preached in the open air on a communion Monday — a day when 
 old Scottish ministers preached with the greatest energy and pathos : — " There 
 are a vast number gathered together here, and (I am afraid) a great many 
 strangers to Christ, the worthy Lamb. Sirs, ye come to sacraments, ye come 
 to a communion table, ye come to sermons, but ye never come to Christ, the 
 Lamb of God. Sirs, we tell you, the Lamb this day invites you to come to 
 Him — to come and follow Him. This day you are called and invited in the 
 word of the Gospel, Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life 
 freely (Rev. xxii. 17). What shall I say 1 — Does the Lamb invite you, and will 
 you not come ? will you not come, upon His invitation and call ? What 
 should hinder your compliance with the Lamb's call ? What though you have 
 been bearing arms against Him all your days to this very moment ? yet I say 
 unto you there is room in the Lamb for you, room in the grace of the Lamb for 
 you, room in the heart of the Lamb for you, and you are by the Lamb invited 
 this day to come in. Are you a poor graceless sinner ? Why, then, I tell you, 
 there is room in His grace for you, there are inexhaustible treasures of grace in 
 Him, and these inexhaustible treasures of grace are just for them that have 
 rebelled and carried arms against the Lamb. that ye knew and would be per- 
 suaded that the Lamb hath received gifts for men, for such as did rebel, that the 
 Lord God might dwell among them ! (Ps. lxviii. 18). 0, then, be assured the in- 
 exhaustible treasure of grace that is in the Lamb is just for you. There is room 
 in His grace for you — treasures of pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace are in 
 Him for you. come, then, at His call. Open your hearts to receive Him at 
 His call. Give obedience to the Lamb, stoop to the righteousness of the worthy 
 Lamb ; be assured that there is room in the righteousness of the Lamb for you 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 389 
 
 — room in the obedience and death of the Lamb for you. Whatever thy guilt is, 
 His merit is infinite, and in it there is room for you. . . . O come, guilty sinner ! 
 O come, filthy sinner ! there is room in this worthy Lamb for thee. Ye were 
 called yesterday to come under the Lamb's shadow, and we call you again this 
 day to come under His shadow .... that you may share of that grace that is 
 in Christ Jesus, the worthy Lamb ; and we are sure there is enough in Him for 
 you all, whatever you are or have been." 
 
 REV. JOHN WITHERSPOON, D.D, LL.D. 
 
 The father of this great and good man was Rev. James Witherspoon, M.A., who 
 was minister of Yester, in the Presbytery of Haddington, from 1719 to 1759, and 
 one of his Majesty's chaplains for Scotland, who married, 21st October 1720, 
 Anne, daughter of Rev. David Walker, minister of Temple. John Witherspoon 
 was born in the manse of Yester 5th February 1722, and his school education 
 was obtained in the grammar-school of Haddington. He was M.A. of the 
 University of Edinburgh, and was licensed as a preacher 6th September 1743. 
 He was ordained as minister of Beith, in Ayrshire, on 11th April 1745. In 
 the course of this year the Rebellion broke out, and during 1745-6 he was a 
 volunteer officer and a prisoner in the hands of the rebels, but he escaped from 
 the Castle of Doune, and was received with enthusiasm on his return to Beith 
 manse. His ardent patriotism was a part of his zealous piety. 
 
 In the year 1753 his zeal kindled into holy concern and indignation at the 
 conduct of the leaders of the Church in prosecuting and deposing faithful minis- 
 ters. He wrote and printed his famous satire, " Ecclesiastical Characteristics," 
 as his contribution to the exposure and discomfiture of worldly churchmen. 
 This publication, which was his first, was anonymous. He gave his name to his 
 next piece, which was " An Essay on the connection between the Doctrine of 
 Justification by the Imputed Righteousness of Christ, and Holiness of Life, with 
 some reflections upon the reception which that doctrine hath generally met with 
 in the world," Glasgow, 1756. He addressed it to the Rev. James Hervey, 
 M.A., Rector of Weston-Favell, to whom he said, " You, Sir, are one of those 
 happy few who have been willing to consecrate the finest natural talents to the 
 service of Christ in the Gospel, and are not ashamed of His cross. You have 
 been able to procure attention upon some subjects from many who would hardly 
 have given it to any other writer. This hath made me observe with particular 
 attention the effect of your last performance, ' Theron and Aspasio,' the character 
 
390 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 given to it, and the objections raised against it. And I have always found that 
 the most specious and plausible objection, and that most frequently made against 
 the doctrine of justification by imputed righteousness, has been in this case (as, 
 indeed, usually before), that it loosens the obligations to practice. This is what 
 I have particularly applied myself to refute in the following essay, because I 
 have rarely observed it done distinctly and at full length in any writer. And I 
 have addressed it to you as a testimony of my esteem of your excellent and useful 
 writings, as a public declaration of my espousing the same sentiments as to the 
 terms of our acceptance with God, and my ambition of contributing some small 
 assistance to the support of the same glorious cause. It was also no small in- 
 ducement to it that thereby it might appear to all that no external distinctions 
 or smaller differences ought to be any hindrance to a cordial esteem and affection 
 among the sincere servants of our common Master." 
 
 In 1756 he received a presentation to the Laigh Church of Paisley, 
 with the unanimous concurrence of the congregation. But the Presbytery 
 of Paisley, taking into consideration a report that he was the author of a 
 book [The Ecclesiastical Characteristics] which " is of a very bad tendency to the 
 interests of religion, and injurious to the characters of many ministers of this 
 Church," refused to take the regular steps for enabling the congregation to sign 
 a formal call, and appointed a committee of inquiry. This resolution was dis- 
 orderly. The conduct of Mr Witherspoon was under the superintendence of the 
 Presbytery of Irvine. If that Presbytery had considered the book a censurable 
 one, it was their duty, in the first place, to demonstrate its errors and crimes ; 
 and, in the second place, to discover the anonymous author — the former being 
 the question of relevancy, and the latter being the personal accusation and proof. 
 The action of the Presbytery of Paisley brought up all parties as appellants to 
 the Provincial Synod. This gave Mr Witherspoon the opportunity of showing 
 the irrelevancy by reviewing and vindicating the book without entering upon the 
 question of its authorship. In the course of his speech he mentioned that both 
 the Bishop of London [Sherlock] and the celebrated Warburton had pronounced 
 the book to be a good one, which might be read with profit by the English 
 clergy. (To these testimonials he afterwards added that of the Bishop of 
 Bristol.) 
 
 It appears from the records of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr that there 
 was a long debate at its meeting in October 1756. The appeal was by the 
 Magistrates and Town Council of Paisley. And other appellants were present, 
 representing the Kirk-Session, the Trades, and other seat-holders, and the Rev. 
 James Baine, minister of the High Church, Paisley (" the Swan of the West "), 
 Mr John Dalrymple, advocate, appeared for the appellants. Mr Witherspoon's 
 speech must have been made by him as a member of Synod during the " long 
 reasoning " which followed the pleadings. The Synod appointed a small com- 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 391 
 
 mittee to converse with the parties, in the hope of bringing about an amicable 
 accommodation. The committee returned with the draft of a motion in which 
 all the parties had acquiesced, and this became the Synod's decision : " The 
 Synod, without limiting the Presbytery's power of inquiring into the fama 
 clamosa relating to the ' Ecclesiastical Characteristics,' and without approving 
 or disapproving of the Presbytery's sentence, appoint the Presbytery of Paisley to 
 proceed to the moderation of a call to Mr Witherspoon with all convenient speed 
 according to the rules of the Church." 
 
 The call was transacted on 9th December, and on 16th June 1757 Mr 
 Witherspoon became minister of Paisley. In 1763 he published "A Serious 
 Apology for the ' Ecclesiastical Characteristics,' " dedicated to " The nobility and 
 gentry of Scotland, particularly such of them as are elders of the Church and 
 frequently members of the General Assembly." The pamphlet concludes thus : — 
 " We plead the cause that shall at last prevail. Religion shall rise from its 
 ruins ; and its oppressed state at present should not only excite us to pray, but 
 encourage us to hope, for its speedy revival." 
 
 For this result, as the leader of the Evangelical party in the General Assembly, 
 Dr Witherspoon (D.D. of St Andrews in 1764) prayerfully laboured. But the 
 new world summoned him to inaugurate a new era of learning and religion there. 
 In the eighteenth century a minister, removing to America, was regarded as a 
 Foreign Missionary. Zeal and a sense of duty conveyed Dr Witherspoon away 
 from Scotland. He arrived in America in August 1768, and entered upon his 
 work as President of Princeton College, New Jersey. The American Revolution 
 called forth his talents as a statesman, and he was a member of the Congress of 
 the United States from 1776 to 1783. His College was dispersed by the first 
 outbreaks of war, but soon revived. He did not relax his attentions to the 
 College and its pulpit, even when, in 1792, he lost his sight. With abiding 
 mental powers, his body gradually decayed, and he died 15th November 1794, 
 aged seventy-two. For the sake of students in the young Republic, President 
 Witherspoon 's writings, to an otherwise superfluous extent, were all printed ; 
 they fill nine duodecimo volumes. 
 
 W I T S I U S. 
 
 Herman Witt was a native of Euckhuysen in Holland {horn 1636, died 1708). 
 His great theological works are in Latin, and thus his surname was translated 
 into Witsius. Witt is the same word as our White, and, according to the 
 fashion of old and contemporary scholars, he might have handed down his name 
 
392 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 as Candidus. This he was content to remember as a hint to himself to be 
 candid, and on his seal there was engraved the adverb, Candide ; on one 
 occasion he pleasantly addressed Le Clerc, assuring him that he was writing with 
 his accustomed candour (quo soleo candore). Witsius was a pastor from 1657 to 
 1675 ; he was Professor of Theology from 1675 to 1707, at Franeker, Utrecht, 
 and Leyden successively. The event in his life most important to the British 
 churches was his visit to England in the summer of 1687 as chaplain to Dyk- 
 veldt, the Dutch envoy, when he made the acquaintance of the leading English 
 divines. 
 
 This led to the appeal made to him by London ministers some years after- 
 wards, to arbitrate on the differences of doctrines, which I have already described in 
 my chapter on Crisp's " Christ Alone Exalted," and in my abstract of Robert 
 Trail's celebrated " Letter from London." The result was the publication, in 
 1696, of the book known as Witsius' s Irenicum, which was received with 
 gratitude and admiration by readers acquainted with Latin. It was not till the 
 year 1807 that an English translation was published, the work of the late Rev. 
 Thomas Bell of Glasgow, a minister of the Relief Synod — (an ecclesiastical body 
 founded by the Rev. Messrs Gillespie of Carnock, and Thomas Boston, junior, of 
 Ettrick, Oxnam, and Jedburgh). The title of the English work, which is a 
 literal translation of the original, is " Conciliatory or Irenical Animadversions 
 (Animadversiones IrenicEe) on the controversies agitated in Britain under the 
 unhappy names of Antinomians and Neonomians." 
 
 That Dr Crisp's soundness in the faith should have been so largely vindi- 
 cated by the erudite and candid Witsius, is all the more gratifying, because, the 
 great preacher of Christ having been for more than half a century in his grave, 
 the vindication had to be carefully obtained from his posthumous volumes alone. 
 On the other hand, the so-called Neonomians escaped censure only through 
 explanations regarding their private evangelical creed, specially furnished to the 
 arbiter — explanations as to which it may be said of the Neonomian party as a 
 whole, that these were not samples of their regular pulpit ministrations. It 
 would have been better to bring glad tidings to sinners, and to bind up the 
 broken-hearted, Sabbath after Sabbath, than to please Witsius with one or two 
 plausible missives. 
 
 As to honest difficulties regarding the hope of eternal life, it would be well 
 to remember a sentence by Witsius : — 
 
 " We must accurately distinguish between a right to life and the possession 
 of life. The right to life must so be assigned to the obedience of Christ, that all 
 the value of our holiness may be entirely excluded. But certainly our works, 
 or rather those which the Spirit of Christ worketh in us and by us, contribute 
 something to the possession of life." — Chap, xvi., § 2; [that is, heaven must begin 
 upon earth]. 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 393 
 
 The following is the Dutch arbiter's concluding charge, which, on the whole, 
 is excellent, though the Apostle Paul would have disobeyed one of its counsels at 
 least : — 
 
 " Leaving the dangerous precipices of opinion, let us walk upon the easy, 
 plain, and safe way of Scripture, the simplicity of which is vastly preferable to 
 all the sublimity of high-swollen science. Let lis not be afraid to say what 
 Scripture says, as if any of its seemingly rugged sayings could be polished by 
 our more convenient phrases. Let us not by rigid, stubborn, and hyperbolical 
 phrases, unsanctioned by the wonted words of the Holy Spirit, sharpen any 
 moderate language which we encounter in the Scriptures. Let us give none 
 occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. If we find that some rather 
 incautious expressions have dropped from us, let us candidly and generously 
 cancel, correct, or retract them ; and as to expressions that have unwittingly 
 fallen from others, if it appear that they were not from an evil design, let us 
 rather assist them with a favourable interpretation than torture them with a 
 literal reproduction. Let us so assert the free grace of God, that no pretext be 
 given to the licentiousness of the flesh. Let us so extol free justification, that 
 nothing be derogated from sanctification. Let us so inculcate the one righteous- 
 ness of Christ, — the only righteousness that can stand accepted at the divine 
 tribunal, — that neither the utility nor the reward be denied which Scripture 
 assigns to our piety. In fine, let us so preach the saving grace of the Gospel, 
 that the most holy law may still have its place and its use. 
 
 " If on both sides we sincerely do these things, it will follow, through the 
 goodness of God, that instead of the quibbles of obscure controversy, the clear 
 day will begin to shine, and the day-star arise in our hearts. Instead of the 
 briars and brambles of thorny disputation, righteousness and peace will spring 
 out of the earth. Banishing the contentions of unhappy differences, we shall 
 all, as with one voice, celebrate the glorious grace of God in Christ, and shall, 
 with united strength, eagerly adorn the chaste bride, the Lamb's wife, with the 
 golden chain of Christian virtues. With which benefit, through the unsearch- 
 able riches of His free grace, may we be graciously honoured by the blessed God, 
 the only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immor- 
 tality, dwelling in light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen or can see, to whom 
 be honour and power everlasting. Amen. 
 
 " So I wrote and warmly urged at Utrecht on the 8th of the Kalends of 
 March 1696, and again at Leyden 1699." 
 
 3 n 
 
394 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 PASTOR ALBERT WOLTERS. 
 
 Albrecht Wolters, pastor of Bonn, the picturesque university seat on the 
 Rhine, deserves our gratitude for having given to the world a reprint of the first 
 edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, accompanied with a useful history of the 
 text, and with other biographical and illustrative matter. The size of the ori- 
 ginal catechism has been preserved, and a woodcut facsimile of the title-page is 
 prefixed. The catechism itself is reproduced page by page, and line by line, in 
 as exact facsimile as modern types will admit of. The words of the title-page 
 are, " Catechismus oder Christlicher Underricht wie der in Kirchen und Schulen 
 der Churfurstliehen Pfalz getrieben wirdt. Gedruckt in der Churfurstlichen Stad 
 Heydelberg, durch Johannem Mayer, 1563." The Scripture references on the 
 margins of the catechism give book and chapter, but not verse. 
 
 In 156*2, when the catechism was still in manuscript, and immediately 
 after its approbation and sanction by the Heidelberg Synod of December, a 
 Lutheran dissentient wrote an attack upon it. In 1867 this Lutheran manu- 
 script, which had just been discovered, was printed by Pastor Wolters. The 
 unique copy of the catechism was reprinted by him in 1864. Its existence had 
 been known, and it had been traced in its migrations through several libraries 
 before the tercentenary of the Heidelberg Catechism in 1863. But it had not 
 been available for publication in the tercentenary volume. Pastor Wolters was, 
 soon after the year 1864, translated to Halle. 
 
ADDITIONAL MEMOIRS. 
 
 MELCHIOR ADAM, Ph.M. 
 
 Of Melchior Adam, to whom all lovers of biography and history owe so much, 
 no regular biography has appeared. Romanists have not requited the impar- 
 tiality which he meted out to them. Professor Peter Lorimer, of London, has 
 done him justice in an article in the " Imperial Cyclopedia of Biography," which 
 I here abridge. 
 
 Melchior Adam was a native of Grothau, in Silesia, born in the last quarter 
 of the sixteenth century. He was educated, at the expense of a nobleman, at 
 the Protestant gymnasium of Brieg, where he attended for eight years. As a 
 member of the Evangelical Reformed Church, he went to the University of 
 Heidelberg, and studied theology there from 1598 to 1601. He was prize poet, 
 and took the degree of Master of Philosophy. He officiated as co-rector of the 
 Gymnasium of Heidelberg from 160G to 1613, when he succeeded to the rector- 
 ship of the gymnasium and to a chair in the University. It is said that latterly 
 he was parish pastor of Heppenheim. His life was shortened by natural delicacy 
 and by excessive study. He died in 1622. 
 
 Melchior Adam's great work was his " Lives of German Philosophers, Lawyers, 
 Physicians, and Theologians," written in Latin. His zeal in collecting materials 
 was such that he possessed upwards of sixty large volumes of funeral sermons, 
 eloges, programmes, &c, in manuscript and in print. All his theologians (in- 
 cluding twenty foreigners) were Protestants, but he showed no sectarian partiality, 
 and did full justice to his Lutheran heroes. And in the other three series of 
 lives he was equally fair to Roman Catholic literati. He omitted no names 
 except from a want of materials ; even his powers as a collector being not 
 unlimited. 
 
 REV. JAMES ANDERSON. 
 
 The Rev. James Anderson was born at Kirriemuir, in Forfarshire, in 1807, and 
 was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, and at the Theological Hall of the 
 
396 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Original Secession Synod in Edinburgh, presided over by Professor Paxton. He 
 was for some years a minister of his Synod in his native town, but owing to an 
 affection of the chest, he resigned his charge. He settled in Edinburgh, and 
 devoted himself to biographical literature. He first appeared as an author with 
 distinguished literary partners, viz. Dr M'Crie, Hugh Miller, Dr Fleming, and 
 Professor J. H. Balfour. Their joint work, the preface to which was dated 
 December 1847, was entitled, "The Bass Rock," and Mr Anderson's share con- 
 sisted of lives of " The Martyrs of the Bass." In 1850 he brought out his most 
 celebrated book, " The Ladies of the Covenant," containing memoirs of female 
 worthies of Scotland. In 1852, in consequence of an ecclesiastical union, Mr 
 Anderson became an Emeritus minister of the Free Church of Scotland. His 
 other works were, " The Ladies of the Reformation," two series (1854, &c), and 
 " Memorable Women in Puritan Times," two volumes, (18G2). He died on 15th 
 September 1875. 
 
 REV. JOHN ANDERSON. 
 
 The father of this scholarly and beloved man was Andrew Anderson, a Renfrew- 
 shire miner. John, the second son in the miner's family, born in 1804, was 
 educated for the ministry in the parish school of Eastwood, the University of 
 Glasgow, and the Divinity Hall at Perth, presided over by Dr William Taylor. 
 He became the first Presbyterian minister in the rising village of Helensburgh 
 (now, partly owing to his popularity, a town) in 1827. The ecclesiastical body 
 to which he belonged was a good old dissenting one, denominated the Associate 
 Burgher Synod, which, under the leadership of the Rev. Dr Michael Willis, was 
 incorporated in the Church of Scotland in 1839. Believing that Ebenezer and 
 Ralph Erskine would have regarded the General Assemblies of that time as " free, 
 faithful, and reforming," Mr Anderson heartily agreed to become a minister of the 
 Established Church. When the law-courts by decisive blows disabled the suc- 
 ceeding General Assemblies of the Establishment, Mr Anderson became a minister 
 of the Free Church of Scotland as organised in 1843. He died at Helensburgh 
 on 10th January 1867 in his sixty-third year. 
 
 The name of " Anderson of Helensburgh " had become celebrated in author- 
 ship. John Anderson had a vein of poetry which gracefully pervades his prose 
 writings. In 1839 he produced a tale of the Covenanting times, entitled, 
 " Patrick Wellwood " ; in 1841, a book for the young, " Precept and Example " ; 
 in 1843, "The Footsteps of the Flock" (two editions); in 1845, "Lays and 
 Laments for Israel" (original and selected), with introductory essay ; in 1846, 
 "Luther's Spiritual Songs" (translated); in 1848, " Chronicles of the Kirk"; 
 in 1850, " Pencillings in Palestine"; superseded in 1852 by "Wanderings in 
 the Land of Israel " ; and in 1855, by "Bible Light from Bible Lands." His 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 397 
 
 travels in the East resulted in the publication of a larger work of permanent 
 value, entitled, " The Life of Christ from the Cradle to the Cross," the preface of 
 which was dated December 1869. 
 
 Mr Spurgeon. in his London Tabernacle, took the first opportunity of pay- 
 ing a tribute to Mr Anderson's memory. He said : " During nearly all the term 
 of my ministry in London I have had the privilege of knowing a dear friend in 
 Christ Jesus, to whom my heart has been greatly knit — one of the noblest and 
 happiest of the sons of men. Yet it was not bodily vigour which made him so 
 uniformly joyous ; for, as long as I have known him, he has been of very weakly 
 constitution, so that, as often as the wintry months came on, he had to wend his 
 way to Egypt, Madeira, or South America, there to pass through the winter in 
 banishment, and return to his ministry as soon as the season allowed. A loving 
 heart and a large mind were blended in him ; he was always making friends, and 
 (I should say) never lost one. He was deeply interested in the work here, and 
 was much at home in the midst of this great assembly ; for our songs and praises, 
 which he compared to the noise of many waters, were sweet to his ear. Now it 
 pleased the Lord but a day or two ago that he should fall asleep. He thought that 
 perhaps he could labour through this winter, and his soul was warmed with holy 
 zeal to stay with his people if he could, and preach the gospel which he loved so 
 well. That zeal has cost his life. He wrote me one or two sweet letters on his 
 dying bed ; and when at last he closed his eyes, he uttered for his last testimony 
 words so like my own John Anderson, that I am sure nobody could have invented 
 them. His last words were, All right ! Yes — that is how a Christian man can live, 
 and how he can die. 'It is all right (saith he), it is well with me. It is right 
 here ; I have done my work and God accepts it. It is right up there ; Christ 
 has finished His work on my account.' . . . All right is it now, and all right it 
 shall be, with us also, if we are depending upon the finished work of the Well- 
 Beloved." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Mr John Oatt, of Glasgow, whose memoir I have abridged, does not mention 
 " Hymns from the Land of Luther," first series, which I have hitherto regarded 
 as a series of translations by Rev. John Anderson, of Helensburgh ; the second, 
 third, and fourth series being by anonymous poetical partners. As the com- 
 plete collection is before me, I cannot resist quoting a stanza from page 172 : — 
 
 Hallelujah ! I believe ! 
 
 Now no longer on my soul 
 All the debt of sin is lying; 
 
 One great Friend has paid the whole. 
 Ice-bound fields of legal labour 
 
 I have left with ail their toil, 
 While the fruits of love are growing 
 
 From a new and genial soil. 
 
398 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Rev. JAMES BANNATINE. 
 
 " An Essay on Gospel and Legal Preaching " was the title of a crafty pamphlet 
 fired off at the Marrow-men, in the same spirit as Erasmus challenged Luther, 
 by publishing a treatise on the Freedom of the Will. The author with some 
 eloquence and fervour discoursed on Gospel and Law, with affected impartiality, 
 but with a vein of most unfair insinuation against Mr Hog of Carnock and his 
 friends. The aim of his pamphlet was to disparage Gospel preachers, and to 
 throw a shield round those who neglected to preach the Gospel, by almost dis- 
 owning that there is such a thing as legalism. The pamphlet was anonymous, 
 and Mr Brown of Whitburn, and others, though professing to know, do not say, 
 who the author was. I have found a list of pamphlets in the handwriting of 
 that period with this item : " An Essay upon Gospel and Legal Preaching, by 
 Mr Ballantine, minister att Edr., anno 1723." That the author was a minister, 
 popularly known as " Mr Ballantine," appears from Riccaltoun's reply. Among 
 the Errata is the following in capital letters, "page 101. For Balentinus read 
 Valentinus." On turning to the page, I find this sentence, " Tertullian tells us 
 that Balentinus, the author of the sect of the Valentinians, was so swelled with 
 the conceit of his merit that it made him think of being made a bishop. I do 
 not think our Essayer is so very aspiring, &c." The erratum seems to have 
 been a jocular device to let the anonymous champion see that he 
 was found out. The tone and style are internal evidence in the same direction, 
 as will afterwards appear. [See Riccaltoun.] 
 
 His name was James Bannatine. He first appears as tutor in the family 
 of a Scotch Judge, Lord Arniston. While thus employed, he was licensed as a 
 preacher b} r the Presbytery of Dalkeith, 26th October 1703, being then in his 
 30th year. On 5th March 1707, he received a call to the Church of Whitting- 
 ham, in the Presbytery of Dunbar, and was ordained 19th June. On 30th June 
 1714, he was translated to the senior Colleagueship of Trinity College Church, 
 Edinburgh. Although not advanced to a Bishop's see or to a Professor's chair, he 
 was rewarded for appreciated services, by elevation to the Moderatorship of the 
 General Assembly in 1739, being preferred to two other candidates, Rev. John 
 Willison of Dundee, and Rev. James Naismyth of Dalmeny. I have not seen 
 his pamphlet published in 1737, — " Mistakes about religion amongst the causes 
 of our defection from the Spirit of the Gospel." It is said to be written in a 
 faultless style ; and probably it contained insinuations against the seceding 
 brethren. I conjecture this from the tone of his closing address as Moderator — 
 the insinuations in which address came with a bad grace from the majority of 
 unevangelical ministers whose mouth-piece he was. Alluding to the seceders, 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 399 
 
 he said, " When we behold others insisting so much on their Act and 
 Testimony, let us insist upon the testimony of Jesus Christ, the glorious Gospel 
 of God our Saviour." 
 
 In 1745 he and Mr Maxwell [see Maxwell] were candidates for the 
 Moderatorship, but Principal Wishart was elected. In 1748 Mr Bannatine's 
 daughter, Catherine, " a woman of great good sense and spirit," was married to 
 the famed Hugh Blair, D.D., described as " her cousin." Mackenzie, in his 
 " Life of Home," speaks of an Edinburgh clergyman of the name of " Ballantine" 
 as one of the moderate party, and an associate of Home, Alexander Carlyle, 
 Robertson, &c. If Mr Bannatine be meant, he must have been admitted into 
 such society as an admired veteran of the party. He died on 10th April 1756, 
 in his 82nd year. He left two sons — Rev. Hugh Bannatine, minister of Dirleton; 
 and Rev. George Bannatine, minister of the West Church, Glasgow (afterwards 
 St George's), who both died in 17 09, and were eidogised by Alexander Carlyle. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Dr Scott attributes the Essay on Gospel and Legal Preaching to Bannatine's 
 colleague, George Logan. But this is a mistake, arising from mixing up colleagues. 
 Bannatine came to Edinburgh in 1714; Logan not till 1732. The " Essay " 
 was written by a " minister of good abilities, with common consent of the leading 
 clergy," [says Brown, pp. 24] ; it was, in all probability, concocted in Edinburgh, 
 in 1722-23. The style was flowing and sometimes eloquent — quite different 
 from the style of George Logan, the lumbering antagonist of Thomas Ruddiman. 
 
 REV. JOHN BROWN [of Whitburn]. 1 
 
 The Rev. John Brown of Haddington had two sons in the Christian ministry, 
 John and Ebenezer. John, the eldest, was born in Haddington, 24th July 1754. 
 He was educated in the University of Edinburgh, and in the Divinity Hall of the 
 Associate Synod, and was licensed by the Associate Presbytery of Edinburgh, 21st 
 May 1776. He was ordained as its minister at Whitburn, in Linlithgowshire, 
 on 22nd May 1777, and continued there until his death on 10th February 1832, 
 He was the father of John Brown, D.D., of Edinburgh, whose association with 
 
 1 See the Memoir of Rev. J. Brown, by Rev. David Smith of Biggar, prefixed to " Letters 
 on Sanctification." 
 
400 THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 him in the preparation of " Letters on Sanctification," has already been described 
 (see Hervey.) 
 
 To Brown of Whitburn I am specially indebted for his doctrinal and bio- 
 graphical compilation on The Marrow, which is entitled, " Gospel Truth accurately 
 stated and illustrated," 1st edition, 1817 ; 2nd edition, 1831. This is quoted 
 with implicit reliance by Dr Hew Scott, in his " Fasti Ecclesise Scoticanse." Mr 
 Brown's letter to his son in 1806, on his ordination over the Associate Church 
 at Biggar, contains the principles of his own ministry, — " Be deeply concerned 
 about your own soul. This will fill you with concern for others. Read the 
 Word of God much, and be frequent in secret prayer. Be more [more than you 
 notu are?] acquainted with evangelical and practical divinity, such as Ebenezer 
 Erskine's, Dr Owen's, Trail's, &c. You cannot preach long without laying in 
 from these stores. Also, consult and be acquainted with your grandfather's works. 
 Besides what you have, or can get from some of your people, I shall send 
 you divinity books. Dress as neatly as you please in sermons, but let the 
 matter be always solid and savoury. Be kind and affable to all. Be diligent 
 among the young." 
 
 This faithful father and pastor was exemplary, not only in congregational 
 work, but also in deeds and undertakings, animated by a world-wide spiritual 
 philanthropy, the principles and theories of which were explained in a manual, 
 entitled, "Means of doing Good: proposed and exemplified, in several Letters 
 to a friend, by John Brown, Minister of the Gospel, Whitburn," Edinburgh, 
 1820. 
 
 He may be said to have died in harness ; " he had been confined to bed 
 only ten days, and spent only three silent Sabbaths," when, on the 1 0th Feb- 
 ruary 1832, he breathed his last. As to the solemn experience of dying, his 
 principle had been expressed by Robert Trail (in the sermons on the Throne of 
 Grace), in these beautiful words ; — " To shut the eyes and give the hand to 
 Christ — and to quiet the mind by trusting our Guide in this last step — is a 
 mighty blessing." 
 
 The following is the beginning of Letter VI. of his " Letters on Sanctifica- 
 tion," which was written by the author alone : — " My dear friend, I earnestly 
 wish you to rejoice in holiness as a great and unspeakable privilege. This is the 
 Scriptural view of it; and, under this conviction, I cordially agree with a judi- 
 cious and evangelical divine (William Arnot of Kennoway) in the following sen- 
 timents : — ' When the exercise of grace in the believer, and good works per- 
 formed by him, are confined to the list of his duties and virtues — and not con- 
 sidered in the first place as his gracious privileges, and beginnings of eternal life 
 within him — things obtain not their proper place in the system of grace. Grace 
 and good works in the believer are no less than the Holy Spirit working in him 
 both to will and do God's good pleasure. Therefore the exercise of grace and 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 401 
 
 good works in the believer, instead of entitling him to eternal rewards, are a part 
 of the eternal crown and reward, put in his possession while yet in the body.' 
 
 " At the same time we are not to forget that holiness is a duty, and tbis 
 always supposes a law — the law of God. In the law there is both direction and 
 obligation. 
 
 " There is a direction, and so it is called a light and a lamp. In this view 
 God deals with us as reasonable creatures. 
 
 " It also has in it an obligation, as an exhibition of the Divine authority. 
 A regard to this constitutes duty — a disregard to it, sin. Let us always remem- 
 ber that the law shews us our duty and binds us to it." 
 
 The opening of the First Letter is an example of Mr Brown's writing as 
 embellished in Herveian style by his son : — " It is with real satisfaction, my dear 
 Theron, that I sit down to pursue, by epistolary communication, those subjects 
 which have formed the principal theme of so many delightful, and, I trust, not 
 altogether useless, conversations. From the library window I perceive those fields 
 over which we saw the sower scattering the precious seed, covered with rich ver- 
 dure, and giving the promise of an abundant harvest. May I not indulge the hope 
 that the still more precious seed of the word, sown in your heart by the great 
 Husbandman through my humble endeavours, is already springing up in holiness 
 and consolation, and will one day ripen into perfection of purity and felicity ? 
 The subject before me is peculiarly engaging, nor is it wonderful that I am par- 
 tial to it. It is the foundation of all my present comfort, and all my hopes for 
 eternity ; and earnestly desiring, as I do, the happiness of my friend, I know no 
 better method of promoting it than by endeavouring to build him up, ON the most 
 
 HOLY FAITH." 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM DUNLOR 
 
 Mr BROWN ("Gospel Truth," p. 23) informs us that "Professor Dnnlop pub- 
 lished Strictures on the Marrow Doctrine, in his account of the Rev. W. Guthrie 
 of Fenwick, and in his Preface to his Collection of Confessions of Faith." But 
 this lamented young Professor does not appear to have taken any part in ecclesi- 
 astical proceedings against Mr Hog, &c. He died 29th October 1720, aged 
 twenty-eight. William Dunlop was the son of a great covenanter, Principal 
 Dunlop, and was born in Glasgow in 1692. He was licensed as a preacher in 
 1714, and in 1716 he became Professor of Church History in Edinburgh Uni- 
 versity, having been presented to the chair by the king, on the recommendation 
 
 3 E 
 
402 
 
 THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 of Principal Wishart. His Sermons, in two volumes, are much prized. Here is 
 an extract : — 
 
 " The principal act of faith is a relying on the Redeemer alone for salvation 
 — the resting and trusting in Him for eternal life. Such expressions, however 
 vilified and ridiculed by some who would impose upon the world a new scheme 
 of divinity, and turn Christianity into refined heathenism or a bare morality, are 
 the dialect of the Scriptures."- — Vol. ii. p. 239. 
 
 The following is an interesting family group : — 
 
 THREE SISTERS of William Mure of Glandereon. 
 
 Elizabeth Mure, 
 
 wife of Rev. Alex. Dunlop, 
 
 Minister at Paisley. 
 
 (he was born 1620, and 
 
 died 1667.) 
 
 Rev. William Dunlop, 
 
 Principal of the University 
 
 of Glasgow. 
 
 {died 1700.) 
 
 Married Sarah Carstaires. 
 
 Janet Mure, 
 wife of Rev. John Car- 
 staires, Minister at 
 Glasgow, 
 (he was born 1622, and 
 died 1686.) 
 
 Sarah Carstares. 
 
 Alexander Dunlop, 
 
 Professor of Greek in the 
 
 University of Glasgow. 
 
 (born 1684, died 1742.) 
 
 Margaret Mure, 
 
 widow of Rev. Zachary Boyd. 
 
 She re-married with 
 
 Rev. James Durham, 
 
 Minister at Glasgow. 
 
 (he was bom 1622, and 
 
 died 1658.) 
 
 No issue. 
 
 Rev. William Dunlop, jr., 
 
 Professor of Church 
 
 History, University of 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 (bom 1692, died 1720.) 
 
 Rev. William Carstares, 
 
 Secretary to King 
 
 William III., Principal of the 
 
 University of Edinburgh. 
 
 (born 1649, died 1715.) 
 
 He married a daughter of 
 
 Mr Kekewich of Trehawk. 
 
 No issue. 
 
 PRINCIPAL HADOW. 
 
 James Hadow was a native of Douglas, in Lanarkshire. He is first met with as 
 minister of Cupar, second charge, where he was settled in 169 2 in succession to 
 the episcopal " curate " of the past persecuting era. He was promoted to the 
 first charge on 30th October 1694, but left Cupar for the chair of divinity in 
 St Mary's College in St Andrews, on 5th April 1699. In the minutes of the 
 college he is called Principal Hadow for the first time in the year 1708. The 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 403 
 
 office of Principal of St Mary's College is a piece of Crown patronage. He was 
 also Rector of the College from 1725 to 1737. The Scots Magazine gives the 
 date of his death 4th May 1747. 
 
 He was generally respected, and was an excellent professor of Systematic 
 Theology ; but he seems to have failed to apprehend the scriptural method of 
 preaching the gospel to the poor and to sinners. It is strange that men of the 
 world are content to dream that Trail and Boston and the Marrow-men were 
 rigid Calvinists, and were censured as such. The fact is they were Calvinists 
 like Calvin ; but they did not admit that a sinner must become a theologian 
 before he can be a believer in Jesus. Principal Hadow, unlike Calvin, was the 
 type of what is called an ultra-Calvinist, who seems to hold that an enquirer 
 must have an intelligent acquaintance with the literature of the doctrine of Par- 
 ticular Redemption, before he can lay hold of the hope set before us and possess 
 this anchor of the soul. Though the great champion of theological strictness, he 
 was content to carry out his views by means of the votes of non-theological and 
 anti-theological members of Church courts. His ministerial and professional life 
 having been always within the bounds of the Synod of Fife, that Synod was 
 specially severe on Marrow-men. Principal Hadow published a sermon preached 
 before the Synod at St Andrews on 7th April 1719, entitled, "The Record of 
 God and Duty of Faith therein required ; " dedicated " To the Right Reverend 
 the Moderator, and the Reverend and Worthy the Ministers and Elders of the 
 Synod of Fife." Having a variegated but compact majority on his side, he relied 
 more upon the dignity and power of the church, and the necessity of uniformity 
 and subordination, than upon scriptural proofs. His sermon is a creditable per- 
 formance, which is more than can be said of his other work, " A Detection of the 
 Antinomianism of the Marrow of Modern Divinity." Riccaltoun, who styled the 
 author of the alleged " Detection " a politick disputant, severely condemned its 
 personalities. Any reader of Hadow's works may easily see that it is to him, 
 rather than to the Marrow-men, that imputations of rigidity and uncharitableness 
 apply. Yet both his pieces are valuable as having called out valuable statements 
 of gospel grace and truth in reply to them ; while they themselves, if read in the 
 light of the comments of the other side, may be profitably consulted as containing 
 able representations of some precious truths as to which both sides were at one. 
 
 REV. HUGH MAXWELL, M.A. 
 
 Mr Maxwell was the author of a volume, the appendix to which contains an 
 unfavourable review of " The Marrow of Modern Divinity," and also of the 
 
40+ THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Catechism by Mr Hamilton of Airth. As the anti-Marrow men relied more 
 upon votes than arguments, it is interesting to chronicle a book on their side. 
 Whether the author claimed relationship to the family of Maxwell of Pollock, I 
 know not, but his volume is dedicated thus : — " To the Honourable Sir John 
 Maxwel of Pollock, one of the Right Honourable the Lords of Council and Session, 
 a sincere lover of the orthodox faith which is after godliness, a true son of the 
 Church of Scotland, and her stedfast friend in all times and of the Protestant 
 succession by law established, a candid judge of learning, and a worthy pattern 
 of holiness and virtue. In testimony of the greatest esteem, this Sermon with 
 the Appendix and the Remarks upon the Marrow of Modern Divinity, pub- 
 lished at the desire of several ministers, is humbly dedicated. And with earnest 
 prayer for the increase of all grace and happiness unto his person and honourable 
 family, and in particular for his continuance in health, for the lasting advantage 
 of Church and State, is offered by his Lordship's most obedient and much obliged 
 servant, Hugh Maxwel." The title-page, which is without his name, runs as 
 follows : — " The Beauty and Purity of the Gospel Church, held forth in a Sermon 
 on Psalm xciii. 5 before the Synod of Angus and Mearns at Brechin, April 19, 
 1720, somewhat enlarged since, with an Appendix, aud with some remarks and 
 reflections upon the doctrines contained in the Marrow of Modem Divinity. 
 Edinburgh, printed for the Author, Anno Dom. MDCCXXI." Sermon, 147 pp. ; 
 Appendix, 91 pp. ; Remarks, 48 pp. 
 
 Hugh Maxwell was M.A. of the University of St Andrews, 2d March 1702, 
 and licensed in the same year as a preacher (July 1) by the united Presbytery 
 of Dundee, Meigle, and Forfar. He was minister of Tealing from 1703 to 1717, 
 minister of Forfar from 1717 to 1744, and minister of Strathmartin from 1744 
 till his death 30th January 1751, aged about sixty-nine. His daughter was 
 married to Rev. William Moncrief, minister of Kinnell, Forfarshire, and was the 
 mother of the Rev. David Moncrief, M.A., minister of Redgorton, Perthshire, from 
 1763 to 1811. 
 
 REV. NATHANIEL MORREN, M.A. 
 
 To this accomplished author I feel indebted for his two volumes of "Annals of 
 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland," with appendixes of biographi- 
 cal sketches, illustrative documents, and notes; the period is from 1739 to 
 1766. In 1835 he published vol. i. of "Biblical Theology," which, it is to be 
 regretted, was not continued ; he proceeded no further than "The Rule of faith." 
 He was a good linguist, and translated Rosemuller's " Biblical Geography." 
 Nathaniel Morren, who claimed good Huguenot descent, was born in Abei'deen 3rd 
 
DICTIONARY OF WRITERS. 405 
 
 Feb. 1798, and became M.A. of Marischal College in 1814. He was one of the 
 ministers of Greenock from 1823 to 1843, and died as minister of the first 
 charge of Brechin, 28th March 1847. 
 
 REV. HEW SCOTT, D.D. 
 
 The great obligations under which I lie to the magnificent volumes of Scottish 
 Church Annals, entitled Fasti Ecclesice Scoticance, are acknowledged by this brief 
 memoir of the learned and patriotic author. Hew Scott was a native of Haddington, 
 born about 1798. He studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, 
 and was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of Haddington in 1820. 
 He was ordained in 1829 for a foreign charge, but did not enter upon the 
 active duties of the ministerial office until 12th June 1839, when he was 
 inducted to the charge of Anstruther Wester. His talent for research led to his 
 receiving the status of a fellow of the Scottish Antiquarian Society. And in 
 1867 he received the degree of D.D. from the University of St Andrew's, where 
 he was known as an influential parish minister, and as having made a successful 
 start in the publication of his Fasti. The plan of his great work was to arrange, 
 under Synods and Presbyteries and Parishes, all the ministers of the Church of 
 Scotland since the Reformation, giving all ascertainable dates in their respective 
 careers, and every available biographical incident, accompanied with occasional 
 quotation of panegyrics earned by them. His leisure time for nearly fifty years 
 was devoted to this serviceable compilation, not only from printed books, but 
 specially from manuscript records of Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assem- 
 blies, and from testamentary and other registers throughout Scotland. This 
 elaborate information is carried on to June 1839. His own memoir, therefore, 
 is not included ; but himself, and ministers settled after his own induction, are 
 recorded in lists of names, with dates of inductions. The volumes appeared in 
 the following order : — 
 
 Vol. I., part 1. Synod of Lothian and Tweed dale, . . . 1866 
 
 „ part 2. Synods of Merse and Teviotdale, Dumfries, and 
 
 Galloway, . . . . . . 1867 
 
 Vol. II., part 1. Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, , . . 1868 
 
 ,, part 2. Synods of Fife, and Perth and Stirling, . 1869 
 
 Vol. III., part 1. Synods of Argyll, Glenelg, Moray, Ross, 
 
 Sutherland and Caithness, Orkney and Zetland, 1870 
 
 „ part 2. Synods of Aberdeen, and Angus and Mearns, . 1871 
 All the parts were published by Mr W. Paterson, 67 Princes Street, Edinburgh. 
 
40G THE THEOLOGY OF CONSOLATION. 
 
 Dr Scott has done hearty justice to the Marrow-Men. For instance, he 
 says as to Hog of Carnock : " To a vigorous judgment and solid learning, joined 
 to singular piety and tenderness, was added a degree of fortitude, which qualified 
 him, in no common degree, for the maintenance of his opinions. His stand in 
 defence of the doctrines in the Marrow of Modern Divinity was both ingenuous 
 and manly, though keenly opposed by the ecclesiastical politicians of the day ; " 
 and as to Ebenezer Erskine, he was " distinguished for straightforward good 
 sense, incorruptible integrity, and dauntless intrepidity." 
 
 The date of Dr Scott's death was 12th July 1872. His funeral sermon 
 was preached by Rev. John Millar, his old friend and neighbour, minister of 
 Largoward. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 I.— TEXTS OF SCEIPTUEE. 
 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 
 i. 
 
 KINGS. 
 
 
 
 
 PACK 
 
 
 
 iii. 15 
 
 
 85, 
 
 237 
 
 xix. 11, 
 
 12 
 
 iv. 16 
 
 
 
 151 
 
 
 
 v. 9 
 
 
 
 224 
 
 ii. 
 
 KINGS. 
 
 2 ?> 
 
 24 
 
 
 162 
 
 v. 23 
 
 
 xxxii. 
 
 28 
 
 
 166 
 
 vi. 15 
 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 xiv. 15 339 
 
 xv. 6 114 
 
 xvii. 11, 12 165 
 
 128 
 
 371 
 
 201 
 
 II. CHRONICLES. 
 
 xiv. 11 180 
 
 JOB. 
 
 xx. 1, 2 
 
 76 
 
 i. 5 
 vi. 10 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 
 xiv. 4 
 
 xvi. 21,22 108, 
 
 371 
 
 XV. 11 
 xvi. 2 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 
 7 
 
 xxi. 8, 9 
 
 363 
 
 xvii. 8, 9 
 
 xxiii. 21 
 
 107 
 
 xix. 25 
 xxii. 21, 22 
 
 DEUTERONOMY 
 
 
 xxiii. 10 
 
 iv. 1 
 
 157 
 
 xxxiii. 23, 24 
 
 xix. 6-19 
 
 335 
 
 xxxvi. 8, 9, 10 
 
 xxix. 29 21 
 
 , 66 
 
 xlii. 6 
 
 xxxii. 6 
 
 79 
 
 
 xxxiii. 25 18, 
 
 280 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 iv. 6 
 
 JUDGES. 
 
 
 ix. 18 
 
 ix. 9, 13 
 
 185 
 
 xv. 1-5 
 
 xiii. 19 
 
 262 
 
 xvii. 15 17 
 
 23 
 
 161 
 
 xix. 11 
 xxiv. 7 
 
 I. SAMUEL. 
 
 
 XXV. 11 
 
 vii. 12 
 
 145 
 
 xxvi. 3 
 
 xiv. 29 
 
 48 
 
 xxxii. 1, 2 
 
 179 
 223 
 114 
 224 
 201 
 223 
 188 
 331 
 6 
 296 
 147 
 291 
 302 
 
 204 
 
 215 
 
 152 
 
 170,223 
 
 164 
 
 262 
 
 14 
 
 85 
 
 14 
 
 xxxiii. 22 
 
 130 
 
 cvi. 5 
 
 192 
 
 xxxiv. 14 
 
 159 
 
 cviii. 7 
 
 163 
 
 xxxv. 12 
 
 179 
 
 ex. 3 
 
 57,73 
 
 27 
 
 156 
 
 cxvi. 1 
 
 18 
 
 xl. 2 
 
 160 
 
 12, 13 
 
 222 
 
 8 
 
 73 
 
 16 
 
 78 
 
 xli. 1 
 
 292 
 
 cxviii. 22 
 
 251 
 
 4 
 
 292 
 
 cxix. 32 
 
 136 
 
 11 
 
 164 
 
 49,50 
 
 223 
 
 xlii. 2 
 
 301 
 
 50 
 
 145, 382 
 
 xliii. 3, 4 
 
 375 
 
 50, 76 
 
 223 
 
 5 
 
 84 
 
 165 
 
 143, 149 
 
 xlvi. 1, 2 
 
 302 
 
 166 
 
 85 
 
 1. 15 
 
 296 
 
 exxii. 6 
 
 156 
 
 li. 5 
 
 114 
 
 exxv. 1 
 
 160 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 exxx. 3, 4 
 
 7 
 
 Iv. 6 
 
 161 
 
 4 78, 
 
 322, 358 
 
 Ix. 6 
 
 163 
 
 exxxviii. 3 
 
 18 
 
 lxviii. 13 
 
 303 
 
 8 
 
 144 
 
 18 
 
 388 
 
 
 
 lxxii. 17 
 
 388 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 lxxiii. 17 
 
 180 
 
 iv. 18 
 
 188 
 
 lxxvii. 10 
 
 84 
 
 ix. 5 
 
 114 
 
 lxxix. 8 
 
 9 
 
 xiii. 20 
 
 144 
 
 lxxxi. 13-16 
 
 73 
 
 xv. 8 
 
 549 
 
 lxxxii. 6 
 
 173 
 
 xvi. 32 
 
 169 
 
 Ixxxviii. 7 
 
 223 
 
 xx. 9 
 
 1W 
 
 lxxxix. 29 
 
 388 
 
 xxiii. 3 
 
 262 
 
 30-34 
 
 108,296 
 
 xxiv. 16 
 
 160 
 
 xc. 17 
 
 388 
 
 xxviii. 9 
 
 249 
 
 xcii. 12-14 
 
 184 
 
 xxx. 5 
 
 381 
 
 xciv. 13 
 
 201 
 
 
 
 ciii. 3, 4 
 
 54, 343 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 cv. 15 
 
 173 
 
 i. 5 
 
 375 
 
 cvi. 3 
 
 158 
 
 ii. 14 
 
 161,303 
 
408 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 iii. 11 
 
 
 387 
 
 v. 10 
 
 
 255 
 
 viii. 6 
 
 
 181 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 
 i. 18 114, 
 
 265 
 
 ,303 
 
 iii. 10 
 
 
 397 
 
 vi. 5 
 
 
 302 
 
 viii. 13 
 
 
 104 
 
 ix. 6 
 
 
 182 
 
 xxvi. 3 
 
 
 130 
 
 xxvii. 4 
 
 
 108 
 
 xxviii. 15-17 
 
 
 263 
 
 xxxviii. 19 
 
 
 214 
 
 xl. 31 
 
 
 188 
 
 xlii. 6 
 
 
 47 
 
 xliii. 5 
 
 
 25 
 
 24, 25 
 
 
 263 
 
 25 
 
 
 55 
 
 xlv. 9, 10 
 
 
 296 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 264 
 
 17,22,! 
 
 24 
 
 114 
 
 xlviii. 17 
 
 
 114 
 
 1. 10 18, 
 
 138 
 
 ,139 
 
 li. 1-5 
 
 
 20 
 
 liii. 6 
 
 42, 
 
 6-8 
 
 
 28 
 
 liv. 17 
 
 
 168 
 
 lv. 1 
 
 113, 
 
 265 
 
 1-3,7 
 
 
 114 
 
 6,7 
 
 
 98 
 
 7 
 
 
 220 
 
 lvii. 17, 18 
 
 
 263 
 
 19 
 
 
 154 
 
 lix. 1, 2 
 
 
 13 
 
 lxi. 10 
 
 
 372 
 
 lxiii. 11, 12 
 
 
 145 
 
 Ixiv. 4, 5 
 
 
 222 
 
 lxvi. 10, 11 
 
 
 156 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 
 iii. 12, 14 
 
 
 371 
 
 19 
 
 
 137 
 
 xiii. 23 
 
 
 114 
 
 xvii. 9 
 
 
 114 
 
 xviii. 1, 2, 3 
 
 
 296 
 
 xxiii. 6 
 
 
 51 
 
 29 
 
 
 183 
 
 xxxi. 1, 2 
 
 
 296 
 
 20 
 
 
 265 
 
 PAGE 
 
 xxxi. 33 73 
 
 xxxii. 27 275 
 
 1. 20 48, 371 
 
 LAMENTATIONS. 
 
 iii. 23 182 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 
 xxxv. 1 265 
 
 xxxvi. 25 114 
 
 26 275 
 
 26, 27 167 
 
 xii. 3 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 HOSEA. 
 
 223 
 
 ii. 14 263 
 19, 20, 23 281 
 
 23 137 
 
 iii. 5 77, 358 
 
 vi. 6 155 
 
 xi. 4 118 
 
 xiii. 9 114 
 
 xiv. 2 11, 166 
 
 3 154 
 
 4 114 
 5-8 184 
 
 MICAH. 
 
 iv. 10 
 
 ZEPHANIAH. 
 
 iii. 16-18 156 
 
 HAGGAI. 
 
 ii. 7 190 
 
 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 xiii. 1 114 
 
 xiv. 7 255 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 iii. 3 56 
 
 MATTHEW. 
 
 i. 21 13 
 
 iii. 7 119 
 
 v. 4 3 
 
 16 54,143 
 
 46, 47 250 
 
 v. 48 
 vi. 12 
 
 28 
 vii. 18 
 21 
 viii. 26 
 ix. 13 
 
 29 
 xi. 28 
 
 28, 29 
 
 28-30 
 xiii. 12 
 xiv. 31 
 xviii. 8, 9 
 
 11 
 xix. 16 
 xx. 8 
 
 15 
 xxii. 19 
 
 37-40 
 xxiii. 13 
 
 27, 28 
 xxv. 35, 36 
 
 TAGE 
 
 333 
 
 176 
 
 113 
 
 148 
 
 158 
 
 319 
 
 114 
 
 83, 130 
 
 227,265 
 
 4 
 
 276 
 
 188 
 
 138 
 
 85 
 114 
 
 71 
 159 
 296 
 381 
 
 32 
 379 
 265 
 149 
 
 MARK. 
 
 iv. 26 67 
 
 26-28 292 
 
 28 188 
 
 ix. 24 84,138 
 
 xi. 24 83 
 
 25 178 
 
 xvi. 9 371 
 
 14 352 
 
 15 66, 375 
 
 LUKE. 
 
 i. 38 201 
 
 74, 75 77 
 
 77-79 5 
 
 ii. 10 47 
 
 25 224, 375 
 
 iv. 24 1 1 
 
 vi. 32-34 250 
 
 45 244 
 
 vii. 47 78 
 
 viii. 47 177 
 
 xL 4 177 
 
 27 158 
 
 xii. 15 342 
 
 xiv. 23 373 
 
 xv. 20 265 
 
 xvii. 4, 5 
 
 179 
 
 10 
 
 222 
 
 xviii. 13 
 
 248 
 
 xix. 6, 8 
 
 39 
 
 10 
 
 114 
 
 42 
 
 265 
 
 xxi. 28 
 
 190 
 
 xxii. 28-30 
 
 223 
 
 xxiii. 28 
 
 300 
 
 42 
 
 97 
 
 xxiv. 47 
 
 95 
 
 •JOHN. 
 
 i. 12 44,264,352 
 iii. 15 20 
 
 16 20,28,66, 
 
 102, 112 
 
 17 6 
 
 36 264 
 v. 24 12 
 
 25 47 
 
 35 213 
 
 vi. 24 12 
 28,29 7,95,340 
 
 29 228, 243 
 
 32 251 
 
 35 44 
 
 37 20, 44, 113, 
 
 252 
 
 44, 45, 63 20 
 
 47 349 
 
 69 8 
 
 vii. 37 112,116 
 
 viii. 32 375 
 
 46 8 
 
 56 238 
 
 ix. 31 151 
 
 38 9 
 x. 10 187 
 
 28 161 
 
 xiii. 34 172, 243 
 
 34,35 17 
 
 xiv. 3 191 
 
 6 42, 46, 52 
 
 13, 14 151 
 
 15 73, 77 
 
 21 138, 158 
 
 21, 23 143 
 
 23 104 
 
 26 130, 224 
 
 xv. 2 187 
 
INDEX. 
 
 409 
 
 xv. 5 
 
 
 r\r.r. 
 114 
 
 5, 6 
 
 
 143 
 
 8 
 
 
 73 
 
 14 
 
 73 
 
 , 170 
 
 16 
 
 
 97 
 
 xvi. 7 
 
 
 382 
 
 8, 9 
 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 
 130 
 
 23, 24 
 
 
 151 
 
 31 
 
 
 8 
 
 33 
 
 
 80 
 
 xvii. 6 
 
 
 65 
 
 9 
 
 
 20 
 
 17 
 
 
 144 
 
 19 
 
 
 375 
 
 xix. 35 
 
 
 8 
 
 xx. 31 
 
 
 120 
 
 ACTS 
 
 
 
 i. 21-23 
 
 
 293 
 
 ii. 37 
 
 
 264 
 
 39 
 
 
 11 
 
 43 
 
 
 228 
 
 iii. 26 
 
 
 114 
 
 iv. 12 
 
 72 
 
 264 
 
 v. 17-41 
 
 
 338 
 
 ix. 20 
 
 
 119 
 
 22 
 
 
 188 
 
 31 
 
 
 142 
 
 x. 34, 35 
 
 
 11 
 
 43 
 
 
 349 
 
 xi 13, 14 
 
 
 11 
 
 xiii. 38, 39 
 
 
 120 
 
 39 
 
 
 264 
 
 xiv. 1 
 
 
 228 
 
 xv. 9 144, 
 
 216, 
 
 220 
 
 11 
 
 12, 
 
 137 
 
 xvi. 31 20, 
 
 66, 
 
 205 
 
 xvii. 2, 3 
 
 
 120 
 
 xviii. 27 
 
 
 119 
 
 xx. 23 
 
 
 334 
 
 xxiv. 15 
 
 
 9 
 
 16 
 
 
 142 
 
 xxvii. 25 
 
 
 8 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 
 i. 11, 12 
 
 
 382 
 
 24 
 
 
 67 
 
 ii. 13 
 
 
 158 
 
 iii. 20 
 
 
 92 
 
 iii. 25 9, 118 
 
 27 107 
 
 28 290 
 28, 31 50 
 31 105 
 
 iv. 1, 2 237 
 
 5 43, 48, 96, 
 
 113 
 
 11 181 
 
 16 231, 239 
 
 17 83 
 20 320 
 20, 21 8 
 22-25 230 
 25 182 
 
 v. 1 39 
 
 1,2 135 
 
 1-5 15, 25 
 
 1-5, 11 152 
 
 3, 4, 5 136 
 
 4, 5 138 
 6 60 
 
 9 371 
 
 10 182 
 12 204 
 
 19 231 
 
 20 96 
 20, 21 105 
 
 21 222 
 vi. 1 59 
 
 1, 2 96 
 
 2-11 219 
 
 14 106,167, 
 
 218,244 
 
 vii. 4 330 
 
 6 105 
 
 7 204 
 15 161 
 16-20 156 
 
 18 13 
 24 223 
 24, 25 276 
 
 viii. 1 160 
 1,5,9,14 152 
 
 1, 34 10 
 
 3 205 
 
 7,8,2 114 
 
 14 149 
 
 15 333 
 
 16 137,141,158 
 
 3 
 
 viii. 16, 17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 136 
 
 xvi. 13 
 
 PATE 
 
 1G6, 388 
 
 18 
 
 28 51 
 
 296 
 ,242,296 
 
 II. CORINTHIANS. 
 
 30 
 
 39, 148 
 
 i. 3 
 
 201 
 
 33, 34 
 
 135 
 
 4,5 
 
 382 
 
 34 
 
 182 
 
 5 
 
 223 
 
 37 
 
 166,299 
 
 12 
 
 143 
 
 ix. 15 
 
 46 
 
 20 
 
 201 
 
 20, 21 
 
 296 
 
 22 
 
 145 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 24 
 
 119 
 
 x. 3 
 
 236 
 
 iii. 5 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 76,330 
 
 18 
 
 144, 303 
 
 6-8 
 
 215 
 
 iv. 17, 18 
 
 296 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 v. 5 
 
 137, 145 
 
 14 
 
 290 
 
 14 
 
 39 
 
 14, 15 
 
 350 
 
 14, 19, 20 20 
 
 17 
 
 229 
 
 17 
 
 242 
 
 xi. 26, 27 
 
 114 
 
 20 
 
 243 
 
 xii. 1 42, 
 
 279, 284, 
 
 21 50, 
 
 235, 298, 
 
 
 312,383 
 
 
 349,372 
 
 10 
 
 172 
 
 vi. 16 
 
 284 
 
 11, 12 
 
 16 
 
 vii. 1 
 
 187 
 
 xiii. 1 
 
 325 
 
 4 
 
 156 
 
 8,9,10 171 
 
 6 
 
 224 
 
 xiv. 17 
 
 128,156 
 
 6,7 
 
 224 
 
 xv. 4 
 
 39 
 
 7 
 
 382 
 
 I. CORINTHIANS. 
 
 viii. 1 
 12 
 
 175 
 161,219 
 
 i. 27-31 
 
 81 
 
 x. 4,5 
 
 374 
 
 30 39, 66, 89, 
 
 15 
 
 189 
 
 
 264 
 
 xii. 9 
 
 129,165 
 
 ii. 1, 2 
 
 137 
 
 xiii. 5 
 
 141, 213 
 
 2 60, 
 
 120,185 
 
 5, 6 
 
 68 
 
 4,5 
 
 138 
 
 8 
 
 292 
 
 12 
 15, 16 
 
 138 
 116 
 
 GALATIANS. 
 
 iii. 22 
 
 372 
 
 i. 4 
 
 26 
 
 vi. 9, 10 
 
 36 
 
 6 
 
 292 
 
 17 
 
 332 
 
 7,8 
 
 337 
 
 19, 20 
 
 77 
 
 ii. 5 
 
 278 
 
 20 
 
 85, 284 
 
 20 62 
 
 , 66, 142, 
 
 vii. 14 
 
 11 
 
 
 309, 338 
 
 viii. 3 
 
 171 
 
 21 
 
 65 
 
 xi. 31 
 
 146 
 
 iii. 1 
 
 306 
 
 xii. 3 
 
 14, 185 
 
 2 
 
 139, 290 
 
 ... . 
 
 xm. 1 
 
 174 
 
 10 
 
 34, 157 
 
 13 
 
 170,238 
 
 13 
 
 72, 182 
 
 xiv. 22 
 
 350 
 
 14 
 
 171 
 
 xv. 3, 4 
 
 6 
 
 29 
 
 144 
 
 10 
 
 223 
 
 iv. 28 
 
 144 
 
410 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 v. 6 151 
 22 171 
 22, 23 46 
 
 vi. 2 206 
 
 I. THESSALONIANS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i. 4, 5 145 
 
 iii. 5 
 
 8 
 
 PAGE 
 
 244 
 70, 73 
 
 ii. 21 
 24 
 
 PACE 
 
 169 
 145 
 
 5 84,137 
 10 119 
 
 18 
 
 54, 144 
 
 iii. 2, 9, IC 
 iv. 7 
 
 169 
 244 
 
 10 174 
 
 iii. 13 144 
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 v. 13 
 
 296 
 
 
 iv. 1 188 
 
 i. 1 
 
 249 
 
 
 
 EPHESIANS. 
 
 13 143 
 
 3 
 
 60, 117 
 
 I. PETER. 
 
 i. 6, 7 11 
 
 14 382 
 
 iii. 6 
 
 4, 10 
 
 i. 5 
 
 59 
 
 13 146 
 
 16 192 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 6,7,8 
 
 296 
 
 14 145 
 
 v. 8 244 
 
 iv. 3 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 145 
 
 17-23 120 
 
 9 343 
 
 16 
 
 150 
 
 13 
 
 20 
 
 ii. 1 47 
 
 23 249 
 
 v. 19 
 
 153 
 
 16 
 
 143 
 
 1-3,10 114 
 
 
 vi. 2 
 
 20 
 
 ii. 17 
 
 174 
 
 3 108 
 10 59 
 
 II. THESSALONIANS. 
 
 6, 10,11 
 
 223 
 
 19 
 
 143 
 
 i. 3 189 
 
 10 
 
 178 
 
 iii. 16 
 
 144 
 
 iv. 11, 15 187 
 
 ii. 13 144 
 
 11 
 
 244 
 
 v. 10 
 
 200 
 
 15 184 
 30 137 
 
 16 8 
 16, 17 19 
 
 11, 12 
 
 18 8, 
 
 15 
 119, 231, 
 
 II. PETER. 
 
 v. 1 158 
 
 17 85 
 
 
 321,342 
 
 i. 3 
 
 86 
 
 1,2 170 
 6 205 
 30 235 
 
 I. TIMOTHY. 
 
 i. 4 231 
 
 19 
 vii. 25 
 27 
 
 9 
 182 
 
 182 
 
 4 
 6,7 
 
 7 
 
 144, 173 
 152 
 174 
 
 vi. 18 165 
 
 8 70 
 
 viii. 1 
 
 117 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 
 13 352 
 
 10 
 
 52, 281 
 
 10 
 
 148, 157 
 
 
 15 94, 114, 182, 
 
 ix. 14 
 
 105 
 
 10, 11 
 
 16 
 
 PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 333 
 
 x. 19-22 
 
 7 
 
 iii. 4 
 
 190 
 
 i. 6 14,145 
 
 16 116 
 
 22 
 
 20, 137 
 
 13 
 
 190, 191 
 
 11 148 
 
 iii. 16 184, 205 
 
 25 
 
 180 
 
 16 
 
 228 
 
 20,21 214 
 
 vi. 12 163 
 
 31 
 
 150 
 
 17, 18 
 
 184 
 
 27 375 
 
 20 376 
 
 xi. 1 
 
 25, 237 
 
 18 
 
 186, 217 
 
 ii. 1 5, 375 
 
 
 27 
 
 238 
 
 
 
 1,2 200 
 
 II. TIMOTHY. 
 
 xii. 6 
 
 55, 330 
 
 I. JOHN. 
 
 12, 13 86 
 
 i. 2 8 
 
 7 
 
 223 
 
 i. 3, 4 
 
 119 
 
 24 145 
 
 7 166 
 
 11 
 
 296 
 
 7 
 
 51 
 
 iii. 3, 4 146 
 
 9 12 
 
 14 
 
 143 
 
 ii. 1 
 
 50, 234 
 
 5-8 362 
 
 12 280, 343 
 
 24 
 
 51 
 
 1,2 
 
 42 
 
 13 187 
 
 ii. 19 171 
 
 28, 29 
 
 358 
 
 7,8 
 
 172 
 
 iv. 4 136 
 
 iii. 5 68 
 
 xiii. 1 
 
 172 
 
 12 
 
 16 
 
 
 iv. 8 190, 193 
 
 5 
 
 215 
 
 14 
 
 165 
 
 COLOSSIANS. 
 
 
 15, 16 
 
 154 
 
 14, 15 
 
 166 
 
 
 TITUS. 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 164 
 
 i. 10 189 
 
 i. 2 9 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 27 
 
 41 
 
 13 77, 145 
 
 15 114 
 
 i. 6 
 
 151 
 
 iii. 3 
 
 9 
 
 16,19,27-29 122 
 
 ii. 10 143 
 
 6,7 
 
 137 
 
 9 
 
 59 
 
 27 145 
 
 11, 12 42, 57 
 
 17 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 17, 147 
 
 ii. 2 20 
 
 11-14 90 
 
 25 
 
 164 
 
 15 
 
 104 
 
 6, 7 119 
 
 14 39, 59, 143, 
 
 26 
 
 169 
 
 18, 19 
 
 16 
 
 19 184 
 
 153 
 
 ii. 8 
 
 171 
 
 18-21 
 
 18, 148 
 
 iii. 1, 2 39, 192 
 
 iii. 3 177 
 
 18 
 
 143 
 
 19 
 
 141, 148 
 
 13 178 
 
 3-7 114 
 
 20 
 
 148 
 
 22, 23 
 
 18 
 
INDEX. 
 
 411 
 
 iii. 23 
 
 PAGE 
 
 7,20,95,120 
 
 v. 10 
 
 PAGE 
 
 340 
 
 REVELATION. 
 
 xiv. 4 
 
 PAGE 
 
 388 
 
 24 
 
 152 
 
 10, 11 
 
 137 
 
 PAGE 
 
 13 
 
 164 
 
 iv. 7 
 
 171 
 
 13 
 
 139 
 
 i. 6 41, 352 
 
 xvii. 14 
 
 164 
 
 13 
 
 152 
 
 13-15 
 
 18 
 
 7 180 
 
 xxi. 7 
 
 163 
 
 14, 
 
 16 137 
 
 14, 15 
 
 343 
 
 8 54 
 
 xxii. 1 
 
 192 
 
 17 
 
 150 
 
 
 
 ii. 4 77 
 
 17-20 
 
 47, 112, 
 
 18 
 
 104 
 
 JUDE. 
 
 
 19 188 
 
 
 114, 388 
 
 19 
 
 171,341 
 
 
 
 iii. 19 55 
 
 20 
 
 180, 190 
 
 21 
 
 17, 73 
 
 3 
 
 165 
 
 iv. 9 276 
 
 
 
 v. 1 
 
 301 
 
 12, 13 
 
 59 
 
 v. 6 300 
 
 
 
 4,5 
 
 166 
 
 20 
 
 401 
 
 xii. 11 167 
 
 
 
 II— WRITERS MEMORIALISED. 
 
 Adams, T., 157, 163, 187, 
 
 191, 197,199 
 Alting, H.,39, 148, 197, 201, 
 
 311 
 Ames, W., 170, 198,203 
 Bastingius, 74, 197, 206, 210 
 Bates, W., 78, 122,197,206, 
 
 322 
 Bathgate, J., 198, 207, 251, 
 
 294 
 Bonar, J., 198, 208, 385 
 Boston, T., 39, 64, 65, 69, 
 
 77, 97, 99, 101, 109, 
 
 133, 177,180,183,198, 
 
 210,217,229,241,282, 
 
 283, 301, 304, 373 
 Bridge, W., 176, 178, 179, 
 
 188, 198, 216 
 Brisbane, J., 149, 198, 217, 
 
 282, 288 
 Brown, J. (Haddington), 3, 
 
 89, 113, 183, 197, 221, 
 
 289, 387, 399 
 Brown, J. (Whitburn), 99, 
 
 198, 252, 284,375, 399 
 Calvin, 37,71,198,224,252, 
 
 264, 278, 367, 403 
 Cole, T., 198,226 
 Colquhoun,J.,133, 142, 156, 
 
 181, 184,190,198,209, 
 
 229 
 
 Coward, W., 114, 198,231 
 Crisp, T., 42, 69, 91, 93, 
 
 115. 197, 232, 343, 
 
 392 
 Cross, W., 198, 237 
 Cudworth, W., 20, 85, 197, 
 
 240 
 Davidson, H., 198,211,241, 
 
 377 385 
 De Witte, P., 38, 197, 245 
 Dwight, T., 198, 248 
 Erskine, E, 99, 101, 109, 
 
 143,198,207,225,250, 
 
 261,262,275,282,319, 
 
 376, 385, 405 
 Erskine, R., 100, 143, 144, 
 
 198,218,220,221,262, 
 
 282, 369, 377, 385 
 Felltham, O., 197, 255 
 Eisher, E., 61, 70, 73, 97, 
 
 197, 211,259 
 Fisher, J., 143, 144, 198, 
 
 221, 253, 384, 385 
 Flavel, J., 77, 92, 156, 182, 
 
 197, 264 
 
 Frederick III., Elector Pala- 
 tine, 31, 197, 266 
 Fuller, A., 140, 172, 192, 
 
 198, 271, 273 
 
 Gill, J., 17, 42, 80, 98, 149, 
 153,154,164, 171,172, 
 
 180, 193, 197,234,272, 
 
 283, 344 
 Gillet, J. F. A., 197, 276 
 Goodwin, T., 185, 198, 277 
 Goodwin, T., jun., 197, 278 
 Guyse, J., 115, 124, 198, 
 
 279 
 Hamilton, A., 198, 218, 280, 
 
 385, 404 
 Hamilton, W., 198, 261, 282, 
 
 288 
 Hervey,J.,85, 109, 197, 240, 
 
 283, 389, 401 
 Hog, J., 97, 99, 198, 208, 
 
 251.285, 314,332,369, 
 
 373, 380, 405 
 Hooker, R., 198, 297 
 Hubbard, J., 115, 198, 298 
 Hunter, W., 198, 301 
 Kid, J., 198, 304, 374, 376 
 Leydekker, M., 197, 285, 
 
 305 
 Luther, 25, 65, 69, 97, 100, 
 
 197,252,260,276,278, 
 
 306, 348 
 Manton, T., 145, 149, 169, 
 
 198, 207, 310 
 Maresius, 197, 204, 310 
 Marshall, W., 81, 93, 197, 
 
 278, 283, 284, 294, 
 
 312 
 
412 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mohn, W., 38, 197, 315 
 Mylius, C, 176, 197, 315 
 Nevin, J. W., 197, 316 
 Olevianus, 31,197,266, 317, 
 
 354 
 Owen, J., 93, 123, 198, 238, 
 
 278, 318, 336 
 Pareus, D., 148, 197, 210, 
 
 269, 324, 383 
 Parry, H., 197, 325, 363, 
 
 380 
 Eeynolds, E., 198, 319, 328 
 Riccaltoun, R., 198, 220, 
 
 259, 275,309,314,334, 
 
 398 
 Ridgley, T., 76, 145, 168, 
 
 178, 183,197,234,305, 
 
 341 
 
 Roefl, H., 197, 344 
 Romaine, W., 168, 169, 198, 
 
 283, 345 
 Sandys, E, 26, 197, 297, 
 
 347 
 Simpson, S., 198, 349 
 Strackius, T., 197, 353 
 Trail, R., sen., 198, 354,360 
 Trail, R.,jun., 93, 100, 198, 
 
 226, 319, 344, 356, 400 
 Tuckney, A., 174, 198, 361 
 Turner, W., 38, 197, 363 
 Ursinus, 31, 74, 148, 197, 
 
 266, 326, 354, 367 
 Van der Kemp, 197, 368 
 Wardlaw, J., 198, 251, 253, 
 
 254, 369, 377, 385 
 
 Watson, C, 127, 198, 370 
 Watson, T., 144, 145, 165, 
 
 179, 189, 198, 370 
 Williamson, J., 100, 198, 
 
 372 
 WUson, G., 101, 198, 211, 
 
 241, 304, 374, 375,385 
 Wilson, T., 153, 198, 225, 
 
 380 
 Wilson, W., 198, 253, 384, 
 
 385 
 Witherspoon, J., 79, 125, 
 
 197, 322, 389 
 Witsius, H., 42, 197, 274, 
 
 283, 391 
 Wolters, 31, 197, 394 
 
 III— WRITERS QUOTED. 
 
 Anderson, James, 198, 233, 
 
 234, 395 
 Anderson, John, 29, 198, 
 
 307, 396 
 Augustin, 158, 316, 383 
 Bonar, Arch., 209 
 Caryl, J., 61, 260 
 Chrysostom, 298, 383 
 Clark, Sam., 121 
 Cowper, W., 125 
 Currie, J., 125, 377, 386 
 DAubigne, J. H. M., 224, 
 
 306 
 
 Dunlop, W., 198, 401 
 Gibson, Edmund, 123 
 Goulburn, E. M., 126 
 Henry, Matthew, 121 
 Jennings, J., 12, 116 
 Justin Martyr, 298 
 Mather, Increase, 123, 264 
 Moncreiff, Sir fl. W., 21 
 Schaff, P., 40, 316 
 Scott, Hew, 198, 217, 242, 
 
 295, 304, 405 
 Sibbes, R., 260, 277 
 
 Spurgeon, C. H., 235, 397 
 
 Stevenson, J., 20 
 
 Strype, J., 364 
 
 Thelwall, J., 31, 327, 366, 
 
 368 
 Walker, James, 62 
 Watts, Isaac, 115 
 Wood, Anthony a, 61, 233, 
 
 259, 320, 327, 363 
 Wood, James, 115 
 
 IV.— SURNAMES, <fec, FOR STUDENTS OR GENEALOGISTS. 
 
 Abercorn, Earl of, 232 
 Adam, Melchior, 198, 306, 
 
 395 
 Alting, J., 203, 311 
 Ames, W., jun., 203 
 Anderson, A, 290 
 Anglesea, Earl of, 239 
 Angus, J., 199 
 Annan, 356 
 
 Ap Harry, 326 
 Areskine (see Erslcine). 
 Aristotle, 64, 381 
 Arminius, J., 225 
 Arniston, Lord, 398 
 Arnot, W., 400 
 Athol, Marquis of, 357 
 Badger, 200 
 Bagwell, J., 382 
 
 Baine, J., 390 
 Balderston, 263, 275 
 Balfour, J. H., 396 
 Balgay, K, 297 
 Bannatine, J., 198, 337, 398 
 Barnes, 326 
 Baxter, R., 207 
 Bayle, 203, 310 
 Beard, T., 270, 307 
 
INDEX. 
 
 413 
 
 Bell, B., 282 
 
 Bell, T., 392 
 
 Bellamy, J., 83, 109 
 
 Bellarmine, 203, 325 
 
 Beza, 264, 318, 367 
 
 Birch, 342 
 
 Birckman, 366 
 
 Blackball, J., 242, 301 
 
 Blackwood, 363 
 
 Blair, H., 399 
 
 Blanch ard, 310 
 
 Bland, 347 
 
 Bliss, P., 257 
 
 Bloome, 200 
 
 Bogue and Bennett, 235, 279 
 
 Bohemus, M., 246 
 
 Bolingbroke, Viscount, 283, 
 
 310 
 Bonar, 209 
 Boston, M., 213 
 Boston, T.,jun., 213, 392 
 Bouillon, Due de, 311 
 Bourignon, A., 290 
 Bradshaw, W., 204 
 Bradwardine, 278 
 Bragge, 279 
 Brantius, 353 
 Brown, 223 
 
 Brown, Eb., 222, 263, 399 
 Brown, J., D.D., 223, 261, 
 
 399 
 Brown, J., M.D., 223 
 Brown, K., 211, 294 
 Brown, W., 292 
 Bruce, A., 289 
 Bruce, J., 342 
 Buchan, 263 
 Buchanan, T., 253 
 Bullinger, H., 365, 367 
 Burroughs, J., 260 
 Cadogan, W. B., 345 
 Calaray, E., 318, 382 
 Callander, 347 
 Campbell, G., 210 
 Campbell, Sir H., 290 
 Campbell, J., 338 
 Candlish, R. S, 19 
 Carlyle, A., 209, 399 
 Carmichael, Lord, 287 
 Carstaires, 402 
 Cato, 256 
 
 Chalmers, J., 290 
 Chalmers, T., 21 
 Chambers, R., 254 
 Chandler, S., 115, 279 
 Charteris, S., 369 
 Chauncy, T., 341 
 Chester, J. L., 236 
 Cicero, 169, 178 
 Clarkson, D., 207, 320 
 Clemens, Alexandr., 165 
 Cocceius, 197, 305, 318 
 Cole, P., 351 
 Conder, J., 280 
 Coppenstein, J. A., 353 
 Couper, D., 370 
 Coventrie, R, 386 
 Coward, 232 
 Cranstoun, J., 386 
 Crisp, Sir K, 233 
 Crocius, L., 354 
 Crosse, R., 327 
 Crum, 263 
 Culverwell, 360 
 Cumming, James, 257 
 Currier, 209 
 Dalrymple, J., 390 
 Dandrige, B., 342 
 Darling, 213 
 Deans, A., 334 
 De Coetlogon, 345 
 Desmarets, 310 
 D'Espagne, 290 
 Dick, J., 110 
 Dicky, W., 292 
 Doddridge, P., 342 
 Dolins, LadyM., 342 
 Drummond, J., 212, 386 
 Drummond, Lt.-Gen., 239 
 Du Moulin, 324 
 Dunlop, 402 
 Dysert, J., 210 
 Eadie, J., 384 
 Eames, J., 341 
 Edgar, R., 376 
 Edwards, John, 91 
 Edwards, Jonath., 248 
 Electors-Palatine, 266, 271 
 Eliot, A., 386 
 Elizabeth, Q., 268 
 Elliot, Sir G., 342 
 Ellys, SirR., 342 
 
 Elzevir, 38 
 
 Emett, 320 
 
 Erastus, 318 
 
 Erskine, H., 209, 251, 253, 
 
 263 
 Erskine, J., 342 
 Erskine, J., D.D., 253 
 Essenius, 210 
 Ewan, 209 
 Ewing, 263 
 Farquhar, J., 386 
 Felltham, 258 
 Ferrier, A., 384 
 Fishar, 261 
 Fisher, 263 
 Fleming, J., 396 
 Forbes, D., 342 
 Forbes, J., 386 
 Fowler, C, 236 
 Fox, G. T., 345, 347 
 Fraser, D., 250, 253 
 Frederick V., 200 
 Freer, G, 386 
 Galen, 381 
 Gib, A., 289 
 Gib, J., 386 
 Gillespie, G., 384, 385 
 Gillespie, P., 280 
 Gillespie, T., 392 
 Glas, J., 242 
 Goold, W. H., 319 
 Goode, W., 345 
 Goodsir, J., 385 
 Gouge, T., 341 
 Govett, 347 
 Gow, J., 386 
 Gray, 263 
 Gray, A., 357 
 Gray, R, 385 
 Gregory, Nyssen, 161 
 Guilnomma, 197 
 Guthrie, J., 280, 356, 384 
 Haag, E. and E, 206, 311 
 Hadow, J., 198, 251, 280, 
 
 294, 335, 374, 402 
 Halcro, 251,263 
 Hall, J., 255 
 Hall, Sir T., 232 
 Haly, W., 386 
 Halyburton, T., 287, 291 
 Hamilton, Duchess of, 287 
 
414 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hamilton, J., D.D., 345 
 
 Hamilton, J., M.D., 282 
 
 Hamilton, R., 282 
 
 Harding, J., 328 
 
 Harper, J., 250 
 
 Harrison, 366 
 
 Hart, W., 386 
 
 Haweis, T., 345 
 
 Haworth, 279 
 
 Hay, J., 282 
 
 Henderson, W., 385 
 
 Heppe, H., 269 
 
 Herzog, J. J., 305 
 
 Heshusius, 266 
 
 Hill, R., 274 
 
 Hill, T., 274 
 
 Hog, T., 286 
 
 Homer, 178 
 
 Hooker, T., 260 
 
 Hoornbeck, 245 
 
 Horsley, S., 282 
 
 Hulsius, 197 
 
 Hunter, D., 289 
 
 Huntingdon, Countess of, 2 2 2 , 
 
 240 
 Hurrion, J., 342 
 Hyde, 263 
 Ignatius, 173 
 Innes, J., 386 
 Jackson, 258 
 Jacomb, 122, 207 
 Jaggard, 381 
 Jamieson, J., 289 
 Jansen, C, 305 
 Jenks, B., 283 
 Jerome, 159 
 Jewel, J., 297, 326 
 Jobn Casimir, 269 
 Johnes, 366 
 Jobnston, J., 385 
 Jones, T., 274 
 Junius, F., 350 
 Keckerman, 381 
 Kekewich, 402 
 Kempis, T. a, 90 
 Ker, J., 386 
 Killigrew, H., 268 
 Klebitz, 266 
 Kingston, 200 
 Lagus, 354, 368 
 Laidlie, 317 
 
 I.aing, R., 384, 386 
 
 Lampe, 318 
 
 Latimer, H., 364 
 
 Laud, W., 216, 328 
 
 Leechman, W., 125 
 
 Leigh, T., 231 
 
 L'Enfant, J., 197 
 
 Lever, T., 367 
 
 Lieber, T., 318 
 
 Lindsay, Lord, 359 
 
 Lindsay, H., 342 
 
 Lob, S., 278 
 
 Logan, A., 374 
 
 Logan, G. 399 
 
 Lookup, J., 208 
 
 Lorimer, P., 395 
 
 Lorimer, W., 278 
 
 Love, C, 310 
 
 Lovelace, W., 326 
 
 Lutber, Paul, 306 
 
 Lye, T., 216 
 
 M'Claren, J., 377, 385 
 
 M'Crie, Tho., 38, 396 
 
 M'Euen, J., 293 
 
 M'Intosb, L., 384, 386 
 
 Macky, J., 293 
 
 Maclae, 263 
 
 Mainwaring, 320 
 
 Mair, G., 385 
 
 Mair, T., 253, 375, 385 
 
 Maitland, 291 
 
 Mar, Earl of, 250 
 
 Marckius, 235, 345 
 
 Marshall, J., 312 
 
 Martin, J., 292 
 
 Martyr, Peter, 175, 367 
 
 Mason, 222 
 
 Massie, R., 306, 307 
 
 Mastertoun, C, 375 
 
 Mawbey, Sir J., 274 
 
 Maxwell, H, 198, 399, 403 
 
 Maxwell, Sir J., 404 
 
 Mayer, 394 
 
 Meik, G., 386 
 
 Melancthon, 30, 266, 367 
 
 Menius, J., 306 
 
 Mercerus, 381 
 
 Mierdman, 364 
 
 Millar, J., 405 
 
 Miller, H., 396 
 
 lUinto, Lord, 211 
 
 Mitchell, W. F., 363 
 Moncrief, D., 404 
 Moncrief, W., 404 
 MoncrierLA., 221, 253, 384, 
 
 385 
 Moncur, 291 
 Moore, C, 385 
 Moore, Sir J., 385 
 Morren, N., 198, 404 
 Mossman, J., 293 
 Motley, J. L., 225 
 Mount, C, 268 
 Murray, M., 295 
 Myrton, 359 
 
 Xairne, T., 253, 377, 385 
 Naismyth, J., 398 
 Negus, 273, 274 
 Neve, T., 274 
 Neville, 380 
 Nichol, 200, 277 
 Nisbet, 310 
 Noble, J., 385 
 Nye, P., 350 
 Oatt, J., 397 
 Ogle, 357 
 Otto Henry, 266 
 Owen, David, 325 
 Parker, M., 348, 365 
 Paterson, T., 357 
 Paterson, W., 405 
 Patterson, J. B., 224 
 Paxton, G., 396 
 Pembroke, Earl of, 326, 327 
 Pickering, 257 
 Pithopaeus, 354, 368 
 Porteous, 375 
 Preston, J., 260 
 Prittie, S., 260 
 Pythagoras, 64 
 Kamsay, 384 
 Raven, R, 381 
 Ravensteyn, 316 
 Regius, Urban, 363 
 Reid, 213, 290 
 Reuter, 1 97 
 Richardson, J., 370 
 Ridley, N, 363 
 Rippon, J., 273 
 Robinson, H., 380 
 Rogers, J., 320 
 Rohan, Due de, 355 
 
INDEX 
 
 415 
 
 Eolte, J., 307, 308 
 Eoss, Mrs, 295 
 Eow, J., 386 
 Euddiman, T., 399 
 Eutherford, S., 356 
 Eyssenius, 210 
 Sales, Francis de, 90 
 Schilling, C, 324 
 Scotstarvet, 356 
 Scott, 241, 324 
 Scott, J., 357 
 Scougal, H., 90 
 Seckendorf, 235, 306 
 Semple, G., 376 
 Sherlock, 390 
 Sherman, J., 199 
 Shiell, Mrs, 214, 295 
 Simeon, C, 222 
 Simonides, 256 
 Simson, J., 212, 292, 385 
 Skepp, J., 273 
 Slade, J.,342 
 Smith, 209 
 Socrates, 248 
 Somerset, Duke of, 364 
 Somervel, W., 338 
 Spalatin, G., 306 
 S. R C. K, 229, 374 
 Spinniker, 312 
 Spurgeon, C. H., 273 
 Stevenson, D., 386 
 
 Stewart, Sir J., 287, 357 
 Stowell, W. H., 199 
 Strathmore, Earl of, 342 
 Strong, 61, 260 
 Struthers, J., 363 
 Sutherland, Earl of, 264 
 Swift, 380 
 Swinton, 385 
 Sylhurgius, F., 38 
 Sympson, A, 382 
 Taylor, W., 396 
 Tegg, 216 
 Tertullian, 159 
 Thomond, Earl of, 257 
 Thomson, Sir J., 239 
 Thomson, Eev. J., 253, 285 
 Thomson, James, 338 
 Thomson, T., 385 
 Tingey, T, 342 
 Tomlyns, S., 313 
 Toplady, A. M., 273, 274 
 Trail, 342, 359 
 Trotter, 209, 385 
 Turpie, 251 
 
 Tweeddale, Marquis of, 253 
 Twisse, W., 236 
 Vandergucht, 342 
 Van der Honert, 345 
 Vauquet, 310 
 Venn, H., 274 
 Wackernagel, 306 
 
 Walker, D.,389 
 Walker, W., 385 
 Walkyns, 232 
 Wallace, J. A., 370 
 Wallis, J., 259 
 Warburton, 390 
 Warden, J., 289 
 Wardlaw, E., 263 
 Warner, 59 
 Watson, 218, 290 
 Webster, J., 212, 291, 292 
 Wesley, J., 240, 283 
 West, 226 
 Whatley, 75 
 Whichcote, B., 362 
 Whitby, D., 273 
 Whitefield, G., 283 
 Wightman, E, 214, 295 
 Wilkinson, H., 216 
 Wilkinson, E, 355 
 William of Orange, 311, 384 
 Williams, D., 91 
 Willichius, 353 
 Willis, M., 396 
 Willison, J., 369, 385, 398 
 Wills, T., 345 
 Wollebius, 21 
 Wotton, Lord, 380 
 Wren, M., 216 
 Zwinglius, 308 
 
 EEEATA. 
 
 Page 221. 
 Fur " William Moncrieff " read " Alexander Moncrieff." 
 
 Pages 214, 295. 
 Mr Eobert Wightman, of Edinburgh, was Treasurer of the city. 
 
 TUKXBULL AND SPEARS, r-RINTEKS, EDINBURGH. 
 
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