// X. or 
 
 1^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^ 
 
 Presented by O r\e. G^VAVrAOX:^, 
 
 BX 9177 .G7 
 
 Greene, W. Brenton 1854- 
 
 1928. 
 Christian doctrine 
 
Christian Doctrine 
 
 By 
 
 Professor W.,Brenton Greene, Jr., D. D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
 1905 
 
Copyright, 1905, by 
 
 The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publication 
 AND Sabbath-School Work 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I The Bible 9 
 
 II The Nature of God .... 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 Ill God's Work of Creation and Providence 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 IV The Nature and Original State of ]\Ian 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 V Sin 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 VI Redemption . . . . . . 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 VII The Christian Life .... 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 VIII The Means of Grace .... 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 IX The Last Things • 
 
 
 
 52 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This little volume has been prepared primarily for the use of 
 students in The Westminster Teacher-Training Course who may 
 wish to pursue further their study of Christian doctrine. The les- 
 sons in the manual are necessarily brief outlines only. In these 
 pages the author has expanded and developed the several subjects. 
 Then, others, also, besides teacher-training students, will find here 
 an exposition of the great doctrines of the Christian religion. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A. A Present£Ltion of Cliristian Doctrine presupposes: — 
 
 a. That God exists. 
 
 b. That God has revealed Himself. 
 
 c. That the Bible is God's authoritative and complete revelation to 
 man in the life that now is. 
 
 These are the subjects which constitute the science of Christian 
 Apologetics. An excellent treatise on this science is "The Grounds 
 of Theistic and Christian BeHef," by Prof. Geo. P. Fisher, D. D., 
 LL. D. 
 
 B. It should be remembered:— 
 
 a. That the proof of a Christian doctrine is the evidence that is 
 expressed or implied in the teaching of the Bible. 
 
 b. That the proof-texts given in these lessons are simply speci- 
 mens of a far larger number that might be adduced. 
 
 c. That no doctrine rests on detached texts simply, but on these 
 as illustrating the general trend of the Bible. 
 
 C It is recommended: — 
 
 a. That the proof-texts be memorised. 
 
 b. That the indicated sections of the Confession of Faith be care- 
 fully studied. 
 
 c. That the lectures in "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes" 
 be read. 
 
 W. B. G. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE BIBLE * 
 
 A. The Bible is a Word of Man. A glance at it shows this. 
 
 a. Each one of its sixty-six books was zvrittcn by a man (Rom. 
 
 I: 1-7). 
 
 b. Each one of these authors wrote from human impulses, with 
 earthly conditions for his occasions, with definite designs of his 
 own (Luke 1 : 1-4). 
 
 c. They had each a style of his ozmi, and they wrote each in his 
 own style. Compare Paul's epistles with John's. 
 
 d. What they wrote zvas affected by their mental state and by their 
 surroundings. Thus no one of the evangelists told or knew all 
 concerning Christ (John XXI 125). 
 
 e. Hence, the Bible is not omniscient. It does not touch on every 
 subject; it does not tell all on any subject. It is so truly the free 
 expression of men that it is marked by all the limitations character- 
 istic of man, error only excepted. 
 
 B. The Bible is Unique. As its name signifies, it is "The 
 Book." 
 
 a. No other, not even the sacred books of the other great relig- 
 ions, approaches it as regards circulation. Over eight million new 
 copies are being issued yearly. 
 
 b. No other has been studied and is being studied so carefully and 
 so generally. More than two hundred thousand volumes are said 
 to have been written simply to expound it. 
 
 c. No other has achieved such results or has been accorded such 
 a place. The Hon. W. H. Seward wrote.: "The whole hope of 
 human progress is suspended on the ever growing influence of the 
 Bible." 
 
 C. The Bible is The Word of God. This is its own claim, 
 the explanation which it gives of its uniqueness. It is "The Book," 
 
 *See "Confession of Faith," Chapter I; also "Popular Lectures on Theolog- 
 ical Themes," Lecture IV. 
 
10 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 because its human authors "spake from God, being moved by the 
 Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1: 21). God's part in the preparation of 
 this Book of books falls under several heads: — 
 
 a. Proz'idcncc. God so places and conditions every man as to 
 secure his becoming what His plan for him "calls for. Because He 
 intended that Christianity should demand, and so knew that it 
 would demand, doctrinal statement, He gave Paul a logical mind 
 and then caused him to be brought up "at the feet of Gamaliel." 
 In this natural way God so prepared the writers of the Bible that, 
 as regards the things of this world, they would of themselves write 
 what He wished and as He wished and when He wished, 
 
 b. Spiritual illumination. Notwithstanding providential control, 
 man cannot of himself receive "the things of the Spirit of God" 
 (I Cor. 11:14). Though put where he could best see them and 
 given the faculties with which to discern them, his power for such 
 discernment has been destroyed by sin. Hence, in the case of the 
 writers of the Bible, as in that of all God's children. He supernatu- 
 rally opens and clarifies their organ of spiritual vision (Eph. I: 18). 
 Thus Paul, who thought that he "ought to do many things contrary 
 to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts XXVI: 9), carne to 
 recognize Him as his Lord and Saviour (Acts IX: 6). 
 
 c. Revelation. Even the spiritually illuminated man could not by 
 himself discover the deep things of God (Rom. XI : 33, 34). His 
 own organ of spiritual vision is not strong enough ; and if it were, 
 God's purpose of grace, because purely optional, could be known 
 only as He should Himself declare it. Hence, by visions, dreams, 
 direct mental suggestion, verbal dictation, "in divers manners, God 
 spoke unto the fathers in the prophets" (Heb. I:i). This super- 
 natural revelation, of course, was furnished to the writers of the 
 Bible only when providential preparation and spiritual illumination 
 were inadequate. The Scriptures, therefore, contain revelations; 
 they are not made up solely of revelations (Luke I: 1-4). 
 
 d. Inspiration. All men are fallible. Consequently, in receiving 
 and recording a revelation they would be liable to err. They would 
 be almost as much so in stating their own observation or experience. 
 Hence, a special influence from the Holy Spirit of God was granted 
 to the sacred writers to enal)le them accurately to conceive and to 
 express what God would have them say. Of this inspiration we 
 may affirm : — 
 
THE BIBLE H 
 
 (i) It was in no sense mechanical. It did not dictate words; it 
 effectively guided the selection of words. It did not impair the 
 writer's spontaneity ; it was exerted through and in accordance with 
 his spontaneity. It must have been somewhat like the touch of the 
 driver on the reins which guide the racing steeds. The naturalness 
 of the style of the Bible indicates as much as this. 
 
 (2) It was constant. Only parts of the Bible were revealed, but 
 every part, without distinction, is inspired (II Tim. Ill: 16). 
 
 (3) This is true even of the words. Though, except when other- 
 wise stated, the free utterance of men, they are God's words ; for 
 they are those to which He guided the choice of the writer as the 
 expression of His will for us (I Cor. II: 13). It was of the use 
 of a particular word, that Christ said that "the scripture cannot 
 be broken" (John X:35). 
 
 (4) It is the original Scriptures in the original languages that are 
 so inspired. These have been preserved to us, however, through the 
 care of the copyists and the labors of scholars in remarkable purity; 
 and have been brought within the reach of all by faithful translations. 
 Hence, he who reads our current English Bible reads in it, with 
 competent exactness, the mind of the Spirit as it was recorded in 
 the inspired Word for our admonition. 
 
 D. The Bible's Own Claim to be "The Word of God" must 
 be True. 
 
 a. IVJiat it has done and zuhat it is, when considered in connection 
 with its claim, prove this. If the Bible were not, as it asserts, "the 
 word of God," it would' be on its face either a lie or a mistake. 
 Could a lie or a mistake, however, have exerted the uniquely benefi- 
 cent moral influence which the Bible has exerted? Again, though 
 written by forty different authors through sixteen centuries, the 
 Bible is so clearly one book that God must have suggested at least 
 its ruling ideas. Can we, however, think of God as doing this in 
 the case of a book which would be on its face a lie or a mistake, if 
 it were not, as it asserts, even as to its words, God's Word? 
 
 b. The direct work of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of Christians 
 is for them an additional kind and the decisive kind of evidence. 
 The Holy Spirit puts the teachings of the Bible to the test of ex- 
 perience in the hearts of Christians, and this experience both demon- 
 strates the truth and witnesses to the supernatural origin of these 
 
12 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 teachings (John XVI: 13, 14). Then we infer that the book which 
 contains them is, as it says, "the word of God." 
 
 c. Hence, tJic comparatively few seeming mistakes in the Bible 
 ought not to disturb us. On the one hand, not one of them can be 
 proved to be a mistake ; on the other hand, the evidence that the 
 Bible is ''the word of God" makes it irrational not to hold them in 
 suspense until we know more of them. Even a man with a name 
 for honesty ought not to be admitted to be dishonest because his 
 statements show a few discrepancies that we can not explain. 
 
 E. The Doctrine that the Bible is "the Word of God" 
 means: — 
 
 a. Its outlwrity rests directly upon God (I Thess. II: 13). We do 
 not obey it because it is reasonable ; we believe it to be reasonable 
 ultimately because it is "the word" of Him who is the source -of 
 all reason. We do not receive it on the authority of the church; 
 we hold that the church has no authority save as founded upon it. 
 We do not accept it on the ground that our feelings approve it ; we 
 approve only such of our feelings as it endorses (II Tim. Ill: 16). 
 
 b. The Bible is infallible throughout. In all its words, God's 
 word, it can make no mistake (John X:35). Hence, though it 
 leaves much unsaid, all that it says is true in the sense in zvhich it 
 says it. What it states as history is real history. Its descriptions of 
 the processes of nature, though not scientific in design or effect, are, 
 as popular statements always aim to be and as scientific statements 
 could seldom be, true to what appears. When the mistakes of men 
 or the lies of Satan are given, it is an infallible record of mistakes 
 or of lies that we have. 
 
 c. As the rule of faith and practice the Bible is complete. In these 
 respects it tells us all that we need to know and all that we may 
 regard as authoritative (Gal. 1:8, 9). 
 
 d. As the rule of faith and practice it is also perspicuous. Though 
 there is much in the pible too deep for human understanding, its 
 presentation of "the way of life" is so plain that "he who runs may 
 read." Hence, the Scriptures are addressed to all men and ought to 
 be searched and judged by all men (Ps. CXIX : 105, 130). 
 
 e. The Bible differs from every other hook, therefore, in its pur- 
 pose as zvell as in its nature. God gives it to us that we may live in 
 Him. The Bible presents the way of life. Its purpose is to make 
 us "wise unto salvation" (II Tim. HI: 15). 
 
THE BIBLE I3 
 
 Note. — For particulars concerning the composition, contents, and 
 preservation of the Bible see Part I. of the first year's Westminster 
 Teacher Training Course, 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE NATURE OF GOD * 
 
 The Bible being infallible because itself "the word of God," and 
 containing all that we need to know in this world as regards the 
 eternal life in Him, we ought, in the teachable spirit of little chil- 
 dren, first to study its doctrine of the divine nature. 
 
 A. Like Ourselves, "God is a Spirit" (John IV: 24). 
 
 a. He is a personal being. As each of us, He is distinct and sep- 
 arate from all other beings ; as we are. He is conscious of Himself 
 as thus distinct and separate; and, as also in our case. He is never 
 determined in His choosing by any external constraint, nor yet by 
 any inherent physical necessity, as when a tree produces a flower, 
 nor even by any animal instinct, as when a bird makes her nest ; but 
 always and only in accordance with and in response to His own 
 rational nature (Gen. 1:26; Dan. IV: 3S)- This implies that, also 
 like ourselves, God knows and feels (Gen. VI : S. 6). 
 
 b. He is a moral being. He lives in the light of the eternal dif- 
 ference between right and wrong. He determines Himself, not only 
 as He wishes, but also always as He ought (Gen. XVIII: 25). 
 
 B. Unlike Ourselves, but like tke Angels, God is Only a 
 Spirit. Neither vitally nor otherwise, is He united with a body 
 (Deut. IV: 15, 16). All apparently contrary representations, as 
 Ps. XXXII : 4, are figurative. 
 
 C. Unlike both Ourselves and tbe Angels, God is Unique 
 and Supreme. He stands absolutely by Himself, and there is 
 
 .nothing with which to compare Him or by which to explain Him 
 (Isa. XL: 18). 
 
 a. God is self-existent. Unlike all else, He neither has nor de- 
 mands any cause or reason outside of Himself. He alone exists 
 necessarily, of Himself and for Himself (Acts XVII: 25). 
 
 *See "Confession of Faith," Chapter TI; also "Popular L,ectures on Theolog- 
 ical Themes," L,cctures I and VI. 
 
 14 
 
THE NATURE OF GOD I 5 
 
 b. God is infinite. Unlike all others, there are no limitations to 
 His being, His knowledge, His power, His righteousness, His 
 goodness, His truth. 
 
 (i) His being is superior to the limitations and conditions im- 
 posed on the creatures of His hand by time, space, and degree. He 
 is eternal ; He is immeasurable ; He is incomparable. "The whole 
 God is always everywhere," and He is always everywhere unique 
 (Ps. CXXXIX:7-i2). 
 
 (2) His knowledge embraces Himself and the universe, past, 
 present, and future ; and it comprehends both in one all-including 
 intuition (Heb, IV: 13). 
 
 (3) His power is inexhaustible and perfect in mode of action (Isa. 
 XL: 28). So far as power itself is concerned, "With God all things 
 are possible" (Matt. XIX: 26). His activity, however, has two 
 limitations. One is His will. In God, as in us, there is a distinction 
 between will and power (Eph. 1:9). He does not do all that He 
 can ; He does only what He has purposed. The other limitation is 
 His nature. Because God is self-determined or free, He cannot 
 purpose contrary to His nature any more than we can (II Tim. 
 II: 13). He has power enough to do wrong, but He lacks the will 
 to do it : and He could not will to act wrongly or unreasonably ; for 
 His self or nature is perfectly righteous and reasonable. 
 
 (4) His righteousness, as just remarked, is absolute. He is ex- 
 actly just. God is ever all that He Himself ought to be, and He 
 never appoints for any of His creatures less than ought to be ap- 
 pointed or more than may rightly be appointed (Dan. IX: 14; 
 Rom. II: 5, 6). This is so because He is essentially and necessarily 
 righteous. He does not determine what is right arbitrarily: He 
 expresses and illustrates it naturally; for it is the most vital element 
 of His life. Whatever He wills, therefore, is right; -for He can, as 
 we have seen, will only in accordance with His nature, and this is 
 the right itself. Hence, what God is is both the ground and the 
 standard of right. What God is is right, and we ought to do right 
 because of what God is (Lev. XIX: 2; Matt. V:48). 
 
 (5) His goodness, in all its forms, is boundless. It includes (a) 
 benevolence, which has for its objects all sensitive creatures (Ps. 
 CXLV:9); (b) love, which has rational beings for its objects 
 (John HI: 16) ; (c) mercy, which has for its objects the miserable 
 (Isa. LXIII : 9) ; (d) grace, which has for its objects the unde- 
 
l6 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 serving (Rom. V:8). When any suffer, it is at least because this 
 is right; it cannot be because of. lack of power or of mercy in God. 
 When sinners are lost it is at least because His justice so requires; 
 it cannot be because God lacks either the power (Heb. VII 125) or 
 the wish to save them (I Tim. 11:4). Hence, "God is love" (I 
 John IV: 8). Though He is much else, love is that in which He 
 delights. Moreover, as the expression of His love ever harmonizes 
 with His justice, so His justice is always exercised in love. God 
 never feels so much compassion as when He punishes most severely 
 (Ezek. XXXIII : II).- 
 
 (6) His truth is absolute. He neither will nor can disappoint 
 the promise of His works or of His Word or of His nature. We 
 always know exactly how we shall find Him. Variously though He 
 may act, in Himself and in His principles of action. He is and 'must 
 always be the same (Heb. XIII: 8; II Tim. II: 13). 
 D. God's Relation to the World is as Follows:— 
 
 a. God is incomprehensible. We may know Him truly in so far as 
 lie has revealed Himself to us, but what even He can reveal of 
 Himself to us is as nothing to what He is. From the nature of the 
 case, the finite can never comprehend the Infinite (Job XI 17-9). 
 Yet we should not on this account distrust our knowledge of God as 
 derived from nature (Rom. I: 20; II: 15), and from the Bible (John 
 V:39), and, above all, from Christ (John I: 18). Though very 
 partial, it must be true. What He who is "the Truth" teaches us 
 cannot but be true. No future revelation can reverse it. Though 
 the love of Christ "passeth knowledge," we may "know" even it 
 (Eph. Ill: 19). 
 
 b. God is immanent in the ivorld. He is "everywhere present in 
 every point of space and within the inmost constitution of all created 
 things at the same time." He acts from within everything and 
 through its own forces and in accordance with its own laws. Thus 
 He both upholds it in being and determines its being. Hence, "all 
 things live and move and have their being" in Him (Acts XVII : 28) ; 
 and, hence, too, all things reveal Him (Rom. I: 20). 
 
 c. God is transcendent. Though in the world and in closest touch 
 with it, God is, nevertheless, distinct from it, before and above it, 
 and independent of it. The world might be blotted out, but God 
 would exist the same that He is now. He did exist eternally before 
 He brought the world into being. He acts on the world from with- 
 
THE NATURE OF GOD I7 
 
 out as well as from within, directly as well as through the activities 
 which He has given to it. He takes pleasure in the world as the work 
 of His own hands, but He does not need the world for His pleasure ; 
 in this, as in all else, He is self-sufficient. As does no other, He 
 feels for the world's sorrow : but this is only because He conde- 
 scends to do so ; He could be absolutely undisturbed by it. In a 
 word, God is "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (Isa. 
 
 LVn:i5). 
 
 E. In tlie Unity of the Godliead are Three Persons. 
 
 a. The one and only God, indivisible in His essence (Deut. 
 VI: 4), exists necessarily and eternally as Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit (Alatt. XXVIII: 19) ; and though these three are of the same 
 substance and are equal in power and glory and always act together, 
 with one mind and one will, yet are they so truly distinct that one 
 can address the others (John XVII: 5), one can send the others 
 (John XIV: 26), we can pray to each one of them (Eph. HI: 14), 
 each one of them, as will be seen later, has a characteristic office 
 in our redemption, and in their manner of existence and of working 
 they are subordinated, the Spirit to the Son and the Son and Spirit 
 to the Father (Matt. XXVIII: 19). 
 
 b. These facts cannot he explained; there is nothing with which 
 to compare them. Yet they involve no contradiction ; the doctrine 
 is not that one person is three persons ; it is that one Being exists 
 as three persons. 
 
 c. This is a helpful conception. It throws some light on the self- 
 sufficiency of God. The ground of this is in the ineffable intimacy 
 and love of the three persons of the Godhead. 
 
 F. The Prerogative arising out of All These Perfections 
 of God is His Sovereignty. 
 
 a. He both ought to have and does have absolute dominion over 
 us and all creation (Dan. IV: 35). 
 
 b. His ozvn glory and the exercise of His perfections are and 
 ought to be His eternal purpose and the reason for the ivhole world. 
 Because God is both self-existent and the perfection of righteousness 
 and goodness, all beings and things must find their reason in Him, 
 and their highest possible good in making known His excellence 
 (Rom. XI: 36). 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 GOD'S WORK OF CREATION AND PROVIDENCE • 
 
 God, because the self-existent, infinite, and perfect personality, 
 has a purpose or plan.- 
 
 A. The Purpose or Plan of God is Free and Sovereign. 
 
 a. He plans and acts, never from outward constraint, never from 
 inherent physical necessity, as a tree grows, nor yet from instinct, 
 as the swallow flies southward on the approach of winter, but alvVays 
 from a sufficient reason (Eph. I: ii). 
 
 b. Unlike oiirsek'cs, this siiiUcicnt reason is ever zvJwlly in Him- 
 self and not at all in other persons or things (Rom, XI : 34) ; it is 
 not found in any need that God feels (Acts XVII 125); but rather 
 in His self-sufficiency, which rejoices thus to express itself; His 
 purpose is in no case suspended on any condition, but as it embraces 
 all events of every kind, so God has determined certainly whatever 
 occurs (Eph. 1 : 11). 
 
 c. A little reflection will show that all this is necessarily implied 
 in the very conception of God as well as taught explicitly in the 
 Bible. God could not be the self-existent, infinite, and perfect Per- 
 sonality, if He did not have a plan, or if anything were left out of 
 His plan, or if His plan were determined by anything outside of 
 Himself, or if in Himself there were an}-, even the least, insuffi- 
 ciency, or if contingency and uncertainty could attach in any case 
 to His plan or its accomplishment. 
 
 B. The Design of God's Purpose or Plan is His O^vn 
 Glory and the Exercise of His Perfections (Rom. XI: 36). 
 At this point, too, there is the sharpest contrast between God and 
 ourselves. Because of what God is. He ought to live for Himself; 
 for no other or others than Himself could afford an end so high ; and 
 it must be best for the world that He should plan all things for His 
 
 *See "Confession of Faith," Chapters III, IV, V; also "Popular Lectures on 
 Theological Themes," L,ectures II, III, VII. 
 
 18 
 
god's work of creation and providence 19 
 
 own glory; for how could He so bless the world as to use it to make 
 known His infinite love and absolute righteousness? 
 
 C. God begins to carry out His Eternal and All-compre- 
 hending and Uncliangeable and Infinitely Blessed and 
 Absolutely Righteous Purpose or Plan in His "Work of 
 Creation. 
 
 a. The work of creation is tzvofold: {i) Immediate creation, or 
 the origination of the material — i. e., the principles and causes of 
 all things (Gen. I: i). (2) Mediate creation, or the origination of 
 the different forms of things, and especially of different species 
 of living beings, out of the already created material (Gen 1:2-31). 
 The former, of course, was instantaneous and due solely to the act 
 of God; the latter was gradual and the result of the cooperation of 
 God with what He had called into being. 
 
 b. The distinctive agent in the zvhole work of creation is the sec- 
 ond person of the Godhead, the Son or Word of God (John 1:3). 
 
 c. The process of creation, from the nature of the case, is and 
 must be incomprehensible to all save God. The basal fact is that 
 the material of the universe was called into being "out of nothing" 
 by the command of the Son of God (Ps. XXXni:6; Heb. XI: 3). 
 
 d. The mediate creation, or the formation of the material thus 
 brought into being, took place in six stages or in six "days." These, 
 as the scriptural usage of the word permits and as science estab- 
 lishes, were periods of indefinite length. 
 
 e. Tlie zvhole creation, zvhcn finished by God, zvas, as His nature 
 demanded of His work,'"very good'' (Gen. I: 31). There was not 
 even a tendency to evil in the world as God made it, and every being 
 and every thing in it was perfectly fitted to realize its inherent end 
 in His supremely glorious plan. 
 
 D. God goes on in the Execution of His Plan by His Work 
 of Providence. This includes : — 
 
 a. Preservation, (i) Having called the material of the world into 
 existence and given to it its form, God continues to uphold it as a 
 whole and in all its parts, properties, and powers (Heb. 1 : 3 ; Ps. 
 CIV). (2) This does not mean that living creatures do not have 
 life in themselves or that things do not exist as real individuals ; it 
 does mean that the former do not have life of themselves and that 
 the latter do not exist of themselves. Both, and both equally, de- 
 
20 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 pend absolutely on God for their continuance as well as for their 
 creation (Ps. CIV: 27-30). 
 
 b. Government. Thus God secures certainly and perfectly that the 
 world, as a whole and in every one of its parts, which He has cre- 
 ated and is preserving, shall accomplish His "purpose or plan. 
 
 (i) This government of God is universal and absolute. It effects 
 precisely what God from the first intended (Dan. IV: 35), and it 
 does this without exception. Thus God's control extends over (a) 
 nature (Acts XIV: 17), (b) over the animal world (Job XII: 10), 
 (c) over nations (Dan. II: 21), (d) over individual men (Prov. 
 XVI: 9), (e) over the free acts of men (Prov. XVI: i), (f) even 
 over sinful actions and states (Ps. LXXVI:io). Hence, nothing 
 comes to pass which is not providential, nothing which God has not 
 foreseen and brought about in accordance with His eternal and ab- 
 solutely righteous and infinitely blessed purpose or plan. 
 
 (2) God stands, however, in a different relation to different 
 classes of events, (a) To sinful acts and states His relation is per- 
 missive. It is, however, never a bare permission. Sinful acts and 
 states occur because God has determined that they should, and to 
 the degree to which and for the ends for which He has determined 
 (Ps. LXXVI:io). Between them and all other acts and states 
 there is no difference so far as God's control over them is concerned. 
 The difference between God's relation to them and to other acts 
 and states is that, though He freely determines to permit them to 
 occur. Pie always abhors them (Zech. VIII : 17) I and though He 
 determines to permit them for His glory and ever controls and over- 
 rules them to this end. He never originates or contributes to the 
 evil in them (James 1 : 13, 14). (b) To all other than sinful acts 
 and states God's relation, even when not efficient, is positive. He 
 approves them and contributes to them as well as permits and up- 
 holds or directs them. Yet here, too, there are important differ- 
 ences : God cooperates with the forces of nature in the production 
 of their appropriate effects (I Cor. XV:38). He so combines these 
 forces as specially to determine their appropriate effects when other- 
 wise these would not realize His particular ends. Thus He sends 
 rain at one time rather than at another (James V: 17, 18). He 
 exercises a like control over mankind (Prov. XVI: 9). That is, 
 God does on His immense scale what every man does on his little 
 scale ; He so directs nature that it carries out His plan ; and what 
 
god's work of creation and providence 21 
 
 we call "special" or "extraordinary providences" arise in proportion 
 as the divine direction appears (John XXI: ii). Again, through the 
 truth of the gospel or through the natural light of reason or of 
 conscience, God acts graciously on all men, to a greater or less ex- 
 tent, restraining them from evil and persuading them to good (Acts 
 VII: 51). Once more, God acts immediately, both on the world 
 and on men. In addition to cooperating with nature and directing 
 it and working through and on the truth revealed in it and to it, 
 He interposes supernaturally in it. He puts out His own hand and 
 performs works called "miracles," which only His own immediate 
 power could have produced (John XI : 43, 44) ; and He does in the 
 souls of those whom He makes "new men in Christ" what even 
 "the truth as it is in Jesus," though applied and reenforced by Him- 
 self, could not by itself have effected (Eph. II : 5). 
 
 (3) As to the ultimate method of God's action in any of the ways 
 just mentioned, whether through natural causes or directly, we 
 know nothing save that it must be consistent with God Himself 
 (II Tim. II: 13). (a) This, however, implies: That it is in- 
 variably righteous (Gen. XVIII: 25), and that it is perfectly con- 
 gruous to the nature of His creatures and with the laws of their 
 action. This nature and these laws are His work, and, therefore, 
 it is impossible to think of Him as ever violating them, and He does 
 not suspend them (Gen. VIII: 22). Hence, so far from destroy- 
 ing human freedom, it is God's plan to develop it (Phil. II: 13); 
 and so far from His accomplishment of His plan keeping any who 
 call on His name from salvation, it is precisely because of His 
 fidelity to His plan that "whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
 Lord shall be saved" (Rom. X: 13). (b) How God's operation can 
 always be thus congruous with the nature of all His creatures and 
 with all the laws of their action will appear when we remember, that 
 God has planned whatever comes to pass and constituted whatever 
 is (Eph. I: II; John 1:3), that the essence of everything and the 
 relations of all things are comprehended by Him (Ps. CXXXIX ; 
 Heb. IV: 13), and that He is ever present and active within the 
 inmost constitution of all things (Acts XVII: 28). 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN * 
 
 We have now glanced at the bihHcal doctrine with respect to God's 
 word, His nature, His purpose and activity. How does all this bear 
 on ourselves? Thus we are led to inquire as to the biblical doctrine 
 of man. 
 
 A. Tlie Nature of Man. 
 
 a. Man consists of two distinct principles, a soul and a body 
 (Alatt. X:28). (i) The soul of man is a real existence; it itself 
 thinks and feels and v»^ills as truly as the body breathes and eats and 
 moves, and we are conscious that what in us thinks and feels and 
 wills remains identically what it was. Hence, the soul is not a mere 
 series of mental acts or states; it is not a form of the life of God; 
 it is not simply a force ; it is a spiritual existence that acts and on 
 which God acts and which has force of its own, as truly an ex- 
 istence as the body itself (Matt. XVI: 26). (2) The soul is a real 
 existence distinct and different from the body ; it is neither a finer 
 form of the body nor a result of the activities of the bodi-; its ex- 
 istence is its own (Dan. VH : 15). (3) Soul and body are, both of 
 them, essential parts of man. The body is not simply "the casket of 
 the soul." H without the spirit or soul the body becomes "dust," so 
 without the body the soul is only "a spirit"; it is not a complete 
 man (Eccl. XH : 7). 
 
 b. The soul is the vital, the intellectual, the moral, the religious, 
 principle in man, that is, the self itself (Matt. XVI: 26). It is be- 
 cause we have souls that we are not things ; and it is because we are 
 self-conscious, moral, and religious souls, i. e., persons, that we 
 are not mere animals. 
 
 c. The sonl of man is free or sclf-dctcruiiiii)ig. We can always 
 choose, and we always do choose as we really wish to choose (Matt. 
 
 *See "Confession of Faith," Chapters VII and IX; also "Popular Lectures 
 on Theological Themes," Lectures VIII, IX. 
 
 22 
 
THE NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN 23 
 
 XII: 34). That is, as we never choose without a sufficient reason; 
 so that reason is never ultimately in anything external to us, nor 
 in anything merely physical or instinctive even within us, but ever 
 in our own individual wills expressing our own rational natures. 
 Hence, we are invariably responsible for our voluntary acts and for 
 our choices and even for our dispositions ; they are our own ; they 
 express always our own selves (Josh. XXIV: 15). 
 
 d. The soul of man is naturally immortal. In this respect also we 
 differ from the animals (Eccl. Ill: 21) : though we depend on God 
 for the continuance of our existence as truly as do they, yet, it being 
 His purpose to sustain us forever, He has constituted our souls for 
 immortality (Matt. XXV: 46). 
 
 B. The Origin of Man. 
 
 a. The soul of Adam, the Urst man, was created immediately by 
 God out of nothing (Gen. II : 7; Eccl. XII : 7). 
 
 b. Adam's body, hozvever, zuas formed out of preexisting material 
 but also by the intervention of God. It did not grow of itself; nor 
 was it wholly produced by any process of providential but natural 
 evolution: God Himself, in co5peration with nature, worked it up 
 (Gen. 11:7). When we inquire the date, or the precise method of 
 His creation of man we meet the unknown. 
 
 C. The Original State of Man. 
 
 a. Man zvas created in a state of maturity and perfection. He was 
 created perfectly adapted to the end for which he was made and to 
 the sphere in which he was to move. Though as to m.any things he 
 must have known much less than we know, he could learn all that 
 his situation required ; and though his body must have been suffi- 
 ciently susceptible to pain to insure his safety, it was not subject, as 
 are ours, to sickness and infirmity (Gen. II), 
 
 b. Man zvas created "in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27). He was 
 made like God; and this likeness, as was observed, consists in our 
 intellectual and moral nature. As God is, we are endowed with 
 reason, conscience, and will. Thus, as He is, we are spirits or 
 persons. Hence, we can pray to Him and He can speak to us; and 
 so, because of this community of nature, communion with God and 
 thus religion become possible. 
 
 c. Man zvas created righteous. He was precisely what such an 
 intellectual and moral being as he was ought to be (Gen. I: 31). 
 This involved, of course, (i) The harmony and equilibrium of his 
 
24 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 constitution. His reason was subject to God; his will, to his rea- 
 son; his affections and appetites, to his will; his body, to his soul. 
 (2) Knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Col. Ill: 10; Eph. 
 IV: 24), By knowledge is meant especially the knowledge of God. 
 Man was created having this ; Adam knew "God as really as God 
 knew him (Gen. 111:8). The principles of the law of God, too, 
 were implanted in his nnture (Rom. II: 14, 15). By righteousness 
 and holiness is meant, not only that Adam knew his duty perfectly 
 and had all the faculties for its performance, but also that he had 
 the disposition to do it and actually did it. At all times he did and 
 was all that he ought. 
 
 d. Man zcas created zvith dominion over the creatures. This arose 
 from the power with which he v/as invested and from the express 
 appointment of God. He made man for absolutely universal do- 
 minion, so far as creatures are concerned (Heb. 11:8). 
 
 D. God's Covenant witlx Man. Man, because created in com- 
 munion with God, was, as we have seen, perfectly righteous, "but, 
 because finite, he was not, in and of himself, infallibly righteous. 
 Therefore, God entered into a covenant of life with him. That 
 man might develop himself morally and thus merit, and so become 
 confirmed in and. enjoy forever, the fruit of the blessed state of 
 communion with God and consequent righteousness hi which he was 
 created, God condescended to make the following agreement with 
 him (Gen. II: 16, 17) :— 
 
 a. God, on His part, promised to man life (Luke X:28). (i) 
 Man's body, instead of wearing out, should be continued in vigor 
 forever (Rom. V:i2). (2) Man's soul should be supernaturally 
 established in communion with God, in the resulting righteousness, 
 and so in the enjoyment of the divine favor, in which is life 
 (Ps. XXX: 5). 
 
 b. God conditioned this covenant on man's perfect obedience (Gal. 
 Ill: 10). As man was able and disposed to obey, as he was most 
 favorably situated for obedience, and as his present prosperity and 
 true happiness lay in it, so God required this of him if he would be 
 confirmed by Him in it and in the enjoyment of it. 
 
 c. The penalty attached to disobedience zvas death (Gen. II: 17). 
 In the event of disobedience, (t) the body should be destroyed by 
 disease and violence; and (2) the soul should lose communion with 
 
THE NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN 25 
 
 God and the consequent righteousness, and should become exposed 
 to His wrath and curse (Gen. II: 17; Gal, III: 10). 
 
 Such was the supremely favorable and yet unspeakably solemn 
 condition in which man was created and started on his career. He 
 was given the best opportunity conceivable to secure for himself and 
 his posterity perpetually indestructible life and blessedness, though 
 this appointment, of course, necessarily involved the fatal possibility 
 of losing them. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SIN * 
 
 Perfect and blessed though man's original state was, his present 
 condition is far otherwise. Conscience condemns him (Rom. II : 15, 
 16). Even when he would do good, "evil is present" (Rom. 
 VII: 21). He is born to trouble (Job V:7). He is subject to 
 pain and death (Gen. HI: 19). The world around him is in like 
 manner and on account of him disordered and miserable (Gen. 
 HI: 17; Rom. VIII: 22). Evidently he has fallen from the good 
 and glorious estate in which God created him ; he has come under 
 the penalty of the covenant of life; he has not fulfilled his part of it; 
 he has sinned (Rom. V: 12), 
 
 A. The Nature of Sin. 
 
 a. Sin is not a being or a thing. It cannot be this: for God made 
 all that is, except Himself (John 1:3) ; and all that He made was, 
 as He made it, "very good" (Gen. I: 31). 
 
 b. As evil is a state consisting in deviation from good, so sin is a 
 specific evil; it is deviation from laiv, or lawlessness (I John HI : 4). 
 
 c. The law in the violation or neglect of which sin consists is not 
 our own happiness, nor the greatest good of the greatest number of 
 beings, nor yet the eternal fitness of things, nor even our own 
 reason ; it is that toward which all these point and on obedience to 
 which all these depend, the law of God, the expressed will of Him 
 whose nature is, as we saw, both the ground and the standard of 
 right (Rom. II: 15; III: 19). 
 
 d. The state of lazvlessness in zvhich sin consists can be aMrmed 
 only of rational and moral beings. Only such can recognize and feel 
 the claim of God's law ; only such, consequently, can be responsible 
 to it ; only such, therefore, can transgress or ignore it. The Bible 
 attributes sin to angels and men, 1)ut never to the lower animals. 
 
 e. Rational and moral beings can sin in virtue of their voluntary 
 
 *Sce "Confession of Faith," Chapter \'l. 
 
 26 
 
SIN 27 
 
 nature. The reason for this is that as inclination from law, in which 
 sin consists, presupposes responsibility to law, so this can be af- 
 firmed only of self-determination or voluntariness as distinguished 
 from what is simply created. Thus our natural appetites, desires, 
 and affections, while they may become occasions of sin, are not 
 themselves sinful; they result entirely from the constitution which 
 God gave to Adam, and for which, therefore, if it had been evil, God 
 could not hold him or anyone, save Himself, responsible. Even, 
 however, the merest inclination of these feelings, desires, or appe- 
 tites from their divinely appointed objects or measure will be sinful; 
 not only are they inclinations from what God has required, they are 
 wholly our own and in no sense God-made. Hence, the Bible says 
 (Jer. XVU-.g), 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is 
 exceedingly corrupt." The heart is the voluntary nature ; it is self- 
 determination; it expresses what one is himself; it is the man him- 
 self; because only it is self-determination, only it can be the man 
 himself (Matt. XV: 19). 
 
 f. Sin can attach to the voluntary nature in every one of its forms. 
 All our actions not merely mechanical, whether deliberate or only 
 impulsive, can be sinful ; and this is as true of our habits and even 
 of our dispositions. In so far as we incline it is our own act or 
 state ; and in so far as our own act or state is away from what God 
 requires or is, it is sin (Eph. IV: 18, 19). 
 
 B. The Origin of Sin. 
 
 a. The first sin of man was his inclination for knowledge through 
 means forbidden by God (Gen. IH : 1-6). 
 
 b. This inclination expressed: (i) Unbelief. Adam doubted the 
 wisdom of the divine prohibition and the certainty of the divine 
 threatening. (2) Disobedience. Adam set his will. in opposition to 
 God's will. 
 
 c. This, man's first sinful inclination, zvas self-originated. He 
 started this first evil inclination out of nothing, purely by his own 
 self-determination. It must have been so : for .although in our case 
 to-day sin is the self-determined result of our own corrupt nature 
 (James I: 14), Adam's nature was "very good"; and although 
 God can and does start good inclinations out of nothing. He can 
 not start evil ones (James 1:13). 
 
 d.^ There was, however, an external occasion for man's first sinful 
 inclination in the temptation by the serpent (Gen. Ill: 1-5) ; i. e., by 
 
28 
 
 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 Satan in the form of a serpent (Rev. XX: 2). This occasion, 
 though it does not explain, does lighten the mystery which sur- 
 rounds the beginning of man's first sin. 
 
 e. The true origin of sin, therefore, is to be referred to the fall of 
 Satan and his angels, (i) When or how or why this took place, we 
 do not know fully. The Bible does not tell us, and there are so 
 many unknown quantities in the problem that reason cannot solve it. 
 (2) We do know, however, (a) from the narrative, that Satan must 
 have fallen before man fell; (b) from God's estimate of the crea- 
 tion, that He made Satan a holy angel, and then he let himself de- 
 generate into a devil; (c) from God's nature, that He abhors sin 
 with infinite abhorrence and could have forever kept Satan from 
 originating it; (d) from God's plan, that He determined to permit 
 it in order to the better making known of His excellence; (e) from 
 God's love, that He would tell us all concerning it, did we need to 
 know; and (f) that, consequently, it must be very wrong as well as 
 foolish for us to let our necessary ignorance on this subject shake 
 our faith in God's goodness, or interfere with our activity or com- 
 fort. The child does not cease rejoicing in his father's love for him 
 because he does not know enough to understand all of his father's 
 course before he himself was born. 
 
 C. The Extent of Sin. 
 
 a. // is universal. All men, without exception, are sinners 
 (I Kings VHI:46). 
 
 b. It is all-pervasive. Every human being is totally depraved 
 (Rom. VH: 18). (i) This does not mean that all men are equally 
 bad, or that any man is as bad as he could be, or that anyone is 
 destitute of virtue (Rom. H: 14). (2) It does mean that by nature 
 all men are out of communion with God and so are totally — in all 
 their parts, faculties, and powers— cut off from the source of all 
 righteousness (Col. I: 21). There is in them no principle of spir- 
 itual and moral life. Their very virtues are but picked and fading 
 flowers. 
 
 D. The Reason for the Universality of Sin is to be found 
 in Adam's Relation to All Men (Rom. V: 17-19). 
 
 a. Humanity zcas constituted a race. Adam was not only the 
 first of men, but also the common ancestor of all men. Hence, he 
 was called by a generic name, Adam, the Man (Gen. H:;). Man- 
 kind, therefore, is not a company of independent individuals, but is 
 
SIN 29 
 
 a series the members of which, through descent from a common an- 
 cestor and the possession of a common nature, form a unity more 
 truly than do the citizens of a nation (Acts XVII: 26). Conse- 
 quently, as a nation can, they can be acted for by a proper public 
 person and so can themselves be treated as having themselves acted 
 in that person. 
 
 b. As our common ancestor, Adam zuas a proper public person, 
 and he zvas appointed by God to be such. That is, the "covenant of 
 life" referred to in the last chapter was made with him, not for him- 
 self only, but also for all his posterity. If he stood his probation, 
 they would be confirmed in righteousness with him. If he fell, they 
 would fall with him (Gen. II: 17; Rom. V: 12). 
 
 c. Since Adam, as the penalty and consequence of his ozvn sin, 
 lost communion with God; so all his posterity, inasmuch as he 
 acted for them and they in him, are born under his penalty and are 
 subject to the same consequences, and thus, as he came to be, are 
 out of communion with God (I Cor. XV: 22). 
 
 d. // it be asked, Why is it that the fortunes of the race have been 
 thus staked on the conduct of one? it may be said: (i) That we 
 cannot solve the problem, does not affect the fact that the word of 
 God so teaches positively and plainly. (2) Neither should it lead 
 us to doubt the righteousness of God. This, as we have seen, is 
 always guaranteed by His nature (Gen. XVIII: 25). (3) No fairer 
 probation could be conceived than that which the human race had in 
 Adam; for he was creat-ed (a) in full possession of his faculties, 
 (b) in the perfect image of God, and (c) in a most favorable en- 
 vironment. (4) It was just such an arrangement as we deem best 
 in national affairs, and, therefore, presumably, as each one of us 
 would have chosen for himself in this matter, could we have been 
 consulted in advance. (5) It was part of a glorious constitution 
 which culminates in the headship of Christ as our Redeemer 
 (I Cor. XV: 22). 
 
 E. The Consequences of Adam's Sin. 
 
 a. All men are born guilty before God. They are under the pen- 
 alty of His law (Eph. II : 3). 
 
 b. All men, therefore, even infants who have never sinned in their 
 own persons, are subject to death, spiritual, physical, eternal (Rom. 
 VI: 23; V: 12-14). This is the penalty of Adam's sin. 
 
30 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 c. As spiritual death consists in the loss of communion zcith God, 
 zvho is the life of the soul, so in all it must issue: — 
 
 (i) In the absence of the righteousness which Adam forfeited 
 
 (Job XIV: 4). 
 
 (2) In "original sin" or general corruption of nature. This is 
 truly and positively sinful (Gen. VI : 5 ; Jer. XVII : 9). Though sin 
 is rooted only in our voluntary nature, man's intellect and body are 
 affected by it as really as his heart. The former is darkened 
 (Rom. 1: 21); the latter is diseased (Rom. VIII: 22); even the 
 ground is cursed for man's sin (Gen. Ill: 17). 
 
 (3) In actual transgressions. All manifest sin as soon as they 
 become old enough for moral action (Prov. XXII: 15). 
 
 (4) In utter inability for all spiritual good (Eph. II: i). (a) 
 This does not mean that original sin or actual transgression destroys 
 any faculty of the soul, or impairs self-determination, or is at once 
 destructive of the natural virtues, (b) It does mean that, though v^e 
 could keep the whole law if we would^ we are not by nature inclined 
 so to do, and we cannot incline ourselves against ourselves ; and 
 that the reason why we are not so inclined is that by the corruption 
 of our whole nature our understanding is blinded as to spiritual 
 realities and bur tastes and feelings are perverted (I Cor. II : 8, g, 
 14). Hence, we cannot even turn to Christ unless God draw us 
 (John VI: 44). We have the faculties to do so, but we can see 
 nothing to desire in Him. 
 
 Such are the awful as well as universal consequences of the sin 
 of our first parent. Because of it we are all born "children of 
 wrath," and with a nature so corrupt as continually to increase our 
 guilt and also to disable us for all spiritual good. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 REDEMPTION * 
 
 Redemption is the cure of sin. It is also the revelation, not only 
 to men, but even to angels (Eph. 111:9, lo), of "the unsearchable 
 riches of God's grace," the most glorious as well as mysterious trait 
 of His moral character. That v^e do not find in this a complete 
 explanation of His permission of sin, is simply because no finite 
 mind can appreciate salvation (Rom. XI 133). 
 
 A. The Necessity of Redemption arises out of the Sinner^s 
 Lost and Helpless Condition. 
 
 a. He is in such a relation to God that the very righteousness of 
 the latter demands his eternal punishment. By reason of his sin he 
 has not only lost communion with God, but has come under the ever- 
 lasting condemnation of His law (Matt. XXV: 46; Gal. HI: 10). 
 Hence, God cannot pardon him any more than the judge may dismiss 
 the convicted criminal. In the latter case the law forbids. In the 
 former case the divine nature, which is the ultimate foundation of 
 law, prevents (II Tim. II: 13). A full satisfaction for sin must 
 be rendered (Heb. IX: 22). Otherwise, the order and existence of 
 all things would be imperiled, for God himself would be dethroned. 
 
 b. TJiis satisfaction the sinner cannot render for himself, (i) He 
 is incapable of self-reformation, for he cannot make himself holy 
 (Eph. 11:5). (2) If he could, he could meet only the present de- 
 mands of the divine law, the sins of the past would still cry out for 
 judgment (Matt. XII: 36). 
 
 c. The necessity of redemption, while thus absolute as regards the 
 sinner, is, however, only relative as regards God. (i) If the sinner 
 is to be saved, God must save him (Acts. IV: 12). (2) But it is 
 in no sense necessary that the sinner should be saved, (a) Every 
 demand of justice would be met by his punishment, (b) Were 
 
 *See "Confession of Faith," Chapters VII, VIII, X, XI, XII, XIV, XV, 
 XXXIV, XXXV; also "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes," Lectures 
 IX, X, XI, XIL 
 
 31 
 
32 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 God simply to let His law take its course, He would still do all 
 that He ought and He could still be all that He ought. God cannot 
 be under any, even the least, obligation to save those who deserve 
 only punishment (Eph. 11:1-5). 
 
 B. The Source of Redemption, then, must be God's Unde- 
 served Benevolence for Sinners (John in:i6). 
 
 a. This loTC for sinners is not confined to the Son, hut is shared 
 equally by each person of the Trinity (I John IV: 14). 
 
 b. So far from being explicable and natural on the ground of the 
 misery of our race, it is incomprehensible because: (i) This misery 
 is the just penalty of man's own sin (Rom. VI: 23). (2) Sin is an 
 offense directly against God and so directly against love (I John 
 IV: 8). Hence, the supreme proof of love is that God gave His Son 
 to die for sinners (Rom. V:8). 
 
 C. God's Compassionate Love for the Sinful and Lost 
 Race of Man expresses Itself in the Choice of an Innumer- 
 able Multitude of Them (Rev. VII : 9) that He may forever 
 delight Himself in Them and in His "Kindness" to Them 
 (Eph. 11:7). 
 
 a. That God should thus choose out those zvJio sJiould be tJie 
 objects of His grace zuas the necessity of the case, unless all sin- 
 ners were to receive it alike. 
 
 b. JJ'ith regard to God's choice of the sinners zvhom He zcill 
 make the objects of His special love, zdiat zc'e have observed as to 
 God's nature and plan assures us: (i) It is an eternal choice (Eph. 
 1:4). (2) It is a choice of individuals as individuals (John X:3). 
 (3) It is a choice unto holiness and eternal life (I Pet. I: 5-9). (4) 
 Its reason in each particular case is in God, and not in any faith or 
 obedience that He foresees in any (Eph. 1:5). It must be so. In 
 the case of those who, as all men, are by nature "dead through 
 trespasses and sins," when God foresees faith and obedience, it can 
 be. only because He has determined himself to give them. (5) As 
 to why God does not choose all for eternal life, we may say: (a) 
 It cannot be through any lack of power to save (Heb. VII: 25; 
 Prov. XXI: i). (b) Neither can it be because of any lack of wish 
 to save (I Tim. 11:4). (c) It must be, therefore, that, for reasons 
 that we cannot yet fully understand, a universal choice would be in- 
 consistent with His righteousness. 
 
REDEMPTION ^^ 
 
 D. The Father carries out this Purpose of Salvation 
 through a Redeemer. 
 
 a. This redeemer is His "only-hegotten and zvcU-hclovcd Son," 
 the second person of the Trinity (John III: i6; Eph. 1:4). 
 
 b. Tliis redeemer, as Adam zuas, is appointed to be and by the 
 constitution of His person is fitted to be, a public person. As Adam 
 represented and acted for and in the place of the whole human race 
 before the law of God, so before it the Son of God represents and 
 acts for and in the place of all of the human race given to Him by 
 the Father for redemption from the curse of the law (I Cor. 
 XV: 22; John VI: 39). 
 
 E. God's Purpose in appointing His Son thus to redeem 
 Those Whom He has chosen is: — 
 
 a. That every one given to the Son for salvation should be saved 
 (John VI: 39). 
 
 b. That this salvation should be certain from the first (Rom. 
 VIII : 29, 30), and that it should be complete (I Cor. 1:30; Col. 
 II: 10). God would have His "great salvation" perfect as He Him- 
 self is. 
 
 F. The Son of God became the Redeemer of All Those 
 given to Him by the Father by taking into Union ivith 
 Himself Our Nature (John I: 14; Phil. II:5-ii), and by put- 
 ting Himself in our place in the sight of God the righteous 
 Judge (Gal. IV: 4). 
 
 a. This He did by being conceived by the power of the Holy 
 Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, in the zvomb of the Virgin 
 Mary, and being born of her (Luke 1:31, 35). (i) As this birth 
 was supernatural so it did not involve our Redeemer in His mother's 
 corruption. He Himself was "without sin" (Heb. IV: 15). (2) As 
 to the thus constituted person of our Redeemer, we are further 
 taught: (a) He had a complete human nature; i.e., a true body 
 (Heb. II: 14) and a reasonable soul (Matt. XXVI: 38). (b) He 
 had a true divine nature (John I: 1-14). (c) These natures exist in 
 Him entire and distinct, without mixture or confusion (John VIII : 
 58; Luke 11:52). (d) Though having thus two minds and two 
 wills. He is one person (Rom. IX: 5). (e)-He is thus God and 
 man in two distinct natures and one person forever (Heb. XIII: 8). 
 We cannot explain this, for we know of nothing like it; but it 
 
34 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 involves no contradiction, and it is no more incomprehensible 
 than the union of soul and body in our own persons. 
 
 b. Christ put Himself in our place in the sight of God the right- 
 eous Judge: (i) By undertaking to obey every requirement of the 
 law on us (Matt. Ill: 15). (2) By subjecting Himself to the 
 miseries of this life (Isa. LIII:3). (3) By taking on Himself the 
 penalty of the law in our stead (Gal. HI: 13). (4) By submitting 
 Himself to be buried and to continue under the power of death for 
 a time (I Cor. XX : 3, 4). 
 
 G. As Our Redeemei^ Christ executes Three Offices:— 
 
 a. The office of a Prophet. Thus He reveals the will of God for 
 our salvation (i) by His Word (John I: 18), and (2) by His 
 Spirit (John XIV: 26) ; and so He causes us to know God. 
 
 b. The office of a Priest. 
 
 (i) Thus He satisfies every demand of the divine law. This He 
 does (a) by taking the place of each one of those given to Him by 
 the Father before the broken law of God (II Cor. V:2i), just as 
 Adam stood in the place of each member of the human race before 
 the then unbroken law of God (I Cor. XV '.22)) (b) by rendering 
 through His perfect earthly and human life the complete obedience 
 due from each one of them (Heb. Y-.J-g) ; (c) by enduring in His 
 death on the cross, which was voluntary (John X : 18) and penal 
 (Rom. IV: 25) and in the strictest sense substitutionary (]\Iark 
 X:45) and because of His divine personality, as also His obedience, 
 of infinite worth (Heb. IX: 14), the righteous wrath of God- against 
 their sins (Isa. LIII:5) ; (d) by rising from the dead as the proof 
 that His obedience and punishment had been admitted by the Father 
 in place of theirs (Rom. IV: 25); (e) by ascending to the right 
 hand of the Father ever to urge in their behalf, and specially on the 
 occasion of their particular transgressions, and with all the sym- 
 pathy made possible by His human nature and temptation (Heb. 
 II: 17, 18; IV: 15), the merits of His sacrificial life and death 
 ali-eady accepted in lieu of theirs (Heb. VII: 25). 
 
 (2) The effect of Christ's priestly work is threefold: (a) The 
 guilt of every one of the objects of it, as soon as the sinner accepts 
 of it, is taken away (Rom. VIII: i). (b) God is then and thus 
 reconciled to them (Heb. II: 17). This does not mean that Christ 
 died to cause God to love those whom He had chosen. On the 
 contrary, as we have seen, it was because of God's compassion for 
 
REDEMPTION 35 
 
 all sinners that He chose any and gave them to Christ for salvation 
 (John III: 16). What it does mean is that Christ obeyed and died 
 and rose and intercedes for those whom God had chosen, that it 
 might become consistent with God's absolute righteousness for Him 
 to make them "the sons" of His special love in rendering them such 
 that He may and can delight Himself in them and they in Him 
 (Rom. HI: 26). (c) Their relationship to God is completely re- 
 versed. As regards the law of God, they have changed places with 
 Christ. He has taken on Himself all their liability to punishment 
 and all their obligation to perfect obedience, and, consequently, God 
 views them and treats them as if they were clothed in all Christ's 
 righteousness (Rom. X:4). Hence, their sins are all pardoned 
 (Eph. 1:7); they themselves are accepted as if they had fulfilled 
 every demand of the law (H Cor. V:2i); whereas Adam before 
 he fell was only a "servant," they are now adopted into the family 
 of God (I John HI: i), being made both brethren of Christ (Rom. 
 Vni:29) and "joint-heirs" with Him (Rom. VHI:i7). Thus by 
 redemption they are brought into a far closer relation with God 
 than that which was lost in the fall. 
 
 c. The oMce of a King. Thus Christ can and does cause all 
 things to "work together" for the highest good of all given to Him 
 by the Father (Rom. VHI : 28). Of this kingship of Christ we may 
 affirm: (i) It is bestowed on Him by the Father as the reward of 
 His obedience and suffering as Redeemer (Phil. II:7-ii). (2) Its 
 particular reference is to the salvation of His own people (Eph. 
 1:22). (3) It attaches not to His divine nature exclusively, but to 
 His divine-human personality. A man now sits upon the mediatorial 
 throne (Acts VII: 55). (4) It is all-comprehensive, (a) Christ is 
 directing the whole course of providence (Matt. XXVIII: 18) ; this 
 is His kingdom of power, (b) Christ is ruling over His own 
 spiritual people individually (John X:3), and over His professed 
 people collectively organized in the visible church (Matt. XXVIII: 
 19, 20) ; this is His kingdom of grace, (c) At the consummation all 
 those eternally chosen by God in Christ shall be gathered out of the 
 world and Christ shall reign absolutely over them and completely in 
 them (Rev. XXII : 3, 4); this is His kingdom of glory. (5) The 
 effects of Christ's mediatorial rule are : (a) that His people are sub- 
 dued to Himself (Ps. CX:3); (b) that they are defended against 
 His and their enemies (Acts XVIII : 9, 10) ; (c) that they are en- 
 
36 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 abled to derive spiritual blessings from the whole course of provi- 
 dence (I Thess. V: i8), so that .afflictions, even though the con- 
 sequences of their sins, can work out glory for them (II Cor. IV: 
 17) and death becomes to them no longer the penalty of sin, but the 
 gate of heaven (II Cor. V:8).; and (d) that thus at last they 
 are brought off "more than conquerors through Him that loved 
 us" (Rom. VIII: 37). 
 
 H. Christ's Work inures also to the Benefit of All Sin- 
 ners, and not only to Those "Who ivere given to Him for Re- 
 demption. 
 
 a. JPliat He did as the Redeemer of the latter is, and zvas in- 
 tended to he, siitHcient for and adapted to the redemption of the 
 former (I John 11:2). It could not be otherwise; Christ's work is 
 of infinite worth, and there is no difference between the former and 
 the latter as to the kind of redemption needed (Rom. 111:22, 23). 
 
 b. Hence, (i) the gospel ought to be preached to all men (Mark 
 XVI: 15) ; for (a) God wishes all to be saved (I Tim. 11:4), and 
 
 (b) has provided in Christ a free salvation ample for all and suited 
 for all if only they will take it. (2) Everyone who hears of Christ 
 ought to accept Him as his Saviour; for (a) God wishes him to do 
 so, (b) he cannot be saved unless he does so (Acts IV: 12), and 
 
 (c) the only thing that must or does prevent him from doing so is 
 his own sin, (3) jMoreover, it is through the universal offer of the 
 gospel that God's purpose of salvation is carried out, and it is only 
 thus that it can be carried out. Ignorant as to who those are whom 
 He had chosen to bring to accept it, we must offer it to all, if we 
 would offer it to them ; and unless it is offered to them, even they 
 cannot believe and so accept it (Rom. X: 13-17). 
 
 I. The Entrance o£ Any into the Redemption thus Gra- 
 ciously and Completely provided by God and ivrought out 
 by Christ is through Faith in Christ in His Three Offices, 
 and through It Alone (Acts XVI: 31 ; Rom. X: 13). 
 
 a. This does not mean that such faith issues in salvation be- 
 cause it renders us deserving of it; but because it is the arm which 
 lays hold of it, the medium through which it comes to us. This 
 must be so ; for saving faith itself is a "gift," and so can merit 
 nothing (Eph. 11:8). 
 
 b. Saving faith does not consist in hnoivledgc that Christ is the 
 
REDEMPTION 37 
 
 Saviour of sinners and in assent to this proposition. It includes 
 such knowledge and assent, but is much more. 
 
 c. It is such a trust in Christ as our Redeemer as enables us, just 
 as we are, to receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation as He 
 is freely offered to us in the gospel (Acts XV: ii). It is simply 
 taking Christ at His word that "whosoever believeth on Him should 
 not perish, but have eternal life" (John HI: i6). 
 
 d. It necessarily involves repentance for our sins (Acts 11:38). 
 For unless one hates his sins as such and means to try to renounce 
 them, he cannot see any beauty in the Saviour from sin that he 
 should desire Him and so trust in Him. 
 
 J. Hence, we are brought to consider God's Saving Work 
 in Us. 
 
 a. The necessity for this is threefold: (i) As the sinner cannot 
 trust in Christ as his Saviour from sin until he hates sin as sin; so 
 though he may dread the punishment of sin, he cannot hate it itself 
 while he is spiritually dead because of it. He can no more hate it 
 than the pig can hate dirt. It is not in the nature of the sinner's 
 self-determination to do so (Rom. VII: 14). If he is to desire the 
 redemption that is in Christ, he must receive a new disposition, he 
 must be born again and from above (John 111:3). (2) Could he 
 accept redemption as he is, it would not be salvation for him. 
 Heaven would be worse than hell to one whose sin, in addition to 
 making a hell of his heart, would cause him to loathe the atmos- 
 phere of heaven. If such an one is to appreciate salvation, he needs 
 a new disposition, he must be born again and from above (John 
 111:3). (3) Were this not so, the righteousness of God would im- 
 pose the same demand. He cannot, because He may not, save 
 sinners in sin (Heb. XII: 14, 29). 
 
 b. The agent of the new birth is the Holy Spirit, the third person 
 of the Trinity (John 111:5). (i) The Holy Spirit is sent by the 
 Father (John XIV: 26), and also by the Son (John XV: 26). (2) 
 As His mission as Regenerator was included in Christ's eternal pur- 
 pose of redemption, and was thus included as based on His priestly 
 work; so it has exclusive reference to those who were given to the 
 Son before the foundation of the world for salvation (II Thess. II: 
 13, 14; Rom. XI 17), and for whom therefore He acted as high 
 priest. 
 
 c. As to the nature of the new birth, zve are taught.-' (i) It is an 
 
38 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 instantaneous change in the moral nature ; for it is a transition from 
 death to Hfe (Eph, 11:5). (2) For the same reason it is a radical 
 change. (3) It is a permanent change, for the life imparted is im- 
 mortal (Rom. VIII : 28-30). (4) It is a change which affects the whole 
 soul, (a) The mind is enlightened in the knowledge of Christ (Eph. 
 1 : 17, 18). (b) The will is renewed (Ezek. XXXVI : 26, 2-]). (c) The 
 sinner is persuaded and enabled to embrace Jesus Christ as He is 
 freely offered in the gospel (John VI : 37, 44, 45)- (5) It is a 
 change in which the soul is passive and unconscious. A dead man 
 cannot be instrumental or conscious in making himself alive. (6) 
 Hence, though the new birth is indispensable to salvation, it is not 
 a duty. We ought to repent and believe, for these are our own 
 acts; but we ought to look to God absolutel}^ for the new birth, for 
 this is and can be His act only and altogether (Rom. IV: 17). 
 (7) Hence, too, arises the glorious certainty that "whosoever be- 
 lieveth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved" (Acts XVI : 31 ; 
 Rom. X : 13) ; for such belief is the sure evidence that one has been 
 born of God (I John V: i). 
 
 d. As to its mode, the nciv birth, as every beginning of life, is 
 inscrutable (John 111:8). All that we know is: (i) It is not due 
 to the moral influence of the truths of the gospel; these truths 
 could not have any influence on one who was "dead" to them, and 
 w^e are explicitly told that "the natural man" cannot even know them 
 (I Cor. 11:14). Teaching, therefore, cannot of itself issue in the 
 new birth. (2) Yet the latter is not without relation to the truth. In 
 the case of adults it presupposes it. Hence, we are said to be "be- 
 gotten by the word of truth" (James I: 18). The truth of Christ 
 is the atmosphere essential to the life in Christ. The atmosphere 
 could never revive a dead man, but, on the other hand, such an 
 one could never be revived in a vacuum. (3) The new birth is due 
 directly to the creative power of the Holy Spirit of God, and to 
 this alone (John 111:5). The Bible distinguishes carefully be- 
 tween the influence of the truth and the work of the Holy Spirit 
 (II Tim. II : 25) ; and while it recognizes the necessity of the former, 
 it ascribes the efficiency to the latter (I Cor. 111:5, 6). (4) The 
 creative power of God in effecting the new birth acts in accord with, 
 and not in violation of, the natural and so divinely appointed laws 
 of the soul. God does not cause any to choose His service against 
 their inclination; ?Ie makes them "willing in the day of His 
 
REDEMPTION 39 
 
 power" (Ps. CX:3). (5) The new birth is the result of a sov- 
 ereign act of God's Spirit. It is not wrought in any on account of 
 their merits, or on account of any nascent faith or sorrow for sin in 
 them ; but it is always wrought because of and in accordance with 
 God's eternal purpose of grace (II Tim. I: 9). (6) The agency of 
 the Holy Spirit in effecting the new birth is irresistible and so in- 
 variably efficacious. As God sends His Spirit to quicken all whom 
 He has chosen for redemption and thus to apply to them the re- 
 demption purchased for them by Christ, so He succeeds in every case 
 (John VI: 37). It is absurd to suppose that a sinner could defeat 
 the eternal purpose of the Almighty, that the human will could 
 resist the creative power of God. 
 
 e. The results of the nezv birth are: — 
 
 (i) Conversion, (a) This is the sinner's act as his new life in 
 Christ and by the Spirit begins to assert itself, (b) It consists in a 
 reversal of purpose. As God by the new birth has changed the 
 inclination of the sinner's self-determination, so now he begins to 
 determine himself in accordance with the change (Acts IX: 6). 
 (c) It is evidenced by repentance and faith, 
 
 (2) A new man. (a) This does not mean a different kind of 
 man. Paul was the same sort of man after God made him "a new 
 creature in Christ Jesus" as before. He retained all the energy 
 naturally characteristic of him (Gal. 1 : 15, 16). (b) It does mean 
 the same man brought under the direction of and energized with 
 the power and life of Christ (Gal. II: 20). 
 
 No less complete and glorious than this is the redemption which is 
 in Jesus. It is adequate to meet every demand of the divine jus- 
 tice on all men ; it secures its certain appropriation by every one of 
 the innumerable multitude for whom it was eternally provided ; it 
 does this by giving to each one of them the moral nature and the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.* 
 
 Redemption is in' order to the Christian hfc and its resulting 
 good works, which God "afore prepared that we should walk in 
 them" (Eph. II: lo). 
 
 A. The Necessity of the Christian Life arises: — 
 
 a. Out of the redeemed sinner's new relation to God. (i) Be- 
 fore his acceptance of redemption he was at enmity against God 
 because under sentence of His law (Eph. II: 15, 16). (2) Since 
 then he is reconciled to God (Eph. II : 14, 15)^ Christ having 
 satisfied every demand of the law for him and in his stead, and he 
 having laid hold of this "great salvation" through simple trust in 
 the Redeemer. (3) It cannot be, therefore, that the Christian will 
 do good works in order either to earn salvation or to maintain his 
 hold on it. "He that believeth hath eternal life" (John VI: 47)- It 
 could not be more surely his than it is his the instant that he 
 believes on Christ as his Saviour. The ransom which the Son of 
 God has paid for him must deliver him absolutely as soon as he 
 accepts it as for him : otherwise, God would deny His own right- 
 eousness. (4) It must be, however, that, because of this union 
 with Christ by faith, the sinner will try to "bring forth fruit unto 
 God." Having identified himself with Christ, he must have made 
 the latter's purpose for him his own. Christ's death for his sins 
 must have been in effect his death to his sins (Rom. VI: i-ii). It 
 could no more be otherwise than the drowning man could lay hold 
 of his rescuer and then cease trying to breathe. 
 
 b. Out of the change in the redeemed sinner's spiritual condition. 
 (i) Before, he was dead to God "through . . . trespasses and sins" 
 (Eph. II: i). (2) Now he is alive unto God, having been quick- 
 
 *See "Confession of Faith," Chapters XIII, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, 
 XXI XXV, XXVI, XXXIV; also "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes," 
 Lectures xlll, XIV, XV. 
 
 40 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 4I 
 
 ened by Him (Eph. II: i). He believes on Christ as his Redeemer 
 because by the Holy Spirit he has been united to him as his life 
 (Gal. II: 20). (3) It cannot be, therefore, that he will do good 
 works in order that he may enter on eternal life ; it could not be 
 his more surely than it is his already; it is no more he who lives, 
 but Christ who lives in him (Gal. II: 20). (4) It must be, how- 
 ever, just because God is working in him, that he will strive to 
 develop and so work out his own salvation (Phil. II: 12). It 
 could no more be otherwise than a man could give over breathing; 
 he does not breathe in order that he may get life ; he breathes 
 because he is alive and for this reason cannot help breathing. 
 
 c. The sinner's ozvn appreciation of his changed relation to God 
 and of his new spiritual condition will both demand and prompt the 
 Christian life. Gratitude for these mercies of God must constrain 
 him to present himself ''a living sacrifice" unto God (Rom. XII : 
 I, 2). 
 
 B. The Sphere of the Christian Life is Threefold:— 
 
 a. The kingdom of Christ. This, as we have seen, is universal. 
 Christ is now the God of providence, and He is "head over all 
 things to the church" (Eph. 1:22). (i) He, therefore, who has 
 taken Christ as his Lord and in whose life Christ has become 
 the dominant principle will recognize his responsibility to Him in 
 society, in business, in the family, in the state, in the church. In 
 every department of life he will see that he can do Christ's will and 
 that he ought to do it (I- Cor. X:3i). (2) In every event also he 
 will recognize the appointment of his King. He will appreciate that 
 nothing conies to pass that Christ has not efifected or permitted for 
 His glory in the good of His redeemed ones. Hence, he will feel 
 that in everything he can give thanks and ought to- give thanks (I 
 Thess. V: 18). Even to this degree will the world become to him 
 the kingdom of his Redeemer and Lord. 
 
 b. The household of God. In Christ we are no more servants, 
 but sons (Gal. IV: 7). Our King reigns for our Father and as our 
 Father. The whole world should be as our. home, for it is our 
 "Father's house" (John XIV: 2). All our duties are the require- 
 ments of His wisdom; all our joys are the expressions of His 
 love; all our afflictions reveal His sympathy; it is our privilege and 
 our duty so to realize His fatherhood that our obedience as servants 
 
42 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 will become "the liberty of the glory of the children of God'' (Rom. 
 VIII:2i). 
 
 c. Communion zvith Christ. It is with Him that our new life is 
 hid in God (Col. 111:3). As the world becomes to us God's king- 
 dom and His kingdom our home; so our life in this home consists in 
 following Christ as our Lord, in communing with Him as our own 
 individual Friend, in living in Him as our Life (Gal. n:2o). This 
 is the real meaning of the Christian life. He in whom God chose 
 us before the foundation of the world, who died on the cross for our 
 sins, who "ever liveth to intercede for us" — He dwells in each one 
 of us by His Spirit, and we live by the power and for the glory 
 of His life (I Cor. HI:i6). Thus the Christian life is a life for 
 Christ and with Christ because in Christ Himself (John XV: 5). 
 
 C. The Work of the Christian Life. 
 
 a. In the sphere of the kingdom it is to develop all the right 
 interests of the ivorld in accordance zvith their inherent and, 
 therefore, diz'ine purpose, (i) The original command to "subdue 
 the earth" still holds (Gen. 1:28). It is strengthened by the fact 
 that the world has become the kingdom of our Redeemer. Fidelity 
 to all its interests is now required by loyalty to Him. (2) Particu- 
 larly is this so in the relationships of society, (a) The affections of 
 the family should be inspired by and subordinated to the love of 
 Christ (Eph. V : 25 ; VI : i, 4). (b) The rights which the state 
 secures should be defined in accordance with the law of Christ as 
 its true Head, and the civil rulers who guard these rights should 
 be obeyed and respected as His ministers (Rom.XIII: 1-4). 
 
 b. In the sphere of the household of God it is to make knozvn the 
 gospel of salvation. . LJnited to Christ, the Christian will identify 
 himself with the visible church or the company of Christ's confessed 
 followers (Mark Vin:3.}). Thus he will acknowledge his mem- 
 bership in the family of God and will best do his part in the work 
 for the establishment of Christ's kingdom ; and as this work is 
 the preaching and teaching and living of the gospel of the grace 
 of God (Mark XVI: 15), so he will seek to have all his activity in 
 the world or kingdom of God contribute to this the supreme func- 
 tion of the church (Mark XVI: 15). 
 
 c. In the sphere of communion zvith Christ it is to reproduce His 
 character in order that He may become more fully knozvn. Living 
 in Christ as the branch lives in the vine (John XV: 1-5), the Chris- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 43 
 
 tian will strive to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit of Christ (Gal. 
 '\\22). Thus his true life will express itself, and as the essence 
 of this life is "to know the love of Christ" (John XVII 13), so his 
 aim will be in all his endeavor to develop in himself and in others 
 the virtues which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and in all of his 
 consequent effort to publish the gospel of salvation, and in all his 
 resulting activity in subduing the world to Christ, his final aim 
 will be that the love of Christ may be known "which passeth 
 knowledge" (Eph, III: 19). 
 
 D. The Law of the Christian liife. 
 
 a. The Christian life is under law. (i) Just because the Christian 
 has been delivered by God from obedience to His law as the con- 
 dition of eternal life, will he wish to make it the rule of his life 
 (Rom. VII: 22). (2) Since Christ came to vindicate the law of 
 God in His expression of His grace, it could not be otherwise (Rom. 
 111:31). (3) It must be so, too, because the Christian life is "hid 
 with Christ in God," and His nature is, as we have seen, both the 
 standard and the ground of right, which is the basis of law. 
 
 b. The zuhole of the Christian life is absolutely under the law of 
 God. (i) This lav/ is all comprehensive (I Cor. X:3i). (2) The 
 only service that will or should satisfy either God or the Christian is 
 entire obedience (James II: 10), perfection of character (Matt. V: 
 48), total consecration (Matt. XVI : 24, 25). The cost of our re- 
 demption (I Pet. 1:19) as well as the perfection of God is the 
 reason for this. 
 
 c. The Bible, and particularly the personal revelation of God in 
 Christ given in it, constitutes the super naturally revealed and so 
 infallible rule of Christian life (II Tim. Ill : 16, 17). 
 
 d. The law of God and rule of the Christian life is summarily 
 comprehended in the Ten Commandments (Matt. XIX: 17). (i) 
 This is so because the Ten Commandments are binding on all men, 
 being founded either on the unchangeable nature of God, as the 
 Ninth Commandment, or on the divinely constituted nature and 
 permanent relations of men in their present state of existence, as 
 the Eighth Commandment. (2) It is so,, too, because the Ten 
 Commandments are reaffirmed (Mark X: 19), explained, and spirit- 
 ualized by Christ (Alatt. V). (3) The sum of the Ten Com- 
 mandments is that we should love God supremely and our neigh- 
 bor as ourselves (Matt. XXII: 37-40). (4) This absolutely holy 
 
44 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 love, which is the complete fulfillment of the law (Rom. XIII: lo), 
 finds its standard and illnstratioji in Christ's love for His redeemed 
 ones (John XV: 12). (5) This is Christ's "new commandment," 
 the law distinctive of the Christian life (John XIII: 34). The 
 Christian is one who tries to love both himself and others as 
 Christ has loved him. 
 
 e. The will of God for each particular" Christian and so his par- 
 ticular duty in each particular case, is indicated in the current lead- 
 ings of providence interpreted by the indwelling Spirit of God, who 
 enlightens our minds- to understand their claims and who quickens 
 our consciences to appreciate them. The Holy Spirit, however, al- 
 ways guides by applying the general principles of the Bible to the 
 changing conditions of our providentially directed lives. He never 
 enjoins what is contradictory of, or beyond, the book which He 
 himself inspired to be our complete rule. Hence, the final appeal 
 in every question of duty as of faith must be to the word of God 
 (Isa. VIII: 20). 
 
 f. In the case of what is not commanded or forbidden in the Bible 
 each Christian is required to decide his duty for himself under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, with due regard to the recommenda- 
 tions of the church and other constituted authorities, and especially 
 in accordance -with the foUozving principles: — 
 
 (i) One ought to do what, in view of all the circumstances, he 
 judges will be most for the glory of Christ (I Cor. X:3i). 
 
 (2) Christ cannot be glorified when what one does, though in 
 itself innocent, wounds the conscience of a less developed Christian 
 (I Cor, VIII: 12), or tempts him to violate his conscience (I Cor. 
 VIII: II). 
 
 (3) Still more ought one not to let his less developed brother 
 deny his right to decide for himself in these matters what he 
 himself may or may not do (Rom. XIV: 3). This liberty he is 
 bound to accord to others and to .demand from others. Even the 
 church may not authoritatively command or forbid what the Bible 
 has not commanded or forbidden. 
 
 E. As to the ^Nature of tlie Christian Life, It is:— 
 
 a. A grozvth. It consists in the repetition of that act of faith in 
 
 which it first evidenced itself. The body lives as well as begins to 
 
 live by breathing, and the Christian lives in Christ as well as begins 
 
 to live in Him by believing on Him. We grow in Him as we ad- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 45 
 
 venture ourselves on His promises, as we draw on His grace, as we 
 submit to His rule, as we cooperate with Him as He dwells in us 
 and animates us and worketh in us both to will and to work by His 
 Spirit (Phil. H: 13). In a word, we can be sanctified only through 
 faith (Acts XXVI: 18). 
 
 b. // is at best an immature and imperfect grozuth. (i) The new 
 birth is the implanting of a new and divine life; it is not the de- 
 struction of the old and corrupt nature. During his third foreign 
 missionary tour even Paul wrote that when he would do good 
 evil was present with him (Rom. VII: 14-25). (2) This old nature 
 is never entirely eradicated in this life (Rom. 111:9, 10) • Hence, 
 the Christian is never what he would be or ought to be ; he never 
 cooperates as he should with the Spirit of God, and the latter in 
 His just and loving sovereignity does not constrain such coopera- 
 tion. 
 
 c. // is, however, a growth which may and should, even in its 
 immaturity and imperfection, issue in assurance of salvation (I John 
 III : 14, 18, 19, 21, 24). (i) Such assurance results from the 
 testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are 
 the children of God (Rom. VIII: 15, 16). (2) Though not indis- 
 pensable to saving faith, it is its appropriate fruit and so ought to 
 be striven after (II Pet. 1 : 10). 
 
 d. It is, moreover, a growth which is sure to come to maturity and 
 perfection. When it is correctly judged not to do so, it must have 
 been a spurious growth and the Christian one in name only, (i) 
 Drawing its life from God Himself, it may languish, but it cannot 
 die. (2) Created by Him Himself, He may seem to neglect it, but 
 He must be all the time perfecting it (Phil. 1:6). (3) Christ has so 
 declared (John X:28). (4) Such, as we have just seen, is the 
 witness of His Spirit. (5) Such is the eternal covenant of God 
 with His Son (John VI : 39, 40). All therefore, who are in Christ 
 must become like Him (Rom. VIII: 29). Were it, in even one case, 
 to be otherwise, He who is "the Truth" would deny Himself; "He 
 cannot deny Himself (II Tim. II: 13). Such is the absolutely cer- 
 tain as well as supremely glorious issue of the Christian life. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE MEANS OF GRACE * 
 
 Ordinarily in His works of providence God acts through means. 
 It is not strange, therefore, that there should be "means of grace" 
 and that our growth in the Christian life should depend on our 
 diligent use of these. It is thus that Christ develops His life in us. 
 These means of grace are : — 
 
 A. The Word; i. e., the Bible. 
 
 a. In itself the Bible is fitted to be so. Its truths are such and are 
 so presented as to be adapted (i) to make "wise unto salvation" 
 (II Tim. Ill: 15), and (2) to develop holiness (Acts XX: 32). The 
 Bible contains precisely the spiritual nourishment needed by the 
 Christian life in all its stages. 
 
 b. The Bible is, hozvever, made a means of grace by the attending 
 influence of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 11:4). He opens the heart 
 to receive and He enlightens the mind to understand "the things of 
 God" (I Cor. II: 10). Otherwise, because of our natural deadness 
 to such things, they would be to us only "a stumbling block" or 
 "foolishness" (I Cor. 1:23). 
 
 c. This influence of the Holy Spirit is not a supernatural effi- 
 ciency inherent in the Bible itself, but it is an influence exerted by 
 Him when and how He pleases on and through the truths of the 
 Bible. Two men may read the Bible, and it save the one and harden 
 and condemn the other (II Cor. II: 16). This is because the former 
 is taught by the Spirit (John XVI: 13), and the other only by his 
 own spiritually dead heart. 
 
 d. This influence of the Spirit may, hozuever, be expected, and 
 may be claimed by Christians, in connection with the appropriate use 
 of the Bible (Acts XVII: 11, 12). (i) The Bible should be taught 
 and studied (a) diligently (Deut. VI : 6, 7), (b) after careful spir- 
 
 * See "Confession of Faith," Chapters XXV, XX\'II, XXVIII, XXIX, 
 XXXI V; also "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes," Lectures \', XVI, 
 XVII. 
 
 46 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE 47 
 
 itual as well as mental preparation (I Pet. II : i, 2), (c) with 
 prayer (Ps. CXIX:i8). (2) It should be received (a) with faith 
 (Rom. I: 16), and (b) with love (John VII: 17)- (3) It should 
 be laid up in our hearts (Ps. CXIX : 11). (4) It should be prac- 
 ticed in our lives (James 1:25). 
 
 e. The public preaching of the word of God, He is pleased spe- 
 cially to honor as a means of grace (I Cor. I: 21). 
 
 B. The Sacraments. 
 
 a. "A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, 
 by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are 
 represented, sealed, and applied to believers" ("Shorter Catechism," 
 Ques. 92; Matt. XXVIII: 19; XXVI: 26-28). 
 
 b. The design of the sacraments is fourfold: (i) To represent to 
 the eye the fundamental truths of the gospel. (2) To be badges 
 of Christian discipleship. (3) To be the seals of Christ's covenant 
 with men. (4) To be the means whereby Christ imparts grace to 
 those who receive them rightly. 
 
 c. The necessity of the sacraments depends on (i) their adapta- 
 tion to meet the ends just named, and (2) above all, on the com- 
 mand of Christ (Matt. XXVIII: 19; I Cor. XI : 23, 24). Yet while 
 they are thus appointed and so obligatory, they are not exclusive 
 channels of grace. A believer ought to seek, and ordinarily will 
 seek baptism, but it is never the lack of baptism which is fatal (Mark 
 XVI: 16). 
 
 d. The efficacy of the sacraments is not from any virtue in them 
 or in him who administers them, but solely by the blessing of Christ 
 and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them 
 (I Cor, XII: 13). This is not because faith renders any deserving 
 of grace, but because only faith can appropriate it. 
 
 e. TJie sacraments are valid, or what they purport to be, when 
 they conform to the prescriptions given in the Bible concerning 
 them, (i) The elements employed must be those which Christ or- 
 dained. (2) The manner in which those elernents are given or re- 
 ceived must accord with His directions. (3) The ordinances must 
 be administered with the intention of doing what He commanded. 
 
 f. The sacraments are tiuo, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 (i) Baptism. 
 
 (a) It symbolizes by the cleansing of the body by water the cleans- 
 ing of the soul in the blood of Jesus. It, therefore, implies a con- 
 
48 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 fcssioii of guilt and of depravity, and a profession of the discovery 
 of the remedy for all sin in the blood of Jesus. 
 
 (b) It ought, therefore, to be sought by all and to be applied to 
 all who in the judgment of charity may be presumed to be children 
 of God and so with a right to the privileges of His house (Acts 
 
 11:38). 
 
 (c) As only God can judge the heart, the responsibility of decid- 
 ing whether one has turned to God in Christ and so is a child of 
 God and a fit subject for recognition as such by baptism is wholly 
 with the applicant himself. The duty of church sessions is hmited 
 to denying church membership and baptism to those who give posi- 
 tive evidence of unfitness for them, either because they do not know 
 what baptism means, or because they do not believe what it signifies, 
 or because their lives openly contradict their profession. Church 
 officers who assume more responsibility than this come under the 
 condemnation of Christ (Matt. VII: i). 
 
 (d) The infants also of all who have professed their faith in 
 Christ ought to be baptized: for as baptism is the sign and seal of 
 the covenant of grace, and as the covenant of grace is identical with 
 the promise made to Abraham (Gal. Ill: 14), and as this promise 
 included his children with him (Gen. XVII: 7), so the children of 
 believers now are heirs of the blessings of this covenant, and thus 
 should receive the divinely appointed sign and seal of it. 
 
 (e) The salvation of infants dying In infancy does not, however, 
 depend upon their baptism. Baptism does not make those to whom 
 it is administered heirs of grace: but, in the case of infants, it is 
 administered to those who, we must believe, are already heirs of 
 grace because the faith of their parents shows that they are entitled 
 to be regarded as born such through God's gracious and eternal 
 choice; and since we have good reason to hope, from the analogy 
 between Adam and Christ (Rom. V: 18, 19), that all those who die 
 in infancy are included in this choice, we may well believe that a 
 multitude, who never were baptized, are removed from the evil of 
 this world to the immediate presence of God. 
 
 (f) The benefit of infant baptism appears in this, that in it parents 
 formally claim for their children the salvation which God, who 
 cannot fail to keep His word, has promised to give to the children 
 of all believers who sincerely make that claim and continue to be- 
 lieve in His promise and to train their children in accord with it. 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE 40 
 
 (g) As to the mode of baptism, it is essential that there should 
 be a washing with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost Thus purification from sin is symbolized, and the recipient 
 is pledged to allegiance to God in that character and in those rela- 
 tions in which He has revealed Himself to us in the plan of salva- 
 tion. How much water is used and how it is applied are not essen- 
 tial. Sprinkling, immersion, and affusion are all justified by Scrip- 
 ture. Sprinkling, however, is most symbolical of spiritual cleansing 
 (Ezek. XXXVI .'25, 26). Hence, it is to be preferred. 
 
 (2) The Lord's Supper. 
 
 (a) It is a memorial of Christ (I Cor. XI 124), and especially of 
 His death for our sins (Matt. XXVI : 27, 28). Thus it speaks to 
 us of guilt and of the atonement. 
 
 (b) It is a sacrificial meal, as was the passover feast, the place of 
 which it takes ; it is, therefore, a communion of Christians with each 
 other as common participants in Christ's sacrificial death accom- 
 plished once for all on Calvary (]\Iatt. XXVI '.27). 
 
 (c) In it, to all who come to it in faith, Christ and the benefits of 
 His death for us are signified, sealed, and imparted. We not only 
 remember Him; we claim Him afresh as our sacrificial substitute, 
 and receive Him as such to our spiritual nourishment and growth in 
 grace. 
 
 (d) Christ, therefore, is really present at His table and is really 
 partaken of in this sacrament (I Cor. XI : 24, 25). This does not 
 mean that the bread and wine become Christ's flesh and blood, or 
 that His flesh and blood enter into them ; but that all the power to 
 save of His body broken and of His blood shed for our sins, and 
 the energy of His own glorified divine human life are communicated 
 to us by the Holy Spirit as we give ourselves anew to Christ at His 
 table, and believing in all that they signify eat and drink the S3'm- 
 bols of His body broken and His blood shed for us. As we- cannot 
 accept the physical presence of our Lord in the bread and wine and 
 not contradict the senses which He has given us, so we must be- 
 lieve in His dynamical presence to those who have the faith to 
 receive Him, or deny His own words (]\Iatt. XXVI: 26, 27). 
 
 (e) The Lord's Supper, then, should be partaken of only by Chris- 
 tians. Others, because spiritually dead, cannot "discern the Lord's 
 body," or perceive the spiritual and so real meaning of this sacra- 
 
50 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 ment. Hence, they cannot participate in it without guilt (I Cor. 
 XI: 29). 
 
 (f) Yet as the Lord's Supper is for Christians only, so It is for all 
 Christians, however weak or discouraged or sinful. The most sin- 
 ful, if only they would repent and believe, are the very ones whom 
 our Saviour would feed at His table (]\Iark n:i7). 
 
 C. Prayer. 
 
 a. In the case of the Christian, prayer is communion with both our 
 Father (Matt. VI : 9) and our Friend (John XV: 14, 15, 16). 
 
 b. Prayer Includes petition (I John V:4), confession (I John 
 1:9), and thanksgiving (Phil. IV: 6); the model of our prayer is 
 the Lord's Prayer (Matt. VI: 9-13). 
 
 c. Prayer is a special means of grace, (i) Because of its effect 
 in us. Nothing can so tend to make one holy as communion with 
 God Himself (Isa. XL: 31). (2) Because of its power with God 
 (]\Iatt. VII: II; James V: 15). If prayer did not have this power 
 with God, It would lose Its power In us. No benefit could come 
 from communion with a God who encouraged petition though know- 
 ing It to be only an empty form. 
 
 d. God can respond to our prayers and so can permit Himself to 
 be influenced by them because (i) the laws of the world were con- 
 stituted by Him and are absolutely under His control, and (2) be- 
 cause prayer, as well as the ansv/er to prayer, enters Into His eternal 
 plan. The whole world has been formed from the beginning for the 
 very purpose of providing for the mutual intercourse of the pray- 
 ing children and of the prayer-answering Father. 
 
 e. Because Cod is our Father and is omnipotent, we ought to ask 
 Him for everything that we wish, which He has not shozvn to be 
 contrary to His zvill (Phil. IV: 6). 
 
 f. Because Cod is our Father and is omnipotent, He zvill answer 
 every acceptable prayer, — if not as we zvish, yet as we would wish did 
 we knozu all that He knows (John 'XIV: 14). 
 
 g. The conditions of acceptable prayer are: (i) It must be sin- 
 cere. (2) It must be offered In submission to the will of God (I 
 John V: 14; Luke XXII: 42). (3) It must be accompanied and fol- 
 lowed by the intelligent and diligent use of all the means adapted to 
 secure the answer (James V: 13-15). (4) It must be offered In the 
 name of Christ (John XVI : 23). 
 
 h. IVe should be encouraged to pray just because prayer is not 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE 
 
 51 
 
 necessary for God's information (Matt. VI: 8). It must, therefore, 
 be to bring us into communion with Himself that He has so largely 
 conditioned His giving on our asking (Ezek. XXXVI: 37). He de- 
 lights to have us pray even more than we need to pray. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE LAST THINGS * 
 
 One cannot study God's plan as developed in His works of crea- 
 tion and providence, in the latter more definitely in the permission 
 of sin and especially in the accomplishment of redemption, and in it 
 particularly in the Christian life with its means of grace, and not 
 ask, What is to be the outcome of it all? 
 
 A. Human Probation is to end with Death (II Cor. VI : i, 
 
 2). 
 
 a. Immediately upon death the good man — and no man, as we 
 have seen, can be good in God's sight who is. not clothed in the robe 
 of Christ's righteousness — goes to a place of holiness and happiness, 
 and the had man to a f lace of suffering (Luke XVI : 22, 23). 
 
 b. These places and the characters which they imply are per- 
 manent and irreversible (Luke XVI : 26, 31). 
 
 B. The Church as Christ's Army is to push Her Conquests 
 until Jesus is OAvned the World Over; even by the Jevrs, as 
 King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Mark XIII : 10; Rom. XI : 26; 
 Isa. XLV: 22, 2z). 
 
 C. Christ Himself will return from Heaven (I Thess. 
 IV: 16). 
 
 a. He zi'ill come in the body (Acts 1 : 11). 
 
 b. The time of His return is unknozvn (Mark XIII : 26, 32). 
 
 c. He zvill come unexpectedly (I Thess. V:2). 
 
 D. At Christ's Return the Bodies of All Who are Alive 
 shall be so "changed" as to be Incorruptible (I Cor. XV: 51, 
 52), and All the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible. 
 
 ■ a. This zvill be effected directly by the almighty pozuer of God 
 (Phil. Ill: 21). 
 b. The resurrection of the impenitent zvill be judicial, that they 
 
 *vSee "Confession of Faith," Chapters XXXIT and XXXTTI; also "Popular 
 Lectures on Theological Themes," Lectures XVIII and XIX. 
 
 52 
 
THE LAST THINGS S3 
 
 may justly, and so in the body, receive the punishment of the deeds 
 done in the body (John V:29; II Cor. V: lo). 
 
 c. The resurrection of the redeemed zvill be gracious; a conse- 
 quence of Christ's death and resurrection for them, and for the 
 consummation of their salvation (I Thess. IV: 14). 
 
 d. As to the resurrection bodies of the redeemed, we are taught: 
 (i) They are identical with the bodies laid away in the graves 
 (John V:28, 29). (2) They are, however, changed so as to be like 
 Christ's glorified body (Phil. Ill: 21). (3) Hence, they will be (a) 
 still true bodies (Luke XXIV: 39) ; (b) yet spiritual bodies (I Cor. 
 XV : 44) ; i. e., absolutely under the control and government of the 
 Holy Spirit so as to be perfectly adapted to the instincts and facul- 
 ties of our glorified souls, and to the physical condition of the new 
 heavens and the new earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness." 
 
 E. As to the Condition of Souls between Death and the 
 Resurrection, We are taught: — 
 
 a. In the case of the impenitent, it is a state of bodiless, penal 
 suffering (Luke XVI : 23). 
 
 b. In the case of the redeemed, it is a state of bodiless, conscious 
 blessedness, (i) They are "at hom.e with the Lord" (II Cor. 
 V:i, 8). (2) They are freed from all sin (Rev. XIV: 13). (3) 
 Their bodies, being still united to Christ, are kept by Him for the 
 resurrection (I Thess. IV: 14). (4) Yet though with Christ and 
 delivered from all sin and sorrow, they are not complete in Him, 
 but await the resurrection and the glory which shall ensue (Rom, 
 VIII: 23). 
 
 F. The Resurrection "vrill he folloiv^ed by, and "will he in 
 order to, the Final and Universal Judgment (]\Iatt. 
 
 XXV: 31). 
 
 a. Christ himself will be the Judge (II Cor. V: 10). 
 
 b. Those to be judged will be Satan and the angels zuho fell ivith 
 him (Jude 6), and all men (II Cor, V: 10). 
 
 c. The lazu by ivliich all shall be tried will be the revelation which 
 God has made to each one. (i) Those who have heard the gospel 
 shall be judged by the gospel, and their great sin will be that they 
 have "not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" 
 (John III: 18). (2) Those who have never heard the gospel shall 
 be judged, by the Mosaic law if Jews, by the law of nature if 
 heathen; and the condemnation of the former will be that they have 
 
54 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 disobeyed the law as God revealed it by Moses, and of the latter, 
 that they have broken the law- as made known by God in every 
 man's conscience (Rom. II: 12-16). 
 
 d. The judgment shall extend to words and thoughts as zvell as 
 deeds (Matt. XII : 36, 37; Heb. IV:ii-i3). 
 
 e. The condemnation of the impenitent is on the ground of their 
 own sin; and the purpose of their judgment is to justify to the 
 universe their punishment, already entered into, and all to the praise 
 of God's glorious justice (Rom. II 15, 6). 
 
 f. TJie acquittal and glorification of the redeemed will be on the 
 ground of the righteousness of Christ, who by divine appointment 
 took their place under the law and redeemed them from its curse 
 and rendered its obedience, and the purpose of their judgment Js to 
 justify to the universe their blessedness, already entered into, and 
 all to the praise of the riches of God's grace (Rom. IX: 23). 
 
 G. As to tlie Condition of Men after the Judgment, We 
 are taught: — 
 
 a. The impenitent are consigned to "everlasting fire, prepared for 
 the Devil and his angels." (i) This cannot be literal fire; for the 
 Devil and his angels, having no bodies, could not be pained by it. 
 (2) It must, however, signify punishment as real and terrible as 
 fire. (3) The chief elements of this punishment are (a) Exclusion 
 from the presence and favor of God (II Thess. 1:9). (t») Remorse 
 (Mark IX : 44, 46, 48). (c) Despair, (d) Positive judicial inflec- 
 tions, such as the impenitent's environment in hell, over and above 
 the natural consequences of sin. (e) Perpetuity (i\Iatt. XXV: 46). 
 (4) As to this inconceivably awful punishment, it should be further 
 observed: (a) To the impenitent heaven could not be heaven, (b) 
 In every case their punishment is deserved by their own sin. (c) 
 This is true even of the perpetuity of- their punishment. Sin is an 
 offense against an infinite Being; such an offense merits an infinite 
 punishment; to be such, punishment must, in the case of a finite 
 creature, be everlasting, (d) 111 desert is determined by a Judge 
 who has our nature, who was tempted in all points as we are, and 
 who, consequently, cannot fail to mitigate the degree of punishment 
 according to all the extenuating circumstances (Luke XII : 47, 48). 
 (e) Terrible though hell must be, it is only ''a corner of the uni- 
 verse." The redeemed are called an "innumerable multitude" (Rev. 
 VII: 9); no such description is ever given of the lost, (f) Even 
 
THE LAST THINGS 
 
 55 
 
 hell cannot be so awful as it would be, were not an absolutely just 
 and infinitely loving God on the throne. To endure even His just 
 wrath must be better than to be crushed by a heartless force or 
 tortured by a cruel tyrant; nor may we forget that even when jus- 
 tice compels Him to be most severe, He never ceases to love, (g) 
 The consideration of this terrible subject ought to lead us to greater 
 activity in bringing the impenitent to Him who can and will save 
 all who come unto Him by faith. 
 
 b. The redeemed enter at once into the "inheritance prepared for 
 them from the foundation of the world" (]\Iatt. XXV 134). (i) 
 United to their bodies, their redemption is complete. (2) Delivered 
 from all sin, sorrow, and pain (Rev. VH : 16, 17; XXI: 2^), and 
 rewarded for Christ's sake according to their works (I Cor. V: 10), 
 each one is admitted to all tlie happiness of which he has become 
 capable (Ps. XVI: 11). (3) They know even as they are known 
 (I Cor. XIII: 12). (4) They see Christ as He is (I John 111:2). 
 (5) Together with those who are dear to them in Christ, they will 
 be with Him forever (I Thess. IV: 17). (6) They are changed 
 into His glorious likeness (I John 111:2). (7) Through all the 
 ages to come they will be the recipients of the riches of God's grace 
 in His kindness to them through Christ Jesus (Eph. 11:7). 
 
 H. After tlie Resurrection and Judgment "cometli tlie 
 end," the passing away of tlie present order of things, the 
 introduction of "nexc heavens and a nevr earth, wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness" (II Pet. Ill : 12, 13) : and then Christ 
 the God-man, "having put all things under His feet," hav- 
 ing accomplished every purpose of His mediatorial king- 
 ship, -while retaining forever His headship over His 
 redeemed people (Luke 1 : 2)3), "will give up to the Father that 
 dominion over the universe on xirhich He entered at His as- 
 cension; and thus the Godhead absolute w^ill be immedi- 
 ately all in all to the creature (I Cor. XV: 24-28). Such is 
 the infinitely glorious and blessed consumrnation of God's eternal 
 plan. 
 
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