RAYS OF LIGHT; 
 
 OR 
 
 LECTURES. ON GREAT SUBJECTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES MONROE AURAND, 
 
 PASTOR OF EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHRIST CHURCH, 
 TRENTON, N. J. 
 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 \ 
 
, fix fa 
 
 i *ift Library 
 o* Congress 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 Copyright, 1890, 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES M. AURAND. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 The Creation of Man 7 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 The Fall 35 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 The Promise oe a Deliverer — The Call of Abraham 
 —God's Dealings with the Israelites 59 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 The God-man 81 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 The God-man's Mediatorial Work 103 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 The Church , 123 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Divine Revelation 145 
 
 (iii) 
 
IV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 Sacrament oe Baptism 167 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 The Sacrament oe the Ai/tar 193 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 Prayer 229 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 Salvation 251 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 GLORIFICATION 273 
 
 I 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The author believes that the existence of this 
 volume is justified by two facts : 
 
 First. The laity of the Christian Church need 
 information touching the subjects herein discussed. 
 Scientists furnish scientific facts, philosophers sup- 
 ply philosophic truths, but the whole world looks 
 to the ministers of Jesus Christ for knowledge con- 
 cerning the deep things of God and man. The 
 ministerial office is entrusted with two functions, 
 namely, preaching and teaching. The first makes 
 its appeal mainly to the conscience and will, and is 
 evangelistic, while the latter addresses the intellect, 
 and is designed to edify and nurture the evan- 
 gelized. 
 
 An extended observation forces the writer to the 
 conclusion that the teaching function, in the ma- 
 jority of pulpits, does not measure up to the needs, 
 nor to the desires, of the pew — that many of God's 
 people "perish for lack of knowledge." Christian 
 people have a right to look to their spiritual guides 
 
 (v) 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 for instruction upon the " inner meaning " of the 
 great themes of Divine Revelation. 
 
 Second. So far as the writer's acquaintance with 
 books extends, he does not know of any volume 
 which covers the field occupied by this manual, 
 suited to the wants of the laity. The standard 
 theological tomes are indispensable to the divinity 
 student, but remain unappreciated and unread by 
 the busy layman. 
 
 The opinion is cherished, therefore, that the 
 "rays of light " focused in these u lectures on great 
 subjects" will not be entirely unwelcome and un- 
 profitable to those to whom they are dedicated. 
 
 The style of direct address is due to the fact that 
 these lechires were originally delivered before the 
 author's congregation substantially as they stand 
 here. 
 
 No high claims of any kind are set up for this 
 messenger of light, except that every paragraph 
 has been written in prayer for the Holy Spirit's 
 guidance and counsel: and now may the divinest 
 blessings of the triune God be vouchsafed to all 
 who may read what has been written! 
 
 C. M. A. 
 
 Trenton, N. J., October, 1890. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 The Creation of Man. 
 
 Gen. i. 29. 
 
Gen. i. 29. So God created Man in His own image. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 The study of man is both attractive and im- 
 portant. It is second only to the study of God. 
 In truth, these two subjects are so coupled together 
 that by putting aside one, the other loses all in- 
 terest and force. It is the purpose of the author 
 to contribute 3 in successive lectures, somewhat to 
 the end of a correct understanding of him who 
 was created in the image of God. In reading the 
 account of creation as found in the first and 
 second chapters of Genesis, we are impressed with 
 a few things that seem very striking. 
 
 First, touching the manner of man'' s creation. 
 With reference to all the other departments of 
 God's works the simple language is used: "Let 
 there be light, and there was light." "Let there 
 be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let 
 it divide the waters from the waters. " u Let the 
 water under the heaven be gathered together into 
 one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was 
 so." "Let there be lights in the firmament of the 
 heaven to divide the day from the night, and let 
 2 (9) 
 
10 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 them be for signs and for seasons, and for days 
 and for years." The same terms are employed all 
 the way through, down to the work of the sixth 
 day — the creation of man. 
 
 Now, at this point, there is an evident departure 
 from the foregoing. It matters not what our in- 
 terpretation may be of this departure, the fact it- 
 self remains. The language : "Let us make man 
 in our image, after our likeness, and let them have 
 dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
 fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all 
 the earth, and over every creeping thing that 
 creepeth upon the earth," stands out as prominent 
 as the noonday sun, and is surely very impressive. 
 
 Certainly nothing new is put forth in the re- 
 mark that this peculiar expression seems to inti- 
 mate a plurality in the distinction of the Godhead 
 — Trinity in unity. This is the sober interpreta- 
 tion by the profoundest minds, and has been ad- 
 vanced as a proof-text by trinitarians from the 
 very beginning of theological discussion. Such 
 interpretation manifestly falls in with the analogy 
 of faith concerning this doctrine. 
 
 Another circumstance in relation to mart s cre- 
 ation is, that he was last to come from the hand 
 of the Almighty. All things else were made, and 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. II 
 
 then last and greatest of all comes man. "He 
 was the last as well as the finest of the Divine 
 works. His residence, and all other things neces- 
 sary for his comfort, were prepared for his recep- 
 tion. Then, when the earth had been fashioned 
 in all its beauty, and Eden enriched with all her 
 stores of enjoyment, God made man, the climax 
 of creating wisdom, power and love." 
 
 Once more, man stands highest in the scale of 
 creation. While on one side he is related to the 
 earth, on the other he is linked to heaven. 
 
 The seventh verse of the second chapter of Gen- 
 esis reads, ' ' And the Iyord God formed man out of 
 the dust of the ground, and breathed into his 
 nostrils the breath of life, and man became a liv- 
 ing soul." 
 
 In the mechanism and functions of the body, 
 scientists tell us there is a close and striking re- 
 semblance to that of the bodies of animals. In- 
 deed, this fact has of late years been made so 
 prominent that there are not a few to-day who 
 make bold to assert that the material part of man 
 is all there is of him. Almost every school boy is 
 more or less acquainted with the theory of evolu- 
 tion — for it has poisoned the very atmosphere — 
 which hypothesis develops man from the ape, and 
 
12 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the ape from something before it, and so on back 
 to the Moneron, which is said to be the lowest 
 but also the first living thing, from which there- 
 fore all animal existence springs, and from which 
 all species of animals are developed by laws in- 
 herent in nature. If it be asked, "Whence did 
 the first germ of life come?" different answers will 
 be returned, according to the theological position 
 of the person questioned. If he be a theist, the 
 answer is, "From God." If he be an .atheist, 
 the response will be, "Spontaneous Generation," 
 or else the question will be evaded altogether. 
 Again, if we interrogate respecting the laws gov- 
 erning the development of the different species, 
 some answer: "They are the orderly and fixed 
 method of God's activity in the natural world;" 
 while others, classifying and naming them as 
 "natural selection," "survival of the fittest," 
 "struggle for existence," "environment" and 
 "heredity," declare: "These laws themselves 
 have been decreed and developed by the exigency 
 of the universe, and that is all there is to be said 
 about them." 
 
 It is certainly reasonable that we should con- 
 sider the similarity existing between the make-up 
 and functions of the body, "made out of the dust 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 1 3 
 
 of the ground," and that of the lower creatures. 
 Doing this, however, does not close our eyes to 
 some striking dissimilarities — among many others 
 such, for example, as these : Man is the only 
 creature that walks upright, facing heavenward ; 
 he is the only being on earth with physical organs 
 of speech ; and he also stands alone in mind func- 
 tions, for rational and responsible mental activity. 
 In respect to the bodily parts which man and 
 beast have in common with each other, no one 
 needs to be driven to the fixed conclusion that the 
 materialistic theory of evolution is the last word 
 that can be spoken in explanation of them. Why 
 is not the Duke of Argyle right when he says that 
 "it is reasonable to suppose that God created all 
 bodies after the same general type?" It would, 
 I say it reverently, look almost like child's play — 
 and certainly it would seem to indicate creative 
 activity without creative plan or order — to form 
 one body or species according to one plan, and an- 
 other according to a different plan, and still an- 
 other further different, and so on endlessly. Our 
 notion of the wisdom of God supports the idea 
 that all bodies were created after the same general 
 type, whether of man or beast, so far as their 
 functions are identical, and that only where an 
 
14 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 additional function or functions are added, as in 
 man, are there to be found additional physical 
 organs and apparatuses, which in some cases may 
 seem to be like a real departure from the common 
 plan. 
 
 As it is not within the scope of this address, so 
 it is not my object, to say anything, either in de- 
 fence or opposition, of the "development theory. " 
 That task is in better hands than mine. But as a 
 somewhat earnest and close student of biology for 
 a period of ten years, tracing out all sides and 
 phases of the subject, I come back with the full 
 and satisfying conviction that man was created 
 by the direct and immediate flat of God. While 
 there may have been, and most likely were, nat- 
 ural developments in some departments of the 
 creation, I, for one, do not claim the glory of be- 
 lief in evolution, as that term is used in scientific 
 circles. I am also persuaded that the simple faith 
 of our forefathers, on this subject, is the best faith 
 still for all those whom I am addressing. 
 
 Dropping the matter of man's physical nature, 
 and renewing my remark that he is the most ex- 
 alted being in the creative scale, it is not without 
 truth to say that he is such, most particularly, on 
 account of his spiritual nature. More of this pres- 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 1 5 
 
 ently. Suffice it to say here that man was formed 
 to bridge the chasm between pure animal and pure 
 spirit. He is the middle link between animated 
 creatures of the earth and the celestial host of 
 heaven — a material, immaterial, earth-born and 
 heaven-begotten creature. 
 
 I have now come to a point in the discussion of 
 the subject in hand, when it is proper to institute 
 further inquiries touching what I regard as the 
 real meaning of it. I am not ignorant of the fact 
 that it is more interesting than easy to address one's- 
 self to this task; and in the presence of the war of 
 tongues that has been waged around this theme, it 
 is not easy to say the last word, and thus bring 
 about cessation of arms. However, the Holy 
 Ghost can bring light out of darkness, and har- 
 mony out of discord, and we have the assurance 
 that if we desire to know the truth, and look to 
 Him, He will teach us. Under the inspiration of 
 this promise I proceed. 
 
 "So God created man in His own image." 
 What can be the meaning of the last word in the 
 above sentence? I am safe in saying — for I speak 
 from former personal experience — that by far the 
 major part of the ''common people" take this 
 word as meaning that man, in his external, vis- 
 
1 6 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 ible person, resembles the person or being of God. 
 That is to say, that God took his own form as the 
 model after which he fashioned the body of man, 
 and thus he is made in God^s image and likeness. 
 Now this is not the primary and fundamental 
 meaning of this term. At the same time, I am 
 compelled to give my firm conviction on this phase 
 of the meaning of this word, and right here will I 
 likely evoke the criticism of many learned doctors. 
 
 I need hardly say that I have long ago put aside 
 all merely traditional belief, and that I have tried 
 to study this subject, or phase of subject, from an 
 independent, or perhaps I should say, scientific 
 and philosophic standpoint. 
 
 The result of such study leads me to affirm that 
 for all I or any one else can say to the contrary, 
 there may be truth in the home-spun notion of 
 every-day people. I know of no better place than 
 this to express my personal opinion, not only neg- 
 atively, but also positively, that marts outer form 
 does partake of the similitude of his Creator 1 s form. 
 I number myself among those who hold to the 
 doctrine that our physical frame is an exact count- 
 erpart of the soul. That the soul, so to speak, is 
 the pattern on which the body is framed — part cor- 
 responding to part, and the whole external and 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 1 7 
 
 visible in harmony with, the whole internal and in- 
 visible. 
 
 To me, the received opinion that we know not 
 what the soul of man is, that we are ignorant of 
 its shape and form — if it is square, or round, or ob- 
 long, or circular, or what not — whether it has eyes 
 and ears, nose and mouth, hands and feet — is pos- 
 itively repugnant, because it is absolutely unsatis- 
 factory. Certainly to my mind it is trifling with a 
 most serious subject. Such quibbling is not only 
 vague and cloudy, but entirely unworthy of great 
 thinkers. 
 
 Now admitting that we cannot scientifically 
 demonstrate' the human shape of the soul (neither 
 does science even establish the existence of the 
 soul), this idea does seem to be the legitimate con- 
 clusion of Christian philosophy, and surely it is 
 the decision of one of the best of all judges, viz., 
 Common Sense. 
 
 This theory has, to say the very least, and the 
 opposite theory has not, something definite and 
 fixed and satisfying to support it, and it will con- 
 sequently hold an increasingly high and prominent 
 place in the human mind. 
 
 It is not without profit to state that it is only in 
 the light of this truth that many of the physical 
 phenomena can be reasonably explained. 
 
1 8 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 I now come back to my original proposition, 
 namely, that perhaps after all there "are more 
 things than we dream of in our philosophy" in 
 the common folk version of man's being created in 
 the image of God. All that I have so far said is 
 by no means proof positive of the truthfulness of 
 such version, still I do declare that construct- 
 ively I come to that conclusion. Putting pheno- 
 mena by the side of phenomena, and placing fact 
 with fact, and comparing principle with principle, 
 of things which we know and admit, and others 
 which we take on the authority of the Bible, as a 
 good and faithful judge we infer the truth that 
 man, even as to form, is created in the i?nage of 
 God. 
 
 I speak only for myself when I say, commend me 
 to a Father who is deter?nijiate ijiform and definite 
 in every organ of his infinite being. Such a Maker 
 comes within my mental grasp — so far as it is pos- 
 sible for the infinite to be comprehended by the 
 finite — and. not only so, but in love and admiration 
 will I be able some day to literally fall on His 
 neck, to bless and praise Him for my eternal salva- 
 tion in His presence, where there is fulness of joy, 
 and at His right hand, where there are pleasures 
 forevermore. I have to say just a word more be- 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 19 
 
 fore I dismiss this part of my thesis, and that is, 
 that the foregoing position is the only one that 
 will keep us from landing in pantheism. It ad- 
 mits the immanence in nature of God^ s power and 
 wisdom; but it commends itself still more by lift- 
 ing above nature the determinate, personal Creator. 
 
 Some time ago I remarked that the similarity of 
 man's form with that of God, is not the primary 
 and fundamental meaning of the word "image" 
 and "likeness." I here repeat that assertion. The 
 primary, and at the same time the truest and sub- 
 limest meaning, lies in the direction of spiritual 
 capacities and powers. In one word, man is 
 created in the " image of God " because he enjoys 
 similar intellectual and emotional and volitional 
 powers and functions. 
 
 Physically animal, man possesses also the mental 
 parts of the same, but spiritually divine, he posses- 
 ses also the faculties (not perfections, in the fullest 
 sense of that term) of divinity. So it is written of 
 him in the "volume of the book " that he is just a 
 little lower than the angels. The explanation of 
 this is at hand. Angels are pure spirits, and do 
 not in any way participate in the animal nature — 
 are, accordingly, in so far higher than man; or, 
 which is the same thing put in a different way, 
 
20 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 man does participate in the animal economy, and is 
 therefore, in so far, just a little lower than the 
 angels. 
 
 Angels being created by the same God, received 
 upon them the stamp of divinity, the same as man. 
 In this respect there is no difference between 
 these two classes of beings, they having the same 
 spiritual capacities, inasmuch as both are modeled 
 after their Maker's perfections. At the same time 
 it may be fair to conclude that though man had 
 continued in his original Edenic purity, he would 
 not, while in the flesh, and on that very account, 
 enjoy the same highly developed powers as angels. 
 The "flesh" being coupled with the "spirit" 
 hedges and limits the latter' s enlargement. Fol- 
 lowing our analogy, I feel to say that as soon as 
 man escapes the flesh— or, what amounts to the 
 same thing, — when the flesh itself is glorified, — he 
 becomes free to go on and on and still on to end- 
 less perfecting, never reaching the height of his 
 infinite Creator, but possibly reaching, and perhaps 
 in some matters transcending, the status of the 
 angelic hosts. 
 
 I have said that at least one version of the term 
 "image" is found in the fact of similarity of 
 spiritual capacities and powers between the creat- 
 ure and the Creator. 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 21 
 
 I deem it proper to inquire at this juncture, 
 what are these? I answer, using the nomenclature 
 of Kant and others, Reason, Rational and Spir- 
 itual Susceptibilities, and Will in liberty. I must 
 chiefly content myself with this bare statement, 
 for I am admonished of the fact that while the 
 field thus opened is supremely tempting to my 
 mental trend, I must forego the great pleasure it 
 would afford me to go in and " taste and see," in 
 order to confine myself to the scope of my "fore- 
 ordained" plan to address you in as concise and 
 simple a way as possible. Still I cannot leave this 
 vital and interesting part of my subject without 
 indicating a few thoughts, in fuller elucidation of 
 what lies in my mind. 
 
 In the first place, I confess to inability to trace 
 the plain line of demarkation running between 
 animal mind and the human mind. Perhaps, in- 
 deed, there is no " plain line" between the two; 
 nevertheless there is a line. In stamping the ani- 
 mal mind, I think the Creator wrote : "So far and 
 no farther; here must thy proud waves (of think- 
 ing, feeling and willing) be stopped."' Touching 
 the human mind he wrote: "Roll on ceaselessly 
 and endlessly." 
 
 Allow me to classify the mental functions in 
 which the two agree: 
 
22 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 i. Animals have Sense. This is the intellectual 
 realm in which there is the operation of the five 
 senses : sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. 
 Through the respective organs, of which the 
 above are the functions, the animal has sensation 
 and perception. In other words, through these 
 organs there is contact with the outer world, and 
 a knowledge of its phenomena is obtained. These 
 same functions are present in man. Some of 
 these functions may be more highly developed, 
 and certainly some not as highly, as in the brute, 
 and consequently his sensations and perceptions 
 may be keener or less keen, in proportion to the 
 capacity of the senses. 
 
 2. The animal and man alike possess the Under- 
 standing. By this intellectual power, knowledge 
 is gained of the things underlying phenomena, 
 viz., substance. If it be true, according to the 
 teaching of many profound minds, that by the 
 Sense there can be no knowledge of the things 
 that cause and occasion "appearances," it is also 
 true that by the additional and higher attribute, 
 the Understanding, such further knowledge is 
 secured. 
 
 This superadded perfection involves a number 
 of co-ordinate faculties, such as these : Abstrac- 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 23 
 
 tion, Reflection, Association, Memory, Induction 
 and Deduction. 
 
 That the animal has all these faculties, is 
 plainly evident when their habits and conduct are 
 closely studied. It is true that as these faculties 
 inhere in the brute creation, they are usually 
 known as instinct. Now instinct is more properly 
 classed among the feelings, at least some so class 
 it; but while feeling may give the impulse for 
 conduct, the beginning and middle and end of in- 
 stinct is knowledge — knowledge, too, that is of 
 the same nature with that which is gained by 
 the faculties of the Understanding, above enum- 
 erated. I do not assert that the brute con- 
 sciously employs these powers, for this I do not 
 believe, as by its endowment it may go straight 
 to the result without its processes ; but what I do 
 believe and aver is, that the animal's knowledge 
 is of a piece with that which is acquired when 
 those faculties are consciously used, as in man. 
 
 In order that I may not offend, I desire to say 
 that while brute knowledge, in the sphere of the 
 Understanding, is certainly greater in some direc- 
 tions, it is also certainly much inferior in many 
 more directions, to that of man. 
 
 In the matter of memory, induction and deduc- 
 
24 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 tion, I affirm positively that the Understanding in 
 man towers high above that of the brute, being 
 reinforced, as it is, by another and higher at- 
 tribute, of which I will presently speak — the 
 Reason. 
 
 The Sense and the Understanding are the only 
 intellectual powers identical in animal and man. 
 We now pass on from the Intellect to the Suscep- 
 tibility in both. 
 
 Philosophers declare that the emotive capacity 
 depends on the intellectual capacity, and as the 
 intellect goes out into activity, so will also the 
 emotive nature go out — the latter in response to 
 and in harmony with the former. This I presume 
 is true. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that there must be an 
 emotive capacity in both animal and man to cor- 
 respond and square with their intellectual nature. 
 For every intellectual department or faculty, as 
 the Sense and the Understanding in animal, and 
 the Sense and the Understanding and the Reason 
 in man, there is an emotive department, or capac- 
 ity, to agree as a counterpart, so to speak, with 
 the intellectual nature. 
 
 This last sentence, in general, is true, but it 
 needs some explanation. As we shall see pres- 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 25 
 
 ently, man is not only an intellectual being, but 
 in and with that intellect is wrapped up a spiritual 
 nature. Now the only point I want to make here 
 with this anticipatory statement is this, that the 
 Sense and the Understanding, which we have found 
 to exist in the brute creation, do not have their 
 exact emotive counterparts in the Susceptibility. 
 
 The great American philosopher, Dr. Hickok, 
 names three distinct divisions in the capacity for 
 feeling, viz., Animal, Rational, and Spiritual. 
 Now it seems clear, from what I have already inti- 
 mated, that the division called the Spiritual Sus- 
 ceptibility fits in with the spiritual element of 
 man, and corresponds with and responds to spir- 
 itual-intellectual activities. The next lower divis- 
 ion, named the Rational Susceptibility, is the 
 emotive capacity chiefly set over against the 
 activity of the Reason in the intellectual. It, 
 therefore, simply remains to be said that the next 
 lower and remaining division, the Animal Suscep- 
 tibility, is matched and covered by the two intel- 
 lectual faculties, the Sense and the Understanding. 
 From this we see that the only susceptibility 
 common to animal and man, at least in its en- 
 tirety, is the Animal Susceptibility. 
 
 Now in this division we find the following par- 
 3 
 
26 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 ticular feelings : the instincts, the appetites, nat- 
 ural affection, self-interested feelings, and disinter- 
 ested feelings. Some writers give more and some 
 less ; some class them according to one divisive 
 principle and others according to another. The 
 above is the number and order given by Dr. Hick- 
 ok, and so far as my personal study of the subject 
 extends, I can see no reason for dissenting from 
 this classification. 
 
 In concluding this subject, I have to repeat what 
 I remarked under the head of the understanding. 
 It was this : the brute's knowledge, up to a certain 
 point — to the limit of its faculties — is as great, 
 generally speaking, as that of man. This as- 
 sertion, adapted to this subject, is equally true. 
 The feelings of the animal, up to a certain point 
 — to the limits of the Animal Susceptibility — are 
 just as intense as those of man. 
 
 If the animal has an Intellect and a Susceptibil- 
 ity, so also has it a Will. 
 
 All that needs to be said on this subject can be 
 spoken in a few words. 
 
 Brute will is nothing more nor less than an ex- 
 ecutive act to gratify feelings. Knowledge of an 
 object calls forth feelings, either favorable or 
 unfavorable to that object ; and those in turn 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 27 
 
 evoke the agency of the mind to appropriate or 
 else put away the object, according as the feelings 
 are favorable or otherwise. The executive activity 
 of the mind, without any real choice or alter- 
 native, is Animal Will. Man, having similar in- 
 tellectual and emotive capacities, of course also 
 necessarily has a like Will. 
 
 To satisfy his constitutional wants and desires, 
 his mind will reach out (through the medium of 
 his body) toward appropriating the object of grati- 
 fication. Now note this fact. The object that 
 will best satisfy this want and gratify this desire 
 must be selected. Man's whole being, up to this 
 point, is so thoroughly constitutional and carnal 
 that his executive agency can go out only in one 
 direction, and that is, "fulfilling the desires of the 
 flesh, with the lusts thereof." 
 
 I have now, in as small a compass as possible, 
 endeavored to exhibit the likeness of animal and 
 man. This constitutes only the background of 
 what follows. What has been said of man is by 
 no means the last word. He is only now, like 
 the morning sun, rising above the horizon. The 
 Spirit breaking through the flesh, his glory now 
 begins to shine. "A little lower than the an- 
 gels." <l So God created man in his own image." 
 
28 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 It must be patent to you all that so far we have 
 not yet discovered the "likeness of God" in man. 
 I remark, however, that while our opinion of him 
 may not be very exalted so far, it is this very part 
 of his being that fits him for existence and activity 
 on the earth. Pure spirits cannot get on among 
 earthly and material things. Thanks be to God, 
 that His image is superinduced upon man's carnal 
 nature. 
 
 Going back, and taking up t^ie Intellect, we at 
 once recognize the Divine image in what most 
 psychologists call the Reason. Now, what is the 
 province and prerogative of the reason? Simply 
 this: It peers beneath, above and beyond both 
 phenomena and substance, and comprehends con- 
 ditions, principles and causes underlying all visible 
 things. It is true that, while in the flesh, the 
 lower faculties supply much of the material upon 
 which the Reason acts; still it is the latter that 
 stamps man as spirit. The Se?tse has its knowledge 
 through sensation, the Understanding proceeds dis- 
 cursively, but the Reason Snows' intuitively. Fol- 
 lowing are at least some of Reason's ideas: Time, 
 Space, Being and Identity, the True, the Beautiful 
 and the Good, and the Absolute, or God. These 
 are the fields of knowledge which place us in rela- 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 29 
 
 tion with God. I am, therefore, prepared to re- 
 mark that the faculty of Reason in man is the exact 
 reproduction of infinite Reason. Surely, however, 
 while there is no difference in the character of the 
 functions of infinite Reason and finite Reason, there 
 is infinite difference in development. God is and 
 always will be infinite. Man is and always will be 
 finite. Man's knowledge is and always will con- 
 tinue to be limited — he will forever be a disciple. 
 God is omniscient — and will forever be the Teacher. 
 But were it not for maris intellectual " image of 
 God" it would never be possible for him to be a 
 disciple, nor for God to be the Teacher. To be a 
 learner at the Divine feet, implies divine faculties 
 in the soul. 
 
 Answering to the Reason in the Intellect, there 
 are emotions in the Susceptibility. These are the 
 Rational and Spiritual Susceptibilities, to which I 
 alluded some time ago. 
 
 The ideas of the Reason naturally and necessarily 
 awaken feelings in the heart. In order to illus- 
 trate, I call your attention to the following: The 
 Reason apprehends a rule of right, and the mo- 
 ment that rule is seen, an emotion springs forth in 
 appeal that the right prevail. Now this feeling 
 may be termed conscience, which always addresses 
 
30 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 its owner: u Do thy duty." Again, in the things 
 that are made, Reason sees the " eternal power 
 and Godhead" of the Maker. Such recognition 
 of Jehovah occasions certain peculiar emotions. 
 There will be feelings of helplessness and de- 
 pendence, awe and reverence, faith and love, 
 worship and praise. Remember, I speak of man 
 as he was originally created, and not as we now 
 find him. 
 
 It may be meet to say here that the foregoing 
 emotions are merely given as illustrations, and 
 while complete as far as they go, they are by no 
 means all that may be found in the Rational Sus- 
 ceptibility. Some writers mention scientific and 
 aesthetic emotions as belonging here. 
 
 In the matter of the Spiritual Susceptibility, a 
 few words will suffice. Man, as we have so far 
 seen him, together with Will in liberty, of which 
 some remarks presently, is more than a thing — he is 
 a person. Personality involves character, and 
 character implies a radical spiritual disposition. 
 The Spiritual Susceptibility answers to this dispo- 
 sition, and all the individual emotions therein are 
 governed by this disposition. If a man's disposi- 
 tion is evil, all the feelings in this susceptibility 
 are evil; if good, then the feelings are good. 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 3 1 
 
 Hence, while the Susceptibility itself is permanent, 
 the emotions are contingent — for as the character 
 is, so are the emotions, good or evil. If now, in 
 view of what I have said, the question be asked, 
 u Do you think that all these feelings which you 
 have mentioned as belonging originally to man, 
 do also pervade the heart of God?" I answer, 
 No, not all. Some do, such as love, and perhaps 
 others of which we have no knowledge; but others 
 do not, such as awe, reverence, and so on. The 
 reason for this is patent. God and man do not 
 sustain the same relations to each other. One is 
 Creator, the other creature — one infinite, the other 
 finite — and this makes a world of difference. 
 
 Father and son have identical mental endow- 
 ments. The relations which they hold to each 
 other as father and son, causes a wide divergence of 
 emotions. While the father has probably more 
 love for the son, the son surely has more reverence 
 for the father, etc. , etc. 
 
 Now apply this reasoning to the subject in hand, 
 and it will be found that my proposition is estab- 
 lished, namely, that the disparity of emotion in the 
 heart of God and man, does not indicate disparity 
 of constitutions, but only of relations. "So God 
 created man in His own image." 
 
32 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 One thing more. God has, and so has man, 
 Will in Liberty. 
 
 The true conception of Will in Liberty involves 
 three things. First, a real alternative in reference 
 to which the spirit is to act. Secondly, the power 
 of electing one of these alternatives rather than 
 another. Thirdly, the power of originating agency 
 to secure that which has been elected. Thus we 
 have alternative, choice and execution. The pro- 
 cess is something like this: — The " flesh," (St. 
 Paul) usually in its own interest, proposes an end 
 to the Will. "The spirit" (St. Paul) also proposes 
 an end, in its own interest and God's glory, to the 
 Will. Now it is competent for the Will to choose 
 the one and leave the other. This done, the Will 
 now goes out in executive act toward the end 
 chosen. In all this man stands infinitely above 
 the brute, and so far as capacity is concerned, is on 
 a level with God. 
 
 It is valid to say that God does not need occa- 
 sions for such exercise of Will in Liberty, in order 
 to perfect His nature, and man does ; but this fact 
 does not argue against God's having such capa- 
 city. "So God created man in His own image." 
 
 In the foregoing remarks I have outlined to you 
 what I consider the deepest meaning of the Scrip- 
 ture just quoted. 
 
THE CREATION OF MAN. 33 
 
 If I have succeeded in making myself under- 
 stood, I feel reasonably certain that at least many 
 of you have such an insight into an interesting 
 and important subject as you have never enjoyed 
 before. 
 
 I now beg leave to briefly indicate two other 
 aspects, in which it may be said that man is made 
 in his Maker's likeness. 
 
 The truth is, what I have already said fully im- 
 plies what follows; at the same time I feel to make 
 particular mention of them for the sake of em- 
 phasis. 
 
 Man has in him Gods "image" in respect to 
 holiness. 
 
 Is Jehovah exempt from all sin and evil? So 
 was man. Does God love the true, the beautiful 
 and the good? So did man. In fine, as in the 
 Creator, so was the creature. 
 
 Indeed, the truthfulness of this statement is 
 apparent in the light of what has been said in re- 
 ference to the soul-structure of man. He being 
 endowed with a rational nature, after the image of 
 God — which nature occupying the throne of his 
 being, ruling and guiding his lower nature, hold- 
 ing it in subjection and abeyance — how could it be 
 otherwise than that he should be holy, pure and 
 God-like? 
 
34 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 It follows naturally from his moral and spiritual 
 status, just indicated, that man was after the 
 "image of God" in respect to happiness and love. 
 It is impossible for the mind to conceive a perfect 
 being without these emotions. They are really 
 elements that necessarily belong to and help to 
 round out and complete perfection. God must, 
 therefore, possess them, and so also man, by virtue 
 of his very nature. 
 
 In view of what has been advanced in the fore- 
 going observations, we may well see why man is 
 the "lord of creation" *and a real son of God. 
 " Let us follow on to know " more of his history 
 and destiny. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 The Fall. 
 
 Gen. iii. 6. 
 
Gen. iii. 6. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and 
 gave also to her husband with her and he did eat. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 IT is simply and alone in the interest of a sad 
 truth that I pen some thoughts on the subject of 
 The Fall. 
 
 That such a noble and exalted creature as man 
 should fall away from his all-wise and infinitely 
 loving Maker, is a fact so dark and direful that no 
 one can speak of it with a light and and cheeeful 
 heart; and were it not for the ultimate result, 
 even salvation, to which this discussion may lead, 
 I would fain remain silent. 
 
 That man was created in the image of God, and 
 that that image is now in part lost, are two truths 
 that stand as fast as Gibraltar. 
 
 The questious, Why? How? To what extent? 
 etc., naturally come up for answer, and in Order to 
 give an answer, I will endeavor to speak under 
 the three heads : Goa? s law, mart s transgression, the 
 result. 
 
 I. God? s Law. The question is sometimes put, 
 "If man was all that you ascribe to him, why was 
 a law for .his government necessary? I answer, 
 
 (37) 
 
38 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 there are two reasons. First, God being the crea- 
 tor, was also compelled to be ruler. Secondly, It 
 does not matter how pure a being may be, there 
 needs to be a law for his guidance and government. 
 Barbarians have few or no laws, but highly civil- 
 ized and socially organized nations need many 
 laws. 
 
 In heaven, where all are pure and unspotted, 
 God's will is law — cheerfully done, but doubtless 
 that will goes out in different directions, expressed 
 in various forms; and so in this view, there are 
 many laws for the conduct of the angelic hosts. 
 In the preceding lecture I observed that man is 
 finite, but God infinite; man is disciple, and God, 
 teacher. I insisted that "the image of God" signi- 
 fies likeness of rational and spiritual functions, but 
 by no means equality in development. 
 
 Now in the light of this statement, it follows in- 
 evitably that to the end of man's development and 
 training, involving, of course, moral trial and pro- 
 bation, it behooves God to promulgate and teach 
 His will — law. Surely it matters riot whether 
 that law is arbitrary, or adapted to man's physical 
 or moral nature; all that can be required is that it 
 be the ruler's voice. This being established, the 
 subject has no option — he ought to obey. 
 
THE FALL. 39 
 
 In the matter of trie law given to Adam and Eve 
 in Eden, there are many who hold that the forbid- 
 den fruit was actually poisonous to the physical 
 body, and that, in so far at least, it was not an 
 arbitrary command, but the opposite. 
 
 Others have made an effort to teach that this 
 whole account is nothing but an abstract truth put 
 into a concrete form; an ideal picture set in a mate- 
 rial frame; and that, therefore, there was no Eden, 
 nor tree, nor fruit, nor serpent, etc. For myself I 
 believe that such interpretation of holy writ, while 
 it may go under the name of criticism, is destruc- 
 tive and paralyzing, and that it can not be fraught 
 with good results. I prefer to hold on to the literal 
 meaning of Moses' "form of sound words." If, 
 however, any of you can take any comfort from this 
 emasculating style of interpretation, you are wel- 
 come to it; and I want to say, moreover, that it does 
 not affect the proposition that God's will, promul- 
 gated in any form or manner, is law, and that such 
 law was essential to the spiritual training of the 
 first human pair. 
 
 In this connection it may not be without avail to 
 say something further relative to the law in Eden. 
 In the first place, it was simple and plain. ' ' The 
 Lord God commanded man, saying, Of every tree 
 
40 RAYS OF UGHT. 
 
 of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the 
 tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou mayest 
 not eat, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou 
 shalt surely die." 
 
 Secondly, it was easy and practicable. There 
 was no possible need for this fruit. Their Maker 
 had kindly given all the rest. All their wants were 
 met — all their needs gratified. God had reserved 
 only this one fruit, by which, you see, He expressed 
 His will — a law. They had, as you remember from 
 all I established in the first address, absolitte ability 
 to obey. Here was a test, to be sure; the animal 
 nature proposing an object to the will, but the spirit 
 also, in the form of its own spiritual worthiness and 
 the honor of Jehovah. Here is a true alternative. 
 The Will in Liberty is regnant, and has the power 
 to choose and enact the latter and reject the former. 
 
 Thirdly, it expressed, in the most positive man- 
 ner, the Lawgiver 1 } s love for the good and hatred of 
 evil. This deserves more than a passing notice. 
 This very matter has been with many the stone of 
 stumbling and the rock of offence. 
 
 It is asked with a great degree of vehemence, and 
 with an air of triumph, if God is all- wise, and 
 knew that Adam and Eve would surely transgress 
 his law, why did He attach to it a heavy and fearful 
 
THE FALL. 41 
 
 penalty, namely, death? The answer is present. 
 This is the only possible way there is for showing 
 His own position respecting holiness on the one 
 hand, and sin on the other. We see at a glance that 
 had God been unconcerned as to whether His crea- 
 tures remained pure or committed sin, the penalty 
 of the given law would have been mild and small ; 
 but being greatly solicitous, as He was, the sanction 
 must necessarily be heavy and severe. In fine, the 
 penalty must be an exact expression of the Law- 
 giver's character and feeling in regard to holiness, 
 and its opposite. For be it remembered that the 
 law was not given to be broken, but to be kept. 
 Now this fact involves the additional fact that this 
 law, with this heavy penalty, wrapped up within its 
 terms an equally great and precious promise, 
 namely, life. As there was death by eating, so 
 also there was life by abstaining — and touching 
 which they could be absolutely certain, inasmuch 
 as they already possessed the latter. 
 
 In this view of it we clearly see that the law 
 given to Adam and Eve was precisely suited to the 
 exigency of all the circumstances; and in this, as 
 in all other things, we observe the love and good- 
 ness of God in his dealings with his subjects. 
 
 I now pass on to man's transgression. 
 4 
 
42 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 II. The Transgression. — The transgression of the 
 holy and righteous law of God by our first parents 
 was naturally preceded by temptation. We examine 
 the account at Gen. iii. 1-5, and find that this fact 
 is plainly set forth in this language: "Now the ser- 
 pent was more subtile than any beast of the field 
 which the L,ord God had made. And he said unto 
 the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of 
 every tree of the garden? The woman said, We 
 may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 
 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst 
 of the garden God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, 
 neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. The serpent 
 said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For 
 God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then 
 your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 
 knowing good and evil." 
 
 Now this narrative attracts our attention to the 
 source and manner of the temptation. 
 
 Touching the visible agent — the serpent — it is 
 proper to say there has always prevailed a differ- 
 ence of opinion among the wise. Some maintain 
 that Satan presented himself in the form of a ser- 
 pent, and that consequently what was seen and 
 heard was not a literal serpent, but the literal devil. 
 Again, there are many who hold that while it was 
 
THE FALL. 43 
 
 a real serpent which was visible, Satan, invisible, 
 delivered the speech, and of course enacted the be- 
 guiling work. 
 
 This, I submit, is one of the many things con- 
 cerning which "we see through a glass darkly," 
 but which we will likely "know even as we are 
 known " in the "sweet bye and bye." 
 
 Nor does this lack of knowledge seriously affect 
 us. Of one matter we are certain, and that is, that 
 the "old serpent, the devil" — in any way or man- 
 ner, but surely in some way or manner — accom- 
 plished his designs, and brought about the most 
 direful catastrophe the earth has ever witnessed. 
 I take it to be interesting to many of you to give 
 the opinion of a few learned theologians as to the 
 modus operandi of the temptation which led to the 
 fall. Dr. Knapp states his opinion thus: "Eve 
 sees the serpent on the forbidden tree, and probably 
 eating of the fruit, and yet no harm follows. She 
 sees, on the contrary, that the serpent is very active 
 and knowing. She reasons thus: 'The tree can- 
 not be injurious; the command cannot be meant in 
 earnest.' The serpent seems to say to her, "Con- 
 sider how vigorous and wise I am — you will not 
 die, you will become wise. ' And Eve now thinks 
 as God is the only being wiser than herself, she 
 
44 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 would become wise like God. Thus at length she 
 ate of the tree." 
 
 Drs. Storrand Flatt's explanation: "The natural 
 serpent ate of the forbidden fruit, and Bve observes 
 it. The devil takes advantage of this circum- 
 stance, presents himself, and, though invisible to 
 Eve, carries on a conversation with her for the pur- 
 pose of inducing her to transgress the command of 
 God. Eve, not seeing the devil, supposed it was 
 the serpent that spoke to her. Having known the 
 serpent before, and never having discovered in it* 
 the gift of rational conversation, Eve naturally con- 
 cluded that the eating of the forbidden fruit had 
 conferred the gift upon her." 
 
 Another circumstance of the temptation is this, 
 that Satan appeared first to the woman. 
 
 This fact is usually accounted for on the assump- 
 tion that Eve, and all women ever since, was the 
 weaker vessel morally, and that the ingenuity of 
 the devil led him, as a matter of course, to inveigle 
 her first, and thus gradually work his way up to 
 the stronger — good and superior Adam. I do not 
 agree to this. I do not agree, because I believe 
 facts point to the reverse of the above. How any 
 one can postulate that woman is the weaker, mor- 
 ally and spiritually, I for one can not conceive, in- 
 
THE FAIX. 45 
 
 asmuch as all history and, I think, psychology, 
 4 ' sound her praise abroad. ' ' 
 
 I believe in the total depravity of both sexes 
 since the fall, but this does not blind me to the un- 
 disputed fact that woman is clearly more suscepti- 
 ble to spiritual influences and truths than man. As 
 a witness to this statement, I cite that seventy-five 
 per cent, of the disciples of Christ to-day are 
 women. But the voice of history is not the only 
 voice in her favor. I am absolutely certain that a 
 psychological investigation, if it could be con- 
 ducted, would establish the truth of a greater spir- 
 itual and a lesser animal element in the feminine, 
 than in the opposite sex. If this be true now, I 
 am sure it was pre-eminently true before "sin and 
 death entered into the world." 
 
 My judgment, therefore, is, in view of what I 
 have observed above, that Satan attacked Eve first 
 because he was sagacious enough to know that if 
 he succeeded in his wiles with her, being the 
 stronger, he would have easy and short work with 
 Adam. Eve was the key to the situation. Let 
 Petersburg fall, and Richmond is a foregone coitclu- 
 sion. Let Eve disobey, and Adam is certain to 
 yield. Now let Moses speak : ( ' She took the fruit 
 thereof and did eat, and gave also to her husband, 
 
46 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 with her, and he did eat." In this we find not the 
 slightest hesitation or resistance on the part of 
 Adam. I have spoken somewhat at length on the 
 foregoing, for the sole reason of vindicating woman 
 from the aspersion so often heaped upon her by the 
 other sex— from whom we have a right to look for 
 better things. 
 
 Relative to the time when the fall took place it 
 is impossible to venture more than a surmise. 
 Many, however, are of the opinion that it took 
 place on the first day of their occupancy of Para- 
 dise. This may be true or it may not be true — who 
 knows? But one thing is certain, which I will 
 make more evident later on, namely, that it did oc- 
 cur before the conception of their first-born child. 
 
 Before advancing to the third part of this discus- 
 sion, I desire to share your indulgence a brief period 
 on the moral evils involved in the transgression. 
 This I do not so much in the interest of mere intel- 
 lectual edification as in that of moral improvement. 
 
 First, there was a sad display of ingratitude. 
 The spirit of thankfulness should always have a 
 large place in every living bosom. It should heave 
 the breast and dominate both tongue and life. 
 This is peculiarly true of the occupants of glorious 
 Eden. In their own personality, as well as in every 
 
THE FALL. 47 
 
 environment, there existed not only a reflection, 
 but a true counterpart of God and heaven. They 
 surely had no right to wish for anything more. 
 The spirit yielding to the flesh already at the very 
 beginning of the temptation, at least to some ex- 
 tent, quieted the voice of thanksgiving, and gave 
 room to a spirit of discontent. How sad to contem- 
 plate, but yet how true! Moreover, this same devil 
 too often rules in our moral empire within, and dis- 
 allows one of the leading principles and activities 
 of the soul — gratitude, grateful praise! 
 
 Secondly. Here is pride. That Adam and Kve 
 should have a high and noble opinion of themselves 
 is not incompatible with moral purity. To remem- 
 ber appreciatingly their origin and present standing 
 was a holy duty and an exalted privilege. In this 
 view of it we observe the consistency of a " lofty 
 spirit." When, however, this legitimate notion 
 became contaminated with the desires of the 
 u flesh," it remained no longer pure and proper, 
 but became selfish and sinful, and the expression 
 and outgoing thereof led to iniquity and rebellion, 
 inasmuch as it lifted the creature above the Creator. 
 Gen. iii. 6. 
 
 Thirdly. We notice here a display of great cre- 
 dulity, and yet great unbelief. Faith in the word 
 
48 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 of the Maker, and distrust of the fabrication of 
 Satan, is the natural order. This order was re- 
 versed. 
 
 Now I wish to say right here that it was decidedly 
 easier to follow the right order, for that was the 
 God-ordained one. The current of Adam and Eve's 
 life ran that way. Trust in God and disbelief in 
 Satan was in accordance with the constitution of 
 their soul. One was natural, the other unnatural. 
 Notwithstanding, they held the lever in their own 
 hand. In the very nature of the case it remained 
 for them to say whether they will go forward or 
 backward. They decided. The reverse lever of 
 their life was pulled. They ran backward and 
 wrecked! 
 
 Alas and alas! that millions on millions of intel- 
 ligent people should commit the same inexcusable 
 folly in this late day, when the appeal of God and 
 man is loud and strong to choose a "more excellent 
 way. ' ' 
 
 With feelings of sadness we now approach the 
 result of the transgression. 
 
 III. The Result. — For the purpose of preparing 
 the way for what I consider as the direct and posi- 
 tive consequence of the transgression, I give those 
 which are incidental first. In this we are guided 
 by the narration in Gen. iii. 
 
THE FALL. 49 
 
 At the seventh verse we read : ( ( And the eyes of 
 them both were opened, and they knew that they 
 were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and 
 made themselves aprons." This intimates some- 
 thing of the unspeakable fear and shame that over- 
 whelmed Adam and Eve. 
 
 Before this nothing but joy and peace thrilled 
 their souls. Holy innocence, as that of angels, 
 sheathed their persons. Now they are bowed down 
 with shame, and their grief is more than they can 
 bear. Satan's words are fulfilled: "That in the 
 day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, 
 and ye shall be as gods (not God, but gods, that is, 
 devils), knowing good and evil." They obtained 
 " knowledge," they became u wise," but it was the 
 "knowledge" and "wisdom" of Diabolus; and the 
 tribute which they paid for their learning was noth- 
 ing less than their happy, pure and peaceful inno- 
 cence, yea, even their own life, as indeed also the 
 life of all humanity. Read verse 8. 
 
 At the ninth to the thirteenth verse we find a 
 record of the manner in which God took the offend- 
 ers to task, and their heart-broken confession. It is 
 not at all possible for us even to imagine the pang 
 and terror which must have seized, tiger-like, upon 
 their souls, and especially so as they listened to 
 
50 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the sentence of punishment their Ruler pro- 
 nounced upon them. Read the 16-19 verses. 
 
 As I said before, these results are only inci- 
 dental and concomitant. They are the things 
 that come to the surface of their life. If this were 
 the major portion of their calamity, it were sad 
 enough, it is true; but being, as it is, only the 
 minor portion, what can be thought and said of 
 the other? 
 
 We remember that the sanction of the law was 
 "death," in transgression. Now "death" is a 
 term that may apply variously. It is a relative 
 term, for a thing may not be absolutely "dead," 
 when yet it is so called in comparison with some- 
 thing that has more "life," or different "life." 
 Thus, for example, a plant is not "dead," but still 
 it has not the mental "life" of an animal, and 
 hence in a comparison it is sometimes called 
 "dead." An animal has "life," but compared 
 with the soul "life" of man, it fades so far into 
 the back-ground that it is pronounced "dead." 
 It is also true that neither of these lower creatures 
 can lift itself into the next higher realm of 
 "life." 
 
 Applying this scientific truth to the subject in 
 hand, we plainly see that God, pronouncing 
 
THE FALL. 51 
 
 "death" upon Adam and Eve, did not mean that 
 they should become instantly lifeless, as that word 
 is commonly understood. Hereby do we cut the 
 Gordian knot that presents itself so often to many 
 people touching this very thing. 
 
 Many good, truth-loving folk cannot understand 
 how a truthful God could say that "death" should 
 ensue disobedience, but death did not follow — 
 for Adam and Eve continued to live many hun- 
 dred years after. From this fact, together with 
 what I said in the preceding paragraph, we cannot 
 but believe that the penalty of "death" did not 
 apply chiefly, if at all, to the physical nature of 
 those to whom it was given. 
 
 I feel to aver, however, as guarding the forego- 
 ing sentence, that it surely is reasonable to suppose 
 that the seeds of death, as we now know it, were 
 sown in the fall. We know absolutely nothing of 
 what would have been if there had been no trans- 
 gression. There might have been a gradual 
 transformation of the physical into the spiritual, 
 running through hundreds and perhaps thousands 
 of years, thus fitting and adjusting man to a heav- 
 enly existence. Or the change might have oc- 
 curred "as in the twinkling of an eye," like unto 
 that promised to the righteous at the last day — or 
 
52 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 in any of the thousand ways open to the infinite 
 Creator. One thing only seems certain, and that 
 is, that our body and soul would not have been 
 disunited through disease, pain and sorrow, and 
 the body left to decompose in the grave. Inas- 
 much, however, as God said, "In the day" — that 
 very day — "that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
 die;" and inasmuch as Adam and Bve did not 
 physically die "in that day," we are drawn to con- 
 clude that the term "death" does not primarily 
 apply to the body. The only other alternative is 
 the soul. We conclude, accordingly, that the pen- 
 alty of the law fell on the intellectual, moral and 
 spiritual natures of man — spiritual and eternal 
 "death." 
 
 What I have to say further I will arrange under 
 two topics: Original Sin, and Natural Depravity. 
 
 Original Sin, properly speaking, is simply the 
 commission of the first sin, which in its outer form 
 was the eating of the fruit of the "tree of the 
 knowledge of God and evil," but in its inner spirit, 
 was the disobedience of God's plain and simple 
 word, or law. 
 
 I will, if you please, for the sake of an easier un- 
 derstanding of the subject, range under this head 
 the whole result of the fall as it affected Adam and 
 Bve. 
 
THE FALL. 53 
 
 In the first lecture I tried to point out the differ- 
 ence existing between man's lower, or animal, and 
 higher, or rational, natures. In the light of what I 
 then said it is patent to us all that the rational na- 
 ture, in virtue of which man was made in the 
 " image of God," was designed to reign over the 
 "flesh." This it was easy for the rational nature 
 to do, for it was created for the throne, and there- 
 fore inherited both authority and power to reign. 
 Strange and incredible as it may seem to us, when 
 the competition between the sense and spirit was 
 ushered in, the spirit abdicated, and the sense 
 usurped, the throne. This, we observe, inverted 
 the order of their constitution, and reversed the 
 entire outflow of their being. 
 
 But some one may here ask, "Is then, in view of 
 of what you said, the inferior nature of man essen- 
 tially and inherently evil?" I answer, No, by no 
 means. Such a postulate would involve the Maker 
 in the creating of something that was not "good." 
 
 I remarked some time ago that this is the very 
 nature that fits man for life and activity on the 
 earth. Indeed, so far as we can see, it is absolutely 
 indispensable to our earthly existence. From this 
 we conclude that as it came from God's hand it 
 was just as pure and perfect in its realm ) as the 
 
54 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 superior nature was in its higher realm. The 
 point that we must bear in mind lies here, that the 
 carnal functions were designed as servants and not 
 as masters, — subjects and not rulers. Destined to 
 be mortal and temporal, how is it possible for it to 
 direct and govern the immortal and eternal spirit? 
 This is precisely what it began to do after the fall, 
 and what it has continued to do ever since, in all 
 who are not u born again" by the spirit of God. 
 
 In this inversion and disturbance of the natures 
 in man consists the source and fountain of all actual 
 sin. 
 
 This also constitutes the all-sufficient reason for 
 exclusion from heaven and consignment to hell. 
 
 I am firm in my belief that the principal result 
 of the disobedience in Eden was subjective, con- 
 sisting chiefly in the things foregoing. At the 
 same time I am also persuaded that there was an 
 objective consequence — objective I say, namely, in 
 the mind of God. Jehovah's law to Adam and 
 Kve was expressive of his perfections. Now when 
 they transgressed they offended these attributes. 
 They offended them in the sense that it was not 
 possible for a truthful and holy, therefore just, God 
 to continue ' ( life ' ' when he had threatened * 'death' ' 
 in the event of transgression. In point of time it 
 
THE FALL. 55 
 
 is evident that this objective result came first. 
 Afterwards, and by the direct fiat of God, came the 
 subjective. I have no faith myself in the theory 
 that any disturbance or poisoning resulted from the 
 mere eating of the forbidden fruit. In view of 
 what has been just said, it is quite manifest that 
 man turned away from God, and that God turned 
 away from man — in some sense. 
 
 This, then, is the condition of things immedi- 
 ately after the fall. The Lawgiver's offended per- 
 fections; spiritual "death" of the soul, which in- 
 volves, privatively (i) "A want of the fear of God 
 and of confidence toward him, and also a want of 
 holiness;" (2) "a deficiency of the powers re- 
 quisite for attaining holiness by man's own exer- 
 tion ; and positively, sinful propensities, viz. , a pre- 
 ponderance of carnal powers over reason, as also 
 shame and sorrow." 
 
 I now proceed to the consideration of natural de- 
 pravity. 
 
 Why and how was the sin of Adam and Eve 
 transmitted to their descendants? is a question 
 somewhat anxiously asked. Many answers have 
 been returned by the learned. Augustine held 
 that all the posterity of Adam were, in the most 
 literal sense, already in him, and that Adam's sin 
 
56 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 is, therefore, most justly imputed to all his pos- 
 terity. A second explanation is that "Adam was 
 not only the natural or seminal, but also the moral 
 and federal head of the whole human race, and, 
 accordingly, that the sin of Adam is imputed on 
 the same principle on which the doings of the head 
 of a family, or of the plenopotentiary of a state, are 
 imputed to his family or state, although they had 
 no personal agency in his doings." A third 
 theory deduces the doctrine of imputation from 
 God's foreknowledge of what is conditionally pos- 
 sible, and which is termed the "Scientia Media" 
 of God. This means, in plain words, that God 
 foresaw that each one of us, if placed in Adam's 
 circumstances, would have done just as he did, 
 would have been guilty of the same sin ; therefore, 
 God imputes Adam's sin to us. 
 
 I deem that the foregoing theories are sufficient 
 in number to show the drift of philosophical 
 thought on this subject. I am sure that if any of 
 my readers feel to adopt either of these explana- 
 tions as their own, I shall not say a word to hinder 
 them, although personally I reject all as totally 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 For myself, I do not believe in a direct Divine 
 "imputation" at all — I mean an arbitrary imputa- 
 
THE FALL. 57 
 
 tion. God caused this moral evil to be trans- 
 mitted according to the laws in our constitution, 
 and that, I hold, is all there is of it. I feel that if 
 I should interpret anything more into this truth, 
 I should evince a more than ordinary amount of 
 inborn or "imputed" depravity! But who will 
 say that this is not enough ? Let us recount what 
 it involves. This depravity works God's displeas- 
 ure against us, alienates us from Him, occasions 
 and causes all overt and actual sins, shuts us out 
 of heaven, and casts us into hell. Of course it de- 
 stroys all our peace, and fills our breast with un- 
 ceasing woe. 
 
 ' ' Sorrow tracketh wrong, 
 
 As echo follows song, 
 
 On, on, on." 
 
 This, then, is the sad and distressing condition 
 of all men since the fall, in view of which we may 
 well say with the apostle Paul, "Who shall deliver 
 us from the body of this death? I thank God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 "Lord I would spread my sore distress 
 And guilt before Thine eyes ; 
 Against Thy laws, against Thy grace, 
 How high my crimes arise. 
 5 
 
58 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 "I from the stock of Adam came, 
 Unholy and unclean ; 
 All my original is shame, 
 And all my nature sin. 
 
 " Cleanse me, Lord, and cheer my soul 
 With Thy forgiving love ; 
 Oh, make my broken spirit whole, 
 And bid my pains remove. 
 
 "Let not Thy Spirit e'er depart, 
 Nor drive me from Thy face ; 
 Create anew my sinful heart, 
 And fill it with Thy grace." 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 Promise of a Deliverer, Call of Abram. 
 God's Dealing with the Israelites. 
 
 Gen. iii. 15. 
 
Gen. iii. 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, 
 and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, 
 and thou shalt bruise his heel. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 I thank God most devoutly that in this word 
 of promise we are led from under the cloud of sin 
 and shame and woe into the light of free grace 
 and a glorious salvation. 
 
 Although man had no right to look for the 
 gracious interposition of his L,ord and Master, still, 
 knowing, as we do, that "God is love," we may 
 see that such would likely be the case. Indeed, I 
 say reverently, that viewing the perfection, yea the 
 fatherhood, of God, in the light of Christianity, we 
 are compelled to assert that He must — that He 
 must if there be a possible plan by which it can be 
 accomplished — redeem us once more. 
 
 The above remark is not intended to convey the 
 idea that what we now see and know, or think we 
 see and know, was also clearly understood by Adam 
 and Eve. I do not believe that they enjoyed any 
 such hopeful anticipations. They had heard the 
 word of doom, and accepted that as their final des- 
 tiny. 
 
 (61) 
 
6Z RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Now in this view of 'their condition we can not 
 possibly imagine the thrill of joy that darted 
 through their being as they listened to the hope- 
 inspiring promise of a Redeemer for them and for 
 the race — one who should crush the serpent's 
 head. To Eve there must have been a double joy 
 in this announcement; for it meant the crushing of 
 him who had caused her to fall, and that this 
 should be achieved by the "seed of the woman," 
 implying, as it did, that she herself should contrib- 
 ute to this triumphant consummation. 
 
 Suffice it to say that while our first parents un- 
 derstood but very little about the plan of redemp- 
 tion then and there promised, they did know 
 enough to quicken faith in the love and power of 
 their Maker, that in a suitable way the race of men 
 should be recovered to God. This faith sufficed to 
 reciprocate God's love to them, and they hence- 
 forth lived in affectionate obedience to him. I beg 
 leave to state in this connection that in the lecture 
 — Mediatorial Work of Christ — some more light 
 will be thrown on this topic, that I do not feel 
 justified to anticipate here. A word more, how- 
 ever, may profitably be spoken relative to a forego- 
 ing remark. In view of what I averred touching 
 the moral recovery of Adam and Eve, the question 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 63 
 
 maybe put, "Does not such recovery involve all 
 that they lost? and why, therefore, should their 
 offspring be depraved, seeing that the parents were 
 "born again" before the conception of the first 
 born? My answer is, This question assumes 
 more than can be proved. It is by no means 
 certain just at what juncture in the history of Adam 
 and Kve this promise was given. It is true that it 
 probably took place very soon after the Fall, but 
 yet that does by no means argue against the sup- 
 position that Cain was already conceived, and that 
 the depravity of the parents was transmitted to his 
 nature. A second answer may appear in this form, 
 that although the pardon and restoration of Adam 
 and Kve may have taken place instantly after their 
 spiritual lapse, it did not bring them back to the 
 precise status which they enjoyed before such lapse. 
 Philosophically speaking, it is true that their two 
 distinct natures, which, so to speak, had changed 
 places, the flesh becoming regnant and the spirit 
 servant, in the Fall, had been restored to their 
 proper places ; at the same time it is easy to con- 
 ceive that there was left, as the ravages of dis- 
 obedience, a signal insubordination of the flesh. 
 The former once humiliated and the latter once' 
 exalted, betokens and prophesies an evil that can 
 
64 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 only be overcome by the power of Divine Grace. 
 Just why this should be, may never be very evident 
 in the "nature of the case." It is properly 
 relegated to the arcana of the Absolute. It is, 
 however, a proper matter for belief that all this 
 should be so, "for so it seemed good in His sight," 
 in order to bring the highest good to the race, and 
 the most splendid glory to His own wisdom, power 
 and grace. Of one thing we are absolutely cer- 
 tain : that Cain, supposably the first born, was 
 desperately wicked, the germ or tendency of which 
 was an inheritance ; and that all men from him 
 down to the child just born are not one whit 
 better. This fact is stronger than any and all 
 opposing theories that have ever been "evolved 
 out of the inner consiousness " of philosophers. 
 
 But we turn back to the promise. In its light 
 we can say that God has turned in favor unto man, 
 for the sake and because of the prospective work 
 and merits of the "Seed of the Woman." So also 
 may Adam and Eve not only, but all men every- 
 where, "repent and believe" and turn lovingly 
 unto God, by the help and grace offered them 
 by Him who "shall bruise the serpent's head." 
 My conviction is, that Adam and Eve accepted 
 the proffered help and are saved ; Cain refused it 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 65 
 
 and was cursed. Abel and Setli accepted and 
 were good and holy men ; and as for the rest of 
 the family we know nothing, although we may 
 conjecture that some were saved and others lost. 
 
 The Scriptures teach us that in the line of Seth 
 were many holy men, one of whom never saw 
 death, and it is said, " He was not, for God took 
 him." As the ages rolled by the people waxed 
 worse and worse. In the course of 1600 years 
 after the creation, u God saw that the wickedness 
 of man was great in the earth, and that every 
 imagination of the thought of his heart was only 
 evil continually." 
 
 ' ' But Noah found grace in the sight of the 
 Ivord." "Noah was a just man, and perfect in 
 his generation, and Noah walked with God." 
 The blotting out of man by the great "Catas- 
 trophe," the deluge, next ensued. Noah and his 
 wife, with his three sons and their Wives, con- 
 stituted the remnant of the human race after the 
 flood subsided. These eight persons were the nu- 
 cleus of new nations of men. God renewed with 
 a sign the great and precious promises of His favor 
 upon all humanity. A new spiritual seed was 
 again planted in the earth. Another opportunity 
 was granted, and another effort was made, to im- 
 
66 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 part a heavenward impulse to the coming genera- 
 tions. This for two reasons : first, for the im- 
 mediate weal of those ages ; and secondly, for the 
 purpose of hastening the "fulness of time" for 
 the advent of the " Seed of the woman." 
 
 But the oncoming generation were wayside 
 ground. They gathered rocks upon their soil, so 
 that the seed could not germinate and bring forth 
 grain. The impulse imparted was resisted, and 
 the nations, as before the flood, instead of upward 
 went downward, so that there were but few who 
 had the fear of the Lord before their eyes. The 
 exigency of the times and the character of God's 
 plan of redemption, demanded that a new and 
 superior method should be originated and intro- 
 duced, by which to prepare the world for the 
 promised Redeemer. 
 
 THE CALL OF ABRAM. 
 
 Abram, afterward named Abraham, was a native 
 of Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. xv. 7 ; Acts vii. 2 and 
 3). After the first call fell on his ear, and in obe- 
 dience thereto, he, with his father's family, trav- 
 eled toward Canaan, the place of his future home, 
 according to promise; sojourning at Haran for a 
 certain period of time. Here the Lord called the 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 6j 
 
 second time, and again Abram responded, this 
 time under the special guidance of Providence, 
 completing his journey to a u land I will shew 
 thee" — named above. 
 
 Critics have tried their best to discredit the his- 
 toric existence of this sublime Old Testament 
 character, but resulting chiefly in discrediting 
 their own critical acumen, and personal piety and 
 reverence. Dozy, a great Arabic scholar of Iyey- 
 den, declares that "Abraham was originally the 
 name of a stone-fetish, and Sarah the name of a 
 hollow in which it was placed." Another scholar, 
 Goldziher, says: "Abraham was originally the 
 starry sky divinely worshiped." Still other critics 
 aver that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were gods of 
 the old Hebrew Pantheon. I give these instances 
 from among many others, as illustrative of the 
 length to which men go to overthrow the record of 
 the Holy Scriptures, and at the same time to show 
 how they antagonize and refute each other. When 
 Satan assumes the role of critic he always makes 
 bad work of it, for he is at home anywhere but in 
 the Bible. One of the best arguments for Christ 
 is Christianity; the best argument for the personal 
 existence of Abraham is the Hebrew race. That 
 race now exists and has existed for upwards of 
 
68 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 four thousand years. It must be accounted for, 
 but how can it be without a head, an organizer, so 
 to speak ? And pray why shall we throw away 
 the record of its origin in the Scriptures, at least 
 before we have a better one ? Now Moses, the in- 
 spired historian, writes plainly and deliberately, 
 that the head and organizer of the Hebrew race is 
 Abraham. / accept the record as literal and bona 
 Jide ) and reject all opposing theories. 
 
 If the question should arise, why was it necessary 
 for God to call Abraham away from his country 
 and friends and family into Canaan, a place which 
 he knew not ? — a twofold answer may be ventured. 
 
 First — It may have been necessary in order that 
 he might be made solely dependent on a higher 
 wisdom and power and authority than any earthly. 
 Abraham's family and friends and country were 
 idolatrous. Both his moral inheritance and en- 
 vironments were evil and evil only. "Kvil com- 
 munications corrupt good manners." Humanly 
 speaking, it would have been morally impossible to 
 train Abraham for his life mission among such sur- 
 roundings. The wicked influences pressing upon 
 him from every side would have proved too much 
 for him. "But nothing is impossible with God," 
 you say. That is true; still God does not usually 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 69 
 
 develop His purpose on the earth without all rea- 
 sonable precautions. God is not prodigal with His 
 miraculous powers. For, reading the narrative of 
 His interpositions for man, one is impressed with 
 the fact that between the exercise of ordinary pre- 
 caution and miraculous power, the All-wise and 
 Almighty generally chooses the former. 
 
 It is plainly evident, therefore, for reasons 
 stated above, that Abraham would likely be com- 
 manded to forsake "all" in Haran, to follow the 
 Lord whither He would lead him. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the inhabitants of Ca- 
 naan were just as wicked as those of Chaldea. 
 What advantage accrued to Abraham by shifting 
 him out of "the pan into the fire? " Much every 
 way. He was separated from his friends and asso- 
 ciates and surroundings, whom he touched daily, 
 to live in a comparatively isolated condition. Al- 
 though in his new home he saw idolatry and many 
 other abominations, he did not so directly come 
 in contact with them. He was much freer from 
 ' ' evil communications. ' ' Again, this very separa- 
 tion and isolation threw him more directly and 
 voluntarily on the help of God: He sought not 
 the vain help of man, but the power and guidance 
 of Jehovah. 
 
70 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Second — Another reason likely lies in the fact of 
 the favorable location of Canaan. Canaan takes its 
 name from " Canaan, the youngest son of Ham, 
 and grandson of Noah, who settled here after the 
 confusion of tongues at Babel, and divided the 
 country among his. eleven sons, each of whom be- 
 came the head of numerous tribes, that ultimately 
 became a distinct nation.' ' This country is also 
 known by various other names : The Land of Is- 
 rael, The Land of Jehovah, The Land of Promise, 
 The Holy Land, The Land of Judah, and Palestine; 
 some passages in Scripture refer to it as " Earth' ' 
 and the "Land," likely in view of its location and 
 character. It measures about two hundred miles 
 North and South by eighty to one hundred miles 
 East and West. It comprises within its borders the 
 greatest variety of climate, and splendid fertility of 
 soil — "a land flowing with milk and honey." By 
 virtue of mountains, and waters and deserts around, 
 it serves as a natural refuge to its inhabitants, pro- 
 tecting largely from hostile invasions. Moreover, 
 the very soil and climate and scenery was adapted to 
 inspire and foster a lively and healthy religious 
 sentiment and activity. In fine, it was the spot, in- 
 finitely above any other, destined from eternity to 
 become the cradle of an "elect people." In the 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 7 1 
 
 light of these facts, I do not hesitate to say that we 
 find here a complete justification of Abraham's call 
 into Canaan. 
 
 Abraham, under the leading of Providence, set- 
 tled in Shechem. The promise went forth from 
 God that "in Abraham and his seed shall all the 
 nations of the earth be blessed." This language, 
 doubtless, had reference to succeeding generations 
 of men all over the earth, but "special reference to 
 Christ and Christianity. 
 
 In point of fact, this is exactly what has been, 
 and now is, the case. Generally speaking, wher- 
 ever the Hebrew race came in contact with other 
 nations, some blessing was left behind ; and in the 
 most absolute sense, wherein Christ in Christianity 
 touches, a most benign and exalting effect is pro- 
 duced. 
 
 The promise reads "To thee and thy seed." 
 
 Now the immediate seed of Abraham was Isaac, 
 and the seed of Isaac was Jacob, and the seed of 
 Jacob was the twelve patriarchs — I allude to the 
 line of promise and decree of God — and the twelve 
 patriarchs were the fountain heads of the twelve 
 tribes. Up to this time there are only individual 
 Hebrews, and as yet no Nation. But God's plan 
 for the world's redemption involves not a few only, 
 
72 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 but many, — even many hundred years before the 
 Saviour's advent in the flesh, — and this for several 
 reasons. First, individuals might withstand all 
 the evil influences crowding upon them from their 
 surroundings, but not half so well as when en- 
 couraged and supported by national life ; secondly, 
 individuals might do something in the way of pro- 
 moting the knowledge of God and true worship of 
 Him, but a nation can do infinitely more. In- 
 dividuals might have and make use of rites, or- 
 dinances and ceremonies for their moral and 
 spiritual edification and upbuilding, but a collec- 
 tion of individuals, bound together into an organic 
 unit, can make incalculably better use of them. 
 From these premises we naturally conclude that the 
 seed of Abraham will not only be like the "sand 
 of the sea-shore" and the "stars of the sky" for 
 number, but also that these many will be one na- 
 tion. "E Pluribus Unum." "In union there is 
 strength." This one great and mighty nation, in 
 the most "goodly land " of the wide world, if they 
 remain in the favor of the infinite Jehovah, will be 
 proof against all the corruptions and machinations 
 of the world and the devil. This is not all. Such 
 will be able to destroy the nations that were 
 morally "ready to perish," to declare liberty to 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 73 
 
 the captives among the residue, who were awaiting 
 the coming of the u Day of Jehovah." This na- 
 tion will be a savor of life unto life to an untold 
 multitude, and a savor of death unto death to all 
 the rest, who had steeled their hearts against the 
 appeal of Iyove. 
 
 The foregoing observations lead us to see that 
 the selling of Joseph, one of the patriarchs, into 
 Egypt ; his godly and honorable career in the 
 court of Pharoah ; the removal of Jacob and his 
 sons to the same country ; the slavery of the 
 Hebrews through a number of centuries, during 
 which time they increased from seventy souls to 
 upwards of three millions ; their deliverance at the 
 hand of Moses ; their sojourn in the wilderness and 
 their final settlement in Palestine, were every one 
 the filling up of the details of God's plan of re- 
 demption for them and for us. 
 
 This bondage in Egypt secured not only that 
 there should be a great increase in numbers, grow- 
 ing out of their mode of life and the influence of 
 climate, etc., but that, on account of their common 
 interests, common religion, and common suffer- 
 ings, they should be insolubly compacted and 
 united as a people, who reckoned themselves the 
 children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
 6 
 
74 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Their miraculous deliverance through Moses 
 impressed them anew with their littleness and de- 
 pendence, and God's greatness and love. By this 
 bondage and this deliverace they were disciplined 
 and taught to yield themselves into the mighty 
 hand of God. The detention in the wilderness, 
 although primarily caused by their own moral 
 weakness and cowardice, was a part of God's plan 
 to prepare and equip them for an independent 
 national life. Up to this time the people were not 
 prepared for, and God had not given them, laws 
 and rites and ordinances commensurate with their 
 present and future needs and greatness. But a 
 new epoch in their history is at hand : God takes 
 a great step forward. Fasts and feasts, rites and 
 ordinances, laws and precepts, are proclaimed and 
 established. In the tabernacle, a central place of 
 worship is furnished ; and in the Priesthood, a 
 Mediatorship between the people and God is vouch- 
 safed and warranted. Through these instrumen- 
 talities, and during the season of this wilderness 
 life, the Hebrews advanced a thousand cubits in 
 their national life and in the knowledge of God. 
 
 It does not avail to say that for all that the Lord 
 had done, the Israelites fell again and again into 
 all sorts of vices and crimes and sins. Is not the 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 75 
 
 same thing true now, with all our nineteenth cen- 
 tury light and grace ? Why then should we ex- 
 pect more from those people than we do of our- 
 selves — I mean than many among us do. This I 
 say not to justify them, but only to show some- 
 thing of the depth of human depravity then and 
 now. One thing is sure, namely, the Israelites 
 were almost infinitely above the rest of mankind 
 in character and conduct. 
 
 At this point of our discussion, it may not be 
 without good results to glance merely at the phil- 
 osophy of the various Heaven-ordained institutions 
 in the possession of the Hebrews. I have not the 
 time to enter into details, nor does the scope of this 
 lecture demand it; but I shall present the matter 
 merely in a general way, to show that the L,ord is 
 a God of wisdom and order. 
 
 We take, first, the Priesthood. The setting apart 
 for his holy office, the induction into his office, 
 the garments or robes which he wore, his peculiar 
 and specific function as a priest in the outer court, 
 and in the Holy Place, and the High Priest once a 
 year in the Most Holy Place — all these are powerful 
 factors in teaching the people the holiness, justice 
 and love of God. The same truths were impressed 
 by the various sacrifices and offerings, and the ad- 
 
J 6 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 ditional fact that God required a yielding of them- 
 selves and all theirs to His cause and service. The 
 different feasts and seasons of rejoicing stirred up 
 their memories of God's gracious dealings in the 
 past, and led their minds to His promises for the 
 future, and thus developed a spirit of praise and. 
 trust and renewed consecration. 
 
 Circumcision was a perpetual reminder of Jeho- 
 vah's covenant with them through Abraham, Isaac 
 and Jacob, and, of course, also of their dedication 
 to God and of the necessity of cutting away sin and 
 of a life of purity and virtue. 
 
 The scape-goat — one slain and the other sent into 
 the wilderness — spoke loudly of atonement and 
 consequent forgiveness and forgetfulness — even to 
 the extent of oblivion — of sins. 
 
 The Tabernacle and its service, and the place of 
 God's presence in the Holy of holies, joined in 
 declaring the majesty and perfections of God, and 
 the depravity of man and his absolute need of 
 atonement. 
 
 Then there was also an abstract rule of conduct, 
 the Ten Commandments. These magnified the 
 relations between man and God and man and 
 man, and the duties inseparably attached to these 
 relations. 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. JJ 
 
 It suffices to observe here that all these tangible 
 and visible ordinances, rites and ceremonies, were 
 calculated to have a most wholesome effect on the 
 Israelites. They conveyed three classes of knowl- 
 edge: namely, a knowledge of the holiness, justice, 
 love and mercy of God, and His rightful demands 
 upon His people ; a knowledge of their awful sin- 
 fulness and their inequality to God's requirements ; 
 and a knowledge of the advent of a Priest who 
 should make atonement in his own blood, and 
 through whom they should not only have pardon 
 of sin, but also help to live a life of purity and 
 obedience to the commands and precepts of God. 
 
 We now take a forward look. We lift up our 
 eyes and behold the promise of God fulfilled. 
 Moses is dead, but Joshua takes his place. The 
 mighty host of Israel takes possession of the 
 " goodly" Canaan. Every step is hotly contested, 
 but under the guidance of Him who laughs in de- 
 rision at His enemies, their prior rights are estab- 
 lished and secured, the land is divided, and the 
 tribes settle in their allotted places. 
 
 From this time forward the spectacle presented 
 in the conduct of the Israelites is by no means al- 
 ways pleasant to our vision. Disobedience and 
 idolatry were followed by the judgments of God, 
 
78 RAYS OF I.IGHT. 
 
 which in turn were succeeded by repentance and a 
 hearty turning to their offended Ruler. After a 
 season of peace and unbounded prosperity they 
 again forgot the L,ord and again were punished, or 
 disciplined, and again they returned to their "first 
 love." 
 
 The history of this nation is so well known that 
 I refrain entering into details concerning it. But 
 this one matter I wish firmly to impress, namely, 
 that in spite of all this very checkered life, in spite 
 of all these oft defections and lapses, in spite of all 
 the moral and spiritual deformity which we per- 
 ceive, there were many, very many, among them 
 who remained true to the covenant of promise, 
 and who constituted the "salt of the earth" and 
 the "light of the world" during those ages. God's 
 plan for the world was not defeated, but consum- 
 mated. While many, yes, even the majority of the 
 Jews refused to accept Christ when He appeared 
 among them, still, thank the Lord, there were 
 many who like Zacharias were "devout men," and 
 who, like Simeon, could say: "Now lettest thou 
 thy servant to depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
 seen thy salvation; a light to lighten the Gentiles 
 and a glory to thy people Israel." More than this. 
 This leaven which God had placed in Canaan had 
 
PROMISE OF A DELIVERER. 79 
 
 more or less leavened the whole lump. Thus it 
 was that at the appearing of the Son of God 
 in Bethlehem's lowly stable, the Magi from the 
 East, guided by a star, came to worship and offer 
 their gold, frankincense and myrrh. For myself, 
 I gladly cherish the belief that "all the nations 
 of the earth were blest" through the "seed of 
 Abraham," as agents in the hand of the triune 
 God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "Lift up 
 your heads, O ye gates, and the King of glory shall 
 come in." This voice, heard and heeded by many 
 among the Jews and Gentiles, accounts for the tri- 
 umphal march in the earth of "great David's 
 greater Son," from the time of his crucifixion to 
 the present. 
 
 I have fulfilled my purpose. I have furnished 
 the link between the Fall of the "first Adam" 
 and the blessed advent of the "second Adam from 
 Heaven." 
 
 "In songs of sublime adoration and praise, 
 Ye pilgrims for Zion who press, 
 Break forth and extol the great Ancient of Days, 
 His rich and unmerited grace. 
 
 "His love, from eternity, burn'd for our race, 
 Broke forth and discover' d its flame ; 
 And now with the cords of His kindness He draws, 
 And brings us to love His great name. 
 
80 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 "Oh, had He not pitied the state we were in, 
 Our bosoms His love had ne'er felt : 
 We all would have lived, would have died too in sin, 
 And sunk with the load of our guilt. 
 
 "What was there in man that could merit esteem, 
 Or give the Creator delight? 
 'Twas "even so, Father," we ever must sing, 
 Because it seemed good in Thy sight. 
 
 "Urged on by His grace, did the Saviour appear, 
 The bearer of help from above : 
 Now all who are thirsting may freely draw near 
 And drink in the streams of His love. 
 
 "Then give all the glory to His holy name, 
 To Him all the glory belongs ; 
 Be ours the high joys still to sound forth His fame, 
 And crown Him in each of our songs." 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 The God-Man. 
 
 Luk£ ii. 7. 
 
Luke ii. 7, "And she brought forth her first-born son, and 
 wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger 
 because there was no room for them in the inn." 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 1 ' Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. ' ' 
 "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." 
 "God so loved the world that He gave His only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 The question is sometimes asked, was redemp- 
 tion by Jesus Christ the only way by which it was 
 possible to bring men "from death unto life and 
 from the power of Satan unto God?" The answer 
 is, we cannot be absolutely certain. However, on 
 the basis of God's infmiteness we may infer that it 
 was not the only plan. It would at least seem to 
 detract from the wisdom and power of God to con- 
 clude otherwise than that it was one plan out of 
 many possible plans. From all that we can know 
 to the contrary, the present scheme may be one of 
 a thousand others available to Him with whom all 
 things are possible. It will not do to argue that 
 we can comprehend redemption through Christ, 
 but that we cannot divine how else it could pos- 
 sibly be accomplished. Now the truth is that be- 
 
 (83) 
 
84 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 fore the present plan of salvation was revealed to us 
 in the Scriptures, or apart from such revelation, 
 the finite mind was not and would not be compe- 
 tent to understand how God can save man at all ; 
 in fact, even under the light of such revelation 
 many still cannot see it. So it is that now we do 
 not know how else we might be ransomed from 
 sin, but if another plan than the present one had 
 been elected and revealed by the L,ord, I doubt not 
 that plan would be as easily understood as this one. 
 Another reason why I infer a plurality of plans 
 available for man's salvation is this: without it, 
 avoid it as we may, God is involved in inspiring 
 and causing the foulest deeds that have ever been 
 perpetrated on earth, namely, Christ's betrayal, 
 denial, condemnation and crucifixion — by Judas, 
 Peter, the Jewish Council and the soldiers — and 
 each and all directly and indirectly implicated. 
 For it is plainly evident that to the end that Christ 
 may redeem us by His blood, some one must shed 
 that blood, and hence we witness the host of hell 
 let loose on Him, in the order enumerated above. 
 Now surely if this was the only method, God must 
 have decreed and ordained that all this should 
 come to pass. There was no alternative, and, 
 therefore, the instruments, or agents, are not to be 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 85 
 
 blamed and censured for their diabolical work — 
 they must have been passive and helpless. This 
 involves the fact that God proceeded on the Jesuit 
 motto: "The end justifies the means" — or in 
 what the Apostle Paul terms "doing evil that 
 good may come." 
 
 How does this accord with our settled belief 
 touching the goodness and love and holiness of 
 God ? The question is a sufficient answer, inas- 
 much as it implies an utter absurdity. In point of 
 fact, tens of thousands of good thinking people, of 
 a philosophical turn of mind, have become hope- 
 lessly entangled in this matter, and have become 
 totally lost to Christianity. They assume, and 
 were perhaps taught, that the established plan of 
 grace was the only possible one ; and upon this 
 premise they reasoned out to the logical and in- 
 evitable conclusion that God inspired and caused 
 men to shed innocent blood. From this they 
 shrink with all the enthusiasm and energy of their 
 souls, and land perhaps in agnosticism and per- 
 haps in positive atheism. 
 
 I am aware of the fact that efforts have been 
 made to explain this discrepancy in our notion of 
 the character of God, but certainly without settling 
 the minds of thinking men. For example, it may 
 
86 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 and has been said that all these agents, as Judas, 
 etc., were wicked men before this tragedy took 
 place, and therefore all that was needed was to 
 actuate them to carry out their evil nature in the 
 commission of this deed, and that not God but the 
 devil incited them to it. Again, it is said these 
 people had so sinned before that they had fallen 
 under the eternal damnation of God ; their destiny 
 was sealed, and so now God may properly use them 
 for the furtherance of His gracious plan in behalf 
 of the world, that whosoever will may be saved. 
 Now all these explanations do not touch the un- 
 derlying fact, that God must have decreed that 
 thus it should be, and that He bent Heaven and 
 Earth to fulfil this foreordination. Like Banquo's 
 ghost, the thought will "not down" that God 
 caused sinful deeds. 
 
 I personally rejoice in the firm conviction that to 
 the mind of God there were many plans by which 
 he might redeem man. Speaking after the man- 
 ner of men, I may say that looking down through 
 the vista of the future, God knew exactly what the 
 state of society would be from first to last; and not 
 only this, but also what the moral and spiritual 
 status and conduct of each individual would be, 
 from the time of birth to the time of death. Be it 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 87 
 
 remembered that this knowledge was original, and 
 independent of the activity of His will. In other 
 words, this knowledge guided and determined what 
 His will should choose and ordain, and not the op- 
 posite. What he shall choose and do is grounded 
 on His knowledge. In this we differ from those 
 who hold that God's omniscience is the result of 
 foreordination, putting the will first and knowledge 
 second, and thus reversing the order of the mind's 
 capacities — knowing, feeling, and willing — as re- 
 vealed to us in consciousness. 
 
 Following up the statement above made that 
 God knew all things from the beginning, and hold- 
 ing in His mind different plans of redemption, it is 
 easily seen that he may choose and ordain the one 
 He pleases. From eternity He knew, and that 
 without any decree or foreordination, just pre- 
 cisely what the spirit and conduct of all of Christ's 
 accusers would be, and consequently He framed 
 the given or present plan right into the exigency 
 of the times. This may also afford us a clue to 
 the reason why Christ's advent and sufferings and 
 death did not come earlier in the world's history, 
 say right after the Fall. In that event there would 
 not have been need of the long preliminary train- 
 ing of the world for His coming. The clue lies in 
 
55 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 this, viz., perhaps there never was a time in all 
 the previous ages when all the factors requisite to 
 Christ's vicarious death were present. Surely not 
 one single feature of these dare be omitted from 
 that ordeal, for otherwise Christ's death will not 
 suffice. Now there are a large number of details ■ 
 involved, and it is very easy to see that some of 
 these may never before this have been present; 
 and therefore never before this time could the or- 
 dained plan be executed. 
 
 In this view of things, God is absolutely cleared 
 from any complicity with sin, but He simply caused 
 the self-induced wrath of men to praise Him. 
 
 In this view we also see that Redemption is a 
 certain fact; for if all the factors of the" present 
 plan had never been developed (and we see that 
 they might not have been), than another scheme 
 was at hand, and another and another, so that we 
 are sure of some scheme, without involving God 
 in decreeing, or in any way conniving at, sin. 
 
 I now proceed to speak of the Person by whom 
 Redemption is made and offered. 
 
 THE SON OF GOD. 
 
 There are several reasons why the Son of Man 
 must also be the Son of God, in the one Person, 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 89 
 
 i. To reveal God's love to man, and His earnest 
 desire to save him. 
 
 As a moral result of the Fall and the conse- 
 quent derangement of man's soul-constitution, the 
 creature does not only himself hate the Creator, 
 but he is very positive that the Creator hates him. 
 To eradicate this notion and to show that the op- 
 posite is really the case, there is no way more 
 forceful and effectual than the gift of His dear 
 Son, to live and work, to suffer and die, as He 
 did, and of which I shall speak in another lec- 
 ture. "Not sparing His own Son, but giving 
 Him a ransom for us all," will make such an 
 appeal to man that it will open the way for the 
 indwelling of that Son to give established "life," 
 and instead of " death," and to bring love and 
 peace and joy, for hate and shame and sorrow. 
 
 2. To subserve the end of redemption, loyalty to 
 God. 
 
 If God had caused a man to be born out of the 
 order of nature, and so possibly sinless as Adam, or 
 if he had caused an angel to become incarnate; if 
 either of these had rescued man from sin, the one 
 working such rescue would certainly challenge and 
 receive the gratitude, praise and eternal worship of 
 the rescued. Indeed, it could not be otherwise, for 
 7 
 
90 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the substitution rendered by one for another, espe- 
 cially when such substitution involves great hard- 
 ships, must be an irresistible appeal to the best and 
 noblest principles of the heart of the person helped. 
 Now this fact would plainly defeat the greatest end 
 in view in redemption, viz., as was stated before, 
 loyalty toward God, the Creator and L,ord of all. 
 It would induce man to worship a creature rather 
 than the Creator. This would be an insult to 
 Heaven and a drawback to earth, inasmuch as man 
 cannot be under such circumstances what he must 
 be if his mind, heart and body go out toward God. 
 Now the Son of God is God, and hence he who wor- 
 ships the Son worships the Father also; and thereby 
 is the purpose of God fulfilled. 
 
 3. Another reason why the Son of Man must also 
 be the Son of God is this, that the fullest and last 
 revelation of God and things may be made to the 
 world, and that the creative plan may be completed. 
 
 There is first a realm of pure spirits. After- 
 wards, in the creation, there appeared the pure 
 material. In man the spiritual and material find 
 a point of unity. But there is a wide gulf between 
 this condition of the universe and God, the In- 
 finite Spirit. Can this gulf be bridged? Yes, in 
 the Person of the God-man. In Him there is the 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 9 1 
 
 highest unity, the rounding out and completion of 
 the universe, for it inseparably connects the 
 universe with God. In this we behold the mind 
 of God in respect to His relation to the universe 
 which He created; therefore we find here not only 
 a completing of creation but also a revelation of 
 God, the Creator. Not a few most profound schol- 
 ars hold that the Son of God would have become 
 incarnate, in order to consummate what has been 
 here outlined, even if Adam had never sinned. 
 
 But as sin has entered the world, how much the 
 more is it necessary that God should reveal His 
 relation to the world and His will concerning it. 
 From this we perceive that it is a matter of the 
 utmost importance that this revelation should 
 come with most absolute authority ; that He 
 should not speak through man of like infirmities 
 with us, but that he should speak directly, face to 
 face, Himself. Now the Son of God is God, and 
 hence he who hears the Son hears the Father also. 
 
 What evidences do we have that the Son of 
 Man was also the Son of God? 
 
 i. Predictions; 2. Christ's own declaration; 3. 
 Miracles; 4. The Father's testimony; 5. The tes- 
 timony of the Apostles ; 6. Divine works ; 7. 
 Divine attributes and Divine worship. 
 
92 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 i. Predictions. 
 
 a. Isaiah, chapter vii. 14: "He shall be called 
 Immanuel. For unto us a child is born, unto us a 
 son is given, and the government shall be upon 
 his shoulder; and His name shall be called Won- 
 derful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Ever- 
 lasting Father, The Prince of Peace." — ix. 6. 
 
 b. Jeremiah : i ' He shall be called the Lord our 
 Righteousness." — xxiii. 6. 
 
 c. Micah: "But thou Bethlehem lEphrata, 
 though thou be little among the thousands of 
 Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth one that is 
 to be Ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth have 
 been from of old from everlasting." — v. 2. 
 
 d. John the Baptist: "He it is who coming 
 after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's 
 latchet I am not worthy to unloose." — i. 27. 
 
 2. Christ's own declaration. 
 
 a. Matthew: "All power is given unto me in 
 Heaven and on earth." — xxviii. 18. "Where two 
 or three are gathered in my name there am I in the 
 midst of them." — xviii. 20. "L,o, I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world." — xxviii. 
 20. "The High Priest said unto Him, I adjure 
 thee by the living God that thou tell us whether 
 thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said 
 unto him, Thou hast said."* — xxvi. 63. 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 93 
 
 b. John: u Before Abraham was I am." — viii. 
 58. "The Father hath committed all judgment 
 unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son 
 even as they honor the Father." — v. 22. "And 
 now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own 
 self, with the glory which I had with thee before 
 the world was." — xvii. 5. 
 
 Many others of the same import. 
 
 3. Miracles. These are so numerous and so dis- 
 tinctive of Christ that nothing more than a mere 
 allusion need be made in this connection. 
 
 4. The Father's testimony. 
 
 a. At the Saviour's Baptism. "And, lo, the 
 heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of 
 God descending like a dove and lighting upon 
 Him. And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This 
 is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 Matthew iii. 16, 17. 
 
 b. On the Mount of Transfiguration. " This is 
 my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear 
 ye him." Matt. xvii. 5. 
 
 5. The testimony of the Apostles. 
 
 a. John : "In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
 — i. 1. "This is the true God and eternal life." 
 1 John v. 20. 
 
94 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 b. Thomas: " My Lord and my God." 
 
 c. Paul: In Christ " dwells all the fullness of the 
 Godhead bodily." Col. ii. 9. u God was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 2 
 Cor. v. 19. 
 
 6. Divine works. 
 
 a. John: "All things were made by Him and 
 without Him was not any thing made that was 
 made." — i. 3. 
 
 b. Paul: " By Him were all things created that 
 are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible." 
 Col. i. 3, 4. 
 
 7. Divine Worship. 
 
 a. John: "That all men should honor the Son 
 as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not 
 the Son, honoreth not the Father who hath sent 
 him." John v. 23, also Rev. v. 9-14. 
 
 b. Paul: "That at the name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow, of things in heaven and things in 
 earth and things under the earth, and that every 
 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 10 and 11. 
 "Let all the angels of God worship him." He- 
 brews i. 6. 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 95 
 
 THE SON OF MAN. 
 
 I have pointed out several reasons why the Son 
 of Man must also be the Son of God. I now ad- 
 vance to consider several reasons why the Son of 
 God must also be the Son of Man. 
 
 i. To subject Himself to the fo'oken law. 
 
 Any being, undertaking to deliver man from 
 the curse of the law, must himself live under the 
 law, to fulfil it in every jot and tittle. This it is 
 that will give merit and value to his vicarious suf- 
 ering and death. Now God as God, the Giver of 
 the law, cannot possibly subject Himself to the 
 law ; for the law adapted to creatures, cannot be 
 fulfilled by the Creator, unless He assumes human 
 nature. Hence the Scriptures declare that "God 
 sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the 
 law, to redeem them that were under the law." 
 "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." 
 "Great is the mystery of godliness, God was man- 
 ifested in the flesh." "But made himself of no 
 reputation, and took upon him the form of a ser- 
 vant, and was made in the likeness of men." 
 
 2. The Son of God must also be the Son of man 
 for the purpose of attesting the scheme of salvatio7i 
 to mart s mind and heart. 
 
 In another section I have shown that the Di- 
 
g6 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 vinity of Christ is necessary in order that when, 
 by suffering and death, he rescues man, man will 
 turn in piety and loyalty to the Creator and L,ord, 
 and not to a mere creature. But here I observe 
 that the humanity of Christ is essential in order to 
 subject him to suffering and death by which to 
 purchase and attract man's loyalty and worship. 
 Moreover, it is requisite that such an atonement 
 should not be made save in the eye of man. Other- 
 wise man will scarcely be induced to believe in its 
 reality, and if he did, it would not, in the very 
 nature of things, have the best effect on his char- 
 acter and life. 
 
 From the foregoing we reach the conclusion that 
 the hypostatic union of the Son of God with the 
 Son of Man was a logical and moral necessity. 
 
 The peculiar evidences of Christ's humanity are 
 such as these : He was born, he grew in stature 
 and in wisdom, He ate, He drank, He slept, He 
 rested, He wept, He suffered and He died. 
 
 THE GOD-MAN. 
 
 From what we have seen under sections before, 
 taken in connection with the testimony of the 
 Scriptures which has been and might be quoted, 
 it is very manifest that the Son of God and the Son 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 97 
 
 of Man must be inseparably united in one person, 
 the God-man. 
 
 There have been but a few men in the past his- 
 tory of the church who denied this truth and held 
 to the notion that the two natures in Christ are in- 
 dependent and separable from eath other. But this 
 opinion was so radically and openly unreasonable 
 and unscriptural that it never gained any consider- 
 able foothold and recognition among Christians. 
 
 In respect to the hypostatic union of the two 
 natures in the God-man, it is important to state a 
 few points touching these natures as such. First, 
 let us bear in mind that neither of these natures 
 were persons at the moment of the conception and 
 birth of Christ. The human nature never had a 
 separate personal existence before the Incarnation. 
 After the Incarnation it is true that the Saviour's 
 human nature was such in all respects, possessing 
 the very highest glory, inasmuch as it was the 
 same as that of Adam before the Fall. But being 
 from its very conception in conjunction with the 
 divine nature, although retaining its own peculiar- 
 ities, properties, and attributes throughout, the 
 human never was anything more than one nature 
 in the one Person. An analogy of this mystery is 
 found in man. Man has two natures, spiritual 
 
98 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 and animal. Animal nature is found in indepen- 
 dent and separate existence in, say, a horse. 
 Spiritual nature is found in an angel. But in man 
 the two natures are so completely united that they 
 constitute but one person. In this union neither 
 of these two natures has had an existence apart 
 and before their union. 
 
 This analogy is mentioned to express only the 
 mode of union between the two natures in the 
 God-man, and not anything in regard to the exist- 
 ance or non-existence of the divine nature prior to 
 this union. 
 
 When we turn to the oracles of God, we are at 
 once taught that the divine nature in the God-man 
 is none other than the Son of God, as considered 
 before. 
 
 This leads to the logical conclusion that the Son 
 of God assumed the Son of Man, that the former 
 united Himself with the latter, the. two together 
 constituting the God-man. This is the Incarna- 
 tion. "Great is the mystery of godliness; God 
 manifest in the flesh." 
 
 We see by this that Christ's divine nature was 
 truly a Person before the Incarnation. Accordingly 
 at the moment of his conception by the Holy Ghost 
 in the womb of the Virgin Mary, He who "thought 
 
THE GOD-MAN. 99 
 
 it not robbery to be equal with God, emptied him- 
 self and took upon him the form of a man." Here 
 we are taught that the Son of God veiled or put 
 aside the distinctive properties that constituted his 
 divine personality, in order to limit himself to a 
 divine nature only, which nature, with the human 
 nature united, constituted the one Person, the 
 God-man. If the question be asked, in what points 
 or parts did He limit Himself from personality to 
 nature ?-I may answer, in all the physical attrib- 
 utes that belong to a divine Person, such as om- 
 niscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, as also 
 divine consciousness. 
 
 The history of the Saviour's childhood, boyhood 
 and manhood, compared with each other, teaches 
 us that the united natures in him, or the Person 
 of Christ, was unique and peculiar to the God- 
 man. In his childhood and youth the human 
 nature seems to have the ascendency — the divine 
 being entirely hidden. At the age of twelve the 
 divine nature advances, perhaps suddenly, so that 
 it is already clearly manifested. There may be 
 from this on a gradual development of the divine 
 up to the time of his baptism and the voice from 
 Heaven, saying: "This is my beloved Son in 
 whom I am well pleased." Certainly from this 
 
100 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 time forth the God-man, owing not to His human, 
 but to His Divine, nature, had developed into and 
 possessed all the fullness of the God-head bodily; 
 at the same time, owing not to His divine, but to 
 His human, nature, He had developed into and 
 possessed all the fullness of manhood bodily. 
 That is to say, the God-man enjoyed all the per- 
 fections of Deity and humanity, bound together by 
 one personal consciousness. 
 
 What can be said in respect to the relation and 
 communication subsisting between the two natures 
 of the God-man? In the case of man, the spiritual 
 and animal natures each has its own peculiar 
 sphere of activity. The spiritual cannot perform 
 the work of the animal, nor can the animal that of 
 the spiritual. However, by virtue of the fact that 
 the spiritual nature is almost infinitely above the 
 animal in man, it was shown that the animal 
 functions are magnified by the spiritual nature. 
 I refer to man in his pristine glory. 
 
 This I think analogous to what is found in 
 Christ. Both natures have their own distinctive 
 sphere of activity. But the divine in Christ, 
 being infinitely above the human, has through 
 contact and communication a magnifying and up- 
 lifting influence upon the human nature. 
 
THE GOD-MAN. IOI 
 
 As in the activities of the two natures in man, 
 that of each is ascribed and credited to the person 
 — man: so also is the same done in the case of the 
 Saviour. To illustrate: In man, the animal nature 
 hungers, thirsts, sleeps, but we do not say that the 
 animal nature does so, but we say the man hungers, 
 thirsts, etc. So the spiritual nature reasons, wor- 
 ships, etc., but we do not ascribe this to the spirit- 
 ual nature, but to the ma7i. Now in the case of 
 Christ, His divine nature is omniscient, omnipo- 
 tent, etc., and His human nature labors, suffers, 
 and dies. Yet all those attributes, functions and 
 facts are not ascribed and credited to the respective 
 natures to which they belong, but to Jesus Christ, 
 the God-man. 
 
 In the light of the foregoing statements we may 
 well believe the Apostle's words that "Christ is all 
 in all" — in Creation, Redemption, Worship, and in 
 Heaven. The God-man is the foundation and cor- 
 nerstone of all true theology, as "He is the chief 
 among ten thousand and the one altogether lovely,' ' 
 to every ransomed and sanctified soul. "To him, 
 every knee must bow, of things in Heaven and of 
 things on the earth and of things under the earth, 
 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is I^ord, 
 to the glory of God the Father." The God-man 
 
102 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He that 
 cometh to the Father must come through Him. 
 
 " Ere the blue heavens were stretched abroad, 
 From everlastiug was the Word ; 
 With God He was ; the Word was God, 
 And must divinely be adored. 
 
 "By His own power were all things made, 
 By Him supported all things stand : 
 He is the whole creation's Head, 
 And angels fly at His command. 
 
 "But lo ! He leaves those heavenly forms, 
 The Word descends and dwells in clay, 
 That He may converse hold with worms, 
 Drest in such feeble flesh as they. 
 
 "Mortals with joy behold His face, 
 The eternal Father's only Son ; 
 How full of truth ! how full of grace ! 
 
 When through His form the Godhead shone. 
 
 ' Archangels leave their high abode, 
 
 To learn new mysteries here, and tell 
 
 The love of our descending God, 
 The glories of Immanuel." 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 The God-Man's Mediatorial Work, 
 
 i Tim. ii. 5, 6. 
 
/ Tim. ii. 5, 6. For there is one God and one Mediator be- 
 tween God and man, the Man Christ Jesus ; who gave himself 
 a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 The last lecture was devoted to the discussion 
 of the Person of the God-man. Three things were 
 therein established, viz., that our Saviour has a di- 
 vine nature, and a human nature, and that these 
 two unite in one Person. 
 
 I now advance a step, to speak of the work 
 which the God-man performed for our redemption, 
 which is called the Mediatorial Work. 
 
 Ivet us here observe several facts. First, the fall 
 had so affected man's intellect that it was obtuse 
 and darkened. He could not any more clearly 
 understand and compass God's law and precepts. 
 He was also inflated with pride and self-will, so that 
 he cared not to know. Accordingly we find that 
 the teachers of God's Word, especially at the time 
 of Christ's advent, gave themselves up to com- 
 menting on the silly comments of their predeces- 
 sors, and not to the ascertainment of the mind of 
 the Spirit in the Word. Second, the transgression 
 of Adam and Eve had brought upon the whole 
 human race the penalty of the law, which was 
 5* (105) 
 
106 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 death — spiritual and eternal. Spiritual death came 
 at once ; eternal death was a foregone conclusion, 
 inasmuch as that is nothing but spiritual death 
 extended beyond the confines of time. Now, to 
 overcome the former and avert the latter, satisfac- 
 tion had to be made to God's moral attributes. 
 
 Third, the Fall had thrown man out of relation 
 and harmony with his Creator and Ruler. He 
 must be restored to an estate in which he can 
 again avail himself of such rites and ceremonies 
 and means of grace as God sees fit to give him for 
 the perfecting of his spiritual life. 
 
 These three points give us a clue to the offices 
 which Christ must assume as man's Redeemer, 
 namely, Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 
 PROPHET. 
 
 From the prophetic office Christ is called a 
 prophet? in Deut. xviii. 18; Matt. xxi. n ; John vi. 
 14; Luke vii. 16, and xxiv. 19. An Evangelist in 
 Isaiah xli. 27. A Master in Isaiah 1. 4, and lxiii. 1. 
 A Rabbi in Matt, xxiii.8, 10; John. iii. 2. 
 
 As a Prophet it was incumbent on the Saviour 
 to give instruction in four particulars: the law and 
 the prophets, the past and the future. It was inti- 
 mated a short time ago that the religious teachers 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. IO7 
 
 of the Jews were short-sighted and corrupt. They 
 had so thoroughly glossed and blurred the Old 
 Testament Scriptures that neither they nor the lay 
 people understood their real meaning and import. 
 This fact is only fully seen when we study the 
 Sacred Books of those times — the Talmud, etc. 
 However, Christ Himself brings forward some of 
 their odious and defiled stuff in the Sermon on the 
 Mount. 
 
 In general, it may be said that touching the 
 Law, the Rabbis taught, and the people believed, 
 they were blameless. The law was deprived of its 
 inner spirit and demands, and, therefore, nothing 
 but the letter remained, which they flattered them- 
 selves they had fulfilled by their rites and cere- 
 monies, their long prayers and many alms-deeds. 
 We can easily perceive how this took away all need 
 of a spiritual Saviour. Thus Paul said, referring 
 to his life in sin: "I was alive without the Law 
 once, but when the Law came sin revived, and I 
 died." Indeed the whole nation trusted in them- 
 selves that they were righteous, and that the rest 
 of the world lay in sin and under the curse of God. 
 
 The God-man came forward therefore as a 
 Prophet, and uncovered the moral law and divine 
 precepts as promulgated in the Old Testament, 
 
108 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 particularly through Moses and the prophets, and 
 declared that the law was spiritual and that they 
 were carnal; that it demanded not only external 
 decorum, but internal purity; that both Jews and 
 Gentiles were alike under the law and that all 
 alike were sinners, that none had nor could, un- 
 aided, meet its demands; that the law was an 
 outward exponent of the character of God and His 
 hatred to sin, and that while God required its ful- 
 fillment, no one could do so under a dispensation of 
 works, but only in a dispensation of grace; that 
 while it was truly a Rule of Life to the saint, it 
 was a mere schoolmaster to the sinner to draw 
 him to Christ, Himself, through whom needed 
 grace was offered. He showed, furthermore, that 
 the moral law and the divine precepts were not 
 alone in revealing that "none is righteous, no, not 
 one" and that "all have sinned and come short of 
 the glory of God;" but that these were comple- 
 mented and supported by the Levitical law. That 
 this law was scarcely anything mbre than a 
 tangible and concrete, instead of abstract, expres- 
 sion of the same imperative truths. That, accord- 
 ingly, this law could not possibly take the place of 
 a Redeemer from heaven, for it could not make the 
 corner thereunto perfect. He insisted that both 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. IO9 
 
 these sets of laws through Moses, and all the 
 additional teachings of the prophets, were intended 
 to exhibit right character and conduct, and not to 
 create them. To obtain these they must "all be 
 born again" by water and the Spirit. But this 
 takes place alone by acceptance of Him who stood 
 in the midst of them. 
 
 In respect of the predictions of the prophets con- 
 cerning Christ and the glory of His kingdom, as 
 might be expected, the rabbis were as far out of 
 the way as in the case of the law. Believing them- 
 selves pure and unspotted as touching the law, it 
 is patent that they would misinterpret the charac- 
 ter and mission of the Messiah. Of course they 
 would look for the advent of one who should bring 
 deliverance. On account of disobedience, the Jew- 
 ish government had fallen into the hands of the 
 Romans. This Roman yoke was galling their 
 necks, and was exceedingly odious to their dignity. 
 Should they, the elect people of Jehovah, be sub- 
 ject to these Roman dogs ? No ; this cannot, this 
 dare not so remain. The Messiah spoken of by 
 the old prophets must hasten his approach. We 
 desire, we demand deliverance. Such language 
 might have been uttered. Now, not recognizing 
 their spiritual, but groaning under their civil, bond- 
 
IIO RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 age, no wonder that they read and interpreted 
 their wishes and desires into those long-standing 
 prophecies. It is imperative, therefore, that this 
 " teacher come from God," should unearth and set 
 forth the true intent and meaning of all. We see, 
 accordingly, that on every proper occasion he se- 
 lects from the prophet's roll such passages as spoke 
 of the Messiah and His mission and work, and 
 then applies those sayings to Himself, at the same 
 time insisting on it that He is come for the pur- 
 pose of establishing a spiritual kingdom and of de- 
 livering men from the bondage of death and the 
 power of the devil. 
 
 Again, in the matter of Christ's teaching con- 
 cerning the present and the future, the following 
 may be profitably mentioned. In the nature of 
 things, the Old Testament dispensation was a train- 
 ing school. The people's minds were darkened to 
 such an extent that they could not take in the large 
 thoughts of God. As the people -became prepared, 
 God meant to reveal more and more of His mind 
 and will. In point of fact this was done. The 
 coming of the God-man, however, marked an epoch 
 in the unfolding of the Father's purposes and will 
 in reference to the world, which also involves a 
 fuller revelation of man's relations and duties toward 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. Ill 
 
 both God and His fellow men. Many things re- 
 mained to be said that were a de novo revelation. 
 Thus we find positive precepts, and underlying 
 principles in all His private and public teachings. 
 This is notably so in His mountain sermon. So 
 also an advance step was taken in reference to the 
 disclosure of the future. This Prophet lifted the 
 vail from the future in many ways. He spoke of 
 His own death, even in detail. He spoke of the 
 sufferings and death of His apostles. He prophe- 
 sied the persecutions that should come to His own 
 church. He declared His kingdom's final success 
 and triumph. He lifted the gates of Heaven, a?id 
 drew back the curtains of hell. 
 
 Now bear in mind that in all these things Christ 
 spoke as one having authority. No wonder that 
 the people were astonished. Their stupid teachers 
 had caused them all to fall asleep, but here is a 
 Rabbi who enlightens their mind,- thrills their 
 heart, and moves their will. Nicodemus voices 
 their sentiment in saying: "We know that Thou 
 art a teacher come from God." 
 
 It is also profitable to observe in this place that 
 the Saviour's divine words were supported by His 
 divine works. Just how far the people generally 
 were really benefited, spiritually, by His miracu- 
 
112 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 lous works, it is impossible to tell. At the same 
 time it is, doubtless, true that the ability to per- 
 form superhuman works was associated with, and, 
 therefore, expected of Him who made claim of the 
 Messiahship. While some may have been more 
 prejudiced against Christ on account of His miracu- 
 lous powers, it was certainly not owing to lack of 
 intellectual persuasion of the soundness of His 
 claim, but rather to the perverseness and stubborn- 
 ness of their hearts and wills, in spite of better 
 knowledge. Theirs was a clear case of sinning 
 against light; and, in case of many, of blasphemy 
 against the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, we 
 have reason to believe that many of the common 
 people accepted Him as their Redeemer and Lord, 
 from the fact that He had healed their sick, opened 
 the eyes of the blind, made the lame to walk, 
 loosed the tongue of the dumb, and raised the dead. 
 
 In view of all this, Jesus may well challenge the 
 people to believe His words for His very work's 
 sake. 
 
 From all this we learn that Christ's office of 
 Prophet was vitally essential to His mission as 
 man's redeemer. He brought light into a dark 
 place, and caused the world to see the day of her 
 visitation. He showed knowledge in three all-im- 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. 113 
 
 portant truths: man's depravity and helplessness, 
 salvation and deliverance through a crucified and 
 risen Saviour, and a day of "Judgment," followed 
 by heaven and hell. 
 
 PRIEST. 
 
 The second office of the God-man is the priestly, 
 or sacerdotal. In this capacity He redeems man, 
 and reconciles God to man. In this office He per- 
 forms the part of the Old Testament priest, who 
 propitiated God by the sacrifice he offered for the 
 people — which priest and sacrifice were a type of 
 the true Priest, Jesus Christ. Unlike the Old 
 Testament priest, Christ became both the offerer 
 and the sacrifice, and therefore there was intrinsic 
 and essential merit in it. 
 
 Theologians usually divide the sacerdotal office 
 into two parts, one of which is designated as the 
 Atonement, and the other as Intercession. The 
 first of these was accomplished in full by Christ's 
 earthly work ; the second is being carried on since 
 His session at the right hand of God. 
 
 Atonement. — We do well at this juncture to stop 
 and call to mind what I stated in the second lec- 
 ture, "The Fall." It is this, in substance: The 
 effect of the fall is two -fold, subjective and object- 
 
114 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 ive. The subjective result is the disturbance of 
 man's spiritual constitution, etc. The objective 
 consequence has to do with the mind of God. God, 
 as Lawgiver, had promulgated a just and righteous 
 law, the sanctions of which were an adequate ex- 
 pression of His own character and relation to Adam 
 and Eve ; as well as a rule of life and voice of warn- 
 ing to them. It promised "life" on one hand and 
 "death" on the other. In the transgression of this 
 law, "death" followed — this was subjective. But 
 this disobedience was also a crime. God was dis- 
 pleased with man. In a sense He had turned away 
 from man. His justice and holiness had been of- 
 fended. He is a God of truth, and He had said in 
 the event of transgression they (Adam and Eve) 
 should surely die. However, "God is love," and 
 willeth not that any should die — eternally. Now 
 what can be done that He may be just and yet jus- 
 tify all who call upon His name? Here it is that 
 God lays hold on one who is "mighty to save and 
 strong to deliver." Please bear in mind that the 
 great end of redemption is the moral and spiritual 
 restoration of man. But in order to realize this 
 end, God must help man. In order, however, that 
 He may be justified in this, His justice and holi- 
 ness and veracity must all be satisfied and vindi- 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. 115 
 
 cated. This can only be done through a substitute 
 for man. 
 
 The first thing that substitute has to observe is 
 the broken law of God. This law must be kept 
 inviolate, according to the original demand. By 
 this, two things are accomplished: God's holiness 
 is established, and the substitute establishes His 
 own merit and worthiness, and thereby brings 
 Himself into a proper position for vicarious suffer- 
 ing for man. 
 
 Man himself could not possibly keep the law, for 
 he is condemned by the law on account of original 
 and actual sin. The God-man, therefore, is born 
 without sin, and although tempted and tried like 
 as man is, He yet remains without actual trans- 
 gressions. He challenges even His bitter enemies 
 to say aught against Him, but there is no accusa- 
 tion. 
 
 This is called Christ's active obedience, and is 
 the imperative prerequisite to all His other work as 
 priest. 
 
 As the God-man becomes man's substitute in 
 fulfilling the demand of the law, so also does He 
 take man's place in suffering the penalty of the 
 violated law. Let us see how this is. Some main- 
 tain that Christ suffered the exact equivalent that 
 
Il6 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 man would suffer eternally, if he were not ransomed 
 and restored. Rendering the exact equivalent, 
 God was plainly justified to remit the penalty on 
 man and turn favorably to him. This I do not 
 believe, for two reasons: First, It is utterly im- 
 possible for Jesus Christ to suffer an exact equiva- 
 lent of man's suffering in time and eternity. For 
 the principal factors in man's suffering is conscious- 
 ness of sin and pain of conscience. Now neither 
 of these factors can possibly be transferred to Christ. 
 As a substitute, I readily conceive how the sins 
 of men lay heavily on His heart, and weighed 
 mightily on His body. In view of His unique per- 
 son as God-man His sufferings could have infinite 
 merit; but still all this is not identical and equiva- 
 lent suffering. 
 
 Second, if the above proposition were literally 
 true then, in justice to man, the subjective result 
 of his transgression ought to be fully and com- 
 pletely abrogated, and he ought to be brought back 
 to his original estate. This is not mere sentiment, 
 but the demand of strict justice. If the God-man 
 literally suffers the literal penalty resting on man 
 — I use the word man as standing for humanity — 
 then God has certainly no more fault to find with 
 man, and we are all of us pure as the angels. 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. 1 17 
 
 Of two things, however, I am fully persuaded, 
 viz., that God will not deal unjustly with man, and 
 that man manifestly is still suffering the penalty 
 of the law as he is naturally engendered. 
 
 What, accordingly, can the work of atonement 
 mean? If Christ did not literally suffer the penalty 
 of the broken law, what did He do and suffer,? I 
 answer, He suffered sufficiently in body and mind 
 during a number of years' sojourn on the earth, and 
 particularly in the garden and on the cross, to bal- 
 ance and satisfy the objective result of the Fall — 
 the offended mind of God. Now it is not for man, 
 the offender, to say how much the God-man is com- 
 pelled to suffer to make an atonement. That be- 
 longs to God, the offended. This much only may 
 be ventured, and that is, that His sufferings must 
 be adequate to show man that God is just, and true 
 to His word; but also that He is infinite in love, in 
 that He spared not His own Son, but laid on Him 
 the iniquity of us all; and that by His stripes we 
 are healed. In view of Christ's Person, His suffer- 
 ing, of whatever character it may be, and however 
 long or short a period it may extend, has infinite 
 merit, and so God may well be justified to set it 
 down to our credit. By the God-man's passive 
 obedience, all the obstacles and hindrances are re- 
 
Il8 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 moved, and God is enabled to come to the rescue 
 of man, to deliver him from the subjective conse- 
 quences of the Fall. Hereby does this Priest offer 
 himself as a sacrifice to God for the purpose of 
 propitiating and reconciling Him to man. In this 
 view of the atonement, I clearly see how all men 
 everywhere must of necessity still be dead by na- 
 ture, and, therefore, suffering the broken law in its 
 subjective effect, both in time and in eternity, while 
 at the same time the objective effect is covered and 
 canceled. Our High Priest purchased the favor of 
 God, by which it is possible for all men to be saved, 
 but this sacrifice did not absolutely restore man. 
 Personal salvation comes only to such as accept the 
 sacrifice of Christ by faith. This subject will be 
 called up again at another place. 
 
 Intercessio7i. — The Atonement made by His ac- 
 tive and passive obedience is not the only work of 
 Christ. As Priest, seated at the right hand of the 
 Father, the Scriptures teach that He is active in 
 interceding for them whom He purchased with His 
 blood. He plea'ds'His own merits in man's behalf. 
 Whether this part of Christ's sacerdotal office is 
 absolutely necessary for man's salvation, I know 
 not. Judging from a purely philosophical stand- 
 point, -I would infer that it was not. However, 
 
THE GOD-MAN'S MEDIATORIAL WORK. 119 
 
 this is certain, that hereby the Redeemer shows 
 His intense interest in poor fallen humanity. He 
 will not be passive, as He might be justified to be, 
 but earnestly active, in general for all men, and 
 especially for the regenerate, through all time. L,et 
 us catch the spirit and zeal of our High Priest, and 
 intercede devotedly and earnestly for all our breth- 
 ren, at the throne of prayer and grace, and so be- 
 come the means of turning many to righteousness. 
 
 KING. 
 
 In the God-man's third office, we have His exer- 
 cise of the regal function. In the interest of a 
 better understanding of this office, the reign of 
 Christ is usually divided into three parts, called 
 the reign of Power, of Grace, and of Glory. 
 
 The Kingdom of Power. — Creation is ascribed 
 to the Son of God, the Second Person in the Holy 
 Trinity. The Apostle John says, "All things were 
 made by Him, and without Him was not anything 
 made that is made." In virtue of this fact Christ 
 is, properly, ruler over all things that He created, 
 and His reign extends over all things visible and 
 invisible, living and dead. As long as we hold 
 fast to a personal, living Christ, it matters not so 
 much whether we know the exact modus operandi 
 
120 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 of the creation; for we are thoroughly assured that 
 nothing could have come into existence without 
 Him, and that nothing could abide but by His 
 almighty hand. I can express in one sentence my 
 creed in reference to the method of creation. It is 
 this: I believe, in the light of the Bible and of 
 science, that some existing things, as they now are, 
 have come through a gradual development or evo- 
 lution, and that the major part have come imme- 
 diately and directly by the fiat of God. "He spake, 
 and it was done." 
 
 In respect of the regal authority and activity of 
 the King, I aver with the utmost emphasis that He 
 has immediate supervision and direct control over 
 all that exists, and that if He should remove His 
 presence for a moment from any part of the Uni- 
 verse, all would come to grief and desolation. I 
 believe that the laws in nature are naught but the 
 modes of the Deity's orderly reign, and that the 
 forces in nature can all be resolved into one force, 
 the will of God. 
 
 The kingdom of power also implies Christ's 
 dominion over animals, men and devils. While 
 all these have a certain delegated realm and free- 
 dom for the activity of, their respective natures, 
 still there is a Supreme Ruler over them who will 
 
121 
 
 never abdicate His throne. Christ's reign of power 
 directs the stars in their courses, and causes the 
 wrath of men and devils to praise Him. 
 
 The Kingdom of Grace. — At another place in 
 this lecture I said: "The Fall has thrown man 
 out of relation and harmony with his Creator and 
 Ruler. He must be restored to an estate in which 
 he can make use of such rites, ceremonies and 
 means of grace as God sees fit to give him for the 
 perfecting of his spiritual life." This "estate" is 
 Christ's kingdom of grace, the church. Justified 
 by faith, the believer is transplanted from the 
 "world" to the church, in which the very means 
 he needs are deposited and dispensed. In this king- 
 dom, "law" and "force" are transmuted into love, 
 which is both "law" and "force" of another kind 
 and of a more excellent character. I will not anti- 
 cipate here what must be left for another place, but 
 merely to say that not a part or particle is lacking 
 in this kingdom, that it is philosophically apparent 
 ought to be present. Provision is here made for 
 man's separation from deadly influences ; for the 
 nourishment and development of spiritual life ; for 
 the dispensation of grace to the whole world ; and 
 for the training of all the saints for the kingdom 
 of glory. 
 
122 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 The Kingdom of Glory. — Of this a certain writer 
 says: "Christ most gloriously rules the chuch tri- 
 umphant in heaven, and fills it with eternal felicity, 
 to the praise of the divine name and the refresh- 
 ment of the saved, to which belong all the inhabi- 
 tants of heaven, the good angels and redeemed 
 men. They behold the Lord in His glory, as He 
 shows Himself to the dead when He awakens them 
 to life. This glory of the Lord begins with the 
 time of His ascension to heaven, but will not be 
 perfectly unfolded until, after the final judgment, 
 believers also will enter into the kingdom of His 
 glory to share with Him its possession. In this 
 kingdom the righteous shall see the King in His 
 beauty, for He is the chief among ten thousand, 
 and the one altogether lovely." Hail, blessed- 
 kingdom; all hail, thrice blessed King! Prophet, 
 Priest and King, hi these three offices there is one 
 Mediator between God and man, the God-man, 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
LECTURE VI 
 
 The Church, 
 
 Matt, xvl 18. 
 
Matt. xvi. 18. Upon this rock will I build my church ; and 
 the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 At this point two ways are open before us. The 
 subject of man's spiritual recovery might here be 
 taken up, following logically the subject of the 
 preceding lecture ; or we may give attention to the 
 means and instrumentalities through which his 
 recovery is effected. The latter I think to be 
 better suited to my purpose, and I enter, therefore, 
 upon that way first 
 
 The agency that first claims our attention, is 
 the Church. This institution is variously desig- 
 nated in the Old and New Testaments as the 
 Church, the Kingdom of Heaven, the King- 
 dom of God, the Church of God, and the Church 
 of Christ. Properly considered, the Church of 
 God had its beginning with the inhabitants of 
 Eden. There were two persons only, it is true; 
 and in a real sense these two constituted a family, 
 united as they were for the purpose of introducing 
 the human species, and for domestic life and enjoy- 
 ment. However, inasmuch as their spiritual life 
 and noblest felicity depended on union with their 
 
 (125) 
 
126 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Creator, which union was to be perpetuated 
 through obedience to law and the observance and 
 use of means and agencies adapted to their needs; 
 and inasmuch as this man and woman were set at 
 first to worship their Lord and King, and to keep 
 His name uppermost in the minds of their descend- 
 ants, there are here found the true marks of God's 
 kingdom on earth, and the best realization of its 
 divine ideal. 
 
 In view of God's purpose to redeem the world 
 by his Son the Church was not destroyed even 
 after the Fall. Through all the ages before the 
 advent of Christ, she remained among men. 
 
 In the reconstruction epoch, when the God-man 
 redeemed the world, the ancient Church received 
 some changes. In the Old Testament dispensa- 
 tion, when the people were in training for the 
 Messiah, it was needful that there should be cer- 
 tain rites and ceremonies adapted solely for that 
 period, and therefore temporary. But when the 
 last dispensation is ushered in, it becomes neces- 
 sary that the imperfect give way to the perfect, 
 and the temporary to the permanent. The Church 
 of Christ, accordingly, is properly characterized as 
 perfect, on her divine side. 
 
 This last sentence brings me to a thought which 
 
THE CHURCH. 127 
 
 is somewhat in the nature of a definition of the 
 Church. To my view the Church consists of two 
 parts, the divine-spiritual, and the human-mate- 
 rial. In the divine part we find Christ, the founder 
 and corner-stone, and the means of grace, and all 
 the ceremonies and ordinances, on their spiritual 
 side. In the human-material part there are all 
 those who stand connected with her, together with 
 the physical elements constituting the means of 
 grace, and all purely human inventions, which 
 may be good and useful and expedient, but nothing 
 more. 
 
 From this standpoint it is easy to see the possi- 
 bility of the Church becoming corrupt, and IyUther 
 was right when he spoke of the Church being in 
 Babylonish captivity during a thousand years pre- 
 vious to his time. At the same time, it is most 
 important to note that in another and higher sense 
 the Church is never anything but pure and un- 
 spotted. When one speaks of an imperfect or 
 corrupt church, one must always remember that 
 the human-material part is meant, and never the 
 divine-spiritual. When we take account of the 
 many human inventions that have been added at 
 different periods in different branches of the 
 Church's existence, and when we think of the 
 
128 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 multitudes of precious souls that have thereby- 
 been snared into hell, it is a great relief and joy, 
 and a matter of grateful praise to God, that Christ's 
 Church, as founded by Him, is very simple and un- 
 encumbered, and at the same time all comprehen- 
 sive in her scope and influence. 
 
 In the preceding lecture, I remarked that the 
 scope or end of Christ's " Kingdom of Grace" is 
 the "training of all the saints for the Kingdom of 
 Glory." 
 
 That I hold to be true as a matter of course. To 
 realize this final purpose, hovever, "all the saints" 
 must be first fashioned out of " the wicked world." 
 It is necessary, accordingly, that the Church should 
 be a zealous propaganda. The wicked must be 
 overcome by the means of grace — the Word and 
 Sacraments. The devil must be cast out of them, 
 they must be clothed and put in their right minds, 
 and caused to sit at Jesus' feet. They must be in- 
 corporated with the Church, become a part of her 
 human side. This carving of saints out of such 
 unsightly material, or, in other words, this con- 
 quering of death and engrafting of life, is carried 
 on by Christ and man in hearty co-operation. 
 Thus the two parts of the Church are represented 
 in the conquest of the world. In this we find the 
 
* THE CHURCH. 129 
 
 personal holding the impersonal — the means of 
 grace — in hand, achieving the first object of the 
 Church, to wit, to bestow life upon the dead, and 
 to bring them within her sacred precincts, that by 
 their free and constant use of her ordinances they 
 may become " perfect and thoroughly furnished 
 unto every good work." This implies that all 
 who are thus added to the Church, do not only try 
 to grow into the full stature of the Lord them- 
 selves, but also at once take their places as propa- 
 gators of the Church. By this two-fold life — of 
 taking in and giving out — there is "training of all 
 the saints for the kingdom of glory." 
 
 The means of grace in the Church will receive 
 further and separate treatment, each by itself, in 
 succeeding lectures. It therefore remains that in 
 this lecture the Church must be treated mainly on 
 her strictly human side. Hence what will be said 
 from this onward is meant to point out some of her 
 attributes and characteristics. 
 
 ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 It is the purpose of her Founder and Head that 
 the Church cover the whole earth. Wherever sin 
 abounds it is designed that grace shall much more 
 abound. In view of this fact, one of the attributes 
 of the Church is Universality. 
 
130 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 The ancient Israelites believed that God's king- 
 dom in their day was intended to include only 
 themselves. Indeed, generally speaking, there 
 was some truth in the belief. It is, hence, not to 
 be expected that great missionary enterprises 
 should be planned and executed. All this is 
 changed, however, in the Christian dispensation. 
 Jesus Christ manifested the true missionary spirit 
 on all proper occasions. If the Scribes, Pharisees 
 and others turn away from Him, He turns at once 
 to the Gentiles. During His earthly life He healed 
 so many "foreigners and aliens," both bodily and 
 spiritually, that doubtless it were surprising to 
 know the number. Christ's works of mercy were 
 also accompanied by His words of glad tidings. 
 He made bold to say, the offences thereby engen- 
 dered notwithstanding, that the kingdom which 
 He came to establish was designed to embrace 
 all the nations of men. "Whosoever will may 
 come." But all His words and works on this side 
 of Calvary were transfigured into a brilliant 
 "Great Commission" on the other side, and just 
 before His ascension : ' ' Go ye therefore, and teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ; 
 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
 
THE CHURCH. 131 
 
 have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world." Ten days 
 after this, this commission is begun, in dead earn- 
 est, to be carried into execution. Three thousand 
 souls were added to the Church — of all tongues, 
 and climes, and nations of the earth. The Apostles 
 go and teach all nations, one this way and another 
 that, here and there and everywhere, suffering sore 
 trials and persecutions for Christ's and the King- 
 dom's sake, but never fearing and never daunted. 
 History records the fact that the early ages of 
 Christianity were distinctively and decidedly mis- 
 sionary years; and it is very likely that by the end 
 of the first century the Gospel was preached liter- 
 ally in every nation, and to every creature. The 
 four or five succeeding centuries of controversy 
 and settling of dogmas so largely superseded the 
 missionary spirit that comparatively little was 
 achieved. During this period the Church gained 
 immensely in intension, but lost greatly in exten- 
 sion. The "dark ages" followed, and Satan re- 
 gained the ground which he had lost in the days 
 of Christ and the Apostles. From the time of the 
 Reformation dates a fresh impulse to "lengthen 
 the cords and strengthen the stakes of Zion." It 
 remained, however, for the present century to catch 
 
132 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 fully the spirit of Christ, and to lift aloft a banner 
 with this ensign : ' ' Christ for the world and the 
 world for Christ. ' ' ' '//z hoc signo vinces, ' ' is now the 
 exulting shout of every true soldier of the Churches 
 mighty host. 
 
 It need scarcely be said that the attribute which 
 we are now considering belongs to the Church by 
 virtue of her essential nature. The very character 
 of the Christian Church is such that she has a uni- 
 versal adaptation to the infinite number and variety 
 of needs of the lost world. There is no depravity 
 so deep, no sin so flagrant, no vice so offensive, nor 
 sorrow so bitter, nor burden so oppressive, nor any 
 other distress and calamity so great, for which the 
 Church does not have a pardoning, life-giving, 
 cleansing, uplifting and comforting virtue, power 
 and influence. Men may be polluted, crushed and 
 groaning outside the Church, but inside, never. In 
 her is the Great Physician, and a Balm of Gilead 
 for every wound. In ages past millions have been 
 touched and healed. To-day, four hundred millions 
 live to call her blessed. 
 
 Now, such essential adaptability does not exist 
 in any other religion on earth. Mohammedanism 
 was at the beginning propagated by the sword, and 
 continues to flourish by reason of the vices which 
 
THE CHURCH. 1 33 
 
 it allows to its adherents. Confucianism, Buddh- 
 ism and all the other isms of the eastern empires 
 hold their place rather because they destroy and 
 obliterate the rational religious cravings and facul- 
 ties of the soul than that they quicken and satisfy 
 them. This fact is acknowledged by the most 
 acute adherents of these religions, at the same time 
 that they attest to the infinite superiority of Chris- 
 tianity over their own. 
 
 Another attribute of the Church is Visibility. 
 The original conditions of admission were two — 
 repentance and faith. All, accordingly, who made 
 solemn profession of these two, were at once re- 
 ceived. Naturally enough, it so happened that 
 there were many false professors; nevertheless if 
 their conduct was not grossly sinful and offensive 
 they still held their place. All, therefore, of every 
 description, who had been formally admitted to the 
 Church formed an external and visible society for 
 the public administering of the means of grace, and 
 the preaching of the gospel, and the mutual edifi- 
 cation of each other. While the Church was one 
 unbroken whole, those living in any one city or 
 community united in a local society. At first all 
 the local churches may have been governed by 
 the same rules, and worshipped in the same forms. 
 
134 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Such outward and visible organization was essen- 
 tial, not only for the purpose above indicated, but 
 also to the end of missionary operations. This for 
 two "reasons: First, in order to present a united 
 and determined front to the unchristian people; 
 and second, in order that they might have a 
 common policy, or plan and principle of activity. 
 Mere zeal without a definite plan of campaign 
 would not conquer the world for the Master. 
 Hence in the Acts we find that the Apostles repeat- 
 edly appealed to the decision of the elders and 
 brethren at Jerusalem. 
 
 In the light of a remark I made in a previous 
 paragraph, it is quite patent that although in ex- 
 ternal and visible relation to the Church, not all so 
 related were truly Christian. There were many 
 "tares" among the "wheat." This fact suffices 
 to introduce a third attribute, namely, Invisibility. 
 All who belong to the visible Church are called, 
 but a few only of these are chosen: these consti- 
 tute the invisible Church. Not every one who 
 says Lord, Iyord, will enter into the kingdom of 
 glory, but he who doeth the will of the Father. 
 As in the Jewish Church before Christ, so will it 
 always be in the Christian Church, that many ap- 
 pear like whited sepulchres, but inwardly are vile 
 
THE CHURCH. 135 
 
 and full of corruption. There are many who have 
 a name to live, but are dead in trespasses and sin. 
 These have a name and place in the visible Church. 
 On the other hand, in all periods of the Church's 
 history there have been those who were in fact 
 just what they were in name. Christ's kingdom 
 is in them as well as around them. They believe, 
 and so obey the will of God. When the King in 
 His glory comes to make up His jewels, these are 
 the ones that will be chosen. 
 
 The Scripture texts that justify this attribute are 
 the following: Eph. v. 27, Mark ix. 38-40, Matt. 
 xv. 22, Matt. xiii. 24-30, Matt. vii. 21, John vi. 37, 
 xvii. 26. 
 
 Unity is a fourth characteristic of the Church. 
 
 By this is not meant that external connection of 
 churches which is adored and practiced by the 
 Romish church, and also praised by many Protest- 
 ants, but a moral unity. A great and pious theo- 
 logian explains it thus: The import of this term is, 
 that all who worship God according to the doctrine 
 of Jesus Christ shall regard themselves as members 
 of one society, and as such should exercise mutual 
 brotherly love; that notwithstanding all differences 
 of birth, conditions, knowledge, opinion and forms, 
 they should still constitute one Church, or religious 
 
I36 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 society, worshipping one and the same L,ord, even 
 Christ, and partaking in common of the blessings 
 promised to his followers. That there should be 
 such a union was the last will and testament of 
 Christ — John xiii. 34, xv. 1. In order to this, it 
 is not essential that there should be a full and en- 
 tire agreement of opinion on every particular doc- 
 trine. Christians, though differing as to their 
 modes of thinking, their particular opinions and 
 forms, and though divided into particular com- 
 munions, ought to regard themselves as still but 
 one Church, and so live together in unity of spirit. 
 This is the true spirit of Christianity; it infuses 
 feelings of toleration. The more one has of the 
 mind of Christ, the more tolerant will he be to 
 others, and especially because he knows that not 
 only his Lord, but his brethren, see much in him 
 which requires forbearance." 
 
 A fifth attribute is Sanctity. 
 
 Generally speaking the whole Church may be 
 designated by this term, by reason of her superior 
 and exalted station in the earth. Infinitely above 
 every other society, when we take account of her 
 divine-spiritual side, there is no difficulty to see 
 the reason why she is sometimes called a holy 
 Church, even when at the same time great corrup- 
 
THE CHURCH. 137 
 
 tion is manifest among her members. Thus the 
 Jews were called a holy people, at the same time 
 that they were shamefully wicked. 
 
 It is proper to say that the term u holy" in such 
 a connection does not predicate moral purity, but 
 merely emphasizes the fact that the institution in 
 which they stand is holy and divine. Specifically 
 stated, it is true that it is the very end of the 
 Church to create true holiness in the hearts of all 
 whom she embraces. While some resist this pur- 
 pose and so will never belong but to the visible 
 Church, many do yield themselves to the Church's 
 grace, and are made clean and holy. In this con- 
 nection the term "Sanctity" has reference to 
 moral character; and all those who are holy belong 
 not only to the visible but also to the invisible 
 Church. 
 
 The last attribute which I shall mention is Per- 
 petuity. In the very nature of the case the Church 
 must endure while the earth stands. The empire 
 of Satan must be matched, and finally overcome 
 by the empire of Christ. These two stand over 
 against each other; and since the former is likely 
 to hold a place till the consummation of all things, 
 so will also the latter; the former decreasing and 
 the latter increasing. This does not preclude the 
 
138 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 fact that the human side of the Church will suffer 
 many changes from time to time. Creeds, polity, 
 rites and ceremonies of to-day may possibly be 
 superseded by others to-morrow; not always be- 
 cause those of to-day are wrong and useless, but. 
 rather because they have served their day, and 
 those of to-morrow are better for to-morrow. In 
 plain and simple language, the meaning of the 
 foregoing is this: as the world is progressing in 
 thought and intelligent activity, it may be possi- 
 ble that old forms and methods of church-life will 
 give way to new ones, that are abreast of the times. 
 Note, also, that this reference is solely to things 
 human, and not to things divine. It is plain, 
 therefore, that many of the old treasures of the 
 Church, which have been handed down from an- 
 cient times, are not now and never will be out- 
 grown and obsolete, because they have the mark 
 of divinity upon them. 
 
 It may also come to pass that where the Church 
 flourishes to-day she may decline hereafter. This 
 is not to be ascribed to the will of God, but to the 
 perversity of men, as witness the once thriving 
 condition of the Eastern church and her feeble ex- 
 istence now. 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of all the changes and vi- 
 
THE CHURCH. ' 139 
 
 cissitudes through which the Church is forced to 
 pass, she will abide while time lasts, for the "gates 
 of hell shall not prevail against her." When the 
 end of the ages has come, having fulfilled her mis- 
 sion on the earth, the Church militant will be trans- 
 figured into the Church triitmphant, to be the spot- 
 less and immortal bride of the King of kings and 
 Lord of lords in heaven forever. 
 
 THE MINISTRY. 
 
 Our conception of the Church would not be com- 
 plete without a brief discussion of her ministry. 
 
 In the preceding lecture, the God-man, in his 
 office as King, was said to have a Kingdom of 
 Grace on earth in which He rules. That is true, 
 and this makes Him the Supreme Head of the 
 Church. It was He who first preached the gospel 
 of the kingdom. His visible departure from 
 among men called for others to take His place as 
 teachers and preachers and earthly ambassadors. 
 Accordingly, at the very beginning of Christ's re- 
 demptive career He gathered twelve men around 
 Himself, to train and discipline and prepare them 
 for service in His church. These were called Apos- 
 tles. Two others were afterwards chosen, one to 
 take the place of the traitor, and the other to fill a 
 special mission among the Gentile nations. 
 
140 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 It may be stated here that the Apostles of Christ 
 exercised functions peculiar to themselves. They 
 were to found churches in various parts of the 
 world, and have the general superintendence over 
 them. In order to prove the authenticity of their 
 calling, Christ endowed them with the power of 
 performing miracles, which they used when cir- 
 cumstances demanded it. Such supernatural 
 works as Christ Himself performed, they were also 
 empowered to do, to impress the world that their 
 calling was not of man, but of God. 
 
 In point of fact, all the members of the Christian 
 Church are kings and priests before the Lord, and 
 all alike have the right to teach and rule. There 
 is a sense in which it may be said that where a 
 right or privilege belongs equally to all, such right 
 or privilege can be exercised by none; for in the 
 event of such exercise there would be endless con- 
 fusion and disorder. Such would be the case in an 
 absolute democracy in civil government, and such 
 would likewise be the result in the Church. So 
 far, there is no great dispute. At this point, how- 
 ever, two ways part. One party holds that a call 
 to the ministry is traced back through the line of 
 the ministry to the Apostles, and from them, of 
 course, to Christ; that ordination is not a mere 
 
THE CHURCH. 141 
 
 human expedient, but a laying on of consecrated 
 hands, through which the Head of the Church 
 confers authority and power. Another class holds 
 and teaches that a right call emanates from the 
 Church as such, and that it is not in any proper 
 sense traced to Christ and the Apostles. The fact 
 is, to be sure, recognized that the Church has no 
 right to call any man to her altar without proper 
 mental and moral qualifications, and that these 
 qualifications are the gift of Christ. In the matter 
 of ordination, it is held that "ordination of a 
 teacher is nothing else than a public approval and 
 confirmation of his calling: to the office of teaching; 
 so that thenceforward he may begin his work and 
 enjoy his rights." Now, whatever others may 
 hold respecting this very important subject, my 
 own conviction is decidedly against the latter view. 
 What has been said touching the fact that all 
 alike are kings and priests before the L,ord, and all 
 have a right to teach and preach, is true. The only 
 question is whether those who have this natural 
 right, which is one of the many blessings growing 
 out of redemption, are commissioned to transfer 
 their right to a certain number among them, which 
 would constitute a right call, or whether the Head 
 of the Church reserves the prerogative to do that for 
 
142 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the Church. I am fully persuaded that the latter 
 position is the correct one. The office of the min- 
 istry is entirely too important and responsible to 
 commit a call thereto to the Church immediately. 
 I do not believe that the Church has ever been in 
 an intellectual and moral position to qualify her to 
 judge who shall and who shall not be set apart to 
 this blessed calling. I believe that it would make 
 the highest calling on earth too dependent on 
 human caprice. My opinion is that it is attributa- 
 ble to this erroneous notion that the people gen- 
 erally, in our day, have comparatively small rever- 
 ence for the ministry, and take little heed of what 
 they say and urge. Shall I say it? Yes, I will: 
 to this same false doctrine I ascribe the fact that 
 entirely too many ministers have waived and lost 
 the proper dignity which attaches to their position; 
 they make themselves entirely too cheap. This 
 evil is manifested in and out of the pulpit. I feel 
 doubly sure that if all ministers and people would 
 recognize the fact that the " Ambassador for Jesus" 
 is called, not of the Church but of Christ, there 
 would be unspeakable gain. 
 
 In this view of the call, Jesus Christ holds His 
 place as Head over all things in the Church. 
 Through the regular ministry which originated 
 
THE CHURCH. 143 
 
 with the Apostles, He calls whom he has before 
 prepared by His grace in body, mind and spirit, 
 inducts him into the office by the laying on of the 
 hands of the presbytery, through which He imparts 
 gifts and grace to qualify for the arduous and re- 
 sponsible duties resting upon him. Read Paul's 
 charge to Timothy. 
 
 Called of God, the true minister holds himself 
 responsible to God, and not in the least to men. 
 In such a case all his words and works come with 
 authority. He can say from his heart of hearts, 
 "I AM hath sent me unto you," and when he 
 speaks he can truly say, "Thus saith the Lord." 
 Knowing in his very soul that he is directly au- 
 thorized by the King to speak in His name, his 
 gracious messages will have no uncertain sound, 
 and his ruling and disciplining functions will not 
 lack energy and stamina. 
 
 The last sentence I have to utter on this subject, 
 which satisfies the scope of my address, can be 
 framed as follows: The ministry is taken out of the 
 boso?n of the Church, belongs most truly to the 
 Church as part and constituent, is called by the 
 Lord fier se, is dedicated by a special gift of grace 
 in ordination, is directly responsible to the Head of 
 the Church for all conduct, and is thus literal am- 
 
144 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 bassador in a Kingdom, and not a mere office-bearer 
 in a Republic; and hence, the terms ( ' kings ' ' and 
 c ' priests, ' ' as applied to each member of the Chris- 
 tian Church, have their meaning exhausted by 
 referring them to each Christian's i?idividual and 
 private relation to God and His Kingdom — this 
 and nothing more. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 The Divine Revelation, 
 
 2 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
2 Tim. iii. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 
 and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for 
 instruction in righteousness. 
 

 LECTURE VII. 
 
 In my 'view the necessity of a divine revelation 
 is self-evident. 
 
 By the five senses of our physical constitution 
 we discover the phenomena of nature; by the Un- 
 derstanding we come to a knowledge of the sub- 
 stance which is beneath and behind phenomena; 
 and by the Reason we discover somewhat of the 
 principles, and forces, and laws beneath and be- 
 hind substance. 
 
 Placing together all that we learn in these three 
 ways, I think I am safe to say that the conclusion 
 of every man, in a normal state of mind, is that 
 there is an All-wise and All-powerful Being, who 
 is called God. This it is that gives us a clue to 
 the meaning of the Scripture which says: "For 
 His invisible things, even His eternal power and 
 God-head since the creation of the world, are 
 clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
 are made." I am very sure, however, that the 
 light afforded by Nature and Reason has its limita- 
 tions, when unassisted by Him who created both 
 
 and set their bounds. . 
 
 (i47) 
 
148 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 The truth of the matter is, that all who are born 
 under the light of a miraculous revelation, are 
 really unable to speak with undoubted authority 
 touching the definite character and amount of 
 knowledge, science and philosophy can render us 
 on purely divine and spiritual matters. The rea- 
 son %r this is, from infancy up through childhood 
 and youth the light of the Bible inevitably falls 
 upon the mind and brings superhuman knowledge. 
 The very atmosphere of Christian countries is im- 
 pregnated with the knowledge of God; and if it 
 were the case, as it is in a few instances, that 
 parents made an effort to isolate their children 
 from all scriptural teaching, that they might have 
 naught but the light of Reason to guide and influ- 
 ence them, it is absolutely impossible to effect their 
 wish and will. Environed as we are, do what one 
 will, Divine light will obtrude itself on the tablets 
 of the mind. 
 
 This truth I give as showing that what philoso- 
 phers deem as a purely mental result of the 
 knowledge which they possess of supernal truths, 
 is not so in fact ; for imperceptibly and uncon- 
 sciously to them they have all the time carried on 
 their labor under the certain and positive teaching 
 of the Word of God. Hence I emphasize the as- 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 149 
 
 sertion that we dare not boast too much of the 
 knowledge we have and can have of the mind and 
 will of God apart from a divine disclosure of them. 
 
 Believing, as I do, that some knowledge of the 
 character and will of God can be obtained by the 
 discursive operations of the Understanding and 
 the intuitions of Reason, without an immediate and 
 divine revelation, the fact still remains that to the 
 end of man's salvation, with all that is involved 
 therein, he needs to know almost infinitely more 
 than is embraced in the foregoing concession. 
 Perhaps very few people have any conception of 
 the character and extent of the things man ought 
 to know in order to satisfy his ever-active mind 
 and to perfect his life; and which is all, or nearly 
 all, outside of the limitations of both "Pure" and 
 "Practical" Reason (Kant). Following are the 
 subjects which I think are included in this cata- 
 logue, to wit: God; the creation; origin of evil; 
 redemption in Christ; means of grace, and the 
 Holy Ghost; new obedience; immortality of the 
 soul; heaven and hell. These topics, I think, 
 cover, but not more, the demands of man's mental 
 and spiritual nature and the eternal plan of God in 
 reference to his being and destiny. 
 
 Now, the necessity of a God-made discovery of 
 
150 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 these matters is perhaps best seen by examining 
 the knowledge preserved by men who were and are 
 minus such discovery, and hence who have nothing 
 but the much-vaunted light of Nature and Reason 
 to govern them. 
 
 In respect to God there were and are a multi- 
 plicity of discordant notions. Some writers, as 
 Max Miiller and others, declare that there are 
 many evidences to indicate that the earliest or 
 oldest belief in God was monotheistic. Granted. 
 This only goes to show that the original revelation 
 from God was passed down among succeeding gen- 
 erations of men, and while in many respects the 
 people had already become heathen — in worship 
 and practical life — they still clung to this tradi- 
 tional knowledge. Coming down through the 
 ages, and after all traditional, but supernatural, 
 knowledge was effaced and obliterated, the historic 
 fact stares us in the face that there were many who 
 even denied the existence of a God or gods, while 
 others believed in a multiplicity of gods, and still 
 others were either pantheists or deists. The his- 
 torian Gibbon writes: "The philosophers dili- 
 gently practiced the ceremonies of their fathers, 
 devoutly frequented the temples of their gods; 
 and sometimes, condescending to act a part on 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1 51 
 
 the theatre of superstition, they concealed the 
 sentiments of an atheist under sacerdotal robes.'* 
 As might be expected, out of such discordant 
 opinions grew the disgusting polytheism and idol- 
 atry practiced then and now in heathen nations. 
 
 The knowledge of one true and living God in 
 three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, who 
 is perfect in all divine attributes, omniscient, 
 omnipresent, omnipotent, love, justice arid mercy, 
 is more truly foreign to their minds than to the 
 new-born babe of Christian parents. 
 
 The worship of the heathen was and is not in 
 the least superior to their knowledge. Enlight- 
 ened Athens, with all her great philosophers, was 
 full of statues and fanes, dedicated to their numer- 
 ous gods. So, also, Rome. But even in these 
 cities the vilest and most diabolical worship was 
 conducted. u Prostitution, with all its deformi- 
 ties, was systematically annexed to various pagan 
 temples, was often a source of revenue, and was, 
 in some countries, compulsory upon the female 
 population." Besides the number of men who 
 were killed in the bloody sports and spectacles, in- 
 stituted in honor of the deities, human sacrifice was 
 offered to propitiate them. Boys were whipped on 
 the altar of Diana, sometimes until they died. 
 
152 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 How many infants did the Carthaginians sacrifice 
 to their implacable god, Molech ? What numbers 
 of human victims, in times of public danger, did 
 they immolate, to appease the resentment of the 
 offended deities? But travelers and missionaries 
 tell us that what was true anciently is true now — 
 there is not one particle of improvement. It is 
 but right to say that a few of the greatest and best 
 in all the different nations and ages of the past and 
 present disapproved of a great deal of the vice and 
 worship prevalent among them, but in spite of all 
 that, the people continued to tl perish for lack of 
 knowledge. ' ' 
 
 As we pass on to a knowledge of creation, noth- 
 ing worth the name was enjoyed. The peripatet- 
 ics held that the world was eternal ; Democrites 
 taught that the present order of things came by a 
 fortuitous concourse of atoms; the Epicureans de- 
 cided that it was made by chance, and others did 
 not account for it at all. Now, the significant 
 thing about all these opinions is, that they ruled 
 God entirely out of creation. If it be said, " Well, 
 these false conceptions are not a trifle worse, and, 
 indeed, not much different from those held by 
 some wiseacres of the present day," I have to 
 answer, No, that is true; but this does not make 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1 53 
 
 the ancient philosophers any better, it only stamps 
 those of our time as worse. The only difference 
 between the two classes is that the ancients did 
 not know better, because they had no divine rev- 
 elation, and the moderns do not know better, be- 
 cause they discard such revelation. Like moles, 
 they love to dig in the dark. In the final analysis, 
 both classes are found to be heathen; one class of 
 the head, and the other of the heart. 
 
 What has been said concerning creation is equally 
 applicable to the origin of evil in the world. 
 Ancient philosophers saw and lamented human 
 depravity. In their speculations they always con- 
 ceded that the race of man had fallen from a lofty 
 position. They could not give satisfactory answers 
 to when? how? why? Some of them fell on this 
 theory, namely, "There are two original and eter- 
 nal principles — God and matter. God is the author 
 of all good ; matter the author of all evil. Man's 
 soul is spirit, and hence good; man's body is matter, 
 and hence evil. Depravity was, accordingly, con- 
 fined to the physical nature, and, therefore, the 
 sooner the soul became disengaged from the body 
 the better. From this originated the doctrine of 
 the transmigration of the soul. Of course, no one 
 feels to chide them for this fallacy. They had, be 
 
154 R AYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 it noted, the light of Nature and of Reason, and 
 this is the result. With the same sources of 
 knowledge the conclusion will never be more sat- 
 isfactory, for neither science nor philosophy know, 
 or can know, a whit about this subject. 
 
 This notion of the origin and character of de- 
 pravity did not make any room for redemption. 
 It is true that Plato, and perhaps a few others, 
 seem to have some faint ray of light in this direc- 
 tion — just enough to make the surrounding dark- 
 ness all the blacker. The light of nature afforded 
 them some conception of the goodness of God, 
 which a few among the wisest took as data upon 
 which to base a hope of deliverance, in some way 
 and at some time. But of the plan of atonement 
 through which God may justify all and still con- 
 tinue just Himself, they knew absolutely nothing. 
 Nature and Reason both teach: " The soul that 
 sinneth shall die." Mercy, repentance, ^pardon, 
 substitution, etc., are entirely foreign to the tenets 
 of these teachers; and this is why the most culti- 
 vated philosophers could not and cannot now 
 evolve a plan of salvation. Whatever hope they 
 may have had was but a rope of sand. " Their 
 house was left unto them desolate. ' ' 
 
 In the light of the foregoing remarks, it is need- 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1 55 
 
 less to say that nothing was known of means of 
 grace, of the Holy Ghost, and of new obedience. 
 Relative to the immortality of the soul there was 
 great confusion of mind. The brightest lights 
 among the Greeks and Romans were Aristotle, 
 Socrates, Plato, Cicero and Seneca. Not one of 
 these speaks with a -certain sound. It does not 
 seem unlikely that Aristotle denied immortality. 
 Socrates and Plato were undoubtedly very hopeful 
 of life hereafter. Just before his death the former 
 expressed himself as follows: "I hope I am now 
 going to good men, though this I would not take 
 upon me dogmatically to assert; but that I shall 
 go to the gods, who are absolutely good, I affirm. 
 For this reason I do not take it hard that I am to 
 die, as otherwise I should do; but I am hopeful 
 that there is something remaining for those who 
 are dead, and that it will then be much better for 
 good than for bad men. ' ' Still later he said to his 
 friends: "I am going out of the world and you 
 will remain in it; but which has the better, is a 
 secret to all but God." Plato, the noblest of the 
 disciples of Socrates, held similar opinions with 
 his teacher; while others of his disciples denied 
 immortality. Cicero was one of the strongest 
 advocates of the soul's immortality, and yet his 
 
T56 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 mind wavered more or less, like that of all the rest. 
 After 'advancing a number of arguments to show 
 u the reason of the faith that was in him," he de- 
 clared — " which of these is true, God alone knows; 
 and which the more probable, is a very grave ques- 
 tion." Seneca asserts that immortality was rather 
 promised than proved by their great men. 
 
 Again, and lastly, the heathen had no founda- 
 tion in regard to heaven and hell. The language 
 of Socrates, above quoted, is in point. Many of 
 the wisest and the purest believed that these 
 places existed, and that God would deliver them 
 from the latter and give them a place in the 
 former: I have said they believed, but I modify 
 by saying, they hoped against hope. All was 
 shrouded in darkness and uncertainty. They 
 lived under an impenetrable cloud, that portended 
 scarcely aught but destruction in death. 
 
 I submit that Nature and Reason never will have 
 a better opportunity to manifest their revealing 
 power than in the golden age of Greece and Rome. 
 Those great philosophers thought seriously and 
 honestly on all great subjects, and therefore we 
 find here the most splendid illustration of what 
 may be known of divine and spiritual things, apart 
 from the Bible. Now, honor bright, where is the 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1 57 
 
 Christian child of five summers who could afford 
 to exchange knowledge with these great ones, on 
 almost all the subjects reviewed above? The 
 question makes us shudder, and we cry aloud, 
 nowhere, nowhere. 
 
 Enumerating a number of topics at another 
 place, I averred that some knowledge on all these 
 is necessary to satisfy our ever-active mind, and to 
 perfect our life. 
 
 Having observed, also, that Nature and Reason 
 cannot furnish satisfactory answers to these prob- 
 lems, we have the true premises out of which to 
 draw the imperative conclusion: That God will 
 reveal to man all he ought to know on all matters 
 otherwise "too high for him." 
 
 Can God do this? Certainly he can. How? 
 You shall see. 
 
 THE POSSIBILITY AND METHOD OF REVELATION. 
 
 God is All-wise and All-powerful. " Nothing is 
 impossible with Him." This means of course, that 
 nothing is impossible with Him that is not incon- 
 sistent with His moral attributes, or with the nature 
 4 and constitution of things. Neither of these is 
 implied in a divine revelation to man. Created in 
 the image of God pre-supposes that man's mind is 
 
158 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 so constituted that God can impress ideas upon 
 him when and where He will. Indeed, man was 
 mentally constituted to such an end; for it is 
 reasonable to believe that God purposed to lead 
 man upward and onward into higher and still 
 higher realms of knowledge, eternally. We do 
 not understand the exact modus operandi by which 
 such ideas are impressed upon the mind, but 
 neither do we know how we get any other knowl- 
 edge. It is true that we know something of the 
 faculties of the mind, and the laws of thought; but 
 there is an inner holy of holies into which no 
 human priest has entered, and touching which 
 man's knowledge is ignorance. Yes, surely God 
 can impart knowledge to His rational creatures. 
 
 The method of revelation adopted by God was to 
 inspire holy men to speak and write His thoughts 
 and will. I have said, "speak" and "write," 
 purposely; for while God's word to us is written, 
 we do not forget that a great deal was spoken un- 
 der the guidance and motions of the Holy Ghost, 
 which was never committed to writing. Now all 
 that we need to know, and all that future nations 
 need to know, is contained in our Scripture; but ¥ 
 the prophets, Jesus Christ, and the apostles deliv- 
 ered many messages and performed many miracles 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1 59 
 
 which we may suppose had a purely local applica- 
 tion and mission. I believe all that which was of 
 universal application and edification was written 
 down, either directly by those to whom the revela- 
 tion was originally made, or by those who were 
 divinely commissioned and inspired to act in the 
 capacity of author or scribe. 
 
 This brings me to say that God's word to the 
 world is not oral, but written. Why this should 
 be so is manifest from a few considerations. I 
 cannot do better than to quote here the arguments 
 adduced by eminent writers, as found in Home's 
 Introduction: 
 
 1. Oral Tradition is so uncertain and so insecure 
 a guide, that if a revelation claiming to be divine 
 be not transmitted by writing, it cannot possibly 
 be preserved in its purity, or serve mankind as a 
 certain rule of faith and of life. In illustration of 
 this remark we may observe that writing is a more 
 secure method of conveyance than tradition, being 
 neither so liable to involuntary mistakes, through 
 weakness of memory or understanding, nor so 
 subject to voluntary falsifications, suppressions, 
 additions, either out of malice or design. It is 
 also a method of conveyance more natural and 
 human. It is nothing extraordinary for a book to 
 
l6o RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 be transmitted pure and entire from generation to 
 generation; but a traditionary doctrine, especially 
 if it be of any considerable length, cannot be pre- 
 served without a miracle, without the occasional 
 interposition of Almighty God to renew the 
 memory of it at particular intervals, or His con- 
 tinual assistance and inspiration to keep it always 
 alive and vigorous. It is likewise a method more 
 complete and uniform, presenting itself to all at 
 once and to all alike, to be compared together; 
 whereas a traditionary doctrine must be communi- 
 cated little by little, and without doubt communi- 
 cated differently at different times by different per- 
 sons. It is, moreover, a method of conveyance 
 more general and diffusive. A man's writings 
 reach further than his words; and surely we need 
 not observe that it is the practice of mankind, 
 when they would publish anything, to have it writ- 
 ten or printed in a book. 
 
 2. Experience shows that writing is a method of 
 conveyance more lasting than tradition. 
 
 It is an old and trite saying that a word perishes, 
 but a letter written remains. Jesus Christ is said 
 to have performed many other miracles, and to 
 have done many other memorable things, besides 
 those which have been committed to writing; but, 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. l6l 
 
 observe how much more faithful record is than 
 mere report — the few, comparatively speaking, 
 which were written are preserved and credited, 
 while the many, which were not recorded in writ- 
 ing, have long since been utterly lost and forgotten. 
 Everything of any consequence we desire to have 
 in writing. By this, laws are promulgated; by 
 this, arts and sciences are propagated; by this, 
 titles and estates are secured. What do we know 
 of ancient history but the little that comes down to 
 us in books and writings? Tradition passes away 
 like a moving cloud; but books may live as long as 
 the sun and moon endure. 
 
 3. To the preceding arguments we may add, that 
 it is certainly more fair and open, more free from 
 suspicion of any fraud or contrivance, to have a re- 
 ligion preserved in writing, to be read and exam- 
 ined by all, than to have it left only with a few, 
 to be by them communicated in discourse to others, 
 as no two persons express the same thing exactly 
 in the same manner, nor even the same person at 
 different times. 
 
 The heathen philosophers had their exoteric 
 and esoteric doctrines, as they distinguish them, 
 that is, some which they generally delivered and 
 some which they communicated only to a few 
 
1 62 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 select auditors; but the first propagators of Christi- 
 tianity, knowing no such distinction, delivered the 
 whole doctrine which they professed, to have re- 
 ceived from the Lord. The heathen priests had 
 their mysteries, which they concealed from the 
 profane and vulgar; but Christianity can never be 
 made too public. Most other religions also are 
 committed to writing for their professors, and it 
 would be a prejudice to the Christian religion if it 
 did not enjoy the same advantage. The Jews had 
 what they called an oral law, a well as a written 
 one; and the one, as well as the other, they asserted 
 to have been given by God on Mount Sinai — the 
 oral to serve as a comment or explanation of the 
 written law. But, in process of time, these tradi- 
 tions multiplied so rapidly that the Jews found it 
 necessary to keep their traditions no longer as tra- 
 ditions, but committed them to writing, and they 
 are now preserved in the books called the Talmud. 
 So fallible is tradition, so secure is writing, even 
 in the opinion of the greatest traditionists; and if 
 the doctrines of religion must one time or other be 
 written, it is better surely to have them written by 
 inspired authors at first than by others afterwards. 
 4. Lastly, the importance of the matter, the va- 
 riety of the subjects, and the design of the institu- 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 163 
 
 tions, contained in those books which Jews and 
 Christians account sacred, are additional reasons 
 why they should be committed to writing. The 
 matter is of no less importance than the whole will 
 of God and the salvation of mankind, our duty 
 here and our happiness hereafter; and if anything 
 deserves to be written, do not these things deserve 
 to be recorded in the most lasting characters? 
 The subjects, likewise, are very various — histories 
 of times past and prophecies of things to come, ora- 
 tions and epistles, sublime points of faith and plain 
 rules of practice, hymns and prayers and thanks- 
 givings, too excellent to be forgotten, but too many 
 to be remembered. The Law was for a single 
 nation, but the Gospel is for the whole world. 
 For a single nation it was requisite that their laws 
 should be written, or to what can they appeal, and 
 by what can they regulate their practice? If it was 
 necessary for their law to be written, it was cer- 
 tainly much more necessary for the Gospel, which 
 w r as designed to be both of perpetual and universal 
 obligation, a religion for all ages and all times. 
 
 The Holy Scripture in our possession is divine. 
 "Holy men wrote as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost." U A11 Scripture is given by inspiration." 
 It is however in point to say that while " all Scrip- 
 
164 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 ture is given by inspiration/' not all we have in 
 the Bible was revealed by God, nor is every word 
 the word of God, strictly speaking. The Bible, in 
 fact, contains the words of Satan, of bad men, of 
 good men, and of angels, as well as those of God. 
 Again, it is very obvious that a very great deal in 
 the Bible was known by the authors through the 
 various ways in which knowledge is gained. His- 
 tory, observation and experience, for 'example; 
 were brought into requisition. Whatever they 
 could know through ordinary intelligence, they 
 were divinely guided to appropriate. Everything 
 beyond this point was directly revealed. Such 
 revelation was made through dreams, visions, and 
 audible words, Urim and Thummim, external 
 signs, and sometimes by inward suggestion. 
 
 I wish yOu to bear in mind, however, that every 
 portion of the sacred Scriptures is inspired. I do 
 not believe that those who spoke and wrote were 
 machines, or passive agents in the hand of the 
 Spirit — that the Spirit broke down, so to speak, the 
 fixed laws of thought and of language — but that He 
 honored and spoke according to them. I believe 
 that those who spoke and wrote did so in full 
 possession of their individual peculiarities. In ex- 
 pressing the "doctrines of God," they used their 
 
THE DIVINE REVELATION. 1 65 
 
 own words and idioms. In writing ' c the form of 
 sound words," they were indeed kept from error in 
 essentials: history, doctrine, precepts, laws, etc., 
 but not in non-essentials: grammar, rhetoric, style, 
 etc. The former is the divine side of the Bible, 
 pre-eminently; the latter the human side, pre- 
 eminently. In the light of this view, accordingly, 
 we can easily reconcile the little discrepancies 
 which are found in the sacred pages. 
 
 In the sixty-six books of the Bible, written by 
 about forty different men during a period of some 
 fifteen hundred years, we hear the Voice of God to 
 the human race; there is not a faculty of the mind, 
 an aspiration of the soul, a feeling of the heart in 
 the realm of the spiritual, that is not met and 
 satisfied by this Book. It does not only bring 
 knowledge, but it is also a blessed means of grace; 
 for it is the Holy Spirit's vehicle in bringing "life 
 and immortality to light" in our souls. 
 
 This Divine Revelation is oee of the three 
 means of grace in the Church, and is profitable 
 for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
 tion in righteousness, that the man of God may 
 be perfected, thoroughly furnished Unto all good 
 works. 
 
 May this Word have free course, run and be 
 glorified. Amen. 
 
1 66 RAYS OF r,IGHT. 
 
 " A glory gilds the sacred page, 
 Majestic like the sua; 
 It gives a light to every age, 
 It gives — but borrows none. 
 
 "The hand that gave it still supplies 
 The gracious light and heat ; 
 His truths upon the nations rise, 
 They rise, but never set. 
 
 "Let everlasting thanks be Thine, 
 For such a bright display, 
 As makes a world of darkness shine 
 With beams of heavenly day. 
 
 "My soul rejoices to pursue 
 The steps of Him I love, 
 Till glory breaks upon my view 
 In brighter worlds above." 
 
LECTURE VIII, 
 
 Sacrament of Baptism. 
 
 John iii. 5. 
 
John iii. 5. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be 
 born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of God. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 ORIGIN. 
 
 Holy Baptism is one of the two Sacraments, and 
 one of the three means of grace in the Church. 
 
 Christian Baptism strikes its roots into ancient 
 laws and customs. It is a well-known fact that 
 long before the advent of our Lord, this rite was 
 practiced by many or all the heathen nations. 
 With them it had no other signification than the 
 mere washing away and cleansing of external im- 
 purities. The Israelites, also, in obedience to a 
 law on the subject, practiced this ceremony, prima- 
 rily for the same purpose as that of the Gentiles, 
 but also as a symbol of purification from sin, and 
 an initiation into the worship of God. If we may 
 credit the Talmud, we are led to believe that the 
 Hebrews baptized all the proselytes, circumcised 
 and uncircumcised alike. Some writers think that 
 this rite of the Israelites had its origin in the act 
 of Jacob, as recorded in Gen. xxxv. 2. About 
 this, however, we need not to be concerned, for the 
 only point to be scored here is, that baptism, after 
 
 12 ( l6 9) 
 
170 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 some fashion, was observed by the nations in an- 
 cient times. This fact, it is very obvious, supplies 
 the ground for Christian Baptism. It is a signifi- 
 cant truth that all Israel looked for the rite of bap- 
 tism to be established when the Messiah should 
 come. It was well known that on His appearing 
 many changes would be effected; that matters in 
 general would be revolutionized; and, in view of 
 this belief, they seemed to expect this Sacrament 
 to be practiced. 
 
 Now when John the Baptist comes on the scene, 
 preaching baptism and repentance, all the people 
 flock to hear him and to be baptized. Even the 
 proud and self-righteous present themselves, so that 
 John is forced to say: "Generation of vipers, who 
 hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come." 
 From the Baptises mission and work the con- 
 clusion is inevitable that if baptism had been a 
 new thing — an innovation — it would have been 
 utterly rejected; but being practiced before, and 
 expected to accompany the new order of things, it 
 was cheerfully accepted. 
 
 In this view of things, we perceive that Holy 
 Baptism, as instituted by the command of Christ, 
 is an old ceremony on its external and material 
 side, but a new Sacrament on its spiritual side, in 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 171 
 
 meaning, scope and effect. In this, as everywhere 
 else, we observe how the new dispensation was 
 rooted and grounded in the old. 
 
 In answer to the question, What is the difference 
 between John's baptism and that of Christ? I 
 may venture to say, None. This answer is justified 
 by the fact that John exhorted all who applied for 
 baptism to repent of their sins, and believe on the 
 expected Messiah. When Christ came forward to 
 claim that title, John made haste to direct all who 
 w 7 ere, or w 7 ere about to be, baptized, to Christ, and 
 thereby completed his mission as forerunner; and 
 therein did their baptism find its real significance 
 and effect. 
 
 Another justification lies in the fact that the 
 early Christian Church regarded the two baptisms 
 as the same. All the disciples of John who pro- 
 fessed faith in Christ as the Messiah, were not 
 baptized the second time. The baptism of John 
 sufficed. Those only who did not at first thus ac- 
 knowledge Christ, but received the baptism of John 
 in an entirely different sense, were afterwards rebap- 
 tized with the baptism of Christ. History teaches 
 that many false disciples of John continued to bap- 
 tize into the coming Messiah, rejecting Christ as the 
 Messiah ; so that afterward when any such accepted 
 Christ, they were properly rebaptized. 
 
172 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 In the light of these historic facts, the only in- 
 telligent conclusion is, that the two rites were 
 practically identical. 
 
 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 Proceeding now to consider Christian Baptism, 
 I desire to somewhat rapidly sketch some of its 
 distinctive features. 
 
 ffirst comes the command by Christ that it shall 
 be a universal Sacrament. 
 
 The disciples were commanded to go forth every- 
 where to make disciples and to baptize. "Go ye 
 and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them 
 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of 
 the Holy Ghost." "Preach the gospel to every 
 creature," "He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved." This great commission couples 
 salvation and baptism. The context shows, it is 
 true, that such connection is not absolute, but elec- 
 tive. In any case where this Sacrament cannot 
 possibly be administered, we may well believe 
 that God can save without it; but in all ordinary 
 circumstances the command and the observance 
 is absolute. The Church marches forward to the 
 conquest of all nations with the Bible, the Holy 
 Baptism and the Holy Supper in her right hand. 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 1 73 
 
 These are all the weapons she carries, but with 
 these she is certain of complete triumph. 
 
 Baptism must be adiyiinistered iu the name of the 
 Holy Trinity. 
 
 This is at once a confession of the triune God, 
 Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and of the fact that 
 the three Persons in the Godhead are equally in- 
 terested and engaged in our salvation. "God so 
 loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
 Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life." "If any man sin, 
 we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus 
 Christ the righteous, who hath made propitiation 
 for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the 
 whole world." "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
 except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, 
 he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Many 
 other texts bring out the same truth. 
 
 The persons authorized to administer this Sacra- 
 ment are the ordained ministers of the Church. 
 
 By virtue of their office in the kingdom of Christ, 
 it is incumbent on them to act for the 'King in 
 placing His seal upon all those who are becoming 
 His subjects. There are tfiose who maintain that 
 in extraordinary circumstances a layman or a 
 parent may properly administer this means of 
 
174 RA ^S OF LIGHT. 
 
 grace. This I consider as doubtful. While it 
 must be emphasized that Baptism in the hand of 
 the minister is not used like a wand in the mam- 
 cian's hand to effect a magic phenomenon, neverthe- 
 less, our IyOrd ordains that His ambassadors shall be 
 the ministers of this mystery, and that ends all 
 controversy. 
 
 The substance of Baptism is both material and 
 divine. 
 
 The material element is water, the divine, 
 Christ's word and promise. "Baptism is not mere 
 water, but it is that water which is connected with 
 God's word, which says: 'Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature: he that 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that 
 believeth not shall be damned.' " If baptism is not 
 mere water, neither is it mere word and promise. 
 Just as the water must be connected with God's 
 word, so also must the word be connected with the 
 water. In other words, there is here a mutual con- 
 nection and union. The reason why this matter 
 must be emphasized is this: there are those who 
 think so lightly and superficially on this subject 
 that they are not backward to declare that instead 
 of water, another element may be used, or even no 
 material element at all — that the bare baptismal for- 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 1 75 
 
 mula is sufficient. I do not believe this. I have all 
 confidence in the power of God's word to effect a 
 new life in the soul, but I insist that the repetition 
 of the formula of baptism, without water, is not 
 baptism. Our Lord united the two — water and the 
 word — and "what God hath joined together, let not 
 man put asunder." We may not know all the rea- 
 sons why the material side of the sacrament is 
 water, but some of the reasons seem to be obvious. 
 In the first place, man is so constituted that he 
 loves to deal with the concrete and tangible. 
 Truth presented in the abstract can, of course, be 
 understood and accepted; but if that truth can also 
 be shown in the concrete, it makes a more vivid, 
 and, frequently, a more intelligent impression upon 
 the persons for whom it is intended. It is a well- 
 established fact that things that are seen and heard 
 and felt, etc., are never forgot, while those that are 
 abstractly conceived are soon in oblivion. This is 
 especially true of the young and unlearned. 
 
 In the light of the above, there is a striking and 
 beautiful propriety in Holy Baptism. It is a poem 
 in water. It is an object lesson. The abstract 
 truths of Regeneration and Sanctification are pre- 
 sented to man in material forms. Just as water 
 applied to the body cleanses and purifies it, so does 
 
176 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the Holy Spirit regenerate and sanctify the soul. 
 As no other element is used for common washings 
 and lustrations, so may there be no other element 
 substituted for water in baptism. Furthermore, 
 lust as certainly as the material element is present 
 in the sacrament, so certainly is the divine element 
 present, the Holy Ghost. It is right here that 
 endless comfort is afforded to those who receive 
 this sacrament, as well as to parents and sponsors 
 who hereby dedicate their children and wards to 
 God. They have the unceasing assurance that by 
 virtue of their baptism the Spirit is vouchsafed to 
 them, who will, if unresisted, perfect God's work 
 within them. 
 
 But while baptism gives assurance of the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost, to cleanse and purify the soul, it 
 is also a perpetual reminder of the duty of the per- 
 son baptized. Luther's catechism fitly teaches: 
 "Water baptism signifies that the old man should 
 be drowned and destroyed by daily sorrow and 
 repentance, and that a new man should daily arise 
 that shall dwell in the presence of God." This 
 symbolical teaching of baptism doubtless finds its 
 meaning chiefly in immersion, but it does show 
 forth very strikingly what the subject of baptism 
 must do. 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 1 77 
 
 From this last paragraph it must by no means 
 be understood that I lay the main stress on the 
 symbolical signification of the subject under con- 
 sideration. This is precisely what all anabaptists 
 do, but I am not their mouth-piece. / believe and 
 declare that it must be regarded as a means of 
 grace, first, last and all the time. In it the tri- 
 une God conveys grace to the heart, and also 
 causes it "to stand as a perpetual sign and seal of 
 that grace. 
 
 Touching the mode, two may be mentioned, affu- 
 sion and immersion. Either and both, of these 
 modes are perfectly valid. The efficacy of this 
 sacrament does not at all depend on the mode 01 
 administration, but on the substance. The latter 
 belongs to the essential, the former to the adia- 
 phora. Those who practice affusion, proceed on 
 the ground of expedience in administration ana 
 means of grace as to substance ; while those who 
 immerse, proceed on the ground of essentiality of 
 mode in administration, and symbolism as to sub- 
 stance. The former is a striking evidence of the 
 magnification of the substance and end of baptism, 
 while the latter is just as striking for magnifying 
 the mere ceremony or human adjunct. But while 
 men may pin their faith to mode, God, thanks be 
 
170 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 to His name, is willing to fulfill the engagement 
 into which He enters thereby. 
 
 SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 
 
 The subjects of baptism are adults and children. 
 
 No one disputes the first mentioned class. Ro- 
 manists and Protestants, anabaptists and pedo- 
 baptists, alike agree at this point. 
 
 Relative to the second class, there is disagree- 
 ment now and for a long time past. Why there 
 should be it is very hard to understand; but it must 
 be owing, not to lack of conscientiousness, but to 
 stubborn prejudice born of partisan training, and 
 in some instances, of mental obtuseness. That in- 
 fants are proper subjects for this sacrament is so 
 obvious that it ought to commend itself to every 
 Christian. 
 
 Allow me to mention some of the arguments 
 upon which the foregoing assertion is based. 
 
 First. Children belonged to the Old Testament 
 dispensation. 
 
 At Gen. xvii. 9-14, we have the following posi- 
 tive command: "And God said unto Abraham, 
 thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and 
 thy seed after thee in their generations. This is 
 my covenant which ye shall keep between me and 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 1 79 
 
 thee and thy seed after thee: Every man child 
 among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall 
 circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall 
 be a token of the covenant betwixt me and 
 you." This command stipulates and recognizes 
 their relation to the Church. Hereby they are 
 brought into covenant relation with God, by which 
 covenant God conferred on the children equal 
 blessings with the adults. That the rite of cir- 
 cumcision was observed throughout the entire Old 
 Testament Church to the time of Christ is, of 
 course, admitted by all. Christ Himself, being 
 born under the law, was circumcised on the eighth 
 day, being called Jesus. 
 
 Now it cannot be said that this was all true 
 touching the old dispensation, but that under the 
 Gospel dispensation matters have taken another 
 turn, for the reason that a new element or con- 
 dition has been introduced into it, viz., faith. 
 This is simply not true, for although the old dis- 
 pensation was primarily of law — to lead them to 
 Christ — nevertheless salvation was not by the ful- 
 filling of the law, but by faith in the promised 
 Messiah. Every foreshadowing and promise of 
 this Saviour was the Gospel from which it is clear 
 that it had its beginning, not with the advent of 
 
l8o RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Christ, but literally with the very first announce- 
 ment and promise of His advent, immediately after 
 the Fall. Every succeeding covenant which God 
 made with man was therefore a proclamation of the 
 Gospel. Now this fact is most strikingly proved 
 by words from the mouth of the Apostle Paul 
 (Gal. iii. 6, vii. 8), where he declares that God's 
 covenant with Abraham, the very one embracing 
 the circumcision of all the male children, was the 
 Gospel, and therefore involved the element of faith. 
 Hear him: u Bven as Abraham believed God, and 
 it was accounted unto him for righteousness. 
 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, 
 the same are the children of Abraham. And the 
 Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the 
 heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel 
 to Abraham, saying, In thee shallall the nations 
 of the earth be blessed." When Christ came, in 
 view of whom the covenant with Abraham was 
 made and which constituted the Gospel to Abra- 
 ham, did He fulfill or abrogate the covenant? This 
 question can surely have but one answer, and that 
 is, that He fulfilled it. Otherwise He came to 
 abrogate the Gospel, and that would mean that He 
 destroyed what it was the purpose of God He should 
 confirm and establish. It means, therefore, that 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. l8l 
 
 we are to-day without the Gospel. All this is 
 fallacious on its very face. But if He came to 
 fulfill the Old Covenant or Gospel, then He neces- 
 sarily and absolutely continued the same parties to 
 that Covenant, God on the one side, and all the 
 nations of the earth, adults and children, on the 
 other. For remember, the promise was to Abraham 
 and his seed, and to all who became the spiritual 
 children of Abraham. 
 
 It is self-evident that if God desires to change the 
 rite and ceremony of admission into this covenant 
 at any time, He is at liberty to do so, for this does 
 not affect the covenant itself. At a certain period 
 of the world's history, God's wisdom may see that 
 this initiatory rite may be so changed that it will 
 teach, symbolically, new ideas and conceptions. 
 Christian baptism is thus made to take the place, 
 as a rite of initiation and means of grace, of cir- 
 cumcision in the old dispensation. 
 
 In concluding this part of the subject I cannot 
 do better than to quote the words of Dr. N. L,. 
 Rice: u Since the children of believers were put 
 into the Church by the positive law of God, they 
 can be put out only by the positive law of God. In- 
 ference will not answer the purpose. You cannot 
 infer men out of their political rights. Men do not 
 
1 82 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 reason so infallibly that we may safely trust our 
 rights and privileges to their deductions and infer- 
 ences. I enjoy the rights of a citizen of these 
 United States by the plain letter of the constitu- 
 tion. If you wish to deprive me of these rights, 
 you must prove that the constitution has been so 
 altered as to exclude me. You must, to deprive 
 me of any political rights, find law as positive, and 
 of as high authority, as that which originally con- 
 ferred them. This principle holds equally good 
 in ecclesiastical matters. If I prove that God put 
 certain persons into his Church, you cannot exclude 
 them unless you can point to the law authorizing 
 you to do so. God did put the children of believ- » 
 ers into His Church by clear and positive command, 
 and you cannot exclude them except by law equally 
 clear and positive. The law of command includ- 
 ing children in His Church is plain and undeni- 
 able, but I challenge any one to show a law or com- 
 mand excluding them, coming either from Christ 
 or the Apostles. All this shows most conclusively 
 that infant Church membership spreads its roots 
 into the love and tender mercy of God to children, 
 as anciently displayed; and since God is unchange- 
 able, He cannot turn against our children in these 
 modern days!" 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 183 
 
 Secojid. Children have a right to baptism by the 
 invitation of Christ. 
 
 Certain mothers brought their children to Christ 
 that He should put His hands on them and bless 
 them. The disciples rebuked these mothers, but 
 Christ was much displeased, and said: " Let little 
 children come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
 such is the kingdom of God." Now notice three 
 things. First, the phrase "kingdom of God" is 
 admitted on all sides to mean God's kingdom and 
 reign on earth — the Church. " For of such is the 
 kingdom of God," hence, is equivalent to saying, 
 for of such is the Church. This is understood as 
 meaning, these children have fitness for a place in 
 the Church, and, therefore, do not push them away 
 from Me; let them come, I will bless them. Sec- 
 ondly, baptism is the divinely authorized right of 
 initiation into the Church. "Verily, verily, I say 
 unto thee, except a man be born of water and of 
 the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." 
 Placing side by side the fact that baptism is the 
 door to the Church and the Saviour's declaration 
 that "of such is the kingdom of God," there can 
 simply be no mistaking the will of the Master rel- 
 ative to the relation of children- to the Church and 
 to baptism. 
 
184 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Third, Children are included in the many family 
 baptisms recorded in the New Testament. 
 
 I mention the case of " Cornelius's house," Acts 
 x. In the 16th chapter of Acts, there is mention 
 made of * ' I^ydia and her household. ' ' In this same 
 chapter, the baptism of the ( ' Philippian jailer and 
 his house" is recorded. The baptism of "Crispus 
 and his house" is narrated in Acts xviii. In 1 
 Cor. i. 16 Paul writes that he ''baptized the house- 
 hold of Stephanas." 
 
 Surely, if the terms "house" and "household" 
 mean anything, they mean the families of the per- 
 sons indicated in the record. I do not think that 
 this has ever been denied. This signifies the in- 
 clusion of children. But opposers of infant bap- 
 tism object by declaring that all the members of 
 these families were adults. The drowning man 
 grasps at a straw, and just as senseless and desper- 
 ate are many people in their interpretation of the 
 Scriptures — especially if they have a lame theory 
 to defend. If the sacred record made mention of 
 but a single household baptism, there would be 
 room for the position that all the members thereof 
 were adults; but since a number of families are 
 named, that attitude becomes untenable. To say 
 the very least, it would be marvelous if none of 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 1 85 
 
 these households embraced youths and children, 
 seeing that such is always the case in the common 
 course of family life where there are a number of 
 members. It is not without point to remark that 
 it is by no means likely that we have a record of 
 more than a small fraction of the household bap- 
 tisms performed by the disciples. Probably there 
 were hundreds of such; but because it w T ould not 
 be for our spiritual edification to have them nar- 
 rated, they were passed over. Now this consider- 
 ation confirms the pedo-baptist position, render- 
 ing it simply impregnable. I say it frankly, and 
 after due thought, that it would be just as easy for 
 me to oppose the Sacrament of Christian baptism, 
 as founded in the Scriptures, as to oppose infant 
 baptism, seeing that it is equally Scriptural. 
 
 Fourth. The voice of history pleads emphatically 
 for infant baptism. 
 
 Every student of history will, of course, not deny 
 that this has been the practice for at least fifteen 
 centuries. Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, during 
 the Reformation days, all practiced it. So have 
 the great majority of all the Protestant denomina- 
 tions: the Lutheran, the Mother Church of all 
 Protestant daughters, w T ith her forty-five millions 
 of members; the Church of England, the Presby- 
 
 13 c 
 
1 86 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 terian, the Methodist, with each their millions; to- 
 gether with all the other branches of the Church 
 of Christ, with their additional millions. The 
 Baptist species alone, embracing not more than 
 an insignificant fraction of Christendom, raises a 
 dissenting voice — one defective note in the glorious 
 diapason. 
 
 For a thousand years before the Reformation, 
 infant baptism was almost the universal practice. 
 But the cry goes up, "Yes, that is true, but then 
 the Church was corrupt — she had departed from 
 the ' good old ways' of the Church Fathers — things 
 were different then." Let us see. 
 
 The greatest defender of the faith at the close of 
 the fourth century was Augustine. His acute and 
 learned opponent was Pelagius. The latter was 
 born about the middle of the fourth century, and 
 besides ample natural endowment of mind, he was 
 well informed, the result, very largely, of travels 
 and observations. Pelagius traversed through all 
 the various countries of Christendom. Now, the 
 heresies which he put forth so vigorously but hon- 
 estly, biased him against the doctrine of infant 
 baptism, not in heart, perhaps, but in mind; for it 
 stood stoutly in the way of some of his theological 
 opinions. In view of this fact his testimony is 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 187. 
 
 doubly strong. What is that testimony? This, 
 viz., "I have never heard of even any impious 
 heretics who claim that infants should not be bap- 
 tized." Again, "Who can be so impious as to 
 deny baptism to infants?" Let this witness, 
 among the many who might be adduced, suffice 
 for this period. The great and pious Church 
 father, Cyprian, born about the year two hundred, 
 and bishop of the city of Carthage, in answer to 
 Fidns as to whether children ought to be baptized 
 before they were eight days old, declares as follows, 
 as the mouthpiece of a council that was held at 
 Carthage to deliberate upon this very subject: 
 " Cyprian, and the rest of the bishops who were 
 present in the Council, sixty-six in number, to 
 Fidus our brother. As to the case of infants: 
 'Whereas you believe they ought not to be baptized 
 inside of two or three days after they are born, and 
 that the rule of circumcision is to be observed, 
 that no one should be baptized before the eighth 
 day after his birth; we are all of us of a different 
 opinion. As to your opinion, no one was of your 
 mind, but we all hold that the mercy and grace of 
 God — through baptism — should not be withheld 
 from any one that is born. This, therefore, dear 
 brother, was our conclusion in the Council, that 
 
188 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 we ought not to hinder any person from baptism 
 and the grace of God, whose mercy and kindness 
 is extended to all of us." This deliverance was 
 made about one hundred and fifty years after the 
 death of Saint John, and has, hence, singular signi- 
 ficance. About eighty-five years after the death of 
 the Apostle above mentioned, Origen saw the light 
 of day. This man was a prince among human 
 kind in his day. It is said that if the New Testa- 
 ment should be lost, it could be reproduced from 
 the writings of this Father, so extensive and 
 thorough are his quotations from the Scriptures. 
 Let Origen speak on the subject in hand: "Ac- 
 cording to the usage of the Church, baptism is 
 given even to infants, when if there were nothing 
 in infants that need forgiveness and mercy, the 
 grace of baptism would not seem to be necessary." 
 Again, "infants are baptized for the remission of 
 sins." Again, "for this cause it was that the 
 Church received an order from the apostles to give 
 baptism to infants." 
 
 Only one more witness, and the case will rest. 
 Justin Martyr was born in the last quarter of the 
 first century. If he did not himself see the apostle 
 John, he was at least a disciple of those who were 
 disciples of John. What does he say? Of those 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 189 
 
 who were members of the Christian Church he 
 writes: "A part of them were sixty or seventy 
 years old, who were made disciples of Christ from 
 their infancy. Baptism, without controversy, is 
 now and always has been the initiatory rite into 
 discipleship." The only rational inference, accord- 
 ingly, is that Justin Martyr has reference here to 
 Christian baptism. This, indeed, is the only sense 
 in which the words "disciple" and "infancy" 
 square: any other meaning causes a contradic- 
 tion in terms. 
 
 I have only now to say that under the tutorship 
 of the Church and apostolic Fathers above named, 
 one must be strikingly obtuse and stubborn to re- 
 ject the unanimous verdict in favor of infant bap- 
 tism. The chorus is full-voiced and all the parts 
 harmonize on this subject. Who will resist the in- 
 evitable? Verily, infant baptism has come down 
 to tcs with the sign and seal of history and of the 
 Scriptures upon it, and so it may zvell be, as it is, 
 the door to the Church for old and young alike. 
 
 Leaving the topic of "subjects of baptism," I 
 proceed to take up the last in this lecture, to wit, 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF BAPTISM. 
 
 I shall limit myself to a very few words. Christ 
 
190 RAYS OF UGHT. 
 
 said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of 
 water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of God." Paul declares: "Baptism is 
 the laver of regeneration and the renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost" 
 
 Since baptism is the only door to the Church, it 
 is very obvious that this Sacrament confers an un~ 
 speakable benefit in admitting the subject to her 
 blessings and her privileges. Ordinarily, there is 
 no salvation apart from her sacred precincts, within 
 which are all the saving means of grace. To ob- 
 tain access, therefore, to these means, by which 
 man comes into fellowship with saints and with 
 God, is a blessing as great as heaven. But this is 
 only one benefit. Before sinful man comes into 
 such intimate relationship with his God and 
 Father, there must be at least the beginning of a 
 new life. "Ye must be born again." " Born of 
 the Spirit." "That which is born of the flesh is 
 flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is 
 spirit." 
 
 The new birth takes place through the medium of 
 either of two means, the Holy Scriptures or Bap- 
 tism. 
 
 The first is the authorized means for adults; the 
 latter for infants. Both means are the vehicle of 
 
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 191 
 
 the Holy Ghost, and it is the Holy Ghost who cre- 
 ates anew. In the case of adults, intelligence and 
 voluntary choice are implied, and hence the Scrip- 
 tures, offering life or death, are the appropriate in- 
 strument of the Spirit. With them regeneration 
 is demanded before baptism is permitted. To them, 
 whatever else it may be, baptism is a sign and 
 seal of what has already taken place through the 
 Word, besides formally introducing them to the 
 higher mysteries of godliness. 
 
 In the case of infants, knowledge and choice are 
 not existent; but, needing a new heart as well as 
 adults, holy baptism has been instituted as the 
 means for doing what the written Scriptures do in 
 the case of adults. Personally, I do not believe 
 that regeneration is identical in infants and adults. 
 The former have nothing but natural depravity; 
 or, as I prefer, spiritual death. The latter are also 
 guilty of actual sin, or spiritual death intensified 
 by personal act. The former have inherited their 
 condition, and which is nothing but simple death. 
 The latter are guilty of voluntarily developing this 
 simple death into deeper death, and therefore to 
 this aggravated death, which is totally subjective, 
 there is superadded sin against God. In my view 
 there is well-nigh and infinite distance between the 
 
192 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 simple spiritual death of the babe and the aggra- 
 vated condition of the willing sinner. Accordingly, 
 the Spirit's mission in the case of the babe is noth- 
 ing more than to bring spiritual life — which I shall 
 explain further at another place — and that without 
 the babe's knowledge and consent, inasmuch as 
 knowledge and consent were not involved in its 
 death. This God bestows upon the infant purely 
 for Christ's sake. The adult having literally 
 sinned, and under the light of knowledge and by 
 personal choice, the Spirit's mission is to regener- 
 ate him with his knowledge and consent. 
 
 In this view of things the long drawn-out discus- 
 sion concerning the necessity of faith for a valid 
 and efficacious reception of baptism is all at the 
 end of the word — palaver. Such discussion does 
 not recognize a distinction between things that 
 differ; it indicates a signal confusion of ideas. 
 
 More of this under the subject of "Regenera- 
 tion." 
 
 From all that has been said in this lecture rela- 
 tive to the Sacrament of Baptism, the inevitable 
 conclusion forces itself upon us that it is a most 
 divine and heavenly institution, and that the only 
 alternative open to man is to use and appropriate 
 it, to his endless weal and comfort. 
 
LECTURE IX, 
 
 The Sacrament of the Altar. 
 
 i Cor. x. 16. 
 
i Cor. x. 16. The bread which we break, is it not the com- 
 munion of the body of Christ ? The cup of blessing which we 
 bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 The second Sacrament, and the third means of 
 grace is variously called the Lord's Supper, the 
 Eucharist, the Holy Communion, and, by the Re- 
 formers, the Sacrament of the Altar. Discussion 
 has been rife over the true intent and meaning of 
 the words of the institution, all Protestants agree- 
 ing as against Romanists, but disagreeing among 
 themselves. 
 
 In this Sacrament, as in that of Baptism, there 
 are two parts — the material and the divine. The 
 material is bread and wine; the divine, the body 
 and blood of Christ. These two parts are recip- 
 rocally united to each other in the sacrament; 
 neither is present without the other in every prop- 
 erly consecrated and administered communion. 
 This is a great mystery, but it is according to the 
 will of God as taught in Holy Writ. 
 
 As Baptism takes the place of Circumcision, so, 
 also, does the Holy Supper take the place of the 
 Passover. As the Sacrificial lamb was eaten by 
 
 (195) 
 
196 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 those in the Old Testament Dispensation at the 
 Passover Feast, so do those in the New Dispensa- 
 tion at the Communion Feast partake of the body 
 and blood of Christ, the Lamb of God. Thus 
 Baptism and the Lord's Supper alike have their 
 roots and foundations in the old economy. After 
 these preliminary remarks, I call your attention to 
 the Scriptural meaning and purport of the words 
 of the institution. 
 
 MEANING AND PURPORT. 
 
 Like every other matter, this blessed means of 
 grace was covered over by a heap of Romish error 
 at and before the Reformation era. I will not stop 
 to rehearse all the errors and corruptions, but suf- 
 fice it to say that the one that claims our attention 
 in this connection is that of Transubstantiation. 
 Rome taught that at the time of the consecration 
 of the elements — bread and wine — the bread is 
 transmuted into the body of Christ, and the wine 
 into the blood of Christ. These material elements 
 are no longer such in essence, but only in form. 
 Eating and drinking, therefore, at the Sacramental 
 Table, meant nothing short of the oral mastication 
 and deglutition of the body and blood of Christ. 
 
 The Reformers unite in declaring this theory a 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 197 
 
 manifest error, unauthorized by Scripture, and un- 
 supported by the senses and by reason. Of course, 
 the question is not whether such a thing were pos- 
 sible with God, but whether the words of the insti- 
 tution justify the theory, as also sound reason and 
 the senses. 
 
 The answer is, they do not. The words of the 
 institution plainly declare the bread and wine to be 
 still bread and wine after the consecration. listen: 
 "As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye 
 do show the Lord's death till He come." In this 
 there is not one jot or tittle to even intimate that a 
 change is effected in the elements. On the other 
 hand, these words clearly teach the unchanged and 
 natural constitution of them. 
 
 To the above may be added the testimony of the 
 senses, which, it is true, are not always to be de- 
 pended on, especially in their testimony touching 
 spiritual things; nevertheless, as circumstantial 
 witnesses, they ought to be admitted into court. 
 There are four of these testifying concerning the 
 subject in hand. They are sight, smell, taste and 
 touch. These are unanimous in affirming that 
 the bread and wine in the Supper retain their nat- 
 ural and original phenomena; and upon such data, 
 the reason decides that the substance or essence 
 
I98 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 producing the phenomena must be natural and 
 original — that is, that the material elements are 
 literally bread and wine. Place this testimony by 
 the side of the Word, and the conclusion is irrever- 
 sible that no transubstantiation has occurred, and 
 that the whole thing is a fabrication. 
 
 Another error is covered by the terms "Con- 
 substantiation, " u Impanation, " u Subpanation. ' ' 
 These words are meant to express the notion that 
 the body and blood of Christ are somehow locally 
 included in the bread and wine, and partaken by 
 the communicants. Protestants have charged each 
 other with holding this view; especially has the 
 Lutheran Church been thus charged. The Luth- 
 eran Church, however, boldly and persistently re- 
 pels this stigma upon her fair name, and rightfully 
 challenges the whole theological world to prove a 
 single instance where any of her leaders have ever 
 taught such doctrines. She does hold to the real 
 presence of the Lord in the Supper, but not by 
 local inclusion. She repudiates every term which 
 is designed to convey such an idea. 
 
 Another misinterpretation of the words of the 
 institution by Christ, is the doctrine of the merely 
 symbolical import of the Communion. This view 
 is sometimes called the Emblematic. 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 199 
 
 This doctrine entirely discards the presence of 
 the body and blood of Christ, and hence holds that 
 the visible elements are nothing but emblems or 
 symbols of the absent Christ. That as a rite it is 
 only commemorative, and not a distinctive means 
 of grace. Christ is received in the Supper, but 
 only as He is received by the hearing and believ- 
 ing of the Word under ordinary circumstances. 
 This view is based on the position that the verb 
 "is" in the institution means to "signify," "re- 
 presents" or "symbolizes" the "body" and 
 "blood" there distributed and received — and 
 herein lies the fallacy. 
 
 Again, the view is held by a large body of 
 Christians that the Eucharist is truly much more 
 than a commemorative ceremony; that it is a 
 precious Sacrament and means of grace; that 
 the glorified body and blood of Christ are enjoyed 
 by the participant. This body and blood being 
 locally present in heaven, cannot be also in the 
 Sacrament at the same time. Therefore the only 
 mode of reception of Christ, and feeding upon 
 Him, is by faith. The body and blood of Christ 
 are not presented and received in, with or under 
 the bread and wine, but these physical elements 
 merely excite faith in the Saviour, by which He is 
 
200 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 appropriated, and incorporated into the communi- 
 cant's life. 
 
 Now concerning the last two views, which are 
 in many respects much more acceptable to most 
 minds than the preceding ones, the question may 
 well be asked, What particular benefit does the 
 Ivord's Supper confer that the Christian does not 
 already enjoy, apart from it? Or, what distinctive 
 significance does this Sacrament have ? 
 
 By permission of the author, Dr. J. G. Morris, I 
 avail myself of a lengthy extract from a very 
 learned and exhaustive article on this subject, in 
 the Lutheran Quarterly for April, 1883. 
 
 He writes: 
 
 "Nor do we believe that the presence of Christ 
 consists in a mere figurative representation, that 
 is, that the bread only represents or signifies His 
 body and that the wine only represents or signifies 
 his blood. 
 
 "This view is opposed to the language of the 
 institutiou. It does not say, Take, eat, this repre- 
 sents my body or is a sign of it (and so of the 
 wine), but it speaks of an actual, real and true 
 existence: 'This is my body;' 'this is my blood;' 
 that which only represents or signifies a thing, is 
 not the thing itself. Here Christ is speaking of 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 201 
 
 His body that was given for us, and of His blood 
 that was shed for us, so that His language cannot 
 be understood of a mere sign or of a figurative 
 body and blood. 
 
 "This view is also contrary to the nature and 
 character of the New Testament. True, in the 
 Old Testament, the sacraments and sacrifices were 
 "shadows and images" (signs) of "good things to 
 come," Heb. x. i; Col. ii. 17, but in the New 
 Testament is the substance itself. Thus in the 
 Old Testament, the Paschal lamb represented, 
 signified, prefigured Christ, but in the New, 
 Christ is really the Paschal Lamb, that was slain 
 for our sins, 1 Cor. v. 7. If then, in the Holy 
 Supper, these were nothing more than mere ex- 
 ternal signs of a covenant, there would be no 
 difference between the Old and New Testaments, 
 which, however, the Scriptures so distinctly speci- 
 fied. There would also be no difference between 
 the Paschal lamb and the Holy Supper, whereas 
 our Lord instituted it only after partaking of the 
 Paschal lamb and thereby the latter was abolished 
 ("finished") as a Sacrament of the Old Testa- 
 ment. On the contrary, in the Holy Supper as a 
 Sacrament of the New Testament, necessarily 
 something more is exhibited than a mere sign, 
 14 
 
202 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 otherwise they would be the same thing, for we 
 could not understand for what purpose Christ 
 ordained and did not perpetuate that of the Paschal 
 lamb. Of the latter, it could properly be said, 
 This represents my body, but of the New Testa- 
 ment Sacrament it is said, This is my body. In- 
 deed, the signs of the Old Testament, as such, 
 would have been more expressive than those of the 
 New. The slaying of the lamb "in the evening," 
 the shedding of its blood, the preparation of it 
 whole without a bone being broken, and the eat- 
 ing of it, accompanied with certain ceremonies, 
 would have more impressively set forth the suffer- 
 ings and death of Christ, than the bread and wine 
 in the Holy Supper. 
 
 "If we interpret the words of Christ 'My body' 
 to mean symbol of My body, then it follows that not 
 His body, nor His blood, 'was given for us,' but 
 a symbol of His body and blood, and hence we have 
 a symbolical, and not a real atonement; in other 
 words, Christ's death is no improvement of, or ad- 
 vance beyond, the sacrament of the Paschal lamb. 
 
 " Zwingli and his followers maintain that the 
 word 'is' means represents, signifies, 'is a symbol 
 of,' but learned men tell us that no translations of 
 the Bible, ancient or modern, with any pretension 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 203 
 
 to scholarly character, so render the word. Xo 
 man whose authority is worth anything has ever 
 dared to insert into the text of his translation, this 
 is a symbol of his body. No impartial dictionary 
 of the Greek assigns such a meaning to the word, 
 except that of the rationalist, Schleusner, and that 
 of the Zwinglian, Parkhurst, and these evidently 
 had the design of promoting the false doctrine.* 
 No good dictionary of the English, Hebrew, or, we 
 may say, of any other language, gives such a mean- 
 ing corresponding to the English verb 'to be,' or 
 to the Greek equivalent verb. 
 
 "Some passages have been cited to prove that 
 'is 1 may mean 'is a symbol of,' for example, I am 
 the door; I am the vine, ye are the branches; I am 
 the bread of life. Thus Christ would say, 'I am the 
 symbol of a door; I am the symbol of a vine; I am 
 the symbol of bread,' which is absurd. 
 
 "In 1 Cor. x. 14, we have, 'That Rock was 
 Christ;' the meaning of which is, that the real, 
 
 * Since writing the above, a Friend learned in Greek has in- 
 formed me that the last edition of Liddell-Scott accords indeed 
 to este, the meaning "signify," "import," but in an entirely- 
 different sense from "being an emblem or S} T mbol of." The 
 distinction may be readily seen from the illustration given, 
 which, translated, is: "To say is to speak," i. e., signifies to 
 speak, but not as a symbol or emblem of speaking. 
 
204 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 spiritual rock that went with the people was the 
 manifested Jehovah, that is, the Second Person of 
 the Trinity, Christ himself, in His pre-existent 
 state. So, when it is said that Christ is the door, 
 the vine, the bread, the foundation, the corner- 
 stone, etc., the resolution of the expression into 
 what is absolutely literal, turns not upon the word 
 'is,' but on the word 'door,' 'vine,' or other noun, 
 as the case may be.* 
 
 "Webster, in his dictionary, gives the fifth mean- 
 ing to the word ' door ' — means of approach — and 
 he quotes as proof that meaning: "I am the door, 
 by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved;' that 
 is, the word 'am' does not mean represent, signify, 
 or is a symbol of, but that Christ is really and 
 truly, not symbolically, the door; in other words, 
 He is the real means of approach to God. The 
 same reasoning is to be applied to the interpreta- 
 tion of the other words which Christ uses in de- 
 scribing His character. 
 
 "The dream language employed in the Old 
 Testament, as the three branches (are) three days, 
 
 *"The substantive word 'is' connects the predicate with 
 the subject, and denotes that that which is offered in the Holy- 
 Supper is really and truly not only bread, but also the body of 
 ChnsL"—Sthmtd. 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 205 
 
 Gen. xl. 12, the seven good kine (are) seven 
 years, Gen. xli. 16, and others of similar import, 
 cannot be successfully quoted against us. 1. The 
 word are is not in the Hebrew text. 2. The 
 branches, kine and ears, are not real branches, 
 real kine, nor real ears, but the ideals of a dream. 
 It is not three branches, but the three branches of 
 the dream, that are three days. 3. Even if 'are' 
 here meant signify, it would have no bearing on 
 the Lord's Supper, which is not the interpretation 
 of a dream. 4. The seven empty ears shall be 
 seven years of famine, Gen. xli. 27. Does that 
 mean shall signify, as if they did not equally 
 signify then? or does it mean that the empty 
 ears, if we express what they really are to be, 
 'shall be seven years of famine.' 5. Would the 
 inference be justifiable from this dream, that, 
 Take, eat, these are seven ears prepared for your 
 food — means, that there were no ears, but only 
 symbols of ears? Pluck and strip, these are 
 branches covered with delicious fruit — does this 
 mean that there were no branches, no fruit, but 
 symbols of them?" Who would thus interpret 
 these words ? — and it cannot be avoided, if you 
 adopt the Zwinglian mode.* 
 
 *For a fuller discussion of this branch of the subject, see 
 " Rr - , " 1 " f 'h. Conserv. Reform., 61*. 
 
206 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 "Finally, the presence of the body and blood of 
 Christ in the Lord's Supper, does not consist in a 
 mere spiritual partaking of them as an act of faith. 
 
 "Now, we do not deny this spiritual partaking 
 of Christ in itself, but on the contrary, we hold 
 that no one can worthily partake of the Sacrament, 
 who does not at the same time partake of Christ 
 spiritually by faith. However, we must clearly 
 distinguish between the worthy use and the real 
 nature, or what we may call the substance, of this 
 ordinance. For when we consider its nature and 
 what is received by the communicant in it, we 
 cannot be satisfied with regarding it as a mere 
 spiritual reception, because our Lord gives us to 
 eat and drink that which he presents in the Sup- 
 per, so that in partaking of the bread and wine, we 
 might at the same time really eat and drink His 
 body and blood. He does not say, Take and be- 
 lieve, but, Hat and drink. The spiritual partaking 
 of Christ can only be effected by faith, and believ- 
 ers alone can thus enjoy Him, but this can be done 
 without the Sacrament. On the other hand, it is 
 said of the unworthy and unbelieving, that they 
 are guilty of the body and blood of Christ, because 
 they do not discern the Lord's body. (As we shall 
 have occasion to refer to this passage again, we 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 207 
 
 shall pass by the further explanation of it for the 
 present.) 
 
 "It necessarily follows from this, that the un- 
 worthy also partake of Christ's body and blood, 
 though to their condemnation. We cannot other- 
 wise conclude from Christ's words, that in them 
 He included something more than that which be- 
 lievers of all ages — yea, even those of the Old Tes- 
 tament — enjoyed; otherwise, there would have been 
 no necessity for a distinct institution. But we 
 know that all believers, both of the Old and New 
 Testaments, have at all times spiritually enjoyed or 
 partaken of Christ by faith, as Paul expressly de- 
 clares of the Israelites, 'that they drank of that 
 spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock 
 was Christ, and that they did all eat of the spiritual 
 meat and did all drink of the same spiritual drink,' 
 1 Cor. x. 34. If then there should be nothing 
 more than a spiritual partaking, believers of the 
 New Testament would be receiving nothing more 
 than those of the Old; indeed, they would receive 
 nothing more than they daily enjoy by faith, and 
 hence such an institution as the Lord's Supper 
 would be superfluous, if not fruitless, which would 
 not be consistent with the wisdom and goodness of 
 the divine Founder of this blessed ordinance. 
 
208 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 "As we have now seen wherein the presence of 
 the Lord in the Sacrament does not consist, it is 
 necessary to consider the other side, and show, 
 
 "Secondly, What our Church really does hold to 
 be true doctrine of Christ's presence in the Lord's 
 Supper. 
 
 "Our Church confesses and believes in the true, 
 essential presence of the body and blood of Christ, 
 so that to all who partake, with the bread and wine, 
 are at the same time imparted and communicated 
 the real, essential body of Christ, which was given 
 for us, and the blood of Christ which was shed for 
 us. 
 
 "The Augsburg Confession, in Art. X, thus ex- 
 presses it, 'Of the Lord's Supper, we teach that 
 the true body and blood of Christ are really present 
 under the form of bread and wine, and there dis- 
 tributed and received.' * 
 
 "This excludes all figurative and substantial 
 presence. We may indeed represent to our minds 
 absent objects as though present, but they are not 
 
 * The words "under the form" are not to be understood as 
 meaning that bread and wine do not continue in the Holy Sup- 
 per but only their " form; " this would be papal transubstanti- 
 ation; but by the form is meant, the visible parts or elements of 
 the Sacrament, which are unchanged. 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 200, 
 
 really present in their substance; and thus faith 
 can represent the body and blood of Christ as pres- 
 ent, but it cannot bring to pass a real presence. It 
 is imaginary and not real. But the body and blood 
 of Christ are present in the Holy Supper in such 
 way, that they are really imparted to us in the 
 bread and wine. 
 
 u Things may also be present by their effects and 
 operations, which are not always substantially pres- 
 ent at the places where their influence is exerted. 
 For instance, the sun has its influence upon the 
 earth and fills all space with light, which pene- 
 trates to the deepest mines; but according to its 
 substance it is not on the earth, but far away in the 
 heavens. The body and blood of Christ are in the 
 Sacrament not only in their effect and influence, 
 but in their substance. But such presence we 
 connect with those visible signs, which according 
 to the words of the institution, indicate that what 
 Christ gives us with the bread to eat is His body 
 and what he gives us with the cup to drink is His 
 blood; and it is not a figurative or spiritual body, 
 but really that body which was given for us and 
 really that blood which was shed for the forgive- 
 ness of sins. 
 
 " 'It is a presence of the whole person of Christ, 
 
2IO RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 of the divine, by its inherent omnipresence, and of 
 the human through the divine, a presence not 
 ideal or feigned, but most true; not fleshly, but 
 spiritual; not after the manner of this earth, but 
 of the unseen world; not natural, but super- 
 natural. ' — (Krautli). 
 
 "Now, if we are asked, how can these things 
 be? or to explain the manner and nature of the 
 presence, our only answer is, that it is divine and 
 incomprehensible. We do not see, feel or taste the 
 body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament, for we 
 do not parake of them in a carnal or Capernaitish 
 manner; but we distinguish them from all other 
 meat and drink, and they are communicated to us 
 in a manner invisible and unsearchable. Nor is it 
 necessary that we should know it or grasp it with 
 our weak understanding, for it is a mystery and an 
 article of faith, which we cannot comprehend, but 
 we are bound to receive it and believe it upon the 
 highest testimony.* Hence we believe in a true, 
 
 * Luther sa}rs, "They want to know how Christ's body is in 
 the bread, and if it cannot be explained to them, they deny its 
 presence; and yet these same men do not know how to open 
 their mouths, move their tongnes, or grasp a pen in their hands, 
 and many other smaller things. I will not say anythiug about 
 their not knowing how they see, hear, speak, or live. All these 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 211 
 
 substantial presence of the body and blood of Christ, 
 although we do not comprehend the mode, for that 
 is divine and beyond human conception. 
 
 "Gerhard, as quoted by Schmid (Hay's and 
 Jacobs' admirable translation, p. 577), says: 'This 
 presence is called Sacramental, because the celes- 
 tial object in this mystery is bestowed and pre- 
 sented to us through the medium of external sac- 
 ramental symbols; it is called true and real, to 
 exclude the figment of a figurative, imaginary and 
 representative presence; substantial, to exclude 
 the subterfuge of our opponents concerning the 
 merely efficacious presence of the body and blood 
 of Christ in this mystery; mystical, supernatural 
 and incomprehensible, because in this mystery 
 the body and blood of Christ are present, not in a 
 worldly manner, but ill a mystical, supernatural 
 and incomprehensible manner. Some of our theo- 
 logians have called it a corporeal presence, but 
 only with respect to the object and not at all to 
 the mode; they wish to say by this, that not only 
 the virtue and efficacy, but the substance itself of 
 the body and blood of Christ, is present in the 
 
 things we constantly feel and yet we do not know how they are 
 brought about, and yet they want to know how Christ's body is 
 in the bread, and will not let Christ be Master." 
 
212 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Holy Supper, for they oppose this word to spirit- 
 ual presence as it is defined by their opponents, 
 but by no means wish to say thereby that the body 
 of Christ is present in a corporeal and quantitative 
 manner. 
 
 c< But that others may see what has moved us to 
 adopt this faith, we must consider the grounds 
 upon which it is established. 
 
 "II. WHAT ARE THE PROOFS OF THE DOCTRINE? 
 
 "i. Our first ground for believing this doctrine 
 is based upon the plain, distinct assurance of our 
 Lord, 'Take, eat, this is my body,' etc. In these 
 words, He gives instructions to His disciples con- 
 cerning a new institution, of which they had as yet 
 heard nothing, and announces to them its nature 
 and design. For without such instruction it would 
 have appeared very strange to them that, after 
 partaking of the Paschal lamb and the ordinary 
 meal, He would offer them a small piece of bread 
 to eat and the cup from which to take a sip of 
 wine, as they had already enjoyed both to their 
 full satisfaction. Hence He takes bread, gives 
 thanks, blesses and separates it from a common 
 use, and gives it to them with the express direc- 
 tion, 'Take, eat, this is my body,' thereby indicat- 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 213 
 
 ing that something different and more exalted than 
 common bread was given to them, which was His 
 body, and so likewise with the cup. Now, in order 
 to make the disciples properly understand what He 
 was teaching them, it was necessary for Him to 
 employ plain and distinct words, otherwise they 
 would not have known what they were receiving 
 or what conceptions to entertain respecting it. 
 
 1 1 2. We are bound to interpret these words, just as 
 we do other passages of Scripture, according to their 
 plain, natural meaning. It is a fundamental rule 
 of all Scripture interpretation, not to depart from 
 the real, natural sense of the language without 
 absolute necessity, and when the Scriptures them- 
 selves direct us to do so. For they were not writ- 
 ten after any human model or according to human 
 fancy, neither must they be thus expounded, but 
 as the Holy Ghost explains His own meaning- 
 through His own words. Especially must we con- 
 fine ourselves to the words of the Scripture in the 
 commands and promises of God, the divine mys- 
 teries and articles of faith, so that we may not be 
 unawares betrayed into error. Chemnitz, one of 
 our most eminent theologians, has wisely said: 
 * The sacraments, because they are mysteries un- 
 known to human reason and concealed from our 
 
214 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 senses, and which are made known and revealed 
 by the Word alone, must therefore necessarily be 
 interpreted and correctly learned by and according 
 to the words in which they are announced and de- 
 livered to us.' Although figurative language is 
 sometimes used in the Bible, yet every article of 
 faith must be expressed in plain, distinct -language; 
 and we have no right to deviate from these natural 
 words, unless the Scriptures themselves show us 
 that they were not intended to be understood in a 
 natural, but in a figurative sense. If we then take 
 the words of our Lord in their obvious natural 
 meaning, we cannot understand them in any other 
 sense than that the body and blood of Christ are 
 truly present in the Holy Supper. Take and eat, 
 means, according to the natural understanding of 
 the phrase, something that is offered and received, 
 whether by the hand or mouth, and really eaten 
 and enjoyed as food. That which is offered to the 
 disciples is called 'this' — this which I give you — 
 and it is not only bread which they have before 
 their eyes, but it- comprehends the whole thing 
 which was offered. The little word 'is,' accord- 
 ing to the plain, natural understanding of it, does 
 not mean signifies or represents, but it embraces 
 that which really exists in it. The word ' body ' 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 215 
 
 means a true, essential body, and not an apparent 
 body or the sign of a body, and to mark the differ- 
 ence, He says, 'My body/ so that it might not be 
 understood of the figurative bod}' of the Paschal 
 lamb, or of any other body. Hence these words 
 cannot be understood in any other than the plain, 
 natural sense, which is this: that which Christ has 
 ordained in the Holy Supper, and which He gives 
 us to eat and drink therein, is His true, essential 
 body and His true, essential blood, given and shed 
 for the forgiveness of sins. Every other explana- 
 tion of the words, involving any change of the ele- 
 ments or regarding them as a bare representation, 
 is artificial, and is contrary to their natural mean- 
 ing. 
 
 "3. This mode of speech should not seem hard to 
 adopt or unusual. When the physician prescribes 
 a remedy and says, ' Take it; it is a valuable 
 restorative, ' the patient understands the words ac- 
 cording to their literal meaning, that in and with 
 this potion (or whatever it may be) a healing 
 medicine is offered, and he thinks of no change in 
 the material or mere sign. It is a reality. Our 
 old writers also illustrate this subject by the dove 
 which appeared at the baptism of Christ, and by 
 that other event, his breathing on the disciples. 
 
2l6 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 In Luke iii. 22, we read, 'And the Holy Ghost 
 descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon 
 him,' and in John i. 32, 'I saw the Spirit descend- 
 ing from heaven like a dove.' The Holy Ghost 
 was not changed into a dove, or locally included 
 therein, but under the form of a dove He was 
 really present. In John xx. 22, it is said, 'He 
 breathed on them and saith, Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost.' The breath itself was not the Holy Ghost 
 but only the means through which the Holy Ghost 
 was communicated to them. Thus in the Holy 
 Supper, ' Take, eat, this is my body; Take; drink, 
 this is my blood,' because in, with and under the 
 eating and drinking of the bread and wine, the 
 blood and body of Christ are at the same time 
 communicated to us. 
 
 "4. But we must also consider the language as 
 that of a last will and testament, which should 
 always be precise and obvious. 
 
 "Shortly before His death, our Lord instituted 
 this memorial of His love, as a testament and be- 
 quest to His disciples, and sealed it with His blood, 
 and hence it has all the force and authority of 
 such a document. In the preparation of a testa- 
 ment, men take special pains to use the most 
 precise and most intelligible language, so that no 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 217 
 
 misunderstanding and dissension may ensue; 
 much more would Christ not employ ambiguous 
 or obscure words. St. Paul, Gal. iii. 15, says, 
 'that though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it 
 be confirmed, no man disannulleth nor addeth 
 thereto;' this sentiment must apply with greater 
 force to the last testamentary words of our L,ord. 
 No figurative terms are used in such documents. 
 The legacy must be described in clear, distinct 
 words, so that each heir may know what and how 
 much is his portion of the inheritance. The 
 division of the property is made agreeably to such 
 terms, as well as the decision of the executors and 
 of the courts. Who would be satisfied if he was 
 distinctly named in a will and a nice farm or a 
 snug sum of money were bequeathed to him, and 
 some one would come forward and contend that 
 the language had quite a different meaning, — that 
 it was to be understood figuratively, and would try 
 to deprive him of the legacy itself? — would he not 
 properly and strenuously insist upon the interpre- 
 tation of the words as they stand, and not submit 
 to a perversion of them, to be wheedled out of his 
 rights? Why should we not allow the testament 
 of our Lord the same privilege? Why should we 
 permit the 'abundant riches' which He bequeaths 
 15 
 
2l8 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 to us in plain words to be wrung from our hands ? 
 If others wish to interpret the language differently, 
 they do it at their peril; but they cannot blame us, 
 if to the honor of Christ, we adhere to His simple 
 declaration, and say with Luther, 'My dear Lord 
 Jesus, a terrible dispute has arisen about Thy lan- 
 guage in Thy Holy Supper. Some maintain that 
 Thy words are to be understood in a different sense 
 from what they convey. But as these men teach 
 me nothing certain, but only perplex me and raise 
 doubts in my mind, and neither will nor can prove 
 their position, I will stick to Thy text, just as the 
 words speak. If there is anything dark in them, 
 it was Thy will it should be so, for Thou hast 
 given no other explanation of them, nor com- 
 manded it to be done." 
 
 "5. The harmony of the Evangelists and of 
 Paul on this subject. The three gospel writers, 
 Matthew, Mark and Luke (John entirely omits 
 the report) use precisely the same words in record- 
 ing the transaction, ' This is my body, ' etc. Now, 
 these inspired men in relating the same events of 
 another character, differ in their language or in- 
 troduce additional facts connected with the story, 
 and from this we may conclude that the Holy 
 Ghost purposely directed them to use the same 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 2IO, 
 
 words in relating the fact of the Lord's Supper, so 
 that we might not in the least degree depart from 
 their true and obvious meaning. What is more 
 remarkable, Paul, who wrote a considerable time 
 after the ascension of our Lord, and who did not 
 copy his account from the evangelists nor 're- 
 ceive it from men, but by the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ,' Gal. i. 12, expressly testifies, that 'I have 
 received of the Lord, that which also I have 
 delivered unto you,' and then uses precisely the 
 same language as the evangelists, 'Take, eat, this 
 is my body,' etc., etc., and perfectly agrees with 
 them in all respects. Now, if it had been in- 
 tended that we should understand the words they 
 use in a sense different from what they convey, it 
 is very likely that they would have been so inter- 
 preted by Paul, in order to preserve the Church 
 from error. But he does not teach a doctrine dif- 
 ferent from that of the gospel writers, but employs 
 precisely the same words. If, then, a fact is proved 
 by testimony of two or three witnesses, why should 
 we not allow the evidence of the three evangelists 
 and of Paul to prevail, when in this affair they 
 speak as with one tongue? Our old master, Che- 
 mnitz, well says: "He, therefore, who departs from 
 these repetitions and seeks elsewhere another in- 
 
220 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 terpretation, is as ungrateful as contumelious to- 
 wards the studied accuracy and paternal solicitude 
 of the Son of God, our preceptor, who alone can 
 open and expound the closed book." 
 
 "In addition to the words of the institution, Paul 
 describes the Lord's Supper thus, 'The cup of 
 blessing which we bless, is it not the communion 
 of (that is, the means of participating in) the blood 
 of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the 
 communion of the body of Christ?' The word 
 'communion,' as here used, also means communi- 
 cation as it is used in i Cor. xi. 17, 18, 21, where 
 in our English Bible it is called partaking, and in 
 Heb. xiii. 16, where it is 'communicated,' but it is 
 the same word in Greek in one or another of its 
 forms. Thus the bread and wine in the sacra- 
 ment are such a communion, through which the 
 body and blood of Christ are really offered and 
 communicated. If there exists a real communion 
 between the two objects, so that one communicates 
 itself to the other, they cannot be separated as the 
 heavens are from the earth, but there must exist 
 between themselves a close union. Now Paul says: 
 1 The blessed cup and the blessed bread ' are a com- 
 munion of the body and the blood of Christ, through 
 which the body and blood of Christ are really com- 
 
THE SACRAMENT OE THE ALTAR. 221 
 
 municated, and of which we become 'partakers.' 
 This 'communion' in the sacrament is not spirit- 
 ual communion or 'fellowship' spoken of in i Cor. 
 i. 9, nor of the benefits of Christ, but of the body 
 and blood of Christ. Surely, they must be present 
 to be 'communicated' to us. But if all this is to 
 be understood only as a spiritual communion, it 
 could not be said that ' the blessed cup and bread ' 
 are the 'communion,' but rather that faith is the 
 'communion' of the body and blood, because by 
 faith alone we become partakers of Christ spiritu- 
 ally. Nor is it to be considered a bare figurative 
 representation, for the apostle does not say that the 
 cup and the bread are the signs of the ' commun- 
 ion,' but the 'communion' is the body and blood 
 of Christ itself. 
 
 u 6. The truth of our proposition is established 
 upon the divine character of its blessed Founder. 
 
 "It is not without reason that Paul twice de- 
 clares, 'I have received of the Lord Jesus that 
 which also I have delivered unto you, that the 
 Lord Jesus the same night in which he was be- 
 trayed took bread,' etc., i Cor. xi. 23; xv. 3. 
 Hence it is the Lord who founded the Supper, and 
 who has the right to govern all creation, and whom 
 we are bound to obey; and as this is the Lord, as 
 
222 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the Son of God and God Himself lias founded this 
 ordinance, we dare not mistrust His words nor in- 
 stitutions, but we may be assured that His words 
 are true. When men commit errors in the use of 
 language or deceive by their promises, it may be 
 imputed to their lack of wisdom or their inability 
 to express themselves correctly, and thus lead to a 
 misapprehension of their meaning; or it may be 
 because they are not sincere, and purposely use 
 ambiguous language; or they may honestly prom- 
 ise and not be able to fulfill their promises; or, 
 finally, they may intentionally deceive by uttering 
 that which they know is not true. 
 
 u Not one of these imperfections can we impute 
 to our Lord without blasphemy. His words are 
 yea and amen. Why then should we not take 
 Him at His word, and believe what He distinctly 
 says ? One jot of His word is of more value than 
 all human reason united, and infinitely above a 
 thousand decrees of Councils. 
 
 "7. Our last proof is, the fearful condemnation 
 which all those bring upon themselves, who un- 
 worthily partake of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 "Paul describes such as being guilty of the body 
 and blood of Christ, 1 Cor. ii. 27, 29, eating and 
 drinking damnation (judgment) to himself, notdis- 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 223 
 
 cerning the Lord's body. The apostle does not 
 say, that unworthy partakers render themselves 
 'guilty' of Christ, nor of His honor, nor of His 
 ordinance, but expressly of His 'body and blood,' 
 and that unworthily eating and drinking, which 
 blame or inculpation, if it has any meaning at all, 
 must depend upon the presence of the body and 
 blood, and this offence consists in ' not discerning 
 the Lord's body.' 
 
 "Here we will again quote from Dr. Krauth's 
 Conservative Reformation, p. 643: 'To discern' 
 means to 'make or put differences between' — to 
 distinguish between two things which there is a 
 liability of confounding — to mark the distinction 
 between one thing and another. The point of the 
 apostle is, That which you receive in the Lord's 
 Supper is not mere bread and wine, as your con- 
 duct would imply that it is, but it is also the body 
 and blood of Christ; therefore your guilt (taking its 
 root in your failure to discern this body and blood) 
 is not that of the abuse of the bread and wine, but 
 of the indignity offered to His body and blood which 
 they (the bread and wine) communicate; therefore 
 your punishment is not simply that of men guilty 
 of gluttony and drunkenness, but that of men 
 guilty of a wrong done to the body and blood of 
 
224 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Christ; therefore sickness and death have been sent 
 to warn you of your awful crime, and if these warn- 
 ings be not heeded, your final doom will be to per- 
 ish with the world. 
 
 "Now, if on the other hand, we are to under- 
 stand this of a merely spiritual partaking, we 
 cannot say of the ' unworthy' that they render 
 themselves 'guilty of the body and blood of Christ,' 
 for they cannot spiritually partake of these because 
 of their unworthiness and unbelief; true, by their 
 unbelief they make themselves 'guilty' of or 
 against Christ; but they cannot sin against the 
 body and blood of Christ, if both are not present. 
 Besides, there is no necessity of 'discerning' the 
 Lord's body, if the unworthy receive nothing in 
 the sacrament but the external bread and wine. 
 If a bare 'representation' of the body and blood of 
 Christ is to be made in the sacrament, it cannot be 
 said that the unworthy can make themselves 
 'guilty of the body and blood of Christ' in not 
 ' discerning the Lord's body,' but they make them- 
 selves guilty only of the external signs thereof, and 
 do not properly 'discern' (or discriminate) such 
 signs from the ordinary partaking of food and 
 drink. But this is not the obvious meaning of the 
 apostle's language, for according to that the essen- 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE AI/fAR. 225 
 
 tial presence of the body and blood are necessary 
 to render this self-inculpation possible. One of 
 our old theologians (Danhauer) uses this language: 
 The apostle seems scrupulous in the choice of his 
 words, and says, 'He is guilty of (that is, he sins 
 against) not the bread, not the soul of Christ, but 
 the body and blood of the Lord, just as Judas 
 sinned against the cheek of the Saviour when he 
 kissed it with his treacherous lips, just as the mur- 
 derers of Christ made themselves guilty of the in- 
 nocent blood which they cruelly shed; just as he 
 who hears the word of God with his outward ear 
 but rejects it in his heart, sins against that word." 
 
 CONSECRATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The sacramental union of the body and blood of 
 the Lord with the bread and wine takes place at 
 the moment of the eating: and drinking of the 
 latter. The consecration of the visible elements 
 is, however, of the greatest importance, for it is the 
 preliminary step leading up to the ultimate purpose 
 of the Saviour, to wit, the Sacramental union. 
 The consecrated bread and cup are set apart from 
 a common to a divine use, which is in harmony 
 with the original institution of the Supper, and 
 which, accordingly, meets the good pleasure of the 
 
226 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Ivord. The elements thus dedicated are distributed 
 to each communicant, with the words of the insti- 
 tution and such other Scriptures as are adapted to 
 calling to mind the purport of the Sacrament. 
 Both the consecration and the distribution, in my 
 view, must be done by the regular minister and by 
 no other. Inasmuch as God's promises are yea and 
 amen, this means of grace is valid, irrespective of 
 the moral and spiritual condition of the officiating 
 minister. If he were an angel, nothing would be 
 added, and if he were a devil, naught would be 
 subtracted. 
 
 BENEFITS. 
 
 Although each communicant participates in the 
 body and blood of the L,ord, only those who believe 
 receive the benefits designed to be effected by this 
 Sacrament. All others eat and drink to their con- 
 demnation, as Paul says: "He that eateth and 
 drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh condem- 
 nation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." 
 
 The following are among the chief favors con- 
 ferred on the worthy and believing communicant. 
 First, the confirmation and sealing of the promise 
 of the remission of sins. I do not say that the ob- 
 servance of this institution secures the forgiveness 
 
THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 227 
 
 of sins, for the same was actually granted before, 
 but it seals\and confirms, in a visible manner, that 
 pardon has already been obtained. As in the sac- 
 rament of baptism we have the assurance that the 
 Holy Ghost is given to regenerate and sanctify, 
 so in the supper one has the guarantee that the 
 body and blood of the Lord is communicated to 
 confirm and ratify the previous work of the Holy 
 Spirit, and the results of his work — Justification, 
 Regeneration, and Sanctification. 
 
 Secondly, the communion strengthens faith in 
 Jesus Christ. The Saviour herein personally im- 
 parts himself to the communicant, which implies 
 that He is a living and glorified Lord. The ex- 
 ternal elements are truly emblems of his broken 
 body and shed blood — of his death; but they are 
 also, in their very nature, true symbols of life and 
 strength, and thus of His resurrected and immortal 
 life. Now, the visible sign and the invisible fact 
 — the reception of the living Lord — establish and 
 increase faith in the once crucified, but now living 
 Lord of glory. 
 
 Thirdly, another benefit is the augmentation of 
 love to Christ and to man. This grace is strong 
 or weak in direct ratio to faith. The latter grasps 
 Christ in all His fulness, and the former follows up 
 
228 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 with the alabaster box of ointment. Furthermore, 
 in proportion as one loves Christ one also loves all 
 brother men. The question, How can I come into 
 closer sympathy and fellow feeling with u my 
 neighbor?" is readily answered in the light of the 
 above proposition. Live in greater affection and 
 sympathy with Christ, the Creator, and you will 
 live in like manner with man, the creature. Love 
 to Jesus Christ is the solvent of all questions con- 
 cerning charitable and missionary operations and 
 enterprises. 
 
 Lastly, the Eucharist is effectual in brightening 
 hope and working joyful gratitude and praise. 
 Faith, love, hope, these three. As one is, so is the 
 other. Although the grace of hope has no place 
 in the world to come, it does have place in this. 
 It is the anchor of the soul, which keeps us sure 
 and steadfast upon the fitful and stormy sea of life. 
 It is the rudder which enables us to sail straight 
 toward the heaven of eternal peace. But in what- 
 ever soul these graces find their fullest develop- 
 ment and most perfect work, there also is grateful 
 praise and joyful adoration. The smallest and the 
 largest blessings alike are recognized as the gift of 
 God } and to Him will be ascribed all honor and 
 power and glory for ever and ever. 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 Prayer. 
 
 i Thess. v. 17. 
 
/ Thess. v. 77. Pray without ceasing. 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 It is just possible that this is not the most suit- 
 able place to take up the subject of prayer. Prayer 
 is not a means of grace, but rather a means to 
 grace. Properly speaking, it is not employed by 
 the Iyord to restore a sinner to His favor, but it is 
 employed by the repentant sinner for purposes 
 which will be indicated in the progress of this lec- 
 ture. In view of the character of this exercise it 
 follows, chronologically, the next lecture, Salva- 
 tion. In order, however, to prevent diversion of 
 attention, and to aid continuity of thought, from 
 Salvation to Glorification, I shall introduce this 
 subject at this point. 
 
 I. I call your attention, first of all, to the essen- 
 tial character of prayer. Montgomery sings : 
 
 "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
 Uttered or unexpressed, 
 The motion of a hidden fire 
 That trembles in the breast. 
 (231) 
 
22)2 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 « 
 
 "Prayer is the burden of a sigh, 
 
 The falling of a tear ; 
 The upward glancing of an eye 
 When none but God is near. 
 
 " Prayer is the simplest form of speech 
 That infant lips can try ; 
 Prayer the sublimest strains that reach 
 The Majesty on high. 
 
 " Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 The Christian's native air, 
 His watch-word at the gate of death — 
 He enters heaven with prayer." 
 
 We are greatly assisted in the discussion of our 
 subject by calling to mind three facts concerning 
 God and man. First, God is an infinite being. As 
 such nothing can be added to His perfections and 
 plans. He is all-wise, all-powerful, all-merciful 
 and all-loving. Not a single point of information 
 can be communicated to Him, not one iota of power 
 can be added, neither can His moral attributes be 
 more fully excited and evoked toward His creatures. 
 This involves the fact that God's providential pur- 
 poses and plans in behalf of man are perfect and 
 complete; and inasmuch as God is the same from 
 eternity to eternity, it follows that these purposes 
 and plans are now what they have been, and will 
 
PRAYER. 233 
 
 always be what they are now. Is not therefore 
 prayer excluded? Certain it is that the creature 
 will not be allowed to break down, by his prayers, 
 the plans of the Creator. 
 
 The second fact to be remembered is, that God 
 is most truly a Father to His people. As such He 
 has made abundant provision for prayer. His 
 providential plans are not only comprehensive, 
 but all-comprehensive, including the motions of 
 the soul of man in meditation and prayer. Thus 
 while prayer is not needed to add aught to God's 
 perfections, or to cause Him to alter His plans, it 
 to the contrary absolutely demands those perfec- 
 tions and plans precedent to this act. 
 
 By reason of the attributes of omniscience and 
 omnipotence, God was perfectly competent to 
 establish His general providence, at the very be- 
 ginning, with a view to all the prayers that would 
 ever be made relative to that general providence. 
 In this, as in every other realm, God's fore- 
 knowledge preceded, and His foreordination fol- 
 lowed. Likewise touching the matter of special 
 or particular providence. He who made us knew 
 from the first what the thoughts, aspirations and 
 prayers of each soul would be, and surely it must 
 have been an easy matter for Him to so arrange 
 16 
 
234 RAY S OF LIGHT. 
 
 all things as to respond to our individual prayers, 
 in the fulness of time, after they are lifted to His 
 ears. 
 
 At this juncture the question naturally arises, 
 are there any miraculous answers to prayer? The 
 answer depends on our conception of miracles. If 
 by miracle we hold of an event that it is outside 
 of the original plan of divine movement, or beyond 
 the "reign of law," then I answer in the negative. 
 If on the other hand, our notion of a miracle makes 
 it to be an event simply above, and sometimes con- 
 trary to the ordinary course of nature, then I an- 
 swer in the affirmative. In this view tens of thou- 
 sands of answers to prayers are miraculous. Allow 
 me to illustrate. I take an extreme case. Suppose 
 a dear friend has died. You have faith to believe 
 that God can restore. You act on that faith, and 
 pray for His restoration to life. God answers your 
 prayer by touching the requisite hidden forces, and 
 your friend lives. This is a miracle, for it is con- 
 trary to the ordinary course of things. But note, 
 that this is not a miracle in such sense as to exclude 
 the purpose and plan of God from eternity relative 
 to this very event. In the beginning, when He 
 planned and ordained the existent universe, God 
 knew of this death and prayer. He determined to 
 
PRAYER. 235 
 
 answer your request. So determining, all the 
 necessary factors entering into that answer were 
 already brought into play, either potentially or 
 absolutely. When the time came to give the 
 answer, it was done; and that as we have already 
 seen, without the slightest violation of the "laws 
 of nature" — concerning which so many scientists 
 are so badly frightened. 
 
 It may be profitably remarked here that the an- 
 swers to many prayers are not accounted miracu- 
 lous, because they are open and visible. In many 
 cases answers can be returned by the very persons 
 who offer the prayer. It does not follow, however, 
 that these are not direct answers from God ; for if 
 He had not taken these prayers into consideration, 
 matters would not have been so arranged as that 
 the answers could come after the manner they do. 
 
 The third fact I mention is, that as God is not 
 only Creator, but also a Father; so are men not only 
 creatures, but also children. The relation existing 
 between God and men is, therefore, that of father 
 and children. All the facts and principles involved 
 in every w r ell-ordered earthly family are, accord- 
 ingly, identical with those in this "family of God." 
 Now, in an earthly family the children ought to 
 possess a spirit of dependence, trust, prayer and 
 
236 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 love. They ought to realize their need of the favor 
 and counsel of their father; they should confide in 
 his willingness and ability to assist them; and fur- 
 thermore, they should be encouraged to freely and 
 fully unbosom their desires and wishes to him. 
 Surely where these things exist, there will tender 
 and sincere affection reign supreme. Transfer this 
 argument to the higher realm, and we at once ap- 
 prehend the true philosophy of our subject. In this 
 view, it becomes apparent that prayer becomes ab- 
 solutely essential in man's relation to his heavenly 
 Father. Although God's providential plans toward 
 him were fixed from of old, this does not militate 
 against the fullest outflow of the soul toward Him. 
 For I desire to emphasize again, that it was in view 
 of such prayer that the Father decreed His benign 
 economy. Every one may be fully persuaded that 
 his prayers go up before God, to be heard and an- 
 swered. I^et us rejoice that we can "come to a 
 throne of grace boldly, to obtain grace to help in 
 time of need." "He that cometh to God must 
 believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of 
 them that diligently seek him." "Ask and ye 
 shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it 
 shall be opened unto you." "Whatsoever ye ask 
 the Father in my name, that will I give unto you." 
 
% 
 
 PRAYER. 237 
 
 These promises, with hundreds more of the same 
 import, establish the fact that "the effectual, fer- 
 vent prayer of the righteous man availeth much." 
 The action and reaction of prayer are alike salu- 
 tary; the former in evoking God's gifts and bless- 
 ings upon man, the latter in evoking the noblest 
 parts of man as a gift and offering to God. 
 
 What more shall I say relative to the nature and 
 character of prayer? This will I say : It is the 
 meek, childlike, trusting, loving cry of the crea- 
 ture to the infinite Creator, in the sweet assurance 
 of tender audience and cheerful response. 
 
 II. I now crave your attention for the consider- 
 ation of a few characteristics of true prayer. 
 
 If I am not mistaken, there prevails a great deal of 
 mist and fog around our subject in the minds of 
 good people. People are frequently perplexed over 
 the many seemingly unanswered prayers they and 
 others have lifted to God. They are at a loss to 
 reconcile the teachings of the Scriptures on this 
 subject with certain indisputable cases of unan- 
 swered prayers. Doubtless the fault lies some- 
 where, that such is the case. Inasmuch as it can- 
 not attach to God, it must attach to man. "Ye 
 pray and receive no answer, because ye pray 
 amiss." 
 
238 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Let us note that all the legitimate objects of 
 prayer are divisible into two classes : Those for 
 which prayer may be made conditionally, and 
 those for which prayer may be offered uncondition- 
 ally. The objects belonging to the first class are 
 the temporal gifts and blessings; those in the 
 second class are the spiritual favors — that is, all 
 endowments that actually enter into man's growth 
 in grace and in the knowledge of the Iyord. In 
 respect to all matters outside of the last named, 
 man must recognize the fact that his desires and 
 will and the will of God may be dissimilar. Man 
 is short-sighted and knows not always what is best 
 for him — his wants are by no means always his 
 needs, and his desires and his truest interests often 
 collide. Hence, if he is a trustful child of God, he 
 will always pray: "Not my will, but Thine be 
 done." This constitutes the condition alluded to. 
 In respect to the spiritual blessings above men- 
 tioned, there are no conditions limiting and gov- 
 erning prayer. 'Petitioning the Father for His 
 grace and the gift of His Spirit, surely must always 
 be in accord with His will and pleasure; and since 
 there is certainty as to that, man's will and God's 
 agree, and hence the prayer ought to be absolute. 
 
 Owing to the fact that many people do not dis- 
 
PRAYER. 239 
 
 criminate between objects of prayer, they petition 
 the throne of grace in the same unconditional man- 
 ner for all blessings whatever. God in His good- 
 ness and mercy sees fit to withhold many of 
 the things asked for. Thereupon those who are 
 denied what they have urged, become perplexed 
 and discouraged, and frequently fall into doubt and 
 despair. But all this time the blame belongs to 
 them, and not to the Father. 
 
 We must make account of another characteristic 
 belonging to our subject. It is this: there are two 
 distinct factors inseparably connected with all true 
 prayer. They are faith and works. The former 
 we understand of an implicit reliance and trust in 
 our God and Saviour. It is a feeling of assurance 
 that the heavenly Father will verify every promise 
 on record, in His own way and time. By the lat- 
 ter is meant a thorough co-operation with Qod in 
 the direction of the offered prayers. I said at an- 
 other place that the petitioner may occasionally be 
 the agent in securing an answer to his supplica- 
 tions. For instance, one appeals for his "daily 
 bread." Ordinarily the way to bring the answer 
 is to employ the strength and talents God supplies, 
 laboring for it. Another presses his suit in behalf 
 of the conversion of a friend. Now let him work 
 
240 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 toward that end in personal appeal, and especially 
 in the presentation of the gospel, and the end 
 designed will likely be speedily realized. These 
 illustrations suffice to indicate my thought. 
 
 I submit that nine-tenths of the unanswered 
 prayers are due to the lack of one or the other, or 
 both, of these factors. In this, as in the matter 
 of salvation, "faith without works is dead," and 
 works without faith are a mockery. In all religious 
 acts and movements these two are joined together 
 by Him who made us, and no man must put them 
 asunder. Supply these two factors — with all they 
 necessarily imply — and the question of answers is 
 solved. All that is agreeable to the will of God 
 will be unfailingly forthcoming. "Pray as if 
 all depended on God, and work as if all depended 
 on yourself" — that puts an end to all speculations. 
 
 III. The form of prayer is a matter that chal- 
 lenges our attention briefly. 
 
 As a man comes into the presence of God in the 
 act of prayer, various thoughts pass over the disc of 
 his mind. In that presence he thinks of the great- 
 ness and majesty of Him whom- he is about to ad- 
 dress. He calls to mind that God is the creator, 
 preserver and benefactor of all things in the uni- 
 verse; that He is infinite in perfections, and eternal 
 
PRAYER. 241 
 
 in existence. These truths recognized will con- 
 strain one to utter words of adoration. This is 
 usually the first part of prayer. The Scriptures 
 furnish us most beautiful and striking expressions 
 of adoration. The introduction to the Lord's 
 Prayer is most beautiful on account of its great 
 simplicity and evident sincerity: u Our Father who 
 art in heaven." At Acts i v. 24, the apostles intro- 
 duced their appeal in sore trial thus : "Lord, thou 
 art God, which hath made heaven and earth and 
 the sea and all that in them is." Daniel began a 
 prayer, "O Lord, thou great and awe-inspiring 
 God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that 
 love Him and to them that keep His command- 
 ments." Approaching the heavenly Father with 
 such form of sound words on his lips, the worshiper 
 fills his mind with a proper spirit of reverence and 
 devotion. 
 
 From Adoration there is a natural and almost 
 necessary transition to Confession. The soul hav- 
 ing dwelt on the character of God in adoration, 
 will now inevitably turn back to self. What a 
 contrast! God so exalted, and man so abased. God 
 so wise and mighty and pure, and man so ignorant 
 and weak and sinful. God so condescending and 
 true to man, and man so rebellious and unfaithful 
 
242 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 to God. In the presence of trie L,ord, man sees the 
 sinfulness of sin as nowhere else, which may well 
 cause him to cry out: "What is man that Thou 
 art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou 
 visitest him?" 
 
 As one perceives the weakness of his spiritual 
 strength and the impurity of his holiness, and 
 remembers that all his sufficiency is from God, how 
 ready is he to acknowledge the one, that he may 
 receive the other. Abraham called himself "dust 
 and ashes." Job declares: "Behold, I am vile, 
 what shall I answer thee?" David says: "For I 
 acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever 
 before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, 
 and done this evil in thy sight." Isaiah exclaims: 
 "Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man 
 of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a peo- 
 ple of unclean lips." Daniel confesses: "We have 
 sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have 
 done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by depart- 
 ing from thy precepts." The Word is full of con- 
 fessions similar to the foregoing. Who but makes 
 like acknowledgment, as he faithfully draws the 
 contrast between self and Jehovah? 
 
 The step from Confession to 4 Thanksgiving is 
 short and easy. Adoration and confession, these 
 
PRAYER. 243 
 
 necessarily induce praise and thankfulness. The 
 worshiper delights. to recall all the past mercies 
 and blessings of -God, and to meditate upon them, 
 both for their own sake as having already been en- 
 joyed, and for the reason that they are inspirers of 
 faith that their Giver will continue to be gracious 
 in the future. Indeed, present and past favors are 
 very potent in encouraging the child of God to make 
 application for future good. Who, however, is base 
 enough to recall and ponder upon these things 
 without an overflow and outflow of grateful praise? 
 Surely not he who is right before the Lord. Let 
 us turn again to the Holy Scriptures. In the ninth 
 Psalm we find these words: "I will praise Thee, 
 O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all 
 Thy marvelous works." Again, in the ciii. Psalm: 
 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within 
 me bless His holy name." In David's prayer, 
 on the occasion of Solomon's regal association with 
 him, we find the following sublime utterance: 
 "Blessed art Thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, 
 for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness 
 and the power and the glory and the victory and 
 the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in 
 the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, 
 and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both 
 
244 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 riches and honor came of Thee, and Thou reignest 
 over all, and in Thy hand is power and might, and 
 in Thy hand it is to make great and to give strength 
 to all. Now, therefore, our God, we thank Thee 
 and praise Thy glorious name. ' ' Jesus once prayed : 
 "I thank Thee, O Father, L,ord of heaven and 
 earth." Again, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou 
 hast heard me." Paul writes to the Philippians: 
 "In everything by prayer and supplication, with 
 thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
 unto God." 
 
 The last part that belongs to the form of prayer 
 is Petition. This is prayer proper. In this the 
 suppliant makes his appeal to Him from whom 
 cometh "every good and perfect gift," who also is 
 " the Author and Finisher of our faith." Inasmuch 
 as this phase of the subject was sufficiently dis- 
 cussed in the early part of this lecture, nothing 
 further will be remarked in this place, except to 
 say that the Old and New Testaments contain un- 
 ceasing exhortations to prayer. All through the 
 Bible men are encouraged to call upon God for all 
 they need — things great and small; with the assur- 
 ance that He will hear and answer. 
 
 IV. Prayer is the instinct of the regenerate 
 heart. 
 
PRAYER. 245 
 
 The pious in all the ages past have delighted in 
 this exalted and exalting exercise. Dr. Patton 
 writes on this point as follows: Prayer evidently 
 accompanied the accepted sacrifice of Abel, as he 
 stood by his slain lamb, confessed his sin, and 
 implored divine mercy. It must have been the 
 breath of the spiritual life of the holy Enoch, 
 during those three hundred years in which he 
 u walked with God." It was the characteristic 
 of Abraham, "the friend of God," who carried to 
 His divine Friend all thoughts and plans for him- 
 self and for those he loved. Isaac and Jacob were 
 praying men; and it was from this fact that the 
 latter gained his immortal name of Israel — Prince of 
 God; because of his urgent prayer he gained a 
 victory as one possessed of power like a prince. 
 Moses had special power in this direction, and 
 prevailed wonderfully in intercession for others. 
 Samuel was noted for the same trait, and when 
 he resigned his judgeship, the people made it 
 their parting request that he would not cease to 
 pray for them. David was always on his knees, if 
 we may judge from his Psalms, which are as much 
 prayers as praises, and in one of which he de- 
 scribes his own habits as follows: "Evening and 
 morning and noon will I pray, and cry aloud, and 
 
246 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 He shall hear my voice." His faith in this for all 
 men, as well as for himself, led him to say: u 
 Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all men 
 come." Elijah, the petitioner, is as famous as 
 Elijah, the reprover and reformer; so that in the far 
 away time of the New Testament Church, he 
 could be held up as an example and encourage- 
 ment in prayer, by James, who, in illustration of 
 his assertion that the effectual fervent prayer of 
 a righteous man availeth much, said: "Elias was 
 a man subject to like passions as we are, and he 
 prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it 
 rained not on the earth on the land where he 
 lived, for a period of three years and six months; 
 and he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain 
 and the earth brought forth her fruit." To name 
 no other Old Testament saint, Daniel will stand 
 forever associated with a willing martyrdom, so to 
 speak, on behalf of this duty and privilege, as will 
 His deliverance ever be a monument of its power. 
 The New Testament saints kept the same char- 
 acteristics. One of the earliest personages in the 
 history is Anna, of whom it is said that "she 
 departed not from the temple, but served God with 
 fastings and prayers, day and night." Simeon 
 was of kindred spirit, as were Zacharias and Eliza- 
 
PRAYER. 247 
 
 beth, and Joseph and Mary. Jesus not only taught 
 His disciples to pray, and Himself offered petitions 
 publicly, on various recorded occasions, but some- 
 times spent whole nights in prayer, alone upon the 
 mountain tops or in the wilderness; and it was 
 with praying breath that He expired upon the 
 Cross. The testimony borne concerning thou- 
 sands of converts made on the day of Pentecost is: 
 "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doc- 
 trine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and 
 in prayers." The apostles themselves prayed for 
 ten days, steadily, prior to that scene of wonders; 
 and in every new trial or difficulty which occurred, 
 we read of their uniting in solemn petition for 
 aid. Paul, the last and greatest of the apostles, 
 was full of the spirit of supplication; and not only 
 does the book of Acts contain references to many 
 occasions on which he prayed, as for instance, in 
 the prison at Philippi, and the parting scene at 
 Miletus, but his epistles constantly allude to the 
 earnestness and fervency of his prayers for individ- 
 uals and churches, and abound in commands and 
 exhortations to Christians to pray in turn for him, 
 and to maintain the habit of prayer "without 
 ceasing." . 
 
 The history of the Church since the apostolic 
 
240 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 days has presented the same aspect. Luther, 
 speaking of his use of the Lord's Prayer, says, 
 "For to this day, I suck still at the Pater Noster, 
 like a child; I eat and drink thereof like a full 
 grown man, and can never have enough." It was 
 said of him "that he could have what he would of 
 God." It is related of him by one who heard him 
 on a certain occasion, that his tone was reverent as 
 if speaking to his Maker, and yet he maintained 
 the confidence of one who is conversing with a 
 sympathizing friend. At one time there was a 
 crisis in the affairs of the Reformation. Persecu- 
 tion had broken out. Friends were few and weak, 
 while enemies were many and strong. Human 
 weakness must attach itself to omnipotent power. 
 Luther was not dismayed, for he knew the secret 
 of hidden power. His battle-hymn pointed the 
 source: " Bin feste Burg ist uuser Gott. " 
 
 He wrestled alone with God, till like one of old, 
 he had prevailed. Then he went into the room 
 were his family had assembled, with joyous and 
 exultant heart; and raising his hands, with uplifted 
 eyes, he exclaimed: "We have overcome! We 
 have overcome!" It afterwards proved that just 
 at that time, the Emperor Charles V. issued his 
 proclamation of religious toleration in Germany. 
 
PRAYER. 249 
 
 Doubtless Luther had pleaded this Scripture: 
 u The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, 
 as the rivers of water; He turneth it whitherso- 
 ever He will." 
 
 Time fails me to speak of the prayers of Me- 
 lanchthon, Calvin, Zwinglius, and scores of others 
 since their time, who were mighty with God in 
 prayer. (< 'Piety and prayer are synonymus." 
 
 Space forbids that I should recite some of the 
 endless number of answers to prayer. It is enough 
 to say that no sooner can God refuse to respond to 
 His children's cries than that He can deny His 
 Fatherly nature and character. 
 
 The history of man is the history of prayer ; the 
 history of God is the history #/~ ANSWERS to prayer. 
 
 "Come to the morning prayer; 
 Come, let us kneel and pray ; 
 Prayer is the Christian pilgrim's staff, 
 To walk with God all day. 
 
 "At noon, beneath the Rock 
 Of Ages, rest and pray ; 
 Sweet is that shelter from the heat, 
 When the sun smites by day. 
 
 "At evening shut thy door; 
 Round the home-altar pray ; 
 &nd, finding there the house of God, 
 At Heaven's gate close the day, 
 'i7 
 
250 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 When midnight veils our eyes, 
 
 O, it is sweet to say, 
 I sleep, but my heart waketh, Lord, 
 
 With thee to watch and pray," 
 
 James Montgomery. 
 
LECTURE XL 
 
 Salvation, 
 
 Eph. ii 
 
Eph. ii. 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that 
 not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God. 
 
LECTURE XI. 
 
 WE now enter upon a subject which of all that 
 have been treated, is the most pleasing and inspir- 
 ing. Well nigh all which has been said in these 
 addresses leads up to and clusters around this cen- 
 tral thought. Every movement of God earthward, 
 from the first promise of a Redeemer to Adam and 
 Kve till the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the 
 day of Pentecost, had reference, more or less direct, 
 to man's spiritual recovery. 
 
 The three specific subjects which enter into our 
 discussion are: Justification, Regeneration and 
 Sanctification. Regeneration and Sanctiflcation 
 are the final ends towards which everything points 
 and moves, as Justification is the immediate end. 
 The Forensic act of God is in order to the Ther- 
 apeutic. The former is objective to man, the latter 
 subjective. 
 
 For the purpose of clearing the way for an intel- 
 ligent discussion of the matter in hand, I recur 
 briefly to a point or two advanced in the second lec- 
 ture— " The Fall." You recall that I mentioned 
 
 (253) 
 
254 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 that the principal result of the Fall was the dis- 
 turbance and perversion of man's rational, or spir- 
 itual, constitution. This was "Death." This 
 was the infliction of the violated penalty. This 
 was subjective. You also remember that I said 
 there was another result, to wit, the objective — in 
 the mind of God. It was not only proper and right 
 in the Creator to give a just and wise law to the 
 creature, but such was an absolute necessity. The 
 sanction of the law was an exact exponent of the 
 mind of the Law-giver in reference to disobedience. 
 Now, when transgression ensued the penalty must 
 be inflicted, or the Lawgiver's veracity and holi- 
 ness and all his other moral attributes, will be im- 
 peached. This is the only alternative. But the 
 latter is out of the question, and, therefore, the 
 former must be accomplished. 
 
 Note well that the voluntary disobedience of the 
 original pair necessarily affected the mind of God 
 concerning them. It did not affect the thoughts of 
 God, as to whether man is a good creature; nor His 
 moral feelings, as goodness, love, etc. ; nor yet His 
 will, as touching their salvation. But their trans- 
 gression did affect Him in such sense as to change 
 His relation to them. Hence we say, for want of 
 better terms, that God became "offended," or 
 
SALVATION. 255 
 
 "angry" or "alienated;" and that to the end of 
 man's salvation God must be "appeased" and 
 "reconciled." Now, I am not acquainted with 
 any words that could safely be substituted for those 
 above; and hence, although not expressing the 
 precise facts in the case, they should be allowed to 
 stand in theological literature. 
 
 I have observed that after the transgression 
 God's relation or position was changed toward the 
 offenders. The penalty of death was laid upon 
 His own dear creatures, made in his likeness and 
 image. This "death," bear in mind, was not only 
 spiritual, but also necessarily eternal. God's word 
 is gone out of His mouth pronouncing this sad 
 truth. Accordingly, this word stands between 
 Him and His children. In this lies His change of 
 relation to them. This removes God from man, 
 because man first removed himself from God. 
 Hence we use the terms mentioned a short time 
 ago. 
 
 But God's feelings and purposes for man are not 
 changed. Having loved them from the beginning, 
 He loves them still. He had no pleasure in the 
 death of the sinner, but rather that he should live. 
 Now, in order to save man from eternal death, He 
 must deliver him from spiritual death; and to ac- 
 
256 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 complish both, God fixed on the plan of Salvation 
 through His Son, as elucidated in Lectures IV 
 andV. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 The term Justification is interchangeable with 
 "pardon" and "remission of sins." It describes 
 a condition opposite to guilt or condemnation. It 
 is to stand free from charge or indictment. In a 
 court of justice a man can be justified on the 
 ground of innocence and on that of compensation. 
 When it is clearly proved that the arraigned person 
 is not guilty of the matter charged against him, 
 the court acquits him, and he stands justified before 
 the world. Again, on the other hand, if the per- 
 son were found guilty, and sentence were passed 
 upon him, if he pays the full penalty of the law 
 which he violated, he is justified, also, in the eyes 
 of the civil tribunal, on the ground of compensa- 
 tion. 
 
 Now in the matter of man's standing before 
 God, he must himself confess his guilt. By 
 reference to the record at Gen. iii. 8-13, we learn 
 of the trial and confession of Adam and Eve. 
 The same all men have acknowledged ever since. 
 Hence there can be no justification before God, on 
 the ground of innocence. On the ground of com- 
 
SALVATION. 257 
 
 pensation there can be none, for that means 
 eternal death, the sentence which the Judge 
 passed upon man, which is the penalty of the 
 violated law. 
 
 It is most evident, accordingly, that if man can 
 be at all justified, it must be by a plan devised by 
 the Lawgiver and Judge, and not by any personal 
 merit or compensation. Such a plan is not only 
 contemplated, but already executed. "God so 
 loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not 
 perish but have everlasting life." What I believe 
 to be the true philosophy of the fact of guilt and the 
 scheme of redemption, leads me to so say that the 
 matter of which man needs pardon or justification 
 is eternal death. It is this, as I said sometime 
 ago, that stands between God and the sinner, and 
 which constitutes God's change of relation to, or 
 alienation from man. I then said that God's word 
 had gone forth and must stand, except in the 
 event of a plan by which He is justified — that is, 
 vindicated — to recall it. Just so soon as the word 
 or sentence is nullified, so soon will God be 
 changed again to his former attitude and relation 
 to man; and just so soon God will draw nigh to 
 man, to help him to overcome the subjective result 
 
258 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 of his disobedience. In the plan of salvation, Jesus 
 Christ takes man's place, and in his stead suffers 
 an adequate amount to justify God in recalling the 
 sentence of death. The blood of the Lamb is 
 sufficient to vindicate God's veracity, justice and 
 holiness, and to show forth at the same time the 
 greatness of His love and tender mercy. 
 
 I am now ready to announce a principle, for 
 which nearly all that I have remarked in this 
 address has been preparatory. It is this: The 
 work and merits of the God-man, the Saviour, 
 being placed to man's credit, God justifies all man- 
 kind, everywhere, once for all: 
 
 Please observe that this pardon is a free and full 
 preliminary forensic act, which restores man to 
 the same legal relation to God that he enjoyed be- 
 fore the Fall. It simply negatives the objective 
 consequence of the transgression, but not the sub- 
 jective. It is in the realm of the legal, and not of 
 the moral, relation of man to God. But it in- 
 volves the fact that God will now undertake to 
 change man's moral relation to Him, also. In 
 fact, as you see, the legal aspect is precedent to the 
 moral, and altogether in the interest of the latter. 
 
 Hence, in view of this universal pardon and 
 justification, God bestows the Holy Spirit upon 
 absolutely every soul which comes into existence. 
 
SALVATION. 259 
 
 God makes a sincere and earnest effort to deliver 
 every man from the fact of eternal and, therefore, 
 spiritual death; and although this is effected in 
 only comparatively few cases, the blame attaches 
 to man and not to God. 
 
 These statements I make with a full knowledge 
 of the fact that they will be resisted by some who 
 hear them ; but such things cannot deter me from 
 averring what I am fully persuaded is in accord 
 with the spirit of the Bible and "a sound mind." 
 
 There is, however, another matter to claim our 
 attention at this juncture. It is the subject of 
 Justification by Faith. 
 
 How can a sinner be just before God? Not by 
 works of righteousness which he can do, but by 
 faith in Jesus Christ. In the universal justification 
 discussed above, voluntary action is not consid- 
 ered. In spite of all the influence of God to the 
 contrary, man has it in his power, as a matter of 
 course, to voluntarily violate the laws of his Maker. 
 In point of fact, this is exactly what most men do. 
 
 The Faith, accordingly, which is involved in a 
 sinner's pardon, must not be regarded in the nature 
 of an instrument, or even condition, to such par- 
 don; but the rather as the faculty or eye by which 
 that pardon is apprehended. The only agent en- 
 
2,60 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 tering into the obtainment of the person's justifica- 
 tion is Jesus Christ; but faith sees and appropriates 
 that justification. Faith must, in view of the 
 foregoing, have credit as a seeing and appropriating 
 eye and hand; and it is clearly evident that with- 
 out this a man cannot enjoy the peace of forgive- 
 ness, nor can his life and conduct be such as is 
 characteristic of the justified soul; for he will not 
 co-operate with God in his spiritual restoration 
 like one who realizes his justification. In my view 
 every demand of Scripture touching justification by 
 faith is fully met in the foregoing proposition, and 
 here I discontinue this subject. 
 
 REGENERATION. 
 
 This, surely, is a most vital subject. It is of un- 
 dying interest, and claims our faithful attention in 
 its treatment. " Verily I say unto you, ye must be 
 born again." 
 
 Theologians state the nature and character of 
 this doctrine in such terms as these: "It is the in- 
 working or exciting of faith by the Holy Ghost 
 through the means of grace. " u It is the deposit- 
 ing of a principle or germ of righteousness. " " It is 
 the conferring, by the Spirit, of a new heart, feel- 
 ings and affections." Such definitions, in the na- 
 
SALVATION. 26l 
 
 ture of the case, cannot be very wide of the mark. 
 Indeed, I believe them to be harmless, but the 
 trouble is that they afford no great amount of 
 information for those who hunger and thirst after 
 knowledge. 
 
 A very fascinating and plausible scientific expla- 
 nation of this doctrine is ventured by Prof. Drum- 
 mond, in his very suggestive volume entitled: 
 ''Natural Law in the Spiritual World." The 
 position of the book is that the laws in the 
 physical world are identical with those which pre- 
 vail in the spiritual world. In the chapter relating 
 to the subject now in hand, his argument is about 
 as follows: In the physical world there are three 
 distinct kingdoms, the mineral, the vegetable, and 
 the animal. Now, neither of the lower kingdoms 
 can pass to the next higher. There is a great gulf 
 fixed between each of these realms, and it is never 
 in the power of the lower to lift itself to any place 
 above itself. It is competent, however, for the 
 organic to reach down to the inorganic, and im- 
 parting to it organic life, bring it up into the or- 
 ganic kingdom. So, also, does the animal king- 
 dom reach down to the vegetable to lift it up to a 
 place with itself. We notice here that the higher 
 is always the active and all-sufficient agent, and 
 
262 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the lower is entirely passive. The argument is 
 constructed on the accepted fact that life comes 
 from life and is never spontaneous. This I wholly 
 accept, so far. This Prof. Drummond now pro- 
 ceeds to apply to the matter of the new birth. 
 Upon his theory of the identity of law in the nat- 
 ural and spiritual worlds, he has easy work to show 
 that man is dead in reference to spiritual life, as the 
 inorganic is dead to organic, and organic to animal 
 life. Accordingly, the spiritual world must reach 
 down to man, and, endowing him with spiritual 
 life, raise him into relation with itself. He affirms 
 that the life in this case is Christ. The whole 
 argument is, to say the least, very captivating. 
 The present speaker cannot, however, give his ad- 
 hesion to it, for the reason following: I do not 
 agree (if I may venture to disagree with such a 
 profound scholar) to the Professor's position rela- 
 tive to the identity of "laws" in the two spheres 
 indicated. The point of disagreement lies in this: 
 The Professor seems to believe, and I do not, that 
 man, in his sphere, is dead, in the same sense that 
 the various kingdoms in the natural world are in 
 theirs. This reduces man to the level of a natural 
 mechanism. Of course, there is a sense in which 
 such a position may be defended; but it is a sense 
 
SALVATION. 263 
 
 which requires that man be contemplated from the 
 lowest point of view. In the lecture — "The Cre- 
 ation of Man" — it was shown that man is a great 
 deal more than a lump of flesh; that he is also 
 spirit; that, consequently, he partakes of the very 
 nature of God. The Fall, most assuredly, marred 
 his spiritual visage, but that does not involve the 
 destruction of his spiritual nature. This he still 
 retains, for that is the realm of the soul. Hence, 
 Prof. Drummond's theory that man is dead, in the 
 same sense as nature is dead, and that he must be 
 endowed with a germ of life, so to speak, in order 
 that he may become a spiritual being, and all in 
 spite of man's passivity and natural deadness, I 
 for one do not believe. This I believe to be con- 
 trary to right interpretation of Scripture, and to 
 a true psychology, and to personal experience; for 
 all these, with one voice, declare that a man has 
 some share in his "birth from above." After 
 raising this dissentient note, I feel to say that the 
 argument of Dr. Drummond in question is most 
 beautiful and potent, as showing the analogy be- 
 tween God's working in nature and in grace. As 
 the mineral never can come up into the vegetable, 
 and the vegetable into the animal, except as the 
 higher forces reach down and bring them up, so it 
 
264 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 is precisely true that man cannot attain to the new 
 birth, except as God supplies needed grace. In 
 this lies the analogy. But man can, and the afore- 
 said kingdoms cannot, co-operate with the grace 
 that affects him. Herein breaks down the alleged 
 identity. 
 
 In this connection I wish to say that what I 
 have so far said applies mainly to those who are 
 capable of voluntary action — that is, to adults 
 rather than to children. Of this I shall speak 
 more fully presently. 
 
 It now remains for me to advance what I regard 
 as the philosophy of the doctrine of Regeneration. 
 This will not occupy much time. If the Fall en- 
 tailed death, then I hold that regeneration restores 
 life. In the second lecture, — "The Fall" — I ven- 
 tured to advance what I hold concerning spiritual 
 death. It is this: The "spirit" in man was 
 appointed to rule over the whole man, and the 
 "flesh" was destined to be subject to, and servant 
 of, the "spirit." Spiritual death consists in the 
 reversal of this order, and so the "flesh" is now on 
 the throne. It follows that all the powers and fac- 
 ulties of the soul have become blunted and weak- 
 ened, and therefore disabled to fulfill their high 
 and holy functions. This involves the further fact 
 
SALVATION. 265 
 
 of man's alienation from his Maker (God), and his 
 enmity to the will of God. (See last division ot 
 lecture II.) 
 
 From the foregoing it is easy to see that regen- 
 eration is the restoration of man. Right here I 
 take the opportunity to say that I refuse to believe 
 that the new birth implies the conferment on man 
 of a principle or germ of life, precisely as this is 
 the case in the natural world. I believe that 
 God's working in regeneration is to rehabilitate 
 the "spirit" of man, and that not contrary, but 
 according, to the laws of the mind. The process 
 must be after this fashion: The Intellect must be 
 enlightened, the Rational Susceptibility must be 
 excited, and the Will must be quickened. This 
 done, all is done — in the way of regeneration. The 
 "spirit" has now assumed its proper place, and 
 functions, and prerogative, and the man is now 
 ready to "keep the body under," henceforth. 
 
 The agents by which regeneration is effected are 
 the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures; and in the case 
 of those who do not have access to the Scriptures, 
 tradition and the light of nature. Truth is requi- 
 site to bring about all that was mentioned touch- 
 ing the Intellect, Emotions and Will; but this 
 truth, of course, must be of a character adapted to 
 18 
 
266 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the nature of the work it is to accomplish, and it 
 must be energized and applied by the Holy Ghost. 
 Allow me to illustrate my meaning of the foregoing 
 discussion : Suppose a wicked man on a certain 
 Sunday morning, contrary to his habit, attends 
 divine worship. He takes a pew in the rear of 
 the church, and, as a matter of course, is listless 
 and uninterested. The minister announces his 
 text, and the sermon is delivered. The man in 
 the pew was struck when the text was announced, 
 and during the progress of the sermon the follow- 
 ing has taken place in swift succession: The first 
 arrest of attention was succeeded by a breaking in 
 of light, or knowledge, in respect of self and of 
 God, such as he never had before. This knowledge 
 is followed by a quickening of emotions running 
 exactly in the same direction as his knowledge, 
 and this knowledge and these feelings, according 
 to mental laws, influence the Will. An alterna- 
 tive is presented to the Will, in form something 
 like this: "I k?ww ) I feel my relation and duty to 
 God, and His just claims upon me. Shall I for- 
 swear my past life and enter upon a life of purity 
 and obedience, or no?" So far the Holy Spirit 
 and the Word have done the work, except that the 
 man has voluntarily opened himself to their in- 
 
SALVATION. 267 
 
 fluences. But at this point the man must co- 
 operate with the objective forces, if he desires to be 
 born from above. I assume that he says, "I 
 yield.'/ This is the supreme moment of his life, 
 for he is now restored to "life." He is a "new 
 creature in Christ Jesus; old things have passed 
 away, behold all things have become new."' In 
 this choice of the "better part," there is a radical 
 change of the spiritual disposition, and that is Re- 
 generation. 
 
 I desire to say here that all this which I assume 
 to take place in the space of a preaching service of 
 say one hour, may as easily transpire in five min- 
 utes; and on the other hand, it may occupy days, 
 and even years. The precise time of regeneration, 
 proper, is at the yielding of the will, which neces- 
 sarily can be but a moment, but the steps leading 
 thereto occupy a shorter or longer time. 
 
 I have to say yet that it is at this moment that, 
 life coming into the dead, the "new creature" in 
 Christ enters into loyal and obedient relation with 
 his God and Saviour. God is not only reconciled 
 to him, but he is also reconciled to God, which 
 gives him the spirit of adoption, and he is enabled 
 to say, "Abba Father," and the love of God is shed 
 abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which was 
 given unto him. 
 
268 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Now before I leave this subject, I am anxious to 
 say something more in regard to the relation of this 
 doctrine to children. 
 
 I repeat here what I intimated once before, to 
 wit, that my remarks thus far have special refer- 
 ence to such as are capable of voluntary action. 
 In the address on baptism I observed that there is 
 a radical difference between the "death" of child- 
 ren and that of wicked adults. The "death" of 
 the latter is deepened and intensified by voluntary 
 transgression. His moral renovation I described 
 above. In the case of infants there is nothing to 
 hinder us in believing that God may, by His Spirit,* 
 in baptism, so affect them in theway of energizing 
 their spiritual nature that in popular language it 
 may be called regeneration, although technically it 
 is not such. I do not think that regeneration, in 
 the truest sense, takes place till the very first vol- 
 untary yielding of the child to Christ. That may 
 be at a very early period of life. I myself do not 
 take umbrage at the phrase, "Baptismal Regen- 
 eration," although I confess to a mental reserva- 
 tion touching its import. 
 
 SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 Although in Regeneration man is restored to 
 spiritual life, two results of the Fall remain. One 
 
SALVATION. 269 
 
 is physical, and has reference to the maladies and 
 death of the body ; the other is moral, and has 
 reference to moral character and action. 
 
 The question is not, could God also have over- 
 come these evils ? but the rather, why did God not 
 overcome and banish them? The first question 
 carries with it its own answer. The second ques- 
 tion may, or may not, be answerable. I venture, 
 however, this answer: God, in His wisdom, saw fit 
 to allow these strong evidences of the Fall to re- 
 main, as showing all men the wrecking power of 
 sin, that so, having these things before their eyes, 
 they may the more implicitly rely on the power of 
 God to keep them from more awful and lasting 
 consequences, even eternal perdition. 
 
 It is in place to say here that even these evils are 
 devoid of terror to the Christian. The strength of 
 the physical evil is broken by the plan of Redemp- 
 tion, and the power of the moral evil is exhausted 
 by the divine work of Sanctification. The moral 
 evil in question is a continued trend and bias to 
 wrong, after regeneration. At another place I ob- 
 served that man's spiritual nature, once dethroned, 
 will be likely to continue for a long time after its re- 
 enthronement to be feeble and void of proper self- 
 assertion. The inferior nature, once occupying 
 
270 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the ruling place in man, will likely long clamor, 
 after its impeachment, to reoccupy its former 
 place. Thus there is, as St. Paul declares, a con- 
 stant warfare between these two. When a man 
 with his mind will serve the Lord, there is a law 
 in his members which wars against the law of his 
 mind. On this account all the regenerate confess 
 the fact of many slips and foibles, and even out- 
 right sins. 
 
 From these things the Christian is delivered 
 more and more by the Holy Ghost and the means 
 of grace. By these a twofold work is accomplished. 
 There is on the one hand the subduing of the 
 "flesh," and on the other hand the uplifting and 
 strengthening of the "spirit." Thus we are ex- 
 horted to put off the old man and to put on the 
 new man, Christ Jesus; also to grow in grace and 
 in the knowledgeof the Lord. 
 
 The open secret of the process of sanctiflcation 
 lies in the subject's entire yielding of himself to 
 the agents effecting it. Over-concern about this 
 work in the heart on the part of any one, even to 
 the extent of tearing the hair and rending of gar- 
 ments, will not avail; but a hearty co-operation 
 with the Holy Spirit in the way of holding one's 
 self under His cleansing and invigorating influence 
 
SALVATION. 2/1 
 
 is all that is required. For as God has begun a 
 good work within man, so will He also finish it. 
 It is proper that one should daily confess and de- 
 plore his spiritual weakness, and lay aside every 
 weight and the sin which doth so easily beset him ; 
 but above all he must look to Jesus Christ, the 
 author and finisher of his faith, who is our "wis- 
 dom, righteousness, sanctification and redemp- 
 tion." 
 
LECTURE XII 
 
 Glorification, 
 
 Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
Matt. xxv. 34. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
 kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
 
LECTURE XII. • 
 
 1 Eleven subjects have been discussed. We now 
 enter together upon the twelfth and last. As our 
 Saviour at, Cana, kept the good wine till the last, 
 so also is it with the subject now in hand. It is 
 the best, and follows all the others. 
 
 I believe that man was originally intended for a 
 higher and nobler place and state than Eden and 
 Edenic life. Adam and Eve might have said: "It 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be," but with 
 the feeling of assurance that in some way and at 
 some time there would be a spiritualizing of the 
 flesh and an uplifting of their being into a still 
 more exalted realm of existence. What was con- 
 templated for man in the beginning is, notwith- 
 standing his lapse into sin, made possible in Re- 
 demption. Man is again placed in a position that 
 he may be glorified at the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high. In the subjects and doctrines 
 previously treated, it has been shown how this can 
 be the case. 
 
 The transition from this world to the next is 
 (275) 
 
276 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 characterized by an event with which we are all 
 familiar. It is death, or rather, " falling asleep. " 
 In the Fall, the seed of bodily death was depos- 
 ited in man's physical nature. In Redemption, 
 that seed, in the wisdom of God, and for our disci- 
 pline, was not dislodged. Through the Fall, death 
 had a terrible sting. Through Redemption, the 
 sting of death is extracted, so that the giving up 
 the ghost is no longer death, but sleep. "Oh 
 death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy 
 victory!'' "Death is swallowed up in victory." 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 "Bodily death," says Dr. J. H. Wythe, "occurs 
 when the cause of life is removed. Life is not 
 synonymous with spirit, but is peculiar spiritual 
 influence on matter, the result of the union of cre- 
 ated spirits and elemental matter. When the spir- 
 itual essence ceases to act upon the matter of the 
 organism we say the body is dead, and the disinte- 
 gration and chemical decomposition succeed." 
 
 Prof. Draper writes: "The system of animal life 
 dies before that of the organic. Of the former the 
 sensory functions fail first, voluntary motion next, 
 and the power of muscular contraction, under great 
 stimulus, still feebly continues. The blood, in 
 
GLORIFICATION. 277 
 
 gradual death, first ceases to reach, the extremities, 
 its pulsation becoming less and less energetic, so 
 that, failing to gain the periphery, it passes but a 
 little way from the heart; the feet and hands becom- 
 ing cold as the circulating fluid leaves them, the 
 decline of temperature gradually invading the inte- 
 rior. Some of the organic functions often continue 
 for a time, particularly the secretion and the devel- 
 opment of heat." 
 
 u With the exception of falling asleep, nothing is 
 so similar to the passing away in death as the sink- 
 ing of a person into a swoon; yet he who faints 
 experiences little or no suffering before uncon- 
 sciousness ensues. Perhaps, if artificial stimulants 
 were not applied to restore to his nervous system 
 the power of serving the soul, he would pass from 
 the swoon into death without any further sensa- 
 tion. Such, also, is the condition of all those who, 
 reduced to unconsciousness by excessive cold, are 
 eventually restored to life. Their limbs are be- 
 numbed, their blood flows slower and slower, and 
 finally the body stiffens as in death. The only 
 sensation they experience is unconquerable drowsi- 
 ness and desire to lie down and rest; and though 
 they may be perfectly conscious that sleep may end 
 in death, they nevertheless brave it that they may 
 
278 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 enjoy the delight of sleep. It is thus established 
 that at the moment of dissolution it has in it 
 nothing that is terrible, that very few persons are 
 clearly conscious of it, and that it is the imagina- 
 tion of survivors that invests it with horrors." — 
 Zschokke. 
 
 "No case is remembered where persons have 
 returned to life after they were believed to have 
 been dead, that the testimony has not been given 
 to the effect that in the very act of departure the 
 last remembered sensations were not merely pleas- 
 urable, but exquisite." A titled lady exclaimed, 
 "Why did you bring me back to earth?" A 
 drowned man passed away with strains of the most 
 delightful music striking upon his ears. The man 
 cut down from the gallows had a vision of entering 
 Paradise, surrounded with all its glories. Now a 
 lady struck dead by lightning, as was supposed, 
 says, "I feel quite sure that death by lightning 
 must be absolutely painless, for I had a feeling of 
 gently dying, dying away into darkness." Surely 
 we do ourselves great wrong, and the Merciful One 
 who made death, also, to cherish the idea that it is 
 dreadful, for a correct and substantiated physi- 
 ology has demonstrated that in the hour and article 
 of death from disease, for several minutes, and 
 
GLORIFICATION. 279 
 
 sometimes for hours before departure, the feeling 
 of pain is an absolute impossibility: there may be 
 an appearance of it, but it is a manifest, unfelt 
 muscular disturbance."—/^ W. Hall, M. D. 
 
 "The darkness of death is like the evening 
 twilight, it makes all objects more lovely to the 
 dying. ' ' — Richter. 
 
 I have made these quotations from others rather 
 than to cite at length anything that has come 
 under my personal knowledge. However, by way 
 of substantiating what has been quoted above, I 
 cannot forbear to merely mention in this place the 
 happy experience of a near relative. Tortured 
 with extreme pain for a fortnight, a brief period 
 before death there was total cessation of it. Ec- 
 static delight filled his whole being, and his de- 
 parture was unspeakably more enjoyed than the •* 
 passage from wakefulness to sleep, after a long 
 day of exhausting labor. • 
 
 In view of all that has been said, I am fully per- 
 suaded that the pain and terror of death lies in the 
 knowledge of the fact that after death is the Judg- 
 ment. Accordingly, all who "die in the Iyord," 
 to them there is no "fear in death," nor any 
 physical pain. "For so He giveth His beloved 
 sleep. ' ' 
 
28o RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 
 
 This is a matter touching which no man may 
 dogmatize. God has not seen fit to give us a clear 
 and unmistakable revelation concerning the state 
 and place between death and the resurrection, and 
 hence the few words that I have to offer on this 
 subject are not expected to terminate all future 
 discussion. 
 
 My study of the Scriptures leads me to the con- 
 clusion that there is an intermediate place and 
 state. This conclusion is based on the meaning 
 and use of the terms Sheol in the Old, and Hades 
 in the New, Testament. These terms I believe to 
 be synonymous, and expressing the fact of a place 
 in the other world, distinct from Heaven and Hell. 
 I freely admit that there are many who do not read 
 the same meaning from these words that I do, but 
 I feel personally assured of the soundness of this 
 interpretation, which, if. the scope of this lecture 
 permitted, I might fortify by a number of " infal- 
 lible proofs ' ' drawn directly from Holy Writ. 
 
 I give it as my opinion that Hades is divided 
 into two parts, one of which is the place of abode 
 of the righteous and the other the prison of the 
 wicked, up to the day of judgment. 
 
 On that great day the righteous, in union of 
 
GLORIFICATION. 28 1 
 
 soul and body, will enter upon the full and ineffa- 
 ble fruition of Heaven; as the wicked, in union of 
 soul and body, will be cast into Hell. 
 
 I may say here that in addition to the teaching of 
 the inspired word, two independent arguments sup- 
 port the above view. First, an argument derived 
 from the character of the joys of Heaven and the 
 suffering of Hell. Apart from the consideration of 
 what are called the positive rewards and punish- 
 ments in Heaven and Hell, respectively, a great 
 part, perhaps the major part, of both the former 
 and the latter, are natural — that is to say, they are 
 naturally and inevitably consequential of the moral 
 character of the inhabitants of the respective places 
 mentioned. In other words, the conscience is a 
 very great factor in the bliss of Heaven and the 
 woes of Hell. But conscience necessarily depends 
 on knowledge for the full assertion of itself, either 
 in the direction of peace and joy, or the opposite. 
 Now this knowledge is not only of present moral 
 character, but also includes, pre-eminently, the 
 moral status and personal influence of each during 
 his entire earthly life. This is not all. Inas- 
 much as moral character and voluntary actions in 
 one's life-time start a train of influences which 
 roll on and on while time lasts, it is obvious that 
 19 
 
282 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 no man can know the complete results of his 
 earthly career, for good or for evil, until everything 
 will be revealed in the records of the judgment-day. 
 Then, and then only, can a man know all the re- 
 sults of all the deeds done in the body. Then, 
 and then only, will the conscience determine, sub- 
 jectively, the peace and joy of Heaven ; the woe 
 and terror of Hell. Hence, in the light of the 
 above, the judgment-day is a necessity, and equally 
 so is the Intermediate State. 
 
 Against this it may be said: "When the soul is 
 freed from the body, at death, it may at once see 
 the whole outcome of the influences started in this 
 life; it may be able to anticipate the future, so that 
 the past and the future are alike known." To 
 this I have to say, No, I think not. We have 
 every reason to believe that the mental activities 
 and laws of thought are substantially the same in 
 the spirit world as in this. At least it is quite 
 certain that no new faculties are superadded to 
 those which man now possesses. Accordingly, the 
 future cannot be anticipated or known there any 
 more than here, for this would imply, in my view, 
 a species of omniscience ; and this of course must 
 be ruled out of the argument. 
 
 Another may say : ' K But does not God know all 
 
GLORIFICATION. 283 
 
 things, both past and future? and will He not reveal 
 the future to every one immediately after death?" 
 To this I have to answer as I did above: No, I 
 think not. Such revelation implies a miracle, 
 which I believe to be an act confined entirely to 
 this world. I say this because I cannot conceive 
 that miracles can serve any good purpose in the 
 Unseen World. I hold, therefore, that God will 
 not likely interfere in the manner intimated by the 
 supposed questioner, which leaves the original ar- 
 gument intact and secure, viz., the fact of an 
 Intermediate State. 
 
 Another reason favoring an Intermediate State 
 between death and the resurrection is found in the 
 fact of the separation of soul and body during the 
 interval. My view of the nature and faculties of 
 the soul fits it fully for independent existence, if 
 that were God's will. But that is not His will, for 
 •He reveals to us His purpose to re-unite soul and 
 body at the end of the world. It is not a question 
 of the soul's capability of independent existence, 
 but rather as to a beautiful propriety, that the re- 
 union of soul and body is ordained of God. Note 
 this: Every good deed on the one hand, as every 
 evil deed on the other hand, is accomplished and 
 committed by the united activity of soul and body, 
 
284 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 the soul being the principal and the body the 
 agent. Surely, therefore, I can see poetic pro- 
 priety in the resurrection and re-union of the body 
 with the soul, in order to share, with the latter, 
 the retributions of eternity. 
 
 From this it seems obvious, that the soul does 
 not immediately after death enter upon the last 
 stage of existence, but only on an intermediate or 
 middle stage, as in this life on the first, and after 
 the Resurrection and Judgment on the last and the 
 best. 
 
 I may further say that I hold to the following 
 tenets: 
 
 1. The wicked in the Intermediate State experi- 
 ence substantially the same pain and anguish as 
 they will in Hell — only less in degree. 
 
 2. The righteous experience substantially the 
 peace and joy and rest that they will in Heaven — 
 only less in degree. 
 
 3. The righteous develops greatly in every capa- 
 city of their nature during this interval. 
 
 4. All infants and children are here developed 
 and trained for citizenship in heaven. 
 
 5. All the heathen who live and die without a 
 knowledge of Christ and the doctrines of salvation, 
 but who are disposed to live up to the light which 
 
GLORIFICATION. 285 
 
 they enjoy, and who would accept Christ in this 
 life if they had opportunity, are in the Intermediate 
 State brought into contact with Christ, and are 
 made meet for the enjoyment and service of heaven. 
 6. All who were incorrigible in this life, whether 
 enlightened or unenlightened, have in the Inter- 
 mediate State no "second probation." 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 The second advent of Christ, the Judgment and 
 the end of the world, are three thrilling and awful 
 events. At that day a voice may be heard saying: 
 "Time was, time is, but time shall be no more." 
 Time is swallowed up in eternity: Eternal Hell, 
 and Eternal Heaven. "Depart from me, ye 
 cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels. " " Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world." 
 
 The two great questions that obtrude themselves 
 constantly in regard to heaven are, "Do we know 
 each other there?" and, "What is the nature and 
 character of the place?" On these two questions 
 allow me to voice my sentiments fully and most 
 eloquently by means of a "string of pearls," 
 selected here and there. This done, my aim and 
 
286 RAYS OF UGHT. 
 
 purpose in these addresses will be compassed, and 
 I will bid adieu, with the fond hope that some good, 
 at least, will be realized out of my humble effort. 
 
 RECOGNITION IN HEAVEN. 
 
 "Paul before the throne is and inevitably must 
 be the identical Paul who preached at Athens and 
 was martyred at Rome. When he longed to ' de- 
 part and be with Christ ' he expected not to be 
 somebody else, but the same individual. Moses 
 died fifteen centuries before the advent of Jesus 
 Christ. Yet there was a personality still existing-, 
 who appeared at the time of Christ's transfigura- 
 tion on the mount, and who was addressed by him 
 as Moses. The prophet Elijah, who had died seven 
 hundred years before was there also. When the great 
 Apostle speaks of his Thessalonian converts as his 
 ( glory and joy in the presence of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ,' he assuredly expected to meet the same 
 persons in heaven that he labored with in Thessa- 
 lonica. If they were not the same people, and if 
 he could not meet them there, how could they be to 
 him a 'crown' or a 'joy.' This point is clearly in 
 accordance with common sense. Whatever change 
 may be produced by death, personal identity will 
 not be altered by one jot or tittle. The sinner who 
 
GLORIFICATION. 287 
 
 sins here will be the same sinner who will be pun- 
 ished in a world of woe. The believer who will 
 be welcomed by the glad salute, ' Come thou 
 blessed of my Father,' will be the same person 
 who on earth had done the Father's bidding. 
 Without this preservation of perfect identity, the 
 whole idea of a future retribution of rewards and 
 punishments would be an absurd impossibility. 
 
 "If identity is preserved in eternity, will the fac- 
 ulty of memory also survive the grave? Undoubt- 
 edly it will. The obliteration of memory would 
 amount to a partial destruction of the individual. 
 It would remove some of Heaven's richest enjoy- 
 ments. If I cannot remember what my Redeemer 
 has done and suffered for me, how can I join in the 
 ever 'new song' of grateful praise before His 
 throne? The obliteration of memory would take 
 away the severest and bitterest of sin's just retri- 
 bution in Hell. Upon this point the description 
 of Lazarus and the selfish rich man 'in torment' 
 throws a distinct light, for Abraham said, 'Son, 
 remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy 
 good things.' 
 
 " Put together these two facts (1) personal iden- 
 tity is not lost in eternity, (2) memory remains also 
 unimpaired. It follows inevitably that we shall 
 
288 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 know each other in Heaven. When David cried 
 out over his dead boy, ' I shall go to him, but he 
 shall not return to me,' that bereaved father ex- 
 pected to meet again the child whose spirit had 
 flown to God. Certainly we shall not be more 
 stupid in Heaven than we are on earth. Martin 
 Luther, in his ' Table Talk,' makes much of this 
 intercourse with father and mother and kindred in 
 the heavenly home. Sharp, unpoetic old Dr. Em- 
 mons used to say: i I hope to have some talks with 
 the Apostle in Heaven.' 
 
 "That infants will be doomed to the everlasting 
 weakness and helplessness and ignorance of in- 
 fancy seems to my mind impossible. No mother 
 would ever want to see her darling babe stunted to 
 an unchanged babyhood, even here. It would be- 
 come a pitiable monstrosity. Half the charm of 
 childhood is its constant growth — its delightful 
 openings like the rose-bud, to new thought and 
 development. The idea of an undeveloped infancy 
 in Heaven would be almost a libel on the Creator ! 
 My darling boy will be none the less my own 
 child in the 'Father's house,' because he has in- 
 creased in stature and knowledge, and in favor 
 with God and man. That I shall know him there 
 I have no more doubt of than I have of the exist- 
 
GLORIFICATION. 289 
 
 ence of a heavenly rest. Good Dean Alford struck 
 a chord in every Christian heart when he sang : 
 
 " ' Oh ! then what raptured greetings 
 On heaven's happy shore ; 
 What knitting severed friendships up, 
 Where partings are no more ! ' " 
 
 — Theodore L. Cuyler, D."D. 
 
 A great divine says: "When I was a boy I 
 thought of heaven as a great shining city, with vast 
 walls, and domes, and spires, and with nobody in it 
 except white angels, who were strangers to me. 
 By and by my little brother died, and I thought of 
 a great city, with walls, and domes, and spires, and 
 a flock of cold unknown angels, and one little fel- 
 low that I was acquainted with. He was the only 
 one I knew in it at that time. Then another 
 brother died, and there were two that I knew. 
 Then my acquaintances began to die, and the flock 
 continually grew. But it was not until I had sent 
 one of my little children to his Grandparent — God 
 — that I began to think I had got a little in myself. 
 A second event, a third event, a fourth event, and 
 by that time I had so many acquaintances in 
 Heaven that I did not see any more walls, and 
 domes, and spires. I began to think of the resi- 
 dents of the Celestial City. And now there have so 
 
29O RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 many of my acquaintances gone there that it some- 
 times seems to me that I know more in Heaven 
 than I do on earth." 
 
 "Many in the other galleries we have heard of, 
 but these we knew. Oh, how familiar their faces; 
 they sat at our tables, and we walked to the house 
 of God in company. Have they forgotten us? 
 Those fathers and mothers started us on the road 
 of life. Are they careless as to what becomes of 
 us? And these children, do they look with stolid 
 indifference as to whether we lose or win this battle 
 for eternity? Nay; I see that child running its 
 hand over your brow and saying, ' Father, do not 
 fret; mother, do not worry. 7 They remember the 
 day they left us. They remember the agony of the 
 last farewell. Though years in Heaven, they re- 
 member our faces. They remember our sorrows. 
 They speak our names. They watch this fight for 
 Heaven. Nay; I see them rise up and lean over 
 and wave before us their recognition and encour- 
 agement. That gallery is not full. They are 
 keeping places for us. After we have slain the lion 
 they expect the King to call us, saying: 'Come up 
 higher. ' Between the hot struggles in the arena 
 I wipe the sweat from my brow, and stand on tip- 
 toe, reaching up my right hand to clasp theirs in 
 
GLORIFICATION. 291 
 
 rapturous hand-shaking, while their voices come 
 ringing down from the gallery, crying, 'Be thou 
 faithful unto death, you shall have a crown.' " — 
 Dr. Talmage. 
 
 NATURE OR CHARACTER OE HEAVEN. 
 Heaven a Place. 
 "We are accustomed to say that space and time 
 are only conditions of our finite and composite na- 
 tures, and that to unfettered spirits there would be 
 recognition of neither space nor time. Whether 
 this be true or not, no one can tell. It is a trans- 
 cendentalism that it is folly to talk about. Time 
 and space are absolute necessities, to our thinking. 
 Every conception of our mind is formed on them 
 as a foundation; and we can have no idea of God 
 Himself, except as in time and space. Hence we 
 must (whether we will or not) take the word 
 'place' in the passage, 'I go to prepare a place 
 for you,' in a literal sense. Even if it be not lit- 
 erally a place, we think of it as a place, for we can- 
 not think of it in any other way. And, moreover, 
 from the words being used, when our Saviour 
 might have said simply, 'I go to prepare for you,' 
 we may infer that it is actually a place that is 
 meant here. Farther than that perhaps would be 
 
292 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 only fancy, and in that region of fancy we cannot 
 find it profitable to wander. But that on which we 
 may dwell with profit is, first, that the place is pre- 
 pared by our Lord; and secondly, that it is pre- 
 pared for us. What a place must that be which 
 Christ prepares, which His almighty power and 
 infinite love combined make ready for our abode! 
 It must be a place where every purified desire of 
 the heart must have perpetual satisfaction, and 
 where Christ's own happiness shall be shared by 
 those for whom He died. If these are the charac- 
 teristics of that future home, it makes very little 
 difference what the spiritual forms of occupation 
 or the objective elements upheld by the soul in 
 that better world may be. The inner soul longs 
 for happiness — it is only the outward and change- 
 able sense that would dictate its form. That it is 
 pure and holy, and that it has Christ our Lord and 
 Saviour in it — this is enough. We know the de- 
 licious contents of the vessel, if we do not know 
 the shape and color of the vessel containing it. 
 To 'depart' is 'to be with Christ.'" — Howard 
 Crosby, D. D., LL.D. 
 
 The Joys of Heaven. 
 u Death may separate the believer from some 
 
GLORIFICATION. 293 
 
 object that he loves, but it draws him nearer to the 
 object that he mainly loves. It is, indeed, delight- 
 ful for the believer to think that the friend who first 
 visited him in his lost estate, and who cherished 
 him all the way through the wilderness, is the very 
 friend he is to meet in the Mansion above. Death 
 does no violence to such a man; It produces no 
 break in his feelings or affections. Led to love the 
 Lamb of God when on earth, trained by the Spirit 
 of God, and by all the dispensations of God, to love 
 Him more and more, he finds when he has entered 
 the dark valley and the shadows of death that the 
 first object that meets his eye, and the most con- 
 spicuous object, is a Lamb as it has been slain. 
 
 "We cannot speak of that which is unspeakable, 
 or delineate that which is indescribable, and there- 
 fore we cannot delineate that joy unspeakable and 
 full of glory which the believer will enjoy through- 
 out all eternity. The word of God does not furnish 
 us with any particular account of the holy exer- 
 cises and joys of heaven. Two very excellent rea- 
 sons can be given for this: One is, that a vivid 
 description of the joys of heaven as fascinating the 
 fancy might rather draw away the mind from the 
 practical duties of life; and the other is that the 
 joys of heaven are such that man in his present 
 
294 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 state cannot so much as conceive them. Enough 
 is revealed, however, that the L,amb is slain to be 
 the grand source of the joys of the saints. There 
 will be joys springing from the holy affections, 
 confidence and love, which Christ by His spirit 
 has planted in the hearts of His people. The 
 grace, flowing and overflowing and increasing, will 
 be the source of great and ever-augmented happi- 
 ness throughout eternity. Again, there will be 
 joys springing from the glorious society of heaven, 
 from the company of saints and angels. Brethren 
 in Christ, you are now walking on the very road 
 on which all men of God have traveled from crea- 
 tion downwards, and at its termination you shall 
 meet with all those who have come from the east 
 and from the west, the north and the south, to sit 
 down in the kingdom of God. They are one of 
 many kindred, but they all unite with melody of 
 voice and heart to sing praises to the Redeemer. 
 Ye will be in the Heavenly Jerusalem in company 
 with Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and 
 His saints." — Dr. James McCosh. 
 
 What Heaven Involves. 
 
 "The state of eternal glory involves three things: 
 i. Absence of all sufferring, pain, sin and evil. 
 
GLORIFICATION. 295 
 
 2. The presence of all good, both of the purest and 
 most exalted kind. 3. The complete satisfaction 
 of all the desires of the soul, at all times through 
 eternity, without the possibility of decrease on the 
 one hand, or of satiety on the other, or of any term- 
 ination of the existence of the receiver or the 
 received. This is ineffably great and glorious, but 
 the apostle exceeds all this by saying, 'An heir of 
 God.' It is therefore not Heaven merely, it is not 
 the place where no ill can enter, and where pure 
 and spiritual good is eternally present; it is not 
 merely a state of endless blessedness in the regions 
 of glory; it is God Himself, God in His plenitude 
 of glories, God who by the eternal communication 
 of His glories, meets every wish and satisfies every 
 desire of a deathless and imperishable spirit, which 
 He has created for Himself, and of which Himself 
 is the only portion. To a soul composed of infinite 
 desires, what would the place or state called 
 'Heaven' be, if God were not there? God, then 
 is the portion of the soul, and the only portion 
 with which its infinite powers can be satisfied. 
 How wonderful is his lot ! A child of corruption, 
 lately a slave of sin and heir of perdition, tossed 
 about with every storm of life; in afflictions many 
 and privations oft; having perhaps scarcely where 
 
296 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 to lay his head; and at last prostrated by death 
 and mingled with the dust of the earth: but now, 
 how changed ! The soul is renewed in glory, the 
 body fashioned after the glorious human nature of 
 Jesus Christ, and both joined together in an in- 
 destructible bond, clearer than the moon, brighter 
 than the sun, and more resplendent than all the 
 heavenly spheres, and having overcome through 
 the grace of Christ, is set down with Jesus on his 
 throne to reign forever and ever." — Dr. Adam 
 Clarke. 
 
 The Vision of Deity. 
 u In many inspired descriptions of heaven, the 
 Shekinah, or the visible presence of God, is made 
 prominent. This might be expected if the anti- 
 type corresponds with the type; and if Heaven be 
 an advance stage of the manifestations of the Deity 
 to man, we should look for a richer display of the 
 divine glory and a more perfect consciousness of 
 the divine presence. Hence the city selected to 
 prefigure the eternal residence was not the classic 
 Athens nor imperial Rome, though adorned with 
 statuary, studded with temples, rich in historic 
 fame. No, but the capital of Judea, because there 
 Jehovah's presence was wont to be displayed to 
 His worshippers. Yet this is the New Jerusalem, 
 
GLORIFICATION. 297 
 
 because of its purity and the richer glory which fills 
 it as the shrine of the divine Majesty. 'And I saw 
 no temple therein,' says the enraptured John, as 
 he gazes on its unearthly radiance ; ' I saw no 
 temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the 
 Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no 
 need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; 
 for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
 is the light thereof. ' The allusion here cannot be 
 misunderstood. In the Holy of Holies of the 
 earthly Jerusalem there was neither natural nor 
 artificial light; no golden lamp shone within its 
 walls, and not a ray of the sun could enter there, 
 for that sacred place was illumined by the glory of 
 the Shekinah, which occasionally filled the temple 
 with supernatural brightness, and shone forth to 
 the view of the joyful crowd of worshippers with- 
 out. So in the heavenly city the sun and moon 
 shed not their rays, nor is there need for the re- 
 flection or emission of light from any natural 
 luminary, because the actual personal presence of 
 Jehovah fills it with glory. Even the temple itself 
 is dispensed with in the Celestial City, because the 
 vision of God is there unveiled, and access to Him 
 is without the intervention of symbolic rites. The 
 earthly temple, while forming a shrine for the 
 
298 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 Shekinah, was a mode of concealment from the 
 view of the people. The glory was curtained of! 
 and shut in, so that the radiant symbol was en- 
 throned in solitary majesty in the most holy place. 
 But in the New Jerusalem no temple is seen, for no 
 external shade is required ; and in the brightness 
 of a better dispensation concealment and restriction 
 have disappeared. In leaving earth the spirits of 
 the just leave the outer court and enter within the 
 veil, into the Holy of Holies — into Heaven itself, 
 the presence of the divine Majesty — and live con- 
 tinually within its brightness. No walls there 
 form a barrier between God and His people, not 
 even the temple walls, not even the veil of the 
 temple, for the saints dwell in His immediate pres- 
 ence. No cloud shrouds His radiant majesty from 
 their gaze, but they all with open face behold His 
 glory, and there is neither darkness nor distance 
 between them and God. 
 
 "Nor are the representations of the saints, as 
 dwelling in the divine presence, to be denuded 
 of their import by the cold criticism that would re- 
 solve them into mere figures of speech. The type 
 and symbol belong to earth, the divine reality be- 
 longs to heaven. In speaking of believers dwelling 
 in the divine presence, the Scriptures mean an 
 
GLORIFICATION. 299 
 
 actual dwelling and an actual presence. In speak- 
 ing of the saints seeing God, they mean an actual 
 view of the Deity. The benediction promise of the 
 Saviour is, * Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God;' the prayer of the Saviour is, 'That 
 they may behold my glory which thou hast given 
 me;' and the promise that immediately follows the 
 description of the blessed in the New Jerusalem is, 
 4 And they shall see His face.' These refer to a 
 true and proper vision of the Deity. As certainly 
 as the Jews of old saw the symbol of God's pres- 
 ence when it filled the sanctuary; as certainly as 
 Moses saw the glory of God from the cleft of the 
 rock; as certainly as Moses and Klias saw the Re- 
 deemer on the Mount of Transfiguration; as really 
 as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, and 
 saw the radiant cloud between the cherubim over 
 the mercy seat, so truly shall the saints enter 
 Heaven and see the Deity face to face. They shall 
 dwell where He is; they shall see Him as He is. 
 For then, 'behold the tabernacle of God is with 
 men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall 
 be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, 
 and be their God. ' 
 
 "Here, then, is the first consummation of the be- 
 liever's hopes and aspirations. At last the wilder- 
 
300 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 ness is left, and the promised paradise is gained; 
 the weary pilgrim has arrived at home; the absent 
 son and heir has entered his father's house. The 
 journey of faith ends in realizing vision and actual 
 possession. On earth he loved the Saviour with 
 supreme affection, though he saw him not — 'whom 
 having not seen yet he loved; in whom, though he 
 saw him not, yet believing he rejoiced with joy un- 
 speakable and full of glory.' Satisfied with God 
 as his portion, he exclaims, 'Whom have I in 
 Heaven but Thee ? and there is none in earth that I 
 desire beside Thee.' But love longs for the sight 
 and presence of its object, and while faith and hope 
 anticipate, love stimulates the desire for the happy 
 hour of realization and possession, and the bitter- 
 est sorrows and the deepest sufferings are patiently 
 endured under its expectation. Now is that hour 
 come. The happy spirit is with Christ, sees Him, 
 at sight of Him eternity opens with ever-during 
 bliss. O what a recompense for all our sorrows., 
 conflicts and tears, will be found in the first 
 moment we have of gazing on the glorified 
 Saviour! Well, poor, tempted, tried, despised 
 and persecuted believer, be patient a little longer, 
 persevere through a few more conflicts and sor- 
 rows, and thy Lord shall call thee home, and thou 
 
GLORIFICATION. 301 
 
 shalt be forever with Him to behold the King in 
 His beauty, and the land that is afar off." — Wm. 
 Cooke, D. D. 
 
 "O holy dwelling-place of God! 
 O glorious city all divine ! 
 Thy streets, by feet of seraphs trod, 
 Shall one glad day be trod by mine. 
 
 ' ' In Thee no temple lifts its dome, 
 No sun its radiant beam lets fall ; 
 For there, of light the eternal home, 
 God and the Lamb illumine all! 
 
 ' ' There from exhaustless fountains flow 
 The living waters, gushing o'er, 
 Which whoso drinks thenceforth shall know 
 Earth's ever-craving thirst no more. 
 
 ''There fresh and fair on every hand, 
 Where one unfading summer lives, 
 The trees of life unwithering stand, 
 Whose fruit immortal vigor gives. 
 
 ' ' All lovelier flowers than Bden bare 
 
 When God pronounced His work complete, 
 All matchless forms of beauty, there 
 The never- wearied eye shall greet. 
 
 "Within the burnished gates abide 
 
 Of God's redeemed the countless throng, 
 Who ever while the ages glide 
 Serve in seraphic ardor strong. 
 
302 RAYS OF LIGHT. 
 
 "To them the Lamb that fills the throne 
 In love divine unveils His face ; 
 While they, with bliss to earth unknown, 
 Adore the beauty and the grace. 
 
 "No wasting sorrow there is found, 
 No cheek is wet with burning tears ; 
 "Whom those eternal walls surround, 
 No foe can reach, no pang, no fears. 
 
 "Land of the blest, on faith's keen eye 
 Faint glimpses of thy glory break ; 
 Oh, when in earth's last sleep I lie, 
 Mid thy full splendors let me wake ! " 
 
 —Ray Palmer, D. D. 
 

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