CHURCHI ESSAYS.
BY
GEORGE CUMMING McWHORTER,
AUTHOR OF A " POPULAR HAND-BOOK OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.'
PRODESSE ECOLESIA.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
443 & 445 BROADWAY.
LO.NDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN.
1864.




ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by
D. APPLET'ON  AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.




TO
WOOTTON WRIGHT HAWKES,
PROFESSOR OF BELLES-LETTRES, TRINITY COLLEGE, HARTFORD,
IN APPRECIATION OF
HIS VARIED TALENTS AND ATTAINMENTS,
THESE ESSAYS ARE INSCRIBED
BY HIS FRIEND
THE AUTHOR.








PRE FA CE.
THE Essays here collected, except those on Charity,
Prayer, Death, appeared, during the years 1861 and
1862, in the "Church Monthly Magazine," Boston.
They are published in the present shape with the assent of the Rev. Dr. Huntington, formerly senior editor
of the "Church Monthly," to whom I am indebted for
kindly favoring my purpose of giving these Essays a
more permanent form. I trust they will not be found
deficient in unity.  " Our best and surest road to
knowledge," says Lord Kaimes, "is by profiting by
the knowledge (i. e. the reading) of others."  Certainly
it is the shortest -to some it is the only road.  I
hope, therefore, that these Essays, brief though they
be, will prove advantageous to those who may chance
to peruse them, and thus " read by deputy."
G. C.'cW.








CONTENTS.
PAGE
1 —THE LITURGPY,.7...                    7
2 —TE TRINITY,.. 33
3-JEHOVAH-EVE,......  45
4-PERSoNS OF ADAM AND JEsus...         53
5-REDEMPTION...                          66
6-GRACE,.  78
7-FAITH,......91
8-TRUTH,..                                 103
9-CHARITY',...... 114
10-CONSCIENCE,.....             123
11 —PROVIDENCE.....  135
12-PRAYERR,....... 143
13-DrATH,..                 153




O GOD, WHO DIDST TEACH THE HEARTS OF THY FAITHFUL PEOPLEI BY SENDING TO THEM THE LIGHT OF THY HOLY SPIRIT; GRANT
US BY THE SAME SPIRIT TO HAYE A RIGHT JUDGMENT IN ALL
THINGS, THROUGH CHRIST JESUS OUR SAYIOUR, WHO LIVETH AND
REIGNETH WITH THEE IN THE UNITY OF THE SAME SPIRIT, ONE
GOD, WORLD WITHOUT END. Amen.




THE LITURGY.
THE Liturgy may seem a trite subject,-one which
has been wellnigh exhausted,-but it is so deeply seated in the hearts of all true Church people, that a few
more words in reference to it, we trust, will not be
without interest. Perhaps, too, the affection of some
of our readers for the service may exceed their knowledge of what they love. In order, therefore, to increase the one, and enlarge the other, we add our voice
to those which have been already raised to do honor to
one of the chief treasures of the Protestant Church.
Whence comes this noble formula of devotion?"the diction of which," says Lord Macaulay, "has
directly or indirectly contributed to form the diction
of almost every great English writer, and has extorted
the admiration of the most accomplished infidels and
of the most accomplished nonconformists, of such men
as David Hfume and Robert Hall."  We have heard
it asserted, and it is commonly believed among the
uninformed, that the Church of England, the immediate




8                CHURCH ESSAYS.
progenitor of the Church in this country, is merely the
Roman Church reformed. With equal truth, and with
an equal share of reading, it is often claimed, that the
Prayer Book bears the same relation to the Missal.
Now, what is the truth in regard to these two points?
Let us briefly examine.
At the time Christianity became the religion of the
Roman world, the Empire, for its more convenient
government, was distributed into fourteen Dioceses, of
which the Eastern and Western sections contained seven
each. These Dioceses were subdivided into one hundred and eighteen Eparchates, and the latter again into
numerous Precincts. Christianity, it will be remembered, was then embodied in the Church Catholic, —we
use the word in its exact sense,-all Christians were
then members of the one body, and through it drank
into the one Spirit. Very naturally; the Church, as
soon as possible, adapted herself to the civil disposition
of the Empire, and became similarly distributed. Thus
the Church was divided into fourteen Dioceses, each of
which was presided over by a Patriarch or Archbishop;
the Dioceses were subdivided into Provinces under the
government of Metropolitans; and these again into
Parishes under the rule of Bishops. The Parishes also
were sometimes further subdivided; hence the Chorepiscopi.  According to the Jus CYPRmu, —a canon
passed at the Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, the third
of the four great councils whose decrees Gregory the
Great declared to be worthy of the highest veneration,




THE LITURGY.                    9
-no Bishop can lawfully epi8copize out of his own territory. Some refer this canon to the injunction of St.
Peter, 1st iv. 15, " Let none of you suffer as an allotrioepi8sco9os8." Perhaps the reference is just; however
that may be, the canon is certainly founded in reason.
For six centuries, the Bishops of the Church were
equal, differing only in the extent and importance of
their respective territories. Of course, the Archbishops
of the Dioceses exceeded them in ability and distinction, and among these the Patriarchs of Rome and
Constantinople were preSminent. The Apostles, whose
mantles fell upon the Bishops,* were equal in dignity,
authority, and we may add humility. Peter may have
had a primnacy, but no supremacy; for St. Paul declares that he himself was "not a whit behind the
chiefest of the apostles."   Gregory the Great, too,
asserts distinctly, that " whoever shall arrogate to himself the title of Universal Bishop is the precursor of
Antichrist."   Notwithstanding, in the year 606,-a
number not far removed from the number of the Beast,
Rev. xiii. 18, —Boniface, Bishop of Rome, assumed the
title and office of Universal Bishop, thus "lording it
over God's heritage" in defiance of the injunctions of
him of whom he professed to hold, and in fact attorning
to the Adversary. Phocas, the Emperor, however,
desirous that Rome should have the precedence in all
* "We require you to find out one Church upon the face of the whole
earth that hath not been ordained by Episcopal regimen since the time
that the blessed Apostles were here conversant."-HooKER.




10t              CHURCH ESSAYS.
things, spiritual as well as temporal, sustained and
furthered Boniface in his usurpation. Hence the Papacy, and the consequent "' woe " to the world.
At quite an early date, most likely in the apostolic
age, the Church was planted in Britain. The normal
features were exactly the same as those of the older
sister Churches. The British Church was, therefore, a
regular, organized branch of the Church Catholic, and
vested with all the rights incident thereto.  When
Augustine, A. D. 596, arrived in Britain, on a mission
from Gregory, Bishop of Rome, to convert the supposed
pagan island, he found there the Church, —a Church,
as old as that of the See of Rome. Instead, however,
of aiding the British Church and endeavoring to
strengthen and develop her, as he was bound by law
and charity to do, he immediately got himself made
Archbishop of Canterbury by Ethelbert, King of Kent,
and proceeded to subdue the British Church and render
her tributary to Rome. Now, the authority of the
Bishop of Rome did not cover all Italy, much less
Britain. Hence the act of Gregory was clearly a violation of the Jus Cypriun. Besides, Augustine,-who
did not derive his orders from the Roman Church, but
from the Church in Gaul, whose orders are traceable to
the Greek Church, —as soon as he became Archbishop
of Canterbury, was debarred from attorning in any way
to Rome. It was not only a craven act, but a manifest
violation of the trust involved in his office. Notwithstanding, Augustine did not hesitate to play the part




THE LITURGY.                11
which Gregory had set down for him, base though it
was. Consequently, in place of comforting the British
Church, he made war upon her as soon as he obtained
a foothold for his operations.  In this manner, the
Roman Church, contrary to law, forced her way into
Britain, and laid the foundation of her future power
and eventual disgrace in that island. It should not be
forgotten that most of the Saxons whom Augustine
converted within twenty years after his visit relapsed
into paganism. Yet, the organization which he introduced was not lost. The old British Church, too, still
lived on, principally in Wales, preserving her sound
form and pure faith. As time went on, however, the
Roman Church succeeded in overlaying the British
Church to so great a degree that the latter became
completely obscured. In truth, it might be said of her
as of Eneas:
"Obscure she went through dreary shades, that led
Along the waste dominions of the dead."
The Papal Church also obtained some recognitions
from the Government of England which greatly strengthened her hands. However, the British Church did not
despair, or succumb without " opposition to the Papal
encroachments."  "Protests," says Dr. Wordsworth,
" were made by Egfrid, King of Northumberland, and
by his successor, King Alfrid, on occasion of the first
great appeal to Rome; by King Edward the Confessor, by Henry the First, and succeeding sovereigns;




12                  CHURCH ESSAYS.
and the same spirit which dictated these remonstrances
declared itself publicly and legislatively in the Constitutions of Clarendon, A. D. 1164; and again A. D. 1246; in
the Statute of Carlisle, A. D. 1297; in the Articles of the
Clergy, in the Statzutes of Provisors, A. D. 1350-'63-'89;
of Xortmain and of Prcemunire, A. D. 1391-'2; and,
finally, in the Statutes of Henry VIII., from A. D. 1531
to 1543, which, in the opinion of the soundest English
lawyers, were not operative but declaratory acts; that
is, they were no new laws, but only vindicated and
enforced the old."    But, in spite of her resistance, the
British, or more properly, the English, Church, fell into
a state of absolute servitude to Rome, and, with the
pallium  of the latter, received the usually attendant
share of corruption. Fortunately, though humbled, she
was not destroyed.
Such was the sad position of the Church of England
when the revival of learning and the Reformation shed
new light upon the scene and changed the aspect of
the world.'The morning star " of the latter movement, says Professor Eadie, " was WYCLIFFE. In the
latter part of the fourteenth century he preached a species of Protestantism,-denying transubstantiation and
the supremacy of the Pope, and severely condemning
*SXHAKSPEARE, speaking through the mouth of King John, says:
"' No Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions.
So tell the Pope; all reverence set apart
To him and his usurped authority."
See King John, Act III.




THE LITURGY.                  13
the abuse of her temporalities on the part of the
Church." Though he did not win the crown of martyrdom, like Huss and Jerome, and did not live to see
the errors which he opposed corrected, " he will ever
be remembered," continues the Professor, "as a good
and great man, an advocate of ecclesiastical independence, an unquailing foe to Popish tyranny, a translator
of Scripture into our.mother tongue, and an industrious
instructor of the people in their own rude, but ripening
dialect."
The seed, however, which Wycliffe planted, finally
sprang up and bore fruit a thousand-fold. In the sixteenth century the flood of the Reformation spread
over Europe.  On the Continent, the Reformers swept
away the Church, while in Great Britain, the Church
took the lead, and reformed, or rather restored, herself.
Thus the Bishops of the Church, under GoD, aided by
Henry VIII.,-a man bad indeed and impelled by
selfish motives, but who doubtless acted, like Nebuchadnezzar, judicially,*-Edward VI., and Elizabeth,
led forth the Church from her Egyptian bondage and
Egyptian darkness into liberty and light. They preserved in her all that was sound and primitive, reformed
what was amiss, and presented her at last a witness to
the world, right in order, perfect in faith, pure in practice, Catholic in truth, and Protestant against error,X It has been well said, that God never uses good men to pull down or
bad men to build up. Thus, Henry was an instrument of judgment,Cranmer and his followers ministers of mercy.




14                CHURCH ESSAYS.
in a word, the National Church of England, intact as
when first overshadowed and defiled by the schismatic
power of Rome. Precisely as has been aptly said, Job
was the same "' upright " Job after the " sore boils "
were removed that he was before he was " afflicted."
" Where," said the proud and insolent Bonner, with a
sneer, to good old Hugh Latimer, " where was your
Church before Luther's time? "' Where your grace's
face was this morning before it was washed," keenly
retorted the latter. Yes, the Church of England ever
has -been, in all ages, under all phases, through evil and
good report, the " never-forsaken " National Church of
England,-the bulwark of Christianity,-and an integral member of the " One Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church." Of this honor she is justly careful, for it is a
"derivative" from her to hers.
We hope to make it equally clear, that the Liturgy
of the Church of England, and consequently of our own
Church, is no more" a rag of Popery " than the Church
herself, and that, like her, in the words of Jeremy Taylor, "'it is as ancient and primitive as it is pious and
unblamable."
As soon as the Church had become sufficiently established in the world, the Apostles and their successors, for the sake of propriety and convenience, and the
furtherance of devotion, introduced formulas of worship. This course was extremely natural, inasmuch as
the primitive Churches had before their eyes the wellknown customs of the Jews, who, from the first, it is




THE LITURGY.                15
evident, made use of forms. The Temple service was,
undoubtedly, the grandest exhibition of divine worship
that the world has ever witnessed. Apart from the
sacrificial offices and rites, Moses and the Prophets were
read, liturgical prayers were offered, the Psalms of David were chanted,-be it remembered, in the sublime
old Hebrew,-to the sound of many and various musical instruments, by the twenty-four courses of trained
singers, and the people were blessed in words prescribed by the Lord himself. In the synagogues, also,
forms were used. The latter, probably, did not differ
materially from those employed by the Jews at the
present day. Doubtless they were not the same exactly
in every synagogue, just as they are not so now. The
Affirmation, which may be said to correspond with our
Gloria Patri, has, unquestionably, always formed a
part of every Jewish service. We allude here to the
"Shama, shameaJ Yisrael, Elohika Eloi eccad,"(' Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord."  No
one acquainted with the language can hear the solemn
strain now without emotion.
Besides the practice of the Jews, —of whom came
Salvation, that is, Christ,-the early Christians had for
their guidance, not only the example of the great forerunner, John, who taught his disciples to pray, but that
of our Saviour, who gave his followers the perfect prayer which is called by his name. The petitions in the
Lord's Prayer, it is well known, are to be found almost
literally in the Jewish liturgy. The ascription at the




16               CHURCH ESSAYS.
end of the Prayer in St. M/Iatthew's Gospel, we may
add, is now conceded to be without sufficient MS. authority. It probably was interpolated into the text
from some old liturgy. Our Saviour, likewise, aside
from his use of the Psalms and Jewish forms, as Dr.
Hook observes, when in the garden having occasion to
pray three times to the same effect, according to St.
Matthew, used ever the same words. How touching an
argument to the Christian for a "form of sound
words"!
We have said that forms of devotion were employed
by the Christians at an early date. The use of the
Psalms of David as hymns of praise and thanksgiving
came naturally to all who had been Jews, and was continued as a matter of course. Our Saviour and his disciples, without doubt, sang the Great Hallel-Psalms
115 to 118 inclusive-at every Paschal Feast, for it
was the Passover Hymn; and the Apostles availed
themselves of the Psalms, when they lifted up their
voices "with one accord."  But the Lord's Prayer,
which could not have been omitted on any occasion of
either private or public worship, must be regarded as
the centre from which all forms of Christian worship
have radiated. It is worthy of notice here, that wherever forms of prayer have been adopted, the Lord's
Prayer has always preserved the first place, and only
among those who pride themselves upon extempore
efforts, is it fallen into desuetude, and the anomaly
shown to the world, of a congregation ostensibly assem



THE LITrrURGY.             17
bled in the name of the Lord, without praying to their
Divine Mlaster in the words which he commanded his
followers to use; on the contrary, praying intentionally
in other words, and often not even in his name.
It is thought that the Apostles or Bishops of the
several Churches arranged, at first, each one for his
own people, a formula of devotion. In all probability
they varied in language and expression, though they
agreed in purport and design. The earliest forms were,
doubtless, offices for the two sacraments. In fact, the
Creed can be traced to the declaration made at Baptism; while liturgy was originally the name of the
Eucharistic service. Of course, the Sacraments are the
centre of the Church in all respects. "The apostolical
canons, however," says Dr. Hook, "mention some set
forms of prayer, both before and after the Communion." This was after the Church had begun more
fully to develop herself. When she had obtained a position in the world, extended religious services came
into vogue. According to Palmer (" Origines Liturgicae "), there were four great primitive Liturgies,
namely, 1. Tlhe Oriental Ziturgy, which prevailed
from the Euphrates to the iellespont, and from the
latter to the southern extremity of Greece, and which
was generally attributed to St. James; 2. Thie Alexandrian Liturgy, which from remote antiquity has been
the liturgy of Egypt, Abyssinia, and the country proximate to the Mediterranean Sea, westward, which was
known as St. Mark's; 3. The Roman Liturgy, which




1 8               CHURCH ESSAYS.
prevailed over Italy, Sicily, and the diocese of Africa,
and which was credited to St. Peter; 4. The Gallican
Liturgy, which was long used in Ephesus, Gaul, and
Spain, and which was ascribed to St. John. That the
Apostles referred to had any part in the composition of
the above liturgies is unsustained by adequate proof.
The one by St. James, " though greatly interpolated,"
says Foulkes, "and a model of all subsequent liturgies,
is by some considered genuine." Among these liturgies
there was a general agreement. They could not differ
with respect to matters of faith and order. It is not to
be supposed, however, that the Churches where they
prevailed confined themselves entirely to them. Undoubtedly, variations were made and new prayers were
introduced, either to suit the taste of those in authority,
or to conform to what circumstances might seem to require; fQr a perfect liturgy was not made in a day nor
in a generation. Besides, St. Basil and St. Chrysostom,
in the fourth century, were both authors of forms of devotion. Every one is acquainted with the beautiful
prayer taken from the liturgy of the latter, and incorporated into our service. The Te Deum, too, the most
sublime of uninspired hymns,-thought by many to
have been composed by St. Ambrose in honor of the
Holy Trinity, on the occasion of the baptism of St. Augustine, but which is also attributed to others,-is another example to the same purpose. St. Basil and St.
Chrysostom seem to have seen apostolic liturgies. Perhaps they were those which we have said have been




THE LITURGY.                19
ascribed to St. John and St. James. Thus it is a reasonable conclusion from all we read, that the Fathers
of the Church, from the earliest time, were in the habit
of composing prayers, hymns, and devotional services
wherewith to honor God and his Christ.  Indeed,
everything goes to prove to every candid mind that
forms of worship were the rule throughout the early
Church; and. it is not unfair to say that the habit of
extemporizing is as modern as the bodies that employ it.
The Liturgies of the Eastern portion of the Church
were principally in the Greek language, though not exclusively so. Sometimes they were adapted to the vernacular of the people, whatever that might be. The
Western Liturgies were, as far as we know, all in Latin.
The chief one, —the one which finally displaced the
Gallican and every other within its reach,-was the
Roman. We will briefly consider this. Originally, it
was distributed throughout a number of books. These
were divided, according to Palmer, into two classes:
FIRST CLASS.
1. The Antiiphonarium, or responsive service, ineluding anthems.
2. The Hymnnarium, or metrical hymns.
3. The Collectacriaum, or concluding collects.
4. The Homelarium, Passionarium,  and Martyrologitrm, which need no explanation.




20                 CHURCH ESSAYS.
SECOND CLASS.
1. The Sacramentary, comprising prayers and collects, principally for the Communion.
2. The Lectionary, Lessons from  the Old and Iew
Testaments, the Commandments, the Epistles (or Apostle), and Gospels.
Subordinate to this was the Evangelistori'um, or the
Gospels.
3. The Antiphonary, containing the Offertory and
Communion anthems.
Such was the character of the early Roman Liturgy.
About the twelfth century, the books of the second class
were revised, and condensed into one volume, which was
henceforth known as the Xissal, or Mass Book.  Later,
by a decree of the Council of Trent, the books of the
first class were likewise revised and formed into one
volume, which was established by the tBull of Pius V.
in 1566 as the Breviary. Having become " depraved,"
it was revised by Clement VIII. in 1602, and again
finally by Urban VIII. in 1631. Besides the above,
there is another book, termed the Ritual, which contains various religious offices. These three works comprise the Liturgy proper of the Church of Rome.* In
addition, however, she has three minor liturgies, namely; the Ceremoniale, for the use of the Pope alone; the
Pontificate, for the Bishops; and the Pastorate, for the
* The Breviary corresponds substantially with our Morning and Evening Prayer; the Missal with the Communion service; the Ritual with
the other offices of the Prayer Book. —SHEPHERD.




THE LITURGY.               21
inferior clergy. It is almost needless to add that all
the Roman books are deeply tinctured with the corruptions of the Papal system.
The early British Church harmonized with the
Eastern or Greek Church, as is evident from her having observed Easter according to the usage of the latter. Originally, we learn from Bede, she had a liturgy
derived from primitive sources, and adapted to her purposes. Subsequently, she is supposed to have received
the Gallican Liturgy, in addition, from her nearest and
more learned neighbor, whose assistance she had invoked during the Pelagian controversy. Augustine,
when he undertook to regulate matters in the British
Church, by the advice of Gregory, framed a new liturgy from what seemed good to him in any Church, and
prescribed that to the English. "This liturgy of St.
Augustine continued," writes Dr. Hook, " for some
ages, till Osmond, Bishop of Sarum and Chancellor of
England, A. D. 1078, finding that new prayers and
offices abounded everywhere, reduced them all to one
form, and from thence it was called secundunn usum
Sarumn."  Although the " Uses of Sarum " obtained
generally throughout England, Wales, and Ireland,
there were other "Uses," namely, the Uses of York,
Hereford, Bangor, and Lincoln. These were free, according to Palmer, from the gross corruptions which
later disfigured the Romish Ritual. There were, also,
other forms of worship extant in England and Scotland,
arising from the disposition of the Bishops to arrange




22               CHURCH ESSAYS.
services, each in his own diocese, to suit his own taste.
In the main, however, they were alike, as they, doubtless, all came from the same fountains. As we find no
evidence of any effort having been made to harmonize
fully the worship of the Church throughdut England,
it is apparent that, in the sixteenth century, the rites,
ceremonies, and services must have been numerous, and
to some extent various. It must be acknowledged, also,
that in many parts they had become corrupted by the
prevailing influence of Rome, and tainted by her errors.
We come now to the Reformation.
When the Spirit of Truth wrought in the Church in
England, and it was determined to purge her from the
sins that had crept into her, and restore her to her pristine purity and position, it became all-important to reform the liturgies. At that time, in disregard of St.
Paul's injunction concerning "unknown tongues," (1
Cor. xiv.), the services were all in Latin. To correct
this grievous error, and enable the people to worship
God in their own language, was deemed of primary
necessity. Only so could " all things be done to edifying." Inspired, therefore, by such motives, the Convocation which was in session, A. D. 1537, published the
" Bishop's Book " or, " The godly and pious Institution
of a Christian Man."  It comprised the Lord's Prayer,
the Hail Mary, the Creed, Ten Commandments, and
Seven Sacraments. In 1540 it was republished, altered and improved, with the title of'" A necessary
Doctrine and Erudition for any Chrysten Man."  The




THE LITURGY.                 23
process of reform, it will be perceived, was gradual or
formative. Notwithstanding, a large step was taken in
the year 1545. Then, the "' King's Primer," —framed
by a committee of bishops and learned doctors, appointed five years previously by Henry VIII.-was put forth.
The " Primer " contained Morning and Evening Prayer
in the vulgar tongue, and is, says Dr. Hook, " not very
different from our Common Prayer."
Shortly after the accession of Edward VI., in 1548,
a full Liturgy for the Church was compiled and published by authority.  It is commonly known as the
" Frrst Book of Edward VI.,"' and resembles the present Prayer Book. At the instance of Cranmer, however, it was revised and republished in 1551, and is
called the "' Second Book of Edward VI."  The alterat.ions made by the latter were, in some, though not in
all respects, a great improvement. Nevertheless, they
were said to proceed from " curiosity rather than any
worthy cause." Both, it ought to be remembered, were
free from Ronllish error. We have now to record the
reaction which took place on the death of Edward.
Mary ascended the throne in 1553. During her terrible reign, the Church saw herself deprived of her
rights, despoiled of-her Liturgy, forced back again into
the arms of Rome, and martyred in the persons of some
of her noblest sons. Fortunately for the cause of true
religion, fortunately for the world, the reign of Mary
was short.
Elizabeth succeeded her sister in 1558, and without
2




24               CHURCH ESSAYS.
delay caused the Church to be restored to her rightful
position. As soon as possible, too, a Liturgy, revised
from the two Books of Edward, was published. This
continued in use during the lifetime of Elizabeth.
James I. followed the queen in 1603. The same
year, a conference between the representatives of the
Church, the king, and some distinguished dissenters,
was held at Hampton Court. The result of this interview was, that the Liturgy was again revised and, we
may add, improved.
INothing was done in the reign of Charles I. During the pendency of the Commonwealth, however, the
Church was again deprived of her rights, and remained
in that position until the Restoration, when she received
her own again.
After the accession of Charles II., in 1661, when the
Church once more stood in her true place, conferences
were held at the house of the Bishop of London, in the
Savoy,-a section of the town which once claimed to
possess peculiar privileges, somewhat simnilar to Alsatia,
which our readers have read about in the "Fortunes
of Nigel." At these conferences, Churchmen, Presbyterians, and Puritans were all present. As the dissenters, however, wished to annihilate the Church, and
Baxter was conceited enough to imagine that he could
make a liturgy superior to any the Church had ever
had, the conferees agreed to nothing. Nevertheless,
good came from these interviews; for, in consequence
of some suggestions on the part of certain Episcopal




THE LITURGY.              25
members, a Convocation was held the ensuing May,
when the Liturgy was again revised. "In a word,"
says Dr. Hook, " the whole Liturgy was then brought
to the state in which it now stands, and was unanimously subscribed by both houses of convocation on
Friday, December 20, 1661; and being brought to the
House of Lords the March following, both houses very
readily passed an act for its establishment.'
Such, in brief, were the steps taken by the Church of
England in the construction of her Liturgy. It will be
seen that its formation was gradual,-many years elapsing ere it was perfected,-and that it was intimately interwoven with the renovation and restoration of the
Church herself. The mode pursued. in its compilation
was as follows: the Bishops and other Divines to whom
the duty was intrusted had before them all the liturgies
extant; but instigated, as Casaubon has remarked, by
a "love for truth and a love for antiquity," they collated the most ancient liturgies, and out of them framed
a Liturgy primitive in formula and language, and scriptural in fact. Besides the Articles of Religion, nothing
new was introduced, except what the lapse of time and
change in manners demanded, and what was necessary
to render the work operative. The compilation was
initiated and carried through by the Church. It was
strictly a Church movement and work. Martin Bucer
and Peter Martyr, it is true, advised with Cranmer,
upon the revision of the " First Book of Edward VI."
The Continental reformers were not then unfriendly to




26                CHURCH. ESSAYs.
the Church of England. On the contrary, the soundness of her ecclesiastical polity was conceded by Luther,
/IMelancthon, Beza, and Calvin. Indeed, the latter addressed a letter to Edward VI. on the subject of obtaining the episcopate fromn the Church of England for the
Church of Geneva. Unfortunately, the letter fell into
the hands of Gardner and Bonner, who jesuitically replied in the name of the Church, repelling Calvin's
overtures, and thus frustrating his efforts to get the
Church established in her integrity on the Continent.
Cranmer doubtless derived assistance from the suggestions of Bucer and Martyr. They were good men.
We have already said that the " Second Book of Edward VI." was in many respects an improvement on
theyfrst.
The Dissenters likewise assisted at the Hampton
Court Conference. The alterations made in the Liturgy
then were few; but they were important, and not such
as would have commended themselves to the opponents
of the Church. At the Savoy Conference the Dissenters
were also represented.  Their efforts, however, were
confined to weak attempts either to emasculate or destroy the Liturgy, rather than to improve it. HIappily,
they utterly failed in their design.  Happily for the
Church of England,' Her spirit-stirring Liturgy, and a
scrupulous adherence to it, has, under God, notwithstanding the mutations of men and things, and all the
aspersions cast upon her, as coldness, formality, and a
want of evangelical feeling: we say, a scrupulous ad



THE LITURGY.                  27
herence to her Liturgy has preserved her integrity, beyond any denomination of Christians since the Reformation." *
The Savoy Conference was the last opportunity
afforded the Dissenters of interfering in the matter.
The final revision, which took place in the year 1661,
was made by the Convocation of the Church herself, legally assembled. Thus, as has been before insisted, the
Prayer Book is a Church work, and one of which she
is justly proud.
We have now shown, we think, that the reformation in the Church of Ellgland and the renovation of
her Liturgy were no revolution, but a restoration of
what was ancient and accepted, and a return to what
was pure and primitive.
Let us also cast our eyes upon our own country.
Htow stands the matter here?
The colonies were nearly all planted by Englishmen; hence many of the latter must have been, at
least nominally, churchmen. The religious state of
the colonies was far from good. Indeed, so indifferent
was it, that it, at last, excited attention, and even compunction, in the mother country.  In 1661, commissaries were sent to Virginia and Maryland to take charge
of matters, and efforts were initiated to supply the plantations with lawful ministers.  Subsequently, at the instance of Lord Clarendon, Dr. Mlnrray was appointed
* Religious Intelligencer (Dutch Reformed); see Bishop Odenheimer's
"Origin of Common Prayer."




28               CHURCH ESSAYS.
Bishop of Virginia by Charles II. The death of the
latter, however, frustrated the appointment. We are
not aware that the Doctor was ever consecrated. Tle
number of the clergymen of the Establishment in all
the colonies was small even in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and they were not well provided for.
Such was the position of the Church in the colonies,
when the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was
inaugurated, in the year 1701. The latter immediately
extended its fostering hand over America; and to the
efforts of that venerable society, under God, are due the
preservation and propagation of the Church in the colonial period of our history. Surrounded by active enemnies, without the aid of the Society, perhaps, she might
have died. The evil lay in the want of bishops. So
deeply was the deprivation felt, that "letters and memorials from the colonies supply, for a whole century,"
says Wilberforce, " a connected chain of expostulations;
yet still the mother country wag deaf to their entreaties.
At home they were reechoed from many quarters.
Succeeding archbishops pressed them on successive
administrations; and the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, during almost every year, made some
effort in the same cause." In 1T38, we find the Bishop
of London and others " laboring much but in vain with
court and ministry " on this subject. During Walpole's
administration, " memorials from all parts of the conti.
nent were sent home," praying that bishops might be
given them. But they produced no effect. The cold



THE LITURGY.                29
hearted minister was dead to everything connected
with religion.  Every entreaty failed.  The Church
was not permitted to grant the boon her children
craved, and they languished in consequence; but
through no fault of hers. She did what she could.
Let the responsibility rest upon those who hindered her
in the execution of her duty.
Unable to bbtain bishops legally, in this extremity,
the step thus described by Wilberforce suggested itself.
"The bishops who had been deprived of their temporalities for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to
William III. did not thereby lose their spiritual character. They had still, therefore, the power of conferring
holy orders, and of consecrating other bishops by the
laying on of hands, although their doing so was plainly'irregular and schismatical.'  This step, unhappily,
they took, at the risk of entailing a fearful schism on
the English Church. Having founded a counter-episcopate at home, they could feel little scruple in granting
to America that boon which England had so long and
so unwarrantably withheld from her. It was therefore
natural that some of the American clergy should look
to them for succor, and that they should lend a favorable ear to their requests. Accordingly, Dr. Welton,
and Mr. Talbot, the oldest missionary of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel, solicited and received
consecration from the non-juring bishops: Dr. Welton
was consecrated by Dr. Ralph Taylor in 1722, and Mr.
Talbot shortly afterward by Drs. Taylor and Welton.




30                CHURCH ESSAYS.
Political disqualifications made them unable to perform
publicly any Episcopal acts; but there is reason to believe that they privately administered the rite of Confirmnation, and at least in some cases ordained clergy."
No adequate practical benefit, therefore, resulted from
this ill-advised step. Still it manifests how great was
the anxiety to obtain the episcopate for America, and
of what importance it was regarded by those interested.
Affairs continued in the same position until after the
IRevolution.  Meanwhile the Church, shorn of her
powers, and necessarily retarded in her growth, was
kept alive by the efforts of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. After the colonies had achieved
their independence, at an early period, the churchmen
of the country instituted measures whereby the Church
in America might assume her true and rightful position
in the eyes of the world. We need not particularize
the steps that were taken to effect the object.  Suffice
it to say, that bishops were obtained from the Church
of England, and the Episcopal Church of Scotland,who derived her orders from  the formuer,-and after
some unavoidable delays, in 1789, the year the Constitution of the United States went into effect, the Church
was organized in the new-born nation. The first. work
of the first convention of the Church was, says Mr.
Evans, 1" to revise and adopt the Prayer Book. They
settled the book very nearly as it now is; only the
offices for Consecrating, Ordaining, and Instituting, and
the Thirty-Nine Articles, have since been added; the




THE LITUTJGY.               31
former in 1792, and the latter in 1801."  In 1808, the
Constitution was amended so as to give a futll negactive
to the House of Bishops in the legislation of the convention. Since that time, the Church in the United
States, though properly not established as an organ of
the Government, as she is in England, nor deprived of
her true position, as she is in Scotland, but independent,
and about her Master's business, has stood forth as the
lawful representative in this nation of the Church of
the Apostles, duly and canonically organized in conformity with Scripture and primitive usage.
The Liturgy of the American Church was compiled
from  the Prayer Book of the Church of England and
the old Scottish Prayer Book. In the revision, some
things were omitted, what was best in each retained,
and what was necessary to adapt the new book to the
institutions of the country was supplied. Space forbids
us to go into an analysis of the American Prayer Book.
In matters of faith, order, and practice, it does not differ
from the English and Scottish books; while in point of
merit, as a whole, we believe we state a common opinion, when we say that it is superior to either.
Our theme has been the Liturgy. Connected, as it
is, with the life and progress of the Church, in considering its origin and development, we have been unavoidably led into a comprehensive view of the latter. In
the course pursued, we have shown that we have a perfect branch of the apostolic Church, adorned by a " form
of sound words,"-words whlich, when not Scripture it2*




32                CHURCH ESSAYS.
self, are the faithful reflex of it, and which, if " held
fast," will never fail to insure the Church's freedom
fronom   false doctrine, heresy, and schism."  It is not
our purpose to indulge in a prolonged eulogy of the
Prayer Book. Since Cranmer's day, the " Godly Book"
has been honored by the praises of the wisest and best
of men. No one that has any knowledge in him doubts
that it is the first of uninspired compositions. We will
only, in addition, express the earnest hope that it will
continue to be the noble vehicle whereby the Church
in Great Britain and America shall continue, in spirit
and in truth, to worship the FATHER through the SoN,
until there shall be no more temple, and prayer shall
be lost in praise.




THE TRINITY.
THIS subject has ever been regarded as the first, doctrine, the chief mystery, of our holy religion. It underlies the whole of theology, and is necessary to the very
existence of the Christian faith. Indeed, it is the main
constituent of that faith. Without it, Christianity falls
from its high estate as the religion of God, and becomes,
instead, merely a religion of man. Without it the
Church —the divinely ordained exponent of Christianity
-is no longer the Church of God, but a device of man.
A full belief in the Trinity is inseparable from the calling of a Christian, from the life of a Churchman, the
true profession of the Catholic faith. The importance
of this subject is obvious. The depth of the mystery
cannot be overrated. We approach our subject, therefore, with reverence, not unmindful that it is not in the
power of man to discover the hidden things of Deity,
but only to develop what God has revealed. In such a
spirit, and so far, we shall pursue our investigation of
this wonderful mystery; and as we shall have truth for




34                CHURCH ESSAYS.
our guide and for our end, we hope that what we may
say will be found neither uninteresting nor 1nprofitable. Let us come, then, to onr subject directly.
fian cannot comprehend God. It is a principle, as
true in mental as in physical science, that the contents
must be smaller than that which contains. Hence, finite
man cannot comprehend (take n) his infinite Maker.
Yet he may conceive of Him. To aver that man cannot conceive of God, is to assume that, as far as he is
concerned, there is no God. Now that there is a God,
is evident from three undeniable proofs: First, from the
internal revelation whiclh God has made of Himself to
the inner man; so that, from time immemorial, all nations have ever recognized the existence of a Supreme
Being.  Second, from the external revelation which
God has made of Himself in His works; which works,
exhibiting, as they do, plain evidences of design, affirm
beyond question the existence of a designer —the Creator. Third, from the verbal revelation which God has
made of Himself-the Bible-a revelation which has
never been successfully impugned, and the very essence
of which, even the  "Westminster Review " admits to
be "Truth."
We affirm, then, that God is; and though man cannot comprehend God, yet he can and ddes conceive of him.
But wh1at is this conception? MIan does not conceive of God in the: abstract. God is not an idea, but a
fact, or, rather, the Great Fact.  Consequently, man
mlst conceive of him in the concrete, and the concep



THE TRINITY.                 35
tion must be susceptible of analysis and definition. In
other words, the existence of God being demonstrated,
what do we know of him?
We know that God is the one only self-existent
Being, who possesses a sole, separate, indivisible nature
peculiar to himself alone; and, in regard to which nature, everything that is, whether thought or entity, is
external.  God's nature is one. It is what we mean
when we say the Deity-the God-head.
God comprellends in his nature three necessary incontrovertible terms, viz.: infinite Wisdom, infinite
Goodness, infinite Power. They are absolutely necessary to a conception of God, we might say, to the existence of God; for God would not be God without them.
Thus, infinite wisdom is necessary, that God may know
all things aright; infinite goodness, that benevolence
may harmonize with wisdom; infinite power, that the
dictates of wisdom and goodness may be carried into
effect. It is obvious that these three terms are requisite in finite proportions to the moral constitution of
man, who was made in the " likeness " of God; hence
they must exist in infinite proportions in the nature of
God himself. They are necessary to his supremacy in
every way.
God is often said to possess certain peculiar attributes, as omniscience, omnipresence, truth, justice, mercy, love, omnipotence. All these, however, are either
different names for the three terms respectively, or are
plain correlatives of them. Thus the first four are in



36                CHURCH ESSAYS.
cluded in "'wisdom"; the two following in "goodness"; while the last is a synonym of " power." These
terms and their correlates belonging to the Divine nature, God is frequently said to be Wisdom, Goodness,
Power. He is each and all; and all are one —Beauty.
Similarly, the seven prismatic colors, on investigation,
may be reduced to three. These three absolute, primitive colors united, form one ray of pure, white light. So
the Divine nature; analyzed, it seems to be compound,
but, like the pure ray, it is really one. God is Light.
We have said that the terms of God's nature are incontrovertible. It follows that God is limited by those
terms. Thus God cannot err, for it would impugn his
wisdom. But, we are often told, God is omnipotentcannot he do anything?  XNo.  He cannot do what
would controvert the terms of his existence, the moral
elements of his own peculiar nature.  For instance,
God cannot cause 2 x 2 = 5. Why not? Because that
2x2- 4 is a mathematical truth. All mathematical
truth is a part of God's truth-the attribute of His wisdomn. God has caused 2 x 2 - 4 because it is true. It
is only a mode of expressing a truth. God must think
the truth, and must carry out his thoughts. He could
no more do otherwise than he could cease to exist.
God's perfect nature is God's perfect law. He is the
law unto tHimself.
Again: Has God, in view of His peculiar nature,
any necessary rule of action? Certainly. The aiffirmative follows as in the former case. God's nature being




THE TRINITY.                 37
both perfect and infinite, His action must be spontaneous. God does not feel, then act; nor think, then act;
nor feel and think, then act; but His infinite power instantly perfects the unerring dictates of His infinite wisdom and goodness. His purposes are from everlasting.
Hence spontaneity is the rule of God's action. It is a
consequence of His nature. He is the rule unto Himself.
So much, reason alone tells us of God. But God
has made an express revelation of Himself in Holy
Scripture. The latter not only confirms what we know
from reason, but tells us much more. It tells us not
only that there is one God, who is the only God, but
that He is a Spirit, and that' His indivisible, Divine Nature integrally occupies and informs three several Persons,-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In
the economny of God these Three Persons exercisethree
different offices, and are as distinctly three in their respective personalities as the Godhead that informs them
is one in its unity. Triuneness is the eternal constitution of the Deity as it is revealed in Scripture, whence
it has been epitomized in the creeds of the Church,the symbols of Christianity. There is one God, and in
the Unity of the Godhead three Persons. The Trinity
is one in the Unity, and the Unity is indivisible in the
Trinity.  This is the Catholic doctrine,-this is the
proposition of the Trinity.
" Aristotle's similitude of a triangle comprehended
in a square," says Sir Thomas Browne, "doth some



38                 CHURCH ESSAYS.
what illustrate the trinity of our souls, and that the triple unity of God; for there is in us not three distinct
souls, yet differing faculties, that can and do subsist
apart in different subjects, and yet in us are thus united
as to make but one soul and substance.  If one soul
were so perfect as to inform three distinct bodies, that
were a petty trinity. Conceive the distinct number of
three, not divided nor separated by the intellect, but
actually comprehended. in its unity, and that is a perfeet trinity."
If it be remembered that the Godhlead, as has been
often written, is not only a singular and indivisible nature, but the Divine Nature, as capable, therefore, of informing three persons as one, yet necessarily one in itself, the truth as well as the Scripturalness of the proposition of the Trinity, as above stated, will be readily
apprehended.  Indeed, it is only when the proposition
is misstated or confused that the doctrine of the Trinity
becomes an o~probrium mzentis, an offence, and rejected
of men.  If searchers after truth would sincerely endeavor to inform themselves distinctly as to just what
the Church requires them  to believe, they would avoid
many difficulties, and find fewer obstacles to surmount
in their upward path. lNay, if a reasonable effort'were
made on the part of Christians always clearly to apprehend all the great doctrines of their profession, the latter would be always held really, and not merely verbally, as they too often are, by those even who should
be able to give a reason for the faith which they confess




THE TRINITY.               39
with their lips. Perhaps it may be doubted whether
one actually does believe what he simply repeats without understanding. Thus discussions of the deep things
of God have been productive of good; for, by the evolution of truth, many who were unwittingly in darkness
have been brought to the light. It is true, the heart
may be right; a I do not understand Christ," says one,
"' but I will die for Him."  Ignorance is no bar to salvation, and God will accept the humble worshipper.
But Ile who made all things to the praise of His glory,
made the mind as well as the heart, and will be worshipped with the understanding also. Therefore He
has given HI-s Holy Word, written, that men may
know, and, understanding, love him. " God is a Spirit,
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth."
We refrain-as our space will not permit-from any
exhibition of Scripture proofs to sustain our positions.
They who may wish to examine for themselves will
find, in the works of Pearson, Leslie, and Jones alone,
enough to satisfy them that the Church is deficient neither in Scripture nor argument, but is amply armed
with both, for the maintenance of the doctrine of the
holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity.
From the days when St. John contended with Cerinthus to the present time, the enemies of the faith
have been instant in assailing the Church upon this
vital point. They have ever failed in their fell design.
The Church, true to her sacred trust, firm  and un



40               CHURCH ESSAYS.
shaken in the truth, has always most jealously and 1anwaveringly held fast this all-important doctrine, and
never ceased to present it, as she now presents it, as
the first principle of the true, Catholic faith. So doing,
she has perfect assurance that God is with her.
Having stated the doctrine of the Three Persons of
the Godhead, let us briefly examine their respective
offices and relations.
First. The Father, in virtue of his office, is Supreme. No man hath seen him. The Israelites knew
nothing of the Father. We know him because the Son
who was in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
him. The Father created all things; but he created
them by the Son. Without the Son was not anything
made. The Father created, yet the spirit of life, the
Holy Spirit, moved upon the face of the waters. It
was the Holy Spirit, too, who would not always strive
with man. In the Old Testament the Deity is referred
to under different appellations which are sometimes
used interchangeably. We will mention three which
we conceive to be the most prominent. Elohim —Jehovah-Rooach-Elohim. Yet the declaration is express
and constant, " HEAR O ISRAEL, THE LORD THY GOD, iS
eloi echad, ONE GOD, THE ONLY GOD."  GOD, we mlay add,
is derived from the Icelandic Godi —" Supreme Magistrate," which may be traced in its turn to the ancient
language from which the Icelandic came. The Father's
peculiar office is that of Creator. As God the Father,
he is the ancient of days —Supreme.




THE TRINITY.               41
Second. The eternal, only-begotten Son of God the
Father, being begotten of the same substance or essence, is necessarily coeternal with the Father. There
never was a time when the Son was not; for being of
the same substance, the one substance-God-to assert
that there could have been such a time, would be to
say that there was a time when God was not. The
Son, in virtue of his office as Son, is subordinate to the
Father. "My Father," he says, "' is greater than I,"
that is, in point of office. The filial subordination must
not be lost sight of. Coleridge objected to the Nicene
Creed that it was not orthodox, being deficient in this
doctrine. The office of the Second Person of the Trinity
prior to his incarnation may be summed up in the declaration, that, "by him all things were made," and that
he was the Jehovah-Angel, the Lord, the God of Israel.
The identity of Jehovah and our Lord Jesus is sustained now upon very strong philological grounds.
"Jehovah, the ineffable name of God," says a writer in
the Church ]Jfonthly (February, 1861), "' which the son
of Abraham never utters, is composed of four consoinants YHVH-J and Y being the same. Owing to
Hebrew having been originally written without vowels,
and the sound of the ineffable name never heard, the
pronunciation of it became lost. About 500 A. D., the
Alasorites, supposed to have belonged to a school at
Tiberias, invented and attached to the Hebrew text
certain points to supply the place of vowels. As the
YHVH was never" pronounced, the Masorites placed




42               CHURCH ESSAYS.
under those consonants the vowel points of the word
Adonai, —' -ord,'-the name which the Jews to this
day employ in reading whenever the mysterious name
occurs. Much discussion has arisen in regard to the
pronunciation, derivation, and signification of YHVH,
rendered, in the Anglican version of the [Bible, Jehovah. For a long time it was supposed to contain simply the idea of self-existence. Ewald, however, the
first Hebraist living, writes the word so that it will
read YAHVYEI, the future of the verb I to.be.' Hence
it means'I will be,' and is synonymous with the I AM
THIAT I AM, literally, I will be that Iwill be (Ex. iii. 14),
God's'memorial to all generations.' Undoubtedly the
YHVII contains in its root the ideas of pure existence
and self-existence. In the future form it also includes
the idea of futurity. Thus it is fully rendered in Revelation i. 8,' I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning
and the Ending, which is and which was, and which is
to come.' Elohim, the Adonai-Yehevih or Jehovah,
and Joshua or Jesus, all centre in the inrnanoo-AIL
(Isaiah vii. 14),'GoD WITH us.'"  Thus the identity is
preserved from Genesis to Revelation.
After HEis incarnation, the Second Person took upon
Himself in addition the office of Redeemer. To enlarge
upon the latter would carry us far beyond our present
limits. We need only say that the especial office of the
Son now is that of the Saviour. To him we owe the
hope of eternal Life, and as he has declared, so by him
we come to the Father.




THE TRINITY.                 43
Third. The Holy Spirit appears on the threshold
of creation. He also now maketh intercession fqr us,
and is the medium of the special grace of God to the
souls of men. His office is that of Inspirer, Comforter,
Sanctifier. He dwells in the Church during the absence
of her Lord and IHead, and keeps and guides her in her
path to Ieaven.
Thus distributed throughout the Three Persons of
the Trinity is the action of the Deity. Yet there is but
one God, and all that is thought or done is thought and
done by Him. As Sir Thomas B rowne says, " Ile holds
no counsel, but that mystical one of the Trinity, wherein, though there be Three Persons, there is but one
mind, that decrees without contradiction."  There is
but one will-the Divine will. The Unity is one in the
Trinity, and the Trinity is one in the Unity.
Such is the conception of God which we derive from
Reason and Revelation. Reason tells us that there is a
God, and that he must be Wisdom, Goodness, Power.
Revelation is a development of God from God, and discovers to us just so much as He wills we should know.
More we cannot attain to.
Canst thou by searching find out God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?
Heights of heaven! what canst thou do?
Deeper than hell! what canst thou know?"
We return, then, to our original premise-" Man
cannot comprehend God." The finite cannot include




94                  CHURCI-r- ESSAYS.
the infinite. A self-existent, perfect Being, in whom
time is no element, exceeds our understanding. He is
not as we are.  His ways are not as our ways.  His
thoughts are not as our thoughts.
" With God is wisdom and power,
Counsel and understanding are his."
This being the case,-it being of God's condescention that we knowv anything,-let us accept the declarations of Reason and Revelation.  Instead of " arguing
with God," let us adore his perfections, acknowledge his
goodness, and obey his commands, assured that we
shall one day " see  imrn as He is."
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.




J EHOI  VAH-E VE.
IN the fourth chapter of Genesis, it is related that
Eve, after the expulsion from Paradise, "bare Cain,
and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD." The
correctness of this translation has been long questioned.
The Hebrew words kanithi ish eth-Jehovach literally
mean, "I have gotten the man Jehovah."  Dr. Jarvis,
in his admirable work, " The Church of the Redeemed," strongly defends this rendering, and quotes Parkhurst in support of it. The latter says: "It is a certain rule, that where two nouns, with etA between them,
immediately follow a verb, the latter is in apposition
with, or relates to, the same subject as the former, especially if the latter noun be a proper name." Luther,
also, in his latest editions, maintains a similar rendering of the above passage. We would add that the
word ish, "man," is without the article; hence it is
defined by the word which follows in apposition, rendered emphatic by the particle etA. Thus, by some,
etA is considered to be equivalent to "even":-" I




46               CHURCH ESSAYS.
have gotten a man, even Jehovah."  But the first rendering is, in our judgment, more nearly accurate, and
equally meets the requirements of exegesis.
The speech or exclamation of Eve is a sequence of
the name -ain, "a possession," and explains what that
" possession " was, viz'., the man Jehovah. To comprehend the force of it ftlly, it is necessary to understand
the meaning of the word Jehovah. This we will endeavor briefly to explain.
The mysterious name, the iHam-sem-pho-rash, or ineffable name of God, which the son of Abraham never
utters, is composed of the four consonants YITH, — J
and Y being the same.  Owing to Hebrew having
been, like all Oriental languages, originally written
without vowels, and the sound of the ineffable name
never heard, the true pronunciation of it became lost,
even among the Jews. About 500 A. D., the earliest
Masorites, supposed by R. Sevita to have belonged to a
school at Tiberias, invented and attached to the Hebrew text certain points, to supply the place of vowels.
As the YHVH was never pronounced, the Masorites
placed under those consonants the vowel points of the
word Adonai, " LoRD,"-the name which the Jews to
this day employ in reading whenever the mysterious
name occurs. As a natural consequence, much discussion has arisen not only in regard to the pronunciation,
but to the derivation and signification of the YHVH,
translated in the Anglican version of the Bible JEHoVAH. For a long time it was supposed to contain sim



JEHOVAHI-EVE.                         47
ply the idea of being-self-existence.  But Bunsen, in
his "Bibel-Werk,"' declares that Jehovah is no word at
all, —consequently  a manufacture,-and renders it by
Der Ewige, " The Eternal." *  Ewald, however, doubtless the first Hebraist living, the successor of Eichhorn
and Michaelis at Gottirngen, condemns Bunsen's translation as not including the idea of Selbstzndigkeit, selfexistence.  Ewald  derives the word  from  kayak, the
pre-Masorite, ancient form   of havah, " to  be,"  and
points it so that it will read YAHVEH, the future of
the verb to be.t  Hence it means " I   ill be," and is
synonymous with the declaration I AM  THAT IT AM, literally, " I will be that I will be " (Exodus iii. 14, 15),
God's'memorial to  all nations."    Gesenius, in  the
latest edition  of his Lexicon, acknowledges that the
word  heretofore  pointed  Jehovah  should  be pointed
Yahveh.  Other distinguished  Hebraists in Germany,
* Carey, also, in his "Translation of the Book of Job," renders Jehovah " The Eternal."  But his reasons for doing so are quite unsatisfactory.
f Hayah doubtless became havcah through " Aremaic influence." The
Arabic correspondent, at this day, is havay. Most probably, hayah is not
only the pre-Masorite, but the pre-Mosaic form of the verb. (See EWALD's
Hist. of the Children of Israel, vol. ii., p. 204.)
The Hebrew language has, as is well known, but Two tenses-the
peifect and the imperfect.  The primary meanings of these tenses are
those of "completeness" and "incompleteness," involving the ideas of
"6past, present, and future."  But the imperfect tense certainly contains
the idea of our English future, and being often thus rendered, is by some
styled the future tense. We are inclined to the opinion that the tense in
question is so legitimately rendered in the present case, relating, as it does,
to the Great Being, " who was, and is, and is to come,-the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."
3




48               CHURCH ESSAYS.
we learn from Professor Hlawkes, of Trinity College,
Hartford, for some time a pupil of Ewald at Gattingen,
also concur in the new pointing of the YHVHI. Fiirst,
however, while he admits that the word is derived from
havakh, says that it should properly be pointed Yeheveh,
in accordance with the eheyeh, etc. of Exodus iii. 14.
That it is wrongly pointed now Jehovah with the vowels of Adonai, is admitted by all. The difference between the pointing of Ewald and that of Fiirst would
not materially vary the signification of this mysterious
word; which indeed is the important question, and the
one that we proposed to explain. Undoubtedly the
YHIVH contains in its root the ideas of Sein and SeibstdnfdigkYeit, of pure existence and self-existence. In
the future form, as pointed by Ewald, it also includes
the idea of futurity. Thus it is fully rendered in Revelations i. 8, " I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning
and the Ending, which is, and which was, and which is
to corme,"-not only o esomrenos, but o erchonzenos.
ELOHIM, the name of the Creator in the first chapter
of Genesis, composed of Ail, " almighty," in the plural
form, and the heth of the havaA, " to be,"-the AdonaiYehevih of Abraham, Gen. xv. 2, 8, —and the Jesus of
the New Testament, all centre in the immanoo-AIL
(Isaiah vii. 14), " God with us,"-the Jehovah or Yahveh-Christ.
Jah or Yah is the component of many Hebrew
names, as: Jehoash, "the fire of the Lord "; Jehoiada,'the knowledge of the Lord."  Joshua, spelt in the




JEHOVAH-EVE.               49
Law and the Prophets Yehoslua, and in the Hagiographa Yaishua, is composed of Yak and Yasha, "' to
save." It is thought by some that Joshua's original
name was fHoseah, "Saviour," and that Moses added
Yak to it after the defeat of the Amalekites, or even
later (writers are not agreed in regard to the time).
Joshua is precisely the same as the Greek Jesus, which
is interpreted by Philo to be the "salvation of the
LoRD," —the word Lord being.Kurios in the Septuagint and New Testament, and Yahveh in the Hebrew.
It is worthy of note that the latest investigations of
Mr. Layard at Nineveh, and of Sir Henry Rawlinson
in Mesopotamia, decidedly confirm the elucidation we
have given of the YHVH. The name YAv,-one of
the oldest of the Assyrian deities, the god of the air,which is unquestionably synonymous with the Hebrew
Yak or Yahvek7, has been clearly identified upon the
cylinders found at Ur of the Chaldees, Abraham's birthplace. It is also thought to form an element in the
name of a son of the king of -Ur. The verification is
singular and interesting, showing that there is no Scripture truth which is not strengthened by investigation.
The views above given of the identity of the God of
Israel and our Saviour are not new. They have ever
existed in the Church, and lain at the foundation of her
theology,-the theology of the Bible, and not of man.
Our readers will find the question referred to fully set
forth in " Pearson on the Creed," especially in a note
to the second article. It was also well presented a few




50                   CHURCH ESSAYS.
years since in a popular form, by Mr. Alex. McWhorter, in a small volume entitled the "  Memorial Name." *
We are indebted to him for much of our information.
But to return to Eve.  Our first mother did not
know her Creator by any other name than that of Elohim. She never spoke of Him  by any other name. She
did not know that Yahveh was the name of God, or
that God was to be her Redeemer. She only knew
that the promise,-" 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,"
(Gen. iii. 15),-had gone forth.  She believed that she
would be avenged of the serpent; and when Cain was
born, she joyfully hailed him  as the promised " seed"
who would
" Restore her and regain the blissful seat,"
from which Elohim had driven her in punishment for
the transgression of His command.  No wonder then
that she regarded him  as a " possession" of great price,
and that she exclaimed with exultation, " I have gotten,
the man Yahveh."
Not long  after-how  long is not recorded-Eve
gave birth to another son and called him Abel, " vanity," or " emptiness."  She did not select this name
* Siuce this was written Mr. McWhorter has taken orders in the
Church, and has republished the book above alluded to. It should be
read by all who have examined Colenso's Second Part. " It is," says Dr.
Williamson, of Toronto, " the only fundamental reply to the bishop's Part
I1. that has yet appeared, striking the whole ground from under him, by
grappling with the central point on which he rests his case."




JEHOVAH-EVE.                51
from any want of maternal feeling, but from contrasting him in her mind with his brother, in whom all her
hopes were centred, and in whom she believed the
promise to be bound up. It is recorded by Haggai
that the second Temple, " in the eyes of those who had
seen the house in her first glory, was in comparison as
nothing."  Such was Abel in the eyes of his mother;
he was as nothing in comparison with the Seed who
should " bruise the serpent's head."
We need not describe how the hopes of Eve were
blasted, or how deep was her misery and mortification
when she discovered that Cain was not the Deliverer,
but the one who, by the murder of his brother, brought
home to her heart the most fearful realization of the
effects of that sin which her disobedience had introduced into the world. " Alas now for Eve! " says Mr.
Melvill, " harboring a thought that God would not carry His threatenings into execution."  Cain, her 4" possession," was a  fugitive," and Abel had too sadly verified his name.
At the birth of Seth, which occurred some time
later, Eve appears to have been comforted; for the
name indicates that she felt Elohiim had not forsaken
her. He was still her guardian. God " abideth faithful."
The history of Eve terminates here. In connection
with the name Jehovah, however, there is one more
passage in the chapter referred to, which deserves notice, and to which we will briefly allude before taking
leave of the subject.




52               CHURCH ESSAYS.
In the last verse it is said, that after Enos was born,
" then began men to call upon the name of the Lord,"
or, as the author of the "Memorial Name " renders the
passage, "to invoke with the name Yahveh."  Then
men who had heretofore only known God by the name
of Elohim, became fully cognizant of His peculiar name,
and invoked Him and adored Him by the name Jehovah or Yahveh. We have not space to go into an analysis of the contents, but we are confident that, upon an
examination of the Hebrew, they will be found to corroborate the above translation and interpretation of the
passage in question. It is due to the author of the
" Memorial Name" to say, that among the many who
have attempted to elucidate this difficult passage, he is
the first who has really thrown any light upon it; and
we must add that he has made what was heretofore
dark perfectly clear and comprehensible. This is a
good service,- one which the Biblical exegesis will appreciate. It is also another confirmation of a principle
which cannot be too clearly comprehended or too often
enforced, that the thread of Scripture is the development of Christ. Our Saviour, on the way to Emmaus,
beginning with Moses, interpreted all things concerning
Jesus of Nazareth. The whole Bible is one concurrent
testimony to Him. " Let no one,"-therefore, as St.
Cyril enjoins,-" let no one separate the Old Testament
from the New."




THE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.
ADAM, as the first man, was the head of humanity.
Coming fresh from the hands of God, unsullied in
thought, untainted by act, at unity with himself, and
in harmony with his Maker, he must have been, in'form and aspect as well as in moral and intellectual
conformation, a model of perfection. We read that he
was made in the "image of God."  This expression
refers, we apprehend, not only to the internal image
which Adam possessed ere he was deformed by sin, but
to the human body which, it was ordained before the
foundation of the world, the Son of God should in the
fulness of time assume. Thlus Adam was the type of
humanity, Christ the antitype; the image was in Heaven. The three agree.
But we seek in vain for any elucidation of the peculiar external characteristics of the first man. Comprehending in himself the entire genus, we cannot attribute to him the specialities of any one of the various
species which time has developed out of the original




54                CHURCH ESSAYS.
stock. He was the father of every species. In his
veins flowed the "' one blood," of which it pleased God to
make all men. He was the type of all his descendants.
Each one, therefore, of whatever nation, may be said
to resemble him. Yet, quantum mutatus ab illo must
each one be, if, as Dr. South writes, " Aristotle was but
the rubbish of an Adam."
No portrait with pen or pencil remains to illustrate the first man. To do justice to the subject two
would be necessary,-'one of'the unfallen, and one of
the fallen Adam,-for we cannot but believe that his
aspect must have undergone some change upon the entering in of sin and his alienation from his Maker. As
we have nothing to guide us, all speculations are absolutely futile. We will, therefore, neither waste time
by recounting those which curious writers have indulged in, nor by adding any crude ones of our own;
but, leaving the first man, we come to the Second.
-As Adam was the head of created, so Christ is the
Head of recreated man. The former in his unfallen
state was but a man; the latter was not only a man,
and free from sin, but in Him also 1" dwelt the fulness
of the Godhead bodily."  One was the man, the other
the God-man. If, therefore, we may justly predicate
external perfection of the first man, c fortiori, we cannot do less of the Second. Is it possible, under the circumstances, that the one may have nearly resembled
the other? We think not; for, as we have already
observed, Adam was the type of his descendants, while




THE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.        55
Christ, though of two races, was, in his distinctive
traits, undoubtedly a Jew. Our Saviour's particular
humanity began after nearly four thousand years had
produced various divergences -from the type which was
" very good," and was, of course, affected by such divergences.  Our Lord, like' all men, was descended
from Adam; but, counting from the Deluge, he was
descended from Shem and I1am. "In the course of
His progenitors in the flesh, it is remarkable," says
Dr. Jarvis, " that what the world would regard as a
taint in human blood occurred at least four times.
Ruth, the mother of Obed, David's grandfather, sprang
from the incestuous race of Lot; Pharez was the son
of Judah by his widowed daughter-in-law; Rahab, the
wife of Salmon, was of the race of Canaan, with whom
all intermarriages were forbidden, and who, if a hostess,
was, from her occupation, at least of suspected fame;
and Bathsheba, whatever may have been her subsequent
life and character, was guilty of an ignominious crime,
for which she was punishable with death. Divine
Providence, perhaps, allowed these blemishes in the
Messiah's human descent, to show that no other immaculate conception was necessary but that of Hiim
who was not born of the will of the flesh, but was conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of a pure virgin."  It is worthy of note, also, that the Japhetic race
which prides itself upon its distinction was not represented, after the flesh, in Christ; But " God hath enlarged Japheth, and he hath dwelt in the tents of Shem."
3*




56                CHURCH ESSAYS.
The Jehovah-Elohim of Shem is the God of Japheth —
the Redeemer of the children of Adam.
Seeing that we are unable to give any transcript of
the form and features of the first man, how stands the
question in regard to the Second a Are we any better
informed with respect to him? The Gospels give no description of the personal appearance of Christ. For all
that we know on the subject we are indebted exclusively to tradition. As the latter, however, is interesting,
and may embrace a measure of truth, we will briefly
exhibit it to our readers.
Publius Lentulus, assumed by some to have been
proconsul of Judzea prior to Herod, is reported to have
seen the Saviour, and to have written the following letter to the Roman Senate: " At this time appeared a
man who is still living and endowed with mighty power; his name is Jesus Christ. His disciples call him
the Son of God; others regard him as a powerful
prophet. He raises the dead to life, and heals the sick
of every description of infirmity and disease. This man
is of lofty stature, and well proportioned; his countenance severe and virtuous, so that he inspires beholders
with feelings both of fear and love. The hair of his
head is of the color of wine, and from the top of the
head to the ears, straight and without radiance, but it
descends from the ears to the shoulders in shining curls.
From the shoulders the hair flows down the back, divided into two portions, after the manner of the Nazarenes; his forehead is clear and without wrinkle; his




THE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.          57
face free from blemish, and slightly tinged with red;
his physiognomy noble and gracious.  The nose and
mouth are faultless. His beard is abundant, the same
color as the hair, and forked. His eyes are blue, and
very brilliant. In reproving or censuring, he is aweinspiring; in exhorting and teaching, his speech is gentle and caressing. His countenance is marvellous in
seriousness and grace. He has never once been seen to
laugh; but many have seen him weep. He is slender
in person, his hands are straight and long, his arms
beautiful.  Grave and solemn in his discourse, his language is simple and quiet.  In appearance he is the
most beautiful of the children of men."'The above portrait, apocryphal though it be, is
at least one of the first upon record; it dates from the
earliest period of the Church, and has been mentioned
by most ancient fathers." Undoubtedly it came friom
the same source as that delineation of the Saviour which
originated, and was not infrequent, in the Eastern
Church.  " Ill the primitive ages," writes Lord Lind
say, in reference to the Western Church," the Saviour
was represented, not personally, but as the genius of
Christianity-a youthful form and figure, without any
special likeness. The traditional head with which
Europe is familiar, was unknown in the West till the
fourth century, when the original was sent to Constantia, sister of the Emperor, by Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, to whom she had written her request to that
effect.  It is, therefore, indisputably to the Greek




5 8               CHURCH ESSAYS.
Church that we owe that most expressive type which,
if not the actual likeness of the Redeemer, comes nearer
our dreams of what that likeness may have been-never
the ideal of Incarnate Deity-than Christian humanity
could have hoped to soar."  Constantine, it is said,
caused many copies to be made of the head of Christ.
Doubtless they were taken from the picture which his
sister received from the Bishop of COesarea. Harmonizing as the traditional types of the Saviour do with
the description contained in the letter of Lentulus, and
agreeing generally with each other, we cannot doubt
that there was a common source for all. We would account for the matter thus. It is reasonable to suppose
that there must have been current in Palestine, during
the greater part of the first century, descriptions of the
form and features of Jesus, some of which were probably preserved in writing; precisely as there were in
circulation among the IHebrew Christians, prior to the
publication of the four Gospels, little evangels or " declarations," as St. Luke terms them in the proem to his
Gospel.  All such descriptions proceeded primarily
from eye-witnesses, and doubtless agreed substantially.
To them might.be traced, we believe-were all records
not effaced-not only the apocryphal letter we have
quoted, and perhaps others of a similar character, but
those portraits of the Saviour which were rife in the
Eastern Church,-which, by their attractiveness and supposed fidelity, gradually obtained acceptance through
out Christendom, and were rendered permanent by the




THE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.        59
genius of Christian art. We believe, also, that the traditional type of Christ, as seen in the works of the great
masters, and elaborated in the letter of Lentulus, contains a large share of truth; and we cannot but rejoice
that the Church has had preserved to her so eminently
beautiful a representation of the appearance of her Lord
and Master when on the earth.
It is unnecessary to add further description of our
Lord's person. We have given the earliest, and, of
course, the best. The relations given by John Damascenus in the eighth, and St. Ansehaire and Nicephorus
in the ninth century, are merely modified reproductions
of the old tradition.  Nicephorus maintains that St.
Luke painted portraits of Jesus, the Twelve, and the
Virgin, and that thus their likenesses have been preserved to us. This is too improbable to need refutation on our part. Both Damascenus and Nicephorus,
we ought to say, assume that there was a marked resemblance between the Virgin and her divine Son. We
wuill copy the description of the latter, that our readers
may compare it for themselves with the letter of Lentulus. It will be remembered that the two were written
eight centuries apart.
C" It is certain there has always been a particular
tradition in the Church concerning the figure and stature of our Saviour and his Apostles. I will here describe our Lord's person after the images which are believed to have been painted by St. Luke. He was very
beautiful in the face, and about seven spithamnas (six




60                CHURCO  ESSAYS.
feet) high; his hair was inclining to be very fair, not
thick, but a little curled; his eyebrows were black, and
did not form exactly a semicircle. His eyes were large,
lively, and something yellowish; his nose long, his
beard black, and pretty short; but he wore his hair
long; for the scissors had never been used upon his
head, nor had the hand of any one touched him besides
that of his mother the Virgin, when he was as yet a
child. His neck was not stiff, nor his carriage lofty or
proud. He stooped a little with his head; his complexion was almost the color of wheat; his countenance
neither round nor sharp, but, like his mother's, something longish, and pretty much upon the vermilion.
Gravity, prudence, meekness, and clemency, were painted in his face; in a word, he perfectly resembled his
divine mother."
There are evident discrepancies, especially in regard
to the color of the beard and eyes, between this -description, the letter of Lentulus, and the traditional portraits
of the Saviour. The latter appear to have been inflfenced by the spirit of antique beauty, the poetry of art;
the former by the undeniable fact that Christ was a
Hebrew. Which comes nearer the truth, we will leave
our readers to judge. The general characteristics in
these and in all the descriptions of the human person
of our Lord that have come under our observation we
conceive to be the same. It will be remembered that a
measure of truth is all that we have claimed for the earliest and, perhaps, the best of them. [No actual like



THE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.        61
ness, but only a general conception, of the aspect of the
Son of Man, has been handed down to us; and, such as
it is, we receive it with satisfaction. Variations in the
delineations of Christ may be traced in the pictures of
the middle ages; but as we are not writing from the
standpoint of the artist, it is unnecessary to pursue the
investigation further.
We cannot leave the subject without noticing one
singular tradition which was prevalent at an early day
concerning our Saviour's person. It is this: There was
a report current among some of the primitive Christians, that Jesus, so far from possessing dignity and
beauty of aspect, was mean in stature and ill-favored in
countenance. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Clement
of Alexandria, maintain the opinion with their usual
force. Origen wavers, inclining both ways; while
Celsus, the physician who flourished in the time of Tiberius, " in the true spirit of Grecian art and philosophy," says Dean Milman, " denies that the Deity could
dwell in a mean formnor in a low stature."  The impression we have referred to, arose from a literal rendering of the following passages of the Prophet Isaiah:
"' As many were astonished at thee; his visage was
so marred more than any man, and his form more than
the sons of men." Is. lii.'14.
"He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of men." Is. liii. 2.
If St. Peter's rule of exegesis is correct-" No




62                CHURCH ESSAYS.
prophecy of Scripture is of any private (i. e. separate,
according to Bishop  Horseley) interpretation,"-we
have only to collate the above passages with other portions of Holy Writ to perceive that a Procrustean literalism is quite inadmissible. For instance:Isaiah says: " In that day the Branch (of Zech. iii.
8, and Jer. xxiii. 5) of the Lord shall be beautiful and
glorious."  Is. iv. 2.
Zechariah exclaims:'" How great is his beauty! "
Zech. ix. 17.
The Psalnlist, in more than one place, praises the
" beauty of the Lord," and affirms: "Thou art fairer
than the children of men."  Psalms xxvii. 17; xlv. 2.
Moses, too, in one of his prayers, refers to "the
beauty of the Lord." Psalm xc. 17.
Finally, Solomon, chanting the praises of the " Beloved " in his sublime lyric, declares, that "I He is the
chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely."
Cant. v. 10, 16.
Need we say more in refutation?  Toward the
close of the fourth century, when the spirit of poetry
began to exhibit itself in the Church, and the influence
of Christian art to be felt, the dishonoring impression
relative to our Saviour's person appears, to a great extent, to have worn away.  " Jerome, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine, with one voice," says Milman,
" assert the majesty and engaging appearance of
Christ."   Chrysostom  affirms that " the Heavenly
Father forced upon him in full streams that corporeal




TIHE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.         63
grace which is distilled drop by drop upon mortal
man;" and Augustine declares "' that He was beautiful on his mother's bosom, beautiful in the arms of his
parents, beautiful upon the cross, beautiful in the sepulchre." Still later some of the Fathers, such as Basil
and Cyril, reproduced the old story of the meanness of
the Redeemer's form and countenance; but this, we are
led to think, arose from an ill-considered desire to exalt
the moral beauty of Christ by contrasting it with unseemliness of person. However, all that is changed;
truth has prevailed, we believe, and Augustine has triumphed over Cyril.
We have briefly discussed the question of the respective form and features, the appearance of the first
and the second Adam. Concerning the former, we are
obliged to admit that we know nothing, except that,
like the residue of God's creation, he was "' very good."
That phrase, under the circumstances, surely intimates
perfection. We may fairly assume, therefore, that in-:' Adam, the goodliest man of men since bornGodlike, erect, with native honor cladThe image of his glorious Makerkshone."
The Apollo, were it instinct-with life and untainted by
sin, would furnish but la feeble conception of the unfallen Adam.  In the sight of God he was very good.
Of the latter or second Adam, we may say that St.
Luke permits us to infer that, in childhood, he was gracious and attractive; prophecy speaks of him as won



64               CEIURCH ESSAYS.
derful and beautiful; and tradition, which we deem to
be to some extent truthful, accounts -him to have excelled the children of men in majesty, in grace, and in
nobleness of mien. It would be strange, indeed, when
the form that was made after the likeness of God was
very good, if the form in which it pleased God to enshrine himself, should be deficient in dignity and grace.
No, if the face is an index of character, if the outer
man is expressive of the inner, the beauty in Jesus
which could not be hidden, must have been adorned
with outward grace, and rendered effective in an eminent
degree by every attribute of human beauty commensurate with truth. "Assuredly," says St. Jerome,  " the
splendor and majesty of the hidden divinity shone even
in his human countenance."
It should be ever remembered by all Christians, that
the form which the eternal Son of God took when he
was born into the world and joined the human nature
to the divine, he assumed neither in appearance merely,
nor temporarily, as was the case when, as the JehovahAngel, he appeared to Abraham at the "tent door"
(Gen. xviii.), came to meet Joshua as " captain of the
host of Israel" (Josh. v. 13), or " did wondrously" in
the presence of Manoah (Judg. xiii.), but he took it
forever. This was, this is, a part of his ineffable condescension. This, too, is what raises the human above
the angelic nature, and places it at the pinnacle of creation. The form which the Son in his humiliation assumed, he redeemed and carried with him when he as



THE PERSONS OF ADAM AND JESUS.       65
cended to the right hand of the Majesty on high. He
has it now; and in it he will return to reign and to
judge, to be to each either the Christus Indemnificator
or the Christus Consolator. Then we shall " see him
as he is,"-we shall " see the King in his glory."




REDEMPTION.
THE doctrine of the Redemption involves the doctrines of the Incarnation and Atonement; indeed, we
might say, all the doctrines of the Church. In approaching this important question, therefore, we are
strongly reminded of the remark of an old clergyman
whom a graduate from a theological seminary had requested to read his first sermon, desirous, of course, of
profiting by the advice of his experienced friend. " Do
you not intend," said the old gentleman, after kindly
perusing the well-studied discourse, " to write any more
sermons?')" Certainly," replied the young clergyman,
" I hope to write many more. Why do you ask the
question?"; I observed," quietly responded the other,'; that you had put the whole of the Christian religion
in this one, and it occurred to me that, perhaps, you
might not intend to write any more." We assure our
readers that we have no designs upon their patience.
We do not propose to assume, in the language of a distinguished bishop, "that the majority of a Christian




REDEMPTION.                6T
community do not know what Christianity is "-an assertion which is not less true than sad —for the purpose
of opening the way for the evolution of the whole subject in a single essay. We rather intend to follow the
example of the orator who divided his subject into one
hundred parts, and then dispensed with ninety-nine of
them-that is, thoroughly appreciating the active power
of a principle when duly lodged in the mind, he omitted a great deal of mere verbiage, and confined himself
to the leading idea which he wished to enforce. In like
manner we shall endeavor to present a concise view of
the distinctive doctrine of Christianity. We say distinctive, because Christianity is a scheme of Redemption.
We have often heard it asserted that the essence of
the Gospel, the peculiar excellence of the Christian religion, consists in the noble precepts laid down in the
Sermon on the Mount.  Thus they would condense
Christianity into one sentence, viz: " Whatsoever ye
would that man should do unto you, do ye so even unto
him."  Now, Confucius uttered almost identically the
same sentiment five hundred and fifty years before
Christ; and Socrates enunciated precepts, such as " forgiveness of injuries," quite in accordance with those delivered in the sermon referred to. M'any heathens and
infidels, too, have obeyed the laws, and exhibited a
temperance, self.denial, and kindness of feeling that
would compare favorably with those virtues as displayed by acknowledged Christians. There must be




68               CHURCH ESSAYS.
something else, then, that differences the Christian religion from every other. Judaism contained Christianity. If it had any vitality, it derived it from Christ.
The law, we know, was merely a " pedagogue."  We
therefore pass over-Judaism in our-examination. All
other religions of which we have any account, comprehend a cultus, or worship, and a moral life. The measure of each depends upon the character of the religion.
Only Christianity teaches that man is purchased with a
price; that he must love his fellow-man because God has
loved him; that he must forgive his fellow-man because
God hath forgiven him. Only Christianity teaches that
man, created in the image of God in Adam, must be
recreated in the image of God in Christ. What distinguishes the Christian religion, then, from every other, is
that it is the religion of Christ. The mode is Redemption; the end is Sanctification; the formula is the
Church. Man is out of Christ; the Church is the instrpument by which he may be in Christ and Christ in
him.
But to return to the doctrine of the Redemption in
particular. We have said that it involves those of the
Incarnation and Atonement. The truth of this assertion
will become apparent as we proceed. We will, therefore, consider the two doctrines in their natural order.
We premise that there are four natures of which we
are.cognizant.  One, uncreate, self-existent, infinite,
eternal-GOD; one, created, spiritual, immortal-Angels; one, created, finite, immortal-fan; one, crea



REDEMPTION.                 69
ted, indifferent, mortal-Animalcs. Of the first we need
not speak here. Of the second we will not speak, as it
is aside from our subject, and we would avoid any curious speculation. The third comprises in its entirety an
immortal spirit (pneuma), an animal soul (psyche), and
a material body (sarx lkai aima) —geist, seele,'and leib.
The fourth possesses an animal soul and a material
body more or less inferior to that of the second. It is
indifferent, having no moral quality, and is completely
mortal.
What differences, in the highest degree, the human
from the animal nature, is the immortal spirit which
informs the former and renders it accountable. For
instance, man reasons; so does the animal, though in a
lower degree. Man has instinct; so has the animal,
and in a higher degree. Alan remembers and recollects. The animal remembers, but cannot recollect.
Man's nature is positive; his acts have a moral quality;
they must be relatively either good or bad. The animal nature is indifferent; its acts are neither good nor
bad; they are natural. Man is a living spirit, an accountable being, made in the image of God, immortal.
The animal is a creature merely, unaccountable, made
to perish, mortal. The one will ascend to God; the
other will bow down in the dust forever.
What differences the human from the angelic nature is, that though man's body was made of the dust
of the earth and must thither return, his nature, through
Christ, has been brought into contact with the Divine




7o0              CHURCH ESSAYS.
nature, and thus ennobled. The extremes of position
which the human nature occupies are wonderful.
" With what little humiliation," exclaims Pascal, "the
Christian compares himself with the worm of the earth!
with what little pride he believes himself united to
God!"
The human nature was created last. On the sixth
Mosaic day God created Adam.  In him dwelt the
whole human nature. Subseq~uently it was varied and
enlarged in its presentation by Eve being taken out of
Adam. She was not created like Adam, or as Adam,
but in Adam. Hence Eve was as much the child of
Adam as Seth, Solomon, or Salome.
The nature of Adam  and Eve was originally upright. Their wills were in accordance with the will of
God. They knew no sin. Tempted, however, by Satan, they transgressed and fell from their pure estate.
Their wills became, in consequence, diverse from the
will of God, and their tendency evil continually. The
nature which was all in Adam necessarily descended in
its entirety to his posterity. Precisely as the episcopate which was all in Christ, descended all to the Apostles, and from them to their successors. The episcopate
is one. Human nature is one in the same sense.
A fearful result of the disobedience of Adam was,
that he and his descendants, who must inherit the fallen
nature, became amenable to the punishment of death,
— not physical death, for that was in the world before
sin entered, and was not a consequence of sin,-but




REDEMPTION.                 71
spiritual death —the everlasting punishment, in some
form, of man hereafter. In comparison with the latter
or "' second death," physical death sinks into insignificance. "The death of the body is not reckoned," says
Alford, " as death any more than the life of the body is
life in our Lord's discourses. Physical death is overlooked and disregarded in the New Testament in comparison with that which is really death." Besides, to
fallen man, physical death, like labor, is a blessing. It
is not really death, but the beginning of life indeed.
"For a Christian to be amazed at death," says Sir
Thomas Browne, " I see not how he can escape this dilemma-that he is too sensible of this life, or hopeless
of the life to come."
The purposes of God, however, which are from everlasting-with him there is no variation-could not be
frustrated by the machinations of Satan or the weakness of man. INo sooner had the latter fallen than the
promise of t.he Redeemer, the " Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world," was published by the Almighty, and the way opened not merely for the restoration of man to his pristine state, but for his renovation
and adaptation to a state of which that from which he
fell was only a type. The Paradise of Christ will excel
the Paradise of Adam  as much as the second man
excels the first.
We must not suppose, for a moment, that God. failed
in any way, that Satan or Adam compelled him to alter
his way or vary his ultimate design. With the A14




72               CHURCH ESSAYS.
mighty is perfection; his ways are eternal; his
thoughts are equal; his plan is one. Creation, as has
been finely said, was made for Redemption. Were it
not so, there would be no place for Christ in the
scheme of this world.  Now we know that all God's
purposes are in Christ. Hence Christ's Redemption is
God's plan. Praise ye the Lord!
The first step in the Divine plan was the Incarnation. It took place thus. In the fulness of time, God
the Father sent his only-begotten son, begotten of his
own, one, substance, God with himself, to redeem mankind. By the power of the Holy Ghost a man-child
was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, whose
nature was the same as that of any other virgin. To
this child, in the womb, God the Son voluntarily joined
himself; his will being the same with the will of Him
who sent him. Thus the God-man was born into the
world. The complete union of perfect God and perfect
man, inseparable forever, formed one Christ.  Oar
Saviour did not take upon himself the nature of Adam
before the fall. Had he done that we should have no
part in him. But he took upon himself the nature of
Adam after the fall. Yet Christ knew no sin. The
perfect union of the Divine and the human purged the
latter from the Sill incident to its fallen state. God and
sin could not be one, and Christ is one. Moreover,
God took the human nature into the Divine for the
very purpose of cleansing the former. Suscopit, et suscipit ut muandaret suscipiendo. " He took it, and he




REDEMPTION.                  73
took it that he might cleanse it in taking it," as St.
Augustine observes.
Sanctification, or the cleansing, renovation, and exaltation of the human nature, began in the individual
Jesus, and was perfected in him with respect to himself without regard to time. If we add that the exaltation was perfected legally at the Ascension, when
Christ presented the human nature, having caused it to
triumph over death, perfect, to God the Father, it will
not alter the proposition, as the latter was the legal conclusion of the great transaction.  But Sanctification
with respect to the whole human nature was not perfected at once. The spiritual life, however, which it
had lost in the fall, was restored. By God's condescemsion in becoming man, the human nature already tried
and condemned, was brought into absolute contact
with, and joined to the Divine nature. Thus the
whole human nature by one act was raised from  its
abased, spiritually dead, insalvable state, reendowed
with life, and declared salvable. The character or tendency of human nature was not altered. It remained
evil continually —that is, its inclination is to evil rather
than good. But the status of the nature before God
was changed. Whereas, it was dead and could not live,
the germ of life was introduced into it, and man became really a " living spirit."  Whereas, being dead, it
was insalvable, being quickened, it became salvable.
Further, the general grace granted to man through the
elevation of his nature by the effect of the Incarnation




74               CHURCH ESSAYS.
enables man to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, to
turn to God and seek salvation. The human nature
was not only revived by the operation of the Incarnation, not only changed in regard to its legal status before God, but it was enabled.
Yet human nature was not renovated,-man was
not absolutely saved by the Incarnation. To effect
the renovation of human nature, which in its perfection
is salvation, another step in the Divine plan became
necessary, viz: a propitiation for sin. This brings us
to the Atonement.
At the time appointed in the council of God-the
mysterious Senate of the Trinity-the Lord Jesus
Christ, who, by virtue of his Godhead, belonged to that
Senate where there was but one will-the Divine will
-and whose human will was in perfect accord with his
Divine will, voluntarily submitted to be crucified, and
thus became a ransom for the sins of man both original
and actual.
The propitiation does not consist in Christ's sufferings being an equivalent for the sin of the whole world,
which was indeed laid upon him, and thus the debt
paid; nor, that through such suffering, the law violated by Adamn and the nnkept Mosaic law were vindicated, the sanction of physical death having been enforced at the expense of an innocent person voluntarily
undergoing the penalty; for then man would not be
liable to judgment. It consists in this, that man, being
fallen, and it being certain that he will sin, and yet




REDEMPTION.                75
have nothing to offer to God whereby he may obtain
forgiveness of sin, God, "who was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself," was pleased to make Himself,
in the Person of his Son, an atonement for sin which
man might plead at the bar of the Majesty on high,
provided he should do so in faith, and thus obtain not
only pardon, but reward. Thus man's responsibility
is united to God's work, and man's moral agency is
conserved. Thus, too, God's justice and holiness, which
are inseparable, are maintained, His unspeakable love
displayed, and His glory, to the praise of which all
things in heaven and earth consist, is manifested
throughout creation and Redemption, from everlasting
to everlasting.
The action of the Atonement differs from that of
the Incarnation, though both are parts of one scheme.
In the latter there was an Opus operaumnz; the volition
was all on the part of God. Man had not, and could
not have anything to do in it; he was the quiescent recipient through his common nature of the benefit. To
profit by the Atonement, however, they to whom it is
directly offered-that is, they to whom the Gospel is
preached-must cooperate. They must have faith; for
God has decreed, that, as man being concluded under sin
can have no righteousness of his own, he will accept of
faith in Christ in lieu thereof. [Man is not made righteous, but the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him
and he is accounted righteous for his faith. This righteousness, which theologians term "forensic," must not




76                CHURCH ESSAYS.
be confounded with the practical righteousness which
flows from and is the evidence of a living faith. (Cf.
Rom. v. 1, and Heb. xii. 11.) The first is Justification;
the second is the beginning of Sanctification.  " Without holiness no one shall see God."
Faith, it will be perceived, is of vital importance.
The grace which flows from the Incarnation will inspire
initial faith-that is, it is sufficient to do so-faith to
arise and be baptized, and become a member of Christ
and an heir through Him  of salvation.  It is each
man's own fault if he rejects the proffered grace. In
addition, God has promised to send his Holy Spirit to
dwell not only in the Church during the absence of her
Lord, but also in the heart of every one.who shall not
refuse him, to keep alive faith. Thus " by grace are
ye saved through faith."
"Grieve not the Holy Spirit."  For, as Doctor
Trench shows, "the spiritual is superinduced on the
natural, and grace does not dissolve the groundwork of
individual character."  Man remains man; his will is
unfettered: he is a free agent; he can neglect or accept
" such great salvation." Contemplate the two pictures.
If he neglect it, he will surely die,-if he accept it,
Christ, who has fulfilled the office of Redeemer, in exalting the human nature-of Prophet, in proclaiming
the glad tidings-of Priest, in offering the sacrifice —of
Victim, in being himself the "slain Beauty of Israel "
-shall return to exercise the office of Judge- Eternalby the means of faith he will be enabled to plead the




REDEMPTION.                7Y
merits of Christ, and will receive, according to God's
covenant, pardon and salvation. He no longer will be
simply accounted righteous, but he will be made righteous. He will not be restored to Eden, the Paradise
of Adam, but admitted to the New Jerusalem, the city
of the Lamb. "It is not to restore the old,'" says Alford, " but to create the new, that Redemption has been
brought about. Whatever may have been God's image
in which the first Adam was created, it is certain that
the image of God in which Christ's spirit recreates us
will be as much more glorious than that as the second
Man was more glorious than the first."
Such is the doctrine of Redemption, which the
Church teaches as revealed in Holy Scripture; and to
which her sacraments, prayers, and teachings are all
subordinate. Christ is the Redeemer; the Church is
the minister of Redemption to mankind. IHappy are
they who believe in God, confess the Lord Jesus, and
listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
We forbear to pursue the subject further. When
we reflect upon the mystery, the magnitude, and the
mercy of the great plan of the Almighty which we
have endeavored to unfold, our minds are filled with
wonder and admiration; and we are tempted to exclaim with the Apostle: " 0 the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? "




GRACE.
CONFESSEDLY grace is a difficult subject.  Perhaps
no point in theology, save the doctrine of the Trinity
and its correlates, has given rise to more discussion.
This proceeds to some extent from the question interlacing itself with other important doctrines.  The latter, also, adds to its complexity; for relative subjects
always influence each other's solution. Thus an error
with respect to grace surely repeats itself in other parts
of that great scheme which is so permeated by this
principle that in contradistinction to pure natural religion and the letter of the Mosaic dispensation, it is
termed the scheme of grace. It must not be inferred,
however, that grace, which is the antithesis of nature,
as we shall hereafter more particularly show, was wanting in the Mosaic dispensation.  Quite the contrary is
the fact.  But grace did not hold so conspicuous a
place in the type as it does in the antitype, in the shadow as in the reality.  Christ was hidden in the law, revealed in the Gospel.




GRACE.                   79
All Christians must, from the necessity of the case,
accept a doctrine of grace; yet much diversity of opinion exists in regard to the nature of grace, its process
and effect. Admittedly the question is not easily defined. Nevertheless we will attempt the task; merely
premising that our standpoint is that of the Church as
declared by sincere, Protestant Church theologians.
We will begin by separating our subject and putting
it in a definite position, that it may be firmly seized and
plainly examined.
Grace proper —we refer to it here in its theological
acceptation, and not in any of the various senses in
which the word is often used-falls naturally under
three principal heads, viz.: 1. General Grace; 2. Sacramental Grace; 3. Particular Grace. We will treat
our subject accordingly, and we hope thus with more
clearness.
When God breathed into Adam  the "breath of
life " (literally wvo lives-the natural and the spiritual),
He endowed him with a nature which we call "human."' This nature Adam possessed entire in himself.
By the instigation of Satan, through the disobedience
of Adam, sin entered into the world and corrupted
Adam's nature, so that it became guilty in the sight of
God. Hence Adam individually and generically was
condemned to death in accordance with the sanction attached to God's command: 1" Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in the day
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The death
4*




80               CHURCH ESSAYS.
referred to was not physical death,-for that had ever
been the correlative of animal life, and had in an especial manner marked the close of every one of the
completed six formative eons known as Mosaic days,but spiritual death; a death which began by the introduction of sin through the Devil, to be finally perfected
in " everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord."  We care not to define it here more particularly. The heirs and descendants of Adam, from Eve
down, necessarily inherited the corrupted or fallen nature; and thus all mankind, obvious to death, lay under
the ban of heaven. Had they realized their position,
verily might they have exclaimed: " Our punishment
is greater than we can bear."  But, as has been finely
observed: " Man's extremity is God's opportunity."
The Prophet Isaiah writes: " The Lord saw that there
was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto him;
and His righteousness it sustained him." (Is. lix. 16.)
Whent the Eternal Son, being God with the Father,
was incarnate, He took the one human nature up into
His own Divine nature, and so raised it from its state
of condemnation to a position where it could, on God's
terms, be saved. Thus, at one blow, God redeemed
human nature from the ban which sin had brought
upon it, and rendered it amenable to grace. Further,
He endowed the nature with a grace which counteracts, in a measure, its debility, enables the nature beyond what itself was equal to. This grace operates




GRACE.                   81
upon the nature in aggregate, or constitutionally. It
is what we call General Grace; it is the grace of our
Lord Jesus Chriist.
But the Incarnation, although it changed the legal
status of mankind by the work wrought upon the common nature, did not save man. Why? Because God,
while in one respect He treats maf as a whole-a
race —in all others, He treats him as an individual, requiring from him individual character. God does not
save man by an opus operatum, but offers to save, and
will covenant to save him, if he will obey His commands. Neither is the grace which flows from the Incarnation, though it removes the torpidity of the nature, and enables man thus far, that he is a responsible
being, accountable to Christ, sufficient in all respects
for a nature which, though redeemed, is still fallen.
Man, be it remembered, is " very far gone from original
righteousness."  Moreover, sin is death; salvation is
life. Hence the necessity of an atonement to annul sin
by the satisfaction of the law. The death of Christ was
the correlative of His birth. To minister Himself and
his atonement to man, our Saviour planted His Church
and ordained His ministry. The work of the latter,
however diverse or various it may be, heads up in that;
that, finally, is its end and sum. In that Church, which
we call Orne, because we never heard of any other;
Holy, on account of Christ, its Head, the holiness incident thereto, and the holiness required of it; Catholio
or Uni2ersal with regard to time, place, people, faith,




82                CHUERCH ESSAYS.
and practice, and its Divine ministration of all the
means of grace; Apostolic, having been built upon the
foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ
being the chief corner-stone, and continuing steadfastly
in  the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship —in that
Church so fitly framed, so nobly planned, so Divinely
called, our Saviour instituted two eminent Sacraments,
"' the outward signs of inward and spiritual grace." By
the first, man is baptized into Christ, and the life of
Christ is grafted into him; this is the life by which he
lives, having become a member of Christ's body, and
entered into covenant with God. By the second, man
obtains, if he partake rightly, spiritual food for the
nourishment of the life which was grafted into him in
baptism. The mutual operation of the two is manifest.
The one demands the other, while both are direct mediums in the Church for the application of the atonement. Out of each of these Sacraments flows a grace
to the due recipient; for Christ is acting in them;
otherwise they would be but mere forms. The grace
which is thus vouchsafed is something which God grants
in addition to the life sacramentally born and nourished. It affords aid and comfort against the enemy,
and succors man in his endeavor to profit by such distinguished means of grace. This grace we term Sacramental Grace; it is also the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
In addition, God also grants unto man individually
further grace to meet every emergency, to act and to




GRACE.                   83
endure, to live and to die. It is seen in the prevenient
grace which prompts man to repent, to seek Christ, and
to enter into covenant relation with God. It is seen in
the " heavenly grace " incident to the Apostolic rite of
Confirmation. It is seen in the grace which converts
the heart, —a conversion which every adult soul requires; for the Church is not, as the Romanist in fact
maintains, a great mechanical Sacrament, which saves
per se,- and it is seen in the " grace to help in time
of need " of which every one must feel the want, and
by which alone can man run well, or hopefully, the
race that is set before him. "' We have no power," says
Article X., " to do good works pleasant and acceptable
to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing
us, that we may have a good will, and working with us,
when we have that good will."9' This is what we call
Pzarticular Grace; it, is " by Christ," as all grace is by
Christ, but it is especially the Fellowship of the Holy
Ghost.
Although we have thus classified grace, and it appears not less varied than multiplied in its manifestation, let it not be supposed that grace is deficient in
unitv. It is all one even as Ie is one. Creation, Redemption, Sanctification, are all God's act, parts of one
great whole, though their execution brings out, and before us, the three Divine Persons of the Godhead. It
concerns not how grace comes; it is all God's grace
which emanates from His love. -God's love in all its
plenitude of grace and power streams out to man,




84:        CHURCH ESSAYS.
whence, having performed its office, it returns to its
Fountain, bringing with it the love of God.
God's grace must not be confounded with His mercy,
nor thought an evasion of justice. "The word grace is
often found," says Dean Trench, ASyn. xlvii., "associated
with mercy, (1 Tim. i. 2; 2 Tim. i. 2; Tit. i. 4; 2 Jno.
3). But, though standing in closest inner as well as
outer connection, there is this difference between them,
that grace has reference to the sins of men, mercy (compassion here) to their misery. God's free grace is extended to men as they are guilty, His compassion is
extended to them  as they are miserable. The lower
creation may be, and is, the object of God's compassion,
inasmuch as the burden of man's curse has redounded
also upon it (Job. xxxviii. 41; Ps. cxlvii. 9; Jonah iv.
11), but of His grace man alone; he only needs, he only
is capable of receiving it. In the Divine mind, and in
the order of our salvation as conceived therein, the
compassion precedes the grace. God so loved the world
with a pitying love (herein was the mercy-compassion) that He gave His only begotten Son (herein the
grace) that the world through Him might be saved; cf.
Eph. ii. 4; Luke i. 18, 79. But in the order of the
manifestation of God's purposes of salvation the grace
must go before the mercy. It is true that the same
persons are the subjects of both, being at once the
guilty and the miserable; yet the righteousness of God,
which it is just as necessary should be maintained as his
love, demands that the guilt should be done away be



GRACE.                   85
fore the misery can be assuaged; only the forgiven can,
or indeed may, be made happy; whom He has pardoned, He heals; men are justified before they are
sanctified. Thus in each of the Apostolic salutations it
is first grace, and then mercy which the Apostle desires
for the faithful (Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3; 2 Cor. i. 2;
Gal. i. 3; Eph. i. 2; Phil. i. 2); nor could the order
of the words be reversed." We will only add that mercy
before grace is angdice, compassion; mercy after grace,
clemency.
Two questions naturally arise out' of our subject,
viz.:-1. How does Grace operate? 2. Is it resistible?
The first question suggests the oft-repeated query,
How does Inspiration act?-We must admit that we
can no more define precisely how Grace operates than
how Inspiration acts. The Spirit of God bloweth where
it listeth. From what we know, however, of God and
of man's spiritual and moral organization, we may assume that grace is a power of God,-that it operates
upon man's spiritual or higher nature both as an influence and as a force; beginning, doubtless, as the former, and arising as received to the latter. General
Grace, as we have described it, affects human nature
in the aggregate-individuals generally; Sacramental
Grace, every regenerate soul that duly partakes of the
sacraments; Particular Grace, each individual, according to the purpose of God. Grace operates, we repeat,
upon man's higher nature. Thus it may energize faith,
awaken conscience, kindle love, or warm the heart. It




86                  CHURCH ESSAYS.
is not, like faith, one of the powers of man's spiritual
nature, but it is a power shed out by God through the
second and third persons of his Deity upon one or all
of the powers of the spiritual nature of man. Its highest office with respect -to fallen man we deem to be that
of arousing and maintaining in activity, faith. " By
grace are ye saved through faith."  Grace must precedet
faith, must energize faith; the latter will produce belief;
action-a proper use of the means of grace which leads
to the being in a state of grace.  Thus grace is both a
cause and an effect,-a power of God and a state of
godliness. Precisely how Grace operates, however, we
confess we are unable to define or illustrate.  The same,
as we have before remarked, is true of Inspiration. But
we need not be curious on these subjects. They belong
to the mysteries of Deity; and by searching shall we
"find out God."
Our second question, —Is Grace resistible — is one
that has entered into many a polemic field.  Pelagius,
in the early part of the fifth century, denying the fall
of man, and averring his ability to walk uprightly of
himself, took the extreme ground of rejecting the doctrine of grace altogether; considering the latter not
only quite superfluous, but derogatory to the dignity of
human nature.  He was fiercely and successfully opposed by St. Augustine.*   This heresy, like many
Perhaps Pascal's finest letters are on the question of grace. His dis.
cussions of the pouvoir prochaine-grace sei isante and grace efficace-are
inimitable.




GRACE.                    81
others, has been reproduced in modern times by some
who are " wise beyond what is written." It leavens all
who, while they profess to believe, maintain under any
phase hmunanitarian views, or glory in the present as a
humanitarian age. To do without grace is to do without Christ. The aspect of such, however elevated their
natural development, however refined their intellectual
culture, however beautiful their apparent adornment,
reminds us of the poet's description of departed Greece,
of beauty revealed in death:" So coldly sweet, so deadly fair,
We start, for soul is wanting there."
In the sixteenth century Calvin, who is considered
by many to be a theological descendant of St. Augustine, took ground to the utmost extent in reverse of Pelagius, and in accordance with his iron system asserted
the irresistibility of grace. If the latter is not literally
embraced in his fourth and fifth points, it certainly is
the inevitable correlative of them.  The Protestant
Church, however, which does not get up human systems, but simply unfolds the tenets of the Scriptures
without subjecting them to a Procrustean operation,
affirms the necessity of grace, and, at the same time,
that it may not impugn the freedom of the will, teaches
its resistibility.  Were it not so, man would not be a
responsible being. He would be an automaton; and
God would be directly responsible for the loss of every
soul that finally shall be cast away. Now the rule of




88               CHURCH ESSAYS.
God's providence is, that having constituted man a free
and responsible being, and furnished him with a " way,"
He wills that he should endeavor to walk in that way.
This God empowers and enables him to do, having
freely redeemed human nature from the curse, furnished, without price, a satisfaction for all sin, and
given man assurance not only of grace to begin a life
of righteousness, but of grace to continue therein. Nevertheless man must co5perate with God. "; We are laborers together with God," says the Apostle, " we as
workers together with Him beseech you that ye receive
not the grace of God in vain."  Man- must " walk with
God" on earth if he would be "taken " to God in
heaven. Yet, even so, no credit can inure to man; for
" it is God that worketh in him both to will and to do."
The work is begun by God in man, and carried on by
God through man. Thus, the cooperation and responsibility of man being conserved, all is made to work to
the glory of God the Father through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost.
The necessity and the resistibility of grace, therefore, as
maintained in the collects and articles of the Church,
indeed, in her whole doctrine and practice, is not only
plain but Scriptural. " Without me," says our Saviour,' you can do nothing; " and St. Paul adds, "' grieve not
the Holy Spirit."
We have said that grace affects the spiritual nature
of man. It does so primarily. But the influence and
force, unless effectually resisted, is felt throughout spir



GRACE.                     89
it, soul, and body.  The healthful and harmonious action of the whole man which ensues is the fruit of
grace; or as some term  it, a state of grace.  The degree of the latter will depend upon the measure of
God's gifts in each case vouchsafed, and the measure
of acceptance with which it meets.  Good seed will not
produce good fruit, or abundantly, without good culture.  Besides, God does not waste His gifts; nor does
He deem  them  unworthy either of appreciation or
return.
"Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But like a thrifty goddess she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use."
It is worthy of remembrance that grace, however it
may be contemned by the self-righteous, is a felt need
of every true believer,-the firmer the belief the more
urgent the feeling, —and that while God, in accordance
with His unerring wisdom, proportions the gift, it is one
for which man should most earnestly and incessantly
pray. Christian life is a struggle. St. Paul at one
time sought naturally to avoid the conflict. He prayed
that the "thorn" might be removed. But he received
answer: "My grace is sufficient for thee."  Man must
fight the fight if he will gain the prize; he must run
the race if he will win the crown. This fighting and
running are only other names for man's cooperating
with Christ and the Spirit of Grace. St. Paul, be it




90               CHURCH ESSAYS.
observed, did not complain of the answer, found no
fault with the terms, but proceeded to act upon the information in such wise that he was enabled to assert
that he did not " war after the flesh," and that he had
"fought a good fight," for he knew "in whom he trusted." We commend the example of the noble Apostle
to our readers, assuring them that if they will earnestly
employ all the means of grace, they will always "find
grace to help in time of need."




FAITH.
APART from the mysterious doctrines of the Church
which relate immediately to the Nature and Persons of
God, no doctrine holds a higher place-if one can be
properly said to hold a higher place where " all are
fitly joined together " —than faith. It is distinguished
by this peculiarity: it is the working doctrine of Christianity.  Faith cannot be held abstractly at all. It
either works or is not. Under Christ it is the active
principle of all true religion. Strange to say, we not
unfrequently hear faith entirely subordinated to charity
by well-meaning persons, because St. Paul has said in
that most beautiful chapter, 1 Cor. xiii. 13, "Now
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." A little reflection will show
why the Apostle expressed himself in this manner without detracting in any way from a due estimation of
faith. In the next world faith cannot exist, for it will
be lost in sight; hope will find no place, for it will be
swallowed up in reality; only charity can remain. In




92                 CHURCH ESSAYS.
this world it is quite different, however. Here we walk
by faith, and not by sight. If we so walk, hope must
attend our steps,-charity will not be wanting. In reply to those who set charity above or in the place of
faith, Coleridge says:'"To myself; formerly, it appeared
a mere dispute about words: but it is by no means of
so harmless a character, for it tends to give a false
direction to our thoughts, by diverting the conscience
from. the ruined and corrupted state in which we are
without Christ.  Sin is the disease. What is the remedy?  Charity?  Pshaw!  Charity, in the large apostolic sense of tile term, is the health, the state to be obtained by the use of the remedy, not the sovereign balm
itself,-faith of grace,-faith in the God-manhood, the
cross, the mediation, the perfected righteousness of Jesus, to the utter rejection and abjuration of any righteousness of our own. Faith alone is the restorative.
Faith is the source-charity, that is the whole Christian
life, is the stream from it."
In truth, there is no dividing the doctrines of the
Church from  each other.  Fitly framed together in
Christ's body, they grow into a holy temple to the
Lord. Yet the prominence which the doctrine of faith
holds in the scheme of salvation renders it a desirable
and interesting subject of inquiry; and to which we
consequently ask the attention of our readers.
" Faith is the evidence of things unseen." With this
clear and authoritative definition extant in Holy Writ,
it is not a little singular that learned and good men




FAITH.                   93
should differ as widely as they do in regard to the nature of faith. The difficulty arises, we apprehend, from
an unrestricted use of the word, or employment of it in
various senses, without sufficient regard to Scripture.
When persons are not clear in their minds in regard to
the exact meaning of a term, it is not wonderful that
they should go astray in its use. It is difficult to analyze well. Hence, nothing is more common than for
persons to take refuge in words to escape an elenclhus
ignorantice, or fly to synonymes to avoid a definition.
In like manner, one who is better adapted to feel than
to reason, when he finds his proposition oppugned,
immediately repeats it, or presents it in another form,
and thinks he has thus answered every objection, while
he has really added nothing to what he has before said.
All such processes and practices are intolerable. Words
represent ideas, and must be restricted to the expression
of the respective ideas which attach to them. They are
the subjects of laws, and must be kept in subordination
to those laws. It is a mistake to suppose that different
words in the same language have exactly the same
meaning. For the precise meaning of a word we must
always look to the language whence it is derived, and
the history and genius of the people who speak or
spoke that language. Thus, a peculiar thought will be
found to underlie every word. The same word, or the
representative of the same idea, will necessarily be the
same in every language; but it must represent the
same idea. The idea of faith among one people may




94                CHURCH ESSAYS.
be very different from the idea of faith among another.
The IRoman's- idea of faith differed not less from our
idea of faith than his idea of virtue differed from our
idea of virtue. The words fides and faith, virtus and
virtue are in fact different words when viewed from a
heathen or Christian standpoint. They are not even
synonymes. It is an error, too, we may add, to suppose that synonymnes are the same. Between synonymes there are always shades of difference that are
both important and suggestive, and constitute no small
part of the wealth of language. In fine, words must be
regarded as facts, or the exponents of them, and must
be dealt with accordingly. Only so can truth be attained or conserved. Let us pursue this course with
our subject.
Faith, inl failing to obtain generally a precise definition, has experienced the fate of Other though less important words. There is no reason, however, why faith
cannot be defined and reduced to proper bounds; why
its orbit cannot be ascertained; why its light cannot be
calculated. Educated men may differ in regard to its
true acceptation, and differ honestly,-more honestly,
perchance, than wisely, —but it has, like every other
word, its exact place in language, its exact line of motion; it may be held, therefore, to an exact account, to
move in the same direction and utter one voice. This
we propose to do, relying upon Revelation to guide us
in our purpose.
It has been asserted by some that faith is belief




FAITH.                     95
upon probable evidence; by others, that it is absolute
belief; by others, that it is unqualified assent; and by
others, again, that it is perfect trust. Now, every one
must feel that faith is more than all these put together.
Something within man tells him that faith is not a mere
feeling, that it is not a simple intellectual operation,
that it is not dependent on the will, but higher, broader, and deeper; that it is intimately connected with
man's spiritual life, his higher nature. What then
is it? 
"To credit ordinary and visible objects," says Sir
Thomas Browne, " is not faith, but persuasion."  The
definitions of faith usually advanced assume that it is
the same or the equivalent of belief more or less modified. Undoubtedly this is the popular sense in which
the word is used; one in which it is, at least, a synonyme of belief. IBut we are not treating of faith in the
common or worldly acceptation. We refer to spiritual
faith, which is far different. The latter, we aver, is not
belief. It is instrumental, and both in its subjective
and objective relation entirely personal, while belief
often relates to a subject-matter.  St. Paul, during the
storm (Acts xxvii. 23), said: " There stood by me this
night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before
Caesar: and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail
with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I
believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."
Why did the Apostle believe God?  Because he had




96                 CHURCH ESSAYS.
faith. His faith was not his belief, but the cause of it.
Thus, we see, faith produces belief, which will be in
proportion to the measure of the former.- Faith and
belief, then, are not the same; nor are they even synonymes; but they are correlatives.
" Faith," says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."  It is the " substance," because its inspiring force awakens an assurance so perfect, that it is to the possessor, the element of time being omitted, a realization of hope. It is the " evidence,"' because it is that which enables man to believe
in and lay hold upon the intangible and invisible.
Faith:is a cause, not an effect. It is a power, and appertains to man's spiritual nature. It is above reason,
which belongs to the animal soul, and is, as Sir Thomas
Browne remarks," a rebel to faith, as passion is to reason."  Finally, faith is the spirit of man excited by the
Spirit of God working in things pertaining to God.
The premise of faith, the sole and only premise, is
God. It is evident that man must know that God is,
else he cannot have faith in him. For faith requires an
object, and the highest faith demands the highest object. Abstract faith in God, or faith in a God, will
not do. Some infidels, we had almost said some heathen, profess to have that, and may not be very wide
of the mark. Perfect faith, Christian faith, which is the
only faith of any value, is faith in Jesus Christ, both
God and man. Belief in Christ and all that flows from




FAITH.                   97
him, belief in His Church and all that she requires, are
plain correlates of faith in the Lord Jesus. "Have
faith in God.'3  Christ is God. Have faith in Christ.
Hence Christianity, the Church, the Faith, are, if not
precisely the same, at least synonymous.
The command, "' Have faith in God," to fallen man,
who is prone to evil, and whose will is at variance with
that of his Maker, may seem a hard saying-one not
easily complied with. But God does not require impossibilities. He has given the necessary premise; He
has revealed himself directly to man; He has declared
himself by Iil works; He has spoken in many portions
and in divers manners to the fathers in the prophets,
and to us in I-is Son. Man, therefore, being manifestly
cognizant both of God and His Christ, is left without
excuse. Moreover, in view of man's weakness, God has
promised His holy grace to enable man. to have faith.
The work is man's, the power is of God. " By grace
are ye saved through faith." It is the Holy Ghost that
speaks to man's spirit, and strives with him for his life.
Nevertheless, God does not compel man; He knocks
at the door; Hie seeks to enter; but He does not take
forcible possession. He leaves to man the elevating privilege of choice, and with it the responsibility that ensues.
It follows that faith is a matter of duty, and man is
faithless at his peril. Of what solemn import, then, is
the question of our Lord: " When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth' n
Many theologians subdivide faith into four kinds,




98                CHURCH ESSAYS.
namely, "historical, temporary, the faith of miracles,
and justifying or saving faith." This classification arises, we apprehend, from confounding the operation and
effect of faith with the power which is the faith. Faith
can be but one, though divers operations and effects
may result from it. Faith which is not inspiring, lifegiving, and promotive of a right life, is only a counterfeit presentment; it is not of Christ.
In connection with our subject, we must refer to the
doctrine of Justification by Faith. This is the personal
application by each Christian of the whole of Christthe God-man and his work —to himself by faith in
Christ; whereby each Christian, having imputed to
him  the righteousness of Christ, is accounted just;
what he could not otherwise be, on account of his condemned nature. Man, having no merit of his own, is
freely justified by faith for Christ's sake. This comfortable doctrine is peculiar to the Christian religion,
and can only consist with a free appreciation of the perfect Deity and humanity of Christ. It is the doctrine
which is so dogmatically and argumentatively enforced
by St. Paul. St. James has been erroneously thought
by some to controvert this doctrine by laying so much
stress upon justification by works. There is no disagreement, however, between the two Apostles. St. Paul had
to contend incessantly with Judaism. His authoritative
declarations contained in the Epistle to the Galatians,
his great argument in the Epistle to the Romans, were
directed to convince Jews and Judaizing Christians




FAITH.                     99
that man was justified not by works of the MRosaic law,
nor by the law itself, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  St.
James presumes faith as the Christian lever, but he demands Christian works as evidences of the actual existence of faith, to avoid a possible self-delusion, or repress
hypocrisy.  Hence he argues that man is not justified
by mere faith. The Church does not separate the two
doctrines. She regards justification by works as the necessary correlative of justification by faith. They cannot exist apart. Man is justified by faith alone, in opposition to the works of the law; but as he must be
" careful to maintain good works," so he is correlatively
justified by workls done in Christ, the merit and honor
of which redound to Christ alone. Christ is all in all.
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in his
celebrated chapter XI., writes differently of faith, that
is, in a different strain, from the Apostles we have referred to. IHe does not, as Alford explains, " treat of
faith doctrinally, but after defining it, goes on to exhibit the triumphs of faith." There is, therefore, no want
of accord, as some fancy. It would be strange indeed
were there a jangling in the teaching of the one Spirit.
We shall seek in vain for any such discord. The voice
of the Spirit is truth itself, and the ideal of Christian
life will be found ever the same throughout the pages
of Revelation.
A reference to the doctrine of faith will shed light
upon some of those difficulties which perplex the true
believer even in regard to the condtr. cl God  - -For in



100              CHURCH ESSAYS.
stance: Why does adversity so often attend, sometimes
through life, the sincere Christian?  Why does not
prosperity always accompany those who strive to serve
God? Why does not punishment tread upon the heels
of the open sinner? Why do peace and prosperity so
frequently accompany the unbeliever even to the end
of his days? These questions include the problem of
life. What explanation can we make, what answer can
we give? Faith only offers an elucidation. Were
God's ways open to our scrutiny, were we judges of His
thoughts and actions, it is manifest that our thoughts
would be measurably as His thoughts, our ways measurably as His ways. This, we know, is not the case.
The dependent being cannot judge the independent
Maker and Governor of the world. He must bow.
"' Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? " Again:
if all God's ways were unveiled, if immediate reward
followed the humble believer, and immediate punishment the scorner, if the religion and ethics of God were
purely mechanical, what room would there be for the
exercise of faith? Religion would be man's way and
not God's way. But religion is God's way, and that
way is faith in Christ.  " Without faith," says the
Apostle, " it is impossible to please Him."  Thus, faith
is the key of the mystery. We cannot understand all
God's ways, but by faith we can justify Him to man.
Whatever mysteries cannot be unravelled, exist perfectly in accordance with reason, for the development of
faith, tle exercise of which inevitably conduces to the




FAITH.                    101
humbling of man and the setting forth of God's glory
in Jesus Christ.
The vital importance, the inexorable necessity of
faith as a cardinal principle in the holy religion of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, is apparent from the distinct declaration of St. Paul: "Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin."  The reason is obvious. Purification, holiness, is
the end to be attained. It is Christ's blood which
cleanseth from all sin. But the "inherent righteousness of Christ cannot be wrought in us by gradual sanctification, unless the imputed righteousness of Christ be
first put cupon us in justification."  Now, the latter, as
we have said, is predicated absolutely upon faith.
Both-, therefore, stand by faith or fall together. Besides, man's nature being concluded under sin, his natural works are evil.  The latter, however, through
faith in Christ, may be sanctified by the merits of the
Redeemer, and rendered acceptable to God. In fact,
they thus become the works of Christ, being done in
him, and good accordingly.  Hence we see that in
every way Christ is honored through the principle of
faith.
In addition, and what must be ever borne in mind,
the Holy Spirit will not abide in a faithless breast.' Grieve not the Holy Spirit; " for, when he takes His
everlasting flight, we well know what spirit will enter
in and dwell there.  " Be not faithless, but believing.'
We have now shown what We understand to be the
nature, operation, influence, and effect of faith. It is




102              CHURCH ESSAYS.
one of the spiritual powers of man's higher nature
quickened, as every spiritual power must be, by the
Spirit of God, rendering efficient by its operation the
work and teaching of Christ. It is under grace the
power of God unto salvation to fallen man. By faith
he believes in his heart and makes confession with his
mouth; by faith he lays hold of the promises; by faith
he becomes an heir of salvation; by faith he lives unto
God the Father, through the medium of the life which
Christ the Son lives by the Holy Spirit in the regenerate, Ought we not to fervently say with the disciples,
" Lord, increase our faith. "




TRUTH.
WHAT is Truth? Whether we regard Truth as one
of the attributes of the Deity, or a necessary correlative
of His wisdom, it will still result that Truth appertains
primarily to God; that it is His essential Nature; and
that, consequently, He is the source and fountain of
Truth as He is of Love and of Power. Philosophically
speaking, God is both subjectively and objectively the
Truth. God is not only true but Hie is THE TRUTH.
The highest expression of God's Truth is manifested
in the person of His Son. Christ Himself is that Truth
of which our Saviour spake and of which He came to
bear witness. The Truth of the Son, however, is not
different nor separate from the Truth of the Father and
the Truth of the Holy Spirit; but as they agree in one
so are they true; and as they are one so the truth is
one. Christ's Truth, therefore, is God's Truth. This
is the Truth, St. John says, we should " walk in; " and
this is the Truth which we are assured will " make us
free."
m*




104               CHURCH ESSAYS.
Truth, in its ordinary acceptation, apart from its
source, what is commonly termed objective truth, may
be classified under two heads, viz.: 1. Divine Truth;
2. Human Truth. Thus distributed, the subject can
be more readily examined.
Divine Truth comprehends all the truth which the
Church holds and teaches. It is but another name for
Religion in its broadest sense. To elaborate the latter
would be to unfold the principles and practice of Christianity. This we shall not attempt. It would take us
beyond our limits and aside from our purpose, which
is chiefly connected with the second division of the subject in hand.
Human Truth is the truth of the individual. It exhibits itself in its ultimate and highest form in what we
may call truth of character. This feature in the moral
organization of man differences not only individuals in
an eminent degree, but nations. ]Romanc6.fides was as
distinct and well-defined as Punica fides.  The one
was as sure as the other was unstable. The ancients
misapprehended neither. The Saxon is as naturally
true as the Gascon is false. We need run the parallel
no further.  Truth, like courage, is a radical peculiarity. It may be developed and strengthened, but it
cannot be created. No genius will produce courage.
The innate coward can never be made brave, and the
innately crooked mind can never be made straight.
These and similar defects in the natural constitution of
man, may be modified, but they cannot be eradicated,




TRUTH.                    105
for they exist in the groundwork of character, which
even " grace," as Dean Trench observes, does not " dissolve."  Truth of character we assume to be that natural substratum of truth in -the moral organization
which begets, as far as the nature will permit, a native
integrity, and when developed by sound religious culture, inevitably leads to the generation of a just conscientiousness.  It is the sum, the essence of human
truth. It is the measure of man's natural uprightness,
his natural adaptation to good, and differences him
among his fellows.
The man who possesses a native truth of character
vivified by the Holy Spirit-the latter is indispensable,
owing to human nature being fallen through sin-feels
an almost instinctive repugnance to the false. He loves
the truth for the truth's sake. He recoils from deceit.
INothing can induce him to practise it. Observe his
life and conversation.  Hle never says more than he
knows, nor expresses more than he feels. He never
exaggerates, nor improves, nor adds, nor diminishes,
nor " extenuates, nor sets down aught in malice;" but
in all cases and under all circumstances, be they great
or small, concern they himself or others, he adheres
tenaciously to the simple truth in its fulness. Nor only
in the letter does he this, but in the spirit likewise.
In fact, he endeavors to think the truth, to live the
truth, and thus to be a true man.
Job is a fine example of natural truth of character.
Daniel is another. Socrates, in the Pagan world, may




106                CHURCH ESSAYS.
rank as a third.  Among Christians, apart from  inspired men, we know of no more distinguished instance than that of Washington.  Truth should ever
be awakened into life by the HIoly Spirit and fostered
by Christian nurture. St. Paul very beautifully calls
this principle quickened by the Word, in its activity,
"'truthing it in love."  (Eph. iv. 15.) We know not
how the idea of Christian truth of character could be
more exactly expressed.  The man who always strives
to truth it in love will certainly be true as far as fallen
man can be.  Honor, honesty, rectitude, uprightness,
integrity, probity-all find their common centre in
Truth. By it and in it they all consist. Each one is
but the Truth in action either generally or specifically;
and regarding honesty as a generic term, comprehending every phase of Truth, whether in principle, in
thought, or in act, the often-disputed words of the poet
are absolutely true, —
"' An honest man's the noblest work of God."
Aberrations from  Truth, of whatsoever kind, will
be found, upon examination, to exhibit a defect in truth
of character. Where the character is true, little apprehension of falling into error need be felt; for the Truth,
then, is sought, known, and appreciated well-nigh instinctively. But where the character is not true, doubts
are apt to arise concerning truth as a whole or some
feature of it. Apparent truth is too often mistaken or
slbstituted for real truth; and in fact, Truth, instead




TRUTH.                    107
of being held as an " immutable principle," is argued
out of existence or quite dispensed with as a variable
quantity.  For instance, there are many who verily
appear to think that there is no deceit in acting what
is false, provided nothing is said that is untrue.  There
are not a few, too, who fondly imagine that falsehoods
can be consecrated by custom and thus rendered equivalent to truths. Every branch of society, every part
in life, however high or however low, seems to be pervaded by these baneful errors. Their unhappy influence is manifested everywhere. It is seen ill the nolo
episcopari which has passed into a proverb, in the professional conscience, in political usage, in literary practice, in business custom, in the modes of the world, and
in the manners of society.  The universality of measurably legalized insincerity is melancholy.  To be incapable of saying what one really thinks is, perhaps,
rare, but to be capable of saying what one does not
think, is comparatively common. Now  all this proceeds from that prevalent deficiency in truth of character to which we have before referred. The most refined insincerity, the grossest falseness may be with
equal certainty traced to this fault.  But where truth
of character exists, there is true thinking, true speaking, and true acting; there is no lie. The importance,
therefore, of grounding truth in the character,-somne
characters, be it remembered, have a larger capacity
for truth than others,-that the whole man may be
true and exemplify the Truth, is self-evident.  We will




108                CHURCH ESSAYS.
only add the enforcement of Polonius, whose "'precept " on this subject every man would do well to
" character in his memory."
" To thine ownself be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
Whence comes it that thorough truth of character
is rare 2  Notwithstanding  the  proneness to deceit
which is incident to man's fallen nature, there is a
great deal of truth in the world, -more truth, in the
aggregate, according to the status of human nature, we
apprehend, than falsehood; but there is not a great
deal of truth of character. Why is this? One reason
is, that the Father of lies is constantly on the alert to
promote deceit and obstruct the course of Truth in
every shape. The potency of his agency will not be
doubted by any who regards Satan as a reality.  He
began his work upon earth with a lie and by that lie
he perverted man's hitherto upright nature and caused
an undue development of selfishness which teaches the
justifying means by ends, of temper which overthrows
the reason, of pride and vanity which ensnare the heart,
of self-will which blinds the eyes to the truth and leads
men captive —in fine, to all those features of character
which are contrary to the Truth and " war against the
soul."  Another reason is, the refusal to recognize the
unity of Truth, —the habit of dividing Truth, not as we
have done formally for the sake of analysis, but prac



TRUTH.                  109
tically, and thus in a degree ignoring it. For instance,
it is common for persons to take a part of the Truth, e.
y., the habit of speaking the truth, or its negative correlate, the custom of not saying what is false, and consider that as the sum of Truth. Thus, they who maintain a proper respect for their word are deemed truthful. It must be confessed, the habit of speaking the
truth is most excellent. We would not underrate its
importance. Indeed, we incline " to the opinion of those
who have held that Truth is an eternal and immutable
principle; and probably whatever extraordinary instances may sometimes occur, where some evil may be
prevented by violating this noble principle, it would
be found that human happiness would, upon the whole,
be more perfect were Truth universally preserved."
But the habit of speaking the truth, though indispensable, is not the whole of Truth, nor does it constitute,
necessarily, a person truthful in the full sense of the
term. Great punctiliousness in that respect may, and
often does, coexist with decided falseness both in
thought and action. Motive must not be left out of
the account. One person may speak the truth from
right principle; another, because it is his principle, or
from an abstract love of truth, —which is quite deceptive, as a man thus sometimes merely " loves," as
Bishop Warburton well remarks, " his own opinions,"
or what he assumes to be his; a third, for the sake of
convenience,-it is a most convenient habit, as one
who always speaks the exact truth need not remember




110               CIURCH ESSAYS.
what he says, nor fear his words rising up in judgment
against him; a fourth, from  motives of mere expediency. Certainly it is better to speak the truth for
the two reasons last mentioned, or, perhaps, any, than
to lie. A negative goodness is preferable to a positive
sin; for no evil may spring from the former, whereas
wrong must accompany the latter. But the truth of a
man who is influenced by low motives will not survive
the latter. It will not endure trial nor persecution.
But the truth of a man who speaks the truth for the
Truth's sake, who is inwardly true, humanly speaking,
will endure forever. The making the habit of speaking
the truth a matter of convenience or expediency is very
far from being truthful.  It is near akin to the ethics
of interest and not very far removed from that morality
which consecrates everything by the object in view.
Christian ethics has higher motives and nobler aims.
But even the habit of speaking the truth in all honesty,
so far fromn comprehending the Truth in its entirety, is
but one offspring of that inward Truth which we conceive to be the abstract of human Truth, and which
itself needs sanctification by Divine Truth as the second
table of the law (the second commandment of Christ),
needs spiritualizing by the first.
There are some, we are sorry to say, who practically, though, perhaps, not always advisedly, ignore
the Truth. We refer to those who boast a charity so
large that it elevates them above, and renders them independent, if not oblivious, of the Truth. Such per



TRUTH.                    111
sons will discard. the distinctive tenets of the Church,
disregard the dictates of right judgment, dispute the
credibility of Revelation, or deny the truth of Christianity, under cover of their professed liberality of mind,
their enlarged charity. But, as Dr. Wordsworth writes,
" Truth is the greatest charity. It is no charity to connive at error, and to suppress Truth; but it is charity
(love) to endeavor to remove error and to maintain and
communicate Truth." The charity of the persons alluded
to is like the catholicity of sectarians; the one is a
charity without life, the other a catholicity of error;
both are "counterfeit presentments," and, therefore,
equally void of Truth. Pity it is that so many are led
astray, as we fear there are, by such " saintly shows."
The recollection that Truth and Charity are more than
twins-they cannot exist apart-would prevent many
evil deeds being done in the name of the latter.
In connection with our subject we must not omit to
notice one singular fact. It is that Truth can be so
perverted that it will savor of sin. For example: when
what, for the sake of convenience, we have styled " Htuman Truth,' is made a religion' of and substituted for
the religion of Christ, it becomes like a brazen serpent,
an idol and sin to them who bow down to it. All who
deny Jesus Christ-the God-Manl-of whatever character or complexion, from the mild, moral, milk-fed
sceptic, to the bold, meat-eating infidel,-all split upon
this rock. Thus the man whose whole life is a lie will
prate about his reverence for Truth. Truth, he proudly




112               CHURCH ESSAYS.
affirms, is his religion.  Not God's Truth, nor the
Truth which is of God, and which, like the "rivers
that run into the sea," in its flux and reflux, " returns
whence it came," but his own truth-the truth which
he vainly imagines is in himself and part of his nature.
Hence he becomes a -god unto himself and " worships
the creature more than the Creator."  Truth, however,
is not destroyed by being misapprehended or denied;
it is of God, and must exist forever, and will make itself known. Study to be true, even true in Christ.
We have said that dividing the Truth, especially
the custom of separating Divine fr'om human Truth, is
eminently productive of error.  Truth is God in its
highest sense; and it is of God in that position and
relation where, as Cousin says, it lies " between human
intelligence and the Supreme Intelligence, as a kind of
mediator."  Truth, therefore, cannot be many, as error
is many; it must be one; and to divide it positively,
causes untruth in all that multiplicity and variety of
manifestation which would require a volume to describe
and which we can only deplore.
How can Truth be promoted    We answer: The
Truth and the truths which the " Church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the Truth," receives from
God and dispenses to man for his edification in Christ
must, first of all, be appropriated and assimilated by
man. Then will Christ be formed in man by the power of the Holy Spirit-fhe Spirit of Truth; then will
human truth be energized by the Truth itself; then




TRUTH.                 113
will truth of character be generated and the whole man
become true as far as he can be in this world; for the
Truth itself will be in action in and through man, and
will finally make him free from everything that worketh
falsehood. Man should remember always that God is
omniscient and omnipresent. Hie inspects his thoughts
and observes his acts. Man may delude himself or impose upon his fellow, but he cannot deceive God. He
knows what is in man-when he errs, and when he
thinks and speaks and acts the truth.  Maan should
walk as in the sight of God, making a conscience of
his ways. Being human, he must walk waywardly,
but under Christ he will walk uprightly if he sanctify
the Lord God in his heart, and " truth" it with his
neighbor in love.




LOVE AND CHARITY.
WoRDs are the representatives of ideas; but they
are often interchangeably used, and in various senses; thus the same word is frequently made to convey a variety of ideas, accordingly as it may be employed. To illustrate this we will adduce a few examples, and then proceed to the more particular consideration of the theme embodied in the words we have
placed at the head of this paper.
The word life, in the Scriptures, is sometimes used
to express the life by which, or in which, we live,-the
life of Christ in the regenerate, which is the true life of
the redeemed man. Life often is a term for the character and course of man's daily walk, his existence
upon earth; thus it is said to be happy or unhappy,
good or evil, long or short. Life is frequently used as
the antithesis of spiritual death, and as the opposite of
physical death. When St. Paul says of "godliness,"
that it has the;" promise of the life that now is and that
which is to come," he uses the word, as Trench has




LOVE AND CHARITY.              115
shown from the original, in the first sense. Attention
to this would enlighten the eyes of many in regard to
that beautiful passage' of the philosophic Apostle.
When Jacob says, with entire truth, "few and evil have
the days of my life been," he uses the word in the
second sense. When God said, "in the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die," He referred to spiritual
death-the death of man's spiritual life. This life was
restored by the agency of the Incarnation; but it is
also necessary for man to be regenerated, born again
of water and the Spirit, in order to enter the kingdom
of heaven. The other senses ascribed to this word are
too familiar to need elucidation.
Soul is another word in point. Sometimes it describes the entire man, as " eight souls were saved " in
the ark; sometimes it refers to the animal soul which
man has in common with the brutes, and to which St.
Paul refers when he speaks of " body, soul, and spirit;"
and often it represents the spirit, man's immortal part,
-" I saw under the altar," says St. John, " the souls
of them that were slain,' etc.
Religion, virtue, truth, piety are words which are
also employed in a variety of senses, sometimes interchangeably. No one, however, need be at a loss in
regard to the correct meaning of each. The New Testament, with the Prayer Book as a con mentary, will guide
every one, who does not prefer to wander, in the straight
path. They are enough for definition and practice.
We might adduce further examples of the different




116              CHURCH ESSAYS.
modes in which words are employed, making theln
convey one idea at one time and another at another;
but we have said enough to establish the point in question, and we will now come to the contemplation of
those words which we wish more particularly to discnss, which we think will be found both interesting
and suggestive. We refer to Love and Charity, the
theme of St. Paul's thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, by many thought to be the most beautiful
portion of the writings of the Apostle that have come
down to us.
The English language has two main sources termed
generically the Saxon and the Latin. Hence it is twosided in its general aspect, and words for the same
thoughts and things are found in it which proceeded
respectively from the above sources.  After English
had established itself as the vernacular of the nation, its
twofold character was marked and maintained by the
Anglo-Normans adhering to the Latin side of the language, while the lower classes naturally made use of
the Saxon. Two modes of speaking, therefore, grew
directly out of the double extraction of the people.
Many of our readers will remember Wamba's dissertation upon the subject in the first chapter of Ivanhoe.
"The two idioms," says De Vere, 1" for a time lived side
by side, though in very different conditions; the one
the language of the master, at court and in the castles
of the soldiers who had become noble lords and powerful barons: the other, the language of the conquered,




LOVE AND CHARITY.            117
spoken only in the lowly hut of the subjugated people."
Hence, from the structure of society Norman English
was considered polite, Saxon English vulgar. The one
was heard in palace and castle, the other in the honze
and by the hearth. Time, however, changed all this.
The lNorman race conquered the realm, but could not
extrude the language of the people. At the present
day the best writers and speakers of English, on both
sides of the Atlantic, cultivate the Saxon element, and
rightly too, for though the Latin element adds fulness
and elegance, upon the Saxon depend the strength and
terseness of the language. The King James translation of the Bible, and the Prayer Book, we need hardly
say, are admirable illustrations of these points. They
exhibit the elegance of the Roman and the strength of
the Teutonic.
In the compound character of the English language,
to a desire to meet the wants of the palace and the cotta;ge, to a wish to reach the affections and the hearts of
a people thus descended from too sources, whose vernacular was the result of the fusion of two idioms, may
be attributed the duplicate expressions so frequent in
the Liturgy of the Church.s These iterations, we must
admit, are sometimes merely redundancies; they do
not always spring from the union of a Saxonism and
a Latinism, as " assemble and meet together," "pardon and forgive," but are all one or the other, as
" goodness and kindness," "acknowledge and confess." Nevertheless the use of duplicate phrases, and




118              CHURCH ESSAYS.
doubtless a majority of the phrases themselves, came
from the cause we have described. They form a marked feature in the literary style of the Prayer Book, and
though unnecessary now, as the people have become
one in language, they add such a grace to the Liturgy,
and give it a rhythm so peculiar to itself, that no one
with a particle of taste would consent to spare them
from its pages.
The expression " love and charity " is a good example of what we have endeavored to unfold. The first
is a Saxon, the second a Greek word. Both, however,
are identical in meaning.  Unfortunately, the latter
has been diverted from its true and original sense,
and has come to be used in that of alms-giving. As
St. James gives the name of " religion " to some of the
genuine fruits of that power and principle, so persons
constantly style eleemosynary duty, charity; whereas
charity denotes properly that benevolence of feeling
which prompts man to relieve the wants of his neighbor. It is so far a cause, not an effect. Still the true
meaning of the word is not lost; it survives the common metonyme, and its double acceptation need not
produce any confusion in the mind. Besides, as we
have shown, charity is not the only word that is employed in more ways than one.
In the Church service the phrase " love and charity"
is merely the combination of a Saxon and a Greek word
which was introduced to enforce upon all the one idea
and duty-love. The words are not synonymes, which




LOVE -&ND CHARITY.           119
always contain a shade of difference in their meaning,
but simply two distinctwords, derived from two distinct
languages, and convey exactly the same idea. They
must be regarded, therefore as one-love. Hence " to
be in love and charity with one's neighbors," is simply to
love them. Love is the element of Christianity, —that
in which it "lives and moves and has its being." Thus
it is not unreasonable that the followers of Christ should
be required to love one another, and that love should
be made a condition of holy communion, the highest
act of the Faith.
But what is the love taught by our Saviour and
His Apostles; the love which is esteemed by St. Paul
in 1 Corinthians, ch. 13, as the crowning grace? It is
not the passion generally understood by that word; it
is not merely the feeling called affection; it is not the
sentiment implied in the word esteem.  No; it is
Christian love —agape. Rather an emotion than a passion, it has no relation to age, sex, or condition. We
may define it negatively by saying that it is the antithesis of malice. Yet it is positive in character, active
as well as sentient; for its fountain is God, the source
of all love, who " first loved us and gave His only begotten Son "- God with Him-" to die for our sins."
Hence our first love is due to God, our second to our
neighbor. Under the influence of this principle the
sincere Christian rightly strives to perform his duty to
God-for thus only can he love Him-and his duty to
his fellow man, as a proof of his love to God.- Love,
6l




120               CHURCH ESSAYS.
we may add, is also the 8tate which necessarily ensues from the exercise of duty rightly performed. In
one sense, therefore, it is a cause, and in another an
effect.
It must not be supposed that Christian love is an absolute moral solvent.  On the contrary it involves no
negation of individuality. It leaves each one free to
choose his own associates, to form his own habits, to
pursue his own plans and pleasures, provided, in so
doing, he trespass not upon the rights and feelings of
others. Neither has Christian love the least sympathy
with sin. It entertains no accord with that spurious
Charity, unhappily too prevalent, which under pretence of enlarged views, liberal ideas, generous feelings or kind relations, exhibits disregard of principles and manifests indifference to error.  Christian
love burns for the sinner, but keeps no terms with his
sin.  Christian charity is truthful, even as its source
is true.
Amid the manifold circumstances of this life, surrounded by various characters, man cannot always expect to be at peace. Sin is in the world, and sin is the
enemy of peace. Besides, wrong-doing awakens indignation as properly as right-doing does admiration. Both
feelings are sentiments that belong to every honest, rightly constituted mind. Our Saviour, our ultimate example, exhibited both as circumstances demanded. All
that can be asked of the person who endeavors to fulfil
the second commandment of Christ, which is always a




LOVE AND CHARITY.            121
consequence of the first, is that, " as far as possible, he
should live peaceably with all men."  He should neither give, nor too hastily take offence; he should, without
presupposing an abrogation of any of the commandments of God, endeavor to do as he would that another
should do unto him. If he chance to sin against a neighbor, he can be brave enough and humble enough to confess his sin unto God, and honest enough to do what
may lie in his power to reconcile himself to his neighbor. Should he sustain an injury which the law will
not remedy-for every man is entitled to the protection
of the law and may resort to it in due season, upon due
provocation-he has only to bear with Christian resignation the wrong which he has received, knowing that
his Divine Master submitted to far greater outrages for
him than he can be called upon to endure, and hold
himself ever ready to meet the transgressor in the spirit
of peace, whenever the latter shall open the door in the
spirit of harmony and truth. Love asks no fusion of
right and wrong, of truth and falsehood. It is noble
and just in all its ways.
Christian love or charity is a pure moral feeling,
and may be summed up, we apprehend, in the apostolic injunction: "IBe ye kindly affectioned one towards another."  Presupposing faith, this is the principle which should govern men. Faith should work
by love. Love tempers judgment with mercy, strengthens the- feeble knees, supports the hands that are
ready to fall; it joys with another's joy and grieves




122               cmRCHa ESSAYS.
with another's grief; it comprehends the inestimable
charm of sympathy-a very bond of union; and, were
it possible, would liken earth to heaven. Be careful,
therefore, to banish all malice and jealousy from the
heart, to preserve kind and just feelings and maintain
honest conduct towards all men, that being, as all
should be, members of Christ's body, ye may be in love
and charity with your neighbors, meet partakers of His
holy feast, and certified heirs of the joy to be revealed
-the joy of the Lord which no man can take from you.
Blessed be God for His unspeakable gift to His faithful people in Jesus Christ.




CONSCIENCE,
1IMAN is responsible for his thoughts as well as for
his acts; for an act is but the fruition of a thought.
To think rightly, therefore, is of the first importance in
the government of life. Nothing tends more certainly
to prevent correct thinking than a false or even lax use
of words. Persons frequently employ them in such
inaccurate or various senses that they neither understand themselves nor comprehend others. De Quincey,
who is distinguished by elegance of style and exactness
of diction, has shown in several instances the evil effect
generated by a careless use of words. Thus, we constantly hear it said, that such a theory is right, but
that it will not hold good in practice. Now a theory
is a rule derived from the " looking over " of certain
facts.. It is an induction from practice. Consequently,
if facts enough be given and the induction be logical,
what is true in theory must be true in practice. The
error arises from confounding theory with hypothesisa very common error which confuses many. How fre



124               CHURCH ESSAYS.
quently, too, do we hear persons who never formed an
opinion in their lives on any important matter-that
is, arrived at a sound conclusion by right reasoning
from just premises-talk about their opinions on such
and such subjects; whereas they mean their crude notions or prejudices-prejudgments. Such persons may,
and often very wisely do, adopt the opinions of others.
We are charitable enough to believe that they sometimes mistake them for their own. But, in truth, they
entertain no opinions that can be called their own in a
proper sense. Only thinking people form opinions,
while all have prejudices. We may add, that as recta
ratio est vera lex, " right reasoning is true law," so only
right-minded persons who employ right modes of thought
will form right opinions.
Conscience is another word, important as it is, which
has not succeeded in securing for itself such accurate
signification and use that the wayfaring man cannot
err in regard to it.- One person thinks conscience an
internal monitor, the operation of which however he
cannot satisfactorily explain; another regards conscience as an operation of the mind akin to judgment;
a third considers conscience itself of no importance, as
its character depends upon education, and what may
be right in one may be wrong in another; while a
fourth determines conscience to be the Holy Spirit in
man, and therefore incapable of error. Out of this confusion, this mixture of the true and the false, flows an
indistinct conception of the term which may be pro



CONSCIENCE.                125
ductive of evil. Fortunately knowledge and practice
do not always go together. Doubtless there are some
who, philologically speaking, do not know what conscience is, and yet are more conscientious than many
learned pundits. Still ignorance is not to be argued
for, and it will not injure the force of a word to have it
defined, but rather increase its value.
Denfiition, says Dean Trench somewhere, is a serious
affair. It is so; for upon sharp definitions correct thinking depends. IMisty words are the inevitable vehicle
of misty thoughts. "It is more dangerous to define
than to describe," says the elder D'Israeli; "a dry
definition excludes so much, an ardent description at
once appeals to our sympathies." This is true; but
description too often leaves the word described in so
much of a fog that the reader is little wiser than before.
Witness the numerous descriptions of genius. Who
does not long for a definition when he reads one of
these sympathetic descriptions.  In truth, definition
and description should go together: the former should
always precede the latter.
Conscience deserves more than a " dry definition;"
and it should not be left in the fog of a " sympathetic
description." We believe that it can be defined and
illustrated. That we propose to do. By the aid of Dr.
Adams's work on" Christian Science " we will endeavor
to explain the nature of conscience and its mode of actionlin a word, elaborate it.
We premise that there is a conscience. The con



126              CHURCH ESSAYS.
sentient voice of Scripture testifies to the fact; experience proves it. It is a faculty of the spiritual reason,
an organ of man's highest nature. This faculty, like
any other, may remain dormant, or may receive a
right or wrong development, according to circumstances. Man, however, living under the light of the
Gospel, with the Word of God to guide him, is responsible for having a good conscience. He cannot escape
from the obligation. Certainly, if in the days of the
Apostles, the converted heathen were required to maintain a " conscience void of offence toward God and
toward man," as much may reasonably be demanded
of the Christians of the present day. We insist, therefore, that man has been endowed by his Maker with
a conscience, and that he can, and necessarily is
obligated to, preserve it enlightened and active.
Were this not the case conscience might as well not
exist.
But how does conscience operate? What is its mode
of action? Let us examine.
First, it is not the Holy Spirit in man, but the organ
whereby the Holy Spirit, external to man, exerts his
holy influence to guide and restrain man. Hence, if
the still small voice speak in accordance with the commandments of our Saviour Christ-for even if a miracle
were to speak otherwise it'would be but a " lying wonder," —it must be heeded; since we are expressly told
by the Apostle, who asserts that there is a conscience,
that we must "not grieve the Holy Spirit."




CONSCIENCE.                 127
Second, the mode in which conscience acts is threefold, viz.:
1. " It prohibits."
2. "It records."
3. " It prophesies." *
The special and most marked peculiarity of conscience is its first or prohibitory feature. Thus, when
we are doing, or going to do right, we are not conscious
of possessing a conscience: but let us propose to do
wrong; immediately conscience rises up and says-lVo.
Reflection may furnish reasons for this opposition on
the part of conscience and sustain its negative; but
prior to their consideration conscience said, Do it not,
and that, too, without affording the slightest reason.
The latter must be sought; conscience need not. It
speaks as the occasion demands.  NVi conscire sibi,
nulla ypallescere culpa-to be conscious of no fault —is
the only way to preserve a quiet conscience.
The story of Balaam  (Num. xxii.) quite pointedly
illustrates the negative feature, and if it were not a true
history, might be regarded as a parable of conscience.
Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at the invasion of the
children of Israel, sent messengers to Balaam, a notable
prophet, praying that he would come and curse the
approaching host. Before acceding to the request of
the king, Balaam awaited to receive counsel of the
Lord.  God appeared to him  that night and forbad
* Adams's " Christian Science."
6*




128              CHURCH ESSAYS.
him either to go with the messengers or curse the
people. Balaam obeyed in both particulars. On receiving an answer in the negative, Balak sent more
honorable messengers urging the prophet to come and
promising him great rewards. Balaam again awaited
to learn the counsel of the Lord before yielding to the
king's request. God appeared to Balaam that night
and directed him to go, but only to say what He should
give him to say. Balaam obeyed in one particular.
He went; but he went to do the bidding of Balak and
not of God. Hence God's wrath was kindled, and the
Angel of Jehovah withstood the prophet in his perverse
way and compelled him to go and bless the children of
Israel as Ile had commanded him. Just so conscience
withstands every one who attempts to do wrong; only,
unlike the angel in the path, conscience can be disregarded or ridden over. "; A good conscience," says an
old French writer, " is the best guardian angel."
Shakspeare, who never was at a loss where human
nature is concerned, finely exhibits the operation of
conscience in the " Merchant of Venice."  Iauncelot
is cogitating whether he shall run away from his master. " Certainly my conscience will serve me to run
from this Jew, my master. The fiend is at mine elbow,
and tempts me, saying to me, Go~bo, L;auncelot Gobbo,
good ~launcelot, or good Gobbo, or good lZauncelot Gobbo,
use your legs, take the start, run away. My conscience
says —No; take heed, honest L;auncelot; take heed,
honest Gobbo; or, as aforesaid, honest ~Launcelot Gobbo:




CONSCIENCE.                129
do not run; scorn running with thy heels. Well, the
most courageous fiend bids me pack; viaI/ says the
fiend; away! says the fiend, for the heavens; rouse
up a brave mind, says the fiend, and rubn. Well, my
conscience hanging about the neck of my heart, says
very wisely to me, —iJy honest friend Launcelot, being
anc honest man's son —my conscience says, Iauncelot,
budge not; budge, says- the fiend; budge not, says my
conscience: Conscience, say I, you counsel well; fiend,
say I, you counsel well; to be ruled by my conscience,
I should stay with the Jew my master, who (God
bless the mark!) is a kind of devil; and to run away
from the Jew, I should be ruled by the fiend, who,
saving your reverence, is the devil himself. Certainly,
the Jew is the very devil incarnation; and, in my conscience, my conscience is but a hard kind of conscience,
to offer to counsel me to stay with the Jew. The fiend
gives the more friendly counsel. I will run, fiend; my
heels are at your commandment, I will run."
Thus we see that conscience utters her voice in opposition; but her voice may be unheeded; arguments may
be and often are found, for disregarding her warnings.
The conduct of Launcelot excellently illustrates this.
We have said that conscience is threefold.  The
negative character which marks its first division likewise pervades its two other features. Thus, whether it
record the nature of a past act, or prophesy the consequences that will ensue from that act, or indeed, any
act, it always does so when the act is wrong, never




130               CHURCH ESSAYS.
when it is right. In the latter case conscience is quiescent; precisely as it is when it is proposed to do right.
An approving conscience is not apparent on an analysis,
and may be resolved into a conventional phrase. In
fact, approval of either thought or act is only an exercise of an enlightened judgment in the premises. Conscience is quite another matter. So far from being, as
Dr. Sharp declares, 1" nothing else but a man's judgment or persuasion concerning moral good or evil, or
concerning what he ought to do, and what he ought not
to do, and what he may lawfully do," it is a faculty
which remains at rest, and of which we are entirely unconscious until it arises, on a sudden, full armed, to
combat and condemn.
Let us examine further into the movements and
bearing of conscience. " God has given us," says Bishop
Taylor, " conscience to be in His stead to us, to give us
laws, and to exact obedience of those laws, to punish
them that prevaricate, and to reward the obedient.
And therefore conscience is called the household guardian, the domestic god, the spirit or angel of the place;
and when we call God to witness, we only mean that
our conscience is right, and that God and God's vicar,
our conscience, knows it." This view of conscience does
not harmonize with what we have said. It makes conscience an enlightened, internal judge, that acts affirmatively or negatively, and rewards or condemns according to eircumstances.  Whereas we have shown that
conscience is strictly privative in its action, whether it




CONSCIENCE.               131
refer to the past, the present, or the future. As to calling God to witness —swearing by the name of the Lord
-being merely an assertion that the conscience of the
person so doing is right, in our judgment it is something
far different and far more solemn. Taking an oath is a
full recognition that God is, and that He will visit
a perjurer far beyond what conscience has the power
to do. Conscience is not awake enough in some people
to punish even perjury; but God never sleeps, and will
not permit His Kame to be taken in vain.
Besides, it is to be observed with respect to the action of conscience, that it bears only indirectly upon
affairs here. Reason, or the affections, will indicate the
quality of an act in its relation to this world merely,
but conscience takes cognizance of it with reference to
the next. For instance, take the mean maxim, Honesty
is the best policy, —we say, " mean,' for man should
be honest because it is right and not because it is politic.
"'Fontenelle, seeing a man led to punishment, said,'there is a man who has calculated badly,' whence it
follows," continues Cousin, "that if this man, in doing
what he did, could have escaped punishment, he would
have calculated well, and his conduct would have been
laudable. The action then becomes good or ill according to the issue. Every act is of itself indifferent, and
it is lot that qualifies it. If the honest is only the useful,:the genius of calculation is the highest wisdom; it
is even virtue! Rather do what you ought, come what
may."  Take for'example, we say, the sordid maxim




132                CHURCH ESSAYS.
referred to, the sum  of the ethics of interest.  The
shrewd, unscrupulous, selfish man is apt to prosper in
the business of this world. Hence it is inferred by
some short-sighted people that honesty is not the best
policy. Reason will point out to the selfish man the
material advantages which rapidly accrue to an overreaching policy; and affection for himself and his, will
stimulate him onward in the path which seems to promise prosperity and power. Here the two organs of
the animal soul-the natural reason and affection-are
sufficient to show the way, and would undoubtedly, in
every case, set the will in motion to carry into effect
the fair-seeming policy. But conscience, a power of
the spiritual reason or higher nature, starts up, if alive,
and objects. When heeded, reflection follows and says
in support of conscience, " selfishness and dishonesty
may perhaps do for this world, but they will not answer
for the world to come. Look ahead,-honesty is the
best policy, future accountability taken into consideration." Thus, as Dr. Adams remarks, " conscience is the
perception of good or evil in action with reference to a
future responsibility."  It may, therefore, be justly
considered as the guardian angel in the breast.
In justice to Dr. Adams, whose work on " Christian
Science" we have both used and quoted, we would
refer our readers to his chapter on the subject we have
been discussing. No one will peruse it without pleasure and few without profit.  Would that Hamlet's reflection"Conscience does make cowards of us all,"




CONSCIENCE.                133
were true in all cases. Not that cowardice is a colmmendable trait; but too many " brave," as Montaigne
says, "toward God and cowards toward man," or,
alas! weak, think, like Launcelot, that the "fiend
gives the more friendly counsel."  Nor is this to be
wondered at when we reflect that the archfiend Satan
himself is continually on the watch, seeking to poison
the thoughts and pervert the ways of each child of
Adam, and well knows the weakest points of each, and
how  he may be most successfully assailed.  Conscience, however, is a safeguard which God has furnished to protect every one against the wiles of the
adversary, and the sins which do so easily beset nmankind. Happy are they who listen to the voice of Conscience-that "' cry of the soul "-as Cousin beautifully
terms it, and give heed to its divine warnings. They
will not experience the inevitable bite of the roused serpent; they will not have to look forward with dread to
the fearful panorama of sin which the quickened memory will, with its daguerreotype power, one day unfold,
before their grieved eyes; they will be at peace with
themselves; they will be followers of Christ, and at
unity with God.
Though conscience is a faculty of the moral nature,
as luch as memory is of the intellectual, practically a
right development of the power is necessary to insure
its just action. No good can be predicated of ignorance; none ought to be. We live in the light, and if
we will, we can have our consciences enlightened that




134:             CHURCH ESSAYS.
they may be sound guides and void of offence. "If,"
as Alford finely observes, " we must be taught of God,
we must also learn of God."  The responsibility rests
with us.
This being granted, it is asked; what rule shall
govern us in the formation of a good conscience?-We
answer briefly: " Render unto Cmesar the things which
be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's."
Reader, so doing, in the first, you will be a good citizen
-a good neighbor; in the second, a good Christian —a
true Churchman; in both an honest man. You cannot
be more, you should not aim to be less. So live then
that you will be enabled to say with the Apostle:
" Oure glorie is this, the witnessyng of oure conscience,
that in symplenesse and clennesse of God and not in
fleischli wisdom but in the grace of God we lynyden
in this world."




PROVIDENCE.
WE remarked once to a gentleman, an educated
man-one who had studied theology outside of the
Church —that we could not conceive how any intelligent person could look at external nature and consider
its wonder, its beauty, and its variety, and profess to
be an Atheist. " Perhaps you do not know," replied
he unhesitatingly, " that I am one." We were not a
little startled at the confession and at the coolness with
which it was made. Nevertheless we doubted its truth.
We think that such an avowal must spring either from
singular ignorance or diabolical perversion of the faculties, or both. We do not believe that any sane person
is really at heart an atheist. It is true sceptics are
shallow thinkers, though they seem to
"... Dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom line could never touch,"
to those who never think, and thus sometimes get befogged themselves and befog others. It is true, too,




136               CHURCH ESSAYS.
that many are practically atheists —that is, as Bishop
Short says, " they are not influenced in what they do
by any fixed principles which refer to a future responsibility.  Practically, they do not believe in the undoubted truth that we shall all hereafter be judged
according as we have conducted ourselves in this life.
Their minds may be so far convinced that they may
not be prepared to controvert the position; but if we
look at their conduct with reference to a day of judgment, as a question of fact, it would be very difficult
to prove that they did believe in a future state." There
are many, also, with whom " the wish is father to the
thought;" they hope there is no God. But, at heart,
something tells them that there is a God. They cannot escape from the internal revelation which the
Creator makes of Himself by His Spirit to all mankind.
As a rule, therefore, we believe that we are justified in
claiming that all persons of sound mind believe in a
personal God.
There are, however, some, even within the circle of
professed believers, who, quite unintentionally, project
themselves into the cold and shoreless region of atheism.,
Such are they who, while they confess to a belief in
Divine Providence-which is only a general or theistic
appellation of Deity-and admit that He exerts a general providence in the affairs of this world, deny that
He ever exercises a special or particular providence in
regard to them. The untenableness of the position can
be easily shown. For instance: the general providence




PROVIDENCE.                137
of God can be nothing more than the aggregate of His
special or particular providences.* Hence to disbelieve
in special providences is to disbelieve in the general
providence of God. To disbelieve in the latter is to
deny the attributes of God, and consequently to deny
Him, which is atheism. The converse of the proposition is equally true, viz.: to believe in special providence is to believe in general providence, and so in
God.  The logic is incontrovertible, the conclusion
must be accepted.
But, apart from the logic of the case, the idea that
God made the world and then left it, is absurd; that
He subordinated it to certain laws, which thus became
as God to it, is equally unreasonable. Such a system
would set God afar off.  It would annihilate man's
personal relation with his [Maker. God's benevolence
would be destroyed. It would find no place to act.
God might be the Great, but He would not be the Good
God who "keepeth covenant and sheweth mercy."
God could not then be Love.
Yet it is not to be inferred from what we have said
that the Almighty never does act through general laws.
On the contrary, God has ordained such laws, both
moral and physical in their character, and fortified by
sanctions to secure to them respect and obedience on
the part of man. If a city or an army neglect proper
sanatory regulations, disease and death follow. If an
* Dr. Francis Vinton. Unpublished sermon.




138               CHURCH ESSAYS.
individual set at defiance the laws of his physical being,
retribution will sooner or later overtake him. If he
violate the principles of sound thinking, if he indulge
a prurient imagination, mental and moral deterioration
will be the result. If the natural laws of trade and
commerce are disregarded, public prosperity declines,
financial disorders, often acting and reacting throughout the whole commercial world and sometimes involving governments, ensue.  A moderate acquaintance
with science and history proves what we have asserted.
Now, in such and all similar cases we need not assume
that-the punishment inflicted, apparently by the overruling hand, is anything more (though it may be) than
the sanction attached to, and the necessary consequence
of, the violation of the general law. It neither detracts
from the majesty of God nor from the truth of the doctrine affirmed, that the Almighty impresses general laws
upon His creation and enforces those laws. What we
aver is, that God is not limited by such laws, but in
accordance with the truth of His nature does always
and in such mode as He prefers, what is right in His
eyes.
There is another argument in confirmation of the
truth of the doctrine of special providence which we
regard as completely irrefragable. Without this doctrine what becomes of Christ and His Church? Is not
Christ the First of all God's special as well as general
providences?  Is not the scheme of Redemption the
grandest of all special providences that can be conceived




PROVIDENCE.               139
of? Is not the work of the Holy Spirit in man a continual special providence? If these are not, we confess
that we are at a loss to know what are special providences. Besides, who can read the Scriptures without seeing this doctrine ingrained throughout them?
If the very existence of the Jew is an attestation to the
truth of Revelation, it is also a confirmation of the
truth of the doctrine in question.
Further, if the doctrine be not true, if there be no
special providences, what is the purport and object of
prayer? It must be idle and aimless and therefore profane. But we are commanded to pray. " Ask and you
shall receive." We have been also taught to pray; and
many will admit that when they have prayed with
faith and earnestness their prayers have been graciously
responded to. No one who has had any varied and
extended experience in Christian life, or in any kind
of life, but will avow that God constantly exhibits His
working in particular providences. No argument will
stagger the Christian:in his belief in regard to this doctrine. He knows that it is true; his convictions have
become a part of himself.
Notwithstanding, we find not a few in every Christian community, who, perhaps without intending it,
substantially ignore the doctrine of special or particular
providences. For instance, when we listen to the anathemas poured out upon the weather by some persons
-dissatisfaction with the heat, disgust at the cold, annoyance with the drought, disappointment at the rain,




140              CHuRCo ESSAYS.
irritation with the wind, vexation at the calm-we
might imagine that in their opinion some factiouslyelected demagogue controlled the elements and governed
the weather. We would hardly infer from their expressions that they believed that it was the Lord who
" caused the grass to grow, the vapors to ascend, the
wind to blow, and the waters to flow, the rain to
descend upon one city and not upon another, and
did whatever He pleased in heaven, in earth, and in
the sea."
Again, when a distinguished man dies at a peculiar
time, when the public seem to need his services in his
vocation, his death is deplored, the loss is deemed fearful, the calamity irreparable, and many, in fact, really
appear to think the Almighty has committed an error
in removing so valuable an individual at so important
a juncture. Do such persons truly recognize the hand
of Providence in what they esteem a calamity of such
singular magnitude? Do they reflect that had God
needed the services of the deceased either in Church or
State or private life, He would have preserved him to
do His will? Do they remember that God made man
simply to honor Himself; that it is I-e who kills and
He who makes alive; that He who could spare Moses
could provide Joshua; and in fine, that all things are
His from the smallest to the greatest, and that there is
nothing without Him?
How often, too, do we see persons who have lost
relatives appearing for years draped in black; thereby




PROVIDENCE.                141
evincing their determination to mourn, openly at least,
without limit for those whom  God has taken away.
Now the external signs of grief prescribed by the laws
of Christian society are decent in themselves and in accordalce with the spirit of true religion; but mourning, when continued beyond the period usually allotted
by the custom of society, is not only an exhibition of
bad taste, but an ostentatious parade of external woe
that is above recognizing God and submitting quietly
to His will; in fact, it is flat rebellion against the Mlost
High.
As we before remarked, all the persons whom we
have just described, practically, if not advisedly, ignore
-the doctrine of God's continual working in the entire
government of the world. Is it possible that thus either
speaking or acting, they can. really think in their hearts
that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, and that He
doeth all things well? At least there is room to doubt
it. Should they deny the imputation, it rests with them
under the circumstances either to prove that they do
believe the doctrine of God's special providence, or to
mend their ways. The latter course, we add in all
charity, they will find the easier and the better.
We think that no one' will deny, that the argument
in support of God's special providence, derived from reason and experience, cannot be confuted.; The voice of
Revelation maintains it from first to last.  It teaches
that God takes a continual, active interest in the things
of this world; that He is seen in history; that He rules




142               CHURCH ESSAYS.
in the affairs of men; and that all things work together
eventually for good, in ultimate accordance with His
will, and to the praise of His glory for whom all things
were made. The Church, too, as she " affirms," as Dr.
Hallam well remarks, "all truths and simply declares"
what Scripture teaches, openly confesses this doctrine
and avowedly lives by it. Her prayers are its complete
exponent. Her ministers proclaim it to the people. It
is therefore a necessary Christian doctrine-one that
must be actually held.
[Besides, the doctrine of God's special providence is
a wholesome doctrine. It compels man to recognize the
eternal omnipresence of God. It requires him to look
up to God continually; to rely upon Him; to believe
that His eye is over all His people; and that He will
both reward and punish. It stimulates conscience. It
brings into action and affords room for the development
of man's best and highest powers. Finally, it energizes
man to live the life he was designed to live-a life of
faith, of prayer, of dependence upon his Heavenly Father; and it will induce him to " walk humbly with his
God, and to run with patience the race that is set before
him, looking unto Jesus." In the words of Bishop Taylor, "The providence of God is so great a provider for
holy living and does so certainly minister to religion,
that nature and chance, the order of the world, and the
influences of heaven, are taught to serve the ends of
the Spirit of God and the spirit of a man."




PRAYER.
As we write for those who profess to believe the
truths of the Gospel, we deem it superfluous to adduce
evidence either of the reasonableness or the Scripturalhness of prayer to God. Indeed, the number of those
who dispute the general proposition is too insignificant
to claim our attention. We will, therefore, pursue our
purpose, which is to set forth briefly the form, spirit,
and matter of prayer.
Before entering upon these points we will elucidate
one preliminary in regard to which some people find
themselves singularly confused. It is this: To whom
do we pray?-To which Person of the Godhead? —To
all, or to God alone, in the abstract'   We answer
directly: There is but One God, and in the unity of
God, there are Three Persons. Whoever prays to God,
prays necessarily to each and all of the Three Persons:
and whoever prays to each or all of the Three Persons;
necessarily prays to the One God.  No form  can
change the fact. Still it is necessary to pray under7




144               CHURCH ESSAYS.
standingly. What the Church teaches on this subject
may be gathered directly from the Litany. Observe
the beginning where petitions are addressed to the
Three Persons respectively in order, and then one to
all combined. Mark, too, the threefold entreaty in the
Minor Litany: " Lord have mercy upon us." "; Christ
have mercy upon us."  "Lord have mercy upon us."
Now this is not mere fervor or vehemence. It is in
both cases a direct recognition of the Trinity-Three
Persons and One God. This must not be forgotten.
God the Father created us; God the Son redeemed us;
God the Holy Ghost sanctifieth us. This is the economy of the Deity. Therefore we address the Three
Persons individually; but we are not unmindful that
there is only One God, and that we must all pray to
Him, and do pray to Him only. " I will pray," says
St. Paul, "with the spirit, and I will pray with the
understanding also. Let all things be done to edifying."
Prayer is the generic term for communion with
God. It is properly divided into two classes, viz., First,
ORATIO, or extended prayer; second, PRECES, or short
appeals. Each of these classes may be subdivided again.
Each comprehends: i. Invocation, or address to the
Deity; 2. Prayer, or request for what we need or
desire; 3. Intercession, or request for others; 4. D)eprecation, or entreaty for special protection; 5. Obsecration, or earnest appeal on peculiar grounds; 6. Supp7ication, or beseeching for pardon. These subdivisions




PRAYER.                  145
are more commonly found in the second class than in
the first.  Thus the Litany, which, except the Lord's
Prayer, is composed of Preces, comprehends them all.
Originally it was intended for a single and separate
service, and was arranged to include everything that its
nature would admit. For instance, the first four petitions contain the Invocation to the Triune God; the
second six, the Deprecations; the third three, the
Obsecrations; the residue, Intercessions and Supplications. Hence the minister, after reading the Litany,
says, " Let us pray "-which is not a rubric as some
suppose-and passes on fiom the preces to an oratio.
At the close of the latter he returns to preces. These
being finished, he again says "Let us pray," and concludes with the orationes prescribed.
Irrespective of mode or mere style, prayer involves
four necessary and important premises.  1. Belief in
God's special providence; 2. That it be made in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ; 3. Faith in Him; 4.
That it be made in the right spirit.  The first premise
is indispensable; for, unless God answer prayer, it would
be superfluous to pray; and it may be added that prayer
is a concession of the point.  The second premise
should be self-evident to the Christian, and needs no
apology. Once, however, we observed to a clergyman
-not a churchman-that it seemed to us that the
omission to ask in Christ's Name, noticeable sometimes
in extempore prayers, rendered the whole prayer nugatory. "Oh," said he, "that is understood, of course."




146               CHURCH ESSAYS.
In other words, in the opinion of persons making the
omission, our blessed Lord can be " understood " like
a word in grammar —taken for granted.  It will be
perceived that the argument against prayer is, on such
ground, irrefragable. For if Christ may be "understood," the whole prayer may be so too. The conclusion is inevitable. But the Church has not so learned
Christ. She requires that every prayer shall set forth
distinctly that it is made in His [Name, as He commanded. Only praying so is an answer promised, or
can an answer be expected: and praying so an answer
will be vouchsafed, for He has said, "Whatsoever ye
shall ask in My Name, that will I do."  The third premise —" Faith in Him " —rests on equally clear and
stable grounds. Faith in Christ involves a full acceptance of Christ, and recognition of His Deity and humanity and what follows therefrom. Nothing in Christian life is possible without faith. Ask therefore " in
faith, nothing wavering." In regard to the fourth and
last premise-" The right spirit "-we answer that the
right spirit will exhibit entire deference to the will of
God,-" not my will but Thine be done,"-and contentment with the response, whatever that may be.
"He prayeth well who loveth well," says Coleridge.
Faith is the active power, love the element of prayer.
God is love. The highest love of which man is capable
is love to God. Love to man is the reactive overflowing
of God's love to man, for God is the fountain of love.
He 4s love itself. Love, as Alford says, is " His essen



PRAYER.                         147
tial being." Hence, " he that loveth not never knew
God.  He who is born  of God, however, loves God,
knows God, does God's will.  God Himself, who first
loved us, viz., in Christ His incarnate Son, begot in us
that love which of moral necessity returns again to the
Father, and of like necessity embraces our brethren
also." Such is the perfect love which is the proper
element of prayer. With such love faith will coexist,
for "faith worketh by love."   Prayer so conditioned
will be acceptable to God, and will receive its due
reward.
"Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream
Of glory on the consecrated hour
Of man in audience with the Deity."
If it be necessary to understand the true conditions
of prayer, it is also important to know what to pray.*
We do not refer now to public prayer or church worship. For that the Church has provided a liturgy
which has come to be " accounted," as Alexander Knox
prophesied, " the richest treasure, next to the canonical
Scriptures, in the Christian Church." Except in peculiar exigencies, for which the bishops provide, there is
* Madame Guyon, in her work on Prayer, refers to the " Prayer of
Silence-a prayer too deep for words. It is a state of the soul which does
not speak, because it has nothing to ask. It has a consciousness of having God, and in the fulness and richness of its possession it rests; it is
silent, it asks nothing more." This is sentiment. There is no such thing
as silent prayer. All prayer is predicated upon man's need, and is made
to obtain the supply of that need. Madame Guyon has mistaken the
peace of God, a fruit of prayer, for prayer itself.




148               CHURCII ESSAYS.
no occasion for going beyond the Prayer Book; and no
one governed by sound judgment and good taste will
exceed its limits. There is ample room in it for the
loftiest intellect, the holiest and humblest spirit, to
commnune with God.
But aside from public worship, every one thinks
that there should be some general rules for guidance
in the consecrated moments of audience with Heaven.
Beyond the Lord's Prayer, which should never be
omitted, what we should pray may be divided into two
parts, viz., 1. What we should pray' against; 2. What
we should pray for.
In reply to the first, or in explanation, we say, the
Tempter. If the beginnings of sin should be eschewed,
if the very " appearance of evil" should be avoided,
with what just apprehension must not the Christian
regard temptation? "Few  persons," says a distinguished orator, "' who have enjoyed the ordinary advantages of an education in this part of the world, few
persons that have anything that can be called a virtuous home, are in great danger of being led astray by
vice, when it stands before them in all its native deformity.
It is a monster of such hideous mien,
That to be hated needs but to be seen."
But who is safe from the Circean voice of Temptation?
Temptation is not a hideous monster. It too often comes
in a lovely form, clothed with grace and beauty, speaking with a silver voice, and calling to us when we are




PRAYER.                   149
off our guard.  That is what we first need to be protected from."
Temptation as surely precedes sin, as thought precedes action. It is like the pilot-fish of the shark. The
importance which our Saviour attached to especial protection against this power, is brought out very clearly,
by a collation of His three most important prayers.
" Lead us not into temptation," is the most touching
petition in the Lord's Prayer, the one which the hearts
of all most quickly and tremblingly respond to. "I
pray not that Thol shouldst take them out of the world,
but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil," is the
prayer of our Saviour when interceding with the
Father for His disciples. The first step in the Divine
keeping is preservation from temptation. Again, our
Lord when making supplication for Himself, says, " O
My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me "
-Spare Me this trial, this temptation. If Christ shrank,
even apparently, from conflict with this monster, how
much more must weak, sinful man recoil from the contest.  Notwithstanding, we are assured that we will
not be tempted beyond what we can bear. It requires,
however, faith to receive this; for, in many cases, temptation seems to be but the precursor of a fall. Man, we
believe, would instinctively shrink from  temptation,
were it not ministered by the arch fiend himself, who
knows just where and how, most efficiently to apply
the lever for man's overthrow.  His part is
"To work in close design by fraud or guile."




150              CHIURCH ESSAYS.
Man naturally dreads trial under all circumstances. It
brings home to him his weakness. He sees the sad consequences which too often result from it, both to himself and to others. Well may he fear since Satan is
the enemy. Faith is the only shield that can protect
him; prayer the only weapon he should employ. With
these the fiend can be successfully encountered. Meet
the enemy then on the threshold and be strong, ever
supplicating God " to strengthen such as do stand, and
to comfort and help the weak-hearted, to raise up those
who fall, and finally to beat down Satan under our feet."
Thus triumphing with Christ over the first enemy, we
will not have cause to fear the last.
What should we pray for? It is proper for us to
make known all our honest wants to God, and to ask
that they be supplied, if it be good for us. Not our
will but His be done. He is the Judge. At the same
time there is one Gift, precious above all the good gifts.
which God gives to man, that we should fervently pray
for. It is God's Holy Spirit, whom God has promised
to give to those who ask Him, believing. This gift
comprehends all that we can desire, all that we can
imagine, and more than we can deserve. Nothing can
be added to the Holy Spirit. After redeeming us by
Christ, in giving us His Holy Spirit God freely gives
us all things. " 0 the depth of the riches of God! "
Let us ever pray then for His Holy Spirit, and receive
Him and cherish Him in our hearts. HIe is the Spirit
of life.




PBRAYER.                   151
Prayer is a correlative of repentance; not that repentance which is merely compunction for sin, but
a fixed determination -with God's help- to struggle
against sin.  It must be remembered also that ill
Heaven's Chancery
"There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compelled,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence."
Hence when we pray we must truly confess and sincerely resolve to forsake our sins. Paley writes, "'it
hath been well said of prayer, that prayer will either
make a man leave off sinning, or sin will make him
leave off prayer."   This is by no means the case.
David's life, as exhibited in the Psalms as well as in
the Book of Klings, was a course of sinning and repenting. Yet from beginning to end he continued to pray
and thus triumphed at last.  What was true of the
Hebrew king is true of every fallen being who attempts
to lead a Christian life.  The argument is not in favor
of sinning but of prayer.  Happen what may, man
should " pray always and not faint."
Prayer is the "' co5perant of duty."  We must work
and pray. God will make allowance for our infirmities,
but HIe will not accept an intentional half service. We
are in covenant with Him; He will perform  His part
and He will require us to make good ours. Neither
must we pray perfunctorily; but we must be "not




152                cHUICH ESSAYS.
slothful in the business, fervent in the spirit, serving
the Lord.  Our reward is with Him.
Among the benefits that ensue to the person who
sincerely prays is the reactive influence produced by the
act of devotion. Were the petitions offered rarely granted, this benefit, which always is conferred, would be of
no small value. Many a troubled spirit, many a broken
heart has received divine consolation from simple communion with God. Doubtless the holy calm thus attained is the best answer, perhaps the only answer, God
can sometimes in wisdom make to supplications in distress. No one who has experienced the heavenly comfort will underrate the peace and joy which flow from
the consecrated hour.
Christian life is at unity with itself; it is one.  We
refer not only to the ingrafted life of Christ, but to
that life which is the exponent of the former.  All our
life then must be in union and attuned to harimony
with Christ. Is it obvious that nothing which the Church
prescribes for holy living, can be dispensed with, and
too much importance cannot be attached to the apostolic injunction: Be steadfast i  prayer.  In the exquisite words of Montgomery:
"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air;
His watchword at the gates of death,
He enters heaven by prayer."




DEATH.
THERE are words which seem  calculated by their
very tone to awaken peculiar emotions, to suggest special trains of thought. Perhaps this arises from the
association of ideas, or from that accord between. sound
and sense which appertains in a more or less degree
to the words of every language.  Death is one of these
words. Something like a chill creeps round the heart
when the sound of it falls upon the ear.  Instinctively
man shudders at the thought of death.
" Death is a fearful thing:
-to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice:
To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence about
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Of those, that lawless and uncertain thoughts
Imagine howling!-'tis too horrible! "
It must be confessed this is a dark picture of the fate




154               CHURCH ESSAYS.
which awaits all men. It is one to which an excited
imagination gave birth in the mind of a weak man,
apparently on the verge of the grave and horribly
afraid to die.  Nevertheless, though Claudio's delineation of the hereafter is hardly justifiable, death is
almost universally conceded to be a "fearful thing."
But is the alarm which it excites reasonable or wellfounded? As death is the common lot, should there
be an unwillingness to die?
The subject has two aspects-the one physical, the
other moral. We will examine them in order.
The separation of the immortal part of man-the
spirit —from the body of flesh is physical or ordinary
death. The spirit departs to the place appointed for
it to dwell in, until, upon the resurrection from the
dead, it shall be called to inform a body which will be
as enduring as itself; the body composed of various
elements maintained in high forms of chemical combination dissolves away. Corruption is merely a reduction
of the elements from the highest to the lowest forms of
combination. The inexplicable force, life, compels the
one; death naturally ensures the other. It is the same
throughout all creation wherein is life, whether sentient
or non-sentient. Man can make an excellent copy of an
animal or a plant; but he cannot endow it with life.
The chemists can compose blood or sap which will be
very fair counterfeit-presentmements; but he cannot make
them circulate. Life only can do that. Life only can
bring a function into action or preserve it in activity.




DEATH.                    155
It is a power which comes from  God. It is a force
which he gives. He gives it only for a season. When
the unseen power is withdrawn, both animal and plant
must corrode. There is a limit fixed for the duration of
everything wherein is life. All that lives must die.
As life is of the highest importance in the physical
economy of God, both plant and animal have been so
fitted that each seeks its own preservation. The plant
elevates its stem and expands its leaves to breathe the
air and receive the light, and sends down its roots in
pursuit of the sustenance which it craves. So persistent is it in its endeavors to effect its purposes that it
assumes divers shapes and triumphs over singular obstacles. So pertinacious is it in its efforts to live, that,
as far as in it lies, it refuses to die.  The antimal, too,
is gifted from above with an especial instinct of selfpreservation, and avoids death as his most terrible
enemy. Surmounting dangers, sustaining injuries, surviving disease, he lives out his allotted days.  Man,
the head of the animal creation, though his instincts
are much inferior to those of subordinate creatures,
has the instinct of self-preservation well developed.
Perhaps it is even increased by the influence of his
higher nature.  Man, therefore, naturally shuns death.
It is only when supported by decided courage and fortitude, or nerved by some inspiring principle, that he
evinces a disregard of death, an indifference to life.
We refer, of course, to those who possess the  nens
sana it corpore sano.




156                CHURCH ESSAYS.
Physical death-we refer to it in connection with
man-may proceed either from the exhaustion of the
living power consequent upon old age-which is infrequent; or it may result from violence or disease. It
may exhibit itself first in any part of the body and progress by inches; but it is perfected in the brain. That
organ being the centre and source of vital force, unless
through its nervous system it excite the heart into motion, there can be no circulation of the blood, no action
of the lungs to aerate the life-bearing stream. As long,
too, as the brain does exert an adequate force, the heart
and lungs, if uninjured, must perform their joint functions.  If they cease their action, the arterialization
ceases, and the brain, deprived of blood, must perish
from atrophy. Thus the natural as well as the complex body (the Church) " fitly joined together and coinpacted by that which every joint supplieth, according
to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body." Life apparently terminates when the chest ceases to act. This cessation,
however, may be only temporary, as in cases of syncope
or ascphyxia, or it may be simulated. Inaction of the
chest, therefore, is not certain, though it generally is
very good evidence of death. The latter cannot be
absolutely predicated to have ensued until vitality has
departed from the brain. Then and not until then does
the spirit —the hospes comesfque corporis-leave the
house of flesh to soar away.




DEATH.                    157
"Animula vagula blandula,
Hospes comesque corporis;
Quae nune abibis in loca,
Pallidula rigida nidula
Nec ut soles dabis jocos?"
Much has been written on the question of misapprehension in regard to death and premature interment.
There is no difficulty about the matter.  When certain
spots appear upon the abdomen every doubt is removed;
death has done its work. Generally, however, there
are signs familiar to all medical men, which are unmistakable and which precede the inevitable sign and
undoubted proof we have mentioned.
The act of dying is not attended with pain. Even
when consciousness is maintained, as is often the case,
to the moment of dissolution, pain is not experienced.
That is incident, in a greater or less degree, to the evils
of the flesh. In consequence of injuries or disease some
persons die agonizing deaths.  No such suffering must
be confounded with what is termed the " agony," or
imaginary violent rending in twain of the spirit and the
flesh.  Fear of the article of death-physical death
purely-can arise only from ignorance or undue timidity. There is no pain in it as such. Indeed, very often
the approach of death, where great suffering has been
experienced from the nature of the disease, is signalized
by a release from all pain so completely that the sign
of death is mistaken for a sign of recovery, and the
patient, amid the delusive hopes that have been awak



158               CHURCH ESsAYS.
ened in the breasts of friends, passes away like a " christomrn child." The parting of the spirit is as quiet and
noiseless as was its coming. St. Paul well describes it
when he says of David that " he fell on sleep."
The ancient Hebrews had a tradition that an angel
called Samael was the prince of death, and that he came
and& bore away the spirits of the dying to their new
abode. The Mussulmans, who doubtless borrowed the
idea from the Hebrews, attribute the same part to
Azrael. The idea is not less fanciful than that of the
Greek poets, who make, in their mythology, Death and
Sleep twin sisters, and the daughters of Night. The
association is natural, and conceived in the spirit of
poetry.  Krummacher has elaborated the idea in a
parable which is so beautiful that we venture to translate it, though it must lose some of its charm in the
rendering. It is as follows:
"The Angels of Sleep and Death in brotherly companionship were wandering over the earth.  It was
evening. They threw themselves down to rest upon a
hill not far from the habitations of men. A melancholy
silence reigned around, broken only by the sound of
the vesper-bell in the distant village. Mute and quiet,
as is their custom, the two beneficent guardian-angels
of mankind sat in affectionate embrace. Night drew
on. Suddenly the Angel of Sleep arose from his mossy
couch, and with a light hand scattered the invisible
seeds of slumber. The evening wind bore them to the
quiet abode of the weary husbandmen. Sweet sleep




DEATH.                  159
began now to embrace the inhabitants of the several
cottages, from the gray-headed old man who leaned
upon his staff to the infant in the cradle. The sick
forgot their pains, the mourners their grief, the poor
their cares. Every eye slept. Soon, after his task was
finished, the benevolent Angel laid himself down again
alongside of his stern brother.-' When the morning
dawns,' exclaimed he. with cheerful innocence,'the
world will praise me as its friend and benefactor!
O what joy to do good in secret! How happy are we
invisible messengers of good spirits! How beautiful
is our silent calling!'-Thus spake the friendly Angel
of Sleep. The Angel of Death looked at him with
quiet sadness, and a tear, such as immortals shed, stood
in his large dark eye.'Alas,' said he,'I cannot, as
you, enjoy the thanks of the grateful; the world calls
me its enemy and the destroyer of its peace!'-' O my
Brother,' responded the Angel of Sleep,'will not the
good at their awakening recognize and bless thee as
their friend? Are we not Brothers and Messengers of
the same Father?'-As he thus spake the eye of the
Angel of Death glistened, and the two brother-spirits
tenderly embraced each other!"
The moral aspect of death awakens other considerations. Conscious of immortality, aware of sin, advertised of a judgment to come, man shrinks from the
ordeal he is doomed to undergo. IHe clings to the
life he knows, be it what it may; he would not die;
Death is to him the king of terrors. The mass of men,




160                 CHURCH ESSAYS.
we apprehend, do not dread death as the end of life.
There is no "inward horror of falling into naught ";
the " soul startles at destruction'" only in the imagination of the poet.  On the contrary, we believe that
if annihilation were the sanction of law, the reward of
sin, periodical deluges would be necessary to purify
the earth and stay God's repentance for having made
man.  No, it is not the "longing after immortality'
which causes sinful man to wish to live, live on, to never
die; it is the thought of the hereafter.
"To die;-to sleep;To sleep! perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause."
The same pen which traced Claudio's fear of death here
explains the cause of all such alarm.  It is the dread
of the hereafter. But faith, reflection, courage, serve to
modify, if they do not altogether remove this natural
apprehension.  Thus there  are  some who, though
touched by a solemn awe, do not fear to die.
From  the 1New Testament we learn that there are
two deaths-the first and the second death.  The one
refers to death in the ordinary acceptation of the word,
the other to the punishment reserved for the impenitent.
" Physical death" says Alford, " is so subordinate to
spiritual death that it often hardly comes into account
with the writers of the New Testament; it is over



DEATH.                  161
looked and disregarded in comparison with that which
is really death."' (Cf. John xi. 25-6, with Eph. ii. 2.)
A proper consideration of our subject leads to the
inquiry: What do we know of the world to come?We only know what has been explicitly revealed and
what follows logically therefrom. For example, we
know that at the appointed time the spirit sloughs
off its fleshly integument, and in its unclothed state
goes to the place of departed spirits, there to remain
until the resurrection, when it will be united to the
spiritual body and the entire organization perfected.
Man will then be a full man, possessing body, soul and
spirit, all equally immortal. The nature of the body
with which the spirit is to be clothed on the resurrection-day we are utterly.unable to explain. St. Paul
says there is a spiritual body-pneumzc ticos, controlled
by the spirit, not psuchtikos, controlled by the animal
soul; but the specific character of that body has not
been revealed. We may assume safely, however, that
it will be such that the identity of each individual
will be completely and consciously preserved.  We
know farther that there will be two resurrections.
"' Blessed are they who have part in the first resurrection."  They are the " dead in Christ " whom the Lord
will bring with Him to meet the saints on earth who
shall be " changed," when He comes to reign a thousand years. A certain space after the millennium the
second resurrection will take place and will comprehend
all who had no part in the first. Then will come the




162               CHURCH ESSAYS.
judgment. They who shall be found to possess faith
in Jesus Christ-among such of course will be they
who had part in the first resurrection —will be pardoned and rewarded according to their works. The
measure of the latter is concealed. Doubtless, age,
capacity, circumstance, grace, will be taken into account. God is just. They who shall not be found on
the great day shielded by faith in Jesus Christ will
be consigned to the second death. Of the form, mode,
character of the life hereafter we know as little as of
the body which is to take part in it, whether that life
shall be to live with Christ or to die with Satan. All
we can say is, that the former will receive "those
things which God has prepared for them that love
Him, which pass man's comprehension, and exceed all
he can either desire or deserve;;" the latter will depart
into'" everlasting darkness."  How vast the reward!
How fearful the punishment! Light and life on the
one hand, death and darkness on the other. How great
the contrast! But, "shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right  " That Judge will be the God-Man Jesus
Christ our Lord.
National character is often illustrated by the characteristic expressions in use on the subject of death.
Thus, says De Vere, " the poetical Greek called his
burying place, such as it was, a koineterion, or' sleeping place;' the faith of the Hebrew spoke in his bethhaim, or'house of the living!' The proud Roman
avoided the very name of what was to him, but too




DEATH.                   163
often, mere annihilation; he did not like to die, but
called it vitam suam muntare,' to change his life,' trcnsire a seculo,' to pass from the age,' or si quid de eo humcanitus contigerit,'if anything human hath happened
to him."' The Romans, too, frequently used the expression abiit ad p}lures, he "' has joined the majority."
It was a fashionable phrase rife among the wits, probably, at the baths. "The French of our day," continues IDe Vere, "shows, with regard to death, that
peculiar feature in the national character which dislikes
being disturbed by unpleasant impressions in the enjoyment of life, and most admires ingenious delicacy in
avoiding all directness by euphemistic terms. The word
mort,' dead,' is but rarely heard in France; it has an
icy breath about it, which the Frenchman avoids as a
bad omen, like the Roman of old; the odor of death
he changes into an odezr du saplin,' scent of the fir;'
he prefers the char fun8bre,' funeral car,' to the corlillard,' hearse,' trfpas and dc~s,' demise' and' decease,' to
straight-forward terms, and the English' corpse' is to
him a simple corps. The genius of the language bends
to his whims and fancies so far as to allow him to speak
of mourir tout en vie, and even to say se mourir (the
two latter phrases cannot be rendered into equivalent
English), as if death was nothing but a voluntary act
chosen at will.. Highly poetical and slightly transcendental appear, on the other hand, the German Friedhof,'peace-yard,' and Gottesacker,' God's field,' which gradually find their way into other idioms also."  Ameri



164               CHURCH ESSAYS.
cans are not without their specialities in these matters.
" Corpse'and " body" are almost superseded by " remains;" " dead" is left to the Bible and liturgy; and
in imitation of Paris and the Pere la Chaise, the Saxon
" grave-yard" and " church-yard " are rapidly disappearing in the more elegant "' rural cemetery" or the peculiar appellation of each "'necropolis," or beautiful
abode of departed friends, where, amid lovely situations,
charming prospects, and fashionable avenues, we are
tempted to reverse the words of the minister and exclaim, " In the midst of death we are in life."
Death often elucidates individual characteristics.
Proximity to it frequently unfolds the man. What is
singular, there is sometimes either a presentiment or an
absolute conviction that death is near at hand, which
nothing can dispel or shake, and which in many cases
proves correct. Nelson is said to have experienced the
former, and the latter is familiar to physicians generally.
What increases a natural awe on the subject of death
is that it is a solitary act. It is a way which must be
travelled alone. Nor does it in any way alter the fact,
that one may apparently depart with a large company
to join the ever-increasing " majority."  The Roman
sentinel who perished at his post when Vesuvius overwhelmed Pompeii; the soldier who fell among thousands on the field of Austerlitz; the seaman who was
engulfed with the ill-fated President; the man who
breathes his last in the arms of friends, the recipient of
every attention, the object of solicitude and affection



DEATI.                      165
each one goes on his way alone.  " Thy rod and Thy
staff" are the only stays granted to man, from the
peasant to the statesman, when he "walks through the
valley of the shadow of death."
Caesar says:
"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come, when it will come."
But, whatever may have been the fear of death manifested through life, as a rule, it is greatly modified or
disappears when the inevitable call comes.  Doctor
Johnson is a striking example of this.  Possessing unquestionable courage, both moral and physical, endowed
with great intellectual powers, thoroughly informed
upon the subject of religion, deeply convinced of the
truth of Christianity, and through the Church availing
himself of all the means appointed for the attainment
of salvation, he nevertheless exhibited from youth to
old age an awful horror of death.  Ile took no pains
to conceal it. Yet, says his biographer, i' when he
approached to his awful change, his mind became tranquil, and he exibited as much fortitude as becomes a
thinking man in that situation." I-e died with entire
composure and resignation.
Some writers regard the composure generally exhibited by the dying, as merely an index of the controlling




166              caiCUR0C  ESSAYS.
power of vanity. They say, man will play his last part
well whenever he has spectators; we know not how he
would die alone, without a reporter. We admit that
vanity is a powerful element in human character, and
that many acts both good and bad are inspired by this
feeling. But we believe, also, that there are other reasons which explain the phenomenon of man's ordinarily
making a quiet end. 1. Physical debility, with which
the mind sympathizes; when dying becomes like falling
asleep through exhaustion. 2. Courage, which apparently nothing can pale, which not only rises itself, but
prompts man to concentrate all his powers to meet the
emergency. 3. Divine aid; in other words, God, knowing the weakness of man, enables him to die, as He has
enabled him to live. 4. Faith in Christ, which is
both sword and shield, an unfailing weapon and a
sure defence. Perhaps other reasons might be adduced, such as faith in human nature, insensibility,
ignorance; but they are of little importance, and need
not delay us.
Numerous are the deathbed scenes which have
been recounted for the warning, amusement, and edification of the living-some of them deplorable, like
those of Buckingham, Savage, and Sheridan: some
of them partially manufactured, as that of Addison:
some of them curious and characteristic, as that of
Playfair, who asked that the a Principia" might be
read to him to soothe his pain; or as that of Dr. Adam,
who dismissed the class, to die; or as that of Charles II,




DEATH.                  167
who apologized for keeping the company waiting: some
of them solemn and affecting; such as many have witnessed: and some wellnigh sublime.  We might fill
pages in endeavoring to relate them. Woolsey cried,
" If I had served my God as I have my king, He would
not have abandoned me."  Philip II exclaimed, "Oh
that I had never reigned!" Randolph screamed, "Remorse-write in on a card, let me see it."  Whitefield
died "silent," having said previously that he should
do so,' as he had witnessed for God during his life."
Washington's death was extraordinary. Constitutionally brave, after a life of duty, 1" having the testimony of
a good conscience, in the communion of the Catholic
Church, in the confidence of a certain faith, in the confort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope," and, we
doubt not, " in favor with God and in perfect charity
with the world, he was gathered unto his fathers.'" Feeling that he was about to depart, he placed his finger upon
the left pulse, and quietly and calmly numbered the time
of the ebbing current, until at the last beat the massive
hands fell lifeless apart. It is said that no one ever knew
the exact moment he fell asleep, or the precise second
his spirit took wing. If any man ever did realize it,
that man was Washington.
We return- to the question-Is a- fear of death
just and well founded? The " sense " of physical
death, as we have intimated, is all " in apprehension."
Not so is the case with death in a moral point of view.
They who are out of Christ-through whom only can
8




168                CHURCH ESSAYS.
they be in covenant with God-and therefore utterly
unprepared to die, in view of the dark future that impends, may well say inll the words of Claudio:
"The weariest and most loathed worldly life,
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is paradise
To what we fear of death."
This is the effect of sin; this is the dread of the second
death.  "The death of Christ," however, as Alford
remarks, "having brought to nought the agency of the
devil in death, because that death of His, being not the
penalty of His own sin, but the atoning sacrifice for
the sin of the world, all those who by faith are united
to Him can now look on death no longer as the penalty
of sin, but only as the passage for them, as it was for
Him, to a new and glorious life of triumph and blessedness."  Hence it follows, that while to the unprepared
death must be a fearful thing, to the prepared it may
be considered as a good. Man need not fear to die.
It is evident, however, that a preparation for death
is necessary, lest it prove an evil and not a good. It
remains then to inquire what is the most fitting preparation for the inevitable journey which all must take.
Undoubtedly the best preparation for death is a right
life. When Socrates was pressed by his friend Hermogenes to make ready for his defence, "' What!" said
he, "my Hermogenes, suppose you that I have not
spent all my life in preparing for this very thing?"
Hermogenes desiring that he would explain himself:




DEATH.                  169
"I have," continued he, "steadily persisted, throughout life, in a diligent endeavor to do nothing which is
unjust; and this I take to be the best and most honorable preparation."  IMlontaigne writes: "He who
would teach men to die, would teach them to live."
The question of dying clearly returns to one of living.
Such being the case, it is apparent that man should so
live that he will have no mlore to apprehend from
death than what properly accords with a just fear of
the Lord. For as God has instituted love as a power
to incline the heart to good, so He has prescribed fear
as a force to deter from sin. Both work together to the
benefit of man and praise of God.
But what rules for living rightly can be laid down a
Simply these: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
keep His commandments. The latter are chiefly two.
The first exacts love to God; the second, love to man's
fellow man. The one involves the honoring of God in
all the requirements of His holy Church; the othera consequence of the first, and lifeless without it-demands that man be warm-hearted and true-hearted.
These are, it is true, great general principles; but from
them, rules of action to meet every phase of life may be
deduced. No one need err therein. The only commentary necessary is the Golden Rule. This will settle
every question of construction that can arise.
Jeremy Taylor, who has written so admirably on
"Holy Living" as the proper precursor to "Holy
Dying," says: "In the morning, when you awake,




170               CHURCH ESSAYS.
accustom yourself to think first upon God, or something
in order to His service; and at night also let Him
close thine eyes, and let your sleep be necessary and
healthful, not idle and expensive of time, beyond the
needs and conveniences of nature; and sometimes be curious to see the preparation which the sun makes, when
he is coming forth from his chambers of the east." Sir
Matthew Hale, the able lawyer and upright judge, whom
Washington took for a model, and whose letters he so
much admired, "divided himself," says Burnet, "between the duties of religion and the studies of his profession:; in the former he was so regular, that for six
and thirty years' time, he never once failed going to
church on the Lord's day; he took a strict account of his
time, of which the reader will best judge by the scheme
he drew for a diary. It is set down in the same simplicity in which he writ it for his own private use.
" MORNING. —To lift up'my heart to God in thankfulness for renewing my life.
"EVENING.-Cast up the accotmts of the day.  If
aught amiss, beg pardon. Gather resolution of more
vigilance. If well, bless the mercy and grace of God
that hath supported thee."
But the variety that exists in age, character, calling,
capacity, means, renders it impossible to prescribe formulas adapted to all men. General principles and the
self-evident rules that flow fronm them are all that can
be set down on paper. As regards the rest, each man
must see to it for himself. The Church, with the Bible




DEATH.                  171
and Prayer Book, certainly offers all the instruction that
can possibly be necessary.
In regard to the practice of life in this world, an
error is prevalent, which is productive of evil and needs
correction. It is the confounding the service with the
worship of God. The former properly comprehends all
man's life; the latter, only communion with God. For
instance: man serves God in every part of his life, when
he is honestly performing his duty in that station of
life in which it has pleased God to call him. The better, the more efficiently he executes his calling, the
better he serves God. It is idle to suppose that God
placed man in this world to eat his bread in the sweat
of his brow, and endowed him with genius, talents, and
industry to illustrate and adorn the world he inhabits,
and then counts it sin in him to use his heaven-born
faculties, to develop his mind and body, to unfold and
exemplify nature and art in all their variety, beauty,
and perfection, if he do not cast contempt upon all
the things of this world and devote all his thoughts
and time to doing that which it is revealed is the
occupation of the saints in heaven. "We have not
so learned Christ."  God has given all that he has
given to be used; but not to be abused. There is no
position, no wealth, no honor, which the world offers,
that man may not strive for, nay, should not strive for,
and, if successful, enjoy, provided he does all in subordination to the love and fear of God. What would
man be, what would this earth be, were it not so? The




172              CHURCH ESSAYS.
one an animal, the other a desert. God wills that man
should employ all his faculties and opportunities directly for his own benefit and that of his fellow man, and
thus to His glory.  To energize him, He has tied
honors, rewards, blessings to the path of this life; and
HIe has also strewn some thorns in the way, that man
may not think only of this life and lose sight of the next
and of Him. God is not God of the dead either in
body, soul, or spirit, but of the living, whom He will
have to live neither abjectly nor in slavish fear of their
Creator, but earnestly, with high purpose and generous
confidence. Thus He will get himself honor upon the
work of His hands. Every man should serve God with
the best that he hath, not only generally, but particularly, as the case may require, asking and hoping for
blessing here and salvation hereafter. A depreciation
of man derogates from God; but the elevation of man
under God redounds to the glory of Christ.
But the worship of God must not be neglected. A
specific portion of man's time is due to this observance.
The Church is the public medium for it. She has appointed the Lord's Day in honor of her Head, to be kept,
analogously to the Hebrew Sabbath, as a day of rest,
wherein man may repose from ordinary avocations and
specially and publicly worship God. She has also appointed other times and seasons for the same purpose;
and she further strictly enjoins that every one should
constantly and habitually worship God in private, not
only in connection with the family where that is possi



DEATH.                  173
ble, but separately and secretly. There is no exception.
No excuse can be offered for a neglect of either public
or private devotion. If any one aver that his necessary
avocations deprive him of time and opportunity, let him
consider the examples of Sir Matthew Hale and of
Washington. The first was engrossed in the labors
of an arduous profession; the second wellnigh overwhelmed with the duties incident to his exalted position; yet both were churchmen, both found time to
remember God in public and in private. It is a question of inclination. Where that exists, the duty will be
performed. Be it remembered, too, that work is not
worship, as the enemies of Christ assume. Worship is
specific communion with God through Christ, and involves the devotion of particular times and seasons to that
service. Should a man so involve himself in the affairs
which appertain exclusively to this life that he can
spare no time to commune with God, he will yet' have
to find time to die.  When that event shall arrive,
he will, perhaps unavailingly, regret that he has
robbed God of the few hours which He asked of him
while here; that he had not taken time to live as one
who must die.
Let no one fondly imagine that after a life passed in forgetfulness of death and of God, he will be
able at the last moment to turn and repent. Deathbed repentance is possible, but it is very improbable.
God alone can tell whether it is sincere or the mere
result of physical depression or of nervous trepidation.




174                   CHURCH ESSAYS.
Commentators say that Holy Scripture affords but one
instance (the penitent thief), that none might " despair,"
and only one, that none might " presume."
The sum of the matter is, the only reliable preparation for death is a life of faith in Christ, confirmed by a
performance of duty to God and man-a life passed in
the service and worship of God.  The man who thus
passes through life, " building himself up in his most
holy faith," and, in all his service and worship of mind
and body, ever "' looking unto Jesus as the Leader and
Perfecter of his faith,"  when  the  summons, which
comes to cottage and to castle, comes to call him away,
ne will not dread the sound, he will not fear to die.
Death will be to him merely the door by which he shall
enter into the rest which the Saviour has prepared by
His mighty work for those that love Him and keep
His commandments.
"So live that when the summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."




O LORD, FROM WHOM ALL GOOD THINGS DO COME; GRANT, TO
US, THY HUMBLE SERVANTS, THAT BY THY HOLY INSPIRATION WE
MAY THINK THOSE THINGS THAT ARE GOOD, AND BY THY MERCIFUL
GUIDING MAY PERFORM THE SAME, THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST. Amen.