LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO THE ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE THE ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE BY T. A. LACEY, M.A. VICAR OF MADINGLEY els yap IVTW vfj.>t> 6 RIVINGTONS 34, KING STREET, CO VENT GARDEN LONDON 1901 SALVA NOS DoMlNE SALVTARls NOSTER HOC SAECVLo INEVNTE TV gVI PER ANNOS PERPEI'VOS VIVIS ET REGNAS PREFACE THIS book is not a theological manual ; it treats of those fundamental truths which underlie theology, as the facts of nature underlie the natural sciences. Neither again is it a manual of dogma ; it is rather an attempt to set out the matter of which dogma, or the settled judgment of Christian thought, is the formal expression. At the same time neither dogma nor theology is ignored. To treat of Christian Doctrine without regard to theology or dogma would seem to the writer as foolish as to treat of agriculture with a studied ignorance of chemistry and of human experience. By Christian Doctrine he understands nothing vi The Elements of Christian Doctrine else but the teaching of Jesus Christ, re- ceived and retained in the Christian society, guarded by the dogmatic definitions of the Church, analysed and systematized by the labours of theologians. The elements of this doctrine are here set forth, so far as he can compass it, in their natural connection. If the introduction seem disproportionately long, he would plead the importance of the preliminary considerations to which it is devoted. If some questions that are now eagerly debated have small place assigned them, it is because he is not writing con- troversially. If the practice of Religion seem to be treated too broadly and generally, it is because an approach to detail would be the beginning of a larger volume than is here. Some minds are repelled by the ap- parent hardness of dogma ; some are wearied with the intricacies of theology. What is here attempted is the simple presentment of the living truth of the gospel, in the form which Christian experience and Christian Preface vii science have shown to be required. It is meant for persons of ordinary education ; as far as possible everything that calls for even a small measure of technical knowledge has been either passed by or set apart in notes. There are many ways of presenting Christian Doctrine. In presenting it to a child one tries to formulate answers to the questions that naturally pose themselves in a childish mind. The simplest presentment to an educated man is one that shall be constructed for him in a corresponding fashion. This the writer has attempted. If he has not succeeded, he has at all events done his best. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PAGE PART I. The Nature of Christian Doctrine I The Relation of Master and Disciple I The Faith of the Disciple 2 The Faith of Christendom 6 The Authority of the Master 7 The Christian Tradition ... 1 1 Natural Religion T 4 Revelation 1 4 Its Completeness J 5 Its Exclusiveness 1 7 Its Interpretation .... 18 The Record 20 The Rule of Faith 22 Holy Scripture 2 3 PART II. The Content of Christian Doctrine 28 Supernatural Truths 28 The Language of Revelation 3 Heads of Doctrine 3 1 God and Creation 3 1 Redemption 3 2 The Church 33 The Ministry 34 The Marks of the Church .... . . 40 Practical Religion 42 x The Elements of Christian Doctrine PAGE PART III. The Proposition of Faith 44 The Duty of believing 45 The Sin of Unbelief 49 The Sufficiency of Proposition 50 Grounds of Sufficiency 51 Credentials of the Apostles 53 Present Sufficiency 55 Limits of the Proposition 60 Mode of Proposition Ordinary 62 Solemn 63 The Place of Theology 65 CHAPTER I OF GOD AND CREATION SECT. I. The Being of God . . 70 Natural Knowledge of God 70 His Unity 71 Eternity 72 Infinity 73 The Nature of Spirit 74 Errors Dualism 74 Monism 75 Polytheism 75 SECT. II. The Holy Trinity 76 The Divine Persons 76 The Word Person 77 The Personal Distinctions 80 Procession and Generation 81 The Double Procession 83 Tritheism and Unitarianism 84 Contents xi I'AGE SECT. III. The Attribtrtes of God 85 Relative Attributes 86 Absolute Attributes 86 Of Pure Being 87 Of Knowledge and Will 89. Polytheism and Anthropomorphism 91 SECT. IV. The Creation of the World 92 The Beginning 92 The Finite 93. Pantheism 94 The Creative Word 95. Providence 97 Deism and Evolution 97 The Record of Creation 98 The Divine Attributes in Creation 99. SECT. V. The Spiritual Creation 100 Body and Soul IOI Separate Spirit 102 Angels and Demons 103. Knowledge and Will 104 Freedom of the Creature 105 The Possibility of Sin 106 The Divine Attributes in Relation to Created Spirit . . 108 SECT. VI. The nd of Man 109 The Faculties of Knowledge and Will 109 Blessedness in CHAPTER II CONCERNING HUMAN LIFE SECT. I. The Original State of Man 113. Capacity of Perfection 113 Supernatural Endowments 115 xii The Elements of Christian Doctrine 1'AGE Innocence .. 117 Supernatural Righteousness 117 SECT. II. The Fallen State of Man 118 Disobedience 118 Death 120 Corruption of Nature 121 Original Sin 123 SECT. III. Actions and Habits 125 Determining Forces 125 Mixture of Good and Evil 127 Power to keep the Commandments 127 Corruption of Human Society Injustice 129 Toleration of Evil 130 The Balance of Good and Evil 131 Actual Sin ' 132 SECT. IV. The Promise of Salvation 133 The Need of Supernatural Help 133 The Hope of Israel 134 The Healing of the World 135 The Preparation of the Gospel Prophecy 136 Sacrifice 138 CHAPTER III CONCERNING REDEMPTION SECT. I. The Incarnation . 142 The Likeness of God restored 143 The Purpose of the Incarnation 144 Contents xiii PAGE The Person of the Incarnate 145 The Two Natures 148 The Human Life of Christ 151 The Emptying 152 The Twofold Knowledge 153 The Twofold Will 155 SECT. II. The Atonement 156 The Priesthood of Christ 158 His Sacrifice 159 The Lord's Supper 161 The Continual Sacrifice 162 Theological Terms 164 SECT. III. The Doctrine of Grace 166 Universality of Redemption 166 Supernatural Grace 167 In the Humanity of Christ 168 In all the Redeemed 169 Continuing 170 Auxiliary Grace 170 Charismata 172 Effect of Grace Justification 173 Sanctification 176 Theological Terms 176 SECT. IV. Eternal Life 178 Regeneration 178 Death unto Sin 179 The Second Death 179 Growth in Grace 181 The Potential and the Actual 182 Communication of the Divine Life 183 The Eternity of the Gift 184 The Resurrection of the Body 185 The State of the Separated Soul 187 xiv The Elements of Christian Doctrine CHAPTER IV CONCERNING THE CHURCH PAGE SECT. I. The Christian Society 191 The Redemption of the World 191 The Eeclesiaof the Old Testament 192 of the New Testament 193 Election and Calling 196 The Kingdom of God 198 The Body of Christ 200 The Members of the Church 200 Those cut off 201 The Faithful departed 202 SECT. II. The Characteristics of the Church 204 Unity Numerical 204 Moral 204 Jew and Gentile 20$ Practical 207 Of Local Churches 210 Holiness Essential 211 Priesthood 213 Practical 214 Catholicity 215 Of Particular Churches 216 Apostolicity 217 SECT. III. The Organization of ike Church 218 Societies Natural and Artificial 218 Officers of the Church Apostles 220 The Threefold Ministry 222 In Later Times 224 Divine Appointment of the Hierarchy ... . . 225 Unity of the Hierarchy 226 Power of Ordination 227 Priesthood 229 Contents xv PAGE SECT. IV. The Ministry of the Word 232 The Teaching Commission 233 Authority 234 The making of Disciples 235 Binding and Loosing 236 The Word 238 Definition 239 The Canons of the Church 239 SECT. V. The Ministry of the Sacraments 241 Mysteries the Meaning of the Word . . . . . . 241 The Christian Mysteries 244 The Latin Sacramentum 245 The Number of the Sacraments 247 The Doctrine of the Sacraments 248 Matter and Form 248 The Minister 250 Intention 250 Effect 251 The Seven Sacraments Baptism 252 Confirmation 253 Penance 254 The Lord's Supper .... 257 Ordination 258 Marriage 260 Unction 261 Sacramental Character 262 The Necessity of the Sacraments 263 CHAPTER V CONCERNING PRACTICAL RELIGION SECT. I. Conscience 265 A Natural Faculty in Man 266 Judging Right and Wrong 267 xvi The Elements of Christian Doctrine PAGE The Standard of Judgment 269 The Christian Conscience 270 The Weak Conscience 271 Probability 273 Responsibility for Conscience 274 SECT. \\.-Duty 275 The Nature of Obligation 275 Morality Natural 276 Revealed 276 Judaic 278 Christian 279 Social and Individual Duty 280 Obedience to Authority 282 Ordinances 283 Apparent Conflict of Duties ....... 285 Precepts and Counsels 285 Complications of Duty 287 SECT. III. Perfection 289 The Meaning of Perfection Ultimate 289 Present 290 Patria and Via .... 290 Perfection of Condition 292 of Life . . ... .... 294 Charity the End of the Commandment 295 APPENDIX 299 INDEX 313 INTRODUCTION PART I. T/ie Nature of Christian Doctrine CHRISTIAN doctrine is that which is taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. Teaching implies the relation of Master and Disciple, and we must understand at the outset in what this relation consists. We are not to follow the analogy of those sciences in which the learner has to make his way chiefly by investigation, aided only by an in- structor whose function is to direct his studies, to remove difficulties, and to solve doubts. We must think of the master rather as one whose work is to convey information iot otherwise accessible, and to lay down principles not unded in the first instance on experience or observa- i ion. Christian doctrine is concerned with Divine truths, which a man by searching can find out very imperfectly, if at all. There are certain truths of Natural Religion, as it is called, which a man might conceivably discover by investigation, but such investigation is rarely undertaken. The truths of Natural Religion are commonly known by tradition, the original source of which cannot be his- torically traced ; they are received in childhood, retained or lost according to the uncertain effect of the experience of life. Christian doctrine does not ignore these truths or pass them by, but neither does it, properly speaking, 2 The Elements of Christian Doctrine build upon them ; that is to say, it does not use them as principles from which all further knowledge of the kind is deduced. It assumes them as already known, and proceeds to convey the knowledge of other truths, not contained in them by necessary implication, not dis- covered or discoverable by any learner, but taught by the Lord Jesus Christ as Master. The relation of master and disciple is partly objective and external, partly subjective and internal. As external, the relation consists in the fact that what is taught is delivered by the master and received by the disciple without question ; as internal, it consists in a real assent of the disciple to the teaching of the master, an assurance that he knows the truth and is declaring it. To under- stand the relation fully, we must therefore consider the assent of the disciple, the authority of the master, and the matter of the teaching. The assent of the disciple in regard to Christian doctrine is called Faith. The word is used in all relations of trust between man and man ; it may express the confidence in which a learner receives the instruction of any teacher. Such confidence is instinctive in child- hood ; in manhood, if reasonable, it is the fruit of experience, and an unreasonable confidence in any man is counted among the worst of follies : if I have faith in a teacher it is because I have found him thoroughly master of his subject, and honest in delivering what he knows. But the faith required for acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as Master goes beyond this. His teaching is concerned for the most part with things out- side the range of experience. It can be verified, if at all, only as a consequence of the most unqualified acceptance ; it is a privilege of the highest Christian life to find experimental proof of those things which have TJie Nature of Christian Doctrine 3 been confidently believed. This experience, therefore, cannot be the foundation of discipleship. Faith in Christ is, then, something different from confidence in a man. It is conviction, anterior to all proof, which is expressed with the fervour of St. Peter, " Thou hast the words of eternal life." This is not to say that faith of the kind which stands between man and man has no place in our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. He made use of miracle to inspire a confidence based on evidence ; the known experience of the saints, and the lessons of Christian history, serve the same purpose in all ages. Such evidence may attract men to him as Master, or may help them to resolve doubts, but it cannot of itself bring about the relation of disciple- ship. It may enforce the conviction that he is not as other men are, that he has some special power and knowledge, and a claim altogether unique to attention and reverence ; it may remove a natural hesitation to believe stupendous affirmations which cannot be verified by experience ; it cannot produce the unfaltering assurance that what he taught is true. The faith of a Christian reaches even to this. It is something apart from our natural experience. In the words of St. Paul, it is the gift of God. All our natural powers are indeed given by God, but faith is a gift special and apart. In a word, it is supernatural. Of its source there will be more to say afterwards; at present we are concerned only with its working. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for ^ t/ie proving of things not seen. 1 It is concerned alike with things future, and therefore not yet knowable, and with things present indeed, but not present to our senses in such a way as to be matter of knowledge. Things future are 1 Heb. xi. i. 4 The Elements of Christian Doctrine hoped for. There is a kind of unreasonable hope which is begotten only of vehement desire. We put that aside ; the assured hope here spoken of looks for a thing, either on the ground of a promise, or because it is likely to occur in the ordinary sequence of cause and effect. But what is the ground of this likeliness ? Why do I expect things to occur in orderly sequence ? Because of habit and training, no doubt ; but my confident expectation is ultimately founded on a conviction that nature is rationally ordered, controlled, that is to say, by an intelligence to which my own mind is in a measure correspondent, and the working of which I can follow. But to be convinced of this is nothing else than to believe in God the Creator. My own limited and partial experience of the universe can furnish me only with a very uncertain and irrational expectation of the sequence of an effect upon its cause : it may be an irresistible expectation, but I can have no certainty that it will not be disappointed. 1 An assured expectation depends on a belief in the consistent and uniform working of the universe according to the Will of God. What we call a Natural Law is a statement of this Will so far as it is known to us by inference from its results. But a necessary condition of such inference is the belief that God is consistent with himself, unchanging in purpose. An expectation founded on this belief is obviously near akin to one founded on trust in a promise made by God. In either case it depends on confidence 1 The doctrine of Hume, that the determination of the mind by customary experience to expect one object following another in time is the only source of our idea of causation ( Treatise oj Human Nature, vol. i. p. 450, ed. Green and Grose), is all but certainly true as a matter of empirical psychology. It does not follow that causation is purely subjective, nor, as Hume thought, that we cannot transcend the subjective idea. The Nature of Christian Doctrine 5 in him that he is true to himself. In the one case we have that faith which is a part of Natural Religion ; in the other case we have the faith which is proper to a Christian. This faith is the assurance of things hoped for on the ground of a promise made by God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But Christian doctrine is not concerned only with things future, and therefore not seen as yet. We are taught of things present, but unknowable save as learnt from this direct teaching. They are things not seen, things of which neither sense nor intellect has any direct apprehension, but which nevertheless are made known to us by faith. We must be careful of our meaning here. We do not mean that we become acquainted with these things by a sort of supernatural intuition or inspiration to which we give the name of Faith. The word faith, as used in this connection, does not depart from its ordinary meaning. We learn these things from the words of a Master, to whose teaching is given the full assent of the disciple. Faith is the firm conviction that the Master knows what he is teaching, and teaches truly. It is not therefore independent either of sense or of intellect. The material of faith must be received in the ordinary course of instruction heard, that is to say, and understood. " Belief cometh of hearing," says St. Paul, " and hearing by the word of Christ." But sense and intellect can go no further in dealing with these things ; they can only receive, they cannot verify what is received. This limitation will be better understood if we bring into comparison their activity in other matters. We receive historical information from the statements of those who profess to know the facts; their statements are tested by comparison with those of other authorities, by documentary and other evidence ; a doubtful assent may 6 The Elements of Christian Doctrine be given to the unsupported statement of a single author, but if he be one whose other statements have been tested and found generally trustworthy, we accept with the less misgiving what he alone asserts. All historical know- ledge rests on faith in authorities, but a faith which in its turn depends on a verification done by the intellect in the process of receiving information. Again, when we receive information directly through the senses, we verify it by careful observation or experiment, that is to say, by comparing phenomena, and by applying the principle of causation. From viewing, for example, the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies we advance to the science of astronony. In learning about such matters we arrive at various degrees of certainty or probability, and according to the degree we call our mental state knowledge or opinion. These, then, depend upon evidence. But for the truths contained in Christian doctrine there is no evidence of this kind : there is only the word of the Master. The experience which may verify them itself depends upon, and therefore cannot precede, the hearty acceptance of the teaching. They are accepted in pure trust, by the simple assent of the disciple. Faith is the proving of things not seen. Faith is a proof to him who believes. It is not evidence by which others can be convinced. The disciple is satisfied about the truth of what he is taught, because he has faith in the Master ; he cannot convey his satis- faction to another ; faith is incommunicable, and strictly individual. But we use the word in a derived sense, speaking of the Catholic Faith, the Faith of the Church or of Christendom. The word was used by St. Paul in this secondary sense. It means the whole body of truths which, as a matter of fact, are believed by Christian men. They are not held by a corporate act of T/te Nature of Cliristian Doctrine 7 faith, but severally by the faith of individuals in agree- ment. The fact that all Christians do believe these things is no proof that what they believe is true. The faith of many is no more evidence than the faith of one. If a thing which is verifiable by ordinary human experience be generally taken for true, this general belief is evidence of considerable weight, though the history of popular delusions, even about matters easily verified, shows how cautiously it should be received but the truth of a thing commonly unverifiable is no whit established by the common consent of all mankind. 1 Such common consent has, however, a value. It cannot prove the truth of what is believed ; but it shows that there are reasons for the belief, and reasons which have been found cogent to enforce assent. In like manner, the general assent of Christian men to certain teaching cannot in any way prove that teaching true, but it shows that some reason has been found for believing it to be true. Such reason can only be found in the authority of the Master. The general assent, therefore, shows that Christians at least suppose the Lord Jesus Christ to have delivered this teaching. But here is an historical belief subject to verification. The general assent to certain doctrines, or the faith of Christendom, has a definite value as evidence to prove that the Lord Jesus Christ did in fact teach those things that are believed. It is part of the historical evidence for the facts of his life and teaching. To test and justify the 1 Thorndike, Epilogue, Fart i. p. 149 : "What contradictions soever are held among Christians, nevertheless they are sensible that no man's private spirit, that is, any evidence of Christian truth in the mind of one man, can oblige another man to follow it, because it imports no evidence to make that which he thinks he sees appear to others " ( Works, vol. ii. part i. p. 378, ed. 1845). 8 Tlie Elements of Christian Doctrine record is the study of Christian evidences. The kind of evidence and the amount of evidence required for certainty varies almost with every mind : some are satisfied with the simplest tradition, others require a detailed investigation. So far there is no room for the function of Christian faith ; it is only when the fact is fully accepted that the Lord Jesus as Master taught such and such things, that faith, the assent of the disciple, can begin. Nor is the measure of a man's faith in any way affected by his readiness to become a disciple. An easy acceptance of the historical facts of our Lord's teaching does not pre- dispose any one to a real belief in the teaching as true ; the most cautious and sceptical attitude of mind towards the historical record does not hinder the entire assent of the disciple, when once the record is made good. Hooker, in his sermon on the Certainty of Faith in the Elect, finely develops the scholastic distinction between the Certainty of Evidence and the Certainty of Adherence. The former has many degrees, is painfully built up, and may again be shaken by doubts; the latter is firmly rooted in a moral conviction, // is good for me to hold me fast by God. This latter certainty is the ground of the Faith of the Disciple. 1 This faith or assent of the disciple is not a mere blind confidence. It goes with an intelligent appreciation of the authority of the master. Such authority is of two kinds. The one is personal : the master speaks with authority because he inspires confidence by his character and by the conscious possession of knowledge. The other is official, resting on a commission. In a purely human organization such a teaching commission may be given as guarantee of competency by any recognized 1 Hooker, Works, vol. iii. p. 470, ed. Keble. The Nature of Christian Doctrine g source of authority ; for the things of God, with which Christian doctrine is concerned, the one source of authority is the self-knowledge of God himself. Both kinds of authority are specially attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ as Master. " We know that thou art a teacher come from God," said Nicodemus, putting him- self definitely in the position of a disciple. "The multitudes were astonished at his teaching; for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." The scribes had authority by commission, as sitting in Moses' seat, but they lacked that note of personal authority which marked his teaching. It was indicated in the form of words, "/ say unto you" by which he himself set his own teaching in contrast with theirs. The authority of the Master is thus twofold objective, in that he is recognized as coming from God ; subjective, in that he impresses on men a sense of his incommunicable superiority. 1 For the function of Master no more is needed. It is enough for a disciple to know that he is taught by one who comes from God, and who speaks with personal authority. The relation of discipleship is now established. What is afterwards learnt about the person of the Master strengthens, indeed, the certainty of the assent given by the disciple, but cannot be in any way the ground of that certainty. The assent must be secured, the relation of discipleship established, before this further knowledge can be acquired ; for it is derived exclusively from the teaching of the Master himself. When we have learnt that he is not merely come from God, but is himself God, is not merely the Illuminator, but is himself the Light, God of God, Light of Light, our faith is confirmed ; but unless we already had the faith of the disciple, 1 Matt. vii. 29 ; xxiii. 2 ; John iii. 2. io The Elements of CJiristian Doctrine we could not have learnt this. St. Peter had to be for some time a disciple, he had to attain the confidence in which he said, " At thy word I. will let down the nets," and to make the declaration of faith, "Thou hast the words of eternal life," before he could arrive at his ultimate confession, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 1 This that is afterwards learnt accounts for and explains the note of inherent and personal authority which made an impression, originally inex- plicable, on the hearers of the Lord's teaching. The authority of the Master, real and objective, though not yet known in its full reality, made an impression subjectively on those who heard him, and drew them to him as disciples. The record of his teaching still has the same effect, and so the relation of discipleship is continually renewed in succeeding generations. This relation once established, the disciple learns the whole truth about the Master, and his faith is confirmed. The authority of the Master is incommunicable. It would not be so if it were an authority only of commission. The Prophets also were teachers come from God. To the Apostles the Lord Jesus Christ conveyed the fulness of his own mission : " As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you." It would seem, indeed, to be conveyed with an even increased effectiveness due to the com- pleteness of the Lord's own personal work : " He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto the Father." But however entirely the Master's mission be handed on to others, his personal inherent authority can pass to no one. It rests upon what he is in himself, the very God. Now, as before, it is true : " Never man so spake." It follows that, since his 1 Luke v. 5 ; John vi. 68 ; Matt. xvi. 16. The Nature of Christian Doctrine 1 1 authority in its entirety is incommunicable, nothing can be added to his teaching. Others may teach with vary- ing authority where he has been silent, but their teaching is their own, not the Lord's. St. Paul, for example, care- fully distinguishes between what he teaches by his own authority as a ruler of the Church, and what he delivers as taught by the Lord himself. The total sum of Christian doctrine is contained in what the Master himself taught. 1 To what then serves the authority conveyed by com- mission to the Apostles ? They were not to declare new truths ; they were appointed to be witnesses, testifying to the teaching of the Lord. They were the founders of a tradition ; that is to say, they received something which they handed on to others. This idea is found everywhere in the writings of the New Testament. " That which was from the beginning," says St. John, with characteristic iteration, ' ; that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life ; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also." The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews defines his own place in the line of tradition ; he has received the teaching of salvation, " which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard." St. Paul himself in one place speaks of his gospel as given in this way : " I delivered unto you first of all that which also I re- ceived." Elsewhere he speaks of it as given him directly : " By revelation was made known unto me the mystery . . . which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit." But in this he is only putting himself on the level of the other Apostles ; 1 John xx 21 ; xiv. 12 ; vii. 46; I Cor. vii. 10-12, 25, 40. 12 The Elements of Christian Doctrine his gospel, he writes to the Galatians, was not after man : " For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ." The true meaning of this stands forth in his emphatic claim to have seen the Lord, like the rest, though as one horn out of due time : " Am I not an Apostle ? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" Like the rest, he had received and was handing on to others, not a separate and personal revelation from God, but the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. The nearest approach to a larger claim is found in what St. Paul writes to the Corinthians about the hidden wisdom : " The things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God." This needs consideration. 1 The Apostles were not only the founders of a tradition ; they were also its guardians. In this capacity they had the special support of the Holy Spirit. The promise was, " He shall teach you all things, and bring to your re- membrance all that I said unto you." The work of the Holy Spirit is here clearly stated ; he was not to teach the Apostles new truths, but was to inform them by stirring and strengthening their memory of what the Master himself had taught. He was to guard them against the loss of that which was committed to them. But this function of guardianship was needed for all time. How should the purity of the tradition be secured when the Apostles were passed away? They committed to writing a record of the Lord's teaching. But a written record may be corrupted, either by falsification or through being overlaid by spurious interpretation. This was to 1 I John i. 1-3; Heb. ii. 3; I Cor. xv. 3; Eph. iii. 3-5; Gal. i. 12 ; I Cor. ix. I ; ii. 1 1-12. The Nature of Christian Doctrine 13 be guarded against. The tradition, therefore, and the keeping of the sacred books, was committed to a society, the Church, the society of believers, which is " the pillar and ground of the truth." The commission of the Apostles, not indeed as the founders, but as the guardians, of the Christian tradition, is continued in the Church. The one Body is illuminated by the One Spirit for the performance of this work, and such illumination is sufficient to account for the exalted language in which St. Paul speaks of the spiritual discernment or interpretation of spiritual things. The Church is the guardian of Christian doctrine. The function of the Church is not to receive new revelations, but to keep intact the faith once for all delivered unto the saints, to guard the sacred writings, and to secure them against false interpretation. For this end the Church has authority in controversies of faith, and is able to condemn new teaching as contrary to that which has been received. But as it was with the Apostles, so it is now ; the Church is not an original teacher, but a witness to the teaching of the Master. 1 Christian doctrine then is received as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the revelation of what God wills us to know about himself and our relation to him. A truth is said to be revealed when it is made known by one who formerly held it secret. There are certain truths which are naturally held secret from men, because there are no means ordinarily available for discovering them. Not all that may be known of God is of this kind. It is not indeed possible to prove by scientific demonstration even the existence of God ; from this point of view it could only be said at the utmost that if there were no God the universe would be an insoluble riddle. But if 1 John xiv. 26 ; i Tim. iii. 15 ; Jude 3. Compare I Tim. vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. 13, 14. 14 The Elements of Christian Doctrine there is no scientific proof, there is moral proof in abun- dance ; and moral proof, involving moral certainty, is that on which men rely in most activities of life. Such proof there is not merely of the existence of God, but of much that concerns our relation to him. " The invisible things of him," says St. Paul, " since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity." From this knowledge may be derived the sense of obliga- tion, which is the foundation of religion ; those who have no other knowledge of God but this are still without excuse, says the Apostle, if, knowing God, they glorify him not as God. 1 There is therefore a true Natural Religion, the truths of which, as already noted, are in fact received for the most part by human tradition. For these truths no revelation is needed ; the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ takes them for granted, and doing so confirms our belief in them, and clears away doubts and possible misunderstandings. Other truths there are which our natural powers, at all events as now developed, are incapable of discovering. These are the proper subject of Revelation. But even here there are many things which were not made known for the first time by the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation had begun from the earliest age of human history. Its first origin is lost in the dimness of those periods of which the writings of the Old Testament give us only fragmentary and mysterious records. Revealed Religion, like Natural Religion, became a tradition, vaguely spread throughout the world, guarded with jealous care in one family or nation. Within these narrow limits there was a growing revelation. To his chosen people God made himself known by degrees, 1 Rom. i. 20, 21. The Nature of Christian Doctrine 15 suggesting always a fulness of knowledge to be granted in the future. That full knowledge was given by the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole course of revelation is summed up in the opening w r ords of the Epistle to the Hebrews : " God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son." These truths of the older revelation are taken for granted in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as are the truths of Natural Religion. But imperfect know- ledge is misleading as well as insufficient, especially when it is knowledge artificially conveyed of things nol*funda- mentally understood. The teaching of the Old Testament is therefore not only supplemented in the New ; it is in a way corrected. Our Lord very often seemed to men to be contradicting the Law and the Prophets. He ex- plained that he was not contradicting but fulfilling them. In doing this, in filling up the imperfect outline of truth which they presented, he had frequent occasion to correct the impression which an incomplete revelation had inevitably made upon men's minds and upon human traditions. 1 Christian doctrine then, or the teaching of Christ, contains three elements. It assumes and enforces the truths of Natural Religion. It assumes the truths formerly revealed, as recorded in the Old Testament, correcting erroneous impressions due to their incom- pleteness. It sets forth new truths revealed by the Incarnate Word himself. Revelation is now complete. We cannot conceive any revelation of the truth of God more perfect than that which is made by him who is the " very image of his 1 See especially Matt. v. 17-48. 1 6 The Elements of Christian Doctrine Substance." This consideration would not exclude the possibility of a continuous and growing revelation by the Lord himself to the Church, or to specially favoured persons for the benefit of the Church. Revelations of this kind, made after the Ascension, are recorded in the exceptional cases of St. Paul and St. John. When we say that revelation is complete, we do not mean that all possible knowledge of God is given to men, but only that all knowledge is given which God wills them to have. It is conceivable that in the course of ages circumstances might arise in which God would will that men should have a larger knowledge, and so would make 9 further revelation. But such revelation would require attestation as strong as that furnished to the original gospel by the personal character and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing of the kind has been. On the other hand, there are many pretended revelations which are not so attested ; and what is of the greatest significance, men were specially warned by the original deliverers of the gospel tradition that such would be the case. They were told to be on their guard against " false Christs and false prophets ; " against the preaching of any other gospel, even by an angel from heaven. There is, on the other hand, no suggestion of any future revelation which should be genuine. The revelations of the Old Testament con- tinually look forward to a future and more perfect revelation completing them. There is nothing of the kind in the New Testament. It is therefore in the highest degree probable that in the revelation of the gospel we have the sum of what God wills us to know about Himself while the world stands. 1 1 Heb. i. 3; Matt. xxiv. 24; Gal. i. 8. Job. Damasc., De Orthod. Fide, i. I : TLavra. rb. irapoSeSo/uW f)fuv Sid re i>6fj.ov /caj The Nature of Christian Doctrine 17 As the revelation of the gospel is complete, so also it is exclusive. It is the revelation of things naturally secret, which we cannot discover by ourselves, but which God wills us to know. It is therefore exclusively con- fined to these things. God does not reveal what he intends us to find out by our natural powers. The Lord Jesus Christ did not enlighten men's ignorance at large, but only in regard to those matters about which he willed to enlighten them. He had, however, to use their language, to live among them and share their experiences. He had to speak of many things about which they were ignorant or misinformed, and in doing so he made use of their common expressions. This is fully understood in regard to matters of natural science. He did not correct erroneous opinions; he himself used the inaccurate language of common life. It is not so clearly under- stood in regard to some matters which come near to the actual substance of his teaching. It was, for example, a part of his teaching to confirm the revelations of the Old Testament, which he did by referring to the Holy Scriptures as the genuine Word of God ; but it was no part of his teaching to clear up questions about the human authorship of these books. He therefore spoke of them in this respect according to the common usage of the time. A more difficult question is raised by his use of the common language about the souls of the departed, as in the parable of Lazarus. It is hard to say how much or how little he willed to reveal about the secrets of death, and therefore we cannot say how far his use of such language may be taken to confirm the vpofprruv Kal O7TO(TT($Aaif Kal evayye\iffrcav Sexo/J-fOa Kal ytvdaa'KOfj.ev Kal f, ovSfv irepaiTfpu rovroov eirifa-rovi/Tes . . . us olv irdvra s [6 @fbs] Kal rb ffv/j.