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Gift of
The Yale Divinity School
1909

THE

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES

BY REV. HUBBARD WINSLOW, of Boston,
AUTHOR OF "YOUNG MAN'S AID," "DOCTRINE OF THE TEINI1
" WOMAN AS SHE SHOULD BE," " SOCIAL AND CIVIL DUTIES,'
"ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN," ETC.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER,
47, Washington-street. 1844.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844,
By Crocker and Brewster,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

rust V/75

DEDICATION

To the people of his late pastoral charge in
Bowdoin street, with whom he labored most
happily in the gospel ministry twelve years,
and for whom he will ever feel the deepest and
most sacred affection, this volume is dedicated,
with fervent prayer that the glorious truths
which it attempts to illustrate may be their
guide in life, their solace in affliction, their
support in death, and their eternal inheritance
on high, by their sincere and grateful friend,
The Author.

PREFACE.
Most of the religious discussions of the present
time relate mainly to external forms and developments.
In our zeal for ecclesiastical matters, we are in some
danger of omitting the more weighty matters of law
and gospel. Not that the former are without their im
portance, but that their importance is secondary to the
internal and more spiritual doctrines of the Christian
religion. These doctrines are the basis of all true
piety. No piety can be thoroughly right, that is not
founded upon them ; neither can any be essentially
wrong, that is founded upon them, — whatever be the
ecclesiastical organization.
The sovereign remedy for the evils that infest and
threaten both church and state, is to be found in the
vital doctrines of Christianity. Let these be allowed,
from any cause, to pass out of the public mind, and in
vain shall we " weary ourselves to find the way " to
safety and repose. All experimental religion will soon
be lost in the wild frenzies of fanaticism, on the one
hand, and the cold formalities of infidelity, on the other ;
and both church and state will lose their chartered
privileges and glories. 1

vi PREFACE.
The cause of the evils which we suffer in our Zion
and our country, at the present time, lies deeper than
most imagine. It is the want of that intelligent, deep-
toned, experimental piety, which results from early
and intimate communion with the Christian doctrines.
Let the minds of our children be brought under the
power of these doctrines, and all our dearest interests
will be ultimately saved ; — let them fail of this, and
all will be ultimately lost.
Without meaning to be querulous, or doubting the
general progress of the world in wisdom and virtue, we
ought to complain a little of the habits in which we
are training our children. Much as they read, they do
not study, as they ought, books of thorough elemental
instruction in the doctrines of Christianity. Their
feeble minds are overrun with ten thousand stories, and
one phantom after another flits over their dawning im
aginations, until every thing like distinct and well
defined lines of instruction are nearly effaced. They
read too much, and study and think too little. They
read for the story, and not for the instruction ; for the
gratification, and not for the profit. If nine-tenths of
the story-books were taken out of their hands, and
books requiring to be studied were substituted, a most
happy change would soon appear in the character of
the rising mind. Not that all light and fancy reading
should be dispensed with, but that it should bear a far
less proportion to the whole, and be far more select.
Although the press is perpetually teeming with
books, there yet seems to be wanting a comprehensive
manual of religious instruction, neither so voluminous

PREFACE. VH
as our tomes of learned theology on the one hand, nor
yet a mere dry statement of doctrines on the other — a
book at once exhibiting a faithful skeleton of Christian
doctrines and clothing them with something of their
appropriate flesh and life to render them effective.
Such is the object of this little volume ; and should it
be realized, in any humble degree, the author will be
laid under renewed obligation of gratitude.
These chapters were a series of discourses delivered
on successive sabbath mornings in the Bowdoin-street
Church, and are published precisely as they were de
livered, only substituting chapter for discourse, and
removing the text. As Christian truth is addressed to
the heart as well as the intellect, it has been thought
best, on the whole, to retain the language of appeal
and impression somewhat peculiar to the pulpit, instead
of reducing the sentiments to the more philosophical
and less impressive style of the essay.
Every doctrine here maintained rests for its basis on
no human speculations, but on the plain and obvious
teachings of the Bible. This is not the place for
refined philological disquisitions, much less for noticing
the ingenious and forced renderings with which men
have attempted to evade these doctrines. A book of
instruction from God to men must be in the current
language of men, so that the most natural and obvious
meaning must be the real meaning. And such, ap
pealing to enlightened common sense, is the import of
those scriptures on which we rely for the proof of these
doctrines.

VU1 PREFACE.
The author was absent while a portion of the book
was printed, and a few slight errors escaped the vigil
ance of the press ; the most serious of which, is page
343, third line from the top, where we should read
views of sin, instead of ruins of sin.
The inspiration of the .Scriptures and the Trinity of
the .Godhead are here assumed, having been discussed
by the author in previous works. Hoping that this
very humble and imperfect exhibition of very great
and perfect truths may assist in guiding some souls into
the way of life, the author, with great deference, and
with unfeigned gratitude for the favorable reception of
previous works, commits it to the Christian public.
H. W.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
Importance of the subject — Cause and Effect — Proof from
the creation — From the evidences of design in crea
tion — From our sense of moral obligation — Folly of
atheism — Reasonableness and value of a firm faith in
the Divine Existence. 12
CHAPTER II.
NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
God a living and infinite Spirit — His natural attributes —
Self- existence — Eternity — Omnipotence — Omnipres
ence — Omniscience — Wisdom — Unchangeableness. 27
CHAPTER III.
MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
All resolvable into holy benevolence — Mercy — Grace —
Long-suffering  Goodness — Truth — Forgiveness-
Justice. 49
CHAPTER IV.
CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN.
Order of creation — Peculiar endowments of man — A ra
tional Mind — Conscience — Moral Will— Moral Affec
tions — Immortality — Inference. 71
CHAPTER V.
DEPRAVITY.
The first sin — The doctrine defined — Disposition to sin
innate — moral — universal — total — invincible — Impor
tance of the doctrine. 87

X CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
The Christian atonement defined— gracious— propitia
tory — necessary— vicarious— moral— sufficient— unlim
ited— Importance of right views. 10°
CHAPTER VII.
PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
Found in the religion of Adam after the fall— of the patri
archs — of Moses and the prophets — of John the Baptist
— of Jesus Christ— of the apostles — of the millennium
and of heaven — Inference. 118
CHAPTER VIII.
ELECTION.
The doctrine stated— Illustrated— Proved — Objections —
makes God arbitrary — insincere— partial— -makes Chris
tians vain — discourages the use of means — Subject
applied. 137
CHAPTER IX.
NATURE OF REGENERATION.
Various opinions— The change spiritual— voluntary— in
stantaneous — generic— partial — permanent — Changes
our relations to Jesus Christ— to the law — to the Holy
Spirit — to the truth— to Christians— to the cause of
Christ— to eternity. 154
CHAPTER X.
THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
The operation of the Spirit gracious — rational — supernat
ural — direct — special — unresisted — abundant — The
moral beauty of the work. 170
CHAPTER XL
JUSTIFICATION.
Its nature— its ground— its condition — The superiority of
justification by faith in Christ over every other way 
Faith the generic grace— The antagonist of all sin—
The producer of all other graces — Gives all glory to
God— of universal practicability— Tested by its fruits. 191

CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER XII.
ADOPTION.
Adoption an advance on justification — its nature — its ben
efits — Confers the blessings of the filial spirit and of
the filial relation — How Christians should be regarded
—How Christians should live — How we should view
this subject. 213
CHAPTER XIII.
PERSEVERANCE.
Doctrine stated — Proved from the antecedence of grace —
Analogy — Covenant of redemption — Nature of the be
liever's union with Christ — Prayer of Christ — Divine
expenditure upon this work — Promise and oath of God
— Objections answered — Moral value of the doctrine. 232
CHAPTER XIV.
INTERMEDIATE STATE.
Nature of that state — Importance of it — Its possibility
shown — Its certainty proved from the Scriptures — The
consequent nearness of eternal retributions. 248
CHAPTER XV.
RESURRECTION.
Philosophical objections — The doctrine stated — Proof of
the doctrine— The argument from science — The argu
ment from the Scriptures — Application of the subject. 265
CHAPTER XVI.
PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.
Nature of the judgment defined — Proved from our moral
constitution — The existence of a moral government —
The Scriptures — Our personal relations to it. 281
CHAPTER XVII.
FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.
Its time — Place — Judge — Universality — Extent — Princi
ples of procedure — Position as a judicial transaction —
Concluding thoughts, 292

XU CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
Includes full communion with God — Exemption from sin
— Exemption from suffering — Congenial position — Ex
alted service — Glorious worship — All these eternal. 304
CHAPTER XIX.
REWARD OF THE WICKED.
Contrasted with that of the righteous — Banishment from
God — Abandonment to sin — The full sufferings of sin —
Miserable social and relative state — Loss of the appro
bation of all good beings — All this without end. 315
CHAPTER XX.
SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
Two ways of exhibiting truth — The analytical and syn
thetical — The system of doctrines stated in their con
nection and shown to be a system. 326
CHAPTER XXI.
PROOF OF THE SYSTEM.
They harmonize with each other — They harmonize with
the constitution and course of nature — They harmonize
with the human conscience — They harmonize with
human necessities — They are the most obvious teach
ing of the Bible — Their crowning witness their fruits —
Their final triumph and glory. 337
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION.
Our personal interest in these truths — The distinction
between faith and bigotry — Evidences of a saving faith
found only in a good life. 349

CHAPTER I.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

The value of our existence depends upon the ex
istence of God. Unless there is a Being of infinite
power and goodness on the throne of the universe, to
sustain and bless us, we are mere shadows flitting by
accident across the earth, and quickly vanishing away
to nothing. Is there a God 1 How full of solemn
and awful interest is this inquiry ! The philosophical
proof of the existence of God depends upon the validity
of the'axiom that every effect must have a cause. This
axiom is an intuitive truth. It is as evident to a rational
mind, without any process of reasoning, that an effect
cannot take place without an adequate cause, as that
the whole of a thing is more than half of it, or that
equals added to equals make equal sums. It is the
foundation of all the demonstrations of Bacon and of
Newton in the moral and the natural world. It is also
proved by our experience. Whether we direct our
attention within or without us, we cannot detect a
single change that takes place uncaused. All the
movements of our minds are clearly referable to their
2 /

14 The existence of God.
appropriate causes. We are conscious that we think,
choose, refuse ; we hence know that our thinking,
choosing, refusing, is not uncaused, but caused or pro
duced by ourselves. So in the world without us. We
see changes continually going on in the material crea
tion, and see that none of them come Uncaused. So
confirmed is this fact by the universal experience of
mankind, that it has become an acknowledged prin
ciple in natural science, to which no exception has
ever been known, that a body placed in any position
will continue in that position forever, and that a body
put in motion in any direction will continue in motion
in that direction forever, unless some change be pro
duced upon it by an extrinsic cause. Moreover, all
mankind have ever acknowledged in fact, if not in
Words, the infallibility of this connection of cause and
effect. Every rational man regulates his conduct on
the assumption that results never come uncaused. Even
the man who affects to deny the connection in ques
tion, is compelled to act just as though he believed it.
And there is no hazard in the assertion that not an
individual could subsist in life a single hour, without
practically acknowledging it. It is then as certain as
our existence, that every effect is produced by an ade
quate cause.
Come we now to examine some of the proofs, founded
on this relation of cause and effect, of the existence of
God. They are found in creation, the marks of design
in creation, and our sense of moral obligation.
I. The creation. All changes are effects. Hence
the whole created universe is a storehouse of effects,

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 15
for it is replete with perpetual changes. Nothing is
at rest. Throughout the three great kingdoms of na
ture, that of inert matter, that of vegetable life, and
that of animal life, there is ceaseless activity. From
the minutest atom that floats in the air, to the mightiest
sphere that rolls in the skies ; from the humblest plant,
that springs up and dies in a season, to the forest oak,
whose rise and decay demand the lapse of ages ; from
the growth and dissolution of the ephemeral insect's
body, to that of him whose years are three score and
ten ; — the entire history of all these, is but a history
of ceaseless changes. Now as all changes or effects
are caused, there is no accounting philosophically for
these facts, but by admitting that there is an infinite
and eternal Cause. This great first Cause, so termed
in the language of philosophy — the Creator of all
things, himself uncreated ; the primary and efficient
Author of all changes, himself unchanging — is in the
language of religion, termed God. This is that Eter
nal Life, before all time and all worlds, by whom all
things were made, and without whom was not any
thing made that was made.
This is the only rational solution of the problem
respecting the things that be ; for there are but two
possible alternatives. We must suppose that all effects
are produced by causes which are themselves effects
of antecedent causes, and they again the effects of
causes preceding them, and so on ad infinitum ; which
is only removing the difficulty farther back, and not
meeting it : — For after the mind has thus ascended
through millions of alternate causes and effects, till

16 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
imagination is bewildered and lost in the ages of past
eternity, as to solving the problem, it is exactly where
it commenced ; it has not made an atom of progress.
Or we must admit that there is a great first Cause,
which is in no sense an effect, but transcendent, self-
existent, eternal, originating and sustaining all subor
dinate and dependent causes, and all the laws and
movements of the universe.
If it be said that it is impossible for us to compre
hend an eternal cause, so it is equally impossible for
us to comprehend an eternal series of causes and effects.
A finite being cannot of course comprehend what is
infinite ; the less cannot comprehend the greater. But
in either case, eternal existence of some kind must be
supposed, which is to a finite mind of necessity incom
prehensible ; and in the one case we do philosophically
account for all effects in the universe, while in the
other we do not. The believer does not profess to
comprehend the existence of God. He sees at once,
that from the very nature of God this must be impos
sible. But by freely admitting his existence, he does
account philosophically for the universe, with all its
multiform and glorious operations ; while the unbe
liever, by denying the existence of God on the ground
of his incomprehensibility, accounts for nothing, and is
after all compelled to admit that in his place which is
equally incomprehensible.
We are thus under a necessity, from which escape
is impossible, of either allowing the existence of an
eternal Cause, or of denying the first axiom of all sci
ence, and asserting that effects take place uncaused.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 17
But perhaps it may be said that this argument only
proves the existence or an eternal cause, without prov
ing that this cause is an intelligent Being. Let us
then proceed to the next point, where the intelligence
in question will more distinctly appear.
II. The EVIDENCES OF design in creation. By
these we mean the evidences which objects afford, that
they were contrived and intended to accomplish a use
ful end. Reasoning from effects to causes, objects
designed prove the existence of a designer. It is thus
that we prove the existence and powers of the human
intellect ; and in precisely the same way do we prove
the intelligence of God.
Let us here refer to a single instance- — the eye.
That the eye was designed, by that Cause which made
it, for the purpose of seeing, no reasonable mind can
doubt. It is constructed on the philosophical princi
ples of the telescope, and is a perfect specimen of me
chanical contrivance. The rays of light received into
the iris, passing through the chrystaline humor, gath
ered to a focal point, and diverging thence and paint
ing an inverted image of the object emitting the rays
on the optic nerve in the retina, are subjected to pre
cisely the same process as in our best constructed tele
scopes. And there is, in reasoning from effects to
causes, the very same evidence that the eye was de
signed and made for the purpose of viewing material
objects — for maintaining intercourse between the king
doms of mind and matter—that there is that a telescope
was designed and made for this purpose. And it were
no less ridiculous for a man, on seeing a nicely con-

18 THE existence OF GOD.
structed telescope, to assert that it came by chance
and was intended for nothing, than to assert that the
eye came by chance and was intended for nothing.
But if the eye has a designer and maker, that designer
and maker certainly is not man ; it is and must be a
designing and all-powerful Being above us. Every
person acquainted with the mechanism of the eye
knows, that an essential variation or error in any of its
numerous parts, would destroy the vision. Were the iris,
or the chrystaline humor, or either of the other humors,
orthe optic nerve, or the retina, either wanting, or rela
tively larger or smaller, or differently situated, the eye
could not see. Now to maintain that all this curious and
wonderful mechanism could happen by chance, even in
the case of a single eye, is irrational in the highest degree.
But the mere construction of the eye is only a. part
of our evidence. The right location of it is no less
important to its purpose, than its right construction.
Had our eyes been situated in our feet, or in any part
of our limbs, or in the top or the back of our heads,
they would have been entirely or nearly useless. They
are in the best place possible to answer the purpose for
which they were made. How clearly then do we see
the same intelligent and designing Being who planned
and framed the eye, engaged also in its location.
Now the same argument which we have drawn from
the eye, may also be deduced from all the other organs
and members of the body, taken both individually and
collectively. The teeth and tongue were evidently
designed for the purposes of articulation and mastica
tion. But were they situated any where else excepting

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 19
in the mouth, they would be useless. Those curious
instruments, the human teeth, so very useful and beau
tiful, when in their right place and order, what horrid
deformities were they in any other conceivable posi
tion ! Had the human hand been wanting in fingers,
where would have been all the arts of civilized life ?
Indeed it is scarcely possible to conceive how our race
could have subsisted.
An anatomical dissection and careful study of the
human body must convince every reasonable person,
that all of its numerous and complicated parts, both
exterior and interior, were designed and arranged by an
intelligent Mind. Not only is each a piece of wonder
ful mechanism in itself, but they all sustain such rela
tions to each other, that were any one of them wanting,
or differently situated, it would injure or render useless
the rest.
That the Cause of the organization of the human
body, after which we are now inquiring, cannot be a
mere physical energy of attraction and repulsion in
hering in matter — a blind, unknowing, undesigning
impulse — for which the atheist contends, is thus mani
festly impossible. By the most severe logical calcu
lation of chancesj it is certain that the chance for
particles of matter, unguided by a designing mind, so
to arrange themselves as to produce a single organized
body, is not one in myriads. A row of figures as long
as from here to India, would not suffice to express it.
There is, therefore, in the Power that forms the human
body, not only a mysterious energy called Life, but
that Life u invested with intelligence. How can you

20 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
doubt it, without claiming kindred with idiocy itself?
But the organization of one body, is only the beginning
of evidence. Consider the eight hundred millions of
such now on the earth, and the multitudes that have
come and gone in past ages. If then we enter the
kingdom of the brute creation, we have another world
of similar testimony. If we pass on to the vegetable,
we find another. If we proceed to consider the appo-
siteness of the relative parts of the universe ; the adap
tation of the sexes to each other, in all the animal and
vegetable creation, and the due proportion of their
numbers; the fitness of each animal and vegetable to
its element and use ; the mutual correlativeness of the
animal and vegetable creations, which natural history
and chemistry disclose — the manifestations of an infi
nite, intelligent, all-designing Mind, open upon us
without end. If then we enlarge our vision, and in
the light of scientific astronomy contemplate the mu
tual relations of the suns, planets, and satellites, which
in every direction seem to throng the vast amplitude
of space ; if we observe the perfection with which
they maintain their relative positions and revolutions,
where a slight deviation would bring universal ruin, as
they whirl and roll round in silent and majestic order
through the skies — we realize far more than the beau
tiful illusion of pagan mythology, respecting the music
of the spheres ; — they do indeed, as the royal minstrel
has sung, pour forth a perpetual chorus of praise to
their Creator. " The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament sheweth his skilful work ; day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 21
knowledge."* Although they have no speech, no au
dible voice, yet has their instruction gone forth into all
the earth, the voice of their melodies to the ends of
the world, and every man beneath the skies may hear
them, " Forever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine."
Thus all creation proclaims its God. As Dr. John
Mason Good has eloquently said — " Ever present,
though never seen ; immutable, incorporeal, ineffable :
the radiating fountain of all possible perfections ; ever
active, but ever at rest ; ever present, though never
seen ; the source of all matter, of all mind, of all
existence, and of all modes of existence. Whatever
we behold, speaks of God. All nature is his awful
temple ; all science the portico that opens to it ; and
the chief duty of philosophy is to conduct us to his
altar ; to render all our attainments, which are the
bounteous afflations of his spirit, subservient to his
glory, and to engraven on the tablet of our hearts this
great accordant motto of all natural and all revealed
religion, of Athens and of Antioch, of Aratus and of
St. Paul. In him we live and move and have our
being." It was indeed a profound reflection of one
of the profoundest of minds, that of Lord Bacon, in
which he said he " could more easily believe all the
fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alco
ran, than that this universal frame is without an intel
ligent and designing Mind." The existence of an
# Psalm xix.

22

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

almighty and intelligent Being, the Creator and Dis
poser of all things, is thus clearly demonstrated ; and
the demonstration may be carried to the highest con
ceivable point of certainty, for there is no end to these
proofs. But there is another source of proof, from
which it more fully appears that there is not only a
God of infinite power and intelligence, but that he is a
being of a moral nature, and has a choice in regard to
our conduct. To this let us briefly revert.
III. Our sense of moral obligation. A sense
of accountability is co-eval and co-extensive with our
race. Appealing directly to the consciousness of every
person, we have the. acknowledgment of a suscepti
bility to the distinction between moral good and evil,
between right and wrong conduct, and to an obligation
to do the one and avoid the other. This evinces not
only intelligent design, but moral design, in the Being
who made us. The fact in question is testified in the
experience, literature, traditions, laws and religions, of
all nations and ages. Such is the image of God in
man, such the constitution of every human soul, that
no man can doubt, not only the existence of a God,
but of a righteous God, to whom he is amenable,
without first doing violence to his own moral nature.
This is in many respects our most important source of
proof ; for it is our relation to God as accountable be
ings, with which we are mainly concerned. Moreover,
this is the kind of proof on which multitudes, from their
inability or lack of means to explore the testimonies
of natural science, place their chief reliance. There
is also a trial and test of character in the reception or

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 23
rejection of this, evidence — in faith or unbelief — inas
much as it determines whether a man is, or is not,
disposed to throw off his obligation to do right.
The argument may be summarily expressed thus.
Every man knows from his own consciousness, as
surely as he knows his own existence, that he is sus
ceptible to a distinction between right and wrong con
duct. He knows, therefore, that such a distinction
does exist. He knows that he himself ought to do
good and not evil. Of course he is the subject of a
moral law, written at least in his conscience, requiring
the one and forbidding the other. He is then account
able for his conduct. The Being who created him,
and who inserted in the constitution of his soul the
sense of right and wrong, to commend the one and
rebuke the other, prefers that he should conduct right
eously. No inference can be more legitimate. In the
appropriate use of his powers, no man can reason him
self out of it, although in his folly he may sin himself
out of it. Hence the sacred writer admits, that " the
fool hath said in his heart, No God." It is not until
a man has foolishly sinned away and effaced this moral
evidence of the divine Being from his mind, that he
can say in his heart, " No God." So abundant and
overwhelming are the proofs, both without and within
us, of the existence of a righteous God, to whom we
are accountable for our conduct, that even the heathen
are without excuse for not knowing and serving him.
" For the invisible things of him from the creation of
the world are clearly seen, being understood by the

24 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
things that are made, even his eternal power and God
head, so that they are without excuse."* Let nature
speak in her own pure language, and her voice within
us will unite with her voice without us, to proclaim
the being and perfections of Him who made us. In
the soul of him who has a natural and lively sensibility
to moral obligations, whose conscience is pure and ac
tive, and whose conduct corresponds with bis sense of
duty, the evidence of the Divine Existence is as real
as that of his own. Whether he direct his observation
to creation within or creation without, to worlds of
mind or worlds of matter, above, below, around him,
in every direction he beholds the bright and living
image of the glorious God. In the soundest convic
tions of his understanding, as well as in the deepest
inspirations of his spirit, he can say with the poet —
" Thou art, 0 God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see ;
Its glow by day, it smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee.
"Where'er we turn thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine."
On this great and glorious Being we continually de
pend. His smile is life ; his frown is death. Having
distinguished us from all other creatures upon earth, by
investing us with a rational, accountable, and immortal
nature, he has a supreme and perpetual claim upon our
gratitude and love. If we do not like to retain him in
our knowledge, if we deny his existence, forsake his
law, and despise his grace, we shall be abandoned to
* Romans i, 20.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 25
the woes of a reprobate mind. The picture drawn by
the great master of moral painting, is charged with
colors too strong for time to efface, and too true to life
not to be recognized as ever faithful to the original.
To the present hour, it is as true of those who cast
God from their minds, as when the picture was first
drawn : — " And even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind, to do those things which are not con
venient ; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornica
tion, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents ; with
out understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful ; who knowing the
judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have
pleasure in those that do them."*
When men have debased themselves to this awful
state of atheism, with its consequent and attendant
vices, all that imparts value to existence is hastening
to forsake them. The life of love and the love of life
expire together. So soon as their worldly pleasures
are exhausted, their very existence hangs as a burden
upon them, and the chills of the second death seize
fast and forever on their spirits. Corruption, gloom,
and despair, take eternal possession of their souls.
After a few short years of beastly and feverish exist
ence upon earth, the grave opens to receive them ; but
Romans i. 28.

26 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
no smiling God there meets them, to conduct their
spirits to the mansions of the blessed ; — the dark and
angry billows of Wrath sweep them downward into a
cheerless, lost, miserable eternity. Such is heaven's
high decree. They who, amid the blazing lights of
nature and of revelation, will foolishly live " without
God in the world," must perish!
But if we love to retain God in our knowledge, if
We faithfully receive and obey his instructions, he will
indeed be our heavenly Father, and we shall be indeed
his happy children. He will cause all our trials, suf
ferings, and afflictions, to work together for our good ;
he will deliver us from all gloom and every fear ; he
will guide us with his counsel, and afterward receive
us to glory. Protected in the ark of his grace, we
shall outride every storm ; secure in the secret of his
pavilion, we shall be saved from every foe. No
thing shall ever be able to harm us ; nothing to sepa
rate us from his love. When the brief term of our
earthly existence shall be ended, he will receive us to
a higher and brighter world, — to his immediate pres
ence, where is fulness of joy, and to his right hand,
where are pleasures forevermore.
Immortal being, traveller to eternity, take the advice
of a great and pious king to his son : — " Know thou
the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a true
heart, and a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth
all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the
thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee ;
but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever /"

CHAPTER II.
NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
Having proved that there is a God, we are prepared
to consider his nature and attributes.
I. His nature. He is a living Spirit. So teach
the sacred Scriptures, and all creation echoes their
language. He is declared to be, by way of eminence,
the " living God."* He has inherent life in himself,
and is also the well-spring and source of all other life.
"For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he
given to the Son to have life in himself."f He " quicJc-
eneth all things ;"| — that is, all things that live receive
their life from him. He is then, in the highest con
ceivable sense, a living Being. It is no small point
gained, when we are fully persuaded that God is really
alive ; for our conceptions of him are prone to be very
confused and feeble on this point. He is not only a
living Being, but his life is of an order infinitely supe
rior to that which we call animal life. His is not the
derived and changing life of material and organized
* Heb. iii. 12. -r John v, 26. % 1 Tim. vi. 13.

28 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
forms. " God is a Spirit." (John iv. 24.) Now to
a spiritual existence men are wont to attach a very
meagre idea. To say that God is a Spirit, is with
some minds tantamount to saying that he is a sort of
mystical and vapory essence, of which little can be
positively known and predicated. So sensual and
gross are their conceptions, that were God presented
to them as he was sometimes conceived in pagan fiction,
as a stupendous and imposing form, sustaining the firm
ament, rolling on the sun in his path, guiding the stars
in their courses, with shining robes and tresses flowing
athwart and down the heavens, he would appear far
more real and majestic than as he is presented in the
Bible. But consider for a moment, what constitutes the
essential natural excellence of the human being, who
was made in God's image. Not surely the mass of
dull earth, which composes his body ; nor yet the
animal life, which pervades it. It is the intelligent
spirit, that dwells there. Remove that spirit, which
thinks, designs, wills, loves — which is capable of moral
action, and of conscious happiness — and what remains
but a few pounds of organized and animated earth 3
The glory has departed. Even brutes have conscious,
and, in a humble degree, intelligent spirits ; but the
Scriptures inform us that they descend to the earth at
death, that is, perish with their bodies.* They were
made for a subordinate and transient end, and not, like
our spirits, in the likeness of God's immortality. If
* Eccl. iii. 21.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 29
then all that is essentially excellent in a human being
is in his spirit, how truly may it be said of God, that
his pure spirituality is the distinguishing glory of his
nature. A spirit is not material in any of the respects in
which we define matter. We have therefore no senses
with which to discern a spirit, or to experiment upon
its nature. If we had, the curtain-between this and
the eternal world would be lifted ; we should no longer
walk by faith, but by sight. This would defeat the
ends of probation. The curtain is therefore made fast,
which conceals from us the world of spirits ; — no mor
tal eyes may ever look within the veil. Hence an
apostle said, " No man hath seen God at any time ;"*
and God himself said to Moses, " There shall no man
see me and live."f
But although we cannot see a spirit, we have as
good evidence of its existence as we have of the exist-,
ence of matter. Spirit is a real cause at work, but it
is out of sight ; whereas, matter has such a relation to
the physical eye, as to render it visible. Each is
known to us, however, by its effects ; the former not
less conclusively than the latter. If matter makes it
self known to us as that which resists the touch, is
attracted, repelled, &c, spirit makes itself known to
us as that which thinks, wills, designs, &c. ; and hence,
when we look upon these marks of design in creation,
we have evidence of the existence of the living and
intelligent Spirit who produced them, as irresistible as

* John i. 18. t Exodus xxxiii. 20.
3*

30 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
that of the material world. Moreover, as the power
of thinking, willing, designing, is vastly superior to that
of gravitation, attraction and repulsion, so spirit is in
its nature vastly superior to inert matter.
God is not only a Spirit ; he is an infinite Spirit.
Here our minds labor to grasp the mightiest and most
glorious of all conceivable objects — a living and
infinite Spirit !
II. His attributes. If we cannot comprehend
God — as surely we cannot, any more than we can
throw upward our puny arms and embrace the sun —
we are yet permitted to know something of his attri-
-butes. These are usually divided into two classes —
natural and moral. Let us begin with the former.
The analysis might be more or less extended, but they
may be conveniently arranged under the following
specifications r — ¦
1 . Self-existence. Himself the " Father of
spirits,"* God is not indebted for his own existence ;
himself the " Fountain of life,"f he owes his own life
to none. He exists in and of himself. This can be
said of no other being. All other beings are effects,
holding their existence at the will of another ; God
alone is a pure and infinite Cause. This truth he
revealed to Moses, in those majestic words, " I am
that I am."J These words forcibly signify, in the
original, absolute and independent self-existence.
Hence the existence of God is necessary. As to
created beings, they may exist or not, as the cause
* Heb. xii. 9. f Ps. xxxvi. 9. J Exod. iii. 14.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 31
above them shall determine. It never was absolutely
necessary that they should "exist. God could exist
without them, and it is only at his will that they have
their existence. But as to God, it is impossible that
he should not be, and always was so. Atheism is,
therefore, of necessity, an eternal falsehood. Not only
is atheism false, but it could not possibly have been
made true. And finally, as God did not receive his
existence from any source whatever, and does not hold
it at the will of any being, so no gratitude, no praise,
no homage, is due from him. These are virtues which
pertain exclusively to created and dependent beings.
The self-existence of God is an incommunicable attri
bute. 2. Eternity. This implies existence in every
point of duration, both past and future. The existence
of God is an eternal circle of ages, equally without
beginning and without end.
Whatever has a beginning is an effect. Myriads of
created beings are continually beginning to be. Our
own existence has had a beginning. The same is
evidently true of every organized substance on the
globe, both in the vegetable and animal creation. Even
this globe itself; these continents and islands, that bear
such significant marks of age ; these mountains, that
lift their hoary heads to the skies ; these seas and
oceans, that have ceaselessly rolled on their deep beds
for ages, — have all had a beginning. The same must
be said of the numberless globes that surround us, per
forming their appointed circuits in the heavens. All
these are ^effects of a previously existing cause. But

3? NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
whatever is pure cause can have no beginning; — it
must have existed from eternity. Hence just as cer
tain as is the self-existence of God, is the fact that his
existence has no beginning.
Equally certain it is that the existence of God must
continue forever. For a thing to cease to be, that now
is, is a change ; but every change is an effect ; and
no effect can take place without a cause. Now there
is no cause before God, or in God, or after God, that
can annihilate his existence. There is none before
him, for he is the First Cause of all things ; there is
none in him, for that were supposing the same thing in
the same relation both cause and effect, which is ab
surd ; there is none after him, for all created beings
can sustain no other relation to the First Cause than
that of effects. It follows then, irresistibly, that as
God has existed from eternity, so he will continue to
exist forever. The eternity of his existence is as ne
cessary as his self-existence. It is not absolutely
impossible, in the nature of the case, for any creature
to cease to be ; but for God to cease to be, is an abso
lute impossibility. Hence the Scriptures designate
him as the " eternal God ;"* and Moses in his prayer
acknowledges the same sentiment, in language of great
beauty and sublimity : — " Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou
art God."\
3. Omnipotence. By this is meant that there is
no effect intrinsically possible for which the power of
* Deut. xxxiii. 27. t Ps. xo. 2.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 33
God is insufficient. He is able to do all things. To
say that he could not begin nor cease to exist, or that
he cannot make the same to be and not to be, is no
detraction from his omnipotence ; for these are not
effects to which power, however great, is relevant.
Omnipotence is just as unable to make three and two
ten, or the half equal to the whole, as is the feeblest
infancy. "With God all things are possible ;"* but
these are not " things," they are absurdities.
In order to understand how God can be absolutely
omnipotent over the universe, we must keep in mind
that he is a pure Spirit. Were he material, he would
of course be subject to the laws of matter. Instead
of his giving laws to nature, she would give laws to
him. A being ceases to be material, according to all
our ideas and definitions of matter, the moment he
ceases to be subject to the uniform modes of physical
sequences. Seeing whatever is material is subject to
the laws of attraction, gravitation, Stc, we cannot con
ceive of almighty power over nature, excepting as it
exists in a living Spirit. Spirit is then the source of
all power. We have no evidence that matter has any
power, not even that of obeying its own laws, except
ing as it is energized by spirit. Hence the fact that
God, and he alone, is an infinite Spirit, gives to him,
and to him alone, almighty power over all nature.
The omnipotence of God appears in his creating and
controlling the material universe. The creation of the
smallest mass of matter from nothing, is an astonishing
* Matt. xix. 26.

34 NATURAL attributes of GOD.
display of power. Indeed every mind instinctively
feels, that nothing short of omnipotence is adequate to
create even a particle of dust, or a drop of water.
What then must that power be, which created the
huge globe on which we tread, and all the globes in
the heavens around us ? It is computed that nearly a
hundred millions of fixed stars might be seen with the
strongest telescopes, and modern astronomy regards
every one of these as a sun to a system of worlds.
And all this is probably but the beginning of the entire
creation — a mere drop in the ocean. How amazing
then the Power that created the universe !
But the same energy that created the universe, is
also requisite to control it. Our earth contains a mass
of matter equal at least to two hundred trillions of tons,
and a power adequate to move it a single inch, were
it fixed in a quiescent state, would be almost beyond
the reach of numbers to express. But it is moved
through space at the rate of sixty-eight thousand miles
an hour, or one hundred and forty times swifter than a
cannon ball. The planet Jupiter is more than a
thousand times larger than the earth, and is wheeled
through the heavens with the velocity of twenty-nine
thousand miles an hour, requiring of course a power to
impel it, a hundred and fifty times greater than that
required to move the earth.
Proceeding thus in our calculations respecting the
movements of planets, satellites, suns, and systems, our
minds rise in their contemplations to a bewildering and
dizzy height ; — we are for a moment ready to tremble,
lest that Energy which sustains and controls all these

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 35
spheres should at some instant falter, and the universe
fall into ruins. But then when we reflect again that
this immense machinery of worlds has already been for
ages sustained, impelled and guided, by the power of
God — that nothing has ever appeared evincing in him
the least symptom of weariness — our confidence
returns, and we joyfully exclaim, " In the Lord Je
hovah IS EVERLASTING STRENGTH."*
Not less signally does the omnipotence of God
appear in the creation of the moral universe. It
would seem that the creation of a rational soul im
plies a higher exercise of power, than the creation
of matter. Not only is it the creation of something
from nothing, but the forming of that mysterious es
sence into a most wonderful piece of spiritual me
chanism. There are among the works of God many
splendid exhibitions of material mechanism, but the
finest of these is coarse compared with a rational mind.
Observe its amazing power of easy and intense action ;
its rapid, delicate, and silent motions ! What specimen
of material mechanism can vie with it ? It is made to
act with undiminished vigor, ages after the mechanism
of the body, in which it resides for a season, is worn
out and destroyed.
The human soul is also invested with a power, which
no material substance possesses in any degree — that of
perceiving, thinking, choosing ; that of acquiring know
ledge, of forming character, of sustaining an accounta
ble relation to the eternal throne of God. In this
# Isaiah xxvi. 4.

36

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

view, it can scarcely fail to appear that the creation
of a single rational soul is really a more illustrious dis
play of power than the creation of a world.
Consider now that there are upon the earth more
than eight hundred millions of such souls, and that one
is conveyed into eternity, and another created in its
place, every second. If then we ascend from this to
other worlds, and contemplate the myriads of intelligent
minds that rise in towering ranks above us towards the
Supreme Intelligence — the armies of heaven, extending
beyond the loftiest flights of imagination — we are over
whelmed and lost in admiration of the power of Him
who is the Creator of all, and in whose " hand is the
soul of every living thing."*
The same omnipotence is displayed in the govern
ment of the moral universe. Intelligent beings are
governed in a great measure by circumstances ; they
hence demand a power to govern them, which has
entire control over all the laws, movements and con
tingencies of both the physical and the spiritual crea
tion. Being also free agents, they have the power of
voluntary resistance, which matter has not ; they there
fore demand the exercise of a power to govern them,
over and above that required to control matter. To
secure their obedience, God puts forth all the direct
power which he sees to be most wise, in the adminis
tration of a moral government ; and in every instance
where obedience is not the result, he exerts his power
to confine and imprison the rebellion, saying to it irj
* Job xii. 10.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 37
accents of thunder, " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no
further ; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed."*
Such, then, is the power of God. He is omnipotent
to create, and omnipotent to control. And it is strik
ing to observe with what apparent ease every thing is
done. All is silent, calm, gentle ; — such is the " hiding
of his power,"f that we scarcely know he is at work,
ere the wonderful production stands forth in finished
form and beauty before our eyes. This is the highest
perfection of power ; — imagination herself, with boldest
wing, can rise to no higher conception. In the midst
of such contemplations, the good man feels an instinc
tive emotion of wonder and joy, prompting the inspired
exclamation, " Alleluia ; for the Lord God omnipo
tent reigneth."J
4. Omnipresence. This implies that God is in
every point of the universe, both of space and of mat
ter, at the same moment and forever. This also is the
exclusive attribute of a purely spiritual being. Mat
ter is of necessity local ; — it must occupy space. And
it is a known law of matter, that the same or equal
portions of it cannot occupy the same space, at the
same time. Hence if God were material, he could
not be strictly omnipresent ; unless we admit the pan
theistic notion that every thing is a part of God. But
such is the relation of spirit to matter, that both may
exist at the same time in the same identical place.
The one does not displace the other. Hence God,
being a pure Spirit, can people all space with physical
* Job xxxviii. 11. t Hab. iii. 4. J Rev. xix. 6.
4

38 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
creations, and yet pervade the entire universe with his
own Being. In the coral beds of the ocean ; in the
bowels of the mountains, and in the lowest parts of the
earth ; in the deep and dark caverns of hell, and in
the flaming orbs of heaven ; in all matter, as truly as
in all space, is his all-pervading Spirit. He is thus
" a God afar off" — in places remote from his throne — ¦
as well as " a God at hand " — in places near his
throne ; — he is always present to direct every incident
in the universe, however minute.
The omnipresence of God is obvious, both in the
light of nature and of revelation. The whole universe
is a resplendent mirror, reflecting his image. It is
intuitively certain, that wherever any thing is, there
God is ; since no agency can act where it is not, and
no effect can exist without a cause. To say that God
is present to every thing, is to say that he is omni
present ; since omnipresence is the being present to all
things. Some of the most sublime and beautiful language of
the Bible is employed to set forth this attribute. " Am
I a God at hand, and not a God afar off ? saith the
Lord."* Striking his harp to one of the finest strains
of poetry that ever fell from inspired lips, David sang,
" Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall
I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
* Jeremiah xxiii. 23.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 39
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the
night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness
hideth not from thee ; but the night shineth as the
day ; the darkness and the light are both alike to
thee."* " Within thy circling power I stand,
On every side I find thy hand ;
Awake — asleep — at home — abroad,
I am surrounded still with God."
5. Omniscience. This attribute is closely allied
to the preceding ; still they are distinct. We can con
ceive of God's being present to every thing, without
seeing it. But he does see every thing ; and this is
what we mean by his omniscience. It is not merely
the power to see, it is the actual seeing. The omni
science of God is his intuitive perception of all objects
and events in the universe. By virtue of his omni
presence as a Spirit, all things are in his eye. " Nei
ther is there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the
eyes of him with whom we have to do."f He sees
things, not through imperfect physical organs, which
sometimes deceive, but directly with the eye of his all
present mind. As matter is never in his way — no
obstacle to his vision — he has as perfect a view of all
our innermost thoughts, emotions and purposes, as of
our outward actions. He has also, for the same reason,
as distinct cognizance of the minutest atom and of the
* Ps, cxxxix. t Heb. iv. 13.

40 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
smallest incident, as of the rolling of a world and the
rise and fall of an empire. Thus not a sparrow falls
on the ground without his notice, and even the hairs of our
head are all numbered.* It was under the glowing
inspiration of this truth that the psalmist sung — " O
Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou
knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou
understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest
my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with
all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue,
but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou
hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand
upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ;
it is high, I cannot attain unto it."t
To many it seems incredible, that God can ever in
stitute such a thorough and exact judgment over all
the secret thoughts and purposes of our souls, as the
Bible sets forth. That " God shall bring every work
into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be
good, or whether it be evil,"J presents to their minds
so great a difficulty, that they incline to question the
fact. But their difficulty results solely from thinking
God such an one as themselves. Let them once fairly
apprehend the great idea, that God is an infinite Spirit,
and the difficulty all vanishes.
It has been a favorite theory with some deistical
writers, that God sees great events, but that small ones,
being unworthy of the attention of so exalted a Being,
he does not deign to notice. They suppose that he
* Matt. x. 29, 30. t Ps. xxxix. % Eccl. xii. 14.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 41
looks upon kings, noblemen, rulers, and men of learn
ing, wealth, or of some other adventitious distinction ;
but as for the multitudes of the humble and obscure,
they are beneath his attention. Miserable conception
of God ! Such as might well make a heathen blush.
How grovelling must be his ideas, who does not know
that the glory of God consists in regarding the least as
well as the greatest of his works.
Great objects and events are made up of small ones ;
the ocean is composed of drops ; the earth of atoms ;
kingdoms of individuals ; and the ultimate destinies of
a world, are the combined result of all its elementary
parts and incidents. The deistical theory is therefore
as unphilosophical, as it is unscriptural. Science and
revelation unite to instruct us, that the Being who
rules the destinies of the universe has the eye of his
omniscience equally on all things, small and great,
from atoms to worlds, and from worlds to systems of
worlds ; on all events, insignificant and illustrious, from
the motions of an insect's wing to the revolution of a
kingdom ; — and finally, on all his accountable subjects,
from the humblest peasant in his cottage to king " Sol
omon arrayed in all his glory " — observing not only
their persons, but descending into every department of
their souls, and tracing with perfect exactness the se
cret spring of every action.
6. Wisdom. This has been considered partly a
natural and partly a moral attribute. The term wis
dom is sometimes used in the Bible synonymous with
piety ; but in its primary sense, as applied to God, it
designates a natural perfection. There is an important

42 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
distinction between wisdom and knowledge. The lat
ter is the mind's furniture, the former is the mind's
guide. A being may have much knowledge, with
little wisdom. A lawyer may have a vast amount of
legal knowledge, and yet for want of wisdom to use it
to advantage fail of success in his profession. "Wis
dom is profitable to direct ;"* and as the wisdom of
God is infinite, he is able to direct the affairs of the
universe in the best possible manner.
The wisdom of God, like his being and all his other
attributes, is underived and eternal. It is not the glory
of the moon, shining with a borrowed lustre ; it is the
glory of the sun. It is the fountain of all other wis
dom. He is hence called " God only wise "\ — no
other being in the universe being wise, either compared
with him or without him.
Natural wisdom is nearly synonymous with discre
tion or judgment, as concerned in directing means in
the best way to a desired result. Thus he is the
wisest statesman, who can make the smallest means
accomplish most for the public weal. He is the wisest
merchant, who can turn his capital to the best account.
He is the wisest laborer, who so directs his strength as
best to effect his object.
The wisdom of God respects both the end and the
means, and is concerned in directing his infinite re
sources of power and knowledge, so as to secure the
best of all ends by the best of all means. The best
of ends being chosen, the rule of wisdom is to bring

* Eccl. x. 10. f Rom. xvi. 27.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 43
great things to pass by small means, to make a little
accomplish much — frugality of means and prodigality
of results. This manifestation of the wisdom of God
appears, with amazing exuberance, in all his works.
The inanimate creation it has so formed as to subserve,
most perfectly, all the necessities of the higher crea
tions. It first gives rise to the mineral creation, and
this in turn sustains the vegetable, and this the animal,
and this ministers to the rational and immortal soul.
Every genus and every species in the vast vegetable
kingdom, is precisely adapted to its element and its
end. The same is true in the animal kingdom. The
fish is formed with compact and pointed form, to
plunge and sport in the water ; the bird, with light
and wide spread frame, so as to present a large surface
with little weight, to soar into the air. Exchange the
eye or the fin of the one for the corresponding member
of the other, and neither would be fitted to its element.
All animals are endowed with instinct — " a propensity
prior to experience and independent of instruction "* —
to supply the want of reason.. The instinct of each is
of the precise kind and degree required, — that of the
beaver, to construct his dam ; that of the bird, to build
its nest and hatch and rear its young ; that of the ant
and squirrel, to provide for winter ; and that of the bee,
to construct the honey comb, on those profound prin
ciples of mathematics which taxed the intellect of
Newton. Thds nature moves on, in all her endless depart
ments, with entire order, harmony, ease, under the
guidance of a very few laws of astonishing simplicity
* Paily.

44 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
and comprehensiveness. Well might the psalmist ex
claim, as he contemplated this subject — "O Lord,
how manifold are thy works I in wisdom hast thou
made them all."*
Still more illustrious, if possible, does the wisdom of
God appear in the moral world. The laws of a human
kingdom are scarcely comprised in a large library-
After all, they leave numerous points untouched, and
require constant changes and amendments. Whereas
the laws by Which God governs the entire moral uni
verse, from lisping and trembling infancy up to the
thrones and sceptres of angels, may be written upon
the palm of your hand. And so perfect are they, that
they require no change, no amendment, no repeal for
ever. The moral universe need but render perfect
obedience to them, to be perfectly and forever blessed.
But the crowning manifestation of the wisdom of
God is in his wonderful work of redemption. It is
herein that the apostle says he " hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom. "f All conceivable wisdom here
concentrates and overflows. It is here that through
the manifold wisdom of God, " mercy and truth are
met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each
other."J It is here that his wisdom reconciles justice
with mercy, the honor of the law with forgiveness, the
majesty of holiness with the condescension of tender
ness and love towards sinners. It is here that he meets
the adversary on his own ground, takes from him all
his armor wherein he trusted, turns sin against sin, and
* Ps. civ. 24. f Eph. i. 8. } Ps. lxxxv. 10.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 45
makes the wrath of man to praise him. " O the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God !"* The wisdom of God is a shoreless ocean of
light, in which immortal spirits will expatiate with
growing wonder and joy forever.
7. Unchangeableness. By the unchangeable-
ness of God is meant, not that he does not vary and
adapt his conduct to the obedience and to the sins of
his creatures, and is not moved by their prayers, but
that his being is immutably the same, and that he acts
forever upon the same principles.
This attribute of God, like most others, results from
his spirituality. The whole material universe, so far
as we can explore it, is undergoing perpetual changes.
Every visible form of matter is alternately decompos
ing and recombining, dying and living again. The
purest metals are gradually converted into a calx or
oxyde, the firmest crystals are resolved into granules,
and the process of decomposition goes on, beyond the
ken of mortal vision, till the elements reappear invested
with other forms and faculties. Nothing material
escapes the changes and ravages of time. Even the
rocky mountain, resting so firmly on its deep and broad
foundations, and towering in strength to heaven, must
gradually bow its head and descend, fragment by frag
ment, to the plain. The stupendous pyramids of
Egypt, which have withstood all the assaults of four
thousand years, and perhaps of the deluge itself, are
imperceptibly wasting, and, if left to themselves long
enough, would in process of time utterly disappear.
* Romans xi. 33.

46 NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
The change now going forward upon the earth on a
comparatively small scale, is hereafter to be realized
on a scale more grand and awful, when the entire globe
itself shall be dissolved. The same change is in pro
gress among the orbs of heaven. Within a single cen
tury, thirteen of the fixed stars have disappeared, under
circumstances which admit of no other solution than
that they, and the systems to which they ministered
as suns, have perished from the families of worlds.
What is thus befalling other systems, will in due time
befall ours. " The heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein,
shall be burnt up."*
" The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temple, yea, the great globe itself,
And all that it inhabit, must dissolve,
And, like the baseless fabrick of a vision,
Leave not a wreck behind."
But through all these vicissitudes of the material
universe, we may look up to God, a pure unchanging
Spirit upon the throne of his immortality. With what
lustre and majesty has the inspired writer presented
this truth. — " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of
the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine
hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure." —
And then, considering the material creation as his
wardrobe, which he puts off when it becomes old, he
adds, " Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment ;
* 2 Peter jii. 10.

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 47
as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be
changed, but Thou art the same, and thy years shall
have no end."* We may indeed, in the light of rev
elation, anticipate the period when we shall be invested
with imperishable bodies, but this will be only as they
are spiritualized, and thus made to partake of the im
mutability of God's own immortal nature.
The unchangeableness of God comprehends his
moral as well as his natural perfections. Created be
ings may grow or decline in excellence, but God, for
ever infinite, is forever the same. " I am the Lord, I
change NOT,"f he says ; and the apostle says, that in
him there " is no variableness, neither shadow of
TURNING.''^ Such then is God, viewed in respect to his natural
attributes. The view is overwhelming, and yet it is
but a feeble glympse. How little do we see of the
stupendous reality ! We must after all exclaim with
Zophar the Naamathite, " Canst thou by searching
find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto
perfection ? It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou
do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?"||
We hence' see that whenever we attempt to think
of God, or to speak of his doings, or to approach him
in worship, it should be with the profoundest reverence
and humility. There can be no true religion, which
is not eminently characterized by these virtues.
How solemn the thought, that you are now forming
the relation of an everlasting friend or enemy of this
* Ps. cii. 25—27. f Mai. iii. 6. % James i. 17. |1 Job xi. 7, 8.

48

NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

glorious Being. The question pending on your pro
bation is nothing less than this, whether you are to
secure or forfeit an inheritance in these infinite attri
butes. To bring yourself by sin into the relation of
confirmed hostility to God, must be the consummation
of wo. His favor can be nothing less than an infinite
blessing, his frown nothing less than an infinite calam
ity. Forfeit his favor, and you are surely undone for
ever ! Who can bless, when he has ceased to bless
you ? Where can you find a friend, if you have not
one in him ? You see also the folly of resisting his
will — of setting up an interest and plan in opposition to
him. " Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker !
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the
earth."* Submit yourself to him, fall cordially in
with his plans, and secure his favor, identify all your
interests and hopes with his glory, and you are made
for eternity. All things are yours. Nothing can ever
harm you. By the sure and mighty operation of these
divine attributes, all things shall be made to work
together for your good. Having God for your portion,
earthly losses are nothing, pain is nothing, death is
nothing ; — even a martyr's flames are a bed of down.
Amid the severest afflictions of life and conflicts with
death, your heart shall sweetly sing, " The Lord is my
Shepherd, I shall not want."f — " Whom have I in
heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I
desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth ;
but God is the strength of my heart, and my
portion forever."^
* Isaiah xlv. 9. t Ps. xxiu\ 1. J Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26.

CHAPTER III.
MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
We are next to consider the moral attributes of
God. The distinction between his natural and moral
attributes is this, — the former are involuntary, the lat
ter voluntary. The former are necessary, the latter
dependent on the divine will. The former pertain to
the nature of God, the latter to his character. But
when we speak of the character of God, we are not to
suppose that it is, like human character, acquired.
The character of God is as eternal and immutable as
his nature. In this view we might apply the term
nature or natural, indiscriminately, to all. the divine
attributes ; and this is frequently done. But strict
philosophical accuracy, and indeed popular conve
nience, requires us to distinguish them into natural and
moral. God made a full developement of his moral
attributes to Moses, in answer to his prayer — " I be
seech thee shew me thy glory." The reply to him
was, " I will make all my goodness pass before
thee."* The word here translated goodness, signifies
* Exodus xxxiii. 18, 19.
5

50

moral attributes of god.

in the original Hebrew, riches — all the riches of the
divine character. " And the Lord passed by before
him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, mer
ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth ; keeping mercy for thousands, for
giving iniquity and transgression and sin ; and that will
in no wise clear the guilty."* Here the elements of
the divine character — God's moral attributes — are de
clared to be mercy, grace, long-suffering, goodness,
truth, forgiveness, and justice. The word here trans
lated goodness is not in the original the same as the
one thus translated above ; — it has a specific meaning,
and signifies benignity.
Holiness and benevolence, as applied to God,
are generic terms. His very being itself, and all his
attributes, both natural and moral, are holy. As pre
dicated of his natural perfections, the term holiness
designates venerableness, awfulness, majesty. It indi
cates Jehovah as a Being too exalted and glorious to be
profanely spoken of, or rudely approached. As that
is holy which is distinguished from whatever is secular
and common, and is consecrated to religion, so God,
eternally distinguished from and infinitely exalted above
all other objects, himself at once the source and object
of all religion, is eternally and infinitely holy.
As applied to his moral perfections, holiness indi
cates the perception of right, the entire rectitude of
volition, and the activity of all his powers in a righteous
manner. It was in this view of his character that the
# Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 51
prophet said, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity ;"* that the psalm
ist said, " Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in
wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee ;"f — that
Jesus Christ said, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God ;"% — that the apostle said, " Let
us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably (
with reverence and Godly fear ; for our God is a con
suming fire ;|| — and that God himself said, " Ye shall
be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy."§
It is in reference to the unequalled majesty and ex
cellence of all his attributes, both natural and moral,
as displayed in his works and in his government, that
the heavenly hosts sing, " Who shall not fear thee, O
Lord, and glorify thy name ? for thou only art
holy ; for all nations shall come and worship before
thee, for thy judgments are made manifest ;''1T — and
that they sing again, " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."**
The benevolence of God, as well as his holiness,
pervades and comprehends all his specific attributes.
His mercy is benevolent mercy, his grace benevolent
grace, his long-suffering benevolent long-suffering, his
goodness benevolent goodness, his truth benevolent
truth, his forgiveness benevolent forgiveness, and his
justice benevolent justice. All these attributes may,
in a creature, spring from sinful and selfish motives ;
but in God they originate in motives of infinite holiness
and benevolence. Hence the same Scriptures which
* Hab. i. 13. t Ps. v. 4. i. Matt. v. 8. || Heb. xii. 28— 29.
I) Lev. xi. 44. H Rev. xv. 4. ** Rev. iv. 8,

52

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

predicate holiness of his entire being and attributes,
declare also that " God- is love ;"* thus making be
nevolence, as it exists in the holy God of heaven, not
a specific and individual attribute, but an all-compre
hending perfection of his being.
The benevolence of God is manifested in his having
so constituted all the faculties of our natures, physical,
intellectual, social, and moral, that when rightly used
they yield us unmingled happiness. Whatever pain
attends them results solely from their abuse, for which
of course, creatures themselves are responsible. An
other proof of the benevolence of God is in his moral
law. The very essence of this law, is benevolence ;
the sum of its requirements is love ;f — this proves that
God delights in love, and would have the moral uni
verse, like himself, perfectly benevolent.
But the greatest of all actual or even conceivable
proofs of the benevolence of God, is in the gift of his
Son for our redemption. Here is benevolence not only
ivilling and doing, in the operations of nature and of
law, but benevolence sacrificing, and that too in the
greatest imaginable degree, for the welfare of others.
This is the highest possible style of benevolence ; —
nothing can excel it, even in thought. Hence the
Scriptures say, " Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins."% " God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." ||
* John iv. 16. f Matt. v. 43 ; xxii. 37. $ 1 John iv. 10. || John iii. 16.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 53
The holiness and benevolence of God, or what we
may conveniently call his holy benevolence, being thus
the sum of his character, we may regard all those spe
cific attributes which he revealed to Moses, as ways
or modes in which he is pleased to develope it, and
bring it to bear upon the welfare of the universe. Thus
his mercy is his holy benevolence tenderly directed
towards the suffering guilty ; his grace is benevolence
engaged in reclaiming sinners ; his long-suffering is be
nevolence extending the term of grace ; his goodness
is benevolence conferring various blessings ; his truth
is benevolence faithfully concerned in declaring nothing
but what is strictly true ; his forgiveness is benevolence
bestowing pardon ; and finally his justice is the same
benevolence, guided by infinite wisdom, aiming at the
highest welfare of the universe, by sustaining the au
thority of righteous laws.
Thus all the specific moral attributes of God are but
radiations of an infinitely wise and holy benevolence,
and in their source resolve themselves into it. As the
seven elementary rays of solar light, when melted to
gether in their natural proportions, constitute one per
fect mass of dazzling brightness, as seen in the face of
yonder sun, so these seven elementary moral perfec
tions of God, uniting as they do in him, constitute a
character of ineffable excellence and glory. Hence
the character of God is the glorious moral sun of the
universe — the everlasting light and joy of all the
righteous. The Scriptures teach us that " the Lord
God is a sun,"* and that the unclouded lustre of his
* Ps. lxxxiv. 11.
5*

54 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
character makes heaven an eternal day. " And the
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and
the Lamb is the light thereof."*
We are now prepared to consider, more particularly,
these seven attributes which God revealed to Moses,
in which the glory of his character emanates upon the
moral universe. Other analysis might be adopted,
making the divine attributes more or less in number,
and of course more or less specific, but as this analysis
has been given us by God himself we cannot do better
than to adopt it. This subject is of the highest impor
tance to us, for in the moral attributes of God are found
the origin and the principles of his moral government.
They are the guardians of the universe,
1. Mercy. " The Lord God merciful." f Mer
cy, as we have said, is a tender regard to the suffering
guilty. But it is important to distinguish here between
a mere constitutional or instinctive impulse and moral
principle. In the former there is no character. Thus
the clemency which some brutes exercise towards their
young, and towards each other, possesses no moral ex
cellence, for it is an instinct, implanted in their nature
by the Creator. The same disposition among men is
sometimes called mercy. It is an amiable instinct, of
much value in the constitution of the soul. Not only
is it of itself destitute of moral principle, but, like all
our other propensities, when not rightly controlled, it
tends to the destruction of moral principle.
* Rev. xxi. 23. f Exodus xxxiv. 6.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 55
When it is indulged at the expense of righteousness,
as in the case of the parent withholding from his child
needful chastisement, or gratifying him with enervating
indulgencies ; or when it induces the minister of Christ
to compromise truth, and please the worldly and the
selfish with the expectation that all will be happy at
last ; or when it so sways the breast of the judge on
the bench, as to induce him to acquit the guilty ; — in
short, whenever it obtains the mastery of moral princi
ple, and moves by a blind and self-gratifying impulse,
so far from being mercy, as that attribute exists in
God, it is weakness, it is sin, tending to the subversion
of all true mercy, and to the utter ruin of its object.
Mercy, as it exists in God, is one of the elements
of wise benevolence. It is divested of all human im
perfections, and is purely a moral principle. It ex
presses the tender compassion of God towards the
guilty and the suffering, his desire for the repentance
and salvation of sinners ; the yearnings of his heart
towards the fallen, the needy, the wretched. This
view of the divine mercy is sustained throughout the
Scriptures. 2. Grace. " The Lord God gracious." This
attribute goes a degree beyond mercy. Mercy ex
presses tenderness and compassion, grace implies pos
itive favor conferred on the undeserving. A gracious
disposition is a disposition to bless enemies, to over
come evil with good, to subdue foes by kindness. It
differs from mercy in this essential particular, it has no
resemblance in any instinct. None of all the brute
creation exhibit any thing like it ; nor does it exist in

56 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
its genuine character amongst men, except as they are
renewed by the Holy Spirit. It is one of the richest
and most brilliant emanations of the divine character,
especially as contemplated by man its object.
It was grace that rolled back the tempest of ap
proaching wrath from the world, when seen from
heaven lying in guilt and justly exposed to perdition ; —
it was grace that lit up the bow of hope on the face of
the frowning sky ; — it was grace that gave to mankind
a Saviour ; — it was grace that planted the church on
the earth, and raised up a kingdom of redemption from
the ruins of the apostacy ; — it is grace that has sus
tained this kingdom, and has borne it along in safety
from age to age, through the deluge, through fire, and
through storms of persecution ; — it is grace that gives
the Holy Spirit in every instance of regeneration, and
every degree of sanctification ; — it is grace, sovereign,
eternal, glorious grace, that originated, pursues, and
will finally accomplish, the entire scheme of salvation
by Jesus Christ. " Grace first contrived a way-
To save rebellious man ;
And all its steps that grace display,
Which drew the wondrous plan.
" Grace all the work shall crown,
Through everlasting days ;
It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise."
Every man upon earth who is now any thing but an
impenitent sinner, condemned by the law, must say
with Paul, " By the grace of God I am what I am ;"*
* 1 Cor. xv. 10.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

57

and the headstone of Zion's temple will be laid at last,
" with shoutings, Grace, grace, unto it."*
3. Long-suffering. "The Lord God — long-
suffering." This is grace protracted. It is the pro
longed endurance of unyielding sin. It is grace that
prevents the hand of justice from smiting the sinner
dead, according to his strict deserts, the moment he.
sins ; it is long-suffering that holds the hand of justice
in continued arrest, still bearing with him and waiting
to be gracious. It is grace that provides and offers
salvation to men ; — it is long-suffering that gives them
weeks and months and often years to accept it. It
was the long-suffering; of God that waited on men in
the days of Noah ;f it was the same that subsequently
bore with his highly favored but stiff-necked and re
volting people ;% — it is with much long-suffering that
God endures all " the vessels of wrath fitted to destruc
tion ;"|| — and it is only by virtue of the same, that any
of us continue to live in a world of probation and hope .
But the long-suffering of God never degenerates into
pusilanimity. Like all his other attributes, it is under
the control of his infinite wisdom and holiness. There
is a limit beyond which long-suffering towards sinners
cannot go, but to the moral detriment of the universe ;
and beyond that, God will never extend it. This doc
trine runs through the whole Bible, and is fundamental
in a moral government.
There is probably no other divine attribute so much
abused as this. " Because sentence against an evil
* Zech. iv. 7. t 1 Pet- iii. 20. J Num. xiv. 18. || Rom. ix. 22.

58

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of
the children of men are fully set in them to do evil."*
This very forbearing disposition of God, which of all
others ought most to melt sinners into penitence and
gratitude, is made by many an occasion of scepticism.
It is the gloomiest and most desperate feature of their
depravity, that instead of improving the long-suffering of
God by repentance, they despise the riches of his good
ness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God was designed to lead them to
repentance. Thus, " after their hardness and impeni
tent heart, they treasure up unto themselves wrath
against the day of wrath, and revelation of the right
eous judgment of God ; who will render to every man
according to his deeds. "f
4. Goodness. " The Lord, the Lord God—
abundant in goodness." The term goodness is not
here to be understood in its general and comprehensive
import ; for in this view it includes all the other divine
attributes. Every attribute of God is good. The
term is here to be taken, as the original Hebrew de
notes, in the restricted sense of benignity — a kind and
provident regard to the well being and wants of his
creatures. This is its usual sense in the Scriptures.
To give it the same meaning with the terms expressive
of kindred attributes, or to make it include all the other
moral attributes of God, renders some of the most beau
tiful and impressive scriptures in which it occurs tauto
logical and senseless. Although the inspired writers
* Eccl. viii. 11. t Rom. ij, 4—6.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 59
Used language in a popular manner, they never used
it in a loose and unmeaning manner. Every word with
them has a meaning.
The goodness of God is seen in the care which he
takes of his creatures. Of all the irrational tribes, from
the feeblest insect and reptile up to the lord of the air
and the monarch of the forest, not one is overlooked or
forgotten.* According to their several incapacities to
take care of themselves, does God make provision for
them. His goodness is unceasingly engaged in pro
tecting, sustaining, feeding, clothing, and providing for
all their wants.
Nor does the law by which man is allowed to prey
upon brutes, and they upon each other, militate against
the divine goodness ; — for aside from whatever is the
effect of human sin and perversion, this law tends to
the diminution of suffering and the increase of the
aggregate of happiness. The brute creation thus enjoy
all the pleasures of healthful and sportive existence,
and then part with it without much of any pain. The
whale, for instance, engorges some thousands of small
fish at a single meal. These have enjoyed a happy
existence ; and now by an instantaneous entombment
they make room for others, and escape the pains of
sickness and death by the natural course.
Still more illustriously is the goodness of God seen
in his care of the rational creation.f Not only does
he provide for our natural wants, but also for all our
social, domestic, intellectual, and moral wants. It is
* Matt. vi. 26. Ps. cvii. 8.

60

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

great goodness in God that he deigns to govern us ;
since, if left to ourselves, mutual destruction and self-
destruction would speedily ensue. He moreover gov
erns us by laws, providential dealings, and various
influences, the most select, benignant, kind, and effec
tive to their end, of which it is possible to conceive.
Imagination cannot picture a code of laws, or a
providential government, including the dispensation of
redemption and salvation, surpassing in goodness that
chosen and employed by God.
The goodness of God is spontaneous. It is not pro
duced or excited by any importunity from without. It
springs fresh and direct from his own heart of infinite
and everlasting benignity.*
The goodness of God is disinterested. Men are
often good to their fellow men, from the expectation of
something in return. The goodness of God neither
seeks nor expects any reward ; it aims simply and only
at the good of its object.f
The goodness of God is impartial. Men have their
favorites, God has none, irrespective of character. The
prince and the peasant, the king in robes and the beg
gar in rags, are alike objects of his benignant regard.
Even the evil and the unthankful are not neglected by
his goodness, although he cannot have complacency in
their conduct, and love them as he does the good and
the thankful.^
The goodness of God is untiring. Men often be
come wearied in doing good, especially if they meet
* Ps. xxi. 3. t Rom. xi. 35, 36. $ Matt. v. 43—45.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 61
with ingratitude and abuse. But God goes steadily
forth, day after day and year after year, showering the
gifts of his goodness alike on the righteous and the
wicked, until it is clear that goodness will not lead the
sinner to repentance, but only harden him in sin.*
The goodness of God is abundant. " The Lord
God abundant in goodness." The goodness of God is
a shoreless and fathomless sea — an infinite plenitude
of benignity.
It was in this view that Christ said of the divine
goodness, "There is none good but one, that is
God ;"f and that the psalmist exclaimed with rhap
sody, " Men shall abundantly utter the memory of thy
GREAT GOODNESS."^
5. Truth. " The Lord, the Lord God — abun
dant in truth." Abstractly considered, truth is the
reality of things, and as applied to language is a faith
ful declaration of facts. Considered as a moral attri
bute, it is a disposition to utter nothing but what is
strictly true. That this attribute is essential to per
fection of moral character, is allowed by the common
consent of the civilized world. A being given to false
hood, is a being morally corrupt, beyond all question.
A single falsehood in God, would fix a stain on his
character which the ages of eternity could never wipe
off. The importance of truth as an element of the divine
character, may be learned from its importance among
men. No human* government, no social compact, no

* 1 Chron. xvi. 34 ; Nahum i. 7, 8. t Matt. xix. 17. } Ps. cxlv. 7.
6

62 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
community of interests of any kind, can be sustained
without it. Even when outlaws are associated for
purposes of evil, they cannot carry forward their plans
without truth among themselves as a basis of action.
Whenever any being swerves from truth, he is a prac
tical enemy to the universe ; for he acts upon a prin
ciple which goes to destroy all mutual confidence
between intelligent minds. He would sunder the bond
which holds the moral universe together.
Of what infinite moment, then, that this attribute
of God should ever shine forth through all his kingdom
with unclouded brilliancy. A single deviation from
truth in God, would involve an evil beyond all finite
powers to estimate. The confidence of every created
mind in his government would be immediately and
forever shaken. Myriads of ages hence they would
know that once he swerved from the truth, and conse
quently might again : seeing there is no power above
him to control him, or to which he is amenable. Some
consider it too great a calamity to be supposed, that
sinners should hereafter suffer the punishments threat
ened in the Bible ; but that God should, prove false to
his word, would be an infinitely greater calamity.
Hence there is no attribute of which God is more
jealous ; none which he sets forth with more promi
nence, or guards with a more wakeful vigilance. It is
impossible to commit a greater sin against God, than
knowingly or maliciously to impeach his veracity. And
even the doubting of his word— unbelief— is every
where in the Scriptures put down in the fore front of
all sin. God is often declared to be, by way of emi-

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 63
nence, the " God of truth."* His word is also called
" Truth."-f And. Jesus Christ, the brightness of the
Father's glory, and the express image of his person,^
styles himself, " The Truth."
The truth of God is eternal, immutable, absolute ;
insomuch that we have only to ascertain what he has
spoken, and it is the end of all doubt forever. If it
relate to the past, what he asserts has as certainly
taken place, if to the present, it as certainly now is, if
to the future, it as certainly will be, as God himself
exists. " Heaven and earth shall pass away," he says,
"but MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY."H The
Scriptures even assert it to be " impossible for God to
lie ;"<§> not that it is a physical impossibility, but a
moral one.
6. Forgiveness. " The Lord, the Lord God —
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." The
forgiveness of God is his disposition to pardon. This
attribute is opposed to all resentment. In strict truth,
the feeling of resentment never had any existence in
the divine mind. It is incompatible with a perfect
and changeless spirit of forgiveness. Whenever God
does not actually forgive sinners, it is not from any
deficiency in his disposition to forgive, but because
there are obstacles in the way of exercising it. The
just and humane judge upon the bench, has the spirit
of forgiveness in his heart for criminals at the bar ; but
they sustain such relations to law, that he cannot in
equity acquit them. It is not because he has feelings
* Ps. xxxi. 5. f John xvii. 17. j: Heb. i. 3.
|| Mark xiii. 31 ; Luke xxi. 33. § Heb. vi. 18,

64

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

of revenge, that he sentences them to punishment, but
because he must maintain the principles of righteous
ness and defend the public welfare. He is disposed to
forgive, but more disposed to do right.
Such is the forgiveness of God, that the moment
sinners comply with his proposed. terms, and are thus
found in a pardonable condition, he instantly blots out
all their offences and remembers them no more forever.
He treats them just as though they had never sinned.
He knows no difference in his love, his complacence,
his fellowship, his benefactions, between them and the
angels that never fell.
This is truly a wonderful and glorious attribute.
Men may forgive, but never like God. The forgive
ness of men is stinted, measured, and marred with
many unpleasant remembrances ; — the forgiveness of
God is without any limitation, sweeping the broad
wand of oblivion over all the past, and knowing
nothing in the future but perfect confidence and love.
Hence his language is, " Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let
him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy
upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly par
don. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."* And again
he says, " I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy trans
gressions, and will not remember thy sins."f It was
under the inspiration of this same truth that the psalm
ist said, " If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O
* Isaiah Iv. 7, 8. t Isaiah xliii, 25.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 65
Lord, who shall stand ? But there is forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared."*
7. Justice. " The Lord, the Lord God — that
will by no means clear the guilty." This attribute is
the pillar of God's throne. It was the last revealed
to Moses, and stands at the bottom of the list ; not
because it is least important, but because it is the sup
port of all the rest.
Justice, is giving to every one his due. Among men
it is a practical conformity to principles of rectitude, in
their dealings with each other. In God it is a practi
cal conformity to the eternal principles of righteous
retribution, in his conduct towards his accountable
creatures. It of course respects both the dispensation
of law and of gospel, under which mankind are placed.
Regarding them as transgressors of law, it would
punish them as violated law demands. Regarding
them as despisers of gospel, it would punish them as
despised gospel demands. Beholding beings perfectly
obedient to the moral law, as it does myriads in heaven,
it rewards them as obeyed law deserves. Beholding
sinners in a world of probation and grace, repenting
and receiving the gospel, it rewards them as obeyed
gospel deserves. This divine attribute comes up in
the rear of all the others, to finish what they have left
unfinished. It is its office to "finish the work, and cut
it short in righteousness."! Mercy, grace, long-suffer
ing, goodness, truth, forgiveness, go before, to do their
part towards enforcing the claims of moral rectitude ;— »

* Ps. cxxx. 3, 4. f Rom. ix. 28.
6*

66 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
justice always follows after them, to do what they have
left undone, to make straight what they have left
crooked, and to raise up an everlasting munition of
righteousness. Thus that great developement which
God made of his entire character to Moses, closes with
the declaration that he " will by no means clear the
guilty." Sometimes justice long delays, but she never fails to
come at last. As her judicial work is a short and
summary one, it can be put off for a long time. Mer
cy, grace, long-suffering, &tc. are from their very nature
more or less protracted in their operation ; but justice
can doom the sinner with the flash of an eye. As she
does the final work, and fixes the sinner's destiny, she
waits till all the other divine attributes have exhausted
their commission. Then she comes ! No hurry in her
step, no passion in her eye, she moves calmly up with
firm and determined brow, to pronounce the sentence
that is never to be repealed. To the righteous she
-says, speaking by the lips of the final Judge, " Come
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you- from the foundation of the world ;" and to the
wicked, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."* This is
the final decision of Justice, to stand forever recorded
on the tablets of eternity.
Thus have we analyzed the divine attributes into
seven natural and seven moral. The number seven
indicated perfection among the Jews, and it should not
* Matt. xxv. 34—41.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 67
be esteemed fanciful in us to adopt the analysis which
God himself gave. These attributes of God are sig
nally marked principles or methods of his acting, but
they may be variously commingled and diversified.
Thus compassion, kindness, gentleness, are modifica
tions of grace, mercy, and long-suffering. Like the
seven prismatic colours of the rainbow, which so com
mingle as to form hues of endless modification and
variety, in the process of melting together into a mass
of perfect light, such are the attributes of God. We
may often, in popular language, speak of other attri
butes than those here specified ; but they are always
to be understood as modifications or combinations of
these. A few concluding remarks. The moral power of
God lies in the excellence of his character. He moves
and controls matter, by the direct action of his physical
energy ; he moves and controls minds, by unfolding to
them his moral perfections. These are his imitable per
fections. We all ought to possess them. In heaven
all do possess them — not in degree, but in kind.
According to the measure of their capacity, all perfect
beings possess and develope them just as God himself
does. Nothing short of this satisfies the divine law 
nothing short of this is perfection. " Be ye therefore
perfect," said Christ, " even as your Father who is in
heaven is perfect."* It is only this that can exalt the
soul, which was made in God's image, to its true dig
nity and bliss.

* Matt. v. 48.

68 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
As the moral power of God consists in the excel
lence of his character, the more like God men become,
in respect to character, the more moral power will they
possess. Other kinds of power they may have by
other means. They may exert a physical power over
their fellow beings, by giant frames and iron muscles.
They may exert a secular power, by riches, rank and
office. They may exert an intellectual power, by high
mental endowments and cultivation. But they can
exert a moral power, only as they possess moral excel
lence. When a person is anxious for the salvation of
his soul, he flies for help to the man in whose piety he
has most confidence. It does not enter his mind to
inquire whether the man have great physical strength
and prowess, whether he be rich or high in rank, office,
or mere intellectual attainments. These are to him
of no consequence. His leading inquiry is, whether in
respect to character the man is Godlike — whether he
walks with God, has favor with God, and is seeking
God's glory in the salvation of men. If such be indeed
his character, his power over that anxious soul is next
to omnipotent. What a motive this for high attain
ments in piety ! Here we see what Christ meant by
the "salt of the earth," and "the light of the world."*
It is of infinite moment that all the divine attributes.be
faithfully exhibited. Leave out any one of them, and
the saving power of the others is destroyed. Exhibit
nothing but justice, and you drive sinners to despair ;
nothing but long-suffering, and you encourage their
* Matt. v. 13, 14.

MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 69
delay of repentance ; nothing but grace, and you in
crease their presumption ; nothing but mercy, and you
embolden them in sin. It is therefore important that
both law and gospel, penalty and- grace, the thunder
of impending justice and the soft subduing notes of
compassion, should all be made to fall in their com
bined and harmonious action upon the soul. Leave
out either of the divine attributes, or present it halting
and feeble, and you are sure to write Ichabod upon
the walls of the temple.
Sinners can be renewed and saved, only as they
become reconciled to all the divine attributes. To be
reconciled to the mercy of God, and not to his justice,
implies no holiness of heart — no meetness for heaven.
But because justice comes last in God's dealings with
us — because the present is a scene of delayed justice,
to give sinners space for repentance — great opportunity
is afforded to preachers and to hearers to keep divine
justice out of view, and thus banish from their religious
faith the doctrine of the future perdition of the wicked.
We would by no means advocate a mere poetic, imag
inative, physical presentation of hell, more calculated
to move the passions than to convict the conscience of
guilt and moral danger. " The steady conviction that
misery, intolerable, must be forever connected with
rejecting the offered mercy of God, is the true impres
sion produced by the declarations of the Bible on this
matter ; and this is a much more efficient and practi
cally useful principle, than the terrors of an imagina
tion, worked up by a picture of the secrets of that
prison-house."* * Erskine.

70 MORAL ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
But let no sinner console himself with the expecta
tion that the punishment of the wicked will be any the
less intolerable, because of a moral nature. Whether
it will be partly physical, or exclusively moral, we do
not know ; but this we know, that no judgments are
like moral judgments, no calamities like moral calami
ties, no ruin like moral ruin, no misery like moral mis
ery. Prisoner of hope ! consider this — consider it
well — consider it now. Ruin awaits the soul that
will not consider it. Do not presume that because jus
tice seems to come tardily, she will never come.
Delaying judgments are but earnests of gathering in
dignation, if the space afforded for repentance be not
improved. Let every man, as he would act wisely for
eternity, firmly possess his mind of this truth. If he
remain in sin, no surer will this day's sun go down and
leave him in darkness, no surer will his hours roll on
and bring him to the grave, than his day of grace will
pass over, the sun of salvation will withdraw from him,
and an eternal night of moral ruin and wo settle down
on his lost spirit.

CHAPTER IV.
CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN.
i
The Scriptures instruct us that the universe is not
the work of chance, but of an intelligent and almighty
Being, whom we call God.* In opposition to the
dark speculations of pagan philosophy, they inform us
that matter has not self-existence — -that this is an at
tribute which belongs only to God — and that all mate
rial things, as well as all living spirits, are dependent
on his will. We are then to contemplate a period, in
the past ages of eternity, when the material of this
World, and of all the worlds around us, rose into being
by the fiat of the Almighty. Not only did God create
the material of the universe, but his own hands have
fashioned it, and peopled it with endless tribes of liv
ing creatures.
When we first open our eyes upon the universe and
attempt to study its nature and design, it seems a vast
assemblage of strange, confused, inexplicable phenom
ena. What, whence, why, this creation ? — this great
* Gen. i. 1.

72 CREATION and powers of man.
globe of land and sea, teeming with an endless and
confused variety of animate and inanimate objects ? —
yonder spacious canopy, sparkling with glittering hosts
of stars by night, and blazing with the effulgent beams
of the sun by day ? — and in the midst of this stupen
dous scene, the little creature — man ? — a being truly
strange, even unto himself; — of the earth, and yet not
of the earth — an animal, and yet more than an animal
— a kin to worms, and yet a kin to angels — a frail
child of corruption, and yet a proud heir of immortality.
But as we proceed to examine, darkness and chaos
gradually give place to light and order ; — we see in
creation a beginning, a progress, a consummation, and
more than all, a design, worthy of the great Author.
We are carried back in thought to the period, when
this huge chaotic mass of matter — perhaps the ruins of
a former economy — was moving along an eccentric
track in the heavens, in wild and dark disorder ; when
the renovating energies of the Almighty awoke upon
it ; when " God said, Let there be light, and there
was light ;" — when he arched the blue firmament of
heaven around it, divided the waters above from those
beneath, and the waters beneath from the land ; when
he subsequently called into existence the vegetable
kingdom, then the animal, and last of all man, in his
own likeness.
The mineral kingdom, formed by the slow process
of ages, is superior to a state of absolute chaos, inas
much as it discovers organization, symmetry, beauty,
and design. The vegetable kingdom is superior to the
mineral ; for it is endued with the properties of life, of

CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN. 73
circulation, of nutrition, and of the generation and
reproduction of its kind. The animal kingdom rises
above the vegetable ; for while it has all the properties
of the vegetable, it has also intelligence, organs of
sensation, capacity for happiness and misery, locomo
tion, instinct, and social affections. Here is a vast and
varied kingdom, including all the finny tribes that cut
the water, and pass through the paths of the sea ; all
the insect tribes, so called because they are insected
or divided in the middle ; all the families of the ser
pent, once the most beautiful and fascinating of animals,
but now by all abhorred, and condemned to creep on
the earth and lick the dust ; the race of amphibious
creatures, inhabiting both land and water, such as tur
tles, crocodiles, and the lizard tribes ; and finally all
quadrupeds, comprehending not less than eight hun
dred thousand species.
These animals are not doomed to till the earth for
food, nor to toil and spin for their clothing. Their
Creator provides them food, and wherever the climate
demands it, supplies them with clothing. He dresses
them gradually, as they require, in the autumn, and
then gradually undresses them in the spring. Although
they have perhaps been rendered more wild and de
structive than they would otherwise have been, in
consequence of the human fall, yet every kind of them
is tameable, and has been tamed by man. We find
among them intelligence, of a lower order, memory,
instinct, will, natural affection, ingenuity, forethought,
imitation, cunning, sagacity, the passion of love and
revenge, and the susceptibility to a grateful attach-
7

74 CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN.
ment and fidelity to those who have treated them
kindly. In this last respect, the elephant, the horse,
and the dog, have often put humanity to the blush.
We have no evidence, however, as I conceive, that
any of the brute creation possess immortal souls. They
are not morally accountable beings. It does not
appear that they have any knowledge of God, of a
moral government, of a future judgment, of Jesus
Christ, of faith and repentance, of holiness of char
acter, or that they are capable of knowing these things.
So far then as we can see, they are not moral beings,
and are of course incapable of religion. Moreover,
they seem to be, as a race, incapable of any intellectual
progress. While the human mind has been advancing,
so that to us the boundaries of knowledge are vastly
wider than they were to those of the early ages, it does
not appear that the brute race has any more knowledge
now than it had five thousand years ago.
Brutes are, however, a needed link in the great chain
of being. The mineral kingdom is made to subserve
the vegetable, the vegetable the animal, the animal the"
moral ; and the moral is the connecting link, which
attaches the present to another and higher world.
Thus creation commences in the natural order at the
lowest point, and rises by successive stages from chaos
to order, from order to life, from life to conscious intel
ligence, and from this to the exalted endowments of
moral and accountable beings — the only beings to sur
vive the present state, to be the fruit of it, and by
religion to ascend the scale of excellence forever.
Having thus ascertained the location of man, in the

CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN. 75
scale of creation, let us proceed to a brief notice of
those powers which distinguish him from the brutes
that perish, and render him accountable to God. Man
is the only being upon earth who was formed in the
" image " of his Maker, and it is of some importance
to us to know in what that image consists. The ques
tion now to be answered, is, What are those elements
in man which render him, in distinction from all the
brute creation, an accountable being?
]. A rational mind. Brutes have intellect, of
an inferior order, but none of those lofty powers of
ratiocination which distinguish the human intellect.
„ The human, in distinction from all brute mind, is en
abled to analyze subjects into their elemental princi
ples ; — it can reverse the process, and resolve these
into general laws. It can classify and arrange, so as
to educe order from apparent confusion, and from one
or two individuals of a species gain an introduction to
a whole kingdom. Thus, by knowing a single opera
tion of his own mind, a man is introduced to the similar
operations of all other minds ; the knowledge of a single
plant, introduces him to all the other plants of the
same species ; the knowledge of a single animal, to all
the animals of which that is a representative ;. the
knowledge of a single solar system, to a universe of
such systems ; and the falling of a single apple, to the
law which regulates the rolling of worlds.
The human mind has also, in distinction from brute
mind, the power of mathematical computation and
measurement, and also of apprehending metaphysical
and moral truths. By this means, it is enabled to

76 creation and powers of Man.
shoot its vision far off — to go down into the depths of
eternity — to dive into the dark mysteries of creation ;
to compute the relative magnitude and importance of
objects ; and to reason from causes and effects in ages
past, to the same in ages coming. Those instances in
which certain sagacious animals, such as dogs, mon
keys, horses and elephants, have indicated something
like mathematical and moral reasoning, are clearly
referable to the tricks of imitation, produced by appeals
to fear and other principles of the animal nature.
Brutes can be made to perform many curious feats in
imitation of what man does, but there is no evidence
that they can reason. Their instinct may, in some
particulars, approach near to reason, and supply its
place, and human training may make them imitate it
with amusing exactness ; but there is not a shadow of
evidence that any brute mind was ever enabled to
comprehend and reason upon abstract truths. It is by
the superior power of his rational mind that man holds
the dominion over this lower creation. He is thereby
enabled to apprehend those principles in nature, by
which he can appropriate all other powers. By the
exertion of his intellect, he is enabled to make all the
laws of nature and all the strength of the brute creation
to become as it were his own sinews and muscles.
2. Conscience. This may be defined the power
of distinguishing between actions as morally right or
wrong, together with a susceptibility to pleasure or
pain from doing them. It is not the office of con
science to determine what is right or wrong, but to
decide, when that point is ascertained, that we ought

creation and powers op man. 77
to do the one and avoid the other, and to sting us with
rebuke and reward us with a feeling of approbation,
according as we obey or disobey its injunctions. Hence
conscience is not a guide, but a monitor. The law
of God is ever to be our guide ; and a greater error is
never committed, than when an unenlightened con
science is allowed to take the reins. It leads to super
stition, idolatry, infanticide, and every species of
abomination. As conscience is one of the most pow
erful and active principles in our nature, its agency is
very positive for good or for evil. As there is no other
power in man so effective as a well educated con
science to move him to do good, so he never goes
wrong so desperately as when under the impulse of a
conscience not properly enlightened.
Hence the early and careful education of the con
science, is among the most important of all duties. To
suffer our conscience to grope in darkness, or to be
blinded by prejudice, or to be seared and deadened by
sin, is to become exposed to the greatest of human
calamities. No judgments can surpass those denounced
on the men who are recorded as " having their conr
science seared with a hot iron,"* and as having " even
their mind and conscience defiled. "f On the other
hand, to have " our hearts sprinkled from an evil eon-
science,"! and to " have a good conscience in all
things," || is connected with the greatest of blessings.
While the conscience, like all our other faculties, is
benefitted or injured by good or bad usage, it ultimately
* 1 Tim. iv. 2. t Tit. i. 15. $ Heb. x. 22. || Heb. xiii. 18.
7*

78 creation and powers of man.
produces the very noblest or basest of characters ; and
no pleasures nor pangs are more exquisite than those
resulting from the same source. Take care of your
conscience ! All the treasures of gold and of diamonds
are without value compared with it.
3. Moral Will. As it is the office of conscience
to recognize a distinction between right and wrong, so
it is the office of the moral will to choose between
them. Brute mind has the power of choice, but not
of moral choice. The ox refuses to eat flesh, and
chooses grass ; but this he does merely from instinct.
And so the infant, before his moral nature is developed,
exercises the power of choice only from the same im
pulse. But when the eye of reason opens, and con
science becomes enlightened and active, then he begins
to have the power of putting forth a moral choice. He
can then choose or refuse to do what he knows to be
morally right. He can obey or disobey the admoni
tions of his conscience. His will becomes invested
with a fearful responsibility. He can, like Joshua,
choose the service of God,* or like Ahab, sell himself
to do evil.f We are now speaking of the moral will,
as originally created by God. However disinclined by
sin to choose the right, it is still the same responsible
will as when first implanted in the souls of our progen
itors. There is perhaps no distinction between the
will of a brute and that of a human being, excepting
that the latter acts upon a higher scale and is clothed
with a moral responsibility. In the one case the will
* Josh. xxiv. 15. t 1 Kings xxi. 20.

CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN. 79
moves by instinct, in the other by a sense of duty.
Now as man ought ever to put forth his moral choice
from the high sense of duty, and not from the lower
impulses of his nature, he is just as much bound to
choose morally right after he has by sin become disin
clined to it, as he was before.
This view of the responsible will of man is sustained
by our ablest metaphysicians. President Edwards
says, " The faculty of the Will, is that power, or prin
ciple of mind, by which it is capable of choosing ; an
act of the Will is the same as an act of choosing or
choice. If any think it a more perfect definition of the
Will, to say that it is that by which the soul chooses
or refuses, I am content with it." Nothing can be
more important to man than the use he makes of his
moral Will. On this is suspended, in a fearful sense,
the amazing destinies of his soul for eternity. As every
man chooses or refuses Christ for his Saviour, and the
God of heaven for his portion, so must it fare with him
forever. 4. Moral affections. Some writers identify
the affections with the will. Thus the writer above
cited, in his able Treatise on the Affections, says,
" The affections are no other than the more vigorous
and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the
soul." — " The will, and the affections of the soul, are
not two faculties ; the affections are not essentially dis
tinct from the will, nor do they differ from the mere
actings of the will and inclination, but only in the
liveliness and sensibility of exercise."

80 creation and powers of man.
But the very difference here admitted, is of some
importance. The affections are the power of feel
ing a lively and sensible delight in the objects of our
choice. Now a man may choose, from a mere sense
of duty, what he has no sensible delight in. He
may see it to be his duty to practice a self-denial, or to
bear patiently an injury, or to engage in prayer, and
therefore choose to do it, although he realizes little
or no pleasure in it. His heart is not right, unless
his affections are in a state to delight in that which
his conscience approves ; still, as the choice can exist
without the feeling of delight, it seems proper to dis
tinguish the one from the other. This distinction is
the more important, as the one usually precedes the
other in conversion. The natural order is, first, the
enlightening of the mind with divine truth ; secondly,
the activity of conscience, urging the will to choose
right ; thirdly, the decision or choice of the will, in
obedience to the demands of conscience ; and fourthly,
the transfer of the affections, and their quickening to a
sensible delight in the object chosen. To wait until
you sensibly delight in God, before you choose him for
your portion ; to wait until you sensibly delight in
Christ, before you choose him for your Saviour ; to
wait until you sensibly delight in a self-denying duty,
before you choose to perform it — is to put that first
which nature has put last, and to subvert that funda
mental precept of the Great Teacher, " If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself.'?* We

* Matt. xvi. 24.

CREATION and powers OF MAN. 81
should choose to serve God, primarily, because it is
right — duty — and for the same reason we should love
to serve him. The affections are the imperishable
fuel of the soul ; their fires are to burn, for bliss or for
wo, through everlasting ages.
5. Immortality. This is the crowning gift of the
human soul, the most distinguishing glory of its nature.
It imparts to it a value which no language can express,
no figures compute. The spark of intelligence which
you bear about in that bosom, which kindles in that
eye, glows in that countenance, and by those lips gives
utterance to its thoughts , and emotions, is to survive
the wastes of time ; — its mysterious lights will blaze
on high, when suns and stars shall have ceased to
shine, — it will look down from its throne of immortality
upon the tomb of worlds.
The argument for the immortality of the soul, is
deduced by philosophers from its spirituality. If the
soul is strictly spiritual, it is not subject to the laws of
matter ; of course the dissolution of the body cannot
destroy it.
It is also deduced from the fact that man is now
actually living in the future. The strongest yearnings
of his spirit, are towards the future ; not so much in
the form of desire to exist, as, assuming that it shall
exist, in solicitude respecting its destiny. The lively
sensibility of men respecting their posthumous reputa
tion could have no place, did they suppose death to be
the annihilation of their conscious existence. A senti
ment of immortality, is thus a natural instinct of the
soul.

82 CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN.
It is also deduced from the unequal distributions of
justice in this world, the impunities of crime, and the
oft afflictions and defeats of virtue, which cannot be
reconciled with the existence of a righteous moral gov
ernment on any other supposition, than that of a future
scene of retributions corresponding to the present scene
of trial. It is moreover deduced, with some plausibil
ity, from the extraordinary independence of the body
which the soul sometimes exhibits, as in the last mo
ments of life, and especially in swoons and trances ;
when all the senses are locked up, as in the cold em
brace of death, and every avenue of bodily communi
cation with the world is closed. At such times, the
soul has realized the most intense activity ; — it has
enjoyed the most glorious visions ; — it has walked
amidst the flowers of paradise ; — it has gazed upon the
splendors, -and drank the melodies, of brighter worlds
than this. Read for example the history of Mr.
Tenant. But the only conclusive proof of the soul's immor
tality, is furnished in the Scriptures. A state of ever
lasting rewards beyond the grave was revealed to the
saints of the Old Testament, and it is expressly re
corded, as a monument to their excellence, that from
it they deduced the motives to regulate their conduct
upon earth. " These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth."* They desired a better country, even an
* Heb. xi. 16.

CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN. 83
heavenly, wherefore God was not ashamed to be called
their God. Still more clearly was the immortality of
the soul revealed by Jesus Christ, " who hath abolished
death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel."* It was in this light that the
apostles labored and suffered reproach,! knowing that
for them to live was Christ, and to die gain,! an(* ever
desiring to depart and be with Christ, which was far
better. || It is in the same light that all the truly good
and noble of the earth, all the heroes and martyrs of
the cross, all the friends of God and righteousness, have
walked the narrow way to glory.
These, then, are the distinguishing prerogatives of
the human soul — reason, conscience, moral will, moral
affections, and immortality. They belong to none of
all the brute creation ; they are the natural image of
God in man. They render us accountable beings.
God's moral image in the human soul, which was
lost by the fall, consisted in its holiness — the entire
devotion of all its powers to the divine glory. From
the first moment of their existence, till they took the
forbidden fruit, all the moral powers of our progenitors
were in a state of perfect allegiance to the holy law
of heaven.
In dismissing this subject, two facts of stupendous
interest press upon our notice. The first is the amaz
ing capability of the human soul, resulting from these
distinguishing powers, to enjoy and to suffer. The
pleasures and pains of brutes are of an immeasurably
* 2 Tim. i. 10. t 1 Tim. iv. 10. % Phil. i. 21. || Phil. i. 23.

84

CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN.

lower grade, than those which pertain to man as a
moral being. The keen and far-reaching eye of reason,
looking into a boundless kingdom of moral interests and
relations ; the conscience, administering its joyous ap
proval or its deathless pangs of remorse ; the affections,
feasting upon the objects of their delight, or sighing in
want ; the will, sweetly allegiant to God and the laws
of the universe, or in hopeless rebellion against them ;
and all these immortal — must ultimately administer to
the soul a measure of bliss or of wo, which language is
too feeble to express. The figures which the Scrip
tures employ upon this subject, are the boldest and most
startling in nature ; and yet they remind us that they
fall far beneath the reality.*
The second fact to which we allude, is the progres
sive nature of the soul. It grows in the present world,
and for any thing that appears, it will continue to grow
forever. Every one of its faculties increases in strength
and compass, by use ; and unless interfered with by
bodily disease or infirmity, this process goes on to the
end of life. The legitimate inference is, that when no
longer subject to interruptions from physical causes, it
will steadily grow forever. If there is any point of
doubt here, it must have respect only to the wicked.
Sin tends to blight the soul and impede its progress,
giving us some reason to apprehend that lost spirits
will not hereafter advance in strength and capacity, as
will the spirits of heaven. However this may be, there
can be no doubt respecting the righteous. The very
* 1 Cor. ii. 9.

CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN. 85
nature of mind, which is to grow by use ; the effect of
virtue, which is health and vigor ; the meat and drink
of the soul in heaven, ever healthful and exhaustless —
make it evident, that the righteous will forever flourish,
like the palm-tree, and grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
Shoot your eye down the long track of ages, and
you behold that soul which is now tabernacled in this
mortal body, that " image of God " within you — if
renewed and sanctified, comprehending within itself
more knowledge, more capacity for enjoyment, and
more actual felicity, than the aggregate of all these
ever yet possessed by the human race. Let the ever
expanding circles of eternity move round and round
again and again, and you reach the point, at which
the attainments of that soul leave those which Gabriel
has now made, in almost sightless distance. This is
what the apostle means, by a "far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory."* It is glory added to glory
— exceeding, and yet exceeding, forever — as the fruit
of these comparatively light afflictions endured for
Christ's sake. It is an immortal soul, Godlike in its
nature and Godlike in its character, clothed upon with
a spiritualized and immortal body, forever speeding its
way, on the wings of eternity, towards the infinite per
fections of God himself. Associated with all the holy
of the universe, it moves with them harmoniously and
sweetly on, accomplishing the great end of its crea
tion — glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
* 2 Cor. iv. 17.
8

86 CREATION AND POWERS OF MAN.
And now, see what you lose, if you lose your
soul! And oh, see the infinite evil of sin, as it tends
to the destruction of such an infinite amount of good ; —
see the unspeakable folly of neglecting the great salva
tion by Christ, as it leaves that soul, with all its bound
less and immortal powers, to perish forever! Was
ever a question more solemn and weighty, did ever one
involve a greater and more awful truth, than that pro
posed by Jesus Christ, What shall it profit a man, if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul 1 and
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 1

CHAPTER V.

DEPRAVITY.

The subject now before us, is one of the most deep
and melancholy interest that ever engaged the human
mind. Our preceding subjects have been preparatory
to what pertains to the more distinctive and peculiar
themes of the gospel — the fall and recovery of man.
We have seen what man is as created by God ;— we are
now to see what he is as a sinner, and what the gospel
would make him by grace. As the doctrine of human
depravity is the one with which the entire evangelical
system stands or falls, I must bespeak for it your most
candid attention.
The sin of our progenitors is not the first recorded
case of transgression. Far back in the eternal ages — .
we know not how far — some of the higher orders of
intelligence fell from their allegiance to God. He im
mediately checked the spread of the rebellion in that
world, by casting his dark frown upon the rebels, and
exiling them from the glory of his presence. " The
angels who kept not their first state, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness."* Yet their
* Jude 6.

88 DEPRAVITY.
malicious agency, although entirely excluded from
heaven, found its way to our earth. It sought out the
innocent pair, as if envious of their happy condition in
the bowers of Eden, seduced them from their alle
giance to God, and consequently involved their entire
race in sin. This is what is commonly called the fall
of man. Satan was the tempter, and man, the respon
sible agent, yielded to the temptation, when he ought
to have obeyed God. Both were guilty, and both
were divinely rebuked.
A tide of moral evil was thus put in motion, which
has swept as a flood over the whole earth, filling the
world with rebellion against God — with idolatry, and
every species of crime — converting a paradise of joy
into a vale of tears — and planting the sting of death in
every human bosom.
It would be foreign to my purpose, to enter into any
explanation here of the nature of the connection be
tween the sin of Adam and that of his posterity. Va
rious theories of explanation have been framed. We
have now to do only with the scriptural fact, that a
connection of some kind does exist, such as involves
the race of man in the disastrous consequences of the
fall. "By one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned."*
By the depravity of mankind, resulting from the fall,
is meant a disposition to sin. In its largest sense, it
denotes this disposition both dormant and active. The
* Romans v. 12.

DEPRAVITY. 89
following particulars respecting it are important to be
noticed. 1. It is in some sense innate. That is, it is born
into the world with us. As the children of Adam, we
inherit his disposition in its fallen, not in its upright
state. Our original disposition is not like his before
he fell, inclined to holiness, but like his after he fell,
inclined to sin. If there is any period between the
birth of the infant soul and moral action, during that
period the infant is of course not guilty of actual trans
gression ; still he has that depravity which renders it,
not indeed necessary that he shoidd sin, yet certain
that he will sin, when he comes to act morally.
This is inferred from the fact that the earliest moral
developement, before any apparent moral change, indi»
cates aversion to holiness. In the holiest of earth's
families, and under the most powerful of motives to
holiness, the aversion still appears.
It is also evident from another fact, which will be
shown in its place, the universality of sin. It is im
possible to account for this fact, on any principles of
cause and effect, without referring it to some universal
taint or corruption of our nature.
It is not, however, a matter of mere inference. The
Scriptures expressly teach the fact. " Behold," says
David, speaking with the inspiration of God, " I was
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me."* Not to press this language of emotion into a
metaphysical precision, it seems at least to indicate a
conviction in his mind that he inherited by his birth a
* Ps. li. 5.

90 DEPRAVITY.
sinful propensity. Again, " The wicked are estranged
from the womb ; they go astray as soon as they be
born, speaking lies."* This cannot be understood lit
erally, but it surely indicates an original propensity to
stray. Our Saviour says, " That which is born of the
flesh is flesh ;"f — and this he sets in contrast with that
which is born of the Spirit. The terms flesh, fleshly
mind, carnal mind, are used in the Scriptures to denote
sinful propensity. Addressing the Ephesian Church,
Paul tells them they " were by nature children of
wrath, even as others.''^ And again he says, " By one
man's offence many were made sinners ;"\] — that is, in
theoriginal Greek, " the many "' — the entire race of
Adam became a race of sinners. And finally Jehovah
himself says, in his own person, " The imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth."§
2. This depravity is strictly moral. Any thing
like a physical depravity, compelling us to sin by a
natural necessity, as the blood is compelled to flow in
our veins, would exonerate us from the guilt of being
sinners. But such is not the nature of human deprav
ity. The term disposition is used to denote both an
involuntary and a voluntary state of mind ; — involun
tary, as indicating mere propensity ; voluntary, as in
dicating actual choice. In the former sense, it is
applied to the infant, before he begins moral action ;
in the latter, after the way of sin is actually chosen.
But in either case, the consciousness of a propensity to
sin does not involve the least necessity for sinning, or
extenuate the guilt of it. On the contrary, it rather
* Ps. lviii. 3. f John iii. 6. J Eph. ii. 3. U Rom. v. 17. § Gen. viii. 21.

DEPRAVITY. 91
aggravates the guilt ; — for when a man discovers in
himself a bad propensity, he is especially bound to
refuse it indulgence. As we retain all the constitu
tional powers requisite to obey God, our accountability
remains unimpaired. It is only as we freely consent
to the sin of our progenitors, by choosing to sin our
selves, that we are charged with the transgression of
the law. We are just as voluntary in sinning as
though Adam had not sinned, and therefore just as
guilty. That our depravity is strictly moral, and hence that
every man's sin is his own guilty doing, is evident from
the nature of sin, which the apostle defines " a trans
gression of the law," and also from express declarations
of the Bible. " The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son."
" What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning
the land of Israel, The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge ? As I live,
saith the Lord, ye shall not have occasion any more to
use this proverb in Israel."*
Whatever then be the connection between the sin
of our first parents and ours, their fall has not so
changed our constitution that we are, by any physical
necessity, compelled to sin. If this were so, sin would
be no longer sin ; it would be misfortune.
3. This depravity is universal. It extends to
the entire race of man, of every age and nation, and
to every individual. But one specimen of sinless hu-
* Ezekiell8.

92 DEPRAVITY.
manity, in the man Christ Jesus, has ever appeared in
our world. The infant of a day, as truly as the man
of frosty age ; the refined gentleman, as truly as the
rude savage — inherits the corruption of the fall. All
are propense to sin from their birth ; all actually do
sin, so soon as they are capable of moral action. This
is a very grave and sweeping charge, and should be
made on no other authority than the Word of God.
To that authority we appeal. " What then ?" says
St. Paul, " are we better than they ?" — Jews better
than Gentiles ? — " No, in no wise ; for we have before
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all
under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no
not one. There is none that understandeth ; there is
none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out
of the way ; they are together become unprofitable ;
there is none that doeth good, no not one." — " Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God." — " For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God."*
The Scriptures describe the heart of man as sinful,
referring to man the genus — the race. The obvious
meaning is, that every man is as surely a sinner as he
is a man. He has by nature a sinful heart, as certainly
as he has a rational mind.!
4. This depravity is total. As this is the point
most misapprehended and disputed, it should be very
carefully noticed. Consider, then, that the depravity
* Rom. iii, f Jer. xvii. 9.

DEPRAVITY. 93
in question is strictly moral. The intellect, the natural
affections, the sympathies, have in themselves no moral
quality, and are therefore neither sinful nor holy.
Brutes have some degree of intellect, and very high
degrees of natural affection and sympathy, but they
have neither sin nor holiness. Morality, in the strict
religious sense, relates to the divine law. When a
man is wholly wanting in obedience to that law, he is
wholly depraved. Hence men may be totally de
praved, and yet be depraved in different degrees.
With one man, the effects of depravity are very much
restrained within its original seat — his moral nature.
With another, sin has reached such a pass as nearly
to have destroyed his intellectual and social nature,
and to reduce him, in respect to natural affection, be
low the brute. Rarely is the brute found, who treats
his own companion and offspring, as men in certain
stages of depravity treat theirs. The young man who
came to Christ to inquire what good thing he must do'
to inherit eternal life, retained much in his social na
ture which was truly lovely ; — while Herod and Nero
seemed little else than incarnate fiends. In the latter
cases, depravity had become much stronger, and had
extended its disastrous effects much wider, than in the
former; but the heart of the young man, as truly as
those of Herod and Nero, was entirely at variance with
the divine law. That law required him to love God
supremely, and he did not do it. How clearly did
Christ demonstrate this, when he applied the test. He
teaches the entire depravity of the heart, also, when he
describes it as the fountain of every thing evil, and of

94 DEPRAVITY.
nothing good. " For out of the heart," he says, " pro
ceed . evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false-witnesses, blasphemies."* Here is un-
mingled evil; and it is described by Christ as the
natural fruit of the human heart. It is the fruit that
the heart always .bears, except as it is restrained by
education, circumstancial influences, or renewing grace.
How perfectly does the condition of the pagan world
prove this.
Men are in the Scriptures declared to be " dead in
trespasses and in sins."! The figure is too plain to be
mistaken. When the body is dead, it is without any
natural life ; so when the soul is dead in sin, it is
without any spiritual life.
St. Paul says " the carnal mind is enmity against
God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be."! That this carnal or flesh-serving
mind is ascribed to all unrenewed men, and implies
the entire absence -of holiness, is certain from what
follows,* — " But ye" — addressing Christians — " are not
in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of
Christ dwell in you.- Now if any man have not the
spirit of Christ, he is none of his." To the unbeliev
ing and impenitent, Christ says, " I know you, that ye
have not the love of God in you."||
The necessity of regeneration, as taught by Christ,
is proof also of the entire.ness of human depravity ; —
for if there were even a spark of holiness in the heart,
man would not need to be born again, but only to
* Matt. xv. 19. t Eph. ii. 1. $ Rom. viii. 7. || John v. 42,

DEPRAVITY.

95

nurse and educate the infant good already possessed.
Instead of telling him that he must be bora again,
Christ would have told him that he must grow in holi
ness. 5. This depravity is by human means invincible.
In vain are exhausted the strongest arguments and
most subduing motives to subdue it ; — in vain does
truth convince, and the providential dealings of God
lift up their voices ; — in vain do mercies, afflictions,
trials, and even the terrors of the death-bed plead — •
unless the Holy Spirit grant renewing grace. Not
that means may be dispensed with ; for it is through
these that the Holy Spirit operates. Although in
their most faithful application we have the most hope
of the Spirit, yet however faithfully they are applied,
unless the Spirit be given, the sinner will remain in his
sins and perish.
Hence Christ says, " Except a man be born of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." —
" Marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born
again."* St. Paul expressly asserts that God is the
author of regeneration, and that he accomplishes it by
the instrumentality of truth. " Of his own will begat
he us, by the word of truth."! The same authority
says — " Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither
he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."%
St. John says that regenerate persons " were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of GW."|| Christ declares it to be the
* John iii. f James i. 18. i 1 Cor. iii. 7. || John i. 13.

96 DEPRAVITY. j
special office-work of the Holy Spirit to do what no
other agency can accomplish — " convince the world
of sin, righteousness, and a judgment to come." In
the parable of the supper, he describes the utter aver
sion of man to his gospel, in these words — " all with
one consent began to make excuse ;"* — nor was a sin
gle guest obtained, excepting as he was compelled to
come in. Christ even says, " No man can come unto
me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him."!
So great is his aversion that, morally speaking, he
cannot come ; just as the far-gone vicious man cannot
come to virtue, nor the miser to benevolence. That
is, he is desperately unwilling ; and this, so far from
excusing him, is the exact measure of his guilt. The
more unwilling to do his duty, the more sinful. The
plain and obvious truth here taught by Christ, is, that
such is the strength of human depravity that nothing
short of the power of Almighty God can overcome it.
Numerous Scriptures assert or imply, that there is
no hope for the sinner but in the Spirit of God. Take
such as the following — "The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked."! That is to say,
it is so wicked, that its renovation by mere human
agencies is a desperate attempt.
We have thus shown that mankind are natively,
morally, universally, totally, and desperately depraved.
Let us conclude the chapter with a few concluding
remarks respecting the importance of right views on
this subject. The subject is one of a very painful and
* Luke xiv. 18. t John vi. 44. J Jer. xvii. 9.

DEPRAVITY. 97
humiliating nature, and therefore very unpopular. On
this account, its importance is much overlooked. It
lies at the very foundation of all gospel religion ; —
unless we are right in this, we are wrong in all. Let
us explain.
The man who is not convinced of the innateness of
human depravity, will entertain feeble and imperfect
views of regeneration. If he imagine the sins of men
to result merely from bad education or other uripropi-
tious circumstances, he will infer that it is only to
change these, and they who before chose the wrong
will choose the right. This leaves out of view the
necessity for the gracious renewal of the Holy Ghost.
If on the other hand a man supposes his depravity to
be of a nature to render it physically impossible to
avoid sinning, thus creating a necessity for the Spirit
to give him the natural power, instead of the disposi
tion, to serve God, he is drawn into the fearful vortex
of fatality. His sin is only a harsh name for misfor
tune. His conscience is relieved ; — the cold slumbers
of an iron stoicism are on his soul, to be disturbed only
by the flaming morning of eternity. But if he take
the right view of his depravity, so far from regarding
its innateness as an excuse, he will see it to be a cause
for humiliation. Such was the feeling of penitent
David — " Behold," he said, " I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me."* This he
said, not in extenuation of his guilt, but as calling for
deeper self-abasement. iSuch are the feelings with
* Psalm li.

98 DEPRAVITY.
which every true Christian contemplates his depravity.
He abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes.
Equally important is it, to believe" the universality
of human depravity. Otherwise, so self-flattering is
the heart, that every man will be prone to rank him
self among the favored ones who need no renovation.
Especially he who chances to be one of those whom
God has blessed with kind, amiable, virtuous sensibili
ties, and with refined cultivation, will look upon pub
licans and harlots as fit subjects for renewing grace ;
but as for himself, he has only to live as he has listed.
Delusive dream ! He must see that he, amiable as he
is in his own eyes, must be renewed in heart or perish.
So also it is essential that the sinner see his deprav
ity to be total. Otherwise, his hope will cling to his
supposed spark of holiness ; his self-righteousness will
shun the gospel method of salvation. That method is
one which humbles the heart, and induces the sinner
to cast himself upon grace alone.
And finally, the sinner must be convinced that such
is the strength of his depravity, that no power but the
Holy Ghost can subdue it. He must see that the ob
duracy of his heart is absolutely invincible by all
human means. Otherwise, he will so depend on sav
ing himself, or on being saved by the fidelity of chris
tian friends, as fatally to lose sight of his dependence
on God. While he sees that there is no obstacle in
the way of his salvation but one for which he is to
blame, and that the greater his obstacle the greater his
guilt, he despairs of salvation but by the grace of God,

DEPRAVITY. 99
and with the convicted publican, cries, " God be mer
ciful to me a sinner .'"
Then, indeed, he finds mercy. Then it is, that the
eye of faith opens to behold the Lamb of God, and
pardon and life descend upon his soul. Put not this
doctrine aside as the mere tenet or dogma of a sect.
Every individual has in it an interest as important
as his everlasting welfare. Not one, who has not an
immortal soul, which, unless renewed by grace, is at
this moment enthralled in the terrible guilt and bon
dage of this depravity. Unless deliverance for that
soul is obtained, in this brief day of proffered grace, it
must wear its chains forever ! O, there is an awful
import in those scriptures, which describe the condi
tion of the soul when abandoned to the full dominion
of its depravity ; — chains, darkness, despair, forever
doing the terrible work of sin upon the spirit — shutting
it in from the glorious light of God, and making it a
prey to the worm that never dies, and to the fires that
shall never be quenched.
Is it possible that there is such a doom in prospect,
and will you sleep over it ? When will you hear what
God has spoken ? Ah ! the flattering delusion will
soon be over — the stern realities of death and judg
ment are fast upon us. Unless you awake to the offer
of grace, your redemption will soon cease — you must
die in sin — 'die forever !

CHAPTER VI.

NATURE OF ATONEMENT.

The Christian atonement is hailed by believers as
an occasion for holy joy.* Scorned by the unbeliev
ing, as dishonorable to God and needless to man, to
the truth-illumined eye it is the brightest gem in the
crown of the Godhead, and the only hope of a lost
world. What a spectacle must the human race have
presented to holy intelligencies above, if we may sup
pose them to have looked upon it before the light of
the atonement dawned. Mankind without even the
disposition to return to God, and even if they had the
disposition, the offended law having demands which
they could never satisfy, no other alternative could
have appeared but the complete triumph of the adver
sary in the remediless ruin of the entire race.
With the light of the atonement a new morning -
dawned on our world, whose beams shot upwards even
into the angelic heavens. A brighter era opened, even
* Rom. v. 11.

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 101
there ; a more glorious developement was made to
celestial beings of the riches of the wisdom and glory
of God.* Accordingly when the fulness of the pro
mised time had come, angel-voices were heard singing
in the skies, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth
peace, good will to men."! And we are divinely
taught, that the scheme of human redemption excites
such interest in heaven, that it by way of eminence
comprehends the " things the angels desire to look
into."! And yet man, the being most of all interested
in it, the being who ought of all others to press it to
his heart with tears of grateful joy, in the vain conceit
of his own wisdom, is first to pronounce it folly and
bid it away.
But the strength of his objections, apart from the
sinful hostility of heart, lies mainly in false views of it.
Hence the best refutation of objections, is a clear and
accurate presentation of the doctrine. Before pro
ceeding therefore to the scriptural proof of the doc
trine, let us endeavor to understand what it is.
The Christian Atonement is a provision divinely
made by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, for
the salvation of men.
I know not how at once better to obviate objections,
and present a scriptural view of the doctrine, than by
exhibiting it in the following particulars : — -This atone
ment is gracious, propitiatory, necessary, vicarious,
moral, sufficient, and unlimited.

* Eph. iii. 10. f Euke ii. 14. % 1 Pet. i. 12.
9*

102 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
1. Gracious. It is a provision dictated by feel
ings purely gracious on the part of the entire Godhead.
It has been said, by objectors, to imply feelings in the
Father directly the reverse of these — feelings of vindic-
tiveness towards us ; — that it supposes him to have
had revenge in his heart, which must be gratified, and
which, it is said, ought rather to fall on the guilty than
on the innocent. Advantage has been taken of a
somewhat unguarded use of certain bold poetic figures,
to make the atonement teach that the Father actually
vented his anger towards us upon his innocent Son, and
thus to make it exhibit him in a most repulsive light ;
while the Son is all grace. Hence distinguished wri
ters have maintained that the doctrine of the atonement
eclipses the character of God, and shrouds the universe
in an awful gloom.
A more melancholy misapprehension cannot be im-
' agined. All the persons of the Godhead are equally
gracious in this transaction. One in essence, the
Father and the Son are also morally one in the work
of redemption. It was in reference to this, that Christ
said, " I and my Father are one."* As much as to
say, ' This is no divided transaction — we are one in
heart and one in action in this glorious enterprise.' It
was as gracious on the part of the Father to give up
his Son to the ignominious death of the cross, as it was
on the part of the Son to give up himself, and on the
part of the Holy Ghost to endure grief and insult, in
this work of reclaiming sinners. The atonement,
* John. x. 30.

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 103
therefore, correctly viewed, so far from imputing vin-
dictiveness to the Father, pre-eminently invests him
with a character of unmingled and amazing benevo
lence. Here is the true account of the matter — " God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish,
but have eternal life."*
2. Propitiatory. The apostle Paul says of
Christ, referring to his atoning sacrifice, " Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past."! And St. John says, " He is the
propitiation for our sins."% It has been sometimes
represented that the design of the atonement was to
act upon God the Father — to allay his anger, and N
render him propitious. This error has done immense
evil, in prejudicing men against the atonement. It was
not to render God propitious that the atonement was
made, but to remove the obstacles of violated law in
the way of his exercising his propitiousness. God
loved us with the love of compassion, and was disposed
to be propitious towards us, therefore he provided this
atonement .to secure the ends of law, and declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins. Such is the
plain scriptural presentation of the subject. " Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."\\
3. Necessary. It is objected that the atonement
reflects no glory on the divine wisdom ; for, it is said,
* John iii. 16. t Rom. iii. 25. $ 1 John ii. 2. || 1 John iv. 10.

104 nature of atonement.
if God was disposed to forgive sinners, he could as
well do it without an atonement as with one. It is
said, that it would be more honorable to God to for
give sinners, without requiring this humiliation and
suffering on the part of Christ. But who knows this ?
Man ? — whose breath is in his nostrils — Shall he thus
dare to arraign at his tribunal the wisdom of Him who
charges even his angels with folly ? Man ? — whose in
tellect is to God's as the feeblest spark to a million
suns, shall he undertake to decree for God what is
necessary and what not, in a moral government that
embraces the universe, and is to endure forever?
However man may view it, God saw this atonement
to be necessary. We have conclusive proof of this, in
the fact that he has made it. He never does a need
less thing ; — and especially, it would be infinitely de
rogatory to him, to suppose that he would subject his
dearly beloved Son to such a death, unless he saw it to
be needful.
God saw that there must be something to answer the
•law's demands — something to make as deep and last
ing an impression in favor of holiness and against sin,
as would be made by the punishment of the sinner —
before he could wisely, justly, safely, bestow pardon.
There must be something to impress our hopes and
fears as powerfully as the original penalty itself. No
thing could do this more effectually than an exhibition
of suffering, especially as endured by so august a per
sonage as the Son of God. " As offenders were to be
delivered from sufferings, it was arranged by infinite
wisdom that they should be delivered through the suf-

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 105
ferings of another, in order to impress them with a sense
of the evil of their transgression, of the benevolence of
the divine government, and of their obligations to the
Mediator. Sufferings were, therefore, introduced into
the atonement, because they supplied the greatest
number of motives to deter from sin, afforded the
greatest amount of reasons for returning to allegiance,
gave the soundest grounds of assurance of a cordial
reception and pardon, and laid the most numerous and
pressing bonds of obligation on the offenders."*
Hence Christ rebuked his disciples for being slow to
receive this doctrine : — " O fools, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken ? Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter
into his glory ?"f That is, was it not necessary that
he should suffer these things ? " Then opened he
their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and
thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day, and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all na
tions."! In asserting that God hath set forth Christ a
propitiatory sacrifice for sin, " that he might be just
and the justifier of him that belie veth in Jesus," || St.
Paul clearly teaches, that God would not he just to
his moral government, to justify men without it ; or
in other words, that it was necessary.

* Jenkins. f Luke xxiv. 25. f John xxiv. 25, 26 ; xxiv. 46, 47-
l| Rom. iii. 25.

106 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
4. Vicarious. By this is meant that the suffer
ings and death of Christ are a literal substitute for the
punishment justly due to the pardoned sinner.
It is a popular modern theory, that the atonement
of Christ is a mere reconcilement ; — that he was sent
into our world only to teach us the way of duty, to
set us a holy example, and to confirm his teaching and
example by his death, and thus to persuade us to be
reconciled to God. This includes the whole of what
some suppose pertains to the atonement. This is a
meagre view, overlooking the depth of the riches of
Christ, and making his mission to differ in no essential
particular from that of other holy prophets and martyrs.
It still involves all the difficulties claimed against the
vicarious view, on the ground of the innocent suffering
for the guilty ; for all admit that Christ was an inno
cent being, and that he did actually suffer and die for
us. It has all the supposed difficulties of the vicarious
views, without its excellencies. It requires us to sur
mount all the obstacles in making pilgrimage to Cal
vary, to look upon the bleeding Lamb of God, and
then to shut our eyes and close our hearts upon the
essential glory and power of the cross.
Now the scriptural view of the atonement is, that
the sufferings and death of Christ were not only de
signed, like those of all other martyrs in a good cause,
to confirm and impress his teachings, but that they
actually take the place of the punishment due to par
doned sinners. They answer, for the believer, the
demands of the broken law, so that God can be just,
and yet justify him,

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 107
Let the Scriptures speak for themselves : — " Jeho
vah hath laid on him [Christ] the iniquity of us all."
" He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are
healed."* " For Christ also hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God."! " Whom God hath set forth to be a propiti
ation through faith in his blood, to declare his right
eousness for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God ; — to declare I say at this time
his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justi-
fier of him which believeth in Jesws."!
It would seem impossible for language to signify,
more forcibly than do these and many similar scrip
tures, the vicariousness of the atonement.
5. Moral. Insuperable objections lie against ev
ery other view of it. Some have supposed that the
sufferings of Christ must have been precisely the same,
in kind, with those from which the pardoned sinner is
saved. That our Saviour's sufferings did in some
respects resemble those of lost sinners, is very evident ;
but that they were in all respects the same, is impos
sible ; for the undying worm of sin and the pangs of a
remorseful conscience never found place in that holy
bosom. Others have thought that Christ suffered to
the same amount, which the redeemed sinner must oth
erwise have suffered. Thus would they defeat an im
portant end of the atonement, which was to support
* Isaiah liii. 5. ft Pet. iii. 18. j: Rom. iii. 25.

108 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
the authority of law with a vastly reduced amount of
suffering : — This is its benevolence — rthe brightest ray
in its pencil of glories. Others have imagined the
aionement a financial transaction ; — so much suffering
due and paid, for so much sin. Such representations
of the atonement are highly figurative, and should be
so received. If this mercantile view of the atonement
were literally true, Christ could not have died for any
but those who are actually saved, and all such could
claim salvation as due to them. They would not come
to God to supplicate, but to demand. Nor does it
relieve the matter, to say that the share in God's favor
was purchased for the sinner and given him. Whether
your share in a bank was purchased and given you by
another, or was procured by yourself, in either case
your acknowledged share gives you a right in that
bank ; — you can go and demand your due.
Christ has purchased for us no such right — no such
, demand on God. God is under no more obligation to
us now, than he would have been if Christ had not
died. Others have thought that there was a literal
transfer of our sins to Christ, in such a sense that the
Father actually regarded him as guilty, and as such
punished him. This is their understanding of the
scripture, " He hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
But this is a Hebraistic mode of expression, and not
uncommon in all languages, in which the cause is put
for the effect. The meaning is, it pleased the Father
that Christ should suffer for our sins. The idea of a
literal transfer of our sins to Christ, and of his right
eousness to us, so that he becomes guilty and we

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 109
deserving, is utterly inadmissible. There is — there
can be — no such barter as ihis in the divine govern
ment. Others have supposed, that the atonement absolves
us from obligation to obey the law. This is the anti-
nomian view ; of all others, perhaps, the most mis
chievous. In this view, Christ did not die to redeem
us to God but from God, — he came not to save us
from sin, but in sin. But did Christ obey the law,
that we might not obey it ? Did he love God, that
we might not love him ? Was he holy, and did he
suffer being holy, that we might be wicked, and be
happy in our wickedness? God forbid !
Now all these difficulties are swept entirely away,
by regarding the atonement in a strictly moral view.
Unencumbered and undeformed by human speculations,
it then rises from earth to heaven as a pillar of light,
in its own massive grandeur and simple beauty, con
necting both worlds and vindicating the ways of God
to man. It is in the divine government a moral equiv
alent for the penalty due to sinners, and that without
which they could not be justly pardoned. It is a
moral provision for supporting the authority of law,
preventing future rebellion, and reclaiming the wicked,
while a free forgiveness is extended to all penitent
believers. A threatened penalty does not deprive a
sovereign of his supra-legal power to dispense with it,
if he can secure the ends of it by other means. The
atonement illustrates the important fact, that although
God forgives repenting sinners, their sins are still as
great an evil as the threatened penalty implies, and
10

110 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
are by him so regarded. It thus removes the obstacle
out of the way of forgiveness. As the apostle says, it
vindicates the righteousness of God in the remission of
sins, and renders him just while he justifies the believer.
There it stands, an amazing spectacle in the eyes of
both worlds, manifesting the infinite evil of that sin
which could not be forgiven but by the sacrifice of the
Son of God. It has already made a mightier moral
impression upon the world against sin, than any or all
other events since the creation. This impression is
constantly increasing, and it will continue to increase,
till the head of Satan shall be crushed, and the whole
race of man feel the benign power of the cross. Nor
is its influence restricted to the earth. It reaches
above the skies. It will stretch forward into the un
explored ages of eternity, and awaken in the cause of
holiness new and everlasting songs in heaven : — " That
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness towards us, through
Christ Jesus."* The atonement is therefore now, and
to all eternity will remain, a full moral equivalent for
the penalty due to sinners.
6. Sufficient. This would seem to be implied
in the foregoing remarks, and yet a distinct point is
now in view. The point now asserted is, that the
atonement alone, without any additions to it by way
of penance, or otherwise, is sufficient for the greatest
sinner upon earth. When Christ bowed his head upon
the cross and exclaimed, " It is finished," he meant to
* Eph. ii. 7.

NATURE of atonement. Ill
say, in the ears of the world, that he had fully accom-
plished that for which he came ; that he had completed
the provision of grace ; and that the guiltiest sinner
had now only to look to him and live. His atonement
is just as sufficient for the greatest sinner, as for the
least ; for the oldest sinner, as for the youngest ; for
the wretch sunk in the lowest and most disgusting
depths of vice, as for the amiable and accomplished
young man whom Jesus himself could not help loving.
Let this point be well understood, and every human
doing in expiation or mitigation of sin is put entirely
away, the heart of pride is humbled at the cross, and
the renewed spirit receives joyfully a free and full sal
vation. That " faithful saying, worthy of all accepta
tion," becomes the privilege of every other " chief"
sinner as well as of Paul ; — even the most undeserving
and guilty may buy wine and milk, without money and
without price. There are pardons enough in the suf
fering Jesus, to make the vilest sinner accepted ; riches
enough in his righteousness, to make the poorest sinner
rich. Should the question arise, how it is possible for
the sufferings and death of Christ to be a sufficient
substitute for the endless perdition of sinners, the answer
is found in the infinite dignity and worthiness of the
victim. 7. Unlimited. The atonement is a provision
made, not for an elect portion, but for the whole world.
As widely extended as are the consequences of the
fall, so widely extended is the provision of -the atone
ment. This position is rejected by a very large and
respectable portion of the Christian church. Nor

112 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
should this be said to the prejudice of their piety, for
the theory of a limited atonement was the only one
with which to extricate themselves, on orthodox
grounds, from the difficulties arising in a misapprehen
sion of the nature of the atonement as a financial trans
action. When the mind approaches the Bible, biased
by theory, it is impossible for it to apprehend truths as
they are. Theory becomes the interpreter. This is
our apology for our brethren in the faith, who have so
unhappily, as we think, misapprehended the teachings
of Holy Writ on this subject.
Let us then for one moment approach the Scriptures,
divested of theory, and see whether they do or do not
teach that the atonement was made for all men. " He
is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world."* Exhort
ing to prayers and efforts for the salvation of " all
men," the apostle says, " For this is good and accept
able in the sight of God our Saviour ; who will have
all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who
gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time."! Again we read, " As by the offence of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even
soj by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life."! Nothing can be
clearer, than that this scripture makes the atonement
as unlimited as the fall. The meaning plainly is, that
* I John ii. 2. 1 1 Tim. ii. 6. J Rom. v. 18.

nature of atonement. 113
as the possibility of justification by deeds of merit has
been taken from all men by the fall, so the possibility
of justification has been restored to all men by the
righteousness of Christ.
The same is implied in the invitations of the gospel.
" Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy
laden."* " Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye
ends of the earth."\ " Whosoever will, let him take
of the water- of life freely."! " Go ye into all the
world," said Christ, " and preach the gospel to every
creature," || How could Christ say this, unless he had
made gracious provision for every creature ? " The
Father sent the Son," says St. John, "to be the Sa
viour of the world."§ He " is the Saviour of all
men," says St. Paul, " especially of those that be-
lieve."^ Here we are taught, that there is a sens,e>„ in
which Christ is the Saviour of all men, and a more
special sense in which he is the Saviour of believers.
The meaning is, as explained by the same apostle, that
Christ has provided salvation for all men, and renders
this salvation effectual to those who receive him. " To
as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God."** The heralding of Christ
to his great work upon earth, stands recorded in these
memorable words — " Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world."!!
And now, whether the sufferings and death of Christ
did actually make an adequate provision for the salva-

# Matt. xi. 28. t Isaiah xlv. 22. $ Rev. xxii. 17. || Mark xvi. 15.
§ 1 John iv. 14. 11 1 Tim. iv. 10. ** John i. 12. ft John i. 29.
10*

114 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
tion of all mankind, or whether we must still shut our
minds into the dark and contracted theory of a limited
atonement, judge ye. The fact that all do not em
brace it, is no proof that it is not sufficient for all. The
efficacy of a medicine is not to be measured by the
number of patients cured by it ; nor the extent of a
king's prerogative to pardon, by the number of crim
inals actually reprieved.
I have thus exhibited what I conceive to be the
most important elements of the Christian atonement,
as a gracious, propitiatory, necessary, vicarious, moral,
sufficient, and unlimited provision, for the salvation of
men. May I have your attention a moment longer, to ad
vert to the importance of sound scriptural views on this
subject. Unless men regard the atonement as a purely gra
cious, gift of the Godhead, and entirely divest their
minds of every thing like a feeling of revenge in the
Father venting itself on the sinner's substitute, the
doctrine will in their eyes cast such a cloud over the
divine character as to induce them to reject it. This
has been the most fruitful cause of its rejection, to so
melancholy an extent, in this region. Still men must
see this atonement to be propitiatory, not as disposing
but as procuring the divine propitiousness, lest they
profanely approach God in their sins out of Christ, and
so be consumed with the breath of his just indignation.
Again, unless men see this atonement to be neces
sary for their salvation, it is so much more gratifying
to pride and self-dependence to be saved without it,

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 115
that men will be tempted to shun the cross, and trust
in the unbought mercy of God. This is the religion
of pride, and prepares not the heart for the song of
redeeming love.
Again, if men fail to apprehend the vicariousness of
the atonement, and regard it as a mere reconcilement
of sinners to God by the holy example, teaching, and
martyr-death of Jesus, they will feel that they are to
be saved by him in no other essential sense than by
Paul and Peter and all other martyrs for the truth ; —
along with the offence of the cross, will the power and
glory of it depart, leaving the burdened soul, instead
of resting by faith on him who bore the penalty of its
sins in his body on the tree, to fall back upon its own
miserable resources, to grope forever in darkness and
legal bondage.
It is also of the highest importance that men should
see this atonement to be strictly a moral equivalent.
For if they adopt the commercial, the imputative, or
any similar view, they are, by consistency, plunged
into the vortex of Universalism or Antinomianism, on
the one side, or cramped into the ungracious triangle
of the limitarian theory, on the other. The latter is
undoubtedly the safest, because the only orthodox
alternative, in this dilemma, but the dilemma itself
should be avoided, and the foot of man be set, where
God has put it, in a large place.
Equally important is it, that this atonement be seen
to be sufficient. Otherwise, the man most deeply
convicted of sin, who most of all needs encouragement
to come to Christ for salvation, will be the first to des-

116 NATURE OF ATONEMENT.
pair. The convicted sinner, in the exact degree of his
conviction, will either resort to penances to make up
for the supposed deficiency in the atonement, or con
clude that sinners of less guilt may be saved, but not
he. Unhappy man ! — Let the door of his heart be
entered ; let the charming voice of Jesus be heard
there, — saying in those thrilling tones of grace, Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow.
Then it is that the light of the cross beams gladness on
the soul ; — not in stinted measure, like " the pale and
wan sunshine of a winter's day," but in the full noon
tide flood of a summer's glories, carrying warmth and
life through all the icy chambers of the heart.
And finally, this atonement can never exert its full
power, until it is seen to have been made for the whole
world. To view it as a limited provision, tends to
prevent the sinner from coming to Christ, with the ap
prehension that the atonement may not have been
made for him ; and after he has come to Christ, and
found acceptance, it tends to restrict his prayers and
his efforts for the salvation of all men. Every sinner
on the face of the earth ought to know, that an atone
ment has been made for him, and will forever stand
charged to his account in heaven ; and every Christian
ought to know, that an atonement has also been made,
by the same agonies and death of Jesus, for every other
sinner, — that he may, with a whole soul, give his sym
pathies and prayers and efforts, to reclaim a blood-
bought world to God.
In conclusion, I remark, that to these unembarrassed,
scriptural, elevated views of the atonement, with its

NATURE OF ATONEMENT. 117
redeeming power over the human character, all things
are tending. The church will come up out of the
wilderness, leaning on her beloved. Long and gloomy
has been her march. Impeded by errors, sins, and
distractions within, and by a scoffing world without,
how often has she been cast down and almost destroyed
in the way, by the deserved judgments of her God.
Still hath God loved her, for Jesus' sake. He remem
bers Gethsemane, — he remembers Calvary. The
spectacle from which the sun hid his face at noonday,
will never be forgotten in heaven — never cease from
the heart of God, — and by the price he puts upon the
death of his own Son, will he make his cause glorious
in all the earth.
Amid the upturnings and changes of time, the rise
and fall of philosophers, the alternations of superstition
and infidelity, and the trials and afflictions of the
church, there stands the cross — the same glorious
monument of God's everlasting mercy, looking serenely
down on the troubled scene, and ever beaming with
the same ineffable lustre. There it will stand, till all
shall see it, and feel its glorious power ; — till the rain
bow of love, spanning the heavens around it, shall light
up hope in every human bosom, and a ransomed world
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
it has received the atonement,

CHAPTER VII.
PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
In the preceding chapter I have endeavored to ex
plain the nature of the Christian atonement. I now
propose to exhibit the proof of it. It is said that the
doctrine of a satisfaction made to the divine govern
ment for our sins by the blood of Christ, appears only,
if at all, in a few isolated passages of the New Testa
ment, which are susceptible of some other meaning ;
whereas, so important a doctrine, if true, would be the
burden of the entire Bible. Here then we join issue.
I propose to prove, as summarily as possible, that this
doctrine is taught throughout the Bible, and is indeed
the burden qf that book. It will be seen to be the
universal sentiment of the Scriptures, that not a soul
ever was or ever will be saved from our world, but by
the atoning blood of Christ. All the effects of the
death of Christ on the divine government, as our sub
stitute, and all the reasons why it was necessary, we
know not. These are among the profound things the
angels desire to look into. Becoming modesty requires
us rather to rest at present in the revealed fact, rejoic*

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 119
ing in the assurance that what we know not now we
shall know hereafter, in the unfoldings of eternity.
The fact in question will be proved by referring to
the religion of Adam after the fall, the religion of the
patriarchs, the religion of Moses and the prophets, the
religion of John the Baptist, the religion of Jesus
Christ, the religion of the apostles, and the religion of
the millennium and of heaven. These comprehend the
entire religion of the Bible, and I am to show that each
and all of them are founded on redemption by the
blood of Christ.
All must see, at once, that this is a topic of the very
highest interest ; — it gives the complexion to all our
theological views, both theoretical and practical. It
involves nothing less than the great question, What we
must do to be saved, or in other words, the nature of
saving faith. Moreover, if Christ is a Redeemer only
as a teacher and exampler, then only those who live
on earth since his advent could have the benefit of his
redemption ; whereas, if his atonement was a satisfac
tion rendered to the divine government for human sin,
that could be done ages after the sin was forgiven, as
well as before. This is our doctrine : — We maintain
that all the saved from our world, during the four
thousand years preceding the advent of Christ, as well
as all the saved following, to the end of time, are saved
by one and the same atoning blood of Christ. Now
for the proof.
]. The religion of Adam after the fall.
God proposed to our unhappy progenitors a scheme
of redemption, by which he placed them and their pos-

120 PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
terity under an economy of grace. To the devil, who,
St. John informs us,* was impersonated in the serpent,
and who had by the fall of man gained ascendancy
over him, he said, " 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."! The Hebrew language abounds in short
aphoristic sentences, compressing an immense meaning
in a small compass. This is an instance. The bruis
ing of the heel implies suffering ; the bruising of the
head, defeat. Hence the sentiment is, that God would
set up a kingdom opposed to Satan ; and one should
be born of a woman who would, through the sufferings
inflicted on him by his foe, succeed to defeat him.
This illustrious personage, to be born of a woman, was
to endure sufferings at the hand of his adversary, but
the blow would eventually turn back on the adver
sary's head and crush it.
Instantly thereupon was instituted the sin-offering,
which was the sacrifice of an innocent victim , the first
ling of the flock, and no human being could approach
God and find favor without it. It was on this account,
as the inspired writer informs us, that Abel was ac
cepted and Cain rejected. Cain was the first born of
the fall ; and mournfully does he exhibit the fruits of
that catastrophe, in setting up his own will against the
will of God, and substituting something else in place
of that sin-offering, which was designed from the be
ginning to teach mankind that sin kills, and to typify
*Rev.xii.9. t Gen. iii. 15.

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 121
the great atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God. " The
Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering ; but
unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect."*
And so the writer to the Hebrews says, " By faith
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was right
eous, God testifying of his gifts ; and by it he being
dead yet speakcth."f Cain brought of the fruit of the
ground to God ; but this did not suffice. There was
in it no sin-offering, no bleeding victim, no type of the
atoning Saviour. Abel offered with faith the appointed
sacrifice, and was accepted ; and his example " yet
speaketh," and will speak to the end of time, testifying
that fallen man is accepted of God, only by faith in an
atoning Saviour. Such, then, was the religion of the
first age of the world.
2. The religion of the patriarchs. Of these
Abraham is at the head, and was indeed the father of
the patriarchal religion, as he was also the father of all
the faithful. Now let us see whether this atoning
sacrifice for sin had a place in his religion. In the
22d chapter of Genesis we read that God said to him,
" Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou
Jovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer
him there for a burnt-offering, upon one of the moun
tains which I will tell thee of." Abraham promptly
obeyed. Not a syllable of question or murmur escaped
his lips. Having travelled three days in the wilder
ness, with the agonizing prospect of his bleeding son

* Gen. iv. 4. f Heb. xi. 4.
11

122 PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
before him, he " lifted up his eyes and saw the place
afar off." Although the father's heart bled, his faith
failed not. As he was with his darling son approach
ing the awful spot, the son said, " My father, behold
the fire and the wood ; but where is the lamb for a
burnt-offering ?" This proves that Abraham had been
accustomed to offer a bleeding lamb in sacrifice, when
ever he approached the altar of God. His faith was
now to be very severely tried. His reply was, " My
son, God will provide himself a lamb." ¦ And when
Abraham had bound his son upon the altar, as God
commanded, "he stretched forth his hand and took the
knife to slay his son." At this instant the angel-Jeho
vah arrested his hand, and said, " Now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy
son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted
up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram
caught in a thicket by his horns : — and Abraham went
and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-
offering in the stead of his son."* The lamb thus
provided, by the special interposition of God, typified
the great atoning Lamb to be provided by God for
the sin of the world. So we are expressly told. For
it was to this very incident the heralder of Christ al
luded, when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world."
And for this faith, Abraham received the most dis
tinguished benediction of the Almighty. Jehovah
called him out, covenanted with him, commended him
# Gen. xxii.

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 123
in the hearing of all subsequent ages, and said to him,
" In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed." And hence the apostle says, " Was not
Abraham our father justified by faith, when he offered
up his son Isaac upon the altar ?"* That is, when it
was in his heart to do so.
Thus we see that faith in an atoning sacrifice lay at
the foundation of the patriarchal religion. In the same
faith walked Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, all the patriarchs,
and all the pious under their teaching and guardian
ship, living and dying in expectation of redemption
from sin through an atoning sacrifice.
3. The religion of Moses and the prophets.
The very first thing done, after the bringing of the
Israelites up out of the house of bondage, was to
recognize the atoning sacrifice for sin. " And the
Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him, out of
the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto
the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man
of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring
your offering of cattle, even of the herd, and of the
flock. If his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of the herd,
let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer
it of his own voluntary will at the door of the taberna
cle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall
put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering, and
it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for
him."! * James ii. 21. t Lev. i. 1—4.

124 proof of the atonement.
An order of priesthood was instituted for the express
purpose of offering this typical atonement for the sins
of the people. The emblem of the great atonement
must never be omitted ; hence Israel's altars perpetu
ally smoked. The suppliant for mercy laid his hand
upon the head of the animal, while he penitentially
confessed his sins ; and then the spotless victim was
slain for an atoning sacrifice. To this the poet refers
in that beautiful hymn —
" My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of thine ;
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.
" Believing we rejoice
To see the curse remove ;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing his bleeding love."
What was thus typified by the ordinances of Jewish
worship, was also the burden of the prophets. They
every where speak of Christ as coming to suffer and
die for the sins of men. This was in their view the
great object of his advent. In Zechariah we read,
" Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against
the man who is my fellow ; smite the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered abroad."* Christ informs us
that this prophecy refers to himself. "Then saith
Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of
me this night ; for it is written, I will smite the Shep
herd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad."! " After three score and two weeks," says
* Zech. xiii. 7. f Matt. xxvi. 31.

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 125
Daniel, "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for him
self."* Isaiah says, " He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," —
" he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of
our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are
healed. Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all." — " He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter ;" —
" He was cut off out of the land of the living ; — for
the transgression of my people was he stricken." It
" pleased Jehovah to bruise him," and to " make his
soul on offering for sin."^
That these prophecies refer to Christ, is certain from
Acts viii. 32. The Eunuch was sitting and reading
in his chariot the prophet Isaiah. This was the scrip
ture — " He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and
like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not
his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken
away, and who shall declare his generation ? For his
life is taken from the earth." And the Eunuch an
swered Philip, and said, " I pray thee, of whom speak-
eth the prophet this ? of himself, or some other man ?
Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus." Thus an
inspired writer has expounded these prophecies as
referring to Jesus Christ, and as setting him forth to be
an atoning sacrifice for the sins of men. He was in

* Daniel ix. 26. f Isaiah liii.
11*

126 PROOF OF THE ATONEMENTS
the prophetic eye to be led as a Lamb to the slaughter,
and his soul was to be made an offering for sin. And
observe, it was under this preaching of Christ as an
atoning Saviour, that the Eunuch was converted. Thus
was the religion of Moses and the prophets founded on
the atoning blood of Christ.
4. The religion or John the Baptist. He
was the messenger or forerunner of Christ, predicted
by the prophet, sent to prepare his way and make his
paths straight.* He introduces Christ into the world,
with these words, " Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world." A lamb was the
well known victim offered upon the altar for a sin-
offering. Had the prominent idea respecting Christ
been that of a teacher, the emblem of a lamb would
not have been employed. A lamb is not an emblem
of knowledge, but of innocent suffering. Christ then
takes away the sin of the world, not mainly by his
teaching, which any other man could be inspired to do
as well as he, but by his death, as prefigured by the
bleeding lamb. This is what none but Christ could
do. Paul could teach, when inspired by the Holy
Ghost, as well as Christ ; but Paul could not die for
us, " the just for the unjust ;" for he was himself a
sinner, and needed an atonement, as well as we.
Hence, while we have many teachers and martyrs, we
have but one atoning Saviour — one Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. This is the
grand and glorious peculiarity of Christ's redemptive
* Mai. iii. 1.

PROOF OF the atonement. 127
work, as proclaimed by his herald. " And I saw and
bare record," again he says, " that this is the Son of
God. Again the next day after, John stood, and two
of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked,
he saith, Behold the Lamb of God !"* What vol
umes of meaning in this short sentence : — As much as
to say, God has now provided the Lamb for sacrifice.
The types are ended ; the altars of Israel are no longer
to smoke ; the faith of Abraham is here realized ; the
real Lamb of God has at length appeared.
5. The religion of Jesus Christ. Through
his whole life, the mind of Jesus seems to have been
charged with the great idea of being made an atoning
sacrifice for the sins of men. So far as appears, he
taught but little; he wrote none. What he did teach,
is comprised mostly in his short sermon on the mount,
and a few parables ; which are little else than a sum
mary recapitulation of what had been taught by Moses,
the Psalms, and the Prophets. He said expressly that
he came not to teach a new religion, but to fulfil the
religion already taught. He rebuked the traditions of
men, which had been allowed to obscure its lustre, and
pointed the unbelieving Jew to bis own sacred writings.
He told his disciples that he had a work to do, and
was straightened till it be accomplished : — and that this
was to suffer, die, and be raised from the dead, that
remission of sins might be preached in his name.
" From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his
disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and
* John i. S9.

128 PROOF OF the atonement.
suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third
day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him,
saying, Be it far from thee, Lord ; this shall not be
unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me ;
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of man."* Peter was reasoning after the
manner of men, and not after the manner of God, when
he would dispense with that sacrifice. In the 24th
chapter of Luke we are informed that Christ, after his
crucifixion, appeared to his sorrowing disciples, up
braided their unbelief, and told them it was needful for
him to have suffered and died — that he could not oth
erwise have accomplished the end of his mission. "And
beginning at Moses, and all the prophets," says the
evangelist, " he expounded unto them in all the Scrip
tures the things concerning himself."! This proves
that "Moses and all the prophets," spoke of him, and
that the theme of their predictions was his atoning
sacrifice. He then " opened their understandings that
they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day ; and
that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in his name among all nations." With this
view of himself as an atoning Saviour, he gave them
his final commission to go forth into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.
* Matt. xvi. 21—23. f Luke xxiv. 27.

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 129
6. The religion of the Apostles. After the
ascension of Christ, the apostles went forth and pro
claimed redemption, not by his teaching and example,
but by his blood. It was when Peter, on the day of
Pentecost, was speaking to the multitude of the death
of Christ ;* it was when Philip was making known to
the Eunuch remission of sins,! through him who had
been led as a lamb to the slaughter ; it was when Paul
and Silas were presenting the same ground of salvation
to the trembling jailor ;! it was ever when the apostles
were preaching Christ crucified as " the end of the law
for righteousness" — that their hearers were convinced
of sin and converted to God.
So also in their Epistles, the same doctrine of re
demption by the blood of Christ is continually repeated.
They assert that we " are justified freely by grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith
in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remis
sion of sins that are past — that he might be just, and
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." || They
assert that Christ, " by his own blood," has " obtained
eternal redemption for us ;" that " the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, doth purge our conscience from dead
works to serve the living God ;"<§> — that we were re
deemed, " not with corruptible things, as silver and
gold," but "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
* Acts ii. f Acts viii. 34. f Acts ix. 9. || Rom. iii. 26. § Heb. ix. 12—14.

130 PROOF OF the atonement.
lamb, without blemish and without spot ;"* and that
they were "determined to know nothing, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified."^ Said St. Paul, " I glory
only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the
world."! Not a word, in all this, about redemption
by the teaching and example of Christ ; it is all re
demption by his "blood" — his atoning sacrifice upon
the cross. This was, in the view of the apostles, the
great central fact of Christianity — the essential power
and glory of the gospel.
7. ' The religion of the millennium and of
heaven. In his apocalyptic vision, St. John beheld
Christ receiving the praises of all the ransomed, for
having redeemed them to God " by his blood." The
teachings of Christ, which even the deist admits to be
excellent, are not mentioned by the revelator as enter
ing at all into the songs of the redeemed. " Thou art
worthy," they sing, " to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof," — not, for thou hast taught, and hast
set us a holy example, but, "for thou wast slain, and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, and hast made
us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign on
the earth. "|| Christians are then to reign as kings and
priests on the earth, in the latter day glory, in virtue
of having been redeemed to God, not by the teaching
and example, but by the blood of Christ ; and this fact
is to be the inspiring theme of the songs of all the
church, during that happy period.
* 1 Pet. i. J 8. t 1 Cor. ii. 2. J Gal. vi. 14. || Rev. v. 9, 10.

PROOP OF THE ATONEMENT. 131
Again the revelator says, " I beheld, and I heard
the voice of many angels round about the throne, and
the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was
ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of
thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and
blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and
on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
forever and ever."* Thus are we taught, in the
strongest language, that both redeemed and angelic
spirits in the millennial and the heavenly reigns, will
sing glory to God in the highest for the work of re
demption by the blood of Christ.
The religion of the millennium and of heaven is then
to be founded on Christ's atoning blood.
To adduce all the scriptural proofs of this doctrine
would require a volume ; — I have produced only spec
imens, to serve as keys to unlock the treasures of the
Bible respecting this subject. But we have now seen,
summarily, that from the opening of the divine revela
tion down to the remotest future, redemption by the
blood of Christ is continually set forth. It is typified,
symbolized, predicted, asserted, preached, proclaimed
to be the wisdom of God and the power of God for
salvation ; gloried in by the faithful of every age, as
* Rev. v.

132 PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
the foundation of all their hopes ; chanted by the en
tire ransomed church, in the palmy days of her millen
nial reign ; and finally, it swells the triumphant and
everlasting anthems of heaven.
These are briefly our reasons for believing the doc
trine, and resting the salvation of our souls upon it.
We do not herein, as accused, entrench ourselves in a
few favorite and doubtful texts ; — we contemplate the
whole of Scripture, and harmonize it into one consistent
doctrine. Nor is it with us a wavering faith. We
know what we believe, and why we believe it. The
Oracles of God utter no ambiguous voice on this sub
ject. The foundation of our faith is sure. Other
foundations are sand ; — this is rock. We expect by
this faith to be sustained through the trials and duties
of life, to be triumphant in death, and to ascend here
after to the society of the just made perfect. Millions
before us have already done so ; — we are herein tread
ing in the steps of glorified saints and martyrs ; — we
are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses.
We shall soon, if faithful, mingle our unworthy voices
with those of angels and redeemed spirits in heaven.
Just in the degree that the Christian ceases from
himself and trusts alone in this atonement for salvation,
does he feel his heart enlarged with grateful love to
God, released from sin's bondage, and filled with the
spirit of adoption. A sweet sense of pardon, unearthly
peace, and hope full of immortality, become his. He
can then truly say, with the psalmist, " He brought me
up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set
my foot upon a rock, and established my goings ; and

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 133
he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto
our God."
Redemption by the blood of Christ, is our song in
the house of our pilgrimage. Take from us the cross,
and our harps are upon the willows ; — we must sit
down in everlasting silence and grief. Take from this
world the cross, and what is it, but a great sepulchre ?
Thick glooms and night-shades settle all over it, and
shut out the last beam of mortal hope. If ever light
from the throne of God breaks in upon the darkness
of our minds, it is when we profoundly muse upon the
august pledges of his love, in the sacrifice of his Son
upon the cross. If ever we realize the value of our
undying spirits, and God's infinite care for them, it is
then. If ever we feel constrained to die unto sin and
live unto God, it is then. If ever our hearts know any
thing of real, vital, saving religion, it is then. To be
able to say, with the apostles, that we " glory only in
the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to
us, and we to the world," we hold to be the noblest
attainment of mortals, and their purest and loftiest
pleasure, as they journey through this vale of shadows
and tears towards the celestial city. And to sing re
deeming love, with seraphic heart and voice, we be
lieve to be the noblest employment of the redeemed
above. Our proof of this doctrine has been strictly scrip
tural. But providence and nature speak the same.
Such is the mysterious ordering of providence, that
nearly every blessing, nay, even our very existence,
comes to us, through the sufferings, and often the death
12

134 PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
of others. Voiceless nature herself could not he silent
here. The sun and the stars spake. The serene lus
tre of Bethlehem's star, that smiled on the infant Re
deemer, was followed with the veiling of that greater
orb, which refused to look on those dying agonies
which wrought out the world's redemption. Thus did
all nature sympathize in this amazing transaction.
Once, and once only, has the sun put on mourning.
No other death has been thus honored. Thus does
one and the same voice come from God's word and
works, a full and swelling strain, growing clearer,
louder, more thrilling, as we listen, proclaiming the
wonders of redemption by the cross. Inscribed on the
heavens and the earth, borne on every wind, it resounds
and re-echoes through the universe.
This doctrine cannot be innocently denied. Who
can shut his eyes against this flood of light, this over
whelming evidence, and be guiltless ? Who can pre
tend without the grossest inconsistency, to take his
religion from the Bible, and yet leave out the Christian
atonement ? As well might you pretend to walk in
the light of noon-day, and leave out the sun. We
may in truth say, that reason is too Godlike a faculty
to be thus treated with impunity. Such a violation
of the highest law of reason — such an abuse of the
power of mental vision — in relation to an object so
infinitely dear to the heart of God, is set down by God
himself as the sin of sins. To trifle with or neglect
the cross, is the consummation of guilt.
But if this doctrine be true, then is the religion of
the Bible truly a momentous affair. If the eternal

PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT. 135
God did actually veil his deity in humanity, and, thus
incarnate, bleed and die upon the cross for the redemp
tion of the world, and if the religion of the Bible is —
as we have seen it is — a developement of this amazing
fact, it is worthy to command the highest possible
homage of every rational mind. No man, on approach
ing this religion, need to fear letting down his intellect,
or bestowing his affections upon an unworthy object.
Let the scholar of natural learning and science make
his highest possible attainments, and, if he embrace
this religion, he shall be carried yet higher, immeas
urably, into regions of truth, sublimity, glory. This
religion comprehends " the exceeding riches of God's
grace," the value, the vastness, the grandeur of which,
can be estimated only by the sacrifice of the cross.
Hence this religion will never be out-run, or out
matched, by the human intellect. It will be found
adequate to absorb the highest energies of the mind of
the world, during those bright ages when that mind,
matured in strength and enriched with knowledge,
shall have left its present state far behind, as one
of feeble infancy. The glories of the cross will
still, more and more, eclipse all other glories. And
every man will see it to be his highest wisdom and
honor, as Sir Isaac Newton began to see and confess
it, to turn from the study of nature to the sublimer
study of the cross. Yes, it is in the mind of God, and
that benignant purpose is steadily unfolding, " in the
ages to come to show forth the exceeding riches of his
grace, in his kindness towards us by Christ Jesus."*
* Eph. ii. 7.

136 PROOF OF THE ATONEMENT.
Finally, if this doctrine be true, the result must be
momentous. In all the works of God, there is a rela
tion of means to ends : — Great means, in the hands of
God, are the forerunner of great events. Now here is
the greatest of all conceivable means. What greater
thing could God do, than give the Son of his bosom to
die upon the cross ? Who can believe that he has
done this, without believing that, as the result of it, he
will flood the earth and the universe with the splendors
of his throne ?

CHAPTER VIII.

ELECTION.

Perhaps no Christian doctrine has been more mis
represented and abused than that of election. None
has furnished more theological difficulties, or put more
cavils into the lips of infidelity. It belongs to the deep
things of God. Still it is a revealed doctrine, although,
like many of the facts in nature, the reasons and rela
tions of it are not fully explained.
The doctrine itself is very lucidly stated by St.
Peter.* The apostle is addressing Christians. To
awaken their gratitude and confidence towards God,
he tells them that they were " elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father." He reminds them
that they did not first choose God, but that God chose
them. But were they elected of God to be saved in
their sins, as the objector would have it ? No,
" Through sanctification of the Spirit :" — They were
to be saved by becoming sanctified. Were they then
first obedient, and then elected ; as the Arminian says ?
* 1 Peter i. 2.
12*

138 ELECTION.
No. They were elected " unto obedience." Elec
tion then precedes obedience, and is the procuring
cause of it. Were they elected to be saved, merely
by their obedience ; as the non-atonement men main
tain ? No. They were elected " unto the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ." This alludes to the
sprinkling of blood in the typical sacrifice, which pre
figured the atoning blood of Christ, without the shed
ding of which there was no remission of sin.
The sentiment is then plainly this, — that Christians
were eternally chosen of God unto renewal, obedience,
and faith in Christ, for salvation.
This is the doctrine of election.
To unfold all the reasons for the doctrine, as they
exist in the divine mind, no mortal can pretend ; — but
if I can succeed to exhibit the doctrine itself, as it lies
in my own mind, and as I think it is presented in the
Scriptures, so far from appearing dark and repulsive, it
will be seen one of the brightest stars in the constella- '
tion of Christian doctrines.
The particulars are these : — God has made mankind
a race of accountable beings, and would have them all
obedient. But they have all wickedly departed from
his law, and incurred its penalty. He has placed them
under a dispensation of grace, and proposed terms of
salvation. They all with one consent refuse them.
He sends his Spirit to make them willing ; and, by this
influence, great multitudes have been made willing, and
great multitudes more will be, in the day of his power.* J
* Ps. ex. 3.

ELECTION. 139
This influence of the Spirit is purely gracious ; not
the reward of antecedent merit. " Not by works of
righteousness which we have done," says an apostle,
" but according to his mercy he saved us, by the wash
ing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour ; that, being justified by his grace, we
should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal
life."* With God nothing is new. All eternity is equally
present to his infinite mind. And it is insupposable
that he renews a soul, without intending to do it ; and
what he intends, at the moment of renewal, he always
intended. Hence the grace which secures the salva
tion of a soul, is not only free and special, but eternal.
This is what we understand by the doctrine of election.
Let us adduce a few more scriptures in proof of it.
"According as he hath chosen us in him," says St.
Paul to the Ephesian Christians, " before the founda
tion of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love ; having predestinated us to
the adoption of children to himself by Jesus Christ,
according to the good pleasure of his will ; to the
praise of the glory of his grace, in which he hath made
us accepted in the beloved."! Christians were then
chosen in Christ, unto holiness, before the foundation
of the world : — They were predestinated to the adop
tion by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure
of God's will. I understand Christ to teach the same
# Titus iii. 5. f Eph. i. 4, 5.

140 ELECTION.
doctrine, when he says, " I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good
in thy sight."* After speaking of his disciples then
living, Christ added, " And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold ; them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice."f Those of whom Christ spake
were not then Christians, but they were to become
such. Christ knew them, and prayed for them. At
another time he said, " And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose none."\ Christians were then given
to Christ of the Father, as the reward of his death ; —
and this gift was the fruit of a purpose as eternal as
God himself.
In the same view, the inspired historian informs us,
that when St. Paul preached at Antioch, " As many
as were ordained to eternal life believed." || So also
it is written, " For whom he did foreknow he also did
predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the first born among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also
called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and
whom he justified, them he also glorified. "§ The
same writer illustrates this doctrine by the case of Re
becca's children. " For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the

* Matt. xi. 25. | John x. 16. f J°hn vi. 39.
H Acts xiii. 48. $ Rom. viii. 30.

ELECTION. 141
purpose of God according to election might stand, not
of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her,
the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What
shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness with
God ? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."* Again he
says, referring to the Christian salvation, " The elec
tion hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded,"! —
that is, left in wilful unbelief.
Without occupying more time in proving — what is
so manifest from the known attributes of God and from
express teachings of the Bible — that all who ever were
or will be Christians, were chosen of God in Christ
unto this end from eternity, and without entering here
upon the comparative merit of the numerous theories
of explanation, we may proceed to answer some of the
inquiries, which naturally arise from this subject. I
shall notice those only, which involve the most com
mon and plausible objections.
J. Does not this doctrine imply a sort of arbitrary
decree, in virtue of which the elect will certainly be
saved, and the non-elect certainly be lost, do as they
may 1 No. Nothing like it. Even the elect will not
be saved, unless they repent ; and the non-elect will
be saved, if they do. And they are all equally free to
* Rom. ix. 11—16. t Rom. xi. 7.

142 ELECTION.
repent ; all under the same obligations to repent.
Election has nothing to do with excluding men from
salvation ; its influence is all in the opposite direction.
It is wholly a cord of love ; — -.there is not a single strand
of wrath in it. Those who fail of salvation will not
fail because of election ; but only because they choose
the way of sin.
2. But does not this doctrine represent God insin
cere, in professing that he would have all men to be
saved ? How so ? How does his making some will
ing to embrace salvation, prove that he would not have
all willing ? This were a strange logic, truly. As if
the success of a ruler in securing the return of a portion
of his rebellious subjects to allegiance, invalidated the
sincerity of his declaration that he would have all
return. In the parable of the supper, which Christ
put forth to illustrate this point, there was provision
made for all invited, and all were alike sincerely urged
to come. But all with one consent refused. The
host then sent servants into the highways and hedges
to compel guests to come in. Does this prove that he
did not sincerely desire to have all come ? — just as sin
cerely after he had secured the presence of a portion,
as before ? While he would have been glad to have
them all appreciate his generous offer, and of their own
accord promptly accept it, he must yet be left to his
own discretion as to how far it might comport with his
honor and dignity, and with his numerous claims and
relations, to use special means with them to induce
them to come. If your generous neighbor should pro
vide an expensive feast, and send you a pressing note

ELECTION. 143
of invitation, it would be a strange objection for you to
make against his sincerity, that he does not send a car
riage and an officer to force you.
The provision of the gospel is made alike for all.
All are with the same sincerity invited to receive it.
This is what God would that they should all do. But
they will not. They all refuse. And now, in the
exercise of special grace, there must evidently be a
limit somewhere ; otherwise, all human responsibility
is annihilated, and man is encouraged to go all lengths
in sin. While it is the good pleasure of God, that all
should be obedient and happy, and while he would
have all accept the provision of the gospel, he foreknew
wherein it was wise for him to exercise grace. This
is the meaning of the apostle, — " that according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father." He foreknew
whom to elect — whom to make willing — and he does
accordingly. That we cannot see reasons why God
could not wisely do more than he does to reclaim
others, is no proof that he does not. There is an infi
nite ocean of reasons in his mind, which no human
mind can fathom. Even a human king on his throne
may see numerous reasons why it would be unwise for
him to do more than he does, in the way of special
favor, which multitudes of his ignorant people are una
ble to see. We ought to be satisfied to take God's
word for it, that there are in his mind sufficient reasons
why he cannot wisely do more than he does, in the
way of grace ; while he sincerely desires that all would
rightly improve the grace they do receive, and turn to
him and live. He assures us, that he does for the

144

ELECTION.

salvation of all what he sees to be wisest and best, and
that he does for none no more. And now, if all men
would do what all men could and should do, all men
might be saved. But they will not. And as to the
gracious work of making them willing, God claims the
sovereign prerogative of doing as he sees best.
3. But does not this make God partial] If by
partiality be meant that he is a respecter of persons,
having regard, as men often do, to adventitious circum
stances, rather than to intrinsic character, — or, that in
his final judgment he will favor some more than others,
irrespective of their deeds, the imputation is false. No
such partiality pertains to God. But if the inquiry be,
whether God does more for some than for others, in
the way of reclaiming grace, our answer is, first, every
true Christian does feel that God has done something
for his soul which he had not once done, and which he
has not done for the soul of the impenitent sinner; —
secondly, the same degree of influence which God
gives to some sinners, may, through their resistance,
fail to convert them, when it actually does convert
others ; — thirdly, all men under the gospel have un
doubtedly enough of gracious influence to convert
them, if they did not resist it ; — and fourthly, all the
influences of the Spirit are a pure gratuity, and it is
hence God's sovereign right to do with them as he
pleases. " Is it not lawful for me," he says, " to do
what I will with mine own ? Is thine eye evil because
I am good ?"* " Therefore," says the apostle, " he
* Matt. xx. 15.

ELECTION. 145
hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will he hardeneth."* That is, those with whom
he sees it to be wise to render his grace effectual, he
saves ; and those of whom he sees it to be wise to say,
" My spirit shall no longer strive," he leaves to their
determined course of hardness and reprobation.
This is in strict analogy with all his other doings.
It is the same God who gives to one riches, and to
another poverty ; to one sickness, and to another
health ; to one beauty, and to another ugliness ; to
one all the blessings of learning, civilization, and refine
ment, and to another the savage state. While he deals
unjustly by none, he distributes his gratuities as he in
his wisdom sees best. Thus does he humble the vain
self-confidence and glory of man, and say to him, " Lift
not up your horn on high ; speak not with a stiff neck.
For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from
the west, nor from the south, but God is the judge ; —
he putteth down one, and setteth up another.''! In
all this he has wise reasons of his own, — he giveth no
account of his motives. His glory is in concealing.
And so in his kingdom of grace, he has wise reasons,
known only to himself, for giving a more faithful dis
pensation of his gospel to some than to others, — for
placing some under the ministrations of a pastor who
will faithfully seek their salvation, and others under
the ministrations of one who will be more solicitous to
please than save them ; — for placing some in connec
tion with a consistent, prayerful, devoted church, whose
* Rom. ix. 18. t Ps- Ixxv. 6.
13

146 ELECTION.
labors he will bless to their conversion, while others
are placed in connection with influences unfavorable
to this result ; — and finally, for so ordering the manner
and degree of the Spirit's influence as to secure the
conversion of some, while others are left in impeni
tence. 4. Does not this doctrine tend to make the Chris
tian vain ? It is perpetually urged against it, that it
puffs up the vanity of those who embrace it, by inspir
ing them with the conceit of being the Lord's favorites.
-Exactly the reverse. This objection, although boldly
asserted, does certainly come with a very ill grace from
those who advocate election on the ground of personal
worth. The Arminian theory, that God elects men to
salvation, because he sees something good in them,
and the still bolder theory, that he does it because they
have by their own good doings laid him under an
obligation to them, cannot do otherwise than foster
human vanity.
But the doctrine, understandingly embraced by the
Christian, that God from eternity compassionated him,
while yet in his sins, — that of his own free grace, he
turned his feet from the way of death, pardoned him,
and breathed the breath of life into his soul, always
tends to inspire sentiments of profoundest humility and
gratitude. It is indeed with this very view, that Christ
and his apostles set forth this doctrine. Another ob
vious motive was to strengthen and embolden Christians.
As the apostle said, to enlighten the eyes of their un
derstanding, that they may know what is the hope of

ELECTION. 147
their calling, and what the riches of the glory of Christ's
inheritance in the saints.*
The thought that they were chosen of God in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that they should
become holy and without blame before him in love,
and were thus plucked by the hand of grace, contrary
to all their deserts, as brands from the devouring flame,
while it serves to take from them all boasting and to
make them very humble, serves equally to assure them,
that he who has loved them from eternity will love
them still and make them victorious over the world.
Such was the reasoning of the apostle : — " Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God
that justifieth : who is he that condemneth ?"f — " If
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life."! Thus Christian humility
and Christian boldness unite. These twin sisters —
daughters of light — divorced and abused by sin, are
re-united by this blessed doctrine, and made to move
on hand in hand with the Christian, removing the last
remains of self-glorifying from his heart, and arming it
with invincible energy in the divine life.
5. Does not this doctrine discourage the use of
means 1
It is said, that it makes the foreordination of God so
determine who shall be saved and who lost, that all
attempts on the part of man to make the number of the
saved greater or less, are of necessity vain. This is
* Eph. i. 18. f E,om. viii. 34. % Rom. v. 10.

148

ELECTION.

not true. The foreordination of God in respect to the
salvation of men, is the same that it is in respect to
every other future event, which is to be brought about
by human agency. Our agency being itself a part of
the divine purpose, it is essential to the result. It was
foreordained of God from eternity that you should be
where you are to-day, as truly as was the salvation of
Paul ; but it was also foreordained, that it should be
brought about by the free use of your own powers —
your understanding, conscience and will, as well as
your bodily members. So that the divine foreordina
tion respecting the event, could not have been realized
but by your own free agency. It was in this view,
that St. Paul said, "Except these abide in the ship,
ye cannot be saved,"* although he had just told them,
by an assurance from heaven, that not one of them
should be lost. They were to be saved indeed, but it
was to be done only by their obeying the instructions.
And so also if God has purposed your salvation, he
has purposed that it shall be brought about by your
own voluntary obedience to his requirements. Divine
foreordination no more dispenses with means in respect
to your salvation, than in respect to any other future
event. It renders your salvation certain, in no other
sense than it does your autumnal harvest, the continu
ance of your life, your future health, wealth, and know
ledge. Yet who but a mad man would say, If God
has foreordained that my fields shall yield a harvest in
autumn, they will certainly yield one ; and therefore
* Acts xxvii. 31.

ELECTION. 149
I need not make any exertions to secure it. — If God
has foreordained the continuance of my life, I shall
certainly live, and therefore I may leave off eating : —
if God has foreordained that my mind shall be stored
with knowledge, it will surely come to pass, then why
should I toil in study : — if God has foreordained that I
shall be rich, so it must be, and therefore I may be
idle and prodigal : — if God has foreordained that I shall
be virtuous and respected, these blessings are surely
mine, and therefore I may safely give reins to appetite
and plunge into vice : — if God has foreordained that
my sick child shall recover, he will of course recover,
and therefore I may as well do nothing to heal him.
No man can question the foreordination of God
respecting all these things, unless he denies God's na
tural perfections: — but who in his right mind ever
reasoned thus respecting them ? Yet this is precisely
the reasoning of those who make the foreordination of
God respecting their salvation an excuse for doing
nothing to secure it. They have no right thus to sep
arate the means from the end. It is not foreordained
that the farmer shall gather a harvest in autumn, ex
cepting as he shall use the means to that result indi
cated by the course of nature. The same is true in
regard to your future attainments of knowledge, health,
character, and all other things, for which means are
indispensable ; — and precisely the same is true in regard
to the salvation of your soul. If then you will freely
consent so to use your powers and opportunities, as to
become obedient unto the truth, you will make your
13*

150

ELECTION.

"calling and election" sure ; — that is, you will make it
sure that you are called and elected to salvation.
But unless you do thus, there is no decree in the
mind of God that will save you ; — the perdition of your
soul is as certain as the course of nature ! So sure as
the laws of the universe move on, so sure your soul
must die ! " We are not to pry immediately into the
decree," says Archbishop Leighton, " but to read it in
the performance. Although, from present unsanctifi-
cation a man cannot infer that he is not elected ; for
the decree may, for part of a man's life run, as it were,
under ground ; yet this is sure, that that estate leads
to death, and unless it be broken will prove the black
line of reprobation. But he who loves, may be sure
that he was loved first ; and he who chooses God for
his delight and portion, may conclude confidently that
God hath chosen him."
And further, let all who would be saved consider
that the Holy Spirit ordinarily selects the subjects of
his renewing grace, not from those who contemn sacred
things, but from those who revere them ; not from those
who profane the sabbath, by wandering in the fields,
making excursions of pleasure, or indulging in social
entertainments, but from those who faithfully attend
upon the preached gospel ; not from those who bru
talize their minds, by a gross indulgence of sensual
appetites, but from those who are temperate in all
things ; not from those who indulge sleep, or wander
ing imagination, in the sanctuary, but from those who
gi.ve earnest thought to the proclaimed truth ; not from
those who are wholly absorbed in the pursuit of gain,

ELECTION. 151
but from those who give due consideration to the inter
ests of their souls ; not from those who often resist
gracious calls and strivings, but from those who are
prompt to improve the accepted time. And thus,
while God maintains his entire sovereignty, in respect
to his reclaiming grace, he does it in a way to furnish
the most powerful motives to restrain wickedness, and
rouse up every soul to the claims of religion.
There is still another view, in which the doctrine
under consideration not only throws no impediment in
the way, but holds forth the strongest possible induce
ments to seek salvation. Suppose it were revealed,
that a certain number of individuals, to us unknown,
are destined, through the use of certain means, to secure
a large fortune. What a motive for all who are desir
ous of wealth, to be diligent in the use of the appointed
means. Suppose you were in a storm at sea, and there
was no prospect of escaping destruction ; but it was
somehow revealed to you that many on board would
be saved. As you valued life, how powerful would
this motive be to exert yourself.
Such is the inducement held forth to every man, by
the doctrine of election, to give all diligence to secure
eternal life. It is enough for him to know that Christ
has died to save him, that heaven is to be peopled with
a great multitude of redeemed souls ; that the number
to be saved, and who they are, is to appear hereafter ;
but that this is clearly revealed, that all who would be
saved must be in earnest for it ; for feeble and irreso
lute efforts will not avail. This is precisely the use
which Christ made of the doctrine. When one came

152 ELECTION.
to him inquiring, " Lord, are there few that be saved ?"
he replied, " Strive to enter in at the straight gate ;
for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in " —
make .some feeble efforts — "but will not be able."*
Again he says, " The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force."! This
surely does not look like being borne up to heaven, in
chariots of ease, by some glorious decree — some pro
vision to rid us of responsibility. The same use did
an apostle make of this doctrine. " Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure."!
The same motives does this doctrine afford the
Christian to the faithful use of means for the conver
sion of others. Suppose some epidemic were raging
in the community, and sweeping its thousands into the
grave : — but a humane physician is in some way as
sured, that by the faithful use of remedies large numbers
are to be healed. What a motive to encourage his
efforts to save them. Instead of being disheartened
with the prospect of universal failure, he has the cheer
ing assurance that his efforts will not be vain. More
over, as the number to be healed is not specified, and
will naturally be in proportion to the means used, he
is under the most urgent inducements to exert himself
to the utmost. This is the very encouragement given
by the Lord to Paul to preach the gospel. " Then
spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be
not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am
* Luke xiii. 24. t Matt. xi. 12. J 2 Pet. i. 10.

ELECTION. 153
with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,
for I have much people in this city."* This was said
before that " much people " was converted. Paul
was yet to do a great work there ; — many were to be
converted. The result was a fulfilment of the predic
tion. Many were converted there, and the Corinthian
church was thus formed. Thus we see that the mem
bers of the Corinthian church were chosen of God
before they were converted. The same is the ground
of encouragement for all who would labor for the sal
vation of men. Appearances are always against suc
cess. No man can doubt this, who knows the strength
of human depravity, and the mountain-like obstacles
in the way of turning men to God. Yet they have
the animating assurance, that the covenant of Jehovah
standeth sure, that the blood of Christ has not flowed
in vain ; that he is to have a redeemed people from the
ruins of the fall ; and that a great multitude, which no
man can number, out of every kindred and tongue and
nation, will stand before the throne of God with
palms in their hands, clothed with white robes ; — and
that this glorious consummation is to be effected,
under God, by human means. Thus encouraged, the
gospel-heralds go forth to prophesy upon the vallies
of dead bones, and all the friends of Christ are invited
to unite their prayers and efforts to accomplish the di
vine purposes of saving grace. And thus will the
number of the elect continue to increase, until the tri
umphs of redeeming love shall compass the world.
* Acts xviii. 9-

CHAPTER IX.
NATURE OF REGENERATION.
This world is divided between two spiritual king
doms, that of Satan and that of God. Satan is declared
to be the prince of the power of the air, reigning in
the children of disobedience.* He therefore has a
kingdom in our world. It is unnecessary to be born
again, in order to become a subject of his kingdom.
But born again we must be, in order to become sub
jects of the kingdom of God-! Let us endeavor to
ascertain the nature of this second birth. This is a
subject of the very highest importance : — all that is
valuable to the soul, in God's holy kingdom, is staked
upon it ; — and we should spare no pains, to render our
views respecting it as clear and scriptural as possible.
To be born again — what can this mean ? The lan
guage is figurative, but strongly expressive. The first
or natural birth is a great physical change, at which
the bodily eye is opened on this material world ; — the
second birth is a great spiritual change, at which the
*Eph. ii. 2. t John iii. 3,

NATURE OF REGENERATION. 155
mental eye is opened on the kingdom of God. The
first birth makes us heirs of earth ; the second, of
heaven. It would be injustice not to give a passing
notice to the various theories of men on this subject.
Some have supposed that this new birth is merely a
renunciation of heathenism ; and consequently, that
none but heathens require it. This cannot be true ; —
for the Jewish ruler, whom Christ taught that he must
be born again, or he could not see the kingdom of God,
was not a heathen.
Others have supposed that it is merely a renuncia
tion of Judaism, as it is opposed to Christianity ; and
consequently that all who live in Christian lands, and
acknowledge the divine mission of Christ, do not require
it. This cannot be true ; — for the Jewish ruler had
just acknowledged this faith in Christ. — " Master, we
know that thou art a teacher come from God." But
Christ, not allowing him for a moment to suppose this
sufficient, replied to him, " Verily, verily, I say unto
you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God."
Others have labored to maintain that the new birth is
baptism.* But Christ said, in describing the event,
" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of God."
* The Episcopal church employs the term regeneration to denote
the rite of baptism, holding still to the same spiritual renovation here
contended for, and designating it by other terms. This is very well,
if so understood ;— it is not the name, but the reality, to which impor
tance belongs. The term regeneration may with propriety be applied
either to the rite, or to the thing which the rite signifies.

156 NATURE OF REGENERATION.
By no conceivable interpretation can this language pos
sibly be descripti ve of a water baptism. Christ here de
scribes the new birth as the result of some mysterious
operation ; like that of the wind, whose coming and
going we cannot tell. But there is nothing mysterious
in baptism ; — it is a very plain and obvious ordinance,
performed by a gross and visible fluid, which has no
resemblance to the subtle and invisible wind, and whose
coming and going we plainly see and understand.
Moreover the same authority said, " Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God." Now whether you understand
this literally, or figuratively, the result is the same, so
far as the present point is concerned. If literally, the
declaration clearly is, contrary to a prevalent error,
that a mere water baptism is not sufficient, but that
there must also be a spiritual baptism : — There must
be that done, internally, by the Spirit of God, which
is signified externally by water. If it be understood
figuratively, there was of course no reference to water
baptism. To be born of water and of the Spirit, is an
idiomatic expression, well known to the Hebrew
scholar, importing a spiritual renovation or cleansing,
similar to that intended by John when he said of Christ,
" He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire." In such expressions, the purifying agents in
nature, such as water and fire, are coupled with the
Holy Spirit, to convey the forcible idea of his purify
ing agency in the heart.
Others have thought that this new birth is merely a
renunciation of secular vices, and becoming virtuous.

Nature of regeneration. 157
This cannot be ; — for the young man who came to
Christ to learn what he must do to inherit eternal life,
was very virtuous and amiable, insomuch that Jesus
himself loved him. Yet he went away sorrowful,
when taught the necessity of renouncing the world.
Others again, going to an opposite extreme of error,
have supposed that the new birth is a change in the
constitution of the mind. But is it not incredible that
God should have committed an error in making the
mind, and find it necessary to do his work over ?
Moreover, what God does, even if it were wrong, his
creatures are not responsible for. But man is held
responsible — he is under condemnation — for unregen-
eracy. Consequently the necessity for a change in
him, cannot pertain to his constitutional properties.
No man is to blame for not having been made taller
than he is ; for inheriting a weak or asthmatic consti
tution, instead of a healthy one ; for not possessing the
native intellect of a Newton or an Edwards, when he
has only an ordinary one ; nor for any thing whatever,
whether of mind or body, which he received from God,
or paternal inheritance, and over which he never could
have any possible control. The man who denies this,
is not to be reasoned with. The new birth in question
cannot, then, imply a constitutional or physical change,
in any proper sense of that term.
In order to see clearly the nature of the change in
question, we must consider what man was as created
by God ; what he has made himself by sin ; and what
he actually becomes by regeneration. We then ar
rive at the truth here, just as we do on other subjects,
14

158 NATURE OF REGENERATION.
by observation and experience. We examine facts
and decide upon them, as they are.
Man originally came from the hand of the Creator
perfect in his entire nature. He was not only per
fectly planned, but perfectly executed. God himself
pronounced the work " good." All his physical mem
bers and functions were in a state of vigorous and
happy health ; all his intellectual and moral powers
were sound and upright ; all his social affections were
pure. So soon as his eyes opened on creation, his
heart rose in love and gratitude to God. Affection
ately and supremely devoted to his Maker, he was a
truly religious, a holy man. But he was not confirmed
in holiness. He had not been tried. Possessing all
the natural susceptibilities to temptation which our
Saviour did, without being like him confirmed in holi
ness, it was of course possible for him to yield to
temptation, and thus fall into sin. He did yield ; he
fell ; he became a sinner.
So long as God was by him supremely regarded,
the presence to his soul of so glorious an object, so
blessed a portion, kept all his powers in order. But
so soon as he forsook God, sought to hide from his
presence and find his happiness in forbidden ways,
his love of worldly things became excessive, his ap
petites impatient, his passions feverish, and his whole
nature diseased. His understanding was darkened,
his intellect enfeebled, his social affections disor
dered, and his body became diseased and prone to
death. His soul fell into the fiery gulph of selfish
ness ; and instead of entertaining its former love, joy,

NATURE OF REGENERATION. 159
peace, began to feel the burning of envy, jealousy,
strife, hatred, discontent, and every selfish and tor
menting passion.
Such then was man, originally, as made by God ;
and such was he, as he made himself by sin. Now
by the operation of the great law of natural descent,
all the posterity of Adam, left to themselves, are what
he was after he fell. Every child, unless grace inter
pose, grows up to do as Adam did after he became a
sinner. Instead of loving God supremely, he su
premely loves himself and the world. No warm kind
ling of delight beams in his eye, when the command
of God falls on his ears. Thus selfishly disposed, he
prefers that God would let him alone. The choice of
God and his choice are at variance ; the law of God
and his heart are in opposition to each other.
, But although by nature predisposed thus to resist
the will of God, he is still entirely competent to know
and choose the way of obedience ; and hence the en
tire weight of personal guilt rests upon him if he does
not. This original propensity of the mind to resist the
divine law, becomes active and strong by indulgence,
and thus becomes its fixed character. " The carnal
mind is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be."* Along with
this apostacy of the will from the law of God come all
those other irregularities, more or less, of the physical,
intellectual, and social nature, to which we have ad
verted. # Rom. viii. 7,

160

NATURE OF REGENERATION.

This then is the moral condition of every individual,
until grace interpose. He is utterly destitute of holi
ness ; — the moral disposition or ruling choice of his
mind, is opposed to the divine law. Left to himself,
he will go on in sin forever.
We can now see precisely the change needed, and
consequently effected, by regeneration. It is a change
from the love of sin to the love of holiness. It is a
new bom affection. It is a renovation of heart. It
implies the beginning of obedience to the divine law.
From what has been said, it is manifest that it cannot
mean less, and cannot mean more. Precisely this is
indicated in all the scriptures which denote the change.
They describe it as the making of a new heart and a
new spirit ; — being renewed in the spirit of the mind ; —
becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus ; ceasing to
be wholly carnal, and beginning to be spiritually
minded ; — the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost ; — being born of the Spirit. All
these expressions most evidently denote one and the
same thing — the exact thing which we have defined as
what our Saviour meant by being born again.
But the precise nature of this change will be better
understood if we analyze it, and consider it both in
trinsically and relatively.
Considered as an intrinsic change, it is,
1. Spiritual. The subject of it has not only the
same corporeal faculties, but precisely the same reason,
intellect, judgment, the same native genius, the same
natural temperament and disposition, that he had be
fore; — excepting as they are affected secondarily.

NATURE OF REGENERATION. 161
The change itself is purely of the spiritual man. The
spirit of opposition to God, has become one of sub
mission and love. The change is precisely this ; —
nothing more nor less.
2. Voluntary. No man becomes a Christian
against his will. My people shall be willing, in the
day of my power, saith God ; and none can be truly
his people, excepting as they are cordially willing to
be such. Except a man give the free consent of his
heart to serve the Lord, he cannot acceptably serve
him. No man goes to heaven, but with the sincere
desire and purpose of his soul. Not only is he willing
to be saved, but willing to do what God requires.
And from the nature of the change, he must become
willing, if at all, willingly. Regeneration implies,
then, not only the activity of thought, but of volition.
3. Instantaneous. It is usually preceded by a
process, longer or shorter, of thoughtfulness, feeling,
solicitude ; but the transition itself occupies no meas
urable space of time. There is no moment when it
can be said of an individual, that he is in a transition
state — neither saint nor sinner. He is either willing
or unwilling; regenerate, or unregenerate ; an heir of
heaven, or a child of wrath. He may not, from want
of attention to the operations of his mind, know when
the change takes place ; — nor is that important. You
may not notice the time of the sun's rising, for it may
rise in a cloud ; but when it shines with noon-day
splendor, it has surely risen ; and there was a moment
when its golden wheel first clipped the horizon. Those
who consider regeneration progressive, confound it with
14*

162 NATURE OF REGENERATION.
sanctification. The former is the beginning of spiritual
life ; the latter is growth in spiritual life. The former
is the rising of the sun ; — the latter is its rolling yet
upward on its glorious track.
4. Generic. It is not a change of merely subor
dinate volitions. Such changes are very frequent, with
both regenerate and unregenerate men. Nothing is
more common, than for an irreligious man to give up
¦one sin for another ; to hate a particular vice at one
period, which he loves at another ; to make and exe
cute various purposes of reform ; and thus, in the course
of life, to pass through an endless variety of changes
for better or for worse : — but the new birth, of which
Christ speaks, is a generic change of disposition in re
spect to all sin. It implies a new governing purpose,
a ruling choice of mind, to renounce all wicked ways,
and serve the God of heaven.
5. Partial. Although it is a generic change,
yet it does not render the heart perfectly holy. A
man may love God supremely, so as sincerely to obey
the law, and yet not love God with all his heart, so as
to obey the law perfectly. The love of God is the
dominant affection of the new born soul ; but there
still remains in that soul much of its old corruptions.
Even the best of Christians must sometimes say with
Job, " Behold, I am vile ;" and with St. Paul, " O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death ?" — " I find a law in my mem
bers, warring against the law of my mind." -
6. Permanent. All other moral states of the
soul are transient ; — but that into which regeneration

NATURE OF REGENERATION. 163
introduces it, is one from which it never departs. Once
born again, it shall never die. The principle of im
mortal life is there. It cannot die, for it has within it
the deathless spirit of Christ. The principle of holi
ness, implanted by regeneration, will survive all the
changes of time, will continue to grow and exterminate
remaining sin ; it will finally pervade and sanctify the
entire soul, and place it among the stars of heaven.
" This is the will of the Father," said Christ, " that
of all which he has given me, I should lose none."*
The notion of fatally falling from grace, is alike unphi-
losophical and unscriptural.
Such is the nature of the change in question, con
sidered in itself. Let us now consider it relatively. It
changes the relation of its subject.
1. To Jesus Christ. Before this change, the
individual stood related to Christ as an unbeliever, hav
ing no portion in his kingdom ; — he now sustains the
relation of a believer, being thus made an heir to all
the riches of his grace. He is by faith married to
Christ, as the Scriptures express it ; and by virtue of
this union becomes a partaker of the righteousness, the
honor, the wealth, the glory, which Christ had with
the Father from eternity.! Before this change he was
poor, now he is rich ; — before, he was obscure, and
without honor, now his name is chronicled in heaven,
and he is associated with the nobility of the universe.
There is also a corresponding change in his views and
feelings respecting Christ. Before, Christ was to him
* John vi. 39. f Rom. vii. 4.

164 NATURE of regeneration.
as a root out of dry ground — having no form nor come
liness that he should desire him ; now, he is to him the
chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.
2. To the law. Before this change, he was
subject to the penalty of the law ; now, the law has
nothing against him. " He that believeth on him, is
not condemned ; but he that believeth not, is con
demned already." Before, he was related to the law
as a rule of justification, and was by it condemned ;
now, he is related to it only as a rule of duty, and it
has no power to condemn him. Christ has, in this
respect, taken him out of the hands of the law : —
" There is now, therefore, no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus."* But while the law has
thus lost its power to condemn him, he has received
of Christ what the law could not give him, the spiritual
disposition to obey the law. " For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God,
sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin condemned sin in the flesh ; that the righteous
ness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit."! Thus two mighty
points are gained in his relation to the law : — first, he
is delivered from its penalty ; secondly, from being in
heart a transgressor of it, he has become an obedient
subject. 3. To the Holy Spirit. Before this change,
the Holy Spirit was to him a mere visitor — a stran
ger • — now he is an indweller — an abiding friend.
* Rom. viii. 1. f Rom. viii. 3, 4.

nature of regeneration. 165
" Know ye not," says St. Paul, to the Corinthian
Christians, " that ye are the temple of God, and that
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ?"* Before, the
Spirit came to dwell, but was not received : — he was
resisted and grieved away. Now, he has gained ad
mission, is no longer resisted, but has become a perma
nent occupant of the soul, to enlighten, guide, sanctify,
and comfort it. Never, through all eternity, will that
soul be without the gracious indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. In and through it, will the Holy Spirit reflect
the brightness of his own glories in heaven.
4. To the truth. Before this change, his moral
feelings sustained to the distinguishing features of the
Bible the relation of hostility, aversion, or at the best
of indifference. Those discriminating, pungent, un
earthly teachings of God's Word, respecting human
accountability, sinfulness, dependence ; the way of
salvation by grace, and everlasting retribution — found
no cordial reception, no grateful response, in that dark
and sensual heart. But now, they feast an'd delight
it. Thy word is very pure, says the heaven-born soul,
therefore doth thy servant love it ; — O, how love I thy
law ; it is my meditation all the day. It is sweeter to
my taste than honey, and the honey-comb.
5. To Christians. Prior to this change, his
moral feelings towards Christians were much the same
as towards the truth. He loved them, perhaps, as
men ; but in their distinguishing character as Christians,
he was conscious of no delightful fellowship with them,
* 1 Cor, iii, 16.

166 nature of regeneration.
and often of positive aversion. He could join with
them in secular and social interests, but in the "things
of religion there was no sweet union of heart with
heart. He often saw and painfully felt, that there was
between Christians a common bond of attraction, and a
way of access to the Father, to which he was a stranger.
Now, he has access by the same Spirit with them unto
the Father ; — he is no more a stranger and foreigner,
but a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the house
hold of God.* Now, he says to them, like the noble-
purposed Ruth — " Whither thou goest I will go, where
thou lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my peo
ple, and thy God my God."
6. To the cause of Christ. Before this change,
the welfare of Christ's kingdom sustained to his mind
the relation of a very subordinate importance, if indeed
of any importance whatever. He was perhaps ashamed
to believe it, but it was often forced upon his convic
tion, that he loved his selfish ease, indulgence, wealth,
aggrandisement, more than that cause which cost the
blood of the- Son of God, and on which depends the
salvation of the world. Now, it is far otherwise. He
longs to see the religion of Jesus embraced by every
heart, and welcomed through all the earth. So much
does he desire this, that he not only prays daily, Thy
kingdom come, but he makes exertions and sacrifices
for it ; — he is even willing, if so called, for this end, to
leave home and country and go to the heathen. The
# Eph. ii. IS, 19.

nature of regeneration. 167
struggles and conquests of Zion are his ; — her tears his
tears, her joys his joys. He can now truly say,
" I love thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of thine abode ;
The church, our blest Redeemer saved -
With his own precious blood.
" For her my tears shall fall ;
For her my prayers ascend ;
To her my cares and toils be given,
Till toils and cares shall end."
7. To eternity. Before this change, the things
of the present world were to his mind of paramount
importance, and those of eternity subordinate. Now
the position is reversed. Eternity is no longer to
him that dim, shadowy, unreal object ; nor is this
world that bright and substantial reality. Although
he has lost none of his sensibility, yet the afflic
tions and trials, the joys and gains, of earth, are far
less in his eye than once they were ; — the glo
ries of eternity have dawned on his vision. For this
cause, he faints not ; but though his outward man per
ish, the inward man is renewed day by day. For his
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for
him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ;
while he looks, not at the things which are seen, but at
the things which are not seen ; — for the things which
are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal.*

*2Cor.iv. 16— 18.

168 NATURE OF REGENERATION.
He now knows that religion is no figment of a dis
ordered fancy. His eye kindles with new animation.
Existence has become to him a privilege never before
realized. With joyful step, does he enter the narrow
way to life everlasting. Henceforth he is not of the
world, even as Christ was not. Its pomps and pleas
ures, its wealth and fame, are no longer his heart's
treasure. He enjoys the things of this world with a
relish more pure and keen, because more subdued and
virtuous, than before ; and he is not unwilling to abide
here all the days of his appointed time, till his change
comes ; — but often does he look serenely forth on im
mortality, — often is the celestial city in his eye, where
he is soon to join the general assembly and church of
the first born, to drink with them of its crystal waters,
and sing hallelujahs forever.
Such is that new birth, which Christ has said we
must all experience, or we can never see his kingdom.
And how rational, how accordant with fact, how
truly sublime and glorious, is the event, in this view
of it, compared with those meagre theories with
which earthly - minds would invest it. Here, as
elsewhere, truth is noble, error is contemptible. In
this view of regeneration, it truly is, as it is ever set
forth in God's teachings, transcendantly the most im
portant event in the affairs of men. Let the thought
less and the vain disdain it, as they sweep along the
broad way to death ; — but let the sober and the wise
pause and think. Here is an event, which even the
angels in heaven stoop to rejoice over. It is a new
and bright era in the history of an immortal mind ; —

NATURE OF REGENERATION. 169
an event, in which the lost spirit is found, the poor
made rich, the rebel restored, the dead in sin made
alive in holiness, the vessel of wrath made an heir of
glory ; — an event, whose results extend through all
time and all eternity ; — forever exalting its subject from
a debasing career of sin and misery, with the fallen
and wretched outcasts of creation, to a career of glory
and bliss, with the angels of God. Who — would not
be born again ? Who would not be a Christian ?
15

CHAPTER X.
THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
The Scriptures instruct us that we are saved "by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost."* What are we to understand by this lan
guage ? Very serious errors have been entertained
here. By a literal interpretation of metaphorical lan
guage, confounding the sign with the thing signified,
has come the opinion that regeneration is only baptism.
The consequences to the cause of vital Christianity
have been deplorable in every age, from Justin Martyr
downwards. It is a blunder of interpretation, similar
in kind to that which makes the symbol of Christ's
body in the sacrament, his body itself. It is a fact
worthy of notice, that they who interpret the figurative
language of the Bible literally, by a parity of blunder
sadly atone for so doing, by interpreting its literal lan
guage figuratively ; and thus they pervert and displace
the most solemn and momentous teachings of God.
The washing of regeneration is not, as some of the
# Titus ui. 5.

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 171
Fathers and the Romanists say, a literal washing of
the body with water ; but, by a pertinent and forcible
similitude drawn from that purifying .element, it desig
nates the cleansing agency of the Holy Ghost in the
soul. The latter clause of the passage, by a Hebrew
parallelism, is explanatory of the former : — the " re
newing of the Holy Ghost." A careful study of this
important law of figurative language, and particularly
of the Hebrew idiom, which abounds in the New Tes
tament, might have saved the world from a desolating
flood of errors.
The position now to be maintained is this, Regen
eration IS EFFECTED BY THE AGENCY OF THE HoLY
Ghost.
Christ said, " That which is born of the flesh is flesh ;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," — and
that " except a man is born of the Spirit, he cannot
see the kingdom of God."* This spiritual change is
expressly denied to be of men, and declared to be
wrought in the soul by divine efficiency, operating
through faith in Christ. " As many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name ; which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God."-f
Other passages of Scripture assert, in the same breath
and with the same explicitness, both the author and the
instrument of regeneration. " Of his own will begat
he us, with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
* John iii. 6, 7. f John i. 13.

172 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
of first fruits of his creatures."* Here we are taught,
that the Holy Ghost is the author of regeneration, and
that he employs in the work the instrumentality of
truth ; — a perfect refutation of the notion that regener
ation is mere baptism, for how could the truth perform a
water baptism. The " word of truth" is spiritual light —
divine teaching — we are not baptised with this ; — we
are regenerated with this, we are baptized with water.
And so another apostle says, " Being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever."! Men are
not baptized by the word of God — the idea is. absurd —
but we are here taught that they are born again —
regenerated — by it, as the instrument in the hands of
the Holy Ghost. The truth of God is then the instru
ment, and the Holy Ghost the author, of regeneration.
That we may the more clearly apprehend this di
vine agency, we will analyze it. We find it compris
ing the following elements. It is,
1 . Gracious. It is an agency which God is un
der no obligation to bestow ; our obligation to obey
him being entire without it. If your child have a
maimed or broken limb, you ought not to require of
him the same as if he were sound. But if he has all
his physical powers entire, so that nothing is wrong but
the disposition, and that disposition is voluntary, you
have only to require him to do what is right, and he is
guilty if he does not do it. Now obedience to the
divine law is right, and man has all the natural powers
* James i. 18. f 1 Pet. i. 23.

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 173
requisite to obey it. Only his disposition is wrong —
he is voluntarily opposed — and therefore his obligation
is entire. Nor is this, as the caviller objects, a mere hair
splitting distinction — a metaphysical subtlety of the
schools — to confound, rather than convince. It is a
distinction recognized and acted on in all the responsi
ble affairs of life. The man who might do well, but
is indisposed to do so, is pronounced guilty by the
common consent of the world. Otherwise, domestic
rule is tyranny ; civil government is oppression ; all
law is injustice ; courts of judgment are but a solemn
farce ; — we ought to pull down our prisons, and abol
ish all penalties. We ought to let the world go into
anarchy; — and on the same principle, God ought to
annihilate the penalty of his law, abolish hell, never
call men to judgment, and let the fiery waves of anar
chy roll over the universe.
So far is a wrong disposition, from excusing men
from duty, that .the more indisposed they are, the more
guilty they are. Indeed, it is only as they are indis
posed, that they are guilty at all. The thief, the liar,
the murderer, is guilty, just in the degree, that he is
disposed to be thievish, false, murderous, and indis
posed to be honest, true humane. The sinner against
God is guilty, just in the degree that he is disposed to
be sinful ; and it is only because he is indisposed to
holiness, that the agency of the Holy Ghost is needed.
Hence that agency is entirely gracious ; — it is an
agency to dispose him to do what he ought to do,
without it. God would have been perfectly just, if he
15*

174 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
had never sent the Holy Ghost into our world, and yet
had held all men responsible to obey his holy laws.
The Arminian notion of the Holy Ghost being given
to restore lapsed powers, and thus render us competent
to obey — of a gracious influence, which yet is not gra
cious — is fruitful of loose theology, and looser practice.
Let every person consider well, that all the influence
which He ever did or ever can receive from the Holy
Ghost, to renew and sanctify his soul, is a favor to
which he can have no possible claim, and which there
fore God may justly withhold, or withdraw, at any
moment. 2. Rational. The Holy Ghost acts upon the
soul as a rational being. It is one intelligent Mind
influencing another intelligent mind, according to the
established laws of mental operation. It is the mind of
God acting on the mind of the creature. When the mind
of a fellow being is acting upon your mind, you are not
conscious of the fact, except in the effects produced.
You cannot feel the immediate influence of that mind ;
you are conscious of being affected by it, only by the
thoughts, desires, volitions, awakened within you. So
when that infinite Mind, the Holy Ghost, is operating
upon your mind, you are entirely unconscious of it, ex
cepting as your thoughts are awakened, your mind
enlightened, your sensibilities quickened, and your will
moved, in reference to religion. None of the consti
tutional laws of your mind are altered or disturbed.
You think, feel, will, decide, in matters of religion,
just as you do in other matters. The influence of the
Holy Ghost upon you is purely the influence of mind

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 175
on mind ; — it is a moral power, and a moral result, not
a physical. God adapts means to ends. No physical
change is wanted, and hence no physical agency. But
while the influence of the Holy Ghost upon you, is
purely that of one intelligent Spirit upon another, it is
not the influence of a created, finite, feeble spirit, but
of a Spirit that "searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God,"* — of a Spirit whose omniscience
knows how to touch all the hidden springs of mind,
and is almighty to move them.
That the, agency of the Holy Ghost upon the soul
is strictly rational, is evident also from his employing
the instrumentality of truth. We all know that truth
can have no instrumentality, excepting as it acts upon
rational minds in a rational way. The Holy Spirit
did not employ truth, when he garnished the heavens,!
marshalled the stars, bound the sweet influences of
Pleiades, and loosed the bands of Orion. He does not
employ truth to beget the dew-drops, to gender the
hoary frost, to pile up the dark clouds, as a pavilion
about him, to open the bottles of heaven, to shoot
the forked lightnings and hurl the red thunder-bolt : —
He employs not truth, either to unlock the ice-bands
of winter, and spread the soft mantle of green and
blooming spring over the earth, or to " guide Arcturus
with his sons" on their brilliant march amid the con
stellations of heaven. All these are physical opera
tions. But when he does a moral work — when he
convinces the soul of sin, righteousness, and a judg-
* 1 Cor. ii. 10. t Job xxvi. 13.

176 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
ment to come, and begets it to God, he does employ
truth : — " Of his own will " begets he it, " by the word
of truth;" — and hence the agency of the Spirit in re
generation, unlike his agency in operating on senseless
matter, is strictly rational. It is a change wrought by
the same almighty Spirit which garnished the heavens,
and which raised up Christ from the dead, and is with
all propriety called a new creation ; but it is a new
moral creation.
3. Supernatural. While the influence of the Holy
Spirit upon our minds is rational, it is yet supernatural.
Such was his influence, when he inspired those who
wrote the Bible. He moved upon their minds super-
naturally ; and yet in a way strictly accordant with
the laws of mental operation, leaving each mind to act
out freely its own natural powers. The same is true
of his influence in regeneration. In the one case he
inspires the mind to write the truth, in the other he
renders that truth effectual ; but in each case his influ
ence is supernatural, as well as rational.
By the supernatural agency of the Spirit in regener
ation, we mean an agency over and above the natural
influence of truth. It is the theory of one school, that
the Holy Spirit is the author of regeneration only as he
inspired the truth, by which the change is effected.
This is Pelagianism. According to this view, it is only
needful to present divine truth to the minds of men,
with appropriate clearness, frequency, and quantity, to
secure their regeneration. The abettors of this theory,
however, usually make very little of regeneration, and
consider conversions, revivals, and all other manifesta-

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 177
tions of a supernatural influence, as mere fanatical
excitement. But this theory cannot be sustained.
The Holy Spirit was promised by Christ to descend,
not merely to bring all things to the remembrance of
the apostleSj and thus inspire them to write the Scrip
tures, but to " abide " with man, " to reprove the world
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."* This,
you observe, is an entirely different thing from the gift
of inspiration. To inspire men to write the truth, is
one thing ; to render that truth effectual in convincing
the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, is quite
another. The man who cannot see this distinction,
should not undertake to be a religious teacher. And
Christ said, that " except a man be born of the Spirit,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."! The invisible
Spirit, in the absence of Christ's visible person, was
promised to accompany the truth through all ages of
time, and render it effectual to the enlightening, re
newing, sanctifying, and comforting of men. Accord
ingly the revivals of religion recorded in the Acts of
the Apostles, and the cases of regeneration referred to
in the Epistles, are ascribed to the promised agency of
the Holy Ghost. The same Spirit, given in answer to
prayer, agreeably to Christ's promise, has continued in
the world to this hour; and all true spiritual religion
on the earth is the result of his supernatural agency.
Pure revivals of religion, therefore, are at an infinite
remove from fanatical excitement; — they are the
solemn work of God. Predicting the age of millen-
* John xvi. 8. f John iii. 5.

178 THE AUTHOR* OF REGENERATION.
nial glory, the prophet says that the influences of the
Spirit shall descend in abundant measure, — that He
shall come down like rain on mown grass, like showers
' that water the earth.*
4. Direct. When you accomplish an object
by the agency of another, you do it indirectly ;
when in your own person, directly. It is an indirect
murder, when you engage a second person to slay your
enemy ; direct, when you take the sword in hand, and
do it yourself. The " word of God is the sword of the
Spirit ;"! — taking this word in hand, the Spirit goes
with it " in his own person " directly to the sinner's
heart, slays his enmity, and accomplishes the work of
regeneration. Those who maintain that the agency of the Spirit is
only indirect, suppose that all he does is to secure the
right presentation of the truth to the mind. They
suppose that the truth is adequate to the regeneration
of a soul, if it can only be properly presented. Such
persons tell us that all the Holy Ghost does is to assist
in pouring in the truth. This is the moral suasion
Scheme. Now we fully believe that the Holy Ghost
does this ; and we believe that he also does more. The
theory which restricts his agency to that of mere moral
suasion, supposes such a correlativeness between the
motives of truth and the sinner's heart, that it is only
needful to present the truth, with a certain clearness and
Vigor, to have it take effect. Whereas, the heart is
opposed to the truth ;— and it often happens, that the
* Ps. lxxii. 6, f Eph. vi. 17,

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 179
more clearly truth is made to shine, the more the heart
resists it. For instance, the more vividly are made to
appear the guilt and condemnation of sin, the nature
and extent of depravity, the demands and penalties of
the divine law, and the way of salvation by grace, the
greater is the felt hostility to these soul-humbling
truths. So that something more is wanted than moral
suasion — something to subdue that hostility, and thus
give the motives success. Now the Holy Spirit does
that something more : — He goes with the truth to the
heart as a mediator, to give it favor : — He so acts upon
the heart as to effect a reconciliation between it and
the truth. We all know how feeble is a message sent
forth in a letter alone to gain the assent of a man,
compared with that letter accompanied by your own
person. In the one case, it is only a dead and dry let
ter ; in the other, it is attended with the subduing power
of a living and feeling mind, acting directly on mind.
While holding up the truth before the heart in its
intrinsic reasonableness and excellence, in its convinc
ing light and authority, the Holy Spirit also so beats
upon that hard heart with the direct and subduing im
pulses of his own compassion, he so breathes into that
cold heart the warm breath of his own love, he so in
fuses into that selfish heart the generous kindlings of
his own benevolence, that the heart awakes to new
ness of life, begins to partake of the feelings of the
Holy Ghost, and therefore to accord the truth which
he inspired. Thus is a sympathy begotten be
tween the heart and the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Ghost does not go before the truth, or without it,

180 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
but with it — with his own instrument- in hand, he goes
to make it take effect in the heart. So that he is the
author of regeneration, not merely in the secondary
and indirect sense of assisting to present the truth, but
also in the direct sense of making that truth effectual.
This is the plain and positive teaching of Scripture : —
" Of his own will begat he us, with the word of truth."
" Except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot see
the kingdom of God," although the truth be made to
shine upon his soul with the light of seven suns. Even
the blaze, of eternity will never be able to call up in
the unregenerate soul one holy affection. Hence the
absence of the Spirit is inevitable ruin.
5. Special. Some suppose that there is no
speciality in the Spirit's agency, but that he always
influences, or is ready to influence, all minds alike.
This is the Arminian theory. I beg your particular
attention to this point. It marks one important bound
ary line between a loose and a sound theology. This
Arminian theory is not sustained, as we conceive,
either by the analogies of providence, or the teachings
of the Bible, or experience. Not by the analogies of
providence, for there are marked specialities here. The
seasons of the year ; the frosts, and rains, and sun
beams ; the calms, and winds ; and all the affairs of
men, — have their specialities. The world of provi
dence is not one smooth and glassy sea, and one
changeless sky above it, so that the mariner on life's
voyage has but one thing to do, and the same result
always follows. There are indeed uniform laivs, but
they do not operate in this way. Neither is this theory

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 181
sustained by the Bible ; for the apostles were some
times commanded to wait for the Spirit, as the mariner
in a calm must wait for the wind to fill his sails : —
thus Christ told them to remain in Jerusalem, till
special effusions of the Spirit should be given them.*
And it is evident that there was a special influence of
the Spirit in the conversion of Paul, in the revivals
recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and in every
instance of success attending apostolic labors. To this
influence the apostles ascribed all the glory of their
success : — He that planted, they said, was nothing,
and he that watered nothing, but God that gave the
increase. And to this same special influence are we
taught to look, as our only hope of success in laboring
for the salvation of men. All genuine revivals are as
truly now, as in apostolic times, the result of special
effusions of the Spirit. They are not of man, but of
God, — not of earth, but of heaven.
No better sustained is this theory by experience.
The soul of every Christian has its seasons of special
refreshing from on high, — refreshings that he is con
strained to say come purely of sovereign grace, not of
any thing that he has done. And there are times
when Christians put forth great efforts for a revival of
religion, without success ; while at other times the
same efforts result in a glorious harvest : — just as at
sea, the mariner may sometimes set his sails well, and
do his very best, and yet make no progress ; when at
other times the same means waft him gaily to port.

* Luke xxiv. 49.
16

182 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
Nor does this militate against the great law, which
connects diligence in the right use of means with suc
cess. It only militates against the presumption of lim
iting the vision to immediate results. God sees farther
than we do ; and what we call disappointment, may
in his eye be the means of the greatest ultimate good.
A calm at sea, when the impatient mariner, if he could
have his way, would be going ahead, may in the eye
of God be the means of eventually saving the ship.
The general law is, that taking a series of years to
gether, the mariner, the husbandman, the mechanic,
the professional man, who is on the whole most faith
ful in the right use of means, will on the whole realize
most success. So it is with churches and pastors, in
their labors for the salvation of men. This is their
encouragement. They that go forth weeping, bearing
precious seed, will doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing their sheaves with them. And so, too, every
individual, in the matter of his own salvation, is au
thorized to expect it only as he avails himself, with
alhtliligence, of the Spirit's gracious presence- — strives
to enter in at the straight gate — seeks the Lord while
he may be found, and calls upon him while he is
near ; — just as the mariner must catch the propitious
breeze, the harvest-man the sun-beams, the merchant .
his opportunity, or fail of success. In fact, this very
doctrine of speciality, thoroughly understood, is one of
the strongest confirmations of the fact, that only the
" diligent soul shall be made fat."
The denial of speciality in the Spirit's influence,
leads to great practical evils. It leads the sinner to

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 183
think that his salvation is entirely in his own hands, —
that whenever he shall choose to wake up and become
a Christian, the Spirit is at his option — ever the same
— and that therefore it is perfectly safe, the accidents
of mortality apart, to put off religion till the last mo
ment. Equally pernicious is the effect on churches.
It leads them to put off God to their own convenience ;
to neglect present duties and opportunities ; to calcu
late on periodical revivals, at the times when they have
most leisure and inclination to work ; and at such times
to place undue reliance on extraordinary measures and
highly exciting means, to the neglect of the Holy
Spirit. Thus the Spirit is grieved. Nor is this all ; —
in case their measures do not succeed, they feel disap
pointed ; disappointment produces irritation ; and the
inquiry is raised, Who is to blame? There is always
sin enough, doubtless, in the best of churches, to dis
tance the Holy Spirit, if his only rule of blessing were
human desert ; — but it were quite as wrong, presump
tuously to ascribe the absence of a revival to some
special misdoing of members of the church, or of the
pastor, as to ascribe the absence of propitious gales at
sea to some special misdoing of members of the crew,
or of the captain, and to agitate thereupon the inquiry,
Who shall be thrown overboard ? God may see other
reasons than special blameworthiness in Christians, for
withholding from sinners regenerating grace, — reasons
in the sinners themselves, who have perhaps long
resisted his Spirit, — reasons in the peculiar position of
the church ; reasons in view of distant results, seen
only by the eye of omniscience. These reasons may

184 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION-
respect the ultimate good of the church itself, which
God is humbling, and teaching that lesson of depend
ence on him, which is ever the forerunner of good.
The grace of a meek and quiet, of an humble and de
pendent spirit, is as important as that of bold and tire
less activity.
Christians should therefore ever keep their minds
clear of all irritation, impatience, censoriousness ; they
should maintain sweetness, gentleness, and kindness of
spirit ; — they should see to it, with severe self-inspec
tion, that nothing is wanting on their part, and then
wait patiently on God.
If it is evil to go before the Spirit, it is equally evil
to follow tardily behind him. Had the Israelites gone
before the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night,
or had they followed at a tardy pace behind, they
would in either case have been lost in the wilderness.
Churches and pastors should ever seek to be led by
the Spirit ; — they should keep hold of his hand, and
never let him go from them ; — they should cherish to
wards him a lively tenderness, and a deep sense of
dependence ; — they should ever feel that they are in
a wilderness, and shall be hopelessly lost without
him ; — they should carefully eye his movements, no
tice the signs of the times, seize every opportunity,
and be equally anxious to be neither too fast nor too
slow. There is no practical difficulty here, if they
honestly seek to walk in the Spirit — and to wait only
upon God, making his glory the great end of their

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 185
6. Unresisted. It seems more scriptural to say
that the Holy Ghost is unresisted, than irresistible.
For the Scriptures teach us that sinners can and do
resist him. " Ye stiff necked, and uncircumcised in
heart and ears," said an apostle, " ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost ; as your fathers did, so do ye."* But
in all cases where the agency of the Holy Ghost is
effectual to the regeneration of a soul, he ceases to be
resisted. An irresistible agency carries the idea of
force — violence — as though the sinner were taken cap
tive against his will. No man becomes a Christian
thus. This is not the way of the Spirit. He renews
the will itself. Instead of forcing the soul, with an
irresistible agency, he removes its disposition to resist,
and is therefore no longer resisted. His influence on
the soul, instead of being imperative, violent, irresisti
ble, is gentle, tender, winning. It is a work of love,
not of authority. Indeed all his influences are kind,
sweet, subduing, — he woos, wins, captivates, — he
draws with chords of love, the bands of a man.! He
is not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the
fire, but in the still small voice : — It is the soft and
gentle whisper of Spirit with spirit. It is the Holy
Ghost, all compassionate, tender, dove-like, enfolding
the rebel spirit in his arms, pressing it to his bosom,
and breathing his own love into it. Never is a person
more conscious of having no force or violence exerted
upon him — of being more entirely free and voluntary —
than when under the influences of the Holy Ghost.

* Acts vii. 51. f Hosea xi. 4.
16*

186 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
The Holy Ghost works none the less mightily, for
working gently and lovingly ; — the most mighty agen
cies are the most gentle in operation. This is espe
cially true in the moral world. Suppose a monarch
had sent down to you from his throne the stern voice
of authority, demanding your submission. We will
suppose he has a right to demand this, for you are an
unreasonable rebel. But you brace yourself against
him — you will not submit. Instead of resorting to
violence, with infinite condescension he leaves his
throne, comes to you, clasps you in his arms and
presses you to his heart, with the winning look of for
giveness and love. Your opposition is gone— your
heart yields — you love and obey.
This is the way of the Holy Ghost. What the
stern voice of law could not do, in that it. was weak
through the flesh, the Holy Ghost accomplishes in his
own person. He does not come merely to pour light
into your mind, or to assist in doing it, but to embrace
and subdue you, by making you feel the warm beatings
of his own heart. So gently is the change wrought,
that, oftener than otherwise, the subject of it cannot
tell when it was. As Christ said, he cannot tell
whence it comes, nor whither it goes. Some how or
other he feels differently respecting religion from what
he did. His opposition is gone ; — his shame is gone ; —
his indecision is gone ; — his unbelief is gone ; — his
burden is gone ; — he cannot tell how. But this he
knows, that they went away without any violence ; —
there was no shock ; — no forcible bolting in at the
door. An angel form, in kind and winning tones, said^

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 187
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him and he with me."* Somehow or
other he was inclined to open the door ; — Christ came
in, — he embraced him, — friendship was declared, and
the feast of eternal love began. In place of opposition,
there is now a cordial welcome ; in place of shame,
glorying in Christ ; in place of sickly indecision, a
firm and manly purpose ; in place of unbelief, the
confiding trust of a little child ; in place of that bur
den, peace and rest. This is the charming, the sweet,
the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit. Do you see
any thing like an irresistible agency here, in the phy
sical sense of that word ? — No ; but you see an unre
sisted agency ; — you see something that removes the
disposition to resist, and thus makes the sinner willing
in the day of its power.
7. Abundant. " By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost,-which he shed on us
abundantly. ,"! God has made all things abundant in
their place, and for their intended object. Scarcity-
implies something wrong. Primeval paradise brought
forth abundantly of all the beauties and sweets of na
ture ; and the original sources of abundance still re
main, only disturbed in their operations by sin. The
great laws and movements of nature, that are as it
were above the reach of the catastrophe, still unfail
ingly exhibit the same abundance. It is with no
measured hand that God pours out the light, the air,
* Rev. iii. 20. t Titus iii- 6-

188 THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
the water : — how abundantly do the beams of the sun
flood the face of the earth, with their golden splen
dors — how sufficient for' the object for which they are
sent : — how abundantly does the atmosphere surround
the globe, giving breath to all the living : — how abun
dantly do the waters fill the seas, and roll in eternal
fulness on their pathless channels. Such is the gen
erosity, the profusion, of the divine nature. God knows
nothing of parsimony. He gives as one that can well
afford ; he gives liberally. Nothing but sin can dry
up, or diminish, the streams of his bounty. The sin
less angels, and the redeemed in glory, expatiate in an
ocean of abundance. They know that their king is
infinitely rich and generous; — they therefore expect
much, and they receive it.
Sin cuts man off from this expectation, and it is the
hardest thing in the world to restore it unto him. No
point does God reason with him more earnestly : — He
tells him that the gospel has removed all obstacles to
his dealing again with him on generous terms ; — that
if he will now return to him, his heart and hand shall
be again opened, and the abundance of paradise shall
again be given ; — he says to him, " Seek ye the Lord
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is
near ; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unright
eous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the
Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our
God, and he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than

THE AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 189
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and
my thoughts than your thoughts."*
The influence of the Spirit, therefore, given as the
price of Christ's death to regenerate the soul, is given
abundantly for this end : — it is God's own gift, and he
gives like a God. And to all who have received any
measure of renewing grace, and would receive more,
he says, " According to your faith, be it unto you."
The influences of the Spirit will be shed down more
and more abundantly, as the faith of God's people in
creases, until the whole earth shall be filled with his
glory as the waters fill the sea.
We have thus shown that the Holy Ghost is the
author of regeneration, and that his agency upon the
soul is gracious, rational, supernatural, direct, special,
unresisted, and abundant.
In the view we have taken, it is the most beautiful
and benign of all the works of God ; — it exhibits a
reach of wisdom and love, which leaves all his doings
in the natural creation far behind. When the earth
and heavens rose from chaos into order, and put on
their robes of light, it was befitting that the morning
stars should sing together, and the sons of God shout
for joy ; — but when an immortal soul rises from the
deeper chaos of sin into the image of God, and puts
on the shining robes of his Saviour, it is befitting that
joy in the presence of the angels of God should strike
up a yet louder anthem of praise. Accordingly God
says of the kingdom of the redeemed, " Behold, I
* Isaiah Iv. 7.

190 the author of regeneration.
create new heavens and a new earth; and the former
shall not be remembered, nor come into mind."* Thus,
in the judgment of God himself, does the work of re
generation eclipse the glories of his first creation.
Wonderful indeed it was, when this huge and sight
less mass was moved upon by the almighty energies
of the Spirit ; when its desolate chambers of night
were unlocked, and became the joyful abodes of light,
life, and beauty ; — but more wonderful is it, when the
human soul, from the ruins of sin, is re-wrought, en
lightened, adorned, to be' a blissful and everlasting
temple of the Holy Ghost. The glories of the first
creation will hereafter fade ; — but the glories of the
second, never. The first creation will wax old, like a
garment ; as a vesture will God change it, and it shall
be changed ; — but the second creation will never wax
old, never be changed. High above the stars, on a
throne of light, in God's own blissful presence, where
change and disaster never come, will the regenerate
soul forever sit, looking serenely down upon the ashes
of the universe, reflecting the beauties of the Spirit's
noblest work, and shouting the praises of Him who
hath said, " He that believeth in me, shall

* Isaiah lxv. 17.

CHAPTER XL

justification.

Next in order after regeneration, comes the doctrine
of justification. Christians are not only renewed ; they
are justified. Addressing the members of the Corin
thian church, St. Paul says, " Ye are washed, ye are
sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."* They were
not sinless ; for the apostle had just administered a
rebuke to them, and had told them, " There is utterly
a fault among you." Yet they were in a justified
state. In another place, the same apostle says,
" Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also
called; and whom he called, them he also justified;
and whom he justified, them he also glorified."! Jus"
tification is then something interposing, in this golden
chain of salvation, between effectual calling, or regen
eration, and glorification.
It is the object of this chapter to illustrate its nature,
its ground, and its condition.
* 1 Cor. vi. 11. f Rom. viii. 30.

192

JUSTIFICATION.

1. Its nature. The word justify is borrowed
from civil courts. It denotes the decision of a judge,
whose prerogative it is to make an authoritative declar
ation respecting subjects of law. In its primary sense,
it denotes the innocence of its subject, as well as his
acquittal. But Christians sustain to the divine gov
ernment the relation not only of accountable beings,
but of sinners. What then can be meant by their
being justified ? How can God declare sinners to be
just ? I answer : — Justification, in a theological sense,
is either legal or evangelical ; — legal, as applied to
sinless beings, like the holy angels ; evangelical, as
applied to those whose righteousness is of Christ. Men
are justified at human tribunals, because they are proved
innocent ; but justification by the gospel supposes no
such thing. On the contrary, it is written, " What
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped."*
Although Christians are justified by God, they do not
justify themselves ; which they would do, and ought
to do, if they were innocent. " If I should justify
myself," said the most perfect man that ever lived —
God himself being judge — " my own lips would con
demn me ; if I should say I am righteous, that also
would prove me perverse."!
Evangelical justification is an act of God's free
grace, in which he pardons the sins of the regener
ate, and accepts them as righteous, in and through the
righteousness of Christ. This is the strictly scriptural
* Rom. iii. 19. t Job ix. 20.

JUSTIFICATION. 193
view. " The judgment was by one to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offences unto justification."*
" There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. "\ In the matter of justification,
then, Christians are " not under law, but under grace."
Yet they are not exonerated from obeying the law.
On the contrary, it is only as they are in spirit endeav
oring after obedience to the law, that they are not the
condemned and death-bound servants of sin. It is
only they who "walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit," for whom there is no condemnation. " Shall
we sin, because we are not under the law but under
grace ? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are
to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness ?" — " Do we then make
void the law, through faith ? God forbid. Yea we
establish the law."! Evangelical justification does not
imply that God imputes the righteousness of Christ to
Christians in the sense of actually considering them
holy, but that he accepts them in Christ as though
they were holy. And to avoid antinomian abuses, we
are expressly taught that the law, as our rule of duty,
is still in force ; and hence, before we can enjoy that
highest state of divine approval — glorification — into
which the regenerate will enter hereafter, we must be
come perfected in holiness, as the law requires. Hence
evangelical justification expresses the condition of a pro
bationer, already received into divine favor, anticipat-

* Rom. v. 16. f Rom. viii. L J Rom. iii. 31.
17

194

JUSTIFICATION.

ing the glorified state, when he shall be cleansed from
all sin and be presented faultless before the throne of
God with exceeding joy."*
Christians being thus justified subjects of grace, and
it being the object of Christ, who has taken upon him
self the responsibility of their sins, to exalt them to
perfect holiness, "just in the degree that they become
obedient to the law do they please Christ and gain
evidence of being truly his. In this view, the doctrine
of evangelical justification, so far from encouraging sin,
presents the most powerful of all inducements to per
sonal holiness.
II. Its ground. By the ground of justification is
meant its meritorious basis. It is that which, in justice
and equity, deserves and sustains it. Can this be deeds
of the law ? — that is, acts of obedience to the law per
formed by men. Some say it is ;— and when pressed
with the argument that all have sinned, and therefore
cannot deserve salvation, they evade, by saying the
law does not require perfect obedience ; — that God
makes, allowance for our being frail and imperfect
creatures, and accepts of an imperfect service. I shall
not stop to argue the utter incompatibility of this notion
with a righteous moral government — a point fully de
monstrable — but meet the error at once with the plain
declaration of God's word : — " By the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight."\
Can works of supererogation be a ground of justifi
cation ? Some think they can. While they admit
* Jude 24. t E,om. iii. 20.

JUSTIFICATION. 195
that men sometimes fall short of the law's require
ments, they claim that they may also at other times do
more than the law requires, and so set off the one
against the other. We have two replies ; — first, no
man can ever do better than the law requires. To
suppose that he can, is to suppose the law imperfect.
Secondly, deeds of supererogation are themselves bad
deeds. They are not what the law requires, but
something else. They make void the law, instead of
honoring it. Deeds of supererogation cannot, there
fore, constitute for us a meritorious basis of justification.
Can repentance do it ? Strangely have not a few sup
posed it can. But was the government ever known
in which repentance was an admitted ground of justifi
cation ? No government could stand a day on this
principle. Repentance can neither undo the evil done,
nor restore the good lost, nor honor the broken law,
nor represent the penalty deserved. Hence a right
eous moral government could not possibly admit it as
a meritorious basis of pardon. While the Scriptures
enjoin repentance, they no where teach that repentance
merits forgiveness. The idea indulged of meritorious
repentance, vitiates the repentance itself. It is not
and cannot be a genuine repentance, that supposes
itself deserving of favor. Self-justifying repentance is
mockery and rebellion.
Thus are we driven by necessity to the atonement of
Christ. This we believe to be the true and only mer
itorious ground of our acceptance with God. This so
magnifies for us the law which we have broken, that
we may plead it before the throne of justice with entire

196

JUSTIFICATION.

assurance and build our immortal hopes upon it. We
then plead something which God has done, not we — r
an atonement made,by Aim, not. ourselves, as the foun
dation of our pardon. This makes us feel, that sin is
an evil which we cannot atone for ; cuts us off from all
dependance upon our own merits ; and casts us at once
and completely upon the sole but sufficient righteous
ness of God. Every believer has thus " a perfect
righteousness, yet not his own ; that it is not his own,
precludes all boasting ; that it is perfect, precludes all
anxiety. The conscience is unladen, without becom
ing puffed up."* In this view, all the ancient saints
plead the righteousness of God, not their own. " We
make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only,"
was ever the spirit of their address to God. And what
is this righteousness of God, which the saints of the
Old Testament plead as the basis of their acceptance ?
Let the apostle answer — " Being justified freely by his
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God,— to declare, I say, at this time his righteous
ness, that he might be just and the justifier of him that
believeth in Jesus."! " God commendeth his love
towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ
died for us. Much more then, being now justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."!
* Luther. | R°m- "i- 26- $ RQm- v- 8-

JUSTIFICATION. 197
These are only specimens of the numerous Scrip
tures, which set forth, with equal explicitness, the
Christian atonement as the meritorious basis of our
justification. Let every person beware, then, lest he
fall fatally into the condemnation of those who, " be
ing ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God."*
III. Its condition. The question is, what is the
precise thing which the sinner must do, to place him
self on this ground of acceptance with God ?
The Romanist says, we are justified by penance.
Or, if he admits faith in Christ as a condition, it is so
buried under a superincumbent mass of human devices,
as to be scarcely discernible. To vary the figure, faith
in Christ is with him only an element, so diluted with.
foreign ingredients, that its efficacy is destroyed. The
whole system of indulgencies is a device of papacy to
enrich its coffers, by easing the consciences of men
with a spurious justification. Where in all God's word
are we taught that we are justified by penance ? On
the contrary, we are commanded to do ourselves no
harm, and are admonished that were we to give rivers
of oil, and the fruit of our bodies for the sin of our
souls, they would avail nothing.!
Some have maintained that we are justified by bap-
tism.\ This they consider the grand element of that
conditional obedience, which places us in a saving

*Rom. x.3. fMich.vi.7.
% See Newman on Justification, and Oxford Tracts.
17*

198

JUSTIFICATION.

relation to Christ. But one is exceedingly puzzled to
find the place in the Bible, where this is taught. In
deed they do not profess to deduce this sentiment so
much from the Bible, as from the church ; and that,
unfortunately for the truth's sake, after the church had
become corrupted.
There are more yet, who believe that we are justi
fied partly by faith in Christ, and partly by good works.
They suppose that the righteousness of Christ, appre
hended by faith, does a part of what needs to be done
for our salvation, leaving our own good works to make
up the deficiency. On this principle the redeemed
saint in heaven must divide the praise of his salvation
between Christ and himself, dealing out the larger por
tion to the one or to the other, according as his vanity
shall rise or fall. Having sung the hymn of praise
to the Lamb, who hath redeemed us to God by his
blood, he must then turn and sing another, which John
did not hear, to his own good works.
It was this notion of dividing with Christ, in the
matter of our justification, that so bewitched the Gala-
tians, as to call forth the most stirring energies of the
inspired pen. "O foolish Galatians, who hath be
witched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth
crucified among you ? This only would I learn of
you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith ?"*
* Gal. iii. 1.

JUSTIFICATION. 199
In lofty eminence above all these schemes, whether
entire or mixed, stands the true scriptural doctrine,
that Christians are justified alone by faith in Christ.
Faith only is that which places them in a justified
state. It is that with which they are wholly justified ;
and in the absence of which, wholly condemned.
This can be said of nothing else. A man may be
baptized ; he may do penance ; practice sanctimoni
ous ablutions, repeat paternosters, and macerate with
fastings ; he may perform the deeds of law, and prac
tice the social virtues, with great exactness ; he may
be a distinguished philanthropist ; he may even give
all his goods to feed the poor and his body to be
burned, — and yet, until he takes himself completely
off from all these, and all his other doings, as a ground
of dependance, and places himself solely on the right
eousness of God in Christ, he is in an unjustified state.
God is dissatisfied ; the penalty of the law lies against
him ; Christ is grieved, the cross offended ; and all
heaven looks mournfully upon him, as a thief and a
robber, who would climb up some other way.* But
no sooner does he cease from all these false depend
ences, and place himself by faith on the atonement of
Christ alone, than God is satisfied ; the penalty of the
law removed ; Christ well pleased, the cross honored;
and all heaven rejoices over him as a redeemed and
loyal heir of glory.
Let us now educe a few samples of Scripture, in
proof of this doctrine of justification by faith. " We
# John x. 1.

200 JUSTIFICATION.
are justified freely by his grace, through the redemp
tion that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to de
clare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God, — to declare I
say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just
and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Where
is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ?
Of works ? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without
the deeds of the law."*
" Be it known unto you, therefore, men and breth
ren, that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest
that come upon you which is spoken of in the pro
phets : — Behold ye despisers, and wonder, and per
ish."! — A caution which we do well to consider !
The apostle declares, experimentally, this doctrine of
justification by faith, the foundation of peace, and of
triumphant, glorious joy; " Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ ; by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God." "Being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."!
Having set forth the righteousness of God in Christ
as the only foundation of hope, and declared that even
* Rom. v. 15. t Acts xiii. 40, 41. X Rom. v. 1, 2, 9.

JUSTIFICATION. 201
an angel from heaven is not to be received, if he preach
any other doctrine, the apostle says, " Knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the latv, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law ; for by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justified."* And to
show the beautiful operation of this law of faith in
Christ, the apostle says, " I am crucified with Christ ;
nevertheless, I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God ;
for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is
dead in vain."! As much as to say, all who seek to
be justified in any other way than by faith in Christ,
do frustrate the grace of God ; for them Christ has
died in vain. They do virtually set him at naught.
Referring to Abraham, in the case of the atoning lamb
which typified the Lamb of God, the apostle says,
" Even as Abraham believed God, and it was ac
counted to him for righteousness. Know ye, there
fore, that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they
which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham.
For as many as are of the works of the law, are under
* Gal. ii. 16. f Gal. ii. 20, 21.

202 JUSTIFICATION.
the curse ; — for it is written, Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them. But that no man is jus
tified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident ; for
the just shall live by faith." — " If there had been a
law given, which could have given life, verily right
eousness should have been by the law. But the
Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the pro
mise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe." — " The law was our schoolmaster, to
bring us to Christ, fhat we might be justified by
faith."* To deduce more Scriptures in proof of our doctrine,
were superfluous. He who is not convinced by these,
disclaims all confidence in this source of evidence.
Let us now consider the superiority of this over
every other way of justification.
1. Faith in Christ is the generic grace. It is the
great central virtue. Confidence in God is the almighty
law of heaven. It is the gravitating power, which
binds together the celestial hierarchies, as they revolve
in their orbits around the everlasting throne. We are
sometimes told that there is no faith in heaven, for
faith is lost in sight. But no such doctrine is taught
in the Bible. On the contrary, faith is perfected in
heaven ; — and it is the great end of God, in our pro
bation, to recover in us this principle, which was lost
by the fall, that we may be prepared for heaven. It
was from defect of faith, that Lucifer with his train
* Gal. iij,

JUSTIFICATION. 203
fell ; and so sure as the redeemed from earth are con
firmed in glory, they are perfected and confirmed in
faith. It is the security of the heaven of the redeemed,
that God will be by them never again doubted.
Although they see clouds and darkness round
about him ; although they see a world on fire ;
although they look down from their shining battle
ments, and see the smoke of the torments of the
wicked ascending up forever and ever, — yet will not
the harmonies of those notes be disturbed, which ever
spring afresh and swell into rapture from confidence in
God : — Still does faith sweetly sing, and sing forever,
" Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."*
Now evangelical faith is this same principle, in the
mind of the sinner, directed to his Saviour. It is con
fidence in God as a redeeming God, — just the confix
dence which the sinner needs. It is sometimes called
the instrument, which lays hold of and appropriates the
righteousness of Christ to the nourishment of the soul,
like that with which we receive our food.! It does
indeed lay hold of and appropriate the righteousness
of Christ, but it is something more than a mere instru
ment. It is a living and glorious grace — itself a moral
virtue, and the enthroned queen of all other virtues.
2. Faith in Christ is the antagonist of all sin.
There is no one sin of the human heart, which this
does not tend to expel. It begins with subjecting the
creature to God. The wisdom, the will, the right
eousness, of the creature, are by it all renounced, and
* Rev. xix. 6. f Alexander.

204

JUSTIFICATION.

the wisdom, the will, the righteousness, of God, set up
in the soul. Thus pride, vanity, selfishness, — those
master-passions of unregeneracy — are by it wounded
unto death. From the moment faith in Christ begins
to live, these begin to die. The lower vices — the
vices of the flesh — receive their death-wound from the
same source. Looking by faith on the agonies of
Gethsemane and the blood of Calvary, brings upon
them a shaming and withering rebuke, and calls up in
the regenerate soul the noble purpose —
" Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die ;
My heart has so decreed ; —
Nor will I spare those guilty sins,
"Which made my Saviour bleed."
It is impossible to make a righteousness of faith in
Christ; for the very nature of faith in Christ implies a
renunciation of all righteousness but his. A self-
righteous faith in Christ, is an impossibility. We might
as well speak of a square circle, or of a long point. No
other proposed means of justification can claim this.
It is possible to make a righteousness of baptism, of
supererogation, of penance, of deeds of law. There is
not necessarily in these, as in 'the case of faith, any
going out of self to Christ. They may therefore be
substituted, in the place of Christ's righteousness, as
the foundation of hope ; and when not preceded and
dictated by faith in Christ, they do so. In the language
of the apostle, they "frustrate the grace of God."*
Hence, in the matter of justification, they must all be
* Gal. ii. 21.

JUSTIFICATION. 205
swept away, and the guilty soul must go forth as a
beggar, naked and alone, without money and without
price, to embrace the righteousness of Christ. It must
be completely justified without these, or it is not justi
fied at all. Christian ordinances and deeds of law,
however important in their place, are quite out of their
place, when made the condition of justification. Thus
does justification by faith take the very citadel of sin —
self-righteousness — and having entered the castle and
bound the strong man, it has only to go on establish
ing its dominion and perfecting its work, until every
enemy shall be forever expelled.
3. Faith in Christ is the producer of all other
graces. As it kills every sin, so it brings into exist
ence every virtue. In the language of the apostle, it
1 " works by love and purifies the heart." It is an ac
tive principle : — It " works." And it works ever with
its kindred grace — its first born child. It works by
love. When a man has truly given himself by faith
into the hands of Christ, he truly loves him ; and lov
ing Christ, he loves his cause and his people. The
liveliest and deepest sympathies of his nature go over
to him, with whom he has embarked his eternal inter
ests. Faith in Christ also produces gratitude. No
sooner does faith receive the blessings of redeeming
love, than the soul feels a sense of gratitude to him
who hath redeemed it to God by his blood. The
same faith produces also meekness, humility, peace,
joy, hope, forgiveness, spiritual mindedness, and every
heaven-bom affection. .As faith itself is of heaven, so
all its works are heavenly. Now this is something
18

206 JUSTIFICATION.
which baptism, penance, supererogation, works of law,
and the like, cannot do. Hence the apostle says,
" For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any
thing, nor uncircumcision anything; but faith which
worketh by love."* When justifying faith in Christ is
exercised, and vigorously maintained, all the other
graces will as invariably follow as effects in nature
follow their appropriate causes. Not more sure is the
rising of the sun to produce light, and the warm beams
and showers to revive the vegetable creation, than is
the dawn of justifying faith in the soul to cause all the
graces of piety to. spring up and grow.
4. Faith in Christ as the condition of justification,
gives all the glory of our salvation to God. No other
condition does this. The very idea of faith implies a
going out of ourselves, and an acknowledging of Christ
as the source of all our hopes. It turns away the eye,
the finger, and the tongue, from all other objects, and
directs them to Christ alone. It fills the eye with
Christ, and only Christ, as the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end of salvation ; — it points the
finger to Christ, and only to Christ, as the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world ; — it
raises the song of praise to Christ, and only to Christ,
" Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive riches,
and honor, and glory, and thanksgiving, and praise,
for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood."! Now whether this is excellent or not, it
is surely scriptural ; — and truly it is very excellent.
* Gal. v. 6. f P-ev. v. 9.

JUSTIFICATION. 207
It is indeed excellent for the sinner thus to have his
pride abased, his self-glorying destroyed, his own right
eousness cast away as filthy rags,* and to come with
a heart to ascribe all praise to whom alone praise is
due, and put on the entire and shining robes of his
Saviour. This is the very spirit of Christianity ; — this
is the Christian's glory.
5. This condition of justification is of universal
practicability. All can understand it. It requires no
uncommon depth of wisdom, or extent of knowledge, —
no Plato, to thread the mysteries of transcendental
science ; no Newton, to scale the heavens ; no Locke,
to explore the labyrinths of the human understanding.
" The word of faith, which we preach, is nigh, even in
thy mouth, and in thy heart."f It is as near the un
learned as the learned, and as easily understood by the
one as by the other. Indeed it often happens, that
the most unlearned learn this sublimest of all know
ledge first; and thus does God herein confound the
wisdom of the wise, and bring to naught the under
standing of the prudent.
Nor does it require maturity of years. The lisping
infant can understand it, just as well as the man on
whose head have lighted the frosts of three score win
ters. The excellent Richard Cecil could teach it to
his little child, as effectually as to the ripest heads of
his intelligent congregation.!' The ignorant and the
learned, the young and the old, meet together here ;
and, as if to make it sure that the latter have no
* Isa. lxiv. 6. f Rom. x. 8. X See Cecil's Remains.

208 JUSTIFICATION.
advantage, the former not unfrequently are first to win
the prize. And while the elemental principle of faith
is thus apprehensible by the youngest and the feeblest
mind, it opens the way into fields of thought wide as
eternity, on which an angel's intellect may gather fruit
forever. O, the depth of the riches, both of the wis
dom and knowledge of God !
As all can understand this condition of justification, so
all can comply with it. It demands only what every per
son can do, at once, in all possible conditions of life. No
long pilgrimage is demanded, — no price to be paid, — no
penalty borne, — no burden to be assumed, — no prepar
ation to be made. All things are ready, and alike ready,
for every man. The humble fisherman mending his
nets, the tax-gatherer sitting at the receipt of custom, the
dying thief on the cross, the publican in the temple,
the proud pharisee on his journey of persecution, the
keeper of the jail in the midnight vigils, and the thou
sands convened on the joyous pentecostal day, could
all with equal ease and convenience comply with this
condition of justification. All could at once believe
and live. This condition is alike adapted to all climes,
ages, classes, and governments. The ignorant and
conceited subject of the Celestial Empire, the haughty
Brahmin of India, the turbaned and bloody Turk, the
wild Indian of the forest, the hardy and fierce Siberian,
wandering amid polar snows, and the poor Hottentot,
scorched and withered with the suns of everlasting
summer, may all unite with the privileged subjects of
more enlightened and civilized nations in complying
with this gracious overture of the gospel. Thus within

JUSTIFICATION. 209
the ability of all to understand and embrace, it is
adapted to go, as on angel-wing, through all the earth,
to light the star of hope on every land, and to kindle
the torch of salvation in all the habitations of men.
6. The excellence of this condition of justification
has been gloriously tested by its fruits. Noah, Abra
ham, all the patriarchs, Moses, David, the prophets,
the apostle tells us, were justified by this condition.*
And what names are these ? They mark the only
brilliant spots in the early pages of the world's his
tory ; — they are the stars of earth's twilight — the her
alds of day to subsequent nations. Where had we
been, but for theml
Observe, too, how this doctrine wrought in apostolic
times. It was this doctrine of faith in Christ as the
condition of justification, that made the apostles what
they were. It was this that faced down the proud
Sanhedrim and displaced the cumbrous mass of human
traditions and gorgeous ceremonies, for the pure and
filial worship of the living God. It was this, that struck
the note of salvation so deeply on the day of Pentecost,
that it vibrated as in a moment through thousands of
hearts, of all nations ; — it was this, that preached so
eloquently on Mars hill, in presence of the congregated
and frowning wisdom of Greece ; — it was this, that
went fearlessly into the very palace of the Cajsars, and
demanded, yes, and obtained, too, higher honors for
the cross of Jesus, than theirs — a richer crown for the
" Man of sorrows " than they wore. It was this that

* Rom. iv. 2. Heb. xi.
18*

210

JUSTIFICATION.

razed, from their deep foundations, the temples of idol
atry ; that carried the tidings of redemption even into
the dark regions of Germany, and Gaul, and Britain,
and thus introduced to our world a new and bright
era. As idolatry cannot stand before this doctrine, neither
can the corruptions of Christianity. For when the
heathenism of Rome had amalgamated with the Chris
tian religion, and thus shrouded the earth in the night
of ages, then it was that this doctrine rose from the
dead, put off its grave-clothes, and in the persons of
the illustrious reformers, went forth to regenerate the
nations. With the resurrection of this doctrine, the
church of Christ arose, put off her sackcloth and her
slumbers, and went forth, clothed with sunbeams, to
meet the bridegroom. Papal impositions were con
founded ; corruptions and superstitions, that had long
cruelly held the minds of men, as with serpent folds,
unclenched their grasp, and fled abashed ; — man again
walked at liberty, and the pure religion of heaven
again descended sweetly and sat dove-like on his heart.
Well might Luther call this the "articulum stantisseu
cadentis ecclesiae," — the article of a standing or of a
falling church. With the renovation of the church,
through the power of this doctrine, the intellect of the
world was aroused ; the heart of man began to beat
with a new and more vigorous pulsation, and all the
energies of his nature awoke to nobler activity.
At this very hour, the individuals, the churches, the
communities, most cordially wedded to this doctrine,
are the purest and brightest lights of Christianity, and

JUSTIFICATION. 211
are doing most to extend its triumphs over the earth.
And what is so excellent in life, is equally excellent in
death. It is this, emphatically, that enables the Chris
tian to read his  " title clear,

To mansions in the skies."
Approaching the grave divested of self-righteousness,
turning entirely away from all false foundations, and
resting by faith on the righteousness of Christ alone,
he feels his foot planted firmly on a rock. Although
the billows of death rise high, and its dark waters roll
over him, faith anchors his soul on Christ and defies
them all. He goes forth solitary, but undaunted, to
the last great conflict, knowing that neither life nor
death, nor things present, nor things to come, will be
able to separate him from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus his Lord.* His intelligent and manly
faith, his calm depth of purpose, his clearness and
reach of vision, his hope full of immortality, afford an
exhibition of moral beauty and sublimity unequalled
on the earth. All other religions are put to shame
here, — the philosophies of the schools are confound
ed, — the wise men and the learned of the earth, equally
with the simple and the ignorant, wonder what it
means. Here is the explanation, in a single sentence :
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith." It is a cordial and implicit faith in
Christ, as an all-justifying Saviour, that subdues every

* Rom. viii. 39.

212 justification.
foe, conquers death and hell, and places the crown of
everlasting life on the victor's brow.
Have you, reader, this faith ? If you have, you are
rich indeed. However poor in this world, you are an
heir, a prince of a kingdom, in which are garnered the
treasures of the universe. If you have it not, what
ever else you may have, you are poor and needy, and
in prospect of -eternity, wretched indeed! Make it
your first object, then, to possess this faith. By all
that is valuable in a holy life and a triumphant death,
by all that is terrible in perdition and glorious in
heaven, seek first a justifying faith in the cross of
Christ.

CHAPTER XII.

ADOPTION.

The next subject in the natural order, after justifi
cation, is adoption. The one prepares the way for
the other. Adoption is an advance on justification.
It brings us nearer to God. The one makes us ac
cepted subjects of law, the other makes us sons. Jus
tification, however important, is a cold, legal idea,
compared with adoption. Those whom Christ has
redeemed, he is not satisfied merely to acquit ; — he
also makes them sons of God. This will more fully
appear, as we proceed to show the nature and benefits
of adoption.
I. Its nature. " The adoption of sons,"* im
plies, of course, that we are not the sons of God by
nature. Men do not adopt their own natural children.
We are declared to be, by nature, "children of the
wicked one."! Neither, if we were by nature the
children of God, should we need to be born again.
How perfectly does the idea of adoption comport with
* Gal. jv. 5. f Matt. xiii. 38.

214

ADOPTION.

that of regeneration. Regeneration effects the spir
itual change required ; adoption owns and seals the
work. Regeneration renews, justification acquits, and
adoption welcomes the renewed and justified soul as an
heir of God.
History clearly developes the origin and meaning of
adoption. It was a custom among the Jews, the
Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, for childless pa
rents of wealth to select favorite children from desti
tute families, take them to their own homes, place their
affections upon them, educate them, treat them as their
own children, make them such in law, and finally to
bequeath to them their estates. This is adoption. It
illustrates the nature of our adoption of God, although
not the reasons for it. So far as the necessities of the
. adopted are concerned, our case is here represented ;
but in other respects the analogy fails. God was not
without illustrious sons, that he needed to adopt any
of earth's poor creatures. His heavens were filled with
flaming spirits, and millions of brilliant stars stood
burning around his throne. Nor were there any at
tractions in these children of the wicked one, that God
was moved to think of adopting them. Mordecai
adopted Esther, because she was exceeding fair ; and
Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses, because the tears
and the smiles of the sweet boy won her heart. But
there is nothing in us to win the heart of God, until
regenerating grace begets his spiritual image in our
souls. The motives of God in adopting us are therefore
purely gracious. This is the more obvious, as God

ADOPTION.

215

anticipates the adoption of Christians, and regards them
prospectively as children, even while they are yet in
bondage. " Now I say that the heir, as long as he is
a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
lord of all ; but is under tutors and governors until the
time appointed of the father." That is — the prospec
tive heir and the servant, while infants together in the
same family, are as yet personally poor alike, and alike
subject to their guardians. " Even so we, when we
were children, were in bondage under the elements of
the world ; but when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons." That is —
the ceremonial rituals and the bondage of sin were upon
them, although prospectively the children of God,
until the appointed time for their deliverance and
adoption by Jesus Christ. " And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no
more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir
of God through Christ."* Having thus become the
sons of God by regeneration and adoption, the spirit
of adoption was given them, and they were henceforth
to feel and act as heirs to the royal inheritance.
Adoption, then, in the scriptural sense, is being gra
ciously taken by God from the condition of aliens and
heirs of perdition, into that of beloved children.
* Gal. iv.

216

ADOPTION.

II. Its benefits. These may be included under
two heads — the blessings of the filial spirit, and those
of the filial relation.
1. The blessings of the filial spirit. " And be
cause ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of
his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."*
Christians receive, then, on being adopted, the same
filial spirit which dwelt in the heart of their incarnate
Saviour. They feel towards God, as Christ felt, in
his filial relation to him. They have the same freedom
of access to him. They can come boldly to the throne
of his grace. They are not afraid to call him their
Father, to claim the privilege of children, and to ask
of him the things they need.
They have towards him the confiding feeling of
children. They feel entire confidence in committing
all their interests, for both worlds, into his hands.
Like the boy in the tempest at sea, who reposed
sweetly in his berth because his father was at the
helm, so it is the privilege of Christians ever to feel
perfectly safe under the protection of their heavenly
Father. They can realize a Father's hand, and see a
Father's care, in all the events of life. They have
towards God the spirit of filial love. Their affections
cling sweetly to him, as their Father in heaven. The
filial Christian can truly say, " Whom have I in heaven
but thee, and there is none upon earth I desire besides
thee."! * Gal. iv. 6. f Ps. lxxiii.25.

adoption. 217
" "Were I in heaven, without my God,
'T would be no joy to me ;
And while this earth is my abode,
I long for none but thee."
The spiritually adopted have thus a sensible delight
in God, and all duties to him become a pleasure.
They have the spirit of filial submission. They
know who it is that appoints the rod, and feel assured
that the heart of their heavenly Father cannot err. If
it is sometimes in their heart to say, with Jesus Christ,
" Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,"
they can also say, with him, " Nevertheless, hot my
will, but thine be done."
They have the spirit of filial gratitude. In every
gift, they see their heavenly Father's care. Every
rain-drop, and every sun-beam, that causes the earth
to yield her bounty, is to them a token of his paternal
love. In the degree that their filial spirit is active,
does the earth seem to put on a brighter green, the
sun shines with a more golden lustre, and even the
midnight star looks out upon them from its dark cham
ber with a sweeter eye. This filial spirit, that sees a
father's hand in every thing, greatly augments their
interest in all the operations of nature. Where the
unregenerate see only the working of a lifeless law,
they look beyond, and see the finger of the living God.
The silvery stream, gliding with gentle murmurs down
the landscape, and the boisterous cataract, plunging
headlong with its deafening thunder ; the placid waters
of a summer's sea, and the terrific noise of angry bil
lows, when the proud waves lift up their heads sky-
19

218

ADOPTION.

ward, and come rolling in strength from afar ; the
soft breezes of evening, that gently fan and refresh us,
and the wild tornado, that stalks furiously through the
land on its errand of destruction ; — the calm sky, the
gentle dew, the fertilizing rain, and the dark and por
tentous thunder-cloud, the forked lightnings, and the
terrific roar of heaven's artillery ; and finally, the rain
bow of promise, bending its glorious arch downward
from the skies, like a smile on the brow of frowns, and
resting upon the earth, reminding us that the Father's
covenant love still bends from heaven to earth and
rests with man — these, and all the other operations of
nature, are to those who feel the lively workings of the
filial spirit the kind and majestic movements of their
heavenly Father.
This same filial spirit enables them also to see the
meaning and enjoy the moral beauties of the Bible.
To those who approach the divine Word with any
other spirit, clouds and thick darkness rest on its pages.
It is only as we approach the Bible with the spirit of
children — the humble, docile, teachable spirit — count
ing our own knowledge ignorance, and our own wisdom
folly — feeling as babes who have every thing to learn
— that the Bible opens to us its luminous pages, as an
Epistle of paternal love from our heavenly Father.
" I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes : — Even so,
Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight."* Hertce
* Matt. xi. 25.

ADOPTION. 219
the spirit of adoption gives an assurance of the truth
and inspiration of the Bible, which nothing else can
impart. The man who has not this witness of the
Spirit, has more or less of doubts. He may be con
vinced, intellectually, and often pronounce his doubts
vanquished ; but they will return, and re-return upon
him, and haunt him all the way down to the grave.
It is only the filial spirit, that plants the two-edged
sword in the heart of infidelity, and lays the cruel ty
rant silent in death.
This same filial spirit teaches Christians the holy
art of prayer. They go to God, feeling that they
know not what to pray for, as they ought to pray ; but
this spirit helpeth their infirmities, and maketh inter
cession for them with groanings which cannot be
uttered.* Finally, this spirit seals the Christian an heir of
heaven. It tends to put from him servile fear, banish
doubts, and yield the sweet assurance that God is in
deed his portion, and heaven his eternal home. " For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God. And if children, then heirs ;
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified to
gether."! * Rom. viii. 26. t GaLiv.

220 ADOPTION.
Thus does this filial spirit, by drawing the Christian
near to God, and placing him beneath the kindlings
of his smile, light up the darkness and alleviate the
sufferings of life. It makes many a little spot, amid
the most rough and frowning scenes, put on the bloom
and fragrance of Eden. It repels the frosts of adver
sity, and strews living green amidst the most desolate
regions of earth. It even causes "roses and myrtles"
to bloom " unchilled on the verge of the avalanche."
No man can thus contemplate the spirit of adoption,
without seeing it to be the richest boon of heaven to
mortals. Without it, in vain do friends smile, and
riches increase, and honors thicken ; — the orphaned
heart will sigh, — and often will the reluctant tongue be
compelled to exclaim, " Vanity of vanities, all is van
ity ; — what profit hath a man of all the labor which
he taketh under the sun." This blessed spirit of adop
tion teaches man what profit he hath of all his labor ;
it points him to his heavenly Father's name, written
with the tears of a Father's love, on all he beholds, on
all he suffers, on all he enjoys. It thus rebukes his
disquietudes, assuages his griefs, consoles his afflictions,
heightens his joys, and renders his existence an un
speakable present as well as prospective privilege.
This spirit of adoption is possessed in different de
grees by different Christians ; — by none, probably, in
so high a degree as might be ; and by all, in different
degrees at different times. There are times when
some are enabled to record, with the sainted Martyn,
" After a long and blessed season in prayer, 1 felt the
spirit of adoption drawing me very near to God, and

ADOPTION. 221
giving me a full assurance of his love. My fervent
prayer was, that I might be more deeply and habitu
ally convinced of his unchanging, everlasting love, and
that my whole soul might be altogether in Christ. I
scarcely knew how to express the desires of my heart.
I wanted to be all in Christ, and to have Christ for
my all in all ; — to be encircled in his everlasting arms,
and to be swallowed up altogether in his fulness. I
wished for no created good, or for men to know my
experience ; but to be one with thee, and live for thee,
O God, my Saviour and my Lord. O may it be my
constant care, to live free from the spirit of bondage,
at all times having access to the Father. This I feel
should be the state of the Christian ; — perfect recon
ciliation with God, and a perfect appropriation of him
in all his endearing attributes, according to all that he
has promised — it is this, that shall bear me safely
•through the storm."*
2. The blessings of the filial relation. We have
spoken of the absolute benefits of adoption ; we are
now to speak of its relative benefits. These are, in
the highest degree, honor, heirship, and security.
The filial relation confers infinite honor. On his
adoption into the family of God, the Christian's name
is enrolled with all the shining names of earth and of
heaven. Abraham, the father of the faithful, with all
who have walked in his lofty steps, and Gabriel, with
his glorious retinue, bowing and singing before the
throne — are not ashamed to see his name on the same

* Memoirs of Henry Martyn.
19*

222

ADOPTION.

page with theirs. They own him as a brother ; — they
embrace him as a welcomed companion of their honor.
His name is enrolled with heaven's nobility. Nor is
this all ; — for Christ himself accords the relation. He
is now, like Christ, a son of God ; is hereafter, like
him, to see God as he is, and be with him perfected in
glory. " Beloved, now are we the sons of God 5— and
it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but this we
know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is."* No honor can excel
this. To be taken by the hand of Christ, conducted
into the presence chamber of Jehovah's glories, and
there acknowledged a son and an heir, is the highest
honor man can aspire to, or angel reach. Ye who
have ambition for honor, here is something worthy of
its pursuit. Here you may let loose all its fires. Let
the flame kindle and burn on your brow, with intensest
ardors, it cannot scathe or shame you. Seek the honor
that cometh from God only, and the noble ambition of
your heart shall be fully gratified.
The filial relation confers also an infinite heirship.
The Scriptures instruct us that Christians are, by their
adoption, made heirs of glory. " And if children, then
heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glori
fied together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest
expectations of the creature, waiteth for the manifes-
* 1 John iii. 2.

ADOPTION. 223
tation of the sons of God."* The Christian thus
earnestly, expects the time, when his sonship will be
made manifest, by his being publicly acknowledged an
heir of the divine glory.
i Christ came to redeem us, " that we might receive
the adoption of sons ; wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, bttt a son ; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ."! Heirship is thus declared to be one
of the distinguishing privileges of adoption.
And to what are Christians made heirs by adoption ?
To all the riches of the universe ! Here is their title
deed, made out and signed by the hand of God, in
letters of blood^" All things are yours, whether Paul,
or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours,
and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."! The
Pauls and Apolloses — all the great and good men of
the earth — all the events of life and of death, shall
subserve their welfare here ; and hereafter, the thrones
and garlands and harps of heaven, the tree of paradise
and river of life, all the redeemed and holy, yea, God
himself, shall be their everlasting inheritance.
The filial relation confers also infinite security. This
is the crowning privilege. None but the Christian has
an inheritance absolutely secure. The infidel has
not ; — for, by his own confession, he knows neither his
inheritance nor his security. The worldling has not ; —
for the grave of all his possessions is already dug ; —
but so sure as the Bible is true, the Christian does
* Rom. viii. 19. f Gal. iv. 5, 6. $ 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23.

224 ADOPTION.
know that his inheritance is as secure as the oath of
the eternal God can make it. His consolation is there
fore strong ; his hope as an anchor, sure and stedfast.
Mark the language — " Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immu
tability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set
before us ; which hope we have as an anchor of the
soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the vail."*
With every form of variety do the Scriptures set
forth the perfect security of those, who have become
the adopted sons of God. " In the fear of the Lord
is strong confidence ; and his children shall have a
place of refuge."\ " The name of the Lord is a
strong tower ; — the righteous runneth into it, and is
safe."% Christians are securely housed in that ark,
which is pledged to withstand every tempest, to out
ride every storm, and to land them safely on the ever
lasting hills. It was the prayer of Christ, that not one
of them may perish ; that all may be with him where
he is, to behold his glory ;||— and what the prayer of
Christ and the oath of God provide for, his omnipo
tence makes sure. The laws of nature are all his ;
the destinies of the universe are at his disposal ; every
particle of dust, every living thing, is in his hand ; and
he is pledged to make all things subserve his everlast-
* Heb. vi. 17, 18. f Prov. iv. 26. J Ps. xviii. 20. || John xvii. 24.

ADOPTION. [ 225
ing glory, in the highest welfare of his children. Dis
ease may waste their bodies ; death may reduce them
to ashes ; oblivion may sweep her dark fingers over
their names, and blot them from the records of the
world ; — but what then ? — those ashes shall again live ;
health and beauty shall return and bloom immortally
upon thein : and the recording angel shall write their
names upon the sky, in letters of living light. The
stupendous economy of this material system may falter
in its course ; — the earth may stagger and reel from her
orbit ; the sun may be turned to darkness, and the
moon to blood, the stars go out in a cloudless midnight,
and all this beauteous creation sink back into the tomb
of chaos ; — the sons of God have lost nothing. Their
God — their heaven — their all — remains.
We conclude the chapter with remarking,
1. Let the world beware how it thinks lightly of
God's sons. They may be of humble birth ; earth
may not know them ; and when they die no lettered
marble may tell the place of their dust. But beneath
the rags of that poor Lazarus, who lies at your gate,
desiring to be fed with the crumbs from your table, is
a son of God ! who is soon to put on the shining gar
ments of heaven and take his place in Abraham's bo
som. Beware how you treat him, for hereafter your
destinies may be reversed.*
And that humble neighbor, who is content to toil
and shine in obscurity, to whose prayers you owe a
thousand blessings, but to whom you would scarcely
* Luke xvi. 23.

226

ADOPTION.

deign to give a cup of cold water, is soon to sit in
glory at the right hand of Jesus, and drink of the
" pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, pro
ceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
Forget not that when the last shall be first and the
first last, yours may be the place of shame, without
even a drop of water to cool your tongue.
An instructive fable has come down to us from ,
Ariosto, of a certain charming daughter of the skies
appearing for a time on earth under a very humble and
repulsive form. Those who treated her kindly while
in her lowly condition, on reascending to her native
glory, she owned as sons : — She revealed herself to
them in her beauteous celestial form, became their
guardian angel, made them happy with her blessing,
and rich with her wealth.
There is more of meaning in what Christ said, than
the world is willing to see, — " Whosoever shall give to
drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water
only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you,'
he shall in no wise lose his reward."
Why this almost universal disposition to overlook,
and even despise, the sons of God ? Why are they
considered a dull, mopish, senseless race, cheated out
of earth's pleasures with a vain and shadowy conceit
of imagined honor and reward hereafter ? Because, as
the apostle says, it doth not yet appear what they shall
be. The men of the world do not know what they
are, or they would not dare to treat them thus. They
are princes in disguise. They are heirs to boundless
wealth, in apparent poverty. As having nothing, they

ADOPTION. 227
possess all things. The attractions of beauty, the
charms of social refinement, the elegancies of dress,
may or may not attend them, — neither the lofty ele
gance of the court, nor the easy polish of highly culti
vated circles, may be theirs ; but in them we behold
the richest treasures of earth, — the sons of God — im
mortal souls washed in the blood of the Lamb. The
world knows them not, because it knew not Christ.
But " the manifestation of the sons of God " will soon
be made. This world is too dark a place in which to
see them as they are. Pearls and diamonds in the
dark look no more beautiful than ordinary stones. As
the same sunbeams reveal the brilliancy of the dia
mond and the dulness of the worthless lump by its side,
so will the light of eternity shed a glorious lustre on
the sons of God and disclose the shame of,his foes.
2. Christians should live in anticipation of an
exceeding glory. They should expect great things.
They should remember that they are sons of God.
And what will not such a Father do, for those whom
he has with such love and expense adopted ?
Does faith stagger at the thought of being made
such glorious creatures as the Scriptures represent the
sons of God to be in heaven ? Then think of what
God has already done. He who could make that liv
ing soul out of nothing, and especially he who could
transform that fallen spirit into a son, in so short a
time, what can he not accomplish during the ages of
eternity ? Truly it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but it is enough to know that we are sons of God ;
and that all an infinite Father can do for those whom

228

ADOPTION.

he has redeemed with his blood, he will do for us.
The child of God is already so changed from what he
was, that he hardly knows his former self. What then
will he be, when he shall have exchanged this earthly
clog for a body nimble as the light and glorious as the
sun ; and when, for successive ages, his views shall
have been enlarging, his heart expanding, and his un
derstanding brightening ?
Christians are to be glorified :* — the glory of Christ
is to be given them. They ought to live on earth,
therefore, as those who expect to live and reign with
Christ forever in heaven. They who are to be kings
and priests with God should keep the world under
their feet. They should soar like the eagle, and look
at the sun. They should anticipate something worthy
of God to bestow upon his children. Then God will
not be ashamed to own them. It was because those
illustrious saints, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, did thus, that God was not ashamed to be
called their God. " These all died in faith, not hav
ing received the promises, but having seen them afar
off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. For they that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country. They desire a bet
ter country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God ; for he hath pre
pared for them acity."-\
* Rom. viii. 30. t Heb. xi. 16.

ADOPTION. 229
With such an inheritance in prospect, Christians
should keep themselves " unspotted from the world."
They should be submissive under trials, patient in ad
versity, and receive the corrections of their heavenly
Father with gratitude. They should set their affec
tions on things above, make no calculations for a por
tion here, maintain a firm repose of soul in the divine
promise, and wait with earnest expectation for the
manifestation of the sons of God. If the earth refuses
to herald their names in the registers of her honored
sons, it is enough for them to know, that they are
recorded in the Book of Life ; if accompanied by no
splendid train of menials, that guardian angels minister
to them ; if, like Abraham and like Jesus himself,
neither home nor honor owns them here, that they are
hereafter to dwell in palaces not made with hands, and
to wear diadems of glory that shall never fade.
3. We have here an object for boundless wonder.
A love of the marvellous is an element of our nature.
Like all our other faculties, it is greatly perverted by
sin ; but it is an essential principle of our original na
ture, and can never be annihilated. God implanted it
within us, because he has a use for it. It pertains to
angers, as well as to men. They, too, " sing the song
of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the
Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty."* And the object which Christ
sets forth, pre-eminently, for our marvel, is the very
work at which angels marvel. " And he will show

* Rev. xv. 3.
20

230

ADOPTION.

him greater works than these," said Christ, " that ye
may marvel."* He had just raised the sick to health,
and absolved them from sin. The greater work which
he was to do, at which they were to marvel, was to
perfect redemption, and set his redeemed as manifested
sons of God in heaven. And hence the apostle says,
" Behold " — wonder — marvel — " what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God."! Here then is something
worthy of our wonder— the thing above all others, for
which our power of wondering was given us. You
cannot wonder too much here. The dying Evarts
began to see things as they are, when he exclaimed,
" Wonderful— wonderful — wonderful ':" How amaz
ing the transformation ! — From an earth-worm to an
angel — from an heir of wrath to a child of God — from
corruption and the grave, to a shining immortality !
Should you see the stones of the street rising up and
brightening into stars ; should you see the very clod
that covers the Christian's grave ascend and take its
place in the firmament, and shine like the sun in his
meridian splendor, the transformation would not be
more wonderful:
But see to it, that your wonder does not give place
to incredulity. Say not, this is too much to believe.
Is any thing too hard for the Almighty? Is this too
hard for him, who formed this earth, and kindled that
sun, and lit up yon starry heavens ? Is it too much to
expect from him, who gave the Son of his own bosom
* John v. 20. t 1 John iii. 6.

ADOPTION. 231
to die for you upon the cross, that he might make you,
through him, his adopted sons ? Hearken to this di
vine logic. " He that spared not his own Son, but
freely gave him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things ?"* That he should
bestow this glory upon you, is wonderful indeed ; but
it is not too much for him to do ; and he will do it,
that ye may marvel.
Nor is the time distant. You are standing right on
the verge of these amazing realities. A few days, and
the curtain will rise, and the wonderful scene open.
O, the glorious discoveries that will flash on your vis
ion, as you enter the eternal world ! Then will you
see, as in a moment, what it is to be sons of God.
What no human eloquence can portray, what even the
Bible itself is unable to set forth, the visions of eternity
will soon reveal. * Rom. viii. 32.

CHAPTER XIII.

PERSEVERANCE.

Do Christians ever fall fatally from grace ? This
is a question between evangelical and Arminian the
ology, of no ordinary interest. The question is no less
than this, Whether any of those whom God has elected,
regenerated, adopted, and sealed heirs of glory, do ac
tually drop from his hand and perish ? We think not.
We believe the Father's will, that of all which he hath
given to Christ, he should lose nothing,* will be ac
complished. The doctrine now to be considered, is that of the
perseverance of the saints. This doctrine is, that once
a Christian always a Christian. Every individual who
has been renewed, justified, adopted, will through di
vine grace infallibly persevere unto eternal life. I shall
now proceed to prove this doctrine from the following
sources. ]. The antecedence of grace. The Christian
did not move first, in the matter of his salvation. The
* John vi. 39.

PERSEVERANCE. 233
grace of God went before him. " We love God," said
the apostle, "because he first loved us."* If the
creature of himself first moved to God, he might of
himself move away from God, in a sense to make his
salvation entirely independent of any will but his own.
All admit that God does not leave Christians, unless
they first leave him. But does he ever permit them
fatally to leave him ? The question is not, whether he
will keep them, if they remain faithful, but whether
he will continue to keep them faithful : — not what he
will do, in consequence of their doing, but what they
will do, in consequence of his doing. He began the
work — his grace goes before them — and the same grace
will go before forever. Despite of all their inward
corruptions and outward temptations, he is able to keep
them from falling, and to present them faultless before
the throne of his glory with exceeding joy. Hence the
apostle says to the Christians of Philippi, — " Being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ."!
From the fact that the grace of God took the lead
in securing our salvation, even while we were yet ene
mies, the apostle deduces the most consoling assurance.
"God commendeth his love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Much more
then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if when we were ene-
emies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his

* 1 John iv. 19. t Phil- i- 6.
20*

234 PERSEVERANCE.
Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by
his life."* There was a time, when the wrath of God
hung impending over us. But the decree of eternal
love went forth, and,
 " recalled

The ministers of vengeance and pursuit,
Back to the gates of heaven : —
 and the thunder,
Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,
 hath spent its shafts, and ceases now
To bellow."
The argument is briefly this, — God, not man, began
the work. And if he began the work, when there was
nothing in the creature to invite but every thing to
repel him, will he now abandon the work, after the
creature has become by grace an object of his com
placent love ? The apostle seems to think not.
2. Analogy. It was ever the way of God to
finish what he begins. He began to build the world,
and although uncounted ages rolled away from the
laying of the foundation to the completion of the struc
ture, his work went progressively onward to its con
summation. Nothing could stop it. Under his steady
counsel and determined hand, out of chaos and dark
ness, by slow and sure stages, emerged this finished
and bright creation. Peradventure, to an angel's eye
the work seemed very long and doubtful ; — its con
summation at times almost to be despaired of. But it
came at last. At God's appointed time, the earth
stood above the floods dressed in living green ; — the
* Rom. v. 9, 10.

PERSEVERANCE. 235
heavens hung out their golden lamps around it ; — the
well balanced wheels of time commenced their glorious
circuits ; paradise bloomed ; the morning stars sang
together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, " It is
finished." All was completed, as it lay in the mind
of Jehovah from eternity.
In all his subordinate works, we observe the same
inflexible going forth from incipiency to completion.
He entered upon the work of destroying the world by
a deluge ; of consuming Sodom and Gomorrah with a
storm of fire ; of humbling the haughtiness of Pharaoh
and his host ; of conducting the children of the cove
nant into Canaan, and driving out the idolatrous tribes ;
of scourging and scattering the nation that rejected
him ; — and in every instance, he finished his work.
" When I begin," he declared by his prophet, "I will
also make an end."* He began to construct an ada
mantine prison for the devil and his angels ; nor did
he desist from the work, till the last bolt was driven
and made fast forever. He began to prepare mansions
for the righteous, nor will his hand cease to multiply
and adorn them, till their pearly gates shall enclose all
the purposed glories of his everlasting love.
Show me an instance, in all the records of ages,
wherein God began a work and left it unfinished. Not
one can you find. I argue then, from analogy, that in
every instance where he has begun a work of grace in
the soul, he will carry it on to completion.
* 1 Sam. iii. 12.

236

PERSEVERANCE.

3. The everlasting covenant of redemption.
In the mysterious depths of past eternal ages a cove
nant was made, in which an inheritance was ensured
to Christ, as the reward of his anticipated sacrifice.
Christ was not to bleed in vain, nor upon any uncer
tainty. His coming into our world was no doubtful
experiment, no fortuitous adventure. A seed was given
to Christ, " before the foundation of the world, "* to
be his eternal inheritance. " My Father which gave
them me," said he, " is greater than all ; and none is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."! And
St. Paul says, " According to the faith of God's elect,
and the acknowledging of the truth which is after god
liness, in hope of eternal life which God that cannot
lie promised before the world began."% This promise
could not have been made to men ; for men did not
then exist. Jesus Christ existed with the Father from
eternity, and with him was this covenant formed.
Again the apostle says, " He hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."\\
And as to his keeping them unto eternal life, though
often compelled to chastise their sins, he declared,
" if his children forsake my law and walk not in my
judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my
commandments, then will I visit their transgressions
with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, neverthe
less my loving kindness ivill 1 not utterly take from
* Eph. i. 4. t John x. 29. X Titus i. 2. || 2 Tim. xi. 9.

perseverance. 237
him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail."* And to the
same intent does Christ say, " This is the Father's
will, which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing."-\ And again he
says, " This is the will of him that sent me, that every
one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life ; and 1 will raise him up at the
last day."\ So sure, then, as there can be no breach
of covenant in the Godhead, all whom the Father has
given to Christ, are made sure to him forever ; — and
this, as he says, includes every believer.
4. The nature of the believer's union with
Christ. Language cannot denote a more sacred and
indissoluble union than that which connects Christ with
his regenerate people. They are the spouse, of winch
he is the husband ;|| the members of the body, of which
he is the head ;§ the branches, of which he is the
vine ;1T — they are even parts of his vital flesh and
hones.** And will he suffer such a union as this to
be destroyed ? Will he be divorced from the chosen
of his heart ? Will he allow the members of his own
body to be torn off? Will he separate his own flesh
and bones ? The false spouse, the spurious member,
the lifeless branch, belongs not to him, and shall be cast
away ; but never the true. " For no man ever yet
hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it,
even as the Lord the church. For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." As Christ
lives, and lives entire, the believer must live also.
* Ps. lxxxix. 30—33. f John vi. 39. J John v. 24.
U Rom. vii. 4 ; Isa. liv. 5. § 1 Cor.xi. 3. IT John v. 15. ** Eph. v. 30.

238

PERSEVERANCE.

5. The prayer of Christ. This is a prayer
that always prevails. Christ himself said, " I knew
that thou hearest me always."* Mark now how he has
prayed for his believers. " As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. I pray not for the
world, but for them which, thou hast given me. Holy
Father, keep through thine own name those whom
thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.
Sanctify them, through thy truth."! An(i hast some
of his future followers should be left to the gloomy
supposition that they were not interested in his prayer,
he adds, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for those,
also which shall believe on me through their word, that
they all may be one, as thou Father art in me and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us. And the glory
which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they
may be one even as we are one ; I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that
the world may know that thou hast loved them, as
thou hast loved me."! Again he says, " Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which
thou hast given me." There is thus an ever-availing
prayer lodged in heaven's high court for all Christians,
that they may be kept from falling, perfected in holi
ness, dwell forever with Christ in heaven, and behold
his glory. Can there then be a failure ?
* John xi. 43. t John xvjj. 2. X John xvii. 20—24.

perseverance. 239
6. The divine expenditure upon this work.
The treasures which God has already lavished upon
the souls of believers, are a pledge that he will not
abandon the undertaking. Suppose you were to see a
man expending a large fortune upon the erection of a
magnificent house ; but before it is completed so as
to be inhabitable, the work suddenly stops ; — and there
the desolate walls remain from year to year, marred
and wasted by time, shattered by wintry blasts, pro
claiming mournfully to every passer-by, that either the
wisdom or the resources of the builder were wanting.
In either case, the fortune is wasted ; and the builder
is remembered only to be pitied or derided.
Think now of the treasures which God has expended
upon the work of redemption ; — the tears and blood
of his own Son. Consider how long he has been en
gaged in this work, and what agencies he has em
ployed. Not to go on and perfect it, would be to
throw away all this expense, to make the sacrifice of
Christ of no avail ; — to cause the cross — the central
glory of the universe — to stand only as an everlasting
monument of failure ! As the dreadful ages of eternity
roll along, and its awful storms sigh around the mourn
ing cross, what do they utter to the ears of despairing
angels ? Hear, ye soaring spirits, and be confounded.
Your God, in whom you have garnered up all your
hopes, began a mighty work, expended his choicest
treasures upon it, and then abandoned it ! Let every
harp be hung upon the willows ; let every song he
changed to a sigh ; let every bright robe give place
to sackcloth and ashes ; let the stars of heaven be'

240 PERSEVERANCE.
quenched ; let shouts of triumph be exchanged for
wailings of despair ! Who can tell how soon the pil
lars of heaven may be left to fall. And even if a
single soul that has been washed in atoning blood, and
given in covenant to Christ, should be plucked from
the Father's hand, there would be cause of everlasting
distrust and sadness in heaven, and hell's heavy note
of monotonous despair would be relieved with a horrid
yell of malicious gladness.
7. The promise and oath of God. So soon as
a sinner repents and exercises justifying faith in Christ,
the great God is in covenant with him, and is engaged,
by bonds and oath, to see his salvation made sure.
"Wherein God," says the, inspired writer, " willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of salvation
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
that by two immutable things, in which it was impos
sible for God to lie, we might- have strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us ; which hope we have, as an anchor of the
soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the vail."* " If we believe not " — that
is, although it seem too good to believe, and we are
therefore sometimes left to doubt — " yet he abideth
faithful, he cannot deny himselff Again God says
of believers, " They shall be my people, and I will be
their God. And I will give them one heart and one
way, and they shall be my people forever. And I
will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I
* Heb. vi. 17, 18. f 2 Tim. ii. 13.

PERSEVERANCE. 241
will not turn away from them to do them good, but I
will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not de
part from me."* Hence the apostle could triumph
antly say, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also
called ; and whom he called, them he also justified ;
and whom he justified, them he also glorified."! The
true Christian, just in the degree of his evidence that
he is such, can therefore take up the consoling assur
ance, — " We are more than conquerors, through him
that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come ; nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."! These are briefly our reasons for holding the gracious
doctrine of the saints' perseverance; and until we can
see better reasons than these for renouncing it, let us
continue to hold it, as an anchor to our souls, sure and
stedfast. But there are two or three plausible objections,
which justice to the subject requires us to notice.
1. The Bible has warnings against falling. True,
and these very warnings are among the means of keep
ing Christians from falling. Now you must not make
the means which God employs to accomplish his pur
pose, serve you as proof that he will not accomplish
his purpose. Such logic as this will not do. With
all true Christians, these warnings are effectual ; for it

* Jer. xxxii. 40. f Rom. viii. 30. | Rom. viii. 37, 38.
21

242 PERSEVERANCE.
is in their hearts to believe and obey God. So St.
Paul warned the sailors against leaving the ship, telling
them that their salvation depended on their remaining
in It. " Except these abide in the ship," he said, "ye
cannot be saved."* And this he said, after he had
assured them, by a revelation from heaven, that not
one of them would be lost. The one was as true as
the other. If it was certain that not one of them would
be lost, it was equally certain that they would heed ¦
the warning and abide in the ship. And just so, if it
is certain that Christians will be kept unto salvation, it
is equally certain that they will heed the warnings
against falling, and abide in Christ.
2. It is said the Scriptures teach us, that Chris
tians sometimes actually do fall fatally from grace.
This we boldly deny. We are referred to the cele
brated passage in Heb. vi. 4 : — " For it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come, i/they shall fall
away, to renew them again to repentance." Now if
this passage proves that any Christians actually do fall
to perdition, it proves too much for the Arminian the
ory of fall and recovery. That theory which we op
pose advocates falling again and again, and of being
again and again restored. But this Scripture precludes
all restoration. The passage, however, is plainly hy
pothetical, intended for warning and encouragement
* Acts xxvii.

PERSEVERANCE. 243
only. So far from teaching that true Christians actu
ally do fall, the apostle is careful to add immediately,
" But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you,
and things which accompany salvation, though we
thus speak."
The other favorite passage of the advocates of fall
ing from grace, is in Peter ii. 20 : — " For if after they
have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the
knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter
end is worse with them than the beginning. For it
had been better for them not to have known the way
of righteousness, than after they have known it to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
But it has happened to them according to the true
proverb. The dog is returned unto his own vomit
again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing
in the mire." A most unfortunate passage for them,
after all. Christians are never in the Scriptures com
pared to swine and dogs. They are the "lambs"*
of Christ ; while those unclean animals represent the
ungodly.! The swine and the dog, although they are
sometimes for a while improved in their habits and
appearance, yet, retaining their old nature, and subse
quently returning to their customary practices, forcibly
represent the case of those who are for a time appar
ently renewed, but who, not really changed in heart,
after a season return to their former ways. Were the
dog and the swine changed into lambs, they would
* Luke x. 3. t Rev- ™i- 15-

244

PERSEVERANCE.

never return, the one to his vomit and the other to his
wallowing again in the mire. The case of all who
fall, therefore, is a case of falling from only apparent,
not real, grace.
3. It is said that the doctrine of the saints' perse
verance weakens the motives for holy living. Having
proved the doctrine true from the Scriptures, we are
under no obligation to meet this objection. But we
will meet it, by setting off one assertion against an
other. We assert, then, that it can produce this effect
only in the case of hypocrites and self-deceivers. It
may hasten the exposure of such, but as to real Chris
tians, it renders them the more stedfast and devoted.
It makes them realize what a great, solemn, glorious
event it is, to be regenerate heirs of God ; — it conducts
them away from all that is false and capricious in self-
dependence, to the rock of ages. It makes them think
less of themselves, and more of God. Hence faith,
love, humility, gratitude, joy, hope, assurance, are all
natural fruits of this doctrine. It operates as a charm
of seven fold chords, to bind the believer's heart to his
Saviour. Under its legitimate influence, he is no lon
ger the victim of a pale and sickly caprice, but has a
robust and manly constitution. He is stedfast, unmov-
able, always abounding in the work of the Lord ; for
asmuch as he knows that his labor is not in vain in the
Lord."* Here then, ye heirs of grace, is the source of your
strength and joy. Here is your well of salvation,
* 1 Cor. xv. 58.

perseverance. 245
whence the waters of life eternally flow. Looking to
Jesus, you are surely conquerors. It was for you, that
the Godhead took on him the humiliations and sorrows
of humanity ; for you he sweat and agonized in the
garden ; for you his back was furrowed with the cruel
lash, and his soul crushed with sins more cruel stroke ;
for you he hung in ignominy and torture on the cross :
and will he after all abandon you ? Will he trifle with
his own tears and blood ? Impossible !
" Grace will complete what grace begins,
To save from sorrow and from sins ;
The work that wisdom undertakes,
Eternal mercy ne'er forsakes."
Discouragements may sometimes thicken on your
path, — you may seem too feeble to grapple with them ;
but remembering the Father's will, that of all which
he hath given to Christ he shall lose nothing, arms
the feeblest spirit with omnipotence. " Have you not
heard, have you not known, that the everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth
not, neither is weary 1 He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the
young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount
up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be
weary, and they shall walk and not faint."* Chris-

* Isa. xl. 30, 31.
21*

246 perseverance.
tians are to trust in God at all times — times of dark
ness, as well as light. We have heard of a certain
people that chose to worship the sun, because he was
a day-god. Supposing the sun quenched in the sea at
night, they imagined their confidence and duties to
wards him then suspended, till another morning rose.
Not so the Christian ; — he is to trust his God in the
dark, as well as in the light. He is to be as confid
ing, as stedfast, as devout, in the gloomy depths of
midnight, as in the splendors of high noon.
Ye who have become sons of God by faith in Christ,
what a privilege is yours ! Children of an almighty
and unchanging Father, before the world's foundations,
you were his in purpose, you are now his in grace, and
you are soon to be his in glory. As God liveth, it
must he so. Your salvation does not depend upon
yourselves. The mighty responsibility rests on no
human will ; — no not on an angel's wing. It has been
surrendered by faith to an omnipotent Redeemer. As
his arm is all-powerful, so is his grace inexhaustible.
The rivers may cease to flow ; the waters of the ocean
may dry up ; — but the streams of Jehovah's covenanted
love to his redeemed, will never cease ; the abundance
of his grace in Jesus Christ, can never fail. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but his word shall not pass
away. Courage, then. Be strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might. A few more conflicts, and all
will be over. Your feet will stand on mount Zion,
and the song of victory will be upon your lips. A

perseverance. 247
few more hungerings and thirstings after righteousness,
a few more tears, and the Lamb which is in the midst
of the throne shall feed you, and shall lead you unto
living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away
all tears from your eyes.

CHAPTER XIV.

intermediate state.

Discoursing upon the end of life, the wise preacher
said, " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave
it."* Two solemn facts are here announced — the
return of our mortal bodies to their kindred earth, and
of our immortal spirits to God. The former is that
great debt, which all who live must pay. The strong
men must bow themselves, and all the daughters of
music must be brought low. The silver chord of life,
which held together, as in wedlock-bands, the spirit
and the body, must be loosed ; the golden bowl, filled
with earth's choicest dainties, must be broken, — the
pitcher at the fountain, about to bear a refreshing
draught to the parched lips, shall be suddenly dashed ;
the light of the eyes shall be quenched, desires shall
fail, and the icy hand of death embrace the quivering
frame. Man goeth to his long home, and the mourn
ers go about the streets. But is this all ? The Scrip-
* Eccl. xii. 7.

INTERMEDIATE STATE. 249
tures assure us not. While the dust returns to the
earth, the spirit returns to God to give up its account.
We are now to speak of the intermediate state
between death and the resurrection.
An opinion has extensively obtained, that between
death and the resurrection the soul has no conscious
existence. Are we then to believe, as we look upon
the solemn and placid face of the corpse, after the
death-struggle is over, that the intelligent spirit, which
a moment before communed with us, has ceased ito
act, or is locked up in that frozen form, to descend
with it to the grave ?
The advocates of this opinion are divided between
two theories ; — the one, that the soul is a vapory,
aerial, or fluid substance, pertaining to the body, and
dependent on its physical organization. This is the
theory of materialism. The other theory is, that the
soul is a separate existence from the body, but falls
asleep at death, to wake not till the resurrection.
They amount to the same thing — the annihilation of
conscious existence.
This opinion has obtained extensive currency. It
was maintained by the celebrated Dr. Priestly, the
champion of liberal Christianity, and is still advocated
by his followers of various names and sects. Others
have no settled opinion on the subject ; — and others
still, who are convinced of the truth in their own
minds, think that our condition between death and the
resurrection is so trifling an affair, compared with eter
nity, as to be hardly worth contending for. Hence

250

intermediate state.

it is that ministers have so seldom preached on this
subject. Grant that the period between death and the resur
rection will seem as nothing to the righteous, when
they awake from their oblivious sleep ; — it is on the
living, not the dead, that God's revelation was designed
to act. And what living man can persuade himself,
that it is of little consequence whether Noah, Abra
ham, Lot, and Moses, have been for three or four
thousand years in the glories of heaven, or in a state
of annihilation ? And all our friends who have died
in the Lord, together with the millions of millions of
his people who have finished their course on earth, can
it be a matter of indifference with us whether they are
now in a state of annihilation, or are glorifying and
enjoying God in that brighter world ? And with whom
can it 'be a matter of small moment, whether he is
himself to be, in a few days, in the world of retribu
tions, or as though he had never been ? What dying
Christian can haye the stoicism to consider it all one,
whether he is going directly to see his Redeemer, and
live with him, or to be petrified for unknown ages in
the marble slumbers of the grave ? On the dying
vision of Stephen a dawn of the heavenly glory beamed :
and is it of little importance whether the curtain of
death intercepted it, and laid an oblivious night of ages
on his soul, or whether his blest eyes are now drinking
in the light of heaven and his spirit ranging its happy
fields ?
We wish to know, when death shall come to stare
us in the face, and lay on us his icy fingers, what he

INTERMEDIATE STATE. 251
is commissioned to do with us ; — whether to hand us
over to the warm embrace of our Saviour, and the
sweet fellowship of angel-spirits, or consign our pant
ing spirits for unknown ages to the horrible gloom of
annihilation. Let us see then what light the Scriptures shed on
this subject.
The position which I am to demonstrate is this —
Tfiat between death and the resurrection the souls of
men, disembodied, are in a state of living, active, con
scious existence, enjoying or enduring the retributions
of eternity.
All but atheists admit that there is a God, who is
himself a pure Spirit. He is independent of all mate
rial organization. He created celestial spirits, like
himself, which the Scriptures call angels. Not that
angel-spirits are, like God, independent. They live
not by underived strength, they shine not with unbor
rowed lustre. In this respect, God, the infinite Spirit,
is unlike all created spirits. While he receives aid
from none, all the worlds of matter and of mind hang
on his omnipotent will ; — while all created lights are
too feeble to reach him, he throws, like the sun, the
beams of his throne over the universe.
But that he has peopled the heavenly worlds with
a race of spirits, like himself in respect to independency
of material organizations, is a plain matter of revela
tion. Evidently he could then, if he chose, create
another order of spirits, and place them in connection
with material bodies. This is what we believe he has
done. Man considered as an animal, and man consid-

252 intermediate state.
ered as a rational soul, is of two natures, — the one he
holds in common with the brute creation, the other,
with the angelic tribes. Although they are here, for
purposes of probation, placed in connection, yet the
existence of the one does not depend upon that of the
other. It is certain that God can create a living body,
and endow it with all the properties of intelligent ani
mal life, without placing it in connection with an im
mortal soul. This he has done in the case of the brute
creation. It is equally certain that he can create an
immortal spirit, and endow it with all the properties of
intelligent spiritual life, without placing it in connection
with a mortal body. This he has done in the case of
the angelic creation. Now man upon earth is a com
plex being, partaking of both the mortality of the ani
mal, and the immortality of the angel.
Animal life can exist only under some organized
form ; but spiritual life can exist in the highest degree
of intensity, as in God, independently" of all material
forms. On awaking from profound sleep, or a state
of suspended animation, the soul often makes no report
of the interval, because its communication with the
present organized mode of existence -has been inter
cepted ; — at other times, however, this communication
is allowed to go on, and then the soul brings back the
most thrilling reports of its visions of bliss or of wo.
Indeed the highest activities of the soul ever known,
have been in the feeblest slates of the body, and even
when the body was apparently dead. The brightest'
light ever poured on the mental eye, the richesfmelo-
dies that ever charmed the ear, have been enjoyed

intermediate state. 253
when all the physical organs were closed as fast as if
death had- put his iron chain upon them. These facts
prove, beyond controversy, that the soul does not need
this bodily eye, in order to see, nor this bodily ear, in
order to hear, nor any of these bodily faculties, in or
der to put forth its lofty activities. It can indeed use
this body, but it is a coarse and clumsy machine for so
subtle and mighty an agent — rather a clog than a help
— and is undoubtedly intended for its trial and disci
pline. They demonstrate that there is nothing absurd,
or even improbable, in the doctrine of the active, con
scious existence of the soul between death and the
resurrection. The question is however to be settled only by reve
lation, and to that source we now appeal. You will
observe that the precise point to be proved is this, that
those who have died from the earth are not in a state
of annihilation till after the resurrection, but'are now
living and acting intelligencies. " And after six
days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
and was transfigured before them ; — and his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as
the light. And behold there appeared unto them
Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered
Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to
be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three taber
nacles ; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for
Elias."* Moses had been dead some fifteen hundred
years. Had his soul been in a state of annihilation,
* Matt. xvii. 1—4.
22

254 intermediate state.
howuould he have presented himself on this mount
of transfiguration. He was not translated, like Elijah,
but the sacred historian informs us that his body was
buried in a valley in the land of Moab, over against
Beth-peor. He must then have existed as a living
spirit ; — and he was allowed in this instance, as angel-
spirits often were, to assume a visible form, like Elijah,
for the purpose of presenting himself to human eyes.
There is no escaping from this inference, but in the
supposition that either Moses had been actually raised
from the dead- — of which we have no hint, — or that
the account is a mere fiction, intended for embellish
ment and effect — which no honest believer can admit.
Moses, therefore, as truly as Elijah, although his mor
tal dust sleeps in the valley of Moab, is still a living
and acting being.
The penitent thief on the cross " said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy king
dom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto
thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."*
On that day, before the sun went down, they both
expired on the cross ; but Christ was not raised from
the dead till the third day after. The bodies of the
Saviour and of the saved went to the tomb, but their
spirits met, on that day, in paradise. Now paradise
does not mean the torpor of death, or annihilation.
Paradise was the word among the Jews to signify a
state of happiness, and glory. It is the synonyme
for heaven. The soul of the penitent thief did not
then sleep with the body, but went directly from the
cross into a state of conscious bliss.
* Luke xlii. 43.

intermediate state. 255
" And fear not them," said Christ, " which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear
him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."*
Here Christ teaches that the body may be killed,
without killing the soul. Men may terminate the ani
mal life, but they cannot extinguish the life of the
spirit. This proves that there is a life in man superior
to that of the body, and over which natural death has
no power.
The account of the rich man in hell, and of Laz
arus in Abraham's bosom proves the same. The
rich man was not translated, for we are informed that
he " died and was buried." Neither was Lazarus, for
he also died, and was " carried by angels into Abra
ham's bosom."f History informs us, that it was a com
mon saying of the Jews, when a good man was about to
die, " To-day shall he sit in the bosom of Abraham."!
The phrase, " Abraham's bosom," was used by them
to denote heaven, or the state of bliss. Here then
we are informed of a soul in heaven, and of a soul
in hell, while their bodies were in the grave, and their
relatives were yet living in this world. Now it does
not alter the case to say this is a parable, for a just par
able is the antitype of facts and is always intended to
illustrate truth ; and the very point of truth here illus
trated, is, that were a ghost from the eternal world to
assume the body and appear to men on earth, he would
not persuade those who will not believe on evidence
already furnished. It is impossible to deny this proof
* Matt. x. 28. t Luke xyi. 19—31. J Du Pin.

256 intermediate state.
of the activity of the soul in the intermediate state,
without rejecting the testimony of Christ altogether.
" I knew a man in Christ," says St. Paul, " above
fourteen years ago — whether in the body I cannot tell,
or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God know-
eth — such an one caught up to the third heaven. And
I knew such a man — whether in the body or out of the
body, I cannot tell, God knoweth— how that he was
caught up to paradise, and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for a man to utter."* He
is here relating a remarkable vision, which he had of
the eternal world. And so entirely independent of the
body does he make the soul, that he says he cannot
tell whether, when he had the vision, he was in the
body or out of it. Showing, clearly, that the spirit
may have glorious views of heavenly things when out
of the body ; and nioreover, that in the apostle's opin
ion, its views may be more glorious when out of the
body than when in it ; — for it was the extraordinary
character of his vision, that made him suppose his spirit
might have been for a time emancipated from the body.
"Therefore we are always confident, knowing that
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present with
the Lord."-\ Here we are clearly taught, that there
is a mode of existence separate from the body, in
which the conscious soul is in the enjoyment of its
Saviour. None can doubt, that to be absent from the

* 2 Cor. xii. 2—4. t 2 Cor. v. 8. "

intermediate state. 257
body means death ; and that to be present with the
Lord does not mean either torpor or annihilation, but a
delightful sense of the divine presence and glory.
" For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my
labor. Yet what I shall choose, I wot not. For I
am in a straight betwixt the two, having a desire to
depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."*
Could it possibly be gain to die, if death were to his
conscious spirit a state of annihilation ? Is departing
to be with Christ, synonymous with passing into a state
of oblivion ? Then we may as well all turn atheists.
Paul desired to depart and be with Christ, because he
considered that a greater privilege, so far as himself
was concerned, than the service of Christ here. Al
though his communion with Christ on earth gave him
great joy, his communion with him on leaving the
body would afford greater. The passage admits of no
other construction.
"And when he had opened the fifth seal," says
St. John, " I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony
which they held. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth ?"! Here the apostle has a vision of the
eternal world, and he beholds the souls of martyrs, while
yet the wicked were prospering in the earth, holding
communion with God.

* Phil. i. 21—24. t Rev. vi. 9, 10.
22*

258 intermediate state.
"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels ; to the
general assembly and church of the first born, which
are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant."* Here the
apostle instructs us, that by becoming Christians we
become allied to the city of God, the new Jerusalem —
heaven — in which are God, and Christ, and angels,
and the spirits of just men made perfect. Now these
perfected spirits of justified men could not beChristians
living on the earth, for it was these that the apostle
was addressing. And their being made perfect cannot
mean that they are in a state of unconscious sleep or
annihilation ; if so, we must all look, as the end of our
race, for the slumbers of an everlasting night. The
only solution is, that the spirits of justified men, when
they die, pass directly into a perfected state in heaven,
to commune with God, and Christ, and holy angels.
The doctrine of the resurrection was not distinctly
taught, until the Christian advent, yet patriarchs, saints,
prophets, of the Old Testament, lived and died in full
assurance of immortal life and bliss beyond the grave.
" These all died in faith, not having seen the promises
but embracing them, and confessing that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth."! And down to
the time of Christ, all the Jews, save the single infidel
sect of Sadducees, firmly believed in the conscious and
active existence of the soul immediately after death.
* Heb. xii. 22, 23. f Heb. xi.

intermediate state. 259
This notion of an intermediate sleep, or annihilation, is
a figment of comparatively modern infidelity.
The language commonly used by the ancients to
denote death, is very expressive of their views. It is
giving up the ghost, or spirit. It denotes the return
of the body to the earth, and the giving up of the spirit
for retribution. Accordingly when the righteous died,
they were said to be gathered to their people. This
was said of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others. Some
have supposed that being gathered with their people
means being buried with them ; — but this cannot be,
for all the people of Abraham were buried in Padan
Aram, or in Ur of the Chaldees ; while he was buried
in the cave of Macpelah, in Canaan. Neither was
Isaac buried with his people. Their people with whom
they were gathered at death, to be the companions of
their joy, were not corruption and worms, but the gen
eral assembly and church of the first born, the spirits
of just men made perfect.
That Job had a glimpse of the resurrection, in his
extraordinary vision of the future, does not prove that
the resurrection was then commonly apprehended, for
his views were far above the level of the dispensation
then enjoyed.
It appears then, that unless the faith of all the an
cient saints was a vain faith, and unless the ruthless
hand of a licentious criticism, or the vagaries of a loose
interpretation, be allowed to destroy some of the plain
est teachings of the Bible. We must admit that the
souls of men do at death enter directly into a state of
conscious retributions.

260 intermediate state.
The soul is then an essence entirely distinct from
the body. It is not a mere chain of exercises ; — it is
a positive, existence — a reality — as truly as matter.
Thought, love, fear, hope, veneration, and all the ope
rations of an intellectual and moral nature, must have
their basis in something real. If from nothing only no
thing comes, the greatest of effects can come only from
the greatest of causes. And what are the effects of mat
ter, compared with those of the intelligent spirit — that
spirit before which the savage wilderness melts away
and becomes a blooming paradise ; which constructs
a high path for ships over the trackless sea ; which
compels all the laws of nature into its service, and even
snatches the flashing lightnings from their clouds ;
which can dart in an instant over spaces which it would
require ages for light to traverse ; and finally, which
can with a single leap pass " the flaming bounds of
time and space," and burn with seraphic joys before
the throne of God !
We do not know but the spirit of Paul was permit
ted to leave the body for a season, when he was caught
up into heaven, and heard those words which it is not
lawful for a man to utter ; and we know not how much
truth is to be attached to the claims of mesmerism —
that the spirit may be charmed away from the body,
and sent on errands of wonderful discovery ; — but we
believe it to be a general law of our present condition,
that the soul and the body — the immortal and the
mortal — shall be separated only by death. We cannot
always accompany the spirit through that mysterious
and dark valley ; which to the Christian, however, is

intermediate state. 261
usually far from dark. Sometimes the diseased body
afflicts the spirit with a dethronement of reason, wild-
ness of fancy, or utter obliviousness, and always with
more or less of its own earthliness, until the final, de
cisive moment comes, when death executes his com
mission, strikes the blow, and opens the prison-door.
At that instant the emancipated spirit goes forth, a free
denizen of eternity. It then enters upon the higher
walks of existence. Like a bird let loose, it moves
with unfettered wing in its own proper element. Its
faculties are quickened into a more vigorous and com
manding activity ; its perceptions become immeasura
bly more lucid and comprehensive, than while they
were restricted in these dull fetters of clay. The
Scriptures instruct us that a private judgment is passed
upon every individual, on leaving the body. He is
found to be in a justified, or an unjustified state — in
harmony with the laws of the moral universe and the
grace of redemption, or otherwise — a lover of God and
holiness, or the opposite, — and according as he is the
one, or the other, he is approved or condemned. In
the one case, he has within him the elements of ever
lasting bliss ; in the other, those which must embitter
his immortality. In the one case, therefore, he sees
the King in beauty — beholds Christ as he is, and thus
beholding him is perfectly transformed into his moral
likeness. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be,
but this we know, that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is."* In the
other case, he sees no beauty in heaven's king, appal-
* 1 John iii. 2.

262 intermediate state.
ing frowns sit as a cloud on the face of his Judge, and
by the withering and desolating sentence of exclusion
he is, like a star struck from its sphere, lost to all the
sweet and glorious attractions of heaven, and doomed
to the blackness of darkness forever.
The former enters, therefore, immediately upon a
state of unalloyed bliss, the latter upon a state of cor
responding wo. The former begins to drink full
draughts of the river of lifb ; the latter to feel the burn
ing thirst of ungratified desires, remorseful conscience,
and frowning justice.
Whether there are localities for the righteous and
the wicked, on leaving the body, I shall not here stop
to inquire ; but would simply say, it is unnatural to
suppose that the wicked are allowed to dwell with the
righteous, and that it seems most reasonable to suppose
that they are at once consigned to the place prepared
for them. Our Saviour said he was going to prepare
mansions for his people, and it is not to be presumed
that he will exclude them from those mansions till after
the resurrection. We believe that Noah, and Abra
ham, and Paul, are already there. It may sometimes
be the privilege of the departed Christian, for aught
we know, to linger about the scenes of earth ; but there
is a higher privilege, from which we cannot think him
excluded — to open his eyes on the splendors of those
-celestial mansions, and gaze on the ineffable glories of
Christ. These considerations bring eternal retributions very
near. It is but a breath, a vapor, that separates us
from them. They also invest death with an amazing

intermediate state. 263
solemnity. It is not " the pains, the groans, the dying
strife ;" not the parting with all the possessions and
friendships of earth ; not the narrow house of gloom
and corruption, awaiting the body, that imparts the
shrinking dread to death ; — it is the fact that the undy
ing spirit is about to open its eye on the tremendous
scenes of eternity. That active, conscious, immortal
spirit, is about to meet its Judge, and render its last
account ! The curtain that has hitherto hung before
the eye of the probationer is about to rise, and all that
is glorious in an eternity saved, or awful in an eternity
lost, is about to burst on his vision. A few hours or
moments, and his eternal destiny will be fixed in
heaven or in hell ! The hour, the moment, at length
comes ! There is an awful pause. The last struggle
of nature is over ; — the gates of mortality are thrown
open ; — the struggling spirit has escaped. And as we
gaze upon the calm, pale form, now only a form, that
deathless spirit is awaking to more amazing realities
and more mighty activities than we have ever con
ceived. Is it a spirit of sin ? He that is filthy is
filthy still. No welcome voice of love from heaven
falls on his ear ; — he cannot soar and sing with an
gels ; — he cannot see that glorious face which illumines
the heavenly worlds, — for only the pure in heart can
see God ; — no sweet remembrances of the past, or
anticipations of the future cheer him, and he sinks into
the unutterable woes of an undone eternity.
Is he a spirit of holiness ? He that is holy is holy
still. His pure and piercing eye descries the far-roll
ing worlds of brightness, all radiant with the glory of
God and the Lamb. An innumerable company of

264 intermediate state.
angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, invite
him with their hallelujahs to come up higher. With
bounding joy, he exclaims, " I mount, I fly : —
0 death, where is thy victory ?
O grave, where is thy sting?"
In a moment the gates of glory receive him ; — and
while our tears are falling, he is in the midst of the
visions of that world, where God wipes all tears
away ; — while our mournful silence is broken only
with sobs of grief, his ears are drinking the melodies of
heaven, and he is beginning to sing that new song
which no man on earth can learn. He has reached
his home — and so shall he be " forever with the Lord."

CHAPTER XV.

RESURRECTION.

At the famous pool of Bethesda lay a great multi
tude of the victims of disease — the blind, the halt, the
withered — awaiting the angelic blessing of the waters.
Among these was one who had been bowed under in
firmity thirty-eight years. His case touched the com
passion of Jesus, and, at the bidding of that almighty
power which will eventually quicken all the dead, the
bands of disease fell off, the man was made whole and
took up his bed and walked. The gazing multitude
marvelled. But Jesus said, " Marvel not at this, for
the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth."* As much
as to say, ' This is unworthy of a marvel, compared
with what I shall do hereafter. For with the same
power which has raised this sick man to health, I shall
hereafter raise all the dead.'
The resurrection of the dead is emphatically a doc
trine of the New Testament. Faintly indeed was it

* John v. 28.
23

266 resurrection.
shadowed forth in the Old. It was not till Christ
himself had in his own person robbed the tomb of its
prey, and become the first fruits of the slumbering my
riads, that this glorious doctrine took firm possession of
the apostolic mind. Then it was that that mind was
so mightily electrified. A stream of light came upon
it all at once from the chambers of hitherto impenetra
ble darkness ;— a new world opened. Death was to
the apostles no longer death ; — the gates of the grave
became the portals to a state of perfected and ever
lasting life.
To this doctrine philosophy has urged her strong
objections. She tells us that the bodies of the dead
have passed through endless transformations ; — their
fluids, now exhaling in vapors or descending in rain
drops, now becoming alternately the juice of vegeta
bles, or the sap of the forest trees ; — their solids, pass
ing at one time into the bones of other animals, at
another into the stones or timber or furniture of pur
dwellings, at another into the lightest dust, and flying
in every direction on the wings of the wind. At length,
all comes round again, both fluid and solid, into some
other form of organized life.
" Where is the dust that has not been alive ?
The spade, the plough, disturb our ancestors ;
From human mould we reap our daily bread.
The globe around earth's hollow surface shakes,
And is the ceiling of her sleeping sons."
The Pharaohs of Egypt sought to perpetuate their
dust in a rocky immortality, but they could not. Even
those massive and stupendous pyramids were too feeble

resurrection.

267

to hold the monarchs' ashes, that they should not frus
trate the designs of selfishness and go forth in generous
servitude, to do for ages coming what they had done
for ages past.
But let two things be distinctly remembered ; — first,
no matter is annihilated. Every particle that shall
compose our bodies when entombed, will be in exist
ence on the resurrection morning, and the eye of Om
niscience will know where to find it. Secondly, the
same power which could mould this matter into so
many earthly shapes, and make it subservient to so
many earthly purposes, can transform it into celestial
bodies, and thus make it subservient to the purposes
of immortal spirits.
The doctrine of the resurrection is this, — That at
the end of the world the almighty power of Christ will
transform the dust of all the dead into immortal bodies.
These bodies will be spiritualized ; not strictly imma
terial, for then they would not be bodies. They will
be made " like unto " spirit as distinguished from the
grossness, clumsiness, sensuality, and decay of these
earthly bodies. The bodies of the saints will be like
that of Christ, of ineffable beauty and transcendent
glory. And now for the proof of this doctrine. As it has
been so confidently urged that science is against it, I
shall consider it, first, in the light of science, and then
in the light of Scripture.
The argument from science would be needless, but
for the fact that the utter incompatibility of the doc
trine of a literal resurrection with natural philosophy

268 resurrection.
has been so strenuously maintained, as to force a fig
urative or secondary meaning on those scriptures which
teach the doctrine. I shall therefore first show that
sound seience proves nothing against the doctrine, but
that, so far as she utters at all, she declares in its favor;
and, secondly, that those scriptures which are sup
posed to teach the literal resurrection of the body,
are of such a nature as to admit of no other meaning.
I. The argument from science. There is a
law of mind, which makes us prone to believe that
things will he as they have been. We make our past
experience of nature a prophecy of the future. What
ever we have known of nature's course, in bye-gone
days and years, we expect will recur again in days
and years to' come. Why do we in the spring expect
summer, with its burning suns ; succeeding autumn,
with its golden harvests ; the following winter, with its
frosts and snows ; and spring again, to reanimate crea
tion ? Because we have known this course of things
in time past. Our faith is here founded on the sup
posed constancy of nature. Nor is it until the mind is
enlarged with general science, that it easily believes
events falling without its own experience. The un
taught prince of the burning zone would not believe
that water is ever in a solid state. Why ? Because
he was ignorant of the laws of nature, and had never
lived in a northern latitude. Now there are three
ways of removing his scepticism : — Teach him the
science of chemistry, and he will see that water may
be congealed ; transfer him to a northern latitude, and

RESURRECTION.

269

let him witness it ; or, let a company of veracious wit
nesses testify to the fact.
All these evidences have we of the resurrection of
the dead. Science demonstrates the possibility of the
event ; it has been actually witnessed, in the resurrec
tion of Christ ; it has been announced to us, by com
petent and truthful men.
We believe in the constancy, or ordained course of
nature. But we believe, too, that in her vast sweep
she embraces immeasurably more than falls within the
personal experience of any one individual. Suppose
a man were to wake into mature existence here on a
summer's day, and after experiencing the course of
nature for one month should be informed that a mighty
change is approaching, — that this green vegetable
creation will disappear, that the flowing streams will
become solid, that the earth will be robed with a white
mantle, that all nature will assume a new aspect. He
replies, This is incredible ; — it is contradicted by all
my experience ; it is entirely out of the course of
nature. Let another man come into similar existence in the
month of January, and, after experiencing the course
of nature for one month, be informed that a mysterious
power will soon go forth to renew the face of the
earth, — that every fountain and stream will be un
locked, that the face of nature will put off her frown
and smile with living green, that the atmosphere will
be charged with the fragrance and melody of wakeful
and rejoicing life in myriads of new and indescribable
23*

270 RESURRECTION.
forms. He replies, — It is incredible ; my experience
is all against it.
We have only to reply, in each case, Your expe
rience is not old enough. When you have lived
through a whole year, then and only then will you be
competent to judge of nature's course in respect to the
events of a year.
Now there are known events in the course of nature,
such as eclipses, transits, and other changes, both ter
restrial and celestial, which occur but once in many
years — some but once in many ages — and hence the
experience of no one man stretches over the line be
tween them. Yet they come in the regular course of
nature, as truly as do the annual seasons. To one
understanding the science of nature, and living from
the beginning of creation to this time, they would seem
as truly in the course of nature, and as rationally to
be expected, as do the successive seasons of the year.
They only revolve around in larger circles than do the
events of the year ; — they come no less certainly, al
though less frequently.
There are yet other events, which come only once
in the whole sweep of this world's history, — such as
the creation, the calling of light and order out of dark
ness and confusion, the ordaining of the laws of vege
table and animal life. So also there are other events
occurring only in the end of time, such as the resur
rection of the dead, the conflagration of the world, the
coming of the Son of Man with power and great glory
to judgment. To encourage the faith of those who
had never experienced an autumn, God might cause a

RESURRECTION. 271
little fruit to appear prematurely ; and for a similar
reason he raised Christ from the dead, as " the first
fruits of them that sleep ;" thus pointing us to the
great harvest to be gathered at the end of the world.
To the vain sceptic, therefore, who argues that a
general resurrection is out of nature's course, because
out of his experience, we have only to say, Your ex
perience is too limited. To judge soundly in this
matter, you must have lived through the whole history
of a world like this. To some angel, who has wit
nessed the origin, progress, and end of many worlds,
it may seem as truly in the course of nature that men
should be raised from the dead in the end of time, as
it does to us that spring will succeed winter, and
autumnal harvest the summer.
Profoundly considered, it is no more incredible that
God should raise the dead, than it was that he should
raise us from dust to what we now are ; or than it is,
that we should undergo that mighty change by which,
we return to dust again. It is only because we are
familiar with these changes, that they seem credible.
Suppose the resurrection of men from the dead were
to take place daily before us, as does the event of
death, the one would seem just as natural and easy as
the other. Had we never had any experience of death
in our world, the doctrine of a general death in the end
of time would seem as strange and incredible as does
now that of a general resurrection. In this view, every
fair and logical mind must admit that no possible a
priori incredibility exists of the contemplated event.
Numerous events equally astonishing, equally indica-

272 RESURRECTION.
tive of almighty power and goodness, are constantly
passing before us. Cannot he who has once called us
up from dust, call us again ?
But you say, We were born into the world and
matured in growth by a natural process of life. Very
well ; and what then ? Is not this by a divine power
equally magnificent with that required in the other
resurrection ? But think again : — Was not Adam
. formed a living man, outright, from the dust of the
earth ? The general re-creation of the dead in the
end of the world, is but the antitype of this first crea
tion. And have you the temerity to question the
competency of the Almighty to this effect ?
Cannot he who rolls the seasons round, producing
those surprising changes by which life and death alter
nately come and go, in millions of forms, cause his
resuscitating energy to pass over our sleeping dust?
We are constantly discovering new powers in nature ;
and the more subtle, the more mighty. What so subtle
as electricity, galvanism, magnetism, attraction ? Yet
these invisible agents, which seem to approximate to
the nature of pure spirit, have almost omnipotent power
over visible matter, to change it into new, etherial,
glorious forms. The earth is ninety-five millions of
miles from the sun, and yet an invisible power coming
from that distant orb holds this stupendous sphere in
abeyance, and rolls it through the heavens as with
lightning speed. It is scientifically computed, that the
power of the invisible agency called attraction, which
the sun exerts upon the earth, is equal to that of a
solid bar of iron ten miles in diameter, stretching all

RESURRECTION. 273
the way from the sun to the earth. Thus we see that
the universe is replete with invisible tremendous agen
cies, with which the Almighty Spirit operates. These
agencies are all the servants of God ; — they do as he
bids them. As the psalmist says, he makes the swift
winds his angels ; the flaming fire — the flying light
nings — his ministers. And when that glorious morning
shall come, it is only for him who garnished the heav
ens, and spake chaos into a world of living beauties, to
issue the command, and the dust of the sleeping my
riads shall be startled — it shall feel the resuscitating
power of his mighty agencies and come forth to new
and dazzling forms of life.
So much for natural science. But the Scriptures
alone can establish this doctrine. To them let us now
appeal.
II. The argument from the Scriptures. The
corner stone of this great doctrine was laid in the re
surrection of Jesus Christ. If the body of Christ did
actually put off the slumbers of death, forsake the
tomb, and assume a celestial and immortal form, then
all those scriptures which assert that we shall be raised
like him are invincible proof of our doctrine. They
cannot possibly be interpreted in a metaphorical sense ;
they must teach a literal resurrection. As literal as
was the resurrection of Christ, so literal must ours he.
Else, farewell forever to all logical argumentation ; —
welcome the dark dominion of imagination, fiction, and
infidelity. Let us see then how divine logic argues
this point. " For I delivered unto you first of all,"
says St. Paul to the Corinthian Christians, " that which

274 RESURRECTION.
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins ac
cording to the Scriptures ; and that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the Scrip
tures ; and that he was seen by Cephas, then of the
twelve ; after that he was seen of above five hundred
brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto
this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that
he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles. And
last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out
of due time."* " Now if Christ be preached that he
rose from the dead, how gay some of you that there is
no resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resur
rection of the dead, then is Christ not risen." The
apostle proceeds to stake even the truth of the entire
gospel on this event. " And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Yea, and we are found also false witnesses of God ;
because we have testified of God that he raised up
Christ ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead
rise not. For, if the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised ; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain ;
ye are yet in y-eur sins. But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive." In reply to the
objection that the resurrection of the dead is unac
countable, the apostle says, — " But some will say,
How are the dead raised up, and with what bodies do
* l Cor. xv.

RESURRECTION. 275
they come ? Thou fool ! That which thou sowest is
not quickened, except it die. So also is the resurrec
tion of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised
in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in
glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ; it
is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the king
dom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorrup
tion. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in
corruptible, and we shall be changed. For this cor
ruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality." St. John, in his apocalyptic
vision, " saw the dead, small and great, standing before
God."* As God is true, then, there will be a literal resurrec
tion of the dead. It is no more certain that your mor
tal body will descend to the grave, than it is that it
will rise from the grave immortalized. No matter if
your dust slumber in the coral beds of ocean, or be
washed by its waves round the globe, or borne to the
opposite poles by the winds of heaven, or petrified into
marble ; no matter if it have entered into the compo
sition of a thousand bodies ; — the almighty power of
Christ will make it hear his voice, and give forth its
* Rev. xx. 12.

276

RESURRECTION.

various forms of immortal life, adapted to the immortal
spirits whose probation it subserved. The doctrine
rests on no shadowy speculations ; its foundation is the
everlasting word of God. I believe it, as much as I
believe that God lives, and that the Bible is his book.
And when this mortal tenement lies wasting on its
death-couch, and the hungry grave is waiting for its
victim, not a single doubt shall enter my mind but that
this body, which I sow in corruption, shall be raised
in incorruption — but that this seed, which I plant in
death and dishonor, shall spring up all living and glo
rious in my Saviour's likeness.
Let us indulge a few concluding thoughts.
The solemnity of the resurrection is greatly enhanced
by the fact that it will be universal. Not one of all
the sons and daughters of Adam will be overlooked, or
his dust forgotten. The , infant of a span, who only
saw the light and perished from the arms of its weep
ing parent, not less than the man of frosty locks, who
descended to the grave amid the lamentations of nu
merous children and grand-children ; the humblest
peasant, who was never known or wept beyond his
own hamlet, not less than the royal monarch, on whose
dust the tears of a kingdom have fallen — will be alike
remembered. The multitudes who lived before the
flood, and perished in its waters ; the successive gen
erations that have lived and died since ; the eight hun
dred millions now on the globe ; and all the nations
yet unborn, down to the end of time — all will hear the
voice of Christ, calling them from the long sleep of
death. He calls them «5w with his grace, and many

RESURRECTION. 277
will not hear ; — then, all must hear ! However downy
death's pillow,/or profound his slumbers, he shall resign
his prey ; — the quickened body must go forth to Christ
— to judgment ! All who ever opened their eyes on
the light of time, will then open them on the light of
eternity. Christians will be raised first. Blessed are they that
shall have part in the first resurrection.* They will ,
be raised to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and
unfading^ They will be fashioned like unto Christ's
glorious body. They will be set as suns and stars in the
firmament of God, to shine and rejoice forever. Their
entire being will then be perfected in beauty, glory,
bliss. What an amazing contrast to the death-bed
scene ! And to the loathsomeness of the grave ! Im
mortal health will bloom on every countenance ; ever
lasting joy sparkle in every eye, and hang in rapture
sweet on every lip.
How unlike this the resurrection of the wicked.
" They that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrec
tion of damnation."^ Awful words ! — but the words
of Christ himself. The resurrection of damnation !
Who can fully understand this ? As the righteous
will bear in their bodies the bright image of Christ, so
the wicked will bear the dark image of Satan. They
will rise to " shame and everlasting contempt." " So
shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man

* Rev. xx. 6. t John v. 29.
24

278 RESURRECTION.
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather
out of his kingdom all things which offend them,
and which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a fur
nace of fire ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth."* We are here admonished to beware how we use our
bodies, as well as our souls. As our bodies are to live
hereafter, they too, as well as our souls, will have
revenge upon us, if we abuse them. If we consecrate
these bodies to God, as temples of the Holy Ghost, if
we make them subservient to the Redeemer's will, with
what rapturous joy will our spirits welcome them, as
they come up all glorious from the dust, to receive
them back again, and go forth to meet the King in
beauty. But if we debVse them to the service of sin,
how appalling the reunion ! The guilty spirit, that
made the body sin, and the guilty body, that made the
spirit sin, must now come together for mutual recrim
ination and everlasting fellowship of wo !
Finally, the morning of the resurrection, when it
comes, will come very suddenly and gloriously. The
preparation is gradual — the watches of the night seem
to number tardily along — but when all is ready, the
grand consummation will come as in a moment, like
the flooding beams of the sun when he cuts the hori
zon. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
bidding of Christ, the archangel's trump will rend the
trembling skies, send its terrific clangor through all the
* Matt. viii. 12.

RESURRECTION. 279
chambers of the dead, and change the living. Now,
the earth is rolling quietly on in its orbit, and its my
riads of entombed children are slumbering uncon
sciously in its bosom. The next moment, it is con
vulsed, and land and ocean yield up their quickened
dead. The rocky prisons, the marble shrines, the
coral depths, instantly respond to the almighty voice.
And now the burning breath of Jehovah goes up and
envelopes the globe ; the world is on fire ; and heaven
and earth mingle their roaring elements in a vast fur
nace of devouring flame ! " The day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in the which the
heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also,
and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up."*
From their ashes will rise a world shining witli the
lustre of a new creation, and corresponding with the
resurrection bodies. " Nevertheless we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness." Then will the Sa
viour's triumph be complete — his joy full. He will
then have subdued the " last enemy,"! an(i have de
livered all his friends forever from death's iron sway.
Then will all that is mortal have put on immortality,
all that is corruptible will have put on incorruption,
and the blest voices of the redeemed will sing together
with angelic powers, " O death, where is thy sting ? — -
O grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be to God,
* ? Pet. iii. 10^13. t 1 Cor. xv. 26.

280 RESURRECTION.
who hath given us the victory, through our Lord Jesus
Christ."* Who would not live for such a consummation ? Be
this ever in our eye ; and never may we forsake the
path that leads to a glorious resurrection.
* 1 Cor. xv. 55.

CHAPTER XVI.

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.

All nature proclaims that the affairs of this world
are tending to a grand consummation. The human
family is evidently a portion of a vast empire of intel-
ligencies, sustaining relations to a government superior
to this perishable earth, eternal in the heavens. The
Almighty spake the earth into being, lifted the curtains
of heaven and marshalled the shining hosts around it,
and launched it forth in its orbit, to be peopled with a
race of probationers for eternity, and having run its
appointed circuit of ages, to present them at his judg
ment bar. For this, creation exists ; towards this, the
wheels of providence are rolling ; and here will they
arrive at the appointed time. The gospel must first
be preached among all nations. Religion and science
are to enlighten the earth, infidelity and idolatry to
creep forth from their dark places and flee in disgrace.
The head of the serpent is to be bruised, Eden to be
restored, Zion to put on her beautiful garments, and
all the ends of the earth to see the salvation of God.
Then will follow the ushering in of the splendors and
24*

282 PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.
triumphs of judgment. Then will appear the great
white throne, and him that sitteth thereon, from whose
face the earth and the heavens will flee away.* The
dead, small and great, will stand before God, the sea
give up the dead which are in it, death and the grave
surrender all their captives, and the whole human fam
ily come forth to-receive their doom. Then will come
the end of this world. Having finished its appointed
circuit of ages, and accomplished its great purpose, its
last day will set, and the same Word that spake it
into being will return it to whence it came. The an
gel will lift his hand to heaven, and swear by him that
liveth forever and ever, that time shall be no longer-!
By the general judgment we understand an event, in
which the Almighty will assemble all the subjects of
his moral government, and in the perfect light of truth
and on principles of everlasting righteousness pro
nounce public and final sentence upon them.
Respecting this great event men are prone to be
sceptical. It has ever been the scorn of the atheist
and the derision of the profane. Yet of all conceiva
ble events, it is the last on which trifling becomes us.
Every person must admit that such a judgment may
await us ; — and if it does, language is inadequate to ex
press the magnitude and solemnity of our interest in the
event. Let us then look seriously to it. My object now
is to notice the evidence that such a judgment will ac
tually take place. We find, on inquiry, that our moral
* Rev. xx. 11. t Rev. x. 6.

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT. 283
constitution, the moral government under which we
exist, and the express teachings of the divine Word,
all harmoniously proclaim it.
1. Our moral constitution. We are conscious
of possessing the power to act responsibly. We know
that we can do what we judge to be right or wrong.
We thus know that we are accountable for our conduct,
and are therefore liable to be called to account. A
man may, for a few dark moments, sin himself out of
this conviction, but reason himself out of it he cannot.
Conscience, the faithful monitor, will lift up her strong
voice and proclaim righteousness and a coming judg
ment. Even in the dark and reckless soul of the
atheist she sometimes speaks, in language of terrible
rebuke. In moments of peril the conviction darts like
vivid lightning upon his mind, that he is about to fall
into the hands of the living God to answer for the
deeds of the body, and he instinctively calls to that
God for mercy. Thus a single flash of immortality
melts away his atheism in a moment, destroys all his
sophistical arguments, gives victory to truth, and makes
him tremble in anticipation of coming judgment. It
has been demonstrated, in thousands of instances, that
the most iron-hearted atheism is no proof against the
instinctive admonitions of an awakened conscience.
Her voice may be for a season drowned in the tumult
of passion, or lost in the din of the busy world, but
finally silenced she cannot be. After all the most
labored attempts to prevent her, she will awake, will
speak, will be heard, and will urge a resistless convic
tion upon the soul of every man, that he is an account-

284 PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.
able being, and must sooner or later be called to an
account for his conduct.
2. The existence of a moral government.
That there is a distinction between righteousness and
sin, and that the Almighty has by the constitution of
nature and by his providential dealings expressed his
approbation of the one and his abhorrence of the other,
• it is impossible to deny. We are then the subjects of
a moral ' government, and must therefore be brought
into judgment.
But some undertake to say, that we receive all our
rewards and punishments as we go along. They tell
us that when they do right they feel commended, and
when they do wrong they feel rebuked, and this they
say is retribution enough for all the purposes of moral
government. They hence infer, rashly, that the pre
sent state is a scene of final retributions. Their error
lies in not distinguishing between the mere tokens and
the ultimate rewards of moral government.
Suppose two pupils at school, the one studious and
virtuous, the other idle and vicious : the one receives
constant tokens of his master's approbation, and the
other of his disapprobation, as they go along, but these
are not the ultimate rewards of their different courses.
When the years of their pupilage have passed, and
they have left the school to go forth into the world,
they receive the rewards of their former doings. The
one is then blessed with a well disciplined mind, a
virtuous character, a good education, an elevated rank
in society ; while the other is cursed with an idle and
undisciplined mind, a vicious character, and a ruined

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.

285

reputation. They had only tokens, by the way ; now
come their rewards. And these rewards are perma
nent. So while we are passing through this scene of moral
probation, God bestows the tokens of his approbation
upon the obedient, and the tokens of his disapproba
tion upon the wicked, but these do not constitute our
final rewards. Wisdom's way is pleasant, even in this
life, for the smile of God is upon it ; and the way of
the transgressor is hard, for the frown of God is upon
it ; but the final reward of the one is everlasting glory,
and that of the other is everlasting perdition.
It is then true that the good enjoy the present to
kens of the divine favor in approving consciences and
communion with God, from which the wicked are ex
cluded ; but that the righteous and the wicked are
actually treated according to their respective deserts in
this life, is farthest possible from truth. How often do
the wicked prosper, spread themselves like a green bay
tree, and fatten upon the spoils of the righteous. How
often does iniquity, abhorred and condemned by God,
but eluding the sanction of all human laws, accumulate
wealth and power, abuse and insult innocence, and
descend in pomp and luxury to the grave ; — and how
often does virtue, loved and approved by God, en
counter trials, disappointments, and the loss of all
things, and go down to the grave in sorrow and re
proach. Is this the way the righteous Governor of
the universe rewards his subjects ? It were blasphe
mous to think it. The thorny paths, the conflicts, the
martyrdoms of the faithful— the bitter tears, the home-

286 PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.
less wanderings in dens and caves of the earth, of those
of whom the world is not worthy — what shall we say
of them ? There is no solution of the problem but in
the admission that the present is a period of probation,
whose rewards lie in a future and mature state of our
being, when what is now dark will be made manifest,
what is now crooked be made straight, and all men
will actually receive according to their deserts, as
meeted out to them upon principles of everlasting
righteousness. With great beauty and force did the
psalmist disclose this sentiment. There was a time
when his heart sunk within him, on beholding the
¦prosperity of the wicked and the reverses of the right
eous. He was sorely puzzled to reconcile these facts
with the principles of a righteous moral government.
" I was envious," he says, " at the foolish, when I saw
the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands
in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not
in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like
other men. Therefore pride compasseth them as a
shield, violence covereth them as a garment. Their
eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart
could wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly
concerning oppression ; they speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walk-
eth through the earth. Therefore his people return
hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out of them.
And they say, How doth God know ? And is there
knowledge in the Most High ? Behold, these are the
ungodly who prosper in the world ; they increase in
riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT. 287
washed my hands in innocence ; for all the day long
have I been plagued, and chastened every morning."
But let us observe how this saint was cured of his folly.
" When I thought to know this," he says, " it was too
painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God ;
then understood I their end. .Surely thou didst set
them in slippery places ; thou castedst them down into
destruction. How are they brought into desolation as
in a moment ! They are utterly consumed with ter
rors. As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord,
when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image."*
Now witness the triumph of his faith, as his eye lights
on the retributions awaiting the righteous in eternity.
" Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards
receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but
thee ? And there is none upon earth that I desire
beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God
is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
The same sentiment was taught by Christ. " Son,"
says the father of the faithful to a lost spirit in eternity,
who had received and abused great gifts on the earth,
" remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now
he is comforted and thou art tormented."! As much
as to say, That was a period of probation, this of retri
bution ; no longer treated as probationers, you have
now entered upon a state of endless retributions.
It thus appears, that both our own mental constitu
tion, and the moral government under which we exist,
clearly indicate a righteous judgment to come.
* Ps. lxxiii. t Luke xvi. 24.

288 PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.
3. The Sacred Scriptures. The reason given
by the apostle why God calls all men every where to
repent is, " because he hath appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness."*
Here we are divinely taught, that God has appointed
a particular day, or period, when he will administer a
righteous judgment upon all the world. The same
Scripture proceeds to say, that this judgment will be
administered by Jesus Christ. And Christ himself
proclaimed the same fact. In the 25th chapter of
Matthew he says, " When the Son of Man shall come
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; and before
him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats." In the Epistle to the Romans,
the apostle writes, "But why dost thou judge thy
brother ? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother ?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God. So then every one of us shall give
account oj himself to God."\
In the Epistle to the Corinthians we are thus ad
monished, — " Judge nothing before the time, until the
Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden
things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels
of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of
God."% Again the same apostle writes, " Wherefore
* Acts xvii. 31. t Rom. xiv. 10, 11. X 1 Cor- iv- 5-

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT. 289
we labor, that whether present or absent we may be
accepted of him. For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive
the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men."* To the
same judgment day does St. Peter point us, as an event
to take place at the destruction of the world by fire : —
" But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by
the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly
men."! In the Epistle of Jude, we are informed that
Enoch, the holy man of old who walked with God and
was not, for God took him, was inspired to preach of
this judgment day. The record of his preaching we
have not, but the fact that he did announce a judg
ment day is divinely asserted. " And Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Be
hold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints,
to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds,
which they have ungodly committed, and of all their
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him."! In the book of Ecclesiastes, the wise
preacher concludes his discourse thus, " Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and
keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty
of man. For God shall bring every work into judg
ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or

* 2 Cor. v. 9, 10. | 2 Peter iii. 7. J Jude 14, 15.
25

290

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.

whether it be evil."* St. John had a vision of this
judgment, and he thus describes it : — " And I saw a
great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there
was found no place for them. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God ; and the books were
opened, and another book was opened, which is the
book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to
their works."^
Important facts respecting this judgment must be
deferred to the next chapter. In the meantime be it
settled in our minds, as a revealed doctrine, that this
world is to pass through the trying ordeal of a great
judgment day. However strange, awful, or even in
credible it may seem, still it is divinely taught, and
will surely come. Our own ears are to hear the
piercing blast of the trumpet-call, our own eyes to see
the splendors of that flaming morning, and of that great
white throne, from which the heavens and earth will
flee away. Our own feet must stand before the en-
, throned Judge, our own hearts palpitate, as we wait in
breathless suspense the decision of Him on whose lips
hang our everlasting destiny. To prepare for that
event, is the great end of life. Any aim below this, is
below our duty, and will lead to disappointment and
sorrow. A sentence of approval in the judgment day,
God has set before us, as the goal to which we should
all run' — the great and commanding object of our pur-
* Eecl. xii. 14. t Pev. xx. 11, 12.

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT. 291
suit ; — to fail of this, is to lose our probation, forfeit
the divine favor, and sink into the woes of a ruined
eternity. Be it then our great absorbing thought,
through our whole life, that we are bound to a right
eous judgment, and are moving swift as time towards
it. Even while I write, preparation for it is making —
our characters are forming, the holy moments of our
probation are numbering on, the recording angel is
preparing the books to be opened.
O how solemn, how precious, reader, are these hours
of your probation ! How amazing the interests staked
upon them 1 Seize them as they pass ; — and from
this time be it your great aim in life to prepare to meet
your God in judgment.

CHAPTER XVII.

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.

In the previous chapter we have considered the evi
dence of a coming judgment. We have seen that our
own moral constitution, the moral government under
which we exist, and the explicit teachings of the Scrip
tures, all conspire to announce it. Some important
'inquiries concerning it remain to be noticed.
1. When is this judgment to take place? I an
swer, immediately upon the conflagration of the world.
As the preparation for the judgment will not have been
fully made till the last inch of time has run out, and
all human probation is at an end, so any delay beyond
that period would be uncalled for and inconsistent with
the divine promise. " The Lord is not slack concern
ing his promise."* There will not be a moment's
delay after all is ready. The judgment will therefore
come at the end of time. At the instant time shall
cease to be, will the judgment of souls for eternity
commence. The dead will first be raised ; the right-
* 2 Peter iii. 9.

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT. 293
eous with shining forms, and the wicked clothed with
shame, as in anticipation of their respective dooms.
The consuming fires will then be let loose upon the
earth, and will wrap it in the flames of a devouring
furnace. The earth and all the works therein will be
burned up. Then will the judgment set, and the
Judge will be seen in glorious majesty on his throne of
luminous cloud. I announce the time and order of
these events as they are revealed in the word of God.
St. Peter informs us that " the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up."* He had
just said, " The heavens and the earth which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment." But before the judg
ment sets the dead must be raised. " I saw the dead,
small and great," says the revelator, " stand before
God."! The order of events will therefore be, first
the resurrection of the dead, then the dissolution of the
world by fire, and then the judgment. All this gross
materialism will be swept out of the way, to give place
to the majestic throne and the judicial proceedings of
that day. " I saw a great white throne," says the
revelator, "and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found
no place for them."% Nothing will remain to engage
the eye, or occupy the mind ; every eye must look

* 2 Peter iii. 10. f Rev. xx. 12. J Rev. xx. 11.
25*

294

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.

upon the enthroned Judge, every mind be absorbed
with the awful decisions.
2. Where will the judgment be ? It cannot be on
this earth, for the earth will be " burned up."* It
will not be in heaven, for the wicked are not allowed
to enter the gate of that holy kingdom.! It w'h not
be in hell, for only condemned spirits enter that place
of punishment.! It remains, therefore, that the judg
ment will set in the mid-heavens, between the abodes
of the righteous and of the wicked, whence the judged
will be sent to the one or to the other, according to
their respective sentences. The wicked will thence
be banished " from the presence of the Lord and the
glory of his power," || to the place prepared for the
devil and his angels. The righteous will ascend in
shining clouds with their Lord into the ethereal man
sions of glory, where they will be forever with him.
" For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven,
with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel and with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the
Lord."§ We shall inhabit " a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."TT
The solid pavement of the earth will not be required
to support the feet of the myriads thronging to judg-

* 2 Peter iii. 10. t Rev. xxi. 27. J Matt. xxv. 46.
H 2 Thes. i. 9. 5 1 Thes. iv. 16, 17. IT 2 Cor. v. 1.

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT. 295
ment, for as the dead will be raised and the living
changed to spiritual bodies, not subject to the laws of
gravitation, they will be able to move and rest, like
forms of light, in open space. Hence there will be no
obstruction to the full vision and burning presence of
the Judge ; — every eye shall see him, every knee bow
to his throne.
3. Who will be the Judge ? Jesus Christ. " We
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."*
Nor will he judge by proxy, as some suppose ; — for he
has told us that he himself wil\ come seated on a glo
rious throne, and all the nations of the world will be
assembled before him. St. Peter in one of his sermons
says, that after Christ rose from the dead " he com
manded us to preach unto the people and to testify
that it is he which was ordained of God, to be the
Judge of quick and dead."! St. Paul also, in one of
his discourses, says, " Because he hath appointed a
day, in the which he will judge the world in righteous
ness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead."! The same who was
raised from the dead will then be the Judge of the
world. And again, in his Epistle to the Romans, —
" We shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ."|| As the divinity of Christ has been often
denied, and divine honors withheld from him, he has
admonished us, " The Father judgeth no man but

* 2 Cor. v. 10. t Acts x. 42. J Acts xvii. 31.
II Rom. xiv. 10.

296 FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.
hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men
might honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."*
It is thus unequivocally taught in the word of God,
that Jesus Christ will be the Judge of the world. This
is a most important and interesting truth. He who
once came to redeem, will then come to judge. But
oh ! how changed ! Never again can his Godhead
be questioned — never again will divine homage be
withheld from bim. Before, a helpless babe in the
manger, now a glorious Judge on the throne ; — before,
a man of sorrows, now over all God, blessed forever ; —
before, arraigned at Pilate's bar, now Pilate is ar
raigned at his bar ; — before, he endured the contradic
tion of sinners against himself, now all souls must fall
before him, and every mouth be stopped. Amazing
contrast ! Oh how the God now shines forth, in that
human form. With what stupendous honors is human
ity clothed !
4. How extensive will the judgment be ? It will
be universal, including all mankind and fallen angels.
The Scriptures are quite explicit on this point. " We
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."!
" Every eye shall see him, — every tongue shall con
fess to him."! " He w'l' jat^ge the world in right
eousness " — all mankind. || "Everyone of us shall
give account of himself to God.''^ " And the angels
which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains un
der darkness unto the judgment of the great day ."II
* John v. 22. t 2 Cor. v. 10. X rh.il. ii. 11. || Acts xvii. 31.
J Rom. xiv. 12. IT Jude 6.

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT. 297
None of all the teeming myriads of immortals, that
have inhabited the earth since creation's dawn, nor
any of the fallen spirits of darkness, will be able to
escape that ordeal. No marble shall hold its dust, no
ocean-cave its prisoner, no deep cavern its fear-stricken
tenant, and no chains of darkness their guilty victims,
that they should not come forth to judgment. Al
though they call to the rocks and to the mountains to
fall on them and hide them from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne, the rocks and the mountains will
not know their call, for a mightier voice will have
reached them. Fleeing like autumnal leaves before a
tempest, they will leave no refuge from the blazing
brightness of the great white throne ; — all — all — from
earth and hell, must stand before it. There are many
things in the future, which we may possibly escape.
Even death, one of the most common events, some
have escaped, and many others will ; but none can
escape the judgment.
5. How much of our conduct will be brought to
light in the judgment ? We reply, there will be a
complete developement of character.
" Judge nothing before the time," says the apostle,
" until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest
the counsels of the hearts."* " There is nothing cov
ered," says Jesus Christ, " that shall not be revealed,
and hid, that shall not be known"\ At human tri
bunals, facts are often suppressed, evidence kept back,
* 1 Cor. iv. 5. f Matt. x. 26.

298

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.

and only a partial developement obtained. It will not
be so at the judgment seat of Christ. The entire
character and deserts of every individual will fully
appear. But it is unnecessary to suppose that all the actions
of every person, will be made known to every other
person ; — this would suppose a knowledge in the crea
ture little less than infinite. All that is necessary to
answer the ends of the judgment is, that every person
be made clearly to see his own character, and also that
of those with whom he has had to do. Those who have
known most of each other, and had most to do with
each other, on earth, will know most of each other and
have most to do with each other in the judgment. Pa
rents and children, pastors and people, masters and
servants, rulers and subjects, neighbors, associates, will
approach nearest and be made most fully acquainted
with each other's hidden things of darkness. Espe
cially those who have done most to help us in the way
to heaven or to hell, including good angels who have
succored and fallen spirits who have tempted us, will
come under direct notice. So that every one will see,
when judgment is pronounced upon himself or upon
others, that it is righteous.
It may seem incredible that one at the judgment can
be put in full possession of his past conduct, so much
of it being forgotten ; — but we know that the mind
under powerful pressure, as in peril of instant death,
discovers a surprising ability to recall its. past history.
At such moments, thousands of things, long forgotten,
rush like a torrent upon the mind. The awful judg*

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT. 299
ment throne will awake the dormant energies of mind
to such vivid excitement, that all its accountable ac
tions will stare it in the face, as though literally writ
ten down with burning letters by the finger of God.
There is a material called sympathetic ink, whose
written letters do not appear, until the paper is held
by the fire. So the flaming presence of the judgment
throne will recall and develope all forgotten and con
cealed deeds.
Nor is it incredible, that the same Being, who
knows how to bring a man's conduct to light to him
self, knows also how to bring it to light to others ; —
he can even make every man his own witness. He
can make the guilt or the innocence darken or shine
in his face; he can make his heart as manifest as a
sunbeam. He can write the character of every man,
like that of Cain, in his forehead. Every man who
has injured me, in thought or deed, present or behind
my back, and every man who has done me good, I
shall then perfectly know — his deeds shall all come
fully before me — and receive the reward of my ever
lasting frown or favor, sustained by the decisions of his
own conscience and of his great Judge. So will it be
with every other person at the judgment.
6. On what principles will the judgment proceed ?
The Scriptures inform us that the decisions of the
judgment will respect our measure of light. " That
every one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done."
The degree of light sinned against will determine
the degree of guilt. They who have sinned without

300

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.

the written law, and only against the law of nature,
will be judged accordingly. The heathen, who never
received the gospel, will not be judged by the gospel ;
the only question respecting them will be, How they
treated the light they received. If saved, they must
indeed be saved by the grace of the gospel, through
the repentance indicated by the light of nature. If
lost, they will not be condemned for rejecting the gos
pel, but for sinning against the teachings and refusing
the repentance indicated by their own consciences and
the course of divine providence."*
We who have received the gospel, shall be judged
mainly by our treatment of the gospel ; and on this
will finally turn our everlasting destiny. The final ques
tion respecting us in the judgment will not be, whether
we have sinned against the divine law — which we all
have, — nor yet whether we have sinned against the
gospel — which also we all have — but whether we have
complied with the gospel overtures. Have we that
repentance towards God and faith in Christ, which
unites the soul to its Saviour and clothes it with his
righteousness ? This will be the great question.
Though our sins be as scarlet, we shall be found white
as snow, if we have that faith in Christ which works
by love and purifies the heart. He that believeth, shall
be saved ; and he that believeth not, shall be damned.
7. What position does this judgment hold as a
judicial transaction ? * Rom. i. 20.

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT. 301
We reply, the position of a final judgment. It is
the highest court of the universe, and from it there can
be no appeal. He who is found righteous here, is
righteous forever ; he who is found guilty here, is
guilty forever. The character has been formed and
proved, the probation spent, the moral position of every
soul taken ; — the evidence has all appeared, the Judge
is omniscient, all-wise, and all-righteous ; — another
and more favorable trial is impossible. Hence, beyond
this judgment and forever, he that is filthy is filthy
still, and he that is righteous is righteous still. The
wicked shall go thence into everlasting punishment,
and the righteous into everlasting life.
We have thus answered, scripturally, the most im
portant inquiries involved in this great event.
A few concluding thoughts. The interest which
each of us has in this judgment is strictly spiritual and
personal. It is not the blast of the trumpet, the con
flagration of the world, the approach of thronging my
riads to judgment, the fleeing away of heaven and
earth, that will most engage our attention. It is the
all-engrossing and terrific thought that we are about to
appear in the presence of our Judge, to receive our
everlasting destiny. To the wicked, what a day of
consternation, of conviction irresistible, of terror, and
anguish ! To the righteous, what a day of exultation
and triumph ! They will shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father.
This judgment will also effect a stupendous change
in the relative conditions of men. The last will be
26

302 FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT.
first, and the first last. The distinctions of wealth,
rank, office, family, fame, will be swept away. In
respect to these, all mankind will be brought upon the
same level. From that level, they will rise or sink, as
they shall be found righteous or wicked. Happiness
and misery, no longer falling indiscriminately like rain
as in this world, all the misery will concentrate upon
the wicked and descend with them to the place pre
pared for the devil and his angels ; all the happiness
will concentrate upon the righteous, and ascend with
them to heaven, where " the tabernacle of God will
be with them, and they shall be his people."
Finally, how powerful the motives to repentance
presented by this subject. Indeed it is on the strength
of this subject that God commands it. He " com-
mandeth all men every where to repent, because he
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness." As faithfully as God has foretold
us of the glorious benediction of the righteous at this
judgment, so faithfully has he also forewarned us of the
dreadful doom of impenitent sinners. Found in your
sins, you cannot stand in that judgment; — you will
surely fall, never again to rise. In vain will you then
lift your longing eyes towards heaven, and the crown
of glory ; in vain will you mourn the folly of wasted
probation ; — ages on ages will roll over you, and lose
themselves in the awful deeps of eternity, but they
will bring with them no change in your wretched con
dition — not a gleam of light to revive your wearied
eye, not a ray of hope to cheer your despairing spirits.

FACTS OF THE JUDGMENT. 303
To find favor in that judgment, is eternity saved ;
to be condemned in that judgment, is eternity
lost !
May God in his infinite mercy prepare us all for it,
and to him shall be the glory.

CHAPTER XVIII.
REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
The righteous at the judgment will be received into
everlasting favor with God. " Then shall the King
say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world."* This will be the final
benediction of the King, pronounced upon all the faith
ful from his glorious judgment throne.
" Come," says the enthroned King ; — come to my
heart, my confidence, my kingdom — where I am in my
glory, there shall you be. " Ye blessed of my Fa
ther ;" — not dependent on the blessing of man or
angel, ye are blessed of God himself. " Inherit ;" —
favored heirs to an inheritance, ye are now to be put
in possession. Of what? A " kingdom ;" — and one
" prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Let us contemplate this heavenly reward in its ele
ments. It includes,
1. Full communion with God. They are in
vited to "come" to God. They are to dwell in his
* Matt. xxv. 34.

REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 305
presence, behold his glory, participate in his bliss.
They are to have his entire confidence ; — they have
been proved and found faithful. They are to have
his cordial fellowship ; — God has tested their attach
ment, and is not ashamed to own them as his. They
are to have his happiness ; — the very joys that thrill
the bosom of the infinite Father, are to become theirs.
The curse of exclusion and exile is repealed, the cher
ubim and flaming sword are removed, and the ran
somed spirits return joyfully to inviting and blooming
paradise. God himself will be with them, and will be
their God.* Henceforth no frowning barrier shall rise,
intercepting the free and sweet communion of the cre
ated with the uncreated Spirit ; — the soul finds its
home, its rest, in the bosom of its God.
2. Complete exemption from sin. " We shall
be like him," says the apostle, " for we shall see him
as he is."! Our being like Christ, cannot mean that
we shall partake of his natural attributes — his omnipo
tence, omnipresence, &te. ; but that we shall be like
him in character. Seeing the Saviour as he is, will
banish all that remains of sin, transform the entire
moral nature, and cause the ransomed spirit to shine in
the unsullied beauties of holiness. Christians on earth
hungered and thirsted after righteousness ; now they
are filled. " They shall walk with me in white," says
Christ, " for they are worthy."! Accordingly the
revelator, describing the holy and blissful state of the
righteous, utters the voice of a great multitude, as the

* Rev. xxi. 3. f 1 John iii. 2. J Rev. iii. 4.
26*

306 reward of the righteous.
voice of many waters and of mighty thunderings, say
ing, " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to
him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the
saints."* Not a profane or unbelieving thought, not
a covetous Or impure desire, not an unhallowed affec
tion, will ever again alarm the conscience or disturb
the sweet and hallowed tranquillity of the soul. , In
sinless, angelic beauty will the righteous forever shine,
as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars
forever and ever. Oh how changed ! Here sin was
their constant and mortal foe. It lurked beneath their
fairest virtues, it tarnished their brightest deeds, it em
bittered their sweetest pleasures. It rendered life little
else than a scene of conflict, of watching, and of griev
ous repentings. Now all these are over. The victory
is won ; — the crown sparkles on the conqueror's
brow j — and with a joy known only to a spirit that has
come out of great tribulation, and been washed and
made white in the blood of the Lamb, does he sing the
battles ended and the storms past.
3. Complete exemption from suffering. All
the causes of suffering, to which they were here sub
ject, are removed. Sin, these mortal bodies, disap
pointments, griefs, bereavements, find no admission in
heaven. " I heard a great voice out of heaven, say
ing, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
* Rev. xix. 8.

reward of the righteous. 307
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the
former things are passed away. And he that sat upon
the throne said, Behold, I make all things new."*
Everlasting adieu to all the pangs of mortality, all the
anxieties, sorrows, woes, which here held them in re
lentless vassalage and followed them down to the grave.
There, in that glorious world, the righteous will con
template with rapturous delight all toil ended, all
struggles over, all perils past, all tears wiped away,
and the healthful and joyous activity of all their pow
ers forever.
The transformation of these bodies from corruptible
to incorruptible, will be a mighty leap in bliss. Here
we are in literal bondage to the flesh. We groan be
ing burdened, not that we would be unclothed but
clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up in
life. " There is a spiritual body."! Cheering truth
to the spirit groaning under the ills of mortality. See
that shining form, as it rises from the dust and ascends
to meet its Lord in the air. It rises not from its cold
bed maimed, diseased, enfeebled ; — all traces of mor
tality and decay are removed ; — the bright blush of the
resurrection morning has lighted on that face, and im
mortal beauty sits smiling there. The kindling eye
sweeps the broad field of its vision, and revels unre-
* Rev. xxi. 3—5. t 1 Cor- xv- 44.

308 REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
strained, unimpaired, over the amplitude of Jehovah's
works. We can hardly decide whether poetic beauty
or enchanting truth hold pre-eminence in the inspired
representation of the righteous entering the heavenly
rest : — " These are they which came out of great trib
ulation, and have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the
sun light on them, nor any heat ; for the Lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."*
4. Congenial position. Although the most es
sential part of heaven is within us, yet circumstances
have their importance. Gabriel might be placed in
such circumstances as to mar his joy, and Jesus Christ
himself has been placed in such. Hence the Scrip
tures are careful to inform us, that the righteous will
hereafter not only have the elements of heaven within
them, but that they will also be placed in such circum
stances as shall contribute to the highest measure of
bliss. They will be placed in such relations to God,
to his law, to angels, to their fellow beings, and to all
other objects, as shall harmonize with the holy and
large desires of their hearts. They will be where the
glory of God shines with its most resplendent lustre.
One whose eye was privileged to behold heaven de
scribes it thus : — " And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory
* Rev. vii. 14—17.

reward of the righteous. 309
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light there
of."* " Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing
it is for the eyes to behold the sun," — how delightful
then to the Christian, to live in the blaze of such a
sun as this ! Again the revelator says, " And there
shall be no night there, and they need no candle, nei
ther light of the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them
light." They are to be where the law of God shines out
in peerless beauty and reigns in all the majesty of
undisputed dominiou. They will be associated with
none other than holy angels and saints cleansed in
atoning blood. " And there shall in no wise enter
into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever work-
eth abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they which are
written in the Lamb's book oflife."\
Even the inanimate creation of the heavenly regions
is represented under the most resplendent and magni
ficent of all imagery. The gates of pearl, the golden
streets, the chrystal fountains, the verdant fields, the
polished jasper ; the thrones, and crowns, and harps ; —
all these mean something. Nor can we, without vio
lating the laws of interpretation, understand them to
mean less than that all the objects with which the
righteous are surrounded and put in relation, are in the
highest degree delightful and glorious. There the
quickened eye rolls its vision over worlds forever bright,
where suns never set, nor clouds gather, nor tempests
sigh ; where all the laws of nature, chiming sweetly
* Rev. xxi. 23—25. f Rev. xxi. 27.

310 REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS.
with the laws of grace, agree to minister to the life and
joy of the blessed inhabitants.
5. A most exalted service. Heaven will not
be a place of idleness. In his description of it the
revelator says, " The throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And
they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their
foreheads."* Again he says, " They are before the
throne of God, and serve him day and night in his tem
ple ; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them."!
Christ has taught us that the righteous will hereafter
even participate with him in the government of the
universe. " Ye which have followed me in the regen
eration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of
his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelves tribes of lsrael."% Again he says, " Ye
are they which have continued with me in my tempta
tion, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father
hath appointed unto me ; that ye may eat and drink
at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones." \\
" Him that overcometh," he says again, " will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God ;"§ — and again, " To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with
my Father in his throne." And yet again he says,
" They shall reign forever and ever."1T Now this
cannot signify less, than that the righteous are here-

* Rev. xxii. 4. t Rev. vii. 15. X Matt. xix. 28. || Luke xxii. 28—30.
§ Rev. iii. 12—21. 11 Rev. xxii. 5.

REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 311
after to be received into most intimate sympathy and
fellowship with the Almighty in his governmental pro
ceedings. It is true, the saints in heaven are said to rest ; —
but it is not the dull and senseless rest of inertia. It
is the rest of God ; — ceaseless action, without weari
ness. All their immortal energies are plied harmoni
ously with his, to roll on the purposes of his infinite
benevolence. And what an honor, what a privilege,
to be associated with God in the benevolent and lofty
work of controlling and blessing the intelligent uni
verse. 6. Very glorious worship. Imagine the sub
jects of a great and good monarch, who have proved
their allegiance and been taken into special favor by
their sovereign, privileged with assembling on occa
sions from all parts of the realm to make joyful de
monstrations of their homage and receive special tokens
of royal favor. Such jubilees are to be kept in heaven
around the throne of God. The inspired descriptions
of these celestial jubilees baffle human composition,
and are therefore best given in the language of the
Bible itself. Isaiah, whose vision pierced the veil and
saw the worship of the heavenly world, thus describes
it. " I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it
stood the seraphim ; each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered
his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried
unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord

312 reward of the righteous.
of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory."* St.
John informs us that he beheld a door opened in
heaven, and that he was invited to ascend and witness
scenes there. He saw Jehovah enthroned in glory,
he saw the righteous clothed in white raiment, with
crowns of gold on their heads, " and the living beings in
the midst of the throne and round about the throne rest
not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And
when they give glory, and honor, and thanks, to him
that sitteth on the throne, who liveth forever and ever,,
the four and twenty elders fall down before him that
sitteth on the throne, and worship him that liveth for
ever and ever, and cast their crowns at his feet, say
ing, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and
honor, and power, for thou hast created all things, and
for thy pleasure they are and were created."!
St. Paul tells us that when he was caught up to the
third heaven, he heard unspeakable words which it is
not lawful for a man to utter. He heard such bold
and burning language expressive of joy and praise, as
would be improper for mortal lips.! That the num
bers who will assemble at the heavenly jubilees will
be immense beyond computation, gathered from all
quarters, and that their worship will be the most ex
alted and joyful imaginable, is placed beyond a ques
tion by the following developement. " I beheld, and
lo a great multitude which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
* Isaiah vi. 1—3. t Rev- iv. X 2 cor. xii. 2.

reward of the righteous.

313

stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which
sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all
the angels stood round about the throne, and about the
elders, and the living beings, and fell before the throne
on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen,
blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and
honor, and power, and might, be unto God forever and
ever, Amen."*
They who have felt the holy joys of Christian wor
ship on earth, who have realized the seraphic kindlings
of the spirit when in the assembly of the saints it pours
itself forth in devout praise to God and the Lamb, have
some conception of the exalted bliss of the heavenly
worship. 7. All these blessings are to continue for
ever. It is the misery of all earthly blessings, that
they so soon forsake us. Indeed the more valuable
they are, the more pain they give us, by the consider
ation that we must so soon lose them. We are afraid
to love any thing here, lest it should soon cause our
hearts to bleed. O for friendships that never fail, for
treasures that never forsake us, for worthy objects or*
which our affections may rest confidently, joyfully, and
forever. Well, the righteous shall have them. There
is a realm which mortality has not invaded — a realm
where morning brightens not to give place to the shad
ows of evening — where beauty blooms not to fade —

* Rev. vii.
27

314 reward of the righteous.
where hopes spring not up to droop and die. There)
the heavens are not arched with the glorious rainbow
of promise to-day, to be rent with storms to-morrow ;
whatever of riches, and friendships, and glories the
righteous inherit when they cross the threshold of
heaven, are theirs forever.
Such, then, are the blessings awaiting Christians on
the decisions of the judgment day. If they seem too
great to anticipate, think of the sacrifice of the Son of
God upon the cross, and consider that they are the
purchase of his blood. Well might faith stagger be
neath this massive and eternal glory, if we must think
of it as something which our own works are to merit.
But when we think of it as the just expression of the
Saviour's worth — as the joy that was set before him
when he endured the cross — our faith rallies, and is
enabled to grapple with and sustain the mighty antici
pation. And this should be its daily employment. It
cannot be better employed than in anticipating the
eternal rewards of the righteous. This will purify our
hearts, strengthen us to endure trials, raise us above
the world, make us constant and persevering in the
Christian life, and finally give us victory over the grave.

CHAPTER XIX.

reward of the wicked.

Jesus Christ has set the doom of the wicked at the
judgment day in direct contrast with the reward of the
righteous. He has thus divided the human family into
two great classes, the one class on the right hand — a
position indicating exaltation and bliss ; and the other
class on the left hand — a position indicating disgrace
and misery. " Then shall he say also unto them on
the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."*
Having in the preceding ehapter contemplated the re
tribution of the former, we must now fulfil the less pleas
ing task of contemplating that of the latter. If any are
in doubt whether there will be any wicked at the judg
ment day, and any perdition beyond it, we have here
no controversy with such, but hand them over to the
teachings of Jesus Christ. Their controversy is with
him, not us. Let such be reminded, however, that
there is, as a matter of fact, such a thing as a blessed
* Matt. xxv. 41.

316

REWARD of the wicked.

and such a thing as a wretched moral condition, and
that the soul is often so conditioned that the universe
seems to it robed in light or in sackcloth. There is a
condition in which all is sunny, green, charming ; there
is another, in which everlasting darkness, desolation,
and gloom hold dominion. Not all the infidelity in the
world, not all the speculations about divine mercy, can
make the one condition the same as the other. It is
so in the natural world, and so it is in the moral. Nor
can any man show that religion does not conduct to
the one of these conditions, and sin to the other. Jesus
Christ has taught us that they actually do ; and
until a wiser than he comes, we shall abide by his
teaching. Assuming, then, as divinely taught truth, that a por
tion of mankind will be found in their sins at the judg
ment day, and be consigned to perdition, let us inquire
what the Scriptures teach us respecting the nature of
that perdition.
Contemplated in its elements, it embraces the fol
lowing particulars.
1. Banishment from God. The Judge says to
them, " Depart." Blessed, said Jesus, are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God. There is then a con
dition in which the divine presence is delightfully
manifest — in which the glory of God is seen, realized,
rejoiced in. From this the wicked will be exiled. As
that heart-withering word, Depart ! falls on their ears,
they will cast a melancholy look upon the crowns and
thrones of heaven, which they have lost. Farewell to
those glories ! They see the righteous there, safely

REWARD OF THE WICKED. 317
arrived and joyfully welcomed to their home ; — the
songs of praise die on their ears, and the splendors of
the golden city fade on their vision, as they sink away
in anguish to the black abyss !
2. Entire abandonment to sin. In this world,
they are ever more or less under the restraints of grace.
Sin is not here permitted to act itself fully out. Even
the most abandoned, are not utterly abandoned. But
we can have some conception of the horrible condition
of abandonment, from the case of those who are far
gone in sin. It is not our painful lot often to witness
those seeming incarnations of all that is morally vile
and fiendish ; yet they are sometimes placed in our
way, to illustrate the nature and the end of sin. If
the condition of man far gone in sin, is so cursed, even
while grace still holds him in her restraining arms, how
cursed must he be, when the great Judge shall have
said to him, in language that sunders the last bonds of
grace, " Depart ye cursed .'"
3. The full sufferings or sin. The wicked
will be utterly abandoned to the sufferings which sin
inflicts. In this world divine mercy steps in and averts
a large portion of the misery which sin tends to pro
duce. No man can tell, therefore, to what miseries
his sins would lead, but for interposing mercy. If he
sins against his flesh, mercy hastens, to heal the wound
sin has made, and to arrest its work of pain. If he
sins against his conscience, mercy instantly offers the
cordial of forgiveness. Hence we never in this life see
a full developement of sin, as an instrument of pro
ducing misery. 27*

318 reward of the wicked^
Yet do we not see enough to make us start back
from it with horror ? Sin diseases the spirit ; it per
verts the affections ; — and under its full dominion,
those merciless tormentors, anger, malice, envy, un-
gratified desire, mortified pride, reign uncontrolled.
We all know that a diseased or deranged state of
nature's elements produces frightful destruction. It
causes the atmosphere, the universal minister of life, to
become the minister of death to all living things. It
converts the ocean to flaming fire ; it explodes the
world. Disease or derangement in our bodies, may be
the occasion of instant death, or of sufferings as pro
longed as life. But of all God's works, none is made
with such delicate skill as the immortal soul ; — and the
more delicate the object, the greater the misery of its
abuse. There is more pain in a diseased eye, than in
a coarser organ. For the same reason there is more
pain in the spirit, when diseased, than in a physical
member. Under the disease of sin, the soul's affec
tions are out of harmony with the eternal laws and
relations of its being. That soul was made to glorify
God and enjoy him forever. Sin dethrones God from
the heart, perverts the will, and introduces a lawless
anarchy. In the soul of the abandoned sinner, this
anarchy yields its entire measure of unalloyed wo.
Then there is the pain of remorse. It is by many
supposed that this will be the principal suffering of the
lost sinner. Perhaps no agony is more intolerable.
A wounded spirit who can bear? It has no apology,
excuse, or mitigation, from within ; no compassion,

REWARD OF THE WICKED. 319
from without. The sufferer is his own destroyer, his
own accuser, his own tormentor.
The sinner will not only depart, and depart accursed,
but into "fire." This language may be figurative, but
we are to remember that figurative language has a
meaning, that no scriptural figure is unimportant or in
tended to be thrown away ; and that, consequently,
when Christ warns us of the quenchless fires of hell,
he designs to admonish us that there is that to the lost
soul in hell, which natural fire is to the body ; — that
there is a spiritual fire, or fire in the spirit, which is
never quenched. What can this be, if it be not the
burning, withering sensation of those accumulated tor
mentors which gather about a defeated, fallen, aban
doned spirit, and a remorseful conscience ?
4. A MISERABLE SOCIAL AND RELATIVE STATE.
The place to which the wicked will be exiled, is that
prepared for the devil and his angels. And the reve
lator describes it as a place of dogs, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who
soever loveth and maketh a lie.* The power of the
social principle, for good or for evil, for happiness or
for misery, is very great. By being placed in the
relation of proximity, companionship, community of
interests, men may immeasurably increase their mutual
welfare or wo. As the bliss of heaven, on the one
hand, will thus be greatly augmented, so will the mis
ery of hell, on the other. The wicked derive some
pleasure from association here, but they will not be
* Rev. xxii. 15.

320

REWARD OF THE WICKED.

able so to do hereafter. In hell they will meet, not
as cheered on in their impious ways with gratified de
sires and bright anticipations, but as defeated, fallen,
miserable beings, to criminate each other's guilty
agency and augment each other's wo.
How intolerable to souls in perdition must be the
eye of that ruined being near them, who, but for their
guilty agency, might have been in heaven. How ap
palling for sinners who have been instrumental in each
other's ruin, to meet each other, recognize and be re
cognized as mutual destroyers, and be compelled to
spend their eternity together helpers of each other's
misery, as they had been helpers of each other's sin.
The Scriptures represent not only the society, but
all the objects to which the wicked will hereafter be
put in relation, as ministering to their misery. Dark
ness, prisons, chains, fire and brimstone, the undying
worm, are among the terrible agents which the Holy
Ghost has selected as ministering to the woes of the
wicked. It would seem, then, that all the laws and
elements of nature, as well as those of the moral world,
will be charged with a dreadful commission respecting
them. They will all be charged to dry up every
source of delight, and open on their souls the streams
of avenging justice. No longer will their eyes be per
mitted to look forth upon smiling fields, and bright
suns, and enchanting prospects ; — no longer will they
luxuriate on the bounties of indulgent heaven ; — no
longer will they walk at large, and call themselves the
world's freemen ; — of all this a sad reverse will come !
Nature will be hung in blackness ; creation will have

REWARD OF THE WICKED.

321

lost every charm ; heaven will have withheld every
blessing, and the fires of perdition will have consumed
the last drop of happiness in their wretched hearts.
5. LOSS OF THE APPROBATION OF ALL GOOD BE
INGS. There is a principle in man, which gives him
pleasure when he gains the approbation of the wise
and good, and corresponding pain when he forfeits it.
This is a mighty principle in moral government, and
on none does the Almighty seem more to rely. So
strongly did the psalmist feel its power, that he said to
him, " Thy favor is life, thy loving kindness is better
than life." It is the operation of this principle, that
has ever made considerate men prize the approbation
and deprecate the displeasure of God above all other
things. The lost sinner will see, in the judgment day,
that he has forfeited the approbation of God ; and as
beyond that decisive day the judgment of God will
become the judgment of all good beings, he will also
have lost their approbation. He will thus become an
alien and outcast from all good society. His allotment
will be with dogs and sorcerers and every description
of ruined character. Were he permitted to wander up
and down the universe, he would never find a solitary
good being to take him by the hand and bestow upon
him a smile of complacent love. He will thus be
compelled to feel, wherever he may go, that he is lost
to the universe, and that the universe is lost to him !
6. All this to last forever. The crowning
wo of the wicked will be its immortality. The thought
that it will never end, vrill fill up the cup of despair.
We can endure almost any misery, however intense,

322

reward of the wicked.

for a few moments ; — but even a moderate pain, con
tinued for days and months, becomes intolerable. What
then must be the feelings of the lost soul, when he
reflects that the miseries of his condition will never —
never — end ! Could he look forward to the remotest
period which imagination can reach, and descry the
least gleam of hope, there would be some alleviation —
at least a drop of water to cool his burning. tongue.
But no — all in prospect is midnight darkness.
" Deep horrors fill his dismal home,
And hope shall never enter there !"
Here we stop. While fidelity commands us to say
all that is revealed, wisdom forbids us to say more.
On such a theme, our words should be few, cautious,
and well chosen. For aught that we know, we may
be describing our own doom. At any rate, we are
describing the doom of human beings — beings allied to
us by all the tender ties of a common nature — and be
ings whose welfare or wo ought to be as dear to us as
our own.
But there are some words of improvement furnished
by this subject, which must not be lost.
The subject shows us the dreadful evil of sin. There
are two ways by which, principally, we learn the evil
of sin ; — the one, by looking at the cross of Christ, the
other, by looking at the woes of perdition. The Bible
directs us to both. The one reminds us what sin has
done and would do ; the other, what it will do. Sin
has made the Son of God exceedingly miserable ; it
will make the impenitent sinner not less miserable.

reward of the wicked.

323

Nor can this dreadful misery of the lost sinner be re
ferred to any other cause than sin ; — not to any lack
of benevolence in God, for the bowels of his compas
sion yearned towards all, and would have saved them,
had they conformed to the principles of righteous gov
ernment ; — not to any defect in the divine law, for it
is holy, and just, and good ; — not to any limitation in
the atonement, for it was ample for the world ; — not
to want of opportunity, for every lost soul in perdition
had it. All the woes of perdition are then the sole
work of sin. But for his sinning, and that too against
the greatest of mercies, every lost spirit in perdition
might have risen on angel-wing, and sung the raptures
of cherubim and seraphim.
We thus learn how we ought to regard the perdition
of the wicked. Many consider it a hard feature in the
divine government, and would even keep it out of view
through fear of impugning the character of God. But
suppose a great and good sovereign, has instituted the
best of governments, and done all, as a righteous king,
to secure the allegiance and happiness of his subjects.
Yet some of them do and will rebel, and thus involve
themselves in ruin. How should we feel towards that
sovereign, in view of this ? And how ought we to
feel towards God, in view of the ruin which men bring
on themselves by sin ? How would you feel towards
an excellent parent, who, having done every thing for
his children, is at last pained to see some of them de
stroy themselves by misdoing ? Instead of rebuking
him, would not your feelings be those of deep, tender,
solemn sympathy ? Did we view this subject right,

324 REWARD OF THE WICKED.
instead of murmuring, we should feel as did Christ
when he lifted his streaming eyes to heaven over
wicked and doomed Jerusalem.
This subject also teaches us, that it is the first duty
and highest wisdom of every man to do all in his power
to deliver his soul from perdition. The apathy of men
on this point, even under color of reason, is amazing.
How many are rushing on blindly, as though no harm
could possibly await them ; while others deliberately
calculate on the mercy of God to save them, do as
they may. All this, in face of the blazing admonitions
and reiterated warnings of God himself. Such is the
horrible infatuation of sin.
If ever I forget that I am soon to die and appear
before God in judgment, and if the danger of then ap
pearing on the left hand ever ceases from my mind,
may the Holy Ghost cause those words of Jesus, " De
part ye cursed into everlasting fire," to ring in my ears
as the knell of death ; — may peace forsake my con
science ; may friends and the world cease to afford me
a single solace ; may I find no rest for my soul, but in
a penitential surrender to the Saviour. My earthly
plans, and gains, and losses, even my choicest earthly
friendships, I may forget ; but the everlasting retribu
tions of the judgment day, I must not forget ! For
them I live — to them I hasten on the wings of every
moment — and soon, for good or for evil, they must be
mine forever. What are all things else to me, com
pared with these ? I can afford to suffer earthly losses,
pains, trials, but how can I afford to endure the ever
lasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels ? Who

REWARD OF THE WICKED. 325
shall dwell with devouring fire ? Who shall inhabit
everlasting burnings ?
Reader ! May God of his mercy send the salutary
fear of perdition into your hearts— may you be led to
inquire, with wakeful solicitude, what you must do to
be saved. And from this hour, so long as you live,
may all your thoughts, plans, and actions, be directed
to escaping the bitter pains of the second death and
securing a throne of glorious immortality in heaven.
28

CHAPTER XX.

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.

The Christian doctrines, like all God's other works,
present a complete and symmetrical system. Each
part is correlate to every other, and all together form a
compact and glorious building, whose foundation is
Christ. There are two ways of presenting divine truth ; —
the one analytical — illustrating each part separately ; —
the other synthetical — presenting the whole in con
nection. Having exhibited the parts, we now propose
to exhibit the whole. Having examined the several
portions of the structure, let us put them together, and
see the building complete. I have thought it best to
do this, even at the expense of some repetition ; — so
important it is, that the mind clearly apprehend these
doctrines, and so much assisted it is in so doing, by
viewing them in their relations to each other, as well
as separately.
The system of doctrines at which we arrive, then,
called technically the " evangelical," is summarily the
following ; —

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.

327

The universe is not an accident, but the work of a
living and intelligent Being, called God ; — a Being,
self-existent, eternal, unchangeable, almighty, infinite
in wisdom, goodness, justice.
This glorious Being exists as Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost ; — as Father he is moral Governor, as Son Me
diator, as Holy Ghost Sanctifier. In each of these
Persons he is the same divine Essence.
The Father being at the head of moral government,
the Son is officially subject to the Father. In his
deity, Christ is in all attributes infinite ; in his official
capacity, in all things subject to the Father ; in his
humanity, in all respects a perfect man.
The Holy Ghost is also a distinct Agent of the God
head, sustaining a personal office under the Son in the
work of human renovation.
God has thrown from his creating hand not only
worlds of matter, and vegetables, and animals, but also
an immense kingdom of accountable minds, over which
he administers a righteous moral government.
Under this government all the obedient attain to a
glorious immortality. They become heirs and com
panions of God ; they walk with him in white on the
fields of eternity, delighting in his perfections, sympa
thizing in his benevolence, rejoicing in his reign, enjoy
ing his works, reflecting his glory. Annihilate the
moral system, and God would exist in everlasting soli
tude, having none to bear his image, enjoy his charac
ter, reflect his brightness ; — the higher orders- of irra
tional instinct would be the nearest approach to him.
The towering ranks of holy bemgs in the heavenly

328 SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
worlds, the ever expanding oceans of moral beauty and
blessedness that roll through the ages of eternity, would
cease to be.
The system of moral government, therefore, yields
infinite glory to God and blessedness to his universe.
But sin has invaded it, and introduced an immense
evil. This has come of the malvolition of a portion of
the free minds of the moral system, not of any fault in
the divine government. We are to regard sin not as
that which God prefers to holiness in its place, but as
that which he prefers to the non-existence of the moral
system. So that while the decrees of God extend to
all events, he does not decree sin in the same sense in
which he does holiness ; for while the former is from
eternity an object of his aversion, the latter is an ob
ject of his delight.
The divine decrees compel none to sin, exclude no
sinner on probation from salvation, and militate not
against the sincerity of God's invitations and commands
to all men. Hence the existence of sin is no evidence
against the goodness of God, while at the same time
it is not an evil that has started up and taken him by
surprise, seeing he has from eternity, anticipated it and
laid the plan of his government accordingly. There
is no fortuity with him ; for his kingdom is from eter
nity to eternity, all lying within the grasp of his infinite
mind. God administers not only a moral but a providential
government — his providential, sustaining to his moral
government the relation of means to an end. Plence
God's providential government is to be regarded as su

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES. 329
system of measures or doings on his part to secure the
ends of his moral government. Creating and control-
ing the material elements ; causing the events of life,
health, prosperity, affliction, sickness, death ; providing
atonement for sin, sabbaths, Bibles, a preached gospel ;
granting the gifts of the Spirit, in the inspiration of the
Scriptures and the renovation of men — all these belong
to providential government, of which Jesus Christ has
the control. " By him were all things created that are
in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principali
ties, or powers, all things were created by him and for
him, and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist." " All power," said Christ, " is given unto
me in heaven and on the earth." As the providential
government is thus laid " upon his shoulders," by him
the world is managed, by him this race of sinners is
placed under an economy of grace, by him an atone
ment has been made, by him the gift of the Spirit pro
cured, by him all grace and blessings come to men ;
and consequently all availing prayer must be offered
in his name and for his sake.
A portion of God's moral subjects, including some
angels and the entire human race, have become in
volved in sin. Instigated by a fallen spirit, our pro
genitors fell, and by some unrevealed mode of conse
quence, all their posterity are a race of sinners. Not
that they are guilty for the sins of Adam and Eve ;
not that they are born into the world actual transgres
sors before they act ; not that they do not retain entire
powers of moral agency ; not that all become equally
28*

330 SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
sinful, or any in this life as sinful as they can be ; not
that they are destitute of noble constitutional qualities ;
but that their first and continued moral disposition i3
not the love to God which the law demands, but the
reverse ; that they are thus destitute of holiness, at
variance with the divine government, so that there is
none righteous, no, not one. They have all gone out
of the way — the world lieth in sin.
Instead, however, of descending upon men with the
fires of deserved wrath, God has come in the subduing
compassion of the cross of Christ, at once opening a
way for the penitent to return and inviting the repent
ance of all ; sustaining unimpaired the authority of the
legal administration, while yet placing mankind under
a dispensation of grace. The Christian atonement is
thus the brightest conceivable display of the divine
glory. It is God calling on men, on angels, to behold
how inflexible is his justice, yet how great his com
passion ; how determined he is to sustain his law, yet
how unwilling that men should perish. Here mercy
and truth meet together, righteousness and peace em
brace each other, and the glory of the divine character
shines as the sun when he walketh in brightness.
Here it is we pause and exclaim, Behold, what man
ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us ! Take
from the gospel the atonement, and it is no longer the
gospel. A portion of mankind are brought to repentance and
induced to accept of this atonement. This is the fruit
of God's eternal, electing grace. While God does for
all, in the way of reclaiming grace, what he sees to be

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES. 331
wise ; he does no more for any. So that while his
election is according to the good pleasure of his will,
his will is yet under the direction of infinite wisdom
and benevolence. Every good being must surely
respond to this, Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good
in thy sight.
The revolution of character by which men become
new creatures in Christ Jesus, is called regeneration,
or being born again. This is a change in moral dispo
sition, from the love of sin to the love of holiness, from
unbelief to faith, from the dominion of Satan to the
service of God. Before this change, its subject re
sisted the divine government, now he submits to it ;
before, he was impenitent, now, he is penitent ; before,
he was self-righteous, now, he depends alone on grace ;
before, Christ was by him lightly esteemed, now, he is
to him the chief among ten thousands ; before, his face
was set towards perdition, now, it is set towards
heaven. He is a new creature ; — old things have
passed away, all things have become new. He real
izes a new and exalted happiness— the happiness of
sins forgiven, peaceful conscience, communion with
heaven, and hopes full of immortality. His eye kin
dles with new lustre, his heart thrills with new anima
tion. The eternal God is now his refuge, and under
neath him are the everlasting arms. He is spiritually
a child of God and an heir of glory.
All who are thus renewed, or effectually called, are
also justified. This is a justification of grace. It does
not denote personal righteousness, but that the relation
of the subject to the law is now such that he is no

332 SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
longer exposed to its penalty. No man is justified on
the ground of obedience to the law, for by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh living be justified," nor yet on
the ground of repentance, for repentance can neither
remove past transgression nor make adequate expres
sion of its evil. Evangelical justification proceeds only
upon the ground of the redemption wrought out for us
by Christ. " We are justified freely by grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is passed
upon men when they are renewed or effectually called.
" Whom he called, them he also justified." It is con
ditioned on faith. " Being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
All who are thus renewed and justified, are also
adopted. Adoption goes farther than justification ; —
the one being a governmental, the other a paternal act.
Justification restores the transgressor to the law, adop
tion restores him to the heart and arms of his heavenly
Father. Adoption confers all the exalted privileges
of a child of God, making its subject an heir of God
and a joint heir through Christ to an inheritance incor
ruptible, undefiled, and unfading.
All the renewed, justified, and adopted, will perse
vere unto eternal life. Not that holiness is in itself
invincible, for it has been overcome in the case of
Adam and some angels, not that there is any perse
verance independently of divine grace, nor yet that
Christians do not often falter in duty and walk in dark
ness, but that they never utterly fall from the gracious
state. It is contradictory to the analogy of nature,
that God should commence such a work and leave it

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES. 333
unfinished— that he should renew souls to his imaoe,
sprinkle the blood of redemption upon them, seal them
heirs of grace, give them to Christ as fruits of his suf
ferings, and then let them drop from his hands into
perdition. All real Christians, therefore, persevere in
the divine life ; and their perseverance is the evidence
of the genuineness of their conversion. Through good
report and through evil, through smiles and through
frowns ; through mercies and through chastisements ;
through numerous alternations of hope, fear, joy, des
pondence, by that faith which overcomes the world,
they press forward, till they drop the flesh and enter
upon the new and exalted mode of being, like that of
the angels. Their souls, not dormant till the resur
rection, are in a state of conscious, active, happy
existence — all darkness, conflict, weeping and des
pondence are left behind ; only light, triumph, joy un
speakable and full of glory, are present and in prospect.
While a portion of mankind thus return to God by
Christ, a portion persist in sin to their ruin. This they
do, not because God would have them, or does not do
enough on his part to prevent them, but because, in
the emphatic language of the Scriptures, they will die!
In a chosen course of impiety they go on, faithless,
prayerless, impenitent, through the combined influ
ences of Bibles, sabbaths, sermons, prayers, the Holy
Spirit ; through providential mercies, chastisements,
warnings, till they sin away their day of grace and drop
into the grave. Their souls, not dormant till the
resurrection, are in a state of conscious and active ex
istence, receiving the due reward of their sins. Hav-

334 SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
ing passed into the hands of justice, justice takes her
course with them.
Analogous to the general course of nature, this world
will run out its course and have an end. The Son of
God will then be revealed from heaven in great power,
as the resurrection and the life. Victorious over death
and the grave, he will call to the dead with a mighty
voice— a voice louder than seven thunders rending and
quaking the earth, and all that are in the graves will
hear his voice and come forth. Death can no longer
hold them in his cold embrace, for God Almighty calls.
The deep silence of the grave will be broken, the
slumbers of ages will have an end.
We are not to suppose that the identical particles
which constituted the entombed body, will be brought
together in the same mode to constitute the resurrec
tion-body ; — for it was sown a natural body, it will be
raised a spiritual body. But an important relation is
to exist between these bodies which have been devoted
to sin or to righteousness, and our future spiritual bo
dies, pertinently represented in the Scriptures under
the analogy of the death and resurrection of the vege
table kingdom ; which relation will be recognized,
when the souls of all the dead shall be clothed upon
with spiritual and immortal bodies.
Jesus Christ will then appear on his judgment
throne. The blaze of his glory will consume the
world ; — from his face heaven and earth will flee
away ; the dead, small and great, will stand before
him, and every creature will pass the solemn ordeal of
a righteous judgment. The records of the divine

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES. 335
Mind will be opened, every man's character will come
to light and receive a just reward. They who have
by repentance and the fruits of holiness secured a
saving interest in Christ, will be welcomed to heaven
with the plaudit, " Come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda
tion of the world." The impenitent will receive the
sentence of banishment, " Depart ye cursed into ever
lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
The separation thus made between the righteous and
the wicked, will be eternal! The sentence of the
supreme court of the universe is irrevocable, and from
it there can be no appeal. Between heaven and hell
there is a great gulf fixed, over which there is no pass
ing. He that is righteous will be righteous still, and
he that is holy will be holy still.
Other ages and prospects will then open. The
righteous will have left behind them all their sorrows,
the wicked all their pleasures. While the wicked are
experiencing the dreadful retributions of sin in the
bitter pains of the second death, the righteous are en
joying the bliss of that heavenly state in which God
wipes away all tears from their eyes, and there is no
more sorrow nor pain, for the former things have passed
away. All is over. The history of this world is ended.
The harvest is past ; the fruits of the earth are gathered
into the kingdoms of everlasting retribution.
Such is summarily the system of doctrine, as we un
derstand it, revealed in the sacred Scriptures. It is a
perfect system, although it may not at first view so
appear on the face of the Bible. So it is in nature.

336 SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
The promiscuous gatherings of land and water, of rocks
and hills, and of the shining orbs above, do not at first
seem to promise any system ; but the study of a New
ton and a La Place has resolved the whole into a sys
tem complete and beautiful in all its parts. So the
faithful study of the Scriptures discloses a beautiful and'
harmonious system of revealed truth. These doctrines
all agree with each other ; — if one is true, all are true.
Take one away, and all fall. Deny the deity of Christ,
and atonement, justification by faith, the entire scheme
of redemption, falls to the ground. Deny human de
pravity, and where is regeneration, adoption, sanctifi
cation, the distinction between the righteous and the
wicked s? Deny the sovereignty of God, and where is
the foundation for repentance, faith, perseverance,
hope ? Embrace any one of these great elemental
doctrines of Christianity, and hold it firm in its integ
rity, and soon you see all the correlate doctrines gath
ering around it and forming a perfect and harmonious
whole. And the great lesson which they unite to teach, in
tones of infinite authority, is this, that to fear God and
keep his commandments is the whole of man :* —
Thus do, and whatever else you lose, you will gain the
great object of life — you will glorify and enjoy God
forever. Thus does this moral system, like the physical sys
tem of the universe, rise in strength and beauty before
us, lifting our minds to the same source and directing
them to the same glorious end.
* Eccl. xii. 13.

CHAPTER XXI.

PROOF OF THE SYSTEM.

Having considered the proof of each doctrine sepa
rately, let us now consider their proof as a whole.
1. They harmonize with each other. Har
mony is the law of truth ; disagreement the law of
error. Bring a score of truthful witnesses to testify on
any subject, and their stories will all agree together.
Thus each becomes a witness for all the rest, while
they all together become witnesses for each. On the
other hand, bring a score of false witnesses to testify,
and their stories will be a perfect Babel. Each be
comes a witness against all the rest, while they all
together become witnesses against each. It were
therefore an infinite impossibility to frame a system of
false doctrines, on so profound and difficult a subject
as religion, to harmonize together. Hence the entire
harmony of the evangelical system makes each doctrine
a witness for all the others, and all together witnesses
for each one ; — just as each stone in an arch helps to
support every other stone in it, while the arch as a
whole supports all its parts. Now if the proof of each
29

338 PROOF OF THE system.
doctrine is conclusive, viewed, separately, how invinci
ble the proof of them when viewed as a harmonious
whole. 2. They harmonize with the constitution
and course of nature. They are responded by the
deep voice of creation, and by all the movements of
providence. The whispers of every passing hour de
clare them true. Bishop Butler, in his invincible
Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion, has set
this argument above the reach of scepticism. If the
teachings of nature and providence can be relied upon,
if the testimonies of experience are genuine, then these
doctrines are true. They accord with facts in the
history of the world, with which we are all daily con
versant. The more we investigate the laws and ope
rations of nature and providence, the more apparent it
is, that all the natural sciences, all the teachings of
inductive philosophy, and all the truths of Christianity,
pour their united tribute into this same chrystal
stream ; — the river of God rolling onward with majes
tic and ever swelling tide to everlasting ages.
3. They harmonize with the human con
science. It was by the manifestation of these very
truths, that the apostles, both in their lives and teach
ings, commended themselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God. From the earliest records of his
tory down to this hour, these doctrines have evinced a
moral omnipotence over the human conscience. They
have shaken down the firmest scepticism ; they have
subdued hearts of steel ; they have made many a
haughty Felix to tremble on his throne. Men that

PROOF OF THE SYSTEM. 339
could face the thunders of human eloquence, could not
stand before these doctrines. Preach to a man the
doctrine of depravity, and he feels, he knows, in his
inmost soul, that it is true. Tell him he must have an
almighty Saviour, or perish, and he cannot deny it.
Show him the necessity of regeneration, and see it he
must. Reason with him of righteousness, temperance,
and a judgment to come, just as these doctrines teach,
and his trembling knees will indicate his irrepressible
conviction of their truth. How manifest it is, that the
same Being who made the human conscience, is the
author of these truths, and that he designed the one
for the other. How ill at ease are the consciences of
men engaged in contending against them ! Their
restiveness betrays a secret conviction that they are in
the wrong. But no sooner do they plant their feet on
these doctrines, than they are conscious of standing on
a rock ; — they are then calm, firm, satisfied — their
consciences bear them witness that they are then truly
in the right.
4. They harmonize with human necessities.
They are precisely adapted to our moral wants. They
impart an immense value to our existence ; elevate us
on the scale of being ; awaken our energies to vast
and enduring interests ; disengage our hearts from per
ishing objects ; unfold the benign character of God
shining with the radiance of a sun ; exhibit the perfec
tion and strength of the divine government ; expose
the dark and malignant character of sin ; cause us to
hunger and thirst after righteousness ; introduce our
fainting spirits to an almighty Saviour ; give stability

340 PROOF OF the system.
to heaven's throne, while it dispenses pardons to peni
tent sinners ; afford us the exalted pleasures of com
munion with God ; sustain us in trials, and arm us to
successful conflict with temptations ; afford us serene
light and peaceful hope, as we walk amid the shadows
of declining age, and the deeper shadows of the valley
of death ; open to our departing souls a real heaven of
glories beyond the grave. Such is their tendency ; —
are they not then just what we need ?
5. They are the most obvious teaching of
God's Word. The plain, unlearned, wayfaring man,
finds them on the face of the Bible ; while also the
profound German philologist declares without a doubt
that the Bible teaches them ; — and scepticism with him,
if it exist, respects a point farther back— the inspira
tion itself of that book. And further still, those men
who from prejudice, caste, false philosophy, or any other
cause, repudiate these doctrines, usually acknowledge
that many or all of them appear to be taught, but con
tend that they are so repugnant to reason, that other
explanations must be sought ; — hence their efforts are
mostly directed to explaining away, rather than un
folding, the legitimate import of Scripture language.
Going to the Bible without prejudice, and applying to
it the same principles of interpretation which we do to
other books, who can well doubt whether.it really
teaches depravity, atonement, regeneration, and all the
distinguishing doctrines of the evangelical system ?
6. Their crowning witness is in their fruits.
We have spoken of their adaptation and tendency ; —
let us come to the facts. What have they actually

PROOF OF THE SYSTEM. 341
done ? They have in every age, when faithfully ex
hibited, produced the same effects which the gospel
did as preached by the apostles. Sweep a compass
around the bright spots of our globe, and they shall be
the very spots where these doctrines have obtained
dominion. They have done more to elevate and expand the
human intellect than any other cause. They startle
the mind by the boldness of their demands ; they put
it upon great and high thinking. The solemnity and
pathos of their themes are well adapted to produce
serious and noble intellects. The heathen mythology,
which is a corruption of the true religion, did much for
the Platos and Aristotles of ancient time, but these
doctrines have done infinitely more. Immeasurably
the largest proportion of the great original lights of our
world — the minds foremost in enlarging, elucidating,
and adorning science — have experienced more or less
of their beneficial effects. Go to the largest libraries
of the old world and of the new, and take down the
most thorough standard books of Natural History,
Ethics, Mathematics, Geology, Chemistry, Juris
prudence, Law, Medicine, Literature and Logic, Lan
guages, Biblical researches and Hermeneutics — all
those studies which liberalize and exalt the mind — and
you find seven-eighths of them to have been written
by men who owe very much of their strength and
greatness of mind to the early and continued influence
of these doctrines.
But it is mainly of their moral influence that we are
here to speak. These doctrines produce serious views
29*

342 PROOF OF THE SYSTEM.
of the responsibilities of life. The seriousness which
they impart to the character is proverbial. Their
views of eternal things — of the awful condition into
which sin has brought us, and. the more awful condi
tion into which it will bring us, unless we forsake it ;
of what God has done and is doing for our salvation,
and of the fearful and everlasting issues pendant on
these fleeting moments — impart a solemn earnestness
to believers of these doctrines which is proverbial.
This fact identifies them with the religion of the Bible.
The Bible is throughout a serious book. If what it
teaches is true, the duties and issues of life are of too
momentous a nature to be trifled with.
These doctrines have ever produced deep and affect
ing views of sin. They teach us that every sin is so
great an evil, that it could be pardoned only by the
sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross ; — that it is
the unutterable grief and abhorrence of God's heart ;
the violation of a law of infinite excellence ; the utter
ruin of the soul ; and, unatoned and unrepented, will
certainly send its retributions of wo through eternity.
It is even objected to these doctrines, that they unduly
magnify the evil of sin ; — but they place it in just the
light in which Job, David, Paul, and all the saints on
divine record viewed it. And until those records are
expunged, which assert that the sacrifices of God are
a broken heart — that the poor in spirit are blessed —
that he who smites on his breast and cries, " God be
merciful to me a sinner," is justified rather than he
who thinks lightly of his sins — that he who cries out,
" O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me

PROOF OF THE SYSTEM. 343
from the body of this death," is the man to add, " I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord " — we are
compelled to believe that the ruins of sin which these
doctrines produce are the very views of God himself.
These doctrines produce the same change of heart,
which attended apostolic ministrations. The preach
ing of the apostles produced deep and pungent convic
tions, anxieties, sudden revolutions of character, and
great joy in believing. Sometimes thousands were
thus born in a day. Some resisted, some cared for
none of these things, while others yielded to conviction
and experienced the benign transformation. This
change was wrought at once. It was an instantaneous
regeneration, such as we now witness under the minis
tration of these doctrines.
Look too at their reformatory effects on morals.
Under their influence, the libertine becomes virtuous,
the drunkard temperate, the prodigal a child of duty
and prayer. And these effects are lasting as life.
Under the ministration of these doctrines the most
hardened profligate has been so changed as to become
through all subsequent life an ornament of the Chris
tian name.
Under the influence of these doctrines, men are in
duced to consecrate themselves and all they have to the
service of Christ. This was one of the earliest and
most decisive fruits of Christianity. The primitive
disciples felt that they were not their own — that they
had been bought with a price, and were bound to
glorify God in their spirits and their bodies which were
his. Hence their piety was characterized with great

344 PROOF OF THE SYSTEM.
self-devotion, decision, perseverance. It delighted in
the worship of God, in the meeting for prayer, in the
duties of the closet, and in labors for the salvation of
men. It cherished deep solicitude and made vigorous
efforts for the conversion of souls to Christ ; it rejoiced
over the repentance of sinners, with angelic joy ; — it
openly espoused the doctrines of grace, in the face of
obloquy and reproach, and for the love it bore to Christ
it took joyfully the spoiling of its goods and looked
danger and martyrdom itself in the face.
All this is precisely what these doctrines have made
men in every age. Who were the martyrs ? What
blood was that which flowed at Rome, at Lyons, at
Paris, at Smithfield, for the testimony of Christ ? The
blood of men to whom these doctrines were dear as
life. Apostolic piety was a religion of missions. It sent
missionaries to Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Spain,
France, Germany, Britain ; — it was an earnest, diffu
sive, self-sacrificing, world-redeeming piety. This is
the piety produced by these doctrines at the present
time. Who are the men that live and labor for Christ ?
Who that give of their substance to spread the gospel ?
Who that are at this moment supporting missions to
the Western wilderness, the Sandwich Islands, Africa,
Ceylon, China, India, Persia, Greece, and every nation
under heaven ? They are men over whose hearts
these doctrines hold dominion.
Finally, these doctrines, believed and obeyed, ena
ble men to meet death with joy. There was something
in the apostolic faith which made death more than

PROOF OF THE SYSTEM. 345
tolerable — more than welcome ; — something, which
made it unspeakable gain. To the apostles, this world,
with all its attractions of wealth, pleasure, and friend
ship, had no charms compared with heaven. They
longed to depart and be with Christ, which was far
better. And so clearly did they read their title, in
their all-justifying Saviour, that every doubt vanished,
and the portals of glory opened on their vision unob-
scured with a single cloud.
It is granted that many other causes than evangeli
cal Christianity may operate to make men resigned to
die. Disease, pain, disappointment, losses, weariness
of the world, mortified pride, curiosity to see the future,
and a vague expectation of being better dealt with
beyond the grave than they are here, often make irre
ligious men willing to leave the world. But this kind
of willingness is totally another thing from that which
is the privilege of the evangelical Christian. His
almighty Saviour is with him. He feels, he knows
the reality of the things in which he believes. It is
with him no leap in the dark. He is calm indeed, but
more than calm ; — resigned, but more than resigned ; —
willing, but more than willing, to depart and be with
Christ. His countenance is lighted with heaven's ra
diance ; ineffable glory dawns on his soul. " Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death," he exclaims, " 1 will fear no evil, for thou art
with me ; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
Sometimes disease clouds the mind, but usually, where
these doctrines are firmly and heartily embraced, not
even disease is able to intercept the sensible com-

346 PROOF OF THE SYSTEM.
munion of the soul with God. Nor are they the weak
and visionary who die thus. They are the strong and
vigorous minds — persons of the last stamp to be de
luded. St. Paul was no weak visionary. But he was
a firm believer of these doctrines, and his dying words
are, " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of
my departure is at hand ; — I have fought a good fight,
1 have kept the faith ; there is laid up for me a crown
of glory." The dying Stephen, " being full of the
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and
said, Behold, I see the glory of God and Jesus stand
ing on the right hand of God, and prayed, Lord Jesus
receive my spirit." The dying Payson said, " The
celestial city is full in my view, its breezes fan me, its
glories fill my eye." The dying Evarts said, " Won
derful, wonderful, wonderful glory .'"
Such are specimens of the triumphant death of those
whose hearts are under the dominion of these great
doctrines. This is just what the gospel was designed
to do. " He that believeth on me," said Christ, " shall
never die .'" Experimental faith in these doctrines
turns death into life, wrests the spoil from the hands
of the destroyer, and places the garland of victory and
the crown of life on the dying sufferer's brow. This
they have done for myriads, who before us have trod
den the rugged paths of life to a happy immortality ;
this they will do for us, if we yield our hearts to their
dominion ; the same will they do for our children, and
for unborn generations. By their fruits they are
known. Their divine origin is proclaimed by what
they have done and are doing.

PROOF OF THE SYSTEM. 347
Fear not, then, friends of truth ; — it is the Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The king
dom of darkness is indeed strong ; — many are its de
voted subjects ; many will continue such to their ruin ;
but it is doomed to be cast out, to make room for the
kingdom of Christ. Those who will not forsake it, and
turn to Christ, must go down with it into eternity in
their sins, and reap the bitter fruit of their misdoings..
In the mean time, the great cause of truth is in pro
gress, and the faith of its friends is well sustained ; —
for on yonder mount we behold the triumphant cross.
For a little season the skies are robed in sackcloth, and
the Father's face is concealed from the agonies of his
beloved Son. But lo, a bow appears ! It is the bow
of divine promise. Spreading upward its brilliant arch
over the cross, it betokens God's everlasting covenant
of grace, sealed with the blood of his Anointed. In
that bow are reflected all the sweetly attempered glo
ries for which Moses prayed — the victorious host of the
Almighty, coming forth upon the world. The unnat
ural darkness retires ; elouds roll from the face of the
sky ; the Redeemer ascends from the tomb ; and from
bis imperial throne he looks forth, the Sun of Right
eousness with healing in his wings, upon all the nations.

CHAPTER XXII.

conclusion.

The interest which every man has in the foregoing
subjects is of the most personal and solemn nature.
Our interest in all other subjects is secondary to this.
Subjects relating to natural science, literature, mental
philosophy, have their importance ; — indeed they all
bear indirectly on the truths of Christianity, as tend
ing to elucidate, confirm, and enforce them. But the
productions of La Plas, of Milton, of Locke, noble
and valuable as they are, may yet be allowed to re
main unknown, without seriously endangering your
eternal welfare.
Not so the truths of Christianity. These take di
rect hold on the inner, the immortal life. These then
are the truths, pre-eminently, for us to think upon —
to ponder profoundly in our most- serious and reflect
ing moments, and to write indelibly on our hearts.
They are not truths for divines, or for particular sects,
but for all men, of every name and calling. The
man who neglects these truths, on any pretence, in-
30

350

CONCLUSION.

flicts an injury on his deathless spirit which can never
be retrieved. You may neglect algebra and geome
try, if you please ; but the Gospel of Jesus Christ you
must not neglect, unless you would pay the forfeit in
the life of your soul.
But let not your zeal for supposed truth degenerate
to bigotry. I have endeavored to exhibit what I con
ceive to be a correct outline of Christian doctrines,
still I am not to forget that wiser and better men have
viewed some of them differently. I lay no claim to
infallibility ;— I have too painful a sense of the infirmi
ties of both my intellect and my heart, to allow any
approximation to such a claim. While truth itself is
divine, the theology which endeavors to set it forth is
human. Truth is always one ; its imperfect vehicles
are many.' We have in religion the old school and
the new, we have various theories of m'ental philoso
phy, we have the more liberal and the more severe
orders of mind, all professing to be in earnest for the
knowledge and defence of Christian truth. These
facts should make us modest in respect to our own
views, and charitable towards the views of others.
They should keep our minds in an inquiring posture.
True Christian faith is ever open-minded, and hungry
for that truth by which it is so bountifully nourished ;
whereas bigotry shuts up the soul, and dooms it to
perpetual starvation. It may not be a question
whether the bigot or the infidel is in the greater dan
ger, but ordinarily it is quite a question which is on
the whole the more disagreeable character.

CONCLUSION. 35 1
While on the one hand a saving faith may co-exist
with various creeds, on the other hand the most rigid
doctrines of the straightest sect may be pugnaciously
maintained, without one jot or tittle of that faith
which works by love and purifies the heart. The
evidences of a saving faith are to be found, therefore,
only in the life. Would you know whether in the
eye of God you are a real believer or an infidel ?
The question is to be finally settled, not by referring
to your creed, but to your spirit and conduct.
Are you of a meek and lowly mind ? Have you
brokenness and contrition of heart for sin ? Do you
hate all sin, seek deliverance from it, and hunger and
thirst after righteousness ? Do you prize a clean
heart, an approving conscience, and the smile of God,
above all the riches and glories of the world ? Do
you habitually fear, reverence, love, and delight in
God ? Are your hopes of salvation founded solely on
his grace in Jesus Christ?
For what end do you live ? — Is it to glorify and
enjoy God forever ? Are your treasures on earth or
in heaven ? Does your mental eye sweep eternity,
or is its vision bounded by the narrow limits of
time ?
Are you truly and impartially benevolent 1 Do you
sincerely endeavor, by all your talents and opportuni
ties, to render your fellow beings wiser, better, hap
pier ? Do you thus take the law of God for the rule
of your life, and endeavor to apply it to all your
actions, the most secret as well as the most open ?

352 CONCLUSION.
Are you submissive under trials and afflictions?
Does confidence in God and love for his will dispose
your heart to say, under all the chastisements of his
rod, " Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy
sight ? " Do you love communion with God and seek
his favor in prosperity, as well as in affliction, and is
prayer your daily service and delight ?
In your intercourse with men, are you conscien
tiously ingenuous and honest ? Does truth always
dwell upon your lips, and no slander ever lurk be
neath your tongue ? Do you make it your rule to
" owe no man any thing, but to love one another."
In short, are you living with a view to living with
God forever in a world of holiness, striving for com
pleteness of character, and aiming to be perfect even
as your Father in heaven is perfect ?
If you can respond affirmatively to these interroga
tories, there is no doubt of the communion of your
heart with those spiritual truths which I have endeav
ored to set forth. You may not hold them in the
same technical forms — you and I may not be of pre
cisely the same creed — but, if I am a Christian, we
are of the same essential faith, as to the sentiments
of our hearts. Christ certainly owns you, and so
ought I ; — for, as the excellent Robert Hall said,
" What is good enough for Christ, is good enough for
me." If we do not belong to the same church on
earth, we will yet live in charity, and hope for ever
lasting fellowship in heaven.
On the other hand, unless yours are essentially the
spirit and life above implied, no formal professions of

CONCLUSION. 353
faith, however sound, can avail you. You are still at
heart an unbeliever — in the gall of bitterness and bonds
of iniquity. However earnestly you may profess to own
Christ, it is certain that Christ does not own you.
Whatever in the great day you may claim to have be
lieved and done for Christ, will receive only the heart-
withering reply, " I never knew you ; depart from
me .'"
If you have read these pages, and are about to close
the book, believing that the doctrines herein taught are
essentially false, let me seriously ask, how you came
by that belief? Was it by reading the Scriptures —
by prayer — by patient study — by earnest striving,
through self-denial, after holiness of heart and life ?
If it was, I must confess myself defeated, and here
leave you, with my prayers and best wishes, till we
meet at a higher tribunal.
If your opinion is the fruit of prejudice, or philo
sophical speculation, or any indulged adverse cause,
let me ask you to read these pages once more, and
with another spirit. They cannot harm you ; they
may yet serve to change your mind. Above all, go
to the Word of God, with an earnestness of search and
of prayer, to which you have hitherto been a stranger.
In the mean time shall the prayer ascend from every
faithful heart, that your eyes may be opened to behold
the wonderous things out of God's law.
But do you close this book admitting the truth of
these doctrines ? Think what you admit. If these
doctrines are true, you have an interest in them which
30*

354 CONCLUSION.
no language can express, and which eternity itself can
never fully reveal. First of all secure that interest.
Rest not till your heart has felt, and your life begun
to exhibit, their transforming and saving power. Here
is your first duty.
Do you incline to defer it, because it is a great and
difficult work ? It will be more so hereafter. Already
deeply indebted to heaven's grace and justice, your
debt is constantly becoming greater. Delay will only
run you into deeper insolvency. Large as may be
your present amount of sins, it will soon be larger.
Hard as your heart is to-day, to-morrow it will be
harder. If your sinful habits have already become
almost invincible, they are in a way to become quite
so. If giaee must needs stoop very far to reach you
now, it must stoop farther hereafter. Already you
have lost the best time ; but the present is all sun, and
hope, and promise, compared with the future. Oh,
what a dark cloud hangs over the postponement of
duty !
Perhaps you cherish the too common presumption,
that a dying bed will be more favorable for this duty
than present circumstances, because of its nearness to
eternity. Fatal delusion ! Not one in a hundred ex
pects to die, till he is too far gone to attend to his
eternal interests ; — all his thoughts and anxieties are
expended on the disease and the remedy. And even
if the dying sinner thinks of religion at all, it is an un
healthy effort — forced, feverish, spasmodic — from which
an ingenuous and saving repentance is not ordinarily
to be expected.

CONCLUSION. 355
To say nothing of the fearful distance of an offended
God from the dying sinner, if you know any thing of
the laws of mind, and of the influence of disease upon
it, can you think it a favorable hour for calm reflection
and saving repentance, when racked and convulsed
with pains ? — when death stands shaking his gristly
terrors at you — when an invisible and irresistible hand
is felt pushing you off — when the enfeebled and wan
dering mind can scarcely collect itself to a single thought
— when nature, overborne with disease, is sinking and
swooning away, and the cold billows of death are
dashing over you — oh ! is that the hour, in which to
do the great work of life ? — the work of escaping per
dition and securing the prize of immortal glory ? You
would hardly entrust it with a temporal interest. Our
civil laws will scarcely admit a mere secular Will, that
is made in those distracted moments ; — and will you
crowd into them the vast concerns of your immortality ?
No. The bed of sickness and death is the last
place favorable to preparation for heaven. Long be
fore you reach it, the preparation should be thoroughly
made — the mind and will renewed, every sin forsaken,
the fruits of faith indicated in a holy life, your title to
eternal glory clearly read, and nothing remaining but
to lie down and sweetly breathe out your spirit to God.
May such, from this hour, be the object of your life,
and such, after many and happy years, your closing
scene. But perhaps you are already a professor of religion,
having publicly signified your belief of these doctrines,
and your only question now is, How you may best

356 CONCLUSION.
commend them to the world, and assure yourself of a
personal and saving faith in them. The answer is,
Both these ends are to be gained by one and the
same means — you must not only profess these doc
trines, but live them. It is not by loud professions,
not by thrusting your peculiar tenets into every man's
face, not by much talking of any kind, that you are
to honor your profession and secure for yourself the
hope that is full of immortality. " Not every one that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king
dom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven." Knowledge is nothing
worth, doctrines and creeds are but dead names, faith
itself is spurious and vain, except as they produce
that living charity, which is but another name for a
faithful devotedness to all the generous and self-sacri
ficing duties of Christianity. " Though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not char
ity " — holy, living, active benevolence — " I am be
come as sounding brass, as a tinkling cymbal. And
though I have the gift of prophesy, and understand ajl
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing." With the same spirit do the Scriptures every where
admonish us, that the way to honor and enforce their
sacred truths and secure a saving inheritance in them,
is to make them live in our lives and shine in. our ex-

CONCLUSION. 357
ample. Only in the degree that we do this, may our
hope of salvation rise towards assurance. The man
who indulges an assurance of hope, on the strength of
his professed creed, without holiness of life, is antino-
mian, insane, or idiotic.
It is only for those who, like the apostle, practically
" count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ " — who actually deny themselves,
take up the cross, and follow him — that the signal
tokens of divine favor are in reserve. Such are salut
ed on the way with the smile of God, so bright as to
expel doubt and forbid corroding fear. They know
that they are of God, because they do always the
things that please him.
There is a generous forgetfulness of self, which
characterises this stage of Christian growth. The
object is not so much a hope of personal salvation, as
the glory of God in the welfare of mankind. The
soul is made over to God, with entire confidence in
his grace, to be disposed of as he shall please. " He
that findeth his life," said Christ, " shall lose it, and
he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." A
serious doubt whether his salvation is secure does not
disturb his peace, not because he is so dead, but be
cause he is so self-devoted and so single-eyed to the
divine glory. " If thine eye be single, thy whole body
shall be full of light."
Happy the Christian in such a case ! He is neither
perfect, nor a perfectionist. But he is an irresistible
witness of the truths which we have endeavored to
illustrate, How poor the deljneatipn on paper, co_m-.

358

CONCLUSION.

pared with it as seen in the bright and living lines of
such an example ! It is one thing for a Christian to
think himself already perfect, and quite another to
have the full assurance of hope that he will be so
hereafter. Never was Job more deeply convicted of
being at a wide remove from sinless perfection, than
when he said, " I know that my Redeemer liveth," —
nor Paul, than when he said, "I know in whom I be
lieve," — nor Doddridge, than when he said, " I have
no doubt of my being a child of God." Such Chris
tians are at the farthest possible remove from perfection
ism, while they are yet the most perfect of mortals,
and have the full assurance of hope.
How beautiful, how sublime, are such characters !
They are the stars that rule our night ; the beacon-
lights, ever shining on the brow of heaven, to point
faithless mortals to higher worlds. They are invinci
ble demonstrations of the benignly transforming power
of the gospel. What a moral ascendency do they
command over the world ! What a resistless influence
do they put forth, to enlighten darkness, disarm preju
dice, silence infidelity, and restore the lost and the
wandering to God.
Christians of this character, to vary the figure, are
the moral giants of the earth. They are the picked
and mighty men of heaven's anointing, to stand in the
fore front of the battle of God Almighty, to achieve
his victories in the earth ; — not because they have
more intellect, or wealth, or fame, than others, but be
cause they have more of that holiness, which God
delighteth to honor, to make the foolish things of the

CONCLUSION. 359
world confound the wise, and the weak things of the
world confound the mighty.
Here, then, may all professing Christians see at
once their highest duty and noblest privilege. Such
Christians we all may be — should be. It may not
be practicable or desirable for all to turn professed
preachers, or to write books in defence of Christian
doctrines, but all may so preach and write these doc
trines by their lives, as to throw every other exhibition
of them far into the shade.
Such are the Christians which the church and the
world greatly need. This momentous transition age
imperiously demand them. Millions dead in sin im
ploringly call for them, by that grave-like silence which,
to the benevolent mind, is scarcely less pathetic and
appalling than the living tones of despair itself. They
seem to say, We shall moulder in death forever, unless
Christians seek our resurrection with the power of a
holier life. And so it must be. Unless the laws of
heaven and earth change, Zion's millennial age cannot
come, without higher attainments of piety among her
sons and daughters. Never, till they go forth with a
more apostolic spirit, to challenge her rights, prepare
her way, and herald her approach, by a faithful ex
hibition of her doctrines in their lives, will she arise
in strength to spread the bright robes of her salvation
over the nations.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. We
are soon to see things in the light of eternity. This
bustling world will vanish away like a dream, but
there is a kingdom that will never vanish away.

360 CONCLUSION.
Reader ! secure your portion in that kingdom. Give
all diligence to make your calling and election sure.
And when these heavens and this earth shall be no
more, when all the things that are seen and temporal
shall be buried in the deep tomb of ages, may that
inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and un
fading, be found to have been securely reserved for
you in heaven.

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