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SYSTEM
OF
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
BY
HENRY
B.
EDITED BY
WILLIAM
S.
KARR,
D.D.,
SECOND EDITION.
A. C.
NEW YORK:
ARMSTRONG AND
714
BROADWAY.
1884.
SON,
BT
7:T
-Sfcfc
Copyright, 1884,
BY ELIZABETH
SC.
L.
SMITH.
7 3 8 4
Johniind
Press
(
>f
Stereotype
Suffolk
Foundry,
Co.,
Y.
J.
J.
Little
to Astor
fr
Place,
Co.,
N. Y,
EF
IN preparing
Smith
of the
lectures as they
larger
were given
this
phonographic report
^L
of Professor
part
in the
year 1857.
sketches and
number
in other
by students
of a
The
and of a
result
is
is
that
much
fuller
class
The order of
is
observed in
The Intro
this
volume
keep with
to himself.
strictness to
But
all
the
main
ume
questions in theology,
and
statements on
as
all
this vol
the chief
to Christian Theology.
IV
PREFACE.
all
cases
where
the
work
will
this
was
practicable,
it
is
hoped that
Smith
his
own
papers.
added references
val
his chief
work.
W.
HABTTOED THEOLOGICAL SEMINABY,
March, 1884.
S.
K.
CONTENTS.
DIVISION FIRST.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
PART
I.
I.
I.
1.
CHAP.
4.
5.
6.
CHAP.
II.
1.
AS
1.
Self-existence
4.
5.
6.
CHAP. IV.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
CHAP. V.
1.
2.
3.
12
15
17
17
Eternity of God
The Divine Immensity and Omnipresence
20
The Divine Spirituality. The Divine Simplicity
21
The Divine Unity
21
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD AS THE SUPREME EEASON AND UNDERSTANDING.
Proof that God is the most perfect Intelligence
23
Definition of Omniscience
23
The Objects of the Divine Knowledge
24
Of Scientia Media
25
The Divine Prescience or Foreknowledge
26
The Divine Eeason
28
...
....
........
...
CHAP. VI.
CHAP. VII.
.11
Attributes
2.
3.
2.
III.
7
7
9
10
29
30
31
.32
34
V1
CONTENTS.
CHAP. VIII.
2.
4.
7.
CHAP. IX.
CHAP. X.
THE DIVINE
...
....
44
45
45
46
JUSTICE.
1.
2.
God
3.
4.
II.
THE
37
37
38
38
38
40
40
43
5.
6.
BOOK
....
3.
>
1.
TRINITY,
OB GOD AS KNOWN
IN
THE WOKK OF
REDEMPTION.
Preliminary Remarks
CHAP.
THE MANIFESTED
1. That God is One
I.
2.
3.
43
TRINITY.
...
51
63
4.
5.
6.
7.
CHAP.
II.
1.
50
53
65
71
72
Scriptures as internal
73
2.
Remarks on Sabellianism
77
3.
4.
The
5.
6.
79
.80
.83
Godhead?
37
PART
II.
CHRISTIAN COSMOLOGY.
CHAP.
I.
92
.92
CONTENTS.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Vll
92
92
...
95
De
95
velopment
CHAP. II.
CHAP. III.
CHAP. IV.
...
.
102
The Purport
....
6.
7.
Consideration of Objections
8.
9.
tion
10.
Some
of
114
115
God
1.
2.
3.
THE THEODICY.
of
God
.142
End
PAKT
in
I.
1.
What
3.
Of
143
146
147
149
153
III.
RE
2.
132
136
138
140
in Crea
127
129
130
Creation
CHAP. VIII.
117
117
120
122
126
.131
God
106
108
Ill
5.
103
104
105
.110
....
4.
98
102
2.
96
161
161
Man?
.163
163
CONTENTS.
Vlll
5.
1.
2.
CHAP. III.
CHAP. IV.
Virtue
is
Virtue
Virtue
is
4.
is
191
192
God
....
1.
Preliminary Statements
The
3.
.
Scriptural View of the Nature of True Virtue
Statement of the Principle of True Virtue in the abstract
4.
Arguments
5.
Some
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
CHAP. X.
CHAP. XI.
1
2.
3.
CHAP.
6.
"
198
199
199
200
203
203
205
206
Kant s Theory
6. Dr. Hickok s Theory
CHAP. V. THE HAPPINESS THEORIES
1. The Selfish Scheme.
The Ethics of Paley
2. Virtue consists in the
Tendency to the greatest Happiness.
3. Subjective Happiness or Self-Love Scheme
4. General Kemarks on all the Happiness Theories
CHAP. VI. THE HOLY LOVE THEORIES
CHAP. VII. SOME HINTS AS TO A THEORY OF THE NATURE OF VIRTUE.
5.
2.
194
195
.
acting according to the Fitness of Things
that which promotes the great End of our Being
Acting in conformity with the Kelations of Things
170
173
176
178
190
2.
3.
1.
166
170
207
210
213
214
218
220
222
225
227
229
232
236
237
238
239
240
242
245
250
252
253
253
255
255
258
CONTENTS.
PAKT
IV.
CHRISTIAN HAMARTOLOGY.
RESPECTING
CHAP.
THE FALL
I.
1.
2.
CHAP.
II.
1.
CHAP.
HISTOEICALLY VIEWED.
Temporal Death
3.
Eternal Death
1.
THE DOCTRINE
SIN.
2.
III.
IX
260
261
264
265
266
271
.......
Man
273
274
275
2.
The
3.
4.
CHAP. IV.
1.
2.
universal Sinfulness of
as testified to in Scripture
291
Scripture
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
1.
2.
3.
297
302
304
308
309
312
313
314
323
326
327
Preliminary Definitions
The Power to the Contrary
.329
The positive Statements as to the Relation of Natural Ability
and Moral
Inability
331
CONTENTS.
DIVISION SECOND.
I.
NATURE AND
OHAP.
OBJECTS.
WHAT
I.
1.
2.
possible
CHAP.
CHAP.
II.
III.
343
352
353
MORAL
WANTS.
It presents
1.
Imitation,
The Relation
2.
giving to
with,
Man
Model
for
seen in
its
as a
354
of the Incarnation to
Man
the
most
Human Wants
is
and Communion
God
CHAP. VII.
As
369
373
to the
PART
362
369
Philosophy of Christianity
2. In the Incarnation we have the Means of adjusting the conflict
between Christianity and Philosophy
Cmp. VIII. COMPARISON OF THE INCARNATION WITH SOME OTHER FACTS AS
GIVING THE CENTRAL IDEAS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM.
OF THE INCARNATION AS THE UNFOLDING OF THE POSSIBILITIES
CIIAP. IX.
OF HUMAN NATURE. THE SECOND ADAM
1.
358
360
373
374
377
379
II.
L
1.
GOD-MAN
The general Impression
386
of the Declarations of Scripture
on
Point
2.
this
386
of Christ s Divinity
.357
XI
CONTENTS.
4.
5.
The
Modes
in which what
6.
7.
various
8.
Two
CHAP.
CHAP.
389
3.
394
395
CHAP. IV.
CHAP. V.
PART
393
III.
393
is
II.
392
396
397
DOC
.
399
421
III.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS.
I.
1.
2.
CHAP.
II.
CHAP.
III.
of Christ s
Coming
430
431
Consideration of Objections
CHAP. IV. ANALYSIS OF THE SCRIPTURAL STATEMENTS AS TO CHRIST S SUF
FERINGS AND DEATH
CHAP. V. THE THEORY OF THE ATONEMENT
1. Theories which define the Atonement ultimately by its Influence
on Man, in bringing to a New Life
2. Theories which put the Essence of the Atonement in Satisfaction
5.
.......
to Distributive Justice
3.
461-
464
464
466
4.
453
469
470
Xll
CONTENTS.
1.
DIVISION"
478
479
480
481
THIRD.
491
PART
I.
I.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
I.
502
II.
1.
2.
Reprobation
3.
2.
3.
Under
CHAP, in.
1.
this
....
515
516
are raised
BOOK
CHAP.
CHAP.
II.
516
OF JUSTIFICATION.
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
I.
II.
IDEA: JUSTIFY
522
JUSTIFICATION;
THE GENERAL
3.
CHAP. VI.
GROUND
PERSONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS
THE GROUND OF
JUSTIFICATION
2.
3.
Some
1.
505
508
509
as a Right
538
Faith,
526
528
528
529
530
531
539
540
541
CONTENTS.
4. Is
Man responsible
Why
5.
XJ11
544
CHAP. VII.
CHAP. VIII.
VIEWS OF JUSTIFICATION
HISTORICAL STATEMENTS BESPECTING THE DIFFERENT THEOEIES OF
BOOK
CHAP.
III.
.551
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENTS.
I.
1.
2.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP.
CHAP. IX.
REPENTANCE
1.
Some
2.
3.
BOOK
CHAP.
545
548
JUSTIFICATION
CHAP. IX.
543
is
IV.
....
....
553
557
559
560
560
563
564
566
566
568
569
570
572
573
574
574
SANCTIFICATION.
I.
1.
2.
575
Sancti
fication
3.
4.
CHAP.
1.
PERFECTIONISM
The older Theories
2.
II.
CHAP. HE.
1.
2.
3.
of Perfectionism
Arguments
PART
576
576
577
579
580
581
585
586
586
587
II.
2.
590
591
XIV
CONTENTS.
PART
III.
I.
1.
2.
3.
4.
CHAP.
II.
Death
Of Immortality
Annihilation
593
598
600
Objections to Immortality
601
602
603
1.
2.
PKOPOSITION.
such
for
Of Purgatory
4. The Sleep of Souls
CHAP. III. THE SECOND ADVENT
CHAP. IV. RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
CHAP. V. THE LAST JUDGMENT
CHAP. VI. THE AWARDS OF THE LAST DAY
3.
1.
The
2.
4.
5.
The Award
3.
Punishment
604
606
606
608
610
612
613
614
617
618
620
.620
DIVISION FIRST.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
PART
I.
L,
BOOK
II.,
THE
TRINITY.]
I.
CHAPTER
I.
We
adding
we have
See
"Apologetics,"
p. 85,
and
"Introduction to
Christian
Theology," p. 84.
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
The philosophical
positions.
Many
and father of
all is difficult,
and
if
found
it
is
power."
So Philo
and we can
"God
modern
is
philosophers,
it
is
impossible for
"the
pure reason," to know God. What we
under the guidance of reason is a series of contradic
and what we can know about God is attained not by
the intellect,
come
tions,
at
of knowledge
(b.)
that
The same
phers, with
He
is,
if
not ivhat
position is held by
whom
He
many
is.
skeptical philoso
it
all
piety
and of
all religion.
way
and Hegel. We
we are a part
because
and
completely
purely
of Him. To have the idea of Him is to know Him, and we
could not know Him unless we were a part of Him.
We have the same genera]
2. Positions held in the Church.
See
"Apologetics,"
p. 35.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
positions as before, modified
revelation.
(a.)
known
we know
who
God can be
that
assert
logic
on the Trinity,
known, and
known
(&.)
hensible in
any
that
himself,
If
we
fully
and mathematics.
in their discussions
so fully
He
is
give a
God
above
He must
is
utterly
all
names.
name we cannot
exist
incompre
No term
affix
to
it
definite conception.
(c.) There is also the position that in this life and with the
mere understanding God cannot be known, and that He cannot
be known by the wicked, those who are alienated from Him by
wicked works but that He may be known so far as He is re
;
3. The
Exodus xxxiii.
Scriptural assertions and statements.
the scene in which God appears to Moses.
"Show me
thy
etc.
The sense of this gives a key to the whole Scrip
glory,"
:
but
25
16.
On
12
God
is
Rev.
v. 8; xi.
27; 1 Cor.
xxii. 4.
known
See, in
positions.
Cudworth
"Intel.
Also, Berkeley s
Syst.,"
"Minute
"The
Divine
Analogy,"
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
that
we
can
finite
could not
know
the in
incommensurable.
(b.) It likewise results that God, in his interior essence,
cannot be known or fathomed
by man. We can know that
He is; we cannot know fully what He is. We can know
but
all
not comprehend,
that
still
is
less
can
we
we can
fully
It results,
known by
known by
tion
is
(e.)
It results, that
and
fills
the soul.
known
wisdom,
love,
"the
of knowledge as
Way"
well as of redemption.
Him
we
attain
intellectual
Through
views of God as well as
of
the
divine
knowledge
mercy. So
that in one sense tve
go through Christoloyy to Theology, in the
way
of knowing.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
2.
Can God
be defined?
If
thing.
(2)
The
logical definition,
We
Or,
we can
and perfect in
we may
3.
explicit
Conception of
Deity.
human nature. (2) The general Calwe form our explicit conception of Deity
simply by an analogy of
viriistic position is
that
Some Statements on
1.
we can know
is
human spirit s
human mind which we know by
operations
that
we
consciousness, arid
"Bib.
Sac.
6
in
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
short, that
In regard to
this,
Man
(a.)
in the divine
and
capabilities.
(6.) We cannot help transferring to God the essential attri
butes of spirit as we find them in ourselves. This is a neces
We
sity of the mind as soon as we come to think about God.
know
these attributes
first
own
spirits.
Yet,
We
it
in
doing it
only under one condition, that of conceiving these attributes
in God as perfect, as unlimited, saying that they are freed from
(c.)
all
fined.
It is
only on
and
this condition of
we
false
and
we may make
fatal unless in
the transfer.
making
it
we
acteristics
explicit conception of
the
of
the
idea
of
a
The older
Deity,
analysis
perfect Being.
there
are
in
three
which
we
do
this: the
theology says
ways
2.
"Apologetics,"
p. 76.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
we
the creation,
God
ascribe to
as the cause,
God
By
in
the
way
of
Eminence
and we ascribe
to
to
is
is
in the
He
all
the attributes.
s
Swedenborg, who
form of a man.
is to
Remarks.
1.
it is
we have
is
polytheism.
The image
is
This
of relation with
is
irreligion.
of God.
He
thing beyond.
2. The other extreme
This
is
what
This
is
is
the thought of
human and
finite,
superstition.
lead to any
God
as wholly out
an abstract deity.
is said,
without feeling.
3. In the Christian
system there
It sets forth
is
to this
view
God
an intermediate view.
and hence
some analogy between God and man, hence there
that
there must be
is
10
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
may
God. 1
dictions
in
a higher light.
majesty.
5.
Scriptural designations of the Divine Nature.
In the Scriptures we have a great variety of divine names. 2
They are divided as essential, attributive, and names of the
modes
"to
be,"
to be
It
appears
God
in his
who
manifests himself.
3
many parts of the Scriptures. Another discussion was started
some years ago in a work entitled Yah-veh, which urges that
the name, as restored to this, its proper form, does not signify
in
the covenant Deity and the pure being of God, but rather
He who is to be," as referring to the future manifestation of
"
if
a future sense.
supplants, and
"
Jacob
not,
"
he will supplant.
Still further,
it
means, he
there
is
an
"
"It
See Hsvernick
thenticity,"
s
is
"Introd.
to
Old
Testament,"
and Hengstenberg
"Au
etc.
not established.
is
not affected
if this
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
who
The
to be, merely.
is
God
as revealing himself as
proper revelation in the first
inappropriateness in representing
one
11
(6.)
The
attributive
all.
6.
The
attributes.
attributes.
First,
He
is
qualities of those
and the
and un
justice, goodness,
truth.
"
"
and
spiritual essence,
but
it
In order to
"
God
is
sonality
who out
God is
universe."
tain
to
ward
off
Pantheism:
holy, infinite
"God
and eternal
is
in his being
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
12
universe."
be noted: (1)
points may
in contrast with
what
is
Spirit,
strictions,
(4)
tions, is essential to
and
Him;
(5) Infinite
and
by any
eternal,
i.
e.,
his being
restraints of time
and
whatever
is
CHAPTER
effect.
II.
to
be any concep
We
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION
13
are obliged
the
attributes
simply
making
Schleiermacher, carrying this to the extreme, says-.
subjective.
attributes are simply individual relations of the divine
"The
perfections,
ing to them.
names
for Deity.
we remark:
in
of distinct attributes.
There
composition of parts to
make
is
distinction
or
made up
a whole.
to a material organization.
What we
We
little
at the
same
time,
it is
it.
a necessary
Otherwise
the idea of
God
is
a blank.
idea or one fact about God, except the fact or idea that God,
is the most perfect being.
Take the attributes of love and
of omnipotence; you cannot resolve love into power, or power
You cannot deduce one from the other. So you
into love.
14
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
The
5.
It
all
The
6.
attributes of
It is
owing
to the
In
certain
modes of being
that
riety of ways,
and
if
we
is
propositions
is
that there
may
be
many
others even in an in
finite variety.
love,
even
infinite
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
infinite object or end.
and
It
may express
15
the
itself in
but there
finite.
is also
Space
a limited
space and a limited time, and these do not exclude the infinitude
of space and time. Then that which is infinite may exist in
finite modes; therefore it may be true in respect to God that He
Him we
respect to
gether.
With a
God
is
we cannot
in other words,
all, or,
a mere
similar statement
Any
simple con
his
current
is
One
of the most
is
into moral
and metaphysical
attributes,
the
which
God
He
as
is
Another
Every
attri-
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
16
bute can be both negative and positive, every one must be both
transeunt, every one must partake of the quali
immanent and
man;
e.
g.,
classification: attri
spiritual essence, or as
ing
(3)
The
attributes of
God
as moral, as holy.
CHAPTER
III.
This
Self-existence.*
is
in the phrase
"causa
sui"
"cause
of
"
aseitas"
himself."
We
and
also
could not
tial,
and omnip
otence.
2
this.
"
foi
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
now
17
sical sense it
meant
also the
In other words,
God
is
himself
come
is
"the
26), in
This
God
is
independent of
all
other
2.
God
is
God
is
has in
two elements.
it
We
define
it
negatively by deny
ing that the attributes of the finite apply to it, and positively by
describing God s being and modes of being. The limitations
of the finite being comprehended in the two particulars of time
and space, the infinitude of God may be resolved into two points,
which are defined and described as two attributes, eternity and
immensity.
the very necessity of our thinking we are obliged to
all that is finite under the limitations of space and
By
conceive of
We
time.
and
time.
3.
1.
Eternity of God.
The
existence.
of time,
to time.
and
One
mode
positively, a
by which God
is
and
18
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
all
time were to
Him
a now.
As
far as his
knowledge of time
semper
preseris et subsistens.
God
"
as eternal
Lord of
is
time,"
did not,
we never
we
is
the
same
could come at
it
make up eternity. It
infinite from the
as
the
impossibility
deducing
succession that
finite,
4.
is
Given by Boethius.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
19
The metaphysical
difficulty
As
(a.)
Hos.
xi.
tions of
God s repentance
his eternity ?
We
How
God
repents.
are these declara
The purpose
is
immutable.
immutable, how
must be found
could
He become
incarnate?
He
It
If God
The answer
"
space in their finite measures are not God, although God ever endures and is
everywhere present, and by existing always and everywhere He constitutes, He
makes duration and space."
20
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
is
The
attri
ponding
The immensity
to
omnipresence.
thus defined: the attribute which expresses (gives the point
of view) that God is not limited or circumscribed by space, but
It
that on the contrary all finite space is dependent on Him.
has both a negative and positive side: negative, denying all
limitations of space; and positive, asserting that God is above
space.
is
spirits
here,
spirit there is
there
where
all
that
Finite
implied
it is
not.
But God by
also
he
is
is
is
a question of debate.
God
is
all space,
2.
we do
not,
it is
it
we
somewhere and
^Him at once. The divine
and therefore everywhere
not a difficulty
measure with ourselves.
is
In what this
spirit
in essence,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Biblical representations are in the
Ps. cxxxix.
form of description
21
:
Kings
Job
27.
viii.
xi.
mode
The divine
of being.
and
spirit in its
defined as negative
spirituality is
life,
is
uality
as He
is
efficiency,
and power.
life
in himself, the
Thus God
Him He
The Divine
it is
is set
no graven image
Unity.
spirit
6.
most
a simple idea.
is
not used as
often
it
is
As
how
As
things.
applied to God,
in regard to finite
copy of a
class.
This
is
The
1.
basis of the
xx. 3; Deut.
Mark
xii.
5;
ii.
17,
There
is
Scriptural
29;
Rom.
John
4; Ps. cxxxv.
In the
New
Eph.
Testament,
1 Tim. i.
iv. 6;
xvi. 27. 2
Some German
ing
God
as
But
make out
g.,
in the
ship.
22
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
The
2.
It is
Deus
characteristics belong.
resentations are
still
He
is
He
solus unions.
further opposed to
is
thus in
whom
these
As
idea,
life,
activity,
life,
and energy.
Our
this, as to
be in the
mode
that of creatures.
attributes,
Further than
this,
us.
The sense
"
we may
p. 770, there is a
23
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
of God.
By denying
But
solute unity.
the divine
to
Him
all
nature."
Its
meaning
is,
God
is
Unitarians
make
Unitarians, as
if
It is
a con
CHAPTER
IV,
This
(2)
From
man
is the
most perfect
Intelligence.
is
history,
"
also, indirectly,
"
occur.
2.
Definition of Omniscience.
Calvin
s is
all
"That
attribute
whereby God
24
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
(a.)
all
Exact;
(c.)
(d.)
Infallible."
is
is in
The
thus
(b.)
Simultaneous:
summed up
statements:
We
edge of
in
most theological
ours
all
God s
is fallible,
The
is indistinct,
God s
is
clear;
is infallible.
objects
is
come
to
they actually
knows them under their real relations.
conditioned by those relations, but
lations.
He makes those relations.
of things,
and here
passes any
that
when he comes
is
man
This knowledge
He knows them
(3)
God knows
is
not
in those re
the essences
knows
there
must be an
From our
essence, and it must be an object of knowledge.
knowing that essences are and our ignorance of what they are,
there must be some Being who knows more than we do.
This
that
there
must be an omniscience. (4) God knows
proves
what is possible as well as what is actual. He knows the pos
sibilities of things.
In making any human being, He knows
how that being might possibly act. He knows how the individ
ual will act under certain circumstances.
and
He knows
is
istic
also
what
He
adopts a certain
possible.
This
is
"God
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
25
certain,
own
4.
Of Scientia Media.
The authentic
conditions or contingencies.
knowledge of a conditional fu
ture would imply a certain knowledge of that future with its
conditions and contingencies; that though it was contingent
What he
cumstances.
his surroundings
does
and upon
is
his will.
will.
the circumstances.
man
him, knows
to him if he
will be there
that he
take either,
the possibilities of the man s action, but does not know precisely
what that action will be. This is the most ingenious theory on
The theory
generally.
26
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
gwen
it is
what the creature will do, and thus forms his plan. The divine
wisdom knows all that is possible, and among all possible things
chooses that which it deems best. This is undoubtedly correct
and is in harmony with Calvinistic views. But the other view,
that God simply provides for all contingencies, confounds two
tilings: the knowledge of all possibilities, which is true; and the
assumption that God does not know which of the possibilities
will become actual.
Against this form of the theory the two
It
makes the divine acts dependent on
are:
objections
(a.)
man s
choice or will;
It
(b.)
This
commonly divided
into
which will
be,
who
"
says:
If the acts of
man
are foreseen,
Socinus took the ground that there may be some things which
God cannot be said to know in any way. Rothe says that God
in creating man free, necessarily relinquished his knowledge of
Dr. Adam Clark and Methodists generally de
future actions.
fine omniscience as the
that
power
all
imply that
omniscience,
if
1
all
omniscience at
In
this
form
it is
all,
must be complete
carefully stated
by Knapp.
But
in itself,
27
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
it
all
things.
is
to
The
difficulty is
then
Answer
who deny
If these are
con
So the
question runs over into the other, whether certainty and free
agency are inconsistent and contradictory ideas. Even in respect
to man, our knowing an event as certain does not prevent its be
ing
We
free.
can predict
circumstances.
predict
If those
know with
all certainty.
with us
is
knowledge may
to
the second
If a tolerable
knowledge of certainty
objection,
that
omniscience
as
implying the
more
fully in connection
may
be said here:
(a.)
(b.)
Z8
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
we may
He may know.
how
6.
The Divine Reason.
Not only is God s intelligence or understanding omniscient,
knowing all things, but in God is also the primal reason. In
God is the source of the ideas and knowledge of all intelligences.
In the divine mind are the archetypes of all truth. Others have
truth only by gift and derivation. The ideas of all things are
ultimately in the divine mind, are eternal. That is the old
Patristic view and is the sense and heart of the Realism of the
Middle Ages. The Pantheistic view says that the ideas accord
ing to which all things are fashioned are extant in the universe;
the Theistic -view says that they are only in the divine mind*
The
mind.
the ideas in the divine mind according to which the world was
In the school of Philo, Logos means the same as
fashioned.
Wisdom
is
in the
Book
In Prov.
of Proverbs.
viii.
22
seq.
Wisdom
personified.
(b.)
cience.
iii.
of
19; Isa.
God
xl.
is
13,
Besides,
It is
wisdom
it is
wisdom
manifest.
Definition of
He
produces the best possible results with the best possible means.
That
is
in
God
it is
superlative.
The
best possible results would of course bring into view the great
Taking that end into view,
wisdom may be
defined in another
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
29
form, bringing out the divine attributes which concur in it, viz.,
the divine intelligence and love. Then God s wisdom is seen in
his using the best
means
to secure the
supremacy of holiness
and
love
both
Wisdom
concur.
Intelligence
the universe.
in
is
CHAPTER
V.
to
God
it is
used in at
.least
viz., (1)
As
God
power but of
"
supreme moral
attributes.
These
differ
God
ognized by
is
his
intellect."
these
two conceptions;
"doing
as one
pleases"
should
riot
be
is
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
30
1.
There
It in
the attribute by which He is the author of all his acts.
volves the notion of the highest freedom and the highest moral
necessity.
(6.)
ing an internal
As omnipotence.
sphere, and there
(c.)
taining energy of Deity,
also it has an internal sphere.
It
It is
the
immanent preference
will.
Here
it is
viewed
It is that
as omnipotence,
(a.) As power over possibilities.
He
characteristic whereby what God wills
might not, and
do or
will
to refrain
produce what
He
might.
from doing.
own pleasure
He might not
(b.) Divine om
It lies in his
He might
He
or
of the universe,
ation.
This
is
(c.)
seen in
moral system.
The
He
does.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Other Distinctions as to the
3.
Mode of
31
Manifestation of the
Divine Will
commands
Arminians.
God commands
all his
Decalogue.
2.
made
God.
efficient will of
This
is
the dis
tinction
all
down
God permits the morally evil and effects the good. In respect
to sin, He for wise reasons simply determines not to prevent it,
all things considered.
The efficient will of God has respect to
what God directly produces through his own agency. The im
portance of this distinction is, that we cannot logically or
rationally or morally conceive that God would directly produce
by his positive efficiency what He forbids. Accordingly we
must employ some milder term than efficiency with respect to
God to moral evil, and the term selected is per
the relation of
This
mission.
until
we
may
it is
well to retain
it
get a better.
^voluntas
to be
1
of
signi"
much
Tim.
God
ii.
and
insisted
4; 2 Pet.
that
all
"voluntas
placiti"
iii.
9.
It
was
In itself considered,
He
to bring to
CHRISTIAN
32
THEOLOGY.
may
not determine to
what
is
faith,
is
in the
and inefficacious.
(c.) The efficacious
repentance and
That producing by efficiency, and that which does not act
faith,
directly.
CHAPTER
VI.
is
The
force exerted.
We
own power
acts
2.
is
the abso
lute
can do whatever
He
pleases.
But
it
limits the
it is
whatever
is
possible or whatever
is
an object of power.
We cannot
con-
33
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
ceive
it
be all-powerful.
From the order and existence of the created universe.
(b.)
The
act
of.
does.
Biblical
(c.)
xvii. 1
Job
Rev. xix.
4.
ix.
This
proof.
is
various
and manifold.
Gen.
i.
19
6.
Limits of Omnipotence.
This phraseology
is
hardly
strict.
The
of divine power.
They relate to points which do not involve
that
which is contradictory cannot be established;
e.
as,
g.,
power,
it cannot be an object of power.
So God cannot
mathematical
relations
or
make
be
to
change
right
wrong. This
simply means that God s power cannot be conceived as mani
in other words,
fested except in
nature.
himself.
It is
holiness or purity
He
could sin
He would
which
self
its
energy.
He says it
not properly understood as God s power to do what He pleases,
but rather that God is the cause of all that is. Also, that there
5.
Schleiermacher
s definition
of Omnipotence.
is
said that a
man
in connection with
"
ability."
When it is
continuing in his sin can repent but will not, it is said that a
This certainly does not
parallel case is, God has the power to sin but will not.
open much help to the sinful man, for if he should not repent until God sins he
34
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
hypothesis rests
He
is
The
produced.
is;
all
is
of- the
Objects
These are:
(a.)
divine omnipotence.
Himself,
God
is
self-sustaining.
(6.)
The
and
renewal of the
in the
CHAPTER
soul,
VII.
This
is
(1)
As designating the
expressed
in
the law of
internal
God which
is
holy, just,
As
and good.
"Be
place.
ye holy,
for I
come up
am
holy."
in its proper
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
As God
holy, so
is
Holiness
holy.
35
is
is
it
sum
God
it
employ
of
the ethical theory which one adopts. Those who take the Utili
tarian or Happiness view define all these as having respect to
happiness.
chief good,
The same
is
true
when
holiness
is
taken to be the
arises largely
to
what
attribute shall be
our view, holiness is the best term to use for this, and
our definitions in accordance with this usage.
we frame
New
and
Testaments
There holiness
attribute.
to be binding
is
made supreme
in
in
no system of nature
is
this the
(1) It is said,
is
holy,
we
He must
is
no need of supposing a
law
is
law.
1
to
Reply: There
which God is subject. God
There is no law above Him.
There
is
one definition of
hereafter remark.
love
this, as
we
shall
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
36
and holiness
is
the moral ex
Holiness
it.
and
is
then
He might
To
been holy.
describes holiness,
it is
this
is
we
God
is
holy,
not have
purely metaphysical,
It is not
neously such or eternally so, by a moral necessity:
so.
became
then
and
be
to
holy,
holy because God first chose
a
time
to Deity, involving
Such a choice is
utterly inapplicable
The holiness
holy.
Wherever there
state.
is
is
holiness there
the
immanent moral
is
Holiness,
So in God
choices themselves.
repentance, faith, love are the
choice.
eternal
an
but
of
a
holiness was not the result
choice,
gives
God s
God s
will
as
that will
may
cause
is
it
(b.)
Taking
or holiness,
expressing God s moral pleasure
of
standard
and
be said to be the rule
right, be
be
should
moral excellence to which we
supreme
the question to be whether God s
(c.) Taking
will creates right and wrong, so that it can make right to
be wrong and wrong to be right, it becomes absurd, (d.) Yet,
conformed,
become right
or
made
wrong only by
the motive.
37
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
CHAPTER
VIII.
1.
These vary
etc.
God is
descriptive of its moral character or excellence.
Love is the interior state. Holiness is its characteristic.
"
is
Holiness
The
best definition
is
love."
Love
is,
or
it is
an object
love
is
was simply a
craving.
Accordingly some from the attribute
of the divine love deduce the doctrine of the Trinity.
Love
seeks an object.
Divine love is infinite. It seeks an infinite
object.
of persons.
Taking
Proofs of
From
through
all
the
it is
good.
Divine Love.
Creation.
3.
CHRISTIAN
38
3.
THEOLOGY.
The divine
God
God
to himself,
egoism
is
happiness to
all his
sentient creatures,
to de
The
Benevolence
is
disposition to do
good
to
any
one.
Mercy and
Mercy is sometimes
Luke i. 72 here, the
which is the divine love
Rom.
his goodness in
ix. 22,
ii.
4; 1 Pet.
iii.
20.
mitigating punishment.
xi. 22.
5.
towards the
ture the
ground of
all sin.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
39
made
made
the
the
we must
Kather
that holiness
is
holiness. 2
If happiness
2.
which
of so
is
it
tends,
it is
much misery
in the world.
relation to sin,
and
achieved; but
happiness
see
how
if
this can be
if
Misery
is
If
be defended in
It is said in reply,
is
may
is
made
highest happiness
holiness
the
it is
object;"
"
if
the
"
"
highest happiness is
something more than happiness and includes another element,
then that is the thing to be found out. What is that element
in the highest happiness which makes it the greatest good
;
is
Now
there
is
hap
that interpretation
tion in view.
2
Happiness
is
but
its glitter.
40
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
that
moral element.
6.
From the
(1)
ble motive for such a one to be otherwise.
(2)
From
the whole
From
tions of animal
life
Evil
is
nothing in nature
Here
is
(4)
From
From
the pur
(5)
the revelation of the
moral, social.
of
1. In
respect to natural evil. Natural suffering, i. e., the suf
fering from physical causes, cannot be shown to be inconsistent
with benevolence. It is often warning, it is in different ways
Pain
is
Benevolence
may
in
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
2.
Moral
evil.
is
41
the consequent or
means
it
may
to sustain the
with benevolence.
But
if
sin in a
Him
to
allow
The first
theory.
Sin
not an intrinsic
is
evil,
but an imper
which
is
been by so much
better.
must
sin,
sin
his
school.
is
lation of that
which
is
us.
Sin
is
It is
a vio
not a
42
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
less,
how
knowing the
greater,
is
(c.)
somewhere.
It
may
to stimulate
powers.
flict
pain.
And
it is
that, if
the teaching be worth anything; but that does not show how
it is benevolent to make a man morally corrupt for the good of
others,
(d.)
Relative imperfection
is
is not,
est of evils.
New
England
We
ment.
What
is
in the
Is it
state
happiness
"the
in different senses.
so that sin
is
Page
147.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
as the
first.
Or, necessary
43
may mean
this,
that
it
The
third theory.
That
system because
We
is
There
is
clear proof, on the one hand, of the benevolence and even of the
grace of God, arid on the other, of the existence of sin.
We
CHAPTER
IX.
This
as an attribute.
Page
149.
it
would not be
44
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
There
1.
is
Being.
Scriptural Proof: Exod. xxxiv.6;
2.
Num.
xxv.
1.
The
John
xvii.
3.
(2)
That God
is
all
truth.
The
there
those
who may
there
is
not ultimately be punished. All such threatenings are to be taken as penalties attached to the violation of law,
and if anything can take the place of the execution of penalties,
God
repents,
CHAPTER
THE DIVINE
1.
etc.
X.
JUSTICE.
45
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
where
it
deserts.
require
it.
ness or love.
secure
meaning of
2.
Proofs of
God
1.
distributive justice.
the
as perfect
Divine Justice.
must be
just.
We
The divine
2.
butes,
justice
wisdom, holiness,
may
and
attri
love.
3.
1.
a law
Legislative, by
with sanctions.
are rewards
2.
which
Its
is
meant, God
holiness in giving
and punishments.
administer
This
is
46
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Why
4.
does
God
as a Moral
Justice ?
(2)
To
reform.
(3)
To
deter.
(4)
From
the interest^
of general justice.
The
first theory.
Sin
is
punished because
it is
essentially
ill-
is
is
He must
own
holiness,
and
to
do this
is to
reform.
punish.
The second
theory.
This
is
(&.)
cases
ment, but
is
for, (a.)
It is
ishment ourselves,
it is
not attained.
and third
(b.) If this is
Unless the
first
The fourth
theory.
That punishment
is
required by what
This
is
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
47
more
made
happiness means.
holiness, another
form above
whole system.
Sin
is
ill-desert of sin
and the
punished because
it is
final
ends of the
ill-deserving
and
acy of righteousness.
essentially ill-deserving
and
then
it fol
lows that sin must be punished at any rate, and then there can
be no atonement, or else it must be a commercial atonement,
a quid pro quo, an exact equivalent to the same amount of
punishment.
48
CHRISTIAN"
THEOLOGY.
BOOK
II.
."
Ev
rpiaSt
Ubi amor,
rj
kGri"
ATHANASIUS.
AUGUSTINE.
ibi Trinitas"
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
1.
The
God
the
tion of
God
to
of the Father
man.
He
His person
is set
The primary
is
demption; God
as the
It is
difficulties
may
4 The
God
is
circumscribed personality,
1
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
rational in
itself,
49
God
is
the
God
easier to conceive of
I,
than as three
It is anthropomorphic as truly
persons, and no more rational.
as some popular misrepresentations of the Trinity are said to be
tritheistic.
The doctrine
we cannot grasp
that
it,
conceive of
it
definitely, as
we do
of
self-contradictory to conception.
for
an enigma
ma;
which there
mystery
is
is
is
somewhat, which
unintelligible
intelligible in
is
partly -intelligible
of its relations
many
and partly
and modes
We may
know
mystery."
A mystery,
that
it is,
"
"
well weighed, will blunt the edge of all assaults, against this
How far we may even find something rational in it,
article."
we
shall consider.
Christian Church,
thrown
off.
When
and that
it
all
lowed
etc.,
asunder.
fol
the wire
It is also
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
50
true that
it
many prolonged
But the great
controversies
result of these
has been to bring out the doctrine in its various aspects, and
especially as interwoven with the scheme of Redemption.
7. The leading formula of the doctrine was adopted to guard
against three errors: Tritheism, Sabellianism, Arianism.
Outline of the Course on the Trinity.
Scriptures represent God as one, yet they ascribe Divinity to
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
PROP. II. The Distinctions of the Godhead set forth here are not confined to
PROP.
The
I.
Godhead
is
not
CHAPTER
I.
Holy
Spirit.
Course of the Argument.
L
H.
III.
IV.
V.
all
other beings.
1.
The
Trinitarian texts.
That God
is one.
Exodus
"
know
Deut.
Lord."
vi.
4.
He
is
"Hear,
God; there
Israel:
is
none
else beside
Him."
is
one
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
the
51
of
is
all
one
Lord."
1 Cor. viii. 4.
know
"We
that an idol
is
is
nothing in the
(Referring
one."
Know
"
Eph.
and through
1
Tim.
i.
all,
This
is
none
else.")
all,
who
is
above
all,
all."
"
17.
That
2.
is
"
iv. 6.
the
Father
is
divine
and a
distinct Person.
not contested.
(a.)
fold
In the Lord
Deut. xxxii.
prayer:
6.
"Is
"Our
not
He
heaven."
thee?"
"
ham
our
be ignorant of us
Redeemer."
Ps.
ciii.
"
13.
(&.) Passages in
1 Cor. viii.
6.
52
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for
our sins, .... according to the will of God and our Father."
(The
latter expression is a
relative).
John xvii. 3. "That they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
Eph. iv. 5, 6.
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
"
you
all."
"That
6.
ye may with one mind and one mouth
Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ"
even
the
glorify God,
"The
God and Father of our Lord Jesus
2 Cor. xi. 31.
Rom.
Christ,
xv.
which
i.
Eph.
Christ,
"
Blessed be the
who hath
venly places in
John
"
is
3.
v. 18.
knoweth that
blessed us with
all spiritual
I lie
not."
Christ."
God."
John
men
all
"
A class
(d.)
still
that
Christ s declaration of the design of God,
should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."
v. 23.
discuss what relation, but deferring the question until the Sonsldp
is
considered).
John
xvii. 1.
"Father,
John
x. 30.
"
may
I
the hour
glorify
and
my
is
thee."
Father are
one."
That form of the Sabellian hypothesis, which makes the Father one
of manifestation of the hidden God, has no countenance in Scrip
There is no Father manifested; it is God the Father
It is inconceivable.
ture.
Father being the perfect equivalent of God.
NOTE.
of the
modes
This view says that the hidden, unrevealed, God and the Logos are from
but that the Father, Son, and Spirit are modes of manifestation of that
hidden God.
1
eternity,
53
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
John
"
x. 15.
know
the
Father."
That
3.
Son
the
divine and,
is
distinct
The argument
from a variety
character."
(a.)
own testimony
will."
vi. 62.
"
"
"
John
ham
"
viii. 58.
was,
Verily, verily, I
was."
am."
can be Abraham,
Another
class of passages
second
"The
"Thou
")
man
is
When
"
4.
God
"
Col.
i.
He
17.
is
and by Him
all
things
consist."
John
i.
1,
things were
and
"
3.
made by
Word."
"
All
Him."
There
John
Phil.
i.
is
14.
"
ii.
6, 7.
Who
flesh."
made
54
CHRISTIAN
himself of no
pre-existence.
"form of God"
proves
could not be used for mere
(The expression
reputation."
"Form*
THEOLOGY.
of
God"
endowments.)
(B.) Christ
Heb.
i.
6; Rev. v. 11),
4, 5,
but
He was
John
Col.
31.
iii.
i.
15.
born of every
Col.
i.
iii.
Matt.
He
Who
Who
"
all
in
is
above
all."
first
"The
14.
is
things
He might have
"The
"
xi. 27.
and
is
creature."
18.
dead; that in
Rev. i. 5.
Rev.
"
"
"All
power
is
me of my Father."
me in heaven
given unto
earth."
John
x. 15.
"As
know
the
Father."
Col.
i.
"Who is
15,17.
He is before
that Christ
is
God."
"And
things."
many similar passages show
the first being in the universe, next the Father.
These and
all
Col.
i.
16.
(snridSr/)
(rex
"
For by
all
1.
(tv avrco)
were
itdvra dt avrovxai
As
Him
sis
avrov
all
things created
Him and
for
Him
"
EKritirai).
argument we remark:
an act of omnipotence it is inconceivable that
Creation
is
Grinfield,
55
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
it
should be delegated;
if
tion does.
Creation
2.
is
is
God.
Gen.
"
1.
i.
Heb.
He
i.
it is
said
"all
is
Si
things"
whom
dt ov y "through
4.
things
Nor can an
i.
all
things."
i.
3, Si
avrov
is
used (in
are all
things."
objection be
By whom
"
2.
maketh
God."
Heb.
is
created."
sv avrcp), for in
it is
16,
It is
Col.
all
am
"
4.
iii.
that built
3.
"I
also
creation.
He made
the
worlds."
This
is
(D.) Christ
is
Creator,
Father,
we must
(or those
of
any being
which imply
divinity.
Omnipotence.
(a.)
"
Is. ix. 6.
Phil.
even
21.
iii.
working whereby He
"The
is
God."
able to subdue
"The
things unto himself." (See also 1 Cor. xv. 26.
that
shall
be
is
enemy
destroyed
death.")
Heb. i. 3. "Upholding all things by the word of his power."
all
last
Rev.
i.
8.
"
am
the
Omnipresence.
Heb. i. 3, see above.
Almighty."
(b.)
"
(Ubiquity.)
Lo, I
am
with you
alway."
Eternity.
(c.)
John
1
i.
1.
"
The argument
is:
Word."
He must be
divine.
56
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
i.
"
8.
"
last."
liveth."
"
"I
me
there
no
last:
and beside
God."
Omniscience.
(d.)
As
is
to Christ s
superhuman knowledge:
Compare Luke ii. 47: "And all that heard Him were aston
ished at his understanding and answers," with Isa. xl. 2: "And
the Spirit of the Lord shall
and understanding."
John ii. 24. "He knew
Matt.
the
xi. 27.
spirit of
wisdom
"
men"
Son."
John
Rev.
xxi. 17.
ii.
(Compare
reins."
of
"Neither
rest
all
23.
"
"I
am He which
Acts
i.
24.
"
things."
"Thou,
hearts."
I try
the
men.")
Two
posses
From
his
working of miracles
name and
in a peculiar
is
divine;
way:
(6.)
As
own
(a.)
In his
for his
wrought in the
2. The last
judgment
is
to be
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
The passages
in
Rom.
xx. 28;
i
1;
Johni.
cii.
24, 25,
called
is
2 Thess.
v. 5;
Eph.
John
1; 1
God:
compared with Heb.
which Christ
ix. 5;
57
i.
i.
12; Titus
8,
ii.
10; Acts
13; 2 Pet.
v. 20.
"
6,
"I
have
"
is
"
The
(a.)
first class
name, God.
(The consideration of John
1
John
v. 20.
"This
i.
1 is
the true
is
postponed.)
God and
eternal
life."
The
The eternal
passage has immediate reference to Christ.
in John s usage, relates to Christ, and the reference here is the
"
life,"
"
life.
cerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for
All the MSS. and ancient versions have it thus: in the
ever."
latter part of the last century,
is
"Who
over
God be
all:
it
blessed
was proposed
But
forever."
all
to alter to:
(1) this
was
regular dox-
comes
"blessed"
ologies,
first;
alter
"
is
thee."
Some render:
"God
is
thy
throne,"
Thy God
"
of* the
Son
to the Father,
John
"mere
xx. 28.
"Thomas
excitement of
said
feeling."
My
Lord and
my
God."
Not
58
CHRISTIAN
Acts xx.
own
with his
John
"the
28.
"
blood."
For
18.
i.
only begotten
1 Pet.
Lord
iii.
God")
THEOLOGY.
15.
"Sanctify
your
"in
Lord of hosts
"the
God"
the Lord
Cf.
hearts."
it is
(instead of
Christ"
Is.
viii.
most probable
"
13,
"the
Sanctify the
himself."
"In
lifted up,
spake of
Ps.
Him."
25.
cii.
"Of
of thy
i.
Matt.
21.
i.
name Immanuel
"
(El).
"And
name
sins."
Is. ix. 6.
shall
work
10.
their
"in
Is. vii.
and
God,"
("My
--and
hands."
Heb.
saith")
"For
be called
....
the mighty
New Testament
ix. 17 to Christ is
That the
said in
Is.
God"
ascribes
.... and
his
name
(El).
the whole of
seen by comparing
Is.
what
is
ix.
2,
1,
iv. 16, Eph. v. 8, 14; Is. ix. 6, first clause, with Luke
second
clause with John iii. 16, last clause with Eph. ii. 14,
11,
and the expression "the mighty God" with Titus ii. 13:
with Matt.
ii.
"
Looking
the great
Is.
xl.
Prepare ye the
John
i.
23.
"The
way
He
"
Christ."
am
59
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
wilderness,
straight the
Esaias."
prophet
Lord
Make
whom
ye
(Cf.
John
way
iii.
and Mai.
28,
1.
iii.
"The
seek.")
The
of the argument.
Phil.
ii.
6-8.
"Who,
(juoppi?,
of
God."
attributes,
(nop<pjj)
is
"
real
nature,
distinctive
not
"
robbery"
the
divine
qualities,"
so
(which would
ro d pit ay^ a
directly affirm Christ s divinity), but
prize"
to
be
a
treasure
seized.
i.
it
Still
e.,
implies di
("spoil")
vinity, for (Lightfoot,
Comm. on
"
3.
Who
v. 18.
with
"Because
that
"
John
Phil.,
with God,
Heb. i.
"a
person."
God was
his Father,
God."
19 reads:
"The
thyself
do:"
God."
John
xix.
7.
to die, because
Upon
"We
God."
is
to be
but
He humbled
himself,"
etc.
60
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
(d.)
of action
the Saviour
John
s divinity.
19.
v.
"The
himself."
(See
above.)
John
xvii.
10.
"And
mine are
all
thine,
and thine
are
mine."
John
John
v.
17.
x.
30.
"My
"
work."
"God"
who
an
is
hath
idolater,
God"
(where
2 Pet. i. 1.
"Through the righteousness of God and (even)
our Saviour (Saviour,) Jesus Christ."
2 Tim. iv. 1.
I charge thee therefore before God, and
the Lord Jesus Christ" (before God even Christ Jesus).
"
Luke
i.
And many
"
16.
Lord their
turn
to
shall
go before Him.
Col.
the
ii.
Godhead
9.
"For
God."
(Proof; verse
17,
"And
He
he
in
Him
dwelleth
all
bodily."
(F.) Christ
is
pre-existent, above
ligious worship.
The
argument
is
seen from a
com
parison of passages.
Worship
is to
is
worshiped.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Matt.
iv. 10.
"Thou
61
Him
John
"
v. 23.
xlv. 5.
Heb.
Is.
xliv.
men
all
God
"No
8.
i.
That
Father."
God
there a
"Is
me."
God,
throne,
"Thy
8.
beside
ever and
is for
me?
beside
ever."
yea, there is
no
God."
John
1.
i.
Word was
"The
God."
Other passages:
Let
Heb. i. 6.
"
word
for
iv.
God."
the angels of
God worship
is Trpotinvrr/daroodav
"worship"
in Matt.
thy
all
but
it is
The
Him."
the same as
10,
the
command
"
"
"
Phil.
ii.
10.
"That
name
at the
confess,"
etc.
Here He
Kev.
v.
iii.
18.
"To
"
13.
And
Him
be glory both
every creature
now and
heard
is
wor
ever."
for
ever."
saying,
Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."
up
into heaven,
carried
And
Acts
2 Cor.
xii.
8.
"And
"
62
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
it might
depart from me." Who "the Lord" is, is seen in
the next verse: "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
that
my
iii.
11, 12.
way unto
you.
And
the
ii.
16, 17.
"Now
himself"
(reverse order from that in the passage just cited, Christ being
named first) "and God, even our Father, which hath loved
us,
word and
work."
Confirmatory passages:
1 Cor.
name
i.
"
2.
With
all
if
"calling
upon"
Christ
was the
trait
of
Christians everywhere.
John
do
xiv. 14.
"
If
my name
I will
it."
there
is
none
else;"
and
as,
man
Jeremiah
xvii.
that trusteth in
5:
"Thus
man and
saith
that
maketh flesh his arm," and see here, how praise and glory
and honor, etc., are given to Christ, then we meet this di
lemma: Either the Scriptures are self-contradictory or Christ
is divine: Either the
Scriptures recognize more gods than one,
or Christ is divine
Christ
Either
truly divine.
God, consistent with the Scriptures,
of Christ.
is
is
01
of
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
63
(a.) It is
The argument
(6r.)
is
confirmed by the
we
fact,
are to look to
that Christ
Him
is
directly, be
doctrine of Christ
s divinity.
4.
and communicated
to
Him
omnipotence,
Thus
(a)
to the
the Son.
1 Cor.
i.
21.
"
Now He
Gal.
Father,
i.
1.
who
"
An
raised
us, is
God.
by Jesus
apostle
Him from
in
the
dead."
Christ,
64
CHRISTIAN
Acts
ye
v. 30.
"
THEOLOGY.
fathers raised
up Jesus,
whom
slew."
Bat compare:
(b.)
it is said, is
Omniscience,
"
Mark
the
"
xiii. 32.
not in Christ.
my
Father
only."
Father."
1
He
does not:
cation.
It is
not inconsistent
John
xvii. 3.
"That
But compare
nal
whom
John
v. 20.
"This
is
the true
God and
eter
life."
This
of Christ.
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
John
your
xx. 17.
me
"Touch
Father, to
65
Father and
my
God."
1 Cor. xi. 3,
glory;"
Son
"The
"The
head of Christ
shall be subject to
Him
is
God;"
that put
all
things under
Him."
John
inferiority
asserted.
The Father
My
greater than
has a greater office than the Son, by the very nature of the relation.
Even so hath He given to the Son to have life
John v. 26.
in himself." Observe: to have life in himself, not to direct the
xiv. 28.
Father
"
is
I."
"
He
Son
Col.
i.
(er avrca)
15.
were
all
in
earth."
is
placed, in
Moreover,
calls
Him.
i. 8
(from Ps. xlv. 7): "But unto the Son (=first
GOD, is for ever and ever." Also
born) he saith, thy throne,
Eev. i. 5
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead," in connection with verse 8,
"
or 11,
"I
"
am
xlviii.
the
12),
first
and the
last"
the
first
and the
(compared with
or verse 18,
last;"
or vs. 17,
from eternity,
the ever-living.
5.
the
That
Father and
(a.)
the
Holy Spirit
is
divine
and a
distinct
Person from
the Son.
Spirit.
"
"
Holy
Spirit
and
"
Spirit of
God
"
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
66
mode
of operation.
New
Him He leads
No man speak
and that no man
"
14:
"For
as
many
Rom.
Ghost."
as are led
John iii.
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Luke xi. 13: "How much more shall your heavenly Father
(3) He exerts a
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ?
the Sons of
God."
"
Acts
ii.
the
Pentecost.
(Fulfil
(Cf.-John xvi. 7:
"For
come unto
The
you.")
go not away, the Comforter
In 1 Cor. xii.
filled with the Holy Ghost."
Apostles were
and xiv., the charismata, the extraordinary and also the per
will not
if I
"
Holy Ghost,
Ye
Spirit.
"Then
rulers of
the people and elders of Israel," etc. (Compare Luke xxi. 14:
"Settle it therefore in
your hearts, not to meditate before what
ye shall
for
answer"
my name s
....
["when
sake;"]
."for
I will
give you a
mouth and
wisdom.")
is (1)
with permanent
That these
all
(6.)
founding
sustaining
gifts.
ii.
converting grace.
prophetic,
this (a.) as
Spirit, is
16,
seen from
is also
the source of
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
difficulty
"He
shall give
....
whom
may seem
to be presented
you another
Comforter."
my
67
by John
the Comforter
"But
name,
He
shall teach
all
things."
you
But these are
mode
life.
1 Cor.
16.
iii.
"
Know
God dw elleth
The temple of
the
reason
of
of
the
of
the asser
God:
God, by
indwelling
Spirit
tion implies the absolute divine holiness of the Spirit, at least.
and that the
To the same
Acts
Spirit of
in
"
you ?
v. 3, 4.
"Why
hath Satan
filled
thine heart to
lie
unto
Holy Ghost? .... thou hast not lied unto men but unto God."
The offence was not against the Spirit of God as dwelling in the
the
heart
dom.
Spirit says
and interchangeably.
xxviii. 25.
Heb.
x. 15.
"Whereof
He had
the
"
"
But
Also xxx.
Lord."
this shall
Lord,"
be the covenant
and
saith
1.
ii.
10, 11.
"For
God."
all
things, yea
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
68
(c.)
and
The Holy
Spirit is distinct
is
is
personal:
Matt, xxviii. 19.
"
xiii. 14.
"The
you
The Holy
all."
communion
Spirit
iii.
in
The same
16, Mark i.
fact
etc.
Here the symbol of the Spirit
from the voice of the Father.
heaven,"
Kom.
viii. 16.
"The
is
distinguished
with our
spirit."
Rom.
And
the
"The
is
the
mind of
Spirit."
Eph. iv. 30. "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." This
not intelligible, if the Spirit is not personal a mode of divine
agency cannot be grieved.
is
But
"
all
1 Cor.
ii.
10, 11.
"The
Spirit is dis
dhySeias.
(kuEivoS alone
to 6 itapdxtyros,
also
John
but
xvi. 14.
it is
/l3#
2Vo, TO
tKElvoS
JUE Soc,a6si.
See
69
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Personal acts are ascribed to the
Spirit.
He teaches,
testifies,
speaks, convinces.
All this is inconsistent with personification merely.
Acts
xiii.
4.
2,
"The
Ghost,"
Acts xv.
to
"
28.
For
it
seemed good
to the
us."
God
"
we might
Father."
Spirit
i.
12.
"them
you
(d.)
Christ
ii.
is
20; Cf.
Rom.
viii.
14; Eph.
e.
iii.
g.,
Rom.
viii.
9,
10,
11; Gal.
Acts
ii. 33.
"He
(Christ) hath shed forth this" (the outpour
of
the
Acts
iii. 21
ing
Spirit).
(Jesus Christ) "Whom the heaven
must receive until the times of restitution of all things." So
:
through John
is to
xiv.,
is
John
Christ
when
Rom.
but, Heb.
1 Cor.
v. 23,
The
at last
we
viii.
16,
vii. 25,
iii.
Christ
Acts
2.
iii.
16.
is
xix.
ye receive the
see
Him
as
He
image of
is.
The
Eph.
(e/ rtvevna.
"
"Did
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
70
Second Objection:
In John
vii.
38, 39 it is said,
"
How God
Christ
and
parallels.
i.
li.
(upon
1.
my
Isa. Ixi. 1.
iv.
18
a rebellious
"Behold
Spirit
"The
John
Isa. Ixv. 2.
"
people,"
That the
men, as
is
upon
Acts
Cf.
and
vii.
ears,
51.
me."
(Cf.
stiffnecked
"Ye
ye do always
resist
the
x. 21.
Spirit that
Spirit.
Against
Lord God
uphold;
"
etc.
Him."
Spirit of the
34
whom
servant,
iii.
upon
my
to
Him"
").
have put
Luke
promised to Christ as
Isa. xlii.
I
"And
is
The Lord
is
TO nvEvna, 2 Cor.
coming again
iii.
17.
come
in his stead:
John
xiv. 18,
is to
be
"in
glory"
3,
"I
come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be
also
this refers to a coming in which He will receive the Church
;"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
71
spirit.
contrast
between the
is
(2 Cor.
iii.
17),
of the Lord
is,
Spirit of Christ
the sense, he that has the Lord (in contrast with, he that has
Moses), has the Spirit.
But
this
John
is
God
is Spirit
iv. 24.
God
is
is Spirit,
world.
6.
from
It is
these,
in a peculiar way, as
no others are
personality of
and in a peculiar manner.
2 Cor.
xiii.
14.
"The
you
communion
all."
1 Pet.
i.
2.
"
God
"
72
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
1 Cor. xii. 3-6.
"
No man can
say Jesus
is
lt
name
of the Father,
and
the.
Holy Spirit.
That the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are personally dis
tinguished from each other. There is recognized throughout
1.
3.
attributes.
NOTE.
So of
formally
We
immanent, yet
it is
permanent.
The
Spirit.
the whole
economy of re
demption, as permanent. From the Trinity in the economy
we pass to the second point, THE ESSENTIAL TRINITY.
Trinity,
at
any
rate, is in
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
CHAPTER
73
II.
tion of
Order of discussion:
1.
2.
Sense of
distinctions.
"Person."
Of the
1.
How
to
"Sonship."
That
the
Scriptures as internal
This
is primarily a question of
Scriptural interpretation.
a question with respect to Sabellianism. Sabellianism,
as contrasted with Arianism, says: The Son in his nature
It is
is
nation,
in
Him.
existent in
(2)
God Jesus
(3)
As
pre-
the Logos.
Sabellranism has two forms: (1) God, revealed as Father, Son,
and Spirit; (2) God the Father, revealed as Son and Spirit.
is
It is called
The Logos
is
.the
is
the
medium
of the reve
Modalism.
Sabellianism
is
more profound;
it
also
explains
of the
74
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
The relation of Arianism and Sabelwhat Sabellianism urges for the inherent di
vinity of Christ refutes Arianism what Arianism urges for
relative subordination.
lianism
is this:
is
this:
Do
the Scriptures
mani
or do they demand that we conceive of them as
John
viii.
"
58.
Before
Abraham
was,
am."
This can
John
xvii.
5.
"
Glorify
thou
me
with thine
own
self
(jtapd tieavrcn)
the world
was"
it
is
was
to be again:
had with
it
is
to
thee, before
be again, as
personal.
ii.
6-8.
"Who
"I
"
"
"all
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
75
was
The Logos
fore.
is
is
is
an
It
"Word"
an internal modification.
is
It
He makes
eternal.
is
Heb.
3.
i.
"Who
The expression
person."
"firstborn
of every
creature"
refers to his
Whatever
else
may
strictest
John
John
16.
iii.
"That
"
He gave
The bread
his only-begotten
Son."
will."
John
me
xii.
49.
"But
He gave
a commandment."
as Son,
"sent,"
4.
"
The historical genesis of the idea of the Logos confirms this. Wisdom,
Logos of Philo, Angel of God, Glory of God, Name of God, etc., become concen
1
And
76
CHRISTIAN
God
made
law."
THEOLOGY.
of a
He was
the Son.
John
xvi. 28.
into the
world."
John
31.
iii.
verse 11,
Cf.
1 Cor.
"I
"He
"and
x.
came
4.
testify that
"They
we have
drank of that
and am come
is
above
all."
spiritual
Rock
that
seen."
Christ."
The
(d.)
in speaking of
and
ii.
come, and
John
i.
us."
The
14.
"
will
hand."
10.
I
especially 10.
"
"And
the
flesh
xxii.
7.
come
quickly."
(e.)
Son,
is
He
relation to us of the
Rom.
Heb.
4.
"declared
to be the
to-day,
and
forever."
Rom. vi. 9, 10. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth
no more ..... in that He liveth, He liveth unto God."
Acts ii. 33. "Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted .... He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and
hear."
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
77
2. Remarks on Sabellianism.
The general result of the Sabellian hypothesis, on the
basis
and
divine na-ture.
2.
They
worlds,
all
also
show that
things in
al distinction
heaven and
did not come into being for the exigencies of the divine
mani
festation.
3.
The only
consistent with
And when
is
this is said,
equivalent to
and
Spirit
eternal. existence
is
con-
78
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
redemption.
NOTE. That form of Sabellianism which makes it to be, that the same God
assumed these different characters, viz., as Father, the character of Creator, as
Son, of Kedeemer, as Holy Spirit, of Sanctifier is utterly irreconcilable with the
patent fact of the distinct personal being of the Son.
is
expounded.
2.
If these are
taken
strictly, as
modes
of manifestation,
lose
the abiding
personalities.
ship.
We have
We have
in the
3.
still
that gives.
in
personality;
He was notso
occurred in his
mode
before.
of being,
why
is
We
The
ANTECEDENTS OP REDEMPTION.
79
we must
The
Sabellian idea of
God
ing no
differences.
human
individual personality.
tic
Of old
it
was accused
of Judais-
it
tendencies;
It is
6.
We have,
If it
relation (objective) between the Father, Son, and Spirit.
does not, we are in a two- fold relation to God to God as re
:
vealed,
clear,
and
God
to
as
He
is
We
in himself.
cannot
make
this
the Father
is
coming
realized,
is
to personality in
process by which
all
man
dition.
8.
abiding worth.
That
3.
This, if
on this view.
is lost,
not a necessary,
is
Spirit is
is
neither.
they are
all
has no
The Father
It
a natural consequence.
other, while
termed divine.
We
They
differ,
<pv(5iv
Job. Damasc.
same human
rfjv TtXdvrjv,
DeFide
TO TOLVTO
Orth. lib.
i.
c. iii.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
80
nature
But
God
in
Father, Son,
and
How, now,
Spirit.
shall that in
which they
be expressed?
differ
head.
in
the Scriptures for this purpose, (2) It seems to convey too defi
Some have preferred
nite an idea, as of three human persons.
three distinctions."
to say,
"
Substance
that which
is
is,
is
common,
essentia divina
"ipsa
of the
same divine
J:
essence.
In
common usage
a person
one
is
who can
Self-consciousness
is
deny any
"
three
If
distinctions,"
three
modes of
we do
not say
Godhead
this,
we must
we
say
self-consciousness in the
Deity.
4.
istics
The
ecclesiastical
Statements as
of the Persons.
are we to conceive of these
How
tions?
to
be-,
to the distinctive
Character
immanent personal
but,
how they
are
distinc
how
the
first
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Statements of the Westminster Standards:
"In the
"Conf." ch. ii.
3.
unity of the
81
Godhead there be
"
three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in
erties."
"What
"
"
to the
all
Holy Ghost
to proceed
eternity."
The
NOTE.
expression,
incorrectly, as if the
in most of the
orthodox expositions,
Unity.
This
lies in
The
mode
earlier
this
was abandoned
3ommonly
three, and
after
Augustine
s time.
is
It
common
to all the
Thomasius
but living:
"actus
"
persons."
purissimus."
God, as essence,
is
is
common,
not dead,
82
CHRISTIAN
2.
The
but
sential,
THEOLOGY.
1
"
"
reed.
mode
is
"
God
of
God."
Spiratio proces
the eternal proceeding of the Holy Spirit from the Fa
ther and the Son.
sion
is
They
are also
is
unfathomable.
The personal
The Father
sonship, procession.
the
Holy Spirit proceeding,
gotten,
is
Augustine, de Trin.
3.
to the
v. 14.
The relation of the Persons to the Unity. The three are related
same divine essence, not as parts, but as modes of subsist
ence.
is
The
to,
but in
we
should
The
sustained.
mask
(larva histrionalis).
"
"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
83
the Son
we
If
both.
still,
is
say,
first,
second,
and third
persons,
we
indicate,
an order of subsistence.
Aquinas
ad 4m )
**
:
Cum ergo
dicimus trinita
tern in unitate,
sit ter
ilia."
Questions:
(a.) Is the Father the cause of the being of the Son and
Spirit ?
No
not cause
the ground.
(b.)
Not
will of the
Father?
(c.)
Yes,
or
divine perfections.
(e.) Is not derived being inconsistent with divinity?
Yes if the relations of time are introduced.
:
5.
Is the term
immanent
Son used in
relation to the
The term
2.
It is
"
Sonship."
3.
his
Father ?
Positions in respect to
1.
4.
"Princi-
it
includes
divinity.
The question
It
has
its
ficulties
on two points
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
84
human
or official manifestation
or is
it
applied,
when
this is
not in view ?
The others
divided person.
say,
it
is
whole un
applicable to Christ s
original relation to Deity, and that the human and official usage
is but a manifestation, a revelation in a lower sphere, of an ante
cedent relation.
Christ designates himself in Scripture, by four terms:
(1) Man, (2) Son of Man, (by which not his lowliness but his
headship of men is indicated), (3) Messiah Christ, (4) Son of
question, then, comes to this: when He calls himself
the Son of God, or when He speaks of God as his Father, does He
God.
The
mean
does
He
relation ?
Father
calls
Him
It is the person,
office,
but
is
the Father of the Son, of that person who is the Son. Now,
He did
that person, as a personal being and agent, pre-existed.
not begin to be a person when He came into the world He pre
;
it
designates, in
two
to
many
each other.
It is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
85
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Because He was born of God, He was to be called the Son of
God: He was born of God in a special sense. It is used as a
:
the Son of
to be
Immanuel,
Isa.
vii. 14.
which
in
Ps.
it
"
7.
ii.
(where VW$J
Thou
may
art
be,
my
Son, this
"have
day have
e.
g.,
the
"
begotten thee
so declared thee," i. e. to be my
I
Son):
Acts
xiii.
33,
"God
hath
fulfilled
the same
as
it is
also
"
highly doubtful:
quotation
Heb.
time,
is
i.
Thou
it is
applied).
5, 6.
art
world."
Episcopius (Theol. Inst.) on the Person of Christ says, there are four grounds
for Christ s being called Son:
(1) Conception, (2) Mediation, (3) Resurrection,
1
great work.
86
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Heb.
He
priest; but
"
v. 5.
Thou
art
my
made an high
etc.
Son,"
The sense
whole
is,
is
but
humanity.
Jesus as the Messiah Christ
it is
cause
He
is
the Messiah.
By
to be the
it is
title
his
Son of God:
called the
is
Son of God
is
Him
given
is
be
proved
is
the reason
xi. 29,
and many
Him.
for so calling
John
Instances:
vi.
John
others.
(c.)
John
14.
i.
"And
we
This
John
"
i.
18.
Rom.
v. 18,
"My
32.
"said
bosom
work."
Him.
in the
so understood
"
is
God
calls
The Jews
viii.
is
He
v. 17.
Christ
"
"The
Jesus here
nature.
Father."
of the Father,
John
Thou
God was
His
his
own
Son,"
etc.
(John
[own] Father.")
Son of the living
God."
John
iii.
only begotten
sent forth his
He gave
his
Son."
Gal. iv. 4.
John
"
16.
"
When
God
Son."
xx. 17.
"I
ascend unto
my
Father,
"our
(not
Father").
Matt, xxviii. 19.
and your
Father"
87
ANTECEDENTS OP REDEMPTION.
(d.)
is
we can
not say
it
same kind of
relation is
Him
ternal relation
of the
Godhead which
is
intimated in other
Scriptures.
So, the
Son
is
"in
the form of
zr/s
God"
essence."
The
as
is
6.
How now
i.
e.,
the same
Godhead ?
Here is the question and the
in the
difficulty ;
the
mode
of
human
and here
It
is
seen the
cannot be taken
If
ther
Him as
man
and my Father
exclusively.
"My Father is greater than I";
the former of these is spoken of Christ s humanity, or official state
It seems to be forgotten often that it is the same
alone, so must the latter be.
person who is speaking in the different passages; and that what is true of Him
as a person, in His personal relation to God, must be abiding.
to
are
one";
if
"I
88
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
The
to a
subsequent
effect, (c.)
among human
after
it,
and
to hold
eternity
other
is like
To arrive
ment of this
relation,
we may regard
it,
Positively.
John
Son to have
v.
26,
"Even
so
hath he
given
commonly adduced.
But this gift does not probably refer to the divine mode of
life
in
himself," is
being.
"The
essence"
seems to sup
pose that the Father is before the Son; though the relation is
not that of a created being, yet it is not eternal.
(6.) The view which makes the relation to be that of emana
a ray from the sun. The old objection is valid; it im
a
division
or possibility of division, in the divine essence
plies
tion, as
2.
Positively:
God
is
God
is
Son,
and
Godhead.
Spirit, or as
the
first,
second,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
(c.)
there
is
89
person, the Father, and of the third person upon both the
Father and the Son; yet not so that the Son is really dependent
upon the Father any more than is the Father upon the Son. It
first
Any view
tionship.
we keep
them
to three
distinctions.
7
(a .) There
revealed. 1
1
Etudes sur Pascal," pp. 78-9)
Pascal, in a letter to his sister (cited in Vinet,
speaks thus: Referring to a peculiarity in retaining the knowledge of spiritual
things, not by memory
"though we can as easily remember an Epistle of St.
Paul as a Book of Virgil" but in things of grace
faut que la meme grace,
"
"II
un effet et une suite de la grace: comme aussi I dglise tient que le Pere
produil continuellement le Fils, et maintient I e ternite de son essence par une effu
sion de sa substance, qui est sans interruption aussi bien que sans fin."
Dr. R. S. Candlish (in Introduction to "The Eternal Sonship," by Jas. Kidd,
qui est
D.D., 1st ed., 1822, London, 1872, p. xlix.) says: "The Trinity is a revealed fact,
.... but is there nothing in the laws of intelligent thought, in the essential con
stitution of the thinking mind, that responds to and closes with the doctrine or
when presented
fact
ing,
and give
it
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
90
ation
God was
infinite
which
lencies,
and
alone,
He was
communicative
If only one being existed in all eternity, it must be assumed that "all
these attributes existed in a state contrary to their very nature: a state of sheer
under the category rather of the posse than of
passivity, or rather potentiality:
the esse" E. g., Love is under
necessity of communicating itself in grace and
ship.
"a
glory to
.
some one
"The
life
be without an
of the Trinity
to
of
whom
God
object."
it
may
is love.
....
is fitted to
solve
He
"Here
is
"
(p. lix.)
PART
II.
CHRISTIAN COSMOLOGY.
We have
also
The general
made (Rom.
title
not as seen in
itself,
as science studies
it,
in detail,
by induction
Re
into an eternal
there
is infinite fulness,
He brought
creation
God
is
In this
wisdom and
CHAPTER
infinite love.
I.
God
is set
world as well as the Being who sustains and carries it on. The
world is to fulfil a good end, the manifestation of the divine ful
ness so far as this
is
and
time.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
92
1.
The Scripture
The ground
extra.
God
represents
Him
It represents
i.
1;
Acts
vii.
50;
Rom. xi. 36; 1 Cor. viii. 6; Eph. iii. 9; Heb. i. 12; Rev. iv. 11.
The creation of particular parts of the world is ascribed to the
divine power: Acts
iv.
15; Heb.
i.
10; Rev. x.
6.
Col.
i.
John
15;
i.
3; Heb.
i.
2.
the
Medium by
of
such passages
is
"
Revealed
3.
Creator."
God
created freely
and
not by necessity.
No
Acts
xvii. 25; 1
of the case,
if
Tim.
i.
God be an
Scripture, Creation
is
as-
11.
blessed
This
infinite
is
i.
iv. 11.
4
It
no co-eternal system.
the visible universe
1
He perhaps
is
goes too far in saying that this idea has almost vanished from
still it is not enough insisted upon.
evangelical preaching;
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
93
but
is
in Gen.
work
i.
1,
all
implying, what is
creation of the prime material and its specific arrangement
and organization. This is found also in some of the heathen
is
now
matter having
its
laws,
the orders of
animals up to
life
man
all
The questions which this theory does not answer are: Whence
the matter and whence its laws? Whence is the order of crea
There cannot be anything in the effect
tion, and what is it ?
which is not in the cause. If from the cause sprang life, instinct,
organization, intelligence, reason, person, and personal being,
then in the cause there must have been at least as much, and
therefore the primitive matter must have been a matter having
intelligence and personality, which is an extraordinary kind of
matter.
Spirit and not matter is primitive;
theory.
as
not
conscious,
intelligent spirit, but in a generalized
spirit,
abstract sense, as containing all the laws and ideas out of which
The second
matter
is
Compare
this with 2
Mace.
vii. 28.
94
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
cording as
If
verse.
How
its
own
it,
is
gence which
is
spirit is
primitive and
It
pantheistico-theistic.
How
force as
can
an idea?
works of creation.
an emana
all else is
mode
of development, however,
This is the emanation theory of
it is
to be mentioned.
The
third
theory.
That God
is
self-conscious
Being,
attributes, there
a
to
it
finite
was the
and
world or the plan of the whole world from eternity. That was the
archetype of the world, and it is this ideal world which is real
ized in a created universe.
In creation
God brings
into being
is
95
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
The substance of the created universe
divine nature.
as
ma
in the quali
ties of
We
God.
5.
The
yet present in
it
by
and imma
way
to the heathen,
good and
to the bad.
Heaven
is his
peculiar
place of blessing.
punishing.
bounds of space and time, but the presence of God, in his special
workings, is according to the nature of the objects which He
works upon.
6.
Development.
Creation
of
Creation."
is
It is
96
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
All of
erence to that, with its regular orders and stages: which are set
forth even in the first account of creation, that of the six days,
where there
in
CHAPTER
II.
its
a real being of
its
The
"To
each seed
its
own
body,"
implies a
and
named and
all
are
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Under
this point of
97
is
much
of
(Col.
16); the earth being for a time, the heavens for eternity.
is to become heaven (Rev. xxi.): they are sepa
i.
now
when
time
his coming.
(a.)
spoken of as having
dwelt in heaven and as having returned thither. In it are dif
ferent degrees or mansions.
Christ has ascended above all the
heavens.
heaven,
fallen
humanity
dwells,
It is to
heaven are found even here: Heb. vi. 5: "The powers of the
world (or age) to come are already at work. The earth is to
"
Such a pro
Rom. viii. 20, 21. The word creature
here appears to mean the whole physical universe, and this is
described as in sympathy with redemption and destined to share
in the
"
"
indications of the
2 Pet.
iii.
10 gives further
same
destiny,
(c.)
of the universe is the under- world, Hades, the world of
departed
This is represented as being under the earth. There
spirits.
are
for the
it:
Paradise (Luke
xxiii. 43),
a place
xvi.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
98
and the prison (1 Pet. iii. 19), the place where the evil are
1
kept, which at last becomes the Gehenna, the hell, the lake of
fire, denoting the place of final torment to which the wicked
27);
are
devil
CHAPTER
OF THE DIFFERENT
The creation
and
his angels.
III.
is
in
tween man
Scriptures reveal
of ascents.
existence of
These
scale
are
angels,
Be
The
making another
men
are.
There
is
to
any order
It appears that
of beings that grows from small to large.
what they are at creation, that they remain. Their power
is superior to that of human
beings, yet subordinate to that
God
of
and
it
fluence
upon human
souls: at
their
asserted.
any
influence
Probably
through and by second causes, and thus they must work
laws.
They are described as ap
most
at
the
part
pearing
great epochs of the world;
at the creation, the giving of the law, the Incarnation, and
the scenes of the final judgment. That there are some orders
according to established
for the
"Introd.
to the
Four
Gospels,"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
"principalities
and
Col.
ii.
definite
powers,"
99
10,
and dominions."
The good angels are de
"thrones
10).
As
The
fact
Pet.
v.
8.
Works
love of sin
is
it
is
known
to be folly.
The
(3)
Scripture represents that the evil angels together form
a kingdom or organization: Eph. ii. 2; vi. 12. Elsewhere,
the prince of demons, of the power of the air, the devil with
his angels, is spoken of, so that in such designations we
(4)
and ensnares.
"The
Devilish
wisdom" is
spoken
of; this
power
controlled, but
it is
The "sons of God," in Gen. vi. 2, are most probably the purer part of
mankind, and not angels as some writers would suggest.
1
100
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Demoniacal Possessions.
in the
The
reality
now something
disease
as lunacy
and
impossible.
may
is
is
of the cases.
The
placing
it
among
it
to a personifica
accomplished.
be any
2.
Reply.
This
lies
first sin.
It is
fall
of Satan in con
that he
himself
was not
knew
all
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
101
Hu
them
this
ing
itself to sin
3.
It is
Reply.
It is
away
knowledge may
under the second head applies here also.
4. Some fall while others do not.
This
exist,
is no real objection.
Such a being could not hope to relieve his misery by con
stant hostility to God, and yet he engages in such hostility
5.
knowing that
it
Reply.
Satan in this respect is like all who sin. Every sinner knows
that in the end he must succumb, and yet he sins.
All sin is
folly in its
1
very nature.
"Paradise
amount
Lost,"
as our standard.
Whatever be
the
of Satan
We
See Twesten
"Doct.
of
Angels,"
Bib. Sac.
I.
792.
102
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
IV.
By
preservation
is
omnipresent agency of
as a continued creation.
ance.
it
as mechanical continu
it
to
work
own
through
properties; preservation here is simply non
interference.
Limborch, the chief Arminian theologian, says
that preservation is simply not annihilating.
Others represent
its
by a substantial omnipresence,
by his essence. Calvin has some
this
subject: he says, God is everywhere
strong expressions upon
present by illapse and influx, terms which would be understood
it
so that
now
God
is
in everything
From
Wisdom, exerted
in reference to a
must be continued
nihilation.
xxxvi. 6
Neh.
ix.
Christ
Ps. Ixvi. 9.
Col.
i.
17
Heb.
is
i.
revealed as the
3.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
103
plying the denial which is implied in them, viz., in the one case,
of proper second causes, and in the other, of a continued de
presence of
ing
author.
its
all
God
plan.
and guid
It asserts
a real
still
kept in being and upheld by the great First Cause. They are
proper causes in themselves, and have a proper mode of activity
They
are not
the great First Cause, but proper second causes sustained by the
This view alone is consistent with God s making
First Cause.
real responsible agents,
who must
ence on God.
3. Theory of continued Creation.
This theory asserts that the same divine creative power which
was at work in the first instance is ever at work, producing all
omnipotence.
by some of the
New
England
power, and had their origin only in the divine mind. This in
volves of course the position that there is no real substance be
hind the phenomena. 1
1
The Divine Efficiency scheme of Dr. Emmons is but a modification of the same
Berkeleian position, being Berkeley s principle applied to the inner acts of the mind
as well as to the ideas of what is outward.
104
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
The
It is
1.
2.
brought
to
pantheism.
In the same manner the theory runs athwart another of
our beliefs, that of a proper causal action, the connection of
3.
cause and
God
effect,
which
is certified
by reason.
It asserts
that
iv. 3.
is
"the
the ground of the phenomena, but all the activity of the phe
nomena is ascribed to a divine influence. Newton, in one of his
who deny
All
eral
view
is
The
What we
perceive in nature, ac
cording to this view, must be not the phenomena of matter, but
1
Dr.
Woods borders on
this.
Works, Vol.
ii.
20.
105
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION,
the
pantheistic conclusion.
2. As applied to rnind and moral agency, the theory is in con
flict with our conviction that we are proper causes, the proper
authors of our
sciousness,
decide,
God
that
to
and do
much evidence
They
if
there
is
is
only one
This
is,
the Arminians,
also
of the Deists in
Continent.
objections are: (1) It makes the creation to be virtually
independent of God. After his works are once brought into
The
and
to Christian consciousness.
106
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
V.
DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
1.
The
to the
Doctrine.
"
2)
and
"Although
infallibly
yet,
....
mercy."
to fall out
[his crea
in
a
manifold
to
his
own
tures],
dispensation,
holy ends; yet
so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature,
ing,
and not from God; who being most holy and righteous, neither
nor can be the author or approver of
The acts of Divine Providence are divided by theologians
into immanent and transeunt, the immanent being the foreknowl
is
sin."
1. It
supposes or presupposes the carrying into execution
of a divine purpose or
plan in the world, which God has brought
107
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
and
this plan,
world
thing in the
may
to
each and
all.
Every
ail
is
God s
direction of
God
men
as moral agents,
governs and guides them according to their character as good
or bad that the divine providence is different in the good from
4.
that
treats
what
it is
in the evil,
i.
e.,
that
it
5.
it is
im
plied that the natural world is in order to the moral; that God
directs the ends of nature not to subserve natural results but to
is
ever subordinate to
It is
God may
all
and
for the
same reasons
end
and equally
1
James Douglass: "There are but three alternatives for the sum of existence,
Chance, Fate, or Deity. With Chance there- would be variety without uniformity,
with Fate uniformity without variety, but variety in uniformity is the demonstra
tion of primal design and the seal of the .creative mind.
In the world as it exists
there
is infinite
variety
and amazing
uniformity."
108
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
2.
Proof of
the
Doctrine of Providence.
ciii.
19; Dan.
iv.
Ps.
cxxxv. 6; Eph.
34, 35.
Here
i.
11,
also is to be
last clause;
produced in
proof the general tone of the prophecies, which set forth every
thing as arranged with reference to the divine purpose Ezek. xxi.
27; Isa. x. 5; Acts xvii. 26; Rom. ix. xiii. 1.
:
vi.
Individuals also
in
is
Job
xxxviii.-xli.
their
Isa. xlv. 5
as
man
Still further,
as
men
Prov. xxi. 1
xvi.
1.
enjoy, every
5.
Sin also
is
Suc
God
overrules
it.
It exists
This
is
in
God
contrary:
John
ii.
16;
James
i.
They
13.
it.
His attributes
109
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
must be
in constant activity,
etc., is
these,
om
providence.
be accomplished.
IV. From History. The Biblical history is the history of the
divine providence, the only history that ever was written from
the truest, highest, and broadest point of view; and in this God
appears at work in
all
among
the heathen
The
Di
vine providence
is
ures.
the modern times unite in one plan, tending towards the con
summation of the Messiah s kingdom. No unity can be given to
No other central point of view can
history on any other plan.
be found.
found
ill
a well-ordered state. 2
God
all
the facts.
From
V.
is
and the
man
is
and crown of
each other,
all.
[This
p. 534.]
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
VI.
Without
ligion.
3.
Distinction as to general
is
exercised in two re
The
lations.
dence as
all
in critical circumstances.
There
in these,
involving as
high
particularly
moral end.
!)
without this.
presupposed
that
life.
v. 7;
God
Luke
xii.
The
ble?
on our
Probably the
God
their bearing
to
(3)
spiritual state.
"
"
providence
is
to
be taken from
providence
individuals.
is
special
a providence having respect to the spiritual growth or welfare of
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION,
guided and blessed.
a healthful influence
Such
upon
trust in
all
who
111
God s providence
love Him.
It is
exercises
particularly
An
is
sometimes made
all,
by a consideration of the
relation of the
4.
1.
Modes of
God by
its parts,
the
Divine Providence.
his providence
each and
all,
and each
for
in all
all.
mony with
that the
is
not to be taken as a
mode
is, is
The
consider
The
first
theory.
all,
office
of the sun
is
This
is
112
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
way
in
the Jesuits.
The second
theory.
more
specific
statement
is
made by
there
and each.
all
is
plant
of general excitation.
way
which
It
is
every activity
taneous activity of God with the trembling of every nerve,
with the. particular or specific growth of each plant, so that
a divine power shapes and works along with the seed itself,
with the secret agencies as well as the external products.
And so with the human soul. The divine power must enter
into the soul
itself,
according to the
sustain
shall
The third
question.
ing
Roman
In meet
sin,
God
its
agency
is
concerned, in
strument which
The
defect.
is
out of tune
is
is
it
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION,
113
He
co-operates.
good
perfect,
whom
but per
as can be found.
Some
naturalists
the natural
is
God
and
is
for
moral ends.
In both
is
God s government
of
1
One writer says, they can no more be turned aside than the ball coming
from the mouth of a cannon, that both systems of laws must go on, and that the
See Prof. Chase in Bib. Sac.
physical cannot bend to the moral.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
114
or obedience
of,
to,
moral laws.
these things shall be added unto you." God so directs the course
of nature as to make it subserve the interests of his moral gov
ernment.
is
it.
God
This
is
illustrated in the
soul,
and as
in the Incarnation
of his Son.
4.
miracles.
5.
free.
More
same in sinful as in holy acts.
God governs in different modes of interference according
God
so governs
to the exigency.
7.
God knows
He may and
doubtless does
work
in
fathom.
CHAPTER
VI.
The
this: the
God
*
The subjects of the Order of the Decrees, Election, etc., belong in the third
division of theology.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
115
is
purpose of God.
of decrees
is
Preliminary Statements.
I.
In his decree God is a sovereign. The doctrine of di
vine decrees is simply and ultimately that God is the sover
1.
sense that
He
argument
for this is
in
an arbitrary
sense,
but in such a
The
The
doctrine
(1)
from the divine nature and
dependent universe.
(2) It is best
should not be
left to
trine
is
involved in
attributes
it,
but
and powers.
1
See especially Dr.
Theol. Tracts, Vol. HI.
Woods
s Lectures, Vol. I,
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
116
lent
end
to its
is
that
God
consummation.
God s
HI.
is for all
God s decrees
IV.
of
things are to be as they occur. The order and plan
fore-or
divine
in
are
and
natural
the universe, both
moral,
all
dination just
in fact
less.
and external
The decrees refer to all
in its internal
be.
of divine providence.
dence, there are contingent
any regard
to
anything
else,
when
the
the condemnation
true statement is,
if, in point of fact,
in the divine
it
was
comes as the issue of a sinful career, so
that
On this ground we
purpose.
that if an action is decreed
may meet
the
common
objection,
we cannot
own
act
much decreed
as the
act
is
as
it
is.
If there is
man and
as his
act.
117
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
command
of
act,
but
it
and
is
man
s final
state is involved in
God
plan, yet
3.
itself.
They
This does not mean that the decrees themselves are not
They are
eternal.
They must be
is
conditioned
so on the considera
of them.
1
is
usually understood to
mean an
arbi
118
CHRISTIAN
IV.
They
are immutable.
THEOLOGY.
This
is
decreed.
to divine
The
government.
fulfillment of
(2)
The
di
vine attributes prove the position. (3) The Scriptures assert it.
Also all passages
All the prophecies establish it: Isa. xiv. 27.
which declare the divine sovereignty.
also.
is
quent
it is
to the divine
i. e.,
in
the order of divine decrees, the logical order, the first decree is
that God will set forth his glory, the second, that He will do
this by saving some and condemning others, and the third is
fall, the
Lapsus. The Sublapsarian says
that in the order of the divine decrees, there is first the
fall,
and then
elec
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
place.
as the
It is
as a fact.
119
s
approval nor
The arguments
for this
How
the larger part of the history of mankind is excluded.
much of human history is there which is not sin or of sin ? To
exclude it would be to throw the divine plan out of the world.
(3)
As
all
cause and
NOTE. The question between Calvinists and Arminians is this: whether the
decrees depend on foreknowledge. Does the divine decree depend upon God s
foreseeing that such and such a thing will be? Is it decreed simply because God
parts of the plan, knows all this in the order of thought before He determines that
the plan shall take effect, and in this general sense the foreknowledge is the log
But this .is not the real question,
ical and intellectual condition of the purpose.
the real question is, Is the foreknowledge that such and such an event will be,
the ground of the determination that it shall be? The Arminian says that God
foresees that Peter will do a wrong act, and foreseeing that he will, God determines
to allow
it.
In regard to
this, (a.)
and such circumstances will act in such and such a way, and may deter
mine to place him so and so, and in doing that may virtually determine the action,
and here God s determination is simply not to prevent the doing of what He fore
This is a supposable case, and here of course there would be
sees will be done.
no interference with the freedom of the individual. (6.) But the ground of the
in such
certainty of the event that Peter will do a wrong act, is not the divine foreknowl
edge, but the divine purpose, i. e., the purpose of God to permit the act, to take
it
into the whole divine plan is the ground of the certain occurrence of the event.
foresaw that Peter would do so and so, but that is not all. That Peter would
God
do so and so is also certain, for it is included in the divine plan. What is the
ground of that certainty ? Is it that God foresaw that Peter would thus act? No.
120
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Because all which that would bring with it is, that if Peter is placed so and so, he
do so and so. But it is that God has determined that that event with all its
circumstances shall be, and it has been adopted into his plan, (c.) Unless the
event or act was adopted into the divine plan, there could not be a certainty of
its occurrence.
It would only be possible.
Thus there is both foreknowledge
and certainty in regard to an event, but the certainty of an event as future rests
in the purpose and not in the foreknowledge.
The purpose is the ground of
the foreknowledge, and not the foreknowledge the ground of the purpose.
(d. ) In
will
4.
I.
of providence.
There
is
the same
God working
in natural
and
If in the less,
why
why
more important.
II.
There is also a rational argument on the general posi
tion that it is best that all events should be embraced in one plan
of a wise and holy, omniscient and omnipresent sovereign.
The various divine attributes imply and demand the
III.
doctrine.
(1) The attribute of omniscience implies the divine
decree. 2
Omniscience cannot
know
certain
Edwards on the
2
12.
Will, Part ii.
Fully argued in Edwards on the Will.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
121
posture of things in
men
as they
was dependent on the fall, and before the fall this decree could
/not have been formed. In the order of time it is true that
redemption is brought in in connection with the fall, and in
the logical arrangement of the decrees it is true that the de
cree of redemption is subsequent to the notion of the fall, but
is simply an order of the divine
purposes and not a depend
ence of those purposes upon anything that is to occur by and
It must be
by.
(3) God s holiness is a proof of his decrees.
that
the purpose of a
assertions:
Is. xlvi.
ecy.
is
representation that
man s
destiny for
life
and death
is
in the
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
122
hands of God.
Job
xiv. 5:
"
He
"his
giveth to
days are
all life
determined."
(e.)
As
all
things."
far as sin is
5.
I.
Fatalism
it
is
(1)
makes
work.
strict
systems of fatalism.
(3)
The
and
effect, its
For the
doctrine of the divine purpose be said to come under it.
doctrine of divine decrees simply asserts that all things are fore
wise, omniscient,
and omnipotent
Kindred
it
occurs in
fact.
is
which
a doctrine of
necessity.
123
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
by which
is
a conclusion
clusion
is
what is
which is based on the uniformity of natural laws, a necessity
in which the terms conjoined are physical, in which with a cer
tain physical cause a given physical effect must result.
The
assertion that physical necessity must rule if the doctrine of
divine decrees
is true,
rests
does not assert or imply that the decrees take effect in man
man by a physical force
which he cannot resist, or that the terms conjoined are simply
it
physical.
(4)
embraced
in the necessity.
In other words, moral necessity
the conjunction of moral causes and effects, as physical ne
The
cessity is the conjunction of physical causes and effects.
laws of cause and effect are at work in both moral and phy
is
is
decrees
may
be said to involve
it,
124
CHRISTIAN
moral, laws.
tainty
is
THEOLOGY.
better.
is
an unfortunate one.
Cer
It is sometimes
objected to the doctrine of decrees that
the result of a speculative tendency; that it is the introduc
tion of a philosophical thesis into theology, and has not a re
III.
it is
human
something
is
in the
inconsistent with
human
secures
is
On the position of the younger Edwards some further remarks will be made
under the head of Liberty and Necessity. We cannot agree with the limitation
which he puts upon the action of the will, especially in seeming to imply that in
the case of moral agency we have a given volition or choice, and that what is the
cause of that choice is simply and solely the motive, and not the man. In order
to save the doctrine of liberty in the causality of any choice, we must put in hu
man freedom, the will as well as the motive. Any given choice or volition con
sidered as a result, is the product of two factors, of the motive on the one hand
and the choosing on the other, and the result of the choosing is the choice. The
difficulty arises from not distinguishing between the choosing and the choice, be
tween the man willing and the volition which is the result. If we make the whole
cause to be in the motive and desires, and the whole effect to be in the volition, and
do not put in an act of choice as also included, it becomes impossible to assert the
freedom of the will except in mere words. See Pres. Day s Keview of Edwards
on the Will, which is one of the best expositions of the subject.
2 See Julius
Miiller in Studien und Kritiken, 1856.
He goes through the litera
ture of the subject, and shows that the belief of both Calvin and Luther was con
nected with their views of justification, and with the general position that man is
in snch a moral state that he cannot rely upon himself for salvation.
3 This is
the chief argument of Bledsoe in his Theodicy, on the whole the
ablest work in this country against the Calvinistic system.
He is obliged to take
refuge in an absolute self-determining power of the will, ultimately in the sense
that that which determines the will to any particular course of action is nothing,
1
itself.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
with
this.
itself
There
is
125
On
this
it is
to be said
which
is
in
are certain as they take place, and if they take place freely
through choice this is included in the decree. Whether we are
able to state fully how this is or not is a secondary question it
is enough to save the doctrine, that the sense in which we hold
;
it is
human freedom
by
the decree.
Nor can
it
beginning
nature,
3.
to
and yet
For each
human
is
to his free
from
and responsible
of
there
freedom, there
we might
sciousness;
and
if
is sufficient
There
rest.
we
is
state the
two
all
that
is
required.
They could
made.
And
if
we cannot
is
may simply
4.
126
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
it is certain that
they are perfectly free.
So in respect to Christ, it was certain that He would continue to
be holy, harmless, and undefiled, and yet all his acts were volun
tary, free.
Scripture asserts that the saints will persevere in
holiness to the end, yet in the whole course of their
perseverance
Arminians confess
And
this.
we know
freely"
that
we can trace as be
we are free, we act
dom.
We
men
will act
CHAPTER
VII.
God made
also in
ii.,
Brown s
Theol. Tracts,
all
"
"
unsatisfactory discussion
ness, Bib. Repos., 1843:
an end
is
July, 1850:
a good in
"The
Pres.
"There
itself;"
Selfish
Rev.
end is happiness in
W.
C.
holiness,"
against Edwards;
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
127
Burton, Essays, pp. 286 seq. ;Dwight, Sermon XXV., "Thechief end
"that God could
man"; Dr. Samuel Austin, Worcester, 1826:
not be in any sense His own end He could not gain anything
of
by
creation":
val: ch.
End,
ch.
Man Prime
kins,
System,
Glaubenslehre
i.
I.;
Strauss,
I.,
47; Ebrard, Dogmatik,
Twesten, Glaubenslehre, II., pp. 88, 89 Kant, Kritik d. Urtheilskraft(Werke vii.)p. 311 seq. Schweizer, Glaubenslehre, I., 137-143
L,
The Glory of God the great End of Moral Action, John Martin,
D.D., Brown s Theol. Tracts, vol. iii. Quenstedt: The last end
is the glory of God, glory of his goodness, power, and wisdom.
Omnia enim Deus fecit
Finis intermedius est hominum salus.
hominem
autem
propter se ipsum."
propter hominern,
;
"
That God
That He
is
is
That there
is
1.
tion,
not the last end for the creatures simply, though that
it, but the end of the divine manifestations.
may
be included in
It is
others
1
mate
an inquiry,
may
too,
made
last end, to
to
mean
last in
article
on Edwards
order of time.
If there
which
all
be several
ulti
128
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
which
shall include,
The inquiry is also for the last end of God in creation; and
creation
is meant, here, all of the universe which is not
by
God,
and which He brings into being for an end.
The last end of anything, Kant truly says,
is that end or
which
does
not
need
object
anything beyond it as the condition
of its existence.
Distinctions have been made as to ends, and
(a.)
for
sought
and
chief.
These terms relate to a comparison of different ends
whether subordinate or ultimate as to their respective value
and worth, (c.) Objective and subjective, in respect to creation.
of the author,
end to be realized
in crea
deny
that
God s
is
hap
it.
"For
end
in
view of which
end with
Him
in
creation,
may be
for
So
it
God
consequential or
loves to make his
is
and aims,
natural o* moral.
2
Objective and subjective ends are also found in the creation itself; subjective
meaning man s happiness, and the delight and happiness of all sentient beings,
and objective meaning that manifestation of the divine operations which is to
moral beings the source of their highest blessedness. By this usage the terms
are much intermingled and confused.
3 In his use of
ultimate" Edwards is sometimes
He ought
perplexing.
always to have used supreme or last end.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
creatures happy; this is an end,
pendent upon their existence.
In asking,
inquiry.
we mean
in creation,
129
of
God
ob
works of
We
mean by
original,
jective end
that which needs nothing besides as the condition of its being,
which is not to be conceived as derived from a higher end by
in all his
creation.
supreme
creation
is last
which
in value;
itself,
2.
1.
the question
is
problem
is
virtually given
up
as insoluble,
when
The
several original
they
all shall
can be referred to
all
as expressive thereof.
it fairly,
If
they cannot be, that one cannot be the end, because there is
something which it does not include. This is one of the strictest
tests of
any theory.
in
this end.
works and ways of God is in the natural world with its moral
ordering, in providence and in the kingdom of God s grace what
is his end in all these, is the
question it is necessary to comprise
them all under some object to which they all refer.
:
4.
consummation of
1
all
it is
things, yet
must
end or
In our view one of the strongest objections to any form of the happiness
theory
is
made by
test.
130
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
2
The different theo
man, the happiness of the creature.
are formed either by taking one of these to the exclusion of
is
ment, this theory says that God could not make himself the end
of creation, because He is sufficient unto himself, and could
need nothing. And if He could not make himself the end, then
that can be found only in the creature, and ultimately in the hap
piness of the creature
2.
The end
mate end:
in
is
man
God
The
divine glory
is
the ulti
there
is
Divine glory is
equivalent to God himself, others making it to be the objective
manifestation of God, while the pleasure of God in this is the sub
end.
jective
ground
is
is
glory of
God
as seen in the
highest
that this last is the objective end.
is
the
future."
p. 434, says the end must be
These respectively form theology and ethics: they constitute two great ten
dencies, the one making God to be all in all, the other making the good of creatures
to be the ultimate end.
The problem is, their reconciliation.
1
Wisner,
"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
That neither alone
5.
tical:
is
is
131
6.
various, as
much
whole manifes
so as the
This
is
possible; there
is
no
is
to
last end.
This
is
Creation."
elaborated by President
He has given it fully:
Edwards
we
in his
"
End of God in
summary.
class of passages,
way
end of
all:
Kev.
11;
Rom.
as
xi.
He
is
the source,
36; Heb.
is
the end:
the creature
iv.
show
is
the end
ivJiat
some
in
also the
10; Col.
ii.
is
16;
i.
is,
but
is
the glory of
God
is
Ps. viii. 1
Isa xliii. 7
Ix. 9.
is
in
timate; but if
then the good of the creature himself cannot be the end 1 Cor.
Also such passages as Ps. cxxxvi. 1-9;
31; vi. 20; John xv. 8.
:
x.
cxxxviii.
5.
So Twesten, Vol.
ii.
p. 89:
same
strain that
132
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
the holy obedience of the creature is not the ultimate end, that
even this redounds to the divine glory. If all that God had in
to insure the holiness of the creation, then Scripture
view was
would naturally stop short with that, but such holiness is said to
reach beyond, and to redound to the glory of God. Isa. Ixi. 3,
where the glorifying of God is not made the means of the holi
but the converse is stated Eph. i. 5, where
ness of his
people,
the subjective end in the creature or the creature s sub
as children," the subjective
jective end, "the being adopted
his will," and the objective
of
the
divine end,
pleasure
;
we have
"
Phil.
i.
good
divine end,
through]
"
us"
s work to be the
Passages which show the end of Christ
xvii. 4; Phil. ii. 6-11.
glory of God. John xii. 28;
The result of the Scriptural teaching then is, that this world
5.
is
5.
is the
God s being
glorified
Declarative Glory of
God.
the declarative glory of
of the internal divine glory.
By
(c.)
of good
Edwards, ii. 242, says, an ultimate end of God is the communication
this is "not
to his creatures as something not merely subordinately agreeable," yet
in
what he delights in simply and ultimately." John xvii. 19; Isa. liii. 11; and
that He
s
God
forth
mercy,
grace,
set
which
all
the
goodness,
short,
Scriptures
etc.
desireth not the death of any, rejoices in his people, delights in doing good,
that the communication of good to creatures, is an ulti
There is no
"
question
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
133
first is
it.
re,
from
seen
It is
those other ends, in the good and the happiness of the creature.
2. Nor does the proposition mean that the receiving glory
from others is the end. The receiving of glory is an end, in
cluded in the supreme end, but is not itself the supreme. God
did not create in order to receive glory, but to make his glory
extant and manifest.
3.
Nor
is it
to himself
it.
of the matter
we cannot
to
God.
say that
this view, 1
why
it is
This
is
the sub
He undoubtedly does
He did it in order tc
mak
ing the divine glory the chief end of creation is a selfish pro
2
ceeding.
prefer the statement that the joy of God in his
We
what
is best,
The creature
is
not to
So Dr. Spring.
as
in self-communication:
"
ii. 207-11,
explains "making himself the end"
to others of himself, the impulse of and pleasure
himself."
134
end
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
is
as
much
God
is
God
larger.
two views, that in creation God had respect to his own glory as
ultimate, and that He regards also as a real good, and desires
for its
own
1
sake, the highest welfare of his creatures.
Meaning of the proposition stated affirmatively.
II.
The
objective end of
He had
God
in the
as objective to himself,
was
i.
e.,
to manifest,
end by the
it is
tion,
all
is
found
in glorifying God.)
such
Creation
is
We
the end.
1.
In
of
all
dom;
(c.)
(d.)
His perfect
love.
fections, in
is
be done:
Dwight, Sermon XXV., holds that it is God s end to glorify himself: "the
manifestation of his inherent glory is what is intended by the glorifying of God.
"To show his own character, to unfold his
power, knowledge, and goodness to
1
"
He had
in
view."
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
finite
135
finite existence.
1
eternity.
is
is
his
goodness
This holiness
is
his essential
purpose of redemption.
These are the several particulars into which the divine glory
both as internal and external may be distributed. The enumer
ation is not exhaustive, but it is sufficient for our purpose.
fully in his gracious
The sense
in
his
end
is,
then,
[Of course the question is here raised whether space and time belong to the
The following hints of the author s view of this are gathered from his
creation.
papers: Certainly, absolute immensity and eternity do not belong to the creation,
but time as successive and finite, and as indefinite in duration, and space as lim
1
and indefinite in extent, do. It is a false view that God exists in all space
and time; his eternity and immensity precisely are his not existing in space and
time.
Space and time are not attributes of the infinite, they are not substances
or entities, they are not relations; but if they were any of these it would hold true
that they cannot belong to the uncreated or the unconstituted, for then that which
is finite
in its parts, though immeasurable as a whole would be uncreated.
Conceive them as merely subjective phenomena, and even then they come into
ited
136
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
He delights most
own perfection.
in that system
which best
6.
It is
1.
2.
In
this: that it
is
any shining,
a positive result
it is
is
And
this
If
which
tient creatures,
part of God s
but the highest result
It
sometimes
in
end.
the
said,
way of objection, that this
seems to argue a display of the divine perfections for the
sake of display. The answer is plain: It is not display, in
any
is
evil
or for
interpretation,
for
it
glory accruing,
such a display as everything
life is
prompted to by its very fulness.
such a display as is that of the acorn in becoming an
oak.
It is such a manifestation as a poet makes of himself,
when he pours out the fulness of his soul in an epic or drama.
It is
The end
for
sys-
In this system we find several nltlmale ends in the sense of results good
in themselves. The divine wisdom, in the plan and order of creation; the divine
holiness, in the moral constitution and ordering; the divine love, in providence;
1
the divine grace, where holiness and love are concurrent, in the work of redemp
The grand
tion; and happiness occurring in and by each and all of these.
objective end is God s union with man through Christ in a divine kingdom.
Here the glory of wisdom, holiness, and love all concur. Here the material (in
the new heavens and earth), the moral, the spiritual or gracious, all find their
unity of ends.
Hegel says that the great end of his primitive substance is, to become ob
jective to itself, and he declares this the ultimate statement in philosophy; so
that here Pantheism is compelled to do a sort of homage to old Orthodoxy.
z The
positive philosophy has given us as the alternative: "The heavens
declare no glory save that of Kepler and Newton."
"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
of philosophy
tern
is,
to
137
satisfy
symbolized in
3.
all
third
sufficiently
argument
is
comprehensive
in creation. 1
And what
higher di
we conceive?
It
to be the true
"The
difficult to
bring what we
God."
It
is
very
happiness as the chief end. For what end were the hosts
of heaven made ? To fill the beholders with sublimity, it may be
said: but this gives us use for a small part only of the heavens,
order,
ill
late
were
under
to bring
manifestation of mind.
wisdom,
and
sentient
3iie
many
How
We
Doing good
to
under the
manifested.
verse
a revelation of
is
ness which
sum
the
He
of his
God s
essential holiness,
gives in redemption
own
is
a joy in himself, in
divine perfections.
the end here stated
It is objected that
what we
are seeking
is,
is
But
all
its
value
the others
is,
that
may
"
end
"
given by Kant.
be
CHRISTIAN
138
THEOLOGY.
It is also
of
is
all
when
full
it
divine idea in the future history of the earth will bring about
its consummation, even to the ushering in of that day when
Christ shall give
be
up the dominion
God may
all in all.
there
is
of that until
7.
1.
we come
to
Consideration of Objections.
a selfish scheme of the universe
It is said that
is
presented
Here
when the end of creation
we might concede that to say simply and without qualification
that God made everything for himself, for his glory, is to use
is
language which
is liable to
made
be misunderstood.
Such forms of
expression may
reply to the objection,
we
hold.
In
we say,
"made himself" the end, He could not be
God
(a.)
Even if it were strictly true that God made all
selfish in this.
to himself, as Edwards remarks,
things for himself, yet his love
Even
cannot be a
if
selfish love,
"
Pres.
theory of morals.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION,
acts for the universe
But
all
139
what does He
(6.)
made the
away
main
objection.
2.
that
scheme leads
in order to
to the inference
damn them,
in order
by
might
Such a representation may have been favored by
the incautious language of some writers.
But the fact is, that
that,
be
glorified.
itself.
not punishment.
is
end of
ment
not be transfer; Christ could not suffer in the place of the trans
God did not create any man in order to punish him. 1
gressor.
3.
is
It is asked,
which
is better,
is
the
*[No more, says the author, than He made the race-horse, which was driven
one hundred miles in eight hours and died at the end, for such inhuman sport
of man.
If there is perversion of his work and this is visited with his holy dis
pleasure, this does not prove that He did his work in order that it might be
The same argument would seem to apply in reference to Darwin s
perverted.
question, whether divine intelligence made the bull-dog in order that brutal men
might delight in
its
ferocity.]
140
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
good
love
of activity.
If
we
1
subjective end in relation to creatures, we have
ample grounds of comparison and judgment. The objective end
of creation is the making extant of the divine perfections; the
system and
its
same system
is
last result
one end. 2
in creation
s objective
and
"
"subjective
end in
it
creation.
It
means now,
God
s objective
Compare Edwards, ii. 219. "God and the creature in this affair of the ema
[it must be remembered that in Edwards s time Pantheists had not appro
priated this word as they have now; otherwise he doubtless would not have used
it] of the divine fulness are not properly set in opposition, or made opposite parts
of a disjunction. Nor ought God s glory and the creature s good to be spoken
of as if they were properly and entirely distinct, as they are in the objection."
"God in
seeking his glory, therein seeks the good of his creatures. Because the
emanation of his glory (which He seeks and delights in as He delights in himself, his own eternal glory) implies the communicated happiness and excellency
nation
of his
creatures."
"
God
is
their
good."
141
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
All that
is,
The vastness
tion to happiness, still less to human happiness.
and sublimity of the creation are degraded when they are con
sidered simply in regard to the emotions they may excite. Their
adequate end is found in their exemplifying the wisdom of God,
thus manifesting his glory while the happiness which they con
;
and resulting.
2. This scheme does not account for the creation, but only
Creatures ex
for God s conduct to a creation already in being.
them
said
in
God
be
to
doing
good but this
may
delight
isting,
does not answer the question, Why did God create them ? He
created them for a variety of purposes, one of which was that
He might do good to them, but this was not the whole. The
doing good to them supposes them to be, and therefore it could
fer is subordinate
whether happi
When
framed
to accord
with the
"
"
subjective happiness
view of the nature of virtue, the theory leads to the inference
If God s highest end be the creature s happiness, then the crea
comes indefinite and the theory that happiness is the end of the
creation becomes vague. If the word happiness be made to take
in all happiness, including the divine blessedness, and to include
a peculiar kind of happiness, that arising from holiness, i. e., to
all that is good in the system, all that can be appreciated
and be the ground of satisfaction to God and to finite intelligences,
take in
then of course
we simply come
the manifestation
He
has his
have
i
own
theirs.
Compare Edwards,
ii.
206.
142
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
what
is
if it
is
meant by
good which
is
in
it,
all
of which
is
If the
sum
of
fact,
would
out,
only
What God
participation on their part of what God gives.
reveals in the system is the objective
ground or source of the
happiness: the creature s happiness is found in having part in
that;
and
if
we
upon
happiness
will be
Creation
143
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
This end, as
2.
we have
considered as declarative of
seen, is the
which
Man s
3.
man
all
of
love to
subjective condition of man s doing this is, his
the whole system of things as declarative of God, or to God as
The
4.
Some
10.
historical Statements as to
Theories of
God s End
in Creation.
would pour
Aquinas,
itself
Summa I.
Q. 44, iv.
"
externally."
good of
The
creatures."
".
in illo
bono sunt
Calvin, Inst.
conditus
et ut
ad
v.
5:
I.
illius
"
boni gloriam
Mundus
sunt."
est."
A common
consists
representation is, that the glory of God
his
of
and
in the manifestation of his love in salvation,
justice in
condemnation, and that these together make up the glory of the
divine holiness, which is to be taken as the ultimate end. The
144
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
God.
"
is
the manifestation of
end
"is
God
end"
finis ob-
our chief
finis subjectivus,
"
122
I.
Stapfer,
atio gloriae
I.
135).
mundi
est manifest-
divinae."
Wendelin,
finis
"
3:
proximus,
est glorificatio
"Finis
The school of Kant urges that the harmony of virtue and happi
ness is the highest good, and so the chief end of all things. (But
this confines the end to the sphere of the rational and moral.)
Bretschneider,
Df creation,
must be
which
subjective,
I.
is
and
is
to be sought in
God
himself.
(God
we know:
it
to rational
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Edwards.
view of
to be,
145
the
for substance,
And
realizing it.
respect to the creatures,
love, in the
is,
it
man with
God.
This
is
the
mode
President Edwards
that
Some
of
207-11,
the end, might at first sight seem in
but a careful study of that in connection
ii.
with the
is
is
an
It
146
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
VIII.
THE THEODICY.
or,
of a system in which sin is, with the position that it is from the
hand of an omnipotent, wise and holy author. The fact of sin
is
conceded.
is
holy, wise,
and om
being taken for granted, the different theories are the attempts
in
We
The argument
"Deus
neque potest.
potest et
non
non
Si vult et
vult, invidus;
potest, et invidus et
benevolence.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
evil
147
will not.
He
otence to allow
1.
Is it a solution of the
sin
this ?
I.
stated
II.
among
chiefly
the
New England
effi
problem to
least,
the phraseology
finite, is
panthe
a necessary stage
in progress.
1. The
theory is liable to the objection that it seems to im
pose a necessity on God to produce sin, in a moral system since,
from the nature of things, He could not produce the best system
;
without
of
sin,
into the
2.
it is
sin.
scheme of necessity.
If the sense of
difficult to see
"
the greatest
how
sin,
which
be happiness, then
and produces wretched-
good"
is
148
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
3.
it
exists, there is
We
4.
If the greatest
good be defined
the divine perfections, then the theory is, that sin is necessary
To this there are objections:
to the fullest illustration of these.
e.
g.,
carnation of God,
God
why might-there
As
we
in his triune
it
The only
come
to.
It is
not
all
(1)
As
to
punishment.
If
we
say,
sin is the
is to
make
the
(2)
As
to redemption.
If
it
be
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
149
is
in order to holiness.
it is
The system of
We
God
As
vealed.
far as this
scheme
is
is,
Does
Is it
it is
Yet he
i
argues,
342;
to
ii.
says,
ii.
God
ii.
313-15,
357.
In
i.
s power."
"
340:
"[We
who
l
do."
309,
it is
said that
"
150
CHRISTIAN
prevent
all sin in
in such a
system
may
be impossible to
may
sin at
THEOLOGY.
any
is,
Him."
its
prevention
The
position at
Remarks
1.
sin,
agent, gave
to sin.
of
sin.
1
This is an important point in the theory. So Leibnitz, Theod., p. 158, says:
Bayle demands too much: he would have us shew how evil is bound up with the
best possible plan of the creation, which would be a perfect explanation of the
phenomenon: but this we do not undertake to give, nor are we obliged to do so:
it would be impossible in the present state; it is enough that it may be true, it may
be inevitable, it may be that particular evils are bound up with what is best in
This is sufficient to answer objections, but not for a comprehension of
general.
"
the
thing."
Dr. Taylor wishes to throw the burden of proof on his opponents. He does
not say, that God could not prevent all sin in a moral system, but, it cannot be
proved that He could. God can exclude sin from a moral system, but perhaps
not from the best, not from all. The sin and punishment of the fallen angels may
be the means, the necessary means of preserving the rest: so of man: so that the
fact of the existence of sin in some may be the reason why, in the actually holy,
God keeps sin out. But where does the burden of proof lie ? It is proved that
God is omnipotent, that He can do all that can be done. The presumption, then
is, that He can exclude sin, and that He has not allowed it because He lacked
power, but for other reasons. This presumption is strengthened by the fact that
He has excluded it from one system, and that He can and will keep saints to the
end. It is for the negative then to show that such is the nature of a moral system
The affirmative might go one step further and
that God cannot prevent sin in it.
say, that the nature of moral agency is such that God can prevent sin in a moral
system, for He does and will in some. And since moral powers are the same in
all, He can in all; and the reason why He does not is not that He cannot, but is
something
else.
Compare Whately s Bampton Lectures for 1822, App. II., against Arch.
the best system is one of free agents, liable to wrong." There
King, who says,
is a fallacy, says W., in the use of
liable to
It means only,
in his power,
and in that sense possible, for him to sin
does not mean,
may be expected to
"
"
"
sin."
"
"
sin
":
this
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
2.
On
151
and therefore
it
pose or plan.
in respect to
certainties;
it
because while
it is
possibilities
and not
it
equally possible that he might not sin, and therefore all the
future there could be to God would be one of bare possibility
is
and not
certainty.
He
and
An
"
word
"
"
necessarily
means
term
"
inci
is difficult
to decide.
Necessarily incidental
"
that sin
is
See Math. Quarterly, 1860-1 and Jan. 1862: "God foreseeing how each and
every possible free agent in any possible case will freely act, so places all free
agents in existence, and so adjusts his own course as that from their free, unnecessitated, undecreed actions He may educe the best possible result."
1
152
CHRISTIAN
"
serves only to
"
necessarily
the theory. 1
5.
Even
if
THEOLOGY.
make
it
more
difficult to
understand
relation to omnipotence,
The question
was certain that
before us.
which
is,
Why
did
God choose
a system in
God chose
say,
it
sin
because
it
"
"
all,
Why
sin is in
such a system
To
is this:
in
God
first
theory or a modification of
it.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
answer
153
it.
It
merely says, that in the best system free agency involves the
possibility of sin, and that there cannot be a moral system with
out free agents.
to be compelled to say:
Could
"
We
3.
The
cannot state
true position
metaphysical reason
all the
is,
that
why God
sufficient
we do
who
reject the
redemption offered in
Christ.
and
sin
it
fail.
certain aspects
not
know
which
The preceding
1.
The
We
is
a holy,
wise, omnipotent,
ficient.
Then, objection
is
made
one rea-
154
Bon
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
is
omnipotent,
may we
in the world?
Or although
to that proof?
sin exists,
still
hold fast
own sake; God did not put it in the system because it was
a good or the direct means of good; (d) That it is in the
system as the act and guilt of the creature. With agree
ment on these points, the differences come out in the two
theories already considered.
3.
sin is
tem."
ceived, involves
this
may
"
we can
swers
:
155
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
sin, etc.), in
happiness,
we have taken
as the
is
for its
which holiness
be triumphant.
shall
make
for
of happiness
also)
omnipotence can do
in
all
(and of course
could do it, because
capabilities of holiness
the system. He
that can be done, and
it
could control
bilities of holiness
156
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
festation
or love, in
We
Redemption.
repeat that these reasons are suggested, not
as solving the problem
ultimately, but as showing that God
in his
still
sin.
may have
some
to
go
it
permitted sin
may
also
i.
e.,
to eternal condemnation.
for
it,
sibilities
God would have cut off the race at the root, if it had not
bly.
been in his purpose to provide a scheme of Redemption, and a
scheme co-extensive in its provisions with the extent of the
apostasy.
So far as God
own motive
or
which
Summary.
tence,
e.,
its
God and
end,
the
157
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
conjoined.
The
full
only in eternity.
be framed with reserves and suspense of judgment as to what
but so far as we do frame it, we are to avoid natu
is ultimate
;
is to
ralistic
do with
is
it
to
explained as far as
may
Some
NOTE.
by the
system
fail, if
is
is
The only
a stage of
development.
II.
The proof from free will, motives, etc., fails in showing
more than liability, possibility. It does not show how God could
ties so as to leave
tion.
This
Theodicy.
VI.
We
we
means
all
us face to
that
sin is in
it
158
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
We
concerned,
common
it is
characteristics,
for the
whole
g.,
It
More might be
VIII.
No
is
and soul;
The fact
redemption
system.
of God, through and by the acts of free moral agents. There
are two elements in it: the declarative glory of the divine per
fections,
common
ruin
violated law
immortal
bliss in
obedi
man
bondage
to sin
in
As to the fall of Angels, see Birks, Difficulties of Belief, ch. v. (1) A moral sys
tem was first set forth in creation, in the simplest way; in angelic hosts and orders;
individuals; all favorable to stability.
(2) The Fall, through pride, before the Adamic. (3) The system passing over to a mixed one: a new trial, in the human race;
1
hell, as is inferred
the
"A
later fall of
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
3.
common
sinfulness: Christ a
Man
Christianity
Redeemer
159
a race
with
common
provision of
Redemption the world a probation eternity unveiled.
The difficulties of natural religion solved by the Christian
religion.
X.
its
consequences.
materiale,
bound, control
sin.
sin,
from regard to
essary; are to pass away: Rom. viii. 21; viii. 18-25; Rev. vii. 16,
17; xxi. 4. Evil still attends sin: Rom. v. 12; vi. 23. Evil serves
the glory of God: John ix. 3; xi. 4; Rom. viii. 28; James i. 2-4.
XL Such a permission of sin in this race allows a peculiar
manifestation of the divine love, in this system of Redemption,
where the highest divine glories shine. In its results in saving,
of estimating.
Infants.
PART
III.
original
state.
It differs
mind
isolation
government.
Under
this title
we
Redemption.
We
The general
ture, or of
man
The
Human
Nature
I.
moral relations; the second, of the condition into which man as a race has fallen,
and of the penalty and power of sin in men as individuals; and the third, of the
need on man s part of deliverance from without and above, and of the possibility
of receiving deliverance which still survives in human nature. But on the whole
the division of the subject into Part
suits his treatment best.]
2
[This
is
the question of
III.
"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
CHAPTER
WHAT
In order to
IS
161
I.
we must
endowments and
as a moral being,
is
Of Man
1.
Man
and chief
As
iv. 11.
relation, is finite
man
a creature,
God he
of
made
is
for God,
is,
that
it
tralized in him.
thereof. 1
was made
for
This
is
man
it
Tie wed
culminates and
is
by
cen
given in the book of Genesis: man was made last and to have
dominion over all. 2 It is proved also by science, which shows
that everything in the lower orders of animals points to man. 3
The order
is
inorganic
and
He
has not only what allies him with and makes him
(c.)
the recapitulation of the order of creation, but he has also what
1
"Man
is
mind
is
(Herder).
science.
life.
and
stars are
162
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Man
is
is
not
"Spirit
has
its
1
spirit is self-active,
center in
itself:
matter,
"(Hegel).
Man
is
example of a
What
race.
substratum of what he
is
he
as
is
as a
member
of the race
the
is
The
individualized.
"
"
in each individual,
Gen.
i.
27, 28;
Acts
xvii.
24-26; Rom.
is
v. 12.
The race
is
in idea
the part has essential respect to the whole. 2 Hence, men can
not be considered as isolated beings. We cannot understand
the human body except in its relations to nature, which it was
made
to act in.
cept as
that of
We
cannot understand a
human
affection
ex
And,
In
all
these relations
man is
a moral being.
In them
all
they are
self-active.
2
ANTECEDENTS OF EEDEMPTION.
as a moral agent.
a constitution that he can and
he
is to live
He
is
163
must be
all,
sisting of
body and
all.
As con
to be morally at
rational beings,
And
one with
this.
Man
is
And
2.
What
Man ?
What
is
Man
Con
science.
is
life,
which
is
of, but the living center of unity to, all his organism; his
personality presides over and expresses itself in all that he
does; he has powers or faculties; he has tendencies towards
I.
ter
tion
we
it.
call his
The
theories rest
164
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
body and
substance
is
We
we can
add the
qualities
that matter
carried to
disparate,
and
spirit are
dual,
essentially distinct,
may
be
mode
to the senso-
rium and the nervous action and the spirit awaiting the
reception of the nervous influence, we still have to explain
the nature of this union as
much
as before;
and therefore
moves the
it
difficulty to parts
occasionalism
unknown,
(b.)
and simply re
The theory of
Cartesian.
matter works by
its
itself,
is
1
To say, the primitive substance is neither matter nor spirit, as in Cudworth s
plastic soul of nature," etc., (so Morell) is to make a union in statement merely,
not in any definite conception.
"
"Physical
influx
"
165
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
not by the direct act of God, but by the action of the spirit
These three
itself, according to a pre-established harmony.
theories
illustrated
points of view: they keep time together, (1), because they act
on each other; (2), because the maker of the watches acts di
rectly
upon both;
(3),
movement
at every point.
There
common
to
"
is
mechan
Force
is
and
here, in
The soul
point of union.
it does this, it is susceptible to all its motions.
This does not
the
so
that
we
but it deter
can
union:
comprehend,
explain,
mines the relations of the body to the soul.
After all, body and soul, while essentially
haps not so disparate as
we
distinct, are
per
traditionally imagine.
1
Compare The Theory of the Soul, by Rev. J. B. Dalgairns. He vindicates,
against the Cartesian dualism, the Aristotelian view of the soul as "entelechy."
He says, Man is one complete being made up of body and soul, in the sense
"
by
itself
body."
166
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
this
"May
and
soul,
derstand
it May
you in all your spheres, all your relations, be
blameless: in Spirit, i. e., in relation to the new spiritual life; in
The other pas
soul, in all your individual traits; and in body.
:
sage adduced
is
Heb.
iv.
12;
the whole
mode
where
"piercing
to the separation,
is
God. 1
If spirit
Kings
xvii. 21;
Acts xv.
and
"
souls"
iii.
19
and again as
46 Acts vii. 59
Luke
xxiii.
"spirits"
Heb.
xii.
23
Rev.
vi.
xx. 4)
(c.)
we should
and sometimes
4.
Of the
"body
and
spirit"
3, 5).
how
come
i
The words, spirit" and "soul designate, the former, the life as proceed
ing from God; the latter, the life as that of the individual. This is the only gen
eral view that can be carried out.
3
[With those who do not agree to this, the author s plan was to conduct dis
cussion under the head of Apologetics.]
"
"
167
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
I.
Pre-existence:
some have
said,
God
some, on
"
it is
John
ix. 2.
If the
man
did
sin,
there
is
an
of course he
The
said.
most part teaching that they were brought into the body as a
punishment and with the benevolent intent of giving them the
opportunity of redemption. Against it were Tertullian, Greg
ory of Nyssa, Cyril, Augustine, Leo the Great at a synod under
Justinian (Mansi, IX. 396) it was condemned.
II.
Creationism Each soul is created by the divine power,
;
foetus,
to be created pure,
is
supposed
This view was held by Hilary, Pelagius, Theodoretus,
Gennadius, Ambrose, Jerome, by the Scholastics, by MelanchIt has been the view of most
thon, and most of the Reformers.
body.
Roman
Catholic
divines,
The
chief objections to
it
and unite
how God
with a depraved
spirit,
organization; (b.) It puts man out of analogy with all the other
living beings in the world in these the entire vitality is allowed
could create a perfectly pure
it
Other citations are: Isa. xlii. 5; Job xii. 10; 1 Pet. iii. 18. The following
have been quoted to show that the souls of children are in Hades before birth: Job
1
i.
168
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Traducianism.
("Tradux,"
himself in which
to the body,
and
Adam
was
if it
li.
5,
in
had
in
view ? he
"the
guilt of his mother; John iii. 6,
the natural constitution of man, all that
"
flesh
is
tire
"Adam
begat
Seth,"
"Isaac
begat
Jacob:" it
there
is
The
is
the philosophical
1
Lasaulx, Phil. d. Gesch., p. 15: "In all human pro-creation, it is not the
individual man and woman that generate, but the race (the generic) in them; hu
manity generates life: L e., in the last instance, "the eternally pro-creative na
ture," springing from "the original and universal prototype," and "the divine
creative power dwelling in the protoplast."
So Plato, De Leg.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
169
essence be propagated?
asked,
the father or the mother, or both;
if
is it
It is
derived from
it
not be
divisible ?
Propagation seems to imply a division of souls and
a reunion, and yet the soul is not composite, but simple. We
can only answer such questions as these by asking others. If
we must
simple and
soul
indivisible,
we assume
in each seed a
new
creation
We
On
modes
We
has fewer
how
the soul
is
of the race.
Yet
this
mode
of that agency
Martensen, Dogm.
individual
is
"
give us the natural side, the copy of the race Creationism alone
would demand absolute purity, which is inconsistent with the
:
sinfulness of the
1
Pre-existence
race."
is also
170
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
5.
Of Personality.
made up of body and soul, but he is also a personal
and
agent,
personality is the center of unity to the conscious
The
central fact in respect to man as a moral agent is,
being.
Man
is
is indefinable,
consciousness, there are
Personality
is
the elements of self and not-self and the union of the two: there
is
is not-self.
The equiva
lent of personality is
that in
man which
"
I."
"
animal
is that,
man
is
a personal agent:
is
is
1
Thoinasius, Dogm. I. 135: "The divine idea of man is, that the absolute
personality is imaged forth in the limits of the finite and created."
2 Another form of statement: Man is
self-active, is a center offeree determined
by its relations. This is true of plants, of all that is organized. Brutes are subjects
are
merged
in personality.
171
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
objective universe,
with which he
respect to
all
is
that
is objective,
not
ture,
it,
or primary
I.
is
all
our powers.
Consciousness
simply means that the mind knows that it acts. The tree knows
not that it grows, but man feels and knows it, thinks and knows
He
it.
is also
Consciousness
make up every
act of consciousness.
It is
It is
after,
each
act.
Brutes
I."
faculties;
all
the
mind
upon a comparison of
at least
two
states of mind.
The knowl
ical impossibility;
Yet
"
itself.
"
(Maurice).
172
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
know
ent on
consciousness."
The continuity
III.
This
mind s
is
This
the third
distinct
operations.
in
it.
from identity, though identity is involved
The fact is
this the states of the mind are held together by the self or per
is
is,
the continuity
of states.
volves memory.
come up
It
of the mind.
IV.
In
all its
operations the
mind
is
it is an efficient cause
working for a
and the final cause, or the object, for which it works,
exists and must exist in itself, as impulse or motive.
This is a
of
all
the
mind
or
condition
s
universal law
practical agency,
activity, in relation to what is objective, different from itself.
final cause;
is
in the
mind
jective as subjective).
V.
This
In
all its
is
It is the necessary
virtually contained in the preceding.
he
should
man
s
that
be
both
result of
acted upon and
finiteness,
is
active, receptive
and
reactive.
Even
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
173
There
under
this law.
is
the mind,
self-agency, to manifest
when
what it is in
acted on,
itself, in the
is
is
not
only excited to
way of re-agency.
agency, are conditions of such agency; they are at the basis of all
the operations of the mind they are the conditions of the exercise
;
of
all
the faculties.
faculties or
powers
agent.
I.
The term,
to the faculties.
In attempting to de
we
It is
difficult to
done
we do
not
mean
to divide
when we have
soul,
but
we have
not
up the
of our
so,
distinguished
Many
in
reasonings go upon the supposition of a real division, e.
ethics arid theology, as respects the question whether regener
ation is of the will or the affections.
If we only can refer it to
</.,
will, it
faculties,
The mind
174
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
work
he determines
to take it up,
it up,
in the emotions;
in the will,
(b.) Our divisions,
and
imply
mind
classification,
s operations,
(c.)
and do not
By
faculties
its
is
distinct
mode
of operation.
(There
a difference between
is
any
phenomena
other, there is
similarity
line of demarcation.
This
is
the rule of
and
be sought in
no
in
difference.
According
to the principles
faculties of the
and
and
Will.
The
and
main
human mind
Yet Aquinas had the three-fold distinction as clearly as any modern writer.
175
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
will being separated from those of the desires
and
affections.
man s
relations to
what
powers
is
respect to
what
them
is
this:
is
and by the
objective;
we
fections
by the
will
will
considered as separate from the af
decide to act in respect to objective things; and
considered as in union with the affections we
we have
The
knowing.
under the
Intellect.
The
In the intellect
man
is
contemplated as
176
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
apprehend
2.
The
ideas.
Sensibilities.
Under the
all
powers by which
we
sensibilities are
common element
combined
of feeling.
making
this
and
affections,
which come
Under
this
or preference.
Wherever there is choice there is will. Intellect
and feeling are necessary conditions of the choice, but the choice
is distinct from both.
The act of the will is the simple act of
grounded
will
may
Will.
object,
The
but
there
is
8.
Of the
original Tendencies of
Mans
Sold.
We
that
If the
it is
metaphysics proper.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
now
are
177
and
affections,
will, is
placed
in, is
an integral part
of,
man
in
intellect,
the uni
beings,
and
to these relations
and of the
constituents of
human
as
given in Horn.
but
a degenerate
original,
spirit,
vii.
The antagonism
nature.
22,
23,
Gal. v.
17,
is
not the
Luke
if
state.
state,
Luke
x. 27.
to
iv.
4; 1 Cor.
iii.
21-23.
lated,
and
in
to the
measure
of each object
right or wrong.
actually are, in
all
classified
by means of the
178
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
man
"
"
human
"rights";
man
more or
less in
all;
tions;
and
meet and
act.
is
move between
9.
Of
and
desire.
Conscience.
Conscience
ations of the
is
mind
right and wrong, whether this exist in law, states, acts, or relations.
It is often taken in narrower senses.
(1) It is sometimes
Hence an
Burke).
See an article on Conscience, by Pres. Day, in
It is a
objection
is
some-
"
"
"moral faculty"
its
if
it."
allowed to be perverted,
"we
cannot do
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
times brought to
179
its
men and
peoples.
(2) By others it is
as
a
taken as chiefly an emotion,
particular kind of compla
cency or displacency in view of our acts. (So Brown and
Mackintosh. On the other hand, Butler: "We cannot form
decisions
by
different
God
to acts.
(So Coleridge.)
All these different statements have a partial truth, present
ing different aspects of what is included in the general term.
better viewed, not as a special faculty, but as that
combination of powers by which we judge and feel in respect to
Conscience
is
It discriminates:
states, etc.
mate.
2.
calls
we
It feels: (a.) it
"the
categorical
feel that
when we know
imperative:"
we ought
to
do
it.
This
is
the right,
an urgent
feeling.
of the one
3.
It
other.
sense.
180
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
etc.,
on tko
It
to
Some
Summa
definitions: Aquinas,
actualis-applicatio scientiae
This principle in
man
Theol.
i.
"
Locke:
our
"
"It
own
is
our
own judgment
Stewart, Act.
actions."
refers to our
own conduct
but in
its
having one
object, its
"
while
alone,"
its
"
and
as to the nature
we proceed
functions of conscience,
arise under
it.
in
word conscience is not found; we have the word,
which moral judgments and feelings are implied throughout.
(There are in the Septuagint one or two instances in which the
Greek word corresponding to conscience is used. See Die Lehre
vom Gewissen nach d. Schrift. Glider in Stud. u. Krit, 1857.)
In the New Testament the nature and functions of conscience
"heart,"
who
"
1.
Kings
ii.
44; Prov.
vii.
xxxviii.
and while we
li.
Kings
Job
viii.
xxvii. 6; 1
38; Hos.
Sam.
vii. 2.
as motive; (c.)
act,
dispenser of the award, as executioner of the doom.
181
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
2.
Rom.
ii.
i.
12;
iv.
New Testament
27-29; 1 Pet.
3.
i.
The
ii.
iii.
and
life
Tim.
i.
16.
12; Acts
15; Heb.
2; Tit.
i.
14; x. 22.
ix.
The sum The Scriptures set forth that the mind has a native
capacity of judgment and feeling in respect to moral subjects
but that this may be enfeebled, darkened, and even perverted, so
as to become a source of delusion and a snare.
:
(B.)
for
man
fact that
is
a moral being,
made
moral ends.
for
It leads
it
Rome and
another at Athens
but
to all nations
"
and
science,
of
to
govern belongs to
it,
man."
(C.)
testifying to a moral
182
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
From
this
conscience
may
be
By
this
nouncing
judgment on ourselves:
own acts.
And its power
2
our
We
it is
is
proved by
It is a
is
By
shown
By
is
the idea of
it,
though
in
ples,
Though
e.
sinful;
2
"
</.,
Honesty
Benevolence
is
is
is
virtuous.
main
princi
"
(Coleridge).
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
to the further affirmation,
And
"
"
It is right
183
it
is
we
can master.
(D.) This perception (and feeling) of right and wrong is im
mediately attended by a feeling of obligation to do the right
and refuse the wrong.
are obligated morally to do only what
We
is
No
morally right.
peculiar.
intervening
a simple regard to happiness or the general good
cannot derive this sense of "oughtness"; we can only derive
From
terms.
we
we need no
On
impulse, tendency, desire, not a specific moral obligation.
the utilitarian view, the highest idea of obligation is that man
should perform that which is for the highest good; but that
The statement
word
its
"ought"
but
answer
to do
it.
why
is,
is it
because
whole
force.
good?
As
Why
This ought
is
that
I,
or
a means of happiness,
morally binding on
I feel
"should"
it is
me ?
right
"ought"
it is
The only
desir
possible
feel
of rectitude or
its opposite.
and discontent.
184
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
ability.
and it is
on the
strictly
acts.
Hence
personal
the judgment of merit or demerit cannot be pronounced until
there has been personal choice or action.
On the utility
character,
basis
of personal
ment
of transgression.
my
conscience,
In
acts.
its
it
merely
my
Conscience
is
no*
conscience.
We
What do we mean
to
we
refer
the motives and
Do
by
merely
judgment?
character of the men who passed the law ? No; for we also say,
is
We
We
185
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
is
We
personal sense.
Either
it is
emotion.
We
a general
evident from
in
sense.
That we do
this
is
common
and the
disposition also;
to oppose the
It
may
bestill
it
viz.,
presumed
1
The
liability to
moral dispositions.
186
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Conscience does not blame the acts of the body as such, nor ex
ecutive acts of the will as such, but blames the person for being
influenced by wrong emotions in what he does. The executive
acts of the will and the external acts of the man are viewed in
relation to the right
not what
is
is
motive.
all
is
if
same time
it is
obliged to
concede that
it is
assumption
is
by force of definition,
acts,
of the will.
need only
Of
say, that
this
it
we
shall
have
to speak later.
Here we
appears to rest
187
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
right than
man
or reason
is.
If
we
man having a
universally right,
conscience is universally right. Also, so far as conscience in
volves reason, that reason is universally right. If man is not
we must
may
false to
is
be
wrong
is not.
If reason may be darkened, con
man having reason may believe what is
he may also, having conscience, believe what
conscience
infallible,
science
If
be.
true,
to be right.
Men
agree that
what
is
these cases
it is
This"
evade the
difficulty rests
the
includes
all
of the will.
2. Scripture
speaks of the perverted, seared, evil conscience,
the conscience that needs to be purified, etc.
Conscience, as
"the
He
"
It is
man."
But
188
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
mate, and
is
from wrong.
essentially different
This
most
is its
self-law
above
all
Here
many
discussions: in discussions,
e.
g.,
all
law.
it is
This
is
the
the rationalistic
the turning-point in
as to the Scriptures go
is
as to
what
ticular cases.
is
knew
to be
sistent.
It used,
e.
g.,
to be frequently said:
My
conscience
tells
me
that
it
tells me
Now conscience, as a native
power, asserts the general distinction between right and wrong,
and the necessity of observing it, but does not, as a native
"My
conscience
faculty, decide
conscience says
so."
upon particular
directly, in
cases.
We
it is
The assertion
necessarily right or wrong.
to the internal state.
Yet we remark:
4.
Conscience,
educated, is right;
generally right in respect to general
principles, though not so generally as to details and modes of
1
The ideal conscience is of course
carrying the principles out.
and, as
is
said above,
it is
Yet these are the cases in which those who mistake their wills for their con
most
strongly.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
NOTE
As
I.
189
whether an individual
ought always
The well-known Scholastic maxim
obligates
"per
accidens et secundum
is,
that a
quid,"
i.
wrong conscience
e.,
as to the matter
in hand.
my
and
good,"
who knew
it
to believe that
to be
wrong
and he appeals to me
I encourage him in following
Can I tell him he will be
it is
shall
his conscience ?
so,
Assuredly not.
without blame ? I know that he will be blameworthy, if he is
acting on a wrong basis and from wrong motives. So far then
far
it is
"I
and
sinners
all sin,
and
Before
we approve what we
conversion
believes, if
he
the matter:
i.
is
sincere."
e.,
believer.
to say that
A person
he
is
is sincere
in disbelieving,
God and
we may
190
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
more nor
than
my
my
Man s great
principles be really right and my faith correct.
is
not
to
be
but
to
be
sincere,
duty
right: to be so, and not to
believe that he is so. (b.) Nowhere would this plea be admitted,
except in religion or by religious indifferentism. It is not ad
mitted in the state, for holding a wrong opinion in politics if
communism, e. g., be carried out by men who sincerely hold it,
:
If the
Mormons
are sin
cere in their polygamy, we say so much the worse for them and
their society,
(c.) It is a fact that men may be sincere from
wrong motives
less,
matter what a
man
believes if he
is
sincere, is inconsistent
with
the ground that the Bible is the standard and rule of duty and
life.
In its logical results, the position makes conscience and
reason supreme, and religion subordinate. It puts ethics above
theology, instead of inquiring for the harmony between them.
feeling about
what
is
right
and wrong;
and wrong.
But
this
may
The
191
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
"Thou
heart."
This
is
not a faculty:
for immortality.
Man
relations; (4)
ligation of the law of God, that we shall first discuss this (which will include the
question of the nature of virtue) and then in Chapter III., viz., Man s Relations
to the
CHAPTER
WHAT
The
"
IS
Law
II.
of
God
"
is
IT
REQUIRE?
some
times for the positive, written law, given to his people as such
it includes the ceremonial laws, the precepts and prohibitions
:
ment
of his creatures,
in a
natural law.
the
norm,
what man,
rests
not
It
1
in
rule
as a
the
for
It is also
human
life
and conduct,
idea
of
rectitude;
this
is
presupposed
is
right
and
not
in
It
it,
and
holy.
holy be-
of the best treatises on the Law is Dr. John Smalley s sermon: "Per
and Usefulness of the Divine Law," in Brown s Theol. Tracts, vol. iii.
One
fection
prescribing
192
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
cause
commanded.
is
it
inherent rectitude.
its
command
(both in precept
In the form of example, the law is given
prohibition).
us perfectly in the life of Christ. Lactantius calls Him the
and
and present
living
is
He who came
1.
Some
to
law.
Augustine
fulfil,
says,
"The
1 Pet.
law."
ii.
21-25.
Characteristics of the
Law.
1.
The law
is
holy,
essentially
good and
perfect.
It
is
human
nature than
that.
2.
This law
rectitude,
is
which gives
This law
is still
further enforced
is eternal.
and designed
It is
all.
It
com
the highest
not only the expression of
it
has also in
feet holiness
Holiness
is
"die
Darstellung der
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
193
this, speaking as a
under
the
law; but in his
bondage
Christian experience he recognizes it as spiritual: this is what
marks his conviction of sin and his feeling of the need of a
to the
Jew, and
state.
in respect to his
Saviour.
extent, of
mind,
all
man s
the
capacities:
strength,"
l
"all
the heart,
all
the soul,
his
full
the
all
Man s
7.
The
is to
law, as
commanding
entire holiness, is
always
obli
gatory upon
is
that he love
Man
his heart.
it
insensible to the
This
is
could extend
and
the old notion of natural ability, the reach to which our powers
if
we would.
derivative idea.
is
new
194
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
1
But law in morals rests upon an entirely different
disproved.
idea it is that which ought to be: it is rectitude commanded it
is
is
no
less law,
though what
it
fact: it
God s law
Miiller s position.
law.
man s
in relation to
man
is this
God
the end, of not realizing the idea: hence the law comes as the
objective norm: man needs it in order to begin his moral life
a moral being: 2 Matt. v. 17-19, the law and the
control until the end of the economy: Gen. ii.
the
law
was given for the state of rectitude, and laws
16, 17,
and
grow as
prophets must
to
i.
9.
to the perfect,
Discussion of the
law (as ex
German view,
that
the law
ceases.
is
be, so that it
of the law
is
to
cannot
"cease."
The
"end"
indefinite
2. The two
fundamental Objects or Ends of the Law of God.
These are (1) In respect to the whole system of things. The
object of the law is to bring out, to realize, the most perfect state
:
will, interposing,
The
and of
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
195
may
mands each
What
is
holiness ?
What
is
virtue ?
CHAPTER
III.
ernment of God
And
in
God s
it is
that consists, as
in the
joy,
all
things
human
are conformed to
196
CHRISTIAN
The law
of
God has
THEOLOGY.
end
obedience to that
with
respect simply to acts of the will (in the narrower sense), voli
tions, which volitions are accompanied with full power to the
contrary (in the modern sense), and which are deliberate in view
of all the consequences.
But this gives us conscience as having
to do only with the faculties concerned in choice (as volition),
and the law of God as dealing only with the same. Thus orig
inal sin
is
is
that Christ suffered in our stead, but not under the law; because
the law has to do only with personal acts, and these are not
transferable; and if that be so, Christ could not suffer under
the law for us, and so the atonement
law
is
entirely.
[What
else the
chapter.]
II.
subjectively.
The consideration
Virtue
is
is
man
ends.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION,
197
The inquiry
2.
is not,
as
it is
be, an inquiry
not an inquiry
sometimes said to
It is
that virtue
is
is
The questions
quiries.
What
is
virtue
and,
What
is
right
it is
which
is
virtuous.
is
is
quiry
common
as to the
and holy.
some one common principle, and can that principle be stated ?
That principle makes the nature or essence, or as some say the
foundation, of virtue.
The inquiry
is,
What is that
state of mind
or heart
tions
we
we
is
there
any common principle in all these acts which makes them vir
and which alone makes them to be virtuous ?
5. It is still further an
inquiry after true virtue and holiness
tuous,
How
can
that
men
is
we
supremely virtuous ?
198
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
The
(1)
may be
by giving a
tuous acts.
but
common
in.
is
found in
all vir
it
No more from
silk itself.
get anything as to
its
distinctive nature.
(2)
we
inquiry.
Theories
This
and
class
(6.)
subdivided into
is
The Theories
ivhicli
CHAPTER
THE FORMAL THEORIES
.OF
(a.)
The Happiness
IV.
many
what
tion of virtue.
We have
right track.
Many
of our
this definition
199
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
which are not virtuous.
If,
it
be
said,
Virtue
is
2.
Virtue is that which promotes the great End of our Being.
Virtue undoubtedly does this, but the defect of the answer is,
that it does not answer two other questions: (1) What is the end
This
which promotes
or
he
says, in
obligation: in
view of the
e.
An act performed
feeling of obligation to love and obedience.
to the obli
in obedience to the obligation to man, is virtuous,
1
Everything
finite is in relations,
we
if
we
act
and
are virtuous.
What
e.
g.,
the physical
Therefore there
is
to
a question
which
call
when we
Moral Science, pp. 44-48, 75-77. Cudworth and Clarke hold that virtue is to
act conformably to relations. The "fitness of things" theory runs into this.
They supposed the general power of judging of truth and falsehood to be the
i
relations:
viz.,
Way land,
Conscience.
200
CHRISTIAN
do not have
THEOLOGY.
To get
in other relations?
moral element,
must go behind the mere statement that we are under
we
it
at the
certain relations.
4.
re
is
are such
we
"as
to have,
ought"
Is it
to say that it is
God
law.
Our
is
relation to
God
as creatures
draws
it
this after
would
settle,
e.
it,
g.,
and
the
questions raised as to the course of the Israelites with the CaVirtue is obedience to the will of a sovereign.
naanites, etc.
s
God
revealed
will is law to us: and acting according to that
(2)
is virtue.
(3)
God s
will creates,
makes
virtue
and
its
opposite.
God s
will is
And
is virtue.
We
and God.
God
This
being
is
indisputable.
what He
is, it
is
Still
201
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
but that only shows that we connect with the idea of God s power
Without these we could not feel moral ob
his other attributes.
ligation.
by what
As
call forth
is
to the
a moral response.
moral.
vealed will
I
is
am bound
wherever
in a physical sense,
law
to do
it is
to us.
it.
If
God s revealed
revealed, there
God s
It is indisputable that
God commands me
it is
re
to do anything,
binding.
But
That
is
itself, it is
to.
If we obey, of course we are virtuous, but
command which makes the virtue. The inquiry
still remains, What is that holiness which is thus commanded?
It is only
(2) And why do we yield such unhesitating assent ?
not the
from our conviction that God s revealed will must be holy and
altogether right.
ites
commanded
He
appeals to our
us.
This
is
before the
if
202
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
As
this.
sinful,
and hatred
to
when
sential holiness.
He made
not holy.
came
holiness
by an act of
will,
and then He be
holy.
When we
makes
say that
virtue,
God; but
it is
God
that
some
this is
We
sense here.
than
if
He were
not omniscient.
us,
This
is
undoubtedly
But
true.
own
for its
sake; in
making us
so that
we can think
of virtue
and
He shows
Him.
He cre
by
all this,
He
created virtue.
He made
us capable of per
ceiving mathematical truth, but He did not make the truth that
the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles: that
truth
is eternal.
As
that
divine mind.
such;
all
as such;
All that
that
and
is
is
all ideas,
Him
to be
if his will is
may
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
and what
Yet, after
all,
is
203
form of statement in
Nothing is added to an
axiom by saying that it is the will of God; e.
by saying,
which
to
same
are
the
are
equal
Things
thing
equal to one
will
and
this
is
the
of
because
all
truth
inheres
another,
God,
</.,
And
them
and
qualifications, allowing
utmost weight, they do not reach to the real point
their
what
is
5.
It is
what
the
common,
subjective
Kant s Theory.
taken from the
New
Testament rule
as ye
is
you."
"
Do unto
It is:
"Act
others
so that
the free use of thy will may consist with the freedom of every
Fichte s is somewhat sim
one, according to a universal law."
ilar:
of
"Let
others."
This, again, is a
outward
virtue
must
is
itself.
the state of
mind which
it
all
demands ?
a formula, but
our acts can be put, and it does
This
is
"
When
204
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
reward."
This, again, is
an account of
it,
In spirit
spiritual excellency demands that a man should be?
ual excellency is virtue, is approbation, is
happiness: Yes, but
what is spiritual excellency ? And what is the conformity to it
which
is
virtue
REMARK on
all
is still
before us.
all is
what was meant by it, and hence the plausibility of such theo
They give us some characteristics and conceptions of
De
virtue, but not the concrete conception of holiness itself.
it
thus
is
like
as
that
which
fining
defining body
occupies
ries.
space, instead of
It is
giving an
its internal,
real
characteristics.
But the
class of theories
widely differing
we
among
to
teristic of
common
What is
charac
virtue?
attempting
do this by some supposed common, subjective quality of
*
that can be called virtuous.
and
all
to
Of these
HAPPINESS, in
two
classes: those
which make
some form,
and end
HOLT LOVE.
1
more
The Westm.
like Dr. T.
Eev., Oct. 1853, says, this reads like Cudworth, but in truth
Brown
"moral approbation."
is
205
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
CHAPTER
THE
HAPPINESS
V.
THEORIES.
or
their activity.
is
in their
It is
found in animal
life.
It is
all
Happiness
present happiness is the gratification now enjoyed.
is contrasted with conditions of pain, suffering, want, sickness,
etc.,
is
or mental,
a source of suffering.
Self-love ("self-regarding
affections,"
Bentham)
is
defined
objects.
happy
in the exercise of
in proportion to the
and
common
element,
viz.,
hap
which alone
is
in its objects. 1
"An
"
206
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
happiness
action.
ness, in
is
The question
some form ?
is,
is
Can
The
1.
selfish
own
our
2.
in a tendency to
selfish
of the
My
virtue.
1.
"
God
of
The
Virtue
Selfish
is
to
mankind
Scheme.
doing good
God
is
Take
According to
the good of mankind
happiness."
the rule,
virtue.
is
is
the motive, of
human
happiness,
viz.,
John Maclaurin, Philos. Inq. into Nat. of Happiness (written before 1736,
printed in 1773 in Goold s Edition, ii. 491), makes the distinction of subjective
and objective thus: Happiness must have an objective cause and a subjective ex
God is the sufficient objective cause of the highest happiness to man;
perience.
1
first
man
is
formed
for
God
s glory, etc.
207
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
one can
be,
It
mankind
specifically,
reduced to a proposition,
Against
1.
Common
tells
is all
own
future
us that,
experience
of our happiness, we are the happiest; e. g. in relieving misery.
The idea of our own happiness is an intrusion, in religion and
t
we
are think
he
is sinful.
3.
and holy
action.
from
self-interest; all
men
All that
is
Paley does.
threatenings
made? and
and
deter, to virtue
vice.
Motives in
motives of either.
are here shown.
to
and/row
what?
vice: not to
respect to virtue
2.
The advocates
and tendency
then two things
same thing.
If this
be
so,
208
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
dency
to
is
munity.
Many
confessed on
it
all sides
Wayland discusses the question on the supposition that virtue and the ten
dency to happiness are different things. His opponents insist that they are the
same thing: that if we want to define virtue we must say that it is the tendency to
1
promote happiness. Christian Spect, Dec. 1835, p. 605: "The ideas (L e., of
right and productiveness of happiness) are identical, or rather one is explanatory
of the other."
"The
tendency to produce the greatest amount of happiness is
what makes or constitutes a thing right." Dr. Dwight is quoted to the effect
that the tendency to produce happiness is "what constitutes the value or excel
foundation
of virtue."
lency (or as Dr. D. uses the word wrongly the
2 Dr.
Dwight says it is hardly necessary to answer this objection. But why
not? He says:
A smattering philosophy knows that voluntarin ess is necessary
to virtue."
Here we have a new statement. It is not usefulness alone, but vol
untary usefulness, which constitutes virtue. But here we must ask, if the ten
dency of a thing being useful does not make it happiness, how does its becoming
"
")
"
voluntary give it a new character? My choosing a thing does not make it right
or wrong; it simply brings in accountability. The statement will be reduced to
this: Tendency to happiness in a being not moral, is not moral: but in a being
who is moral, it is moral. This is acknowledging a difference in the nature of the
act: it is the moral element in the nature of the act which we are
inquiring for;
else
it.
209
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
If that
to happiness,
that
we cannot
Love
to
God
will
of happiness?
to
the
tend
greatest hap
undoubtedly
promote
judgment that
else
kept dis
That
good, the highest happiness of the universe but this very ten
dency is a result of its excellent nature, and does not constitute
:
that nature.
Such
position that
it
tributes
most of
is
some
We may judge
we
of the
cannot, with
is
e.,
"
defending Mill.
210
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
This doctrine
4.
comes from
that virtue
is
to happiness.
happiness
It is
is
itself.
allowed on
all sides
3.
This
It resolves all
is
often misunder
we
regard this as
moral action into the
1
The
pleasure or happiness which is found in such action.
is
the
but
it
allows
that
benevolent
action
highest good,
system
Bays the reason why any one is benevolent is for the pleasure
Our highest pleasure is in
there is in it the happiness in it.
love God is because our
and
reason
we
the
why
loving God,
found in
is
it.
itself,
as subjective
My
happiness
is
My happiness is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
find in the discussions a separation
between
211
and the grosser
this
Now
actions.
The difference is simply and only a
ence in the greater or less degree of the same thing, i.
and wrong
differ
e.,
of
is
We
we
all
men:
it
is
made the
it is
any
whereby
is
it
not founded on
is
distinguished
brought in to explain
foundation of ethics.
it,
nomenon with
we are happy
We
We
ulties.
are
it.
Now
if this
is
what
constitutes
these kinds,
212
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
That
ment.
is,
them,
ness
it
is
it
Moreover, such
is
we
4.
own
his
it
his su
is
sinful, if
is:
one
resides in
without committing
sin.
happiness in the
cannot
be
even
is
often
general happiness,
(as
alleged in de
to
our
the
of
the
motive
benevolent
acts,
fence)
spring
(a.) It
5.
pelf.
213
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
loves, that
his
own
this
be
love
may
thing
they mean by
be resolved into
all
This
may
but
all,
An
and
self-love."
This
all
calling self-love
act
is
why man s
love is placed on
involves
a vicious cir
position
(c.)
virtuous because it gives the highest happiness,
it
The
it
is
is
self-love,
that which
at
is
it is
virtuous.
4.
It is
1.
2.
3.
it tells
Who
fined as that
which confers
pleasure,
employed
to
"the
highest
happiness."
is
This
indefinite in
1
Nature of Virtue, vol. ii. of Works, p. 278. Edwards had this whole theory
before him, and refuted it.
2 As to the
philosophy of love and self-love, Tennyson puts it just right:
Love took up the harp of Life and smote on all the chords with might;
"
sight."
214
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY
another way. It may mean (and covertly does mean) the same
as the whole system of things with its resultant
good, and so it
constantly includes distinctive moral ends, i. e., it means the
1
good
is objective.
The happiness
self-love theories.
all
CHAPTER
VI.
The other class of the theories which define virtue not form
ally, but by some common characteristic of all virtuous acts and
states, may be comprised in these two: (1) Virtue is the love of
moral excellence; (2) Virtue is love to being, benevolence to
being in general.
I.
Virtue is the love of moral excellence.
This
is
the defi
is virtue.
Then, virtue
love of virtue.
is
Edwards,
ii.
intelligent being,
The proper
self-love
scheme
my
happiness
ANTECEDENTS
which
215
OF REDEMPTION.
foundation."
II.
love to being,
is
Virtue
is
is love,
is
love to intelli
He misapprehended
makes
Bellamy
"The
is
the
is
vine nature
and
therefore love
is
the
sum
of virtue in
God
as
He grants the
well as in the
creature."
all
the
good being
capable of, by whatever name called: natural,
moral, spiritual; than which there is nothing of greater worth in
is
the universe.
Nay,
tis
the
sum
of ALL
GOOD."
Bellamy then in
terprets the theory thus that virtue has respect to all good, of
course including moral and spiritual good, taking these to be,
:
not the whole of what virtue has respect to, but a part, in fact
Love is then the affection of
the very height of the good.
the good of being is the object on which this
Edwards s definition is: "that
love fastens: and that is virtue.
all
consent, propensity,
to being in general,
1
He
immediately exercised in a general good- will."
love
of
is
the
"Virtue
intelligent beings according to
says also,
which
is
their respective
worth,"
which
exercises,
exercises.
216
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
the whole
is
to be just as
much
but makes
only so,
olence
and of virtue.
"
"
Edwards
He
men
for
good and
holiness.
comprehending
clearly
at.
He
is
it is the
particular affections which come within
the sphere of consciousness, so that we are not conscious of
purely abstract love, but only of the forms of this affection.
It is
we have
The answer
The
The
demands
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
and forms of
sistent
The
love,
and
217
not incon
it is
relations
which
"worth"
particular
call forth
make
the
of the object.
Utilitarian.
It is
difficult to
this word.
Generally, in phil
those
theories
which make
Utilitarianism
means,
osophical speech,
virtue" culminate in
happiness, or in the "general good," viewed
as having respect ultimately to happiness either objective or sub
If Edwards had made virtue to have ultimate respect
jective.
to happiness, his theory would have been Utilitarian but as we
;
is
in
no wise the
case.
4. It is also objected that the theory does not allow for rec
titude being a simple idea, but that it resolves the idea of right
into something else.
This objection comes from not distin
being.
that it can be
applied
"love
of
being"
is
was
fully
Concretely and in
not the object of love God must be
In Edwards s writings, the discussion
"
consciousness,
being
the object of love. (6.)
is
is
"
(c.)
Another
difficulty arises
has respect to
human
and
simply as distin
But Edwards defines benevolence for
beings,
to happiness
218
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
himself,
and means
alent to holiness.
make it equiv
be taken in the lower sense,
to include holiness in it or to
If
"
benevolence"
in benevolence, is liable
is
later statement
Theory of
Virtue.
Love, in
with advantage
CHAPTER
VII.
Preliminary Statements.
1. Limitations and specific sense of the inquiry as to the na
ture of true virtue or holiness. The inquiry is not as to the
1.
whole of
virtuous acts
or principle in all
the
kingdom
of holiness,
kingdom
of evil;
Historically: there
such theories. The inquiry,
(c.)
The inquiry
i
after one
common
brook,
New
s Dissertations, etc.,
stated.
is
virtuous,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
is
also justified
consciousness:
Even
if ive
by what may be
we
219
our moral
a distinct sphere. 1
is
The
3.
(a.) Since almost all terms, expressing moral states and acts,
refer to concrete cases, to specific acts, the chief difficulty is in
commonly used
to express
if this
state,
somewhat
This
is
(b.)
ia
is this:
Common
220
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
which
very much
And
is
special
here, in fact,
is
some common
to
all
that
is
virtuous
danger of making it so ab
from experience, and it becomes
principle, there is
worthless in
benevolence, as
delight
in, all
g.,
idea,
that
The same
is
Some
radical distinction
insist that in
is virtue,
into ethics,
is
into union
we can do
idea of happiness
2.
is
it is
brought
between virtue and vice
is
vitiated,
denied.
Virtue.
"All
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
we do
as
in respect to doctrines,
i.
e.,
in the
What
test.
221
way
of deduction
if it
be true, must be de
duties,
summary
is
"
The
it.
and love
to
men
are the
of love to God:
1 Pet.
sum
is
of the law,
the
where holiness
16,
i.
"This
is
Matt.
vii.
(also in 1
John
v.
John
man and
are the
John
to
God
iv. 8,
God
Col.
himself;
14;
iii.
Rom.
Tim.
i.
xiii. 8,
10; 1 Cor.
5; 1 Pet.
ii.
xiii.
forth as the
is set
it
forth as
can be used
sum
of duty. 1
The General Results from these passages:
1. Love must be the common
principle
is set
20-21, where
same principle
iv.
where love
then in a spe
48;
17); 1
iii.
first
love to
God and
love to men.
ye
Bothe says
(i. 196): There are five principles: (1) Likeness to God; (2) "Be
Follow Christ; (4) Have love to God and man; (5) "What ye would
should do," etc. Miiller (i. 140) says and justly: Not so; none of the
holy";
that
men
(3)
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
God
3.
Love
4.
Men must
to
sense of
Love
"
This love
7.
v.
"
1 Pet.
48;
i.
in the Bible.
is
God and
both to
man with
essentially the
same
in
16.
man.
to
Love
God
to
same
will
Matt,
in respect
bring love to
"
"
men
is
not love to
men
It is
included-, (c.)
their
lished,
Love
to
God s kingdom,
and
to sinners, will
(This
It is
is
another
moral excel
of man.)
9.
to
Love
God
to
God
is
not
as the highest
and best of
it is
love
beings.
3. Statement
of the Principle of True Virtue in tJie abstract.
There are two modes of statement: the abstract and the con
crete.
The abstract
is
the
mode
its vivid,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
223
statement of
it
as
it
1. The
principle of all virtue in the abstract must be found
in love, that being the highest form of activity of our moral na
All the powers of the mind concentrate in love.
ture.
Love is
union of heart
us to seek
It is not,
2.
and prompting
which they are placed.
all their
good
in the relations in
an object:
thus.
personal beings, to
Our
affections chiefly
have respect to
and ends.
3. The definition of Holy Love or True Virtue.
ties
way
There are
of general description,
em
is love (the
highest
of
the
highest good (the greatest objective wellsubjective state)
described
It
is
sometimes, as love of the whole system
being).
(a.)
of things,
(6.)
Or, it is
beings, in relation to the great ends of the system.
love of the good of intelligent beings, with ultimate respect to
their,
and
(c.)
A definite
is,
love of
all intelli
We
love:
it
ob
its
objects
224
for
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
good; (4) the main, supreme object of the love, that which
is
very nature
According
it
to this,
to each individual
it
who may
be the object of
it,
in reference
(3)
whole system.
than
many
(d.)
saints.
Some
further explanations.
True Virtue
is
love of the
whole system, of all its ends, yet chiefly its highest end. The
distinction between the primary and the ultimate object of vir
important. Virtue has respect to all good, to all
beings as capable of good, but it has, in its very nature, chief
Virtue regards each
respect to the highest good or to holiness.
tuous love
is
Good exclusively
it exists.
It is
Virtue
is
This does not appear to have been sufficiently insisted upon by President
Edwards.
3
[The remainder of this paragraph consists of hints which the author appears
to have noted down for his future consideration.]
1
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
225
tiful).
above Definition.
comprehensive. It is the union of the highest sub
state
with all, and with the highest, objective weal.
jective
2. It includes morality and religion both, and
puts morality
4.
Arguments for
the
It is
1.
virtue
would
fail to
kingdom, which
with himself.
is,
Therefore
we must
this.
ness.
not ultimate respect to his holiness, i. e., to his highest and best
If true virtue have respect to the
state as, love to a child?
good of moral beings, it must have chief respect to their highest
good from
:
this there is
of virtue, though
show
it
itself in
226
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
We
our definition
ness, unless in
we make
is
virtue,
5.
As
and
such that
If
it delights in holiness.
the forms of virtue, all the
it
(a.) It
it will.
why
all
it
form of virtue
applicable here, yet that same temper of love which most delights
in holiness will have kind regard to their well-being.
(To alter
our definition for their sake alone would hardly be wise: some
thing must be understood in every definition.) (b.) It includes
all
it
is
not vir
(c.)
It
and speaking
spirit of love.
(Eph.
forms of what
cellence,
is
(g.)
all
that
is right,
(f.) It
includes
It
those
it
which
is
love,
and
is
mode
of
its
manifesta-
Aristotle says: The wicked ought not to love themselves, but the good may.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Thus
tion.
all
227
it.
(i.)
The
definition also
truly such.
true love, a supreme regard to
end of the system.
God and
his glory,
and benevolence.
be made
we have no
real ethical
of
virtue.
There
whether
good-will.
is
it
In point of
fact,
all
5.
1.
to all good, or to
"being."
have
It
to
We
But
we
in fact
2.
The
This objec
tion lies only against the position that virtue has exclusive re-
228
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
or, in
is
in complacency,
and ultimately
the.
all inferior
to the highest
which
both these.
3.
Such a view of
4 Every
make
it
to be, strictly
This also
229
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
virtuous, only as
is
love
this
of the
whole.
is
is
it is
Sin
presses
Sin is
love where a greater good ought to have been loved.
the love of the less, and virtue is the love of the whole and thus
;
is
an element
all
Virtue in the
we
live
concrete.
1.
The
real
and
act,
a system which has God, a personal being, for its author and
To live for and to promote the great ends of that system
end.
is
is
Even
in respect thereto.
Our
to the great
ends of the
affections primarily,
and
The love
The highest
That glory
is
the creature
4.
5.
may
chiefly
shown
in
and in making
promoting holiness
its
holiness in
this supreme.
highest,
This
relation,
love, its
fundamental, its
in love to God.
is
it
Compare
Miiller
on
Sin, vol.
i.,
man
include
all
of Holiness.
the
230
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
virtues.
the
is
common
It is favored by the
principle of love to God.
considerations:
is
in
effect being in gen
following
(a.) "God
eral"
(Edwards); all that is, is from Him and for Him: He
"
image.
who
And
loveth
this
God
"Therewith
also."
that he
bless
we
all
move.
and men
in holy love ?
Moreover,
it is
God
it
whole system
He
and
naturally, that
system ultimately in
its relation to
we
we
love the
Him, and
to the ends
which
He
is
and
kingdom.
This
is
He
This at
proposes in his system; the motive, love to Him.
the
rate
in
conscious
Christian
is
any
reality
experience, and
all
real
John
love
iv. 21.
And
moves
with the
James
iii.
9.
281
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
The highest form of
and
to his ends
and
it is
in love
objects.
which
6.
is
love to
and
first commandment."
is
obedience
Him
first
"
stract system.
God
8.
The
it
is
from
fundamental principle of
Eetribution
only."
hand. 1
and
to,
as parts
and
of,
and
all
to all
the divine
the deduction or
mode
mate
Or again
Virtue
is
sons, only in a
to this system.
love to
But
all
only in per
Virtue then is love
this
Hence,
is
embodied in
it is
God s Nature,
i
This law
is di
the disclosure of
Hence, obedience
is
true virtue.
232
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
VIII.
LAW OF
GOD.
We
have considered,
What Man
is
being what is the Law for which he was made what it enjoins
and has respect to, viz., True Holiness, which we have
attempted
to describe and define: we come now to consider more
particu
larly, The Relations of Man to this Law.
We come here upon the more difficult subjects of Anthropology,
where there has been the greatest diversity of
opinion and stress
;
We
their conflicts.
set forth.
Remarks as
1.
to the
their Definitions.
in respect to moral
government, moral
law of God, the administration of
justice under that law, have in common parlance, in theology
and in philosophy, a two-fold sense an abstract and a
concrete,
a general and a specific, an objective and
subjective, (some
say, a proper and an improper) sense. We prefer the
quality,
human
action, the
phraseology,
general or specific. The general (equivalent to the abstract) sense
is applied in all our
judgments about laws, institutions, govern-
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
233
etc.,
It is
ment
differs
to beauty.
On
specific
is
application
simply
govern
ment, as under the divine law, considered as conformed or not
conformed to that law, as their state corresponds or does not
correspond with the law, as their state has or has not a tendency
to bring about, or a harmony with, the ends of that law.
2.
Again:
all
ity
in philosophy,
and
difficulty
and
in theology,
(a.)
tions,
of the affections. 1
(c.)
elects
They
between two
choice."
God and an
objects,
arid deciding
"
between
Edwards considers
this to
be of the
will.
234
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
and deny
is
first,
at the
while others
E.
may
g.,
that
it
and renders
we cannot
word
sin is
a sinful
act.
(The old doctrine of Hopanother class say that the
Then,
Emmons.)
used
in
reference
to a native condition or
improperly
is
spontaneous preference.
other,
and only
by God
we do
or
it
man
to
;
strictly.
vidual.
is
"
"
disposition,"
"desire,"
"affection,"
feelings,"
propensity, prin
turned most
ciple, consent of heart; but the discussions have
law of God
the
s
state
before
the
man
as
to
how
question
upon
235
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
is
to be viewed.
to
Now
of love to God.
this state is
The
can
be applied to
of choice to conform or not to conform to the requisitions of
the law. All that is moral, religious, holy, is essentially an act
strictly
viz.,
being so
makes
it
Whatever
moral.
The
it is
caused by choice;
its
in disposition, tendency,
is,
the state, but the desert of the choice; the desert of an act under
For ex
the law; its worthiness of punishment under the law.
ample, sin
is
is
worthy of everlasting
Assuming the point that all that is moral is in personal choice, and framing
our definitions accordingly, clean work can be made. There will be strictly
no original sin, only a physical state atonement will be not under the law, strictly;
justification will be pardon simply, with a figurative representation attached;
God s moral government will be simply over individual, personal agents, will
have no other direct sphere; all else will be sovereignty merely: according to laws
and for ends not distinctively moral.
1
all
236
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
(c.)
or standard
is
taken, not in
from
and
Sin
it,
its
is
own
nature,
would
define
and because
it
runs counter
to,
and
if left to itself
own
nature.
CHAPTER
IX.
What
General Proposition.
is
is
THE WILL.
Nor
is it
on their appropriate
objects.
Nor, again,
is it
found ultimately
an ultimate end
when
there
is
237
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
them: but they are not by themselves moral; the seat of the
moral quality is not in them. What is moral in man is only tc
be found in the affections or the
will, or both,
considered as con
1
sympathy, as impulse,
to the best
"
moral ends, to
the
definite
central,
tendency or act;
all
of the
is
is
brought
and must be
power of the
soul
man
What
is, in
converging upon
short, the condition of a moral being, in relation to the great end
of his being, as conformed or not conformed thereto; and that
must be
in
is
it.
it,
1.
The
There
moral in
will,
one or both.
Of the Idea
of the Will.
of
the Will, psychologically, in
position
is
(a.)
human
its
state,
man
its
is this:
general
ends (the
i.
e.,
"
"
tendencies
Query.
most general
Is the seat of
sense.
("The
conative
powers,"
is
union of
will
and
affections.
Ham-
238
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
ilton.)
will is not
The
Will.
is
the person
anything
considered
as
or
as
the
himself,
acting
having
power of acting
in a certain way, the way of choosing.
The distinctive and only
function of the will
will,
is
not there
ultimate
simpler:
if
we
Where
is choice.
We
is
no
there
will.
is
choice there
Choice
cannot resolve
would not be a
it is
it
is
is
a simple
into anything
distinct faculty.
It
knowledge of any
and perfect with only
one object in view. We need not have two objects in view in
order to choose God, but might choose Him directly from a per
But the choice of God implies
ception of his glorious character.
other object.
that
we do
of choice goes,
it
distinct
or, at least,
was something
it
else
which
else.
Man, acting as
3
a proper causal efficiency in every act of choice.
an attribute of cause it is the distinctive attribute of
There
cause.
Power
is
will,
is
an
efficient
cause
it is
power of the
man
but
misconception, that the will only acts after the other powers: it
The mistake here arises from
forth energy.
the arrangement of topics in popular text-books. See Archb. Manning, Contemp.
Kev., Jan. 1871, on the Relation of Will to Thought, in fixing the mind, atten
1
It is a great
acts in
tion, etc.
2
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
through the
power
is
will the
239
involved in choice.
Of Self determination.
3.
is
it
at the
nothing at
of
"liberty
all,
contingence,"
without motives. 1
There
II.
is
pressive of a fact about the mind which is always true and real.
So far as consciousness extends, we know ourselves to be in such
fact).
or for good,
2
[See Prof. Smith s Review of Whedon on the Will, in the volume, Faith and
We do not contest that motives are the occasional and final,
Philosophy, p. 369.
and not the efficient causes of volition."
"Freedom (as defined by some modern Arminians) consists in
Also, p. 368.
"
....
the
unrestricted
power of putting
And
this
power
is
240
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
God
for
ends.
states.
4.
Not
to
(1) Its
Of the
will as the
which
act,
is
In all such
single volitions.
this: the will as cause, by its
power of
dom
it is
the
sense of free
full
be a defect in Edwards
of freedom.
appears to
treatise that he makes this the whole
Aristotle (Eth.
Manning) says:
"Deliberate
iii.
2,
It
translated here
by Archb.
am, so
I will,
and as
I will,
so I
am."
This
is
Muller:
the
"As
immanent
tive
and immanent,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
241
end.
is
the
effect,
is
effect,
is
is
This
its
the choice.
of
its
some
is
because
ture, free
knows.
This
is
Such a preference
it is
acts.
and
vice
it is
their seat
and vice
There
former
is
is
both freedom
the
to
liberum arbitrium.
The
The
nent preference
choice
will
1
is
are included.
Immanent
See
later,
is
preference
in a state of
is
and the
a state of the
permanent
choice.
242
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
5.
I.
External freedom
it.
is
is
an attribute
the liberty to
it),
Wherever
freedom in an
there
is
exemption and
Choice
act,
choice there
is
freedom.
dom in
choice
is
is
This freedom
is
not found in
be;
it is
II.
1
outside,
is
exercised.
We
freedom
is
Of
dom
is
III.
This freedom does not imply what has been called the
[In
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
The
moves.
will goes
down
the scale.
Some
243
is
Nor does
IV.
An
event
is
ac.t
when
it
depends as an
effect
is
that
if
(3)
when
there
is
a real uncertainty in the nature of the case, and this is the sense
in which the contingency of volitions is affirmed by Arminians
dom
is
is
But
that not in
1
all
moral choices
is
It
As Bledsoe.
take place without a cause. When the West. Conf. says, "the contingency
of second causes is not thereby taken away," etc., contingency is used in the sec
ond sense in the above enumeration, as is shown by the proof-text cited.
may
It
may
244
is
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
John
we
feel ourselves
ready free
("free indeed,"
36), only in loving and serving God,
in
love.
men
are
free in the productions of
So, gifted
only
genius, in acting out the inmost self; still higher is the free
viii.
"
"
dom
The choice
of true love.
of sin
is
This is un
no higher freedom
a bondage.
If there is
t^an formal, all our religious states, our highest moralare excluded from its sphere, and all character.
in,
It
Yet, formal freedom always remains.
or restricted to, any one preference, any
ence,
is
states,
not exhausted
immanent
prefer
we never
absolute
Of the
VI.
limits of
human
Man s
freedom.
God can
be.
freedom
is
not
As man
is
de
We
action
we
effects,
though we may
limits of the
It is
It is
We
be free in them.
power of the
will.
the other powers of the mind, nor from God, nor from nature.
The
and by
all these.
More
particularly
1.
It
2.
It
once.
3.
In one sense of
in another sense
4.
body,
"power"
energy,
it
possibility, it
may
be that
it
It
etc.
5.
It
6.
Its
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
245
and with the certainty of moral acts, and also with the sover
eignty and prescience of God.
7. Its freedom must be consistent with the fact of its always
choosing that which in the view of the mind is most desirable.
6.
Of the
Will
and
Motives.
The
does, the will does: for the will is the instrument of all
On
activity.
That the
better
the
man
in his choice is
government.
man
2.
It is
it.
imply
Human
human
human
society.
We
basis.
We
ask,
why
did a
by motives.
We
5.
selves.
back
When we want
We
cannot conceive
it
to
be otherwise.
We
cannot con
Such an action
is
a mere
246
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
It is an action without an
object, bare action, bare
and
for
if
there is anything purposed,
purpose,
nothing purposed;
abstraction.
that
is
the motive.
From
mains,
II.
we
these considerations
is
The question
influenced by motives. 1
how far?
What is a Motive ?
still
re
two classes, internal and external all the objects without, which
have relation to us, which we can know or desire as a good, and
:
susceptibility.
Edwards:
is
"Motive
volition."
Hamilton: "Mo
no other than end or final cause,
It is
a mental
to this discussion
man
tendency."
to bring
may
it
down
be defined
The
which we
having relation to
that choice.
III. Are motives in this sense the efficient cause of volition?
Edwards in discussing this point says: "An appearing most
agreeable to the mind or pleasing to the mino? and the mind s
preferring and choosing seem hardly to be distinct." In our
view, this
is
"
If to
I think,
is
mad
mad
to
be
Compare
Pres.
Day
already."
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
If the motive is
247
made
the efficient
is
means,
"determining
mind s
By
choices.
"determination
of the
will"
he
another,"
causing that the act of choice should be thus and not other
wise,"
determining to one act among various acts." Deter
"
"
that
it is
different.
We
cient the final cause is the end or object in view of the mind
and the occasional cause perhaps may be said to be, that object
as it influences the desires, etc., before the act of choice.
The
Will
here
would
be:
Motive=
Volition
or
+
algebraic expression
;
Choice.
V.
of the will
s action,
that
it
will, is it
a law
It is
is
that
motive
is
but in
itself in relation to
us and our
The
e.
g.,
by Dr. Bushnell
in Nature
and
248
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
tion as to
will as
Arguments
we
We cannot recall
Consciousness.
1.
did not
make according
to the strongest
ment.
In the rational view of choice, in conceiving it as a rational
law is necessary. Leibnitz
To suppose a man acting
2.
act, this
"
man
3.
is
no certainty of
action, there
We
divine government.
ern without this, but
is
This
Arminianism says:
True; but if an event
not certain.
conceive, there
that
to suppose
is
what
we can
is
mode
is
we cannot compare
There are
mo
e.
g.,
no common term.
We
compared.
space and time. The reply is that neither part of this objection
is true
the latter is most certainly not true. To our view, the
former is inconceivable. Every event or change of existence im:
It is
much
dwelt upon by
Upham and
others.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
plies a cause: that is
an ultimate, rational
truth.
249
The
will is not
and effect: no one pretends this; but the law of cause and effect
must run through the will, because the law covers every change
declares that every such change must have
not saying what the cause is, not that it is all in
of existence in time:
a cause.
This
is
the motives or
not outside of
all
it
elsewhere.
That
all
the cause of
its
action
is
itself, is true.
The
tion does not lie against the argument from consciousness, where
we put the force of the proof. Consciousness tells us that the
consciousness
is,
that
it is
the strongest.
by prevailing.
it is
We
find out, to be
the strongest.
It is said that
considered
this.
shown
is
it
man
that
in choosing
and
lapse.
Here,
</.,
Adam
it is said,
the
It is to be said in
strongest motive was not the inducement.
that
it
was
not
the
reply,
certainly
strongest intrinsically, but
Adam must
have been
what seemed
less
him
wise than he
is
reputed, if he sinned
to
less desirable
This
is
beforehand which
250
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
looking back.
CHAPTER
X.
the consequent.
word necessity
applied to it improperly.
Metaphysical or Philosophical Necessity
sense as Moral. Edwards (Inq., Pt. i.
3):
ferent from
is
certainty:
speak not
now
is
is nothing dif
"It
of the certainty of
Whether
The
"
liberty
determined, to good or evil." The confession does not directly decide the ques
It can be interpreted
It is not strictly a scheme of philosophical necessity.
tion.
in consistency with philosophical necessity, and perhaps better in consistency
with that than with any other scheme. It is decidedly opposed to pure selfdetermination of the will.
251
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
things themselves
which is the foundation of the certainty of the knowledge of
them: or that wherein lies the ground of the infallibility of
is
in
II.
"
little
knowledge
consistent with
sonality
itself.
necessity."
To
own
Schleiermacher
"Freedom is
means
per
to reckon to
acts."
of speculation.
There
real truth.
Schelling says,
He
is
There
is
dom.
In the case of
man
and
free
There
is
determined.
in
is
acts.
The
acts, is
something given, and not originated, and that these data are as
necessary as the power of choice itself. (4) The net result of
the whole is, that the causal relation does not exclude freedom,
when it is considered as reciprocal action. There may be a
causal relation and freedom also.
around
What is given,
or the influences
cannot originate the substance of its choice, but only the fact
It can give the formula of the choice, but it cannot
of its choice.
it
it still
more
sharply,
and leaves
still less
place
252
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
"are
incomprehensible, as be
while
As an
effect.
As an
effect, it
or causes.
That
result.
cause,
is,
and the
man
choosing
of cause
dom
of
and
is
effect,
of the will
"necessity"
is
and freedom.
will
CHAPTER XL
OF THE PRIMEVAL MORAL STATE OF MAN. 2
in
man s
to Question 10 of the
own
image,
Edwards does not appear to make this distinction, but Pres. Day thinks
that he did not intend to question that man is the proper author of his own acts,
and that his statement here was merely analytical.
* References:
Dwight; Miiller on Sin, ii. 482; Thomasius, i. 178; Hofmann,
Schriftbeweis, i. 241; Hutterus Redivivus, 194; Martensen, 169; Ebrard, i. 250;
Bretschneider, i.; B. Tyler s Lectures, i., ii. ; Ed. Win. Grinfield, Scriptural
Inquiry into the Image and Likeness of God in Man, Lond., 1837; Bishop Bull s
1
Discourse V.
State of
Man
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
in knowledge, righteousness,
the
Man was
creatures."
First
all
and
holiness, with
253
dominion over
Adam and
ated He them
the beginning and center of unity and source of
the whole race was in this one pair. Society began, marriage
was ordained. The law of God was written on man s heart (Rom.
:"
ii.
15).
He was
1.
that there
Innocence.
They do
this
Therefore
man s
Sensuality
Gen.
i.
28, 29;
ii.
16;
ii.
19, 20,
parative ripeness of
2.
man
is
described in general
state.
Terms as
the
in
man
is
254
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
What
(a.)
is
permanent
referred to in Gen. v.
is
to
1, 3,
where
Adam
man s
intellectual
What was
iv. 24,
"
"
"
after the
image,"
is
expressed in lang
spirit, his
capacities, his
potentialities,
true holiness.
To enforce
this distinction
still
meta
Man
will, as far as
of
being UJce
was
lost
by the
fall.
His capacity
actual moral likeness
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Yet this primitive State
3.
was
255
but mutable.
The primitive
one of comparatively
unconscious goodness, rather than of goodness which has been
developed and come to full self-possession in conflict with temp
The
tation.
state is to be conceived as
tree of the
evil
was
to be
("
test,
the
Blessed
the
is
man
trial,"
etc.,)
there
is
measure
is perfect,
the best.
As
far as
we can
conceive of this
Adam must
primitive state in
which
The
good.
latter is the
more
position.
4.
On
"Divine
Image"
life
in God.
especially as
is
ness
They
"
(the
often
"like
256
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
tuality.
image both
is
is
still
left:
he
Trinity memory,
Through the Middle Ages, there was a constant tendency to
make the divine image in man to consist merely in the rational
powers, and any positive goodness which was in him at creation
to be, not a state of his faculties, but a
supernatural endowment:
the former being often viewed as the
the latter as the
image,"
intelligence, will.
"
"
similitude
"
of God.
It
may
Roman
man
and
lost
by the
baptism.
would say, that holiness was concreated in man, that there was
an original righteousness. Almost all the Reformed symbols,
Lutheran and Calvinist, have this view. The divine image is
the whole of the primitive perfections, original justice (or right
eousness), the special ethical relations in man: they differ as the
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
257
nal.
holiness, however,
state
This
is
American theology.
holiness
all
in exercises) says:
is
Human
"
ular kind or
Bellamy:
"As
first
"
law."
or virtuous
mind
D wight
at his
"
(i.
346):
Adam
possessed a sanctified
The affections of
347):
"
creation;"
were
(i.
"
virtuous;" (i.
394):
Man was
cre
Works,
ii.
400.
Works,
i.
196.
Emmons
created."
the least regard to the cause by which they are produced." But he does not
recognize in man any power of action before or in distinction from action.
His position was overthrown by Dr. N. W. Taylor.
258
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Orthodox view
aggeration as to Adam,
end.
to
man s whole
is
CHAPTER
THE DESTINATION OF MAN
IF
XII.
THE
By
is
"
life,"
"
nant
a
"
What
is
is
meant
to
is,
that
if
man had
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
259
would have reached the great end of his being; his destina
under the divine government would have been complete.
What that destination was, may be gathered partly from what
we know about the nature and capacities of mar^ but chiefly by
reasoning back from what we know to be accomplished by the
tion
It is possible
body of the
to be
what
its
de
called
although
resurrection,
is
is
and
is
to
death, as
3.
of
God
on.
As
to the
"tree
of
"sacrament."
life,"
whether through
was
its
life."
PART
IV.
CHAPTER
I.
1.
Position:
ITim.
22;
ii.
It is said
Rom.
known
in that way, he
v.
and draws
known
it
as a history
it
form
of the narrative
is allegorical.
The form
It is
as such,
13.
know
it
is
"
"
that
Miiller,
261
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
of a serpent, though we think
did appear in some form. 1
To those
it is
In
easier, the ill-desert of failure was much greater.
of
the race were to be tried again, the circumstances
ence was
short, if
man s
condition as here given are as natural 2 as any other supposable circumstances, and as favorable to man as any could be.
why
tion that
it is
it, is
historical fact,
and
and Satan
for us, in
real,
s.
the conflict
is real
a struggle of which
It
we have
The features of
Man, as we have
2.
1.
the Temptation.
said,
was
in circumstances
which were
"
262
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
easy.
Dwight
(i.
"No
great,
2.
ter of the
first
were
to be gained.
First there is sug
the
doubt
of
whether
He
be trusted, then
could
God,
gested
there is the appeal to pride, the spirit of "affecting deity,"
As
"What
is
here in ques
tion
is,
knew
his relation,
mand.
ter into
was the
Adam s
experience,
is this:
Before the
command
there
the yielding to pride was the sin. The change was there
in the choice as an executive act, nor in the
result of that act
the eating, but in the choice of supreme love
tially,
is
the choice
itself.
1
Tim.
iii.
6.
263
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
We
In saying this
Adams fall,
we mean
We
psychologically.
It is inexplicable
side of
itself.
there.
by anything out
and rest
fact as ultimate,
that
it
was not
in accordance
sin,
arises, as to
mained
in
Adam, how
events so that
own
Adam would
free choice. 2
But
certainly
fall,
(&.)
God arranged
yet he
fell
by
his
1
The phrase in the Catechism, "being left to the freedom of their own will,"
not intended as a psychological explanation of the fall. It guards against the
Supralapsarian view, and also against Necessitarian views. The Supralapsarian
says that God decreed the fall after He had decreed election: the Sublapsarian
says (in the form preferred by us), that God decreed to permit the fall, and then,
in view of his purpose of providing Redemption for the race, elected out of fallen
men a people to his praise.
2 Dr. Emmons has a
theory which is certainly not lacking in boldness, the
"Satan placed certain motives before his
theory of direct divine efficiency.
[Adam s] mind, which, by a divine energy, took hold of his heart and led him
is
into
sin."
"His
first
sin
was a
motives."
free,
Works,
iv. 356.
264
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
freely,
This
case.
But here
is
no explana
is
(e.)
influence
and under
immanent pref
man chose
to eat,
is
the
erence
itself: if it
We
Adam s soul
CHAPTER
THE PENALTY.
II.
Gen.
iii.
14-19.
Of the
is
"
And this is the ultimate analysis of the psychology of the case in every
change of moral character. Here is the mystery of the will s action, and this
is the sphere of moral quality, moral accountability.
1
265
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
nients: to the
man:
and subjec
and sorrow closing in
in childbirth
man, a condition of
(The literal sentence on Satan is in accordance
with his assumed character: enmity between thee and the
woman, thy seed and her seed: you seem to have a triumph,
tion to
to
toil
literal death,
Death
is
as death
that
"
death
"
upon
a
infants,
"penalty"
e.
for
g.,
as
members
and so assigns
not strict personal transgres
something which
is
away
all
away and
;
here.
1.
As
to
all
The
the
Spiritual Death.
266
CHRISTIAN
life,
and as involving in
Now
punished by
sin,
in bringing with
but a part of
from
itself,
THEOLOGY.
its
its
its
undoubtedly
very nature
cannot be
sin
judicial con&equenees
may be
government; and
so
sin,
it is
the cutting off from the source of life and from our true happi
ness which is in holiness, and the power of worldly appetites:
these all are a proper part of the penalty.
So too with remorse,
which comes in the soul as a part of the spiritual death, and
which may be said to be the most significant part of the penalty.
If the
do not belong
feels
to his
punishment,
to it ?
is
Eph.
and
ii.
1,
sins";
2.
where the
Col.
ii.
"
"
(spiritual)
"death"
13; 1
John
is distinct
iii.
unto death
from the
"
(eternal).
"trespasses
14.
Temporal Death.
The question
tion to a resurrection.
The
to death,
and of redemp
267
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
is
for the
Thus only
is
the
idea of the
full
members; and
in our
As
to be fulfilled at once.
Death
is
spiritual being,
species,
being.
we know
as
began
with death
it,
see
it,
with
it is
unnatural
The separation
its
immor
is
an
We
would not
anomaly, a mystery, an enigma in our being.
would
be
no
if
there
no
sin
there
were
separation of
say that
soul and body; but it is certainly supposable that the transi
tion to another state
to
make up
Then tho
The
immunity
it
The
"hypothetical"
:
268
is
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
is confirmed
by the fact that re
demption contemplates the resurrection, the restoration of the
body. This fact serves to make it seem stranger still, more un
two
at the
end
why
is a direct
consequence
This makes the whole Script
Temporal death is not the whole
body
The passages
death
is
of Scripture x which
included in the sentence, and
Job
iv. 18,
seq.
ii.
11; 2 Tim.
also
In
i.
10.
this
temporal
a consequence and the
are such as follow Geri. iii. 22
is
sin,
show that
i.
this) in
John
viii.
21;
xi.
26.
"
fact,
terrors :
it is
yet such
it
to be
life
is
changed
into a
in Christ.
is to
is
Is all evil
an<J
Most unquestionably
1
See
"There
temporal
Stier,
is
death."
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
269
And
because he
is
because he
is
was punishment
it
and
now
is
remaining
sin
but
still,
making them a
comes, and still with solemn terrors, for sin still dwells
within him, yet also deprived of its sting, for grace triumphs.
itself
2.
is
eternal death,
and
One argument
condition of every
an important sense
of the body:
if
human being
is
men
at birth,
morally evil
which condition
in
die,
human
denied that temporal death is any part of the penalty for sin.
be consequence, but not penalty: for, in that case,
It is held to
is
it all.
Moreover, it is involved in the objec
that
sinners endure here can be part of
which
tion,
nothing
the strict penalty for transgression. The position is then, that
the penalty is eternal death and only that, and that there is
no proper penalty
divine law.
270
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Remarks on
(a.)
What
Objection 2.
is
meant here by
It
appears to
judgment
difficult to state.
come
eternal death,
it is
somewha 4
ment
We
there
that
is
the
is
we
way
of consequence:
it
find an instance of
of mankind: and
how
is
this to
in the
whole history
punish
and fulfilment of
which are broadcast
We
shall be
com
1
for the sake of getting rid of the proof of original sin.
Or, is a distinction to be made between God s moral and his legal govern
If any concede, however, that these other evils are just "con
ment?
to reserve the
word
"penalty"
ANTECEDENTS OF KEDEMPTION.
271
from
resolve
momentous
ment. The
"consequences"
The
continuation of a sys
Eternal Death.
3.
The
is
significant:
it
ii.
refers
8.
This
The
is also called,
term, second
eternal death
we understand
this
nity of the evils, sufferings, and pains which are the just con
sequence of sin. These are heightened, of course, by all the
so as to have a
may be
special circumstances): though they depart from the general usage, yet
allowed, perhaps, as a mere definition for one class of cases.
it
Temporal
evils are
is
banished
272
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
that hope
is
state,
by the
fact that
mercy
final
in
only as punishment for violation of law, but also for the rejec
tion of the gospel.
There is a liability or exposedness to it in
all
the
only
members
to those
James
i.
15;
Rom.
Adam s
of
who
race,
condemned on account
21; vii. 6; 1 John v. 16.
are
vi.
it
comes
of their works.
As has been
human justice.
Summary.
Death, in its most general idea, as the penalty of the law,
includes all the evils and sufferings which come upon us, justly,
under God
The
is to
give
In
sanction to the law, testifying to God s displeasure at sin.
a state of probation, these evils may also be means of trial, and
only chastisements.
the body.
The
Spirit
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
273
which in
quences, of transgression. It corresponds to
cludes all good, and as the expression of divine approbation, as
the award to obedience. More specifically, death is (a.) spiritual,
"
life,"
eternal
(c.)
Most
it is
hopeless misery,
all
penalty of sin,
the consequences of. sin and
during forever.
is
s providence, en
the penalty of the
at once to a state
supremacy
ensue),
to eternal death,
from which
CHAPTER
III.
"
"
man
all
on mankind: the
fall
affected
man
as
is
divine
274
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
first
ence of individuals
is
Adam
No
act of disobedience.
personal pres
The idea
intended to be asserted.
man Adam,
is this:
the race:
all
men
sin,
and
exposed or
is
mankind, this
Whether
common
estate,
this is
of.
and
Although
viz., in
evil.
is
is
quite a different
question.
1. Sin as "known
by Experience.
All men, even in their natural state,
know
human
them
whom
to Christ.
Christian
But the
race.
redeemed, to
knows
is in
him by
nature,
and
sin.
in
Every
him still,
and
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
275
as the higher
being pride,
He
heart
knows
sin, until
he
is
renewed or
is
in the
this too is a
It is also
man
He knows
blood.
it is
feels the
need of atoning
all
regenerate."
(Thomasius.)
2.
The general
ments
I.
rest
Job
own
li.
experience.
6, 7,
Kings
viii.
46;
9; 1
John
i.
the sense
is to
Gal. v. 17,
show the
terrible
so strong that
all their
in
goodness
tion"
and
"
thoughts"
from that
though
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
276
this is the
judgment at
God on man (Paul cites it in Rom.
all, Jews and
The Old Testament has no passage in which the
heathen.
universality and depth of human corruption is so powerfully
21; Ps. xiv,
viii.
10-12) for
iii.
"
(Hengstenberg)
depicted"
John
iii.
6; Gal.
iii.
22.
sally true:
and Rom.
cxl. and
;
e.
iii.
g.,
10
Is. vi.
is
cited in
John
xii.
40 (and elsewhere);
v.
x.
xiv.
xxxvi.
Is. lix.
sity of regeneration
Rom.
vii.
14;
John
John
iii.
5;
iii.
The
7.
Eph.
iv.
necessity of regeneration
18; Eph.
ii.
1,
5; Col.
ii.
13.
Compare Matt. xvi. 24; John xii. 25; Rom. vi. 4-6; Gal. v. 24.
The assertions of Scripture as to the necessity and na
IV.
ture of Redemption* show a universal depravity of the human
race,
(or.)
If the
atonement
is
mankind must be
in a sinful state.
vii.
3.
ii.
"live"
15.
is set
total,
e., as affecting the whole Man.
The proof of this is, to some extent, the
i.
277
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
lect,
iv.
iv. 6;
light; Eph. v. 8; 2 Cor.
sin is
Rom.
"folly,"
"blindness,"
19; 2 Cor.
ii.
John
i.
5;
iii.
"darkness":
19; 2 Cor.
iii.
18.
So,
9; Prov. xiv. 8;
Is. xlix.
vi. 14.
By
"
total depravity
;
feeling,
lower affection
is
On
is
destitute of
power of
to:
men know
fixed on
is
some
giving that
its
is
seeking
supreme
its
newed person
which
self
is
and
"
"
totality
of
ness:
is
man s
to
sinful-
God which
is
as cer
He
will
12: "For
i
Experience and observation also furnish proof. Aristotle, Eth. vi.
of
depravity perverts the vision and causes it to be deceived on the principles
be really
action, so that it is clearly impossible for a person who is not good to
The orator is a good man, skilled in speaking,"
wise or prudent." Quintilian:
cited from Cato, and adds:
Goodness in a man is the greater and more impor
"
"
tant
"
quality."
The
"The
real quality of
lovingness,
strength
it is the light that enlightens the whole
whole man, as
man."
278
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
"
human
constitution so
that
The
I.
rational
grounds
for
or
connatural.
We
children.
in
As soon
it is
manifested,
all.
This has been the case everywhere, with all men, in all
There have been
ages, under the most varied circumstances.
no exceptions, unless where grace may have been bestowed be
3.
commenced.
This depravity
is
such that
men come
nature.
Now, on
rational grounds,
son in
There
somehow,
case, if
in
man
it is
is
way
of worldliness
taneous in man.
Objections.
all
Adam
Answer,
(a.)
That which
may
why
not
is
279
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
case
is
man
race.
2.
member
hu
of the
Sin
by bad example.
is
the
bad
may be accounted
for
This
Pelagian view.
How
senses, that
is
man s animal
nature
is
This
earliest developed.
as animal, there
sinful in
nothing sinful in and of itself. There is nothing
The
in
its proper place.
taken
animal
difficulty
propensity
any
still remains.
Why do the senses and the animal part of man
is
Why
is
man
Why
are
and
implanted by
is
Divine
of
evil.
5.
man
to bo
depraved.
man s
nature
is
depraved.
bias or bent of
bent, disposition,
1
It is also
human
ii.
477.
280
tare
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
is
of the accidents
e., it is separable.
of the soul does not suppose a
change in the physi
cal constitution, but a
change in the moral principle that is in
i.
A renewal
man.
"
is defined
by Edwards as a foundation laid in
nature for a particular kind of exercises. It is not the
faculties themselves, but the direction of those faculties.
"
Principle
human
II.
is
connatural.
"
<5dp*,
"
itual:
it
also
"flesh,"
as our
18: Flesh
good
Rom.
vii.
heresies in the
works of the
flesh
Eph.
In Gal.
v.
17
iv.
18
we
impelling power
Here
The
mere
state,
but an
is,
is
sin so
deep
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
281
him that he traces it to his very birth (as the next verse shows).
There are only two possible interpretations: (a.) that the sin
But it is a singular time
referred to is that of David s mother.
in
for
him
mother
s sin.
own
as I
came from
my
(b.)
It
It refers to his
means,
my
state,
state of sinfulness. 1
ii.
nection be noted:
"
"
divine
is
"among
children of impulse
"
without support).
pressed,
"
wliom
all,"
we were
"It
<pvtii
therefore
Gal.
ii.
in Gal. iv.
which
8,
essential,
nature.
But
if the apostle
a proper Greek
The only
can be avoided
this conclusion
"
own
is:
by
were by nature
interpretation
"we
"
were."
There
may
be discussion as to
full
mother s
fore
2
it."
God."
In thirty-four other places in the New Testament the word has only tho
the punitive justice of God.
See Harless on Ephesians. See also Miiller, Sin, ii. 306.
usual sense
3
Ell icott.
Dr. Taylor s
"Concio
ad
clerum."
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
282
sin is
Objections.
1.
3;
This
From
2.
is
"sin
is
(&.)
James
i.
15: This
is
when
urged
it is
is
the lust
scious activity, but what it really shows is, that
that which produces sin, that like begets like. The sin produced
shows the sinful disposition. Instead of proving that such a
"
"
is
not
sinful,
"
Sin
is
law of
of,
the
God."
Besides these passages, Miiller also cites 1 Cor. vii. 14 (ii. 376).
There is a relative innocence. Ps. cvi. 38: The "innocent blood" is the
blood, not of children, nor of innocence before God. So, 2 Kings xxiv. 4.
Jonah iv. 11 is a proverbial expression. Bom. ix. 11 simply states that moral
quality can only attach to moral existence.
3
[Revised Version: "sin is lawlessness."]
1
283
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
CHAPTER
IV.
ORIGINAL SIN.
Thus
far
we have
real problem,
We
which
is
If we define all
the three terms: sin, guilt, and punishment.
these by their relation to personal acts exclusively, we cannot
mankind as
is
An
The
sinfulness of
the guilt of
man s
Adam s
is
reiterated:
In
want
of original righteous
and
of
his
whole
nature.
The question
the
ness,
corruption
(c.)
Is it
is: Are these three statements co-ordinate or successive?
Adam s
sinfulness of
first sin,
the
man s
which was
folloiued
is
"
desert.
It
284
CHRISTIAN
in the
desert.
modern sense it is applied in strictness only to personal illBut in the Confession guilt is exposure to punishment.
The imputation
it
That
is
sin,
that sin.
then
THEOLOGY.
is
might be included
exposure to
If
in the imputation
punishment,
it
it
a part of
3), the nat
is
headship
is
grounded upon
it.
It is not
want of
the original righteousness, and the death in sin, and the cor
rupted nature, were a part of the imputation and this must be
;
Immediate Imputation
the
into sin,
redeemed.
individuals
redeemed.
federal
fallen
Adam
head of
representative.
all
is
Adam
is
supposed and
285
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
What Adam
does
is to
be reckoned
character, but as
Adam
he
sins,
to
whom
member
every
he stood.
individual
is
of this race
punished
is
for
And the
a punishment for
Adam s
is instituted in
sinful condition of
Adam s
sin.
Each
them all,
The theory of Mediate Imputation
ately
on the other hand is, that God makes Adam to be the head of a
race: he sins: in consequence of his sin, because he is the head
Adarn
is
made over
of a race,
all
to them.
vidual
The
Punishment
punishment
is
infliction of
nature,
himself 1
The
sinful
Adam
Adam s
transgression to ourselves, ac
cording to the statement in the Catechism, is not to be viewed as
that of an individual transgressing for us as individuals. Adam
is
relation of
not only the individual Adam, but the head of the race;
all
is commonly
[It should be remembered that the author is here stating what
understood by Immediate and Mediate Imputation, and is not giving his own
view.
On the whole he favored the theory of Mediate Imputation, yet not pre
There is a note in his papers which reads
cisely in the form as given above.
thus: "Neither Mediate nor Immediate Imputation is wholly satisfactory."
There is no further explanation, but it is probable that one point of the theory of
Mediate Imputation as it is sometimes urged, which he found unsatisfactory, was
the position stated above: "the punishment of each is [exclusively] on the ground
of the sinful condition of each." This fixes the divine regard in the matter of
imputation upon the isolated individual, viewed as corrupt before personal action,
etc., and leaves out of consideration all race liabilities, which the author elsewhere
strongly insists upon. It would seem that he intended to assert a proper federal
headship based upon the natural but it is much to be lamented that this note
is the only indication of the final statement which he had in mind.]
1
286
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
common
ment.
In consequence of
this,
all
men come
Original Sin means in theology just one thing: not, the first
Adam; not, the first sin of each man; but the general
condition of all the members of the race by birth, before actual
sin of
and proper sense sinful, whether there is an imputation of a sinfulness which justly calls forth God s moral
displeasure, and
whether such imputation is of what truly belongs to mankind
in its connection
1.
with
its
General Statements.
though we do
them?
divine sovereignty?
difficulty;
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
287
The whole
unjust?
We
these.
(of sin
omnipotence, or
tion will arise with respect to grace as well as to sin How can
the theory that all moral government has respect only to the
merit or demerit of personal acts, be applied to our justification?
:
"Original
sin
.... the innate sinful depravity of the heart" includes not only
"the
depravity of nature, but the imputation of Adam s first sin or
;
in other
Adam s posterity,
agreed upon:
1. That the distinction
is
to
4.
as a
that
demption is to be viewed.
ing from Rationalism, are
The
all
on
later
German
this general
ground: Neander,
As
to
whether there
depravity exists
is
actual transgression.
etc.
(not
known
to
288
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
scious
Original sin
II.
is
common
it
is
and
responsibilities, in their
is
belongs to
just as in the
this,
atonement of
Christ,
not
is
redemption
provided, primarily, for this or that man, but for the whole
human race. The Scholastic maxim has its abiding truth
In
"
Adam
we
trine as a doctrine
be attempted.
And as to the solution itself the different
ways of viewing human sinful ness do not affect it much. It is
is to
no more easy
to solve it in connection
The constitution
to be referred
there
sin is
is still
common
"
phy
orthodox, view.
back to God.
If
we
say,
no bias to
is
and man.
IV.
The
difficulty turns
and of the
in
dividual to the race: the old question of the genus and indi
vidual, running back into the Realism and Nominalism of the
Middle Ages.
2.
1
The
The theory
little further.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
289
tions:
The
or
is
moral, in short,
lie
in personal choice
sin
in respect to
relation to
Adam
as the head of
headship of Christ are the two grand foci of the Scriptural sys
or
grow out
of,
stands.
his
own
personal acts
while the
all in Christ,
faith
290
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
is
is
common
guilt
and ruin (as well as individual sin): the great fact at the basis
of the new life is that of a common redemption provided for all.
This same point is further illustrated by the general state
ment that the Scriptural representation makes the headship of
Adam on the one hand and the headship of Christ on the other
to be the central points in respect to the ruin
on the one
side,
It is
partly false
and wholly
true.
This
is
the basis of
human
race and of
human
destiny.
as redeemed
by
Christ.
Another Statement.
in the Scripture,
on the face of
and
and
liabilities,
belong
all facts
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
291
man
as man,
in
and
for
each
man
also.
There
the
fall:
is
sequences.
itself as
liabilities
and
may
and
desert,
salvation, grace
he
till
(This
is
to all to
Adam s
sin.
To him,
then.
accept or reject.
come
for
all, is
of the
in each
his personal
in this state,
offered:
which
sin is represented as
implying
2.
The Facts of
in Scripture.
The inquiry
is,
What is the
We
what
is
the
nunciation of Christ
and the
292
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
The
II.
from Adam,
is
and of
Acts
xvii.
Rom.
v.
ii.
14;
12-19.
sin
Rom.
sion
v.
is
Whether with
We
In
12-19,
distinctly declared that Adam s transgres
the source and root of this guilty, depraved condition.
it is
have here
not
is
now
the question.
Adam,
to
(a.)
its
ground and
obscure clause
g>
&
much more
it is
"if
reigned by [the]
one;"
man
judgment
"the
man
all
explicitly
ferice]
source.
men
unto
s offence
is
by
death
of one [one
of-
condemnation;"
"through
one
one
pair.
293
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
Christ
all
life
which
is
offered to
all.
It is utterly
merit.
the
way
stages
in
which
this
carried out
it is
viz.,
Adam
is
As
a superabundance of
1
given in Christ.
men
because all
Some would
have
read: u
and
so death
That
[or did sin].
men is that all have
passed upon
is, the reason that death passed upon all
sinned: death (which on this understanding must be eternal
sinned"
so, it
speculation.
294
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
The advocates of
admit that
"
"
death
because,"
and making
"
sinned
by translating
&>
l<p
"
unmistak
is
that
"and
all
so
have
The sense of the verse is this: Sin and death came into
the world by Adam: from him death has passed as a common
sinned."
far as all
Adam, only
in
all,
have
this, or
sin.
is
K)
q>
kq>
is
proved by
that all
this,
before,
e.,
universal.
Another statement as
to the interpretation of
should be rendered:
cS
sinned," i.
so far as sin is
the death
as
all
"under
men,"
which
under which
all
Rom.
"And
relation."
relation,
have sinned.
It is
i.
12.
v.
e.,
so
of death
a clause ap
it is
sin
and
life
is
as
much in Adam, as
the
both here
[Dorner, GlaubensL
79,
Eng.
trans.,
iii.
15, says:
"The
result, therefore, of
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
That there
V.
is
295
race
is still
As
1.
human
race.
Eom.
v. 18,
showing
demption
here
is
Sin: if
provided; Heb.
simple.
it is
for
ii.
9; 2 Cor.
The redemption
all,
then
all
v. 19.
The argument
a redemption from
The atone
are in a state to need it.
of Christ
is
John
single passage.
that are born of the flesh need the regen
eration of the Spirit; else they cannot see the kingdom of God.
Hence all as born of the flesh are in a sinful condition; for re
So of regeneration.
2.
iii.
5,
shows that
generation
is
all
a spiritual change.
meaning,
too, of
nificant of the
washing of regeneration ?
(It is
as
meaning something
different.)
What
if it is
not sig
no answer
to
always understood
they
may be
is
VI.
is
confirmed by Scriptural
the Biblical teaching ia that all men, from the days of Adam on, stand in need of
redemption and that a divine judgment of reprobation rests upon them as sinners,
from which Christ alone can set them free. A more intimate explanation of the
way and manner in which Adam became a cause of the sinfulness of his posterity,
is given neither by Paul nor
John."]
were all dead" is the rendering preferred by the author.]
["Then
296
CHRISTIAN
and
THEOLOGY.
facts
here.
on account of the
suffer
men
sins of another.
An
organic relation
is
moral government. 1
still
The church
of
the lowest view, a suffering justly under the law for the sake
of redemption.
have explicit assertions of God s dealing
We
men
with
order;
their
suffered
Reuben
forefather;
offence
2
"His
What
children," who can measure ?
second commandment of the law, is reas
asserted in the
serted
by the prophets.
Jer. xxxii.
18,
"Thou
showest loving-
may be
"
"
merely
consequences
by reason of
Dr. N.
fastening
W. Taylor:
"The
on
"
relations
connection with
evil
which were
Adamjs
of family
becomes cosmical
originally
by
sovereign constitution, that the sin and just (not actual) condemnation of all
to bear its penalty must be inferred from their connection with Adam as hia
God s
men
But there is no relief in ascribing the evil which comes upon men
descendants."
in their race relations to sovereignty alone, for that leaves the difficulty the same,
and adds the element of arbitrariness. Moreover it removes from the moral gov
ernment of God the most important transactions affecting that government.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
297
if
"
consequences"
ural view.
a remedy.
nature, for,
he
to sing, then
it
to seclude
them
in order
"It
them.
"I
Of Jove:
the power of age, enthroned in might
dwell st mid heaven s broad light.
"Spurning
Thou
A life
know
unmarked by
woe."
Prof.
W.
Jan.
61, p.
58 seq.
298
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
"
iii.
1,
turn; quse
2:
si
perduceret.
"
Sunt enim
his
"qui
Cicero,
ingeriiis nostris
out."
versamur."
summa opinionum
per-
"seem
to
videantur); and
that
are punished like those of yore, who fell into the hands of
Etruscan robbers, and were slain with elaborate cruelty; their
we
live
in conjunction
with the
dead."
With
sin: alienation
while they thereby stifle the sense of guilt, and deny the neces
3
sity of redemption.
1
this Hortensius.
It
to faith.
2
Brandis says,
Trinitat, in
Herzog
"Aristotle
sin."
(See Peip,
Encycl.)
3,
is
sin,
"One
silence
equal blasphemy against the conscience, that sin in the sense of guilt does
not exist."
299
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
is
soul.
human
in the
race brings
down
national
with
ries
it
carries with it
bias, its
what belongs
this generic
III.
The experience of
all
men, so
far as it
Adam, but
we cannot
human being
it
de
is able,
and
mysterious fact
This
is
the solemn
[The student
will find in
is
Dorner
not
"carried
300
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
edge of
its real
This state
We may
state,
we
nature.
It
is,
too,
our
own
sin,
our
own
guilt.
but
we
are born
is
so that
we
find ourselves in
as the
it
our being
when
And
of
be
ing
for,
mere term
is
IV.
is
"
knowledge of sin.
the law (yet, the
vs. 7,
"I
"
sin is there).
This
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
and true
religious experience.
depth to which we
an unconscious
in
guilt
Sin
is
state,
tween
301
There
guilt.
is
a broad distinction be
Under the
influence of
God s
we become
own
can deliver
it
expresses
itself to
by
we
and condemned.
beginning of the
race, all
men come
way
most
of things.
302
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
know
Here
CHAPTER
V.
passages
which
Generic:
Kyod. xx.
Eom.
2 Cor.
5;
Num.
Personal:
xiv. 18,
v. 16,
with
"
v. 14,
"
Ezek.
Kom.
xviii.
ii.
"1 John
Bom.
"
vii.,
20;
2 Cor.
GaL
ii.
Eom.
v. 10.
we
commanded
Yet,
Grace
Yet, commended
choice.
Yet
it is
of
God;
xiv. 12.
16.
vi. 5.
6.
are
to
be holy.
to
our
in our election,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
303
never intimate, they deny, that any member of the race can
Rom. iii. 20;
life by the deeds of the law.
obtain eternal
Gal.
21
iii.
II.
1.
world and
self are
sinful,
and
We
disadvantages.
ernment, so far as
demands of
man s
dis
obedience the
"
to sin, with the position that guilt implies also personal ill-desert,
and that all such ill-desert is of our own origination.
3.
1
To
This
Ages."
greater.
reconcile
is
He
God s justice
to each
304
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
men
or allowed all
men
and
He
has brought
all
come
men
may
sinned and
fell in Adam,
Each of these
and, All sin consists in sinning.
plants itself on one side of the dilemma, as containing the whole
truth: and each of these, taken
strictly by itself, is about as
difficulty.
God s justice
is
concerned, the
to be these: (a.)
God s justice
CHAPTER
VI.
to
of that
if).
sin.
Adam
1
to his
posterity, or of
an
Any
305
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
condemnation passed on
all
Adam s
first sin.
Those
who
The theory
of immediate
im
Adam as
federal headship is first, prior in logic and thought.
the federal head stood, as an individual, for all other individual
men, as their immediate representative. This was by a divine
arrangement. And when he fell, they were included in the sen
tence, because he directly represented them.
is directly
immediately made over to them.
headship
imputation
is
to his posterity.
Whatever he did
Then the natural
And
of the
1
consequence and not the ground of the imputation.
Objections to this view:
terity is the
1.
It is
which
v. 12,
is
moral condition of
Adam s
posterity.
is
not
to present the
its
Among the New England divines, Bellamy comes nearest to this statement,
Works, i. 223, 224 (Boston ed.) Hopkins also comes very near to it, but he does
not throw out an intermediate depraved nature, as having no consideration in the
1
imputation.
306
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
of facts.
The theory
3.
rests
all
race, as a
much
We have
for a race.)
It is also
encumbered with
all
the individual.
5.
Nor does
ernment.
way
it
help us in our vindication of the divine gov
All the truth there is about it is, that we can, in the
his posterity.
itself:
the skeleton.
question of fact:
what
is
It is a the
It also involves creationism as to the origin of individual souls.
ory no more true to fact than the "social compact" theory: in fact it is in the
1
same
9
style of
thought as
that.
immediate.]
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
307
human
kind as related
connection
to
is
just that
6.
Adam
Christ
righteous
(and
if this latter
be denied, justification
is
imputed
merged
in sanctification).
But, to speak of nothing else here, the argu
ment assumes that because grace is given gratuitously, punish
was seminally
Adam
weight of his
view of immediate imputation.
together.
sacramental system.
ground.
Turretin teaches
it
308
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
sion on the subject, states the opposite view, which Edwards cites
largely and Edwards has argued the question in the most thorough
;
imputed
is
to us because
it is
ours.
it is
2.
imputed
to us, but
it is
Efficiency, in the
Way
of a
Constitution.-
The theory
tion, in
which
is
it
God
Adam s
sin,
"a
Hopkins
(Syst.
i.
condemned.
Therefore
posterity
sinned,
were
by
fixed,
this
the
and they
comes
act.
to us is
"is
"This,"
"
Adam
the sin of
is
"
"
sin,"
[Adam
s] children they
become
agents."
corrupt,
1
See Stuart, Scriptural views of Imputation, Bib. Eep. 1836, against the view
that Imputation is transfer of character.
=
Hopkinsianism, especially as carried out by Dr. Emmons.
309
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
posterity
we
are
p. 276).
making God
the author of
3.
It
fore the
neglects
what undeniably
motions thereof.
It
It is
a nature or bias be
Berkeleian in
its
philosophical
What were
chil
animals?
Yet,
and
exists,
assumption.
dren who died before a sinful act
little
to be virtually
sin.
it
in a peculiar
virtual denial
"
constitution."
"
stitutional
derangement, which
is
tion has here a very different sense from that of the Hopkinsian
This is sometimes represented as
2.
theory, considered in
310
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
is
human,
man.
The
older
is
would
first act,
W.
Dr. N.
But
voluntary action, he
moral character. 1
rangement.
may
The
Difficulties of this
theory:
It
depravity.
2. It derives
sin.
defines sin as
its
its
plausibility from its definition of
an act or exercise, and as that which in
It
own
As
it is
sphere
a purpose).
(some
out,
Conflict of Ages,
and
in Mliller
on
There
Sin.
is
na
311
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
we attempt
power
to
do
to the contrary,
it
by finding
acts in
As soon
which we have
full
we narrow
made
separation between God s moral and his general or providential
government. The theory is compelled to exclude from God s
5.
There
is
man s
culpability
of sinfulness,
it
for, to
makes the
is
liability to
not
sinful, it
of guilt.
6.
The
government
is in
fact only
reconcile that view with the divine justice than the ordinary
How early does an infant decide? After a month, or
view.
be reconciled with
months, or a year of existence ? Can
our views of what justice would demand, more easily than other
six
this"
all
relations;
and
and
if it
to regeneration, then
8.
New
efficiency
producing the
sinful
312
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
volition, in the
form of a
producing
which
sin, for
provided,
strictly,
state
is inferior in its
for such
state.
As
"
connection with
known
the
Adam,
it
we may
contrary"
is
the real
is
"
from our
That
"
To
lay the
We
aside.
and
evil,
It is
descendants at
that
all,
that
we cannot
men
of
Dr. N.
W.
Adam
had,
Adam became
and yet
just (not actual) condemnation of all men to bear its penalty must be inferred
from their connection with Adam as his descendants."
Such is the constitution
"
or nature [of
that in
men]
Rev. Geo. E.
all
Ellis, Chris.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
313
5. The
Hypothesis of Pre-existence.
In recent times this theory has been brought forward by
Julius Miiller as a hypothesis to explain the facts of human
depravity.
also
urged
it
as a
means of
God acts
is
framed
meet two positions: (a.) That all sin is from personal choice;
our existence in
(5.) That we are sinful from the beginning of
this life.
We suppose that those who maintain the theory do
to
not hold
it
Objections :
Adam s
on account of
them
transgression.
orthodox view.
to the
Fall in Genesis
is
Rom.
v.
is
no
evidence;
whereas
Adam.
there
Dr.
is
came upon
all.
real causation
is
indefensible.
The
Adam
v. 12, etc.,
causation,
as to Christ.
as
on the very
"apparent
and not
314
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
It
4.
It
indefensible
is
If
is
an
infidel
what we
5.
We
an unconscious, ante-mundane
feel guilty for
It gives really
6.
moral
evil.
state: while
we may
and do
It
Some
facts in relation
this theory
by the
Adam
descendants of
But
ful.
this is
ationism,
the
latter.
CHAPTER
VII.
I.
We
One we
"not
considering
"Neither
it
it
a theory,
theory,"
the noto
satisfactory."]
315
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
The only
true course
is
than to give the facts of the case, on the Scriptural basis, resolv
ing the chief difficulties into the more general problem of the
divine permission of sin in the race as a whole. This will estab
lish the federal
it
headship.
The
original sin,
summed
on the problem of
up:
second
Adam
redemption stand or
2.
for
fall
together.
divine appointment the head and beginning
men were virtually, potentially, or as some say,
Adam was by
of the race:
all
On
fall
brought about in
Adam
a loss of
Adam,
as
is
facts.
4. On account of this innate
depravity, all men, mankind as
such, are exposed, liable, to evils, to sufferings and death here,
and if divine grace do not interpose, to eternal death here-
316
CHRISTIAN
after;
tion.
but
THEOLOGY.
or exposure.
This runs through all Calvinistic
For this native corruption before act, we need not
liability
formulas.
and
human
moral conditions of
Adam
generic: and
bilities
and
cumstances.
desert.
nature as from
it is
which
is
lia
cir
deserving,
and
liabilities
e.
#.,
in the last
the antecedent
is
evil and not of sinfulness, were it not for the fact that we feel
guilty in view of our corruption when it becomes known to us
Then there is involved in it not merely a
in our own acts.
moral
1
state.
Here
is
ple facts.
"Imputation,"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
we
317
all sin
con
sists in sinning.
6.
The
Adam s
guilt of
sin is
on
what
is
imputed to
us.
Here are
to be considered
Just before,
am humbly of the opinion, that if any have supposed the chil
dren of Adam to come into the world with a double guilt, one the
Adam s
root."
"I
sin,
"
not prop
but
existence) is in consequence of the union
a
sin
of
the
of
his
nay, rather
erly
consequence
imputation
antecedent to it, as it was in Adam himself. The first depravity
"
"
of heart,
sin,
quence of that established union, but yet in such order, that the
evil disposition is first, and the charge of guilt consequent, as it
was in the case of Adam himself." (He quotes Stapfer: "The
Keformerl divines do not hold immediate and mediate imputa
always together.") And still further, ii. 493:
cause
God imputes
theirs,
it
to
them: but
is
is
it
it
to
truly
and properly
2
them."
this position,
had he
written out his system of theology. He always approved the general positions of
Edwards given above. But it is a question whether he did not intend to make
iiome final statements which would bring out more distinctly the proper federal
Adam
headship of
is
the note,
To
the
"
same
effect,
Dr.
"a
xii.
249.
blessings."
And
H18
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
II.
have been
The
1.
stated.
This
descendants.
was
constitution,
Adam
to his
They
same
was provided. In the divine purpose the sin was doubtless
permitted and allowed to be handed down with respect to the re
for its own sake, nor for the sake of the punish
nor
for the sake of administering a merely moral
it,
system, but for the sake of the redemption, eternally provided
demption not
:
ment of
in
view of
it.
iii.
(John
final
"
3)
"
the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth.
So also are all other elect persons, loho are incapable of being out
wardly
The
2.
relation of the
sin.
harmony
is
is
when it be
we are conscious.
comes known
This
dividual
verted
ivord"
common
to us,
a fact above
and the
"
consent"
of which
all theory.
Covenant
"
"
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
A
to
fuller statement.
which we may
men
that all
319
Adam and
sinned in
that
all
sin consists in
sinning?
(a.)
falling in
of the race
else it were, as
not of one.
It
is,
that
Adam
has been
human
is
and
fall
in
and exposed
This
is
to
the sin
Adam.
As soon
(b.)
and
two views. Were it not for this preference, our whole native
condition would wear to each one the character of an evil, and
not of a strictly guilty, state. This is a fact of universal experi
ence and the ultimate fact in our analysis, the last point in which
the two views come together.
(This is what Hopkins and Ern-
mons
insist
descendants of Adam,
Here
individual. 1 )
The question
is
where
reatus culpce
and
what
is
moral
is
is
made merely
"real"
and
to leave
it
there.
8
i.
e.,
nized as
realities
320
is
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Here ethics
not allowed.
is
advance in the
natural sciences.
As
3.
to the justice
human
in providing
race.
justice
and good
at
(a.)
difficult to see
it
was to be a race
we
how
it
As
(b.)
to individuals,
each one to be
and in which
it is
where there
is
it is
common
better for
sinfulness
be for
self,
it is
in a state
all
there is
the
3
:
without
it
there might,
sin.
[Any other, i. e., than this, in which advantages and attainments, as well as
disadvantages and forfeitures, should be transmitted, and the whole line of trans
mission, so far as it had moral bearings, should be under the divine moral ap
proval or displeasure.]
2 Some
suggest: Adam was in a better position for deciding than any of his
posterity
321
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
On
Another statement.
race,
merely that
He might show
where there
is
We are
apt to spiritual
does.
In
the Bible, sin is connected with the death of the body, redemp
tion with the resurrection of the body sin is from Adam to the
;
race,
sical
The grand
problem of
The phy
sin is not to be
of
it is
all
that
sinfulness.
we can
get out
view of the
than this
rely for
it
cannot carry
us.
It js
is
only, in fact,
we can
through
first
is
that in
human
nature
which, in spite of this power, always carries the will, and begets
our immanent preferences. The real thing in us is this mighty
power of sin. To meet speculative difficulties, some such view
of the will as that referred to above, has its value: to meet our
322
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
practical difficulties
to all the
fad,
tion that is in
to
side of,
is
this
we can
is
demned
to remediless
redeem.
Adam would
coming
into being
is
We may
To
for himself.
condemnation
and
all to
whom
Then
offered.
as
grounded hope
and those who have never heard of Christ: doubtless they will
be judged finally according to the light that they have had: not
merely according to and by their nature, but as they have used
or not used such opportunities of repentance as have been afforded
As to the salvation of infants, Clem. Alex, held that they could not be saved
without baptism, Augustine, the same (Do Anima, lib. 3, c. xiv. contra Pel. lib. i. xl.
Pelagius had said: Quo non eant scio, quo eant, nescio");Perrone, in his Manual,
defends the proposition: "Infantes ex hac vita sine baptismo decedentes ad seternam salutem pervenire non possunt;" Martin (K. C.) in his La Via Futura (Paris,
1853, pp. 435-455) cites testimony of the Fathers that unbaptized infants in the
Limbus Jnfantum suffer deprivation only, not pain; Brownson, Quar. Kev., 1862-S,
it is noticeable that Arminius ad
state of natural beatitude;"
assigns them to
1
"
"a
affirm
mitted the damnation of infants as possible (Works, iii. 368, ed. of 1853):
that they rejected the grace of the Gospel in their parents, grandparents, greatgrandparents, etc., by which act they deserved to be abandoned of God;" see the
debate between Lyman Beecher ("Spirit of the Pilgrims," 1828, i. 42, 78, 95, 149)
and Andrews Norton (Chris. Exam., 1827, iv. 431; v. 229, 316, 506); also a good
"I
article
by
II.
C.
p.
by Dr.
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
323
It
CHAPTER
and the
final
VIII.
1.
the cause of
But
sin.
makes
sin to
be
doctrine, because:
(a.)
world
According
the transgression of
but Adam is the cause of sin.
is
Adam
the cause.
is
The
is
(c.)
of
Sinful habits,
sin.
when
too much.
Sin
may
be
the cause
everyday experience.
2.
calling
(a.)
1
It is
sinful.
it
sinful
Such
is
may
be here
usage.
summed
up.
The confining of
all
terms denoting
[In a sermon on the Atonement the author indicates his fear that no man
heathen world ever did live up to the measure of his light and knowl
in the
and also, that hope for the masses of adult heathen would be better based
upon the almost universally prevalent systems of sacrifice, viewed, amidst all their
monstrous perversions, as still containing the confession of sin and the yearning
for deliverance but it would seem that the
suggestion was not thought to deserve
any place in the theological scheme.]
edge,
324
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
narrow system of
ethics, to the
It is
sin.
philosophy of individualism.
sense that
it is
(c.)
tinct consciousness.
pensity
before?
and
dis
self.
How
sinful.
feel
does
it
now
differ
from what
it
was
liabilities.
we have
(d.) It is sinful
because
it
under
exposes
all
it.
the
members
of the
to
Because
we need
be delivered from
it:
remedies.
Yet, while vindicating the propriety of calling it sinful, we
would not dispute about a mere word, if the facts of the case
essential is granted.
3.
It is objected
sin.
sin
conscious; one the native and the other the active. The objec
tion sometimes is: there cannot be any sin without a knowledge
of good choice of evil, knowing the good, is sin, and only this.
had not known sin but by the
But the Apostle Paul says:
The Psalmist prays: "Cleanse
law."
before.
The sin was there
:
"I
thou
me from
tion
and
trial.
which
is
There
secret faults/
in all Christians,
is
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
325
alism,"
members of the
such speculation.
as truly as the
The
human
human
individual
is,
is
race
a reality
realism
in the
is
"
not
"
"
Adam
in
the person
*(c.)
it is
the doctrine would bring upon us the guilt of all of Adam s sins,
and of all the sins of our forefathers. But this would only
hold against a form of mediate imputation which should deny
the federal headship of Adam, asserting all the evils of sin to
be mere consequences of transmission, and denying any righteous
judgment of God upon the race as in Adam, the public person,
and upon his act, his first sin, as the source of all human corrup
and transgression, (d.) It is said that mediate imputation
is no imputation: that "impute" means, to reckon to one what
2
is done by another.
Waiving the question whether this is
tion
accurate,
we
tation does
mode
assert that
"reckon
to
any
In conclusion
cover original
we
sin, is
one what
may
is
another."
impu
The
word [impute]
done by
is
concerned,
it
ii.
makes no
of,
the law of
194, says:
difference
God."
another."
326
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
OF THE BONDAGE OF
We
SIN,
IX.
ITS
WILL.
ability.
We
accountability.
cordingly, the truth must be so stated as to save both sides.
Besides, here the greatest interests are at stake the divine gov
ernment on the one hand, and human freedom on the other;
while the discussion also bears
upon the most solemn and impor
:
tant part of
preaching the grounds for the exhortation of the
sinner to repentance.
One way of meeting this difficulty is to assert both truths
in
an unreconciled way.
is
the
way
This
is
in
the
common
sense mode.
This
man
man s freedom
of view, man is de
God
is
sovereign,
to all events,
Many
this.
And
This
it.
will sin,
is
it is
See Smalley
also, Dr.
Hickok
s
s
Science of
I.
Compare
327
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
can be
true,
sibility
and
is
which
free will of
necessary to preach
And
man.
it
necessary to preach
both, neither is true by itself alone, neither is true in an ab
stract statement about it, made without respect to the other;
:
now,
if it is
is
not
made with
An
it, and as balanced by it.
and an abstract metaphysical
The problem therefore, is, how to state the two facts in their
The different ex
to, and connections with, each other.
relations
treme positions are these: (1) Man has no ability of any kind to
repent and turn to God; he is utterly disabled to all good, in
His con
the proper strict sense of inability and disability.
dition is that of
that
"absolute
man
disability."
(2)
position is,
trary in all moral acts;
i.
e.,
entire
adequacy to repentance,
full
Man
the
New England
1.
1.
Preliminary Definitions.
Natural Inability. By this
is
though he
will.
328
CHRISTIAN
whatsoever
ities,
is
in the possible
man
so that, if a
wills to
THEOLOGY.
compass of one s natural capac
do anything, he can do it, just
up
he wills
3.
it
Moral
or will as
that
is
Inability.
By
this is meant,
#.,as
makes
certain that the sinner will not repent without divine grace.
It means
unwillingness, but unwillingness as implying a state
it
by moral
New England
theologians
meant
is
in a
permanent
as
is
state of choice.
The
which
results
eral capacity
frbm
the preference.
which
is
It
it is
Natural Ability is
he has all that
not,
is
man can
if
he
will,
can
if
he will
Moral Inability
Moral Ability is
is
is
is,
In later schools of
it,
e.
g.,
"physical ability."
329
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
appropriate circumstances
2.
Ans. Yea.
This phrase
to
mean
But
this
can
not be.
There
is
on one
is
power
here,
are
a matter of consequence
a difference in phraseology may cause
mode
It is
The reason
is
what we
to the
Contrary
1. Natural
:
act
the contrary
exercised,
is
it is
never
exercised.
It
cannot
be.
As soon
as
it is
than
this, it
includes
"willingness"
330
CHRISTIAN
which
is
put
forth.
It is
THEOLOGY.
it
actually exercised.
power
to the contrary.
It is true,
so far as this:
unless he
when a
left it
behind.
power
to the contrary. 1
So
We
is
a different
result.
It is
new
choice,
i.
e.,
new
exertion of the
requisite.
to the con
sometimes used as though "power"
were a simple ultimate idea. But that which is simple is choice
power has a variety of modifications. The Greek language gives
trary,"
is indefinite.
"power
It is
"
"
word, power, in
that which
the cause.
difference
may
put
be,
is
"
forth.
and
power
power to the
tvepyeia.: the
first is
potential
Now the
power
means
and
must
contrary,"
mean,
in act,
exerted.
It
between
the other
3
is
As
is
erted in repentance, the sinner has it, and so has the possibility
of coming into a different moral state, and if he had not that
But
1 He
uses the same power that he formerly used in his course of impenitence,
but in a different way, on different objects. The contention is against the exist
ence of any power to the contrary distinct from the power which is used.
a
["The
power
effect"
(Faith
and Philosophy,
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
331
and
casional
upon
is
is
So that
all
element of it
To
final cause. 1
is
given.
say, that a
man can
repent, actually do
so,
without grace,
To
sinning until regeneration, to his moral inability.
grant him all the faculties and powers, including choice, as
possibilities, in respect to repentance, is consistent with these
his
and Moral
to the
Inability.
Though the
[how] to perform
[I find] is
not."
way
ability.
It assigns the
ground of the
i.
e.>
That
is
it is
put where it belongs viz., in the depravity. That is
the only hindrance, but that is an effectual hindrance to repent
The Apostle does not say, merely, that it
ing, without grace.
but
is certain
President Day: "A man may have some power, but not all power; that is,
not have all that on which the result depends
If the word
power be used in its broadest sense, as including not only opportunity, knowl
1
he
may
edge, capacity, but motives of all kinds, it is not true that a man has always
equal power to opposite volitions." The term, power, is simple, but for the
exercise of it we need other conditions than its existence.
These two points
are often confounded.
332
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
that he
"will"
not exert
it:
"a
but
it
grounds of the
will
riot.
And
is
illustrate.
tually do
"God
it;
cannot
there
is
lie";
the
meaning
is.
He cannot
ac
real, possibility.
Why we
is
There
is
no
sufficient
no
obli
This will
ground for
depraved
being has sufficient power to repent, without divine aid. That
would be to assert the possession of power in the second sense,
in the sense of
out God.
is a position which can never be
proved by in
there
are
on
it
no facts
which
can be based: at the
duction;
1.
best
This
it
is
The
facts of the
man,
333
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
The argument from
"
I ought,
obligation is,
Whence is the ought in the case ? It is based
therefore I can."
on a sense of right, of duty, which is the simple utterance of con
This is primi
It is my duty: hence I ought to do it.
science.
and
tive
the
simple.
"
can,"
and
The
"
The
it.
is
ought"
but precedes
But it is said:
ought, therefore I can:" the
the condition, though not the ground of the obligation.
True so far as this, that the ought cannot exceed the measure
"I
simplest.
ability is
of the natural ability all the heart and soul and mind and
But it is a different thing to say,
ought, therefore
strength.
For
is
a
do
there
I can
hindrance, in the sinful
actually
"I
it."
"
"can"
command
to
"can,"
repent
is
But we say,
since repentance is obligatory in any case.
on a level with man s
(6.) The command of repentance is also one
natural ability. Man can if he will. He has the power of choice,
this,
God
Yes.
There
commands us to repent actually, does He not V
Still as before
fore we can actually repent, can we not ?
say, Yes, we have the natural ability actually to repent, and
what prevents us from doing it is our own evil hearts, but
yet
it is
"
Objections:
"
"
"
command
i
*
3
Mtiller:
u Is a
"
to repent ?
"
man
is
nicht."
the possibility
334
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
he can
if
"
if he will?
he choose to do
"
He
so.
And
What is
sin.
"
can
"
if
of
the
if it will
No; there is no comparison to
say, a bird can sing
be made between the cases; the bird has not the faculty of Will,
it is not a moral
agent with such a faculty.
?"
united in fact
viz.,
what
human coworking
is
always
in all our
1
religious acts.
the result
is
cisely the
same sense
to be
in
sin.
The
is
sin,
and no more
true.
is
choosing.
2. Let us
carry out the supposition for a moment, arid make
the hypothesis that a person repents without divine grace.
What is the resultant state of mind ? Repentance is turning to
amount
to is this:
of God, and
abstract idea.
It is
The
On
is
It is this
335
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
is
It
4.
renewed
is
and by repentance.
in
The
God
is
They
sin.
except by
John
vii.
37;
The most
Isa.
Iv. 1,
xii.
20;
vided.
Christ.
As
to Preaching:
then the
preached without moral inability,
natural ability in its true sense is not preached, and vice versa.
Wherever the duty is insisted on without the grace, or the grace
If natural ability is
without the duty, we are sure to .go wrong. The best preaching
combines sovereignty, depravity, and natural ability: all other
and bald. The practicability of immediate repentance can
is
jejune
not be urged on any other ground than the two conjoined: power
The question is not, Shall the sin
of choice and grace offered.
ner be exhorted to immediate repentance, but on what grounds?
Not
Has
but
As
to the
way
of
bined; the
possibility,
is
full,
and grace
of-
336
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
perform
it,
make
well
to
it
Man
The great
has
all
as
practical points.
the powers
perfectly so,
moral agency.
2.
is
under
is
a sinful inability.
This
is
an unwillingness, which
*
do
Summary.
1.
man may
is
He
is
at once to repent
5.
he
Under the
may
convply
influences.
6.
man
This ability
greater
will
as
is
power
of
choice:
so
that
it
is
to
sin.
1
Dr. N.
W. Taylor
s in Christian Spectator.
primarily in
is the
refuse
ANTECEDENTS OF REDEMPTION.
337
We
Man
the
by the
on man s
maining in him, in
possibility
DIVISION SECOND.
ITSELF. THE
WORK OF CHRIST.
THE REDEMPTION
PERSON AND
DIVISION SECOND.
THE KEDEMPTION
ITSELF. THE
CHEIST.
PERSON AND
WORK OF
We
central,
logically
it,
idea
is
deduced from
is,
This idea
we
is
is in
it.
Thus: the
and
its
p. 58.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
342
of the system, embracing regeneration, justification, sanctification, the doctrine respecting the church and the sacraments,
for the
Second Division:
I.
historical,
PART
I.
CHAPTER
WHAT
IS
I.
Two
man from
Deus Homo ?
1.
"
Of the
Why
the
sins,
was needed.
("Cur
God-man ?)
We
no one can prove that any other being could have performed
such a superhuman work. (3) That there is a more perfect congruity between such a person and such a work, than between
such a work and any other person that we can conceive to exist.
And we may add (4), that on the inductive method of reason
ing from facts to principles, if it be proved historically that such
a being has appeared, in the divine administration, for such a
work,
it is
position in Christology.
to sin.]
He
344
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
in vain.
Such a manifestation
God-man appeared.
it
had
existed.
This
is
his position.
The
fact of sin
it,
the
made
object.
And
in relation to the
46-49,
Adam,
fuller
We
us
one divine plan, are presented to us. On the one hand is sin
and death, and on the other hand, righteousness and life. Sin
and death come to the human race from one man the first
Adam:
that
is,
tion
is
that
is,
by Jesus
Christ.
In these positions
1
Compare on
Philo,
"Jour.
this
Class,
is
and striking
peculi-
and
Sac.
Philology,"
No.
1,
1854.
345
human nature
arity of the Scriptural mode of viewing
man destiny in relation to God. It is precisely here,
and hu
on this
summing up and
way
of
origin,
and
It
The
I.
first
of units, but
bound
in plan
and
It is
not meant,
On
2.
ures
still
Adam was
truth,
con
race.
It
"charter,"
v.
supra.
346
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
evaded.
"
As by one man
and
so death passed
by
seen in the fact that] all have
sin,
one
many
be
dead;"
"by
upon
all
sinned;"
one
man s
men,
"through
the offence of
by
"by
"
"
sinners."
If these statements
is
up and
is
facts, it is
stated.
all
The
Adam
older Hopkinsianism of
Pantheism makes original sin to be the very substance of human nature. Both
systems grant the fact of alienation from God, and explain it by denying God.
Christianity in addition brings the facts under God s moral government, making
in respect to the
human
race.
mon
it
347
No man s con
meets us everywhere.
with a sense of
sin,
When we
first
We
know
cannot think
the law, it is as a condemning power.
law
the
for by the
deeds
of
the
of saving ourselves by doing
:
Salvation
justified.
cannot, for
life
freely offered.
We
And with this agrees the profoundest spiritual experience of the depth and nature of sin. Its.
roots run deeper than our volitions actual transgression is the
nature the children of wrath.
The
the will
is
immanent
state
is flesh;
that
is,
That which
is
a sinful
works beneath
work it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy.
Such
is
the headship of
entailing
The headship
enant.
that of
Adam was
this
of Christ
is
one of
life
and redemption, as
The divine plan
of redemption from the evil and curse of sin centers in the Per
son and Work of the God-man, Christ Jesus. The purpose of
between
of access for
all
of God,
over all
He is the Lamb
He is the head
There
Him and
all
348
CHRISTIAN
And
THEOLOGY.
allel,
this
is
What Adam
is
in re
lation to sin
and
life.
As
be made
alive,
judgment was by
of
many
assumed
in
Adam
all die,
The
referring here, too, to the resurrection.
one offence to condemnation, the free gift is
Adam
which
falls
and sinks
is
that
which ex
piates over against that which incurs; that which satisfies divine
justice over against that which calls it forth that which pro
;
The
cross of Christ
it is
the shield be
an
and
hell.
to save.
The contrasted
Adam
parallel
between the
first
first
first is
is
to be our
felicity
a union no less
real,
no
the
tie
349
latter,
man s
offence,
through the
bond that
is
allies
us to the other
through
faith,
is
and
one
life
reign in
life
by
Adam and
We
human
race.
Human
nature and
human
destiny cannot
God
It
redemption.
of our earth without both the centrifugal and centripetal force
God s moral government includes the centrifugal power of sin
:
government of God,
reducing
it
own
to the level
It is very easy to
speculations.
with a few simple definitions, and then to substitute the defi
nitions for the facts.
But the facts of the case after all are the
solid things.
it is
350
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
its vital
element.
came upon
all
to
Adam
and Christ
cludes the
latter, if logically
carried out.
Or, in other
words
If
we
we cannot
its essential
One way
by
faith intact
and complete, 2
1
It has been said, in the way of a taunt against the older theology, that men are
very willing to speculate about sinning in Adam, so as to have their attention di
verted from the sense of personal guilt. But the whole history of theology bears
witness, that those who have believed most fully in our native and strictly moral
corruption as Augustine, Calvin, Edwards have ever had the deepest sense of
their personal demerit.
We know the full evil of sin only when we know its roots
Yet
many adhere
who deny
all
We must
351
define sin
imputed
which
life.
is
with
adisiacal
over against him, in the divine plan for the race, is the Godman, our Saviour; appointed to suffer and conquer for those
who were
fall.
We
be
hold Him, hanging upon the cross, his head crowned with
thorns, his hands stretched out. upon the accursed tree, that
He might both
and
We
save.
352
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
these two
we
see the
whole of the
Law and
one system.
This constitution
is
we do
But
this
Sa-
we may
metaphysically possible.
say:
of such personal distinctions in the Godhead
The existence
Nor can
cannot be denied.
Any
Gal. iv. 4;
John
iii.
We
16; xvii. 5:
view of the
(4)
We
all,
in every stage
and
1
part, divine.
Pascal:
"If
men
and
objects.
corruption and redemption, all in it shines with these two truths. That which
there appears marks, neither a total exclusion, nor yet a manifest presence of
Deity, but the presence of a God who hides himself: all bears this character."
CHAPTER
353
II.
The Incarnation
It is
to be
an
the
is
it
is
historical manifestation of
God-man appears
in
comes a member of the race; lives, suffers and dies for our
redemption; and in all this we have a sublime series of facts,
of which the Scriptures give us the record.
The first point to
be aimed
tive apprehension of
it,
This
is
which
it
man who
5.
first act,
Creation,
354
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
III.
may
be said to be demanded
by man, in the sense in which
It presents
for Imitation,
1.
and
Man
as a Model
so meets Need.
ideal of a perfect
human
human
And
this universal
longing
is satisfied,
moral perfection
sharpen
ing the sense of duty, nor by exalting the ideal of morality. The
profoundest minds of every age have given their best thoughts
to ethical
systems, to codes of righteous laws, to the description
And
purer
higher holiness.
But even
though we give to our abstract ideal of excellence the form and
features of a man, it does not touch our
hearts; it may be as
it is as cold as a statue.
An imagined excellence
not really human; an ideal man is riot a man at all. Ideal
virtue has not been diffused
through the affections, nor has it
beautiful, but
is
355
will,
has not been the basis or the result of any choice; it is neither a
moral act nor a moral state of a moral being. And hence it is
that
it
being.
of fruit.
he
may
admire an ideal
his affections;
contains, excepting
men
it
is
virtue.
may
his depravity.
It
for
may
touch
And
an ideal beauty,
attract everything
all
human
excitement of
life,
by spleen, soured by
disappointment, made fretful by petty cares and trials; and it is
hard to ensure its constancy. Justice is more praised than
soul.
loved;
Natural kindness
is
obedience oftener
commanded than
practised.
It
is
life,
what
356
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
rich
by which we
fall
into temptation
and a snare:
all
these and
kindred evils can be done away, and can only be done away,
by a recurrence to the practice of the simplest, yet hardest vir
tues.
And
pel and of
to suffer
when
truth, to be mild
difficult
welfare, yet
Now
demption.
Jesus Christ
sary that
He
when they
of
even
all
is
rule their
kingdoms as He ruled
his spirit.
It
was
Him with
this
the sons of
were to degrade
men
which He
fulfilled his.
but
fulfil
It
his mission,
and
to
it is
should be a child, that thus to all the race from their earliest
years his example might be held up clear and fair.) It was not
necessary that He should be to us an example in the virtues
which the world loves and honors, for the world rewards its
servitors only too liberally,
But
it
all evil
and
while
sin,
He
357
human
perfection,
the
can be shown
well as
when
is
field of battle,
God and
which
That
pattern of the race in all things, this was needful.
be
to
incited
the
love
and
of
these
might
practice
daily and
denying
virtues, it
one, a
them,
was
man
model should be
self-
set before
like themselves,
to greater temptations
same
fitting that a
men
and
trials
same
foes to duty,
overcoming
all
its
and duty.
4. But the whole
found
perhaps
its
of such a man,
source,
358
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
its
giving to
Man
We
may
to
effect of sin,
but
congruous with
those infirmities of our finite state which are not sinful. The
expression of this desire is most palpable in heathenism. It is
indeed there disfigured and distorted. Their idols are an abom
it is
also
But even as
may
and the
try to
fill,
visible
church of Christ,
when
it
became Roman
and when
and
was
was
Catholic,
but they
some
to find
359
whenever there
is
Not
:
it is
upon
We
it.
We
Him
We
"majesty,
it is
has been objected that such a craving of the soul for some
Godhead belongs
to
an
inferior stage
of religious culture.
But the fact is, that the more enlarged our
are, the more do we need such a help to our wor
1
ship and love. "The difficulty," says Dr. Whately, "of coming
views of God
near to
tion.
God and
semi-barbarous people
is
less likely to
think of the
ing the deity have been accounted the most refined and exalted,
has always been cold and heartless in its devotion, or rather has
been nearly destitute of devotion altogether." To counteract
the chilling tendency of our abstract speculations about God,
nothing is so adapted as that conception of Him which we reach
through the wondrous doctrine of the Incarnation. In the Per1
p. 10.
360
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
s infinite
majesty
is
transformed into a
ma
made
to
in the
2.
brotherhood.
He becomes
This
is
united to him by
all
the ties of
and
it
difference
made by the
is
we have God In
2
carnate, the God-man.
delivering a message
versing with the subject, pleading with the rebel.
of the Incarnate God arrests and attracts us. 8
;
3.
Especially
we view
meeting
is
The dignity
when
necessity for
it.
The
(a.) as
man s
spiritual perception is
darkened;
(&.)
as his heart is
so breaks in
He
in
condemn, but
1
to save.
(Leighton).
3
lattice
"
361
sin.
Such an incarnate Kedeemer
was needed to make satisfaction: Rom. iii. 20; Gal. ii. 16.
Thus does the Incarnation meet man s needs as a sinner, the
power,
its
urgency,
butes of
"
there
God be seen
is
to be harmonized in the
pardoning and
mode
and
in the
fect
of God, in a
seen in
mode adapted
2),
to our
human
necessities.
And
our
Saviour not only revealed God to us, but was Himself the very
manifestation of God in the midst of the world. Not only could
He
Another Statement.
Far be
it
He
sons
why
the
first
result
362
is
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
God s
attributes, but
the third result (to be considered by and by) is the entire union
of the infinite and the finite, the divine and the human natures,
in one Person;
result, to
which
all
the others
converge,
making a propitiation for our sins and fur
the
nishing
headship for that eternal church, in which is our
is
the
accomplished salvation.
CHAPTER
HOW FAR MAY AN INCARNATION BE
IV.
SAID TO BE NECESSARY ON
Some
say:
An
an Incarnation.
might
as well
Still
No
others:
men
vided into:
(a.)
by
love,
is
demand
it;
(6.)
in that
it is
demanded
"
and not without, and that there are only casual expressions against this
The voice of antiquity is well summed up in Thomasius, Dogmatik, p. 1G6.
Nicene Creed is against it: "Who for us men and for our salvation," etc.
"
The
Au-
363
I.
at all
out
ethical, rather
view that
an
that
all
The
needed
is
and
ethical training;
basis of
it
is
the
for
for
we can
see,
the
But:
So far as we
(a.) This is a mere opinion, unsupported by facts.
know, no mere influence of motives is enough. History is
From
against
it.
(b.)
method of restoring
fallen
It
is,
man.
and best
While philosophy may not
Servetus favored it. Calvin is against it, Inst. ii. ch. xii.
Socinus
4-7.
(under the influence of the Italian philosophy) Christ would have come if there
had been no sin, to insure immortality. At present, the position is advocated by
Liebner, Dorner, Martensen, Kurtz (who gives it up in one of the later editions of
his Bible and Astronomy). Julius Miiller is against it, see Deut. Zeits., Oct. 1850.
The Beformers had too deep a sense of sin to accept this." "The whole of
view.
"
"
"
not been possible to restore humanity to its archetypal form." Keview: If flesh
to be saved."
There is a remarkable passage in Aquinas, 3 a
"
iii.,
art. 8,
verbum
turae.
"
Convenientissimum
fuit
personam
Filii incarnari
Dei, quod est seternus conceptus ejus, est similitudo exemplaris totius creaEt ideo sicut per participationem hujus similitudinis creatune sunt in
propriis speciebus institute, sed mobiliter, ita per unionem Verbi ad creaturam
non participatam, sed personalem, conveniens fuit reparari creaturam in ordine ad
ssternam et immobilem
perfectionem."
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
364
nation,
e.
through
Christ.
g.,
body
no
tion, sin or
1.
Eph.
As
i.
sin.
10; Col.
15,
i.
16
Eph.
The passages
iv.
24; Col.
from
sin.
The
Christ
iii.
It is said
all
whom
10, 11.
mind is the Christ appearing for sin. 2 (2) Christ might have
had an intimate relation to all created beings as a mediator (in
(3) The
large sense) without sin, and without an Incarnation.
in
15; 1
i.
As
John
iii.
exercise of love
But, (a.)
fully
and
It is
spiritually
He
Incarnation.
Heb.
Cf.
not to be seen
ii.
16.
communi
men.
communicated Himself
men without an
why not to men?
to
all
angels, greater
and higher.
This, which is the most important, is considered a little later.
Cf. also, 1 Cor. xv. 45-7; Eph. i. 21-3; I Pet. iii. 22.
Incarnation
a Dr.
Candlish, Lectures on the Fatherhood of God, 1864: Against
without Fall, but says: even angels are not by nature sons of God: they became
such through a probation, like man s essentially: the point being, a demand to be
come subject to the Son of God revealed proleptically as the Word made flesh.
and Fall of Angels, and Owen s
(Cf. Jonathan Edvvards s view of the Probation
view of the Recapitulation of all in Christ.) Against: Brit, and For. Ev. Rev.,
Candlish s view leads to the position that the Incarnation would have
Jan. 1866:
1
"
occurred,
if
no
sin."
365
(J. Muller).
The anthropological
That
completion of
with
human nature, to bring it into full union
God, an Incar
Man cannot obtain perfection but by
nation was necessary.
3.
side.
for the
"
is
Logos."
Christ
is
Adam
not deep. 1
But, (a.) This view supposes that in the first Adam the
of his being did not exist before
the Fall.
Adam
image.
How
(6.)
are
we
came only
in the
first ?
(d)
All
spiritual
influences
bestowed.
if the Logos had not
(e.) This view is defended by saying,
become incarnate, the race would have had no unity, no head:
but this supposes that Christ came, not for sin, but for man, that
He is the head of the race, not of the redeemed, and so it is
against the Scripture, which says that Christ is the head of
those only in whom He works by his Spirit: Eph. i. 22; iv. 12;
nal
i.
18
life
19
ii.
in Christ,
1 Cor. xii. 3.
and thus
it
man had
the attributes,
it,
all
sinned.
i.
was nec
The moral di
e.,
on the score
366
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
of justice. 1
ally,
They demand
on the ground of
it
love.
does not put a natural, but only a moral necessity in God; and
so far as it does not claim that God, on the score of
justice, must
it
redeem a
(A.)
fallen world.
no absolute necessity.
in creating a world, must create it to have its end
is
in himself,
ceivable end.
end of
He
ground,
moral necessity of a scheme
of redemption.
Or, to take the same thing under a different
as
love, must communicate himself freely to his
aspect, God,
creatures: if they are closed against it, there is a moral necessity
on the ground of
this supposition, a
of his providing a
And
(b.)
(B.)
under
to realize the
moral government.
end of creation,
On
is
there
is
526.
for,
to,
passage on this
367
is Col.
of sin and
its
is
lost in
(/) We
could have
Adam.
first
through Adam.
This general position is further illustrated by the fact
that Christ is the center of unity, the head of the race as re
deemed, of the church. The passages in which He is thus set
2.
realized: Col.
Col.
18;
i.
3.
ii.
ii.
10; Eph.
men
Accordingly,
to Christ,
by
i.
10;
i.
19.
all
redeemed men
Through
this union,
we know, only
Col.
19 (Cf. Rom. viii. 9; 1 Cor. xii. 3); John xvii. 21, 23, 26
Passages in which the fruits of this union, being like Christ,
ii.
(&.)
John
ii.
xiv.
Rom.
viii.
of:
From
men, even
made with
1
Col.
Christ.
i.
Calvin thinks
it
368
That
4.
is
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
it is
needed by and
To
God must
creatures
made known.
How
is
it
that
God
be
this is
It
may
God
appears, as the
image of God,
Hence we say,
so far as
It is
by God, but for man. It was a free act of condescension and grace
on God s part. We cannot say that Redemption could have
been secured in any other method. Though a free act on God s
we know not but that such an act was nec
part, and of grace,
1
essary both physically and morally, if
it
left
may
man
to perish,
be that there
is
It is
physics of Christianity.)
As
e.
g.
369
CHAPTER
V.
without success.
tems
The Jewish
filled
in Christ.
to be
Son of God.
III.
Jewish and Pagan elements come
in the Idea of the Logos.
IV.
speculatively together,
(Philo.)
Hence, Christianity
fulfils
CHAPTER
VI.
According
is
acknowledged,
is
370
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
is
ethical,
to
with,
grow up
(Modification in Consubstantiation.)
humanity.
The Oxford view.
III.
The sacramental system, the sac
raments are an extension of the Incarnation, channels of grace.
The Holy
Spirit is
is
we
grand object
for
in the Incarnation.
Life, life
etc.
or Governmental Theory.
This view denies the reality of the
union with Christ, and of justification on the ground of this
union.
It resolves
stantially this:
The
like Christ
We
God and
"The
Eucharist
is
we
371
us.
Justification is this
by.
feelings, susceptibilities,
and thus
God
accepts
He
foresees
so,
by and
that
is,
it
excites
It presents to us an affecting
love of us and hatred of sin, and so moves
exhibition of
God s
the second great act of the Logos, the center of his spiritual
kingdom, for. which the whole of the old creation groaneth and
it is
travaileth in pain.
And the Redemption in Christ has the same
relation to our renewed state that the Fall in Adam has to our
state.
The Incarnation has the same position in Re
that
Creation
has in Natural, Theology.
vealed,
VII.
Outside of specific Christianity. The Incarnation is
depraved
true in idea,
union
i.
e.,
absolute substance.
God comes
to consciousness in
men.
Men
this form:
The divine ideas which had wandered up and
the world, till oftentimes they had forgotten themselves and their origin,
did at length clothe themselves in flesh and blood; they became incarnate with the
Incarnation of the Son of God. In his life and person, the idea and fact at length
kissed each other, and were henceforth wedded for evermore."
1
down
"
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
372
between God and man so far as it is affected by sin, and every sys
tem must find its center in the point, how the relations between
God and a sinful world are to be restored, to be readjusted. In
other words, religion being essentially union between God and
man, the central inquiry of theology is this: how is the lost com
munion between God and man to be restored, how is the reunion
to be accomplished. And the different views, as above presented,
as found in the different and chief theological systems, say in
substance (adopting a little different order of statement), as fol
Man
his goodness,
is to
by
God s
which
Spirit;
and not
(We
to effect
God
eses here, because they are out of the pale of Christian theology.)
373
CHAPTER
VII.
TO
OF THE INCARNATION ON PHILOSOPHICAL GROUNDS, AS RELATED
CONFLICT
THE
TO
AND
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION,
of Christianity as
perfect religion, i. e.,
all other systems of faith, and also its fate, as
and
compared with
compared with
philosophy.
maintained here
propositions are to be
The question comes up in relation to the philosophy of
where it is to be shown that the Christian is the
Two
I.
Christianity,
of religion, because it centers and culminates in
perfect form
the Incarnation, i. e., in the position that in the Person of Christ
we have an
God
for the
redemption of
the race.
II.
and
to
his work,
man s
we have
offer.
it, can possibly
Christian Religion is the most perfect religion.
It also contains the highest philosophy.
without
The
Historical.
It is to
374
its
CHRISTIAN
elements, as type,
etc.,
in
THEOLOGY.
human
same
2.
The Comparative
line of
argument.
To show
(as in
Com
all
the
perfect
(c.) arid
other,
NOTE.
is
man
The Augustinian-Calvinistic-Edwardean.
2.
and Philosophy.
comes up when we come to the conflict
between philosophy and faith, between Philosophy and Chris
It is no longer a
tianity.
comparison of Religions among
itself to that
of
needs, for
life ?
THE REDEMPTION
As between philosophy and
375
ITSELF.
Christianity, it
is
really, ulti-
show
as
In establishing these
fact: (1)
is
it is
neces
proved by
thodox view on these points is the only one which will be of
any avail against pantheism: Deism. Pelagianism, Unitarian-
make headway
ism, cannot
The
pretend
(a.)
to.
This
As
to the
philosophy,
viz.,
is
3TG
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
something
Such
is
holy God,
how
as
is lost
in the
his fellow-
in good-will.
as a social being,
may be shown
same way, that the Christian system gives us the most
it
in the
What
all
philosophy as well as in
all religion
kingdom which
it
is
discloses
is
encouraged and
fortified,
progression of this
and a future
kingdom
of
God
is
in Christ, such as
naught
else
offer.
And
377
in order to Eedemptiori.
its
answers
it is
CHAPTER
VIII.
I.
as central principles.
Calviriistic
construction that
God
is all
Will;
(c.) If it is
taken concretely,
it comes
the Sovereignty is understood
to much the same with our principle: Incarnation in order to
i.
e.,
if
The
original usage of
The Covenant,
in theology, as set-
378
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
As
is
"
all
work ac
whole world and
that Christ s
complished:
the General Offer of Salvation as well as the Provision for the
Elect.)
4
it is
Works, there
is
commercial trans
action,
use
"
"conditions"
is
"condition"
is
5. It is better for
theology to state as its central principle,
the essential and fundamental fact of the case.
CHAPTER
379
IX.
"
"Complete
Man s
in Christ.
in
Him." 3
and destiny
nature, need,
The
secrets of our
are, so to speak,
own inmost
wrapped up
Life
is
Christ
and
this
knowledge
of our being,
is
Christ.
ness.
divine kingdom.
tellectual morality
He
and
all,
so,
Jewish Proverb.
we must know
life,
2
Eph.
iv. 13.
Col.
ii.
10.
life.
CHRISTIAN
tJSO
THEOLOGY.
And this the great Teacher of our race, and He alone, was
able to declare unto us.
For he came forth from the Father,
and abode
the
way
of
coming
to eternal
life.
He
He might
revealed
disclose to us
God
to a sinful,
u
doubting, despairing race as our Father who art in Heaven."
He taught us to pray to Him in those hallowed words which
He
told in
own words and taught by his own example, how the suffer
ings, trials, and woes of time may at last but enhance the joys,
the peace, and the blessed rest of eternity.
He led us to see
And by
that this earth is our pilgrimage and heaven our home.
His
thus setting before us, in the simplest terms, the greatest end of
And in disclos
life, He has taught us the real meaning of life.
We
its
rewards and
its
penalties
And He so interpreted
human heart, and He
whole incarnate
life,
that
its letter
to the
up
its
judgment of
so exemplified
it
and
it
human
in
His
Him, became
fully
For
disclosing to us our inner, even our inmost selves.
when man comes to know the law aright, then he also knows
and
much
as light
is
made
is
is
made
381
for
man
soul as
man s
in His
He was
life.
example
of perfect obedience.
And
thus, in giving to
and exemplifying
He was
man
love in
tuas
an
the law
its spirit in
His
We
misery and
cannot
know
guilt of sin, of
miery and
itage of all
which
given by nature,
is
to recklessness or despair.
purify
it.
"Our
sense of the dignity and grandeur of our nature.
grief
the
with
conscious
but our grandeur in disguise."
Along
is
though
it
be our
Brutes
common
heritage,
it
is
and
suffer
being.
may
hope, without despair.
remorse for the past, and fear or hope for the future.
And
this
382
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
because,
still
Man
lights.
is
is
so terrible because he
forever;
is just.
the
soul:
and
when
sin
by
pictured in
all its blackness upon the vivid stainless
background of this im
perial rule of rectitude then it is that man comes to know him
to know himself as a sinner, as a sinner not only against a
self,
sinful,
is
holy law, but also against a holy God, to know the terrible
power of his depravity as clinging to the very roots of his being.
(This certainly is not the only way in which Christ reads to
us the lesson of our woe, and of our guilt. We have to look for
If
wretch
edness and his doom, then on that cross he cannot see his par
don and his peace. There is no redemption, if there be no
cret of
man
is
1
It is related of Pascal, that he always carried with him a paper on which were
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,
written these simple and broken words:
not of philosophers and the learned. Certainty, certainty, feeling [sentiment],
"
383
of his fulness.
is
holiness. 1
man
We
are
all
to
come
man
in his
and knowl
time
us in the revelation of
God
human
siah,
to
law
to all other
and
to conquer.
God
joy, peace,
kingdoms;
And
of Jesus
here
Christ."
his
is
And then
Grandeur of the human soul "And indeed, what must be the inherent dignity
of a nature for which God himself puts forth all the resources of his mighty love,
for which the Son of God could die upon the cross of Calvary ?
What must have
been the guilt that demanded such a sacrifice; what must be the blessedness that
could warrant such a sacrifice ?
This is confessed even by those who deny Him to be anything more than
man. Thus Kenan cannot withhold the confession that He is the incomparable
man, to whom the universal conscience has decreed the title of the Son of God,
and this too with justice
Every one of us owes to him that which is best
in himself
Weigh those last words, and make the necessary inferences. Faith
in Christ becomes our highest need, life in Him our highest blessedness.
"
"
"
384
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
humanity are
hid, its
enigmas resolved,
its
salvation insured.
"
"
center of history.
Hence,
it
and that
Christ,
know
own imag
Roman
"I
human
soul
cannot
and of human
preme
destiny.
knows
not, it
cannot know,
it
feel, all
love, all
it
it
sees that
may
it
1
Ignatius.
Compare our own Edwards: The work of Redemption is a work
carried on in two respects:
(1) in its effect on the souls of the redeemed; this re
"
(2) as it
God, all tending to one great end and effect, all united as the several parts of
scheme, and all together making up one great work."
PART
II.
Word
flesh."
JOHN
i.
14.
The
c. viii.
Q. 21, 22.
The Second
and by this as
sumption became the God-man, uniting both the divine and
It is
human
nature,
human
vine;
II.
Christ
is
one person;
III.
is
both
human and
This Person
is
di
the Second
386
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
I.
1.
on
this Point.
is
amazing contrasts. He is
Him Lord He was understood to claim equality with the Father
as man He had not where to lay his head; He took part with
flesh and blood
yet thought it not robbery to be equal with
;
God;
He
He
from heaven;
He is
yet He
yet
ing
He
said to be the
Lord of
all;
His mother
is
called
He was born
all,
Mary
under the law and fulfilled the law and yet in his own name gave
a new and more perfect law, and brought in a new and everlast
ing righteousness He was received into heaven out of the sight
of his disciples yet He is still with them, with any two or three
of them, always, and even to the ends of the earth; He was found
and yet is the image of the invisible God
in fashion as a man
He hid not his face from shame and spitting though He be the
very brightness of the Father s glory; He increased in wisdom
yet knew the Father even as the Father knew Him; He in
over
is
God
blessed forever;
creased in stature
He
than
God, and Him only shalt thou serve yet He also declared that
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father,
and of Him it is asserted that every knee should bow to Him
all
is
387
terms
may
is
we have
yet
is
2.
This has
(5.)
is
Redeemer
(a.)
was
to
come and
it
is
TO svayyeXiov.
"
17,
is
in reference to the
his
2 Sam.
"and
kingdom forever."
The general announcement
thou shalt
call
from their
sins."
And
his
name
I will establish
to
Joseph
JESUS: for
He
the throne of
Matt.
i.
21,
"and
so immediately
is set forth,
("
shall
uel")
seen.
bring
forth")
and divinity
("shall
call his
as
388
CHRISTIAN
Titles
2.
Mark
Son of
1.
i.
THEOLOGY.
"
God."
John
1-14
i.
Especially, vs.
"And
14,
the
Word became
flesh."
3.
in the
Old Tes
13."
4 More
specifically as to the
of the Messiah.
(a.)
was
its
(b.)
One
But
as
(c. )
as
is
It is
characterized
Mic.
v. 2;
Hag.
ii.
7; Mai.
iii.
1; iv. 5,
6.
Keil s Daniel, p. 273, Not, mere humanity. The phrase is used only by
of himself, while on earth. So Bengel on Matt. xvi. 13, "Nemo nisi solus
Christus, a nemine dum ipse in terra ambularet, nisi a semetipso, appellatus est
films hominis."
Acts vii. 56; Kev. i. 13; xiv. 14; are passages outside the gospels,
1
J->SUB
alt-test.
Keligion.
Zu
389
5.
Mark
ix.
He was
Luke
12;
foretold as Messiah:
xviii.
xxiv 27
"
xiii. 27,
18;
11; 2 Pet.
i.
i.
19.
This
aspire to or wield.
The Miraculous
3.
is fulfilled
Conception.
Christ,
"Miraculous
Immaculate Conception
The
I.
in
Conception"
refers
to
"
to
carefulness of Scripture
Mary.)
ments, here.
John
i.
14,
"The
14, "Forasmuch
He
blood,
word
wa-s
became
made
Heb.
flesh."
ii.
i.
"she
18,
22,
Christ, the
sin."
Art.
"
ii.
blessed
nature in the
womb
of the
Virgin."
How
Hence,
(a.)
No
all taint
of original
The
390
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
womb
entirely
by the
miraculous proceeding, in
High; (c.)
The Holy Spirit not in the place of an
earthly father; the assumption not to be brought in any way
under the ordinary laws of the production of a human being,
mystery, as a new creative work of the
Logos enacted through the Holy Spirit.
II.
As to the Question, Would not Christ have had stain
but to be
left in its
"
had
conception of Mary
material, before the infusion of the soul, (b.)
"The
power of original
there were only two
for
might
But Perrone and modern writers say:
sin."
(b.)
passiva, the union of the soul with the seed, which
instantaneous with the bestowal of grace.
was
co-
Remarks.
to this
1854.
8,
(1)
dogmatic
decision.
Bernard
1
(1140) doctrine
Schleiermacher says:
ence in the
"We
is,
that
Mary was
by
influ
391
Peter
Alex. Hales,
[received by Mary].
she
was
that
teaches
a
chief
sanctified";
authority,
(13th cent.),
to conquer
it: "grace
sin"
"
Bonaventura (13th
The
cent.),
"Mary
needed redemption
Aquinas,
1140 by canons of Lyons,
";
"
"
"
fied,"
2.
(Vulgate:
"She
shall
offered.
bruise"),
and Luke
i.
28,
"Hail,
iii.
15
highly
He
favored
it.
against
inal sin
3.
fails.
At
4 As
to the theological
argument,
(a.)
The
position,
"Only
mother of
God,"
as
"the
asserts more
the bride of the Holy Spirit
It could not establish
"
"
fact, but, at
5.
ii.
ii.
3;
Rom.
i.
47;
ii.
43;
John
v. 12.
of 1854.
"
to infallibility,
Perrone
They
speak of original
2
(b.)
"
sin."
Perrone, p. 113.
392
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
fact,
which, of
Romanism.
In the miraculous Conception the
Logos assumed a true and
4.
complete Humanity.
A true
I.
Matt.
i.
Luke
body.
Luke
25;
ii.
"
true
body and a
soul."
52;
i.
(c.)
35;
II.
reasonable
declaration
of
human
"ignorance,"
(ft.)
soul,
Luke
(a.)
ii.
40,
Growth
52;
Temptation, Matt.
in
Mark
iv. 1;
rest,
suffering,
xxvi. 37;
(/.)
Cru
wisdom,
xiii.
Luke
32;
xxii.
37;
38;
iv.
Luke
Mark
15; v.
xix. 41
xiv. 34.
The Prayers
and
393
want
Man
is
man
not
without the
human
endow
ments of
We
"
"
is
are to be like
second Adam,
According
ment must be
could not
effected
The
suffer.
5.
In
off, if
we
ii.
17,
through
his
human
Divine and
Human
Natures of
6.
the
Scriptures
is
to
in which what
is
be interpreted in respect
said of Christ in
to
his
Person and
Natures.
Whenever we speak
different elements,
of
is
made up
of
we
which may
that element.
The following are the various modes in which
Christ is spoken of: (a.) The human nature gives the designation
cates,
"Only-begotten
1861.
God"
as read
by some.
394
CHRISTIAN
over
Rom.
all,"
was
before,"
"See
the Son of
man
ascend up where He
vi. 62.
(6.)
person
ix. 5;
John
THEOLOGY.
is
humanity.
(c.)
John
predicates:
viii. 58.
(d.)
predicates:
thirst."
"I
(e.)
the natures.
7.
According
his Personality
One
to the Scriptures,
was from
his
There
and
Divine Nature.
Person.
is
Logos the
on this
He
is
There
as
much
is
the same
you
He
always";
of as He, Him,
also addressed as
is
etc.
in
is
spoken
never spoken of as if the man
had personal relations or converse with
(b.)
Him
and
He
"Thou,"
is
each other (as is the case with the Persons of the Trinity).
II.
This one Person had its personality from the divine na
"
"
ture.
1
and
It is
Illustrative Parallel,
sleeps,
(c.)
(a.)
Shakespeare
is
Man
is
a genius,
a religious animal,
(d.)
Chatham
Man
suffers pain,
is spiritual
(e.)
Burke
delivered an oration.
a
Usage of person and personality. Person, usually broader: the whole outward
manifestation, the same being in all his attributes.
Personality, the central point
of the person, the indefinable I, Ego.
395
human
may
coming
conceive
It is difficult to
Some
sonality.
[Some
8.
Two
the
fuller
human
merged
human
say, personality
is
Summary and
Conclusion
from
Scripture Testimony as to
some
Scriptural statement.
perfect di
(a.) Christ is one Person, (b.)
Analytically,
vine nature, (c.) United to an entire human nature, (d.) In this
is
active, the
human
nature passive,
(e.)
The
is
called
First in Origen.
[But see further on, and especially in Chap. V., for the sense in which this
statement is made.]
3 1 Cor. xv.
But according to that passage "the
24, 28, urged against this.
Son "remains, only the mediatorial scepter is laid down. The position [advo
cated by Dr. Hickok ?] that when Christ gives up the kingdom, the Man remains
Head of the Church, while the Logos goes back to God, is not consistent with
such passages as are cited under (c.).
396
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Scriptural assertions.
Luke
to the
Heb.
33; Rev.
i.
redeemed
xi.
28;
16,
1,
3;
vi. 20.
CHAPTER
II.
is to
Scheme
I.
we have
ture
of the Possibilities.
seen are
Christ
is
The
Scriptural elements as
ality is
are possible:
(a.) Taking the Person as basis and denying the reality of
one or the other of the natures, denying the divine nature
Ebionitism
(b
the
Denying
human
nature, Docetism.
not the
human
Apollinaris.
(d.)
Eutyches, Monophysites.
(e.) Affirming one nature from the two, with one will
Mono-
thelites.
essence or substance,
est,
(b.)
Chemnitz.
(c.)
Personality:
397
Statement.
Yet
sonality.
it
human
personality.
The ultimate question here is, Did the two natures manifest
Monothelites said: There are two na
themselves as two?
only one will
tures but
clines,
"One
one manifestation.
Orthodoxy
in
lius,
his
view?
CHAPTER
III.
II.
munication
"Finitum
Supper.
is
capax
human
infiniti."
Ubiquity
is
can a
human
ant, etc ?
tradiction ?
How
(c.)
ought
it
does not.
(e.)
Generally:
infinite to finite,
398
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
IV.
nopqjyv
act
(a.)
Divine Trinity.
(&.) It is
naught.
He may
in Phil.
new
7 is best
ii.
conditions
(c.) It is argued that God the Father might effect the Kenosis,
asHe gave life to the Son. But (a.) Phil. ii. 7 says Christ did what
ever was done; (b.) The Father could not annul the divine
being
of the Son any more than his own; (c.) if He could, the Son
(d.)
The doctrine
carnation
is in
Hodge.
Prof. J. A. Keubelt.
Gess, Script.
3
4
Gess
Two
v.
Hofmann,
etc.
Also, Transl. of
Dock
"
says,
only."
399
CHAPTER
IV.
Preparatory Considerations.
All great truths, like all great men, pass through a protracted
struggle before their victory is secure. Though not contrary
to reason, they are
are above
them.
common
They
above
sense,
all
assail
them.
They
men have
not
faith.
They
The greatest
to enable us to
But
if
surmount
it.
we might expect
redemption to be assailed
clear
and
definite, is re
is
illumined
400
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
fire
sent
down
to
devour
it.
Thus
has
it
to
nature.
One
troversies
modern times
this doctrine
Him
his
to his
person, they yet confess that the doctrine respecting Him is the
sublimest doctrine to which man has attained; they have taken
it
and placed
it
and pro-
401
is
divine and
to
what
which
all
is
human
the facts
must bring
men s minds.
And in our own New England, when many wavered in
their belief in the divinity of Christ, when most of its litera
honored names in church arid state, and the
influences of refined society were all enlisted in
predominant
favor of a system which denied the more excellent, though it
more humble, nature of our Lord, how was it that
glorified the
such a cause, with every prestige of success, was suddenly checked
in its
advancing course ?
It
its
was
alone, it
new
it
for
God, giving a deeper sense of sin, a more thorough longing
salvation it was because men s souls were deeply stirred, and
with the great problems of their destiny be
came to
;
grapple
and
the
cause they saw their helplessness and sinfulness,
need of an Almighty Deliverer: it was because by the exercise
of simple
and hearty
felt
And
felt
all this
was
and realized not the full meaning of the law of God, and
whose religious feelings were not quickened, so that they could
the living God. But they
cry out, my heart and flesh long for
in
holiness and abounding
who sought the living God, perfect
in mercy, found Him in the person of Jesus Christ, and bowed
of sin,
in adoration before
life.
Very
Him
like a living
as the
Christ through the history and changes of his church; very like
a living influence is that which still draws men to Him from
the depths of sin, from the heights of human reason very like
a living Being does He still and ever present Himself to the
;
draws in every
eyes of our faith; a secret and unseen agency still
clime men s hearts towards Him they love Him as they cannot
;
402
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
man who
shows
really to exist.
Such has been the living course of Christ, as the Head and
Leader of his church, through its conflicts in this world. No
one doctrine has been more impugned, or has maintained its
ground more firmly, than that respecting his Person. In the
course of the controversy the greatest variety of
objections have
been made. Some of the chief of these we now proceed to
consider.
It is said
I.
that
we can
explain
all
now under
consideration.
Their im
with a
difficult subject, to
banish
all difficulties
by simply deny
by the under
to
standing,
taking the whole of it by faith, especially where the
truth seems to involve both something mysterious and some
ing them.
Many
thing intelligible
and
let
ing God
moral government,
it is
much
403
somewhat that
is
worst
is
or best
thought
though some
difficult
to be better to leave
And
of Christ.
besides,
it
their in
it is
if
makes all plain. And the great aim in interpreting the Bible is
to remove all difficulties.
Figurative language also abounds:
the Orientals were famous for the use of it; and the Bible was
written in Oriental parts. They were not so careful to dis
tinguish between what was divine and what was human as
we
are.
A series
this
way be
easily
He
that this
lowest terms, and show that it can possibly mean something less
than absolute divinity; show this of each of the terms so used,
and the result will be, that whatever words in whatever variety
have been used to unfold the higher nature of Jesus, they could
not by any possibility prove that He had that nature because
it
is
404
way
CHRISTIAN
disappear.
For what
and what
is
THEOLOGY.
is difficult
is
easy,
crosses our feelings
a very perfect man out of one who is called God, a very clear
system of natural religion out of an obscure system of revealed
truth, an easy system of morals out of a hard system of divinity;
and we
and when the Bible speaks of the mysteries of the divine nature,
if it be iifdeed the Word of God, Ave are bound in critical jus
most guarded and reverential in our interpretations.
Far from seeking to diminish or explain away the words which
announce to us such a wonderful manifestation, we should rather
seek to give them their greatest intensity of meaning, and should
tice to-be
let
In their
ness of the subject which they are mefont to announce.
human
and
best
human
estate,
thoughts are all
language
very
too poor and meagre to declare to us the immensity and won
derful works of Jehovah. All language bends beneath the weight
them
which govern us
we may
write
us as
405
belong
what
interpret
relates to
God
in a
to the
manner conformable
glimpse
He unfolds this in
that
we do not misunderstand
to us
majestic truths so graciously delivered
Against the attempt to show that the language respecting
nature can be interpreted in a lower sense we
Christ s
!
higher
urge again
that
the conviction respecting his divinity does not result from iso
lated phrases, is not determined by the interpretation of particu
lar words,
but
is
total representation
given
Him
most naturally in
implied, implied when not directly asserted,
Hence the process of trying
ferred when not expressly stated.
not to find his divinity is one of constant explaining, if not of
so to speak, is
explaining away. The Person of Jesus Christ,
the New
inwrought into the very texture of revelation. Give
Testament a
form, and the form it takes is that of the
God-man,
allied to
living
the mediator between
heaven and
Now we
earth,
equally
anatomist may dissect this book, and not find the divin
which animates it but the very process of dissec
of
Christ
ity
the living spirit, which of course eludes all his
killed
tion has
skilful
future research.
406
CHRISTIAN
to unfold his
though
it
may
THEOLOGY.
of
all
that
is
is
for
denying
his antecedent
away with
II.
A second objection which is brought against the doctrine
that in the Person of Jesus Christ two natures are combined in
One
Person,
Bible,
is,
is
Faith.
407
It states the
It is a book for all times.
are spirit and life.
same truth in a great variety of ways. It involves one truth in
another.
It is
somewhat
like the
all
it
what actually is and that is more than he has ever done yet
and it is a necessary course for him to take in order to get fully
acquainted with the laws and harmony of nature.
So it is in respect to the Bible and to human systems framed
upon it. Men will think about the Bible it was meant that they
should; and they will set forth what they think: and they may
:
but
still
they think.
They cannot
The
One
doctrines are developed from age to age in new harmony.
set of doctrines after another is taken up by the church and
discussed
into a definite
men s minds;
but
it
still
remains an exhaust-
less fountain.
much more
will
it
be found
He
to be true respecting the doctrine of the Person of Christ.
is revealed in the Scriptures as a living Person, full of majesty
and grace. God did not reveal to us a doctrine, He sent his
Son He does not proclaim a system, which men are simply to
understand and assent to, He sets before our eyes a Being, a
:
now
if
any one in
408
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
may,
He
is
a mere
quote some
man
texts
to be divine.
It will be said in
reply, they do
not prove that He is divine, and then comes a
controversy.
And the very substance of the controversy is this, whether what
the Bible says about Christ shows Him to have one nature or
two natures. No simpler mode of stating it can be framed.
And
Now
in this statement,
it
is
We grant
He
we
we
are compelled to
make
it,
to
refute a notion which ha,s been advanced, which is also not found
in the Bible, viz., that Christ is
only a created being. Had that
assertion not been made, we had
not made ours.
Had
probably
what Christ
neither had
is,
we done
in
so.
and
to dwell
more intently
We have thus
living center.
got to clearer views and more enlarged conceptions of what He
is in all his relations.
And thus it is that heresy sharpens and
upon the nature of
deepens
Him who
is its
faith.
Him
so undoubtingly,
409
But when his complex nature was questioned, when doubts were
raised and queries put, then the defence was as vigorous as the
assault, then the answers were given, always in the form best
Had you asked an early Christian,
fitted to meet the objection.
Was
apostles seen
he would have
said,
There
is
also
God
the word
the Father.
"nature"
But, Is Christ
in this connection
would have been new to him, and he would have thought some
what further. Well, was He a created, being? Assuredly not.
May you worship Him ? We do so every day in hymns and
Do you love Him with your whole heart? Yea,
doxologies.
and
try to
Him and
show
this love
God Himself?
answered, All
Him
every day of
much
my
life.
Do you
love
trust in
as
have and
all I
as
all
am,
my
faith
and
all
my love,
are his
divine natures in
IV.
Person,
it is
if
it.
his veracity
it
One
reasoners.
"
deceit,
endure to have the name of Jesus, even by supposition, coupledwith fraud and dishonesty."
We hold a belief of his integrity
"
among
tempt us to
lief
which
nothing
Father.
to resolve
410
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
He who prayed to the Father, did claim that the Son should be
honored even as the Father. He asserted virtual
omnipresence,
when He
He would
While He
tive
said that
of omnipotence,
we
confess that
it
is
in
of
He was
tion that
it is more
seriously impeached on the supposi
not divine than in any other way. His char
darkest shade when we try to conceive how a
being only derived and dependent could ever use words which
even seemed to imply an equality in any sense with the
Almighty
Father:
how such
and claim
to
fill
up
all
411
and say
in the
Father but by
earth.
Here is not merely a want of veracity, here is
such pride as astounds, such arrogance as confounds us, unless
there be such divinity as may claim our homage.
We must
on the
turn from
Him
as a usurper, if
we do
not
bow
to
Him
as
a Lord.
V.
altars,
Now
the deification of a
heathenism
there
is
man
deified,
is
it
is
intro
this.
At the same
was
God
things follow.
It follows
a fatal error or delusion, and that not for a few centuries but
in every century of its course.
It follows that
Christianity
412
CHRISTIAN
that
it
THEOLOGY.
now and
may
it
err,
all
is
would give
in
Spirit of Truth.
in
It
is
more
these later
a whole.
But
yet, it is said, it
and what more natural than that they should bring over
some of their old faith with them ? But what if they had some
presentiment of the truth, some troubled and distorted images,
some scattered rays: and what if they found in the Christian
faith and in the Person of Christ the reality of that which had
so long haunted them like a vision, the perfection of what they
strove vainly and idolatrously to depict, the full, concentrated
brightness.of what they had before known only in fitful gleams?
tians
What
What
was
What
into the
idolatry
purified in the Christian faith
a lie,
create
cannot
When Satan
perfect form of worship.
in
most
its
them
was
413
Error
is
best overcome
by showing
the highest and perfect form of the truth with which it is com
mingled. The heathen bowed before the Person of Jesus, and
for
Him renounced
what they
it is
When they
objection are always consistent with themselves.
would prove the being or the unity of God, the immortality of
the soul, a future state of rewards and punishments, they derive
some confirmation to their faith in these truths from the general
consent of men, from the dim light of heathenism. What then
if
we
heathen doctrines ?
be,
But
Yes, but Christian also, clearer and purer in Christianity.
as it assuredly is
if this argument be of weight in these cases
it is still
is
homage
of the world.
brought down
to earth,
and humanity
manity
but
it
does
lie
This
is
deification,
this is the
414
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
It is -said
that
what we
assert of
Him
an absolute
It
impossibility.
difficulty, or
the sub
it,
against any scheme which allows to Christ any
other than a mere human nature.
If we allow a pre-existent
and super-angelic state, in which Christ ever derivatively had
stance of
lies
It
a person
is,
whether we know
what variety
it
we
really
and
of qualities
and
itual
trasts
selfishness
Do
these
And
mortal
man
can become,
is
bound
to
is filled
higher
stand how
God s
Spirit acts
upon and
in
man s
soul,
but
we do
know that
415
it
acts in direct
ful in
to think of a divine
Who
becoming man ?
The objection we
been
held,
Christ.
age
It is
after age,
faith,
by the church of
We
should
tory nor sinful in its nature, is impossible with God.
rather naturally expect that when God engaged in his greatest
work, He would manifest himself in a manner beyond our com
mon
Now we
so far as
A person is
being
we know
is
nothing,
who can
say
it,
I,
state.
He
is
the same
416
CHRISTIAN
without
different nature
be impossible
But,
human
it is
THEOLOGY.
loss of identity
who
will
show
it
tc
said,
nature,
that
when we
and united
same Person.
But
this is
it is
assumed a
it
what we deny.
said that the
A
same
contradiction
assertion
is
is
to
both
true and not true in respect to the same thing in the same sense.
If a man says that any act of his is both sinful and holy in
the same sense, or that any act of his was both free and neces
But if a man
sary in the same sense, here is a contradiction.
body
So Christ
another.
There
is
finite
and the
create anything.
They
they
human
nature,
And
may not
we
if
who
But
let
417
ness at
all.
He
either
and
so
things at the
fectly explain ?
to other truths,
which we are
still
we
find in respect
compelled to admit.
For ex
God s
be,
yet
we know
that
so.
And man, when under the
an influence opposed to his natural
same individual person, and has
must be
it
it is said,
man
affirmed to have
ture
we
demand
has after
had two
all
natures.
a two-fold consciousness?
are material,
may be at different
sciousness
ter
and
spirit.
was omnipotent.
This would be
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
418
say that
(1)
this invalidate in
only of humanity but of humiliation does
the least the evidence of his divine nature ? What if his as
it
what
impossible for
if his
Him
human body
to
ex
did not
all
it is
essential to divinity,
when
divinity
is
united to
human
It is said that
That
here there
is
granted:
not a contradiction.
mystery is
really amounts
something which no
it is
all
a mystery, but a
that the
objection
to is this: that
And
is
is,
trine of the
lectures
cations.]
419
man.
know
But
it.
He was
if his
a man,
it
mind
He
both knew
existed in
may have
one state
may have
state that in
He spoke
the
to his disciples,
direct intercourse
been
of that
And
when the
may have
Saviour.
We
for,
our
faith.
The highest
look
we
is
something which
harmony.
to the superficial
In
all
view
be seemingly,
inconsistent with free will.
A system which denies the divine
is
a
without
a God, a system which denies free
purposes
system
assent.
agency
it
Even
may
in our
own minds
there
is
is
is
is
We
The power
CHRISTIAN
420
freest countries.
and religions
THEOLOGY.
most zealous
liberty.
We
for political
When God
We
own
acts
acts in the
cannot understand
a
history unless we combine
and of the providence of God.
into a direct relation
when
That
sin
this
assert:
sary.
dare not say: that He is eminently fitted for this work, we can
even see, and that there is a greater harmony between such a
work and such a person than between such a work and any
We may venture
other person whom we can conceive to exist.
was better
to affirm: the God-man, by his two-fold nature,
fitted to
alone, than
man
alone,
distinguishing
It loses
out this doctrine ceases to urge the doctrines of grace.
of the
and
conscience
the
of
its hold on the strongest feelings
heart.
divinity.
ology.
It relapses into
It praises
it
wonders
at all zeal.
It
of
has lost the feeling of the constant presence of that Captain
the
ardor,
our Salvation, who has inspired the faith, quickened
Christendom.
of
hosts
forth
the
led
and
aroused the intellect,
is a past, a
as has been well said,
"
"
Its relation to
Christ,"
421
and lived as
As
a matter of
fact it is true, that the greatest earnestness, the loftiest faith, the
God. And surely if anything can arouse all our powers, awaken
our intensest love, make us self-sacrificing, fill us with the holi
est zeal and the purest enthusiasm, and satisfy perfectly all our
wants, it is living faith in such a Lord, who is not only a Lord,
and
all
that
in
we can
whom
all
love as
harmony.
CHAPTER
V.
Him
The Analysis,
(a.)
The Statement.
Person.
(b.)
The natures
The natures
are to be connected.
are to be distinguished.
to consider Christ
We are
not only as having the two natures, but as having them in entire
union,
(c.) Each nature remains perfect in the union: The God
is perfect,
them
is perfect,
the
virgin Mary.
(/.) Thus, the
One Person of Christ.
two
422
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Observations.
1.
We
Saviour in the
tures.
identical
whether in
subject
his
primeval
state,
same
or in
his
He who lived on
earthly manifestation, or in his future glory.
earth as a man was the same being that existed in the bosom of
the Father before the world was; and
heaven
is
the one
who
also
ascended to heaven
Person
that
it
it
all
of himself.
2. There was no
change in the character of either nature.
The divinity remained entire, the humanity remained entire.
The humanity, as is most clearly seen from many utterances
of Scripture, had the soul as well as the body. The body of man
is
Christ
superficial,
were He
like
them only
All that
we
423
Word.
into this
union
or energies. 1
when two
There
is
a mechanical union,
is a magical union
union
is a
by absorption, as when one substance passes over
wholly into another substance. There is a chemical union, as
There
when
we may
is
between
our souls and our bodies. There is a union between God and
man, as when his Spirit dwells in man and this may be of two
There
formed.
is
a natural union, as
call that
kinds
or,
believers.
the natures
it
was not
natural, as if
"
"
we can
was
real,
all
human
will
424
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
may
well
fill
It is like
nothing
else
we know
to the
not limiting the soul s thoughts and affections, and the soul
not acting in a healthful state with such intensity as to mar
even thejnost delicate and sensitive of the nerves with which
it
to
of Jesus Christ.
in respect to the
opment, so in a limited sense it may be asserted
Person of our Lord, that the union was complete at the begin
the
ning, yet there was a process constantly going on before
and so
perfect divinity was united to the perfected humanity,
each
at
was
of
the
much only
stage as was
imparted
divinity
There
necessary for Christ s mission at that particular stage.
may be a difficulty here, lest we seem to infringe upon the di
lest we represent
vinity; but there is also another difficulty,
in the Scriptures.
Him
of
Christ differently from the view given
We
are warranted,
it
distinct states of being of our Lord: his primeval glory, his state
In the
earth as a man, his present glorified condition.
upon
second of these
He
states,
by becoming united
to
human
nature,
425
It
who came
of
God
the Father,
is
to leave
there
it is
He
this state
There
it
be
may
omniscient being
could for a time part with the constant exercise and conscious
possession of his divine attributes, and resume them in their
mystery may be
this:
allowable to
make one s
choice,
There
may
is
prevent us from
We may
upheld
Him
oftentimes
often
gleamed through
in transient
descended upon
Him
at his baptism
1
[This difficulty seems to have been more deeply felt by the author as he con
sidered it in the later years of his theological teaching. He pronounces emphat
Yet what is given above is, so far as can be
ically against every form of Kenosis.
"
of
Christ."
It
can only be said that the view which follows was neither sanctioned
426
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Most certainly
this
much
be averred
they
to the Heavens.
whatever
soul,
However
it
may have
any
life,
was not
it
in
as to
prevent the God-man from being hungry and weary and weak,
from bearing all our infirmities, from suffering the intensest
sorrow, from asserting his ignorance, from growing in knowl
edge, from undergoing real and not apparent death. And all
this, too, after
was then
When we
Epistles,
we
find
runs
much
as
we
And
is
the
found in
by any sufferings
as a
gift of
God
to a
creature.
He
submitted to
all its
427
When
humanity, it
Gentle must have been the contact between the Eternal
Word
and
He assumed, yet
tabernacle.
glorious being and such a frail
consumed not, our nature. Flesh arid blood could not abide the
undimmed brightness
pressure and intense effulgence of the
It was a part of the lowly estate which our
of the Son of God
Kedeemer chose that He should become a very child, an infant
full
mo
powers, an infant whom its mortal
most
a
ther might press to her bosom, and love with
motherly
most hallowed affection. The Eternal Word became a
in the
weakness of
its
though
spoken face to face with God the Father as his co-equal Son.
And under the care of this loving mother and of his Eternal
to man s estate, distinguished, we may well
human excellence, yet not manifesting his di
vine glory, except as a perfect youth and man is all that even
God could be when He became man. He felt the greatness of
what it was yet entered not
his work; He knew his mission
his human nature to enter
nature
fitted
not
divine
it
his
upon
Father, Jesus
grew
upon
until
knowledge of
all
his divinity.
Then
it
He
look
We
that in
428
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
it
as
to
and conscious
alone.
429
full
now
call
Him
Him
constant aid.
their prayers,
And while
God.
who
the story
most apparent, and the
in the Evangelists,
tell
as the
Head
of the church,
There He
angels, as the giver of eternal life, as the Lord of all.
still having in inseparable union his divinity and his
appears,
humanity,
the Being in
still
whom
are
it
No
all
of
God and
all
of
man
longer, as
by which the
full
He
is
is
blessedness as
heaven
glory,
PART
III.
CHAPTER
I.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS.
1.
The
The General
man
He may have
clearly to
sins.
here upon the earth was that He might suffer and die for our
redemption. To this the prophets give witness; and evangelists
and apostles conspire in representing this as the one great end
The Prince
of the Incarnation.
the Son of
God came
to be slain.
He
of glory
came
to be dishonored; the
life,
and
to be
Lord of
so
humbled
life came
was as a Lamb
mined
the two natures, so that the awful dignity of his Person might
1
ix. 26.
431
give
He wrought
2.
I.
and value
to the
work
of atonement
which
out.
Munus
Triplex.
that one is
and does
any
He was and
Mediator between God and man.
Office:
did in
is
and consummation of
History of this
II.
The
mode
a three-fold dignity:
Deut.
Zech.
vi. 13.
common modes
of thought of the
Reformed churches.
all
approve
it.
2
5
Cat.
It
(1562),
ii.
107, 228.
Lib.
Westm. Assembly
ii.
s,
chap. xv.
Ques. 23, Shorter
p. 332,
432
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
We
seem
Him
to see
our Kedeeraer.
The
fact.
real
They
King; He could
offices;
Mediator must be
by them
riot
be a
all
his
full
work
Mediator unless
is
defined; in
He
them
all his
work
is
comprehended.
To
may
of the Messiah.
tell,
4 As among
his chosen race,
we
was
Abraham was
taught.
433
Kings,
also, Saul,
in majesty, yet
Priest,
5.
and King.
The wide bearings of this
vant of God,
last in majesty.
sit
who was
his root
and
in universal dominion.
offspring,
He was
was
to
to be a
He was to bear
priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.
our griefs; He was to be led as a lamb to the slaughter. He
was to teach all nations to bring in everlasting righteousness
:
Luke
iv. 18.
Heb.
Heb.
2 Sam.
i.
434
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
minion.
In such exalted strains did the prophetic word depict
the coming glories of the Messiah, and the sum of all this is:
mony
here becomes,
three
offices,
son.
The
if possible,
separated
king, anointed of
pomp
old,
full
and
distinctive.
The
among
carnal Jewish
more
came
He
disappointed every
power by conquering
(a.) He
earthly hope, and fulfilled every divine prediction,
1
was a prophet, acknowledged as such; He spake as never man
regal
Word
ator as priest, the Great High Priest priest and sacrifice in one
the only true priest, the only real sacrifice, we do not stay to
He
argue here.
ual.
The whole
Hebrews
is
one grand
and Sacrifice,
proof, not only that Jesus Christ is High Priest
but that He alone is such; all others are but types and shadows,
his kingly with his
(c.) And the same Epistle, too, connects
priestly functions.
1
We
Heb.
i.
John
iii.
Luke
priest,
xxiv. 19.
who
is set
on
John, in
their
435
"Worthy
is
the
Lamb
that
"
."
works of
his Father;
God highly
exalted
offices are
And
New
There
8.
is
an inherent propriety
in
having
If
these,
man
is
and only
to be fully
And
eternal kingdom.
It
offices
correspond to the
to the
appeals to the deepest moral wants of the heart and conscience; and as a king,
He guides and rules our wills, making them conform to his will.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
436
9.
The
offices in
feel,
one must
know and
;
to will, one
prophet
of his atoning death;
guide his disciples to know the meaning
and his sacrificial death is the basis of his claim to our supreme
love as our
Head
in his mediatorial
kingdom.
that
we
It is
agony of death;
of the Father.
hand
to the right
chiefly as king, when ascended
But as a prophet, He teaches us even upon the cross, and still
and ever, by his Spirit, though He dwells in heaven. His whole
life as well as his death, was in his priestly character, suffering
life; chiefly
as a priest in the
And He
grand
in his fulness,
is
Thus some take Christ only as the Teacher; others dwell most
others again view Him chiefly
fondly on his atoning death; and
He is each and all. And we
But
life.
as the Lord of spiritual
nor truly, until we know Him in all his
our Priest who atones our
as our Prophet to teach us
offices
in
us.
and
King to rule over
do not know
Him
fully,
437
CHAPTER
II.
OF CHRIST S
PRIEST.
OF ATONEMENT
The
natures
Priestly Office of Christ is that office in both
work
as Priest
we speak
about
1.
it.
Redemption
the
sacrificial
what
is
to be done:
Atonement,
Reconcilia
in its current
This
is
treated
as the
A
on this subject, wrote,
some years ago: Every tyro in theology knows or ought to know that atonement
means nothing more than at-one-ment, that is, the reconciliation of opposing
But none but a tyro in theology knows that this is its only sense. Even
parties."
admitting the correctness of this etymology, it must be said that this way of re
ducing the large import of language to the smallest possible dimensions, by means
of etymology alone, and of deciding theological controversies by an appeal to the
primitive sense of words before they had gained their full signification is one un
worthy of the scholar and the theologian. All the etymology in the world would
never be sufficient to show that atonement means only reconciliation for the
"
very plain reason, that for hundreds of years it has borne in the English language
an additional sense, that is, it includes a designation of the mode in which the
reconciliation was effected. (Atonement=reconciliation, in Sir Thos. More, Shake-
438
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
to
used in a wider sense* Christ satisfied also the divine love and
the divine perfections; but the specific sense is: He so satis
fied the claims of the divine law, in respect to sinners, that these,
through faith, are freed from its condemnation.
all
(6. )
Vicarious.
The term
what He did
is
to designate substitution.
for ours:
accepted as
if
we
He
did
Christ s
it.
is
But
specifically the
word
is
used to set
that in
An
i.
e.,
transaction."
,hat
The
any change
in
offender
God s
is
expiated,
God
is
propitiated: not
but
metaphysical necessity)
is
physical, or
>
Beaumont and
and Cowper.
439
two views: (a.) that mere mercy on God s part, and (&.) mere
repentance on man s, suffices to meet all the exigencies of the
to
case.
is
needed.
be pardoned, there
is
it
may
becoming
mere forgiveness:
for this
would
a sequence. 1
man s
ment
for sin.
moral nature
man s
s
con
Man s
mere happiness
This conviction
the sinner.
of that holiness
is
moral government
i
in order to
"Mercy is
Pardon
not
itself,
is still
woe."
II.
Scene
I.
440
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
(b.)
Man
conscience leads
Him
under
in
an atoning sac
(a.)
Law
transgressors, or
alty
no law.
is
an equivalent, under
Penalty
is
punishment of
law without a pen
end of law, but it is
it.
for transgression
either penalty or what answers the same end which end is the
maintenance of holiness in all its glory. Hence, law from its
very nature demands something which will answer this end as
He magnified
law."
Another form.
is
it
it
would not
(&.)
31;
ix. 22.
5.
An argument
atonement may
also
THE REDEMPTION
441
ITSELF.
ing points,
is
repentance
(6.)
be effected by
instead
of,
the guilty.
6.
of,
The grounds of
this necessity,
under God
moral govern
there
is
atonement.
What
necessity
is it ?
The
God
justify
(c.)
to,
transgressors.
(=be
reconciled).
Why
means
of
own
culprit
but
the
as
a
sake,
punishment as a
good:
the divine abhorrence of sin and sustaining
showing
God and
the honor of
(e.)
culprit
his law.
The atonement,
divine holiness
all
sensus
communisa, natural
dictate of the
sound understanding of
man."
442
(/.)
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
An
inquiry.
way of the
par
don of sinners?
There
no place
is
for mercy.
(3)
it
But
is for
should be attained.
If this
CHAPTER
III.
Ransom: Matt.
Rom.
iii.
ii.
6.
25; 1
John
ii.
2.
real as to re-
way
general justice.
"
It
was not only the divine mind that had to be dealt with, but
mind which was contained in God s making death
the wages of
sin."
THE REDEMPTION
suits,
that
is,
as to deliverance
443
ITSELF.
transgressors.
Proposition.
Christ
that
is
our stead.
it is
a SACRIFICE
a sacrifice in
we must
There
go to history.
alone do we get the ideas. The Scriptures also give us history
the facts which they set forth are part of what has occurred; the
Sacrifice,
mankind.
we
sacrifice? and,
What
Jewish worship;
for the
spoken of in the
New
Testament.
ideas, to
sacrifice.
1.
The
The System of
is
Pagan
World.
444
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
still
this source
pel
ing
men
why the
may
gos
the Gospel.
These false
were unable
false
of the gospel.
own forms
of
worship.
to
receive a sacrifice
Such being the state of things, the question now comes up,
what were the leading ideas which these ancient nations always
connected with the sacrifices they
The
was the
offered.
They
those terrible beings who had the rule over them. The sacrifice
was the means which they made use of, which they supposed ef
persons
who
are
most ready
to derive
an argu
who
consent of nations for the being of God or the soul s immortality are
assert of the systems of sacrifice prevalent in all the world, that they
people ?
445
it
was a
supposed
an atonement to the gods for the sins committed
was supposed to be of such virtue that the deserved punishment
ings
an
guilty,
expiation,
might be averted.
No
all
these elements in
all their
a conclusion
sacrifices
to
God
for
In
the
deities.
Old Testament, in
s chosen People,
we find
the
the
heatlien Sacrifices.
to be a distinct people,
zealous as he
Paganism,
was
still
Well has
it
been
said, that
"
Moses,
made
from
the most
ism
which give
purification.
446
CHRISTIAN
With
THEOLOGY.
this, as is
man
crime, a sacrifice
whole transac
only
separate class,
but they must be especially purified before
they could present
the offering. The animal offered must be without blemish. The
paschal-offering was a lamb the chosen symbol of innocence.
But in these sacrifices was the third element that of an
expia
It was contained,
?
yet symbolically
rather
than
The peculiarity of the Jew
typically,
actually.
ish system is just this, that it did not
permit its votaries to rest
also contained
and
to the
make
which,
it is
Jewish
sacrifices
Lev. xvii.
have given
to
statutes
to be
made
Exod. xxix. 11
for sin,
we
find
of the Innocent
Dent.
xxi. 1-9.
447
a vicarious
the
sacrifice.
The prophets
stand, as
it
stage
which was
premise in the syllogism of which the law is the first, and the
New Testament the conclusion. What the ceremonies and rites
of the law expressed in symbols, that the prophets expressed in
words and both equally referred to Jesus Christ, who was the
;
fulfilled
prophets.
He hath
448
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
and
his
mouth;
was He
is
my
procured
not
my
when thou
iniquities;
shall
He opened
stricken;
deceit in
shall
so
dumb,
make) an
shalt
for
many;
make his soul
He
by
He
(or,
his
knowledge
when
his soul
He
shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
Thus spake prophets of the coming Redeemer. They
his hand.
described
Him
the law.
as they
under
victim offered upon the altar only making the victim a mighty
Saviour instead of an animal without blemish only speaking
of the substitution, the innocence, and the expiation as real, and
The
New
Testament Descriptions of
tlie
Sufferings
strict
and
Form
We
these
men
all
agreed.
Every
life.
449
for
away with and deny all these things, for a dispensation which,
as some suppose, not only overturned the altars, but destroyed
Whether it was so or not,
all the ideas connected with them.
remains to be considered.
Whether the
go to the heathen, and while it bade him quit his false gods
and atrocious rites, also preach to him that he was to look for
no sacrifice and quit all hope of a proper expiation, that he need
it
and death
way and
the truth
as the
and
way
as involved
all
450
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
sacrifice
sacrifices
To
New
which the
It is
it.
1
gist for Christianity asserts
"that
Christ suffered
and died
as
a doctrine so constantly
Testament that whoever will seriously
is
and Livy,
assert that in
ransom
for
many,
the sheep ? What does Paul mean when he writes to the Gal4
atians, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
3
made
a curse for us
Why
does Peter preach Christ as the one who his own self bare
own body on the tree, 6 and also declare that
Why does
Christ suffered for sins once, the just for the unjust ? 7 (The words
used, for, instead of, bearing the sin of others, and the like, ex
press substitution, if any words can do it; and the variety of
phrases, all of which concur in the same vicarious significancy,
Had there been only
forbids us to suppose it was accidental.
it
such a violence.)
specting Christ
Why
by the Apos
tles, when they addressed both Jew and Gentile, if they did not
mean to teach them the necessity and efficacy of vicarious
If
sufferings?
i
<
on
Soame Jenyns.
Gal.
Heb.
iii.
Pet.
13.
iii.
18.
ix. 28.
John
1 Pet.
x. 15.
ii.
24.
451
who
is
his alone
sacrifice.
An
might
And
this is
and that
thing.
signed to
make
yet
It
by
it
was never
realized,
the favor of
they spake of his. All others neither purchased
s
did
Christ
man
both, and was
God, nor brought true peace to
:
Heb.
vii. 26.
1 Pet.
i.
19.
to the conscience,
3
1 Cor. v. 21.
452
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
own
blood;
whom we
in
The conclusion
passages as those
to
we have
guage
to
aright,
whom
meant
i.
was
it
e.,
the sense
addressed, or
it
to those
we must admit
words.
To
this
Magee
more
by
it
the atonement,
7
"The
says:
atonement by the
sacrifice of Christ
was
where
strictly vicarious than that by the Mosaic sacrifices
remark
the
substance
of
this
And
was typified."
may be
Rev.
Eom.
On
i.
5.
iii.
25.
the Atonement.
Eph.
2 Cor.
i.
7.
v. 19.
No. LXXIII.
John
Heb.
i.
7.
THE REDEMPTION
453
ITSELF.
We
to admit that
say, then, still further, that not only are we obliged
Christ s death is a proper sacrifice, but that we are forced to con
New
Testament,
was
to
concede"
tliat it
thereto.
it
be so interpreted, but
it
must be
so
interpreted not only does history lead us so to view it, but with
out history, though we knew of no heathen rites, though we had
;
read of no Jewish
conscience. 1
5.
Obj.
Consideration of Objections.
I.
Why may we
"And
this I
am
sure,"
we
it."
454
CHRISTIAN
said that one
man
THEOLOGY.
from them?
death avert
Such an explanation,
instead of
And
first.
fails.
amongst
us, is
man
to God.
Had
meaning
facilities,
and its
tament according
written
times, be
which it was
which not only animal
well remembered, in
that
He was
455
in the
human
way
in
sacrifice
us to attribute to
it
or forces
in consequence of the
Obj. II.
its
this doctrine is
left in
sometimes
an indefinite
any man
to believe in
by saying
vagueness,
enough
the sufferings and death of Christ, to trust to that, and leave all
theories about expiation and propitiation to the care of dispu
is
we can
all
unite.
for
it is
and
Christ suffered
tants.
here
died,
This
and
for us
is
so
much
revealed
plain fact,
theories about the atonement are not so plain.
is
is,
is
plain
fact,
but
death was
and that
all
for us.
if it
worth,
it
it.
the fact and not a theory about it. If one does not
believe in the expiation, he does not believe in the sacrifice.
This
We
is
have the
sufferings
shell
and not
life
being
And
the fact, is to
and fact.
of an Incarnate God
456
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
most startling of
sins, is to require
us to believe
and
in a
It is difficult, if
it,
conscience alone
conscience
execution.
demands
We
it
shall die,
and
is to
make
It is
facts,
men
come
after.
commonest relations.
But after all care has been exercised
in
man s
in relation to these
If the
points, the objection cannot be conceded to be valid.
that
we
cannot
see
how
the
literal
objection means,
penalty of
involve this necessarily it says only, that the sufferings and death
of Christ were instead of this penalty.
Of course the objection
does not mean that there can never be any vicariousness of
:
If
it
is
we can
THE REDEMPTION
457
ITSELF.
not see just how the sufferings and death of Christ are the pro
curing cause of the pardon of our sin, then we say, that it is not
necessary that this should be seen in order to a living faith in
do not believe in a bare abstract
Christ as our Redeemer.
We
we
plan of atonement, which we can see through and round:
And in
believe in Jesus Christ, our High Priest, our Sacrifice.
his sacrifice there
is doubtless
a mystery, unfathomable
penetration.
Then in respect to this objection,
we
say
to
mortal
hension,
it
tions to
it.
it
On
is
p6wer of
much
sin, as
as right
is
much
But
New
Testament:
it is
is
assaulted;
is assailed,
it is
New
Testa-
not the
458
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
ment
If
we can
and by
all
of a sacrifice for
sin.
The heathen
we can
mode of
reconciliation as the sacrifice of Christ, on the one hand to
God s character and government, and on the other hand to the
that
see,
wants of men.
(a.) The expiatory sufferings of Christ are on the one hand
conformable to what we know of God s character and govern
where
fecti-on.
shows
and
love can both be met, and the
justice
who
is
the
of
a
object
being
just condemnation can become the
Nowhere else are these attributes
subject of a redeeming love.
This
so perfectly manifested as in the work of our Saviour.
alone gives it a surpassing glory, and would be sufficient to
ing claims of
vindicate
it
bestowed in
It
God s
fulness
must be
How
in respect to
The
whom
justice of
cannot be imparted.
Such
God
satis-
459
As the representative
in our stead its exHe
suffered
the
law,
kept
tremest penalties not the same in kind, as, e. g., remorse and
atonement of Jesus bestows.
faction the
He
of the race
eternal death
but
all
and made
race,
with
His justice
work
itself.
Jesus,
and
it is
it is
And
here again we say that the maintenance of this authority does not constitute the substance or
matter of the atonement: but rather, that the atonement has
one of
this for
one of
an important
the chief end or ulti
its relations
way
as
is consistent
and above
own
eyes might be
460
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
pressiveness,
representation
We
and
it
honorable,
(b.)
fitted to
not
so to speak
a moral spectacle, exhibited chiefly to enlist and arouse the feel
ings of man, his sense of sin, and, his need of redemption is as
God
and
this
it
is
It is
and
this is fitted
science, so far as
it
can the
sacrifice of Christ
the rationale,
theories.
We
have endeavored
and
the statement, that the death of Christ was a proper sacrifice for
our sins.
suppose that this is revealed in so distinct a man
ner that it is a part of the facts of the Gospel. When we say
We
but
expiation for our sins, we are not stating theories,
revealed facts.
suppose that in this fact is contained an
it
made
We
461
to the question,
answer
is,
by
how can
how God
actions,
and
the divine
we
a task which
is
do not undertake.
CHAPTER
IV.
I.
his
Rev.
20; Gal.
21;
Cross: 1 Cor.
v. 6, 9, 12.
iii.
Luke
i.
23; Gal.
Luke
vi. 14.
iii.
Sufferings:
Blood: Matt. xxvi. 28
18; Matt. xx. 28.
xxii. 20);
Eph.
ii.
13;
i.
7; Col.
i.
14; 1
ii.
Eph.
iii.
16; Col.
18; 1 Pet.
i.
ii.
i.
v. 9.
II.
Christ suffered
Isa.
liii.
5,
6;
and died
for others.
Rom.
v.
6;
Gal.
iii.
13,
14;
462
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
Christ died for sin
III.
Isa.
liii.
John
8;
6,
and sinners.
Kom. iii. 25;
18; Rev.
iii.
v.
29;
i.
13; Heb.
iii.
8; vi. 10;
ix.
viii.
28; 1 Pet.
ii.
3;
24;
5.
i.
IV.
As
Luke
such a
to the necessity of
ii.
21;
iii.
sacrifice.
21; Heb.
10.
ii.
V.
was
suffered, He was a
what was symbolized under this
really
He was
(a.)
He was
(b.)
i.
19; Rev.
Heb.
ix.
26;
Rom.
iii.
iii.
John
(c.)
As
He
(d.)
IX.
in
1.
less
12; Heb.
i.
Him
Eph.
v. 2;
Pro
He
makes an
alone
18; Gal.
ii.
Eph.
v. 25;
Heb.
own
ii.
Reconciliation
Him;
enjoined.
to the race.
John
John iii.
people:
13, 14; 1
14; x. 7-9.
ix.
atonement
x.
16.
17; Matt.
ix.
16;
vi.
For
all,
6;
John
Heb.
ii.
29;
i.
9; 1
iii.
John
ii.
51;
xii.
47;
2.
That what Christ did and suffered for us was under the
some sense, for some object to meet its claims.
He
is
represented as a sacrifice
under or
in direct relation to
this has
demands
no meaning un
of law.
2.
13.
29; 1 Pet.
was voluntary.
law
iv.
v.
i.
iv. 10.
is
20-28; Acts
x. 17,
v. 8;
(b.)
ii.
VIII.
(a.)
John
That Christ
VII.
Lamb: John
for sin.
through Him
Luke
25
1; iv. 14;
iii.
Sacrifice: 1 Cor. v. 7;
xiii. 8.
Offering: Heb.
x. 12.
iii.
14;
That Christ
VI.
atonement
Rom.
vii.
17;
ii.
1; x. 21.
viii.
12;
Rom.
pitiation:
1 Pet.
v.
26;
Heb.
Priest:
High
Priest,
463
"
5.
Phil.
x. 4;
not
"to
ii.
8;
Heb.
fulfilling of
Matt.
v. 8;
but u to
complete,"
ex
is
iv. 4, 5.
v. 18,
17 (where letypwtiai
v.
19;
means
fulfil").
Effect of
i.
13; Tit.
ii.
He
2.
13;
took
38; Col.
xiii.
i.
Uohn
away
iv. 14.
14; Eph.
7;
i.
Rev.
Reconciliation: Heb.
Justification
1 Cor.
1.
2.
3.
5.
6.
Acts
3; 1
25
v. 25;
ii
17.
xiii.
39
John iii.
John ii.
Heb.
5.
iv. 10.
John
12; 1
xiii.
i.
7;
Rom.
iii.
24
v. 9
Gal.
ii.
17
to the universe:
John
xiv. 13;
ix. 15.
In relation to God.
25;
4.
i.
iii.
vi. 11.
XI.
iii.
Eph.
6.
Heb.
Heb.
Rom.
i.
vii. 14.
5.
7.
John
viii.
ii.
Rom.
2 Cor. v. 21.
Cor. v. 21.
(through
23;
whom we
have
now
Rom.
v.
11
XII.
Summary from
work
no theory, no hypothesis
only
assertions.
464
And
CHRISTIAN
it
amounts
fice:
THEOLOGY.
He
and died
Suffered
representative
2.
3.
4.
sufferings, death,
obedience;
God
CHAPTER
V.
The
fluence in bringing
2.
sists in
3.
of general justice
ism
4.
and Utilitarian
general justice
as holiness
and that
it
oi
incidentally satisfies
distributive justice.
1.
Theories
Atonement ultimately by
its
In
fluence on
I.
465
pie and instructions, the purity and excellency of the law, that
sinners are thereby moved to repentance and obedience.
sist in this.
1.
This
fails to
It is
It is inconsistent
of sins
4.
to
redeem
and save us: Christ himself saves us by his atoning work: the
stress of Scripture is not on that, but on this Scripture says less
:
of his
life
(Kant,
McLeod Campbell,
III.
Christ
to regeneration,
symbolical, outward
in turning to God.
in part.)
atonement
and
brought in a new
it
life
believers in regeneration.
Suffering is incidental, and a
Incarnation
of a holy being in a sinful
incident
an
to,
necessary
to
This law of
life
and
by sin because He was opposing it. Bushnell says, Christ by the law of love was
bound to do what He did. Coleridge, however, asserts a Godward as well as a manward aspect, says that the Godward side is the essence of the Atonement, but that
it
a spiritual and transcendent mystery which passeth all understanding."
Manward, the effect is, regeneration, being born anew Christ is a quickening, life"is
giving Spirit: there are four metaphors of this (compare Bushuell s "altar-forms"):
sin-offering, reconciliation, debt, ransom; all of which describe the effect, not the
full
mind
of
God tow
466
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
This theory
1.
is
2.
Christ
3.
sacrificial
character of
mediation.
It is false, in
incidental.
merely
It is false, in
5. The
theory thus fails to explain the Scriptural positions
exhibited in the preceding chapter.
It is
work by one of
sun
2.
faction
to
It
embraces the
fol
lowing points:
1.
Christ
2.
He
3.
Sometimes
is
the federal
Head
of the elect.
said that
He became
really
and personally
a sinner.
4.
He
what
dis
tributive justice
He
directly
imputed
whom
Remarks.
(a.)
thoroughly antinomian.
It is inconsistent
467
All
is
legal.
(d.)
Such a substitution
in the
way
tice is
morally impossible.
not and could not suffer the penalty as a sin
(e.) Christ did
ner does, for He was not a sinner, and could not have remorse,
neither did
(/.)
He undergo
Upon
eternal death.
Atonement
is
This
is
the satisfac
It
reduces
ture of man.
That
was not
it
at
was
life.
for himself.
Anselin was the chief advocate of the satisfaction theory. He considered the
ground of the Atonement to be the divine justice requiring an infinite equiv
alent for the infinite guilt of sin,
that there
a necessity for it founded in the
infinite nature of God.
Abelard, on the other hand, maintained that the Atonement exhibits the free grace of God, which, by kindling love in the breast of man,
blots out sin, and with sin its guilt.
Baur, Versb hnungsl. 195. His view, as ex
pounded by Aquinas in contrast with Duns Scotus (Redemption not connected with
the sufferings of Christ ex insito valore, sed ex divina acceptilatione), was main
tained by the Reformers, and afterwards the mercantile form of the theory was
1
last
"was
developed.
468
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
one
else,
for us.
What
How
it.
under the
law
is
substituted sufferings
and show that the
satisfied in its
demand
The theory virtually says, This cannot be done there must be here
a relaxation of the law. The Sovereign Lawgiver can graciously
accept what He sees to be of equivalent value to the honor
Thus
of the law and the satisfaction of his own ethical nature.
antinomianism is avoided. As the Lawgiver is not bound to
accept the substitute for penalty as He would be the payment
for debt, He may prescribe what terms of acceptance He pleases.
The claim of law is not satisfied until the conditions on which
:
Remark:
It is
tile
that Christ
made
satisfaction to the
ful
He
"suffered
ferings
law of God
469
penal.
thus, it
makes God s
is right,
the law upon sinners shall be fully attained, God s essential jus
but the strictest distributive justice is not sat
tice is satisfied;
isfied,
made
it is
to
the whole of
to happiness.
which
Thus
3.
viewing
this as
having reference
to
The
is,
ness,
This
is
usually,
but
is
II.)
fromBaur.
52,
470
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Bemarlcs:
1.
(a.)
That
made under, the divine law, in any form or way; (6.) That sin
deserves punishment. 1
2. The
theory fails: (a.) To give a legitimate sense to Priest
Sacrifice
hood,
says, they are figurative (6.) To show how Christ s
or
3.
case, in
not a theory:
it is
an unsatisfactory form.
II.
his
[God
s]
his authority
by means of an
atonement."
Remarks:
This rests on the happiness, expediency theory of morals.
God s authority, as the Moral Governor, is maintained by
1.
2.
by an
The Atonement,
4.
it
Jus
Demands
of
that
the
divine
holiness
or
the
holi
meaning by
ness of the law, i. e., what the divine holiness sets before itself
tice,
Public
Justice,
it is
which
is
country.
a Dr. N.
4
Ib.,
ii.
W.
Taylor, Lectures,
283.
ii.
282.
THE REDEMPTION
471
ITSELF.
sundered here.
In the popular and even in the scholastic discussions, the
of God is often taken and defined, solely from and in view
Law
of
and
its
demands
that
on, individuals,
is,
whole scope
its
and
is
their
said to
fulfilled, its
said,
be satisfied
strictly: the
Then, because it is
and moral law is simply the carrying out of distributive justice,
the Atonement, which is substitutionary, cannot be brought
under such government and law, ground has often been taken
not
who would
"New
Schools"
of American
God s
holiness
and hatred of
sin, it is
nevertheless a
It
transaction out of the strictly moral administration of God.
of
divine
is
has been said that the satisfaction
justice
merely
"
an established
ment
is
that
phrase,"
"it
the expression
satisfies
of,
general
and provides
justice,"
for
it is
God
universe.
moral government
is
one which
is
administered by moral
472
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Moral government is government by moral law. (c.) As
no procedure on the part of God in his dealings with
law.
there
is
government
Atoning
Sacrifice of his
"
quirements.
II.
1.
the universe
of holy love
in
To furnish the
that the
Atonement
we have
3.
satisfies,
we
"
directly,
of the
demands of
law, such as
Distributive Justice
is
Divine holiness
1
is
mode
ye holy, for I
am
holy."
all
Love
473
seeks to communicate
est
its
its
its
is
end.
es
and
To
In this
mode
3.
law
fold
end in view,
or,
as
we may
say, the
personal
ward
4.
demands on individuals
pediency, nor into Utilitarianism, nor into the good of the whole
(as happiness); but it is that justice which the Law is designed
to enthrone.
IV.
to the
End
of the
Law.
1. Atonement rests
generally on the idea of mediation: its
most general aspect is that of a mediation between God and
man. The whole mystery of the Incarnation is involved.
2.
It rests
in a moral sense:
474
CHRISTIAN
under God
and transact
THEOLOGY.
instead
Eedemption by God.
If
of,
it
Here
may
stand
the mystery of
not a transaction under moral
others.
is
it: if it is
is
then what
This
it is
impossible to
But
it
and justice
unless
all
God
moral government no
may
it.
[There
ernment
is,
is to
"law"
ering
all
procedures in
God
moral government]
475
That
it
then?
It is
by
distributive justice,
and how does the sacrifice made by Christ secure these ends?
are: the sus
(a.) The ends answered by distributive justice
to
and
s
God
holiness, which
supreme regard
taining
showing
He does by demanding the obedience, and punishing the dis
obedience, of each and
all
Punishment,
i.
e.,
(1) as
ends
the
the just desert of personal transgression; (2) to answer
of public justice: penalty relates to both: Atonement has respect
not to the
first,
(1)
He
As He
is
stands and
More
specifically, as,
more
is
He
specifically, as his
of holiness
individuals
is
satisfaction
of the
divine holiness.
Instead of this, we having failed in obedience,
and being subject to penalty, Christ in our stead, in stead of the
demands on each and all, does and suffers what answers the
same, the identical ends. What He did and suffered is not the
same in kind or degree, but the same in essence, nature, and in
its
relation to the
476
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
there
is
man
It is
God
favor
with Christ.
is
insured.
Regeneration
is
life is
that which
477
It also
soul, its
pardon, justification
sets forth.
4 A
5.
sin
"
It
"satisfies
"
"
and pardon.
Also, the view we have indicated shows that God
sacrifice
6.
justice
7.
it lets
It
all his
festation.
while
Moreover,
distributive justice
and through
course: to
is satisfied,
grace abound.
all
Grace pro
is
pardoned
in Christ.
8.
It is
9.
It
does not
make
to
Universalism
10.
it
them
is
all.
not in
it:
The real difference between the two chief parties to the controversy on
on these points: (1) Is distributive justice the whole of the justice,
this matter is
man ?
it
(2) Is
holiness or
ise
no need of controversy.
The
obligation
suspended upon
is
conditions."
is
a gracious
"prom
478
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
VI.
It is:
and only
is
sufficient for
provision for
others is simply incidental.
is denied.
Arminians: that God might offer salvation
on the ground of a less strict obedience. This also denies
election. Others: to prevent the evils of mere
pardon, to sustain
to all
(1)
As
Atonement;
applicability; (3)
As
(2)
As
to its suffi
to its actual
applica
Arminians,
To the question, then, Did Christ come into the world, suffer
and die, solely for the elect ? the theory of Limited Atonement
That was the sole design: all other objects effected
are
not of the design, but incidental; the truth of Gen
thereby
replies:
eral
Atonement
says:
Christ
is
made
for all
479
with
government for God actually to save all, but consistent
the demands of penal justice.
The Atonement, as such, does not save any.
5.
2.
1.
2.
vided for
1-3; Matt.
or
"in
tinction; (6.)
fectual
all
is
here at stake
Special guilt
Matt, xxiii. 37;
is
for
is:
the
in
:
offer,
all"
He
iii.
among
"Some
all
an unscriptural dis
(a.) this is
not
is
God
But
meaning
know that
made to "some
we do
calling,"
sincerity of
lands."
28-30; Rev.
xi.
classes"
all.
It is
it
in the sense of
these cases:
(c.)
"ef
the
all.
ascribed to those
who
reject the
atonement.
(a.)
(&.)
(c.)
bless
ings.
6.
There
It is
to be so
is
then,
it is
consistent for
God
to offer
and
if to offer,
"
for them.
480
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Cor.
viii.
From
(3)
ii.
15
1.
(a.)
From
the view
it
Atonement.
3.
It
Not
2.
God makes
never to
He
determines
effect.
Not
men
so:
God makes
provision to
make
the salvation of
all
possible.
3.
It is inconsistent
Not,
if election
is
least of
4.
provision
is
made.
God
in Christ s death
elect, in
6.
From
God intended
to the elect
to apply it equally.
He
who
481
are united to
Him by
faith.
This
most
is
true,
but
is
and
does,
He
does for
all
The doctrine of
irrelevant here.
all
mankind.
CHAPTER
VII.
Royal
I.
super-historical
relation of Christ
to the world.
nation and
may
linger
upon
by
sculpture,
Imagi
recalled
may
memory may
may
be
by painting, and
be transmitted from
their lives
p. 365.
482
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
But
lief in
in startling contrast
with
all others,
the real
we
find that a be
Priest
Our Advocate
We
He
man
sin,
In that
we
He
is
able to succor
The
whom
our
His nature
is allied
to
God and
bonds.
His
moving
petitions.
By
Only He
made
effectual.
483
He can
men,
His intercession
is
as eternal
He
ever livetb
There arises from all parts of the world, at the morning and
the evening, and through the labors of the day, a perpetual in
cense of adoration and of petition it contains the sum of the
;
human
haunting
prayer:
spirit,
the stifled
the mother
fear,
all
than
all
know
ourselves,
His Intercession, in
its
largest sense,
may
be said to con-
484
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
in all his agency, at the right hand of the Father, for the
and complete redemption of man. Whatever He does, on
the basis of his sacrifice, now and ever, in the way of mediation
between God and man, is comprised in this intercession, taken
It consists not in words alone, but also in
in its fullest scope.
deeds: his succor, his pity, his care, his love for each and all his
gist
final
up
in his
name:
all
belong
to,
answers
his intercession.
We
love.
human
Him
office;
as the
and
unto God.
is
It
embraces in
its
pardoned;
ness
is
made
tercession,
485
may
According
of Christ
to
Heb.
s sacrifice is
viii.
1,
and
ix.
24,
be sanctified
There
Intercession.
is
one
sacrifice,
once for
all;
stant Interceder.
2.
He
intercedes as our
High
Priest,
and therefore
still
the Father
throne
the
Lamb
slain
He is an everliving High
exalted
to
rule
and
to
Priest, though
reign.
3. The representation of Him as an Advocate is taken from
world,
making
the forms of
xvii.,
486
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
are made.
will
sel of
deepest and
Christ, to
of
all
faith,
Lord.
4. Does He, then,
plead and ask in words, in speech
do one to another? The only answer that can be given
as
is
we
that
it is
if
not articulate
ther of
all.
Does
He
infinite
grace
to the
who
is
if this
what we vainly
asks that
more
that
Is his
Alas for us
for
life
6.
This
head? And is
Does redemption extend
to body, soul, and spirit;
hairs of our
less
we may
light,
He
be
so.
We
wish.
and He
we may be
We
in the
night.
V.
The Fruits of
his Intercession.
They
consist of Justification,
1
John
Rom.
xvii. 24,
viii. 33,
487
sons,
Rom.
1 Cor.
plete redemption,
i.
30.
We have
our race pointed to Christ, and the modern has received its law
from Him that the insignia of divine power and the best human
;
two
that
He was
fitted as
He now,
its
its
real
its
practical bearings
And
thus
is
it
as wonderful as
it is
in its
now
to be considered
DIVISION THIRD.
DIVISION THIRD.
THE KINGDOM OF REDEMPTION.
We
In this
we
Work
anew
This
to God.
is
by the Holy Spirit; II. The Union between Christ and the
The Doctrine of the Church and the Sacraments.
Church.
III. The Consummation of the Kingdom of Redemption in time
and eternity or The Eschatology of the system.
Here we have come to the proper place for giving to the
;
492
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
of
Kingdom
had
God a
fuller consideration
than
has previously
it
in these lectures.
to be affirmed
is
and
illustrated, in
any
to be fulfilled, in
in
which
the true basis and bonds of a real brotherhood are found, a king
dom in which all men are to be reconciled with each other, by
being united to the Father, through the Son and by the Holy
Spirit, so that heaven and earth are joined in entire fellowship.
In contrast with schemes of
at the temporal, the social,
human
device,
and the
Christianity
that
is,
it is
God s
grace,
that others
is
may
forever blessed
as
it
that he
to
last to
Christ
is,
came
and
goes religion
;
what
that is
good
Now
this
may
all
this is
be right, as far
its real
This
kingdom
you."
is
493
which
all
employ.
the true idea of Christianity exhausted when we
as limited to our churches and denominations,
in
them for the spiritual building up of their mem
and working
bers.
Many stop here. They make the church quite separate
Nor
2.
is
conceive of
it
it.
and
to gather
while
all
new members
for the
same
object.
And mean
move on independently.
men and prepare them
all
kinds,
inquiries.
man s
may
neglect
state.
social
494
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
and
Aristotle,
man, never
and
this
ise
in
to bring in a time of
ciliation
God become
still
the weapons of their warfare were not carnal, but spiritual; they
prophesied the downfall of states and states have fallen they
;
Nation after na
historic influ-
now
remains
495
more
all
human
and
social rights
and
this in a continuous
and
If
when
II.
in
sions of others.
While the
man
the pas
about
the
man
veil.
were
avowed
need of a divine
aid,
man
496
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
dition
is
hostility, of alienation
from God.
man
To
reconcile
There
nature.
is
first
means
which men
to
efficient
all
are
made
influences
what
1
in
human
Chalmers
plans
calls that
is
"the
And
so
it
ment of our species, whereby eternity stands before us in the character of time,
and time wears the aspect of eternity, whereby the substance appears to be the
shadow, and the shadow the substance."
497
man
and
in short, to
fitting earnestness,
man
is
to be carried
life
to the
That which
is
nature,
it,
has
its
is
and
efficiency are
from above.
It
has not
its basis in
our physi
the
is it for
and are
human
speculation,
still,
498
and
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
unseen and
out in
And
eternal.
all their
minutiae.
tion or a plan
needed
thing more is given us in those sublime facts and realities which
for the reform of the race.
is
lie
kingdom of God;
for this
kingdom
is
re
To
really reform
Christ.
It is
one of
its
it
has for
its
head and
be the Mediator between God and man; a person who laid the
foundations of this kingdom in the most stupendous sacrifice,
may come
to
Him,
499
and
so majestic
that
est to us with his richest blessings when our misery is most real
and our needs most urgent. Faith in Him is the beginning of
the new creation, and glory with Him is its consummation. In
such a person is the kingdom of God centralized and knit to
gether.
Another of
2.
which
and
it
Spirit,
This kingdom
to enter into
ture,
is
and remould
all
do
this, as is
the higher,
lower,
it is
it is
law.
nothing
else.
oppression
When
when
The kingdom
instances;
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
500
but
Not only
is it
thus adapted to
it
man s most
means
for
urgent wants,
developing the
dom.
It
ance of
It
all
of the character
it
all
character,
and the
When we would
<
what
the love of our neighbor and our brethren. All true reforms
can only be the carrying out of the spirit and the injunctions of
of God.
the
Moreover, the safety of reforms is best
kingdom
of that
argued on the ground of the permanence and victories
and
kingdom. And patience in the midst of discouragement
made more
defeat is
umphs
of truth
7.
enthrone
its truths.
8.
is
501
contained in
9.
it is
kingdom
that
it
laboring,
contains the wealth of His
1
It will be the very embodi
wisdom, the crown of his purposes.
ment of what is most grand and glorious in divinity, so far aa
it
And
in
it
man
Human
its
How
is
become Christ s,
given to Immanuel
Whether
declared.
its fullest
this
we know,
for
it
has been
on the
of
little
that
In
be viewed.
PART
I.
BOOK
I.
CHAPTER
I.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The
I.
topics
now coming up
are
known
as the doctrines
Man s
fallen
ing work, and here we consider the operation of the Holy Spirit.
II.
This operation must be traced back to the purpose of
God, as part of the decrees of God. These have been already
considered in part.
It
all
events
crees
is
Any
objection to decrees is an
These decrees form one
main
decree, or
the great end for which God made and governs the world. That
portion of the divine decrees which has respect to the final con
dition
is called
III.
to
503
do simply with
God s purpose
IV.
tion,
1.
and
is
meant by Predestina
we make
all
events
actions as a
holy God.
2.
is
not to be confounded
with supralapsarianism.
In
many
glory.
between what
decreed by
itself.
man s
free will
assists,
Predestination
is
and therefore
common usage
of
504
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
the word arbitrary. The doctrine implies that all the divine
purposes have wise and holy reasons. Predestination is arbi
trary in the sense that
own
mere
God
will
is
and plans;
it is
We may not
not arbitrary.
able to see the reasons: these are for the divine will
ours; but
God would
nature
if
and not
He
be
for
ordained
upon men as
is
or
wholly moral.
in regard to
which
ent on the
human
grace aids
human
volitions.
The former say that grace ever precedes aad directs the human
The term in Arminianism is assists
will, while the will is free.
in Calvinism
grace precedes and directs. This is sometimes
:
is irresistible.
This term
an idea which
is
is
not
not intended
to be conveyed.
Irresistible, usually means, that which cannot
be resisted or overcome even if the will be opposed to it, e. g., in
the case of natural force: but this cannot be the meaning in this
case,
8.
because the divine purpose always carries the will with it.
The ultimate principles on which the assertion of the di
Of
all
(a.) All
true religious
life
God
is
the cause.
505
CHAPTER
II
Election
is
God s
expression of
a part of Predestination.
towards the
infinite love
Election
human
is
the
race, re
deeming man from sin through Christ, and by the Holy Spirit
bringing him into this state of redemption, so far as it is consist
It is
ent with the interests. of God s great and final kingdom.
the divine love in its most concrete and triumphant form. It
is
it is
eternal
1.
Election
maybe
thereof.
God s
said to be:
eternal purpose, as a
part of his whole plan, to save some of the human race, in and
by Jesus Christ. Election to eternal life is the end of all the di
These positions
ditions of salvation through natural inability.
in
themselves they are
we have considered elsewhere whether
:
true or false
is
we
here say
is,
they
2.
i.
4, 5,
or classes.
Luke
xiii.
23:
"Few"
is
individualizing,
and so
506
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
"
"Ye"
1 Thess. v.
bestow eternal
to
is
demption
9,
10; 2 Thess.
ii.
upon the
John xvii.
life
13;
lost:
2.
Acts
xiii.
So that
it is
48;
not
call to external
privileges.
not of works.
(d.) It is
of
2 Tim.
it:
Rom.
9;
i.
They
ix.
11;
and
Eph.
holiness,
i.
4,
and
but a part
In
5; 1 Pet. i. 2.
is
it,
not of persons
as holy.
xi.
(a.) It results
ii.
5, 8.
(c.)
sin.
It results
By
nature
can rescue
we
us.
(d.) It resufts
4.
It is
They
all
Theories of Election.
to eternal
life,
but
is
a national
call.
It
is,
Some
507
Remarks:
This theory concedes the principle. God may make a dis
crimination in regard to nations on a large scale, and be just
(a.)
and benevolent
in
doing
it.
to see or
(6.) It is impossible
tion
comes
first
the seed of
frustrated
Jews
to perish :
called,
verses 15-18.
This
is
wrath
whom He condemns on
Israel is passed
his
fitted to destruction,
(d.)
is
of
theory.
The theory of
II.
Ecclesiastical Individualism:
God
calls
As many
them
"
of
interpret
Remarks:
(a.
The theory
(6.) It
is
true as far as
it
goes.
externally,
He may
internally.
If God discriminates
508
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
It
(c.)
holiness,
and
salvation.
III.
election to salvation:
it is,
and
in part
is
Pelagians say that one man repents and believes and another
does not, and election and reprobation are based upon these
facts.
Arminians say that God has given to all men sufficient
that there
grace,
ciency of
is
effi
it,
Remarks:
This makes God
(a.)
Man
The
we
chooses
God
first,
He
Eph.
chose us in
4.
i.
The
(b.)
doctrines of sin
(c.)
he
may
2.
is
a moral
inability in
preach
No Arminian
however much
it.
Reprobation.
is
a judicial
act.
The predestination
not refer to the sinful state as coming from God (the supralapearian view), but to the divine act which is consequent upon the
sinful state.
is
simply
509
God
men
not
It is
plan.
damn
them, or that
He made them on purpose to condemn them, in order to show
That position has never been accepted in this coun
his justice.
created
try,
The end
of
God
demning some
it
was
to
effectually demolished.
con
to eternal torment.
The condemnation
sim
is
who do
regard to those
God
God
God
delights in holiness.
but
1.
Prseterition.
3.
i.
26; 1 Pet.
ii.
8;
Jude
15.
The ob
Objections on philosophical grounds.
jections are to the two main statements: Every event must
have a cause, God is the cause of all spiritual life.
1
First Class.
01
I.
>j.
law
events in time,
1
power of the
Predestination.
510
CHRISTIAN
human
THEOLOGY.
Remarks:
The law of
stone cannot
life,
move without an
still
less
external
from
power
it,
is the
proper author, and the law of causality
covers this spontaneous energy as much as it does the external
influences.
2.
some
be no
Mere
implies an end or
which
produce choice.
Choice
is
II.
(Mozley.) It is not to be affirmed that God is the
cause
or source of all religious life, because if God be such,
proper
Obj.
[The above is found only in students notes. The fuller view is given in Faith
and Philosophy, p. 359 seq. Perhaps the author s statements might be thus
summed up: Into choices there must perforce enter, not merely the/orm of per
sonal agency but also its vital substance. The feelings and affections can no more
be kept out of the will than out of the man. Self-determination is essential to
freedom, but self-determination is a procedure of the man, and not of the will
viewed as mere capacity of choice. What is in the man as affection, etc., as well
as what he reaches out to as object of desire, etc.,
goes to the self-determination,
and hence it is vain to say that human spontaneity is not covered by the law of
1
causality.
the
human
will
511
ligious
first,
i.
e.,
proper and
human
real,
causes of the re
soul.
Remarks:
1.
There
under the
may
first,
but relative
2.
of
to be the author of
fluence.
not religion.
3. All the more
human
4.
Eph.
is
is
alienated from
Him.
The
ii.
God
The
The Second
Class of Objections.
God
is
the non-elect.
Remarks:
1.
We
s reply, in
which
is
Rom.
ix.
There
is
that
The
sinners.
God
them as
for the
512
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
we do not
dence,
(b.)
still
to holiness,
gard
term with God even as a benevolent being,
God
for
to leave
do
purpose
to
again,
(d.)
God
If it is right
any
so,
(c.)
to perish as sinners,
because this
it is
is
eternal
life
nevolence,
(e.)
is to
all proofs of be
be allowed to the
1
suggestion of Bishop Butler, that the election of all might be
hazardous to the interests of the divine government. The be
lief
sin.
all
men
is
From
But, (a.)
The doctrine
of election
him.
(b.)
A man
cannot
The doctrine of
elect in Christ.
It is
men.
know
and
man can
proeterition concerns
absolutely
know
be
election
is, still
further, that
men
are
elect,
The suggestion
is
approved by Chalmers.
(c )
The divine
513
Christ?
cannot certainly
know
is
the gift of
God
in their highest
sanctification.
Obj. V.
The
effect
of this doctrine
presumptuous.
But, (a.) It is the saints perseverance which is set forth in
the doctrine of election.
If any are living in presumptuous sins,
they cannot claim that they are in the course of such persever
ance.
rests
The
who
persevere.
The
objection
is
The
in such exercises.
The answer
they
they
as he
is
is
The marks of
not accept.
offer
514
CHRISTIAN
who
offers
it.
THEOLOGY.
that
is
Such
needed on
That he
willing that it
offered on terms that can be
(b.)
whom
is
it is offered,
so that
is
men
in the gospel.
It is
all
No
addition needs to be
him
able
his
It is
own
to comply.
Acceptance or rejection
is
the action of
voluntary nature.
There
is
salvation of every
for him.
accept
may
it.
accept,
it importunately,
(b.) God s decree of
not that some shall not believe, but is simply not
and urges
prseterition is
to use certain
but not in
not know.
all.
(c.)
All of
Some reasons
to belief.
God s reasons
are intimated.
we do
Blindness of mind,
be that
many
many who are
CHAPTER
515
III.
>
is
call,
effectual grace.
and
internal,
on the
call,
both external
Some of
the
its results
The
those
consist in the
e.
g.,
it
to
all nations.
it.
1.
Of
the
External Call
is
It includes
16, 18.
This external
call is to
be addressed to
men
Rom.
x.
14,
15.
Still
it is
all.
It is
addressed to
ad
516
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
all
that
and that
may be
resisted
it
is
men. 1
This ex
sincere on the
it is
adapted to
2.
facts:
edge of sin under the law; on the other hand, the presentation
of Christ as the Kedeemer from sin.
Under
3.
ties
Difficul
are raised.
I.
The extreme
out Christ,
made
men may
in conscience
Observations:
and by reason.
knowledge
of Christ
saved.
is
and
full
This
is
"
"
position.
which led
to
mauy
"
517
Without this
round, unless there be such knowledge of Christ.
there must always be doubt in the individual s personal- experi
ence.
(3)
be,
(4)
if it
be genuine,
when
and illuminating
influence, as addressed
Mere
is
the
on the
The
soul.
Spirit operates
of the
and the
Holy
Spirit
upon the
soul.
518
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
truth.
We
Why
Why
(5)
The Scriptures
Spirit.
Ghost
is
fluence, yet
is
and
fections
word
will.
uttered, to give
it
in
He
operate on the af
modification of this view is seen in the
men
as
men
We
The truth
are
(James
is
begotten
i.
18).
(2)
The truth
is
how can
The
sensibilities to religious
more
efficacious,
this.
519
supernatural in
It
are other kinds of operation besides that through the truth.
is natural from what we know of God s working, that there
As
This
is,
that besides
all
that can
ii.
13; Heb.
xiii.
It is
(3)
The
descriptions
Spirit is
com
of depravity, of
man s
internal
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
520
change the
will.
advances
all
in sanctification.
III.
affirmative
is
more
common
such
is
grace
mon methods
in which it is exerted.
The Bible speaks of a resistance of the Spirit, a grieving
of the Spirit, which implies that there is a common grace as
well as that which effects the conversion of the soul. All that
2.
the conviction of
sin,
any
way
of
3.
common grace.
common grace
This
work
IV.
1.
is
How
does effectual
Effectual
is
grace
grace tends to effect.
Its efficacy, in the last analysis,
common
2.
is
owing
to the divine
It is
521
fluence
case
is
is
efficacy.
All that
man
does in the
produced by
it,
or our
own
act,
because
it is
ural testimony,
is
We
it
is
is to engross the
supposable in the case, because what it does
The word irresistible was
affections and change the will.
applied to
it first
plained by
the divine will and influence, and
resistance.
is
ex
522
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
BOOK
II.
OF JUSTIFICATION.*
CHAPTER
I.
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.
1.
it
When
generated person.
sake, justified.
state,
to
Being freely
man
The
2.
heart of
question,
How
can
man
brought into
is
all religions.
? is
at the
in mortifica
tions, etc.,
3.
ideas.
These make personal
obedience, conformity to the law, to be the only ground of accept
ance.
In justification, acceptance is on the ground of what
Christ has done, of his merits,
of what another has done for
us, in
it
our stead.
modifies
all
the rest
according to the
is
a central one;
view taken of
this,
the
justifica
1
References. Owen, one of the ablest treatises in the English literature. The
view of the Anglican Church is in Bishop Bull s work on the Harmony, between
Paul and James. There is a good exposition of the Scholastic view in Dr. Hamp-
den
Bampton
Lecture, V.
Richards Lectures.
One
is
in Dr.
523
by Faith alone
Justification
5.
is
It is
"
Nor
The
no more nor less than pardon," that
own and not Christ s obedience."
(a.)
different things.
tribunal,
he
is
If a
man
not pardoned, he
common
in
is
"is
"
for their
life relate to
wholly
just"
by a human
his
own
inherent
acquitted,
"declared
is
him
is
recognized
and declared.
is
"justify,"
all
if
There
pardon be
intended.
that
is
(b.)
that justification
i.
justification.
is
v. 1, 2, 17, 18,
21; 1 Cor.
30.
Justification involves
ness which
is
basis,
be pardoned. The law is not merely set aside, but its great ends
God might
are answered by what Christ has done in our behalf.
pardon as a sovereign, from mere benevolence (as regard to hapIf we regard the atonement simply as answering the ends of a governmental
scheme, our view must be that justification merely removes an obstacle, and the
end of it is only pardon and not eternal life.
2 See on this
point a sermon on Justification by J. F. Stearns, D.D., before the
1
Jersey, 1853.
624
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
He
does more
He pardons
in con
main end of
all his
state.
is all
to blessedness, the
gift of
end
it
governmental provision, as
must be on any scheme which denies that Christ s work has
Neither does
it
change
is
always a
sine
qua non of
justification,
but not
its
meri
torious ground.
Gottes,"
is two-fold,
(a. ) It does
negative side, while it has a positive side also the title
The tendency to resolve the Gospel into an ethical system.
Only our acts of choice as meritorious could procure a title to favor, a positive re
ward. Christ might remove the obstacle, but the title to heaven is derived only
is its
do.
525
sire
grace.
9.
Shorter Cat.
He
"Justification
our
all
pardoneth
sins,
imputed
to us,
and
re
Observations:
"
It
The
his
"pardoning"
The
"
relation to
relation to Christ
is
"
free
grace,"
is made.
The right
what
is
is
his
set
to
our
account.
And it
"imputed,"
which
is
moral
the
transaction
is
a
righteousness
imputed
eousness
"
is
"
is
"
one.
The
that
it is
received by
"faith
ing
graces."
alone."
("Yet
is it
not alone in
by which justification
is
is
received,
and
it is
A further statement in
"God
did,
from
all
them."
Holy
4:
.
Spirit doth, in
526
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
OF THE TERM AND IDEA: JUSTIFY
II.
man as corresponding to
is,
not merely the outward relation, but also the
This is not justification. But the
distinguish
It
the state of
(b.)
is
Scriptures
the ground of
17;
iii.
The
tice
the
^general
is
is,
due
iii.
6.
state of righteousness,
jus
to a personal
whereas
word
is,
God),
the state of a
man
property of those
their
It
is
is,
sus
i.
30; Gal.
iii.
v.
5.)
22; Gal.
iii.
6;
contrast to the
The terms
personal righteousness.
tinction from Sanctification.
"
11,
Vz;
He
that
is
righteous, let
is,
They
8iKaio<5vvr}
rov Seov, or of
him
be righteous
is
still,"
Rev. xxii.
dmatoo^rao
Which-
527
diHaioo^a. is
v.
18
(where
3.
and as a justifying
act,
Rom.
v.
16
is
"justification"
righteous.
(a.)
is
v. 19);
ri}$ vTtaKoris,
it is
"justify,"
make
not
to
"
"
before
make
to
x.
"he,
it
Wieseler
language
"leaving
"Siuawvv
to use
Wieseler says:
just only in Dan.
and
New
in the Septuagint
Testament,
means
make
(Sirach xviii.
the
deeds
of
the
law
shall
no flesh
by
22)."
be justified before Him, Gal. ii. 16 (same as Rom. iii. 20, omit
"
In
Rom.
iii.
20,
kvcoTtiov avrov, and both from Ps. cxliii. 2,) and Gal. iii. 11,
and that by the law no man is justified before God, the
meaning cannot possibly be, make
too Sinaiovv is declared to be the same as koyiGSrjvai ets
ting
just."
"So
in
James
i
ii.
23."
De
facere"
(Cf.
Spir. et Littera.
on
this,
c. 16,
He
viii.
cites
Clem, of
Eome
"justum habere,"
iii.
24,
though afterwards
and Au
"justum
528
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
"Again
1 Cor.
i.
30, vi.
11,
dytadjuos
CHAPTER
Justification
(dixai&tf-is)
III.
involves a righteousness
(S
as its ground.
This
is
That
it
1.
pardon;
(b.) if
the believer
is
Romans and
Galatians.
(a.) If justification
be not mere
if
no one
2. From
If it is not so, there is no significance
Scripture.
in the term dinaiovv, the Scripture need only have said
"pardon."
Rom.
Rom.
"
x. 4;
Phil.
iii.
9;
Rom.
iv. 6;
2 Cor. v. 21;
Rom.
v. 18,
19;
26.
iii.
God
without
a righteousness which does honor to his law and sets its author
ity high in the sight of the universe
(Dr. Richards, p. 390)
"
CHAPTER
This righteousness which
is
IV.
is
not
distributive justice.
1.
(a.)
It
cannot be
As a matter
so,
of fact, he
is
state,
All
529
(6.) If
he should repent, he could not wipe out the past, the condemna
in him that he
tion remains,
(c.) So great is the power of sin
morally unable to turn, his natural ability does not avail
on account of the strength and power of sin. (d.) God
cannot consistently merely pardon, (e.) Men cannot justify
lies
for this,
guilt.
man s
Man
is
full.
For
if so,
the
be our righteousness.
in such a state, then, that he cannot merit heaven by
still
its full
extent.
"
All have
the law
"
CHAPTER
V.
Our
two
not be ours.
righteousness.
It
can
530
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
Whose
merits, then ?
Or: Justification
(a.)
is
Statements of Scripture as
General Statements.
Rom.
v.
18.
v.
of Scripture.)
2 Cor. v. 21.
many be
is the
Ground of Justification.
to the
"
19.
"
sin
for us.
"Even
made righteous."
Rom. x. 4.
Christ
knew no
work
That
all
upon
Rom.
in
that,
"
that
Him."
And
iii.
9.
"
is
of
God by
faith."
(6.) Justification is
Rom.
iv. 6.
"the
spoken of as an imputation.
blessedness of the man, unto
Rom. v.
Rom. iv. 5.
Cf.
18, 19,
"
whom God
works."
above.
not,
is
but believeth on
Him
righteousness."
is
no
law."
impute"
531
sonal righteousness.
sive obedience
and by
ness;
tinction
whole
life, all
2.
How
imputed, reckoned to
thus that we "become the
God
in
Christ can
It is
is
Him")
~be
the
We
"The
God s
"The
us,
redemption
and thereby uniting
vine.
Though
is
II.
is
sometimes called
"the
532
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
"
Eph.
v. 32.
is
"This
"
shall
be one
flesh,"
above, declaring that the union between Christ and his church
is as close, as intimate as that between husband and wife; that
is
and
I in
my
him."
sacramental,
make
him."
John
"And
The union between Christ and his people is like that between
If the real union between Christ and
Christ and the Father.
his followers is denied, then that between Christ and the Father
must be denied
1 John ii. 5.
is
also.
"
God perfected:
He that saith
Verse 6
the love of
"
Him"
also so to walk,
his word, in
hereby know we
even as
-he abideth in
He walked."
we love one
If
John iv. 12.
us, and his love is perfected in
The assumption of our nature is
14: "The word was made flesh."
"
that
him
we
Him ought
another,
verily
are in
himself
God dwelleth
in
us."
John
i.
Rom.
viii. 10.
cause of sin
"
Arid
if Christ be in you,
is life
because of
the body
is
dead be
righteousness."
(It
533
shown, from the context here, that the union with Christ
mediated by the Spirit: verse 9,
any man have not the
is also
is
"if
among
27
i.
"
what
17.
iii.
that-
is
Eph.
Him
"That
faith."
Gal.
iii.
"
27.
For as
of
and
many
Christ."
Also,
your bodies are the members of Christ?
that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."
"
There
may
2 Peter
i.
The
(a.)
As
"
But he
by these ye might be
"that
(ysvrj(5^e)
partakers
nature."
Results
17:
also be cited:
4:
of the divine
v.
and the
vine,
John
xv.
from
is
as truly a union
This union
is
imme
diate,
dead: because
He
lives
we
The life given by this union is none other than the life
(e.)
which the Holy Ghost imparts yet it is a life, not of mere gen
eral divine influence,
(/.)
This
life is
our justification;
justification.
it
534
CHRISTIAN
II.
From
(a.)
our
THEOLOGY.
effectual
In
are
justified;
e.,
cepted in
(6.)
life
From
in Christ:
came corrupt
union with
Adam
is
We
fall
with him;
human
nature be
in him.
are
is
(c.) From the truth of the intimate, secret, unseen, yet real
influence of the Holy Spirit in regeneration in our effectual
calling, uniting us to Christ by these sacred influences, reinstat
edly mysterious; they are the bond of our union with Christ.
This union is at the ground of regeneration and justification.
From
(d.)
and
facts in
Through
at work.
all
Acts
xvii. 28.
common
character,
each individual
is
whereby the
distinct
tribe is
made
one,
There
is
a special,
though also
a mystery
is
and a fact here. The common nature and descent from one pair
have a background of mysterious union, which is a background
of fact also.
It is
535
Spirit.
Him; and
Spirit,
we
are led to
in consequence of that
for us
we
are justified,
Now,
and
of the union
is
as in the race
faith,
a like union
The nature of
III.
having
its
liabilities; so in
this
is
union:
implied.
(rather negatively than
positively).
A general union
It involves also a
with God
is
The union
It
(&.)
through
(c.)
is
Spirit,
faith.
made
into us, so
(d.)
Not that
his theanthropic
life,
benefits.
(/.)
1
is
Just as with
is
53 C
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
"Qui
eum,
"
Ille
enim
git Christum.
Nam
Christum esse
credit,
IV.
si
Christum
et dili-
Classification
as to the nature
elements.
2.
is,
Transubstantiation
through the
and
sacraments, by
wine, the very body and blood of Christ are received.
(This
view has a greatly modified form in the Lutheran doctrine of
Consubstantiation.)
(See Mercersb.
We
The
4.
537
Atonement
carnation
is
is
merged
the giving of
is
making atonement
rather than
life,
(Schleiermacher, Coleridge).
The general
5.
mediated by
Calvinistic view.
is
are both
renewed and
justified.
Our new
life is
Yet
old.
this
We
Spirit.
new
The Incarnation
new
by the
life
Holy
Adam
"
that
same
of the
Holy
common
life
Spirit,
we
life
by a secret virtue
body of Christ, a
with Him.
life is
"
it
lating to it as metaphors,
cation on this basis.
did.
we can now go
directly to God.
Justification is pardon
ground
by God
we
Christ presents
shall become wholly just by and by.
an exhibition of God s hatred of sin and love of holiness
and this moves us to be and do right more than anything else.
that
to us
If
for the
any one hesitates over this expression, there may perhaps be substituted
term "flesh" the term "humanity," with no detriment to the force of the
argument.
538
CHRISTIAN
as
THEOLOGY.
true
is
sum
In fine and
of
God be
restored
How
can the
lost favor
is
enough
for
God
to
the Sacraments.
of the
life
In ivhat
3.
through
does
Not
as defined
that
it
influences on us.
as a Righteousness?
How
1.
effects,
it
avail
demands works
as the condition of
life.
"
The ungodly
"
are justified
Legal justification occurs when one accused is
vindicated by showing either that he did not do the act or had
("
a right to do
it."
Barnes,
p. 74).
is
Chap.
Proved in
III.
2. Not a transfer of
personal righteousness Christ s rightousness to the believer: the believer and Christ being consid
ered as separate.
539
3.
partakers
met
rectly
1
tion
),
(L
the
Though
4.
e.,
demands
distributive justice,
yet the end to be gained by
is
i.
e.,
secured.
treated
"as
if"
"
if"
his merits.
CHAPTER
VI.
1.
Faith,
and Faith
alone.
is
is
through
and
and
that justification
is
faith
as including
love
of
If tenpence is
satisfied.
Christ s
"
540
CHRISTIAN
Phil.
iii.
John
9;
taining eternal
2.
(a.)
THEOLOGY.
iii.
is
necessary to the ob
life.
is
any truth on
belief in
any ground.
(b.)
what
is
(c.)
it is
belief in
us.
Koman
Catholics say: It
is
God s
belief in
testi
It is not merely
object.
relying upon what God has testified in
regard to all truth, but trusting in and receiving Christ as our
Saviour relying upon Him.
As such
It is
1.
will,
nor
sensibilities,
alone, but of
not of the
all
most concrete of
acts,
intellect,
nor
The whole
combined.
Faith
is
one of the
is
an act per
fectly simple.
It also
2.
because
Gal.
v.
James
3.
it is
6.
ii.
includes in
germ
all
other graces.
"
"Show
It
does this
Worketh by
faith
love,"
by works,
18.
It is itself
a holy
it is
we
act,
the
means of
receive Christ.
541
This
of faith.
is
essential to
it.
Roman
lief in
assent.
There
Faith
may
the Bible
(2)
is
It involves
is
something of
love.
mere
(3)
presented.
traditional or historical faith cannot be enough.
As an intel
lectual act, it would be historical faith or receiving what came
542
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
down
in the
way
of tradition.
But we have
historical evidence.
do here with
to
There
the influence
of the Holy Spirit, the assent of the soul to divine truth. The
Scriptures speak of those who believe, as taught of the
is
Spirit.
ing to
it.
which
is
it,
and
show
to
have a moral
They impose an
obligation in
faith ?
Does
Christ.
it
belong
involved that
immoral.
III.
it
(2)
in Christ.
e.
trust
g.,
belong to
the divinity of
salvation.
IV.
Does faith involve the assurance of personal salvation ?
Does such assurance belong to the essence of faith, to the es
Wm.
me
tious to
out,"
heathenism.
fessions
first
and
it
this
which leads
salvation in this
life,
because salvation
is
dependent upon
sancti-
543
itself
salvation.
doubts and
difficulties,
and that
it
among
its
decrees.
He
is
Catechism,
The Westminster
Helvetic.
in the Heidelberg
c.
xviii.
3,
says,
tinction clearly.
"This
faith,
many
he be partaker of
Turretine draws the dis
It is said to be not the essence of faith but its
it."
ripest product.
"
Faith
is belief,
what
of
The essence of
faith.
has
what God
revealed."
4.
Is
Man
man
that
if
and
if
he has
man
i.
is
544
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
to testimony:
The general
that
or
man
way
it is
is,
any wrong
affection,
Wherever there is atheism, the fact shows that the moral nature
benumbed. (2) To the evidences of Christianity. These are
is
(3)
To
This
faith in Christ.
soul.
is
It is
final
In perhaps almost
5.
Why
is the
all
this, is
minds,
the
want
is
It is
because faith
is
man
re
be achieved.
to
self,
545
to Christ.
to turn
from
mind by which
and the power of
It
self to
this
can
faith are
CHAPTER
VII.
They agree
the Holy
God under
differ in their
They
Spirit.
return to
consequence
the influence of
notion of justification, in
works of supererogation.
1.
The
The Eoman
Catholic says, that this includes not only forgiveness and adop
tion, but also sanctification, that it involves the internal change
of the sinner into a just person
This
is
of man.
They hold
human
that
with
all
the capacities
was imparted or
infused superadded to the primitive endowments that by the
fall, superadded, infused grace was lost; that the object of the
gospel is to restore that lost grace, and that this is effected
through the sacraments baptism, penance and the Lord s
Supper. It is restored substantially physically to man, and
it is on account of this restored grace that man is justified, and
The Protestant view
this grace includes faith and sanctification.
of
nature,
and that
in addition grace
Perseverance, Ibid.
Edition, 1868).
iii.
510.
Sermons on
ii.
628.
Faith in relation to
cf.
36. (N. Y.
546
is,
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
just,
a forensic
act,
i.
e.,
judicial tribunal,
and not
in its
first
aspect declarative of
character.
2.
They
The
Roman
God
is
which justification
"
per
Christum,"
moved by
occurs.
but the
that
that
so
vances,
the
justification
is
gradual,
is
constantly
s acts,
man s
works,
man s
sancti
3.
man
is
idea of faith.
which we receive
Roman
tification.
means by which
is
all this is
own works,
The
fication.
in re
from
justification,
but
547
it.
The
is,
and heavenly
felicity,
is
and that
in proportion to
title to eter
The
Roman
is
"
This
is
carried
commands
as
it
of God,
life is
rejected so far
life.
Roman
word
religion is
548
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
VIII.
had not yet been brought out through controversy. The ele
it were not
In the anthropological contro
analyzed.
and
between
versy,
Pelagius
Augustine, the doctrine was
It
ments of
ground of
justification,
tendency of Pelagius.
make just
means
to
based
doctrine
first
came
to a full discussion
and
It
articulate statement.
held,
549
not
made just
ground of justification
is
not Christ
ence.
all
the future
it is
told
own
from the symbols but simply from one form of Calvinistic the
ology was in emphasizing the statement that our real union
with Christ
is
550
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
position,
plicit in
Christ
that
is
it is
tice.
act of
God
as a judge.
justification, in
fication is
is
God.
the
pardon and
Atonement
is
one condition,
i.
e.,
is
faith,
551
His position re
justification as a specific doctrine.
solves justification into sanctification or regeneration, and leaves
He is consistent in requiring entire
it no validity of its own.
he destroys
sanctification.
CHAPTER
IX.
Obj.
It
I.
We
Obj.
II.
good works.
makes salvation
to be a matter of right
of Christ s obedience in our stead; and
on the ground
from being an act of grace. But this can be
maintained only on the ground of the mercantile theory of the
and
debt,
this excludes it
that Christ, in dying for the elect only, paid for them
an exact quid pro quo. The fact is that salvation comes entirely
Atonement
from grace.
Atonement.
It is
is
made
glorious
by the
But
Obj. III.
we
James.
ing against
upon the
is
a dead faith
disciples to
show
What he
faith as holy.
merely
intellectual
their faith
by
is
speak
and he enjoins
He
starts
(ii.
24)
is first,
See Dr. Woods, and his citation from Wardlaw, that Paul
is
speaking of the
552
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
On
righteous.
Obj. VI.
tion,
Christ
because
He
Obj. VII.
They
which punishment is necessary for reformation. Their punish
ments become chastisements.
The Scriptures declare that in the Last Judg
Obj. VIII.
ment, works will be made the basis of adjudication. But there
must be a proper conception of the Last Judgment. It is not
the declaring of the sentence of the law, but is the final sentence
itself.
It is for the manifestation of character and state.
It has
not to do with our condemnation under the law
immediately,
because we are condemned under the law all along. That view
what that
is
553
BOOK
III
We
combine
human
side of the
new
The
life.
original usage
work
in
sin to holiness,
from
self to Christ.
CHAPTER
I.
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENTS.
1.
Each
is
determined by the
The
central point of
of the church.
1
guage of theology a new habit, what we now call a new state.
2. In the Church of
England, in conformity with the liturgy,
to say:
child
"this
is
regenerate
."
This,
however,
is
554
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
XXXIX.
act of the
of an act of choice.
Holiness
The
is
rationalistic theory,
human
mind.
country.
as held
by Dr. Emmons.
an act or choice or
it
The
later exercise
scheme
is different.
It
agency.
source,
(&.)
and
The
taste theory.
It
make regeneration
ton
new
relish implanted.
involved in
man s
is
their
Hopkins, Bellamy,
to consist not in
The
it.
The theory
and
It is
a choice.
There
may
be motives
is
in
555
must lead
to a
new governing
purpose.
They
differ as to
may have
And
love
is
the prompting to
all action,
is
We
thing
is
we
are
happy
in the world.
On
to arouse in the
mind
this
The
and to make that the radical motive. Then all the doctrines
and motives of the gospel are brought up the feelings are
aroused the aroused feeling produces a sharper view of truth
that again stirs the feelings more and more, and thus the play
556
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
between the
intellect
to the point
as well as at the
along before
nodus
Why
is it
not more
(2)
Scriptural to say that at all the points the Spirit operates?
Self-love, presented here as the ultimate motive and that which
is to
to
soul is
still
made
in
view of
self-love
exalt that
(3) It is
if
own
equally
how
is
He must do
this, in
man can
for a
moment suspend
To suppose that a
and remain
for
and moral
conscience, spiritual
pealed
susceptibilities,
which are ap
to.
follows.
(a.)
Regeneration
is
is
God
is
conscious experience.
the word of
(c.) In adults it is wrought most frequently by
God
as the instrument.
we cannot
erated,
557
assert that
absolutely.
man
It gives
new
not merely
faculties.
There
(e.)
Holy
no antecedent co-operation on
The
itself.
change
in the
is
Spirit.
part in the
efficiency in the
The
man s
what
human
soul,
Spirit.
This
(</.)
new
state
shows
itself in faith,
works.
Negatively
Regeneration is not a physical change but a change in
It does not impart new faculties, it gives di
the moral state.
(A.)
It
We know
2.
it
in its
essence.
its
Of the Terms
employed.
Repentance
is
of holiness.
event,
and
mode
of action in
Regeneration
if
is
when
if
it is
It
is
regarded,
man may
there
is
a change
it
soul, it
man
is
implies an
558
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
cause,
man
is
as soon as the
soul.
Holy Spirit
If regeneration is confined to the divine
agency simply,
agency
is
exerted there
is
The controversy
conversion or repentance.
and passivity
ity
is
which
is
usually called
in respect to activ
really
controversy
is
Holy
The
Spirit
denied.
2.
to signify or
may
act,
be said
an act of
moment
sanctification,
is
begun
in
regeneration.
to be
to be baptized constituted a
The term
Christian
tion
life in
and the
its
beginning and
effects,
including sanctifica
4. Some
Scriptural representations of this renewed life It is
described as a renewal after the image of God; a being in Christ;
a new creature or creation a resurrection from the dead light
:
tion into a
new kingdom,
into the
kingdom
of
John
ii.
iii.
1-10;
i.
new
559
Spirit; a
heart.
vi.
15; Eph.
3.
1.
Some
as designating the general element of the renewed life.
times it is reduced to a single affection or purpose or feeling.
There
is
eration
But
in
way open
for the
life.
The
Spirit
which
effects the
change
is
iii.
9,
10; Eph.
ii.
10;
Eom.
new
viii.
i.
30;
2; 2 Cor. v. 17.
denned the
gent Calvinism.
of the new life.
The
He
held
most pun
Dr. Channing,
Channing
What
is to
essential
560
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
II.
ation.
The doctrine
in order that he
again.
There
is
may
no way of
must be born
new
condition
except by
2.
Regeneration
and
is
necessary
hereafter.
with a depraved
men
if
are to enjoy
what
is
per
To be
It is
of the soul.
4. It is necessary for the exercise of the
specific graces of the
All the graces of the Christian life flow
Christian character.
from this
5.
birth,
all
The Scriptures
generation
CHAPTER
III.
Regeneration
is
what belongs
to the essence
and
faculties of
man.
Regenera
man.
what
else is there in
man ?
Where does
561
is
it
must be
in the 3d.
man,
1st,
A
the
essence, 2dly, the faculties, 3dly, the generic tendencies, 4thly, the
actions.
The regeneration then will take effect in the 3d and
4th,
of those acts.
</.,
faculties
his first
and that
this principle or
tendency
is
2.
The freedom
3.
consist in an
immanent preference
he can walk.
tion to
There
is
as
much
difference as
The change
It is in
the choice
itself.
the hand.
merely in the
is
sensibilities.
562
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Begeneration has to do with the immanent preference.
have seen that the will has two main and very different
5.
We
and
it is
there are necessary the vision of divine things, and then the
love for divine things as the ruling principle.
Love, which is
the
immanent
the
will.
is
and
the strongest
its result
preference or
the living for the end
In short, regeneration in
chosen, and the highest delight in it.
its full measure and extent involves a new direction of all the
an illumina
come
iii.
immediate consciousness.
into
and
its fruits
by
John
it is
results;
8.
7.
The reason
difference
sition
sin
each other.
soul
for insisting
between
where
other, because
it
able to discern
it,
such a time.
This alone
is
563
"
"
life,"
The reasons why other views have been held are: (a.) The
word regeneration is used by some in a broad and loose sense,
like.
as including
all
that
God does
man
in bringing
to himself
work
(c.)
There
is
viewing
out in
exclusively in its
it
human
relations,
man s
is
and as
made
it
comes
to be en
experience,
(d.) Regeneration
analogous to changes in moral character, which are often
But in the renewal of the soul, there is more than a
gradual.
tirely
is
There
a spiritual process.
is
more than
CHAPTER
IV.
The
of the
Eph.
The
ii.
10;
John
i.
13;
James
i.
Ps.
li.
10 Jer. xxiv. 7
;
18.
God
i.
564
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
4.
To confirm
the
work
5.
of God.
It is rational
tion.
Him.
that
God should be
The analogy of
to the inference.
man
all
Here
is
All
God s modes
all
nature,
much more
in
CHAPTER
HOW DOES THE
SPIRIT
V.
kingdom of
it is
may
be a
called supernatural
Spirit is properly
through
to appointed
methods
in the
kingdom
of grace.
In a super-
565
work
there
is
a use of
In
The ultimate
That
ity.
is, it is
be renewal of
infants, this
therefore they
must be the
case.
And
is
without
regeneration be always
any apparent instrumentality.
the same, there must be the same essential element in all other
cases.
It is
sometimes made a
if
whether a person
made a question whether
test question
man
element
is
But we
resistible,
because
it
very word
which he
now
is
the will
making.
is
secure.
He might do
it
566
6.
CHRISTIAN
The nature of
activity
THEOLOGY.
and
passivity.
The
CHAPTER
VI.
2.
is
He
I.
as
it is
is
exhorted to
him
presented to
preaching.
have
to be
referred, this
so as
The sinner
is
to be exhorted to
make use
mind
element.
The
and that
is to
is
happiness being instinctive, the sinner can feel the force of that
motive and make use of it. That motive is neither holy nor sin
ful it is indifferent, because from it either a
holy or a sinful be
;
ing
may
this
one
act.
Out of
all his
is
to single
is
to be
upon
it
is
point
is
567
necessary, viz.,
may
pended, and the sinner is to do this in order that he may fix his
attention on his future happiness so that it may act properly.
this representation we make the following remarks:
The
(1)
proposal that one part shall be separated from the
mind s complex acts would cause the acts to cease to be com
That
plex, and would present a single motive before the mind.
would be all that the mind had in view. The desire of happi
On
inconceivable that
It is
own mind
is
it
As
must be
in his mind,
it
single out a motive from the mind s activities, and say that that
motive in the mind shall remain indifferent, any more than one
can cast a stick into a current, and say that it shall remain sus
pended.
The accompanying
therefore, of
suspending
an
indifferent
motive, is
get
one ever did or can do it.
project,
we may
impossible to be achieved. No
(3) The proper exhortation in the case
attention not
to
Him.
upon
own
Attention
is
act at
shall
is,
that the
mind
fix its
its
all,
own
interest,
with his present motives shall read the Bible, attend church and
religious meetings, etc., with the motives which at present influ
:
ence him.
allowed.
sires
is
is
more
likely to be
is,
568
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
renewing influences.
III.
The exhortation
perform any and all acts with a right spirit. He should never
be led to feel that he can be content or at peace, or that he is
not in great and increasing guilt, until his acts are performed in
a right spirit. Thus almost any of the acts, to which it is
natural to exhort him,
formed
may
be the turning-point.
it
is
It
human
coalesce: the
human element
brought
turns to God.
of re
The truth
is
to
an age to under
It is also
is
before the
mind
as
mo
is
consummated
sians
3.
569
1 Cor.
i.
5.
God
make
Truth in
6.
is
itself,
iv. 12.
It is
fact
men
resist
life.
Scriptures never disjoin it from Christ and God and the Holy
Christ is the Truth.
It is truth in the sense that truth
Spirit.
and
reality are
of a
man
body s
human
agency, and
we cannot
CHAPTER
VII.
NEW
HEART.*
It is
It is
man s natural
may
capacities.
reach unto.
It is
Ezek.
xviii. 31.
570
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
what the
man s
The only
constitution
obstacle in the
and
is
in the possibility, as
faculties.
way
petition,
"Create
spirit within
6.
in
me."
is
own
act,
CHAPTER
VIII.
and character
moral pollution.
Then, in almost
form one
571
all
experience,
trans
s self, to
s self
strength and
it is
grounded,
viz.,
(a.) The impossibility of atoning for the past by one s own works,
which will continue to be a ground of condemnation. The help
of
lessness there is entire and absolute.
(&.) The conviction
moral helplessness. What he would that he does not, and what
he would not that he does. This is what is known as the work
and
the call to turn and yield is made, and the turning-point will be
the yielding to Christ, receiving Him as the personal Saviour,
so that the object before the
mind
is
Christ.
Practical Remarks:
1.
is right,
"
all
that
is
good
is
We
must ascribe
all
and that
There
is
if
a co-operation of the
The
enforced.
572
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
of his guilt.
preaching
was
guilt.
The
That reliance
and reference
its
own
it acts.
No
absolutely necessary
ing-point.
This
may
upon as
no one emotion or experience as the turn
grand
acts,
Him
will be,
after
The
all,
re
the
test.
The exhortation
grace that comes from Christ. How he can do this is the last
As to
question, and the answer is, he can do it by yielding.
the how,
it is
in the act
itself.
CHAPTER
IX.
REPENTANCE.
This
is
word translated
re
and Protestants
573
away.
i.
e.,
into
made over
1.
Some
Repentance
2.
As the human
whenever
it is
an internal change.
is
1.
real
side of regeneration,
and
true.
it
implies regeneration,
there is in it the
It implies that
ate himself.
3.
Some
of the elements
may
to repentance
is actual,
conscious of
there
1
is
The
it,
and there
peace in the
is
soul.
"useful."
absolution
does not
avail.
574
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Repentance, in the
4.
common usage
view of
all
sin,
of the term,
turning from
it
is
the ex
and unto
it is
2.
1.
2.
neutral state.
3.
more or
in sin,
5.
As
less.
it
must be immediate.
1.
It is in
It is
3.
There
4.
It
we have
6.
spoken.
It includes confession
It issues in,
is
in
and
of
sin,
God and
is,
BOOK
575
IV.
CHAPTER
I.
SANCTIFICATION.
Sanctification
is
in regeneration.
It
answereth
swers to Christ.
Sanctification
Christ
1 Cor.
i.
is
30.
to face, the
renewed
soul an-
becoming wholly
The Nature of
like
Him.
The
one, the perfection of our moral being.
divine image in man was lost by the fall, so far as the divine
image involves holiness, righteousness. The whole of the di
and these two are
in the strict
human heart
2. As far
fication is
Ps.
li.
10.
It is
"the
is
concerned in
expulsive power of a
new
it.
affection
"
(Chalmers).
576
3.
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
It is of
God s
free grace,
still
and
ever, not
by our merits
or deserts.
4.
Yet
it is
Phil.
ii.
12.
7.
All the
means of grace
are
means
of sanctification
Faith,
2.
tification.
I.
Justification precedes:
Sanctification results;
is judicial:
is
an act:
once for
is
is
is
is gradual;
causes change
all:
causes change of
state:
In
In
is
is
In
from
guilt:
Christ s righteous
ness
"
In
is
imputed:
gives title to hea
Of
character;
sins are subdued;
is
unequal;
is
from defilement;
inherent righteous
ness is given;
gives fitness for hea
ven.
ven:
II.
moral;
a work;
Sanctification gives
Regeneration gives
growth;
spiritual life:
spiritual
the seed:
the development;
the perfect man in
the
babe in
Christ.
Christ:
complishment of redemption in
us.
If there are
no good works.
is
pressly
commanded
(3)
577
They
(4)
are ex
But eternal
life is
sake.
trast
Word.
"
but thine be
will,
more
done"
restricted sense,
is
it is
In a
the essence of every petition.
the utterance of holy desires before
No
God.
is
(3)
(4)
Lord s Supper.
As
to the
Objections to Prayer.
(1) It is
578
may
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
cause a
new
may
go, be
new
may
consequence, even in
the arrangement of the physical order, as the mere external con
sequences of phenomena may be interrupted by our actions.
influence
produce a
This position is
that nature is under
(b.)
still
further strengthened
and
by considering
Nature
is
not
It is
(c.)
Any
God
in his plan.
can make
new
man
If there
is
interrupted.
would come
in,
and in
thip
sens"
579
rest of Scripture.
may
ask for himself, but what is asked in faith and in the name
The question then is, What is real prayer? And
of Christ.
here
it
must be
union of
man s
and promise,
desire,
said: (a.)
(c.) It is
(d.) It is
The
with God
will
and
soul of prayer
s,
(b.) It is
is
based on God
word
"
spirit of Christ.
In faith
"
"
1
includes, In submission to God.
Practical Suggestions.
(1) The habit of prayer should be that
which leads us to engage in it daily and hourly. /. e., the state
of mind, in which we are as Christians, should be one of constant
supplication, looking to God for his guidance and blessing.
While there should be stated seasons for prayer, prayer should
go with us all the day. (2) It is well to cultivate a habit of
CHAPTER
II.
PERFECTIONISM.
is
not whether
it
is
conceivable that a
not what
is the possible ex
perfect.
tent of our natural capacities, aided by grace whether they might
not attain unto perfection for that theoretically must be con
It is
ceded.
1
Nor
is it
perfect.
that her son might not go to Rome on account of the dissipation there, was an
swered by his going to Borne and being converted, we have a striking instance of
the answer to the soul and purport of prayer. Spiritual blessing is the soul and
ultimate aim of every particular prayer.
580
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
is
man
nothing
less
what
is sinful is
excluded.
It
even the
may
be
1.
The
older Theories.
1. The
This asserts that man s native capacities
Pelagian.
and powers are not injured by the fall. They may be weakened,
but are not morally injured. There is no sin but actual trans
The
gression, and man is fully able to keep the divine law.
made
general fact that men do it, yet it is true that they may live free
from sin. In respect to the prayer, "Forgive us our debts,"
Pelagius said it did not apply to saints.
2. The Arminian.
This makes perfection or complete sanc
tification to be loving God as much as He requires us to do in
the gospel. It is a perfection which is simply proportionate to
our present powers, and to the present demands of the law upon
us under the gospel. Under the gospel dispensation, the demands
of the law are rejaxed.
It does not demand perfect holiness,
but as
much
as
man
can attain
to,
transgression.
infirmities.
Imperfections
may
eral
away
in baptism.
There
is,
obedience to
all
external moral
is
581
"
The modern
Vieiv of Perfectionism.
Some
forty years
It differs
The
cious ability.
ability relied
upon
is
man s
It is
a choice which
is
according to our
ability, in
the
a line with our present ability, so that the ability becomes the
measure of our obligation, instead of the obligation being the
measure of the
ability.
is
in the
in the theory,
no moral character
governing purpose.
anything in
all
except that
moral.
The whole
that
is
how
in
In the discussions in
respect to obligation
and
case,
582
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
that
is
is
that which
man
On
The command
to be perfect
implies the ability, and not only the possibility but the actuality
of perfection.
are as much bound, on the ground of the
We
command,
to preach perfection as
to the sinner.
Perfection
as repentance
by the
is
sinner.
as
ability in
regard to
repentance.
2. From the
promises of God. It is said that God promises
the perfection of his children.
But it is to be considered that
the promises of God are conditional, and run through all time.
They
tinctively.
3.
is
From
They
relate to complete
to this
life
dis
sanctification.
we may expect
in this life.
The argument proves too much. The fulness of
the provision would not be our warrant for expecting entire
sanctification, any more than the general atonement is-a warrant
it
for
4.
From
Our
prayer.
The provision
in the
applied unto.
are to pray for entire sanctification.
to be with trust.
are warranted, on
is
We
is
We
prayer, however,
the ground of the promise, in expecting entire sanctification, but
that does not involve that it will come to us in this life.
An
is
to
From
Scripture.
or character of Christians,
i.
e.,
John
10.
ii.
5; iv. 17;
ii.
iii.
what
set forth
583
and
is
seq.
Col.
"
no
sin,
we
deceive
ourselves"
John
(1
i.
8),
this.
He
proceeds
to give the true idea of a Christian, but he does not say that
The case in which
Christians are actually conformed to this.
himself in such passages as Acts xx. 26; Gal. ii. 20; 1 Cor. ii. 16;
But these are to be
2 Cor. i. 12; 1 These, ii. 10; 2 Tim. i. 3.
to his
says, Phil.
iii.
were already
12
"Not
perfect."
as
him
to say.
it
was
Objections to Perfectionism.
the ground of the radical theory of this modern per
Perfec
fectionism, if any Christians are perfect, all are perfect.
tion, they say, consists in the choice of the highest good, and
II.
1.
On
whatever
else there
as all Christians
may
be in
sort.
Then,
all else
584
CHRISTIAN
that
is
in
them
is
THEOLOGY.
Even
if
Who knows
sins
anybody was
his
The one
own
sinfulness?
perfect,
There
is perfect.
may
any one
vileness. 1
3.
The
it is
down
necessary to bring
it is
different in its
4.
sin.
Its
constant tendency
to lower
is,
to lead
The
judge that in
and exclusively
is
regenerate
distinctively
the chapter contains this general
position, that no member of
the human family, even one who is saved
Christ, can, when
by
judged by the divine law, obtain peace by conformity
to its
requirements.
6.
The manifest
arguments
The tendency of those who hold it is
and to say that they do not come under
1
It may be supposed that if ever
any one approached perfection, it was the
wife of Jonathan Edwards,
yet her holy exercises were mingled with the strongest
wrestlings with sin.
585
there
is
no
sin.
Some
perfectionist
riot
liance
trust in
standard, and that withdraws us relatively from simple
Christ.
The doctrine
8.
viz.,
rests in theory
9.
have
and false.
practically delusive
Christian experience, as a whole, is opposed to it.
the confessions of the best men in the church, that they
and
ness,
is
We
have had
to struggle
with
sin.
asked, Into
not be repeated ?
The Scripture represents Christ as the only perfect man.
the prayer
11.
what
"
Forgive us our
debts"
CHAPTER
may
III.
work
of God.
sanctification.
The perseverance
is
This sanctification
is
Persever-
586
ance
CHRISTIAN
is
There
THEOLOGY.
is
all
and so per
Arguments in favor of
1.
1.
39; xvii.
From
3.
there
Head: John
vi. 37,
to his people
Ps. xxxvii. 28
Jer. xxxi. 31
5.
i.
It is
is
it
Iv.
3;
the
to Christ as our
2, 12.
God s promises
2.
the Doctrine.
human
It is
be likely to withdraw.
There
is
ground of the covenant, and from his love who shall separate us ?
4. From the nature of the eternal life which is
promised.
Christ is to give eternal life to as many as the Father
gives Him.
Now what
what
is
5.
an eternal
From
where the
6.
tion.
eternal life?
It is
is
begun
is
"
life: 1
John
v.
Christ s intercession:
I will
The
11-13; John
1
John
ii.
iii.
1;
life
already
16.
John
xvii.
24,
"
2.
saved at any
doctrine
is
It is
rate,
without their
own
continued activity.
The
587
may
not
fall
It asserts that
into sin.
fall
but
the elect,
if possible,
24,
it is
and be
not possible.
Matt. xxiv.
Phil.
i.
6.
it is
it is
apparent
whom God
has
called.
3.
I.
Obj.
possible.
from a
but some
saints,
possibility.
Ezek.
xviii.
24
a statement of possibility
to be understood of such as
is
sap of the vine. Their not bearing fruit is a proof that they are
not really united to Christ. The sense of Gal. v. 4 is, that any
who depend on
upon
grace.
Their depending on the law shows that they have not a part in
In the parable of The
the grace which alone can save them.
age
is
Heb.
vi.
seq.
This
is
a statement of an impossibility.
In
If
that,
he cannot be saved.
The
and
In Rev. xxii. 19
"
In the sense in which the Methodists hold to falling away and subsequent
it says that if any do thus fall
away, they cannot be renewed.
1
588
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
"
is to
life
On
II.
Obj.
may
fall
free
agency
away.
is possibility,
away is
man
possible so far as
through God s
faithfulness,
is
it is
is that,
away
is
a Christian
because
if
man
it
casts a
is
to those
to
who
a sinful state.
On
Obj. V.
Scripture,
as
probability
is
Obj. VI.
Hymeneus and
Philetus,
etc.
The
cited.
But
Alexander,
The instances
of
No
(1)
(3)
The doctrine
calls
upon us
in
preaching to
em
who
It
may be
589
the means
man
not prevent our uttering the most solemn warnings on the dan
ger of falling away. (7) The assurance of perseverance can be
PART
II.
1.
the
Lord Jesus
We
the
Church of
Christ.
i.
The church
22, 23.
is
formative principle.
filleth all
with
and with
Christ,
glory.
And
It is said to
That
all
be the fulness of
the church
Him who
is filled
is,
things.
up by
all his blessings, all his
grace, and all his
Christ being the one who in the universe filleth all
with
things with
The union
body of Christ.
of soul
and body
fact about
is
at once the
man
own na
is
and
in
an eminent
sense,
fills
immortality.
This
is
is
and
591
Head
its
reiterated in varied
is
set forth
Scriptures,
and
always
images that express the closest espousal, the most
tender and yearning love Isa. xliii. 17 xlix. 15 John xv. 5
in
Eph.
whom
bride,
white raiment, that she might share in his ineffable and divine
And of earthly wedlock itself, the most logical of the
love.
apostles tells us that
is
it
And
this is
the real basis, and so gives us the true formative, organic idea
of the Christian church it is the body of Christ, the fulness of
:
Him
2.
radical
Of
the
all.
Nature of
Church
the
church.
union
is
church
and the
invisible
this
visible
Christian.
is;
Light of
is
Wherever that
church
where that
is not,
essentially spiritual,
and
is
And
is not.
so invisible.
The
this
invisible
of Christ
II.
catholicity, infallibility,
and
sanctity.
The church
is
made up
prelatical claims.
is
made
who
of
all
A bishop
cannot do
592
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
a minister cannot do
it;
God does it, man is only an instrument and not the real agent.
The pretence that anything external, outward, and visible can
make the internal and spiritual, that any outward form and
means can directly impart inward and spiritual grace, is, in the
last result and analysis, a materialistic
It amounts
hypothesis.
to saying that mind can be the product of matter.
The believer
must always be left in the position of coming directly to Christ
if
may
be
all in all.
III.
visible
is
is
truly preached,
divino warrant.
;
organization calls
itself,
by way of emphasis,
the.
in
it
some figment of an
apostolical succession,
593
From
same principle
is the
body
and guards his truth,
that it jealously preserves and defends whatever is essential
and fundamental in Christian doctrine, as well as what is need
For in Him are hid all the treasures
ful for the Christian life.
IV.
of Christ
it
the
He
of
is
the
opinions, but they express the essential facts about his person
and work. The church can no more thrive without them, than
is
vain.
of
life
embryo.
the
life,
because the
and the
And
mod
down
its flag in
foe.
No one
can overestimate
594
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
one in the
common
It
practice.
The church,
truth as
its
volves also this: that the church contains within itself the law
grow.
And
its
midst of the
unless
it is
to
its loss.
And
there are
its
growth
two modes
human
history, of
That
society.
life,
of
human
is
an
parental and
state;
no
it
filial
less
relation.
The family
is
it.
It is fitting
And
this is
of the
human
of the
first
the race,
birth.
is
If
now an economy
of redemption
is to
be provided, it is
same law should
Why should
sin
have
595
all
human
full benefit
lowed
ties
life ?
And
here
is
belong to the country in which they are born; they are under its
watch and care, to be trained for its service. The name of God
has been named upon them. They are included in the cove
nant.
The covenant antedates and is the ground of the bap
tism; and this baptism makes them members of the visible,
not necessarily of the invisible, church. Baptism incorporates
into the external form and order of the body of Christ.
Re
is its
sign
is
and
seal
it is
not tied to
it.
view
tion
that baptism
is to
this point.
grafting into Christ, who said, Suffer little children to come unto
Me. And many of the Reformed Confessions expressly admit,
that the grace of baptism is not tied to the moment of time when
it i* administered; but that whenever conversion takes
place, it
596
is
.CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
covenant.
The church
is to
Bv the
faithful
dependent of the
spiritual
cipline.
civil
the two
for
it
human
history.
was a theocracy.
as to bring princes
problem by so enlarging the spiritual power
and nations under its domination; but in doing this, it became
corrupt, despotic,
and
anti-Christian.
powers
upon
of Europe is in
this struggle;
ish theocracy
having
its
specified
The
versality
597
the future.
That
to
soul to God, that justifies the soul, that gives the victory over
the world. Of love such as binds together all holy beings and
makes a universal brotherhood, an eternal kingdom, the love which
:
is
the
sum and
And
name
of
all
since.
social
life,
and must
we
at last pass
human
when
still
city
it
the last
and
it is
of the
Him
that filleth
all
with
all.
PART
III.
CHAPTER
I.
Death.
ture: Rev.
vi.
of soul and
body.
sin.
for
Yet
man
2.
I.
Scrip
Hence, death
separation
the fruit of
is,
is
it is
lies
2
Its chief terror
introductory to another state.
in its being the
symbol of future penalty. 3
Of Immortality.
Scriptural Arguments.
not
mission,
enforce his religion
by the rewards and sanctions of a future
life.
The intimations of
immortality are undoubtedly less full
3
i.
The
Psychol. Inq
132.)
s.,
the
God
life
sufficient.
The
"
God
is
not
living."
translation of Enoch,
continued existence.
599
Gen.
v.
24,
supposes a
Elijah, 2
Kings
ii.,
and the
tion."
"
9; Ps. xvii.
age; some
of
refer
confidence in
it is
but in a future
2.
it
The
life)
New
Eccl. xii.
x.
28
in the present,
7.
Testament view.
immortality. Matt.
of the testimony.
II.
can be made
John
xi.
Here there
25
2 Cor.
is
no doubt about
v. 8,
are specimens
Philosophical Argument.
nations.
(c.)
In the distinct
And
To
existence,
this
may
Warburton
600
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
system tnere
;
is
a God;
He
Annihilation.
The theory
away
The
annihilated,
of in relation to them
means a
of being.
As far
as the Scriptures are
concerned, the whole plausibility of the
position arises from the use of the word, death.
It sometimes
literal cessation
means a
This
is
cessation of conscious
being in a certain condition.
applied analogically to future existence. There is no
ishment
it
In Rom. ii.
and anguish, cannot be taken
tribulation
may
God could
is
annihilate
it.
That
Oct. 1871.
Also, Life
New
Englander,
601
Objections to Immortality.
Obj.
From
I.
The
may.
On this
an analogy
if
is
is
man
is
also
a moral, personal, spiritual agent, which the brutes are not, and
entirely unwarrantable to apply from a lower to a higher
it is
As we come
to the
term of being
appar
As
far as the
further,
at
to
reason.
Immortality is a
All that
fact,
we attempt
to
We
fact,
It is said
its
602
THEOLOGY.
CHRISTIAN
down.
This
etc.
is
But
before.
this is
human
The righteous deserve more thon a good name, and the wicked
more than a bad name.
Obj. V.
fied
personality,
and when
longing
What men
CHAPTER
II.
By
The
ment.
1
This
truth.
is
As
it
who
is
resurrection.
believe in
doctrine of redemption.
ual soul.
and the
The pantheist
That
is,
says, it is the
it
603
of a purgatorial character
who maintain the sleep of souls;
it is
those
and
who
die impenitent.
1.
trast
with heaven.
The departed
are in a state
we
first definite
Irenseus
to the
going
had not known
knowledge of
Christ.
i.
e,,
a restricted
abode of the fathers who died not having known Christ fully,
and of infants who died, not being yet redeemed, but in a con
dition in which they would receive Christ when offered to them.
The
know
Christ, but
Clement
"The
Four
Gospels,"
II.
604
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Hades. 1
captive.
Christ
nounced
in the contest.
there.
view begin
in his
at death.
The
Christ.
hell
it
means that
but himself,
PROPOSITION.
2.
There
is
no
tiny
is
The only
Eph.
is
sufficient
i.
to be decided.
iv. 9,
is
They cited Ps. Ixviii. 18. Origen is the first Christian writer who quotes 1 Pet.
18-21 as setting forth Christ s work in the under-world. The appearing of the
saints at the time of Christ s crucifixion, Matt, xxvii. 52, is also
applied to this
view.
1
iii.
Lord of
is
that
above,
605
all
He conquered
death in death.
suffering.
Matt.
Acts
xii. 40.
ii.
should not prevail over Christ, but that He should prevail over it.
to death in the flesh;" there
1 Pet, iii. 18-21.
"Being put
is
no doubt about
that.
"Quickened
in the
spirit;"
this,
with
i. e.,
"
"in
He preached even
that same spirit has been always preaching.
the mass
Those who were disobedient
in the days of Noah.
"
"
ject
is,
to connect the
scheme.
why
are
no hints
view.]
606
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
3.
Of Purgatory.
The Roman Catholic Church has
Purgatory
The
woe, yet there is a class of sins from which persons are to obtain
deliverance and pardon by means of ecclesiastical satisfactions;
that the church has laid up a treasury of grace from the merits
of Christ and the saints, which she may dispense and that she
dispenses these in order to relieve men from the temporal pen
;
Christ.
deliver him,
is
Matt.
iii.
11
1 Cor.
iii.
is
Newman
credit merits
it is
really
some of
later
English literature,
607
The
phil
lie
implying constant
activity.
Sleep
connection with the exigencies of the bodily constitution:
when the soul is delivered from these, we should expect a more
(1)
soul,
is in
It
intense activity.
(2) The doctrine has a cheerless aspect.
makes the future to be a blank and would cause a total loss in
the instances where persons are taken from the earth in the
height of their career, from a condition where they are per
forming good service, and carried to a state where there is no
activity.
The representa
(4) The Scriptures are against it.
John v. 24, everlasting
tions of the life of the Christian here,
slumber.
life is
already begun
Phil.
iii.
The
we
20,
v. 8, "Absent
"
"
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
III.
is
(6.) It
is
all will
wax worse
lem
(e.)
eral
one
after,
is
is
in
two
Rev. xx.
4.
is to
be refitted
New
Testament.
2.
Heb.
1
13;
Luke
till
Acts
iii.
21;
xix. 13.
Lord, Lit. and Theol. Journal, July, 1850; see also Princ. Rev., Jan. 1853.
609
into
final
Judgment.
Matt,
xiii.
of the righteous
is
millennium,
The connection
(a.)
17;
John
v.
28; Phil.
iii.
3-7.
iii.
(6.)
The
(c.)
The
iv.
5; Rev.
7; xxii.
i.
Jude
12;
6.
(d.)
Rev. xx.
13.
The resurrection
to be of
6.
iii.
The kingdom
15;
iv.
Comings"
xix. 1;
Dan.
2 Thess.
final
ii.
u
(
is
iii.
Acts
ii.
30,
31
vii.
8; (c.)
coming
to
Death:
Phil.
i.
The
"
Messiah.
610
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
IV.
resurrection
to
up
death, but they are used distinctly with reference to the resur
rection of the body.
The doctrine was a common one among
the
Jews
The Pharisees
Sadducees denied
The doctrine
it.
is
believed,
and the
of prime importance in
19,
to a resurrection
conviction of a resurrection.
From Job
is
compared
The
New
Otherwise
The general
2.
The
specific statements.
is possible.
1
Some of the later Jewish interpreters explain
Notes and Queries, 1854, p. 428.
it
of the resurrection.
See
611
ison; 1 Thess.
vi.
iv.
14
III.
As to the modus of the resurrection.
The Scriptures treat this in the way of comparison and anal
ogy, which is perhaps the only way in which it can be treated.
There are only two passages and a third one illustrative from
which anything in regard to the mode can be derived. Phil. iii.
20, 21,
He
is
it
is
this
That
it is
same
(2)
There
is,
connected with
this,
themselves whatever
612
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
IV.
Remarks.
1.
resurrection
is
doctrine of immortality
1
by the Swedenborgians. This is refuted
two
by
points: (a.) The Scriptural assertions that the resurrec
tion is future, is to be at the Last
Day, in connection with the
Judgment.
Immortality
is
is
future,
it
is
resurrection ours
is
deep-seated long
as well as in re
spect to soul.
3.
It is
we may
look for a
we have known,
in the
personal aspects.
4. The doctrine
gives us a more living view of our eternal
state than we should otherwise have.
CHAPTER
V.
scene,
613
Acts
2 Pet.
iii.
is
world.
is
not
known
The sentence
6; 2 Cor. v. 10.
doom.
(4)
is
2 Pet.
iii.
10
to be passed
And even
The judgment
is
Christ
xvi. 27.
1 Thess. v. 2
on
all:
is to
be the
(2)
The
Kom.
ii.
Judgment the
first
CHAPTER
VI.
Eternal blessedness
eous,
ment
in this country.
whom
614
to
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
salist
side.
the expres
now
existing.
the only defensible position on the UniverMaurice to Jelf argues that eternal implies a
by the way,
This,
all
is
state.
Theodore Parker ac
man
condition hereafter.
-It
is
truth
but to hold
This
universe.
holiness
is
made
sin
is its
holiness.
must be punishment,
In
fact,
for the
where there
is
1.
to
Endless Punishment.
is
a natural inference
Prof. Stuart s Essays, 3830, republished in 1867, give the best philological
reply to the Universalist positions. Article also by Prof. Barrows, Bib. Sac., July,
IhoS.
Andrew Fuller s tract on Endless Punishment is a good discussion.
2 E.
contains no Scriptural argument, but
g., John Foster s famous letter: it
See "Woods, in
is a general statement on the ground of the divine benevolence.
viii.
471, x. 544.
615
is
II.
It is
course
all
IV.
cease.
Lord; Rev.
xiv. 11.
2.
Descriptions of suffering.
3.
devil
and
Mark
ix.
43;
his angels.
is
Luke
xvi. 19-26;
If a condition of
possibility is overthrown.
Rev.
world
The
is
5.
is
spoken of
an intensive way of de
3
is said of the sin against the Holy Ghost, Mark iii. 29 (Matt. xii.
what is said of the sin
31, 32 Luke xii. 10). The argument from
;
Forgiveness
is
is
sin against the Holy Ghost (ovrs kv r& neKkovrt, Matt. xii. 32).
The force of this statement does not depend upon what we may
i
Prof. Stuart regarded this as one of the very strongest Scriptural arguments.
This is the second death, even the lake of fire." Rev. xx. 14.]
[Rev. Vers.
3
[dj^aprjjnaro 3 accepted as the reading. Rev. Vers. "hath never forgive
"
616
CHRISTIAN
THEOLOGY.
say the sin against the Holy Ghost is. (There are four leading
views.
(1) It is a single sin, an impious word which blas
phemes the Holy Ghost, implying that the sinner has come
to a state in which he resists God s last influences.
Doderlein,
Any
mortal
Liicke, Bohmer.
(4) The
most common and perhaps the best view: it is an internal state
of the highest sinfulness which cannot be
changed and which
shows itself in speech or action, resisting or
"
sins."
deliberately setting
Stier,
Tholuck,
dnv duapria
itpds
Qdrarov.
There
is
said in 1
is sin for
John
v.
16,
not avail.
It is to
The doctrine of
V-
ment
is
final
The
theoretical
possibilities here:
1.
is to
punishment
be everlasting.
Sin as the
it
ii.
Schriftb.,
598, ed. 5.
ii.,
2,
315.
Augustine:
cum
vitae,
est."
"
So, Luther.
3
p. 336.
617
tion.
sity of
if
men do
final
3.
be
lost.
tion
In order to escape
everlasting punishment is just and right.
from the theoretical possibility, we must escape from the abso
lute necessity of repentance and of faith in Christ.
Admitting
these to be absolutely essential, the inference is clear that in
case there is not repentance and faith, there must be punishment
Universalists
There
eternal
is,
life,
come
in fact,
unless
them
continues.
Consequently, the
it
punishment
is
No
were
it
2.
The
1
designates a state rather than continued being.
2
The position cannot be sustained from the usage.
state
tensity.
It
is
is
Maurice
s position.
which
at&>vioS
occurs.
The proper
618
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
Obj.
To the
II.
eternity of
punishment, as
gression
If
it is
what
now
is
already begun.
Obj.
if
that were a
If penal
suffering for trans
as long as sin exists.
is justifiable, it is
justifiable
It is
From
it is
power is adequate to
and
therefore
He will ultimately
suffering,
exclude them from the universe. But the
power of God is not
mere omnipotence, but power in connection with a moral
gov
ernment. It is in the service of his wisdom and
holiness: to
promote the holiness of his subjects is his great aim. Besides
the argument would
prove too much: it would prove that He
should exclude sin and
suffering now as well as in the future.
take
away
evil
and
shown, God
doctrine,
of sin and
redemption and the entire Christian scheme.
comes a mere process of
development.
All be
3.
Of the Restitution of oil Things.
Some who deny everlasting punishment,
interpreted in
who
will be forever
punished, while,
there are
some
619
their connections
restitution; but
we have
to inter
for
all,
"
provisions.
Col.
grand
and
Christ
ceptions.
under
This also
19, 20.
i.
effects
is
4.
ii.
but
efficient purpose,
vision, plan,
is
triumph
destroying, punishing.
foot,"
Tim.
results;
s
it
of benevolent desire, as
"will"
shown
of
in pro
and arrangements.
Heb.
ii.
9.
Phil.
ii.
9.
distributive
1
Universality of provision is asserted.
This is one of the strongest passages, because it
think it is a fair inter
Every knee," etc.
We
"
glory to accrue to
Him
If all for
It is fairly interpreted of
is
this true
Especially
which, describing the end of his mediatorial king-
whom
universal salvation.
It
620
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.
feet,
who
are those
teaching
iii.
is
21, drtoxaratrd-
not sustained by
the Scriptures.
Position
4.
The
ment be admitted
but penal
the principle
is
admitted.
And
then
4.
government as
As
5.
Sin
Naturalism
corrective.
effects are
well.
strict moral
taken as negative, punishment as
the consequence. These
practical
is
is
seen as a matter of
to the
fact.
lost
we have no
revelation.
6. The orthodox
evangelical system exhibits much more
God s benevolence and mercy than does this universalism.
of
It
offer of salvation,
to
which
it is
the
office
of the preacher to
make
all.
5.
The King
blessed of
my
opened wide
to
ye
Father.
Him
suffered with
of
2 Cor.
v.
Matt.
v.
now
to the soul, as
is
It is in the
Those who
is satisfied.
with Him.
They are
heirs
Christ.
in the vision of
John
the world
It is in the fellowship
The
and
621
iii.
is
2.
God;
God
will
Cor.
xiii.
12;
then be revealed
to the senses.
with Christ.
Phil.
i.
23.
Spirit.
glory: Kom.
unity in Christ.
Of this the
new song
Rev.
v.
13:
And
on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the
honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.
In the eternal melody of that song, resounding for evermore,
making heaven vocal with praise deeper and tenderer than any
other,
closes.
in
1ST
DEX
Augustine,
Ambrose,
167.
Awards of the
B.
of infants, 594, 595.
Bartlett, Pres. 600.
Baptism, 595
Anthropomorphism,
Anthropopathism,
9.
9.
Apollinaris, 396.
Apologetics (vol. ) 3, 4, 8.
Aquinas, 82, 83, 104, 143, 174, 180, 307,
363.
63-65.
from
Bengel, 388.
205.
Bentham,
of,
98-101.
Bellamy, Dr., 215, 257, 305, 516, 554.
Benevolence, divine, 38-43; definition
of, 38-40; sources of proof of, 40;
Berkeley, 5, 103.
Bernard, 390.
Arianism,
Birks, 158.
Arians,
392.
5,
620, 621.
Boethius,
18, 82.
Bonaventura, 143.
Brandis, 298.
Breckinridge, Dr., 16.
Bretschneider, 127, 144, 252.
Brodie, Sir Benj., 598.
Brown, 179.
Brown, Bishop,
Brown
5.
Cabbalists, 431.
Call, the gospel, 515-521 the external,
515. 516; the internal, 516.
Calvin, 11, 23, 29, 102, 124, 143, 307,
350, 363, 367, 431, 543, 548, 606.
Calvinistic bodies, 397; theologians,
143; theology, 31; its two princi;
624
INDEX.
sians, 5(58.
Christianity, superiority
ism, 375.
Chrysostom, 431.
of,
to
Panthe
Church, the, fundamental and germinant idea of, 590; visible and in
visible, 591 ; prelatical claims unreal,
and functions of
its
Clement of Alexandria,
an immutable morality,
181, 182;
feeling of obligation, 183; involves
moral approval or disapproval, 183;
personal accountability, 184; its do
main, 184-186; is it right in its de
cisions, 186-190; its possession does
not confer personal righteousness,
190.
Consciousness, 171.
Cudworth,
5,
164, 199.
Cyril, 167.
D.
Day, Pres.,
124, 126,
238, 246, 252, 331.
133,
138,
178,
Do Bow,
261.
Dichotomy,
603.
of,
98-101.
Creation, theories in regard to, 93-95;
relation of God to, 95; a plan not
a development, 95, 96; preservation
of, 102-105; continued, 103, 104.
163.
Distinctions in the
these essential,
79, 80.
Godhead, 50-73;
73-90;
personal,
625
INDEX.
Benevolence, 38-43; Efficien
103; Holiness, 34-36; Image,
255-258; Justice, 44-47 Knowledge,
objects of, 24, 25; Love, 37-43; Na
Divine,
cy,
ture
and
Attributes,
3-47;
Pre
Docetism, 396.
Dorner, 59, 287, 294, 299, 363, 524.
Andrew,
516, 614.
G.
Gennadius, 167.
Gerhard, 29.
Gess, 398.
God, knowledge
E.
Edwards, Jonathan,
theories
of,
506-508.
Ellicott, 281.
Ellis,
George E.,
312.
Emmons,
Episcopius, 85.
Eschatology, 598 et seq.
Essential Trinity, 73-90.
7;
mode
H.
Hahn,
12, 16.
Eutyches, 396.
Eusebius, 431.
Hamartology,
INDEX.
626
Hampdcn,
Dr., 522.
Harless, 281.
Harris, John, 127.
Hegelians, 398.
Hengstenberg,
10, 259.
Heraclius, 397.
Hickok, Dr., 203, 326, 395.
Highest good, 195-198.
Hilary, 167.
Hodge, A. A., 468.
Hodge, Charles, 284, 320, 325, 398, 442.
Hofmann,
Stier,
Tholuck, Olshausen,
Hofmann,
J. Mtil-
616.
Hopkinsian School,
Hopkinsianism, 234,
31, 103.
Hortensius, 298.
Howe, John,
486, 487.
Intermediate
252.
293.
Idealism, 164.
Ignatius, 384.
ments
mode
of,
402, 406.
Introduction
to
Christian
Theology,
John of Damascus,
Jerome, 167.
Judgment, the
79, 390.
last, 612.
Roman
Justinian, 167.
K.
Kant, 127, 128, 137. 144, 179, 187, 203,
298, 465.
Kenosis, 398, 418, 425.
Keil, 388.
King, Arch., 150.
Knapp,
Kingdom
nity, 598-621.
26.
627
INDEX.
Knowledge, divine, objects
Krabbe, 268.
Krummacher,
431.
McCosh,
Dr., 220.
Kurtz, 363.
L.
Lactantius, 146, 220.
Lasaulx, 168.
Limborch, 102.
Locke, 246
Logos, the, 28,
Stuart, 209.
Modalism,
73.
Molinos, 25.
Monophysites, 396.
Monothelites, 396, 397.
Moral, ability, 328; character, seat of,
236-250; inability, 326-336; law,
472-476; Science, Wayland s, 179,
193.
73,
of, 37;
as to its
objects, 38; modifications of, 38; as
benevolence, 38-43.
Love, Holy, Theories of, 214-218.
of,
John
Morell, 164.
393.
proofs
Mill,
37: divisions
of,
M.
Mackintosh, 179.
Maclaurin, John, 206.
Magee, 452.
Malan, Dr. Csesar, 543.
Man, as a moral being, 161-191; his re
lation to the Creator, 161; to the
rest of the material creation, 161;
to the spiritual realm, 161, 162;
to his race, 162; his individuality,
163; union of his body and soul,
163, 164; his soul s origin, 166; his
personality, 170; powers and facul
ties of his soul, 173-176; its original
tendencies, 176-178; his conscience,
178-190; his highest spiritual ca
pacities, 190, 191 as a moral agent,
his personal relations to the law of
God, 232-236; his primeval moral
;
Miiller, Julius,
N.
Natural ability, 326-336.
Nature and attributes, divine, 3^47.
Neander, 287.
Necessity, Natural, 250; Moral, 250;
Metaphysical or Philosophical, 250.
Nestorianism, 396.
New
Platonists, 93.
Newton, note,
Nicene Creed,
19.
362.
Nitzsch, 431.
of,
Owen, John,
state,
P.
Paley, 40, 206.
628
INDEX.
587.
man
Personality, 170.
Philo, 4, 167, 344, 369.
Philosophy of Christianity, 73, 373-377.
Plato, 4, 11, 93, 167, 168, 297, 494.
Power to the contrary, 329, 330.
Powers and faculties of the soul, 173-176.
Prayer, 577-579.
Predestination, 501-504, objections to,
509-514.
Pre-established harmony, theory of, 164.
Pre-existence, 167; hypothesis
313,
of,
314.
George
Prentiss,
L., 322.
Preservation of Creation,
102-105;
sources of proof of the doctrine,
103.
its
102;
purport, 102,
Primeval state of man, 252-258; of in
nocence, 253; of the divine image,
253, 254; not of confirmed holiness,
ventions,
495-498;
some
of
its
representations
of,
558,
559; its
method, 564-566
its means,
566-569 ;
Renan, 383.
Repentance, difference between Roman
Catholic and Protestant views of,
572, 573; Protestant view stated,
573, 574.
552.
Principia,
Newton
19.
s,
modes
of,
111-114.
Prudentius, 167.
rela
448-453
objections stated and answered,
453-461; Scriptural statements of,
analyzed, 461-464.
Sanctification, 575-585; its nature, 575,
576;
Quenstedt, 127.
Saumur,
11.
and Nominalists,
13.
of,
self,
3-337;
it
between
this
and human
308.
501;
to
trast
means, 577-579.
Satan, 99-101.
its
Sartorius, 258.
Quintilian, 277.
in
Schleiermacher, 13,
629
INDEX.
Schcettgen, 431.
Scholastics, 104, 167.
Schneckenburger, 484.
mode
man
soul,
176-178.
of interpreting,
Second Advent,
608, 609.
Self-existence of God, 16, 17.
Selfish scheme, 206.
Seneca, 297.
to,
Servetus, 363.
of, 146-159; is it the
necessary means of the greatest
good, 147-149; does free agency ac
count for it, 149-153; reasons for
Sin, permission
Transubstantiation, 536.
Trichotomy, 166.
Trinity, 48-90; preliminary remarks on,
283-325.
essential, 73-90.
Turretine, 543.
its
Twesten,
S., 297.
U.
239.
536.
Sophocles, 297.
South, Dr., 258, 453.
Sovereignty, divine, 377.
Spinoza, 4, 14, 375.
Spiritual Life theory of our union with
Swedenborg, 9.
Swedenborgians, 612.
Synesius, 167.
Synod of Dort, 543, 549.
T.
criticised,
536-539.
Unitarian view of depravity, 312.
Unitarians, 56.
Unity of God, 48-51.
Upham,
V.
believer,
502 et seq.,
Von
Orelli, 388.
630
INDEX.
W.
termination, 239;
its
modes
of ac
Wisdom,
nition
Wisner, W.
Wolff, 11.
Woods, Leonard,
mystical union,
X.
Xenophon,
297.
Zwingle, 143.
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