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c 
 
LECTURES AND SERMONS 
 
 DELIVERED BBFOBB THE 
 
 THEOLOGICAL UNION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of Victoria College. 
 
 
 VOL IL, 1883-1887. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 WILLIAM limOGS, 78 & 80 KI.VO ST. EAST. 
 C. \V. (:;OATES. M.).vtheal. I S. F. HUESTIS, Halifax. 
 
 1888. 
 

 ? 4 0353 
 
PHEFATOKY NOTE. 
 
 rPHE Lectures and Sermons incliirled in this volume 
 were delivered before the Theological Union of 
 
 Victoria University, which wns organized in 1877. 
 
 Both Lecturers and Preachers have been very felici- 
 tous in selecting topics of living interest to the 
 Church and to the Theological Student. As they are 
 largely Apologetic in their character, the Annual 
 Meeting of the Union hopes, by their publication in 
 this form, to help toward the settlement, in the minds 
 of the young, of some of the religious difficulties ^f 
 the age. 
 
CONl 
 
 ®I) 
 
 15KIJ 
 
 m 
 
SIN AND GEACE 
 
 CONSIlJKUliD IN JiKl>AT10N TO GOD'S MOUAL (ioVKKNMKNT OK MAN. 
 
 IIY TJIK 
 
 REV. JAMES CaiAIIAM, 
 
 f !)!> ^vattitixl f i>st 0f Cbrbtianitn. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. HUGH JOHNSTON, M.A, B.D. 
 
 I5E1NG THE SIXTH ANNUAL LECTURE AND SERMON 
 
 LEFORE THE TllEOEOCICAL UNION OK 
 
 VICTORIA COLLEGE, IN 1883. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 WILLIAM BRIGGS, 
 
 78 & 80 Kino Strkrt East. 
 MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS. 
 
 1883. 
 
 
SJ 
 
SIN AND GRACE CONSIDEriED IN RELATION TO 
 GOD'S MOliAL GOVERNMENT OF MAN. 
 
 A LECTURE DELIVERET) nKFOUE THE THEOLOGICAL UNIC. OF 
 VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, MAY ISxii, 1883. 
 
 nv THE 
 
 REV. JAMES GRAHAM. 
 
■i 
 
 S 
 
L E C T U Pt E . 
 
 SIN AND (IIIADE OONSI DKIIKD IN IfKLATION 
 TO (lOD'S MOIIAL (lOVKRNiMKNT OK MAN. 
 
 \ 
 
 The soui'ccs of uioivil influence indicate*! l»y tlie 
 tei'iiis Sin and (Jnice are not discoveries made by man, 
 Imt int'oriuation communicated to him. Revelation 
 not only furnishos new subjects of tlioujj^ht, but sheds 
 additional liu;ht on the whole course of pivovidence. 
 But it does not manifest all things happening undei" 
 the course of pi'ovidence so clearly to us, as to leave 
 no fui-ther light either <lesirable or possible. On the 
 contrary, it indicates that what we now see only 
 through a glass darkly, we shall yet see in the light 
 of noon-day ; and that, what is unknowable by us 
 now, we shall know hereafter. Out of our relation to 
 Revelation arises our duty to study its credentials and 
 contents. Whatever Revelation may be intrinsically, 
 its regulative inHuence on our life is according to what 
 our thought concerning it is. Though our thought 
 can add nothing to the contents of Revelation, it may 
 
6 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 enable us to make some proi^n'css in a more corn^et 
 appreliunsion, and in a more systciiiatic statement of 
 i* truths. Patient investigation, not hasty anticipa- 
 tion, is tlie proper temper of the student of Revelation, 
 as well as of the student of Nature. But, as in every 
 other sphere of thought, so in Revehition, we may meet 
 the mysterious and the difficult. If it is the glory 
 of God to reveal one thing, it m.ay also he His glory to 
 conceal another thing. Partial ignorance concerning the 
 reasons of the Divine procedure, is prohahly the con- 
 dition of all created ndnds. A perception of our ignor- 
 ance of some things may indicate more mental clearness, 
 than an over-contident pretension to know them. It 
 is not a mere paradox to say that it is part of our 
 knowledge to know our ignorance. If, then, we should 
 find that, considered in some aspects, both sin and 
 grace are somewhat unknowable by us during our 
 present life, that is not contrary to, but in analogy 
 with, the whole course of providence concerning us. 
 Revelation informs us that man, as created, was " very 
 good." Thus, what an onmipotent God created, an 
 omniscient God approved. But that very good man 
 was created with a power of mental freedom, which 
 might be used in obedience to the will of his Creator, 
 or it mignt be abused by willing against the will of 
 his Creator. Man [did abuse that power by willing 
 against the will of God. But still man is, and God 
 is, and the race will be. But the old foundations arc 
 now out of course. If we ask here, Why did not God 
 prevent that sin ? or why did the creature commit 
 
LECTKIIE. 7 
 
 that sin ? vvvn Revelation <l()<'s not fui'iiisli an answci- 
 to I'itlier (jut'stion. And it' we conteiii])lato tlie various 
 attempts that liave been nia«le at a pliilosopliical sohi- 
 tion of the origin of sin, wo see faihire leu;il)ly stamped 
 upon every one of them. It is not unreasoTiahle 
 to suppose; tliat vt^ry few can be ambitious of adding 
 anotlun" to tliat long list of failun^s l)y making an- 
 other attempt at the solution of that pi'oblem. But 
 it should 1k! remembered that mystery is n<^t absurdity. 
 The confounding of these has lieen the scjurce of nuich 
 fallacious reasonin!>' on religious subjects. Tlie im- 
 portanco of not confounding these may Ix; piu'ceived 
 from the fact, tliat we must (.'ither believe facts or 
 truths, notwithstanding that some mystery may be 
 connected with them, or stand convicted of absurdity 
 by denying them. We can believe notwithstanding 
 mystery, but we cainiot, rationally, l»elieve absurdity. 
 Mystery may only be that which transcends our 
 mental comprehension, lait altsui'dity contradicts the 
 imme(liat(; perception of our intellect. And though 
 we have to confess that the origin of sin is to us a 
 mystery, we do not cognize it as an absurdity. True, 
 we have had a ujood deal written about " how sin 
 came," but that does not answer the questions why 
 was it permitted, or why was it connnitted ? The 
 how in these cases is not the wky. Had this been 
 always perceived, it might have saved a goodly num- 
 ber of writers on the su))ject, from confounding their 
 expositions of the possibility of sin, with a rational 
 solution of the oriijfin of sin. I do not discuss here 
 
 4 
 
 J 
 
i 
 
 8 
 
 LKCTITHE. 
 
 tlio orif^in of sin eitlici- in reforonco to Ood wlio did 
 not prevent it, or in reference to man who committed 
 it. As it isadmittiMl tliut man is a responsible subject 
 of moral government, I design to consider tlie influ- 
 ences of botli sin and grace upon man, considered in 
 Ids i-elation to the moral government of God. If man 
 is naturally a totally depraved being, how can he be 
 lield as the responsible subject of moral government ? 
 This is the mental difficulty of man's moral history in 
 his relation to the Divine government. This (ques- 
 tion has puzzled more minds, in reference to the 
 acceptance of Revelation as true, than the cycles of 
 Geology or the evolutions of Biology. And it seems 
 that instead of shedding any light upon this difficulty, 
 the darkness has been thickened by the teaching of a 
 large part of the theology of Christendom, upon the 
 subjects of sin and grace. In treating of these suljjects 
 here, there is no attempt made to explain the mys- 
 terious, but to expose the absurd, and to state the true. 
 First, let us consider the fact and doctrine of 
 
 Original Sin. 
 
 But what is, or what should be meant, by the phrase 
 " oriixinal sin ? " Considered in reference to Adam, it 
 includes his first sinful act, and the depravity of his 
 nature consequent on that act. Considered in refer- 
 ence to Adam's ofispring, it means the depravity con- 
 sequent on Adam's sin as transmitted from his fallen 
 nature to the whole race. That type of anthropology 
 which denies the depravity of Adam's nature by his 
 
 d( 
 
 CO 
 
 pel 
 th 
 
 to 
 bed 
 
 pi, 
 
 is 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 T.ECTURE. 
 
 9 
 
 oii^inal sinl'iil net; find also <lonios tluit liis dcpravcMl 
 natui'c is transmitted to liis posterity, is liero ivji'cted 
 as la'ing nttci-ly anti-Hil»lical. Revelation teaches tliat 
 Adam's sin depraved his nature, and that the depraved 
 nature is ti-ansmittcd to his posterity. And the whole 
 photograph of human history seems to corrohorato 
 that doctrine. But among those who admit the fact 
 of cons^^enital depravity in the human race, there has 
 not been, and there is not now, uniformity of opinion 
 with respect to its influence on man's relation to the 
 moral government of God. The following (piestions 
 are still suhjects of discussion: — "Are we legally 
 liahle to suffer for our original depravity the penalty 
 annexed to Adam's original sinful act ?" and, " Are we 
 personally guilty for the depravity of our nature as 
 transmitted to us ?" Numerous theologians have an- 
 swered, and do answer, these questions in the affirma- 
 tive, hut I must answer both in the negative. If our 
 depraved moral state be viewed ethically, and in 
 comparison with the holiness of the Divine law, it may 
 be pronounce<l sinful, as being in non-conformity to 
 that law. But this transmitted sinfulness of nature 
 forms no just ground for the charge of personal guilt 
 for its existence as transmitted to us. Hereditary, 
 personal depravity, there may be, but hereditary guilt 
 there cannot be. The ambiguous use of the term ^juiltj 
 to designate our relation to the Divine sfovernment 
 because of inherited depravity, has darkened and per- 
 plexed this subject. The strict sense of the term guilt 
 is liability to punishment for free personal wrong- 
 
10 
 
 LEOTIIIIE. 
 
 «l(>inL(. r>i.t. uHroi'tniiJitcly, it lias Ix'cii l?ii'j;('ly used in 
 tliu tlu!()l()^y of Cliristcntloin, to iiu'jui Iiul>ility to Icl^mI 
 pniiisluiu'iit, hikI even liability to pi'ovi(k'iitial sufi'er- 
 in;^, tl)ronL;li tlu; wroiiLj-doinL,^ of otlicrs, IJut it iiiukt's 
 no inattiT wliat iiuto W(n'(l-jnL;i;lin!i; may lu' ciiiployiMl 
 on the .suhjiict, one tliini;" is clear, for inlici'ittMl depra- 
 vity there can he nt'itlier ivsponsiliiHty, nor i^niilt, nor 
 lialtility to the punislniient annexed to Adam's original 
 sinful act. liut — as if to har out all fui'ther (juestion- 
 inif — consolousnesi'i has friMpiently heen appealed to in 
 suppoi't of the chari!;(! of L;uilt foi" inherited depravity. 
 The appeal to that coui't is useless. It has not jui'isdic- 
 tion in the case. Consciousness can oidy say iiiuilty for 
 what is the I'esult of th(^ known wroni,^ use of our natui-al 
 powers. But inheriteildepravityis not such result, thei-e- 
 fore consciousness cannot pronounce i^niilty foi-it. Anain, 
 thoui^h it may he considei-ed a moi-al state, here(litary 
 depravity is also a conu;enital, and necessary state ; 
 therefoi'e, consciousness can no more pronounce i^niilty 
 for it, than it can pronounci^ s^^ii'ty ^<"' <^ natui'ally 
 sickly hahit of hody. It lias also heen contended that 
 the intuitive judgment of conscience declares j^aiilty, 
 for our naturally depraved moral state. But, it may 
 be replied, so much the worse for that intuitive judi^- 
 ment, if it does so. But it does not do so. Such a 
 judiL!;ment will not stand the tests of intuitive truth — 
 " self-evidenc(^ universality, and necessity." Will the 
 declaration of guilt for unavoidahle depravity stand 
 the first test ? Is it self-evident ? On the contrary, I 
 submit that self-evident moral axioms, and loi^ical 
 
 I 
 
LE(!TUUE. 
 
 II 
 
 (l(Mhu'ti()ns from tlu'in, on the subject of monil rcspon- 
 siliility, stamp tlicir crt'ectual and K'L?il)lc veto on the 
 verdict of L;uilt, and punislniicnt, for an inherited 
 depravity. That judi^nuuit contradicts tlie moral 
 axiom thai moral freedom muat underlie moral res- 
 p()iiHiJ)irUi/. Wo never liad freedom from inlierite<l 
 depravity, and thei-efon^ no responsihility, and no g'liilt 
 for it. This will stand the test of intuitive truth. 
 
 But it is also submitted, that the doctrim; of liahility 
 to sutier the le^-al penalty annexed to Adam's ori^'inal 
 sin, for inhei'ited (h'pravity of nature, destroys all 
 justice in God's moral government of man. If the 
 penalty annexed to Adam's sin was eternal punisli- 
 Tuent, and if for inherited depravity that punishment 
 may Ix; inflicted on the whole race, then tlie whoh; 
 race may be doome(l to suffer eternally for what not 
 one individual of the race had any more power to 
 avoid than he had to avoid his existence. Such a 
 judicial procedure as that destroys all justice in the 
 i^'overnment which employs it. So far as we can judi^e 
 of justice, we nuist decide that the charge of guilt, and 
 lial)ility to eternal punishment, for an inherited and 
 necessary state, contradicts our first perception of 
 justice. It is to be regretted that the calling such a 
 judicial procedure justice, should not always have been 
 le'ft to stand as the peculiar glory of the old predestin- 
 arian den of realistic solidarity in Adam's guilt, and of 
 the glorious justice of necessitated damnation. 
 
 But, furthermore, this doctrine involves another 
 most appalling conseciuence. If there is personal 
 
12 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 i^niilt (;li;irLf('a))l(' ai^oiinst any piM'son for our inlu'vitcd 
 (Icpivivity, it must Ix' cliar^ctl against God. Tlio steps 
 to tliis conclusion an; few an<l plain. It is not our 
 ;^uilt, because wo never liad power to avoid it. Tt is 
 not Adam's L^niilt, Itecause thoULdi ,L(uil-y for liis pei"- 
 sonal act, he did not constitute 'is owi. beinn-, nor did 
 lie estalilisli tlie natura)isti'3 ax ' l)y whicli his de- 
 pravity of nature is trai 'uit^!> co us. God consti- 
 tute(l A<lam vvitli a nature v iiicli liis sin would deprave, 
 and ordained that liis depraved nature sliould be trans- 
 mitted to Ins posterity' ; tlierefore, for wliat is inlieritcvl 
 tlu'ouijjh tlie natural law of transmission, the sustainer 
 of the race through A(him is responsible ; and, there- 
 fore, if guilt for our natural depravity exists at all, it 
 lies against the Creator of Adam, and the sustainer of 
 tlie race through A(him, depraved by his sin. This 
 conclusion nuist be accepted, or the premises from 
 which it legitimately results must be given up. It is 
 of no avail in support of the doctrine of guilt for our 
 original sin, to say that it is not the guilt of Adam's 
 original sin imputed to us, but our own sin, l)ccause of 
 the " solidarity of the race in sin." But it appears to 
 me that this doctrine is also absurd. Sameness of 
 moral state is not unity of personality. As the indi- 
 viduals of the race had no personal existence in Adam, 
 they cannot bo guilty for his act, though it may be 
 euphemistically called " the act of humanity." The 
 charirc of ijuilt for such a fictitious crime indicates 
 more the power of invention than the purpose of 
 righteousness. Nor is it of any avail to charge us 
 
 
\ 
 
 LFXTURE. 
 
 13 
 
 r <U<1 
 
 Thc 
 Ucatcs 
 )ose oi' 
 ,ro;e us 
 
 witli j^uilt lircausc Adiun acted as our " FcMloral llcprc- 
 sontativo ;" liecausc, in any sonso applicable to this 
 ari^nuncnt, such a representative is simply a fiction. 
 In truth, the charge of guilt for an act without per- 
 sonal existence, or of guilt for the act of a representa- 
 tive that we never elected, or of guilt for a state 
 transmitted to us by a natural law, are all, in one 
 sense, ('(pially absurd, because in any, or in all, we 
 have no moral control. The mind that can declare 
 guilty for those, so-called, acts of humanity, or for that 
 necessary moral state, may be capable of judgments 
 still more surprising, 1 tut of none more absurd than that. 
 But still, on this point of guilt we are plied wdth 
 the question : — " Are we not guilty for our moral state 
 as well as for our moral act ? " The terms of this 
 (question, as related to man's naturally depraved con- 
 dition, are ambiguous, and in order to develop the 
 fallacy wrapped up in them, I reply, Yes, and No. 
 Yes, if the meaning is that we arc guilty for continu- 
 ance of that transmitted depraved state. And again I 
 reply, Yes, if the phrase " moral state " refers to a state 
 of necessary depravity, which may l)e superinduced by 
 the persistent abuse of our free power. But I reply, 
 No, if the phrase " moral state " refers to our moi-al 
 state, as transmitted to us. And again I reply, No, wa 
 are not guilty for our natural " moral state," as we are 
 for our " moral act ; " because, from that moral state 
 we had no freedom, but from our moral act we had 
 freedom. In short, for the reign of sin in us we are 
 guilty, for perpetuity in sin we are guilty, and for 
 
14 
 
 liECTlJHK. 
 
 our moral act we arc j^uilty ; Imt for a moral state 
 whic'li we never ha<l power to avoid we are not ^aiilty. 
 
 J)r. Pope — speaking from the Theological Chair of 
 En.L,dish VVesleyan Methodism — makes the followiii;^ 
 statement on the siihject of Original Sin: — " Mctliod- 
 ism accepts the Article of the En_L,dish C'lnn'ch ! Ori;,^- 
 inal sin standeth not in the followini;' of Adam (as the 
 Pelagians do vainly talk), ]>ut is the fault an<l corrup- 
 tion of the natun; of every man that is onujendered 
 naturally of th<i ofisprini^ of Adam ; whereby man is 
 very far i^one from original righteousness, and is of his 
 own nature inclinecl to evil, so that tlui flesh lusteth 
 always contrary to the Spirit ; and, therefore, in every 
 person horn into this world ; it dcserveth God's wrath 
 and danmation," etc. * 
 
 Now, I hesitate ])efore accepting that doctrine as the 
 standard doctrine of Methodism. Nor was I previously 
 aware that the English Wcsleyan Methodist Church 
 "accepted" the whole Anglican Article on the subject 
 of " Original Sin." But if she accepts as her standard 
 teaching the doctrine that, for our inherited corruption 
 from Adam "every man deserves God's wrath and 
 damnation," I douljt whether she can claim Wesley's 
 mature judgment for that doctrine. The deserving 
 damnation for that depravity was rejected by Wesley 
 when he formulated the Vllth Article of our Church. 
 I accept that article as it came from Wesley's hand, 
 but I do not accept the whole Anglican Article on the 
 subject of " Original Sin," either as our Chvu'ch stand- 
 
 * Compciulmm of Theology, p. 243. 
 
 m 
 
LECTIJKE. 
 
 15 
 
 ,lty. 
 I* of 
 
 > the 
 •rup- 
 lercd 
 ijin iH 
 )i his 
 istcth 
 every 
 wrath 
 
 as the 
 iously 
 hurch 
 uhject 
 tndard 
 uption 
 ih and 
 esley's 
 erving 
 Lesley 
 hvirch. 
 hand, 
 on the 
 stand- 
 
 ard, or us licin^' in uccordaiicc witli the l>ilil«! sinu'lanl. 
 It is (juitf clear tliat tlie AnL;licaii Artielc teaches the 
 universal desert of daiiniation, for inlicritcd d('[)i-avity 
 from Aduiii. lla<l Wesley Itelieved tliat doctrine when 
 lie fonnulatcil our Ai'ticle on ()riL:;inal Sin, lie wouM 
 not have drlilx'ratcly rejeete<l it fi'oni tlu^ Ai'ticle. 
 VVi'slcy seems to havi; done with the Anglican Article 
 on "Original Sin," what he <lid with the whole thirty- 
 niiu! Articles — he gathered the L!;ood into sound vessels 
 and cast the had away. It is of no avail in support of 
 tht^ acceptance of the An_i;lican Article to say that it 
 is our sinful nature which is meant when it is said 
 that it deserves God's wrath and damnation ; and that 
 the nature must he conceived of as ahstractcd from 
 thii 2)6rson. As a suhject of tliouoht, we can conceive 
 the nature as ahstracted from the person ; hut with 
 respect to a moral heing, considered as the responsihle 
 suhject of moral government, no such aV)straction of 
 nature from person is allowable. Could the nature he 
 deserving of any thing al)stracted from the person ? 
 A person, and only a person, can he deserving of either 
 reward or punishment. But if the person is not en- 
 dangered, we cannot feel very keenly on the suhject. 
 Yet I do feel that such attempted hair-splitting is 
 very like triHing with such a sul»ject as desert of God's 
 wrath and damnation. And most certainly that ab- 
 stracted nature is not the meanino; of the Anii-lican 
 Article on Original Sin. It says plainly that for in- 
 herited corruption from Adam, "every 'person horn into 
 the world deserveth God's wrath and damnation." 
 
16 
 
 LE(!TURK. 
 
 This perso)tul (Icmri of (lanmutioii tor tlml dcpruvity 
 Woslciy rejected. So do 1, And so ou^lit every tiihii 
 who helieves in (Jofl's justice, and in iiinn's nioi'al 
 intelli<jence. 
 
 It is really surprising;,' — and were it not for the* 
 solemnity of tln^suhject it would he aniuslni^ — to hear 
 the ahsurd platitudes from the lofty altitudes, whicli 
 have been d(divere<l to us l»y sapient theolo;^qies on the 
 su])jects of just penalty for, and on the mode of <le- 
 liverance from, the just penalty of original sin. Wo 
 arc told hy sonu; that eternal damnation is its just 
 and legal <lesert, while they a<lmit that man never 
 could have avoi(lc<l it. The ahsui'dity and iniusticc 
 involved in such a decision as that, render it incapable 
 of rational belief })y an intelligent mind, or a feeling 
 heart. In embracing such a mental monster the heart 
 is perverted, and the intellect pushed backwards. And 
 we are told by others that, though etei-nal <lamnation 
 is the just and legal desert of original sin, yet no one 
 will ever suti'er that penalty for it, because Jesus Christ 
 died to save the race from it. This is a decided relief 
 to the feelings of the benevolent heart, but it is quite 
 unsatisfactory to the rational decisions of the intellect. 
 On the strict principle of justice, we are bound to deny 
 that any one was ever liable to eternal suti'ei-ing for 
 inherited depravity. Such a doom for such a state, 
 could not be inflicted by a just God. And if such 
 a liability never existed, and if such a doom would 
 not be just, how can it l)e sai<l with propriety that 
 Jesus Christ died to save us from it ? Did He die 
 
 k 
 
 oi 
 ui 
 
 II) 
 
 SK 
 
 re 
 ab 
 un 
 
 ■^ 
 
LECTiriiE. 
 
 17 
 
 iivity 
 
 niun 
 
 iiionil 
 
 r tlui 
 
 ) liear 
 
 winch 
 
 m tlu; 
 
 i)t* <le- 
 
 . Wc 
 
 is just 
 never 
 
 justice 
 
 ■apaltle 
 
 feeling 
 
 3 heart 
 
 And 
 
 nation 
 
 no one 
 
 ; Christ 
 
 il relief 
 s (juite 
 \tellect. 
 ,() deny 
 •ing for 
 L state, 
 f such 
 would 
 ty that 
 He die 
 
 to save us from tluit to wliieh wc were never lialde ^ 
 Or did He die to .save us from (Jod's injustice ? Most 
 certainly not. It is not the intuitive moral judg- 
 ment, wor a legitimate logical i)roce<lure, that can lea<l 
 th(! human mind to accept sudi ahsurdities, hut a con- 
 fuse(l and confounding tlieological cultui-e. Jf any 
 Inniian heing can ])elieve that it is ju.st to doom any 
 one to eternal .sutt'ering for wlwit lu; never liad powi'r 
 to avoid, tliere is no u.se in reasoning with that man 
 oTi moral suhji^cts, hecause the sul»jective mental 
 sxround-work on which all such rea.sonin<^ must he 
 hased, is wanting in that mind. And then, on the 
 other hand, how absurd the procedure which unjustly 
 represents man as liahle to eternal <lanniation for orig- 
 inal depravity, and then calls in Christ's merit to save 
 him from the inju.stice! Such mental conceptions seem 
 to Hisemble tlie, so called, reprobates of " Reformed 
 Theology " — dannied before they were born. These 
 contradictions cannot be avoided in the structurt; of 
 Systematic Theology, until the baseless assumptions 
 of guilt, and liability to eternal puni.shment for an 
 unavoidable state, are swept down to the region of 
 moles and bats by the purifying breezes of heaven*. 
 
 (Jne argument in support of the charge of guilt, 
 and the infliction of legal punishment by Cod without 
 personal demerit in the being punished, may be con- 
 sidered here. The argument has been considered a 
 rcuil poser for its opponents, and a theodicy for its 
 abettors. It is this : " None but the guilty can suffer 
 under the government of God, even infants do suffer 
 
18 
 
 F.EfTrilK. 
 
 uinlcr tliut j^ovcrniui'iit, tlicrt'tori' tliry iinist .siitltT l>e- 
 caUMe of tlu' impututioii of tlu; ;;uilt of Adam's sin to 
 tlu'iii." To this 1 ft'ply, it is not true tliat none Imt 
 till! ;,Miilty can suH'tT under tlie government of (Jod. 
 Whatevei' may lie our philosophy of suH'erin;^ under 
 the Divine ^ovennncnt, the fact that the inn«)cent do 
 sutler under it, is self-evident; and therefore, all con- 
 clusions hastvl on the assumption that none; hut tlic 
 ;^niilty can suffer under the government of (iod, crum- 
 hles into ruin. And with respect to the imputation of 
 Adam's guilt to the child, it is ahsurd, because guilt 
 caiuiot he si'purated from demerit in the person who 
 committe(l the sin. Nor can h'gal punishment he justly 
 intlieted on any human person who <lid not commit the 
 sin <leserving it. And as respects the theodicy con- 
 taine<l in the imputation of Adam's personal guilt to 
 the infant, it is a total failure with respect to a vindi- 
 cation of the Divine; justice in the infant's sutterings. 
 Some good souls seem horrified at the thouglit of the 
 innocent suffering at all under the Divine government, 
 l)ut they seem to become pacified by God imputing the 
 guilt of Adam's sin to an infant, in order that thereby 
 God's justice may be vindicated in dooming the per- 
 sonally innocent infant to eternal torment. Now, 
 when we are called on to assent to such a profound 
 theodicy, and to admire such poetic justice as are 
 manifested in such a judicial procedure as that, per- 
 liaps the best thing we can do in the case is to beg the 
 author's pardon, and request him to take that theodicy, 
 with our compliments, to the Sphinx. Verily, that 
 
 th 
 
 of 
 
 gr, 
 
 dil 
 
 Gil 
 
 tlid 
 
 re 
 
 tlu 
 
 puj 
 
I 
 
 f.Kr'TiniE. 
 
 If) 
 
 • he- 
 ill to 
 i )»ut 
 
 nt tlo 
 I con- 
 it till) 
 cnun- 
 ion oV 
 ! iiuilt 
 n wlu) 
 justly 
 nit the 
 3y con- 
 
 ruilt to 
 
 vin«H- 
 ierin^s. 
 of the 
 •ninont, 
 jing the 
 hereby 
 le per- 
 Now, 
 rot'ountl 
 as are 
 lat, per- 
 beg the 
 heodicy, 
 •ily, that 
 
 (IcJ'riU't' of the J)iviin' jiistic(! st'cins Mkc u iiiisrnihK> 
 spcc'iiiM'ii of linnuiii casuistry. Ihit sucii urr tlu' con- 
 h'liiptihlc sliifts to wliich fjilsr postuhites (h'ivc thrir 
 lioiii'st devotees. Until these pscudo assuiiiptious un' 
 • hscjii'di'd, the throne of (Jot! will appear to human 
 intellect not only tiu'i'ed with inysterv, hut hristlinir 
 with injustice. 
 
 The trn»' relation of (lod to Adam, and to tlie hunnin 
 race, I conceive to l)e this : (Jod constituted Adam with 
 a nature wliicli Ids sin would dej)i-ave ; and (lod or- 
 liained that Adam's sinful nature should he t)-ansmitted 
 from liim to all his oHsprini;' ; and (Jod ordained means 
 for the final well-heinn' of all, winch shall fully vindi- 
 cate His righteous adndnistration at the ^^wnt day of 
 tinal account. What those means are will apjxar 
 sutliciently evident if we carefidly examine 
 
 The Administration of Grace. 
 
 I do not h(!re contemplate that adnnnisti'ation of 
 <4Tace manifi'sted in the conscious justitication and 
 re<,^eneration of the adult believer in Jesus Christ, and 
 the impartation of wliich is conditione(l on the ti'ust 
 of the recipient in the atonement of Christ. The term 
 ILirace is here restricted to that universal and uncon- 
 ditional favour to man throui^li the atonement of Jesus 
 Christ, which, umhir the aihninistration of Cod, opens 
 the way of salvation to all wlio do not persistently 
 reject its henetits. The impartation. of such grace, and 
 the continuance of a depraved race, was God's eternal 
 purpose. It may be safely assumed that God can 
 
20 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 I, . 
 
 ncitlior ]»c liarasscd witli (lou])t, nor disconcortod hy 
 contingencies. God's creation of man did n(jt take 
 place without the knowledge of what the creature 
 would do, or could do ; nor without the knowledge of 
 what God himself would do. God knew ])efore the 
 creation of man not only the possibility, but the actu- 
 ality of Adam's sin ; and also, its consecjuences to the 
 race through Adam's depraved nature. The decision 
 to continue a natually depraved race <lid not exist in 
 the Divine mind independent of, or separate from, the 
 decision to restore free power to man — for good- 
 through the atonement of Jesus Christ. These deci- 
 sions existed tojzether in the Divine mind before 
 human depravity became a fact, or grace a Revelation. 
 With the bestowment of such universal grace on man 
 in view, the continuance of a depraved race is morally 
 possil)le ; but without it, we cannot see the moral pos- 
 sil)ility of the existence of a depraved race under the 
 riijjhteous moral <:rovernment of God. Rational thoujjfht 
 leads to the conclusion that God's moral providence 
 concerning man was, from the first, pitched on the 
 key-note of grace. And without grace, fallen man 
 cannot be the responsible subject of just moral govern- 
 ment. Justice renders to all, and demands from all, 
 only what is due. There may be a mercy which goes 
 beyond this — though it must be consistent with it — 
 but short of this, justice is not. Would it be consist- 
 ent with that justice to continue a race of naturally 
 depraved beings, without any means being afforded 
 them whereby they might overcome sin, and escape 
 
 al 
 
{ 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 21 
 
 the 
 
 cxcrlfistiivu' woe ^ Sneli a procodure is inconsistent 
 witli IHlilicul ivpivsontations of Divines justice ; nor is 
 it consistent with hnnum ideas of justice. Witlioiit 
 tlie bestownient of gracious power to moral good, 
 naturally depraved man cannot eitlier overcome sin, or 
 escape suffering. To leave man under such an ever- 
 lasting curse, without ever having had the power to 
 a\'oid it, is not a mere mystery which transcends our 
 ])ower of mental comprehension, but a contradiction of 
 ail that we can ever know about justice in this world. 
 If man is naturally a depraved l)eing, and yet is held 
 as a responsible l)eing, I conclude that iniiversal depi-a- 
 vity must be met by universal grace. Jesus Clirist is 
 (Jod's theodicy to the moral universe in His govern- 
 ment over man. The creation of man, the continuance 
 of the race, and the vast scheme of providence over 
 this world, are all based upon that plan of God which 
 He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. 
 As the radii of a circle all meet in the centre, so crea- 
 tion, providence, and grace, centre in Christ, tlje incar- 
 nate and redeeming God. And as the sun enlightens 
 all in the solar system, so spiritual light is shed upon 
 all men, through the grace of that Eternal Word who 
 " enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world." 
 We have frequently read from the pages of Chris- 
 tian writers, and heard from Christian pulpits, the 
 iloc'trine that God, without any impeachment of His 
 justice, might have left the wliole human race under 
 the reign of unavoidable sin, and endless woe, without 
 any redeeming grace. But I cannot help thinking 
 
 I 4 
 
 *«? 
 
22 
 
 I.KCTITKK. 
 
 thut sucli n ^ovcniiucntal piT)C('<lni-(' as that would he 
 more aceoi'daiit vvitli tlio tlii'ono of Nero, tliaii witli 
 tlie Tliroiu^ of Jeliovali. Witliout doubt, wo occupy a 
 rational and Scriptural position, in niaintainini:; tliat 
 the existence of a race of moral heings conu^enitally 
 <lepraved, without j^Tace, is not morally possible under 
 the riii'hteous moral ixovernment of Clod, And thouijch 
 there may be found in Methodist writei's a stray word 
 inconsistent with this position, yet the standard writers 
 of Metho(Hsm are almost unanimous in occupying this 
 i,a'0un<l, when attemptini^^ to justify the ways of God 
 w^ith men. Perhaps a few of their testimonies niay 
 not be deemed irrelevant here. Speakinij^ of the man- 
 ner in which the grace of Christ to man meets the 
 principle of tlieodicy, the 
 
 Rev. John Wesley says : — " It is exceedingly strange 
 that hardly anything has been written, or, at least, 
 published, on this subject ; nay, that it has been so 
 little weighed or understood by the generality of 
 Christians ; especially considering that it is not a 
 matter of idle curiosity, but a truth of the greatest 
 importance ; it being impossible, on any other prin- 
 ciple, 
 
 * To assert a gracious Providence, 
 And justify the ways of God with men.' " * 
 
 Rev. John Fletcher says : — " As we sinned only 
 semimdly in Adam, if God had not intended our re- 
 demption. His goodness would have engaged Him to 
 destroy us seminally l)y cru.shing the capital offender 
 
 * IVcsky's Scrvwns, vol. 2, p. 4<'5. 
 
LECTUHi:. 
 
 2:i 
 
 wlio contained us all. . . . But we sue Mis justie*' and 
 jjjoodncss sliino with ('([ual radiance wlien He spares 
 the guilty Adam to pi-opa^ate the fallen race, that 
 they may share the blessings of a better covenant." * 
 
 Rev. Dr. A. Clarke says : — " Had not Ood provided 
 a Redeemer, he, no doubt, would have terminated the 
 whole story ])y cutting ott' tlie original transgressors ; 
 for it would have been unjust to permit them to pro- 
 pagate their like in such circumstances, that their off- 
 spring nmstbe unavoidably and eternally wretched." -f- 
 
 Rev. R. Watson says : — " Had no method of forgive- 
 ness and restoration been established with respect to 
 human offenders, the penalty of the law must have 
 been forth witli executed upon them ; . . . and with 
 and in them the human race must have utterly 
 perished." j 
 
 Rev. Dr. Pope says : — " The mediatorial government 
 of the world from the be<xinnin<i- has l)een a fruit and 
 proof of redemption. No race, unredeemed and with- 
 out hope of redemption, could in the universe of a 
 holy God continue to propagate its generations." § 
 
 Rev. Dr. Whedon says : — " Without the Redeemer 
 no equitable system of probation for fallen man is a 
 possibility. . . . Without Christ the foundations of our 
 present moral system cannot be laid." || 
 
 
 !: 1 ;.' 
 
 * Checks to Antinoniianism, vol. 1, pp. 146, 147. 
 
 t Comvicnt,ary, vol. 6, p. 74. 
 
 X Theological Institutes, vol. 2, p. 56. 
 
 § Compendium of Christian Thcolmiy, p. 403. 
 
 II Whedon on the Will, pp. 341-343. 
 
 
24 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Ruyiiumd says: — " Thf only conception 
 adniissildc in tlie case is that, Imt for redemption, tlie 
 rac(^ would liave become extinct in tlie persons of our 
 tii'st parents." * 
 
 Thus wc liave the consecutive and uniform teachint; 
 of standard Methodist writers in support of the posi- 
 tion that tlie existence of a naturally «lepraved race, 
 without the provision of redeeming grace, is not mor- 
 ally possible under the righteous moral government 
 of (lod. And I think they are entirely correct in that 
 teaching. But if thoy are correct, what l)econies of 
 the doctrine of liability to eternal punishment for in- 
 hei'ited depravity fi'om the tii'st Adam, .seeing that 
 only for the grace of the second Adam the depraved 
 rac(^ could have had no existence ? Surely, if it is true 
 that nothing produces nothing, it is also true that 
 nothini'- is liable to nothini;. 
 
 Should it be said that the ground of moral govern- 
 ment herein advocated, "is only mere hypothesis, and 
 not based on positive Revelation," I reply, that the 
 impartation of universal grace to man is not mere 
 hypothesis, but a truth of Revelation, and the non- 
 existence of the race without that grace, is a legitimate 
 inference from the moral character of God as mani- 
 fested to us in Revelation. Thus we see that the 
 continuance of the race, through universal grace, is 
 supported by the facts, or truths of Revelation, and by 
 the logical inferences deducible from them. With this 
 just and gracious economy in view, man was created, 
 
 * Systematic Tlieologij, vol. 2, p. 309. 
 
r,K(TUKE. 
 
 25 
 
 ■^!i 
 
 and the (Icpi'UNiMl rucc coiitiiuitMl. Its LCi'fU'ioiis lirstDW- 
 lucnt hikI pi'ovisions, t'urnisli tlio ni-ccssaiy eoiiditioiis 
 of a just moral governinent over a race naturally <li- 
 pravod. Tlio coiid'ined antliropology and sotrrioloi^y 
 of St. Augustine affords no just moral l)asis for tlu; 
 government of a race congenital ly depraved. It pro- 
 fesses to save some of tlie race hy an irivsistible foi-ce, 
 called tree gi'ace ; while it leaves others without lielp 
 or hope, undei" the everlasting dominion of necessitated 
 sin and damnation, for wliat they never had pow<'r to 
 avoid. It is very much to be regretted that a schemes 
 so parsimonious witli respect tosalv^ation, hutsolil»ei-al 
 with respect to danniation, sliould ever liave ]»een 
 charged to the God and Christ of the Bible. But tlie 
 combined anthropology and soteriology of St. Paul, 
 lays the basis for a just moral government over tlie 
 fallen race, by tlie bestowment of free powder to man, 
 and gracious provision for the final \vell-l)eing of all 
 through the Saviour's propitiation for the sins of tlie 
 whole world. This general grace is God's pyramid of 
 ti-uth, standing erect in the vast solitude of time, 
 which can never be moved from its foundation on the 
 Rock of Ages, and around its summit the light of 
 eternity must play. 
 
 The King of Terrors is said to love a shining mark. 
 But it may l)e said with e({ual pertinence that he loves 
 a youthful prey. Half the human race is said to die 
 in infancy. All these never were probationers. The 
 decision of many Christian theologians on these dead 
 children would be a matter of curiosity, only for its 
 
 H 
 
 ii 
 
2fJ 
 
 r.KCTUIlK. 
 
 sadness. By some, tluiy luivc Itocii sent to u liinlio 
 milder than hell, but still outside of heaven. \^y 
 others, they have been consijjfned to annihilation, wit.i- 
 out hope of resurrection. And by others, they have 
 been doomed to an eternal hell of torment, if not 
 amonix the elect. But over those hills of darkn(!ss 
 \h^]\t is breaking, calm and clear. Even the upholders 
 of creeds which restrict the benefits of Christ's atone- 
 ment to the elect num])er of the human race, by the 
 eternal decree of God, have ventured to hope that all 
 dying in infancy are saved. I do not see how that 
 hope can bo rationally entertained by those who main- 
 tain such a decree ; because, all the children who die 
 could only be saved by being included in the elect 
 number ; and I do not see how any one can rationally 
 hope that all dying in infancy are included in that 
 elect number. But still that hope makes the theo- 
 logical outlook more hopeful. If, during the ministry 
 of Jesus Christ on earth. He corrected the eri'or of His 
 disciples by the example of a living child, so, after the 
 elapse of eighteen Christian centuries. He may, by the 
 instrumentality of a dead child, l^oth shake our false 
 creeds, and " enlarge our scanty thought to reach the 
 wonders He has wrought." Does not this hope of sal- 
 vation for all dying in infancy indicate a departure 
 from the heretofore historical theology of Calvinism 
 on the subject ? Most certainly ; for that has largely 
 been for infant damnation. Even the theological world 
 moves — let us hope upwards. Nor must we fail to 
 note here that other non-probationers, as well as chil- 
 
LKCTl'RE. 
 
 27 
 
 • liTii, }ii'(^ suvcd tliroui-li tli(^ <n-uc(' of Jesus Clii'ist 
 witliout passing tlin)Ui;li a proliatiou, dui-iiig wliicli 
 tlu'ir salvation is coiKlitioncd on five; volitional action. 
 Our ignorance of tlu' mode of the administration of 
 tliu saving grace in these cases, cainiot make void tlic, 
 fact tluit tlie atonement in Christ hrings salvation to 
 all men; nor should it eclipse our faith that God will 
 impart the saving henetits of the atonement to all who 
 do not wilfully reject tliem. 
 
 And with respect to all prol)ationers of the race, 
 that gi'ace is given them, unconditionally, which is 
 necessary to restore that moral l)alance towards holi- 
 ni'ss, which has heen destroyed by original depravity. 
 I do not mean that original sin has destroyed any con- 
 stituent facultj^ of human nature. Original sin is only 
 an accident, as distinguished from an essential constitu- 
 ent of the human constitution. But original sin has 
 so deranged the action of the faculties of the soul in 
 reference to moral irood that fallen man cannot move 
 towards holiness, volitionally, without the aid of grace. 
 It is sheer sophistry to say of a totally depraved man, 
 when totally deprived of grace, " He can be good if he 
 will ; " because the fact is, he cannot will towards holi- 
 ness, without the aid of o-raco. But under the gracious 
 administration of God, that free power is given to all^ 
 unconditionally, which is necessary to restore the free 
 mental balance towards holiness, and thus place them 
 upon that moral level of freedom which is a necessary 
 condition of their being placed on a responsible moral 
 prol)ation. As well miirht we consider the ]»rut(^ im- 
 
 4 
 

 LECTURE. 
 
 |)('II('(| hy aniiiijil iiistiiirts, or sultstniiccs in tlic ci'ucililt; 
 (»r the cliciiiisfc, to 1»' on nioml pi'oimtion, us u totnlly 
 (IcpravtMl man witlioiit tlic }ii<l of j^^ivice to lu' on moral 
 probation. Hut, with i^raciously restored free power, 
 we are placed at tlie lielm on lif(^'s perilous voyai^'c, 
 and in spite of storms and false liglits on tin; sliore, we 
 can i;ain tlu; port of safety. 
 
 Without some power for j^ood actinia on man, we 
 eanjiot account for the facts of human histoiy, nor 
 s((uar(! them with tlie statements of Scripture concern- 
 inuf tlie condition of our fallen liumanity. Most cer- 
 tainly, thc! Bible teaches the total moral lielplessness of 
 the merely natui'al man to moral good. But the whole 
 history of man, viewed as inside or outside the lines of 
 ext(/rnal Revelation, does not present one unrelieved 
 mass of seethin<,^ depravity. To account for the appa- 
 rent element of good in man, some ascril)e it to an 
 universal natural ability to good in fallen man, in- 
 <lependent of all grace. Dr. Tulloch, in a late work^ 
 entitled " The Christian Doctrine of Sin," says : " We 
 look within, and we know that whatever may be our 
 connection with a given order of events which hold us 
 in their dependence, we are free to act — that if wo 
 sin daily, yet we can help sinning — that even when 
 temptation is at its strongest we can turn away from 
 it, and choose that which is right and good. Nay, we 
 know that tlie right and good form the law of our 
 being, to which w^e are truly bound ; and not the wrong 
 and the evil which yet so often binds us. There is that 
 in us which is deeper than all sinful habit, and which 
 
 xt 
 
LECTURE. 
 
 29 
 
 no force of orii^injil sin can ovorconui if only wq «^ive 
 it free play." * 
 
 This doctrine may he called hy some hrodd-chuvch- 
 isin, hut I thiid< it is Tyiis-called " The Christian 
 Doctrine of Sin." Freedom to the rij^dit and from the 
 wron;:^ is freely admitt(Ml. Hut not hy a naturalistic 
 ■ power inherited in fallen humanity, independent of 
 Divine i^^race ; hut hy <j;race _i,dven to all men, throui^di 
 Him who is at once tlu; life and lij^dit of men. fji't us 
 take a glanct at this "natui-al ahility" philosophy of 
 moral ijood in man. If there is inherent in fallen 
 I ijKin naturally, a power to right and from wrouLj 
 I " f^reater than all sinful hahit;" then it leLjitimately 
 I follows that man can never pass heyond the possihility 
 '^ of restoration to holiness, except hy the ainiihilation 
 of his natural powers. Again, if fallen man possesses, 
 5 naturally, a power to good and from evil, which " no 
 force of oriiijinal sin can overcome," then it le'dti- 
 iiiately follows that original sin can only he a partial 
 weakening of man's power, not a total helplessness to 
 moral good, without the aid of grace. And further- 
 more, this doctrine of natural ahility to good, inde- 
 pendent of grace, departs from the Christian supcr- 
 naturalist, and sides with the mere naturalist in 
 ; religion. But it may he seriously douhted whether 
 I the Auiifustinian theolo<jian will succeed in reiuvenat- 
 J ing his own shattered constitution, or in shedding any 
 A light on the darkness of man's moral history, V)y trans- 
 I migrating into the body of the equally sickly Pelagian 
 
 * The Christian Doctrine of Sin^ '^. 197. 
 
 u 
 
 'I ''■■ 
 
 n 
 
 
30 
 
 f.FX'Tni?:. 
 
 |>liil()S()])li('r. It is only hy a nfmciously oivrn power 
 for iiiorul i;()0(l acting' on t'ullt'U Imiiwmity, tlwit tlio 
 fact of any j^ood in liuman liistory can lu^ s(|uar('(l 
 witli Bililical statciiicnts conccrnini; tlic totally do- 
 ])rav('(l con<lition of fallen man ; and tliat all j^ood in 
 Imnian history n-ceives its rational explanation. Tlie 
 Itestownient of univi^sal j^^race sets aside Dieve natural- 
 ism as a useless hypothesis in theodicy, and Scripture 
 statenu'iits concerning tlie total moral lielpU'ssness of 
 man to moral i^'ood by original de[)ravity, convicts it 
 of falsehood. The truth is, without universal urace 
 man's UKjral history is enclosed in tunnel darkness; 
 hut with it, the tunnel flames with liiiht from al)ovo. 
 As God's government of man does not end with man's 
 removal from this world, we nuist take a step onward. 
 'I'he judgment is now set. Now it is only by the be- 
 stowment of universal grace that we see a moral basis 
 laid, for the approval of the doom inflicted on the tinally 
 persistent sinner by the Judge of all, on the last judg- 
 ment-day. Suppose the sentence upon any man to be, 
 " Depart, ye cursed, into the everlasting punishment 
 prepared for the devil and his angels." Now, suppose 
 that the man so doomed could truthfully say, " I was 
 born in sin, and never had any power to avoid the sin 
 for which I am condemned, therefore my doom is un- 
 just." Would not the conscience of the moral universe 
 decide for the condemned man ? Certainly it would. 
 And it is just Ijccause he had sufficient grace given to 
 him, and that he will be judged not according to that 
 which he had not, but according to that which he knows 
 
 j 
 
LKCTiniK. 
 
 31 
 
 i 
 
 ho Inid, that tlic coikIciiitkmI himself will feel that Just 
 and ti'iu; arc the ways of the Lord. And tins will he 
 the jndi;ineiit of all consciences on that day wlien (Jod 
 shall judn'e the secrets of men hy Jesus Christ, accord- 
 in,LC to Paul's (Jospel. But neither tlu^ conscience of 
 approved nor condennied could possihly find the justice 
 of the sentence, if the condemned never ha<l power to 
 avoid the sin for which he is condemned. And if he 
 was naturally de})raved, and never had sufficient «j;iaco 
 H'iven him to overcome sin, he couM not have avoided 
 the sin. In the governnuint of a naturally depraveil 
 race, the withholdinjj- all jirace renders all con<lemna- 
 tion for sin unjust. But the Judge of all the earth 
 will do right. He will he just when He judges. And 
 we can see even now that, like colours in the rainbow, 
 justice and grace are blended in his rule over man. 
 
 But against this plan of universal justice, by the 
 Itestowment of free power on man through universal 
 grace, in the moral government of man ; objections 
 have been urged, which, though often refuted, are still 
 repeate<l, and therefore, demand continued refutation. 
 First, it is said that " as this free power is demanded 
 as a justice, it cannot consist with a system of grace." 
 This plausible sophism has often been refuted, but as 
 it is still repeated, I present once more the most con- 
 cise refutation of it that has lately come under my 
 notice, in the language of its author : — " Of an entire 
 system a single part may be, as viewed in different 
 aspects, both a justice and a grace. It may be a justice, 
 because, if the other parts of the gracious system are 
 
 1 
 
 
rj2 
 
 I.KfTrUK. 
 
 't 
 
 Itrounlit into fxistcncr, tliat part too must rxist in 
 order to the coinplt'tciU'SH of the sjsfein. IJiiK'ss tluit 
 part !»(' supplied, tl»(! system is (let'e(;tive, perliaps 
 (jniccless, or even cruel, liut supply tliat part, and not 
 only is tlie vvliole system gnicUms, l)Ut that part itself' 
 is pre-eminently gracious. The entire process of re- 
 storiu"^^ La/arus to life, an<l to tlie enjoyment of his 
 friends, was a miracle of mercy. Christ was not Itound 
 to perform it. Hut to liavi; <,'rante(l him conscious lifc^ 
 without tlu! power of locomotion, fastenin<^' him for 
 ever, consciously alive, in the toml), would have been 
 th(^ heii^lit of cruelty. Was tlie additional i^^rant of 
 locomotion a de])t? As a completion of the miracle of 
 mercy, we answer, it was. The Saviour could not 
 benevolently perforn* a part without pc'rformin^ tlie 
 whole. But performinjjf the whole, not only was the 
 whole process, but every part of the whole process, 
 lu^nevolence and grace. So in the system of CJod, were 
 He to brini; the whole race into existence under the 
 law of natural descent from a depraved parent, and 
 under the impending curse of the Divine law, He 
 would be obligated by His own righteousness to furnish 
 the redemptive part. The system, as a righteous 
 system, w mid be incomplete, graceless, and cruel, 
 w^ithout the compliment of atonement. Furnish that 
 part, and not only is the whole gracious, but that par- 
 ticular part is' 'pre-eminently gracious!' * Thus we 
 sec that there is a harmonious blending of justice and 
 grace in God's government of man. Grace is not ex- 
 
 * Methodist Quarterly Review, 1861, p. 665. — Dr. Wlicdon. 
 
 ha 
 h^ 
 
LKCTIKK. 
 
 ;{.-{ 
 
 elusive of jiistiei' in the Divine iiiiiid, l»ut exclusive tit' 
 iiionil merit in iimii. 
 
 Aj^ain, it lins lieeii urL,^eil that " it is no ^^oothuj.ss to 
 hestow free power on man, \>y jL^race, in older to pro- 
 hation." I»ut if it is no j^oodntiss to confer free power 
 hy i^'race, it must he c(|ually destitute of ;^'oodneHs to 
 confer free power in cn-ation, in order to prohation. 
 Therefore, the principh; that denies <,'oodness in l»u- 
 stowinj^ fieo p(>wer to man, hy grace, in order to pro- 
 hation, must also deny that it is any £,^)odness to 
 confer free powt^r in creation, or in any way upon any 
 creature, in order to prohation. Tliis excludes <,^ood- 
 ness from the whole intelligent creation, as all were 
 created free. That ari^ument resemhles one of those 
 overloaded, or ill-constructed guns, wdiich, in heing 
 lired off, does more execution at the breech than at the 
 muzzle. It seems there are some minds who can see 
 no goodness in the creation of any being that is not 
 placed under tlie law of necessary force. But we well 
 know that the God of providence and grace has based 
 the prohation of some moral beings on free power 
 given in creation, and the probation of others on free 
 l)uwer imparted by grace ; and in doing both He is 
 just and good. 
 
 I conclude that sufficient has been said to show that 
 hereditary depravity is tlie mental difficulty of man's 
 moral history, and that the impartation of universal 
 grace to man, through Jesus Christ, is its only solution. 
 If the light of that grace does not remove every cloud 
 from between our intellectual eye and the ways of 
 3 
 
 ii 
 
 i 
 
I'l 
 
 34 
 
 LP:CTIJ11E. 
 
 I'i. 
 
 God with men now, it docs point our eye to the bow 
 of hope which has always spanned this stormy worhl; 
 and it enables us to see that every revolution of the 
 wheels of providence, assures us that we approach the 
 revelations of that final day when — " the righteous 
 saved, the wicked damned, God's eternal government 
 shall be . /proved." And had it not been misrepre- 
 sented uy a large part of the theology of Christendom 
 in the past, the Divine government of the world 
 would be better understood and more widely approved 
 of to-day than it is. One of the darkest chapters in 
 the history of human thought, is that which repre- 
 sents the all-righteous God as an A 'mighty Moloch, 
 dooming from eternity the intelligent creatures of His 
 creative hand to endless suffering, for what they never 
 had power to avoid, "for the praise of His glorious 
 justice." One feels like asking. How did it come that 
 so large a part of the Christian Church was afflicted 
 with such a paralysis of intellect, and such an atrophy 
 of conscience, as are manifested in such misrepresen- 
 tations of God's governmental relation to man ? As 
 the misrepresentation is almost as pernicious as the 
 denial of God, it may be confidently expected that 
 when Church creeds and, so-called, philosophical theo- 
 logies cease to publish libels on God's government of 
 man, there will be fewer rebel voices raised in His 
 kingdom. 
 
 To us who have the common salvation pressed on 
 our acceptance through life, the deadly, damning sin 
 is rejection of the life which it o tiers through faith in 
 
KECTITIIE. 
 
 .'if) 
 
 tliu atonomoiit mado for all by Jesus Christ. Man can 
 
 lay hold oi eternal life, through grace ; and he can, 
 
 hy sinning against grace, lay hold on eternal death. 
 
 l>ut he does either, in the full possession of free power 
 
 to the contrary. If he holds on to sin to the end of 
 
 this life, even the Revelation of grace holds out to him 
 
 no hope of deliverance from it, beyond this life. His 
 
 sin remains. Mere power could call a dead Lazarus 
 
 from the grave, — 
 
 " But the (leaf heart, the duinh by choice, 
 The hif,'gard soul that will not wake, 
 The guilt that scorns to be forgiven, 
 These bafHe even the spells of heaven." 
 
 Damning sin freely chosen, saving grace freely re- 
 jected, results in self -superinduced subjection to sin ; 
 and that soul removed from all counteracting iniiu- 
 ences to good, becomes " a wandering star to whom is 
 reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." But 
 for that doom the sinner alone is to blame. And a 
 bitter ingredient it must be in his cup of everlasting 
 woe, that for his rejection of eternal life offered 
 through the Saviour, he will be compelled by the law 
 of his own conscience to feel a self-contempt that is 
 bitterer to drink than gall. We may " pass on, nor 
 venture to unmask that heart, and view the hell that's 
 there." But from out all the providential darkness 
 which surrounds us in this world, we may all be able 
 to look up to the home of our Father above, and feel 
 a well-grounded hope that one day we shall be in the 
 full possession of the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 -i 1/ 
 
 
 m^ 
 
 M 
 
86 
 
 LECTURE. 
 
 Even now, unto the upright there ariseth light in the 
 darkness. Though the Christian may be able to see 
 some things now only through a glass darkly ; though 
 he is subject to unavoidable suffering now ; though he 
 must wait until the future for the entire repairment 
 of the impairment of his nature by original sin ; yet, 
 he possesses now the anchor-hope of a compensation- 
 day coming, when all perplexities will be unravelled, 
 and every murmur hushed for ever. In a hope which 
 outlasts the smoking cinders of a ruined world, he 
 waits for introduction to that world, of which it is 
 said, " There shall he no night there." Standing with 
 undimmed eye in the unclouded light of that eternal 
 world, we shall then see all this world's 
 
 " Obscure mystic symbols glow 
 With pleasing light — that we may see and know 
 The glorious world, and all its wondrous scheme ; 
 Not as distorted in the mind below, 
 Nor in philosopher's, nor poet's dream, 
 But as it was, and is, high in the Mind Supreme." 
 
T 
 
 ml I 
 
 «K f 
 
 in 
 
 THE PRACTICAL TEST OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 A SERMON DELIVERED BEFORE THE T[IEOLOGICAL UNION OF 
 VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, MAY ISrir, 1883. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. HIJCIH JOHNSTON, M.A., B.D. 
 
 I'll 
 
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SEEMON. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL TEST OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 i'\ 
 
 "The tree is known by its fruits." — Matt. xii. 33. 
 
 Our Lord here lays down the general principle, that 
 nature lies back of effects : that what is good or evil 
 in essence will be be good or evil in results. The 
 character oi' the tree is back of the fruit. "A good 
 tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt 
 tree bring forth good fruit." " Do men gather grapes 
 of thorns, or figs of thistles ?" Never. This principle 
 is of universal application, and applies equally to indi- 
 viduals and to nations, to systems and to creeds. On 
 this is based the scientific test. On it is based the 
 Bible test of our holy religion. The gospel must be 
 judged by its fruits. Christianity is a wide-spreading 
 tree. Its roots are planted deep in the social soil, and 
 intertwined with all that most profoundly affects the 
 destinies of man. It is the most conspicuous, and 
 widely-influential power on the earth : the mightiest 
 factor in the world's life, moulding the government 
 and laws, the literature and morals of the best races of 
 
 i 
 
"W 
 
 40 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 men, and directing the currents of the world's progress. 
 It claims authority over the conscience, over the affec- 
 tions, over the life of man, and carries with it pro- 
 mises and penalties that reach into the life beyond. It 
 is of untold personal concern to each one of us, for in 
 it are bound up the duties and the destiny of every 
 soul that is feeling after some solid ground, some sure 
 foothold on the floors of eternity. To uproot this tree 
 would be to convulse the social world, and prove as 
 fatal to the life of humanity as to tear a throbbing 
 heart out of a living organism. And yet, this is the 
 desperate work that infidelity is attempting. The 
 adversaries of the Gospel are many, and strong. I 
 do not believe that since the days of Celsus there has 
 been a single infidel objection that has not been fairly 
 met and answered ; yet the old attacks are constantly 
 renewed. Now, how shall we meet modern skepticism ? 
 What is the chief evidence of Christianity to-day ? 
 Shall we go back to the miracles and predictions of 
 the past ? It seems to me that the conclusive evidence 
 is to be found in Christianity itself. Here is an im- 
 pregnable defence. Christianity is a practical system : 
 Let us apply this crucial standard of judgment, " the 
 tree is known by its fruits," and we shall find that it 
 challenges our confidence and gives ground for un- 
 shaken assurance. 
 
 I. APPLY THIS TEST TO THE GREAT BOOK OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 In history, a mere book is often a sufficient basis 
 for faith. The truth of Xenophon's Anabasis is un- 
 questionedjthough not a monumental inscription marks 
 
SERMON, 
 
 41 
 
 the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks. Not a trace 
 of wall or palace is left of old Tyre ; upon a more 
 desolate shore you never gazed ; and yet we doubt 
 not the story of her ancient greatness. Pliny tells of 
 a cloud of ashes that descended from Vesuvius and 
 buried Herculaneum and Pompeii. The story seemed 
 incredible, for there was not a trace of the lost cities. 
 Yet men of faith began to excavate, and found walls, 
 and temples, and dead men's bones, all in accordance 
 with the statements of the historian ; and to-day 
 tourists wander through those silent, rut-worn streets 
 and roofless houses, and read the open volume of city 
 life as it existed nearly two thousand years ago. Now, 
 the documents of Christianity from which we ascertain 
 its facts and its teachings are the Holy Scriptures. Here 
 is the most wonderful volume in the whole oircle of 
 authorship — the Bible — to Bihlion — the Book — as if 
 there were no other book, as if it were the one Book 
 of the world. This Book claims to be of Divine origin 
 — the inspired Word of God. It is indeed a ivonderful 
 Book. 
 
 (a) Wonderful in its age — Older than the Vedas 
 — older than the sacred books of the Chinese — older 
 than the Greek classics — the oldest book in the world. 
 Written in the venerable Hebrew and the beautiful 
 Greek, both of which became dead languages when the 
 record was completed, there the Revelation abides 
 unaltered — petrified in languages of stone that can 
 never be changed, The earliest book of Job was 
 written more than six centuries before the Iliad of 
 
 '1 
 
 i 
 
 
 'ii'^' 
 
 i:;^. 
 
 »,i !■ 
 
 h' ii 
 
 ii iil 
 
 If ''il 
 
 m 
 
42 
 
 SEUMON. 
 
 i) L 
 
 Homer ; the Pentatouch is a thousand years older than 
 Herodotus, the father of profane history ; the Psalms 
 of David are live hundred years older than the Odes 
 of Pindar ; while the completed revelations of Jesus 
 Christ and His Apostles rank in age with the Latin 
 Classics of Virgil and Cicero, Tacitus and Sallust. 
 Made of paper, the most perishable of all materials, 
 written upon rolls of parchment, it was copied with 
 sucL unerring precision that the scribes could give the 
 central letter of each book, and of the entire Scrip- 
 tures ; they copied not only every sentence, every 
 word, every syllable, every letter, but, with scrupulous 
 exactness, they measured every pen-stroke; and the 
 latest copy of the Hebrew Scriptures does not vary a 
 single hair's-breadth in extent from the first that was 
 received. Thus il has come to us across the waste of 
 thirty centuries, while copies of it have been taken 
 from tombs that have been sealed up for fifteen cen- 
 tunes. 
 
 (6) Wonderful in its sublimity ; for the brilliant 
 passages of the sages and poets of Greece and Rome 
 seem like the compositions of school-boys compared 
 with the inimitable grandeur of Moses, the gor- 
 geous imagery of Isaiah, the lyric poetry of David, 
 the lofty reasonings of St. Paul, or the dazzling meta- 
 phors of John. From its glowing pages the master- 
 thinkers of the world have drawn their highest 
 inspiration, and the most gifted poets have struggled 
 to set its grand conceptions in song, the divinest 
 painters and sculptors to embody them in colour and 
 
 H 
 
m 
 
 SERMON 
 
 48 
 
 marble, and the <^rcat musical geniuses to swell them 
 in oratorios. 
 
 (c) Wonderful in the range of Us subjects ; sweeping 
 back to the world's dawn, and on to its day of doom. 
 Tt is called pre-eminently the Book of God, because 
 the great theme of it is that one, living, true God, 
 whom no man hath seen or can see, but " in whom wo 
 live, and move, and have our being." How sublime its 
 conceptions of Deity in comparison with any forms of 
 mythology, ancient or modern, Egyptian or Hindu, 
 Greek or Roman, where the gods, many, are such 
 personifications of wickedness that the very worship 
 of such beings corrupts and degrades men. It furnishes 
 the only rational account of the creation of the world 
 and the origin of man. Compare the simple and signifi- 
 cant statement, "In the beginning God created the 
 heavens and the earth," with the childish fancies of 
 the most civilized nations of antiquity concerning 
 Chaos, and Erebus, and the starry Ouranos, or with the 
 more recent scientific speculations about " molecules " 
 and " atoms," " correlation of forces," " molecular 
 machinery, worked by molecular force," " differentia- 
 tion," " potentiated sky-mist," " highly differentiated 
 life-stuflT," " evolution," " natural selection," " spontan- 
 eous generation," and other phrases, whose mysteries 
 are past finding out. What does star-eyed science tell 
 of the origin and the destiny of man ? The genealogy 
 of the Bible ends with, " which was the son of Adam, 
 which was the son of God. The genealogy of the High 
 Priests of Nature ends with, " which was the son of a 
 
 i^ 
 
 A ' 
 
 I' ' V 
 
 ii! 
 
 k 
 
 n]> 
 
44 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 hybrid, wliicli was the .son of a demoralized and tail- 
 less monkey, which was the son of a fish, which was 
 the son of a frog, which was the son of a polawog, 
 wliich was the son of an oyster, which was the son of 
 a jelly-fish, which was the son of protoplasm, which 
 was the son of bioplasm, which was the son of nothing." 
 Now, I do not wish to undervalue science or philo- 
 sophic in(iuiry ; but how weak is atheistic evolution 
 to explain the mystery of a universe, self-made, with- 
 out a God, by the side of the true Genesis of the Bible, 
 which presents the world of life, " fresh-teeming from 
 the hand of God," whose Infinite Intelligence directs 
 and superintends all things ; for He " binds the sweet 
 influences of the Pleiades, brings forth Mazzaroth in 
 his season, and guides Arcturus with his suns." And 
 as to human destiny, it only hath brought " life and 
 immortality to light." Six thousand years of human 
 existence have rolled away, and generations have gone 
 down in ceaseless procession to the grave, from which 
 has come no voice or murmur to tell " whether they 
 sleep with the brutes or wake with the angels." The 
 living have gone with their broken hearts, and 
 hung over the remorseless tomb with a speechless 
 agony, waiting, with heads bowed, to hear a whisper 
 from that deep abyssmal darkness ; or, in the hush 
 of night, they have looked up to the stars, and cried 
 to t'lie all-merciful Father and to the spirits above, for 
 some ray of light or sound of the hushed voice. But 
 no prayer of broken hearts, no cry of desolated homes, 
 no wails and sobs that have gone surging up to the 
 
 I' 
 
SKI{MON. 
 
 4r. 
 
 I 
 
 hcavuns, Iiuvo evor {iwak»'iit'<l ji response t'lom our 
 darlings, or called back a niessen^ur t'runi tliu dead. 
 Not one, not even a father asks, — 
 
 " Who is it that cries after us 
 HoloNV there, iu tlie dark ?" 
 
 Sit down with the philosophers and ponder tlic suhject; 
 search among all the other religions of the world, and 
 you will find nothing but husks, and they will leave 
 you desolate with an utter desolation. Only one voice 
 speaks out of the silence and darkness, and with more 
 than heavenly sweetness it says : " I am the Resurrec- 
 tion and the Life ; he that believeth in me, though he 
 were dead, yet shall lie live, and whosoever liveth and 
 believeth in me shall never die." Wonderful, this 
 book. It alone has truths that are vital to the race — 
 truths for which the world has sighed and longed and 
 wept — truths that go down to the everlasting granite 
 of human existence. 
 
 (d) Wonderful in its organic unity and complete- 
 ness : A library in itself, written by more than thirty 
 different persons — enthroned monarchs and humble 
 fishermen — sagacious statesmen and unskilled peas- 
 ants — at vast intervals of space and time, forty centu- 
 ries contributing their best things to it, these sixty-six 
 books when brought together are found to constitute 
 one book bridging over the entire course of human 
 history from the creation to the final judgment; a 
 harmony of design pervading all and running like a 
 thread of gold through types and ceremonies, precepts 
 
 ' I 
 
 w 
 
46 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 un<l ))i()iiiis(!.s, th»! snino doctriiml Uutlis tHU;4lit, iiiul 
 all j^atlicrin;^ arouncl one niajostic character and ono 
 Huhlimo purpose — tlu!puri)()se of ivcMUnnption inCJlirist 
 JcsUH. The ni«i;ni(ic('nt cathedral at Strashurt; is full 
 of deformities hecause the architect died before the 
 work was completed, and tlu^re was no one who could 
 fully understand the plan which he had in his mind- 
 iJut here are men of every shade of intellect and variety 
 of endowment writin*,^ through the long perio<l of 
 fifteen centuries, these many and diverse books all 
 linked together and making one work as absolutely 
 perfect as though it Avcre a grand epic by one writer ; 
 a unity which proves its author to be one and Divine, 
 for no mind other than the mind of God could act 
 over so vast a lapse of time and be 1,500 years in 
 working out a common plan. 
 
 (e) Wonderful in its moral teaching. Inculcating 
 every duty that we owe to ourselves, to our fellow-n)cn, 
 and to God. It is the great text-book of morals ; the 
 ultimate standard of appeal in human conduct, dis- 
 closing to us the will and purpose of a Being with 
 whose will and purpose we are to be concerned for- 
 ever and forever ; telling the story of sin and of salva- 
 tion so plainly that the Sunday-school children of our 
 infant classes can understand them, with mysteries so 
 profound that the student-angels as they bend over 
 them may droop their wings wearily and ask God to 
 give them rest, and time, and strength. It is indeed 
 the Book of books, and claims to be God's written 
 word. It has never shunned the test of logical inquiry, 
 
 an 
 
SKIlMoN. 
 
 47 
 
 and has ddiud tlin sliarpost criticism of all tlu- centu- 
 ries ; iV)i' tVoni (Jcnosisto Kuvt'lntion tlu' Hililu has hecn 
 in tlu! Itattle, and all tlic wlnlo its ainior lias ^Mown 
 l)ri;^lit(!r, its sword keciuT, and its arm stronj^f •. Have 
 its wonder-laden narratives ever been t'alsilied liy auth- 
 entic liistory (* Never. Have its teacliinj^rs ever heen 
 found in antajfonism to true science :* Never, lias tlu; 
 evidence of miracles ever been overthrown !* Never. 
 Havethepropheciesever been falsified by events? Never. 
 Visit K<,'ypt,nowthe basest of kinjjjdoms, Philistia.Edom 
 and Babylon in heaps, and Nineveh lyinj,^ empty and 
 waste, and the voices soumling to-day among their 
 ruins tell us that prophecy came not in old time by 
 the will of man. Tread the ancient land of Palestine, 
 behold Jerusalem left desolate. Mount Zion liberally a 
 ploughed field, and wheat growing on the ground 
 where stood the stately palaces of David and of Solo- 
 mon. See brought to our very door prophecy fulfilled; 
 for when the skeptical Frederick the Great demanded 
 from his Chaplain in one word a reason for believing 
 the Scriptures, he answered, " The Jews, your Majesty, 
 the Jews." Behold this people, plundered and robbed, 
 persecuted and scorned, a by-word and a hissing 
 among the nations ; yet for two thousand years pre- 
 serving their nationality — a gulf stream flowing 
 through mid-ocean never mingling its waters with the 
 emerald walls that press on every side — the same 
 people that received the law of Moses and that re- 
 jected and crucified our Lord. How is it that these 
 old prophecies are fulfilled to the letter, that the Jews 
 
 
 H 
 
i 1^ 
 
 48 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 should 1)C scattered to the ends of the earth and yet 
 be kept separate, while the other great empires march 
 on in their predicted course ? This book rests upon a 
 rock of adamant. No discoveries in science have 
 shaken its foundations ; no facts of history have falsi- 
 fied its records ; no changes in the modes of thought 
 have superseded its instructions ; and while the ad- 
 vancing tide of knowledge is sweeping away the false 
 system of religion — while modern geography convicts 
 the Koran as an ignorant imposture, and the microscope 
 exposes the folly of the Shasters, and astronomy con- 
 futes the system of Confucius — the Bible retains its 
 place and power, and with the growing light the truth 
 of God shines brighter from the sacred page. 
 
 N 010 the question comes, ivho %orote this Book? Is 
 it God's book or man's ? Did bad men write it ? Im- 
 possible ; for " like produces like." " Can a corrupt 
 tree bring forth good fruit ? " Bad men write a book 
 which enjoins all duty, exalts all virtue, is filled with 
 sanctifying power and loads with eternal infamy 
 every " hidden thing of dishonesty ! " Such a book 
 bad men would not write if they could, and could not 
 if they would. Then, they were good men who wrote 
 it ; and if good men wrote it, it is true. Good 
 men are not forgers and deceivers. They would not 
 be found perjured witnesses of Jesus Christ, and say of 
 the most stupendous fraud, " Thus saith the Lord." 
 If this Book is not the inspired truth of God then it is 
 the grandest imposture the world has ever known, and 
 its *' Hear ye the word of the Lord " is but the lying 
 
SERMON. 
 
 49 
 
 invention of fraudulent, desiifninn: men. If it is a l)a(l 
 book, how is that bad men hate it and good men love 
 it ? I hold every skeptic to this position. " The tree 
 is known by its fruits." If this is a bad book why is 
 it not found among bad men ? Why is it not found 
 in all our drinking saloons and in all the dens of gam- 
 blers, thieves, and debauchees ? If this is not a good 
 book why have all evil powers leagued together to 
 extirpate it from among men ? Antiochus sought to 
 destroy it, but the fidelity of the Jews frustrated his 
 designs. Diocletian, in his bloody persecution, issued 
 an imperial edict that all the Scriptures should be 
 burnt ; cruel superstition has tried to blot it out, and 
 boasting infidelity to demolish it; but the Book has 
 outlived all its enemies, and " abideth forever." This 
 Bible preserved through all the ages is now printed in 
 some three hundred language.^ or dialects. Thirty- 
 five copies drop from the press each minute of every 
 working day, and its total copies scattered broadcast 
 over the earth are nearly two hundred millions. Men 
 may hate it, resist it, but they cannot destroy it. Lord 
 Hales has found scattered throuijh the writings of 
 the Christian Fathers, to the end of the third century 
 alone, the whole of the New Testament with the 
 exception of less than a dozen verses, and now it is 
 so interfused into almost all the books on earth that if 
 every Bible were annihilated it could be reproduced 
 again from current literature with not a missing 
 thought. To destroy the Bible you would have to 
 destroy all the literature of civilization. The Sibylline 
 
 in 
 
50 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 leaves are torn to pieces and scattered, but this Book 
 is imperishable — its voice has gone out to all lands ; 
 it enters into all that we love and cherish ; it reigns 
 over human thought and feeling, and is influencing 
 the destinies that await the remotest generations. 
 This Revelation is divine. Escape the conviction you 
 cannot. Think of a book standing in unapproachable 
 greatness, lifting itself above the mightiest thought 
 and intellect of every age, like the peak of Teneriffe, 
 or like Sinai, the Mount of God, above the level plain ; 
 think of such a Book coming with falsehood to fill the 
 world with honesty, coming with a conscious lie to 
 teach consummate holiness, to inspire the affections, 
 fill the soul with holy light, and hold the best hearts 
 of the world through all the centuries. You cannot. 
 This Book has in it a self-evidencing power. You 
 cannot read it frankly without feeling the Divine 
 presence, and exclaiming, " Lo ! God is here ? " Who 
 has not heard about John Newton, the blaspheming 
 infidel, who one day was led to ask himself the ques- 
 tion, " What if, after all, the Bible should be true ? " 
 He was induced to examine it, and came upon the 
 passage which promises the Holy Spirit to them that 
 ask for it. He applied the test and found it true. 
 The Spirit was given. He was awakened and con- 
 verted. The raging prolligate became a true believer, 
 a holy, happy, experimental witness of the truth, 
 and having lived a saint for fifty-five years, and 
 havin^Tj written some of the sweetest hvmns that we 
 sing, he died in the triumphant assurance of ever- 
 
 
SERMON. 
 
 61 
 
 lasting blesr^edness. Now am I addressing any who 
 from association with unbelievers, or who from read- 
 ing brilliant but skeptical periodicals have begun to 
 lose faith in the old Book that has lain neglected on 
 the parlour-table, or the bed-room stand ? Let me 
 ask, have you acted fairly toward a book, which pro- 
 fesses to be the Word of God ? Have you examined 
 honestly and candidly its claims ? I.' not, pause ; 
 though you have travelled far on the road of un- 
 belief — stop ; read the Book — read it thoughtfully, 
 with an open spirit, and the secrets of eternity will 
 lighten upon your eyes ; read it earnestly, honestly, 
 and just as sure as there is a God you will hear His 
 voice, and feel the pressure of His hand. You will 
 feel that God is a reality — the soul a reality — the 
 eternal future a reality — and though the truth on 
 which you have stood may have seemed before a 
 fragile and storm-driven thing at the mercy of the 
 awful waves, you will realize that adamant is beneath 
 your feet, and that the foundation standeth sure and 
 immovable. When the wounded soldier lay dying in 
 the hospital, and the tender mother, who had jour- 
 neyed far, was denied the boon of seeing him lest the 
 shock should prove fatal, the kind nurse who sat 
 beside the sleeping boy with her hand upon his fore- 
 head, allowed the mother to slip quietly into her seat, 
 and place her hand upon the fevered brow. No sooner 
 did he feel that soft, familiar touch, than with eyes 
 still closed, he murmured, " That's my mother's hand ? 
 ! mother, have you come ? " 
 
 
 ! f 
 
 III 
 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 r»'«:'. 
 
 I ill 
 
 w: 
 
 ■I'M 
 
 i9 
 
52 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 So shall you know the touch of the parent-hand of 
 God, and become a happy witness to the divinity and 
 power of His word. This is the one ultimate standard, 
 the present, self-attesting evidence that this Book is 
 supernatural. " The tree is known by its fruits." 
 
 II. APrLY THIS TEST TO THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST, 
 THE SUPREME HEAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 The one majestic presence which pervades the Book 
 of Christianity, and runs through all its pages like the 
 coloured thread which runs through every foot of 
 cordage in the British Navy, is that Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, who has led, and is leading through all the ages^ 
 the moral progress of humanity. Of the four Gospels 
 which tell the story of Jesus Christ, Matthew wrote 
 for the Jews, the Gospel of the Messiah ; Mark wrote 
 for the Latins, the Gospel of Incidents ; Luke for the 
 Greeks, and John for the Church — the spiritual Gospel 
 — the tinal picture of the Redeemer. Now, how do 
 we know that the Gospels are true ? They stand on 
 their own authority. We can trace them back to a 
 certain period as surely as we can trace back any 
 writing of classic authors. "No single work of ancient 
 Greek classical literature," says Tischendorf, "can com- 
 mand three such original witnesses as the Sinaitic, the 
 Vatican and the Alexandrine manuscripts to the in- 
 tegrity and accuracy of the Gospel text ? These 
 Evangelists describe one who lived for thirty-three 
 years a perfect life. They knew Him intimately ; saw 
 every act of His public life ; heard His daily words ; 
 
 
SERMON. 
 
 53 
 
 witnessed the miracles which He wrought ; and they 
 unfold His life as the Holy of Holies of Biography. 
 Zeno preached a stoical virtue, but he was not per- 
 sonally moral ; nor was Plato, and even the highest and 
 , purest name of heathen antiquity grows pale and dull 
 
 I in the light of Christ's purity. Compare Socrgftes, the 
 
 son of Sophroniskos, with Jesus, the Son of Mary. 
 I Compare Krishnu, the incarnation of Vishnu, the purest 
 
 god of the Hindoos, with the incarnate Son of God, and 
 he appears a lascivious and lustful monster. Of all 
 the generations of men, He was the only one who ever 
 dared to put the question, " Which of you convinceth 
 mo of sin ? " and the men of that age, by their silence, 
 and of succeeding ages, by their speech, answer, " Not 
 one," All unite with Rousseau in the testimony, " the 
 life and death of Jesus were those of a God." Think 
 of that lowly peasant, born in a remote corner of the 
 Roman Empire, reared in a wretched village, no better 
 then than it is to-day, the citizen of a despised nation, 
 with no advantages of learning, no means of culture, 
 pursuing His holy mission unstained and untainted, 
 hated for His purity and goodness, at the age of thirty- 
 three crucified and buried, but now alive for evermore, 
 the crown and glory of the race, filling the world with 
 His influence and power, all history past, present and 
 to come, revolving around Him, His name set above 
 every name, all mythologies, pagan Calendars, Yugas, 
 Kalpas, Olympiads, City Foundings, Hegiras, having 
 lost their meaning and become merged in Him whose 
 appearing in Palestine has given the epochal date of 
 
 
 '1 11 
 
i i 
 
 54 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 linman chronology, so that every event takes its place 
 before or after Christ — His name the only name in 
 the universe that is strong enough to balance the ages 
 upon itself. 
 
 Great is the miracle of His mighty works ; greater 
 still the miracle of His words, but greatest of all the 
 miracle of His life — the one model divine man before 
 whom we instinctively bow and worship His perfect- 
 ness. We cannot lind one spot in the whiteness of the 
 marble, or cast one sullying breath on the purity of 
 the mirror. 
 
 Is this record real or is it fiction — a mere myth — a 
 Galilean idyl — a wreath of legends which the romance 
 of the disciples festooned around the head of their 
 Master ? Did these humble fishermen invent such a 
 character ? Search all the romances, all the poems of 
 the world, and then answer could these men, unprac- 
 ticed writers, destitute of artistic skill, out of their 
 imagination invent a character so pure, so lofty, 
 so divine ? Impossible. Shakespeare stands colossal 
 above all men that have portrayed character, and he 
 is greater than his Hamlet. It would take a greater 
 than Christ to forge a Christ, and if these Evangelists 
 produced such a marvellous creation of fancy then 
 they are greater than the Lord Jesus, and let us bow 
 down and worship them. No. His life must have 
 been real, or they, of all men, could not have por- 
 trayed it ; and, if real, then it is Divine. And this is 
 the marvel of the record — they present Him as the 
 
SEUMON. 
 
 55 
 
 God-man. Horc, too, is something beyond luinian 
 conception, and the problem is to invent a ])ivine- 
 man ; to describe Him from birth to death in all His 
 discourses and actions ; perfectly human, perfectly 
 Divine, yet so blending the Divine and the human that 
 no Haw can be found. I ask could any mind, short of 
 the Omniscient Spirit, paint such a picture ? 
 
 This Divine Man comes to seek and to save the lost. 
 — He laid down His life for us, and His crucifixion is 
 the overwhelming tragedy of time. " He was delivered 
 for our offences," and the cross stands in direct relation 
 to the dark, appalling mystery of sin. His atonement 
 is attested by actual experience, and it alone gives 
 peace to the troubled heart ; for in the absence of cx- 
 L piation man's conscience forebodes punishment, and 
 
 only when we place the death of Christ between us 
 and our sins in all their multitude and mass of guilt 
 and weight of punishment, and by faith lay hold of 
 His redeeming sacrifice, does the conscience find peace 
 and the heart exult in the joys of salvation. Only 
 the blood of Christ can wash Lady Macbeth 's red right 
 hand, and only this divine method of redemption can 
 sustain in the supreme moment of life. When the 
 good Bishop Butler drew nigh to death he trembled ; 
 but when one quoted "The blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleanseth us from all sin," a calm came over his spirit 
 and he said, " I have read these words a thousand 
 times, but I never felt their meaning as now." When 
 the saintly Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio, lay dying in 
 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
 \ ^^)!i^*',2ir^^^^}E * !\ 
 
56 
 
 SEUMON. 
 
 Fl()!"onc(.', fur i'roui lioiriu, with cliildliUc t'uitli lie 
 grasped the cross, sayin<;, 
 
 "Kock of Af,'('S, clel't Tor lue, 
 Let inc liiUc luyself in tlu'c ;" 
 
 and wlion tliey san<^ 
 
 "Just as I am, without one plea, 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me," 
 
 un 
 
 Tliat," said he, " is the whole of my theoloi^^y ; let it 
 be sunrr at my burial." So our own Dr. Punshon 
 lifted his eyes to the cross, and with his last breath 
 saj^inL,^ " I feel that Christ is a living reality," was 
 charioted away into His glorified presence. 
 
 Now apply the test to this greatest historical person- 
 ality, " The tree is known by its fruits." Is He what He 
 claimed to be, the true God, or the greatest of impos- 
 tors ? Do you say " He was only a good man ; " we 
 answer, " Nay, for He deceiveth the people." Is He a 
 mere man ? How then has he such supremacy ? Alex- 
 ander, Cresar, Napoleon, have to live to establish and 
 perpetuate their empire. Christ dies that He may 
 make His truth mighty over all hearts ; and now, out 
 of sight, out of hearing, crucified eighteen hundred 
 and fifty years ago, yet He has more personal power 
 than ever He had before He died, and millions upon 
 millions love Him as no one else has ever been loved ; 
 love Him more than a mother her child — more than a 
 woman the idol of her heart; love Him because He 
 first loved them. Is He a mere myth^ Then explain 
 
SEUMUN. 
 
 57 
 
 1 lis [tower to create liistorictil personulities second only 
 to Hinis(!li' — men that have made the centuries, like 
 Paul and Peter, John, Augustine, Aijuinas, Milton, 
 Pascal, Luther, Calvin, Knox and Wesley. Let these 
 personalities be dropped from history, and what 
 would the world be ? Why, the great men of this and 
 every age, the benefactors of our race, have had their 
 purpose and inspiration from Him. ])o myths exert 
 such influence ? That influence, penetrating and per- 
 vasive as the atmosphere, has passed into the thought 
 and spirit and blood of humanity, and the world qan- 
 not escape it. Our very infidels, who reject and deny 
 Him, cannot escape Him ; and standing up in borrowed 
 plumes, with Christ's truth and Christ's thought and 
 Christ's ideas, they proclaim their so-called religion of 
 humanity. Of Him Goethe says, " He is the Divine 
 man, the Holy One." Byron says, " If ever man was 
 God or God man, Jesus Christ was both." And Tenny- 
 son sings : 
 
 "Thou seemcst both human and divine, 
 The highest, holiest nianhoo I 'hou." 
 
 He Himself declares, " Ye are from beneath, I am from 
 above;" "I am the way, the truth, and the life;" "I 
 and my Father are one ;" "He that hath seen me hath 
 seen the Father." Are these astonishing pretensions 
 true or false ? His self-assertion is boundless. " Fol- 
 low me," " Believe in me," " He that loveth father or 
 mother more than me is not worthy of me." Yet He 
 is the model of humility and says, " I am meek and 
 lowly of heart." Is this conceit ? Theodore Parker, 
 
 'n 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 I 
 
 :i>n' 
 
 m 
 
Ui 
 
 58 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 (lyini:j, strokcil liis own forelicad aiid said, "NoMc; forc- 
 hi'iid, it oii^lit to have done .soiiietliinn- t'()r mankind." 
 He tliouj^dit himself the pioneer of a reli<jfion tliat .sliould 
 last a thousand years. The other day, wlien in Boston, 
 I passed the church in wliieh he preached his great 
 discourses, now a rendezvous of the Bohemians and 
 Ishmaelites of society. How comes it that Christ'.s 
 ascen(h;ncy over men increases with the ages ? When 
 Lepaux, of the French ])irectory, was trying to impose 
 his new religion of organized llousseauism upon the 
 nation, in his difficulty he sought the advice of Tally- 
 rand, who said, " I am not surprised at the diiliculty 
 you experience. To succeed I recommend you to be 
 crucified and to rise again on the third day." The 
 race is shut up to the cross of Christ as its only hope. 
 Before Him the whole world withdraws its pretensions. 
 He says : " Judge me by the fruits. The works that I 
 do they bear witness of me." The most credulous thing 
 in the world is infidelity ; and the man who can be- 
 lieve that Jesus Christ, the leader of humanity, is a 
 mere myth, or mortal hero, has not the faith which 
 can remove mountains, but the credulity that can 
 swallow them. 
 
 Ik 
 
 fc 
 h 
 
 III. APPLY THIS TEST TO INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE. 
 
 " The tree is known by its fruits." As a test of the 
 essential truth of religion, the practical evidence must 
 always be the strongest. The answer from a sun-lit 
 soul, — the sense of pardoned sin, joy such as angels do 
 not know, hope full of immortality, peace like a 
 
SKHMON. 
 
 no 
 
 ! 
 
 heavenly henediction ; tlu.'st! <(ive Ji confidence in ( Mnist- 
 ianity which it is impossible to overthrow, 'i'he (jues- 
 tion which should determine the divinity and truth of 
 relii,don is, what does it do for man ? Does it pro' idc 
 for his weakness, does it meet his needs, does it satisfy 
 his spiritual nature ? If it does these perfectly, it 
 must have been made for man, and it must be true, 
 unless God is a deceiver, and the soul of man a lie. 
 Sin is a great fact, and the pardon of sin is also a fact. 
 The Gospel promises to a genuine repentance and 
 hearty reliance on Christ the sense of pardon, peace of 
 conscience, and the hope of heaven. 
 
 There are thousands upon thousands of the most 
 cultured, most gifted and best of men, who can by 
 personal experience bear testimony to the truth and 
 reality of religion. If the religion of the Bible were 
 false and could not fulfil its promises, it must speedily 
 have perished from the earth, it could not have sur- 
 vived the experience of a single generation, for every 
 one who put it to the test must have become a witness 
 of its falsehood. But it has been submitted to the 
 actual experience of two hundred generations, from 
 the sainted Abel, who obtained the witness that he 
 was righteous, down to the penitent who to-day has 
 found peace and joy through believing. What wit- 
 nesses in ages past ? Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, a per- 
 secuting Saul, a polluted Magdalen, a dying thief ! It 
 saved Augustine, the young Roman, from his abomina- 
 tions and made him " a royal diadem in the hand of 
 our God." It took Whitefield from the riot and ruin 
 
 li 
 
 ,/4 
 
 i 
 
!^. 
 
 60 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 h:i 
 
 of a villa;^o inn, un<l iiwulf liiiii a fluminj; cvaii;,'oli.st of 
 tlu! Ijonl. And liunyaii, of (JipHy hlood, liimself so 
 wicked and blasplioniin^, that ho was reproved hy an 
 ahandoned woman, it transformed and lifted into the 
 tlie I'alaco Beautiful, from whicli he looks out upon 
 the sunny ran<;es of the Dcjlectahle Mountains, and 
 points the wliole world to the splendours of the Celes- 
 tial City. The long line of witnesses come from the 
 martyr tields, looking up like Stephen when the stones 
 crashed in upon his brain, to see heaven open and 
 Jesus standing at the right hand of God — witnesses 
 from the Coliseum of pagan Rome, where timid women 
 surrendered themselves to the devouring wild beasts, 
 when a hundred thousand voices roared, " The Christ- 
 ians to the lions! the Christians to the lions!" — wit- 
 nesses from dungeons and caves and sick beds, where 
 human suffering has been transfigured into glory. Oh, 
 this testimony of the dying, how precious it is ! how 
 many pallid lips have uttered it, how frequently has 
 it been gathered up and consecrated by tears, where 
 faith in Christ triumphed over every fear ; when the 
 grave had no terrors, and our farewells no sadness for 
 them ; when, as we moistened the (luivering lips, we 
 felt that we were ministering to angels, we knew that 
 the sinking heart was already rising for immortality, 
 and that the closing eyes already saw heaven open, 
 and all the hills of God radiant with everlasting light. 
 How are you going to meet this practical evidence ? 
 What are you going to do with the testimony of the 
 wisest and best characters the world ever saw, who 
 
 j^:-'' 
 
HERMON. 
 
 Gl 
 
 (K'ciaro that thoy owo ovorytliini,' to ( -liristianity; tliat 
 it has redecmod tlicm from sin,ci'U.shud out soIfislmosH, 
 tamed the passioriH, tilhid tlieir cravin^^s, rv.fined their 
 Hentiments, ui)lit'ted and inspired tljeir lieaits, taii^lit 
 them how to bear sorrow, and triumph over suflcirinpf 
 and tears. At tlic hattle of Gettyshur^' the cannons 
 were placed amid fruit trees, in wliich sin^dnf,' birds 
 had built their nests. In the wild rush of battle when 
 the j^uns opened their red throats and shook the hills, 
 the little soni^^sters were in an utter bewilderment of 
 terror. But the moment there came a lull in the 
 thunder of the artillery, they would spring up into 
 the trees where their nests were, and pour forth their 
 songs — songs on the battle field. So amid the conflicts 
 of life, there are Spirit-baptized hearts that carol like 
 the birds of heaven, and sing, " God is our refuge and 
 strength, a very present help in time of trouble. 
 Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be re- 
 moved and chough the mountains be carried into the 
 midst of the sea." 
 
 How comes it that these experimental blessings 
 are thus realized ? There are many before me who 
 are ready to declare that God for Christ's sake 
 has pardoned all their sins, and they are accepted 
 in the Beloved. They came to Him weary and heavy 
 laden, and have found rest. Even those who have 
 not felt its transforming power are familiar with 
 examples of wondrous and manifestly real changes 
 wrought in the life and character of men. Not long ago 
 there dropped into one of our services an aged, treiu- 
 
 ^:l: 
 
 ~^- 
 
62 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 bling sinner. He was a drinking, blaspheming old 
 He had once been respected by all who knew 
 
 man. 
 
 him, the owner of an estate, and the head of a happy 
 household. But drink had ruined all ; his children 
 were scattered, his wife had died broken-hearted, and 
 he was left almost alone, eking out a miserable exist- 
 ence by standing on the street corners selling a few 
 papers or a little fruit. But the cross was lifted up 
 before the dim eyes of that ruined, reckless, helpless, 
 hopeless, homeless man ; and the blood of Christ was 
 able to cleanse his sins away, and he was washed and 
 arrayed in line linen, clean and white, which is the 
 righteousness of the saints. The other day I heard him 
 give his experience: his mouth was filled with grateful 
 song, his heait with joy, as he spoke of pardon and 
 peace, and the hope of heaven. He is walking from 
 day to day in purity of life, living quite on the verge 
 of heaven. What but the Gospel could redeem and 
 save that outcast man and wretched inebriate ? Did 
 you ever hear of philosophy, or science, or culture, our 
 best things short of Christianity, saving men from 
 intemperance ? Even infidels expect a man to be made 
 better by becoming a Christian ; and if he is immoral 
 or inconsistent, they are the first to denounce him. I 
 ask who does not believe that the world would be 
 benefited beyond conception if all men vshould become 
 sincere, enlightened, whole-hearted, perfect Christians? 
 What would be the result if every one who heard the 
 Gospel should obey its precepts and follow the example 
 of the Lord Jesus ? Why there would be no vice or 
 
SERMON. 
 
 G3 
 
 debauchery, no lying or theft — every parent would 
 become gentle and loving, every child dutiful and 
 respectful, every husband affectionate, and every wife 
 prudent and good. It would fill our homes then with 
 the aroma of heaven ; it woukl empty our gaols and 
 prisons, close up our criminal and police courts, and 
 make the community so peaceful that the passing 
 angels gazing upon the scene would exclaim, " Behold 
 the tabernacle of God is with men ! " The Gospel is 
 its own witness. It bears its own fruits. A religion 
 which produces such effects cannot itself be a delu- 
 sion. Will you not believe it ? If you will question 
 the testimony of believers and regard them as fools or 
 hypocrites, then test it for yourself. In an humble, 
 prayerful, penitent spirit come to God in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, and, my soul for your soul, you will feel 
 His power to save. Deep down in your consciousness 
 the sense of guilt will be gone, and forgiving love will 
 take its place. You will be restored to the Divine 
 image and favour and fellowship. You will know the 
 truth, and realize that the Gospel is the power of God 
 unto salvation. I believe this, I preach it. I risk 
 eternity upon it. There is nothing more true in all 
 the story of time than that God does forgive sin and 
 plant a heaven amid the affections of the soul. 
 Nothing is more real and certain than our heart ex- 
 periences ; and if you will not accept the practical 
 evidence of living Christians, if you will not judge 
 Christianity by its best fruits, then we challenge you 
 to accept the demonstration of Christianity, the demon- 
 
 :' (■ 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
64 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 stratioii of the spirit and of power. He that believoth 
 hath the witness in himself, — the deep, restful, undis- 
 turbed repose of a soul that knows, that is thrilled 
 with the inspiration of a celestial certainty. 
 
 IV. APPLY THIS TEST TO THE GENERAL RESULTS OF 
 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 The Gospel aim is two-fold — individual and uni- 
 versal ; personal and social. The individual but leads 
 up to the social, and the world is changed by changing 
 its units. Men were found to become new men by 
 becoming Christians ; and thus from the very dawn of 
 the Christian era there has been a defined and con- 
 tinuous society — the Church of Christ. It started 
 weak and helpless, — without wealth or arms, patronage 
 or power ; no swords were for it, but many against it : 
 yet, in the midst of fiery persecution and fierce confiict, 
 it defied the lions and the flames, laughed emperors 
 to scorn, and ere three centuries had rolled away, 
 ascended the throne of the Ca3sars with the royal 
 purple on its shoulder and the royal diadem on its 
 brow. 
 
 What a triumph was the early triumph of the Gos- 
 pel over Greece, when she was the fountain of light to 
 surrounding nations ; and over Rome, when she was 
 the supreme mistress of the world. The myriads of 
 deities then worshipped — the Olympian Jove, Diana, 
 Apollo, and Venus, Queen of Heaven, — were unable to 
 confront those pierced hands, but fled into neglect and 
 oblivion. The temples that shone with splendour 
 
SERMON. 
 
 65 
 
 crumbled, and the idols fell. For a thousand years no 
 human being has bowed the knee to Jupiter, chief 
 deity of the Roman Empire, or hung up garments 
 saved from shipwreck to Neptune, god of the sea. 
 Dore's great picture — the " Triumph of Christianity " 
 — which represents the heathen gods all fleeing before 
 the genius of the new religion, while Jupiter, the 
 father-deity, has wild terror in his face as his ponder- 
 ous crown drops from his brow, is a true representation 
 of idolatry utterly destroyed throughout Europe, for 
 not an idol can be found from the Ural Mountains to 
 the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 ^1 < 
 
 1] 
 
 "Our Babe, to show His Godliead true, 
 Can, in His swaddlin<f bands, control the damned crew. " 
 
 True, there came an eclipse of faith, and the Middle 
 Ages were a night of darkness that yet casts its dread 
 shadow across the nations. But the morning of the 
 Reformation came with a dawn of bright beams and 
 an onward swelling life, so that in the eighty-three 
 years of the present century Christianity has gained 
 more adherents than in all the previous centuries to- 
 gether ; and at the present rate of progress, before the 
 twentieth century is rung out, the world will be 
 restored and sitting at the feet of Jesus. The Church 
 is the most amazing moral force ever exhibited in the 
 history of mankind, and is indeed " the kingdom and 
 royal dwelling-place of Christ upon the earth." 
 
 The chief blessings of the Gospel are spiritual and 
 divine — blessings which uplift the nature and fill the 
 5 
 
 ■i! 
 

 OG 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 .I- 
 
 iii 
 
 soul with holy light and life. But we .shall not here 
 conline ourselves to its .saving and .sanctifying effects, 
 but trace its indirect intluences as seen in institutions 
 that bless humanity and uplift the race. But Christi- 
 anity has saved civilization, and been the crowning 
 benefactor of the world. We would not over-estimate 
 its eff^ots , but it has worked in conjunction with other 
 forces. 
 
 1. Look at the influence of Christianity upon mans 
 social condition. What were the homes of Greece and 
 Rome in the days of their highest refinement ? Reek- 
 ing with every abomination, with no sanctit}'" in the 
 marriage tie, and woman utterly debased. Athens had 
 become the corruptress of the world, and its shrines of 
 consummate beauty were sinks of utter infamy. Rome 
 was a cesspool of impurity ; and even Juvenal pictures 
 h^r as a filthy sewer, into which flowed the dregs of 
 every Syrian and Achaean .stream. But Christianity 
 threw a purifying element into the fetid mass. It 
 raised woman from the abysses of shame, and en- 
 throned her a queen amid the sanctities of a well- 
 ordered home, until even the heathen exlaimed, "What 
 women these Christians have ! " And how it widened 
 human charity ! What deeds of cruelty and horror 
 are recorded on the classic page ! The wandering- 
 Ulysses, landing in Thrace, sacking a city and killing- 
 all the inhabitants, was but a type of the world at 
 large, where plunder and murder were perpetual, and 
 the words stranger and enemy were synonymous. 
 Christianity sounded a condemnation of war, pro- 
 
i'T 
 
 It 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 07 
 
 r 
 
 ?;:iil 
 
 claiming it a revolt of brother against brother ; and 
 although the voice of Christ commanding peace has 
 not been obeyed by all His followers, yet it has greatly 
 lessened the barbarity of war, and on every modern 
 l)attle-field there flies the Red Cross of Geneva, a flag 
 which every nation is bound to respect — the symbol 
 of that religion wdiich, when universally received, shall 
 give universal peace. Human life was everywhere 
 held cheap. You have seen Gerome's picture of the 
 Gladiatorial Fight ; there is the crowded amphitheatre, 
 in the arena the two combatants — the conqueror stand- 
 ing with uplifted sword over the wounded athlete, 
 waiting the signal to slay or to spare — the Vestal 
 Virgins voting for his death, — the Emperor, on whose 
 nod a human life is hanging, carelessly eating a fig ; 
 while a hundred thousand are enjoying the spectacle 
 of a man " butchered to make a Roman holiday." 
 Christianity, however, proclaimed human life a pre- 
 cious thing, and uttered a plea for the poor and weak. 
 " Our charity dispenses more in the streets," says 
 Tertullian to the heathen, " than your religion in all 
 the temples." In our day it has covered the world 
 with hospitals and asylums. Its spirit made Howard 
 the prison reformer ; Wilberforce the slave emanci- 
 pator; Florence Nightingale the Crimean heroine; and 
 Miiller the orphan's friend. 
 
 2. Trace its effects upon Liberty. — The slave, when 
 Christ came, was a " mere live chattel, an implement 
 with a voice, a piece of property valued less than an 
 ox." Crassus, after the revolt of Sparticus, crucified 
 
 i. i. 
 
 <*■ ; 
 
 'i 
 
 'A ' . 
 
 .1 
 
 111 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 r' i s- 
 
G8 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 ten thousand slaves at one time ; and Trajan made the 
 same number fight in the amphitheatre for the amuse- 
 ment of the people, and prolonged the massacre one 
 hundred and twenty-three days. At the root of this 
 " sum of all villanies " a blow was struck when our 
 Lord said, "All ye are brethren;" and though He left 
 the great world-despotisms untouched, yet He gave a 
 moral force which did two things : First, it gave an 
 inward spiritual liberty to the individual, whether 
 master or slave ; and next, it made the creation of new 
 civil institutions only a question of time. The Gospel 
 is the nurse of liberty. Not only does she strike otf 
 the shackles from every slave, but she is ever the 
 herald of national liberty as well. 
 
 3. See its effects iiiion Science. — Some of the way- 
 ward children of science, falsely so-called, who forsake 
 their own domain to assault Christianity, and would 
 like to banish God from His universe and set up their 
 own crude speculations in the stead of His eternal 
 truth, talk about the conflict between science and 
 revelation. There is no such conflict. There may be 
 a conflict between divine truth and many of the 
 theories of scientific dogmatists. But theory is one 
 thina' and scientific fact another. In the domain of 
 science we walk not upon adamant, but over a path- 
 way strewn with the wrecks of vain speculations now 
 utterly abandoned. So, many of the plausible theories 
 of the day that stand in imposing semblance of truth 
 will end in utter emptiness, and be recalled only with 
 derision ; and men will wonder that they could ever 
 
*v] 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 69 
 
 have been accepted as established trutli. True science 
 can tell us nothing but facts, and true science and true 
 religion go hand in hand. Do you want the proof ? 
 Where but in Christian lands has science found its 
 widest sphere, its greatest welcome, and its most 
 splendid victories? Where do we find the brilliant 
 discoveries of astronomy and geology, of chemistry 
 and physiology ? Where do we lind the inventive 
 genius that saddles the wind, bridles the lightning, 
 harnesses steam, constructs the telephone and the 
 phonograph, and makes the electric light an illumi- 
 natinj^ aoent ? Where ? In Christian lands alone. 
 
 4. Trace iU effects itimn Literature and Art, — How 
 Christianity enriches the human mind ! She touches 
 with her mystic wand the rude, unlettered mind, and 
 out springs the divine angel of thought. Intellect is 
 ennobled, and poetry, .painting, music, architecture, 
 literature and philosophy revive under her genial in- 
 fluence. The debt of mind to relifjion is like the debt 
 of vegetation to the sun. Modern art is but the hand- 
 maid of religion. Greek mythology giv^es no more 
 fascinating picture than that of the delicate and re- 
 splendent Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, who rose from 
 the foam of the sea and hastened with rosy feet to the 
 land, where grasses and flowers sprang up beneath 
 her tread. What is that but a fable of Christian art 
 giving form and expression to its ideals of beauty in 
 the glorious marble of the Pieta, th'C divine sweetness 
 of the Madonna, the Hallelujah Chorus of " The Mes- 
 siah," or the immortal verse of Paradise Lost ? 
 
 h 
 M 
 
 S' . ! 3 
 
 
70 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 5. See what it docs for Comtnercc. — Christianity cre- 
 ates a coinmerce wherever it goes, for it stiiuulates 
 men to develop the resources of the earth, gives indus- 
 try and peace, security to life and property, brands all 
 dishonesty and meanness, and makes trade to be gov- 
 erned by honest, and unselfish principles. Other systems 
 of reliii'ion never sustain jLcreat commerce. Where are 
 the white-winged ships of Asia and of Africa ? There 
 is no reason, except in religion, why the sails of those 
 great continents never dot our waters. In short, 
 Christianity develops manhood, and gives the highest 
 type of character. Bacon attributes Britain's greatness 
 to her breed of men. What but the influences of 
 Christianity have given that elevation of the race, 
 that sturdy vigour which leads the world, and by 
 wliich her little band of thirty thousand British in the 
 heart of India holds up the banner of civilization 
 against the mighty odds of two hundred millions. 
 
 The Christian religion is the moving and inspiring 
 power in our modern civilization. It is the foster- 
 parent of enterprise, wealth, and scientific cultui'e ; 
 and behind the commercial, mental and moral develop- 
 ment of nations is this mighty power of Christianity, 
 which has given us all that is noblest and most 
 majestic in our civilization. 
 
 (,*an a religion which brings forth such fruit, which 
 has contributed so much to the advancement of the 
 race, which rides on the highest wave of progress in 
 science, and arts, and civilization, and purer morality, 
 be a fraud and imposture ? I know that the advocate 
 
si:i{.M(>x. 
 
 71 
 
 of the naturalistic theory will «k'ny that Christianity 
 has had anything to do with hunian develo])ni('nt, and 
 will ascrihe everything even in advanced humanity to 
 the cosmic forces of nature, and the influence of ex- 
 ternal circumstances. But this is no mere (juestion of 
 theories — it is a question of facts. Will any sane man 
 deny that the world is ditlurent now from what it 
 would have been if Christianity had not been revealed <* 
 Compare our condition with that of unchristian lands. 
 " Look on this picture, and on that." How is it that 
 beyond the pale of (/hristendom all civilization is 
 unprogressive ? We know what are the atlinities of 
 our holy religion; how it cond)ines with pure morality 
 and chaste living, with learning, liberty, law; we 
 know its efi'ects on domestic peace, industry, and 
 comfort. We know, too, the affinities of infidelity, for 
 Emerson has truly said "that depravity is at the root 
 of much of the free-thinking of the day." Hume, the 
 greatest name on the roll of unbelief, was a defender 
 of adultery, taught that suicide and even murder was 
 lawful ; for he said that there was no more crime in 
 turning a few ounces of blood from tlieir natural clian- 
 nel than in diverting the courses of the >»ile or Danube. 
 We know the degradation of morals in En<>land one 
 hundred and fifty years ago, when the principles of 
 infidelity were rife. We know the Reign of Terror, and 
 of licentiousness, in France, when the Athcstic Council 
 abolished Christianity as a religion, and decreed "There 
 is no God, and death is an eternal sleep." Society was 
 disorganized ; a very hell was kindled ; the earth was 
 
 tl 
 
 il\ 
 
 
 » I 
 
72 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 drunk with the blood of four niillions of tlie l)ostcitizons 
 of tlio hind; until, in terror, Rohespierre called the 
 Council to<,^'th(!r, and they issued the decree, "The 
 French nation helievos in God and innnortality." 
 
 Once aiTjiin, we hold you to the practical tests- 
 Can that religion be a fraud, a stupendous lie, which, 
 aside from the spiritual and eternal interests of men, 
 fits them for the enjoyment of civil liberty ; stirs up 
 invention and enterprise; aids and carries forward 
 civilization ; extends science and art ; renovates the 
 moral nature of man, and multiplies the comforts 
 and blessinj^s of humanity :* Impossible. When 
 the ^reat discoverer of America entered the waters 
 of the Oronoca, one of the seamen said he had 
 found an islan<l. " No," replied Columbus; "such a 
 river cannot How from an island, it must drain the 
 waters of a continent." So this mighty river of 
 Christianity which lights up the landscape with its 
 brightness, and creates life wherever it tlows, cannot 
 have any human origin. Its springs are far oft' in the 
 everlasting hills of God. 
 
 You who think that Christianity is on the wane, 
 that relifjion is sfoino- to die out as a force in the world, 
 let me ask — does progress lie in the direction of barbar- 
 ism ? Is the development downward ? Shall the world 
 go back ? Shall civilization lose all it has gained? When 
 something purer and higher in truth and morality 
 than the Christian system can be found then we will 
 abandon it, but not till then. 
 
 Says the author of Ecce Homo : — " Among a'U the 
 
 

 SEHMoX. 
 
 ".] 
 
 men of the ancient heathen world there were scarcely 
 one or two to whom we mii,dit venture to apply the 
 epithet " holy," while there lias scarcely heen a town in 
 any Christian country since the time of Christ where 
 a century lias passcMJ without exhihitiny a character of 
 such elevation that his meie presence has shamed the 
 bad and made the good better, and has l>een felt at 
 times like the presence of Cod Himself. And if this 
 be so has Christ failed i or can Christianitv die ?" 
 Voltaire thou'dit he was livinj-* in the twilight of 
 Christianity, but it was not the twilight — it was the 
 dawn of a more glorious day. It is yet morning with 
 Christianity. Skeptics talk of the little that has been 
 accomplished by the Cospel in these eighteen centu • 
 ries. True, it has not overspread the earth and 
 exerted all its vivifying power upon the hearts of 
 men. It advances slowly — by suasion, not by mira- 
 cle. Give the Gospel time. The period demanded 
 by geologists for the deposition of strata and the build- 
 ing of our world is millions of years ; and to a<lorn 
 its surface, to lift up its mountains, and spread out 
 its plains, and prepare it for the residence of man, 
 enormous periods more. And in their theory of 
 the Descent of man, to evolve him through all his 
 intermediate forms, and get him educated away from 
 his " poor relations " of the gorilla tribe, what ages do 
 the evolutionists require ? Will you not give as much 
 time for the Ascent of man into the full stature of 
 the sons of God ? Will vou not give as much time to 
 transform a world of sinners into saints as to trans- 
 
 I 
 
74 
 
 SEHM<»X. 
 
 form a wf)rl(l of aiicostml i\\)vs into men? Cliristianity 
 lias only hej^un its workin^^^s in tlu' vvorld ; and as it 
 multiplies its victories anil advances its banner, be- 
 hold its triumphs in homes refined and ])urilied, hospi- 
 tals and churches rising, art and imlustry exj)an<lin;4', 
 maimers catching a kindlier courtesy, science glowing 
 with I'icher hues, literature kindling with nobler pur- 
 poses, oppressions ceasing, and liberty tiiumphant. 
 And as it widens over the world, from continent to 
 island, from shore to shore, humanity is redeemed and 
 glorified ; our fallen earth ascends swiftl}' along the 
 brightening way which leads to God, and as it mounts 
 the empyrean, the sentinel stars which challenge its ad- 
 vance shall send reverberating from floor to floor, and 
 from vault to vault, through all the aisles, and arches 
 and pavilions of eternity, the onward, swelling chorus, 
 "Hallelujah ! The kingdoms of this world are become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of His (Christ." 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to ask what is the extent 
 of your belief in Christianity ? Have you no positive 
 convictions? Have you no personal interest in religion ? 
 Are your heart and life faithless, and are you living as 
 if your doubts were true ? Are you satisfied with 
 uncertainties, and even guesses, in a matter of infinite 
 moment? Or do you yearn to know the truth and do 
 the right ? Are you ready to accept Christianity in its 
 Divine claims, though your faith is darkened by great 
 shadows as you w^restle with the awful problems of 
 eternity ? Have no fear about your doubts if you are 
 
SKRMON. 
 
 75 
 
 earnest and true. They will lead you into light, nn<l 
 as you tall 
 
 " upon the ^rcat world'H nltnr stniis 
 That .slopo through (hiikiii'ss up to God," 
 
 and stretch "lame hands of faith" upward, they shall 
 be clasped by the hands that were pierced and you 
 shall " see God." 
 
 Beloved, if these things are true, they are tremen- 
 dously true. If this Book of Christianity is Divine, 
 God help us to receive it, to believe it, to hold fast 
 its doctrines, and adorn its truths. If the Christ 
 of Christianity is Divine He still asks, " Why do you 
 not believe me ? " God help us to lay hold of His 
 Cross and be saved through Him. If this experience 
 of Christianity be Divine, God help us to feel its trans- 
 forming power in our own hearts, for by this " we 
 believe and are sure," If the practical fruits of 
 Christianity abound in the beauty and magnificence 
 of our civilization — in all that is beneficial to mankind 
 — all that makes life best worth living — if it is so high 
 and holy that we cannot even conceive a religion that 
 could make men better or happier, then let us acknow- 
 ledge its truth, confess its power, and have our fruit 
 into holiness that w^e may receive the end of our faith, 
 even life forevermore. 
 
 
 j fi 
 
 i . 
 
 
 TK'^-mr^: 
 
Se 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 OFFIC'l:lt!^ FOR 1883-84. 
 
 President. — Kkv. H, Johnston, M.A., B.D., Toronto. 
 Vice-President. ---W^x . James Guaham, Duiulas. 
 Secretary -Treasurer. — Rkv. A. ^I. Phillips, B.D,, St. Thomas. 
 Lecturer for ISSIf. — Kev. Prof. Shaw, M,A., LL.B., Montreal. 
 Preacher for IS84. — Rkv. W. R. Parker, M.A., Chatliani. 
 
 " FELLOWS." 
 
 Rev. S. S. Xelles, D.D., LL.D Cobourg. 
 
 Rev. N. Burwash, S.T.D Cobourg. 
 
 Kev. W. Jefeeiis, D.D Belleville. 
 
 Rev. S. I). Rice, D.D Winnipeg. 
 
 Rev. J. Elliott, D.D Kingston. 
 
 Rev. E. H. Dewart, D.D Toronto. 
 
 Rev. E. B. Ryokman, D.D Paris. 
 
 Rev. a. Burns, D.D., LL.D Hamilton. 
 
 Rev. E. a. Stafford, B. A IMontreal. 
 
 Rev. W. W. Ross Ingersoll. 
 
 Rev. J. A. Williams, D.D St. Catharines. 
 
 LONDON CONFERENCE BRANCH. 
 
 President. — Rev. Jas. Graham. 
 
 Secretary- Treasurer. — Rev. A. M. Phillips, B.D. 
 
 Zec^Mj'cr.— Rev. Wm. Mc] jnagh. 
 
 TORONTO CONFERENCE BRANCH. 
 
 President. — Rev. W. Jeffers, D.D. 
 
 Secretary -Treasurer. — Rev. T. W. Campbell, B.D. 
 
 Preacher. — Rev. P. Addison. 
 
 MONTREAL CONFERENCE BRANCH. 
 
 President.— 'Rv.x. E. A. Stafford, B.A., F.T.L. 
 Secretary- Treasurer. — Rev. S. D. Choavn. 
 Lecturer. — Rkv. Jas, Awde, B.A. 
 
 ■i)\ 
 
 ■ 1 ■-■ ■ 
 
 
78 
 
 COURSE 0/ STUDY. 
 
 Course of Reading 
 
 FOR 
 
 FELLOW IN THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE (F.T.L.) 
 
 The Course of Reading is to extend over three years, 
 and to consist of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, or Apolo- 
 getic studies. The character of the Course shall be optional, 
 i. e., the subjects or branches of stiidy may be elected by 
 each one reading ; Provided, that two subjects shall be read 
 for each year, one to be selected at the beginning of the 
 Course and continued throughout, and the other varied 
 from year to year. The thoroughness of the reading will 
 be tested by a thesis, to be assigned on the 15th of March 
 and returned by the 30th of April, and a written examina- 
 tion upon the books read by means of questions sent to 
 each one reading, to be answered and returned with the 
 thesis. All persons reading must send application for sub- 
 ject of thesis to the Secretary by March 1st, stating the 
 year in which they are reading, the Course subject, the 
 option selected, and the books read. Each subject should 
 be studied in at least two authors, from a comparison of 
 which an independent opinion may be formed ; and a 
 student must put in at least one thesis each year until the 
 Course is completed. 
 
COURSE OF STUDY 
 
 79 
 
 Course of Study. 
 
 FIRST yi:ar. 
 
 1. Biblical Sludij.—Tha Life of Christ. Text-liooks : Tlie Four 
 Gospels ; "Westcott's Introduction to the Study of the Gosptds ; 
 Andrew's Life of Christ ; Ceikie's or Farrar's Life of Christ. 
 
 2. Historical Study. — The Reformation; D'Aubigne's History of 
 the Reformation ; Seel.iohm's Protestant Revolution ; Fisher. 
 
 3. Doctrhml Study. — The Atonement. Text-books: Crawford; 
 Randies ; ^liley. 
 
 4. Aiwlogctic Study. — God and Nature. Text-Books : Cocker's 
 Theistic Conception of the Universe ; Dimon's Lectures on Theism ; 
 Flint's Antitheistic Theories; Blackie's Natural History of Atheism. 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 1. Biblical Study. — The Epistle to the Romans. Aids : Lange, 
 Philippi and Beet. 
 
 2. Historical Study. — Life and Times of Wesley. Tyemian's Life 
 Smith's Methodism and Southey's Life ; Isaac Taylor's Methodism ; 
 Watson's Reply to Southey. 
 
 3. Doctrinal Study. — The Person of Christ. Pope's Person of 
 Christ ; Liddon's Bampton Lecture on our Lord's Divinity ; Glover's 
 Historical Sketch of the Doctrine of Christ's Person. 
 
 4. Apologetic Study, — Rationalism. Hunt's History of Rationalism; 
 Fisher's Supernatural Origin of Christianity ; iNLansell's Limits of 
 Religious Tho jht. 
 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 1. Biblical Study. — The Psalms. Lange, Perowne, Tholuck. 
 
 2. Historical Study. — Modern Theology. Dorner's History of Pro- 
 testant Theology ; Rigg's Modern Anglican Theology. 
 
 3. Doctrinal Study. — Christian Perfection. Wesley's Christian 
 Perfection and Sermons, with Burwash's Notes ; Fletcher's Last 
 Check ; Pope's Theology, Vol. IIL 
 
 4. A^wlcgetic Study. — Inspiration. Bannerman, Lee, Elliott, Pope's 
 Theology, Vol. I. 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 
( 80 ) 
 
 MEMBERS ENROLLED SINCE ORGANIZATION, 
 
 MAY, 1877. 
 
 
 LONDON CONfERENCE. 
 
 
 Ames, Ri'v. AVm 
 
 lJiUi<,'h, Kev. W. 
 
 tBaliiier, Rev. W. J. 
 
 IJeriy, Kev. Homy. 
 
 Benson, Rev. Manly. 
 
 tBrandon, Rev. W. J, 
 
 Bri(.l;[,Mnan, Rev. W. 
 
 Bristol, Rev. Coleman, M.A. 
 
 Bryers, Rev. Wm, 
 
 liroek, Rev. Thos. 
 
 Broley, Rev. Jas. 
 
 Burns, Re v. A. , D. D. , LL. D. , F. T. 
 
 Burns, Rev. Robt. 
 
 Calvert, Rev. G. W. 
 
 Campbell, Rev. T. :M. 
 
 Chown, Rev. E. A., B.D. 
 
 Chalmers, Rev. David. 
 
 Clark, Rev. George. 
 
 Clarke, Rev. T. R. 
 
 Clement, Rev. B. 
 
 Crane, Rev. Isaac. 
 
 tCrcws, Rev. A. C. 
 
 Cobb, Rev. Thos. 
 
 tCosens, Rev. C. W. 
 
 Colling, Rev. Thos., B.A. 
 
 Colling, Rev. Joseph S. 
 
 Cooknian, Rev. C. 
 
 Cornish, Rev. Geo. H. 
 
 ICdwards, Rev. Abel. 
 
 Edwards, Rev. W. W. 
 
 Elliott, Rev. R. J. 
 
 Fallis, Rev. J. G. 
 
 Ferguson, Rev. Geo. 
 
 Fisher, Rev. John S. 
 
 Fowler, Rev. Root., M.A. 
 
 Ford, Rev. Jas. E. 
 
 t Members of 
 
 Foote, Rev. Jas. G. 
 Freeman, Kev. J. W., B.D. 
 Fydell, Rev. T. R. 
 Godwin, Rev. Wm. 
 Graham, Rev. Jas. 
 Gray, Rev. Jas. 
 Grittin, Rtv. W. S. 
 (iundv, Hev. J. R. 
 Hall.'Rev. H. M. 
 Hamilton, Rev. C. 
 Hannon, Rev. Jas. 
 Harris, Rev. Alex. G. 
 Harris, Rev. Jas. 
 Henders, Rev. R. C. 
 Henderson, Rev. G. W. 
 Henderson, Rev. AVni. C, M.A. 
 Henderson, Rev. Wm. 
 fHoekey, J. E. 
 Holmes, Kev. J. W. 
 Hodson, Rev. J. M., B.A. 
 Hobbs, Rev. R. 
 Hunter, Rev T. E. 
 Isaac, Rev. J. R. 
 Jackson, Rev. Geo. 
 Jackson, Rev. T. W. 
 Jackson, Kev. Thos. 
 Kay, Rev. J. 
 Kerr, Rev. G. J. 
 Kettlewell, Rev. W. 
 tKoyle, Rev. E. H. 
 Lanceley, Rev. J. E. 
 Langford, Rev. Alex. 
 Leith, Hev. T. B. 
 Livingstone, Rev. Jas. 
 Mitchell, Rev. G. A., B.A. 
 Mills, Rev. Wm. 
 the Jackson Society. 
 
LIST OF .MEMi'.EKS. 
 
 81 
 
 Mooney, licv.Jus. 
 Monow, Rev. C, 11. 
 McCulloch, Rev. A. U. 
 McDonagh, Rov. Wm. 
 iAIcNair, IIcv. T. K. 
 Neelamis, Kev. -John. 
 Orme, Rev. T. H., iM.A. 
 Parker, Rev. Wm. R., .M.A. 
 ratehell, IWv. T. H. 
 Peuliall, Rev. Wm. 
 Phillilis, Rev. A. M., B.D. 
 PLilp, Kev. John, M.A. 
 Pliilp, Rev. Jos. 
 IJichardson, Rev. (leo. 
 Pii-sby, Kev. W. 
 Roliiiison, Rev. J. H. 
 li'ohs, Kev. W. W., F.T.L. 
 Ross, Rev. J. S., B.A. 
 K'uss, Rev. A. E., M.A. 
 tliussell. Rev. A.. SI. A., B.D. 
 Ryckman,Rev.E.H.,D.D., F.T.L. 
 tSauuby, Hev. J. W. 
 Saunders, Kev. J., M.A. 
 Scott, Kev, J., M.A. 
 Scbrain, Kev. G. A. 
 Scott, Rev. J. G. 
 Sellery, Rev. S., B.D. 
 Slierlock, Rev. Benj. 
 
 Addisou, Rev. P. 
 Allen, Kev. J. E. 
 tAudrews, Rev. W. 
 Ash, Kev. J. C. 
 Barkwell, Rev. J. H 
 
 f Members of the Jackson Society. 
 
 TOEONTO CONFERENCE, 
 
 Clarkson, Kev 
 
 Shilton, Rev. J. W,, B.A. 
 tSilton, Kev. J, N. 
 Smith, Kev, J. V, 
 Smith, Rev. J, T. 
 tSnyder, Rev. J). W, 
 tSpence, Rev. W, H. 
 Stafford, llev. C. E. 
 tStaplcs, Kev. S. G. 
 tStacev, Rev. F. U. 
 Stevenson, Kev. K. I',., B.A. 
 Steveii>,ciii, Kev. J. C. 
 Stewart, Rev. J. 
 Sutherland, K.'V. 1). G., B.A. 
 Swann, Kev. F, 
 Teskey, Kev. E, 
 tVoaden, Rev. Tho'. 
 Waddell, Rev, R. H. B.D. 
 WakeHeld, Rev. J. 
 Ward, Rev. Jos., B.A 
 Watson, Kev. W. C . M.A, 
 White, Rev. Jas. H, 
 Whiting, Rev, Jas. 
 Williams,Rev.J,A,,D.D.,F.T.L. 
 Williams, Rev. Wm. 
 Williams, Rev. R. W. 
 Wilson, Rev, Jasper, B.A, 
 Woodsworth, Rev. R. W. 
 "Wright, Rev. R. W. 
 
 W. 
 . B,A. 
 
 I 
 
 Barrass, Rev. E., M.A. 
 Barltrop, Rev, A, J. 
 Bell, Rev. J. W., B.D. 
 Blackstock, Rev. W. S. 
 Boddy, Rev. Jas. 
 Brown, Rev. George. ' 
 
 Burwash, Rev. N.. S.T.D., F.T.L. 
 Burwash, Rev. N. S. 
 tCaldwell, Rev. J. AV. H. 
 Campbell, Rev. T, W,, B.D, 
 Campbell, Kev, Thos. 
 
 J, B., M,A. 
 Culleu, Rev. Thos. 
 Dewart, Rov. E. H., D.D., F.T.L, 
 Dowler, Rev. W, J,, B.A. 
 Edmison, Rev. T. J., B.D. 
 Edwards, Rev. Geo. 
 tElliott, Rev. Wm. 
 Ferguson, Rev. T. A. 
 Frauklin, Rev. B., B.A. 
 Galloway, Rev. J. 
 Greatrix, Rev. B. 
 Greene, Rev. J, 
 Harper, Rev. E. B., D.D. 
 Harper, Rev. Cecil, M.A. 
 Hewitt, Rev. G. W., B.A. 
 Hill, Rev. L. W., B.A. 
 
 ^t% 
 
 1 1 
 
 .^! i 
 
 t Members of the Jackson Society. 
 
 6 
 
 s 
 
 4: 1 
 
 ,1: 
 
 11 
 
 t i 
 
 in 
 
 Ml 
 
 ¥'■' 
 
 I'll 
 iui 
 
82 
 
 LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 Hill, \Wv. I'M. 
 
 Howell, liev. J. !•:., M.A. 
 
 Hunter, Kev. W. J., D.D. 
 
 Hunter, Rev. S. J. 
 
 Jotleis, ll-x. W., D.D., F.T.L 
 
 Jelleiy, l!ev. T. W. 
 
 Jolnisou, Itev. J. H., j\I.A. 
 
 Johnson, Kev. K. 
 
 Johnston, liev, H., B.D. 
 
 Liiinl, Rev. J. G. 
 
 Laiid, Rev. W. H. 
 
 Lof^ate, Rev. Thos. 
 
 Lewis, Rev. ]']. D. 
 
 Liddy, Kev. .lames. 
 
 Lloyd, Rev. W. W. 
 
 Mannini,', Rev. T., B.A. 
 
 tMcAliister, Rev. J, W. 
 
 McAuley, Rev. S. 
 
 McCanius, Rev. D. N. 
 
 McClunf,s Rev. J. A. 
 
 McDonaM, Rev. D., M.D. 
 
 McDougall, Rev. J. 
 
 ^IcLeaii, Rev. J., B.A. 
 
 Nelle.s, Rev. S. S., LL.D., F.T.L. 
 
 Philp, Rtcv. S. C, Jr. 
 
 Potter, Rev. A. 
 
 I Member of the 
 
 Reynolds, Rev. Geo. S. 
 
 JiiJe, Rev. 8. 1)., D.D., F.T.L. 
 
 Robson, Rev. E. 
 
 Rose, Rev. S. P. 
 
 Rupert, Rev. K. S., ^LA. 
 
 Rutledge, Rev. W. L. 
 
 Scott, Rev. AV. L. 
 
 Shorey, Rev. S. J. 
 
 Sniytlie, Rev. Wni, 
 
 Steele, Rev. T. P. 
 
 Stewart, Rev. A., P). D. 
 
 Stewart, Rev. J. \\ . 
 
 Sutherland, L'ev. Alex., D.D. 
 
 Thoni, Rev. Jas., B.A. 
 
 'J'ovell, Rev. Isaac. 
 
 Washinf,'ton, Rov. Geo. C, M.A. 
 
 Watch, 'R(>v. C, W. 
 
 Webster, Rev. J. 
 
 West, Rev. W. J. 
 
 Wilkinson, Rev. J. 
 
 Wilkinson, Rev. R. 
 ! Withrow, Rev. W. H., D.D. 
 
 Wilson, Rev. A. C. 
 
 Workman, Rev. Geo. C, M.A. 
 I Young, Rev. E. R. 
 I Young, Rev. W. J. 
 Jackson Society. 
 
 M., B.A. 
 
 MONTREAL CONFERENCE. 
 
 Allen, liev. Jas. B.A. 
 Allen, Rev. Wm. A. 
 Austin, Rev. Nathan. 
 Awde, Rev. Jas., B.A. 
 Beaudrv, liev. Louis N. 
 Brown.' Rev. Thos. C. 
 Bond, Rev. S. 
 Chown, Rev. S. D. 
 Clipshani, Rev. J. W. 
 Conley, Rev. Lewis. 
 Conley, Rev. T. B., B.A. 
 Crookshanks, Rev. S, 
 Cran., Rev. E. W. 
 Crowle, Rev. Fred. W., B.A. 
 Belong, Rev. A. M. 
 Dyre, Rev. Wm. R. 
 Eason, Rev. Richard. 
 
 t Members of 
 
 tEld ridge. Rev. G. S. 
 Elliott, Rev. J., D.D., F.T.L. 
 tElliott, Rev. Jas. 
 Flanders, Rev. C. R., B.A. 
 Forsey, Rev. Geo. 
 Fowler, Rev. J, H., M.A. 
 Galbraith, Rev. Wm., B.C.L. 
 Gibson, Rev. John. 
 Gitlbrd, Rev. G. A. 
 Hagar, Rev. J. M. 
 Hammond, Rev. R. M. 
 Hanson, Rev. Chas. A. 
 Hardic, Rev, Alex., M.A. 
 Ha)'loek, Rev. J. J. 
 tHolden, Rev. A. A. 
 Hooker, Rev. Leroy. 
 Jackson, Rev. Wm. 
 the Jackson Society. 
 
 m 
 
 
LIST OF MEMBERS. 
 
 83 
 
 JainiLsoii, Rev. Win. S., M.A. 
 .TollitVc, Kc'V. Win. J. 
 Knox, Rev. Wm. 
 Liiwicncf, llev. .Tolm. 
 Lon^'li'V. llev. Beiij., B.A. 
 Lucas, Rev. D. V.', M.A. 
 ^L-ult,'c, Rev. W. W., B.A. 
 Man sell, R(>v. T. J. 
 tMcA<l()o, Rev. S. N. 
 McCann, l!ov. Alfred. 
 ISJcGill, Rev. "Win. 
 MeRiteliie, Rov. Geo. 
 Perley, Rev. Wm. F. 
 riiillips, Rev. S. G., M.A. 
 Pitoher, Rev. J. T. 
 Porter, Kov. G. H., B.A. 
 Potts, Rev. J., D.I). 
 Poyser, Rev. Geo. C. 
 
 tRead, l!ev. F. A. 
 
 Rilanee, Rev. Win. 
 
 Ryan, Rev. AV. 
 
 Saumlers, Rev. J. B. 
 
 Scott, Rev. W. 
 
 Shaw, Hcv. W. I.,M.A.,LL.B. 
 
 Simpson, Rev. Jas. 
 
 Smith, Rev. W. T. 
 
 Sparling', Rev. W. H., B.A. 
 
 Sparling, Rev. Jos. W., B.D. 
 
 StalFord, Rev. E. A.,B.A., F.T.L. 
 
 Stewart, Rev. .T. II. 
 
 Timberlake, Rev. W. 
 
 Webster, Rov. J. 
 
 Williams, Rev. T. G. 
 
 Wilson, Rev. J., B.A. 
 
 Winter, Rev. D. 
 
 Young, Rev. W. R. 
 
 • i- 
 
 t Momber-s of the Jackson Society. 
 
 London Conference 129 members. 
 
 Toronto " 84 " 
 
 Montreal " 69 " 
 
 Total 282 
 
 Deceased and removed 7 
 
 Present membership 275 
 
 .UEnBER!^ KEADINt; FOU *'FELLO^I>«IIIP/ 
 
 Rev. J. P. Isaac. 
 Rev. J. H. Robinson. 
 Rev. A. G. Harris. 
 Rev. Thos. Cobb. 
 Rev. S. D. Chowu. 
 
 Rev. A. C. Wilson. 
 Rev. Wm. Timberlake. 
 Rev. Geo. C. Poyser. 
 Rev. Wm. Knox. 
 Rev. W. H. Gane. 
 
 N.B. — All members who pay their annual fee of $1 will be presented 
 with a copy of the " Annual Lecture and Sermon." 
 
 I 
 
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