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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too lerge to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre raproduit en un seul clichA, ii est filmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en has, en prenant le nombre d'imagas nAcessaire. lies diagrammes suivants iliustrsnt la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 L ~ L> ly # {jlja C^JA^ /? (rO J SIX DISQUISITIONS ON DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, BY THE LATE WILLIAM THOMAS WISHART, 07 SAIMT JOBN, ST. B. t- ST. JOHN, N. B.: PRINTED BY J. & A. McMILLAN, M DCCC LIII. A>} CONTENTS. LECTURE I. PAGE That the National Israel is in all respects the Type OF THE Spiritual Israel, or Church of the New Testament 9 LECTURE II. Infidelity in its two forms of the Pharisee and the Sadducee, 50 LECTURE III. That true Religion is designed and calculated to render Man intei.lectually eminent, , . .88 LECTURE IV. The Oneness of the Christian System, . 127 LECTURE V. Of the Interpretation of Scripture, and the want of a consistent method hitherto, .... 107 LECTURE VI. The Second Temple, o,i the Church of the Latter Days, 207 ! m ■Wi- #;? INTRODUCTION. The following Treatises were written by the Author a few months previous to his death, at the request of his friends, and were intended for public delivery. These friends of the Author, and of the doctrines preached by him, believed that they only needed to be known to be gladly received by many, who, in utter ignorance of them, and under the dominion of old prejudices and superstition, supposed them to be heretical and dangerous. They wished, that on an occa- sion, not considered sacred, the public should have an opportu- nity to hear and judge for themselves the system of interpretation, and the doctrines derived from it, recommended by JStr. Wish- art, in his weekly expositions of Scripture. They hoped that in a large community, there were many just enough to listen, before they condemned, or acquiesced in the decision of inter- ested parties, themselves ignorant of the subject, and only aware that every change must be to their disadvantage, whose interests are baaed on things as they are. They thought that there were many who would pay their own reason the compliment of be- lieving that they could listen uncontaminatcd to a few lectures. m * VI \- I ♦ J • vnpposing them to advocate f rroneous doctrine, while they were themselves, in ppinion and feeling, the very product of an opposite system, supposed by them to be right. It would be paying too high a compliment to the new system, before knowing what it is, to consider it so much stronger than the old, that it could undo, in six evenings, all that the other had done in a lifetime, with every influence to favour its operation. Where the knowledge of truth is the only object desired, and the Word of God the only rule used by which to try what is truth, that must be a weak intellect which cannot trust itself to listen to the investigation of a subject. Indeed it would seem that weakness is not the worst fault of such a mind. It must be conscious of some error, which it is unwilling to see rectified ; some prejudice which it is resolved not to surrender, and it must at least suspect of its creed that it cannot come to the light, lest its deeds should be reproved. •But the desired opportunity was not permitted. This, with many other hopes, have passed away, with the earthly life of the writer of these Essays, and they are now presented to the world uncorrected and unrevised, as he lefl them ; not prepared for publication, — the first rapid composition, not even corrected for oral delivery. There may be errors in style or grammar, which his own eye would have detected in reading, and which he would have altered; but the principles announced, as far as they proceed, give an accurate expression of what he believed, and — together with what he before published — if understood, faithfully received, and honestly acted upon, will bring about that happy I * e new system, stronger than that the other to favour its ▼ii eunsumniation which ho so much lunged tu see; but, like' Moses, was only permitted to view in the distance. On their own merits they nmst stand or fall, and according to their inherent vitality, they must die or spring into active life, and produce that vast progeny of faith and joy which tlie church- has so long expected, and which has been so long deferred. Such as they are, they are given to the world without an apology, and without an editor. » v: >'::" '» A*: *.., .^ ■ Qt I ** II. ;^^^ 1 V 1 i • I ■ '1 .»!»•• •tltt. J<-,i vi .#• I'lP" -s; ,1 i ti • ^' • ... ■;!> ' 1 • m t *'• . ■ * >; . . .*♦* '^'^aj'\ m- LECTURE I. THAT THE NATIONAL ISRAEL 18 IN ALL RESPECTS THE nPE OF THE SPIRITUAL ISRAEL, OR CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. To prove this in such a manner as that persons of average abilities would be left without excuse if they did not accept the proof, would lead to more than one important result. (I.) It would arise out of the argument tkat there are undiscovered truths still locked up in the word of God. That a volume, after it has em- ployed so many minds, and been investigated during so long a course of ages, is still in advance of the human race, this would be another reason why we should believe in its inspiration, and con- sider it as vindicating its professed character of a message from the Creator to the creature. To deal with it on an opposite principle ; to regard it as a system whose truths are exhausted — an error that has been tacitly committed by all sects, would be to consider that Revelation was run out before human history was unrolled, and when as yet there are but few symptoms of the influence of the B '->.■ ^4t m • m ' I', t i I ! I ! I i nM< 10 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. word of Truth upon the hearts of men. On the contrary, to find in it new lines of momentous facts, is to show that the author of the book is at least deeper than many generations of mankind, — more profound than has been hitherto supposed, because able to construct a plan that many human beings have not been competent fully to unroll. (2.) The Bible pretends to be a communication from heaven to earth. But according to our hypo- thesis, one proof that it affords of this fact, is the very significant one, that its professed author has had ihe power and skill to make the transactions of a people, one part of whose history is removed from us by four thousand years, and the most con- tiguous part of which is separated from us by more than two thousand years ; that he has been able to render so distant, and it may be added, so vast a circumstance, the germ and type of another event also very great, and to all appearance so different. . , f } ? • :;, Thus, he who declares that he has shut up in Scripture a record of his sovereign purpose to save men through Jesus Christ his son, would be seen giving as one proof of his willingness and ade- quacy, that he has inscribed this design on the story of our species, that he has caused a people during twenty centuries to pass through a various and complicated evolution, in such wondrous sub- ordination to the fate of another race, that the two ■lines coincide at every point, and that all time is re- quisite in order to exhaust the stupendous parallel, »'■ • ' ^l i ' ■ ' ' '^ •* ■ ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 11 On the ous facts, s at least cl, — more , because m beings unication mr hypo- Lct, is the ithor has nsactions removed nost con- ; by more )een able so vast another ranee so ut up in e to save be seen lid ade- on the % people various ous sub- the two ne is re- parallel. 1 God says — this is my book ; I composed it by means of holy men whom I commissioned to re- gister every circumstance in the words that they have used ; one evidence that I furnish in confir- mation of this is, that the Jewish nation, whose nistory is recorded in the first part of the volume, is so arranged that while its career is as actual as that of any other people on the earth, it is also a hieroglyphic of the affairs of that moral race for whose benefit the Christian religion was devised. (3.) The supposition which we advance, fitly demonstrated, will supply a support for the con- clusion, how sublime must be the truth that is in Jesus, since it required a whole people to play that pantomine which is its shadow ! How vast must be the events whose preamble has been so volu- minous, whose harbingers have been so many and great ! How important must that holy people appear in the sight of the Most High, when he has employed long ages and millions of individuals in order to shadow forth their pious annals ! (4.) God says of the Spirit, " He will shew you things to come," but at the same time he declares that his Revelation is complete. Men seem hith- erto to have been entangled in the dilemma. If they refused to acquiesce in the promise, they offered violence to a plain scripture spoken under circumstances that make it plain that all believers are contemplated. If, on the other hand, they re- ceived the prediction, it seemed to them to make it necessary that they should become the recipients ^♦■'*t>' ■;/ 12 ISBAEL A TTPICAL PEOPLE. I i ' I t i *■ h V: ': 1 •' :l| * t of disclosures additional to those contained in the Scriptures. This theory obviates the difficulty. By giving two meanings to what is already in ex- istence, it shows it to be unnecessary that the actual bulk of the sacred volume should be in- creased. By imposing the principle that the peo- ple of the bible is at once historical and theological, new truths are found contained in old envelopes. In laying down this doctrine, we are taught what is meant by that admonition, more than once given forth, to consider the old ways. Thus, the believer is made a prophet, in the re- spectable, scientific, and very appreciable method of giving further development to the admitted word of God. Thus, all the while that he *s lite- rary, philosophical, the reverse of fantastic, and that he is performing that which the eye of the critic can follow and verify, he is scanning the future with a telescope supplied by heaven, and proving by his ability to use the instrument that the Spirit of the Most High stirs in the bosom of the sincere believer, affording to man preternatural marks of his high vocation. To omit the remarks that might be made upon the first seventeen hundred years of the world's history, the period up to the deluge; to waive the discussion as to the doctrinal points that arise out of Adam, Eden, the Cherubim, Cain and Abel, Enoch, Noah, the Ark, the Flood, the dispersion at Babel ; to leave these particulars, — and for the reason that they stand associated with the general ISRAEL A TTVICAL PEOPLE. 13 genealogy of the species, and not especially with the annals of the chosen people, we take our start from the Patriarchal era. Abraham, whose name means 'the father of many nations,' *high father,' it having previously been Abram, who quits the domain of heathenism at the bidding of God, who sojourns in Egypt, who while there disowns his wife, who engages in war with pagan kings and vanquishes them, who, re- turning from his victory is met by the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, and is bless- ed by him, after giving tithes of all that he pos- sessed : Abraham, who is so long of becoming a father, whose wife bears a child after the period of natural child-bearing has long elapsed : Abra- ham, who when his son is weaned casts out the bond- woman and her child, — in whose household the doctrine-speaking right of circumcision is performed by divine injunction : Abraham, who when his son has come to man's estate leads him by the order of Jehovah to Mount Moriah, where he is on the point of slaying him as an offering, when Divinity interposes. How many facts of theology occur in his life alone I Isaac becomes the father of two sons, who natu- rally and morally are two nations. The elder, the ancestor of the Edomites, sells his birth-right at the instigation of carnality, and thereby becomes the representative of the first form of the church of Christ. Jacob, the younger, because he had deceived his father and defrauded his brother, goes I I ! II' I »" r« ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. ,v i.i Hi into exile for a time, serves seven years for Leah whom he did not love, and fourteen for Rachel whom he did love. Both his wives resort to a peculiar method for augmenting his family, and presenting their hand-maidens to their hushand, are in this fact no doubt the figures of that condi- tion of things that has characterised the church, which has always been willing to take its prose- lytes from the world when it could not beget them by legitimate conversion. The scene where Jacob wrestles with the angel, where he has his name changed from *supplanter' into *a prince with God,' is replete with analogies. Before this he prevailed over his brother by stra- tagem, as the first part of the career of religion has been an attempt to cheat rather than to con- quer the foe : after this, a blessing appears to at-' tend his efforts. The scene wherein he blesses the twelve Patriarchs supplies us with a succes- sion of tableaux that afford a view of the leading aspects that are to characterize the gospel-church, down to the time of the end. This single inci- dent contains quite enough to show that all these things are our ensamples (types), and are given for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. In the description, in the names and in the order of the sons of Jacob, there is that which we think tallies with the twelve judges and the kings of Judah, and up to a certain point with the seven churches in Asia, and with the actual story of religion as come at by observation^ ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 15 ' Reuben, who sees the son, who is the begmning of strength, the excellency of dignity, the excel- lency of power, who does not adhere, whc defiles his father's bed, agrees with Ephesus, agrees with Apostolic declensions. Simeon and Levi, proba- bly expressing combination between the church and the world, and declaredly typical of cruelty and violence, are easily reconciled with the church after the Apostolic period. Judah, so strong, the object of so much admiration to his brethren, a law- giver, and who is to prevail until Shiloh come ; the resemblance between him and that potential, proud confederation, that sprung up under Constantino, and enjoyed so long and such extensive influence, is obvious. Zabulon, dwelling at the haven of the sea, with his border unto Zidon, stands for the trading principle. Issachar, an ass couching be- tween two burdens, exhibits a fact that is certainly true of religion at every time, and probably more descriptive of it at one epoch than at others. Dan, defined as a serpent, and under whom things reach such a point as to deserve the exclamation, " I have waited for thy salvation, Lord," coincides with Tola, a worm, a grub, — with Sardis, the lees or dregs. Naphthali, preceding the fruitful period, is most suitably pourtrayed as "giving goodly words," and most naturally foreshadows that La- odicean state in which appearances are favour- able, but reality is absent. Joseph, the most fully drawn, the most lauded, on whom such copious blessings are poured down, carries that along with M mt^ I If '4^ 16 iniAEL A TTPicAL psapLrr him which defines him, and that which prores (he moral texture of all. The phrase "from thence is- the shepherd, the stone of Israel," conveys a meaning that of itself is sufficient to include the whole twelve within a spiritual circle. Benjamin,, who shall ravin as a wolf, who shall devour the prey, seems ta have a resemrblance more than fan- ciful to* that last era of the church whose phasis is especially this, that Christ plucks the spoil from the mighty and subjugates all his enemies. The circumstance in JacoVs career, that he gives orders that his body should be transported to Palestine, gives rise to doctrinal considerations^ It was a prophecy, it was-a declavation thet Egypt was not the normal condiition of the church, it was- an injunction to speculate upon the settled and victorious posture of religion. - -» - * . >f-;t Thus, from the calling of Abraham to the de- mise of Jacob, a period of more than two cen- turies, the way is thickly strewn with instances- that prove the position for which we contend.. From the earliest portion of the history of Israel,, we collect cases enough to demonstrate, that this> people was appointed to pass through their history in such a style, as that it shpuJd contain within it the fate of another race, whose career even now is only begun. • ^ ; ..< »i'ii«f^i«v EoTPT, the next section, is shown^ to be mysti- cal by such a passage as this. Rev. xi. 8, " And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great tity, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, ..i m M Tores the thence is* onveys a elude the {enjamin^ 3vour the than fan- se phasis poll from )S. o«i.-«I , that he msported lerations^ at Egypt sh, it was* ^tled and > the de> two cen- nstances- contend. )f Israel^ that this* r history within it (Ten now e mysti- J, " And he great I Egypt, I ISBASL A TYPICAL PEOpLE. If wliere also our Lord was crucified;" hy tlK>8e scriptures wherein the Jews are so severely cen- sured for going to Egypt for help or horses ; by that place where Rahab and the dragon are made synonymous; by that where Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is styled the great dragon that lieth in the ^lidst of his waters, and by many other instances. That chapter then which relates what befel Israel in this land is not without reason and warrant held to be a doctrinal transaction. An influence exemplified by Pharaoh, and which there can be no question means legality, tyrannizes over Israel, endeavours to hinder their increase, imposes on them severe tasks, requires of them labours beyond their strength, refuses to permit them to go forth into the wilderness, when it has given leave re- tracts, is exposed to grievous calamities because of its captives, tormented by its sufferings allows them to withdraw, when they have begun their journey follows after with a view to bring them back, and finally, in the act of attempting to attack the Lord's chosen ones is swallowed up in the waters of the Red Sea. Here there is a captivity somewhat similar to that which is afterwards un- dergone in Babylon, and connected with such cir- cumstances as renders it obvious that in the moral counterpart the two captivities are cotempora^- neous, that they who are under the sway of legal- ity are also in the empire of confusion. Consid- ered from this point of view, Egypt, so plainly iV:. ; : ^^^ : /r i/i? m !i; ' I 1 18 ISRASL A T7PICAL PEOPLE. allegorical, must yet yield ample matter for in- struction. '^ -' ■• r . ,, ; -, How does the period during which this captivity lasts, viewed in relation to the Babylonish bond- age, bear upon the time that the spiritual Israel is in the power of its enemies ? What is the exact thought, derivable from the structures that the, bondsmen were compelled to build ? What is the doctrine arising out of Moses' sojourn of forty years in the wilderness ? What is the theology of the several plagues that befel Egypt ? Why was it that the magicians were compelled to stop at the particular point at which they desisted from counterfeiting the miracles of Moses ? What is that Red Sea which parted in two, that Israel might pass through ? These circumstances, that we have been contented to take as simple history, are obviously convertible into moral events. That the country is declared to be mystical ; that its monarch obviously stands for an evil influence ; that the river of the land is placed in a similar aspect ; that every leading particular that we have mentioned flashes some theological circumstance upon the mind, — these facts materially assist the argument. They furnish the following help — that they bring four hundred and thirty years of the . history of the chosen nation to the help of the de- monstration. This is not the best known portion: it is not one that hitherto has been much repaired to by theologians. They have not ventured to think it spiritual, as a whole. Yet even when we ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEO,»LE. 19 go up to it, with little succour f.om the past, it opens for our reception, it appaals to us as that which is a bed of doctrines. Biit upwards of four centuries of the annals of this ^eople fall into their place as explanatory of that which has befallen the church of the New Testament. On what prin- ciple shall we conclude that any other portion of the same history is to be viewed in any other manner? . ^ To find one section that offers so many analo- gies with modern affairs as to make it impossible that the resemblance in that case should be acci- dental, is to procure a reason why the other por- tions should be of the same complexion. In the absence of proof to the contrary, the circumstance that one chapter of a nation's history is seen to be an allegory, and is found to be a provision made whereby other men shall be enabled to decypher the intentions of the Most High, — to learn virtue and eschew wickedness : a priori, this fact affords strong reason why we should expect to find that the whole annals of the same people were written in order to subserve the like momentous design. The chapter relating to the Wilderness per- haps offers the least resistance to the theory. The particulars that we are already able to deal with, show very plainly that this is a figurative people. We consider indeed that the general intention of this section has not yet been understood. We have been taught to believe that the design of the wil- derness is to represent the ordinary aspect of the I* : I, 90 ISRAEL A TTPXCAL PEOPLE. Ml II v/H % believer's life, and that Canaan, attained to with difficulty, is a future state of blessedness. We are convinced that this is a mistake. The wandering and sinning character of the wilderness points it out to our view as corresponding with that inci- dent which Paul names " the falling away :" the settled estate pourtrayed by Canaan is that better theology elsewhere depicted in the second temple^ referred to frequently by the prophets, and pre- dicted in all parts of the Bible. But although the main design of this part has not been understood, many of the details have received a spiritual and a correct interpretation. We obtain a right to deal with this section as mystical from the following expressions of the seventy-eighth Psalm, " Give ear, my people, to my law : incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable : I will utter dark sayings of old :" This, standing as a preface to a narrative in which the events of the wilderness are a prominent in- gredient, determines their character. They are not ordinary history. They are God's " law ;" they are "a parable;" they are "dark sayings of old." There is another scripture that proves this truth in a perspicuous manner: In 1 Cor. x., the apos- tle, having specified some facts connected with the wilderness, and that onli/, says twice that these things were " types," and adds, that they were "written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 'U, ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLS. il When they quit Egypt, the ordinance of the Passover is instituted, to be throughout all ge- nerations a memorial of the signal deliverance whereof they were the objects, and that ceremony is made Christian and Catholic by the statement of the New Testament that "even Christ our pass- over is slain for us." Manna is appointed for food. This is called, in the Psalms, angels* food, and the corn of heaven. Its name means * what is it?' thereby conveying the idea that spirituality when it descends upon a man comes as an un- known circumstance. The different regulations relating to it are hot only translateable, but have all, or most of them, been rendered into moral equivalents. They weary of this their food, and cry for flesh. Their desire is granted ; but along with the quails comes the pestilence : he afflicts them with leanness of soul. Here we have the case of the church of the New Testament at its outset. A spiritual system is proffered to it. This it has, in company with marvellous powers. It desires externals however, and it gets them ; but along with them it gets the curses that befel Israel. The case of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, is shown to be representative by the allusion that Jude makes to it, the same point being intimated by the passage that says, " Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not :" as also by the titles of we believe eleven Psalms that are inscribed for the sons of Korah. This becomes the type of that spirit of insubordination as regards religion, that ■:£'v"_.jnjT „. ■ 22 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. forms so broad a feature throughout all that period for which the. wilderness stands. -" Balaam^ also made tlie head of a class, by Jude's reference to him, is asked to curse Israel ; seems willing to have complied with the demand, but is constrained to bless. He, in correspondence with God, acquainted with the divine purposes, to a certain degree held in chuck by the sentiment of duty, yet thirsting for pelf to such an extent that he is at the bidding of Israel's enemy; he thus, strangely connected with'both empires, and par- taking of both natures, furnishes the most extra- ordinary of all instances of that anomalous cha- racter that was to be the result of a spurious and mixed theology. Indeed, so strangely constituted is he, that while we make no doubt that he exhi- bits a class within the pale of the faith, we are not aware that it has occurred to any one before us to place him in that category. As the people set out on their journey, the law is delivered to them from Sinai, and this is an admitted index of that revelation of divine things that takes place at the commencement of New Testament history. The ark of the covenant is borne in the midst of the host: when it halts, the march is susjjended: when it advances, the people continue their jour- ney : when in a state of motion, the watchword is, Arise, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered: when at rest, it is. Return, Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel. The mode of procedure is further intimated by a cloud and a pillar of fire, U. ISRAEL A TYPICAL FfiOPLE. 93 the one for guidance by day, the other in the night season. J)y the way, among other thoughts that arise out of this cloud, is one liiat lias not before been noted, — that when it stopped the people should halt, is probably a pictorial way of saying that when darkness hovers over a rnan'.s path that is an occasion in which he sliould torry until ho is favoured with more light. They suffer from thirst, and Moses being ordered to smite a rock, water gushes forth, and follows them through the wil- derness. They arc withstood in their journey by Og, king of Bashan, which signifies tlie cake in the tooth, and Silion, king of the Amorites, which means the rooting out of bitterness. They mur- mured against God, and he sent serpents among them ; — by his command they make a serpent of brass ; they elevate it upon a polo, and they who look at it arc healed. Their course toward the land of promise is singularly tortuous, therein de- picting that state of society which has existed in Christendom during nineteen centuries, and which they who have no reference to this type have seen to be so little progressive, that they have derived the conclusion that man does not advance, but moves in circles. They send spies before them, to view the land, and they, frightened by the Anakims, or men of ornament, people tall in sta- ture, fetch back such a report as alarms the people, who wander forty years, or a year for every day that the spies were absent. Nadab and Abihu offered false fire, and in so 24 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. doing, present an image of that counterfeit piety which has abounded in the centres of orthodoxy, and which is described as bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Their leader, Moses, is permitted to take a view of the land from Pisgah, which means the hill, called also Abarim, which is passengers, and Nebo that prophesies ? Moses dies, and there is this curious circumstance con- nected with his death, " that his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated," a point that would intimate that when legality is superseded by the true gospel, that it happens not because of the necessary decay of the law, but by the will of God. When he dies it is related, that " no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day,*' — a feature which indicates, perhaps, that it is hard to name the point where the body of Moses is superseded by the gospel. Thus at this important part of Jewish history the events are of such an order as to justify the enquirer in persevering in the position with which we have commenced. It is not too much to say, that we are already able to transmute into spiritu- ality the leading incidents belonging to the wil- derness, which gives rise to the expectation that all are susceptible of the like treatment. Their career in the wilderness plainly shows that Israel is a theological nation. But as no reason is known why this chapter should be presumed to differ specifically from those that remain, the enquirer cherishes the theory that each subsequent epoch ISRAEL A TTPICAL PEOPLE. S5 eit piety hodoxy, (ire from :, Moses, 1 Pisgah, a, which Moses nee coii- i not dim at would d by the }e of the J will of '* no man -a feature to name perseded h history stify the th which h to say, spiritu- the wil- Ition that Their at Israel lis known to differ enquirer Int epoch vriW be found to consist of incidents that are equally capable of being turned into evangelical substance. ' .. ' /" The book of Joshua is computed as comprising a period of twenty-four years. It relates how Rahab conceals the spies, which argues that divine truth begins in an ignoble manner at the moment when it first enters on the land of promise. The waters of Jordan, which means, the river of judg^ ment, are divided, in order that the people may cross. This happens when the river is at its height, coinciding with all passages that would inform us. that the hour of judgment is that in which the iniquity of the world has proceeded to the utmost eiiteut. Joshua circumcises the peo- ple; the manna ceases "on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land :" these fig- ures scarcely require explanation. Jericho falls without weapon ; the ostensible means used is the blowing seven trumpets, which seven no doubt accord with those in the Apocalypse. The seven principal tribes that inhabit Canaan come in pow- erfully to assist the demonstration, because they all denote aii evil quality. Seven nations posses- sing the land, ordered by God to be destroyed, penalties decreed if this was neglected, the penalty incurred, these seven expressing as many of those vices which it is canonical to destroy, — here is a figure that of itself is sufficient to turn this whole book into theological soil. The apparent further subdivision of these into thirty -one, wo-uld afford i il ! ! 20 ISRAEL A TYPICAL F£OPL£* I i'i a tree consisting of seven larger limbs that sepa- rated off into many smaller branches. • i-* The assignment of the territory by lot to the tribes, an incident that we must believe to be im- portant from the frequent allusions that are made to it, is another feature that can easily be embraced in a general thought, as exhibiting the arrange- ments of a system that is well ordered in all things and sure. After this question is ended, and it is thought of magnitude enough to occupy six chapters, there are two chapters devoted to the subject of the Cities of Refuge, a topic whose figurative nature is freely conceded. At this point we might halt a moment to look at the argument that arises out of the code and liturgy revealed to this people. We have seen them grow from one stock into a numerous nation, enter Egypt, pass forth from it, go through the wilderness, and take possession of Canaan. But this people, the events of whose career we have glanced at, had the Oracles of God consigned to their care. They are ordered to build an ark of given shape and dimensions : all particulars be- longing to it are specified with tedious minute- ness : there is a tribe to take charge of it and itss service ; there are offerings of the most varied de- scriptions to be made ; there are numerous holy seasons and festivals ; there are many different modes of uncleanness ; there are various crimes and penalities : If these things, of which they are liSRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLS. «7 It sepa* ■ '• . . . ■ c i. « t to the ► be im- • re made nb raced irrange- II things thought ;rs, there jt of the e nature It to look icode and ave seen IS nation, ough the an. But we have signed to an ark of ulars be- minute- it and its aried de- ous holy different ,s crimes they ar« f the stewards, be the forms and types of divine truths, how unlikely that the people itself should be of any different texture ! Their religion, their common laws, their food and clothing, one of their tribes which ministers in holy things, their disease of leprosy, — these are confessedly figurative mat- ters : what a violent wrench would be requisite in order to put the other facts in a different cate- gory ! The ancestry from which they spring, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are received as repre- sentatives of truths in the general church of God : what heterogeneous work would it be to place the descendants on another footing ! ■'' The book of Judges is considered to occupy two hundred and ninety-nine years. Its first chap- ter relates how that the inhabitants of the land were not utterly driven out, — a particular that is allowed to be of a symbolic nature. The history of Gideon ; the destruction of the host of Midian by means of the trumpets and the pitchers j the story of Jephthah ; the deeds of Sampson ; the wars that are recounted, are of the sort that the sane interpreter would suppose to be typical, be- cause, on any other hypothesis, he cannot see the propriety of their entering into the composition of the word of God. Containing incidents that are very insignificant in themselves, the evangelical critic accounts for their pettiness by considering that they are not so much facts as they are similitudes. It is remarkable that there are twelve of these Judges. Their names are Othniel, the time, or I ftS ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. the hour of God; Ehud, of Benjamin, he that praises; Burak^ of Naphthali, thunder, or in vain 5 Gideon, of Manasseh, that bruises and breaks, cutting off iniquity ; •^bimelech, father of the king; Tola, of Issachar, worm, grub ; Jair, of Manas- seh, my light, &c. ; Jephihah, of Manasseh, that opens, or is opened; Ibzan, of Judah; Elon,o{ Zebulon, oak, grove, &c. ; Mdon, of Ephraim, a servant, cloud of judgment ; Sampson, of Dan, my sun, others say, little sun. Judges ii. 7-11, gives us a commencement un- der Joshua, which is Jesus, that corresponds with the beginning of the Christian church, say Ephe- sus. It also tells of declension, like that which occurs in the history of the seven churches. Jeph- thah, at a point well advanced in the chronicle, and meaning 'he that opens,' would cut in with Philadelphia, " Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.'* Elon, and he of Zebulon, meaning a grove, would express admirably the carnality that succeeded the Refor- mation, owing to the fact that adventitious matter was continued in the church. Abdon, a servant, or cloud of judgment, would correspond with the Laodicean condition. Thus, Judges, with author- « ity to back it, would become a cycle. The state- ment made chap. xvii. 6, and repeated three other times, would make out that during this period things were lawless and without government. The remark occurring so often, may be accepted as the special clue to the book. * ( ii' ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 39 he that •in vain? I breaks, ibe king^ ■ Manas- seh, that Elon, of )hraim, a of Dan, ment un- )nds with ay Ephe- lat which ;s. Jeph- chronicle, t in with 6 thoe an JBlon, and express he Refor- us matter 1 servant, with the h author- he state- iree other lis period lent. The ted as the Not to spirituaUze this book would involve these consequences : that, following much that has been so dealt with, and preceding much that we have authority for so treating, it should stand in the middle, iw the raw state ; that, relating events that belong to the history of that very nation that was a type before, and that becomes a type afterwards, it should be treated on another principle ; that, recounting incidents which sanction, nay, enjoin war and assassination, by so doing justify a mor- ality that is not canonical ; that, narrating circum- stances, many of which have no magnitude, and others scarcely any meaning, would place the word of God on a level with a prating chronicle that recounts trifles, because the writer wants mind and the power to select : Such are results that would flow from taking but the surface of this book. The other reason to which we have refer- red, why it should be endowed with spiritual meaning, is, that there is marked concord between it and other lines of events whose typicality has been ascertained. A good commencement, a grad- ual declension until a very low point is reached, then a revival, followed by another evil period : in this there is resemblance to what occurs in the seven churches, partial agreement at least with the predicted career of the twelve patriarchs, we in- cline to think analogy with that catalogue of inci- dents detailed in the booksof Kings and Chronicles from David to Babylon, and we suppose, as in 30 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. these other cases, a picture of what has actually occurred from Jesus Christ to our day. -a T' The book of Ruth is very capable of being dealt with in the same style. It assigns itself to the time of the Judges. Elimelech, which is •t.ii:iil! ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 89 iameter, without te with- in them . That sv, have Jivinity, (ded, we »nt, that f Israel^ nibolical to com- ilred and Chroni- [it point, they on ay with- ey form- we feel compass e twelve ihurches. ig away, istrophe. Babylon, The two , throws icament. , king of 1 Hiram> king of Tyre; he is longer building his own house than he is in building the house of the Lord. These facts readily find their counterparts in that splendid, but mixed system, that came in soon after the close of the Apostolic era. The many wives of Solomon, the schism that took place under Rehobo- am, the consequent formation of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, will occur to the mind that knows the history of the modern church, as sym- bols whose counterparts it might not be hard to find. For instance, such a great division as that which took place at the time of the Athanasian and Arian controversy, might well be supposed to have some evident symbol appropriated to it. The mission of Elijah and Elisha seem expli- cable on the notion that they sketch out those sys- tems of pure religion that intersperse the dark era that we consider to be symbolized. Israel is not at this time altogether without its influence on the Gentile world, just as the church hitherto has ex- erted some little action in the way of conversions. Naaman the Syrian, a leper, attracted by the fame of Elisha, comes and washes in the waters of Jor- dan. He was a great man in his own country, which possibly points to the circumstance, that they have been only the leading intellects that during this dark era come to test the efiicacy of the waters of Israel. The great reform wrought by Hezekiah, which, after all, did not hinder, but that some time after the people were carried into Babylon, we regard S4 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. as concatenating with what the church calls the Reformation; which event has been followed by the flood of confusion, division, and irreligion, under which wo now sufter. A period of more than four centuries occurring in the middle of the He- brew annals, commencing with a personage avow- edly representative, concluding with that Babylon that is so largely treated of in the Apocalypse, thickly interspersed with events that reveal their own typicality, telling of groves made round altars, partial attempts to remove these, all ended by a giving over of the nation to its enemies : the agree- ment between this and other circles, its correspon- dence with ecclesiastical history, is not only sup- posable, but notorious. The circle of Esther, which is * secret,' or * hid- den,' is probably of small size. Like that of Ruth, it is probably an interior circle, playing within one of larger dimensions. The history belongs to the reign of Ahasuerus, which name, meaning merely * prince,' or * chief,' is quite reconcilable with the idea of the person being Darius, or rather Cyrus, who flourished at this time. There seems to be something more than a common concord between the two following scriptures : " Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces)." " It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom." Be this as it may, Esther, '!!' :" ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 35 ri calls the •llowrd by irreligion, 'more than of the He- lage avow- it Babylon ipocalypsr, eveal their >und altars, Jiided by a : the agree- correspon- t only sup- ..,■:- i 1.''' jt,' or * hid- at of Ruth, within one ongs to the ing 'r.erely e with the her Cyrus, ems to be d between it came to Ahasuerus nopia,over •evinces)." ngdom an lid be over ay, Esther, /^ a Jewess, niece of Mordecai, which means * con- trition/ or * bitter bruising/ attracts the favour of the Gentile prince under whom the people were captive, is married to him, and by her influence procures many favours and privileges for her na- tion. Esther then represents probably the amount of genial influence that religion exercises during the time when it is considered to be under the thraldom of the frentilcs. But this is a piece of Jewish history, rated as extending through ten years. If it expresses the spiritual situation that we have named, it comes in as another link in the chain of our argument. /?. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are comput- ed to extend through a little more than a hundred years. The first of these relates a return of the Jews out of captivity, the building of the temple, the op- position it met with, its completion, Ezra's coming to Jerusalem, how he obliged those that had mar- ried strange wives to put them away. The second relates Nehemiah's concern for Jerusalem, and the commission he obtained from the king to go thither, his building the wall of Jerusalem, his redressing the grievances of the people, his finishing the wall, the account he took of the people, the religious solemnities that he observed, his zeal in reforming various abuses, etc., etc. If we feel sure of our ground anywhere, it is here. From these two re- cords, from the prophecies of Haggai, *the turning round,' and Zechariah, * memory of the Lord,' that correspond with them, we learn that the Jews 36 ISRASL A TTPICAL PEOPLE. ii 4 '^^ ill .t: '111 returned at three separate times from their captiv- ity, that the intervals were owing to the opposition of their foes, that they built first the altar, then the temple, then the city, that they were withstood by enemies of two or three different kinds, as if both by religious and irreligious, that their enterprise was at first treated with great scorn, that they wrought carrying their weapons of war in their hands, that at last their endeavours caused their foes to respect and ofier to assist them, that these proffers were rejected, and that the work arrived at a happy consummation. Here is a century of Jewish history, and it the last given in the Old Testament, every point in which already discloses its spirituality. Here, at the close of this history, is that New Jerusalem that we have at the termi- nation of the Apocalypse. There is no prominent fact in either of these books that we would fear to go up to, and to name that counterpart event in actual theology of which it is the form. The book of Job has been treated hitherto as the mere story of a patriarch. This man who will not give up his integrity, who holds on to it in spite of the many chastisements with which he is visited, who is addressed by three friends that ply him with inconclusive arguments which do not alter his resolve, who at last is spoken to by Elihu, (he is my God himself,) who then sees what before was hidden from him, and seeing it repents in dust and ashes, whose " captivity*' is then turned, who prays for his friends, and receives more blessings I,: . ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 37 than he possessed at the first : Him too we would have no difficulty in proving to he a representative man. He pictures out the cliurch under the legal influence, the evils entailed upon it by its bad ten- acity, the futile attempts to reform it by spurious teachers, the successful issue of the true teaching imparted at the last. Thus, under the guise of the picturesque biography of an old patriarch, we have a circle as large as any of the preceding. By ana- lysing the arguments made use of by Job's three friends, we do not doubt that we shall get the epi- tome of that weak and erroneous theology that has been addressed to the Edomite, and addressed in vain. On the other hand, by examining critically the theology of Elihu, one may be put in possession of that set of ideas that shall effect what could not be accomplished by the former arguments. Thus, the circle of Job would be regarded as containing the reasons why we have not been able to pre- vail against Satan, and the modes which, on Divine authority, we are entitled to believe that he shall be conquered by. The book of Psalms is the portion of Scripture with which we are the most intimately conversant. Professing to be familiar with it in all its parts, we say of it, with no hesitation, that it is a circle of the largest diameter, ^nd that it embraces all the modes of feeling and principle that the gospel church passes through, from its first formation down to the completion of the Christian economy. The first Psalm draws a line of demarkation be- 3d ISRAEL A trPlCAL PE0PL£. >'-■' ' t\ tween the believer and the world. In the title of the fourth we behold the entrance of the evil prin- ciple, in the circumstance of Absalom rebelling against his father. From that point onward, many of these compositions are mainly occupied with the theme of the many and terrible griefs to which the writer is subjected. We have a long confes- sion of much sin, a detailed description of much sorrow. When we reach the seventy-fourth, mis- fortune has reached its acme. There the people are spoken of as cast off; the enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations ; they break down the carved work of the sanctuary, at once with axes and hammers : " They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground :" " We see not our signs ; there is no more any prophet ; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long." In the seventy-ninth, similar ideas are expressed, and the fact is fully stated, that the heathen have prevailed over the people of God. The same thought is expressed in the eightieth, by means of a prolonged metaphor. When we reach the eighty-fifth, the horizon brightens — "Lord, thou hast been favourable to thy land ; thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob." The hun- dred and eighth enlarges on the conquests that shall be achieved over heathen foes. The hundred and tenth views Messiah as seated on the right hand of the Father, with the rod of his strength going forth from Zion. The hundred and eight* i 1 "!^-pr- ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 3J> eenth states that the time is at last come for relat- ing the mercies of God to his people — "Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever." The hundred and twenty-sixth describes the joy that Israel experienced when delivered from Babylon* — " When the Lord turned again the capt'vity of Zion, we were like them that dream : Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing : Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them." The concluding Psalms are triumphant. The last five all commence with the words, " Praise ye the Lord." These songs and hymns reflect a variety of the situations in the life of king David ; at the same time, they coincide with the history of the Jewish people. Like other circles that we have pointed to, they describe declension ; and having brought the nation to a low point, they again ascend the scale, and pourtray, as it were, a new Jerusalem. But if the Psalms, while they run parallel with Jewish history, and touch it at its leading points, also coincide with the life of the believer, and the career of the spiritual church, they supply a strong proof of our argument. Sentiments, that in one sense apply to the literal history of the Jews, are found by investigation to be the very portrait of the gospel church, of course demonstrate the Jews to be a typical people ; at all events, in the whole extent that the parallel applies. It cannot be dis- puted that the Psalms describe Jewish situations. Unless they did, what would be the meaning of 11^ • p p Nl 40 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. some twenty inspired titles that connect them with events which befel king David ? and what is the sense of those marked instances, in which Israel is beheld overcome by the enemy, led into captivity, and delivered from the oppressor ? On the other hand, it is beyond doubt that these same Psalms embody the spiritual history of the church of the New Testament. Since, then, they have these two aspects, the conclusion comes out plainly, that the national is the symbol of the theological Israel. The Proverbs are the composition of Solomon, a Jewish monarch. Among many other things, they contain descriptions of Christ and his religion, under the name of wisdom. All the sayings in the book have a double scope. It ends by pour- traying the church under the figure of the good woman. That this book, written by a Jew, reaches out to the end of time, and exhibits the final aspect of the Christian religion, is an indirect argument in confirmation of our thesis. EccLEsiASTEs is Written also by Solomon. What is the exact theory of the treatise, we have not examined. That, at a number of points, it has been found to contain matter capable of being brought into closest relation with the moral history of mankind, is quite evident. But as far as this is the case, in the like extent does our position get confirmation. The Song of Solomon is the aspiration of the bride after her beloved. She finds, she loses, she I ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 41 seeks, she again finds him, he exults in her suc- cess, she looks out wistfully in regard to the fate of her fellow-beings. But these postures are a -complete account of all the phases through which religion has passed, or will pass. That a Jew, in- spired by God, so put together a song of loves as that it reveals all the relations in which the Al- mighty and. his chosen ones shall stand to each other, helps the argument that the Jew is a repre- sentative man, and comprehends the Christian in his career. The Prophecies are the writings of sixteen au- thors. They form between a fourth and a fifth of the bible. Some of them relate to the period before the captivity. Three or four relate princi- pally to the captivity. Jonah refers to the time when the church is in the belly of the whale ; and the greater number devote considerable space to the delineation of that glorious era to which the church must attain. In mournful language they tell of the evil condition of the commonwealth of Israel, the indignation that the Most High enter- tains towards his heritage, the ignominious pos- ture which they occupy relative to the heathen. They state how contemptible is the position of the daughter of Zion, what pollutions there are in the temple, how treacherous and mercenary are the priests, the shepherds, the prophets. They, in re- peated instances, give detailed accounts of the doom that shall come down on certain enemies of Israel, on Edom, on Moab, on Damascus and Gaza, 42 ISRAEL A TfPICAL PfiOtLfi. on Tyre and Ammon. Sometimes we have a dole- ful descant that relates how beset and forlorn is the man of God ; sometimes an angry denuncia- tion that declares what vengeance shall be wreak- ed upon Egypt or Babylon ; ever and anon, a rap- turous strain which tells how, in that day, the deaf shall hear the word of the Lord, and the lame man leap as an hart. These prophecies are con- ceived in such a manner as to give countenance to bishop Newton when he imposed the doctrine, that they are confined to Jewish history : and the notion must be plausible, seeing that, in the main, it is the opinion that is still held. But if these writings are so much based on Jewish history as to give speciousness to this idea; if the parity between the situations of the national and the spiritual Israel is so great as to make it natural that an acute person should see but the one line of events, how much is our argument helped ! Bishop Newton sees nothing more in the prophets but predictions that, with few exceptions, were fulfilled at or before the first coming of Jesus Christ. This has appeared so natural an idea, that it has been currently entertained ever since. Yet this view is not tenable. There are far too many cases in which these predictions pass forward to the very last events in the era of the gospel church, for us to allow it. But we accept it so far. We take it as a broad argument in favour of our position. It utters this statement that so inseparably are Jewish and Christian history associated, that whole Li'l ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 43 ny he 4)Ooks, which incontestably foretell the history of the gospel church, have, by acute persons, been understood merely in their first intention. The Evangelists take cognizance of a period of thirty years and upward. They are the biog- raphy of a Jew ; they fall within the precincts of the law ; they mention events, the most of which occurred before the veil of the temple was rent in twain. But all facts in the story of Jesus Christ are emblems. Whether it be his birth in Bethle- hem, the designs of Herod against him, his depor- tation into Egypt, his sojourn in Nazareth, the Jong time in which he remained obscure, his com- ing forward, his journeys, miracles, teachings, transfiguration ; his betrayal, crucifixion, resur- rection, subsequent conversations with his disci- ples, and ascension ; not only are all these circum- stances capable of being turned into the events of the Christian church, but there are not any of them that even now we would find much difficulty in so using. But the fact that the Evangelists, while in one sense they belong to Jewry, are in another, figures, of things " in the heavens," lends aid to our position — that Israel pertaining to the flesh is a model of the Israel after the spirit. Jesus, the Jew, yet pourtraying in his life the peculiarities of his church down to the end of time ; this can hardly be, without carrying along with it the prin- ciple that at present is our thesis. The other parts of the New Testament lend many confirmations to our position. Thus Paul, ■I* th M i'v,r i'v ; 44 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. •|^:. in Romans, reasons in such a manner about Israel as to make it conclusive that he speaks of the church of Christ. But if, without any explana- tion, Israel can be predicated of Christianity, this tacit way of intermingling the two is very symp- tomatic. It as much as says, that no comment is needed. It alleges, that so plain a matter is it, that the two may properly be combined ; that no previous remark to that effect is required. In the first epistle to the Corinthians there is a long passage whose object is to show that the wilderness is a figure, having relation to our pre- sent economy. It is twice said that these things are types, and were given for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. But if the wilderness be of this texture, what is there about it to separate it from the rest of Jewish history ? In the epistle to the Galatians, it is expressly said that Sarah and Hagar are an allegory, the one pointing to the church that shall be, the other to that Jerusalem that has been, which is in bondage with her children. But we cannot see any thing about this part of patriarchal history to divide it off from the rest. If these two women are types, the conclusion is, unless reason to the contray be assigned elsewhere, that the other parts of the Jewish annals are of the like complexion. In the epistle to the Philippians it is written, "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confi- dence in the flesh." This is a broad statement, m';m ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 45 to the effect that the Jew is co-extensive with the Christian, and it would require some other pas- sage Umiting, or excepting, to prevent us looking for the analogy at every point. The epistle to the Hebrews is mainly employed in showing the con- nexion between the worship and service of the Jew and the principles of the Christian religion. But if the liturgy be declaredly symbolic, that is a strong reason why the people that used it should be in the same category. The epistle of James is addressed to the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad. But long before this epistle was written, these twelve had ceased to have an existence. Than this, no fact in all history can be plainer. The twelve tribes there intended, were not the na- tional, but the spiritual Israel. The title virtually contains this meaning — I address this writing to the members of the body of Christ, scattered through the earth, and through time ; and I name them, by a symbol, the twelve tribes of Israel. But this statement carries within it the principle for which we contend — the identity between the Jew and the believer. In the first epistle of Peter we read, " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people," which again is the predicate that the Israelite is the Christian. But this general affirmation con- tains philosophically within it the particulars that we seek to bring out. The epistle of Jude touches the Jewish economy at many points — Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, Korah and Enoch, 46 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE^ *•, are adduced in such a way as to show that they are used as representative facts. But if these cir- cumstances, occurring at irregular intervals, are types, they bear along with them that whole his- tory of which they form a part. In Revelation we read, "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.'' To this we add the text in Romans, " He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly ; neither is that ciicumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and cir- cumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God." This is as broad an affirmation as can be conceived, to the effect that the Jew and the be- liever are the same character. The expressions in Revelation, "The dociritie of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel ;" and the other, " Notwith- standing I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman, Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols:" these passages add to the argument which contends for the typicality of the whole Jewish economy. Notto dwell upon par- ticular instances, the seven trumpets, agreeing with the events connected with the compassing about of Jericho; the sealing of the twelve tribes of Is- rael; the horsemen, that seem to correspond with those in Habakkuk, where the Chaldeans are de- ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 47 scribed; the little book that the prophet eats, as in the prophecies of Ezekiel; the two olive trees, agreeing with those seen by Zechariah; the order given to measure the tomple; the expression "The great city which spiritually is o- 'led Sodom and Egypt, where also our l^ord was crucified;" the time, times and half a time; the beast that unites the qualities of the four described by Daniel ; the song of Moses and the Lamb that is sung; the dry- ing up of Euphrates; the reference to the frogs of Egypt; the long account of the downfall of Baby- lon ; the speaking of Messiah under the name of the Lamb, the allusion to his marriage, the wine- press that he treads; the reference to Gog and Magog; the account of the holy city, New Jeru- salem; the statement "I am the root and the off- spring of David:" these are cases where the lines touch, — instances which prove our position. In this wide survey, the examples wherein there is coincidence between Old and New Testament, are wonderfully numerous; so much so, that we consider that the general theorem would have been propounded sooner, but for the fact of certain or- dinances which it would have compromised. To pursue this mode of enquiry is to obey the injunc- tion given Jer. vi. 16, " Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." On the principle which we defend, one is enabled to obey this precept iu a manner consistent with the most eager thirst '.h 48 ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 14 , i 1^' for knowledge. Viewed through the mediam in which we look at it, it is an invitation, not to gO' back, but to proceed forward. Thus, a command which has been interpreted so as to teach a pas- sive acquiescence in what is, or a recurrence to even darker superstitions than may be practised at any given moment, is rescued from such unworthy consequences, and is made to teach a lesson con- sistent with the loftiest things that are elsewhere said of the Divine character, and of the plan of re- demption. It is declared of the Holy Spirit, " And he will shew you things to come." The systems that have prevailed hitherto, if they had made any account of this promise, would have been com- pelled to suppose the addition of new matter to the record. But this would involve a principle^ diametrically opposed to the canon laid down in the concluding verses of the bible. It would have been to incur the curse denounced against him who shall " add '' to the word of God. The theory that we propound, avoids such consequences, for it prophecies by unwrapping the roll of a book, by developing materials already in existence. The prophet says, " Break up your fallow ground," the scribe " instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is- like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Previous modes of interpretation had no» means of realizing these scriptures : they virtually taught that our theology is complete, that it can look for no accessions, and that any deliv^erance: ISRAEL A TYPICAL PEOPLE. 49 that should befal the church was to come, not from improved ideas, but from extraneous sources. The method which we propound, in connexion with our present theme, is at once orthodox and innovating. It breaks up fallow ground, it dis- covers new things, not by adding to the amount of the record, but by assigning to all a double meaning, by going beneath the surface of Revela- tion, by adding to what we know, all that prodi- gious mass of material that is rightfully obtained, by proving a parallel between the whole dispen- sation of the Jew, and the entire history of the spiritual church. ■J ■'■ I i . ■« LECTUllE II. i . 'f I INFIDELITY IN ITS TWO FORMS OF THE PHARISEE AND THE SADDUCEE. The imputation of infidelity has been princi- pally laid by what the Scriptnre terms the "mas- ters of assemblies," against any class that pre- sumes to question their authority, their doctrine, or their morality. But, as it might happen in such a case, that he who applied the epitliet was the unbeliever, and he to whom it was applied was the faithful person, it is of consequence that ive should not be betrayed into such looseness of t-hought. It ought not to signify to us how long or how often terms may have been abused; we should be willing to be brought within the bounds of accurate thinking, provided always that there be sure means of coming at it. If the Christian be a person who, in the sight of God at least, is one and invariable ; if there be that about him which is essential, so that it could not be otherwise ; then, to seize on that circumstance, is to find our- selves in possession of accurate data. It should not matter to us that the name of Christian may TWO FORMS OV INPIDELITr. 51 be arrogated, and that those wlio take it without right, designate as unbeUevers any who resist them, whether from righteous or improper motives; our endeavour should be to escape from the realms of custom and authority, and get our feet upon the sohd ground of divine phih>sophy. Nothing ac- curate, so far as we are aware, lias been written ou this subject. Converted and unconverted men have been alike content to think vaguely concern- ing it. Belonging to corporations, in which botli seemed to feel an equal interest, they have with similar acerbity, and with equal looseness, charged their opponents with infidelity, whatever might bo the nature of their opposition. A man of tolerable powers of thinking would wish to find a way out from this region of twilight and blunder. He would be disposed to weary of looking on at a contest where, age after age, the same evolutions were gone through, without any result. When he considered during how many centuries certain description?, of persons had assumed the right to dictate what the rest of soci- ety should th.nk ; when he reflected that they who withstood them made use of the objections that had been brought forward a thousand times with- out perceptible influence, and that they in their turn were assailed by those rejoinders that 'lad been hurled times without number at similar cha- racters in previous instances, he would be disposed to put the question, whether this interminable style of fighting was in the very nature of things, or 52 TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITT. m ,* whether it was not rather an accident that might be got rid of by more thorough analysis. Sir Walter Scott used to take pleasure in relating a story of a chase that was carried on at a place called Balbirnie, in Fife. The hunters were elderly men, of calm natures, and, we do not doubt, of portly and comely appearance. They met at fix- ed mtervals and contentedly pursued the same hare, the chase being ended by the creature making her escape by a well known hole in a particular fence. This denouement, being the usual and expected one, does not seem to have disturbed the equanimity of any among the quiet fraternity. The pleasures of the field being ended, they were wont to repair to an adjoining change- house, where, after a comfortable dinner and a moderate quantity of drink, they returned at a decent hour to their several spouses. They liked each other's society, they loved the air and the exercise ; perhaps there were some among them who were prepared to depone that they valued the aspects of nature that were disclosed to their musing eyes as they cantered over the accustomed range ; beyond doubt they all relished the repast, with the habitual toasts and jokes that circled the board ; it is also to be hoped that they all returned with joy, if not with rapture, to their wives and children. This reunion might have lasted longer than it did, but for the presence of an eager spirit, who was not content with the amount of excite- ment that sufiiced to the others. This man thrust iS: TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITr. 53 his great-coat into the hare's sally-port, and when the poor animal, now grown fat and somewhat tame, was seeking to escape by her beloved door of retreat, she was caught and killed. It was re- marked that after this event the hunt did not prosper, its members died off, and the publican failed in business. Some time after, the question was put to the inn-keeper, what had become of the impetuous spirit, the owner of the great-coat : The answer was, " He's dead, and his saul kens noo whether Balbirnie's hare got fair play !" Perhaps the conduct of this person does not admit of justification, whether viewed in relation to the. rules of sport, or the higher principles of everlast- ing ethics ; be that as it may, it is good as an illustration. There was a practical nature con- cerned, that did not allow its possessor to be in- volved in that which did not effect its object. We are met, thought this direct nature, to kill a hare, and if the old method does not succeed, we should try something new; we ought not to return always to our helpmates with the tale that Balbirnie's hare escaped through the gap. A spirit of this complexion would aim at stop- ping the breach in this question, and although time and precedent were adduced to cause it to follow an aimless course, it would rise up against such objections and inquire how something might be effected. Whatever be the conditions on which belief depends, unbelief will consist in not comply- ing with them. If, on the authority of vhe Divine 54 TWO FOBMS OP IJJPIDELITY. '. :' 4* ^'''■'. •'if'- % U'l 'S i.: ■■ word, the following be a correct definition of what is contained in belief, then it must be allowed that no one can claim the benefit of the principle unless he be in possession of it : " Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed ; and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." If this be the very mind of the Spirit, then no one is in a right position, unless he be within the circumference of the circle here de* scribed. , . One person may evade acquiescence in one method ; another may have a different way : we are not called upon to attach any importance to such accidental and secondary points. This, al- though apparently obvious, has not been regarded. Men who have not complied with the above regu- lation, who have not been taught of the Spirit, they and their pupils have by millions arrogated the right of being considered to have faith, and the title to denounce those who have disputed their pretensions. We are willing to admit the adventitious circumstance of costume ; we con- sent to own that the infidelity of two persons may have a different appearance. One may say, Lord, Lord, while he performs not the deeds that ought to emerge from a profession of the gospel ; another may evince his unbelief by directly impugning revelation. The accident differs, but that is no reason why the substantial fact should not be the same. If, indeed, it could be shown that the rrWO PORMS Of* INFIDELITY. 55 same book that defined what constitutes faith con- tained passages that recognized other ways, we might be compelled to make room for a list of ex* ceptions ; if it could be demonstrated that this infallible umpire, while it stated that belief meant essentially such and such a state of mind, went on to say that one could work himself up to a posi- tion that was accepted as righteousness ; if it asserted that a specified amount of will-worship would pass current for religion ; if it deponed that a given quantity of ceremonial would answer in- stead of piety ; if it propounded two methods at least, — one wherein it was offered to a man that he should be saved by the Spirit, — another, that undertook to save him for an assigned quantity of effort; if it c^'aged that the Deity was capable of being propiu" i by profession, and that he was an admirer cl' li/pocrisy, then the ecclesiastical recipe would effect its object, because it would be able to prove its authority from the word of God. One, pretending to be liberal, should frankly acknowledge anything that his opponents can fairly claim. To deny that there is a formal dif- ference between the style of the Pharisee and that of the Sadducee, would be to take a stand that could not be honestly maintained. Their robes and accent are not the same. On the other hand, to allow that the difference amounted to anything essential, would be to contravene Scripture, and to assert, that he who entered by the window had u TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. ::5'! %' got fairly into the sheep-fold. We admit more than this. We allow that where religion is con- cerned, men are in the habit of bringing so little mind into play, that a difference in an accident is esteemed of much moment. But deriving our ideas of what should be from an infallible source, we cannot consent to receive the formal, in place of the essential. Learning from inspiration, that whatsoever is not of faith is sin ; that the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to God; that the language held to him is, " What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth ? Seeing thou hatest in- struction, and casteth my words behind thee." Taught by this authority, that not only is hypocrisy not agreeable to the Most High, but that it is the mode of character that He detests the most, we have good cause to refuse consenting to the em- piricism in which we are invited to concur. To those who ask such acquiescence of us, we say, we cannot receive your counterfeit as genuine ; we allow it to be ingenious ; we admit that it often stands associated with much that is esteemed re- spectable and amiable ; we own that its drapery is, ajsthetically speaking, imposing; and that per- sons of beautiful talent, often dedicate their pow- ers to the service of this temple, raised by the spirit of evil : we also admit, that the deception is often so good, that it would deceive, if that were possible, the very elect; but all that, does not overturn our statement, that God is not in it. We TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITT. S7 ^aTfinot consent to receive a theology that pretends to adopt a principle at one side, and then drops it at another; that says, we are saved by the Spirit of God, at one moment, and contradicts this by virtually affirming at another, that we are saved by profession and will-worship. A creed should be consistent. We are willing to make another admission to the admirer of the ecclesiastical sys- tem, and to own that he adopts the most popular mode. Mothers and children understand him. A horse that has acquired the reputation for sagacity by stopping at every place where it has been before, could comply with many of the requisites of his mechanical piety. He should be charmed to hear us admit, that if God be not with him, he can at least lead th>e multitude captive. From all that we have seen of him, so long as he can accomplish this object, he cares very little for more abstract -considerations. Some men love nothing so much as a principle. If they cannot have that, they feel as if they had nothing. Impugn their argument, and, for a time at least, you blur all creation to their view. An- other class are interested solely about results. They give you the argument, provided you hand them over what they consider the solids. Any logic you use, they estimate purely as it appears likely to affect Diana of the Ephesians. If the multitude do not understand, you are left in pos- session of your propositions, and your antagonists feel as little concern in what you are doing as the 58 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITY. .« -; f r occupants of fortresses in Flanders might be sup- posed to evince about the mimic warfare on the bowling green of Uncle Toby and his servant Corporal Trim. It is only at the moment when the people begin to betray a consciousness of your presence, and to say that there is something in your reasoning, that their leaders show that they are aware of your presence, by protesting that your argument is badly constructed, and that your views are blasphemous, n ► - - . ■.■m ' To those to whom the fashion of the thing is the all in all, the distinction between the Pharisee and the Sadducee will look important, because the one affects to uphold the Christian system, while the other arraigns it. They who can understand that the same nature may subsist under dissimilar forms, will be prepared to sympathise with us when we urge the doctrine, that we should ** try the spirits whether they are of God ;" and if the essence can be shown to them to be the same, it will not mat- ter to them that the accident and mode is differ- ent. When we think how far men are advanced in certain branches, it is remarkable to observe how incapable they are in this direction. In the case of a mineral, a chemical element, a mechani- cal power, they are quick to recognize the same principle, under various manifestations. Wide as is the apparei^t interval between coal and the dia- mond, they have discovered that they are mem- bers of one series. Even children are made aware of the proportion of iron that enters into the hu- TPWO FORMS OP INl'IDELITY. 59 toan body, and that levers of all the different kinds are to be found in the articulations and muscular structures of the various creatures. But when the -object is to apply this principle to a question of spirit, men seem forsaken by the penetration that distinguished them before. A Pharisee who has advanced himself by adapting religion to every petty circumstance of time and place, who, with petty powers and the basest motives, insists upon ruling, he will be heard ^e ncing the drai::, romance, or Combe's Coiiotituu^a of Man. Many are annoyed at his intolerance and tyranny, but it does not occur even to them to go to the root of the matter. They call him bigot, perhaps hypo- crite, but they are far from seeing the depth of the delusion. He is by no means, as he would have men suppose, in league with God. He is not fighting his battles. Not merely is he not what he gives himself out — the commissioned interpre- ter of the word of God, — he is the very character which that word most loudly and frequently de* nounces. And yet, when he inveighs against Voltaire, Hume, or Byron, no one sees how thor- oughly he is without authority to act as he does. His robes, his attitudes, his solemn tones, seem to impose even upon those whom he attacks. Even they cannot strip him bare, and see and show him to be the most unrighteous creature under the canopy of heaven. ^ . , .,t ,,,, ,, • Satan, when he comes forward with some de- gree of frankness, and says, I deny that book $0 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITTT. ! !t^'m' with some of the characteristic features incident to these two leading modes of unbelief. I. The Pharisee, — deserves to be considered, first, from the cause that he has always been by much the most formidable in respect of numbers^ His range extends from the true believer, who, with religion in his heart, is in a certain extent the slave of externals, down to the sheerest formalist who insults Christianity by his mechanical adher- ence to a creed, sound or unsound. From Martin Luther or Matthew Henry, who, loving God, yet dealt in will-worship and externals, down to the petty individual whose religion is all in the alma- nac, — such is the diameter of the circle. Of the man who has Christ within him the hope of glory, but whose piety comprehends ingredients that do not spring out of the definition that speaks of wor- shipping the Father in spirit and in truth, — of him we predicate that he is a case of the most respect- able species of this character. Of him who has no one definite thought in regard to doctrine or duty, but who complies with certain regulations that have reference to time, place, or gesture, — of him we affirm, that he belongs to the most insignificant and unmeaning class. Between these extremes, there is a long cliain, consisting of a number of links. It may be alleged then of the whole family, that they place stress npon rites, varying from the fact of avowedly placing all their reliance upon them, up to that other point where they are heard declaring, that while they ascribe no saving influ- TWO FORMS 0/ INFIDELITY. 63 cncc to them, they observe them as " commanded duties." From the highest to the lowest, they are under the power of the thought, that there is vir- tue in places, seasons, and modes. Their system precludes them from escaping entirely from this influence. When asked if it be not possible to serve God without reference to such items, they shrink back from the proposition, and think badly of the piety of him who makes it. Because there are and have been some who have held true reli- gion along with rites, from this it happens that so many conform to the rite, without laying hold on the religion. If the Pharisee be so much more numerous and influential than the Sadducee, there is a sufficient reason for it. Men of genuine religion have been found in the one class, but they cannot occur in the other. Of the Pharisee without godliness — the character we are now considering — it is true, that a creed apprehended by the intellect merely, and ceremonies more or less numerous, constitute the whole of his religion. The proportions of these ingredients will depend on the strength or weak- ness of his mind. If very intelligent, doctrines will principally engross him; if wanting in faculty, rites will chiefly appeal to his sympathies. If in the first category, it will usually be necessary that he should suppose that he feels an interest in ele- ments that all Christians allow to lie at the very centre of the faith. If in the latter condition, his blunt nature desires nothing more pungent or 04 TWO FORMS OP INFIDELlTr^ mental than a few rites, which ho practices over and over again, with complete confidence as to the importance of that in which lie is engaged. The one man, being acute, believes that he is a Chris- tian, because ho knows the grounds and position of certain principles that undoubtedly enter into the composition of saving faith. The other thinks equally well of his own condition, because with precision, trouble and sacrifice, he complies with certain externals that he has learned to regard as religious and important. The presence of these elements in that system of religion which even godly men advocate, leads, by necessary conse- quence, to the circumstance, that the broadest and freest minds are unwilling to be mixed up with it. Disliking Christianity in the first instance, perhaps because of deeper reasons, it is an additional cause why they should eschew it, that it would seem to require of the devotee an attention to trifles. Oifended by the system, because it asks the sur- render of the whole heart, it is not to bo wondered at if it incurs their displeasure anew when it comes before them appearing to atta«h importance to a font, an edifice, a day, to bread and wine, to lay- ing on of hands, and to other ceremonies, which a person who has learned to think •philosophically in some directions, cannot see to have any essen- tial connexion with what he would imagine should conduce either to the glory of God or the eleva- tion of human nature. ^ !t . . . . Owing to the existence of these accidents^ that TWO FaRMS OP INFIDELITY. 65 bat make it requisite that ho who would comply with the demands of the current Christianity must habitually do things that militate against the most moderate notions of common sense, the very high- est talent o/tcn joins the ranks of the opposition. No doubt it is often tempted to conquer its repug- nance. Ambition frequently induces it to hide such sentiments. When its object is to carry so- ciety along with it, it feels forcibly that the doc- trine of the Sadducees do not tell on the multitude. On all questions where the mothers exert their in- liuence, and where polls are counted, it perceives how important it is that it should have something in common with the multitude. If it does not make this compromise of principle in early life, it is very apt to do it about the time of middle age. If in youth it is willing to sit on the seat of the scorner, as it becomes older it feels the force of the appeal that invites it to go with the multitude that keep holy day. Hence, there is no want of instances in which high talent aiTects to espouse the cause of the Pharisee. In our days, in which the priest-led populace is more influential than it ever was before, and when the road to places of power and emolument lies through their ranks, the temptation is great for the man of talent fu wear the badge of the Pharisee. On the other hand, to comply in this way is very foreign io the natural inclination of those who possess ability. To kneel three times a day, looking towards Mecca, is a sacrifice. A free soul would wish, occasion- 66 TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. :IX;; ; .i ally, at least, to vary the direction. To feel meagre at Lent, and jolly at Easter ; to be mun- dane till Saturday evening, and to step into devo- tion on Sunday morning, — this is worse than the army. In the measure that the character is strong, in the same degree does it recoil from such re- strictions. When the boy Franklin, seeing his father say grace at dinner, put the question, Whether time might not be saved by performing the ceremony over the whole salting tub of beef? there broke out the manifestation of the free mind, that sifts forms, and is not reconciled to them merely because they are ancient and common. The young freeman may be propitiated by pro- posing theology to him as a profession. His love of leisure, and learning, and influence over men, are employed as oflsets to his hatred of restraint. In this way he is often coaxed into conformity, and being a person of talent, his case becomes a precedent, and a means of overcoming the scruples of youths of ability who succeed him. Making allowance for such cases, it remains true, notwith- standing that the vigorous understanding takes umbrage at the punctilios that enter into the system of the Pharisee. During the dark ages, this did not come out in a prominent way, partly because there were not at that time minds of the largest calibre; partly that the broadest that did exist were glad to take the ceremonies along with the attendant advantages, and to accept the career of a churchman — the only one that afforded them TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITr. 67 exemption from material toils — even at the cost of accepting along with it matters of routine that they would not have been willing to swallow alone. Since the revival of letters, and since the time that instruction, law, and medicine, have of- fered careers independent of religion, men have had opportunity to evince the tendency of which we speak. Having the prospect of being able to live without putting on the robes and the hypo- crisy of the ecclesiastic, they have frequently dis- played their aversion for the fripperies of mechan- ical piety, in a very significant way. Nay, so strong is the sentiment, that even those who have been paid for being masters of ceremonies, have, in their literary compositions, taken vengeance on the formalities which they practised in the way of trade. Skelton, Rabelais, Swift, Sterne, and Sid- ney Smith, made obeisances on Sunday, but on Monday wrote what proved that their minds were never fairly enlisted in the service of that which they worked at for a livelihood. A strong intellect can endure a mystery when it is well placed. It can bear to be told, hitherto thou shalt go, and no further, when there is some depth and dignity about those parts of the subject on which it is allowed to enter. But to be pulled up about nothing, to have to drop the voice where there is nothing really grave, this it cannot readily consent to. It has some regard for time, and does not choose that so important an element shall be consumed in that which yields no real return. It 68 TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. •fr has a relish for freedom, and does not like that its liberty should be cut in upon many hundred times in the course of the year. Byron had a companion at college of great promise. Some friends once discovered the youth dining in an obscure tavern in London. The reason which he assigned for being found in such a place was, that he liked one of the rules, which was, that guests were permitted to wear their hats while eating their meals. Probably the subject of the story was a fop. In all likelihood this was one of his petty ways of acquiring cheap distinction. But it illustrates the principle. It exemplifies that desire which strong natures feel of being allowed to make inclination their rule. Especially do acute minds love to ascend up to causes. Hence they are impatient of mere forms, and feel a repug-. nance to fictions that can render no better account of themselves than that it has been so decreed. We could understand a soul of the largest order to bow reverentially before the doctrine of the Trinity, or the creation of evil, to feel that there was nothing abject in such submission ; nay, to be conscious that its pinions became stronger as it expatiated in atmospheres where it came in con- tact with the inscrutable. We co'uld sympathise with it when it declared that it was to be expected that there should be limits ir any communion that took place between the finite and the infinite, — and that it saw no reason why the barrier should not occur at the points above named. But there TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. 69 is another class of objects that it does not willingly endure. To be pestered with a popinjay ; to call this place sacred, and that day holy ; to be com- pelled to consider that a ceremony imparts some- thing to an- edifice, and changes the quality of common water and port wine ; to be reminded of religion every morning and evening, and several times in the course of the day, not by the stirrings of spirituality, but by the recurrence of breakfast and dinner, without speaking of the possibility of lunch and supper; to be constrained to adopt regulation, phrases, looks and manners, — in all this, there is an expenditure of time and effort, a sacrifice of feeling, a surrender of rationality, that the strong man does not willingly submit to. Hence, it may be laid down as one of the most leading characteristics of the Pharisaical system, that it repels mind. Intelligence may be early accustomed to its constrained pace, and mercenary interest may induce it to overcome or to hide its aversion, but there is a struggle. Further, the man of this class being punctilious, where there is no reason that he should be so, it naturally follows, that his feelings are blunt in matters of real con- sequence. We need all the i^urface of our con- science for impressions arising out of that which the divine law really declares to be sacred. If a considerable portion be occupied in attending to concerns that have no essential goodness belong- ing to them, there is not room for much that is truly lovely, honest, and of good report. 70 TWO FORMS OF INPIDELITIf. m'lr' If an argument could be made out, to the effect, that human nature is larger than the moral law of God has any need of, it would not be cause of regret that it should occupy the spare room with other objects. But, when the contrary is so plainly the case, when it can so readily be proved that the commandment is exceeding broad, and that no man can, under any circumstances, fill up the measure of what it demands, then there is reason why we should deplore a state of things that en- grosses the attention of men so as to hinder them from arriving at those moral attainments that would be possible under other circumstances. Again, the Pharisee is not apt to be thorough* Being an empiric in the greatest of all affairs, that is a reason why he should be superficial in other directions. Imagining himself right, when he has not complied with the only condition that can place a man in the normal relation to his Maker, it is to be expected that he will commit similar errors at other points. Beginning his career with the egregious fallacy, which, stated in words, would amount to this — -that a certain quantity of will- worship will produce regeneration, or Will occasion a result that will equal it, his mind is already prepared to follow sophistical methods. Hence, if you point out to him anomalies of a very obvious sort ; if you remark to him, that monarchy is government by accident ; that aristocracy, as it exists in Britain, is a repetition of the same error; that protection is a taking from one class to give TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITT. 71 give to another ; that indirect taxation is a dear method, and one that perpetuates corruption; that the punishment of death is legahzed murder, — ^let such practical sophisms be pointed out, and he cannot feel their hollowness. He has accepted a more pernicious fallacy than any of these, and it cannot be wondered at, if he who can close with a lie, where immortality is involved, should not be rigid- ly close in his reasonings where less important questions are concerned. The system of the Pha- risee implicates him in a mixed creed, consisting partly of doctrines, partly of ceremonies. Yet, he is in the habit of stating that he is delivered from the ceremonial law. He connects himself with a religion that contains many elements of that from which he pretends that he is freed. Such confu- sion of ideas, such imperfect analysis, cannot well remain in one corner of his nature, but must be likely to diffuse itself over his whole being. In that which engrosses a good deal of his time and effort, he confounds two different systems; and while he is a thrall, boasts of his liberty, — why should he be more accurate in any other depart- ment ? . The Pharisee is accustomed to believe in a God, part of whose worship is a pomp or show. But if the eternal takes delight in the sensuous, the material must be valuable. Why then should it not be the object of man to surround himself with what appeals to the senses ? And if so, are not the array of battles^ the trappings of royalty, the 72 TWO FORMS 01' INFIDELITY. r^'' yr4 insignia of office, the badges of degree, — are not all these important enough affairs ? Since some- thing like them pleases the God, are we to be sur- prised that they should prove agreeable to his creatures. Some such explanation is necessary, in order to account for the immense importance which they who are accounted the magnates of intelligence, assign to architecture, sculpture, paint- ing, and other arts that furnish objects which im- pose on the senses. The world cannot be cleared of these costlj'- and pernicious delusions, so long as the present the- ology stands. It consecrates them. They who believe in a God who surrounds himself with the specious, and enjoins that he should be adored, with much visible and audible pomp, will be logical enough to carry out the idea into the ar- rangements of htnnan life. What can be offered to Deity, Deity seeming to require it, may, with propriety, be highly esteemed by human beings. The first subject in Britain has passed forty years of life attending levees and reviews, and with ex- treme satisfaction? to all beholders. A consider- able part of all organs of intelligence is filled with accounts of matters of parade, connected with courts and nobility. Columns of the best con- ducted journals are crowded with minute descrip- tions of the costumes worn by monarchs and grandees on state and festal occasions. Literature and art vie together in giving their remarkable powers, that such seasons may receive the finest TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. 73 emblazonment that talent can confer. Any per- son would be esteemed an arrogant pedant, who should pretend to show up what he might consider the absurdity of such doings. In recently perus- ing the Autobiography of that Goethe of whom Margaret Fuller says, that his mind comprehended the Universe, I see that the man, in retracing the events and impressions of early life, devotes pages to the description of what took place at Frankfort at the coronation of the Emperor Joseph. In the whole narrative of his life, I do not see that he meets any thing that he deems much more mo- mentous than the middle-age pomps that took place on that occasion. He, the many-sided, the kunstler, the artist, the man of many sorrows, as he jstyles himself, feels that he is about a worthy employment when, after an interval of long years, he recounts with the minuteness of a herald or a court lackey, the heavy absurdities that were enacted at a season of parade. In thirteen years, during which we have occu- pied a position favourable for observing what is passing in more stirring spheres, we have not per- ceived that any thing has more interested those races which are called the most advanced, than such things as the progresses and dressed balls of the Queen of England. No man could follow these tendencies up to their origin and expose their imbecility, until he had first decomposed what passes for religion. When he had proved that the Almighty had been misrepresented in being held 74 TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITlf. up to view as a God of ostentation, then, and not sooner, would it be possible for him to rectify the opinions and practices of men. The abettor of this system has a low standard in morals. Stand- ing in such a relation to Deity as that his habitual feeling is — God, I thank thee that I am not as other men ; connected with a creed of such a very mundane character as that he feels that he com- plies with all that it exacts, the basis of his senti- ments is complacency. No celestial standard con- fronts him, that keeps him stretched on the ground; 110 transcendental longings irvade his comfort, in- viting him to imitate God ** grace for grace." His deity is a convenient commercial personage, who accepts a composition, and presents himself in no shape that arouses and awes. The Pharisee, being an empiric, has no percep- tion that any motion which he and his fellows experience, is merely circular. Having no deter- minate close to the prospect, he is blind to the fact, that there is no real progress in his sect. While nothing more is said around him, than was known in the time of Constantine, he does not feel that this contains any censure of his method. When the fact is obtruded upon him, so that he cannot avoid noticing it, he turns it into* subject of exult- ation. In one of the late rotary movements that took place in one of the sect«, an Ode was written to express this feeling of satisfaction at being merely a continuation of what tiad been, each stanza of wliieh ended thus — ,: i i ., ., *W0 FORMS OP INFIDELITY. 75 " Just as we came from Westminster Two hundred years ago." * He sends missions to the heathen that do not con- Vert, and boasts of the good he is doing. He sees all things, in the communities to which he belongs, continuing as they were ; and because there are formal changes, supposes that a great work is going on. Because men are dying off; because a preacher now and then changes his sphere ; be- cause a new ecclesiastical edifice rises from time to time; because the sacramental tables, which used to be disposed crossways, are now arranged longitudinally, — for reasons of this sort, he sup- poses himself to be living in the midst of brisk movement. The Pharisee is aggressive. Not profound. Accustomed from childhood to his sophisms and his ceremonies, the deception becomes tolerably complete. Deluded by the rites which keep him performing attitudes many times every day, he is furnished with zeal enough to play the assailant upon anything that opposes. God, in person, ap- proaching him in immaculate virtue, but without the prescribed quantity of ceremonial, would ap- pear to him a very ignoble being. While he does not enter the kingdom of heaven himself, he is very energetic, and, as he imagines, very pious, in labouring to hinder any one else from passing through the celestial gates. Although he has been doing these things on a vast scale, for nineteen centuries, he is still unsuspected and unexposed. 76 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITY. [.,\i %.. %*. and were we not forewarned by Divine prophecy, the aspect of the world would allow the supposi- tion that he might last for ever. II. The Sadducee. Scripture thus defines him : " The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit ; but the Pharisees confess both.'' It has been usual to refer to the members of this class as if they were at the acme of possible badness. They have supplied the followers of the other sect with a convenient target, at which to discharge the arrows of their seemingly righteous indignation. When they are beheld, with spe- cious zeal and high-sounding wrath, inviting the world to look on, and to remark how superlatively wicked are those whom they attack, it is a natural enough consequence for men to arrive at, that the assailed must be very bad, and that the other party must be far removed from the faults which they impugn. As Popery has long been a commodious lay figure for the Protestant to maul ; as, in denounc- ing it he turns attention away from himself, and procures a reputation for singular purity of tenet and practice, — so is it in this instance. There are few persons whose blood has not ran cold at the maternal and clerical descriptions with which they have been plied in childhood, having reference to the singular wickedness of the infidel. They who have received what is called a good and pious education, must remember, as one of the special ingredients, the horrors with which they were TWO VOHMS OP INFIDELITY. T7 taught to think of Voltaire or Gibbon. They learned to consider that all evil was comprised in the doctrines of such persons. If at a later period, they passed over to the territory of sucli opinions, it was in despite of as strong prejudices as they had ever cherished. The tenets of the Pharisee are of such an order as to admit of his being a converted man. In part, they are, or may be, orthodox. He is to be found existing in connexion with systems, Por- tions of which are the mind of the Spirit, and will endure for ever. He lives under the shadow of the Trinitarian and Calvinistic vine and fig tree, quite as commonly as under that of the Arminian and Arian. It may even be alleged of him that ho exists more peculiarly under the former aus- pices. The Sadducee, on the contrary, is not correct in form. His theology is negation. He denies the popular creed. There is no case then, in which he is found among the children of God. This much we concede to his antagonists. Every believer, from Pentecost down to this hour, has belonged to the Pharisees, in the degree that he has thought and acted in concert with them in regard to rites. But in all that time there has been no real convert to the Christian system who has stood on the ground of the Sadducee ; because, to do so, infers that you entertain ideas that are not in conformity with those modes of thinking which the Creator of all things has declared to lie at the 78 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITF. ll foundation of the creed necessary to the formation of the elect and accepted character. In all that we allege of these two characters, we wish it to be understood then that wo never forget this circumstance — that the one may be a believer, and the other cannot. The one, holding that form of sound words which, under any conditions, is the intellectual basis of Christianity, may, and occasionally does realize that state of heart which is the evangelical consequence. The Sadducee, wanting the geometry of religion, cannot, so long as he adheres to his proper tenets, attain to that frame of spirit which is holy and accepted in the belov- ed. If, all the while that this admission is made, it be nevertheless true, that the practical difference between the two men is so small, that they have moved on abreast through all the transactions of society, without the one perceptibly gaining on the other, then the conclusion comes out, that objec- tively it has not mattered much, as yet, whether a man has belonged to God or the devil. To the Sadducee, the enjoyment of leisure, free- dom, and the play of his own thoughts, are the strongest of all motives. The Pharisee holds jo/ace, and direct influence, in higher estimation. The one prefers the life that Voltaire or Gibbon led ; the other would rather have the position of Bacon or bishop Butler. The one knows no deeper sat- isfaction than perhaps, unnoticed, to pursue trains of thought that will conduct to some deep, broad system, that will make his name familiar to pos- Ihw? 'i TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITY. 79 on at- ins )ad os- terity; the other does not concern himself about su'ih remote consequences, but endeavours to make sure of immediate fame and power. The one often exhibits a remarkable chivalrousness of character that braves poverty and other present ana severe distresses, that he may reach that haven of speculation that dazzles his view beyond all other contingencies: the other discovers his ability in exacting of fate, that he should mount on the crest of the wave, and that, happen what may, he should never be hidden from observation. The mind which can forego immediate effects, which can face opposition, and endure neglect, is psychologically stronger than the other, that must bring its wares immediately into the market. With few exceptions, the persons who, since the Reformation, have originated remarkable concep- tions, have not been orthodox, and certainly have not concurred in that way of religion which we are wont to name evangelical. Here, it is fit that we shouli remark that the Sadducee is guilty of fraudulent conduct when he represents himself as selfrmade. In childhood he has been taught the tenets of the commonly receiv- ed Christianity. At every stage of life, he comes in contact with books and persons that reflect ortho- dox opinions. To speak of himself as if he had not been subjected to such influences, and as if he were the spontaneous growth of nature, may be fantastic, but it is certainly not just. The attempt which a man makes, under such circumstances, to W<1 % .. Mr- 80 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITY. separate himself from the events of his career, may illustrate very well the fallacies into which even intellectual persons will fall, but proves anything but sanity of mind. He who pretends to effect this mental divorce, is not what he affects to be. He is not the wondrous child of nature, wiser and more moral than those holding an orthodox creed. He is the product of what is currently known and believed in religion, who, arrived at ripe years, has forsaken the school in which he was educated, but who, in constructing a system, makes use of Revelation and the writers upcn it, as Mahomet availed himself of the bible when he composed the Koran. A person sprung from Christian parents, and brought up where scriptural doctrines are known and discussed, may as rationally pretend to have been unaffected by these influences, as the native of France or England may lay claim to have grown to man's estate without aid from the atmosphere of the country where he lives. The modes in which the Sadducee manifests his disbelief of revealed religion, are various. He asserts, that the Evangelists give contradictory accounts ; that there are discrepancies in other parts; that there are statements at variance with geography or civil history. He fastens on some passages as sanctioning immorality ; on others, as puerile or absurd. The mysteries are what ought not to have occurred in a message from God. It ought to have been as patent to the understanding of men as are the phenomena of the natural world. ^l TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. 81 To create evil, and then condemn creatures for falling into it; to decree events, and then deal with those under the decree as if they were free and responsible ; to ordain that a large part of man- kind should be lost for ever, and then lay claim to infinite love ; to give out that Deity is three, and yet one, — these descriptions are too irreconcilable to be received as part of a divine communication. Quite as often the attack is less direct. The strati- fication of the globe is enquired into, and it is ascertained, as the geologist alleges, that a much longer time was requisite to produce the phenom- ena, than the Mosaic account would allow. The procedure of the planetary regions is locked into, and it is pretended that these great orbs could have initiated their own structure and motions. The arrangements of zoological nature are exam- ined, and it is affirmed that man, instead of issuing immediately from the workshop of Deity, as has • been alleged, is a result that has arisen by gra- dual development from such low types of existence as the angle- worm. Or the subject is ethnologi- cally considered ; in which case, perhaps the principle is imposed that the world is peopled by races that had not a common origin, but that are each the primary denizens of the climates in which they are found. Or the human brain is consider- ed from the side of phrenology, and the circum- stance of an inherent structure is used as a reason why it cannot be designed, as revelation would pretend, that the mind should be altered by super- 80 TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. A •■*<», :y^V nal influence. Or, it is stated that certain ideas, such as time, eternity. Deity, cause, &c., are in- stinctive, and therefore are not the result of tuition and experience, by which means a system of nature is erectsd, that is in reality diametrically opposed to revelation. Or, without any palpable basis of argument, it is thought poetical, and there- fore it must be correct, to pervade all creation with Divinity; He resides in all that has any being, — imparts to the flower its fragrance, — to the bird its tuneful note, — to each intelligent soul its pecu- liar character. Religion lies, not in finding a lost God, — not in being reconciled to an offended God, — not in /jscaping from the domain of perdition to that of holiness, — but in drawing forth what is already in every one. This last imaginative, and very complacent form of unbelief, does not find it necessary to abrogate revelation ; it is not so coarse and violent : like Bayley's butterfly, it kisses all buds that are pretty and sweet : like Latin Uni- versalism, it does not mind how many deities it admits into its Pantheon : it is not so hard as to say any thing bad of the Bible ; it is a good book, making allowance far many errors, characteristic of the people or times from which it emerged ; it is as good, perhaps better, than, the reveries of Plato, the systems of Confucius or Mahomet. This last is the least rigid, and perhaps the most popular of all the styles of unbelief. Goethe has done the most to give it vogue. It has received poetical exposition in Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, » . <.r. TWO FORMS OP INPIDELITT. 83 Tennyson : it has been commended by the talents of Carlyle, Emerson, and Margaret Fuller. Cuckoo like, it is willing to hatc'^ in nests already built : by not insisting on destroying any previous struc- ture, it provokes little hostility : addressing itself to those who are orthodox on mechanical princi- ples, not interfering with their ordinances, the only thing which they do understand, it steals plea- santly in among them, saying, doggie, doggie, poor doggie ; it makes acquaintance with the stupid pug-nosed mastiff brute, and gets him to bark for it. It has never been frankly admitted, as would have been becoming on the part of those who are conscious that they have an honest cause, that the Sadducee leads as good a life as his antagonist. What a rectified kind of Christianity shall do for men in the way of intelligence and holiness re- mains to be seen. We refuse to yield to any one in lofty anticipations of the result to which it will infallibly conduct. In the mean time, there is no practical difference between the two characters : the one class may resort to speculative distinctions; — they may inform us that the children of light are among them, — they may bring up the scripture, " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?'' Hypothesis is on their side; visible facts are against them. They whom they would wish to represent as fiends, pay their taxes and dis- charge the relative duties about as well as their assailants. « 84 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITY. fv»' I. ' if It may be comfortable to the Pharisee, within the precincts of his inane and very heartless coterie, to prove that he is the subject of inde- fectible grace : the letter-carrier and the milkman cannot be expected to take cognizance of this very metaphysical circumstance ; yet they are prepared to depone, that their customer, the Sadducee, is as prompt in his payments as any of his neighbours. It is really too bad that we should be mentioning these things for the first time ; that we should be giving them forth as if they were revelations from a higher sphere. It is too abominable that the Pharisee should have been permitted to lie uncon- tradicted, — should have been suffered to describ*? his adversary as a monster of iniquity : And then, of course, when he commenced the controversy so, he was forced to have recourse to other lies, most dishonouring to God and truth. That avowed in- fidelity stood its ground, he was compelled to refer to "the mysterious providence" of God, to disown causation in religion ; and instead of saying, the Sadducee flourishes, because, for all practical pur- •poses, he is as good as I ; to cast a most unworthy cloud over the divine methods. It cannot be expected that religion should clothe itself with strength and beauty ujitil this egregious falsehood is retracted, until the science of God is vindicated, until religion is plainly set forth as ar adaptation of means to ends, until the believer shall desist from valuing himself upon mere doc- trines and sentiments, until he shall be fully con- TWO FORMS OP INFIDELITY. 85 vinced that he must be all round discemibly superior to the man without faith. When we attempt to be precise as to the gene- ric characters of the Pharisee and the Sadducee, it is perhaps not unfair, on the whole, to say, that the former inclines to the cool, and the latter to the hot vices. The one looks leniently at the ec- clesiastical sins, which, while they often argue the greatest degree of badness, do not materially hinder a prosperous career; the other is often more dispos- ed to gratify strong passion, without close regard to its commercial consequences. Mr. Pusey, or the Archbishop of Dublin, will answer as examples of the one family; Voltaire, or Shelley, of the other. Among the nations, Britain is the best representative of the Pharisee ; France of the Sad- ducee. A person of the most ardent genius will be apt to espouse the side of the Sadducee, be- cause he is left untrammelled as to the choice of his words, the arrangement of his countenance, and the disposal of his time. For the same reason, m the heat of youth, a person who does not embrace true religion, will take this side, and will not turn the conformist until about that point of life at which Shakspeare represents the individual as becoming "the Justice In fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut." The person who, with little regard to the indul- gence of feeling, with small care for abstract truth, S6 TWO FORMS OF INFIDELITY. %■ ' i'i and the development of personal character, has a keen hungry wish for aggrandisement, he will at once adopt the side of the Pharisee, veering to each breeze, adapting himself to all shapes, sacri- ficing the inward to the outward life, he will attain what is called success, because he has placed him- self in such an attitude as suits the majority of society. The literal history of Jesus Christ seems to re- present him as done to death by the combination of these two characters. Herod and Pontius Pilate compound their differences in the judgment hall, wheie Jesus is given over to his enemies. Where tv^ o influences concur to perpetrate , the same foul loed, there is not much room for moral distipct »ns. The degree of difference that can be fairlv 3V-/cci^. 1.0 I.I UilM |2.S ■50 "^" ■■■ ■^ 1^ 12.2 Its Ki U IL25 i 1.4 1.6 V 7 f ■^y .jk ;5. ■» V y Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. I4SS0 (716)872-4503 >^^^ "^^ r that change the posture of the moral world. In other instances, where a man performs an achieve- ment, moral or physical, we run the effect up to a proportionate cause : we give tlie agent credit for moral or bodily strength equivalent to the result which he produced. In the case before us, the believer feels the presence of Divinity, and in such a manner that he does the works of God : Is not RELIGlOy ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. lOd the mind of the Supreme commingled with his nature, and can he be supposed to be in such close concert with Divinity, without participating largely in the intelligence of the being that animates him? It is conceivable that the theory should not be realized, — that men, from ignorance and other motives, should live far below the statement of Scripture. That is not our concern. We have to do with that which theology authorizes; with what prophecy foretells. It is not once to be ad- mitted that the connexion between God and man is to be of the sort that we have alluded to, and then that the conclusion should be evaded, that the result should be high intelligence. The nature of the indwelling is so close that when the results are brought forward they are ascribed sometimes to God, and sometimes to man. Supreme intelli- gence being allowed to belong to the Deity, the practical question will amount to this, What por- tion of it is transferable, what loss it incurs from the earthen vessel into which it is poured ? In the mean time, and with our present knowledge, our answer to this must be general and indefinite. Our position, then, is this, that Deity being in- telligent in the highest degree, and Deity establish- ing the most intimate and inseperable union with -the believer, that this last ought, according to hy- pothesis and revelation, to share in the divine mind. Anything that the past history of the church might seem to offer in the way of objec- tion is got rid of by showing cause why religion, 110 RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. Biiii as it has been, could not be highly intellectual. The spurious and paltry elements to which we have pointed, supply an obvious explanation why the theory has been so completely contravened. They who have any faculty to conjure up some- thing different from what they see, may, after they have thrown out those weak and vicious ingredients, put together, in fancy, a mode of character that was in harmony with scripture, and that contained vast elements of strength. They who are not equal to such an eflfort of ima- gination may piece together the many texts that tell of the circumstances connected with the in- dwelling of God, or that relate the great acts that are to be performed by a class of men more pure than the world has yet seen. He may take his stand upon the statement, *' all things are possible to them that believe," and may ask, whether it be a matter to be supposed that they to whom this vast saying applies, could escape eminent mental force ? He may plant his foot upon the interroga- tion, " When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?" and raising the dilep^ma, what could be the state of intelligence that could be theological without having theology's prime requi- site, whereupon be may propose the other ques- tion, and if theology, without faith, elicited so much mind, what shall it not effect when associa- ted with that celestial quality ? n. A second reason why Christianity should be intellectual, is the opponent with whom the con- I II RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. Ill (est is carried on. There is a chapter devoted to the description of him, (Job xli.) in which images of vast strength are used to convey the idea of his stupendous power. The leading thought is, that he is proof against all the endeavours of men, and that God only can "repay him." "The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold : the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: sling stones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stub- ble : he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of oint- ment. He maketh a path to shine after him ; one would think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things ; he is a king over all the children of pride." Surveying this personage rather from the side of observation than of holy writ, we are able to say of him, without reserve, that hitherto he has been able to make it appear as if the earth be- longed to him. In whatever way God has caused holy writ to come up, this intriguing spirit has pro- duced a counterfeit that has deceived all but a very few. Within the last fifty years he has come forward more formidable than ever. Several persons of real piety had put religion on a truly evangelical footing. With the exception 112 RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 1^' that their doctrine was at some points weak, as we have already remarked, and that their system was affected by ceremonies, God may be said to have spoken by them. Their method has been extensively imitated, and at this moment there is a greater number of persons than at any former period, who have a form of godliness and deny the power thereof. This has been carried to such an extent that it is a current principle, avowed by many, and acted upon by all, that provided the expression be orthodox, we have no title to examine the interior. Through a considerable part of Christendom, the man of nature putting on the cloak of the evangelist, utters loud and elo- quent protestations as to the divinity of Christ, and the multitude cry, glory to God in the highest. Under the influence of this general appearance of sound doctrine the community feels that never before was religion in so palmy a state. The scene narrated in connexion with the preaching of John the Baptist, where "Jerusalem and all Judea," go out to meet the teacher, is played over again. To take up that version of religion which Baxter and Bunyan introduced, which Newton and Chalmers modernized ; to preach it correctly and eloquently, so that men cannot distinguish between the true and the false messenger, — this infers a great amount of ability. To realize such a scene as the church presents, where regenerate and unregenerate are colleagues in congregations, partners in the same bed, members of synods. RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 113 i.Miit teachers in schools, associates in business, where these two c'.asses harmoniously dispense sacraments, and v ith united voice eulogise the present state of the world — to affect all this needs a subtle manoeuvring spirit. With our eye upon these doings, we cannot avoid recalling a descrip- tion that tells of such wonderful juggling, (Ezek. xxviii. 13-20,) "Thou hast been in Eden the gar- den of God ; every precious stone was thy cover- ing, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the work- manship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was pre- pared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth ; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy moun- tain of God ; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandize they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned : therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountai i of God: and I will destroy thee, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee be- fore kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore 114 RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee>: thou shall be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." Two persons look out upon the prospect, the sinner and the saint. Let it be suggested to the one, that the world is to put on another aspect from what it has worn, he cannot be brought to entertain the thought. Many centuries, with their countless systems and neutralized schemes of amelioration, rise up to contradict the supposition. Knowing what has been proposed from Pythagoras to Conjpte or Cousin, he cannot be brought to give credence to the hypothesis. All power of belief is paralyzed within him, when he conjures up the long procession of expedients that seemed plausible, that had their martyrs, that were floated along on a tide of sympathy and protestation, and that did not materially improve human nature. He is staggered by the feeling that Peter describes men as bent beneath — "where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." The saint, on his side, is equally prostrated by the difficulty. He is bound to admit that the earth shall yet assume a better aspect. But inasmuch as he sees no human causation that is to lead to this result, inasmuch as he attains to it by a change of dispensation, he too virtually m ¥¥ RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 115 confesses the foe to be invincible. In his ovrii way he acknowledges the power of the enemy as much as the worldly objector. The one believing in fixed laws considers, therefore, that the cha- racter of men cannot be fundamentally altered. The other can only come at the good era in which he pretends to believe, by a violent change in the economy of the world. But that it is to be reached by human causation he is as far from crediting as is the former. In fact their is a sturdiness about the terrene person that the evangelical man does not exhibit. Every now and then he invents a project that he considers will render mankind just and virtuous, whereas the theologian never fan- cies the advent of what is good as the sequel of anything that he can do, but brings it about by a vision, wherein he descries a literal Christ ap- pearing in actual clouds. He, then, must be a formidable foe, who thus perplexes all who look at his workmanship. Now, if it be the really divine plan that man is to go out to the battle and conquer this foe, reli- gion and ability become synonymous ideas. I who aforetime could not contemplate the thought that humanity could do any thing but make sa- laams and obeisances, behold a system of agency take shape and become a perfect engine ; I per- ceive how to put on the armour piece by piece ; I see how nicely it fits, how completely I am cover- ed ; I learn the cuts and thrusts of the sword of the Spirit. From being like one of those men 116 RKLIOION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. hired to become walkings advertisements, an object covored over with signs ; from being a creature of parade and vague sentiment, I am turned into the most efficient of the earth's inhabitants. What is this interval made up of? Between the two state- ments, I can keep a diorama, I can turn wheels and show off sacraments; between this and the other, I can drive back that being that is next to God in faculty ; the distance is wide ; what en- ables me to cross the intermediate space ? Be- tween the position, I through the word can bring in the era whereof it is said, in reference to the 6vil spirit, "and never shalt thou be any more;" and the old notion about God and a chariot, and a convulsion in the elements, there is a strange discrepancy. What composes it ? Between the idea of a thundering Jupiter, scattering Satan and his myrmidons with his bolts, and the other, which transmutes all this into God and man, and system- atic theology, there is a vast disparity; and shall not the plan which makes the difference, consist- . ing, as it does, in all its parts of human endeavours, shall it not realize intelligence superior to that of Satan, and therefore only short of divine ? III. The universe consists of the two facts of mind and matter. Intelligence has no other legi- timate career but to concern itself with the pro- perties of the one or the other. Its force is measured by what it can do in one of these direc- tions. If, dealing with either it can discover new laws or unknown applications, it is considered as BELIOION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 117 advantage. .ff having bestowed its ofTorts to ttie b< But it is the nature of religion to put one in con- cert with the artisl from whose hands both of these proceeded; it is therefore to be expected be- forehand that the position of tho beUever should be advantageous. In regard to mind, the more important of the two, it is currently admitted that the past ondeav- ours to analyze it have been characterised by a great want of success. The most talented of men through nearly half the time that the world has lasted, have applied themselves to find out what are its faculties and how they act. They show, or they acknowledge that their researches have been singularly barren of results. One marked proof that they afford of this is, that they are found at long intervals resuming enquiries that had Voen considered to have been disposed of long before. When they are beheld, at the distance of centuries, recurring to the question whether we discern ob- jects themselves or their images, or this other, whether the commencements of all ideas are in the senses, or whether there be not some that emerge from instinct, we are informed in such in- stances, that the motion is not progressive but rotary. It is alleged, we believe, that greater success has followed the researches in the other de- partment. This, we are not prepared to dispute entirely ; yet when the length of time is consider- ed during which philosophers have investigated 118 BSLIdtON ELEVATES TB£ INTELLECT. the properties of matter, we cannot join in the wonder that is usually expressed as to the number and importance of the discoveries that have been made. When, in spite of these, it is borne in mind, how constantly man is stopped by barriers, how on the ocean he is the sport of winds and waves, how on the land he is impeded by climate and seasons, how little he can do in the air, at what expense he procures and keeps up those en- gines that facilitate labour, there does not seem to us to be much ground for the astonishment that is expressed in relation to this subject. The career of science, moral and material, is the history of much endeavour and small fruit. In the one direction, it is admitted that up to this time few solid results have been arrived at ; in the other, it is owned that centuries were expended in following routes that could not have conducted to discovery, and even they who consider that much has been realiz- ed, are in the habit of conceding that nearly the whole of that, has been done in the two centuries that have elapsed since Bacon. In spite of all that has been v;rittea about sci- ence, and the inductive method, it maybe that the right way remains to be taken. The book of life says, "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraid- eth not, and it shall be given him." Theologians have termed this saving knowledge, although why they should restrict it to this, we do not know, unless it was that from the sort of religion which RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 119 they believed in, it was easy for them to say that they had knowledge there, and hard for men to disprove it. If they had accepted the hypothesis that mathematics or metaphysics were compre- hended in the term, that would have placed them in the situation of being obliged to look for know- ledge that men could take cognizance of, and for the failing to acquire which, they subjected them- selves to contempt. If to ask God be the appointed road to wisdom, and if it be a religious road, then the religious man should be expected to walk on it. The career of religion then, placing a man in the circumstances In which to ask wisdom, becomes a part of his duty — an article of his creed : This career, placing him in what may be continual communication with the sovereign artist, a knowledge of the works and laws of God follows as a natural consequence. I confer with the Father of Spirits; in consequence of his own command, I apply to him for wisdom : It is to be expected that something more should come out of these premises than that saving know- ledge, as it has been called, that knows and does nothing that is discernible. I am in conference >vith the Being that created mind and matter; I am in connexion with that Word of his in which are hid all the treasures'of wisdom and knowledge ; I am taught of that Spirit who searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God ; it is essential to my vocation that I should exercise spiritual baptism — ' that I should cast out devils : can such deeds be I,''':'l 120 RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. li! 11. done without the presence of peculiar wisdom? It is demanded of me that the communication of my faith should become effectual. 'S^ hen this is analyzed, it seems to imply an empire over mind. But this must proceed from knowledge. In saying that the believer is invit^jd to live in constant correspondence with an infinitely wise being, the inference is included that he should be eminent in wisdom. In stating that he is called upon, as an essential part of his profession, to con- quer a spirit greater than the human, surpassing wisdom is virtually implied. In affirming that his duty is not fulfilled, unless he master other natures, and exj)el that strong influence that clings to them with stern tenacity, wisdom is predicated of him, for who could go up to those who natu« rally are his equals, and command their greatest inclinations to go down before him, except one who was wise in a superlative degree. IV. The feature of religion, which we term the .noral, appears to stipulate that the believer should become eminently intellectual. To have this element largely developed, secures that he will insist on doing nothing that is really opposed to the finest development of his thinking nature. The conditions that he. imposes on life, will be to this effect : The supreme governor cannot design that any one of his creatures should be forced to that which is hurtful to the advances of his peculiar nature. OtTier men in selecting a line of business, do a something independent of what RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 121 is either moral or intellectual, in order to catch the feeling of the hour : I can listen to no such com- promise. It is common for persons to spend a considerable part of their time in soliciting the favour of those in power : I refuse to rise by any other means save by making in myself the great- est possible amount of desert. Men in general are wilUng to take on some trick or style that suits passing feelings : I can allow myself to adopt no manner except that which comes out spontane- ously, as the expression of feelings that I am not ashamed to cherish. It has been usual hitherto to add certain rites to a belief in the gospel. Were you to succeed in convincing men in general that these were Ju- daisms, or ceremonies taken on since the record was closed, they would answer, that they were harmless, and that the people would not listen to the Word without them. The person governed by moral considerations, stipulates that he shall teach the very mind of the Spirit, neither more nor less. Ceremony obtaining in the service of God, passes unquestioned into all the other con- cerns of life. He who accepts what is, as his rule, has some equivocation that enables him to bow the head to each popular formality, and thus spends more time and effort than men are ware of. He who rules himself by the highest standard, saves all this, because he will not consent to take a part in a pantomine which has no other recom- li ii ll^l \m' V 122 RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. mendation than that a certain number of human beings are not so scrupulous. Punctilios connected with dress and food occupy much of men's time, from the king downwards. The person of high principle will endeavour to reconcile a not behaving himself unseemly, with an avoidance of all that is really superfluous in such matters; and by so acting, will economize much time and effort that others unthinkingly throw away. Persons without religion are neces- sarily the victims of at least one propensity that is of pernicious tendency. Their intellectual life means that they think, as far as is compatible with the appetite for praise, money, pleasure, sensuality or indolence, to which they yield. He who casts aside " every weight, and the sin that doth .ost easily beset him," is a great gainer at this point. Having this great advantage over other persons, he has, in this circumstance, one reason why his light should shine forth with more effulgence. A husband, even if he be a man of intellect, considers that his wife may properly live on a much lower plane, and not conferring with her in things speculative, sees her low tendencies in- crease — ^sees the interval between them widen, and reconciles himself to the society of one who retards rather than aids his development, with the explanation, that it is not designed that women should be thinking beings. The religious person, who really believes the bible, taught by it that the conjugal relation should be the counterpart of that ill RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 123 between Christ and the church, selects a partner on this idea, marks out for her a thinking life, does not suffer that she should contract any habits that will interfere with her best interests, confers with her on all that interests himself, and from her more susceptible nature derives principles that his unaided mind could not have originated. The man of this world expends much time fool- ishly upon his children. In early years, they are allowed to make inclination their rule. The pa- rents are not ashamed to lose effort in soothing and humouring passions that they ought to have checked from the first. So much time is squan- dered by the ordinary father in cares that might be abridged in a very great degree, that a late writer assigns this as one reason why persons thus circumstanced have not done the greatest things in the way of authorship. To unmarried, or child- less men, he assigns many of the principal achieve- ments in letters. The person of high principle could not bear the idea that he was sacrificing the formation of character to the gratification of pro- pensity. To consume effort on low charges, sug- gested by the animal nature, and not beneficial to those on whom they were bestowed, would appear to him a high and indictable offence. When all these different causes are put together ; when it is considered with what a weight they come down upon ordinary men; how ludicrous they make them to appear ; how busy they render them in the midst of melancholy idleness, it is to '-% 1! 124 RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. say something, much to the credit of true moraUty, that it enables its possessor to impose laws upon such contingencies — -'to command them that they desist from presuming to obstruct his path. I am a convert to the Christian religion : as such, I refuse to take my cue from the prevailing prac- tices of society. It is much more befitting, if my religion means much, that I should give, than that I should take an influence. As a child of God, I am willirg to do my endeavour that talent and virtue should be contributed to the capital of so- ciety ; but I object to make my way by some cant or mannerism that the very animals who exact it of me will ridicule a few years later. Seeking a city that hath foundations, I cannot consent to consume time or effort in frequenting funerals or masked balls, in assembling my household twice a day for what is called worship, in conforming my countenance to a regulation aspect, or in giv- ing to my speech the peculiar intonation that the man of outsides holds to be indicative of unction. Desiring to "redeem the time, and so to number my days as to apply my heart unto wisdom,'' I refuse to make myself up once or twice a year to some sacramental observance, or once a week to some piece of sabbatical will-worship. The su- preme God has freed me from ordinances — has put me in possession of a portable and economical religion, by enabling me all the time " to worship him in spirit and in truth." Believing that the life of faith is entitled to itip- RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. 125 ulate that its development should be of the most vigorous and progressive kind, I may submit to hard fare, unpleasant avocations, to many things that men esteem unendurable, and from which most of them escape : these I endure, because re- ligion may run through them all. But, to be a posture-master, a tide-waiter, a sign-board, — this I will not brook, although it would conduct me to high station, and although men would fall down and do me homage. There are fictions and cere- monies, a compliance with which is exacted of all; these I will not submit to, because they are not true — because, to consent to them is a lie, and is therefore not compatible with the acquisition of the best modes of thought and action. As a pro- fessional person and member of society, as a hus- band or a father, I wish not to behave myself un- seemly, nor to purchase for myself the cheap noto- riety of being eccentric : at the same time, I am convinced that the God who has placed me in these positions can require nothing of me that is at vari- ance with the high philosophy of his religion. By such a theory, one commands life, so far as men are concerned; and being pious, in a deep practical way, finds ex mption from all that Egyp- tian bondage that must spoil the faculties of those who consent to it, and invent fictions to explain why they consent. By requiring of life that it should ask of him no one look, or posture, or utter- ance, that the Spirit of Truth could not be sup- posed to suggest, he secures for himself that his 126* RELIGION ELEVATES THE INTELLECT. I inward life shall grow on the highest principles of theoretical excellence. If, in stipulating for this, he is walking on a divine and unjoined path, there cannot be a question that he will be fed and sus- tained. Thus, mo-rality and intellect, which are usually regarded as such separable facts, because the mor- ality that obtains means the ceremonious, the aus- tere, and the contemptible, might, on a different theory, be made wonderfully to help each other. The moral, coming to be defined as that which, through the Spirit, took the most direct way through life, and insisted on keeping up the God- like at every step, — the intelligent might regard it as the worthiest of all associates, and the two together would produce the agent who should realize the great and good results predicted in the word of Gad. LECTURE IV. THE ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. The varieties in the Christian religion have been of two sorts, — they have had relation to doctrines or to ceremonies. They have stood connected with mental or corporeal circumstances. Men that were capable of speculation have lived in the one category; those who did not reason, or at least not in religion, have allowed their interest to be confined within the other. The first and the last centuries of our era have been the most fertile in schisms ; in the one case, the disputes were perhaps more philosophical ; in the other, they have revolved more frequently round matters of discipline. The impulse given to religion by the piety of the apostles and their immediate followers continued to be felt during several ages, and so long as it lasted, men did not quite descend to the questions of upholstery, that engrossed their attention somewhat later. In the church of the first four or five centuries, there was much heresy, and the attempts to blend Oriental or Grecian philosophy with the religion of Jesus 128 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. I ■ were many and frequent. In these the extrava- gant and the bizarre were very conspicuous. Those discussions raised by the benv>vers in Eons, by the MonotheHtes, the Patripassians, the Essenes, and others, discovered a fantastic and unpractical state of nnind; but they were better on the whole than most that has agitated the churches ever since. Whether the Father suffered in the Son, whether these two beings had more than one will, whether they were co-eternal, or of different quality in this respect. We do not say that they who raised these discussions were holy men, nor yet that they were of the soundest un- derstanding ; at all events, they were capable of entertaining high subjects. In disputing about these topics they walked straight up to the deepest elements in the religion of God, and although there was a great logical error involved, in suggesting differences that were as much cumbered by a mystery as the points which they sought to ex- plode, still the controversy took place in the precincts of articles that were lofty. It did not, as in our day, turn on the pivot, whether the ser- mon should be read or not, whether the preacher should wear a cloak, and if he did, of what colour it should be, what parts of the service should be read, and what chanted, when the minister should front, and when turn his back upon the people, what should be the exact proportions of the sacred edifice, with what degree of gusto the consecrated bread should be swallowed, with what particular ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SY^Tk-i. 199 solemnities Easter or Lent, or what Hh ''io fch call " the preach in ji:s," should be observt One engaged in the disputes of the first ages did not at least occupy himself with that which was beneath the notice of a man-milliner. He might not be entitled to feel that he was engaged in holy work, or that his lucubrations were calculated to benefit the body of mankind, but he had the right to think that he was busied about high abstract questions; and if he could not exactly take the consolation to his bosom that his soul was bene- fited, he might consider that he had cause to think that his faculties were sharpened. The nucleus that gave rise to all that superven- ed in the way of variety, has not been pointed out by former writers; they did not ascend to the source ; they mistook a tributary for the main stream. We find it in the conduct of the apostles. As men, and in their actions, they palpably in- fringed the principles recognized in their writings; they cast lots, they repaired to the temple, they made distinctions in meats, they prevaricated, they shifted the measure in order to suit different cases, they observed Jewish feasts, they appealed to sectarian feelings, they used the devices of the lawyer. By these declensions the gospel was corrupted, and in so subtle a manner, that the source of the mischief has not yet begun to be sus- pected. Had the standard been maintained un- hupaired by the disciples of Christ, men would not have been seen so soon after raising questions ISO ONENESS or THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. that disclosed so groat a want of a deep and saving faith. The cause that has produced the greatest num- ber of heresies, is that form of pride that objects to mystery in u divine message. It is the error of a mind that is not of the deepest quality. Tf, while it impugned those mysteries that the Word bears on its surface, it substituted others that con- tained less difficulty, or none at all, something might appear to be gained. But when it denies what purports to be revealed, in order to put in its place what, at least, has not the appearance of divine authority, and when in doing so, it gives us that which, philosophically speaking, contains an equal dilficulty, we are not benefited by the substitution. To select an example of this: The word of God appears to propound the two state- ments that everything is appointed, and that man's liberty is not invaded. To the human mind there is absolute contradiction in this: the link that re- conciles the propositions belongs to an order of thought that the faculties of mortals cannot by any means take cognizance of. The innovator, guided by sentiment, rather than by strong rea- son, tries to get rid of incompatible truths; yet whichever of the above propositions he alters, he leaves a difficulty of the same magnitude with that which staggers him. If he says that man is not free, he produces the anomaly that the Deity made the world to be the theatre of an automaton ; that he devoted his Son, in order to obtain immor- il:l> ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 131 tal life for this machino; that having first consti- tuted him really incapable of good or evil, he then proceeds to deal with him as a responsible being, and assigns eternal rewards or punishments, as the case may be. If he interferes with the other proposition, and denies that events are decreed, he doL's not improve his position. Things must be arranged in some way or other, because pro- phecy deals with them as in this category, and discloses what is to fall out down to the close of time. But, if they are ordered, it is either by the God who writes the Bible, or by another god. If the first alternative is accepted, wc need proceed no farther; if the second, we are called upon to believe in two gods, whereas there is nothing clearer in all revelation than this, that there is but one. It is well that the love of simplicity should ex- ist, but it is not well that this feeling should induce a man to interfere with what professes to be the word of God, unless he can effect such a change as will completely obviate the difficulty of which he complains. In the one case, two statements that seem contradictory c*re offered to us, with the comment *'thus saith the Lord," and with the pro- mise " He giveth the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." In the other, two propositions, equally in- compatible, are tendered, without any voucher oy collateral reason being offered why we should re- ceive them. The cases are not of the same qua- lity. If the objector could produce a statement^ 132 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. m that, without doing violence to truth in any direc- tion, would bring out a result that involved no mystery ; if he turned that which was mysterious into that which was plain, there would be a rea- son, at the first blush of the thing, why we should think well of his version of the subject. But, when the whole result is to substitute one mys- tery for another, there is no advantage. Yet, al- though this is a correct description of each succes- sive innovation, a man of talent is not ashamed to lead the way, and persons of ability do not blush to follow him. An outcry is raised; people are led to believe that a new era is opening; years of eager excitement take place ; and all this, not be- cause the weight has been removed, but merely because it has been shifted. The Creator of all things proffers a message full of blessings to his creatures; along with points that are intelligible he inserts others that transcend our capacity; in proof that it is his revelation, he affords a voucher, "the Spirit witnessing with our spirits." We re- fuse the missive, assigning as a reason, that there ought to be no dark places in a divine communi- cation. A being like ourselves offers us his view of the subject; he alters the form merely, but leaves, as essential, a mystery as he found ; he affords no authority but his own character why we should close with him ; and behold those who held it to be illogical to entertain the first version, see nothing unreasonable in giving in their adhe- sion to the other. ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 133 The schismatic is sometimes actuated by the influence of one particular propensity of his na- ture. Thus, the feeling of kindness is strong in him, and he reasonably concludes that it must be at least as active in the Divinity. Besides, he reads in the word of Truth, that " God is love ;" he finds this saying, in company with a crowd of others of a similar nature ; and from +he whole, he infers, that eternal punishments cannot belong to the Bible. But, in this argument he forgets the many passages which roundly declare the truth to which he objects. He does not mind that in dealing with them in the arbitrary way which he follows, he sanctions a mode of interpreting scripture, that if adopted, leaves us no certainty in regard to any doctrine. For, to get rid of one obnoxious view in a lawless manner, erects want of rule into a rule, and destroys the prospect of precision in any other instance. Nor yet does he remember that there are attributes assigned to the Almighty in scripture, that account for the fact of which he desires to be rid. If he can cite many passages which speak of the love of God, his antagonists can adduce as many others that are plain and emphatic about his justice, his severity and his vengeance. In addition to these, it ought to have occurred to him that the texts which describe the sinner as dead by nature, place him beyond the scope of grace, unless it could be proved that the mere fact of the death of Christ abolished this deadness and infused a new spirit into every man. mi I If fli! 134 ONENESS 01* THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Further, it should have presented itself to him, that there are those who refuse the offers of raercy made to them through Jesus Christ, and that this, the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, is describ- ed as a sin that shall not be pardoned, whether in this life, or in that which is to come. Again, he might have thought of those texts that affirm that there is but one way of escape, and that through faith in Christ ; and those others, that represent what we do here as final. But the one consider- ation to which his mind is alive, blinds him to these and all other arguments. Because one set of passages of limited extent seem to favour his theory, he does violence to others much more numerous, that oppose him from many directions. The strongest intellect, we think, will hardly take this course : rather than do so, it will embrace a mode of reasoning that will put it at variance with revelation as a whole. In the history of literature, there are many examples where those who have taken this thorough method have been minds of the first order. On the other hand, we incline to think that the same annals do not fur- nish cases of very remarkable men who have been theologians on the notion of taking a partial view of inspiration. A man of a quiet, and what is call- ed moral turn, will be apt to innovate, especially in those directions where the bible describes hu- man nature as entirely devoid of goodness. His own passions are moderate, and he experiences little difficulty in subjecting them to ordinary sub- I* ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 135 lunary motives. He sees many who are constituted like himself, and who support him in his ideas. He beholds others that pretend to a higher Chris- tianity than that which he professes, who do not walk in a more direct line of moral probity. See- ing this, he asks, How can I consent that such a line should be drawn as should lay mankind off into the two divisions of children of light and chil- dren of darkness? I do not perceive two classes, says he, that correspond with definitions so wide apart. He lays stress upon the remarkable virtue that he sees displayed in directions where there is no cause to consider that an evangelical influence is at work. Socrates calmly considers the ap- proaches of that death from which he might have escaped, had he chosen to avail himself of the ex- pedients that his friends had put in his power. Regulus devotes himself to a cruel death that his country may not be compromised, and Roman honour may suffer no tarnish. Howard spends his life in seeking out human misery, in prisons, hospitals, and mad-houses, grudging no effort that enabled him to lighten the misery even of the vilest of his fellow-beings. Men of this stamp occur in considerable numbers: others, actuated by feelings not much inferior in point of heroism and benevolence, are found in every neighbour- hood: how then can I admit, says he, that the nature which yields such products is that vile thing which some theologians describe it ? In this his analysis is defective. He does not 136 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. ■1 lit- take into account the influence of organization, which renders some of the apparently noble modes of action to flow, as it were, from instinct. Nor does he allow for the effect of education, which, when adroitly conducted, can induce its subject to practice strange restraint: Nor does he assign v;hat belongs to the love of praise: Nor does he estimate the force of the legal spirit, which will prompt a person to make sacrifices apparently greater than those which true religion exacts : Nor does he consider that what he lays stress upon is only a part of the nature, and that the individual who looks so well in one direction acquires this ability by allowing some other part of the charac- ter to have full scope : Above all, he is not aware of the fact, that he has no proper standard with which to compare his well-varnished worldling. The Christian with whom he does compare him, is not, as he supposes, agreeable to the word of God. He is the poor, feeble product of diluted, inconsistent doctrines — of ceremonies and will- worship. Instead of being a fair specimen of what religion can accomplish, he is that creature who extorts from the Saviour the complaint, that these are the wounds which he received in the house of his friends. Because he stands forth the only example of the believer that'human life sup- plies, the man whose eyes range about in all direc- tions, and whose gaze has been arrested by the signal instances of virtue that are furnished by mere nature, he disallows the distinction that ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 137 orthodoxy insists on; he maintains that the earth does not furnish the two opposite characters — the Cain and Abel that the churchman speaks of. He argues, that if the man without faith can act so well, nay, excel in apparent righteousness the man of profession, that there is no reason why he should concede so grave a demand as this, that human nature should be given up as "dead in trespasses and sins." They who have taken the most dar- ing view of this question, have favoured the Pela- gian doctrine, which denies the Fall. They who have gone but a limited length in this direction, have been satisfied with the position of the Armi- nians, who allege that, in consequence of the death of Christ, there is a little light in every man. But the class of topics that has been by much the most prolific in disputes and varieties, is what is called discipline. Doctrines, as yet, have ap- pealed to but a small proportion of society : Rites, on the contrary, speak to feelings that the massea can share in. Whether Christ be homoousiosy or homoiousios — co-eternal with the Father, or but the first of creatures; whether all events are fore- ordained, or are left open to chance and accident; whether human nature be utterly fallen, or whe- ther it has the power within itself to rise up in opposition to evil propensity; whether the sins of time shall be expiated by eternal exclusion front the favour of God, or whether they shall be atoned for by punishment short of everlasting,— it is ex- traordinary how few minds are of the texture that u 138 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. cares to debate such questions. On the contrary^ let it be an object that addresses the senses, that requires neither spirituality nor intelligence, and numbers press forward to discuss it. To deal with a mechanical matter, and while it is so, to be under the impression that you are doing something very much to the glory of God, is a pungent combina- tion that is vastly agreeable to mortals. Never does the divine life appear so delightful as when its direction and that of natural inclination appear to be absolutely identical. Whilst working at some piece of carpentry that to the eye of reason would seem nothing superior, to be able to call that godliness, is a contingency that exerts singu- lar fascination on the crowd. Whether white P'riars or black Friars wear the most heavenly costume; whether Friday or Satur- day be the most suitable to abstain from flesh; what is the most sacred form and position of a cathedral; what the divinest fashion of a belfry; what should be the manner of the imposition of hands ; what mode of wearing the beard may be considered to be the most acceptable in the sight of God; which is the heaven-descended mode of administering baptism ; whether should the ser- vices of a congregation commence with psalmody or prayer; whether is a graduated or a level hie- rarchy most pleasing to the Supreme. No one ever made an appeal to a community in regard to a subject of this rank, without feeling that it re- sponded in a general and eager manner. This ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 139 has been most remarkably illustrated within the last twenty years. In the most erudite of two learned universities, in the most distinguished college of that university, a knot of elegant scholars attempted to explode doctrine, and to revive a religion that should re- quire little but the eyes and ears. That it should strike them that something needed to be done, we do not wonder: that this should have occurred to them as exactly that which the emergency asked, is very remarkable. The pamphlets Avhich they sent forth, written in no very eloquent style, pro- foundly interested and aroused the nation. In this age of steam engines and pauperism, there was scarcely any topic that provoked so much feeling. How acutely exciting — whether candles should be lighted on altars in broad day light; or what should be done with that which remained of the communion wine ! What fascinating questions arose as to fald-stools and lecterns, as to the can- onical intonation, or the amount of sacred heraldry that should enter into the adornment of an Oriel window ! How becomingly did dignitaries inter- pose with their endeavours to sail felicitously be- tween the Scylla of evangelical leanness, and the Charybdis of tractarian obesity ! How sweetly did they tell their subalterns to bargain for as much Rite as they could obtain from communities toj much infected by a Methodistical and vulgar taste for plainness ! This heavy farce was played for years. It en- 140 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. t<^ [■« iiii gaged attention from the Sovereign down to the church-beadle. Peers, Generals, Ambassadors and Judges, arrayed themselves on the one side or the other. This, in the land that gave rise to the phi- losophy of Bacon, thfe astronomy of Newton, the commentaries of Blackstone, the political economy of Adam Smith. These were the persons who professed to understand and to expound such high matters. The controversy lasted for years. It closed not because the nation saw and were dis- gusted by its littleness, — not because a criterion was erected that for ever after was to fix, beyond debate, the exact proportions of doctrine and cere- mony that should enter into religion. It was not principle that brought it to a termination. It ended, because men like a little variety — because theological disputes have their ebbs and flows; and perhaps as much on this account as on any other, that, during the strife, a sect which both parties disliked fully more than they disliked each other, began to renew its pretensions, and to threaten to be formidable. Round the two subjects of doctrine and cere- mony have revolved those disputes and schisms that have been so marked a feature in the history of religion; and the fact that tKey have sprung more especially out of the latter circumstance of ceremony, has probably tended, in a high degree, to render Christianity disreputable in the eyes of many thinking men. That the system which pro- fessed to have come direct from Jehovah, should OMINESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 141 appear to give rise to endless contention ; particu- larly that it should seem to sanction all the con- troversies that arose about surplices and "genea- logies,'' this created a prepossession in the minds of those who did not stay to examine with care. It is a poor aspect '•! which to place the religion of God, to represent it in such a manner as that it is for ever clamouring about rites. This divided condition has of course prevented the gospel from exerting a strong influence, even when it has ap- peared in those shapes that contained salvation. Nothing can more impede the action of that which purports to be divine, than a contest among sev- eral sections, each declaring that it is the genuine Zion. To this diversity of creeds also is owing that confusion, or Babylon, which we have the authority of prophecy to apprise us, should occur in the history of the church of the New Testament. To realize it the element which above all others was necessary, was this of contending creeds. The human mind, indisposed under any circum- stances, to receive religious impressions, has too good a plea on which to excuse its unbelief. It feels confused when solicited by competing claim- ants, and no doubt it takes advantage of this to exaggerate its doubts. When it sees that thercj is no one, even of what might be conceived to be cardinal points, but receives various constructions, it feels puzzled to know which is the truth, and at all events makes use of this as an apology. What is as gloomy a feature as any is, that this ''I 142 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. ■W l< . It. h. % diversity of sentiment does not seem, in any direc- tion, to attract attention as a fact that deserves to be lamented. When referred to, it is spoken of as necessary to the human mind, which is at least as various in its form as the clashing systems of re- ligion. In other instances, it is mentioned as a means whereby a brisk circulation is promoted. There can be no doubt that a good interiin ex- planation can be brought forward. Even the pious and enlightened man, who understands what is and what is to be, can behold design and benevo- lence in this otherwise deplorable circumstance. He can say, it was predicted. He can stay his mind with the thought, that it was a preconcerted conclusion. Among the types, there is one that portrays it vividly. In remote times, they seek to build Babel, which is Babylon. Their discourse is, " Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face af the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language ; and this they begin to do ; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth ; and they left off to build the city. it ; ■ i ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 143 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; benause the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them ubroad upon the face of all the earth." This symbolic situation supplies the believer with the consolation that at least our present condition was not unforseen. It does not induce him to confound things, and to call sweet hitler, or bitter sweet. But it informs him of what is, and why it is. It apprises him not merely that this state of the church is in consequence of prophecy; but also that it happened in order to avert a worse evil. Hnd men continued to be of one speech, their wickedness would have entailed consequences too enormously pernicious. Satisfied then that there went foresight and be- nevolence to bring about the present contingency, the wise believer may enjoy that composure of spirit that is the best basis for active exertion. Because our state, awful as it is, might have been worse, therefore will I rejoice in the Lord, there- fore will I use my liberty for his glory. This freedom of mine I refer not to the fact that men willingly concede it to me, but lo the other cir- cumstccuce, that the skill of God has so divided them, that they cannot combine to crush me. This power to think and act, that I owe to the kindness of God, I will turn against that distracted church that would repress all enquiry, could it but agree within itself. As Daniel, in Babylon, states that he "understood by books the number of the 144 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. H- years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jere- miah the prophet, that he would accomplish sev- enty years in the desolations of Jerusalem,'* so will I, taught by the Spirit, search out those scrip- tural means whereby the weak and captive church may be led back again into its own land. In what follows, we shall attempt to adduce some of the considerations that the bible furnishes for regarding the Christian religion as a system philosophically one : some of the advantages that will accrue from it when, by the grace of God, and the efforts of believers, it shall have been brought into such a condition, and some of those means that shall cause it to come forth as " one faith, one Lord, and one baptism." When we have regard to that set of symbols and incidents that are avowedly the basis of re- vealed theology, we procure the idea of which we are in quest. From these we learn that God chose one people out of all the nations of the earth. Proceeding on this principle, it was a stern decree that the selected race should not depart from the condition, should not mix themselves with any other peoples. When they infringed the order, severe chastisements befel .them. One reason assigned why they were carried hito Babylon is, that they did not destroy the nation". In the ac- count of the Jerusalem, or church of the latter day, it is said, " And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." One who peruses the many references to the cir- ONENESS OF THE CHHISTIAN SYSTEM. 145 cumstance is puzzled to think how Jeliovah can be thus particuliir iu drawing a line between one petty family and another; how he can be thus severe in exacting th j closest attention to hisorders, can be thus terrib'e in visiting with punishment the infraction of the order. It needs the explana- tion, that this is a type, in order to enable us to attach to these incidents the authority and impor- tance due to a portion of the sacred volume. There was a similar oneness about the other institutions of the Old Testament. As one people was the depositary of heaven-descended theology, so one land was invested with the character of sanctity : in it the inheritance of each of the tribes was laid off by divine appointment, and with minute exactitude : it was to be considered that this arrangement was divine and final. Out of the twelve tribes one was chosen to perform cer- tain sacrificial and clerical functions, which are thus described, (Deut. x. 8,) "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day." This enactment was as positive as the others. Fire from heaven descends to consume some of those officials who had offered incense in the sanctuary in a way not prescribed. A person who puts forth his aand to prevent the ark from falling, is not thanked for his officious- ness, but is struck dead on the spot. With simi- lar precision, is a place chosen out of the tribe of 146 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. k'4 w aS r- Judah, where God might put his name : there did hypothetical holiness reside : thither did the peo- ple come up at specified seasons : if in a remote land, they were commanded to worship with their faces turned in the direction of the consecrated spot. One of the heaviest offences committed in the Hebrew annals, is when this institution was violated, and two calves were set up, the one at Bethel, the other at Dan. In the records of the Bible, there is no more imposing part than that which relates the details connected with the building of the temple by Solomon, and the solemnities that took place when it was consecrated. Allusions to this condition of sanctity residing in a specified spot are frequent. Ps. Ixv. 1, "Praise waiteth for thee, God, in Zion; and unto thee shall the vow be performed." Ps. Ixviii. 29, "Because of thy temple at Jerusa- lem shall kings bring presents unto thee." Ps. Ixxvi. 1-4, "In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." The most explicit statement to this effect is probably Psalm Ixxxvii, " His foun- dation is in the holy mountains. - The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, city of God. Selah. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to diem that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia ; this man was born there. ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 147 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there : all my springs are in thee." The enquiring mind asks, Does the Most High take care for buildings, does he coun- tenance the idea that a place, an edifice, can be invested with sanctity ? And if this incident be a symbol, the enquirer desires to be informed whether its intention was not emphatically to de- note the unity of the system shadowed forth. All other parts were in accordance with this. The sacrifices, in regard to their number, quality, and circumstances of time and place, the solemn feasts, the dress of priests and people, the nature of their food, their mode of tillage, the circum- stances of their intercourse with other nations, are all defined. In surveying any part of this econ- omy, the eye lights upon that which is ascertained and uniform: here there is nothing arbitrary: and when it is considered that the articles thus minutely specified, are usually insignificant in themselves, that the infringement of the regulation would, so far as the mere act is concerned, carry with it no bad consequences to the agent or to others ; to what conclusion can we come, but that these rigid definitions are propounded, not on their own account, but because of what they point to. Regulations relating to indifterent matters, as. hy] '< 148 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. for instance, the form and material of an altar, or the mode of wearing the beard; these, guarded by penalties of a severe sort, sometimes by death ; could the idea of unbending unity have been bet- ter cut into the jurisprudence of a nation ? One gathers confirmation for this argument, by attend- ing to the punishments that befal Israel, and which •ire attributed to the circumstance, that it has dealt in an arbitrary way with those rules that it ought to have observed in all their rigour. God's heri- tage is then spoken of as " a speckled bird," and long chapters are filled with statements how dis- tasteful it had become in his sight. The people, with many circumstances of ignominy, are given over into the power of the king of Babylon, whose slaves they become, and from whose people they endure the extremes of contempt and cruelty : in this situation the sacred record describes them as pouring forth their long drawn sighs of agony. Now what is all this ? This excess of humilia- tion represents that which comes of mixture and confusion. But if a type of such magnitude be used to incorporate the thought connected with con- fusion, how greatly opposed must the Supreme be to that which he so shows up ! When the builders of Babel conspired together to rear an edifice whose top should reach the heavens, the Almighty interposed and confounded their language. To this fact the Psalmist makes allusion when (Ps. Iv. 9,) he says, " Destroy, Lord, and divide their tongues ; for I have seen violence and strife in ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 14[> the city." But it matters not to Jehovah, that certain rude people entertain high thoughts of themselves, when with ignorant ideas about the canopy above them, they proceed to build a tower of very calculable altitude. He would not think it worth while to give his interposition in such an instance a place in the book of life, unless the literal fact contained withiu it a broader and deeper truth. But if he interfered in the way re- lated, and produced confusion, his act was a proof of his displeasure, and so long as they suffered under it, tells the tale that disorder is hateful to God. In passages which portray the church of the latter days we are informed that it is a scene cha- racterized by unity of sentiment: Isa. lii. 8, "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice ; with the voice 1 'ther shall they sing; for they shall see eye to '= yc, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." Joel iii. 17, "So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holj'^ moun- tain ; then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more." But if this be what is predicated of the church, when it becomes agreeable to God, it does not please him before it complies with this description. If it be one of the reasons for which the reformed church is extolled, that there is oneness of idea, it must be a cause why the unreformed church de- serves censure, that it is split into sects. We be- hold the slayers of Christ at the time that they 'iti m m'y^l 150 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. crucified him, parting his garments among them; but if the life of the Redeemer be a figure of the history of his church, it will be hard to shut us out from the opinion, that this particular act de- notes the divided state that was to occur in the church at the time when religion should be put to depth. But a fact that corresponds with one of the most contumelious things that hefel the repre- sentative man, must, when realized in the moral history of the church, be eminently displeasing to the Most High. Paul, addressing the Christians of Corinth, uses this language, — "I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it: For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." But if the apostle could reasonably make disunion a charge against the members of a church, we are entitled to this hour to consider this circum- stance in the same light. In another place, the same Paul speaks of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." But that to which these terms are applicable, is the opposite of that rent and divided thing that we call the Christian religion. There are passages that liken the church to a vine, si body, a temple ; others, that speak of there being a variety of "operations," yet but one spirit; others, that discourse of believers being gathered together in one ; others, that mention " the unity of the spirit." From all such, the inference for which we contend is fairly derived. The objee- ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 151 tion, which the schismatic state of the church raises in the mind of the sane enquirer, is obvi- ated by the sophism, that men are variously organized, that they always have differed, that they will continue to difl'er, and that separate routes may terminate in the same point. By such arguments, the attention of men is diverted from the true state of the case. When theology comes iO attract more of men's minds and inclinations, they will refuse to be deceived by so shallow a sophism. Because men in an unregenerate con- dition, and actuated by selfish motives, live in a disunited state, and pursue their ends without regard to the feelings of each other, that is no reason why they should continue in the same condition when their circumstances are altered. The Spirit of God is invariably described as effect- ing a transformation on human nature. But a being metamorphosed is not amenable to the same rules to which he was subject before the change. It may be very requisite to humanity to live at variance when it is left undisturbed by the en- trance of a higher principle, — but that is no reason why it should exhibit the same phenomena when the circumstances are morally reversed. The in- troduction of the Holy Spirit into human nature is, on scriptural authority, the entrance of God into man — a marriage between the Infinite and the finite. But the divine nature, associated with human nature, is well entitled to give laws, and not to receive them. This being the case, it is m 152 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. useless to make that which men do, under certain circumstances, a rule by which they are to be con- trolled, when the conditions are exactly reversed. Neither is it true that the different roads meet in one point; for, among the creeds that prevail, there arc several that clash in reference to articles that we must hold to be quite contradictory. The Trinitarian and Unitarian, the Calvinist and the Arminian, the believer in particular redemption, and the believer in the salvation of the whole species, — how can it be pretended that they arrive at the same terminus except by some hypothesis that would make it immaterial how we thought in religion ? We go on to remark, that benefits of the best description would arise out of a change, — that, while it enabled men to see correctly, enabled them to see eye to eye. Other sciences have stood in a condition similar to that which theology now occupies. They consisted not so much of principles, but of facts, few or many, not arranged under general laws. While they were in this state, they did not show one, but many aspects to man. They were rather the spheres of fancy than of exact thinking. Persons found in them exercise for the powers that are now bestowed on the romance. Astronomy and chemistry, during many ages, passed through the stage of which we speak. The one subserved superstition, by encouraging the notion that the constellations ex- erted a mysterious influence on the lot of mortals, ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 153 — an idea which, like the fatalism of the Greek tragedy, was very pleasing to fancy. The other, endeavoured to discover a method by which to transmute metals into gold, — a remedy that would be equally applicable to all diseases, — a means whereby life might be indefinitely prolonged. It proceeded on the notion that curious combinations of herbs and other objects, such mixtures as Shak- speare puts into his witches' cauldron, possessed mysteriou .r^.^ 'ties, or were e ..' 'ved with the power of producmg preternatural effects. While these sciences continued to be chiefly a collection of extravagant fancies, it is to be presumed that there was no particular way, — that one method seemed as good as another, and that few salutary results were attained. After they had remained for a certain time in this state, some mind of much vigour appeared, observed phenomena with atten- tion, applied the telescope or the alembic as a ■ means of investigation, found out some general laws, and so laid the foundation of a method which had given proof that it deserved to be fol- lowed. It would be hard to convince theologians that these remarks are applicable to their department, for they are strongly under the impression that their art is in a very advanced posture. The writer heard Chalmers in 1829 commence a course of lectures with the observation, that among the possible things that were to be looked for, a new idea in theology could hardly be reckoned. He K ■V. 154 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. ii- .1. mM' added, that the finest intelligences, through a suc- cession of ages, had applied themselves to its elu- cidation, — that more mind had been bestowed on the Bible than on any other book, the Pandects, we think not excepted, — and that, on the whole, all which could be looked for from any modern commentator is, that he should adduce the thoughts that have been advanced before. Here is a state- ment coming from a high quarter, that runs coun- ter to that which we bring forward, and asserts that theology has long arrived at a very perfect state. It may be fairly presumed that this ex- presses very nearly what the most of the evangel- ical church would be prepared to concur in. This then is the state of theology ; it is rent into a great number of factions, entertaining opinions of the most contradictory kind ; the master spirits of the age evince little regard for it, and the most talent- ed teachers inform their pupils that the science has reached that state at which a new idea is not to be looked for. A system that would commence and proceed in such a manner as that it pursued a fixed method, would have one point at least to recommend it to a disciplined intelligence. He would see in it that which claimed his respect in connexion with other sciences, and he would have no good plea for withholding it here. It must be very fatal to the system that pretends to come down from God out of heaven, that its most eager advocates stipulate that it should not be regarded as amenable to any ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 155 fixed principle. This may not occasion that the man of talent will at once pronounce the message to be an imposture, because, even he does not always reason correctly — even he is the slave of custom and feeling. But it cuts him off: it pre- vents him from feeling the interest that he would otherwise cherish. Be it so, that there is nothing regular or logical in the disposition of the Bible : be it so, that to endow it with such qualities is to do much irreverence to it and to its author: I leave you in possession of your discovery. Since there is such a sweet harmony between this bo^k without law and your idiosyncracy, do you devote yourself to its exposition : you will excuse me from bestowing my efforts in the same way. I do not say that your time is ill employed ; I make no comments upon your tastes and studies; I am willing to receive my theology on trust from you ; J. am ready to believe, on your authority, that this volume is at once lawless and divine. All that I ask is, that I be permitted to choose my own path, and to devote my faculties to pursuits that are susceptible of «l calculus, that are amenable to rules, that admit the application of means to ends. When I have given the pith of the week to those studies which encourage the expectation of results, because they allow the supposition that new ideas may be discovered, I will come, and in an edify- ing style, kneel and bow and look into my hat in honour of your system, which is really refreshing aft«r a great deal of hard thinking, ina^smuch as if |i''':: 156 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEai. it seems to promise salvation to the worshipper, without exacting of him that he should exert his facuUies. If the man of good understanding reasons, cr at least feels in this way, all the blame is not to be laid on him. He has been sedulously instruct- ed to consider that there is no better work in which he can engage than the improvement of his mind. After he has been thoroughly con- vinced of this, and has become enamoured of the pursuit, he is summoned to give his time and ef- forts to a science that rejects causation and agency, and which, according to the representations of its teachers, has a peculiar adaptation to the natures of the imbecile and unlearned. A tendency to regard the Christian religion as one system would induce conviction in cases where at present dislike and contempt are felt. To the view of this theorj'' the many schisms that have existed would be a circumalance that would be referred not to neces- sity but bad management. This, instead of being stated as a law entitled to regulate and to con- tinue, would be represented as an accident that had stolen in, and that must be cast out. In place of being spoken of as that which was compatible with thorough health, it would be described as that which indicated the last extremity of disease. It being conceded that in the very degree in which the Christian religion does not show itself as " one faith," in that extent is it removed from being a science, the admission would be a loud *i;'lt'' ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 157 appeal to the intelligence of thinking persons. We allow you to estimate our weakness by our divisions; we authorize you to make the one the measure of the other: to say this, would be to open up to the view of the uUelligent the expec- tat 'on of great changes, In as far as we are from reconciling all differences — from comprehending all men within the circle of one belief; just so far are our ideas of religion weak or incorrect : In this assertion, there is room on which a thinking spirit might rear the anticipation, that this same Christianity, which has been so misrepresented, contains within it, after all, the healing influences that are to produce the extraordinary effects that the world is yet to undergo. This would be to summon men to come forward and realize in Christianity the very highest things they have seen or attempted, in connexion with the best of those other things that they call sciences. We no longer, as before, draw a line between religion and those branches that you have been in the habit of respecting. We do not tell you that me- thod is applicable to mind and matter, but has no place in that volume which relates how men shall be saved from their sins. We repent of having said to you that you may be an agent in things human ; but that in the economy of grace, all fa- culties are equal, and all means indifferent. When we said this, we took Scripture in the letter; and not being able to do any good, we reasoned re- ligion down to the point at which it excused our 158 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 1 ^■' Ifl* I Vt * ' u ■ fr;' ' i ii j:' 'tl , inefficiency. Looking forth on the visihle works of God; remarking \hc unity of purpose and the grandeur by which they are distinguished; re- membering that, sublime as these are, they are but the siniiHtudes of sacred truths, we make sure of finding in the word the traces of a Deity quite equal to the Creator of the external universe. If the system which we have hitherto extracted from the divine volume, does not realize this con- ception, we are willing to modify and change it, until it gives us a being corresponding with him whom we see in the visible creation. To put it in this way, is without compromise, to propitiate those who hitherto have had little share in constructing the system. You are invited to come in. We need your best powers, because we find at last that we have been terribly beaten by the enemy. We no longer say to you that the religion of Jesus is the antagonist of mental prow- ess; on the contrary, it invites, extols and aug- ments intellect. Neither do we attempt to justify our torn and distracted state. It admits of no palliation : all that we can say for it is, that it is not an accident, but has been distinctly predicted. Beginning from such admissions, the career of re- ligion would be different from what it has been, in the degree that its theory and aspirations were of higher rationality. Holding that there should be MO schism within its compass, it would be obliged to have doctrine of such strength and plainness that there would be less room for objectors to find H ':\ ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 159 fault with it. Believing that facuhy had just as much place in religion as in any other vocation, he who had it not, would not be permitted to go and invent a system that would maintain that he was all the better for being stupid: deeming that the Bible proposed no other agency for converting the world, than that of God acting through good men, they would be compelled to own, if souls were not saved, that it must be charged to want of efficiency in the second cause; considering that there must be the most real agreement among all parts of the Bible, they would be'ieve that their faith and science were at fault, if at any point, they were unable to show the conjistcr;cy of Scripture. Satisfied that a philosophicL.i, not i mechanical conformity, was that at which irrj)^.. ration aimed, where they could not prc^^uce con- viction of mind, they v, ould scorn to ply mm with the influence of base motives. If all the faculty that at present goes to dissever the Christian re- ligion, concurred to give it respectability and force, did so at the prompting of real holiness, with mental elements already in being, vast conse- quences would be effected. But if all this intelli- gence, by acting in concert, thereby procured the means of indefinitely augmeiii ig its own amount, the mind soon fails io be able to realize the result. If it started from premises that recognized the im- measurable vastness of the system on which it went forth, and the willingness of the Creator to increase incalculably the powers of those enquirers if 1 !:( ill 'P'Wa\ 160 ONENESS 01' THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. who put his willingness to the test, then the goal is separated from the eye hy the mist that pours from those high transcendental regions with which the human mind is not yet familiar. And now we proceed, in the last place, to take a look at those means whereby the unity of the faith may be realized. Of these the most direct will be to take action in regard to certain literal ideas and ordinances that are the principal causes of discord, and that stand in the way of a consist- ent mode of interpreting the Scriptures. These objects, although trivial in themselves, are, in our estimation, the principal cause of difficulty. They stand forward as the occasions by which religious communities are held together; and they have this advantage about them, that they are intelli- gible to those who can understand nothing else. The ecclesiastic, without piety, finds in these in- stitutions a most commodious means for obtaining respect, and the appearance of that of which he wants the reality. The ecclesiastic with piety^ obtains by their means a degree of influence which he could not attain by any doctrines that he preaches. There is a sufficient appearance of argument in their favour to occasion that they who defend them seem to have a good case. If there be ninety-nine who profess for one that be- lieves, the large number will stand up for those objects on which they hang their profession ; and the hundredth man will go with the majority. Now, inasmuch as these ordinances are procured ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 161 irs ich by taking Scripture in its literal state, they afford a plea why the whole Bible should be read in the same manner. He who reads the ten command- ments, the celebration of the Passover by Jesus, and the injunction to baptize, thereby sanctions the receiving of a part of the Bible in its formal sense. But there are other parts where the mean- ing is procured by collating one scripture with another. Thus, two different modes of interpre- tation spring up, and it occurs to no man to devise a method whereby the whole might be subjected to a similar treatment. Because there are cere- monies, men, consulting their taste, construct from them diflferent plans of upholstery. Any petty accident connected with one of these externals, suffices as a ground of difference, and becomes a rallying point for a sect. Because the levity of human nature is pleased to associate religion with mere sensuous matters; because men will occa- sionally differ about an attitude or a vestment; because even the multitude can understand and relish such questions, therefore, there is no possi- bility of arriving at agreement, while they subsist. So long as inspiration is understood as seeming to sanction the use of bread and wine ; so long as it is a matter of moment to men whether these elements shall be taken sitting, standing, kneeling, or reclining, so long are communities liable to be torn by miserable disputes. Also, because these ceremonies constrain us to read Scripture literally. m 1*1 i 162 ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. in certain instances they supply a precedent that allows US to consider that Scripture is made up of two sorts of substance, — one to be read as it stands, the other to be excogitated by comparison among many passages. Such an idea, so long as it is countenanced, of course acts as a barrier to any one who should propose a theory that would combine all its parts. In attempting this, he comes into collision with almost the only things in the Bible that are understood and valued, either by the clergy, or the body of the people. If, in order that religion should embrace all men within its grasp, it be necessary that it should become strong ; if, in order to get strength, a gen- eral theory of a uniform and definable sort be requisite, and if this cannot be come at because of the ceremonies, then they, however trivial in themselves, stand associated with important con- sequences. There is a time spoken of in the Old Testament when " there was no king in Israel ; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." If we are in the midst of such a time; if religion be esteemed among us that arbitrary thing that is thus symbolically represented in the book of Judges, " In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through by-ways," then that circumstance is of moment that reduces us to this condition. If, because we insist on having certain ordinances, we are on this 4 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 163 account bound over to a way of understanding Scripture that excludes us from mighty principles, the barrier may be in itself of little moment, but the result is important. I wish, because I believe it to be the mind of the Spirit, to subject all Scripture to one method; I desire to understand no part of it in an isolated and superficial style, but when I propose this, I am met by the ten commandments, and all pas- sages relating to the supper and baptism. But so long as these are kept aloof a general theory can- not have place. In order to arrive at the most characteristic facts of the Bible it must be read in a given order. To quote its own precepts, spirit- ual things must be compared with spiritual; no part of it must be regarded as having any "private interpretation ;" every passage must be brought up to " the analogy of the faith.'' But if there be any portions that are systematically exempted from such rules, the principle cannot be carried out, and the high consequences that would accrue from it cannot be realized. If strength and pre- cision are attainable only by proceeding in a given direction ; if all the influence of the present and the past aro employed to put a wall across that path, then the circumstance out of which this emerges is momentous, because of that which hangs by it. If a theory, one and scientific, be requisite in order so to piece Scripture together as to bring out vast thoughts commensurate with the \.h^' W^f 164 ONENKSS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. character of its author, then the obstacle to this, whatever it he, cannot be too strongly reprobated. After showing up the tendency of the ordinances, to prevent united action, it will be necessary to remove or modify all doctrinal points that are erroneous in whole or in part. If there is ever to be a strong bold system, that is to compel men to come in, we must desist from inculcating the fallacy that mind has no regular siiare in the divine economy, and that it matters not for the accomplishment of the divine purposes what be the quality of the faculties of the agents employed. It must no longer be heard of, that the word of God puts a premium upon imbecility, or favours the notion that in the realm of grace we are not permitted to consider that there is an application of means to ends. In like manner we must cease from propounding such a folly as that regeneration may be effected in a man without addressing his consciousness ; that he is entitled to pass through life saying that he is not sure whe- ther he be saved ; that this want of assurance, so far from telling against him, is to be taken as a proof of his meekness and piety. Further, the tenet must be abjured that would represent reli- gion as commanding us to shut our eyes, and for- bidding us to "judge'' of whatever we see passing around. Also, our method must be altered in re- gard to a number of the most striking passages in the New Testament, which tell of the mighty con- ONENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 1G5 sequences that faith conducts to, or of the singular nearness to the Ahnighty that true religion offers to produce. It has been usual to say of these, that they refer to the apostles, or that they are but strong figures of speech. Before strength can run through the veins of the church, it will be indis- pensable that it shall not be afraid of any of these sayings, but shall insist on working them all up into its. constitution and doctrine. Finally, religion- ists pretend to believe in a triumphant state of Christianity : but they might as well disbelieve, for all the practical benefit that they derive from the hypothesis. They bring it about by means of a change in the divine procedure. Man has no direct share in the transaction. It comes down upon him like a thunder-clap. The Bible must be so read as to give rise to the opinion that this glorious day will never come, until man so co-operates with his Maker as to bring it about. A united and a strong theology must be reputed to be the ordained agen- cy whereby it is to be realized. When men, look- ing wisely and boldly into the future, shall, instead of passively hoping for a change of economy, affirm that there is nothing so large in the prospect but that faith can accomplish, then shall be seen the difference between the religion that has been able to do nothing, and that which shall effect all things. The removal of ordinances and other carnal matters that promote profession and prevent union, strength, and virtue ; the putting aside of to ?! ^ 166 ONENESS OP THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. certain weak and unreasonable doctrines ; the re- taining of certain true opinions, that will be the core of the new system, as they have been the heart of the old ; such are the means whereby the first shall be superseded by the second temple, and Christ's prayer be fulfilled, "that they all may be one." i m 1% ■. !l^;»! ih 5' I'' : LECTURE V. OF THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE, AND THE WANT OF A CONSISTENT METHOD HITHERTO. The Word of God is not in such a state as that the person who pretends to have studied it can put the novice in possession of definite rules by which he, in his turn, may become conversant with it. As far as it is a question of Hebrew or Greek, there is accuracy evinced or attempted; as far as relates to theology, precision is scarcely thought of. Even when a person of a scientific turn is connected with religion, in the sense of be- ing an ecclesiastic, he carries his rigid reasoning to the illustration of a mundane topic, and deems that it would be unsuitably bestowed upon inspi- ration. Persons of a less symmetrical mind urge the prejudice still further ; and not able to distin- guish between imposing and receiving rules, con- sider that they entertain the most pious thoughts who are the furthest removed from imagining the Bible to be a philosophical system. Persons of this class, existing in great numbers, and possess- 168 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. ■:■! ^ I ing a strong hold on the multitude, by the manner in which they work on the feelings, are very dic- tatorial in the way of denouncing all attempts at precision, and take care to represent him who speaks of such things as devoid of piety. The only partisans such a. person would have, in the meantime, are those for whose sympathy he ought to feel little respect, — Sadducees, who dislike the other school, and who, while they may relish logic, have no taste for piety. There are not many who carry their ideas of inspiration so high as to consider that the Divine Word truly .proceeds from God, and that the men Avho were the occasions by whom it came, were only conduits. In the estimation of the majority, God's connexion with it was something quite gen- eral. The Hebrew persons througVi whom it flowed, are credited with the greater part of what bears their name. Their writings are considered to be imbued with the character of the men and the country. Thus, while it is not denied that the volume has some attributes of the divinity, this supposition is not pushed to any high point. Hence, we are constantly reminded of the Oriental warmth — the fervent imagery peculiar to the East. Were you to ask these persons, to acknowledge that the reasoning of the volume was finer, subtler, deeper than what is to be found anywhere else, their thoughts would revert to Egypt or the wil- derness, to Samuel or Amos; and they would deem that a man was actuated by a strange spirit I*,' INTERPRET A.TION OP SCRIPTURE. 169 of mysticism, who looked for close argument from so remote a period and such unlettered men. This is not surprising. If the channels through which the message flowed are in any degree con- founded with the fountain head, this way of rea- soning is a natural result. If, instead of Jehovah himself and none other coming forward to our notice, the mind lights upon some small Hebrew character, it is not strange that it should be found difficult to invest his writing with anything more than a certain simple sincerity. If the libel be re- stricted to Moses, Isaiah or Paul, it follows in a very easy Avay that you find yourself speaking about them in a manner that would imply that they are not above the failings of their age and country. There is another class that think more correctly of inspiration. In this point their theology is just, though their heads are soft. They find no diffi- culty in realizing the idea that the whole Bible issues forth from God. But then their notions of the literary character of the Deity are singularly moderate. They allow that the Supreme spoke by David and Daniel ; but we do not gain much by their admission. As soon as — taking them at their word — we go up to the Bible, expecting to find in it a message having characteristics worthy of its author, they virtually retract what they had before conceded. They will have none of your premises, and propositions, and arguments, regu- larly constructed. They will not allow that the 170 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. '•»* God who endowed Aristotle, Bacon and Newton, with the power to sustain a connected train of rea- soning, should exhibit similar properties in his own work. Qualities which, being found in the most intellectual of the creatures, might be sup- posed to exist in a higher degree in the Creator, you are not to look for in the Word. Here, you are told, is food for babes. Here you will find a charming "simplicity," of which the evangelical palate has a peculiar and pungent perception. He who would find strong compacted argument, is reminded about babes and sucklings, and philoso- phy falsely so called, and the wisdom of God being foolishness with men. From neither class can a system be obtained that enables you to interpret the whole record ac- cording to a recognized plan. They who, psycho- logically speaking, are capable of valuing high mental characteristics, are precluded, by their theory, from finding much of such qualities in the Bible. They entertain you with remarks on He- brew poetry, and the tendency of the Orientals to an inflated rhetoric. They whose notions of theo- logy allow them to think that it is God who speaks in the Bible, have such baby thoughts of Deity, that you can derive no help from them in the way of forming a system that will enable you to tell your neighbour in what way the word of God should be studied. For reasons such as those we have named, the Bible, as yet, is an absolute chaos. We say that INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 171 it consists of two parts, the Old and the New Tes- taments: we further arrange it perhaps under the heads of ceremonial, historical, prophetic and tloctrinal portions: possibly we declare it to be Trinitarian and Calvinistic, but anything much more precise we do not advance. Why, at irre- gular intervals, we light upon a passage, and perceiving analogy between it and other scrip- tures, we declare it to be a type ; why no attempt is made to treat adjoining scriptures in the same way ; why we pronounce ail t ;ripture to be pro- fitable, and then regard immense tracts as if they were mere lists of names, or fittings Ibr a taber- nacle; why, after pronouncing the whole to be pure, we leave unexplained whole chapters that €nter into the details of the grossest transactions, or that command the doing of that which we do not believe that it would be proper to do now ; why we take considerable part«of the life of Christ as if they had a double meaning, and do not ex- tend this opinion to the wibole section; why we consider that the official privileges of the apostles have descended, and that the spiritual graces and faculties menitioned alongside of them, were con- fined to the apostolic period ; why we should pro- nounce the New Testament to be of moral and doctrinal texture, deal with portions as if they were mystical, yet assign no rule when the one and when the other condition is to be expected ; why we should allow the impression to go abroad that the acts of the apostles are of the same authority 172 INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. ¥: > If''? mi ? as their writings; why we should be ready to slip from this predicament when some partir»7] n act of obvious faultiness is pointed out; why /ru then we should propound no general principle on the subject; why we should explain part of the Apocalypse by collating it with Daniel, and other portions by comparing them with Gibbon or Hal- lam's Middle Ages, — why we should perpetrate these, and a great many other inconsistencies, re- mains to be explained. He that would undertake to hold up such facts to the view of any section of the church would not be thanked. He would be met with infinite equivocation. He would be accused of infidel views. Many would not understand what he meant. They who did, would not see that he was actuated by any commendable feelings. Believ- ing that the word of God is lofty science, and that its correct exposition will yet turn out to be the moving principle toward all the sciences: believ- ing that nothing could well be more incoherent or arbitrary than the aspect which the Bible exhibits to mankind: believing that Christ's reproach is yet to be removed, and that Joshua is to be strip- ped of his filthy garments: considering also that a regular and consistent method of i^nterpreting the Scriptures is a necessary precursor of any such better time, we proceed to throw out some general notices that profess to be means conducting to- ward the conclusion to which we have just ad- verted. INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 173 I. One of the most general questions that oan bo raised, is this, What is the texture of the Bible ? Is it one, or is it of many sorts ? Although no V jry precise deliverances have been given out oil this head, it has been dealt with practically as if there were several soils. Without much pre- tence at system, nine-tenths were read in the way that they stood ; the remainder was viewed as cere- monial or mystical, and was studied by comparing several passages together. The leading person- ages among the Patriarchs were taken as repre- sentative-men, but the other men and incidents by which they were surrounded were left in the let- ter. In Egypt, Joseph, Moses and Aaron were carried over; but Goshen and Pharaoh and the magicians, the fat and the lean kine, were left in their natural state. In the wilderness, a few pro- minent scenes were turned into doctrinal matter, but by much the greater part was left unreclaimed ; and so of all the other books. Here was a pas- sage that successive authorities had taught us to consider typical: here another that we read as containing a historical statement, from which it was pretended that a moral might be derived : here a third which, although intelligible, was not looked upon as meant for any modern use : here a fourth, that to the eye and ear appeared nothing more than a list of appellatives, and from which it was plain that no nutriment could be got. As far as there was any general rule for pro- phecy it seemed to be this, that the prophecies j's'4t 174 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. s|: I mi W.^'^ of the Old Testament had their fulfilment in the events that befel the Jews. Yet even this very- general idea was not adhered to. Parts of Daniel and the other prophets were made to coincide with the Apocalypse. The New Testament, on the whole, was represented as doctrinal: yet, there were large deductions from that hypothesis. The parables and many of the acts of Jesus were allow- ed to have two meanings. Probably Pentecost and its incidents were tacitly regarded as of the like complexion. At every turn in the course of the Epistles you were told that the matter was mystical, and the book of Revelation, although constituting part of the New Testament, was held to be more imbued with that character than any other part of the Bible. Here, then, was an extraordinary chaos: thrown together on principles that no one pretended tO" explain, were ceremonial, historical, and mystical portions; passages that were understood, and from which lessons were derived ; others, intelli- gible, but obsolete as rf;gards use; others that yielded no meaning at all. If these portions had even stood oif from each other as separate books, there would have been this m' ch of warning to know when to look for one, when for another, the case would not have been so perplexing ; but mixed up together, as they are, in the same chap- ter, verse tenth being of one quality, and verse eleventh of an opposite, the mind that aims at system and science does not know what to think. W INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 175 It may be all very fine for those who have no other rule but feeling, to give out that there is nothing in all this incompatible with a divine re- velation ; there are others who possessing sounder intellects cannot be so easily pleased. In the logic of Aristotle, the mathematics of Euclid, the astron- omy of Newton, or the political economy of Smith, they have found order ; in such books they have seen things assorted. They are not to be blamed if they do not all at once acquiesce in admiring a volume whose literary qualities appear very much below those of mere human productions. A mind in which sentiment predominates cannot discern, such an objection. Convinced perhaps in a gen- uine way of the holiness of the volume, it is in no degree staggered by the miscellaneous nature of its contents. An intelligence that has seen ar- rangement and symmetry in the works of finite beings may be pardoned if it is shocked by the complete absence of these properties in what pro- fesses to emanate from the infinite God. We, pretending to have been spiritually con- vinced of the divinity of the message, also venture to declare it to be a book having the unity and regu- larity that it has been supposed to want. Accept- ing the greater number of the types that have been already received, attaching to them a mean- ing similar to that with which they have been endowed, we regard them as standing in the midst of soil of the same substance with themselves. We look upon them as differing in no respect from I 176 INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 1. -'■ m life II lif' 'T*'-' $ .: '■■*!', . ifv> ":^a>- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ISO 21 |2.5 U^ IM 12.2 us lU u lAO I iy& 1.25 1 1.4 |||||i^ .4 6" ► '/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO (716)873-4303 186 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. [4''h the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth:" The other is, "The children of thy elect sister greet thee." The book of Revelation is easily shown to be a circle containing the two phases that we have already referred to. It com- mences with the story of seven churches, which are all in J3sia, or the muddy state. Ephesus, desirable, in its name and its description suits the apostolic period. Smyrna, myrrh, which is threat- ened with tribulation ten days, is readily supposed to be that era that was subjected to the cruelty inflicted by Paganism on young Christianity. Pergamos, elevation, that dwells " where Satan's seat is, seems to answer very exactly to the haughty institution that the church became after the time of Constantine. Thyatira, the sacrifice of contri- tion, aptly expresses the system of will-worship that came in and turned the church into a mas- querade. Sardis, the dregs, expresses that singu- larly dark period that preceded Wickliffe. Phila- delphia, the love of a brother or a sister, answers to the reforming time that ran perhaps from 1370 to 1660. Laodicea, the just people, corresponds with the period of conformity and rotary motion that has now lasted for nearly two centuries. To all appearance the line of the churches runs par- allel with that of the seven seals, which include the trumpets ; and the one is to be investigated by means of the other. The first part of this book, by means of the churches, the seals, and some other machinery, deals with the events of carnal INTERPBETATIOX OF SCAIFTURE. 187 Christianity: the second portion, which is the shorter, treats of a battle fought and won, the caging of Satan ; and the New Jerusalem which comes down from God out of heaven. In addition to cycles of considerable diameter, such as those we have mentioned, it is also plain that wheel within wheel often occurs, and that the life of an indi- vidual sometimes affords a portrait in miniature of that which is more largely drawn by the story of the race. Exposition will deserve to be considered scien- tific when it shall have determined the number of these circles, great and small. One man will then be able to tell his neighbour in what the study of theology consists. We have ascertained , that a given number of wheels compose the mechanism of that book in which God confers with the human race. Ea^^-h of these, in its own way, tells how the work of redemption is accomplished. Qur system lies in bringing them all into relation. We find a statement in one : we regard our view as complete when we have traced it through the whole number. When the cogs of all the wheels fit in, we consider that we have arrived at a pre- concerted arrangement of the Most High. If the wheels of one sort and another should turn out to be very numerous, as we believe them to be, the results would be derived from a great many di- rections. . A theological opinion, fully evolved, wou]d mean, a whole made up of a variety of fragments. m 188 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. Analogies so multifarious combining to form a result so obvious when found, so hard to find, would dispel the notion that it was arbitrary work. It would come to be matter of arithmetical calcu- lation what was the fraction that expressed the improbability that these relations were accidental. It being found that the evidence was stronger than that which determined us in any other case, the reproach would be removed from theology, be- cause it would be shown, that of all sciences it called into exercise the most subtle discrimination, and of all it afforded the amplest and least contro- vertible proof. III. The next point to which we refer is one of a more minute sort than the foregoing. If our ideas as to inspiration be erroneous or vague, all our views of the composition and style of Scrip- ture will be affected in proportion. If, like the philologists, we have not the Spirit, and rely on grammar: if, like the evangelical school, our piety does not hinder that we should have the most baby-like notions of a divine message ; in either case, we will not credit Scripture with the highest qualities. In the one case, it will be Moses, David or Paul that writes; and in place of the interpre- tation proceeding on the hypothesis tb * the rea- soning must be divinely close and seve and that the clothing must be supremely suitable and ele- gant, different expedients will be resorted to. It will be considered that old Hebrews are the per- sons to be dealt with ; and when anything unin- INTBBPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 189 telligible or peculiar occurs, this will be explained by some accident relating to the man, the time, or the country. In the other case, the mind of the percipient rejecting all that is scientific, will find its own counterpart in that on which it looks ; will not be oflfended by apparent looseness of expres- sion, and instead of clearing up a point by looking far into it, will evade it by some weak sophism. No one but the evangelical man can have any real understanding of the word of God; but if the constitution of his mind be singularly narrow and inaccurate, he has the Spirit in such a way that interpretation is not benefited by his influence. Owing to the essential vice inherent in both these classes of minds, we know of nothing that has been done in the way of exposition that has been at once holy and scientific. When you read the disquisitions of Lowth or Campbell, you feel that the spirit of the Bible is hidden from them ; and hence it seems to you more than doubtful if they can offer anything that is really valuable in regard to its letter. When you turn to the com- ments of Henry, Doddridge or Hawker, you are conscious that it is a pious person who attempts to expound, but you perceive at the same time that he is unable to grapple with a principle, that he cannot follow out a train of reasoning, that he drops the stiches, that he brings out a Bible that is disjointed like his own mind, and that he is offended if you suggest that the Holy Spirit de- signed anything more precise than he has allowed m, m i 190 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 1 i ni II for. Let those who wish to examine the truth of this allegation fix upon some passages that have been admitted to be obscure. Let them then turn to one of the evangelical expositors : it is a chance if they will even find the admission that here is a difficulty. It is a certainty that they will see no definite attempt made to solve it. They will pro- bably perceive that some petty improvement has been grounded upon the passage in question, and that this, trifling as it is, is improperly annexed to that whose meaning has not been evolved. Proceeding from such interpretation, incorrect canons have been set up. Thus, one part of Scrip- ture is said to be highly metaphorical, and being so, any part which puzzles the interpreter is re- ferred to this fact. Here is a passage that con- veys no meaning, or one at least that helps us to no pious conclusion. It is an Eastern mode of expression. It is a bold metaphor, characteristic of the land of the sun. We have investigated a great number of such instances, and have found that the canon was mistaken. High theory, apart from experience, ought to conduct to this conclu- sion. A divine message should, on a priori prin- ciples, be absolutely correct. Written by the Being who is emphatically the Spirit of Truth, it ought to be, not an approach to, but the very truth itself. Observation confirms what theory would suggest. Where we have examined these pretended meta- phors, we have found that they were so only on the surface. When they were brought into con- INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 191 th of have turn lance 3 is a e no pro- has , and :ed to nexion with other scriptures, the figure disap- peared, and they turned out to be the most literal statement of a spiritual truth. Thus, the expres- sions in the nineteenth Psalm — " Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." This is a metaphor only to the eye. When taken into the circulation, it be- comes a rigid truth, because it then expresses what shall be fully realized — that the light of divine truth shall pervade the world. There is a scripture which, speaking of the Israelites in the wilderness, says, "they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them.^^ Here is an expression that we need to designate a bold metaphor, unless we discern the absolute truth which it symbolizes, namely, that in the wanderings of the Israel of the New Testament, the waters of divine truth follow them. Sometimes, as in the last case, the meta- phor is not so much bold as it is mixed, combin- ing two incongruous ideas, and producing a result that is, rhetorically speaking, defective. Our in- terpreters would think it wrong to see such cases: they would think it right, if the discrepancy was pointed out, to deny that it was so. We have analyzed a sufficient number of bold and mixed metaphors to be able to say, without hesitation, that they are made so, not by a Hebrew accident, but by the careful forethought of the Spirit that *' -.■». :#!r I Ids I»fTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTtrHlJ. ^1 "VTorketh all and in all. They are rendered thus glaring, thus bizarre, with the wise and benevo- lent design of drawing attention to the thought over which they are drawn. We have verified this already in such a number of cases, that we impose it as our canon, that when any passage is led up to the analogy of the faith, the simile dis- appears, and an idea emerges that is spiritually and severely just. Again: It is among the rules of criticism, that the Bible contains hyperbole and pleonasm, and it is an admitted principle that these anomalies are to be accounted for by local and temporary pecu- liarities. Like others, we began by believing this: we have ended by deeming it a fallacy, the result of imperfect analysis, and very detrimental to the truth. These features have been princi- pally attributed to what are called the poetical books, — Job, the Psalms, and the Prophets. In this case too we pretend to have made numerous enquiries. The result is, that we have been struck with the complete incorrectness of the principle. Those instances where there appears to be repeti- tion, or tautology, are always found to be cases where two or more aspects of one thought are held up to view, or examples where the idea is put both in a figurative and in a direct manner. This is so frequent a circumstance, that one can- not turn to a page of any of these books without meeting an instance. So far from tautology being the effect, one feels that the second clause comes llil INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 193 in with divine delicacy and subtlety to fix the meaning of that which would have been ambigu- ous without this explanation. As to hyperbole, it is chargeable enough on the passages in ques- tion, if the literal reading be followed. Thus, if the imagery of the eighteenth Psalm is all to be applied to the petty history of the natural David, it needs all that can be alleged in reference to Oriental warmth to enable us to accept it : If the various bold metaphors used in the 114th Psalm are supposed to be completely absorbed and taken up by the passing out of Egypt : If the 68th Psalm is to be devoted to nothing higher than the events of the wilderness and the entering into Canaan, then the term hyperbole has been right- fully applied to the Bible. Such difficulties are fully obviated by substituting the spiritual for the natural ; in which way, the description ceases to be exaggerated, and becomes the fittest possible exponent of the thought which it represents. There is another characteristic predicated of Scripture, and sophistically accounted for. It is described as fragmentary. Nowhere has this quality been supposed to reside more fully than in the discourses of Christ. God assumes a human form, and speaks fitfully to his disciples. We do not allege that this is an impossible supposition, but it looks very unlikely. Here is a being whose mind might be expected to be the perfection of system. He speaks those things that are to be the study of his people to the end of time. On li 194 INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. such a theme, on such occasions, one might pro- perly look for extreme accuracy. But it turns out that they are unconnected, and^he solution of this is given in the circumstance, that what we have is as connected as could be looked for from the situation of the Apostles who heard and recorded. The Holy Spirit, having the range of the universe, could contrive it no better than this, that the most important of sayings were pronounced under such inauspicious conditions, and in the presence of such imperfect auditors, that the churches have been furnished with but a partial statement of what was uttered. Here too we disallow the theory in all its extent. It docs the greatest in- justice to that which it professes to solve. We have explored some part of this territory also, and can spfeak from experience of what it contains. In twenty instances at least wc have canvassed passages that are arranged as if they stood off from each other, and have found a subtle and beautiful link that really joined them. So often has this happened to us, that we pronounce unhesitatingly against the decision above mentioned. Nothing that we have seen, in the way of connexion, ex- ceeds the closeness by which the thoughts are conjoined in the discourses of Christ. Wherever we have examined, the difficulty has consisted in supplying a member that was intentionally omit- ted, but which was suggested at once by what preceded and by what followed. Thus, we consider that vast injustice has been INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE, 195 done to the word of God by unspiritual or weak commentators, who have pretended to lay down rules for its exposition. When they have repre- sented it as metaphorical, pleonastic, tautological, or fragmentary ; when they have explained these defects by attributing them to the human conduits through which it reached the earth, they have done it egregious injustice. When the Bible re- lates the manner of its inspiration, it does not seem to confound the message with the messen- ger, " Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ;*' and cases are mentioned in which it is plain that the prophet did not understand the nature of his own commu- nication. In violating this principle, indescribable wrong has been inflicted on the word of God. In speaking of itself, it says, " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." But if they who stand between it and the human race describe it as imperfect in many respects ; if they show it up as containing faults from which the compositions of many mortals are exempt, how shall we realize it as the august transcript of Him who made heaven and earth ? The church is rent into many sects that dislike each other. The members of these are, with few exceptions, persons that feel no real interest in religion. We are many in name ; we are unre- I 100 INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. s^cneratc in character. A mode of exposition of the sort that we have alluded to, furnishes an ex- planation of all this. It is not to be anticipated that Satan should be driven out of the earth by a system of theology that asks that we should step in and apologize for its amiable weaknesses. The "cherub that covereth" is not to be outgeneraled by a hypothesis that believes in certain old He- brews who, with some concurrence on the part of God, composed a volume that, on the whole, is sacred and designed to regenerate men, although in some places it is turgid, in some paraphrastic, in some capricious and fitful, and in some unin- telligible. ' IV. Another question that concerns the exposi- tion of Scripture is this, What is the relation that the Bible holds to science ? Does it abstain from any mention of subjects of this kind, — does it speak of them in a general way, so as to impose no principle, — or are its notices of such a kind as that they lay down cardinal doctrines ? We in- cline to consider that the last supposition is that which expresses the truth. The considerations that dispose us to entertain this idea are such as the following: It is plain that the. Bible, if it be anything, is a message direct from God to his creatures ; it is also plain that in this book there are frequent allusions to the phenomena of mind and matter. But if these occur, how far is it probable that they should be of a kind that is not scientific ? This book, speaking of the Godhead, INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. J 97 uses the language, " In whom are hid all the trea- sures of wisdom and knowledge." But the Bible is in an eminent sense a revelation of the doings of the Godhead : how far is it likely that, disclos- ing the sacred purposes of these three, it should withhold the mention of the wisdom and know- ledge that are connected with them. The reveal- ed recipe for getting wisdom is to ask of God; but if he bestows it as he promises to do, does he so give it as that it runs only in one direction ? Is it a fair and candid thing to restrict the general term wisdom to a mere acquaintance with theology? It is said, concerning all who keep God's com- mandments, that they have a good understanding : Why should this quality be viewed as having but one line and object? In speaking of gifts that flow from the Spirit, the Bible says, " To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to an- other, the word of knowledge by the same spirit." Surely there seems more likelihood that these terms are meant to sti tch out to their full capa- city, rather than that they are designed to be con- tracted to express theology only. The Bible is very frequent in its statements that all things are made by the same God who is its author : Is it probable then that his references to his own works will be otherwise than scientific ? The Scriptures often declare that God refuses no good gift to them that love him : If such be the case, shall not the pursuit of divine things conduct to science, which is surely a good gift ? The knowledge of God, hi 0! G# p '-if* m mm 198 INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. through the Christian religion, is the greatest attainment that a human being can reach : but if faith necessarily conducts to this, why should it not be supposed to take up, as it wends on its way, the smaller facts that are comprehended in what we call science ? Of the two departments of mind and matter that are considered as making up science, the first is by much the most important ; but the Christian religion stands connected with mind at every point. All its conquests are of a mental kind. It is said of the model personage, that he knew what was in man. All these circumstances infer, that religion is at least intimately conjoined with men- tal science ; and if with it, with by much the most important of the two branches. I am told to go forth and evangelize the world: this idea, decom- posed, implies that I am to go and prevail over mind; and this involves that I should have a mas- terly knowledge of that which I am commanded to sway. Here then is one half of science, that appears, by necessity, to fall within the compass of revela- tion. In regard to matter, the other half, we can, in the mean time, allege, that it has this much of connexion with the Bible, — that the*outward world is employed as a symbol of the unseen world. In this capacity, if in no other, the allusions to it must be frequeiit : Is it to be supposed that these will not be of a scientific nature ? Is it likely that the material world should be alluded to some hun- INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 199 tired times perhaps, and yet that all these passages put together will not amount to the propounding of some one leading principle ? In a more g'^neral way, it is certainly the office of religion to render a man master over passion ; to teach him to apply his mind to what is of con- sequence ; to strengthen his powers in the ratio that the spirit of truth is superior to the spirit of error. A being thus directed and strengthened, is he not to be looked upon as placed in a truer rela- tion to science, even if he should not be able to point to any particular truths as derived through the medium of revelation. The believer must contemplate that he is called upon to enter into discussion with those who will derive their objec- tions to revelation from mental or material science. Must he rest satisfied, through the whole coming discussion, to pray to be excused from entering upon such subjects? Shall his neighbour, who has a knack, be continually superior to him in these departments? Must the Christian, as at present, confine himself to assuring his antagonist that if he would only look into his heart he would find a great deal of the truest wisdom there ? God enjoins his people to spiritualize the earth. He therefore contemplates that they will come into collision with men of all kinds. He therefore ap- points that they will meet the scientific person. But if he predicts that they shall prevail, he de- signs to supply the means that they shall not be worsted in tho encounter. Does not this supply ^' I m i;rBL 200 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. a general argument why, in acquiring godliness, it should be looked for that the Christian is, by- some means, put into an advantageous position as regards science ? Finally : It may be alleged, that there is a num- ber of instances in which Scripture makes notices of facts pertaining to mind and matter that deserve to be viewed as scientific. One passage speaks of his stretching " out the north over the empty place and hanging the earth upon nothing," which surely, if it means anything, means this, that the suspension of the earth in vacuum is affirmed, — a principle that probably involves its rotundity, and the mode by which it is kept in its place. Another scripture appears to describe the circular course of the winds, — a feature that we had remarked before we heard of the modern theory: "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits." If this passage seems to contain the rotary course of the wind, the next looks as if it set forth the doctrine of evaporation : " All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." The next text might*, without undue fancy, be conceived to contain the gaseous doc- trine, at least when the literal sense is taken : "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do ap- INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTXTRB. 301 pear." When it is said, " AH that is in the world, the hist of the flesh, and the hist of the eyes, and the pride of hfe, is not of the Father, but is of the world," there seems to be a classification of the powers of human nature into propensities, percep- tive and thinking faculties. When in another place we see the expression, "Even their mind and conscience is defiled," we consider that we are allowed to suppose that a classification of th^ mental powers into intellectual and moral is de- signed. When the theory has gone so decidedly against the expectation of finding science in the Bible, it is not surprising that it has not been discovered, even supposing it to be there. For reasons such as those we have adduced, we incline to believe that at least the general principles will be ascer- tained to be promulgated by the word of God. They who have hitherto applied themselves to the investigation of mind have had so little success, that, after performing many revolutions, they have recently came round to a foolish Platonic princi- ple, propounded many centuries ago. They could not therefore affirm that help from revelation woul4 be thrown away upon them. The examiners of matter consider that their enquiries have been attended with much success, at least in the last two centuries. Even among them the progress is full of difficulty, and constantly liable to be im- peded. To have the divine Word coming in to the rescue, would certainly invest religion with addl> N 202 INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. tional dignity, would unquestionably hurry for- ward the progress of knowledge, and might be an eminent instrument in realizing those prodigious results that prophecy conjoins with the circum- stances of the latter day, — results that we must feel are not attainable by present agencies and modes of progression. V. Another point that we consider to be very essential toward a correct mode of interpreting the Word is that the method should be esoteric. This truth is taught in the well known passage in Peter, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scrip- ture is of any private interpretation. For the pro- phecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The same idea is contained in this other text, "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." It is also pro- pounded in an expression in Romans, " Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion (analogy) of faith." This doctrine would seem to floyv from the high theory of the subject. If the Scripture be the words of Divinity, its texture must be quite peculiar. Being so, it does not seem natural that any thing but itself should be the interpreter. To call in foreign aid looks as if we called upon something else than God to in- INTERPRETATION OP SCRIPTURE. 203 form us what God meant. This principle has not been altogether lost sight of. That limited amount of comparisons that have been made, and that are authorized in our evangelical commentaries, have been obtamed in consequence of proceeding on this doctrine. Those analogies that such men as Henry and Doddridge have pointed out, have been found by acting on this idea. Still, it has not been stringently managed. No rigorous attempt has been made to carry it out to the regularity of a system. What man ever heard of a set of rules informing us how Scripture was to be collated, and how many analogies were necessary before it could be considered that a truth had been arrived at ? To have thrown the thoughts in any direc- tion so precise as this, would have been regarded as offering an affront to the Divine Word. On the other hand, while a few pious persons have done a little in the way of eliciting the sense of Scripture by means of comparing it with itself, the method by much the most general has been to collate it with external objects. We cannot better illustrate this than by referring to Bishop New- ton's work on prophecy, — in which, if we remem- ber aright, the prophets of the Old Testament are tested by any secular writers who flourished at or about their time, and the prophets of the New Testament are illustrated by means of Josephus, Tacitus, Gibbon, Hallam, and Hume. In this case, we have a flagrant exemplification of the principle which we deprecate. In fact, whenever I ;aB '' ■ K fi. •fa f (I' ii 904 INTBBFRETATION OF SCHIPTURE. a passage more than commonly obscure confronts the critic, ho gets rid of it in this way, by connect- ing it with some real or fancied peculiarity of the time or country to which it belongs. Thus Scripture has in a few instances, and with- out a regular method, been subjected to an evan- gelical way of interpretation, b3r which means any holy ideas that we entertain in regard to it have been procured. Much more frequently it has been exposed to the other method, that has pretended to discover explanations in the events of profane history, in the habits of different countries, in the phenomena of natural history, or in the peculiar- ities of language. Consequences, ludicrous and abominable, have been the result. By this means the seven churches in Asia, instead of affording us the stages of the gospel church, have been ex- plained by the events that befell, or are supposed to have befallen, actual Ephesus, and Sardis, and Iiaodicea. By this means the influence in the Apocalypse, whose power is in its tail, is explained by gunpowder and artillery; the horsemen, in the same book, by the Saracens; the false prophet, by Mahomet; the seven hills, by Rome; the beast, by the Papistry. Having, during several years, teen persuaded that the esoteric is the only right method, we have subjected to it parts of Scripture that had been left in a state of nature, and have found it possible to discover manifold analogies between them and other portions. We have applied the XNTEHPRBTATION of SCRIVTirilB. sm principle to a mviltitude of texts that had virtually been considered to have no meaning, and have seldom seen it fail to bring omt a solution that was at once orthodox and palpable. We have taken the method up to such passages as those that we exemplified in Revelation, and have obtained from them ideas that threw much light on doctrine and the coming history of the church. By means of this calculus, we have turned the seven churches and the seven seals, into seven stages of the Chris- tian church, preceding the breaking up of the bad era. What was explained as incursions of Goths and Ottomans, we have rendered into invasions of spurious principles; the false prophet, we have discovered in the influence that perverts Scripture and prophecy ; Babylon, we have found to mean a state of confusion, consequent upon ceremonies and discordant opinions; the drying up of the river Euphrates, we explain as the removal of those causes that have given security to Babylon; the slaying of the witnesses, the retirement of the woman into t\\e wilderness, the prevalence of the beast, — ^which three phenomena take place in con- tiguous chapters, and are eaeh described as last- ing during the same period of forty and two months, — these we have interpreted as three dif- ferent phases of the empire of evil. In all future time we consider that the mind of the Spirit can be unwrapped by no other method. Feelings and experiences, suggested to the believer on the walk I 206 INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. of faith, by the Spirit of God, these things prompting him to enquiry, this enquiry finding parts of Scripture that correspond and unite to- gether to compose a new truth, such, we believe is the divine method. 1 'I • '. I .< MTV /'«'; M» -C* ^m ■y^h '~ K \i''U' ^P^ ,'. > R' ,!' \\l-.> ■-• H ' > ! ' ,! »!■ I- r -U' 17 ^y. i : ''i ' ;; • "J? I *. » ^1 LECTURE \I. THE SECOND TEMPLE, OR THE CHURCH OF THE UTTER DAYS. Unless we thought we had something new to offer, we would not write on this subject. In the estimation of some, the era that unites within it- self the many great properties that are assigned to some time or other, is the future state. This is an easy theory, which proposes to reach a condi- tion of ultimate blessedness by a life of no very peculiar eminence, terminated by the usual cir- cumstance of the dissolution of the body. I read of a time in which men are to be placed in a condition widely diflferent from that which they now occupy ; I look at it with the feelings wherewith the lover of romance contemplates some Utopia or Arcadia, that the fancy of musing bard has conjured up ; I feel that the view solicits me to pursue a holy life, but I do not perceive that I can do anything to hasten or insure the result. In the estimation of others, the scene to which these great descriptions are applicable, is to be i m I ^'.i 208 THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. # m realized on this earth. But before it comes on, there is to be a change in the economy. Jesus, attended by the holy angels, is to appear on the scene ; the legions of darkness are to fly before him, and virtue is to gain the day, not because there is any element, at present in existence, that is able to change the state of the world, but be- cause after men have, for a given time, battled with evil, without much coming of it, a superior power interposes. Metaphysically speaking, there is a diflerence between these ideas. Practically considered, the difference is small, if any. They both agree in believing, that from our present Christianity, as revealed in the Bible, it would be impossible to draw out forces that would give birth to the era in whose advent they nevertheless repose trust. They both concur in the opinion, that men are to have no direct share in realizing that which shall be Paradise when it comes. In mentioning these two classes, we probably exhaust the subject. There are, probably, ten- dencies in being, out of which another class may yet arise, but hitherto they have not cohered into any definite form or course of action. Persons belonging to this category might be conceived to argue in the following manner. The powers of the Christian religion, so far from being fully tested, have, as yet, scarcely been brought into opera- tion. So far back as the days of Noah, it was predicted that ungodliness should deluge the earth. THE CHURCH 07 THE LATTER DAYS. 209 nnd the resemblance between the two periods has been brought into notice by the remarks of Christ. Jacob, toO) when he was a dying, foretold that €vil, beginning with the first of his twelve sons, should go on augmenting. *< Reuben thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excel- lency of power; unstable as water, thou shall not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defilest thou it; he went up to my couch.'* Wrong doing, commencing with the first of these representative men, seemingly reaches its acme in Dan, of whom it is said, " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, Lord." Between this, and the lamentable com- plaint of the church in Revelation, there is a vis- ible analogy. "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held ; and they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" > ■ They who maintained the argument in question would farther allege, that this doctrine of declen- sion is taught in the circumstance, that the people, after they had entered Canaan, mider Joshua, fell away in the time of the Judges. " And the peo- ple served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and I' I- 'i' il 210 THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DATS. i all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, heing an hundred and ten yeai o old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." Our rea- soners might contend that the like truth came out from the events that occur under the Kings. Evil which had evinced itself under Solomon at- tained to a great height under Rehoboam, and continues on with partial reforms until the nation is carried awiiy into Babylon. Thus it would be argued, that the Old Testa- ment contains several circles, from each of which this truth can be derived. Turning to the New Testament, it might be argued that it likewise affords many situations that give out the same idea. Thus the Disciples say to Jesus, "Tell us when shall these -things be ? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" In answer to the questio^i, he speaks of wars and rumours of wars, of pestilences, famines, and earthquakes, of false Christs, of times so per- nicious, that unless they wer^ shortened, there should no flesh be saved, of doctrines so false and delusive, that, if it were possible, they should THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. 211 deceive the very elect. On another occasion, he says, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world cometli, and hath notbu.g in me." Paul is very express to the same effect, " Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except iliere come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth himself, above all that is called God, or that is wor- shipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Not to mention particularly the perilous times spoken of in Timothy, the rich men in James, the false teachers in Peter, the Antichrist of John, the wicked race so fully drawn by Jude, two-thirds of the Apocalypse are devoted to this subject. The churches, seals, trumpets, and vials, the fate of the two witnesses, the flight of the woman, the sway of the beast, the rule of Babylon, these events occupying twenty out of twenty-two chapters, all point in the same direction, and tell of a wicked era that was to last time, times, and a half. They whom we represent then, would argue that there is an obvious reason why the force of revealed religion should not be considered to have been tested. The period at which we are looking all falls within the scope of the circles to which we have pointed. There is a necessity why tht« must be so. Inasmuch as it has never occurred to the church at any point, from the time of the Apostles to the present hour, to look at the cir* m !i •si' I 212 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. 'w cumstances to which we have adverted, it must stiU be under their pressure. As it cannot be con- ceived that the church can have escaped out of a condition, of whose existence it is not aware, it is therefore the fairest of conclusions that it is still in it. At a time when religionists, all the white that they are mere whited sepulchres, are boasting of their privileges and their attainments, it cannot be supposed that Joshua has parted with his filthy garments, or that men have got rid of that veil of a covering that should be over all nations. Be* fore it has occurred to professing Christians to understand that the dry bones are the whole house of Israel, that the entire nation was led into cap- tivity, and that as regards the beast, it is said of him, "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them ; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world j" before any part, even of the visible church, have apprehended the mean- ing of these situations, there is no room for sup* posing that they have emerged out of them. Wickedness, vast, deep, all-pervading, must be seen in order to be expunged. A community which in place of perceiving that it is the counter* part of a hundred frightful descriptions given by the Lord's prophets, is fully convinced that its condition is, morally speaking, auspicious, cannot If THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. 213 M have comprehended these delineations, and there- fore cannot have washed itself from the pollution that they mention. They whom we would represent, then, see no difficulty in the way' of reaching the glories of the latter day, by means of the system contained in the Bible. They do not require to suppose that Canaan is the disembodied state, nor yet, that in order to come at it, there must be a visible appari- tion of the Saviour. They see that there are in- credible untried powers residing in the Christian religion, and therefore that there is no cause why other fancied expedients should be resorted to. They perceive that there is an adequate explana- tion of the whole career through which the Church has passed, and the situation which it now occu- pies. Nine-tenths of the Bible have received no explanation. The system of doctrine that has been formed on the small patch that has been cultivated, is defective both in quantity and qual- ity. It is corrupted in being mixed up with cere- monies; it is split up into a variety of contending sects; it admits of no one high view; it refers all lofty promises to the apostolic period; it does not allow that one man can do anything palpable to help his neighbour. They, whose position we seek to occupy, believing that there is in the moral world a system of exact causation, see no difficulty in accounting for what has been, and for what is to happen. The past history of the church con- tains no remarkable doings since the age of the '■■■1 "m ■Aii P- 814 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. m Apostles, and that not because of unknown rea- sons, but on this account, that in direct fulfilment of prophecy, such opinions came in as rendered it impossible that religion should flourish. The fu- ture annals of the church are to be crowded with splendid events, and here too, there is prophecy, here there is causation. The coming time is to be glorious, not only because it has been predict- ed, but because there are agencies that can be named beforehand, that shall come into play. In the degree that there is an interval between men going forth to sprinkle their fellows with Avater, and their baptizing them into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in that extent, is there a notable distance between what has been and what shall be done. In the degree that there is a difl:erence between the statements, I can do nothing in the way of converting my neighbour, and the other, that all the miracles that the Lord Jesus wrought on olind, deaf, possessed, and dead, are only signs of "the greater things" that he has commanded me to perform, in all that vast extent is there room for change. The point contemplated, then, in those scrip- tures that relate the circumstances of the latter * day, will be reached by a generation that will hold tenets of the kind that we have named. They will believe that it is to be realized on the earth, and that it is to be un wrapt from the energies of the very gospel that we have possessed for cen- turies. They will point to the precise opinions THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. 2J5 and practices that have hindered progress hitherto. They will show where and how they began, in what manner they advanced, and to what height they reached. They will define the very particu- lars, that in the meantime, at least, shall enter into the new system. They will show that the new will not differ from the old, in the sense that it will reject every element that composed the for- mer system, but that as the second temple was partly reared out of the ruins of the first, so will the improved version of Christianity retain many great leading principles recognized by that which it supercedes. That Christianity, after it has so long disap- pointed all expectation, shoi.ld be spoken of as that which is to put forth extraordinary energies, is an affirmation calculated to arouse vast oppo- sition. The sceptic will think himself peculiarly entitled to disbelieve at this point, seeing that he will find his doubts sanctioned by that very reli- gionist who usually opposes him. In reply to such inward temptations, let us bear in mind that the emergency has been foreseen. At the very outset of the Bible we are admonished to recollect that five days of preliminaries elapse before man is made. Sarah, an admitted type of the church, laughs incredulously at the prediction, that she should bear a son, and the prophecy was accom- plished against the prescribed order of nature. The growth of religion is represented as being as a root out of a dry ground. The story of Israel i It m il 216 THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. W, % points to the good period occurring at the end of their annalr,, and after they have run through many vicissitudes and seasons of alienation from God. Peter touches on this very theme. He represents men as feeling strong objections to this scheme. "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walk- ing after their own lusts, and saying. Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." So, then, we do not affirm that the prospect is a natural one, and that there is no appearance of reason why men should not discredit it. What we do allege is, that Scrip- ture has foreseen, and has provided against the difficulty by supplying a great many passages that are really answers to it. In what follows, our endeavour shall be to no- tice some of the very numerous features that Holy Writ assigns to the church of the latter days. i3ne of these is unity. When they are rearing Babel the speech is confounded, so that one man ceased to be able to understand his neighbour. When they are slaying Christ, they "parted his garments, casting lots.'' Perhaps it should be added that when the Spirit descended at Pentecost it was with the appearance of " cloven tongues.'* At all events, from near the commencement of our religion to the present hour, the disposition has been for religion to branch off into a variety of conflicting opinions. As sad a circumstance as any connected with this fact is this, that we TH£ CHURCH IN THE LATTER DATS. 217 reason down to it. We say that as men are con- stituted, with dissimilar characters, it is to be looked for that their views of religion should be as various as their minds. We make the remark, that intel- ligence and freedom are promoted by competition. We have the disunion, and what is worse, we have theories to prove that it is a fortunate ar- rangement. Yet Scripture speaks of " One Lord, one faith, one baptism:" it represents the Saviour as putting up the petition " That they all may be one." In speaking of the Spirit it is very express in distinguishing between variety of manifestation and imity of nature, — ^' Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit : and there are differ- ences of administrations, but the same Lord : and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." This unity, which in such passages is described as properly belonging to Christianity, is spoken of as attained by the church of the latter days. " Thy watch- men shall lift up the voice : with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion." Thus, that is contemplated which we have never yet beheld. But if a result is predicted that is different from w^at the world has yet seen, to the mind of the reasoner that is as much as to announce the coming in of new agencies. Human beings, who have never before concurred, are to be of one mind in regard to religion. But this end must be reached by means, and by such as '11 -S-' it '■;■.., I' -i m 218 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. I &i If are different from any that have obtained before. If it was a uniformity, in which knowledge had no place, the road to it would not be hard to find. But, as we are informed it is to co-exist along with knowledge which far transcends anything that has been realized before, it must be travelled to along the route of new ideas. Among the means that will assist in leading to this object will be this, — our creed must contain no indifferent or second' ary matters. Philosophically considered, how should a system in which Divinity is present, in- clude any such ? How should a plan, brought into existence by the death of the Son of God, have among its materials elements that may be taken in various ways? The presence of such things in existing creeds is the fertile source of diversity. Men commence by saying they are not of vital consequence; they end by regarding them as the only points entitled to interest. Before the predicted unity can be attained, we must get rid of architecture. The terms of salva- tion must be restricted to tenets in which difference is not supposable. H«^re is our belief. We do not say that you may take it in this way or that. This is what we affirm: that unless jou embrace all matters contained in it, you declare that the Spirit of God and of truth is not in you. To begin a system on the notion that it permits latitude, is to end in diversities and errors that God only can see the termination of. To shut out occasions of difference, it will be TH£ CHURCH OF THE LATTER DATS. 2J9 we necessary that our belief should have regard to no point except such as, according to our very theory, admits of no dispute. In journeying toward unity it will also be necessary that our theology should comprise no element that appeals to the merely animal. Where a creed combines certain externals with its doctrines, there can be no close work. Its abettors perhaps lay it down as a canon, that ihe one set of particulars is as momentous as the other. But they are afraid to keep up to this statement. They are not able to induce many to receive it in its rigour. The consequence is, that a fast and loose mode gets admission. As many as are willing to attach the utmost sanctity to the outward institution, are heartily received and praised. They who are willing to comply with it in a less exact way, are not rejected. Thus, various weights and measures come into use, and it is impossible to erect an exact standard, because mankind would not brook it, and because to do so would bring into too glaring a light the essential absurdity of the ceremony. Besides, carnalities draw around religion a base multitude that has no part or lot in the matter. T' e teacher, sharing with the rabble in a reverence for the " bodily exercise," does not institute a close or impartial search into the character of his auditory.' They flock eagerly lo something. What that is they are not careful to enquire. Because hundreds repair to the appointed centre, the " masters of assemblies," pleased with the assemblage, do not 5H I k 220 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DATS. w- . ■fiv ft t W.li ^mi;- m^:- 41:; m% is look curiously into motives. They give the ani- mal what it wants : they keep up a constant fire of very harmless musquetry about some persons who deceive themselves, and about ordinances not possessing a saving influence. That they speak in this way satisfies themselves of their sincerity, and it is so very general that it creates no offence, but rather gives the congregation the impression that their pastor is very pious. - ^*'\ Further: In order to unity, we must have no unsound doctrines mixed up with our creed. The most correct set of opinions that the world has yet seen has carried ideas along with it that wCiC sub- versive of its other parts. By telling men that they were forbidden to judge; by representing charity as consisting in drawing a veil over truth, it does what it can to prevent them from thinking correctly in reference to what happens without. By permitting them to believe that one may be converted without knowing it, it gives them an op- portunity for entertaining most erroneous notions as to what happens within. * ' Again : In order to reach unity, it will be neces- sary that some certain method be procured for interpreting Scripture. The evils that afflict the church may be represented as the result of pro- phecy, or as showing themselves in the form ot a low standard of morality. They may be described as justly as arising out of want of method. If Scripture be not an ordinary book ; if it be de- claredly composed in such a manner as that the THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER PAYS. 221 natural man cannot understand it, we ought to be told what manner that is. If we learn from the Bible itself that its truths are to be elicited by comparison, there ought to be fixed canons in- forming us under what conditions we should com- pare. Holy Writ, according to the general prin- ciple, consisting of ideas that are fractional when viewed separately, we should be instructed by what particular process the Mosaic should be united. Of how many pieces does a canonical principle consist? How many circles are there comprised in the Bible ? When have I scriptural authority to conclude that I have attained such a result as ought to command credence ? It is obvious that all such questions as these must be settled. The greater part of religionists are not aware even of this general canon. The most evangelical would refuse to allow it to be said that there Avas such a fixed rule. To impose even the principle, that it was by comparing different parts of Scripture that a result should be reached, would appear too stringent. It would be viewed with fear and jealousy, as an attempt to shackle the spirit. The general canon should be laid off into its component parts. If we are to compare, there must be a mode prescribed. What is it ? If the Bible be the scattered members of thought, there must be an assignable number requisite to compose a com- plete idea. What is that number ? In this way, all that is Aveak and bad may be referred to want of science. In place of content- i i^ 233 THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. I W^ ing ourselves with the bare statement that our condition is owing to the will of God, — a truth so self-evident that only religionists could be guilty of the weakness of naming it, — we would be able to offer a more precise explanation. We are in a condition, as regards theology, like to that which we have occupied in relation to several oiher branches. We do not \inderstand its rationale. We are like early settlers, who, ignorant of the rules of agricuh'^re, live chiefly on spontaneous vegetation. We are not then constrained to call in a mystery, and to refer our situation to the in- explicable dealings of the Most High. It proceeds from lack of wisdom. It is referable to the fact that we cannot read the book that contains in its pages the means of curing the long leprosy under which the human race has laboured. Unity in theology, as in other sciences, would come when it ought to come, — when a method of such grand perspicuity had been realised as in a drastic manner would overcome the resistance of pretended reasoners. He that is with us is de- scribed as being stronger than he that is against us. If so, his strength must evince itself in some assignable way, and either by the Bible, or with- out the Bible. But if it be by the Bible, as we know it is, the contents of that book must be dis- posed in such a form as to display strength. If they do not present this attitude now, it must be because they have not been adjusted according to the method designed to show strength. It is no THIS CHURCH OF THR I.ATT£il PAYS. 1923 K new thing for a science to be in a situation in wliicii each person wlio investigated it had a way of his own. In such cases, there was room for that same complaint of want of unity that we hear made in relation to theology. Tho change came about, not in consequence of a miracle, but by the coming in of a method. Certain connexions were discovered. These gave rise to the imposing of laws, by the following out of which, so sure a way was found out that at last all disunion disappeared. Another feature of the victorious church is the DISTINCT CHARACTER OP ITS MEMBERS. This iS intimated in the following description: ** In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you." The like thought seems to be pro- pounded also in this other prophecy, *' And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, say- ing. We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.'' At present, Christians are known by the cir- cumstance whether they comply with certain test acts in use in the several sects. The females and the infirmer males submit; the bulls of Bashan, or the able-bodied members, ^«e off, and are just :t*,. !r. 324 TRK CHURCH OF THE LATTER OATS. "t'A^i as well esteemed. As to be a Christian on these terms infers no praise, and not to be one infers no obloquy, husbands and fathers get their W'ves and daughters to do their religion, feeling, naturally enough, that it is as well to have Christianity somewhere about the house. The head of an establishment, in a complimentary way, admits that the first clerk has all the piety that is con- nected with his firm, and as he gives him a pinch out of his box, promises to go some day and hear his minister. The comfortable master of a house, as he sips port with a friend after dinner, confiden- tially reveals to him that he fully believes that there never was d more devout Christian than his Sarah, and that he finds it wont do for him to continue his practice of swearing. Persons are Christians much as they are free-masons. One man asks his neighbour if he be a mason, and says, that as for himself he has long intended to become one, but somehow or other he has never got made. Or, do you go to the Sacrament? Well, now, I 3nvy you ; it is a very solemn duty, and I've neglected it too long. There are palpable causes in being why we cannot have a strong Christian. Prophecy very distinctly proves this when it makes mention of Christ proposing the question, But when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth ? But it is to be otherwise when the church victo- rious appears. The piety of the believer shall then become conspicuous. In order to this, it TBE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. 225 mtrat take on new influences. When we hear, then, of this peculiarity of the future, the practical mind will do more than look. It will ask. What are the means towards this end ? It will consider that it is weak impertinence in it to gaze at the result, unless it follows this up by adopting mea- sures for reaching it. If religion shall attract the notice of the bystander, I peremptorily desire to know what prevents it from doing so now, and what improvements and additions will cause it to perform what prophecy refers to ? " Another feature of the good time is rapid con- version. " Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day ? Or shall a nation be born at once ? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." " I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." It is notorious that religion does not act in this way at present. It does not convert, and more than this, it is ready with reasons why it should not do so. It has a way of using " I have plant- ed, ApoUos watered ; but God gave the increase," so as to excuse itself from being pushed on this subject. The current theology makes it impiety to put the question, Why the teaching of religion is not followed by conversion ? and piety for the pastor or professor to repudiate the idea that he is entitled to expect this result. There is no doctrine more frequently avowed by the evangelical class than that which would represent the church as an I' ^26 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DATS. wt B^ &^^, mm agent that has tio assignable or necessary con- nexion with the conversion of the sinner. They tell you that this is the way to ascribe glory to God ; whereas, if there be no good done, there is room for the question, What glory is there in the case ? This is a refinement in hypocrisy and wickedness. We claim power and the respect of men. We urge our apostolic descent. We de- mand that it should be considered that we are Divine in our scaffolding. If these pretensions are not conceded, we fill the land with tumult. The only thing that we do not ask, is the right to do good. That, by reasoning as weak as the feeling that prompts it is contemptible, we palm off upon God. It is obvious, that in the verse quoted above, there is a connexion made between the church and the regeneration of the world, — "as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.*' Practically considered then, before this conclusion can be reached, there must be a new theory. With that which now obtains, a result cannot be produced. Repudiating agency, there is no room for wonder why we do not do the things predicted of the latter day. Another characteristic is, that^ religion shall draw the attention of high intelligence. " Thus saith the Lord, the labour of Egypt, and merchan- dize of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of sta- ture, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine ; they shall conte after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DATS. 227 a thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, say- ing, Surely God is in thee*; and there is none else, there is no God." One part of this promise refers to men of stature. It has not been the fate of the gospel hitherto to interest such. It was so exhi- bited as to say to them that the article in which they dealt was of no account in the eye of reli- gion. It was so managed as to make it appear that there was a bonus on weakness. All pas- sages that were capable of such a meaning, when taken literally, were applied in this way. It was hard to bear. To be told to walk in shackles : to be informed that what you valued the most was a positive barrier in the way of your soul's sulvaiion : to be given to understand that those whom you regarded as the narrowest and least agreeable are, because of these very peculiarities, more in the way than you, of interesting the Deity, it was a distasteful representation. It may be said, why should not men of genius have taken the trouble to enquire for themselves? If they had the most mind, why should they have tamely submitted to receive from their inferiors their im- pressions of revelation ? We do not exonerate them. All that we contend for is, that they have been much sinned against. Religion contains ele- ments that render it essentially distasteful to nature. But it remains to be seen whether it may not be represented in such a way as to impart to it adventitious causes of displeasure. If a man is invited to embrace religion on the J' > it 4 228 THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DATS. m ^v w correct principle that it asks of him that he love the Lord his God with his whole soul and mind and strength ; if, when apalled by this demand upon him, he is further given to understand that the business of religion mainly consists in performing oblations, and observing times, and that the nature with which the Eternal feels the warmest sympa- thy is that which contains the least faculty ; if such be the treatment that a clever person receives from theology, it is not wonderful that he will seldom entertain it. It has been associated with foreign elements, and thus has been made more than ne- cessarily disagreeable. If in the future time a class of men are to join the gospel that rejected it before, there must be reasons for this. In order to suit them it can never be that Christianity can change its cardinal conditions. It can never let men off with less than the whole heart. But then it may abstain from bringing forward absurd ac- cessories. We know that eventuallv the truth shall attract the regards of persons of genius. But we may be said to know more than this. We can discern the causes. When the professor shall be able, consistently with his understanding of the Bible, to tell others that religion contains no cere- monial act, no necessary relation to time, place, or mode ; that it is thoroughly spiritual ; that its design has been misunderstood ; that this has arisen from the feet that its statements have been read in an isolated way, in place of having been collated together ; that believers are sent forth to THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. 229 baptize, not with water but the Sp rit; not to dis- tribute bread and wine, but the genius and char- acter of the Lord Jesus. When the Christian shall be able to say to his fellow, it is not true that the Bible praises imbecility and extols ignor- ance ; on the contrary, it sets men on acquiring the loftiest wisdom, it offers them God as a father, Christ as a brother, it enjoins them to search all things, yea, the deep things of God, it commands them to do greater things than the Saviour did when he walked with men, it assigns to them the work of bringing in the glory of the latter day. All splendid predictions of coming wisdom and ;virtuc that the Scriptures utter, are spoken of as the result of human agency. That the devil is to be expelled from the earth, that the wilderness and the solitary place are to rejoice; these and other happy events are attributed to the good conduct of believers. When such tenets shall be broadly taught, there will be reasons why men of talent should think well of religion, that have never yet existed. It shall be a characteristic of the latter day, that religion shall be sought after by numbers. " Many nations shall come and say. Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." At present we have the appearance of numbers, and they who preside H H '.!k ill 230 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. ■Vi are satisfied with the outward show. As multi- tudes came forward to meet John, and to partake of his material baptism, when he preached, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," so the sort of harbingers of a purer reHgion, with which we have to do at present, attract crowds. At one point the simihtude fails. John was aware of the character of those who met him. He knew that the truth was not in them. He told them this. The teachers of religion, at present, have not his penetration or his candour. They receive those who are attracted by ordinances, spirit of party, and other carnal inducements, as if they were impelled by genuine motives. It is a different concourse that the spirit of all truth adverts to in the passage above quoted. To him it could not be matter of exultation that formalists repaired to protest and lie around their hypocritical leaders. But this difference of circumstances must be oc- casioned by reasons. It could not spring up with- cit them. To say that the distance between the church, as it is and as it shall be, is as great as is comprised in this fact, that the one is frequented by persons who are ** sensual, having not the Spirit,'* and that the other shall be thronged by those who are animated by zeal and pious intelli- gence; to set forth this degree of unlikeness is to predict an equal change in the system. If in the moral world a people be the reflection of the opin- i ns taught among them, then the church, as we see it, is the accurate result of its tenets. In order, THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. 231 I. then, to have it such as it is depicted in connex- ion with the latter day glory, we must get thoughts which are capable of engendering it. Here there is room for enquiry. Out of the pages of that book that has been long in our hands, but which, as yet, has exerted little influence on the moral nature of man, out of this volume to draw what shall change the world to the extent predict- ed — there is the problem that solicits attention* A feature often alluded to is, that the church shall be free op mixture. "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city, for hence- forth there shall no more come into thee the uncir- cumcised and the unclean." Again, "Then shall Jerusalem be holy ; and there shall no strangers pass through her any more." Again, " Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts ; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein ; and in that day there shall be no more the Ca- naanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." This is a clear statement. It pronounces that religion shall assume such a character, as that it shall cease to be capable of being counterfeited. What is there in our present systems that render them accessible to every spurious influence ? how may such tendencies be combated ? are questions that this subject suggests. That Christianity which is pervious to every emissary of Satan, and that which on revealed authority shall admit no foreign I ■■ it ii I 232 THE CHURCH 0-F THB Ie understood as objecting to every article of their written creed. What is in their books may not .^ in their minds, — ^may not be in their life. That the written creed contains some statements that will endure for ever, is not a reply to our objec- lA^n, provided it could be shown that the action of these is hindered by the influence of the other parts. When we read then that much knowledge ^h9.11 characterize the church of the latter day, we refuse to believe that the result is to be attained by Cleans of principles that impart little knowledge. We insist on maintaining that the end can be xeached on no other condition than this, that we frefttly change our means. ,,, ^ ,,. ^ The prophets largely insist on peace, as a fea- THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. 235 ture of the church triumphant. " They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Again, "The wolf also ^aail dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fat- ling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." This is a large feature. Rightly under- stood, it means that the spirit of faction that di- vides men into sects and parties, shall pass away. Hitherto, theology has been remarkable for no- thing so much as the rancour that it has called into play. But if knowledge is to abound, and yet harmony to prevail, elements must come into operation that we have not been accustomed to see. As we are at present, were our faculties and information to be suddenly augmented, the prin- ciples of discord would, in all probability, be in- creased. When men of ability come into contact at present, it is more frequent that they enter on a course of rivalry, than that, forgetting all selfish- 1 h %' 236 THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. 1 1) 11 iiess, they bestow their powers for the promotion of truth and virtue. Intelligence, in the mean time, is as often a firebrand as it is a sahibrious influence. In order that much knowledge should co-exist with great peace, it would be requisite that human beings should be actuated by a desire for the glory of God. That this is not the case now, is obvious from the circumstance, that all persons, saints and sinners, use their talents in such a way as to get all for them that they pos- sibly can obtain. Such being the tendency, to add to ability would be to increase the selfishness and disunion. If then we are told of the latter day that know- ledge shall be much more general, and yet that the most wonderful peace shall exist along with it, Ave may feel sure that new moral qualities also have entered into the composition of society. But we ought never to allow ourselves to contemplate such a prospect as that of which we speak, with- out speculating in regard to the means of reaching it. Unless our thoughts take this practical shape, the view does us harm. With our present ac- quaintance with the Christian religion, we can readily foresee how its principles should lead on to this result. It is the marriage of God to man. It pours the Divine nature into human vessels. It asks that we should love the Lord our God with our whole heart and strength and mind. It stipu- lates that unless we can leave all things to follow THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. 237 Christ, we cannot be a fit disciple. It lays down the principle, that if the eye be single the whole body shall be filled with light. It provides that the co-operation and sympathy among the follow- ers of the Redeemer should be as thorough as that which we see obtaining among the members of an organized body. If these doctrines are capable of eftecting the end which we contemplate, we know how it may be accomplished with that very Christianity that has been so long promulgated. And if these doctrines have been so little carried out that we cannot name one person who, since the death of Christ, has exemplified them in any very high degree, then we have not far to go in search of an explanation why it is that knowledge and harmony have not co-existed hitherto. We have descriptions of the latter day which connect it with much abundance, in the way of heavenls'' blessings. "And in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.'' Again, " It shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down n> w wine, and the hills shall flow with milk." We have heard such passages used on what are called " sacramental occasions," at which times it is intimated that the extraordinary blessedness shadowed forth in these descriptions is realized by that half of the parish or congregation that partakes of the bread and i I !5 I. 238 THE CHURCH OF THF LATTER DATS. wine. We have seen nothing in the churches that at all deserved these metaphors. What we have witnessed has corresponded with that which the prophet saw in the valley of dry bones. In the profession, without religion, that we have descried on all sides, we have perceived the truth of the statement, that the dry bones are the whole house of Israel. Yet, in order to realize this abundance, it is not necessary to our theory to imagine a new revelation. If, without a method of interpreting Scripture, Christianity has been able to exert the considerable influence that can fairly be attributed to it, what may we not look for from it when it shall have become a science that deals with reve- lation, on the notion that it is as orderly, and far grander than that planetary system which is but its algebraic sign, its material exponent. If, when we have been treating it as if it were the produc- tion of Moses, Daniel, or Peter, it has ruled the morality of men, it will do much greater things when its several parts are represented as various voices emanating from the one and eternal Spirit. If, while its expounders have described it as the enemy of science, and peculiarly meant for babes and simpletons, it has yet in a great, degree regu- lated the views of mankind, how vast will be its sway when it shall be held up as the receptacle of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ? If when not a hundredth part of its contents has been rightly understood it has received some rev- \J,' THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DATS. 239 erencO) what influence shall it not exercise when the whole symmetrical plan shall be understood and admired. If, while in the vile society of ordi- nances and will worship, it has actuated human sentiment, shall it not utter a commanding voice when freed from all such associates ? If, during the period that prophecy foretells that Satan shall exert a terrible pestilential and all-pervading in- fluence over Christendom, religion has at least this quality about it, that it civilizes and enlightens, there are no limits to what may be anticipated when the set time to favour Zion comes round and when Messiah is established on the throne of bis glory. Ideas of this sort are contained in the following Scripture : " Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles ; how much more their ful- ness ?'* Nothing more contemptuous can be said of any branch than this, that i'. has not yet been subjected to any regular examination, — has not become a science. If the gospel of Jesus, in such an infantine condition, has not expired before the fierce and repeated attacks to which it has been subjected, what may we not reasonably look for from it when fulfilling the predictions of a thou- sand prophecies, it comes lorth the wondrous op- posite of almost all that it has hitherto appeared. When we read the account of strange copiousness that shall characterize the latter day, we feel that t- I I 240 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. ■M' 'l';U there are ample agencies to realize the whole, be- cause all that we require in order to this, is simply to estimate in our minds the petty tracts of Scrip- ture that yield any food, as compared with the vast tracts that are still fallow ground. .rrs^^^r A characteristic of the church triumphant is the change that is produced in the aspect of the c EARTH. "The wilderness and the solitary place i shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice r and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abuu-- dantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, th« ^ excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see -^ the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our - God." And again, " Then the eyes of the blind v shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an liprt, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the Avilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes." A change of . this sort on external nature would infer the pre- sence of strong agency. But this being an illus- tration, of course not exaggerated, of the effect - that takes place in the moral universe, we are bound to suppose that the causation there, shall . be as great as the metaphor could possibly war- rant. That which is passive now, which delights 1 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. 241 to look back and show that it has not varied lor centuries, which finds sanctity in rejecting the idea that it can do anything but preach and sigh, becomes invested witli the powers implied in these descriptions. To him who would wish to be an engineer in divine things — and where is he that ought not to entertain such a desire — to him it should be the most urgent and exciting of all enquiries, to ascer- tain what are the forces concerned in effecting such results. Our vague sentimental churchmen would be "Content, perhaps, to say that much prayer will be requisite. More exact minds would ask for something less indefinite. Prayer is not an ulti- mate method. It should be followed by some- thing. It ought to bring means into being. While it is admitted that prayer should be unceasing, we ask that it should come out in the specific shape of new knowledge and power of doing. That I should be able to reconcile parts of the W'ord that at present stand out from each other ; that I should understand how to extract sense from great tracts that yield no meaning; that I should be in the way of verifying its own theory, that all Scripture is profitable ; that this increase of knowledge should show itself in the shape of improved modes of action, are stipulations requisite to the end contemplated. They cannot be realized without prayer. On the other hand, the majority of minds are unpractical enough to 342 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. V'P make much and continued supplication, without looking that a tangible result accrues from their prayers. He who allows his mind to go out in contemplation of the landscape depicted in these passages, should bind himself over to consider what means may be employed to turn the specu- lative into the real, the future into the present. >■; We proceed to enumerate more rapidly some of the other features predicted of that day. Joshua, the representative of the church, having before been clothed in filthy garments, shall have clean attire given to him. The children of Israel who shall have continued many days " without a king^ and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim," they shall " return, and seek the Lord their God ; and David their king ; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." The heritage of God shall dwell in a strong city, to which salvation shall be appointed for walls and bulwarks. At this — the consumma- tion of sacred architecture — the cope-stone shall be laid on with shoutings. That day shall be a sea- son of extraordinary darkness and terror to the enemies of the truth. They who have not feared before shall be panic-struck. Then shall be ac^ complished the doom long decreed against Pha- raoh, king of Egypt, and his river. Then shall be verified the terrible prediction that declares the downfall of the king of Babylon, who, under the ^liS THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAYS. 243 designation of Lucifer, son of the morning, is seen to go down into the pit, to the wonder of the other kings and influences that have preceded him in ruin. Then shall the lamentation upon the king of Tyrus be fulfilled, even that power who is de- scribed as sealing up the sum full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, as having been in Eden, the garden of the Lord, as making his covering of every precious stone, as walking up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Then shall be accomplished also the predictions which concern those influences, that are expressed by Moab, and Edom, and Damascus, and Ammon. The barren woman, that has long been desolate, shall then sing, for more ^lumerous shall be her progeny than those of ht^ at hath an husband. Jerusa- lem shall be fille * ith inhabitants. A covenant shall be made with the beasts of the earth, and with the fishes of the sea. The contest between Michael the archangel, and Satan, about the body of Moses, shall be fought, and won by the good influence. That city whose architecture John spreads out to the view in the Apocalypse shall be built in all its splendid details. That garden with the tree in it, whose leaves are for the heal- ing of the nations, shall be exhibited to view. The prediction that makes mention of a fountain that shall issue from under the threshold of the house of the Lord, shall be verified. J 4 Many circumstances that we are aware of, but c ' j 244 THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DAYS. that we have not specified, will be brought about. Of course it will also happen that events which we cannot anticipate will take place. Where we are in the position of looking out upon a scene stupendous in its dimensions, and composed of details, all or most of which are different from our present circumstances, it is very supposable that much will escape the eye. Vast tracts of Scrij^ ture are obviously devoted to the delineation of the coming glory. So much is there relating to it, that in no part of the sacred pages would it seem as if there were so much tautology. Where the particulars are so very numerous, and where they concern matters unlike any that the hunis^n race has ever witnessed, it is a most natural idea to believe that we can at present apprehend but a part. By the birth of Isaac out of the course of nature ; by the entering into Canaan, after many years consumed in wandering in a wilderness ; by the restoration of the tribes from captivity, in Babylon; by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; by the pre- dictions of the Saviour; by the events that hap- pen under the seventh trumpet; by the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, mentioned by Peter, and by predic- tions in all the prophets, far too numerous to specify, — on these grounds are we entitled to look forward to a triumphant state of religion on the earth. By the fact that five out of seven days THE CHURCH OP THE LATTER DATS. 245 elapse before man is made, that the rules of nature are violated before Isaac is born, that the peace- ful estate of Israel comes at the end of its history, that the second advent of our Lord occurs, accord- ing to his own prophecy, only after a long time, has been marked by wars, treasons, pestilences, famines, false Christs; by the token that Jesus declares that the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me; that Paul asserts that that day shall not come except there be a falling away first ; by the man of sin, whom he depicts ; by tlr. perilous times, that he elsewhere foretells; by the rich men of James, the false teachers of Peter, the antichrist of John, the clouds without water of Jude; by the seven churches and the seven seals; by the slaying of the witnesses, the flight of the woman into the wilderness, the dominion of the beast for forty and two months; by the whore that sits on many waters; by the battle of Arma- geddon, or mountain of the gospel, wherein Mi- chael and his angels fight with the devil and his angels; by great Babylon, whose character and overthrow fill so much space, — by all these tokens we conclude that the glorious consummation shall not be reached until the church shall have passed ^ through every one of the stages intended in these symbols. When, then, the mutiny of unbelief, rising up * within us, would lead us to act in the manner foretold by Peter, and to say, " Where is the pro- 246 THE CHUBCH OF THE LATTER DATS. mise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation," we are supplied with ample arguments wherewith to answer the objec- tion. To such cavils we may reply that half of Scripture is pointed against them, — that it con- tains but two themes, < . ' i ;■/• :a- :-r 'U f^ \! U \i'^ 1o '1? -910X1 3fii -■f' fci.j^j