J^- ^ ItHEOLOGICAL SEMINAIIY,| Princeton, N. J. f- -:::^ 1'^-- ' BS 413 .B58 V.33 . Couard, Christian Ludwig, 1793-1865. The life of Christians during the f irsJ:_.tJir^ae / I THE BIBLICAL CABINET; HERMENEUTICAL, EXEGETICAL, PHILOLOGICAL LIBRARY VOL. XXXIII. COUARD ON THE LIFE OF CHRISTIANS DURING THl FIRST THREE CENTURIES OF THE CHURCH. EDINBURGH : THOMAS CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET HAMILTON, ADAMS & CO. LONDON ; AND W. CURRY JUN. & CO. DUBLIN. MDCCCXLI. EDINBURGH : PRINTED By MACPHERSON & SYME, 31 KAST ROSB LA.VE. THE LIFE OF CHRISTIANS DURING THE FIRST THEEE CENTURIES OF THE CHURCH» A SERIES OF SERMONS ON CHURCH HISTORY. Dr CHR. LUDW. COUARD. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY LEOPOLD J. BERNAYS. EDINBURGH : THOMAS CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. MDCCCXLI. TO THE AVORTIIY AND RESPECTED MEMBERS OF THE THEOLOGICAL FACULTY OF THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY AT BERLIN, DRS A. D. CHR. TAVESTEN, PHIL. MARHEINECKE, AUG. NE ANDER, E. W. HENGSTENBERG, FR. STRAÜSZ, THIS WORK, l>, WITH GRATEFUL REVEREN'CE AND SINCEREST LOVE, DEDICATED, AUTHOR. PBINCETOH Page translator's preface, ix author's preface, XV SERMON I. ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY, 1 SERMON IL CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, 16 SERMON III. THE LIFE OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS A LIFE OF LOVE, 30 SERMON IV. THE ZEAL IN PRAYER OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, 44 SERMON V. THE WORTHY VIEW OF THEIR CALLING HELD BY THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, 58 SERMON VI. THE EARNESTNESS OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS IN FORSAKING THE WORLD, 71 SERMON VII. THE EARNESTNESS OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS IN FORSAKING THE WORLD, 85 SERMON VIII. THE CONDUCT OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS IN TIMES OF PER- SECUTION, 99 SERMON IX. THE CONDUCT OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS UNDER PERSECUTION, 112 Vin CONTENTS. SERMON X. Page THE CONDUCT OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS IN THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS WORLD, 126 SERMON XI. THE CEREMONIES WITH WHICH THE EARLY CHRISTIANS SOLEMNIZED THE MEMORY OF THE DEPARTED, 140 SERMON XII. THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, 152 SERMON XIII. THE HOLY SEASONS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 166 SERMON XIV. OF THK DIVINE SERVICES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 170 SERMON XV. OF THE DIVINE SERVICES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 192 SERMON XVI. OF THE DIVINE SERVICES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 207 SERMON XVII. OF THE NATURE OF PENANCE IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 221 SERMON XVIII. OF THE NATURE OF PENANCE IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 233 SERMON XIX. THE PUBLIC AND CIVIL LIFE OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, 247 SERMON XX. THE FAMILY LIFE OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, 261 APPENDIX. SHORT NOTICES OF THE LIVES AND ACTIONS OF THE TEACHERS OF THE CHURCH INTRODUCED IN THE FOREGOING DIS- COURSES, 277 Index to the quotations from the fathers, 283 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. In giving to tlie English, public the following dis- courses on the History of the Primitive Church, I have been actuated neither by the eloquence of the language, nor the novelty of the views contained in them, but simjDly by the lively and practical piety which they display, and the necessity which seems to have arisen ill these days for exhortations of the kind. At a time when German theology has assumed so questionable a character, and has become so justly suspected in a country where religious speculation has always been confined within modest bounds, I should have hesitated at introducing a new work from thence, unless I were fully convinced of the general scriptural integrity of its views. In this case, however, the difficulty has been entirely removed by the fact, that these Sermons have for their groundwork Dr Neander's celebrated History of the Early Church, a work known in this country through the admirable version of it by the Reverend Henry Rose, whose preface bears a handsome testimony to its general orthodoxy, and which was pronounced by his brother, the late Christian advocate, to be the most truly Christian history of the church ever yet published. I trust this will be a guarantee sufficient for the general rectitude of the views here taken, and shall therefore leave it to the Christian charity of the reader, to excuse X translator's preface. any differences from his own opinion in those minor points, where such differences may fairly be allowed. That the necessities of our times require that frequent appeals should be made to the simplicity of primitive Christian piety, is a point that, I think, will scarcely be questioned. It needs no querulous or discontented spirit to see a wide difference between the thoughts and views of this age upon religious subjects, and those of the primitive church. Whatever we may have gained in point of refinement and knowledge, we have lost much of that Jioly earnestness and simple childlike trust, whereby, in former times, the whole life, and not, as now, mere portions of it, was dedicated to God's honour and service. The almost inevitable accumula- tion of proj)erty into few hands, the daily increasing distance between the ranks of rich and poor, the love of empty display, and the consequent heavy demands of the world upon our attention, have left little time, and, perhaps, less inclination, for nobler pursuits and duties. The rich seem to have forgotten that they are but the stewards of the wealth that God has given them ; the poor no longer remember that, " their's is the king- dom of heaven /' all classes seem to act practically as if religious duties were a heavy and burdensome task, instead of a grateful service. What the good Arch- bishop Leighton said of his times is but too true of ours, " The noises of coach- wheels, of their pleasures, and of their great affairs, so fill their ears, that the still voice, in which God is, cannot be heard." The pleasant breezes of prosperity have fanned God's church to sleep, and there needs something to awaken it. In these days of " soft clothing," we need to hear more of the desert and the sackcloth, the locusts and the wild honey ; we TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XI need, again, tlie voice of one crying in the wilderness to awake us from our sleep of death. Religion has be- come, in most cases, a matter so entirely distinct from actual life, that we have set apart fixed times and sea- sons, and those rare and with long intervals, for think- ing on the high concerns of another life ; and so con- vinced are we of the propriety of our conduct, that if the preacher ventures to make further demands on our time, if, in God's name, he asks us for our whole heart, we resent his conduct as an unwarranted and unreason- able encroachment upon the duties of active life. The early Christians succeeded in combining their duties to God with those which they owed to man ; every thing they did was done in the Lord. In such times, there- fore, and under such influences, we surely cannot hear too often of the strict severity, the unwearied watch- fulness, the self-sacrificing charity of those first converts. They were, it is true, but men ; and, as men, they had their faults, and those, too, of no inconsiderable magni- nitude ; but they were men over whom the shadow of apostles and apostolic men had passed ; they had caught the sj)irit of Christianity almost fresh from the lips of the Saviour ; they had realised what, to most of us, is still a mystery, how we should live, yet so as it should not be we, but Christ living in us. To them, no day but was the Lord's day, no place but was the Lord's house, no minute but was the appointed time, the day of salvation. When the clouds of persecution, disease, or poverty, hung heavily over their fellows, it needed not, as unhaj)pily is the case so often now, the pathetic eloquence of a favourite preacher to plead the cause of the poor; it needed no reiterated entreaties to make them minister to the necessities of their bre- Xll TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. thren. They felt liow Christ had loved them, and what obligation was thereby placed upon them to love their fellow sinners, and they hastened to contribute accord- ing as each had power. The world has thrown its dust into our eyes, and we do not see the wide and compre- hensive duties of our religion as Christians once did. Such sermons, then, as these, which recall the world from its softness and apathy to the contemplation of those more sincere periods of the church's history, when believers were all of one mind, and one soul, full of love and of the Holy Ghost, surely are not out of place ; and, I cannot but hope, that such writings may be some of the appointed means in the hand of God by which He will fulfil his promise regarding His church, " I will bring her into the wilderness, and there I will speak to her heart." It would be well, too, if these discourses would lead Christians more to the writings of the earlier fathers of the church, in whom, amid many errors, are yet to be found purer reflections of the true Christian spirit than are generally to be met with in our days. To this end, I would hope, that the sound and practical piety of the quotations interspersed through these Sermons would materially contribute. Men of all parties have too much regarded the writings of the fathers as mere treasure- houses of doctrinal subtleties, and neglected to draw from them the vast stores of vital Christianity which are to be found in them. The extracts here given will, at all events, do their part in dispelling the ignorance which so much prevails concerning the character of the early church, and in leading men to form a juster esti- mate of its merits and claims on their attention and re- spect. If they shall contribute in the slightest degree TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. Xlll to produce this desirable end, and tlius help to restore the reign of genuine Christian love and earnestness among us, they will have amply answered their purpose. I have given, wherever I could obtain them, the re- ferences to the quotations from the fathers (which Dr Couard has omitted to do), but my means of ascertain- ing them has been almost entirely confined to the re- ferences given by the Reverend H. Rose, in his trans- lation of Neander's Church History. AUTHORS PREFACE, TVe slioulcl strive to gain as much as possible for the pulpit from all theological subjects. Doctrine, morals, exegetics, must all serve us. Is then church history alone to be left to the i)rofessorial chair, and remain exclusively the property of theologians and educated la3rmen ? Are we not to work the rich matter which it offers us into instruction and edification for our congre- gations, most of the members of which have no access to its treasures, if they are not opened to them in the church ? The Sermons which I here offer to the public give my answer to this question, and my view of the subject. The idea of selecting an important and attractive por- tion of church history for the profit of my congregation, was entertained by me as early as the year 1825, when the first volume of the Memorials of the History of Christianity and Christian Life was published by Dr Neander. The second part of this, in which the Christian life of the three first centuries was treated of, had pecu- liar charms for me. I yet could not determine whether to select this portion of church history, or the equally interesting History of the Reformation. At last, I re- solved to choose the former for the instruction, edifica- tion, and arousing of my hearers, and I trust my choice requires no vindication. The History of the Reforma- XVI AUTHOR S PREFACE. tion may be considered as more known, since our youth are taught it before confirmation, and the more essential parts are treated of in the church at the time of the cele - bration of its memory. The history of the earlier times of the Christian church is less known, and was, from this very fact, likely to excite more interest. The sequel shewed that I was not mistaken. The sermons which I preached on the Trinity Sundays of 1838 and 1839 in the morning service, were listened to with marked sympathy and attention ; and I was informed by many that the subject was found full of instruction and in- terest. May they have as much effect on the hearts and lives of my hearers as they have aroused sympathy in them, and may a rich blessing accompany the read- ing of them. For the material of these discourses, I have to thank especially the excellent works of our revered church historian Neander, whose order I have generally fol- lowed. But neither have I omitted to look into and investigate the sources themselves where they were ac- cessible to me. Whether I have succeeded in working up my materials for the profit and edification of my flock, properly qualified critics will decide. I, myself, consider my undertaking to be only a weak attempt, whose deficiences I pray my readers to excuse ; and I am well aware how far the execution of my task has been behind the mark which I proposed to myself. I shall be content if I receive credit for good intentions, and my work be declared not to have fallen completely short of its object. CHR. LUDW. COUARD. Bkrlin, April 30. 1840. Q^^m SERMONS PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. SERMON I. May the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost bless us ! May He bless us, and may all the world fear Him. Amen. The commemorative portion of the ecclesiastical year is now about to conclude, and the less festive division is approaching. We have now before us no fewer than twenty-four Sundays after the feast of the blessed Tri- nity, during which period it is my intention to give to my addresses to you a more continuous character, and I have for this purpose selected for their object, " an ac- count of the life of Christians during the first ages of the Church." The contemplations which have been suggested to us by the commemorations we have just con- cluded, must have refreshed in us all the firm and stable groundwork on which our holy faith is builded up. They must have shewn us most incontrovertibly that " other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." It will be our task, during many suc- ceeding Sabbaths, to examine how this salvation, which has been manifested in Christ, may best be accepted and employed, and how our faith in the incarnate Son of God, our crucified, risen, and glorified Redeemer, may be expressed, and its truth made evident. Such cou- A 2 SERMON I. siderations will, I trust, tend to direct our minds to the workings and fruits of faith, and while they pic- ture to us its influence on the thoughts and lives of the earlier Christians, give us the means of ascertaining how far the life of each of us is one of faith in the Lord, is, in fact, that of a true Christian. But this re- presentation of a Christian life, as it should grow up under the fostering shade of the Church, will doubtless be more attractive, and full of instruction, if we trace how, from the earliest times, this life has been developed and expressed, and what influence faith then exer- cised on the hearts and minds of believers. And while, during this inquiry, we hold up to your view the se- veral parts of a Christian's life, we shall be stripping you of every pretence and excuse which you might ad- vance, as though the gospel required of you any thing impossible or unattainable. What it does demand of us has been already exhibited in the works and fruits of faith during the earlier ages of the Church, and what faith did then for them, it can do now for us, if we do not harden our hearts against it, and resist its heavenly influence. During this season, then, my brethren, wo will enter on the field of church history, and, I trust, we shall reap some benefit from paying our undivided attention to this subject. The subject of our discourse upon the last Sunday, will permit of our following it up, by making a few preliminary remarks, before entering on the subject it- self. It was then that man's regeneration, — his second birth, was, by the ordinances of the church, the subject of our meditation. This springs from faith on Christ Jesus, and, consequently, to be born again, to be renew- ed or converted, bear nearly the same meaning. For, if a man be in Christ (and we are in Christ through faith) he is a new creature, " old things have passed away, behold all things are become new." Wherever, therefore, faith is, there is union with Christ, there is the second birth, and man becomes a new creature ; — but where faith is not, we dare not speak of the con- version, regeneration, or renewal of men. Many and ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 3 various have been the ways in which the wisdom and love of God have led men to Christ, and by which the work of conversion has and does still proceed : — and to these various ways of turning unto Christ, I purpose this day to direct your attention, before I consider the Christian life of tliose already converted ; and may God bless our labour, and turn it to our everlasting profit. Amen. Text. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, &c. &c. &c. — St John's Gospel, ill. 1-15. A man must be born again, if he will be saved. Of this truth our Lord warns us with peculiar earnestness and emphasis : " Verily, verily I say unto you," saith he to Nicodemus, " except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Now a man is said to be born again, or converted, when he is torn away from his natural, lost, carnal and sinful state, led by a lively faith to Christ, and thus made spiritually one with Him. Wherefore it is that our Lord says, " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." So soon, therefore, as a man is born again, his life is no longer a carnal, worldly, sinful, ungodly one ; a Christian life commences in him, a life rather of Christ himself in him, as it was with the holy Apostle when he could exclaim, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Now there are many ways in which God leads men to Christ, to the end that through faith in his blood they should be converted, born again, or renewed. In this case, also, " the wind blowetli where it listeth." God leads each man by a different path, according to his peculiar disposition, a John differently from a Peter, a Peter from a Paul : yet for all there is one only goal, to which God's grace conducts them by different ways, and this goal is Christ Jesus, and redemption through his blood. Let us be- gin, then, this day our representation of the Christian life during the first ages of the Church, by a contemplation of the various modes by which God, in his wisdom, turns men to Christ. In every case, indeed, it is the word of 4 SERMON' I. truth, the Gospel itself, by which souls are won over to Christ and his kingdom, but it is equally certain that the revealed word does not make the desired impression upon all alike. Men's hearts must first be prepared and made ready for the reception of gospel truth, and for this purpose God employs many modes; such as, 1st, Bodily infirmities ; 2dly, The longing of the soul after happiness ; 3dly, The consciousness of sin ; 4thly, A cer- tain moral striving after good ; 5thly, Simplicity of mind ; 6thly, An earnest inquiry after truth. Such were the means we find employed during the time that our Lord lived and ministered upon earth ; such were they in the first times of the Church, such they still continue to be ; and they will furnish us to- day with the subject of a brief, and, I trust, not unpro- fitable inquiry. Holy Father, sanctify us with thy truth ; thy word is truth. Amen. 1. That bodily infirmities led many to believe on the Lord, while he was yet a sojourner upon earth, is a fact known to every reader of the sacred Scriptures. No higher desires were as yet awakened in them, and it was therefore needful that they should be roused from their stupor, before they could be brought into that condi- tion and state of mind which would make them fit re- cipients of the glad tidings of the gospel. Many men who clave to the earthly as the end of all their desires, were, by the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, awakened by means of their bodily infirmities. Their sickness and suff'erings compelled them to go to Christ, of whose miraculous powers they had already heard ; and accordingly we find him always environed by the halt and the blind, the possessed, and those afflicted with divers diseases, imploring his powerful aid. They sought in their misery help and consolation of one to whom they never appe^aled in vain. With condescend- ing kindness and love He revealed to them all his might and majesty ; He healed all their infirmities ; Ho ON rniMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 5 became their benefactor, and by this induced them to give ear to himself and to his doctrine. Thus lie made them capable of receiving his more precious and endur- ing gifts, so that at last they believed on Him, and He became to them a benefactor in the highest sense of the word, and delivered them from their inward spiritual wretchedness. Thus was it with many pos- sessed by unclean spirits, thus with the Canaanitish women, thus with him who was born blind, and many others. By the way of bodily infirmities they Avere led to Christ, and induced to believe on Him and His holy Gospel. When, after His ascension. His apostles went about to preach the word of truth, their experience was the same. St John and St Peter healed a man who had been lame from his mother's womb, by calling on the name of Jesus, and he believed on the Lord. The para- lytic Eneas of Lydda was made whole by a miracle, and he, with many others, were turned unto the Lord. The like often occurred during the first ages of the Church. The afHicted and the sick were often healed by pious Christians, who, in humble faith, prayed to the Lord in their behalf, and by the aid they had received were led to forsake the worship of idols, to turn to Christ as the true physician of their souls, and dedicate their lives to His service. The early Christian writers fre - quently appealed to such miracles in their apologies to the heathen. Thus, among others, Justin Martyr writes : " Ye can j)erceive from the things that happen before your eyes, for many of us Christians have, by calling on the name of the crucified Jesus, healed in your sight not a few possessed by evil spirits, and still continue to heal them." And at the end of the second century, Iremeus, Bishop of Lyons, writes : " In the name of the Son of God doth each of his disciples labour to do good unto all men, according to the gifts which he hath received. Some drive out evil spirits, whereby those who were before- time possessed are led to believe on Him, and to be- come members of His church. Others heal the sick by the imposition of hands ; and not a few dead men have 6 SERMON I. been restored to life, who also have since dwelt many years among us." And as in those early times bodily infirmities were the means of converting many, so are they also in our own. Many a one among us has been trained for Christ in the school of tribulation and affliction, and many have been led through poverty, sickness, or other crosses, to believe on Him. Many a one had gone on in his sins, had not the wholesome chastening of the Lord brought him back, like the prodigal son, to his father's house. " Through much tribulation we hearken to thy word," saith the Scripture, and, " Lord, in the time of trouble will they call on thee." Christian brethren ! bless your sorrows, your crosses, your afflic- tions, if, through them, you have been led to believe on your Saviour. And let him among us who has still to bear his cross, think that it is the Lord who seeks him, and knocks at the door of his heart, and let him sur- render to him his whole heart and life, that his bodily infirmities may become a source of everlasting joy. II. Man's natural longing after happiness is another instrument by which the infinite wisdom of the Father draws men to the Son, that in Him they may find that which they seek, true happiness and eternal life. When the Lord sojourned upon earth, there were many who longed for the redemption of Israel, and who there- fore heartily desired the appearance of the promised Messiah, in whom they trusted that it was he that should bring this redemption to his people. Such an one was that Nicodemus, of whom our text speaks ; such were the first disciples of our Lord, Andrew and Simon, James and John, and Nathaniel, and many others, as Joseph of Arimathea, who all lived in faith on the old promises of God, and whose expectations were greatly increased by the preaching of John the Baptist. When, therefore, the Lord did appear, being strongly moved by the signs and wonders which he performed, they recognised in him the promised seed, as Nicodemus expressly acknow- ledges in the text : " Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 7 come from God ; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." But yet all their desires, and all their hopes of the Messiah were of a very earthly and temj)oral character. They dreamed of political freedom ; and Avhile they thought only of deliverance from the Roman yoke, and of the re-esta- blishment of the ancient kingdom of David, they had no conception of a spiritual redemption and deliverance from the yoke of sin. Of this expectation, however, our Lord took advantage to engraft thereon his teach- ing concerning the kingdom of God, and led the ex- pectants on, step by step, to acknowledge that his king- dom was not meat and drink, and sensual pleasure, and earthly glory, but a heavenly kingdom of justice and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; and that its only end was the redemption of a sinful world. Thus, instead of those meaner things for which they hoped, they found the loftiest for which they could have sighed in the in- most recesses of their hearts, the glorious liberty of the sons of God, a blessed and eternal life in faith on the Lord. And must not all who were actuated by this impulse, wherever they might previously have been driven by this longing after peace and joy, have come to Christ, so soon as his Gospel announced to them its message of rest and salvation ? Thus Cornelius came to the Lord. His whole being longed for repose and peace, and sal- vation, and it was therefore that the preaching of Peter so impressed him, that he and all his house turned unto Jesus ; for he felt, as he heard the words of peace, deeply and certainly, that if peace were to be found any where, it was to be found in faith on Christ. How many a heathen who, like Cornelius, felt those yearnings within him, which found no satisfaction in the possession and enjoyment of earthly things, must have come to Christ, especially when he saw the professors of the gospel, even amid pains and tortures, so divinely cheerful, so full of peace and happiness ? What is it, he must have asked himself, which, even in the immediate prospect of death, makes these men so joyous, and fills their 8 SERMON I. hearts with such peace? I must learn that doctrine which so inspires them, which gives them strength to sacrifice and to suffer all things for their faith's sake. And when he did learn it, must he not in every case have been overpowered and convinced by its divine truth? And probably, even in those times, many Christians have been thus in reality led to Christ. To be happy is the sincerest wish of us all ; and when we are once convinced that nothing on earth, whether money or land, whether honour or distinction, whether sensual or worldly gratification, can suffice to give us peace, that all is vain and transitory, that nothing here below can content the real wants of our hearts, then, and then only, we turn our desires to Him, who says to us, " Come unto me, and I will give you rest;" to Him whom thousands praise as their Saviour, in whom they have found peace and health, and comfort and joy, and from whom, when we have given our hearts up to him, we shall ourselves experience the strength and blessing of His love, and shall be ever bound to him, who gives to them that are his all life and fulness of pleasure, and who will give us more than we can either desire or hope for. III. The consciousness also of sin, once aroused in the heart, is' to many a means by which the Father draws them to the Son, for this consciousness excites as cer- tainly a desire for aid and salvation, as a feeling of bodily sickness leads us to seek for the help of the phy- sician. It was on this account that publicans and sin- ners, those, who being crushed beneath the heavy weight of sin, could not be relieved under the law from the in- tolerable burden, thronged round our blessed Saviour. Yes ! and He had come to save sinners ; not to thrust them from him with pharisaical pride, but to receive them with boundless love. Among all that needed com- fort they needed it the most, and therefore he met them with heavenly friendliness and mildness, and healed the wounds of their broken and contrite hearts with the ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 9 balm of heavenly mercy. He proclaimed to them that their sins were forgiven, and they believed His gospel, and loved him who had first so unspeakably loved them. How blessed was Mary Magdalene in looking on him who had forgiven all her sin, and blotted out all her iniquity. And when, at that first Whitsuntide, the preaching of Peter so powerfully awoke in the hearts of the three thousand the consciousness of sin, was it not this feeling which drove them to Christ, and prompt- ed that anxious question, " Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved ?" and which led them to be- lieve on Him whom the apostles proclaimed to them to be the only Saviour and forgiver of sins ? The con- sciousness of guilt and moral depravity worked power- fully in those times on the hearts of many heathens, who, writhing under the pangs of conscience, and a fear- ful expectation of divine wrath, sought in vain for peace and consolation from their priests and magicians, in vain brought offerings to their gods, — their souls could find thereby no rest. What an impression must the Gospel have made upon spirits so laden with the sense of guilt, promising, as it did, the mercy of God to all who repented humbly of their sins ! With what joy must they have hastened to embrace that faith which gave them power to become sons of God. Yet this it was that gave the unbelieving enemies of Christianity occasion to scoff at it, in that it was wont to find such easy reception among the vilest sinners. ^' Let us hear," says one of them, Celsus, about the middle of the second century, " what sort of men are called by the Christians. The kingdom of God will re- ceive all who are sinners, all who are ignorant, all who are miserable. They affirm that God will receive the sinner, if he humble himself, but will not accept the just, who look up to him with a consciousness of vir- tue." Thus did he despise the Gospel for its highest benefit, because too much blinded by the conceit of his virtue to acknowledge its goodness; and thus did he verify the word of the apostle, " The natural man re- ceiveth not the things of the Spirit." Yes ! the gospel 10 SERMON I. is a message of mercy to liumbled sinners ; but to proud, self-righteous Pharisees Christ is no Saviour. And therefore, even now, we see all who, like that heathen, are blind to their soul-destroying sins, mocking and re- viling the Lord and his Gospel, because they think that they may boast before God of their virtue and their works, and need no Saviour and no Redeemer. But Avhere men acknowledge their sin, and feel their mi- sery, this consciousness of guilt will, in most cases, lead them to turn and believe on Him who can always save them who come unto God by Him. And how many may there be among us whom the sense of guilt, and the lively persuasion that nothing but grace can save them, have turned to Christ as their re- deemer, and now acknowledge, to the praise of His name, that " His mercy hath compassed them about." Oh that all sinners had a just sense of their misery. Oh that they all would fly to Him in repentance and faith, who proclaims to them the love and mercy of God, and gives them, the comforting tidings of forgive- ness of sins, that they may find rest for their souls, and that peace which the world cannot give. Hear now, all ye who mourn your past transgressions, what the Saviour himself assures you : " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." IV. But this consciousness of guilt did not in all cases lead to faith on the Saviour. Many, in the perverted hardness of their hearts, stumbled at and hated a gospel which shewed them their wretchedness, rebuked their sins, and so earnestly called on them to repent. In them is the word of the Lord fulfilled, " Every one that doeth evil hatetli the light, neither cometli to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." In all times there have been unhappy men, who " loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil." On the other band, those were often more easily turned to Christ, who had been before accustomed to an earnest moral ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 11 striving after good, as was the case with Nicotlemus, and the first discij^les of our Saviour. When such men were carrying on within them the strife betAveen the flesh and the spirit, or when they saw the divine ma- jesty of Jesus in his earthly pilgrimage, or when they were first clearly taught by his word what really be- longed to a holy life, and how far they were away from the goal, how gladly must they have joined themselves to Him, who presented to them a perfect example of a holy soul and life, what a vivid impression must his words have made on their minds, as he promised to lead them to the desired goal, to relieve them from the gall- ing yoke of sin, if they would follow him in faith ? Their first strivings after good made them capable of receiving this faith, and drew them with irresistible jjower to Him, who not only approved of this striving, but shewed it its sure goal, and assured it the victory, by the aid of His spirit, in its contests with ungodly lusts. It was often the case afterwards that earnestly minded heathens were thus converted to Christianity. They were witnesses of the pious, holy lives of faithful Christians, who walked among them as " children of light," and who " shewed forth the praises of Him, who had called them out of darkness into his own marvellous light ;" and the example of such disciples of the Lord made such a deep and overpov/ering impression on their minds, that they turned themselves to that gospel whose divine power was so gloriously manifested in the lives of its professors. It was thus that Origen, in the third century, could say, " We can point out more who have been converted from a life not thoroughly depraved, than those who have been recovered from the more fear- ful and degrading sins." Our experience, my brethren, is similar. Wherever a man has already this moral earnestness, and humble striving after good, the gospel easily commends itself to him, and finds entrance into his heart and mind and life, and, by its hallowing plas- tic influence, renews them, whilst light-minded world- lings, and wicked slaves of sin, remain far ofi" from the kingdom of God. Your purpose, then, in action, must 12 SERMON I. be to become truly good, and to live a holy life ; and if it be so, be sure God's grace will guide your will, and lead you to believe on Christ ; and He will strengthen your weakness, quiet your anxiety to be rid of sin, and secure you in the contest w^ith fleshly lusts, by the aid of His holy spirit. And then, if at any time you are ready to exclaim with the apostle, " Ah ! wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death ?" you will be able to join also in his triumphant answer, " I thank God, who has given us the victory, by our Lord Jesus Christ." V. A simple mind also, a want of worldly education, frequently made it more easy for men to turn to Christ. We know from the Gospels, that the so-called educated, those who thought themselves wise and prudent — the Scribes, the Priests, and the Pharisees — not only re- mained far from Christ, but even opposed him violently, while the ignorant and untaught multitudes hung upon his words ; and he himself saith : " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast re- vealed them unto babes." They were hindered by no false learning, no imaginary wisdom, from seeing the light which the gospel shed upon them : they could not pride themselves on their knovv^ledge ; they therefore sought for no arts, but committed themselves in humble confidence to the teaching of Jesus, and his powerful words led them irresistibly on. Thus, in later years, the lower and less educated heathen were more easily converted than those v>^ho deemed themselves w^ise and prudent. These followed in simplicity the impulse of tlieir hearts, and they felt the doctrines of the gospel speak home to them, lighten and refresh them : it is on this account that the heathen Celsus took occasion to scoff at Christianity, saying, that the most ignorant and uneducated were its most zealous followers and preach- ers ; while Athenagoras, who in the second century defended the Christian faith, acknowledges this with pride, and bears witness to it : " Among us," says he, ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 13 " you will find the ignorant and the labourer, and old women, who, although they cannot express to you in words the healing influence of our Christian doctrine, yet prove it both in thought and action." And even in these days, those who most easily surrender their minds to the truth are the poor, the untaught, and the lowly, who are not perverted or blinded by false wis- dom. Their simple minds do not understand how to quibble and question : their hearts find all they are in need of in the gospel, and therefore they receive it wil- lingly, and gladly follow that Saviour who refreshes them that travail, and are heavy laden. Such men are far happier in their simplicity than those proud witlings who, for very wisdom, are unable to come to Christ, who think themselves far too clever to embrace heartily a doctrine which they think is intended only for the common people. A single eye and a simple mind are indeed pearls of great price, and nothing is so clearly proved among us as that saying of the apostle, that " not many v/ise men after the flesh are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." Let our highest wisdom, my brethren, be to acknowledge that of ourselves we know nothing of heavenly things, and to surrender ourselves with single- ness of heart to His teaching, who hath revealed to us all things that make for our peace and happiness. VI. We do not however mean, by any means, to assert, that only the uneducated and ignorant are fitted for the reception of the gospel, or that knowledge and education are, under all circumstances, a hinderance to faith. Did not Nicodemus come to the Lord, and was he not a doctor of the law, and a master in Israel ? And does not experience teach us that the want of in- tellectual training often unfits men for the kingdom of God, because, with such a want, wildness and supersti- tion are not unfrequently connected. We do not at all mean to encourage a state of ignorance, when we praise that simplicity of mind, which, free from pedan- try, and that wisdom which darkeneth counsel, seekü 14 SERMON I. and finds contentment and peace in faith on tlie gospel, and we by no means reprobate true education and earnest inquiry after truth; nay, rather we affirm that this earnest inquiry itself is to many the appointed faith by which God's wisdom leads them to believe on His Son. This was the case with many highly educated heathens in the early times of the Church. They sought anxiously after truth, but their wisdom taught them nothing that could appease the cravings of their minds, or satisfy the yearnings of their hearts. They acknowledged the folly of their idolatry : heathenism failed to content, nay it even repelled them, but they had nothing to which they could cling amid their doubts, nothing with which to supply the place of their heathen faith ; and the unsatisfied cravings of a heart and mind thirsting for knowledge and truth, for light and peace, must have been to them the source of much grief and uneasi- ness. Must not they in such a case, when the gospel was preached to them, have hailed joyfully a doctrine which promised fully to satisfy all their heartfelt wants and desires, and which not only promised, but which actually did so ? Think you not that all the wisdom of this world seemed to them folly, that they might be- come blessed through faith in Jesus Christ. Yes ! let these half educated men glory in their supposed wisdom, let them despise the gospel and thrust it from them in unbelief, as we may see many in these times doing ; but earnest and honest inquirers will, doubtless, be led to Christ, and find full satisfaction in his faith and peace, feeling, as they do, that the wise of this world can ofier them nothing which can stay their yearnings. Guesses, uncertain opinions, paradoxes, these are all that human wisdom can give them, and doubts, far from being removed by these are strengthened. In faith on Christ and his precious gospel we find light and truth, peace and health, and happiness. Let him, therefore, who would be wise, learn to become a fool in the world's estimation, and turn to Him, who alone hath the words of eternal life. In him lie hid all the trea- sures of wisdom and knowledge. Let, then, lowly faith ON PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 15 in Him be our wisdom, and let the end and aim of all we do be to become more firm, more stable, more joyful, and, above all, more like in all things to our divine ex- emplar. Happy is every man who is converted to Christ, by what path soever the wisdom of God has con- ducted him ! he has found a ground in which the an- chor of his faith will ever hold firmly ; he may join in the glad song, Joy I I have found the Saviour Who only can preserve. Amen. Amen. ( 16 ) SERMON IL CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Having on the last Sunday, my brethren, reminded you of the various and manifold ways by which the wisdom and love of God leads men to faith on Christ, permit me on this day to commence that series of me- ditations which I have proposed to myself during the present season, the subject of which will be the life of Christians during the first ages of the Church. How the lives of the converts (by whatever path they may have been led to Christianity through their various pe- culiarities and modes of thought) were developed ; how the faith which they now acknowledged manifested it- self in them, and what influence the plastic and sancti- fying power of the Gospel exerted upon the hearts and lives of its professors, — such considerations will, without doubt, prove to us an occupation as full of attraction as of wholesome instruction. It appears, however, need- ful, to the end that we may more easily conduct our contemplations, to bring them into a certain order, with which I must make you acquainted beforehand. Now, since every thing which presents itself to our attention in regard to the purpose before us relates to Christians, contemplated either as participators of a new religious society, or as members of a public community, or, lastly, as members of a family, it will be my endeavour to direct your thoughts, by degrees, to the life of Christians in the church, in the civil community, and in their families, during the earlier times of Christianity. In order, however, that you may contemplate these early Christian times in the right point of view, I must commence by vrarning you, my brethren, not to expect CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 1? to find in the lives of Christians of those times only light without shade. Such an expectation were indeed far too bold. We must not dream of an ideal perfec- tion, of a sj)otless purity, or a perfect undisturbed glory; we must look the reality in the face. In one, alone, was the spirit without measure, in Him who is the pat- tern to us all ; but where among his truest and most devoted followers shall we find one who can be placed beside this j^attern ? In none hath all the brightness of the Godhead resided undimmed by any mixture; in none was the fulness of divinity, and there has been none among them who has not been compelled to ex- claim, " I have not yet comprehended it, I am yet far from perfect." The early Christian church had its sides both of light and shade. Its beauty, its glory, and the fulness of the divine life which manifested itself in its bosom, will often compel our admiration, and inspire us with praises of the Lord. But neither must we sujffer its shortcomings and its blemishes to remain hid- den from us ; we must not pass by the things which dimmed the brightness of its glory, that we may learn with shame and sorrow the power of sin which shews itself in every thing human, and often blights the most beautiful blossoms before they ripen into fruit. We shall thus most certainly escape the reproach of extol- ling the past at the expense of the present, and of ex- hibiting an untrue and distorted picture of the life of Christians during the early ages of the Church ; whilst, at the same time, the conviction will force itself on us, that, in spite of its many and undeniable shortcomings and blemishes, the Christian life of those first centuries shines forth with overpowering beauty and brilliancy. But before we pass on, my brethren, to a representa- tion of, the particular features of the Christian life, we must point to that which we have to consider as its pe- culiar foundation, the higher unity from which sprung its manifold relations and tendencies, and we must shew the grand and general points of distinction between it and the earlier modes of thought and life of those who were converted from Paganism or Judaism to the B 18 SERMON II. faith. All the manifestations, how different soever of the faith in the relations of the life of Christians as members of the church, the state, or their families, had their common centre and peculiar foundation in the knowledge of God, which the Gospel aroused and con- tinued in their hearts ; and since this knowledge of God among the Christians was quite different from that of those who remained Pagans or Jews, it also imparted to their lives a quite different direction. A new tree having been planted, new fruits must have of necessity appeared. Let us pay our attention to-day to this cir- cumstance, beseeching of God that he would be near us with his holy spirit. Text. God is a Spirit ; and they who worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. — St John, iv. 24. In these equally simple and comprehensive words of the Saviour, we find the Christian knowledge of God expressed, as it was manifested among the professors of the Gospel, in contradistinction to that of the ante- Christian times as regards him, 1st, In his nature; 2d, In his workings ; and to these two heads let us direct our attention. Holy Father, sanctify us with thy truth ; thy word is truth. Amen. I. In consequence of the fall, the clear and pure knowledge of God in the heart of man was so utterly dimmed, darkened, and distorted, that falsehood ac- quired the power by degrees altogether to suppress the truth, and draw down the divinity itself into the bounds of human narrowness and vileness. For will and» know- ledge' are most closely connected, and act and react on each other. When the will is directed to that which is sinful and godless, it converts truth into falsehood, that it may put a fair colour on its deeds ; and where the light of knowledge is dimmed or darkened, there also is the will sold to the power of darkness and error, CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 19 delusion and sin go hand in hand. This, my brethren, must have been the sad experience of us all. As soon as a sinful will gains dominion over us, we seek to sup- press the better knowledge which rises up against it, and we look around us for every kind of excuse and pretence to gloss and justify the evil ; and the more that, led away by our sinful lusts, we thus weaken the power of the truth, and the deeper we sink into error, the more power do these ungodly lusts obtain, the more firmly do we become entangled in the meshes of sin. Because our works are evil we hate the light, and be- cause we love darkness more than light, our works are evil, and our life is given over to the power of sin. These remarks are intended to explain to us how man gradually fell from the primary, pure, and undimmed knowledge of God, into the horrible darkness of pa- ^•anism, and into the falsehood of the most depraved idolatry. How great the corruptions were on this head among the most polished of the heathen nations of an- tiquity, St Paul witnesses to us, when he writes : " Be- cause that which may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead ; so that they are without excuse ; because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing them- selves to be wise they became fools : and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things ; and changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever." We do, indeed, find among the sages of antiquity some nobler spirits who saw into the folly of idolatry (since, even in the pagan world, the spirit of God was never quite without a witness), but these either could not at- tain in their inquiries to any thing beyond dark uncer- 20 SERMON II. tain groj)ing, guesses, and surmises, or else could not introduce this better knowledge into the consciousness and life of the people. They knew the lie, but they failed to discover the truth, and the multitudes sat " in darkness and the shadow of death," without a suspi- cion of their wretched and lamentable condition. Chris- tianity alone brought light into this darkness ; and it was its influence that exalted the deep indwelling con- viction of the moral and spiritual nature of man con- cerning the existence and being of God into a clear consciousness of a one, living, invisible, and yet ever near and ever present Deity, filling all things with his power and energy, who had revealed himself to the world in Christ, who had reconciled it to himself and thus given it life ; for, " this," saith the Redeemer, " is eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Christian knowledge of God is manifested, then, in the confession that " God is a spirit." If the heathen were unable to raise themselves to this knowledge of God, to feel, to acknowledge, and to find him the in- visible and yet ever nigh and ever present Deity, who fills heaven and earth, the cause lay in the mighty power of sin, by which the capacity of beholding the Divine, and receiving heavenly truth, was dimmed and weaken- ed. Thus beautifully and strikingly the Bishop of An- tioch, Theophilus (a. d. 170), expresses himself in an- swer to the question of the sensuous heathen, " Where is thy God ?" " It is He," he replied, " whose breath gives life to all things. If He withdraw his breath, they return into nothingness. Thou canst not speak without bearing witness to Him. The very breath of thy life witnesses of him, and knowest thou Him not ? This thou hast because of the blindness of thy soul, and the dul- ness of thy heart. God is seen by those who can see him, while they have the eyes of their spirits open. You, indeed, have eyes, but the eyes of some are dark- ened and cannot see the sunlight. Since, then, although the blind cannot behold the sun, the sun does not there- fore cease to be, but the blind must attribute the fault CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 21 to themselves and their darkened eyes ; so, man, are the eyes of thy soul darkened by thy sins and evil deeds. Man must have his soul pure like a mirror ; and as, if the mirror be dim, man's countenance cannot be seen in it, so man cannot see God if sin reign within him. But thou canst be made whole if thou wilt. Trust thyself to the physician and he will open the eyes of thy soul. Who is the physician ? It is the God who makes thee whole and living by His word." St Paul also tells us, that man, through his estrangement from the life which is of God, and the inward corruption of his heart, is unable to behold the light of divine truth, and comprehend the manifestation of God ; whence it follows, that true and clear knowledge of God can pro-^ c-eed only from an inward conversion and regeneration by the spirit. It is pleasing, too, to see how the preachers of the gospel, in order to arouse in men's minds this know- ledge of God, used to appeal to those dim feelings and surmises, and scanty traces of a better knowledge, which v/ere here and there to be found among the heathen. Thus did the apostle Paul. He had found in Athens an altar with the inscription, " To the unknown God." He instantly made use of this circumstance, and ad- dressed thus the assembled people : " Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you. God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands: neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life and breath, and all things ; and hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of tlie earth, and hath determined the times be- fore appointed, and the bounds of their habitation : that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us ; for in him we live, and move, and have our being ; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think 22 SERMON ir. that the godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Thus, we see here how Paul, making his starting point the dim knowledge of God among the heathen, preaches to them the Al- mighty Creator, the one primary author and fountain of being, who, being a spirit, works according to his nature everywhere with like power, who is in like manner nigh unto all, and to be found of all that seek him, because in him all live, and move, and have their being. In later times, also, when Christianity had already spread far and wide, the teachers of the church made use in their sermons of the poor remnant of the know- ledge of God among the heathen, in order to lead back the wanderers to the light of truth, that they might acknowledge that " God is a spirit, and they that wor- ship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." Tertullian, especially, who lived at the end of the se- cond and beginning of the third century, used to pay particular attention to the natural and at the same time unpremeditated expressions of the uneducated simple people, in order to prove how even the dominion of error and heathen superstition had not been able en- tirely to blot out in their souls every trace of the original knowledge of God. " I address thee," says he, " O soul, who art not trained in books and schools, and full of human wisdom, but who art simple and ignorant ; to thee I appeal, as thou appearest among the humble and lowly in the market and the workshop. We hear thee exclaim, what is not permitted to ^