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 PHILOSOPHY 
 
 PLAN OF SALVATION, 
 
 A BOOK FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 BY AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. 
 
 LONDON: 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 Instituted 1 799.
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 This book is anonymous. With the exception of a few 
 gentlemen, who kindly assisted in revising the sheets, and 
 reviewing the authorities and notes, it is not probable 
 that any individual out of the writer's family will be able 
 to conjecture, with the least degree of probability, wlio is 
 the autlior of the book. Even the personal friends of the 
 author would not be likely to suspect him of writing this 
 volume. The book will, therefore, stand upon its own 
 merits before the public ; and the author will be indulged 
 in makiug some expressions which a becoming degree of 
 modesty would forbid, were his name upon the title-page. 
 
 Occasion of the work. 
 
 During some of the first years of the wTiter's active 
 life he was a sceptic ; he had a friend who has since been 
 well known as a lawyer and a legislator, who was also 
 sceptical in liis opinions. We were both conversant with 
 the common evidences of Christianity. None of them 
 convinced our minds of the Divine origin of the Christian 
 religion, although we both thought ourselves wilUng to 
 be convinced by sufficient evidence. Circumstances, which 
 need not be named, led the writer to examine the Bible, 
 and to search for other evidence than that which had 
 been commended to his attention by a much-esteemed 
 clerical friend, who presided in one of our colleges. The 
 result of the examination was a thorough conviction in 
 the author's mind of the truth and Divine authority of 
 Christianity. He supposed at that time, that, in his in- 
 quiries, he had adopted the only true method to settle 
 
 IG?'?
 
 IV PBEFACE. 
 
 the question, in the minds of all intelligent inquirers, in 
 relation to the Divine origin of the Christian religion. 
 Subsequent reflection has confirmed this opinion. 
 
 Convinced himself of the Divine origin of the religion 
 of the Bible, the author commenced a series of letters to 
 convey to his friend the evidence which had satisfied his 
 own mind beyond the possibility of doubt. The corre- 
 spondence was, by the pressure of business engagements, 
 interrupted. The investigation was continued, however, 
 when leisure would permit, for a number of years. The 
 results of this investigation are contained in the following 
 chapters. The epistolary form in which a portion of the 
 book was first written will account for some repetition, 
 and some varieties in the style, which otherwise might 
 not have been introduced. 
 
 Reasons for presenting the work to the public. 
 
 Book-making is not the author's profession. But after 
 examining his own private Mbrary, and one of the best 
 public libraries in the country, he could find no treatise 
 in which the course of reasoning was pursued which will 
 be found in the following pages. Dr. Chalmers, in closing 
 his Bridgewater Treatise, seems to have had an appre- 
 hension of the plan and importance of such an argument ; 
 and had he devoted himself to the development of the 
 argument suggested, the effort would have been worth 
 more to the world than all the Bridgewater Treatises put 
 together, including his own work. 
 
 Coleridge has somewhere said, that the Levitical eco- 
 nomy is an enigma y«t to be solved. To thousands of 
 intelligent minds it is not only an enigma, but it is an 
 absolute barrier to their belief in the Divine origin of the 
 Bible. The solution of the enigma was the clue which 
 aided the writer to escape from the labyrinth of doubt ; 
 and now, standing upon the rock of unshaken faith, he 
 offers the clue that guided him, to others. 
 
 A work of this kind is called for by the spirit of the 
 age. Altliough the signs of the times are said to be pro- 
 pitious, yet tlicre are constant developments of undisci- 
 plined and unsanctified mind both in Europe and America,
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 winch furnishes matter of regret to the philanthropist and 
 the Christian. A struggle has commenced — is going on 
 at present — and the lieat of the contest is constantly 
 increasing, in which the vital interests of man, temporal 
 and spiritual, are involved. In relation to man's spiritual 
 interests, the central point of controversy is the " cross of 
 Christ." In New England, some of those who have 
 diverged from the doctrine of the fathers, have wandered 
 into a wildness of speculation which, were it not for the 
 evil experienced by themselves and others, ought, perhaps, 
 to be pitied as the erratic aberrations of an unsettled 
 reason, rather than blamed as the manifestation of minds 
 deterrainately wicked. The most painful indication con- 
 nected with this subject is, that these guilty dreamers are 
 not waked from their reveries by the rebuke of men whose 
 position and relations in society demand it at their hands. 
 The west, likewise, is overrun by sects whose teachers, 
 under the name of Reformers, or some other inviting ap- 
 pellation, are usine every eifort to seduce men from the 
 spiritual doctrines and duties of the gospel, or to organize 
 them into absolute hostility against Christ. These men 
 are not wanting in intellect, nor in acquired knowledge, 
 and their labours have prejudiced the minds of great num- 
 bers against the spiritual truths of the gospel, and ren- 
 dered their hearts callous to religious influence. These 
 facts, in the author's opinion, render such a volume as he 
 has endeavoured to write necessary, iu order to meet the 
 exigencies of the times.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Man will worship— he will become assimilated to the charac- 
 ter of the object that he worships — Character of heathen 
 deities defective and unholy— From this corrupting worship 
 man has no power to extricate himself 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Concerning the design and necessity of the bondage in Egypt IC 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Concerning Miracles — particularly the miracles which accom- 
 panied the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in 
 Egypt 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Concerning what was necessary as the first step in the process 
 of revelation ."2 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Concerning the necessity of affectionate obedience to God; 
 and the manner of producing that obedience in the hearts of 
 till' Israelites 35 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Concerning the design and necessity of the Moral Law 42 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Concerning the development of the idea of holiness, and its 47 
 transfer to Jehovah aa an attribute „•••• <
 
 CONTENTS. VII 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Page 
 Concerning tlie origin of tlie ideas of justice and mercy, and 
 their transfer to the character of Jehovah 56 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Concerning th6 transition from the material system, by whicli 
 religious ideas were conveyed through the senses, to the 
 spiritual system, in which abstract ideas were conveyed by 
 words and parables 66 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Concerning the medium of conveying to men perfect instruc- 
 tion in doctrine and duty 73 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Concerning some of the peculiar proof* of the Messiahship of 
 Christ 78 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Concerning the condition in life which it was necessary the 
 Messiah should assume, in order to benefit the human family 
 in the greatest degree, by his example and instructions 84 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Concerning the essential principles which must, according to 
 the nature of things, lie at the foundation of the instruction 
 of Christ 90 
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 Concerning faith, as the exercise through which truth reaches 
 and affects the soul 93 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Concerning the manifestations of God which would l)e neces- 
 sary, under the new and spiritual dispensation, to produce in 
 the soul of man affectionate obedience 101 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Concerning the influence of faith in Christ upon the moral 
 disposition aud the moral powers of the soul ,., 134
 
 VUl CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Page 
 Concerning the design and importance of the means of grace 
 —prayer— praise — preaching 153 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Concerning the agency of God in carrying on the work of re- 
 demption, and the manner in which that agency is exerted 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Concerning the practical effects of the system as exemplified 
 in individual cases , 174
 
 PHILOSOPHY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 MAN WILL WORSHIP — HE WILL BECOME ASSIMILATED 
 TO THE CHARACTER OF THE OBJECT THAT HE 
 
 WORSHIPS CHARACTER OF HEATHEN DEITIES 
 
 DEFECTIVE AND UNHOLY FROM THIS CORRUPT- 
 ING WORSHIP MAN HAS NO POWER TO EXTRICATE 
 HIMSELF. 
 
 There are three facts, each of them fully deyeloped 
 in the experience of the human family, a consider- 
 ation of which will prepare the mind for the in- 
 vestigation which follows. When considered in 
 their relation to each other, and in their bearing 
 upon the moral interests of mankind, they will be 
 seen to be of exceeding importance. We will ad- 
 duce these facts, in connexion with the statements 
 and i)rinciples upon which they rest, and show 
 how vital are the interests which depend upon them. 
 
 THE FIRST FACT STATED. 
 
 There is in the nature of man, or in the circuin 
 stances in which he is conditioned, something wliich 
 leads him to recognise and worship a superior being. 
 What that something is, is not important in our 
 present inquu-y : — whether it be a coustitutional 
 
 B
 
 2 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 instinct inwrought by the Maker — whether it be a 
 deduction of universal reason, inferring a first cause 
 from the things that are made — whether it be the 
 effect of tradition, descending from the first worship- 
 pers, through all the tribes of the human family — 
 whether any or all of these be the cause, the fact is 
 the same — Man is a rel'ujious being — he will 
 
 WORSHIP. 
 
 In view of this propension of human nature, phi- 
 losophers, in seeking a generic appellation for man, 
 have denominated him a " religious animal." The 
 characteristic is true of him in whatever part of the 
 world he may be found, and in whatever condition ; 
 and it has been true of him in all ages of which we 
 have any record either fabulous or authentic. 
 
 Navigators have, in a few instances, reported that 
 isolated tribes of men, whom they visited, recognised 
 the existence of no superior being : subsequent re- 
 searches, however, have generally corrected the error 
 — and, in all cases, when it has been sui)posed that 
 a tribe of men was found believing in no god, the 
 fact has been stated as an evidence of their degra- 
 dation below the mass of their species, and of their 
 approximation to the confines of brute natm-e. Of 
 the whole family of man, existing in all ages, and 
 scattered over the four quarters of the globe, and in 
 the isles of the sea, there is scarcely one well-authen- 
 ticated exception to the fact, that, moved by an im- 
 pulse of nature, or tlic force of circumstances, man 
 worships something which he believes to be endowed 
 with the attributes of a superior being. ■ 
 
 THE SECOND FACT STATED. 
 
 The second fact, connected as it is, by the nature 
 of things, with tlie preceding, assumes the highest 
 degree of importance. It may be stated in the 
 following terms: — 3Ian, by worshijiping, becomes
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 3 
 
 assimilated to the moral character of the object 
 which he uorshijis. This is an invariable principle, 
 operating with the certainty of cause and eflect. 
 The worshipper looks upon the character of the 
 object which he worships as the standard of per- 
 fection. He therefore condemns everything in 
 himself which is unlike, and approves of every 
 thing which is like that character. The tendency 
 of this is to lead him to abandon everything in 
 himself, and in his course of life, which is con- 
 demned by the character and 2)Tecepts of his god,' 
 and to conform himself to that standard vrhich is 
 approved by the same criterion. The worshi])per 
 desii'es the favour of the object worshijjped, and this, 
 reason dictates, can be obtained only by conformity 
 to the will and the character of that object. To 
 become assimilated to the image of the object wor- 
 shi2iped must be the end of desire with the wor- 
 shipper. His aspirations, therefore, every time he 
 worships, do, from the nature of the case, assimilate 
 his character more and more to the model of the 
 object that receives his homage. 
 
 To tills fact the whole history of the idolatrous 
 world bears testimony. Without an exception, the 
 character of every nation and tribe of the human 
 family has been formed and modified, in a great 
 degree, by the character attributed to their gods. 
 
 From the history of idolatrous nations we will 
 cite a number of familiar cases, confirmatory of the 
 foregoing statement, that man becomes like the 
 object of his worship. 
 
 A most striking instance is that of the Scythians, 
 and other tribes of the Northmen, who subdued and 
 finally annihilated the Roman power. Odin, Thor, 
 and others of their supposed deities, were ideas of 
 hero-kings, blood-tbirsty and cruel, clothed with 
 the atti'ibutes of deitv, and worshipped. Their 
 " B 2
 
 4 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 •worsbi^i turned tlie milk of human kindness into 
 gall in the bosoms of their A^otarics, and they seemed, 
 like blood-hounds, to be 2)ossessed of a horrid de- 
 light when the}' were revelling in scenes of blood 
 and slaughter. It being believed that one of their 
 hero-gods, after destroying great numbers of the 
 human race, destroyed himself, it hence became dis- 
 reputable to die in bed, and those who did notmeet 
 death in battle frequently committed suicide, sup- 
 2iosiug that to die a natural death might exclude 
 them from favour in the hall of Valhalla. 
 
 Among the gods of the Greeks and Romans there 
 were some names, in the early ages of their history, 
 to which some virtuous attributes were attached ; 
 but the conduct and character generally attributed 
 to their gods were marked deeply with such traits 
 as heroism, vengeance, caprice, and lust. In the 
 later history of these nations, their idolatry degen- 
 erated in character, and became a system of most 
 debasing tendency. 
 
 The heroism fostered by idolatry was its least 
 injurious influence. Pope's couplet, had he thrown 
 a ray or two of light across the back-ground of the 
 dark picture, would have been a correct delineation 
 of the character of jmgan idols — 
 
 Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust; 
 ■\Vliose attributes -were rage, revenge, and lust. 
 
 In some cases the most corrupt attributes of 
 human natiu-e, and even of brute nature, were attri- 
 buted to objects of v.'orship, and while men bowed 
 down to tbem, they sank themselves to the lowest 
 depths of vice. The Egyptians might bo named as 
 an instance. The first patrons of the arts and 
 sciences were brute-worshippers ; and it is testiiied 
 of them tliat bestiality, the lowest vice to wliich 
 Inunan Uiiture can descend, was common amongst
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 5 
 
 them. The paintings and sculpture of their clivini 
 ties, in the mummy catacombs, are for the most 
 part, chisters of beasts, birds, reptiles, and flies, 
 grouped together in the most disgusting and un- 
 natural relations ; a true indication that the minds 
 of the worsliippers were filled with ideas the most 
 vile and imnatural. 
 
 The ancient Venus, as worshipped by almost all 
 the elder nations of antiquity, was a personification 
 of lust. The deeds ref^uired to be done at her j^ol- 
 luting fane, as acts of homage, ought not to be 
 named. 
 
 In the best days of Corinth — " Corinth the eye 
 of Greece" — the most sacred persons in the city 
 were prostitutes, consecrated to tlie worship of 
 Venus. From this so'urce she derived a large por- 
 tion of her revenues. The consequence was, that 
 her inhabitants became proverbial for dissoluteness 
 and treachery. 
 
 To the heathen divinities, especially those placed 
 at the head of the catalogue as the superior gods, 
 what theologians have called the physical attributes 
 of deity — omnipotent and omnipresent power — were 
 generally ascribed ; but their moral character v/as 
 always defective, and generally criminal. As one 
 of the best instances in the whole mythology of tlie 
 ancients, the Roman Jupiter might be cited. Had 
 a medal been struck delineating the character of 
 this best of the gods, on one side might have been 
 engraved Almightiness, Omnqjresencc, Justice ; and 
 on the reverse. Caprice, Vengeance, Lust. Thus 
 men clothed depraved or bestial deities with al- 
 mighty power, and they became cruel, or corrupt, 
 or bestial in their aflections, by the reaction of the 
 character worshij^ped upon the character of the 
 worsMpper. In the strong language of a recent 
 writer, " they clothed beasts and depraved beings
 
 q PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 with tlie attribute of almiglitiiiess, and in effect 
 they worshipped ahnighty beasts and devils." And 
 the more they worship2)ed the more they resembled 
 them. 
 
 These testimonies concerning the influence of 
 idolatrous worship, and the character of the idols 
 worshipped, are maintained by authorities which 
 render doubt in relation to their credibility impos- 
 sible. Upon this subject the wiser men among the 
 Greeks and Romans have borne unequivocal testi- 
 mony. Plato, in the second hook of the Republic, 
 speaks of the pernicious influence of the conduct 
 attributed to the gods, and suggests that such his- 
 tories should not be rehearsed in jDublic, lest they 
 sliould influence the youth- to the commission of 
 crimes. Aristotle advises that statues and paintings 
 of the gods should exhibit no indecent scenes, ex- 
 cej)t in the temples of such divinities as, according 
 to common opinion, preside over sensuality.* What 
 an affectmg testimony of the most discriminating 
 mind among the heatlien ! asserting not only the 
 turpitude of the prevailing idolatry, but sanctioning 
 tlie sensuality of their debauclied worship. 
 
 As Rome and Greece grew older, the infection 
 of idolatiy festered, imtil the body politic became 
 one mass of moral disease. The state of things, in 
 the later ages of these nations, is well stated by a 
 late writer of the lirst authority. f " We should 
 naturally suppose, (says this writer,) that among so 
 great a varietyof gods, of religious actions, of sacred 
 vows, at least some better feeling of the heart 
 must have been excited; that at least some truly 
 pious sentiment would have been awakened. But 
 when we consider the character of this superstition, 
 and the testimony of cotcmjioraneous writers, such 
 
 * Aristot. Politica, vii. 13. cd. Sclmeider. 
 t Tholuck on tlii' lii/lucnce of Heathenism.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 7 
 
 does not appear to have been the fact. Petronius's 
 history of that period fm-nishes evidence that tem- 
 ples were frequented, ahars crowned, and prayers 
 offered to the gods, in order that they might render 
 nights of unnatural lust agreeable; that they might 
 favour acts of poisoning; that they might cause 
 robberies and other crimes to prosper." In view of 
 the abominations prevailing at this period, the 
 nkoral Seneca exclaimed — " How great now is the 
 madness of men! They Usp the most abominable 
 prayers; and if a man is found listening they are 
 silent. What a man ought not to hear, they do not 
 blush to relate to the gods." Again, says he, " If 
 any one considers what things they do, and to what 
 thhigs they subject themselves ; instead of decency, 
 he will find indecency; instead of the honourable, 
 the unworthy ; instead of the rational, the insane !" 
 Such was heathenism and its influence, in the most 
 enlightened ages, according to the testimony of the 
 best men of those times. 
 
 In relation to modern idolatry, the world is full 
 of living witnesses of its corrupting tendency. We 
 will cite in illustration, a single case or two. The 
 following is extracted from a public document, laid 
 before parliament by H. Oakley, Esq., a magistrate 
 in lower Bengal. Speaking of the influence of 
 idolatry in India, he says of the Avorship of Kale, 
 one of the most j^opular idols, " the murderer, the 
 robber, and the jirostitute, all aim to propitiate a 
 being v.'hose worship is obscenity, and who delights 
 in the blood of man and beast ; and, without im- 
 ploring whose aid, no act of wickedness is com- 
 mitted. The worship of Kale must harden the 
 hearts of her followers ; and to them scenes of 
 blood and crime must become familiar." 
 
 In Chma, according to Medhurst, the priests of 
 Buddlia understand and teach the doctrine of tlie
 
 8 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 assimilation of the worshipper to the object wor- 
 sliipped. They say — " Tliink of Buddha and you 
 will be transformed into Buddha. If men pray to 
 Buddha and do not become Buddha, it is because 
 the mouth prays, and not the mind."* 
 
 Two facts, then, are philosophically and his- 
 torically true : First — Man is a religious animal, 
 and will worship something, as a superior being. 
 Second — By worshipping he becomes assimilated 
 to the moral character of the object which he 
 worships. And (the God of the Bible out of view 
 for the present) those objects have always had a 
 defective and unholy character. 
 
 Here, then, is one great source which has de- 
 veloped the (iorruption of the family of man. We 
 inquire not in this place concerning the origin of 
 idolatiy : whatever, or wlierever was its origin, its 
 influence has been uniformly the same. As no 
 object of idolatrous worship was ever conceived to 
 be jjerfectly just and benevolent, but most of them 
 no better than the ai:)otheosis of heroes, or tlie 
 deification of the imperfect faculties and impure 
 passions of human or brute nature, the result 
 followed, with a certainty as unerring as cause 
 and effect, that man, by following his instinct to 
 worship, would becloud his intellect and corrupt 
 liis heart. Notice how inevitable, from the eir 
 cumstances of the case, was the corruption of 
 man's jiowers : — He was led to worship by au 
 instinct over wliich he had no control : — The 
 objects of liis worship were, whether he originated 
 them or not, all of them of a character that cor- 
 rupted his heart ; tluis tlie gratilication of his 
 
 * For a succinct statenic-nt of the universal prevalence of false 
 rellfjions. and tlieir coiruptiii^'- influence, see Kyan on the Effect of 
 llf:ligion upon IShinkind, W(7w/?«.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 9 
 
 instinctive i)ropensities inevitably strengthened the 
 coiTui)tion of his nature. 
 
 Now, it is not oiu' design to inquire whether, or 
 how far, man was guilty in producing this evil 
 condition of things. In considering the facts in 
 the case, the inquiiy which forces itself upon the 
 mind is — Were there any resources in human 
 nature; or any means of any kind, of which man 
 could avail himself, by which he might save him- 
 self from the debasing influence of idolatrous 
 worship ? In reply, 
 
 THE THIRD FACT IS STATED. 
 
 There icere no means uithin the reach of human 
 pouer or loisclom, by ichich man could extricate him- 
 self from the evil of idolatry, either by an immediate, 
 or by a progressive series of efforts. 
 
 This fact is maintained from the history of 
 idolatry, the testimony of the heathen philosophers, 
 and the nature of man. 
 
 I. Instead of man acquiring the power or the 
 disposition, as the race became older, to destroy 
 idolatry — idolatry, from its first entrance into the 
 world, gained power to destroy him. Amid all the 
 mutations of society, from barbarous to civilised ; 
 and amid all the conflicts of nations, and the 
 changes of dynasties and forms of government, 
 from the first historic notices which we have of the 
 human family down to the era of Christ, idolatry 
 constantly became more evil in its character and 
 more extended in its influence. It is well ascer- 
 tained that the first objects of idolatrous homage 
 were few and simple, and the worship of the earliest 
 ages comparatively pure. ]\Ian fell into this moral 
 debasement but one step at a time. The sun, 
 moon, stars, and other conspicuous objects of 
 creative power and wisdom, received the first 
 B 3
 
 10 THILOSOPHY OF 
 
 idolatrous homage. Afterwards a divinity was 
 supposed to reside in other ohjects, especially in 
 those men, and beasts, and things, which were 
 instrumental in conferring particular benefits on 
 tribes or nations of men. And, finally, images 
 of those objects were formed and worshipped. 
 Images, which subsequently became innumerable, 
 were not so in the earliest historic ages. In some 
 nations, they were not allowed until after the era 
 of the foundation of Eome.* As the nations gi'ew 
 older, images, which were at the first but few and 
 clothed with drapery, became more numerous, and 
 were presented before the worshippers in a state of 
 nudity, and in the most obscene attitudes. And, 
 as has been before stated, their character, from 
 being comparatively innoxious, became, without 
 exception, demoralising in the extreme. 
 
 2. During the Augustan age of Rome, and the 
 age of Pericles and Alcibiades in Greece — those 
 periods when the mind had attained the highest 
 elevation ever known among heathen nations — the 
 mass of the jjeoplc were more idolatrous in their 
 habits, and consequently more coiTupt in then* 
 hearts, than ever before. The abominations of 
 idol-worship, of the mysteries, and of lewdness, in 
 forms too vile to name, were rife throughout the 
 country and the villages, and had their foci in the 
 capitols of Greece and Rome. Jahn says, in re- 
 lation to this period, " deities increased in number, 
 and tlie apotheosis of vicious emperors was not 
 unfrcquent. Their pliilosophers, indeed, disputed 
 Avitli much subtlety respecting the architect of the 
 universe, but they knew nothing about the Creator, 
 the lioly and almighty Judge of men." 
 
 * Plutarch says that Numa forbade the Romans to make statues 
 of their gods.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATIOX. 11 
 
 Some of the more intelligent of the philosophers, 
 perceiving the evil of the prevailing idolatry, de- 
 sii-ed to refine the grossness of the popular faith. 
 They t'a light that the facts believed concerning the 
 gods were allegories. Some endeavoured to identify 
 the character of some of theii- deities with the 
 natui'al virtues ; while many of them became 
 sceptical concerning the existence ef the gods and 
 of a future state. Those were, however, but isolated 
 exceptions to the mass of mankind. And, had their 
 views been adopted by others, they would only have 
 modified, not remedied the evil. But a contem- 
 porary writer shows how entirely unavailing, 
 even to modify the evil, was the teaching of the 
 philosophers. Dionysius of Halicarnassus says, 
 " There are only a few who have become masters of 
 this philosophy. On the other hand, the gi-eat 
 and imphilosophic mass are accustomed to receive 
 these naiTatives rather in their worst sense, and to 
 learn one of these two things, either to despise the 
 gods as beings who wallow in the grossest Hcen- 
 tiousness, or not to restrain themselves even from 
 what is most abominable and abandoned, when 
 they see that the gods do the same." Cicero,|in 
 one sentence, as given by Tholuck, notices both 
 the evil and its cause ; confirming, in direct lan- 
 guage, the preceding views. " Instead," says he. 
 " of the transfer to man of that which is divine, 
 they transferred human sins to the gods, and then, 
 experienced again the necessaiy action." Such, 
 then, is the testimony of the philosophers in re- 
 lation to the idolatry of their times. A few gifted 
 individuals obtained sufficient light to see the moral 
 evil in whicli men were involved, but they had 
 neither wisdom to de\ise a remedy, nor power to 
 ai-rest the progress of the moral pestilence that was 
 coiTupting the noble faculties of the human soul.
 
 12 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 3. It was impossible, from the nature of man, 
 that he should extricate himself from the corrupt- 
 ing influence of idolatry. In this place we wish to 
 state a principle which should be kept in view 
 throughout the following discussion : — If man were 
 ever redeemed from idolatrous u-orslivp, his redemption 
 would have to be accomplished by means and in- 
 strumentalities adapted to his nature and the cir 
 cumstances in which he existed. If the faculties of 
 his nature were changed, he would not be man. If 
 his temporal condition were changed, different 
 means would be necessary : if, therefore, man, as 
 man, in his present condition, were to be recovered, 
 the means of recovery, whether instituted by God 
 or man, must be adapted to his nature and his 
 circumstances. 
 
 The only way, then, in wliich relief was possible 
 for man, was, that an object of worship shoiUd be 
 placed before the mind directly opposite in moral 
 character to those he had before adored. If his 
 heart was ever purified, it must be by tearing his 
 affections from his gods, and fixing them upon a 
 righteous and holy being as the proper object of 
 hi^ homage. But, for man to form such an object 
 was plainly impossible. He could not transfer a 
 better character to his gods than he himself 
 possessed. Man could not "bring a pure thing 
 out of an impm-e." The efiect could not rise 
 higher in moral purity tlian the cause. Hiunan 
 nature, in tlie maturity of its faculties, all agree, is 
 imperfect and selfish ; and, for an imperfect and 
 selfish being to originate a perfect and holy 
 character, deify it, and worship it, is to suppose 
 what is contrary to the nature of things. The 
 thought of the eloquent and philosophic Cicero 
 expresses all that man could do. He could transfer 
 his own imperfect attributes to the gods, and, by
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 13 
 
 worshipping a being characterised by these iraper 
 fections, he would receive in himself the reaction 
 of his own dej)ravity. 
 
 But, if some men had had the i^o'^'er and the 
 disposition to form for the world a perfectly holy 
 object of worship, still the gi-eat difficulty, as we 
 have seen in the case of the 25hilosoi)hers, would 
 have remained, that is, a want of the necessary 
 power to an-est the progress of idolatry and sub- 
 stitute the better worship. To doubt the truth of 
 the prevailing idolatry was all that men, at the 
 highest intellectual attainment ever acquired in 
 heathen countries, could do. And, if they had 
 had power to convey tbeii- doubts to all minds in 
 all the world, it would only have been to jolace 
 mankind in the chaotic darkness of atheism, and 
 leave them to be led again by their instincts into 
 the abominations of imperfect and impure worship. 
 
 The testimony, then, is conclusive, from the 
 history of idolatry, that the evil became greater 
 every age — from the statements of the wisest of 
 the heathen, that they had no power to arrest its 
 progi-ess — and from the nature of man, that it was 
 not possible for him to relieve himself from the 
 corrupting influence of idolatry, in which he had 
 become involved. 
 
 From the foregoing facts and reasonings, it is 
 plain, that the high-born faculties of the human 
 soul must have been blighted for ever, by a cor- 
 rupting worship, unless two things were accom- 
 plished ; neither of which it was in the power of 
 himian nature to effect : and, yet, both of which 
 were essentially necessary to accomplish the 
 elevation of man from the pit into which he had 
 fallen. 
 
 The first thing necessary to be accomplished 
 was, that a pure object of norsMp should be placed
 
 14 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 hefore the eye of the soul. Purity of heart and 
 conscience would be necessary in the object of 
 worship, otherwit-^-e, the heart and conscience of the 
 worshipper would not be purified. But, if an 
 object were presented, whose nature was infinitely 
 op])osed to sin — to all defilement, both physical 
 and spiritual — and who revealed, in his examjjle, 
 and by his precepts, a perfect standard to govern 
 the life of man under the circumstances in which 
 he was placed, then man's mind would be en- 
 lightened, his conscience rectified, and the hard and 
 corrupt feelings of his heart softened and purified, 
 by assimilation to the object of his worship : — As, 
 according to the nature of things, an unholy object 
 of worship would necessarily degrade and corrupt 
 the human soul; so on the contrary, a holy object 
 Avorshipped, would necessarily elevate and purify 
 the nature of man. 
 
 The second necessary thing in order to man's 
 redemption was, that when a hohj object of worship 
 was revealed, the revelation should he accompanied 
 with sufficient jmiver to injiuence men to forsake 
 their former worship, and to worship the holy object 
 Quade hnown to them. Tlie presentation of a new 
 and pin-e object, would not cause men to turn from 
 their former opinions and practices, and become 
 directly opposed in heart to what they had formerly 
 loved. A disjilay of power would be necessary, 
 sufhcient to overcome tlioir former faith and their 
 present fears, and to detach their affections from 
 idols, and fix . them upon the proper object of 
 human homage. 
 
 It follows, then, that man must remain a corrupt 
 idolater for ever, mdess God interpose in his 
 behalf. The question whether lie would thus 
 inter])ose, in the only way possible, to save the 
 race from uioral death, depends entirely ui)on the
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 15 
 
 benevoleuce of his nature. The question whether 
 he has done so, may be answered by inquiring, 
 wliether any system of means has been instituted 
 in this world, characterised by sufficient power to 
 destroy idolatry — revealing at the same time a holy 
 object of worship — and this revelation being ac- 
 companied by means and influences so adapted to 
 man's nature as to secure the result. 
 
 To this inquiry the future pages of this volume 
 ■\Vill be devoted. The inquiry is not primarily 
 concerning the truth of the Bible ; but concerning 
 the only^ religion possible for mankind, and the 
 only means by which such religion could be given 
 consistently with man's nature and cu'cumstances.
 
 CHAPTER IL ' 
 
 CONCERNING THE DESIGN AND NECESSITY OF THE 
 BONDAGE IN EGYPT. 
 
 There are certain bonds of union, and sources 
 of sympathy, by which the minds of a whole people 
 may be united into one common mind : so much 
 so, that all hearts in the nation will be affected by 
 the same subjects, and all minds moved by the 
 same motives. Any cause which creates a common 
 interest and a common feeling, common biases 
 and common hopes, in the individual minds which 
 compose a nation, has a tendency to unite them iu 
 this manner. 
 
 Some of the causes which have more power thini 
 any others to bind men, as it were, into a common 
 being, are the following : — The natural tie of con- 
 sanguinity, or a common parentage, is a strong 
 bond of affiliation among men. And tliere are 
 others, which, in some cases, seem to be even, 
 stronger than this : among these may be named a 
 common interest; a common religion ; and a com- 
 mon fellowshi]) in suffering and deliverance. Any 
 circumstance whicli educes the susceptibilities of 
 the mind and twines them together, or around a 
 common object — any event in whicli the interest, 
 the feelings, the safety, or the reputation of any 
 people is involved, causes them to be more closely 
 allied to each other in social and civil compact. 
 
 The more firmly a peo^ilo are bound togethei- by
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 17 
 
 these ties of uniou, tlie more strength they will pos- 
 sess to resist opposing interests and opinions from, 
 without; while, at the same time, everything 
 national, or peculiar to them as a people, will he 
 cherished with warmer and more tenacious attach- 
 ment. 
 
 From the operation of this principle originates 
 the maxim " Union is strength ;" and whether the 
 conflict be mental or physical, the people who aie 
 united together by the most numerous and powerful 
 sympathies, will oi)pose the sti'ongest and the 
 longest resistance to the innovations of external 
 forces. On the contrary, if the bonds of moral 
 union are few, and easily sundered, the strength of 
 the nation is soon broken, and the fragments easily 
 repelled from each other. 
 
 According to this principle, in all cases in which 
 a whole nation is to be instructed, or j)repared 
 for offence and defence, or in any wise fitted to be 
 acted upon, or to act as a nation, it woidd be ne- 
 cessary that the bonds of national union should be 
 numerous and strong ; and that, as far as possible, 
 a jjerfect oneness of interest and feeling should 
 pervade the nation. 
 
 So long as the human mind and human circum- 
 stances continue what they are, no power in heaven 
 or on earth could unite a people together, except 
 by the same or similar means as have been stated. 
 If, therefore, God designed to form a nation, 
 either to be acted upon or to act as a nation, he 
 would put in operation those agencies which would 
 bind them firmly and permanently into one mass. 
 
 Now, mark the application of these deductions 
 to the case of the Israelites. About the period 
 when the corruptions of idolatry were becoming 
 generally prevalent, Abraham, the Bible record 
 states, was extricated by Divine interposition. He
 
 18 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 was assm-ecl that bis descendants slioald ^suffer a 
 long bondage, and afterwards become a numerous 
 nation. Abraham was their common ancestor, one 
 whom they remembered with reverence and pride ; 
 and each individual felt himself honoured by the 
 fact that the blood of the " father of the faithful" 
 circled iji his veins. The tie of consanguinity in 
 their case was bound in the strongest manner, and 
 encircled the whole nation. In Egypt, their cir- 
 cumstances and employments were the same ; and, 
 in the endurance of a protracted and most gidling 
 bondage, they had a common lot. Their liberation 
 was likewise a national deliverance, which affected 
 alike the whole people ; the anniversary of which 
 was celebrated by distant posterity with strong and 
 l^eculiar national enthusiasm. 
 
 Now, it has been said, that the events of our 
 colonial servitude, and the acliievement of American 
 independence, are points in our history which will 
 ever operate upon our national character, impress- 
 iug clear views of the great principles of }'opub- 
 licanism, and uniting all hearts in support of those 
 principles : how much more affecting and inde- 
 lible, then, was the impress made upon the national 
 heart of tlio Israelites by their bondage and deli- 
 verance ! They were bound by blood, by interest, 
 feeling, hopes, "fears, by bondage, and by faith. 
 
 And how lir]nly did these providences weave into 
 one web the sympatliies and views of the Jewish 
 ])eople ! It is a fact whicli is the miracle of history, 
 and the wonder of the world, that the ties which 
 imite this people seem to be indissoluble. While 
 other nations have risen and reigned and fallen ; 
 while the tics which united them have been sun^ 
 dercd, and their fragments lost amid earth's teem- 
 ing i)o])ulation, the stoclv of Abraham endures, like 
 an incorruptible monument of gold, undestroyed by
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 19 
 
 the attrition of tlie waves of time, which have 
 dashed iii pieces and washed away other nations, 
 whose origin was but yesterday, compared with 
 this ancient and wonderful peox)le. 
 
 In this manner was this nation prepared for pe- 
 cidiar duties, and to discharge those duties under 
 pecuHar cu'cumstances. Many of th.e nations by 
 which they were surrounded were more powerfiil 
 than themselves ; all were warlike, and each had 
 its pecidiar system of idolatry, wnicli corrupted all 
 hearts that came within its influence. Hence 
 the necessity'- that this people should be so 
 united as to resist the power and contagious 
 example of surrounding nations, while they were 
 fitted to receive and preserve a peculiar national 
 character, civil polity, and religious doctrines ; of 
 all which they were to be the conservators, amid 
 surrounding and o^^posing heathenism, for many 
 ages. 
 
 Other facts might be added to the induction, 
 which would make the design, if i)ossible, more ap- 
 parent. If the Jews were to be the recipients of 
 new instruction — to obey new laws, and to sustain 
 new institutions, it wovdd be desirable that their 
 minds, so far as possible, shoidd be in the condition 
 of new material, occupied by little previous know- 
 ledge, and by no national prejudices against or in 
 favour of governmental forms and systems. Now, 
 in the case of the Jews, the habit of obedience had 
 been acquired. They had no national predilections 
 or prejudices arising from past exjierience. In 
 relation to knowledge of any kind, their mind was 
 almost a tabula rasa. They were as new mateiial 
 prepared to receive tlie moulding of a master hand, 
 and the impress of a governing mind. 
 
 Now, as this discipline of the descendants of 
 Abraham was the residt of a long concat 'iiaiion
 
 20 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION 
 
 of events, and could not have been designed by 
 themselves to accomplish the necessary end ; and 
 as the whole chain of events was connected together 
 and i^erfectly adapted, in accordance with the 
 nature of things, to produce the specific purpose 
 which was accomplished by them, it follovrs as the 
 only rational conclusion, first, that the overruling 
 intelligence of God was employed in thus j^reparing 
 material for a purer religious worship than tho 
 world then enjoyed ; and, second, that a nation 
 could have been so prepared by no other agent, 
 and in no other way
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONCEENING MIRACLES — PARTICULAELY THE MIRA- 
 CLES WHICH ACCOMPANIED THE DELIVERANCE OF 
 THE ISRAELITES FROM BONDAGE IN EGYPT. 
 
 There has-been so mucli false philosojihy written 
 concerning the subject of miracles, that it is difficult 
 for those conversant with the speculations of 
 writers upon this subject, to divest their minds 
 sufficiently of pre-formed biases, to examine can- 
 didly the simple and natm-al principles upon which 
 are based the evidence and necessity of miraculous 
 interj)osition. 
 
 The following statement is true beyond contro- 
 versy — 3Ian cannot, in the present constitution of 
 his mind, believe that religion has a Divine origin, 
 ■unless it he accompanied with miracles. The ne- 
 cessaiy inference of the mind is, that if an Infinite 
 Being act, his acts will be superhuman in their 
 character ; because the effect, reason dictates, will 
 be characterised by the nature of its cause. Man 
 has the same reason to expect that God will per- 
 form acts above human power and knowledge, that 
 he has to suppose the inferior orders of animals 
 win, in their actions, sink below the power and 
 wisdom which characterise human nature. For, 
 as it is natural for man to i^erform acts superior to 
 the i)ower and knowledge of the animals beneath 
 him, so, reason affirms, that it is natural for God to 
 develop his power by means, and in ways, above
 
 22 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the skill and ability of mortals. Hence, if God 
 manifest himself at all — unless, in accommodation 
 to the capacities of men, he should constrain his 
 manifestations within the compass of human 
 ability — every act of God's immediate power would, 
 to human capacity, be a miracle. But, if God 
 were to constrain all his acts within the limits of 
 human means and agencies, it would be impossible 
 for man to discriminate between the acts of the 
 Godhead and the acts of the manhood. And man, 
 if he considered acts to be of a Divine origin, which 
 were plainly within the compass of human ability, 
 would violate his own reason. 
 
 Suppose, for illustration, that God desired to 
 reveal a religion to men, and wished them to re- 
 cognise his character and his benevolence in giving 
 that revelation. Suppose, further, that God should 
 give such a revelation, and that every appearance 
 and every act connected with its introduction, were 
 characterised by nothing sujierior to human power : 
 could any rational mind on earth beheve that such 
 a system of religion came from God ? Impossible ! 
 A man could as easily be made to believe that his 
 own child, who j)ossesscd his own lineaments, and 
 his own nature, belonged to some other world, and 
 some other order of the creation. It would not be 
 jiossible for God to convince men that a rehgion 
 was from heaven, unless it was accompanied with 
 the mai'ks of Divine power. 
 
 Suppose, again, that some individual were to 
 appear either in the heathen or Christian world — 
 he claimed to be a teacher sent from God, jet 
 aspired to the performance of no miracles. He 
 assumed to do nothing superior to the wisdom and 
 abihty of other men. Such an individual, although 
 he might succeed in gaining proselytes to some 
 particular view of a religion already believed, yet
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 2S 
 
 lie could never make men believe that lie had a 
 special commission from God to establish a new- 
 religion, for the simple reason that he had no 
 grounds more than his fellows, to support his 
 claims as an agent of the Almighty. But if he 
 could convince a single individual that he had 
 wrought a miracle, or that he had power to do so, 
 that moment his claims would be established, in 
 that mind, as a commissioned agent from heaven. 
 So certainly, and so intuitively, do the minds of 
 men revere and expect miracles as the credentials 
 of the Divine presence. 
 
 This demand of the mind for miracles, as testi- 
 mony of the Divine presence and power, is intuitive 
 with all men ; and those very individuals who 
 have doubted the existence or necessity of miracles, 
 should they examine then own convictions on this 
 subject, would see that, by an absolute necessity, if 
 they desired to give the w^orld a system of religion, 
 whether truth or impostm-e, in order to make men 
 receive it as of Divine authority, they must work 
 miracles to attest its truth, or make men beheve 
 that they did so. Men can produce doubt of a 
 revelation in no -way until they have destroyed the 
 evidence of its miracles ; nor can faith be jDroduced 
 in the Divine origin of a religion until the evidence 
 of miracles is supplied. 
 
 The conviction that miracles are the true at- 
 testation of immediate Divine agency, is so con- 
 stitutionah (allow the expression) wdth the reason, 
 that so soon as men persuade themselves they are 
 the special agents of God, in propagating some 
 j)articular truth in the world, they adopt likewise 
 the belief that they have ability to work miracles. 
 There have been many sincere enthusiasts, who 
 "believed that they were special agents of heaven, 
 and, in such cases, the conviction of their own
 
 24 THILOSOPHY OF 
 
 miraculous i)o\verF! arises as a neccssaiy con- 
 comitant of the other ojiinion. Among such, in 
 modern times, may be instanced Emanuel Sweden 
 borg, and Irving, the Scotch preacher. Impostors 
 also, perceiving that miracles were necessary in 
 order that the human mind should receive a 
 religion as Divine, have invariably claimed mira- 
 culous powers. Such instances recur constantly 
 from the days of Elymas down to the Mormon, 
 Joseph Smith. 
 
 All the multitude of false religions that have 
 been believed since the world began, have been 
 introduced by the power of this principle. 
 Miracles believed, lie at the foundation of all 
 religions which men liave ever received as of 
 Divine origin. No matter how degrading or re- 
 pulsive to reason in other respects, the fact of its 
 establishment and propagation gTows out of the 
 belief of men that miraculous agency lies at the 
 bottom. Tills belief will give currency to any 
 system, however absurd; and without it, no system 
 can be established in the minds of men, however 
 high and holy may be its origin and its design. 
 
 Such, then, is the constitution which the Maker 
 has given to the mind. Whether the conviction 
 be an intuition or an induction of the reason, God 
 is the primary cause of its existence; and its exist- 
 ence puts it out of the power of man to receive a 
 revelation from God himself, luiless accompanied 
 with miraculous manifestations. If, therefore, God 
 ever gave a revelation to man, it was necessarily 
 accompanied with miracles, and with miracles of 
 such a nature as would clearly distinguish the 
 Divine character and the Divine authority of the 
 dispensation. 
 
 The whole fulness and force of these deductions 
 aj)ply to tlie case of the Israelites. The laws of
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. '^5 
 
 tlieir mind not only demanded miracles as an 
 attestation of Divine interposition ; but at that 
 time, the belief existed in their mmds, that miracles 
 were constantly jierformed. Although they re- 
 membered the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 yet they likewise, as subsequent facts clearly 
 attested, believed that the idols of Egj'pt possessed 
 the attributes of Divinity. The belief in a plm-ality 
 of gods was then common to all nations. And 
 although this error was corrected, and jierhaps 
 entirely removed, by succeeding providences and 
 instructions, from the minds of the Jews; yet, 
 before the miracles in Egj-pt, v.hile the God of 
 Abraham was, perhaps, in most cases acknowledged 
 as their God, the idols of Kg}'pt were acknowledged 
 as the gods of the Egyptians, and j^i'obably wor- 
 shipped as the divinities who had power to dispense 
 good and evil to all the inhabitants of that land. 
 And in common with all Egypt, they, no doubt, 
 believed that the acts of jugglery, in which the 
 magicians, or priests of Egypt, had made astonish- 
 ing proliciency, were actual miracles, exhibiting 
 the jiower of theii- idols, and the authority of the 
 priests to act in their name. 
 
 In view, therefore, of existing circumstances, 
 two things were necessary, on the part of God,*: in 
 order to give any revelation to the Israelites : — ■ 
 First, that He should manifest himself by miiacles, 
 .and, Secondly, that those miracles should be of such 
 a character, as evidently to distinguish them from 
 the jugglery of the magicians, and to convince all 
 observers of the existence and omnipotence of the 
 true God, in contradistmction from the objects of 
 idolatrous worsliip. Unless these two things were 
 
 • When we speak of a thing as necessary on the part of God, it 
 is said, not in reference to God's attributes, but to man's nature 
 and circumstances.
 
 26 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 done, it would have been impossible for the Israel- 
 ites to have recognised Jehovah as the only living 
 and true God. 
 
 It follows, then, that by the miracles which God 
 ■wrought, by the hand of ]Moses, he pursued the 
 only way that was possible to give a revelation in 
 which his presence and power would be recognised. 
 The only point of inquiry remaining is, Were the 
 miracles of such a character, and performed in 
 such a manner, as to remove false views from the 
 minds of the Israelites, and introduce right views 
 concerning the true God, and the non-existence of 
 factitious objects of worship '? 
 
 With this point in view, the design in the 
 management and character of the miracles in 
 Egypt is interesting and obvious. Notice, first, 
 the whole strength of the magicians' skill was 
 brought out and measured with that of the mira- 
 culous power exerted through Moses. If this had 
 not been done, the idea would have remained in the 
 minds of the jieople, that although Moses wielded 
 a mighty miraculous power, it might be derived 
 from the Egyptian gods, or if it were not thus 
 derived, they might have sujiposed, that if the 
 priests of those idols were summoned, they could 
 contravene or arrest the power vested in Moses by 
 Jehovah. But now, the magicians appearing in 
 the name of their gods, the jiower of Moses was 
 seen to be not only superior to their sorceries, but 
 liostile to them and their idolatrous worshij). 
 
 Notice, secondly, the design and adaptedness of 
 the miracles, not only to distinguish the power of 
 the true God, but to destroy the confidence placed 
 in the protection and power of the idols. 
 
 The first miracle, Avhile it authenticated the 
 mission of Moses, destroyed the serpents which, 
 among tlie l^gyptians, were objects of worship :
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 27 
 
 thus evincing, in the outset, that theii* gods could 
 neither help the people, nor save themselves. 
 
 The second miracle was diiected against the 
 river Nile, another object which they regarded with 
 religious reverence. This river they held sacred, 
 as the Hindoos do the Ganges ; and even the fish 
 in its waters they revered as objects of worship. 
 They drank the water with reverence and delight ; 
 and supposed that a Disine efficacy dwelt in its 
 waves to heal diseases of the body. The water of 
 this their cherished object of idolatrous homage 
 was transmuted to blood; and its finny idols be- 
 came a mass of putridity. 
 
 The third miracle was directed to the accom- 
 plishment of the same end — the destruction of faith 
 in tlie river as an object of worship. The waters 
 of the Nile were caused to send forth legions of 
 frogs, which infested the whole land, and became 
 a nuisance and a torment to the people. Thus 
 theii* idol, by the power of the true God, was 
 polluted, and turned into a source of pollution to 
 its worshippers. 
 
 By the fourth miracle of a series constantly in- 
 creasing in power and severity, lice came upon 
 man and beast throughout the land. " Now if it 
 be remembered," says Glieg, " that no one could 
 approach the altars of Egypt upon whom so 
 impm-e an insect harboured ; and that the priests, 
 to guard against the slightest risk of contamination, 
 wore only linen garments, and shaved their heads 
 and bodies every day,* the severity of this miracle, 
 as a judgment upon Eg\^)tian idolatry, may be 
 imagined. Whilst it lasted, no act of worship 
 could be performed ; and so keenly was this felt, 
 that the very magicians exclaimed — ' This is the 
 finger of God!' " 
 
 * Every third day, according to Herodotus,
 
 28 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 The fifth miracle was designed to destroy the 
 trust of the jjeople in Beelzebub, or the Fly-god, 
 who was reverenced as their jirotector from visita- 
 tions of swarms of ravenous iiies which infested 
 the land, generally about the time of the dog days, 
 and removed only, as they suj'tposed, at the will of 
 this idol. The mu-acle now wrought by Moses 
 evinced the impotence of Beelzebub, and caused 
 the people to look elsewhere for relief from the 
 fearfid visitation under which they were suffering. 
 
 The sixth miracle, which destroyed the cattle, 
 excejiting those of the Israelites, was aimed at the 
 destruction of the entire system of brute worship. 
 This system, degrading and bestial as it was, had 
 become a monster of many heads in Egypt. They 
 had their sacred bull, and ram, and heifer, and goat, 
 and many others, all of which were destroyed by 
 the agency of the God of Moses. Thus by one act 
 of i")o\ver -Jehovah manifested his own supremacy, 
 and destroyed the very existence of their brvi'te 
 idols. 
 
 Of the peculiar fitness of the sixth plague, (the 
 seventh miracle,) says the writer before quoted, the 
 reader will receive a better impression, when he is 
 reminded that in Egypt there were several altars 
 upon which human sacrifices were occasionally 
 oifered, when tliey desired to propitiate Tyi)hon, or 
 the JMdl Principle. These victims being burned 
 alive, their ashes wore gathered together by the 
 officiating priests, and thrown up into the air, in 
 order that evil miglit be averted from every place 
 to wliich an atom of the ashes was wafted. By tlie 
 direction of Jehovali, Moses took a handfid of 
 ashes i'rom the furnace, (which, very probably, the 
 Egyptians at this time had frequently used to turn 
 aside the plagues with which they were smitten,) 
 and he cast it into tlie air, as they were accustomed
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 29 
 
 to do ; and instead of averting evil, boils and blains 
 fell upon all the people of the land. Neither king, 
 nor priest, nor people, escaped. Thus the bloody 
 rites of Typhon became a curse to the idolaters — 
 the supremacy of Jehovah was affirmed ; and the 
 deliverance of the Israelites insisted ui^on. 
 
 The ninth miracle was directed against the wor- 
 ship of Serapis, whose peculiar office was suj)posed 
 to be to protect the country from locusts. At 
 periods these destructive insects came in clouds 
 upon the land, and, like an overshadowing curse, 
 they blighted the fruits of the lield and the verdm-e 
 of the forest. At the command of Moses these 
 terrible insects came — and they retired only at his 
 bidding. Thus was the impotence of Serapis made 
 manifest, and the idolaters tauglit the folly of trust- 
 ing in any other protection than that of Jehovah, 
 the God of Israel. 
 
 The eighth and tenth miracles were dh-ected 
 against the worship of Isis and Osiris, to whom and 
 the river Nile, they awarded the first jilace* in the 
 long catalogue of theii- idolatry. These idols Avere 
 originally the representatives of the sun and moon : 
 they were believed to control the light and the ele- 
 ments ; and theii' worship prevailed in some form 
 among all the early nations. The miracles directed 
 against the worship of Isis and Osiris must have 
 made a deep impression on the minds both of the 
 Israelites and the Eg}-ptians. In a country wliere 
 rain seldom falls — wJieve the atmosi>here is always 
 calm, and tlie light of the heavenly bodies always 
 contiiiued, what was the horror pervading all minds 
 during the elemental war described in the Hebrew 
 
 * Against the worship of the Nile, two miracles were directed, 
 and two likewise agauist Isis and Osiris, hecause they were sup- 
 posed to be the supreme gods. Many placed the Nile first, as 
 they said it had power to water E^-pt iadepeiidently of the action 
 of the elements.
 
 oO rUlLOSOPHY OF 
 
 record ! — during tlic long period of three days aud 
 three nights, while the gloom of thick darkness 
 settled, like the out-spread pall of death, over the 
 whole land ! Jehovah of hosts summoned Nature 
 t6 proclaim him the true God — the God of Israel 
 asserted his supremacy, and exerted his power to 
 degrade the idols — destroy idolatry, aud liherate 
 the descendants of Ahraham from the land of their 
 bondage. 
 
 The Almighty having thus revealed himself as 
 the true God, hy miraculous agency, and pursued 
 those measures, in the exercise of his ])ower, wliich 
 were directly adapted to destroy the various forms 
 of idolatry which existed in Egypt, the eleventh 
 and last miracle was a judgment, in order to ma- 
 nifest to all minds that Jehovah was the God who 
 executed Judgment hi the earth. 
 
 The Egyptians had, for a long time, cruelly op- 
 pressed the Israelites, and to put the finishing 
 horror to their atrocities, they had finally slain at 
 their birth, the offspring of their victims ; and now 
 God, in the exercise of infinite justice, visited them 
 with righteous retrihution. In the niid-watchos of 
 the night, the ' angel of the 2)estilence' was sent to 
 the dwellings of Egyjjt, and he " breathed in the 
 face" of all the first-born in the land. In the 
 morning, the hope of every family, from the palace 
 to the cottage, was a corpse. What mind can 
 imagine the awful consternation of that scene, 
 when an agonisuig wail rose from the stricken 
 hearts of all the parents in the nation ! The cruel 
 task-masters were taught, by means which entered 
 their souls, that the true God was a God not only 
 of power but of judgment, and as such, to be feared 
 by evil-tloers, and revei-enccd hy those that do weU. 
 
 The demonstration, therefore, is conclusive, that 
 in view of the idolatrous state of the world, and
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 31 
 
 cs^^ecially of the character and circumstances of 
 the Israelites, tlie true God could have made a 
 revelation of himself in no other way than hy the 
 means, and in the manner, of the miracles of Egypt; 
 and none but the true God could have revealed 
 himself in this way.^i^ 
 
 * In accordance with the foregoing are the intimations given in 
 the Bible of the design of the miracles of Egypt. By these exhi- 
 bitions of Divine power God said — "Ye," the Israelites, "and 
 Pharaoli shall know that I am Jeliovah." 
 
 Miracles, moreover, were the evidence that Pharaoh required. — 
 Ex. vii. !), God said to Moses, that when he should present himself 
 as the Divjne legate, and Pharaoh should require a miracle, to 
 perform it accordingly. 
 
 In rela'tion to the destruction of idolatry, the design of Jehovah 
 is expressly announced, Ex. xii. 12, "Against all the gods ol 
 Ejjypt I will execute judgment : I am Jehovah." 
 
 See also, Ex. xviii. II.
 
 CHAPTEll IV 
 
 CONCERNIKG WHAT WAS NECESSARY AS THE FIRST 
 STEP IN THE TROCESS OF REA'ELATION. 
 
 By the miracles of Egypt, the false views and 
 coiTui)t habits of the Israelites w^ere, for the time 
 being, in a great measure removed. Previously 
 they had believed in a .plurality of gods; and 
 although they remembered the God of Abraham, 
 yet they had, as is evident from notices in the 
 Bible, associated with his attribute of alniighty 
 power (the only attribute well understood by the 
 patriarchs) many of the corrupt attributes of the 
 Egyptian idols. Thus the idea of God was debased 
 by having grovelling and corrupt attributes super 
 induced upon it. By miraculous agency these 
 dishonourable views of the Divine character were 
 removed — their minds were emptied of false im- 
 pressions in order that they might be furnished 
 wdth the true idea and the true attributes of the 
 Supreme Being, 
 
 But how could minds in the infancy of know- 
 ledge respecting God nnd human duty ; having all 
 they had previously learned removed, and being 
 now about to take the first stej) in their progress — 
 how could the first princijiles of Divine knowledge 
 be conveyed to sucli minds? 
 
 One tiling, in the outset, would evidently be ne- 
 cessary : knowh?dge, as the mind is constituted, can 
 be communicated in no other way than pro-
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 33 
 
 gressively; it would be necessaiy, therefore, that 
 they should begin with the elementary principles, 
 and jjroceed through all the stages of theii' educa- 
 tion. The mind cannot receive at once all the parts 
 of a system in religion, science, or any other de- 
 partment of human knowledge. One fact or idea 
 must be predicated upon another, just as one stone 
 rests upon another, from the foundation to the top 
 of the building. There are successive steps in the 
 acquisition of knowledge, and every step in the 
 mind's progress must be taken from advances 
 already made. God has inwi-ought the law of pro- 
 gression into the nature of things, and observes it 
 in his own works. From the springing of a blade 
 to the formation of the mind, or of a world, every 
 thing goes forward by consecutive steps. 
 
 It was neces-saiT, therefore, in view of the estab- 
 lished laws of the mind, that the knowledge of God 
 and human duty should be imparted to the Israel- 
 ites by successive communications — necessary that 
 there should be a fir-st step, or j)rimary j)nnciple, 
 for a starting point, and then a progression onward 
 and upward to perfection. 
 
 In accordance with these principles, God, in the 
 introduction of the Mosaic dispensation, revealed 
 only his essential existence to the Israelites. In 
 Exodus iii. 13, 1-1, it is stated, that Moses inquired 
 of God, " Behold, when I come imto the children of 
 Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your 
 fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to 
 me, What is his name ? what shall I sav unto them ? 
 And God said, I AM THAT I AM:" and he said, 
 Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
 I AM hath sent me unto you." In the Hebrew text, 
 the simple form of the verb is used, corresponding 
 with the first person present, indicative, of the 
 English verb to he. Simply, " I am," conveying no 
 c
 
 34 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 idea but that of personality and existence. What 
 He was, besides his existence thus revealed, was 
 afterwards to be learned. This was a revelation 
 of Divine being — a nucleus of essential deity, as a 
 foundation fact of the then new dispensation, upon 
 which God, by future manifestations, might engraft 
 the attributes of his nature. 
 
 Thus, at the outset of the dispensation, there was 
 thrown into their minds a first truth. God revealed 
 his Divine existence ; and the idea of God, thus 
 revealed, was in their minds, without any other 
 attribute being connected with it than that of infi- 
 nite power — an attribute of the Godhead which all 
 men derive from the works of nature — which was 
 known to the patriarchs as belonging to the true 
 God, and which was now, by the miracles mani- 
 festing supreme power, appropriated to I am^- 
 Jehovah — the God of the Israelites. 
 
 Thus were this peculiar jjcople carried back to 
 the first principles of natural religion — their mind 
 disembarrassed from fixlsc notions previously en- 
 tertained, and the true idea of the supreme God 
 and Judge of men revealed. By these providences, 
 they were prepared, in a manner consistent with 
 the nature of things and the nature of mind, to 
 receive a further revelation of the moral attributes ; 
 of Jehovah, whom they now recognised as the ". 
 Supreme God.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCERNING THE NECESSITY OF AFFECTIONATE OBE- 
 DIENCE TO GOD ; AND THE MANNER OF PRODUCTNO 
 THAT OBEDIENCE IN THE HEARTS OF THE ISRAEL 
 ITES. 
 
 The following princiiDles in relation to the affec- 
 tions will be recognised by consciousness as true in 
 the experience of every man. As they lie at the 
 foundation of the moral exercises of the soul, and 
 as they relate to the sources and central j)rinciples 
 of all true religion, it will be necessary for the 
 reader to notice them, in order that he may see 
 their application in subsequent pages. 
 
 1. The affections of the soid move in view of 
 certain objects, or in view of certain qualities be- 
 lieved to exist in those objects. The affections 
 never move — in familiar words — the heart never 
 loves, unless love be produced by seeing, or by 
 believing that we see, some lovely and excellent 
 qualities in the object. When the soul believes 
 those good qualities to be 2)0ssessed by another, 
 and especially, when they are exercised towards us, 
 the affections, like a magnetised needle, tremble 
 with life, and turn towards their object. 
 
 2. The affections are not subject to the will ;* 
 
 * We state the facts in the case, of whicli every man is con- 
 scious in his own experience, Mithout regard to the theories of 
 sects in religion or philo-sophy. 
 
 C2
 
 86 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 neither our own will nor any other will can directly 
 control theii>. I cannot will to love a being who 
 does not appear to me lovely, and who does not 
 exhibit the qualities adapted to move the affections ; 
 nor can I, by command, or by any other effort of 
 will, cause another being to love me. The affections 
 are not subject to command. You cannot force 
 another to love, or resjiect, or even, from the heart, 
 to obey. Such an attitude assumed to produce 
 love, would invariably produce disaffection rather 
 than affection. No one (as a matter of fact) thinks 
 the affections subject to the will, and, therefore, 
 men never endeavour to obtain the affections of 
 others solely by command, but by exhibiting such 
 a character and conferring such favours as they 
 know are adapted to move the heart. An effect 
 could as easily exist without a cause as affection in 
 the bosom of any human being, which was not 
 produced by goodness or excellences seen, or 
 believed to exist, in some other being. 
 
 3. The affections, althougli not governed by the 
 will, do tliemselvcs greatly influence the will. All 
 acts of will produced entirely by pure affection for 
 another are disinterested. Cases of the affections 
 influencing the v/iil are common in the exj^erience 
 of every one. There is probably no one living who 
 has not, at some period of his life, had aftection for 
 another, so tbat it gave more pleasure to please the 
 object of his love than to i^lcase himself. Love for 
 another always influences the will to act in such a 
 way as will please the object loved. The individual 
 loving acts in view of the desires of tlie loved 
 object, and such acts are disinterested, not being 
 done with any selfish end in view, but for tlic sake 
 of another. So soon as the affections move towards 
 an object, the will is propoi-tionably influenced to
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 37 
 
 please and benefit that object ; or, il' a sii]>enor 
 being, to obey his will and secure his favour. 
 
 4. All happy obedience must arise from affection. 
 Affectionate obedience blesses the sj^irit which 
 yields it, if the conscience approve the object loved 
 and obeyed ; while, on the contrary, no happiness 
 can be experienced from obedience to any being 
 that we do not love. To obey externally either 
 God, or a parent, from no other than interested 
 motives, would be sin. The devil might be obeyed 
 for the same reasons. Love must, therefore, con- 
 stitute an essential element in all proper obedience 
 to God. 
 
 5. When the affections of two beings are recipro- 
 cally fixed upon each other, they constitute a bond 
 of union and sympathy pecidiarly strong and 
 tender: — those thiwgs that affect the one affecting 
 the other, in proj)ortion to the strength of affection 
 existing between them. One conforms to the will 
 of the other, not from a sense of obligation merely, 
 but from choice; and the constitution of the soul 
 is such that the sweetest enjoyment of which it 
 is capable arises from the exercise of reciprocal 
 affection. 
 
 6. When the circumstances of an individual arc 
 such that he is exposed to constant suffering and 
 gi-eat danger, the more afflictive his situation the 
 more gi-ateful love will he feel for affection and 
 benefits received under such circumstances. If his 
 circumstances were such that he could not relieve 
 himself, and such that he must suffer greatly or 
 perish; and, while in this condition, if another, 
 moved by benevolent regard for him, should come 
 to aid and save him, his affection for his deliverer 
 would be increased by a sense of the danger from 
 which he was rescued.
 
 '38 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 7. It is an admittocl principle that protracted and 
 close attention always fixes the fact attended to 
 deej)ly in the memory ; and the longer and more 
 intensely the mind attends to any subject, other 
 subjects proportionably lose their power to interest. 
 The same is true in relation to the ati'ections. The 
 longer and more intensely we contemplate an object 
 in that relation which is adapted to draw out the 
 affections, the more deeply will the impression be 
 made upon the heart, as well as upon the memory. 
 The most favourable circumstances possible to fix 
 an impression deeply upon the heart and memory 
 are — First, that there should be protracted and 
 earnest attention ; and — Second, that at the same 
 time that the impression is made, the emotions of 
 the soul should be alive with excitement. Without 
 these, an impression made upon the heart and the 
 memory would be slight and easily effaced ; while, 
 on the contrary, an impression made during intense 
 attention and excited leeling, will be engraved, as 
 with a pen of steel, upon the tablets of the soul. 
 
 Now, with these principles in mind, mark the 
 means used to fix the attention and to excite the 
 susceptibilities of the Israelites, and, vv'hile in that 
 state of attention and excitement, to draw their 
 affections to God. 
 
 The children of Israel were suffering the most 
 grievous bondage, wliich had arrived at almost an 
 intolerable degree of cruelty and injustice. Just 
 at this crisis, the God of their fathers ap])ears as 
 their Deliverer, and Moses is commissioned as his 
 proi)het. When the people are convened and their 
 minds aroused by tlie hopes of deliverance, their 
 attention is turned to two parties : one, Pharaoh 
 their oppressor and the slayer of their first born, 
 and the ' other t]ie God of Abraliam, who now 
 np])carod as tlieir Deliverer, espousing their cause
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 39 
 
 aiid condescending^ personally to oppose himself to 
 their oppressor. Then a scene ensues adapted in 
 all its circLimstances to make a deep and enduring 
 impression upon their memory and their heart. 
 — The God of Abraham seems, by his judgments, 
 to have forced the oppressor to relent, aud to let 
 the people go. At this point, hope and encourage- 
 ment predominate in their minds. Now their 
 oppressor's heart is hardened, and he renews his 
 cruelty ; but while their hopes are sinking, they are 
 again revived and strengthened, by finding that 
 God continues to use means to induce Pharaoh to 
 release the captives. Thus, for a considerable 
 length of time, all the powers of excitability in their 
 natiue are aroused to activity. Towards that Being 
 who had so graciously interposed in their behalf, 
 they felt emotions of hope, gratitude, love, and 
 admiration. Towards their oppressor, feelings of 
 an opposite character must have been engendered : 
 and this state of excited suspense — the emotions 
 vacillating between love and hatred, hope and fear 
 — was continued until the impression became fixed 
 deep in their souls. 
 
 Keeping in mind the fact, that the more we need 
 a benefactor and feel that need, the stronger will 
 be oiu' feelings of gratitude and love for the being 
 who interposes in our behalf — notice further: 
 When, through the interposition of the Almighty, 
 the Israelites were delivered, and had advanced as 
 far as the Red Sea, another appeal was made to 
 theii" affections which was most thrilling, and 
 adapted to call, by one grand interjjosition, all their 
 powers of gratitude and love into immediate and 
 full exercise. 
 
 The army of the Israelites lay encamped on the 
 margin of the Red Sea, when, suddenly, they were 
 surprised by the approaching host of Pharaoh —
 
 40 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 before them was tlie sea, and beliind tliem an 
 advancing hostile army. If they went forward, they 
 would find death in the waves ; if they returned 
 backward, it would be to meet the swords of their 
 pursuers. A rescue, by earthly means, from death, 
 or bondage more severe than they had ever borne, 
 was impossible. Just at this crisis of extremity, 
 Jehovah appears as their Deliverer. The bosom 
 of the pathless sea is cleft by the power of God. 
 The stricken waters recoil upon themselves on 
 either side. The Israelites pass over in safety. 
 The Egyj)tian host enter and are overwhelmed in 
 the waters. 
 
 Now, it may be affirmed, without qualification, 
 that, in view of the nature and circumstances of the 
 Israelites, no combination of means, not including 
 the self-sacrifice of tlie benefactor himself, could be 
 so well adapted to elicit and absorb all the affections 
 of the soul, as this wonderful series of events. That 
 this result was accomplished l)y these means, is 
 authenticated by the history given in the BilDle. 
 When the people v»^ere thus delivered, they stood 
 upon the other side of the sea, and their affections, 
 in answer to the call which God had made upon 
 them, gushed forth in thanlcsgiving and praise. 
 Hear the response of their hearts, and their allusion 
 to the cause which, produced that response — 
 
 " I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed 
 gloriously : the liorso and his rider liath he thrown 
 into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, 
 and he is become my salvation. He is my God; 
 and I will prepare him an liabitation; my father's 
 God, and I will e.Kalt him." Ex. xv. 1, 2, etc. 
 
 Thus was the attention of the wJiole nation 
 turned to the true God. An impression of his 
 goodness was fixed deeply in tlieir memory, and 
 tlicir affections drav.'n out and fastened upon tho
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVAtlON. 41 
 
 true object of worship. Now this, as was shown 
 in the commencement of the chapter, was neces- 
 saiy, before they could offer worship either hon- 
 ourable or acceptable to God. The end was 
 accompHshed by menns adapted to the nature of 
 the human soul and to the circumstances of the 
 Israelites ; and by means wliich no being in the 
 universe but the Maker of the soul could use. 
 The demonstration is therefore perfect, that the 
 Scripture narrative is true, and tliat no other 
 nai-rative, differing materially from this in its prin- 
 ciples, could be true. 
 
 c3
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DESIGN AND NECESSITY OF THE 
 MOEAL LAW. 
 
 At this stage of our progi^ess it will be useful to 
 recapitulate the conclusions at which we have 
 arrived, aud thus make a j^oint of rest from which 
 to extend our observation further into the plan of 
 God for redeeming the w^orld. This review is the 
 more appropriate as we have arrived at a period 
 in the history of God's providence with Israel, 
 which presents them as a people prepared (so far 
 as imperfect material could be prepared) to receive 
 that model which God might desire to impress 
 uiwn the nation. 
 
 1. They were bound to each other by all the 
 ties of which human nature is susceptible, and 
 thus rendered compact and united, so that every 
 thing national, whether in sentiment or practice, 
 would be received and cherished with unanimous, 
 and fervent, and lasting attachment: and, further- 
 more, by a long and rigorous bondage, they had 
 been rendered, for the time being at least, humble 
 and dependent. Thus they were disciplined by a 
 course of })rovidcnces, adapted to fit them to 
 receive instruction from their Benefactor with a 
 teachable and grateful spirit.' 
 
 2. Their minds Avcrc shaken off from idols; and 
 Jehovah, by a revelation made to them, setting 
 forth his name anc^ nature, had revealed himself as 
 a Divine Being, and by liis works had manifested
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 4.3 
 
 his almiglity power : so that when their minds were 
 disahused of wrong views of the Godhead, an idea 
 of the first, true, and essential nature of God was 
 revealed to them ; and they were thus prepared to 
 receive a knowledge of the attributes of that Divine 
 essence. 
 
 8. They had been brought to contemplate God 
 as their Protector and Saviour. Appeals the most 
 affecting and thrilliug had been addressed to their 
 affections ; and they were thus attached to God as 
 their Almighty temporal Saviour, by the ties of 
 gratitude and love for the favour whi ch he had 
 manifested to them. 
 
 4. When they had arrived on the far ther shore 
 of the Eed Sea, thus prepared to obey God and 
 worship him with the heart, they were \vithout 
 laws either civil or moral. As yet, they ^had never 
 l^ossessed any national or social organisation. 
 They were therefore prepared to receive, 'without 
 predilection or prejudice, that system of moral 
 instruction and civil polity which God might 
 reveal, as best adapted to promote the moral in- 
 terests of the nation. 
 
 From these conclusions we may extend our 
 vision forward into the system of revelation. Tliis. 
 series of preparations would certainly lead the 
 mind to the expectation that what was still want- 
 ing, and what they had been thus mu-aculously 
 prepared to receive, would be granted — which was 
 a knowledge of the moral character of God, and a 
 moral law prescribing their duty to God and to 
 men. Without this, the plan that had been 
 maturing for generations, and had been carried 
 forward thus far by wonderful exhibitions of 
 Divine wisdom and power, would be left un- 
 finished, just at the point where the finishing pro- 
 cess was necessary.
 
 I^HILOSOPHY OF 
 
 But, besi^^^g ^-^^ strong probability which the 
 ^^'^7^ V >3'ep,iration avouIcI produce, that there 
 would t)'-^ a i-f.^velation of moral law, there are dis- 
 tinct and coriclusiTe reasons, evincing its necessity, 
 f ^'holf ; experience of the world has confirmed 
 the lact, be-yond the possibility of scepticism, that 
 nian cam? o t discover and establish a perfect rule 
 ot humar i duty. Whatever may be said of the 
 F^^Py^'-vcellent maxims expressed by different 
 individi lals in different ages and nations, yet it is 
 true th ^at n o system of duty to God and man, in 
 ^^y ^-Tise c Dusistent with enlightened reason, has 
 f^*'.r been c )stablished by human wisdom, and sus- 
 tained by human sanctions ; and for reasons 
 already sta ,ted,-;= such a fact never can occur. 
 
 But, it may be supposed that each man has, 
 within hii hself, sufficient light from reason, and 
 sufficient admonition from conscience, to guide 
 himself, a,s an individual, in the path of truth and 
 happinesf}. A single fact will correct such a sup- 
 position. Conscience, the great arbiter of the 
 merit an.d demerit of human conduct, has little 
 intuitive sense of right, and is not guided entirely 
 "by reason, but is governed in a great measure by 
 what men believe. Indeed, faith is the legitimate 
 regulator of the conscience. If a man has correct 
 views of duty to God and men, he will have a 
 correct conscience ; but if he can, by a wrong view 
 of morals ftncl of the character of God, be induced 
 to believe that theft, or inurder, or any vice, is 
 right, his conscience will be corrupted by his faith. 
 When men are brought to believe — as they fre- 
 quently do believe in heathen countries — that it is 
 right to commit suicide, or infanticide, as a re- 
 ligious duty, their conscience condemns them if 
 
 * Sfie cliap. i. p. 7, et seq 
 
 I
 
 •* .HE PLAN OF SALVATION. 45 
 
 ,they do ur'i- perform the act. Thus, that power in 
 the sou ^ -which pronounces upon the moral cha- 
 racter Qf iiuniau conduct, is itself dependent upon 
 ^^^ . regidated by the faith of the individual. It is 
 ^'^^jparent, therefore, that the reception and belief 
 of a true rule of duty, accompanied with proper 
 sanctions, will alone form in man a proper con- 
 science. God has so constituted the soul that it 
 is necessaiy, in order to the regulation of its moral 
 powers, that it should have a rule of duty, revealed 
 under the sanction of its Maker's authority ; other- 
 wise its high moral powers woidd lie in dai-k and 
 perpetual disorder. 
 
 Fui'ther; luiless the human soul be an exception, 
 God governs all things by laws adapted to their 
 proper nature. The laws which govern the 
 mateiial world are sketched in the books on 
 natiu-al science ; such are gravitation, affinity, 
 mathematical motion. Those laws by which the 
 irrational animal creation is controlled are usually 
 called instincts. Their operation and design are 
 sketched, to some extent, in treatises upon the 
 instincts of animals. Such is the law which leads 
 the beaver to build his dam, and all other animals 
 to pursue some particular habits instead of others. 
 All beavers, fi-om the first one created to the pre- 
 sent time, have been instinctively led to build a 
 dam in the same manner, and so their instinct will 
 lead them to build till the end of time. The law 
 which drives them to the act is as necessitating as 
 the law which causes the smoke to rise upwards. 
 Nothing in the iniiverse of God, animate or in- 
 animate, is left without the government of appro- 
 priate law, unless that thing be the noblest creature 
 of God — the human spirit. To suppose, therefore, 
 that the Inmian soul is thus left un guided by a 
 revealed rule of conduct, is to suppose that God
 
 46 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 cares for the less and not the greater — to suppose 
 that he would constitute the moral powers of the 
 soul so that a law was necessary for their guidance, 
 and then reveal none — to suppose, especially in 
 the case of the Israelites, that he would prepare a 
 people to receive, and obey with a proper spirit, 
 this necessary rule of duty, and yet give no rule. 
 But, to suppose these things would he absurd ; it 
 follows, therefore, that God would reveal to the 
 Israelites a law for the regulation of tlieii- conduct 
 in morals and religion. 
 
 But, physical law or necessitating instinct would 
 not he adapted in its nature to the government of 
 a rational and moral being. The application of 
 either to the soul would destroy its free agency. 
 God has made man intelligent, and thereby adapted 
 his nature to a rule which he understands. — Man 
 has a will and a conscience : but he must under- 
 stand the rale in order to will obedience, and he 
 must believe the sanction by which the law is 
 maintained, before he can feel the obhgation upon 
 his conscience. A law, therefore, adapted to man's 
 nature, must be addressed to the understanding, 
 sanctioned by suitable authority, and enforced by 
 adequate penalties. 
 
 In accordance with these legitimate deductions, 
 God gave the Israelites a rule of life — the Moral 
 Law — succinctly comprehended in the Ten Com- 
 mandments. And as affectionate obedience is the 
 only proper obedience, he coupled the facts which 
 were fitted to produce affection with the command 
 to obey; saying, "I am tlie Lord thy God, which 
 brought thee out of tlic land of Egy])t, and from 
 the house of bondage" — therefore, love mo and 
 keep my commandmcnts.=i= 
 
 * Deut. V. C, pass'mu
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA OF 
 HOLINESS, AND ITS TRANSFER TO JEHOVAH AS AN 
 ATTRIBUTE. 
 
 As yet the Israelites were little acquainted with 
 any attribute of the I am — Jehovah — except his 
 iniiuite power and goodness ; and his goodness was 
 known to them only as manifested in kindness and 
 mercy towards themselves, as a peculiar peoj)le, 
 distinguished from other nations, as the special 
 objects of the Divine favour. They had a dis- 
 position to worshij) Jehovah, and to regard the 
 rights of each other according to his command- 
 ments ; but they knew as yet little of his moral 
 attributes. Of the attribute of holiness — purity 
 from sin, and opposition of natiu-e to all moral and 
 jihysical defilement — they knew comparatively no- 
 thing. After the law had been given, they knew 
 that God required worship and obedience for him- 
 self, and just conduct towards others, but they did 
 jiot know til at his natin-e Vvas hostile to all moral 
 defikmont of heart and life. And to this know- 
 ledge, as we have seen in the introduction, they 
 coidd not, of themselves, attain. 
 
 At the period of the deliverance from Egv^t, 
 every nation by wldch they were surrounded wor- 
 shipped unholy beings. Now, how were the Jews 
 to be extricated from this ditliculty, and made to 
 vmderstand and fsel the influence of the holy
 
 48 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 character of God ? The Egyptian idolatry in which 
 they had mingled, was beastly and lustful ; and one 
 of their first acts of disobedience after their deliver- 
 ance, showed that their minds were still dark, and 
 then- propensities corrupt. The golden calf which 
 they desired should be erected for them, was not 
 designed as an act of apostasy from Jehovah, who 
 had delivered tliem from Egyptian servitude. 
 When the image was made, it was proclaimed to bo 
 that God which brought them up out of the land 
 of Egypt; and when the proclamation of a feast, 
 or idolatrous debauch, was issued by Aaron, it was 
 denominated a feast, not to Isis or Osiris, but a 
 feast to Jehovah ; and as su(;h they held it.* But 
 they oflered to the holy Jehovah the unholy worship 
 of the idols of Eg3'pt. Thus they manifested their 
 ignorance of the holiness of his nature, as well as 
 the corruption of their own hearts. 
 
 It was necessary, therefore, in order to promote 
 right exercises of heart in religious worship, that 
 the Israelites should be made acquainted Avith the 
 hohness of God. The precise question, then, for 
 solution is. How could the idea of God's holiness 
 be conveyed to the minds of the Israelites ? If it 
 should be found that there is but one way in which 
 it could be originated, according to the nature of 
 mind, then it would follow, necessarily, that God 
 would pursue that way, or he would have to alter 
 the human constitution, in order to communicate a 
 knowledge of his attribute of holiness. But, as it 
 is matter of fact that the constitution of the mind 
 has not been altered, it follows that that method 
 would be pursued which is in accordance with the 
 nature of mind, to convey tlie necessary knowledge. 
 Kow all practical knowledge is conveyed to the 
 
 * Ex. xxxii. 4, 5.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION, 49 
 
 understanding through the medium of the senses. 
 Whatever may be said about innate ideas by specu- 
 lative philosophers, still all agree that all acquired 
 knowledge must reach the mind tlu'ough the me- 
 dium of one of the five senses, or upon the occasion 
 of their exercise. Tlu'ough the senses the know- 
 ledge of external objects is conveyed to the mind, 
 and these simple ideas serve as material for reflec- 
 tion, comparison, and abstraction. 
 
 The etymology of the Hebrew language, as writ- 
 ten by Moses, and spoken by the Israelites, fur- 
 nishes an interesting illustration of the origin of 
 the few abstract terms ^^'ith which theii* minds were 
 familiar. The abstract ideas of the Hebrew tongue 
 may even now, in most instances, be traced to the 
 object or circumstance whence they originated. 
 Thus the idea of power, among the Hebrews, was 
 derived from the horn of an animal ; and the same 
 word in Hebrew which signifies horn likewise sig- 
 nifies power, and may be translated in either way 
 to suit the sense. The idea was originally conveyed 
 through the eye, by noticing that the strength of 
 the animal was exerted through its horn. The 
 force thus exerted, esj^ecially when the animal was 
 em-aged, was the gi-eatest which fell under their 
 observation ; and sometimes, in its eflects, it was 
 disastrous and overwhelming. Hence, the horn 
 soon became a figiu-e to denote power, and when 
 the idea was once originated and defined in their 
 minds, they could apply it to any object wliicli pro- 
 duced a strong effect either upon the bodies or the 
 minds of men. An idea of power hke^vise origin- 
 ated from the human hand, because through it 
 man exerted his strength. The same word in 
 Hebrew still expresses both the object and the idea 
 derived fi-om it — "Life and death are in the j^ower 
 of the tongue," reads literally — " Life and death
 
 50 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 are in tlie hand of the tongue." Sunshine, in 
 Hebrew is synonymous with happiness : the idea 
 being originated by experiencing the pleasant feel- 
 ings produced by the effects of a sunny day; and 
 when thus originated, it was applied to the same 
 and similar feelings produced by other causes. 
 The abstract idea of judgment or justice is derived 
 from a word which signifies to cut or divide ; it 
 bemg originated by the circumstance that when 
 the 2^nniitive hunters had killed a stag, or other 
 l^rey, one divided the flesh with a knife, among 
 those who assisted in the pursuit, distributing a 
 just portion to each. Thus, the act of cutting and 
 dividing their prey, which was the first circum- 
 stance tliat called into exercise and placed before 
 their senses the principle of justice, was the cir- 
 cumstance from which they derived this most im- 
 portant abstract idea. 
 
 Other instances might be mentioned. These are 
 sufhcient to show the manner in which the abstract 
 ideas of the Hebrews were originated. And so, 
 every new idea which found a place in their under- 
 standing, had to be originated, primarily, by an im- 
 jn-ession made by external objects upon the senses. 
 
 Further, all ideas which admit of the significa- 
 tion of more or most perfect, can be originated only 
 by a comparison of one object with another. More 
 lovely, or more pure, can only be predicated of one 
 thing by comparison with another which it excels 
 in one of these respects. By a series of compari- 
 sons, each one exceeding the last in beauty or ])urity, 
 an idea of tlie highest degree of perfection may be 
 jiroduced. Thus one flower may be called lovely, 
 another more lovely, and the rose the most lovely ; 
 and the idea of tlie superior beauty of the rose 
 would be originated by the comparison or contrast 
 between it and other flowers of Jess beauty. It is
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION'. 51 
 
 not said that the rose would not appear lovely 
 without comparison, but the idea of its superior 
 loveliness is originated by comparison, and it could 
 be derived in no other way. 
 
 With these principles in mind, we return to the 
 inquiry, How could the idea of God's Jioliness, or 
 moral jnirity, he conveyed to the minds of the Jews ? 
 
 First, mark the principles — (1.) There was not 
 an object in the material world which would con- 
 vey to the mind the idea of God's holiness. — (2.) 
 The idea, therefore, would have to be originated, 
 and thrown into their mind, through the senses, by 
 a process' instituted for that express piu'pose. — (3.) 
 The plan to originate the idea, in order to meet the 
 constitution of the mind, must consist of a series of 
 comparisons. 
 
 Now mark the correspondency between these 
 principles, founded upon the laws of the mind, and 
 that system devised to instruct the Israelites in the 
 knowledge of God. 
 
 In the outset, the animals common to Palestine 
 were divided, by command of Jehovah, into clean 
 and unclean; in this way a distinction was made, 
 and the one class in comparison witli the other was 
 deemed to be of a purer and better kind. From 
 the class thus distinguished, as more pui-e than the 
 other, one was selected to offer as a sacrifice. It 
 was not only to be chosen from the clean beasts, 
 but, as an individual, it was to be without spot or 
 blemish. Thus it was, in their eyes, purer than 
 the other class, and purer than other individuals of 
 'its own class. This sacrifice, the people were not 
 deemed worthy, in their own persons, to offer unto 
 Jehovah ; but it was to be offered by a class of men 
 who were distinguished from their brethren, puri- 
 fied, and set a])art for the ser^^ce of the priest's 
 office. Thus the idea of pmity originated fi-om
 
 52 PHILOSOPHY or 
 
 two sources ; tlie purified priest and the pure ani- 
 mal jyu^fi^d, were united in the offering of the sa- 
 crifice. But before the sacrifice could be ofiered, 
 it was washed with clean water — and the priest 
 had, in some cases, to wash himself, and officiate 
 without his sandals. Thus, when one process of 
 comparison after another had attached the idea of 
 superlative purity to the sacrifice — in oftering it to 
 Jehovah, in order that the contrast between the 
 purity of God and the liighest degrees of earthly 
 purity might be seen, neither priest, people, nor 
 sacrifice was deemed sufficiently pure to come into 
 his presence; but the offering was made in the 
 court without the holy of hoHes. In this manner, 
 by a process of comparison,, the cliaracter of God.^ 
 in point of purity, was placed indefinitely abo'^^ 
 themselves and their sacrifices.* 
 
 And not only in the sacrifices, but tliro' jgi^Q^^^ 
 the whole Levitical economy, the idea of imrity 
 pervaded all its ceremonies and obser'^, ^nces. The 
 
 camp was purified — the people Vero purified 
 
 every thing was purified and re-'^,urified ; and each 
 process of the ordinances w'as designed to reflect 
 purity upon the others : xintil finally that idea of 
 purity formed in tlie ij\md and rendered intense by 
 the convergence o"^ so many rays, was, by com- 
 parison, referre'fi to the idea of God— and the idea 
 <oi God in tlieir minds, being that of an infinitely 
 •powerful and good Spirit, hence, purity, as a cha- 
 a;aeiteristic or attribute of such a nature, would 
 laiccessarily assume a moral aspect, because it 
 
 * It is not arffned that no other end was designed and accom- 
 plished by the arbitrary separation of animals into classes of clean 
 and unclean. By this means the Jews were undoubtedly excluded 
 Irom i)arlaking in the feasts of the heathen around, who ate 
 those animals which were forbidden to them. An excellent writer 
 observes that it is characteristic of the wisdom of God to accom- 
 plisli many ends by a single act of providence.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 53 
 
 appertained to a moral being — it would become 
 moral purity, or JwUness. Thus, they learned, in 
 the sentiment of Scripture, that God was of too pure 
 eyes to look upon iniquity. 
 
 That the idea of moral purity in the minds of 
 the Israelites was thus originated by the machinery 
 of the Levitical dispensation, is supported, not 
 only by the philosophy of the thing, but by many 
 allusions in the Scriptures. Such allusions are 
 frequent both in the writers of the old and of the 
 new dispensations ', evidencing that, in their minds, 
 the idea of moral puiity was still symbolised by 
 physical purity. The rite of baptism is founded 
 upon this symbolical analogy ; the external wash- 
 ing with water being significant of the purifying 
 influence of the Holy Spirit. St. John saw in 
 vision the undefiled in heart clothed with linen 
 pure and white ; evincing that, to the mind of the 
 Jew, such vestments as the high priest wore, when 
 he entered the holy of holies, were stiU emblemati- 
 cal of moral pmity. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 which is an apostolic exposition of the spii'itual 
 import of the Levitical institution, so far as that 
 institution particularly concerns believers under the 
 New Testament dispensation, we have the foregoing 
 view of the design of ceremonial purification ex- 
 pressly confirmed. " It was, therefore, necessary," 
 says Paul to the Hebrews, " that the patterns of 
 things in the heavens should be purified with these, 
 (that is, with these pmifying processes addressed to 
 the senses) but the heavenly things themselves with 
 better sacrifices than these." The plain instruction 
 of which is, that the parts and processes of the 
 Levitical economy were patterns addressed to the 
 senses of imseen tilings in heaven, and that the 
 purifying of those patterns indicated the spiritual 
 puritv of the spiritual things wliichthey represented.
 
 54 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 There is, finally, demonstrative evidence of tliS 
 fact, that the idea of perfect moral purity, as con- 
 nected with the idea of God, is now, and always has 
 been the same which was originated and conveyed 
 to the minds of the Jews by the machinery of the 
 Levitical dispensation. The Hebrew word tt^lp qua- 
 dosh, was used to express the idea of jDurity as 
 originated by the tabernacle service. The literal 
 definition is, pure, to he pure, to be purified for 
 sacred uses. The word thus originated, and con 
 veying this meaning, is employed in the Scriptures 
 to exjjress the moral purity or hohness of God.* In 
 the New Testament this word is translated by the 
 Greek term 'A-yto?, agios, but the Hebrew idea is 
 connected with the Greek word. In king James's 
 version this Greek word is rendered by the Saxon 
 term holy — the Saxon word losing its original im- 
 port, {whole, wholly,) and taking that of the Hebrew 
 derived through the Greek. So that our idea of 
 the holiness of God is the same which was origin- 
 ated by the Levitical ceremonies ; and there is no 
 other word, so far as I have been able to examine, 
 in any language, which conveys this idea. Nor is 
 there any idea among any people that approxi- 
 mates closely to the Scripture idea of holiness, 
 unless the words received some shades of its 
 signification from the Bible.f 
 
 Here, then, the idea of God's moral purity was 
 
 * ^np Dtt? •« my holy name." Lev. xx. 3. 
 
 t One of the principal difficulties which the missionary meets 
 •with, accordinp; to letters in the missionary reports, is, that of 
 conveying to the mind of the heathen, the idea of the holiness of 
 God. Tliey find no such idea in their minds, and they can use 
 no words in tlieir language by which to convey the full and true 
 force of the thought. The true idea, therefore, if communicated 
 at all, must be conveyed by a periphrasis, and by laboured illus- 
 tration. This obstacle will bo one of the most difficult to sur- 
 mount in all languages ; and it cannot be perl'ectly overcome, till 
 the Christian teacher becomes perfectly familiar with the language 
 of tho.se whom he wishes to instruct.
 
 THE PLAN OJf SALVATION. 65- 
 
 conveyecl by the Mosaic economy in a manner in 
 accordance with the constitution and the condition 
 of the Jewish mind. This same idea has descended 
 from the Hebrew, tln-ough the Greek to our own 
 language ; and there is, so far as known, no other 
 word in the workl, which conveys to the mind the 
 true idea of God's moral purity, but that originated 
 by the institution which God j)rescribed to Moses 
 upon the Mount.- 
 
 The demonstration, then, is conclusive, both from 
 philosophy and fact, that the true and necessary 
 idea of God's attribute of holiness was originated 
 by the " patterns" of Levitical economy, and that it 
 could have been communicated to mankind, at the 
 first, in no other way.f 
 
 * Ex. XXV. 9. 
 
 + The foundation principle of that school of scepticism, at the 
 head of which are the atheistical materialists, is, that all knowledge 
 is derived through the medium of the senses, and that as God is 
 not an object of sense, men can have no knowledge of his being or 
 attributes. Now these deductions show that the truth of revealed 
 religion may be firmly established upon their own proposition.
 
 CHAPTE'R Yin 
 
 CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF THE IDEAS OF JUSTICE 
 AND MERCY, AND THEIR TRANSFER TO THE CHA- 
 RACTER OF JEHOVAH. 
 
 Holiness and justice, although they convey to the 
 mind ideas somewhat distinct from each other, yet 
 the import of the one is shaded into that of the 
 other. Holiness signifies the jmrity of the Divine 
 nature from moral defilement ; while justice 
 signifies the relation which holiness causes God to 
 sustain to men, as the subjects of the Divine 
 government. In relation to God, one is subjective, 
 declaring his freedom from sin; the other objective, 
 declaring his ojiposition to sin, as the transgression 
 of the Divine law. The Israelites might know 
 that God was holy, and that he required of them 
 clean hands and a clean heart in worship, and yet 
 not understand the full demerit of transgressing 
 the will of God, or the intensity of the Divine 
 opposition to sin. God had given them the moral 
 law, and they knew that he required them to obey 
 it; but what, in the mind of God, was the j)roper 
 desert of disobeying it they did not know. They 
 had been accustomed, like all idolaters, to consider 
 the desert of moral transgression uncertain and 
 uneq;.ial. Now they had to learn the immutable 
 justice of the Supreme Being — that his holiness 
 was not a jiassive quality, but an active attribute 
 of his nature, and not only the op2)osite, but the 
 antagonist principle to sin.
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE I'LA^ OF SALVATION. 57 
 
 In what manner, then, could a l-nowledge of the 
 Divine Justice, or of the demerit of sin in the sight 
 of Ood, he conveyed to the minds of the Jeus? 
 
 There is but one way in which any being can 
 manifest to other minds the opposition of his 
 nature to sin. A lawgiver can manifest his views 
 of the demerit of transgression in no other way 
 than by the penalty which he inflicts upon the 
 transgressor. In all beings who have authority to 
 make law for the obedience of others, the conscience 
 is the standard which regulates the amount of 
 punishment that shoidd be inflicted upon the dis- 
 obedient ; and the measure of punishment which 
 conscience dictates, is just in proportion to the 
 opposition which the lawgiver feels to the trans- 
 gi-ession of his law; that is, the amovmt of regard 
 which he has for liis own law, will graduate the 
 amount of opposition which he will feel to its 
 transgi'essiou. The amount of opposition which 
 any being feels to sin is in proportion to the 
 holiness of that being, and conscience will sanction 
 penalty up to the amoimt of oppositiou which he 
 feels to crime. 
 
 If the father of a family felt no regard for the 
 law of the sabbath, his conscience would not allow 
 him to j)nnish his children for violating, by folly 
 or labour, a law \A'hich he did not himself respect. 
 But a father who felt a sacred regard for the 
 Divine law, would be required by his conscience 
 to cause liis children to respect the sabbath, and 
 to punish them if they disobeyed. The penalty 
 which one felt to be v>-rong, the other would feel to 
 be right, because the disjiosition of the one towards 
 the law was different from the other. 
 
 The principle, then, is manifest, that the more 
 holy and just any beiilg is, the more he is opposed 
 to sin, and the higher penalty will his conscience
 
 58 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sanction as the desert of transgressing the Divine 
 law. Now, God being infinitely holy, he is, there 
 fore, infinitely opposed to sin, and the Divine con- 
 science will enforce penalty accordingly. 
 
 This is the foundation of penalty in the Divine 
 mind. The particular point of inquiry is. How 
 could the desert of sin, as it existed in the mind of 
 God, be revealed to the Israelites? 
 
 If the penalty infiicted is sanctioned by the con 
 science of the lawgiver, it follows, as has been 
 shown, that tho opposition of his nature to the 
 crime is in exact proportion to the penalty which 
 he inflicts upon the criminal. Penalty, therefore, 
 inflicted upon the transgressor, is the only way by 
 which the standard of justice, as it exists in the 
 mind of God, could be revealed to men. 
 
 The truth of this principle may be made ap- 
 parent by illustration. Suppose a father were to 
 express liis will in relation to the government of 
 his family, and the regulations were no sooner 
 made, than some of' his children should resist his 
 authority, and disobey his commands. Now, sup- 
 pose the father should not punish the offenders, 
 but treat them as he did his obedient children. 
 By so doing lie would encourage the disobedient — 
 discourage tlic obedient — destroy his own authority, 
 and make tlio im])ression Ti])on the minds of all his 
 children that he liad no regard for the regulations 
 which he had himself nuidc. And, further, if these 
 regulations were for the general good of the family, 
 by not maintaining them, he would convince tlio 
 obedient that he did not regard their best interests, 
 but was the friend of the rebellious. And if* lie 
 were to pmiish for the transgression but lightly, 
 they would su})pose that he estimated but liglitly 
 a breach of his commands, and they could not, 
 from the constitution of their minds, sui^pose
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 69 
 
 otherwise. But if the father, when one of the 
 children transgressed, should punish him and 
 exclude him from favour till he submitted to his 
 authority, and acknowledged with a penitent spirit 
 his offence, then the household would be convinced 
 that the father's will was imperative, and that the 
 only alternative ]3resented to them was affectionate 
 submission, or exclusion from the society of their 
 father and his obedient children. Thus the amount 
 of the father's regard for his law, his interest in 
 the well-being of his obedient children, and the 
 opposition of his nature to disobedience, would be 
 graduated ^in every child's nnnd by the penalty 
 which he inflicted for the transgi-ession of his 
 coii^mands. 
 
 So in the case of an absolute lawgiver : Ms 
 hostility to crime could be known only by the 
 penalty wliich he inflicted upon the criminal. If, 
 for the crime of theft, he were to punish the 
 offender only by the imposition of a trifling fine, 
 the impression would be made upon every mind 
 that he did not, at heart, feel much hostility to the 
 crime of larceny. If he had the 2>ower, and did 
 not punish crime at all, he would thus reveal to 
 the whole nation that he v.-as in league with 
 criminals, and himself a criminal at heart. 
 
 So in relation to murder, if he were to let the 
 culprit go free, or inflict upon him but a slight 
 penalty, he would thus show that his heart was 
 tainted with guilt, and that there was no safety for 
 good men under his government. But should he 
 lix a penalty to transgression, declare it to all his 
 subjects, and visit every criminal with piuiishraent 
 in proportion to his guilt, he would show to the 
 world that he regarded the law, and was opposed 
 dii-ectly and for ever to its transgi-ession. 
 
 In like manner, and in no other way, could God
 
 60 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 manifest to men liis infinite justice and liis regai-d 
 for the laws of his kingdom. Did he punish for 
 sin with but a slight penalty, the -whole universe 
 of mind would have good reason to believe that the 
 God of heaven was but little opposed to sin. Did 
 he punish it with the highest degree of penalty, it 
 would be evidence to the universe that liis nature 
 was in the highest degree opposed to sin and 
 attached to holiness. 
 
 Now, whatever may be said in relation to the ap- 
 plication of these princii)les to future rew^ards and 
 punishments, one thing will be apparent to all, 
 which is all that the present argument requii-es to 
 be admitted, that is — the mind of man would re- 
 ceive an idea of the amount of God's opposition to 
 sin, only by the amount of penalty which he in- 
 flicted upon the sinner. 
 
 Having ascertained these premises, we return to 
 the inquiry. How could the demerit of sin in the 
 .sight of Ood, or the idea of God's attribute of justice, 
 be conveyed to the minds of the Jens ? 
 
 The people had now, in a good degree, a know- 
 ledge of what sin was. In addition to the light of 
 natural conscience, which might guide them to 
 some extent in relation to thoir duties to each 
 other, they had the moral law% with the com- 
 mentary of Moses, defining its precepts, and ap-jjly- 
 ing them to the conduct of life. Their minds were 
 thus enlightened in relation to sin in the following 
 particulars. First, those acts which were a trans- 
 gression of the positive precepts of the law. 
 Second, omissions of duties enjoined in the law ; 
 and, Tlnrd, many acts which the sjiirit of the law 
 would condemn, but which might not be defined in 
 any particular 23rece])t, would now bo noticed by 
 enlighteued conscience, as sin against Jehovah, 
 their lioly benefactor, and the giver of the law
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. CI 
 
 Having thus been taught what was sin of com- 
 mission and omission, one obvious design of the 
 institution of sacrifices,* and one which has been 
 perceived and understood, both by the Jews and 
 Gentiles, was to convey to the mind the just 
 demerit and j)roper penalty of sin. 
 
 There were three classes of sacrifices in the old 
 dispensation in which death w^as inflicted. The 
 first, which Gentiles, as w^ll as Jews were j>er- 
 mitted to offer, was the holocaust, or whole burnt- 
 ofifering, which v/as entirely consumed by lire. 
 Sacrifices of tliis description seem to have been 
 offered from 'the earliest ages. They were offered, as 
 the best informed think, as an acknowledgment of, 
 and atonement for, geueral sinfulness of hie. They 
 seem to have had reference to the fact, of which 
 every man is conscious, that he often violates 
 known duty, and does many things which the light 
 of nature and conscience teaches him not to do. 
 
 After the whole bm'nt-offering, was the sin-offer- 
 ing, sacrificed for an atonement, w^hen the indi- 
 vidual had transgressed any specific precept of the 
 moral law. 
 
 The trespass-offering differed only from the sin- 
 offering, as the learned suppose, in this, that it was 
 a sacrifice for sins of omission, or for the non-per- 
 formance of duty, wliile the sin-oftering was made 
 for a violation of the specific precepts of the moral 
 law. Whether the design of the different classes 
 of sacrifices was as above sj)ecified or not, is not 
 
 * The question whether the sacrifices, and the particxilar regu- 
 lations ccncerninj^ tliem, were of Divine origin, does not affect 
 the argument. Whether they were originally instituted by Divine 
 command, or whether IMoses, acting under Divine guidance, modi- 
 fied an existing institution and adapted it to the Divine purposes, 
 hoth the design, and the end accoinplislied, would he the same. 
 There are good reasons, however, for the opinion, that sacrifices 
 for sin were of Divine appointment.
 
 62 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 material, farther than it shows how nicely the forms 
 of the Levitical economy were adjusted to meet that 
 varied consciousness of sin, which the precepts of 
 the law and an enlightened conscience would pro- 
 duce in the human soul. The material point to 
 which attention is necessary, with reference to the 
 present discussion, is that by which the death and 
 destruction of the animal, offered in sacrifice, were 
 made to represent the desert of the sinner. 
 
 When an individual brought a sacrifice, he de- 
 livered it to the priest to be slain. He then laid 
 his hands upon its head, thereby, in a form well 
 understood among the Jews, transferring to it his 
 sins ; and then the life of the sacrifice was taken as 
 a substitute for his own life. • Me was thus taught 
 that the transgression of the law, or any act of sin 
 against God, was worthy of death; and that the 
 sacrifice suffered that penalty in his stead. 
 
 Further: the Jews had been taught that the 
 blood of the sacrifice was its life ; or rather the 
 principle ui)on which the life of tlie body depended. 
 Upon this subject they had the following express 
 instruction — " For the life of the flesh is the blood: 
 and I have given it to you upon the altar to make 
 an atonement for your souls : for it is the blood 
 that maketh an atonement for the soul."=:= Now, 
 this blood, which the Jews were thus taught to be- 
 lieve was the life of the sacrifice, was repeatedly 
 sprinkled by the priest upon the mercy-seat and 
 towards the holy place ; thus presenting the life of 
 the sacrifice immediately in the presence of God; 
 (the ineffable light, or symbol of God's presence, 
 rested over the mercy-seat between the cherubim) 
 signifying, as plainly as forms, and shadows, and 
 extcnud types could signify, tluit life had been 
 
 * Lev. xvii. 11.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 63 
 
 rendered up to God to make an atonement for tlieir 
 souls. 
 
 Thus the idea was conveyed to their mind through 
 the senses, that the desert of sin in the sight of God 
 was the death of the soul. And while they stood 
 pra}ing in the outer court of the tabernacle, and 
 beheld the dark volume of smoke ascending from 
 the fire that consimied the sacrifice which was 
 turning in their stead, how awful must have been 
 the imjiression of the desert of sin, made by that 
 dark volume of ascending smoke ! The idea was 
 distinct and deeply impressed, that God's justice 
 was a consuming fire to sinners ; and that their 
 souls escaped only through a vicarious atonement. 
 
 As a picture in a child's primer will convey an 
 idea to the infant mind, long before it can be taught 
 by abstract signs, so the Jews, in the infancy of 
 tlieii- knowledge of God, and before there were any 
 abstract signs to convey that knowledge, had 
 thrown into their minds, through the senses, the 
 two essential ideas of God's justice and mercy : his 
 justice, in that the wages of sin is the death of the 
 soul; and his mercy, in that God woidd pardon the 
 sinner, if he confessed his sin, acknowledged the 
 life of his soul forfeited, and ofiered the life of the 
 saciifice as liis substitute. 
 
 In this manner an idea of the desert of sin was 
 conveyed to the minds of the Jews — God's law 
 honoui-ed ; and the utter hostility of the lawgiver to 
 sin clearly manifested ; and God's mercy was like- 
 wise revealed as stated in the preceding paragraph. 
 Thus in a manner accordant with the cu'cum- 
 stances of the Jews, and by means adapted in theii' 
 operation to the constitution of nature, was the 
 knowledge of God's attribute of justice, and the 
 relation which mercy sustains to that attribute, 
 fully revealed in the world; and in view of the
 
 64 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 nature of tilings it could have been revealed in no 
 other way.* 
 
 * Inquiring readers of the Old Testament often find many 
 things announced in the name of God, which must seem to them 
 inconsistent with the majesty of the Divine nature, unless they 
 view those requirements in the light of the inquiry, " What im- 
 pressions were they adapted to make upon the Jewish mind ? " 
 There are but few readers of the Old Testament who read on this 
 subject intelligently. In this remark we do not refer to the his- 
 torical or preceptive portions of these writings, but to the elements 
 of the Mosaic institution. In order to see the design of many 
 items of the system, we must consider those items as exhibitions 
 to the senses, designed chiefly, perhaps only, to produce right 
 ideas, or to correct erroneous ones then existing, in the minds of 
 the Jews. The inquiry ought not to be, What impressions are 
 they adapted to produce upon our minds concerning God ? but, 
 What 'impression would the particular revelation make upon 
 their minds ? An instance or two will illustrate these remarks. 
 
 The adaptation to accomplish a necessary end is apparent in 
 the scene at Sinai. The Israelites had been accustomed to an 
 idolatry where the most common familiarities were practised 
 with the idol gods. The idea of reverence and majesty which 
 belongs to the character of God, had been lost, by attaching the 
 idea of divinity to the objects of sense. It was necessary, there- 
 fore, that the idea of God should now be clothed, in their minds, 
 with that reverence and majesty which properly belong to it. 
 The scene at Sinai was adapted to produce, and did produce for 
 the time being, the right impression. The mountain was made 
 to tremble to its base. A cloud of darkness covered its summit, 
 from which the lightnings leaped out and thunders uttered their 
 voices. In the words of a New Testament writer, there was 
 "darkness, and blackness, and tempest." It was ordered that 
 neither man nor beast should touch the mountain lest they should 
 be visited with deatli. The exhibition in all its forms Avas adapted 
 to produce that sense of majesty and awe in view of the Divine 
 character which the Israelites needed to feel. To minds subjected 
 to the influence of other circumstances than those which affected 
 the character of the Israelites in Egypt, such manifestations 
 might not be necessary : but in the case of the Jews, accustomed 
 as they had been to witness a besotting familiarity with idols, 
 these manifestations were directly adapted to counteract low 
 views of the Divine character, and to inspire the soul with 
 suitable reverence in view of the infinite majesty and eternal 
 power of the Being with wliom they had to do. 
 
 The testimony of the liible in relation to the design of the 
 exliibition at Sinai corroborates the views that have been given, 
 " When the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And 
 they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 66 
 
 let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the 
 people, Fear not : for God is come to prove you, and that his fear 
 may he heforeyour faces, that ye sin not." — Exodus xx. 18 — 20. 
 
 The scene which occurred afterwards, evinced tlie necessity of 
 this exhibition, and developed the result of the proof [trial] that 
 was made of their character. In the absence of Moses, they 
 required an image of Jehovah to be made, and they feasted and 
 "played" — this last word having a licentious import — in its 
 presence. Thus, after trial of the strongest exhibitions upon their 
 mind, some of them proved themselves so incorrigibly attached to 
 licentious idolatry that they desired to worship Jehovah under the 
 character of the Egyptian calf. They thus proved themselves 
 unfit material, too corrupt for the end in view ; and they were, in 
 accordance with the. reason of the case, destroyed. 
 
 Another conviction necessary to be lodged in the minds of the 
 Israelites, and impressed deeply and frequently upon their hearts, 
 was faith in the present and overruling God. Tliis was the more 
 necessary, as no visible image of Jehovah was allowed in the 
 camp. There were but two methods possible, by ^\hicll their 
 minds could be ccmvinced of tlie immediate presence and pov/er 
 of God controlling all the events of their history. Either sucli 
 exhibitions must be made that they would see certain ends ac- 
 complished witliout human instrumentality ; or, they must see 
 human instrumentality clothed with a power v.liich it is not pos- 
 sible in the nature of things, it should in itself possess. The 
 circumstances connected with the fall of Jericho will illustrate 
 the case. The people were required to surround the city, by a 
 silent procession during seven days, hearing the sacred ark, and 
 blowing with rude instruments which they used for trumpets. On 
 the seventh day, the people were to shout after they had com- 
 passed the city seven times ; and when they shouted, according 
 to a Divine promise, the walls of the city fell to the ground. 
 Now, here was a process of means in which there was no adapt- 
 ation to produce the external effect, in order that the in-ternal 
 effect, the great end of all revelation, miglit be produced— that 
 they might be taught to recognise Jehovah as the present God of 
 nature and providence, and rest their faith on him. 
 
 If the Israelites had, in this case, used the common instrument- 
 alities to secure success — if they had destroyed the wall with in- 
 struments of war, or scaled its heiglit with ladders, and thus over- 
 come by the strength of their own ann, or the aid of their own 
 devices, instead of being led to humble reliance upon God, and 
 to recognise his agency in their behalf, they would have seen in 
 the means whicli thev had used a cause adequate to produce the 
 effect, and tliey woufd have forgotten the First Cause, upon whose 
 power they were dependent. Second causes were avoided in order 
 that they might see the connexion between the First Cause and 
 the effect produced — human instrumentality stood in abejance, 
 in order that the Divine agency might be recognised. Thus 
 they were taught to have faith in God, and to rely upon tlie 
 presence and the power of the Invisible Jehovah.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCERNING THE TRANSITION FROM THE MATERIAL 
 SYSTEM, BY WHICH REUGIOUS IDEAS WERE CON- 
 VEYED THROUGH THE SENSES, TO THE SPIRITUAL 
 SYSTEM, IN WHICH ABSTRACT IDEAS WERE CON- 
 VEYED BY WORDS AND VARABLES. 
 
 Human language has always advanced from its 
 first stage, in Avliicli ideas are acquired directly 
 through the medium of the senses, to the higher 
 state, in which abstract ideas are conveyed by 
 appropriate words and signs. Wlicn an idea is 
 once formed by outward objects, and a word formed 
 representing that idea, it is then no longer neces- 
 sary, or desirable, that tlie object which first 
 originated the idea should longer be associated in 
 tlie mhid witli the idea itself. It is even true that 
 the import of abstract ideas suffers from a co-exist- 
 once in tlie mind of the abstract thought with the 
 idea of the object which originated it. Thus tlie 
 word spirit now conveys a distinct idea to tlie mind 
 of pure spii'itual cKistenco ; but the distinctness 
 and i)ower of the idea are impaired, by remembering 
 that the word from which it was derived, originally 
 signified wind, and that the word itsel'f was 
 originated in the lirst place by the wind. So in 
 other cases ; altliough the ideas of abstract and 
 spiritual things can be originated, ]>rimarily, only 
 from outward objects, yet wiieu they have been
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. (')7 
 
 originated, and the spiritual idea connected with 
 the sign or word conveying its proper sense, it is 
 desirable, in order to their greatest force and per- 
 S[)icaity, that their connexion with materiality 
 sliould be broken off in the mind. 
 
 In idl written languages, this advancement from 
 one stage of perfection to another, by the addition 
 of abstract ideas, can be traced ; and experience 
 teaches, incontrovertibly, that the advancement of 
 human language, as above described, and tlie ad- 
 vancement of human society, are dependent upon 
 each other. 
 
 The j^receding principles being applied to the 
 subject und9r consideration, it would follow that 
 tlie Mosaic machinery, which formed the abstract 
 ideas, conveying the knowledge of God's true 
 chai'acter, would no longer be useful after those 
 ideas were originated, defined, and connected witli 
 the words which expressed their abstract or 
 spiritual import. It would follow, therefore, that 
 the machinery would bo entirely dispensed with 
 whenever it had answered the entire design for 
 which it was put into operation. Whenever the 
 Jews were cured of idolatry, and had obtained ti"ue 
 ideas of the attributes of the true God, then tlio 
 dispensation of shadows and ceremonies, wliich 
 " could not make tJie comers thereunto perfect," 
 would, according to the reason of tilings, pass away, 
 and give place to a more jjerfect and more spii'itual 
 dispensation. 
 
 We find, accordingly, that the machinery of the 
 tabernacle was gradually removed ; it never having 
 existed in perfection after the location of the tribes 
 in Palestine. They sojourned in the wilderness 
 until those who had come out of Egypt died. The 
 generation who succeeded them had the advantage 
 of having received their entire education through 
 d3
 
 68 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the medium of the Mosaic institution, and thus of 
 being freed from vicious habits and remembrances 
 contracted in idolatrous society. 
 
 Afterwards the prophets held an intermediat-e 
 place between the material dispensation of Moses 
 and the pure spirituality of that of Christ. In the 
 prophetic books, especially the later ones, there is 
 an evident departure fi-om a reliance upon the 
 external forms, and an application of tlio ideas 
 connected with those forms to internal states of 
 mind. Then- views of the old dispensation were 
 more spiritual than tlie views of those who lived 
 near tlie origin of the institution. And in the dis- 
 pensation of the Messiah, the prophets evidently 
 expected clearer light and purer spirituahty. 
 
 The state of the case, then, is this : Tho old dis- 
 pensation M'as necessary and indispensable, in 
 itself, and in its place ; but it was neither designed, 
 nor adapted to continue : the knowledge of Divine 
 things which it generated was necessary for all 
 men, but, as yet, it was circumscribed to a small 
 portion of the human family : tho point of inquiry 
 now presents itself, Hoiv could this essential know- 
 ledge concerning the Divine Nature and attributes, 
 he extended througJiout the world ? 
 
 There would bo but two methods possible — 
 eitlier tlie same proc-esses, and the same cumbrous 
 machinery, (wliicli were a ' biu*den' that an apostle 
 affii-med neither he nor bis fathers were able to 
 bear,) must bo established in every nation, and 
 kindred, and tribe of the human family, and thus 
 each nation be discij)Uned and educated by itself: 
 or, one nation must be prepared and disciplined, — 
 their propensity to idolatry destroyed — the ideas 
 coined in tlie die prepared by Jehovah, thrown 
 into tbeir minds, and tlicu, being thus prepared, 
 they might be made tlio insU'uments of transferring
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. C9 
 
 those i(*eas into the languages of other nations.* 
 If tho Almighty were to adopt the first method, it 
 would exclude men from benevolent labour for the 
 spiritual good of ea^h other; and besides, the 
 history of the process with the Jews, as well a-s 
 the reason of the thing, would indicate that tho 
 latter method would be the one which the Maker 
 would adopt. 
 
 But-, in order to the diffusion of the knowledge 
 of God by the latter method, some things would be 
 necessaiy as pre-requisites, among which are the 
 following — • 
 
 1. That the Jews, who possessed these ideas, 
 should be scattered throughout the world, and that 
 they should be thus scattered long enough before 
 the time of the general difiusion of Divine know- 
 ledge to have become familiar with the languages 
 of the difTerent nations where they sojourned. This 
 would be necessar}', in order that, by speaking in 
 other tongues, they might transfer into them their 
 own ideas of Divine things, by attaching those 
 ideas to words in the respective languages which 
 they spoke, or by introducing into those languages 
 words and phrases of Hebrew origin, convepng 
 the revealed ideas. Whether the different languages 
 were acquired by miraculous or by hiunan instru- 
 mentahty, there would be no other way possible of 
 transferring ideas from one language to another, 
 but by the methods above mentioned. 
 
 2. It would be necessaiy, before the Jews were 
 thus scattered, that their propensity to idolatry 
 
 * There is a common, and, to some minds, a •weighty objection 
 against the truth of revealed religion, stated as follows :— If God 
 ever gave a religion to the ■world, why did he not reveal it to all 
 men, and reveal it at once and perfectly, so that no one could 
 doubt? If this had been possible, it might not have been ex- 
 pedient; but the nature of things, as yre have seen, rendered it 
 impossible to give man a revelation in such a manner.
 
 TO PHILOSOPHY Of 
 
 should be entirely subdued, otherwise they would, 
 as they had frequently done before, fall into the 
 abominable habits of the nations among whom 
 they were dispersed.* 
 
 3. The new and spiritual system should be first 
 propa-gated among those who understood both the 
 spiritual import of the Hebrew language, and like- 
 wise tlie language of the other nations to whom tlie 
 gosj)el was to be preached. I«t was necessary that 
 the new dispensation should be committed, first to 
 the Jews, who were , scattered in the surrounding 
 nations, because, as we have seon, they were the 
 only individuals immediately prepared to commu- 
 nicate it to others. 
 
 Now the following facts are matters of authentic 
 history. 
 
 1. l3y instruction and discipline the Jews M'ere 
 entirely cured of the propensity to idolatry — so 
 much so that their souls abhorred idols. 
 
 2. They were, and had been for many genera- 
 tions, dispersed among all nations of the Roman 
 world; but still, in their dispersion they retained 
 their peculiar ideas, and multitudes of this peculiar 
 people assembled out of all countries, at least once a 
 year, at the city of Jerusalem, to worship Jehovah; 
 and it was while the multitudes were thus as- 
 sembled, that the gosjiel was first preached to 
 them ; and iireachcd, as was proper it shoidd be, by 
 power and miracle, in order that those present 
 might know assuredly that the dispensation wiis 
 from heaven. 
 
 3. Tlie new dispensation was likewise introduced, 
 
 * Idolatry is one cf Ihe most unconquerable of all the corrupt 
 propensities of the human soul. Miracles under the new dispeii- 
 Kation had scarcely ceased — the apostolic fathers were scarcely cold 
 in their graves, before idolatrous forms veve again superinduced 
 upon the pure sjjirituality of the holy gospel ; and in the papal 
 church the curse continues till tliis hour.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVAl'lON. 71 
 
 in the first place, among the Jews who continued 
 to reside in Palestine, and when a sufficient 
 number of them were fully initiated, persecutions 
 were caused to arise which scattered them abroad 
 among the nations ; and the Gentile languages not 
 being known to them, they were miraculously 
 endowed with the gift of tongues, that they might 
 communicate to others the treasures of Divine 
 Imowledge committed to them. 
 
 Thus, when the old dispensation had fulfilled its 
 design in disciplining the Jews, in imparting first 
 ideas, and thus, as a " schoolmaster," preparing 
 the people for the higher instruction of Christ ; and 
 when the fidness of the times had come, that the 
 means and the material were prepared to proj)agate 
 the spiritual truth of the new dispensation, then 
 the Mosaic cycle would appropriately close — it 
 would not be consistent that it should remain 
 longer, for the plain reason given by Jesus himself, 
 that new wine should not be put into old bottles, 
 nor the old and imperfect forms be incorporated 
 with the new and spiritual system. 
 
 Therefore it was, that so soon as the new dis- 
 pensation had been introduced, and its foundations 
 firmly laid, Jerusalem, the centre of the old 
 economy, with the temple, and all things pertain- 
 ing to the ritual service, was at once and com- 
 pletely destroyed, and the old system vanished 
 away for ever. It would not have been expedient 
 for God to destroy the old system sooner, because 
 it was necessary to engTaft the new system upon 
 the old; and it ought not to have remained longer, 
 for the reasons above stated.* 
 
 * It was nccessar}' tliat the old system should be destroyed at 
 this time, in order to throw the Jews upon Christ, as the sacrifice 
 for their sins. Under the old dispensation, the sacrifices for sin 
 were allowed to continue to the end. From this sacrifice they were
 
 72 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 taught to hope for pardon. An idea had been, by the process 
 ■which God himself instituted, originated in their mind, that death 
 must ensue for sin ; but by transferring their sins to the head of 
 the sacrifice, it died as a vicarious expiation, and they lived. It 
 had become a part, almost, of the Jewish mind, that they could 
 not hope for pardon, tmless the sacrifice was offered. They felt 
 that their life was forfeited by sin, and they were unpardoned until 
 the sacrifice were made, and it could be made nowhere else but at 
 Jenisalem. Now God destroyed Jerusalem, and caused the offer- 
 ing for sin to cease, and entirely annihilated the possibility of their 
 ever again expiating their sins by the bloody sacrifices ; they were, 
 therefore, shut up to the doctrine of Christ's sacrifice for sin. By 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, the alternative was presented to the 
 Jews — Accept of Christ's sacrifice, or you have no propitiation for 
 ^■our sins.
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 CONCERNING THE MEDIUM OF CONVEYING TO MEN 
 PERFECT INSTRUCTION IN DOCTRINE AND DUTY. 
 
 The knowledge wliicli the old dispensation was 
 designed to generate, had been transmitted into 
 the minds of the Jews ; and the Jews had been 
 j^repared to transmit the absti-act import of those 
 spiritual ideas into other languages. The Mosaic 
 institution, having accomplished its design, was 
 about to " vanish away," and give j>lace to the new 
 dispensation, which would end the series of God's 
 revealed instructions, by giving men a perfect 
 system of reUgion, accompanied by those aids and 
 influences which would be adapted to develope 
 and perfect man's moral powers, and render him, 
 in his present condition, as perfect as his nature 
 and his circumstances would allow. 
 
 At this point of our progress, the inquiry pre- 
 sents itself — Wluit can we learn, fram the 2>resent 
 constitution of things, concerning th-e medium or in- 
 strumentality tluit God would adojjt in giving man- 
 kind a 'perfect system of religion / 
 
 When the ideas that conveyed the knowledge 
 of God were understood by the people, human 
 language would then become the proper medium of 
 communication. The very fact that the ideas were 
 generated and thro'v\ii into language, evinces that 
 language was designed, eventually, to be the 
 medium through which they should be transmitted 
 d3
 
 74 PHILOSOPHY OS 
 
 to tlie world. When the ideas were prepared, as 
 has been stated, then all that would be necessaiy, 
 in order to the further luid more perfect communi- 
 cation of knowledge, would be, that men should 
 have a teacher to use this language — to expand, 
 illustrate, and apply these ideas ; and by these, 
 give definitions, and illustrate and spuitualize 
 other ideas when necessary. 
 
 Further; man's senses are constituted with an 
 adaptation to the external world ; and his intellec- 
 tual constitution is adapted to intercoui-se with his 
 fellow man. The delicate bony structure of the 
 ear, which conveys sounds from the tympanum to 
 the sensorium, is nicely adjusted by the Maker, to 
 appreciate and convey tlie tones and modulations 
 of the human voice. Human gestui-e, likewise, and 
 tlie expression of the countenance and the eye, are 
 auxiUary to human language in conveying instruc- 
 tion. The nature of man, tlierefore, is adapted, 
 both physically and intellectually, to receive know- 
 ledge by communications from one of his own 
 species. If God designed that an angel should 
 instruct the human family, one of two things would 
 have to be done — either tlie human constitution 
 woidd have to be elevated and adapted to inter- 
 course witli a being of a higher order in the scale of 
 creation, or that being would have to let down liiiH 
 nature to human capacity, and thus adapt himself 
 to intercourse with human natures. And, it would 
 even be requisite that the teacher should not 
 assimie tlie highest condition of humanity in order 
 that his instructions should accomplish tlie greatest 
 general good ; nor sliould his communications be 
 made in the most cultivatetl and elevated stylo of 
 language. If he would instruct the common mind 
 in tJie best manner, he must use common language 
 and common illubtration« — and if God (blessed be
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 75 
 
 his name,) were himself to instruct human nature, 
 as it is, the same means would be necessary. 
 
 Another step — Man is so constituted that he 
 learns by example better than precept. Tlieory 
 without practice, or prece2)t without example, does 
 not constitute a perfect system of instruction. The 
 theory of surveying, however perfect it may be 
 taught in college, never makes a practical surveyor. 
 An artist may give a most perfect theory of his art 
 to his apprentices, or those whom he wishes to in- 
 struct in a knowledge of his business, but if he 
 woidd have them become practical artists them- 
 selves, he must, with tools in hand, practise his 
 own instructions before the eyes of the leai-ner. 
 In the language of the trades, he nnist " show how 
 it's done." Such, then, is the nature of man, that 
 in order to a perfect system of instruction, there 
 must be both precept and example. 
 
 Now, there can be but one perfect model of 
 human nature. And man could not be removed 
 to some other planet, nor out of liis present cir- 
 cumstances, to be instructed. If the Ahnighty, 
 therefore, designed ever to give a perfect and final 
 system of instruction to mankind, it could be done 
 only by placing in this world a perfect human 
 nature — a being who would not only give perfect 
 precepts, but who would j)ractise those precepts 
 before tlie eyes of men. If such a being were 
 placed among men, who, amid all the perplexities, 
 ditficulties, and trials which afiect men in their 
 present condition, would exhibit perfect action of 
 body, heart, and mind, in all his relations of life, 
 and in all his duties to God and man — that would 
 be a model character, practising the precepts of the 
 Divine law in man's present circumstances. The 
 example of an angel, or of any being of a different 
 order from man, woidd be of no benefit to the
 
 76 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 human family, Man must see his duties, as man, 
 exemplified in his own nature. Human nature 
 could he perfected only hy following a perfect model 
 of human nature. But, with the rule of duty in his 
 hand, and a model character before hun, man 
 would have a system of instruction perfectly 
 adapted to his nature : and adapted to perfect his 
 nature. If God, therefore, designed to give man a 
 final and perfect system of instruction, he would 
 adopt the method thus adajited to the constitution 
 which he has given his creatures. — Now, Jesus 
 Christ is that model character. He assumed 
 human nature — came to the earth, man's residence 
 — expounded and illustrated the law in human 
 language ; gave it its spiritual import, and applied 
 it to the different circumstances and conditions of 
 human life. He removed the false glosses which 
 the ignorance and the prejudices of men had 
 'attached to it — He modified or rescinded those 
 l^ermissions or clauses w^iicli were accommodated 
 to the darkness of former times, and the imper- 
 fections of the Jewish system, and then, by appH- 
 cations the most striking and definite, he showed 
 the bearing of the rule of duty upon all varieties of 
 human action. 
 
 And further; the law being thus defined and 
 applied, in order that the world might have a model 
 character, he conformed himself to all its roqiure- 
 ments. And in order that that model might be a 
 guide in all the varied circumstances in Avhich 
 some of the family of man might be jjlaced, Jesus 
 placed himself in all tliose circumstances, and acted 
 in them. Is man surrounded by a sinful and suf- 
 fering world ? So was Jesus. Docs he desire to 
 know how to act in such circumstances? Jesus 
 ministered occasionally to the temporal wants of 
 men, and laboured continually to promote their
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 77 
 
 spiritual good. Is man popular ? So was Jesus ; 
 and he used his influence to pmify his Father's 
 house. Is man forsaken by his last friend ? So 
 was Jesus ; and he upbraided and murmured not, 
 but sought consolation in communion with the 
 Father. Does man visit and dine with the learned 
 and the religious formalists of the age ? So did 
 Jesus ; and in his conversation he maintained the 
 claims of spii-itiial religion, and reproved man's 
 hypocrisy and foiTnahty. Does man sit down in 
 the cottage of the poor? So did Jesus; and he 
 encouraged and comforted the inmates with 
 spiritual instruction. Is man present when a 
 group of friends are assembled on an occasion 
 which warrants innocent enjoyment ? So was 
 Jesus ; and he approved theii- social pleasiu-es. Is 
 man called to sympathise with those in affliction ? 
 So was Jesus ; and Jesus ivept! Thus by land and 
 by sea, in all places and under all circumstances, 
 wherever any of earth's children are caUed to act, 
 Jesus — the model Man — is seen living and moving 
 before them; and his voice falls upon their ear 
 with the mingled cadence of authority and en- 
 couragement — " Follow me !" 
 
 The demonstration then is manifest, that through 
 the medium of Jesus Christ, man has received a 
 perfect system of instruction ; and a final and 
 perfect revelation of duty to God and man could be 
 given in no other way.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CONCERNING SOME OF THE PECULIAR PROOFS OF THE 
 MES3IAHSHIP OF CHRIST. 
 
 We liavG now amved at a point in our subject 
 where the light of history will aid in our investi- 
 gations. The facts which history furnishes, and 
 which will elucidate the j)rescnt point of inquiry, 
 are the following : First, the Jewish prophets Uved 
 and wrote centuries before the period in which 
 Jesus appeared in Judasa. This fact is as certain 
 as any other item of human knowledge. 
 
 A second fact is — The Jews, about the time of 
 Christ's appearance, expected with more earnest- 
 ness and desire than usual, the appearance of their 
 ISIessiah, who, they supposed, would deliver them 
 from subjection to Gentile nations, and place the 
 Jewish jiower in the ascendant among the nations 
 of the earth. They generally supposed that as a 
 king he would reign with great dignity and power ; 
 and as a priest, preside over, not abrogate, the 
 ceremonial law. Altliough some of the common 
 ])Ooplo may have had some understanding of the 
 true nature of tlie Messiah's kingdom, y(!t the 
 ]))-ominent men of the nation, and the great body 
 of tlie i)cople of all classes, were not expecting that 
 the Kingdom of Christ would be piu'cly spiritual, 
 ])ut tliat it would be mainly temporal. And, 
 indeed, it was necessary that they should ]iot have 
 a cleai- conception of tlie worth and spirituality of
 
 PHlLOSOPIir OJs- THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 79 
 
 the Messiah's dispensation, previously to his 
 cominj^ ; because if they had had such a concep- f 
 tion, the imperfections and darkness of their own 
 dispensation would not liave been borne. It is 
 contrary to the nature of mind when it is en- 
 hghtened, to dehght in, and employ itself longer , 
 about, the preparatory steps that led it to the 
 light. 
 
 The facts in the case, then, TV^re, first, the 
 l^rophets lived and wrote centiu-ies before the era 
 of Clu-ist ; and, second, On account of intimations, 
 or supposed intimations, in their prophecies, the 
 Jews were expecting the Messialr about the time 
 that Jesus appealed in Juda?a. With the question 
 concerning tlie inspiration of the prophets we 
 have nothing to do. Whether tliey were inspired 
 or not, their books contained the matter upon 
 which the Jews founded their expectations of the 
 appearance of the Messiah. With the question 
 how the Jews could mistake the chai-acter of the 
 Messiah, we have nothing to do ; although the 
 •solution of the question would not be difficult. 
 The simple facts which requu-e attention are — The 
 prophecies existed ; and in those prophecies a 
 Ruler was spoken of, of most exalted character, 
 wliose dominion would be triumphant, universal, 
 and endless— whose doctrines would be pure and 
 spiritual ; and whose administration would be a 
 blessing, not only to the Jews, but also to tbe 
 Gentiles — and yet, his life would be humble, 
 and not suited to the feeling of the Jews — his 
 sufierings extreme; and that he would terminate 
 the old dispensation, and die for tlie sins of tlie 
 people.* 
 
 Now, in view of these facts, In uhat character 
 
 • Isaiah liii. Dan. ix. 24—27. Micah v. 1, 2. MaL iii. 1—3. 
 Zech. ix. 9, 10. Isa. ix. 1—7.
 
 80 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 vouM the true Messiah apj^ear, when he assumed 
 his duties as the Instructor of mankind ? 
 
 If lie had appeared and conformed to the views 
 which the Jews entertained of a t<?mporal Messiali, 
 it would have been direct evidence that he was an 
 impostor; because the Jewish views of liis character 
 and reign, as all can now see, were selfish, am- 
 bitious, imperfect, and partial. Now, a teacher 
 sent from God to give the world a pert'ect religion, 
 coidd not conform to such views ; but an imjiostor, 
 from the nature of the case, could have confonned 
 to no other standard than the views of the people. 
 If an impostor wished to pass himself uj)on the 
 Jews as their Messiah, he must assume that cha- 
 racter and confonn to that conduct which he knew 
 they expected in their Messiah. For an impostor 
 to assume a different character from that which he 
 knew the nation expected their Messiah would 
 bear, would have been to use means to frustrate 
 his own plans, which would be impossible ; because 
 man cannot have a governing desire for the attain- 
 ment of an end, and at the same time use means 
 which he knows will frustrate the accomplislunent 
 of his own object. An impostor, therefore, in the 
 state of expectancy which existed at that time in 
 Judaea, could not do otliei-wise than conform him- 
 self to the character which the nation were cxj^ect- 
 ing their Messiah would possess. 
 
 Mark the two points. Tlie prophets gave a 
 delineation of the chai-acter, life, and death of the 
 Messiah. This delineation the Jews misinter- 
 preted, or applied to several individuals ; so that 
 tliey were expecting in tlunr Messiah a character 
 entirely different from that described by the 
 prophets. 
 
 Now, mark tlie application of these points. If 
 Christ had conformed to the views of the Jews,
 
 THE FLAN OF SALVATION. 81 
 
 there would have been three direct testimonies tliat 
 he was not from God. (1.) Because their views 
 were partial, prejudiced, wicked. (2.) He could not 
 have conformed to their views, and sustain at the 
 same time the character of a perfect instiiictor.* 
 (3.) He would not have fulfilled the predictions of 
 the prophets concerning him. But, on the other 
 hand, if he conformed to the projjhets, and assumed 
 the character of a perfect teacher, liis rejection by 
 the Jews wa,s absolutely certain.f It follows, 
 therefore, legitimately and conclusi-^ly, that Jesus 
 Clu-ist was the Messiah of God, because he pursued 
 that comse which would, from the nature of the 
 cAse, result in his rejection by the nation ; which 
 conduct, in an impostor, would be impossible — but 
 in the true Messiah it was the necessary course. 
 
 But further : it waa necessary that Jesus should 
 establish his claim as the Messiah by miraculous 
 agency.;^ But owing to the peculiar state of the 
 Jewish 'nation at that time, there would be gi-eat 
 difiiculty in doing this, for the following reasons — 
 If he, as Moses did, had come publicly before the 
 jiation at Jerusalem, and by miracles of gi'eat 
 power, frequently repeated, and extending their 
 influence tlu-oughout all the land, had forced con- 
 viction upon the minds of all the Jews tliat he was 
 the tme Messiah, the immediate and ine^dtable 
 result would have been, that they would have 
 raised one uniyersal revolt against the Roman 
 power, and would have hm-ried the Saviour of 
 sinners into the office of the King of the Jews; 
 
 * See chap. x. 
 
 t The fact that Jesus conformed to the prophets, established 
 the truth of the prophecies ; because, by conforming to them, he 
 suffered death ; while by his death, in accordance -with the prophets, 
 the -world gained the evidence that he was the true Messiah. To 
 give life, as a testimony to falsehood, is impossible, eitiier in a good 
 or in an evil being. J See chap. iii. On Miracles.
 
 82 PHILOSOrHY OF 
 
 and then bowed down to liim as the temporal 
 Borereign of the Jewish nation. But, notwith- 
 standing this error of the Jews, a,nd the results to 
 which it woukl directly tend, still it would ho 
 necessary in order to meet the constitution of 
 things, that Christ should manifest, by exhibitions 
 of mu-aculous power, the credentials attesting the 
 ])ivinity of liis mission. The inquiry, then, arises, 
 JIow could Jesus perform miracles, and at the same 
 thne jjrevent revolt in the nation ? 
 
 The circumstances of the case would render it 
 necessary that his mhacles should not be attended 
 by that publicity and power which would lead 
 those who had the inliuence of the nation in their 
 hands, and who were blind to the true design of 
 his mission, into revolt and destruction. It was 
 likewise necessary, on tiie other hand, that they 
 should be sufficiently frequent, and of sufficient 
 j)ower, to convince the candid who witnessed them, 
 tliat they were the seal of heaven to the mission of 
 Jesus. When Christ wrought miracles, tlierefore, 
 he woidd have to aim at one end, and endeavour 
 to prevent another — the end aimed at, that the 
 impression miglit be made on honest minds, that 
 he was tlie true Messiah ; the end avoided, that the 
 rulers of the nation might not, on account of liis 
 mighty miracles, rally round him as their temporal 
 king, and thus hurry themselves and their nation 
 to premature destruction. 
 
 Now, the character and conduct of Jesus accord 
 entirely with tbe foregoing deductions, made out 
 from undoubted historical facts. 'J'hatlx' performed 
 , many miracles, and yet suppressed tlieir extensive 
 jjublicity, is frequently noticed in the New Testa- 
 ment : Jesus, therefore, bad the i)eculiar marks of 
 the true Messiah; and, in view of tlie peculiar con- 
 dition of the Jewish nation at that time, the ti'ue
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATIOX. S3 
 
 Messiah could have assumed no other character, 
 and pursued no other course of conduct than that 
 exhibited in the life of Chi-ist.* 
 
 * Another item might be added to this demonstration, showing 
 that in order to the ultimation of the plan of salvation, it was 
 necessary that Jesus should so manifest himself and manage his 
 ministry, that a part of tha Jews should receive him as the 
 Messiah, and a part reject him.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 COKCERNINQ THE CONDITION IN LIFE WHICH IT WAS 
 NECESSARY THE MESSIAH SHOULD ASSUME IN 
 ORDER TO BENEFIT THE HUMAN FAMILY IN THE 
 GREATEST DEGREE, BY HIS EXAMPLE AND IN- 
 STRUCTIONS. 
 
 Selfishness is a fundamental evil of human 
 nature, the existence of which is acknowledged by 
 all men. It is not an evil which belongs to any 
 one class of luiman society. It is generic ; and 
 moves all ranks ; only each individual looks upon 
 those who stand next or near him in society, and 
 desires equality with, or superiority over them in 
 wealth, or popularity, or power. The law of reason 
 and of God requires that men should endeavour to 
 elevate those below them up to their own condition 
 — selfishness is the opposite principle, wliich urges 
 men to elevate themselves over others. If the 
 militia captain could follow tlic desires of his nature, 
 and ascend from one condition to another until he 
 stood upon the iloor of tlie senate chamber, he would 
 find that the desire which led him to take the first 
 step, had only increased its power by gi-atification, 
 and was still goading him on to rise higher: and 
 he would stop nowhere, while life lasted, until he 
 perceived further eiforts useless or dangerous. This 
 seliish pride, and desire for self-aggrandizement, is 
 detrimental both to the individual and the social 
 interests of men. Wherever selfish ambition exists
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALTATION. 85 
 
 in any degree of strength, it generates misery to tlie 
 individual and to others about him. There are not, 
 perhaps, more miserable men in the world than are 
 some of those who have gained to some extent the 
 object of their ambition, and are seated in the halls 
 of legislation. Their minds are constantly anxious 
 in making some effort, or devising some plan, by 
 which they may promote the schemes in which 
 they are engaged. And every time the hopes of 
 one are realised, the stings of envy, and jealousy, 
 and concealed hate, rankle in the bosoms of some 
 others. In the humbler walks of life, the evil exists, 
 jjerhaps in a less degree, but still it exists; and its 
 existence is the bane of human happiness, and the 
 cause of human guilt. 
 
 Now, tliis wicked desire of human natm-e to 
 aspire after elevated worldly condition, rather than 
 after usefulness of life and goodness of heart, would 
 be either fostered or checked by the condition in 
 life which the Messiah assumed among men. In 
 2)roportion as his condition was elevated, pride and 
 the desire of elevation would be fostered in the 
 hearts of his followers. In proportion as his con- 
 dition was humble and depressed, pride of heart 
 would be checked in all those who received and 
 honoui-ed him as then Master and Teacher.* 
 
 Suppose that the Messiah had presented himself 
 in the condition anticipated by the Jews : sur- 
 rounded by the pomp and parade of a powerlul 
 temporal prince ; sustaining the eai-thly dignity and 
 splendour of the ancient monarclis of the dynasty 
 of David. Now, had such a Messiali appeared in 
 Judffia, it is perfectly c^^rtain from the character of 
 human nature, that his earthly circumstances would 
 have a tendency to cherish in tlie people, as a 
 
 * Sec chap. v. p. 36,
 
 86 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 nation, and as individuals, the bad principles of 
 pride and ambition. Worldly pomp and circum- 
 stance would have had the sanction of the highest 
 autiiority in tlie person of their JMessiah ; and it 
 would have induced the desire in all hearts to 
 elevate themselves as nearly as possible to his tem- 
 poral condition. The pride of the human heart would 
 have been fostered, and not humbled. Instead of 
 causing the middle walks of life to be grateful and 
 contented in their condition, it would have pro- 
 duced in them an anxiety to stretch themselves 
 upwards. And instead of causing those already 
 elevated to fellowship and benefit the worthy poor, 
 It would have caused them to have no sympathy 
 for any of the human family in low estate; because 
 theirs was a condition the opposite of that assumed 
 by the gi-eat model which they loved and admired. 
 And instead of causing the poor to feel a greater 
 degree of contentment, and to avoid repining at 
 their lot, the circumstances of tlie Messiah would 
 liave deepened their dejection, and rendered them 
 less happy in their depressed condition; because 
 their condition would hinder them from approach 
 to, or fellowship with, the Heaven-sent Instructor. 
 A teacher, therefore, believed to be from heaven, 
 who should assume an elevated condition in the 
 world, instead of being a spiritual blessing to the 
 whole family of man, by promoting in their bosoms 
 humility and sympathy for each other, would have 
 l)ccn a spiritual curso, by i)roducing haughtiness 
 and hardness of heait in the rich, ambition in the 
 middle classes, and hopeless dejection in the jioor. 
 
 Suppose the Messiah bad come in the (character 
 which the (jreeks admired — that, assuming the seat 
 of the philosophers, he had startled the learned 
 world by disclosing to tliem new and sublime ti'uths. 
 Suppose ho had, by the power of fai'-reaching intel-
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 87 
 
 led, answered all the questions and solved all tlie 
 difficulties wliich perplexed the minds of the dis- 
 ciples of the Porch and the Academy. In such a 
 case, his instructions would have been adapted to 
 satisfy the minds of a few gifted individuals, hut 
 they would not have been adapted to benefit the 
 minds of many, nor the heart of any of the gi-eat 
 mass of mankind. Vain of their wisdom ah-eady, 
 the chai-acter of the Messiah would have been 
 adapted to make tlie philosophers more so; and 
 instead of blessing them, by humbling their pride, 
 and giving them a sympathy with their fellow men, 
 it would have led tliem and then- admirers to look 
 upon those who were not endowed with superior 
 mental qualities, as an inferior class of men. 
 
 But, if the Messiali could not have appetu-ed in 
 the condition desired by the Jews, nor in that 
 admired by the Gentiles, the inquiry arises — What 
 condition in life would it be necessary that the Mes- 
 siah should assume, in order to benefit the liimian 
 family in the highest degree by the influence of that 
 condition? In view of the foregoing deductions, 
 the solution is obvious : — In that condition which 
 would have the most direct injinence to destroy 
 selfishness and ^>n'(/^ in the human heart, and to 
 foster, in their stead, humility, contentment, and 
 benevolence. 
 
 Now, in view of this result, deduced directly from 
 the acknowledged ehai-acter of human natm-e, turn 
 your attention to the eartl:dy circmnstances of Jesus, 
 and see how directly he brought the whole weight 
 of his condition in life to bear against selfishness 
 and pride of heart. — He was born in the lowest 
 possible cu-cumstances. His life was the constant 
 rebuke to every ambitious tind proud feeling of the 
 human heart ; and his death was one esteemed by 
 men the most ignominious. No one who openly
 
 88 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 acknowledgod and liiid fellowsliip with Jesus of 
 Nazai-eth, as his Teacher and Master, could do so 
 until tlie natural pride of his nature was subdued. 
 It was impossible for a man to find fellowship with 
 Jesus unless he humbled liimself, because in no 
 other state coidd his feelings meet tliose of Christ. 
 " Take my yoke upon you," said Jesus, *' and learn 
 of me ; for I am me-ek and lowly in heart : and ye 
 shall find rest unto your souls." 
 
 Thus did Jesus place himself in a condition 
 which rendered humility absolutely necessary in 
 order to sympatliy with him — in the condition 
 directly oj^posed to pride of heart, one of the most 
 insidious enemies of man's happiness and useful- 
 ness. And as it is an acknowledged and oxperi 
 mental fact, that the soul finds rest only in meekness, 
 and never in selfishness and pride of mind, there- 
 fore, the demonstration is perfect, tliat Clu-ist 
 assumed the only condition which it was possible 
 for him to assume, and thereby destroy pride and 
 mlsei-y, and produce humility and peace, in human 
 bosoms. 
 
 Profane history and the New Testament Scrip- 
 tures confirm the foregoing views. Tjicitus, speaJc- 
 ing of the primitive Christians, alludes to them 
 with marked contempt, as tlie followers of one who 
 had been cnicificd. His manner evinces clearly 
 not only his own feelings, but it is a good index to 
 the feelings of a majority of tlie people of that proud 
 and idolatrous age ; and it establishes, beyond all 
 controversy, the fact, that no one could declare him- 
 self a follower of Christ, until, for truth and for 
 Christ's sake, he was willing to be considered base 
 in the estimation of the world. The elegant Pliny 
 likewise bears direct testimony to the humility and 
 integrity of life wliich characterised the early dis- 
 ciples of Christ.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 89 
 
 A gi'eat number of passages in tlic New Testa- 
 ment confirm the preceding views. It is only- 
 necessary to say, tliat the Apostles understood not 
 only the effect of their Lord's circumstances, in life 
 and death, upon the minds of men, but they under- 
 stood likewise the philosophy, and the necessity of 
 the case. Says Paul — " It Ijecame (or was expe- 
 dient for) Him, for whom are all things, and by 
 whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto 
 glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect 
 through sufferings. I'or both he that sanctificth and 
 they who are sanctified are all of one : for wliich 
 cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." — 
 That is, the hmnble and self-denying life and death 
 of Jesus was necessary, because it would have a 
 sanctifying effect in counteracting the e^-ils in the 
 hearts of men. It was necessary for him to become 
 their brother man, and assume a certain character 
 and condition, in order that by their becoming one 
 with him, they might be sanctified and made happy 
 and useful. 
 
 Thus, while the Jews required a sign, and the 
 Greeks sought after wisdom, the apostles preached 
 Christ crucified; understanding the philosophy, the 
 efiiciency, and the necessity of tlieir doctrine. And 
 so long as the world lasts, every man who reads 
 the New Testament, whether saint or sinner, will 
 be penetrated with the conviction that a vain, 
 aspiring, selfish spiiit, is incompatible with the 
 religion of Jesus.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GONCEP.NING THE ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES WHICH 
 MC6T, ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF THINGS, 
 LIE AT THE FOUNDATION OF THE INSTRUCTION OF 
 CHRIST. 
 
 The IMossiah having come in the proper character; 
 disphayed the proper oredentials, and assumed the 
 necessary condition, the question arises, Wliat may 
 we Icai-n from the cliaracter of God and the nature 
 of man concerning the fundamental principles 
 wliicli Avould govern the teaching of Jesus ? 
 
 God is righteous and henevolent; it therefore 
 follows, that ho would connect happiness witli 
 righteousness and goodness in his creatures. Were 
 he to do otherwise, it would be causing the hap- 
 piness of men to arise from a character ditierent 
 from his own, which, a,s God is good, would he 
 impossible, because it would l)e wi(;ked. 
 
 Further, man is so constituted, that, as a matter 
 of fact, his true happiness depends upon righleous- 
 iiess of life and benevolence of heart. When liis 
 will accords with his knowledge of duty; or, when 
 he acts as he knows is right, towards God and his 
 fellow men, thei'c is jteace and even complacency 
 of conscience. Peace and complacency of conscience 
 is tlie happiness which, according to man's moral 
 constitution, aiises from right*>ousness, or right 
 acting, in life. And when man exercises benevo- 
 lent feeling — has love in his hoai-t to God and meH;
 
 PLAN OF SALVATION. 91 
 
 this exercise of benevolent affection produces hap- 
 piness. Now, there can he no such thing as hap- 
 piness of spirit except it arise from these sources. 
 And when these sources are full and flowing, and 
 thus unite together — when tliere is perfect love and 
 R perfect life, the soul is rendered happy. A single 
 unrighteous act of will or malevolent feeling of 
 licait will destroy this happiness — a single emotion 
 of hatred or ill-will, or a single evil act, known to 
 he such, towards any of God's creatures, will destroy 
 tlie peace of the soul. Even hatred to an enemy, 
 or the desu-e of revenge, or any emotion hut good- 
 will, injures the soul's happiness. 
 
 Thus, in constituting the human soid, God, in 
 accordance with his own character, has caused its 
 iiappiness to depend upon righteousness and good- 
 ness. 
 
 Now, then, a teacher sent from God must recog- 
 nise these fundamental principles, and give his 
 instruction in A'iew of them. The happiness of the 
 human soul, Avhich is its life — its first, and best, 
 and only good, could be produced in no other way 
 The whole force, therefore, of Divine instruction, 
 would be designed and adapted to accomplish this 
 necessary end. The legitimate development of 
 God's nature, exercised towards man, would pro- 
 duce such instructions and such an example ; and 
 tJie best good of tlie human soid rendered it neces- 
 bary that they should be given. 
 
 It is not said, that, as in the schools of philoso- 
 ))hy, the constant inquiry and search should be for 
 ilie ' greatest good.' TJie very efibrt to obtain hap- 
 piness in tliis way would destroy its existence. — 
 Happiness is not objective but sutijective; no direct 
 effort could gain it ; it is the result of the right 
 action of the moral powers. It would not be neces- 
 uarv, therefore, tliat those instxucted should even
 
 92 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION 
 
 understand the piinciples which governed their 
 instructor. It would be sufficient if the instruction 
 were designed and adapted to promote righteousness 
 and goodness : the happiness of tlie soul would 
 follow as a result, whether or not the recipient of 
 the instruction understood tlie principles which 
 governed his teacher. 
 
 Now, the whole power of Christ's instruction was 
 dh-ected to this point. It v/as distinguished in this 
 respect from all other instruction ever given to 
 mankind. I say imto you, Love your enemies. Do 
 good to them that dospitefully use you. Be anxious 
 about no worldly good. The weightier matters of 
 the law are righteousness and the love of God. 
 Love and obey God ; and love and do good to your 
 neighbour, this is the law and the prophets. Seek 
 first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness ; 
 and all other things will be added to you. That is, 
 seek first righteousness and the love of God, and the 
 necessaiy result will grow out of these exercises — 
 happiness, or life, will be added as a consecpience. 
 
 Thus was the whole force of the Saviour's teach- 
 ing and example designed and adapted to produce 
 righteousness and benevolence ; and as these aro 
 the only exercises from which man's true happiness 
 can arise, it follows that the principles involved in 
 the instruction of Christ, connecting happiness with 
 holiness, arc the only principles which can, in 
 accordance witli the character of God and the con- 
 stitution of man, i)rodu('0 the greatest good of tho 
 human soul. Jesus, tlierefore, was the Christ of 
 God; because the Christ of God could found his 
 instructions on no other principles: — the principles 
 which are fundamental in his teaching being those 
 which alone can produce tho happiness of tlio soul 
 in accordance with its own moral nature, and in 
 accordance witli the moral chai'acter of God.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCERNING FAITH, AS THE EXERCISE THROUGH 
 WHICH TRUTH REACHES AND AFFECTS THE SOUL. 
 
 When Christ, man's perfect and spiritual Instructor, 
 had come, and introduced tlie great doctrines of 
 the spiritual dispensation, the next necessary step 
 in the process was, that those truths should he 
 hrought to impress the soul, and influence the lite, 
 and so j)i'oduce their proper effects upon human 
 nature. The inquuy then presents itself. In what 
 uay could tlie truths of the gospel he brought into 
 efficient contact with tlie soul of man ? 
 
 There are but two ways in wliich trutli can be 
 brought into contact, with the mind. The one is 
 sometimes called knowledge, the other, faith or be- 
 lief of testimony. In the earlier and ruder ages, 
 men were necessarily moved more by knowledge, 
 derived from their own observation and experience, 
 through the medium of tlieir senses ; but as man- 
 kind increased in number, im2)ortant truth was con- 
 veyed by one man or one generation communicat- 
 ing their experience, and another man or another 
 generation receiving it by belief in their testimony. 
 Perception and faith are the only modes by which 
 truth can be brought into contact ^^'ith the soid; 
 and then- effects are nearly the same upon man's 
 conduct and feelings, with the following remarkable 
 exception: — Facts which are the subjects of per- 
 sonal observation, every time they are experienced.
 
 94 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 tlie effect upon tlie soul grows less ; while, on the 
 contraiy, those facts which ai-e received by faith, 
 produce, every time they are realised, a greater 
 effect upon tlio soul. By constant sight, the effect 
 of objects seen grows less ; by constant faith, the 
 effect of objects believed in grows greater. The 
 l)robablc reason of this is, that personal observation 
 does not admit of tlio influence of the imagination 
 in impressing the fact ; while iniseen objects, real- 
 ised by faith, have the auxiliary aid of the imagi- 
 nation, not to exaggerate them, but to clothe them 
 with living colours, and impress tliem upon the 
 heart. Whether this be the reason or not, the fact 
 is true, that the more frequently we see the less we 
 feel t]ie power of an object ; while the more fre- 
 quently we dwell upon an object by faith, the more 
 we feel its power. This being true, it follows that 
 faitli would be the method best adapted to bring the 
 sublime truths of the new dispensation to bear upon 
 the soids of men. And farther, as the dispensation 
 is spiritual, and has relation to unseen and eternal 
 things, faith becomes the only medium through 
 whicli they can be conveyed to the soul. 
 
 Furthermore, man is so constituted that his faith, 
 or belief, has an influence not only over liis con- 
 duct in life, but, likewise, over the character and 
 action of the moral powers of the soul. 
 
 Faith governs the couseience. , 
 
 We have said, in another place, that a true con- 
 science depends upon a true faith. No proposition 
 in morals is more plain. It is not our design to 
 inquire what leads, or has led, men to a wrong faith. 
 Whatever may be the cause of any particular belief, 
 it is incontrovertible that, if a man believes a thing 
 to be riglit, conscience cannot condemn an act per- 
 formed in view of that belief Conscience is so 
 modified and guided by a man's fuiUi, tliat it will 
 
 m
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION, 95 
 
 sanction and command an act in one man which it 
 ■will forbid and condemn in another. A Roman 
 Catholic believes that he ought to pray to the virgin 
 Mary to intercede for him with God ; and if a good 
 Eoman Catholic were to neglect his worship to the 
 saints, his conscience would smite him, until, in some 
 instances, he confessed his sin with tears. Now, 
 if a good Protestant were to pray to saints, or to 
 any other being but God, his conscience would smite 
 him for doing that which the conscience of the 
 lloman Catholic smote him for not doing. So the 
 heathen mother will conscientiously throw her in- 
 fant into the Ganges, or under the wheels of Jugger- 
 naut, while the conscience of a Christian mother 
 would convict her of nun-der were she to do the same 
 act. Conscience seldom convicts those that Chris- 
 tians call impenitent persons for neglecting to pray, 
 while the moment a man becomes a true believer, 
 he wiir be convicted of guilt if he neglects the duty. 
 So certainly and so clearly is it true, that a man's 
 conscience is governed by his faith. 
 
 Eaith governs the ajf'ections. 
 
 As man is constituted, no power in the universe 
 can move his affections to an object, until he be- 
 lieves that the object possesses some loveliness or 
 excellency of character. The heart is affected just 
 as much by tlie goodness of another if we believe 
 that goodness to exist, as it would be if we knew 
 that it existed. No matter, in the case of the affec- 
 tions, whether the object in reality possesses the 
 good qualities or not, if they are fully beheved to 
 exist, the affections will act just as certainly as 
 though they really did exist. The affections are 
 constituted to be governed by faith. And they act 
 most powerfully, as was demonstrated in a previous 
 chapter, in view of good quahties existing in an- 
 other, who, under certain circumstances, exercises
 
 96 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 those qualities towards us. The fact, then, is ap- 
 pai'ent, that the conduct of man's Hfe is influenced 
 by what he beheves; and especially that the cha 
 racter and action of the moral powers of his nature 
 are governed by the j)rinciple of faith. 
 
 Another most important fact in connexion witli 
 this subject is, that a man's interests, temporal and 
 spiritual, depend upon what he believes. The 
 nature of man and the nature of things ai-e so con- 
 stituted, tliat the belief of falsehood always destroys 
 man's interests, temporal or spiritual, and the belief 
 of truth invariably guides man right, and secures 
 his best and highest good. 
 
 Perhaps the most absurd and injurious adage 
 that has ever gained currency among mankind, is, 
 that " it is no difierence what a man believes, if 
 he only be sincei-e." Now, the truth is, that the 
 more sincerely a man believes falsehood, the more 
 destructive it is to all liis interests, for time and 
 eternity. This statement can be confirmed in every 
 mind beyond the reach of doubt. 
 
 First, The injluence of believing falsehood on 
 temporal and social interests. 
 
 We will state some cases of common and con- 
 stant occurrence, in order that the principle may 
 be made obvious. 
 
 A gentleman of property and the highest respect 
 ability, in the course of his business transactions, 
 became acquainted with an individual, who, as tlie 
 event showed, was a man destitute, in a great de- 
 gree, of a conscientious regard for truth. The per- 
 suasions and false rei)resentations of tJiis man led 
 the gentleman referred to, to embark almost his 
 entire fortune with him in speculations in which he 
 was at that time engaged. While this matter was 
 in progi-ess, the fiicnds of the gentleman called 
 upon him, and stated their doubts of the indivi-
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 9t 
 
 dual's integiity who solicited his confidence, and 
 likewise of the success of the entei-prises in which 
 he was solicited to engage. The advice of his friends 
 was rejected — he placed confidence in the false 
 statements of the individual referred to — he acted 
 ui)on those statements, and was, consequently, in- 
 volved in pecimiary distress. In this case, the 
 gentleman not only sincerely helieved the falsehood 
 to be the truth, but he had good motives in relation 
 to the object which he desired to accomplish. 
 He was a benevolent man. He had expended con- 
 siderable sums for charitable and religious uses, 
 and his desire was, by the increase of his property, 
 to be enabled to accomplish greater good. In this 
 case he was injui'ed likewise by believing what 
 others did not believe. The individual who seduced 
 him into the speculation, had endeavoured to lead 
 others to take the same views and to act in the 
 same way ; they did not believe the falsehood, and 
 were, consequently, saved ; he believed, and was, 
 consequently, ruined. 
 
 When the English army under Harold, and the 
 Norman, under William the Conqueror, were set in 
 aiTay for that fearful confiict which decided the fate 
 of the two armies, and tlie i>olitical destinies of 
 Great Britain, William, perceiving that he could 
 not, by a fair attack, move the solid columns of the 
 English ranks, had recom-se to a false movement, 
 in order to gain the victory. He gave orders that 
 one flank of his army should feign to be flying from 
 the field in disorder. The officers of the English 
 army believed the falsehood, pursued them, and 
 were cut o&. A second time, a false movement was 
 made in another part of the field. The English 
 again bt^lieved, pinsued, and were cut off. By these 
 movements the fortunes of the day were determined. 
 Altiiough the English had the evidence of theii* 
 
 £
 
 98 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 senses, yet they were led to believe a falsehood — 
 they acted in view of it ; the consequence was, tlie 
 destruction of a great j)art of then- army, and the 
 estabhshment of the Norman power in England. 
 
 How often does it occiu- that the young female, 
 possessing warm affections and being inexperienced 
 in the wiles of villains, is led to believe falsehood 
 which destroys her prospects and her hajjpiness 
 while life lasts ! Under other chciunstances, she 
 might have been vhtuous, useful, happy. By false 
 indications of affection her heart is won — by false 
 promises of faitlifulness and future good, her assent 
 to marry is gained — and then, when too late, she 
 discovers that her husband is a villain, and she is 
 forsaken, with a broken heart, to the cold sympa- 
 thies of a selfish world. No matter how many 
 hearts, besides her own, are broken by her error ! 
 No matter how sincere, or how guileless, or how 
 young ; she sincerely believed the falsehood, and is 
 thereby ruined ! Notliing in heaven or on earth 
 will avert the consequences. If she had doubted, 
 she would have been saved. She believed, and is 
 consigned to soitow till she sinks into her grave. 
 
 Secondly, The belief of falsehood in relation to 
 sjpiritual things, destroys mans sjnritual interests. 
 
 It is an incontrovertible fact, that the whole 
 heathen world, ancient and modern, have beheved 
 in and worshipped unholy beings as gods. Now, 
 from the necessities of the case, as demonstrated in 
 the introductory chapter, the worshipper becomes 
 assimilated to the character of the object worshipped. 
 In consequence of believing falsehood concerning 
 the character of God, all heathendom, at the present 
 hour, is filled with ignorance, impurity, and crime. 
 As a mass of corruption si)rcads contagion and dcatli 
 among all those who approach it, so certainly does 
 the worship of unholy beings attaint the -soul, and
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 99 
 
 sprecod moral coiTuption through the world. " Can 
 a man take coals into his bosom and not be 
 binned ?" — neither can the soul hold communion 
 with beings believed to be unholy and not itself 
 become corrupt. The fact is so plain that it is not 
 necessary to detail again the impurities, the vices, 
 the tortm-es, the self-minders, and tlie unnatural 
 affections of the heathen world, in order to show 
 the deadly evils, both to the body and soul, which 
 arise fi-om the belief of falsehood in relation to 
 spiritual things. It must be obvious to every one, 
 that if the heathen believed in one holy and bene- 
 volent God, their abominable and cruel rites would 
 cease. It foUows, therefore, that it is the belief of 
 falsehood that causes their ignorance and corrup- 
 tion. 
 
 Thus, it is invariably and eternally true, that the 
 belief of truth will lead a man right, and secme his 
 temporal, spiritual, and eternal interests — and on 
 the conti*ar\', the belief of falsehood wiU lead a 
 man wrong, and desti'oy his interests in relation to 
 whatever the falsehood pertains, whether it be tem- 
 poral or eternal. 
 
 The preceding premises being estabhshed, the 
 following conclusions result. 
 
 1. The entire man, in his body and soul, liis ac- 
 tions and moral feehngs, is governed by what he 
 believes ; and that, in relation to things that should 
 have a constantly increasing influence over the 
 spirit, faith is a more powerfid actuating cause than 
 sight, because the one gains, while the other loses 
 power over the soul by repetition. 
 
 2. That the belief of falsehood, concerning any 
 human interest, is fatally injmious ; while the belief 
 of tiiith is eternally beneficial. And, that the more 
 sincerely any one beUevcs error, the more certainly 
 he destroys his interests, whether temporal or 
 
 e2
 
 100 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 spiritual; while, on tlie contrary, the more sincerely 
 a man believes truth, the more certainly and jiower- 
 fiilly are his interests advanced. The living God 
 has connected evil with the belief of falsehood, and 
 good with the belief of truth ; it is a jmrt of the con 
 stitutional law of the moral universe ; and there is 
 no power in existence, that will stop the conse- 
 quence from following the antecedent. 
 
 Mark it — That doctrine which rectifies the con- 
 science, pimfies the heart, and jiroduces love to God 
 and men, is necessarily true, because, as it has been 
 demonstrated that righteousness and benevolence 
 are the greatest good of tJie soul ; and likewise that 
 the greatest good must depend on the belief of ti'uth ; 
 therefore, the conclusion is inevitable, tliat that 
 doctrine which, being believed, destroys siii in the 
 heart and life of man, and produces righteousness 
 and benevolence, is the trutli of God. No matter 
 whether men can comprehend all its depths and 
 relations or not, if it destroys sin wherever it takes 
 effect by faith, and makes happiness grow out of 
 right living and right loving, from the constitution 
 of things — from the character of God — from the 
 nature of man — that doctrine is the xauTii of God. 
 And that doctrine Avhich liinders this result, or 
 produces a contraiy r&sult, is the falsehood of the 
 devil.* 
 
 4. Therefore Christ laid at the foundation of tlie 
 Christian system, this vital and necessai-y principle, 
 " He that belie veth and is baptized shall be saved, 
 and he that believeth not shall bo damned," — saved 
 in accordance with the moral constitution of tho 
 universe, and damned from the absolute necessities 
 existing in the nature of things. 
 
 * John viii. 44.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONCERNING THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD WHICH 
 WOULD BK NECESSARY, UNDER THE NEW AND 
 SPIRITUAL DISPENSATION, TO PRODUCE IN THE 
 SOUL OF MAN AFFECTIONATE OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Man's mental and moral constitution was tlie same 
 inider the New as under the Old Testament dis- 
 pensation. The same metiiods, therefore, which 
 were adajited to move man's nature under the one, 
 would be adapted to do so under the other. The 
 difference between the two dispensations was, the 
 first was a preparatory dispensation, its manifesta- 
 tions, for the most part, being seen and temporal ; 
 tlie second, a perfect system of truth, spiritual in its 
 character, and in the method of its communication. 
 But, whether the truths were temporal or spiiitual, 
 and whether they were brought to view by faitli or 
 sight, in order to produce a given efiect upon the 
 soul, or any of its powers, the same methods under 
 all dispensations would be necessary, varied only to 
 suit the advancement of the mind in knowledge, 
 the differences existing in the habits and circum- 
 stances of men, and the cliai"acter of the dispensa- 
 tion to be introduced. For instance : under one 
 dispensation — it being in a great measure temporal, 
 preparatory, and imperfect — love might be pro- 
 duced by making men feci temporal want, and by 
 God granting tempond benefits : while under a 
 spu'itual and universal system, men must likewise 
 feel the want, and receive the benefit, in order to
 
 103 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 love; but the want felt and the benefit conferred 
 must be of a spiritual character. 
 
 Under all dispensations, an essential requisite, 
 after the way for its introduction was prepared, 
 would be such manifestations of God to men as 
 would produce love in the human heart for the 
 object of worship and obedience. " Love the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart," is the first gi*eat law of 
 the universe ; and God cannot be honoured, nor 
 man made happy, unless his obedience be actuated 
 by love to the object of obedience.* Now, the ma- 
 nifestations of mercy, under the old disjiensation, 
 were mainly temporal in their character, and hmited 
 in their a2)plication to the Jews. But God's special 
 goodness to them could not produce love in the 
 hearts of the Gentiles. The manifestations in 
 Egypt were, therefore, neither adapted in their 
 character, nor in the extent of their design, to the 
 siiiritual and universal religion of Jesus Christ. But 
 one part of the Mosaic economy was universal and 
 immutable in its character. The moral law is the 
 same for ever in its application to all intelligent 
 beings in the universe. It is plain to reason that, 
 whatever means may be adopted to bring men to 
 rectitude of conduct, or to jjardon them for oftenccs, 
 the rule of right itself, founded upon the justice and 
 lioliness, and sustained by the conscience, of the 
 Eternal, must be immutable and eternal as its 
 Author ; and the means, manifestations, and in- 
 fluences, under the dificrent dispensations, are ex- 
 pedients of morcy, designed and adapted to bring 
 men to act in confonnity with its requirements. 
 
 How, then, under the new dispensation, and in 
 conformity with its spiritual and universal character, 
 could love for God bo produced in the liuman heart ? 
 
 • See chap, iv, on Atfwctionato Obedience.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 103 
 
 We will here, again, as the subject in hand is most 
 important, notice some of the conditions upon which 
 affection for an object maybe produced in the heart. 
 
 The wiU is influenced by motives and by affec- 
 tion; and all acts of will produced entirely by pm-e 
 affection, are disinterested acts. There is, probably, 
 no one living, v/hohas attainedtomaturity of years, 
 but has, at some period of life, felt affection for 
 another, so that it was more gratifying to please the 
 object of his affection than to please himself. Love 
 for another always influences the will to do those 
 things which please the object loved ; and the acts 
 which proceed from affection are disinterested, not 
 being done with any selfish end in view, but to con 
 form to the v.-iU and meet the desires of another 
 The moment the affections are fixed upon an object, 
 the wiU is drawn into union witli the will of the 
 object loved; and if that object be regarded as 
 suj^erior, in proportion as he rises above us in the 
 scale of being, to obey his will and seciu-e his re- 
 gard becomes a spontaneous volition of the soul ; 
 and the pleasm-e that arises from affectionate com- 
 pUance with the will of a worthy and loved object, 
 does not arise because it is sought for, but from the 
 constitution the Maker has given to the human 
 soul; it is the result of its activity, produced in 
 accordance v/ith the law of love. 
 
 All happy obedience must arise from affection, 
 exercised towards tlie object obeyed. Obedience 
 wliich arises from affection blesses the spii-it which 
 yields it, if the conscience approve of the object 
 obeyed. Wliile, on the contrary, no being can be 
 happy in obeying one whom he does not love. To 
 obey a parent, or to obey God, from interested 
 motives, would be sin. The devil might be obeyed 
 for the same reasons. All enlightened minds agi-ee 
 to what the Bible confirms, and what reason can 
 clearly i^erceive, without argument, that love for
 
 104 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 God is essential to every act of religious duty. To 
 tender obedience or homage to God, while we had 
 no love for him in our hearts, would be dishonour- 
 able to the Maker, and doing violence to oiu- own 
 nature. 
 
 When an object presents itself to the attention, 
 whose chal^acter engages the heart, then the affec- 
 tions flow out, and the soul acts sweetly in this new 
 relation. There is a bond of sympathy between 
 the hearts of the two beings, and those things which 
 affect the one affect the other, in proi^ortion to the 
 strength of the cheiished affection. One meets the 
 desires and conforms to the will of the other, not 
 from a sense of obligation merely, but from choice. 
 And in thus giving and receiving affection, the soul 
 experiences its highest enjoyment, its greatest good ; 
 and when the understanding perceives, in the object 
 loved, perfections of the highest character, and 
 affection of the purest kind for those that love him, 
 the conscience sanctions the action of tbe heart and 
 the obedience of the will, and all the moral powers 
 of the soul unite in happy and harmonious action. 
 We return, now, to the jDroblem — Under the 
 spiritual dispensation of Cluist, how could the affec- 
 tions of the soul be awakened by faith, and fixed 
 iil^on God, their proper object? 
 
 The principle has been stated, wliicli every one 
 will recognise as true in his own experience, that 
 the moi"e we feel the want of a bcnefactoi", temporal 
 or spiritual, and the more we feel our inability to 
 rescue ourselves from existing difficulties and im- 
 ])ending dangoi's, the more grateful love will the 
 heart feel for the being who, moved by kindness, 
 and in dospite of personal sacriliccs, interposes to 
 assist and save us. 
 
 Under the Old Testament dispensation the affec- 
 tions of tbe Israelites were educed and fixed uj)Oix
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 105 
 
 God in .accordance with tiiis Irav of the sonl. They 
 were i:)laccd in circmnstances of abject need ; and, 
 from this condition of snffering and sorrow, God 
 delivered them, and thus drew their hearts to him- 
 self. Now tlio Jews, as has been noticed, supposed 
 tjiat the ^fessiah would appear, and a^ain confer 
 upon them similar favoiu-s, by delivering them from 
 tlieir state of dependence and subjection as a nation. 
 But a temporal deliverance of this kind, as has 
 been shown, w^as not consistent with the design of 
 Christ's periect and s})iritual dispensation, which 
 was designed to save men from sin and spiritual 
 bondage, and restore them to spiritual happiness 
 by restoring them to affectionate obedience to the 
 only living and tnie God. 
 
 The inqniiy, then, presents itself, as a feeling of 
 want was necessary, in order that the soid might 
 love the being that supplied that want — and as 
 Jesus came to bestow spiritual mercies upon man- 
 kind — How could men he hrowjht to feel the want of 
 a spiritual Benefactor and Saviour? 
 
 AUovv' the thought to be repeated again — Accord- 
 ing to the constitution which God has given the 
 soul, it must leel the want of spiritiial mercies be 
 fore it can feel love for the Giver of those mercies; 
 and just in proportion as the soul feels its lost, 
 guilty, and dangerous condition, in the same pro- 
 portion will it exercise love to the Being who 
 gi-ants spiritual favour and salvation. How, then, 
 could the spiritual want be produced in the souls 
 of men, in order that they might love the spiritual 
 Benefactor? 
 
 Not by temporal bondage and temporal suffering, 
 because these would lead n\pn to desire a temporal 
 deliverance. The only possible way by which man 
 could be made to hope for and appreciate spiritual 
 mercies, and to love a spiiitual deliverer, would be 
 £ 3
 
 106 PHlLOSp:PHY OF 
 
 to produce a conviction in tlie soul itself of its evil 
 condition, its danger as a spiritual being, and its 
 inability, unaided, to satisfy the requirements of a 
 spiritual law, or to escape its just and spiritual 
 penalty. If man could be made to perceive that ho 
 was guilty and needy ; that his soul was under the 
 condemnation of the holy law of a holy God, he 
 would then, necessarily, feel the need of a deliver- 
 ance from sin and its consequences ; and in this 
 way only could the soul of man be led to appreciate 
 spiritual mercies, or love a spiritual benefactor. 
 
 Mark another fact, in connexion with the fore- 
 going, which is to be especially noticed, and which 
 will be developed fully in subsequent pages — The 
 greater the kindness and self-denial of a benefactor 
 manifested in our behalf, the warmer and the 
 stronger mil be the affection which his goodness 
 will produce in the human heart. 
 
 Here, then, are two facts growing out of the con- 
 stitution of human nature — First, the soul must 
 feel its evil and lost estate, as the pre-requisite con- 
 dition, upon which alone it can love a deliverer — 
 Secondly, the degree of kindness and self-denial in 
 a benefactor, temporal or spiritual, graduates the 
 degree of affection and gratitude that will be 
 awakened for him. 
 
 Now, in view of these necessary conditions, mark 
 the means which God has used, and the manifesta- 
 tions which ho has made of himself, in order to 
 secure the supreme love of the human soul. 
 
 In the first place, The soul is brought to see and 
 feel its evil and lost condition, and its need of de- 
 liverance. 
 
 At the advent of Jesus, the Roman world was in 
 precisely the condition which was necessary to 
 prepare it for his doctrines. The Jews had the 
 moral law written in their scriptures, and recog-
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 107 
 
 nisecl it as the will of Jehovah; and the Gentiles 
 had its requirements, concerning their duty to 
 each other, and tlieir duty to vrorship, written upon 
 their hearts. Both the doctors among the Jews, 
 and the schools of philosophy among the Gentiles, 
 especially those of Uie Stoics, taught the obligatory 
 nature of many of tlie important moral duties 
 wliich man owes to man. No period in the history 
 of the heathen mind ever existed before or since, 
 when man's relations to man were so clearly per- 
 ceived. ^= The Jews, however, had these advan- 
 tages, that while the few intelligent Gentiles 
 received the instsTuction of the philosophers in 
 relation to morals aa truth, it was truth without 
 any higher sanction than that of having been 
 spoken i)y wise men, and therefore it contained in 
 itself no autiiority or weight of obligation to bind 
 the conscience ; while tliey had the Moral Law as 
 a rule of duty, sanctioned by the authority and 
 infinite justice" of Jehovah. Thus the moral virtues 
 assumed the sanction of religious duties ; and they 
 had not only the moral precepts thus sanctioned, 
 but, having been taught the true character of God, 
 their religious duties were likewise united in the 
 same sacred decalogue. 
 
 There was, however, in the application of the 
 law one most important and vital mistake, in 
 relation to what constituted human guilt. The 
 moral law was generally applied as the civil law, 
 not to the acts of the spirit, but to the acts of the 
 body. It was applied to the external conduct of 
 men, not to the internal life. If there was con- 
 formity to the letter of the law in external manners, 
 there was a fulfilment, in the eyes of the Jew and 
 
 • For the vie-ws of the different schools of Grecian ar.d Roman 
 philosophy at this period, .ind the amount of their indebtedness to 
 the Jewish Scriptures, see Enfield's Hist. Phil.
 
 108 1>HIL0S0PHY OF 
 
 the Gentile, of tlie highest claims that God or man 
 held upon the spirit. No matter how dark or 
 damning were the exercises of tlie soul ; if it only- 
 kept its sin in its own hahitation, and did not 
 develop it in action, the penalty of the law was 
 not laid to its charge. The character of the spirit 
 itself might he criminal, and all its exercises of 
 thought and feeling sensual and selfish, yet if it 
 added hypocrisy to its guilt, and maintained an 
 outward conformity to the law — a conformity itself 
 produced hy selfishness, man judged himself, and 
 others adjudged him, guiltless. Man could not, 
 therefore, understand his own guilt, as a spiritual 
 being, nor feel its condemned and lost condition, 
 until the requirements of the holy law were applied 
 to the exercises of his soul. 
 
 Now, Jesus applied the Divine law directly to 
 the soul, and laid its obligation upon the move- 
 ments of the will and the desires. He taught that 
 all wrong thoughts and feelings were acts of trans- 
 gression against God, and as such would be visited 
 with the penalty* of the Divine law. Thus he 
 made the law spiritual, and its penalty spiritual, 
 and appealing to the authority of the supreme 
 God, lie laid its claims upon the naked soul — he 
 entered the secret recesses of the spirit's tabernacle 
 — he Hashed the light of the Divine law upon the 
 awful secrets known only to tlic soul itself; aiul 
 with the voice of a God, he spoke to the " I" of the 
 mind — Thou shalt not will, nor desire, nor feel 
 wickedly ! 
 
 When he had thus shown that all the wrong 
 exercises of tlie soul were sin against God, and 
 that the soid was in a guilty condition, under the 
 coudemuation of the Divine law, lie then directs 
 tlie attention to the spiritual consequences of this 
 guilt. These he declared to be exclusion from the
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 109 
 
 kingdom and presence of God, and penalty wliicli 
 involved either endless spiritual suffering, or 
 destruction of the soul itself. The punishment 
 which he declared to be impending over the un- 
 believing and imi:)enitent spirit, he porti'ayed by 
 using all those figures which would lead men to ap- 
 prehend the most fearful and unmitigated spiritual 
 misery. 
 
 Before the impenitent and unpardoned sinner 
 there was the destruction of the soul and body in 
 hell — consignment to a state of darkness, where the 
 worm dieth not, and the fii-e is not quenched- 
 cursed and banished from God into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and liis angels — 
 agonising in flame, and refused a drop of water to 
 mitigate the agony. Now, these figures, to the 
 minds both of Jews and Gentiles, must have con- 
 veyed a most appalhng impression of the misery 
 that was impending over the soul, unless it was 
 relieved from sin, and the consequent curse of tlie 
 law — Jesus knew that the Jews, especiedly, would 
 understand these figures as implying fearful future 
 punishment: he therefore designed to do, what was 
 undoubtedly accomplished, in tlie mind of every 
 one that beheved his instruct' on, which was, to 
 produce a conviction of sin in the soul, by apply- 
 ing to it the requirements of the spiritual law of 
 God, and by showing that the penalty consequent 
 upon sin was fearful and everlasting destruction. 
 ^Ye say, then, what every one who has followed 
 these thoughts must perceive to be true, that the 
 instruction of Jesus would necessarily produce, in 
 the mind of every one that believed, a conviction 
 that he was a guilty and condemned creature, and 
 that an a\siid doom awaited his soid, imless he 
 received pardon and spiritual deliverance. 
 
 Thus, then, by the instruction of Jesus Christ,
 
 110 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sLowing the siDirituality and holiness of the Divine 
 law, and applying it, with its infinite sanctions, to 
 the exercises of the soul, that condition of mind 
 was 2)roduced which alone could prepare man to 
 love a spiritual deliverer : and there is no other 
 way in which the soul could have been j)repared 
 in accordance with truth and the constitution of 
 its own natui-e, to appreciate the spiritual mercies 
 of God, and love him as a spiritual Sa',dour. 
 
 The law and tlie truth being exhibited by 
 Christ in the manner adapted to produce the con- 
 dition of sold jjre-requisite to the exercise of affec- 
 tion for spiritual deliverance — now, as God was 
 the author of the law, and as he is the only proper 
 object both of supreme love and obedience; and, 
 as man could not be happy in obeying the law 
 without loving its author; it follows, that the thing 
 now necessary, in order tluit man's affections 
 might be fixed ujjon the proper object of love and 
 obedience, was, that the supreme God should, by 
 self-denying kindness, manifest spiritual mercy to 
 those who felt tlieir spiritual wants, and thus draw 
 to himself the love and worship of mankind. If 
 any other being should supply tlie need, that being 
 would receive the love ; it was therefore necessary 
 that God himself should do it, in order tliat the 
 affection of believers might centi'O upon the proper 
 object. 
 
 But, notice, tliat in order to tlie accomplishment 
 of this end, without violating the moral constitu- 
 tion of the universe, it would be essentially neces- 
 sary that the holiness of God's law should be 
 maintained. This woukl be necessary, because the 
 law is, in itself, the will of tlio Godhead, and God 
 himself must bo unlioly before his will can be so. 
 And whatever God may overlook in tlioso who 
 know not their duty, yet, when ho reveals his per-
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. Ill 
 
 feet law, tliat law cannot, from the nature of its 
 Author, allow the commission of a single sin. But, 
 besides, if its holiness were not maintained, man 
 is so constituted that he could never become holy. 
 Every ciiange to a better course in man's life must 
 be preceded by a conviction of error — man cannot 
 repent and turn from sin till he is convicted of sin 
 in himself. Now, if the holiness of the law, as a 
 standard of duty, was maintained, man might 
 thus be enlightened and convicted of sin, until he 
 had seen and felt tlie last iin in his soul ; and if 
 the law allowed one sin, there would be no way of 
 convicting man of tliat sin, or of converting him 
 from it ; he would, therefore, remain, in some 
 degree, a sinner for ever. But, tinally and con- 
 clusively, if the hohness of tlie law was not main- 
 tained, that sense of guilt and danger coidd not be 
 {)roduced which is necessaiy in order that man may 
 ove a spiritual Saviom-. Jesus produced that 
 condition by applying to the soul the authority, 
 the claims, and the sanctions of the holy law. It 
 is impossible, therefore, in the nature of things, for 
 a sinful being to appreciate God's mercy, unless he 
 first feel his justice as manifested in the holy law. 
 Love in the soul is produced by the joint influence 
 of the justice and mercy of God. The integrity 
 of .the eternal law, therefore, must be for ever 
 maintained.* 
 
 * The preceding views are confirmed, both by the character of 
 the moral law, and by its design and exposition, as given by tlie 
 apostles of Christ. The moral law, or the rule and obligation of 
 moral rectitude in the sight of God, which is revealed in the 
 Scriptures, and interpreted by Christ, as obligatory upon the 
 thoughts and feelings of the soul, is not only in its nature, of 
 perpetual and universal obligation, and adapted to produce con- 
 viction of sin iu every soul that is sensible of transgressing its 
 requirements ; but the Scriptures expressly declare, that it was 
 designed to produce conviction of sin in the soul, iu order to pre- 
 pare it to receire tlie goapel.
 
 112 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 How, then, could God manifest that mercj to 
 sinners, by wliich love to himself and to liis law 
 would be produced, while his infinite holiness and 
 justice would be maintained? 
 
 The moral law is set forth in the Scriptures as holy, just, and 
 good, in its character: and whatever may be its effects upon the 
 soul itself, tliat its character is such no intelligent being in the 
 universe can doubt, because it requires of every one perfect 
 lioliness, justice, and goodness : it requires that the soul should be 
 perfectly free from sin in the sight of God ; and, as we have seen, 
 God ought not to allow one sin ; if he did, the law would not be 
 lioly, nor adapted to make men holy. But the more holy the law, 
 the more conviction it would produce in the mind of sinners. If 
 the law extended only to external conduct, men would not feel 
 guilty for their wrong thoughts, desires, or designs; and if it ex- 
 tended only to certain classes of spiritual exercises, men would not 
 feel guilty for those which it did not condemn ; but, if it required 
 that the soul itself— the spiritual agent— the "I" cf the mind — 
 ihould bo holy, and all its thoughts and feelings in accordance 
 with the law of love and righteousness, then the soul would be 
 convicted of guilt for a single wrong exercise, because while it felt 
 that the law was holy, just, and good, it could not but feel con- 
 demned in breaking it. When Christ came, tlierefore, every soul 
 that was tauglit its spirituality, would bo convicted of sin. One of 
 two things men had to do, either shut out its light from their soul, 
 luul refuse to beliere its spiritual and perfect requirements, or 
 judge and condenjn themselves by those requirements. And while 
 the law thus siiowed sin to exist in the soul, and condemned the 
 soul as guilty, and liable to its penalty, it imparted no strength to 
 the sinner to enable him to fuKil its requirements: it merely .sets 
 forth the true standard,^ which is holy in itaelf, and which God 
 must maintain ; and, by its light, it shows sinners their guilt, 
 condemns them, and leaves them under its curse. 
 
 Now, tlie Scriptures declare that this is the end which, by its 
 nature, it is adapted to accomplish, and that it was revealed to 
 men wiUi the design to accomplish this end, and thus lead men to 
 Sl-c and feel the necessity of justification and pardon by Jesus 
 Christ. The Scripture saitli, " It is easier for heaven and earth 
 to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." "The law workcth 
 wrath : for where there is no law, there is no transgression." " More- 
 over, the law entered that the offence might abound. 15ut where sin 
 abounded, grace did much more abound : that as sin hath reigned 
 luito disath, even so miglit grace reign through righteousness unto 
 eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Mark the following — 
 " Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to 
 them who are under the Uiw : that every mouth may be stopped, 
 and all the world may become guilty before God ; therefore by 
 the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; 
 for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 113 
 
 We answer, in no way possible but by. some 
 expedient by wiiich his justice and mercy would 
 both be exalted. If, in the wisdom of the Godhead, 
 such a way could be devised, by which God himself 
 could save the soul from the consequences of its 
 guilt — by which he himself coidd in some way 
 
 The argument of tlie apostle in vindicating the holiness of tlie 
 law, while it, at the same time, produced conviction and con- 
 demnation, is conclusive. " What shall yre say then ? Is the law 
 sin? God forbid ! Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for 
 I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not 
 covet; (that is, I should not have felt covetousness to be sin, 
 except the law had condemned it as such ; ) for I was alive (that 
 is, not consciously condemned,) without the law once: but when 
 the commandment came, sin revived, and I died ; and the com- 
 mandment, which was ordained to life, (that is, which required the 
 soul to be holy and therefore alive to God,) I found to be unto 
 death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, (or acts 
 shown to be sin by tlie commandment,) deceived me, and by it 
 slew me. Wherefore the law is lioly, and the commandment holy, 
 and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto 
 me? God forbid. But sin, that it might-appear sin, (that is, sin 
 which did exist in the soul, was made to appear in its true evil 
 character,) working death in me by that which is good; (that is, 
 the holiness of the law showed the evil of sin ;) that sin by the 
 commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know 
 that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." And 
 then, for deliverance from this bondage, he looks to Christ — 
 " For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me 
 free from the law of sin and death," etc. And mark again — "Is 
 the law then against the promises of God ? God forbid : for if there 
 had been a law gi\'en which cou'd liave giv-n life, verily righte- 
 ousness should have been by the law, (tliat is, while the law 
 showed the soul to be unholy and condemned to spiritual death, 
 it pro\ided no means for the relief of the sinner; no influence by 
 ■which love and holiness could be produced in the heart.) But the 
 Scripture, (that is, the revelation of law in the Scriptures,) hath 
 concluded all under sin, that the promise by faitli of Jesus Christ 
 might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we 
 were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith wliich should 
 afterwards be revealed ; wheri-iore the law was our school-nnister 
 to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." 
 
 Now, from the above Scriptures, it is evident that the apostle 
 understood the law not only to be ailapted, but designed by its 
 Author, to show the soul its guilty and lost condition, its inability 
 to free itself from the condemnation to which it was liable, and 
 to prepare it, at the proper time, to trust in and love Christ for 
 salvation from sin, and spiritual death, the cousecjucuce of sin.
 
 114 PHILOSOPHY 0¥ 
 
 suffer and make self-denials for its good; and, by 
 Lis own interposition, open a way for the soul to 
 recover fi'om its lost and condemned condition, 
 then the result would follow inevitably, that every 
 one of the human family who had been led to see 
 and feel liis guilty condition before God, and who 
 believed in God tlius manifesting himself to rescue 
 his soul from spiritual death — every one, tlms be- 
 lieving, would, from tlie necessities of his natm-e, 
 be led to love God liis Saviour; and — mark — tlie 
 greater the self-denial and the suffering on the part 
 of tlie Saviour, in ransoming the soul, the stronger 
 would be tlie affection felt for him. 
 
 This is the centi-al and vital doctrine of the plan 
 of salvation. We will now, by throwing light and 
 accumulating sti-ength upon this doctiine from 
 different points, illusti'ate and establish it beyond 
 the possibility of rational doubt. 
 
 1. Tlie testimony of Jesus that it teas necessary 
 man should feel tlie want, in order to exercise the 
 love. 
 
 Jesus uniformly speaks of it as being necessary, 
 that previously to accepting him as a Saviour, the 
 soul should feel the need of salvation. He does not 
 even invite the thoughtless sinner, or the Godless 
 worldling, who has no sense of the evil or tlio 
 giiilt of sin, to oome to him. Said Jesus, " I came 
 not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 
 " They that are whole need not a physician ; but they 
 that are sick." " Come unto mo, all ye that labour 
 and arc heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "]f 
 any man thirst, let liim como unto me and diink." 
 " Blessed are tliey whicli do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness: for they shall be hllcd." Thus, the 
 ])oints which have been shown to be necessary, from 
 the constitution of thijigs, in order to the soul's
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 115 
 
 loving God, are presented in the same light by 
 Jesus liimself ; and iijoon the princijile which they 
 involve, he acted diu-ing his ministry. 
 
 2. The testimony of the Scr'qjtures that Ood did 
 thus manifest himself as suffering and maTiing self- 
 denials for the spiritual good of men. 
 
 "God was in Chiist," says the apostle, "recon- 
 ciling the world to himself;" that is, God was in 
 Christ doing tliose things that would restore to him- 
 self the obedience and afiection of every one tliat be- 
 lieved. Christ represents liimself as a ransom for 
 the soul ; as laying down his life for believers. He 
 is represented as descending from an estate of the 
 highest felicity; taking upon him the nature of 
 man, and humbling himself even to the death of 
 the cross : a death of the most excruciating tortm-e ; 
 and thus bearing the sin's of men in his own body 
 on the tree, that through his death God " might be 
 just, and the justilier of him which believeth in 
 Jesus." 
 
 It was thus, by a self-denial surpassing descrip- 
 tion — by a life of labour for human good, accom- 
 plished by constant personal saoiifices, and tending, 
 at every step, towai'ds the centre of the vortex, he 
 went on imtil, finally, life closed to a crisis, by the 
 passion in the garden — the rebuke, and the buffeting, 
 and the cniel mockery of the Jews and the Romans 
 — and then, beaiing his cross, faint with former 
 agony of spirit, and his flesh quivering vrith recent 
 scourging, he goes to Calvary, where the ag'onised 
 Sufferer for human sin cried " It is finished! and 
 gave up the ghost." 
 
 Such is the testimony of tlie Scriptures ; and it 
 may be aiSrmed, without hesitancy, that it would 
 bo impossible for the human soul to exercise full 
 faith in the testimony that it wag a guilty and needy
 
 116 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 creature, condemned by the holy law of a holy 
 God ; and that from this condition of sj)iritual guilt 
 and danger, Jesus Christ suifered and died to ac- 
 complish its I'ansom — we say a human being could 
 not exercise full faith in these truths and not love 
 the Saviour. 
 
 3. The atonement of Christ produces tlie necessary 
 effect upon the human soul, in restoring it to affec- 
 tionate obedience, which neither philosojihy, law, nor 
 preceptive truth, could accomplish. 
 
 The wisdom of Divine providence was con- 
 spicuous in the fact, that previously to the intro- 
 duction of Christianity, all the resources of human 
 wisdom had been exhausted in efforts to confer 
 upon man ti'ue knowledge and true happiness. 
 Although most of the great names of antiquity 
 were conspicuous rather for those properties which 
 rendered them a terror and a scourge to mankind ; 
 and although society, among the ancients, in its 
 best estate, was little better than semi-barbarism ; 
 yet there was aelassinsocittty during the Augustan 
 and Peiicleau ag-e, and even at some periods befoi-e 
 that time, that was cultivated in mind and manners. 
 
 From this class, individuals at times arose who 
 were truly great — men distinguished alike for the 
 strength, compass, and discrimhiation of their in- 
 tellect. In all the efibrts of these men, with the 
 exception of those who applied themselves exclu- 
 eively to the study of pliysical ])henomena, the 
 great end sought was tlic means or secret of human 
 hapjuness. AH admitted that human natiu-e, as 
 they foiuid it, was in an imperfect or depraved 
 condition, and not in the enjoymout of its chief 
 good ; and the ]ilans wliicli tliey proposed, by wliich 
 to obtain tliat hapi)hicss of which they believed the 
 soul susceptible, were as various, and diverse from
 
 THE PtAF OF SALVATION. 117 
 
 each other, as can be imagined. No one of tliese 
 plans ever accomplislicd, in any degree, the end 
 desired; and no one of them was ever adapted to, 
 or embraced by the conmion people. The philoso- 
 phers themselves, after wrangling for the honour of 
 having discovered truth, and making themselves 
 miserable in the pursuit of happiness, died; and 
 man was left unsatisfied and unliappy, philosophy 
 having shed only sufficient light upon his mind to 
 disclose more fully the guilty and wretched state of 
 liis heart. 
 
 There are, perhaps, two exceptions to tliese re- 
 marks as applied to the great minds of antiquity; 
 those are Socrates and his pujtil Plato. These men, 
 with a far-penetrating insight into the constitu- 
 tional wants of man, contemplating the disordered 
 and unhappy condition of human nature, and in- 
 quiring for a remedy adequate to enlighten the 
 mind, and give the heart a satisfying good, per- 
 ceived that there was not in the resources of philo- 
 sophy, nor within the compass of human means, 
 any power that could reach the source of the diffi- 
 culty, and rectify the evil of human nature, which 
 consisted in a want of benevolent affection.* In- 
 ferring from the nature of man what would be 
 necessary, and trusting in the goodness of the Deity 
 to grant the requisite aid, they expressed their 
 belief that a Divine Teacher would come from hea- 
 ven, who would restore truth and happiness to the 
 human soul.f 
 
 * That Plato had some idea of the want, and none of what was 
 necessary to supply it, may he seen in the fact that in order to 
 make men love as brethren, which he saw to be necessary, he 
 recommended a community of wives to the members of his ideal 
 republic. 
 
 t In Plato's dialogue upon the duties of religious worship, a 
 passage occurs, the design of which appears to be, to show that 
 man could not, of himself, learn either the nature of the gods, or 
 the proper manner of worshipping them, unless an instructor
 
 118 PHILOSOPHY 05 
 
 It is strange that among philosophers of succeed- 
 ing ages there has not been wisdom sufficient to 
 discover, from the constitutional necessities of the 
 human spirit, that demand for the instruction and 
 aid of the Messiah, which Socrates and Plato dis- 
 covered, even in a comparatively dark age. 
 
 There are two insuperable difficulties which 
 would for ever hinder the restoration of mankind 
 to truth and happiness from being accomplished by 
 human means. The first, which has been already 
 alluded to, is, that human instruction, as sucli, has 
 no power to bind the conscience. JEven if man 
 were competent to discover all the truth necessary 
 for a perfect rule of conduct, yet that truth would 
 have no reformatory power, because men could 
 never feel that truth was obligatory, which pro- 
 ceeded from merely hiunan sources. It is an ob- 
 vious principle of our nature, that the conscience 
 will not charge guilt on the soul for disobedience, 
 when the command proceeds from a fellow man 
 who is not recognised as having the prerogative and 
 the right to require submission. And besides, as 
 men's minds are variously constituted, and of 
 
 should come from heaven. The following remarkable passage 
 occurs between Socrates and Alclbiades : 
 
 Socrates.— To me it appears best to be patient. It is necessary 
 to ■wait till you learn how you ought to act towards the gods, and 
 towards men. 
 
 Alc'ibiadcu. — When, O Socrates, shall that time be ? and who 
 shall instruct me ? for most willingly would I see this person, who 
 he is. 
 
 Socratps.—lie is one who cares for you ; but, as Homer repre- 
 sents Minerva, as taking away darkness from the eyes of Diomedes, 
 that he might distinguish a God from a man : so it is necessary 
 tliat he sliould first take awny the darkness from your mind ; and 
 then bring near those things by which you shall know good and 
 evil. 
 
 Alcibindex.—Lct him take away the darkness, or any other 
 thing, if he will ; for whoever this man is, I am prepared to re- 
 fuse none of the things which he commands, if I shall be mado 
 letter.— PtofoMii Alcibiad. ii.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 119 
 
 various capa<;ities, there could be no a^eement in 
 such a case concerning the question, " What is 
 tmth?" As well might wo expect two sohool-boys 
 to reform eash other's manners in school, withoiU 
 the aid of the teacher's authority, as that men can 
 reform their fellows, without the sanction of that 
 Rirthority which will quicken and bind the con- 
 science. The human conscience was made to re- 
 cognise and enforce the authority of God ; and 
 italess there is belief in the Divine obligation of 
 truth, conscience refuses to perform its office. 
 
 But the grand difficulty is this ; — Truth, whether 
 sanctioned by conscience or not, ha.s no power, as 
 has been shown, to produce love in the heart. 
 The law may convict and guide the mind, but it 
 has no power to soften or to change the affections. 
 This was the precise thing necessary, and this 
 necessary' end the wisdom of the world could not 
 accomplish. All the wisdom of all the philosophers 
 in all ages, could never cause the nflfections of the 
 soul to rise to the holy blessed God. To destroy 
 selfish pride, and produce humilit}' — to eradicate 
 the evil passions, and produce in the soul desires 
 for the universal good, and love for the imiversal 
 Parent, were beyond the reach of earthly wisdom 
 and power. The wisdom of the world in their 
 efforts to give truth and happiness to the human 
 soul, was foolishness ^^ith God ; and the wisdo'^v of 
 God — Christ crucified — was foolishness with the 
 philosophers, in relation to the same subject:* 
 
 * From an oLsen'ation of one of the Fathers, it would seem that 
 after the gospel had been preached among the Greeks, many of 
 them perceived its adaptedness to accomplish the end for which 
 they had sought in vnin. " Philorophy," says Clemens, of Alexan- 
 dria, " led the Greeks to Christ, as the law did the Jews." 
 
 Concluding paragraph of the apology of >I. Minucius Felix in 
 defence of Christianity : a.d. 230. 
 
 " To conclude : the sum of our boasting is, that we are got into 
 possession of what the philosophers have been always in quert
 
 120 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 yet, it was Divine philosophy : an adapted means, 
 and the only adequate means, to accomplish the 
 necessary end. Said an apostle in speaking upon 
 this subject, "The Jews- require a sign, and the 
 .Greeks seek after wisdom : but we preach Christ 
 ci-ucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto 
 the Greeks foolishness ; but unto them which are 
 called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of 
 God, and the wisdom of God." The Jews, while they 
 required a sign, did not perceive that miracles, in 
 themselves, were not adapted to produce affection. 
 And the Greeks, while they sought after wisdom, 
 did not perceive that all the wisdom of the Gentiles 
 would never work love in the heart. But the 
 apostle preached " Christ. crucified," an exhibition 
 of self-denial, of suffering, and of self-sacrificing 
 love and mercy, endured in behalf of men ; which 
 when received by faith, became " the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God," to produce love and obedi- 
 ence in the human soul. Paul understood tlie 
 efficacy of the cross. He looktxl to Calvary and 
 beheld Christ crucified as the sun of the gospel 
 system. Not as the moon, reflecting cold and bor 
 rowed rays ; but as the Sun of righteousness, glow- 
 ing with radiant mercy, and i)Ouring warm beams 
 of life and love into the open bosom of the believer. 
 
 4. Analogy between the moral and 2'>hysical laws 
 of the universe. 
 
 The laws wbicli govern physical nature are 
 analogous to tliosc wliich the gospel introduces into 
 the sj)iritua] world. The earth is hold to the sun 
 
 of; and what, -with all their application, thcj' could never find. 
 Why tlicn, so much ill-will stirring against ns ? If Divine truth 
 is come to i)crlection in our time, let us make a good use of the 
 blessing; let us govern our knowledge with diRc retion ; let .super- 
 stition and impiety be no more; and let true religion triumph in 
 their stead,"
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 121 
 
 by the power of attraction, and performs regularly 
 its cii'cuit around the central, sustaining liuninary ; 
 maintaining, at the same time, its equal relations 
 with its sister planets. But the moral system upon 
 the earth is a chaos of derangement. I'he attrao- 
 tio2i of affection which holds the soul to God, has 
 heen broken, and the soul of man, actuated by self- 
 ishness — revolving upon its own centre only — -jars 
 in its course with its fellow spirits, and crosses their 
 orbits ; and the whole system of the spiritual world 
 upon earth, revolves in disorder, the orbs wandering 
 and rolling away from that centre of moral life and 
 power which alone could liold them in harmonious 
 and happy motion. Into the midst of this chaos of 
 disordered si)irits, God, the Sun of the spnitual 
 world, came down. He shed light upon the moral 
 darkness, and by coming near, hke the approaches 
 of a mighty magnet, the attraction of his mercy, 
 as manifested in Christ crucified, became so pow- 
 erful, that many spirits, rolling away into darkness 
 and destruction, felt the efficacy, and were di-awn 
 back, and caused to move again, in theii' regular 
 orbits, around the ' Light,' and ' Life' and ' Love* 
 of the spiritual system. 
 
 If free agency could be predicated of the bodies 
 of the solar system, the great law which governs 
 their movements might be expressed thus — Thou 
 shall attract the Sun with all thy might, cuid thy 
 sister pkincts as thyself. The same expression 
 gives the great law of the spiritual world. ' Thou 
 shalt love the Lord with all thy soul, and tliy neigh- 
 bour as thyself.' Now, if a planet had broken away 
 from its orbit, it would have a tendency to fly off 
 for ever, and it never could be restored, unless the 
 sun, the great centre of attraction, could, in some 
 way, follow it in its wanderings, and thus by the 
 increased power of his attraction, as he approached
 
 122 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 nearer to tlie fallen ]Dlauet, attach it to himself, and 
 then draw it back again to its original orbit. So ! 
 with the human spirit ; its affections were ahenated '■ • 
 from God, the centre of sjjiritual attraction, andthey,-*^ 
 could never have been restored, unless God had 
 approached, and by the increased power of his mercy, '■* 
 as manifested in the self-denial, sufferings, and 
 death of Christ, united man again to himself, by ; 
 the power of affection, that he might thus draw him'** 
 up from liis misery and sin, to revolve around liim,'-^ 
 in harmony and love, for ever. 
 
 If this earth had, by some means, broken away 
 from the sun, there would be no way possible of 
 recovering it again to its place in the system, but 
 that which has been mentioned — that the sun shoidd ,' 
 leave his central position, and approach the wander-, 
 ing orb, and thus, by the increased power of his'^ 
 attraction, draw back the earth to its original posi-^/^ 
 tion. But the sun could not thus leave the centre'-^ 
 of the system, without drawing all the other planets 
 from their orbits by the movement to recover the 
 lost one. The relations of the system would be 
 broken up, and the whole solar economy sacrificed, 
 if the universal and equal law of gravitation were 
 infringed by the sun changing his position and his 
 relations in the system. 
 
 Furtber, the established laws of the physical 
 universe would render it impossible that any other^ ' 
 l^lanet should be the instrument of recovering the'^^ 
 earth to the sun. If another planet should approach 
 the earth while thus wandering, tbo increased 
 power of attraction would cause the two globes to 
 revolve around each other ; or if the approaching 
 planet was of greater magnitude, the earth would 
 revolve as a satellite around it. But, this would 
 not be to restore the earth to its place in the system, 
 nor to its movement around the Bun, but to fix it
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION 123 
 
 in a wrong position and a wrong movement, and 
 thus alienate it for ever from the central source of 
 light and heat. It follows, tlierefore, that in accord- 
 ance with the established laws of the solar system, 
 the eai'th could never be recovered, but M'ould % 
 off for ever, or be broken into asteroids. 
 
 There would, therefore, be no way possible for 
 the recovery of the earth, unless God should adopt 
 an expedient unknown to the physical laws of the 
 universe. (This, all who believe that God is 
 Almighty, and himself the Author of those laws, 
 will allow that he might do.) That expedient must 
 not destroy the great laws of the system, upon which 
 the safety of all its parts depend, but an augmented 
 force of attraction must be thi-own upon the earth 
 from the sun itself; which would be sufficient to 
 check the force of its departing momentum, and 
 gradually draw it back to its place. If a portion of 
 the magnetic power of the smi could be tlu'own into 
 the earth, an adhesion v/ould take place between it 
 and the earth, and then, after the cord was fastened, 
 if that^body of attractive matter could ascend again 
 to the''body of the sun, the earth would receive the 
 returning impulse, and anew and peculiar influence 
 would be created to draw it back to its allegiance 
 to the sun. If, as has been said, the power came 
 from any other body but the sun itself, or attracted 
 towai'ds any other body, the earth would lose its 
 place in the system for ever.* 
 
 So in the moral world : God's relations to the 
 moral universe must be sustcdned. The infinite 
 justice and holiness of the Divme law must not be 
 
 * These illustrations are not to be applied to the mode of exist- 
 ence, or Kubsistence, in the Godhead : but as God is the Author 
 of both the physical and moral laws, and as the attraction of 
 gravitation in physics corresponds with the attraction, of affection 
 in morals, an analogy of what would be necessary under one, is 
 taken to what was accomplished by Christ uuder the other.
 
 124 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 com25roinise(i. The end to be gained is, to di*aw 
 man, as a revolted sinner, back to God, while the 
 integi'ity of God's moral government is main- 
 tained. Now, affection is the attraction of the 
 moral universe. And, in accordance with the 
 foregoing deduction, to reclaim alienated man to 
 God would be impossible, unless there should be a 
 manifestation of the Godhead in the world, to 
 attract to himself man's esti'anged affections ; and 
 then, after the affinity was fastened by faith, by 
 his ascending again to the bosom of the Deity, 
 mankind would thus be gradually drawn back to 
 allegiance to Jehovali. 
 
 5. Illustrations from nature and the Script^ires. 
 
 Tlie plan of salvation is likened unto a vine 
 which has fallen down from the boughs of an oak. 
 It lies prone upon the gi'ound; it crawls in tlie 
 dust, and all its tendrils and claspers, which were 
 formed to hold it in the lofty place from which it 
 had fallen, are twined around the weed and the 
 bramble, and having no strength to raise itself, it 
 lies fruitless and corruiJting, tied down to the base 
 things of tlie earth. Now, how shall the vine 
 arise from its fallen condition? But one way is 
 possible for the vine to rise again to the place 
 from whence it had fallen. The bough of the lofty 
 o;ik must be let down, or some comnmnication 
 must be formed connected with tlie toji of the oak, 
 and at the same time with the earth. Then, when 
 the bougli of the oak was let down to the place 
 where the vine lay, its tender claspers might fasten 
 upon it, and, thus supported, it might raise itself 
 up, and bloom and bear fruit again in the 
 lofty place from whence it fell. So with man — his 
 af1e(tti()ns had fallen from God, and were fastened 
 to the base things of the eartli. Jesus Christ came
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION, 125 
 
 down, and by his humanity stood uj^on the earth, 
 and by his Divinity raised his hands and united 
 himself with the Deity of the everlasting Father : 
 thus the fallen aflections of man may fasten upon 
 him, and twine around him, until they again 
 ascend to the bosom of the Godhead, from whence 
 they fell. 
 
 It was thus that prophets, evangelists, apostles, 
 and the Son of God himself, presented the Divine 
 scheme of human redemptioii. Christ is the 
 " Branch" by which the vine may recover itself 
 from its prone and base condition : he is the "Arm 
 of the Lord" by which he reaches down and rescues 
 siuful men from the ruins of the fall : " through 
 whom," says Peter, "ye believe in God," [that is, 
 believe in God manifested through Christ,] "that 
 raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, 
 that your faith and hope might be in God." Says 
 Paul, " Your life is hid with Christ in God." Jesiis 
 himself proclaimed that the believer should have 
 within him " a well of water, springing uj) into 
 everhistiug life" — that is, he that believetli in 
 Christ crucified, the hard heart within him will be 
 struck by the rod of faith, and in his soul there 
 will be a well of pure and living affection springing 
 up to God for ever. And again : " Jesus cried 
 and said. He that believeth on me, believeth not 
 on me, but on him that sent me, and he that 
 seeth me seeth him that sent me :" tliat is, Christ 
 was God actinrj, developing the Divine attributes 
 through human nature, so that men might appre- 
 hend and realise them. God might have been as 
 merciful as he is, if Christ had never died ; but 
 man could never have known the extent, nor felt 
 the power, of his mercy, but by the exhibition on 
 the cross. His mercy could have been manifested 
 to man's heai't in no other way. And men cannot
 
 126 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 love God for what he truly is, unless they love him 
 as manifested in the suffering and death of Christ 
 Jesus. " I am tlie Way, the Truth, and the Life; no 
 man cometh unto the Father but by me." " If ye 
 had known me, ye would have known my Father 
 also ; and from henceforth ye know him, and have 
 seen him.'' 
 
 6. The preceding views established by reductio ad 
 dbsurdum. 
 
 It is necessary that man shoidd know the cha- 
 racter of the true God, and feel the influence of 
 that character upon his mind and heart. But 
 human nature, as at present constituted, could not 
 be made to feel the goodness of God's mercy, unless 
 God — blessed be his name! — should make self- 
 denials for man's benefit ; either by assuming 
 human nature, or in some other way. (And is ^it 
 not true that God could make self-denials for men in 
 no other way that would be plain to their appre- 
 hension, except by embodyinghis Godhead in human 
 nature?) Mercy can be manifested toman, so as 
 to make an impression upon his heart, in no other 
 way than by labour and self-denial. This principle 
 is obvious. Suppose an individual is confined, 
 under condemnation of the law, and the governor, 
 in the exercise of liis powers, pardons him : 
 tliis act of clemency would produce upon the 
 heart of the criminal no particular effect, either 
 to make him grateful, or to make him better. Ho 
 might, perhaps, bo sensible of a complacent feeling 
 for the release granted ; but so long as he knew 
 that his release cost the governor nothing but a 
 volition of his will, tlioro would be no basis in tlio 
 prisoner's mind for gratitude and love. The 
 libcratoil man would feel more gratitude to one of 
 Ids friends, who liad laboured to get petitions
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION 127 
 
 before the governor for his release, than to the 
 governor who released him. To vaiy the illus- 
 tration — suppose that two persons, who are liable 
 to be destroyed in the flames of a burning dwell- 
 ing, are rescued by two sej)arate individuals. The 
 one is enabled to escape by an individual who, 
 perceiving his danger, steps up to the door and 
 opens it, without any eflbrt or self-denial on liis 
 part. The other is rescued in a different manner. 
 An individual, perceivbig his danger and liability 
 to death, ascends to him, and by a severe effort, 
 and while he is liimself suffering from the flames, 
 holds open the door until the inmate escapes for 
 his life. Now the one who opened the door with- 
 out self-denial, may have been mercifid, and the 
 individual relieved would recognise the act as a 
 kindness done to one in peril ; but no one woidd 
 feel that that act proved that the man who delivered 
 the other manifested any special mercy, because 
 any man would have done the same act. But the 
 one who ascended the ladder and rescued, by peril, 
 and by personal suffering, the individual liable to 
 death, would manifest special mercy, and all who 
 observed it would acknowledge the claim ; and the 
 individual rescued would feel the mercy of the act, 
 melting his heart into gratitude to his deliverer, 
 unless his heart were a moral petrifaction. 
 
 What are, in reality, the facts by which alone 
 men may know that any being possesses a bene- 
 volent nature ? Not, certainly, by that being 
 conferring benefits upon others, which cost him 
 neither personal labour nor self-denial ; because 
 we could not tell but these favours would cease the 
 moment they involved the least degree of sacrifice, 
 or the moment they interfered with liis selfish 
 interests But when it requires a sacrifice, on the 
 part of a benefactor, to bestow a favour, and that
 
 128 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sacrifice is made, then benevolence of heart is made 
 evidently manifest. Now mark — any being who 
 is prompted, by benevolence of heart, to make 
 sacrifices, may not lose happiness, in the aggre- 
 gate, by so doing ; for a benevolent nature finds 
 happiness in performing benevolent acts. Self- 
 denials are, therefore, not only the appropriate 
 method of manifesting benevolence to men, but they 
 are likewise the a2)propriatc manifestations of aiij 
 benevolent nature. Now, suppose God is perfectly t? 
 benevolent ; then, it follows in view of the fore-- 
 going deductions, in order to manifest his true 
 nature to men, self-denials would be necessaiy, ia 
 order that men might see and feel that " God is 
 love." It is clear, therefore, that those who reject 
 the Divinity of Christ, as connected with the atone- 
 ment, cannot believe in God's benevolence ; be- 
 cause God is really as benevolent as the self-denials 
 of Christ (believed in as Divine) will lead men to 
 feel that he is : nor can they believe in the mercy 
 of God in any way that will produce an effect upon 
 their hearts. To say that the human heart can be 
 deeply affected by mercy that is not manifested by 
 self-denial, is to show but little knowledge of the 
 springs which move the inner life of the human 
 soul. Man will feel a degree of love and gratitude 
 for a benefactor who manifests an interest in his 
 wants, and labours to supply them ; but ho will feel 
 a greater degree of grateful love for the benefactor 
 who manifests an interest in his wants, and makes 
 self-denials to aid him. To deny, therefore, the 
 Divine and meritorious character of the atonement, 
 is to shut out both the evidence and the effect of 
 God's mercy from the soul. 
 
 In accordance with this view, is the teaching of 
 the Scriptures. There is but one thing wliich is 
 charged against men, in the New Testament, as a
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 129 
 
 fundamental and soul-destroying heresy, and that 
 is, not denying the Lord, but " denying the Lord 
 that bought them." It is rejecting the purchase of 
 Christ by his self-denying atonement, which causes 
 the destruction of the soul, because it rejects the 
 truth which alone can produce love to the God of 
 love. 
 
 But further : the facts have been fully proved, 
 that God Jehovah, by taking a personal interest 
 in the well-being of the Israelites, and labouring to 
 secure their redemjjtion, secured their affections to 
 himself; and that his acts of mercy produced this 
 effect was manifested by their song after their 
 final deliverance at the Red Sea. " I will sing unto 
 the Lord, for hehatli triumphed gloriously : the horse 
 and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord 
 is my strength and song, and he is become my 
 salvation." In like manner, Jesus Christ seciu-ed 
 to himself, in a gi-eater degree, the affections of 
 Christians, by his self-den\ing life and death, to 
 ransom them from spiritual bondage and misery. 
 The Israehtes in Egypt were imder a temporal law 
 so severe, that while they suffered in the greatest 
 degree, they could not fulfil its requirements : they 
 therefore loved Jehovah for temporal deliverance. 
 The believer was under a spiritual law, the requii'e- 
 ments of which he could not fulfil, and therefore 
 he loved Christ for spiritual deliverance. Tliis 
 fact, that the supreme affection of believers was 
 thus fixed upon Clmst, and fixed upon him in view 
 of his seh-sacrificing love for them, is manifest 
 throughout the whole New Testament — even more 
 manifest than that the Jews loved Jehovah for 
 temporal deliverance. " The love of Christ con- 
 straineth us ;" says one : thus manifesting that his 
 very life was actuated by affection for Jesus. Says 
 another — speaking of early Chiistians generally —
 
 ] 80 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 " Whom [Clirist] having not seen, ye love ; in 
 whom, though now }'e see him not, yet believing, 
 ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 
 The Bible re(|uires men to iierform their religious 
 duties, moved by love to Christ : " And whatsoever 
 ye do, do it heartily, as to tlie Lord, and not unto 
 men ; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive 
 the reward of the inheritance : for ye serve the 
 Lord Christ." Mark — these Christians were moved 
 in what they did, what they said, and what they 
 felt, by love to Christ : love to Jesus actuated their 
 Mdiole being, body, and soul. It governed them. 
 
 Now, suppose that Jesus Christ was not God, 
 nor a true manifestation of the Godhead in human 
 nature, but a man, or angel, authorised by God to 
 accomplish the redemjDtion of the human race from 
 sin and misery. In doing this, it appears, from 
 the nature of things, and from the Scrij^tures, that 
 lie did what was adapted to, and what does, draw 
 the heart of every true believer — as in the case of 
 tlie apostle and the early Christians — unto himself, 
 as the supreme or governing object of aftection. 
 Their will is governed by the will of Clu'ist; and 
 love to him moves their heart and hands. Now, 
 if it be true that Jesus Christ is not God, then lie 
 has devised and executed a plan by wliich the 
 supreme ati'ections of the human heart are drawn 
 to himself, and alienated from God, the proper 
 object of love and worship : and, God having 
 authorised this jilan, ho lias devised means to 
 make man love Clirist, the creature, more than 
 the Creator, who is God over all, blessed for 
 evermore. 
 
 But, it is said that, Christ having taught and 
 suflbred by the will and authority of God, we ai-e 
 niidcr obligation to love God for what Christ has 
 done for us. It is ans^Ycred, that this is impossible.
 
 THE PLAN or SALVATION. 181 
 
 We cannot lore one being for what another does or 
 suffers on om* behalf. We can love no being for 
 labours and self-denials in our behalf, but that 
 being who voluntarily labours and denies himself. 
 It is the kindness and mercy exhibited in the self- 
 denial that moves the affections ; and the affections 
 can move to no being but the one that makes the 
 self-denials, because it is the self-denials that draw 
 out the love of the heart. 
 
 It is still said, that Christ was sent by God, to do 
 liis will, and not his own; and therefore we ought 
 to love God, as the Being to whom gratitude and 
 love are due, for what Christ said and suffered. 
 Then it is answered : If God willed that Christ, as 
 a creature of his, should come, and by Ms sufferings 
 and death redeem sinners, wc ought not to love 
 Christ for it, because he did it as a creatm-e, in 
 obedience to the commands of God, and was not 
 self-moved nor meritorious in the work; and we 
 cannot love God for it, for the laboiu' and self-denial 
 were not borne by him. And further ; If one being, 
 by an act of his authority, should cause a^iother 
 innocent being to suffer, in order that he might 
 be loved who had imj^osed the suffering, but not 
 borne it, it would render him unworthy of love. 
 If God had caused Jesus Christ, being his creature, 
 to suffer, that he might be loved liimself for 
 Christ's sufferings, while he had no connexion with 
 them, instead of such an exliibition, on the part of 
 God, producing love to him, it would jjroduce pity 
 for Christ, and aversion towards God, So that, 
 neither God, nor Christ, nor any other being, can 
 be loved for mercy extended, by self-denials, to the 
 needy, unless those self-denials were ju-oduced by a 
 voluntary act of mercy upon the part of the being 
 who suffers them ; and no being, but the one who 
 made the sacrifices, could be meritorious in the 
 f2
 
 132 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 case. It follows, therefore, incontrovertibly, that 
 if Christ was a creature — no matter of how exalted 
 wortli — and not God ; and if God ajjproved of his 
 work in saving sinners, he approved of treason 
 against his own government ; because, in that case, 
 the work of Christ was adapted to draw, and did 
 necessarily draw, the affections of the human soul 
 to himself, as its spiritual Saviour, and thus 
 alienate them from God, their rightful object. 
 And Jesus Christ himself had the design of draw- 
 ing men's afiections to himself in view, by his 
 crucifixion : says he, " and I, if I be lifted up from 
 the earth, will draw all men unto me." This he 
 said, signifying what death he should die : thus 
 distinctly stating that it was the self-denials and 
 mercy exhibited in the crucifixion that would draw 
 out the affections of the human soul, and tliat 
 those affections would be drawn to himself as the 
 suffering Saviour. But that God would sanction 
 a scheme which would involve treason against 
 himself, and that Christ should particii^ate in it, is 
 absurd and impossible, and therefore cannot be 
 true. 
 
 But if the Divine nature was united with the 
 human, in the teaching and work of Christ — if 
 " God was in Christ," [drawing the affections of 
 men, or] " reconciling the world unto himself" — if, 
 when Christ was lifted u]), as Moses lifted up the 
 serpent in the wilderoess, he drew, as ho said he 
 would, the afiections of all believers unto himself; 
 and then, if ho ascended, as the second ])erson of 
 the Trinity, into the bosom of the eternal Godhead 
 — He, thereby, after ho had engaged, by his work 
 on earth, tlio afiections of the human soul, bore 
 them up to the bosom of tlie Father, from whence 
 they had fallen. Thus the ruins of the fall were 
 rebuilt, and the aflbctions of the human soid again
 
 THE PLAN or SALVATION. 133 
 
 restored to God, the Creator, and proper object of 
 supreme love. Oh the length, and the breadth, 
 and the depth, and the height, of the Divine wisdom 
 and goodness, as manifested in the wonderful plan 
 of salvation ! " Great is the mystery^ of godliness : 
 God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the 
 spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, 
 believed on in the world, received u]) into glory" 
 Amen: blessing and honour, dominion and power, 
 be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
 unto the Lamb, for ever and ever : Amen and 
 amen.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CONCERNING THE INFLUENCE OF FAITH IN CHRIST 
 UPON THE MORAL DISPOSITION AND MORAL POWERS 
 OF THE SOUL. 
 
 It has been demonstrated that the teachmg and 
 atonement of God the Saviour would draw to Inm, 
 by faith, the affections of the human heart. We 
 will now inquire wliat particular elfect that faith 
 in Christ which works by love, has upon the moral 
 disposition, the conscience, the imagination, and 
 the life of believers. Would faith in Christ, as a 
 Divine, suffering Saviour, quicken, and regulate, 
 and harmonize the moral powers of the soul ? 
 
 1. The influence of faith in Christ upon the 
 moral dispodtion of the soul. — When its disposition 
 is affected, the soul is affected to the centre of its 
 being. By .disposition, is meant the desires or 
 ])redilections of tlie lieart, which influence the 
 choice of the will to good or evil. The radical 
 difference of character in spirits depends upon 
 their disposition. The spirit that has a settled 
 love for sin aud liatred for holiness, is a devil, 
 whether it be in time or eternity — embodied or 
 disembodied. And that spirit which has a settled . 
 love for holiness, is a benevolent spirit, in what- 
 ever condition it exists. A devil or malignant 
 spirit is one that seeks its gratification in habit- 
 ually doing evil. A holy being, or benevolent 
 ' spirit, is one that finds its gratification in habit-
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 135 
 
 iisilly doin^ good. Whatever, llicrofore, aflects 
 tlio moral disposition of the soul, affects, radically, 
 the character of the soul. It heconios, therefore, 
 a question of the deepest interest — What effect 
 will faith in Christ have upon man's moral dis- 
 position ? 
 
 The solution of this inquiry is not difficult. Is 
 Jesus Christ holy ? AH Christendom, sceptics and 
 believers, answers in the afFirmativo. Now the 
 love of a holy being will, as a necessary result, 
 counteract nnholiness in the heart. Holiness is 
 the antagonist princij^le of sin. The soul cannot 
 love a holy being and at the same time cherish 
 those piincijiles and exercises which it is con- 
 scious are offensive to the soul of the beloved 
 object. From the nature of the case, love to holi- 
 ness vrill produce opposition to sin. Love is the 
 fulfilling of the law, and sin is the transgression of 
 the law ; so that, while the soul is entirely actuated 
 in all its exercises, by j)ure love to Christ, those 
 exercises of the heart cannot l)e sinful. 
 
 When the heart is attached to any being, espe- 
 cially when that being is lovely and pure in his 
 character, it ])ecomes averse to everything which, 
 from its evil nature, causes suffering to the object 
 of its affections. There are few things wliich will 
 cause one to feel so sensibly the evil of sin, as to 
 see that liis sins are causing anguish to one that 
 he loves. 
 
 It is said of Zeleucus, a king of the ancient Locri, 
 that he enacted a law, the penalty of which was 
 that the offender should lose both his eyes. One 
 of liis sons became a transgressor of that law. 
 The father had his attachment to his son, and the 
 law he himself had promulgated as righteous in its 
 requirements ar.d in its penalty. The lawgiver, it 
 is said, ordered his son into his jiresence, and
 
 lo6 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 required that one of liis eyes should be taken out ; 
 and then, in order to show mercy to his son, and 
 at the same time maintain the penalty of tlie law, 
 he sacrificed one of his own eyes as a ransom for 
 the remaining eye of his child. Now we do not 
 refer to this case as a perfect analogy, but to show 
 the moral effect of such an exhibition of justice 
 and self-sacrificing mercy. As man is constituted, 
 it is perfectly certain that this transaction would 
 produce two effects ; one upon the subjects of the 
 king, which would be to impress upon every heart 
 that the law was sacred, and that the lawgiver thus 
 regarded it. This impression would be made 
 much more strongly than it would have been if 
 the king had ordered that his son should lose both 
 his eyes; because it manifested, in the strongest 
 manner possible, his love for his son, and his 
 sacred regard for his law. If he had allowed his 
 son to escape, it would have exhibited to his sub- 
 jects less love for his law ; and if he had executed 
 the whole penalty of the law uj^on the son, instead 
 of bearing a i^ortion of it himself, he would have 
 manifested less love for his son. The king was 
 the lawgiver; he therefore had the power to jmrdon* 
 his son, without inflicting the penalty upon him, 
 and without enduring any sacrifice himself. Every 
 mind, therefore, would feel that it was a voluntary 
 act on the part of the king ; and such an exliibi- 
 tion of justice and mercy, maintaining the law and 
 saving his son by his own sacrifice, would impress 
 all minds with tlie deepest reverence for the cha- 
 racter of the lawgiver, and for the sacrcdness of 
 the law. 
 
 But another effect, deep and lasting in its cha- 
 racter, would be produced upon the son who Imd 
 transgressed tlic law. Every time that he looked 
 upon his father, or remembered what he had
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 187 
 
 suffered for his transgression, it would increase his 
 love for him, increase his reverence for the law, 
 and cause an abhorrence of his crime to arise in 
 his soul. His feehngs Avould be more kind towards 
 Ms sire, more submissive to the law, and more 
 averse to transgi-ession. 
 r,'. Now this is precisely the effect necessary to be 
 ^^jroduced, in order that pardon may be extended 
 \Xo transgressors, and yet just and righteous govern- 
 rment be maintained. If civil law had some expe- 
 dient by which, with the offer of pardon, some 
 influence could be exerted upon the heart of the 
 transgressor which would entirely change his 
 character ; an influence which would make him 
 love the law he had transgressed, hate tlie crime he 
 had committed, hate himself for committing it, and 
 implant within him the spirit of an obedient and 
 faithful subject — if such an effect could be produced 
 by pardon, then pardon woidd be safe; because 
 there would be some means, or some moral power 
 connected with it, that would, at the same time 
 that the pardon was granted, change the moral 
 disposition of the criminal from that of a rebellious, 
 to that of a iiiithful and affectionate subject. This 
 expedient the civil law can never have. Such an 
 expedient was that of Zeleucus, the self-sacrificed 
 lawgiver and father. Such an expedient, in some 
 respect's, in the moral government of God, is the 
 atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. " He," says 
 the prophet, "was bruised for our iniquities;" 
 says the apostle, " He bore our sins in his own 
 body on the tree ;" says himself, " this is my body 
 broken for you." Now two eftects would follow 
 this exhibition of the self-sacrificing love of Christ. 
 One in the heart of the believing sinner: eveiy 
 time he realised by faith that the Divine Saviour 
 suffered the rebuke, the scorn, and the cross, as a 
 ¥• 3
 
 138 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 sacrifice for his sins, lie would reg'avd tlie Saviour 
 with greater love ; and sin, which caused the 
 sufiering of his Divine Benefactor, he would regard 
 in himself and others with greater ahhorrence. 
 Another effect wliich would result, would be, tliat. 
 all the holy beings in the universe, if they had 
 knowledge of the self-sacrifice of God the Saviour, 
 as an atonement to maintain the law and redeem 
 sinners, would be insj^ired with greater reverence 
 for the eternal law, and greater aversion to sin. 
 Thus would the faith of Cln-ist aftect the moral 
 disposition of believers, and of all holy beings 
 throughout the universe ; drawing the believer 
 back to holiness and obedience, and adding a new 
 motive to confirm holy beings in hai^jiy allegi- 
 ance. 
 
 The language of the apostle confirms this view : 
 " What tlie law could not do, in that it was 
 weak through tlie flesh, God, sending his own Son, 
 in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, con- 
 demned sin in the flesh." — That is, the law, al- 
 though it had power to show to the mind the evil 
 and the guilt of sin, had no power to produce in 
 the heart an aversion to it; but Christ coming in 
 the body, and dying for sin, in that way reaches 
 man's moral I'eelings, and creates a sentiment of 
 condemnation of, or aversion to, sin in the heart of 
 every believer. 
 
 A feeHng cannot bo manifested by intellect or 
 will. A communication of knowledge, or law, 
 does not manifest feeling so that it produces feel- 
 ing in others. The moral feelings "of God were 
 manifested by the sacrifice of Christ; and that 
 manifestation, through tbe flesh, afiects the moral 
 feelings of man, assimilates them to God, and 
 produces an aversion to sin — the abominable thing 
 which God hates. Blessed faith! which, while it
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 139 
 
 purifies the heart, works by the sweet influence of 
 love in accomplishing the believer's sanctification. 
 
 2. The injiuence of faith in Christ upon the moral 
 sense, or conscience of believers. — To a mind en- 
 dowed with the higher qualities of reason, there 
 can be no more "interesting thought than that 
 noticed in a previous demonstration ; which was, 
 that a man's conscience is guided by his faith. 
 Conscience is the highest moral faculty, or rather 
 the governing moral power of the soul ; and this 
 governing faculty is regulated and controlled by 
 faith. Man's conscience always follows his religi- 
 ous belief, and changes with it, and grows weak' or 
 strong with it. Now, as God has so constituted 
 the soul that tlie affections, and likewise the con- 
 science, are affected and controlled by faith ; and 
 the purity of the one, and the integrity of the 
 other, and the activity of both, depend upon what 
 man beUeves ; — this being true, no mind can 
 avoid the conviction, that the principle of faith, 
 wliich Christ has laid at the foundation of the 
 Christian system, is, from the nature of things, the 
 only principle through the operation of which 
 man's moral powers can be brought into happy, 
 harmonious, and joerfect activity. But this happy 
 effect, as has been shown, can be produced only by 
 faith in the ti'uth ; and besides, it is an intuition 
 of reason, that God certainly would not make the 
 soul so that its moral powers would be controlled 
 by faith, and then cause that faith in falsehood 
 should perfect and make happy those jjowers. 
 Such a supposition would be a violation of reason, 
 as well as an impiety. In searching, therefore, for 
 the answer to the inquiry. What is truth? as it 
 concerns the spii-itual interests of man, the direct 
 process of solution would be, to fnquii-e what 
 effect certain facts, or supposed facts, would have
 
 140 rPIlLOSOPHY OF 
 
 •iipon tlie moral disposition and moral powers of 
 the sonl ; and that faith ^Yllicll quickens and recti- 
 fies those powers, as we have noticed, is necessarily 
 trnth. 
 
 We come novv^ to the inquiry. What effect has 
 faith in Christ — in the Divinity of his ^9e^r6"07?, in 
 his teaching, and in his atonement for sin — iqwn 
 the conscience of believers ? 
 
 The answer is plain. Those who received Christ 
 as possessing supreme authority as a Divine 
 Teacher — their faith would so affect their con- 
 science, that it would reprove for every neglect of 
 conformity to the example of Jesus. The moment 
 faith recogTiises Christ as a Divine instructor, that 
 moment conscience recognises his instruction and 
 his example as obligatory to be received and 
 practised. To the believer, the teachings and 
 example of Christ have not only the force of truth, 
 recognised as such by the understanding, but they 
 have likewise the authority of supreme law, as 
 coming from that Divine Being who is the rightful 
 Lawgiver of the soul. Now then, if faith in Christ 
 would regulate the conscience according to his 
 example and precepts, the only inquiry which 
 remains is, Were tlie example and precepts of Christ 
 a perfect rule of duty towards God and men? 
 This inquiry has been the subject of examination 
 in another cliapter, in which the fact was shown — 
 which has been generally admitted by all men, 
 believers and sceptics — that Christ's example of 
 piety towards God, and kindness towards men, 
 was perfect. AVhen this is admitted, the consecu- 
 tive fact follows, whether men perceive it or not, 
 that in the case of all who I'cceive him as tlieir 
 Lord and Lawgiver, the conscience would be regu- 
 lated according to a j^erfect standard, and guided 
 by a ]3erfect rule.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 141 
 
 But further — While it is true that a knowledge 
 of duty guides the conscience, and a knowledge of 
 the Divine authority of tlie lawgiver binds it, by 
 imposing a sense of obligation; it is likewise true 
 that faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice has peculiar 
 efficacy to strengthen this sense of obligation. Two 
 men may have an equal knowledge of duty, and yet 
 one feel, much more than the other, a sense of 
 obligation to perfomi it : whatever, therefore, in- 
 creases the sense of obligation, increases the power 
 of conscience, and thereby promotes in a greater 
 degree, active conformity of the life to tlie rule of 
 duty. 
 
 The atonement of Christ increases the sense of 
 obligation, by waking into exercise, gratitude and 
 hope in the soul of the believer. Gratitude gives 
 the conscience a power in the soul where it e^dsts, 
 which could arise from no other source. Conscience 
 reproves for the neglect of known duty ; but to 
 neglect duty, when it involves the sense of gi'ati- 
 tude to the kindest of benefactors, is to arm the 
 moral sense of the soul with a two edged sword. 
 When the lawgiver is likewise the benefactor, con- 
 science rebukes, not only for wrong domg, but for 
 ingratitude. One step further — 
 
 When the being vvho claims our obedience, is not 
 only oiu- benefactor, but tlie object of all our hopes, 
 the power of obligation is still further increased. 
 To disobey a being whom we ought to obey, would 
 be wrong ; to disobey that being, if he was our self- 
 denying benefactor, would be ingratitude added to 
 the "wrong; and to disobey that behig, if from him 
 we hoped for all future good, would be to add nn- 
 worthiness to wrong and ingratitude : thus, faith 
 in Christ Jesus combines tlie sense of wrong, of 
 ingratitude, and unworthiness, in the rebuke which 
 conscience gives to the delinquent believer ; and
 
 142 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 obedience to the Eedeemcr's examiDle and precepts 
 is enforced by the united power of duty, gratitude, 
 and hope. 
 
 Fm-ther, and finally — Conscience recognises the 
 fact that our obligation of gratitude is in proportion 
 to the benefit conferred. If a benefactor has 
 endured great sacrifices and self-denials to benefit 
 us, the obligation of gratitude binds us the more 
 strongly to respect the will and feelings of that 
 individual. Conscience feels the obligation of 
 gratitude just in j^roportion to the self-denials and 
 sacrifices made in our behalf. If a friend risks his 
 interest to the amount of a dollar, or an hour of 
 time, to benefit us, the obligation of gratitude upon 
 the conscience is light, but still there is a sense of 
 obligation ; but if a friend risks his life, and wades 
 through deep afiiictions, to confer benefits, the 
 universal conscience of man would affirm the obli- 
 gation, and would reprobate the conduct of tlie 
 individual benefited, as base and unnatural, if he 
 did not ever after manifest an affectionate regard 
 for the interests and the desires of his benefactor. 
 
 Thus, by faith in Jesus Clmst, the conscience is 
 not only guided by a perfect rule, but it is likewise 
 quickened and empowered by a perfect sense of 
 obligation. Christ is the Divine Lawgiver ; therefore 
 it is right to obey him. He is our Benefactor; 
 gratitude, therefore, requires obedience : but as our 
 Benefactor he has endured the utmost self-denial 
 and sacrifice for our sake, therefore we are under 
 the utmost obligation of gi*atitude to return selt- 
 denial and sacrifice for his sake ; or, in the words 
 of an apostle, " He died for all, that they which live 
 should not henceforth live imto themselves, but 
 unto liim which died for them, and rose again ;" and, 
 added to this, our hope of all future good rests in 
 the same Being that right and gratitude require us
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 143 
 
 to obey and love. Thus does a perfect faith in 
 Christ perfect the conscience of believers, by guid- 
 ing, quickening, and by producing a perfect sense 
 of obligation. 
 
 3. The injiuenee of faith in Christ tqyon the 
 imagination. — There are few exercises of the mind 
 frauglit with so much evil, and yet so little regarded, 
 as that of an evil imagination. Many individuals 
 spend much of theii- time in a laboiu* of spuit which 
 is vain and useless, and often very luntful to the 
 moral character of the soul. The spirit is borne off 
 upon the wings of an active imagination, and ex- 
 j)atiates among ideal conceptions that are improba- 
 ble, absurd, and sinful. Some people spend about 
 as much time in day dreams as they do in night 
 dreams. Imaginations of popularity, pleasure, or 
 wealth, employ the minds of worldly men, and 
 perchance the Christian dreams of wealth, and of 
 magnificent plans of benevolence, or of schemes 
 less pious in their character. It is difficult to con- 
 vey a distinct idea of the evil under consideration, 
 without supposing a case like the following : 
 
 One day while a young man was employed 
 silently about his usual pursuits, he imagined a 
 train of circumstances by which he supposed him- 
 self to be put in possession of gi'eat wealth; and 
 then he imagined that he would be the master of a 
 splendid mansion suiTounded with grounds devoted 
 to profit and amusement — he would keep horses 
 and conveyances that would be perfect in aU points, 
 and servants that woidd want nothing iu faithful- 
 ness or affection — he would be great in the eyes of 
 men, and associate with the great among men, and 
 render himself admired or honoured by his genera- 
 tion. Thus his soul wandered, for hours, amid the 
 ideal creations of his own fancy. 
 
 Now, much of men's time, when their attention
 
 144 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 might bo employed by useful topics of thought, is 
 thus spent in building ' castles in the air.' Some 
 extraordinary circumstance is thought of by which 
 tliey might bo enriched, and then hours are wasted 
 in foolishly imagining the manner in which they 
 would expend their imaginary funds. Such excur- 
 sions of the fancy may be said to be comparatively 
 innocent, and they are so, compared with the more 
 guilty exercises of a great portion of mankind. 
 The mind of the politician and the partisan divine 
 is employed in forming schemes of triumph over 
 their opponents. The minds of the votaries of 
 fashion, of both sexes, are employed in imagining 
 displays and triumphs at home and abroad ; and 
 those of them who are vicious at heart, not having 
 their attention engaged by any usefid occupation, 
 pollute their souls by cherishing imaginary scenes 
 of folly and lewdness. And not only the worthless 
 votaries of the world, but likewise the followers of 
 the holy Jesus, are sometimes led captive by an 
 imsanctilied imagination. Not that they indidge, 
 in the sinfid reveries which characterise the un- 
 regenerate sons and daughters of time and sense ; 
 but tlieir thoughts wander to unprofitable topics, 
 and wander at times when they should be fixed on 
 those truths which have a sanctifying efficacy upon 
 the heart. In the solemn a-ssemblies for public 
 worship, many of those whose bodies are bowed 
 and their eyes closed in token of reverence for God, 
 are yet mockhig their Maker by assuming the 
 external semblance of worshijipcrs, while their souls 
 are away wandering amid a labyrinth of irrelevant 
 and sinful thought. 
 
 It is not affirmed that the exercises of the imagi- 
 nation arc necessarily evil. Imagination is one of 
 the noblest attributes of the human spirit; and there, 
 is something in the fact, that the soul has power to 1
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 145 
 
 cr^te, by its own combinations, scenes of rare 
 beauty, and of perfect happiness, nnsullied by the 
 imperfections which pertain to earthly things, that 
 indicates not only its nobility, but perhaps its future 
 life, ^yhen the imagination is employed in paint- 
 ing the beauties of nature, or in collecting the 
 beauties of sentiment and devotion, and in grouping 
 them together by the sweet measures of poetry, its 
 exercises have a benign influence upon the spiiit. 
 It is like presenting ' apples of gold in pictures of 
 silver' for the survey of the soul. The imagination 
 may degrade and corrupt, or it may elevate and 
 refine the feelings of the heart. The inquiry, then, 
 is important, How may the exercises of the imagi- 
 nation be controlled and directed so that their 
 influence upon the soul shall not be injurious, but 
 ennobling and puiifying ? Would fail:h in Christ 
 turn the sympathies of the soul away from those 
 gifted but guilty minds — 
 
 " "Whose poisoned song 
 Would blend the bounds of right and wrong ; 
 And hold, with svreet but cursed art, 
 Their incantations o'er the heart, 
 Till every pulse of pure desire 
 Throbs with the glow of passion's fire, 
 And love, and reason's mild control, 
 Yield to the simoon of the soul?" 
 
 When the conscience had become purified and 
 quickened, it would be a check upon the erratic 
 movements of the imagination ; and when the dis- 
 position was corrected, it Mould be disinclined to 
 every unholy exercise; so that, in the believer, the 
 disinclination of the will and the disapprobation of 
 the conscience would be powerfid aids in bringing 
 into subjection the imaginative faculty. But, more 
 than this, faith in Christ would have a direct influ- 
 ence in correcting the evils of the imagination. It 
 is a law of mind, that the subiect which interests au
 
 148 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 individual most, subordinates all otlier subjects to 
 itself, or removes them from the mind and assumes 
 their place. As a group of persons, who might be 
 socially conversing iqwn a variety of topics, if some 
 venerable individual should enter and introduce an 
 absorbing subject, in which all felt interested, minor 
 topics would l3e forgotten in the interest created by 
 the master subject; — so when 'Christ crucified' 
 enters the presence-chamber of the believer's soul, 
 the high moral powers of the mind bow aroimd in 
 obeisance ; and even imagination folds her starry 
 wings around her face, and bows before Immanuel. 
 When the cross of Christ becomes the central sub- 
 ject of the soul, it has jjower to chasten the imagi- 
 nation, and subdue its waywardness by the sublime 
 exhibition of the bleeding- mercy in the atonenrent. 
 The apostle perceived the efficacy of the cross in 
 subduing vain reasoning and an evil imagination, 
 and alludes to it in language possessing both 
 strength and beauty, as " casting down imagina- 
 tions, and every high thing that exalteth itself 
 against the knowledge of God, and [mark] bring- 
 ing into captivity every thought to tlie obedience 
 of Christ." 
 
 That these views are not idle speculations, but 
 truthful realities, is affirmed by the exj)erienco of 
 every Christian. Wlicn the imagination is wander- 
 ing to unprofitable or forbidden subjects, all tliat is 
 necessary in order to break the chain of evil sugges 
 tion, and introduce into the mind a profitable train 
 of thought, is to turn the eye of the soul upon the 
 " Ijamb of God, wliich taketh away tlie sin of tho 
 world." By the presence of this delightful and 
 sacred idea every \inworthy and hurtful thought 
 will be awed out of tlie mind. 
 
 Thus does faith in the blessed Jesus control and 
 purify the imagination of believers.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. HI 
 
 4. The influence of faith in Glirist upon the life : 
 leading man to such conduct as loill eventually ac- 
 complish the salvation of the ivhole human family. 
 
 It is certain that men liave all the faculties, 
 which, if rightly dii-ected, would be necessary to 
 enable them to benefit and bless each other. Sup- 
 pose one individual did all in his joower to do others 
 good and make them happy, who can limit the 
 amount of consolation which that man might im- 
 part to the children of want and sorrow ; or the 
 amount of light he might shed ujion the minds of 
 the ignorant ; or the rebukes and warnings he 
 might sound in the ears of those who persisted in 
 sin ? Suppose a whole community of such indivi- 
 duals, denying themselves the selhsh ease and 
 worldly pleasures which the children of this world 
 seek after, and devoting their lives to spread aroimd 
 them the blessings and benefits of the gospel — 
 should individuals or communities desire thus to 
 devote their lives to benevolence instead of selfish 
 effort — it is certain the Creator has endowed them 
 with every faculty necessary to the accomplishment 
 of such a work. " They have hearts to love then' 
 fellow-men : they have reason and knowledge to 
 Icai'n themselves, and then to instruct others. They 
 can travel to where the ignorant and the needy 
 dwell, either at home or abroad : or, if they feel 
 disqualified personally to do this, they have hands 
 to labour for the means to send others on errands 
 of benevolence throughout the world. That men 
 have been created with the faculties, therefore, to 
 difiuse the blessings which they possess, thi'oughout 
 the v/orld, no one can doubt. 
 
 But, secondly. Men are so constituted, that the 
 exercise of those faculties, in a manner that would 
 bless others, would likewise produce a blessing in
 
 148 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 their own souls. It is a fact in experience, as well 
 as philosophy, that the exercise of any power of the 
 soul, gives increased strength to that power. By 
 exercising their selfish and malevolent feelings, 
 men become continually more sellish and malevo- 
 lent; while, on the contrary, by exercising self- 
 denial and the benevolent feelings, men become 
 continually more benevolent. Selfishness, all admit, 
 is an evil in the heart. Self-denial is its antagonist 
 principle ; and it is by invigorating the latter by 
 exercise, that the former evil principle is to be eradi- 
 cated. It would, therefore, be the greatest benefit 
 to those who possessed blessings, to induce them to 
 exercise benevolence by communicating them to 
 others. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that not only the greatest 
 good of the guilty and the ignorant, requu-e self- 
 denying benevolence, in those who have the means 
 and the power to enlighten and guide them to truth 
 and happiness ; but likewise, that the greatest good 
 of those possessing blessings, is, to impart them to 
 others. " It is more blessed to give than to receive :" 
 because, by the exercise of self-denial to do good, 
 benevolence is strengthened in the soul ; and from 
 benevolent exorcises arises the blessedness of the 
 spirit. Men are constantly making sacrifices to 
 advance their own aggrandizement, and thus, by 
 increasing their own selfishness, they make them- 
 selves more miserable: the great end to be gained, 
 is to lead them to make sacrifices for others, and 
 thus, with othei-8, bless tliemselves. 
 
 Now, no one doubts that the whole human 
 family, in tlie days of Christ, needed the blessing 
 of an enliglitening and purifying religion. And no 
 oue doubts tliat tlie ultimate end of a religion from 
 lioaven would bo the greatest ultimate good of the 
 entire race. Three thiugs, then, are obvious : 1.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 140 
 
 Tliat a religion from heaven would be designed ulti- 
 mately to bless the whole world. 2. That the best 
 good of mankind, as a family, required that they 
 should be the instruments in disseminating this 
 religion among themselves. 3. That the principle 
 of self-denial, or denying ourselves the ease and 
 pleasures of selfishness, in order to perform acts of 
 benevolence, is the gi-eat principle by which the 
 operation of spreading this religion woidd be 
 carried on. 
 
 Now, Jesus Christ professed to give a universal 
 spiritual religion ; one which encii'cled in its design, 
 and was to bless by its influence, the whole family 
 of man ; and faith"^he set forth as the gi-eat motive- 
 ])ower of the whole plan. The C[uestion then is — 
 Would faith in Christ lead men to that method of 
 living and acting, and to the possession of those 
 views and feelings which would make them instru- 
 mental in benefiting each other, and which would 
 destroy selfishness and promote the happiness and 
 interest of the whole family of man, in accordance 
 with the tlii-ee principles above specified ? 
 
 1. It has been shown that the example and 2)re- 
 cepts of Christ become the guide to conscience, and 
 the rule of faith and practice for all believers. What, 
 then, has Christ said and done to induce men to do 
 each other good, and to unite the race of man in 
 one harmonious and hapjiy family ? 
 
 The gospel of Christ j^ossesses all the character- 
 istics of a universal religion. It is adapted to hu- 
 man nature: not to any particular countri/ or class 
 of men; but, as has been shown, to the nature of the 
 race. Its truths are intelligible, and may be un- 
 derstood by all men, and transferred into all lan- 
 guages. It is spiritual in its character; designed 
 to affect the mind and heart of man ; so that 
 wherever intelligent beings are to be found, there
 
 150 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 it may be introduced into the heart by faith, to cor- 
 rect the spiritual evils of theii- nature, and produce 
 happiness in the soul.* 
 
 The precepts and teaching of Jesus are designed 
 and adapted to harmonize the race of man into one 
 happy family. Instead of the abominations and 
 folly of polytheism, he presented before the minds 
 of men one common object of worship ; and so ex- 
 hibited the character of that object, by presenting 
 before the world a grand spectacle of self-denying 
 mercy, that the exhibition was adapted to attract 
 the attention of all, and draw all hearts to one 
 centre of affection. 
 
 In all his instructions to regulate the conduct of 
 men, he viewed them as bretliren of the same great 
 family, and taught them to consider themselves as 
 such. No retaliation was to be offered for injuries 
 received, l3ut the injured child was to appeal only 
 to the great Parent of the family. No one might 
 treat another as his enemy : and no one was to 
 cease in efforts to do good to another, unless he per- 
 ceived that those efforts were treated with contempt, 
 and instead of benefiting, had a liardening eli'ect 
 upon the heart. 
 
 2. Their lives were to be spent in efforts to im- 
 part those blessings which they possessed, to their 
 brethren of the human family who possessed them 
 not. Instead of the unliallowed and anxious struggle 
 which worldly men manifest to raise themselves to 
 power over their fellows, their efforts were to be 
 directed to the opposite end ; to raise the ignorant 
 and the needy to the enjoyment of the blessings and 
 privileges whicli they possessed. 
 
 This active and constant effort to extend the 
 blessings which they possessed to others, and to re- 
 lieve men from their vices and ignorance, was not 
 • See Reinhard's Plan : sec. 17, 22.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 151 
 
 to stop with their own kindred, or nation, or tongue, 
 nor to be restricted to the gi-ateiul, or the deserving; 
 in this respect, their philanthropy was to bo mo- 
 delled after that of their heavenly Father, who 
 caiiseth his sun to shine upon the just and the un- 
 just. It was to continue during life ; and to extend 
 to the ends of the earth. And in proportion as 
 men were found in a condition of ignorance and 
 want, in the same proportion they were to make 
 benevolent exertions to elevate and bless them. 
 
 Now, every one can see, that if these precepts 
 were obeyed, strife between individuals and nations 
 would cease, and the glorious process of benevo- 
 lent effort would go on, until the last benighted 
 mind was enlightened, and the last corrupted heart 
 purified by the power of the faith of Christ. 
 
 It was necessary, in connexion with these ijrecepts, 
 that some motive should he presented to cause men to 
 deny themselves, in order to act in accordance with 
 them. Now it has been shown that the believer 
 acts in view of the character and will of Jesus, 
 Christ, therefore, in order to give these precepts 
 moving jiower upon the souls of men, identified 
 liimself with his needy creatures, and sanctioned 
 the duty which he prescribed to others, by confor- 
 mity to it himself, so that these precepts, given to 
 govern men's conduct in this life, he made the rule 
 of judgment in heaven's court of equity, and by 
 them the decision ^vill be made out, which will 
 settle, finally, the spiritual destiny of men. " In- 
 asmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these 
 my brethren, ye did it not unto me." Thus Christ 
 identifies himself with the most needy of mankind, 
 and receives an act of kindness done to them, as done 
 to liimseK. When the love of Christ, therefore, con 
 strains men, he has so exliibited his will, that it con- 
 strains them to act for the good of each other. Those
 
 152 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 that love Jesus, therefore, and expect his favour, 
 must serve him hy doing good to others. 
 
 Moreover, Christ has sanctioned these precepts 
 by his own example. His life was a life of self- 
 denying labour, for the benefit of our race ; and his 
 command to every one is — Deny thyself, take up 
 thy cross, and follow me. Thus, by Christ's pre- 
 cejDts, by his example, and especially by his identi- 
 fying himself with those in need, that method of 
 life is sanctioned, which alone coidd malce man the 
 benefactor of his fellows — unite the human family 
 in one happy brotherhood — and make them blessed 
 in doing each other good, in the faith of Clirist. 
 
 Those that love Jesus will desire to do his will — 
 will find tbeir happiness in obeying him — and that 
 will is, that they should labour to benefit his crea- 
 tures. Those who believe in and love Jqsus, will 
 have their conscience regulated by his precepts and 
 example. Thus, the conscience of believers is set, 
 (if I may so express it,) so that it will regulate the 
 movement of their life in such a manner, as finally 
 to woik out the salvation of a world lying in 
 wickedness. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that faith in Jesus Christ is 
 directly designed and adapted to strengthen men's 
 benevolent attections, and to produce in believers 
 that active desire and eflbrt for the good of others, 
 which will necessarily produce the dissemination of 
 the light and love of tlje gospel throughout the 
 whole habitable world.
 
 CHAPTER XVIT. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DESIGN AND THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 1. PRAYER. 
 
 It has been shown that, constituted as we are, the 
 manifestations made of the character and attributes 
 of God in the Scriptures, are adapted to produce 
 the greatest good in tlie human sj)irit ; and, in 
 order that that good may be effected, it is necessary 
 that the tniths of the Scriptiure be brought into 
 contact with the soul that it may be impressed and 
 influenced by them. The truths and manifestations 
 of revelation are the elements of moral power, 
 which, apprehended by faith, are effective in puri- 
 fying the fountain of life in the soid, and in rectify- 
 ing and regulating its exercises; it follows, therefore, 
 that the requii-ement to bring those truths before 
 the mind in a particular manner, would be a duty 
 necessarily connected with the revelation of the 
 doctrines, as directions for taking the medicine are 
 connected with the prescription of a physician into 
 whose hands a patient has submitted himself. Now, 
 jjrayer, or worship, is one method by which the 
 truths and manifestations of revelation are dii-ectly 
 brought before the contemplation of the soul. 
 Prayer brings the mind to the immediate contem- 
 plation of God's character, and holds it there, till 
 by comparison and aspiration the beUever's soul is 
 properly impressed, and his wants properly felt.
 
 154 THILOSOPHY OP 
 
 Tlie more subtle physical processes and affinities 
 become, the better are the analogies which they 
 furnish of jirocesses in tlie spiritual world. The 
 influence of believing prayer has a good analogy in 
 the recently discovered Daguerreotype. By means 
 of this process, the features of natural objects are 
 throM-n upon a sensitive sheet through a lens, and 
 leave their impression upon that sheet. So when 
 the chai-acter of God is, by means of prayer, 
 brought to bear upon the mind of the believer — 
 that mind being rendered sensitive by the Holy 
 Spirit — it impresses there the Divine image. 
 In this manner the image of Christ is formed in 
 the soul, the existence of which the Scriptures 
 represent as inspiring the believer with the hope of 
 
 In the introductory clmpter it was sliown that the 
 imi)ulse wliich leads men to worship proves a cui'se 
 to the soul, where the objects worshipped are un- 
 holy, and that the only remedy for the evil was the 
 revelatio]! of a holy object for the supreme homage 
 of the hvmian soul. So soon as a righteous and 
 benevolent God is presented before the mind, then 
 prayer becomes a blessing instead of a curse to the 
 soul. Look at the subject in the form of a syllogism — ■ 
 
 Man, by Avorshipping, becomes assimilated to the 
 moral character of the object that he worships : 
 
 Tlie God of the Bible, as manifest in Christ Jesus, 
 is the only perfectly righteous and perfectly benevo- 
 lent being ever worshipped by man : 
 
 Therefore, man can become righteous and 
 benevolent in no other way but by that wor- 
 sliij) which will assimilate him to the God of the 
 Jiiblc. 
 
 And further, as it has been demonstrated that 
 rigliteousness and benevolence produce the recti 
 tude and the hai)piness — the greatest good — of the
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 155 
 
 soul, man can gain the great end of his heing only 
 by that worship which assimilates his nature to tlie 
 moral image of God. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that prayer is a necessary 
 and most important means of grace — a duty grow- 
 ing out of the nature of the case, and a duty upon 
 which depends, in a gi-eat measure, the well-being 
 of the human spirit. The apostle miderstood the 
 j^hilosophy of this subject \\hen he said — " But we 
 all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the 
 glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, 
 from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the 
 Lord." Therefore it is tliat the commandment tliat 
 men should pray is pi'esented in the Bible in every 
 variety of language ; and it is constantly repeated 
 by the inspired writers and by the Son of God liim- 
 self, who commended, by his 2)recepts and example, 
 private, social, and public prayer; and who taught 
 by a parable that " men ought always to pray and 
 not to famt." 
 
 The itnjjortance of strong desire and imiwrtunity in 
 jrrayer. 
 
 It is impossible to produce gi-atefid feelings by 
 granting a benefit for which the recipient has no 
 desire. If a child asked for bread when it was not 
 hungiy, and if, while the child had no feeling of 
 want, its unfelt request was answered by its father, 
 it coidd neither apin-eciate the gift, nor be giateful 
 for it. The soul is so constituted, as has been fully 
 shown, that it must really feel tlie need of tlie 
 benefit, before it can appreciate its importance, or 
 be grateful for the favour received. So it is in the 
 case of the suppliant in i)rayer : if he has an 
 anxious desire, a spirit of importunate solicitude, 
 for the blessing which he asks, when he receives it,
 
 150 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 gratitude and praise will, as the consequence of 
 gratified desire, spring up in the heart. Now, mark, 
 if there was not a feeling of importunate desire in 
 the mind of the suppliant, God could not be glori- 
 fied, nor the creature benefited, by an answer to 
 prayer. God could not be glorified, because his 
 goodness would not be felt and acknowledged in 
 the answer. And the creatiu-e could not be bene- 
 fited, because it is the feeling of gratitude and 
 praise in his own heart which constitutes the 
 spiritual blessing, so far forth as the suppliant 
 himself is concerned ; and this exercise is never 
 produced, only so far as it is preceded by de- 
 pendent and anxious desire for the blessing 
 sought. "When tlie supplication is for spiritual 
 blessing upon another individual, two minds are 
 blessed by the answer, the individual prayed for, 
 and the individual who prays. And if a thousand 
 individuals desired spiritual mercies for that soul, 
 God would be glorified by a thousand hearts, and a 
 thousand hearts would be reciprocally blessed by 
 the answer. The time may come, when all the 
 angels in heaven, and all the saints upon earth, will 
 be blessed by mercy bestowed upon a single indi- 
 vidual ; when the last unregenerated sinner stands 
 in solitary and awful rebellion upon the earth, 
 should tidings be circulated through earth and 
 heaven that he had submitted himself to God, and 
 that his aflcctions bcgau to take hold on Christ, 
 every being in the universe, who had strongly de- 
 sired the conversion of the last sinner, would feel 
 tlie thrill of "glory to God and good-will to men," 
 arise in liis soul. It follows, therefore, that a fer- 
 vent, imiiortunate state of mind, is, from the 
 nature of the case, necessary, in order that God 
 may be glorified, and man blessed, by the duty 
 of prayer. It was in view of these constitutional
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATIOX. 157 
 
 principles that Jesus constantly taught the ne- 
 cessity of desire and importunity, in order that 
 mercies might be received in answer to the suppli- 
 cation of saints. •:< 
 
 The importance of faith and a spirit of dependence 
 upon God, as concomitants of accepitahle jjrayer. 
 
 The necessity of faith, as a primary element in 
 all acceptable rehgious exercises, has ah'eady been 
 noticed. A feeling of entire dependence upon 
 God for spiritual mercies is the only right feeling, 
 because it is the only true feeling. As a matter 
 of fact, the soul is eiitii-ely dependent u2)on God 
 for spiiltual mercies; truth, therefore, requires 
 that our dependence should be acknowledged and 
 felt. 
 
 But, further, without faith in God as the imme- 
 diate bestower of mercies in answer to prayer, he 
 could not be honoured for blessings received. Sup- 
 pose two individuals desired with equally strong 
 feelings the same blessing, and that both received 
 it; each would rejoice alike in its reception: but 
 suppose there was this difference in their state of 
 mind, one regarded the blessing as coming imme- 
 diately from God in answer to prayer, the other did 
 not. The result would be, that the one who had 
 faith in God would be filled with love to his Maker 
 for the mercy — the other would rejoice in himself; 
 or, at least, he would not rejoice in God. In the 
 one case, God would be honoured and praised for 
 his acts of grace ; in the other he would neither 
 be honoured nor loved for his goodness. We do 
 not present this illustration as applicable in all 
 its bearings, because we do not suppose that 
 
 * Matt. Y, 6; Luke xl. 5-10, andxviil. 1—14.
 
 158 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 the iinregenerate ever truly desire spiiitiial bless- 
 ing till thoy are convicted of sin ; but it will 
 make tlie j^oint clear to the reason of every one, 
 that Grod cannot be honoured without faith ; and, 
 therefore, *' without ftiith it is impossible to jdease 
 him." 
 
 It is necessary, according to the foregoing view 
 of the subject, in order to offer acceptable prayer, 
 that men should possess a spirit of faith and de- 
 2)ondence upon Christ. The principle upon wliich 
 Christ acted in relation to this subject,- as well as 
 his instruction concerning the duty of prayer, fully 
 confirm the preceding thoughts. He seldom per- 
 formed an act of mercy, by miracle or otherwise, 
 unless those who received the mercy could see the 
 hand of God in the blessing : — " If thou canst be- 
 lieve thou mayest be cleansed," was his habitual 
 sentiment. — As if he had said — Your desire for the 
 blessing is manifest by your urgent requests ; now, 
 if you can have faith to see God in the blessing, so 
 that lie will be honoured and praised for conferring 
 it, I will grant it ; but if you have no faith, you can 
 receive no favour. 
 
 And, again, in order that the believer might be 
 brought into a state of dependence, and have his 
 faith quickened every time that ho presented his 
 supidications to God, Jesus said, looking forward to 
 the time when lie would have perfected his ministry 
 and atonement — "In that day ye shall ask me 
 nothing, — whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my 
 name" — that is, depending on mo, the atoning, in- 
 terceding Saviour — " lie will do it ;" and in another 
 place he promised, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
 name, that will I do." Thus docs the instruction 
 of the Saviour, make the believer entirely dependent 
 upon liimsuh' when ho approaches the mercy-seat 
 of the Most High. As tho Jews were constantly to
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 159 
 
 call to mind the deliverance from Egypt, in order 
 that their feelings might be moved to love, de^iend- 
 ence and laith towards their temporal deliverer, so 
 the Christian is to call to mind the deliverance from 
 spiritual bondage, by the sacrifice of Christ, in order 
 that they may realise their dependence, and be in- 
 spired with a spirit of faith and love towards their 
 spiritual Deliverer. And because believers can thus 
 depend upon Christ, and feel the mercy of God as 
 it is manifested in the atonement, they are consti- 
 tuted priests " to otfer up spiritual sacrifices, ac- 
 ceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 
 
 2. — PRAISE, 
 
 The truth which has been demonstrated in pre- 
 vious chapters is again assumed, that the manifes- 
 tations of God, in Christ Jesus, Vv'ould, when brought 
 into eflicient contact ^^ith the soul, produce that 
 active holiness in the heart, which is man's greatest 
 good. And as the end to be accomplislied depends, 
 under God, on those truths which are develoi)ed in 
 the great plan of mercy being impressed upon the 
 mind and the lieart, it follows that those means 
 would be used, which, from then- nature, arc best 
 adapted to give inlluence and impressiveness to the 
 great truths of revelation. 
 
 The influence of music upon the emotions of 
 the soul is well known to every one — 
 
 " There is in souls a sympatliy with sounds"— 
 
 the soul is awakened, and invited by the spirit of 
 the melody to receive the sentiment uttered in the 
 song. Sweet, affecting music — not tlie tone of 
 the piano, nor the peals of the organ — but a melo- 
 dious air, sung by strong and well-discii)]inej 
 voices, and accompanied by the fiute and viol —
 
 ICO PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 siicli music reaches the fountains of tliought and 
 feeling, and, 
 
 " Untwisting all the links that tie 
 The hidden soul of harmony," 
 
 it tinges the emotions with its own hues, whether 
 plaintive or joyous ; and it fosters in the heart 
 the sentiment which it conveys, whetlier it be love 
 of country, or of God, admiration of noble achieve- 
 ment, or of devoted and self-sacriticing affection. 
 
 The power of music to fix in the memory the 
 sentiment with which it is connected, and to foster 
 it in the heart, has been understood in all ages of 
 the world. Some of the early legislators wrote 
 their laws in verse, and sang them in j)ublic 
 places. And many of the earliest sketches of pri- 
 mitive history are in the measures of l}Tic poetry. 
 In this manner the memory was aided in retaining 
 the facts ; the ear was invited to attend to them ; 
 imagination threw around them the drapery of 
 beauty, dignity, or power; and then, music con- 
 veyed the sentiment, and mingled it with the emo- 
 tions of the soul. It was in view of the power of 
 music when united with sentiment adapted to 
 afiect the heart, that one has said, " Permit me to 
 write the ballads of a nation, and I care not who 
 makes her laws." 
 
 When tlie effects of music and poetry upon the 
 soul are considered, we can perceive their import- 
 ance as a means of fostering the Christian virtues 
 in the soul of the believer. They should be used 
 to convey to tlie mind sublime and elevating con- 
 ceptions of the attributes of Jehovah — to imi^ress 
 the memory with the most affecting truths of revp- 
 lation, and especially to cherish in the heart tender 
 and vivid emotions of love to Christ, in view of 
 the manifestations of Divine justice and mercy
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. IGl 
 
 exhibited in his ministry, liis passion, and his 
 sacrifice.* 
 
 There cannot be found, in all the resources of 
 thought, material which would furnish sentiment for 
 music so subduing and overpowering as the history 
 of redemption. There is the lil'e of Jesus — a series 
 of acts Godlike in their benevolence, connected at 
 times with exhibitions of Divine power, and of human 
 character, in their most affecting aspects. And as 
 the scenes of Christ's eventful ministry converge 
 to the catastrophe, there is the tenderness of liis 
 love for the discij^les ; the last supper ; the scene 
 in Gethsemane; the Mediator in the hall of judg- 
 ment, exhibiting the dignity of truth and conscious 
 virlue, amidst the tempest of human passion by 
 which he is suiTounded. Then the awful moral 
 and elemental grandem* of the crucifixion; 
 the Saviour, nailed to the cross by his own 
 crcatui-es, crying, " Father, forgive them, for they 
 know not what they do;" and then, while darkness 
 shrouds the sun, and " nature, tln-ough all her 
 works, gives signs of woe," he cries, "It is finished ! 
 and gave up the ghost." Thus did the dark stream 
 of human depravity roll, 
 
 " Till a rainbow broke upon its gloom. 
 Which spanned the portals of the Saviour's tomb," 
 
 Such exhibitions of sublimity and power, when 
 clothed with the influence of music, and impressed 
 upon a heart rendered sensitive by Divine influence, 
 are adaj»te'.l to make the most al)iding and blessed 
 impressions 
 
 " "My heart, awake !— to feel is lo be fired ; 
 And to believe, lyorenzo, is to feel." 
 
 * "The proper draperj- for music is truth. It is its only ap- 
 parel, whether as applied to God, or as used for the cultivation 
 of man."— ii rasTjjas.
 
 162 mlLOSOPHY OF 
 
 It follows, from the preceding Yiews, that in 
 selecting the means to impress the mind with 
 religions truth, and the heart with pious senti- 
 ment, music and poetry could not be neglected'. 
 There is not in nature another means which would 
 compensate for the loss of their influence. We do 
 not mean to say that their influence is as gi-eat as 
 some other means in impressing the truths of 
 revelation upon the soul ; but their influence is 
 peculiar and delightful, and without it the system 
 of means would not be perfect. 
 
 We see, therefore, the reasons why music and 
 poetry were introduced as a means of impressing 
 revealed truth, both under the old and the new 
 dispensations. Moses not only made the laws, but 
 he made, likewise, the so-ngs of the nation. These 
 songs, in some instances, all the people were re- 
 quired to learn, in order that then* memoiy might 
 retain, and their heart feel, the influence of the 
 events recorded in their national anthems. 
 
 Music held a conspicuous place in the worship 
 of the temple; and under the new dispensation, it 
 is sanctioned by the express example of Jesus, and 
 specifically commanded hj the apostles : the exam- 
 ()l6 is given in connexion with the institution of 
 the eucharist, which was to commemorate the 
 most aficcting scene in the history of God's love ; 
 and the command is in such words a« indicate the 
 effects of music upon the heart : " Speaking to 
 yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
 songs, singing and making melody in your heart 
 to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things 
 imto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." Upon this subject, as upon some 
 others, the apostolic churches fell into some abuses; 
 yet the high praises of God and the Lamb have 
 always been celebrated in poetry and music by
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 103 
 
 the churcli of Clirist. One of the first notices of 
 the Cliristians by pagan writers, speaks of them as 
 "singing a hymn to Christ, as to a God;" thus 
 showing that the principles established in the pre- 
 ceding views were recognised by the early disciples, 
 who nsed mnsic as a means of fostering in their 
 ^parts love to the Saviour. 
 
 I'^As in the case of the primitive •Christians, so 
 §yery regenerated heart delights in snch spiritual 
 songs as speak of Clirist as an atoning Saviour. 
 And those only are qualified to write hymns for 
 the church whose hearts are affected by the love of 
 Jesus. On this account, some of the hymns of 
 Cowper, Charles Wesley, Watts, and Newton, will 
 last while the church on earth lasts, and jierhaps 
 longer. Thousands of Christian hearts have glowed 
 witli emotion, while they sang, 
 
 Tliere is a fountain fill'd with blood, 
 
 Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; 
 And sinners plung'd bsneath that flood 
 
 Lose all tlieir guilty stains. 
 
 Or, 
 
 Rock of Apes, cleft for nie, 
 Let me hide myself in Thee. 
 
 Thousands have been awakened to duty and to 
 prayer, by tliat solemn hymn. 
 
 I.o, on a narrow neck of land, 
 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand, 
 Yet how insensible ! 
 
 And it would not have been pof^sible for any but 
 Christian poet to have written the line^-, 
 
 Her noblest life my spirit draws 
 
 From his dear wounds and bleeding side.
 
 164 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 3. — PREACHING, 
 
 It has been said that the truths and manifesta- 
 tions of revelation are the elements of moral power, 
 which, being brought into efficient contact with the 
 soul, are effective in rectifying and regulating its 
 exercises. A medicine may be prepared in which 
 are inherent qualities adapted to remove a par- 
 ticular disease; but in order to the accomplishment 
 of its apj^ropriate effect, it must be brought to act 
 npon the body of the patient. And if the disease 
 has rendered the patient not only unconscious of 
 his danger, but has induced upon him a deep 
 lethargy of mind, it would be necessary that the 
 physician shoidd arouse his dormant faculties, in 
 order that he might receive the medicine which 
 would restore him to health. So with the moral 
 diseases of the soul ; the attention and sensibilities 
 of men must be awakened, in order that the truth 
 may affect their understanding, their conscience, 
 and their heart. Whatever, therefore, is adapted 
 to attract the attention and move the sensibilities, 
 at the same time that it conveys truth to the mind, 
 would be a means peculiarly efficient to impress 
 the gospel upon the soul. 
 
 There are but two avenues through which moral 
 truth reaches the soul. And there are but two 
 methods by which it can bo conveyed through 
 those avenues. By the living voice, truth is com- 
 municated through the ear ; and by the signs of 
 language it is communicated through the eye. 
 The first of these methods — the living voice — has 
 many advantages over all other means, in convey- 
 ing and impressing truth. It is necessary that 
 an individual sliould read with case in order to be 
 b^Mefited by what he reads. The efforts which a
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 105 
 
 Lad reader lias to make, both disincline liiin to the 
 task of reading, and hinder his api)reciation of 
 truth. Besides, a large proportion of the human 
 faimly cannot read, hut all can understand their 
 own language when spoken. In order, therefore, 
 that the whole human family might be instructed, 
 the hving speaker would be the first, and best, and 
 uatm-al metliod. 
 
 The living speaker has power to arrest attention 
 — to adapt his language and illustrations to the 
 character and occupation of his audience ; and 
 to accompany his communications with those 
 emotions and gestures, which are adapted to 
 arouse and impress his hearers. 
 
 It is evident, from these considerations, that 
 among the means which God would appoint to 
 disseminate his truth through the world, the living 
 teacher would hold a first and important place. — 
 This result is in conformity with the arrangements 
 of Jesus. He appointed a living ministry ; endowed 
 them with the ability to speak the languages of 
 other nations ; and commissioned them to go into 
 aU the world, and preach the gospel to every 
 creature. 
 
 In connexion with this subject, there is one other 
 inquiiy of importance. It concerns not only the 
 harmony of the gospel system wdth the nature of 
 things, but likewise the harmony of apostolic prac- 
 tice with what has been shown to be necessary in 
 order that the truths of the gospel might produce 
 their legitimate effect upon the mind. 
 
 It has been demonstrated that a sense of man's 
 guilt and danger must exist in the mind, before 
 there can be gratitude and love to the being who 
 removes the guilt and rescues from the danger. It 
 has hkewise been noticed, as a self-evident prin- 
 ciple, that, before repentance, there must be
 
 166 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 con\-iction of sin. A sense of guilt and error must 
 necessarily precede reformation of life. A man 
 cannot conscientiously turn from a course of life, 
 and repent of past conduct, unless he sees and feels 
 the error and the evil of that course from which he 
 turns. To suppose that a man would turn from 
 a course of life which he neither thought nor 
 felt to he wrong or dangerous, is to suppose an 
 absurdity : it follows, therefore, that the preacher's 
 first duty, in endeavouring to reclaim men to 
 holiness and to God, would he, in all cases, to 
 present such trutlis as were adapted to convict 
 their hearers of tlieir spiritual guilt and danger. 
 As God has constituted the mind, repentance fi-om 
 sin and attainment to holiness would for ever ho 
 imi:»ossible on any other conditions. 
 
 But the same truths would not convict all men 
 of sin. In order to convict any particular man, or 
 class of men, of sin, those facts must be fastened 
 upon with which they have associated the idea of 
 moral good and evil, and concerning which they 
 are i)articularly guilty. Thus, in the days of the 
 apostles, the Gentiles could not be convicted of sin 
 for rejecting and crucifying Christ ; but, it being a 
 fact in tlie case of the Jews, that all their ideas of 
 good and evil, both temporal and spiritual, were 
 associated with the Messiah, nothing in all the 
 catalogue of guilt woidd be adapted to convict 
 them of sin so jJowerfuUy, as the thought that they 
 liad despised and crucilied the Messiah of God. 
 
 Oji the other hand, the heathen, upon whom the 
 charge of rejecting Christ would have no influence, 
 could be convicted of sin only by showing thoni 
 the falsehood and folly of their idolatry ; the lioly 
 character of the true God, and the righteous nnd 
 spiritual nature of the law which tliey were bound 
 to obey, and by which they would finally be judged.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 107 
 
 The first preachers of tha gospel, tlierefore, in con- 
 formity with these principles, would aim first, and 
 directly, to convince then- hearers of theii- sins, and 
 in accomplishing this end, they would fasten upon 
 those facts in which the guilt of their hearers more 
 particularly consisted. And then, when men weie 
 thus convicted of tlieir guilt, the salvation through 
 Chiist from sin and its penalty, would he pressed 
 upon their anxious souls ; and tliey would he taught 
 to exercise faith in Jesus, as the meritorious cause 
 of life, pardon, and happiness. 
 
 Now, the apostolical histories fully confirm the 
 fact, that this course — the only one consistent with 
 truth, philosophy, and tlie nature of man — was the 
 course pursued hy the primitive preachers. 
 
 The first movement, after they were endowed 
 with the gift of tongues, and filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, was the sermon by Peter, on the day of 
 Pentecost, in which he directly charged the Jews 
 with the murder of the Messiah, and jn-oduced in 
 thousands of minds convictions of the most pungent 
 and overwhelming description. At Athens, Paul, 
 in preaching to the Gentiles, pursued a diflerent 
 course. He exposed the folly of their idolatry, by 
 appealing to their reason, and their own acknow- 
 ledged authorities. He spoke to them of the guilt 
 which they would incur if they refused, under the 
 light of the gospel, to forsake the errors which 
 God, on account of past ignorance, had overlooked. 
 He then closed by turning their attention to the 
 righteous retributions of the eternal world, and to 
 the appointed day when man would be judged by 
 Jesus Christ, according to his gospel. 
 
 The manner in which the apostles jjresented 
 Christ crucified to tlie penitent and convicted 
 sinner, as the object of faith, and the means of 
 pardon, and the hope of glory, is abundantly
 
 168 PHILOSOPHY OP THE PLA.N OF SALVATION. 
 
 exliibited in the Acts of the Apostles, and in their 
 several epistles to the churches. 
 
 Thus did God, by the appointment of the living 
 preacher as a means of spreading the gospel, adapt 
 himself to the constitution of his creatures: and 
 the apostles, moved by Divine guidance, likewise 
 adapted the truth wliich they preached to tlje 
 peculiar necessities and cu-cimistances of men.
 
 CHAPTER XV [II. 
 
 CONCERNING THE AGENCY OF GOD IN CARRYING ON 
 THE WORK OF REDEMPTION, AND THE MANNER IN 
 WHICH THAT AGKN'CY IS EXERTED. 
 
 God liaviiig thus devised the plan, and manifested 
 the truth, and instituted the means of redemption ; 
 the inquiry naturally presents itself — In what way 
 would he put the ])lan into operation, and give 
 efficiency to the means of grace ? 
 
 We cannot suppose that God would put his own 
 institution heyond his power, or that he would 
 leave it to he managed hy the imperfect wisdom 
 and the limited power of human instruments, God 
 would not prepare the material, devise the plan, 
 ada])t the parts to each other, furnish the instru- 
 ments for huilding, and then neglect to supervise 
 and complete the structure. God has put none of 
 his works heyond his power ; and especially in a 
 plan of which he is the Author and Architect, 
 reason suggests that he would guide it to its ac- 
 compiisliment. Tlie inquuy is — By v.hat agency, 
 and in what vvay, would the jDower of God he 
 exerted, in carrying into efficient oj^eration upon 
 the souls of men, the system of saving mercy ? 
 
 In relation to the character of the agency, the 
 solution is clear. The agoncy hy whicli the plan 
 of salvation would be carried forward to its 
 ultimate consummation would he spiritual in its 
 nature : because God is a Spirit, and the soul of
 
 170 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 man is a spirit, and tlic end to be accomplished is to 
 lead men to worship God "in spirit and in truth." 
 
 In relation to the mode of the Spirit's operation, 
 some things belong to that class of inquiries upon 
 which the mind may exert its powers in vain. — 
 The mode by which God communicates life to any 
 thing in the vegetable, animal, or spiritual world, 
 lies beyond the reach of the human intellect 
 But although man cannot imderstand the modus 
 operandi of the Divine mind, in communicating 
 life, yet the manifestations of life, and the medium 
 through which it operates, arc subjects 0]>en to 
 human examination. Whether the influence of 
 the Spirit be directly upon the soul, or mediately 
 by means of truth, the end accomplished would be 
 the same. The soul might be quickened to sec 
 and feel the i)ower of the truth ; or, by the Spirit, 
 truth might be rendered powerful to aflect the 
 soul. The wax might be softened to receive the 
 impression, or the seal heated, or a power exerted 
 upon it, to make the impression on the wax ; or, 
 both might be done, and still the result woidd bo 
 the same. It is not only necessary that the metal 
 shoidd be prepared to receive the imjiression of a 
 die, but it is likewise necessary that the die should 
 be prepared and adapted to tlie particular kind of 
 metal — the image and the superscription of the king 
 put upon it — the macliinery prepared and adapted 
 to hold the die and apply it to the metal, and after 
 all these tilings necessary arc done, the coin can 
 never bo made, inilcss power is exerted to strike 
 the die into the metal, or the motnl into the die. 
 So it is in the processes of the spiritual world ; the 
 material [mankind] must be prepared. The die 
 [the truth of the gospel system] must be revealed 
 and adapted to the material; and the image to bo 
 impressed upon human natiu-e [the Lord Jesus 
 G 3
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 171 
 
 Christ] and the superscription, [glory to God and 
 good-will to men] must be cut upon the die. Then 
 the means of bringing the truth into contact -^-ith 
 the material must be provided ; and, after all these 
 preparations and adaptations, there must be the 
 power of the Holy Spirit to guide the whole pro- 
 cess, and to form the image of Christ in the soul. 
 
 The foregoing is a complicated analogy, but not 
 more complicated than are the processes of the 
 animal and sph-itual world. Look at the human 
 body, with its thousands of adaptations, all of them 
 necessary to the system, the whole dependent upon 
 the use of means for the supply of animal life; 
 and yet deriving fj-om God its rational life, which 
 operates through and actuates the whole. In like 
 manner, the Spirit of God operates through and 
 guides the processes of the plan of salvation. 
 
 The Scriptures reveal the truth clearly, that the 
 Spirit of God gives eflGiciency to the means of grace. 
 And not only this, but he operates in accordance 
 with those necessary principles which have been 
 develoj)ed in the progress of these chapters. Christ 
 instructed his disciples to expect that he would 
 send the Holy Spirit, and when he is come, said 
 Jesus, " He will reprove the world of sin, of righte- 
 ousness, and of judgment;" that is, the Holy Spirit 
 will produce conviction of sin in the hearts of the 
 unsanctified and impenitent : — the office-work of 
 the Spirit of God in relation to the world, is to con- 
 vince of sin. In relation to the saints, he exercises 
 a different office. He is their Comforter. He takes 
 of the things that belong to Jesus, and shows them 
 to his 2>eople.* That is, he causes the people of 
 God to see more and more of the excellency, and 
 the glory, and the mercy manifested in a crucified 
 
 * John xvi. r— 14.
 
 172 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 Saviour ; aud, by this blessed influence, they gi'OW 
 in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ." 
 Christ, by his ministry and death, furnished the 
 facts necessary for human salvation: the Holy 
 Spirit uses those facts to convict and sanctify the 
 heart. Paul, in a passage already noticed, alludes 
 to the influence of the Spirit operating by the ap- 
 ].)ointed means of prayer, or devout meditation. 
 " But we all, with open face beholding as in a 
 glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
 same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
 Si)irit of the Lord," 
 
 Further: At what jimcture, in the progress of the 
 great ])ln.n of salvation, would this agency be most 
 powerfully exerted? We answer, at the time when 
 the whole moral machinery of the dispensation 
 tin-ough which the eifebt was to be ]n-oduced, was 
 completed. Whatever is designed and adapted to 
 produce a definite result as an instnnnent, nnist be 
 completed before it is put into operation, otlierwise 
 it will not produce the definite effect required. An 
 imperfect system pat into operation would produce 
 an imperfect result. Here a special effect was 
 to be produced ; it was necessary, tlierefore, that 
 tlie truth should be revealed, and the manifestations 
 all made, before the power was imparted to give 
 them effect. 
 
 Under the new dispensation, the greatest and 
 most imposing manifestations were the deatli, 
 resurrection, and ascension of Jesus : had the 
 system been put into operation before these crown- 
 ing manifestations were made, the great end of the 
 gospel would not have been accom])lished. It 
 follows, then, that tlic material would be first pre- 
 pared, the manifestations made and adapted to the 
 material, the ai)projniatc means ordained, and then 
 the agency of the Spirit would be introduced to
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 173 
 
 guide the dispensation to its ultimate triumphs, 
 and to give efficiency to its operations. 
 
 These deductions harmonize with the teachings 
 of the Scriptures. 
 
 First, They expressly teacli, that without the 
 agency of God, no perfect result is accomplished. 
 
 Secondly, They everywhere represent that the 
 Divine agency is exerted through the truth u])on 
 the soul, or exerted to awaken the soul to appre- 
 hend and receive the truth. 
 
 Thirdly, The Spirit was not fully communicated 
 until the whole economy of the gospel disj^ensation 
 was completed. The apostles were instructed to 
 assemble at Jerusalem after the ascension, and wait 
 till they were endued with power from on high. 
 On the day of Pentecost, the promised Spirit 
 descended. The apostles at once perceived the 
 spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom. Tliey spoke 
 in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power. 
 Men were convicted of sin in their hearts. Sinners 
 were converted to Christ, by repentance and faith ; 
 and under the guidance of that Divine Spirit, the 
 plan of salvation moves on to its high and glorious 
 consummation, when " the kingdoms of this world 
 shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
 Christ." " Amen : even so, come. Lord Jesus."
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CONCEKNING THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF THE 
 SYSTEM. 
 
 The evidence wliich the Lord Jesus Christ pro- 
 posed as proof of the Divinity of the gos^jel system, 
 was its practical effect upon individuals who receive 
 and ohey the truth. " If any man will do his will, lie 
 shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." 
 If a sick man calls a physician, who prescribes a 
 certain medicine, which, by his receiving it accord- 
 ing to the directions, cures him, he then knows both 
 the efficacy of the medicine, and the skill of the 
 physician. Experience is evidence to the Sc'iintsof 
 the Divinity of the system. And its eftccts, in re- 
 storing the soul to moral health, is evidence to the 
 world of the Divine efficacy and power of its 
 doctrines. " By thek fruits ye shall know them." 
 In closing our volume, therefore, we have now only 
 briefly to inquire what ara the ascertained j)ractical 
 effertts of faith in Christ? 
 
 We shall not refer to the moral condition of man 
 in coimtries under the inffiicnce of the gospel, com- 
 pared with his condition in pagan lands. We will 
 not dwell upon the fact which, of itself, is sufficient 
 to establish at once and for ever the Divine origin 
 of evangelical religion, and the truth of the dis- 
 tinctive views developed in the preceding chapters — 
 that the most holy men and women that have ever 
 lived, have been those who exercised most constant
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 175 
 
 and implicit faitli in Christ. Passing these facts, 
 important in themselves, we will close our volume 
 by a statement of facts concerning the present 
 influence of faith in Christ npon individuals now 
 living, and subject to the examination of any one 
 who might be sceptical npon the subject. 
 
 The following is a true statement of the influence 
 of the religion of Jesus npon several individual 
 members of a village church in one of the United 
 States. It is composed of members of common in- 
 telligence, and those in the common walks of life. 
 Other chinches might have been selected in which, 
 perliaps, a greater number of interesting cases might 
 have been found. And there are other individuals 
 in this church that would furnish as good an illus- 
 tration of the power of the gospel as some of those 
 which are noticed below. This church has been 
 selected, because the writer had a better opportu- 
 nity of visiting it in order to obtain the facts, than 
 any other in which he knew the power of the reli- 
 gion of Christ was experienced. 
 
 With the individuals spoken of I am well ac- 
 quainted, having frequently conversed with them 
 all, on the subjects of which I shall speak. Their 
 words in all cases may not have been remembered, 
 but the sense is truly given. 
 
 Case I. — An old man, who has been a professor 
 of religion from early life. He was once a deacon, 
 or elder, of the chm-ch. Twenty years ago he was 
 struck with paralysis, by which he has been ever 
 since confined almost entirely to his room. His 
 situation is one that, to a mind which had no in- 
 ward consolation, would l)0 irksome in the extreme. 
 His books are the Bible and one or two volumes of 
 the old divines. He is patient and happy ; 'and 
 speaking of the love of Christ almost invariably 
 suiiiises his eyes with tears. He delights to dwell
 
 176 PHILOSOPHY OB 
 
 on religious subjects; and to talk with a jiious 
 friend of the topics which his heart loves, gives him 
 evident delight. Eecently, his aged companion, 
 who had trodden the path of life with him, from 
 youth to old age, died in his lu-esence. She died, 
 what is called by Christians, a triumphant death ; 
 lier last words Avere addressed to her children who 
 stood around — "I see the cross" — a gleam of plea- 
 sure passed over her features, her eyes lighted up 
 with peculiar brightness, she said, " Blessed Jesus, 
 the last hour is come : I am ready !" and thus she 
 departed. At her death, the old man wept freely, and 
 wept aloud ; but his sorrow, ho said, was mingled 
 with a sweet joy. How desolate would have been 
 the condition of this poor cripple for the last twenty 
 years without the consolations of faith in Clmst ! 
 And when his aged companion died, who had for 
 years sat by his side, how appalling woidd have 
 hecn the gloom that would have settled upon his 
 soul, had not his mind been sustained by heavenly 
 hope ! His case shows that the reUgion of Christ 
 will keep the aifections warm and tender even to 
 the latest periods of old age, and give happiness to 
 the soul under circumstances of the most severe 
 temporal bereavement. 
 
 Case 2. — A converted atheist. I knew that 
 there were those in the world who professed to 
 doubt the existence of a God; but I had met with 
 no one in all my intercourse with mankind, who 
 seemed so sincerely and so entirely an atheist, as 
 the individual whose case is now introduced. The 
 first time that I met him was at the house of his 
 son-in-law, a gentleman of piety and intelligence. 
 His appearance was that of a decrepid, disconsolate 
 old ^nau. hi the course of conversation ho un- 
 hesitatingly exi)rcssed his unbelief of the existence 
 of a God, and his suspicion of the motives of most
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION, 177 
 
 of those who professed religion. I learned from 
 others that he had ceased in some measure to have 
 intercom-se with men — had become misanthropic in 
 his feelings, regarding manldnd in the light of a 
 family of sharks, preying upon each other; and 
 his own duty in such a state of things, he supposed 
 to be, to make all honest endeavours to wrest from 
 the grasp of others as much as he could. He used 
 profane language, opposed the temperance refor- 
 mation, and looked with the deepest hatred upon 
 the ministers of religion. His social affections 
 seemed to be withered, and his body, sjinpatliizing, 
 was distorted and diseased by rheumatic pains. 
 
 1. Tliis old man had for years been the subject of 
 sj^ecial prayer on the part of his pious daughter and 
 his son-in-law ; and he was finally persuaded by 
 them to attend a season of religious worship in the 
 .church of which they were members. During these 
 services, which lasted several days, he passed from 
 a state of atheism to a state of faith. The change 
 seemed to surprise every one, and himself as much 
 as any other. From being an atheist, he became 
 the most simple and impUcit believer. He seemed 
 like a being M^ho had waked up in another world, 
 the sensations of which were all new to liim ; and 
 although a man of sound sense in business affairs, 
 when he began to express his religious ideas, his 
 language seemed strange and incongi'uous, from 
 the fact that, while his soul was now filled with new 
 thoughts and feelings, he had no knowledge of the 
 language by which such thoughts are usually ex- 
 pressed. The effects produced by his conversion 
 were as follows — stated at one time to myself, and 
 upon another occasion to one of tlie most eminent 
 medical practitioners in this country : — One of the 
 first things which he did after his conversion, was 
 to love, in a practical manner, his worst enemy
 
 178 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 There was one man in the village, who had, as he 
 supijosed, dealt treacherously with him, in some 
 money transactions which had occurred between 
 them. On this account, personal enmity had long 
 existed between the two individuals. ^Vhen con- 
 verted, he sought his old enemy — asked his forgive- 
 ness ; and endeavoiu-ed to benefit him by bringing 
 him under the influence of the gospel. 
 
 2. His benevolent feelings were awakened and 
 expanded. His first benevolent oifering was tv/enty- 
 five cents, in a collection for charitable uses. He 
 now gives very liberally, in proportion to his means, 
 to all objects which he thinks will advance the 
 interests of the gospel of Christ. Besides supporting 
 his own church and her benevolent institutions, no 
 enterprise of any denomination which he really 
 believes will do good, fails to receive something 
 from him, if he has the means. During the last 
 year, he has given more with the design of bene- 
 fiting his fellow-men than he had done in his whole 
 lifetime before. 
 
 3. His affections have received new life. He said 
 to me, in conversation upon the subject: " One part 
 of the Scrijitures I feel to be true — that which says, 
 I will take away the hard and stony heart, and give 
 you a heart of flesh. Once I seemed to have no 
 feeling; now, thank God, I can feel. I have buried 
 two wives and six childi-en, but I never shed a tear 
 — I felt hard and imhappy — now my tears flow at 
 the recollection of these things," The tears at that 
 time wet the old man's cheeks. It is not probable, 
 that, since his conversion, there has been a single 
 week that he has not shed tears; before conversion 
 he had not wept since the age of manliood. An 
 exhibition of the love of Christ will, at any time, 
 move liis feelings with gratitude and love, until the 
 tears moisten his eves.
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 179 
 
 4. Effect upon his life. Since his conversion he 
 has not ceased to do good as he has had opportunity. 
 Several individuals have been led to repent and 
 believe in Christ through his instrumentality. Some 
 of these were individuals whose former habits ren- 
 dered a change of character very improbable in the 
 eyes of most individuals. (One of them, who had 
 fallen into the habit of intemperance, is now a 
 respectable and happy father of a respectable Chris- 
 tian family.) He has been known to go to several 
 families on the sameday, pray with them, and invite 
 them to attend religious worship on the sabbath, 
 And when' some ditficulty was stated as a hindrance 
 to their attendance, he has assisted them to buy 
 shoes, and granted other little aids of the kind, in 
 order that they might be induced to attend .Divine 
 service. [Since the first edition was issued, a most 
 remarkable fact concerning this old man has come 
 to the knowledge of the author. When converted, 
 one of his first acts, although he had heard nothing 
 of any such act in others, was to make out a list of 
 all his old associates then living within reach of his 
 infl[iience. For the conversion of these he deter- 
 mined to labour as he had opportunity, and pray 
 daily. On his list were one hundred and si.\teen 
 names, among whom were sceptics, drunkards, and 
 other individuals as little likely to be reached by 
 Christian influence as any other men in the region. 
 Within two years from the peiiod of the old man's 
 conversion, one hundred of these individuals Jiad 
 made a ju-ofession of religion. We can hardly sup- 
 pose that the old man was instrumental in the con- 
 version of all these persons ; yet the fact is one of 
 the most remarkable that has been developed in the 
 progress of Christianity.] 
 
 5. Eftect upon his liappiness. In a social meet- 
 ing of the church where he worships, I heard him
 
 180 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 make such an expression as tliis — " I have rejoiced 
 but once since I trusted in Christ — that has been 
 all the time." His state of mind may be best 
 described in his own characteristic language. One 
 day he was repairing his fence. An individual 
 
 passing addressed him — '* Mr. , you are at work 
 
 all alone." " Not alone," said the old man, " God 
 is with me." He ' said that his work seemed easy 
 to him, and his peace of mind continued with 
 scarcely an interruption. I saw him at a time 
 when he had just received intelligence that a son, 
 who had gone to the south, had been shot in a per- 
 sonal altercation, in one of the southern cities. 
 The old man's parental feeUngs were moved, but 
 he seemed, even under this sudden and most dis- 
 tressing affliction, to derive "strong cQnsolation from 
 trust in God. 
 
 6. Physical effects of the moral change. As soon 
 as his moral natm*e had undergone a change, his 
 body, by sympathy, felt the benign influence. His 
 countenance assumed a milder and more intelligent 
 aspect. He became more tidy in his ai'»parel, and 
 his ' thousand pains,' in a good measure, left him. 
 In his case, there seemed to be a renovation both 
 of soul and body. 
 
 This case is not exaggerated : the old man is 
 living, and there are a thousand living witnesses 
 to this testimony, among whom is an intelligent 
 physician, who, hearing the old man's history of his 
 feelings, and having known him personally for 
 years, the obvious effects which the faith in Christ 
 had produced in this case, combined with other 
 influences by which he was surrounded, led liim 
 seriously to examine the subject of religion, as it 
 concerned his own spiritual interest. By tliis ex- 
 amination he was led to relinquish the system of 
 * rational religion,' (as the Socinian system is most
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 181 
 
 inappropriately called by its adherents,) and profess 
 his faith in orthodox religion. 
 
 Case 3. — Two individuals, who have always 
 been poor in this world's goods, but who are rich 
 in faith. Many years ago, they lived in a new 
 settlement where there were no religious services. 
 The neighboiu-hood, at the suggestion of one of its 
 members, met together on the sabbath, to sing 
 sacred music, and to hear a sermon read. Those 
 sermons were the means of the conversion of the 
 mother of the family. She lived an exemplary hfe, 
 but her husband still continued impenitent, and 
 became somewhat addicted to intemperance. Some 
 of the children of the family, as they reached 
 mature years, were converted ; the husband, and 
 finally, after a few years, all the remaining children, 
 embraced religion. From the day of the husband's 
 conversion he di-ank no more liquor, and, he says, 
 he always afterwards thought of the habit with 
 abhorrence. The old people live alone. The old 
 woman's sense of hearing has so failed that she 
 hears but imperfectly. When the weather will 
 allow, she attends church regularly, but sometimes 
 hears but little of the sermon. She sits on the 
 sabbath and looks up at the minister, with a 
 countenance glowing with an interested and happy 
 expression. She has joy to know that the minister 
 is preaching about Christ. The minister once 
 described religion possessed, as a spring of living 
 water, flowing from the rock by the w^ay-side, 
 which yields to the weary traveller refi'eshment and 
 delight: the old lady, at the close, remarked, with 
 meekness, " I hope 1 have drunk, many times, of 
 those sweet waters." 
 
 Except what concerns their particular domestic 
 duties, the conversation of this aged pair is almost 
 entirely religious. They are devout, and very
 
 182 PHILOSOPHY OF 
 
 liappy in each other's society; and sometimes in 
 their family devotions and religious conversations, 
 their hearts glow with love to God. They look for- 
 ward to death with the consoling hope that they 
 will awake in the likeness of the glorious Saviour, 
 and so " be for ever with the Lord." 
 
 Case 4. — A female who early in life united with 
 the church, and conscientiously performed the 
 external duties of Christian lite. She had, for 
 many years, little if any happiness in the perform- 
 ance of her religious duties, yet would have been 
 more unhappy if she had not performed them. 
 She married a gentleman who, during the last years 
 of his life, was peculiarly devoted. During this 
 period, in attending upon the means of grace she 
 experienced ah entire change in her religious feel- 
 ings. She felt, as she says, that " now she gave up 
 all for Cln-ist. She felt averse to everything wliieh 
 she believed to be contrary to his will. — To the will 
 of Jesus she could now submit for ever, M'ith joyful 
 and entire confidence. — She now loved to pray, and 
 found hajipiness in obeying the Saviour." She made, 
 as she believes, at that time, an entire surrender of 
 all ]ier interests, for time and eternity, to Christ, 
 and since then, her labours in liis service have been 
 happy labours. Before they M'cre constrained by 
 conscience, now tliey are prompted by the affections. 
 She does not think she was not a ( 'hristian before. 
 She had repented in view of the law, but she had 
 not, till the time mentioned, exercised affectionate 
 faith in Christ.-i= She now often prays most solicit- 
 ously for the conversion of sinners and the sanctifi- 
 cation of the church. She loves to meet weekly in. 
 tlie female circle for prayer, and lal)Ours to induco 
 
 * Are there not inany in all the ehin-chcs who have been con- 
 victed of sin, and v.ho have perhaps repented, tut liave not excr» 
 cised full faith in Christ ?
 
 THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 183 
 
 Others to attend with her. Her little son, nine years 
 of age, is, as she hopes, a Christian; and her daugh- 
 ter, just approaching the years of womanhood, has 
 recently united with the church. Two years since, 
 her hushand died under circumstances peculiarly 
 afflicting. She prayed for resignation, and never 
 felt any disposition to miurmur against the provi- 
 dence of God. She sometimes hlamed herself that 
 she had not thought of other expedients to prolong, 
 if possible, the life of one that she loved so tenderly ; 
 hut to God she looked up with submission, and said 
 in spirit, " The cup which my Father hath given 
 me, shall I not drink it ?" Her husband she views 
 as a departed saint, whom she expect-s to meet in a 
 better world. She cherishes his memory with an 
 affection that seems peculiarly sacred ; and the 
 remembrance of his piety is a consoling association 
 connected with the recollections of one now in 
 heaven.^ 
 
 A single incident develops the secret of that 
 piety which gives her peace, and makes her useful. 
 — One of the last times that I saw her, she stated, 
 in conversation upon the subject, that a short time 
 before, she had read a sabbath school book, wliich 
 one of her children had received, in which was a 
 representation of Christ bearing his cross to Calvary. 
 While contemplating this scene, love and gratitude 
 -sprang up in her heart, which were subduing, sweet, 
 and peaceful beyond expression ! How is it, reader, 
 that the contemplation of such a scene of suffering 
 should cause such blessed emotions to spread like a 
 rich fragrance through the soul, and rise in sweet 
 incense to God? It is the holy secret of the cross 
 
 * That the marriage bond becomes more sacred, and the recip- 
 rocal duties of affection more tender, between two hearts that 
 botli love Jesus, I have no doubt. The feeh'ngs of this pious 
 •widow favour the supposition; and the facts recorded in the biogrs' 
 phies of Edwards, Fletcher, and Corvosso, fully confirm it.
 
 184 PHlLOSOrHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION. 
 
 of Christ ! which none but the saints know, and 
 even tlicy cannot communicate \^ 
 
 CONCLUSION, 
 
 Allow the author to say, in closing, that it is liis 
 opinion, that, in view of the reasonings and facts 
 in-esented in tlie preceding pages, every individual 
 who reads the hook intelligently, and who is in pos- 
 session of a sound and unprejudiced reason, will 
 come to the conclusion, that the religion of the 
 Bible is from God, and Divinely adapted to pro- 
 duce the greatest present and eternal spiritual good 
 of the human family. And if anyone should doubt 
 its Divine origin, (which, in view of its adaptations 
 and its effects as herein developed, would involve 
 tlie absurdity of doubting whether an intelligent 
 design had an intelligent designer,) still, be the 
 origin of the gospel where it may, in heaven, earth, 
 or hell, the demonstration is conclusive, that it is 
 the only religion possible for man, in order to per- 
 fect his nature, and restore liis la^jsed powers to 
 harmony and holiness. 
 
 * Thomas ;i Kempis endeavoured to give expression to the con- 
 sciousness of the Divine life in the soul — " Frequens Christi visi- 
 tatio cum homine interno, dulcis, sermocinatio, grata cousolatio, 
 multa pax," etc. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TKACT SOCIEXY : INSTITUIED l790t
 
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