THE .4^ Qtjjristian IN REFERENCE TO THE UNION OF CHRISTIANS, AND A RESTORATION OF AS PLEAD IX THB CURRENT REFORMATION, BY A. CAMPBELL. rOURTH XDITIO.V. CINCINNATI: PUBLISHED BY II. S. BOSWORTH. 1867. ["APYUIGIIT SKCUUKi) ACCOKU1NU TO ACT OF CONGRESS.] PREFACE. SIXCE the fall development of the great apostasy foretold by Prophets and Apostles, numerous attempts at reformation have been made. Three full centuries, carrying with them the dt'stinu-s of countless millions, have passed into eternity since the Lutheran sfl'.trt to dethrone the Man of Sin. During this period many great and wonderful changes have taken place in the political, literary, moral, and religious conditions of society. That the nations com- posing the western half of the Roman empire have already been greatly benefited by that effort, scientifically, politically, and morally, no person acquainted with either political or ecclesiastical history can reasonably doubt. Time, that great arbiter of human actions, that great revealer of secrets, has long decided that all the reformers of the Papacy have been public benefactors. And thus the Protestant Reformation is proved to have been one of the most splendid eras in the history of the world, and must long be regarded by the philosopher and the philanthropist a,s one of the most gracious interpositions in behalf of the whole human race. We Americans owe our national privileges and our civil liber- ties to the Protestant Reformers. They achieved not only an imperishable fame for themselves, but a rich legacy for their pi>s- tenty. When we contrast the present state of these United States with Spanish America, and the condition of the English nation with that of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, we begin to appreciate ho\v much we are indebted to the intelligence, faith, and courage of Martin Luther and his heroic associates in that glorious re- formation. lie restored the Bible to the world A.D. 1534, and boldly do- fended its claims against the impious and arrogant pretensions of the haughty and tyrannical See of Rome. But, unfortunately, at his death there was no Joshua to lead the people, who rallied under the banners of the Bible, out of the wilderness in which Luther died. His tenets were soon converted into a new state religion, and the spirit of reformation which he excited and. in- spired was soon quenched by the broils and feuds of the Protest- ant princes, and the collisions of rival political interests, both ou the continent and in the islands of Europe. While Protestant hatred to the Roman Pontiff and the Papacy continued to increase, a secret lust in the bosoms of Protestants for ecclesiastical power and patronage worked in the members of the Protestant Popes, who gradually assimilated the new church to the old. Creeds and manuals, synods and councils, soon shackled the minds of men, and the spirit of reformation gradually forsook the Protestant church, or was supplanted by the spirit of the world. 4 PREFACE. Calvin renewed the speculative theology of Saint Augustine, and Geneva in a few years became the Alexandria of modern Europe. The power of religion was soon merged in debates about forms and ceremonies, in speculative strifes of opinion, and in fierce debates about the political and religious right of burning heretics. Still, however, in all these collisions much light was elicited ; and had it not been for these extremes, it is problema- tical whether the wound inflicted upon the Man of Sin would have been as incurable as it has since proved itself to be. Reformation, however, became the order of the day ; and this, assuredly, was a great matter, however it may have been managed. It was a revolution, and revolutions seldom move backward. The example that Luther set was of more value than all the achieve- ments of Charles V., or the literary and moral labors of his distinguished contemporary, the erudite Erasmus. It is curious to observe how extremes begot extremes in every step of the reformation cause, to the dawn of the present century. The penances, works of faith and of supererogation, of the Roman church, drove Luther and Calvin to the altruism of " faith alone." After the Protestants had debated their own principles with one another till they lost all brotherly affection, and. would as soon have " communed in the sacrament" with the Catholics as with one another; speculative abstracts of Christian Platonism, the sublime mysteries of Egyptian theology, became alternately the bond of union and the apple of discord, among the fathers and friends of the Reformation. The Jive great dogmas of the Geneva reformer were carried to Amsterdam, and generated in the mind of James Arminius, in, 1591, five opposite opinions ; and these at the Synod of Dort, in 1018, formed a new party of Remonstrants. -Into Britain, with whose history we are more immediately con- cerned, Lutheran ism, Calvinism, and Arminianism, were soon imported ; and, like all raw materials there introduced, were im- mediately manufactured anew. They were all exotics, but easily acclimated, and soon flourished in Britain more luxuriantly than ia their native soil. But the beggarly elements of opinions, forms, and ceremonies to which they gave rise, caused the "Spirit alone" to germinate in the mind of George Fox, in little more than half a century after the introduction of the Leyden theology. In Lord Chatham's days, the Episcopal church, as his- Lord- ship declares, was a singular compound " A Popish liturgy, Calvini.stic articles, and an Arminian clergy." But every few years caused a new dissension and reformation, until the kirk of Scotland and the church of England have been compelled to re- spect, in some good degree, the rights of conscience, even in dis- senters themselves. Abroad it was no better. The Saxon reformer had his friends ; John of Picardy lived in the grateful remembrance of the Gein-vii family ; and Jttmes of Amsterdam speculated in a very liberal style among ail -the Remonstrants at home - leyan, nor those of any state creed or dissenting establishment, could ever improve the condition of things, restore union to the church, peace to the world, or success to the gospel of Christ. As the Bible was said and constantly affirmed to be the religion jf Protestants, it was lor some time a mysterious problem why the Bible alone, confessed and acknowledged, should work no happier results than the strifes, divisions, and retaliatory excom- munications of rival Protestant sects. It appeared, however, in this fuse, alter a more intimate acquaintance with the details of the inner temple of sectarian Christianity, as in many similar oases, tlirit it is not the acknowledgment of a good rule, but the walking by it, that secures the happiness of society. The Bible in the lips, and the creed in the head and in the heart, will not pect its fallacy, and had wcllnigh abandoned it as a deceitful speculation. Time, however, that great teacher, and Experience, that great critic, have fully assured us that the principle is a salutary one; and that, although we seemingly lose much by its application, our loss consists only of barren opinions, fruitless s|K,'culations, and useless traditions, that only cumber the ground ami chi <'k the word, so that it is in a good measure unfruitful. We Hatter ourselves that the principles arc now clearly and fully developed by the united efforts of a few devoted and ardent minds, who set out determined to sacrifice every thing to truth, and .follow her wherever she might lead the way: I say, the prin- ciples on which the church of Jesus Christ all believerp in Jc.-ns as the Messiah can be united with honor to themselves, and with blessings to the world ; on which the gospel and its ordinances can be restored in all their primitive simplicity, ex- 8 PREFACE. oellency, and power, and the church shine as a lamp that burnelb to the conviction and salvation of the world: I say, the prin- ciples by which these things can be done are now developed, as well as the principles themselves, which together constitute the original gospel and order of things established by the Apostles. The object of this volume is to place before the community in a plain, definite, and perspicuous style, the capital principles which have been elicited, argued out, developed, and sustained in a con- troversy of twenty-five years, by the tongues and pens of those who rallied under the banners of the Bible alone. The principle which was inscribed upon our banners when we withdrew from the ranks of the sects was, "Faith in Jesus as the true Messiah, and obedience to him as our Lawgiver and King, the ONLY TEST of ChrMian character, and the ONLY BOND of Christian union, com- munion, and co-operation, irrespective of all creeds, opinions, com- mandments, and traditions of men." This cause, like every other, was first plead by the tongue ; afterwards by the pen and the press. The history of its progress corresponds with the history of every other religious revolution in this respect that different points, at different times, almost exclusively engrossed the attention of its pleaders. We began with the outposts and vanguard of the opposition. Soon as we found ourselves in possession of one post our artillery was turned against another; and as fast as the smoke of the enemy receded we advanced upon his lines. The first piece that was written on the subject of the great position appeared from the pen of THOMAS CAMPBELL, Senior, in the year LS09. An association was formed that year for the dis- semination of the principles of reformation ; and the piece alluded to was styled " The Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania." The constitutional principle of this " Christian Association" and its object are clearly expressed in the following resolution: " That this society, formed for the sole purpose of promoting simple evangelical Christianity, shall, to the utmost of its power, countenance and support such ministers, and such only, as ex- hibit a manifest conformity to the Original Standard, in conver- sation and doctrine, in zeal and diligence; only such as reduce to practice the simple original form of Christianity, expressly ex- hibited upon the sacred page, without attempting to inculcate any thing of human authority, of private opinion, or inventions of men, as having any place in the constitution, faith, or worship of the Christian church ; or any thing as matter of Christian faith or duly for which there cannot be produced a 'thus saiili the Lord,' either in express terms or by approved precedent." The ground occupied in this resolution afforded ample docu- ments of debate. Every inch of it was debated, argued, canvassed for several years, in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. On this fxittom we put to sea, with scarcely hands enough to man tho ship. We had head-winds and rough seas for the first seven PREFACE. 9 years, a history of which would be both curious and interest- ing. But, to contradistinguish this plea and effort from some others almost contemporaneous with it, we would emphatically remark, that, while the remonstrants warred against human creeds, evi- dently because those creeds warred against their own private opinions and favorite dogmas, which they wished to substitute for those creeds, this enterprise, so far as it was hostile to those creeds, warred against them, not because of their hostility t<. any private or favorite opinions which were desired to be substituted for them, but because those human institutions supplanted the Bible, made the word of God of non-effect, were fatal to the in- telligence, union, purity, holiness, and happiness of the disciples of Christ, and hostile to the salvation of the world. Unitarians, for example, have warred against human creeds, be- cause those creeds taught Trinitarianism. Arniinians. too, have been hostile to creeds, hecause those creeds supported Calvinism. It has, indeed, been alleged that all schismatics, good and bad, since the days of John Wiekliffe, and long before, have opposed creeds of human invention because those creeds opposed them. But so far as this controversy resembles them in its opposition to creeds, it is to he distinguished from them in this all-essential at- tribute, viz.: that oiir opposition to creeds arose J'rom a conviction that, whether the opinion in them were true or false, they were hostile to the union, peace, harmony, purity, and joy of' Christians, and adverse to the concersion of the world to Jestis Christ. Next to our personal salvation, two objects constituted the svmnnim bonum, the supreme good, worthy of the sacrifice of all temporalities. The first was the union, peace, purity, and har- monious co-operation of Christians, guided by an understanding enlightened by the Holy Scriptures; the other the conversion of sinners to God. Our predilections and antipathies on all religious questions arose from, and were controlled by, those all-absorbing interests. From these commenced our campaign against creeds. \Ve had not at first, and we have not now, a favorite opinion or speculation which we would offer as a substitute for any human creed or constitution in Christendom. We were not, indeed, at first apprized of the havoc which our principles would make upon our opinions. We soon, however, found our principles and opinions at war on some points; and the question immediately arose, Whether shall we sacrifice our princi- ples to our opinions, or our opinions to our principles ? We need not say that we were compelled to the latter, judging that our principles were better than our opinions. Hence, since we put to sea on board this bottom, we have been compelled to throw over- board some opinions once as dear to us as they now are to those who never thought of the difference between principle and opinion. Some of those opinions (as the most delicate and tender buds are soonest blighted by the frost) immediately withered, and died under the first application of our principles, lufaut baptism aud 10 PREFACE. infant sprinkling, with all infantile imbecility, immediately expired iu our minds, soon as the Jiible alone was made the only measure and standard of faith and duty. This foundation of the Pedo- baptist temple being instantly destroyed, the whole edifice lean- ing upon it became a heap of ruins. We explored the ruins with great assiduity, and collected from them all the materials that could be worked into the Christian temple; but the piles of rub- bish that remained were immense. Other topics became the theme of discussion ; and, as the public mind became more intelligent and candid, the great principles of the Law and Gospel, the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and Christian institutions, were gradually unfolded. To the development of tbe*e, other publications in 1810 and 18lO greatly contributed ; and so fully explored were ancient and modern Christianity that, in 1623, the design was formed of commencing a periodical and establishing a press to contend for the original faith and order, in opposition to all the corruptions of fifteen centuries. As we are not writing a history of this struggle from its com- mencement to the present time, but simply informing the reader that the principles stated in tne following pages have been ma- turely considered, and have passed through a long, complicated, and vigorous opposition, we shall hasten to the object of this book, which is to lay before the reader a miniature view of the principles already noticed. To say nothing of the periodicals which have already been commenced, anrl which have been for some time our fellow- laborers in this all-important work, besides our debates of 18'_0, Ibli3, and !&-'.), f>,ur editions of the new version of the New Testament, with prefaces, various tables, notes, criticisms, &c., there have issued from our press twelve volumes in illustration and defence of these principles, in hearing and answering objec- tions from all sects, and irom many of the most learned and talented of our country. The CHRISTIAN BAPTIST, in seven annual volumes, being the first of these publications, and affording such a yraduat develop- ment- of all these principles as the state of the public mind and the opposition would permit, is, in the judgment of many of our brethren who have expressed themselves on the subject, better ad.ipied to the whole community as it now exi.-ts, than our other writings. In this judgment 1 must concur ; and to it especially, as well as to all other publications since commenced, 1 would refer the reader who may be solicitous to examine thjse princi- ples more fully, and to consider the ordeal through which they have passed. Having paid a very candid and considerate regard to all that has been onered against these principles, as well MS having been admonished from ti.e extremes into which some of our friends and brethren have carried some points, 1 undertake this work with a deep sense of its neces.ity, and with much nntieipatiuM of lib utility, m exhibiting a uonccii trated view of the whole Around PREFACE. 11 we occupy, of rectifying some extremes, of furnishing new meuna of defence to those engaged in contending with this generation for primitive Christianity. Having also attentively considered the most vulnerable side of every great question, and re-examined the terms and phrases which have occasioned most opposition and controversy, whether from our own pen or that of any of our brethren, our aim is now to offer to the public a more matured view of such cardinal prin- ciples as are necessary to the right interpretation of the Holy Scripture*, both in acquiring and communicating a correct know- ledge of the Christian Institution, of such principles as are re- quisite to the discovery of truth and the exposure of error, as well as in a revised and corrected republication of the principal Extras of the Millennial Harbinger, to lay before the reader the elements of the gospel itself, and of the worship most acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The work, then, naturally divides itself into three parts: The first, THE PRINCIPLES BY WHICH THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTION MAY BE CERTAINLY AND SATISFACTORILY ASCERTAINED: the SCCOlld, THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH ALL CHRISTIANS MAY FORM ONE COMMUNION: and the third, THE ELEMENTS OR PRINCIPLES WHICH CONSTITUTE ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY. Whether this arrangement be most in the order of nature, or of importance, is not the question : it is the order in which we have from necessity been compelled to con- sider these subjects. A. CAMPBELL. EETHANY, VA., January 2, 1835. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE present edition substitutes, for the first part of the last, a series of essays on the Christian System, and somewhat enlarge? on the second. Tne continual misrepresentation and misconcep- tion of our views on some very fundamental points of the Chris- tian system seem at the present crisis to call for a very definite, clear, and connected view of the great outlines and elements of the Christian Institution, and more especially with a reference to a great question, which we anticipate soon to be the all-absorbing question of Protestant Christendom, viz.: How may yc/iimnx cease and all CkrixtiuHs unite, harmonize, and co-operate in one (/real com- munity, as at the, beginning f Things ecclesiastic are moving forward to a new issue. The Christian system is undergoing an examination in the present day, both as to its evidences and signification, wholly unprecedented since the days of the grand defection. Such an ago is always an age of extremes; but things will regulate themselves and settle down on tlie true foundation. "Many are running to and fro;" and certainly knowledge is on the increase. The Christian System, as unfolded in the following essays, would, but for the special essays on the "Kingdom of Heaven," 'Remission of Sins," "Regeneration," and "Breaking the Loaf," have been more systematically and fully developed. Sundry points are meageily discussed in the new essays, because of their recurrence in those elaborate articles which have been so often published. We have, indeed, aimed first at giving a general view, leaving the important details on the most disputable points for tiiose essays. Instead of the "Dialogue on the Holy Spirit," so generally read and so fully discussed, we have added a fesv essays on CHURCH ORDER as a part of the Christian System ; thus endeavoring to give to the book all the chances of being as useful as possible to those who are desirous of a more perfect understanding of our at- tainments in Christian knowledge. We 8|>eak for ourselves only; and, while we are always willing t,o give a declaration of our faith and knowledge of the Christian system, we firmly protect against dogmatically propounding our own views, or those of any fallible mortal, as a condition or foundation of church union and co-opera- tion. While, then, we would, if we could, either with the tongue or the pen, proclaim all that we believe, and all that we know, to the ends of the earth, we take the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the, Bible, ay the foundation, of all Christian union and coniinu^ nion. Those who do not like this will please show us a more excellent way. A. CAiMPBELL. BETHANY, VA., June 13, 1839. 12 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. CHAPTER I. THE UNIVERSE. I. ONE God, one system of nature, one universe. That uni- verse is composed of innumerable systems, which, in perfect con- cert, move forward in subordination to one supreme end. That one end of all things is the sovereign and infinite pleasure of Him who inhabits eternity and animates the universe with his presence. So worship and adore the heavenly hierarchies, say- ing, " Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." II. The universe is a system of systems, not only as respects the seventy-five millions of suns and their attendant planets, which fill up the already-discovered fields of ethereal space, hut in reference to the various systems, separate, though united; dis- tinct, though amalgamated; heterogeneous, though homogeneous; which are but component parts of every solar system, of every planet in that system, and of every organic and every inorganic mass on each planet. Thus, in the person of a single individual man, we have an animal system, an intellectual system, a moral system, running into each other, and connecting themselves with every thing of a kindred nature in the whole universe of God, just as we have in the human body itself a system of solids, and a system of fluids; and these again forming themselves into a system of bones, a system of nerves, a system of arteries, a sys- tem of veins, show man his origin and destiny, for it contemplates nature the universe only in relation to man's body, soul, and spirit. II. The Bible is to the intellectual and moral world of man what the sun is to the planets in our system, the fountain and source of light and life, spiritual and eternal. There is not a spiritual idea in the whole human race that is not drawn from the Bible. As soon will the philosopher find an independent sun- beam in nature, as the theologian a spiritual conception in man, independent of THE ONE BEST BOOK. III. The Bible, or the Old and New Testament, in Hebrew and Greek, contains a full and perfect revelation of God and his will, adapted to man as he now is. It speaks of man as he was, and also as he will hereafter be ; but it dwells on man as he is, and as he ought to be, as its peculiar and appropriate theme. It is not, then, a treatise on man as he was, nur on man as he will be; but on man as he is, and as he ought to be ; not as he is physically, astronomically, geologically, politically, or metaphysically; but as he is and ought to be, morally and religiously. IV. The words of the Bible contain all the ideas in it. These words, then, rightly understood, and the ideas are clearly per- ceived. The words and sentences of the Bible are to be trans- lated, interpreted, and understood according to the same code of laws and principles of interpretation by which other ancient writ- ings are translated and understood; for, when God spoke to man in his own language, he spoke as one person converses with another- in the fair, stipulated, and well-established meaning of the terms. 16 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. This is essential to its character as a revelation from God ; other- wise it would he no revelation, but would always require a class of inspired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind. V. We have written frequently and largely upon the principles and rules of interpretation, as of essential importance and utility in this generation of remaining mysticiz ng and allegorizing. From our former writings we shall here only extract the naked rules of interpretation, deduced from extensive and well-digested premises ; fully sustained, too, by the leading translators and most distinguished critics and commentators of the last and pre- sent century. VI. RULE 1. On opening any* oook in the sacred Scriptures, consider Jinst the historical circumstances of the book. These are the order, the title, the author, the daj, the place, and the occasion of it, The order in historical compositions is of much importance; as, for instance, whether the first, second, or third, of the five books of Moses, or of any other series of narrative, or of even epistolary communications. The title is also of importance, as it sometimes expresses the design of the book. As Exodus the departure of Israel from Egypt; Acts of Apostles, &c. j The peculiarities of the aufhffr, the age in which he lived, his style, mode of expression, illustrate his writings. The date, place, and occasion of it, are obviously necessary to a right ap- plication of any tiling in the book. RULE 2. In examining the contents of any book, as respects precepts, promises, exhortations, &c., observe who it is that speaks, and under what dispensation he officiates. Is he a Patriarch, a Jew, or a Christian ? Consider also the persons addressed, their prejudices, characters, and religions relations. Are they Jews or Christians, believers or unbelievers, approved or disapproved? This rule is essential to the proper application of every com- mand, promise, threatening, admonition, or exhortation, in Old Testament or New. RULE 3. To understand the meaning of what is commanded, promised, taught, &c., the same philological principles, deduced from the nature of language, or the same laws of interpretation which are applied to the language of other books, are to be applied to the language of the Bible. RULE 4. Common usage, which can only be ascertained by testi- moiii/. HI its! always decide the meaning of any word which has but one signification ; but when words have, according to testimony, THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 17 (i.e. the Dictionary,) more meanings than one, whether literal or figurative, the scope, Hie context, or parallel pa';sag?s must decide the meaning: for if common usage, the design of the writer, the context, and parallel passages fail, there can be no certainty in the interpretation of language. RULE 5. In all tropical language ascertain the point of resem- blance, and judge of the nature of the trope, and its kind, from the point of resemblance. RULE 6. In the interpretation of symbols, types, allegories and parables, this rule is supreme : Ascertain the point to be illus- trated ; for comparison is never to be extended beyond that point to all Hie attributes, qualities, or circumstances of the symbol, type, allegory, or parable. RULE 7. For the salutary and sanctifying intelligence of the Oracles of God, the following rule is indispensable: We must come within the understanding distance. There is a distance which is properly called the speaking dis- tance, or the hearing distance; beyond which the voice reaches not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we must come with- in that circle wh,ich the voice audibly fills. Now we may with propriety say, that as it respects God, there is an understanding distance. All beyond that distance cannot understand God ; all within it can easily understand him in all matters of piety and morality. God himself is the centre of that circle, and humility is its circumference. The wisdom of God is as evident in adapting the light of the Sun of Righteousness to our spiritual or moral vision, as in ad- justing the light of day to our eyes. The light reaches us with- out an effort of our own, but we must open our eyes, and if our eyes be sound, we enjoy the natural light of heaven. There is a sound eye in reference to spiritual light, as well as in reference to material light. Now, while the philological principles and rules of interpretation enable many men to be skilful in biblical criticism, and in the interpretation of words and sentences, who neither perceive nor admire the things represented by those words ; the sound eye contemplates the things themselves, and is ravished with the moral scenes which the Bible unfolds. The moral soundness of vision consists in having the eyes of the understanding fixed solely on God himself, his approbation and complacent affection for us. It is sometimes called a single eye, because it looks for one thing supremely. Every one, then, who 2* 18 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. >pens the Book of God, with one aim, with one ardent desire intent only to know the will of God, to such a person the know- ledge of God is easy; for the Bible is framed to i. laminate such, and only such, with the salutary knowledge of things celestial and divine. Humility of mind, or what is in effect the same, contempt for .ill earth-born pre-eminence, prepares the mind for the reception of this light ; or, what Is virtually the same, opens the ears to hear the voice of God. Amidst the din of all the arguments from the flesh, the world, and Satan, a person is so deaf that he cannot hear the still small voice of God's philanthropy. But, receding from pride, covetousness, and false ambition; from the love of the world; and in coming within that circle, the circumference of which is unfeigned humility, and the centre of which is God him- self the voice of God is distinctly heard and clearly understood. All within this circle are taught by God ; all without it are under the influence of the wicked one. "God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace to the humble." He, then, that would interpret the Oracles of God to the salva- tion of his soul, must approach this volume with the humility and docility of a child, and meditate upon it day and night. Like Mary, he must sit at the Master's feet, and listen to the words whioh fall from his lips. To such a one there is an assurance of understanding, a certainty of knowledge, to which the man of letters alone uever attained, and which the more critic never felt. VII. The Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions. It is a book of awful facts, grand and sublime beyond description. These fncts reveal God and man, and contain within them the reasons of nil piety and righteousness, or what is commonly called religion and morality. The meaning of the Bible facts is the true biblical doctrine. History is therefore the plan pursued in both Testa- ments; for testimony has primarily to do with faith, and reason- ing with the understanding. History has, we say, to do with facts and religion springs from them. Hence, the history of the past, and the anticipations of the future, or what are usually called history and prophecy, make up exactly four-fifths of all the volumes of inspiration. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 19 CHAPTER III. GOD. I. " I AM THAT I AM." " I lift up my hand to heaven and siy, I live forever." "The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator .if the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary: there is no searching of his understanding." " His understanding is infinite." " Do not I Jill heaven and earth, saith the Lord." " For thus baith the hiyk and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place ; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." *'I beseech thee show me thy glory; and he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." "And the Lord passed by before him,* and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that by no means acquits the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth genera- tion" " and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." " Lord God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven and earth. Hear, Israel, Jehovah our Aleim is one Jehovah}" the Lord our God is one Lord." " Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which wast, and art, and art to come." "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints." "Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou alone art holy ?" " He is the Rock : his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity: just and right is he." "Glorious in holiness, fearful in praise, doing wonders." II. Such are a few a specimen of the Divine declarations con- cerning himself, repeated and re-echoed by the purest and most intellectual beings in heaven and earth. It is from his word anu * Moss. t So readB the Hebrew, Deut v. 4. 20 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. his works we learn the being and perfections of God. As we form a character of man from what he says and what he does, so learn we the Divi-ne character. "The heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth forth his handiwork: day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." Creation reveals the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God Providence proclaims also his justice, truth, and holiness. Re- demption develops his mercy, condescension, and love ; and all these are again characterized by infinity, eternity, immutability. Nature, then, attests and displays the knowledge, wisdom, power, and goodness of God. The law and the providence of God espe- cially declare his justice, truth, and holiness ; while the gospel unfolds his mercy, condescension, and love: and all these proclaim that God is infinite, eternal, and immutable. God appears before the universe of intellectuals in the threefold attitude of Creator, Lawgiver, and Redeemer; and, although each of these involves and reveals many of his excellencies, still in each department three are most conspicuous. As Creator, wisdom, power, and goodness; as Lawgiver, justice, truth, and holiness; as Redeemer, mercy, condescension, and love. In each and all of which depart- ments he is infinite, immutable, and eternal. III. But the Scriptures speak of his divinity, or godhead, as well as of the unity, spirituality, and eternity of his being. We have not, indeed, much said upon this incomprehensible theme; for who by searching can find out God, or know the Almighty to perfection ? " The knowledge of him is high as heaven : what canst thou do ? Deeper than hell : what canst thou know ? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." IV. Paul and Peter indeed speak of the divine nature in the abstract, or of the divinity or godhead. These are the most abstract terms found in the Bible. Eternity and divinity are, however, equally abstract and almost equally rare in Holy Writ. Still they are necessarily found in the divine volume; because we must Abstract nature from person before we can understand the remedial system. For the divine nature may be communicated or imparted in some sense ; and, indeed, while it is essentially and necessarily singular, it is certainly plural in its personal manifestations. Hence we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit equally divine, though personally distinct from each other. We have, in fact, but one God, one Lord, one Holy Spirit; yet these are equally possessed of one and the same divine nature. V. Some conceive of God as a mathematical unit ; and as a THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 21 tiling cannot he both mathematically singular and p'ural one and three, at the same time a*nd in the sam sen^e, they deny the true and proper divinity of the Son of God and of the Spirit of Gud. But it would seem to us that they reason not in harmony with the sacred style of inspiration. But why should we imagine that there cannot be a plurality of personal manifestations in the di- vine nature ariy more than in the angelic or human, especially as man was created in the image of God? VI. The relations in human plurality are indeed limited to three: for while all the human nature was at one time originally and wholly in the person of Adam, it was afterwards found equally in the person of Eve ; and again in the person of their first-horn. Now, as to its derivation and mode of existence, it was diverse in the three. In Adam it was underived as respected human nature, in Eve it was derived from Adam, and in Cain it was again de- rived from Adam and Eve. Here the matter ends ; for while Eve proceeded from Adam in one mode, and Cain proceeded from Adam and Eve in another, all the residue of human nature is participated without any new relation or mode of impartation. While, then, our nature is plural as to its participation, it is limited to three relations or modes of existence. Now, as man was made in the image of God, we must conceive of him as having plurality, rela- tion, and society in himself though far be it from us to suppose that the divine nature either is or can be fairly or fully exhibited by any resemblance or illustration drawn from angel or from man, or from any created thing. Still there is a resemblance between God and the sun that shines upon us between God and an angel between God and man ; and even in the mode of his existence, and in the varieties of relation and personal manifestation, there is so much resemblance as to peremptorily forbid all dogmatism us to what is, or is not, compatible with the unity, spirituality, and immutability of God. But of this more fully and intelligibly when we shall have examined the record concerning the WORD aud the SPIRIT of God. CHAPTER IV. THE SON OF GOD. I. "TiiE holy progeny (or thing) which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." "Unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given, and the government slmll be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty 22 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." "This ia my S'.'ti, the Beloved ; hear him." " No person has ascended into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven," or whose ahode is in heaven. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, the only- begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." " No man has seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him." "Rabbi, thou art the Son or" God, thou art the King of Israel." "Glorify thou me with thine ownsc'lf, with the glory which I had with tliee before the world was." "In him dwells all the fulness of the godhead* bodily," or substantially. " He is the first and the last." ' All things were created by him and for him." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not tiny thing made that was made." " The Word wns made flesh and dwelt among us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of an only-be- gotten of the Father, full of grace ami truth." II. So speak the Divine Oracles of the supreme Deity and excellency of the author and perfecter of the Christian system. "By him and for him" all things were created ami made; and "he is before all things, and by him all things consist." But "he became flesh." Who? He that existed before the universe, whose mysterious, sublime, and glorious designation was the WORD of God. Before the Christian system, before the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit began to be, his rank in the divine nature was that of the WORD OF GOD. Wonderful name! Intimate and dear relation ! The relation between a word and the idea which it represents is the nearest of all relations in the uni- verse: for the idea is in the word, and the word is in the idea. The idea is invisible, inaudible, unintelligible, but in and by the word. An idea cannot be without an image or a word to represent it ; and therefore God was never without his word, nor was his word without him. " The Word was with God, and the Word was God ;" for a word is the idea expressed: and thus the "Word * The Apostle here uses the word neotrr*. Col. ii. 9, which is but once found In the New Testament. We have, indeed. Tlieiolces, lioin. i. 20, from the same Apostle, also found but once, translated iio-lhwil. We have also Tlitios, Tlifirm. three time*; once Arts x\i. 2.. translated iliriiu'ly: and hy Peter, 2 i p. i. 3. 4 twice: once In con- nexion with jKiiivr ai d OIKV with miturr. "His diiine p'>wer;'"a "divine nature." "Tli.- full. ess of the D, itv." o-- tocitu-ad. indicates all divine excellency all the per- fections ot'O. d Th" fuliti'f.*" of ih:it dixine nature is here contrasted" with an empty and decei'I'ul philosophy, (verse K) and \\M term tiixlilg. superadiled. shows that God is iu Chi is l, not, as be was ia tba tabernacle or temple, typically, but substantially, literally, and truly. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 23 that was made flesh" became "the brightness of his glory," and the express image of his person" insomuch that "he who has seen the Son has seen the Father also." III. While, then, the phrase " Son of God" denotes a temporal relation, the phrase " the Word of God" denotes an eternal, un- originated relation. There was a word of God from eternity, but the Son of God began to be in the days of Augustus Caesar. "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." He was by his resurrection from the dead declared to be the Son of God with a power and evidence extraordinary and divine. The WORD in* carnate or dwelling in human flesh, is the person called our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ ; and while in the system of grace the Father is the one God, in all the supremacy of his glory, Jesus is the one Lord in all the divine fulness of sovereign, supreme, and universal authority. The Lord of Sliem, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacuh, is the God and the Lord of Christians: for "the child" that has been born to us, and "the son" that has been given ac- cording to another Prophet, came from eternity: "His goings forth have been from of old from verlasting."* Such is the evangelical history of the author of the Christian system as to his antecedent nature and relation in the deity or godliead. IV. He became a true and proper " SON OF MAN." " A body hast, thou prepared me." But the " me" was before " the body." It dwelt forever "in the bosom of the Father." "I came forth from God," said "the Incarnate Word." Great beyond expres- sion and " without controversy, great is the mystery the secret of godliness." "God was manifest in the flesh." "He that has seen me has seen the Father also." The Son of Man was and is the Son of G<>d "Emanuel.God with us." Adored lie his nnme ! The one God in the person of the Father has commanded all men to worship and honor the one Lord, as they would honor him that sent him: for now in glorifying the Son we glorify the Father that sent him and that dwells in him. " Know ye not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" Thus spake our Lord Jesus Christ. CHAPTER V. THE SPIRIT OF GOD. I. As there is man and the spirit of man, so there is God and the Spirit of God. They are capable of a separate und distinct * Mieah v. 2. 24 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. existence. " What man knoweth the things of a man," ?ays Paul, ' but the spirit of man that is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." There is in this case an image of God in man not, indeed, an exact image, but an image ; for as Paul says of the law, so say we of man " For the law had a shadow [a resemblance] of good things to come, nnd not the very [or exact] image of the things." So man was made an image of God, though not the exact image. The active power of man is in his spirit. So John the Baptist came in the power of Elijah, because he came in his spirit. The Spirit of God is therefore often used for his power; though it is not an imper- sonal power, but a living, energizing, active, personal existence. Hence in all the works of God the Spii'it of God is the active operating agent. Thus in the old creation, while ancient chaos yet remained when " the earth was without form and void, and darkness brooded on.t^e bosom of the vast abyss," the Spirit of God '' moved [incubated and energized] upon the face of the waters." " The hand of the Lord lias made me, and the Spirit of the Almighty has given me life." "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. ' And thus was chaos subdued, man vitalized, " the heavens garnished," and the body of Jesus made by the Spirit of God. II. The Spirit is said to do, and to have done, all that God does and all that God has done. It has ascribed to it all divine perfec- tions and works; and in the New Testament it is designated as the immediate author and agent of the new creation, and of the holiness of Christians. It is therefore called the Holy Spirit. In the sublime and ineffable relation of the deity, or godhead, it standi next to the Incarnate Word. Anciently, or before time, it toa.v GOD, the WORD of God, and the SPIRIT of God. But now, in the development of the Christian scheme, it in "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" one God, one Lord, one Spirit. To us Christians there w, then, but one God, even the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, even the Saviour: and one Spirit, even the Advocate, the Sanctificr, and the Comforter of Christ's body the church. Jesus is the head, and the Spirit is the life and animating principle of that body. III. The whole systems of creation, providence, and redemption are founded upon these relations in the Deity. Destroy these, blend and confound these, and nature, providence, and grace are blended, confounded, and destroyed. The peerless and supreme excellency of the Christian system is, that it fully opens to the ^ THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 25 vision of mortals the divinity the whole godhead employed in the work of man's regeneration and ultimate glorification. God is manifest in human flesh, and is justified and glorified by the Spirit, in accomplishing man's deliverance from ruin. Each name of the sacred three has its own peculiar work and glory in the three great works of Creation, Government, and Redemption. Hence we are, by divine authority, immersed into the name of the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT, in coming into the kingdom of grace; and while in that kingdom the supreme bene- diction is, " The grace of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the love of Goo, and the communion of the HOLY SPIRIT, be with you !" Indeed, in the old church that was in the wilderness, while matters were comparatively in the shadows of a moonlight age, the High- Priest of Israel was commanded to put the name of God upon the children of Israel, in the same relation of the sacred three " The Lord* bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up his coun- tenance upon thee, and give thee peace."f 'Jehovah bless thee,' is equal to 'the love of God.' 'Jehovah be gracious unto thee,' answers to ' the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' And 'Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace,' corre- sponds to ' the communion of the Spirit.' IV. The divine doctrine of these holy and incomprehensible relations in the Divinity is so inwrought and incorporated with all the parts of the sacred book so identified with all the dis- pensations of religion and so essential to the mediatorship of Christ, that it is impossible to make any real and divine profi- ciency in the true knowledge of God, of man, of reconciliation, of remission of sins, of eternal life ; or in the piety and divine life of Christ's religion, without a clear and distinct perception of it, as well as a firm and unshaken faith and confidence in it, as we trust still to make more evident in the sequel. CHAPTER VI. MAN AS HE WAS. I. THE original man was the rational and moral ultimatum of the mundane system. Naturally, or as he came from God's hand, he was the perfection of all terrestrial creations and institutions. * In the Hebrew Bible it is Jehovah each time. f Number* vi. 21- 28. 3 26 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. In the elements of his constitution he was partly celestial and terrestrial of an earthly material as to his body, but of a spi- ritual intelligence and a divine life. Made to know and to enjoy his Creator, and to have communion with all that is divine, spiritual, and material in the whole universe, he was susceptible of an almost boundless variety of enjoyments. II. And God said, " Let us make man in our imnge, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, iind the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in his own image created he him; a male and a female created he them." Gen. i. 26, 27. Man, then, was a companion of his Father and Creator, capable of admiring, adoring, and enjoying God. Having made the earth for him, God was fully glorified in all his sublunary works when they made man happy, grateful, and thankful to himself. Man, then, in his natural state was not merely an animal, but an intel- lectual, moral, pure and holy being. III. His position or state in this creation was that of a lord tenant. The earth is, indeed, the Lord's ; but he gave it to man on a very easy and liberal lease, and so it became his property. He was, therefore, a free and responsible agent, capable of man- aging his estate and paying his rent; and consequently was sus- ceptible of virtue and of vice, of happiness and misery. In order to freedom, virtue, and happiness, it was expedient and necessary to place him under a law; for where there is no law there can be no liberty, virtue, or happiness. The law became a test of hia character, a guarantee of his continued enjoyment of the life and property which God had leased to him on the condition of his obedience to that precept. IV. That the temptation to disobedience might be weak, and the motive to obedience strong, single, and pure, the precept given here was simple, positive, and clear. It could not be a moral precept, because other reasons than simple submission to the will of his^fciord and King might have co-operated and pre- vented that display of pure loyalty by which his character was to be tried and his future fortunes governed. It was therefore a positive law. The requisition was so little as to present the least conceivable restraint upon liberty of thought and of action, and yet it was the most infallible test of his loyalty. The Adamic constitution was therefore admirably designed and adaptod to happiness. It placed only one restriction in the way of universal THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 27 liberty, and that at such a distance as to make the circle of his free and unrestrained movements within a single step of the last outpost of all intellectual, moral, and sensible enjoyment. The whole earth was his to use, one single fruit alone excepted. Truly, God was superlatively good and kind to man in his peculiar constitution and state. " Thou madest him a little lower than 'lie angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou nmdest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen ; yea, and the boasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and wh.-iteoever passes through the paths of the sea. O ! Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" Psalm viii. 5-9. CHAPTER VI. MAN AS HE IS. I. "GoD made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." Adam rebelled. The natural man became preter- natural. The animal triumphed over the human elements of his nature. Sin was born on earth. The crown fell from his head. The glory of the Lord departed from him. He felt his guilt, and trembled ; he saw his nakedness, and blushed. The bright candle of the Lord became a dimly-smoking taper. He was led to judgment. He was tried, condemned to death, divested of his patrimonial inheritance ; but respited from immediate execution. A prisoner of death, but permitted to roam abroad and at large till the king authorized his seizure and destruction. II. The stream of humanity, thus contaminated at its fountain, cannot in this world ever rise of itself to its primitive purity and excellence. We all inherit a frail constitution physically, intel- lectually, but especially morally frail and imbecile. We have all inherited our father's constitution and fortune; for Adam, we are told, after he fell "begat a son in his own image;" and that son was just as bad as any other son ever born into the world; for he murdered his own dear brother because he was a better man than himself. Thus "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by that one sin ; and so death, the wages of sin, has fallen upon all the offspring of Adam," because in him they have all sinned, or been made mortal, and Consequently are born under condemnation to that death which fell upon our common pro- genitor because of his transgression. 28 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, III. In Adam all have sinned; therefore, "in Adam all die." Your nature, gentle reader, not your person, was in Adam when he put forth his hand to break the precept of Jehovah. You did not personally sin in that act ; but your nature, then in the per- son of your father, sinned against the Author of your existence. In the just judgment, therefore, of your heavenly Father, your nature sinned in Adam, and with him it is right that all human beings should be born mortal, and that death should lord it over the whole race as he has done in innumerable instances even "over them that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," i.e. by violating a positive law. Now it must be conceded that what God can righteously and mercifully inflict upon a part of mankind, he may justly and mercifully inflict upon all ; and therefore, those that live one score or four score years on this earth, for the sin of their nature in Adam might have been extinguished the first year as reasonably as those who have in perfect infancy perished from the earth. Death is expressly de- nominated by an apostle, " the wages of sin." Now this reward of sin is at present inflicted upon at least one-fourth of the human race who have never violated any law, or sinned personally by any act of their lives. According to the most accurate bills of mortality, from one-third to one-fourth of the whole progeny of man die in infancy, under two years, without the consciousness of good or evil. They are thus, innocent though they be as re- spects actual and personal transgression, accounted as sinners by Him who inflicts upon them the peculiar and appropriate wages of sin. This alarming and most strangely pregnant of all the facts in human history proves that Adam was not only the common father, but the actual representative of all his chil- dren. IV. There is, therefore, a sin of our nature as well as personal transgression. Some inappositely call the sin of our nature our "original sin," as if the sin of Adam was the personal offence of all his children. True, indeed, it is ; our nature was corrupted by the fall of Adam before it was transmitted to us ; and hence that hereditary imbecility to do good, and that proneness to do evil, so universally apparent in all human beings. Let no man open his mouth against the transmission of a moral distemper, until he satisfactorily explain the fact, that the special characteristic vices of parents appear in their children as much as the colour of their skin, their hair, or the contour of their faces. A disease in the moral constitution of man is as clearly transmissible as any phy- . THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 29 sical taint, if there be any truth in history, biography, or human observation. V. Still, man, with all his hereditary imbecility, is not under an invincible necessity to ein. Greatly prone to evil, easily seduced into transgression, he may or may not yield to passion and seduction. Hence the differences we so often discover !n the corruption and depravity of man. All inherit a fallen, con- sequently a sinful nature, though all are not equally depraved. Thus we find the degrees of sinfulness and depravity are very different in different persons. And, although without the know- ledge of God and his revealed will without the interposition of a mediator and without faith in him " it is impossible to please God," still there are those who, while destitute of this knowledge and belief, are more noble and virtuous than others. Thus admits Luke when he says, " The Jews in Berea were m re noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed." Acts xvii. 11. But, until man in his present preter- natural state believes the gospel report of his sins, and submits to Jesus Christ as the only Mediator and Saviour of sinners, it is impossible for him to do any thing absolutely pleasing or accept- able to God. VI. Condemned to natural death, and greatly fallen and de- praved in our whole moral constitution though we certainly are, in consequence of the sin of Adam, still, because of the inter- position of the second Adam, none are punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord but those who actually and voluntarily sin against a dispensation of mercy under which they are placed: for this is the "condemnation of the world that light has come into the world, and men choose darkness rather than the light, because their deedsvare evil." CHAPTER VIII. THE PURPOSES OP GOD CONCERNING MAN. I. THE universe issued from the goodness of God. Not to display his power and wisdom, but to give vent to his benignity, God created the heavens and the earth, and peopled them with all variety of being. Infinite wisdom and almighty power did \ 30 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. but execute the designs of eternal love. Goodness is the impul- sive attribute which prompted all that the counsel and hand of the Lord have executed. The current of the universe all runs on the side of benevolence. "Abundant in goodness and truth," all God's designs are for the diffusion of bliss on the largest possible scale. Evil there is; but, under the benevolent administration of the Father of mercies, there will be as much good, with as little evil, as almighty power, guided by infinite wisdom, can achieve. II. We may conjecture much, but can know little of the origin of moral evil in God's dominions. Its history on earth is faith- fully detailed in the Bible; and that, in the divine prudence, is all that is necessary to our successful warfare against its power, and blissful escape from its penal consequences. It is not necessary that we should analyze and comprehend the origin and nature of darkness in order to enjoy the light of the sun. The influences of. light and darkness upon our system are quite sufficient, with- out any theory, to induce us to eschew the former, and delight in the latter. " By one man sin entered into the world," says Paul ; and " by one tempter sin entered into man," says Moses; and " lust when it conceives brings forth sin, and sin when it is per- fected brings forth death," says James the Apostle: and these are the landmarks of our knowledge of the matter. III. To limit the contagion of sin, to prevent its recurrence in any portion of the universe, and to save sinners from its ruinous consequences, arc the godlike purposes of the common Father of all. The gospel, or Christian system, is that only scheme which infinite intelligence and almighty love could devise for that be- nignant and gracious end. This purpose, like all God's purposes, is eternal and immutable. The scheme or theory was, therefore, not only arranged before the Jewish and patriarchal ages, but before the foundation of the world. IV. The promises made to Eve, to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, oacob, Judah, David, &c., are positive proofs that the plan was laid and the purposes perfected before the world began. For why, we ask, could God promise the conquest of Satan by the son of Eve, the blessing of all nations by the son of Abraham, <%c. &c., if a scheme of this import had not been previously esta- blished? The moment that Adam, Eve, and the serpent were judged, dates the first promise of a glorious conquest over our adversary by a descendant of Eve. That promise, and the con- sequent institution of sacrifice the altar, the victim, and the priest are ample proofs that the plan was completed and a THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 31 remedial system adopted antecedent to the trial of our first parents. V. But this is not to be inferred even from premises clear and forcible as these are. It is expressly and repeatedly declared. Two things are evident as demonstration itself. The first ^that all the purposes and promises of God are in Christ in reference to him, and consummated in and by him ; and, in the second place, they were all contemplated, covenanted, and systematized in him and through him before the foundation of the world. These two propositions are so intimately connected, that they are generally asserted in the same portions of Scripture. For example : " He hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began ; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Tim. i. 9. Again, " Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before- the world began; but has in due time manifested his word through preaching." Titus 5. 1, 1.* "He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Eph. i. 4. Indeed, Jesus himself intimates that the whole affair of man's redemption, even to the preparation of the eternal abodes of the righteous, was arranged ere time was born : for, in his own parable of the final judgment, he says, " Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit a kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xxv. 34. And Peter settles the matter forever by assuring us that we " were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world." Christ, then, is the Lamb that was foreordained, and "slain from the foundation of the world." " Therefore," says Jesue to his Father, speaking doubtless in contemplation of his work, "Thou lovedst me before the founda- tion of the world :" and thus, as Matthew quotes a Prophet speak- ing of him, " he uttered things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world." * In the, original the phrase In these two passages is pro chrnnnnn airmrxm, trans- lated sometime*. " lieforf the times of the ngex'' before the Jewish jubilees or asres bepiii: slid niear.s that God's purpose to cnll the Gentiles was antecedent to the cove- nants wi'h Abraham and the .lews. Thus understood, it rnly proves thnt the pur- poses and pnnnls.'S of (iod in Christ wern formed and expressed befnre the d.'iys of Ab.alwm. Hut it is equally true as respects the be^innini of timn: fir the phrase ]>n' and upi kvlaMf. luxmnu, found ten times in the New Tt-staniont. literally indi cates thu fbumlHti'iii of the world. \Ve quote iiph. i. 4 .Matt. xxv. 31 1 Peter i. IK a unequivocally declarative of this. 32 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. VI. Evident then it is, that the -whole remedial or gospel 8ys< tern was purposed, arranged, and established upon the basis of the revealed distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and !>y these, in reference to one another, before the foundation of the wofld ; and that all the institutions and developments of religion in the different ages of the world were, in pursuance of that sys- tem, devised in eternity, and consummated some two thousand years ago. VII. Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, was elected, or rather was always the elect, the beloved of God, and appointed to be the foundation of this new creation. "Behold," said Jehovah; seven centuries before his birth, "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner, a sure foun- dation," called by Peter " an elect stone," though disallowed by the Jewish builders. Again, by the "same prophet he is called the elect of God: "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my^oul delights ! I have put my spirit upon him : he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles," &c. "He shall be for salvation to the ends of the earth." VIII. In consequence of these gracious purposes of God, the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us the Son of God was sent by his Father became a Prophet, a High-Priest, and a King over men, that he might be the mediator and administrator of an institution of grace. He became the righteous servant of Jeho- vah, a voluntary sacrifice for us died, was buried, and rose again ascended where he had been before then, in union with his Father, sent the Holy Spirit, who proceeded forth from tho presence and by the authority of the Father and the Son, to con- summate the sroctification of his people. He is now placed upon the throne of God head overall things to complete the triumphs of his cause to lead many sons t^ gl (>r y to raise the dead, judge the world, and revenge Satan and all that took part with him in his rebellion, whether angels or men to create new hea- vens and a new earth, and to establish eternal peace, and love, and joy through all the new dominions which he shall have gained, and over which he shall have reigned: for he must reign till all his and our enemies shall have been subdued forever. Then he shall rosign into the hands that gave him this empire all that spe- cies of authority which he exercised in this groat work of human deliverance. Then God himself, in his antecedent character and giory, as he reigued before sin was bcrn and this admiuistra- THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 83 tion began, shall preside over all things in all. places forever and ever. IX. The present elect of God are, then, those who are in Christ, and not those out of him : for it was in him that God has set his affection upon them, and chose them to eternal life before the world began. God is not, indeed, in this whole affair a respecter of persons. It is at character, and not at person, that God looks. He has predestinated all that are in Christ " to be holy and with- out blame before him in love," and, at his coming, to be con- formed to him in all personal excellency and beauty and to share ' with him the bliss of a glorious immortality. So that "we shall be like him" he the first-born, and we his junior brethren, bear- ing his image in our persons as exactly as we now bear the image of the earthly Adam, the father of us all. X. In all these gracious purposes of God, two things are most remarkable: First, that he has elected and called certain persons to high and responsible stations as parts of a grand system of practical philanthropy such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Paul, &c. &c. These were chosen and elevated not for their own sakes, so much as for public benefactors and blessings to the human race. It is not for its own sake that the eye is so beautiful, or performs the functions of vision ; nor that the ear is so curiously fashioned, and performs the office of hearing ; but for the general comfort and safety of the whole body. So stand in the family of God in the body of Christ all apostles, prophets, preachers, reformers, and all spe- cially called and chosen" persons. As the Lord said to Saul of Tarsus, so may it be said of all those sons of oil those elect ones " 1 have appeared to you to make you a minister and a wit- ness for me to send you to the Gentiles," &c. to make you a public benefactor. Next to this remarkable fact is another still more remarkable ; that, according to the purposes of God \A re- ference to the whole human race, things are so arranged and set in order, that all enjoyments shall be, as respects human agency, conditional; and that every man, in reference to spiritual and eternal blessings, shall certainly and infiillibly have his own choice. Therefore, life and death, good and evil, happiness and misery, are placed before man as he now is, and he is commanded to make his own election and take his choice. Having chosen the good portion, he is then to " give all diligence to make his calling and election sure." 84 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. CHAPTER IX. RELIGION FOR MAN, AND NOT MAN FOR RELIGION. I. RELIGION, as the term imports, began after the Fall ; for it indicates a previous apostasy. A remedial system is for a dis- eased subject. The primitive man could love, -wonder, and adoro, as angels now do, without religion ; but man, fallen and apostate, needs religion in order to his restoration to the love, and worship, and enjoyment of God. Religion, then, is a system of means of reconciliation an institution for bringing man back to God something to bind man anew to love and delight in God.* II. It consists of two departments: the things that God has done for us, and the things that we must do for ourselves. The whole proposition of necessity in this case must come from the offended party. Man could propose nothing, do nothing to pro- pitiate his Creator, after he had rebelled against him. " Heaven, therefore, overtures; and man accepts, surrenders, and returns to God. The Messiah is a gift, sacrifice is a gift, justification is a gift, the Holy Spirit is a gift, eternal life is a gift, and even the means of our personal sanctification is a gift from God. Truly, we are saved by grace. Heaven, we say, does certain things for us, and also proposes to us what we should do to inherit eternal life. It is all of God : for he has sent his Son ; he has sent his Spirit ; and all that they have done, or shall do, is of free favor ; and the proposition concerning our justification and sanctification is equally divine and gracious as the mission of his Son. We are only asked to accept a sacrifice which God has provided for our sins, and then the pardon of them, and to open the doors of our hearts, that the Spirit of God may come in and make its abode in us. God has provided all these blessings for us, and only re- quires us to accept of them freely, without any price or idea of merit on our part. But he asks us to receive them cordially, and to pve up our hearts to him. III. It is in the kingdom of grace, as in the kingdom of nature. Heaven provides the bread, the water, the fruits, the flowers ; but we must gather and enjoy them. And if there be no merit in eating the bread which Heaven has sent for physical . life and Rrligi. with all its Latin family, imports a binding again, or tying fast that which wat. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 85 comfort, neither is there merit in eating the bread of life which came down from heaven for our spiritual life and consolation. Still, it is true, in grace, as in nature that he that eats not shall die. Hence, there are conditions of enjoyments, though no con- ditions of merit, either in nature or grace. We shall therefore speak in detail of the things which God has done, and of the tJn'ni/s trial we must do, as essential to our salvation. First, of the thing* that God has done : CHAPTER X. SACRIFICE FOR SIN. I. THE history of sacrifice is the history of atonement, recon- ciliation, redemption, and remission of sins. These are not, at least in the Jewish and Christian style, exactly synonymous terms. Sacrifice atones and reconciles. It propitiates God, and reconciles man. It is the cause, and these are its effects on heaven and earth, on God and man. II. For form's sake, and, perhaps, for the sake of perspicuity, four questions ought here to be propounded and resolved, at the very threshold of our inquiries. 1. What is sacrificed? 2. To whom is it to be offered ? 3. For whom is it to be offered ? 4. By whom is it to be offered? The answers are as prompt and brief as the interrogations. 1. In its literal and primary acceptance, it is " the solemn and religious infliction of death upon an innocent and unoffending victim, usually by shedding Us blood." Figura- tively, it means the offering of any thing, living or dead, person, or animal, or property, to God. 2. Religious sacrifice is to bo offered to God alone. 3. It is to be offered for man. 4. It is to be offered by a priest. III. The greater part of sacrifices were lambs. Hence Christ is called the LAMB OF GOD, not because of his innocence or pa- tience, but because " he taketh away," or beareth, " the sin of the world." It is rather, then, with a reference to his death than his life, that he is called the Lamb of God. Neither his example nor his doctrine could expiate sin. This required the shedding of blood : for without shedding of blood, there never was remission of sin. IV. Priests are mediators in their proper place and meaning. o6 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. But at first every man was his ovrn priest. For as it was once right for a man to marry his sister, because he could find no other person for a wife, so was it lawful an 1 expedient for every man to be his own priest. Thus, Adam, Abel, Noah, &c. were their own priests. In the next chapter of time, the eldest sons then the princes of tribes were priests for their respertive tribes and people. But finally, Goi called and appointed such persons as M.-lchizedek and Aaron to these offices. V. Sacrifice, doubtl -ss, is as old as the Fall. The institution of it is not recorded by Moses. But he informs us, that God had respect for Abel's offering, and accepted from him a slain lamb. Now had it been a human institution, this ci uld not have been the case ; for a divine warrant has always been essential to any acceptable worship. The question, "Who has required this at your hands?" must always be answered by a "thus saith tlie Lord" before an offering of mortal man can be acknowledged by thi- Lawgiver of the universe. " In vain," said tlie Great T acher, "do you worship God, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." God accepted the sacrifices of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, &e., and in the Jewish system gave many laws and enact- ments concerning it. VI. Now as sacrifice may be contemplated in different aspect*, in reference to what it is in itself, to whom it is tendered, for whom and by whom it is offered ; so in each of these relations, it may be represented under different names. Hence, it is a " sin-offering," a Uiank-ojfering, a propitiation,* a reconciliation, a redemption. Contemplated in reference to God, it is a propitia- tion; in reference to mankind, it is a reconciliation; and in another point of view, it may even be regarded as a redemption or ransom. On each of these it may be expedient to make a few remarks. VII. Sacrifice, as respects God, is a propitiation; as respects sinners, it is a reconciliation; as respects sin, it is an expiation; as respects the saved, it is a redemption. These are aspects of the * The Hebrew term enpher. translated In the Greek Old Testament by tlasmns, and In the common Knirlish version, by ntonfmtnt or propitiation, signifies a cnriTing. T!i MM-II COPIIKR " to roivr." or to mal.r al'mrmr.nt,' 1 denotes the object of sacrifice; KM 1 h. MIC.- .Irsn-i is called the ilaxmnt. the covering, propitiation or atonement for our M i~. 1 .liilm ii. '2 and iv. 10. It is a curious and remarkable fact, that <; ><1 covered A-lam nti'I Kvi- with the skins of the lirst \Miins of death, instead of their fai-ltnf r"! <<. This may have prefigured the fact, that while sin was atoned or expiated as r. y(>".-ts <;<>,! liv tlii- lif' of flu- vi. tim. the effect as respects man was a covering for hif nakedness and sh-tme, or M< fin. which divested him of his primitive innocence aud beauty, and covered him with ignominy aud reproach. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 37 thing of cardinal value in understanding the Scriptures. As a propitiation or atonement* it is offered to God ; not, indeed, to move his benevolence or to excite his mercy, but to render him propitious according to law and justice. It sprang from everlast- ing love, and is the effect and not the cause of God's benevolence to sinners. But without it God could not be propitious to us. The indignity offered his person, authority, and government, by the rebellion of man, as also the good of all his creatures, made it impossible for him, according to justice, eternal right, and his own benevolence, to show mercy without sacrifice. True, indeed, he always does prefer mercy to sacrifice, as he prefers the end to the means. But divine mercy forever sits upon the propitiatory ; upon law and justice. Thus affirms Paul of Jesus, "Whom God has set forth as a propitiatory through faith in his blood, for a de- claration of his justice that he might be just, and thejustifier of the ungodly, or of him that believeth in Jesus." In this sense only, God oould not be gracious to man in forgiving him without a propitiation, or something that could justify him both to him- self and all his creatures. In this acceptation of the term atone- ment, it is found often in the law, not less than twenty-five times in the single book of Leviticus. VIII. As respects the sinner, we have said it is a reconciliation. Indeed, the term reconciliation very appropriately applies to sa- crifice, inasmuch as it brings forth the offended and the offender together. So far as it honors law and justice, it reconciles God to forgive ; and so far as it displays to the offender love and mercy, it reconciles him to his offended Sovereign. It is, in this view, a reconciliation indeed. It propitiates God and reconciles man. God's " anger is turned away ;" (not a turbulent passion, not an implacable wrath ;) but "that moral sentiment of justice," which demands the punishment of violated law, is pacified or well pleased ; and man's hatred and animosity against God is subdued, overcome, and destroyed in and by the same sacrifice. Thus, in fact, it is, in reference to both parties, a reconciliation. Still, however, when we speak according to scriptural usage, and with proper discrimination, sacrifice, as respects God, is atone- ment or propitiation, and, as respects man, it is reconciliation. * Kalallagee, translated once atcnemf.nl, Rom. v. 11, occurs in the New Testa- ment four times. In Horn, v. 11, it ought to have been reconciliation, as in Rnm. xi. 15; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. It is not ilaimos. atonement in the Jewish sense, but katal* lagee, reconciliation. God receives the atonement, and men the reconciliation. It i.- preposterous, then, to talk of the extent of the atonement, but not so of th reconciliation. 38 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. These are its reasons and its effects. "For this cause," says Paul, "Jesus is the mediator of a new institution, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first in- stitution, thdse who had been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."* Again, the same writer makes the death of Christ the basis of reconciliation, saying, " Be reconciled to God," for he has made Christ a sin-offering for us ; and now "Gt>d is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself."t IX. As respects sin, it has been observed, sacrifice is an ex- piation. The terms purification or cleansing are in the common version preferred to expiation. Once, at least, (Num. xxxv. 33,) we have ne^d of a better word to represent the original than the term cleansing. " There can be no expiation for the land" pol- luted with blood " but by the blood of him that shed it." Still, if any one prefer purification to expiation, or even cleansing to either, so long as we understand each other, it is indeed a matter of very easy forbearance. The main point is, that sacrifice can- cels sin, atones for sin, and puts it away. "He put away sin," says Paul, " by the sacrifice of himself." This is expiation. X. " The redemption, then, which is in Christ Jesus," is a moral and not a commercial consideration. If sin were only a debt, and not a crime, it might be forgiven without atonement. Nay, if sin were a debt, and sacrifice a payment of that debt, then there could be no forgiveness at all with God ! For, if the Redeemer or Ransomer of man has paid the debt, justice, and not mercy or forgiveness, commands the release, not the pardon of the debtor. Some there are, however, who from inattention to the sacred style, and the meaning of biblical terms, have actually represented the death of Christ rather as the payment of an im- mense debt than as an expiation of sin, or a purification from guilt, and have thu* made the pardon of sin wholly unintelli- gible, or rather, indeed, impossible. Every one feels, that when a third person nssnmes a debt, and pays it, the principal must be Jischnrued, and cannot be forgiven. But when sin is viewed in tin; light of a crime, and atonement offered by a third person, tJion it is a question of grace, whether the pardon or acquittal of tin' sinner shall be granted by him against whom the crime has been committed; because, even after an atonement or propitiation is made, the transgressor is yet as deserving of punishment as Ool'ore. There is room, then, for both justice and mercy ; for the Hebrews Jx. 15. t 2 Cor. T. 20. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 39 display of indignation against sin, and the forgiveness of the sinner; in just views of sin, and of the redemption there is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. XL lledemution, however, is the deliverance from sin, rather than the expiation or atonement for it. Thus, Christ is said "by his own blood to have obtained an eternal redemption for us."* Thus pardon, sanctification, and even the resurrection of the bodies of the saints, are severally contemplated as parts of our redemption, or deliverance from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and from the punishment of sin.f XII. There is a number of incongruities and inaccuracies in the controversy about the nature and extent of the atonement, which, as the mists of the morning retire from the hills before the rising sun, disappear from our mental horizon when the light of scriptural definition breaks in upon our souls. The atonement or propitiation has no "extent," because God alone is its object. It contemplates sin as a unit in the divine government, and there- fore the "Lamb of God beareth away the sin of the world," and his death is a "sin-offering." As to its value, it is unspeakable. Commensurate it is, indeed, with the sin of the world ; for it makes it just on the part of God to forgive and save every one that believeth in Jesus. Reconciliation and redemption have, however, a certain limited extent. Reconciliation is not univer- sal, but partial. All do not believe in Jesus; all are, therefore, not reconciled to God through him. Redemption, or deliverance from the guilt, pollution, power, and punishment of sin, is only commensurate with the elect of God, i.e. with those who believe in Jesus and obey him. XIII. They who affirm that one drop of Christ's blood could expiate the sin of the whole world, teach, without knowing it, that Christ has died in vain : for, surely the Messiah might have shed many drops of blood and still have lived. They make his death an unmeaning superfluity or redundancy who reason thus. They also agree, without intending it, with those who view sin merely as a debt, and not a crime, and therefore say that there is no need of sin-offerings, or sacrifice, or of a divine Saviour, in order to its forgiveness. XIV. They, too, seem to mistake the matter; and I am sorry to find such names among them as Butler, Whitby, and Mac- * Hebrews Ix. 12. t See Eph. 1. 7 ; Col. 1. 14 ; 1 Pet 18 ; Isa. llx. 20 ; Rom. Till. 23 ; Kph. 1. 14, Iv. 30. 40 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Knight, who, while they contend that the death of Christ was a sacrifice, or a propitiation for sin, wholly resolve its efficacy into the mere appointment of God. According to them, God might have saved the whole world without the appearance of his Son ; for the merit or efficacy of Christ's death arises not from his dig- nity of person, but from the mere appointment or will of God ! Now we cannot think that it was possible for God himself to save sinners in any other way than he has chosen; for to have paid sin overprice for our redemption savors rather of prodigality than ot divine wisdom and prudence. And if mere appointment was sufficient, why not, then, have continued the legal sacrifices, and have made the blood of bulls and of goats efficacious to take it away ? XV. To conclude, sacrifice is essential to remission of sins, and is therefore old as the fall of man. But the sacrifices of the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations could not and did not take away sin. They were but types of the real sacrifice ; for, as Paul says, " It was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin." And again, "If the blood of bulls and of gosxts, with the ashes of a heifer, did cleanse to the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through an eternal spirit offers himself to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God ?" Christ's death is, there- fore, a real and sufficient sacrifice for sin, and stands in the at- titudes of propitiation, reconciliation, expiation, and redemption; from which spring to us justification, sanctification, adoption, and eternal life. XVI. The sacrifice of Christ, as before affirmed, is, as respects God, a propitiation ; as respects man, a reconciliation ; as respects sin, an expiation ; as respects the penitent, a redemption ; but the attributes that apply to it in any of these aspects do not apply t<> it in the others ; and this oversight has, in our opinion, been the fruitful source of interminable controversies concerning tin 1 "atonement," as it is most usually denominated. It is, indeed, in- finite in value, as respects the expiation of sin, or its propitiatory power ; but as respects the actual reconciliation and redemption of sinners, it is limited to those only who believe on and obey the Saviour. While, also, it is as universal as the sin of the world, the peculiar sins only of the obedient are expiated by it. Its de- lir/n, thon, is necessarily limited to all who come to God by it; while its value and efficacy are equal to the salvation of the THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 41 whole world, provided only they will put themselves under the covering of its propitiatory power. XVII. The " doctrine of the cross" being the great central doctrine of the Bible, and the very essence of Christianity which explains .ill the peculiarities of the Christian system, and of the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as far as mortals can comprehend them, and as it has been, to skeptics and to many pro- fessors, " a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence," for the sake of some of the speculative and cavilling, who ask why are these things so? I subjoin an extract from the writings of Mr. Watson, on this point, which may suggest to them some useful reflections on this cardinal and all absorbing subject: XVIII. " How sin may be forgiven," says Mr. Watson, "without leading to such misconceptions of the divine character as would encourage disobedience, and thereby weaken the influence of the divine government, must be a problem of very difficult solution. A government which admitted no forgiveness, would sink the guilty to despair ; a government which never punishes offence, is a contradiction ; it cannot exist. Not to punish the guilty, is to dissolve authority ; to punish without mercy is to destroy, and where all are guilty, to make the destruction universal. That we cannot sin with impunity, is a matter determined. The Ruler of the world is not careless of the conduct of his creatures: for that penal consequences are attached to the offence, is not a subject of argument, but it is matter of fact, evident by daily observation of the events and circumstances of the present life. It is a principle, therefore, already laid down, that the authority of God must be preserved ; but it ought to be remarked, that in that kind of ad- ministration which restrains evil by penalty, and encourages obe- dience by favor and hope, we and all moral creatures are the in- terested parties, and not the Divine Governor himself, whom, because of his independent and all-sufficient nature, our trans- gressions cannot injure. The reasons, therefore, which compel him to maintain his authority, do not terminate in himself. If he treats offenders with severity, it is for our sake, and for the sake of the moral order of the universe, to which sin, if encouraged by a negligent administration, or by entire and frequent impunity, would be the source of endless disorder and misery; and if the granting of pardon to offence be strongly and even severely guard- ed, so that no less a satisfaction could be accepted than the death of God's own Son, we are to refer this to the moral necessity of 4* 42 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. the case, as arising out of the general welfare of accountable creatures, liable to the deep evil of sin, and not to any reluctance on the part of our Maker to forgive, much leas to any thing vin- dictive iti his nature, charges which have been most inconsider- ately and unfairly said to be implied in the doctrine of Christ's sacrificial sufferings. If it then be true, that the release of offend- ing man from future punishment, and his restoration to the divine favor, ought, for the interest of mankind themselves, and for the instruction and caution of other beings, to be so bestowed, that no license shall be given to offence ; that God himself, while he manifests his compassion, should not appear less just, less holy than he really is; that his authority should be felt to be as com- pelling, and that disobedience should as truly, though not uncon- ditionally, subject us to the deserved penalty, as though no hope of forgiveness had been exhibited ; we ask, On what scheme, save that which is developed in the Now Testament, are those necessary conditions provided for? Necessary they are, unless \ve contend for a license and an impunity which shall annul all good government in the universe, a point for which no reasonable man will contend ; and if so, then we must allow, that there is strong internal evidence of the truth of the doctrine of scripture, when it makes the offer of pardon consequent only upon the se- curities we have mentioned. If it be said, that sin may be par- doned, in the exercise of the divine prerogative, the reply is, that if this prerogative were exercised towards a part of mankind only, the passing by of the rest would be with difficulty reconciled to the divine character; and if the benefit were extended to all, government would be at an end. This scheme of bringing men within the exercise of a merciful prerogative does not, therefore, meet the obvious difficulty of the case ; nor is it improved by con- fining the act of grace only to repentant criminals. For if repent- ance imply a " renewal in the spirit of the mind," no criminal would of himself thus repent. But if by repentance be meant merely remorse and terror in the immediate view of danger, what offender, surrounded with the wreck of former enjoyments, feel- ing the vanity of guilty pleasures, now past forever, and behold- ing the approach of the delayed penal visitation, but would re- pent? Were the principle of granting pardon to repentance to regulate human governments, every criminal would escape, and judicial forms would become a subject of ridicule. Nor is it re- cognised by the Divine Being, in his conduct to men in the pre- sent state, although in this world punishments are net final and THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 48 absolute. Repentance does not restore health injured by intem- perance ; property wasted by profusion ; or character once stained by dishonorable practices. If repentance alone could secure pardon, then all must be pardoned, and government dissolved, as in the case of forgiveness by the exercise of mere prerogative ; but if a merely arbitrary selection be made, then different and discordant principles of government are introduced into the divine administration, which is a derogatory supposition. XIX. The question proposed abstractedly, How may mercy be extended to offending creatures, the subjects of the divine govern- ment, without encouraging vice by. lowering the righteous and holy character of God, and the authority of his government in the maintenance of which the whole universe of beings are interest- ed ? is, therefore, at once one of the most important and one of the most difficult that can employ the human mind. None of the theories which have been opposed to Christianity affords a satis- factory solution of the problem. They assume principles either destructive of moral government, or which cannot, in the circum- stances of man, be acted upon. The only answer is found in the holy Scriptures. They alone show, and indeed, they alone profess to show, how God may be "just," and yet the "justifier" of the ungodly. Other schemes show how he may be merciful ; but the difficulty does not lie there. The gospel meets it, by declaring " the righteousness of God," at the same time that it proclaims his mercy. The voluntary suffering of the divine Son of God, "for us," "the just for the unjust," magnify the justice of God; display his hatred to sin ; proclaim " the exceeding sinfulness" of transgression, by the deep and painful manner in which they were inflicted upon the Substitute ; warn the persevering offender of the terribleness, as well as the certainty, of his punishment ; and open the gates of salvation to every penitent. It is a part of the same divine plan, also, to engage the influence of the Holy Spirit, to awaken penitence in man, and to lead the wanderer back to him- self; to renew our fallen nature in righteousness, at the moment we are justified through faith, and to place us in circumstances in which we may henceforth " walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." All the ends of government are here answered no li- cense is given to offence the moral law is unrepcaled a day of judgment is still appointed future and eternal judgments still display their awful sanctions a new and singular display of the awful purity of the divine character is afforded yet pardon is offered to all who seek it ; and the whole world may be saved. 44 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. XX. With such evidence of the suitableness to the case of mankind, under such lofty views of connexion with the princi- ples and ends of moral government, does the doctrine of the atonement present itself. But other important considerations are not wanting to mark the united wisdom and goodness of that me- thod of extending mercy to the guilty, which Christianity teaches us to have been actually and exclusively adopted. It is rendered, indeed, " worthy of all acceptation," by the circumstance of its meeting the difficulties we have just dwelt upon difficulties which could not otherwise have failed to make a gloomy impres- sion upon every offender awakened to a sense of his spiritual danger ; but it must be very inattentively considered, if it does not further commend itself to us, by not only removing the ap- prehensions we might feel as to the severity of the Divine Law- giver, but as exalting him in our esteem, as "the righteous Lord, who loveth righteousness," who surrendered his beloved Son to suffering and death, that the influence of moral goodness might not be weakened in the hearts of his creatures ; and as a God of love, affording in this instance a view of the tenderness and be- nignity of his nature, infinitely more impressive and affecting than any abstract description could convey; or than any act of creating or providential power and grace could exhibit, and there- fore most suitable to subdue that enmity which had unnaturally grown up in the hearts of his creatures, and which, when corrupt, they so easily transfer from a law which restrains their inclina- tion, to the Lawgiver himself. If it be important to us to know the extent and reality of our danger, by the death of Christ it is displayed, not in description, but in the most impressive action ; if it be important that we should have an assurance of the divine placability towards us, it here receives a demonstration incapable of being heightened ; if gratitude be the most powerful motive of future obedience, and one which renders command on the one part, and "active service on the other, "not grievous but joyous," the recollection of such obligations as those which the " love of Christ" has laid us under is a perpetual spring to this energetic affection, and will be the means of raising it to higher and more delightful activity forever. All that can most powerfully illus- trate the united tenderness and awful majesty of God, and the odiousness of sin ; all that can win back the heart of man to his Maker and Lord, and render future obedience a matter of affection and delight, as well as duty ; all that can extinguish the angry and malignant passions of man to man ; all that can inspire a mutual THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 45 benevolence, and dispose to a self-denying charity for the benefit of others; all that can arouse by hope, or tranquillize by faith, is to be found in the sacrificial death of Christ, and the principles and purposes for which it was endured." ^ CHAPTER XI. THE ATTRIBUTES OP A REAL SIN-OFFERING. I. A SINGLE action or event often involves, in weal or woe, a family, a nation, an empire. Who can count the effects or bear- ings of the elevation or fall of a Caesar, a Hannibal, a Napoleon? A single victory, like that of Zama, or of Waterloo, a single re- volution, like that of England or America, sometimes involves the fortunes of a world. Neither actions nor events can be ap- preciated but through their bearings and tendencies upon every person and thing with which they come in contact. The rela- tions, connections, and critical dependencies in which persons and actions stand are often so numerous and so various that it is seldom, or, perhaps,not at all, in the power of man to calculate the consequences or the value of one of a thousand of the more prominent actions of his life. II. Who could have estimated, or Avho can estimate, the moral or the political bearings of the sale of Joseph to a band of Ish- maelites of the exposure of Moses in a cradle of rushes on the Nile of the anointing of David King of Israel of the schism of the twelve tribes under Rehoboam of the treachery of Judas of the martyrdom of Stephen, the conversion of Paul, the acces- sion of Constantino the Great, the apostasy of Julian, the cru- sades against the Turks, the reformation of Luther, the revival of letters, or any of the great movements of the present-day? How difficult, then, is it to estimate the rebellion of Satan, the fall of Adam, t-he death of Christ, in all their bearings upon the desti- nies of the universe 1 III. Before a remedy for sin could either be devised or appre- ciated, a knowledge of its bearing upon God and man, upon time and eternity, upon heaven and earth, is an indispensable pre- requisite. But who possesses this knowledge, or what uninspired man can attain it? At best we know but in part; and, therefore> can but partially explain any thing. How difficult, then, to form 46 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. a satisfactory view of sin and its remedy of the fall of Adam and the death of Christ 1 IV. It would, however, greatly aid our conceptions of the death of Christ, and illustrate the nature and use of sin-offerings, could we obtain just and scriptural views of sin in its necessary con- sequences, or in its prominent bearings upon the universe. In- deed, some knowledge of these aspects of sin is essential to our perception and appreciation of the wisdom, justice, and grace of the Christian system. It is not enough that we entertain a few vague and indistinct notions of its tendencies, or of the attitudes in which it stands to God, ourselves, and our fellows: we must have clear and definite views of the relations in which God stands to us, and we to him and to one another, and how sin affects us all in these relations : for that it bears a peculiar aspect to each of us in all these relations will, we doubt not, be conceded without debate. V. God stands in diverse relations to the intellectual and moral creation. He is our Father, our Lawgiver, and our King. Now his feelings as a father, and his character as a lawgiver and sove- reign, are equally involved in the bearings and aspects of sin. The influence of sin upon ourselves is also various and multiform. It affects the heart, the conscience, the whole soul and body of man. It alienates our affections, and even works hatred in our minds both towards God and man. As an ancient adage says, "We hate those we have injured ;" and, having offended God our Father, we are for that very reason filled with enmity against him. It also oppresses and pollutes the conscience with its guilt and dread, and enslaves the passions as well as works the de- struction of the body. It also alienates man from man, weakens the authority and destroys the utility of law, and, if not subdued, would ultimately subvert the throne and government of God. If not restrained and put down, it would fill the universe with anarchy arid disorder with universal misery and ruin. VI. To go no further into details, it may, on the premises al- ready before us, be observed : 1st. That every sin wounds the affection of our heavenly Father. 2d. Insults and dishonors hia law and authority in the estimation of his other subjects. 3d. Alienates our hearts from him. 4th. Oppresses our conscience with guilt and dread. 5th. Severs us from society by its morbid selfishness and disregard for man. 6th. Induces to new infrac- tions and habitual violations of right. And 7th. Subjects us to shame and contempt our bodies to the dust, and our persons tc everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 47 VI f. Not as the full tale, but rather as a specimen of the loss *ust:iined, and of the mischief done, by our transgression, we liavu made these seven specifications. These only serve to show in how many aspects sin must be contemplated before we can form a just estimate of a suitable and sufficient sin-offering or remedy. VIII. Now, so far as we have been able to trace the tendencies nnd bearings of transgression in the above enumeration, we must find in the sin-offering a remedy and an antidote which will fully meet all these aspects ; otherwise it will be utterly valueless and unavailing in the eye of enlightened reason, as well as in the righteous judgment of God, to expiate sin, to put it away, and to prevent its recurrence. IX. Need we demonstrate that man himself cannot furnish such a sin-offering ? Need we again propound Micah's question, " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thou- sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression ; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" Will repentance for the past, and future amendment, place things as they were, raise the murdered dead, repair wasted fortunes, and recruit broken constitutions? Will tears, and groans, and agonies, honor a violated law, sustain a righteous government, vindicate the divine character, and pre- vent further enormities? Have they ever done it? Can they ever do it? Surely, we shall be excused for not attempting to prove that we have neither a tear, nor a sigh, nor an agony, nor a lamb, nor a kid of our own creation, to offer to the Lord, even were such a sacrifice available to meet all the bearings of the case ! X. Every transgression, even the least, the eating of a forbid- den apple, subjects the transgressor to destruction. One sin, of one man, has involved the whole race in death. The life of the transgressor is demanded in the very mildest accents of insulted justice. Hence, in the law of the typical sin-offerings, we find it thus written: " The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I havo given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your SOuls: FOR IT IS .THE BLOOD THAT MAKETH AN ATONEMENT FOB THE SOUL."* But such blood, such lives as the law required, could not, Paul and Common Sense being judge, take away sin. LevJt. xvH. 11. 48 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. They could only prefigure a life and a blood that could truly, and justly, and honorably expiate it. Thus, the death of Christ is forced upon our attention by the law, by the prophets, and by tho necessity of the case, enlightened Reason being in the chair, as the only real, true, and proper sin-atoning offering. It does, in- deed, meet not only the above seven particulars, but all others which have occurred to the human mind ; and thus secures tho union and harmony of things on earth, and of things in heaven, in the inviolable bonds of an everlasting brotherhood. XI. 1st. "In bringing many sons to glory," it soothes and de- lights the wounded love of our kind and benignant heavenly Father. 2d. " It magnifies and makes honorable" his violated law and insulted government. 3d. It reconciles our hearts thoroughly and forever to God, as a proof and pledge incontrovertible of his wonderful and incomprehensible love to us. 4th. It effectually relieves our conscience by "cleansing us from all sin," and pro- duces within us a divine serenity, a peace and joy "unspeakable and full of glory." 5th. It also reconciles us to our fellows, and fills us with brotherly affection and universal benevolence, be- cause it makes us all one in faith, in hope, in joy, as joint heirs of immortality and eternal life. 6th. It is the most effectual guard against new infractions of the divine law, and superlatively de- ters from sin, by opening to us its diabolical nature and tremen- dous consequences, showing us, in the person of God's only-be- gotten and well-beloved Son, when a sin-offering, the impossi- bility of escape from the just and retributive punishment of insulted and indignant Heaven. And 7th. It is a ransom from death, a redemption from the grave, such a deliverance from the guilt, pollution, power, and punishment of sin, as greatly ele- vates the sons of God above f great interest to ourselves, requiring confidence in him, to be- lieve what he says, itnd to believe or trust in him, are in effect, one and the same thing. Suppose a physician present himself to one that is sick, stating his ability and willingness to heal him : to believe him ia to trust in him, and to put ourselves under his THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 58 guidance ; provided, only, we love health rather than sickness, aud life rather than death. III. While, then, faith is the simple belief of testimony, or of the truth, and never can be more nor lessihan that; as a principle of action it has respect to a person or thing interesting to us : and Is confidence or trust in that person or thing. Now the belief of what Christ says of himself, terminates in trust or confidence in him : and as the Christian religion is a personal thing, both as respects subject and object, that faith in Christ which is essential to salvation is not the belief of any doctrine, testimony, or truth, abstractly, but belief in Christ; trust or confidence in him as a person, not a thing.* We take Paul's definition of the term aud of the thing, as perfectly simple, intelligible, and sufficient. For the term faith, he substitutes the belief of the truth. ' God has from the beginning, chosen you to salvation, through the sancti- cation of the Spirit ; through the belief of the truth."! And of the thing, he says, " Faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."J And John says, it is " re- ceiving testimony," for "if we receive the testimony of man," as a principle of action, or put trust in it, " the testimony of God is greater," and of course will produce greater confidence. || Any belief, then, that does not terminate in our personal confidence in Jesus as the Christ, and to induce trustful submission to him, ia not faith unfeigned ; but a dead faith, and cannot save the soul. CHAPTER XV. REPENTANCE. I. REPENTANCE is an effect of faith : for who that believes not that God exists, can have " repentance towards God" ? Repent- ance is sorrow for sins committed ; but it is more. It is a resolu- tion to forsake them ; but it is more. It is actual " ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well." This is "repentance unto life," or what is truly called reformation. Such is the force of the com- mand, "Jtepent, every one of you." It is not merely. Be sorry for what you have done wrong ; nor is it, Resolve to do better ; nor * See the Essay on the Foundation of Christian Union, on he terms, fact. te*K many, faith, rfc.. \?hoie this subject is ti-ented ai large. t 2 Thewi. ii. 3. { Hfb. xi. 1. I 1 John v. 9. 54 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. even try to amend your ways : but it is actual amendment of life from the views and the motives which the gospel of Christ ex- hibits. Gospel repentance is the offspring of gospel light and gospel motive, and therefore, it is the effect, and not the cause, of belief of the testimony of God. II. True repentance is, then, always consummated in actual reformation of life. It therefore carries in its very essence, the idea of restitution. For no man can cordially disallow or repro- bate his sinful course of life, who does not redress the wrongs he has done, to the utmost limit of his power. To God he can make no restitution, only as he refunds to his creatures, whom he has injured. If, then, any one is convicted in his own mind, that he has injured the person, the character, or the property of his neigh- bor, by word or deed, and has it in his power, by word or deed, to undo the evil he has done, or to restore what he has unjustly taken away, he will certainly do it, if his repentance be accord- ing to either the law of Moses or the gospel of Christ. Other- wise his repentance is of no value: for God cannot, without trampling on his own law, and dishonoring his own character, forgive any man who is conscious of any sin he has done to any man, unless to the utmost extent of his power he make good the injury he has done. Thus saith the Lord, "If a soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbor in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, (. e. trading,) or in any thing taken away by violence, or has deceived his neighbor, or have found that which was lost, and lieth con- cerning it, or sweareth falsely; in any or all these that a man doeth, sinning therein : then it shall be, because he hath sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he has deceitfully gotten, or that which was de- livered him to keep, or that lost thing which he found, or all that about which he has sworn falsely, he shall even restore in in tlie principal, and shall add a fifth part more thereto, and give it to him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass-offering, and he shall bring his trespass-offering to the Lord, and the priest shall make atonement for him" before the Lord, and it shall be forgiven him." Levit. vi. 1-7. Sin-offerings without repentance, and repentance without sin-offerings, are equally ineffectual be- tore God. We sin against God always, when we sin against man ; and therefore, after making all things right with man, we can only, through sacrifice, which makes the matter right with THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. God, obtain forgiveness. To the same effect, Jesus speaks, Matt. v. 23, 24, "Be reconciled to your brother," first make the matter right with him, w and then come and offer your gift."* CHAPTER XVI. BAPTISM. I. THERE are three things to be considered in baptism : 1. The action commanded to be done; 2. The subject specified ; 3. The meaning or design of that action. Jesus commanded a certain character to be the subject of a certain action, for a certain specific purpose or design. The questions, then, are, What that action ? What that subject ? What that design ? OF THE ACTION. II. The action is indicated by a word as definite, clear, and unequivocal, as any word in any language ever spoken by the many-tongued sons of Adam. Besides, in all laws and institu- tions, and more especially in those that are of a positive, rather than a moral nature, all words having both a literal and a figura- tive meaning, a common and a special signification, are to be un- derstood in their literal and common, and not in their figurative and uncommon import and acceptation. So have decided all the judges of law and language, from time immemorial. III. That definite and unambiguous word, as almost universally known in these days of controversy, is baptisma, or baptismos, anglicized, not tranalated, baptism. The primary means by which the meaning of this word is ascertained are the following: 1. The ancient lexicons and dictionaries ; 2. The ancient and mo dern translations of the New Testament ; 3. The ancient customs of the jhurch ; 4. The place and circumstances of baptizing, as mentioned in the New Testament; and 5. The allusions to this ordinance and the expositions of it in the apostolic epistles. To each of these we shall do little more than simply advert on the present occasion. 1. The ancient lexicons with one consent, give immersion as the natural, common, and primary sense of this word. There is * 8*e my Essays on Regeneration, on the words repentance and reparation. 50 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. not known to us a single exception. Nor is there a received lex' con, ancient or modern, that does ever translate this word by thfl terms sprinkling, or pouring. And as there are but three actions allowed to be Christian baptism ; and as the original words, both verbs and nouns, are translated immerse and immersion, in all lexi- cons, and never, sprinkle or pour; follows it not, then, that neither sprinkling nor pouring is Christian baptism ? The question is not whether these words are ever, like other words, used figuratively: wither they may not melonymically mean, wetting or washing: for these may be the effects of either sprinkling, pouring, or dip- ping. The question is not, whether these words may be so used : but the question is, whether the action commanded in baptizo, be sprinkling, pouring, or immersing a person. All authorized Greek dictionaries, ancient and modern, with one consent, affirm that action to be immersion ; and not sprinkling or pouring. 2. All Latin, English, German and French versions which we have seen, and we believe on the testimony of others, all that we have not seen, sometimes translate these* words, their derivatives, or compounds, by words equivalent to immersion: but on no occa- sion ever translate them by sprinkling, or pouring, or any word equivalent to these terms. This is an evidence of great moment: for if these versions have nineteen times in twenty been made by those who practise sprinkling or pouring in the name of the Lord ; and if these words occur about one hundred and twenty times in the New Testament, is it not very singular that never once have such translators rendered the words by sprinkling, or pouring? a decisive proof in our judgment that it could not be so translated. Indeed, a mere English scholar, who has only heard that baptism is a Greek word, may indubitably ascertain that it means neither sprinkling nor pouring, by substituting the definition for the term, and trying its sense in all places where the ordinance is spoken of. This is an infallible canon of interpretation. The proper de- Jinition of a term substituted for it will always make as good sense as the term itself. Now, if an English reader will try sprinkling or pouring in those places where he finds the word baptism, he will soon discover that neither of these words can possibly repre- sent it, if the above canon be true. For instance, we are told, that all Judea and Jerusalem went out to John and were baptized of him in the Jordan. Sprinkled thorn in the Jordan ! poured them i/i the Jordan ! immersed them in the Jordan. Can any one doubt which of these truly represents the original in such pas- sages? I may sprinkle or pour water upon a person ; but to sprinkle THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. f>7 or pour them into water is impossible. It is not said lie baptized water upon them, but he baptized them in water, in the river. 3. The ancient church, it is admitted on all hands, practised immersion. It did so, Roman, Greek and English historians being worthy of any credit. 4. The places where baptism was anciently administered, being rivers, pools, baths, and places of much water, show that it was not sprinkling or pouring. They went down into the water, and came up out of it, &c. And John baptized where there were many waters or much water. And even Paul and Silas went out of the Philippian jail to baptize the jailor at night, rather than send for a cup of water ! 5. It is also alluded to and explained under the figure of a burial and resurrection, as relating' to the death, burial, and resur- rection of Jesus, &c. Rom. vi. and Col. ii. From these topics many clear and conclusive arguments may be drawn, on which it is not now our business to dwell. If, in- deed, any one of these five '.opics be correct, the action that Christ commands is forevei decided. How much more, when they all concur in asserting the same interpretation ! There is, then, but one baptism, and not two, under the Christian adminis- tration. THE SUBJECT OF BAPTISM. IV. Characters, not persons, as such, are the subjects of baptism. Penitent believers not infants nor adults, not males nor females, not Jews nor Greeks ; but professors of repentance towards God, and faith in Christ are the proper subjects of this ordinance. "To as many as received him, to them he granted privilege of becom- ing the sons of God, to them that believed on his name, which were born not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." " He that believeth, and is baptized not he that is baptized and believeth, shall be saved." *' Many of the Corinth- ians hearing, believed and were baptized," not many of the Co- rinthians were baptized and then believed, and finally heard the Gospel! " for without faith it is impossible to please God," &c. THE MEANING OF BAPTISM. V. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, the baptism of repentance, for the remission Df sins." " And Jesus said that repentance and remission of sius 08 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Therefore, Peter said to the penitent Pentecostians, " llepent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the remission of sins." Again, " As many of you as have been baptized or immersed into Christ, have put on Christ, have been immersed into his death ;" " have risen with him." VI. Baptism is, then, designed to introduce the subjects of it into the participation of the blessings of the death and resurrec- tion of Christ; who " died for our sins," and "rose again for our justification." But it has no abstract efficacy. Without previous faith in the blood of Christ, and deep and unfeigned repentance beiore God, neither immersion in water, nor any other action, can secure to us the blessings of peace and pardon. It can merit nothing. Siill to the believing penitent it is the means of receiv- ing a formal, distinct, and specific absolution, or release from guilt. Therefore, none but those who have first believed the testimony of God and have repented of their sins, and that have been intelligently immersed into his death, have the full and ex- plicit testimony of God, assuring them of pardon. To such only as are truly penitent, dare we say, " Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord," and to such only can we say with assurance, "You are washed, you are justified, you are sanctihed in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God." But let the reader examine with care our special essay on the Remission of Sins, in which this much-de- bated subject is discussed at considerable length. CHAPTER XVLL THE CHRISTIAN CONFESSION OP FAITH. I. THE only apostolic and divine confession of faith which God, the Father of all, has laid for the church and that on which Je- BUS himself said he would build it, is the sublime and supreme proposition: THAT JKSUS OF NAZARETH is THE MESSIAH, THB SON OP THE LIVING GOD. This is the peculiarity of the Christian system : its specific attribute. The antediluvian Abel, Enoch, &e. believed that a son of Eve would bruise Satan's head. Abraham, | THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 59 Isaac, and Jacob believed that a peculiar son of theirs would bo the child of blessings, the Son of promise to the human race. Indeed, Jesse, David, and all the prophets, looked for one from the sceptred tribe, who would be king of all the earth, and a benefactor of humanity. John the Baptist in his day preached and believed that the Messenger of the covenant of eternal peace was immediately to appear. But the disciples of Jesus, the son of Mary, believed and confessed that he was the identical person. " We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and all the pro- phets did write : Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, the King of Israel." " Rabbi," said Nathanael, " thou art the Son of God,- thou art the King of Israel." But yet it remained for Peter to speak fully and expressly, the very proposition which contains the whole matter. " We believe and are sure that thou art the Mes- liah, the Son of the living God." " On this rock," responded :with a blessing upon Peter's name and head ; " on this rock ill build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail igainst it." Of this foundation, Paul has said, "Other foundation Jan no man lay than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Jhrist." God himself laid this corner, this tried and precious Jtone, as the foundation of the temple of grace ; and therefore tfith his own lips pronounced him his beloved Son ; and sealed tim by the visible descent and impress of his Spirit, as his Mes- iiah, the Messenger of life and peace to a condemned and rebel- uous world. II. This confession of faith has in it two distinct ideas the >ne concerning the person, the other concerning the office, of the Son of Man. The one asserts his divine relations, the other his official rank and glory. No one can intelligently believe this proposition, and not turn to God with all his heart: for there is in it a thousand thoughts and motives to bind the soul to God, and melt it into the most affectionate devotion. There is also in it the strongest bond to secure the affections of all Christians to one another. There is no other confession of faith on which the church can be built, on which it can possibly stand one and un- divided, but on this one. With the heart man believes this pro- position in order to justification ; and with his mouth he maketh this confession of it in order to his salvation. So Paul explains it, Rom. x.: and thus we have one Lord, one faith, and one bap- tism, among the immutable reasons why Christians should main- tain unity of spirit in the bonds of peace.* * See the Kssav on the Foundation of Christian Union and Communion. 60 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. CHAPTER XVIII. CONVERSION, REGENERATION. I. THE change which is consummated by immersion is some times called in sacred style, "being quickened," or "made alive,'' "passing from death to life," " being born again," " having risen with Christ," "turning to the Lord," " being enlightened," "conver- sion," "reconciliation," "repentance unto life." These, like the words propitiation, atonement, reconciliation, expiation, redemp- tion, expressive of the various aspects which the death of Christ sustains, are expressive of the different relations in which this great change, sometimes called a " new creation," may be con- templated. The entire change effected in man by the Christi system, consists in four things: a change of views; a change affections; a change of state ; and a change of life. Now, in re- spect of each of these separately or in combination, it is called by different names. As a change of views, it is called "being enlightened;" "Once you were darkness, now are you light in the Lord; walk as children of the light;" "After that you were enlightened," &c. As a change of the affections, it is called "be- ing reconciled ;" thus, " for if when we were enemies we were re- conciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being recon- ciled we shall be saved through his life." As a change of state, it is called a "being quickened;" "passing from death to life," " b<;ing born again," " having risen with Christ;" "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins;' 1 "By this we know we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren;" "Being born again, not of corruptible, but of incor- ruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for- ever." "If you be," or " since you are risen with Christ, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." A a change of life it is called " repentance unto life," " turning to the Lord," "conversion;" "Then God has granted to the Gentiles re- pentance to life." "And all that dwelt in Lydda and S.iron aw Eneas and turned to the Lord." "Except you be converted, and become as children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." " He that converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a buul iruiu death and hide a multitude of sius." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 61 II. Great confusion has been introduced into the Christian community by a confounding of these terms, making only one of them to mean all the others. Witness the controversy about regeneration ; as if that word were used in sacred Scripture in, reference to the entire change effected by the Christian system ; whereas, in strict propriety, it is never used by itself in the Bible to represent any part of this change, much less the whole of it. We have the phrase "washing of regeneration" once, in contra- distinction from the "renewal of the Holy Spirit," (Titus iii. 5,) but never, by itself, as indicative of this fourfold change. But suppose it should be conceded that the term regeneration might be just equivalent to "being born again," it could even then only represent so much of this change as respects mere state: for the figure of a new birth applies merely to admission into a family or nation, and not to the process of quickening or making alive of the person so admitted. It can, then, in strict propriety, only apply to the fourth part of that change which the gospel of salva- tion proposes and effects. Being born again is, or may be, the effect of a change of views, of a change of affections, or it may be the cause of a change of life ; but certain it is, it is not iden- tical with any of them, and never can represent them all. III. But may it not include them all ? It is impossible : for however we might extend the figure and suppose it to include its causes, it cannot" also include its effects. If it should include a change of views, and a change of affections, and a change of state, it cannot include a change of life or of character. We ought, then, to use this word in its strict and scriptural accept- ance, if we would escape the great confusion now resting upon this subject. The sophistry or delusion of this confusion is, that making regeneration equivalent to the entire change, instead of to the one-fourth part of it, the community will be always imposed on and misled by seeking to find the attributes of conversion in the new birth, or of the new birth in conversion ; and so of all the others. Being born again is not conversion, nor a change of views, nor a change of affections, but a change of state. True, indeed, that of the person who is born again we may suppose a change of views, a change of heart, and we may infer a change of cha- racter, and may therefore say he is enlightened, renewed in heart, converted as well as born again ; but this license respecting the person, the subject of the change, is not allowed in talking of the shange itself. A Christian is. indeed, one whose views are en- THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. lightened, whose heart is renewed, whose relations to God and the moral universe are changed, and whose manner of life is ac- cording to righteousness and true holiness. CHAPTER XIX. CHRISTIANS ARE PERSONS PARDONED, JUSTIFIED, SANCTIFIED, ADOPTED, SAVED. I. WHILE adjusting the most important terms and phrases in the Christian system, in order to a more perspicuous and com- prehensive intelligence of it, it is expedient that we should also advert to other predicates of the genuine Christian. The five terms at the head of this chapter are all indicative of his slate ; and do not include any attributes of his character. II. These predicates are but so many counterpart aspects of a new state in reference to an old one ; or they represent the gospel as affecting the position of man in the universe in all those points in which sin affocted him. Was he guilty, condemned, unholy, alien, and lost, in Adam the first? When in Adam the second, he is just in an opposite state ; he is pardoned wherein he was guilty justified wherein he was condemned sanctified wherein he was unholy adopted wherein he was alien and saved where- in he was lost. Sin, then, condemns, pollutes, alienates, and de- stroys its subjects. Grace justifies, sanctifies, adopts, and saves its subjects in reference to these points. Pardon has respect to guilt ; justification, to condemnation ; sanctification, to pollution ; adoption, to alienation ; and salvation, to destruction. Those out of Christ are, then, in their sins, condemned, unholy, alien, and lost; while those in Christ are pardoned, justified, sanctified, nlopted into the family of God, and saved. III. In former dispensations, and in the present, two things are mmutiible as respects the preparation for a change of state, while the act by which that change is formerly consummated is not necessarily immutable. Thus, in reference to actual transgres- sion, faith and repentance, in all dispensations of religion, were necessary to forgiveness, justification, sanctification, adoption, salvation. In one word, God cannot forgive an impenitent and unbelieving transgressor. But whether this or that act shall consummate a change of state, as respects man's relations to the THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 63 moral universe whether -that act shall be circumcision, animal sacrifice, baptism, confession, prayer, &c., is not from any neces- sity, either in the divine or human nature, immutable. It has been changed ; but faith in God's appointments, and repentance for past transgressions, are now, always were, and evermore shall be, necessary to forgiveness. IV. The philosophy or reason of this is, that faith and repent- ance change the state of man's heart to God ; and if there was no universe beyond God and. the sinner, all further acts respecting it would be uncalled-for. But as respects the condition of sinners in the universe, and their views, affections, relations, and manner of life, more than faith and repentance, or a change of views and feelings, is necessary to actual, and sensibTe, and formal pardon, justification, sanctification, adoption, and the salvation of the soul from sin. Hence came the ordinances of baptism, confession, prayer, fasting, and intercession. V. It is wise and kind on the part of Heaven to ordain such acts or to institute such ordinances as will assure ourselves and others of our new relations ; and to suspend our enjoyment of the favor and love of God, not merely upon fakh and penitence, or any other mental operation, but upon certain clear overt acts, such as baptism, confession, prayer, &c., which affect ourselves and others much more than they possibly can affect God himself, being the fruit of our faith, or perhaps, rather, only the perfect- ing of our faith in the promises of God. CHAPTER XX. THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. I. HAVING spoken of three things which God has done for us. and of three things which we must do for ourselves, we are now come to the proper place to consider other aids which our hea- venly Father tenders to us, just at this point. "He has provided a Lamb for a sin-offering," and "Jesus has full atonement made " He has also given to us " the light of life" the words of Jesus faithfully written out ; and he has invested him as the Son of Man, with all authority, celestial and terrestrial, that he may lead many eons to glory, and give eternal life to all that are given him. II. We also have believed all this, repented of our sins, and 64 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. been immersed into Christ. We have assumed him as our Leader, our Prophet, Priest, and King; and put ourselves under hie guidance. Having disowned the great apostate and his ranks, and enlisted under the Messiah, and taken sides with the Lord's Anointed, he now proposes to put his Holy Spirit within us, to furnish us for the good fight of faith, and to anoint us as the sons and heirs of God. III. Some will ask, Has not this gift been conferred on us to make us Christians? True, indeed, no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit. As observed in its proper place, the Spirit of God is the perfecter and finisher of all divine works. "The Spirit of God moved upon the waters;" "The hand of the Lord has made me, tffe Spirit of the Almighty has given me life ;" "By his Spirit he has garnished the heavens, his hand has formed the crooked serpent," the milky way ; " The Spirit descended upon him ;" " God himself bore the Apostle witness, by divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will;" "Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit;" "When the Spirit of truth, the Advocate, is come, he will convict the world of sin, because they believe not on me, and of justifica- tion, because I go to my Father;" "God was manifest in the flesh and justified by the Spirit." IV. The Spirit of God inspired all the spiritual ideas in the New Testament, and confirmed them by miracles; and he is ever present with the word that he inspired. He descended from hea- ven on the day of Pentecost, and has not formally ascended since. In the sense in which he descended he certainly has not ascended ; for he is to animate and inspire with new life the church or tem- ple of the Lord. "Know you not," you Christians, "that your bodies are temples of the living God?" "The temple of God is holy, which temple you are;" "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, God shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit thai dwelleth in you," &c. V. Now we cannot separate the Spirit and word of God, and ascribe so much power to the one and so much to the other ; for BO did not the Apostles. Whatever the word does, the Spirit duos; and whatever the Spirit does in the work of converting men, the word does. We neither believe nor teach abstract Spirit nor ab- etract word, but word and Spirit, Spirit and word. VI. But the Spirit is not promised to any persons out of Christ. It ia promised only to them that believe in and obey him. These THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 65 it actually and powerfully assists in the mighty struggle for eter- nal life. Some, indeed, ask, " Do Christians need more aid to gain eternal life than sinners do to become Christians? Is not the work of conversion a more difficult work than the work of sanc- tificaiion?" Hence, they contend more for the work of the Spirit in conversion, than for the work of the Spirit in sanctification. This, indeed, is a mistaken view of the matter, if we reason either from analogy or from divine testimony. Is it not more easy to plant than to cultivate the corn, the vine, the olive ? Is it not more easy to enlist in the army, than to be a good soldier, and fight the battles of the Lord ; to start in the race, than to reach the goal ; to enter the ship, than cross the ocean ; to be naturalized, than to become a good citizen ; to enter into the matrimonial com- pact, than to be an exemplary husband ; to enter into life, than to retain and sustain it for threescore years and ten ? And while the commands, " believe," " repent," and " be baptized," are never accompanied with any intimation of peculiar difficulty; the com- mands to the use of the means of spiritual health and life ; to form the Christian character; to attain to the resurrection of the just ; to lay hold on eternal life ; to make our calling and election sure, &c., are accompanied with such exhortations, admonitions, cautions, as to make it a difficult and critical affair, requiring all the aids of the Spirit of our God, to all the means of grace and untiring assiduity and perseverance on our part ; for it seems, "the called," who enter the stadium are many, while " the chosen" and approved "are few;" and many, says Jesus, "shall seek to enter into the heavenly city, and shall not be able ;" " Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." VII. Sanctification, in one point of view, is unquestionably a progressive work. To sanctify is to set apart; this may be dono in a moment, and so far as mere state or relation is concerned, it is as instantaneous as baptism. But there is the formation of a holy character: for there is a holy character as well as a holy state. The formation of such a character is the work of means ; " Holy Father," said Jesus, "sanctify them [my disciples] through the truth, thy word is the truth ;" " And the very God of peace sanc- tify you wholly," says Paul to the Thessalonians, " and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Christians, then, are to " follow peace with all men, and sanctification, without which 6* t)6 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. no one shall see the Jd to ho wholly engrossed in this work, and consequently to be fully sustained by their brethren THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 85 in it. They are held responsible to all the huly brethren, and to the Lord at his appearing and his kingdom, for the faithful dis- charge of that sacred trust confided in them. XXII. What an efficient institution is that over which Christ presides, when well understood and fully carried out in all its de- tails ! With its bishops and deacons at home, and its evangelists abroad, wholly devoted to the faithful discharge of their respec- tive trusts ; men of experience, faith, piety, morality, full of zeal, energy, benevolence, co-operating with all similar institutions, supported by the prayers and free-will offerings of all the united people, having the love of God in their hearts, and heaven in their eye, what may they not achieve of glory to God, of good to men, and honor to themselves ! Of such an army of the faith, in full operation and concert, it might indeed be asked, " Who is this that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" CHAPTER XXVI. THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE. I. MEMBERS should be publicly received into all societies. They are so in the state. It is matter of record. When a person is regenerated, and desires to be enrolled among the disciples meeting in any one place, if his confession to salvation or immer- sion has not been publicly known to all the brethren, reason says those who have been privy to the fact, who can attest his confes- sion, ought to introduce him to the congregation, and he ought to be saluted or received as such by the brethren with whom he unites. This the slightest attention to propriety, the reason and nature of things, fully and satisfactorily demonstrate. Letters of recommendation are the expedient which, in apostolic times, was substituted for this formal introduction, when a citizen of the kingdom visited any community where he was unknown person- ally to the brethren. II. A person cannot be under the oversight or under the disci- pline of a congregation, unless he voluntarily associate with the brethren meeting in that place, and unless it be a matter of noto- riety or of record among the brethren that he is one of them. There can be no formal exclusion if there be no formal reception. If there be no visible and formal union, there can be no visible 86 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. and formal separation. In truth, there can be no discipline in any congregation, unless it be an organized body ; and no body can be organized unless it is known who are members of it. On a matter of such plain common-sense perception we have seldom thought it necessary to say a word, and should not now have no- ticed it at all, had we not found some societies which cannot tell their own members, which even hesitated about the necessity of 'i formal reception of any person into them, or of having it on record who belonged to them. They demanded a positive com- mandment or precedent for such a reception. They might as pertinently have demanded a positive commandment for persons to be formally married before they could be recognised as bus- band or wife, as to ask for a positive commandment for one of the most common dictates of reason, though, indeed, every com- mandment addressed to the Christian congregations on relative duties and privileges assumes the principle that those who be- long to any society are known to each other to belong to it, else they could not even perform the first duty to one another they could not know when they were assembled they could not "tarry for one another." III. Whether there shall be a record in print, in writing, or on the memory of all the congregation, is a question which must depend on circumstances. If all the members are blessed with infallible memories, so as never to forget who are members, when tlipy became such, when any one was received, when any one was rejected I say, if every brother and sister can so well re- member these matters, as, when the discipline of the congregation or nny particular question respecting any case of discipline may ar:s'\ they fan infallibly remember all about it; then, and in that CMSP, it is unnecessary to have any record, church-book, secretary, or iiny thing written or printed. But if otherwise, there must be i record ; because questions involving the peace and good order f society may arise, and have arisen, which require infallible stimony. of tho most satisfactory evidence on questions of fact, iii-h as, Wus A B ever a member of your community? When lid ho become a mpmber of it? When was he pxcluded? When ,vns he restored ? Whpn did he forsake the assembly of the brethren? Was he a husband at the time of his removal? &c. IV. Two things are paramount in all cases of discipline before brought into the congregation the Fact and the Law. Thp fact is always to be established by good testimony or by the confes- sion of the transgressor. The thing said to have been dune, or THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 87 the fact being established, the next question is, What is f7ie law in ike, case? This the elders of the congregation must decide. They are to be judges both of the fact and the law. If they are nofc they are unfit for the office and unworthy the name of " tfie rulers" of the congregation. When they have fully examined and de- cided the case, they lay it before the congregation. If they acquiesce the matter ends, and the accused is retained or excluded as the case may be. If they do not acquiesce, or if the accused appeals to the congregation, the case must be reconsidered ; and if, on further examination, both the elders, the congregation, and the accused retain the same views and the same position, helps must be called either from the congregation or from some other. This indeed must be a rare occurrence ; and is the only ultimatum that Christianity contemplates. V. "Offences must come;" and, if possible, they must be healed. To cut off an offender, is good ; to cure him, is better ; but to prevent him falling, is best of all. The Christian spirit and system alike inculcate all vigilance in preventing; all expe- dition in healing offences ; and all firmness in removing incor- rigible offenders. Its disciplinary code is exceedingly simple, rational, and benevolent. It teaches us to regard all offences as acts of impiety or acts of immorality; sins against our brethren, or sins against God alone ; the omission of right, or the commission of wrong. VI. Trespasses against our brethren are all matters of aggression npon their person, property, or character. They are either private or public. We can only offend against the person, the property, or the character of a brother ; and we can do this only privately or publicly. Christ's legislation on private and personal offences, as recorded in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, commends itself to the approbation of Jew and Gentile all over the world. It ia as plain and as excellent as his golden rule of moral feeling. , VII. Without giving any rules to decide who is the aggressor, or the aggrieved, allowing either of the parties to view the mat- ter as he pleases, he commands him that supposes himself to be aggrieved to go to the aggressor and tell him his fault privately. If restitution is made and reconciliation effected, the matter ends. If not, he takes with him a second or a third person, states the facts of the case, reasons and remonstrates. If this also fails, then he is commanded to inform the church of the matter; and if the aggressor will not hear the church, then he is to be as a hea- then man or a publican. 88 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. YIII. home, indeed, imagine a difficulty in this case ; for aftei " teli" tliere is no it in the original ; and ask, " What is to be told lo tJie church the original fault, or simply that the aggressor will not make restitution?" The most natural construction of the sentence favors the simple statement of the fact that an offence had been committed and restitution refused, without going into the details of the trespass. But a second difficulty has been suggested on the manner in which the congregation is to be informed. Is it to be told to the whole community in full assembly met? or to those appointed by the congregation to hear and adjudicate such mat- ters? Certainly the congregation has ears as well as a tongue, and it is not all ears nor all tongue. Every well-organized church has its eldership, who hear all such matters, and who bring them before the whole assembly only when it is absolutely necessary, and even then at a convenient season. IX. The elders hear the matter ; and if the case be one that re- quires a special committee, which Paul calls " secular seats of judicature," 1 Cor. vi. 4, they appoint it; then, and not till then, if their decision of the matter be refused, they bring it before the whole congregation, and he is excluded from among them, that he may be as a heathen man and a publican one entitled only to civil and not to Christian respect one whose company is to be eschewed rather than courted. X. The whole community can act, and ought to act, in receiv- ing and in excluding persons: but in the aggregate, it can never become judges of offences and a tribunal of trial. Such an insti- tution was never set up by divine authority. No community is composed only of wise and discreet full-grown men. The Chris- tian church engrossed old men, young men, and babes in Christ. Shall the voice of a babe be heard, or counted as a vote, in a case of discipline? What is the use of bishops in a church, if all are to rule of judges, if all are judges of fact and law? No wonder that broils and heart-burnings, and scandals of all sorts disturb those communities ruled by a democracy of the whole where every thing is to be judged in public and full assembly. Such is not the Christian system. It ordains that certain persons shall judge and rule,* and that all things shall " be done decently and in order." XI. Besides matters of private trespass between brethren, there are matters of public wrong, or acts of injustice towards the whole Christian community, and also towards them that are with * 1 Tim. ill. 5. ; v. 17. Acts xx> 28-31. Hub. xiii. 17, &c. i-c. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 89 out. Drunkenness in a professor, for example, is a sin against God and against all the Christian brotherhood. It is, moreover, a public nuisance to all men, so far as it is witnessed or known. The transgressor in such a case, if he be not penitent and reform, must be convicted of the offence. An attempt at convicting him of the offence is not to be made till he fail to acknowledge it. A failure to acknowledge, or ah attempt to deny, calls for conviction, and precludes the idea of repentance. XII. In all cases of conviction the church is to be addressed through its rulers. No private individual has a right to accuse any person before the whole community. The charge, in no case, is to be preferred before the whole congregation. Such a pro- cedure is without precedent in the Law or in the Gospel in any well-regulated society, church, or state. If, then, any brother fall into any public offence, those privy to it notify the elders of the church, or those for the time-being presiding over it, of the fact, and of the evidence on which they rely. The matter is then in the hands of the proper persons. They prosecute the investiga- tion of it; and, on the denial of the accused, seek to convict him of the allegation. XIII. When a person is convicted of any offence, he is un- worthy of the confidence of the brethren ; for conviction supposes concealment and denial ; and these, of course, are evidence of impenitence. We do not say that such a one is never again to be worthy of such confidence; but that until he has given satisfac- tory proofs of genuine repentance, he is to be treated as one not of the body of Christ. XIV. In all cases of hopeful repentance the transgressor is to be restored with admonition. The acknowledgment of an offence, and of repentance for it, are, in all cases, to be as public as the sin itself. Peter's sin and repentance are as public as his name. So was David's. So should be those of all transgressors. Those who have caused the Saviour and his faithful followers to blush ought themselves to be made to blush before the world ; and if their sorrow and amendment be genuine, they will do it cheerfully and fully. "Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." 1 Tim. v. 29.* XV. Whether it may be always prudent in the incipient stages of every case of discipline to have open doors, or whether some cases may not require closed doors, are questions referred to * By a reference to an Extra on ORDER, published 1S35, the curious reader may find otluv useful liints on the sutijti-t of discipline. 8* 90 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. human prudence ; but in the case of the ultimate decision of the congregation, and in that of exclusion, there can be but one opinion on the necessity and utility of its being done in the pre- sence of all who may please to attend. CHAPTER XXVII. EXPEDIENCY. I. "ALL things lawful are not expedient, because all things lawful edify not." So Paul substantially affirmed. A position of licentious tendency, if not well qualified. As defined by its author, it is perfectly safe. He only assumed that there were many things which he might lawfully do, which were not expe- dient for him to do. He might, for example, have married a wife, eat the flesh of either Jewish or Pagan sacrifices, or drunk the wine of their libations, &c. &c., according to the Christian law; but, in the circumstances of his peculiar vocation and localities, to have done these things would have been inexpedient. II. Law itself is, indeed, at best but an expedient a means, supposed at the time of its promulgation, suitable to some rational end. But, owing to the mutability of things, laws often fail to be the best means to the ends proposed; and are therefore abo- lished, or, for the time-being, suspended. This is true of all laws and institutions prescribing the modes and forms of action, whether in religion or morality. Moral laws, properly so called, are, in- deed, immutable; because the principle of every moral law is love, and that never can cease to be not only a way and means, but the only way and means, to rational, to human happiness. Positive precepts, however, prescribing the forms of religious and moral action, emanating from God himself, have been changed, and may again be changed, while all the elements of piety and morality are immutable. It would now, for example, be immoral to marry a natural sister; yet it was for a time done by divine authority. It became inexpedient to continue the practice, and the law was changed. TIT. There is, therefore, a law of expediency, as well as the ex- pediency of law. This law of expediency, as it is, indeed, the basis of the expediency of law in the divine government, has THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 91 been, as in the case of David eating the loaves of the presence, and the priest's profaning the Sabbath by the labors of the temple, occasionally elevated above the precepts that prescribe the forms of religious and moral action. True, indeed, that such cases are exceedingly rare; and they are rare reasoners who can safely de- cide when any particular precept prescribing the form of action may, for the sake of the action itself, be waived or suspended. It is, moreover, exceedingly questionable, whether, under the more perfect institution of Christianity, the law of expediency can ever clash with any moral or religious precept in the New Cove- nant. IV. Still, there are many things left to the law of expediency, concerning which no precepts are found in the apostolic writings. To ascertain these is the object of this chapter. They are then, in one sentence, those things, or forms of action, which it was impossible or unnecessary to reduce to special precepts; conse- quently they are not faith, piety, nor morality; because whatever is of the faith, of the worship, or of the morality of Christianity, was both possible and necessary to be promulgated ; and is ex- pressly and fully propounded in the sacred scriptures. The law of expediency, then, has no place in determining the articles of faith, acts of worship, nor principles of morality. All these re- quire a "thus saith the Lord" in express statements, and the sacred writings have clearly defined and decided them. But in other matters that may be called the circumstantials of the gospel and of the church of Christ, the people of God are left to their own discretion and to the facilities and exigencies of society. V. Many things, indeed, that are of vital importance to the well-being and prosperity of the kingdom of Christ, are left to the law of expediency. A few examples will suffice : Can any one imagine any measures of more consequence than the safe- keeping of the apostolic writings, the multiplication of copies, the translation of them into different languages, and the mode of distributing them throughout the whole world? Now, who can show a positive or special precept on any one of these four vital points? Scribes or copyists, paper-makers, printers, bookbinders, and vendors of the oracles of God, are as unknown to the apos- tolic writers as mails, post-offices, railroads, and steam-engines. So negligent, too, has the kingdom of Christ been on some of these points, that she has not at this hour a received copy of the Living Oracles. We American and English people have a re- ceived version by authority of a king ; but we have not a RECKIVKD 92 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM ORIGINAL by the authority of any king or government, civil or ecclesiastic. A startling fact, truly ! But who dares to deny it? VI. Next to these are meeting-houses, baptisteries, Lord's tables, the emblematic loaf and cup, times of convocation, arrange- ments for the day, &c. &c. Acts of parliament, decrees of synods and councils, but no apostolic enactments, statutes, or laws, are found for any of these important items. There is neither precept nor precedent in the New Testament for building, hiring, buying, or possessing a meeting-house; for erecting a baptismal basin, font, or bath; for chancel, altar, table, leavened or unleavened bread, chalice, cup, or tankard, and many other things of equal value. VII. There is no law, rule, or precedent for the manner of eat- ing the Lord's supper, no hint as to the quantity of bread and wine to be used by each participant; nothing said about who shall partake first, or how it shall be conveyed from one to an- other. These are all discretionary matters, and left to the pru- dence and good sense of the Christian communities in other words, to the law of expediency. VIII. Touching these and very many other such matters and things, nothing is enacted, prescribed, or decided by apostolic authority; but all the things to be done are enjoined in very clear and broad precepts, or in very striking and clear apostolic pre- cedents. General laws and precepts, embracing the whole range of religious and moral action, are often found in the sayings of the Lord and of his ministers of the New Institution, from which also our duties and obligations may be clearly ascertained. That "marriage is honorable in all" is clearly taught; but who ever read a verse on the manner in which this most important of all social institutions is to be performed? No age is fixed at which the covenant shall be made or ratified no time of life prescribed for its consummation nothing said about who shall perform the service, the formula, the witnesses, the record, &c. And, still more singular, there is no table, or law, or statute in all the New Covenant saying who may, or who may not, enter into that rela- tion on any principle of consanguinity or affinity. By the consent of the Christian church the Jewish law obtains in this matter. IX. The communion of saints, of all Christian churches the co-operation of churches as one holy nation, a kingdom of priests, as a peculiar people in all common interests and benefits an effi- cient gospel ministry, supported justly and honorably by the whole community are matters clearly and fully taught by both THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 98 apostolic precept and authority ; but the forms, the ways and means by which these ends shall be attained, are left to the law of expediency. X. But here arises a practical and all-important question, viz.: Who shall ascertain and who shall interpret this law of expediency f We all agree that expedients are to be chosen with regard to times, seasons, and other circumstances. Changes in these must always change expedients. The mariner's compass, the art of printing, new modes of travelling, banks and their commercial operations, new forms of government, &e. &c., have changed the order of society and all human expedients. Now the law of expediency is the law of adopting the best present means of attaining any given end. But this is a matter which the wisdom and go>)d sense of individuals and communities must decide. This is not, this cannot be, a matter of standing revelation. Now if the church was always unanimous in opinion as in faith if all its accumu- lated wisdom gave one uniform decision on all such questions then the whole church is by one voice to ascertain the law of ex- pediency on any given point. But this is not the case. No class of men, apostles, teachers, privates, ever did agree on questions of expediency. Paul and Barnabas dissented and differed, with- out any breach of communion, on a*question of this sort. Hence arises the necessity of the spirit of concession, subordination, bearing, forbearing, submitting to one another. When there are two views or opinions on any question of expediency entertained by two parties, one of them must yield, or there are two distinct systems of operation, and ultimately two distinct parties. Ac- cording to the law of expediency, then, the minors in age, expe- rience, or numbers, must give place to the majors in age, expe- rience, or numbers. But as numbers are supposed to represent the ratios of age, wisdom, and knowledge, it is expedient that a clearly-ascertained majority of those whose province it is to de- cide any matter shall interpret the law of expediency ; or, in othtr words, the minority shall peaceaaly and cordially acquiesce in the decisions of the majority. Since the age of social compacts began, till now, no other principle of co-operation, no other law of expediency, can secure the interest?, the union, harmony, and strength of any people, but that of the few submitting to the many. XI. He that asks for unanimity asks for what is not often at- tainable in a -small number of persons. Ho asks for the liberty of one or two to goveru or to control awiioie couimuuity for the 94 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. government of a minority, however small, over a majority, how ever large. This is virtually, though not formally, and not often intentionally, the demand of all the advocates of unanimity in ascertaining or interpreting the law of expediency in any given case. The law of expediency enacts that a majority of the se- niors shall decide in all cases what is most expedient to be done in attaining any of the ends commanded in the Christian Institu- tion, the means to which are not divinely ordained in the written laws of that institution ; and that the minority shall cheerfully and conscientiously acquiesce in such decisions. XII. The law of love is the supreme law of religion, morality, and expediency. No code of laws, without it, could make or keep any people pure, peaceable, and happy; and with it, we only want, in most matters, but general laws. This is the spirit, and soul, and body of the Christian Institution. We cannot love by law, but we can walk in love with no other law but that of love. The Christian system contemplates love as supreme, and makes no arrangements nor provisions for keeping together a carnal, worldly, selfish, self-willed population. Better such a confederacy had burst into as many particles as persons, by the repellant principle of selfishness, than to be hooped together by all the laws of expe- diency from Noah to John Wesley. CHAPTER XXVIII. HERESY. I. SCHISMS and heresies are matters strongly reprobated in the Christian Scriptures. That they may be guarded against with due care, they must be contemplated and understood in their true and proper scriptural attributes. We shall therefore first attempt to define them. II. The term schism is found but eight times in the apostolic writings. When applied to a garment, Matt. ix. 16, Mark xx. 21, it is properly translated rent ; applied to a concourse of peo- ple,' John vii. 43, ix. 16, x. 19, it is translated division; when applied to the church by Paul, 1 Cor. i. 10, xi. 18, xii. 25, it de- notes division or alienation not on account of faith, doctrines, or opinions but on account of men as leaders or chiefs among the brethren. So the connections in which it is found always indicate. It is a division as respects internal union, or the union of heart THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 95 and nff(>ctlon, only tending to a broach of visible or outward union, and therefore reprobated by the Apostle. Such are its New .Tes- tament acceptations. HI. Schisms may then exist where there is the most perfect agreement in faith, in doctrine, in all religious tenets. Undue at- tachment to certain persons, to the disparagement of others, par- tial regards because of personal preferences, are the true elements of schism or division as it appeared in Corinth, and as the word is used in the New Testament. But few persons, nowadays, can correctly appreciate the force of the word schism in the apos- tolic age, because but a very few experimentally know the inti- macies, the oneness of heart and sou!, that obtained and prevailed in the Christian profession while all was genuine and uncorrupt. A union formed on Christian principles -a union with Christ and with his people, in views, sentiments, feelings, aims, and pur- suits a real copartnery for eternity almost annihilated indivi- duality itself, and inseparably cemented into one spirit all the genuine members of Christ's body. Kindred drops do not more readily mingle into one mass, than flowed the souls of primitive Christians together in all their aspirations, loves, delights, and interests. Hence arose that jealousy in the Apostle Paul when first he learned that particular persons in Corinth began to attract to themselves notice and attachment for mere personal, individual, and fleshly considerations, as leaders or chiefs in the Christian family. In these indications he already saw the dissolution of the church. Although yet but one visible community, having one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one table, one ostensible supreme and all-controlling interest ; still, in these attachments to particular persons he not only saw a real division or breach in the hearts of the people, but foresaw that it would issue in positive, actual, and visible disunion or heresy. And here we are led to inquire into the scriptural import of this word heresy. . IV. Hairesis, strictly and literally indicative of choice or option, is anglicized heresy, and properly rendered sect or faction, and by implication discord and contention. It is found only nine times in the New Testament. In the Acts of the Apostles, v. 17, we have it rendered "the sect of the Sadducees ;" xv. 5, "the sect of the Pharisees;" xxtv. 5, "the sect of the Nazarenes;" xxiv. 14, " after the way which they call heresy, (a sect,) so worship I," Bays Paul ; xxvi. 5, " after the most strict sect of our. religion I lived a Pharisee ;" xxviii. 22, "as for this sect (of the Christians) we know that it is everywhere spoken against." Besides these 96 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. six occurrences, we find it twice used by Paul in his epistles, and once by Peter. 1 Cor. xi. 19, " For there must be heresies (sects) among you." Gal. v. 20, " Seditions, heresies." 2 Peter ii. 1, " Shall bring in damnable heresies." In the common version it is, then, five times rendered sect, and four times heresy. \. As the word sect or heresy, found only in the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles, does always in the former simply mean a party, without any regard to its tenets, the term has nothing in it either reproachful or honorable nothing virtuous or vicious. Hence it is equally applied to Pharisees, Sadducees, Nazarenes, or Christians, without any insinuation as to the character of the party. It is only once rendered heresy in the Acts, and in that place it ought most obviously to have been sect. Paul had been accused by Tertullus (Acts xxiv. 6) with the crime of being "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." Now, in vindicating himself from any censure in this case, he ought to have met the charge under the same title. This he did in the original ; for in verse 5th, in the indictment, and in verse 14th, in his defence, we have the same word hairesis. How injudicious, then, was it on the part of our translators and the Vulgate to make Tertullus ac- cusf them from the body of Christ. In this view of the matter Paul seems to reason, 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19: "There are schisms among you for there must be sects among you, that the approved may be made manifest." The schisms ia Corinth began in particular THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. predilections for great teachers; such as Paul, Apollos Cephas. These preferences violated that unity of spirit, tn.it on ness of heart, essential to one body in Christ; a<.d that led to parties in the church, displayed in the manner they celebrated the supper. This same spirit in other communities ultimately led to visible separations and distinct sects, as among the professed members of Christ's body at the present day. * XIII. Paul, in commenting on this most ancient schism, further observes, that there must, of necessity, be sects in such a state of things, that " the approved may be made manifest." So true it is that all strifes, contentions, parties, and sects grow out of cor- ruption. Sects are the egress of corruptions. The approved hold to Christ, and thus become manifest; the disapproved follow human leaders, and are also made manifest. There appears no other cure for a corrupt and mixed community than heresies or sects. It is as wise and benevolent a provision in a remedial system, that incurable corruption should .work out in this way, as that law in the animal kingdom which forces to the surface all unfriendly humors, and congregates into swellings and biles those vicious particles which would otherwise vitiate the whole system, and fatally terminate in the ruin of the body. XIV. Men, indeed, do not fall in love with Paul, Peter, and Cephas, in the partisan sense, till they have lost some of their love for Christ. Hence the first indication of personal regards, or of sectarian attachment, is the first proof of declension, backslid- ing, or apostasy. The partisan attachment is of the essence of the first sin, and carries deeply concealed in its core the first ele- ment of hatred. Thus we observe that he that loves Wesley for any sectarian attribute hates Calvin just in the ratio of his at- tachment to his leader ; as he who loves Calvin for his human- isms hates Wesley for opposing them. While he that loves only what is Christian in the two in no sense hates either; but grieves for the errors and delinquencies of both. If for no other reason, we ought most devoutly and ardently to eschew partyism ; for ihis it ought to be abjured, viz.: that our hatred of one party will always be in the ratio of our love for its antagonist; and in all such cases both our love and our hatred are obnoxious to the re- probation of God, and lie, indeed, under the doom of his express condemnation. XV. On this account we presume it is that the next place we find this word hairesis, and the only time it is again found in Paul's epistles, it stands immediately after "factions" and before 100 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. "envyings and murders," in Paul's enumeration and classification of the works of the flesh, Gal. v. 20, the perpetrators of which, Paul strongly and repeatedly affirmed, shall not " enter the king- dom of God." He says, " The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, sorcery, enmities, strifes, emulations, wraths, brawlings, factions, sects, envyings, murders, intoxication," &c. &c. Every sectary is, then, Paul being in the chair of judgment, a fleshly man, and without * the precincts of the kingdom of God. A severe judgment, truly ! How shall we understand it? XVI. It is now still more evident that heresies are not mere opinions, tenets, doctrines, or theories ; for who will affirm that opinions, tenets, or theories, as such, are works of the flesh? Or who will say that fleshly principles are the roots or reasons of mere opinions, tenets, or theories, &c.? Corrupt opinions, in- deed, may be more naturally propagated or received by corrupt men ; but to make opinions or tenets, even those sectarian opinions on which some parties are founded, works of the flesh, is to con- found mental imbecility, or a defective education, with depravity of the heart ; for nothing can be called a work of the flesh that partakes not of the corruptions of the heart. Hairesw in this place, then, means sects, as it always does in the New Testa- ment. XVII. Still the question recurs, Are all religious sects works of the flesh ? Paul makes no exceptions. We dare not. He speaks not of philosophic, political, or foreign factions and sects; but of those appertaining to the Christian institution. Among the Jews Paul himself was a Pharisee; among the political castes he was a Roman; but in religion he was a Christian : not a Cal- vinist, Arminian, or Methodist; but a Christian. Indeed, Paul himself, in his history of sectaries, or of the founders and makers of religious parties, traces all their zeal and effort to the stomach, rather than to the conscience, or the love of truth. "Mark them," says he, " who cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have received, and avoid them ; for such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly ; and by flattery and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Surely such sectaries and sects are " the works of the flesh." XVIII. But here we oaght to define &factionist and a sectary, since nowadays we have some sectarians that are not faetionists, and some factionists and factions that are more than mere sccta- THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 101 ries. The factionist, or, as Paul calls him, the " heretic," makes the faction. The faction are those who take part with him. While the ordinary sectaries are those who are simply led by the heretic, beguiled by his flatteries and fair speeches, without any sinister motive impelling their course. There are many sectarians who, in the simplicity of their hearts, imagine their party to be the true and only church of Christ, and therefore conscientiously ad- *here to it. There are others who think that no party is the church of Christ, but that he has a church in all parties an invisible church to which they think themselves to belong, and therefore fraternize with all of a similar stamp in all parties so far as known to them. These differ much from the schismatics, heretics, and factionists of Paul. These either made, or labored to keep up, a party or a sect; and all such persons are corrupt, fleshly men ; because, from pride of their own opinion, from emulation, ambi- tion, or the love of money, they are prompted to create or to keep up a faction or sect favorable to their views and interests. These serve their own appetites and mind earthly things. But a great mass of sectaries are following, as they imagine, Jesus Christ and his Apostles, under the name and tenets of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, &c. They are, without knowing it, the mere followers of men ; for they examine nothing for themselves by a constant and habitual reference to the Bible. XIX. Now, what may be the amount of carnality and fleshly or worldly influence that keeps them there, and what may be the amount of long-suffering and forgiveness exercised towards them from heaven, I presume not to dogmatize ; but that the factionist, the person who makes a party, and he who labors to keep it up, are certainly earthly, sensual, and demoniacal; and, as such, not of the kingdom of God, we cannot but assert as a conviction deep and rational, derived from the most impartial examination of the sacred scriptures from the clearest and most ample testimony of the Holy Spirit, speaking to us in the words of Prophets and Apostles. XX. The Christian party are "built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, and on Jesus the Messiah, himself the chief corner-stone," and therefore on the Christian Scriptures alone; not. indeed, as contradistinguished from the Jewish, but as the development and full revelation of all that concerns Christ and his kingdom contained in those scriptures. Now, all other parties that are in any way diverse from the Christian party are built upon some alloy some creed, formula, or human institution sup- 102 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. plementary to the apostolic laws and customs. This r.llov is what makes the party. So many items of the Apostles' doctrine and so many notions of Calvin combined produce the compound called Calvinism. So many items of Luther's opinions, com- pounded with the Apostles' teaching, make Lutheranism. And so many portions of Wesley's speculations, compounded with certain portions of the New Testament, make the compound called Methodism. The Christian ingredients in these compounds,* so far as they are not neutralized by the human alloy, make the Christians among them ; while the alloy makes the sectary. Take away all that belongs to the founder of the sect in all these parties, and they would certainly coalesce and form one com- munity. XXI. Now, we do not suppose that there is the same guilt in forming a new Protestant party that there was in first of all form- ing the Roman Catholic, the Greek, or any of the ancient sects. The modern sects have been got up with the desire of getting back to primitive Christianity ; the ancient sects arose directly from the lust of power, from fleshly, selfish, and worldly mo- tives. Now, however, since we have so largely eaten of the g ill and wormwood, of the bitter fruits of sects and parties, and have learned the cause, the cure, and the preventive of sectarianism, alas for all that are found keeping up the old landmarks of strife, or laying the foundation for new rivalries, partialities, and anti- pathies, to arise and pollute many, to rotard the progress of the gospel abroad, and to foster the spirit of infidelity at home! XXII. There remains another occurrence of hairesvs (sect) in the writings of Peter, not yet formally examined. We shall now specially consider it. This Apostle says, "There shall be false teachers among you, who will privately introduce dntnttHlieMCit, denying even the Lord that bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction; and many will follow their bad pructic-s." Paul, in his valedictory to the Ephesians, also speaks of "gri"vi.- wolves devouring the flock, and of men rising out of their own society to draw away disciples after them, speaking perverse tilings. 1 ' From these intimations we learn the Apostlt-s Piul and Peter foresaw the rise of sectaries and sects; and b.lh of thorn, it is worthy of remark, distinctly connected the sects with secta- rian teachers: for all sects have been originated by false teachers or by corrupt men. Sectaries, it would appear, occupy the same place under Christ that false prophets filled under Moses. Need we, then, infer the danger of keeping up religious sects, or go uu THE CHRISTIAN SYSTftK. 103 to prove that every one who builds up a party is a partaker of the crime with him who set it up ? XXIII. It behooves all men, then, who wish to be approved by the Lord at his coming, to be up and doing to purge and cleanse the Christian profession from every root and branch of sectarian- ism, and to endeavor to destroy those destructive sects that have been a sort of Pandora's box to the human race ; that have filled -the profession with hypocrites, the world with infidels, and re- tarded for so many centuries the conversion of both Jews and Gentiles to the Christian faith. XXIV. Finally, while endeavoring to abolish the old sects, let us be cautious that we form not a new one. This may be done by either adding to, or subtracting from, the apostolic constitution a single item. Our platform must be as long and as broad as the New Testament. Every person that the Apostles would receive, if present, we must receive ; and therefore the one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one hope, one body, one Spirit, one God and Father of all, must be made the reason of one, and only one table. XXV. Factionists, or opinionists, or those who seek to attach men to themselves because of their opinions or talents or per- sonal accidents, whatever they may be, are to be regarded as the very roots of bitterness in the Christian church as seeking their own interests, honors, and profits, and not the things of Jesus Christ. By such spirits as these the ancient schisms and sects began ; and by kindred spirits, of which every generation can furnish its proper ratios, they are kept alive. All such persons have not the power of effecting much ; but now and then one arises and succeeds in drawing away disciples after him. We can suggest no better remedies or preventives than those com- manded by the Apostles. Let us hoU fast their traditions ; con- tend only for the faith ; allow differences of opinion ; suffer no dogmatists ; countenance none of the disciples of Diotrephes ; and walk in love, guided by that wisdom which is " first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be persuaded, full of mercy and of good fruits, without pai'tiality and without hypocrisy." XXVI. From the preceding inductions it will appear, we pre- sume, very evident to all, that we need neither telescopes nor microscopes to detect heresies in the New Testament sense of that word. They are neither more nor less than sects plain, palpable sects and parties. Every party in Christendom, with- out respect to any of its tenets, opinions, or practices, is a heresy. 104 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. a schism unless there be such a party as stands exactly upon the Apostles' ground. Then, in that ca.ce., it is a sect just in the sense of the old sect of the Nazarenes, afterwards called Chris- tians, and all others are guilty before the Lord, and must be con- demned for their opposition to Christ's own party ; whose party we are, provided we hold fast all, and only all, the apostolic tra- .ditions, and build upon the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing i>ut the Bible. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 105 FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN UNION. " I PRAY for those who shall believe on me through their teaching, that all may be one; that as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and that thou gavest me the glory, which I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that their union may be perfected: and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou lovest them as thou lovest me." Thus Messiah prayed ; and well might he pray thus, seeing he was wise enough to teach jthat, "If a king- dom be torn by factions, that kingdom cannot subsist. And if a family be torn by factions, that family cannot subsist. By civil dissensions any kingdom may be desolated ; and no city or family, where such dissensions are, can subsist." If this be true, and true it is, if Jesus be the Messiah, in what moral desolation is the kingdom of Jesus Christ! Was there at any time, or is there now, in all the earth, a kingdom more convulsed by internal broils and dissensions, than what is commonly called the church of Jesus Christ? Should any one think it lawful to paganize both the Greek and Latin churches to eject one hundred millions of members of the Greek an'd Roman communions from the visible and invisible precincts of the Chris- tian family or kingdom of Jesus Christ, and regard the Protestant faith and people as the only true faith and the only true citizens of the kingdom of Jesus ; what then shall we say of them, con- templated as the visible kingdom over which Jesus presides as Prophet, Priest, and King? Of forty millions of Protestants shall we constitute the visible kingdom of the Prince of Peace ? Be it so for the sake of argument ; and what then ? The Christian army is forty millions strong ; but how do they muster ? Under forty ensigns ? Under forty antagonist leaders ? Would to God there were but forty ! In the Geneva detachment alone there is almost that number of petty chiefs. My soul sickens at the details ! Take the English branch of the Protestant faith I mean Eng- land and the United States and all the islands where the English 106 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Bible is read ; and how many broils, dissensions, and anathemas may we compute? I will not attempt to name the antagonizing creeds, feuds, and parties, that are in eternal war, under the ban- ners of the Prince of Peace. And yet they talk of love and charity, and of the conversion of the Jews, the Turks, and Pagans!!! Shall we turn from the picture, lay down our pen, and languish in despair? No: for Jesus has said, "Happy the peace-makers, for they shall be called sons of God." But who can make peace when all the elements are at war? Who so enthusiastic as to fancy that he can stem the torrent of strife or quench the violence of sectarian fire? But the page of universal history whispers in our ears, "If you tarry till all the belligerent armies lay down their arms and make one spontaneous and simultaneous effort to unite, you will be as very a simpleton as he that sat by the Eu- phrates waiting .till all its waters ran into the sea." We are so sanguine perhaps many will say, so visionary as to imagine that a nucleus has been formed, or may be formed, around which may one day congregate all the children of God. No one, at all events, can say that it is either impious or immoral that it is inhuman or unchristian to think about the present state of Christ's kingdom, or to meditate upon the possibility or practicability of any scheme of gathering together the children of God under the ensign of the Cross alone. No one can say that such an enterprise is absolutely chimerical, unless he affirms the negative of the Messiah's proposition, and declares that the pre- sent wars and strifes must extend and multiply through all time, and that God will convert the whole world without answering the prayer of his Son; or, rather, on a plan adverse to that promul- gated by him, and in despite of all the moral desolations which have ensued upon all the broils and battles of five hundred sects and fifteen hundred years ! Dare any one say, or even think it unphilanthropic or malevo- lent to make an effort to rally the broken ph Janxes of Zion's King, and to attempt to induce them to turn their arms from one another against the common foe ? With such a one it were worse than hopeless to reason, or to exchange a single argument. Shall we not rather esteem it to be the most honorable, acceptable, and praiseworthy enterprise that can be dared or undertaken by mortal man on this earthly stage of action ? And, as God has ever effected the most splendid revolutions by the most humble agents, and by means the most unlikely in the wisdom of all human THE CHRrSTIAN SYSTEM. 10? schools, we think it not amiss or incongruous to make an effort, and to put our hands to the work of peace and love. From Messiah's intercession above quoted, it is incontrovertible that union is strength, and disunion weakness ; that there is a plan founded in infinite wisdom and love, by which, and by which alone, the world may both believe and know that God has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world ; and, like all the schemes of Heaven, it is simple to admiration. No mortal need fancy that he shall have the honor of devising either the plan of uniting Christians in one holy band of zealous co-operation, or of ..converting Jews and Gentiles to the faith that Jesus is that seed ' in whom all the families of the earth are yet to be blessed. The plan is divine. It is ordained by God ; and, better still, it is already revealed. Is any one impatient to hear it? Let him again read the intercessions of the Lord Messiah, which we have chosen for our motto. Let him then examine the two following propositions, and say whether these do not express Heaven's own scheme of augmenting and conservating the body of Christ. 1st. Nothing is essential to the conversion of the world but the union and co-operation of Christians. 2d. Nothing is essential to the union of Christians but the Apos- tles' teaching or testimony. Or does he choose to express the plan of the Self-Existent in other words ? Then he may change the order, and say 1st. The testimony of the Apostles is the only and aft-sufficient means of uniting all Christians. 2d. The union of Christians with the Apostles' testimony is all- sufficient and alone sufficient to the conversion of the world. Neither truth alone nor union alone is sufficient to subdue the unbelieving nations ; but truth and union combined are omnipo- tent. They are omnipotent, for God is in them and with them, and has consecrated and blessed them for this very purpose. These two propositions have been stated, illustrated, developed, (and shall I say proved?) in the "Christian Baptist," and "Mil- lennial Harbinger," to the conviction of thousands. Indeed, one of them is as universally conceded as it has been proposed, viz.: That the union of Christians is essential to the conversion of the world; and though, perhaps, some might be found who would question whether, if all Christians were united, the whole world could be converted to God ; there is no person, of whom we have heard, who admits a general or universal prevalence of the gospel. in what is usually called the millennial age of the world, and 108 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. who admits tL..t moral means will have any thing to do with its introduction, who does not also admit that the union of Christians is essential to that state of things. Indeed, to suppose that all Christians will form one communion in that happy nge of the world, and not before it, is to suppose a moral effect without a cause. The second proposition, viz. : That the ward or testimony of the Apostles is itself all-sufficient and alone sufficient to the union of all Christians, cannot be rationally doubted by any person acquainted with that testimony, or who admits the competency of their in- spiration to make them infallible teachers of the Christian insti- tution. And, indeed, all who contend for those human institutions called creeds contend for them as necessary only to the existence of a party, or while the present schisms, contentions, and dissen- sions exist. Therefore, all the defences of creeds, ancient and modern, while they assert that the Bible alone is the only perfect and infallible rule of faith and morals, not only concede that these symbols called creeds are imperfect and fallible, but also that these creeds never can achieve what the Bible, without them, can accomplish. But how to do without them appears to be an insuperable diffi- culty to many well-disposed Christians. To labor this point would be .foreign to our present purpose; especially as it has already been fulfy discussed in the present controversy.* It is, perhaps, altogether sufficient at present to propose the question, How has what is called the church done with them ? Have they not been the fruitful cause or occasion of all the dis- cords, schisms, and parties now existing in Christendom? And will not a very superficial observation and a little experience convince every man that the rivers tend not more certainly to the sea, than creeds and human devices in religion tend to discords and divisions ? Take, for example, two of the most popular creeds of the present day the Westminster, and that of the Methodists, with whose history American society is better acquainted than with that of any other, and test the tree by its fruits judge their tendency by their practical effects upon society. To say nothing of the lesser schisms in the party that once formed one commu- nion on the platform of the Westminster creed, we can now enu- nierate no less than nine separate communions, 9.11 professing the Westminster Articles in substance or in form. These are the Christian Baptist, TO!, ii. pp. 66, C7. Essays on the Westminster Creed, vol li. lUviuw of Dr. .Noel's Circular, vol. T. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 109 General Assembly in Scotland and the United States, the Ca- meronians or Solemn League and Covenant Presbyterians, the Burghers or Unionists, the Anti-Burghers or Seceders, the Relief Presbyterians, the Cumberland Presbyterians, and the New School, now upon the eve of being born. To these might be added those called English Presbyterians, who are now more generally known by the name of Independents and Congregation- alism ; and, indeed, the Glassites or Sandemanians, who came out of the Synod of Angus and Mearns in the year 1728. Thus, in one hundred and ninety years have nine or ten distinct commu- nions originated out of the Westminster creed, some of them, too, as discordant and aloof from each other as were the Jews and Samaritans. Nor have the Methodists in England, Canada, and the United States done much better for their age. They now form five or six separate communions, under different names. To say nothing of the Whitcfieldite Methodists, those of John Wesley are the Wcsleyan Methodists, the New Connection of Methodists, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the O'Kelly Methodists, the Pro- testants, &c. And what shall I say of the twelve or fourteen sects of Baptists, many of whom have as much affection for the Greek and Roman church as for one another? It were useless to furnish other evi- dence in proof that human opinions, inferential reasonings, and deductions from the Bible, exhibited in the form-of creeds, can never unite Christians ; as all their fruits are alienation, repulsion, bickering, and schism. No human creed in Protestant Christendom can be found that has not made a division for every generation of its existence. And I may add, the more thinking, inquisitive, and intelligent the community which owns a creed, the more frequent their debates and schisms. But the Bible will do no better if men approach it with a set of opinions or a human symbol in their minds. For then it ia not the Bible, but the opinions in the mind, that form the bond of union. Men, indeed, had better have a written than an n- \rritten standard of orthodoxy, if they will not abandon speculation and abstract notions as any part of Christian faith or duty. But all these modes of faith and worship are based upon :i mistake of the true character of Revelation, which it has long been our effort to correct. With us Revelation has nothing to do tvith opinions or abstract reasonings; for it is founded wholly and entirely upon Jin-fa. There is not ono abstract opinion, not one 110 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. speculative view, asserted or communicated in Old Testament or New. Moses begins with asserting facts that had transpired in creation and providence ; and John ends with asserting prophetic or prospective facts in the future displays of providence and re- demption. Facts, then, are the alpha and the omega of both Jewish and Christian revelations. But that the reader may have before his mind in one summary view the whole scheme of union and co-operation, which the Living Oracles and the present state of the Christian religion in the world demand ; which has been, at different times and in various manners, illustrated and sustained, in the present contro- versy, against divisions, we shall here submit it in one period. Let THE BIBLE be substituted for all human creeds; FACTS, for definitions ; THINGS, for words ; FAITH, for speculation; UNITY OF FAITH, for unity of opinion; THE POSITIVE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, for hum-an legislation and tradition: PIETY, for ceremony ; MORAL- ITY, for partisan zeal ; THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION, for the mere profession of it: and the work is done. For the illustration of the leading terms, and their correlates found in this project, and for a full development of our meaning, (as we may not be understood if interpreted by the polemic vocabulary of this ago,) we shall introduce some extracts from the Christian Baptist and Millennial Harbinger, developing our mean- ing, nniit all truths are not'facts. That God exists is a truth, but not a f"-r : that he created the heavens and the earth is a fact and a 'nth. That Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles is a truth, but i fart ; and that he preached Christ to the Gentiles is both a i -t and a truth. The simple agreement of the terms of any pro- "n-iition with the subject of that proposition, or the representation >f any thing as it exists, is a truth. But something must be done or effected before we have a fact. There are many things true in religion, moral?, politics, and general science, which are not facts; but these are all but the correspondence of words and ideas with the things of which they treat. Facts have a power which logical truth has not ; and therefore THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Ill we say that facts are stubborn things. They are things, not words. The power of any fact is the meaning ; and therefore the measure of its power is the magnitude of its import. Ail moral facts have a moral meaning; and those are properly called moral facts which either exhibit, develop, or form moral character. All those facts, or works of God, which are purely physical, ex- hibit what have been commonly called his natural or physical perfections; and all those facts or works of God, which are purely moral, exhibit his moral character. It so happens, however, that all his works, when properly understood, exhibit both his physical and moral character, when viewed in all their proper relations. Thus, the deluge exhibited his power, his justice, and his truth ; and therefore displayed both his physical and moral grandeur. The turning of water into wine, apart from its design, is purely a demonstration of physical power; but, when its design is appre- hended, it has a moral force equal to its physical majesty. The work of redemption is a system of works, or deeds, on the part of Heaven, which constitute the most splendid series of moral facts which man or angel ever saw. And they are the proof, the argument, or the demonstration, of that regenerating proposition which presents God and Love as two names for one idea. When these facts are understood, or brought into immediate contact with the mind of man, as a mural seal or archetype, they delineate the image of God upon the human soul. All the means of grace are, therefore, only the means of impressing this seal upon the heart, of briny ing these moral facts to make their full impres- sion on the soul of man. Testimony and faith are but the channel through which these facts, or the hand of God, draws the image on the heart and character of man. If, then, the fact and the testi- mony are both the gift of God, we nvy well say that faith and eternal life are also the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. To enumerate the gospel facts would be to narrate all that is recorded of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ from his birth to -his coronation in the heavens. They are, however, concen- trated in a few prominent ones, which group together all the love of God in the gift of his Son. He died for our sins- he was buried in the grave he rose from the dead for our justification and is ascended to the skies to prepare mansions for his disciples comprehend the whole, or are the heads of the chapters which narrate the love of God and disj lay his moral majesty and glory to our view. 112 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM These moral facts unfold all the moral grandeur of Jehovah, and make Jesus the effulgence of his glory, the express image of his substance. These are the moral seal which testimony convoys to the understanding, and faith brings to the hearts of sinners, by which God creates them anew and forms them for his glory. It is the Spirit which bears witness the Spirit of God and of Christ which gives the testimony and confirms it in the disciples. But let us next proceed to testimony. TESTIMONY. The Romans, from whom we have borrowed much of our lan- guage, called the witness the testis. The declaration of this testis is still called testimony. In reference to the material system around us, to all objects and matters of sense, the eye, the ear, the smell, the taste, the feeling, are the five witnesses. What we call the evidence of sense, is, therefore, the testimony of these witnesses, which constitute the five avenues to the human mind from the kingdom of nature. They are figuratively called wit- nesses, and their evidence testimony. But the report or declaration of intelligent beings, such as God, angels, and men, constitute what is properly and literally called testimony. As light reflected from any material object upon the eye brings that object into contact with the eye, or enables the object to make its image on the eye ; so testimony concerning any fact brings that fact into contact with the mind, and enables it to impress itself or to form its image upon the intellect or mind of man. Now, be it observed, that, as by our five external senses we acquire all information of the objects of sense around us ; so by testimony, human or divine, we receive all our information upon all facts which are not the objects of immediate exercise of our five senses upon the things around us. To appreciate the full value of testimony in the divine work of regeneration, we have only to reflect that all the moral facts which can form moral character, after the divine model, or which can effect a moral or religious change in man, are found in the testimony of God ; and that no fact can operate at all where it is not present, or where it is not known. The love of God in the death of the Messiah never drew a tear of gratitude or joy from any eye, or excited a grateful emotion in any heart among the nations of our race to whom the testimony never came. No fact in the history of six thousand ye trs, no work of God in creation, THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 113 providence, or redemption, has ever influenced the heart of man or woman to whom it has not been testified. Testimony is, then, in regeneration, as necessary as the facts of which it speaks. The real value of any thing is the labor which it cost, and its utility when acquired. If reason and justice arbitrated all ques- tions upon the value of property, the decision would be, that every article is worth the amount of human labor which is neces- sary to obtain it; and when obtained it is again to be tried in the scales of utility. Now, as all the facts and all the truth whish can renovate human nature are in the testimony of God, and as that testimony cost the labor and the lives of the wisest and best that ever lived, that testimony, to us, is just as valuable as the facts which it records and the labors and the lives which it cost, and just as indispensable in the process of regeneration as were the labors and the lives of Prophets, Apostles, and the Son of God. History, or narrative, whether oral or written, is only another name for testimony. When, then, we reflect how large a portion of both Testaments is occupied in history, we may judge of how much importance it is in the judgments of God. Prophecy, also, being the history of future facts, or a record of things to be done, belongs to the same chapter of facts and record. Now, if all past facts and all future facts, or all the history or testimony concern- ing them, were erased from the volumes of God's inspiration, how small would the remainder be! These considerations, added to- gether, only in part exhibit the value and utility of testimony in the regeneration of mankind. But its value will be still more evident when the proper import of the term faith is fully set before us. FAITH. No testimony, no faith: for faith is only the belief of testimony, or confidence in testimony as true. To believe without testimony is just as impossible as to see without light. The measure, quality, and power of faith, are always found- in the testimony believed. Where testimony begins, faith begins ; and where testimony ends, faith ends. We believe Moses just as far as Moses speaks or writes ; and when Moses has recorded his last fact, or testified his last truth, our faith in Moses terminates. His five books are, therefore, the length and breadth, the height and depth, or, in 10* 114 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. other words, the measure, of our faith in Moses. The quality oi value of faith is found in the quality or value- of the testimony. If the testimony be valid and authoritative, our faith is strong and operative. "If," says John, "we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater," stronger and more worthy of credit. The value of a bank-bill is the amount of the precious metals which it represents, and the indisputable evidence of ita genuineness ; so the value of faith is the importance of the facts which the testimony presents, and the assurance afforded that the testimony is true. True or unfeigned faith may be contrasted with feigned faith ; but true faith is the belief of truth ; for he that be- lieves a lie believes in vain. The power of faith is also the power or moral meaning of the testimony, or of the facts which the testimony represents. If by faith I am transported with joy, or overwhelmed in sorrow, that joy or sorrow is in the facts contained in the testimony, or in the nature and relation of those facts to me. If faith purifies the heart, works by love, and overcomes the world, this power is in the facts believed. If a father has more joy in believing that a lost son has been found, than in believing that a lost sHeep has been brought home to his fuld, the reason of this greater joy is not in the nature of his believing, but iu the nature of the facts believed. Here I am led to expatiate on a very popular and pernicious error of modern times. That error is, that the nature or power and saving efficacy of faith is not in the truth believed, but in the nature of our faith, or in the manner of believing the truth. Hence all that unmeaning jargon about the nature of faith, and all those disdainful sneers at what is called "historic faith" as if there could be any faith without history, written or spoken. Who ever believed in Christ without hearing the history of him ? "How shall they believe in him of whom they have noi heard f" Faith never can be more than the receiving of testimony as true, or the belief of testimony ; and if that testimony be written it is called history, though it is as much history when flowing from the tongue as when flowing from the pen. Let it be again repeated and remembered that there is no other manner of believing a fact than as receiving it as true. If it is not received as true, it is not believed ; and, when it is believed, it is no more than regarded as true. This being conceded, then it follows that the efficacy of faith is always in the fact believed or the object received, and not in the nature or manner of believing. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 115 " Faith was bewilder' d much by men who meant To make it clear, so simple in itself, A thought so ruditnental and so plain, That none by comment could it plainer make. All faith was one. In object, not in kind, The difference lay. The faith that saved a soul, And that which in the common truth believed, In essence were the same. Hear, then, what faith, True Christian faith, which brought salvation, was: Belief in all that God reveal'd to men ; Observe : in all that God reveal'd to men In all he promised, threaten'd, commanded, said, Without exception, and without a doubt."* This holds universally in all the sensitive, intellectual, and moral powers of man. All our pleasures and pains, all our joys and sorrows, are the effects of the objects of sensation, reflection, faith, &c. apprehended or received, and not in the nature of the exercise of any power or capacity with which we are endowed. We shall illustrate and confirm this assertion by an appeal to the experience of all. Let us glance at all our sensitive powers. If, on surveying with the eye a beautiful landscape, I am pleased, and on survey- ing a battle-field strewed with the spoils of death, I am pained, is it in accordance with truth to say, that the pleasure or the pain received was occasioned by the nature of vision, or the mode of seeing? Was it not the sight, the thing seen, the object of vision, which produced the pleasure and the pain? The action of look- ing, or the mode of seeing, was in both cases the same ; but the things seen, or the objects of vision, were different: consequently the effects produced were different. If on hearing the melody of the grove I am delighted, and on hearing the peals of thunder breaking to pieces the cloud, dark with horror, hanging over my head, I am terrified, is the delight or the terror to be ascribed to the manner or nature of hearing, or to the thing heard ? Is it not the thing heard which produces the delight or the terror? If I am refreshed by the balmy fragrance of the opening bloom of spring, or sickened by the fetid effluvia of putrid carcasses,- are these effects to be ascribed to the peculiar nature or mode of smelling, or to the thing smelt? Or when the honey and the gall come in contact with my taste, is the sweet or the bitter to be regarded as the effect of my manner of tasting, or of the object tasted ? And when I touch the ice, or the blazing torch, is the effect or feeling produced to be imputed to the manner of feeling * Follok'a Course of Time, book viii. page 189. 116 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. them, or to the thing felt? May we not, then, nffirm that all tht pleasures and pains of sense all the effects of sensation aro the results, not of the manner in which our five senses are exercised, but of the objects on which they are exercised ? It may be said, without in the least invalidating this conclusion, that the more intimate the exercise of our senses is with the things on which they are exercised, the stronger and more forcible will be the impressions made; but still it is the object seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or felt, which affects us. Passing from the outward to the inward man, and on examining the powers of intellection one by one, we shall find no exception to the law which pervades all our sensitive powers. It is neither the faculty of perception, nor the manner of perception, but the thing perceived, that excites us to action : it is not the exercise of reflection, but the thing reflected upon : it is not memory, nor the exercise of recollection, but the thing remembered : it is not imagination, but the thing imagined : it is not reason itself, nor the exercise of reason, but the thing reasoned upon, which affords pleasure or pain which excites to action which cheers, allures, consoles which grieves, disquiets, or discommodes us. Ascending to our volitions and our affections, we shall find the same universality. In a word, it is not choosing, nor refusing ; it is not loving, hating, fearing, desiring, nor hoping; it is not the nature of any power, faculty, or capacity of our being, nor the simple exercise of them, but the objects or things upon which they are exercised, which give us pleasure or pain; which induce us to action, or influence our behavior. Faith, then, or the power of believing, must be an anomalous thing a power SMI' generis an exception to the laws under which every power, faculty, or ca- pacity of man is placed, unless its measure, quality, power and efficacy be in the facts which are testified, in the objects on which it terminates. There is no connection of cause and effect more intimate there is no system of dependencies more closely linked there is no arrangement of things more natural or necessary, than the ideas represented by the terms fact, testimony, faith and feeling. The first is for the last, and the two intermediates are made necessary by the force of circumstances, as the means for the end. The fact, or the thing said to be done, produces the change in the frame of mind. The testimony, or the report of the thing said or done, is essential to belief; and belief of it is necessary to bring the thing said or done to the heart. The change of heart THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 117 is the end proposed in this part of thi process of regeneration ; ami we may sue that the piocess on the part of Heaven is, thug far, natural and -rational: or, in other words, consistent with the constitution of our nature.* CONFIRMATION OF THE TESTIMONY. All revealed religion is based upon facts. Testimony has re- ppect to facts only ; and that testimony may be credible, it must be confirmed. These points are of so much importance as t-> de- serve some illustration, and much consideration. By facts \ve always mean something said or done. The works of God and the words of G(-d, or the things done or spoken by God, are those facts which am laid down and exhibited in the Bible as the foun- dation of all fuith, hope, love, piety, and humanity. All true and useful knowledge is an acquaintance with facts: and all true science is acquired from the observation and comparison of facts. But he that made the heart of man and gave him an intelligent spirit knows that facts alone can move the affections and com- mand the passions of man. Hence the scheme of mercy which he has discovered to the world is all contained in, and developed by, the works of mercy which he has wrought. Facts have a meaning which the understanding apprehends, and the heart feels. According to the meaning or nature of the fact is its effect upon us. If a friend have risked his life or sacrificed his reputation or fortune to relieve us, we cannot but confide in him and love him. If an enemy have attempted our life, invaded our property, or attacked our reputation, we cannot, naturally, but hate him. Nothing but the command of a bene- factor, or the will of some dear friend who has laid us under obligation to himself, can prevent us from hating our enemies. If a beloved relative have sustained some great misfortune, we must feel sorry ; or if he have been rescued from some impending calamity, we must feel glad. Our joy in the latter case, and our sorrow in the former, arise from the meaning or nature of the fact. The feelings corresponding with the nature of the fact are excited or called into existence the moment the fact is known or believed. It is known when we have witnessed it ourselves, and it is believed when reported to us by credible persons who have witnessed it. This is the chief difference between faith and knowledge. MUlennUl Ilarbluger, Extra, No. 6, pp. 310-345. 118 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. As existences or beings must precede knowledge, so facts must precede either knowledge or belief. An event must happen before it can be known by man it must be known by some be- fore it can be reported to others it must be reported before it can be believed and the testimony must be confirmed or made credible before it can be relied on. Something must be done before it can be known, reported, 'or believed. Hence, in the order of nature, there is first the fact ; then the testimony ; and then the belief. A was drowned before B reported it B reported it before C believed it and C believed it before he was grieved at it. This is the unchangeable and universal order of things as respects belief In this example, when we reason from effect to cause, it is grief, belief, testimony, fact; and from cause to effect, it is fact, testimony, belief, grief. We ascend from grief to belief from belief to testimony from testimony to fact. We descend from fact to testimony from testimony to belief and from belief to grief. To this there is no exception, more than against the universality of the law of gravity. If, then, there was nothing said or done, there could be no testimony, and so no faith. Ileligious affections spring from faith, and therefore it is of importance that this subject should be disintricated from the mysticism of the schools. Laws call for obedience, and testimony for belief. Where there is no law there can be no obedience, and when there is no testimony there can be no faith. As obedience cannot transcend law, so faith cannot transcend testimony. John's testimony went to so many facts. On his testimony we can believe only as far as he has testified ; and so of all the other witnesses. The certainty of faith depends upon the certainty or credibility of the witnesses. But not so its effects. The effects depend upon the facts believed the certainty upon the evidence. I may be equally Certain that John was beheaded that Jesus was crucified. Nay, I may be as certain of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem as I am of his death on Calvary. The testimony may be equally credible, and the faith equally strong ; but the effects produced are not the same. The facts believed have not the same meaning, are not of the same nature, and do not produce the same feelings or effects. I may be as certain of the assassination of Caesar in the Senate-House as I am of the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary; but, as the facts believed are as diverse in their nature, meaning, and bearings upon me, as the East and the West, so the effects or fruits of my faith are as different as Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 119 The more ordinary the fact, the more ordinary the testimony i.ecessary to establish it. That A B, aged 90, and confined for bome time with sickness, died last night, requires only the most ordinary testimony to render it credible. But that C D lived to 140, enjoying unabated vigor of mind and body, requires stronger testimony. But still, all facts happening in accordance with the ordinary and natural laws of things require but good human testimony to make them worthy of credence. It is only extra- ordinary and supernatural facts which require supernatural testi- mony, or testimony supernaturally confirmed. This is the point to which we have been looking in this essay. And, now that we have arrived at it, I would ask, How has the testimony of the Apostles and Evangelists been confirmed? To confirm a testimony is neither more nor less than to make it credible to those to whom it is tendered ; or, to express the same idea in other words, it is to give men power to believe. Now, it will not require the same amount of evidence to persuade an astronomer that the earth's shadow struck the moon last eclipse, as it would to convince an Indian ; nor it would not require the same amount of evidence to convince a chemist that combustion was effected by pouring water on a certain composition of mineral substances, as it would an unlettered swain. To make any testi- mony credible to any order of beings, regard must therefore be had to the capacity, attainments, and habits of those beings. To confirm the testimony of the Apostles concerning the Messiah's death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and coronation as the Lord and King of the Universe, imports no more nor no less than that it should be rendered everyway credible to such beings as we are, or that we should be made able to believe it. A testi- mony confirmed, and yet incredible to those to whom it is tendered, is a contradiction in terms. But why emphasize on the word confirmed? Because the holy Apostles have emphasized upon it. It is therefore necessary that we should pay a due regard to the confirmation of the testimony. The testimony is one thing, and the confirmation is another. It is necessary, in all important occasions in human affairs, that the testimony which is received between man and man should be confirmed by some sanction. Hence an oath for confirmation of testimony is an end of all strife. The highest confirmation which men require in all questions of fact is a solemn oath or affirmation that the things affirmed are true. But supernatural facts require supernatural confirmations. 120 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Hence, when the confirmation of the gospel is spoken of in tno apostolic writings, it is resolved into the doings or works of the Holy Spirit. ' Demonstrations of the Holy Spirit" are the con- firm.itory proofs of the gospel. When Paul delivered the testi- mony of God, or the testimony concerning Jesus, to the Corinth- ians, he says, "It was confirmed among them." And if we examine into the confirmation of the testimony as Paul explained it, we shall find that- he makes the spiritual gifts, or those extra- ordinary and miraculous powers which the Apostles themselves displayed, and which so many of their converts also possessed, an assurance or confirmation of what he promulged. We shall only attend to the light which one of his epistles to the Corinthians throws upon this subject. After thanking his God for the favor bestowed upon the disciples of Corinth when he first vis'ted them, he proceeds to specify the special favors bestowed upon the disciples in that renowned city. " You were enriched (says he, chapter i. ver. 5) with every gift by him, even with all speech and all knowledge when the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you : so that you come behind in no gtjl." "There are diversities of gifts, (says he, chapter xii.) for to one disciple is given the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge; to another, j'ailh, (to be healed;) to another, the gift of healing; to another, the ability of working in others the ]>owcr of working miracles ; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of foreign tongues; and to an- other, the interpretation of foreign tonyves" Now, the Corinth- ians were put in possession of these (for they came behind in no gift) ' when the testimony of Christ was confirmed among them." "For," says Paul, ''I came not to you with the excel- lency of speech, or the persuasive eloquence of the schools, hut with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your belief of my testimony, or your faith, might not rest or be founded upon human wisdom or eloquence; but upon the power of Uod evinced in the demonstrations of the Spirit which eon- lirined my testimony among you." For had it not been for these demonstrations of the Sp.rit and of power, your faith could not have rested upon an immovable basis. To those desirous to understand this subject, an examination of this first letter to the Corinthians cannot fail to be most in- structive ; for it most clearly and unequivocally teaches us that the visible, andiUe, xeiutiule demonstration of the Spirit and uf power was that buperuatural attestation of the testimony of THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 121 Christ which made it credible, so that no man could have ac- knowledged Josus of Nazareth to be the Almighty Lord, but by this demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Thus was the testimony confirmed thus was Jesus demonstrated to be the only-begotten Son of God and thus, and thus only, are men enabled to believe in him.* FUNDAMENTAL FACT.f Amidst the uncertainty, darkness, and vice, that overspread the earth, the Messiah appears, and lays the foundation of hope, of true religion, and of religious union, unknown, unheard-of, un- expected among men. The Jews were united by consanguinity, and by agreement in a ponderous ritual. The Gentiles rallied under every opinion, and were grouped, like filings of steel around a magnet, under every possible shade of difference of thought, f the great Prophet* The one fact is expressed in a single pro- position that Jesus the Nazarene is the Messiah. The evidence upon which it is to be believed is the testimony of twelve men, confirmed by prophecy, miracles, and spiritual gifts. The one institution is baptism into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Every such person is a disciple in the fullest sense of the word, the moment he has believed this one fact, upon the above evidence, and has submitted to the above- mentioned institution ; and whether he believes the five points condemned, or the five points approved, by the Synod of Dort, ia not so much as to be asked of him ; -whether he holds any of the views of the Calvinists or Arminians, Presbyterians, Episcopa- lians, Methodists, Baptists, or Quakers, is never once to be asked of such persons, in order to admission into the Christian com- munity called the church. The only doubt that can reasonably arise upon these points is, whether this one fact, in its nature and necessary results, can suffice to the salvation of the soul, and whether the open avowal of it, in the overt act of baptism, can be a sufficient recommendation of the person so professing to the confidence and love of the brotherhood. As to the first of these, it is again and again asserted, in the clearest language, by the Lord himself, the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John, that he that believes the testimony that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, may overcome the world, has eternal life, and is, on the veracity of God, saved from his sins. This should settle the first point ; for the witnesses agree that whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Christ, and is baptized, should be received into the church; and not an instance can be produced of any person being asked for any other faith, in order to admission, in the whole New Testament. The Saviour expressly declared to Peter that upon this fact, that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, he would build his church; and Paul has expressly declared that "other foundation can no man lay (for ecclesiastical union) than that JESCS is THE CHRIST." Th3 point is proved that we have THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 123 assumed ; and, this proved, every thing is established requisite to the union of all Christians upon a proper basis. It must strike every man of reflection, that a religion requiring much mental abstraction or exquisite refinement of thought, or that calls for the comprehension or even apprehension of refined distinctions and of nice subtleties, is a religion not suited to man- kind in their present circumstances. To present such a creed as the Westminster, as adopted either by Baptists or Pedobaptists, auch a creed as the Episcopalian, or, in fact, any sectarian creed, composed, as they all are, of propositions deduced by logical in- ferences and couched in philosophical language, to all those who are fit subjects of the salvation of heaven, I say, to present such a creed to such for their examination or adoption shocks all com- mon sense. This pernicious course is what has paganized Chris- tianity. Our sects and parties, our disputes and speculations, our orders and castes, so much resemble any thing but Chris- tianity, that when we enter a modern synagogue, or an ecclesias- tical council, we seem rather to have entered a Jewish sanhedrim, a Mohammedan mosque, a Pagan temple, or an Egyptian cloister, than a Christian congregation. Sometimes, indeed, our religious meetings so resemble the Areopagus, the Forum, or the Senate, that we almost suppose ourselves to have been translated to Athens or Rome. Even Christian orators emulate Demosthenes and Cicero. Christian doctrines are made to assume the garb of Egyptian mysteries, and Christian observances put on the pomp and pageantry of pagan ceremonies. Unity of opinion, expressed in subscription to voluminous dogmas imported from Geneva, Westminster, Edinburgh, or Rome, is made the bond of union ; and a difference in the tenth or ten-thousandth shade of opinion frequently becomes the actual cause of dismemberment or expul- sion. The New 'lestament was not designed to occupy the same place in theological seminaries that the carcasses of malefactors are condemned to occupy in medical halls first doomed to the gibbet, and then to the dissecting-knife of the spiritual anatomist. Christianity consists infinitely more in good works than in sound opinions; and, while it is a joyful truth, that he that believes and is baptized shall be saved, it is equally true that he that says, '1 know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."* * Chrfatten Baptist, vol. i. pp. 167-169. 124 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. tfr PURITY OP SPEECH. If I were to classify in three chapters the whole Christian in- stitution, after the fashion of the modern schools, for the sake of being understood, I would designate them Christian faith, Chris- tian worship, and Christian morality. To these the moderns have added two others, which, using the same license, I would call human philosophy and human traditions. Now, in the first chap- ter, we and all Christians are agreed: for as Christian faith has respect to the matters of fact recorded to the direct testimony of God found in the New Testament concerning himself concern- ing his Son and Spirit concerning mankind what he has done and wnat he will do on it there is no debate. I find all confes- sions of FAITH, properly so called, like the four Gospels, tell the same story so far as matters of fact or faith are concerned. In the second chapter we are also agreed, that God is to be worshipped through the Mediator in prayer, in praise, public and private in the ordinances of Christian baptism, the Lord's day, the Lord's supper, and in the devotional study of his word and of his works of creation and providence. In the third chapter we all acknowledge the same moral code. What is morality is confessed and acknowledged by all ; but in the practice of it there are great subtractions. We repudiate the two remaining chapters as 'having any place in our faith, worship, or morality; because we think that we have discovered that all the divisions in Protestant Christendom that all the partyism, vain jangling, and heresies which have dis- graced the Christian profession have emanated from human philosophy and human tradition. It is not faith, nor piety, nor morality, but philosophy and tradition, that have alienated and estranged Christians, and prevented the conversion of the world. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle deserved not tne reputation of philosophers, if Calvin, Arminius, and Wesley were* not worthy of it. The former philosophized morally on nature and ancient tradition the latter, on the Bible, and human society. Religious philosophers on the Bible have excogitated the fol- lowing doctrines and philosophical distinctions: 1 The Holy Trinity,' ' Three persons AifVne substance, power, and eternity,' ' Co-essential, co-substantfan co-equal,' ' The Son eternally begotten of the Father,' 'An eternal Son,' 'Humanity THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 125 and divinity of Christ,' 'The Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son,' 'God's eternal decrees,' 'Condi- tional election and reprobation,' 'God out of Christ,' 'Free will,' 'Liberty and necessity,' 'Original sin,' 'Total depravity,' 'Cove- nant of grace,'* 'Effectual calling,' 'Free grace,' 'Sovereign grace,' 'General and particular atonement, 'Satisfy divine jus- tice,' 'Common and special operations of the Holy Ghost,' 'Im- puted righteousness,' 'Inherent righteousness,' ' Progressive sanc- tincation,' 'Justifying and saving faith,' 'Historic and temporary faith,' 'The direct and reflex acts of faith,' 'The faith of assu- rance, and the assurance of faith,' 'Legal repentance,' 'Evangel- ical repentance,' 'Perseverance of the saints,'f and ' Falling from grace,'J 'Visible and invisible church,' 'Infant membership,' 'Sacraments,' 'Eucharist,' 'Con substantiation,' 'Church govern- ment,' 'The power of the keys,' &c. &c. uiued in the mint of speculative theol >gy. Of these the homouaxos and the homooutsios of tue ever-memorable Council of Nice are a fair sample. Men are neither wiser, more intelligent, nor better, after, than before, they know the meaning of these words. As far as known on earth, there is not, in "the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," the name of any peisjn who was either converted or sanctified to God by any of these controversies about human dogmas, nor by any thing learned from the canons or creeds of all the Councils, from that of Nice to the last Methodistic Conference. It is a virtue, then, to forget this scholastic jargon, and even the names of the dogmas which have convulsed Christendom. It is a concession due to the crisis in which we live, for the sake of peace, to adopt the vocabulary of Heaven, and to return the bor- rowed nomenclature of the schools to its rightful owners to speculate no more upon the opinions of Saint Austin, Saint Ter- tullian, Saint Origen to speak of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit of the gospel, of faith, of repentance, of baptism, of election, of the death of Christ, of his mediation, of his blood, of the reconciliation, of the Lord's supper, of the; atonement, of the church of God, itc. 4c., in all the phrases found in the Record, without partiality to learn to love one an- other as much when we differ in opinion as when we agree, and to distinguish between the testimony of CW, >ud man's reason- ings and philosophy upon it. I need not say much upon the chapter of human traditions. They are easily distinguished from the Apostles' traditions. Those of the Apostles are found in their writings, as those of men are found in their own books. Some human traditions may have a show of wisdom, but it is only an appearance. So long as it ia * Zupliauiali iii. 9. f Psalm xii. 6. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 127 written, " In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," so long will it be presumptuous folly to add the commandments of men to the precepts of Jesus Christ. I know of but one way in which all the believers in Jesus Christ, honorably to themselves, honorably to the Lord, and advan- tageously to all the sons of Adam, can form one communion. All have two chapters too many in their present ecclesiastic con- stitutions. The contents of the aforesaid two chapters are va- rious and different in all the sects, but they all have these two chapters under some name. In some they are long, and in some they are short ; but, whether long or short, let every one agree to tear them out of his book and burn them, and be satisfied with faith, piety, and morality. Let human philosophy and human tradition, as any part of the Christian institution, be thrown over- board into the sea, and then the ship of the church will make a prosperous, safe, and happy voyage across the ocean of time, and finally, under the triumphant flag of Immauuel, gain a safe anchorage in the haven of eternal rest. I would appeal to every honorable, good, and loyal citizen of the kingdom of Heaven, to every one that seeks the good of Zion, that loves the kingdom and the appearing of our common Lord and Saviour, whether such a concession be not due to the Lord, to the saints in heaven and on earth, and to the whole human race in the crisis in which we are now placed ; and whether we could propose less, or ought to demand more, than to make one whole burnt-offering of all our "empty and deceitful philo- sophy," our "science, falsely so called," and our traditions received from our fathers. I would leave it to the good sense of every sane mind to say, whether such a whole burnt-offering would not be the most acceptable peace-offering which, in this our day, could be presented on the altar of the Prince of Peace ; and whether, under the teachings of the Apostles of the Great Prophet, the church might not again triumphantly stand upon the holy ground which she so honorably occupied before Origen, Austin, Athanasius, or the first pope, was born!* arbinger, vol. yl. pp. 10-11. 128 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. KINGDOM OF HEAVED. GENERAL ESSAYS.* PATRIARCHAL AGE OP THE WORLD. THE world had its infancy as well as man. Families preceded nations. Family worship was, therefore, the first religious insti tution. At the head of this institution naturally stood the father of every family. From necessity and from choice, he was the prophet, the priest, and the king. As a prophet, he instructed his house- hold in the knowledge of God, and in the history of man. As a priest, he officiated at the family altar, interceded for those under his care, and pronounced benedictions upon his children. As a lawgiver and king, he commanded his children and servants, and rewarded them according to merit. By a divine ordinance, the first fathers of mankind were thus constituted prophets, priests, and kings. Hence, the first religious and political institution is properly called "the Patriarchal." Family worship was, then, the^r*^ social worship; and during the first ages of the world (for at least two thousand five hundred years) it was the o/tly social worship, of divine authority. Though other institutions have since been added, this has never been superseded. Having its foundation in the matrimonial compact, the most an- cient of all religious and political institutions, and this being * These essays do not appear in the order In which they were written and pub- lished. We place the last written first: because, in the natural order of thin?*, general views of the nnture of the Christian kingdom ou^ht to precede the special development of its peculiar institutions. They appeared first in the form of rrtras to the regular series of the Millennial Harbinger; and. KK we thought it erpedient to preserve them, as much as possible, in their original form, this will apologize for several repetitions which may appear in them. All the leading and characteristic principles of that reformation for which we plead, as far ac the gospel institution is concerned, may be learned from tin-in. M ucb, indeed, of the proof of some of the propositions found in these essays. HI-S scattered over ilia face of several volumes: but .such a miniature view of the e\ fdence by which they arS sustained, as, in most cases, is sufficient to the conviction ot the reauer, will te found embodied in them. Those, however, who may nut be perfe< tly satisfied with the arguments offered, must be referred to the various di-rn^siuns of these principles found in the Christian Baptist and Millennial Harbinger. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 129 founded on nature itself, it never can be superseded. While the forms of this worship have always been adapted to the genius of the various revelations of God vouchsafed to mankind, it has continue'd through all the changes of six thousand years, and will continue till the day when men, like the angels of God, shall neither marry nor give in marriage. Family worship, so long as it continued the only social wor- ship, underwent no material change; and this is the period which is properly called the Patriarchal age of the world. So long as the descendants of one man and one woman continued under the paternal roof, or until they became heads of families themselves, they continued under this religious and political administratiou. And if, after marriage, they did not migrate to a great distance from the patrimonial inheritance, the paternal authority was still acknowledged and acquiesced in. Thus, in process of time, he who at first was only the head of a single family, if his days vrere prolonged and his progeny multiplied, became the paternal prince or chief-patriarch of a tribe. In the youth of time and freshness of human nature, families soon became large ; and as the father and head could not always be present while he lived, and as he might die before all his chil- dren could have become heads of families, it became necessary that a substitute in his absence, and. a successor in case of hia premature death, should be appointed to fill his place and admi- nister the affairs of the family. Nature and reason alike pointed to the first-born son, and religion consecrated him his vicegerent. Hence, the privileges and honors of the first-born son were both religious and political ; and thus the duties devolving upon him gave him a right to a double portion of the inheritance. E.sau was, therefore, both prodigal and profane in selling his birthright for a meal of pottage. The antiquity of this arrangement appeared from the envv and jealousy of Cain, roused at the rejection of his offering and the acceptance of that of Abel. That jealousy seems to have been kindled into rage because of his birthright. This is fairlv im- plied in God's address to Cain, when that address is fairly trans- lated and understood : " If you do well, shall you not have the excellency? and if you do not well, sin precludes you (from the excellency.) And (Abel shall be subject to you) to you shuxt toe his desire^ and you shall rule over him."* * Genesis ir. 7. 130 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. The moral and religious institutions of the patriarchal or family worship, which continued from the fall of Adam to the covenant of circumcision, were the Sabbath, the service of the altar, oral instruction, prayer, praise, and benediction. With the addition of circumcision in the family of one patriarch, for special purposes, these were the parts of that system which continued for two thousand five hundred years. The religious observance of weeks or Sabbaths in commemora- tion of creation, and prospective of an eternal rest, to arise out of the sacrificial and typical institution, was religiously observed to the giving of the law, or the erection of the Jewish institution. Thus the law of the Sabbath commences with the words "Re- member the Sabbath." The righteous always remembered the weeks, and regarded the conclusion of the week as holy to the Lord. Hence, even after the apostasy, which issued in the neglect of family worship, in consequence of the sons of God intermarrying with the daughters of men, and which brought a flood of water upon the world of the ungodly we find Noah re- ligiously counting his weeks even while incarcerated in the ark. In the wilderness of Sin, before the giving of the law, we also find the Jews observing the Sabbath. And to facilitate the ob- servance of it, God wrought three special miracles during the peregrinations of Israel. He gave two days' portion of manna on the sixth day none on the seventh and preserved from pu- trefaction that portion laid up for the Sabbath.* Sin-offerings and thank-offerings, on altars both of stone and earth, were presented to the Lord the former in faith of the pro- mise concerning the bruising the serpent's head by the offspring of the woman the latter in grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of God in creation and providence. Cain, without faith in the promised redemption, like many deists and natural reli- gionists in our time, did acknowledge the goodness and care of God by a thank-offering; but Abel, by faith in that promise, nut only offered his thank-offering, but a Iamb as a sin-offering: therefore, while God respected not Cain's oblation without faith in that promise, he testified in favor of the gifts of Abel he ac- cepted his sin-offering and his thank-offering. In the very brief and general outlines of almost two thousand five hundred years given us in the book of Genesis, we find sundry allusions to this part of the patriarchal institution. Im * Exodus XT|. 15-27. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 131 mediately after his egress from the ark, we find Noah rearing his altar upon the baptized earth, and of every clean bird and beast offering to the Lord whole burnt-offerings. Thus began Noah, after the deluge, to worship the Lord according to the patriarchal institution. And thus we find Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and othor patriarchs, presenting their sacrifices to the Lord, while the family worship was the only religious institution in the world. Even libations, drink-offerings, and anointing as token of grati- *ude and consecration, are found in this most ancient and venerable institution. "Jacob rose up early in the morning, took the stone which he had put for his pillow, set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it."* "And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God talked with him, even a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink-offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. "f A beautiful and instructive instance of ancient family worship, and of the sacerdotal functions, as exercised by the patriarchs in reference to the altar, we have in that most ancient of books, sup- posed by many to have been written by Moses while in the land of Midian; but, according to others, by Job himself, who was cer- tainly contemporary with Eliphaz the Temanite. Eliphaz was the son of Teman, who was the son of Eliphaz, who was the first son of Esau, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. He there- fore lived before Moses. Thus we find him also officiating at the altar. We are told that " his sons went and feasted in each other's houses, every one his day, and sent and called for their sisters to eat and drink with them. And it was so that when the days of their feasting had gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt-offorings ac- cording to the number of them all ; for Job said, It may be that aiy sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus acted Job continually.''^ The same Job, by divine appointment, acted as priest or inter- cessor in behalf of his three friends, princes of Edom : for, hav- ing spoken amiss, they were commanded to take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to Job, the servant of God, and to offer them up for themselves; and "Job my servant shall'pray for you." "Job prayed for them, and the Lord accepted his prayer, and forgave Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar." " The Lord also ac- cepted and blessed Job after he had prayed for these his friends, and the Lord turned again the- captivity of Job." * Genesis xxvili. 13. f Genesis XXXT. 14. J Job 1. 4-9. \ Job xllil. S-MX 132 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. During this period of the world, there was but one high or general priest, specially called and sent by God. "He waa King, of Salem and Priest of the Most High God." To him the patriarch Abraham paid tithes or gave the tenth of the spoils taken in war, and Melchizedek blessed him. He was of an order of his own sort. He had no predecessor, successor, nor equal, in the age of family worship. Frv.m all these facts and documents we learn that the service ol tne altar belonged first to the father of the family next, to his eldest son; that it consisted in presenting nin-offerings and thank-offerings of various sorts in behalf of himself or family; that all pious sons and individuals might fur themselves erect altars, offer sacrifices, and pour out libations and drink-offerings, to the Lord ; that these sacrificial observances were generally, if not always, accompanied with prayer, intercession, and thanks- givings ; and that intercession in behalf of those under the care of any father or patriarch was a part of the first institution. Benediction also was one of the first duties of this office. Fathers pronounced blessings on their children. Superiors in age and standing blessed their inferiors. Melchizcdek blessed Abraham, Isaac blessed Jacob, and Jacob blessed the twelve pa- triarchs. The invocations of blessings and the imposition of hands upon the head were parts of the family-worship institution. Concerning prayer and praise, as we cannot imagine a religion without them, it is unnecessary to speak particularly of them as parts of the patriarchal institution. Jubal soon taught men to handle the harp and the organ, and piety soon consecrated them to the praise of God. The melodies of nature soon taught man to tune his voice to God. Isaac went out into the fields at even- tide for secret prayer. Abraham interceded for Sodom until he was ashamed to push his importunities further; and for Abime- lech, King of Egypt, and his family, he made his requests to God. Of him and his patriarchal character God said, "I know Abra- ham, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him."* Prophets of a public character were occasionally raised up to bring men back to the primitive simplicity of the patriarchal institution, as well as to lead them forward to the future develop- Genesis xviii. 10. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 133 ments of God's purposes in reference to this work of redemr* ; on. Amongst these the most conspicuous were Enoch, Noah, A K ra- ham, Isaac, Jacob. To all these were given new visions of the future, and thus they were all preachers of righteousness and reformers in their respective generations. From these gleanings from the book of Genesis, one may learn that the family-worship institution, which was divinely instituted in the first age of the world, embraced the observance of the Sabbath, the service of the altar, oral instruction, prayer, inter- cession, thanksgiving, and benediction. It contemplated no other bond of union than the marriage-covenant, and the relations springing out of it. Doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, were enforced in all its maxims, and in the examples of those whom God honored and approved. There was, during the long period of this family institution, no community separated from the world larger than a single household no public altars no temples no established order of public teachers; therefore, there was no initiating or separating institutions. There was no circumcision for the infant, nor wash- ing of regeneration for the instructed. These institutions of latter times had respect to public professing communities; and therefore for two thousand years there was no initiating rite or ordinance amongst men. Wherever the family curtains were spread and a tent erected, the devout father built his own altar to the Lord, gathered his own children and domestics around him, instructed them in the knowledge of God the Creator and Preserver of all ; and in the history of man, his origin and destiny, as far as revealed to them. They offered their thank-offerings, acknowledgments of favors received; and, when conscious of sin, they presented their sin- offering, with confessions, and, in faith of God's promise, sup- plicated pardon. Such are the essential attributes of the patri- archal institution, and of the family worship, as learned from the writings of Moses. But, as the root of all the subsequent dispensations of God's mercy and favor to man was planted in the patriarchal institution, it is necessary to our plan, before we advance further, to pay some attention to one of these patriarchs, whose famo is eternal, on whom God bestowed an honor above all earthly honor, and who stands enrolled in the annals of time as THE FRIEND OF GOD. The intelligent reader needs not to be informed that we now call hi attention specially to f 134 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. ABRAHAM. Reader, attend ! " I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations." And shall not the name, the call- ing, the blessing, and the history of Abraham always occupy a large space in the records of God's government of man, and in all the details of his redemption? Because of his unprecedented faith in God's promises and ex- alted piety, he was constituted the father of all believers ; and his whole life is made a model for all the children of God, as far as walking by faith in God's promises is an ornament to human character. Sufficient, then, to our present purpose, we observe, that during the family-worship institution, a little after the commencement of the third millennium, about the seventy-fifth year of his life, God appeared to Abraham while he yet lived in Ur of Chaldea, and commanded him to depart out of that country, and that he would do for him certain things. Abraham obeyed. God gratuitously tendered him two promises, not only interesting and valuable to Abraham himself, but to all the human race. These two promises wore intended to be the basis of a two- fold relation to God, and the foundation of two distinct religious institutions, called "the Old Testament and the New," "the Old Covenant and the New," "the Two Covenants," and "the Cove- nants of Promise." There are contemplated in them the con- stitution for a temporal and spiritual kingdom of God a kingdom of God of this world, and a kingdom of God not of this world. Be it, therefore, always remembered, when we attempt to form correct views of the whole economy of God's redemption, that these two promises were made while the patriarchal institution xv os yet standing, and several centuries before its close. What. ;hun, it will be asked, are these TWO PROMISES? We find them in their most simple form in the beginning of the twelfth chapter of Genesis. The first "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless Uiee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless tfiee, and curse l/tem that curse thee." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 135 The second "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." These promises, when fully developed, contained numerous blessings. They are, however, in all their details separate and distinct from each other. Abraham's family alone are personally concerned in the first all families of the earth in the second. Temporal and earthly are the blessings of the former spiritual and eternal are the blessings of the latter. Paul calls the second, "The gospel preached to Abraham," and "The covenant con- firmed by God in reference to the Messiah four hundred and thirty years before the giving of the law." The Jewish kingdom in all its glory was but the development of the first the Christian kingdom in its present and future blessings is the consummation of the second. COVENANT OP CIRCUMCISION. In pursuance of the first promise, and in order to its exact and literal accomplishment, about twenty-four years after its promul- gation the "Covenant of Circumcision" was established. This "covenant in the flesh" marked out and defined the natural de- scendants of Abraham, and gave to the world a full proof of the faithfulness of God, putting it in the power of every one to as- certain how God keeps his covenants of promise with all people. This gave to the descendants of Abraham the title. of "TVie Cir- cumcision," and beautifully represented the separation of God's people from the children of this world. The land of Canaan, as the inheritance of this nation, is re- peatedly promised to Abraham ; and as soon as Isaac, the child of promise, is born and circumcised, the promise of the "SEED" in which all nations were to be blessed is confined to him. Not in Ishmael, but " in Isaac, shall thy seed be called."* After the death of Abraham, and towards the close of the life of Isaac, his father's God gave him a second' edition of these two promises. The first is considerably amplified in its details, while the second is repeated almost in the same words. That which was first to be accomplished is first developed, and its provisions pointed out. " I will be with thee and will bless thee ; for unto thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform all the oath which I sware to Abraham thy father ; and * Genesis xxi. 12. 136 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give to thy seed all these countries ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed : because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."* The same two promises are repeated in almost the same words to Jacob the son of Isaac, at the time he had the vision of the ladd r reaching from earth to heaven, while, in obedience to a command given him by his parents, he was on his way to Padan- aram in quest of a wife. On these three great occasions to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob these two promises are solemnly pronounced ; always standing in the same order never con- founded ; but as distinct as earth and heaven as time and eternity. Four hundred and thirty years after the first solemn declaration of these promises, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in virtue of the promise, were redeemed out of bondage in Egypt, and saved from the tyranny and cruelty of Pharaoh. Then, in order to the full completion of its stipulations, God, by the hand of Moses, proposed a covenant with all Israel at Sinai ; in which he guarantees to do all for them contemplated in the promise, confirmed by an oath to Abraham, in being a God to his seed after him. This SINAITIC COVENANT constituted them a kingdom of God, a holy nation, a peculiar people. All the blessings comprehended in the first promise to Abraham, or that could grow out of the relation to God which it contemplated, were in full detail carried out into this transaction and secured to the whole nation. The relation was, however, temporal, and its blessings temporal and earthly. The second promise made no part of the Jewish institution or covenant at Sinai, more than it did of the patriarchal or antecedent institution. The typical or figurative part of the family worship, enlarged and improved, was translated into the national institution and made a part of it : and whatever spiritual privilege was enjoyed by the Jew was enjoyed upon the same principle with the patriarch by faith in the second promise, and by an intelligent and believing attendance upon all the appointed means which either prefigured the coming redemption, or realized the blessings which were tc be derived through the promised se0d. * Qenesi* xxiv. 3, 5. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 137 The SEED in which all the families of the earth were to be Messed was in the nation, but in no other sense than as it was in the people while in Egypt, or in the patriarchs before they went down into Egypt. It was in the nation, but no element of the national institution. They had the second promise made to their fathers, and all the faithful and approved among them believed that promise, and acted conformably to it. Thus amongst tho Jews, even before the coming of the Messiah, there were TWO SEEDS, the natural and the spiritual children of "Abraham. The whole nation were his literal and natural children ; and such of them as believed the second promise and understood it were not only his natural children, but his children in the same sense in which all believing Gentiles are by virtue of the second promise constituted the children of Abraham. The first, like Ishmael, were born according to the flesh the^cshly seed of Abraham ; the second, like Isaac, were the children of faith in the promise: and thus Abraham is the constituted father of all who believe in that pro- mise, whether of his flesh or not. But the second promise was not fulfilled for nearly one thousand five hundred years after the first, or after the national institution was confirmed at Sinai ; and therefore THE BLESSING OP ABRAHAM, which was to come on the nations through his seed, through faith in the accomplished promises, was to be the basis and the substance of a new institution. This " blessing of Abraham" in- cludes all the spiritual and eternal blessings which are laid up in his seed, who in the ark of this new constitution, in whom all the promises of God are verified, and in whom they are deported for the comfort and salvation of all the faithful children of God. Whatever concerned the fllmily of Abraham, coming through the first promise, descended upon the family principle, which is only flesh; but whatever concerns all saints of all nations descends t upon the ne\v principle of faith. " They who arc of faith," says Paul, "are blessed with believing Abraham." And " If you be Christ's, then" (and only then) "are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." 12* 138 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. The blessing of Abraham was then promised in the patriarchal age antecedent to the Jewish national institution, and indepen dent of it; therefore that institution cannot affect, much less dis annul, the blessings promised in the covenant, confirmed before by God, respecting the Messiah, in the time of family worship, and four hundred and thirty years before the Jewish institution began. In calling Abraham, and in making him the father of many nations, and the depositary of still more precious promises and revelations, God did not supersede the family worship. He only added to the stock of religious knowledge, strengthened the faith, and enlarged the hopes, of that single family. The family insti- tution continued without the slightest change, except in one par- ticular specified in the covenant of circumcision, as respected the single family of Abraham, for four hundred and thirty years after the charter concerning his seed and that concerning the Messiah were secured to this renowned patriarch. Thus we have traced the continuance of the family religion, or patriarchal economy, for two thousand five hundred years, and are now prepared to make a few remarks on the Jewish national institution, though we have already anticipated almost all that is necessary to our present object. Still, however, we shall make it the subject of a distinct notice. THE JEWISH INSTITUTION. In this age of improvement of divine institutions, we read and hear much of "two dispensations of the covenant of grace ;" thus making the Jewish and the Christian institutions dispensations of one " covenant of grace." Why not make the patriarchal (still more venerable for its antiquity, and which continued a thousand years longer than the Jewish) also a dispensation of the covenant of grace, and then we should have had three dispensa- tions of one covenant? This is but a "show of wisdom." The Holy Spirit calls them " two covenants," or " two institutions," and not two modifications of one covenant; and it speaks of each as established upon promises. The Jewish was established upon temporal and earthly promises, contained in the first promise made to Abraham ; but the new, says Paul, " is established upon lu'lli^r promises," growing out of that concerning the blessing oftJit nations in the promised seed.* * Jeremiah xxxi. 31. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 189 The Jewish institution commenced and continued about one thousand five hundred years before the Reign of Heaven began. It \vas not substituted for the family worship, but added to it; affecting, however, the patriarchal institution in some respects, as far as concerned the single family of Abraham. The individual families of the nation of the Jews, as such, had still their family worship still the worship of God was heard in the dwellings of the righteous; and, like Joshua, every good Israelite said, "Aa for me and my family, we will serve the Lord." In four hundred years the family of Abraham had, in the line of Isaac and Jacob, in fulfilment of the first promise, grown up into millions. Not less than two millions* came up out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses. The heavenly Father, in progres- sive development of his plan of blessing all nations, leaves all the world under the family-worship institution, and erects the whole progeny of Abraham that came up out of Egypt into one great national institution. He condescends to appear in the cha- racter of King of the Jews, and to make them a kingdom of God, as preparatory to the appearance of his Son, who is predestined to be the king of the whole earth, and to have a kingdom which shall ultimately embrace all the nations of the world. The twelve tribes were brought into the form of one great worshipping family, presenting through the common High-Priest their united worship to God. This gave rise to the erection of one public house consecrated to the Lord, as the place of meeting in their social and national character. A constitution, political, moral, and religious, was submitted to the people; and on their adoption of it they became the covenanted people of God. This constitutional kingdom was built upon precept and promises; and its worship, when fully developed, was little more than the extension of the family worship to one great national family. They had one king, one high-priest, one national altar, one na- tional house of God, one morning and evening service, one great national sacrifice, and one great annual atonement. The nation was a family of families, and whatever pertained to a single family in its family worship was extended and accommodated to this great confederate family. Various mystic and significant institutions distinguished this nation from all others; for it was one principal object of its insti- * Men fit for war are never more than the third or fourth of any populntion. There were six hundred thousand men of this class when they came to Muuut Sinai. 140 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. tution to keep its subjects s^pprate and distinct from nil othot people till Messiah (the promised seed) should rome. Another object was, to picture out in appropriate types the spiritual wor- ship of the kingdom of heaven, and to exhibit the great doctrines of faith, repentance, remission, adoption, and inheritance, by picturesque images, ingeniously devised to adumbrate the whol" doctrine of reconciliation and sanctification to God. The Jewish institution is not to be regarded only in its politic;! 1 , moral, and religious aspects, but especially in its figurative and prospective character. God so wisely and benevolently contrived it from its vrigin to its close, that its whole history the fates and fortunes of its subjects from their descent into Egypt, their tra- vels t'nence to Canaan and settlement in the land of promise their fortunes in that land to their final catastrophe should exactly and impressively shadow forth the new institution with the fates and fortunes of the subjects of this new and more glorious order of things. " All these things happened to them for it/pen," (examples,) says Paul, "and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come." The same great commentator on this institution not only presents the history of its subjects as instructive to the citizens of the new institution, but of the tabernacle he says, "It was a figurative representation for the time then present," and the furniture thereof "the patterns of things in the heavens." "The law," he adds, "contained only a shadow of the good things to come." A shadow, indeed, pro- ceeding from a man, a house, a tree, is not, and cannot be, an exact image or representation of them ; yet, when explained by a verbal description, it easily facilitates an easy and correct con- ception of them. So full of the doctrine of the new institution was the old, thp.t we find all the Apostles and Christian writers unceremoniously applying every thing they quote from the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, to the Messiah, his kingdom, and the fortunes _f his people; as if the Jewish writings had no other object than to un- fold the kingdom of heaven. Jesus begins with Abraham seeing his daj on Mount Moriah in the typical resurrection of Isaac. Paul regards Hagar, Ishmael, Sarah, Isaac, as the best illustra- tion of the two institutions; and John ends with the description of the descent of Jerusalem from heaven. Every one, then, who would accurately understand the Chris- tian institution must approach it through the Mosaic; aud he that THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 141 would l>e a proficient in the Jewish must make Paul his com- mentator. While the mere politician, moralist, or religionist con- templates the one without the other, though he may fiu- vi. _* ; ~T<> these three distinct oviiletuvs many more mi:lit lie added. M lit Matthew call* tr/'tho Kingdom of Ileavtri" Mark and Luke call tlif " Kingdom of God." 150 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. nistration of the kingdom, and the latter the state (Tver which this administration extends. Two good reasons may be offered why Matthew, the oldest Christian writer, generally prefers Kingdom or Reign of Ileaven, to the phrase Kingdom or Reign of God; I say generally, for he occasionally uses both designations.* lie wrote to Jews in Judea who expected a Messiah, a King, and a Kingdom of God on eaith, a mere improvement of the Jewish system ; and therefore to raise their conception he delights to call it the Reign or King- dom of Htaven, in contrast with that earthly Kingdom of God of which they were so long in possession. lie also found a good reason in the idiom of the Jewish pro- phets for using the word Heaven (both in the singular and plural form) for God. Daniel told the Assyrian monarch that his king- dom \\ould be sure to him wh^n he should have learned that "the Heavens do rule ;" yet in the preceding verse he says, " Till thou knowest that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men," thus using Heavens and the Most High as synonymous. The Psalmist says, "The wicked set their m.mths against the Heavens." The Pro i^al confesses that he had "sinned against Heaven," and Je^urf himself asked whelher the baptism of John was "from Heaven or from men." Thus he was authorized from the Jewish use of the wor 1 to regard it as equivalent to God. If, then, Mat- thew had me int no more by the phrase "Kingdom of Heaven" than the " Kingdom of God," he was justified, by the Jewish use of the word heaven, to apply it'in that sense. Some may object to all these remarks upon Matthew's manner, that it was Jesus Christ and the preachers he commissioned who called it the Kingdom of Heaven, and not Matthew Levi. To such we reply that the other sacred writers uniformly, in reciting all the same parable.'* and incidents, use the phrase " Kingdom of God," and nerer the phrase "the Kingdom of Ileaven." From the use of the phrase " Kingdom of God," we must, 1 think, regard him as having special reference to the reason first assigned. He does not say the Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from the Jews; but "The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it:" for alth >ugh it might with propriety, in his acceptation, be said that the Jews already had the kingdom of God, it could not be said that they had the kingdom of Heaven as proclaimed by Matthew.f &w chapters vL 33; lii. 28; xU. 24; xxi. 31, 43. f Matt. xxi. 43. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 151 When compared with the earthly Kingdom of God among the Jews, it is certainly the Kingdom of Heaven; for Jesus alleges that his kirtgdom is not of this world ; and .Daniel affirmed that in the days of the last worldly empire the God of heaven would set up a kingdom unlike all ethers then on earth; in which, as Paul teaches, men are "blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ:"* for he has raised us Jews and Gen- tiles, and " has set us down together in the heavenly places by Christ Jesus."f There is, in the superior and heavenly privileges and honors bestowed upon the citizens of this kingdom, the best reason why it should have first been presented to the world under this title, rather than any other ; and for the same reasons which influenced Matthew to usher it into notice in Judea, under this designation, we ought now to prefer it, because many of our contemporaries, like the ancient Jews, see as much of -heaven and glory in the veiled grace of the Mosaic institution as in the unveiled grace of the Christian kingdom. The pertinency of this title will appear still more evident as we develop the constitutional privi- leges of this kingdom. But most evidently the Kingdom of Heaven is " the Kingdom of Christ and of God."% It is the Kingdom of God, because he set it up,|| gave the constitution and King, and all the materials out of which it is erected.^ It is the kingdom of Christ, because God the Father gave it to him as his Son, and as the heir of all things; and, therefore, "all that is the Father's is mine," says Jesus, "and I am his. "If "God created all things BY Jesus Christ and FOR him." Having, then, noticed the reasons for the characteristic titles of this kingdom, and having already ascertained what are the ele- ments absolutely essential to a kingdom, distinguished from those meraly circumstantial or accidental, we shall now proceed to con- sider, in the order suggested, the Constitution, King, Subjects, Laws, and Territory of the Kingdom of Heaven. CONSTITUTION. God himself, after the gracious councils of his own will, pro posed and tendered the constitution of this kingdom to his own Son. This "glory he had with the Father before the world waa." * Eph. 1. 3. t E P h - f- 6 - t Epfc- 6. i Dauiel ii. 41. g Jer. xxxi. 31, 34. f John xvii. 18. 152 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. He that was " in the beginning with God" " the wisdom and power of God" was set up [constituted] from everlasting, or ever the earth was. " Then was I with God, as one brought up with him ; I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth ; and my delights were with the sons of men.''* Therefore, he who was to be "ruler in Israel" was with God in counsel " in the beginning of all his ways ;" for " his goings forth were from of old, even from the day of eternity."! . It was TO DO THE WILL, or fulfil the items in this constitution, that " the WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us." I came to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish " the work given me to do." " I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to resume it ; this commandment I received from my Father." The Father " commissioned and sent him forth into the world." Ho "came down from heaven." "Thou hast given me power over all flesh, that I might give eternal life to all that thou hast given me." These and many other passages, which the reader will easily remember, unequivocally evince that an understanding and agree- ment existed ere time began between God and the WORD of God ; or, as now revealed, between the Father and the Son, respecting the kingdom. In consequence of which " he divested himself" of his antecedent glory " took upon him the form of a bond- servant" "was made in the likeness of sinful flesh" " took part with us in flesh and blood." In consequence of which agreement, and the promised glory, for " the joy set before him in the pro- mise," of " seeing his seed, the travail of his soul, and being satisfied, " he " endured the cross, despising the shame," and was " made perfect through sufferings to lead many sons to glory." To the stipulations concerning eternal life, propounded in the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, frequent allusions are made in the Apostle's writings. Thus the believers were "elected in him before the foundation of the world," and " eternal life waa promised before the times of the ages," according to the benevo- lent purposes which he purposed in himself for the administration of the fulness of the appointed times, to gather together all under Christ all in the heavens and all on the earth, under him." He formerly marked us out for an adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to his purpose who effectually works all things according to the counsel of his will.J PTOT. Till 23-31. f Micah v. 31. J Eph. i. 3-12. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 153 From all these sayings and allusions, we must^trace the con- stitution of this kingdom into eternity before time began. We must date it from everlasting, and resolve it into the absolute gra- cious will of the eternal God. In reference to all the prospective developments of time, "known to God from the beginning," it proposed to make the WORD flesh, and then to make the Incarnate Word, called Emanuel, or Jesus Christ, the King; to give him all who should be reconciled to God by him for subjects, to put- under him all the angelic hosts, and constitute him monarch of earth, lawgiver to the universe; and thus make him heir and Lord of all things. As a constitution brings all the elements of a kingdom into a new relation to one another, so it is the measure and guarantee of all the privileges, immunities, and obligations accruing to all the parties in that relation. It prescribes, arranges, and secures all the privileges, duties, obligations, honors, and emoluments of the King and the subjects. Neither of them can claim more than it stipulates and guarantees, and neither of them can right- fully be deprived of any of them. From the premises now before us, and the light given to us in these scriptures and those in the margin, we learn First. That God is the author of the constitution of the King- dom of Heaven; that he propounded it to the WORD that was made flesh, before the world was, in prospect of all the developments of creation. Second. That the WORD accepted it, because the will of God was always his delight; therefore he said, "I come to do thy will, God !" Hence "God has so loveu the world as to give Ins only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but obtain eternal life." 2^/tird. That in consequence " all authority in heaven and earth" was given to Jesus Christ, and all orders of intelligence subjected to him, that he might be King over all, and have the power of giving eternal life to his people."* Fourth. That the earth is now the Lord's, the present tem- poral territory of his kingdom ; that the heathen people are given to him for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession ; that all ends of the earth are his, and all do- minions, kindreds, tribes, tongues, and people shall yet serve him on earth and glorify him in heaven.f Matt, xxvii.; ib. ii. 44, vii. 27. f Psalms ii. 6-S; Ixxii. 2-18. 154 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Fifth. That all that he redeems are his seed his subjects ; that he will have their faith, confidence, esteem, admiration, and gratitude forever; that he will be worshipped, honored, and re- vered by them in a world without end ; that God, angels, and saints will delight in him forever and ever."* He has, therefore, to raise the dead, judge the world, and to present the redeemed pure, holy, happy, and triumphant before his Father, and then to give up his kingdom to God. To comprehend in any adequate idea the constitution of this kingdom, we must learn more than its history, or the way in which it was introduced and propounded. We must regard all the elements of the kingdom as constitutional elements; the King as a constitutional King; the subjects, laws, and territory, in- cluding the ultimate inheritance, as constitutional subjects, laws, territory, inheritance ; and, therefore, we shall speak of them in detail. THE KING The Lord Jesus Christ is the constitutional monarch of the Kingdom of Heaven. The privileges guaranteed to him in re- ference to the kingdom are as follows : As King, he is to be the oracle of God to have the disposal of the Holy Spirit to be Prophet and High-Priest of the Temple of God to have the throne of his Father to be Governor of all nations on earth, and head of all hierarchs and powers in heaven the supreme Lawgiver, the only Saviour the resurrection and the life, the ultimate and final Judge of all, and the Heir of all things. These honors, privileges, and powers are secured to him by the irrevocable grant of the God and Father of all ; therefore, as said Isaiah, "The Lord comcth with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." "I have made him a leader and commander of the people" "a light to the Gentiles" "salvation to the ends of the earth," "a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." " Sit thou at my right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool." "The government shall be upon his shoulders." "All things are delivered to me of my * Rev. v. 9-14; xlv. 1-5; xvi. 3-4; xxi. 8-27. Eph. i. 20, 21. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 155 Father." " He is Lord of the dead and living." "Angels, au- thorities, and powers are subjected to him." " The Father gave '.he Spirit without measure to him." "He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit." " The Kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations." " He shall have do- minion from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth." " They shall fear thee as long as sun and moon endure to all generations." " The Father has committed all judgment to the Son." But, not to weary the reader with quotations and proofs, we shall give but another: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth ; and the isles shall wait for his law." " I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand and keep thee, and give thee for a covenant [a CONSTITUTION] of the people, for a light to the Gentiles to open the blind eyes, and bring out the prison- ers from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." THE SUBJECTS OP THE KINGDOM. They are all born again. Their privileges and honors are the following: First. Their constitutional King is the only-begotten- Son of God ; whose titles and honors are Image of the invisible God Effulgence of the Father's glory Emanuel Upholder of the universe Prophet of the Prophets High-Priest of the Temple of God King of kings Lord of lords the only Potentate Commander and covenant of the people Captain of Salvation Counsellor, Lawgiver, Redeemer, Deliverer, Mediator, Saviour, Advocate, Judge. He is the Sun of Righteousness, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star, Light of the World, the Faithful and True Witness, Bishop of Souls, Great Shepherd of the Sheep, Head of the Church, Lord of all, Heir of the Universe, the Resurrection and the Life, the Son of Man, the Alpha and 'he Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Amen, &c. &c. Such is the Christian's King, whose assistance in all these characters, offices, and relations, as exhibited under all these figures, is guaranteed to him in the Constitution. Indeed, it is all 156 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. expressed in one promise : "/ will be your God, and you shall be my people." Second. It is guaranteed that "their sins and iniquities are to be remembered no more." " There is no condemnation to them who are under Christ." " Sin shall not have dominion nor lord it over them." " The Lord imputeth to them no sin." " They are all pardoned, justified, and saved from sin." Third. They are adopted into the family of God ; made sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, children of God, and heira joint heirs with Christ. They have an Advocate in the hea- vens, through whom their persons and prayers are accepted. Fourth. They all know the Lor I. "All thy children shall be taught of God." The Holy Spirit of God writes the law of God upon their . earts, and inscribe it ii| on their understanding; so that they need not teach every one his fellow-citizen to know the Lord, " for they all know him, from the least to the greatest." They are sanctified through the truth separated and consecrated to God. Fifth. They have the promise of a resurrection from the dead, and eternal life ; an inheritance incorruptible, undetiled, and un- fading new Leavens and a new earth, in which righteousness alone shall dwell forever. Such are the constitutional rights and privileges of the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. And these have obtained for them the following titles and honors: Kingdom of Heaven; Israel cf Gud; chosen generation; body of Christ; children of God; habi- tation of God; family of God; Jerusalem from above; Mount Zion ; peculiar people ; the elect of God ; holy nation ; temple of the Holy Spirit ; house of God ; city of the living God ; pillar and ground of the truth ; living stones ; seed of Abraham ; citizens of heaven; lights of the world; salt of the earth; heirs of God; joint heirs with Christ, &c. The privileges, honors, and emoluments belong to every citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, they are all comprehended in the summary which Paul (from Jeremiah) lays before the be- lieving Hebrews: "This is the constitution which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put, my laws into their mind, and inscribe them upon their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them ; because I will be merciful to their THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 157 unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more."* To this summary the reader may add those scrip- tures in the margin, as confirmatory of the above. f THE LAWS OP THE KINGDOM. The supreme law of this kingdom is love love to the King and love of each other. From this law all its religious homage and morality flow. Precepts and examples innumerable present this to the mind of all the citizens. The Kingdom of Heaven is di- vided into small societies, called churches, or congregations of the Lord. Each of these communities, in the reception of members, in the education and discipline of them, or in excluding them when necessary, is to be governed by the apostolic instructions; for to the Apostles the Saviour committed the management of his kingdom. After they had made citizens by preaching the gospel and baptizing, they were commanded to teach them to observe whatsoever the Saviour had commanded them. These laws and usages of the Apostles must be learned from what the Apostles published to the world, after the ascension and coronation of the King, as they are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles ; for we shall see in the sequel that the gospel was fully developed, and the whole doctrine of the Reign of Christ began to be proclaimed in Jerusalem, on the first Pente- cost after the ascension. The old Jewish constitution was promulgated first on Sinai on the first Pentecost after the redemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage ; and from that day, and what is written after it in Exo- dus and Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, all the laws, man- ners, and customs authorized by the national constitution are to be found. They are not to be sought after in Genesis, nor in the antecedent economy, Neither are the statutes and laws of the Christian kingdom to be sought for in the Jewish scriptures, nor antecedent to the day of Pentecost ; except so far as our Lord himself, during his lifetime, propounded the doctrine of his reign. But of this when we ascertain th commencement of this kingdom. There is one universal law of naturalization, or for making citizens out of all nations, enjoined upon those citizens of the kingdom who are engaged in the work of proselytism ; but the * Hebrews viii. 10-13. f Rom - vS - 5 - 6 > u : Tiii - J > SS-S9. 1 Cor. vi 11. Eph. i. 7; 11. 6, 19, 21, i. Col. i. 13, 14. 1 1'ut. ti. 6, 7. '2 Pet. i. 10, 11. 1 Julia ii. 2. 158 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. laws of this kingdom, like the laws of every other kingdom, are obligatory only on the citizens. The weekly celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the weekly meeting of the disciples of Christ for this purpose, and for the edification of one another in their most holy faith, are the only positive statutes of the kingdom ; and, therefore, there is no law, statute, or observance in this kingdom, that in the least retards its extension from east to west, from north to South, cr that can prevent its progress in all nations of the world. It is, however, worthy of observation, that every part of the Christian worship in the small communities spread over the ter- ritory of the Kingdom of Heaven, like so many candlesticks in a large edifice, are designed to enlighten and convert the world ; and, therefore, in all the meetings of the family of God, they are to keep this supremely in view ; and to regard themselves as the " pillar and ground of the truth." Concerning the details of the laws of the kingdom we cannot now speak particularly. " The favor of God which brings salva- tion teaches all the citizens of heaven, that, denying all ungod- liness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this- present world, expecting the blessed hope namely, the appearing of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." These things the Bishops of every community should teach and enforce ; for such is the spirit and such is the object of all the laws and statutes of the Kingdom of Heaven. THE TERRITORY. In all other kingdoms, except the Kingdom of Heaven, the territory is the national domain and inheritance. It was so in the first Kingdom of God under the constitution from Sinai. But in the typical kingdom they lived at a distance from their inheritance for one generation. During these forty years, in which they pitched their tents in the wilderness, God ican their inheritance. He rained bread from heaven upon them, and sent thorn flesh upon the east wind. He made the flinTy rock Iloreb a living spring, whose stream followed them all the way to Jordan. lie renewed their garments every day, so that for forty yp'irs they grew not old, nor needed a single patch. A pillar of fire by night and a THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 159 cloud by day guided them towards Canaan, the land of their in- heritance. The whoie rarth is the present territory of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the new heavens and earth are to be its inheritance. The earth, indeed, is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; but the children of God and the children of the wicked one the icheat and the darnel are both planted in it, and must grow together till the harvest. The righteous have their brea 1 and water guaranteed to them while they live; for "godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." But the joint heirs of Christ are never taught to regard the earth as their inheritance. They may in- deed, say, though poor and penniless, "All things are ours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come all are ours; and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's." But, like the Jews on their journey to Canaan, " they seek a better country" " they seek a city yet to come." "My kingdom," says Jesus, "is not of this world." And, therefore, in the world, Christians are strangers and pilgrims, and may expect tribulation. The earth is the present theatre of war; therefore, all Christians in the territory are soldiers. Their expenses, their rations, are allowed, the arms and munitions of war are supplied them from the magazines in Mount Zion, the stronghold and fortress of the kingdom ; where the King, the heads of departments, and all the legions of angels, are resident. So that on entering the army of the faith every soldier is panoplied with the armor of God ; and when inducted into the heavenly tactics under the Captain of Sal- vation, he is expected to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and to fight the good fight of faith courageously and victoriously, The Kingdom of Heaven on this territory is greatly .opposed by the kingdom of Satan, which ever seeks to make an inheritance out of the territory of the militant kingdom of righteousness ; and therefore the citizens have not to wrestle with flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the darkness of this world with spiritual wickedness in high places. Ever since the commencement of this kingdom, the govern- ments of this world have Mther been directly opposed to it, or, at best, pretended friends ; and therefore their influence has always been opposed to the true spirit and genius of the Christian in- stitution. Christians have nothing to expect from them except liberty of conscience and protection from violence, while leading 160 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. peaceable and quiet lives, in all godliness and honesty, till Jcsua take to himself his great power, and hurl all these potentates from their thrones and make his cause triumphant, a consumma- tion devoutly to be wished, and which cannot now be regarded as far distant. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. \ Touching the manners and customs of the Kingdom of Heaven, they are such as generally obtained in the land of Judea and in the East at the time of its erection: or, rather, they are the simple manners and customs of the family-worship age of the world. These are consecrated by simply performing them with a regard to Jesus Christ, or from the motives prompted by the doctrine of the Reign of Heaven. As we treat our natural brothers and sis- ters in public and in private as we address, salute, and converse with them as we transact all family business, and conduct the affairs of the household so are Christians to treat one another. There is no other virtue or utility in these than as they cherish brotherly kindness and love and are regarded to the Lord. INDUCTION INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Into every kingdom, human or divine, there is a legal door of admission. This is, in the statute-book of Heaven, called a birth. Into the kingdom of nature we are born. Into the future and ultimate kingdom of glory we enter, soul and body, by being born from the grave. As Christ, the first-born from the dead, entered the heavenly kingdom, so must all his brethren. And as to this kingdom of which we speak, as now existing in this world, Jesus himself taught that into it no person can legally enter who is not born again, or "born of -water and the Spirit."* The analogy it- complete between the kingdoms of nature, of grace, and of glory. Hence we have natural birth, metaphorical or spiritual birth, and supernatural birth. There is a being born of the flesh born of the Spirit born of the grave;, and there is a kingdom for the flesh a kingdom for the Spirit and a kingdom for the glorified man. This second or new birth, which inducts into the Kingdom of God, is always subsequent to a death and burial, as it will be into John iii. 5. Titus iii. 5. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 161 the everlasting k.ngdom of glory. It is indeed a literal death and burial before a literal resurrection into the heavenly and eternal kingdom. It is also a metaphorical or figurative death and burial, before the figurative resurrection or new birth into the Kingdom of Heaven. Water is the element in which this burial and resur- rection is performed, according to the constitutional laws of the Kingdom of Heaven. Hence Jesus connects the water and the Sfirit when speaking of entering this Kingdom of God. In naturalizing aliens, the commandment of the King is first submit to them the Constitution, or preach to them the doctrine of the kingdom. Soon as they understand and believe this, and are desirous of being translated into the Kingdom of Christ and of God, that "they may receive the remission of sins and inheritance among all that are sanctified," they are to be buried in water into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and raised out of it confessing their death to sin, their faith in Christ's sacrifice and resurrection: and thus they are born of water and the Spirit, and constituted citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. To as many as thus receive him, he gives privilege to become the children of God ; for they are "born of God" born of God, when born of water and the Spirit, because this is the institution of God. In these days of apostasy men have sought out many inven- tions. Some have attempted to get into the Kingdom of Heaven without being born at all. Others imagine that they can be born of the Spirit, without water, and that the King is as well pleased with them who have been born without a mother, as those who are lawfully born of father and mother. Others think that neither Spirit nor water is necessary ; but if they are politically born of the flesh, they can enter the kingdom as rightfully as the Jewish circumcised infants enter the earthly kingdom of Israel. But as we have no faith in any modern improvements of the gospel, change or amendment of the constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must leave them to account to the King himself, who "have transgressed the law, changed the ordinance, and broken tlic everlasting covenant ;"* and proceed to the question, THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. When did the Kingdom of Heaven commence? "With the ministry of John," says one: "With the ministry of Jesus," says * Isaiah xxiv. 6. 14* 162 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. another: "With the first sending out of the twelve Apostles/' says a third: "At the resurrection of Jesus," says a fourth : "At none of them ; but by degrees from the baptism of John till the fall of Jerusalem," says a fifth. The reader will please remember that there are at least jive elements essential to a perfectly-organizod kingdom, and that it may be contemplated in reference to one or more of these com- ponent parts. Henci thj numi'rous and various parablns of the Saviour. Sometimes he speaks of the administration of its affairs of its principles in the heart of its subjects of its King of its territory of its progress of various incidents in its history. Hence the parable of the so\ver of the wheat and darnel of the leaven of the merchant seeking goodly pearls of the grain of mustard-seed of the sweep-net of the marriagj of a king's son of a nobleman going into a far country of the ten virgins of the talents of the sheep and goats present to our v e\v the Kingdom of Heaven in different attitudes, either in its elements or in its history its commencement or its close. The approaching or the coming of the R -ign of Heaven can properly hive respect only to one or two of the eleme. ts of a kingdom ; or to the formal exhibition of that wh .! organization of society which we ca 1 a kingdom. It ea;i have no p.oper allu- sion to its territory ; for that was created and loc .ted before man was created. It cannot allude either to the persons w o were constituted subjects, for they too were in existence before tha kingdom commenced. It cannot allude to the birth or baptism {' the King, fur it was not till afier tlie.se that Je-us begun io pro- claim its coming or approach. It cannot have reference to the ministry of John or of Jesus, any more than to t!ie patriarchal or Jewish dispensations ; because Jesus did not begin to proclaim the com ng of this reign till after Jo 'in was cd. Fifth. It was not until his death that the veil of the Temple was rent; that the things "which could be shaken were shaken." It was then, and not till then, that he nailed the legal institution to the cross. Then, and not till then, was the middle wall of partition broken down. The last Sabbath he slept in the grave. From the moment of his death there was no life in the old Kingdom of God. The temple was deserted, its veil rent, its foundations shaken, the city devoted, the ritual abolished, and as after death the judgment the temple, city, and nation waited for the day of his vengeance. The Kingdom of God was evidently in the Jewish institution till Jesus died. Hence the Kingdom of Heaven came not while Jesus lived. In anticipation, they who believed the gospel of the kingdom received the Kingdom of God, just as in anticipation lie said, " I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do," before he began to suffer; and as he said, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, shed for the remission of the sins of many," before it was shed. So while the doctrines of this reign faith, repentance, baptism, and a new principle of sonship to Abraham were promulging by John, the Twelve, the Seventy, and by Himself, the Kingdom of Heaven was approaching; and those who received these principles by anticipation were said to enter into the kingdom, or to have the kingdom within them. The principles of any reign or revolution are always prumulged, THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 1G7 Jehated, and canvassed before a new order of things is set up. A party is formed upon these principles before strength is acquired, or a leader obtained competent to the commencement of a new order of things. In society, as in nature, we have first the blade, then the stem, and then the ripe corn in the ear. We call it wheat, or we cull it corn, when we have only the promise in the blade. By such a figure of speech the Kingdom of God was spoken of, while as yet only its principles were promulging. When these American States were colonial subjects of the King of England, and long before the setting up of a republic, repul>- lican doctrines were promulged and debated. The believers and advocates of these doctrines were called republicans, while as yet there was not a republic on this continent. He who dates the commencement of the Kingdom of Heaven from the ministry of John the Baptist sympathizes with him who dates the American republics from the first promulgation of the republican principles, or from the formation of a republican party in the British colonies. But, as a faithful and intelligent historian, in writing the history of the American republics, commences with the history of the first promulgation of these principles, and records the sayings and deeds of the first promulgers of the new doctrines; so the sacred historians began their history of the Kingdom of Heaven with the appearance of John in the wilderness of Judea, preaching the Messiah, faith, repentance, a holy life, and raising vp a new race of Israelites on the principle of faith rather than of Jlesh ; for this, in truth, was the "blade" of the Kingdom of Heaven. Having from all thesse considerations seen that until the death of the Messiah his kingdom could not commence; and having seen from the record itself that it did not commence before his resurrect!" n, we proceed to the development of things after his resurrection, to ascertain the day on which this kingdom was set up, or the Reign of Heaven began. The writer to whom we are most indebted for an orderly and continued narrative of the affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven is the Evangelist Luke. His history begins with the angelic an- nunciations of the nativity of John and Jesns, and ends with the appearance of the, great standard-bearer of the Cross in Imperial Rome, A.D. G4. That part of his history to which we now look as a guide to the nffairs of the commencement of the Reitjn is the notices which he mnkes of the forty days which tin- Lurd spent in his crucified body, previous to his ascension. The reader ought 108 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. not to-be told (for he ought to know) that Jesus rose in the same body in which he was crucified, and in the reanimated fleshly body did eat, drink, an 1 converse with his Apostles and friends for forty days. That body was not changed till, like the living saints who shall be on the earth at his second personal coming, it was made spiritual, incorruptible, and glorious at the instant oi his siscension. So that the man Christ Jesus was made like to all his brethren in his death, burial, resurrection, transfiguration, ascension, and glorification ; or, rather, they shall be made to re- semble him in all these respects. The Apostles testify that they saw him ascend that a cloud received him out of their sight that angels descended to inform them that he was taken up into heaven, not to return for a long time that he ascended far^above all the visible heavens, and now fills all things. Stephen, when dying, saw him standing on the right hand of God. Much attention is due to all the incidents of these forty days, as much, at least, as to the^foiiy days spent by Moses in the mount with God in the affairs of the preceding Kingdom of God. For the risen Messiah makes the affairs of his approaching king- dom the principal topic of these forty days.* Towards the close of these days, and immediately before his ascension, he gave the commission to his Apostles concerning the setting up of this kingdom. "All authority in heaven and in earth is given to me: go, therefore," said he, "convert the nations," [announce the gos^ pel to every creature,] "immersing them into the name of the- Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all Hie things which I have commanded you; and, behold I 1 am with you always, even to the conclusion of this state."f "But continue in the city of Jerusalem until you be invested with power from on high." Thus, according to his promise and the ancient prophecy, it was to "begin at Jentsalem."^. The risen Saviour thus directs our attention to Jerusalem as tho place, and to a period distant "not many days" as the time, of the beginning of his reign. The great facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, not being yet fully developed to his Apostles, they were not qualified to take any steps to the setting up of a kingdom which was to be founded upon Christ crucified. They needed an interpreter of these facts, and a supernatural ad- * Acts i. 3. t Matf, xxviii. 17, 20. Mark xv. 16. Luke xii. 47, 43, J Jsamh ii. Z. Micah Iv. 2. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 169 vnoato of the pretensions of the King, before they could lay the foundation of his kingdom. Again, the King himself must be glorified before his authority could be established on earth ; for till he received the premise of the Spirit from his Father, and was placed on his throne, the Apostles could not receive it: so that Christ's ascension to hea- ven, and coronation, were indispensable to the commencement of this Reign of Heaven. Here let us pause for a moment, leave the earth, and on the wings of faith in the testimony of Prophets and Apostles, the two witnesses for Jesus, let us follow him to heaven and ascer- tain his reception into the heaven of heavens, and exaltation to the right hand of God. THE ASCENSION OF THE MESSIAH. Prophets and Apostles must now be heard. David, by the Hpirit, says, " The chariots^^jtod are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels ; the LoroiK^hiong them as in Sinai in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts forjpen; yea, for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them."* The same Prophet, in speaking of the solemn and joyful procession at the carrying up of the ark of the ancient constitution to Mount Ziori, turns his eyes from the type to the antitype, and thus describes the entrance of the Messiah into Heaven: "Who shall ascend into the hill of God ?" The attendant angels in the train of the Messiah, ap- proaching the heaven of heavens, shout, "Lift up your heads, you gates! be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in." Those within, filled with astonishment that any one should so confidently demand admission into those gates so long barred against the sons of men, responsive shout, " Who is the King of glory?" The angels in attendance upon the Messiah reply, in strains as triumphant, "The Lord, strong and mighty! the Lord, mighty in battle 1" and, still more exultingly triumphant, shout, " Lift up your heads, you gates ! even lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? He is the Lord of hosts I he is the King of glory l"f * Psalm Ixviii. 8. f Psalm MV. 15 170 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. CORONATION OF THE MESSIAH. Every thing in its proper order. He that ascended first de ecended. Jesus died, was buried, raised from the dead, ascended, and was crowned Lord of all. In the presence of all/he heavenly Lierarchs, the four living creatures, the twenty-four seniors, and ton thousand times ten thousand angels, he presents himself be- fore the throne. So soon as the First-Born from the dead appears in the palace-royal of the universe, his Father and his God, in his inaugural address, when anointing him Lord of all, says, " Let all the angels of God worship him." " Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool." "Jehovah shall send out of Zion [Jerusalem] the rod of thy strength : rule thou in the midst of thine enemies, [the city of thy strongest foes."] "Thy people, willing in the day of thy power, shall come to thee. In the beauty of holiness, more than the womb of the morning, shall thou have the dew of thy progeny. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent. Thou art aajMI^K>rever t after the order t>f Mel- chizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings [that oppose thee] in the day of his wrath." "Thy throne, O God, endures forever: the nBtre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of rectitude. Thou hast lovwPrighteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of joy above thy fellows. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hand: they shall perish, but thou remainest; and they shall all grow old as does a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."* Thus God highly exalted him, and did set him over all th? works of his hands, and gave him a name and an honor above every name in heaven and on earth, that at the name of Jesus glorified every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God. "Now we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the an- gels, that he might taste death for all, on account of the sufferings of death, crowned with glory and honor." Now "angels, author- ities, principalities, and powers are subjected to him." " Ilia enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall hia crown flourish." * Psalm ze. and Hebrew* i. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 171 The Holy Spirit sent down by Jesus from heaven, on the Pen- tecost after his resurrection, to the disciples in attendance in Je- rusalem, informs the Apostles of all that had been transacted in heaven during the week after his ascension, and till that day. Peter now, filled with that promised Spirit, informs the immense concourse assembled on the great day of Pentecost, that God had made that Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ exalted him a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance to Israel and remission of sins. The first act of his reign was the beatowment of the Holy Spirit, according to the prophecy of Joel and his own promise. So soon as he received the kingdom from God his Father, he poured out the blessings of his favor upon his friends; he fulfilled all his promises to the Apostles, and forgave three thousand of his fiercest enemies. He received pardons and gifts for them that did rebel, and shed forth abundantly all spiritual gifts on the little flock to whom it pleased the Father to give the kingdom. Thus com- menced the Reign of Heaven, on the day of Pentecost, in the person of the Messiah, the Son of God, and the anointed Monarch of the universe. Under him his people, saved from their sins, have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken nor removed. But, as the erection of the Jewish tabernacle, after the com- mencement of the first Kingdom of God, was the work of some time, and of united and combined effort on the part of those raised up and qualified for the work ; so was the complete erec- tion of the new temple of God. The Apostles, as wise master- builders, laid the foundation promulged the constitution, laws, and institutions of the King, and raised the standard of the king- dom in many towns, cities, and countries, for the space of forty years. Some of them not only saw "the Son of Man enter upon his reign," and the Kingdom of God commence on Pentecost, and carry his conquests over Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth ; but they saw the Lord " come with power and awlul glory," and accomplish all his predictions on the deserted and devoted temple. Thus they saw a bright display of the gulden sceptre of his grace in forgiving those who bowed to his authority, and an appalling exhibition of the iron rod of his wrath in taking vengeance on his enemies who would not have him to reign over them. 172 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. During the personal absence of the King, he has committed the management of this kingdom to stewards. These were, first, Apostles ; next to them, Prophets ; next, teachers ; then, assist- ants or helpers ; then, directors or presidents, all furnished with gifts, knowledge, and character, suited to their respective func- tions. Besides these, many persons possessed of miraculous powers gifts of healing and speaking foreign languages were employed in setting up and putting in order the communities com posing the Kingdom of Heaven. Angels also were employed, and are still employed, under the great King in administering to them who are heirs of salvation. For Jesus now, as Lord of all, has the Holy Spirit at his disposal, and all the angels of God ; and these are employed by him in the affairs of his kingdom.* The Apostles were plenipotentiaries and ambassadors for Jesus, and had all authority delegated to them from the King. Hence every thing was first taught and enjoined by them. They were the first preachers, teachers, pastors, overseers, and ministers in the kingdom, and had the direction and management of all its affairs. f The communities collected and set in order by the Apostles were called the congregation of Christ, and all these taken together are sometimes called the Kingdom of God. But the phrases "church of God," or "congregation of Christ," and the phrases "Kingdom of Heaven," or "Kingdom of God," do not always nor exactly represent the same thing. The elements of the King- dom of Heaven, it will be remembered, are not simply its sub- jects, and therefore not simply the congregation of disciples of Christ. But as these communities possess the oracles of God, are under the laws and institutions of the King, and therefore enjoy the blessings of the present salvation, they are in the records of (he Kingdom regarded as the only constitutional citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and to them exclusively belongs all the pre- sent salvation. Their King is now in heaven, but present with thorn by his Spirit in their hearts and in all the institutions of his kingdom. Every immersed believer, of good behavior, is by the con- stitution a free and full citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and Cor. xli. 28. Eph. ir. 11. Heb. 1. 14. f 2 Cor. Ill 6 ; T. 18-20. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 173 entitled to all the social priviloges and honors of that kingdom. Such of these as meet together statedly in one place in obedience to the King, or his ambassadors the Apostles, for the observance of all the institutions of the King, compose a family, or house, or congregation of Christ ; and all these families or congregations, thus organized, constitute the present Kingdom of God in this world. So far the phrases Kingdom of Heaven and the congrega- tion or body of Christ are equivalent in signification.* Now, in gathering these communities, and in setting them in order, the Apostles had when alive, and, when dead, by their writings still have, the sole right of legislating, ordering, and dis- posing of all things. But it is not the will of Je.us Christ, be- cause it is not adapted to human nature, nor to the present state of his kingdom as administered in his absence, that the church should be governed by ^.written document alone. Hence, in every city, town, and country where the Apostles gathered a community by their own personal labors, or hy their assistants, in setting thorn in ordor, for their edification, and for their usefulness and influence in this world, thoy uniformly appointed elders, or over- seers, to labor in the word and teaching, and to preside over the whole affairs of the community. To these, also, were added dea- cons, or public ministers of the congregation, who, under the di- rection of the overseers, were to manage all the nffiiirs of these in- dividual families of God. This the very names Bishop and Deacon, and all the qualifications enjoined, fairly and fully import. But, as all the citizens of th f all the citizens of the kingdom of J-.-sus. The perfection of the conscience of the worshippers of God under Christ is the grand distinguishing peculiarity in them compared with those under Moses. They have not only clearer views of God, of his love, of his character, and of immortality; but they have consciences which the Jewish and patriarchal ages could not pro luce. If ftith only were he means of this superior perfection and enjoyment, and if striking symbol or types were all that were necessary to aff.trd this assurance and experience of pardon, the Jewish people mi^,ht have been as happy as the Christian people. Thi-y had as true estimoiiy, ;'S strong taith, and as str king em- l)l-[n- as we have. Muny of them through faith obtained a high reputation, were approved by God, and admired by men for their wonderful achievements. The diff. rjnce is in the constitution. They lived undor a con- stitution of law we und ;r a constitution uf floor. Before the law their privileges were still nr>re circuinsoilied. Under the government of the Lord Jesus there is an institution for the for- giveness of sins, like which there was no institution since tho world bi-gan. It was owing to this institution that Christians were so much distinguished at first from the subjects of every former institution. Our political happiness in these United States is^iot owing to any other cause than to our political institutions. If we are po- litically the happiest people in the world, it is because we havo the happiest political institutions in the world. So it is in the Christian institution. If Christians were and may be the hap- pie>t people that ever lived, it is because they live under the most gracious institution ever bestowed on men. The meaning of this iu.-titution has been buried uuder the rubbish of human traditions for hundreds of years. It was lost in the dark ages, and has never been, till recently, disinterred. Various efforts have been made, and considerable progress attended them; but since the Grand Apostasy was completed, till the present generation, the gospel of Jesus Christ has not been laid open to mankind in its uri.^ nal plainness, simplicity, and majesty. A veil in reading the New Institution has been on the hearts of Christians, as Paul declares it was upon the hearts (.f the Jews in reading the Old Institution towards the close of that economy. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 181 The object of this essay is to open to the consideration tl the reader the Christian institution for the remission of sins ; to show by what means a person may enjoy the assurance of a persons* and plenary remission of all his sins. This we shall attempt to do by stating, illustrating, and proving the following twelve pre- positions : PROP. I. The Apostles taught their disciples, or converts, that their sins were forg iven, and uniformly addressed them as pardoned or justified persons. John testifies that the youngest disciples were pardoned. " I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you on account of his name."* The young men strong in the Lord, and the old men steadfast in the Lord, he commends for their at- tainments: but the little children he addressed as possessing this blessing as one common to all disciples : " Your sins are forgiven you, on account of his name." Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, asserts, that one of the pro- visions of the New Institution is the remission of the sins of all under it. "Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more."f From this he argues, as a first principle, in the Christian economy, " Now where remission of these is, no more offering for sin is needed. "J The reason assigned by the Apostles why Christians have no sin-offering is, because they have obtained remission of sins as a standing provision in the New Institution. The same Apostle testifies that the Ephesian disciples had obtained remission. " Be to one another kind, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. "|| Here, also, in the enumeration of Christian privileges and immunities under Christ, he asserts forgiveness of sins as the common lot of all disciples. " In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his favor."| In his letter to the Colossians, he uses tho same words : " By whom we have the forgiveness of sins."^ Figurative expressions are used by the same Apostle, expres- sive of the same forgiveness common to all Christians. " And such (guilty characters) were some of you ; but you are washed but you are sanctified; but you are justified by the name of tha * John it. 13. t Hebrews viii. x. 17. t Hebrews x. 18. | Epb IT. 32. \ Kph. i. 17. f Colossiana i 14 182 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."* Peter, also, is a witness here. " Seeing you have purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit."f But there is no need of foreign, or remote, or figurative expres- sions, when so literally and repeatedly the Apostles asserted it as one of the adjuncts of being a disciple of Jesus. Had we no other testimony than that found in a single letter to the Colos- sians, it would be sufficient to sustain this position. The command given in chapter iii. 13 assumes it as a principle, "As Christ forgave you, so also do you." But in the second chapter he makes this an inseparable adjunct of being in Christ. "You are complete in him circumcised buried with him raised with him made alive with him HAVING FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES." These explicit testimonies from the most illustrious witnesses sustain my first proposition. On these evidences I rely, and I shall henceforth speak of it as a truth not to be questioned, viz.: that all the disciples of Christ converted in the apostolic age were taught by the Apostles to consider themselves as pardoned persons. PROP. II. The apostolic converts were addressed by their teachers as justified persons. We know that none but innocent persons can be legally justi- fied : but it is not in the forensic sense this term is used by th Apostles. Amongst the Jews it imported no more than pardoned and when applied to Christians it denoted that they were ac- quitted from guilt, discharged from condemnation, and accounted as righteous persons in the sight of God. Paul, in AntSoch in Pisidia, assured the Jews, that in or by Jesus all that believed were justified from all things (certainly here it is equivalent to pardoned from all sins) from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. The disciples are said to be justified by faith. J By favor or grace. || In or by the blood of Christ. | By the name of the Lord Jesus.fl By works.** It is God who justifies.tf Christians are said to be justified by God, by Christ, by favor by faith, by the blood of Jesus, by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God also by works. Pardon and acquittal * Cor. T!. 11. f 1 Peter 1. 22. } Rom. v. 1. || Rom. iii 2-. 3 Roin. T. 9 f 1 Oor. vl. 11. * James ii. 24. ft R">. viii. 33. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 133 are tho prominent ideas in every application of the term. God is the justifier. Jesus also, as his Messiah, justifies, ami the Spirit declares it. As an act of favor it is done, by the blood of Jesus as the rightful and efficient cause by the faith as the instrumental cause by the name of Jesus the Lord as the immediate and con- necting cause and by works, as the demonstrative and conclu- sive cause. Nothing is more plain from the above testimonies *;han that all Christians are declared to be justified under the Reign of Jesus Christ. PROP. III. The ancient Christians were addressed by the Apostles as sanctified persons. Paul addressed all the disciples in Rome as saints or sanctified persons. In his first letter to the Corinthians he addresses them all as the sanctified under Christ Jesus. "To the congregation of God which is at Corinth, to the sanctified under Christ Jesus." Paul argues with the Hebrews that "by the will of God we are sanctified by the offering of Jesus Christ once only." " For by this one offering he has forever perfected (the conscience of ) the sanc- tified." So usual was it for the Apostles to address their disciples us sanctified persons, that occasionally they are thus designated in the inscription upon their epistles. Thus, Jude, addressing indiscriminiitel}' the whole Christian community, inscribes his catholic epistle " To the sanctified by God our Father and to the preserved (or saved) by Jesus Christ; to the called." "The sanc- titier and the sanctified are all of one family," says the Apostle to the Gentiles. And therefore the sanctifier addressed the sanc- tified as his brethren, and the brethren the disciples as sanctified. But once more we must hear Paul, and hear him connecting his ganctification with the name of the Lord Jesus. He says, " But now you are sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."* PROP. IV. TJie ancient Christians, the apostolic converts, were addressed as "reconciled to God." Paul repeatedly declares that the disciples were reconciled to God. "When enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son."f To the Corinthians he says, "God has reconciled * Cor. ir. 16. f Rom. v. 10. 184 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. us to himself by Jesus Christ;"* and to the Colossians he as serts, "It pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to him, having made peace by the blood of his cross; I say whether they be things on the earth or things in the heavens. Even you [Gen- tiles] who were formerly alienated in mind, and enemies by works which are wicked, he has now, indeed, reconciled in the body of his flesh thrt ugh death."f To the Ephesians he declares, that though "once they were without God and without hope in the world, fir off, they are now, through the blood of Christ, wade nit/h." H'^ has made the believing Jews and Gentiles one, that he might, under Christ, reconcile both in one body to God, through the cross, having slain the enmity between both thereby. Indeed, he repre- sents God as in Christ reconciling a world to himself; and so all under Christ are frequently said to be reconciled to God through him; which was the point to be proved. PROP. V. The first disciples were considered and addressed by the Apostles as "adopted into the family of God." This adoption is presented by the Apostle as the great reason which called forth the Son of'God. "God," says he, "sent fnrth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might buy off those under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." "And because you are sons, he has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father."J " You are, therefore, now sons of God." Indeed, the same writer, in his letter to the Ephesians, goes still further, and represents this adoption of Jews and Gentiles into the rank and dignity of the sons and daughters of the Lrd Almighty as the great object contemplated in God's pr<*destiim- tion. "Having," says he, "predestinated, or beforehand detenni- nately pointed us out, for an adoption into the number of children by Jesus Christ, for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. "|| Another testimony must suffice on this point. "Beloved," says the Apostle John, "now are we the sons of God; and what manner of love God has bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons of God! If sons, then we are heirs of God joinl heirs with Christ." * 2 Cor. T. 18. f Col- 21. J Gal. IT. . | Eph. L 6 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 185 PROP. VI. My sixth proposition is, that the first Christians were taughi by the inspired teachers to consider themselves as saved persons. Because of some ambiguity in the popular import of the term saved, when applied to the disciples of Christ, we shall define it as used in this proposition. I need not here descant upon the temporal saviours and temporal salvations which are so conspicu- >us in sacred history. I need not state that Noah and his family were saved from the judgment inflicted upon the Old World; the Israelites from the Egyptians, and from all their enemies ; that Paul's companions were saved from the deep, and God's people in all ages, in common with all mankind, from ten thousand perils to which their persons, their families, and their property have been exposed. It is not the present salvation of our bodies from the ills of this life ; but it is the salvation of the soul from the guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin. " Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." It is the sal- vation of the soul in the present life of which we speak. And here it ought to be clearly and distinctly stated that there is a present and -A future salvation, of which all Christians are to be partakers. The former is properly the salcation of the soul, and the latter is the salvation of the body, at the resurrection of the just. There are few professing Christianity, perhaps none, who do not expect a future salvation the glory of salvation to be re- vealed in us at the last time. Peter, who uses this expression in the beginning of his first epistle, and who invites the saints to look forward to the salvation yet future, in the same connection reminds them that they have now received the salvation of the soul. Indeed, the salvation of the soul is but i\\e first-fruit of tho Spirit, and but an earnest until the adoption, "the redemption of the body" from the bondage of corruption. It was in this sense of the word that salvation was announced to all who submitted to the Lord Jesus, and hence it is in this connection cquivah nt to a deliverance of the soul from the guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin. Having thus defined the present salvation of the soul, I proceed to the proof of my sixth proposition, viz.: that the first Christians were taught by their" inspired teachers to consider themselves as saved persons. Peter, on Pentecost, exhorted the Jews to save themselves from that untoward generation, by reforming and being "immeiscd ior the remission of their sins, in the name of the Lord Jesus." Luke, 16* 186 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. in recording the success attendant on Peter's labors, expresses himself thus:- "And the Lord added, daily, the saced to the con- gregation."* Those who obeyed the gospel were recorded ly Luke as "the saved." The King's translators supplied out of their own system the words "should be." They are not in any copy of the Greek scriptures. Such is the first application of tho words " the saved" in the Christian scriptures. Paul uses the same words in the first letter to the Corinthians, and applies them to all the disciples of Jesus. " To the destroyed, the doctrine of the cross is foolishness ; but to us, the saved, it is the power of God."f In the same letter, he says of the Gospel, "By which you are saved, if you retain in your memory the word which I announce to you."J In his second letter he uses the same style, and distinguishes the disciples by the same designation: "We are through God a fragrant odor of Christ among the saved, and among the destroyed." The Ephesians, he declares, are saved through favor; and to Titus he says, "God has saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his own mercy," by what means we shall soon hear Paul affirm. Promises of salvation to the obedient are to be found in almost every public address pronounced by the Apostles and first preach- ers. For the Saviour commanded them to assure mankind that every one who believed the gospel, and was immersed, should be saved. And, connecting faith with immersion, Peter averred that immersion saved us, purifying the conscience through.the resur- rection of Jesus.|| While Christians are taught to expect and hope for a future salvation a salvation from the power of death and the grave a salvation to be revealed in the last time they receive the first- fruit of the Spirit, the salvation of the soul from guilt, pollution, and the dominion of sin, and come under the dominion of right- eousness, peace, and joy. This is what Peter affirms of all the Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bi- thynia, to whom he thus speaks : " Jesus, having not seen, you love; on whom, not now looking, but believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the reward of your faith, the salvation of your sottls."$ These six propositions being each and everyone of them clearly sustained by the unequivocal testimony of God, now adduced, and, as is well known to the intelligent disciple, by many more passages, * Acts ii. 42. f 1 Cor. 1. 18. J 1 Cor. XT. 2. |] 1 Pet. iii. 21. g 1 Pet. i. &. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 187 equally plain and forcible, not adduced ; we shall now engross them into one leading proposition, which we shall in this essay consider as not to be questioned as irrefragably proved. The converts made to Jesus Christ by the Apostles were taught to consider themselves pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved; and were addressed as pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved persons, by all who first preached the Gospel of Christ. While this proposition is before us, it may be expedient to re- mark that all these terms are expressive not of any quantity of mind not of any personal attribute of body, soul or spirit; but each of them represents, and all of them together represent, a state or condition. But, though these terms represent state and not character, there is a relation between state and character, or an influence which state has upon character, which makes the state of immense importance in a moral and religious point of Indeed, the strongest arguments which the Apostles use with the Christians to urge them forward in the cultivation and display of all the moral and religious excellencies of character are drawn from the meaning and value of the state in which they are placed. Because forgiven, they should forgive ; because justified, they should live righteously ; because sanctified, they should live holy and unblamably ; because reconciled to God, they should culti- vate peace with all men, and act benevolently towards all ; be- cause adopted, they should walk in the dignity and purity of sons of God ; because saved, they should abound in thanks- givings, praises, and rejoicings, living soberly, righteously, and godly, looking forward to the blessed hope. As this essay is designed for readers of the most common ca- pacity and most superficial education, I trust I may be permitted to speak still more plainly upon the difference between state and cha- racter. Childhood is a state; so is manhood. Now, a person in the state of childhood may act sometimes like a person in the state of manhood, and those arrived at the state of manhood may in character or behavior resemble those in a state of childhood. A person in the state of a son may have the character of a ser- vant ; and a person in the state of a servant may have the cha- racter of a son. This is not generally to be expected, though it sometimes happens. Parents and children, masters and servants, husbands and wives, are terms denoting relations or states. To act in accordance with these states or relations is quite a different 188 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. thing from being in any one of these states. Many persons entei into the state of matrimony, and yet act unworthily of it. This is true of many other states. Enough, we presume, is said to contradistinguish state and character, relations and moral quali- ties. It is scarcely necessary to remark here, that as the disciples of Christ are declared to be in a pardoned, justified, sanctified, re- conciled, adopted, and saved state, they are the only persons in such a state ; and all others are in an unpardoned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopted, and lost state. When, then, is a change of state effected, and by what means? This is the great question soon to be discussed. We are constrained to admit that a change in any one of these utates necessarily implies, because it involves, a change in all the others. Every one who is pardoned is justified,. sanctified, re- conciled, adopted, and saved, and so every one that is saved is adopted, reconciled, sanctified, justified, and pardoned. To illustrate what has already been proved, let us turn to some of the changes which take place in society as at present consti- tuted. A female changes her state. She enters into the state of matrimony. So soon as she has surrendered herself to the affec- tionate government and control of him who has become her hus- band, she has not only become a wife, but a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a niece, &c. ; and may stand in many other relations in which she before stood not. All these are connected with her be- coming the wife of a person who stands in many relations. So when a person becomes Christ's, he is a son of Abraham, an heir, a brother, or is pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved. To be in Christ, or under Christ, then, is to stand in these new relations to God, angels, and men ; and to be out of him, or not under his mediatorship or government, is to be in or under Adam only. It is to be in what is called "the state of nature," unpar- doned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, and an alien from the family of God, lost in trespasses and sins. These things premised, the question presents itself, When are persons in Christ? I choose this phrase in accommodation to the familiar style of this day. No person is in a house, in a ship, in ;i f-tate, I'M a kingdom, but he that has gone or is introduced into a state, into a kingdom ; so no person is in Christ but he who has been introduced into Christ. The scripture style is most reli- giously accurate. We have the words " I'M Christ," and the words THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 189 "into Christ," often repeated in the Christian scriptures; but in no one place can the one phrase be substituted for the other. Hence, in all places where any person is said to be in C/irixt, it r-'fers not to his conversion, regeneration, or putting on Christ, but to a state of rest or privilege subsequent to conversion, re- generation, or putting on Christ. But the phrase into Christ is always connected with conversion, regeneration, immersion, or putting on Christ. Before we are justified in Christ, live in Christ, or fall asleep in Christ, we must come, be introduced, or immersed into Christ. Into belongs only to verbs implying mo- tion towards; and in to verbs implying rest or motion in. lie eats, sleeps, sits in the house. He walks into the field ; he rides into the city. " Into Christ" is a phrase only applicable to conver- sion, immersion, or regeneration, or what is called putting on Christ, translation into his kingdom, or submission to his government.* * To prevent mis'akes T shall here transcribe a part of a note found In the Ap- pendix lo th s coi'd edition if h< -trw rtrsi'n of the Chiistiau scriptur, s, p. 452: " I am not de irous of di iiinishiu^ the difference of ni:- min _' between immeisinsf a p.'rso'i in th mime of the Father, and inti th.". nime of the Fath r. They ara quite dtfTeret t ideas But it will be ask -d Is this a correct t anslatioti f To wbi.:h 1 answer, nm-t und ubtedly it is. For the preposirion eis is ihtit us -d i:i this pla'e, and not en. By what inutlverteny the kind's translators jrave it. in instead of into in this passage, and e'sewhere gave it irio when speaking of thj same ordinance. I presume not to say. but thny h i' e been f illnwed by most modern transla.'ors, and wi h th'-m they translate it mtn in other places where it occurs, in relation to t.'iig int'i'uli n. For example: 1 Cor. xii. 13: For hv O'ie spirit, we are till immersed into one 1 ody. Rom. vl. 3: Do'.'r yon know that so many of y iu as were im:ners d into Christ weie immersed into his death? G;il. iii. 27: As many of you as haie been imme sed into Christ have put. on Ch"ist. Now. f>r the same reason they ou/ht to ha'O rendered the following passages the same way: Acts viii. 16: Only they were imme"S-d into the name if the Lord Jesus, xtx. 3: Into what name we:-e you then i nmorsed? When thny heard thi th \y were immersed in'o the name of the Lord JHRUS. 1 Cor i. 13: Were you immersed into the name of I'aul? Lest nnv should siy I had immersed into my own name. 1 Cor. x. 1 : Our fathers were all imm'rs d into Moses in 'h-' cloud and in fie sea. Now. in all th>se places it is ris. and in i< cleirly marked in the la.*t qu->ttion. Th-y were immersed intn Muses not ititn the cloi;d and into the sea. but in the cloud and in tin sea. To l-o immiTS.'d into Mo*i'K is ore thinr. and in th." sea is another. To be imme-sed into the name of the Father, and in th name of the Father, aie.iust as di-tinct. "/h the mme' is equivalent to '-by the authority of." Tn the name of the ki:i<; or common- wealth, is by the au'h r 'ritv of the- king or commonwealth. Now the question is Did the Savinur mean that the disciples were to lieimmi-rs'd by the authority of the Father. Son. and Holy Hpirit? If by the authority of tho Father, for what purpose vrere they immer^'d? The authority by which anv action i< done \-> one thini:. arid the o' ject f>r wbich it is done is another. Now. who that can discriminate can think that it is me ai-.d the i-a'ne thin^ to bo immersed in the name of the Lord, and to be immi'i-s.-d inti the name of the Lord Jt-sas? The former denrt'S the nuthii.y by which th" act!' n is performed the latter the object for which it is performed. I'i'i sons are s,-tH t'> enter into matrimony, to enter into an alliance, to get into debt, tc run int'i danger. Now. to b> imm u rsed inti the name of th-< Lord Jesus was a firm of sp'^'h i'i ancient n=ag', as fvniliar and sir'iiflcant as any of the pn>cedinr thn influences nnd olili rations of thnt bodv. Tlvwe immersed intc Mn.--e.s assumed Moses as their lawgiver, guide, and protector, and risked every thing upon his authority, wisdom, power, and goodness. Those who weie iia- 190 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Presuming on the intelligence of our readers so far as to sup- pose thorn assured that this is no mere verbal criticism, but :i discrimination that detects one of the pillars of an apostate church, I proceed to another preliminary proposition, which I choose tc submit in the following words, to wit: PROP. VII. A change of views, though it necessarily precedes, w in no case equivalent to, and never to be identified with, a cJiange of state. In all the relations of this life, in all states or conditions of men, we feel the truth of this ; and I would to Heaven that our readers could see as plainly what is of infinitely more importance to them, that no change of heart is equivalent to or can be sub- stituted for a change of state! A change of heart is the result of a change of views, and whatever can accomplish a change of views may accomplish a change of heart or feeling; but a change of state always calls for something more.* Lavinia was the servant of Palemon. and once thought him a hard master. She changed her views of him ; and her feelings were also changed towards him ; still, however, she continued in mersed into Christ put him on. and acknowledged his authority and laws, and were governed liv his will; and I hose who were immersed into the name of the Kather, Son and llnK Spirit, regarded th* Father as the fountain of all authority the Son as the i. ill.- Sivi'iir and the Holy Spirit as the only advocate of the truth, ani te.-t-hr ot ChrlsManitv. Hence such persons as were immersed into the name of the Faiher acknowledged him as the only living and tru.-Ood Jesus Christ as his onlv-lie.'otten Son. the. Saviour of the world and the Holy Spirit as the only suc- cessful advocate of the truth i.f Christianity upon earth.' 1 * Sttite here has respect to the whole person. It may be argued that state is as pertinently applied to the mind or heart as to the whole person: and that when the state of the mind Is rliang-il hv a belief of God's testimony, the subject of that chanTe is brought into as nc-ar a relation to God as he ran lie in this life: and. as ttie kingdom of Jesus Is a spiritual ki-i;dom. h- is as fit for admi^l in In'o it and f-r th>- enjo\ment of its blessings, whenever his heart is changed from eninitv to love, as he ever : nav. iu truth, is actually initiated into the kingdom of Jesus the mom.-nt his mind is changed and that to insist upon any personal act as necessary to .admission, because such acts are necessary to admission into all the social and political relations in society. Is an overstraining the analogies between thins* earthly and things heaveulv. Not one of our opponents, as far as we remember ha* thus argued. We have sometimes thought th.-it they might have thus argued with incomparably more speriosity than appears in any of their objections. Hut. without n.Hii>iing to Inquire whether the state of the heart can be perfectly rh !'!'_'<] from enmitv to love, without an assurance of remission on some ground, .| i.-nc,- of some nrl. nf t'if. miml prerequisite thereunto: without being at paln to show 'hit th" t-n'h 'if Mil* proposition is not at all essential to our at-rti- ment but on)-- il'iiitrnt'rf of i' : we mav sav. that as n hri*t has red-em >'l the whole ruin bodv. p ml .iH'l spirit by his oh"dir?iici even 'o il-.m'h so in coming into his ' VingVi-n -n r'i th. and In urd T to 'h'rnjv/ni'nt of. all the pres-nt salva'i >n tb" *fn't of t'is m'oV perxnn mils' lie eh-ingel: ami this is M-h-t we appn>h.nd J-su-i meant 1. lii< si i i r I T !- :\ mnn is bor-i of wiVr nt'l "jn'rit he cannot enter into tlK Kin dun of Ood ' and what we mean iu distinguishing a change of hoart, or of views and feelings, from a change of state. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 191 the state of a handmaid. Paletnon offered her first his heart, and then iiis hand, and she accepted them. He vowed and she vowed before witnesses, and she became his wife. Then, and not till then, was her state changed. She is no longer a servant ; she is now a wife. A change of views and of'feelings led to this change in state ; but let it be noted that this might not have issued in a change of state ; for Maria, who was another handmaid of 1'alc- raon, and changed her views of him and her feelings towards him as much nay more than did Lavinia ; yet Maria lived and died the servant-maid of Palemon and Lavinia. William Agricola and his brother Thomas, both Canadians, were once much opposed to the constituted government of New England. They both changed their views, and, as a matter of course, their feelings were changed. William became a citizen of Rhode Island ; but Thomas, notwithstanding his change of heart, lived and died a colonial subject of a British king. John and James Superbus became great enemies to each other. They continued irreconciled for many years. At length a change of views brought about a change of heart: but this change for more than a year was concealed in the heart, and by no (gfert act appeared. They were not reconciled until mutual concessions were made and pledges of a change of feeling were tendered and reciprocated. From enemies they became friends. A thousand analogies might be adduced, to show that though a change of state often nay, generally results from a change of feelings, and this from a change of views, yet a change of state does not generally follow, and is something quite different from, and cannot be identified with, a change of heart. So in religion, a man may change his views of Jesus, and his heart may also be changed towards him ; but, unless a change of state ensues, he is still unpardoned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopt- ed, and lost to all Christian life and enjoyment. For it has been proved that these terms represent states and not feelings, condi- tion and not character ; and that a change of views or of heart is not a change of state. To change a state is to pass into a new relation, and relation is not sentiment nor feeling. Some act, then, constitutional, by stipulation proposed, sensible and manifest, must be performed by one or both the parties before such a change can he accomplished. Hence, always, in ancient times, the pro- chunation of the gospel was accompanied by some instituted act proposed to those whose views were changed, by which their statt 192 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. was to be changed, and by which they were to stand in a new relation to Jesus Christ. This brings us to "the obedience of faith." From the time the proclamation of God's philanthropy was first made, there was an act of obedience proposed" in it by which the believers in the pro- clamation were put in actual possession of its blessings, and by conformity to which act a change of state ensued. To perceive what this act of faith is, it must be remarked that vrhere there is no command there can be no obedience. These are correlate terms. A message or proclamation which has not a command in it cannot be obeyed. But the gospel c:in be obeyed or disobeyed, and therefore in it there is a command. Lest any person should hesitate in a matter of such importance, we will prove PROP. VIII. The gospel has in it a command, and as such must be obeyed. And here I need only ask, Who are they who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Li>rd ? Paul replies, "They who know not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son."* To "obey the gospel," and to " become obedient to the faith," were common phrases in the apostoiic discourses and writings. " By whom we have received apostleship, in order to the obedience of faith in all nations, on account of his name."f " By the commandment of the everlasting God, the gospel is made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." $. " A great com- pany of the priests became obedient to the faith. "|| "But they have not all obeyed the gospel ;"$ and " What shall be the end of them who obey not the goaptlt"\ From these sayings it is unques- tionably plain, that either the gospel itself, taken sis a whole, i a command, or that in it there is a command through the obedience of which salvation is enjoyed. The obedience of the gospel is called the obedience of faith, compared with the obedience of the law, faith in God's promise through Jesus Christ being the principle from which obedience flows. To present the gospel in the form of a command is an act of favor, because it engages the will and affections of men, and puts it in their power to have an assurance of their salvation from 1 Thes.o. 1. 8. t Romans i 5. + Romans x\i. 20w 1| Acts \i. T. J Koniaus v. 8. f 1 1'wlei iv. 17 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 193 1 which they would he necessarily excluded if no such act of obe- dience were enjoyed. Whatever the act of faith may be, it necessarily becomes the line of discrimination between the two states before described. On this side and on that mankind are in quite different states. On the one side they are pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved : on the other, they are in a state of condem- nation. This act is sometimes called immersion, regeneration, conversion ; and, that this act may appear obvious to all, we shall be at some pains to confirm and illustrate it. That a relation or .a state can he changed by an act, I need scarcely at this time attempt to prove ; especially to those who know that the act of marriage, of naturalization, adoption, and t'.eir being b->rn, ctamges the state of the subject of such acts. But, rattier than attempt to prove that a state is or may be changed by an act, I sh mid rather ask if any person has heard, knows, or can conceive, of a state being ahanged without some act. This point, being conceded to us by all the rational, we presume nH to prove. But a question may arise whether faith itself.- or an act o obedience to 8 >me command or institution, is that act by which our state is changed. PROP. IX. That it is not faith, but an act resulting from faith, which changes our state, we shall now attempt to prove. No relation in which we stand to the material world no poli- tical relation, or relation to society can be changed by believing, apart from the acts to which that belief or faith induces us. Faith never made an American citizen, though it may have been the cause of many thousands migrating to this continent and ulti- mately becoming citizens of these United States. Faith never made a man a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a master, a servant, though it may have been essentially necessary to all thes< relations, a a cause or principle preparatory or tending there unto. Thus, when in scripture men are said to be justified by faith, or to receive any blessing through faith, it is because faith is the principle of action, and, as such, the cause of those acts by which such blessings are enjoyed. But the principle without those acts is nothing ; and it is only by the acts which it induces to perform that it becomes the instrument of any blessings to man. 17 194 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Many blessings are metonymieally ascribed to faith in the sacred writings. We are said to be justified, sanctified, and purified by faith to walk by faith, and to live by faith, ws, "telling them of the conversion" or immersion of the Gentiles.* Indeed, in a short time it was a summary way of representing tho faith, reformation, and immersion of disciples, by using one word for all. Thus, " All the inhabitants of Sharon and Lydda turned," or *' were converted, to the Lord."t W hile on the subject of conversion, we shall adduce, as a fourth testimony, the words of the Lord Jesus to Paul, when he called him Paul is introduced by Luke in the Acts, telling what the *Acts-j S THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 197 Lord said to him when he received his apostleship. " I s*nd you Paul, by the faith that respects me, to open their eyes ; to turn or convert them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God ; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an in- heritance among the saved."* Every thing to be accomplished among the Gentiles was to be effected by the faith or truth in Christ. The Saviour connected that with opening their eyes: their conversion from the ignorance and tyranny of sin and Satan ; their forgiveness of sins; and, finally, an inheritance among the saved or sanctified. First, faith or illumination ; then, conver- sion ; then, remission of sins ; then, the inheritance. All these testimonies concur with each other in presenting the act of faith Christian immersion, frequently called conversion as that act, inseparably connected with the remission of sins; or that change of state of which we have already spoken. One reason why we would arrest the attention of the reader to the substitution of the terms convert and conversion, for immerse and immersion, in the apostolic discourses and in the sacred writ- ings, is not so much for the purpose of proving that the forgive- ness of sins, or a change of state, is necessarily connected with the act of faith called " Christian immersion," as it is to fix the min'ls "f the biblical students upon a very important fact, viz.: that no person is altogether disci pled to Christ until he is im- mersed. It is true that this view of the matter bears strongly upon the question ; but it bears upon other great matters per- taining to the present and ancient order of things. Discovering that much depends upon having correct views on this point, we have carefully examined all those passages where "conversion," either in the common version, or in the new ver- sion, or in the original, occurs; and have found a uniformity in the use of this term, and its compounds and derivatives, which warrants the conclusion that no person was said to be converted until he was immersed ; and that all persons who were immersed were said to be converted. If any apostatized, they were again converted: it was in that sense in which our Lord applied the word to Peter, " When you are concerted, strengthen your breth- ren," or as James used it in his letter when he said, " If any of you err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he who converts a transgressor from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins." * Arts xxiv. 17. 18. 198 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. The commission for converting the world teaches that immer- sion was necessary to discipleship ; for Jesus said, " Convert the nations, immersing them into the name," &c. an 1 ''teaching them to observe," &c. The construction of the sentence fairly indi- cates that no person can be a disciple, according to the commis- sion, who has not been immersed: for the active participle in con- neilion with an imperative either declares the manner in wliich the imjierative shall be obeyed, or explain-s the meaning of the command To this I have not found an' exception. For example: " Cleanse the house, sweeping it ;" " Cleanse the garment, wash- ing it," shows the manner in which the command is to be obeyed, or explains the meaning of it. Thus, " Convert (or disciple) the nations, immersing them, and teaching them to observe," &c. ex- presses the manner in which the command is tp be obeyed. If the Apostles had only preached and not immersed, they would not have converted the hearers according to the commis- sion : and if they had immersed, and not taught them to observe the commands of the Saviour, they would have been transgres- sors. A disciple, then, according to the commission, is one that has heard the gospel, believed it, and been immersed. A disciple, indeed, is one that continues in keeping the command- ments of Jesus.* * The following examples of the above general rule illustrate its value and cer- talnty : Let us offer up the sacrifice of praise to God, amfating to his name." H.-b. xiii. 10. ' l,et us go forth to him out of the camp, tearing his ieprt>acb." Heb. xiii. 13. -'Be an approved workman, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Tim. ii. 15. "Guard the prei-ious deposits, avoiding profane babblings." 1 Tim. vi. 20. "Observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality." 1 Tim. v. 21. ' Prav everywhere, lifting up holy hands." 1 Tim. ii. 8. " Walk in wisdom to them that are without, gaining time." Col. iv. 5. ' Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, ?iring thanks to God." Col. iii. 17. ''Speak the truth, putting away lying." Kph. v. 'J5. "Be not vainglorious. prorol,-ing one another." Gal. v. 26 ''Convert the nations, baptizing them." Ac. Ac Now, do not all these participles define their re- spective irnpemlives. or show the way and manner in which this command should be obeved ? Many similar examples may be found in all the sacred writings. This rule has passed through a fiery trial. I have only been more fully convinced of its _'MnT:iliiy and value. There Is no rule in the English syntax more geneial in Its application. I would only add. that the participle does not always express every thin in the command: but it always points out something emphatically in the in* tntion of the imperative, and without which the injunction cannot be suitably and fully performed. We have, however, no need of this rule, nor of any thing not generally conceded, to establish the point before us; for the New Testament and all antiquity teach that, * loir.' as the Apostles lived, no one was regarded -is a disciple of Christ who had not jonfussed his faith and was immersed. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 199 PROP. X. I now proceed to show that immersion and washing of regeneration are two Bible names for the same act contemplated in two different points of view. The term regeneration occurs but twice in the common version of the New Testament, and not once in the Old Testament. The first is Matt. xix. 28 : " You that have followed me in the rege- neration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Dr. George Campbell, following the punctuation adopted by Griesbach, and substituting the word renovation instead of regeneration, renders it, "That, at the renovation, when the Son of Man shall be seated on his glorious throne, you, my followers, sitting also upon twelve thrones," &c. Genesis, being the term used for creation, palingenesia, denotes the new creation either literally at the resurrection of the dead, or figuratively at the commencement of the Christian era, or at the commencement of the Millennium. Josephus, the Jew, called the return of Israel to their own land and institution the " Regeneration" or " Palin- genesia." No writer of any note, critic or expositor, supposes that, rege- neration in Matt. xix. applies to what is, in theology, called the new birth, ^regeneration of the soul, not even the Presbyterian Matthew Henry, nor Dr. Whitby, Campbell, Macknight, Thomp- son ; nor, indeed, any writer we recollect ever to have read. Re- generation in this passage denotes a state, a new state of things. In the same sense we often use the term. The American Revo- lution was the regeneration of the country or the government. The commencement of the Christian era was a regeneration ; so will be the creation of the new Heavens and new Earth. As this is so plain a matter, and so generally admitted, we proceed to the second occurrence of this, term. " God has saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renew- ing *of the Holy Spirit."* God has saved us through the bath of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This is the Becond time the word regeneration is found in the New Testament; and here it is conceded, by the most learned Pedobaptists and Baptists, that it refers to immersion. Though I have been led to this conclusion from my views of the Christian religion, yet I * Titus Hi. 5. 200 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. neither lioM it myself, nor justify it to others on this account. I choose rather to establish it by other testimonies than by those who agree with me in the import of this institution. Among these I shall place Dr. James Macknight, formerly prolocutor 01 moderator of the Presbyterian church of Scotland, and translator of the Apostolic Epistles. One of his notes upon Titus iii. 5 is in the following words: "Through the bath of regeneration," "Through baptiym, called the bath of regeneration, not because any change in the nature" (but I would not say in the slate) "of the baptized person is produced by baptism ; but because it is an emblem of the purification of his soul from sin." He then quotes in proof, (Acts xxii. 16.) "Arise, and be immersed, and wash thee from thy sins." Paul. He supports this view also from Eph. v. 20, and John iii. 5. "The bath of regeneration" is, then, accord- ing to this learned Podohaptist, Christian immersion. Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, upon the word loidron, connects the same phrase, the washing or bath of regeneration, with Ephesians v. 26, and John iii. 5, as alluding to immersion. So say all the critics, one by one, as far as I know. Even Matthew Henry, the good and venerable Presbyterian commentator, concedes this point also, and quotes Ephesians v. 26, Acts sxii. 16, and Matt. xxviii. 19, 20, in support of the conclusion that the washing of regeneration refers to baptism. Our opponents themselves being judges, we have gained this point, viz. : that the only time that the phrase washing of regene- ration oceurs in the New Testament, with reference to a personal change, it means, or is equivalent to, immersion. Washing of regeneration and immersion are therefore only two name* for the same thing. Although I might be justified in proceeding to an- other topic and supposing this point to be fully established, I choose rather, for the sake of the slmc to apprehend, to fortify this conclusion by some other testimonies and arguments. As regeneration is taught to be equivalent to " being born again" And understood to be of the same import with a new birth, we ph ill examine it under this metaphor. For if immersion be arpi- valent to regeneration, and regeneration be of the same import with being born again, then being born again and being immersed are the same thing; for this plain reason, that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another. AH must admit that no person can be born again of that which he receive*. For as no person is born naturally, so no person can be born again or THE^EIRISTIAN SYSTEM. 201 born metaphorically of that which he receives. It destroys the idea, the figure, the allusion, arid every thing else which author- izes the application of these words to any change which takes place in man, to suppose that the subject of the new birth, or regeneration, is born again of something which he has received. This single remark shows the impropriety and inaccuracy of thought; or, perhaps, the popular notions of regeneration sane tijn and sanctify. In being born naturally there is the begetter, and that which ia begotten. These are not the same. The act of being born is dif- ferent from that which is born. Now, the scriptures carry this figure through every prominent point of coincidence. There is the begetter. "01' his own will he hath begotten or impregnated us," says James the Apostle. "By the word of truth," as the in- corruptible seed; or, as Peter says, ''We are born again, not from corruptible, but frum incorruptible seed, the word of God which endureth forever." liut when the act of being bo/n is spoken of, then the water is introduced. Hence, before we come into the kingdom we are born of water. The Spirit of God is the begetter, the gospel is the seed ; and, being thus begotten and quickened, we are born of the water. A child is alive before it is born, and the act of being born only changes its state, not its life. Just so in the metaphorical birth. Persons are begotten by the Spirit of God, impregnated by the Word, and born of the water. In one sense a person is born of his father; but not until he is first born of his mother. So in every place where water and the Spirit, or water and the Word, are spoken of, the water stands first. Every child is born of its father when it is born of its mother. Hence, the Saviour put the mother first, and the Apostles follow him. No other reason can be assigned for placing the water first. How uniform this style! Jesus says to Nicodemus, "You must be born again, or you cannot discern the reign of God." Born ui/ain! What means this? "Nicodemus, unless you are born of water and the Spirit you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." So Paul speaks to the Ephesians, (v. 20:) " He cleansed the church [or the disciples] by a bath of water, and the word." And to Titus he says, " lie saved the disciples by the bath of regenera- tion, and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Now, as soon as, and not before, a disciple, who has been begotten of God, is born of water, he is born of God, or of the Spirit. Regeneration in, there- 202 THE CHRISTIAN S^fEM. fore, the act of being born.* Hence its connection always witn water. Reader, reflect what a jargon, what a confusion, have the mystic doctors made of this metaphorical expression, and of this topic of regeneration. To call the receiving of any spirit or any influence, or energy, or any operation upon the heart of man, regeneration, is an abuse of all speech, as well as a departure from the diction of the Holy Spirit, who calls nothing personal regeneration except the act of immersion.^ Some curious criticisms have been offered, to escape the fores of the plain declaration of Jesus and his Apostles upon this sub- ject. Some say that the words, " Except a man be born of water and Spirit," are not to be understood literally. Surely, then, if to be born of water does not mean to be born of water, to be born of the Spirit must mean something else than to be born of the Spirit. This is so fanatical and extravagant as to need no other exposure. He who cannot see the propriety of calling immersion a being born again can see no propriety in any metaphor in com- * See the following essay on Regeneration. f That John iii. 5 and Titus iii. 5 refer to immersion is the judgment of all the learned Catholics and Protestants of every name under heaven. The authors and finishers of the Westminster creed, one hundred and twenty- one Divines, ten Lords, and twenty Commissioners of the rarliameut of England, under the question 165, ' What is bupti*mf quote John iii. 5. Titus iii. 5, to prove that baptism is a washing with water and a "sign of remission nf sins." Michael is. Home, Lightfoot, Beveridre, Taylor, Jones of Nayland, Bp. Brant, Whitby, Burkit, Bp. Hall, Dr. Wells, Hooker, Dr. G. Ridely, Bp. Ryder but why attempt a list of great names ? There are a thousand more who assert it. Bp. White says, that "regeneration, as detached from baptism, never entered into any creed before the seventeenth century." Whitby, on John iii. 5, says, "That our Lord here speaks of baptismal regeneration, the whole Christian church from its earliest times has invaiiably taught. Our modern "great divines,'' even in America, have taught the same. Timothy Dwight. the greatest Kabbi of Presbyterians the New World has produced, says. voL iv. pp. 3UU. 301. "to be born again is precisely the same thing as to be born of water and the Spirit." "To be born of water is to be baptized." And how uncharitable! He adds, "He who, understanding tli nature and authority of this institution, re- fuses to b baptized, WILL NEVER ENTER INTO TIIE VISIBLE NOR INVISIBLE KINGDOM OP GOD." Vol. iv. p. 302. So preached the President of Yale. George Whitefield, writing on John iii. 5, says, "Does not this verse urge the ah- folu'e necessity nf water-baptism f 1'es, when it may be had. But how God will deal with persons unbaptued. we cannnt tf!I, n Vol. iv. p. 355. I say with him. we cannot tell with certainty. But I am of opinion, that when a neglect proceeds from a simple mistake or sheer Ignorance, and when there is no aversion, but a will to do every thing the Lord commands, the Lord will admit into the everlasting king- dom those who by reason of this mistake never had tho testimony of God assuring them of panlon or justification here, and consequently never did fully enjoy the salvation ol God on earth. But I will say with the renowned President of Yale, that ' he who, understanding the nature and authority of this institution, refuses to be baptized, will never enter the visible nor invisible Kingdom of God." By the " visible and invisible kingdom" he means the kingdom of grace and glory. He adds on the game page. " He who persists in this art of rebellion against the authority of Christ will never belong to his kingdom." Vol. Iv. p. 302. .Inlin Wesley asserts, that "by baptism w enter into cnvencmt with God. an evsr- lastinji covenant, are admitted into the church, made members of Christ, made the children of God. By water as the means, the water of baptism, we are regenerated or born again." [Preservative, pp. 146, 150.] THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 203 mon use. A resurrection is a ne\v birth. Jesus is said to be the frst-born from the dead, because the first who rose fro.m the dead to die no more. And, surely, there is no abuse of speech, but the greatest propriety, in saying that he who has died to sin, and been buried in water, when raised up again out of that element, is born again or regenerated. If Jesus was born again when he came out of a sepulchre, surely he is born again who is raised up out of the gra^e of waters. 1 hose who are thus begotten and born of God are children of God. It would be a monstrous supposition that such persons are not freed from their sins. To be born of God and born in sin is inconceivable. Remission of sins is as certainly granted to " the born of God," as life eternal and deliverance from corruption will be granted to the children of the resurrection when born from the grave. To illustrate what has (we presume to say) been now proved, we shall consider political regeneration. Though the term regene- ration is laxly employed in this association, yet by such a license of speech we may illustrate this subject to the apprehension of all. Yes, the whole subject of faith, change of heart, regeneration, and character. All the civilized nations and kingdoms have constitutions, and in their constitutions they have declared who are members of the social compact. Besides those who compose the community at the time a constitution is adopted, they say who shall participate its blessings in all time coming ; that is, who shall be admitted into it, and by what means they shall become members of it. They have always decreed that their own posterity shall inherit their political rights and immunities; but they have also ordained that foreigners that is, members of other communities may be- come, by adoption or naturalization, citizens or fellow-members of the same community. But they have, in their wisdom and be- nevolence, instituted a rite or form of adoption, which form has much meaning; and which, when submitted to, changes the state of the subject of it. Now, as the Saviour consented to DC called a King, and to call the community over which he presides a Kingdom, it was because of the analogy between these human institutions and his institution ; and for the purpose not of con- founding but of aiding the human mind in apprehending and comprehending the great object of his mission to the world. And it is worthy of the most emphatic attention that it was WHEN 204 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. SPEAKING OF A KINGDOM HE SPOKE OF BEING BORN AGAIN. YeS J OC thar occasi.ji, and on that occasion only, when he spoke of enter- in;/ into his kini/doni, did he speak of the necessity of BEING UORN AGAIN. And had he not chosen that figure he would not have chosen the figure of a new birth. With these facts and circum- stances heforo us, let ns examine political regeneration as the h"8t conceivable illustration of religious reg"neration. A B was born on the island of Great Britain, a native subject f George III., King of Great Britain. He was much a'tached to his native is!and,to the people, the manners and customs of his ancestors and kinsmen. With all these attachments siill increas- ing, he grew up to manhood. Then he heard the report of this good land of this large, fertile, and most desirable country. The country, the people, and the government were represented to him in the most i'a\orai>le light. Sometimes these representations were exaggej-ated ; but still he could separate the truth from the fable, aud was fully persuaded not only of the existence of these United States, but also of the eligibility of being a citizen thereof. He believed the testimony which he heard, resolved to expatriate himself from the land of his nativity, to imperil life and property, putting himself aboard of a ship, and bidding adieu to all the companions of his youth, his kinsmen, and dear friends. So full was his conviction, and so strong his faith, that old Neptune and King Ei.lus, with all their terrors, could not appall him. lie sailed from his native shores, and landed on this continent. He was, however, ignorant of many things pertaining to this neu- country and government ; and on his arrival asked for the rights and immunities of- a citizen. He was told that the civil rights of hospitality to a stranger could be extended to him as & friendly alien; but not one of the rights or immunities of a citizen could be his, unless he were born again. "Born again!" said he, in a disappointed tone, to Columbus, with whom he had his first con- versation on the subject. " What do you mean by being born again t" Columbus. You must be naturalized, or adopted as a citizen or, what we call born again. A B. I do not understand you. How can a man be born when he is grown ? Col. That which is born of Great Britain is British, and that which is born of America is American. If, then, you would be an American citizen, you must be borii of America. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 205 A B. Born of America ! You astonish me. I have come to America, well disposed towards the people and the country. I was once attached to England, but I became attached to the United States ; and because of my faith and attachments I have come here : and will you not receive me into your kingdom be- cause I could not help being born in England ? Col. Well-disposed as I am, and we are, to receive you, most assuredly I say to you, unless you are regenerated iu a court- bouse, and be enfranchised by and before the judges, you can never become a citizen of these United States. A B. Yurs is an arbitrary and despotic government. What airs of sovereignty you have assumed 1 Col. By no means. Right, reason, wisdom, policy, and bene- volence for you, as well as the safety, dignity, and happiness of the whole community, require that every alien shall be natural- ized, or made a citizen, before he exercise or enjoy the rights of a citizen. A B. You are certainly arbitrary if not in the thing itself, of regeneration in the place and manner in which it shall be done. Why, for instance, say that it must be done in a court-house f Col. I will tell you: because there are the judges, the records, and the seal of the government. A B. 1 understand you. Well, tell me, how is a man born again. Tell me plainly and without a figure. Col. With pleasure. You were born of your mother and of your father when you were born in England ; and you were born legitimately, according to the institutions of England. Well, then, you were born of England, as well as born in it; and were, there- fore, wholly English. This was your first birth. But you have expatriated yourself, as your application here proves I say sen- timentally you have expatriated yourself; but we must have a formal solemn pledye of your renunciation ; and we will give you a formal solemn pledge of your adoption. You must, ex animo, in the presence of the judges and the recorders, renounce all allegiance to every foreign prince and potentate, and especially to his majesty the King of Great Britain. A B. Is that the thing? I can, with all my heart, renounce all political allegiance to every foreign prince and government. Is that all? I have, then, no objection to that. Col. There is this also: You are not only to renounce all poli- tical allegiance, but you must also, from the soul solemnly vow, 206 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. in the presence of the same judges and recorders, that you will adopt and submit to the constitution and government of these United States. A B. I can do that also. I can renounce, and I can ad pt; nor do I object to the place where it shall be done. But, pray, what solemn pledge will you give me? Col. So soon as you have vowed renunciation, and adopted, in the presence of the judges and recorders, we will give you a certificate, with a red seal, the seal of state, attached to it; stating that you, having now been naturalized, or born according to our institutions, are born of America; and are now a son, an adopted son, of America. And that red seal indicates that the blood, the best blood, of this government, will be shed for you, to protect you and defend you ; and that your life will, when called for, bo cheerfully given up for your mother, of whom you have been po- litically born ; as it would have been for your own natural politi- cal mother, of whom you were first born. A B. To this I must subscribe. In my mother-tongue, it all means that I give myself up politically to this government, and it gives itself up to me, before witnesses too. How soon, pray, after this new birth may I exercise and enjoy all the rights of a citizen ? Col. They are yours the first breath you breathe under your new mother. It is true, we have not, in these United States, any symbol through which a person is politically regenerated. We only ask a solemn pledge, and give one. Some nations have symbols. But we understand that, the moment the vow is taken, the person is politically born again. And, as every other child has all the rights of a child which it can exercise so soon as it inhales the air, so have all our political children all political rights, so soon as the form of naturalization is consummated. But, remember, not till then. A B. You say some nations had their symbols. What do you mean by these? Col. I mean that the naturalized had to submit to some emblem- atic rite, by which they were symbolically detached from every other people and introduced among those who adopted them and whom they adopted. The Indian nations wash all whom they adopt in a running stream, and impose this .task upon their fe- males. The Jews circumcised and washed all whom thej; ad- mitted to the rights of their institutions. Other customs and forma THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. . 207 have obtained in other nations; but we regard simply the meaning of the thing, and have no symbol. A B. In this I feel but little interested. I wish to become a citizen of these United Stites ; especially as I am informed I can have no inheritance among you, nor n voice in the nation, nor any immunity, unless I am born again. Col. You must, then, submit to the institution ; and I know that so soon as you are politically born again, you will feel more of the importance and utility of this institution than you now can ; and will be just as anxious as I am to see others submit - to this wise, wholesome, and benevolent institution. A B. As my faith brought me to your shores, and as I approve your constitution and government, I will not (now that I under- stand your institutions) suffer an opportunity to pass. I will direct my course to the place where I can Ije born again. I ought here to offer an apology for a phrase occurring fre- quently in this essay and in this dialogue. When we represent the subject of immersion as active, either in so many words or im- pliedly, we so far depart from that style which comports with the figure of "being born." For all persons are passive in being born. So, in immersion, the subject buries not himself, raises not him- self; but is buried and raised by another. So that in the act the subject is always passive. And it is of that act alone of which we thus speak. From all that has been said on regeneration, and from the illus- tration just now adduced, the following conclusions must, we think, be apparent to all: first. Begetting and quickening necessarily precede being born. Second. Being born imparts no new life; but is simply a change of state, and introduces into a new mode of living. Third. Regeneration or immersion the former referring to the import of the act, and the latter term to the act itself denote only the act of being born. Fourth. God, or the Spirit of God, being the author of the whole institution, imparting to it its life and efficiency, is the begetter, in the fullest sense of that term. Yet, in a subordinate sense, every one skilful in the word of God, who converts another, may be said to have begotten him whom he enlightens. So Paul says, "I have begotten Onesimus in my bonds:" and "I have begotten you, Corinthians, through the gospel." Fifth. The gospel is declared to be the seed, the power aud strength of the Holy Spirit to impart life. 208 ^ THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Sixth. And the great argument, pertinent to cur object, in this long examination of conversion and regeneration, is that which we conceive to be the most apparent of all other conclusions, vi^.: that remission of sins, or coming into a state of acceptance, being one of the present immunities of the Kingdom of Heaven, can- not be scripturally enjoyed by any person before immersion. A* soon can a person be a citizen before he is born, or have the im munities of an American citizen while an alien, as one enjoy the privileges of a son of God before he is born again. For Jesus expressly declares, that he has not given the privilege of sons to any but those born of God.* If, then, the present forgiveness of sins be a privilege, and a right of those under the new constitu- tion, in the kingdom of Jesus; and if being born again, or b-ing born of water and of the Spirit, is necessary to admission ; and if being born of water means immersion, as clearly proved by all witnesses; then, remission of sins cannot, in this life, be consti- tutionally enjoyed previous to immersion. If there be any pro- P'lsition regarding any item of the Christian institution, which admits of clearer proof or fuller illustration than this one, I have yet to learn where it may be found. But, before we dismiss the sixth evidence, which embraces so many items, I beg leave to make a remark or two on the propriety of consid ring the term " immersion" as equivalent to the term " conversion." Conversion is, on all sides, understood to be a turning to G'>d. Not a thinking favorably of God, nor a repenting for former mis- deeds ; but an actual turning to God, in word and in deed. It is true, that no person can be said to turn to God, whose mind is not enlightened, and whose heart is not well disposed towards God. All human actions, not resulting from previous thought or deter- mination, are rather the actions of a machine, than the actions of a rational being. " lie that comes to God," or turns to him, " must believe that God exists, and that he is a rewarder of every one who d ligently seeks him." Then he will seek and find the Lord. An "external conversion" is no conversion at all. A turning to God with the lips, while the heart is far from him, is mere pre tence and mockery. But, though I never thought any thing eNe eince I thought upon religion, I understand the "turning to God" taught in the New Institution to be a coming to the Lord Jesus; not a thinking about doing it, nor a repenting that we have not THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 209 done it ; but an actual coming to him. The question then is, Where shall we find him ? Where shall we meet him? Nowhere on earth but in his institutions, " Where he records his name," there alone can he be found ; for there alone has he promised to be found. I affirm, then, that the first institution, in which we can meet with God, is the institution for remission. And here it is worthy of notice, that the Apostles, in all their speeches and re- plies to interrogatories, never commanded an inquirer to pray, read, or sing, as preliminary to hits coming; but always commanded and proclaimed immersion as t/te Jirsi duly, or the Jh'st thing to be done, after a belief of testimony. Hence, neither praying, singing, reading, repenting, sorrowing, resolving, nor waiting to be better, was the converting act. Immersion alone was the act of turning to God. Hence, ia the commission to convert the nations, the only institution mentioned after proclaiaiing the gospel was the immersion of the believers, as the divinely-authorized way of carrying out and completing the work. And from the day of Pentecost to the final Amen ia the revelation of Jesus Christ, no person was said to be converted, or to turn to God, until he was buried in and raised up out of the water. If it were not to treat this subject as one of doubtful disputation, I would say, that, had there not been some act, such as immersion, agreed on all hands to be the medium of remission and the act of conversion &ad regeneration, the Apostles could not, with any regard to truth and consistency, have addressed the disciples as pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved persons. If all this had depended upon some mental change, as faith, they could nevr have addressed their congregations in any other way than as the moderns do : and that is always in the lan- guage of doubt and uncertainty, hoping a little, and fearing much. This mode of address and the modern compared is proof positive that they viewed the immersed through one medium, and we through another. They taught all the disciples to consider not only themselves as saved persons, but all whom they saw or knew to b immersed into the Lord Jesus. They saluted every one, on his coming out of the water, as saved, and recorded him as such. Luke writes, " The Lord added the saved daily to the congregation."* Whenever a child is born into a family, it is a brother or a sister to all the other children of the family ; and its being born * Acts ii. 18* 210 THE CimiSTIAN SYSTEM. of the same parents is the act causative and declarative of it* fraternity All is mental and invisible before coming out of the water : and as immersion is the first act commanded, and the fi^t constitutional act : so it was, in the commission, the act by which the Apostles were commanded to turn or convert tho^e to God who believed their testimony. In this sense, then, it is the con- verting act. No man can, scripturally, be said to be converted to God until he is immersed. How ecclesiastics interpret their own language is no concern of ours. We contend for the pure speech, and for the apostolic ideas attached to it. To resume the direct testimonies declarative of the remission of sins by immorsion, we turn to the Gentiles. Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius to tell him an-! his family " words by which they might be saved." lie tells these words. Ho was interrupted by the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit. But it is to be noticed, that the testimony, to which the Holy Spirit there affixed its seal, was the following words : " To him gave all the prophets witness, that every one who believes on him shall re- ceive remission of sins by his name." While speaking these words, concerning remission of sins by or through his name, the Holy Spirit, in its marvellous gifts of tongues, fell upon them. Many, seeing so much stress laid upon faith or belief, suppose that all blessings flow from it immediately. This is a great mis- take. Faith, indeed, is the principle, and the distinguishing principle, of this economy : but it is only the principle of action. Hence, we find the name or person of Christ always interposed between faith and the cure, mental or corporeal. The woman who touched the tuft of the mantle of Jesus had as much faith before as after; but, though her faith was the cause of her putting forth her hand, and accompanied it, she was not cured until the touch. That great type of Christ, the brazen serpent, cured no Israelite simply by faith. The Israelites, as soon as they were bitten, believed it would cure them. But yet they were not cured as soon as bitten ; nor until they looked to the serpent. It was one thing to believe that looking at the serpent would cure them; and another to look at it. It was the faith remotely ; but, immediately, the look, which cured them. It was not faith in the waters of Jordan that healed the leprosy of Naaman the Syrian. It was immersing himself in it, according to the commandment. It was not faith in the pool of Silo.v.n that cured the blind man whose eyes Jesus aaointed with clay ; it was his washing his eyes in THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 211 Siloam's water. Hence, the imposition of hands, or a word, or a touch, or a shadow, or something from the persons of those anointed with the Holy Spirit, was the immediate cause of all the cures recorded in the New Testament. It is true, also, that with- out faith it is impossible to be healed ; for in some places Jesus could not work many miracles, because of their unbelief. It is so in all the moral remedies and cures. It is impossible to re- ceive the remission of sins without faith. In this world of means, (h >wever it may be in a world where there are no means,) it is as impossible to receive any blessing through faith without the ap- pointed means. Both are indispensable. Hence the name of the Lord JVsus is interposed between faith and forgiveness, justifica- tion, and sanctification, even where immersion into that name is not detailed. It would have been unprecedented in the annals of the world for the historian always to have recorded all the cir- cumstances of the same institution, on every allusion to it ; and it would have been equally so for the Apostles to have mentioned it always in the same words. Thus, in the passage before us, the name of the Lord is only mentioned. So in the first letter to the Corinthians, the disciples are represented as saved, as washed, as justified, sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. The frequent interposition of the name of the Lord between faith and forgiveness, justification, sanctification, &c. is explained in a remark in James's speech in Jerusalem.* It is the application of an ancient prophecy, concerning the conver- sion of the Gentiles. The Gentiles are spoken of as turning to, or seeking, the Lord. But who of them are thus converted? "Even all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called." It is, then, to those upon whom the name of the Lord is called, that the name of the Lord communicates remission, justification, fcc. Some captious spirits need to be reminded that, as they some- times find forgiveness, justification, sanctification, &c. ascribed to grace, to the blood of Christ, to the name of the Lord, with- out an allusion to faith ; so we sometimes find faith, and grace, and the blood of Christ, without an allusion to water. Now, if they have any reason and right to sayi that faith is understood in the one case ; we have the same reason and right to say, that water or immersion is understood in the other. For their argument is, that in sundry places this matter is made plain enough. This single remark cuts off all their objections drawn from the fact * Acts xv. 17. 212 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. that immersion is not always found in every place -where the name of the Lord, or faith, is found connected with forgiveness. Neither is grace, the blood of Christ, nor faith, always mentioned with forgiveness. When they find a passage where remission of sins is mentioned without immersion, it is weak or unfair in the ex- treme, to argue from that, that forgiveness can be enjoyed without immersion. IF THEIR LOGIC BE WORTH ANY THING, IT WILL PROVE, THAT A MAN MAY BE FORGIVEN WITHOUT GRACE, THE BLOOD OF JESUS, AND WITHOUT FAITH: FOR WE CAN FIND PASSAGES, MANT PASSAGES, WHERE REMISSION, OR JUSTIFICATION, 8ANCTIFICATION, OR SOME SIMILAR TERM, OCCURS, AND NO MENTION OF EITHER GRACE, FAITH, OR THE BLOOD OF JESUS. As this is the pith, the marrow and fatness, of all the logic of our most ingenious opponents on this subject, I wish I could make it more emphatic than by printing it in capitals. I know some editors, some of our doctors of divinity, some of our most learned declaimers, who make this argument, which we unhesi- tatingly call a genuine sophism, the Alpha and the Omega of their speeches against the meaning and indispensable importance of Christian immersion. The New Testament would have been a curious book, if, every time remission of sins was mentioned or alluded to, it had been preceded by grace, faith, the blood of Jesus, immersion, &c. &c. But now the question comes, which, to the rational, is the empha- tic question: WHETHER DO THEY THINK, BELIEVE, TEACH, AND PRACTISE MORE WISELY AND MORE SAFELY, WHO THINK, BELIEVE, AND TEACH THAT GRACE, FAITH, THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THE NAME OF THE LORD, AND IMMERSION, ARE ALL ESSENTIAL TO IMMEDIATE PARDON AND ACCEPTANCE ; OR THEY WHO SAY, THAT FAITH ONLY, GRACE ONLY, THE BLOOD OF CHRIST ONLY, THE NAME OF THE LORD ONLY AND IMMERSION NOT AT ALL? To all men, women, and children, of common sense, this question is submitted. It is, however, to me admirable, that the remission of sins should be, not merely unequivocally, but so repeatedly declared through immersion, as it is in the apostolic writings. And here I would ask tffe whole thinking community, one by one, whether if the whole race of men had been assembled on Pentecost, or in Solomon's Portico, and had asked Peter the same question which the convicted proposed, would he, or would he not, have given them the same answer? Would he not have told the whole race to reform, and be immersed for the remission of their sins? or to THE CHRISTIAN STSTEM. 213 reform and be converted, that their sins might be blotted out? tc arise and be immersed, and wash away their sins? If lie would not, let them give a reason ; and if they say he would, let them assign a reason why they do not go .and do likewise. Some have objected against the "seasons of refreshment," or the comforts of the Holy Spirit, being placed subsequent to "con- version," or "regeneration," or " immersion ;" (for when we speak Bcripturally, we must use these terms as all referring to the same thing,) because the gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured out upon the Gentiles before immersion. They see not the design of thus welcoming the Gentiles into the kingdom. They forget the com- parison of the Gentiles to a returning prodigal, and his father going out to meet him, even while he was yet a good way off. God had welcomed the first-fruits of the Jews into his kingdom by a stupendous display of spiritual gifts, called the baptism of the. Holy Spirit, before any one of the Jews had been immersed into the Lord Jesus. And, as Peter explains this matter in Cor* nelius's case, it appears that God determined to make no differ- ence between the Jews and Gentiles in receiving them into his kingdom. Hence, says Peter, "he gave them the same gift which he gave to us Jews at the beginning" (never since Pente- cost.) Thus Peter was authorized to command those Gentiles to be immersed by the authority of the Lord, no man daring to forbid it. But these gifts of the Holy Spirit differed exceedingly from the seasons of refreshment, from the righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, the common enjoyment of all who were immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins.* Let it be noted here, as pertinent to our present purpose, that as the Apostle Peter was interrupted by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when he began to speak of the forgiveness by the name of the Lord Jesus ; so soon as he saw the Lord had received them, he commanded them to be immersed by the authority of the Lord. And here I must propose another question to the learned and the unlearned. How comes it to pass that, though once, and only once, it is commanded that the nations who believe should be im- mersed into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and though we read of no person being immorsed into this name in this way, I say, how comes it to pass that all Beets use these words without a scruple, and baptize or sprinkle * Se Christian Baptist, vol. vi. p. 2G8. 211 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. in this name; when more than once persons are commanded to be immersed/o?' the remission of sins, and but few of the proclaimcrs can be induced to immerse fur the remission of sins, though so repeatedly taught and proclaimed by the Apostles? Is one com- mand, unsupported by a single precedent, sufficient to justify this practice of Christians; and sundry commands and precedents from the same authority insufficient to authorize or justify us in immersing for the remission of sins? Answer this who can; I cannot, upon any other principle than that the tyrant Custom, who gives no account of his doings, has so decreed. I come now to another of the direct and positive testimonies of the Apostles, showing that immersion for the remission of sins is an institution of Jesus Christ. It is the address of Ananias to Saul: "Arise and be immersed, and wash away your sins, call- ing upon the name of the Lord." On this testimony we have not as yet drscanted in this essay. It has been mentioned, but not examined. Paul, like the Pentecostian hearers, when convinced of the truth of the pretensions of the Messiah, asked what lie hould do. He was commanded to go into Damascus, and it should be told him there what to do. It was told him in the words now before us. But, say some, this cannot be understood literally. Fur experiment, then, take it figuratively. Of what was it figur- ative ? Of something already received ? Of pardon formerly be- stowed ? A figure of the past !? This is anomalous. I find one writer, and but one, who converts this into a commemorative bap- tism, like Israel's commemorating the escape from Egypt, or Christians commemorating the Lord's death. And, if I do not mistake, some preacher said it was a figurative expression, simi- lar to " Tbie is my body" ! One, whom I pressed out of all re- fuges, was <*andid enough to say, he really did not know what it meant: but it could not mean that Paul was to "be baptized for the remission of his sins" ! " To wash away sins" is a figurative expression. Like other metaphoric expressions, it puts the resemblance in place of the proper word. It necessarily means something analogous to what is snid. But we are said to be washed from our sin in or by the blood of Christ. But even "washed in blood" is a figurative ex- prossion, and means something analogous to washing in water. Perhaps we may find in another expression a means of recon- ciling these strong metaphors. Rev. vii. 14: "They have Mashed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 215 HVrp are two things equally incomprehensible to wash garments white in Hood, and to wash away sins in water ! An efficacy is ascribed to water which it does not possess, and, as certainly, an efficacy is ascribed to blood which it does not possess. If blood can whiten or cleanse garments, certainly water can wash away sins. There is, then, a transferring of the efficacy of blood to water, and a transferring of the efficacy of water to blood. Thia if a plain solution of the whole matter. God has transferred, in some way, the whitening efficacy or cleansing power of water to blood, and the absolving or pardoning power of blood to water. This is done upon the same principle as that of accounting faith for righteousness. What a gracious institution! God has%penefd a fountain for sin, for moral pollution. He has given it an ex- tension far and wide as sin has spread far and wide as water flows. Wherever water, faith, and the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are, there will be found the efficacy of the blood of Jesus. Yes, as God first gave the efficacy of water to blood, he has now given the efficacy of blood to water. This, as was said, is figurative; but it is not a figure which misleads, for the meaning is given without a figure, viz.: immersion for the remis- sion of sins. And to him that made the washing of clay from the eyes the washing away of blindness, it is competent to make the immersion of the body in water efficacious to the washing away of sin from the conscience. From the conscience, I say; for there its malignity is felt; and it is only in releasing the conscience from guilt, and its conse- quences fear and shame, that we are released from the dominion of sin, or washed from its pollution in this world. Thus immer- sion, says Peter, saves us, not by cleansing the body from its filth, but the conscience from its guilt; yes, immersion saves ,us by burying us with Christ, raising us with him, and so our con- sciences are purified from dead, works to serve the living God. Hence our Lord gave so much importance to immersion in giving the commission to convert the world: "He that believes and in immersed shall be saved." But, while viewing the water and blood as made to unite their powers, as certainly as Jesus came by water and blood, we ought to consider another testimony given to this gracious combination wf powers, by Paul the Apostle: "Being sprinkled in heart from an evil conscience, and being washed in body with clean water."* * Hebrews x. 24. 216 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. The application of water, the cleansing element, to the body, is made in this gracious institution to reach the conscience, as did the blood of sprinkling under the law. Some ask, How can water, which penetrates not the skin, reach the conscience? They boast of such an objection, as exhibiting great intellect and good sense. But little do they think, that, in so talking, they laugh at and mock the whole Divine Economy, under the Old and New Institutions: for, I ask, did not the sacri- fices, and Jewish purifications, someway reach the conscience of that people? If they did not, it was all mere frivolity throughout. And can eating bread, and drinking wine, not influence nor affect the sodl? And cannot the breath of one man pierce the heart of another, and so move his blood, as to make his head a fountain of tears? He who thus objects to water, and the import of immer- sion, objects to the whole remedial institution, as taught by Moses and by Christ, and insults the wisdom and goodness of God in the whole scheme of salvation. And he who objects to water, because it can only take away the filth of the flesh, ought rather to object to blood ; because it rather besmears and pollutes than cleanses the body, and cannot touch the soul. But all such rea- soners are foolish talkers. To submit to God's institution is our wisdom, and our happiness. The experience of the myriads who were immersed for the remission of their sins, detailed in the Christian scriptures, to say nothing of those immersed in our times, is worth more than volumes of arguments from the lips and pens of those who can only regard and venerate the tradi- tions of their fathers; because it is presumed their fathers were wiser and more able to judge correctly than their sons. But as it is not our object to quote and expatiate upon all the sacred testimonies, direct and allusive, to immersion for the re- mission of sins, we shall close the proof and illustration of this proposition with an incidental allusion to the cleansing efficacy of this institution, found in the 2d Epistle of Peter.* After enu- merating the additions to faith necessary to secure our calling and election, of which courage is the first, and charity, or uni- versal love, the last ; the Apostle says, that " he who lias not these things is blind, shutting his eyes, and forgetting that he was purified from his old sins." I need not here say, that this- is, perhaps, (and certainly as far as I know,) universally understood to refer to Christian immersion. The "old sins," or "former * 2 Peter i. 8. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 217 sins," can, we presume, mean no other sins than those washed away in immersion. No person has yet attempted to show that tliese words? can import any thing else. It is one of the most unequivocal, and, because incidental, one of the most decisive proofs, that, in Peter's judgment, all former sins were remitted in immersion. With Peter we began our proof of this position, and with Peter we shall end our proof of it. He first proclaimed reformation for the remission of sins; and in his last and fare- well letters to the Christian communities he reminds them of that purification from sin, received in and through immersion ; and in the strongest terms cautions them against forgetting that they were so purified. Were any person to reason upon the simple import of the actiun commanded by Jesus, I think it might be made apparent from the action itself, in its two parts, the burial a/id the resurrec- tion, that it must import every thing which we have heard the Apostles ascribe to it. Corruption goes down into the grave literally, but does corruption come forth out of it? Is there no change uf state in the grave? Who is it that expects to come forth from the grave in the same state in which he descends into it? The first-born from the dead did not; nor shall any of them who fall as.leep in him. How, then, can it be, that any person buried with Christ in immersion can rise with Christ, and* not rise in a new state? ! Surely the Apostle exhorts to a new life from the change of state effected in immersion. " Since, indeed, you have risen with Christ, set your affections on things above." Walk in a new life. Again, and in the last place here, Is a child in the same state after as before its birth? Is not its state changed? And does it not live a new life, compared with its former mode of living? As new-born babes desire the milk of the breast, so let the newly- regenerate desire the unadulterated milk of the Word, that they may grow thereby. Call immersion, then, a new birth, a wash- ing of regeneration, or a resurrection, and its meaning is the same. And when so denominated, it must import that change of state which is imported in putting on Christ, in being par- doned, justified, sanctified, adopted, reconciled, saved, which was the great proposition to be proved and illustrated, and which we think has been proved and illustrated by the preceding testimo- nies and reflections. Though no article of Christian faith, nor item of Christian practice, cnn, legitimat'ely, rest upon any testimony, reasoning, 10 218 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. or authority, oat of the sacred writings of the Apostles, were it only one day after their decease: yet the views and practices of those who were the contemporaries or the pupils of the Apostles and their immediate successors may be adduced as corroborating evidence of the truths taught, and the practices enjoined, by the Apostles; and, as such, may be cited; still bearing in mind, that where the testimony of Apostles ends, Christian fa : th necessarily terminates. After this preliminary remark, I proceed to sustain the following proposition : PROP. XI. All the apostolical Fathers, as they are called ; all the pupils of the Apostles ; and all the ecclesiastical writers of note, of the first four Christian centuries, whose writings have come down to us ; allude to, and speak of, Christian immersion, as the " regeneration" and " remission of sins" spoken of in the Ktw Testament. This proposition I shall sustain by the testimony of those who have examined all Christian antiquity, and by citing the words of those usually called the Apostolic Fathers, and other distin- guished writers of the first four hundred years. We shall first summon one whose name is familiar throughout Christendom. Whether the writing be genuine or spurious, it is on all hands admitted to be a fragment of the highest antiquity : BARNABAS, In his catholic epistle, chapter xi., says, "Let ns now inqnire whether the Lord took care to manifest any thing beforehand, concerning water and the cross. Now, for the former of these, it is written to the people of Israel, how they shall not receive that baptism which brings to forgiveness of sins ; but shall institute another to themselves that cannot. For thus sakh the Prophet, ' Be astonished, O Heavens ! and let the earth tremble at it be- cause these people have done two great and wicked things; They have left me, the fountain of living waters, and have digged for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Is my holy mountain Zion a desolate wilderness ? For she shall be as a young bird when its nest is taken away.' " "Consider how he hath joined both the cross and the icater together. For this lie snith, 'Blessed are they who, putting their trust in the cross, descend 'A ihe water; for they shall have their reward in due time ; then, saith THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 219 he. will I give it them.' But as concerning the present time, he saith, 'Their leaves shall not fail.' Meaning thereby that every word that shall go out of your mouth shall through faith and charity be to the conversion and hope of many. In like manner does another Prophet speak : ' And the land of Jacob was the praise of all the earth ;' magnifying thereby the vessels of hi* Spirit. And what follows? ' And there was a river running on the right hand, and beautiful trees grew up by it; and he that shall eat of them shall live forever.' The signification of which is this : that we go down into the river full of sins and pollution; but come i/p again bringing forth fruit ; having in our hearts the fear and hope which are in Jesus by the Spirit: 'And whosoever shall eat of them shall live forever.' That is, whosoever shall hearken to those that call them, and shall believe, shall live forever." CLEMENT AND HERMAS. The former gives no testimony on the subject. The latter de- poses as follows.* In speaking of a tower built upon the water, by which he sig- nified the building of Christ's church, he thus speaks: "Hear, therefore, why tl.e tower is built on the waters: because yottf life is saved, and shall be saved, by water." In answer to the ques- tion, " Why did the stones come up into this tower out of the deep ?" he says it was necessary for them to come up by (or through) water, that they might be at rest; for they could not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God : for before any one re- ceives the name of the Son of God, he is liable to death ; but when he receives that seal, he is delivered from death and assigned to life. Now, that seal is water, into which persons go down liable to death, but come out of it assigned to life; for which reason to those also was this seal preached ; and they made use of it that thej might ente^the Kingdom of God." Both Clement and Hernias wrote about the end of the first or beginning of the second century. Hernias, moreover, deposes as follows, in another work of his, called " The Commands of Hernias. "f " And 1 said to him, I have even now heard, from certain teach- ers, that there Is no other repentance besides that of baptism ; * Book of Similitudes, chap. xvi. f Com. 4, chap. ili. 220 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. when we go down into the water, and receive the forgiveness of sins, and after that we should sin no more, but live in purity. And he said to me, Thou hast been rightly informed." Having closely and repeatedly examined the Epistles of Cle ment ; of Polycarp, to the Philippians ; of Ignatius, to the Ephe- eians ; that to the Magnesiahs; that to the Trallians, the Roman?, the Philadelphians, the Smyrnians, and his Epistle to Polycarp ; together with the catholic Epistle of Barnabas, and the genuine works of Ilermas, I can affirm that the preceding extracts are the only passages in all these writings that speak of immersion. Having heard the apostolic Fathers, as they are called, depose to the views of the pupils of the Apostles, down to A.D. 140; I will summon a very learned Pedobaptist antiquarian, who can bring forward every writer and Father, down to the fifth century; and, before we hear any of his witnesses, we shall interrogate him concerning his own convictions after he had spent many years in rummaging all Christian antiquity : TESTIMONY OF DR. W. WALL, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OP INFANT BAPTISM.* Pray, Doctor, have you examined all the primitive writers, from the death of John down to the fifth century t W. Wall. I have. And will you explicitly avow what was the established and universal view of all Christians, public and private, for four hun- dred years from the nativity of the Messiah, on the import of the saying, (John iii. 5,) "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, ho cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" ? W. Wall. " There is not any one Christian writer of any an- tiquity in any language, but who understands it of baptism; und, if it be not so understood, it i? difficult to give an account how a person is born of water, any more than born of wod." Did all the Christians, public and private, and all the Christian writers from Barnabas to the times of Pelagius, (419,) as far as you know, continue to use the term regenerate as only applicable to immersion ? W. Wall. "The Christians did, in all ancient times, continue the use of this name 'regeneration,' for baptism; so that they never use the word 'regenerate,' or ' born again,' but they mean * itb London edition, p. 116, TO!. 1. A J>. 1829. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 221 or denote by it, baptism. And almost all the quotations which I shall bring in this book shall be instances of it."* Did they not also substitute for "baptism" and "baptize," the words renewed, sanctified, sealed, enlightened, initiated, as well as regenerated ? W. Wall. " For to baptize, they used the following words : Most commonly, anagenituo, to regenerate ; sometimes, kainopoteo, to renew ; frequently, agiazo, to sanctify. Sometimes they call it the seal; and frequently, illninination, as it is also called, Ileb. vi. 4; and sometimes, telioisis, initiation."! "St. Austin, not less than a hundred times, expresses baptized by the word sanctijied."% We shall now see some of W. Wall's witnesses; and I choose rather to introduce them from his own pen, as he cannot be sup- posed partial to the views I have presented in this essay : JUSTIN MARTYR. Justin Martyr wrote about forty years after John the Apostle died, and stands most conspicuous among the primitive Fathers, lie addressed an apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius. In this apology he narrates the practices of the Christians, and the reasons of them. Concerning those who are persuaded and be- lieve the things which are taught, and who promise to live ac- cording to them, he writes: " Then we bring them to some place where there is water, and they are regenerated by the same way of regeneration by which we were regenerated: for they are washed in water (en to ndati) in the name of God the Father and Lord of all things, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit; for Christ says, IJnlesi-i you be regenerated you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; arid everybody knows it is impossible for those who are once generated (or born) to enter again into their mother's womb." " It was foretold by Isaiah, as I said, by what means they who should repent of their sins might escape them ; and was written in these words, 'Wash you, make you cleati, put away the evil,'" &c. " And we have been taught by the Apostles this reason for this thinjr. Because we, being ignorant of our first birth, were gene- rated by necessity (or course of nature) and have been brought Vol. i. p. 24. t Vol. i. p. 8. * "age 191. 222 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. up in all customs and conversation ; that we should not jontinue children ol that n -cessity and ignorance, but of will (or choice) and knowledge, and should obta \\fvryioeiuisii oj the at/t* in winch they have lived, by water, (or in water.) Then i.s invoked o\er him that has a mind to be regenerated, the name of God the Father, &c. And this washing is called the enlightening." As you trace the history of infant baptism, Mr. Wall, as nijrh the apostolic times as possible, pray, why do you quote J i.stin Martyr, who never mentions it? W. Wall. "Because his is the most ancient account of the way of baptizing, next the scripture ; and shows the plain and simple manner of administering it. Because it shows that t . (Jlmsiians of those times (many of whom lived in the days of tlie Apostles) used the word 'regeneration 1 (or 'being born again') for bap- tism; and that they were taught to do so by the Apostles. , And because we see by it that they understood John iii. 5, of water baptism; and so did all the writers of these four hundred years, NOT OXE MAN EXCEPTED." p. 54. Did any of the ancients use the word matheteneo (to disciple) ns it is used in the commission ; or did they call the baptized dis- cipled ? W. Wall. "Justin Martyr, in his second apology to Antoninus, uses it. His words are, ' Several persons among us, of sixty and seventy years old, of both sexes, who were diacipled (ma- thettueo) to Christ, in or from their childhood, do continue uncor- rupted." p. 54. So soon as they began to mysticize, they began to teach that immersion without faith would obtain remission of sins, and that immersion without faith was regeneration. Then came the de- bates about original sin: and so soon as original sin was proved, then came the necessity of infant immersion for the remission of original sin. And so undisputed was the import of baptism for remission, that when the Peliigians denied original sin, pressed with the difficulty, "why immerse those who have no sins?" they were pushed to invent actual sins for infants ; such as their crying, peevishness, restlessness, &c., on account of which sins they sup- posed that infants might with propriety be immersed, though they had no original sin. TERTULLIAN. Tertullian, the first who mentions infant baptism, flourished about A. D. 216. He writes against the practice ; and among hia THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 223 most conclusive arguments against infant immersion, (for then there was no sprinkling,) he assumes, as a fundamental principle not to be questioned, that immersion was for the remission of sins ; and, this being universally conceded, he argues as follows : "Our Lord says, indeed, 'Do not forbid them to come to me ;' therefore, let them come when they are grown up let them come when they understand when they are instructed whither it is that they come. Let them be made Christians when they can know Christ. What need their guiltless age make such liable to the forgiveness of sins? Men will proceed mere warily in worldly goods ; and he that should not have earthly goods committed to him yet shall have heavenly ! Let them know how to desire this salvation, that you may appear to have given to one that asketh." p. 74. ORIGEN. Origen, though so great a visionary, is, nevertheless, a com- petent witness in any question of fact. And here I would again remind the reader, that it is as witnesses in a question of fact, and not of opinion, we summon these ancients. It is not to tell their own opinions, nor the reasons of them, but to depose what were the views of Christians on this institution in their times. There was no controversy on this subject for more than four hundred years, and therefore we expect only to find incidental allusions to it; but these are numerous, and of the most unques- tionable character. Origen, in his homily upon Luke, says, " Infants are baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. Of what sins? Or when have they sinned? Or how can any reason of the law, in their case, hold good, but according to that sense that we mentioned even now? (that is) none is free from pollu- tion, though his life be but the length of one day upon the earth." And in another place he says, that " The baptism of the church is given for the forgiveness of sins." And again " If there were nothing in infants that wanted forgiveness and mercy, the grace of baptism would be needless to them." In another pluce he says, " But in the regeneration, (or new birth.) by the hirer, (or bap- tism.) every one that is born again of water and the Spirit ia 224 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. clear from pollution : clear (as I may venture to say) as by a gla darkly." p. 82. But now let me ask Dr. Wall, Do Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom, and St. Austin, concur with all their pre- decessors in those views of regeneration and remission ? W. Wall. " Yes, exactly. I have observed, among the several names which the ancients give to baptism, they often by this phrase, ' the forgiveness of sins,' do mean the sacrament of bap- tism." p. 179. And as for Chrysostom, he expressly says, "In baptism, or the spiritual circumcision, there is no trouble to be undergone but to throw off the load of sins, and to receive par- don for all foregoing offences." p. 182. And again: "There is no receiving or having the bequeathed inheritance before one i baptized ; and none can be called a son till he is baptized." p. 183. The controversy about infant baptism and original sin were contemporaneous ; and just so soon as they decided the nature and extent of original sin, baptism for the remission of sins was given to infants because of this pollution, and defended because of the necessity of regeneration and forgiveness to salvation ; and because immersion was universally admitted to be the scriptural regeneration and remission. In this way, there is no reasonable doubt but infant baptism began ; and for convenience' sake, as Dr. Wall contends, it was substituted by infant sprinkling. Unless wo were to transcribe all the testimonies of antiquity, one by one, no greater assurance can be given, that, for more than four hundred years after Christ, all writers, orthodox and hetero- dox, Pelagius and Austin not excepted, concurred in the preced- ing views. Were I to summon others Eusebius, Dupin, Light- foot, and Hammond, cum muliis aliis, will depose the same. This proposition we will dismiss with the testimony of the most renowned of the bishops of Africa. I etraot it from a work now generally read, called the " History of the Martyrs." It is from the account Cyprian gives of his conversion, p. 317. CYPRIAN. " While (says he) I lay in darkness and uncertainty, I thought on what I had heard of a second birth, proposed by the divine goodness; but could not comprehend how a man could receive a new life from his being immersed in water, ccaso to be what ho was before, and still remain the same body. How, said I, can THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 225 such a change be possible? How can he who is grown old in a worldly way of living strip himself of his luruier inclinations and inveterate habits? Can he who has spent his whole time in plenty, and indulged his appetite without restraint, ever be trans- formed into an example of frugality and sobriety ? Or he who Las always appeared in splendid apparel stoop to the plain, sim- ple, and unornamented dress of the common people ? It is impos- sible for a man who has borne the most honorable posts ever to submit to lead a private and obscure life; or that he who was never seen in public without a crowd of attendants, and persons who endeavored to make their fortunes by attending him, should ever bear to be alone. This (continues he) was my way of ar- guing: I thought it was impossible for me to leave my former course of life, and the habits I was then engaged in and accus- tomed to: but no sooner did the life-giving water wash the spots off my soul, than my heart received the heavenly light of the Holy Spirit, which transformed me into a new creature ; all my difficulties were cleared, my doubts dissolved, and my darkness dispelled. I was then able to do what before seemed impojs.bl; ; could discern that my former life was earthly and sinful, accord- ing to the impurity of my birth ; but that my spiritual birth gave me new ideas and inclinations, and directed all my views to God." Cyprian flourished A.D. 250. PROP. XII. But even the reformed creeds, Episcopalian, Presbyte- rian, M.t.'iodut, and Baptist, substantially avow tlie name clews of iinniemion, though apparently afraid to carry them out in Jaith and practice. This proposition will be sustained by an extract from the creed of each of these sects. EPISCOPALIAN. The clergy are ordered, before proceeding to baptize, tc make the following prayer.* " Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great merc\ - didst save Noali and his family in the Ark from perishing by water; and also didsc safely lead the children of Israel thy people through * Common Prayer, p. 165. 226 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. the Red Sea ; figuring thereby the holy baptism ; and, by the bap- tisni of thy well-beloved Son Jes-us Christ in the river Jordan, didst sanctify th element of water, in the mystical washing away of sin ; we beseech thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon these thy servants ; wash them and sanc- tify them with the Holy Ghost ; that they, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the Ark of Christ's Church ; and, being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life ; there to reign with thee, world without end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." After reading a part of the discourse with Nicodemus, they are ordered to make the following exhortation.* " Beloved, ye hear in this gospel the express words of our Sa- viour Christ, that except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Whereby ye may perceive the great necessity of this sacrament, where it may be had. Likewise immediately before his ascension into Heaven, (as we read in the last chapter of St. Mark's Gospel,) he gave command to his disciples, saying, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is bap- tized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Which also showeth unto us the great benefit we reap thereby. For which cause St. Peter, the Apostle, when, upon his first preaching of the gospel, many were pricked at the heart, and said to him and the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? replied, and said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: for the promise is to you and your chil- dren, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words exhorted he them, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. For, as the same Apostle testifieth in another place, even baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,) by the resurrec- tion of Jesus Christ. Doubt ye not, therefore, but earnestly be- lieve, that he will favorably receive these present persons, truly repenting, and coming unto him by faith ; that he will grant them remission of their sins, and bestow upon them the Holy Ghost; that he will give them the blessings of eternal life, and make them partakers of his everlasting kingdom." * Page 165. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 227 This, I need not add, is in accordance with the sentiments ad- vanced in this essay. What a pity that the Episcopal Church d-es not believe and practise her own creed! PRESBYTERIAN. The Presbyterian Confession, on Baptism, xxviii. sec. 1, de- clares that " Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party bap- tized into the visible church ; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his engrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacra- ment is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in his church until the end of the world." "A sign and seal of remission of sins I" This is much nigher the truth than this church seems to be apprized of. However, she cannot believe her own creed ; for she does not believe that baptism is a sign and a seal of remission of sins, nor of regene- ration in her own sense of it, to her baptized or sprinkled infants; but in paying any regard to the Scriptures, she could not say less than she has said. It is no wonder that many sectaries cannot bo> persuaded to think that the scriptures mean what they say: for they are so much accustomed to say what they do not mean, that they cannot think God does mean what he says. METHODIST. The Methodist Creed says " Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin, (and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but live in sin, committing many actual transgressions:) and that our Saviour Christ saith, None shall enter into the Kingdom of God, except he be regene- rate and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost ; I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous goodness he will grant to these persons that which by nature they cannot have; that they may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy church, and made lively members of the samo." 228 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Then it is ordained that the minister say, or repeat, the follow- ing prayer : "Almighty and immortal God, the aid of all that need, the helper of aJ that flee to thee for succor, the life of them that be- lieve, and the resurrection of the dead: We call upon thce for these persons; that they, coming to thy holy baptism, may receive r -mission of their sins by spiritual regeneration. Receive them, L'>rd, as thou hast promi e.l by thy well-beloved Son, s-iying, Ask, urn! ye shal receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall b opened unto y>u: so give unto us that .ask : let us that seek, find: opi-n the g-ite unto us that knock; that these persons may enjoy the everlasiing benediction of the heavenly washing, and may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Christ our Lord. Amen." Dix., p. 105. Thus the Methodist creed and church are nearly as scriptural as the church from which they sprang. She prays for those to be baptized, that in baptism they may receive the remission of sins ! Does she believe what she says ? BAPTIST. Chapter XXX. Section 1. "Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resur- rection ; of his being engrafted into him ; of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, tj live and walk in newness of life." The Baptist fallows the Presbyterian church as servilely as the Methodist church follows the English hierarchy. But she avows her faith that immersion is a sign of remission. A sign of the past, the present, or the future! A sign accompanying! The Confession of Bohemia. " We believe that whatsoever by baptism is in the outward ceremony signified and witnessed, all that doth the Lord God perform inwardly. That is, he washeth away sin, begetteth a man again, and bestoweth salvation upon him ; for the bestowing of these excellent fruits was holy baptism given and granted to the church." The Confession of Augsburg. "Concerning baptism, they teach that it is necessary to salvation, as a ceremony ordained of Christ: also, by baptism the grace of God is offered." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 229 The Confession of Saxony. " I bnptize thee that is, I do wit- ness that by this dipping thy sins be washed away, and that thou art now received of the true God." The Confession of WUtenburg. " We believe and confess that baptism is that sea, into the bottom whereof, as the Prophet saith, God doth cast all our sins." The Confession of Helvetia. "To be baptized in the name of Christ is to be enrolled, entered, and received into the covenant and family, and so into the inheritance, of the sons of God ; that is to say, to be called the sons of God, to be purged also from the filthiuess of sins, and to be endued with the manifold grace of God, and to lead a new and innocent life." The Confession of Sueveland. "As touching baptism, we con. fess that it is the font of regeneration, washeth away sins, and saveth us. But all these things we do understand as St. Peter doth interpret them. 1 Peter iii. 21." Westminster Assembly. "Before baptism the minister is to use some words of instruction showing that it is instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ; that it is a seal of the covenant of grace, of our engrafting into Christ, and of our union with him, of remis- sion of sins, regeneration, and life eternal." Toe Roman Catholic and the Greek church say, " We believe in one baptism for the remission of sins." Calvin makes remission the principal thing in Baptism.* " Baptism," says he, " resembles a legal instrument properly attested, by which he assures us that all our sins are cancelled, effaced, and obliterated, so that they will never appear in his sight, or come into his remembrance, or be imputed to us. For he com- mands all who believe, to be baptized for the remission of their sins. Therefore, those who have imagined that baptism is nothing more than a mark or sign by which we profess our religion before men, as soldiers wear the insignia of their sovereign as a mark of their profession, have not considered that which was the principal thing in baptism ; which is, that we ought to receive it with this promise He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 4> The ancient Christian church, from the highest antiquity, after the apostolic times, appears generally to have thought that baptism is absolutely necessary for all that would be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ."f * Intt. 1. 4, cxv. p. 327. t Vitrlng*, torn, t 50, ii. c. , 9. 230 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. " Most of the ancients concluded that baptism was no less ne- cessary unto salvation than faith or repentance itself."* John Wesley, in his comment on the New Testament, (p. 250,) speaks plainer than either the Methodist Discipline, or the Re- gular Baptist Confession. His words are : " Baptism, adminis- tered to real penitents, is both a means and a seal of pardon. Ncr did God ordinarily in the primitive church bestow this (pardon) on any, unless through this means." This is almost, if not alto- gether, as much as we have said on the forgiveness of sins through immersion. May we not say that we have sustained this last proposition tc the full extent of the terms thereof? With the testimony of John Wesley, the last of the reformers, I close my list of human vouchers for the import of Christian immersion. This list I could swell greatly ; for, indeed, I have been quite disappointed in looking back into creeds, councils, commentators, and reformers, ancient ami modern. I begin to fear that I shall be suspected to have come to the conclusions which I have exhibited, from consulting human writings, creeds, and reformers. My fears are not that we, who plead for refor- mation, may appear to have nothing original to offer in this re- formation ; that we are mere gleaners in the fields which other minds have cultivated. It is not on this account our fears are excited, for the reformation we plead is not characterized by new and original ideas, or human inventions; but by a return to the original ideas and institutions developed in the New Institution. But we fear lest any should suspect the views offered to be a human invention or tradition ; because we have found so much Countenance for them in the works of the most ancient and re- nowned Christian writers, and the creeds of ancient and modern reformers. We can assure our readers, however, that we have been led to these conclusions by the simple perusal, the unpre- judiced and impartial examination, of the New Testament alone. And we may add, that we are as much astonished as any reader of this essay can he, to find such a cloud of witnesses to the truth and importance of the views offered. The propositions now proved and illustrated must convince all that there is some connection between immersion and the for- giveness of sins. What that connection is, may be disputed by some: but that auch a connection exists, none can dispute, who * Owen on Justification, c. ii. p. 183. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 231 acknowledge the New Testament to contain a divine communica- tion to man. With John Wesley, we say, it is "to the believing the means and seal of pardon for all previous offences;" and we not only say we think so, but we preach it as such, and practise it as such. Those who think of any other connection would do well to attempt to form clear ideas of what they mean; for we are assured there is no meaning in any other connection. To make it a commemorative sign of past remission is an outrage upon all rules of interpretation, and a perfect .anomaly in all the revelation of God. To make it, prospectively, the sign of a future remission, is liable to the same exceptions. Nothing remains but that it be considered what it is in truth the accompanying sign of an ac- companying remission ; the sign and the seal, or the means and the seal, of remission then granted through the water, connected with the blood of Jesus, by the divine appointment, arid through our faith in it. We have heard some objections, and we can conceive of others which may be presented, to immersion for the remission of sins. There can be objections made to any person, doctrine, sentiment, or practice, natural, moral, political, or religious, that ever ex- isted. But, notwithstanding all the objections made to every thing, there are thousands of matters and tilings we hold to be facts and truths indubitable. Among these certain and sure things, not to be shaken, is this Christian institution. We will state and examine some objections partially noticed already; but, because they are the most common, or may become common, we will bestow upon them a formal statement and a formal refutation. Objection 1. "To make the attainment and the enjoyment of present salvation, pardon, justification, sanctification, reconcilia- tion, adoption, dependent upon the contingency of water being present, or accessible, is beneath the dignity and character of a salvation from God." And to make the attainment and the enjoyment of present salvation, pardon, &c. dependent upon the contingency of faith being present or accessible upon the blood of Jesus Christ being heard of, or known is equally objectionable; for what is faith but the belief of testimony? Or what is it in the most popular sense but something wrought in the heart, a compound of knowledge and feeling, of assent and consent? And are not both bluod and faith less accessible to mankind than the element of water? How 232 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. much more water than faith, or than candidates for immersion I And is there not as much power, wisdom, and goodness of God in creating water, as in creating air, words, letters, faifch, &c.? Is not water more universal than language, words, books, preachers, faith, &c.? This objection lies as much against any one means of salvation as another; nay, against all means of salvation. Whenever a case shall occur of much faith and little water; or of a little faith and no water, we will repel it by other arguments than these. Objection 2. " It makes void the value, excellency, and im- portance of both faith and grace." By no means. If a man say, with Paul, we are justified by faith, does it follow that grace is made void ? Or if one say we are justified by grace, does it make the blood of Christ of non-effect? Or if, with Paul, a man say we are justified by his blood, does it make faith, repentance, and grace of no effect? Nay, indeed, this gives to faith its proper place and its due value. It makes it the principle of action. It brings us to the water, to Christ, and to heaven. But it is a principle of action only. It was not Abel's faith in his head or heart, but Abel's faith at the altar, which obtained such reputation. It was not Enoch's faith in principle, but Enoch's faith in his walk with God, which translated him to heaven. It was not Noah's f.iith in God's pro- mise and threatening, but his faith exhibited in building an ark, which saved himself and family from the Deluge, and made him an heir of a new world, an heir of righteousness. It was not Abraham's faith in God's call, but his going out in obedience to that call, that first distinguished him as a pilgrim, and began his reputation. It was not faith in God's promise that Jericho should fall but that faith carried out in the blowing of ram ' horns, which laid its walls in ruins, &c. It is not our faith in God's promise of remission, but our going down into the water, that obtains the remission of sins. But any one may see why faith has so much praise, and is of so much value. Because, without it, Abel would not have offered more sacrifices than Cain; Enoch would not have walked with God; Noah would not have built an ark; Abraham would not have left Ur of the Chaldees, nor offered up his son upon the altar. Without it, Israel would not have passed through the wilderness, nor crossed the Jordan ; and without it none receive the remission of their sins in immersion. And again, we would remind the reader that, when he talks of being saved by THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 233 faith, he should tear in mind that grace is not lost sight of; nor blood, nor water, nor reformation discarded. We enter the kingdom of nature by being born of the flesh. We enter the kingdom of heaven, or come under the reign of Jesus Christ, in this life, by being born of water and the Spirit. We enter the kingdom of eternal glory by being born again from the earth, and neither by faith, nor the first regeneration. Neither by faith, nor baptism ; but by being counted worthy of the resur- rection of the just. "I was hungry, and you fed me." Not be- oause you believed, or were born of water; but because '*! was hungry, and you fed me," &c. There are three births, three kingdoms, and three salvations: one from the womb of our first mother, one from the water, and one from the grave. We enter a new world on, and not before, each birth. The present animal life, at the first birth ; the spi- ritual, or the life of God in our souls, at the second birth ; and the life eternal in the presence of God, at the third birth. And he who dreams of entering the second kingdom, or coming under the dominion of Jesus, without the second birth, may, to complete his error, dream of entering the kingdom of glory without a resurrec- tion from the dead. Grace precedes all these births shines in all the kingdoms; but will be glorified in the third. Sense is the principle of action in the first kingdom ; faith, in the second ; and sight spiritual, in the third. The first salvation is that of the boHy from the dangers and ills of life; and God is thus "the Saviour of all men." The second salvation is that of the soul from sin. The third is that of both soul and body united, delivered from moral and natural corruption, and introduced into the presence of God, when God shall be all in all. Objection 3. " It is so uncharitable to the protestant Pedo- baptists!" And how uncharitable are the Pedobaptists to the Jews, Turks, and Pagans 1 Will they promise present salvation from the guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin, with the well-grounded hope of heaven, to Jews, Turks, Pagans, or even Roman Catho- lics? Or will the Roman Catholics to them? How uncharitable are they who cry " uncharitable" to us! Infants, idiots, deaf and dumb persons, innocent Pagans wherever they can be found, with all the pious Pedobaptists, we commend to the mercy of God. But such of them as wilfully denpise this salvation, and who, 20* 234 7HE CHRISTIAJS- SYSTEM. having the opportunity to be immersed for the remission of their sins, wilfully despise or refuse, we have as little hope for them as they have for all who refuse salvation on their own terms of the gospel. While they inveigh against us for laying a scriptural and natural stress upon immersion, do we not see that they lay as great, though an unscriptural and irrational, stress npon their baptism or sprinkling ; so much so as to give it, without faith, even to infants, so soon as they are born of the flesh? Objection 4. "But do not many of them enjoy the present sal- vation of God?" How far they may be happy in the peace of God, and the hope of heaven, I presume not to say. And we know so much of human nature as to say, that he that imagines himself pardoned will feel as happy ns he that is really so. But one thing we do know, that none can rationally and wit.h certainty enjoy the peace of God, and the 'hope of heaven, but they who intelligently and in full faith are born of water, or immersed for the remission of their sins. And as the testimony of God, and not conceit, imagi- nation, nor our reasoning upon what passes in our minds, is the ground of our certainty, we see and feel that we have an assur- ance which they cannot have. And we have this advantage over them; we once stood upon their ground, had their hopes, felt their assurance; but they have not stood upon our ground, nor felt our assurance. Moreover^ the experience of the first converts shows the difference between their immersion, and the immersion, or sprinklings, of modern gospels. Objection 5. ''This has been so long concealed from the peo- ple, and so lately brought to our view, that we cannot acquiesce in it." This objection would have made unavailing every attempt at reformation, or illumination of the mind, or change in the condi- tion and enjoyments of society, ever attempted. Besides, do not the experience of all the religious the observation of the intelli- gent the practical result of all creeds, reformations, and im- provements and the expectations and longings of society war- rant the conclusion that either some new revelation, or some new development of the revelation of God, must be made, before the hopes and expectations of all true Christians can be realized, or Christianity save and reform the nations of this world? We want the old gospel back, and sustained by the ancient order of things : and this alone, by the blessing of the Divine Spirit, ia all that we do want, or can expect, to reform and save the world, THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 28$ And if this gospel, as proclaimed and enforced on Pentecost, cannot do this, vain are the hopes, and disappointed must be tho expectations, of the so-called Christian world. RECAPITULATION. As Christian faith rests upon, and Christian practice proceeds from, the testimony of God, and not from the reasonings of men, I will, in this recapitulation, only call up the evidences on one single proposition, assumed, sustained, and illustrated in the preceding pages ; and that is the ninth proposition, as sustained by the apostolic testimony. We wish to leave before the mind of the intelligent reader the great importance attached to Christian immersion, as presented in the Evangelists, the Acts, and the Epistles. 1. In the Evangelists it is called the forgiveness of sins. Mat- thew and Mark introduce the Messiah in his own person in giving the commission. Luke does not. Matthew presents Jesus saying, "Go, convert the nations, immersing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things which I have commanded you." This, of course, in order to salvation. Mark presents him saying, "Go into all the world, proclaim the glad tidings to the whole creation ; and he who believes, and is immersed, shall be saved ; but he who believes not shall be condemned." Luke, however, does not introduce the Lord in his own person in giving the charge; but records it, in his own conception of it, in the following words: that "reformation and forgiveness of sins should be announced in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." No person, we presume, will question but that Luke thus records the com- mission ; and, if so, then it is indisputable that, as Luke neither mentions faith nor immersion, he substitutes for them the re- ceived import of both, when and where he wrote. Metonyinically he places repentance, or rather reformation, for faith ; and remis- sion of sins, for immersion. In Luke's acceptation and time for- giveness of sins stood for immersion, and reformation for faith, the effect for the means or cause. The only reference to the com- mission found in John occurs xx. 21: "As the Father hath sent me, so send I you : whose sins soever you remit are remitted to them ; and whose sins soever you retain are retained " Here is neither faith, repentance, nor baptism; but tho object, remission 236 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. of sins, is literally proposed. In the commission, salvation is at- tached by the Lord Jesus to faith an 1 immersion into his name. He that believes, and is immersed, shall be saved. Thus immer- sion is taught in the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 2 In the Acts of the Apostles Sermon 1, Peter says, " Reform and be immersed, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Sermon 2, he says, " Reform and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out; that seasons of re- freshment from the presence of the Lord may come, and that he mny send Jesus," &c. In the same discourse he says, "God having raised up his Son Jesus, has sent him to bless you, every one of you, turning from his iniquities." In his 3d Sermon, re- corded Acts x., he says, " To him all the Prophets bear witness, ihat every one who believes in him shall receive remission of sins by his name." Paul at Antioch, in Pi&idia, declares, that through Jesus was proclaimed the remission of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things. Ananias commanded Paul to arise and be immersed, and to wash away his sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. Thus it is spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles. 3. In the Epistles The Romans are said to have been immersed into Christ Jesus into his death; to have been buried with him, and consequently to have risen with him, and to walk in a new life. The Corinthians are said to have been washed, justified, and sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. The Galatians "were immersed into Christ, and had put him on." The Ephesians were married to Christ, by immersion, as brides were wont to be washed in order to their nuptials. The assembly of the disciples, called the congregation of the Lord, making the bride of Christ, were said to be cleansed by tJie bath of water and the word. The Colossians were buried with Christ, raised with him, and are said to have been forgiven all trespasses, when they were raised with him, where their resur- rection with Jesus and their having all sins forgiven are connect- ed.* All the saints are said to be saved by immersion, or "the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit."f The believing Jews hud their hearts sprinkled from an evil con- science, and their bodies washed with clean water, or water which made clean. 'Peter taught all the saints in Pontus, Gala- ColoMlnns 11. 11, 13, U. t Tltui 111. 6. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 237 tia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, that the water of baptism saved them, as the water of the deluge saved Noah in the ark, and that in immersion a person was purged from all his former sins. And John the Apostle represents the saved as having "washed their r< bes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," and all the baptized little children as " having their sins forgiven." Such are the evidences found in the Epistles. How numerous! how clear! and how unequivocal ! Are wo not, then, warranted to say, Except a man be regenerated of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God? and that all who, believing, are immersed for the remission of their sins, have the remission of their sins in and through immersion ? CONCLUSION. A word to the regenerated. You have experienced the truth of the promise ; and, being introduced by that promise, you have become, like Isaac, children of promise. You heard the testimony of God concerning Jesus of Nazareth, and you believed it. You were, in consequence of your faith, so disposed towards the per- son of Jesus, as to be willing to put yoilrselves under his guid- ance. This faith, and this will, brought you to the water. You were not ashamed nor afraid to confess him before men. You solemnly declared youfjkgarded him as God's only Son, and the Saviour of men. You vowed allegiance to him. Down into the water you were led. Then the name of the Holy One upon your faith, and upon your person, was pronounced. You were then buried in the water under that name. It closed itself upon you. In its womb you were concealed. Into the Lord, as in the water, you were immersed. But in the water you continued not. Of it you were born, and from it you came forth, raised with Jesus, and rising in his strength. There your consciences were released ; for there your old sins were washed away. And, although you re- ceived not the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which confirmed the tes- timony of the first disciples, you felt the powers of the world to come, were enlightened, and tasted the bounty of God : for sea- sons of ^refreshment from the presence of God came upon you. Your hearts were sprinkled from evil consciences, when your bodies were washed in the cleansing water. Then into the king- dom of Jesus you entered. The King of righteousness, of peace and joy, extended his sceptre over you, and, sanctified in state 238 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM-. and in your whole person, you rejoiced in the Lord with joy un- speakable arid full of glory. Bring washed, you were sanctified, as well as acquitted. And now you find yourselves under the great Advocate, so that sin cannot lord it over you : for you always look to the great Advocate to intercede for you ; and thus, if sin should overtake you, you confess and forsake it, and always find inerey. Adopted thus into the family of God, you have not only received the name, the rank, and the dignity, but also the spirit of a son of God, and find, as such, that you are kings, priests, and heirs of God. You now feel that all things are yours, be- cause you are Christ's and Christ is God's. The hope of the coming regeneration of the heavens and the earlh, at the resur- rection of the just, animates you. You look for the redemption, the adoption of your bodies, and their transfiguration. For this reason, you purify yourselves even as he is pure. Be zealous, then, children of God: publish the excellencies of him who has called you into this marvellous light and bliss. Be diligent, that you may receive the crown that never fades, and that you may eat of the tree of life, which grows in the midst of the Paradise of God. If you suffer with Jesus, you will reign with him. If you should deny him, he will deny you. Add, then, to your faith, courage, knowledge, temperance, patienco, brotherly kindness, and universal benevolence; for, if you continue in these tilings and abound, you shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the know- ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chjjfit. But, should you be deficient in these things, your light win be obscured, and a for- getfulness that you have been purified from your old sins will come upon you. Do, then, brethren, labor to make your calling and election sure; for thus practising you shall never fall, but shall have an easy and abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A word to the unregenerate. Among you are sundry classes of character. Some of you who believe the gospel, and are changed in heart, quickened by the Spirit, are not generally ranked among the unregenerate. In the popular sense of this term, you are regenerate. But we use it in its scriptural acceptation. Like Nicodemus, and like Joseph of Arimathea, you believe in Jesus, ami are willing to take lessons from him in the chambers. You have confidence in his mission, respect and venerate, and even love, his person ; and would desire to be under his government. Marvel not that I say to you, You must be born ai/ain. Pious as you are supposed to be, and as you may think yourselves to be. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 239 unless you arc born again YOU cannot enter the Kingdom of Goil. Cornelius and his family were as devout and pious as any of you. " He feared God, gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God continually." Yet, mark it well, I beseech you, it was necessary " to tell him words by which himself and his house might be saved." These words were told him : he believed them, and received the Holy Spirit ; yet still he must be born again. For a person cannot be said to be horn again of any thing iclnch he receives; and still less of miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. lie was immersed, and into the Kingdom of God he came. He was then saved. You need not ask how or why these things are so. Do as Cornelius did, and then you will think of it in another light, then }~ou would not for the world he unregene- rate. To have the pledge, the promise and seal of God, of the remission of all your sins ; to be adopted into his family, and to receive the spirit of a son of God, be assured, my pious friends, are matters of no every-day occurrence ; and when you feel your- selves constitutionally invested with all these blessings, in God's own way, you will say " that his ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts ; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts." It is hard to make a slave feel and act as a freeman. As difficult we often find it to make the unregenerate feel and know the value and importance of regeneration. But the regenerate would not be unregenerate for the universe. God has one way of bestowing every thing. We cannot gather grapes off thorns, nor figs off thistles. The reason is, there they do not grow. We can tell no other reason why they do not grow there, but that they do not grow there. We can not have any blessing, but in God's own way of giving it. We cannot find wool save on the back of the sheep, nor silk save from the worm which spins it from itself. Corn and wheat cannot he obtained save from those plants which yield them. Without the plant we cannot have the fruit. This is the economy of the whole material system. And in the world of spirits, and spiritual influences, is it not the same? .Moral law is as unchangeable as the laws of nature. Moral means and ends are as inseparable as natural moans and ends. God cannot bestow grace upon the proud, and cannot withhold it from the humble. lie does not do it, and that is enough. He could shower down wheat and corn, and give us rivers of m'lk and wine, were it a question of m^re power, liut taking all together, his wisdom, power, and goodness, he cannot do it. So neither can he give us faith without testimony, hope without a promise, love without an amiable object, peace without purity, nor heaven without holiness. He cannot give to the unborn infant the light of the sun, the vivacity which the air imparts, nor the agility and activity which liberty bestows. He does not do it, and therefore we say, he cannot do it. Neither can he bestow the blessings of the Reign of Heaven upon those who are children of disobedience. I know how reluctant men are to submit to God's government; and yet they must all bow to it at last. " To Jesus every knee shall bow, and to him every tongue confess." But they will ob- ject to bowing now, and torture invention for excuses. They will tell me, all that I have said is true of natural and moral means and ends ; but immersion is not a moral means, because God for- gave sins and saved men before immersion was appointed. " It is & positive and not a moral institution." And is there no moral influence connected with positive institutions? A written law is a positive inslitution ; for moral law existed before written. But because it has become a positive institution, has its moral power ceased ? The moral influence of all positive institutions is God's WILL expressed in them. And it matters not whether it be the eating or not eating of an apple : the building of an altar, or the building it with or without the aid of iron tools ; the offering of a kid, a lamb, a bullock, or a pigeon : it is just as morally binding and has the same moral influence, as " You shall honor your father and mother;" or "You shall not kill." It is THE WILL OF GOD in any institution, which gives it all its moral and physical power. No man could now be pardoned as Abel was as Enoch was as David was as the thief upon the cross was. These all lived before the second will of- God was declared. He took away " the first will," says Paul, " that he might establish the second will," by which we are sanctified ! We are not pardoned as were the Jews or the Patriarchs. It was not till Jesus was buried and rose again, that an acceptable offering for sin was presented in the heavens. By one offering up of himself, he has perfected the conscience of the immersed or sanctified. Since his oblation, a new institution for remission has been appointed. You need not flatter yourselves that God will save or pardon you except for Christ's sake; and if his name is not assumed by you, if you have not put him on, if you have not come under his advocacy, you have not the name of Christ to plead, nor his intercession on your bphalf and, therefore, for Christ's sake you cannot be lor- THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 241 given. Could Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, think you. if living now, uld they, I ask, find 'orgiveness at the altar? And will you imagine that he, who honored every insti- tution by Muses, b. ronn cting rewards and punishments with the obe-di:'tice <>r <1 s ibod '"nc of his eomm vnds, will bo less jealous for tin; honor of the institution of his Son? And will that Son, who, for no < >ther inri>os.- than to honor i is Father's institution, was immersed in the Jordan, bestow pardon or salvation upon any who refuses to honor him, and him that sent him? He has been graciously pleased to adapt means to ends. He has commanded immersion for the remission of sins; and think you that he will change his institution, because of your stubborn, intractable dis- positions ? As well, as reasonably, might you pray for loaves from heaven, or manna, because Israel eat in the desert, as to pray for pardon while you refuse the remission of sins by immersion. Demur not because of the simplicity of the tiling. Remember how simple was the eating of the fruit of that tree "whose mor- tal taste brought death into the world ami all our woe." How simple was the rod in the hand of Moses, when stretched over E^ypt and the Red Sea! How simple was looking at the brazen scrpsnt! And how simple are all God's institutions ! How sim- ple the aliments of nature! the poisons, too, and their remedies! Where the will of God is, there is omnipotence. It was simple to speak the universe into existence. But God's will gives effi- cacy to every thing. And obedience ever was, and ever will be, the happiness of man. It is the happiness of heaven. It is God's philanthropy which has given us something to obey. To the angels who sinned ho has given no command. It was gracious to give us a command to live a command to reform a command to be born again to live forever. Remember, light and life first came by obedience. If God's voice had not been obeyed, the water would not have brought forth the earth, nor would the sun have blessed it with his rays. The obedience of law was good- ness and mercy ; but the obedience of faith is favor, and life, and glory everlasting. None to whom this gospel is announced will perish, except those who know not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son. Kiss, then, the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish forever. To the unregenerate of all classes, whose education and pre- judices compel them to assent to the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. You owu the mission 2J 242 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. of Jesus from the bosom of the Eternal and that is all ynn dfI Each of you is living without God, and without hope in the world aliens from the family of God of various ranks and grades among men; hut all involved in one condemnation, because light has come into the world, and you love darkness, and the works of darkness, rather than light. To live without hope io bad enough ; but to live in constant dread of the vengeance o| Heaven is still worse. But do you not tremble at the word of God? If you can be saved here or hereafter, then there is no meai.ing in language, no pain in the universe, no truth in God: de.i'h, the grave, and destruction, have no meaning. The frowns of Heaven are all smiles, if you perish not in your ways. But you purpose to bow to Jesus, and to throw yourselves upon his mercy at last. Impious thought! When you have given the strength of your intellect, the vigor of your constitution, the warmth of your affections, the best energies of your life. t > thn world, the flesh, and the devil, you will stretch out your palsied hand and turn your dim eyes to the Lord, and say, "Lori, hive mercy upon me!" The first-fruits and failings for the d'-vil, the lame find the blind for God, is the purpose of your heart, and the best resolution you can form ! The thief upon the cross, had he done so, could not have found mercy. It is one thing to have known the way of salvation, as- sented to it, and to have in deliberate resolution rejected it f >r the present, with a promise of obeying it at some future periol; and to have never known it, nor assented to it, to thj end of lift-. Promise not, then, to yourselves, what has never happened to others. The devil has always said, " You m ly give t-m->rroto to the Lord only give to me to-day." This has been all tint be has asked, and this is what you are disposed to give. Prom's* not to-morrow to the Lord, for you will he still less disposed to give it when it comes ; and the Lord has not asked you for to- morrow. He says, TO-DAY, when you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts. But you say, you are willing to come t the Lord to-day if you know the way, or if you were prepared ! Well, what does the Lord require of you as preparation? HP once said. "Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him turn to the Lord, and !n> will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pard.m." He says also, " Draw nigh to me, aud I will draw nigh to you." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM." 243 "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you men of two souls;" "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings ;" " Reform and be converted ;" " Turn to the Lord ;" " Be immersed for the remission of your sins ;" and " Sub- mit to the government of Jesus." " What ! just as I am?" Pray, how are you ? Have you such a persuasion in your heart of the mission of Jesus, as God's own Son and the only Saviour; and have you so much confidence in his personal character, as to be willing to surrender yourself to him for the present and future for time and eternity? "I have," you say. As one that has heard his voice, I say then, Come and be regenerated, and sea- sons of refreshment from the Lord will come to you. "But I thought I ought to feel like a Christian first, and to have the experience of a Christian before I come to the Lord." In- deed ! Did the Lord tell you so? " His ministers taught me so." It is hard knowing who are his ministers nowadays. His com- missioned ministers taught you not so. They were not taught to say so. The Master knew that to wait for health before we went to the physician to seek for warmth before we approach the fire to wait till we ceased to be hungry before we approached the table was not reasonable. And therefore he never asked, as he never expected, any one to feel like a Christian before he was immersed and began to live like a Christian. None but the citizens of any country can experience the good or evil of the government which presides over it. None but the married can ex- perience the conjugal relation and feelings. None but sons and daughters can have the experience of sons and daughters; and none but those who obey the gospel can experience the sweets of obedience. I need not add, that none but the disobedient can experience the pains, the fears, the terrors of the Lord the shame and remorse which are the first-fruits of the anguish and misery which await thorn in another world. As the disobedient, who stumble at the word, have the first-fruits of ,the awful destruction from the presence of the Lord which awaits them, so the obe- dient have the first-fruits of the Spirit the salvation of their souls, as an earnest of the salvation to be revealed at the coming of the L ird. And now let me ask all the unregenerate, What do you propose to yourselves by either delaying or refusing to come to the Lord? Will delaying have any tendency to fit you or prepare you for his salvation? Will your lusts have less power, or sin have less 244 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. dominion over you, by continuing under their control? Has the intoxicating cup, by indulgence, diminished a t ste for it? Has the avarice of the miser been weakened, or cun d, by yielding to it? Has any propensity been destroyed by gratifying it, in any other way than as it destroyed the animal sjfctem? Can you, then, promise yourselves that, by continuing in disobedience, you will love obedience and be more inclined to submit when you have 1'onger resisted the Spirit of God ? Presume not on the mercy of God, but in the way that mercy flows. Grace has its chan- nels, as the waters have their courses ; and its path, as the light- ning of the clouds. Each has its law, as fixed as the throne of God ; and think not God will work a miracle for your sal- ration. Think you that the family of Noah could have been saved, if they had refused to enter into the Ark? Could the firstrborn of Israel have escaped the destroying angel, but in houses sprinkled with blood ? Or could Israel have escaped the wrath of Pharaoh, but by being immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea? These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the con- summation of past ages has come. Arise, then, and be immersed, and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. The many who refuse grace will neither prove you wise nor safe in disobedience. " Multitudes are no mark That you will rijtht be found; A few were saved in (be Ark, For many millions drown'd. Obey the gospel call, And enter while you may: Christ's flock bare long been small, Yet none are safe but they." EFFECTS OF MODERN CHRISTIANITY.* Our greatest objection to the systems which we oppose is their impotency on the heart. Ala*! what multitudes of prayerless, saintless, Christless, joyless hearts have crowded Christianity out of the congregations by their experiences before baptism ! They seem to have had all their religion before they professed it. * A second essay, railed the " Extra P'fendrrl.*' on this same subject, in replv tc pamphlet from Klder Andrew Brnaddus. of Yiigiii.t, titled the ' Kxlra Kxa- mined," appeared in October, 1831. From our Defence, we hurt? Insert only fuui extracts, t.he gubjtyt, as defended, being fully expressed in tbt preceding iwsay. THE CHRISTIAN 8T8TEM. 245 They can relate no experience since baptism, jomparable to that professed before the " mutual pledge" was tendered and received. It was the indubitable proofs of the superabundance of this fruit, which caused me first to suspect the far-famed tree of evan- gelical orthodoxy. That cold-heartedness that stiff and mer- cenary formality that tithing of mint, anise, and dill that negligence of mercy, justice, truth, and the love of God, which stalked through the communions of sectarian altars that apathy and indifference about "this saith the Lord" that zeal for human prescriptions, and, above all, that willing ignorance of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, which so generally appeared first of all created, fostered, and matured my distrust in the reformed systems of evangelical sectaries. Communion, with me, was communion of kindred souls, immersed into one God, that celestial magnet which turns our aspirations and ado- rations to him who washed us from our sins in his own blood, ami made us kings and priests to God. To sit in the same pew; to gather round the same pulpit; to put our names to the same covenant, or subscription-list ; to con- tribute for a weekly sermon ; to lisp the same opinions, extracted from the same creed ; always appeared to me unworthy bonds of union or communion, and therefore my soul abhorred them as substitutes for the love of God shed abroad in the heart, for the communion of the Holy Spirit. " If a man would give all the substance of his house as a substitute for love, it should be ut- terly contemned." The Divine Philosopher preached reformation by addressing himself to the heart. We begin with the heart. "Make the tree good," and then good fruit may be expected. But this appears to be the error of all sects in a greater or less degree ; they set about mending the heart, as preliminary to that which alone can create a new heart. Jesus gives us the philosophy of his scheme in an address to a sinner of that time : " Your sins," says he, "are forgiven you : go, and sin no more." He first changes the sinner's state, not external, but internal, and then says, " Go, and sin no more." He frankly forgave the debt. The sinner loved him. There was much of this philosophy in the question, " Who loves most he that was forgiven five hundred pence, or he that was forgiven fifty?" How much does he love who is not forgiven at all ? Ay, that question brings us onward a little to the reason why the first act of obedience to Jesus Christ should be baptism iuto his name, and that for the remission of sins. 246 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. But now wo spenk of the exercises of the heart. While any man believes the words of Jesus, "Out of the heart proceed the actions which defile the man," he can never lose si>> his blood'' Rom. v. 9. "Justified by works," James ii. '_!, 1:4, 25. " Justified in or by the name of the Lord Jexus," 1 Cor. vi. 11. "Justified by Christ," Gal. ii. 16. "Justified by knowledge," Isa. liii. 11. "It is God that justifies," Rom. iii. 33, viz.: by tlie-e seven means, by Christ, his name, his blood, by knowledge, grace, faith, and by works. Are these all literal ? Is there no room for interpretation here? He that selects faith out of secen must either act arbitrarily or show his reason ; but the reason does not appear in the text. He must reason it out; he must infer it. Why, then, assume that faith alone is the reason of our jus- tification? Why not assume that the name of the Lord nlono is the groat matter, seeing his name ''is the only name given under heaven by which any man can be saved;" and men "who believe 248 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. receive the remission of sins by Ms name;"* and, especially, be- cause the name of Jesus, or of the Lord, is mure frequently men- tioned in the New Testament, in reference to all spiritual bless- ings, than any thing else ! Call all these causes or means of justification, and what then? AVe have the grace of God for the moving cause, Jesus Christ for the efficient cause, his blood the procuring cause, knowledge the disposing cause, the name of the Lord the immediate cause, faith the formal cause, and works for the concurring cause. For example: a gentleman on the sea- shore descries the wreck of a vessel at some distance from land, driving out into the ocean, and covered with a miserable and perishing sea-drenched crew. Moved by pure philanthropy, he sends his son in a boat to save them. When the boat arrives at the wreck, he invites them in, upon this condition, that they submit to his guidance. A number of the crew streich oat their arms, and, seizing the boat with their hands, spring into it, take hold of the oars, and row to land, while some, from cowardice, and others because of some difficulty in coming to the boat, wait the expecta- tion of a second trip ; but before it returned, the wreck went to pieces, and they all perished. The moving cause of their salva- tion who escaped was the good-will of the gentleman on the shore ; the son, who took the boat, was the efficient cause ; the boat itself, the procuring cause; the knowledge of their perishing con- dition and his invitation, the disposing caase; the seizing the boat with their hands, and springing into it, the immediate cause ; their consenting to his condition, the formal cause ; and their rowing to shore, under the guidance of his son, was the concurring cause of their salvation. Thus men are justified or saved by grace, by Christ, by his blood, by faith, by knowledge, by the name of the Lrd, and by works. But of the seven causes, three of which are purely instrumental, why choose one of the instru- mental, and emphasize upon it as the justifying or saving cause, to the exclusion of, or in preference to, the others? Every one in i.s own place is essentially necessary. If we examine the word saved in the New Testament, we shall find that we are said to be saved by as many causes, though some of them differently denominated, as those by which we are said to be ju.-tified. Let us see : we are said to be "saved by grace," Eph. ii. 5; "saved through his life," Rom. v. 9, 10; "saved through faith," Eph. ii. 8, Ac:s xvi. 31; "saved by baptism,** * Acts x. 43. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 249 1 Peter iii. 21; or "by faith and baptism," Mark xvi. 16; or "by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," Titus iii. 5; or "by the gospel," 1 Cor. xv. 1; or " by calling upon the Lord," and by "enduring to the end," Acts ii. 21, Rom. x. 13, Matt. x. 22. Here we have salvation ascribed to grace, to Jesus Christ, to his death and resurrection three times to bap- tism, either by itself or in conjunction, once with faith, and once with the Holy Spirit; to works, or to calling upon the Lord, or to end.uring to the end. To these we might add other phrases nearly similar, but these include all the causes to which we have just now alluded. Saved by grace, the moving cause: by Jesua, the efficient cause ; by his death, and resurrection, and life, the procuring cause; by the gospel, the disposing cause; by faith, the formal cause ; by baptism, the immediate cause ; and by enduring to the end, or persevering in the Lord, the concurring cause. PETER IN JERUSALEM, AND PAUL IN PH1LIPPI, RECONCILED. Thousands ask Peter, What shall ice do? The jailer asks Paul, 'What Khali I do? TO BE SAVED, if the reader pleases. Peter says, ''Reform and be baptized, every one of you," &c. Paul answers, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, with thy family." How is this, Paul and Peter? Why do you not preach the same gospel, and answer the same ques- tion, in the same or similar terms? Paul, do you preach another gospel to the Gentiles than that Peter preached to the Jews? What sayest thou, Paul ? Paul replies " Strike, but hear me. Had I been in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, I would have spoken as Peter did. Peter spoke to believing and penitent Jews : I spoke to an ignorant Roman jailer. I arrested his atten- tion after the earthquake, by simply announcing that there was salvation to him and all his family through belief in Jesus." But why did you not mention repentance, baptism, the Holy Spirit? "Who told you I did not?" Luke says nothing about it ; and I concluded you said nothing about thorn. Luke was a faithful historian, was he not? "Yes, very faithful: and why did you not faithfully hearken to his account? Does he not imme- diately subjoin that 'as soon as I got the jailer's ear, I spoke I'M word of' the Lord to him, and to all that were in hi* house? Why, you reason like a Pedobaptist. You think, do y.u, that the jailer's children were saved by his faith ! " I spoko the whole* 250 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, gospel, or word of the Lord, to the jailer and to his family. In speaking the word of the Lord, I mentioned repentance, baptism, remission, the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, judgment, and eternal life: else why should I have baptized him and all his house, and why should he have rejoiced afterwards with all his family '!" Paul, I beg your pardon. I will not now interrogate Peter, for I know how he will answer me : he would say, " Had I been in Pliilippi, I would have spoken to an ignorant Pagan as Paul did, to show that salvation flowed through faith in Jesus ; and when he believed this and repented, I would then have said, Be baptized for the remission of your sins." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM: 251 [REGENERATION. "I nreate New Heavens and a New Earth." ISAIAH Ixv. 18. " Behold, I make all things new." KEVELATUN xxi. 5 WE intend an essay full of " the seeds of things." The topic in a common one, a familiar one, and yet it is an interesting one. Much has been said, much has been written, upon it ; and yet it ia no better understood than it ought to be. Few give themselves the trouble of thinking much on the things which they think they understand ; and many would rather follow the thoughts of others than think for themselves. Suspense is painful, much study is a weariness of the flesh ; and, therefore, the majority are content with the views and opinions handed to them from those who have gone before. We wish to treat this subject as if it were a new one ; and to examine it now as if we had never examined it before. It is worthy of it. Generation is full of wonders, for it is full of God's physical grandeur; yet regeneration is still more admirable, for in it the moral attributes of Jehovah are displayed. But we aim not at a development of its wonders, but at a plain, common-sense, scriptural exposition of its import. We have not learned our theology from Athanasius, nor our morality from Seneca; and, therefore, we shall not call upon them for illustration, argument, or proof. To the Sacred Records, in which alone Christianity yet remains in all its freshness, we look for light ; and thither would we direct the eyes of our readers. It is not the regeneration of the schools in which Christianity has been lowered, misapprehended, obscured, and adulterated of which we are to write ; but that regeneration of which Jesua spoke, and the Apostles wrote. A fevt things must bo premised a few general views expressed before we, or our readers, are prepared for the more minute details : and, to approach the subject with all unceremonious despatch, we observe, that Man unregenerate is ruined in body, soul, and spirit ; a frail and mortal creature. From Adam his father he inherits a shat- 252 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. tercel constitution. He ia the child of a fallen progenitor, a scion from A degenerate stock. Superior to Adam, the exile from Eden, in physical, intellectual, and moral nature, none of his descendants can rise. It is not in nature to improve itself; for above its fountain the stream cannot rise. Cain, the first-born of Eve, was in nature the image and likeness of him that begat him. Education failed to improve him, while Abel, his younger brother, obtained the excellency which faith in God's promise alone bestows. The first-born, it will be conceded, was at least equal to his younger brother; and who can plead that in nature he excels Eve's eldest son? Man in his ruins is, however, a proper subject of a remedial system. He is susceptible of renovation. Therefore God haa placed him under a regenerating economy. Thia economy con- templates the regeneration of the whole human constitution, and proposes as its consummation the transformation of spirit, soul, and body. The destiny of the regenerate is described by Paul in one sentence: "As we now bear the image of the earthly Adam, we shall then bear the image of the heavenly Adam." God's own Son is proposed as a model. Conformity to him in glory, honor, and immortality, as the perfection of the regenerate, is the predestination of him who speaks of things that are not, as though they were. llegeneration is, therefore, moral and physical : or, in other words, there is now a renovation of the mindof the understand- ing, will, and affections arid there will hereafter be a renovation of the body: "For this corruptible body shall put on incorrup- tion, and this mortal budy shall put on immortality." The renovation of the mind and character is, therefore, that moral regeneration which is to be effected in this life; for which the remedial system, or kingdom of heaven, was set up on earth ; and this, therefore, first of all, demands our attention. Before we attempt an answer in detail to the question, How is this moral regeneration effected? we shall attend to the principle on which the whole remedial system proceeds. The grand prin- ciple, or means which God has adopted for the accomplishment of this moral regeneration, is the full demonstration and proof of a single proposition addressed to the reason of man. This sublime proposition is, THAT GOD is LOVE. The reason and wisdom of this procedure will suggest itself to every one who can understand the views and feelings of all unregenerated men Man, in a state of alienation and rebellion. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 258 naturally suspects, thrt if he be a sinner, and if God hate sin. ho mu*t hate him. As love begets love, so hatred begets hatred; and if a sinner suspects that God hates him, he cannot love God. lie must know that God loves him, before he can begin to love God. "We," says an Apostle, "love God because lie first loved us." While alienated in heart, through the native darkness of his understanding, the sinner misinterprets every restraint which God has placed in his way to prevent his tolal ruin as indica- tions of the wrath of Heaven. His transgression of these re- btraints, and his consciousness of having defied the veracity and power of God, only increase his enmity, and urge him onward to his apostasy and wanderings from his Creator. The goodness of God, being misunderstood, furnishes to him no incentive to re- pentance and reformation. Guilt, and fear, and shame, the fruits of his apostasy, becloud his understanding, and veil from his eyes all the demonstrations of benevolence and goodness with which the creation abounds. Adam, under a tree, hiding from God, trembling with fear, suspicious of the movements of every leaf, and covered with shame as with a garment, is both an illustra- tion and proof of these views of the state of mind which obtains in the un regenerate. Neither the volume of creation, nor that of God's providence, is sufficient to remove from the natural man these misconceptions and the consequent alienation of heart. The best proof that these two volumes cannot do this is, that they never have, in any one instance, yet done it. From the nature of things it is indeed evi- dent that they cnnnot do it. The elements are too often at war \vith the happiness of man. The ever-changing attitude of the natural world, in reference to health, and life, and comfort, render it at best doubtful whether the laws of nature, which ultimately bring man down to the grave, are the effect of benevolence or of malevolence towards mankind. A third volume explanatory of both, and replete also with supernatural developments, is want- ing, to furnish the most diligent student of nature and providence with the means of learning the true and full character of him against whom we have rebelled. That volume is the Bible. II"ly Prophets and Apostles spake as they were moved by the Spirit of Knowledge and Revelation. Its records, its history, its prophecy, its precept*, its laws, ita ordinances, and its examples, all develop and reveal Gud to man and man tc himself. 254 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. But it is in the person and mission of the INCARNATK WORD that we learn that God is love. That God gave his Son for us, and yet gives his Spirit to us and thus gives us himself are the mysterious and transcendent proofs of the most august proposi- tion in the universe. The gospel, Heaven's wisdom and power combined, God's own expedient for the renovation of human na- ture, is neither more nor less than the illustration and proof of this regenerating proposition. Thus we hasten to our subject. Having glanced at the great landmarks of the plantations of nature and grace, now that we may, in the light of truth, ascertain the true and heaven-taught doctrine of regeneration, we shall cautiously survey the whole process, as developed by the commissioned teachers of the deep counsels of the only true God. That certain things, parts of this great progress, may be well understood, certain terms, which we are wont to use to represent them, must be well defined, and accurately apprehended. These terms are Fact, Testimony, Faith, Repentance, Reformation, Bath of Regeneration, New Birth, Renewing of the Holy Spirit, Newness of Life* "All things are of God" in the regeneration of man, is otir motto; because our Apostle affirmed this as a cardinal truth. He is the author of the facts and of the testimony which declares them; and, being the author of these, he is the author of all the effects produced by these facts. The Christian is a new creation, of which Gnd is the Creator. The change of heart and of cha- racter, which constitutes moral regeneration, 1s the legitimate impression of the facts or things which God has wrought. The facts constitute the moral sen! which stamps the image of God upon man. In the natural order, we must place them first, and, therefore, we must first define the term REPENTANCE. Repentance is usually defined " somow for any thing that is paxt;" and in the religions vocabulary it is simply ".vom/tc ./om THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 261 again, without any allusion to a family or a kingdom ! and (if regeneration as antecedent to faith or repentance ! Had a modern assembly of divines been employed to accommodate the scripture style to their orthodox sentiment*, we should nut have had to read all the Old Testament and all the historic books of the New, to find the subject of regeneration but once proposed to an alien, as the fact is ; but then we should have found it in the history >f Abel, of Enoch, of Noah, and of Abraham, if not in every section of the law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms. John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Holy Twelve, would have had it in every sermon ; and true faith would have been always defined as the fruit of regeneration. But Jesus had a kingdom in his eye and in his discourse, before he ever mentioned being "born again" to Nicodemus; for unless there was a family, a state, or a kingdom to be born into, it is impossible for any one to be born into it. And if the kingdom of heaven only began to be after Jesus entered into heaven ; or if it was only approaching from the ministry of John to the day of Pentecost, then it would have been preposterous indeed an in- congruity of which no inspired man was ever guilty to call any change of heart or life a regeneration, or a new birth. It is true that good men in all ages were made such by facts, testimony, faith, and feeling, by a change of heart, by the Spirit of G.-d; but the analogy, uv fgvre of being lorn, or of being regenerated, only began to be preached, when the kingdom of heaven began to be preached and men began to press into it. We are now, perhaps, better prepared to consider the proper import and meaning of "regeneration." in general, and of ''the bath of regeneration" in particular. REGENERATION. This word is found but twice in all the oracles of God once in Matthew xix. 28, and once in Titus iii. 5. In the former it is almost universally understood to mean a new stale of things, not of persons a peculiar era, in which all things are to be made new: such as the formation of a new church on the day of Pen- tecost, or the commencement of the Millennium, or the general resurrection. The biblical critics of eminence have assigned it to one or other of these great changes in the state of things. So wo use the word revolution, and the phrase the Kcvohitum, to ex- press a change in the political state of things. The most approved 262 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. punctuation find version of this passage renders it altogether evi- dent that a new era is alluded to. ' Jesus answered. Indeed, I say unto you, that at the renovation [regeneration] when the S>a of Man shall be seated on his glorious throne, you, my followers, sitting also upon twelve thrones, shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel." This being so evident, and so often alluded to in our former writings, we shall proceed to the remaining occurrence, Titus iii. 5. All the new light which we propose to throw on this passage will be gathered from an examination of the acceptation of the word generation in the sacred writings. Our reason for this is, that we object to a peremptory decision of the meaning of a word which occurs only in the passage under discussion, from our rea- sonings upon the isolated passages in which it is found. In such a case, if we cannot find the whole word in any parallel passages, the proper substitute is the root or branches of that word, so far as they are employed by the same writers. Moreover, we think it will be granted, that, whatever may be the scriptural accepta- tion of the word generation, regeneration is only the repetition of that act or process. After a close examination of the passages in which generation occurs in the writings of the Hebrew Prophets and Apostles, we find it used only in two acceptations as descriptive of the whole process of creation and of the thing created. A race of men, or a particular class of men, is called a ijeneration ; but this is its figurative rather than its literal meaning. Its literal meaning is the formation or creation of any tiling. Thus it is first used in the Holy Scriptures. Moses calls the creation, or whole process of formation of the heavens and the earth, " The generatl-ns of the heavens and the earth."* The account of the formation of Adam and Eve, and also the account of the creations of Adam and Eve, are, by the same writer, called " The book or record of the generations of Adam."f This is the literal import of the word ; consequently, regeneration literally indicates the whole process of renovating or new-creating man, This process may consist of numerous distinct acts ; but it is in accordance with general usage to give to the beginning or con- summating act the name of the whole process. For the most parf, however, the name of the whole process is given to the con utn- mating act, because the process is always supposed incomplete * Genesis ii. 4. t GenesU v. 1. THIS CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 263 until that act is performed. For example: In tlie process of tan- ning, fulling, forging, &c. the subject of these operations is not supposed to be tanned, fulled, forged, until the last act is per- formed. So in all tlie processes of nature in tl>e animal, vegeta- ble, and mineral kingdoms the last act consummates tlie process. To all acquainted with the process of aniinalization, germination, crystallization, &c. no further argument is needed. But in the style of our American husbandmen, no crop or animal is made, until it come to maturity. We often hear them say of a good shower, or of a few clear days, " This is the making of the wheat or corn." In the same sense it is, that most Christians call re- generation the NEW BIRTH ; though being born is only the last act in natural generation, and the last act in regeneration. In this way the new birth and regeneration are used indiscrimi- nately by commentators and writers on theology, and, by a figure of speech, it is justified on well-established prh.ciples of rhetoric. This leads us to speak particularly of THE BATH OF REGENERATION. By "the bath of regeneration" is not meant the first, second, or third act ; but the last act of regeneration, which completes the whole, and is, therefore, used to denote the new birth. This is the reason why our Lord and his Apostles unite this act with water. Being born oficatcr, in tlie Saviour's style, ami IhebutJi nf regeneration, in the Apostles' style, in the judgment of all writers and critics of eminence, refer to one .and the same act, v'z.: Christian bjiptism. Hence it came to pass, that all t/tc ancient* (;is fully proved in our first Extra on Remission) used the word regeneration as synonymous in signification with immersion. In addition to the numerous quotations made in our Essay on Remis- sion, from the creeds and liturgies of Protestant churches, we shall add another from the Common Prayer of the Church of England, showing unequivocally that the learned doctors of that church used the words regeneration and baptism as synonymous. In the address and pnyer of the minister after the baptism of the child, he is commanded to say, "Seeing now, dearly-beloved brethren, that this child is rege- nerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God f>r these benefits, nnd with one accord make our prayer unto him, that this child may lead the rest of hie life according to this beginning." 264 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. " Then shall be said, all kneeling, "We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy church. And humbly we beseech thee to grant that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin ; and that as lie is made partaker of the death of thy Son, he may also be partaker of his resurrection; so that finally, with the residue of thy holy church, he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen." Eusebins, in his life of Constnntine, page 628, shows that St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, and, indeed, all the Greek Fathers, did regard baptism as the consummating act ; and therefore they call it telioais, the consummation. These authorities weigh nothing with us; but, as they weigh with our opponents, we think it ex- pedient to remind them on which side the Fathers depose in the case before us. By these quotations we would prove no more than that the ancients under stood the washing of regeneration, and indeed used the term regeneration, as synonymous with baptism. But were we asked for the precise import of the phrase wash- ing or bath of regeneration, either on philological principles, or as explained by the Apostles, we would give it as our judgment, that the phrase is a circumlocution or periphrasis for water. It is I/outran, a word which more properly signifies the vessel that con- tains the water, than the water itself; and is, therefore, by the most learned critics and translators, rendered bath, as indicative either of the vessel containing the fluid, or of the use made of the fluid in the vessel. It is, therefore, by a metonymy, the water of baptism, or the water in which wo are regenerated. Paul was a Hebrew, and spoke in the Hebrew style. We must learn that style before we fully understand the Apostle's style. In other words, we must studiously read the Old Testament before we can accurately understand the New. What more natural for a Jew accustomed to speak of "the water of purification," of "the water of separation,"* to speak of "the bath of re;en<'ra- tion"? If the phrase "water of purification" meant water used for the purpose of purifying a person if "the water of separa- tion" meant water used for separating a person what more * See Numbers Uli. 7 ; xix. 0, 13, 20, 21 ; xxxi. 23. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. natural than that " the h-xth of regeneration" should mean water used for regenerating a person? ^ut the New Testament itself confirms this exposition of the phrase. We find th : word loutron once more used by the same Apostle, in the snme connection of thought. In his letter to tho Ephesians, he affirms that Jesus has sanctified (separated, puri- fied wit'i the water of purification) the church hy a loutron of water "si bath of water, with the word," " having cleansed it by a bath of water, with the word."* This is still more decisive. The king's translators, so fully aware that the sense of this pas^a^e agrees with Titus iii. 5, have, in both places, used the word wanking, and Maeknight the term Lath, as the import of loutron, What H called the wusliini/ or bath of regeneration, in the one pas- si ge, is, in the other, called "the washing" or "bath of water." What is called saved in mie is call -d cleansed in the other; and \vh it is nailed the renewal oj the ///// S/>irit iti the ur bodies w.isliod with pure water" the water of purification, the water of regeneration : (for tiie phrase " pure water" must be un- derstood, nut of the qua.itv of the water, but metotiytnically of the effuct, the cleansing, the washing, or the purifying of the person,) " having yuur bodies or persons washed with pure water," or water that purities or cleanses. No one, acquainted with Peter's style, will think it strange that Paul represents persons as saced, cleansed, or sauctijied by water; seeing Peter unequivocally asserts that " we are saved" through water, or through baptism, as was Noah and his family through water and faith in God's promise. " The antitype im- mersion does also now save us." Finally, our great Prophet, the Messiah, gives to water the same place and power in the work of regeneration. For when speaking of being born again when explaining to Nicodeuius the new birth, he says, " Except a man be born of water and (if the Spirit, ho cannot enter into the kingdom of God." May not we, then, supportcl by such high authorities, call that water of which a person is born again, the water or bath uf regeneration ? Epbesians T. 26. 23 266 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. NEW BIRTH. We have already seen that the consummation of the process of generation or creation is in the birth of the creature formed. So it is in the moral generation, or in the great process of regonera- tion. There is a state of existence from which he that is horn passes ; and there is a state of existence into which he enters after birth. This is true of the whole animal creation, whether ovipa- rous or viviparous. Now the manner of existence, or tlv 1 moru of water and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are not works of merit or of righteousness, but only the means of enjoyment. But this pouring out of the influences, this renewing of the Holy Spirit, is as necessary as the bath of regeneration to the salvation of the soul, and to the enjoyment of the hope of heaven, of which the Apostle speaks. In the kingdom into which we are born of water, the Holy Spirit is as the atmosphere in the kingdom of nature; we mean that the influences of the Holy Spirit are as necessary to the new life, as the atmosphere is to our animal life in the kingdom of nature. All that is done in us before regene- ration, God our Father effects by the word, or the gospel as dic- tated and confirmed by his Holy Spirit. But after we are thus begotten and born by the Spirit of God after our new birth the Holy Spirit is shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; of which the peace of mind, the love, the joy, and the hope of the regenerate itt full proof; for these are among the fruits of that Holy Spirit of promise of which we speak. Thus commences THE NEW LIFE. Newness of life" is a Hebraism for a new life. The new birth brings us into a new state. "Old tilings have passed away; all things have become new," says an Apostle: "for if any one ue in Christ, he is a new creature." A new spirit, a new heart, and an outward character, corresponding to this change, are the effects of the regenerating process: "for the end of the charge," the 268 TUB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. grand result of the remedial system, is "love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." " Love is the fulfilling of the whole law," and the fruit of the whole gospel. It is the cardinal principle of all Christian behavior, the soul of the new man, the breath of the new life. Faith works by no other rule. It is a working principle, and love is the rule by which it ope- rates. The Spirit of God is the spirit of love and the health of a sound mind. Every pulsation of the new heart is the impulse of the spirit of love. Hence the brotherhood is beloved, and all mankind embraced in unbounded good-will. When the tongue epeaks, the hands and the feet move and operate, under the unre- strained guidance of this principle, we have the Chrisiian cha- racter drawn to the life. For meekness, humility, mercy, sym- pathy, and active benevolence, are only the names of the various workings of this all-renovating, invigorating, sanctifying, and happifying principle. " He that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him." The Christian, or the new man, is then a philanthropist to the utmost extent of the meaning of that word. Truth and love have made him free from all the tyrannies of passion, from guilt and fear and shame; have filled him with courage, active and passive. Therefore, -his enterprise, his capital enterprise, to which all others minister, is to take part with the Saviour in the salvation of the world. "If by any means I may save some" are not the words of Paul only, but of every new man. Are they merchants, mechanics, husbandmen? are they magistrates, lawyers, judge?, or unofficial citizens? are they masters, servants, fathers, sons, brothers, neighbors? whatever or wherever they may be, they live for God and his city, for the king and his empire. They associate not with the children of wrath the miser, the seltish, the prodigal, the gay, the proud, the slanderer, the tattler, the rake, the libertine, the drunkard, the thief, the murderer. Every new man has left these precincts; has broken his league wi h Satan and his slaves, and has joined himself to the family of God. These he complacently loves those he pities and d,>es good to all. The character of the new man is an elevated character. Feel- ing himself a son and heir of God, he cultivates the temper, spirit, and behavior which correspond with so exalted a rela- tion, lie despises every thing mean, grovelling, earthly, sensual, devilish. As the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God is to be the model of his future personal glory, so the character THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 269 which Jesus Pustained among men is the model of his iaily imitation. His every-day aspiration is Thy foir example will I trace. To :e:u-h me whit I ou>;ht to be: Make ran by thv transforming srace, Lord Jesus, daily more like thee." The law of God is hid in his heart. The living oracles dwell in his uiind, and he grows in favor with God as he grows in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ his Lord. As a new- born l>ahe he dosires the unadulterated milk of the word of God, that ho may jirow by it; for as the thirsty hart pants after the Imtoks of water, so pants his soul after God. Thus he lives to G d, and has ever planted in the human breast. This i* tlie'traii scenderit hnpe of the Christian calling, which imparted such heroic courage to all the saints of eternal renown. This better resurrec- tion in prospect has produced heroes which make cowards of all the boasted chiefs of worldly glory. As the magnetic needle ever points to the pole, so the mind, influenced by this hope, ever rises to the skies, and terminates in the fulness of joy, and the pleasures for evermore, in the presence and at the right hand of G.id. To raise a dead body to life again is not set forth as more glorious than by a touch to give new vigor to the palsied arm, to impart sight to the blind, or hearing to the deaf; but to give that raised body the deathless vigor of incorruptibility, to renovate and transform it in all its parts, and to make every spirit feel that it reanimates its own body, that it is as insusceptible of decay, as immortal as the Father of eternity, is a thought overwhelming to every mind, a development which will glorify the power of God, as the sacrifice of his Son now displays his righteousness, faith- fulness, and love to the heavens and to the earth. This new birth from the dark prison of the grave is fitly styled " the redemption of the body" from bondage, " the glorious liberty of the sons of God." As in our watery grave, the old man is figuratively buried to rise no more, so in the literal grave, the prison of the body, we leave all that is corrupt ; for he that makes all things new will raise us up in his own likeness, and present us before his Father's face in all the glory of immortality. Then will regeneration be complete. Then will be the full revelation of the sons of God. Immortality, in the sacred writings, is never applied to the spirit of man. It is not the doctrine of Plato which the resur- rection of tfesus proposes. It is the immortality of the body of which his resurrection is a proof and pledge. This was never developed till he became the first-born from the dead, and in a human body entered the heavens. Jesus was not a spirit when he returned to God. He is not made the Head of the Now Creation as a Spirit, but as the Son of M.in. Our nature in his person is glorified ; and when he appears to our salvation, we shall be made like him: we shall see him as he is. This is the Christian hope. "A hope so grent and so divine May trill* well endure. And purge t li soul f.-oui sensj and sin As Christ himself is pure." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 271 Thus matters stan 1 in the economy of redemption. Thus t'le divine t-cheme of legeneration is consummated: the moral pa't, by ilie operation of moral means; the physical part, by the mi>rh'y power of God operating through physical means. By the word of his power he created the heavens and the earth ; by the woi-d of his grace he reanimates the soul of man ; and by the word of his power he will again form our bodies sinew, and reunite the spirit and the body in the bonds of an incorruptible and ever- lasting union. Then shall death "be swallowed up forever." "Where note thy victory, boasting grave?" But for this we must wait. "We know not wliat we shall be." We only know, that when he appears, we shall be like him ; that we shall see him as he in. THK USE OF THE THEORY OF REGENERATION. One would imagine, from th*> voluminous arguments, debates, and sermons u;on the theory of regeneration, that a sound theory was essential to salvation: that it must be preached in every ser- mon, in order to regenerate the hearers. Nothing can be more preposterous. Who can th'nk that anv theory of the resurrection or regeneration of the body can nff-ct the body in the grave? As little can any theory affect the nnregonemte, or those d'-ad in tre*p->ss>s and in s'ns. A sermon upon regeneration, or upon na- tural hirth, would be a* efficacious upon thse unborn, in bringing them into this life, as a R-rmon up >n monl or physic il reg^n -ra- tion. This exjil tins the fact, that in a'.l the accounts of apostoli- cal preaching to Jew and Gentile in all the extracts of their ser- mons and speeches found in t!ic New Trstant' nt the subject of regenerator! is n t once incnti.n ed. It is, in all the hit .ric !> dcs of the New Testament, but once propounded, but once named ; and that only in a private conference with a Jewish senator, on the affairs of Christ's kingdom. No theory understood or believed by the unregenerate, no theory proposed to them for their accept- ance, can avail any thing to their regeneration. We might as reasonably deliver a theory of digestion to a dyspeptic, to cure his stomach or a theory of vegetation to a scion, to h iston its growth as to preach any viev of regeneration to a sinner to in ike him a Christian. Of what use, then, are the previous remarks on this subject? I will first candidly inform the reader, that they were not writteu 272 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. for his regeneration, either of mind or body; but for the benefit of those who are employed in the work of regenerating others, and for the conviction of such Christians as may have been induced to regard us as aiming at nothing but the mere immersion of persons, as alone necessary to the whole process of conversion or regeneration, in their acceptation of these words.* The use of this theory, if it have any, is as a guide to those who are labor- ing publicly or privately for the regeneration of sinners. If we have assigned a proper place for facts, testimony, faith, feeling, action, the bath of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, and a new life, the course is fairly marked out. They are to pre- s^nt the great facts, to declare the whole testimony of God to sinners, in order to their conversion or regeneration. Like Paul, in his account of his labors in Corinth, they must go out, not in the strength of human philosophy, " but declaring the testimony of God" and laying before their hearers " the wonderful works of God." This is the use, and the only proper use, of sound theory on any subject. It is to guide the operator, not the thing operated upon. I would hope, under the Divine blessing, to be the means of Tt may again be necessary, in this fastidious f rt- gf.nrntti'in (Titus iii 5) is equivalent tn iwHiirsiiin. as already expl.-ii :ed. and as cn'>tradis'in:Miish"d frnn t/,e rfnetir'nf I/if Unlit ftyiril. of which the immersed believer is a proper subject: we ha e spoken of the whole, process of renovation, not i i thi st i-t application of the phras.-, Titus iii. 5 nut rather in the whole la'i- tude of the figure emplined by the Apostle. It is not the fl-st act of besetting, nor the last rt, of being born, but the whole process of conversion alluded to in the figure of ijenf.ru t inn. to which we have directed the sttent>>n rf our readers. For, as often before stated our opponents deceive Ihemsi-lves. and their hearers, by re- rresenltg us as ascribing to the word immrrsinm. and the act of immersi'in. all lhat they call reynei;iti-in. While, tb-rrfiiv. we contend that being "born n-.-ain.'' and being in nets.'d are in the Ap p >stle's style, two names dr th" same action, we are lit i from supposi'ig or tuurhiu.; that, in 1'oruiiug the new man, there is nothing neces- sary but to be born. If any ask why this matter was not fully developed in onr first essays on tbi sub- ject, our answer is. Because we could not anticipate, that our opponents would have so represented or misrepresented our views. Were a general asked why be did not arrange all his troops in the becrinninir of the action as he. had them ananjred when OH triumphed over his enemy, he would reply, That tli- uianosuvres and assaults of tht! enemy directed the disposition of bis forces. Our opponents contend for a regeneration beptnn and perfected before faith or bap* tism a spiritual change of mind by the Holy Spirit, antecedent to either knowledge, fii.h or repentance, of which infants are as susceptible as ndiilts: and, therefore, as we contend, make the. gospel of no effect. By way of reprisals. thv would ba\e their Converts Ihhik t hut we no for nothing but water a^rt sa--ca*l 'allv c:ill us the ailvo- catiis of water ie.SeMera:i >n." Thev ihi^ik tliere is something more sn' lime and di iue in '-spirit re^enernti'in;'' a':d theref>re claim lh !i le of oith d'X. This calumny has lnvn ne mi-asion of the pnsent essny and it has occasioned I ha* )ai't of il which ci ^s the fulled latitude to ih term rfgewerutinn which anal^srv -i-e" to the firuiv used by the. Apftln. Hut when we sp,-ak i:i the exact sivle if the li ing oia^b'S OM i hi" subject, we must represent Ifini] lorn ui/nin (Ji hu i>i. S) and rrnrno- ti'in ('I it u iii. Zi, as rulaliug to lUd aot of iiuuiur^iou uiuuu. bee xlra Dtjtml&lf THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 273 regenerating more persons in one year, never onco naming regene- ration, nor speculating upon the subject, by stating and enforcing the testimony of God, than by preaching daily the most approved theory of regeneration ever sanctioned by any sanhedrim on earth.* With these views, we have, then, offered the preceding remarks: and shall now briefly turn our attention to THE REGENERATION OF THE CHURCH. The word regeneration we have found once used in the sense of a new state of things, or of the introduction of a new state of things. f In this application of the word, we would turn the attention of our readers to the necessity of the regeneration of the church. I speak not of the regeneration of any sectarian establishment. They are built upon another foundation upon the foundation of decrees of councils, creeds, formularies, or acts of Parliament. But we speak of those societies that professedly build upon the ot the Spirit. Kvcry im.i _ii:.-iM >n of tliri thoughts of man's tit/art is only evil continually.' 'There is nine that dr resisting the Spirit with all his moral nrnl plr.rirnl energy, up to the Uionielit tli.it the Almiirhty riu pic-ivus hiai to the heart with a sword, mid in ikes liim it. h H l iy ' iilin ; him : ! f Jlatt. xlx. 2S. 274 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. foundation of Apostles and Prophets, without any human bonr our efforts', he would do us the greatest injury. Societies, indeed, may be found among us, far in advance of others, in their pro- gress towards the ancient order of things; but we know of none that has fully attained to that model. It is, however, most ac- ceptable to see so many societies formed and forming, under the banners of reformation, with the determination to move onwards in conformity to the sacred oracles, ti.l they stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Our opponents cannot, or will not, understand how any society can be in progress to a better order of tilings than that under which they may have commenced their pilgrimage. Their sec- tarian policies were soon formed, and the limits of their reforma- tion were soon fixed; beyond which it soon became heretical to move. The founders of all new schisms not only saw through a glass darkly, but their horizon was so circumscribed with human traditions, that they only aimed at moving a few paces from the hive in which they were genera'ed. A new creed was soon adopted, and then their stature was complete. They bounded from infancy to manhood in a few days, and decided, if any pre- sumed further to advance, they should be treated as those who had refused to move from the old hive. Hence it became as cen- surable to grow beyond a certain standard, as not to grow at all. This never was our proposition, and never can be our object. We have no new creed to form, no rules of discipline to adopt. We have taken the Living Oracles as our creed, our rules and measures of faith and practice; and, in this department, have no additions, alterations, or amendments to propose. But in coming up to this standard of knowledge, faith, and behavior, we have something yet before us, to which we have not attained. That we may be distinctly understood on this subject, we shall speak particularly on the things wanting in our individual cha- racters, and of the things wanting in our church order, to give to our meetings that interest and influence which they ought to exert on the brotherhood and on society at large. It will be understood, that our remarks on the things which nre wanting in the disciples are applicable not to every individual, THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 27b but to the general mass. And. first, of all. there is wanting a more general ami particular knowledge of tlie IL-ly Scriptures than is possessed by a great majority of t'.e ref .rmers. There is, per- haps, wanting a taste or dispoMtion for that private devotional reading of the oracles of God, which is essential to a growth in that knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ which constitutes the most striking attributes in Christian character. We thus reason from the proficiency which is discoverable in the hounds of our acquaintance, which is large enough to afford data for very general conclusions. To read the Scriptures for the sake of carrying out into prac- tice all that we learn, and to read them for the sake of knowing what is written, are very different objects, and will produce very different results. Their influence on the temper and behavior, in the former case, will ver-y soon become manifest to all w : th whom we associate; while, in the latter case, there is no visible improvement. David said th-it he ' hid the word of God in Irs heart," or laid it up in his mind, "that he might not sin against God:" and that he had "more understanding than all his teach- ers, because God's testimonies were his meditation." It will be admitted that the sacred writings of the Apostles and Evangelists of Jesus Christ ought to be as precious and as delightful to the Christian, as were the ancient oracles to the most pious Jew. Now, as an example of what we mean by a private devotional reading and study of the oracles of Christ, we shall permit a Jew to tell his experience : " The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver. With my whole heart have I sought thee; my soul breaketh for the longing that it has to thy judgments at all times. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I will keep it to the end. Give mo understanding, and I shall keep thy law ; j-es, I will observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for in it do I delight. Thy statutes have been my sings in the house of my pilgrimage. At midnight 1 will rise to give thanks to thee, because of thy righteous judgments. Oh, how I love thy law; it is my meditation all the d-iy! How sweet are thy words to my taste; sweeter than honey to my month! Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. Great peace have they that love thy law nothing shall cause them to stumble." 276 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. These are only a few extracts from one piece, written by a king three thousand years ago. On another ore -ision he pronounced the following enruinlum (in the testimony of God: " ln> law [iloctrim'J of the Lord is perfect, converting [restor- ing] the soul; the testimony of the Lord i.s sure, ma'vi:ig wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord .are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb. By them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward." This fully reveals all that we mean by a devotional private study of the Holy Scriptures. Every Christian who can read may every day thus refresh, strengthen, and comfort his heart, by reading or committing to memory, and afterwards reflecting upon, some portion of the book. He may carry in his pocket the blessed volume, and many a time through the day take a peep into it. This will preserve him from temptation, impart courage to his heart, give fluency to his tongue, and the graces of Chris- tianity to his life. Jn this age, when ignorance of the Christian Scriptures is so characteristic, and the rage for human opinions and traditions so rampant, it is a duty doubly imperative on our brethren, to give themselves much more to the study of the book ; and then one of them will put a host of the aliens to flight; and, what is still more desirable, he will have communion with God all the day, and ever rejoice in his salvation. In the second place, there is wanting among disciples, who are heads of families, more attention, much more effort, to bring up their children " in the correction and instruction of the Lord." The children of all disciples should be taught the oracles of God from the first dawning of reason. The good seed should be sown in their hearts, before the strong seeds of vice can take root. From a child Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures, and they were able to make him wise to salvation, through the Christian faith. How many more Timothies might we have, if we had a few more of the daughters of Lois, and a few more mothers like Eunice ! Most saints, in this 'generation, appear more zealous that their children should shine on earth, than in heaven and that they may be rich here, at the hazard of eternal bankruptcy. They labor to make them rich and genteel, rather than pure and holy ; THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 277 and spend more time in fashioning them to the f >olish and wicked taste of poliihed society, than in teaching them by precept and example the word that is better than gold, and more precious tli in rubies. Well, they sow darnel, and cannot reap wheat. They may have a mournful harvest, and years of bitterness and srn.w may reward them far their negligence and error. Ir' only a tithe of the time, and the labor and'expense, that it costs to n't, a son ,r a daughter to shine in the middle or front ranks of genteel society, were spent in teaching them to fear God and keep his command- ments, how many more virtuous, solid, and useful citizens how many more valuable members of the family of God-^how many mure faithful and able witnesses for the truth of God would be found in all corners of the land! Every Christian family ought to be a nursery for God. Their offspring should be trained f.>r the skies. For such are the pro- mises of God, such are the facts on record, and such is the expe- rience of Christians, that every parent who does his duty to his children may expect to see them inherit the blessing. Their didactic labors, aided by their example find their constant prayers, will seldom or never fail of success in influencing their descend- ants to walk in their ways. The very command to bring up their children in the Lord implies its practicability. And both Testa- ments furnish us with all assurance that such.labors will not be in vain. The men of high renown in sacred history were gene- rally the sons of such parentage. The sons of God were found among the sons of Seth, while the daughters of men were of the progeny of Cain. Abraham was the descendant of Shem; Moses and Aaron were the sons of believing parents; Samuel was the son of Hannah, and David was the son of Jesse. John the 1 1 i - binger was the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth ; and it pleased the heavenly Father that his son should be the child of a pious virgin. But it is under Christ that the faithful are furnished with all the necessary means of bringing up their offspring for the Lord. The numerous failures which we witness are to be traced either to great neglect, or to some fatal notion which paralyzes all effort ; for some think that the salvation or damnation of their offspring was a matter settled from all eternity, irrespective of any ng-ncy on their part: that some are born "vessels of wrath," ai.d oihers " vessels of mercy ;" and hence the instructions, examples, and prayers of parents are of no avail. Among tho descendants cf such, it will 110 doubt often happen that some become veasela of 278 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. wrath, fitted for destruction, while others become vessels of mercy predestined to glory. When G.d gave a revelation to Jacob, and commanded a law to Israel, he gave it in charge that they should "teach it to their children, that they might puttkeir trust in God, and might nut bo, like their fathers, a rebellious race." The Apostles of Christ have also taught the Christians the same lesson. This is our guide, and not our own reasonings. Now, let the disciples make tliis their business, morning, noon, and evening, and then we shall see its effects. We are sorry to see this great duty, to which nature, reason, revelation alike direct, so much neglected by many of our brethren 1<> tind among their children those who are no better acquainted with the Scriptures than the children of their neighbors, who believe in miraculous conversions, or think it a sin to attempt what they imagine to be the work of Q.id alone never suspect- ing that God works by human means, and employs human agency iu his works of providence and redemption. I never knew but a very few families that made it their daily business to train up their children in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, to cause them every day to commit to memory a por- tion of the living oracles ; but these few instances authorize me to think, and to say, that such a course, persisted in and sustained by the good example of parents, will very generally, if not uni versally, issue in the salvation of their children. And before any one s ivs, I have found an exception to the proverb of Solomon, which says, "Train up a child iu the way he should go, and when he is ol.l he will not depart from it," let him show that his child w.is "trained up in tke way lie should go. 1 " In the third place, there is wanting, among the disciples, a stricter regard to relative duties: we mean, not only the duties w.iidi justice, truih, and moderation claim ; but all relative duties. S Jong as Christians live after the manner of men in the fje.sli, according to the fashion of this world, they must, like oth.rr mon, contract debts which they cannot promptly pay, make tou'ii u.ts and bargains, give promises which they cannot fulfil, an 1 siake pledges which they are unable to redeem. All this is wh illy incompatible with our profession/ Such were not the primitive discipL-s. Skeptics of every name, men of the world, who have ever read the Ne^v Testament, know tint such behavior ia utteriy incompatible with th.! le:ter and spirit of Ciiristi inity. A Cn.iai. an's wurd or promise oujjht to be, aud is, if Cnnat bo THB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 279 honored, as solemn and obligatory as any bond. And as for broach of bargain or covenant, even where it is greatly or wholly to the disadvantage of the Christian, it is not even to be thought of " he changes not, though to his hurt he covenants." How much has the gospel lost of its influence, because of the faithlessness of its professors ! Oh, when shall it be again said of Christians in general that "they bind themselves, as with a solemn oath, not to commit nny kind of wickedness to be guilty neither of theft, robbery, nor adultery never to break a promise, >r'to keep back n deposite when called upon?" Pliny writes to the Emperor Tra- jan that such was the character of Christians A. o. 106-7, as fir as he could learn it from those who were not Christians. Were all the common (nowadays rather itncomnwn) virtues of justice, truth, fidelity, honesty, practised by all Christians, how many mouths would be stopped, and how many new arguments in favor of Jesus Christ could all parties find ! But, even were these common virtues as general as the Christian profession, there are the other finer virtues of benevolence, goodness, mercy, sympathy, which belong to the profession, expressed in taking care of the sick, the orphan, the widow in alleviating all the afflictions of our fellow-creatures. Add these virtues, or graces, as we sometimes call them, to the others, and then how irresistible the argument for the divine authenticity of the gospel! Let in- dustry, frugality, temperance, honesty, justice, truth, fidelity, humility, mercy, sympathy,. appear conspicuous in the lives of the disciples, and the contrast between them and other professors will plead their cause more successfully than a hundred preachers. In the last place, there is wanting a more elevated piety to bring up the Christian character to the standard of primitive times. We want not fine speeches nor eloquent orations on the excellencies of Christian piety and devotion. These are generally acknowledged. But we need to be. roused from our supinenes, from our worUly-mindedness, from our sinful conformities to an apostate generation, to the exhibition of that holiness in speech, in behavior, without which no one shall see the Lord. What mean the numerous vxhortations of the Apostles to watchfulness and prayer, if these are not essential to our devotion to God and consecration to his service? If our aifections are not placed on things above, we are unfit fir the kingdom of gl< ry. To see the folly of a pn>fesMoii of Christianity without the po"-er of godliness, we have 1 only to put the question, liuwis that persuu fit for the etyoymcut f God and 280 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Christ, whose heart is filled with the cares, anxieties, and con- cerns of this life who^e whole life is a life of labor and c;ire fur the body a life of devotion to the objects of time and sense'/ No man can serve God and Mammon. Where the treasure is, the heart must also be. Thither the affections turn their course. There is no room f>r the residence of the Spirit of God in a mind devoted to the affairs of this life. The spirit of the policies of this world, and the Spirit of God, cannot dwell in the same heart. If Jesus or his Apostles taught any one doctrine clearly, fully, and unequivocally, it is this doctrine: that "the cares of this world, the lusts of other things, and the deceitfulness of riches, stifle the word, and render it unfruitful." If any one would enjoy the power of godliness, he must give up his whole soul to it. The business of this life will be per- formed religiously, as a duty subordinate to the will of G<.d. While his hands are engaged in that business which his own wants or those of his household make necessary, his affections are above. He delights in God, and commmies with him all the day. A Christian is not one who is pious by fits and s-tiris, who is religious or devout on one 'day of the week, or f.ir one hour of the day. It is the whole bent of his soul it is the b'g lining, middle, and end of every day. To in ike his calling ami election sure is the business of his life. His mind rests only in Go>l. He places the Lord always before him. This is his joy and his delight. He would not for the world have it otherwise, lie would not enjoy eternal life, if he had it at his option, in any other way than that which God himself has proposed. He ac- cedes to God's arrangements, not of necessity, but of choice. His religious services are perfect freedom. He is free indeed. The Lord's commandments are not grievous, but joyful. The yoke of Christ is to him easy, and hib burden light. He will eing, with David, "The love that to thy laws I bear No Luiu'ii.'i-'t- can display ; They with fresh wonders entertain My ravish' d thoughts all day. u The luw that from thy mouth proceeds. Of more esteem I hold Thau untouch'd stores, than thousand mines Of silver and of gold. " Whilst in the way of thy commands, More solid joy I found Than hud Wx-eu wiih vast Increase Of envied ri<-he crown'd. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 281 "Thy testimonies I have kept, And constantly obey'd; Because the love I bore to them Thy service easy made." In the same ratio as Christians devoutly study the oracles of God, teach them to their children, practise all relative duties to society at large, and rise to a more elevated piety, they will in- trease their influence in the great aud heavenly work of regene- rating the world. A few remarks. on the things wanting in the order of Christian assemblies, to give to their public meetings that influence on themselves, and on society at large, will finish this section of our essay. Our heavenly Father wills our happiness in nil its institutions. His ordinanci s are, therefore, the surest, the simplest, and the most direct means of promoting our happiness. The Lord Je us gave himself for the church that he might purify and bless it; and, iheref>re, in the church are all the institutions which can promote the individual and social good of the Christian coiu- inun tv. In attending upon those institutions on the Lord's day, much d pemls upon the preparation of heart in all who unite to commemorate the death and resurrection of the Son of God. In a Iv^rting to the most scriptural and rational manner of cele- brating or observing the day to the Lord, both for their own com- fort and ;h i regeneration of the world, we would first of all remark, that much depends upon the frame of mind, or preparation of heart, in which we visit the assemblies of the saints. Suppose two persons, A and B, if you please, members of tho paint; church, taking their seats together at the Lord's table. A, from the time he opened his eyes in the morning, was tilled with the recollections of the Saviour's life, death, and resurrection. In his closet, in his family, and along the way, he was meditating or conversing on the wonders of redemption, and renewing his recollections of the sayings and doings of the Messiah. B, on the other hand, arose as on other days, and, finding himself free from all obligations arising from the holiness of the time, talks about the common affairs of every day, and allows his thoughts to roam over the business of the last week, or. perhaps, to project the business of the next. If h meet with a neighbor, frinnil, <>r briitin-r. the news of the day is inquired after, expatiated upon, discussed; the crops, the marko'.s, the public health, or the weather the affairs of Europe, or tho doings of Cougiess, or the 24* 282 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. prospects of some candidate for political honor become the theme of conversation. As he rides or walks to the church, he chats upon all, or any of these topics, till he enter the door of the meet- ing-house. Now, as A and B enter the house in very different states of mind, may it not be supposed that they will differ as much in their enjoyments as in their morning thoughts? Or can B by a single effort, unburden his mind, call in the wanderings of his thoughts, and in a moment transport himself from the con- templation of things on earth to things in heaven ? If this can be imagined, then meditation and preparation of heart are wholly unnecessary to the acceptable worship of God, and to the com- fortable enjoyment of his institutions. But is it compatible with experience, or is it accordant to rea- son, that B can delight in God, and rejoice in commemorating the wonders of his redemption, while his thoughts are dissipated upon the mountains of a thousand vanities? while, like a fool's eyes, his thoughts are roaming to the ends of the earth ? Can he Bay, with a pious Jew, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts ! My soul longs yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord ! My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Happy they who dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee 1 A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Oh, send out thy light and thy truth! Let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go to (he altar of God, to God my ex- ceeding joy; yes, I will praise thee, God, my God!" Or had the Jew a sublime? worship, more exalted views of God's salvation, and more piety, than a Christian ? Or were the ordinances of the Jewish sanctuary more entertaining and re- freshing than the ordinances of the Christian church? This will not be alleged ; consequently B, and all of that school, are utterly at fault when they approach the house of God in such a state of mind as they approach the market-place, the forum, or the com- mon resorts of this present world. Cliristiaus need not say, in excuse for themselves, that all days are alike, that all j>l;icfs anil tim^s are alike holy, and that they ought Jo be in the best frame of mind all the time. For even concede them all their own positions : they will not contend that THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. a tnan ou^ht to speak to God, or to come into the presence of God, as they approach men. They will not say that they ought to huo me same thoughts or feelings m Bppruacbing the Lord's table, as in approaching a common table . or > n entering a court <-l political justice, as in coming into .he house of God. There if, in the words of Solomon the Wise, a seasin and time for every object and for every work: .here is the Lord's day, the Lord's table, tb.3 Loid's house, aid ihe Lord's people; and there are thoughts, and frames of mind, and behavior compatible and in- compatible with all these. In the public assembly the whole order of worship ought to do just.ce to what is passing in the minds of all the worshippers. Tuutjoy in the Lord, that peace and serenity of mind, that affec- tion for the brethren, that reverence for the institutions of God's house, which all feel, should be manifest in all the business of the tiay. Nothing that would do injustice to all or any of these ought ever to appear in ;he congregation of Jesus Christ our Lord. No levity, irreverence, no gloom, no sadness, no pride, no unkindness, no severity of behavior toward* any, no coldness, nothing l.ut love, and peace, and joy, and humility, and reverence, BiioulJ appear in the face, in the word or action, of any disciple. These are not little matters. They all exert a salutary inHa- ence on tl.e biethren and the strangers. These are visible and sensible displays of the temper and spirit of Christians ; and if Paul thought it expedient to write of veil* and long hair when admonishing a church " to do all things decently and in order," we, in this day of degeneracy, may be allowed to notice matters and things as minute as those before us. We intend not now to go into details of church order or Chris- tian discipline, nor to expaliate on the necessity of devoting a part of the time to singing, praying, reading, teaching, exhorting, commemorating, communicating; nor on how much of this or that is expedient. Times and circumstances must decide how much time shall be taken up in these exercises, and when it shall be most fitting to meet, to adjourn, &c. Nor is it necessary now to say, that there must be scriptural order, and presidency, and propc-r discipline, and due subordination to one another in the foar of God. We now speak rather of the manner in which all things are to le done, than of the things themselves, their neces- sity or value. Af^er noticing what in some instances appears to be wanting in the manner of coming together on the Lord's day, we proceed 284 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. to notice in order the things wanting in many congregations, foi the purposes already specified. And, first of all, be it observed, that in gome churches there a | pear* t be wanting a proper method of Imudling tle incidents are manifest the wisdom, care, and economy of our heavenly Father, his faithful- ness, condescension, and love ; the great variety of his instru- ments and agents ; the ease with which he frustrates the evil coun- sels and machinations of his enemies ; the infallible certainty of his foreknowledge; the perfect free agency of men, good and evil ; the deep humiliation of his only-begotten Sen, in all the circumstances of his nativity. Irresistible arguments in favor of his pretensions may be drawn from these ancient prophecies, from their minuteness of time, place, and circumstance; many eloquent and powerful lessons on human pride, vanity, and arrogance, mny be deduced from the birthplace, cradle, and family connections of the Heir of the Universe; and many other touching appeals to the heart, which the birth, circumcision, and dedication of the Messiah, with all the incidents in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Temple, connected with his first appearance on earth, furnish, will present themselves, with unfading freshness and beauty, to the brotherhood of Christ. A hint to the wise is sufficient. Were this method pursued only two hours every Lord's day, every disciple giving his heart to the work, and were the results then compared with the pro- ducts of the scrap-doctors or sermonizers to sleeping and dream- ing hearers, no man, .having any regard for his reputation for good sense, could give his vote for the popular system. A reformation in the manner of handling the living oracles is much wanting; and the sooner and more generally it is attempted, the greater will be the regenerating influence of the brotherhood on the world. Intelligent in the Holy Scriptures, clothed with the. armor of light, every disciple going forth will be a David ngainst the Philistines a host a'gainst the armies of the aliens. And, better still, the words of heavenly favor dwelling in his heart, he will carry with him into every society a fragrance like the rose of Sharon a sweetness of perfume like a garden which the Lord has blessed. There appears to be wanting in some congregations a proper attention to discipline, and a due regard to decorum in the manage- ment of such cases as OCCUR. la every family, and in every con- 288 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. gregation, there is occasional need of discipline. Offences, de- linquencies, and apostasies, did occur in the congregations over which tlie Apostle* either were, or had been, presidents : and they will liappen again in this state of discipline and trial in which we are all placed. They must be experted : and every congre- gation ought t< be prepared to act upon the emergency w ith intel- ligence and decorum. Much injury has been done to the progress of churches, by a remissness in attention to such cases, and in the manner they have been disposed of when taken up. Nothing can be more preposterous and revolting to every sen- timent of good order and decorum, than that every offender and offence should, at the very offset, be dragged into the public assembly. Persons who have the care of a congregation, the seniors whose age and experience liuve taught them prudence, ought to be first informed of such cases; and they ought to pre- Bont the matter to the congregation. Every novice is not to fed himself at liberty to disturb the congregation by presenting, on his own responsibility, and at his own discretion, a complaint against a brother, whether it be of a public or private nature. But we are now speaking of the manner of procedure in such cases. The most tender regard for the feelings of all, the utmost sympathy for the offender, the most unyielding firmness in apply- ing the correctives which the Head of the church has commanded, and the necessity of acting promptly in accordance with the law in the case, .ire matters of much importance. No passion, no partiality, no bad feeling nothing but love and piety, but faithfulness and truth: nothing but courtesy and gen- tleness should ever appear in the house of God. And when ;iny one is found guilty and excluded from the society, it should bo done with all solemnity, and with prayer, that the institution of Christ may be a blessing to the transgressor. But evil-doers, or those that act not honorably according to the lawof Christ, ought not to be tolerated in the professed family of God. Such persons are a dead weight on the whole society spots in every feast of love, and blemishes upon the whole pro- fession. One sinner destroys much good: yet separation or abscision, like amputation, is only to be used in the last stage, when all other remedies, of remonstrance and admonition, expos- tulation and entreaty, have failed. To prevent gangrene, or an injury to the wh"le body, amputation is necessary, an indispen- sable remedy. More strictness, more firmness, ami more tender- ness in such cases would add greatly to the moral influence of THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 289 every society. A few persons walking together in the bonds of Christian affection, and under the discipline of Christ, is better than the largest assembly in which there are visibly and manifestly many who fear not God and keep not his com- mandments. : In th< i house of God all should be purity, reverence, meekness, brotherly kindness, and love. Confidence in the honesty and sincerity of our brethren is the life of communion. To feel otir- selvi s ui.ited with them who are determined for eternal life, and resolved to peek first (.fall, chief of all. above all, the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness required in it, is must animating, comforting, exhilarating. But to be doubtful whether we are uniting wi.li a mass of ignorance, corruption, and apathy, is as rottenness in the bones; love waxes cold, and then we have the form without the power of godliness. That the chur-h may have a regenerating influence upon so- ciety at large, theie is wanting a fuller display of Christian philan- thropy in all her public meetings: care for the poor, manifested in the liberality of her contributions; the expression of the most unfeigned sympathy for the distresses of mankind, not only among the brotherhood, but among all men ; and an ardent zeal for the conversion of sinners, proportioned to her professed appreciation of the value of her own salvation, and to her resources and means of enlightening the world on the things unseen and eternal. The full display of thoe attributes is the most efficient means of causing the gospel to sound abroad, and to achieve new conquests among our fellow-citizens. The Christian health and vigor of every church is to be estimated more by her exertions and suc- cess in bringing sinners home to God, than by all her other atr tainments. Too long has it been considered the duty, the almost exclusive duty, of the preacher, to convert the world. He must spend his time and wear out his constitution in journeyings and prearhings, while the individual members of the church are to mind their own business, seek their own wealth and domestic comfort. He must endure the heat and the cold, forsake his wife and family, and commit the management of his affairs to others, while they have only to look on and pray for his success. Strange infatuation! Has he received a commission from the skies has he been drafted out of the ranks to go to war, and they all left at home to take care of their wives and children? Some may be- lieve this some may imagine that it is his duty alone to spend his time and his talents in this work, and theirs daily to labor for J5 290 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. their own Interest and behoof; but surely such are not the views and feelings of our brethren! The work of the Lord will never progress or, in other words, the regenerating influence of the church will amount to li'tle or nothing so long as it is thought to be not equally the duty of every member, or the special duty of one or two, denominated preachers, to labor for the Lord. There is either a special call, a general call, or no call at all, to labor fur the conversion of the world. If there he a few spe- cially called, the rest have nothing to do but to mind their own concerns; "to seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ." If none be called, then it is the duty of none, and the Lord has nothing for his people to do no world to convert ; or, at least, nothing for them to do in that work. None of us are prepared for the consequences of either of these assumptions. It follows, then, that it is the duty of all to labor according to their respective abilities in this work. All are called to labor for the Lord. I hold that every citizen in Christ's kingdom is bound to take up arms for the King, as much as I am; and, if he cannot go to fight the battles of the Lord, he must take care of the wives and children of those who can and who will fight for their King and country. But the expense of the war must be borne by tire subjects of the crown $ and, as the Lord will not have any tax- gatherers in his kingdom, but accepts only voluntary contribu- tions, he makes a mark over against the names of those who u*o nothing, and he will settle with them at his return. He calls even the contributions for the gospel, made by those at home, "a fragrant odor, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." But we are afraid of doing any thing of this sort, .lest we should be like some other people, who we think have acted im- prudently. Strange, indeed, that when any thing has been once abused, it is never again to boused! But I have inadvertently strayed off from my purpose. The manner in which the brethren labor for the salvation of the world is all that comes within our prescribed limits. On this, enough has been said. Let the brethren solemnly consider the things that are wanting to give to their meetings that influence which they ought to exert upon themselves and upon society at large. We are as susceptible of receiving moral and religious advan- tages, from our own good order and decorum in the congregation, as those who attend our meetings as spectators. And in this in- rtance, as well as in all the variety of doing good, he that waters THE CHRISTIAN SYSTKSL 291 others is again watered in return ; for he that blesses others ia always blessed in blessing them. None enjoy the blessings of the gospel more fully than thoy who are most active and influ- ential in blessing others. What happy seasons are those in which we see many turning to the Lord ! Now if we would have a perpetual feast, we must be perpetually devoted to the promotion of the happiness of others. We must live for God, as well as live to God. In filling up tV^se outlines, other matters still more minute, but, perhaps, equally important, will present themselves to the attention of the brethren. Now, we cannot set about these mat- ters too soon. The time has again come, when judgment must begin at the house of God. The people who have long enjoyed the word of life and the Christian institutions must soon come to a reckoning. They must give an account of their stewardship, for the Lord has promised to call them to a judgment. An era is just at the door, which will be known as the Regeneration for a thousand years to come. The Lord Jesus will judge that adul- terous brood, and give them over to the burning flame, who have broken the covenant, and formed alliances with the governments of the earth. Now the cry is heard in our land, "Come out of her, my people, that you partake not of her sins, and that you mny not receive of her plagues." The Lord Jesus will soon rebuild Jerusalem, and raise up the tabernacle of David which has so long been in ruins. Let the church prepare herself for the return of her Lord, and see that she make herself ready for his appearance. THE REGENERATION OF THE WORLD. All the kingdoms of this world shall soon become the king- doms of our Lord the King. He will hurl all the present poten- tates from their thnmes. He will grind to powder the despotisms, civil and ecclesiastic; and, with the blast of his mouth, give them to the four winds of heaven. The antichristian po\per, whether it be called Papistical, Mohnmmcdan, Pigan, or Atheistic, will as i-ertainly be destroyed, as Jesus reigns in heaven. No trace of them shall remain. The best government on earth, call it Eng- lish or Americnn, has within it the seeds of its own destruction carries in its constitution a millstone, which will sink it to the bottom of the sea. They acknowledge not that God has set hii Christ upon his throne. They will not kiss the Son. Society 292 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. under their economy is not blessed. The land mourns through the wickedness of those that sit in high places. Ignorance, pov- erty, and crime abound, because of the injustice and iniquities of those who guide the destinies of nations. Men that fear not God, and love not his Son, and that regard not the maxims of his government, yet wear the sword and sway the sceptre in all lands. This is wholly adverse to the peace and happiness of the world. Therefore he will break them in pieces like a potter's vessel, and set up an order of society in which justice, inflexible justice, shall have uncontrolled dominion. Jesus will be universally acknow- ledged by all the race of living men, and all nations shall do him homage. This state of society will be the consummation of the Christian religion, in all its moral influences and tendencies upon mankind. How far this change is to be effected by moral and how far by physical means, is not the subject of our present inquiry. But the preparation of a people for the coming of the Lord must be the result of the restoration of the ancient gospel and order of things. And, come when it may, the day of the regeneration of the world will be a day as wonderful and terrible as was the day of the deluge, of Sodom's judgment, or of Jerusalem's catas- trophe. Who shall stand when the Lord does this? But all the regenerations, physical and moral, individual, congregational, or national, are but types and shadows, or means of preparation for the REGENERATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. The Bible begins with the generations of the heavens and the earth; but the Christian revelation ends with the regenerations or new creation of the heavens and the earth. This the ancient promise of God confirmed to us by the Christian Apostles. The present elements are to be changed by fire. The old or ante- diluvian earth was purified by water; but the present eartli is reserved for fire, with all the works of man that are upon it. It ahull be converted into a lake of liquid fire. But the dead in Christ will have been regenerated in body, before the old earth is regenerated by fire. The bodies of the saints will be as homo- geneous with the new earth and heavens ns their present bodies are with the present heavens and earth. God recreates, regene- rates, but annihilates nothing; and, therefore, the present earth THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 293 is not to he annihilated. The best description we can give of this regeneration is in the words of one who had a vision of it on the island of Patmos. He describes it as far as it is connected with the New Jerusalem, which is to stand upon the new earth, under the canopy of the new heaven : ''And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the former heaven and the former earth were passed awny; and the sea was no more. And I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, descending from God out of henven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, say- ing, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall pitch his tent among them, and they shall he his people, and God himself shall be among thorn their God. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor grief, nor crying; nor shall there be any more pain: f>r the former things are passed away." A WORD TO THE MORAL RROKNERATORS OF THE AGE. God, our heavenly Father, works by means, as we all confer. His means are wisely adapted to the ends he has in view. His agents are the best agents for the work he has to accomplish. lie employs not physical means nor agents for moral ends and purposes Nor docs he produce physical effects by moral means and agents. He has been pleased to employ not angels, but men, in the work of regenerating the world. Men have written, printed, and published the gospel for nearly two thousand years. They have perpetuated it from generation to generation. They have translated' it from language to language, and carried it from country to country. They have preached it in word and in deed, and thus it has come down to our days. During the present administration of the reign of Heaven, no Change is to be expected ; no new mission is to be originated, no new order of preachers is to be instituted. The King has gone to a far country; and, before his departure, he called together his servants, and committed to them the management of his estate till he return. He has not yet come to reckon with them. They were commanded first to proclaim the doctrine of his reign ; then to write it in a book, and to commit it to faithful men, who should be able to teach it correctly to others. By these faithful im-n the records have been kept; and through their vigilance and industry they have been guarded from corruption, interpolatiou, and chaujje. 294 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. One generation handed them over to the next; and, if ignorant an"i unfaithful copyists neglected their duty, others more faithful hav* corrected them ; and now we are aide to hesir the words which Jesus spake, and to read the very periods penned by the Apostl<>8. Tlius, whatever the Prophets and the Apostles have achieved since their death has been accomplished by human agents like ourselves. Where men have not carried this intelligence in speech or writing, not one of our race knows God or his anointed Sivioiir. No angel nor Holy Spirit has been sent to the p:i^an nations: and God has exerted no power out of his word to en- lighten or reclaim savage nations. These indisputable facts and truths have much moral meaning, and ought to give a strong im- pulse to our efforts to regenerate the world. The best means of doing this is the object now before us; and this is one the importance of which cannot be easily exaggorated. There are three ways of proceeding in this case, which now seem to occupy a considerable share of public attention. These are properly called theorizing, declaiming, and preaching; on each of which we may offer a remark or two in passing. The theorizers are those who are always speculating upon cor- rect notions, or the true theory of conversion. They are great masters of method, and with some of them it is a ruinous error to place faith before regeneration, or repentance after faith. Heresy, with these, is the derangement of the method, which these have proposed for God to work by in converting the sinner. And the true faith which is connected with salvation is an apprehension of this theory and acquiescence in it. These are all theorists, heady or speculative Christians; and with them the whole scheme of redemption is a splendid theory. Our maxim is, Theory for the doctors, and medicine for the sick. Doctors fatten on theories, but patients die who depend on theory for a cure. A few grains of practice is worth a pound of theory. The mason and the carpenter build the house by rule; but he that inhabits it lives by eating and drinking. No man ever was cured physically, politically, morally, or religiously, by learning a cor- rect theory of his physical, political, moral, or religious malady. As soon might we expect to heal an ulcer on the liver by a dis- course upon that organ, its functions, its diseases, and their cure, as to restore a sinner by means of the theory of faith, repentance, regeneration, or effectual calling. But on ibis enough has already been said, and more than is necessary to convince those who can think, and who dare to reason on such themes. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 295 The declaimers are not those only who eulogize virtue and res- probate vice ; but that large and respectable class who address themselves to the passions, to the hopes and fears, of men. They are those who are so rhetorical upon the joys of heaven, and the terrors of hell: who horrify, terrify, and allure by the strength of their descriptions, the flexions of their voices, the violence of their gestures, and their touching anecdotes. Their hearers are either dissolved in tears, or frantic with terror. These talk much about the heart ; and, on their theory, if man's heart was extracted all his religion would be extracted with it. The religion of their converts flows in their blood, and has its foundation in their passions. The preachers, properly so called, first address themselves to the understanding, by a declaration or narrative of the wonderful works of God. They state, illustrate, and prove the great fact8 of the gospel ; they lay the whole rtcord before their hearers ; and when they have testified what God h;is done, what he has pro- mised and threatened, they exhort their hearers on these premises ai.d persuade them to obey the gospel, to surrender themselves to iho guidance and direction of the Son of God. They address th -HIM l.es to the whole man, his understanding, will, and affec- tions, and approach the heart by taking the citadel of the under- standing. The accomplished and wise proclaimer of the word will find it always expedient to address his audience in tlieir proper cha- racter ; to approach them through their prejudices, and never to find fault with those prepossessions which are not directly op- posed to the import and design of the ministry of reconciliation, lie Will set before them the models found in the sacred history, which show that the saaie discourse is not to bu preached in every place and to every assembly, even when it is necessary to pro- claim the same gospel. Paul's addresses to the Athenians Lycaonians, Antiochians, to Felix, the Jailer, and King A^rip^a, are i'.i.l of instruction on this topic. Augustine has written a treatise on preaching, which Luther proposed to himself as a model ; but it is said that Augu>tine fell as lar short of his own precepts as did any of his coatemponv- lies. We all can with more facility give piejepts to others, tiiun conform to them ourselves. In Augustine's treati.-e, which in some respects influenced and formed ttie stylj and [ Ian of La. nor, and through him all the Protestants, UK iv ,s muca t>aid un tno busi. rhetorical uiodu "of exhibitin thy trutii lu tauds,' bai it 296 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. savors more of the art of the schoolmen, tb in of the wisdom of the Apostles. He labors more on the best style and .mode of expressing one's self, than on the things to be said. Our best precepts in this matter are derived rather from the books of Deuteronomy and Nehemiah, than from any other source out of the New Testament. The book of Deuteronomy may be regarded as a series of sermons or discourses, delivered to the Jews by their great teacher, Moses, rather than as a part of the Jewish history. Two things in this book deserve great attention. The first is the simplicity, fulness, and particularity of his nar- ratives of the incidents on the journey through the wilderness: God's doings and theirs, for the last forty years, are intell giWy laid before them. The next is the use niade of these facts ; the conclusions deduced, the arguments drawn, and the exhortations tendered, from these facts. For a fair and beautiful specimen of this, let the curious reader take up and carefully road the first four chapters of the book of Deuteronomy. The fact and the application, the argument and the exhortation, after the manner of Moses, cannot fail to instruct him. The writings of the scribes during the Captivity teach us how- to address a people that have lost the true meaning of the oracles of God. The readings, expositions, exhortations, and prayers of Ezra and Nuhemiah are full of instruction to Christians in these days of Babylonish captivity. To address a people long accus- tomed to hearing the scriptures, yet ignorant of them, and con- sequently disobedient, is a matter that requires all the wisdom and prddence which can be acquired from Jewish and Christian records. The manner of address, next to the matter of it, is most import- ant. The weightiest arguments, the most solemn appeals, the most pathetic expostulations, if not sustained by the gravity, sin- cerity, and piety of the speaker, will be like water spillod upon the ground. A little levity, a few witticisms, a sarcastic air, a conceiied attitude, or a harsh expression, will often neutralize all the excellencies of the most scriptural and edifying discourse. The great work of regenerating men is too solemn, too awfully grave and divine, to allow any thing of the sort. Humility, se- renity, devotion, and all benevolence in aspect, as well as in language, are essential to a successful proclamation of tho great facts of the Living Oracles. He that can smile in his discourse at the follies, need not weep over the misfortunes, of the igno- rant and superstitious. Uo that can, while preaching the gospel, THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 297 deride and ridicule the errors of his fellow-professors, is, for the time-being, disqualified to persuade them to accept of truth, or gladly to receive the message of salvation. Those preachers have been sadly mistaken, -who have sought popularity by their eccentricities, and courted smiles rather than souls ; who, by their anecdotes and foolish jests, told with tho Bible before them, have thought to make themselves useful by making themselves ridiculous and to regenerate men by teach- ing them how to violate the precepts of the gospel, and to disdain the examples of the Great Teacher and his Apostles. It will not do. These are the weapons of this world, and no part of the armor of light. Jesus and his Apostles never sanc- tioned, by precept or example, such a course; and it is condemned by all sensible men, whether Jews or Gentiles, professors or profane. In attempting to regenerate men, we must place before them the new man, not the old man, in the preacher as well as in the discourse; and, while we seek out arguments to convince and allure them, we must show them, in our speech and behavior, that we believe what we preach. So did the Apostles and Evan- gelists. They commended themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of Jesus Christ. Error must be attacked. It must be opposed by the truth. But it maj be asked, whether the darkness may not be more easily dissipated ly the introduction of light, than by elaborate dis- courses upon its nature and attributes. So with moral darknesa or error. To dissipate it most effectually, the easiest and most ready waxy is to introduce the light of truth. No preacher is obliged to learn all the errors of all ages, that he may be able to oppose them; nor is a congregation enlightened in the knowledge of God by such expositions of error. Present opposing errors may require attention; but to attack these most successfully, it is only necessary to enforce the opposing truths. This is a very grave subject, and requires very grave attention. Much dt-pends upon a rational and scriptural decision of the question, Wkich is the most effectual way to oppose and destroy eivorf To aid us in such an inquiry, it is necessary to examine how the Prophets and Apostles opposed the errors of their times. The world was as full of error in those days as it has over b<-en since. The idolatries of the pagan world, and the various doctrines of the sects of philosophers, in and out of the land of Israel, threw as much labor iuto their huudd, us the various heresies of upoataU' 298 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Christendom have thrown into ours. Their general rule was tc turn the artillery of light, and to gather into a focus the arrows of day, upon the dark shades of any particular error. Their philosophy was : The splendors of light most clearly display the blackness of darkness, and scatter it from its^presence. Thus they opposed idolatry, superstition, and error of every name. Going forth in the armor of light, as the sun in the morning, the shades of the night retired from their presence, and the cheering beams of day so gladdened the eyes of their converts, that they loved darkness no more. Let us go and do likewise. An intimate acquaintance wuh the Holy Scriptures is the best apparatus for the work of regenerating men. The best piece I have found in the celebrated treatise of Augustine on preaching is the following: "He, then, who handles and teaches the word of God, should be a defender of the true faith, and a vanquisher of error; and in accomplishing this, the object of preaching, he should conciliate the adverse, excite the remiss, and point out to the ignorant their duty and future prospects. When, however, he finds his audi- ence favorably disposed, attentive, and docile, or succeeds in ren-' dering them so, then other things are to be done, as ihe case may require. If they are to be instructed, then, to make them ac- quainted with the subject in question, narration must be employ- ed ; and, to establish what is doubtful, resort must be had to rea- soning and evidence. If they are to be moved rather than in- structed,, then, to arouse them from stupor in putting their knowledge into practice, and bring them to yield full assent to those things which they confess to be true, there will be need of the higher powers of eloquence ; it will be necessary to entreat, reprove, excite, restrain, and do whatsoever else may prove effec- tual in moving the heart. "All this, indeed, is what most men constantly do with respect to those things which they undertake to accomplish by speaking. Some, however, in their way of doing it, are blunt, frigid, inele- gant ; others, ingenious, ornate, vehement. Now, he who engages in the business of which I am treating must be able to speak and dispute with wisdom, even if he cannot do so with eloquence, in order that he may profit his audience; although he will profit them less in this case, than if he could combine wisdom and eloquence together. He who abounds in eloquence without wis- dom is certainly so much the more to be avoided, from the very fact that the hearer is delighted with what it is useless to hear ; THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 299 and thinks what is said to be true, because it is spoken with elegance. Nor did this sentiment escapo the notice of those among the ancients, who yet regarded it as important to teach the art of rhetoric; they confessed that wisdom without quence profited states but very little, but oiat eloquence without wi-;d.>tii profited them not at all, and generally proved highly injuri ius. If, therefore, those who taught the precepts ol e'o- qiienco, even though ignorant of the true, that is, the celestial wisdom 'which cometh down from the Father of lights,' were compelled by the instigations of truth to make such a confession, and that tuo in the very books in which their principles were de- veloped ; are we not under far higher obligations to acknowledge the same thing, who are the sons and daughters of this heavenly wisdom? -Now, a man speaks with greater or less wisdom, ac- cording to the proficiency he has made in the sacred Scriptures. I do not mem in reading them and committing them to memory, 1 ut in rightly understanding them, and diligently searching into their meaning. There are those who read them and yet neglect them ; who read them to remember the words, but neglect to understand them. To these, without any doubt, those persons are to bo preferred, who, retaining less the words of the Scriptures, sean-h after their genuine signification with the inmost feelings of the heart. But better than both is he, who can repeat them when he pleases, and at the same time understands them as they ought to be understood."* Luther's favorite maxim was, "Bonus Textuarius, Bonus Theo- lofju ;" or, One \vell acquainted with the scriptures makes a good theologian. There is one thing, above all others, which must never be lost 6>4;ht of by him who devotes himself to the work of regeneration. This all-important consideration is, that the end and object of all his labors is to impress the moral image of God upon the moral nature of man. To draw this image upon the heart, to transform the mind of man into the likeness of God in all moral feeling, is the end proposed in the remedial system. The mould into which the mind of man is to be cast is the Apostles' doctrine ; or the seal by which this impression is to be made is the testimony of God. The gospel facts are like so many types, which, when scientifically arranged by an accomplished compositor, make a complete form, uj on which, when the mind of man is placed hy * From the TiiUical repository, p. 574. Translated from tho Latin by O.A.Taj lor, of Au.livor, Mam 800 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. the power which God has given to the preacher, every type makes its full impression upon the heart. There is written upon tlvj understanding, and engraved upon the heart, the will, or law, or character, of our Father who is in heaven. The Apostles were these accomplished compositors, who gave us a perfect "form of sound words." Our instrumentality c<>nt-ist in bringing the minds of men to this form, or impressing it upon tlieir hearts. To do this most effectually, the preacher or evan- gelist must have the word of Christ dwelling in him richly, in all wisdom; and he must "study to show himself an approved workman, irreproachable, rightly dividing the word of truth." lie that is most eloquent and wise in the Holy Scriptures, lie who has them must at command, will have the most power with men ; because, being furnished with the words of the Holy Spirit, he has the very arguments which the Spirit of God chooses to em- ploy in quickening the dead, in converting sinners. For to the efficacy of the living word not only Paul dep >ses, but James and Peter also bear ample testimony. " Of his own will he has be- gotten us, 'by the word of hiifh, that we might be a kind of first- fruits of his creatures."* " Having been regenerated, nut by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, through the word of the living Gud which remains."! To the fruits of his labors, such a preacher, with Paul, may say, " To Jesus Christ, through the gospel, I have regenerated or begotten you." Tims, in the midst of numerous interruptions, we h ive at- tempted to lay before the minds of our readers the whole doctrine of Regeneration, in all its length and breadth, in the hope, that after a more particular attention to its meaning and value, by tho blessing of God, they may devote themselves more successfully to this great work; and not only enjoy more of the Holy Spirit themselves, but be more useful in forwarding the moral regene- ration of the world. T>i God our Father, through the great Author of the Christian f lith, who has preserved us in health in this day of affliction and great distress, be everlasting thanks for the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit; and for the hope of the regeneration of our bodies, of the heavens and of the earth, at the appearance of th* A Imighty Regenerator, who comes to make all things new! Amen. * James i. 18. t 1 Peter i. 23. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 801 BREAKING THE LOAF. vras not made for the Christian Institution, but the Chris ti.m Institution for man. None but a master of the human con- stitution none but one perfectly skilled in all the animal, intel- lectual, and moral endowments of man could perfectly adapt an institution to man in reference to nil that he is, and to all that he is destined to become. Such is the Christian Institution. Its evidences of a divine origin increase and brighten in the ratio of our progress in the science of man. He who most attentively and profoundly reads himself, and contemplates the picture which the Lord of this Institution has drawn of him, will be most wil- ling to confess, that man is wholly incapable of originating it. He is ignorant of himself, and of the race from which he sprang, who can persuade himself that man, in any age, or in any coun- try, was so far superior to himself as to have invented such an institution as the Christian. That development of man in all his natural, moral, and religious relations, which the Great Teacher has given, is not further beyond the intellectual powers of man, than is the creation of the sun, moon, and stars beyond his physical strength. The eye of man cannot see itself; the ear of man cannot hear itself: nor the understanding of man discern itself: but there is One who se^s the human eye, who hears the human car, and who discerns the human understanding. He it is who alone is skilled in revealing man to himself, and himself to man. He who made the eye of man, can he not see? He who made the ear of man, can he not hear? He who made the heart of man, can he not know? It is as supernatural to adapt a system to man as it is to create him. He has never thought much upon his own powers, who has not seen as much wisdom on the outside as in the inside of the human head. To suit the outside to the inside required as much wisdom as to suit the inside to the outside, and yet tho exterior arrangement exists for the interior. To fusion a case- mept for the human soul exhibits as many attributes of the 802 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Creator, as to fashion a human spirit for its habitation. Man, therefore, could as easily make himself, as a system of religion to suit himself. It will be admitted, that it calls fur as much skill to adapt the appendages to the human eye, as the human eye to its appendages. To us it is equally plain, that it requires as much wisdom to adapt a religion to man, circumstanced as he is, .as to create him an intellectual and moral being. But to understand the Christian religion, we must study it; and to enjoy it, we must practise it. To come into the kingdom, of Jesus Christ is one thing, and to live as a wise, a good, and a happy citizen, is another. As every human kingdom has its constitution, laws, ordinances, manners, and customs ; so has the kingdom of the Great King. He, then, who would be a good and happy citizen of % it, must understand and submit to its constitu- tion, laws, ordinances, manners, and customs. The object of the present essay is to develop one of the insti- tutions or ordinances of this kingdom; and this we shall attempt by stating, illustrating, and sustaining the following proposi- tions : PROP. I. TJiere is a house on earth, called the house of God. The most high God dwells not in temples made with human hands; vet he condescended in the age of types to have a temple erected for himself, which he called his house, and glorified it with the symbols of his presence. In allusion to this, the Chris- tian community, organized under the government of his Son, is called his house and temple. "You are God's building," says Paul to a Christian community. This building is said to be "built upon the Apostles and Prophets .Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." "Know you not that you are the temple of S'.ni? The temple of God is holy, which teiiipl>> you are." IV't in allusion to the Jewish temple, the Christian church oc- cupies the middle space between the outer court and the- holiest of all. "The holy places made with hands were figures of the true." The common priests went alwai/n into the. first taber- nacle or holy place, and the high-pi iest once a year into the lioUml of all. Thus our Great High Priest went o tire for all into the true "holiest of all," into the real presence of G<><1, and has per- mitted us Christians, as a royal priesthood, as a chosen rate, to enter always into the only holy place now on earth the Chris- tiau Church. "As living stones we are built up iiitu a- syiritttal TUB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 803 house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices most ac- ceptable to God by Jesus Christ."* But all we aim at here is to show that the community under Christ is called "the house of God" Paul once calls it a house of God, and once the house of God. An individual or single con- gregation, he calls "a house of God."\ I have written to you, "that you may know how to behave yourse.lf in a house of G< d, which is the congregation of God."J And in his letter to the Hebrews, || speaking of the whole Christian community, he calls it the house of God.$ " Having a Great High-Priest over the house of God, let us draw near," &c. It is, then, apparent, that there is under the Lord Messiah, now on earth, an institution called the house of God ; and this resembles the holy place be- tween the outer court and the holiest of all which is the position to be proved. PROP. II. In the house of God there is always the table of the Lord. As there is an analogy between the Jewish holy place, and the Christian house of God; so there is an analogy between the furni- ture of the first tabernacle or holy place, and those who officiated in it; and the furniture of the Christian house of God, and those who officiate in it. "In the first tabernacle," says Paul, "which is called holy, there were the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread," or the loaves of the presence. On the golden table every Sabbath day were placed twelve loaves, "which were exhi- bited there for one week, and on the next Sabbath they were sub- stituted by twelve fresh loaves sprinkled over with frankincense. The, loaves which were removed from the table were eaten by the priests. These were called in the Hubrew "tint loavtx of the faces" or the loaves of the presence. This emblem of the abun- dance of spiritual food in the presence of God for all who dwell in the holy place stood always upon the golden table, furnishrd by the twelve tribes, even in the wilderness. The light in the first tabernacle was not from wit/tout, but from the seven lamps placed on the golden candlestick; emblematic of the perfect light, not derived from this*vorld, which is enjoyed in the house of God. 1 Peter il. 5. t 1 Tim. ill. 15. J Greek, oikot Theo* 2 Qn!i> ho otkot Ibeou. 304 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. If, then, in the emblematic house of God, to which corresponds the Christian house of God, there wa-i not only a table overl iid with g'.l> ! , always spread, and on it displayed twelve large loaves, or cakes, sacred memorials and emblems of God'a bounty and grace ; shall we say that in that house, over which Jesus is a Son, there is not to stand always a table more precious than gold, covered with a richer lepast for the holy and royal priesthood which the Loid has instituted, who may always enter into the holy place c< nsecrated by himself? Bat we are not dependent mi analogies, nor far-fetchel inf.-r- ences, for the proof of this position. Paul, who perfec'ly under- stood both the Jewish and Christian institutions, tells us th.it there is in the Christian temple a table, appropriately called the Lord's table, as a \ art of its furniture. He informs those who were in danger of being polluted by idolatry, "that they could not be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of demons."* In all his allusions to this table in this connection, he represents it as continually approached by those in the Lord's house. "The cup of the Lord" and ''the loaf," forwhi>h thanks were continually offered, are the furniture of this table, to which the Christian brotherhood have free access. The Apostle Paul reminds the saints in Corinth of their fa- miliarity with the Lord's table, in speaking of it as being com- mon as the meetings of the brotherhood. " The cup of blessing for which we bless God, is it not the joint participation of the blood of Christ? The loaf which we break, ia it not the joint participation of the body of Christ?" In this style we speak of things common and usual, never thus of things uncommon or unusual. It is not (he cup which we have received with thanks; nor is it the loaf which we have broken; but which we do break. But all that we aim at here is now accomplished ; for it has been shown that in the Lord's huuxe there its alwayx the table oj the Lord. It is scarcely necessary to add, that if it be shown that in the Lord's house there is the Lord's table, as a part of the furni- ture, it must always be there, unless it can be shown that only 'some occasions require its presence, and others its absence ; or that the Lord is poorer or more churlish at one time than at an- other; that he is not always able to keep a table, or too parsimo- nious to furnish it for his friends. Cut this is in anticipation of yur subject, and we proceed to the third proposition. 1 Cor. x. 2L THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 305 PROP. III. On the Lord's table there is of necessity but one loaf. The necessity is not that of a positive law enjoining one loaf and only one, as the ritual of Moses enjoined twelve loaves. But it is a necessity arising from the meaning of the Institution as explained by the Apostles. As there is but one literal body, and but one mystical or figurative body having many members ; so there must be but one loaf. The Apostle insists upon this, "Be- cause there is one loaf, \ve, the many, are one body ; for we are all partakers of that one loaf."* The Greek word artos, espe- cially when joined with words of number, says Dr. Macknight, always signifies a loaf, and is so translated in our Bibles: "Do you not remember the Jive loavex?"\ There are many instances of the same sort. Dr. Campbell says, "that in the plural number it ought always to be rendered loaves; but when there is a numeral before it, it indispensably must be rendered loaf or loaves. Thus we say one loaf, seven loaves ; not one bread, seven breads." "Because there is one loaf," says Paul, "we must consider the whole congregation as one body." Here the Apostle reasons from what is more plain to what is less plain ; from what was esta- blished to what was not so fully established in the minds of the Corinthians. There was no -dispute about the one loaf; therefore, there ought to be none about the one body. This mode of reason- ing makes it as certain as a positive law; because that which an Apostle reasons from must be an established fact, or an esta- blished principle. To have argued from an assumption or a contingency to establish the unity of the body of Christ would have been ridiculous in a logician, and how unworthy of an Apostle ! It was, then, an established institution, that there in but one loaf, inasmuch as the Apostle establishes his argument by a reference to it as an established fact. Our third proposition is, then, sustained, that OH the Lord's table there is of necessity hut one loaf. PROP. IV. All Christians are members of the hnuse or family of God, are called and constihtted a holy and royal priesthood, and may, therefore, bless G^d for the Lord's table, its loaf, and cup- approach it without fear, and partake of it trilh jy as often at they please, in remembrance of the death of their Lord and Saciour. The different clauses of this proposition, we shall sustain in 1 Cor. x. 17. t Mart. xvi. 9. 26* ^ 306 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. order "all Christians are members of the family or house of God."* " But Christ is trusted as a Son over hia own family; whose family we are, provided we maintain our profession and boasted hope unshaken to the end ;" "are called and coimlitnted a holy and a royal priesthood."^ You, also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual temple, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices most acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." In the ninth verse of the same chapter he says, "But you are an elect race, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood ;" and this is ad- dressed to all the brethren dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappa- docia, Asia, and Bithynia. May not, then, holy and royal priest thank God for fhe Lord's table, its loaf, and cup of wine? May they not, without a human priest to consecrate the way for them, approach the Lord's table, and handle the loaf and cup? If the common priests did no* fear to approach the golden table, and to place upon it the .'oav>s of the presence ; if they feared not to take and eat that consecrated bread, because priests according to the flesh shall royal nricsts fear, without the intervention of human hrnds, to approach the Lord's table and to partake of the one loaf '/ If they should, they know not how to appreciate the consecration of Jesus, nor hoxv to value their high calling and exalted designation as kings and priests to God. And may we not say, that he who, invested with a little clerical authority, derived only from "the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition," if borrowed from the Romanises, says to them, "Stand by, I am holier than thou," may we nov ay that such n one is worse than Diotrephes, who affected a pre-eminence, be- cause he desecrates the royal priesthood of Jesun Christ, and calls him common and unclean, who has been consecrated br- ibe blood of the Son of God? Such impiety can otly be founcJ among them who worship the beast, and who have covenanted and agreed that none shall buy or sell, save those who receive a mark on their foreheads and letters-patent in their hands. But allow common sense to whisper a word into the ears of priests' "laymen," but Christ's "royal priests." Do you not thank God for the cup while the priest stands by the table ; and do you not handle the loaf and cup when they come to you? And would not your thanksgiving hate been as acceptable, if the human media- tor had not been there, and your participating as well pleasing to God, and as consolatory to yourself, if you had been the first ih;\t Ileb. iii. 6. f 1 Pet - >* 6 - THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 307 had handled th^ loaf or the cup, as when you are the second, r the fifty-second, in order of location ? Let reiso'i answer the -e two questions, and see what co.nes nf the haughty assumptions of your Protestant clergy I ! Lut this only by the way. I trust it is apparent that the royal priesthood may approach the Lord's table without fear, inasmuch as they are consecrated to officiate by a blood, as far superior to that which consecrated the fleshly priesthood, as the Lord's table, covered with the sacred emblems of th-3 sacrifice of the Lord himself, is superior to the table which held o .ly the twelve loaves of the presence; and as they are, to say the least, called by a> holy and divine an elociion, and are as cho en. a race of priests, as were those sprung from the loins of L-jvi. PROP. V. T.'ie one loaf must 62 broken before the saints feed upon it, which has ob ained for thin institution the name of " breaking the louj." But some, doubtless, will ask, " Is it not called the Lord's sup- per ?" Some ha\e thought, among whom is Dr. Bell, that 1 Cor. xi. 20 applies to the fe.ists of love or charity, rather than the showing forth of the L ird's death. These may read the pad- sage thus: " But your coming together into one place is not to eat a Lord's Cupper ; for in eating it every one takes first his own supper ; alluding, as they suppose, to a love-feast eaten before the breukiny the loaf ." But this Lord's supper is contradistinguished from their mnt supper. And might it not as reasonably be said, you cannot call your showing forth the Lord's death a Lord's supper ; for before eating it you have eat a supper of your own, which prevents you from making a stijiper of it? You do not make it a Lord's supper, if you first eat your own supper. Nor, indeed, could the Corinthians call any eating the " Lord's sup- per," conducted as was the eating of their own suppers ; for one eat and drank to excess, while another who was poor, or had no supper to bring, was hungry and put to shame. Could this be called a supper in honor of the Lord? But as the Lord had eaten a religious supper, had partaken of the paschal lamb with his disciples, before he instituted the breaking of the loaf, and drinking of the cup,, as commemorative of his death, it seems improper to call it a supper; for it was in- stituted and eaten ajler a supper. Not in the sense of one of the meals of the day, can it be called either dinner or supper: for it 808 THE CHRISTIAN 8T8TEM. supplies the place of no meal. Deipnos, here rendered supper, in the days of Homer, represented breakfast.* Jt also signified fo id in gciitral or a feast. In the times of Demos; h-nes it signified a feast or an evening meal. But it is of more importance to ob- serve, that it is in the New Testament used figuratively as well as literally. Hence, we have the gospel blessings compared to a supper. We read of the ''marriage-supper of the Lamb," and "supper of the Great God." Jesus says, "If any man open to me, 1 will (tleiptiexo) take supper with him and he with me." When thus used, it neither regards the time of day, nor the quan- tity eaten. If applied, then, to this institution, it is fi^ura hely, as it is elsewhere called "the Jea.vt." For not only did the Lord appoint it, but in eating it we have communion with the L >rd. The same idiom, with the addition of the article, occurs in Reve- lation i. 10, " he kuriake heinera," the Lord's day. Upon the \\liole it appears more probable that the Apostle uses the words kuriukos deipnos, or Lord's supper, as applicable to the breaking of the loaf for which they gave thanks in honor of the Lord, than to their own supper or the feasts of love, usual among the brethren. If we say, in accordance with the Apostle's style, the Lord's day, the Lord's table, the Lord's cup, we may also say the Lord's sup- per. For in the Lord's house these are all sacred to him. As the calling of Bible tilings by Bible names is an important iti.-m in the present reformation, we may here take occasion to remark, that both " the Sacrament" and " the Eucharist" are of human origin. The former, ,^as a name adopted by the Latin church ; because the observance was supposed to be an oath or vow to the Lord ; and, as the term sacramentum signified an oath taken by a Koman soldier to be true to his general and his coun- try, they presumed to call this institution a sacrament or oath to the Lord. By the Greek church it is called the Eucharist, which word imports the giving of thanks, because, before participating, thanks were presented for the loaf and the cup. It is also called the communion, or "the communion of the saints;" but this might indicate that it is exclusively the communion of saints; and, therefore, it is more consistent to denominate it literally " the breaking of the loaf." But this is the only preliminary to the illustration and proof of our fifth proposition. We have said that the loaf must be broken before the saints partake of it. Jesus took a loaf from the paschal table and broke * Iliad, book ii. lines 3*1-399, aud viii., Urn* 03-W. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 809 it before ho gave it to his disciples. They received a brrken loaf, emblematic of his body once whole, but by his own consent broken for his disciples. In eating it we then remember that the Lord's body was by his own consent broken or wounded for us. Therefore, he that gives thanks for the loaf should break it, not as the representative of the Lord, but after his example; and after the disciples have partaken of this loaf, handing it to one another, or while they are partaking of it, the disciple who brake it par takes with them of the broken loaf: thus they all have commu- nion with the Lord and with one another in eating the broken lo;if. And thus they as priests feast upon his sacrifice. For the priests eat of the sacrifices and were thus partakers of the altar. The proof of all this is found in the institution given in Matthew xxvi., Mark xiv., Luke xxii.. and 1 Cor. xi. In each of winch his breaking of the loaf, after giving thanks, and before his disciples partook of it, is distinctly stated. It is not, therefore, strange, that the literal designation of this institution should be what Luke has given it in his Acts of the Apostles thirty years after its institution. The first time he no- tices it is Acts ii. 4:2, when h calls it emphatically le kla-xei ton artou, the breaking of the loaf, a name at the time of his writing, A.D. 04, universally understood. For, says he, in recording the pioty ami devotion of the first converts, "they continued steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in the fellowship, in (he breaking of the lo<(f, in the prayers praising God." It is true, there is more than breaking a loaf in this inst : *"tion. But, in accordance with general if not universal usage, either that which is first <>r most prominent in laws, institutions, and usages, gives a name to thorn. Thus we have our Habeas Corfmn, our Fieri Facias, our Am Print, our Capias, our Veiulilioiii Expottas, names given from the first words of the law: But to break a loaf, or to break bread, was a phrase common among the Jews to denote ordinary eating for refreshment. For example, Acts ii. 40: "Daily, with one accord, they continued in the temple and in breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart." Also, after Paul had restored Eutychus at Troas, we are informed he brake a loaf and nte. Here it must refer to himself, not only because it is used indefinitely, but because he that cats is in the same number with him that breaks a loaf. But when an established usage is referred to, the article or some definite term ascertains what is alluded to. Thus, Acts ii. 42, it is "the breaking of tit* 810 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM* loaf." And Acts xx. 7, it is "They assembled for the breaking of the loaf." This loaf is explained by P.iul, 1 Cur. x. 16. "The loaf which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?'' This proposition being now, as we juJg-, sufficiently evidont, we shall proceed to state our sixth. PROP. VI. The breaking of Hie loaf and the drinking of the cup are commemorative of l/ie Lord's death. Upon the loaf and ujion the cup of the Lord, in letters which speak not to the eye, but to the heart of every disciple, is in- scribed, ' W/ieu t.'iia you see, remember me." Indeed, the Lord says to eacli disciple, when he receives the symbols into his hand, "This is my body broken for you. This is my blood sh-d for you." The loaf is thus constituted a representation .f his b'idy first whole, then wounded for our sins. The cup \< thus instituted a representation of his blood once his life, but now poured out to cleanse us from our sins. To every disciple he says, '"For you my body was wounded; for you my life was taken." In receiving it the di c'plesays "Lord, I b-lieve it. My l.fe sprung from thy suffering; my joy from thy sorrows; and my hope of glory everlasting from thy humiliation and abasement even to death." Each disciple, in handing the symbols to his fellow-disciple, says, in effect, "You, my brother, once an alien, are now a citizen of heaven ; once a stringer, are now brought home to the family of God. You h:ive owned my Lord as your Lord, my people as your people. Under Jesus the Messiah we are one. Mutually embraced in the Everlasting arms, I embrace you in mine: thy sorrows shall be my sorrows, and thy joys my joys. Jtiint debtors to the favor of God and the love of Jesus, we shall jointly suffer with him, that we may jointly reign with him. Ljt us, then, renew our a;rength, remember our King, and hold fast our boasted hope unshaken to the end." u Blest he the tie that Mnds Our hearts In Christian love; The fellowship !' kiudieJ minds Is like to that above." Here he knows no man after the flesh. Ties that spr'ng from uteriiiil love, revealed in blood, and a Idressed to his sens i s, draw forth all tiiat is within him of complacent aifection and feeling to those joint heirs with him of the grace of eternal life. While THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 811 it represents to Mm "the bread of life" all the natation of the Lord it is the strength of his faith, the joy of his h >pe, and the life of his love.* This institution commemorates the love which reconciled n< to God, and always furnishes us with a new argument to live for hirn who died for us. Him who feels not the eloquence and powr of this argument, all other arguments assail in vain. God's goodness, developed in creation and in his providence, is well designed to lead men to reformation. But the heart on which these fail, and to which Calvary appeals in vain, is past feeling, obdura'e, and irreclaimable, !>ey mJ the operation of any moral power known to mortal ma i. Every time the disciples ass?>ml>!c around the Lord's table, they are furnished \vi h a now argument also ngiinst sin, as well as with a new pr.-of of fie love of G >d. It is as well intended to crucify the worl I in our hearts, as to quicken us to Go I, and to diffuse his love within us. HiMicu it musr in reason he a stated part of the Christ'an woi'sliip. in all Cl:r'st ; an asscmhli s; whii-h leads us to sta'e, illustrate, and susta'n the fnllow'ng capital pro- position, to which the preceding six are all preliminary. PROP. VIT. The breaking of fJie one loaf, and tJi" joint participa- tion of the cup of the Lord, in commemoration, of the Lord's death, usually culled ''the L mi's Supper," it an iimti/iited part of the worxhip and edijication of all Christian congregation* in all their stated meetings. Argument 1. The first Christian congregation which met in Jerusalem, and which was constituted by the twelve Apostles, did as statedly attend upon the breaking of the loaf in their pub- lic meetings, as they did upon any other part of the Christian worship. So Luke records, Acts ii. 42. "They continued stead- fist in the Apostles' doctrine, in the fellowship, in the breaking of the loaf, and in the prayers." Ought we not, then, to continue as steadfast in the breaking of the leaf, as in the teaching of tho Apostles, as in the fellowship, as in the prayers commanded by th- Apostles? Argument '2. The Apostles taught the churches to do all the Lord commanded. Whatever, then, the churches did by the ap- * Ch istiiin Paptist, vol. iii * o. 1. Tn (hat volnni.-, iu ttio Kali of 18i>, wt>r written lour egiayg oil the brenkiug of bread, wbiob sew. 312 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. pointment or concurrence of the Apostle?, they did by the com- mandment of Jesus Christ. Whatever acts of religious worship the Apostles taught and sanctioned in one Christian congregation, they taught and sanctioned in all Christian congregations, because all under the same government of one and the same King. But the church in Troas met upon the first day of the week, conse- quently all the churches met upon the first day of the week for religious purposes. Among the acts of worship, or the institutions of the Lord, to which the disciples attended in these meetings, the breaking of the loaf was so conspicuous and important, that the churches are eaid to meet on the first day of the week for this purpose. We are expressly told that the disciples at Troas met for this purpose ; and what one church did by the authority of the Lord, as a part of his instituted worship, they all did. That the disciples in Tro-is met for this purpose is not to be inferred ; for Luke says positively, (Acts xx. 7,) "And on the first day of the week, when the disciples cnme together for the breaking of the loaf, Paul, being about to depart on the morrow, discoursed with them, and lengthened out his discourse till midnight." From the man- ner in which this meeting of the disciples at Troas is mentioned by the historian, two things are very obvious : 1st. That it was an established custom or rule for the disciples to meet on the first day of the week. 2d. That the primary object of their meeting was to break the loaf. They who object to breaking the loaf on the first day of every week when the disciples are assembled usually preface their objections by telling us, that Luke does not say they broke the loaf every first day; and yet they contend against the Sabbatarians, that they ought to observe evert/ first day to the Lord in commemoration of his resurrection. The Sabbatarians raise the same objection to this passage, when ad- duced by all profi-ssors of Christianity to authorize the weekly observance of the first day. They say that Luke does not tell us that they met for any religious purpose on every first day. How inconsistent, then, are they who make this sentence an ex- press precedent for observing every first day, when arguing against the Sabbatarians, and then turn round and tell us that it will not prove that they broke the loaf every first day! If it does not prove the one, it is most obvious it will not prove the other ; for the weekly observance of this day, as a day of the meeting of the disciples, and the weekly breaking of the loaf in those meetings, stand or full together. Hear it again : " Aud ou the THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 313 first day of the week, when the disciples assembled to break the loaf." Now, all must confess, who regard the meaning of words, that the meeting of the disciples and the breaking of the loaf, as far as these words are concerned, are expressed in the same terms as -respects the frequency. If the one* was jifty-two times in a year, or only once, so was the other. If they met every first day, they broke the loaf every first day ; and if they did not break the loaf every first day, they did not meet every first day. But we argue from the style of Luke, or from his manner of narrating the fact, that they did both. If he had said that on a first day the disciples assembled to break the loaf, then I would admit that both the Sabbatarians, and the semi-annual or septennial commu- nicants, might find some way of explaining this evidence away. The definite article is, in the Greek and in the English tongue, prefixed to stated fixed times, and its appearance here is not merely definitive of one day, but expressive of a stated or fixed day. This is so in all languages which have a definite article. Let us illustrate this by a very parallel and plain case. Suppose some five hundred or one thousand years hence the annual obser- vance of the 4th of July should have ceased for several centuries, and that some person or persons devoted to the primitive institu- tions of this mighty republic were desirous of seeing the 4th of every July observed as did the fathers and founders of the republic during the hale and undegenerate days of primitive republican simplicity. Suppose that none of the records of the first century of this republic had expressly stated, that it was a regular and fixed custom for a certain class of citizens to pay a particular re- gard to the 4th day of every July; but that a few incidental ex- pressions in the biography of the leading men in the republic spoke of ic as Luke has done of the meeting at Troas. How would it be managed? For instance, in the life of John Quincy Adams, it is written, A.D. 1823, " And on the 4th of July, when the re- publicans of the city of Washington met to dine, John Q. Adams delivered an oration to them." Would not an American, a thou- sand years hence, in circumstances such as have been stated, find in these words one evidence that it was an established usage, during the first century of this republic, to regard the 4th of July as aforesaid ? He would tell his opponents to mark, that it was not said that on a fourth of July, as if it were a particular occur- rence: but it was, in the fixed meaning of the English language, expressive of a fixed and stated day of peculiar observance. At all events, he could not fail in convincing the most stupid, that 2T 314 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. the primary intention of that meeting was to dine. Whatever might be tho frequency or the intention of that dinner, it must be confessed, from the words above cited, that they met to dine. Another circumstance that must somewhat confound the Sab- batarians, and the lawless observers of the breaking of the loaf, may be easily gathered from Luke's narrative. Paul and hia company arrived at Troas either on the evening of the first day. or on Monday morning at an early hour ; for he departed on Mon- day morning, as we term it, at an early hour ; and we are posi- tively told that he tarried just seven days at Troas. Now, had the disciples been Sabbatarians, or observed the seventh day as a Sabbath, artd broke the loaf on it as the Sabbatarians do, they would not have deferred their meeting till the first day, and kept Paul and hia company waiting, as he was evidently in a great haste at this time. But his tarrying seven days, and his early departure on Monday morning, corroborates the evidence adduced in proof, that the first day of the week was the fixed aud stated day, for the disciples to meet for this purpose.* From the 2d of the Acts, then, we learn that tJie breaking of the loaf was a stated part of the worship of the disciples in their meetings ; and from the 20th we learn that the first day of the week was the stated time for those meetings ; and, above all, we ought to notice that the most prominent object of their meeting was to break the loaf. Other corroborating evidences of the stated meeting of the disciples on the first day for religious pur- poses are found in the fact, that Paul says he had given orders to all the congregations in Galatia, as well as that in Corinth, to attend to the fellowship, or the laying up of contributions for the poor saints on the first day of every week. " On the first day of every week let each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as he may have prospered, putting it into the treasury, that when I come there may be no collections" for the saints. Kala mian Sabbaton Macknight justly renders "first day of every week ;" for every linguist will admit that kata poliii means every city ; kata menan, every month ; kata ecclesian, every church ; and there- fore, in the same usage, kata mian Sabbaton means the first day of every week. Now, this prepares the way for asserting not only that the dis- ciples in Troas assembled on the first day of every week for " the breaking of the loaf," but also for adducing a third argument :-- * Christian Baptist, pp. 211-212. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 315 Argument 3. The congregation in Corinth met every first day, or the first day of every week, for showing forth the Lord's death. Let the reader bear in mind that he has just heard that Paul com- manded the church in Corinth, or every saint in Corinth, to con- tribute according jto his ability, by putting into the treasury every first day his contributions to avoid collections when Paul came. This is agreed on all hands to prove the weekly meeting of the saints. Now, with this concession in mind, we have only to notice what is said, chap. xi. 20. "When you come together in ie place, that is, every week at least, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. To act thus is unworthy the object of your meeting. To act thus is not to eat the Lord's supper. It is not to show forth the Lord's death." Thereby declaring that this is the chief object of meeting. When the teacher reproves his pupils for wasting time, he cannot remind them more forcibly of the object of coming to school, nor reprove them with more point, than to say, " When you act thus, this is not to assemble to learn." This is the exact import of the Apostle's address : " When you assemble thus, it is not to eat the Lord's supper." We have seen, then, that the saints met every first day in Corinth ; and when they assembled in one place it was to eat the Lord's supper, a decla- ration of the practice of the primitive congregations as explicit as could incidentally be given, differing only from a direct com- mand in the form in which it is expressed. But it is agreed on all himds, that whatsoever the congregations did with the ap- probation of the Apostles they did by their authority. For the Apostles gave them all the Christian institutions. Now, as the Apostle Paul approbated their meeting every week, and their coining together into one place to show forth the Lord's death, and only censured their departure from the meaning of the insti- tution, it is as high authority as we could require for the practice of the weekly meeting of the disciples. But when Acts ii. 42, Acts xx. 7, 1 Cor. xi. 20, and chap, xvi. 1,2 are compared and added together, it appears that we act under the influence of apostolic teaching and precedent wjien we meet every Lord's day for the breaking of the loaf. But this is still further demonstratated by a fourth argument drawn from the following fact: Argument 4. No argument can be adduced from the New Tea- tanient of any Christian congregation assembling on the first day of the week, unless for the breaking of the loaf. Let an example be adduced by those who teach that Christians ought to meet 316 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. on the first day of the week not to break the loaf, and then, but not till then, can they impugn the above fact. Till this is done, a denial of it must appear futile in the extreme. The argument, then, is, Christians have no authority, nor are under any obliga- tions, to meet on the Lord's day, from any thipg which the Apoo- ties said or practised, unless it be to show forth the Lord's death, and to attend to those means of edification and comfort connected with it. Argument 5. If it be not the duty and privilege of every Chris- tian congregation to assemble on the first day of every week to show forth the Lord's death, it will be difficult, if not impossible, from either Scripture or reason, to show that it is their duty or privilege to meet monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, or indeed at all, for this purpose. For from what promises can any person show that it is a duty or privilege to assemble monthly, which will not prove that it is obligatory to meet weekly? We challenge investigation here, and affirm that no man can produce a single reason why it should or could be a duty or a privilege* for a congregation to meet monthly, quarterly, or annually, which will not prove that it is its duty and privilege to assemble every first day for this purpose. Argument 6. Spiritual health, as well as corporal 'health, is dependent on food. It is requisite for corporal health, that the food not only be salutary in its nature and sufficient in its quan- tity, but that it be received at proper intervals, and these regular and fixed. Is it otherwise with moral health ? Is there no ana- logy between the bread that perishes, and the bread of life ? Is there no analogy between natural and moral life -between natural and moral health ? and, if there be, does it not follow, that if the primitive disciples only enjoyed good moral health when they assembled weekly to show forth the Lord's d^atH, they cannot enjoy good moral health who only meet quarterly or semi-annu- ally for this purpose ? Argument 1. But in the last place, what commemorative insti- tution, in any age, under any religious economy, was ordained by divine authority, which had not a fixed time for its observance? Was it the commemoration of the finishing of Creation signified in the weekly Sabbath? Was it the Passover, the Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles ? Was it the Feast of Purim either? What other significant usage was it, the times or occasions of whose observance were not fixed ? How often was circumcision to be administered to the same subject ? How often Christian immer- THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 3 1*3 sion ? Is there a single institution commemorative of any thing, the meaning or frequency of the observance of which is not distinctly, either by precept or example, laid down in the Holy Scriptures ? Not one of a social character, and scarcely one of an individual character. The commemoration of the Lord's death must, then, be a weekly institution an institution in all the meetings of the disciples for Christian worship ; or it must be an anomaly a thing sui generis an institution like no other of di- vine origin. And can any one tell why Christians should cele- brate the Lord's resurrection jift.y-two times in a year, and his death only once, twice, or twelve times? He that can do this will not be lacking in a lively imagination, however defective he may be in judgment or in an acquaintance with the New Testament. Having written so much on this subject formerly, I shall now introduce a few persons out of the many men of renown who, since the Reformation, have plead this cause. We shall not only \introduce them to our readers, but we shall let them speak to them. John Broicn, of Hadclington, author of the Dictionary of the Biblo, and teacher of theology for that branch of the Presbyte- rian church called the "Secex-vioii," has written a treatise on this subject. Wo shall give biro the task of stating and removing the objections to this apostolic institution. The reader will per- ceivc that there are many impurities in his style ; and, although his speech betrays that he has been in Ashdod, still, his argu- ments are weighty and powerful. He offers various arguments for the weekly observance of this institution, and states and refutes nine objections to the practice. A few of these strongest we shall quote: " All the arguments I ever knew advanced in support of the unfrequent administration of the Lord's supper appear to mo al- together destitute of force. The following arc the principal : "Objection 1. The frequent administration of this ordinance, in the apostolic and primitive ages of Christianity, was com- mendable and necessary, because the continual persecutions that thn raged gave them ground to fear that every Sabbath might be their last ; whereas now we are not in such danger, and there- fore need not so frequent use of this ordinance. "Answer. Ought we not still to live as if every Sabbath were to be our last? Have we now a lease f our life more than these had? Did not many Christians in these times live to a" great an age as we do now ? Indeed, is it not evident, from the best his- 318 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. torians, thut the church was generally under no persecution abort one-third of the time that weekly communion was practised? But, say they had been constantly exposed to the crudest p.erse- cutijn, the objection becomes still more absurd. If they attended this ordinance weekly at the peril of their lives, does it follow that now, when God gives us greater and better opportunity for it, we ought to omit it? Does God require the greatest work at his people's hands, when he gives least opportunity ? Or does he require least work, when he gives the greatest opportunity for it? What kind of a master must God be, if this were the case? Besides, do not men need this ordinance to preserve them from the influence of the world's smiles as much as of its frowns?" " Let us invert this objection, and try if it has not more force. It would then run thus: The primitive Christians received the Lord's supper weekly, as their souls were in greater danger from the smiles and allurements of the world, which are usually found more hurtful to men's spiritual concerns than its frowns ; and as they had greater opportunity for doing so by their enjoying peace and liberty; yet this frequency of administering and partaking is not requisite now, as we, being under the world's frowns, are in less hazard as to our spiritual concerns ; and especially as we cannot attend upon it but at the peril of our lives, God having expressly declared that he loves mercy better than sacrifice. "Objection 2. The primitive and reforming times were seasons of great spiritual liveliness, and of large communications of di- vine influences to the souls of believers; whereas it is quite otherwise now. Therefore, though frequent administration was then commendable ; yet, in our languishing decayed state, it is unnecessary. "Answer. Ought we to repair seldom to the wells of salvation, because we can bring but little water at once from them ? Ought we seldom to endeavor to fill our pitchers at the fountain of living waters, because they are small? Is not this ordinance a cordial for restoring the languishing, strengthening the week, recovering the sick, and reviving the dying believer? How reasonable, then, is it to argue that languishing, weak, sick, and dying believers must not have it often administered to them, just because they are not in perfect health ?" " Would not the objection inverted read better? The primitive Christians had this ordinance fre- quently administered to them, because, being decayed and with- ered, weak and sickly, and receiving only scanty communications of divine influence at once, it was necessary for them to be often THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 319 taking new meals; whereas, we, being now strong and lively Christians, and receiving on these occasions such large supplies of grace .as are sufficient to enable us to walk many days under their powerful influence, have no occasion for so frequently at- tending on that ordinance, which is especially calculated for strengthening languishing, weak, sickly believers. "Objection 3. If the Lord's supper were frequently adminis- tered, it would become less solemn, and, in time, quite contempt- ible, as we see is the case with baptism, through the frequency of the administration of that ordinance. "Answer. Is this mean of keeping up the credit of the Lord's supper, of God's devising or not? If it is, where is that part of his word that warrants it ? The contrary I have already proved from Scripture. Since, then, it is only of man's invention, what ground is there to hope it will really maintain the credit and solemnity of the ordinance ? Did not the Papists of old pretend to maintain and advance its solemnity, by reduction of the fre- quency of administration? Did they not take away the cup from the people, which Calvin says was the native consequence of the former? Did they not annex the administration of this ordinance to those seasons which superstition had aggrandized; namely, Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas? Did they not annex a world of Ceremonies to it? Did they not pretend that it was a real sacrifice, and that the elements were changed by consecration into the real body and blood of Christ? And did all this tend to the support of the proper credit of this ordinance? On the con- trary, did it not destroy it? Though the doctrine of transubstuu- tiation procured a kind of reverence for it, yet, was this reverence divine? or was it not rather devilish, in worshipping the ele- ments? Now, how are we sure that our unfrequent administration of this ordinance will more effoctually support its solemnity? Is it not strange that we should have so much encouragement from the practice of the Apostles, the primitive Christians, and the whole of the reformed churches, to profane this solemn ordinance; while the most ignorant and abandoned Papists are our original pattern for the course that tends to support its proper honor and credit? What a strange case this must be, if, in order to support the credit of God's ordinance, we must forsake the footsteps of the flock, and walk in the paths originally chalked out by the most ignorant and wicked anticliristians! " Besides, if our unfrequent administration of this ordinance render it solemn, would it not become much more BO, if ad- 320 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. ministered only once in seven, ten, twenty, thirty, sixty, or a hundred years? "Shall we not then find that those who pray once a month, or hear a sermon once a year, have their minds far more religiously impressed with solemn views of God, than those who pray seven times a day, and hear a hundred sermons within the year? " Let us invert this objection, and see how it stands. All human devices to render God's ordinances more solemn are impeach- ments of his wisdom, and have always tended to bring the ordi- nances into contempt. But unfrequent administration of the supper is a human device, first invented by the worst of Papists, and therefore it tends to bring contempt on this ordinance, as we see sadly verified in the practice of those who voluntarily com- municate seldom." The means by which the weekly observance of the supper was set aside Mr. Brown states in the following words : " The means by which the unfrequent administration of this ordinance appears to me to have been introduced into the church do not savor of the God of truth. The causes that occasioned its introduction appear to have been pride, superstition, covetousness, and carnal complaisance. The Eastern hermits, retiring from the society of men, had taken up their residence in deserts and moun- tains, and, being far removed from the places of its administration, seldom attended. This, though. really the. effect of their sloth and distance, they pretended to arise from their regard and reve- rence for this most solemn ordinance.. It being easy to imitate them in this imaginary holiness? which lay in neglecting the ordi- nances of God, many of the Eastern Christians left off to commu- nicate, except at such times as superstition had rendered solemn, as at Pasch ; and contented themselves with being spectators on other occasions. On account of this practice, we find the jrrcat and eloquent Chrysostom, once and .again, bitterly exclaiming against them as guilty of the highest contempt of God and Christ; and calls their practice a most wicked custom." An objection not formally stated by Mr. Brown, which I have fre- quently heard, is drawn from the words, "as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me." From these words it is plead that we are without law in regard to time how often ; and consequently cannot be condemned for a partial or total neglect ; for " where there is no law, there is no transgression." "As often" is used not to license the frequency, but to denote the manner. "Always do it in reuiembraace >f me." The connection in which these THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 321 words occur regarding the manner or design of the observance, and not how often it may or may not be celebrated, it is a viola- tion of every rule of interpretation to infer another matter from them, which was not in the eye of the Apostle. Besides, if the words "as oft" leave it discretionary with any society how often, they are blameless if they never once, or more than once, in all their lives, show forth the Saviour's death. This interpretation makes an observance without reason, without law, without pre- cedent, and consequently without obligation. Next to Mr. Brown, we shall introduce a few extracts from William King, Archbishop of Dublin. The editors of the Chris- tian Examiner presented a very valuable extract from Mr. King, in their 7th of May number of the 1st volume, from which I quote the following, pp. 103, 1G5, 1GG, 167: "The following remarks on this institution of our Sariour are copied from a 'Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the worship of God,' by William King, of Ireland. He was born at Antrim, 1G50; educated at Trinity College, Dublin; and held suc- cessively the dignities of Dean of St. Patrick's, Bishop of Derry, and Archbishop of Dublin. He died in 172'J. His method in this discourse is to examine and compare the worship of God, as taught in the Scriptures, with the practice of the different religious* sects of the day: "Christ's positive command to do this in remembrance of him, &c. must oblige us in some times and in some places ; and there can be no better way of determining when we are obliged to do it than by observing when God in his goodness gives us oppor- tunity; for either we are then obliged to do it, or else we may choose whether we will ever do it or no ; there being no better means of determining the frequency, than this of God's giving us the opportunity. And the same rule holding in all other gene- ral positive commands, such as those that oblige us to charity, we may be sure it holds likewise in this. Therefore, whoever slights or neglects any opportunity of receiving which God affords him does sin, as certainly as he who, being enabled by God to perform an act of charity, and invited by a fit object, neglects to relieve him, or shuts up his bowels of compassion against him concerning whom the Scriptures assure us that the love of God dwells not in him. And the argument is rather stronger against him who neglects this holy ordinance; for how can it be supposed that man has a true love for his Saviour, or a due sense of !:i i Bufferings, who refuses or neglects to remember the greatest of 322 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. all benefits, in the easiest manner, though commanded to do it by his Redeemer, and invited by a fair opportunity of God's own offering ? "It is manifest, that if it be not our own faults, we may have an opportunity every Lord's day when we meet together; and, there- fore, that church is guilty of laying aside the command, whose order and worship doth not require and provide for this practice. Christ's command seems to lead us directly to it: for 'Do this in remembrance of me' implies that Christ was to leave them ; that they were to meet together after he was gone; and that he re- quired them to remember him at their meetings whilst he was absent. The very design of our public meetings on the Lord's day, and not on the Jewish Sabbath, is, to remember and keep in our minds a sense of what Christ did and suffered fur us till he come again; and this we are obliged to do, not in such a manner as our own inventions suggest, but by such means as Christ himself has pre- scribed to us ; that is, by celebrating this holy ordinance. "It seems then probable, from the very institution of this ordi- nance, that our Saviour designed it should be a part of God's ser- vice in all the solemn assemblies of Christians, as the passover was in the assemblies of the Jews. To know, therefore, how qften Christ requires us to celebrate this feast, we have no more to do but to inquire how often Christ requires us to meet to- gether ; that is, at least every Lord's day.' " We shall next introduce an American Rabbi, of very great ce- lebrity, Dr. John Mason, of New York. The passages which I quote are found in a note attached to the 188th page of the New York edition of Fuller's Strictures on Sandemanianism : "Mr. Fuller does not deny that the Lord's supper was observed by the first Christians every Lord's day, (nor will this be denied by any man who has candidly investigated the subject;) but he seems to think that Acts xx. 7 does not prove that it was so. Others, eminent for piety and depth of research, have considered this passage as affording a complete proof of the weekly observ- ance of the Lord's supper. Dr. Scott, in his valuable Commen- tary, observes on this passage 'Breaking of bread, or commemo- rating the death of Christ in the eucharist, was one chief end of their assembling ; this ordinance seems to have been constantly administered ecery Lord's day, and probably no professed Chris- tians absented themselves from it, after they had been admitted into the church, unless they lay under some censure, or had some real hinderauce.' THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 823 "Dr. Mason, of this city, in his Letters on Frequent Communion, speaks uii this subject with still greater decision. 'It is notorious, that during the first three centuries of the Christian era commu- nions were held, with the frequency of which, among us, we have neither example nor resemblance. It is also notorious, that it has been urged as a weighty duty by the best of men, and the best Churches, in the best of times. "Weekly communions did not die with the Apostles and their contemporaries. There is a cloud of witnesses to testify that they were kept up by succeeding Christians, with great care and ten- derness, for above two centuries. It is not necessary to swell these pages with quotations. The fact is indisputable. " Communion every Lord's day was universal, and was pre- served in the Greek church till the seventh century; and such as neglected three weeks together were excommunicated. "In this manner did the spirit of ancient piety cherish the memory of the Saviour's love. There was no need of reproof, remonstrance, or entreaty. No trifling excuses fi^r neglect were ever heard from the lips of a Christian; for suck a neglect liad not yet degraded the Christian's name. lie carried in his own bosom sufficient inducements to obey, without reluctance, the precepta of his Lord. It was his choice, his consolation, his joy. These were days of life and glory; but days of dishonor and death were shortly to succeed ; nor was there a more ominous symptom of their approach, than the decline of frequent communicating. For as the power of religion appears in a solicitude to magnify the Lord Jesus continually, so the decay of it is first detected by the encroachments of indifference. It was in tito fourth century, that the church began very discernibly to forsake her first love. " The excellent Calvin complains that in this day professors, conceiting that they had fully discharged their duty by a single communion, resigned themselves for the rest of the year to supine- ness and sloth. It ought to have been (says he) far otherwise. Every week, at least, the table of the Lord should have been spread for Christian assemblies ; and the promises declared, by which, partaking of it, we might be spiritually fed.'" We shall now hear the celebrated John Wesley. After fijly- Jive years' reflection upon the subject, he decides that Christiana should show forth the Lord's death every Lord's day. lie pre- laces the lUlith Sermon, Luke xxii. 10. with this remark: Mason's Letters on Frequent Communion, pp. 34, 36. 30, 37, 38, nod 52, KOlo- t^Ur^j edition, 17yU. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. "This discourse was written above five-and-fifty years ago, for tne use of my pupils at Oxford. 1 have added very little, but re- trenched. much ; as 1 then used more words than I now do. But, I thank God, I have not yet seen cause to alter my sentiments in any point which is therein delivered." The sermon is entitled "The Duty of Constant Communion," concerning which the reformer says, " It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God should never think of doing this. But it is strange that it should be neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to save their souls; and yet nothing is more common.. One reason why many neglect it is, they are so much afraid of eating and drinking unworthily, that they never think how much greater the danger is when they do not eat or drink at all." In speaking of constantly receiving the supper, Mr. Wesky says, "I say constantly receiving; for as to the phrase frequent com- munion, it is ifcbsurd to the last degree. If it means any thing else but constant, it means more than can be proved to be the duty of any man. For if we are not obliged to communicate con- stantly, by what argument can it be proved that we are obliged to communicate frequently? yea, more than once a year? or once in seven years? or once before we die? Every argument brought for this either proves that we ought to do it constantly, or proves nothing at all. Therefore, that undeterminate, unmeaning way of speaking ought to be laid aside by all men of understanding. Our power is the only rule of our duty. Whatever we can do, that we ought. With respect either to this or any other com- mand, he that, when he may obey if he will, does not, will have no place in the kingdom of heaven." Though we may have some objections to the style in which John Wesley speaks of the meaning of this institution, as we have indeed to that of all the others from whom we have quoted, yet we would recommend to the whole Methodistic community the close perusal of the above sermon. It will be found vol iii. pp. 171-179. The Elders among the Methodists, with whom John Wesley is such high authority, we would remind of his advice, found in his Letter to America, 1784, lately quoted in the "Gospel Herald," Lexington, Ky. "I ALSO ADVISE THE ELDERS TO ADMINISTER THE SUITER OF TIIE LORD ON EVERY LORD'S DAY." THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 825 So much for John Brown, John Mason, and John Wesley, and the authorities which they quoted. While quoting the sayings of the Johns, I am reminded of something said by the great John Milton, the "immortal bard" of England. In his posthumous works he says, "The Lord's supper (which the doctrine of tran- substantiation, or rather anthropophagy, has wellnigh converted into a banquet of cannibals) is essential to be observed, and may l)e administered by any one with propriety, as well as by an ap- pointed minister. There is no order of men which can claim to itself either the right of distribution, or the power of withholding the sacred elements, seeing that in the church we are all alike priests." " The master of a family, or any one appointed by him, is at liberty to celebrate the Lord's supper from house to house, as was done in the dispensation of the passover." " All Christians are a royal priesthood : therefore, any believer is competent to act as an ordinary minister according as convenience may require; provided only, he be endowed with the necessary gifts : these gifts constituting his commission." Thus did the famous Milton make way for the weekly observance of the supper, by divesting it of the priestly appendages and penances of the dark ages. A cloud of witnesses to the plainness and evidence of the New Testament on the subject of the weekly celebration of the Lord's supper might be adduced. But this we think unnecessary; and, as we would avoid prolixity and tediousness, we shall only add a few extracts from the third volume of the Christian Baptist, 2d ed. p. 254, in proof of the assertion, "All antiquity is on the side of the disciples meeting every first day to break the loaf." All antiquity concurs in evincing that, for the three first centu- ries, all the churches broke bread once a week. Pliny, in his Epistles, book x. ; Justin Martyr, in his Second Apology for the Christians ; and Tertullian, De Ora., page 135, testify that it was the universal practice in all the weekly assemblies of the brethren, after they had prayed and sung praises. "The bread and wine being brought to the chief brother, he taketh it and ofiVreth praise and thanksgiving to the Father, in the name of the Sen and Holy Spirit. After prayer and thanksgiving, the whole assembly saith, Amen! When thanksgiving is ended by the chief guide, and the consent of the whole people, the deacons (as we call them) give to every one present part of the bread and wine, over which thanks are given." 44 1 he weekly communion was prepared in the Greek church 326 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. till the seventh century ; and, by one of their canons, 'such aa neglected three weeks together were excommunicated.'* "In the fourth century, when all things began to be changed by baptized pagans, the practice began to decline. Some of the councils in the western part of the Roman empire, by their canons, strove to keep it up. The council held at Illiberis in Spain, A.D. 324, decreed that ' no offerings should be received from such as did not receive the Lord's supper.'f " The council at Antioch, A.D. 341, decreed that ' all who came to church, and heard the Scriptures read, but afterwards joined not in prayer, and receiving the sacrament, should be cast out of the church, till such time as they give public proof of their repentance.'J "All these canons were unable to keep the carnal crowd of pro- fessors in a practice for which they had no spiritual taste; and, indeed, it was likely to get out of use altogether. To prevent this, the Council of Agatha, in Languedoc, A.D. 506, decreed that ' none should be esteemed good Christians who did not com- municate at least three times a year, at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday. '|| This soon became the standard of a good Chris- tian, and it was judged presumptuous to commune oftener. "Things went on in this way for more than six hundred years, until they got tired of even three communications in one year; and the infamous Council of Lateran, which decreed auricular confes- sion and transubstantiation, decreed that 'an annual communion at- Easter was sufficient.' This association of the ' sacrament' with Easter, and the mechanical devotion of the ignorant at this season, greatly contributed to the worship of the Ilost.g Thus the breaking of bread in simplicity and godly sincerity once a week degenerated into a pompous sacrament once a 3 T ear, at Easter. "At the Reformation this subject was but slightly investigated by the reformers. Some of them, however, paid some attention to it. Even Calvin, in his Institutes, lib. 4, chap. xvii. sect. 46, ^says, 'And truly this custom, which enjoins communicating once a year, if a most evident contrivance of the Devil, by whose instru- mentality soever it may have been determined.' "And again, (lust., lib. 6, chap, xviii. sect. 56,) he says, 'It juglit to have been far otherwise. Eoery week, at least, tiie table * Erskine's Dissurta ions, page 271. t Couin.il Illibi-ris. Can. 28. | Council Autiocb, fan. 2. | Cuun. Agulha, Cau. let. g BinghanTs Ofi., lib. xv. c. 9. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 327 of the Lord should have been spread for Christian assemblies, and the promises declared by which, in partaking of it, we might be spiritually fed.' " Martin Chemnitz, Witsius, Calderwood, and others of tho reformers and controversialists, concur with Calvin ; and, indeed, almost every commentator on the New Testament concurs with the Presbyterian Henry in these remarks on Acts xx. 7. ' In the primitive times it was the custom of many churches to receive the Lord's supper every Lord's day.' " The Belgic reformed church, in 1581, appointed the supper to be received every other month. The reformed churches of France, after saying that they had been too remiss in observing the supper but four times a year, advise a greater frequency. The church of Scotland began with four sacraments in a year; but some of her ministers got up to twelve times. Thus things stood till the close of the last century. " Since the commencement of the present century, many con- gregations in England, Scotland, Ireland, and some in the United States and Canada, both Independents and Baptists, have at- tended upon the supper every Lord's day, and the practice is every day gaining ground. " These historical notices may be of some use to those who are ever and anon crying out Innovation! Innovation! But we advo- cate the principle and the practice on apostolic grounds alone. Blessed is that servant who, knowing his Master's will, doeth it with expedition and delight! " Those who would wish to see an able refutation of the Pres- byterian mode of observing the sacrament, and a defence of weekly communion, would do well to read Dr. John Mason's 'Letters on Frequent Communion,' who is himself a high-toned Presbyterian, and consequently his remarks will be more regarded by his brethren than mine." Thus our seventh proposition is sustained by the explicit de- clarations of the New Testament, by the reasonableness of the thing itself when suggested by the Apostles, by analogy, by the conclusions of the most eminent reformers, and by tin 1 concurrent voice of all Christian antiquity. But on the plain savings of the Lord and his Apostles, we rely for authority and instruction upon this and every other Christian institution. It does, indeed, appear somewhat incongruous, that arguments should have to be submitted to urge Christians to convene weekly around the Lord's table. Much more in accordance with the 328 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. genius of our religion would it be, to see them over-solicitous tc be honored with a seat at the King's table, and asking with in- tense interest, might ;hey be permitted so often to eat in his presence, and in honor of his love. To have to withstand tlieir daily ci nvocations for this purpose would not be a task so un- natural and so unreasonable, as to have to reason and expostulate with them to urge them to assemble for weekly communion. But, as th : want of appetite for our iinimal sustenance is n symptom of ill health, or approaching disease; so a want of relish for spiritual food is indicative of a want of spiritual health, or of the presence of a moral disease, which, if nut healed, must issue in apostasy from the Living Head. Hence, among the most un- equivocal prognosis of a spiritual decline, the most decisive is a want of appetite for the nourishment which the Good Physician prepared and prescribed for his family. A healthy and vigorous Christian excluded iroin the use and enjoyment of all the pro- visions of the Lord's house cannot be found. But much depends upon the manner of celebrating the supper, as well as up.m the Jrequency. The simplicity of the Christian institution runs through every part of it. While there is the form of doing every tiling, there is all attention to the thing signified. But there is the form as well as the substance, and every thing that is done must be done in some manner. The well-bred Chris- tian is like the well-bred gentleman his manners are graceful, easy, artless, and simple. All stiffness and forced formality are as graceless in the Christian as in the gentleman. A courteous and polite family differs exceedingly from a soldier's messmates or a ship's crew, in all the ceremonies of the table. There is a Christian decency and a Christian order, as well as political courtesy and complaisance. Nothing is more disgusting than mimicry. It is hypocrisy in manners, which, like hypocrisy in religion, is more odious Uian apathy or vulgarity. Tiiere is a saintishness in demeanor and appearance, which differs as much from sanctity, as foppery fruui politeness. The appearance of sanctimoniousness is as much to be avoided as actual licentiousness of morals. An austere and rigid pharisaism si.s as awkwardly upon a Christian, as a mourn- ing habit upon a bride. Cheerfulness is not mirth solemnity is not pharisaism joy is not noise nor eating, festivity. But to act right in any thing, we must feel right. If we would ehovv love, we must first possess it. If a person would walk humbly, he must be humble: and if one would act the Christian THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 329 on any occasion, he must always live the Christian. Persona vho daily converse with God, and who constantly meditate upon his salvation, will not need to be told how they should demean themselves at the Lord's table. The following extract from my memorandum-book furnishes the nighest approach to the model which we have in our eye of good order and Christian decency in celebrating this institution. Indeed, the whole order of that congregation was comely: " The church in consisted of about fifty members. Not having any person whom they regarded as filling Paul's outlines of a bishop, they had appointed two senior members, of a very grave deportment, to preside in their meetings. These persons were not competent to labor in the word and teaching; but they were qualified to rule well, and to preside with Christian dignity. One of them presided at each meeting. After they had assem- bled in the morning, which was at eleven o'clock, (for they had agreed to meet at eleven and to adjourn at two o'clock during the winter season,) and after tliey had saluted one another in a very familiar and cordial manner, as brethren are wont to do who meet for social purposes ; the president for the day arose and said, ' Brethren, being assembled in the name and by the authority of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on this day of his resurrec- tion, let us unite in celebrating his praise.' He then repeated the following stanza : "'Christ the Lord is risen to day! Sons of men and angels say; Raise your joys and triumphs high, Siug, heavens 1 and, earth, reply!' " The congregation arose and sang this psalm in animating strains. He then called upon a brother, who was a very distinct and emphatic reader, to read a section of the evangelical history. He arose and read, in a very audible voice, the history of the crucifixion of the Messiah. After a pause of a few moments, tho president called upon a brother to pray in the name of the con- gregation. His prayer abounded with thanksgivings to the Father of Mercies, and with supplications for such blessings on them- selves and for all men as were promised to those who ask, or for which men were commanded to pray. The language was very appropriate: no unmeaning repetitions, no labor of words, no effort to say any thing and every thing that came into his mind; but to express slowly, distinctly, and emphatically, the desires 330 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. of the heart. The prayer was comparatively short; and the whole congregation, brethren and sisters, pronounced aloud the final Amen. "After prayer a passage in one of the Epistles was read by the president himself, and a song was called for. A brother arose, and, after naming the page, repeated, ' i , Twas on that night when doom'd to know The eager rage of every foe ; That night in which he was betray'd, The Saviour of the world took bread.' " He then sat down, and the congregation sang with much feeling. " I observed that the table was furnished before the disciples met in the morning, and that the disciples occupied a few benches on each side of it, while the strangers sat off on seats more re- mote. The president arose and said that our Lord had a table for his friends, and that he invited his disciples to sup with him. ' In memory of his death, this monumental table,' said he, 'was in- stituted; and as the Lord ever lives in heaven, so he ever lives in the hearts of his people. As the first disciples, taught by the Apostles in person, came together into one place to eat the Lord's supper, and as they selected the first day of the week in honor of his resurrection, for this purpose; so we, having the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope with them, have vowed to do as they did. We owe as much to the Lord as they ; and ought to love, honor, and obey him as much as they.' Thus having spoken, he took a small loaf from the table, and in one or two periods gave thanks for it. After thanksgiving, he raised it in his hand, and significantly brake it, and handed it to the disciples on each side of him, who passed the broken loaf from one to another, until they all partook of it. There was no stiffness, no formality, no pageantry; all was easy, familiar, solemn, cheerful. He then took the cup in a similar manner, and returned thanks for it, and handed it to the disciple sitting next to him, who passed it round ; each one waiting upon Ins brother, until all were served. The thanksgiving before the breaking of the loaf, and the distributing of the cup, were as brief and pertinent to the occasion, as the thanks usually presented at a common table for the ordinary bless- ings of God's bounty. They theu arose, and w ith one consent sang, "'To him that loved tho sons of men, And wasli'd us iu his blood; To royal honors raised our heads, And made us priests to God !' THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 331 "The president of the meeting called upon a brother to remem- ber the poor, and those ignorant of the way of life, before the Lord. He kneeled down, and the brethren all united with him in supplicating the Father of Mercies in behalf of all the son's and daughters of affliction, the poor and the destitute, and in behalf of the conversion of the world. After this prayer the fellowship or contribution was attended to; and the whole church proved the sincerity of their desires, by the cheerfulness and liberality which they seemed to evince, in putting into the treasury as the Lord had prospered them. " A general invitation was tendered to all the brotherhood if they had any thing to propose or inquire, tending to the edifica- tion of the body. Several brethren arose in succession, and read several passages in the Old and New Testaments, relative to some matters which had been subjects of former investigation and inquiry. Sundry remarks were made; and after singing several spiritual songs selected by the brethren, the president, on motion of a brother who signified that the hour of adjournment had arrived, concluded the meeting by pronouncing the apostolic benediction. " I understand that all these items were attended to in all their meetings; yet the order of attendance was not invariably the same. On all the occasions on which I was present with them, no person arose to speak without invitation, or without asking permission of the president, and no person finally left the meeting before the hour of adjournment, without special leave. Nothing appeared to be done in a formal or ceremonious manner. Every thing exhibited the power of godliness as well as the form; and no person could attend to all that passed without being edified and convinced that the Spirit of God was there. The joy, the affection, and the reverence which appeared in this little assem- bly was the strongest argument in favor of their order, and the best comment on the excellency of the Christian institution." 332 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. CONCLUDING ADDRESSES. ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OP THE KINGDOM. FEJ TOW-CITIZENS: Y >ur rank and standing under t'r.e reign of the Prince of Peace hare never been surpassed indeed, have never been equalled by any portion of the human race. You have visions and revelations of God his being and perfection develop- ments of the depths of his wisdom and knowledge, of the coun- sels of his grace, and the purposes of his love, which give you an intellectual and moral superiority above all your predecessors in the patriarchal and Jewish ages of the world. Secrets of God, which were hid from ages and generations, have been re- vealed to you by the Apostles of the great Apostle and High- Priest of your confession. What Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, and all the Prophets, down to John the Harbinger, rejoiced to anticipate, you have realized and enjoyed. The intellectual pleasures of the highest and most sublime conceptions of God and of Christ vouchsafed to you so far transcend the attainments of the ancient people of God, that you are comparatively exalted to heaven, and may enjoy the days of heaven upon earth. You have a book which contains not only the charter of your privileges, but which explains a thousand mysteries in the antecedent administrations of God over all the nations of the earth. In it you have such interpretations of God's past providences in the affairs of individuals, families, and nations, as open to you a thousand sources of rational and senti- mental enjoyment, from incidents and things which puzzled and perplexed the most intelligent and highly-favored of past ages. Mountains are, indeed, levelled ; valleys are exalted ; rough places are mude plain, and crooked ways straight to your apprehension ; and, from these data, you are able to form more just conceptions of the present, and more lofty anticipations of the future, than fell to the lot of the most highly-favored subjects of preceding dispensations. And, indeed, so inexhaustible are the deep and rich mines of knowledge and understanding in the Christian revelations, that the most comprehensive mind in the kingdom THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 333 of heaven might labor in them during the age of a Methusa'i'h, constantly enriching itself with all knowledge and spiritual under- standing, and yet leave at last vast regions and tracts of thought wholly unexplored. But this decided superiority over the most gifted saints of former ages you unquestionably enjoy. Among all the living excellencies with which they were acquainted, they wanted a perfect model of all human excellence. Bright as were the vir- tues and excellencies of an Abraham, a Joseph, a David, there were dark spots, or, at least, some blemishes, in their moral character. They failed to place in living form before their con- temporaries, or to leave as a legacy to posterity, every virtue, grace, and excellence that adorn human nature. But you have Jesus, not only as "the image of the invisible God," an "efful- gence of his glory, and an exact representation of his character;" but .as a man, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin, ex- hibiting in the fullest perfection every -excellence which gives amiability, dignity, and glory to human character. You have motives to purity and holiness, a stimulus to all that is manly, good, and excellent, from what he said, and did, and suffered as the Son of Man, which would have added new charms and beauties to the most exemplary of all the saints of the olden times. Means and opportunities of the highest intellectual and moral enjoyments are richly bestowed on you, for which they sighed in vain; God having provided some better things for Christians than for Jews and Patriarchs. Shall we not, then, fellow-citizens, appreciate and use, as we ought, to our present purity and happi- ness, to our eternal honor and glory, the light which the Sun of Righteousness has shed so richly and abundantly on us? Re- member that we stand upon Apostles and Prophets, and are sus- tained by Jesus, the light of the world, and the interpreter and vin-. dicator of all God's ways to man in creation, providence, and re- demption. All suns are stars ; and he that is now to us in this life "the Sun of lfi;/hte'iisne. on our sid; Jesu* Christ is our King the Holy Spirit is at his disposal angels are his ministering servants the prayers of all thu pro- phets, apostles, saints, and martyrs are lor our success our breth- ren are numerous and strong they have the sw ird of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the artillery of truth, the arguments of God, the preparation of tiie gospel of | eari- our Con.ui inder and Captain is t:ie most t-uccessful General that ever en ere 1 the tieid of w ir he never lost a battle lie is wonderful in council, exee.lent in working, valiant in ti^ht the Lord of host* is his name. He can stultify t.ie luaciiinaii.iiis of our enemies, control all the powers of nature, and subdue all our foes, tunvstial and infernal. Under Li- conduct we are like Mount Zion, tha. can never be move I. ludeotl, under him we are come to Mount Zion, the stronghold and to; tross of the kingdom, the city of the living God, the hea- venly Jerus.ilem, to myriads of angels, the gener.il assembly and congregation of the first-born, enrolled in heaven to God the Ju.lge of all to the spirits of just men made perfect to Jesus the Mediator of the New Constitution and to tho blood of sprinkling, which speaks such peace, and joy, and courage to the heart. Ought we not, then, brethren, "to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might"? If in faith, and courage, and prayer, we put on the heavenly armor, and march under the King, sounding the gospel trumpet, the walls of Jericho will fall to the ^ruund, and the banners of the Cross will wave over the ruins of Paganism, Atheism, Skepticism, and Sectarianism Nil dexpe~ randum, te dace, Ckriste. If a Roman could say, '-Nothing is to be feared under the auspices of Caesar," may not the Christian say, " There is no despair under the guardianship of Messiah the King"? But, fellow-citizens, though clothed with the whole panoply of heaven, and headed by the Captain of Salvation, there is no success in this war tc be expected, without constant and incessant prayer. When the Apostles began to build up this kingdom, 29 338 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. notwithstanding all the gifts they enjoyed, they found it necessary to devote themselves to prayer as well as to the ministry of the word. And when Paul describes all the armor of God, piece by piece, in putting it on he says, "Take the Sword of the Spirit with all supplication and deprecation, praA r at all seasons in spirit, watch with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints ; This was most impressively and beautifully pictured out in the wars of ancient Israel against their enemies. While Moses lifted up his holy hands to heaven, Israel prevailed; and when he did not, Amalek prevailed. So is it now. When the disciples of Christ, the heaven-born citizons of the kingdom, continue in- stant in prayer and watchfulness, the truth triumphs in their hearts and in the world. When they do not, they become c>ild, timid, and impotent as Samson shorn, and the enemy gains strength over them. Then the good cause of tin- Lord languishes. It is not necessary that we should understand how prayer in- creases our zeal, our wisdom, our strength, our joy, or how it gives success to the cause, any more than that we should under- stand how our food is converted into flesh, and blood, and bones. It is only necessary that we eat; and it is only necessary that we should pray as we are taught and commanded. Experience pr v.-s that the outward man is renewed d.iy l>y day by our daily bread, and experience proves that the inward man is renewed day by day by prayer and thanksgiving. The Lord has promised his Holy Spirit to them that ask him in truth ; and.is it not necessary to our success? If it be not necessary to give new revelations, it is necessary to keep in mind those already given, and to bring the word written seasonably to our remembrance. Besides, if the Spirit of the Lord was necessary to the success of Gideon and Barak, and Samson and David, and all the great warriors of Israel according to the flesh, who fought the battles of the Lord with the sword, the sling, and the bow ; who can say that it is not necessary to those who draw the Sword of the Spirit and fight the good fight of faith? In my judgment it is as necessary now as then necessary, I mean, to equal success necessary to the success of those who labor in the word and teaching and ne- O cessary to those who would acquit themselves like men, in every department in the ranks of the great army of the Lord of hosts. Though the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spirit u.il, they are mighty (only, however, through God, to the overturning of strongholds) to the overturning of all reasonings against tho THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 339 truth, and every high thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and in leading captive every thought to the obedience of Christ, Let us, then, fellow-citizens, whether as leaders >>r as private soldiers, abound in prayer and supplications to God night and day. If sincere, and ardent, and incessant prayers to God fur every thing that he has promised, for all things for which the Apostles prayed, were offered up by all the congregations, and by every disciple in his family and in his closet, for the triumphs of the truth ; then would we see the army of the Lord successful in fight against atheism, infidelity, and sectarianism then would we see disciples growing in knowledge and in favor with God and man. And is not the conversion of the world and our own eternal salvation infinitely worthy of all the effort and enterprise in man, seeing God himself has done so much in the gift of his Son and Holy Spirit, and left for us so little to do nothing, in- deed, but what is in the compass of our power ? And should we withhold that little, especially as he has given us so many and so exceedingly great and precious promises to stimulate us to exer- tion ? Has not Jesus said, " The conqueror shall inherit all things" that he "will not blot his name out of the book of life" that he "will confess it before his Father and his holy angels" that he will place him "upon his throne, and give him the crown of life that shall never fade awav"? Rise up, then, in the strength of Judah's Lion! Be valiant for the truth ! Adorn yourselves with all the graces of the Spirit of God ! Put on the armor of light; and, with all the gentleness, and meekness, and mildness there is in Christ with all the courage, and patience, and Zy numerous prophets for one thousand five hundred years before he vras born. TheS' recorded prophecies were in the pwsessj.m of his and our most hitter enemies, when he appeared, and arc still ex- tant in thf-ir hands. How can you dispose of these? All antiquity confirms the existence of Jesus of Nazareth in the times of Augustus and Tiberius Caesar. No contemporary opponent denied his mira- cles; they explained them away, but questioned not the wonderful works which he wrought. His character was the only perfect and unexceptionable one the world .ever saw, either in print or in real life; and yet you imagine him to have l>een the greatest liar and most infamous impostor that ever lived. You must admit him to have been the teacher of every thing moral ami pure and godlike to have lived the most exemplary lifo to have em- ployed his whole life in doing good, while to countenance your skepticism, you must imagine him to have been the greatest de- ceiver and most blasphemous pretender the world ever saw! Truly, you are fund of paradox ! His Apostles, too, for the sake of being accounted the off- scourings of the world, and the filth of all society for the sake of poverty, contumely, stripes, imprisonment, and martyrdom, you imagine travelled over the earth teaching virtue and holi- ness, discountenancing every species of vice and immorality, while telling the most impudent lies, and that, too, ah >ut matters of p ilpable fact, about which no man having eyes and ears could be mistaken! How great your credulity! How weak your frith! And, to consummate the whole, you admit that in the most en- lightened age, and among the most disputatious and discrimi- nating population, both Jewish, Roman, and Grecian, in Jerusa- lem itself, the very theatre of the crucifixion ot Christ, and in all Judea and Samaria, and in all the great towns and cities of the whole ancient Roman empire. Eastern and Western, th^so rude and uncultivated Galileans did actually succeed in prsu.vling hundreds of thousands of persons, of all ranks, sexes, ajr^s. .iml intellects, to renounce their former opinions and practices to on- counter proscription, confiscation of gouds, banishment, aud eveu 348 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. death itself in numerous instances, through faith in the.ir testi rnony. while every thing was fresli, and when the detection ol any nYtion or fraud was must easy. Now, if it were possible t> pi. ice your folly in an attitude still more inexcusable, I would ask you to show what there is in the gospel that is not infinitely worthy of God to bestow and of man to receive. And where under the canopy of the skies, in any country, language, or age of time, is there any thing that confers greater honor on man or proposes to him any thing more worthy of his acceptance, than the gospel? Can there have been a more acceptable model proposed, aftnr which to fashion man, than that after which he was originally created? When he was beguiled and apostatized from God, could there have been deputed a more honorable personage to effect his reconciliation to God, than his only-begotten and well-beloved Son? And could there even he imagined a m >re delectable des- tiny allotted to man, than an immortality of bliss in the palace of this vast universe, in the presence of his Father and his God for- ever and ever? Now, with all these premises, will you object to this religion, that it requires a man to be pure and holy in order to his enjoyment of this eternal salvation? Then lay your hand upon your face, and blush, and be ashamed forever. But you say you love your companions. And who are they? Your fellow-rebels, foolish and infatuated like yourselves. The drunkard, the thief, the murderer, love their companions, the partners of their crimes. Conspirators and partisans in any un- dertaking, kindred spirits. in guilty and daring enterprise, confirm each other in their evil machinations, and, either from mutual interest or from some hateful affinity in evil dispositions, coalesce and league together in bands of malicious depredation. A Cati- line, a Jugurtha, a Robespierre, had their confederates. The rakes, the libertines, the freebooters of every color, love their own fra- ternities, and have a liking of some sort for their companions And wherein does your attachment to your companions differ from theirs? A congeniality of disposition, a similarity of likings and dislikings, all springing from your love of the world and your dislike of the authority of the Messiah. And will not a change of circumstances convert your affections into hatred? Soon or late, if you do not repent and turn to God, you that are leagued in the friendships of the worll, these friendships, arising from the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, will not only become enemies, but mutual tormentors of one another. THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 349 Y;>ur warmest friends in your opposition to the Son of God will become king's evidence against you, and exasperate the flame that will consume you forever and ever. Break off, then, every friendship, alliance, and covenant which you have formed with them that disdain the grace of God and contemn the Saviour of the world, and form an everlasting covenant with the people of God, which shall never be forgotten. Then, indeed, you may love your companions with all the affection of your hearts, and indulge to the utmost every sympathy and social feeling of your nature. Then may you embrace, in all the ardor of fraternal love, those kindred spirits that with you have vowed eternal allegiance to the gracious and rightful Sovereign of all the nations of the redeemed,, in heaven and on earth. Such companions are worth possessing, and their friendship worth cultivating and preserving, through all the journey of life; for it will be renewed beyond the Jordan, and flourish with increasing delight through the endless ages of eternity. But you have said that the gratification of all the impulses and propensities of your nature must be innocent, because they are the creation of God, and were sown in the embryo of your phy- sical constitution. If under the control of that light and reason under which God commanded your affections and appetites to move, your reasoning would be sound and safe; but if they have usurped a tyranny over your judgment, and captivated your rea- son, they are not to be gratified. They are like successful rebels that have dethroned their sovereign ; and, because by violence and fraud in possession of the throne, they plead a divine right to wield the sceptre over their dethroned Prince. Such is the mean- ing of the plea which you urge in favor of your rebellious affec- tions. When man rebelled against his Creator, the beasts of the field, till then under his dominion, rebelled against him ; and all his passions, affections, and propensities partook of the general disorder of that wild and licentious anarchy which ensued upon man's disobedience. And have you not in your daily observa- tion nay, have you not in your own experience irrefragable evidence that the uncontrolled indulgence of even the instinctive appetites, as well as the gratification of inordinate passions and affections, necessarily issue in the destruction of the physical constitution of man? Is not the control of reason, is not the exercise of discretion in the license of every animal indulgence, essential to the health and life of man? Then why crave an ex- emption from ihe uuiversal law of human existence, iu favor of 350 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. that demoralizing course of indulgence which you would fain call innocent in morals, though in physics evidently destructive to animal organization ! When reconciled to God through the gospel, the peace of God which passes understanding reigning in the heart, all is order and harmony within. Then, under the control of enlightened and sanctified reason, all the passions, appetites, and instincts of our nature, like the planets round the sun, move in their respective orbits in the most perfect order, preserving a perfect balance in all the principles and powers of human action. Pleasures with- out alloy are then felt and enjoyed from a thousand sources, from which, in the tumult and disorder of rebellion, every transgressor is debarred. It is then found, that there is not a supernumerary passion, affection, nor appetite in man not one that adds not something to his enjoyment not one that may not be made an instrument of righteousness, a means of doing good to others, as well as of enjoying good ourselves. Why not, then, lay down the weapons of your rebellion, and be at peace with God, with your fellow-creatures, and with yourselves? "Admitting, then, that the gospel is true that in my present state arid standing I am an alien from the kingdom of heaven, and that I wished to become a citizen where shall I find this kingdom of heaven, and how shall 1 be constituted a citizen thereof?" Well, indeed, may you admit the gospel to be true, both on account of what it is in itself, and the evidence which sustains it. Only suppose it to be false extinguish all the light which it sheds on the human race make void all its promises annul nil its hopes eradicate from the human breast all the motives which it imparts and what remains to explain the uni- verse, to dexelop the moral character of God, to dissipate the gli.om which envelops in eternal night the destiny of man, to so- laoe iind cheer him during the incessant struggle of life, to soothe the bed of affliction and death, and to counterveil the inward dread and lion or of falling into nothing of being forever lost in the pro- miscuous wreck of nature of sinking down into the grave, the food of worms, the pre} r of an eternal death? It is like annihilating the sun in the heavens. An eternal n ; ght ensues. There is no beauty, form, nor comeliness in creation. The universe is in ruins. The world without the Bible is a uni- verse without a sun. The Atheist is but an atom of matter in motion, belonging to no system, amenable to none, without a destiny, without au object to live or to die. He boasts there is THE CHRISTIAN SYSTKM. 351 none to puniah him: but then there is none to help him none to reward him. He has no Father, Proprietor, or Kuler no filial affection, no sense of obligation, no gratitude, no comfort in re- flection, no joy in anticipation. If he cannot be blamed, he can- not be praised, he cannot be honored and man without honor is mon wretched than the beasts that perish. Unenviable mortal! What an abortion is the system of nature, if man lives not ngain ! It is a creation for the sake of destruction. It is an in- finite series of designs, ending in nothing. It is n universe of blanks, without a single prize. It cannot be. The Bible is ne- c esary to the interpretation of nature. It is the only comment on nature on providence on man. Man without it, and with- out the hope of immortality, has nothing to rouse him into action^ lit: is a savage, a lli>ttcntot, a cannibal, a worm. You are com- pelled, then, to admit that the gospel is true, unless you put out the eye of Reason, and refuse to hear the voice of Nature. But is it not a happy necessity which compels your belief in God, and in his Son the renovator of the universe? It opens to you all the mysteries of creation, the arcana of the temple of nature, and inducts you to the fountain of being and of bliss. It inspires you with motives of high and lofty enterprise, stimu- lates you to manly aciion, and points out a prize worth}* of the best efforts >f body, soul, and spirit. Is it not, then, "a credible saying, and worthy of universal acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief"? But you ask, " Where shall the kingdom of heaven be found, and how may you bo constituted a citizen of it?" The Prophets and Apostles mii*t be your guide in deciding these great questions. Moses in the law, all the Prophets, and all the Apostles, point you to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world the Apostle of the Father Almighty the divinely-constituted Chief of the kingdom of heaven, lie has submitted his claims to your examination he has invited 3-011 to test all his pretensions and to the humble and docile he has tendered all necessary as- sistance in deciding upon his person and mission. His character is so familiar, so condescending, so full of Jill grace and goodness, that all may approach him. The halt, the maimed, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, found in him a friend and physician indeed. None importune his aid in vain. His ears are always open to the tale of woe. His eye streams with sym- pathy on every object of distress. He invites all the wretched, und repulses noue who implore relief. He chides only the pruud, 352 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. and kindly receives and blesses the humble. He invites and beseeches the -weary, the heavy-laden, the broken-hearted, the oppressed, and all the sons of want and misfortune, to come to him, and tenders relief to all. In his official dignity he presides over the universe. lie is the High-Priest of God and the Prophet and Messenger of Peace. He has the key of David ; he opens and shuts the Paradise of God. He is the only Potentate, and has the power of granting remission of all sins to all who obey him. To receive him in his personal glory and official dignity and supremacy, as the Messiah of God, the only-begotten of the Father to know him in his true and proper character is the only prerequisite to the obedience of faith. He that thus no- credits him is not far from the kingdom of heaven. To assume him as your Prophet, your High-Priest, and your King; to sub- mit to him in these relations, being immersed into his death, will translate you into the kingdom of heaven. Why not, then, gladly and immediately yield him the admiration of your umierst.-inding and the homage of your heart? Why not now enter into the possession of all the riches, and fulness, and excellence of the kingdom? He commands all men to repent he beseeches every sinner whom he addresses in his word to receive pardon and eternal life as a gracious gift. Can you doubt his power to save, to instruct, and to sanctify you for heaven ? Can you doubt his condescending mercy and compassion? Will not he that pitied the blind Bartimeus, that condoled with the widow of Nain, that wept with Mary and Martha at the grave of Lazarus, that heard the plea of the S3 - ro- phenician woman, that cleansed the supplicating leper, that com- passionated the famishing multitudes, that looked with pity (even in the agonies of the cross) upon an importuning thief, have pity upon you, and every returning prodigal, who sues for mercy at the gate of his kingdom? Is there in the universe one whom you can believe with more assurance than the Faithful and True Witness who, in the presence of Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good confession at the hazard of his life? Is there any person in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, more worthy of your confidence, than the sinner's friend ; than he who always, and in all circumstances, bore tes- timony to the truth? When did he ever violate his word, or suf- fer his promise to fail? Who ever repented of his confidence in THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 853 Jesus, or of relying implicitly upon his word? Who ever was put to shame because of confidence in him ? Who can offer such inducements to obedience to his authority as the Saviour of the world ? Who has such power to bless ? He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He has power 10 forgive sins, to raise the dead, to bestow immortality and eternal life, and to judge the living and the dead. And has he not ten- dered a participation of his official authority to every one who submits to his government, and who, by him, is reconciled to God? If he have wisdom and power divine, has he not pledged these to the relief, guidance, and benefit of his people? Who can injure them under his protection condemn whom he justifies crimi- nate whom he pardons or snatch out of his hands those who betake themselves to his mercy? Was there ever love like his love compassion like his com- passion or condescension like his condescension? Who ever could who ever did humble himself like the Son of God ? On whose cheek ever flowed tears of purer sympathy for human woe than those he shed? Whose bowels ever moved with such com- passion as that which dissolved his heart in tender mercies for the afflicted sons and daughters of men? Who ever for his friend* endured such contradiction of sinners against himself; submitted to such indignities; sustained such accumulated sorrows and griefs; suffered such agonies of mind and body, as those which he endured in giving his life an offering for his enemies? For- saken by his God, abandoned by his friends, deserted of every Btay, surrounded by the fiercest eni'mies, the most implacable foes, whose hearts were harder than adamant, insulting the very panga which they inflicted, he expired on the accursed tree! The hea- vens blushed at the sight the sun covered his face the earth trembled the rocks split the veii of the temple was rent from top to bottom the graves opc^u. AH nature stood horror-strick- en, when Roman soldiers, urged by bloodthirsty priests, nailed him to the cross when the chief-priests, scribes, and elders, in derision said, " He saved others: cannot he save himself?" The person who perceives not, who feels not the eloquence of his love consummated in his death the tenderness of his entreaties and expostulations, is not to be reasoned with is not to be moved by human power. Will you not, then, honor your reason by honor- ing the Son of God by giving up your understanding, your s, your affcctious, to the teachings of the good Spirit to the 30* 354 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. guidance of his lore ? Then, and only then, can you feel your- selves safe, secure, and happy. Need you to be reminded how much you are indebted to his long-suffering patience already to his benevolence in all the gifts nd bounties of his providence vouchsafed to you ? How many dnys and nights has he guarded, sustained, and succored you ! Has he not saved you from ten thousand dangers from the pes- tilence that walks in darkness secretly, and from destruction that wastes at noonday? Who can tell but he has lengthened out your unprofitable existence to this very hour, that you might now repent of all your sins, turn to God with your whole heart, be baptized for the remission of your past transgressions, be adopted into the family of God, and yet receive an inheritance among the sanctified? Arise, then, in the strength of Israel's God ac- cept salvation at his hands enter into his kingdom, and be for- ever blessed. You will not, you cannot, repent of such a step, of such a noble surrender of yourself, while life endures ; in the hour of death, in the day of judgment, nor during the endless suc- cession of ages in eternity. To-day, then, hear his voice: to- morrow may be forever too late ! All things are ready Come. Saints on earth, and angels in heaven Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs will rejoice over you, and you will rejoice with them, forever and forever. Amen 1 THZ END. INDEX. A. PA* ABRAHAM 13t Address to Belligerent Aliens 341 Citizens of the Kingdom 335 Ascension of the Mi-ssiah 16? Attributes of a real Sin-offering 45 B. Bnptist 228 Baptism 55 Action of 55 Subject of. 57 Meaning of. 57 Barnabas 218 B\ble 15 Blessing of Abraham 137 Breaking the Loaf. 801 Proposition i 302 " ii 808 " m 305 " iv 805 ' v 807 " vi 810 " VH 811 Body of Christ 72 C. Christ the Light of the World 49 Christian Ministry 77 Hope 67 Discipline 85 Christians are persons pardoned, &c ~ 62 Clement and Hermas 219 Concluding Addresses 382 Confession of Faith 58 (*) 356 INDEX. MM Confirmation of the Testimony ....................................... 117 Conversion ................................................................. GO Coronation of the Messiah ............................................. 170 Covenant of Circumcision ........................................... .. 135 D. Discipline .................................................................. 88 Doom of the Wicked .................................................... 69 E. Effects of Modern Christianity ....................................... 244 Episcopalian ............................................................... 225 Expediency ............................................................... 90 F. Fact .............................................................. '. .......... 110 Faith ........................................................................ 113 Faith in Christ ............................................................ 52 Foundation of Christian Union ....................................... 106 Fundamental Fact ....................................................... 121 G. Gift of the Holy Spirit .................................................. 63 God ........................................ ................................. 19 Son of ............... . .................................................. 21 Spirit of ............................................................... 23 H. Heresy ..................................................................... 95 I. Immersion not a mere Bodily Act ........................ .. i ...... J. Jewish Institution ................................... . .............. 138 Justification ascribed to Seven Causes ........... .. ......... 24" Justin Martyr ......................................................... , 22V K. Kingdom of Heaven ..................................................... 148 Coming of ...................................................... 161 Constitution of ................................................ 151 Elements of. ................................................... 148 Induction into ................................................ 160 INDEX. 867 Kingdom of Heaven W6I King of 154 Laws of 167 Manners anil Customs of. 1GO Name of. 149 Present Administration of 172 Subjects of. 165 Territory of... 158 L. Lordship of the Messiah 61 M. Man as he was 25 Man as he is 27 Methodist 227 N. New Birth 2GO Life 267 0. Origen 223 P Patriarchal Age of the World 128 Peter in Jerusalem, and Paul in Pliilippi, reconciled 2-19 Preface 3 Preface to Second Edition 12 Presbyterian 225 Purity of Speech 124 Purposes of God concerning Man 29 Physical llegeneration 2l>9 R. Reformation 258 Regeneration 201 Extra on. ~ 250 Bath of. 2fi3 of the Church 273 Heaven nnd the Earth 202 World -*01 Physical 29 Use of the Theory of. 271 Religion for Man 84 S58 INDEX. MM Remission of Sins ....................................................... 179 Proposition i ................................................. 181 " ii ....................................... . ........ 182 " in ............................................... 183 " iv ............................................... 13 " v ................................................ 184 vi ............................................... 186 " vii .............................................. 190 " via ............................................. 192 " ix ............................................... 193 x ................................................ 199 " xi ................................................ 218 " xn .............................................. 226 Recapitulation ............................................... 236 Conclusion .................................................... 237 Renewing of the Holy Spirit ......................................... 267 Repentance ............................................................... 63 Rules of Interpretation ................................................. 16 Sacrifice for Sin .......................................................... 35 Sin-Offering ............................................................... 45 Sinaitic Covenant ....................................................... 136 Son of God ................................................................. 21 Spirit of God .............................................................. 23 Summary of Christian Facts ................................. . ......... 71 T. Tertullian .................................. .. ............................... 222 Testimony .................................................................. 112 Confirmation of the ......................................... 117 Three Dispensations ................................................... 128 Two Promises ............................................................. 134 Seeds ................................................................. 137 U. Universe .................................................................. 13 W Wall, Dr. W., Testimony of. .......... ~ ............................... 220 Wesley, John, Testimony of. ...................................... 226-234 Word to Friendly Aliens ................................................ 339 Word to Moral Regenerators ......................................... 293 muormD T i.. TOUO * co. 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