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 <uid abroad, lu 

 
 PREFACE. O 
 
 Sweden, Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, the debate varied 
 not essentially : the Pope against the Protestants the Lutherans 
 against the Calvinists the Calvinists against the Ariuinians 
 tli; Bishops against the Presbyters and the Presbyterians among 
 themselves; until, by the potency of metaphysics and politics, 
 they are now frittered down to various parties. 
 
 While philosophy, mysticism, and politics drove the parties to 
 every question into antipodal extremes ; while justification by 
 metaphysical faith alone; while the forms and ceremonies of all 
 sects begat the "Spirit alone" in the mind of George Fox; while 
 the Calvinian five points generated the Arminian five points ; and 
 while tlie Westminster Creed, though unsubscribed by its makers, 
 begot a hundred others, not until within the present generation 
 did any sect or party in Christendom unite aud build upon the 
 Bible alone. 
 
 Since that time, the first effort known to us to abandon the whole 
 controversy about creeds and reformations, and to restore primi- 
 tive Christianity, or to build alone upon the Apostles and Pro- 
 phets, Jesus Christ himself the chief corner, has been made. 
 
 Tired of new creeds and new parties in religion, and of the 
 numerous abortive efforts to reform the reformation ; convinced 
 from the Holy Scriptures, from observation arid experience, that 
 the union^ot the disciples of Christ is essential to the conversion 
 of the world, and that the correction and improvement of no creed, 
 or partisan establishment in Christendom, could ever become the 
 basis of such a union, communion, and co-operation, as would 
 restore peace to a church militant against itself, or triumph to 
 the common salvation ; a few individuals, about the commence- 
 ment of the present century, began to reflect upon the ways and 
 means to restore primitive Christianity. 
 
 This led to a careful, most conscientious, and prayerful exami- 
 nation of the grounds und reasons of the present state of things in 
 all the Protestant sects. On examination of the history of all the 
 platforms and constitutions of all these sects, it appeared evident 
 as mathematical demonstration itself, that neither the Augsburg 
 articles of faith and opinion, nor the Westminster, nor the Wr>- 
 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 
 <ave the church from striie, emulation and schism. There is no
 
 6 PREFACE, 
 
 moral, ecclesiastical, or political good, by simply acknowledging 
 it in word. It must be obeyed. 
 
 In our ecclesiastical | ilgrimage we have occasionally met with 
 some vehement ileclaimers against human written creeds, and 
 pleaders for the Bible alone, who were all the while preaching up 
 the opinions of saint Arius or saint Athanasius. Their senti- 
 ments, language, style, and general views of the gospel were as 
 human as auricular confession, extreme unction, or purgatorial 
 purification. 
 
 The Bible alone is the Bible only, in word and deed, in profes- 
 sion and practice ; and this alone can reform the world and save 
 the church. Judging others as we once judged ourselves, there 
 are not a few who are advocating the Bible alone, and preaching 
 their own opinions. Before we applied the Bible alone to our 
 views, or brought our views and religious practices to the Bililo, 
 we plead the old theme, "The Bible alone is the religion of 
 Protestants." But we found it an arduous, task, and one of twenty 
 years' labour, to correct our diction and purify our speech accord- 
 ing to the Bible alone; and even yet we have not wholly practi- 
 cally repudiated the language of Ashdod. We only profess to 
 work and walk by the rules which will inevitably issue in a pure 
 speech, and in right conceptions of that pure, and holy, and celestial 
 thing called Christianity, in faith, in sentiment, and in practice. 
 
 A deep and an abiding impression that tlie power, the consola- 
 tions, and joys the holiness and happiness of Christ'** religion 
 were lost in the forms and ceremonies, in the speculations and 
 conjectures, in the feuds and bickerings of sects and schisms, 
 originated a project many years ago for uniting the sects, or raider 
 the Christians in all the sects, upon a clear and scriptural bond of 
 union, upon having a " thus aaith the Lord," either in express 
 terms, or in approved precedent, "for every article of faith, and 
 item of religious practice." This was offered in the year l8t9, 
 in the "Declaration and Address" of the Washington Association, 
 Pennsylvania. It was first tendered to the parties that confessed 
 the Westminster creed: but equally submitted to the Protestants 
 of every name, making faith in Christ and obedience to him the 
 only test of Christian character, and the only bond of church union, 
 communion, and co-operation. It was indeed approved by all ; 
 but adopted and practised by none, except the few, or part of the 
 few, who made the future. 
 
 None of us who either got up or sustained that project was 
 then aware of what havoc that said principle, if faithfully applied, 
 would have made of our views and practices on various favorite 
 points. When we take a close retrospective view of the last 
 thirty years, (for we have a pretty distinct recollection of our 
 travel's history for that period,) and of the workings of that prin- 
 ciple in heart and life, with which we commenced our public 
 career in the work of the Lord, we know not how to express our 
 astonishment better than in the following parable: 
 
 A citizen of the West had a very promising young viueyard on
 
 PREFACE. 7 
 
 a fruitful hill. He had no practical knowledge in the cultivation 
 of the grape, but had read much and largely upon the dressing, 
 pruning, and managing of the vine. He built himself a wine-vat, 
 and prepared all the implements for the vintage. But he lacked 
 practical skill in using the pruning-knife. His vines flourished 
 exceedingly, and stretched fo"rth their tendrils on every side ; but 
 he hod no vintage. 
 
 A vine-drer^er from Oporto one day presented himself as he 
 was musing upon his disappointments. lie was celebrated in his 
 profession, and the most skilful in all the affairs of the vineyard. 
 The owner of the vineyard, having employed him to dress and 
 keep his vineyard, set out on a long journey for a few weeks. 
 On his return and visit to his farm, he walked out one day to his 
 vineyard, when, to his amazement, he saw the ground literally 
 covered with prunings of his vines. The vine-dresser had very 
 skilfully and freely used the pruning-hook, and had left little 
 more than the roots and naked stems of the vines standing by 
 the frames. 
 
 " My vineyard is ruined ! My hopes are blighted ! I am un- 
 done ! I am ruined I" exclaimed the unhappy husbandman. 
 "Unhappy wretch! you have deceived me; you have robbed me 
 of the labors of five years, and blasted in one single moon all my 
 bright hopes for years to come !" The vine-dresser stood ap- 
 palled ; but, as soon as the tempest subsided, ventured to 
 say, "Master, I will serve you five years for nothing, if we 
 gather not more grapes and have not a better vintage this year 
 than you have gathered in all the years since you planted these 
 vines." The proprietor of the vineyard withdrew, saying, "It 
 is impossible! It is impossible!" and visited it not again till in- 
 vited by his vine-dresser, about the middle of autumn ; when, to 
 his still greater astonishment, and much more to his gratification,' 
 he found incomparably more grapes than he had hitherto gathered 
 from liis vines, and of a much more delicious quality. 
 
 So, in the case before us, the application of the principle al- 
 ready staled trimmed us so naked that we strongly inclined to 
 su>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, <fcc. 
 
 III. Now, as no one system is insular and independent, no 
 system can be understood abstractly. Every particular system 
 must be viewed in reference to that system which is proximate to 
 it in nature and use. Thus we view the bones in the human 
 body as connected with the muscles ; the muscles as connected 
 
 13
 
 14 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 with the nerves ; the nervea as connected with the arteries ; the 
 arteries as connected with the veins ; and these all as connected 
 with all the human frame, and with the fluids evolved by them, 
 or circulated through them, &c. 
 
 IV. As, then, the systems of the universe, and the sciences 
 which treat of them, run into each other and mutually k-nd and 
 borrow light, illustration, and development, it is a mark of imbi-- 
 cility of mind rather than of strength of folly rather than of 
 wisdom for any one to dogmatize with an air of infallibility, or 
 to assume the attitude of perfect intelligence on any one sub- 
 ject of human thought, without an intimate knowledge of the 
 whole universe. But, as such knowledge is not within tlie grasp 
 of feeble mortal man, whose horizon is a point of creation, and 
 whose days are but a moment of time, it is superlatively incon- 
 gruous for any son of science, or of religion, to affirm that this or 
 that issue is absolutely irrational, unjust, or unfitting the schemes 
 of eternal Providence or the purposes of the supreme wisdom and 
 benevolence, only as he is guided by the oracles of infallible wis- 
 dom or the inspirations of the Almighty. Who could pronounce 
 upon the wisdom and utility of a single joint, without a know- 
 ledge of the limb to which it belongs : of that limb, without an 
 understanding of the body to which it ministers; of that body, 
 without a clear perception of the world in which it moves, and 
 of the relations which it sustains; of that world, without some 
 acquaintance with the solar system of which it is but a small 
 part ; of that particular solar system, without a general and even 
 intimate knowledge of all the kindred systems; of all these kindred 
 systems, without a thorough comprehension of the ultimate design 
 of the whole creation ; of that ultimate design, without a perfect 
 intelligence of that incomprehensible Being by whom and for 
 whom all things were created and made? How gracefully, then, 
 sits unassuming modesty on all the reasonings of man! The 
 true philosopher and the true Christian, therefore, delight al- 
 ways to appear in the unaffected costume of humility, candor, 
 and docility. 
 
 " He who through vast immensity can pierce, 
 See worlds on worlds compose one universe ; 
 Observe how system into system runs, 
 Whiit other planets circle other suns; 
 What varied beings people every star, 
 May tell why od has made us as we are." POPB.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 10 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 I. O\E God, one moral system, one Bible. If nature be a sys- 
 tem, religion is no less so. God is "a God of t.rder," and that is 
 the same as to say he is a God of system. Nature and religion, 
 the offspring of the same supremo intelligence, Lear the image uf 
 one father twin sisters of the same divine parentage. There is 
 an intellectual and a moral universe as clearly bounded as the 
 system of material nature. Man t)elong-i to the whole three. He 
 is an animal, intellectual, and moral being. Sense is his guide 
 in nature, faith in religion, reasdy in both. The Bible contem- 
 plates man primarily in his spiritual and eternal relations. It is 
 the history of nature so far only as is necessary t> 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 <ill that they could have attained or 
 enjoyed under the first constitution. It presents a new creation 
 to our view : new heavens, new earth, new bodies, new life, new 
 joys, new glories. He that vanquished death by dying, who now 
 eita upon the throne, says, " Behold, I make all things new." " He 
 has become the Author of an eternal salvation to all that obey 
 him." 
 
 XII. Let no one imagine that in this exemplification of the as- 
 pects in which sin and sin-offerings must be contemplated before 
 we can rationally judge of the necessity, the suitableness, and 
 the sufficiency of the death of Christ, we have attempted to pre- 
 sent ii full view of these aspects. We are incompetent to the 
 task. This life is too short, and our opportunities too limited, to
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 49 
 
 learn all the bearings of transgression upon ourselves, the throm 
 and government of God, and his other subjects. We only intend 
 a specimen of the points to be met in a proper sin-offering. These 
 put it out of the reach of all human, of all angelic, of all created 
 mediators, victims, or sacrific d to expiate sin. So far as we can 
 comprehend this wonderful subject, we are more and more deeply 
 penetrated with the conviction, that nothing inferior to the volun- 
 tary sacrifice of the Son of God, could put away sin ; and make 
 it both just, and merciful, and honorable, and safe, on the part of 
 his God and Father, to forgive and save one of his rebel race. 
 Nor would it then have been just, according to our conception, to 
 have compelled him to bear our iniquities, or to suffer the just for 
 the unjust: to inflict on an innocent person, the chastisement of 
 our offences; but it was both just and kind on the part of our 
 heavenly Father, to accept for us the voluntary surrender of his 
 Son, as a willing sacrifice for our sins. "Thanks be to God for 
 his unspeakable gift 1" 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CHRIST THE LIGHT OP THE WORLD. 
 
 I. As Abraham said to Isaac on his way to Mount Moriah, 
 "God," my son, "will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offer- 
 ing," so has it come to pass. In order to the redemption of man 
 from sin and all its ponal consequences, God has provided a lamb 
 fur a sin-offering. He sent his Son, who, on coming into the 
 world, said, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body 
 hast thou prepared me ; in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sins 
 thou hast had no pleasure ; then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, 
 in the volume of the book it is written of me." But he did more 
 than offer himself as a sin-offering ; he was more than the Lamb 
 < f God ; he was the " Prophet of Jehovah," and revealed to man 
 the character and the will of God. He disclosed secrets hid from 
 tho foundation of the world. In one word, he is TUB ORACLE, as 
 well as the SACRIFICE, which God has provided for us. 
 
 II. As the INCARNATE WORD, he is the interpreter of his will. 
 The New Testament is, then, the gift of Christ and was written 
 by his guidance and inspiration. For all that the Spirit of God 
 has done has been through his instrumentality. The Spirit is
 
 50 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 Christ's gift. Jesus is now as much " Lord of the Spirit" as 
 he is the Lord of life and glory. The New Testament is a vo- 
 lume written by his servants. Six of his Apostles and two of his 
 Evangelists wrote it all. That book is to us now in the stead of 
 the personal presence of the Lord and his Apostles. He gave 
 gifts to men after he left their abode. "He gave Apostles, Pro- 
 phets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers." As a means of our sal- 
 vation ; as one of the things which God has done for us, we place 
 the New Testament, the living oracles, or gospel of Christ, as 
 next in order, as it is in importance, to his sacrifice. 
 
 III. ^To the sacrifice of Christ, we always look for the basis of 
 our pardon ; to his blood that cleanses from all sin, for justifica- 
 tion and personal acceptance; and to his Word we look for counsel 
 and instruction in Christian piety and righteousness. We are 
 as dependent on his Word for light, as we are upon his blood for 
 pardon. " I am," said he, "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD; he that 
 followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light 
 of life." "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." 
 " That was the true light," said John, " which, coming into tho 
 world, enlighteneth every man." " As long as I am in the world," 
 says Jesus, "I am the light of the world." Thus Isaiah spake of 
 him: "I will also give thee as a light to the Gentiles, that thou 
 mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth." " I will give 
 thee for a covenant of the people, or light of the Gentiles, to open 
 the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison ; and 
 them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." " His going 
 forth is prepared as the morning." " The Sun of Righteousness 
 will arise with healing under his wings." "I witness," said 
 Paul, " both to small and great, that the Messiah should show 
 light to the people and to the Gentiles." The word of Christ 
 is the light of Christ ; and therefore the Christian Scriptures are 
 the light of the world ; and he that followeth them shall have the 
 light of life. " If you continue in my doctrine," says the Mes- 
 siah, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make yn 
 free." " If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed."
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 **teh 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE LORDSHIP OF THE MESSIAH. 
 
 I. WE are seeking to apprehend the things done for us in the 
 Christian system. "Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed for 
 us." As such " not a bone of him was broken." Yet, " he died 
 for us." In the second place, he has become our prophet, as well 
 as our priest ; and has declared to us the will of God, the whole 
 will of God concerning us. He is our light, as well as our sin- 
 offering. But in the third place, he has been made Lord for us. 
 To make Christ Lord for us, as well as of us was the last act of 
 the sublime drama of man's redemption from sin. The last secret 
 of the mystery of Christ, which Peter promulged on the day of 
 Pentecost, was, " Let all the house of Israel know, that God has 
 made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both LORD and 
 CHRIST." To make him Lord for us, was to invest him with 
 universal authority, that he might have it in his power to give 
 eternal life to all his people. Jesus, in one of his prayers, in an- 
 ticipation of his investiture, says, "Thou hast given him power 
 over all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many as thou 
 hast given Lira." But after his resurrection from the dead, and 
 ascension into heaven, he was crowned Lord of angels, as well 
 as Lord of men ; and therefore he said, " all authority," or lord- 
 ship, " in heaven and on earth is given to me." He is now the 
 Lord of HOSTS :- legions of angels, the armies of the skies, are 
 given to him : for what? That he might be able to do all for us 
 that our condition needs. It was for us he became a Prophet, for 
 us he became a Priest, for us he has been made Lord of hosts, 
 King of the universe, Judge and avenger of all. He is Lord of 
 life, Lord of the Spirit, Lord of all. 
 
 II. We need sacrifice and therefore we need a priest. We 
 need a Leader, a Luminary, a Sun of Righteousness ; and we 
 want one who can always help us in time of need, when we 
 wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the dark- 
 ness of this world ; with wicked spirits living in the air. If Jesus 
 himself, in one of these conflicts, needed an angel to minister to 
 him, we need it more. 
 
 III. Three things are done for us: a sin-offering is presented; 
 a lamp of life is put into our hands ; and all the active powers and
 
 52 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 energies in the wide universe are placed at the command of our 
 King whenever he needs them. These are things already done. 
 Hence, the Holy Spirit, and all the angels of Heaven are now at 
 the disposal of our Saviour : for in him all the promises of God 
 are laid up ; all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and all 
 the fulness of the Deity, reside fully and truly in him. All these 
 things, it is true, might be comprehended in one gift the gift of 
 Jesus as our Mediator ; our Prophet, Priest, and King. Still it ia 
 expedient to view the things done for us, severally and distinctly 
 in the Christian system. 
 
 IV. Other things are promised to be done for us : but these are 
 the things already done for us, and before we shall speak of the 
 things yet to be done for us, and done in us, we shall summarily 
 consider the things to be done by us, before any thing more can 
 be done for us, or done in us. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FAITH IN CHRIST. 
 
 I. THE things done for us will truly be to us as though they 
 were not, unless they are believed-- Hence to the untutored and 
 unbelieving barbarian or infidel, the universe is without a sin- 
 offering, a Sun of Righteousness, a Lord, Redeemer, and a Holy 
 Spirit. Faith is necessary only as a means of attainment ; as a 
 means of enjoyment. It is not, then, an arbitrary enactment or 
 requisition, but a gracious mean of salvation. 
 
 II. Faith in Christ is the effect of belief. Belief is the cause; 
 and trust, confidence, or faith tn Christ, the effect. "The faith" 
 sometimes means the truth to be believed. Sometimes it means 
 "the belief of the truth;" but here we speak of it metonymically, 
 putting the effect for the cause or calling the effect by the name 
 of the cause. To believe what a person says, and to trust in him 
 are not always identical. True, indeed, they often are ; for if a 
 person speaks to us concerning himself, and states to us matters 
 ">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 J<ord." Therefore, it is the duty and the 
 work of Christians, " to perfect holiness in the fear of the 
 .Lord." 
 
 VIII. This requires aid. Hence, assistance is to be prayed for , 
 anil it is promised. Now as the Spirit of God, under the adminis- 
 tration of Christ, is the author of all holiness in us he is called 
 the " Holy Spirit," " the Spirit of holiness." Hence, while we 
 have the phrase " Holy Ghost" or Spirit, ninety-four times in the 
 Christian Scriptures, it is found only three times in all the Jew- 
 ish writings. The Holy Spirit is, then, the author of all our 
 holiness ; and in the struggle after victory over sin and tempta- 
 tion, "it helps our infirmities," and comforts us by seasonably 
 bringing to our remembrance the promises of Christ, and 
 "strengthens us with all might, in the new or inner man." And 
 thus "God works in us to will and to do of his own benevolence," 
 "while we are working out our own salvation with fear and 
 trembling." Christians are, therefore, clearly and unequivocally 
 temples of the Holy Spirit ; and they are quickened, animated, 
 encouraged, and sanctified by the power and influence of the 
 Spirit of God, working in them through the truth. 
 
 IX. God "gives his Holy Spirit to them who ask him," ac- 
 cording to his revealed will; and without this gift no one could 
 be saved or ultimately triumph over all opposition. He knows 
 but little of the deceitfulness of sin, or of the combating of 
 temptation, who thinks himself competent to wrestle against the 
 allied forces of the world, the fiesh, and the devil. Hence, the 
 necessity of "supplications, deprecations, intercessions and 
 thanksgivings," of praying always with all prayer and supplica- 
 tion in the Holy Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseve- 
 rance, and of making supplication for all saints, our fellow-soldiers 
 in this good warfare. 
 
 X. To those, then, who believe, repent, and obey the gospel, 
 he actually communicates of his Good Spirit. The fruits of that 
 spirit in them are "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance." The attributes of 
 character which distinguish the new man are each of them com- 
 munications of the Holy Spirit, and thus are we the sons of Gud 
 in fact, as well as iu title, under the dispensation of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 XI. We have, then, every thing done for us, after our conver- 
 sion, which we need in order to that "holiness without which no 
 one shall see the Lord." Thus God has provided for us a sin-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 67 
 
 Bering; a prophet to expound it; a priest to present it; a kinff t 
 with universal dominion, to govern and protect all that by it are 
 reconc-iled to God. And when through faith, repentance, and 
 baptism, we have assumed him as our rightful Sovereign, by his 
 Holy Spirit, in answer to our prayers, he works in us, and by 
 us, and for us, all that is needful to our present, spiritual, and 
 eternal salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 
 
 I. "BELOVED, now are we the sons of God ; and it does not yet 
 appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, 
 we shall be like him that we shall see him as he is. And every 
 one that has this hope in him, purifies himself even as he is pure." 
 "God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his 
 Son." " I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy 
 to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." "He 
 hath begotten us again to a lively hope ; to an inheritance incor- 
 ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." So testify three 
 Apostles John, Paul, and Peter. The whole hope of the Chris- 
 tian may, indeed, be summed up in one sentence: "If children, 
 then heirs heirs of God, JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST." Immortality, 
 eternal life, the riches of Christ, the glory, honor, wealth, and 
 bliss of God's only-begotten Son are to be equally participated 
 with all his saints. 
 
 II. The remedial system is, therefore, a moral creation in pro- 
 gress a new creation of men unto good works, still advancing ; 
 but its termination will be the stereotyping of individual moral 
 excellence by an instantaneous physical new creation of men at 
 the resurrection of the just: or a manifestation of the sons of God 
 in full redemption from the whole entail of sin ; raised, refined, 
 immortalized, glorified, and invested with eternal life. 
 
 III. Hope differs from faith, in that it looks only forward to 
 future objects. It looks not back, nor does it contemplate the 
 present : " for," says Paul, " what a man sees, why does he yet 
 hope for?" Nor looks it on all the future ; but only on future 
 good. It desires and expects good and nothing else. There is 
 not one dark cloud, not one dark speck, in all the heavens of
 
 68 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 Christian hope. Every thing seen in its wide dominions, in the 
 unbounded prospect yet before us, is bright, cheering, animating, 
 transporting. It is all desirable and desired. It is all expected. 
 It is all " earnest expectation ;" not a doubtful, but a "confident 
 expectation of things" desirable, and to be " hoped for." 
 
 IV. It is not what some in this age call "the hope" i.e. the 
 desirable expectancy of pardon of their past transgressions ; for 
 none but those who are now actually pardoned are the subjects of 
 this hope. " If our heart condemn us, then, indeed, we have no 
 confidence ;" so no confident expectation, no hope of eternal life. 
 The mere possibility of an event is no foundation of hope. Hope 
 deals not in possibilities, nor indeed much in probabilities unless 
 they are very strong probabilities. Conjectures, peradventures, 
 possibilities, probabilities, are not of the essence of Christian 
 hope. It rests on covenants, charters, promises, oaths, tendered 
 by the Eternal Source of almighty truth and love. These are 
 good securities ; and produce assurance. Hence hope is the as- 
 surance of future good in expectation. 
 
 V. There are, indeed, various degrees of hope ; but in the least 
 degree of it there is desire combined with expectation. Things 
 expected are not always desirable, nor are things desirable always 
 to be expected : but hope embraces promises that are desirable, 
 and also expects the enjoyment of them. Hence, hope, like faith 
 and love, may grow exceedingly. When based on the promises 
 of God, and on the habitual patient conformity to his will, it will 
 keep pace with our growing intelligence of the character of God ; 
 of the fulness and richness of the promises, and in the persuasion 
 of our actual devotion to the manifestations of that will. 
 
 VI. But the things hoped for by the Christian are beyond de- 
 scription. Eye, indeed, has not seen, ear has not heard, the hu- 
 man heart has not conceived the glories of the resurrection of the 
 just; the new bodies, the new heavens, the new earth, the new 
 Jerusalem, the new society, the new pleasures : for according to 
 his promise we look for (expect) new heavens and new earth in 
 which righteous persons alone shall dwell. Thus terminates the 
 remedial system on all its happy subjects. " It lifts the beggar 
 from the dust, and the wretched from the dunghill, and sets them 
 among princes, amongst the nobles of the universe;" the thrones, 
 hierarchies, and lordships of the skies ; in the presence of God, 
 too, "where there is fulness of joy, and at his right band, where 
 there are pleasures fur evermore." Such are the things to bo
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 69 
 
 done for those, for whom such things have already been done as 
 constitute the remedial system : for with Paul we must say : " Ilo 
 that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death 
 for us all ; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" 
 "All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or 
 the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, 
 all are yours ; and you arc Christ's, and Christ is God's." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE DOOM OP THE WICKED. 
 
 I. THERE are two classes of men in this world. They are often 
 and in various manners contradistinguished from each other. 
 They are called the righteous and the wicked, the saints and the 
 sinners, the holy and the unholy, the good and the bad, he that 
 feareth God, and he that feareth him not. Of the one class many 
 things are predicated which are not predicated of the other. Of 
 the one it is said, that they are "in Christ," justified, sanctified, 
 saved, children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, an 
 elect race, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people. Of the other 
 class, these things are never predicated in the Bible. They are 
 not in Christ, not justified, not sanctified, not saved ; children of 
 the devil, " children of wrath," not an elect race, not a royal 
 priesthood, not a peculiar people. 
 
 II. These have not been reconciled to God through the pro- 
 pitiation of his Son. They are still enemies of God in heart. 
 And for them that loved darkness rather than light, and would 
 not have God's Son to be their Saviour, he has appointed a day 
 of judgment; a day for the ultimate perdition of ungodly men. 
 Then they shall perish "with an everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he 
 shall curne to be glorified in all his saints, and to be admired by 
 all the believers." Then will the King say to them on his left 
 hand, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting tire prepared for the 
 devil and his angels." They are the allies of Satan in his rebel- 
 lion against God, and have spent all their energies and fortunes 
 on his side of the question ; and therefore it is reasonable that 
 they should have their ultimate portion with him.
 
 70 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 III. Of this judgment, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, pto 
 phesied, saying, " Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand ot 
 his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that 
 are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they 
 have ungodlily committed, and of all their hard speeches which 
 ungodly sinners have spoken against him." God had, then, long 
 before the Christian era from the foundation of the world, "ap- 
 pointed a day in which he will judge THE WORLD (the whole 
 world) righteously by Jesus Christ," whom he has constituted 
 Judge of all the dead as well as of all the living. 
 
 IV. " It is, indeed, appointed to men once to die, and after this 
 the judgment." The judgment consequent upon death is not the 
 general but the particular judgment of individuals, as the phrase 
 would seem to indicate, whose spirits returning to God are judged 
 and instantly rewarded, so far as in a separate state they can be 
 the subjects of reward or punishment. But the "judgment of the 
 great day" is for another purpose: not, as some profanely say, 
 "to bring men out of heaven and hell to judge and remand them 
 back again ;" but in the presence of an assembled worlr 1 to vin- 
 dicate the administrations of the moral government and providence 
 of God, to develop the real characters of angels and of men, 
 and to pronounce an irrevocable sentence upon all according to 
 their works. For, says Paul, " we must all appear before the 
 tribunal of Christ, that every one may receive, in his body, the 
 things he has done, whether good or bad." It is, then, because 
 of the actual and public pronunciation and execution of this 
 judgment, that the last day is called "TOE DAY OF JUDGMENT," 
 and that the judgment itself is called "TUB JUDGMENT OF THE 
 
 GREAT DAT." 
 
 V. This final judgment and "perdition of ungodly men" is set 
 forth by the Lord himself, as well as by his apostles; in the clear- 
 est and strongest terms, and in the boldest and most appalling 
 imagery which human speech and human knowledge can afford. 
 Indeed, to place this awfully sublime and glorious day in full 
 array before the perceptive powers of man, is impossible. The 
 best efforts have exhausted the powers of nature in all her wonted 
 energies. John, in his sublime visions of the last acts of the 
 great drama of human existence, says, " I saw a great white throne, 
 and him that sat on it, from whose face earth and heaven fled 
 away, and thefe was found no room for them. And 1 saw the dead, 
 small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened : 
 and another book was opened, which is called the Book of Life ;
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 71 
 
 and the dead were judged out of the things that were written in ' 
 liiuM! books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the 
 dead which were in it, and death and the grave* gave up the deud 
 which were in them ; and they were judged every one according 
 to his works: and death and the grave were cast into the lake of 
 fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found 
 written in the BOOK OF LIFE was cast into the lake of fire." Surely, 
 " it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 SUMMARY VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM OF FACTS. 
 
 I. GOD alone is self-existent and eternal. Before earth and 
 time were born he operated by his WORD and his SPIRIT. GOD, 
 THE WORD OF GOD, and THE SPIRIT OF GOD, participants of one 
 and the same nature, are the foundations of Nature, Providence, 
 and Redemption. In Nature and Providence, it is GOD, the WORD, 
 and the SPIRIT. In Grace, it is the FATHER, the SON, and the 
 HOLY SPIRIT. All creations, providences, and remedial arrange- 
 ments display to us the co-operation of THREE DIVINE PARTICI- 
 PANTS, of one self-existent, independent, incommunicable nature. 
 These are fundamental conceptions of all the revelations and de- 
 velopments of the Divinity, and necessary to all rational and 
 sanctifying views of religion. 
 
 II. In the Law and in tho Gospel these sacred and mysterious 
 relations and personal manifestations of God are presupposed and 
 assumed as the basis of the whole procedure. " God created all 
 things by Jesus Christ, and for him." " The Word was in the 
 beginning with God," " before all things," and " by him all things 
 consist." "God created man upright." Man sinned: all became 
 mortal: our nature became susceptible of evil. It is in this re- 
 spect fallen and depraved. " There is none righteous no, not 
 one." God the Father has chosen men in Christ to salvation 
 " through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and 
 sprinkling of the blood of Jesus; and "promised," to such, 
 " eternal life before the foundation of the world." 
 
 III. Therefore, in "the fulness of time" "in<7?/e time, God 
 sent forth his Son, made of a woman" for " the WORD became 
 
 * Hades.
 
 72 THK CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 flesh, and dwelt among us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory aa 
 of an only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." "lie 
 showed us the Father." He died as a sin-offering was buried, 
 rose again the third day ascended to heaven presented his offer- 
 ing in the true Holy Place made expiation for our sins "forever 
 sat down on the right hand of the Supreme Majesty in the 
 heavens" sent down his Huly Spirit inspired his Apostles, who 
 " preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven" per 
 Buaded many Jews and Gentiles that he was made " the author of 
 an eternal salvation to all who obeyed him." He commanded 
 faith, repentance, and baptism to be preached in his name for 
 remission of sins to every nation and people under heaven. 
 
 IV. All who " believe in him are justified from all things ;" be- 
 cause this faith is living, active, operative, and perfected by 
 " obeying from the heart that mould of doctrine delivered to us." 
 Hence such persons repent of their sins, and obey the gospel. 
 They receive the Spirit of God, and the promise of eternal life 
 walk in the Spirit, and are sanctified to God, and constituted 
 heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. They shall be raised 
 from the dead incorruptible, immortal, and shall live forever with 
 the Lord; while those "who know not God, and obey not the 
 gospel of his Son, shall perish with an everlasting destruction 
 from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE BODY OF CHRIST. 
 
 I. THAT institution which separates from the world, and con- 
 Hociatea the people of God into a peculiar community ; having 
 laws, ordinances, manners and customs of its own, immediately 
 derived from the Saviour of the world, is called the congregation 
 or church of the Lord. This is sometimes technically called the 
 mystical body of Christ, contradistinguished from his literal and 
 natural body'. Over this spiritual body he is the Head, the King, 
 Lord, and Lawgiver, and they are severally members of his body, 
 and under his direction and government. 
 
 II. The true Christian church, or house of God, is composed 
 of all those in every place that do publicly acknowledge Jesus of 
 Nazareth as the true Messiah, and the only Saviour of men ; and,
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 73 
 
 building themselves upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
 Prophets, associate under the constitution which he himself has 
 granted and authorized in the .New Testament, and are walking 
 in his ordinances and commandments and of none else. 
 
 III. This institution, called the congregation of God, is a great 
 community of communities not a community representative of 
 communities, but a community composed of many particular 
 communities, each of which is built upon the same foundation, 
 walks according to the same rules, enjoys the same charter, and 
 is under the jurisdiction of no other community of Christians, 
 but is to all other communities as an individual disciple is to 
 every other individual disciple in any one particular community 
 meeting in any given place. 
 
 IV. Still, all these particular congregations of the Lord, 
 whether at Rome, Corinth, or Ephesus, though equally independ- 
 ent of one another as to the management of their own peculiar 
 affairs, are, by virtue of one common Lord, one faith, one bap- 
 tism, and one common salvation, but one kingdom or church of 
 God, and, as such, are under obligations to co-operate with one 
 another in all measures promotive of the great ends of Christ's 
 death and resurrection. 
 
 V. But, in order to this holy communion and co-operation of 
 churches, it is indispensable that they have an intimate and ap- 
 proving knowledge of one another, which can only be had and 
 enjoyed in the form of districts. Thus the "congregations in 
 Judca" intimately knew one another, and co-operated. Those 
 in Galatia also knew one another and co-operated. And while 
 some of the churches or brethren in each district, being mutually 
 acquainted with some in another, made the churches of both dis- 
 tricts acquainted with one another, they were enabled to co-ope- 
 rate to the ends of the earth. 
 
 VI. These districts are a part of the circumstances of Christ's 
 kingdom, as well as the manner of maintaining correspondence 
 and co-operation among them, and the occasions and incidents 
 requiring concert and conjoint action. For these, as well as for 
 the circumstances of any particular community, the Apostles 
 gave no specific directions. It was, indeed, impossible they 
 could ; for, as the circumstances of particular communities, and 
 of the whole church, vary at different times and places, no one 
 set of particular, sectional, or intersectional regulations could 
 suit all these peculiarities and emergencies. These, then, are 
 necessarily left to the wisdom and discretion of the whole com 
 
 r
 
 74 TUB CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 munity, as the peculiar exigencies and mutations of society may 
 require. 
 
 VII. But in granting to the communities of the saints this ne- 
 cessary license of deciding what is expedient, orderly, decent, 
 and of public and practical utility in the circumstantials of 
 Christianity, no allowance is implied authorizing any interfer- 
 ence with a single item of the Christian institution. Hence tlu 
 necessity of a very clear discrimination, not between " the essen- 
 tials and the non-essentials," for in Divine Christianity there are 
 no non-essentials, but between the family of God and its circum- 
 stances between the Christian institution and its accidents. 
 Certain it is that there is a very manifest difference between any 
 individual man, family, community, or institution, and its cir- 
 cumstances. What is more evident than the difference between 
 a man and his apparel, his house, his neighborhood, his associa- 
 tions and connections ? 
 
 VIII. The Christian institution has its facts, its precepts, its 
 promises, its ordinances, and their meaning or doctrine. These 
 are not matters of policy, of arrangement, of expediency, but of 
 divine and immutable ordination and continuance. Hence the 
 faith, the worship, and the righteousness ; or the doctrine, the 
 piety, and the morality of the gospel institution are not legitimate 
 subjects of human legislation, alteration, or arrangement. No 
 man nor community can touch these and be innocent. These rest 
 upon the wisdom and authority of Jehovah ; and he that meddles 
 with these presumes to do thatwhich the cherubim and seraphim 
 dare not. Whatever, then, is a part of the Christian faith or the 
 Christian hope whatever constitutes ordinances or precepts of 
 worship, or statutes of moral right and wrong, like the ark of the 
 covenant, is not to be touched with uninspired and uncommis- 
 sioned hands. 
 
 IX. But whether we shall register the churches in a given dis- 
 trict, or the members in a particular church; whether we shall 
 meet oftener than once on the Lord's day, or at what hour, and in 
 what sort of a house ; whether we shall commemorate the Lord'p 
 death forenoon or afternoon, before day or after night; whether 
 we shall sit round one board, or in our respective pews ; whether 
 we shall sing from book or from memory, prose or verse, &c. fec., 
 are matters in which our conceptions of expediency, decency, and 
 good order may have free scope. Also whether the churches in 
 a given district shall, by letter, messengers, or stated meetin^H, 
 once or twice per annum, or oftener, communicate with one an-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 75 
 
 other ; whether they shall send one, two, or twenty persons, or all 
 go and communicate face to face, or send a letter ; and whether 
 they shall annually print, write, or publish their statistics, &c. 
 &c. &c., are the mere circumstantials of the Christian insti- 
 tution. 
 
 X. But co-operation itself is one thing, and the manner of co- 
 operation another. Co-operation, as much as the intercommunion 
 of Christians, is a part of the Christian institution. We must 
 "strive together in our prayers" for one another, and for the sal- 
 vation of men ; and this, if there were no scriptural example nor 
 precept on the subject, is enough. To pray for one another as 
 individuals or communities implies that we shall assist one 
 another in every way for which we pray for one another; other- 
 wise our prayers and thanksgivings for each other are mere hy- 
 pocrisy. He that would pray for the progress of the truth at 
 home and abroad, having it in his power to contribute a single 
 dollar to that end, and yet withholds it, shows how little value he 
 sets upon his own prayers, and how much upon his money. 
 
 XI. From the days of the Apostles till now co-operative asso- 
 ciations of churches have uniformly followed the political distri- 
 butions of the earth. Those in "Judea, Galatia, Achaia, Pontus, 
 Cappadocia, Macedonia, Asia, Bythinia," &c. &c. are designa- 
 tions of churches and brethren familiar to all New Testament 
 readers. This is a matter of convenience, rather than of neces- 
 sity; just as the churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Ken- 
 tucky, <fcc. can generally more conveniently and successfully co- 
 operate by states and territories, than by any other divisions or 
 precincts. I say, this is matter of convenience, rather than of 
 necessity. It is of necessity that we co-operate, but of conveni- 
 ence that the churches in one county, state, or nation, form regu- 
 lar ways and means for co-operation. 
 
 XII. The necessity of co-operation is felt everywhere and in all 
 :issouiations of men. It is a part of the economy of Heaven. 
 What are mountains, but grains of sand ! What are oceans, but 
 drops of water! And what the mightiest and most triumphant 
 armies, but collections of individual men! How much more good 
 or ill can be done by co-operation than by individual enterprise, 
 the history of the world, both civil and ecclesiastic, does little 
 more than detail. One hundred churches, well disciplined, act- 
 ing in concert, with Christian zeal, piety, humanity frequently 
 meeting together in committees of ways and means for building 
 up Zion, for fencing in the deserts, cultivating the enclosed fields,
 
 76 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 watering the dry and barren spots, striving together mightily in 
 prayer, in preaching the word, in contributing to the necessities 
 of the saints, in enlightening the ignorant, and in devising all 
 practicable ways of doing good would, in a given period, do 
 more than twice the same number acting in their individual 
 capacity, without concert, without co-operation, and that united 
 energy always the effect of intelligent and cordial combination. 
 
 XIII. But, in order to this, Christians must regard the church, 
 or body of Christ, as one community, though composed of many 
 small communities, each of which is an organized member of this 
 great national organization; which, under Christ, as the supreme 
 and sole Head, King, Lord, and Lawgiver, has the conquest of 
 the whole world in its prayers, aims, plans, and efforts. Hence 
 there must be such an understanding and agreement between 
 these particular congregations as will suffice to a recognition and 
 approval of their several acts : so that the members or the mea- 
 sures of one community shall be treated with the respect due to 
 them at home, in whatever community they may happen to be 
 presented. On this principle only can any number of independ- 
 ent and distinct communities of any sort political, commercial, 
 literary, moral, or religious act in concert with mutual ad- 
 vantage to themselves, and with a proper reference to the general 
 good. 
 
 XIV. Any one who seeks apostolic sanctions for these views 
 of co-operation will find ample authority in the Acts and Epistles 
 of the Apostles. Paul addresses "all the saints in Rome" in hia 
 Epistle to the Romans. Now in Rome there were sundry churches, 
 as appears from chap. xvi. 5, 10, 11, 14, 15. These all he ad- 
 dresses as one single community. Again he represents " all the 
 churches of the Gentiles" as uniting in thanks to Priscilla and 
 Aquila, chap. xvi. 4. He also represents "the churches of Christ" 
 as uniting in salutations by him to the Romans, ver. 16. In his 
 letters to the Corinthians he addresses the church of Corinth, 
 "All the saints which are in all Achaia," and "all them in every 
 place who call upon the name of Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 
 2 Cor. i. 1. These he exhorts to " be perfectly joined together in 
 the same mind and in the same judgments." 1 Cor. i. 10. " The 
 churches in Asia united in their salutations to the Corinthians," 
 chap. xvi. 19. He speaks in the 2d Epistle of all the churches 
 in Achaia, as "helping together in prayer for him" and his com- 
 panions, and of their helping him on his way in the work of the 
 Lord. In the eighth chapter he informs them of the grace of God
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 77 
 
 bestowed on " all the churches in Macedonia," evinced by the 
 liberality of their united contributions for the saints. He also 
 speaks of an equality in the mutual contributions of churches in 
 one co-oporation and of a brother chosen by sundry communities 
 to travel with the Apostles, viii. 14, 18. 19: and of his accompa- 
 nying brethren as " messengers of the churches." The whole 
 ninth chapter of this epistle speaks of the co-operation of the 
 churches in public contributions for common objects. Paul, and 
 all the brethren with him, unite in an epistle to "all the churches 
 in Gtvlatia." These he commands to " bear one another's bur- 
 dons, and thus to fulfil the law of Christ." But, indeed, all the 
 catholic epistles are unequivocal proofs that co-operation is of th 
 very essence of the Christian institution. Such are some of Paul's 
 epistles, both the epistles of Peter, the 1st of John, and that of 
 James and Jude. The very basis of such general or universal 
 letters is the fact, that all the communities of Christ constitute 
 but one body, and are individually and mutually bound to co- 
 operate in all things pertaining to a common salvation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 
 
 I. " HE gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, 
 some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the snints for the 
 trorA- of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ ; till 
 we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
 Son of God, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ," &c. For the setting up of the Christian institution offi- 
 cers extraordinary were needed. So was it in the Jewish, and sc 
 i it in every institution human and divine. But when an insti- 
 tution is set up, it only requires an ordinary ministry or adminis- 
 tration of its affairs. All the extraordinary gifts vouchsafed to 
 Moses, and to the Apostles and Prophets of the gospel institu- 
 tion, oeased when these institutions were fully developed and 
 established. Still a regular nnd constant ministry was needed 
 among the Jews, and is yet needed among the Christians ; and 
 both of these by divine authority. 
 
 II. Natural gifts for a natural state of things, and supernatural 
 git'ta for a supernatural state of thiugs, are, iu the wisdom of both
 
 78 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 
 
 God and man, apposite and needful. Hence, even in the apos- 
 tolic age, there were officers without, as well as with, miraculous 
 endowments. "Having, then, gifts differing according to the 
 office or grace that is given to us if prophecy, let us prophesy 
 according to the measure of our faith ; or ministry, let us attend 
 on our ministering ; he that teacheth, on teaching ; he that ex- 
 horteth, on exhortation; he that distributeth, with simplicity; he 
 that ruleth, with diligence." Gi/d has therefore conferred various 
 gifts on the church for the effectual administration of its affairs. 
 He has placed in it "helps and governments," as well as Apostles 
 and Prophets. 
 
 III. The standing and immutable ministry of the Christian 
 community is composed of Bishops, Deacons, and Evangelists. 
 Of each of these there is but one order, though possessing great 
 diversities of gifts. There have been bishops, deacons, and evan- 
 gelists, with both ordinary and extraordinary gifts. Still the office 
 is now, and ever was, the same. In ancient times official and 
 unofficial persons sometimes possessed miraculous gifts. Those 
 in high office were also generally of those most eminently gifted 
 with extraordinary powers. Superficial readers have, therefore, 
 sometimes concluded that, inasmuch as bishops, deacons, and 
 especially evangelists, frequently possessed these manifestations 
 of the Holy Spirit, with the ceasing of those gifts the offices 
 themselves also expired. This is a great mistake. Officers there 
 must be while there are offices, or services to be performed. So 
 long as the human system needs sight, hearing, and feeling, 
 there will be eyes, ears, and hands. So long, also, as the Chris- 
 tian body is an organized body, having many services to perform, 
 it must have organs or officers by which to enjoy itself and ope- 
 rate on society. 
 
 IV. There are, indeed, necessarily as many offices in every 
 lody as there are services to be performed to it, or by it. Tins is 
 the root and reason of all the offices in all the universe of God. 
 Our planet needs diverse celestial services to be performed to it. 
 Hence the sun, moon, and stars are celestial officers ministering 
 to it. The eye, the ear, the tongue, the hand, the foot, are, for 
 the same reason, officers in the human body, essentially serving 
 it in its vital. interests and enjoyments; and by means of these 
 organs it performs important functions to other bodies. 
 
 V. Experience, as well as observation, has taught us that 
 " practice makes perfect," and that " whatever is every person's 
 business is no person's business." Hence arose the custom arnoog
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 79 
 
 men of communicating certain offices to particular individuals 
 The philosophy of such elections and ordinations is found in 
 the fact, that special services are best performed by special 
 organs or agents, whose special province and duty it is to attend 
 to them. 
 
 VI. As the Christian system is a perfect system, it wisely pro- 
 vides for its own perpetuity and prosperity by creating all ne- 
 cessary offices and filling them with suitable persons. We have 
 eaid these offices are three, and of perpetual because of necessary 
 existence. Bishops, whose office it is to preside over, to instruct, 
 and to edify the community to feed the church of the Lord with 
 knowledge and understanding and to watch for their souls as 
 those that must give account to the Lord at his appearing and his 
 kingdom, compose the first class. Deacons, or servants whether 
 called treasurers, almoners, stewards, door-keepers, or messen- 
 gers constitute the second. For the term deacon originally in- 
 cluded all public servants whatever, though now most commonly 
 confined to one or two classes; and improperly, no doubt, to those 
 only who attend to the mere temporal interests of the community. 
 They are distinguished persons, called and commissioned by the 
 church (and consequently are always responsible to it) to serve 
 in any of these capacities. Evangelists, however, though a clasa 
 of public functionaries created by the church, do not serve it di- 
 reotly ; but are by it sent out into the world, and constitute the 
 third class of functionaries belonging to the Christian system. 
 
 VII. As there is more scrupulosity on some minds concerning 
 the third class of Evangelists than concerning either Bishops or 
 Deacons, we shall take occasion to speak more explicitly and 
 fully upon the nature and necessity, as well as upon the authority 
 of this office. Evangelists, as the term indicates, are persons 
 devoted to the preaching of the word, to the making of converts, 
 and the planting of churches. It is, indeed, found but three times 
 in the New Covenant; but the verb from which it comes viz.: to 
 evanf/clize is in some of its branches found almost sixty times in 
 that volume. "To evangelize" and " to do the work of an evan- 
 gelist" are phrases of equal import, and indicate the same duties, 
 rights, and privileges. 
 
 VIII. Among the offices which were comprehended in tho 
 apostlcship, none required more varied endowments than that of 
 the Evangelist. The gift of tongues was amongst the qualifica- 
 tions necessary to those who, after the ascension, first undertook 
 this work. But the qualifications for this office, so far as the gift
 
 80 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 of tongnes or the knowledge of language is concerned, arc not 
 immutably iixed. It depends upon the field of labor which the 
 Evangelist is to occupy, whether he must speak one language or 
 more. His work is to proclaim the word intelligibly and per- 
 suasively to immerse all the believers, or converts of his minis- 
 try and to plant and organize churches wherever he may have 
 occasion ; and then teach them to keep the commandments and 
 ordinances of the Lord. 
 
 IX. Take, for example, the sketch given us by Luke of the 
 labors of Philip the Evangelist, one of the first who wore that 
 designation. One of the seven ministers of the Jerusalem church, 
 after his diaconate was vacated by the dispersion of that commu-. 
 nity, commenced .his evangelical labors. He turned his face 
 towards Samaria, and preached and baptized among the Samari- 
 tans: for, we are told, when the Samaritans believed Philip 
 preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the 
 Lord Jesus, they were baptized, both men and women. He also 
 converted the Ethiopian eunuch ; and then, passing from Azotus, 
 he " preached in all the cities till he came to Cesarea," where he 
 afterwards resided. The next notice we have of him is found 
 Acts xxi. 8. "We," says Luke, "who were of Paul's company, 
 departed, and came into Cesarea, and entered into the house of 
 Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven, and abode with him. 
 He had four virgin daughters that did prophesy." Evident, then, 
 it is that he obtained the title of Evangelist from his. itinerant 
 labors in the gospel and in the converting of men. His posses- 
 sion of the gift of the Holy Spirit was no more peculiar to him 
 as an evangelist than as deacon of the church in Jerusalem ; for 
 while in the diaconate of that church he seems to have been as 
 full of the Holy Spirit as when visiting all the cities from Azot^ 
 to Cosarea. 
 
 X. Convening converts into societies, and organizing them intt 
 worshipping assemblies, are inseparably connected wilh the right 
 of converting men. Casually, in his letters to Timothy, Paul 
 Beems to define the work of an Evangelist. He says, " Preach 
 the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, 
 exhort with all long-suffering and teaching; endure affliction ; do 
 ilie, work of an Evangelist ; fulfil thy ministry." "Let no man 
 despise thy youth. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to 
 exhortation, to teaching: Neglect not the gift that is in thee, [or 
 cultivate and exercise the office conferred upon thee,] according 
 to prophecy by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery for
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 81 
 
 eldership.] Meditate upon these things ; give thyself wholly 
 to them, that thy profiting may appear to all: take heed' to thyself 
 and to thy teaching; continue in them: for in doing this, thou 
 shall both save thyself and them that hear thee."* This seems 
 to be the office of an Evangelist which the Lord gave the church 
 after his ascension. 
 
 XI. Setting things in order in the churches the committing 
 the same office to faithful men, who shall be able to instruct others 
 the ordaining of elders, and a general superintendence of the 
 affairs of churches, seem to have been also lodged in the hands 
 of Timothy and Titus as agents of the Apostles. How far these 
 works are yet necessary, and how far the superintendence of them 
 may be safely lodged in the hands of select Evangelists as re- 
 spects infant communities, may be, with many, a question of du- 
 bious interpretation. But that Evangelists are to separate into 
 communities their own converts, teach and superintend them till 
 they are in a condition to take care of themselves, is as unques- 
 tionably a part of the office of an Evangelist, as praying, preach- 
 ing, or baptizing. 
 
 XII. But we shall be asked, "Is not preaching, and baptizing, 
 and even teaching, the common privilege of all disciples, as they 
 have opportunity ?" And we also ask in answer, " Is it not the 
 privilege of all fathers to teach their own children, and to preside 
 over their own families?" But who will thence infer, that all fa- 
 thers are teachers and presidents, does not more shock common 
 sense, than he who infers that all disciples, as such, are evangel- 
 ists, pastors, and teachers, because we concede that in certain 
 cases it is the privilege of all the citizens of Christ's kingdom to 
 preach, baptize, and teach. Every citizen of Christ's kingdom 
 has, in virtue of his citizenship, equal rights, privileges, and im- 
 munities. So has every citizen of the United States. Yet all 
 citizens are not legislators, magistrates, judges, governors, &c. 
 Before any community, civil or religious, is organized, every man 
 has equal rights to do what seemeth good in his own eyes. But 
 when organized, and persons appointed to office, then whatever 
 rights, duties or privileges are conferred on particular persons, 
 cannot of right belong to those who have transferred them ; 
 any more than a person cannot both give and keep the same 
 thing. 
 
 XIII. But there are some duties and privileges we cannot 
 
 * 1 Timothy iv. 2 Timothy ir.
 
 82 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 wholly communicate to others. Parents cannot wholly transfer 
 the education of their children to others ; neither can a master 
 transfer all his duties to a steward or overseer. No more can the 
 citizens of Christ's kingdom wholly transfer their duties to preach 
 and teach Christ. To enlighten the ignorant, persuade the un- 
 believing, to exhort the disobedient when they fall in our way and 
 we have the ability or opportunity, is an intransferable duty. 
 Even the Church of Rome, with all her clerical pride, commands 
 and authorizes lay baptism, when a priest is not convenient. A 
 Christian is by profession a preacher of truth and righteousness, 
 both by precept and example. He may of right preach, baptize, 
 and dispense the supper, as veil as pray for all men, when circum- 
 s'anc.es demand it. This concession does not, however, either 
 dispense with the necessity of having evangelists, bishops, and 
 deacons ; nor, having them, does it authorize any individual to 
 assume to do what has been given in charge to them. Liberty 
 without licentiousness, and government without tyranny, is the 
 true genius of the Christian institution. 
 
 XIV. While, then, the Christian system allows every man " as 
 he has received a gift to minister as a gaod steward of the mani- 
 fold grace of God," it makes provision for choosing and setting 
 apart qualified persons for all its peculiar services, necessary to 
 its own edification and comfort, as well as to its usefulness in the 
 world. It provides for its own perpetuity and its growth in the 
 wisest and most practical manner. Its whole wisdom consists in 
 four points : 1st. It establishes the necessary offices for its per- 
 petuity and growth. 2d. It selects the best-qualified persons for 
 those offices. 3d. It consecrates or sets those persons apart to 
 those offices. 4th. It commands them to give themselves wholly 
 to the work, that their improvement may keep pace with the 
 growth of the body, and be apparent to all. Can any person 
 point out an imperfection in this plan ? 
 
 XV. All its officers, whether for its services at home or abroad, 
 when fully proved, are to be formally and solemnly set apart by 
 the imposition of the hands of the presbytery or eldership of the 
 church. The whole community chooses the seniors ordain. 
 This is the apostolic tradition. Let those unacquainted with the 
 volume examine the apostolic law and usage : Acts vi. 2-6. So 
 the Christian system in its elections and ordinations began. It is 
 immutable. Therefore this system obtains in all cases. The 
 qualifications for any office are always founded in the nature of 
 the office. They are generally detailed, but not always, because
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 83 
 
 the work +n be done is the best guide in ascertaining the qualifica* 
 tions of the doer of it. 
 
 XVI. We say the seniors or elders always ordain. Popery 
 says, " None but those on whom the apostolic hands have been 
 laid can of right ordain." Such an idea is not in the Christian 
 system. The seniors always lay on hands, whether hands have 
 been laid on them or not. This is true Protestantism. -Better 
 still, it is true Bibleism. Nay, it is the Christian system. The 
 Apostles laid on hands because seniors, and not because aponfles. 
 This is the jet of a controversy of fifteen hundred years' standing. 
 It has been very generally, almost universally misstated and over- 
 looked. Protestants are as much Papists in this, as the Papists 
 are Protestants in disowning Protestantism. It is assumed by 
 Romanists, and conceded by Protestants, that " holy hands" are 
 official hands by a jure divino. They are sometimes, but not 
 always. But Christian elders, (for I do not mean mere old men,) 
 who have long walked in the ways of the Lord, have holy hands, 
 and much more power with and from the Lord, than ever dwelt 
 in any pontiff or pretended vicar of Christ, in twelve hundred 
 and sixty years. 
 
 XVII. In proof that seniors lay on hands, we appeal to the fact, 
 Acts vi., for the Apostles were the oldest converts in Jerusalem. 
 We appeal also to the fact that the presbytery or eldership laid 
 hands on Timothy, and gave him the gift or office of an Evan- 
 gelist. And are there two rules of ordination in one system ? 
 Paul and Barnabas, though Apostles, were themselves ordained by 
 the Church of Antioch by its presbytery. Consequently, seniors 
 in Christ, as such, can, of divine warrant, lay hands on any per- 
 sons, for any office to which the church has elected them. It 
 must be done also by prayer and fasting. See Acts vi. 6; xiii. 3; 
 xvi. 23. 
 
 XVIII. Persons may be juniors in years and seniors in Christ. 
 Timothy, says Paul, "lay hands suddenly on no man." This im- 
 plies that the ordained were juniors in the Lord ; and, until they 
 had attained some character and standing as seniors, (even Timo- 
 thy himself,) were not to consent to their ordination. Perhaps it 
 may be necessary to say that classic presbytery and the presbytery 
 of a single church are very different institutions. The Apostles 
 ardained elders (a presbytery) in every church. They did not 
 make young men old, but set apart those that were seniors in the 
 Lord to the office of overseers. They did not make juniors seniors, 
 but they made elders bishops.
 
 84 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 XIX. The community, the church, the multitude of the faith- 
 ful, are the fountain of official power. This power descends from 
 the body itself not f.-oin its servants. Servants made by ser- 
 vants are servants of servants ; and such are all the clergy of the 
 Man of Sin. But the body of Christ, under him as its head, ani- 
 mated and led by his Spirit, is the fountain and spring of all offi- 
 cial power and privilege. How much surer and purer is eccle- 
 siastic authority thus derived from Christ the head, immediately 
 through his body, than when derived through a long, doubtful, 
 corrupt dynasty of bishops or pontiffs ! The church is the mother 
 :f all the sons and priests of God ; and to look for authority to 
 her servants or creatures, as do all sorts of Papists, whether 
 Catholic or Protestant, is to worship and serve the creature more 
 than the Creator a species of idolatry worthy only of the darkest 
 uight of the darkest day of the dark ages. 
 
 XX. But the church needs messengers for special occasions 
 not only her stated deacons and ministers, but ministers extra- 
 ordinary. These two are selected by the church or churches in a 
 given district, and commissioned by their letters. They are not con- 
 secrated by imposition of hands, but approved by letters from the 
 community. Are we asked for authority ? We produce it with 
 pleasure. 1 Cor. xvi. 3 is just to the point. "And," says Paul 
 to the saints in Corinth, "when I come, whomsoever you shall ap- 
 prove by letters, them will I send to bring your liberality to Jeru- 
 salem." This is the apostolic usage in such cases. In the se- 
 cond epistle Paul says, " We have sent with Titus the brother 
 (Luke we opine) whose praise is in the gospel, (written by him,) 
 throughout all the churches who was also chosen by the churclies 
 to travel with us with this bounty," &c. 
 
 XXI. The Christian system demands for its perpetuity and for 
 its prosperity at home and abroad, bishops, deacons, and evan- 
 gelists. Its bishops teach, preside, and execute the laws of 
 Christ in all its convocations. The deacons, a large and diverse 
 class of functionaries, composed of stewards, treasurers, almo- 
 ners, door-keepers, &c., as the case may require, wait continually 
 upon its various services. Its evangelists, possessed of proper 
 qualifications, ordained and consecrated to the work of the Lord 
 in converting sinners and planting churches, by a presbytery, or 
 a board of seniors competent to the prudent discharge of this 
 duty, nre constantly engaged in multiplying its members. These 
 ministers of the word are coinnviml<>d 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- 
 cus<? Paul of a sect, and to make Paul defend himself of a heresy, 
 when both Tertullus and Paul used the same word in their speeches 
 as reported by Luke in the original ! 
 
 VI. In the new version this word is, as it should be, uniformly 
 rendered sect. In the Epistles, and apparently once in the Acts, 
 it is used as though it included an idea of censure or guilt. Paul 
 defends himself from the accusation of Tertullus. Here, then, a 
 question arises: Why should the term hairesis import blame in 
 its Christian and none in its Jewiah acceptation ? We answer, 
 Because among the Jews sects- or parties did not terminate, as 
 among Christians, in separate communities or communions. They 
 resembled the high and low church parties in the Episcopalian 
 communion ; or the different and numerous sects among the Ro- 
 manists, viz. : Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, 
 &c., which never terminate in a breach of communion or co-ope- 
 ration as one church. Thus the Pharisees, S;idducees, Ilerodians, 
 &c. frequented the same temple, altar, priesthood, and united in 
 all the same acts of worship. Not so the Jews and Samaritans- 
 they were real sects in the Christian sense. Again, among the 
 Ji-ws the bond of union was national and fleshly ; and, therefore, 
 parties could not destroy it. With us it is spiritual, social, cor-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 97 
 
 dial, one faith, one hope, one spirit ; and parties are destructive 
 of this in the superlative degree. 
 
 VII. To this view there is but one plausible objection; and 
 that we meet in the answer to the question, Why did Paul defend 
 himself from the accusation of Tertullus as indicating censure, if 
 sects among the Jews were such harmless and inoffensive things? 
 We answer, There is no blame in the simple imputation of a sect, 
 but in the ideas which Tertullus connected with it. The Romans 
 had agreed to protect the Jews in the enjoyment of their religion 
 and they wished in the presence of Felix to make Paul appear an 
 apostate from that religion "a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedi- 
 tion, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" that he might 
 be from under the protection granted to the Jews' religion. From 
 this view only can we see the wisdom of Paul's defence. He 
 admits the charge of being a sectary, but in no criminal sense 
 worshipping the same God with them, believing every word in 
 their law and Prophets, and cherishing the same hope of a future 
 life in the resurrection of the dead, and thus evinces that nothing 
 offensive or criminal could be imputed to him on account of hia 
 being a ringleader .of the sect of the Nazarenes. 
 
 VIII. In the Christian epistles it is, however, used in a bad 
 sense, and is always connected with censure. This may have 
 been the reason why King James's version changes the translation 
 into heresies, or, as in the case of baptism, b'ishop, &c., anglicizes 
 rather than translates the word. It is not, however, a good or a 
 sufficient reason, because it necessarily imposes upon the English 
 reader that heresy in the epistles, and sect in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, are two distinct and different things ; and this, of course, 
 not only obscures those passages, but also prevents the clear in- 
 telligence of a matter essential to our duty and our happiness. 
 The acceptation, however, is not materially different in the epis- 
 tles, except in the relation of things. When the word sect is con- 
 Mected with a proper name, such as the sect of the Pharisees, the 
 tect of the Sadduceea, or the sect of the Christians, it is used in a 
 middle sense, neither as intimating truth or error, good or evil ; 
 but if it be applied to a party formed in a community which ad- 
 mits of no division or subdivision in its nature, because necessa- 
 rily tending to its corruption and destruction, then, in that rela- 
 tion and sense, a sect is a destructive and condemnable thing. 
 Now, in the E^isiles it is always taken in this sense, and ia 
 
 9
 
 98 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 ranked with factions, as a work of the flesh, carnal and destruc- 
 tive, and doomed to the judgments of Heaven. 
 
 IX. Still, in its scriptural application, whether used by Luke, 
 Paul, or Peter, (and it is found in no other writer,) it never re- 
 lates to doctrine, tenet, opinion, or faith. There is not, in sacred 
 usage, any tenet, or doctrine, which is called heresy, or sect. Hence 
 that ecclesiastical definition, viz.: "Heresy denotes some erroneout 
 opinion, tenet, or doctrine obstinately persisted in," is without any 
 countenance from the New Testament. Heresy and heretical, 
 in the lips of Paul and Peter, and in the lips of an ancient 
 or modern schoolman or churchman, are two very different 
 things. 
 
 X. But some allege that any doctrine that makes division is he- 
 retical, and therefore condemnable. It may be admitted, for the 
 ake of argument, that any doctrine or action that makes division 
 is heretical or divisive ; but on this account it is not condemnable; 
 because in that sense Jesus Christ was a heretic and his gospel 
 heresy : for he came to make divisions on earth, and did make a 
 sect ; and, of course, his doctrine is divisive or heretical. 
 
 XI. Now, if we say Jesus was a heretic, and his gospel heresy, 
 and his followers sectaries, does not this divest the word of any 
 bad or culpable significance, and make both heretics, heresies, 
 and sects innocent things? It does, so far as all without Christ's 
 kingdom or institution are concerned. But this is the all-import- 
 ant difference in this place; Christians, contradistinguished from 
 Jews, Mussulmen, Pagans, Infidels, are lawfully, righteously, and 
 innocently a sect, a heresy: but a sect among these is corrupt, 
 treasonable, and most reprehensible, according to every precept, 
 doctrine, and saying of the New Institution. Thus a man may 
 be a Christian, or of the sect of the Nazarenes, but not a Lu- 
 theran, a Calvinist, an Arminian, without blame. 
 
 XII. The words schism and heresy so far explained, may we not 
 regard schism as the cause, and heresy as the effect? or, in thei 
 words, must we not regard sects as the effects of schisms? The 
 philosophy of the whole matter, then, is, that separation is the 
 effect of alienation of heart, alienation the fruit of rival attach- 
 ments, which -in the church generally begin in personal sympa- 
 thies or personal antipathies, and end in detaching the subjects .>f 
 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, nn<l containing some of the capital positions which have been 
 fully elicited aod canvassed in a controversy of twelve years. 
 
 FACT. 
 
 Fact means something done. The term deed, so common in the 
 
 roi;;ii i if James I., is equivalent to our term fact. Truth and fact, 
 
 r'i nigh often confounded, are not the same. All facts are truths, 
 
 )>iit 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, 
 <!oncerning their mythology. So long as union of opinion was 
 regarded as a proper basis of religious union, so long have man- 
 kind been distracted by the multiplicity and variety of opinions. 
 To establish what is called a system of orthodox opinions as the 
 bond of union was, in fact, offering a premium for new diversi- 
 ties in opinion, and for increasing, ad infinitum, opinions, sects, 
 and divisions. And, what is worse than all, it was establishing 
 self-love and pride as religious principles, as fundamental to sal- 
 vation ; for a love regulated by similarity of opinion is only a love 
 to one's own opinion; and all the zeal exhibited in the defence of 
 it is but the workings of the pride of opinion. 
 
 When the Messiah appeared as the founder of a new religion, 
 83 T stems of religion consisting of opinions and speculations upon 
 matter and mind, upon God and nature, upon virtue and vice, had 
 been adopted, improved, reformed, and exploded, time after time. 
 That there was always something superfluous, something de- 
 fective; something wrong, something that could be improved, in 
 every system of religion and morality, was generally felt, and at 
 last universally acknowledged. But the grandeur, sublimity, and 
 beauty of the foundation of hope, and of ecclesiastical or social 
 union, established by the author and founder of Christianity, 
 
 * Millennial Harbinger, vol. i. pp. 8-12. 
 
 j- The fundamental proposition is that Jem* is the Christ. The/arf, howerer, con- 
 tinccl in ihis proportion is that God has anointed Jesus of Naznrt'th as the only 
 Sav'our of winners. lie is the promised Christ: "God bag constituted him Lord and 
 Christ.'' VETEB. 
 
 11
 
 122 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 consisted in this, that THE BELIEF or ONK FACT, and that vpon 
 the best evidence in the world, is all that is requisite, as far as faith 
 goes, to Salvation. The belief of this ONE FACT, and submission to 
 ONE INSTITUTION expressive of it, i-s all that is required of Heaven 
 to admission into the church. A Christian, as defined, not by Dr. 
 Johnson, nor any creed-maker, but by one taught from Heaven, 
 is one that believes this one fact, and has submitted to one institu- 
 tion, and whose deportment accords Avith the morality and virtue 
 >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. <Sbc. 
 
 Concerning these and all such doctrines, and all the specula- 
 tions to which they have given rise, we have the privilege neither 
 to affirm nor deny neither to believe nor doubt; because God 
 hasnot proposed them to us in his word, and there is no com- 
 ma-nd to believe them. If they are deduced from the Scriptures, 
 we have them in the facts and declarations of God's Spirit: if 
 they are not deduced from the Bible, we are free from all the dif- 
 ficulties and strifes which they have engendered and created. 
 
 We choose to speak of Bible things by Bible words, because we 
 are always suspicious that if the word is not in the Bible, the 
 idea which it represents is not there; and always confident that 
 the things taught by God are better taught in the words and un- 
 der the names which the Holy Spirit has chosen and appropriated, 
 than in the words which man's wisdom teaches. 
 
 There is nothing more essential to the union of the disciples of 
 Christ than purity of spwli. So long as the earth was of one 
 speech, the human family was united. Had they been then of a 
 pure speech as well as of one speech, they would not have been 
 separated. God, in his just indignation, dispersed them; and be- 
 fore he scattered tBenWrce divided their language. One of his pro- 
 phets, who lived in a degenerate age, who prophesied against the 
 corruptions of his day, when he spoke of better times, of an agj 
 of union and communion, was commanded to say, in the name of 
 the Lord, "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that 
 
 * t J These are example! of scriptural phrases misapplied: for the corruption of 
 Christianity has been consummated by the incursions of barbarian language, and 
 by the new appropriations of the sacred style.
 
 126 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with 
 one consent."* Purity of speech is here declared to be prerequisite 
 to serving the Lord with one consent. 
 
 " The words of the Lord are pure words."f To have a pure 
 speech we must choose the language of Canaan, and abandon 
 that of Ashdod. And if we would ba of one mind, we innbi 
 "speak the same thing." This was Paul's scheme of union, aim 
 no man can suggest a better. 
 
 It requires but llttla reflection to discover that the fiercest di- 
 putes about religion are about what the Bible does not say, rather 
 than about what it does say about words and phrases > 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<l much to 
 admire in both, he will never understand either. A veil, thick 
 as that which concealed the glory of the face of Muses from the 
 Israelites, will hide the glory of the Jewish and Christian institu 
 tion from his view. 
 
 Not only did the tahernacle, the temple, their furniture, the 
 service of both, the priests, the sacrifices, the festivals, the con- 
 vocations, and all the ordinances of that ritual, together wilh the 
 history of that people, assume the picturesque and figurative 
 character, hut almost all the illustrious and highly-distinguished 
 personages of that institution were made prophetic or typical of 
 the Messiah or of the great incidents of his life, sufferings, and 
 triumphs, and the leading affairs of his government. Amongst 
 per.toitx in the patriarchal and Jewish ages who, in one or more 
 prominent characters or incidents, or in their general history, 
 adumbrated the Messiah and his reign, the following group oc- 
 cupy a lofty eminence: Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchizedek, Isaac, 
 Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samson, David, Jonah. Of 
 thiuifs of this class, as well as persons highly figurative and in- 
 structive, are the visions of Jacob's ladder the burning bush 
 the pillar of cloud and tire the manna the rock Horeb, a foun- 
 tain of living water in the wilderness the veil of Moses the 
 brazen serpent the victory over the nations of Canaan and the 
 land of Canaan itself. And of ordinances, the passover, the 
 scape-goat^ the red heifer, the year of jubilee, the law of the 
 leper, the'kinsman redeemer, the cities of refuge; together with 
 all the sacrifices, washings, anointings, and consecrations of the 
 holy nation. 
 
 But a third object of the Jewish institution, of paramount 
 importance to the world, was the furnishing of a new a'phalxM 
 and language, (the elements of heavenly science,) without which 
 it would appear to have been almost, if not altogether, impossible 
 to learn the spiritual things or to make any proficiency in the 
 knowledge of those relations which Christianity unfolds. The 
 language of the new institution is therefore explained by that of 
 the old. No one can understand the dialect of the kingdom of 
 heaven who has not studied the dialect of the antecedent admi- 
 nistrations of heaven over the patriarchs and Jews. The most 
 striking and characteristic attribute of the sacred dialect is, that
 
 142 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 the elements of it are composed of the incidents of history, 01 
 what we call remarkable providences. 
 
 I cannot explain myself better, nor render my readers a more 
 essential service, than by illustrating by an actual detail of sacred 
 history the following proposition, viz.: That sacred history, or Hie 
 remarkable instances of God's providence to the Jews and Patri- 
 drclis, are the foundation of the sacred dialect of the new institution. 
 Or, if the reader will understand it better, it may be thus ex- 
 pressed: All the leading words and phrases of the New Testament 
 ire to be explained and understood by the history of the Jewish na- 
 tion and God's government of them. Take the following as a 
 mere specimen : 
 
 God called Abram out of Ur, and changed his name into Abra- 
 ham, and the name of his wife Sarai into Sarah. He promised 
 Isaac as the person in whom his seed should be called. God did 
 tempt Abraham, commanding him to offer Isaac for a burnt-offer- 
 ing. Isaac had two sons Esau the elder, and Jacob the younger. 
 Esau despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob. Jacob wrestled 
 with God, and prevailed ; he obtained a blessing, and was there 
 fore called Israel. He had twelve sons : of these Joseph was his 
 favorite. His brethren envied him, and sold him for twenty pieces 
 of silver. Joseph found grace in the sight of his master. The 
 Lord was with Joseph. He was cast into prison, and from thence 
 was elevated to be the governor of Egypt under Pharaoh. A 
 famine in Canaan compelled Jacob and his sons into Egypt for 
 bread, and Joseph was made known to his brethren. Joseph died 
 in Egypt and left his father's house in tliat land. They multiplied 
 exceedingly, and the Egyptians greatly afflicted and oppressed the 
 Israelites. Moses was born and exposed: Pharaoh's daughter 
 found him and adopted him for a son. Moses fled into Midian, 
 and married the daughter of the priest or prince of Midian, and 
 kept his futlier-in-law's flock in the desert, and came to Iloreb, 
 the mountain of God. The Lord appeared to him in aflame of fire 
 in a hu.-h. The bush burned and was not consumed. Moses 
 drew near, and then first stood on holy ground. God sent him to 
 Egypt to lead Aw people out of bondage. 
 
 God made him say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me 
 to you. Gather the elders of Israel and say to them, The Lord 
 God of your fathers, the God of Abraham," &c. "has sent me fe 
 you. I will smite Egypt with my wonders, and bring yon up out 
 of the afflictions of Egypt. Tell Pharaoh, Israel is my son my 
 jlrst-born. Take Aaron with thee, and thou shalt put vxrrds into
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 143 
 
 hi* month ; and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth : ho 
 shall bo to theo instead of a mouth, and thou shale be to him in- 
 stead fif God. Take thy rod in thy hand. The Lord sent Aaron 
 to Muses: and he met him in the mount and kissed him. And the 
 Lord visited his people. And the people believed when they heard 
 that the Lord had looked upon their affliction. Pharaoh oppressed 
 them still more. The Lord said, With a strong hand shall he let 
 them go. I will redeem them with a stretched-out arm, and with 
 great judgments. I will give you Canaan for a. heritage; I will 
 take you to me for a people. I will be your God." 
 
 Moses said, I am a man of uncircumcised lips, and how shall 
 Pharaoh hearken to me ? I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, 
 and Aaron thy prophet. I will multiply my signs, and brinjj out 
 ny people, and harden Pharaoh's heart. When he says, " Show 
 me a miracle," cast your rod before him, and it shall become a 
 serpent. Still Pharaoh refused, and hardened his heart. The ma- 
 gicians, overcome with the signs, said, This is the finger of God. 
 The God of the Hebrews said, Let my people go. I have roused 
 thee up (as a lion) to show in you my power, and to make my 
 name known through all the earth. The Lord slew all the first- 
 born of Egypt after he had plagued them exceedingly. Pharaoh 
 commanded them to depart; but he pursued them to the Red Sea. 
 Israel fainted at the sight before and behind them. Moses said, 
 Stand still and see the salvation of God. The sea was divided. 
 Covered with a cloud, Israel marched through as on dry ground. 
 The waters stood on either side as a wall. Pharaoh pursued with 
 his chariots and horsemen, but the waters returned and they were 
 drowned. Thus the Lord redeemed, saced, delivered, and brought 
 Israel out of bondage. 
 
 After this deliverance, Moses and the children of Israel sang, 
 "The Lord is become my salvation; he is my God. Thou hast 
 overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou hast led forth 
 thy people whom thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in 
 thy strength to thy holy habitation. The inhabitants of Canaan 
 shall be still as a stone till thy people pass over, Lord, the 
 people thou hast purchased. Thou shall plant them in the moun- 
 tains of thine inheritance; in the sanctuary which thy hands have 
 established." 
 
 They came into the wilderness of Sin. They cried for bread, 
 and God rained bread from heaven vpon them, that he might prove 
 them whether or not they would walk in his law, and they did eat 
 manna forty years till they came to the borders of Canaan.
 
 144 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 Thpiy complained for water, and tempted God And Mosea 
 smnie the rock in Iloreb, and water gushed out. But Moses was 
 wroth, and smote the rock twice, and he and Aaron thus rebelled 
 against God, and fell in the wilderness. The Lord made a cove- 
 nant with the whole nation at Sinai, and made them a peculiar 
 treasure above all people a kingdom of priests, a holy nation; 
 and God spake all the words of the law, written on two tables of 
 Btonc ; and spake to Israel from heaven. 
 
 The Lord, by Moses, gave them directions for rearing a taber- 
 nacle, and a pattern fur all its furniture. And as a ransom for hu 
 soul, every man, rich and poor, was to pay half a shekel as an 
 offering to the Lord to make an atonement for his soul ; and it was 
 given for the service of the tabernacle. When the tabernacle was 
 reared and finished, the glory oftlie Lord filled the tabe*rnacle and 
 the cloud c<rered it. And when the cloud was taken up they 
 journeyed; but until it was taken up they journeyed not. The 
 cloud was in the tabernacle by day, nnd fire was on it by night, 
 in the sight of all Israel throughout all their journeys. 
 
 And before Moses died he laid his hands upon Joshua, and gave 
 him a charae as the Lord commanded; and thus put honor upon 
 him, that the children of Israel might be obedient to him as their 
 saciviir. "As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee," saith 
 God: ' I will not fail thee nur forsake thee." 
 
 Could we thus proceed with the history of this people, and add 
 to their history the observance of their religious institutions, wo 
 should find out the true meaning of the sacred style of the New 
 Testament with more accuracy and certainty than from all the 
 commentators of ancient and modern times. This, as a sample, 
 must suffice for our present purpose. 
 
 From the premises now before us, the specifications of the out- 
 lines of the Sinaitic and national institution, and the terms and 
 phrases found in the history of this people, we mny discover in 
 what relation they stood to God, and what/aver* lie bestowed 
 upon them in that relation. 
 
 They wore the called and chosen, or t\\e elect of God as a nati< n. 
 As such, they were delivered, saved, lovgltt, or purchased, and re- 
 deemed. God is said to have created, made, formed, and begotten 
 them. As such, he is called their Father, their God. thoir 7?<?- 
 deemer, thfir Kinfi, their fa f tour, tleir Falration ; nnd tl:oy MIR 
 called his children, sons, and daughter*; lorn to hint, his house, 
 people, inheritance, family, servants.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 145 
 
 As a chartered and congregated people, they are called the city, 
 the holy city, the city of the Lord, Jerusalem, Zion, Mount Zion, 
 the city oj' David. Other nations in contrast with them are called 
 not a people, aliens, strangers, enemies, far off, unclean. 
 
 Various similitudes expressive of the kind relation in which 
 they stood to God are also found in the pages of the ancient in- 
 stitutions, such as husband and wife, shepherd and Jlock, vine 
 and vineyard, mother and children. They are said to be written 
 ~". moiled in the look of Goa : to be planted, washed, sanctified, 
 clean, separated to God ; they are called the house, buildiny, sanc- 
 tuary, dwtUiny-place of God; a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, 
 a peculiar people, &c. 
 
 Those who are curious to trace these phrases descriptive of the 
 relation and privileges of this ancient kingdom of God had better 
 (in addition to the passages quoted in their history from Egypt 
 to the Jordan) examine the following passages: Exodus xiv. 
 30 ; xv. 16 ; six. 6. Deuteronomy iv. '67 ; vii. 6 ; x. 15 ; xiv. 1 ; 
 i. 31 ; vii. 5 ; xxxii. 6, 18^ 19 ; xviii. 7 ; iii. 18, 20 ; xii. 9. 1 Kings 
 iii. 8. Psalms cv. 6 ; xxxiii. 13 ; cv. 43 ; cvi. 5, 21 ; Ixxiv. 2 ; 
 cxlix. 2. Isaiah xli. 8, 9 ; xliii. 1, 3, 5, 7 ; li. 2, 4 ; xli. 1, 6, 7. 
 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Psalms of David throughout, &c. 
 
 Unless we should write a full treatise on these antecedent in- 
 stitutions, we cannot with propriety descend further into details. 
 The outlines, as far as subordinate to the theme of this essay, are 
 now before the reader ; and with this preparation we shall now 
 invite his attention to THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 
 
 And why, an American would say, is it not called the Republic 
 of Heaven, and the Chief called the President of a Celestial Re- 
 public? Certainly there were the Republics of Greece and Rome 
 before the doctrine of this Kingdom was first promulgated, and 
 the Gentiles as well as the Jews could have understood the figure 
 of a Republic as well as that of a Kingdom. It wVis not, then, 
 because there wVs not in society a model or type of this sort ; but 
 because such a type would have been inapposite to the nature of 
 thiet institution. 
 
 History testifies that republics are better adapted to peace than 
 war, and that they are forced and xinnatural organizations of so- 
 ciety. Aristocracies and republics owe all their attractions to the 
 excessive corruptions of the governments under which they have 
 originated. They are the reaction of force and fraud, of cruelty 
 and oppression, and arc sustained by the remembrance and appre- 
 
 13
 
 146 THE CHRISTIAN STBTEM. 
 
 hension of the evils which occasioned them. They have always 
 teen extolled or admired either in contrast with the vices and 
 enormities of degenerate and profligate monarchies, or in the 
 freshness of the recollections of the wrongs and outrages which 
 occasioned them ; and men have generally tired of them when 
 they became corrupt and forgetful of the oppressions and crime? 
 which forced them into being. So that the corruptions of mon- 
 archies have given birth to republics, and the corruptions of these 
 have originated monarchies again. 
 
 In these last days of degeneracy, republics are great blessings 
 to mankind, as good physicians are blessings in times of pesti- 
 lence ; but yet it must be confessed that it would be a greater 
 Messing to be without plagues and doctors. While men are, 
 however, so degenerate, and while selfishness and injustice are 
 jo rampant in society t republican officers are better than kings 
 because we can get rid of them sooner. They are, indeed, kings 
 under another name, with a short-leased authority ; and our expe- 
 rience fully demonstrates that in these degenerate days the reig-.is 
 of our republican kings are nearly long enough. Till the King 
 of kings comes, we Christians ought to be good republicans, un- 
 der the conviction that human governments seldom grow better, 
 and that the popular doctrfne of our country is true that poli- 
 tical authority generally makes a man worse, and public favors 
 almost invariably corrupt the heart. Rapid rotation in office is 
 the practical influence of the republican theory ; and the experi- 
 ment proves that, brief as republican authority is, it is sometimes 
 too long for republican virtue to sustain without deterioration. 
 Now, if this be true of republican virtue, the brightest and the 
 best, what earthly virtue can long resist the contamination of 
 long-protracted authority 1 
 
 Monarchy is the only form of government, however, which 
 nature recognises. It was the first, and it will be the last. A 
 government with three or thirty heads is a mon'ster; and there- 
 fore the beast that represents it comes out of the sea with a plu- 
 rality of horns as well as heads. 
 
 The most approved theory of human nature and of human 
 government now current wherever the English language is spoken, 
 either in the Old World or in the New, is that a monarchy would 
 be always the best government, because the cheapest, the most 
 efficient, and the most dignified ; provided only, that the crown 
 was placed on the wisest head, ard the sceptre wielded by the
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 147 
 
 purest hands. Could we always secure this, -we would all be 
 monarchists : because we cannot, we are all republicans. 
 
 But, after this apology for the phrase Kingdom of Heaven, we 
 would recall the attention of the reader to the concession, made 
 by republicans themselves, that a kingdom is better adapted to a 
 state of war than a republic; and that this beautiful though mos( 
 appropriate figure, which occurs in the New Testament more than 
 one hundred and fifty times, and very often in the Old, presup- 
 poses a state of war as existing in the universe. But, for the rea- 
 sons assigned in preference of monarchy, the natural government 
 of the universe always was, is, and evermore shall be, monarchy. 
 God himself is of necessity absolute monarch of the universe. 
 Had he not essentially sustained that relation to all his creatures, 
 there never could have been rebellion nor sin in his dominions. 
 The systems of nature are all after this model. Every sun is a 
 king over the system which it controls ; and in every sphere there 
 is one controlling and supreme principle. It will be the last 
 government; for when the episode in the great drama of rational 
 existence which sin occasioned shall have been completed, the 
 government of the universe will assume its ancient order, and 
 God be supreme monarch again. But this will not be till Jesus 
 gives up the kingdom to God which a preternatural state of 
 tilings put into his hands. This cannot be till he has subdued 
 man to his rightful allegiance, or destroyed forever every oppo- 
 nent to the absolute monarchy of the Eternal Supreme; "for 
 JCKUS must reign till all his enemies be put under his feet." 
 
 The kingdom which Jesus has received from his Father, how- 
 ever heavenly, sublime, and glorious it may be regarded, is only 
 temporal. It had a beginning, and it will have an end; for he 
 m.*t n-ign only till all enemies are put under his feet. But the 
 transition of the sceptre into the hands of Emanuel has not 
 changed the government. He is now the hereditary Monarch of 
 tlu; universe, as well as the proper King of his own kingdom. 
 He now reigns as absolutely over all principalities, hierarchies, 
 and powers, celestial and terrestrial, as did the great God and Father 
 of the universe, before he was invested with the regal authority. 
 
 We have said it was a preternatural state of things which origi- 
 nated the kingdom of Jesus: therefore the object of this reme- 
 dial reign is to destroy that preternatural state of things to put 
 down sin. Now, as all human governments presuppose disorder, 
 and as the kingdoms of this world generally have arisen out of 
 contusion and war, this kingdom of heaven rf which wo are to
 
 148 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 speak owes its origin to the celestial and terrestrial apostasies 
 the revolt of Satan and of Adam. Were there no injustice within 
 or violence without, civil government would be wholly unneces- 
 sary, and its appendages an excrescence upon society. Had there 
 not been such a revolt and rebellion as sacred history records, 
 there would have been no such kingdom of heaven as that over 
 which Jesus the Messiah now presides. Now, as both this King 
 and kingdom, and all that appertains to them, were occasioned 
 by such a preternatural state of things, we must view them in all 
 their attributes and details, with reference to those circumstances 
 which called them into being. 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF A KINGDOM. 
 
 We must understand the type, or we cannot understand the 
 antitype. We must understand that which is natural before we 
 can understand that which is spiritual. What then are the essen- 
 tial elements of a kingdom as existing among men ? They are 
 five, viz. : King, Constitution, Subjects, Laws, and Territory. 
 Such are the essential parts of every political kingdom, perfect in 
 its kind, now existing on earth. 
 
 Informing a state, the essential elements are people and coun- 
 try. The people make a constitution, and this makes a President 
 or King, citizens or subjects, and every thing else belonging to a 
 state. It is, then, the relation into which the people resolve 
 themselves which makes it a republic, an aristocracy, a monarchy. 
 Do they choose a monarchy ? They first make a constitution, and 
 this places one upon the throne makes them subjects, and he 
 gives them laws. Although the constitution is first, in the order 
 of nature, of all the elements of a kingdom, (for it makes one man 
 a king and the rest subjects,) yet we cannot imagine a constitution 
 in reference to a kingdom, without a king and subjects. In speak- 
 ing of them in detail, we cannot then speak of any one of then: 
 ns existing without the others we must regard them as correlates, 
 and as coming into existence contemporaneously. There is no 
 husband nor wife before marriage, neither can there be a husband 
 without a wife ; yet one of the parties must be made before the 
 other. Marriage makes a husband out of the bridegroom, and a 
 wife out of the bride. So the constitution makes the king or the 
 governor, the citizons or subjects, out of the people, as the case 
 may be ; for there never can be a king or subject without a con- 
 stitution, or, what is the same thing, an agreement, verbal .:
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 149 
 
 written, for certain privileges stipulated and conditioned. In 
 every well-regulated political kingdom, in the order nf nature, the 
 elements stand thus: 1. Constitution; 2. King; 3. Subjects; 4. 
 Laws ; 5 Territory. 
 
 In the kingdom which God set up by Moses, the elements 
 stood in this order. The constitution was first proposed under 
 which God condescended to be their King, and they were to be 
 regarded as his people or subjects ; he then gave them laws and 
 established them in the territory before promised. 
 
 But in the kingdom of nature, or in the original kingdom of 
 God, the elements are only four, and the order in which they stand 
 are: 1. King; 2. Subjects; 3. Laws; 4. Territory. As Father 
 and Creator of that kingdom, God himself was absolute Sovereign, 
 whose will is the supreme law of the whole realm of nature. 
 
 Having ascertained the essential elements of a kingdom, and 
 marked the order in which they stand, before we particularly at- 
 tend to these elements in order, we shall ask, Why this kingdom 
 is called the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 THE NAME 
 
 Heaven, and the Kingdom of Heaven, are not one and the same 
 thing. God is not the Kingdom of God. But as the Kingdom 
 of God is something pertaining to God, so the Kingdom of 
 Heaven is something pertaining to Heaven, and consequently to 
 God. Whether always the phrases " the Kingdom of God" and 
 "the Kingdom of Heaven" exactly represent the same thing, 
 certain it is that both phrases are often applied to the same insti- 
 tution.* 
 
 This is true of them, whether translated reign or kingdom ; and 
 it is very evident that frequently the original word baxileia ought 
 in preference to be rendered reign, inasmuch as this term better 
 suits all those passages where coining or approaching is spoken 
 of: for, while reigns- or administrations approach and recede, king- 
 doms have^attributes and boundaries which are stationary. Reign 
 and Kingdom of God, though sometimes applicable to the same 
 subject, never contemplate it in the same light. They are, in- 
 deed, as intimately connected as the reign of King William and 
 the kingdom of Great Britain. The former represents the admi- 
 
 * If the f.llowinz passages aro carefully examined and compared it will appear 
 
 that both these phrases often represent the, same thinjj : Vtt. iii. 7 : Murk | 14. 
 
 l.uUe iv. 43. Mutt. xiii. 12: Mark iv 11: Ijukx viii. It). Matt. xi. II; Luk>- 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 c<ti*l into prison. Tnis 
 is a fact of so much importance, that Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
 distinctly and substantially declare, that in conformi.y to ancient 
 predictions, Jesus was to begin to proclaim in Galilee, and that he 
 did not commence to proclaim the doctrine of the gospel of the coming 
 of the Reiyn, till afier Join's ministry csaxed and he was cast into 
 prison. In this assertion the Evangelists agree : " Now Jesus, 
 [after his baptism and temptation in the wilderness,] hearing thai 
 John was imprisoned, retired into Gil. lee; and, having left Naza- 
 reth, resided at Capernaum. For thus saith the Prophet," &c. 
 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, sayiug, "R.:Jonn,forthk
 
 THE CHRISTIVN SYSTEM. 163 
 
 of Heaven approaches ;" or, " the Kingdom of Heaven is at 
 1 and," as says the common version.* 
 
 Some Baptists, for the sake of immersion, and some of our 
 1 rethren in the Reformation, for the sake of immersion for the 
 i emission of sins, seem desirous to have John in the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, and to date the commencement of the Christian dispen- 
 -ation with the first appearance of John the Immerser. They 
 llcge in support of this hypothesis that Jesus said, " The Law 
 tid tlie Prophets continued till John," (the only instructors of 
 men ;) " since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and 
 every man presses into it." " Publicans and harlots show you the 
 way into the kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus to the Pharisees. 
 Again, "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! for you shut the 
 Kingdom of Heaven against men, and will neither enter your- 
 selves, nor permit others that would to enter." " The Kingdom 
 of God is within you." " The Kingdom of Heaven has overtaken 
 you." From these premises they infer that the Kingdom of 
 Heaven was actually set up by John the Baptist : " for," say 
 they, " how could men and women enter into a kingdom which 
 was not set up ? And did not John immerse for the remission 
 of sins, and call upon men to repent and reform in order to 
 baptism?" 
 
 The Pedobaptists, too, will have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 Moses, David, and all the circumcised Jews, in the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, because Jesus said, " Before Abraham was, I am ;" 
 " Abraham saw my day and was glad ;" and Paul says Moses 
 esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the trea- 
 sures of Egypt, and forsook Egypt in faith of the Christian re- 
 compense of reward. Yes, and Paul affirms that Abraham, Isaac, 
 Jacob, and their families, who dwelt in tents in the promised land, 
 looked not only to the rest in Canaan, but they sought a heavenly 
 country, and expected the city of foundations, whose builder and 
 maker is God. Thus the Jews had Christ in the manna and in 
 the rock, and baptism in the cloud and in the sea. 
 
 The mistake is specifically the same. Christ was promised 
 and prefigured before he came, and the Kingdom of Heaven was 
 promised and preached by John, by Jesus, the Twelve, and the 
 Seventy, (who went about proclaiming the glad tidings of the 
 Reign,) before the Reign of Christ or Kingdom of Heaven com- 
 menced. Because Christ was promised and prefigured in the 
 
 * Matt. IT. 12; Mark i. U; Luke iii. 30; iv. 14.
 
 164 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 patriarchal and Jewish ages, the Pedobaptists will have thft 
 Kingdom of Heaven on earth since the days of Abel ; and because 
 the glad tidings of the Reign and Kingdom of Heaven and the 
 principles of the new and heavenly order of society were pro- 
 mulgated by John, the Baptists will have John the Baptist in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven, and the very person who set it up. 
 
 Let us, then, examine this matter with all candor: and lirst, wo 
 shall place the passages above quoted out of the testimonies of 
 the Evangelists on one side, and the following passages on the 
 other side ; and then see if we can reconcile them. John says, 
 " Reform, for the Reign of God approaches." Jesus began to 
 proclaim, saying, "Reform, for the Reign or Kingdom of Heaven 
 is at hand." He also commanded the Twelve and the Seventy 
 to peregrinate all Judea, making the same proclamation.* Of 
 John the Baptist he said, though greater than all the Prophets, 
 " The least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." 
 
 Thus, after John was beheaded, we have some eighty-four 
 preachers daily proclaiming the nigh approach of the Reign of 
 God; and Jesus often assuring his^ disciples that the Kingdom of 
 God was soon to appear, and that some of his companions would 
 see him enter upon his Reign before fhey died, and yet the 
 Kingdom was set up by John ! Scribes and Pharisees were shut- 
 ting the Kingdom against men, when Jesus had only given the 
 keys to Peter I John the Baptist was in the kingdom, and the 
 least in the kingdom is greater than he! More than eighty preach- 
 ers say, " Reform, for the Reign of Heaven is at hand ;" and John 
 the Baptist, before he died, introduced all Judea and Jerusalem 
 into it! How, then, shall we reconcile these apparent contradic- 
 tions ? Make both sides figurative, and it may be done. Regard 
 both sides literally, and it cannot be done ! To say that the king- 
 dom came in one point of view at one time, and in another point 
 of view at another time, is only to say that it came in different 
 senses literally and figuratively. For our part, we must believe 
 that the Kingdom of Heaven began, or the Reign of Heaven 
 literally and truly commenced, in one day. 
 
 Many of its principles were developed by the ancient Prophets; 
 David, Isaiah, and others wrote much concerning it ; John the 
 Baptist proclaimed its immediate and near approach, and more 
 fully developed its spiritual design ; therefore ho was superior to 
 
 * Matt. x. 8; Luke 1. 1-11. When eating the last supper he distinctly said that 
 the Keign of God was then future. Luke xxil. 18.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 165 
 
 them. Jesus often unfolded its character and design in various 
 similitudes ; and every one who understood and received these 
 principles was said to "press into the kingdom," or to have 
 "the kingdom within them;" and wherever these principles were 
 promulgated, "the Kingdom of Heaven" was said to "come nigh" 
 to that people, or to have "overtaken them ;" and those who op- 
 posed these principles, and interposed their authority to prevent 
 others from receiving them, were said to " shut the Kingdom of 
 Heaven against men ;" and thus all these scriptures must of ne- 
 cessity be understood from the contexts in which they stand : for 
 it was impossible that the Reign of Heaven could literally com- 
 mence "till Jesus was glorified," "received the promise of the 
 Holy Spirit," was " made Lord and Christ," and " sat down with 
 his Father upon his throne" for he left the earth to receive a 
 kingdom.* 
 
 To make this, if possible, still more evident, we ask, When did 
 the Kingdom of God, established by Moses among the seed of Abra- 
 ham, cease? This question penetrates the whole nature and ne- 
 cessity of the case; for will any one suppose that there were two 
 Kingdoms of God on earth at one and the same time? Certainly 
 the one ceased before the other began. 
 
 Now, that the Kingdom of God, ministered by Moses, had not 
 ceased during the personal ministry of the Messiah on earth, is, 
 we think, abundantly evident from the following facts and docu- 
 ments: 
 
 First. Jesus was to have appeared, and did appear, "in the end 
 of the world," or last days of the first kingdom of God. "In the 
 conclusion of the age has he appeared, to put away sin by the 
 sacrifice of himself." The "world to come" was one of the 
 names of the gospel age. He has not subjected " the world to 
 come" to angels, as he did the world past, says Paul to the He* 
 brews. He appeared, then, not in the beginning of the gospel 
 age, but in the end of the Jewish age. 
 
 Second. The Temple was the house of God to the very close 
 of the life of Jesus. For it was not till the Jewish ministry con- 
 spired to kill him that he deserted it. At the last festival of his 
 life, and immediately before he fell into their hands, on walking 
 out of the temple, he said, " Behold, your house is deserted, for 
 y<m shall not see me henceforth till you shall say, Blessed be he 
 that comes in the name of the Lord!" It was his Father's house, 
 
 * Luke xlx. 11-15.
 
 166 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 the bouse of God, till that moment. Then, indeed, the glory 
 departed. 
 
 Third. The Jewish offerings and service, as a divine institu- 
 tion, continued till the condemnation of Jesus. He sent tho 
 cleansed leper to the priest to make the offering commanded in 
 the law. He commanded the people to hear the doctors of the 
 law who sat in Moses' chair. lie paid the didrachma. He was a 
 minister of the circumcision. He lived under, not after, the law. 
 lie kept all its ordinances, and caused all his disciples to regard 
 it in its primitive import and authority to the last passover. In- 
 deed, it could not be disannulled, for it was not consummated till on 
 tlie (r ^ss he said+ " IT is FINISHED." 
 
 Ft rth. When he visited Jerusalem the last time, and in the 
 last parable pronounced to them, he told them plainly that " the 
 Kingdom of God should be taken from them" and given to a na- 
 tion who should make a better use of the honors of the kingdom ; 
 consequently at that time the Jews had the Kingdom of G;>d. 
 
 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<i kingdom are free men under Christ, 
 thoy all have a voice in the selection of the persons whom the 
 Apostles appoint to the offices. The Apostles still appoint all 
 persons so elected, possessing the qualifications which they by 
 the Hly Spirit prescribed. And if a congregation will not elect in 
 these offices the persons possessing these qualifications ; or if, by a 
 wninwrdness and selfishness of their own, they should elect those un- 
 qualified, and thus disparage those marked out by the possession of 
 those gifts ; in either case, they despise the authority of the Ambas- 
 sadors of Chnsl and must suffer for it. It is indeed the Holy 
 Spirit, and not the congregations, which creates Bishops and 
 Deacons. The Spirit gives the qualifications, both natural and 
 acquired ; and, speaking to the congregations in the written 
 jracles, commands their ordination or appointment to the work.f 
 
 * Pom. xii. 4-8. 1 Cor. ail. 27. Hob. HI. 8. 
 
 f Acts vi. 2-7 ; xvi. 23 ; xx. 17. 1 Tim. iii. 1-16. Titus i. 5-10. Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 24
 
 174 THK CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 In the present administration of the Kingdom of Gnd, faith is 
 the PRINCIPLE, and ordinances th MEANS, of a spiritual enjoyment. 
 Without faith in the testimony of God, a person is without God, 
 without Christ, and without hope in the world. A Christless 
 universe, as respects spiritual life and joy, is t e most perfect 
 blank which fancy can create. Without faith, nothing in the 
 Bihle can be enjoyed ; and without it there is to man no Kingdom 
 of Heaven in all the dominions of God. 
 
 In the kingdom of nature sense is the principle, and ordinances 
 the means, of enjoyment. Without sense, or sensation, nothing in 
 nature can be known or enjoyed. All the creative, recuperative, 
 and renovating power, wisdom, and goodness of God, exhibited 
 in nature, are contained in ord nam;es. The sun, moon, and stars, 
 the clouds, the air, the water, the seasons, day and night, are 
 therefore denominated the ordinances of heaven, because God's 
 power, wisdom, and goodness are in them, and .felt by us only 
 through them.* Now, sense without the ordinances of nature, 
 like faith without the ordinances of religion, would be no principle 
 of enjoyment ; and the ordinances of nature, without sense, would 
 be no means of enjoyment. These are the unalterable decrees 
 of God. There is no exception to them ; and there is no rever- 
 sion of them. To illustrate and enforce the doctrine of this single 
 paragraph is worthy of a volume. The essence, the whole essence, 
 of that reformation for which we contend, is wrapped up in this 
 decree as above expressed. If it be true, the ground on which 
 we stand is firm and unchangeable as the Rock of Ages ; if it be 
 false, we build upon the sand. Header, examine it well! 
 
 In the Kingdom of Heaven, faith is, then, the principle, and 
 ordinances the means, of enjoyment ; because all the wisdom, 
 power, love, mercy, compassion, or grace of God is in the ordi- 
 nances of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and if all grace be in them 
 it can only be enjoyed through them. What, then, under the pre- 
 sent administration of the Kingdom of Heaven, are the ordinances 
 which contain the grace of God ? They are preaching the gospel 
 immersion in the name of Jesus into the name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit the reading and teaching the 
 Living Oracles the Lord's day the Lord's supper fasting 
 prayer confession of sins and praise. To these may be added 
 other appointments of God, such as exhortation, admonition, dis- 
 cipline, dec. ; for these also are ordinances of God; and, indeed, 
 
 * Jeremiah xxxi. 35, 36. Job xxxviii. 31, 33. Jeremiah xxxiii. 25.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 175 
 
 all statutes and commandments are ordinances:* but we speak not 
 at present of those ordinances which concern the good order of 
 the kingdom, but of those which are primary means of enjoyment. 
 These primary and sacred ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven 
 are the means of our individual enjoyment of the present salva- 
 tion of God. 
 
 "Without the sun, there is no solar influence ; without the moon, 
 there is no lunar influence ; without the stars, there is no sidereal 
 influence; without the clouds, there can be no rain ; and without 
 the ordinances of the Kingdom ot Heaven, there can be no hea- 
 venly influence exhibited or felt. There is a peculiar and dis- 
 tinctive influence exerted by the sun, moon, and stars ; and yet 
 they all give light. So in the ordinances of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven: although they all agree in producing certain similar 
 effects on the subjects of the kingdom, there is something dis- 
 tinctive and peculiar in each of them, so that no one of them can 
 be substituted for another. Not one of them can be cfispensed 
 with ; they are all necessary to the full enjoyment of the Reign 
 of Heaven. 
 
 In nature arid in religion, all the blessings of God bestowed on 
 man are properly classed under two heads. These may be called, 
 for illustration, antecedent and consequent. The antecedent include 
 all those blessings bestowed on man to prepare him for action and 
 to induce him to action. The consequent are those which Gud 
 bestows on man through a course of action correspondent to these 
 antecedent blessings. For example, all that God did for Adam in 
 creating for him the earth and all that it contains, animal, vege- 
 table, mineral ; in forming him in his own image ; giving him all 
 his physical, intellectual, and moral powers, and investing him 
 with all the personal and real estate which elevated him above 
 all sublunary beings, were antecedent to any act of Adam ; and 
 these furnished him with inducements to love, honor, and obey 
 his Creator and benefactor. All that God did for Abraham in 
 promises and precepts before his obedience all that he did for 
 the Israelites in bringing them up out of Egypt and redeeming 
 them from the tyranny of Pharaoh was antecedent to the duties 
 and observances which he enjoined upon them. And all the 
 blessings which Adam, Abraham, the Israelites, enjoyed through 
 conformity to the institutions under which they were placed, were 
 consequent upon that state of mind and course of action which 
 
 James 1. 25.
 
 176 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 the antecedent favors demanded and occasioned. God never com- 
 manded a being to do any thing, but the power and motive were de- 
 rived from something God had done for him, 
 
 In the Kingdom of Heaven the antecedent blessings are the 
 constitution of grace, the King, and all that he did, suffered, am) 
 sustained for our redemption. These were finished before we 
 came upon the stage of action. This is all favor, pore favor, sove- 
 reign favor: for there can be no favor that is not free and sove- 
 reign. But the remission of our sins, our adoption into the family 
 of God, our being made heirs and inheritors of the kingdom of 
 glory, are consequent upon faith and the obedience of faith. 
 
 Organization and life of any sort are of necessity the gifts of 
 God; but health and the continued enjoyment of life, and all its 
 various and numerous blessings, are consequent upon the proper 
 exercise of these. He that will not breathe, eat, drink, sleep, 
 exercise, cannot enjoy animal life'. God has bestowed animal 
 organization and life antecedent to any action of the living crea- 
 ture ; but the creature may throw away that life by refusing to 
 sustain it by the means essential to its preservation and comfort. 
 
 God made but one man out of the earth, and one earthly nature 
 of every sort, by a positive, direct, and immediate agency of 
 wisdom, power, and goodness. He gave these the power, accord- 
 ing to his own constitution or system of nature, of reproducing 
 and multiplying to an indefinite extent. But still this life is trans- 
 mitted, diffused, and sustained by God operating through the sys- 
 tem of nature. So Jesus in the new creation, by his Spirit sent 
 down from heaven after his glorification, did, by a positive, direct, 
 and immediate agency, create one congregation, one mystical or 
 spiritual body ; and, according to the constitution or system of the 
 Kingdom of Heaven, did give to that mystical body, created in 
 Jerusalem out of the more ancient earthly Kingdom of God, the 
 power of reproducing and multiplying to an indefinite extent. 
 But still this new and spiritual life is transmitted, diffused, and 
 sustained by the Spirit of God, operating through the constitution, 
 or system of grace, ordained in the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Hence, in setting up the Kingdom of Heaven, as in setting up 
 the kingdom of nature, there was a display of divinity, compared 
 with every thing subsequent, properly supernatural. Hence the 
 array of apostles, prophets, extraordinary teachers, gifts, powers, 
 miracles, &c. &c. But after this new mystical body of Christ 
 was created and made, it had, and yet has, according to the system 
 of grace under the present administration of the Kingdom of Ilea-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 177 
 
 ven, the power of multiplying and replenishing the whole earth, 
 and will do it; for as God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the 
 spirit of life, after he had raised him out of the dust; and as he 
 bestowed on his beloved Son Jesus, after he rose out of the water, 
 the Holy Spirit without measure ; so on the formation of the first 
 congregation, figuratively called the body of Christ, Jesus did 
 breathe into it the Holy Spirit to inhabit and animate it till ha 
 come again. The only temple and habitation of God on earth, 
 since Jesus pronounced desolation on that in Jerusalem, is the 
 body of Christ. 
 
 Now, this first congregation of Christ, thus filled with the Spirit 
 of God, had the power of raising other congregations of Christ; 
 or, what is the same thing, of causing the body of Christ to gr.nv 
 and increase. Thus we see that other congregations were soon 
 raised up in Judea and Samaria by the memhei s of the Jerusul m 
 body. Many were begotten to God by the Spirit of God, through 
 the members of the first congregation. And since the Spirit him- 
 self ceased to operate in all those splendid displays of superna- 
 tural grandeur, by still keeping the disciples of Christ always in 
 remembrance of the things spoken by the holy Apostl s, and by 
 all the arguments derived from the antecedent blessings bestowed, 
 working in them both to will and do according to the benevolence 
 of God, he is still causing the body of Christ to grow and in- 
 crease in stature, as well as in knowledge and favor of God. Thus 
 the church of Christ, inspired with his Spirit, and having the 
 oracles and ordinances of the Reign of Heaven, is fully adequate 
 to the conversion of the whole world, if she prove not recreant 
 to her Lord. 
 
 In the work of conversion, her Evangelists, or those whom she 
 sends beyond the precincts of her weekly meetings, have, under 
 the influence of the Spirit of God, simply to propose the consti- 
 tution, or the glad tidings of the Reign, to those without; and, by 
 all the arguments which the oracles of God and the times and 
 occasions suggest, to beseech and persuade men to be reconciled 
 to God, to kiss the Son, to accept the constitution, to bow to him 
 who is ordained a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance and 
 remission of sins to all who submit to his government. Thus 
 they and the congregation who sends them forth and sustains them 
 in the work beget children to God by the gospel, and enlarge the 
 body of Christ. 
 
 With all these documents before us, may we not say, that, as 
 Eve was the mother of all living, so "Jerusalem is the mother of
 
 178 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 us all" ? And thus, to use the language of Paul, " Men are be- 
 gotten to God by the gospel" through the instrumentality of the 
 congregations of Christ. 
 
 Under the present administration of the Kingdom of Heaven, a 
 great apostasy has occurred, as foretold by the Apostles. As the 
 church, compared to a city, is called "Mount Zion," the apostate 
 church is called "Babylon the Great." Like Babylon the type, 
 " Mystery Babylon" the antitype is to be destroyed by a Cyrus 
 that knows not God. She is to fall by the sword of infidels, sup- 
 ported by the fierce judgments of God. " The Holy City" is still 
 trodden under foot, and the sanctuary is filled with corruptions. 
 It is, indeed, a den of thieves ; but strong is the Lord that judges 
 the apostate city. Till that great and notable day of the Lord 
 come, we cannot, from the prophetic word, anticipate a universal 
 return to the original gospel, nor a general restoration of all the 
 institutions of the Kingdom of Heaven in their primitive charac- 
 ter ; and, consequently, we cannot promise to ourselves the uni- 
 versal subjugation of the nations to the sceptre of Jesus. 
 
 But were we to enter upon the consideration of the administra- 
 tion of the affairs of the kingdom after the fall and overthrow of 
 the apostate city and the conversion of the Jews, we should have 
 to launch upon a wide and tempestuous ocean, for which our 
 slender bark is not at this time sufficiently equipped. This may 
 yet deserve the construction of a large vessel in a more propitious 
 season. Meanwhile the original gospel is extensively proclaimed 
 and many thousands are preparing for the day of the Lord ; and 
 these are taught by the " Faithful and True Witness" that the 
 day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and that their 
 happiness and safety alike consist in being prepared for his uecond 
 advent.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 179 
 
 REMISSION OF SINS. 
 
 said that the doctrine of justification, or. forgiveness, 
 Tvab the test of a standing or falling church. If right in this, she 
 could not be very far wrong in anything else; but if wrong here, 
 it was not easy to suppose her right in any thing. I quote from 
 memory, but this was the idea of that great reformer.* We agree 
 with him in this as well as in many other sentiments. Emerging 
 from the smoke of the great city of mystical Babylon, he saw as 
 clearly and as far into these matters as any person could in such 
 a hazy atmosphere. Many of his views only require to be carried 
 out to their legitimate issue, and we should have the ancient 
 gospel as the result. 
 
 The doctrine of remission is the doctrine of salvation ; for to 
 tftlk of salvation without the knowledge of the remission of sins 
 is to talk without meaning. To give to the Jews "a knowledge 
 of salvation by the remission of their sins," was the mission of 
 John the Immerser, as said the Holy Spirit. In this way he pre- 
 pared a people for the Lord. This doctrine of forgiveness was 
 gradually opened to the people during the ministry of John and 
 Jesus, but was not fully developed until Pentecost, when the se- 
 crets of the Reign of Heaven were fully opened to men. 
 
 From Abel to the resurrection of Jesus, transgressors obtained 
 remission at the altar, through priests and sin-offerings ; but it 
 was an imperfect remission as respected the conscience. " For the 
 law," says Paul, (more perfect in this respect than the preceding 
 economy,) "containing a shadow only of the good things to come, 
 and not even the very image of these things, never can, with the 
 same sacrifices which they offer yearly forever, make those who 
 come to them perfect. Since, being offered, would they not have 
 ceased ? because the worshippers, being once purified, should have 
 no longer conscience of sins." 
 
 The good things to come were future during the reign of Moses 
 
 * The reformer also said: "If the article of justification be ince lost, then is all 
 true Christian doctrine lost." Preface to the Ep. Gal., Phil, ed., 1800.
 
 180 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 1 . 
 
 and his institution. Thoy have come; and a clear, and full, and 
 perfect remission of sins is the great result of the new economy 
 in the conscienc ;> 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>cedin<i. And 
 when we nnalvzn tbesi expr'S-iin, we find the" nil import (hit the persons arc 
 either under the "' li rati ins or influ 'n 'e of thise thin-rs into whi h th '.v are said to 
 enter, or into hi-h they are intrdnr.d. II 'lice, those immersed into one body 
 were U'id->r 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 <ttn >: 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, <kc. &c. But these 
 sayings, as qualified by the Apostles, mean no more than by be* 
 lieving the truth of God we have access into all these blessings. 
 So that, as Paul explains, " By faith we have access into the fuvoi 
 in which we stand." These words he uses on two occasions,* 
 when speaking of the value of this principle, contrasted with the 
 principle of law ; and in his letter to the Hebrews, vrhen he brings 
 up his cloud of witnesses to the excellency of this principle, he 
 shows that by it the ancients obtained a high reputation, that 
 is, as he explains, by their acts of faith in obedience to God's 
 commands. 
 
 That faith by itself neither justifies, sanctifies, nor purifies, is 
 admitted by those who oppose immersion for the forgiveness of 
 sins. They all include the idea of the blood of Christ. And yet 
 they seem not to perceive that, in objecting to immersion as ne- 
 cessary to forgiveness in connection with faith, their own argu- 
 ments preclude them from connecting the blood of Christ with 
 faith. If they admit that faith, apart from the blood of Christ, 
 cannot obtain pardon, they admit all that is necessary to prove 
 them inconsistent with themselves in opposing immersion for the 
 remission of sins ; or immersion as that act by which our state is 
 changed. 
 
 The Apostle Peter, when first publishing the gospel to the 
 Jews, taught them that they were not forgiven their sins by faith ; 
 but by an act of faith, by a believing immersion into the Lord 
 Jesus. That this may appear evident to all, we shall examine 
 his Pentecostian address, and his Pentecostian hearers. 
 
 Peter now holding the keys of the kingdom of Jesus, and 
 speaking under the commission for converting the world, and by 
 the authority of the Lord Jesus ; guided, inspired, and accom- 
 panied by the Spirit may be expected to speak the truth, the 
 whole truth, plainly and intelligibly, to his brethren the Jews, 
 He had that day declared the gospel facts, and proved the resur- 
 rection and ascension of Jesus to the conviction of thousands. 
 They believed and repented believed that Jesus was the Mes- 
 siah, had died as a sin-offering, was risen from the dead, and 
 crowned Lord of all. Being full of this- faith, they inquired of 
 Peter and the other Apostles what they might to do to obtain re- 
 
 Romans v. 2. Ephesians iii. 12.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 195 
 
 mission. They were informed that, though they now believed 
 and repented, they were not pardoned, but must " reform and be 
 immersed for the remission of sins." Immersion for the forgive- 
 ness of sins was the command addressed to these believers, to 
 these penitents, in answer to the most earnest question ; and by 
 one of the most sincere, candid, and honest speakers ever heard. 
 This act of faith was presented as that act by which a change in 
 their state could be effected ; or, in other words, by which alone 
 they could be pardoned. They " who gladly received this word 
 were that day immersed ;" or, in other words, the same day were 
 converted, or regenerated, or obeyed the gospel. These expres- 
 sions, in the Apostle's style, when applied to persons coming into 
 the kingdom, denote the same act', as will be perceived from the 
 various passages in the writings of Luke and Paul. This testi- 
 mony, when the speaker, the occasion, and the congregations are 
 all taken into view, is itself alone sufficient to establish the point 
 in support of which we have adduced it. 
 
 But the second discourse, recorded by Luke from the lips of 
 the same Peter, pronounced in Solomon's Portico, is equally 
 pointed, clear, and full in support of this position. After he had 
 explained the miracle which he had wrought in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus, and stated the same gospel facts, he proclaims the 
 same command: " Reform and be converted, that your sins may 
 be blotted out;" or, "Reform and turn to God, that so your sina 
 may be blotted out; that seasons of refreshment from the presence 
 of the Lord may come, and that he may send Jesus whom the 
 heavens must receive till the accomplishment of all the things 
 which God has foretold," &c. Peter, in substituting other terms 
 in this proclamation for those used on Pentecost, does not preach 
 a new gospel, but the same gospel in terms equally strong. He 
 uses the same word, in the first part of the command, which he 
 used on Pentecost. Instead of " be immersed," he has here " be 
 converted," or " turn to God ;" instead of "for the remission of your 
 tins," here it is, " that your sins may be blotted out;" and instead of 
 ' you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," here it is, "that sea- 
 sons of refreshment from the presence of the Lord may come."* On 
 
 * There is no propriety In the common veiMon of this member of the sentence 
 when, instead of that "seasons of refreshment." Some make modern revivals ' sea- 
 sons of refreshment," such us these here alluded t Then It would -.ad " That 
 your sins may be blotted out In times of revivals' wnen revivals shall come! 
 The term is opnt, which, in this construction, as various critic* have contended, is 
 equivalent in -that'' in our tongue. To promise a future remission is no part of the 
 gospel, nor of the apostolic proclamation. All Christians experience seasons of re- 
 freshment in cordially obeying the gospel.
 
 196 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 Pentecost, it was 1st, "Reforfii;" 2d, "Be immersed;" 3d, "For 
 the remission of sins;" and 4th, "You shall receive the gift of 
 the Holy Spirit,-' In Solomon's Portico, it was 1st, "Reform;" 
 2d, "Be converted;" 3d, "That your sins may be blotted 
 out;" and 4th, "That seasons of refreshment from the presence 
 of the Lord mny come;" that " you muy have righteousness, peace, 
 and joy in a holy spirit." So read the different clauses in those 
 two discourses to the Jews, expressive of the same acts. 
 
 There is yet, in this discourse in the Portico, a very strong ex- 
 pression, declarative of the same gracious connection between 
 immersion and remission. It is the last period of his discourse. 
 ' Unto you first, brethren of the Jews, God, having raised up his 
 Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, every one of you, in the act of 
 turning from your iniquities ;" or, as we would say, in the act of 
 conversion. Why the Apostle Peter should have used " convert- 
 ed," or " turning to God," instead of " be immersed," is, to the 
 candid and unprejudiced reader of this narrative, very plain. 
 After Pentecost, the disciples immersed on that day, having turned 
 to God through Jesus, were spoken of by their brethren as dis- 
 ci pled or converted to Jesus. The unbelieving Jews, soon after 
 Pentecost, knew the disciples called the immersed "converted;" 
 and, immersion being the act of faith which drew the line of demar- 
 cation between Christians and Jews, nothing could be more 
 natural than to call the act of immersion the converting of a Jew. 
 The time intervening between these discourses was long enough 
 to introduce and familiarize this style in the metropolis; so that 
 when a Christian said, " Be conveiled," or " Tt/rn to God," every 
 Jew knew the act of putting on the Messiah to be that intended. 
 After the immersion of some Gentiles into the faith, in the house 
 and neighborhood of Cornelius, it was reported that the Gentiles 
 were converted to God. Thus, the Apostles, in passing through 
 the country, gave great joy to the disciples from among the Ji>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<jht of the 
 heart, as the object on which all evangelical arguments are to 
 terminate, and as the fons et principium, the fountain and origin, 
 of all piety and humanity. 
 
 Once for all, let it be distinctly noted, that we appreciate no- 
 thing in religion which tends not directly and immediately, pruxi- 
 mately and remotely, to the purification and perfection of the 
 heart. Paul acts the philosopher fully once, and, if we reci licet 
 right, but once, in all his writings upon this subject. It has been 
 for many years a favorite topic with me. It is in his first epistle 
 to Timothy: " Now the end of the commandment [or gospel] is 
 love out of a pure heart out of a good conscience out of faith 
 unfeigned." Faith unfeigned brings a person to remission, or to 
 a good conscience ; a good conscience precedes, in the order of 
 nature, a pure heart ; and that is the only soil in which love, that 
 plant of celestial origin, can grow. This is our philosophy of 
 Christianity of the gospel. And thus it is the wisdom and 
 power of God to salvation. We proceed upon these as our axioui- 
 ata in all our reasonings, preachings, writings : 1st, unfeigned 
 faith ; 2d, a good conscience ; 3d, a pure heart ; 4th, love. The 
 testimony of God, apprehended, produces unfeigned or genuine 
 faith ; faith, obeyed, produces a good conscience. This Peter de- 
 fines to be the use of baptism, the answer of a good conscience. 
 This produces a pure heart, and then the consummation is love 
 love to God and man. 
 
 Paul's order or arrangement is adopted by us as infallible. 
 Testimony faith unfeigned remission, or a good conscience 
 a pure heart love. Preaching, praying, singing, commemorating, 
 meditating, all issue here. " Happy the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God." 
 
 IMMERSION NOT A MERE BODILY ACT. 
 
 Views of baptism, as a mere external and bodily act, exert a 
 very injurious influence on the understanding and practice of men. 
 Hence many ascribe to it so little importance in the Christian 
 economy. " Bodily exercise," says Paul, " profits little." We 
 have been taught to regard immersion in water, into the name of 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as an act of the whole 
 man, body, soul, and spirit. The soul of the intelligent subject
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 247 
 
 is as fully immersed into the Lord Jesus, as his body is immersed 
 in the water. His soul rises with the Lord Jesus, as his body 
 rises out of the water; and into one spirit with all the family of 
 God iu hi immersed. It is not like circumcising a Hebrew in- 
 fant or proselyting to Moses a Gentile adult. The candidate, 
 believing in the person, mission, and character of the Son of God, 
 and willing to submit to him, immediately, upon recognising him, 
 hastens to be buried with the Lord, and to rise with him, not 
 corporeally, but spiritually, with his whole soul. 
 
 Reader, be admonished how you speak of bodily acts in obe- 
 dience to divine institutions. Remember Eve, Adam, and all 
 transgressors on the one hand. Remember Abel, Noah, Enoch, 
 Moses, Abraham, down to the harlot Rahab, on the other ; and be 
 cautious how you speak of bodily acts ! Rather remember the 
 sacrifice of a body on Mount Calvary, and talk not lightly of 
 bodily acts. There is no such thing as outward bodily acts in the 
 Christian institution; and less than in all others, in the act of 
 immersion. Then it is that the spirit, soul, and body of man 
 become one with the Lord. Then it is that the power of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit comes upon us. Then it is that we 
 are enrolled among the children of God, and enter the ark, which 
 will, if we abide in it, transport us to the Mount of God. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION ASCRIBED TO SEVEN CAUSES. 
 
 In examining the New Testament, we find that a man is said 
 to be "justified by faith," Rom. v. 1 ; Gal. ii. 16, iii. 24. "Jttft- 
 tljird freely by his (/race," Rom. iii. 24; Titus iii. 7. "Justified 
 l>>> 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 ./<V 
 sin." This is one, but it is only '-ne, of the natural effects of the 
 belief of the testimony of God. The gospel facts, testimony, and 
 faith, contemplate more than this. But yet it is necessary that 
 this point of faith should be distinctly apprehended, especiallj .n 
 
 * For Fact. Testimony, and Faith, see pp. 110-113.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 255 
 
 tins ago, when it occupies so large a space in the systems of 
 theology. 
 
 Repentance, in our current acceptation, is sorrow for sin ; and 
 certainly there is no man who believes the revealed facts found 
 in the testimony of God, who will not be sorry for his sins. Bin 
 simple sorrow for the past is but a feeling of the heart; which, 
 unless it excite to reformation or the abandonment of sin, is of no 
 more use than the regrets of Judas after he had sold his Master 
 for fifteen dollars. Repentance must, however, precede reforma- 
 tion; for unless we are sorry for the past, and grieved with our- 
 selves, we will not think of a change of conduct. Repentance 5a 
 to reformation what motive is to action, or resolution to any un- 
 dertaking. It was well for David to resolve to build the temple; 
 and so it is well to form any good design ; but much better to 
 execute it. To feel sorry for the poor and the afflicted, and to 
 resolve to assist and comfort them, is well ; but to go and do it is 
 better; and, indeed, unless our sorrow for the past terminate in 
 reformation for the future, it is useless in the estimation of hea- 
 ven and earth; as useless as to say to the hungry, Be filled ; or to 
 the naked, Be clothed. 
 
 genuine repentance does not always issue in reformation. 
 Judas was sorrowful even to death, but could not reform. Many 
 have been so genuinely sorry for their sins as to become suicides. 
 Speak we of "a godly sorrow"? No: this is not to he expected 
 from unconverted and ungodly persons. Christians, Paul teaches, 
 when they err, may repent with a godly sorrow; but this is not to 
 be expected from the unregonerate, or from those who have not 
 reformed. It is not, then, the genuineness of repentance that is 
 to be appreciated, unless by genuine repentance is meant more 
 than simple sorrow fur the past unless by genuine repentance is 
 meant reformation. Yet without sincere or unfeigned repentance, 
 there cannot be real or genuine reformation. 
 
 This leads us to observe, that the only unequivocal evidence of 
 sincere repentance is the actual redress of the injury done: not 
 only a cessation from the sin, but a restitution for the sin, as fur 
 as restitution can possibly be m-i'lo. Nn restitution, no repentance 
 pmrided restitution can be made. And I mny be | ermitted to 
 add, that without repentance and restitution, when possible, there 
 can be no remission. 
 
 The preachers of repentance of the necessity of repentance in 
 order to remission ought to set this matter fairly mid fully be- 
 fore sinners. Do they represent repentance as sorrow for jjie
 
 156 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 past, nnd a determination to reform? How, then, will the sinner 
 know that he is sorry for his sins against men, or how will the 
 community know that he has repenteil of such sins, unless lull 
 restitution was made? It is impossible that either the sinner 
 himself, or the community who know his sins against man, can 
 have any certain evidence that he is penitent, unless by making 
 all possible restitution. 
 
 Peecator wounded the reputation of his neighbor Hennas, and 
 on another occasion defrauded him of ten pounds. Some of the 
 neighborhood were apprized that he had done both. Peccator 
 was converted under the preaching of Paulinus, and, on giving 
 in a relation of his sorrow for his sins, spoke of the depth of his 
 convictions, and of his abhorrence of his transgressions. He was 
 received into tlie congregation, and sat down with the faithful to 
 commemorate the great sin-ufl'ermg. Hennas and iii.s neighbors 
 were witne ses of all this. They f-aw that Peccator was peni- 
 tent, and much reformed in his behavior; but thuy could not 
 believe him sincere, because he had made no restitution. They 
 regarded him either as a hypocrite or *ell-deceived ; because, 
 having it in his power, he repaid not the ten pounds, nor once 
 Contradicted the slanders he had propagaied. Peccator, how*r, 
 felt little enjoyment in his profession, and soon fell back into his 
 former habits. He became again penitent, and, on examining the 
 grounds of his failing off, discovered that he had never coid^ally 
 turned away from his sins. Overwhelmed in sorrow for the past, 
 he resolved on giving himself up to the Lord; and, reflecting on 
 his past life, set about the work of reformation in earnest. He 
 called on Hernias, paid him his ten pounds, and the interest for 
 every day he had kept it back, went to all the persons to whom 
 he had slandered him, told them what injustice he had done liim, 
 and begged them, if they had told it to any other persons, to cn- 
 tradict it. Several other persons whom he had \vnmgcd in his 
 dealings with them he also visited; and fully redressed all these 
 wrongs against his neighbors. He also confessed them to tin- 
 Lord, and asked him to forgive him. Peccator was then restored 
 to the church ; and, better still, he enjoyed a peace of mind, and 
 a confidence in God, which was a continual feast. His example, 
 moreover, did more to enlarge the congregation at the Cross-roads 
 than did the preaching of Paulinus in a whole year. This was, 
 unequivocally, sincere repentance. 
 
 'lh is is the repentance which Moses preached, and which Jesus 
 approbated. Uoder the law, confession to the priest, and the
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 257 
 
 presenting of a trespass-offering, availed nothi ig to forgiveness 
 without restitution. But the law went into details still more 
 minute than these; for provision is made for the case in which 
 the sinner could not find the person against whom he had sinned. 
 In such a case, the penitent sinner was to seek out the kindred of 
 the injured party, and if he could find any kinsman he was to 
 recompense this kinsman; but if he could not find a kinsman, he 
 must recompense it to the Lord, besides offering his trespass- 
 offering. It was to go into the Lord's treasury.* The principle 
 uniformly, in all cases of sin against man, was, the sinner "shall 
 make amends for the harm he has done, and shall add the fifth 
 part thereto. "f 
 
 If any one suppose that repentance is to be less sincere or un- 
 equivocal under the gospel, let him remember that Zaechens pro- 
 posed more than adding a fifth; he would restore fourfold; and 
 that Jesus approbated him for so doing. Indued, John the Im- 
 mersor demanded fruits worthy of repentance or of reformation, 
 and Paul proclaimed that those who turned to God should do 
 works meet for, or worthy of, repentance. | 
 
 "Works worthy of repentance" is a phrase which can be un- 
 derstood in no other sense than those works wli'Ccli make amends 
 fur the harm done to men and the dishonor done to God, as far as 
 both are possible. Can any man think that he is sorry fur that 
 sin or wrong which he has done, when he makes no effort to 
 make amends to him Avho was injured in person, character, or 
 property, by it? Works worthy of his professed repentance are 
 wanting, so long as any being whom he has injured in person, 
 property, or reputation, is unredressed to the utmost extent of 
 his ability. 
 
 One of our most popular commentators says nnd with much 
 truth "No man should expect mercy at the hand of God, who,, 
 having wronged his neighbor, refuses, when he has it in his power, 
 to make restitution. Were he to weep tears of blood, both the 
 justice and mercy of God would shut out his prayer, if he make 
 not his neighbor amends for the injury he has done him. He is 
 a dishonest man who illegally holds the property of another in 
 his hands." 
 
 Every preacher of repentance should insist upon these evi- 
 dences of sincerity, both for the satisfaction of the penitent him- 
 self, and for the good of the community. " Many that believed 
 
 Num. v. 7. 8. f Le y - v - 16. J Acts xxvi. 30. \ Adam Clarlie on Gen. xl 2. 
 
 22*
 
 2tS THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 came and confessed, and showed their deeds; many of them, also, 
 who used curious arts, bringing their books together, burnt them 
 before all ; and they computed the value of them, and found it 
 fifty thousand pieces of silver."* This was making restitution, 
 in tlieir case, as fur as possible; and the principle here evinced is 
 applicable in every other case. 
 
 But, in pursuing this subject so far, we have passed over the 
 boundaries of repentance, and sometimes confounded it with 
 reformation. This is owing to the licentious use of language, to 
 which modern theology has so richly contributed. We shall, 
 however, redress this wrong, as far as practicable, by a few 
 remarks on 
 
 REFORMATION. 
 
 The word metanoia, used by the sacred writers and heaven- 
 taught preachers of the New Economy, as indicative of the first 
 effect, of faith, as has been often shown, is different from that 
 which our word repentance fitly represents. It literally imports 
 a change of mind; but, as Parkhurst, Campbell, and many others 
 say, "such a change of mind as influences one's subsequent be~ 
 havior for the better." " It has been observed by some, and, I 
 think, with reason, that the former (metanoeo) denotes properly a 
 change to the better: the latter (mdainelomai) barely a change, 
 whether to the better or to the worse ; that the former marks a 
 change of mind that is durable, and produces consequences; the 
 latter expresses only a present uneasy feeling of regret, without 
 regard to duration or effects: in fine, that the first may be trans- 
 lated into English I reform ; the second, / repent, in the familiar 
 acceptation of the words. Now, as every one who reforms repents, 
 but as every one who repents does not reform, this distinction is 
 necessary and proper; and there is nothing hazarded, nothing lost, 
 by translating the former, I reform, and the latter, / repent. There 
 is something gained, especially in all places where we have the 
 word in the imperative mood, because then it is of importance to 
 know precisely what is intended. If we are commanded only tc 
 change our mind, or to be sorry for the past, we have obeyed 
 when we feel regret; but if more thnn mere change of mind or 
 regret is intended, we have not obeyed the commandment, until 
 we change for the better. Now, it is, we think, very evident from 
 
 Acts six. 18-20.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSPEM. 259 
 
 various passages of the sacred writings of the Apostles, and from 
 their speeches, that they commanded more than a simple change 
 of mind as respected past conduct, or more sorrow for the past. 
 Peter commanded the thousands assembled on the day of Pente- 
 cost, who had changed their minds, and who were sorry for the 
 past, to do 8 imeihing which they had not yet done ; and that 
 omething is in the common version rendered repent; and in the 
 new version, reform; and in the old English Bible, amend your 
 lices. The word here used is the imperative of metanoeo. Judas 
 repented, and many like him, who never reformed ; and, there- 
 fore, it is of importance that this distinction should be kept in 
 view.* 
 
 Repentance is not reformation, but it is necessary to it ; for 
 whoever reforms must first repent. Reformation is, indeed, the 
 carrying out of the purpose into our conduct. But, as reforma- 
 tion belongs rather to another part of our essay than the present, 
 we shall, on the premises already before us, pause and offer a fevr 
 reflections. 
 
 In the preceding definitions of words and ideas, it would appear 
 that we have a literal and unfigurative representation of the whole 
 process of what is figuratively called regeneration. For, as we 
 shall soon see, the term regeneration is a figure of speech which 
 very appropriately, though analogically, represents the reforma- 
 tion or renovation of life of which we have now spoken. 
 
 That the preceding arrangement is not arbitrary, but natural 
 and necessary, the reader will perceive, when he reflects, that the 
 thing done, or the fact, must precede the report or testimony con- 
 cerning it ; that the testimony concerning it must precede the 
 belief of it; that belief of the testimony must precede any feeling 
 in correspondence with the fact testified ; and that feeling must 
 precede action in conformity to it. Fact, testimony, faith, feeling, 
 action, are therefore bound together by a natural and gracious 
 necessity, which no ingenuity can separate. And will not every 
 Christian say, that when a person feels and acts according to th 
 faith, or the testimony of God, he is a new creature regenerate 
 truly converted to God? He that believes the facts testified in 
 the record of God understands them, feels according to their 
 nature and meaning, and acts in correspondence with them has 
 undergone a change of heart and of life which makes him a new 
 man. 
 
 * See Family Testament, Note 33, pago 74.
 
 260 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 This is that moral change of heart and life which is figuratively 
 called regeneration. We arc not to suppose that regeneration ia 
 something which must be added to the faith, the feeling, and the 
 action or behavior, which are the effects of the testimony of God 
 understood and embraced ; or which are the impress of the divine 
 facts attested by Prophets and Apostles. It is only another name 
 for the same process in all its parts. 
 
 It may also be observed, that numerous figures and analogies 
 arc used by the inspired writers to set forth this change, as well 
 as other leading truths and lessons in the Bible. In their col- 
 lective capacity, Christians are called a kingdom, a nation, a 
 generation, a family, a house, a flock, a city, a temple, a priest- 
 hood, &c. In their individual capacity, they are called kings, 
 priests, soldiers, citizens, children, sheep, branches, stones, &c. 
 They are said to be begotten, born, regenerated, builded, engraft- 
 ed, converted, created, planted. Now, under whatever figure 
 they are considered or introduced, reason argues that every thing 
 said of them should be expressed in conformity with the figure 
 under which they are presented. Are they called sheep? then he 
 that presides over them is called a Shepherd; their enemies are 
 wolves and dogs; their sustenance is the green pasture ; their place 
 of safety and repose, the sheepfold; their errors are wanderings 
 and strayings; their conversion, a return; and their good beha- 
 vior a hearing of the voice, or a following, of the Shepherd. Are 
 they called children? then collectively they are a family; they 
 are begotten and born again; God is their Father; their separation 
 is an adoption; Jesus is their elder brother; they are heirs of God; 
 they live and walk with God. Are they priests? Jesus is their 
 High-Priext; the church, their temple; the Saviour is their altar; 
 their songs, their praises, are incense ascending to heaven ; and 
 their oblations to the poor, their works of love, are sacrifices most 
 acceptable to God. Are they called citizens? the church is then 
 the kingdom of heaven; Jerusalem is (he mother of them all; for- 
 merly they were aliens, and their naturalization is regeneration. 
 Are they called branches? then Jesus is the true vine; his Father 
 the vine-dresser ; their union with Christ, an engrafting; the dis- 
 cipline of the gospel, a pruning ; and their good works are fruits 
 (f righteonsnexs. 
 
 Thus there is no confusion of metaphors in the Scriptures of 
 truth in the dialect of Heaven. It is the language of Ashdod, 
 it belongs to the confusion of Babel, to mingle and confound all 
 figures and analogies. Hence we BO often hear of being l>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 <me is called the 
 .word in the other; b cms * the Huh Spirit consecrates or cleanses 
 through the w,r I. F..r thus prayed the Messiah, "Consecrate 
 them through the tru'li: thy word is the truth." And a^aln, 
 " You arj 'clean through the word that I have spoken to you." 
 
 To the same eil'tct, P..ul, to the Hebrew Christians, says, 
 44 Hav.ng your hearts sprink.ed from a guilty con. cienetf, and y >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 mo<Ie 
 of life, is wholly changed ; and he is, in reference to the former 
 state, dead, and to the new state, alive. So in moral regeneration. 
 The subject of this great change, before his ne\v birth, existed in 
 one state ; but after it he exists in another. He, stands in a new 
 relation to God, angels, and men. lie is now born of God, and 
 has the privilege of being a son of God, and is eoiiseque,tly 
 pardoned, justified, sanctified, adopted, saved. The state which 
 he left was a state of condemnation, what some call " t\\ a . state of 
 nature." The state into which he enters is a state of f.wir, in 
 which he enjoys all the heavenly blessings through Christ : th re- 
 fore, it is called "the kingdom of heaven." All this is signified 
 in his death, burial, and resurrection with Christ: or in his being 
 born of water. Hence the necessity of b -ing buried with Christ 
 in water, that he may be born of water, tint he may enj.y the 
 renewal of the Holy Spirit, and be placed under the reign i<f 
 fuvor. 
 
 All tJie means of salvation are means of enjoyment, not of pro- 
 curement. Birth itself is not for procuring, but for enjoying, the 
 life possessed before birth. So in the analogy: no one is to be 
 baptized, or to be buried with Christ ; DO one is to be put under 
 the water of regeneration for the purpose of procuring life, hut 
 for the purpose of enjoying the life of which ho is possessed. If 
 the child is never born, all its sensitive powers ami faculties cm 
 not be enjoyed; for it is after birth that these are fully developed, 
 and feasted upon all the aliments and objects of sense in nature. 
 Hence all that is now promised in the gospel can only b! enjoyed 
 by those who are born again and placed in the kingdom of heaven 
 under all its influences. Hence the philosophy of that necessity 
 which Jesus preached : " Unless a man be born a^nin, h<- cannot 
 discern the kingdom of heaven," unless a man be born of water 
 and the Spirit, he cannot enter into it. 
 
 But let uo man think that in tho ;H-t of being boru, either nutu-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN 8TSTT5M. 2B7 
 
 rally or metaphorically, the child purchases, procures, or merits 
 either life or its enjoyments. He is only by his birth placed in 
 circumstances favorable to the enjoyment of life, and all that 
 makes life a blessing. "To as many as receive him, believing 
 in his name, he grants the privilege of being children of God, 
 who derive their birth not from blood, nor from the desire of the 
 tl'ssh, nor from the will of man, but from God." 
 
 RENEWING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 "lie has saved us," says the Apostle Paul, "by the bath of re- 
 generation and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured 
 on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified 
 by his favor, [in the bath of regeneration,] we might be made 
 heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Thus, and not by 
 works of righteousness, he has saved us. Consequently, being 
 b;>ru 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, an<l walks with him. This is the character of the rerene- 
 rat of him that is horn of God of the new man in Christ 
 Jesus. This is that change of heart, of life, and of character, 
 wlvch s the tendency awl the fruit, of the process of regeneration, 
 ns taught and exemplified hy the Apostles, and those commended 
 by Go I, in their writings. 
 
 We now proceed to offer a few remarks on physical regenera- 
 tion, the second part of our subject. 
 
 PHYSICAL REGENERATION. 
 
 ur mortal bodies are apt to feel the regenerating power of the 
 Son of God. This is emphatically called "the glory of his power." 
 " The redemption of the body" from the bondage of corruption 
 is the consummation of the new-creating energy of him who has 
 immortality. Life and incorruptibility were displayed in and by 
 bis resurrection from the dead. It was great to create man in the 
 image of Gd greater to redeem his soul from general corrup- 
 tion ; but greatest of all to give to his mortal frame incorruptible 
 and immortal vigor. The power displayed in the giving to the 
 dead body of the Son of God incorruptible glory and endless life 
 is set forth by the Apostle Paul as incomparably surpassing every 
 other divine work within the reach of human knowledge. He 
 prays that the minds of Christians may be enlarged to apprehend 
 this mighty power that the Father of glory would open their 
 minds, "that they might know the exceeding greatness of his 
 power in relation to us who believe according to the working of 
 bis mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised 
 him from the dead and set him at his < wn right band in the 
 heavenly places." Faith in this wonderful operation of God
 
 270 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 and hope for the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints 
 in light are in the most powerful principles of action which 
 G<>d 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 <re. to remark, that in this essav, 
 in onler to disabuse the public mind on our use and accvptatjim of the term retime- 
 rai'tm. we have taken the widest range which a supreme regard "T 'he apostolic 
 Kyle could, in our judgment, allow. While we nriiie tnit the phrase liath r>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'n<i r>f 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 d<x-th good: no, not one.' Thf sinner, then-fore, 
 instead of voluntarily coopi'iating with the II ly Spirit, d all he .-an to retist Ms 
 IHvine i'.lln.-iiiv. and prevent his own regeneration, until he is mwU willing I y al- 
 inuhty power." 
 
 U unkeii sot. or sume vile deluiuvliHH. who is as dead as l^i/.ariis on one side, and 
 on the olh,>r 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 bon<l 
 of union, or rule of life our brethren of the reformation, now jn 
 process. 
 
 Should any one imagine that the state of things to which wo 
 Lave attained is the sole or ultimate object of our aspirations >r 
 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 tl<e &ci-iptnr<x 
 to the edification of the brethren. It is admitted by all the li'.ly 
 brethren, that the Scriptures of truth, called the liciitg oraclex, air 
 the great instrument of God for all his purposes in the saints mi 
 earth. Through them they are converted to God, comforted, et n- 
 secrated, made meet for an inheritance among the sanctified, and 
 qualified for every good word and work. Every thing, then, de- 
 pends upon the proper understanding of .these volumes of inspira- 
 tion. They can only operate as far a* they are understood. 
 
 The system of sermonizing on a text is now almost universally 
 abandoned by all who intend that their hearers should understand 
 the testimony of God. Orators and exhorters may select a word, 
 a phrase, or a verse; but all who feed the flock of God with 
 knowledge and understanding know that this method is wholly 
 absurd. Philological lectures upon a chapter are only a little 
 better. The discussion of any particular topic, such as faith, 
 repentance, election, the Christian calling, may sometimes be ex- 
 pedient: but in a congregation of Christians, the reading arid 
 examining the different books in regular succession, every dis- 
 ciple having the volume in his hand, following up the connection 
 of things, examining parallel passages, interrogating and being 
 interrogated, fixing the meaning of particular words and phrases 
 by comparison with the style of that writer or speaker, or with 
 that of others; intermingling these exercises with prayer and 
 praises, and keeping the narrative, the epistle, the speech* so long 
 as is necessary for the youngest disciple in the congregation to 
 understand it, and to become deeply interested in it, will do more 
 in one year than is done in many on the plan of the popular 
 meetings of the day. 
 
 Great attention should be paid to all the allusions, in any com- 
 position, to the particularities of time, place, and circumstance, 
 to the geographical, historical, and chronological particulars of 
 all questions of fact connected with all persons of note in the 
 narratives : for these are often the best interpreters of style, and 
 expositors of the meaning of what is written. 
 
 This searching, examining, comparing, and ruminating upon 
 the IL'ly Scriptures in private, in the family, in the congregation, 
 cannot fail to make us learned in the knowledge of God anil in 
 the knowledge of man. The Bible contains more real learning
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 285 
 
 thnn all the volumes of men. It instructs us in all our natura', 
 niuril, political, and religious relations. Though it teaches us 
 not astronomy, medicine, chemistry, mithematics, arcl.it -cUire, 
 i gives us all that knowledge which adorns ami dignifi<vs i nr 
 moral nature and fits us for happiness. Happy tin- prrsun who 
 meditates upon it dny and night! He grows and flourishes in 
 moral health and vigor, as the trees upon the watercourses, ll:s - 
 leaf never fades his fruit never fails. 
 
 The congregations of the saints want system in furthering the 
 knowledge of this book. The simple reading of large portions 
 in a desultory manner is not without some good effect; fur there 
 is light, and majesty, and life, in all the oracles of God ; no mnn 
 can listen to them without edification. But the profit accruing 
 from such readings is not a tithe of that which might be obtained 
 in the proper systematic reading and examination of them. The 
 Congregation is the school of Christ, and every pupil there should 
 feel ihat he has learned something every day he waits upon his 
 Master. He must take the Master's book with him, and, like 
 every other good and orderly pupil, he must open it and study it, 
 with all the helps that the brotherhood, his school fellows, can 
 furnish for his more comprehensive knowledge of all its salutary 
 communications. 
 
 A Christian scribe, well instructed in its contents, or a plurality 
 of such, who can bring out of their intellectual treasury things 
 new and old, will greatly advance the students in this heavenly 
 science; but, in the absence of such, the students must bo self- 
 taught; and self-taught scholars are generally the best fang'it: 
 for they cannot progress, unless they study with diligence, and 
 carefully learn the rudiments of every science. 
 
 To give some idea of the diligence ai\d attention to the minutest 
 matters which are necessary to proficiency in the knowledge of 
 all that is written in the New Testament, we shall suppose that 
 the disciples have for their lesson, on some particular day, tho 
 Nativity of the Messiah. The second chapter of Matthew is read. 
 After reading this chapter, or the whole of the first section of 
 Matthew's Testimony, the elder or president for the day asks 
 some brother, a good reader, to read what the other evangelists 
 bave testified on this subject. Mark and John being silent on 
 the nativity, he reads Luke, d section, 2d chapter, from the 1st 
 to the 41st verse. After the' reading of this chapter, tho follow- 
 ing points are the subjects of inquiry^ aiid most of thorn are pro- 
 posed to the brethren for solution :
 
 286 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 1. Who was Caesar Augustus, and over what people diil lie 
 reign ? 
 
 2. At what period of his reign was tlie edict of enrolment 
 issued, or when did the first regi:-tor take effect? 
 
 3. What did Syria include, anil what were its boundaries? 
 
 4. Who presided over Syria at the time of the first register? 
 
 5. Who was king in Judea at this time? 
 
 6. How far did Judea extend, or in what part of the Holy 
 Land was it situated ? 
 
 7. In what country was Jerusalem, where situated, and by 
 what other names was it known ? 
 
 8. What was the native city of Joseph? 
 
 9. Where was Nazareth situated, and in what district? 
 
 10. What was the boundary of Galilee, and what were its 
 principal towns ? 
 
 11. In what canton or district was Bethlehem, and how far 
 from Jerusalem? 
 
 12. Who were the magians? 
 
 13. Why was " Herod alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him," 
 when the magians reported the Star in the East? 
 
 14. What were the scribes and chief-priests assembled by 
 Herod, and why were they called together ? 
 
 15. By what means did they decide the questions referred to 
 them ? 
 
 10. On what Prophet do they rely, and where shall the quota- 
 tion be found? 
 
 17. Of what family and lineage were Joseph and Mary? 
 
 18. By what means did the magians find the house in which 
 the Messiah was born? 
 
 19. AVIiy did the magians not return to Herod? 
 
 20. 'Whether did the shepherds of Bethlehem, or the Eastern 
 magians, first pay their respects to the Messiah ? 
 
 21. In what quarter of the globe does Egypt lie? 
 
 22. How far from Bethlehem ? 
 
 23. How long was the Messiah kept in Egypt? 
 
 24. Who predicted his return from Egypt, and where shall it 
 be found ? 
 
 25. Who foretold the slaughter of the male infants in Bethle- 
 hem, and what instigated Herod to this cruel massacre? 
 
 6. Who succeeded Herod in the'throne of Judea? 
 
 27. Why did Joseph retire to Nazareth?
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 287 
 
 TP. What Prophet foretold this circumstance, und where shall 
 it be found ? 
 
 These matters being all ascertained, to which the maps, geo- 
 graphical and chronological indexes, and the appendix to the 
 Family Testament, will greatly contribute, some moral reflections 
 will naturally occur; for in all t':e>e 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.<is," in respect of the future is " (fie Bright 
 and Morning Star." Till the day of eternity dawn, and the day- 
 star of immortality arise in our hearts, let us always look to Jesus. 
 
 But it is not only the felicity of superior heavenly light, though 
 that is most delectable to our rational nature, which distinguishea 
 you the citi/ens of this kingdom ; but that personal, real, and 
 plenary remission of all sin, which you enjoy through the blood 
 of the Lnmb of God, bestowed on you though the ordinances of 
 Christian immersion, and confession of sins.
 
 834 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 The Jews, indeed, had sacrifices under the law, which could, 
 and did, take away ceremonial sins ; and which so far absolved 
 from the guilt of transgressing that law, as to give them a right 
 to the continued enjoyment of the temporal and political promises 
 of the national compact; but further Jewish sacrifices and ablu- 
 tions could not reach. This benefit every Jew had from them. 
 But as respected the conscience, Paul, that great commentator on 
 Jewish sacrifice, assures us they had no power. "With respect 
 to the conscience," says he, "they could not make him who did 
 the service perfect." 
 
 The entrance of the law gave the knowledge of sin. It gave 
 names to pai ticular sins, and " caused the offence to abound." 
 The sacrifices appended to it had respect to that institution alone, 
 and not to sin in the general, nor to sin in its true and proper 
 nature. The promise made to the patriarchs and the sacrificial 
 institution added to it, through faith in that promise, led the be- 
 lieving to anticipate a real sin-offering; but it appears the Jewish 
 sacrifices had only respect to the Jewish institution, and, excepting 
 their typical character, gave no new light to those under that 
 economy on the sul ject of a true and proper remission of sins 
 through the real and bloody sacrifice of Christ. 
 
 The patriarch and the believing Jew, as respected a real remis- 
 sion of sins, stood upon the same ground; for, as has been ob- 
 served, the legal institution, or, as Paul says, "the supervening 
 of the law," made no change in the apprehensions of remission, 
 as respected the conscience. But a new age having come, (for 
 " these ordinances for cleansing the flesh were imposed only till 
 the time of reformation,") and Christ having, by a more perfect 
 sacrifice, opened the way into the true holy places, has laid the 
 foundation for perfecting the conscience by a real and full remis- 
 sion of sins, which, by tlie virtue of his blood, terminates not upon 
 the Hesh but upon the conscience of the sinner. 
 
 John, indeed, who lived at the dawn of the Reformation, 
 preached reformation with an immersion for the remission of 
 gins; saying that "they should believe in him that was to come 
 after him." Those who believed John's gospel, and reformed, 
 and were immersed into John's reformation, had remission of sins 
 through faith in him that was to come ; but you, fellow-citizens, 
 even in respect of the enjoyment of remission, are greatly ad- 
 vanced above the disciples of John. You have been immersed, 
 not only by the authority of Jesus, as Lord of all, into the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, but into tlie
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 385 
 
 death or sacrifice of Christ. This no disciple of Moses or of Jonn 
 knew any thing about. This gives you an insight into sin, nnn 
 a freedom from it as respect* conscience a peace and a joy unutter- 
 able and full of glory, to which both the disciples of Moses and 
 of the Harbinger were strangers. So that the light of the risen 
 day of Heaven's eternal Sun greatly excels, not only the glim- 
 merings of the stars in the patriarchal age, and the faint light of 
 the moon in the Jewish age, but even the twilight of the morning. 
 
 Your new relation to the Father, to the Son, and to the IIolj 
 Spirit, into which you have been introduced by faith in the Mes- 
 siah and immersion into his death, verifies, in respect of the sense 
 and assurance of remission, all that John and Jesus said concern- 
 ing the superiority of privilege vouchsafed to the citizens of the 
 kingdom of heaven. You can see your sins washed awav in the 
 blood that was shed on Mount Calvary. That which neither tho 
 highly-favored John nor any disciple of the Messiah could under- 
 stand, till Jesus said, "It is finished," you not only clearly per- 
 ceive, but have cordially embraced. You can feel, and say with 
 all assurance, that "the blood of Jesus Christ now cleanses you 
 from all sin ;" and that by faith you have access to the Mediator 
 of the New Institution, and to the blood of sprinkling which 
 speaks glad tidings to the heart. You have an Advocate with 
 the Father; and, when conscious of any impurity, coming to God 
 by him, confessing your sins, and supplicating pardon through 
 his blood, you have the promise of remission. You now know 
 how G.d is just as well as merciful, in forgiving iniquity, trans- 
 gression, ami sin. 
 
 But superior light and knowledge, and enlarged conceptions of 
 God, with such an assurance of real and personal remission as 
 pacifies the conscience and introduces the peace of God into the 
 heart, are not the only distinguishing favors which you enjoy in 
 the new relation to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, into 
 which you are introduced under the reign of heaven ; but you are 
 formally adopted into the family of God, and constituted the sons 
 and daughters of the Father Almighty. 
 
 To be called " the friend of God," was the highest title be- 
 stowed on Abraham ; to be called the friends of Christ, was tho 
 peculiar honor of the disciples of Christ, to whom he confided 
 the secrets of his reign : but to be called "the children of God 
 through faith in Jesus Christ" is not only the common honor of 
 all Christians, but the highest honor which could be vouchsafed 
 to the inhabitants of this earth. Such honor have you, my fellow-
 
 336 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 citizens, in being related to the only-begotten Son of God: "Foi 
 to as many as received him he gave the privilege of becoming the 
 eons of God." These, indeed, were not descended from families 
 of noble blood, nor genealogies of high renown : neither are they 
 the offspring of the instincts of the flesh, nor made the sons of 
 God " by the will of man," who sometimes adopts the chiM of 
 another as his own ; but they are " born of God" through the 
 ordinances of his grace. " Behold how great love the Father has 
 bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God !" 
 " The world, indeed, does not know us, because it did not know 
 him. Beloved, now are we the children df God. It does not yet 
 appear what we shall be." 
 
 " Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son 
 into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And if sons, it follows 
 you "are heirs of God through Christ" the heir of all things. 
 Is this, fellow-citizens, a romantic vision, or sober and solemn 
 truth, that you are children of God, possessing the spirit of Christ, 
 and constituted heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ of the 
 eternal inheritance? What manner of persons, then, ought you 
 to be ! How pure, how holy and heavenly, in your temper ! How 
 just and righteous in all your ways! How humble and devoted 
 to the Lord! How joyful and triumphant in your King! 
 
 Permit me, then, to ask, Wherein do you excel? nay, rather, 
 you will propose this question to yourselves. You will say, 
 How shall we still more successfully promote the interest, tho 
 honor, and the triumphs of the gospel of the kingdom ? Is there 
 any thing we can do by our behavior, our morality, our piety, 
 by our influence, by all the earthly means with which God haa 
 furnished us? Is there any thing we can do more to strengthen 
 the army of the faith, to invigorate the champions of the king- 
 dom, to make new conquests for our King? Can we not increase 
 the joy of the Lord in converting souls? Can we not furnish 
 occasions of rejoicing to the angels of God? Can we not gladden 
 the hearts of thousands who have never tasted the joys of the 
 children of God ? 
 
 In the present administration of the kingdom of God, during 
 the absence of the King, he has said to the citizens, " Put on the 
 armor of light" "Contend earnestly for the faith" ''Convert 
 the world" " Occupy till I come" " Let your light shine before 
 men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father 
 in heaven" that " the Gentiles may, by your good works whim 
 they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." lie haa
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 837 
 
 thus intrusted to the citizens tie great work for which he died, 
 the salvation of men. Lot us, then, brethren, be found faithful 
 to the Lord and to men, that he may address us at his coming 
 with the most acceptable plaudit, " Well done, good and faithful 
 servants; enter into the joy of your Lord!" 
 
 Great as the opposition is to truth and salvation, we have no 
 reason to despond. Greater are our friends and allies, and in- 
 tiuitnlv morn powerful, thaa all our eneini -s. God i> 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 Z<M!, and effort, worthy of a cause so 
 salutary, so pure, so holy, and so divine, determine never to faint 
 nnr to falter till you enter the pearly gates never to lay down 
 your arms till, with the triumphant millions, you stand before 
 the throne, and exultingly sing, " Worthy is the Lamb that xvas 
 slain, to receive power, and riches, arid wisdom, and might, and 
 honor, anil glory, and blessing!" "To Him who sit* upon the 
 throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and houor, and glory, aud 
 strength, forever and forever!" Amen. 
 
 A WORD TO FRIENDLY ALIENS. 
 
 * 
 
 Whether to regard you in the light of Proneh/fcs of the Gate, 
 who refused circumcision, but wished to live in the land of Israel, 
 to be in the suburbs of the cities of Judah, and to keep sonjs of
 
 8-10 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 the institutions of the ancient kingdom of God, without becoming 
 fellow-citizens of that kingdom ; or whether to regard you as the 
 Samaritans of old, who built for themselves a temple of God 
 upon Mount Gerizim, held fast a part of the ancient revelation of 
 God, and rejected only such parts of it as did not suit their pre- 
 judices worshipped the God of Israel in common with the idols 
 of the nations from which they sprang I say, whether to regard 
 you in the light of the one or the other of those ancient professors 
 of religion might require more skill in casuistry than we possess 
 more leisure than we have at our disposal and more labor 
 than either of us have patience to endure. One thing, however, 
 is obvious, that if under the reign of Heaven it behooved so good 
 a man as Cornelius (''a man of piety, and one that feared God 
 with all his house, giving also much alms to the people, and 
 praying to God continually") to "hear words by which he might 
 be saved," and to put on Christ by immersion into his death, that 
 he might enter the kingdom of heaven and enjoy the remission of 
 sins, and the hope of an inheritance among all the sanctified 
 certainly it is both expedient and necessary that you should go 
 also and do likewise. 
 
 Every sectarian in the land, how honest and pious soever, ought 
 to bury his sectarianism, and all his other sins of omission and 
 commission, in "the bath of regeneration." It is a high crime 
 and misdemeanor in any man, professing to have received the 
 Messiah in his proper person, character, and office, to refuse alle- 
 giance to him in any thing ; and to substitute human inventions 
 and traditions in lieu of the ordinances and statutes of Prince 
 Immanuel. Indeed, the^keeping up of any dogma, practice, or 
 custom, which directly or indirectly supplants the constitution, 
 laws, and usages of the kingdom over which Jesus presides, is 
 directly opposed to his government; and would ultimate in de- 
 throning him in favor of a rival, and in placing upon his throne 
 the author of that dogma, practice, or usage which supplants the 
 institution of the Saviour of the world. 
 
 It is to you, then, who, in the name of the King, are changing 
 his ordinances, and substituting your own expedients for the .vis- 
 dom and authority of the Judge of all, we now propose the fol- 
 lowing considerations: 
 
 Every kingdom has one uniform law or institution for natural- 
 izing aliens; and that institution, if whatever sort it be, is obli- 
 gatory, by the authority of the government, upon every one who 
 would become a citizen. We say it is obligatory upon him who
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 341 
 
 desires to be a citizen to sul nvt to that institution. But does not 
 your practice and your dogma positively say that it is not the duty 
 of an alien to be b. rn again, but that it is the duty of his father 
 or guard hn to have him naturalized? Now, although many things 
 are in common the duty of brother, father, and child, yet those 
 duties which belong specifically to a father cannot belong to hia 
 child, either in religion, morality, or society. If it be the father's 
 duty to " offer his child to the Lord." to speak in your own style, 
 it is not the duty of the child to offir himself. It was not Isaac's 
 duty to be circumcised, but Abraham's duty to circumcise him. 
 If, then, it was your father's duty to have made you citizens of 
 the kingdom of heaven, it is not your duty to become citizens, 
 unless yu can produce a law saying tliat in all canes where the 
 father fails to do his duty, then it shall be the duty of the child 
 to do that which his f ither neglected. 
 
 Again if all fathers, like yours, had, upon their own respon- 
 sibility, without any command from the Lord, baptized their 
 children, there would not be one in a nation to whom it could be 
 s;i.'-l, ''Repent and be baptized;" much less could it be said to 
 every penitent, "Be baptized, every one of you, by the authority 
 of tliH Lord, for the remi-sion of sins.' These remarks are only 
 intended to show that your institutions do, in truth, goto the sub- 
 version of the government of Christ, and to the entire abolition 
 of the institutions of his kingdom. On this account alone, if for 
 no other reason, you ought to be constitutionally naturalized, and 
 be legally and honorably inducted into the kingdom of heaven. 
 It is a solemn duty you owe to the King and his government; and 
 if you have a conscience formed by the oracles of God, you can 
 have no contidence in God, nor real peace of mind, so long as 
 you give your support, your countenance, exsuuple, and entire 
 influence to break down the institutions of Jesus Christ, to open 
 liis kingdom to all that is born of the flesh, and to prevent, as far 
 a* you can, every man from the pleasure of choosing whom he 
 shall obey of confessing him before men of taking on hia 
 yoke of dying, being buried, and raised with Christ in his gra- 
 cious institution. If Jesus himself, for the sake of fulfilling all 
 righteousness, or of honoring every divine institution, though he 
 needed not reformation for remission of sins which John preached, 
 was immersed by John what have you to say for yourselves 
 you who would claim the honors and privileges of the kingdom 
 of heaven, refusing to follow the example of Jesus, and who vir- 
 tually subvert his authority by supporting a system which would.
 
 342 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 if carried out, not allow a voluntary agont in the race of Adam, 
 to do that which all (he first converts of Christ did, by authority 
 of the commission which Jesus gave to his Apostles? 
 
 Again whatever confidence you may now possess, that you 
 are good citizens of the kingdom of the Messiah, that confidence 
 is not founded upon a "THUS SAITH TIIE LORD," but upon your own 
 reasonings, which all men must acknowledge may be in this, as 
 in many other things, fallacious. Jesus has said, " He that be- 
 lieves and is immersed shall be saved ;" and Peter eontnftnuVd 
 every penitent to be immersed for the remission of his ins. 
 Now, he who hears the word, believes it, and Ls on his own con- 
 fession immersed, has an assurance, a confidence, which it is im- 
 possible for you to have. 
 
 Let me add only another consideration, for we are not now 
 arguing the merits of your theory, or that of :iny party : it is your 
 duty, as you desire the union of (what you call) the church, and 
 the conversion of the world, forthwith to be immersed and to be 
 born constitutionally into the kingdom ; because all Protestants, 
 of every name, if sincere believers in Jesus as tlie Christ, irre- 
 spective of every opinion found in any human creed, could, if 
 they would, honor and obey his institutions, come into one fold, 
 and sit down together under the reign of the Messiah. If all 
 would follow your example, this would necessarily follow; if 
 they do not, ynu have done your duty. In being thus immersed, 
 all the world, Catholic and Protestant, admit that you are truly 
 and scripturaUy baptized ; for all admit that an immei-sed penitent 
 is constitutionally baptized into Christ ; but only a part of the 
 professing world can admit that rite of infant affusion on which 
 you rely as introducing you, without previous knowledge, faith, 
 or repentance, into the family of God. Acquit, then, your con- 
 science ; follow the example of Jesus ; honor and support his au- 
 thority ; promote the union and peace of the family of God ; do 
 what in you lies for the conversion of the world ; enter into the 
 full enjoyment of the blessings of the kingdom of heaven by 
 confessing the ancient faith, and by being immersed in the name 
 of Jesus into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Spirit, for the remission of sins. Then you may say, as 
 Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Although the Samaritans 
 hnvn a temple on Mount GTizim, a priesthood, and the five books 
 of Moses, "salvation is of the Jews." Although the sects have 
 the Oracles of God, human creeds, many altars, prirsts, and re 
 ligious usages, t/ie enjoyment of salvation is among them who
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 343 
 
 simply believe what the Apostles -wrote concerning Jesus, and 
 who from the heart obey that mould of doctrine which the Apos- 
 tles delivered to us. 
 
 In so doing you will, moreover, most wisely consult your own 
 safety and security from the signal calamities that are every day 
 accumulating, and soon to fall with overwhelming violence on a 
 distracted, divided, alienated, and adulterous generation. If you 
 are " the people of God," as you profess, and as we would fain 
 imagine, then you are commanded by a voice from heaven 
 "Come -out of her, my people, that you partake not of the sins 
 of mystic Babylon, and that you receive not a portion of her 
 plagues."* If affliction, and shame, and poverty, and reproach, 
 were to be the inalienable lot of the most approved servants of 
 God, it is better, infinitely better, for you to suffer with them, 
 than to enjoy for a season all that a corrupted and apostate so- 
 ciety can bestow upon you. Remember who it is that has said, 
 "Happy are they who keep his commandments, for they shall 
 have a right to the tree of life, and they shall enter in through 
 the gates into the city !" 
 
 ADDRESS TO BELLIGERENT ALIENS. 
 
 To him who, through the telescope of faith, surveys your 
 camp, there appears not on the whole map of creation such a 
 motley group, such a heterogeneous and wretched amalgamation 
 of distracted spirits, as are found in actual insurrection nnd 
 rebellion, in a mad and accursed alliance against the reigning 
 Mnnarrfi of creation. In your lines are found every urn-loan arid 
 hateful spirit on this side the fathomless gulf, the dark and rny- 
 less receptacle of fallen and ruined intelligences, who. in endlrss 
 and fru'tless wailing*, lament their own follies, and through an 
 incessant night of despair anathematize themselves and their co- 
 adjutors in the perpetration of their eternal suicide. Yes. in your 
 ranks are found all who wilfully reject the S m of God, and will 
 not have him to reign over them; whether they are styled the 
 decent moralist, the honest deist, skeptic, atheist, infidel, the 
 speculating Sadducee, the boasting Pharisee, the supercilious 
 Jew, the resentful Samaritan, or the idolatrous Gentile. All 
 ranks and u?grees of men in political society the king and the 
 beggar the sage philosopher and the uneducated clown the 
 
 * Kcveiutiju. chap, xviii. Tursci S and 9.
 
 844 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 rich find the poor who disdain the precepts of the Messiah, unite 
 with you in this unholy alliance against the kingdom of heaven. 
 You may boast of many a decent fellow-soldier in the crusade 
 against Immanuel; many who, when weighed in the balances of 
 the political sanctuary, are not found wanting in all the decencies 
 of this present life ; but yet look at the innumerable crowds of 
 every sort of wretches, down to the filthiest, vilest matricide, 
 who in your communion are fighting under your banners stout- 
 hearted rebels! leagued with you in your attempts to dethrone 
 the Lord's Anointed. If you boast of one Marcus Aurelius, you 
 must fraternize with many a Nero, Djmitian, Caligula, and Ile- 
 liogabalus. If you rejoice in the virtues of one Seneca, you must 
 own the vices of the ten thousand murderers, robbers, adulterers, 
 drunkards, profane swearers, and lecherous debauchees who have 
 rejected the counsels of Heaven because the precepts of righteous- 
 ness and life forbade their crimes. 
 
 If, then, my friends, (for I now address the most honorable of 
 your community,) you boast that you belong to a very large and 
 respectable synagogue, remember, I pray you, that to this same 
 synagogue in which you have your brotherhood belongs every 
 thing mean, and vile, and wretched, in every land where the 
 name of Jesus has been announced. What a (jroiip! Have you 
 so much of the reflex light of the gospel falling upon your vision 
 as to flush your cheek with the glow of ehfune when you look 
 along the lines of your alliance, and survey the horriltle faces, 
 the ragged, and tattered, and squalid, and filthy wretches, your 
 companions in arms members with you in the synagogue of Satan, 
 and confederates against the Prince of Peace! If you cannot blush 
 at such a spectacle, you are not among them to whom 9 would 
 tender the pearls of Jesus Christ. 
 
 What do you then say? "I am ashamed of such an alliance 
 of such a brotherhood ; and therefore I have joined the Tempe- 
 rance Society I belong to the Literary Cluh and I carry my 
 family regularly to church every Sunday." And do you think, 
 simpleton! that these human inventions, which only divide the 
 kingdom of Satan into castes, and form within it various private 
 communions, honorable and dishonorable associations, learned and 
 unlearned fraternities, moral find immoral conventicles, change 
 the state of a single son of Adam ns respects the Son of God I 
 Then may Whig and Tory, Masonic and Antimasonic clubs and 
 conclaves then may every political cabal, for the sake of ele- 
 vating some demagogue cliunge the political niluauug iu the state.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 545 
 
 and make and unmake American citizens according to fancy, ii 
 despite of constitution, law, and established precedents. No, sir 
 should there be as many parties in the state as there are days ir. 
 a month, membership in any one of these affects not in the least 
 the standing of any man as a citizen in relation to the United 
 States, or to any foreign power. And by parity of reason, as well 
 as by all that is written in the New Testament, should you join 
 all the benevolent societies on the checkered map of Christendom, 
 and fraternize with every brotherhood born after the will of man, 
 this would neither change nor destroy your citizenship in the 
 kingdom of Satan still you would be an alien from the kingdom 
 of the Messiah a foreigner as respects all its covenanted bless- 
 ings and in the unbiassed judgment of the universe, you would 
 stand enrolled among its enemies. 
 
 In character there are many degrees, as respects any and every 
 attribute which enters into its formation ; but as respects slate 
 there are no degrees. In the nature of things it is impossible. 
 Every man is either married or single, a brother, a master, a citi- 
 zen, or he is not. Every man is either Christ's or Belial's: there 
 is no middle power, and therefore no neutral state. Hence the 
 King himself, when on the present theatre of war, told his com- 
 panions to regard every man as his enemy who was not on his 
 side. Among his professed friends, they who in works deny him 
 are even counted as enemies. 
 
 What a hopeless struggle is that in which you are engaged! 
 Discomfiture, soon or late, awaits yon. Have you counsel and 
 strength to oppose the Sovereign of the Universe? Do you think 
 you can frustrate the counsels of Infinite Wisdom and overcome 
 Omnipotence? Your master is already a prisoner your chief is 
 in chains. The fire of eternal vengeance is already kindled for 
 Satan and all his subjects. Mad in his disappointed ambition, 
 and implacable in his hatred of Him against whom he rebelled, 
 he only seeks to gratify his own malice, by involving with him 
 self in irremediable ruin the unhappy victims of his seduction. 
 He only seeks to desolate the dominions of God, and to ruin 
 forever his fellow-creatures. Will you, then, serve your worst 
 enemy, and war against your best friend? 
 
 But your rebellion can effect nothing against God. His arm 
 is too strong for the whole creation. You cannot defeat his CJUH- 
 sels nor stay his almighty hand. The earth on which you stand 
 trembles at his rebuke; the foundations of the hills and moun- 
 tains are moved and shaken at his presence. You ti^ht against
 
 346 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 
 
 yourselves. God's detestation of your course ari<es not from any 
 sipprehension that you can irfjtire him; hut hpcause you destroy 
 yourselves. Every triumph which your inordinate desires and 
 ptissions pain over the remonstrances of reason and conscience 
 only precipitates you into deeper and deeper misery, matures 
 you for perdition, and makes it essential to the pood order and 
 happiness of the universe, you should suffer an "everlasting de- 
 struction from the presence of the Lord, and from the gk - of 
 his power." 
 
 What, then, infatuates you, that you should choose death 
 rather than life, and prefer destruction to salvation ? "1 am not 
 sure that the gospel is true; 1 love my companions, ami cannot 
 see any criminality in gratifying those passions and appetites 
 which mv Creator has planted in my constitution." 
 
 You admit there is a God, your Creator ; but you doubt whether 
 the gospel is true! What an abuse of reason and evidence ! Can 
 you infer, from any premises in your possession, that He whose 
 creation man is, who has exhibited to the eye and ear of man so 
 much wisdom, power, and goodness, in all his grand designs al- 
 ready accomplished, and daily accomplishing, in the heavens and 
 in the earth, teaching men to sustain the present life, to antici- 
 pate the future, and to provide for it, has never intelligibly ad- 
 dressed him on a subject of incomparably more importance his 
 own ultimate destiny ? That God should have been at so much 
 pains to elevate man in nature to furnish him with such an or- 
 ganization to bestow on him reason and speech admirably 
 qualifying him to acquire ani communicate instruction, on all 
 things necessary to his present animal enjoyments ; and^Ht the 
 same time, to have never communicated to him any thing relative 
 to his intellectual nature never to have addressed him on the 
 themes which, as a rational creature, he must necessarily must 
 of all desire to know; to have done every thing for his body, nnd 
 for the present and nothing for his mind nor for the future is, 
 to sav the least of it, the most improbable conceit that the most 
 romantic fancy can entertain. 
 
 That the Creator could not enlighten him on these topics is 
 wholly inadmissible. That he could, and wntld not, is directly 
 contrary to every analogy in creation contradictory to every 
 proof \ve have of bis benevo'ence. an inexplical b- exception to 
 the whole order of bis government: for he has provided objects 
 for every sense objects for every intellectual power objects for 
 every affection, honorable passion, appetite and propensity, in our
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 347 
 
 constitution: but, on your hypothesis, lie has only failed in that 
 which is infinitely more dear to us, more consonant to our whole 
 rational nature, and most essential to our happiness ! It is most 
 contrary to reason. 
 
 But the folly of your skepticism is still more g'aring when we 
 open the book of the gospel of salvation. In the history of Jesus 
 you have the fulfilment of a thousand predictions, expressed l>y 
 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 
 
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